Chess Publishing Eco B00-b99_2ed Vol.2.pdf

Chess Publishing ECO : B00-B99 Volume 2 Second Edition

CBV to PDF

by Scorpionchess

Thanks to

Echai the master Uploader & his invaluable successor bandidobk

All friends who made the All in one Cbv

Dedicated to

Dearanna She inspired the idea

Introduction to the second Edition If the first edition had no introduction, the second need one ! The publication of the first edition of this series in 2013 represented an innovation in chess books shared at forums : It is part of a new trend that migrates from simple sharing to the creativity . This publication mainly benefited of the work made in the background by many forums members (Sharers, collectors, Cbv & pgn makers) and as I'm unable to name All, I just want to thank All of Them . Special thanks must go to the master sharer & Uploader Echai & his successor bandidobk : without their invaluable work & perseverance to update the chess publishing thread, this second edition would never have been released . This second edition has an updated material & also some improvements, especially to enhance readability ...and I will let you discover the rest . All your suggestions are welcome and will be as far as possible taken into account in the next editions. S.C 06/10/2014

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1 1...b6 idea. N,N [Glenn Flear]

B00

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.c3 b4 This natural-looking move may in fact be the source of Black's problems. [ After 4...f6 5.ge2 c5 Black avoids ceding his dark-squared bishop: 6.0-0 cxd4 7.xd4 d6 8.f4 a6 gives a complex position where Black is playing a slightly provocative Sicilian. ] 5.ge2 This rarer move is apparently quite dangerous. [ However I still like 5.f3 which isn't easy for Black. Critical is then f6 6.g5 h6 7.xf6 xc3+ 8.bxc3 xf6 9.0-0 d6 10.d2 e5 11.f4! when White gets great attacking chances. ] 5...c5 Probably not best. [ White has comfortable development after 5...f6 6.0-0 ] [ Possibly 5...d5!? is the move, but that's another story! ] 6.a3 xc3+ [ W h i t e wa s c le a r l y b e t t e r a f t e r 6...cxd4 7.axb4 dxc3 8.b5!? d5 9.xc3 dxe4 10.xe4 in Vovk, Y-Brethes, F Calvi 2005 ] 7.xc3 cxd4 8.b5 This isn't new (Mr. Mon tign ac th ou gh t it wa s). d6 9.g4! This however is! [ Black was doing well after the slower 9.xd4 d7 ( 9...a6! ) 10.e2 ( 10.b5! ) 10...a6 11.0-0 c5 12.f4 f6 13.e5 dxe5 14.xe5 xd3 15.cxd3 0-0 Schubert, SFr o e h li c h D il l , A W o m e n 's B u n d e s li g a 1995. ] 9...f6 [ Or 9...f8 10.xd4 f6 11.h4 bd7 12.f3 with a comfortable edge to White. ] 10.xd6+ xd6 11.xg7 g8 12.xf6 d7 13.h6 xg2 14.f4 f8 and White has a clea r advanta ge as poin ted o ut b y Roland Montignac.

2 Aagaard,Jacob De Weerd,Warner Essent Open Hoogeveen NED (1) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2389 2071 13.10.2000

1.e4 c6 2.b5 A contest of anti-theory begins. f6 3.d3 g6 A sensible decision rather than get something akin to a Spanish or some double e-pawn opening black elects for a Pirc/Modern where white has played d3 and Bb5, which cannot be terrifying. 4.f3 g7 5.c3 0-0 There is no hurry to play this black could well play ...a6 at once and not commit his king. 6.g5 a6 7.xc6 bxc6 8.d2 e8 9.h6 h8 10.0-0-0 d6 11.h4 g4 12.dg1 b8 13.g5 b4 14.a3 a5 15.f3 eb8!? 16.d1 xd2+ 17.xd2 d7 18.b3 c5 19.e3 c6 20.g4 e8 21.f4 d4 22.f3 f6 23.f5 d5 24.e5 xe3+ 25.xe3 d4 26.xd4 cxd4 27.exf6 exf6 28.xd4 c5 29.e2 e8 30.f4 e5 31.fxg6 fxg6 32.g5 fxg5 33.xg5 xg5 34.hxg5 f8 35.d5 f2+ 36.e3 xc2 37.f6+ 1-0

3 Acosta,Alejandro2 Jaramillo,Gonzalo Abel Open Cali COL (6) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2346 20.12.2000

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 g4 4.e3 f6 5.c3 e6 6.e2 e7 7.d5 exd5 8.exd5 xf3 9.xf3 e5 10.e2 0-0 11.f4 g6 [ 11...ed7 12.f3 e8 13.d2 c5 14.0-0-0 a5 15.g4 a4 16.g5 fd7 17.h4 b6 18.d4 f8 19.he1 1/2-1/2 Rohl,JRogers,I New York 1998. Black's position looks precarious, and when the much higher rated player agrees a quick draw, and he is as enterprising a man as Ian Rogers, then you can safely conclude that equality and counterplay were in short supply. ] 12.d2 c5! [ 12...e8 13.0-0-0 d7 14.h3 f8 15.d3 a6 16.g4 b5 17.a3 c5 18.dxc6 xc6 19.g5 d5 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 xe3 22.xe3 d5 23.c3 c5 24.f3 c8 25.xd5 c7 26.d7 xf4+ 27.b1 f8 1

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28.h4 b4 29.axb4 xb4 30.e4 a5 31.f5 b5 32.h5 b8 33.b3 f8 34.h6 g6 35.e5 e6 36.f6+ f8 37.xh7+ 1-0 Bresciani,N-Oppici,G Bratto 1999. The game ref erences hint that white should castle long in this line as he is much better equipped to attack with a space advantage and the bishop pair. ] 13.g4 b5! Black takes his chance to get active. 14.xb5 e4 15.d3 h4+ 16.f1 e8 17.f3 [ 17.f5!? ] 17...c4! 18.xc4 [ 18.d4 c5 and black's counterplay with ...Bf6 and pressure on the b- and e-files is very much alive. ] 18...g5! 19.fxg5 xe3 [ 19...xe3 A bit early to give up, especially c o n s i d e r i n g t h e s i ze o f t h e u p s e t , b u t wh it e's p os it ion is a ru in , f or e xam p le : 20.e2 c8 21.d4 xe2 22.xe2 e8+ ] 0-1

4 Adams,Michael Vanderwaeren,Serge (ol) Moscow [Alexander Volzhin]

B00 2640 2275 1994

1.d4 e6 2.e4 b6 3.d3 b7 4.f3 c5 5.c3 cxd4?! [ The usual 5...f6 is better. ] 6.cxd4 b4+ 7.c3 f6 8.e2 d5 9.e5 e4 10.0-0! This pawn sacrifice gives White a lasting initiative. Such sacrifices are one of the mo st dif f icult p ro ble ms in ch ess. I t's absolutely impossible to calculate all the variations to the very end, you need just to feel it! xc3 [ 10...xc3 was the alternative. 11.bxc3 A) 11...xc3? Grabbing the pawn here is e xt re m e ly d a n ge ro u s : 12.b5+ c6 ( 12...f8 13.a3+ g8 14.ac1 a5 15.d6 a6 16.c7 with an overwhelming a d v a n t a g e .) 13.xc6+ xc6 14.c2 xd4 15.xd4 xa1 16.c6+ f8 17.a3+ g8 18.xa1 c8 19.b5 White is clearly better as Black's pieces a r e u n c o o r d i n a t e d . ( The spectacular

19.c1 is not so good: xc6 20.xc6 d7 21.e7+ f8 22.c8+ xc8 23.xc8+ e8 and in the endgame Black's chances are by no means worse. ); B) 11...e7 12.g3 0-0 13.h4 and White is ready to launch a strong K-side attack. ] 11.bxc3 xc3 12.e3!? c6 [ Unfortunately, Black cannot castle in view o f t h e t yp i c a l B i s h o p s a c r i f i c e : 12...0-0 13.xh7+! xh7 14.g5+ g8 15.h3 e2+ 16.h1 and Black has to give up his Queen. ] 13.b2 e4 14.a3 d7 [ 14...a6!? was worthy of consideration, aiming to close the dangerous a3-f8 diagonal by playing either Nc6-e7 or b5-b4. ] 15.fc1 e7?! This move doesn't follow on from the previous one. After this inaccuracy White's initiative progresses without obstacles. [ Although 15...0-0-0 looks very dangerous, it was Black's only chance. After 16.e1 f6 17.f3 g5 18.b5 b8 19.d3 White's position is very strong, but there is no direct win. ] 16.xe7 xe7 [ The other recapture loses on the spot: 16...xe7 17.b5 xb5 18.c7+ e8 19.a3 ] 17.b5+ f8 18.c2! c8 19.xc8+ xc8 20.c1 The difference in activity of the two Rooks makes Black's position untenable.. b7 21.e1 f6 22.f3 g5 23.d3! f7 [ 23...f7 24.h4 and White wins a piece. ] 24.exf6 gxf6 [ 24...xf6 is bad as it allows 25.c7 ] 25.f4 e5? Losing on the spot. [ 25...d8 was slightly more stubborn, but Black's position is bad anyway: 26.h5! ( t h re a t e n i n g Q h 6 ) h6 27.f4! e5 T h e o n l y wa y t o p r e ve n t R c 7 . 28.xf6+ xf6 29.xf6 e7 ( 29...exd4 30.c7+winning ) 30.dxe5 winning. ] 26.c7! The final blow. d6 27.xb7 1-0

2

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 wh e n t h e b i s h o p r e m a i n s o n t h e l o n g B00 diagonal. ] Aleksandrov,Danila 2254 Turikov,Viktor 2311 12...h5! 13.e3 c7 14.fe5 g6 [ Not 14...xe5 15.xh7+ xh7 16.xh5+ White Nights Open (7) 30.06.2000 g8 17.xe5 ] [Neil McDonald] 15.xd7 xd7 16.ad1 c7 17.f3 f4 Black gains the two bishops with balanced 1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d3 e6 [ If Black is planning to challenge White in ch a n ce s. A ga me o f ca t a n d m o u se n o w the centre with an early d7-d5 advance, then ensues lasting right up until the final move. he does best to adopt a move order that After simplification White presses for the win doesn't allow his opponent the chance to in the endgame, but he has misjudged the play Ng5. Unless of course White is made strength of Black's counterplay. 18.d2 xd3 of plastic and chips and you want to block 19.xd3 fd8 20.e2 ab8 21.b3 f6 the position at all costs! Thus, in DEEP 22.c1 a5 23.f2 a8 24.g3 a7 JUNIOR-Akopian, Dortmund 2000, play 25.a3 c6 26.f2 ac8 27.e3 a6 went 3...f6 4.e2 e6 5.f3 d5 28.f4 e7 29.c4 b5 30.fd1 xc4 ( 5...e7! ) 6.e5 fd7 7.g5! e7 31.xc4 xc4 32.bxc4 xd1+ 33.xd1 Too late! 8.g4 h5 ( Instead 8...g6 9.h4 b8 34.e3 b2 35.d2 b1+ 36.f2 f8 h5 10.h3 was good for White in Gleizerov- 37.e2 e8 38.d1 b7 39.d3 f5 Filipovic, Ljubljana 2000.) 9.g3 f8 40.c2 h5 41.f4 g5 42.e5 f7 43.h3 10.0-0 a6 Here a human player would be h4 44.h2 f6 45.d6 xd6 46.xd6 thinking about pawn breakthroughs, perhaps e5 47.c6 f4! 48.xe6 g3 49.g6 wi t h f 4 - f 4 , b u t m o r e l i k e l y w i t h c 2 - c 4 . g4! 50.fxg4 f4 51.f6 xg2 52.xf4 xh3 Instead the computer just messes around 53.f5 xg4 54.xc5 h3 55.c8 h7 and allows Black to block things up even 56.g8+ h4 57.g1 h2 58.h1 g3 further. 11.xa6 ( Already 11.c4 59.b3 g2 60.c1 h5 61.c5 xc5 was interesting, as if Black takes on c4 with 62.c4 h1 63.xh1 xh1 64.c3 g2 the pawn there is Qf3, attacking both a8 and 65.d4 c8 66.c5 f3 67.d5 e3 68.a4 f7. ) 11...xa6 12.c3?! c5 13.d1 c4 d3 69.c6 c3 70.c5 b3 71.b5 a8 14.e1 c8 15.h4 h7 16.f3 g8 72.c7 a3! a n d t h e ga m e e ve n t u a lly f in ish e d a s a 0-1 lifeless draw. ] 4.f3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 d5 B00 8.exd5 So far play has followed DD415, 6 Grosar-Filipovic. In that game White chose to Apicella,Manuel 2510 block the centre with Porrasmaa,Timo 2216 [ 8.e5 The game move tries to keep things ECC Halkidiki GRE (5) 26.09.2002 more fluid. ] [Jon Tisdall] 8...xd5 A difficult choice. [ 8...xd5!? may have been more accurate, 1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 as the aggressive 9.c4 h5 10.d5 exd5 5.e3 e6 6.h3 h5 7.d5 exd5 8.exd5 11.e1 c6 doesn't work for White. ] xf3?! This game does little to dispel the 9.dxc5 bxc5 This keeps over the important d o u b t s a r o u n d t h i s m o v e - t h e m o r e d4 square, but it leaves a hole on c4 and the complicated c5 pawn becomes slightly vulnerable. [ 8...e5 9.g4 g6 remains the best bet. ] [ D e s e r v i n g a t t e n t i o n w a s 9...xc5!? 9.xf3 e5 10.e2 e7 11.0-0-0 0-0 Assuming W hite cannot do anything fast 12.f4 ed7 13.g4 Typical procedure from Black must then have fully equalised. ] W hite - straightforward pawn storming has 10.a3 0-0 11.f4 bd7 12.c4? enjoyed great success. c5 14.d4 e8 This is too routine. I like the idea of 15.g5 f8 16.f3 fe4 [ 12.h3! to answer h5 with 13.h2 [ 16...fd7 17.h4 ]

5

3

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.xe4 xe4 18.b5 [ 18.d3 c5 19.b5 e7 20.f5!? ] 18...e7 19.hg1! Preparing the road forward for the f- and g-pawns. a6 20.d3 e8 21.f5 c5 22.xc5 dxc5 23.g6 fxg6 [ 23...e5!? was possible, preventing Qh5. White's initiative continues, but Black is on the board 24.d6 ( 24.gxh7+ h8 ) 24...cxd6 25.c4 h8 ] 24.fxg6 h6 25.d6! cxd6?? [ 25...d7 is the only move, when Black looks lost , but no clean KO is obvious. 26.ge1 d8 27.dxc7 g5+! ( 27...xc7 28.c4+ h8 29.xd7 xd7 30.f7+- ) 28.b1 xc7 and Black's position is precarious but not yet lost. ] 26.c4+ h8 27.d5 1-0

7 Ardelean,George Catalin Barbu,Iulian Banc Post Int (11) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2426 2282 27.09.2000

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.f3 f6 5.d3 b4 6.e2 d5 7.g5 [ 7.exd5 xd5 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 bd7 10.e1 0-0 11.a6?! xa6 12.xa6 c5 13.d3 cxd4 14.cxd4 ac8 15.d2 b5 16.b2 a6 17.a4 b4 18.a5 c6 19.f1 b5 20.e3 b8 21.d2 d5 22.h3 7f6 23.ab1 xa5 24.c4 bxc3 25.xc3 c7 26.a5 d6 27.d3 f4 28.f1 bc8 29.ed1 h6 30.b4 d7 31.c5 6d5 32.c4 c3 33.e5 d5 34.xc6 xc6 35.g3 fe2+ 36.h2 xd1 37.xd1 c3 38.c1 d5 39.a3 b7 40.b1 c6 41.c5 a5 42.e1 a8 43.b3 a4 44.a3 b5 45.g2 c4 46.d6 xd4 47.f3 e3+ 0-1 Ascic,P-Lovric,B/Pula 1999 ] [ 7.e5 e4 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 xc3 10.e3 e4 11.e1 c5 12.c3 xc3 13.dxc5 e4 14.xe4 dxe4 15.g3 f8 16.a3 g8 17.c2 d7 18.fd1 c7 19.cxb6 axb6 20.d2 c5 21.ad1 h6 22.d4 d3 23.d6 c4 24.b3 h7 25.f3 xa2 26.xa2 xb3 27.ad2 e3 28.xd3 e2 29.e1 exd1 30.xd1

xd1+ 31.xd1 c8 32.a1 d5 33.a7 g6 34.f2 c2+ 35.g3 b5 36.a1 b2 37.a3 b3 38.d6 b2 39.a3 b3 40.d6 c4 41.f4 b2 42.g3 h5 43.h4 a2 44.a3 e2 45.d6 f6 46.c1 c4 47.exf6 gxf6 48.b1 a2 49.b4 f5 50.c3 c2 51.d4 e5 52.b2 exd4 53.xc2 d3 54.d2 e5 55.f2 d4 56.g4 b4 57.gxh5 b3 58.h6 g8 59.e1 c3 60.h5 h7 61.f4 b2 62.d1 b1 0-1 Simonet Pons,M-Gallego,R/Escaldes 1999 ] 7...h6 8.xf6 gxf6!? Not the most natural move in the world, but having an extra centre pawn and some chances on the g-file is an interesting way to inject some dynamics into the position. [ 8...xf6 9.0-0 xc3 10.bxc3 0-0 11.exd5 exd5 12.e5 d6 13.g4 c8 14.g3 d7 15.xd7 xg3 16.f6+ gxf6 17.fxg3 g7 18.ae1 d8 19.e7 c5 20.b5 a6 21.e2 e6 22.b1 db8 1/2-1/2 Brandenberg,K-Krafzik,J/Germany 1999 ] 9.a3 xc3+ 10.bxc3 c6 11.e5 f5 [ 11...e7!? Preparing to castle long and keeping options of chipping away in the centre was interesting Also ] [ 11...g8!? has its merits. Closing with ...f5 robs black's position of some of its flexibility. ] 12.d2 g5 13.g3 e7 14.f4 a5 15.g1 0-0-0 16.b3 xb3?! After this black does not have much to do. [ 16...c6 ] 17.cxb3 c5?! 18.b4 cxd4 [ 18...c4 19.c2 h5 will presumably not keep white out forever, as he has all day to prepare the break g3-g4 under eventually favourable circumstances. ] 19.cxd4 b8 Here too black faces a nearly infinite defensive chore. 20.f2 c8 21.gc1 c7 22.d2 hc8 23.xc7 xc7 24.b5 e7 25.b2 c7 26.b4 d8 [ 26...c3 27.xc3 xc3 28.e2 and the rook will be driven out. ] 27.e3 f8 28.xf8 xf8 29.c1 g8 30.f3 c8 31.g2 d7 32.h3 f6 33.exf6 f8 34.h4 xf6 35.e2 e8 Black has prevented a direct invasion, but now endures a hostile hard-handed massage 4

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 for the rest of the game. His plan is straightforward, and he can implement it with a h e lp i n g o f s lo w t o rt u re . First h 3 +g4 i s played to create a potential passed pawn. 36.c3 d7 37.c2 b7 38.d3 f8 39.h5 f6 40.c1 e8+ 41.h4 d7 42.h3 f8 43.f1 f6 44.c2 b8 45.c3 b7 46.e2 b8 47.f3 c7 48.g4 fxg4 49.hxg4 d6 50.a4 e8 51.g3 A new regrouping, where white will tie black to the h6 pawn before preparing the advance of the g-pawn. f7 52.c3 d7 53.d3 f8 54.c1 Preventing any activity on the c-file black cannot trade rooks as the white king would rush in on the h-file. f6 55.h1 e8 56.h2 d7 57.f3 e8 58.e3 d7 59.h1 e8 60.h7! Preparing escort service for the g-pawn. d7 61.g5 hxg5 62.fxg5 f7 63.g6 e7 64.g1 g7 65.f4 e8 66.g2 f7 67.g5 e8 68.h6 1-0

8 Aronian,Levon Pedersen,Erik It Morso DEN (3) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2584 2400 11.02.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 xe5 4.f4 c6 5.c4 b4+ [ 5...f6!? is annotate d elsewhere on the site, and is probably the critical line - if it works... 6.c3 b4 7.e5 d5 8.exf6 dxc4 9.e2+ f8 10.e3 xf6 11.0-0-0 e6 12.e4 e7 13.f3 c3 14.b3 a5 15.b1 a4 16.b5 axb3 17.axb3 xb3 18.cxb3 xe4+ 19.d3 a5 20.c4 xc4 21.bxc4 e7 22.d4 xd4 23.xd4 ha8 24.e3+ d7 25.he1 a1+ 26.c2 1a2+ 27.d3 d2+ 28.e4 f5+ 29.xf5 xd4 30.c5 xc5 31.xc3 f8+ 32.g5 e7+ 0-1 Orso,M-Bordas,G/Budapest HUN 2000 ] 6.c3 a5 7.f3 You know a line is not terribly well explored when moves like this appear to be novelties. [ 7.e3 prevents black from taking up annoying possession of the a7-g1 diagonal, but the Be3 is poorly placed. h4+ 8.g3 e7 9.f3 f6 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 ( 11.e5

g4 ) 11...g4 was fine for black, though he could also have taken the pawn on e4. 1-0 Levi,E-Tu Hoang Thong/ASK It Canberra AUS 1995 (57). ] 7...b6 8.e2 e7 9.bd2 d6 10.d3 A strong, simple, sensible yet far from obvious move. White just wants to play Nc4 and annex the bishop pair. f6 [ 10...f5!? looks like an interesting way to try and take advantage of still having the knight on g8. ] 11.c4 d5 [ 11...e6!? was worth a look. While the reaction ...d5 reminds me of Milesian handling of this kind of position, here black just cannot find sensible squares for the Nf6. In fact, I begin to understand lines where this piece comes into play via h6... ] 12.xb6 axb6 13.e5 g4 14.h3 h6 15.g4 f6 16.exf6 xe2+ 17.xe2 gxf6 18.f2 Black's kingside is seriously s h a t t e r e d . 0-0 19.g1 h8 20.b4! I like this move a lot - white relies on the positive energy of his position, and doesn't mind making a real mess of his queenside in order to get his dark-squared bishop on the long diagonal and the show on the proverbial road on the other flank. f7 21.b5 a5 22.e3 d6 23.d4 g8 24.g5 And now its time for the can opener on this side. f5 25.g6 h6 26.g7 e8 27.g6 b3 28.axb3 xa1 29.xh6 A terrific by white - it seems to me that you can only convert advantages with this kind of awesome brute force when you are young... 1-0

9 Ascic,Pero Rogulj,Branko TCh-CRO Rabat CRO (1) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2347 2411 07.09.2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.d5 ce7 4.e3 f5 An idea of Miles that makes an interesting change from the better-known plan with 4... Ng6, followed by ...Nf6, and typically ...c6. That's not bad either but a timely h2-h4-h5 generally gives W hite space and pressure. 5.f3 f6 6.d3 Miles has had two 5

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 noteworthy games in this line: [ 6.h3 A) here 6...fxe4!? 7.fxe4 g6 ( 7...xe4? 8.h5+ g6 9.d3 is catastrophic for Black) 8.f2 b4+ 9.c3 a5 intending ...Bb6 is possible.; B) 6...d6 7.f2 c6 8.c4 c5 9.g3 g6 10.c3 g7 is like a Saemisch King's Indian (Beliavsky,A-Miles,A St.Vincent 2000) and ] [ 6.c3 d6 7.d2 g6 8.0-0-0 g7 9.h3 f4 10.f2 0-0 11.b1 is presumably some sort of Pirc, Campora,D-Miles,A Seville 1993. In both cases W hite's space advantage gives him the better options but this type of ga m e s u i t s t h o s e wh o p r e f e r a c l o s e d centre. ] 6...fxe4!? An interesting interpretation, leading to more open piece play than in the previous note. 7.fxe4 g6 8.c3?! [ 8.d2 is surely less complacent but then c6! 9.c4 b4 looks fine for Black. ] 8...b4 9.d2 a further imprecision. White hasn't noticed the storm clouds gathering... xc3! 10.xc3 xe4! stealing a pawn. White doesn't have any real compensation but is able to keep Black on his toes with vigorous play. 11.c4 d6 12.c3!? [ 12.xg6+?! hxg6 13.g4 h4+ is too easy for Black. ] 12...e4 13.e2 0-0 14.0-0-0 f5 [ 14...b6 with ...Bb7 comes into consideration. ] 15.d6! One might as well be hung for... xd6 16.g4 b6 17.h4! Keep going lads... xh4?! [ If 17...b7 then 18.g5 c8 19.h5 f4 20.h6 tries to trouble the waters but e6 steadies the ship. ] 18.h3 f3 19.xd6?! [ 19.b3+! h8 20.f4 is even more d a n g e r o u s . F r i t z t h e n s u g g e s t s xf4 21.xf4 b7 but chances are approximately equal. ] 19...cxd6 20.c4+ f7 21.xe4 b8 22.c4 Black has of course totally lost control, but with the benefit of hindsight, I think that he's still better. [ 22.xf3 is insufficient after b7 ] 22...b7 23.xf7+ xf7 24.xh7 e7 25.f4 c8 Black has retained only one ropey pawn from his pawn-grabbing spree. However

W h it e's at ta ck h as ru n ou t of ste am a n d Black's king proves to be pretty safe. White's however is another matter... 26.f5+ [ The ending after 26.c3 e6 27.f5+ xf5 28.gxf5 f6 clearly favours Black. ] 26...g8 27.g5 xg5 28.xg5 xc2+! A fine blow that finally tips the balance in Bla ck' s f a vo u r. 29.xc2 e2+ 30.c3 xh1 31.f4 [ 31.xd7? loses the bishop to e5+ ] 31...e1+ 32.d2 e5+ 33.c2 e4+ 34.c1 xg4 35.b3 d5 36.e3 g2 37.f2 f1+ 38.b2 e4 39.d4 0-1

10 Bakre,Tejas Popchev,Milko TSGM December (3) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2446 2452 17.12.2001

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 c6 8.a3 d5 9.e5 d7 10.bd2 [ 10.b4 f8 11.e3 g6 12.d1 0-0 13.g3 e8 14.h4 cxd4 15.cxd4 f6 16.exf6 xf6 17.h5 e5 18.hxg6 e4 19.c2 exf3 20.d3 e6 21.f5 xf5 22.xf5 hxg6 23.xg6 e7 24.d3 g5 25.c3 g7 26.f1 ae8 27.ac1 a6 28.b5 a8 29.e1 c8 30.d2 d8 31.a4 axb5 32.xb6 xa3 33.xb5? f5 34.c3 a2+ 35.c1 b8 1-0 Grujic,L-Popchev,M Belgrade 1991. Presumably this result is reversed, unless some horrible clock accident occurred . ] 10...g5!? 11.e3 f8 12.d1 g4 13.e1 cxd4 14.cxd4 g5 15.e2 h5 16.b3 g6 17.a6 [ 17.xg6!? fxg6 18.xg5 xg5 19.ac1 was an interesting alternative â (+) black's bishop is potentially a strong piece, but d4 is more secure and white can occupy the cfile quickly. ] 17...xa6 18.xa6 0-0 19.b7 c8 20.xg5 xg5 21.ac1 e7 Black has a pleasant position and in the very long run he also has chances of laying siege to the pawn duo d4/e5. The d4 pawn is the softest spot on the board. The rest of the game is a good 6

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 illustration of black's possibilities in this type of st ruc tu re . 22.a6 c7 23.c3 b8 24.d3 fc8 25.dc1 g7 26.g3 c6 27.d2 f6 28.exf6+ xf6 29.e3 e7 30.d3 f5 31.f4 f7 32.e5 xe5 33.dxe5 h4 [ 33...xc3 34.xc3 xc3 35.bxc3 c6 ] 34.h3 hxg3 35.hxg4 d4 36.f3 d7 [ 36...xc3!? ] [ 36...h8!? were better ways of trying to squeeze a bit more out of the position. ] 37.xc6 xc6 38.xc6 xc6 39.g2 cxe5 40.xg3 c4 41.xc4 dxc4 42.g2 c5 43.e3 b5 44.f4 d3 45.d1 a5 46.f3 b4 47.axb4 axb4 48.e3 e5 49.fxe5 xe5 50.d4 c3 51.bxc3 bxc3 52.xc3 ½-½

11 Bareev,Evgeny Bauer,Christian It Enghien les Bains FRA (6) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2709 2612 17.04.2001

1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.f3 b4 5.d3 f6 6.e2 d5 7.exd5 xd5 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 0-0 [ 9...bd7 10.e1 ( 10.a4 0-0 11.a5 h5 12.g5 xe2 13.xe2 h6 14.f3 e4 15.a2 c5 16.d2 g6 17.f3 ac8 18.a3 fd8 19.axb6 axb6 20.b3 cxd4 21.xd4 e5 22.d1 d5 23.b5 c4 24.b4 d2 25.e1 b1 26.b2 bxc3 27.xc3 xc3 28.xc3 xc3 29.xb6 xc2 30.xc2 xc2 31.b3 dd2 32.f3 g5 33.g3 g7 34.h3 h5 35.e4 d1+ 36.g2 cc1 37.a3 f5 38.xe6 g4 39.a7+ f8 0-1 Vatnikov,J-Gurgenidze,B Bad Liebenzell 1995.) 10...h5!? 11.a4 xf3 12.gxf3 0-0 13.h1 fe8 (1/2-1/2, 23 ) S h erze r, A -O live ira , P Ph ilad e lp h ia 1993 ] 10.f4 c8 [ The thematic 10...h5 is still very playable: 11.xc7 xf3 12.xf3 ( 12.gxf3 d5 ) 12...xf3 13.gxf3 d5 ] 11.fe1 c5 [ 11...h5!? ] 12.dxc5 xc5 13.c4 bd7 14.a4

This position should be completely OK for b l a c k , b u t B a r e e v i s e xt r e m e l y g o o d a t exploiting the dynamics provided by doubled pawns and the bishop pair. e8 15.a5 e5 16.e3 c7 17.f5 bxa5 18.d2 e4 19.d4 b6 20.g5 xc4 [ 20...e5!? 21.c3 g6 22.f4 ] 21.xc4 xc4 22.eb1 It seems a bit unfair tha t black sh ou ld h ave such a ha rd t im e showing any clear advantage at all with two extra pawns, but the famous bishop pair and white's active pieces create a very complex situation. d5 23.b5 ad8 24.c5 h6 [ 24...e3!? 25.f3 a4!? ] 25.h4 e3 26.f3 g5 27.g3 h5 [ 27...e2!? 28.d3 d2 29.xe2 ( 29.f5!?; 29.xe2 xf3! ) 29...xf3 30.gxf3 xd3 31.cxd3 b3 32.f5 xa1 33.d4 h5 34.xa5 xg3 35.hxg3 d8= ] 28.c7 f4 29.xd8 xd8 30.c3 [ 30.c8!? ] 30...e6 31.xe6 A surprising decision [ 31.xe6 fxe6 32.d3 looks better. ] 31...fxe6 32.f1 b8 33.b5 d2+? [ 33...c8 ] 34.e1 c8 35.bxa5 xc3 36.xa7+f8 37.7a3 xa3 1-0

12

B00 Baumegger,Siegfried 2355 Freitag,Manfred 2389 TCh-2002-3 Fuerstenfeld AUT (10) 15.03.2003 [Jon Tisdall]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 b6 3.f3 b7 4.d3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 The most popular move at this point. W hite will react according to Black's reply. d5 Ah-ha! This move again! as we discussed in March's email bag, White hasn't been finding this idea easy to meet. In particular, Black feels fairly happy with the French-style closed centre seen in the game. [ The alternative 7...c6 is covered in the ebook. ] 8.e5 fd7 9.e3 c6 10.a3 c4 A couple of other moves have been played here, illustrating that there is no hard and fast rule 7

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 concerning the placement of Black's king! [ 10...g5 11.bd2 h5 12.b3 g4 13.e1 c7 14.f4 0-0-0 15.c2 b8 16.fc1 dg8 17.a4 h4 18.b5 f6 Hiermann,DAschenbrenner,R Austria tch. 2002 ] [ 10...a6 11.e1 0-0 12.g4 f5 13.exf6 xf6 14.g5 f7 15.xe7 xe7 16.f3 f6 17.h3 e5 Trabert, B-Epishin,V Lausanne 2001 ] 11.c2 a5 12.bd2 h6 With the centre firmly closed Black can calmly prepare long castling and action on the kingside. This is frustrating for White who cannot easily open the queenside. 13.e1 c7 14.h4 0-0-0 15.h5 dg8 16.g3 b8 17.g2 f8 18.f3 c6 19.h2 e8 Why hurry? 20.g4 b7 21.h3 h7 22.f4 c8 23.g4 d7 24.f2 e8 25.ae1 c8 26.e2 f8 27.h4 d8 28.h1 c6 29.f1 fg8 30.b1 f8 31.f1 g5 After a period of heavy manoeuvring, Black grasps his chance to open lines. 32.hxg6 h5 33.f6 [ If 33.f2 then xh4 34.xh4 xg6 is fine for Black ] 33...xf6 34.exf6 xf6 35.f2 xg6 36.xg6 fxg6 37.f3 h4 A pawn sacrifice to lever open W hite's king. 38.xh4 xh4 39.xh4 g5 40.fxg5 xg5 41.e3 h8 W hite is powerless to halt ...e5 f or long. 42.f3 h5 43.c1 e5! With his remaining pieces joining the fray White's insecure king becomes the decisive factor. 44.e3 h3+ 45.e1 g4 46.f5 h7 47.f3 e4+ 48.d2 xf5 49.xf5 g6 50.e3 a6 51.f2 a5 52.e7 b3+ 53.d1 h5+ 54.c2 h7 Note the relative safety of the two kings in this game! 0-1

13 Belamaric,Goran Mestrovic,Zvonimir chT Bled SLO (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2208 2434 20.10.2000

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e5 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.a3 [ 8.h3 h5 9.e1 e8 10.d5 b8 11.d3 The beginning of a pointless pilgrimage. g6

12.d2 bd7 13.c4 b6 14.b3 fd7 15.a4 g5 16.b5 xe3 17.xe3 f8 18.a5 c5 19.a2 c8 20.b4 d7 21.a4 b8 22.a6 bxa6 23.xa6 xa6 24.xa6 e7 25.c4 f5 26.f3 e8 27.a6 d7 28.e1 g6 29.exf5 f4 30.de4 xf5 31.f1 h4 32.h2 xg2 0-1 Mazi,L-Mestrovic,Z/Bled 1995. ] 8...e8 9.h3 h5 10.d5 b8 11.d2 g6 12.f3?! This allows black to gradually encroach on the kingside. Mestrovic is a steady practitioner of this variation as black, and seems to thrive on players going astray against the somewhat shapeless black position. h5 13.h2 h4 14.g4?! f4 15.c4 d7 16.e2 g5 17.xf4 exf4 18.b5 to prevent the N using the newly formed e5-outpost. a6 19.xd7 xd7 20.c4 h5 Black now has the power to slowly infiltrate on the dark-squares, and to open lines against the white king. 21.c3 f6 22.c1 e7 23.g2 e5 24.e1 d4 25.b3 f6 26.d2 e5 27.c2 [ 27.c5!? ] 27...g5 28.c1 xc3! 29.xc3 [ 29.xc3 hxg4 30.hxg4 xe4! 31.fxe4 f3+ ] 29...hxg4 30.hxg4 xe4! a promising piece sacrifice. 31.fxe4 xe4+ 32.f3 xg4+ [ 32...f5!? looks better, creating a nastily advanced pawn roller. ] 33.f2 h4+ 34.g1 xc2 35.xc2 e8 36.d3 The worst is over now, white is relatively safe once the knight comes to the defence. e4 37.h2 f6 38.b3 g5 39.f2 e2 40.h3 d4 41.g2 g7 42.h5 e5 43.g1 f8 44.g4 a1+ 45.g2 e1 46.c8+ g7 47.h3 g6 48.g8+ g7 49.c8 a1 50.h8 g1+ 51.h2 g3 52.g8+ g7 53.c8 e3 ½-½

14 Beliavsky,Alexander G Miles,Anthony J 1st ch-Europe (9) [Carsten Hansen]

B00 2640 2579 12.07.2000

1.d4 c6 2.e4 e5 3.d5 3 dxe5 Nxe5 4 Nf3 is the main line, but Beliavsky, like Miles, isn't 8

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 afraid of choosing his own path through the jungle. ce7 4.e3 f5 5.f3 f6 6.h3!? This move looks a bit bizarre, but the idea makes sense: transfer the knight to f2, from where it protects the e4-pawn and controls the g4 -s q u a re , wh i ch o t h e rwi se wo u ld b e i n Black's hands after an exchange on e4. [ Other possibilities are: 6.c3 d6 7.d2 g6 8.0-0-0 g7 9.h3 f4 10.f2 0-0 11.b1 a6 12.ge2 d7 13.c1 b5 14.a3 b8 15.b3 Campora-Miles, Seville 1993, and now b4 would have given Black at least the initiative. ] [ 6.d3 f4 7 6...fxe4!? fxe4 c6!? is also an interesting option 7.f2 g5 8.c4 g6 9.c3 b4 10.b3 e7 11.0-0-0 c5 12.xc5 xc5 13.b1 d6 14.ge2 b6 15.c2 d7 16.a1 e7 , and Black is do ing f in e , P a ra m os Dom ingu e z-I ze t a , Spain ch 1993. ] 6...d6 7.f2 c6 8.c4 c5 9.g3 g6 10.c3 g7 This looks a bit like a Saemisch Variation of the King's Indian, in which neither side are familiar with the moves. 11.g4 f4 [ 11...fxg4 is far more interesting, but also more challenging for Black 12.fxg4 h5 ( 12...0-0 is also playable) 13.e2 xg4 14.xg4 hxg4 15.xg4 0-0 16.g1 with an initiative for White. ] 12.d2 g5 13.b4 [ Or 13.h4 h6 14.hxg5 hxg5 15.xh8+ xh8 16.h3 g6 17.a4+ f8 18.0-0-0 h4 19.e2 with a long struggle ahead ] 13...b6 14.bxc5 bxc5 15.d3 h5 16.h3 f7 17.e2 g6 Now it looks like Black is slightly better, although the closed pawn structure limits the advantage considerably. 18.a4 f8 19.ab1 e7 20.c2 hxg4 21.hxg4 xh1 22.xh1 d7 23.a3 b8 24.b1 b6 with a fairly balanced game. 25.c3 h8 26.g1 c8 27.d2 a6 28.xa6 xa6 29.b1 d8 30.a4 c7 31.b5 c8 32.f1 e7 33.c6 h4 34.d2 g2 35.b7 d7 36.a6 b6 37.f1 h4 38.e1 g2 39.d2 h4 40.b5 c8 41.e1 g2 42.d2 h4 43.b3 d8 44.c6 ½-½

15 Blimke,Dalia Gaprindashvili,Nona 2nd ch-EUR Women (10) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2209 2376 02.05.2001

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.a3 g6 5.f3 g7 6.g5 e7 [ 6...c8!? as McShane tried in a similar position against Tukmakov, deserves attention. ] 7.h4!? h6 8.f4 d6 9.d2 An interesting deployment against the Miles/ McShane Hippo - white prevents expansion with ...g5 and keeps an eye on h6. d7 10.e2 a6 11.h2 b5 12.g1? b6 13.d1 d7 14.f3 White seems stumped, and only hoping to lure b l a c k i n t o c a s t l i n g k i n g s i d e . 0-0-0!? W hile white has been trundling around planlessly, black has made some sensible m o ve s, b u t t h is c o n ve rt s t h e q u e e n s i d e expansion into weaknesses, and is very risky indeed. [ 14...d8!? ] [ 14...f5!? ] [ 14...0-0? 15.f4 h7 16.h5 g5 17.xg5! hxg5 18.xg5+ g8 19.h6 f6 ( 19...h8 20.h7+ g7 21.xf7! ) 20.f4+- ] 15.0-0 f5 16.d3 fxe4 [ 16...g5!? beats a path to d4 and tries to open all lines on the kingside - this definitely deserves attention and is presumably a reason for castling the other way. ] 17.xe4 xe4 [ 17...g5!? is still a natural way to try and get going on the kingside. ] 18.xe4 f5 19.b3 c6 To justify castling opposite sides black should be aiming to hook onto the h4 pawn, but grows understandably uneasy about how peelable her own king cover is. It is probably already too late to try and race: [ 19...e7 20.a5 ( 20.g3 g5 21.hxg5 hxg5 22.xg5 f7 ) 20...b7 21.c4 xh4 22.xh4 xh4 23.fe1 and black's king cover is going, with c4-c5 the main threat. ] 20.fe1 he8 21.c1 d5 22.c4! bxc4 23.bxc4 c6 9

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 23...xc4 24.b4+- ] 24.c5 c4 25.cxd6+- xd2 26.xc6 xf3+ 27.gxf3 d7 28.xa6 xd6 29.xd6 xd6 30.xd6+ cxd6 31.xd6 1-0

16 Bologan,Viktor Martin,Andrew D 4NCL Birmingham [Andrew Martin]

B00

23.10.2005

1.e4 b6 What to play against Bologan? An unorthodox opening reduces the chance of getting theoretically outplayed and sidesteps the opponents preparation. Not that Bologan would have prepared anything special for me other than a good night's sleep! 2.d4 b7 3.d3 g6 Maybe this is trampling on Glenn's ground, maybe not. The Owen move-order often allows Black to set up a favourable version of the Hippo. 4.f4 f5! A sharp and necessary move. White must not be allowed to mass his forces in the centre or Black will be squashed. 5.e2 fxe4 6.xe4 xe4 7.xe4 c6 8.f3 f6 9.e2N Bologan played this quickly but as he was suffering from a virus we should not read too much into that. It looked like he wanted to get the game over as quickly as possible. My own f eeling is that Black is f ine here. He ca n develop effectively and can look forward to a central pawn break in the near future. [ 9.d3 would have been a nice sight for me, leading to a game I knew well: g7 10.e5 0-0 11.xc6 dxc6 12.0-0 d7 13.c3 c5 14.c4+ d5 15.dxc5 e5 16.fxe5 xf1+ 17.xf1 f8 18.e2 e7 19.d2 xe5 20.c4 d4+ 0-1 Serpik, I-Blatny, P/Los Angeles 2003 ] 9...g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.d1 e6 12.c4 e7 13.c3 ae8= Thematic play. Now Black plans either ...d6 and ...e6-e5 or maybe ...d7d5 and ..Ne4 if allowed. 14.g3 [ I expected 14.e5 which I was planning to answer with the simple d8 with ...d6, ... Nf7 and ...e5 as the coming plan. ] 14...d6 15.g2 d8 16.e3 a8! Still no problems for Black in fact it is White who has to play very well just to stay on the

board. 17.f1 e5 The aforementioned break 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.d5 d4 20.d2 g4 21.g1 xf3 22.xf3 xf3 23.xf3 e4+ So, far, so forced. I was still happy and felt Black to be a little better. But great players do not cave in. 24.g2 [ 24.xg4 c8+ 25.h4 ( 25.g5 f5+ 26.h4 h5# ) 25...f6+ 26.g5 xg5+ 27.xg5 f5+ 28.h6 h5# ] 24...c8 [ W i t h h i n d s i g h t m a y b e 24...e5! was better: 25.e2 ( 25.b3 c8 26.xe4 xc4-+ ) 25...f3 26.e3 xc3 27.bxc3 d8 ] 25.e1 f5 I had designs on his King. 26.f1 d7 27.e2 xc3! An unconventional decision but a good one. Black gets to preserve his passed pawn and poses questions to White about his pawn structure. I didn't see myself getting mated. 28.bxc3 h6 29.f4 e7 30.c5! I saw this move but it came as a surprise! Is that a contradiction? Well, that's how it was. e3 31.cxb6 axb6 32.c4 f7 33.d6! cxd6 34.xe3 b7+ Still OK, but by now I was getting into mild time-trouble and starting to get worried by the nature of White's counterplay. Here the game changes course. [ 34...xe3! l e a d s t o a d r a w : 35.xf7+ ( 35.xf7 b5 36.b3 e4+ 37.f3+ d5 38.xb5 f8 39.d3 xf3 40.xf3 c2+= ) 35...h8 36.f6+ g8 37.xd6 xc3 38.xb6 d2+ 39.f2 d5+ 40.h3 h5+ 41.g2 d5+= It's hard to say why I didn't play this line. A combination of over-optimism and underestimation of the opponent has to be the answer, although I'm having problems admitting it! ] 35.f2 b5 36.b3 e4?! [ Just 36...e7!= holds easily and crucially, protects the Queen! ] 37.a4! On to the mistake in a flash. g5 [ 37...xf4+! 38.gxf4 ( I missed 38.xf4 a7+ ) 38...h1 39.axb5 xh2+ 40.f3 d5 was a much, much better try. I just didn't play this part of the game very well. ] 38.xe4 xe4 39.axb5 d5 40.d4 g4 41.d1 g5 42.e2! Now wriggle as he might, Black cannot escape defeat. h3+ 43.e1 b1+ 44.d1 e4+ 45.d2 g5 46.c1 f3 47.b6 e8 48.b2 b5+ 10

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 49.a3 h5 50.a4 xd4 51.xd4 h7 52.b4 a6+ 53.b3 e2 54.b7 d1+ 55.b2 e2+ 56.a3 e1 57.b8 1-0

17 Brancaleoni,Maurizio Tomescu,Vlad Open Cesenatico ITA (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2196 2417 10.09.2001

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.d5 exd5 7.exd5 xf3 8.xf3 [ 8.gxf3!? Sharper, but not terrifying. e5 9.e3 e7 10.d2 0-0 11.0-0-0 c5 12.dg1 e8 13.f4 d7 14.e4 a6 15.f5 df6 16.g5 d7 17.d3 b5 18.c4 a4 19.b1 b5 20.b3 xb3 21.axb3 c7 Black has seized the initiative with active play on the queenside and the better pawn structure. 22.c2 fb8 23.d2 f8 24.a1 h6 25.h3 d7 26.f4 f6 27.a2 b7 28.h5 d4 29.c3 xc3 30.xc3 e8 31.d3 e5 32.e1 eb8 33.e3 bxc4 34.bxc4 b3+ 35.c2 8b4 36.xe5 dxe5 37.d6 a8 38.f6 gxf6 39.xf6 b6 40.xa6 xb2+ 41.c1 xf2 42.xb6 xf6 43.d7 bxb6 44.d8+ g7 45.c7 bd6 46.e2 c6 47.xe5 ce6 48.g3+ g6 49.c3+ g8 50.f3 a6 51.e3 a1+ 52.b2 a5 53.e8+ g7 54.e5+ g8 55.c6 a6 56.d5 gb6+ 57.c1 f8 58.e4 a5 59.h4 e6 60.b8+ g7 61.g3+ f8 62.b8+ g7 63.f4 a1+ 64.b2 aa6 65.g4+ f8 66.d5 eb6+ 67.c2 a2+ 68.d3 g6 69.f4 g3+ 70.e4 e2+ 71.f5 g6 72.xf7 gg2 73.d5 gf2 74.f3 e1 75.g6+ e7 76.f6+ 1-0 Timoshenko,G-Miles,A Moscow 1990. ] 8...e5 9.e2 e7 10.0-0 [ 10.e3 A) 10...0-0 11.f4 ed7 12.d2 A1) 12...e8 13.f3 b6 14.b3 d7 15.0-0 c5 16.h3 c8 17.d3 d8 18.ae1 a5 19.d2 b6 20.e4 xd2 21.xf6+ gxf6 22.xd2 xe1 23.xe1 e8 24.xe8+ xe8 25.f2 c8 26.a4 e7 27.d3 f8 28.g4 h6 29.e4 f8 30.b4? f5 31.xf5

cxb4 32.g4 ( 32.xh7 h5 ) 32...a5 33.g3 g7 34.c4 b2 35.d3 f5 36.d1 a1 37.g4 xa4 38.gxf5 a1 39.h5 c3 40.f6 xf6 41.xh7 xf4+ 42.f3 f5 43.xb7 e3+ 44.g2 0-1 Frendzas, P-Ibragimov,I Peristeri 1993.; A2) 12...c5 13.f3 d7 14.0-0-0 ae8 15.d4 d8 16.he1 xe1 17.xe1 e8 18.g4 xe1+ 19.xe1 h6 20.h3 a6 21.e3 e7 22.xe7 xe7 23.b4 cd7 24.d2 h7 25.e4 f6 26.f2 g6 27.e2 b6 28.d3 a4 29.c4 b2+ 30.b3 d1 31.e1 g7 32.c4 f6 33.f3 d7 34.c1 e3 35.f2 d4 36.e2 b6 37.e1 g5 38.c3 1/2-1/2 Dlugy, M-Miles,A USA-ch 1989.; B) 10...c5!? 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.f4 g6 13.0-0 0-0 14.e1 d5 15.f2 b8 16.ab1 e8 17.b4 c7 18.d4 ab8 19.b5 cxb5 20.xb5 xb5 21.xb5 d8 22.e2 b4 23.b5 xc2 24.f5 e4 25.e3 f8 26.a3 d2 27.h3 a6 28.g4 h6 29.d1 d2 30.xg7 xg7 31.f6 xf6 32.xf6 axb5 33.f1 d4+ 0-1 Koelle,A-Storm,R Germany 1991 GERchT2. ] 10...0-0 11.e1 [ 11.e3 fd7 12.d2 g6 13.b5 f6 14.d4 e8 15.c3 e7 16.c4 xd4 17.xd4 f5 18.c3 c5 19.d3 xd3 20.xd3 g5 1/2-1/2 Gruenfeld,Y-Miles,A Biel 1995. ] 11...a6 12.a4 e8 13.f1 h6 14.a5 f8 15.e4 g6 16.a3 ed7 17.xf6+ xf6 18.f3 h4 19.c4 h5 20.g3 g7 21.g5 d4 22.xe8+ xe8 23.a4 e1 24.e3 b1 25.b4 e5 26.c2 b2 27.c3 f3+ 0-1

18 Brendel,Oliver Hille,Ingo Bundesliga 2000-1 (7) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2394 2244 28.01.2001

1.e4 c6 2.f3 f6 3.c3 d5 4.e5 d7 [ 4...e4 is more in keeping with the spirit of the opening, and black has had very 11

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 reasonable results - here are a sampling of some that are both encouraging and fairly representative of the ideas employed. 5.d4 ( 5.b5 g4 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 xc3 8.dxc3 e6 9.f4 d7 10.0-0-0 a6 11.d3 b5 12.he1 b8 13.b1 e7 14.h4 c5 15.h5 c4 16.f1 c6 17.g4 c7 18.xd5 exd5 19.e6 d6 20.xd6 xd6 21.xf7+ d8 22.xg7 e8 23.g5 b4 24.g6 hxg6 25.h6 e7 26.xg6 bxc3 27.h7 xb2+ 0-1 Vogelmann,P-Renette,H NED 1998.) 5...g4 6.e3 ( 6.e2 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.e3 xc3 9.bxc3 0-0 10.h3 h5 11.d3 a5 12.fe1 c4 13.ab1 b6 14.d1 g6 15.e2 h6 16.d2 xe3 17.xe3 c5 18.f4 c8 19.b2 c7 20.f1 cxd4 21.cxd4 c3 22.xc3 xc3 23.f3 fc8 24.xc3 xc3 25.b3 c7 26.c3 h4 27.f3 g3 28.f1 d3+ 29.e2 c2 30.a3 xf4 31.f2 c1 32.a6 b2 33.e1 e4 34.f3 g6 35.e2 xc3 36.f3 a5 0-1 Dansker,GIppoliti,H Buenos Aires 1993.) 6...e6 7.d3 b4 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 xc3 10.b1 xd4 11.xb7 xe3 12.b5 0-0 13.xc6 b6 14.a4 a5 15.h3 h5 16.d3 e7 17.xb6 cxb6 18.xa8 xa8 19.d4 b4 20.f4 g6 21.f5 exf5 22.xf5 c5+ 23.h1 e8 24.f3 xe5 25.xg7 f8 26.f6 xg7 27.xb6 h6 28.xa5 e2 29.b5 e5 30.a5 xc2 31.a6 e4 32.g1 g3 0-1 Cioara,A-Pizzuto,S/ Castellaneta 1999 ] 5.d4 b6 To get the light-squared bishop out before playing ...e6. [ 5...e6 is a posit ion more often seen via the French, though even there it is rare, and even there Black prefers to put his N on e4. ] 6.a3 f5 [ 6...g4!? ] 7.h4 d7 8.f4 e6 9.f3 Now this looks like a clumsy French from black. a6 10.e2 a7 11.0-0 c5 12.e3 c7 13.h1 0-0-0?! 14.a4 c4 15.xc4 dxc4 16.e2 cxd4 17.xd4 b8 18.g1 White has a clear edge as the c4 pawn is weak and black's king exposed. e7 19.e4 f5 20.d6! xd6 21.exd6 xd6 22.e5 e7 23.xc4 c6?? [ 23...c6 24.b6 dg8 25.ad1 ] [ 23...c8 24.e5+ a8 25.c7 +- ]

24.e5+ c7 25.xa7+ 1-0

19 Campora,Daniel Hugo Salgado Gonzalez,Julio XXVII Open Sevilla ESP (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2542 2063 12.01.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d7 [ 4...g8!? is an interesting option - it takes two moves for this piece to reach a decent square in any event, and the traditional route to b6 is hardly a dream outpost. On the other hand, one has to wonder if the option of getting the Bc8 out is worth playing a French with a lot of silly preliminary horseplay. ] 5.f3 b6 6.b5N g4 [ 6...d7!? ] 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 Now white has an easy advantage, either thanks to the bishop pair, or a better pawn structure after a capture on c6. e6 9.0-0 g6 10.d1 g7 11.a4 a5 12.b3 0-0 13.xc6 bxc6 14.a3 e8 15.e2 f6 [ 15...d7!? ] 16.c3 fxe5 17.dxe5 d7 18.f4 g5 Tempting, but white is quite well placed to use the open lines on the kingside. [ 18...a6!? ] 19.g3 gxf4 20.gxf4 h4 21.d3 h5 [ 21...a6 22.g3 h8 23.g4 h5 24.h2 ] 22.e1 h8? [ 22...a6 23.g3 h8 24.d4 ] 23.xc6 xe5 24.fxe5 xe5 25.g3 [ 25.g3 g8 26.xe6+( 26.xa8 is possible as well. )] 1-0

20 Campora,Daniel Hugo Salgado Gonzalez,Julio XXVI Open Sevilla ESP (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2513 2079 13.01.2001

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 We get a thorough look at t h i s l i n e t h i s m o n t h . 3.c3 e5!? Nic e t o co n f u se p e o p le s o e a r ly. . . 4.b5 12

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A look at some of the alternatives, in encouraging form - I like to give the potential daring defender something to look forward to it is always best to get to know what one can look forward to, while keeping in mind that daily life in these lines is likely to be far more pedestrian. [ 4.exd5 xd4 5.f3 ( 5.e3 f5 6.b5+ d7 7.d3 xe3 8.xd7+ xd7 9.xe3 f6 10.ge2 d6 11.0-0 e7 12.ad1 0-0 13.e4 b6 14.c4 h6 15.c5 bxc5 16.xc5 g4 17.d2 f5 18.e4 xe4 19.xe4 ab8 20.c1 b4 21.dd1 a5 22.b3 b6 1/2-1/2 Szabo,Z-Furhoff,J Budapest 1994. ) 5...g4 6.xd4!? xd1 7.b5+ e7 8.d6+ xd6 9.f4 g4 10.f3 c5 11.0-0-0 cxd4 12.xd4+ e7 13.d5+ e6 14.e1 d6 15.fxg4 f6 16.g3 a5 17.f4+ e7 18.d5+ f8 19.ed1 xb5 20.c3 a5 21.xd6 e7 22.d7 c8 23.e1 b6 24.xe7 xe7 25.d5+ e6 26.xb6 axb6 27.f2 hd8 28.e1 b5 29.h3 c4 30.b3 c6 31.e2 a8 32.b2 ca6 33.a4 bxa4 34.b4 a3+ 35.a2 c6 36.e1 b5 37.f2 d6 38.c5 d1 39.b6 g6 40.a5 c8 41.xa3 c6 42.b3 f5 43.gxf5+ gxf5 44.g3 h5 45.h4 b1+ 46.a2 g1 47.e3 xc2+ 48.b3 cg2 0-1 Lind,J-Laveryd,P Ro n n e b y 1 9 9 8 . B l a c k s e e m e d t o h a ve control all the time, but it is easier on the nerves to know this in advance? ] [ 4.xd5 xd4 5.e3 c6 6.c3 b4 7.c4 f6 8.a3 a5 9.b4 b6 10.f3 xf3+ 11.gxf3 e7 12.g1 g6 13.d2 e6 14.xe6 xe6 15.xb6 axb6 16.f4 exf4 17.xf4 0-0 18.f5 e7 19.e5 fe8 20.f4 d5 21.xd5 cxd5 22.d3 f6 23.f3 xe5+ 24.d2 e4 25.af1 d4+ 26.c1 c4 27.g3 ac8 28.b1 xc2 29.b3 xh2 0-1 Licardo,R-Bozinovic,B Zadar 1998. ] 4...dxe4 5.d5 A brief theoretical summary, and I mean brief - there are not a lot of tests in these lines. [ 5.dxe5 xd1+ 6.xd1 d7 ] [ 5.e3 exd4 6.xd4 d7 ] [ 5.ge2 d7 6.d5 ( 6.dxe5 xe5; 6.xe4 exd4 ) 6...ce7 7.c4 ( 7.xd7+ xd7 ) 7...f5!? ( 7...f6!? ) 8.0-0 f6 ] [ 5.xe4 exd4 6.f3 b4+ 7.d2 ( 7.c3

dxc3 ) 7...xd2+ 8.xd2 ge7 9.xd4 0-0 ] 5...a6 6.a4 b5 7.xb5 [ 7.b3!? d4 8.xe4 f5 9.g3 g6 10.f3! xb3 11.axb3 d6 12.0-0 ] 7...axb5 8.xb5 ge7 9.g5 [ 9.dxc6 xd1+ 10.xd1 f5 11.c3 c5 12.f3 d6! 13.e2 e6 14.a3 b3+ 15.e1 0-0 16.fxe4 f5! 17.f3 fxe4 18.xe5 f2+ 19.d2 e3+ 20.d3 f5 0-1 Tomson,H-Panus,V USSR 1994. ( 20...f5 21.f3 d5+ 22.d4 c4+ 23.c2 xd4 24.cxd4 xe2-+ )] 9...f6 10.e3 f7?! Probably a disimprovement on theory, though things remain reasonably messy. [ 10...b8 11.a4 xb5 12.axb5 d4 ( 12...b4!? ) 13.xd4 exd4 14.xd4 xd5 15.e2 xb5 16.c3 c6 17.0-0-0 g6 18.he1 h6+ 19.b1 f7 20.xe4 f5 21.c4+ xc4 22.xc4 c6 23.e4 xe4 24.xe4 f5 25.b4 g7 26.b7 e5 27.g3 g5 28.a2 h5 29.dd7 e8 30.b4 e6 31.c4 g4 32.b3 f4 33.d1 fxg3 34.fxg3 f5 35.b5 d4+ 36.b4 cxb5 37.cxb5 c8 38.b6+ d5 39.h6 c2 40.xh5 b2+ 41.a4 a2+ 1/2-1/2 Ulibin, M-Mohr,G Voskresensk 1990. ] [ 10...d7 11.dxc6 xc6 12.xc6+ xc6 13.g4 ] [ 10...a5!? seems less reliable than Mohr's choice as it seems better to target the b2 p a w n i n a p o t e n t i a l e n d i n g . 11.xc6+ ( 11.a4 xb5 12.axb5 b4 ) 11...xc6 12.dxc6 xd1+ 13.xd1 a6!? ] 11.dxc6 xd1+ 12.xd1 e6 13.a4 d5 14.e2 e7 [ 14...xe3 15.fxe3 c5 16.c3 ] 15.d2 b4 16.xb4 xb4+ 17.c3 e7 18.b4 hd8 19.0-0 b3 20.xd8 xd8 21.a5 c2 22.g3 g6 23.c4+ f8 24.a1 f5 25.a6 d3 26.a7 a8 27.e6 b5 28.d7 g5 29.a5 d3 30.c8 xc8 31.a8 xa8 32.xa8+ e7 33.h8 h6 34.h4 c1 35.h7+ d6 36.h5 f4 37.xe4+ xe4 38.hxg6 f3 39.d7+ xc6 40.g7 h7 41.d8 b2 42.h8 1-0

13

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21 Cebalo,Miso Buric,Danijel 8th Metalis Open (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 22 2473 Cebalo,Miso 2241 Mestrovic,Zvonimir 25.02.2001 Croatian Cup (2) [Glenn Flear]

1.d4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.e4 g4 4.e3 e6!? Strangely, this move is either very rare, or new. It d o es n 't lo ok it , b ut mo st ga m es e ith e r continue ...e5, or feature ...e6 after ...Nf6. Black's flexible order is unusual. 5.h3 h5 6.c3 [ 6.d5!? ] 6...d5 7.exd5 exd5 8.b5 b4 9.g4 g6 10.e5 ge7 A handy difference - now white must justify his pawn pushing, and black is nicely solid. 11.h4 h6 12.xg6 xg6 13.h5 h4!? Black could try [ 13...xc3+!? first. ] 14.d3 xc3+ Risky - black could try just [ 14...f3+!? ] 15.xc3 f3+ 16.e2 f6 17.c5 planning Rh3 followed by transferring this to the e-file. 0-0-0! 18.xc6 bxc6 19.h3 [ 19.xa7 he8 20.ad1 g5!? ( 20...e4 gives black similar counterplay to the game but it must be better for white not to have traded minor pieces - his king has better cover.) 21.d2 d7! since there is a threat of Ra8 and Ne4. ] 19...g5 20.xg5 xg5 21.g3 he8+ 22.f1 d6! 23.xa7 e4 24.a4 de6 25.a6+ d7 and rather alarmingly for white, who seems to have been playing sensibly and strongly, black's king is saf est, and grim defence is now the order of the day. 26.d3 xg4 27.e1 xe1+?! [ 27...xg3! 28.xg3 xe1+ 29.xe1 c1+ 30.e2 xc2+ and black should win the queen ending. ] 28.xe1 e4+ 29.f1 c1+ 30.g2 h4 31.h3 g5+ 32.f1 g4 33.e2 e4+ 34.f1 c1+ 35.g2 xb2 36.f3 e7 37.e3 e6 38.a5 d8 39.g3 b5 40.a3 c5 41.dxc5 e1 42.d3 xd3 43.cxd3 a1 44.xg7 e7 45.d4 xa5 46.h7 a4 47.xh6 xd4 48.c6 d7 49.f6 e7 ½-½

B00 2515 2402 08.05.2002

1.d4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.e4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e5 6.b5 d7 7.d5 cb8 8.h3 h5 9.g4 g6 10.h4 h5 Mestrovic rejects [ 10...h6 which he used with a bit more success, though arguably not because of the positions he got. 11.h5 h7 12.g5 a6 ( 12...hxg5 13.xg5 a6 14.g4 g8 15.e6 fxe6 16.dxe6 xe6 17.xe6+ e7 18.g6+ f7 19.xf7+ xf7 20.c4+ e8 21.d5 1/2-1/2 Jonkman,HMestrovic,Z Wijk aan Zee 1999.) 13.f1 b5 14.a3 0-1 Medvegy, N-Mestrovic,Z Budapest 1999. ] 11.g5 e7 Mestrovic's improvement over [ 11...a6 12.f1 b5 13.d2 e7 14.g1 c8 15.a4 b4 16.a2 b7 17.c3 a5 18.cxb4 axb4 19.b5 1-0 Piket,JMestrovic,Z Sremic Krsko 1998. ] 12.d2! This looks like a strong new move. White takes a bead on the h5 pawn and the Nd2 is very well placed to react to changes in the centre or on the queenside. [ 12.g1!? c6 13.dxc6 ( 13.f1!? ) 13...bxc6 14.e2 c7 15.d2 c5! 16.xc5 dxc5 17.c4 d7 18.d3 b6 0-1 Soylu,S-Mestrovic,Z/Nova Gorica SLO 2001 (46). ] 12...c6 13.e2 b6 14.a4 cxd5 W it h o u t t h is m o ve it is h a rd f o r b la c k t o complete development on the queenside as the pressure on c6 and the possible battering by the advance of the a4 pawn leave this flank under strong pressure. But black could try to wait: [ 14...a5!? 15.f1 a6 16.g3 b4 17.c1 Taking on c6 will only give black a centre and an immediate threat with ...d5 as compensation for the h-pawn. cxd5 18.exd5 c8 is a critical and logical plan, where black has mounted pressure on the queenside as compensation for the doomed h-pawn. ] 15.exd5 a6 16.a5 d7 17.de4 Not just an obvious post, but a stop on the way to eating h5. ac5 [ 17...dc5!? 18.xc5 14

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 18...xc5 19.xc5 ( 19.g3!? still wins a pawn.) 19...dxc5 20.b5+ f8 21.d3 with a safe advantage.; B) 18...xe4 19.xe4 xc5 20.xc5 dxc5 21.xh5 where black has practical chances for the pawn due to the general lack of king safety. ] 18.g3 Black has lost the opening battle, though he does his best to dispute this. f5 19.xh5 [ 19.xh5!? xh5 20.xh5 0-0 21.g3 ] 19...0-0 20.f4 e8 21.g3 e4 22.cxe4 exf4 23.xf4 fxe4 24.0-0 e5 25.xe5 dxe5 26.h5 [ 26.d6!? ] 26...c8 27.xf8+ xf8 28.g2 f5 29.d2 d6 30.c4 c5 31.xf5 xf5 32.f1 e3 [ 32...d7!? 33.c2 d8 34.f5 ] 33.xf5 exd2 34.f3 f8 35.e4 d6 36.xf8+ xf8 37.f5+- f7 38.b3 a6 39.d1 e4 40.xe4 g6 41.h6 b4 42.e5 xa5 43.c5 c7+ 44.e4 a5 45.c6 b5 46.c2 d6 47.f3 e7 48.e2 e5 49.xg6 d6 50.d3 a4 51.bxa4 bxa4 52.g6 Black must find an improvement, by move 14 at the latest. 1-0

23 Christiansen,Larry Mark Benjamin,Joel ch Seattle USA (3) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2563 2577 27.09.2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.d5 ce7 4.f3 g6 5.h4 h5 6.g5 [ 6.g3 c5 7.g5 f6 8.d2 d6 9.c3 d7 10.e2 6e7 11.h2 g6 12.c1 c6 13.e3 xe3 14.xe3 b6 15.xb6 axb6 16.dxc6 bxc6 17.0-0 b5 18.a3 c8 19.fd1 h6 20.f1 e7 21.e3 b6 22.ac1 g4 23.xg4 xg4 24.d3 c4 25.xc4 bxc4 26.e3 hb8 27.b1 b7 28.f3 e6 29.d1 d5 30.a1 d6 31.e2 d4 32.f2 c5 33.c3 d7 34.d2 e6 35.e2 ab8 36.e1 a4 37.a2 b3 38.a1 xd1 39.xd1 xb2 40.xb2 xb2 41.a4 g2 42.a3 d6 43.a5 c7 44.a6 b8 45.a7+ a8 46.a6 xg3

47.xf6 xa7 0-1 Meissner,H-Miles,A/ Slough 1997/CBM 62 (47) ] 6...f6 7.c3 b4 [ 7...c5 also looks tempting, but Benjamin had a painful experience in this line: 8.a4 b4+ 9.c3 e7 10.xf6 xf6 11.d6 cxd6 12.g3 d5 13.xd5 d6 14.b5+ f8 15.0-0-0 g4 16.e2 e7 17.c4 c8 18.b1 c6 19.d2 f6 20.e1 e6 21.c2 g8 22.e3 f8 23.c5 c8 24.d5 d8 25.cxd6 f7 26.c1 d7 27.c5 xc5 28.xc5 xd6 29.c2 d7 30.c4 a6 31.e3 xd2 32.xd2 c5 33.f3 a5 34.xe6+ xe6 35.d7+ g6 36.f5 1-0 Ivanov,A-Benjamin,J Parsippany 1996. ] 8.a3 There seems little point in asking that b la c k d o t h i s, b u t wh it e d o e s b o ls t e r d 5 quickly this way. An earlier game was more direct: [ 8.d2 c6 9.e2 xc3 10.bxc3 cxd5 ( 10...f4!? loo ks saf er.) 11.xh5 f4 12.f3 e6 13.xf6 xf6 14.exd5 c5 15.g3 d6 and white's splintered queenside offers black reasonable compensation for the pawn. 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 d7 18.b1 b6 19.e2 c8 20.c4 g5 21.hxg5 xh1+ 22.xh1 xg5 23.e4 f5 24.f3 e7 25.a4 f4 26.g4 h8 27.c5 dxc5 28.d6+ f6 29.d1 d8 30.a5 bxa5 31.a6 e4 32.xe4 e8 33.f3 h4+ 34.e2 xe4+ 35.fxe4 xg4+ 36.d2 f2+ 37.c1 e3+ 38.b2 xd1 39.d7+ e7 40.d8+ xd8 41.d6+ c8 42.c6+ b8 43.d6+ b7 44.d7+ b6 45.d6+ b5 46.d7+ 1/2-1/2 Mortensen,E-Hoi,C/ Ostrava 1992/ CBM 33 (46) ] 8...xc3+ 9.bxc3 c6 10.c4 d6 11.d2 a5 12.d3?! [ 12.xf6 gxf6 13.f3 is very primitive, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth a serious look. cxd5 ( 13...f4? 14.g3 g4 15.b3 ) 14.cxd5 f5 15.exf5 e7 and now 16.d3 give white some chances to seize the initiative. ( or 16.b1!? )] 12...g4 Not only sidestepping the possibility of doubled pawns, but preparing ...f6. 13.e2 f6 14.e3 f4 15.xf4 exf4 Now black clearly has the be tter prospe cts - the e 5 square is a fine outpost and white's pawn 15

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 structure is shattered without recompense. The Bd3 is nothing to write home about either. 16.0-0 c5 17.f3 e5 18.fb1 c3 19.xe5 xe5 20.a4 g5 21.hxg5 fxg5 22.a3 g4 23.d2 h7! keeping b7 under watch and preparing to monitor the key e5 square as well. 24.c3 xc3 25.xc3 e7 26.g3 f3 27.a5 f7 28.f1 b8 29.e1? White should sit and wait, though black could advance his king to g5 and prepare ...h4. f5! 30.d2 xe4 31.xe4 xe4 32.e3 xe3 33.xe3 f6 34.f4 g6 35.a6 b6 36.c3 f8+ Black's rook invades. 0-1

interesting struggle where Black's king was the most vulnerable. ] 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 g6 So White has two bishops and a lead in development, whereas Black has possibilities to hit back at White's centre with ...c6 as well as possible access to e5 and c5. Now Cicak decides that his position is sufficiently promising to warrant an ambitious choice. 9.0-0-0!? I prefer [ 9.e2 g7 10.0-0 with a pleasant edge. ] 9...g7 10.g4 bd7 11.g3?! [ 11.g2! is a better square to reinforce control of e4 and d5. ] 11...c6 12.e2 a5 Sometimes this type of pawn expansion on the kingside lacks bite when Black hasn't committed his king. In any 24 B00 case White is committed now and he naturally Cicak,Slavko 2500 c o n t i n u e s i n t h e s a m e v e i n . . . 13.f4?! Gonzales,Jayson 2464 Boldly advancing and hoping to create threats IX Malaga Open (6) 01.03.2006 before Black's counterplay gets dangerous. Safest however is [Glenn Flear] [ 13.a3 avoiding anything nasty. Note how the alternative ] 1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 [ 13.b1 can be met by the sensational 5.e3 a6 There's no real consensus here but xc3! 14.bxc3 xe4 with great play for the this move is clearly intended to stop any queen! ] annoying B-b5 ideas. Also fairly popular are 13...c8? [ 5...e5 ] [ Fritz is quite fond of 13...xe4! 14.xe4 [ 5...e6 ] xa2 as Black will obtain a third pawn for [ and 5...g6 ] the piece and White's king will be insecure e. 6.d5 g. 15.c3 ( 15.d4?? xd4 16.xd4 [ White generally delays this advance until he a1+ ) 15...a1+ 16.d2 xb2 ] has advanced his development, for instance 6.e2 e6 ( Maybe 6...e5 is better as Black 14.d4 cxd5 15.e5?! [ With hindsight, it seems that this tempting obtains a stake in the centre.) 7.0-0 e7 move isn't as good as 15.exd5! when White 8.h3 h5 9.d5 exd5 10.exd5 b8 s e e m s t o b e a s h a d e b e t t e r e . g . b5 11.d4 and White had a pleasant space ( 15...0-0 16.he1 ) 16.g5 ] advantage in Binham, T-Horn, P Bonnevoie 1998. The f 5-square is a problem as is 15...e4? This doesn't impress. Instead Black Black's lack of play. The game didn't last had an interesting idea [ 15...dxe5! 16.fxe5 c7! using the pin very long and finished rather elegantly... g6 along the b8-h2 diagonal and another one 12.f4 e4 13.xe4 xe4 14.f3 f6 down the c-file to get reasonable chances e. 15.f5 0-0 16.d4 e8 17.e1 bd7 g. 17.e3 e4 18.e6 e5 with double18.g3 g6 19.h6+ f8 20.f5 e5 edged play. ] 21.ae1 h5 22.xh5 h4 23.fxg6 xg3 24.xf7+ and Black resigned due to mate 16.xe4 dxe4 17.e6 f6 [ After 17...xd4 18.exd7+ xd7 19.xd4 with xf7 25.g7# ] xa2 White has the simple 20.c3 as a1+ 6...b8!? 21.c2 xh1 22.d1 costs Black his [ Alternatively Black has 6...e5 7.e2 xf3 queen. ] 8.gxf3 c6 9.f4 ed7 10.d4 c5 11.d2 b5 12.e5! Stripunsky, A-Bonin, J Nassau 18.exf7+ f8 [ Unfortunately for Black 18...xf7 is met by 2000 and the line rapid opening led to an 16

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.b3+ e6 20.b6 and suddenly Black's c5 9.b4 b6 10.f4 0-0 11.c4 g6 queen is trapped. ] 12.g3 d6 13.exd6 e8+ 14.e2 f6 19.b3 c7 20.g5 d7 21.g4 15.0-0 cxd6 16.b5 d8 17.d2 g4 The turning of the screw. The problem isn't so 18.d4 ac8 19.ac1 e5 20.fe1 c7 much that Black is a pawn down, it's more that 21.f1 a6 22.e4 g6 23.ce1 f6 he can't do much while W hite threatens to 24.h1 dc8 25.4e3 d7 26.a4 h5 simplify and pick up the e4-pawn. xd4 27.f4 g4 28.e7 h4 29.xh4 h5 [ If 21...h6 then White can simply play 30.g3 xc3 31.xd7 xg3 32.h3 d5 22.xg7+ xg7 23.he1 hxg5 24.fxg5 33.f3 xf3 34.c4+ xc4 35.gxf3 xh3+ retaining a clear advantage. ] 36.g2 h2+ 37.g3 xd2 38.ee7 h6 22.xd4 c5 Giving the exchange for a 39.xg7+ f8 40.h7 cc2 41.h8+ g8 breath of fresh air, but it's not enough to save 42.g4 g2+ 43.f5 g7 44.xd6 c6 the game. 23.c3 xf7 24.xc8 xc8 0-1 Kudrin, S-Miles,A USA-ch 1989. ] 25.b1 d7 26.h4 d5 27.h5! Rooks need [ 5.bd2 xf3+ 6.xf3 e7 7.a3 a5 open lines. e6 28.hxg6+ hxg6 29.h7+ 8.b4 b6 9.b2 0-0 10.c4?! c6 [ Or 29.h3 ] 11.b3 h4! 12.g3 h6 13.d1 d6 29...g7 30.c4 A neat way of imposing his 14.d5? e6 15.h5 g6 16.e2 f5 will. 17.exf5 xf5 18.0-0 ae8 (0-1, 41) [ 30.xg7+ xg7 31.c4+ d4! Garcia, G-Miles,A Matanzas 1995 White's is less clear. ] pieces are posted terribly artificially and 30...g8 31.c7 f5 32.b4 his position is a disaster. ] [ 32.c8! xc8 33.xg7+ is the crispest 5...xf3+ 6.xf3 xd2+ 7.xd2 f6!? way to win but the text is good enough. ] 8.0-0-0 d6 9.c4 32...e6 33.xb7 e3 34.c6 g4 35.f6+ [ 9.e3!? retaining the queens looks worth a e8 36.a8+ d7 37.xd5+ c7 test. Black is very solid in the game 38.c6+ b7 39.c3+ b6 40.b3+ c7 continuation, even if the position is rather 41.b7+ dour. ] 1-0 9...xf3 10.xf3 g4 11.e5 xf3 12.gxf3 dxe5 13.he1 e7 [ 13...f6 14.f4 ] 25 B00 14.xe5 d8 Black's position should be good Comas Fabrego,Luis 2520 for a draw thanks to his better pawn structure, Teran Alvarez,Ismael 2392 but he gets into some trouble by being a bit III Open Dos Hermanas ESP (5) 09.04.2002 careless. 15.de1 [ 15.xd8+ xd8 16.b5 b6 17.g5 g6 [Jon Tisdall] 18.xf7 f8 19.d5 h6 20.e5 c6= - white's pieces are very poorly placed. ] 1.d4 c6 2.e4 e5 3.dxe5 xe5 4.f3 b4+ After Plaskett made life uncomfortable 15...d7 16.1e3 f8 [ 16...c6!? ] for black in one of the main lines (see [ 16...f6!? ] Plaskett,HJ-Sherwin,J/ 4NCL Birmingham 2002) it is worth taking a look at this old Miles 17.b4 a6?! [ 17...d8 ] favourite, and a very solid alternative for black. 18.b5 axb5 19.xb5 b6 5.d2 [ 19...c6 20.b6 d8 21.eb3 c8 [ 5.c3 d6 ( 5...xf3+ 6.xf3 c5 7.d3 22.xb7! ] d6 8.d2 e7 9.b4 b6 10.c4 0-0 11.0-0 e6= (0-1, 32) Martin,B-Miles,A 20.h5 Double threat of Bb5 and Rxh7 - black Auckland 1992. (32)) 6.bd2 xf3+ has managed to lose control. d8 21.a3 [ 21.xh7 f5 22.d3 ] 7.xf3 e7 This ultra-provocative approach i s w e l l s u i t e d a g a i n s t a n a g g r e s s i v e 21...d4 22.a8+ c8 23.a6 d7 24.c3? opponent like Mr. Kudrin - this game is Overdoing the finesse. Simply [ 24.xh7 p o s e d m o r e p r o b l e m s f4 entertaining enough to be quoted in full: 8.e5 17

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.xg7 xf3 26.g3! and the win is getting nearer. ] 24...d6 25.xh7 g6 26.h4 c5 27.g4 f6 28.g3 d8 29.xg7 xf3 30.xc8+? [ 30.g3! Allows white to maintain a healthy extra pawn and initiative: f6 ( 30...xf2?? 31.d3+ ) 31.d3+ d6 32.a7+ ] 30...xc8 31.xc8 xc8 32.b2 xf2+= 33.b3 b7 34.h4 a6 35.h5 h2 36.g5 h4 37.f5 b5 38.xf7 xh5 39.a4+ a6 40.g7 h4 41.f7 ½-½

26 Dammer,Christian Juegel,Marcel SVM-chT1998/99 (8) [Glenn Flear]

B00

27 Darnstaedt,Frank Hille,Ingo Bundesliga 2000-1 (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2330 2244 15.10.2000

1.e4 c6 2.f3 f5 3.exf5 d5 4.d4 xf5 5.b5 e6 6.xc6+ bxc6 7.e5 c5 8.h5+ g6 9.e2 g7 10.f4 [ 10.g4 e4 11.f3 cxd4 ] [ 10.b5+!? ] 10...cxd4 11.g4 e4 12.0-0 g5 13.g3 e7 14.d2 xc2 15.df3 d3 16.e3 0-0 17.xg5 f6 18.xd3 xd3 19.xd3 g6 20.e3 d7 21.h3 c6 22.f3 f8 23.e5 xe5 ½-½

22.02.1999 28

I was sent this pleasant game from a reader. The featured queen sacrifice is unclear but Black has all the fun! 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5 3.c4!? [ 3.d3 is probably best, see the e-book. ] 3...e6 4.cxb5 axb5 5.xb5 b7 6.c3 b4 7.d3 f5 8.e2 f6 9.g5 fxe4 10.xe4 xe4!? Queen-sac!! A nice move but this position isn't new! 11.xd8 xc3 12.h5+ [ 12.bxc3!? xc3+ 13.d1 xa1 Borrellas Comellas- Gardenas Santiago, B a r c e l o n a 1 9 9 6 a n d n o w 14.xc7 is unclear. ] 12...xd8 13.f3?! After this tame move Black has the initiative, instead [ 13.g5+ c8 14.xg7 is critical. ] 13...a5 14.h4+ g5 15.h6 e4+ 16.f1 a6+ 17.e2 f5 18.a3 d2 19.g7 hf8 20.xh7 g4 21.h4+ g5 22.h6 gg8 Black now has a winning attack. 23.h5 f5 24.h7 f6 25.f7 gxf3 26.g3 xe2+ 27.f2 g4+ 28.g1 e3# 0-1

Dautov,Rustem Bauer,Christian 15th ETC Gothenburg SWE (4) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2595 2641 02.08.2005

1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d3 f6 4.e2 e6 [ Blatny has shown a preference for 4...c6!? 5.c3 e5 ] 5.f3 d5 6.e5 White obtain some space advantage and at first sight a good looking French as his advanced centre is secure, but things are actually far from clear... fd7 7.c3 c5 8.0-0 e7 9.e3 c6 10.a3 Otherwise Black can aim to capture on d4 and continue w i t h . . . N b 4 . c4 Closing the wing now that White has committed himself to a2-a3, in a similar way to a well-known line of the French Defence Advance variation (1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6 6 a3 c4). A practical choice by Christian Bauer as his opponent is known to f avour long-forcing theoretical lines. [ For those seeking a more dynamic game, 10...g5!? 11.bd2 h5 was successful in Hiermann,D-Aschenbrenner,R Austrian Ch. 2002. A closed centre at times allows flank action to take precedence over development. ] 11.c2 b5 [ After the alternative method of stabilizing the queenside with 11...a5 12.bd2 h6 18

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.e1 c7 14.h4 0-0-0 15.h5 dg8 Baumegger,S-Freitag,M Austrian tch. 2003 Black was ready for anything. ] 12.bd2 a5 13.e1 h5 Bauer doesn't want White to overrun him with a general advance on the kingside and competes for space and influence even here. 14.f4 g6 15.ef3 If Black now did nothing much, it wouldn't be e a s y f o r W h i t e t o f in d a co n vi n ci n g wa y through. However staying totally passive is generally unwise as this gives plenty of time (and space!) for the opponent to come up with an testing idea. So Black now decides to test the water on the queenside.. . b4! 16.g5 [ After 16.axb4 axb4 17.xa8 xa8 Black is better placed to exploit any action on th e f la nk. I nst ea d ope ning th e f -f ile gives Black something to think about (the f7-square!) ] 16...xg5 17.fxg5 b3! With the queenside totally closed and Black has thus a safe haven for his king. If f7 is well-secured it's hard to see how White will achieve anythingpositive. 18.d1 b6 19.f2 e7 20.g4 hxg4 21.xg4 a4 22.ab1 h7 23.f6 d7 24.f2 ah8 25.f1 It's come down to the ffile versus the h-file! Both sides have possibilities to improve but with such a small a r e a o f t h e b o a rd a va i l a b l e f o r c o n t a c t , manoeuvring is required to create problems for the opponent. a7 26.f3 b5 27.c1 c7 28.g3 b8 29.a1 Dautov is wary of a potential piece sacrifice to get the b-pawn through. c6 30.h3 a8 31.h2 b8 32.e2 d7 33.b1 b6 34.d2 a4 35.c1 b6 36.g3 c8 37.e3 e7 38.f3 c7 39.g2 f5! This move (blocking the f-file) suggests that Black is thinking of going for the whole point. 40.e2 bh8 41.f4 h4 42.h1 e8 43.f1 f5 A canny retreat showing Black's intention to put his rook on h4. 44.g1 eg7 45.h2 h4 46.g4 h5 47.d2 d8 With potential threats against the g5-pawn, hence W hite's next. 48.f6 b7 49.h2 c6 50.f1 xf6 51.exf6 d6 Heading for e4. W hite needs to keep his dark-squared (and so-called bad bishop) in order to defend g5. 52.g2 e4 53.xe4 dxe4 54.e3 White must blockade the e-pawn at all costs, but this turns out to be possible. d5 55.e5

b7 56.fg2 d8 57.g3 d5 58.f2 a6 59.h2 8h7 60.g1 h8 61.h2 b7 62.g4 xg4+ 63.hxg4 xh2 64.xh2 a6 65.g3 a4 66.f2 b7 67.g3 c6 68.g2 b7 69.f2 c6 S o t h e re wa s n o b r e a k t h ro u g h a f t e r a l l . However it shows that the under-rated Owen's defence can be played with confidence in 2600+ encounters. ½-½

29 David,Alberto Rogers,Ian Olympiad Bled SLO (13) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2511 2557 08.11.2002

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 [ Unimpressive was 5.h3?! xf3 6.gxf3 d5 7.g5 e6 8.d2 ( 8.e5 h6 9.h4 g5 ) 8...e7 9.0-0-0 d7 10.h4 h6 11.xf6 xf6 12.exd5 exd5 13.h3 d8 14.hg1 e7! Best. ( 14...xd4? 15.e3+; 14...xd4? 15.g4! ) 15.de1 c6 16.a4 b6 and there was no way for White to hit at Black's solid set-up, Vallejo Pons-Rogers, Bled ol 2002 ] [ Also less accurate than the game was 5.b5 d7 6.e3 e6 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 a6 9.a4 b5 here it's possible as the sac o n b 5 i s u n s o u n d 10.b3 a5= Sedina-Lazic, Turin 2002 ] 5...e6 6.h3 h5 7.b5! This was played in a later round than the above game and clearly Alberto David had prepared a tricky line for his opponent. a6 [ 7...d7 8.d5 xf3 9.xf3 ce5 10.g3 c6 11.dxe6 fxe6 12.e2 b5 13.0-0 f6 14.f4 c4 15.xc4 bxc4 16.e5 was unpleasant to meet in Rogluj-Buric, Bizovac 2001 ] 8.a4 xf3 [ 8...b5? is bad after 9.xb5 axb5 10.xb5 d7 11.d5 ] [ 8...d7 is probably the best chance to revive the line for Black. ] 9.xf3 d5 10.exd5 xd5 11.0-0 e7 12.fe1 0-0 13.xd5 xd5 [ If 13...exd5 then 14.b3 ] 19

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.xd5 exd5 15.f4 f6 16.c3 ac8 17.d1! So simple yet so strong. Black loses a pawn and ultimately the game. d8 18.g4 e6 19.xe6 fxe6 20.xe6+ h8 21.xc8 xc8 22.e1 c6 23.e5 d8 24.e3 g8 25.g3 g6 26.f4 f7 27.f5 e7 28.f3 gxf5 29.xf5+ g6 30.f3 g5 31.f1 b5 32.e2 e8 33.d3 c5 34.f4 c4+ 35.d2 f8 36.e3 [ 36.xg5 xf3 37.gxf3 xg5 38.e3 would also probably win ] 36...h4 37.e2 f7 38.g3 f6 39.e3 d8 40.f4 f6 41.e3 e7 42.e5 g5 43.f3 f7 44.xf7 xf7 45.f4 e7 46.a3 g6 47.f3 f5 48.g4+ g6 49.g3 a5 50.h4 h5 51.c7 The remaining moves of the actual game were clearly not those given by "This W eek in Chess". b4 Ignore the following nonsense and just look at the variations below! [ The following plausible variations show that White is winning 51...a4 then 52.f4! xh4 ( 52...xa3? 53.bxa3 b4 54.gxh5+ xh5 55.cxb4 ) 53.gxh5+ xh5 and d5 falls after 54.f5 or ] [ 51...b4 52.xa5 bxa3 53.bxa3 xa3 54.gxh5+ f5 55.h6 d6+ 56.f3 g6 57.g4 xh6 58.f5 and White wins as Black loses both remaining pawns. ] 52.xa5 bxa3 53.c7 b4 54.f4 e7 55.g3 f8 56.e5 1-0

30 De Toledo,James Mann Limp,Eduardo Thelio 1st Mario Covas (8) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2384 2462 05.02.2001

c4 25.c2 a8 26.xa8+ xa8 27.f1 a7 28.e2 f6 29.exf6 gxf6 30.c3 a2 31.fe1 f8 32.d1 b1+ 33.e2 a2 34.d1 a7 35.h3 f7 36.d3 e7 37.c5 g8 38.h4 g6 39.h3 xd4 40.xd4 b1+ 41.e2 b2+ 42.f3 c3+ 43.e2 d2+ 44.f3 e5+ 0-1 Lindsay,F-Nogueiras,J North Bay 1997/ 98. ] 10.d5!? xd3 [ 10...exd5 is obviously very scary, but not reacting to d5 means suf f ering as well. 11.exd5 ( 11.e5!? ) 11...xd5 12.e1 xd3 ( 12...0-0?? 13.e4 xd3 14.xd5!; 12...f8!? ) 13.xd3 All of these lines are frightening for black, but a materialist preparing with a computer might pull them off. ] 11.xd3 a6 12.c4 0-0 13.g5 exd5 14.exd5 d6 [ 14...b5!? 15.a3 xa3 16.bxa3 b4 17.xa6 xa6 18.xf6 gxf6 was worth trying as this position is quite defensible, if ugly. ] 15.fe1 d8 16.ad1 b5 17.a3 bd7 18.xb5 xb5 19.xb5 b8 20.a4 a6 21.xd6 xb2 22.e4 b4 23.xf6+ xf6 24.d6 xa4 25.d7 c4 [ 25...e4 ] 26.xf6 gxf6 27.d4 xd4 28.xd4 f5 29.c6 c7 30.f1 a5 31.e7+ h8 32.c1 b6 33.c6 d8 34.c8 a4 35.c6 a3 36.a8 g7 37.xa3 f6 38.g3+ h6 39.e3 a8 40.e8 a1+ 41.e2 a2+ 42.f3 a3+ 43.e3 a8 44.g3 1-0

31 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d2 e6 4.gf3 f6 5.d3 c5 6.c3 e7 7.0-0 cxd4 8.cxd4 a6 9.e2 c8 A risky novelty. [ 9...xd3 10.xd3 d5 11.e5 fd7 12.a3 c6 ( 12...a5 13.b3 c8 14.b2 a6 15.e3 c6 16.e1 c8 17.d3 1/2-1/2 Johansen,D-Miles,A Melbourne 1991. ) 13.b4 a6 14.b5 axb5 15.xb5 c7 16.b2 a5 17.b3 0-0 18.fc1 b7 19.c3 a7 20.b4 xb4 21.axb4 xa1 22.xa1 b5 23.b1 b6 24.a3

Deep Junior Akopian,Vladimir SuperGM Dortmund GER (6) [Carsten Hansen]

B00 2660 13.07.2000

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 f6 4.e2 e6 We looked at 4...Nc6 in Nevednichy-Blatny. 5.f3 d5 6.e5 fd7 This position is by definition really a French Defense, but since p e o p l e o n l y a r r i ve a t t h i s p o s i t i o n f r o m Owen's Defense and never via a French move 20

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 order, I deem it to be an Owen's Defense. 7.g5 e7 8.g4 h5! [ After 8...g6 9.h4 h5 10.h3 f8 11.f3 xg5 12.xg5 d7 13.f6 g8 Black appears to have a slight problem on the dark squares... 14.g4 hxg4 15.xg4 h7 16.h3 xf6 17.exf6 c6 18.b5 The dark-squared bishop is gone, but Black is left with a bad 'French' bishop, and White has all the squares he could want for his knight. 0-0-0 19.d2 d6 20.xc6 xc6 21.0-0-0 d7 22.e2 b8 23.a3 a5 24.e3 h8 25.f3 with a huge advantage for W hite, Gleizerov-Filipovic, Ljubljana 2000. ] 9.g3 f8 10.0-0 a6 Black wisely decides to get rid of the light-squared bishops. 11.xa6 White could at this point also consider the sharper 11 c4!?, intending 11... Bxc4 12 Bxc4 dxc4 13 Qf3 with a dual threat on a8 and f7. xa6 12.c3 c5 13.d1 c4 It's in Black's interest to keep the position closed. Black has considerable problems getting his pieces coordinated, and only by closing the position will he find time to regroup his pieces, which at present are anything but coordinated. 14.e1 I'm not sure the computer knows what it's doing. Th e correct plan is to proceed to attempt opening the queenside with 14 b3 or even play 14 b4 to gain a space advantage on the queenside as well, after which Black is left at W hite's mercy. c8 15.h4 h7 16.f3 g8 17.g5 xg5 18.xg5 b8 19.d2 Finally White gets on the right track. c6 20.b3 a5 21.e3 xg5 22.hxg5 g6 If not White would play g6 with devastating effect. 23.f3 c7 24.f6 c8 25.f4 f8 26.b4 c6 27.f3 e7 28.h4 g8 For the remainder of the game Black just hangs on, while White tries to break through. This doesn't happen thanks to Black's excellent defensive play. 29.a4 g7 30.c1 c7 31.a5 b5 32.e3 d7 33.h1 a6 34.d1 e8 35.h2 e7 36.h1 g8 37.f3 e7 38.h3 f5! 39.xf5 exf5 40.e1 c6 41.f3 e6 and the last hole ge t s s e a le d . 42.h1 c8 43.e3 e7 44.f4 e6 45.e1 ½-½

32 Delchev,Aleksander Mestrovic,Zvonimir Christmas Open (3) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2560 2387 16.12.2002

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e5 The Mestrovic variation. 6.b5 exd4!? [ 6...d7 7.dxe5 ( 7.d5 is critical as has been well covered by my predecessor Jon Tisdall. ) 7...dxe5 8.d5 e6 9.d2 f6! This may be even more solid than ( 9...h6 10.0-0-0 d6 11.e2 0-0 12.c4 a6 13.hg1 b5 14.xe6 fxe6 15.g4 f6 16.g3 d4!? A practical decision otherwise White's looming attack would be too da nge rou s 17.xd4 exd4 18.xd4 f4+ 19.b1 e5 20.g2 ad8 21.f3 d7 22.xe5 xd1+ 23.xd1 xe5 with enough Black square control as compensation 24.f2 d8 25.f1 f4 26.f2 d2 27.e1 d4 28.d3 e3 29.c1 f2 30.c3 e3 31.xe3 xe3 32.e1 f4 33.e2 g5 34.a4 f7 35.h3 c5 36.axb5 axb5 37.a2 d3 38.xf4 gxf4 39.f1 f6 40.h4 d2 41.b3 h2 42.c4 bxc4+ 43.xc4 xb2 44.xc5 h2 45.h5 d2 46.c4 1/2-1/2 Brkic,AMestrovic,Z/Zadar CRO 2002) 10.0-0-0 b4 11.d3 a6 12.c4 xc4 13.xc4 xc3 14.xc3 e7 15.a3 0-0-0 White has the nominal advantage of bishop over knight but there is nothing for him to hit at. 16.d2 f8 17.b3 e6 18.d5 f7 19.c4 g6 20.g3 ed4! 21.xd4 ( 21.c5 xd5 22.exd5 a5 23.d3 xd3 24.xd3 f3 is certainly not better for White) 21...xe4 22.xd8+ xd8 23.e6+ b8 24.d1 xd4 25.xd4 xd4 26.g8+ a7 27.xg7 e2 28.xd4 exd4 29.b4 e1+ 30.b2 c3+ 31.b1 d3 ( 31...xa3 playing for more doesn't look bad) 32.cxd3 xd3+ 33.b2 d2+ 34.b3 d3+ 1/2-1/2 Stevic,H-Mestrovic,Z/Zadar CRO 2002 ] 7.xd4 e7 [ 7...d7 8.xc6 xc6 9.0-0-0 e7 10.e5 dxe5 11.xe5 c8 12.he1 d7 13.c5 was a complete disaster for black in N e ve r o v- U m a n s k a y a , C ze c h R e p u b l i c 21

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2002 ] 8.h3 The looks tame but [ 8.xc6+ bxc6 9.e5 xf3 10.gxf3 ( 10.exf6? xf6 ) 10...dxe5 11.xe5 d6 12.a5 0-0= doesn't impress. ] 8...d7 9.xc6 xc6 10.0-0-0 0-0 This reminds me of Qxd4 against the Philidor. Black generally has less counterplay in these type of positions than in analogous oppositeside castling struggles in Sicilians (there is no semi-open c-file for Black to press against White's king). 11.g4 e8 12.g5 d7 13.h4 f8 14.h5 e7 By using the e-file, Mestrovic tries to keep his pieces relevant and to hold back the white attack. However one's im p re s s io n is t h a t W h i t e m u st b e b e t t e r a r o u n d h e r e . 15.h4 e5 16.d2 b5 17.dh1 ab8 Finally threatening to destabilize W hite's hold on the centre. Capturing on a7 is foolhardy as Black can counter with a quick ...b4 and ...Ra8 with an inevitable recapture on a2. 18.d5 [ 18.g6 h6 19.f4 is tempting but after d7 Delchev presumably couldn't find anything concrete. ] 18...xd5 19.exd5 c5! Striking back quickly 20.dxc6 e6 21.h6 xc6 22.c3 bc8 23.e4 e5 [ A l s o c o n c e i v a b l e w a s 23...xa2 for instance 24.hxg7 xg7 25.a3 xa3 26.bxa3 e6 with a playable game. ] 24.b3 g6 25.xe6 xe6 26.g4 c4 27.hxg7 xg7 28.f6+ xf6 29.xc4 bxc4 30.gxf6 a6 31.d4 The ending is not without interest but the chances are about equal. e4 32.e3 e6 33.h5!? Trying for more than a repetition e5 34.h6 f5 35.d2 xf6 36.c3 d5 37.d4 f5 38.b4 Having the more ac tive k ing co mpe nsa tes th e small material deficit. g7 39.h1 h5 40.a4 f8 41.b5 axb5 42.axb5 e6+ 43.c3 d4+ [ Allowing the advanced passed pawn to live on with 43...f6 44.b6 d8 45.e1! may prove too dangerous. ] 44.xd4+ xd4 45.xd4 xb5 46.xc4 f5 ½-½

33 Dervishi,Erald Salmensuu,Olli EuTCh Leon ESP (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2501 2436 07.11.2001

1.e4 c6 2.f3 f5 This continues to get a steady workout, largely thanks to a fleet of determined Finns. Nevertheless, it seems to fall short of equality in the sensible, safe lines, though as our selection this month shows, the wilder lines can be great fun. 3.exf5 d5 4.d4 xf5 5.d3 [ 5.b5 d6 6.e5 f6 7.0-0 d7 8.xc6 ( 8.f4 looks more worrying but there is Finnish experience in this variation as well. dxe5 9.xe5 g6 10.xc7 xc2 11.d2 c8 12.g3 e6 13.c1 e4 14.xc6+ bxc6 15.a5 d6 16.d2 xg3 17.hxg3 0-0 18.e1 f5 19.xe4 dxe4 20.c3 e8 21.f1 h6 22.e3 xe3 23.fxe3 f7 24.ac1 c8 25.c5 xf1+ 26.xf1 e7 27.e5 d6 28.xe4 c5 29.g4 g6 30.dxc5+ xc5 31.d4+ e5 32.d7 c2 33.xh7 xb2 34.xa7 e4 35.a3 e5 36.g1 g5 37.f1 g4 38.g1 c2 39.f1 b2 40.g1 e2 41.a4+ xe3 42.xg4 xa2 43.h2 a8 44.h4 e4 45.g4 d2 46.h7 d8 47.e7 e3 48.g3 e2 49.f4 e1 50.xe1 xe1 51.g5 f2 52.g6 xg2 53.f5 f3 54.g7 a8 55.g6 g4 56.h7 f5 57.g8 xg8 58.xg8 1/2-1/2 Tuovinen,J-Paakkonen,T Helsinki 1999. ) 8...bxc6 9.f3 xe5 10.xf5 f7 11.f4 d7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.d2 e6 14.b3 d6 15.g3 a5 16.a4 hb8 17.fe1 b4 18.e2 ab8 19.f3 with a clear, simple advantage for white. c4 20.e1 c5 21.dxc5 xc5+ 22.xc5+ xc5 23.b3 d4 24.d1 d5 25.e4 d3 26.xd3 xd3 27.cxd3 xb3 28.d4+ c6 29.xa5 e5 30.h4 xd3 31.e4 d5 32.c3 d6 33.a5 c6 34.a6 g6 35.f4 e7 36.f6+ e8 37.a4 a7 38.d4 c5 39.f2 d7 40.f4 e7 41.g4 h6 42.e3 g5 43.c4 d6 44.h5 e5 45.c2 c6 46.f2 b5 47.d2 d4 48.a2 d8 49.a7 a8 50.a6+ d5 51.xh6 xa7 52.xg5 a2+ 53.g3 a3 54.f6 e4 55.h6 xf3 56.f5+ e6 57.f4 22

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xg5 58.xg5 h3 59.xc5 f7 60.c7+ g8 61.g5 e3 62.e7 h1 63.xe3 f7 1-0 Shaw,J-Salmensuu,O EuroTeam Leon ESP 2001. ] 5...g4 [ 5...e6!? is an interesting alternative that has had good results. 6.0-0 f6 7.e1 e7 8.xf5 exf5 9.g5 d7 10.e6 f7 11.f3 ( 11.g5+ must be better, though black unravels reasonably quickly here as well. g8 12.f4 e8 13.c3 h6 14.f3 e4 15.e5 xe5 16.dxe5 d8 17.xe4 fxe4 18.f3 f5 19.g3 h7 20.h1 hf8 21.f1 g6 22.e2 exf3 23.xf3 xf3 24.gxf3 h8 25.d3 xd3 26.cxd3 g8 27.g2 f7 28.f4 e6 29.f3 f8 30.g4 g6 31.f1 c5 32.b3 h5+ 33.h3 g5 34.g2 h4 35.e1 xf4 36.xf4 gxf4 37.f3 xe5 38.c3+ f5 39.h3 b5 40.b2 c4 41.dxc4 bxc4 42.bxc4 dxc4 43.c3 f6 44.xf6 xf6 45.xf4 c3 46.e3 f5 47.a4 c2 48.d2 f4 49.xc2 g3 0-1 Von Buelow,G-Sell,A Germany 1993.) 11...he8 12.c3 d6 13.g5+ g8 14.f1 e7 15.d3 h6 16.f3 g6 17.g3 e4 18.c4 f4 19.c5 fxg3 20.cxd6 gxf2+ 21.xf2 xf2 22.xf2 xd6 23.e3 f8 24.bd2 xh2+ 25.e1 g3+ 26.f2 ae8+ 27.d1 xf2 28.xg6 e2+ 29.c1 e6 30.xe6+ xe6 31.e5 c5 32.df3 xf3 33.xf3 e3+ 0-1 Vasiliev,M (2405)-Demuth,M (2030) W erfen 1994. A brutal upset, and one of those games that makes riskin g weird defences so satisfying. ] 6.h3 xf3 [ 6...h5!? ] 7.xf3 f6 [ 7...xd4 8.h5+ g6 9.e5 ] 8.c3 [ 8.b5!? keeping a grip on e5 is more thematic, and seems to me to be the only way to try and maintain an advantage. ] 8...e5 Black should not have serious trouble now - in fact this position must be roughly equal. 9.dxe5 xe5 10.e2 e7 11.c2 0-0-0 12.0-0 e8 13.f4 c4= 14.xe7 xe7 15.b3 d6 [ 15...d6!? ] 16.g5 b6 17.d2 h5 18.ae1 f4?! [ 18...f4!? ]

19.f3 g6 20.g3 xg5 21.xg5 f6 22.f4 bd7 23.g2 c5 24.f5 fe4 25.xe4 dxe4 26.fxg6 hxg6 27.h4 a5 28.e3 d8 29.b4 axb4 30.cxb4 a6 31.xe4 [ 31.a3+- ] 31...xb4 32.xg6 xa2 33.b3 d4 34.a3 d2+ 35.f2 xf2+ 36.xf2 f8+ 37.g2 f6 38.h5 b4 39.f3 d6 40.f8+ d7 41.f7+ d8 42.g7 d2+ 43.h3 d1 44.g4 d5 45.h6 h1 46.g5 1-0

34 Dorfman,Josif D Miles,Anthony J Tilburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B00 2610 2595 1992

1.d4 e6 2.e4 b6 3.f3 b7 4.d3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 This set-up is White's most popular choice, and this position has been tested many times. e7 7.0-0 c6 8.a3 The idea behind this move is to prevent 8... cxd4 9. cxd4 Nb4 a5 9.bd2 [ The seemingly strong 9.e5 d5 10.c4 is just a blunder in view of b3! as in Zelcic - Filipovic, Ljubljana 1999 where Black ob t a in e d a m a t eria l a d va n t a ge : 11.cxd5 xd5! 12.e4 The only chance to c o m p l i c a t e . ( 12.a2 xc1 13.xc1 xa2 ) 12...xa1 13.xd5 exd5 14.c3 b3 15.e3 cxd4 16.xd4 0-0?! Black begins to play superficially and allows W hite to get some counterchances and finally to escape. Black had many better p o s s i b i l i t i e s . ( I n m y o p i n i o n , 16...c5 exchanging Black's only bad piece, was the correct decision: 17.xc5 xc5 18.xd5 0-0 and Black should win without difficulty.) 17.xd5 xd4 18.xd4 Now White's Knights are very active. g6 19.g4 h8 20.d1 c8 21.h4 xh4 22.f3 e7 23.f4 f5 24.exf6 xf6 25.e5 d6 26.d5! f5 27.xf5 gxf5 28.f7+ g7 29.xd8 xd8 30.e3 and White managed to draw. ] 9...c4 10.c2 c7 11.e5 Probably not the best move. This position seems to be critical 23

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f o r t h is lin e . I t h a s o ccu re d ma n y t im e s, primarily in Anthony Miles' games. Some examples: [ 11.d5 was played in Blees - Miles, Komotini, 1992. Black gained the upper hand very quickly: e5 12.g3 g6 13.e1 0-0-0! A brave and correct decision! The Q-side is blocked and it's very difficult for W hite to open files there, while Black's pawn chain on the K-side is much more flexible. 14.g2 b8 15.b1 d6 16.e3 c8 17.f3 hf8 18.d1 d7 19.e2 f5! Black has succesfully executed his plan and outplayed his opponent very nicely. 20.g2 f6 21.exf5 gxf5 22.b4 Desperation, but White's position is bad anyway. The rest is just agony. cxb3 23.c4 f4 24.f5 xd5 25.cxd5 xf5 26.g4 ff8 27.e4 c5 28.e6 a6 29.xc8 xf1 30.f5 a6 31.gxf4 g8+ 32.h1 xf2 33.b2 d3 and W hite res igned. A very instructive game for the understanding of positions with pawn chains. ] [ 11.e1 Probably this move is the most p r o m i s i n g f o r W h i t e . 0-0 12.b1! ( The immediate 12.f1 allows b3! ) 12...ae8 13.f1 d6 14.g3 and White is ready to launch a kingside attack ( with e4e5, Ng5, Nh5, etc). The game Sermek Filipovic, Bled 1999 continued: e5 15.f5 h8 16.g5 g8 17.h4 Black has managed to avoid a direct attack, however h i s p o s i t i o n r e m a i n s c r a m p e d . xg5 18.hxg5 g6 19.e3 f6 20.bd1 b5 21.d2 fxg5 22.dxe5 dxe5 23.xg5 h6 24.f3 c6 25.d5 Now White's advantage is clear. f7 26.e3 e6 27.b4 g5 28.ed1 f6 29.d6 e8 30.xe6 xe6 31.xa7 b3 32.c7 h5 33.d6 e8 34.xe6 xc7 35.xh6+ , and Black resigned. ] 11...b5 12.f4 0-0 13.g4 xg4 14.xg4 This position also looks good for W hite but Black has a very importantresource: b3! 15.xb3?! An ambitious but quite dubious plan. White intends a direct attack on the Kside, but his resources are rather limited as his Q-side pieces are still undeveloped. [ T h e m o d e s t 15.b1 is more accurate, although here Black can also achieve good play after xd2 16.xd2 xe4! 17.xe4

f5 The game K. Georgiev - Miles, Biel 1992 co n t in u e d : 18.f3 fxe4 19.xe4 ae8 20.be1 a6 21.g3 f6 with a balanced position. ] 15...cxb3 16.f5 exf5! Black must play precisely to parry W hite's kingside attack. 17.exf5? [ 17.xf5 would be met by d5! with the idea of Bc8 ] [ correct was 17.xf5 and after d5!? 18.e5 ( 18.exd5 ad8 ) 18...f6!? the position is unclear. W hite still does not have time to comfortably take the b3 pawn as he lags behind in development. ] 17...d6! Now Black is taking the initiative. 18.e4!? By sacrificing a pawn White neutralises the very strong light-squared Bishop. [ 18.f6 g6 19.h3 fe8 with the idea of Re2 was dangerous for White. ] 18...xe4 19.xe4 xh2+ 20.h1 ae8 21.f3 g3! The key idea of the Queen swap is to obtain the e2 square for the Rook. 22.a4 White hopes for counterplay on the Qside in the forthcoming endgame. [ Unfortunately White cannot keep the Q u e e n s o n : 22.h5 is met by e4 with the idea of Rh4. ] 22...xf3 23.xf3 d6 24.e3 It would seem that W hite is completely OK at the moment, but Black came up with an unexpected and excellent resource. g5!! [ T h e t e m p t i n g 24...e4? doesn't work: 25.axb5 fe8 26.xa7! and White wins: xe3 27.xe3 xe3 28.a8+ f8 29.b6 ] 25.g4 [ Of course, both 25.fxg6? fxg6! ] [ and 25.axb5? g4 were losing for White ] [ 25.xg5 does not solve White's problems: bxa4! ( exploiting the weakness of the back rank) 26.h6 a3 27.bxa3 b2 28.b1 e2 29.xf8 xf8 and White is in trouble as the b2-pawn is worth a Rook. 30.c4 ( 30.a4 c2 31.g1 a3 ) 30...c2 31.g1 xa3! ] 25...e4 26.axb5 fe8 27.xg5 e2 White is in trouble not only because the pawn o n b 3 wi l l b e v e r y s t r o n g s o o n b u t a l s o because his King is badly placed. 28.g1 xb2 29.f2 ee2 30.b6? [ A blunder but the position was lost anyway, 24

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 for example: 30.xe2 xe2 31.b1 b2 with Ba3 to follow. ] 30...xf2! 31.bxa7 g2+ 32.f1 bf2+ 33.e1 g1+ White resigned. So let's draw some conclusions. Although Owen's Defence has a dubious reputation I can't claim that W hite has an easy way to get an opening advantage. In my opinion, the lines W hite chose in Kaidanov - Kengis and Sermek Filipovich are the most unpleasant for Black. 0-1

35 Dubiel,Jacek Przewoznik,Jan chT Zakopane chT (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2359 2414 03.09.2000

d6 32.e1 1-0 Golubev,M-Markowski,T/ Biel 1995. ] 12...0-0 13.xe5 dxe5 14.xe5 b4 Now black is free and active and the pawn is not likely to mean much with kings on opposite flanks and opposite coloured bishops. But black does not have much in the way of winning chances to look forward to. 15.e4 xe4 16.xe4 d6 17.d3 g6 18.f3 ae8 19.c3 c5 20.he1 xe1 21.xe1 d8 22.e4 b5 23.b1 e8 24.e2 e5 25.d3 b4 26.cxb4 xb4 27.f3 a5 28.a3 c5 29.a2 xe2 30.xe2 b6 31.e8+ g7 32.e5+ g8 33.e8+ g7 34.e5+ g8 35.e8+ ½-½

36 1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 I'll be honest up front - I am not terribly keen on this way of playing against 2.Nf3 - and while recommending 1... e5 would be neither daring nor anything to do with this section, it is a bit more respectable than these very stodgy lines. 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e6 6.h3 h5 7.d5 exd5 8.exd5 xf3 9.xf3 e5 10.e2 a6 11.0-0-0 e7 12.d4 This isn't bad, but winning a pawn takes most of the dynamics out of the white position. Those who try to blow black's head off here with pawn-storming aggression ... tend to blow black's head off: [ 12.f4 g6 ( 12...ed7 13.g4 g6 14.h4 b5 15.d4 0-0 16.h5 b4 17.hxg6 bxc3 18.gxh7+ h8 19.g5 cxb2+ 20.b1 e8 21.h3 f8 22.g2 1-0 Hoffman,A-Fiorito, F/Villa Martelli 1996.) 13.g4 d7 14.g5 0-0 ( 14...h6 15.gxh6 gxh6 16.e4 f6 17.g3 h4 18.d4 f8 19.f2 g8 20.c3 d7 21.f5 g5 22.d2 xd5 23.xg5 xg5+ 24.b1 e3 25.e1 exf5 26.e4 e8 27.d3 g7 28.xg5 xe1+ 29.xe1 hxg5 30.f6 g2 31.g1 f4 32.xg5 ge6 33.h6+ e7 34.h4+ f8 35.h7 1-0 Servat,RBermejo,L/Buenos Aires 1997.) 15.h4 e8 16.h5 gf8 17.d2 c5 18.dxc6 bxc6 19.h6 g6 20.e4 d5 21.c3 f6 22.xc6 dxe4 23.c4+ h8 24.f7 e6 25.c4 d6 26.xd6 e7 27.xd7 xf7 28.xd8+ xd8 29.xf7 xf7 30.d4 g8 31.xf6

Ehlvest,Jaan Blatny,Pavel 88th NY Masters (4) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2602 2452 20.01.2004

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.a3 f6 5.d3 d5 6.e5 fd7 The central structure is reminiscent of a French Defence. White will want to meet ...c5 with c2-c3 to maintain the centre, so he must lose a tempo with his queen's knight. Nevertheless, Black's queenside pieces aren't particularly active and White has chances to retain a pull. 7.f3 e7 8.e2 c5 9.c3 a6! A typical aim for Black in these closed French type positions is the exchange of his bad bishop. 10.f4 c8! 11.0-0 xd3 12.xd3 a6 13.d1!? Keeping queens makes sense for White who has the safer king in any middlegame. c6 14.e3 a5?! [ I believe that most 'Frenchies' would be satisfied with their position after 14...0-0!= The text eyes up the light-squares in order to make White regret playing both a2-a3 and c2-c3 so early, but for tactical reasons this move is the source of Black's later woes. ] 15.d2 g6?! The problem with this move is an imperceptible weakening of the a1-h8 diagonal. However [ now 15...0-0?! is met by 16.g4 when fd8 can be met by the strong continuation 17.xe6 fxe6 18.h6 f8 19.xe6+ h8 25

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.g5 with both a material and positional advantage for White. ] [ Black had better options such as 15...c4!? and ] [ 15...cxd4 16.cxd4 c8 as the text leads to trouble. ] 16.b4! Seizing the initiative as we shall see... c4 17.e2 cxd4 [ If 17...cxb4 18.axb4 b5 then I quite like 19.xc4 dxc4 20.fd1 with d4-d5 in the air. ] 18.xd4 c8 Everything seems to be holding f i r m o n t h e q u e e n s i d e , b u t . . . 19.xd5! ...there are problems elsewhere. exd5 20.e6 f6 [ 20...fxe6 21.xh8 etc. ] 21.exf7+ f8 An unfortunate concession, but the natural [ 21...xf7 22.fe1 he8 is refuted by the calm 23.e6+ g7 24.xc4 xc4 25.e3 and Black is helpless in the face of Rae1 and or Rf3. ] 22.e6 Blatny is bus t ed! He is naturally an optimist and a fighter but all his tricky play c a n ' t c h a n g e t h e i n e v i t a b l e r e s u l t . h5 23.fe1 b7 24.xc4 dxc4 25.xh8 f4 26.g7+ [ or 26.g4 ] 26...xg7 27.e5+ f6 28.xf4 xc3 29.e8 xf7 30.xf7+ xf7 31.xc8 xa1 32.xc4 e5 33.b5 e6 34.f1 d5 35.c8 d6 36.a4 c5 37.c7 c4 38.xa7 b4 39.e2 h5 40.f4 d6 41.f3 c5 42.g3 The moral of this tale is that even with a closed centre leaving the king in the centre too long can be dangerous. 1-0

37 Fedorchuk,Sergey A Miles,Anthony J 2nd IECC Ohrid MKD (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2503 2562 07.06.2001

1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 xe5 This system had a very nice record in this instalmentâ []s games. 4.c3 [ 4.f4 g6 A) 5.f3 c5 6.c4 d6 7.c3 ( 7.e2 f6 8.f5 e7 9.c3 0-0 10.g5 c6

11.0-0-0 c7 12.hf1 b5 13.b3 a5 14.xf6 gxf6 15.d4 a4 16.f3 axb3 17.xc6 xc6 18.h3 xf5 19.exf5 xf5 20.d5 fe8 21.f3 bxa2 22.xf6+ f8 23.xc6 a1+ 24.d2 b4+ 25.c3 xb2 0-1 Boey,J-Keres,P/ Varna 1962.) 7...f6 ( 7...c6 8.g5 h6 9.h3 b5 10.b3 a5 11.a3 a7 12.e2 0-0 13.e3 b6 14.xc5 xc5 15.g3 a4 16.a2 b4 17.axb4 xb4 18.e3 e7 19.0-0 h8 20.g4 f5 21.gxf5 xf5 22.d3 c5+ 23.h2 e3 24.f3 xf4 25.xe3 xg5 26.g1 e5 27.h1 d5 28.gf1 g5 29.xa4 xe4 30.xe4 dxe4 31.e3 f6 32.c5 h6 33.d1 xh3+ 34.xh3 xh3 35.c4 e3 36.h2 e2 37.e1 f1 38.d3 g2 39.a1 e3 40.b3 h5 41.e1 g4+ 42.g1 e3 43.a8+ h7 44.f8 g3+ 45.h1 g2+ 46.xg2 xg2 47.e8 f2 0-1 Winawer,S-Schlechter,C Monte C a r l o 1 9 0 1 .) 8.f5 e7 9.g5 c6 W e have already seen that Black is not afraid of trading his kingside pawn structure for some dark-squared domination. 10.xf6 gxf6 11.d2 b5 12.b3 h5 13.0-0-0 b6 14.he1 a5 15.a4 b4 16.e2?? 0-1 Rosenberg,JMarder,S Copenhagen DEN 2001.; B) 5.e3 d5!? A rare and - Black gets very quick development but this needs rather serious analysis as there are many, many ways that White could have tried to grab material quickly. 6.xd5 ( 6.exd5 f6 7.b5+ d7 8.e2 b4+ 9.c3 0-0 10.d4 xc3+ 11.bxc3 e8 12.0-0-0 e4 13.d2 e7 14.d4 a3+ 15.b1 xd5 16.c4 xd4 17.xd4 xc3+ 18.a1 xd1 19.xf7+ xf7 20.xd7+ e7 21.xd1 d8 22.e2 f6+ 23.b1 d4 24.f3 b4+ 25.c1 xf4 26.e5+ g8 27.e3 xg2 28.c5 f4+ 29.d1 b1+ 30.e2 e4+ 0-1 Reinhardt,E-Rossetto, H Mar del Plata 1961.) 6...d6 7.d2 ( 7.b5+!? is critical as White appears to prevent castling - unless Black wants to s t a r t s h e d d i n g p a wn s b e f o r e h e h a s developed.) 7...e7 8.c3 b4 9.0-0-0 f6 10.d3 ( 10.d3!? ) 10...e6 11.f5 e5 12.b5+ d7 13.xb7 0-0 26

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.ge2 a5 15.d5 xd5 16.exd5 fb8 17.xc7 c8 18.b7 xf5 19.xe7 xc2+ 20.b1 d2+ 0-1 Zapolskis,AS u l s k i s , S K a u n a s L T U 2 0 0 1 . A ve r y seductive game, but I wouldn't venture this as Black without some double checking. ] 4...c5 5.f4 c6 6.f3 [ 6.c4 d6 7.f3 e6 8.xe6 fxe6 9.a4 b6 10.xb6 axb6 11.0-0 f6 12.g5 e7 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 xe5 15.e2 a5 16.b4 xb4 17.xe6 e7 18.xg7+ xg7 19.d2 d5 20.c4 xd2 21.xe5+ d8 22.xf6+ xf6 23.xf6 e8 24.a4 ee2 25.f8+ e7 26.g8 d6 27.g7 c6 28.h1 a2 29.g1 h5 30.g6+ c5 31.g5+ xc4 32.xh5 b5 33.axb5 cxb5 34.g4 b4 35.g5 b3 36.g6 b2 37.g7 g2 38.h7 c5 39.xg2 b1+ 40.h1 d3 41.h8 b6 42.h6+ a5 43.g8 e4+ 44.g2 xg2 45.xg2 b5 46.hg6 b4 47.6g3 a4 48.h4 d5 49.e3 b3 50.ee2 1/2-1/2 Akopian,V-Miles,A/Moscow 1990/TD (50) ] 6...d6 7.a4 b6 8.d3 d5 9.xb6 axb6 10.e5 ge7 Black has a sound and active position. W hite's main chore will be finding gainf ul employment f or his dark-squared bishop. 11.0-0 f5 12.h4 xd3 13.xd3 d7 14.d2 g4 15.e1 0-0 16.h3 d7 17.d2 a4 This move is so much fun to play on e as s u me s it is ve ry st ron g - t h e ro o k influences most of the board from this entry route. 18.c3 g6 19.xg6 fxg6! Continuing to bank on increasing the activity of his rooks, and creating a crowbar - Black wants to undermine W hite's kingside pawn wedge, and this recapture gains the space he needs on this flank to advance. Black can keep White's centre under control with piece play, but one should not underestimate the element of risk when playing so dynamically. 20.g3 e7 21.h2 h5 22.b3 e4 23.ae1 c6 24.d2 f5 25.c3 The tension of the position will not be dissipated by the trade of queens - Black must still prove that his activity is worth odd pawn structures. h4 26.gxh4 xh4 27.xc6 bxc6 28.g3 f5+ 29.g4 f7 Clearing the way to the h-file for the Rf8. 30.xe4 dxe4 31.e1 d8 [ 31...h8 must be roughly equal, but Miles decides to keep more life in the position. ]

32.e3 d1 33.e2 e6 34.f2 f1 35.a4 c5 36.a5 bxa5 37.g5 [ 37.xc5 f3 38.f2 c5 and White is rat he r sh ort of m oves, wh ile Blac k ca n create trouble with ...c4, trying to pass his a-pawn. ] 37...h1 38.xc5 xh3 39.xg6 g3+ 40.h7 e3 The time control is over, and White's position is in ruins - the Black e-pawn ha s m o re t h a n su rvive d a n d t h e re la t ive strength of the kings is decisive. 41.g8 g5 42.fxg5 xg5+ 43.h7 g7+ 44.h8 g3 45.h2 xe5 46.a3 g4 47.b2+ e4 48.c3 h4+ 49.xh4+ xh4 50.xa5 e2 51.g7 f3 52.f6 e3 0-1

38 Filipenko,Alexander V Filipovic,Branko 11th Open Ljubljana [Neil McDonald]

B00 2370 2435 2000

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 c6 8.dxc5! This is a significant improvement on [ 8.a3 as played in Gomboc-Filipovic in the same tournament. ] 8...bxc5 9.e5 d5 10.c4! b6 11.c3 Now Black has no compensation for the weak square on d6 and backward d pawn. His next move makes things worse but I don't like his position in any case. c7? 12.b5 b8 13.g5! The exchange of dark square bishops leaves W hite with a huge positional advantage. c8 [ If 13...xg5 14.d6+ f8 15.xg5 wins. ] 14.xe7 6xe7 15.ad1 White's immediate plan is simple- tie down the black pieces to the defence of the d7 pawn. a6 16.c3 g6 17.e4 a7 18.d2 0-0 19.fd1 xe4 20.xe4 d8 21.b3 c7 22.h4! The next stage in W hite's strategy is to exploit the passive Black pieces by beginning a direct attack on his king. h6 23.h5 f8 24.h4 e8 25.f4 c6 26.e3 c7 27.e4 d8 28.g4 e7 29.d6 c8 30.g2 a5 31.f4 a8 32.f6+! h8 [ 32...gxf6 33.exf6 c8 34.xh6 mates. ] 27

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 33.xd7 xd7 34.xd7 c8 35.xe7 A very straightforward win for W hite which made 7...Nc6 look bad. So it seems 7...d5 should be preferred. 1-0

39 Gagunashvili,Merab Savchenko,Boris TCh-TUR 2011 (12) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2603 2630 08.07.2011

1.d4 e6 2.f3 A non-committal move that has become popular of late because, amongst other reasons, it avoids 2.c4 Bb4+. b6 [ After 2...f5 White has tried no less than 17 moves! One that takes Dutch players out of their normal scenario is 3.d5!? e.g. exd5 4.xd5 d6 5.g3 f6 6.b3 a6 7.e3 d5 (Vaisser likes playing the Stonewall) 8.g2 c6 9.c4 dxc4 ( maybe 9...c5 10.c2 ce4 11.0-0 d6= ) 10.xc4 b4+ 11.bd2 d5 12.0-0 xc4 13.xc4 c5 14.fd1 Vachier-Lagrave, M-Vaisser, M French league 2011, and W hite later converted his small pull. ] 3.e4 b7 4.d3 Play has led us into Owen's Defence. c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 c6?! A rare try, and not one that I'd recommend. [ The most commonly played move is 6...e7 then 7.0-0 c6 (here d4-d5 is just bad) 8.a3 a5!? ( although 8...d5 may transpose to the line below emanating from 6...d5, White has an extra option with t h i s m o v e o r d e r : 9.e5 d7 10.b4!? but it's not clear if this offers W hite anything ) 9.g5 c4 10.c2 h6 11.xf6 xf6 12.bd2 c7 13.ab1 Black has no immediate problems, but has to be careful a b o u t w h e n a n d w h e r e t o c a s t l e . e7 14.e5 b5 15.b4 cxb3 16.xb3 xb3 17.xb3 a6 18.h5 g6 19.f3 h7= Czebe, A-Filipovic, B Basel 2009. ( Or perhaps 19...0-0 )] [ A solid line is introduced by 6...d5 e.g. 7.e5 fd7 8.0-0 e7! ( Black needs to be wary of leaving his g5-square undefended, for example 8...c6 9.a3 c4 10.c2 c7?! 11.g5! e7 12.h5 xg5 13.xg5 f8 14.d2 e7 15.ae1 g6 16.f3 h5

17.a4+ c6 18.f6 and White won material in Anisimov, P-Vlasov, E Warsaw rapid 2010) 9.e3 c6 10.a3 c4 11.c2 b5 12.bd2 a5 13.e1 h5 14.f4 g6 15.ef3 b4 and White never looked like breaking through in Dautov, R-Bauer, C Gothenburg 2005. ] [ I'm not so keen on 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 b4+ 8.d2 c6 9.c3 d6 10.0-0 xc3 11.xc3 0-0 12.ad1 e7 13.e5 Kulicov, O-Novotny, M Frydek Mistek 2011, when White had a pleasant edge. ] 7.d5! This looks to be spot on. Black cannot capture on d5, so it's understandable why 6... Be7 7.0-0 Nc6 is more popular (when d4-d5 w o u l d l o s e a p a w n ) . e7 8.c4 By consolidat ing his pawn wedge , W hit e ensures a space advantage. d6 9.c3 g6 [ Black could opt for closing the centre with 9...e5 (with a type of Czech Benoni) but then 10.c2! followed by Ba4+ would be better for White. The early ...b6 and ...Bb7 looking out of place here. ] 10.dxe6 [ H e r e a g a i n 10.c2 comes into consideration, but Gagunashvili opts to force the pace, angling for something more than a positional pull. ] 10...fxe6 11.g5 d7 12.e5! Breaking up Black's structure and leaving the e6-pawn ch ro n ica lly we a k. dxe5 13.xe5 g7 14.xe6 [ Although Black's position looks dodgy, he d o e s h a ve a n u m b e r o f r e so u r c e s , f o r e x a m p l e a f t e r 14.b5 xg2! 15.g1 ( 15.d6+ f8 isn't that clear either) 15...0-0-0 16.e2 c6 17.xe6 b4 with counter-chances. ] [ Otherwise 14.0-0 0-0-0 15.xe6 h6! 16.xd7+ xd7 17.e6 xd3 18.xg7 offers Black some play for his pawn. ] 14...f7 [ Taking the piece is not really a good idea: 14...xd3?? 15.xg7+ f7 16.e6+ xg7 17.xe7+ g8 18.xb7 e8+ 19.e3 g4 20.d5+ and Black can resign. ] 15.xg7 c6 16.e6+ Safest, as White retains his extra pawn and avoids middlegame complications. xe6+ 17.xe6 he8 18.0-0 xe6 19.f4 The bishop pair, 28

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 plus an extra pawn n atu rally o f f e r W hit e something to look forward to, although Black's activity complicates the task of exploiting his a d va n t a ge . e5 20.e2 e4 21.b5!? I'm surprised that Gagunashvili opted for such a complex move when a simple continuation presented itself. [ An alternative is 21.xe4 xe4 22.ad1 ae8 23.e3 when Black is running out of compensation. ] 21...g5! 22.e3 g8 23.ad1 [ Deciding not to chase a second pawn. In general with a material advantage it's best to avoid unnecessary complications, but it seems that White can indeed snatch the apawn: 23.xa7 d6 24.b3 g4 25.a4 f5 ( 25...f3+ 26.xf3 gxf3 27.g3 ) 26.b5 and Black's play isn't worth two pawns. ] 23...g4 24.h1 f6 25.c7 h5 26.f3!? Hoping to open lines for his rooks and bishops. gxf3 27.xf3 xf3 [ Plausible is 27...xf3 as 28.gxf3 f6 29.d5 xc4 30.xf6 xf6 wouldn't be as easy a technical ride as White would like. However the first player is still for preference. ] 28.d7+ g6 29.gxf3 xf3!? [ Or perhaps 29...g5 as 30.d5 xd5 31.cxd5 xf3 32.xf3 xf3 33.xa7 f5 would still be complicated. ] 30.xf3 g5 31.d6+! A precise move that enables White to ultimately emerge from the c o m p l i c a t i o n s w i t h a n e x t r a p a w n . h7 32.d5 xd5 [ 32...xf3?? 33.f6+ ] 33.xd5 xf3 34.f5 e1 35.xh5+ g7 36.g5+ h8 37.xg8+ xg8 White has some major trumps in the endgame: Bishop versus knight, a passed pawn on the edge an d B la c k h a s h is pa wn s st u ck o n d a rksquares. Despite all these points, White still has some work to do. 38.d2 d3 39.b3 f7 40.g2 g6 41.f3 f5 42.h4 a6 43.h5 b5 [ If Black temporizes with 43...e5+ 44.g3 d3 White prepares an invasion via e4 with 45.h6 g6 46.f3 ] 44.cxb5 axb5 45.h6 e5+ 46.e3 g4+ 47.d3 g6 [ If 47...c4+ simplest is 48.d4 when White retains a b-pawn. ]

48.e4 f6+ 49.e5 g4+ 50.e4 f6+ 51.d3 g4 52.c2 e5 53.a4! Pawns on both rims give the knight an impossible task. c6 54.a5 [ After 54.a5 b8 ( 54...xa5 55.xa5 xh6 56.b6 c4 57.b4 g5 58.c3 f5 59.d4 e6 60.c5 c3 61.xb5 c2 62.e3 ) 55.d3 a6 56.e4 h7 57.d5 g6 58.c6 Black's position is hopeless. ] 1-0

40 Gallagher,Joseph G McShane,Luke J Bundesliga 2000-1 (10) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2519 2460 10.03.2001

1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 d6 5.c4 d7 6.c3 e7 7.h4!? White takes advantage of black's lack of fianchetto on this flank, and stakes out a bit of space. h6 8.h5 c6 9.e2 e7 10.d5 ce5 11.d4 This looks like a clear safe advantage for white. f8 12.a4+ [ 12.0-0 followed by rumbling the f-pawn forward deserves a serious look. ] 12...d7 13.b3 c5 14.c2 d8 Creating a home for the Ne5. Black is now reasonably solid since it will take white some time to regroup his queen and Nc2. 15.e3 ed7 16.a4 exd5 17.cxd5 h7 18.0-0 0-0 19.f4 e8 20.a3 f6 21.f3 xc3 This weakens the e4 pawn to the extent that it is now black who takes over the driving seat. [ 21...d4!? ] 22.xc3 df6 23.d3 e7 24.ae1 xe4 25.xc5 xc5 26.xe7 xd3 27.xb7 xb2 28.b5 xa4 29.a1 [ 29.xd6!? c5 30.c7 ] 29...c5 30.bxa7 xa7 31.xa7 d8 32.c7 f6 33.c6 d3 [ 33...ce4 gave some chances for a microscopic edge. ] 34.g3 a8 35.xd6 a1+ 36.h2 a2+ 37.g1 e1 38.e4 xe4 39.xe4 f3+ 40.f1 f5 41.d6 ½-½

29

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 41 Geller,Efim P Chiburdanidze,Maia Aruba [Alexander Volzhin]

B00 2525 2505 1992

O we n 's D e f e n ce h a s a ch e ive d a ce rt a i n amount of popularity during the last decade. Strong players such as GMs Anthony Miles and Artashes Minasian to name but two, are among the adherents of this opening. 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 [ 3...f5? This move is just bad. But I was s u r p r is e d t o f i n d t h a t a c c o r d i n g t o m y database Black has scored more than 50% in this line! 4.exf5 xg2 5.h5+ g6 6.fxg6 g7 A) My database contains only games where 7.gxh7+ was played. This move is recommended in lots of theoretical manuals. However in my opinion it's much weaker: f8 8.hxg8+ xg8 9.g4 xh1 10.h4 ( 10.c3 f8 11.e3 f6 12.h3 h4 13.g6 c6 and Black was better in Lombardy - Regan, USA, 1974.) 10...d5! 11.h5 e6 12.g2 xh5 13.xa8 d5 14.xa7 c6 15.a4 h1! and Black has tremendous compensation for the sacrificed piece. The game Shmit - Vitolinsh, Riga, 1969 c o n t i n u e d : 16.f1 xd4 17.c4 e6 18.xd5 exd5 A1) 19.c3 was better, although after c6! ( 19...f3 20.ce2!; 19...h4 20.xd7! and White is winning in both cases. ) 20.f4 h4 21.g2 xg1+ 22.xg1 xf4 Black has excellent compensation for the exchange and can decide whether to take a draw by perpetual check (Qg5-c1), or to try to for more.; A2) 19.f4 h4?! This inaccuracy a llo ws W h it e t o e sca p e . ( The natural 19...f3! was simple and good. After the forced 20.g2 xg1+ 21.xf3 h4! 22.a8+ h7 Black has a winning attack. ) 20.a8+ h7 21.xd5 h3+ 22.g2 xg1+ 23.xg1 e2+ 24.f1 xg2+ 25.xg2 xf4+ 26.f3 xb2 27.xf4 xa1 28.c3 b2 29.e3 c1+ and a draw was agreed. A very

exciting game!; B) 7.f5! This is the refutation! f6 8.h6!! This is the idea behind White's p r e vi o u s m o ve ! xh6 9.gxh7 xh1 10.g6+ f8 11.xh6+ f7 12.h3! and Black is hopelessly lost, for example: f8 13.g6+ e6 14.c3 d6 15.0-0-0 d5 16.xd5 xd5 17.b5 c6 18.f5+ d6 19.f4+ e5 20.dxe5+ ] 4.f3 g6?! This move contradicts basic opening principles. [ Either 4...c5 ] [ or 4...f6 should be preferred. ] 5.g5! Immediately exploiting the drawbacks of Black's previous move. This sortie makes the normal development of Black's forces difficult. c8 [ 5...e7? is evidently bad in view of 6.f6 ] [ 5...f6 also cannot be recommended, as this move seriously weakens Black's position. 6.e3 g7 7.d2 e7 8.h6 with h4 to follow with a clear edge for White. ] [ and if 5...e7 then 6.e3! is very unpleasant, as the dark squares on the K-side are seriously weakened. ] 6.c3 g7 7.0-0 d6 8.e1 d7 9.e5! W hite has completed his development and begins action in the centre. d5 [ The pawn sacrifice cannot be accepted: 9...xf3? 10.xf3 dxe5 in view of 11.a6! b8 12.b7 winning the Rook ] [ In my opinion, 9...dxe5 10.xe5 gf6 was relatively better, although after 11.a4! B l a c k s t i l l h a s t o s o l ve m a n y d i f f i c u l t problems. ] 10.a4! a6 [ 10...a6 is strongly met by 11.b5! ] [ 10...a5 gives up the b5-square forever: 11.b5 intending Rc1 and c4 with strong pressure on the Q-side. ] 11.e2 e7 12.f4! [ 12.xe7? xe7 leads White nowhere, as he cannot exploit the bad position of Black's King, and after evacuating the King with Re8 and Kf8, Black will play c7-c5 obtaining good prospects. ] 12...c6 [ After 12...h6 13.xe7 xe7 the following sacrif ice loo ks ve ry p ro mising: 14.xg6! fxg6 15.xg6+ f7 16.xh8+ xh8 30

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.h4 intending to transfer the Rook to the K-side via the a3-square with Qh5 and f4-f5 with a growing attack. ] 13.c3 a5 [ 13...h6 14.f6! is similar to the game. ] 14.h4! h6 This move seriously weakens the g6-square and gives White a target, [ but 14...a6 15.c2 f8 16.h5 was hardly better. ] 15.f6! All White's pieces occupy active positions and are ready for the decisive attack. By sacrif icing a pawn (and a piece soon) White opens files near Black's King. xf6 [ Nxf6 is the alternative to the text, but White attacks in a similar way to the game: 15...xf6 16.exf6 xf6 17.xg6! fxg6 18.xe6+ f7 19.d3! with decisive t h r e a t s , f o r e xa m p l e : e7 ( 19...g8 20.h5+- winning e7 21.ae1 d6 22.hxg6+ g7 23.h5+ h8 24.g7+ ) 20.ae1 g8 ( 20...g8 21.e5+ xe5 22.1xe5 ) 21.e5+ xe5 22.1xe5 e8 23.f3 f5 24.xf5+! gxf5 25.h5+ ] [ Probably, 15...0-0 was relatively best, although Black's position is bad anyway: 16.xg7 xg7 17.d2! e7 18.h5! g5 19.xg5! hxg5 20.h3! with a decisive attack, is just one variation that illustrates W hite's resources: h8 21.xg5+ f8 22.h6 g8 23.h5 h8 24.e3 e8 25.g5 f5 26.xf5 exf5 27.h7 and Black is hopelessly lost. ] 16.exf6 xf6 [ The attempt to protect the weak e6- and g6s q u a r e s w i t h 16...f8 fails as 17.b5! leads to a tragicomic position where Black h a s t o p l a y d8 , as there is no other d e f e n c e a g a i n s t N e 5 . 18.c4 with an overwhelming advantage. ] [ 16...0-0 Here this move is even worse than a move previously: 17.h5 g5 18.xg5! xf6 ( 18...hxg5 19.g4+winning ) 19.d2! and Black has no compensation for the weak position of her king, and accepting the Knight sacrifice loses on the spot: hxg5? 20.xd5! h7 21.f6+! ] 17.xg6! fxg6 18.xe6+ f7 19.d3! g8 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 19...e4 is the main alternative to the text, but it doesn't help Black: 20.e1! Preparing a new sacrifice (Rxe4), which works whatever Black replies!

h7 ( 20...g5 is no better: 21.1xe4! gxf4 22.xf4+ xe6 23.g6+ e7 24.f6+ d7 25.e5+! xe5 26.g7+ wit h a qu ick m a t e .) 21.1xe4! dxe4 22.xe4 g7 ( 22...g8 23.xg6+ h8 24.d5! e8 25.e6 e7 26.g6+ ) 23.d5! and Black is hopelessly lost. ] 20.ae1 Now White is threatening Rxc6 with N e 5 + t o f o l l o w . e4 Allowing a brilliant combination. [ 20...g7 preparing to evacuate the King to the g8-square, was more stubborn, although White has a huge advantage after 21.xc6 xc6 22.e5+ g8 23.xc6 d7 T h e o n ly m o ve . 24.e7+ ( The tempting 24.e6? fails to h5! ) 24...xe7 25.xg6+ g7 26.xf6 ] 21.1xe4! dxe4 22.c4!! Black resigned as her position is absolutely hopeless: [ 22.c4 A) 22...a6 23.xc6 exf3 ( 23...b7 24.e5+ f8 25.e8+! ) 24.f6+; B) 22...g7 23.xc6+ e8 24.e5; C) 22...g7 23.xg6+ h8 24.xh6+ g7 25.g6+ h8 26.g5 f8 27.f7+ h7 28.e6 We can only admire the youthful energy of 67 year old Efim Geller. ] 1-0

42 Gerber,Richard Miles,Anthony J Open Crans Montana SUI (5) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2432 2562 21.04.2001

1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 xe5 4.f3 b4+ 5.c3 xf3+ 6.xf3 c5 7.c4 f6 Here we get a little course in how Miles, the hero of most of the sections of Daring Defences, makes a living in what might appear to most to be tedious backwaters. Mainly, by not having anything against putting in very long days at the office when the job requires it. 8.e3 [ 8.g3 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.b4 d6 11.f4 h6 12.e5 f5 13.g4 e7 14.d3 ( 14.xf5 d5 ) 14...b6+ 15.h1 h6 16.h5 f5 17.e2 h8 18.e3 g6 19.d2 b6 and black finally completed his 31

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 development, achieving a truly murky and daring position. 20.f3 b7 21.ad1 a5 22.a3 g4 23.g1 axb4 24.axb4 a3 25.b2 aa8 26.b5 d6 27.h3 dxe5 28.xe5 xe5 29.fxe5 ad8 30.f2 h5 31.xd8 xh3+ 32.h2 xd8 33.g3 xg3 34.xg3 d2 35.f2 xf2 36.xf2 d5 37.d7 g6 38.g3 g7 39.e6 c5 40.e5+ h6 41.c7 cxb4 42.cxb4 b5 43.xb5 xb4 44.d7 e7 45.h2 g5 46.e5 f4 47.g1 f5 48.d6 xe6 49.xe6+ xe6 50.xf4 c5+ 51.h1 f5 52.g3 d4 53.g2 e5 54.e3 g4 55.f2 c3 56.e3 g5 57.xg5 xg5 58.g4 f4 59.g5 g4 60.h1 h3 61.g1 d4+ 62.h1 g3 63.g6 hxg6 1/2-1/2 Salimaki,J-Jouhki,Y Helsinki 1998. ] [ 8.f4 d6 9.d2 e7 10.b5+?! ( 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.h4 c6 12.g3 e5 13.e2 g6 14.e3 xe3 15.xe3 f4 16.f1 e8 17.xf4 xf4 18.f3 e6 19.b3 a5 20.e3 a4 21.b2 axb3 22.axb3 a5 23.g3 h3!? 24.d2 ea8 25.c2 a2+ 26.c1 g5 27.g2 g4 28.c4 h5 29.f4 d7 30.e5 e6 31.exd6 cxd6 32.xb7? b8 33.c6 xb3 34.d4 c3+ 35.d1 a1+ 36.e2 xc4+ 0-1 Solomon,S-Miles,A Melbourne 1991.) 10...c6 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 g6 13.g3 e7 14.b4 b6 15.h5 f5 and black has a very comfortable game. 16.c4+ h8 17.exf5 xf5 18.d1 d5 19.e2 ae8 20.h5 f6 21.b1 d8 22.d2 e5 23.a3 c4 24.xc4 dxc4 25.b2 d3 26.fe1 d5 27.f3 f5 28.a4 a6 29.a5 a7 30.d2 h6 31.a2 xf3 32.gxf3 xf3 33.d1 f6 34.c1 f5 35.ae2 g4 36.d2 f3 37.d6 f5 38.e7 d5 39.d2 f7 40.e8+ h7 41.dd8 f6 42.e5 g6 43.ee8 f8 44.e1 xf2+ 45.xf2 xe8 46.xe8 xe8 47.f5+ g8 48.f2 e6 49.e5 f7+ 50.e3 d5 51.d4 f1 52.c5 g1+ 53.d4 xd4+ 54.xd4 g5 55.c5 h5 56.d6 g4 57.g3 f7 58.b6 e6 59.e1 c5 60.xc5 e5 61.h4 e4 62.f6 f7 63.b6 e8 64.xb7 b5 65.b6 f3 66.c5 g2 67.e5 h4 68.d4 f3 69.b8 g3 70.hxg3 hxg3 71.xg3 xg3 72.e3 g2 0-1 Perdomo,C-Miles,A Ubeda 1997. ]

8...xf3 9.gxf3 e7 10.g1 g6 11.d4 f6 12.a3 a6 13.c2 d6 14.e3 0-0 15.0-0-0 e6 16.f5 d8 17.b3 e8 18.g3 d7 19.f4 f8 20.f5 xb3 21.axb3 g5+ 22.c2 e5 23.xe5 dxe5 24.d7 e7 25.d5 h4 26.b4 c6 27.d6 ee8 28.gd1 ed8 29.d7 ab8 30.f3 e8 31.xd8+ xd8 32.xd8+ xd8 33.f1 g5 34.d3 f4 35.h3 e7 36.e3 xe3 37.xe3 f6 38.fxg6 fxg6 39.f2 g5 40.g3 b6 41.c4 c5 42.b5 axb5 43.cxb5 c4 44.h4+ f6 45.f4 h6 46.g4 exf4 47.xf4 g5+ 48.hxg5+ hxg5+ 49.g4 e5 50.xg5 xe4 51.f6 d5 0-1

43 Gicev,Blagoja Blatny,Pavel 2nd IECC Ohrid MKD (11) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2336 2547 12.06.2001

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d2 [ 3.d3 e6 4.f4?! Not terribly logically directed aggression which doesn't do much to stifle the Bb7. c5 5.c3 cxd4 6.cxd4 b4+ 7.c3 f5 and Black could be satisfied with his unorthodox opening in this recent game. 8.e2 fxe4 9.xe4 xe4 10.xe4 c6 11.f3 f6 12.d3 0-0 13.0-0 e7 14.a3 xc3 15.bxc3 c7 16.d2 ac8 17.g3 f5 18.a4 d6 19.a5 b5 20.a6 fe4 21.ac1 c4 22.e3 d5 23.fe1 c6 24.e5 xa6 25.a1 xa1 26.xa1 a8 27.c1 a5 28.d3 c4 29.xc4 bxc4 30.c2 b8 31.b2 f6 32.e1 d6 33.c1 b3 34.d2 a4 35.h3 a3 36.g4 b2 37.d1 a2 0-1 Csapo, Z-Puschmann, L Budapest HUN 2001. ] 3...e6 4.gf3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.d3 c6 7.a3 d5 8.e5 d7 9.0-0 a5 [ 9...e7 10.e1 g5!? This leads to a very standard type of King's Indian reversed type of position, and the game well illustrates Black's ideas in this variation. 11.h3 h5 12.g4 hxg4 13.hxg4 c7 14.f1 0-0-0 15.g3 dg8 16.b4 c4 17.f1 a6 18.a4 d8 19.b5 a5 20.g2 f6 21.a3 xa3 22.xa3 h4 23.exf6 xg4 24.e5 xe5 25.dxe5 xg3 26.fxg3 c5+ 27.d4 xa3 32

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28.xb6 g4 29.f1 f8 30.f4 h8 31.f7 e7 32.xa5 c5+ 33.d4 c6 34.bxc6 xa5 35.cxb7+ c7 0-1 Braig,F-Scherer,M Schwaebisch Gmuend 1997. ] 10.e1 c8?!N Black envisions combining ideas of Ba6 and using the c-file, but only achieves surrendering the bishop pair without sufficient compensation - as well as keeping the position a bit too open. [ 10...c4 11.c2 b5 led to very complex play where a French aficionado like Lputian felt right at home as Black. 12.f1 h6 13.h4 b4 14.d2 b6 15.f4 bxc3 16.bxc3 a4 17.g3 a5 18.b2 b3 19.ad1 c8 20.h5 e7 21.e3 a7 22.d2 c6 23.b1 b8 24.g3 g6 25.f6+ d8 26.h5 g5 27.e3 xd4 28.cxd4 xb2 29.c3 a2 30.xa4 c7 31.xc6 xc6 32.f3 e7 33.h3 g7 34.e4 f8 35.ec3 b2 36.a4 f6 37.b5 a5 38.a3 b4 39.exf6 xf6 40.xb4 xb4 41.1c3 c6 42.e3 d7 43.de1 b2 44.f3 d2 45.a5 xa5 46.xd5 exd5 47.e7+ c6 48.a7+ b6 49.xg7 c3 50.c8+ b5 51.c7 c2 52.c3 b4 53.c5 b3 54.e7 xc5 55.xd5+ b3 56.xf6 d1 0-1 Narciso Dublan,M-Lputian,S Linares 1996. ] 11.c2 cxd4 12.cxd4 a6 13.f1 xf1 Chess is not so simple that one can toss off a bishop and then just plonk one's pawn's on those colour squares and claim to be solid and quit a potentially bad piece. The lightsquared bishop protects a lot of potential pawn weaknesses, and has long-term career prospects outside the pawn chain. 14.xf1 b5 15.e3 a4 16.g5 [ 16.c1!? would have reduced Black's tactical possibilities. ] 16...e7 [ 16...h6 17.h5 ] 17.xh7 g6 18.g5 xg5 [ 18...xd4 19.xd4 xg5 20.f4 This kind of position demonstrates the dark side of Black's strategy - White has all sorts of way to crack open Black position, using p a wn b re a k s o n e it h e r f la n k, wh e n h i s unopposed light-squared bishop will steadily increase in strength. Black presumably entered this whole adventure intending the game continuation and

missing White's 22nd. ] 19.xg5 xd4 20.xd4 xc2 21.ac1 e4 22.a7!! Taking picturesque advantage of Black's weak last rank and dark-square ventilation - and it will get worse. d4 [ 22...b8 23.b7! ] 23.c7 [ 23.a6! ] 23...f6 24.xf6 h7 25.d6+xf6 26.xe6+ e7 27.xf6 d3 28.ce1 d5 29.e6 h5 30.e5 h7 31.d5 g5 32.d1 c8 33.5xd3 g7 34.f5 1-0

44 Glek,Igor V Polak,Tomas 10th Open Valls d'Aosta ITA (6) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2601 2482 14.02.2002

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.f3 b4 5.d3 f6 6.g5 h6 7.xf6 xc3+ 8.bxc3 xf6 9.0-0 d6 10.d2 e5 11.f4 e7 Kramnik's choice. The confrontational [ 11...exd4 is also very playable, but riskier 12.e5 dxe5 13.fxe5 g5 14.f3 e3+ 15.h1 0-0 16.cxd4 d7 17.h4 g5 18.e1 ae8 19.f2 d5 20.c4 b7 21.f5 c8 22.ae1 c5 23.xd7 1/2-1/2 Tkachiev, V-Minasian,A/Cannes 1995 (23) ] 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.c4 [ 13.b5+ c6 14.c4 0-0 15.f5 d7 16.h5 b5 17.b3 c5 18.dxc5 f6 19.f3 c8 20.xf6 xf6 21.xf6 gxf6 22.d5 b8 23.f1 g7 24.b3 e6 25.c6 bd8 26.d1 f5 1/2-1/2 Maljutin,EKramnik,V/Sochi 1990/TD (55) ] 13...0-0 14.h5 d7 15.ae1 ae8 16.e3 f6 The fact that this upset is scored so smoothly illustrates the most salient point of the position, and that is white, with nearly a full set of pawns to worry about, has a hard time not making things worse. White should be thinking of bailing out. 17.e2 h8 [ 17...d6 18.ef3 exd4 19.xf6 should again hold for white. ] 18.f5?! [ 18.ef3!? looks better - defending the centre is a thankless task, but aiming to 33

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 crea te b a la nce by co un te r p un ch in g a t black's soft spots is more attractive. A) 18...exd4 19.xf6 ( 19.cxd4 doesn't help black as the pressure on f6 a n d f 7 g i v e w h i t e a t l e a s t e q u a l i t y .) 19...gxf6 20.h5 is again at least equal for white.; B) 18...d6 19.xf6 gxf6 20.h5 is at least a draw f or white, since th e only winning try, .. .f5, just gives up all shelter around the black king. ] 18...d6 19.b5? exd4 20.cxd4 c6 21.c4 xd4 winning material without compensation. 22.c3 d8 23.e5 d5 24.ef3 f6 25.e4 c8 26.d3 xc3 27.g4 xe5 28.g3 g8 0-1

45 Gomboc,Miha Filipovic,Branko 11th Open Ljubljana [Neil McDonald]

B00 2160 2435 2000

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 c6 This leads to a different type of centre to [ 7...d5 8.e5 fd7 as played in GrosarFilipovic. Here Black looks for active piece play rather than a gritty blocked structure. In particular, he keeps his queen's bishop active. The drawback is that Black isn't staking much of a claim in the centre, so White has direct attacking chances. ] 8.a3?! Much stronger is 8 dxc5! as played in DD416, Filipenko-Filipovic also in the Ljubljana tournament. With 8 a3 White plans to restrict Black further with 9 b4. Filipovic neutralises this idea with his next two moves, but this leaves him with less influence on the centre. a5 9.bd2 c4 10.c2 c7 11.e5 Attacking c4. b5 12.f4 0-0 13.ef3? This retreat is totally inconsistent. [ White should continue 13.f5! for example d6 14.g4 with definite attacking chances. ] 13...h5 14.g3 g6 15.e5? This just weakens his light squares. He had to play [ 15.f5 with unclear play. ] 15...f5! 16.exf6 xf6 17.e4 g7 18.xb7 xb7 White's next move doesn't help but he

already had an unpleasant position. 19.e4 b3 20.b1 d5 21.ed2 f6 22.xb3 cxb3 23.d2 a5 24.a4 bxa4 25.a1 a3! 26.xa3 a4 27.c4 fe8 28.b4? [ Necessary was 28.e2 though after eb8 Black would be ready for a breakthrough on the queenside with Bf8 and a4- a3. ] 28...f8 0-1

46

B00 Grischuk,Alexander 2606 Lima,Darcy 2525 FIDE WCh KO New Delhi IND (1.2) 28.11.2000 [Jon Tisdall] 1.e4 b6 Been a while since a (coming) world championship semi-finalist faced this. 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 e7 7.a3 [ 7.bd2 A quick look at how to react to n a t u r a l d e v e l o p m e n t : cxd4 ( 7...c6 8.dxc5?! bxc5 9.e5 d5 10.e4 c7 11.g3 f6 12.exf6 gxf6 13.h5 0-0-0 14.h6 hg8 15.g3 f5 16.0-0-0 g6 17.d2 g4 18.f4 f6 19.h3 g7 20.he1 e4 21.xe4 fxe4 22.xe4 a5 23.b1 c4 24.e4 e5 25.xc4 exf4 26.xf4 a6 27.e4 f6 28.d6 g6 29.c2 g5 30.xg6 xf4+ 31.xf4 hxg6 32.xg6 xa2 33.h4 c7 34.b1 d5 35.e4 b5 36.d4 xd4 37.xd4 e8 38.c4 e1+ 39.d2 a5+ 40.c3 a1 41.c2 b1 42.e3 xb2 43.d3 b7 0-1 Rausis,I-Kveinys,A Riga 1986.) 8.cxd4 d5 9.e5 fd7 10.a3 a5 11.b1 a6 12.c3 xd3 13.xd3 c6 14.h4 a7 15.g5 c8 16.h3 f8 17.b5 xb5 18.xb5+ d7 19.f3 0-0 20.d3 xg5 21.hxg5 c7 22.d2 c4 23.e3 c2 24.c3 c7 25.c1 g6 26.h3 fc8 27.a4 c4 28.b3 4c7 29.f4 b8 30.f2 a6 31.g4 b4 32.d2 c6 33.f3 h6 34.gxh6 xh6 35.g3 g6 36.g5 h5 37.g2 g7 38.h1 xf3+ 39.xf3 xc3+ 40.g4 c2 41.g1 e3+ 42.f3 f5+ 43.g4 g3+ 44.xg3 xg3 45.xg3 c3+ 46.f2 xb3 47.e2 b4 48.d3 xa4 49.b1 b4 50.xb4 axb4 51.c2 f8 52.b3 e7 53.a4 d7 34

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 54.b3 c7 55.xb4 b8 56.a4 a7 57.b5 b7 58.a4 a6 59.b4 b5 60.c5 a5 61.d6 b4 62.f5 gxf5 63.e7 b3 64.xf7 b2 65.g6 b1 66.xe6 f4 0-1 Solomon,S-Miles,A/ Melbourne 1992. ] 7...c4 8.c2 b5 9.bd2 c6 10.f1 [ 10.a4 led to adventure: a6 11.e5 d5 12.e4 c7 13.axb5 axb5 14.xa8+ xa8 15.fg5 h6 16.xf7!? That's what he's here for. xf7 17.h5+ f8 18.h4 The threat of lifting a rook to h3 seems hard t o m e e t . . . db4! Feels right, though computers like Qa5 to play Nc7 and Nd8 to protect black's king. Maybe they can get away with this, but a good counterattack is more likely to work. 19.cxb4 ( 19.b1 d3+ 20.xd3 cxd3 21.h3 xd4 ) 19...xd4 20.b1 xb4+ 21.f1 f5 22.g5 e7 23.f7+ d8 A) 24.xe6! xg2+ ( 24...b7!? ) 25.xg2 b7+ 26.e4 xe4+ 27.xe4 dxe6; B) 24.xf5? xe5! 25.g1 hxg5 26.xg5+ c8 27.f4 A typo clearly, though white is clearly going down here. f8 0-1 Crouch,C-Burnett,R/ Coulsden 1999. ] 10...a5 [ 10...c7!? looks more flexible. ] 11.g3 c7 12.0-0 a6 13.d5 0-0 14.e1 exd5 15.e5 e4 16.xe4 dxe4 17.xe4 b3 18.b1 xe4 19.xe4 c5 20.g4 Presumably e young, ambitious and powerful Mr. Grischuk was not pleased with the holes beckoning to black's knight. Black's kingside can be defended by ...Qc6-g6. ½-½

47 Grosar,Kiti Filipovic,Branko 11th Open Ljubljana [Neil McDonald]

B00 2210 2435 2000

was very strong f or W hite in GleizerovFilipovich from the same tournament. ] 5.c3 f6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 d5!? After White's reply the black queen's bishop is shut in. On the other hand Black's position becomes secure against any sudden assault in the centre. A French type pawn centre is reached. 8.e5 fd7 9.bd2 c6 10.a3 White intends to encroach on the queenside with 11 b4, which persuades Black to close the position further. c4 11.c2 b5 12.e1? This is too routine. Following 10...c4 there is no real pressure on W hite's centre, so it is possible for him to build up an attack on the kingside. The obvious strategical plan is to prepare the advance of the f pawn, and for this task the rook is best placed on f1. Therefore [ 12.e1!? g6 13.f4 h5 14.df3 followed by g3, Ng2, Ne3 and an eventual g4 seems to be the correct continuation. Mean while Black could ad vance on his queenside, with an interesting battle in prospect. ] 12...a5 13.f1 b4 14.3d2 h5! Black prepares to blockade the kingside. 15.f4 White achieves the desired advance, but it has no punch as his pieces aren't on the best squares. g6 16.g4? This is horrible as White's kingside pawns are crippled. He had to play more patiently for example with [ 16.g3 ] 16...hxg4 17.xg4 b3 18.b1? [ Not 18.xg6? g8 but rather than burying the bishop on b1 he should have played it to d1. ] 18...b6 19.f3 0-0-0 20.e3 dg8 21.e2 d8 22.1d2 h5 23.g2 gh8 24.g5 This is a tactical blunder, but White was already strategically lost. After all, how can he ever bring his rook on a1 into the game? xg5 25.fxg5 xe5! 0-1

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 c5 Black has to be careful with his move order. For example [ 4...f6 5.e2 d5?! ( 5...e7! ) 6.e5 fd7 7.g5! e7 8.g4 g6 9.h4 h5 10.h3 35

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 48 Grosar,Kiti Mashinskaya,Iulia V ECC Women Halle GER (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2223 2335 25.09.2000

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 f6 4.d2 A very sensible continuation, akin in philosophy to the Tarrasch French - no structural damage today, thanks - a pin with ... Bb4 is ruled out. e6 5.gf3 c5 6.c3 d5 I am not a big fan of this move, but I suppose that might not be relevant to admirers of French-type positions. Nevertheless, I can't help feeling the lines where Black tries to keep the position open are more in keeping with the spirit of the opening. [ 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 e7 8.0-0 A) 8...0-0 9.e1 d6 10.a3 bd7 11.e5? ( 11.b4 should keep white with a safe spatial advantage, and explains why this lovely game has not replaced the standard plan of trading bishops on a6 - but it is still nice to know.) 11...dxe5 12.dxe5 g4 13.c2 c8 14.b1 c5 15.e2 xf2+ 16.xf2 xf2 17.xf2 xe5 18.e2 g4+ 19.g1 b5 20.d3 c7 21.h3 fd8 22.xb5 e3 23.g5 c2 24.b1 b6+ 25.h2 f2 26.d1 e3 27.b3 d7 28.g3 xg3+ 29.xg3 dc7 30.f2 f5 31.c4 xc4 32.xc4 xc4 33.d2 c2 34.g4 d4 35.b4 e5 36.b5 h6 37.a4 e4 38.e3 g6 39.a1 c3+ 40.f2 xh3 41.g2 c3 0-1 Zuckerman,B-Adorjan,A/New York 1984.; B) 8...a6 9.xa6 xa6 10.e5 ( 10.d5 exd5 11.e5 e4 12.xe4 dxe4 13.d4 c5 14.g4 g6 15.h6 d5 16.exd6 xd6 17.ad1 f5 18.e2 d3 19.c2 0-0-0 20.e1 f6 21.xd3 exd3 22.xd3 xd3 23.e6+ b7 24.xf6 he8 25.g3 e2 26.f7+ e7 27.b3 ed7 28.e3 d1 29.xd1 xd1+ 30.xd1 xd1+ 31.g2 c6 32.f3 d5 33.f4 b1 34.b3 b2 35.g5 xa2 36.h6 e6 37.xh7 f7 38.h6 b2 0-1 Archangelsky, M-Kveinys, A/Cappelle la Grande 1994.) 10...d5 This kind of position is very similar to lines in the c3 Sicilian, and may even transpose.

It is quite a popular system for black there. 11.e4 0-0 12.a3 ac7 13.e1 f5 14.exf6 xf6 15.g3 fd5 16.d3 c8 17.d2 e8 18.h3 d6 19.ac1 xc1 20.xc1 a8 21.e4 xe4 22.xe4 c8 23.xc8+ xc8 24.d3 a6 25.f1 b5 26.e2 b6 27.d1 b7 28.c2 c4 29.c1 d5 30.d1 a5 31.e2 a4 32.g3 f6 33.g4 g6 34.b3 axb3 35.xb3 e4+ 36.e3 c6 37.h4 g7 38.a4 bxa4 39.b8+ f8 40.g5 d6 41.e8 e7 0-1 Peralta,E-Nogueiras,J/ San Copiapo 1992. ] 7.e5 fd7 [ 7...e4 They tell you to exchange pieces to relieve cramp, but this seems to also rob black of a lot of the long-range potential for manoeuvering - white's N on d2 is also somewhat of a problem piece. 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 xd2 10.xd2 c6 11.c1 a5 Black begins the process of liberating or exchanging the Bb7. 12.e2 White could consider ceding the a6-f1 diagonal in order to keep the bishops on the board. ( 12.g3!? ) 12...a4 13.g3 h6 14.h4 c8 15.c4 dxc4 16.xc4 0-0 17.d3 a6 18.dxc5 xc5 19.e3 xd3 20.xd3 b4 21.e4 a3! 22.bxa3 xa3 23.c4 d5 24.xc5 bxc5 25.ec1 xa2 26.xc5 a6 27.5c2 a3 28.g2 a8 29.g1 d8 30.e1 a6 31.g2 c3 32.e1 d5 33.e4 a4 34.e2 xe2 35.xe2 b8 36.ec2 e4 37.c8+ xc8 38.xc8+ h7 39.f4 g5 40.hxg5 hxg5 41.f2 gxf4 42.gxf4 a4 1/2-1/2 Hellers,F-Ehlvest,J/New York 1993. ] 8.a3 Intending to stake some space on this flank, but it seems to me that fooling around on this side of the board only helps black find something to do. On the other hand, this plan makes it harder for black to rid himself of the Bb7. [ 8.e2 c6 9.0-0 e7 10.d1 cxd4 11.cxd4 b4 12.b1 c8 13.f1 a6 14.d2 xf1 15.xf1 c7 16.a3 c6 17.b4 b5 18.d3 a6 19.f4 b6 20.g4 g6 21.h6 c4 22.f4 f5 23.g4 d8 24.g5 f7 25.xe7 xe7 26.gxf5 gxf5 27.h1 g8 28.g1 d7 29.ac1 b2 30.xg8 xg8 31.xf5 f8 32.xe6+ xe6 33.g5 xg5 34.xf8 c4 35.g1 h6 36.f4 g6 37.f5 h5 38.e6+ c7 36

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 39.c5+ b8 40.xd5 b6 41.c6 c8 42.c1 1-0 Sermek,D-Minasian,A/Cannes 1996. ] [ 8.0-0 c6 9.e1 is a very logical plan that led to complex play: e7 10.f1 c7 11.g3 0-0-0 12.g5 xg5 13.xg5 f6 14.exf6 gxf6 15.e3 h5 16.xh5 dg8 17.c1 b8 18.b4 c4 19.e2 a8 20.f3 f8 21.f4 f7 22.g3 e7 23.f4 f5 24.g4 xg3 25.hxg3 h6 26.h3 b8 27.e2 c8 28.f3 g5 29.e3 g7 30.ce1 h8 31.xe6 xe6 32.xe6 gh5 33.e3 b7 34.e8 xh3 35.gxh3 1-0 Tiviakov,S-Reinderman,D/ Singapore 1990. ] 8...c4 9.c2 b5 10.0-0 c6 11.b4 cxb3 [ 11...a5!? ] 12.xb3 e7 13.e1!? A nice move that opens the way for the white queen and also sends the N on a nice orbit - c5 and more likely f4 are attractive squares. a5 14.xa5 xa5 15.d2 c7 16.d3 b6 17.f4 c4 18.c1 Black's problem is that there is no secure place for the king. g6 19.f3 a5 20.h3 h6 21.f4 0-0-0 22.d3 df8 23.a4 b4 24.cxb4 axb4 25.b1 b6 [ 25...a5 26.xb4! xb4 27.b3 ] 26.a5 [ 26.e3!? to gradually cut off b4 by using the c5 square was a serious option. ] 26...xa5 27.xb4 xb4 28.b3 c6 29.xb4 xb4 30.xb4 c7 31.f4 [ 31.d3 b8 32.xb8 xb8 is reasonably solid. ] 31...h5 32.fb1 a3 33.1b2 xc2 This piece wasn't doing much - black should just keep the Nc4 as white gets an initiative in the sterile looking ending that arises. [ 33...c4!? ] 34.xc2 b8 35.d2 xb4 36.xb4 a8 37.h4 d7 38.h2 b5 39.d6 c6 40.b2 a4 41.c5 a5 42.f3 b5 43.a2 b7 44.g3 b1 45.f4 h1 46.g5 h2 47.d6 c6 48.c2+ b6 49.c7+ a7 50.a5 a6 51.d8 b5 52.h6 a6 53.g7 b4 54.d2 c3 55.a5+ c4 56.xf7 xh4 57.xe6 xd4 58.xd4+ xd4 59.f6 e3 60.xg6 f2 61.xh5 xg2 62.f4 f3 63.f5 c8 64.e6 e4 65.g6 d4 66.f6 d3 67.d2 a6 68.c3 c8 69.g6 f4 70.d2+ e4 71.c3

f4 72.f6 e4 73.e7 d7 74.d2 b5 75.b4 d7 76.c3 b5 77.e6 c4+ 78.f6 b5 79.g5 e8 80.d2 b5 81.f6 e8 82.h6 f5 83.g7 e6 84.c3 h5 85.f8 d2 ½-½

49 Gulko,Boris F Lima,Darcy I American Continental (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2602 2543 16.08.2001

1.d4 b6 2.e4 e6 [ 2...b7 3.c3 e6 4.f3 b4 5.d3 f6 6.e2 d5 7.e5 e4 8.d2 A) 8...xd2 9.xd2 ( 9.xd2 0-0 10.f4 e7 11.h4 f6 12.exf6 xf6 13.g4 c8 14.e5 f8 15.h3 c5 16.h5 h6 17.g4 f6 18.h5 h6 1/2-1/2 Dinescu,A-Tomescu,V/ROM 1993 (18) ) 9...e7 10.g4 g6 11.e2 c5 12.c3 a6 13.xa6 xa6 14.0-0 d7 15.f3 0-0 16.e3 fc8 17.fd1 cxd4 18.xd4 b8 19.f1 c6 20.f3 e8 21.d3 f8 22.h4 g7 23.1h2 f8 24.g4 e7 25.d4 c6 26.e2 c5 27.g5 e7 28.f6+ h8 29.f3 h6 30.f4 c7 31.e3 e7 32.f3 c7 33.e3 e7 34.f3 1/2-1/2 Zetocha,CTomescu,V/ROM 1993 (34); B) 8...xc3 9.bxc3 e7 10.0-0 c5 11.dxc5 bxc5 ( 11...xc5!? ) 12.ab1 c7 13.c4 Now white straightens out his pawn structure while maintaining the more act ive po sitio n . dxc4 14.xc4 d7 15.a5 c8 ( 15...b6 16.b5+ c6 ) 16.fd1 a6 ( 16...0-0? 17.xb7 xb7 18.a6+- ) 17.d3 ( 17.b3!? ) 17...b8 ( 17...xf3!? ) 18.d2 Once the N gets to c4 black faces a grim defensive task trying to ever get active. 0-0 19.f4 g6 20.b3 a8 21.c4 d5 22.e4 xe4 23.xe4 b8 24.db1 xb3 25.xb3 b8 26.d6 xd6 27.exd6 c4 28.e3 c5 29.e5 d7 30.xc5 xc5 31.c7 c8 32.a3 f8 33.a5 b7 34.xa6 e8 35.a7 c5 36.a5 e4 37.e5 f6 38.c5 e4 39.e5 f6 40.a5 d5 41.a4 c3 42.f2 h5 43.f3 d7 37

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 44.c4 a8 45.a4 a7 46.a5 b7 47.a6 recommend the gambit course of the game. a7 48.a4 xc7 49.dxc7 xc7 xd5 8.d2 ( 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 bd7 50.e4 b6 51.e5 b5 52.a3 b4 10.a4 0-0 11.a5 h5 12.g5 xe2 53.a1 c5 54.g3 c4 55.a4+ b5 13.xe2 h6 14.f3 e4 15.a2 c5 56.a3 b4 57.a1 c4 58.h3 c5 16.d2 g6 17.f3 ac8 18.a3 fd8 59.g4 hxg4 60.hxg4 c4 61.g5 c5 19.axb6 axb6 20.b3 cxd4 21.xd4 e5 62.e4 c4 63.a2 b4 64.d4 d7+ 22.d1 d5 23.b5 c4 24.b4 d2 65.e5 a7 66.d6 b5 67.a1 b6 25.e1 b1 26.b2 bxc3 27.xc3 68.b1+ a5 69.c6 1-0 Rasik,V-Blatny, xc3 28.xc3 xc3 29.xb6 xc2 P/CZE 2001/The W eek in Chess 357/[J 30.xc2 xc2 31.b3 dd2 32.f3 g5 Tisdall] (69) ] 33.g3 g7 34.h3 h5 35.e4 d1+ 3.f3 b7 4.d3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 e7 36.g2 cc1 37.a3 f5 38.xe6 g4 7.0-0 c6 8.e5 d5 9.dxc5! This move 39.a7+ f8 0-1 Vatnikov,J-Gurgenidze,B gives black some problems. bxc5 10.a3!? Bad Liebenzell 1995.) 8...xc3 9.xc3 c7 bd7 10.0-0 e4 11.xe4 xe4 12.xe4 [ 10...0-0 11.c4 f5 12.d1 g5 13.d6 xe4 13.e1 f6 14.f3 g6 15.b3 0-0-0 xd6 14.exd6 f4 15.xf4 gxf4 16.b5 16.f2 d7 17.b2 hd8 18.e2 b7 b6 17.a4 f7 18.c4 g7 19.xf4 19.f2 a5 20.a4 d5 21.g3 b4 22.c3 g4 20.h6 d4 21.xd4 cxd4 22.g5 c6 23.g4 f6 24.f4 h5 25.h3 hxg4 xg2+ 23.f1 a6+ 24.e1 g1+ 26.hxg4 f7 27.f3 h8 28.c4 b4 25.d2 dxc3+ 26.bxc3 xd6+ 27.c2 29.g3 c5 30.d1 g6 31.xe6 c2 xg5 28.xg5+ f8 29.g1 e4+ 30.b2 32.d2 xb3 33.dxc5 hd8 34.xb6+ b8+ 31.b3 e8 32.g8+ e7 33.g7+ c7 35.xd7+ xd7 36.d4 xa4 37.c3 f6 34.f7+ e5 35.f4+ 1-0 Jelen,Ic6 38.b5+ xb5 39.cxb5 d3+ Filipovic,B Bled 1999. ] 40.h4 e7 41.xf6 gxf6 42.xf6 d5 11.b5 b8 12.c4 db4 13.e4 a6 43.b6+ b7 44.f5 a4 45.f7 d7 46.g5 14.d6+ xd6 15.exd6 d8 16.d1 xe4 c8 47.f8+ b7 48.f7 c8 49.f6 c6 17.xe4 f6 18.d2 b7 19.b3 a5 20.a3 50.g7 d8 51.g8 b7 52.e8 c6 a6 21.f4 0-0 22.d3 a4 23.d2 d8 53.f5 a3 54.e3 a2 55.a3 d2 56.g5 24.b1 b7 25.b4 axb3 26.bxb3 xe4 f2+ 57.g4 xc5 58.b7 27.xe4 e5 28.e3 f5 29.xc5 xc5 1 / 2 -1 / 2 Mi kh a lc h is h i n , A -G u rg e n id z e , B 30.xc5 f7 Volgodonsk 1981. ] 1-0 7...e4 8.0-0 [ 8.d2 xd2 ( 8...xc3 9.bxc3 d7 10.0-0 f5 11.exf6 xf6 12.ae1 0-0-0 50 B00 13.xe4 dxe4 14.g5 e5 15.xe4 g6 16.f3 he8 17.d5 xd5 18.c4 b7 Gunnarsson,Jon Viktor 2368 19.c3 h6 20.d1 c6 21.fe1 a6 Degraeve,Jean Marc 2540 22.d2 g5 23.e4 e6 24.b3 xc4 34th Olympiad (10) 07.11.2000 25.xc6 xc6 26.xe5 xe5 27.xd8+ [Neil McDonald] xd8 28.xe5 e6 29.xe6 xe6 30.f2 d7 31.e3 c5 32.e4 d6 33.c1 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.f3 b4 g8 34.f5 h7+ 35.f6 xc2 36.g7 5.d3 f6 6.e2 d5 About time for a quick h5 37.f6 g4 38.f4 h4 39.g5 g3 40.h3 survey of this rather popular position in the 1. e4 41.xh4 xg2 42.xg3 e4 e4 b6 system. W e can see some serious 43.g4 b5 44.g5 b4 45.f6 c4 46.h4 names in this section, though we are still a5 47.f5 a4 48.h5 b3 49.axb3 cxb3 obviously in theoretical backwaters. 7.e5 50.e2 b2 0-1 Usachyi,M-Gurgenidze,B [ 7.exd5 Has not posed black problems, but Biel 1994.) 9.xd2 c5 ( 9...xc3 10.bxc3 it is not clear that the sharper path of the c5 11.g4 0-0 12.h5 h6 13.h4 a6 game is any better. In fact, looking at the 14.g4 xd3 15.cxd3 f6 16.f4 cxd4 games and stats, one can hardly 38

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.cxd4 c6 18.f3 fxe5 19.xe5 xd4 20.g6 c2+ 21.e2 xa1 22.g5 f5 23.c1 h7 24.e5 e8 25.g4 h5 26.g6+ g8 27.g1 a4 28.xa1 xf4 29.d4 c8 30.e3 c2+ 31.d3 c3+ 0-1 Seidel, A-Wornath,K Wiesbaden 1998.) 10.g4 0-0 11.h3 h6 12.a3 xc3 13.bxc3 a6 14.xa6 xa6 15.0-0 cxd4 16.cxd4 c8 17.d3 b8 18.fc1 c6 19.b3 e7 20.a4 a5 21.d2 c6 22.c3 c7 23.c2 c8 24.ac1 h5 25.g3 f5 26.h3 e7 27.c4 dxc4 28.xc4 xc4 29.xc4 d8 30.f3 b7 31.h2 g6 32.g4 hxg4 33.hxg4 e7 34.g3 g7 35.g5 d5 36.f3 e7 37.e4 g5 38.d6 f4 39.c8 h8 0-1 Shaw,TFuller,M Sydney 1995. ] 8...xc3 [ 8...xc3 9.bxc3 xc3 10.b1 c6 11.e3 b4 12.c3 ( 12.f4 d7 13.g5 f8 14.d2 e7 15.a4 a5 16.b5 c6 17.fc1 xb5 18.axb5 f5 19.g4 h6 20.h5 e7 21.h3 g6 22.e1 e7 23.f4 h5 24.g5 d8 25.g2 c6 26.bxc6 xc6 27.f5 e7 28.fxe6 fxe6 29.f4 f5 30.xh5 e7 31.g6 d7 32.c3 c7 33.g4 c4 34.f4 c6 1/2-1/2 Gronn, AOstenstad,B NOR 1992.) 12...e7 13.d2 a5 14.f4 c5 15.f5 c6 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.h3 c8 18.g6+ d8 19.f7 cxd4 20.xe6 c7 21.cxd4 xd4 22.f3 xe6 23.xe6 d7 24.g5 c5+ 25.h1 xe6 26.xe6+ c8 27.f7 e8 28.xc5 bxc5 29.fxb7 xe5 30.d2 1-0 Boege,WGutmann,M Badenweiler 1994. ] 9.bxc3 xc3 10.e3 [ 10.d2 e4 11.f4 h6 12.g4 g5 13.h5 d7 14.a3 g8 15.xe4 dxe4 16.d2 h7 17.c4 a6 18.fe1 g4 19.d5 f5 20.h4 exd5 21.e7+ c8 22.cxd5 xd5 23.ac1 b7 24.e3 ae8 25.h4 xe5 26.ce1 f5 27.g3 xa2 28.xe4 fxe4 0-1 Braennstroem,S-Wolf,S Germany 1992. ] 10...c6 [ 10...h6!? 11.a4 c6 12.a3 e4 13.e1 g5 14.f4 f5 15.d2 a5 16.f3 e7 17.e1 h7 18.g4 h5 19.g5 f5 20.e2 h4 21.g2 e3 22.g6 xg2 23.gxh7 xe1 24.xe1 xh7 25.xe4 dxe4 26.g5 h6 27.f2 e7 28.c3

c8 29.e3 g6 30.b1 f6 31.xe4 g2 32.c5 d5 33.d3 d7 34.exf6 gxf6 35.f5 xh2 36.fxe6+ xe6 37.f4 g8 38.e4 g4 39.e1 d6 40.ee3 f2 41.f3 d5+ 42.f5 xf3 0-1 Dahlhaus,FMueller,H Germany 1995. ] [ 10...e4 11.e1 c5 12.c3 xc3 13.dxc5 e4 14.xe4 dxe4 15.g3 f8 16.a3 g8 17.c2 d7 18.fd1 c7 19.cxb6 axb6 20.d2 c5 21.ad1 h6 22.d4 d3 23.d6 c4 24.b3 h7 25.f3 xa2 26.xa2 xb3 27.ad2 e3 28.xd3 e2 29.e1 exd1 30.xd1 xd1+ 31.xd1 c8 32.a1 d5 33.a7 g6 34.f2 c2+ 35.g3 b5 36.a1 b2 37.a3 b3 38.d6 b2 39.a3 b3 40.d6 c4 41.f4 b2 42.g3 h5 43.h4 a2 44.a3 e2 45.d6 f6 46.c1 c4 47.exf6 gxf6 48.b1 a2 49.b4 f5 50.c3 c2 51.d4 e5 52.b2 exd4 53.xc2 d3 54.d2 e5 55.f2 d4 56.g4 b4 57.gxh5 b3 58.h6 g8 59.e1 c3 60.h5 h7 61.f4 b2 62.d1 b1 0-1 Simonet Pons,M-Gallego,R Escaldes 1999. ] 11.g5 d7 12.f3 h6 13.h3 e7 14.f4 h5 15.a3 a4 16.xe7 xe7 17.g4 hxg4 18.fxg4 af8 19.h5 d7 20.f4 g6 21.af1 gxh5 22.xf7+ xf7 23.xf7+ c8 24.g5 c6 25.g6 e8 26.g7 g8 27.e7 b4 28.g5 b7 29.f6 e4 30.xe6 e1+ 31.g2 f2+ 32.h1 f3+ 33.g1 e3+ 34.g2 g5+ 35.f1 c1+ 36.g2 d2+ 37.g1 e3+ 38.g2 f2+ 39.h1 f3+ 40.g1 c6 41.xg8 g4+ 42.f1 h3+ 43.g1 e3+ 44.g2 g5+ 45.f1 f4+ ½-½

51 Handke,Florian Poley,Vladimir 34th Rilton Cup (4) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2467 2402 30.12.2004

1.d4 b5 2.e4 a6 3.f3 b7 4.d3 f6 [ If White's primitive attack in this game is to be f e a re d t h e n Bla ck sh o u ld p la y 4...e6 5.e2 f6 to get back to the standard position. ] 39

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 5.e5 More aggressive than the usual 5 Qe2. d5 6.g5! A strong move that is awkward to meet. e6 [ After 6...b4 7.e4! ( 7.xh7? can be met by xh7! 8.xh7 e4! 9.xf8 xc2+ 10.f1 xf8 11.c3 g6 ) 7...xe4 8.xe4 d5 9.0-0 I prefer White. ] 7.f3 e7 8.xh7 c6 9.c3 0-0-0 10.g5 f6 11.exf6 xf6 [ Alternatively 11...gxf6 12.xf6 xd4 13.cxd4 b4+ 14.d2 xd4 15.e4 b4 16.0-0-0 didn't give Black enough for his piece in Wallner,K-Humer,W corr 1989 ] 12.xf6 xd4 13.xb7+?! Spectacular stuff! White gets plenty of wood for the queen by eliminating Black's active pieces. [ M o v i n g t h e q u e e n w i t h 13.f4 seems strong e.g. e5 ( 13...xg2 14.xd4 c5 15.f4 xh1 16.e4 ) 14.d5 d6 15.g4! e6 16.xd8 xd5 17.e2 xd8 18.0-0 ] 13...xb7 14.e4 f7?! [ I prefer 14...f3+ 15.gxf3 f7 which messes up W hite's kingside pawns and threatens 16... Qxf3. ] 15.cxd4 e8 16.c5+ b6!? [ After 16...xc5 17.dxc5 Black's major pieces can't generate enough immediate t h r e a t s t o s t o p W h it e f r o m c o m p l e t in g development. The three pieces are probably favourite to outplay the queen longterm, but things remain fairly unclear. ] 17.b4 e5! Black must get his rooks into action. 18.d5!? Rather daring to say the least! I'm surprised that he didn't opt for [ 18.0-0 exd4 19.a4 when things are double-edged but Black's king is in some danger. Black's defence would then hinge on d6 ] 18...xd5?! [ 18...e4! comes into consideration, then (if you d on't min d) I'd like to de scrib e th e position as 'unclear'! ] 19.e4! d4 20.0-0 xc5? [ 20...xa1! is really going into the lion's den but after 21.e3 a7! Black might be able to survive e.g. 22.b3+ ( or 22.xd7+! nobly continuing with the attack c5 23.bxc5 a5! 24.c6+ a6 ) 22...d4 23.xd4+ exd4 ]

21.bxc5+ a7 22.d2 b8 23.a4 xc5 24.e3 e7 25.axb5 xh2 It's either this or r e s i g n i n g . 26.xh2 h8+ 27.g1 h4 28.f3 h2+ 29.f2 h4+ 30.e2 1-0

52

B00 Handoko,Edhi 2407 Torre,Eugenio 2535 2nd Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysian Open (3) [Glenn Flear]

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.f3 b4 5.d3 f6 6.e2 d5 7.exd5 [ A reasonable try as 7.e5 e4 8.d2 xd2 gives Black no particular problems. ] 7...xc3+ [ A number of strong players have opted for recapturing with the queen. This is most commonly done immediately e.g. 7...xd5!? 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 0-0 10.f4 c8 11.fe1 c5 Bareev,E-Bauer,C Enghien-lesBains 2001 with a good position for Black. ] [ Also possible is 7...xd5 although 8.d2 xc3 9.bxc3 e7 10.0-0 d7 11.a4 gives White a small initiative. ] 8.bxc3 xd5 9.f4 bd7 Now it's 'Blunder o f t h e w e e k ' t i m e . . . 10.xc7?? c6 The threats to the bishop and the queen's rook (via c3) cost W hite a piece. An astonishing oversight for a 2400-player. 0-1

53 Hector,Jonny Gausel,Einar ch-Nordic Aarhus DEN (3) [Neil McDonald]

B00 2538 2533 08.09.2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 xe5 4.f3 Simple Chess. Johnny Hector has a great respect f or slightly of f beat openings and d o e s n 't s e e k a n o u t - a n d - o u t r e f u t a t i o n . Instead he relies on natural development to yield a space edge. f6?! [ M i l e s u s e d t o l i k e t o f l i c k i n 4...b4+! here, as to give White a choice. After A) If 5.bd2 then White's development is slightly gummed up. A recent game 40

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 continued xf3+ 6.xf3 f6!? ( 6...e7 was Miles's preference in Garcia,G-Miles, A Capablanca Memorial 1995) 7.g3 d6 8.d3 g6 9.c3 c5 10.b4 xg3 11.hxg3 b6 12.c4 f6 13.a4 g4 14.0-0 xf2+ 15.xf2 xf2 16.xf2 d7 Escofet,J-Kliman,D Montevideo 2003 and Black's superior pawn structure means he's fine, despite having had to give up two pieces for a rook.; B) 5.c3 xf3+ 6.xf3 c5 7.c4 f6 8.f4 d6 9.0-0 e7 10.g3 g6 11.e3 b6 12.d2 0-0 13.f4 d7 gives Black a respectable-looking Classical Scotch type position, Tiller,BHouska,M British League 2002 ] 5.xe5 xe5 6.d3 b4+ 7.d2 e7 8.0-0 d5 This move is not new, but hasn't be en te s te d a t such a high le vel be f ore . 9.exd5 d6 10.g3 xd5 The centre is liquidated, but Black has fallen slightly behind in development. This is enough for Hector to obtain an edge. 11.e4 c5 12.b1! a5 [ After 12...0-0 the time and space gaining 13.b4 is a nuisance ] 13.b3 0-0 14.c4 The bishop is trapped by the knight. In such an open position this is s i g n i f i c a n t . d8 15.a3 Now the bishop leaps to life and Black's position starts to creak. g5 16.h4 b5 17.xd6 cxd6 18.c4 [ 18.xd6? is bad after f5 and it's White who finds himself tangled up. Hector instead f i x e s t h e we a k n e s s , h e ' l l g e t r o u n d t o pressurizing it later when his pieces are all in play. ] 18...b6 19.c2 h6 20.bd1 g4 21.d2 a4 22.b1 c7 23.d3 c8 Giving up the d-pawn as a bad job. Instead [ 23...c8 24.bxa4 a7 25.c5 is grim. ] 24.xd6 axb3 25.xb3 c6 26.c5 f5 27.xf5 xf5 28.e1 d7 29.c4 There's no particular hurry for White, he will improve his position and avoid any Black counterplay. dd8 30.b2 d7 31.e4 f3 32.be2 a3 33.4e3 xe3 34.xe3 f5 35.e8+ h7 36.g4! Playing for more than a basic pawn-up ending with [ 36.e4 Hector recognizes that as Black's rook and knight are tied down, White's king is relatively safe whereas Black's is

gradually exposed. ] 36...f3 37.e3 d1+ 38.h2 b1 [ 38...d4 may oblige White to take the winning ending with 39.d3+ ] 39.h5 g8 40.g2 d1 [ 40...h7 resists longer ] 41.e8+ h7 42.e4+ g6 43.hxg6+ fxg6 44.h8+! xh8 45.e8+ h7 46.xd7+ g8 47.c8+ 1-0

54 Hoekstra,Matthew D'Onofrio,Lee C 29th World Open (4) [Neil McDonald]

B00 2221 06.07.2001

This game contains a survey of recent games in line with ...a6. The line in the game is very unusual and interesting and not as bad for Black as the results. Black's flashiest game in t h e s u r ve y c o m e s i n p r o b a b l y h i s wo r s t variation - Resika-Galaras. Black made the most of his trumps, but the line is not one I can recommend, though it is not without its dangers for W hite. Maybe I am just getting timid in my old age? 1.e4 a6 2.d4 e6 [ 2...b5 A) 3.f3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.c4 bxc4 6.xc4 e6 7.0-0 e7 ( 7...b7 ) 8.xd5 exd5 9.c3 c6 10.b3 a5 11.e1 a6 12.f4 c7 13.e2 a6 14.g3 e6 15.d2 g6 16.h6 b8 17.c2 b4 18.a3 c4 19.d2 a4 20.ad1 b3 21.h4 c4 22.h2 d8 23.c1 b5 24.d2 xh4 25.ge4 e7 26.d6+ xd6 27.exd6 e2 28.b1 xd1 29.g5 1-0 Arias Santana,M-Vaglio,J San Jose CRC 2001.; B) 3.a3 b7 4.c3 e6 5.f3 f6 6.d3 c5 7.dxc5 xc5 8.g5 c7 9.0-0 c6 Black has reached a sensible position a kin t o t h e T a i m a n o v S icilia n . 10.d2 d4 11.xd4 xd4 12.d1 g4 13.f4 xf4 14.xf4 e7 15.c3 e5 16.xe5 xe5 17.c2 c4 18.b3 b6 19.d3 hc8 20.c1 d5 21.f3 c5 22.f2 d8 23.e2 dxe4 24.xe4 xe4 25.fxe4 d3 26.f2 d7 27.e3 e5 28.e2 d7 29.f2 c8 30.d1 dc7 41

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31.c1 c6 32.d2 d4 33.b1 c6 34.c1 a5 35.e5 a4 36.b4 d4 37.d1 f5 38.h3 h5 39.e4 c4 40.c5 d8+ 41.d3 d5 42.e1 g4 43.e2 h4 44.xd5 exd5 45.g3 f3+ 46.d3 g5 47.e3 g6 48.h4 e6 49.b7 d4 50.cxd4 xd4 51.d6 f5 52.xf5+ gxf5 53.f3 e6 54.e3 d5 55.e2 e4 56.f3 d4 0-1 Thiruchelvam,MSinkevich,P Witley ENG 2001.; C) 3.d3 b7 4.f3 f6 5.bd2 c5 6.c3 e6 7.0-0 e7 Black should wait with this - either take on d4, play ...Nc6 first, or swit ch pos ition type s with .. .d5 . 8.e1 c6 9.e5 d5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.e4 This variation gives W hite a very dangerous initiative as he gains a lot of time against Black s dark-squared bishop which he can use to make usef ul an d direct threats. e7 12.g5 f6 ( 12...0-0 13.xe7 cxe7 14.d6 b8 15.xh7+ xh7 16.g5+ g6 17.g4 f5 18.g3 h5 19.gf7 1-0 Rosten,O-Roe,S Glorney Cup U20 1995. ) 13.exf6 gxf6 C1) 14.h4 fxg5 15.h5+ f8 16.g6+ g7 ( 16...hxg6 17.xh8+ f7 18.h7+= ) 17.xh8 e8!; C2) 14.h6 Black has no safe home for his king. b6 15.a4 0-0-0 A bold decision. 16.axb5 axb5 17.e2 White seems destined to start landing punches first, since the movement of the Pb 5 in vit es m ost o f h is a rmy in . . . f5 18.ed2 ( 18.g3!? ) 18...hg8! ( 18...b4 19.a6 ) 19.xb5 g6 20.c4?! The drawback with this is that it makes Ba6 problematic, and that move would draw the teeth of Black's attacking chances. ( 20.c4!? ) 20...db4 21.e3 c7 22.b3?! dg8 23.g3 f4 Now Black is in charge - everything converges on the W hite king. 24.d4 fxg3 25.fxg3 xg3+! C2a) 26.hxg3 xg3+ 27.h1 ( 27.f1 h3+ 28.f2 g2+ mates. ) 27...h3+ 28.h2 xd4+; C2b) 26.h1 xd4 27.bxd4 3g4 28.c5 xc5 29.xd7+ xd7 30.xe6 c6 0-1 Resika, N-Galaras,A Ikaros GRE 2001. ] 3.f3 b5 4.d3 b7 5.0-0 c5 6.c3 f6

7.e2 [ 7.bd2 ] 7...c6 A very provocative variation which got a workout in recent practice. 8.d5 e7 9.d6 g6 10.e5 xf3 11.gxf3 d5 12.h1 A very extreme position. Black has surrendered the bishop pair to do some very nasty things to W hite's pawn structure. On the other hand, White has also wedged his centre in Black's face. This is one of those positions that just seems unlikely to be equal due to the concessions both players have made. df4 [ 12...f5 is even more committal - it will take so long to get his kingside developed, and it will be hard to keep a lid on the position in the meantime. Also, e5 is far more secure after this advance. 13.a4 b4? 14.cxb4 cxb4 15.xa6 h4 16.b7 a5 17.xd5 xd5 18.f4 d4 19.a5 e4 20.f3 d8 21.a6 h4 22.h5+ g6 23.xh4 xh4 24.a7 e7 25.a8+ d8 26.e3 0-0 27.b7 h3 28.d2 h4 29.g1 g5 30.xe4 f3+ 31.g2 fxe4 32.xd7 h8 33.e7 b8 34.d7 1-0 Kulesza,MChetverik,M Karvina CZE 2001. ] 13.xf4 xf4 14.e4 xd3 15.xd3 g5?! Again Black makes a risky line riskier with extremism. All of [ 15...f6!? ] [ 15...g6!? ] [ 15...g5!? give Black counterplay against W hite's jagged pawns and kingside. The ga m e m o ve d o e s h a ve a lo gica l b a s is , isolating the e5 pawn and undermining e5 it is just obviously much riskier. The bottom line is whether White can crank open some lines of attack before Black can complete development and mount pressure on White's hyperextended pawns. If this line is to be playable for Black, then he must be able to coordinate and consolidate a bit first intuitively I would suggest that 15... g6 is the most likely candidate. ] 16.d2 c4? [ 16...g7 first must be better, making it harder for White to put his N on e4. ] 17.d4 g7 18.e4 g8 19.g1 h8 20.xg5 xe5 21.xe5 f6 22.xe6 xg1+ 23.xg1 fxe5 24.g8+ f7 25.xd8 xd8 26.xd8+ e8 27.b7 f7 28.c5 e8 42

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 29.xa6 1-0

55 Holzhaeuer,Mathias Barmbold,Jens 72nd ch Seebad Heringsdorf GER (3) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2362 2270

1.e4 c6 2.f3 f5 3.exf5 d5 4.b5 Let's get quickly acquainted with some of the main ideas of this offbeat defence. My old impression of this one has always been that it is not bad for a surprise and not nearly as bad as it looks - quite tricky really - though statistically black tends to get spanked for his boldness. A closer look indicates that it is tricky but nearly as bad as it looks, with white ha vin g a varie t y of wa ys to ge t a lastin g advantage. [ 4.d4 xf5 5.b5 e6 6.xc6+ bxc6 7.e5 c5 8.h5+ g6 9.e2 g7 10.f4 cxd4 11.g4 e4 12.0-0 g5 13.g3 e7 14.d2 xc2 15.df3 d3 16.e3 0-0 17.xg5 f6 18.xd3 xd3 19.xd3 g6 20.e3 d7 21.h3 c6 22.f3 f8 23.e5 xe5 1/2-1/2 Darnstaedt,F-Hille,I/ Germany 2000 ] [ 4.h4 e5 5.h5+ g6 6.fxg6 f6 7.g7+ ( 7.g5 c5 8.d3 e7 9.e2 d7 10.0-0 0-0-0 11.f5 e6 12.g7 he8 13.h6 e7 14.c3 d4 15.h5 xh5 16.xh5 c6 17.e3 xc2 18.ac1 b4 19.xa7 xd3 20.b6 f4 21.f7 xh6 22.xd5 e2+ 23.h1 e6 24.xe7+ xe7 25.f8 ee8 26.f3 xc1 27.a3 xa2 28.d6 e6 "0-1" Jurkovic,A-Tribuiani,R Nereto 1998. Presumably white actually did deliver mate before his flag fell or some other oddity.) 7...xh5 8.gxh8 xh4 9.xh7 d4 10.g6+ d8 11.g3 g4 12.xg4 xg4 13.g2 xc2+ 14.f1 xa1 15.xd5 c6 16.g2 f5 17.c3 d3+ 18.g1 c2 19.e4 e1 20.xd3 xd3 21.g2 f6 22.f3 c5 23.h4 e7 24.g4 g8 25.h5 xh5 26.xh5 f4+ 27.h2 xh5 28.gxh5 h8 29.d3 xh5+ 30.g2 d4 31.e2 e6 32.f4 h8 33.fxe5 xe5 34.f3 d5 35.f4+ xf4 36.xf4 a5 37.e2 b5 38.a3 h3 39.e3

h2+ 40.f2 c5 41.e3 a4 42.f3 c4 43.dxc4+ xc4 0-1 Sorsa,N-Kiik,K/Pori 1997 (43) ] 4...xf5 5.e5 a6 [ 5...d7 6.xc6 ( 6.h5+ g6 7.xg6 f6 8.h4 presumably allows some cool sacrificial continuation?) 6...bxc6 7.a4 e5 8.h5+ g6 9.xe5+ f7 10.xh8 h4 11.c3 e4+ 12.f1 e8 13.e3 xa4 14.f3+ f6 15.b3 d4 16.c3 e5 17.e3 f5 18.xe8+ xe8 19.d4 c2 0-1 Lahti,J-Porrasmaa,T/Kuopio 1998 (19) ] [ 5...d6 looks the most sensible, but it has a deplorable record. 6.d4 f6 7.0-0 d7 8.c3!? cxe5 9.dxe5 xe5 10.e1 d6 11.f3 g6 12.f4 c5 13.b4 1-0 Tissir,MClery,D Cappelle la Grande 1997. ] 6.xc6+ [ 6.xc6 d7 7.xe7 axb5 8.xf5 xf5 9.d4 ( 9.e2+ f7 10.d4 f6 11.e3 b4+ 12.c3 xa2 13.xa2 xb1+ 14.d1 xa2 15.cxb4 c4 16.f3 xb4+ 17.f2 xb2+ 18.g3 e8 19.d3 e6 20.h4 c6 21.g5 e4+ 22.h2 c3 23.f1 xg5 24.hxg5 c2 25.g3 xd4 26.h4 e5+ 27.f4+ g6 28.d3+ xg5 29.xc2 xf4+ 30.f2 h5 31.g3 d4+ 32.g2 c4 33.d2+ f6 34.e3 b4 35.e8 b3 36.f8+ e6 37.c8+ d6 38.xb7 e2+ 39.h3 xf3 40.b4+ e6 41.h2 e2+ 42.g1 b2 0-1 Seyffer,B-Poethig,H Germany 1984.) 9...f6 10.d3 g4 11.0-0 d6 12.c3 c6 13.e2+ d7 14.xg4+ xg4 15.h3 f6 16.e3 h6 17.a4 b4 18.e2 ae8 Braun-Poethig, Germany 1984 (1/2-1/2, 48 ) though black's compensation for the pawn is ... abstract. ] 6...bxc6 7.f3 [ 7.d4 e6 8.xc6 h4 9.c3 d6 10.e3 f6 11.d2 e4 12.xe4 xe4 13.0-0-0 xg2 14.hg1 f3 15.xg7 xd1 16.xd1 f8 17.g1 f7 18.g8+ f8 19.g7 c8 20.e5 1-0 Dudek,R-Gross,G/ Germany 1997/GER-chT (20) ] 7...e6 8.d3 c5 9.h5+ g6 10.e2 h5 11.d2 This is one of the best positions I have seen for black in this little survey, but he still has plenty of weaknesses to guard. h6?! Black should not trade this piece - it is his better bishop, and the pawn weaknesses are 43

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 easier to tolerate with more material on the board and greater chances to create complications. 12.df3 xc1 13.xc1 g5 14.h3 f6 15.g3 xh3 16.xh3 g4 17.h2 [ 17.xg4!? hxg4 18.xh8 gxf3 19.xg8+ f7 20.g4! fxe2 21.f4 ] 17...gxf3 18.xf3 e7 19.e5 f8 [ 19...xe5+ 20.xe5 ] 20.xf6 [ 20.xh5+!? ] 20...xf6 21.g5?! [ 21.e2 ] 21...d7!? [ 21...h6 ] 22.xh5 f5 23.e2 [ 23.g4 ] 23...g8 24.f4 e5 25.f1 exf4 26.gxf4 g6 27.h7+ c6 28.h3 gf8 29.h6 8f6 30.d2 d4 31.c3 b5 32.b3 c6 33.cxd4 cxd4 34.c1+ d6?? [ 34...b6 leaves white with progress problems - he has managed to pacify his extra pawn and repair black's structure on the queenside. ] 35.g5+- d5 36.e4 xf4 37.c5+ e6 38.c6+ e5 39.h5+ 6f5 40.xf5+ xf5 41.f6+ e5 42.xg6 1-0

[ 12.d5 leads W hite nowhere: after 0-0 13.c4 d7 Black controls the important c5square and has excellent prospects. ] 12...f7 Black has to waste a tempo because 13. exf5 was threatened, for example: [ 12...0-0 13.exf5 xf3 14.fxg6 with a clear extra pawn. ] 13.d5! This unexpected and well calculated breakthrough in the centre of the board is the only way to fight for an opening advantage. fxe4 14.xe4 exd5 [ Black has to accept the sacrifice, as quiet continuations like 14...0-0 15.dxe6 xe6 16.f5 intending f6 give White a strong attack for nothing. ] [ 14...xd5 was the alternative to the text, but it's no better: 15.c4 c6 16.h3! ( threatening Ng5) xe4 ( forced) 17.xe4 c6 18.d3! e7 19.ad1 with tremendous compensation for a pawn. ] 15.ae1! T h e p o i n t . d8 The only way to avoid immediate loss. Such a move cannot be good, however it's best! [ The alternatives are hopeless: 15...dxe4 16.xe4 xe4 17.xe4+ d7 18.xa8 ] [ 15...f8 16.g5! hxg5 17.fxg5 xf3 18.xf3+ g8 19.e8# ] [ 15...0-0 16.g5! hxg5 17.h3 g6 18.fxg5 g7 ( 18...c8 19.h6 f5 20.xf5 gxf5 21.e6 ) 19.xf8+ xf8 56 B00 ( 19...xf8 20.xg6+- winning ) 20.e6 f7 21.f1 and White wins. ] Ilincic,Zlatko 2545 Now it's clear that Black's idea has Filipovic,Branimir 2410 16.g3 Jugoslavija 1997 failed: for the cost of only one pawn White has a l a r g e a d va n t a g e i n d e ve l o p m e n t , a n d [Alexander Volzhin] Black's King feels very unsafe in the centre of 1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.f3 b4 the board. c6 [ Black can't prevent Nf5 as 16...c8 fails to 5.d3 f6 6.g5 h6 7.xf6 xf6 8.0-0 17.c4 ] xc3 9.bxc3 d6 10.d2! White should play actively and try to exploit his development 17.f5 a6 [ 17...g6 18.h4 g8 19.e3 with a large advantage, otherwise he will have no advantage ] compensation for his weak Q-side pawns. [ Quiet continuations like 10.a4 lead White 18.g4 g8 19.e3! White simply doubles nowhere: 0-0 11.a5 e5 12.e2 c6 Rooks on the e-file and prepares the decisive 13.a6 c8 14.d5 e7 15.d2 g6 penetration. f6 [ 19...c8 is no real improvement in view of and Black was already slightly better in 20.h4+ d7 21.fe1 ] Liberzon - Larsen, Geneva, 1977. ] 20.fe1 c8 21.f3! Black has failed to 10...g6?! A novelty of rather doubtful value. coordinate his forces and now material loss is [ 10...e5 is the usual move here. ] 11.f4 f5 This is the idea behind Black's unavoidable. f7 [ 21...xf5 22.xd5 f8 23.xc6+previous move. 12.f3! 44

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 winning ] b8 18.xd7 xd7 19.b5 ee7 20.c4 22.c4! dxc4 exd4 21.xa5 d5 Allowing the queen to [ 22...xf5 23.xd5 f6 24.xc6+co m e t o t h e d e f e n c e . 22.xb7 xb7 winning ] 23.exd5 xe1+ 24.xe1 d6 25.a5 xc2 23.xc6 xf5 Forced. 26.cxd4 c3 27.a6+ a7 28.d1 f5 [ The attempt to hold onto his material 29.h3 g4 30.hxg4 fxg4 31.e8 xd5 advantage would lead to disastrous 32.c8 c6 33.xg4 1/2-1/2 Nikolaidis,Kc o n s e q u e n c e s : 23...a7 24.e7 f8 Minasian,A Panormo 1998. (59) ] 25.d4 b5 ( 25...xe7 is no better: 11.f4 e7 A rare move, and one that has the 26.xe7 xe7 27.xc4 f8 28.c6 a8 Kramnik stamp of approval, though it looks 29.e4 f7 30.d8+ xd8 31.xa8 very passive. with a decisive material advantage.) 26.e4! [ 11...exd4 12.e5 dxe5 and Black can resign: d7 27.xd7+ xd7 A) 13.fxe5 g5 14.f3 e3+ ( 14...xf3 28.e6+ d8 29.c6# ] 15.xf3 xe5 16.e1 f6 17.cxd4 24.xa8+ c8 25.e4 White has a decisive xe1+ 18.xe1+ d8 19.fe3 d7 advant age, an d converts it to a win very 20.g6 c8 21.e8+ b7 22.e4+ c6 convincingly. 23.e7 1/2-1/2 Sepp,O-Vetemaa,J Brugge [ 25.e7 was not bad either: xe7 26.xe7 1995 - though white must be better here?) xe7 27.c6 and although there is still a lot 15.h1 0-0 16.cxd4 d7 17.h4 g5 of play left, W hite should easily win the 18.e1 ae8 19.f2 d5 20.c4 b7 game. ] 21.f5 c8 22.ae1 c5 23.xd7 25...f8 26.h3 h5 27.h2 g6 28.1e3 b5 1/2-1/2 Tkachiev,V-Minasian,A Cannes 29.a3 f5 30.c6 d7 31.d5 f5 1995.; 32.a8 d7 33.g3 f7 34.c6 f5 B) 13.h5!? A very scary idea that has 35.d4 c8 36.g5 g8 37.a4! bxa4 not won supporters despite it leading to a 38.xa4 e8 39.e5 f8 40.c6 d7 very nice win over an ex-world champion. 41.xc4 The rest is easy and needs no g6 14.e2 c6 15.fxe5 e7 16.e6 commentary. b7 42.g5 f6 43.b3 c6 B1) 16...xe6 44.c4! g7 45.c5 d7 46.d3 f7 B1a) 17.xe6+ fxe6 18.xg6+ d8 47.cxd6 xd6 48.xg6! b5 19.ad1 and white should be able to [ 48...xg6 49.xg6 xd4 50.g7++net back a pawn while black is winning ] c o o r d i n a t i n g h i s f o r c e s . ( 19.cxd4 49.dxd6+ cxd6 50.xd6+ xd4 20.ad1 ); 1-0 B1b) 17.f2 0-0-0 ( 17...0-0 18.cxd4 ); B2) 16...f5 17.b3 0-0-0 ( 17...dxc3!? 57 B00 was perhaps rejected due to the po ssib ilit y o f 18.xf5 but this doesn't Jakic,Ivan 2255 s e e m s o u n d : gxf5 19.h5+ d8 Filipovic,Branko 2462 20.ad1+ c8 21.xf5 g8 22.g3 Christmas Open (2) 16.12.2001 d8 ) 18.cxd4 xd4 19.xd4 xd4 [Jon Tisdall] 20.e5 hd8 21.ae1 a4 Very risky, inviting the white bishop in, though black 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.c3 f6 seems to be beating a path to the white 5.f3 b4 6.g5 h6 7.xf6 xf6 8.0-0 king. 22.b5 xa2 23.d1 xc2 xc3 9.bxc3 d6 10.d2 e5 24.xd8+ xd8 25.d7+ b8 26.d1 [ 10...g5!? This looks a much safer g8 27.b5 ( 27.e7 xg2+ 28.f1 alternative to the main line. 11.e2 e5 c4+ 29.e1 h4+ ) 27...a6 28.e7 12.e3 d7 ( 12...c6!? ) 13.b5 0-0-0 xg2+ 29.f1 b3 30.e8+ a7 14.a4 a5 15.ab1 White has the better of 31.e2 h3 32.e1 h4+ 33.d2 it as black must exercise great care over his g5+ 34.c3 1-0 Ionescu, C-Smyslov, king position. he8 16.fe1 g6 17.d3 45

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 V Sochi 1986. A very entertaining game, but practice seems to be correct that the line is not objectively good for white. ] 12.g4 [ 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.b5+ ( 13.g4!? 0-0 ) 13...c6 14.c4 0-0 15.f5 d7 16.h5 b5 17.b3 c5 18.dxc5 f6! 19.f3 ( 19.xe5 c7 20.f5 c8 21.f4 h5 ) 19...c8 20.xf6 xf6 21.xf6 gxf6 22.d5 b8 23.f1 g7 24.b3 e6 25.c6 bd8 26.d1 f5 1/2-1/2 Maljutin,EKramnik,V Sochi 1990. (55) ] 12...g6? [ 12...0-0 ] 13.f5 g5 14.f6 f8 A very ugly move, but black is understandably concerned about the state of his kingside after. [ 14...d7 15.h5 ] 15.a4 a5 16.b5+ c6 17.d3 d7 18.ab1 d8 19.c4 c7 20.g3 Black's position is ugly, passive and precarious. a6 21.e3 xd3?! [ 21...b7 is probably tougher, the bishop is worth having to harass white's knight. ] 22.cxd3 e8 23.c4 e6 24.d5 cxd5 [ 24...e8 25.dxc6 xc6 26.b5+black's queenside is going. ] 25.e3 [ 25.exd5 was simple and strong: A) 25...e8 26.f2 b8 27.xa5 c5 ( 27...bxa5 28.a7+ c8 29.xb8+ xb8 30.b1+- ) 28.c6 a8 29.d4+-; B) 25...xf6 26.xf6 xf6 27.xb6 xd5 28.xd6+- ] 25...b7 [ 25...dxe4 26.d5+ b7 27.xb6+ xb6 28.b1 c8 29.xb6+ a8 30.b5 and white's attack should be decisive as the black rooks are unlikely to play a role in the rest of the game. ] 26.xd5 c8 27.b5 c6 28.e3 a6 29.fb1 b8 30.h4 As black is thoroughly bound, white probes to win a pawn on the o t h e r f l a n k . xf6 This prolongs the game considerably. 31.xf6 xf6 32.f3 d7 33.xf7 gxh4 34.d5 xd5 35.xd5 c5 36.a1 [ 36.xd6 xa4 37.c4 ] 36...d8 37.h2 b7 38.h3 c6 39.xh4 e6 40.b5 f4 41.d4 xg2+ 42.g3 e3 43.f3 c4 44.e2 c8

45.d3 b7 46.a2 c7 47.h2 a3 48.b3 c4 49.xh6 d5 50.b5 dxe4+ 51.xe4 exd4 52.cxd4 g7 53.d3 c7 54.e6 c8 55.d5 d7 56.d4 c8 57.c6 d6 58.bxb6 1-0

58 Jamrich,Gyorgy Bordas,Gyula FSIM November (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2225 2186 05.11.2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.d5 ce7 4.g3 [ 4.f3 g6 5.e3 f6 6.bd2 W hite's lackadaisical development is far from most accurate. g4 7.g5 e7 8.xe7 xe7 9.c4 d6 10.d2 0-0 Black has a very comfortable position ideas of breaking up the centre with ...c6 or . . . f 5 a n d kn i g h t s r e a d y t o wo r k o n t h e kingside - white is not at all up to the task of trying to keep a lid on all of this. 11.h3 f6 12.d3 c6 Now that White has released pre ssu re on d 6 b la ck can p ry op en th e centre while white stumbles back in panic. 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.h2 d5 15.exd5 cxd5 16.e3 b8 17.b3 d4 18.c4 e4 19.e2 e3 20.xd4 exf2+ 21.xf2 e8 22.f3 a6 23.d4 xc4 24.bxc4 b4+ 25.f1 c3 26.d1 e4 27.e1 g3+ 28.g1 e3+ 0-1 Segura,J-Ong Chong Ghee Istanbul OL 2000. ] 4...g6 5.g2 f6 6.c3 c5 7.a4 b4+ 8.c3 e7 9.b3 c6 10.d6 f8 11.a3 b6 12.d2 c5 13.h4 h5 14.h3 b7 15.g5 c8 16.b4 cxb4 17.xb4 a5 18.a3 c6 19.b2 b5 20.0-0 b6 21.d1 g4 22.h1 f6 23.h3 b7 24.f3 h6 25.e3 g8 26.ab1 h8 27.fd1 8f7 28.e2 g5 29.hxg5 xg5 30.xg5 xg5 31.h2 g8 32.d5 f7 33.c1 xd5 34.xd5 xc3 35.bxb5 c6 36.d2 c2 37.xa5 h4 38.g4 h8 39.d1 g8 40.f1 h6 41.h1 xd2 42.xd2 c1 43.e2 h3 44.h2 c3 45.ad5 h6 46.d1 g7 47.5d3 c5 48.xh3 f7 49.g3 g5 50.g2 e6 51.xc1 xc1 52.e3 c4 53.d2 f4 54.b3 c5 55.d1 e3 56.a4 e6 57.d3 g5 46

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 58.f2 f4 59.d2 h2 60.f1 h4 61.a5 xg2 62.xg2 h1+ 63.g1 h3+ 64.f2 h2+ 0-1

59 Jansa,Vlastimil Hlavnicka,J Czech Extra League 2000-1 (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2467 2305 19.11.2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 f6 5.f4 d7 6.f3 h6!? [ 6...fxe5 This move seems to give white a freer hand, and seems inferior to me than keeping the tension - I see no reason to liberate the Bc1 somewhat, nor lose control over g5. 7.fxe5 0-0-0 8.b4 e6 9.e2 e7 10.0-0 h5 11.bd2 g5 12.b3 g4 13.e1 e8 14.c5 g6 15.ed3 b6 16.f4 f7 17.a6+ b8 18.a4 xe5 19.dxe5 xc5+ 20.bxc5 e7 21.e3 h4 22.e2 h3 23.g3 g6 24.cxb6 axb6 25.f4 d3 26.b4 d4 27.f4 e4 28.f2 xa6 29.xa6 c6 30.a4 xe5 31.a7+ c8 32.a8+ xa8 33.xa8+ d7 34.xd8+ xd8 35.cxd4 f3+ 36.f1 xh2+ 37.e2 f3 38.xh3 e7 39.f4 xd4+ 40.xd4 xd4 41.c1 c5 42.b1 a4 43.xb6 xa2+ 44.f1 a1+ 45.f2 a2+ 46.e2 f6 47.c6 a5 48.f4 a2+ 49.e3 a3+ 50.d3 f5 51.xc5+ f6 52.c4 f5 53.f4+ g5 54.e2 c3 55.e4 f5 56.e5+ f6 57.e3 c2+ 58.f1 f5 59.e5+ f6 60.e4 c3 61.e2 f5 62.a4 b3 63.e3 c3 64.a5+ f6 65.d4 b3 66.c4 b1 67.f2 c1+ 68.d3 g1 69.e4+ e7 70.g5 a1 71.g7+ 1-0 Stucl,B-Vombek,D AUT 1993. ] [ 6...0-0-0 7.b5 e6 8.e3 ge7 9.bd2 e4 10.b3 f5 11.f2 a6 12.e2 h5 13.bd2 g5 14.fxg5 fxe5 15.dxe5 g7 16.b3 xe5 17.c5 c6 18.a4 g4 19.b5 d6 20.d2 xf2 21.xf2 xf3 22.gxf3 e5+ 23.e2 e3 24.f4 xc3+ 0-1 Starcevic,A-Eklund,L Lidkoeping 1994. ] 7.e2 e4 This manoeuvre leads to fascinating early complications. 8.bd2 f5 9.xe4

[ 9.b3!? leads to great complications and seems to me to favour white. A) 9...e3 10.xe4 ( 10.e6!? ) 10...xg2+ 11.f2 dxe4 12.e6 d6 13.e5!+-; B) 9...a5 10.e6!? xe6 11.b5+ B1) 11...c6 12.xe4 dxe4 ( 12...xe4 13.xb7 ) 13.d5; B2) 11...c6 12.xa5 d3 13.g1 e3 14.f2; C) 9...xf3 10.xf3; D) 9...0-0-0 10.xe4 dxe4 11.d2 D1) 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 xd4 13.c4! ( 13.d1? c6! ); D2) 11...e3 12.e6! ( 12.xe4? a5! ) 12...e8 D2a) 13.c4 xg2+ 14.f2 h4 15.d5 b8 ( 15...xd5 16.b6+ axb6 17.xd5 ) 16.e3; D2b) 13.f2!? a5? 14.a3 c2 15.xa5 e3+ 16.g1 exd2 17.xa7 c6 18.xd2 xa1 19.c4+- ] 9...dxe4 10.d5 exf3 11.dxc6 xd1+ 12.xd1 fxg2 13.g1 bxc6 14.a4 0-0-0 [ 14...f7!? 15.xc6 d8 16.xg2 g6!? ( 16...e6 )] 15.xc6 e6 16.xg2 c5 17.b4 b6 18.d2 e7! 19.g2 d5 [ 19...fxe5! ] 20.f5! xc3 21.fxe6 fxe5 22.xd8+ xd8 23.g5 e8 24.d2!+- d4 25.c1 xa2 26.c2 e4 27.xa2 e3 28.c1 d8 29.h3 f8 30.g2 f3 31.g4 f4 32.e2 e7 33.b5 c5 34.f3 g6 35.g5 b6 36.e5 a4 37.d5 This game is also found in databases as Votava-Mikhaletz from the same event... 1-0

60 Jobava,Ba Oleksienko,M Al-Ain Classic Open A 2013 (6.1) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2705 2622 24.12.2013

1.d4 d5 2.c3 c6 3.e4 dxe4 [ 3...f6 4.e5 d7 5.a4!? New and slightly strange. ( after 5.xd5 Black has db8 6.c3 xd4 to regain the pawn. Then 7.e3!? is critical e.g. xe5 8.f3 d6 47

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.c4 e6 10.b5 e7 11.e2 a6 Sergeev, A-Vlassov, N Novokuznetsk 2012. W hite has superior development for the pawn, but Black is cramped though not in immediate danger.) 5...b4 6.f4 b8 7.e3 f5 8.c1 e6 9.f3 e7 10.e2 a6 11.0-0 h6 12.d2 8c6 13.d1 a5 14.b3 h5!? 15.e2 h4= Zeller, F-Bauer, C Switzerland 2013. ] 4.d5 e5 5.d4 g6 6.e3 [ After 6.xe4 f6 7.a4+ d7 8.b5 a6 9.xd7+ I don't think that White has anything special e.g. xd7 10.xd7+ xd7 11.f3 e8 12.e3 e5 13.dxe6+ xe6! 14.g5 e7 15.0-0-0+ c8= Strikovic, ANava Pereda, C San Sebastian 1994. ] 6...e5 7.dxe6 xe6 8.ge2! This is new and could well be an improvement in a position where White hasn't done that well. [ An early game continued 8.xe4 c6 9.d1 a5 10.d4?! f6 11.xf6 gxf6 12.c4 f5 13.e3 c5 14.e2 0-0 15.xe6 ae8 Ostojic, P-Knaak, R Budapest 1977, and Black was better. ] 8...f6 9.0-0-0 xd4 10.xd4 g4 11.b5+ c6 12.xc6! [ 12.e2 0-0-0 gets White nowhere. ] 12...a6 13.a4 xd1 Taking the exchange and then accepting that he will be in for a rough ride. [ Instead 13...d7 14.d5 d6 looks precarious, but I can't (nor can the computer!) see any way to exploit White's lead in development. ] 14.xd1 e7 15.xe7+ xe7 16.c5+ e6 17.e2 [ Or 17.f3!? ad8 18.b3+ e5 19.e1 with scary-looking pieces, but again it may not give any advantage. ] 17...hd8 18.d4+ e5 19.b6 Now Bc7+ is threatened, hence Black's next move. dc8 20.e2 f8 21.d4+ f5 22.g3+ g6 23.f4 exf3 Opening lines for White's bishops is fraught with danger. [ Instead giving himself some wriggle-room with 23...h5 makes sense. After 24.f5+ h6 25.h4 b5 26.b3 c7 the struggle remains unclear. W hite has practical compensation (great bishops!), but nothing concrete. ] 24.c3 fxg2 25.c2+ g5?

[ Necessary is 25...h6! but after 26.f5+ g5 27.e3+ g4 28.d4+ Black has to play the unfortunate e4 . Nevertheless 29.xe4 e6 30.b4 a5! is highly complicated, though probably better for White. ] 26.e3+ g4 27.d4+ h3 28.f5+ xh2 29.h4+ [ 29.h4+ xg3 30.h3# is quite an original mate. ] 1-0

61 Jones,Gawain C Smirnov,V Australian Championships (2) [Gawain Jones]

B00 2561 2392 01.2010

Longue 90m 1.e4 c6 2.f3 f6 3.e5 I noticed when preparing for the game that this hadn't yet been discussed on ChessPublishing but it must be critical. g4 [ 3...d5 would be more in the Alekhine spirit and I think should be recommended. 4.d4 d6 5.c4 b6 would transpose directly in t o a f a irly co m m on A le khin e p o s it io n examined in the archives. ] 4.d4 When preparing I was somewhat surprised to see how many games had been played in this line recently. The Icelandic IM Stefan Kristjansson used it against many strong players in the Beijing Mind games tournament in 2008. That tournament was only rapid but still this line has to be taken seriously. Black, rather than trying to equalise out of the opening, is trying for a double edged position without much theory where W hite has to play on his own. Objectively W h ite sho u ld b e b e t te r b u t h e ha s to b e careful not to advance his pawns too far or he might find himself with some problems to d e f e n d t h e m . d6 5.h3 h6 6.c3 My computer was broken for this game and so was using my fiancée's, which didn't have a computer engine, but I saw the following Areshchenko game which looked promising for White. [ 6.b5 has also been played but I'm doubtful whether W hite wants to trade off his light-squared bishop here. a6 48

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 After the game my opponent informed A) 7.a4 b5 8.b3 e6 ( 8...dxe5 9.d5 6...a6 a5 10.0-0 b7 is extremely unclear.) me this was the main move. [ The Areshchenko game ran 6...g6 7.f4 9.exd6 xd6 ( 9...xd6 looks rather more g7 logic al. P erh ap s B la ck wa s sca red o f A) 8.d2 f5 9.0-0-0 Immediately would 10.d5 but after a5 Black is still definitely be a scarier way of playing, 10.g4 is a big i n t h e g a m e 11.dxe6 xb3 12.exf7+ threat. ( 9.g4 does not yet win the piece xf7 13.axb3 0-0 14.0-0 b7 due to dxe5 10.dxe5 xd2+ 11.xd2 gives Black extremely good typical when Black has the d4 square f or his Marshall compensation for the pawn, in knight ); the shape of the two bishops and semiB) 8.b5 Again I'd be reluctant to play this open f file for the rook to attack down.) move. W hite wants to decrease the 10.c3 f5 11.e4 d7 12.c3 pressure on his centre but he then always gave White a fairly comfortable advantage has to watch out f or t he c5 break . 0-0 which the strong GM converted quickly in 9.xc6 bxc6 10.d2 f5 Korneev-Guerreiro, Malaga 2009 1-0 (25); B1) 11.g4 is th e mo st f o rcin g dxe5 B) 7.xa6 is given as played by Ni Hua 12.dxe5 xd2+ 13.xd2 b7!! b u t s e e m s u n l ik e l y! I g u e s s t h is wa s ( 13...h6 14.0-0-0 would leave White imp ut inc orrectly an d he also t ried 7 . with an extremely comfortable Bxc6; advantage with the better pawn structure C) 7.xc6+ bxc6 and the offside knight on h6) 14.gxf5 c5 C1) 8.0-0 f5 My guess is the Ni Hua15.e2 a6+ 16.e3 ( 16.e1 b7= Kristjansson game ran 9.c3 ( 9.e1 is Black's idea ) 16...h6+ was also played against Kristjansson by B1a) 17.e4 just favours Black b7+ Martin del Campo in the Beijing Rapid 18.d5 ( 18.d3 fd8+ ) 18...xd2 tournament and after e6 10.g5 d7 19.xd2 xd5+ 20.xd5 ad8+ 11.exd6 cxd6 12.d3 e7 13.c3 h6 21.xc5 xd2 when I prefer Black 14.xe7 xe7 15.e4 0-0 16.c4 with the active rook on the 2nd rank.; White was slightly for preference but the B1b) 17.g5 xg5+ 18.f4 h6 game ended in a draw.) 9...e6 10.g5 19.e4 when White can claim a small d7 11.h4 h6 12.xf5 hxg5 13.e3 advantage; b8 14.c4 e7 15.e1 d5 16.d2 B2) 11.0-0-0 b7 12.g4 c5 13.d5 c5 when the following moves are too B2a) 13...dxe5 14.xe5 xe5 garbled to decipher and although Ni Hua 15.xe5 d4 is the computer's top went on to win Black is doing very well at suggestion but understandable not to this point, a sort of super-French.; tra d e o f f t h e d a rk squ a re d b is h o p C2) 8.xh6 was a previous game of my which is a good defender but Black opponent's when after gxh6 a strange seems to be doing ok as the direct p o s i t i o n a r o se wh e r e B l a ck ' s p a wn 16.h4? xd5 17.h5 xh1 18.xh1 structure has been compromised hugely fails to ( 18.hxg6 b7 seems to be but in return he has the bishop pair, winning for Black too 19.g5 fxg6 some open lines f or his rooks and a 20.xg6 e5!-+ ) 18...d6; potential break with c6-c5. Rybka slightly B2b) 13...d4 14.xd4 cxd4 prefers White which is probably correct 15.xd4 c6?! ( 15...c5 had to be but he has to be very care f ul or th e tried ) 16.b4! b6 17.xb6 axb6 bishops will come to live with decisive 18.dxc6 xc6 19.he1 left White a effect. 1/2-1/2 Roy Chowdhury-Smirnov, pawn up in Areshchenko-Kristjansson, Parramatta 2009 (34) ] Reykjavik 2009 although seems [ 6.xh6 It's tempting to worsen Black's premature to resign so I guess we're structure but gives Black good counterplay just missing the rest of the score. ] gxh6 7.c3 g7 8.b5 when the lines will [ 6...e6 7.d3 b4 8.xh6 gxh6 9.e4 be similar to 6.Bb5 ] 49

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g7 10.exd6 cxd6 11.b5+ e7 12.a3 d5 13.d2 b6 was HaznedarogluKristjansson, Beijing 2008 0-1 (32) when 14.c4! looks strong for White as c7 15.c5! dxc5 16.dxc5 xb5 17.d6+ e8 18.xc7 gives White a decisive attack ] 7.g5 [ 7.exd6!? is the computer's top suggestion but a human doesn't want to give away his centre so easily although after cxd6 8.d5 e5 9.xe5 dxe5 10.xh6 gxh6 11.f3 W hite's structural advantage is obvious. Nevertheless I prefer the game continuation but it's probably only a matter of style. ] 7...f5 8.h4 d7?! We decided afterwards that this was probably the losing move! [ 8...c8 is a definite concession but not so easy to exploit 9.f4 Not forced of course A) 9...f5 10.xf5 xf5 11.g4 d7 12.g2 Must favour White with his huge centre but he has to play accurately or Black will dismantle it with a well timed g5 o r h 5 b re a k . ( 12.d5 h6 13.h4 g5 shows it's not all one way traffic ); B) 9...dxe5 10.dxe5 ( 10.d5!? ) 10...e6 11.g4 xd1+ ( 11...f6? 12.xh6 gxh6 13.f5 g8 14.e6 Black's pieces are a sorry sight) 12.xd1 g8 13.f5 d7 14.g2 0-0-0 and Black has survived. White might regret his over-expansion. ] [ I r e m e m b e r h o p i n g f o r 8...d7? w h i c h a l l o w s t h e p r e t t y 9.e6! fxe6 ( 9...xe6 10.d5 also picks up a piece) 10.xh6 when Black cannot retake the piece due to the mate on h5 gxh6? 11.h5# ] [ 8...g6 takes a defender away from the vital e6 square. 9.e6! fxe6 10.xh6 gxh6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.g4 g5 13.xe6 xd4 14.g6+ d7 15.0-0-0 gives White great play for the pawn ] 9.g4 [ 9.exd6 was played in a previous game which also resulted in a quick win for White. cxd6 ( 9...b4!? is an interesting try 10.c1 exd6 ) 10.g4 ( 10.d5 b4 11.c1 looks very strong for White as the knight is trapped on b4 and so Black will have to play with rook and pawn against two pieces, a definite concession here.) 10...g6 11.d2 d5 12.0-0-0 g8 13.a4 a7 14.e1 e6 15.b6 d6 16.c8 b4 17.xa7 xa7

18.g2 a4 19.xd5 b5 20.xg6 1-0 Caspi-Spence, Gibraltar 2008 ] 9...g6 I thought at the time that Black's best was to try sacrificing a piece [ 9...dxe5!? 10.xh6! exd4 11.xf5 gxh6 12.e4 shouldn't be too difficult to convert though ] 10.d5 d8 [ 10...xe5 11.f4 traps the knight in the centre of the board. ] [ 10...b4 11.xg6 hxg6 12.a3+- ] 11.f4 e6 again the only move to prevent dropping a piece 12.dxe6 fxe6 [ 12...xe6 13.xh6 gxh6 14.f5 also picks up a piece but sets White more practical problems than the game c o n t i n u a t i o n . e7 15.f3 0-0-0 This position should be an easy win for W hite as long as he can get his king to safety but Black has a surprising number of t ricks, f o r e xa m p le 16.fxe6 ( 16.d5!? delaying the capture until the king is castled looks like the strongest move here.) 16...fxe6 ( 16...xe6 17.d5+- ) 17.c4 d5 ( 17...b8 18.e2 ) 18.b3? ( 18.d3 d4 19.e2 b4+ 20.f2 should be good enough for W hite too) 18...c5! isn't at all clear ] 13.xg6 hxg6 14.d3 df7?! [ 14...f7 had to be tried although 15.e2 d5 Otherwise Qe4xg6 was coming 16.0-0-0 gives White a huge position. Not only does h e h a ve t h e t wo b ish o p s a n d a le a d in d e ve lo p m e n t b u t h e e ve n h a s a b e t t e r pawn structure. Black will have to watch out for an f5 break or h4-h4 opening up the king. ] 15.xg6 c6 16.f1 d5 17.f5 Immediately go in g f o r t h e kil l b4 18.d4 xc3+ 19.bxc3 [ I had a pleasant choice between the game or 19.xc3 xc3+ 20.bxc3 which should be a fairly easy ending for White ] 19...d7 [ 19...0-0 was necessary but 20.xh6 xh6 21.0-0-0 followed by f6 and g5 and Black won't survive long. ] 20.fxe6+ xe6 21.xf7+! xf7 22.f5 xg5 23.0-0-0 I don't have to take the queen immediately:) e7 24.c5+ f7 25.xe6+ xe6 26.f1+ This line has been seen more 50

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 frequently recently but Black has to play 63 a c c u r a t e l y o r a ll t h e wa s t e d t i m e i n t h e Kaidanov,Gregory S opening with his g8 knight will cost him dearly. Kengis,Edvins 1-0 Gausdal [Alexander Volzhin]

B00 2555 2575 1991

1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e5!? A relatively rare continuation. Juan Mas,Santiago However it deserves serious attention. d5 Fraga,Jose Carlos Open Mallorca ESP (3) 04.12.2000 7.dxc5!? [ 7.0-0 e7 ( I would prefer 7...cxd4! 8.cxd4 [Jon Tisdall] e7 ) 8.a3 ( White could exploit Black's inaccuracy on the previous move by playing 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5 3.c4 b7 4.f3 8.dxc5! The recapture with the Bishop leads This doesn't appear to be a terribly critical line, to Kaidanov - Kengis with an extra tempo for but white has had good results with it - though White. bxc5 9.a3 0-0 10.c4 there is very little evidence yet 'theoretically'. w i t h a c l e a r e d g e f o r W h i t e . A f t e r f6 bxc4 5.d5 11.c2! is very unpleasant and Black has [ 5.xc4 e6 6.e3 d6 7.e2 f6 8.bc3 problems with his King.) 8...cxd4 9.cxd4 bd7 9.0-0 b6 10.b3 d5 11.e5 fd7 The game has transposed to the Alapin 12.a4 xa4 13.xa4 e7 14.f4 0-0 Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 15.f5 exf5 16.xf5 c5 17.h1 cxd4 cd 5. Nf3 e6 6. cd b6 7.a3 Bb7 8. Bd3 Be7 9. 18.xd4 c8 19.g4 h8 20.h5 g6 0-0). a6! 10.xa6 xa6 11.d3 ac7 21.h3 f5 22.xg6 1-0 Kruck,M-Schaaf,R 12.bd2 0-0 13.e4 f6! 14.exf6 gxf6 Baunatal 1998. ] The strong centralized Knight and open g5...d6 6.xc4 d7 file promise Black good chances. 15.d2 [ 6...c5!? ] h8 16.ac1 c8 17.c2 b7 18.fc1 7.c3 g6 8.f4 g7 9.f3 b6 g8 19.g3 g4 White has run out of [ 9...gf6!? 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 g4 ideas while Black has many ways to 12.e6 fxe6 13.g5 ( 13.dxe6 de5 ) increase the pressure (Ra8-g8, Bd6, f5). 13...xc3+ 14.bxc3 exd5 15.e6 c8 20.e5?? A gross blunder. fxe5 21.f3 16.xd5 ( 16.xg4 f6! 17.h3 dxc4 xg3! The refutation is not difficult to find. 18.f4 xg2! ) 22.hxg3 b5 23.h6 xd4 24.f7 f5 A) 16...xd5 17.xd5 c6 18.0-0 and W hite resigned in Maiwald - Miles, ( 18.g7+ f8 19.0-0+ df6 20.e6+ Oostende, 1991. ] g8-+ ) 18...cxd5 19.g7+ d8 7...xc5 8.0-0 e7 9.e2 c6 10.c4 20.e6+=; [ 10.e4 This move was recommended by B) 16...gf6 ] Kaidanov in his notes in Informant and his 10.b3 c5 evaluation of the position is that W hite is [ 10...f6 ] clearly better. However Lautier - Miles, Biel 11.dxc6 xc6 12.e3 f6? 199 2 p roved tha t t his evalu ation is to o [ 12...b8!? ] optimistic: c7 11.d1 b5 12.bd2 a6 13.xf7+! xf7 14.b3+ e8 15.xb6 13.b3 c8 14.g5!? xg5 15.xg5 h6 d7 16.g5 d5 17.d1 h6 16.h5 xe5 17.c5! g6 18.e2 d5! [ 17...e6 ] ( 18...xe4?? 19.gxe4+winning ) 18.exd5 hxg5 19.dxc6 xc6 20.fxg5 19.xd5 xd5 ( 19...xd5? 20.xe5 0-0 xg2 21.g1 xh2 22.gxf6 xf6 23.d2 21.ge4 , intending Rxd5!) 20.xe5 0-0 h5 24.d5 h4+ 25.f2 21.ge4 e8 22.b4 c6 23.d3 f6 1-0 24.d4 g7 25.f4 c7 26.a3 ae8 27.e1 e5! 28.fxe5 xe5 29.de3 e6 30.xe6+ xe6 31.c5 xe3 32.xe3 62

B00 2083

51

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f7 33.d4 h7! with a balanced position. ] 10...db4 11.e4 f5 12.exf6 xf6 13.c3 e7 [ 13...0-0 is premature: 14.a3 a6 15.c2 intending b2-b4 with a clear edge. ] 14.a3 a6 15.b5 d5 [ 15...0-0 16.f4 ] 16.c2 [ 16.xd5? doesn't work in view of exd5 17.d6+ d7 18.xe7+ xe7 19.xb7 c6 and White loses a piece. ] 16...d8! [ 16...0-0 17.cxd5 exd5 18.d3 with a clear advantage ] 17.cxd5 [ 17.e1 dxc4 18.g5 c5! ] 17...exd5 18.e1 xe2 19.xe2+ f8 20.g5 It may seems that Black's position is critical. However he has something in mind! c5!! 21.xh7+ xh7 22.xh7 [ 22.xh7 a6 ( 22...a6 23.a4 xa4?! 24.c7!! is bad for Black.) 23.c7 f7! Now Black is threatening g7-g6 or Rd7, winning one of White's pieces. Here a draw was agreed as both players were already in time-trouble. Generally, this line seems to be rather unpleasant f or Black. In both Lautier - Miles and Kaidanov - Kengis White held the initiative throughout the game and Black had difficult problems to solve. So undoubtedly we can expect new encounters in this line. ] ½-½

64 Karjakin,Sergey Heberla,Bartlomiej Artek ol U16 (4) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2250 2330 14.09.2000

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e6 6.h3 [ 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.d2 d5 9.exd5 exd5 10.e5 xe2 11.xe2 e8 12.xc6 bxc6 13.d3 b8 14.a4 d6 15.f3 h5 16.g3 e6 17.ae1 xg3 18.hxg3 xg3 19.e2 g6 20.g2 h4 21.ff2 xf2+ 22.xf2 xg2+ 23.xg2 g5+ 24.f1 h5 25.b3 e8 26.c3 h4 27.e2 h3 28.g3

xe2 29.xe2 xg3 30.e8+ h7 31.xf7 g2+ 32.e1 g3+ 0-1 Kercher, P-Jaracz,P Bad Wiessee GER 2000. ] 6...h5 7.d2 [ 7.g4 g6 8.d3 d5 9.e5 e4 10.e2 h5 11.g5 h4 12.f4 f5 13.g2 e7 14.gxh4 h7 15.g1 d7 16.c3 0-0-0 17.c2 df8 18.0-0-0 a5 19.g4 c6 20.dg1 c4 21.xc4 xc4 22.b3 d3 23.e1 e2 24.4g2 c5 25.d1 c4 26.b3 e2 27.d1 a6 28.f3 xc3 29.bxc3 a3+ 30.d2 xa2+ 31.c2 xc2 32.xc2 xc2+ 33.xc2 xh4 34.h1 fh8 35.gh2 cxd4 36.cxd4 b5 37.d3 b7 38.e2 a5 39.f2 4h5 40.f4 c8 41.d3 b4 42.e1 b6 43.h4 a4 44.b2 b3 45.d2 b5 46.c3 b4 47.xb4 xb4 48.d2 a3 49.bb1 b2 50.h3 c4 0-1 Mamombe,K-Medina Colindres,J Istanbul OL 2000. ] 7...e7 8.0-0-0 0-0 9.g4 g6 10.d3 d5 11.e5 e4 12.xe4 xe4 13.e2 f5 14.exf6 xf3 [ 14...xf6 15.xe4 dxe4 16.e5 d6 ] 15.xf3 xf6 16.e2 a5!? [ 16...e7 is safe and sound. ] 17.f4 e8 18.h4 c5 19.b5 b6 [ 19...c4 20.c7 xd4 ] 20.c7 cxd4 21.xa8 xa8 22.d3 c4 23.b3 a6 24.a3 e5 25.g5 exf4 26.gxf6 xf6 27.xb7 c8 28.g1 g6 29.h5 e5 30.xh7+ f8 31.h6+ g8 32.h5 d3 33.hxg6 d2+ 34.d1 h8 35.xh8+ xh8 36.h1+ g8 37.g7 f7 38.xa7 xg7 39.xd2 f6 40.a4 d6 41.xf4+ e5 42.g4 e4+ 43.c1 xf2 44.h5+ d6 45.d4 c5 46.b4 b5 47.c4 1-0

65 Karpov,Anatoly Miles,Anthony J Skara [Alexander Volzhin]

B00 2725 2545 1980

A sensational loss by the World Champion in such an "exotic" opening. 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5 3.f3 b7 4.d3 f6 5.e2 This seems to be the most natural White set-up. e6 6.a4 c5! 7.dxc5 52

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 7.e5 c4! ] [ 7.c3 doesn't looks very promising either: the position after c4 8.c2 is similar to Dorfman - Miles, but obviously Black has an extra tempo. ] 7...xc5 8.bd2 b4 9.e5 d5 10.e4 e7 11.0-0?! [ 11.g5!? looks more ing as was played in Volovik - Kozlov.V, USSR 1987. The game c o n t in u e d : 0-0 ( 11...f6?! 12.exf6 gxf6 13.e5! ) 12.d6 c6 13.h4 f6 14.exf6 gxf6?! This move allows a beautiful c o m b i n a t i o n . ( 14...xf6 w a s b e t t e r .) 15.e5! Picturesque! Now Black has to decide which of the three pieces to take! fxg5 ( 15...fxe5 16.h5 f5 17.xf5 exf5 18.f7+ h8 19.e8+- winning; 15...xd6 is probably best, although White's attack is very strong after 16.xh7+! ) 16.h5 f5 ( 16...f6 17.xg5+ with Nf7+ to follow.) 17.xf5 exf5 18.f7+ h8 19.g6+! and Black resigned. ] 11...c6 12.d2 c7 13.c4 bxc3 14.xc3 xc3 15.xc3 b4 16.xb4 xb4 17.ac1 b6 18.e4 0-0 Now it's cle ar that W h it e h a s n 't m a n a g e d t o re f u t e B la ck ' s opening experiment. Moreover he hasn't even got a minimal advantage. However Karpov doesn't want to admit this and therefore he starts overreacting. 19.g5 [ 19.xh7+ This tempting sacrifice doesn't work here: xh7 20.g5+ g6! 21.g4 f5 22.g3 d4! Intending Qg4 and if 23.h3 then h5! with the idea of Qh4 parrying the attack. ] 19...h6 20.h7+?! Continuing the venture. [ 20.xb7 xb7 21.e4 with equality was better. ] 20...h8 21.b1 e7 Now I definitely prefer B l a c k . H e h a s a p a i r o f s t r o n g B i sh o p s , W hite's Q-side is seriously weakened and W h it e 's t h re a t s o n t h e K -sid e a re e a sily parried. 22.e4 ac8 23.d3 xc1 24.xc1 xb2 Black has won a pawn for nothing. It's difficult to say what Karpov was h o p in g f o r a n d wh e re h e m i sca lcu la t e d . 25.e1 xe5 26.xd7 b4 27.e3 d5! 28.xd5 xd5 The rest is easy and needs no commentary. A clear extra pawn and a pair of strong Bishops give Black a decisive advantage. 29.c3 c8 30.e2 g5 31.h4

g7 32.hxg5 hxg5 33.d3 a5 34.g3 f6 35.g4 d6 36.f1 e5 37.e1 h8 38.f4 gxf4 39.xf4 c6 40.e2 h1+ 41.d2 h2 42.g3 f3 43.g8 g2 44.e1 xe2 45.xe2 xg3 46.a8 c7 0-1

66 Karpov,Anatoly Zhu Chen FIDE GP Dubai UAE (2.2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2693 2505 04.04.2002

1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d2 e6 4.c3 g6 5.d3 g7 6.gf3 e7 7.e2 d6 8.0-0 a6 9.e5 d7 10.e1 d5 [ 10...dxe5 would give black some squares and a potential target on e5. The game choice leads to a poor and slow French which Karpov handles very instructively. ] 11.f1 c5 12.h3! Creating a route to g4 for the Nf1. c6 13.1h2 h6 14.h4 White create s an amazing amount of lasting pressure just by keeping the h6 pawn in his sights. b5 15.f4 b6 16.e3 c4 17.c2 e7 18.b4 cxb3 19.axb3 b4 20.cxb4 c6 21.ec1 xb4 22.d1 a5 23.e2 b8 24.g4 h5 25.f6+ xf6 26.exf6 4c6 [ 26...8c6 27.c5 a6 28.xa6 A) 28...xa6 29.c7 ( 29.e5 ); B) 28...xa6 29.e5 ] 27.c5 d7 28.xd5 xf6 29.b5 a7 30.d6 a6 31.f4 g4 [ 31...d5 32.xd5 exd5 33.xa6 xa6 34.e1++- ] 32.c1 d7 [ 32...c8 33.bc5 xe2 34.xc6 xc6 35.xc6+- ] 33.b6 xe2 34.cxc6 An unusual and drastic invasion. xf3 35.gxf3 e5 36.xe5 f6 37.e6+ 1-0

53

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 67 Keskinen,Sauli Porrasmaa,Timo 2nd HCC Helsinki FIN (8) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 68 2292 Keskinen,Sauli 2220 Salmensuu,Olli 05.03.2002 2nd HCC Helsinki FIN (5) [Jon Tisdall]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d7 [ 4...e4!? ] 5.e6 fxe6 6.f3 [ 6.d3!? ] 6...g6!? A sensible novelty. [ 6...e5 is more common, despite its lack of success. 7.xd5 exd4 8.c4 e6 9.g5 f6 10.e2 f7 11.f4 d6 12.0-0 d5 13.ae1 h6 14.xd5 hxg5 15.xg5+ g8 16.g3 b5 17.f3 h6 18.f7 1-0 Golubev, M-Sergeev,V/Kiev 1995 (18). ] 7.h4 g7 8.h5 e5!? 9.g5?! [ 9.h6 f6 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd5 g4 and black's activity should give him comfortable play. ] 9...xd4 10.hxg6 hxg6 11.xh8+ xh8 12.xd5 f8 13.c4!? [ 13.e3 ] 13...f5 [ 13...b5!? 14.xc7+ xc7 15.f7+ d8 16.c3 ] 14.b4? [ 14.e3 ] 14...de6 15.d5 [ 15.b5+? was probably the idea behind white's odd 14th move, but it doesn't work: c6 16.xc6 xd1+ 17.xd1 a6 18.a4 c5-+ so now white is stuck with a terribly misplaced piece on b4. ] [ 15.f3 ] 15...d6! 16.c3 c6 17.b3 a5 18.xe6 xe6 19.c2 xd1+ 20.xd1 f4 21.e3 d3 22.e2 a4 23.c4 f4+ 24.f3 b5 25.xf5 gxf5 26.f1 [ 26.xf4 bxc4 ] 26...e6 27.g4 f4 28.e4? The beginning of a suicide run. f6 29.f5 f7 30.g2 g5 31.xc6 e6# 0-1

B00 2292 2428 01.03.2002

1.e4 c6 2.f3 f5 3.exf5 d5 4.h4 This line doesn't get played very often, for reasons that will become obvious - almost no one can be expected to be prepared as white in this variation. On the other hand, one might argue that since it seems to win huge mounds of material, it would get more off-the-cuff tests. e5 Yee-hah! Please fasten your seat belts. 5.h5+ g6 6.fxg6 f6 7.g7+ xh5 8.gxh8 xh4 9.xh7 d4 10.c3 [ 10.g6+ d8 ( 10...e7 11.d3 f4 12.xf4 xf4 13.c3 xc2+ 14.d1 b4 15.g3 d4 16.e3+- 1-0 Lalic, SToll,A/open, St Heliers JER 1997 (71)) 11.d3 f4 12.f7 ( 12.g8 e8 13.xf4 xf4 14.a3 e6 15.g3 xa3 16.xf4 exf4 17.bxa3 xc2+ 18.d2 xa1 19.e2 d4 20.f3 d7 21.xa1 h8 22.e1 c5 23.e4 f8 24.e5 d6 25.g5 b5 26.g6 e5 27.g7 f7 28.g8 c4 29.b8 a6 30.a8 c7 31.xa6 c3+ 32.c2 xa2 33.h6 b3+ 34.c1 a7 35.d1 xa3 36.h5+ d6 37.xb3 xb3 38.f5 b2 39.xf4 e5 40.f8 b4 41.b8 xf2 42.xb4 xg2 43.b5+ f4 44.h5 f2 0-1 Pavasovic,D-Gross,G/It open, III-IV 1995 (44)) 12...b4+ 13.c3 g4 14.g8+ d7 15.g7+ c6 16.g3 f3+ 17.d1 d4+ 18.d2 f3+ 19.d1 d4+ 1/2-1/2 Naiditsch,A-Doettling,F/ Dortmund GER 2000 (19). ] 10...f5 11.xc7 g7 [ 11...c8 12.b5+ xb5 13.xe5+ e7 14.xe7+ xe7 15.xb5 xc2 16.d4 b4+ 17.d2 e7 18.c1 f6 19.c3 d3 20.f3 d7 21.f2 d6 22.g3 b5 23.he1 b4 24.a4 h8 25.g2 a5 26.c5+ xc5 27.xc5 1-0 Sylbing,GOudejans, M/Haarlem NED 2001 (27). ] 12.b5+ f8 13.c5+ g8 14.xd5+ h8 OK, now the main meal is over, and white is the exchange and fully four pawns ahead. Now the question is, can he just develop and get his king to safety, or is he too gorged to run? In this day and age we tend to believe 54

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 that we have the defensive technology to 17.h4 xf3 18.xf3 xf3 19.gxf3 xh4 avoid the kind of embarrassing defeats that 20.d2 f6 21.c4 h5 22.a4 a5 23.a3 our greedy chess forefathers suffered in the f4 24.e1 f8 25.e4 e7 26.f1 h5 golden age of sacrifices. But some people 27.b1 h4 28.b4 axb4 29.xb4 a8 clea rly re m em b er th e p o te n tia l p owe r o f 30.b5 f7 31.a5 bxa5 32.axa5 c8 ram pa nt d evelop me nt . 15.g3 gets a few 33.b7 e8 34.ba7 d7 35.a8 xa8 things out of his face and prevents ...Nf4, but 36.xa8 d8 37.g1 e2+ 38.g2 f4+ it does perforate the kingside. 39.h2 e7 40.c3 d7 41.e4 e7 [ 15.a4!? ] 42.g5 d7 43.e6 xe6 44.dxe6+ e7 15...e7 The threat of ...Nf4 looms again. 45.h3 c6 46.xh4 b6 47.g3 xe6 16.0-0 e4 17.d3 This gives me the creeps as 48.a6 c5 49.xc6 f5 50.c8 f6 it gives black a free hand on the kingside. 51.f8+ e7 52.h8 f6 53.h4 d4 [ 17.e2!? ] 54.f4 f5 55.fxe5 xe5+ 56.f3 g5 17...d8 18.c4 f3+ 19.h1 d4! 57.h8 f5 58.e3 f6 59.a8 e5 Bringing the last piece into the attack, and 60.f8+ f6 61.f4 g6 62.f3 e6 preparing the romantic finish. 20.b3 exd3 63.e4 e7 64.f5+ gxf5+ 65.xf5 f6 21.xd3 h4! 22.g2 g4 An interesting 66.h5 g7 67.g5 e5 68.g6+ f7 picture of initiative vs. material. 23.h1 d4! 69.h6 f6 70.d5 e7 71.h7+ f6 Black's attack is so dominant that even 72.h6+ f7 73.xd6 e8 74.e6 d7 [ 23...e1!? is an option. ] 75.xe7+ 1-0 Sarkar,J-Glinert,S New York 24.f3?! USA 2001. ] [ 24.gxh4 to try and extend the game by 8.g3 c6 making black take the queen was probably [ 8...e7 9.0-0 ( 9.h4!? ) 9...0-0 10.c4 c8 the only move. xh4! continues to improve 11.c3 d6 12.e1?! d7 13.b4 a5 the position via attack, and the queen isn't 14.bxa5 xa5 15.a4 Black has again going anywhere. ] achieved a kind of old-fashioned Spanish 24...xf3+ winning everything. 25.f2 xh1 with traces of a King's Indian. I am not sure 26.c4 xh2+ 27.f1 xg3+ An awesome how to assess this, but it looks playable and display of the Daring spirit. obscure. White has lost a tempo with his c0-1 pawn, Black has fooled around with his light square bishop. c5 16.b2 f5 ( 16...h3!? 17.g2 xd3 18.xd3 f5 ) 17.exf5 xf5 69 B00 18.a3 d7 19.b4 aa8 20.xf5 xf5 21.xc5 dxc5 22.g2 e4 23.xe4 xa4 Koch,Jean Rene 2507 24.xa4 xa4 25.e3 f7 26.f4 d7 Degraeve,Jean Marc 2589 27.a1 f6 28.a8+ f8 29.xf6+ gxf6 vs Select GMs (3) 24.06.2001 30.g4 g7 31.xf8 xf8 32.h4 f7 [Jon Tisdall] 33.f5 d7 34.e6 h5 35.h6 f8 36.xd7+ xh6 37.xc7 e8 38.f4+ The stem game is a rapid duel - this whole line g7 39.g2 a4 40.c7+ h6 41.f4+ is in a grey zone - it bears resemblances to g7 42.e4 d1 43.e7+ g8 44.e8+ 1...Nc6 lines, old Spanishes, Old Indians. In g7 45.g6+ f8 46.xf6+ g8 short, the kind of obscure, slightly 47.e6+ f8 48.f6 d2+ 49.g1 d1+ disreputable openings we house here, which 50.g2 c2+ 51.h3 g6 52.d6 aim to take the battle out of the books as 1-0 Kurniawan, B-Glinert,S New York USA quickly as possible. 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 2001. ] 3.d3 f6 4.e2 c6 5.c3 e5 6.d5 e7 9.c4 b4+ 10.f1 0-0 It is probably more 7.f3 g6 [ 7...d6 8.g5 d7 9.a6 xa6 10.xa6 flexible to postpone castling a little bit. [ 10...cxd5!? ] h6 11.xe7 xe7 12.bd2 0-0 13.0-0 g5 14.b3 f5 15.exf5 xf5 and Black 11.h4 cxd5 12.cxd5 h6 [ 12...c8!? ] has a reasonable position. 16.d3 f6 55

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.a3 d6 14.c3 e8 15.h5 f8 16.h4 Now White has annexed a bit too much space. c5 17.f5 d6 18.b5 a5 [ 18...8d7 19.f3! ] 19.g2 h7 20.h4 c8 21.xe8 xe8 22.f3 xf5 23.xf5+ h8 24.xh6 6h7 25.e3 xe3 26.fxe3 a4 27.hh1 g8 28.ac1 c8 29.hf1 c7 30.e2 c5 31.xc5 bxc5 32.g4 f6 33.c3 b8 34.f2 d7 35.c2 g5 36.f2 c8 37.f5 b7 38.xa4 f7 39.c3 c4 40.f2 e7 41.g3 c5 42.c2 b6 43.h4 d3 44.e2 c5 45.xg5 fxg5+ 46.xg5 d7 47.h4 f7 48.g5 g8 49.f2 f8 50.a4 d7 51.b5 f8 52.g6 d8+ 53.h3 d7+ 54.f5 d8 55.h6 1-0

70 Kogan,Artur Spassky,Boris V Corsico [Andrew Martin]

B00

1997

We are about to see a masterpiece by Boris Spassky. Black very instructively tinkers with his opening move-order, trying to find the optimal way to reach a Hippo position. 1.e4 b6 Yes, I know this isn't strictly part of my brief but this is a very grey area and we soon transpose to a Hippo. 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.e2 d6 Spassky is very fond of this move order. By encouraging White's Bishop to go to d3 he figures that he cuts out some tricky lines. The overall idea is to go into a Hippopotamus system but he plays ....d6, ... Nd7 before ...g7g6. Note how effective this refinement is in this game. Black never need to play ....Bf8-g7 and uses the g-file later for attack! [ Developing the queenside first isn't the only way, as the following example shows, again with Spassky at the helm. 4...g6 5.0-0 g7 6.c3 d6 7.d2 d7 8.g3 Perhaps White s h o u l d h a v e p l a y e d f 2 - f 4 h e r e . h5!? ( 8...e7 9.f4 0-0 10.e2 a6 11.f3 c5! demonstrates how Black counterplay might co m e a b o u t .) 9.h3 gf6 10.e1 0-0 11.f3 h7 Before Bg5 ties him down. 12.e3 e5 13.d2 e7 14.g5 xg5 15.xg5 e8 16.c2 f6 17.ad1 h7

18.h6 e7 19.dxe5 Xie Jun-Spassky, B/ Tallinn 1998 White's a little better with the pawn on h5 looking out of place. ] 5.0-0 d7 6.f4 Kogan is in a belligerent mood. Spassky reacts coolly. [ 6.c3 gf6 7.d2 c5 8.e1 e7 9.a3 c7 10.b4 0-0 11.b2 fd8 12.g3 f8 13.c1 ac8 14.e2 a5 15.h3 g6 16.e3 g7 17.f3 b8 18.b1 a8 19.c1 a6 20.b5 b7 Shabanov, YGaprindashvili, N/Satka 2004 ] 6...g6 7.f5?! He really wants to punish Spassky for messing around , but it's here that the advantage of delaying ...Bg7 comes to the fore and 7 f5 is revealed as premature aggression. gxf5! 8.exf5 e5! 9.g3 gf6 Black suddenly has an extra central pawn which con ven ien tly co vers t he e f ile an d threatens to move f orward at the earliest o p p o r t u n i t y . 10.c3 Kogan doesn't really know what to do and lurches on with his ' attack' exd4 11.ce4 e7 12.a4 Further indication that White is at a loss. The advance of the rook's pawn is easily parried. a6! 13.e1 g8! 14.h5 [ Black defends comfortably after 14.g5 for instance: e5 15.xf6 xf6 A) 16.xf6+ xf6 17.e4 0-0-0 18.e2 de8 19.xb7+ xb7 20.a5 b5; B) 16.h5 d7! 17.ad1 ( 17.h6 g5 18.xg5 xg5 19.xg5 xg5 ) 17...c8 18.xf6 xf6; C) 16.h5 g5 17.h1 c5 ] [ Maybe flicking in 14.a5 b5 was called for and then 15.e2 with a difficult game to assess. It must never be forgotten that Black is a pawn up! ] 14...e5 15.h6 d7! Connecting the Rooks and Queen as well as getting the King to saf ety. Such original play is typical o f S p a s s k y a t h i s b e s t . 16.hxf6+ xf6 17.h5 g4 With the simple plan of ... Qe7 and ...Rag8 and a massive attack to follow. 18.ad1 Kogan is running out of time and moves. If he retreats his Bishop the Black attack builds rapidly: [ 18.d2 e7 19.a5 ag8 20.g3 f3! ] 18...h4 Now White is lost. 19.xf6+ xf6 20.g5 xh5 21.xf6 g8 22.xe5 xg2+ 23.f1 dxe5 24.xe5 hxh2 25.b5+ d6 56

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ He was hoping for 25...axb5 26.xd4+ [ 29...g6 30.b3 d2+ 31.c2= ] d5 ( 26...c8?? 27.e8# ) 27.exd5+ 30.b2 b5 31.xg7 d2+ 32.b3 xg2 and at least the game continues. ] 33.e5 f2 34.e3 f6 35.b2 e5 36.a4 0-1 d4+ 37.xd4 exd4 38.d3 f4 39.c4 h4 40.f3 d3+ 41.xd3 xb4 42.xf6 b3+ An interesting idea for white in the 71 B00 opening, and a very thematic handling of Kosintseva,Tatiana 2373 black's chances in the later stages of the Grabuzova,Tatiana 2388 game. 52nd ch-w Elista RUS (4) 13.05.2002 ½-½ [Jon Tisdall] 1.e4 c6 2.c3 f6 3.d4 d5 4.e5 g8 5.f4 h5 6.e3 [ 6.e2 f5 7.e3 e6 8.a3 g4 9.f3 h6 10.f2 e7 11.d2 f5 12.0-0-0 d7 13.d3 a5 14.d2 xe2 15.xe2 c6= 1-0 Aronian,L-Mudelsee,M Pardubice 1996. (49) ] [ 6.f3 g4 7.e2 e6 8.e3 h6 9.f2 f5 10.g3 h4 11.xh4 xe2 12.xe2 xh4 13.gxh4 g6 14.b5 a6 15.d3 e7 16.0-0-0 xh4 17.xh4 xh4 18.e2 0-0-0 19.f3 h3 20.f2 h7 21.d3 f5 22.a3 dh8 0-1 Hausmann,IGrabuzova,T Nova Gorica 1999. (32) ] 6...g4 7.f3 h6 8.b5!? An original approach, rather than cope with the pressure from the Bg4 white banks on a counterpin. d7 It is not completely clear that white wants to take on c6 - black will get some counterplay on the b-file in that case - but it is clearly risky to allow his queenside to be fractured so early. 9.h3 f5 10.f2 xf3 11.xf3 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 h4 13.a4 e6 14.c5 [ 14.c3!? looks more likely to keep black under pressure. ] 14...xc5 15.dxc5 a6 16.a4 d4 17.c3 d5 18.xd5 xd5 19.xc6 bxc6 20.cxd4 hd8 White's fragile pawn structure provides black with at least enough compensation for th e p a wn, b u t th e we a kne ss o f h 4 h e lp s balance the frailty of white's central pawn constellation. 21.b1 8d7 22.b4 xd4 23.xh4 e2 24.xd5 xd5 25.c2 xf4 26.g5 d3 27.d2 xe5 28.c3 c4 This is a bit adventurous. [ 28...f6!? 29.e1 but basically white's bishop has become strong enough to balance the extra pawn. ] 29.e1 a3+

72 Kramnik,Vladimir Ehlvest,Jaan (ol) Moscow [Alexander Volzhin]

B00 2725 2600 1994

A spectacular game at the very highest level. 1.f3 b6 2.e4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.d4 b4 5.d3 f6 6.g5 h6 7.xf6 xf6 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 d5 A rare move. In my opinion it's inferior to the usual [ 9...d6 ] 10.exd5! xd5 11.e5 0-0 12.h5! [ The straighforward 12.f4 g6!? is unclear. After the text f4-f5 is the real threat. ] 12...d8 This retreat is forced. Black has to lose a tempo, otherwise it's not clear how to develop his Knight. [ 12...c6?? is just a blunder in view of 13.c4 xe5 14.dxe5 ] [ 12...e7 13.ae1 d7 14.g6! fxg6 15.xd5 exd5 16.xe7 and White has an obvious endgame advantage. ] 13.c4 b7 14.d5! White exploits Black's lag in development and breaks open the centre. d6 The only move. [ 14...exd5? just loses on the spot: 15.f5 g6 16.xg6 ] [ 14...d7 is also bad in view of 15.xf7! xf7 16.dxe6 and beside s his extra pawn, White can exploit the weakness of the light squares near Black's King with Qg6. ] 15.ae1 exd5 [ 15...d7 here is as bad as it was a move previously: 16.xf7! xf7 17.dxe6 ] 16.f5 g6 17.h3 g7 18.xf7! This sacrifice destroys the seemingly safe position of Black's King and gives W hite a very strong attack. 57

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Th e t em p t in g 18.xg6?! fails to c8! ( O f c o u r s e , 18...fxg6 is bad in view of 19.e6 ) 19.h4 fxg6 20.e7+ g8 21.fe1 c6! parrying White's attack. ] 18...xf7 Black had two ways to capture the Knight, but both of them have drawbacks. [ 18...xf7 Now Black doesn't control the e6square. 19.e6! f4 ( 19...c8 20.xd6 xh3 21.xg6+ f8 22.gxh3 with an obvious advantage in the endgame. ) 20.g3! d2 21.xg6! f8 ( 21...f6 i s n o b e t t e r : 22.xf6 xf6 23.f5+ e7 24.e5+ d7 25.f5+ c6 26.cxd5+ ) 22.d3! ( intending 23. Rg6+ or 2 3 . Q g 4 + Q g 5 2 4 . R g 6 ) f7 23.f4! with unavoidable mate. ] 19.xh6 g8 The only move. [ 19...g8 20.e3 ] 20.f4? This move ruins an otherwise excellent combination. [ T h e n a t u r a l 20.e3! gives White an unstoppable attack: A) 20...d4 is the alternative, but it is even worse in view of 21.c5! and White wins: xc5 ( 21...bxc5 22.c4+ f6 23.h4+ g5 24.h6+ g6 25.e6+ xe6 26.f8+ ) 22.c4+! xc4 23.f4+ g7 24.e7+; B) 20...d7 21.h7+ f8 22.f3+ f6 23.xg6 and Black' position is hopeless. ] 20...d7! [ 20...dxc4? is met by 21.f5 with a quick mate. ] 21.f5 h8! White certainly underestimated this move and instead hoped for [ 21...g5 22.f6! with a decisive advantage: xf6 23.h7+ f8 24.g6 with unavoidable mate. ] 22.fxg6+ [ In his calculations White had missed that after 22.xg6+?! Black has the very strong f8! 23.xd6+ cxd6 with a clear advantage. ] 22...g8 23.f4 xf4 Playing this move, Black offered a draw which was accepted. [ After 23...xf4 24.xf4 c5 Black is considerably better, but he was in time trouble and was satisfied with a draw against such a strong opponent. ] ½-½

73 Kritz,Leonid Yu Shaoteng Anibal Open Linares ESP (10) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2453 2522 10.03.2002

1.d4 b6 2.e4 e6 3.f3 b7 4.d3 c5 5.c4 Quite rare - letting black get a kind of Sicilian/Hedgehog position is not considered a way of extracting the maximum against the Owen's. cxd4 6.xd4 c6 7.xc6 xc6 8.0-0 h4!? [ 8...c7 9.c3 a6 10.e2 e7 11.f4 g6 12.e3 c5 13.xc5 bxc5 14.e5 d6 15.d5 1-0 Hoepfl,T-Steppuhn,T/ Regensburg 1998. (52) ] 9.e2 c5 10.d2 f6 11.f3 h5 12.a3 a5 13.e5?! A very ugly move. [ 13.b3!? ] 13...xf3 14.gxf3 [ 14.xf3 xf3 15.gxf3 h5 ] 14...g8 15.f4 a4 16.e4 a7 17.h1 f5 18.e2 e7 19.e3 g5! 20.g1 [ 20.f4 xe2 21.xe2 gxf4 and ...Bd4 will be unpleasant. ] 20...h6 21.ae1 c6 22.f4 h4 23.f3 [ 23.fxg5 hxg5 24.g2 g4 ] 23...gxf4 24.xc5 bxc5 25.xf5 White understandably wants to swing his fists a few times before the end of this game, and this looks the only practical chance. exf5 26.e6 f6 27.d5 d8 28.xc5 c7 [ 28...c7!? ] 29.d6 e7 30.xf4 [ 30.d5 ] 30...dxe6 31.g6 e8 32.xh6 d7 33.f3 d4-+ 34.a8+ c8 35.g2 b7 36.d1 xg2+ 37.xg2 g8+ 38.f1 d7 39.c5 c7 40.h4 e5 0-1

74 Lanzani,Mario Kos,Toni Mitropa Team Cup (6) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2419 2400 30.11.2000

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.f4 e5 A move that has served black well - all of the references here are worth examining. 5.d5 58

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5.dxe5 g4 6.f3 ( 6.d3 dxe5 7.xd8+ xd8 8.f5 b4 9.b5+ c6 10.a4 xe4 11.xe4 d1+ 12.f2 xf5 13.c3 d3+ 14.e3 e1+ 15.xd3 xe4+ 16.d2 f1 0-1 Afek,Y-Markowski, T Paris 1995.; 6.d2 dxe5 7.f5 b4 8.xd8+ xd8 9.d3 d4 10.ge2 xe4 11.xe4 xe4 12.0-0 c5+ 1/2-1/2 Klinge r,J-Mestro vic,Z S ara jevo 1988. ) 6...dxe5 7.xd8+ xd8 8.fxe5 d7 9.d5 c8 10.f4 d8 11.h3 h5 12.0-0-0 e6 13.e3 c5 14.xc5 dxc5 15.d3 g6 16.he1 c6 17.e3 0-0 18.f5 c7 19.g4 e8 20.f1 h6 21.d6 d8 22.f5 xd1+ 23.xd1 f8 24.d2 d7 25.c4 g5 26.xg5 xe5 27.c3 hxg5 28.d1 c8 29.d6 d8 30.e2 b6 31.d4 b5 32.b4 d7 33.b7 e8 34.xd7 xe4+ 35.a5 a4# 0-1 Buljovcic, I-Nikolic,S Titograd 1965. ] 5...e7 [ 5...d4!? 6.e3 c5 7.fxe5 dxe5 8.f3 d6 9.g5 0-0 10.e2 h6 11.h4 b6! 12.b1 g4 13.d2 e3 14.d1 xd1 15.xd1 f5 16.c3 fxe4 17.cxd4 cxd4 18.0-0 exf3 19.gxf3 h3 20.f2 b4 21.e2 g6+ 0-1 Krivec,J-Zelcic,R Pula 1996. ] 6.f3 exf4 7.xf4 g6 8.g3 e7 9.d3 g4! 10.e2 f6 Black's control of e5 guarantees him comfortable play. 11.0-0 0-0 12.h1 e7 13.ae1 a6 14.d1 d7 15.c3 ae8 16.e3 xe3 17.xe3 d8 18.a7 c8 19.f2 e5 20.xe5 xe5 21.xe5 xe5 22.a4 c5 23.dxc6 xc6 24.b3 e6 25.d1 g5 26.b1 g6 27.g1 e8 28.d2 ee5 29.f2 h5 30.f3 h4 31.gf1 e7 32.xd6 h6 33.d8+ h7 34.e5+ f5 35.exf6+ g6 36.h8+ xh8 37.fxe7 1-0

to be originally the idea of the swashbuckling Englishman Milner Barry. exf3 [ 5...e6!? looks safer and sounder. ] 6.xf3 xf3+ 7.xf3 We have a position with a kind of Blackmar Diemer Gambit feel to it . Th e wea kn ess o n c7 is a n in t eres tin g a s p e c t o f w h i t e ' s c o m p e n s a t i o n . g6!? This gives black some additional options. The stem game was brutal and interesting. [ 7...f6 8.f4 a6 9.h3 g6 10.g4 g7 11.0-0-0 d7 12.g3 c8 13.e2 0-0 14.h4 c6 15.h5 xd5 16.hxg6 xc3 17.h4 f6 18.g5 a5 19.gxf6 h5 20.gxf7+ xf7 21.xh5+ 1-0 Milner Barry,PMieses,J Margate 1935. ] 8.f4 a6 9.g3 [ 9.0-0-0!? to set up a la Milner Barry definitely deserves attention as the pressure against c7 costs black time to defend, but costs white more time to pursue. The difference is the option h6 10.g4 xf4+ 11.xf4 d6 when white's spatial grip and lead in development def initely offer compensation. ] 9...h6 10.xc7 d7 11.e2 f6 12.e5 [ 12.d6!? looks very primitive, but there are advantages from softening black's kingside pawn structure. ] 12...f5 Black has returned the pawn in order to stop white castling and slow the pace of the opening, and the result is a very messy position. 13.d6?! [ 13.d3!? gives good chances of a small, safe advantage, but white wants more. ] 13...exd6 14.d4 0-0 [ 14...f4! 15.h4 g5= would show that black has nothing to fear. ] 15.f1 h5 16.xd6 g5? It is hard to understand what prevented black from playing [ 16...xc2 which was presumably one of the attractions behind posting the queen on f 5 i n t h e f i r s t p l a c e . 17.d1 e8 leaves white's king in more trouble than 75 B00 black's. ] Levi,Eddy 2247 17.f2?? g7?? [ 17...d8 and the bishop on d4 falls as Rigo,Bernard black has ...Qd2+ up his sleeve. ] ch Melbourne AUS (9) 07.01.2002 18.xg7 xg7 19.e4 d8?? [Jon Tisdall] [ 19...e3 leaves black very much in the game. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.d5 e5 5.f3!? A rare blast from the past, which seems 20.xf7+ 59

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 20.xf7+ g8 ( 20...xf7 21.xg5+ ) 21.f8+ both relieve black of his queen. A sadly typical game of this month's crop, where some interesting opening ideas fail to get a proper test due to some hair-raising blunders. ] 1-0

Partly due to the position being non-typical, and partly because the queenside structure allows white to play a4 quickly, when he is well placed to use the lines that open since there is no Nc3 being displaced by black's bpawn. c7 10.e2 c5 11.b3 b6 ( 11...e7 ) 12.a4 b4 13.d2 ( 13.g5!? ) 13...bxc3 14.xc3 b4 15.ac1 xd3 16.xd3 e5 17.e2 h5 18.c3 g5 19.d6 e3 20.d2 xd2 21.xd2 c6 76 B00 22.c4 e7 23.e5 f6 24.d6+ f8 Liasota,Evgueni 25.b3 e8 26.fd1 f6 27.c5 xd6 Chetverik,Maxim 2315 28.xd6 c8 29.cd1 f7 30.h5+ Tenkes Kupa Harkany HUN (4) 19.11.2000 Jonathan,R-Dewachter,M Szeged 1994 (0-1, [Jon Tisdall] 60) ] 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5 3.d3 b7 4.e2 f6 8...cxd4 9.cxd4 b4 10.bc3 xd3 5.f3 e6 6.0-0 c5 7.c3 c6 A line that has 11.xd3 b4 12.d1 e7 13.d5 b8 [ 13...exd5 14.e5 gives white good produced reasonable positions f or black: compensation. ] 8.e3 [ 8.c2 c8 9.a3 b6 10.h1 cxd4 14.dxe6? [ 14.f4= White is about to go to pieces in 11.cxd4 a5 12.b3 b4 13.a4 e7 14.d3 spectacular fashion. ] d6 15.b2 d7 16.d2 f6 17.f4 g6 18.f2 h4 19.f3 0-0 20.h3 d8 14...fxe6 15.d4 d6 16.h3 [ 16.g3 h5!? ] 21.f1 f5 22.b1 f6 23.g3 g7 24.f3 e8 25.h4 h5 ( 25...h6 ) 26.g5 f6 16...0-0 17.g4?? h2+ 18.h1 xe4! 27.d5 exd5 28.e5 dxe5 29.fxe5 e4 0-1 30.f4 d2 31.d1 xb1 32.xb1 d4 33.xd4 xe5 B00 A) 34.xe5! xe5 35.xg6 b2 77 36.e7+ g7 37.e6+ f7 38.xh5+! Licina,Anita 2195 xe7 39.h4+! and the more knights Sucher,Johannes 2234 white loses the closer is victory: 10th Open Aschach AUT (6) 30.12.2001 A1) 39...f6 40.xf8 xh4 ( 40...xf8 [Jon Tisdall] 41.xb4+ ) 41.g6++-; A2) 39...xe6 40.e3++- guards the 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.a3 e7 last rank and wins the queen.; 5.f3 f6 6.e5 e4 A3) 39...f7 40.g5++-; [ 6...d5!? 7.xd5 exd5 8.b4?! B) 34.fe6? xd4? ( 34...c2 35.g1 This only creates targets. d6 9.d3 d7 a8 ) 35.xd4 e7 36.g3 f6 10.0-0 f8 11.exd6 xd6 12.e5 e6 37.xb4 e5 38.xf8 xf8 39.e1 d5 13.c3 0-0 14.c2 g6 15.h6 g7 16.f4 40.f3 f6 41.e7 f7 42.xg6+ h7 f5 17.ae1 c5 18.e2 f6 19.bxc5 bxc5 43.g5 1-0 Szabo, Z-Chetverik,M/ 20.b1 ab8 21.e3 cxd4 22.cxd4 c6 Gyongyos 1998. ] 23.fe1 a4 24.f1 c2 25.xb8 xb8 [ 8.a3 cxd4 9.cxd4 b6 10.e3 e5 26.c3 e4 27.a5 b6 28.xb6 axb6 11.f2 exd4 12.bc3 d6 13.d5 xd5 29.c1 e6 30.c6 xe5 31.dxe5 f7 14.exd5 e7 15.xd4 c7 16.h3 xd5 32.a4 e7 33.b5 d4 34.c4 xc6 (1/2-1/2, 41) Praznik,N-Hechl,G Finkenstein 35.b3 a8 36.h3 xa4 37.d5 c8 1994. ] 38.g4 c2 39.f2 b5 40.e1 b4 41.d2 [ 8.h1 cxd4 9.xd4 This kind of position b3 0-1 Holzmann, H-Portisch,F Sicilian-ish but with a pawn on c3 instead of Balatonbereny 1996. ] a N - often poses black some problems. 7.xe4 xe4 8.d2 b7 9.g4 0-0 60

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.d3 f5 11.exf6 xf6 12.0-0 c6 13.f3 White should have a slight advantage here as black must be very wary about his more exposed king - though black does have active pieces as well. e7 14.c3 d8 15.g5 g6 16.h4 g7 17.e4 [ 17.f4 ] 17...e7 18.h5 gxh5 19.xh5 f5 20.h3 Black has problems coordinating his pieces properly - the Rf5 has no stable home. f7 21.g3 g5 22.g4 f3!? A nice confusionary tactic, but it doesn't quite seem to solve his problems. 23.e2? [ 23.c2 is harder to meet - white threatens on g5, and Nh5 also packs more punch with the light-squared bishop keeping an eye on the kingside - black would still have troubles coordinating here. ] 23...f7 24.f4 h8?? [ 24...f3+! and black secures a plus by getting the bishop pair and simplifying the position. ] 25.e5+- f6 26.h5 f3 27.xf3 xe5 28.xg7 xf3+ 29.h1 h2 30.e4 xf1 1-0

16...cxd4 17.cxd5 e5 18.e4 b8 19.c6 d6 Black wants to deny the rook a c c e s s t o f 6 . 20.fc1 hc8 21.b3 This still looks more comfortable for white, but th e p o te n t ia l we a kne ss o f d 5 m ak e s t h e position a bit trickier. b6 22.f1 cb8 23.6c2 c8 24.c6 cb8 25.6c4 8b7 26.e2 a6 27.1c2 a5 28.d3 e7 29.c5+ xc5 30.xc5 xc5 31.xc5 d6 32.a5 a6 33.e4 b6 34.a4 c5 35.dxc6 xc6 36.xd4+ e6 37.a4 d6+ 38.d3 f5 39.a5 d6+ 40.e2 xg3+ 41.hxg3 f5 42.e3 c6 43.d3 d6+ 44.e3 c6 ½-½

79 Maljutin,Evgeni Kramnik,Vladimir Sochi [Alexander Volzhin]

B00 2340 2490 1990

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.f3 b4 5.d3 f6 6.g5 h6 7.xf6 xf6 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 d6 10.d2 e5 11.f4 e7!? In a well-known position Kramnik finds an 78 B00 int ere st ing way to de via te f rom "o f f icial" Maki,Veijo 2376 theory. Salmensuu,Olli 2428 [ Black has another way to deviate from the TCh-2001-02 FIN (2) 20.10.2001 main line: 11...exf4!? This move was tried in [Jon Tisdall] Sp a ssky - Mile s, 1 9 8 3 b u t h a sn 't b e e n played since, although White failed to prove 1.e4 c6 2.f3 f5 3.exf5 d5 4.d4 xf5 a n a d v a n t a g e : 12.g3 ( 12.f3 e7 5.b5 d6 6.e5 f6 7.0-0 d7 8.xc6 13.xf4 0-0 seems OK for Black.) 12...g5 bxc6 9.f3 xe5 10.xf5 f7 11.f4 13.a4 c6 14.e2 0-0-0 15.a5!? xa5 d7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.d2 c5!? 16.a6 White's attacking plan looks similar Varying from to the Rauser attack in the Sicilian Dragon [ 13...e6 14.b3 d6 15.g3 a5 16.a4 (of course Black's King is on the K-side in hb8 17.fe1 b4 18.e2 ab8 19.f3 that case). xa6 17.xa6+ d7 18.c4 1-0 Shaw,J-Salmensuu,O/Leon ESP 2001 xc4 19.b5+ e7! ( Not 19...c8 (63) where black never quite equalized and 20.xa7! with a decisive attack: a5 21.d5 went down after a long massage. The new b8 22.a6 and mate is unavoidable.) move is trickier, but does not look better. ] 20.xc4 e6 21.xc7+ d7 and Black is 14.c4 slightly better.Undoubtedly this line [ 14.b3 screams out to be played, but requires further practical tests. ] access to e6 is not necessarily worth so 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.b5+ c6 14.c4 0-0 much: cxd4 15.c5+ c8 16.e6 b8 ] 15.f5 White embarks upon a very ambitious 14...g5 15.g3 e6 16.ac1 b u t d u b i o u s p la n wh i c h le a d s h i m t o a n [ 16.cxd5 exd5 17.ac1 must be a safe and inferior position in just a couple of moves. d7 lasting edge for white. ] 16.h5 b5 17.b3 It may seem that White 61

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 has strong pressure on the f-file (f7 is the main target), but Black's next two moves prove that this conclusion is far from accurate. c5! 18.dxc5 f6! Black is seizing the initiative by exploiting the unstable position of White's pieces. 19.f3 [ 19.xe5 is the main alternative to the text. c7 20.f5 g4! Black wins the exchange, but very precise play is required: 21.f3 xe5 22.xe5 ae8! It's necessary to drive away the strong Knight immediately, otherwise W hite would obtain strong counterplay: ( 22...xc5+ 23.h1 xc3 24.f1 ) 23.d7 xe4 24.g4 e7 25.xf8 xc5+ 26.h1 xc3 with a clear advantage for Black, for example: 27.f1 c6! 28.d1 xf8 29.d8+ e8 30.h5 g6 31.xe8+ xe8 32.c5+ g8 33.xa7 e1+ 34.g1 e2 and White can't mantain the material balance. ] 19...c8! [ 19...xc5+ is not so good , as it allows W hite to escape: 20.h1 ad8 21.xf6 gxf6 22.g4+ h8 23.h3 h7 24.f5+ g7 25.g4+ and Black cannot avoid repetition. ] 20.xf6 xf6 21.xf6 gxf6 In this endgame Black is the exchange up and has excellent winning chances, although good technique is required. 22.d5 b8 23.f1 g7 24.b3 e6 25.c6 bd8 26.d1 f5! 27.d3 fxe4 28.g3+ f6 [ In my opinion, 28...h7 was much more to the point, leaving White little to hope for, for example: 29.xe4+ f5 30.d3 e4 31.xb5 f4 ] 29.xe4 d5 30.c7 xe4 31.cxd8+ xd8 32.h3 xc2 After this inaccuracy the win becomes problematic. [ 32...g5 w a s b e t t e r : 33.g3+ f4 and W hite can't mantain the material balance. The "active" 34.g7 fails to g6 winning the exchange after a King march to f6. ] 33.xh6+ g6 34.h3 d6 35.e3 b1 36.e2 c6 37.b2 g6 38.a5 xc3 39.xb5 c1+ 40.f2 c2+ 41.f3 xa2 Black has managed to win a pawn, but the small number of pieces on the board promise White good drawing chances. 42.c6 e4+ 43.g3 a3+ 44.f4 e3 45.b2 d3

46.e5! Liquidation to the Rook ending is the simplest way to draw here. f5 47.g4+ xg4 48.xg4 Now the outcome of this exciting encounter is clear. Black's extra pawn means nothing here. e5 49.f3 d4 50.b7 f5 51.g3 a5 52.d7+ c5 53.e7 d4 54.d7+ e5 55.e7+ d4 It's premature to draw final conclusions about the strength of Kramnik's 11... Qe7 because of the lack of practical material. However I feel this move is definitely playable, and sooner or later it will become popular, especially if White manages to find something tangible in the sharp main line 11...exd4. ½-½

80 Mamedov,Nid Ipatov,Alexander IsBank TCh-TUR 2013 (5.1) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2602 2590 03.07.2013

1.e4 b6 2.c3 b7 3.f4 This anti-Owen's Defence set-up is surprisingly popular and not really covered in the books. e6 4.f3 d5!? A strange-looking move, but Black has to do something about White's centre. [ The Nimzo-style 4...b4 looks more logical: 5.d3 ( 5.e2 e7 6.d3 d5 (a pertinent moment as ...d4 is threatened) 7.d2 d4 8.d1 xd2+ 9.xd2 0-0 10.e2 f5 11.0-0 c5 12.e5 bc6 Gasik, P-Nguyen, P Warsaw 2012, with easy equality) 5...d5 6.d2 dxe4 ( 6...d4 is less clear in this case, due to 7.b5! xd2+ 8.xd2 c5 9.e5! and d6 is weak) 7.dxe4 f6 8.b5+ bd7 9.e5 xc3 10.xc3 d5 Perez Pietro, CGarcia Palermo, C Buenos Aires 2013, with near equality. ] 5.b5+!? A strange move and a new one. [ Instead 5.exd5 exd5 6.d4 f6 7.b5+ c6 8.d3 e7 9.g4!? c5 10.e2 xg4 (White has enough practical compensation with Black's king so vulnerable) 11.g1 c4 12.f5 h6 Jakubiec, A-Schandorff, L Danish league 2012, with a complicated struggle in prospect. ] [ Alternatively 5.e2 has been tried: dxe4 6.xe4 e7 7.d3 h6 8.d2 c5 9.0-0-0 c6 10.g4 (again this ambitious thrust) c7 62

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.f5 (maybe a bit over-enthusiastic) exf5 12.gxf5 xf5 13.g1 Czakon, J-Jaracz, P Chorzow 2013, and White didn't really have enough compensation this time. ] 5...c6 6.e2 d4 Pushing back White's pieces. 7.b1 c5 8.d3 f6 It seems to me that Black has achieved a fine opening. He has a lion's share of the centre, and is not behind in development. However, I think this type of position is easier for him if the darksquared bishops were already exchanged, see 4. . .B b 4 a bo ve . 9.0-0 e7 10.a4 c6 11.a3 c7 12.e1 Now the question is: What will Black do with his king? Neither flank looks that safe, but Black needs to make a decision sometime. h6 [ T h e c o u r a g e o u s 12...0-0! looks fine: 13.e5 a6 14.g3 e8 and I don't see anything concrete for White. ] 13.e5!? a6 [ I t ' s r i s k y t o c a p t u r e o n e 5 : 13...xe5 14.fxe5 d7 ( 14...xe5?? 15.f4 ) 15.b5 b8 16.g3 with a strong initiative for White. ] 14.g3 g8 A committal move, but Ipatov obviously didn't fancy castling short. [ After 14...0-0 15.d2 h7 16.ae1 I can't see a clear plan for Black, but there a g a i n , W h i t e d o e s n ' t h a ve a n o b vi o u s breakthrough. So maybe this was the way forward. ] 15.ac4 b5 16.xc6 xc6 17.e5 b7 Now White trades on the a-file, so that Black can't run away with ...0-0-0. 18.axb5 axb5 19.xa8+ xa8 20.f5!? [ Opening shop on the other front is plausible, for example 20.d2 b7 21.c3 as if lines start to open, then Black's king and king's rook could well prove to be the wrong way round. ] 20...d6? [ Less dangerous would be 20...exf5 21.xf5 b7 ] 21.f4 Now matters are tricky because of potentially dangerous discovered checks along the diagonal. exf5 22.g4! A strong blow. xe4 [ Black's king is about to be cut down after 22...xg4 23.xd6 d7 24.xc5 ] 23.dxe4 xf4 24.f6+ f8 25.h7+ e7 26.xf4 White has an extra piece, but the

knight on h7 is somewhat out of play! e5 27.exf5!? Giving up the bishop, but forcing a line which involves freeing the knight. [ Otherwise 27.xb5 b8 28.d3 would be reasonable. ] 27...xe2 28.f6+ e6 29.h3+ d6 30.fxg7 xg2+? Caving-in. [ Instead 30...xg7! is necessary: 31.xh6+ g6 32.f8+ e5 33.e7+ e6 34.g5+ d6 and Black wriggles out. ] 31.xg2 xg2 32.g4! Threatening both of Black's pieces. f3 33.f6! [ Af ter the slack 33.g3?? Black has the s t r o n g m o v e e7! and the knight doesn't escape. Black even has the better chances here! ] 33...xg4 34.xg8 The bishop has to be given up for the g-pawn. f6 35.xf6 e6 36.g8 xg8 37.xg8 c4 38.xh6 d5 39.f2 b4 40.f5 c3 41.bxc3 It's all over. 1-0

81 Martinovic,Sa Stevic,H ch-CRO 2014 Porec CRO (1.5) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2537 2620 03.02.2014

1.d4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 f6 [ The following is quite innovative: 5...ge7 6.0-0 h6 7.e1 g5! I like this plan. With a closed centre advancing the g-pawn like this can be annoying for W hite. 8.c3 g6 9.a3!? A cont roversia l choice . xa3 10.bxa3 a5 11.a4 e7 12.g3 g4 13.d2 h5 14.f1 0-0-0 Getz, A-Gelashvili, T Dallas 2013, with dynamic play. ] [ T h e d i r e c t 5...b4 forces White's next move 6.a3 whereupon Black can attack the centre in thematic style: c5 7.c3 c6 (this looks similar to certain lines of the Advance Caro-Kann) 8.dxc5 xc5 9.b4 b6 ( after 9...e7 10.0-0 c8 11.b5 a6 12.bd4 xd4 13.xd4 g6 14.d2 h6 chances are balanced. Capturing on h6 would allow Black to become 'ruler of the d a rk s qu a r e s ' .) 10.b5 Abravanel, CForthoffer, P French league 2006, and now 63

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black should probably accept the need to d e f e n d d 6 w i t h c7 with an acceptable position. ] [ The idea of 5...e7!? is also to get the gpawn advancing: 6.0-0 g5!? 7.e1 d7 8.c3 0-0-0 9.b4 f6 10.a4 a6 ( w i t h d o u b l e - e d g e d p l a y ) 11.b5?! Over-optimistic. a7 12.exf6 xf6 13.a3 McShane, L-Speelman, J Blitz 2000, and now Houdini suggests f8! with an edge for Black, as White's attacking pretensions are stymied. ] 6.e3 [ Feller angles to hold onto his e5-pawn wedge by supporting it with his bishop: 6.f4 ge7 7.g3 fxe5 8.dxe5 g6 9.bd2 c5 10.0-0 0-0 11.c3 b6 12.e1 ce7 13.b4 Stopping Black expanding on the queenside. c6 14.d4 d7 15.2b3 e4 16.f3 f5 17.f1 h5 18.d2 Feller, SBricard, E Caen 2011, and W hite's grip earns him a pull. ] 6...fxe5 This is already a novelty! [ Black tried 6...g4 without capturing on e5 in the following: 7.bd2 ge7 8.exf6?! Giving away the centre like this doesn't yield a n y a d v a n t a g e . ( keeping the tension (and space edge) with 8.0-0 looks better) 8...gxf6 9.h4 xe2 10.xe2 h5! 11.b3 d6 12.c5 b6 13.d3 e5= Scheeff, V-Taeger, W German league 1999. ] 7.dxe5 g4 8.bd2 ge7 9.g5!? [ A better try for an opening pull is 9.h3 h5 10.0-0 when a later ...Nf5 could be met with B-f 4, when g2-g4 is a threat. Of course Black can capture on f3, but I prefer White if he obtains the bishop pair. ] 9...f5!? A surprise. [ Also possible is 9...xe2 10.xe2 d7= when White has more space, but Black is not particularly inconvenienced as his pieces will all find good squares (N on f5, B on e7, f-file for the rooks). ] 10.xe6 [ B l a c k is b e t t e r a f t e r 10.xg4 xe3 11.fxe3?! xg5 ] 10...xe3 11.xd8 xd1 12.xc6 [ Or 12.xg4 xf2!? 13.xf2 ( 13.xc6? xg4 ) 13...xd8= ] 12...xf2!? [ Another way to a satisfactory game is with

12...xe2 13.xe2 xb2 14.ab1 bxc6 15.xb2= ] 13.xf2 c5+ 14.e1 xe2 15.xe2 bxc6 Phew! After all that, we can calm down and notice that material is about equal. It's not clear who has the better minor piece, and White's passed, but isolated, e-pawn could turn out to be either a strength or a weakness. 16.d3 f8 17.hf1 d7 18.b3?! The knight isn't great over here, but it isn't yet a problem. [ Better is 18.f3!?= with the idea of bringing over the other rook to help protect both the f-file and the e-pawn. ] 18...f2! To thwart ideas of R-e1, supporting the e-pawn. 19.c4?! [ 19.ad1 e6 20.d2 is a better way when Black isn't able to achieve anything concrete, as c5 can be met by 21.c4!= ] 19...ae8 20.d2 xe5 21.f3 dxc4+ [ Although 21...e3+?! looks like a blunder, (with 22.d2 in mind) Black rescues himself with exf3 23.gxf3 d4 with reasonable compensation. However, the game continuation is clearly a better try for an advantage. ] 22.xc4 c5+ 23.d3 d5+ 24.c2 c5 25.ae1 Black has an extra pawn, but naturally his queenside structure could be better! f4 26.b3 d6 27.d2 df5 28.xf4 xf4 29.f3 g5 30.h3 h5 31.e4 Martinovic builds a light-squared fortress which will be tough to overcome, as there is n o e v i d e n t w e a k n e s s i n h i s c a m p . c5+ 32.d3 d5+ 33.d4 The trade of rooks isn't a problem unless White is forced to capture on d5 straightening out Black's structure. d6 34.e4 e6 [ After 34...xd4+= White could recapture either way. It's hard to imagine that he is worse. ] 35.a4 a5 36.d4+ d7 37.c4 e5+ 38.f3 e3+ 39.f2 d3 40.f3 [ 40.xc6?! would unnecessarily give Black some winning chances with d2+ 41.f3 xa2 ] 40...d6 41.e2 [ Again 41.xg5 is plausible, but again there is d2+ ] 41...d5 42.e4 c5 43.d3 f5 44.e2 g3 45.d3 c8 Trying his luck on the 64

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 q u e e n s i d e . 46.e8+ b7 47.e4 b6 48.c4 d5+ 49.e2 d6 50.d4 c5 51.f3 b4 52.d4 c5 When all else fails, this pawn advance has to be tried. 53.f3 a4 The point is to leave White with a weak pawn on the queenside. Then there would be a real target. 54.bxa4 a5 55.g4! h4 56.e4 xa4 57.e5 A fine defensive plan: the trade of rooks enables White's king to help blockade the c4-square. xe5+ 58.xe5 c3 59.c4 b4 60.d3 d4 61.d2 e5 62.a3+ No t a l t o g e t h e r n e c e s s a ry, b u t p e r f e c t l y adequate. a4 63.e4 xa3 64.c4! [ 64.xg5?! would allow Black to get the cpawn moving with b3 ] 64...f4 65.xc5 c6 66.e6 c1 67.d4 b2 ½-½

28.bxc5 g6 29.c6 bxc6 30.dxc6 c7 31.d4 c8 32.h4 g7 33.h2 h5 34.c7 g5 35.hxg5 g6 36.b5 xg5 37.xf8 1-0 Fedorov,A-Ivanov,V Moscow 1995. ] 6.e5 f6!? [ 6...ge7 7.d3 f5 8.f3 a5 9.g5 c5 10.h5 g6 11.h3 h6 12.f3 c7 13.0-0 c6 14.g5 ce7 15.f6 g8 16.g4 c4 17.e2 g5 18.h5 g6 19.gxf5 f4 20.xh6 xe2+ 21.h1 exf5 22.h7 f8 23.xg5 xc3 24.g7 e4 25.h7 xf6 1-0 Berg,E-Marder,S Copenhagen 1996. ] 7.b5 The start of an unimpressive plan, I think. I would be tempted to try f4 and Bd3, since the stability of a B on d3 is one of the advantages of not having to worry about ...c5 based counterplay - and ...f6 means slight ventilation for black on the kingside. But then, I am hardly a connoisseur of the white side of 82 B00 the W inawer French. d7 8.xc6 xc6 Maslak,Konstantin 2306 9.h5+ d7 10.h3 b5 11.f4 e8 Zajarnyi,Anatolyi 2380 12.xe8+ xe8 13.h5 e7 14.h4 f7 Chigorin Mem (7) 08.11.2000 15.h3 fxe5 16.dxe5 e7 17.f4 g6 18.g3 c5 19.b1 c6 20.h1 d8 21.b2 [Jon Tisdall] dd7 22.d1 f5 23.g4 f8 24.c1 df7 1.e4 c6 2.c3 e6 3.d4 b4 4.a3 xc3+ 25.e3 xf4 26.xf4 xf4 27.xf4 xf4 5.bxc3 d5 A surprisingly rare continuation, 28.d2 d4 29.g5 d5 30.b1 a6 giving the game more of the feel of a French 31.be1 f2+ 32.c1 d3 33.cxd3 xd3 Defence - where the N is rather oddly placed 34.h3 c4 35.h5 b5 36.g6 h6 37.h4 on c6. The cons of this are obvious - the c2+ 38.d1 xc3 39.f4 xa3 40.d2 counterplay based on ... c5 is absent. On the a2+ 41.e3 h2 42.f7 xh5 43.g1 other hand, black can try to justify this by xe5+ 44.d2 e2+ 45.d1 a2 46.g3 d4 47.e1 b4 48.d7+ e5 49.xg7 b3 hitting out at e5 at once. [ 5...d6 6.d3 ge7 ( 6...e5 7.e2 ge7 50.b7 b2 51.xd3 cxd3 52.g7 b1+ 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 f6 10.e1 d7 11.h4 53.xb1 g2 54.b7 f6 55.xa7 xg7 g6 12.g3 h8 13.f5 ge7 14.h4 56.a3 d7 57.d2 h5 58.a5 d5 e8 15.f3 g8 16.g4 g5 17.f2 d5 59.a8 g5 60.g8+ h4 61.g6 e5 18.exd5 xd5 19.c4 d6 20.d5 e4 62.g7 h3 63.g5 h4 64.g1 h2 21.xe4 e5 22.c3 d4 23.d3 c5 65.g4 h3 66.g5 h1 67.g3 h2 68.g5 24.e3 b5 25.xd4 cxd4 26.xd4 d6 a5 69.e3 a1 70.xd3 g1 71.xe5 27.c5 e5 28.d4 d6 29.c5 d8 g2 72.g5+ f3 30.c6 e7 31.c5 f7 32.d1 a6 33.c7 0-1 d7 34.xe7 1-0 Sumaneev,D-Yemelin,V Elista 1995.) 7.e2 0-0 8.0-0 f5 9.c4 e5 10.d5 a5 11.f4 fxe4 12.xe4 f5 13.d3 d7 14.d2 a4 15.b4 xc4 16.xc4 xe4 17.xe4 a5 18.fxe5 g6 19.xf8+ xf8 20.exd6 cxd6 21.f1 axb4 22.axb4 e8 23.xe8 xe8 24.d4 e5 25.c4 e7 26.f5 d7 27.c5 dxc5 65

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 83 Mikac,Matjaz Mestrovic,Zvonimir chT Bled SLO (5) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2420 2434 18.10.2000

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e5 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.xd8+ Unusual to a s k b l a c k t o d e ve l o p t h i s r o o k , b u t o n e difference becomes clear in the game. [ 7.b5 xd1+ 8.xd1 d7 ( 8...d6 9.xc6+ bxc6 10.d3 0-0 11.d2 c8 12.a4 a6 13.b3 fd8 14.g5 e7 15.xf6 gxf6 16.d1 d4 17.g3+ h8 18.c3 ad8 19.cb1 xe4 20.e1 ed4 21.c1 f8 22.c3 a4 23.f3 e7 24.a3 d3 25.f1 h4 26.h3 e4 27.f5 xf1 28.xf1 d5 29.g4 xf5 30.gxf5 xh3 31.e1 c5 32.xe4 xf2 33.c2 h5 34.e7 g7 35.xc7 h4 36.d2 e3 37.xc6 h3 38.f1 e1 39.h2 g3 40.d2 b1 41.g4 xb2+ 42.d3 h4 43.c4 g5 44.a4 g2 0-1 Mooser,SBiro,S/Rieden 1996 (44)) 9.xc6 xc6 10.xe5 xe4 11.xe4 xe4 12.0-0 f6 13.c4 d6 14.a5 0-0-0 15.d3 e8 16.b3 e5 17.d2 e4 18.c4 e8 19.e3 c5 20.fd1 d8 21.f3 xe3+ 22.xe3 xd3 23.xd3 d6 24.f2 e8 25.d5 f7 26.f4 e5 27.e3 g6 28.d3 c6 29.e2 c7 30.g3 d6 31.d4 c5 32.d2 e5 33.d4 c5 34.d2 e5 1/2-1/2 Lehmann,K-Seul,G/ Germany 1989/GER-chT (34) ] 7...xd8 8.b5 d6? [ 8...d7 ] [ 8...xf3 9.gxf3 a6!? ] 9.xa7 This is it - quite an easy move to forget about, really. 0-0 10.xc6 bxc6 11.e3 b8 12.b1 b4 13.0-0 xc3 14.bxc3 xe4 15.xe5 e2?! [ 15...e6 followed by Ra8 gave better chances to save the game. ] 16.xc6 xf1 17.xb8 xb8 18.xb8 b5 19.c4 a4 20.a6 c6 21.b4 d6 22.c5 c4 23.f1 b5 24.e1 f6 25.d3 f7 26.f4 a4 27.e2 xc2 28.d4 a4 29.e2 e5 30.d2 e8 31.f4 f7 32.c3 d7 33.b4 d1 34.a4 g5 35.g3 f5 36.xf5 e2 37.a5 h5 38.h4 gxh4 39.xh4 g5 40.b6 e4 41.g6

c3 42.a5 f1 43.f4 e4 44.b4 f6 45.h4 g4 46.xh5 xg2 47.g3 f3 48.g7 f6 49.f5 d5+ 50.c4 e2+ 51.d4 e6 52.d6 e7 53.e4 d5 54.e5 c7 55.f4 d1 56.f5+ d7 57.a5 c2+ 58.f4 d3 59.g5 d5 60.f6 c7 61.f7 e7 62.c8+ 1-0

84 Mohr,Georg Cander,Mitja chT Bled SLO (2) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2492 2255 15.10.2000

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e6 6.h3 h5 7.d5 exd5 8.exd5 e5 9.g4 xf3+? If statistics are anything to go by, this is a serious mistake. Black aids white's development - he now castles quickly, and also finds it easier to mobilize his kingside pawn mass. the immediate retreat of the Bh5, on the other hand, has had reasonable success, so this would appear to be an error. [ 9...g6 10.d2!? clearing the way for the fpawn is definitely the way to frighten black in th is va ria tion - wha t results is sh ee r chaos and the whole line can be assessed with the cliche 'deserves further testing'. But black should take special note, as despite some very unusual handling by white, the lower rated player manages to work up a formidable attack. ( 10.b5+ ed7 11.e2 e7 12.0-0-0 a6 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 0-0 15.d4 c5 16.dd1 e8 17.f5 fe4 18.xe4 xe4 19.h4 d7 20.f3 f6 21.g5 e5 22.d4 c5 23.h5 xd4 24.xd4 e5 25.xg7 xg5 26.h6 e7 27.h5 f5 28.dd1 f8 29.de1 e4 30.f4 f7 31.xe4 g4 32.f3 xe4 33.c3 g6 34.f3 e7 35.c4 xh6+ 36.f4 f7 37.g3 g6 38.d3 e8 39.h5 d8 40.xf5 g8 0-1 Ivanov,VNesterov,J/Moscow 1995.) 10...e7 11.g2 h5 12.g5 h7 ( 12...fd7!? ) 13.0-0 f5 14.h2 d7 15.f4 g6 16.f3 e7 17.g3 c5 18.dxc6 bxc6 19.d4 h4+ 20.h2 d5 21.xc6 xc6 22.xd5 c8 23.xe7 xe7 24.xa8 xa8 25.c5 f8 66

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.xe7 xe7 27.e1+ e6 28.b4+ d8 29.ad1+ d7 30.f5 d5 31.d6 c6 32.fe1 c8 33.e3 f6 34.e7 b7 35.b4 b6 36.d2 e5 37.xe5 fxe5 38.xe5 e8 39.d6 e1 40.f8+ b7 41.f7+ a6 42.c4+ b5 0-1 De la Riva Aguado,O-Spraggett,K/Santiago 1995. ] 10.xf3 g6 11.0-0-0 e7 12.g2 d7 13.f4 h6 [ 13...f5 14.g5 0-0 15.f3 c8 16.h4 a6 17.h5 e8 18.c4 b5 19.b3 b6 20.e2 b4 21.h6 g6 22.d4 bxc3 23.xc3 xg5 24.fxg5 xg5+ 25.b1 f4 26.f3 d7 27.dg1 f5 28.h5 f7 29.d3 f3 30.hg5 f5 31.d4 f6 32.xf6 xf6 33.xf6 f7 34.d4 d7 35.xf5+ gxf5 36.g7+ f8 1-0 Kovacevic, P-Kostic,N/Bela Crkva 1990 (36) ] 14.d4 0-0 15.h4! Giving black the choice of opening lines against his own king or having a pawn mass stuffed in his face. A glance at the other flank is enough to confirm that this game is likely to feature one-way traffic as black does not have a glimmer of counterplay. xh4 16.h2 f6 17.g5 xg5? Black banks on three pawns and a relatively safer king for a piece, but with a long term attack still on the cards, he will find that a piece is a piece. [ 17...xd4 18.xd4 e8 ( 18...h5 19.e2 ) 19.e2 ( 19.gxh6 allows ...Re1+ and/or Qf6, which hinders the attack a bit. )] 18.fxg5 xg5+ 19.b1 e5 20.d3 f3 21.f2 xd4 22.xd4 xd3 23.xd3 f5?! This creates weaknesses, but sitting still does not hinder white from training all of his guns on the kingside either still, something more solid was called for: [ 23...ae8 24.dg1 f4 prevents immediate catastrophe. ( 24...f6 25.e4 e5 26.d2 h7 27.g5+ g8 28.xh6! )] 24.e2 f4 25.d4 f7 26.dg1 xd5 27.xh6+- f3 28.h7+ f8 29.h8+ e7 30.e1+ e5 31.xe5+ dxe5 32.e6+ d7 33.xa8 1-0

85 Mohr,Georg Mestrovic,Zvonimir chT Pula (2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2492 2434 12.09.2000

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e5 6.b5 [ 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.xd8+ xd8 8.b5 xf3 9.gxf3 a6 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.e2 h5 12.ad1 d6 13.d3 0-0 14.b1 f5 15.c3 fxe4 16.fxe4 f4+ 17.xf4 xf4 18.f3 df8 19.f1 h4 20.f2 f6 21.f1 fh6 22.g1 b4 23.c4 a5 24.h1 e1 25.g2 h3 26.d2 d6 27.f1 xf3 28.g3 f2 0-1 Vrana,F-Kos,T Charleville FRA 2000. ] 6...d7 [ 6...exd4 a la a Steinitz Spanish/Ruy Lopez is probably better. ] 7.d5 cb8 [ 7...xf3 8.xf3 e7 9.0-0-0 a6 10.xd7+ I don't see the point of giving back the bishop pair. ( 10.f1!? and then h4!? perhaps? ) 10...xd7 11.h4 ( 11.b1 b5 12.c1 b4 13.e2 c5 14.dxc6 xc6 15.g3 a5 16.hd1 b8 17.d3 a4 18.c4 c8 19.d1 e7 20.c5 a6 21.cxd6 xd6 22.c5 d8 23.xd6 g6 24.c2 xd6 25.cd2 e7 26.f1 d7 27.e3 c8 28.d5+ f8 29.f6 dc7 30.xd6 c1+ 31.xc1 xc1+ 32.xc1 f1+ 33.d1 xf2 34.g4 b3 35.axb3 axb3 36.c6 g7 37.h3 e3+ 38.b1 a7 39.g5 a2+ 40.c1 a1+ 41.d2 xb2+ 42.e1 g2 43.e8+ h8 44.d6 g7 45.e8+ h8 46.d6 xh3 47.c7 g8 48.xf7 e3+ 49.f1 xg5 50.f2 h5 51.e1 h3 52.d2 h5 53.c1 e3+ 54.fd2 c3+ 55.b1 h4 56.b5 f3 57.d6 h3 58.b2 h2 59.c4 h1 60.d8+ g7 0-1 Hendriks, W-Mestrovic,Z Wijk aan Zee 1999.) 11...h5 12.g3 g8 13.e2 g6 14.f4 g7 15.d2 0-0-0 16.hf1 exf4 17.xf4 h6 18.f3 g4 19.f4 de8 20.d2 hf8 21.e1 e7 22.g5 ee8 23.ff1 b8 24.a3 e5 25.f4 e7 26.e2 fe8 27.fe1 f5 28.exf5 xc3 29.bxc3 xe2 30.xe2 gxf5 31.e1 xe2 32.xe2 a4 33.e7 1/2-1/2 Medunova,V-Zielinska,M W arsaw 67

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1999. ] 8.h3 xf3!? A change from the man who plays this the most. But it doesn't seem to improve his chances much - this piece will be sorely missed later. [ 8...h5 9.g4 g6 10.h4 h6 ( 10...h5 11.g5 a6 12.f1 b5 13.d2 e7 14.g1 c8 15.a4 b4 16.a2 b7 17.c3 a5 18.cxb4 axb4 19.b5 0-0 20.xb4 c5 21.f3 h7 22.b3 f5 23.e2 g8 24.0-0-0 f4 25.xc5 dxc5 26.c6 d6 27.c4 d7 28.g2 f7 29.h3 e8 30.g2 a8 31.a2 b8 32.6xe5 xe5 33.xe5 f5 34.exf5 xe5 35.f6 d7 36.xd7 a5 37.c2 b4 38.e6 c3 39.xf7+ 1-0 Piket,J-Mestrovic,Z Sremic K r s k o 1 9 9 8 .) 11.h5 h7 12.g5 a6 ( 12...hxg5 13.xg5 a6 14.g4 g8 15.e6 fxe6 16.dxe6 xe6 17.xe6+ e7 18.g6+ f7 19.xf7+ xf7 20.c4+ e8 21.d5 d8 22.g5+ c8 23.0-0-0 c5 24.f3 b5 25.f1 c6 26.h3+ b7 27.c3 d8 28.c2 de6 29.xe6 xe6 30.dg1 h7 31.d2 c6 32.e3 f4 33.f5 e8 34.xf4 exf4 35.h4 d5 36.xf4 dxe4 37.fxe4 xh5 38.xg7+ xg7 39.d6+ b6 40.xe8 h2+ 41.b1 h6 42.f1 e2 43.d6 a5 44.f5 g5 45.g1 e3 46.g6 c5 47.e6 c7 48.e5 e4 49.c2 d7 50.d3 e1 51.d4 d1+ 52.e4 e1+ 53.f5 f1+ 54.e4 e1+ 55.f5 f1+ 56.g6 e1 57.f6 f1+ 58.g6 e1 59.a3 b4 60.axb4 axb4 61.f7 e4 62.b3 b6 63.cxb4 xb4 64.f6 e4 65.e6+ c7 66.f3 e3 67.d2 xd2 68.e7 c5 69.e8 xe8 70.xe8 c6 71.d3 b4 72.d8 c4 73.f7 c5 74.e6 c3 75.b3 a5 76.a8 c7 77.a4 b5 78.c4 d8 79.d5 g5 80.e4 c2 81.xc2 b4 82.b2 c3 83.b1 e7 84.d5 a3 85.c6 c2 86.b4 1/2-1/2 Jonkman,H-Mestrovic,Z Wijk aan Zee 1999.) 13.f1 b5 14.a3 c5 15.g6 fxg6 16.hxg6 xg6 17.xc5 dxc5 18.xe5 g5 19.xg6 xg6 20.h3 e7 21.f5 g5 22.h5+ xh5 23.xh5 d7 24.g6+ d8 25.e5 g5 26.e4 f4 27.f5 xe5 28.0-0-0 f8 29.xc5 xf5 30.e6+ e7 31.xf5 f6 32.h3 b6 33.f4 d6 34.f5 g8 35.c3 h5 36.c2

c4 37.g1 e3+ 38.d3 xd5 39.g6+ e5 40.g2 e7 41.xg7 xg7 42.xg7 h4 43.h3 d5 44.e6 b6 45.g5 e7 46.e6 d6 47.b3 d7 48.c4 e5+ 49.c3 bxc4 50.bxc4 c5 51.f4 f3 52.d3 g5 53.g6 a5 54.a4 g1 55.g2 h3 56.d5 h2 57.g2 h3 58.e2 f6 59.f3 g1+ 60.g3 e2+ 61.xh2 c3 62.g3 xa4 63.e4 c3 64.c2 a4 65.f3 a3 66.b3 a2 67.xa2 xa2 68.f8 b4 69.e4 c6 70.e6 e5 71.f4 xc4 72.xc5 xc5 73.e4 e5 74.e3 d5 75.f4 d4 76.g3 e3 77.g2 d3 78.g3 f2 79.g2 e4 80.f1 d2 81.g2 e2 82.g1 f3 83.f1 h4 84.f6 f2 0-1 Medvegy,NMestrovic,Z Budapest 1999. ] 9.gxf3 e7 10.d2 0-0 11.0-0-0 f5 12.exf5 xf5 13.dg1 a6 [ 13...xf3 invites a vicious attack: 14.e2 ( 14.h6 f7 ) 14...f8 15.h6 f6 16.e4 f7 17.h5 e7 18.h2 h8 19.hg2! gxh6 ( 19...g6 20.xg6 hxg6 21.xg6+- ) 20.xh6+- ] 14.g3 f7 15.h4 f6 16.h5 h8 17.a3 c5 18.b1 a6 19.f1 b5 20.b4 cd7 21.d3 f8 22.g6 e7 23.e4 xe4 24.fxe4 h6 25.f5 f6 26.g6 f7 27.hg1 a5 28.e6 e7 29.d3 axb4 30.axb4 c5 31.xf7 c4 32.e2 xe4 33.f3 f6 34.xf6 xf6 35.xf6 gxf6 36.g8+ h7 37.e6 f5 38.f3 d8 39.b6 1-0

86 Moreda,Lucas Polak,Tomas 9th Valley Saint Vincent ITA (6) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2309 2505 08.02.2001

1.e4 b6 2.c3 b7 3.d4 e6 4.a3 d5 5.exd5 exd5 6.f3!?N An interesting idea, but white f in ds tha t th e p rice o f c rea tin g concessions is that his position becomes rather artificial [ 6.f3 f6 7.d3 e7 8.0-0 e4 9.e2 0-0 10.c3 d7 11.e1 e8= Walta,P-Blanco,M Moscow 1994. (1/2-1/2, 88) ] 6...e7 68

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 6...f6 7.g5 e7 ( 7...bd7 avoids white's tricky concept.) 8.b5+ c6 9.xf6 xf6 10.xd5 ] 7.g3 f8 8.b5 [ 8.f4!? ] 8...a6! 9.xc7 a7 10.f4 c6 11.0-0-0 [ 11.f3 f6 ] 11...g5 12.e5 xe5 13.xe5 f6 14.g3 c8 Black crowns his original opening play by winning material. 15.xa6 xa6 16.xa6 xa6 17.d3 a7 18.e2 h5 19.he1 e7 20.b5 h6 21.b4 h4 22.b1 g7 23.f4 g4 24.c1 xe1 25.xe1 e7 26.d2 f5 27.c3 d7 28.d3 d6 29.e5 f5+ 30.a2 e4 31.e3 xe5 32.dxe5 c6 33.d4 c5 34.e6+ f6 35.e7 xd4 36.cxd4 c8 37.c1 e8 38.c6 xe7 39.xb6 d2 40.a4 e2 41.a5 c4 42.b5 xa5 43.xa5 xg2 44.xd5 f6 45.h5 xh2 46.d5 g3 47.d6 f7 48.h7+ e8 0-1

[ Now that Black has safely castled the move 16...xb4! is a more serious proposition e.g. 17.c5 bxc5 18.dxc5 f4! as after ( not 18...xc5? 19.dc1 d6 20.xf6 xf6 21.xb4 ) 19.xf6 gxf6 20.d7 xd7 21.xd7 c4 Black seems to be OK. ] 17.a3 b8 18.e1 fe8 19.bd1 c6 Preparing ...b5 in order not to stay too passive. 20.c2 b5 The idea is to fix White's pawns on dark squares (rendering W hite's bishop impotent) and gaining control of d5. 21.c5 c7 Preparing ...Rd5 which would give him a satisfactory position. Instead after [ 21...d5 22.e5 d7 Black will have problems to capture on e5 without exposing his queen. ] 22.d5! One way of avoiding the blockade! White's better harmonized pieces now come to the fore despite the loss of a pawn. xd5 [ 22...exd5 23.xf6 gxf6 24.xf5 leaves Black under pressure with broken kingside pawns and White's intended Nd4 will further strengthen the bind. ] [ The immediate 22...cxd5 23.xf6 gxf6 87 B00 24.d4 c8 gets into hot water as 25.c6 threatens a decisive fork. ] Morozevich,Alexander 2717 Chernyshov,Konstantin 2531 23.xd5 cxd5 24.xf6 gxf6 25.d4 c8 TCh Sochi RUS (7) 25.04.2005 26.c6 The extra pawn is a minor detail, Black's position is a shambles. Just look at the knight! [Glenn Flear] e5? [ 26...c7 27.c5 f7 would be a better 1.e4 e6 2.d4 b6 3.f3 b7 4.d3 f6 chance. ] 5.e5 e4 6.0-0 f5 [ Another idea is to wait one tempo with 27.c7 f4 [ Saving the piece with 27...d7 is hopeless 6...e7 before deciding between ...f5 or ...d5 after 28.xf5 e6 29.d1 ] e.g. 7.c4 d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.e1 d7 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 f8 12.d2 e6 28.cxb8 xb8 29.c6 d8 30.e6 c8 13.f1 g6 14.f4 h5 15.f5! gxf5 16.g3 31.c7 d8 32.c1 f7 33.f3 d4 34.xa6 with an edge to White in Wells,P-Blatny,P d3 35.xb5 d2 36.c4+ g6 37.d1 d7 38.e4+ h6 Puvermuehle 2000 ] [ For the record, 38...f5 regains the piece but 7.xe4 xe4 8.c4 c6 9.g5 after 39.xe5 xc7 40.xd2 the result [ 9.c3 is well met by xf3 when White remains the same. ] wo u ld h a ve t o m ake t he co nce ssio n o f 39.f5 xc7 40.xf6+ h5 41.g4+ capturing with the pawn. ] 9...xb1 10.xb1 e7 11.f3 d5 12.exd6 Black is in a mating net. 1-0 xd6 13.b4 d8 [ It would be foolhardy to play 13...xb4? 14.a4+ f8 ( 14...c6 15.xb4 ) 15.c5 bxc5 16.dxc5 xc5 17.a3 b8 18.fc1 b5 19.xb5 xb5 20.xc7 and Black is in serious trouble. ] 14.b2 f6 15.a4 0-0 16.fd1 a6!? 69

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 88 Mrdja,Milan Lovric,Branko It Montecatini Terme ITA (6) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2435 2357 17.02.2001

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.a3 f6 5.e5 [ 5.d3 c5 6.dxc5 bxc5 7.f3 c4 8.xc4 xe4 9.xe4 xe4 10.0-0 e7 11.e1 b7 12.e5 0-0 13.h5 c6 14.f4 xe5 15.xe5 d6 16.xg7 xg7 17.e3 g8 18.g3+ h8 19.xf7 xg3 20.hxg3 e8 21.xe6 c6 22.f1 f8 23.d1 xc2 24.d4 g6 25.b3 e4 26.c4 c8 27.e3 e8 28.b3 f6 29.d1 g6 30.b4 e5 31.f1 c2 32.g4 g7 33.c1 c3 34.e2 xe2 35.xg7 e1+ 0-1 Szabolcsi,J-Henley,R Budapest 1981. ] [ 5.g5!? appeals to the develop and threaten school. Black had to take great care in A) 5...h6!? 6.xf6 xf6 7.f3 c6 ( 7...a6!? ) 8.e5 f5 ( 8...d8 ) 9.d3 f4 10.d5?? ( 10.g3+- xd4 11.gxf4 xf3 12.e2 ) 10...d4 11.xd4 xd4 12.e2 exd5 13.0-0-0? xa3-+ (0-1, 37) Drapal,V-Leko,G Hrabyne 1996.; B) 5...e7 6.d3 c5 7.dxc5 bxc5 8.f3 c4 9.xc4 xe4 10.xe4 xe4 11.xe7 xe7 12.0-0 c6 13.e1 g6 14.d2 e8 15.d5 c8 16.ad1 a5 17.b4+ d6 18.f4 f8 19.xe6 xe6 20.xe6 xc2 21.g5 e7 22.d5 f6 23.e3 e7 24.f4 f6 25.g3 e5 26.f4 e2 27.e1 d2 28.h4 h6 29.e6+ fxe6 30.d8+ e8 31.xd6+ g8 32.xe6+ h7 33.e4+ 1-0 Conquest,SJadoul,M FRA 1991. ] 5...e4 [ 5...d5 6.xd5 xd5 7.g4 A) 7...f5 8.g3 b7 9.e2 e7 10.h3 c6 11.e3 f7 12.g5 g8 13.d5? (1/2-1/2, 63) Starck, I-Wolf,S Stralsund 1988. ( 13.h5+! ); B) 7...d6 8.g5 d7 9.e2 b7 10.f3 c6 11.0-0-0 h6 12.h4 g5 13.d5 exd5 14.xd7+ xd7 15.g3 e8 16.xd5 g7 17.e1 xe5 18.xe5 xd5 19.xg7 hg8 20.c3 g4 21.h4 c6 22.d2 h5 23.g3 e6 24.d3 d5

25.g2 f5 26.f4 f7 27.xf5+ d6 28.xe8 xe8 29.b3 c5 30.d3 d4 31.d2 b5 32.g6 xg6+ 33.xg6 e6 34.b4 f5 35.h4+ e5 36.bxc5 d5 37.f4 xc5 38.f5 d8 39.b4+ b6 40.xd4 a5 41.e7 e8 42.d6 d8 43.e5 d5 44.e4 c5 45.f5 c3 46.f6 1-0 Ciganikova,A-Dubinskaya,M Tallinn 1997. ] 6.xe4 If this really is a new move, then all I can say is that this line must be extremely untested. [ 6.f3 doesn't look that impressive. xc3 7.bxc3 e7 8.d3 0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.e1 d7 11.exd6 cxd6 12.a4 f6 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 e8 15.h4 c7 16.d2 e5 17.g4 e4 18.g5 d5 19.g3 f8 20.h5 e3 21.xe3 xg5 22.xe8 xe8 23.xg5 xc3 24.e3 h6 25.b1 c4 26.c3 h7 27.f3 e4 28.c1 e6 29.f4 f6 30.g3 e6 31.e5 f6 32.f4 xa4 33.xh6 e7 34.e3 f8 35.f3 d7 36.h6 b5 37.a1 h7 38.hxg7 xg7 39.a6 h8 40.h5 g8 41.h6 e7 42.g3 h8 43.g2 g8 44.g6+ h8 45.h2 c7 46.h5 d7 47.f8 e6 48.h3 f5 49.a2 g8 50.c5 a6 51.g2 f7 52.h4 g7 53.f3 e8 54.f2 h6 55.e7+ xe7 56.xe7 e6 57.b4 f6 58.a2 h5 59.a5 g6 60.c7 xg3 61.f2 f4 62.xf4 f5 63.e5+ f7 64.a1 e7 65.e2 d7 66.d3 h4 67.e3 c6 68.h1 f5+ 69.d3 h6 70.g1 e7 71.c2 a5 72.f4 h2+ 73.b1 f2 74.g7 e6 75.h7 g2 76.h6+ g6 77.h8 c6 78.f8 e7 79.c8 b4 80.cxb4 xb4 81.f5 g1+ 82.b2 f1 83.f6+ 1/2-1/2 Cetkovic, M-Filipovic,B Becici 1994. ] 6...xe4 7.e2 b7 8.f4 d6 9.exd6 xd6!? This indicates nervousness about castling kingside. [ 9...xd6 10.g4 0-0 11.d3!? may have made black feel uncomfortable, though white has nothing clear here - at any rate there is nothing wrong with the more original course chosen in the game. ( 11.h5 g6 doesn't accomplish anything, and white must beware of being kicked back in disarray by ...f5. )] 10.e3 c6 70

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 10...d7!? ] 11.g4 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 h5 13.h3 [ 13.xh5? d5 14.f4 a2 is nothing to a l l o w f o r a p a wn t h a t a l s o a c t i va t e s a piece. ] 13...g5 14.e2 d5 15.b1 g4 16.h4 e7 17.g3 d6 18.h4 e7 This "feels" justified, but in fact repeating moves was better. W hite is now forced into the weaknesses in black's camp. 19.c3 a5 20.b5 f5 21.f6 xe3 22.fxe3 hf8 23.h3! g3 [ 23...g3 24.h4 rounds up a kingside pawn. ] 24.hxg4 a6 [ 24...hxg4 25.h7 threatens f7 as well as going behind the g-pawn - nevertheless this looks preferable to the game. ] 25.c3 h4? 26.e2 e5 27.e7 g7 This seems an abrupt end to the game, so I suspect the game score is incomplete, but black has insufficient compensation for the pawn(s). 1-0

89 Nevednichy,Vladislav Blatny,Pavel zt 1.4 Budapest HUN (2) [Carsten Hansen]

B00 2589 2512 18.06.2000

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 f6 4.e2 c6 From my records, the earliest game with this move stems from 1975. But it has mainly been the German correspondance player Caprano who has made use of it. It aims to challenge White in the centre immediately, rather than build-up on the queenside as is customary in Owen's Defense. 5.c3 e5 6.f3 [ It makes less sense to close the centre. After 6.d5 e7 7.c4 g6 8.g3 b4+ (since W hite has weakened his dark squa res dram a tically by pla cing all h is central pawns on light squares, it makes s e n s e f o r B la ck t o e xch a n ge t h e d a rk squared bishop to take advantage of this. However, also 8...h5, intending ...h4 to provoke further weaknesses or 8...c6 can also be considered) 9.d2 xd2+ 10.xd2 e7 11.c3 c5?! I'm not a great fan of this

move that locks the centre. Both 11...c6 and 11...0-0 are in my opinion better moves 12.h4 h5 13.ge2 d6 14.f3 f8 15.d1 8d7 16.ec3 g6 17.f1 h7 18.h3 df6 19.a3 c8 20.xc8 xc8 21.0-0 0-0 22.f2 , and White holds the better prospects because he controls the possible breaks on both queenside and kingside, Mortensen-Jakobsen, Denmark ch 1989. ] 6...exd4 This is the critical line. [ Also 6...d6 has been tried out. Now 7 d5 makes more sense than in the above example, because Black's dark-squared is now caged in by his own pawns. However, even better is 7.0-0 e7 8.dxe5 xe5 9.xe5 dxe5 10.d2 0-0 11.c4 d7 12.d1 g5 13.e3 xe3 14.xe3 e7 15.f3 c5 16.c4 e6 , and Black has just about equalised, Berg-E.Pedersen, Denmark chT 1998. ] 7.0-0?! Although White receives some compensation for the pawn, I don't trust this approach by White. [ 7.e5!? is probably more like it. In the present example, Black's position soon looks like Swiss cheese. d5 8.e4 d3 ( 8...de7 9.cxd4 d5 10.d3 ) 9.xd3 de7 10.f4 h6?! this isn't a good idea, and I don't understand how Black could convince himself that this was playable. Much better was 10...Ng6 followed by ...Be7, with about equal chances. 11.0-0 g5?! 12.g3 g7 13.bd2 0-0 14.h4 f5 15.exf6 xf6 16.hxg5 hxg5 17.h7+ g7 18.e4 , and it is pretty obvious that things haven't exactly gone according to Black's plan, Stefansson-Balinas, New York 1989. ] 7...dxc3 8.xc3 d6 [ 8...c5 is probably Black's best move, although 8... Be7 9 e5 Ng8 followed by ...h5 also can be tried out. ] 9.b5 a6 Now White & Black together take the game to more complicated hunting grounds. The main problem for Black is that the solid-looking 9...Nd7 can be met with 10 Ng5, and if Black answers 10...Be7, then 11 Nxf7 Kxf7 12 Bxc6 Bxc6 13 Qc4+, and White e n d s u p w i t h a n e x t r a p a w n . 10.xc6+ In my opinion a suprising decision. [ A more natural way for White to follow up is the more direct approach 10.e5!? axb5 71

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.exf6+ d7 12.fxg7 xg7 13.e4 with a better game for White. ] 10...xc6 11.e5 xf3 12.xf3 dxe5 13.g5 e7 14.fd1 c8 15.xf6 xf6 16.c6+ Obviously, White has plenty of compensation for his two pawns. None of the Black pieces work together, perhaps with the exception of the bishop on f6 and the pawn on g7! That Black manages to escape this is an astonishing accomplishment. f8 17.d7 e8 18.ad1 18 Nd5!? is probably even stronger. c8 [ 18...d8 19.xc7 xd7 20.xd7 is obviously not very interesting for Black. ] 19.d5 e6 20.xe6 fxe6 21.xc7 h5 22.xe6+ White picks the wrong pawn to win back. W ith Black as tied up as he is, White can always return to pick up the e6-pawn. Instead White should have opted for 22 Nxa6 after which 22...Rc2 can be answered with 23 Rb7, threatening the b-pawn as well as Rb8+. g8 23.c7 h7 24.g3 [ 24.xa6 c2 is far from ideal for White, since 25.b1 hc8 leaves Black with sufficient compensation for the pawn due to his active pieces. Notice the consequences of White wasting time with Nxe6. ] 24...h4 [ 24...a5!? is possibly better, although White still holds an edge after 25 R1d6. ] 25.1d6 hd8 26.xd8 xd8 27.d5 Having seen most of his advantage vanish, White adopts a safety-first policy and throws even more of it away. Correct is [ 27.xa6 h3 28.f1 c1+ 29.e2 with a clearly bad ending for Black. ] 27...h3 28.f1 g5?! [ 28...b5!? ] 29.c3 c1 30.xb6 xb2 31.e4 c1 32.xa6 c4 33.f3? And here White lets go of his remaining advantage. Correct is 33 Nd6 followed by Nf5 and Rg7. c2? Black returns the favour. Given the complications earlier on, the players may be in time trouble at this time. Correct is 33...Bh6! followed by ...Rc2. 34.f4! g6 35.g5+?? White throws the win away. [ Here 35.fxe5 is simplest. The e-pawn decides. ] 35...h6 36.xh3 exf4 37.xf4 xf4 38.gxf4 h5 Black steers safely towards a theoretically drawn position. 39.a4 xh2

40.a5+ g4 41.g1 a2 ½-½

90 Ni Hua Gonzales,Jayson 7th Open Dubai UAE (5) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2638 2474 08.04.2005

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.b5 a6 6.xc6+ bxc6 7.h3 h5 Although this variation has been played a few times over the years this is the first time at such a high level. 8.g5 [ Another way of introducing this pin is after a couple of preliminary moves: 8.e2 e6 9.g4 g6 10.g5 e7 but it's not clear who has benefited from this early pawn advance. ] 8...b8!? With a threat that White doesn't take seriously... 9.0-0!? Ni Hua decides that if Black spends time capturing on b2 then the open b-file will favour the better developed player i.e . W hite. B lack now h as severa l opportunities to venture the risky b-pawn grab but clearly decides that getting developed is more important [ Instead Geller,E-Makropoulos,G Athens 1988 continued with 9.d3 e6 10.0-0 d7 11.ae1 f6?! ( 11...h6! 12.c1 g5 ) 12.c1 b7 13.e5 g6 14.e2 f7 when White's position was the easier to play. ] 9...d7 10.d3 e6 11.fe1 h6 12.h4 g5! A more dynamic way to catch up in development and keep W hite on his toes. W ith Black's light-squared bishop on the kingside there is little risk of ...g5 leading to excessive self-weakening. 13.g3 g7 14.d2 b6 15.b3 c5! Gaining influence o n t h e d a r k s q u a r e s . 16.d5 e5!? Black takes the opportunity to obtain the bishop pair, but there's no hurry to occupy this square and maybe [ 16...0-0 17.ab1 g6 just waiting and seeing could have been envisaged. ] 17.xe5 xe5 18.ab1 0-0 19.d2 Two knights against two bishops is often difficult to judge when the pawn structure has yet to be decided. White at least can count on access to the c4-square as Black's light72

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 squared bishop is out of touch on h5. g7 20.c4 b7 21.a5 c8 22.b4! Creating some action where he is strongest before Black can get any counterplay up and running. cxb4 23.xb4 e8 24.eb1?! [ More precise is 24.c6 d7 25.c4 but in any case it will be hard for White to maintain his central bind for long when the bishops start to flex their muscles. ] 24...g6 25.c6 d7 White has won the battle for the b-file but meantime Black hasn't panicked. He has reorganized his pieces to exert latent pressure against the centre . 26.b8 c8 27.f3 exd5 28.xd5 [ 28.xd5 c6! 29.e3 d5 is no improvement. ] 28...c6! 29.c4 [ 29.xc6 falls short after xc3 30.c4 f6 31.e7+ xe7 32.xc8 axc8 as Black has too much wood for the queen. ] 29...d5! The centre blasts open and Black's bishops start to come into their own. 30.exd5 xc2 [ The alternative is an endgame edge with 30...cxd5 31.xc8 xc8 32.xd5 f8! ] 31.d6?! [ A better practical chance is 31.xc6 xb1 32.xb1 with a pawn plus a strong knight outpost on c6 for the exchange. Instead the text is trappy but not very convincing, but it's easy for me to write that as I'm not in time trouble! ] 31...xb1 32.d7 xb8! White doesn't have e n o u g h f o r t h e q u e e n . 33.xb8 exb8 34.xc6 xc3 35.xc3 xa2 36.f6 e6 37.h4! With the d-pawn about to go White tries one last desperate shot... gxh4 38.xh6 a5? I suppose the a-pawn was the nearest thing to his clock! That's the only explanation I have for such a move. W ith a minute or so more in hand I'm sure Gonzales would have found [ 38...b5! when the d-pawn soon falls and there aren't any useful checks. W hite could already resign. ] [ 38...xd7 would also give winning chances but after 39.g5+ f8 40.h6+ e8 41.h8+ e7 42.xh4+ Black will have to give up his f-pawn to hide his king which would give White some practical chances. ] 39.g5+ f8 40.c5+ Black can't escape

from perpetual check. ½-½

91 Novak,Danijel Mestrovic,Zvonimir TCh Medulin CRO (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2359 2387 15.09.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d6 3.f3 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e5 6.b5 d7 7.d5 cb8 8.h3 h5 9.g4 g6 10.h4 h5 11.g5 e7 [ 11...a6 12.f1 b5 13.d2 e7 14.g1 c8 15.a4 and White had the advantage in Piket,J-Mestrovic,Z Sremic Krsko 1998. ] 12.g1 [ 12.d2 Cebalo,M-Mestrovic,Z/Pula CRO 2002 was a very interesting idea, intending to mount pressure on h5. This is annotated in the database, and I believe Black had some interesting methods to achieve counterplay. ] 12...c6 13.e2 A new move in the continuing adventures of Mestrovic. It is very logical for W hite to keep the pawn on d5 and the continuation [ 13.dxc6?! was unimpressive: bxc6 14.e2 c7 15.d2 c5 16.xc5 dxc5 17.c4 d7 18.d3 b6 19.g3 xc4 20.xc4 d8 Soylu,S-Mestrovic, Z/Nova Gorica SLO 2001. ] 13...b6 14.a4 cxd5 This game is worth comparing with the Cebalo - Mestrovic encounter. I would again be tempted to keep the tension between c6 and d5. [ 14...a5 to stabilize the queenside and develop with ...Na6-b4, bringing pressure to bear on c2 and d5, and to use the rook on the c-file, is a more harmonious plan. ] 15.exd5 c8!? Black has some tricky ideas in mind - he argues that his active piece play means he does not need to take the kind of stabilizing precautions mentioned in earlier notes. 16.d2 a6 17.xb6!? I would not feel terribly comfortable with surrendering this bishop, even if it does have some obvious st r u ct u r a l a t t ra ct i o n s. B u t W h it e ' s m o r e tempting alternative is not so convincing, and the capture on b6 does give Black long range problems to solve. 73

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 17.a5 is the critical move. A) 17...d7 gives White a number of easy wa y s t o m a i n t a i n a p l e a s a n t s p a t i a l advantage, as well as eventual access to the weakness on h5 18.a4!? ( 18.de4; 18.ce4 ); B) 17...b4!? probably justifies Black's setup: 18.b5+ ( 18.axb6 xc2+ 19.f1 h3+= ) 18...d7 now this is less of a concession W hite has wasted time with the bishop, and the pressure on h5 is relaxed, and there is no completely satisfactory way to guard c2 and keep all of his pieces active. Rc1 is passive and leaves a5 unattended, and Ba4 is even clumsier. ( 18...f8 19.axb6 xc2+ 20.e2 xa1 21.xa1 axb6 22.f1 is messy but must favour White.) 19.a4 0-0 ] 17...axb6 18.c4 b4 [ 18...c5 was a temperate option. 19.a3!? b4 20.e3 d4 also creates some pressure on h4, without losing control. ] 19.xb6 [ 19.e3 h3 would again justify Black's plan. ] 19...h3? Incomprehensible - the chaos caused by this is highly temporary. Probably Black missed White's next move. [ 19...xc2+ 20.xc2 ( 20.d2? f5 ) 20...xc2 21.xc8 xc8 22.d2 f5 was more sensible, though the passive Be7 gives White some chances for advantage. If the bishop manages to emerge, however, it will be a monster. ] 20.b5+! The cleanest way to win material as the king is much better placed on e2. f8 21.xa8 xc2+ 22.e2 xh4 23.d3 xa1 [ 23...xd3+ 24.xd3 xa1 25.xa1 g4+!? looks like a much better try - Black will at least own the kingside. ] 24.xg6! fxg6 25.xa1 g8 Black's king will be safe on h7 but his potential for counterplay can never be anywhere near compensation. Compared to the previous note, n o w win n i n g k i n g si d e p a wn s wi ll m o s t l y expose his own king. Still, there are some practical chances until White can return the Na8 into play. 26.b6 h7 27.b1 [ 27.a5!? deserved attention, to stabilize the

knight. ] 27...d4 28.d7 f4 [ 28...d8 29.e4 ] 29.e4+- White now regains coordination and the result is never in doubt. f7 30.b6 f8 31.f3 e8 32.d3 f4 33.e4 f8 34.c4 f5 35.cxd6 h3 36.f1 xd6 37.xd6 d4 38.b5 g2+ 39.f2 xg5 40.e4 c1 41.b3 g5 42.f1 f4 43.e3 h2+ 44.f2 b4 45.d2 h4 46.h1 c4+ 47.d3+ e4 48.xe4 xb2+ 49.d2+ xd3+ 50.xd3 g6 51.d6 b6 52.c4 b3+ 53.d4 f6 54.e1 1-0

92 Odeev,Handszar Merrit,Mario 34th Olympiad (4) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2442 2159 31.10.2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.b5 [ 4.g4 e4 5.f3 g6 6.h4 h5 A) 7.d3 xd3 8.xd3 e6 ( 8...hxg4 9.fxg4 d7 10.g5 g4 11.e3 xh4 12.xh4 xh4+ 13.f2 xg5 14.d2 h6 15.0-0-0 g4 16.g3 e6 17.g2 f5 18.df3 b4 19.d2 xa2+ 20.b1 b4 21.e2 a5 22.h4 h5 23.h3 xf2 24.xf2 e7 25.f4 xh4 26.xh4 xh4 27.h2 g5 0-1 Mateu,X-Narciso Dublan,M St Cugat 1993. ) 9.g5 d7 10.a3 ge7 11.e3 f5 12.f2 ce7 13.d2 g6 14.e2 c5 15.f4 cxd4 16.b3 c8 17.bxd4 xd4 18.xd4 c5 19.g3 b5 20.xc5 xc5 21.b4 c4 22.c3 e4 23.a2 xf4 24.h2 0-0 25.a4 c4 26.d2 c8 27.g6 fxg6 28.d1 b3+ 29.e1 xc3 30.g5 c1+ 0-1 Agostino, J-Ippoliti,H Buenos Aires 1992.; B) 7.g5 e6 8.e2 b4 9.a3 c5 10.f4 e7 11.c3 bc6 12.xg6 xg6 13.c2 cxd4 14.cxd4 b6 15.d3 c8 16.a3 a6 17.f4 ge7 18.h3 g6 19.b4 a7 20.d2 c4 21.e2 ec6 22.xe6 xc2 23.xd5 xd4+ 24.d1 g7 25.e3 b5 26.xb5+ axb5 27.a4 c3+ 0-1 Krynicki,H-Markunas,G Polanczyk POL 2000. ] 74

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 4...d7 [ 4...e6 is perhaps the most solid option. 5.f3 ge7 6.0-0 a6 7.a4 b5 8.b3 a5 9.d2 c5 10.dxc5 ec6 11.c3 xc5 12.e2 c4 13.xc4 dxc4 14.g3 g4 15.e4 d5 16.xc5 xc5 17.h3 xf3 18.xf3 d8 19.e3 d5 20.xd5 xd5 21.fd1 e7 22.xd5 exd5 23.c5+ e6 24.f4 d4 25.d1 d8 26.f2 d5 27.d6 f6 28.f8 fxe5 29.fxe5 g6 30.d6 xe5 31.xe5 xe5 32.e1+ d6 33.e8 f5+ 34.g3 d5 35.d8+ e4 36.e8+ e5 37.d8 e3 38.f8 d3 39.cxd3 cxd3 0-1 Tietzen,S-Babula,M Passau 1999. ] 5.c3 e6 6.f3 f6 [ 6...a6 7.d3 ge7 8.0-0 g4 9.bd2 g6 10.h3 h5 11.b3 h4 12.e2 xf3+ 13.xf3 g6 14.e1 1/2-1/2 Robson,P-Thurlow,K ENG 1997. ] 7.0-0 ge7 8.e1 0-0-0 Castling long is risky, castling long early is very risky. It will prove difficult to break the pin on the Nc6 without paying a high price. 9.b4 g4 10.bd2 g6 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 h6 13.a4 f7 14.xc6 bxc6 15.a4 b7 16.b5 c5 17.a3 c4 18.a6+ b8 19.c5 xc5 20.dxc5 Black's king is now seriously out numbered, and the rest is rather sad. d7 21.d4 e7 22.c6+ xc6 23.bxc6 c8 24.ab1+ a8 25.b7 b8 26.eb1 1-0

93 Orso,Miklos Bordas,Gyula FSIMB October (6) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2346 2186 12.10.2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 xe5 4.f4 c6 5.c4 f6!? [ 5...b4+ is the main line: A) 6.d2 e7 ( 6...h4+ 7.g3 e7 8.e2 xd2+ 9.xd2 d6 10.0-0-0 f6 11.gf3 0-0 12.h3 d5 13.exd5 xe2 14.xe2 xd5 15.c4 b6 16.g4 xc4 17.xc4 e6 18.b5 fd8 19.xc6 bxc6 20.d4 d5 21.he1 e8 22.b3 f8 23.b2 ad8 24.c3 g6 25.a4 h6 26.f5 g5 27.xe8+ xe8 28.d3 e1

29.b4 h5 30.gxh5 g7 31.c5 e4 32.c3 h6 33.xc6 xf5 34.xa7 e4 35.b5 f5 36.xc7 xh5 37.e6 f4 38.d4 f1 39.b4 f3 40.e3 f2 41.e2 a8 42.f5 g6 43.d6 d1 44.xf2 d5+ 45.b6 xd6+ 46.a7 e4 47.b5 d7+ 48.b6 1/2-1/2 Milov,VMiles,A Isle of Man 1995.) 7.c3 f6 8.e2 xc3 9.xc3 xe4 10.xg7 g8 11.d5 xg7 12.xe4 d4 13.d3 xc2+ 14.xc2 d5 15.e2 xe4 16.xe4+ dxe4 17.0-0 d7 18.c3 f5 19.d5 0-0-0 20.e3 e6 21.f2 d3 22.e1 f7 23.a3 c5 24.c2 c7 25.f2 b5 26.h3 h5 27.g3 c4 28.h4 g7 29.ee2 b7 30.cd2 a5 31.xh5 b4 32.axb4 axb4 33.g4 c3 34.bxc3 bxc3 35.c2 fxg4 36.f5 b3 37.f6 c7 38.c1 gxh3 39.b1 a6 40.xb3 c2 41.xc2 0-1 Lazarev,E-Lutikov,A USSR teams 1968.; B) 6.c3 a5 B1) 7.f3 b6 ( 7...e7 8.e2 b6 9.bd2 d6 10.d3 f6 11.c4 0-0 12.xb6 axb6 13.0-0 e8 14.e1 h6 15.d2 d7 16.f2 c5 17.c2 f8 18.d4 d7 19.e3 h8 20.b4 xd4 21.cxd4 e6 22.c3 c5 23.d5 d4 24.xd4 cxd4 25.ee1 ec8 26.d3 e8 27.xd4 b5 28.e5 dxe5 29.xe5 d7 30.f5 d6 31.xc8 xc8 32.a4 d7 33.e3 c2 34.g3 f6 35.e1 f5 36.h3 a2 37.e3 1-0 Knaak,R-Przewoznik, J/Dortmund 1992/TD (37)) 8.e2 d6 9.e3 xe3 10.xe3 f6 11.bd2 e7 12.0-0 0-0 13.ae1 d7 14.h3 ae8 15.f2 h8 16.e5 g8 17.exd6 xd6 18.g5 xe1 19.xe1 d8 20.de4 c6 21.c5 e8 22.d1 h6 23.d4 e7 24.c5 f5 25.f2 h6 26.d5 g6 27.ge4 b6 28.xd7 xd7 29.b3 1/2-1/2 Rytshagov, M-Valkesalmi, K/Jyvaskyla 1998; B2) 7.h5 e7 8.e3 f6 9.g5 xe4 10.xg7 xe3+ 11.e2 f8 12.xf6 d6 13.d2 e6 14.b5 a6 15.c4 xc4 16.xc4 b6 17.f1 d4 18.d1 xe2 19.e1 d7 20.f5+ d8 21.xe2 c5 22.f6+ c8 23.g4+ b8 24.d2 d5+ 75

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.c1 xg2 26.h6 a7 27.d7 f2 28.d1 e3+ 29.b1 e2 30.a4 g8 31.xh7 g2 32.c2 f3 33.d3 xf4 34.a3 h8 35.a2 hxh2 36.ab1 b6 37.b3 f2 38.d5 c6 39.h1 d5 40.b3 f5 41.a4 a5 42.f1 g4 43.f3 f4 44.xf2 xf2 45.f1 xf1 46.xf1 d4 47.d3 dxc3 48.bxc3 e5 49.d7 f6 50.h7 f4 51.d7 g6 52.b2 a6 53.c8 a7 54.d7 f6 55.h7 d6 56.e4 d2+ 57.c2 xc2+ 58.xc2 e3 59.d3 b6 60.c4 c7 61.d3 b5 62.axb5 cxb5 63.c2 d6 64.b3 c5 65.e2 a4+ 66.b2 b4 67.cxb4+ xb4 68.f3 a3+ 69.b1 c3 70.d5 d2 71.a2 c5 72.f3 e3 73.d5 f3 74.xf3 xf3 75.b3 e3 76.a2 d2 77.b3 d3 78.a2 c3 79.a1 b3 80.b1 a2+ 0-1 Nossein,F-Elkaim,O/ Paris 1993 (80) ] 6.c3? [ 6.e5 Screams out to be played, and is surely the reason no one dared this move order before. d5 ( 6...e7!? ) 7.b3 g4 8.e2 xe2 9.xe2!? ] 6...b4 Now black has swift development and central pressure. 7.e5 d5 8.exf6 dxc4 9.e2+ f8 10.e3 [ 10.fxg7+ gives black a frightening lead in d e v e l o p m e n t . xg7 11.xc4 d4!? ( 11...e8+!?; 11...e6!?; 11...d4!? )] 10...xf6 11.0-0-0 e6 12.e4 e7 13.f3 c3 14.b3 a5 15.b1 a4 16.b5 axb3 17.axb3 xb3 18.cxb3 xe4+ 19.d3 a5 20.c4 xc4 21.bxc4 e7 22.d4 xd4 23.xd4 ha8 24.e3+ d7 25.he1 a1+ 26.c2 1a2+ 27.d3 d2+ 28.e4 f5+ 29.xf5 xd4 30.c5 xc5 31.xc3 f8+ 32.g5 e7+ 0-1

94 Owczarzak,Jerzy Przewoznik,Jan chT Zakopane chT (4) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2249 2414 05.09.2000

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.d5 exd5 7.exd5 xf3 8.xf3 e5 9.e2 e7 10.e3 c5 This is a little sprightlier than just developing - besides annexing a bit of the centre, it prepares a vista on the d8-a5 diagonal for the Be7. [ 10...0-0 leads to solid and fairly stodgy play - the two daring defenders in the examples here show the toughness and resilience of black's position, but it still isn't too lively. 11.f4 ed7 12.d2 c5 ( 12...e8 13.f3 b6 14.b3 d7 15.0-0 c5 16.h3 c8 17.d3 d8 18.ae1 a5 19.d2 b6 20.e4 xd2 21.xf6+ gxf6 22.xd2 xe1 23.xe1 e8 24.xe8+ xe8 Black's argument is that he is solid and white's bishop isn't great, but it takes some determination and a bit of assistance to make a living from this type of position. 25.f2 c8 26.a4 e7 27.d3 f8 28.g4 h6 29.e4 f8 30.b4 f5 31.xf5 cxb4 32.g4 a5 33.g3 g7 34.c4 b2 35.d3 f5 I don't understand this move at all so will chalk it up to a time scramble - this pawn otherwise would seem to be hanging. 36.d1 a1 37.g4 xa4 38.gxf5 a1 39.h5 c3 40.f6 xf6 41.xh7 xf4+ 42.f3 f5 43.xb7 e3+ 44.g2 0-1 Frendzas,P-Ibragimov,I/ Peristeri 1993) 13.f3 d7 14.0-0-0 ae8 15.d4 d8 16.he1 xe1 17.xe1 e8 18.g4 xe1+ 19.xe1 h6 20.h3 a6 21.e3 e7 22.xe7 xe7 23.b4 cd7 24.d2 h7 25.e4 f6 26.f2 g6 27.e2 b6 28.d3 a4 29.c4 b2+ 30.b3 d1 31.e1 g7 32.c4 f6 33.f3 d7 34.c1 e3 35.f2 d4 36.e2 b6 37.e1 g5 38.c3 1/2-1/2 Dlugy,M-Miles, A/USA-ch 1989/CBM 19/[King] (38) ] 11.f4 Taking on c6 might seem logical, opening the position with the bishop pair, but black's main problem is lack of space and manoeuvring room, and capturing en passant would solve most of these difficulties. 76

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.f4 g6 13.0-0 0-0 14.e1 d5 Black has a sensible and fully playable position - solid, central presence and the b- and e-files for active counterplay. 15.f2 b8 16.ab1 e8 17.b4 c7 18.d4 ab8 19.b5 cxb5 20.xb5 xb5 21.xb5 d8 22.e2 b4 23.b5 xc2 24.f5 e4 25.e3 f8 26.a3 d2 27.h3 a6 28.g4 h6 29.d1 d2 30.xg7 xg7 31.f6 xf6 32.xf6 axb5 33.f1 d4+ 0-1 Koelle,A-Storm,R/ Germany 1991/GER-chT2 (33) ] 11...g6 12.d2 a6 13.a4 0-0 14.0-0 d7 15.h3 ae8 16.g4 d8 17.f5 Something is wrong with a position when trouble is caused b y t h e b lu n t e s t m e a n s a t a n o p p o n e n t ' s disposal. e7 18.f2 e4 This loses material. [ 18...e5 19.a5!? ( 19.g5 fd7 20.h4!? )] 19.xe4 xe4 20.fxg6 xe2 21.gxf7+ xf7 22.ae1! A nasty tactic. xf2 [ 22...xd2 23.xe8+ f8 24.xf8+ xf8 25.e3++- ] 23.xe2 fxe2 24.f4 Threatening mate and the d-pawn. If white had taken the d-pawn, I do not see what would have prevented him from winning. f6 25.g5 [ 25.xd6 xc2 26.g5 d4+ ( 26...xg5 27.d7+- ) 27.h1 ce2 28.f4 ] 25...2e4 26.f3 [ 26.xd6 xg5 27.g2!? ] 26...d4+ 27.h1 4e7 Now black can make fortress faces. He survives, but narrow escapes against lower rated opposition is not the best PR for this subvariation. 28.c3 e5 29.h4 g6 30.h5 g7 31.hxg6 hxg6 32.d3 e4 33.f3 4e7 34.d3 e4 35.f3 4e7 36.d3 ½-½

below may help. After reviewing the possibilities following W hite's 4th move my recommendation is that Black should immediately decide what to do with his king's bishop. Either continue with 4...g6 as Spassky did with a hippopotamus-style development in mind or more directly with 4...Bb4 5 Ne2 Nc6 or even 5...Ne7. 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 [ White can also consider the cautious 3.c3 e6 4.a3 but an extra tempo for Black in a French with .. .Nf6 and ...d5 or a Modern/ Hippo with ...g6 can't be bad. ] 3...e6 4.c3 g6 [ I don't like 4...f6?! 5.ge2 A) 5...c5 6.d5 a6 7.a4 exd5 8.exd5 xd5 9.xd5 xd5 10.f4 e6 ( 10...e7+ ) 11.e4 a7 12.0-0 e7 13.a3 was indeed dangerous for Black, Speelman,J-Basman,M British ch. 1984; B) 5...d5 6.e5 fd7 7.f4 e7 Peters,J-Sahovic,D Lone Pine 1977 as 8.g4 looks unpleasant. ] [ I personally prefer 4...b4 which the reader a s s o c i a t e s wit h S o lt i s b u t a f t e r 5.ge2 to play A) 5...d5?! 6.0-0 is a safe edge for White; B) Othe rwise Black could try 5...e7!? 6.a3 xc3+ 7.xc3 d5 8.e5 a6!? in French-style as in Vigliraki,MKhetsuriani,B Agios Kyrikos 2000; C) 5...c5?! 6.a3 xc3+ but ( 6...a5 looks less natural, Black can double the cpawns and hope the bishops don't get too lively ) 7.xc3! favours White ( 7.bxc3 d6 doesn't look bad. ); D) 5...c6!? 6.e3 e5! I prefer this to ( 6...f6?! 7.a3 or; 6...ge7 ) 7.d5 ce7 with chances for counterplay based on either . ..f5, or ...c6 or even just simply piece-play e.g. 8.a3 ( 8.0-0 f5!? ) 8...c5 9.d2 g6 10.b4 e7 11.c1 h6 95 B00 intending ...Bg5 and then if 12.g3 simply f6 followed by ...c6. This dynamic Owen's with Nge2 handling reminds me of 1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 e5 N,N 3 d5 Nce7 etc. ] [Glenn Flear] 5.ge2 [ A couple of more recent encounters may I n a n s we r t o Mich a e l A yt o n 's qu e ry wh o give food for thought: 5.f3 g7 6.g5 wanted to know how Black should develop e7 7.d2 h6 8.h4 d6 9.g4 d7 against W hite's Bd3, Nc3 and Nge2 set-up 10.0-0-0 a6 11.b1 b5 Toth,Ch-Lima,D against the Owen's Defence, I hope the lines 77

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Brazilian ch. 1996 ] 16.e3 ab8 17.c3 h5 18.e1 xb2 [ 5.e3 g7 6.d2 d5 ( 6...d6 in hippo19.d2 xe3 20.xe3 xd2 21.g3 c5 style is less committal, with ...a6, ...Nd7 0 - 1 S a vi c , M - F u r h o f f , J B e l g r a d e Y U G and either . ..b5 or ...c5 to follow on the 2001. ] queenside and ...h6 before developing the 4...xf5 5.b5 d6 6.e5 f6 7.0-0 d7 king's knight on the kingside) 7.f3 d7 8.xc6! 8.h4 gf6 9.e5 e4 10.xe4 dxe4 [ 8.f4 cxe5 9.fxe5 g6 10.a4 c6 11.g5 h6 12.gxe4 f5 13.exf6 xf6 11.c3 e6 12.e2 h5 13.e3 e7 14.f3 e7 15.0-0-0 0-0-0 16.e2 14.d2 a5 15.c3 b6 16.f4 h7 didn't give quite enough compensation for 17.d1 c4 18.c1 g5 19.e2 g6 the pawn, Ionica,I-Gaprindashvili,N Varna 20.a4 h4 21.b3 xe3 22.xe3 h3 23.g3 2002 ] 0-0-0 24.c1 hf8 25.c4 e4 26.c3 5...g7 6.h4 c6 7.g5 ge7 8.h5 xd4 xf1+ 27.xf1 d3+ 28.e2 f8+ 29.g1 9.hxg6 hxg6 10.xh8+ xh8 11.xd4 xe2 30.xe2 f5 31.c5 b6 32.cxb6 b4 xd4 12.f3 g7 13.0-0-0 f8 14.h1 33.g4 xg4+ 34.g3 f3 35.xc6+ b7 e8 15.f6 g8 and White has 36.c7+ xb6 0-1 Upton,T-Jouhki,Y compensation but Black is OK, Rogers,IPanormo GRE 2001. ] Spassky,B/Reggio Emilia 1983/4 8...bxc6 9.f3!? [ 9.f4 xe5 10.xe5 g6 11.c3 c2 12.f3 e4 13.g3 xg3 14.xg3 d8 96 B00 ( 14...xb1 15.axb1 d7 16.fe1 e6 ) 15.d2 d3 16.fe1 g6 17.f3 g7 Paehtz,Thomas Sr 2451 18.g5+- (1-0, 61) Wadsack,W-Hainzinger, Salmensuu,Olli 2431 J Austria 1996. ] ECC Panormo GRE (6) 28.09.2001 9...e6 [Jon Tisdall] [ 9...e4!? 10.f7+ d8 may be better, strangely enough. Black would like to keep 1.e4 c6 2.f3 f5 This variation enjoyed his light-squared bishop as a justification enormous popularity in recent weeks, but the for the ugliness of his structure it seems to question remains if it has more than surprise me. But then again, the game is not quite as value. Since the Finnish team seemed to play clear as it appears to be at first glance. ] it fairly regularly at the European club championship one might argues that it does, 10.g4 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.f4 b4 on the other hand, when this happens to 13.d3 [ 13.e2!? ] black... 3.exf5 d5 4.d4 13...0-0-0 [ 4.b3 xf5 5.b2 a6 6.h4 e6 7.d3 [ 13...f7!? ] f7 8.f3 d6 9.0-0 Having lost control of the centre, white has forfeited the assets 14.d2 d6 15.c3 b8 Very bizarre, but black of f ered him. h5 10.e2 xf3 the move g4 by white means he has his own 11.xf3 0-0-0 12.d4 e5 13.dxe5 xe5 ugly spots to worry about. 16.xd6 [ 16.g3!? ] 14.e1 xf3+ 15.xf3 g6 16.h3+ b8 17.d3 xd3 18.cxd3 f6 19.e2 b4 16...cxd6 17.g3 f6 [ 17...e5!? looks completely unclear to me. I 20.c3 c5 21.d2 d4 22.b2 d5 don't know how black has managed it. ] 23.e4 f4 24.c2 b6 25.d1 he8 26.f3 d5 27.c1 h6 28.d2 e3 18.b4 g5 19.g2 b7 [ 19...h6!? ] 29.xe3 dxe3 30.f1 xe4!! 0-1 Dutreeuw, [ 19...e5!? ] M-Salmensuu,O Panormo GRE 2001. 20.fe1 he8 Black seems to be on the ( 30...xe4 31.fxe4 f8+ 32.e1 a5+! )] [ 4.b5 xf5 5.0-0 e6 6.e5 ge7 7.d4 w r o n g t r a c k - h a v i n g p l a y e d b i z a r r e l y , a6 8.xc6+ xc6 9.xc6 bxc6 10.h5+ provoked a gash on the kingside and then g6 11.e2 d7 12.e1 d6 13.xe6+ somehow repaired much of his own structure, xe6 14.xe6+ d7 15.e2 he8 it looks far more logical to try and use the h78

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 file or the possibilities to play ...e5 earlier. By suddenly centralizing, black in f act is p l a y i n g r a t h e r p a s s i ve l y . 21.a4 b8 A sign that things have gone wrong. 22.b5 c5 23.b3 e4 24.e3 Now f3 comes with considerable force. f8 25.f3 f4 26.fxe4 xg4+ 27.h1 h8 28.a2 dxe4 29.g2 f4 30.dxc5 d5 31.d2 1-0

97 Pein,Malcolm McShane,Luke J Norkom European Masters (6) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2424 2480 26.11.2000

1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d2 e6 4.gf3 d6 5.d3 g6 6.b3 [ 6.0-0 g7 7.e1 e7 8.f1 h6 9.c3 This quiet system with Re1 and c3 was Geller's standard treatment of Modern/Pirc positions, and he just outplays his opponent without making any real theoretical statement. d7 10.g3 It is probably worth noting that Geller's unassuming setup does rule out the trendy plan of ...g5 by sending a N round to hop into h5 if needed. a6 11.f4 e5 12.e3 0-0 13.d2 h7 14.ad1 e8 15.h4 g8 16.h5 gf6 17.hxg6+ fxg6 18.h2 f7 19.b3 ae8 20.d5 e7 21.b4 f7 22.c1 a8 23.c4 a5 24.a3 ff8 25.b1 axb4 26.axb4 a7 27.a1 fa8 28.b2 f8 29.e2 h5 30.c3 f4 31.f1 xa1 32.xa1 f6 33.g3 4h5 34.c5 bxc5 35.bxc5 xa1 36.xa1 dxc5 37.a7 c8 38.xc5 e8 39.a3 hf6 40.f3 d7 41.h3 c6 42.e7 cxd5 43.xd5 c6 44.b2 a8 45.a2 b7 46.b1 a8 47.g2 e6 48.a3 df6 49.h4 a6 50.e7 e6 51.a3 a6 52.b2 d7 53.c2 a2 54.c8 xd5 55.exd5 xb2 56.e4 f8 57.xe8 a1+ 58.g2 a6 59.e7 f6 60.d6 g5 61.f7 f6 62.c7 e6 63.xg6+ h8 64.e7 g8 65.f5 d4 66.e8+ f8 67.d7 f6 68.g6 1-0 Geller, EVasiljevic,D/Pancevo 1987/TD (68) ] 6...g7 7.b2 e7 8.0-0 d7 9.e1 h6 10.b1 g5 11.f1 [ 11.f1!? ]

11...g6 12.c4 White adopts a nonconfrontational war of nerves approach. Again, this makes the game of interest for how the position is played, rather than any critical test of black's setup. g4 13.fd2 g5 14.a4 h5 15.e3 To prevent ...h4-g3. 0-0-0 16.a5 f5 17.axb6 axb6 18.d5 xb2 19.xb2 [ 19.dxe6 c3 20.exd7+ xd7 and white will obviously be under attack if he takes the f5 pawn. ] 19...exd5 20.xd5 c5 [ 20...fxe4 21.c4 xd5 22.cxd5 xd5 to grab a pawn deserved serious attention t h e l a c k o f a wh i t e s q u a r e d b i s h o p i n defence means risks of course, but black looks quite solid here to me, and white's pieces are not terribly well coordinated. The game does not seem particularly safer at all. ] 21.c4 e5 22.a2 de8 23.a1 hg8 24.b4 [ 24.exf5!? xf5 25.a8+ xa8 ( 25...d7!? 26.xe8 xe8 27.b4 ) 26.xa8+ d7 27.a7 e6 28.c5! ] 24...xe4 25.xe4 Natural once one notices the possibilities based on ...Nf3+, but maybe that was worth allowing anyway: [ 25.xe4!? fxe4 26.xe4 xd5 and black wins material by avoiding though the position remains messier than expected after ( 26...f3+ 27.h1 xe4 28.f6 b8 29.d7+ c8 30.f6= ) 27.f4!? gxf3 28.cxd5 ] 25...fxe4 26.xe4 d8 27.ef6 [ 27.a8+ xa8 28.xa8+ d7 29.ef6+ e6 ] 27...b8 28.b5 h4 Now it is distinctly white's king that is the less secure. 29.xe8 xe8 30.a3 g5 31.e3 f8 32.e1 Bolstering the kingside - white's main problem is his position is rather passive. The Nd5 is pretty but it is really mostly serving a blocking role, and it is far unsteadier than the Ne5. W hite must also be on guard against the softening thrusts g3 or h3. [ 32.b4 g3 ] 32...f5 [ 32...xc4 33.e8+ xe8 34.xe8+ a7 35.xc7= ] 33.e4 h3 Quite cool - there is a reflex tendency to assume that allowing Rf4 should 79

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 be avoid ed , b ut a trad e o f roo ks do esn't bother black. 34.f4 c8 35.e4? [ 35.xf8 xf8 36.e4 hxg2 ] 35...e6 36.e3 g8 [ 36...hxg2 ] [ 36...xd5 37.cxd5 xd5 is playable but black still prefers to keep his king snug rather than cash in. ] 37.f4 g6? Time pressure? 38.e7 b1 Time? [ 38...b1 39.xg8 xg2 ( 39...hxg2 40.f8+ a7 41.a3+ ) 40.f8+ b7 41.e2 f3 42.d2 ( 42.xf3?? gxf3 43.d2 g6+ ) 42...g2= ] 0-1

98 Philippe,Christophe Bordas,Gyula FSIMB December (5) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2306 2186 07.12.2000

A game that only demonstrates that this line is rather unpleasant for black at the moment Black does a bit better than an earlier game but is never close to holding his own. 1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.d5 b8 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 g6 [ 7...a6?! 8.g5 bd7 9.0-0-0 g6 10.b1 g7 11.d3 c5 12.he1 b5 13.e5 dxe5 14.d6 e6 15.e4 a7 16.c6 h6 17.xf6 xf6 18.e4 g7 19.xc5 0-0 20.xd7 xd7 21.xd7 xd7 22.a3 a8 23.a5 a7 24.e3 f6 25.b6 d8 26.c5 f6 27.c3 g7 28.c8 d8 29.xd7 xd7 30.c6 a5 31.c4 bxc4 32.xc4 e7 33.dxe7 1-0 Philippe,C-Bordas,G Budapest 2000. ] 8.g5 g7 9.0-0-0 bd7 10.e2 c6 11.f4 c7 12.g4 h5 [ 12...h6 13.h4 h7 14.e5 g5 ( 14...dxe5 15.xe7! ) 15.dxc6 xc6 16.g2 c8 17.exd6 e6 18.f5 gxh4 19.fxe6 0-0 20.exd7 xd7 21.e7 ad8 22.xb7 xc3 23.xd7 xd7 24.c6 xb2+ 25.xb2 b8+ 26.a1 dd8 27.he1 g5 28.d7 xh3 29.b1 1-0 Sutovski,EJaracz,P Koszalin 1999. ] 13.g2 c8 14.he1 hxg4 15.e5 dxe5 16.fxe5 xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5

xd5 19.e2 xc3 20.xd5 b4 21.a3 h5 22.h4 cxd5 23.axb4 c7 24.g1 f8 25.xg4 f6 26.e3 b6 27.xg6 xh4 28.h6+ f7 29.g7+ e8 30.g8+ d7 31.f8 e5 32.g7+ c6 33.b5+ b7 34.xc7+ xc7 35.f2 f4 36.xf4 exf4 37.g7 f3 38.d2 d6 39.xf6 c5 40.e3 xb5 41.xf3 a5 42.e3 c4 43.d8 b5 44.d4 c6 1-0

99 Pierrot,Juan Facundo Garcia Palermo,Carlos H 32nd Open Mar del Plata ARG (4) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2414 2470 10.04.2001

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.0-0 e6 6.c4 e7 7.c3 0-0 McShane and Miles prefer to wait, filling out the Hippo contours with d6,Nd7 and a6/h6. There is no reason why black should not be a b l e t o p l a y t h i s s ys t e m a b i t m o r e 8.e5 Intending to press with Ne4, Bg5. xf3 [ 8...f6!? ] 9.xf3 bc6 10.e2 d6 11.e4 d7 [ 11...d5 looks better at once since keeping the dark-squared bishops gives black more chances to play against d4, which is consistent with a plan involving ...Bxf3. After 12.cxd5 exd5 13.c2 f6 14.exf6 xf6 15.c3 black should be closer to equality after d7!? ( or 15...a5!? The game continuation is not so bad for black either, but it seems more limited. )] 12.g5 d5 13.cxd5 exd5 14.c2 f6 15.exf6 xf6 16.xf6 e6 17.c3 xf6 18.fe1 d6 19.ac1 af8 20.f3 d8 21.b3 The long-term vulnerability of c7 and d5, plus white's ability to pile up on the c- or efiles gives black rather passive prospects. B id s f o r a c t ive p la y a re lik e ly t o l e a d t o increased career options for white's bishop, so black is best advised to sit tight, but this is rat her un ple asa nt as it is dif f icult to se e anything to look forward to. e6 22.g3 g7 23.e5 8f7 24.ce1 f4 25.e2 xe2+ [ 25...e6!? ] 26.1xe2 c6 27.c2 d7 28.h4 80

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 28.b4!? ] 28...c8? A very hard move to understand [ 28...f5 is both far more natural, trying to exploit the drawbacks of white's last move, it is a rare chance to do something a bit active, and black's prospects must be improved if he can trade a few more pieces. 29.xf5 xf5 30.e3 might keep white very marginally better. ] 29.h5 Now white achieves some welcome softening of blackâ []s position. d6 30.b3 gxh5 31.xh5 h8 32.ee5 g7 33.e3 Now white's position is far too active and b l a c k c a n h a r d l y k e e p h i m a t b a y . f7 34.eg5+- h6 35.e5 g8 36.f2 f4 37.xh6 fg4 38.h2 f4 39.eh5 f6 40.h6 1-0

probably would give more attention to [ 13.c1 which has the same goals with less risk. It seems to me that black has difficult problems to solve, and that white's plan of gxf3 deserves more tests. ] 13...xe2 14.xe2 xb2 15.b3 d4 16.hg1 First he gives one in front of his own king, now white makes the more conventional offer of just about any pawn black wants on the kingside. White has a huge advantage in development and a lasting target in black's king. h6 [ 16...xh4 17.c4 was probably worrying one tends to avoid further greed once a bit has led to trouble - but it is not clear that this version is more dangerous than the game. ] 17.c1 to sacrifice on d4 and play Bb2 if black castles. d6 18.c4 f8 19.f4 b5 [ 19...xf2!? ] 100 B00 [ 19...a6!? ] Plaskett,Jim 2474 20.xb5 cxb5 [ 20...d7!? looks better - the b-file might Sherwin,James T 2339 come in handy, and there are plenty of white 4NCL Birmingham ENG (9) 04.05.2002 pawns still up for grabs. ] [Jon Tisdall] [ 20...b7 21.d5!+- ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 xe5 4.f3 f6 21.d5 b8 22.e5 This looks insolent to me recapturing on d4 at once would give white a [ 4...b4+!? ] 5.c3!? Extremely rare - almost all white clear advantage, but Plaskett wants all lines players react to the pressure on f3. W hite, open. dxe5 23.fxe5 b6 [ 23...a6 would create counterplay against being Plaskett, prefers an original and w h i t e ' s k i n g . 24.xd4 e6 25.b2 energetic approach that quickly puts the fate but here white still has the advantage since of both players in the balance. b4 6.d2 his rooks are so superior to their xf3+ 7.gxf3 e7 8.e2 g6 9.0-0-0 c6 counterparts. ] So far both players proceed logically and s t a k e o u t t h e i r t e r r i t o r y . T h e o b v i o u s 24.xd4 e6 25.e4 c8 26.xg7 c5 battleground will be control over f4 and e5. In 27.d6 c4 28.xc4 xc4 29.xh6 xh4 order to maximize his grip on these squares 30.g5 b4+ 31.c1 d7 black has had to soften his position on the d- 1-0 file a bit, so that white has clear opportunities on his two open files. 10.b1 d6 11.h4 B00 [ 11.g5?! xg5 12.xd6 e5 13.d1 101 Ponomariov,Ruslan 2743 e7 and black gets a grip on the dark Vlassov,Nikolai 2462 squares. ] 11...f4 12.e3 e5 Black now appears to FIDE GP Moscow RUS (1.2) 01.06.2002 have set up the desired grip on the central [Jon Tisdall] holes, but it is both not as firm as it looks, and it has also taken a very long time to set up. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 e5 A move best 13.e2!? The beginning of a characteristically kept for faster time controls, as in this game. e n e r g e t i c P l a s k e t t p e r f o r m a n c e . M o r e 4.dxe5 d4 5.d5 f5 The most popular move, pedestrian players (like myself) could and despite a truly dreadful track record. 81

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5...ge7!? intending first to gain control of d5, then castle queenside and press down the e-file, is a rare bird, but has led to more interesting play than the catalog of disasters after ...f5: 6.g5 ( 6.xe7 xe7 7.f3 g4 8.e2 xf3 9.xf3 0-0-0 10.0-0 h5 11.xh5 xe5 12.g4+ b8 13.h3 xe4 14.e2 g6 15.f4 d3 16.cxd3 f5 17.f3 d4 18.d1 xh3 19.g3 d6 20.g2 hh8 21.e3 h7 22.e1 c5 23.b4 f4 24.gxf4 g5 25.bxc5 xc5 26.b1 d7 27.fxg5 f5 28.a4 g4 29.xd4 xd4 30.e4 xf2+ 31.xf2 f7+ 32.g1 c8 33.eb4 c5+ 34.d4 d6 35.xb7+ xb7 36.xb7+ c8 37.c6+ xc6 38.xc6 g8 39.xa7 xg5+ 40.f2 b8 41.a3 1-0 Mach,HJaeckle, M GER 1998.) 6...e6 7.f4 d7 8.b5 ( 8.f3!? ) 8...a6 9.a4 ( 9.xe7!? ) 9...b5 10.xe6 xe6 11.b3 xe5 12.g4 f5 13.h5+ g6 14.h4 g7 (0 - 1 , 3 2 ) K r e u zh o lz, M -J a e ckl e , M G E R 1999. ] 6.exf6 [ 6.h3!? is an odd but dangerous move aiming at speedy development: A) 6...ge7? 7.h5+ g6 ( 7...g6 8.f6+ f7 9.c4++- ) 8.g5! e7 9.xe7 cxe7 10.exf5 xf5 11.xe7+(1 - 0 , 2 6 ) T o d o r o vic , G - B u d i m ir , D N i s 1995.; B) 6...fxe4 7.c4 xh3? ( 7...f5!? ) 8.h5+ g6 9.xh3 ce7? ( 9...c8 ) 10.g5 c6 11.e6!+- b5 12.c7+ xc7 13.f7+ 1-0 Crawley,G-Kemp,P Swansea 1987. ] 6...xf6 7.g5 e6 8.xf6 gxf6 9.c4 b4+!? An interesting idea - black at least gets a good bishop or unsettles the white king but it still seems insufficient long-term value for a pawn. [ 9...f7 10.e2 c5 11.0-0 d6 ( 11...e5 12.b3 f5 13.g3! ) 12.g3 0-0-0 13.a3 e5 14.a2 (1-0, 34) Bryson, D-Mohr,G Moscow 1994. ] 10.xb4 xc4 11.xc6 bxc6 12.h5+ [ 12.e2!? c5 13.0-0 ] 12...f7 13.c5 d6 14.xd6 cxd6 15.e2 c5 Black has some compensation for the pawn now - two open files for his rooks, and active pieces and pawn levers to create

counterplay - but it is still very nebulous. 16.f3 e7 [ 16...d7!? ] 17.f4 hb8 18.b3 a5 19.d2 [ 19.a4!? ] 19...a4 20.d5+ [ 20.g4!? ] 20...xd5 21.exd5 g8 22.ae1+ f7 23.g4 g5 24.e6 xd5 25.he1 axb3 26.axb3 d3 27.cxd3 a2+ 28.c3 xh2 29.e7+ g6 30.d7 f2? [ 30...h3! 31.ee7 h5= ] 31.ee7 g5 32.xh7 f4 33.hf7?! Presumably white eliminates black with a draw, or time was pressing. The FIDE champion could capitalize on black's inaccuracy with: [ 33.h6! ] 33...g5 34.h7 f4 ½-½

102 Prie,Eric Flear,Glenn C Perpignan [Glenn Flear]

B00 2429 2489 12.04.2004

1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d3 f6 4.e2 c6 5.c3 e5 6.g5!? White develops his 'bishops before knights'. The idea of B-g5 is known in 'Blatny's variation' albeit only at a later stage. h6 7.h4 e7 [ 7...g5 8.g3 exd4 hopes to win a pawn but after 9.e5 Black will have a ragged looking position. ] 8.d5 b8 9.g3 d6 10.c4 White confirms his space advantage, but in return Black obtains an outpost on c5. 0-0 11.c3 bd7 12.h4 Angling for further control, but in the meantime Black counters on the other wing an d cen tre . c5 13.c2 a5 14.h5 c6 15.dxc6 [ If 15.f3 cxd5 16.cxd5 then a6 would be annoying. ] 15...xc6 16.0-0-0 c8 17.f3 b7 18.d5?! [ Afterwards Prie claimed a small edge to W h it e wit h 18.h4! fd8 19.xf6 xf6 20.d5 which may be so but Black then doesn't have to exchange on d5. Best could be the solid alternative e7 and Black 82

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 doesn't have that much to worry about. ( on the other hand 20...b5 looks risky. )] [ 18.de1!? holds the e-pawn and prepares Nh4-f5 when Black would continue with ... Rfc8, or ...Rab8 with ...b5 to come. ] 18...xd5 19.cxd5 d7 Now Black has the s a f e r k i n g a n d t h e m o r e d yn a m i c m i n o r pieces. 20.h4? [ 20.d2 coming to the defence of his king looks better. ] 20...b5 21.b1 b4 22.d3 xd3 23.xd3 fc8 24.f5 Finally getting to f5, but s i m p l i f i c a t i o n d o e s n ' t d e t e r B l a c k . xf5 25.exf5 c3! [ 25...c5 is also unpleasant but the text wins a tempo. ] 26.e4 ac8! 27.bxc3 [ 27.c1 is met by g5 when White has no t h in g b e t t er t h a n a m ise ra b le qu e e n ending following 28.f4 xc1+ 29.xc1 xc1+ 30.xc1 exf4 31.xf4 xf4+ 32.xf4 xd5 ] 27...bxc3+ 28.c2 b2+ 29.d3 c2 30.c1 b5+! The clearest way to victory. 31.d2 c4 32.d3 d4 33.xd4 exd4 34.xc2 xd5 On paper material is equal, but the white king is open to the wind whilst Black's still has intact defences. The result is therefore hardly in doubt. 35.e1 g5+ 36.d1 xf5 37.f4 g4+ 38.c1 xg3 39.e8+ h7 40.cc8 Setting a final boobyt r a p b e f o r e t h r o wi n g i n t h e t o we l . xf4+ 41.b2 xg2+ 42.a3 h3+ 43.a4 xh5 0-1

103 Puljek Salai,Zorica Solaja,Branka chT (Women) Pula (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2271 17.09.2000

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 f6 5.bd2 c5 6.c3 c6 7.0-0 cxd4 8.cxd4 b4 9.b1 a6 10.e1 d3 11.xd3 xd3 12.b3 a6 13.d5 A rare move but perhaps the critical variation. [ 13.e5 d5 14.e4 c7 15.d2 c4 16.d1 d3 17.a3 e7 18.g5 xd1 19.axd1 f6 20.d2 f7 21.c3 c4

22.h1 hc8 23.g1 c6 24.h3 ac8 25.f4 xf4 26.xf4 b3 27.a1 a6 28.e3 g5 29.g3 f5 30.f4 g4 31.g1 h5 32.h4 d5 33.e1 b5 34.g3 b8 35.xd5 exd5 36.c3 bc8 37.ac1 c4 38.f2 8c6 39.e3 e8 40.d2 d8 41.e1 c7 42.d2 b6 43.e1 xc3+ 44.xc3 xc3+ 45.xc3 b4 46.axb4 b5 47.d2 xb4 48.d3 a5 49.d2 c4 50.c2 xc3 51.bxc3 a4 52.b2 a3+ 53.xa3 xc3 54.a2 xd4 55.b2 d3 0-1 Villegas,J-Bolivar,J Barranquilla 1999. ] 13...b7 [ 13...c5 14.a4 c8 15.b4 b5 16.b3 b6 17.b2 g4 18.d4 xd4 19.xd4 c7 20.2f3 e5 21.ac1 xf3+ 22.xf3 b6 23.b3 0-0 24.c5 ad8 25.d6 b7 26.f4 a8 27.c3 f6 28.d1 a5 29.a3 c6 30.dc1 de8 31.h4 a7 32.xd7 xd7 33.c7 d4 34.xd7 d8 35.cc7 xd7 36.xd7 axb4 37.axb4 f5 38.g3 fxe4 39.e7 f6 40.b7 d8 41.xb5 d4 42.b7 g6 43.d7 f7 44.f4+ e7 45.g5+ f6 46.xf6+ xf6 47.f1 e5 48.e2 d5 49.b5 h6 50.c7 d6 51.b6 xd7 52.xd7+ xd7 53.e3 c6 54.xe4 xb6 55.e5 c5 56.xe6 1-0 Torre,E-Cardoso,R/Bauang 1973 ] 14.d6 The main idea, and the reason Cardoso tried so hard to keep the Bf8 out fast. It seems a bit surprising that this pawn is so hard to play around. h6!? [ 14...c8!? ] 15.e5 d5 16.e4 f5 17.g3 [ 17.c5 bxc5 ( 17...c6 18.d3 ) 18.xb7 c8 ] 17...g5?! [ 17...g6 is much more solid. Now disaster could (and should) strike on f5. ] 18.d4 f7 19.d2 h5 20.c3 g7 21.ad1 [ 21.gxf5!? exf5 22.xf5 g6 23.xg7 f8 ( 23...xg7 24.e6+ xc3 25.xc3+ g6 26.exd7 ) 24.e6 xc3 25.bxc3 xg7 26.exd7 ] 21...xc3 22.bxc3 d5 23.c4 b7 24.b5? [ 24.gxf5 exf5 25.c5+ g6 26.c6 and with everything attacking and even 83

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 another sacrifice on f5 looming, black will 8.0-0 b5 9.c2 g4!? Ambitious 10.exf6 be hard pressed to survive. ] gxf6 11.h3 h5 12.e1 0-0-0 Very dodgy 24...h4 25.f1 g4 26.h3 g5 27.d4 ag8 13.a4 b4 14.e2 xf3 15.xf3 [ 27...gxh3 To ensure the g-file opens was ( 15.xa6+! b8 16.gxf3 ) 15...b7 worth considering. 28.xh3 ag8 29.f3 16.d3 e5 17.f1 e4 18.e2 a8 h6 ( 29...a6!? )] 19.d2 a5 Dhar,S-Hutchinson,N/ 28.hxg4 fxg4 29.e3 xe3 30.xe3 h6 Torquay ENG 2002 ] [ 30...h3! 31.c7 ( 31.f4+ e8 32.xg4 5.d2 hxg2 33.h2 xh2!-+ ) 31...hxg2 32.f4+ [ 5.e2!? f6 6.f4 ge7 7.g3 g6 8.e2 g6 33.xg4+ f5-+ ] d7 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.b4 f5 11.xf5 xf5 31.a3 a6 32.c7 h3 33.g3 hxg2 12.a4 f7 13.a5 g6 14.a3 e4 15.f2 34.h2 g5? h5 16.a4 e7 17.b5 e8 18.b3 b6 [ 34...c1! 35.dxg4 xg4 36.xg4 h5-+ ] 19.c4 Van Haastert,E-Van Wissen,M/ 35.dxg4 xh2 36.xh2 h8+ 37.h3 Hengelo NED 2002 ] xh3+ 38.xh3 g6 39.f4 f5 40.xg5+ [ 5.d3 T h i s i s h a r d l y c r i t i c a l ge7 xf4 41.h4 f3 42.xe6 f2 43.f4 ( 5...xd3 6.xd3 f6 7.f4 d7 8.f3 1-0 0-0-0 9.0-0 ce7 10.b3 h5 11.a4 f5 12.a3 gh6 13.xf8 dxf8= Godard,MLa zic, M/S t A f f rique 2 00 2 /I XM21 2 (3 1 )) 104 B00 6.e2 d7 7.0-0 xd3 8.xd3 f5 9.g4 h4 10.g3 0-0-0 11.g5 e7 12.xh4 Question Nimzovich xh4 13.d2 f6 14.f4 fxe5 15.fxe5 xg3 N,N 16.xg3 h5! 17.g5 e7 Arutunian,D[Glenn Flear] Gelashvili,T/Batumi GEO 2002 ] [ 5.f3 f6 6.b5 ge7 7.exf6 gxf6 8.h4 Here's a summary of relevant games from g6 9.0-0 d7 10.d2 a6 11.a4 e5 2002 compared to ECO's main line. White has 12.e1 g7 13.f4 b5 14.xg6 hxg6 good chances to retain an advantage if 1. He 15.c2 e4 16.a4 b4 17.a5 d6 18.b3 aims to meet ...f6 with f4 maintaining the f7 19.c5 h5 Djurhuus, R-Furhoff,J/ centre 2. He avoids a premature Bd3. 1.d4 Stockholm 2003/IXM213 (35) ] c6 2.e4 d5 3.e5 f5 [ 3...f6 4.d3 g6 5.f4 g7 6.b5! d7 5...f6 6.f4 fxe5 7.fxe5 h6 8.df3 f7 7.xc6 xc6 8.f3 h6 9.c3 f7 9.e2 [ 9.d3 g6 10.e2 d7 11.0-0 e7 10.exf6 exf6 11.e2+ d7 12.0-0-0 e8 12.b4 h5 13.a4 h4 14.g5 xd3 15.xd3 13.d3 c8 14.h4 White retains an f5 16.xf7 xf7 17.g5 h5 18.f6 g5 initiative due to superior development. d6 19.g4 hxg3 20.xg3 h3 21.xf5! 15.xd6 xd6 16.h5 f5 17.hxg6 hxg6 good compensation as Black's king is stuck 18.h7 Milos,G-Loureiro,L/Sao Paulo BRA in the centre, so the queen's rook never gets 2002 with advantage ] into play. exf5 22.xf5 g4 23.xg4 h6 4.c3 24.f1 g6 25.f5 g8 26.h1 h6 [ 4.f3 e6 5.e2 f6 6.f4 ge7 7.g3 27.h5 f7 28.f4 c6 29.e6 d7 8.c3 fxe5 9.dxe5 g4! freeing the f5and White won in Golikov,A-Juegel,M/FIDE. square for the knight 10.bd2 f5 11.a4 com 2002/IXM213 (50) ] xf3 12.xf3 c5 13.b5 0-0 1/2-1/2 Makarov,M-Abrashkin,B/Samara 9...e7 10.g3 g4 [ 10...g6!? ] RUS 2002 ] [ 4.b5 e6 5.f3 f6 6.0-0 ge7 7.e3 11.d3 g5 12.xg5 xd1 13.xe6 b8 a6 8.d3 d7 9.bd2 xd3 10.cxd3 14.xg7+ d8 15.xd1 Smagin-Sahovic, g6 11.exf6 gxf6 12.b3 b6 13.c1 Biel 1990 d6 Erdos,B-Gross,G/Savaria HUN 2002 ] 4...e6 [ 4...d7 5.f3 f6 6.b5 a6 7.a4 e6 84

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 105 Reichstein,Boris Blatny,Pavel Millennium II Open (4) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 106 2223 Rosandic,Denis 2541 Filipovic,Branko 04.03.2001 Christmas Open (4) [Jon Tisdall]

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d2 e6 4.gf3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.d3 c6 7.0-0 c7 8.e5 [ 8.a3 d5 9.e5 d7 10.b4 e7 11.e1 0-0-0 12.f1 h6 13.e2 b8 14.b1 c4 15.c2 g5 16.d2 df8 17.c1 f6 18.b5 cxe5 19.dxe5 fxe5 20.a4 g4 21.e1 h5 22.g5 xg5 23.xg5 e4 24.e7 c5 25.xc7+ xc7 26.d1 a6 27.bxa6 c6 28.e3 hg8 29.h3 xa6 30.g3 c5 31.hxg4 hxg4 32.e3 xa4 33.xa4 xa4 34.xc4 dxc4 35.d4 c5 36.xc4 a8 37.e3 a1 38.exe4 b7 39.e3 d8 40.h2 dd1 41.c2 a2 42.d4 xf2 43.xe6 dd2 44.xc5+ bxc5 45.xg4 b6 46.e5 c2 47.c4 f6 48.e3 a5 1/2-1/2 Novak,I-Cvetkovic,S Strbske Pleso 1978. ] 8...d5 9.e4? A naive approach by white in this type of position white almost always keeps a close eye on the possibility of black using the b4 square. [ 9.dxc5!? ] [ 9.a3!? ] 9...cxd4 10.cxd4 cb4 11.b1 [ 11.e2 c2 ] 11...c8 Now ...Nc2 and ...Ba6 if needed, will oblige white to surrender the bishop pair. 12.a3 c2 13.xc2 xc2 14.c3 xd1 15.xd1 e7 16.e3 f4 17.h1 f6! Much stronger than trading in the Bb7 to fracture white's kingside pawns. This game is worth filing under how to execute a misguided opponent in this opening. 18.d2 [ 18.f5 xg2 19.xg7+ f7 ] 18...fxe5 19.dxe5 xg2! 20.xg2 0-0 21.fc1 xf3+ 22.g1 c5-+ 23.b4 xb4 24.axb4 xc1+ 25.xc1 f4 26.c4 xc4 27.xc4 f7 28.h3 g6 29.h2 f5 30.g3 d5 31.d6+ xe5 32.c8 b7 33.xa7 a6 0-1

B00 2248 2462 18.12.2001

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 c6 8.e5 d5 9.dxc5 xc5 10.b4 e7 11.a3 f5 12.c4 c7 13.b2 0-0 14.bd2 g5!? An improved version of [ 14...e8 15.fd1 g5 16.b3 h8 17.b5 g4 18.e1 d8 19.c2 g5 20.a4 f7 21.a5 bxa5 22.xa5 c8 23.d3 e7 24.f4 with a firm grip on the position (1-0, 83) Gligoric,S-Filipovic,B Podgorica 1996. ] 15.fd1 g4 16.e1 g5 17.b5 [ 17.b3 is probably more accurate since black does not mind his knight being chased around to the kingside. ] 17...e7 18.b3 g6 This is obviously superior to the previous game where black used much more time putting his pieces on inferior squares. 19.g3 A big commitment, and one which gives black a clear plan of action. [ 19.c2!? f4 20.f1 may not look like the most active procedure, but it keeps things out of harm's way while preparing to just double on the d-file, which must be white's primary plan. Still, d7 is easily defended and it remains white's job to find a long-term plan. ] 19...h5 20.a4 h4 21.a5 b8 22.c2 f7 23.axb6 axb6 A very interesting position - a black rook on h7 will defend his main weakness and prepare action on the h-file. W hite has some annoying obstacles to overcome, since pushing c5 to break through on the queenside will cede the d5 square for a happy black piece. 24.d6?! Looks a waste of time. e8 25.d4 hxg3 26.fxg3 c7 27.dd1 h7 28.d4 f4! 29.gxf4 xf4 30.d2 g3 Black could have played the brutally straightforward [ 30...xh2 31.xh2 xh2+ 32.xh2 d6 when the black queen enters the game with decisive effect. ] 31.df3 gxh2+ 32.h1 g7 White is helpless against the methodical advance of t h i s k n i g h t . 33.g2 h5 34.f2 g7 85

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 35.xf4 Getting rid of one bishop does not o f f e r r e l i e f , a n d wh i t e c a n n o t a vo i d ye t another painful tactical blow. xf4 36.e3 xe5! 37.a3 [ 37.xe5 xf3+ 38.xh2 g2+ 39.h1 xf2+ 40.g1 h3# ] 37...xe3 38.xe3 h3 39.h4 g1 This must have been an extremely satisfying move to play - I know it would have been for me. 40.f1 xf3 41.fxf3 g4 42.f6 f7 43.e5 d6 44.b2 bg8 A ferocious demonstration of the trumps of the black position, and a game worth studying for 1...b6ers. 0-1

107 Roschina,Tatiana Filipovic,Branko 3rd Hilton Open (4) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2293 2444 04.01.2001

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 c5 5.c3 f6 6.e5 d5 7.0-0 e7 I am a little reluctant to go into heavy examination of these type of positions as I think they are probably well covered under the c3 Sicilian, which often transposes - lines with b6 are some of the more interesting attempts to liven up the position for black, though not without risk. 8.e1 [ 8.e2!? c6 9.dxc5!? bxc5 10.c4 b6 11.c3 f5 12.exf6 gxf6 13.h4 0-0 14.g4+ h8 15.g6+ hxg6 16.xg6 1-0 Thorhallsson,T-Poettinger,H Liechtenstein 1996. ] 8...c6 [ 8...cxd4 9.cxd4 0-0 10.c3 f5 11.exf6 xf6 12.g5 e8 13.e5 c6 14.c1 c8 15.b1 b4 16.e3 d6 17.g4 c6 18.g3 e8 19.e2 d8 20.e1 h5 21.h3 xg5 22.xh5 h6 23.h3 f4 24.a3 c6 25.d3 xg4 26.h7+ f8 27.g6 d7 28.d5 e7 29.f3+ f4 30.xf4+ xf4 31.xf4 e5 32.h8+ g8 33.h7 f7 34.h5 g4 0-1 Oral,TAntoniewski,R Pardubice 1996. ] 9.bd2 cxd4 10.cxd4 0-0 11.e4 f5 12.exf6 gxf6 This type of position is rather typical of Sicilian players trying to sharpen

things as much as possible against lowerrated 2.c3 types. And this game is a happy tale for the favourite , who is rewarded for risktaking. 13.h6 f7 14.c1 h8 15.c3 xc3 16.bxc3 g8 17.d5!? e5 18.xe5? [ 18.e4! should give white an edge. ] 18...fxe5 19.e4 c5 20.c2? [ 20.e3 was more prudent. ] 20...exd5 21.xd5 W a t ch f o r it . xf2!!-+ 22.e3 [ 22.xg8 xg8 ( 22...xc2+ ) A) 23.xf2 xg2+ 24.f1 ( 24.h1 xf2! 25.h3 g3! ) 24...xf2+ 25.g1 d2+; B) 23.g3 d2+-+ ] [ 22.xf2 xf2+ 23.xf2 xd5 with a pawn less and continuing king troubles was the proverbial lesser evil. ] 22...xc2 23.xb7 xe3+ 24.xe3 g5! 25.e1 f8 26.h4 h6 27.d5 d6 28.c4 f4 29.a3 d4 30.h2 f4 31.h3 c1 0-1

108 Roselli Mailhe,Bernardo Cristobal,Ruben zt 2.5 Mar del Plata ARG (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2428 2342 25.08.2001

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e2 [ 4.c3 d7 5.d2 f6 6.f4 g5!? This move seems to be a recurring theme across the website, featuring in Budapests, Albins ... ( 6...e6 7.df3 h6 8.e2 e7 9.g3 e4 10.e2 0-0 11.exf6 gxf6 12.0-0 h8 13.xe4 dxe4 14.d2 f5 15.c4 g8 16.e3 ad8 The opening here has been interesting and double-edged and black is eventually outplayed, rather than suffering because of his choice of defence. 17.h1 f6 18.e1 e7 19.h3 g6 20.f2 g7 21.g1 dg8 22.d2 c6 23.af1 d8 24.g4 h4 25.h2 c5 26.c4 e8 27.dxc5 c7 28.b4 d8 29.e2 d7 30.b5 xd2 31.xd2 f8 32.gxf5 xf5 33.xf5 exf5 34.d7 xd7 35.xd7 c7 36.g5 xf4 37.xf5 xf5 38.xf5 e3 39.f3 e2 40.e3 h5 41.g4 g3+ 42.g2 1-0 Wedberg, T-Bodin,S Stockholm 86

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1996.; 6...h6 7.e2 fxe5 8.fxe5 0-0-0 9.gf3 e6 10.0-0 e7 11.b4 df8 12.b3 f7 13.a4 g5 14.a3 g4 15.fd2 h5 16.b5 cd8 17.c5 e8 18.a5 g5 19.b6 cxb6 20.axb6 axb6 21.a4 c6 22.b3 g6 23.xe7 xe7 24.b4 d8 25.b5 c8 26.xb6 f3+ 27.xf3 gxf3 28.xf3 xb6 29.d6+ c8 30.xb6 1-0 Shaked,T-Carlin,A Las Vegas 1994.) 7.df3 gxf4 8.xf4 h6 9.d2 xf4 10.xf4 fxe5 11.dxe5 e6 12.b5 ge7 13.e2 a6 14.xc6 xc6= Black has absolutely no problems now. 15.fd4 0-0-0 16.0-0 e4 17.g3 g6 18.e3 dg8 19.f6 d8 20.h6 c5 21.f3 g7 22.b4 b6 23.a4 hg8 24.a5 b5 25.bxc5 c6 26.d4 xc5 27.h1 e7 28.e3 ge8 29.ge2 c7 30.d2 e4 31.af1 g8 32.1f2 b7 33.h3 h5 34.h6 h4 35.xh4 e7 36.hf4 g5 37.g1 h7 38.df3 g3 39.e3 a8 40.d2 hg7 41.e3 c7 42.e2 g7 43.g4 h8 44.xg8 xg8 45.g5 b1 46.f6 e8 47.d4 b4 48.cxb4 a4 49.f8 1 - 0 N e u b a u e r , M - W a c h , M M u re c k A U T 2001. ] [ 4.f4 e6 5.f3 ( 5.c3 e4 6.f3 f5 7.exf6 gxf6 8.d3 d7 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.b4 d6 11.a4 ge7 12.a5 g6 13.xe4 dxe4 14.fd2 f5 15.b5 ce7 16.b6 a6 17.c4 d5 18.bxc7 xc7 19.b6+ xb6 20.axb6 xb6 21.b3 c6 22.a4 b8 23.a3 a7 24.e3 d7 25.b1 a8 26.h1 e7 27.c4 d5 28.b2 c6 29.a4 g8 30.c4 d6 31.b5 e7 32.a2 g7 33.d5 xe3 34.dxc6 d2 35.cxb7+ b8 0-1 Zolnierowicz,KGross,G Trier 1997.) 5...e7 6.d3 ( 6.e3 h5 7.d3 h6 8.0-0 xd3 9.xd3 f5 10.f2 g5!? 11.fxg5 xg5 12.b5 b8 13.c4 a6 14.a4 dxc4 15.c3 b5 16.xa6 b6 17.a3 e7 18.b4 xb4 19.b2 d5 20.e4 g8 21.c1 g4 22.g3 xg3 23.hxg3 h4 24.gxh4 f4 25.h1 xh4 26.h2 d5 27.f3 xf2 28.xf2 d3 29.e3 xf2+ 30.xf2 c6 31.f1 b7 32.d2 e4 33.h6 g6 34.h8+ g8 35.h3 g7 36.g1 h7 37.h4 g5 38.g3 e3+ 39.g2 xd4 40.e1 a7 41.e2 d3 42.g4 c3 43.g8+ d7 44.f2 c7 45.f8 a4

46.f3 c2 47.e7+ b6 48.g5 xa2 49.c1 d1 50.f1 xc1 51.xc1 c5 52.e1 d4 53.f3 c3 0-1 Stangl, AHoloubkova,M Germany 1994.) 6...h6 7.0-0 0-0 8.a3 a5 Very sensible, clearing the way for pawn-based counterplay on the queenside. Black has a pleasant position with easy play. 9.b4 c4 10.e2 b5 11.d2 a5 A bit hyperactive - after something a bit more patient like ( 11...d7!? white must find a way to develop without allowing black to play . ..a5 with more force later.) 12.bxa5 xd3?! ( 12...c6 ) 13.xd3 c6 14.b4! c5 15.dxc5 c7 16.h1 ( 16.c6!? ) 16...xc5 17.c3 c6 18.d4 ( 18.fb1!?; 18.e2!?; 18.g5!? ) 18...xd4 19.xd4 fc8 20.e2 xa5 21.xa5 xa5 22.b4 a4 23.b3 f5 24.fb1 h5 25.c3 e4 26.a2 h4 27.xb5 xb5 28.xb5 xc3 29.g1 ce3 30.f2 xe2+ 0-1 Wang LiCai Lu Suzhou, Jiangsu CHN 2001. ] 4...e6 5.g3 g6 6.b5 Very rare if not new. [ 6.h4 f6 7.h5 f7 8.f4 d7 9.c3 is a more popular setup, and this is one of the higher profile matches from this position. g6 10.d3 ce7 11.d2 fxe5 12.fxe5 0-0-0 13.f3 f5 14.xf5 gxf5 15.g5 e7 16.e3 e8 17.g5 h6 18.xf7 xf7 19.d2 g7 20.0-0-0 f8 21.df1 g5 22.g4 e7 23.gxf5 xf5 24.xg5 hxg5 25.xf5 exf5 26.g2 g4 27.xd5 g5+ 28.c2 f4 29.e6+ d8 30.hg1 g3 31.g6 xg6+ 32.hxg6 hg8 33.d3 xg6 34.e4 g4 35.f3 a5 36.a4 e7 37.d5 h4 38.c4 b6 39.b3 d7 40.ff1 e7 41.f3 h2 42.g2 fh8 43.fg1 2h4 44.e1 f8 45.d2 f7 46.g2 1 / 2 -1 / 2 He b d e n , M- Ro ge rs , I E d i n b u rg h 1985. ] 6...ge7 7.c3 d7 8.d2 a6 9.e2 White is content to have created something to get his teeth into on the queenside if black decides to try and live there. f5 10.xf5 xf5 11.0-0 e7 12.f4 h6 13.f3 0-0-0 Black chooses the sharpest option and both sides mount gradual attacks on their respective flanks. It seems that white must be a bit better as it is easier for him to strip away enemy king cover, but the position is 87

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 extremely complex, and getting at black's king proves surprisingly difficult. 14.b4 dg8 15.b5 b8 16.bxa6 xa6 17.a4 g5 18.a2 gxf4 19.b3 c5 20.c4? It is tempting to open every conceivable line in the direction of the white king, but this looks a bit optimistic. Recapturing on f4 was more solid. e4 [ 20...cxd4! looks better since 21.xd4 e4 gains time for black and 21.cxd5 allows 21... d3. ] 21.xf4 cxd4 22.cxd5 xd5 23.c2+ b8 24.b2 b4 25.b5 d8 26.cc1 b6 Black should be at least equal here. 27.d2 g6 [ 27...a2!? ] 28.b1 hg8 29.g3 h5 30.xb4 xb4 31.xb4 xf3 32.xf3 h4 33.f2 xg2+ 34.f1 xh2 35.xf7 h1+ 36.e2 h2 37.a5 d8 38.c6 xf2+ 39.xf2 b6 40.xb6+ 1-0

109 Rosito,Jorge Larsen,Bent Najdorf Mem Great Final (1.3) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2424 2486 02.10.2002

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e6 6.h3 h5 7.d5 exd5 8.exd5 b8!? A very rare alternative. It seems to be safer than the more popular options. 9.g4 [ 9.e2 e7 10.d4 xe2 11.xe2 0-0 12.f5 e8 13.b5 c8 14.xe7+ xe7 15.0-0 a6 16.b3 bd7 with a solid position for Black, Golubovic,B-Muse,M Tucepi 1996. ] 9...g6 10.d3 [ 10.e2!? is the acid test for Black's idea how to meet the threat to the queenside pawns? e7 ( 10...a6!? is the logical and probably necessary novelty - the discovered check is in fact the least of White's threats when Black should be OK.) 11.b5+ bd7 12.xb7 b8 13.xa7 xb2 14.d4 0-0 15.0-0-0 and Black did not have compensation in Palac,M-Muse,M Tucepi 1996. ] 10...bd7

[ 10...e7 11.d4 c6 ( 11...c5!? ) 12.xg6 hxg6 13.f3 c5 14.de2 bd7 15.f4 Wallner,W-Mohr,G Lienz 1988. ] 11.d4 [ 11.xg6!? hxg6 12.d4 to prevent Black from fianchettoing his bishop deserved attention, but Black can try for active play against White's various light squared targets with e5 ] 11...xd3 12.xd3 g6 This looks like a much more harmonious way of developing for Black. 13.0-0-0 g7 14.f4 c5 15.e2 0-0 16.f3 e8 17.g5 [ 17.f5!? looks more promising in terms of creating activity against Black's king, but possession of e4 guarantees Black comfortable counterplay. ] 17...fe4 18.xe4 xe4 19.he1?! [ 19.b4? e8 ] [ 19.f2 ] 19...e7 20.f2? [ 20.c3 xd4 21.cxd4 d7 22.d2 ] 20...xd4 21.xe4 xb2+ 22.xb2 xe4 23.xe4 xe4 24.d4 f5 25.h4?! [ 25.gxf6 f7 26.f5!? was a very tempting alternative, when W hite will at least have some activity. Allowing Larsen to have a full technical grip is just booking a seat for a nostalgic look at one of the game's great endgame players. ] 25...c5 26.dxc6 bxc6 27.c1 c5 28.b2 f7 29.d3 b8 30.a3 b7 Protecting everything. Stage two will be activating the king and centre pawns. 31.a6 e6 32.a3 d5 33.h5 c4 34.h3 d5 35.hxg6 hxg6 36.h8 [ 36.e5 d4 and the bishop is missed in defence. ] 36...d4 37.g8 b6 38.d8 a5 39.a8 b5 40.d8 d6 41.b8+ a4 42.c8 b6 43.c7 b4 44.c8 a4 45.a3+ c4 46.a8 c3 47.xc3 xc3 48.xa4 c4 Zugzwang - White must relieve the pressure on c4 and so allow ...Rb2. 49.a8 b2 50.a6 xc2+ 51.d1 d2+ 52.e1 g2 53.xg6 d3 54.d6 c2 55.g6 c3 56.d5 d2+ 57.f1 xg6 0-1

88

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 110

B00

A) 8...c6!? is the most critical, making it hard for white to keep up the inconvenient Roza,Peter bind on the light squares. 9.c4 b5 Yadao,Israel 10.dxc6 bxc4 11.cxd7+ xd7 12.e2 Australian Open (5) 02.01.2001 e5 13.0-0 c6 14.f4 c5+ [Jon Tisdall] ( 14...exf4!? ) 15.h1 d4 16.fxe5 8e7 17.ad1 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.f4 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.d5 e5 0-0 20.cd5 xd5 21.xd5 ae8 5.f4 g6 6.g3 e5?! 7.dxe6 xe6 8.b5 22.fd1 b6 23.d6 xb2 24.e6 f6 d6 9.xd6 cxd6 10.xd6+ This game is 25.h5 f7 26.g5 xd6 27.xh7+ really a theoretical footnote - the safe and f8 28.h8+ e7 29.xg7+ f7 simple 30.xf7 d6 31.e5+ d8 32.xd6+ [ 10.xd6! should discourage black from c8 33.d7+ b8 34.c6+ 1-0 Eberle, tryin g this line ve ry of ten - it is ha rd t o J-Koenig, F/Nuremberg 1987 (34); believe that his temporary activity can be B) 8...a6 9.c4 b5 10.b3 f6 11.0-0 worth a pawn, even though black survived c5 12.dxc6 xc6 13.g5 e5 14.e2 after xd6 11.xd6+ e7 12.xe4 c8 c5 ( 14...a7 would prevent the Rh8 13.c3 f6 14.0-0-0 hd8 15.xd8 xd8 going, but black's real problem is that his 16.e2 h5 17.g3 h4 18.gxh4 h8 19.f3 king is caught in the center and subject to g4 20.g5 xh4 21.xe6 fxe6 22.xg4 attack - still, this looks a better try.) 15.f7 xg4 23.d2 e5 24.e2 g6 25.d1 e7 16.xh8 xh8 17.ad1 d4 a4 26.a3 h4 27.e3 f6 28.b3 h3 18.d5 xd5 19.c3 f4 20.cxd4 fxg3 29.f1 h5 30.f4 f7 31.f2 h3 21.xe4 gxh2+ 22.h1 d8 23.dxe5 32.d1 e7 33.g4 c3 34.e3 d6 e6 24.xh7 h6 25.xh6 gxh6 35.e2 f5 36.d3 c8 37.xf5+ exf5 26.d4 g6 27.fd1 ge7 28.f4 c8 38.e3+ f6 39.d2 h8 40.h3 h4 29.xd5 xd5 30.xd5 xd5 31.xd5 41.f3 g5 42.fxg5+ xg5 43.c4 f6 c2 32.d6 a5 33.f5 xb2 34.f6 xa2 44.d3 a6 45.b4 e5 46.e3+ d6 35.e6 f2 36.e7 f7 37.d8 e2 47.c3 f4 48.c5+ d5 49.d3+ e4 38.f8+ 1-0 Gallagher,J-Baker,C/ 50.d7 xh3+ 51.c4 xa3 52.xb7 f3 Barnsdale 1989/TD (38) ] 53.e7+ f4 54.c6 f2 55.f7+ g3 56.c7 f3 1/2-1/2 in Seret,J-Castro Rojas,O Nice 8...a6 9.xd7+ xd7 10.h3 f6 11.e2 [ 11.d1 0-0-0 12.d4 xd5 13.a7 c6 1974. ] 14.0-0-0 e6-+ ] 10...e7 11.xe4 b6 12.h5 f5 13.g5+ f7 14.d2 xb2 15.b1 xc2 16.gf3 11...xd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.d1 b5 14.c4 b4+ 15.f1 e5 16.g5 d6 17.h4 e8 17.xb7+ d7+ 0-0-0-+ 18.f7 e7 19.xh8 xh8 20.a3 0-1 a4 21.c5 xc5 22.xe5 g6 23.h2 e8 24.h5 e5 25.xe5 xe5 26.h3 e3 111 B00 27.c1 f4 28.c4 xf2+ 29.xf2 exf2 Rudd,Jack 2193 30.c1 e3 31.d1 f4 32.b3 c5 33.g3 Briggs,Philip J 2200 fxg3 34.xg3 xh5 35.e2 g5 36.f3 Smith & Williamson ch (5) 03.08.2001 f6 37.xf2 h2+ 38.g1 c2 39.b4 b6 40.d5 b7 41.a4 a2 42.a5 b5 43.f4 [Jon Tisdall] c2 44.f1 h6 45.e4 c6 46.d3 h5 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.d5 e5 47.e6+ b7 48.d7 c6 49.e8 h4 50.g2 c4 51.f7 xb4 52.e6 c4 5.f4 g6 6.g3 f5 7.b5+ 53.b6+ a7 54.h2 c3 [ 7.h3!? ] 7...d7 8.h5? This is just a primitive threat 0-1 and more likely to just lose time than break through. [ 8.h3 89

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 continuation stretches black hard to shake B00 off white's bind. ] Sax,Gyula 2563 Hummel,Markus 2173 23...e4 24.c3 e5 25.e1 a6 26.d6 [ 26.e7!? to take on e5 and keep pressure Open Pula CRO (1) 18.05.2001 on the seventh looks better. ] [Jon Tisdall] 26...g6 27.xd7 [ 27.xe5!? ] 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.a3 f6 5.d3 c5 6.f3 c4 7.xc4 xe4 8.xe4 27...f8 28.d2?! [ 28.xe5 f2 29.g3!? looks unnecessarily xe4 9.d5 risky, but since the black rook cannot take [ 9.e2 led to a game of minimal theoretical on c2 due to the reply Bxg7, black will be interest as black replied with a series of pushed back. ] errors: xf3?! 10.xf3 d5? 11.b5+ d7 29.g1 c7 30.e5 e6 12.c4 d6 13.cxd5 exd5 14.xd5 e7+ 28...e4 15.e3 0-0 16.0-0 f6 17.f3 ac8 W ith his pieces all in play again, black is 18.ac1 e6 19.h3 h6 20.d3 xc1 fighting. 31.e3 g5 [ 31...f5!? 32.g3 d4 33.xe4 xc2!= ] 21.xc1 d8 22.c4 e7 23.g3 b8 24.g2 h7 25.h4 f8 26.d3 d7 32.g3 h5?! 33.h1 f5 34.h4 e6 27.c6 d6 28.f5 e7 29.e4 xe4+ 35.xe4 d4 36.c3 xe4 37.xe4 f1+ 30.xe4 e6 31.c2 f8 32.b7 c7 38.h2 f5 39.f4 xg3 40.xg3 b1 33.f3 e7 34.e4 f6 35.d3 e6 41.f2 g6 42.f4 f6 43.e4+ e6 36.e2 d7 37.d5 f8 38.d4 f6 39.h5 44.d3 h1 45.c4 xh4+ 46.xc5 g5 f7 40.c4 e7 41.xe7+ xe7 42.f4 47.c4 e4 48.f8 h4 49.b4 f4 50.e8+ d8 43.a4 e8 44.b5 b8 45.c6 d7 51.e5 g4 52.e2 f4 53.b5 g4 d6 46.a6 c7 47.d3 b8 48.b4 c7 54.e5 g3 55.h5 e6 56.h7 f7 49.a5 bxa5 50.bxa5 c8 51.c3 e7+ 57.xh4 f2 58.h7 xg2 59.xa7 a2 52.c5 b8 53.b4 d7 54.b5+ c8 60.g7 xa3 61.b4 f6 62.g8 d3 55.d6 f5 56.d5 a6 57.xa6+ d8 63.b6 58.c5 1-0 Rodriguez,R-Aaron,M Bangalore 1-0 1981. ] 9...f6 10.dxe6?! B00 [ 10.0-0!? deserved serious attention, 113 making black pay to get rid of the d5 point. Sermek,Drazen 2590 xf3 11.xf3 xf3 12.gxf3 exd5 13.e1+ Kozul,Zdenko 2565 e7 14.xd5 c6 15.g5 f6 16.f4 ] Rapid 1hr Solin-Spilt CRO rapid (18) 20.12.02 10...fxe6 11.e2 c5 12.0-0 0-0 13.g5!? [Glenn Flear] This leads to some amusing tactics. xf2+! No fear. 14.h1 b7 15.d3 h6!? An exciting untheoretical game in the St. [ 15...g6!? 16.xh7 h4! ( 16...xh7 George 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5 3.d3 b7 17.h5+ g8 18.xg6 h4 19.h7+ ) 4.d2!? White usually plays 4 Nf3 and Qe2 17.g5 g7!? ] maintaining a solid centre which lays the 16.h7+! foundation for action on either wing. Sermek [ 16.h7 f3!! ( 16...h4 17.xf8 g3 has an ambitious idea in mind. d6 5.f4 18.h7+ ) 17.xf3 ( 17.gxf3 xf3-+ ) T h e b i g p a wn f r o n t r e q u i r e s a vi g o r o u s 17...xf3 18.g6 and while white is counter. e5! 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.fxe5 e7 t e m p o r a r i l y a f l o a t , t h e N h 7 d o e s n o t 8.e6!? inspire confidence. ] [ 8.gf3 g6 9.a4 softening up the black 16...h8 17.e4 xe4 18.xe4 h4 queenside is another idea ] 19.e2 c5 20.xc5 xf1+ 21.xf1 bxc5 8...fxe6 9.h5+ g6 10.gf3 e7 11.e5 22.f8+ h7 23.d2! 0-0 12.e4 [ 23.xc5 e1+ 24.g1 e2 reverses [ 12.xg6 hxg6 13.xg6 d5 would offer roles for minimal cost. The game Black a useful bishop pair and good 112

90

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e6 21.eg5? xc4! 22.e4 ac8 23.b1 h5 24.b3 b5 25.g4 fxg3 26.hxg3 c6 27.d3 c5 28.g4 h8 29.xc6 xc6 30.f5 g6 31.f4 a3 32.e5 c7 33.gf3 fc8 34.c4 xc4 0-1 Shabalov,A-Klinger,J/Werfen 1990. ] 7.e5 e4 [ 7...g4 leaves the knight misplaced in the long run: 8.f3 c5 9.bd2 0-0 10.0-0 e8 11.e1 b6 12.c4 c6 13.h3 h6 14.c2 e7 15.ac1 d7 16.c5 c7 17.d4 g5?? 18.e6!+- xg3 19.exd7 xf2+ 20.xf2 h4+ 21.f1 ed8 22.2f3 f6 23.e3 xd7 24.ce1 f8 25.e8 d8 26.xf8+ xf8 27.xg6 hxg6 28.e2 f5 29.e5 xe5 30.xe5 g3+ 31.e1 e4 32.b4 a5 33.a3 axb4 34.axb4 a8 35.e7 a1+ 36.e2 a2+ 37.f1 a1+ 38.e1 f8 39.xb7 g3+ 40.f2 e4+ 41.e2 1-0 Nippgen,GReichenbach,W/Oberursel 1972. ] 8.xe4 dxe4 9.xd8+ xd8 10.c3 f5 11.0-0-0+ c8 12.ge2 h5 13.h4 c5 14.d4 g4 15.d2 e8?! At high tempo agressivity tends to come out first, but by putting a premium on activity rather than threats to the e-pawn Black could likely have solved his problems: [ 15...d8!? 16.de2 e3!? ( 16...xd2 17.xd2 b4!? )] 114 B00 16.e6 Tempting, but the simple [ 16.xe4 xd4 17.xd4 xe5 18.e1 Shabalov,Alexander 2601 should favour white who has full Benjamin,Joel 2577 mobilization. ] ch-Playoff Seattle USA (2) 07.10.2000 16...xe6 17.xe6 xe6 18.hd1 b6 [Jon Tisdall] 19.b5 e7 20.xc7 White is banking on 1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 This game was played at this tactic to shatter the black position, but it a fast tempo, but Benjamin is not joking with turns out to be much trickier than it would putting his knight on c6. A quick data check appear. xc7 21.d8+ b7 22.xc7?! shows that "Shabba" has had some unhappy No w t h e a b se n ce o f p ro t e ct io n o f t h e f 4 experiences facing this move in the past. square turns out to be a vital dif f erence. 3.dxe5 xe5 4.f4 g6 5.g3 f6 6.d3 White should play [ 22.xa8 xa8 23.xc7 xf2 24.d7 ] d5 23.xd8 xf2 The e-pawn is [ 6...b4+ 7.c3 c5 8.e5 e7 9.e2 d5 22...xd8 10.xg6 hxg6 11.d2 g5 12.e4 b6 suddenly a real terror. 24.d7+ c8 25.xf7 13.0-0-0 f4 14.xf4 gxf4 15.f3 e3 26.g5? [ 26.e7! e2 ( 26...a5?? 27.d1 ) 27.b4 and it seems that white's grip on the centre f4!? allows black to fight on ( 27...e1+ should be worth something, but mutual 28.xe1 xe1 29.xa7 xh4 30.xg7 )] insecure kings and those bishops ... make life hard to predict. e6 16.c4 0-0 17.d5 26...e2 27.d2 e3! d6 18.hd1 h6 19.exd6 cxd6 20.xd6 0-1 development for the pawn ] 12...xf3!? An interesting exchange sacrifice that takes the sting out of white's attack. K o z u l r e l i e s o n h i s ( n o w) s a f e r k i n g f o r compensation. 13.gxf3 c6 14.g5 [ I t h i n k t h a t W h i t e s h o u ld p l a y 14.g5! when a continuation such as xg5 15.xg5 d5 16.e4 xe5 17.0-0-0 gives Black insufficient compensation ] 14...cxe5 15.0-0-0 d5 16.hg1! [ 16.b1 is too slow as after xd3 17.cxd3 ( or 17.xd3 f5 ) 17...f5 the pin on the fifth rank costs White material. ] 16...xd3+ 17.xd3 xa2 18.xe7! [ 18.c3 a1+ 19.b1 d6 is better for Black ] 18...a1+ 19.d2 xg1 20.g5 [ If 20.g5 then e5 is strong. ] 20...xe7 21.xh7+ f8 22.h8+? This loses instead [ 22.h5! w a s n e c e s s a r y w h e n g6 23.xg6 xh2+ 24.c1 g8 25.xe6+ h8 offers White at least a draw but perhaps no more. ] 22...g8 23.xe6+ e7 24.e3 f6 25.xg7+ xg7 26.xg7+ f7 27.f5 d8+ 28.e2 d5 0-1

91

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 115 Shabalov,Alexander Blatny,Pavel 86th NY Masters (2) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2623 2452 06.01.2004

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 f6!? Braver then the more obvious 3.. .e6 . 4.e2 c6!? Dynamic stuff. A combination of the Owen's and the Knights Tan go! Bla tny has bee n playing this recently against strong opposition so must have faith in this eccentric development. 5.c3 e5 Black gains a stake in the centre and enables his knights to have stable squares from which to operate. 6.f3 d6 According to my database Blatny has had this position five times in the last year! Usually White will play d4-d5 at some point, but there is no consensus as to when it's most a p p r o p r i a t e . 7.0-0 It's worth comparing the game continuation with other tries as the 'main line' has yet to crystallize. [ 7.g5 e7 8.d5 b8 9.xf6 xf6 10.bd2 a6 11.c4 d7 12.e3 g6 was fine for Black in Kanovsky,D-Polak,T Brno 2003 ] [ 7.d5 e7 8.a4 a6 9.a5 c8 10.a3 d7 11.e3 g6 12.g3 e7 13.h4 h6 14.h5 led to White pressure in Al Modiakhi, M-Blatny,P Bermuda 2003. This may explain why Blatny now likes to meet d4-d5 with ... Nb8, and a4-a5 with bxa5, see the main game for instance. ] 7...d7 [ Otherwise 7...e7 8.d5 b8 9.a4 c6 10.c4 a6 11.c3 0-0 12.b3 c5 13.c2 a5 Kritz,L-Kunin,V Griesheim 2003 was solid. ] 8.a4 Played in order to obtain a concession from Black on the queenside. [ Against 8.a3 Blatny has tried a couple of ideas... e7 ( I prefer this to 8...h6 9.d1 a6 10.c4 e7 11.c2 g6 12.d5 g7 13.b4 db8 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.b3 0-0 16.a3 Mitkov,N-Blatny,P Lindberg 2003 which favoured White) 9.e3 f6 10.fd1 0-0 11.ac1 h8 12.b1 g8 13.b4 g5!? with interesting counterplay, Epishin,VBlatny,P Bastia 2003 ] [ 8.a6 c8 9.xb7 xb7 10.a4 g6 11.d5 e7 12.a5 g7 13.c4 0-0 14.c3

h6 15.e1 c5 16.e3 f5 and again Black had interesting play in Baklan,V-Blatny, P Bastia 2003 ] 8...e7 [ 8...a6!? was possible to meet a timely a4a5 with ...b5. ] 9.d5 cb8 10.a5 bxa5 White can't be allowed a major bind with a5-a6. 11.e3 [ Later on, recapturing the pawn proves to be h a r d e r t h a n yo u ' d e xp e c t , s o p o s s i b l y Shabalov should have stuck with 11.xa5 c6 12.dxc6 xc6 13.a1 where White has arguably the better structure, but Black isn't under any immediate pressure. ] 11...c6 12.c4 a6 13.bd2 ac5 14.a3 f5! An excellent counterstrike that disturbs W hite's hold on the centre. 15.exf5 0-0 16.e4?! [ If 16.dxc6 xc6 17.c2 then b8 with promising counterplay. Even so that would have been better than losing the d5pawn. ] 16...xe4 17.xe4 cxd5 18.cxd5 f6 19.b1 xd5 20.d1 h8 Black has the better chances in this complex middlegame. He has nominally an extra pawn but his main trump is a grip on the central area which White's pieces find hard to challenge. 21.d2 f6 22.b3?! [ 22.xa5 balances material, but after f4 23.e3 e7 Black is very comfortable. ] 22...c6 23.c1 c8 24.h4 Seeking to mix things on the kingside. It's dangerous to open the h-file in front of his king so Black prefers to concentrate his efforts where he is s t r o n g e s t . a4! White will again regret not having taken the a-pawn when it was hanging. 25.a3 b6 26.g5 Desperately putting all his eggs in the attacking basket. [ If 26.a2 then f4 takes the initiative. ] 26...xb2 27.a2 f4 28.g4 d4 29.e3 h5!? Exchanges help Black, but this move also deflects the White queen from his king. [ 29...b4 30.d2 d5!? was also possible ] 30.g3 d5 31.ac2 b7 Keeping it simple. The battle is won if he doesn't fall for any tricks. 32.xc8 xc8 33.xc8+ xc8 34.h2 e2 35.h3 d1 36.f7+ h7 37.f4 xb1 38.g5+ g8 39.f3 xg5 40.fxg5 f4 Giving back the piece to steer 92

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the game towards a winning ending. Also possible was [ 40...b5 41.g6 e4 42.xe4 e5+ ] 41.xf4 xf5 42.d5+ f7 43.xf7+ xf7 44.c1 g4 45.g3 g6 46.f2 e6 47.e3 d5 White never did get his a-pawn back! 0-1

116 Shabanov,Yuri Minasian,Artashes Aeroflot Open (1) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2463 2576 05.02.2002

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.e3 0-0 8.h3 h5 9.d2 xe2 10.xe2 [ 10.xe2 d5 11.e5 d7 12.f4 b6 13.g3 f5 14.exf6 xf6 15.c3 g6 16.g4 d7 17.ae1 ae8 18.f5 exf5 19.xf5 h8 20.h6 g7 21.xf8+ xf8 22.f4 d8 23.f2 xe1+ 24.xe1 e6 and black had no problems, 0-1 Szegi,VSafranska,A/Sala 1994 (42). ] 10...d5 11.e5 d7 12.f4 b4 [ 12...f5!? is probably the most reliable option, and had the Miles stamp of approval: 13.b3 ( 13.exf6 xf6 14.f3 b6 15.ad1 c4 16.c1 e7 17.b3 b6 18.b5 d7 19.a3 e7 20.xe7 xe7 21.e5 xe5 22.xe5 f7= 1-0 Leski,MMiles,A/San Francisco 1987 (37).) 13...a5 14.a4 f7 15.ad1 f8 16.c4 b4 17.a3 dxc4 18.axb4 cxb3 19.b5 b4 0-1 Checa,C-Miles,A/ Sevilla 1994 (48). ] 13.f3 c5 14.d1 [ 14.f5!? is the most energetic and critical response that could have brought white success the one time I have seen it tried: exf5 15.a3 cxd4 16.xd4 c6 17.xd5?! ( 17.xf5 ) 17...xd4? ( 17...dxe5= ) 18.xd4 g6 19.ad1 e8 20.e6 0-1 Klinova, M-Rooda,K/Hoogeveen 1999 (34). This possibility is another argument for adopting Miles' 12...f5. ] 14...cxd4 15.xd4 c5 16.f2 b6 17.c3 c6 This must be a relatively successful Fr e n c h -t y p e s t r u c t u r e f o r b l a c k . 18.ad1 ae8 19.a3 f6 20.b4 xd4 21.cxd4 e7

22.d3 fxe5 23.dxe5 d4 24.f2 [ 24.xd4 xd4+ 25.f2 xf4 26.xd7 f5 27.d3 g5 ] 24...d5 25.d2 c8 26.de1 c3 27.e4 a6 28.xd4 xa3 29.c1 a1 30.h2 xc1 31.xc1 a2 32.c4 xc4 33.xc4 a6 34.g3 g5 35.g2 gxf4 36.gxf4 b8 37.g3 f7 38.f3 c6 39.e4 e8 40.c1 f7 An odd place to stop - for example. [ 40...f7 41.e1 and the game continues. The score is probably not the whole story a n d t h e r e i s s o m e t yp e o f e r r o r i n t h e record. ] 0-1

117 Shavtvaladze,Nikoloz Remizov,Juri White Tower Open (5) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2314 2266 07.10.2000

1.e4 a6 This may not have quite the stamp of audacity it had before people like Miles did things like beat Karpov with it, but it still has that touch of daring, in the sense of daring your opponent to come and get you. 2.d4 b5 3.d3 b7 4.f3 f6 5.e2 e6 6.g5 c5 7.c3 cxd4 8.cxd4 [ 8.xd4 is an interesting alternative - this kind of pseudo-Sicilian structure poses black some different problems to solve as the standard methods of using the c-file as a springboard to counterplay do not apply with a white pawn on c3 instead of a N. This game rapidly loses its theoretical interest as black gets generous without reason. e7 9.d2 d6 10.0-0 bd7 11.f4 h6 12.h4 0-0 13.ae1 c5 14.b1 c8 15.a3 a5 16.xb5 a6 17.c4 a4 18.e5 dxe5 19.fxe5 e8 20.f2 b8 21.f3 b6 22.c2 g6 23.fd4 c7 24.c1 fc8 25.e3 g5 26.xg5 hxg5 27.xf7 xf7 28.xg6+ e7 29.xg5+ d7 30.g7+ d8 31.f6+ d7 32.g7+ d8 33.d1 b3 34.g5+ d7 35.g7+ d8 36.h1 xd4 37.xd4+ d5 38.f8+ d7 39.g7+ d8 40.g5+ d7 41.cxd5 xb5 42.dxe6+ c6 43.d6+ b7 44.xb6+ xb6 45.e3+ a6 46.d3 93

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d8 47.xb5+ xb5 48.h3 xb2 49.e7 e8 50.d3+ b5 51.d7 1-0 Sanchez Almeyra,J-Stranjakovitch,J/Cannes 1990 (51) ] 8...h6 9.h4 e7 [ 9...c6!? is more entertaining - the threat to gain the bishop pair with Nb4 is coupled with an idea of charging the g-pawn forward to undermine d4. 10.a3 ( 10.e5 a5+ ) 10...e7 ( 10...g5!? ) 11.bd2 g5! 12.g3 g4 13.h4 ( 13.e5 xd4 ) 13...xd4 14.d1 g8 15.e5 c6 16.c3 h5 17.g3 xh4 18.gxh4 xh4 19.e2 f4 20.f1 h3 21.c2 xf1+ 22.xf1 d6 23.e3 e5 24.d1 e7 25.f1 f3 26.g2 xg2 27.xg2 g5 0-1 Lazaridis, S-Moulin,P/ Groningen 1982. A thoughtprovoking little rout, and something to file away for future reference for ...a6 devotees. ] 10.a4 c6!? I can't help feeling I have seen this idea before, but I cannot produce any evidence to back this up. For the sacrificed pawn black gets a very nice pair of bishops and constant pressure against both white's central pawns, and on the b-file. [ 10...bxa4 11.xa4 allows white to claim a small plus - the rook supports the white c e n t r e , a n d t h e a - p a wn i s a l o n g t e r m target. ] 11.axb5 b4 12.xf6 to relieve the pressure against e4. [ 12.c3 axb5! ] 12...xf6 13.bxa6 xd3+ 14.xd3 b6 15.0-0 xa6 16.d2 0-0 17.c1 fb8 A long tactical sequence exploiting various p i n s a l o n g t h e a - f i l e i s o ve r . B l a c k h a s excellent compensation as it is very difficult to ward off the threats to white's pawns and keep the bishops from raking in and causing damage. 18.c2 b7 19.xa8 xa8 20.e5 [ 20.c3 a1+ 21.c1 xc1+ 22.xc1 xd4 23.xd4 xd4 24.c2 and black is better - strong bishop, nice compact and active position. But white's choice in the g a m e d o e s n ' t d o m u c h e xc e p t f u r t h e r expose his position. ] 20...e7 21.h3 e4 22.c1 a1 23.c3 xc1+ 24.xc1 xf3 25.gxf3 xd4 26.e1 c5 27.g2 b6 28.e3 xe3 29.fxe3 xe3 This should be a matter of

technique but black makes a very big meal of it indeed, and after prolonging white's agony to an amazing degree, he eventually lets him off the hook. 30.e2 g5 31.b4 f8 32.g3 e7 33.h4 f5 34.exf6+ xf6 35.hxg5+ hxg5 36.b5 e5 37.c3 d5 38.g4 d6 39.a4 d4 40.b6 c6 41.h5 d3 42.b2 d2 43.g6 f4 44.f6 e5 [ 44...xb6 45.xe6 c5 46.f5 d4 wins easily as white's king does not return in time. ] 45.f5 xb6 46.e4 c5 47.d3 d5 48.d1 e6 49.c3 f5 50.e2 g6 51.e4 f5 52.c5 e3 53.e4 f4 54.c3 c5 55.e4 b4 56.f2 a5 57.d3+ f5 58.f2 b6 59.e4 e3 60.c3 f4 61.d1 g6 62.e2 h5 63.e4 h4 64.xd2 xd2 65.xd2 h3 66.d3 h2 67.d2 h1 68.d1 ½-½

118 Shaw,John K Matin,Adam 4NCL [Andrew Martin]

B00 2433 2433 21.11.2004

1.e4 b6!? Why not? In actual fact the moveorder Black adopts is rather cunning. He's aiming for a Hippopotamus system but by playing ...b6 and ...Bb7 first he is trying to talk White out of aggressive systems involving f2-f4 and/ or Be3, Qd2. 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.f3 d6 5.d3 d7 6.0-0 g6 7.a4! John Shaw is a methodical, logical, classical player and he usually goes for a nagging edge with W hite rather than the quick attack. I underestimated 7 a4 and immediately made a bad move. g7? [ Of course 7...a6 is forced, I know that now. ] 8.a5 bxa5 Horrible. The more I looked at [ 8...e7 9.a6 c8 the less I liked it: 10.g5 ( 10.f4 0-0 11.d2 e5 12.h6! exd4 13.xg7 xg7 14.xd4 e5 15.f4 xd3 16.xd3 ) 10...h6 11.e3 0-0 12.d2 h7 13.fe1 The problem is that B la ck h a s n o go o d p a wn b re a ks in t h e centre, let alone the usual Modern idea of attacking and dismantling the centre as and 94

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 when necessary. I looked but I did not see. ] 9.e3 gf6 10.d2! I'm not sure how big W hite's advantage is here. It's in between substantial and life-threatening I think, and so I had to find some way to play on at the same time keeping some chances. I soon reconciled myself to the ultimate loss of the a7 pawn after that it was easier.. 0-0 11.b3 c6 [ The alternatives leave Black with nothing to do. At least in the game White has choices to make, it's still murky and he could go wrong. 11...b8 12.xa5 ] [ 11...b8 12.xa5 ] 12.xa5 c7 13.f4! These positions are so difficult to play because one is making original jud gem ent s on virtu ally e very move. Fo r instance should White take on b7 or not and then just play against the a pawn? For Shaw maybe that was the best approach although 13 f 4 cannot be wrong indeed it looks as though Black may be mated e.g. Qe1-h4 etc. Where is his counterplay coming from? [ 13.a2 fb8 14.f3 c8 15.fa1 ] 13...ab8 14.e2 a8 The first glimmer of light appears at the end of the tunnel. 15.b3 c5 16.dxc5 dxc5 17.a2 White is still playing very well and very logically too. He seems to have a total grip. I knew that playing passively would be useless and cast my eye over the position for an unusual idea. b4 18.d2 b8 The first stage is to get the big p i e c e s o u t o f e xp o s e d p o s i t i o n s . 19.c4 d5! For better or worse. At least Black is going down in flames. This came as a surprise to John Shaw. Chugging along without c o m p l i c a t i o n s wa s n o l o n ge r a n o p t i o n . 20.exd5 exd5 21.xd5 [ 21.e5 xe5 22.fxe5 d4 23.d2 dxc3 24.xc3 d5! is, I would say, unclear. Black is fighting. ] [ 21.fa1 dxc4 22.xc4 b6! ] 21...xd5 22.b3 e8 Now I was very happy. The game seemed to have utterly changed. S u d d e n ly W h i t e h a d t o m a ke a m a ss ive mental readjustment from attack to defence. Furthermore, in this inspired frame of mind, I had spotted an excellent combination. 23.d2 xc4 24.xc4 xc4!! Based on White's a wk wa r d p ie c e s. I t h i n k t h e id e a wo r ks : 25.xd7

[ 25.bxc4 xe3 transposes. ] 25...xe3! 26.bxc4 d4 27.h1 xf4! Shaw was visibly upset and who wouldn't be? The point is that he can't play 28 Rg1 due to 2 8 . . . B e 5 . T h e Q u e e n a n d Ra 2 a re ve r y remote indeed. 28.aa1 xa1 29.xa1 xc4 30.xa7 xc2-+ Some care is required in the endgame but it must be an easy win. 31.f1 c4 32.a8+ g7 33.a1+ d4 34.a7 f6 35.g1 e7 36.a1+ f6 37.h3 e2 38.h1 e5 39.a7+ h6 40.f7 e1 41.xe1 xe1+ 42.h2 e5+ 43.g3 e2+ 44.g1 d1+ 45.f2 d4+ 46.f3 c4 47.g4 [ For one horrible moment I thought I had been mated e.g. 47.f8+ g5! I'd seen this move some time ago of course but panic sets in when you are winning cleanly and the opponent gets even the slightest chance. ( 47...h5?? is the blunder of the year: 48.g4+ g5 49.h4+ xh4 50.h6# )] 47...d3+ 48.g2 g5 49.f8 e2+ 50.g3 e3+ 51.g2 c3 52.c8 h4 53.c7 xh3+ 54.f2 xg4 I will play 1... b6 again and this time with an early ...a6. What price 1 e4 b6 2 d4 Bb7 3 Nc3 ( 3 Bd3) a6!? . It's bound to gain time on the clock and the idea is the same e.g. ...d6,...Nd7 and only then ...g6,...Bg7,... Ne7 etc. 0-1

119 Shirov,Alexei Martinsen,Stig K Simul Bergen NOR (1) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2718 10.02.2001

It's not every day you get to see an offbeat defence against a very top player, and this kind of game is why - one should at least pick as reputable a line as possible. The game is not terribly interesting, but has a kind of historic appeal. 1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e6 6.d5 exd5 7.exd5 xf3 [ 7...e5 8.e2 xf3+ 9.xf3 xf3 10.xf3 e7 11.0-0-0 0-0 12.he1 e8 13.d4 d7 14.e2 c5 15.dxc6 bxc6 16.de1 d5 17.g4 ab8 18.h4 h6 19.f5 95

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf5 20.gxf5 b4 21.xe8+ xe8 22.g1 e7 23.xa7 a8 24.e3 xh4 25.xh6 xf2 26.g2 d4 27.e2 e5 28.a3 a4 29.c3 e4 30.d4 xd4 31.cxd4 f6 32.a4 f7 33.d2 d6 34.f2 xd4 35.b3 c5 36.c3 d3 37.c2 c4 38.bxc4 dxc4 39.f4 d5 40.a5 xf5 41.b2 d6 42.a6 b5+ 43.c2 b6 44.a7 a6 45.b4 e6 46.c5 b5 0-1 Rotman,DDavid,A Geneve 1996. ] 8.gxf3!?N e5 9.f4 ed7 10.f3 e7?! 11.0-0-0 a6 12.e1 d8 13.g1 g8 14.d3 e7 15.h3 c5 16.xh7 xh7 17.xh7 f8 18.f5 f6 19.h4 xh4 20.h6 f6 21.xg7 xg7 22.xg7+ xg7 23.h8+ g8 24.h6+ g7 25.f6 1-0

120 Soylu,Suat Mestrovic,Zvonimir 6th HIT Open (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2376 2417 31.01.2001

A heavyweight theoretical duel from a full-time, die-hard Nc6-er. 1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e5 6.b5 d7 7.d5 cb8 8.h3 h5 9.g4 g6 10.h4 h5 Mestrovic follower should note that his choices here are based on long experience: [ 10...h6 11.h5 h7 12.g5 a6 ( 12...hxg5 13.xg5 a6 14.g4 g8 15.e6 fxe6 16.dxe6 xe6 17.xe6+ e7 18.g6+ f7 19.xf7+ xf7 20.c4+ e8 21.d5 d8 22.g5+ c8 23.0-0-0 c5 24.f3 b5 25.f1 c6 26.h3+ b7 27.c3 d8 28.c2 de6 29.xe6 xe6 30.dg1 h7 31.d2 c6 32.e3 f4 33.f5 e8 34.xf4 exf4 35.h4 d5 36.xf4 dxe4 37.fxe4 xh5 38.xg7+ xg7 39.d6+ b6 40.xe8 h2+ 41.b1 h6 42.f1 e2 43.d6 a5 44.f5 g5 45.g1 e3 46.g6 c5 47.e6 c7 48.e5 e4 49.c2 d7 50.d3 e1 51.d4 d1+ 52.e4 e1+ 53.f5 f1+ 54.e4 e1+ 55.f5 f1+ 56.g6 e1 57.f6 f1+ 58.g6 e1 59.a3 b4 60.axb4 axb4 61.f7 e4 62.b3 b6 63.cxb4 xb4 64.f6 e4 65.e6+ c7 66.f3 e3 67.d2 xd2

68.e7 c5 69.e8 xe8 70.xe8 c6 71.d3 b4 72.d8 c4 73.f7 c5 74.e6 c3 75.b3 a5 76.a8 c7 77.a4 b5 78.c4 d8 79.d5 g5 80.e4 c2 81.xc2 b4 82.b2 c3 83.b1 e7 84.d5 a3 85.c6 c2 86.b4 1/2-1/2 Jonkman,H-Mestrovic,Z Wijk aan Zee 1999.) 13.f1 b5 14.a3 c5 15.g6 fxg6 16.hxg6 xg6 17.xc5 dxc5 18.xe5 g5 19.xg6 xg6 20.h3 e7 21.f5 g5 22.h5+ xh5 23.xh5 d7 24.g6+ d8 25.e5 g5 26.e4 f4 27.f5 xe5 28.0-0-0 f8 29.xc5 xf5 30.e6+ e7 31.xf5 f6 32.h3 b6 33.f4 d6 34.f5 g8 35.c3 h5 36.c2 c4 37.g1 e3+ 38.d3 xd5 39.g6+ e5 40.g2 e7 41.xg7 xg7 42.xg7 h4 43.h3 d5 44.e6 b6 45.g5 e7 46.e6 d6 47.b3 d7 48.c4 e5+ 49.c3 bxc4 50.bxc4 c5 51.f4 f3 52.d3 g5 53.g6 a5 54.a4 g1 55.g2 h3 56.d5 h2 57.g2 h3 58.e2 f6 59.f3 g1+ 60.g3 e2+ 61.xh2 c3 62.g3 xa4 63.e4 c3 64.c2 a4 65.f3 a3 66.b3 a2 67.xa2 xa2 68.f8 b4 69.e4 c6 70.e6 e5 71.f4 xc4 72.xc5 xc5 73.e4 e5 74.e3 d5 75.f4 d4 76.g3 e3 77.g2 d3 78.g3 f2 79.g2 e4 80.f1 d2 81.g2 e2 82.g1 f3 83.f1 h4 84.f6 f2 0-1 Medvegy,NMestrovic,Z Budapest 1999. ] 11.g5 e7 And here is the sensible new move. Black reserves the option of kicking the Bb5 with ...c6. [ 11...a6 12.f1 b5 13.d2 e7 14.g1 c8 15.a4 b4 16.a2 b7 17.c3 a5 18.cxb4 axb4 19.b5 0-0 20.xb4 c5 21.f3 h7 22.b3 f5 23.e2 g8 24.0-0-0 f4 25.xc5 dxc5 26.c6 d6 27.c4 d7 28.g2 f7 29.h3 e8 30.g2 a8 31.a2 b8 32.6xe5 xe5 33.xe5 f5 34.exf5 xe5 35.f6 d7 36.xd7 a5 37.c2 b4 38.e6 c3 39.xf7+ 1-0 Piket,J-Mestrovic,Z Sremic Krsko 1998. ] 12.g1 c6 13.dxc6 [ 13.f1!? must be more testing - taking on c6 seems illogical. cxd5 14.xd5 c6 15.h3 ] 13...bxc6 14.e2 c7 15.d2 c5! 96

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xc5 dxc5 17.c4 d7 18.d3 b6 T h e d 4 s qu a r e give s b la c k co u n t e r p l a y. 19.g3 xc4 20.xc4 d8 21.d3 0-0 22.d1?! c4 23.xc4 d4 24.e3 a5+ 25.c3 xe4 26.e2?! [ 26.d1 ] 26...b8 27.b3 a6+ 28.f3 c5 29.ge1 e8 30.ad1 xe3 31.fxe3 g4 32.h2 e4+ 33.f2 c5!? Preferring to attack to winning the queen, when white can hit f 7 a n d ge t s a b it o f p e a ce a n d qu ie t . 34.d5 xd5 35.xd5 e6 36.e4 c4 37.d2 f5 38.e3 fxe4-+ 39.e2 f4 40.d1 a6 41.e2 xa2 42.e1 ef8 43.d1 xh4 44.g2 g4 45.g3 xg3 46.xg3 xb2 0-1

121 Sprenger,Jan Michael Ristic,Alexandre Open Metz FRA (3) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2326 2155 09.04.2001

1.e4 a6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.c3 [ 4.c4 d8 5.f3 f6 6.e2 e6 7.0-0 c5 8.e3 cxd4 9.xd4 e7 10.c3 0-0 11.c2 bd7 12.fd1 c7 13.h3 b6 14.ac1 b7 15.a3 ac8 16.b4 b8 17.a2 a8 18.f1 e5 19.a4 d8 20.f4 g6 21.g5 b8 22.xf6 gxf6 23.c5 b5 24.c3 h8 25.ce2 d5 26.d2 e5 27.c3 c7 28.g3 cd8 29.e1 f4 30.xf4 xf4 31.de2 g6 32.d1 f5 33.h5 c4 34.cc1 e5 35.xd8 xd8 36.c3 xc3 37.xc4 d2 38.c2 bxc4 39.xc4 e5 40.c2 c6 41.f1 h6 42.f4 g7 43.g4 fxg4 44.hxg4 g8 45.g2 f8 46.g3 d3+ 47.h4 h6 48.f5 c3 49.e2 d4 50.f4 d1 51.e3 d2 52.e4 xf4 53.xf4 h1+ 54.g3 e2+ 55.g2 xf4+ 56.xh1 e5 57.g1 d5 0-1 Martin, AGorbatow,A Schwarzach 1999. ] 4...d6 Most games reach this position via the Scandinavian/Centre Counter move order (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 a6) so one could argue that we are straying out of our territory a bit. It is worth doing a quick mention nonetheless, and I know that as

esteemed a personage as David Bronstein has toyed with the black side of this system, though I could not locate games of his that I am sure I saw with my own eyes... [ 4...d8 5.f3 f6 6.g5 e6 7.d3 e7 8.e2 c6 9.d1 b4 10.0-0 xd3 11.xd3 0-0 12.fd1 c6 13.e5 d5 14.xe7 xe7 15.g3 xc3 16.bxc3 f6 17.d3 d6 18.e3 b6 19.f3 a5 20.f2 a6 21.e1 fe8 22.b1 ab8 23.e4 c7 24.d2 d6 25.e4 c7 26.d2 d6 27.e4 1/2-1/2 Timoshchenko,GGorbatow,A Arco 1999. ] 5.ge2 [ 5.c4 f6 6.ge2 b5 7.b3 b7 8.f4 d7 9.0-0 e6 10.d3 c5 11.dxc5 xc5 12.g3 0-0 13.ad1 c6 14.e5 h8 15.f4 bd7 16.d3 xe5 17.xe5 e8 18.e2 e4 19.h3 d8 20.c3 xd1 21.xd1 f6 22.d3 a7 23.b3 e5 24.b4 a5 25.d5 xf2 26.xf2 c8 27.h4 g5 28.h6 axb4 29.cxb4 e7 30.a3 d8 31.c3 e6 32.f1 xf2 33.xe6 xe6 34.xf2 g8 35.g1 b6+ 36.f1 d4 37.h3 f4+ 38.e1 f2+ 39.d1 f1+ 0-1 Wegener,D-Mozes, E Budapest 1993. ] 5...b5!? [ 5...g4 6.h3 f5 7.f4 d8 8.g3 g6 9.f3 c6 10.0-0-0 f6 11.d5 This does not look worth repeating for black. b8 12.d3 bd7 13.he1 xd3 14.xd3 c5 15.d2 d7 16.d6 cxd6 17.xd6 c8 18.xf6 gxf6 19.d5 e6 20.xe6 fxe6 21.h5+ d8 22.b6 c6 23.xa8 xg2 24.c7 g1+ 25.d2 xf2+ 26.e2 e5 27.e6+ d7 28.e3 g2 29.c5+ c7 30.f7 g8 31.e6+ d6 32.c5+ d7 33.xf8+ xf8 34.d5+ c7 35.e6 d8+ 36.e3 d7 37.xe7 xe7 38.xe7 e8 39.xf6 e6 40.g7 e7 41.f6 e6 42.g7 1/2-1/2 Drasko,M-Gorbatow,A Arco 1999. ] [ 5...f6 6.f4 d8 7.g3 e6 8.g2 d6 9.d2 bd7 10.0-0-0 b6 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 d5 13.e5 f6 14.g2 xe5 15.dxe5 xd2+ 16.xd2 g4 17.f4 b8 18.f3 h5 19.h3 e3 20.d3 f5 21.hd1 e7 22.c3 c6 23.cd3 f6 24.h4 a5 25.a4 a8 26.e4 h6 27.f3 f7 28.e3 d7 29.d4 fxe5 30.fxe5 97

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 af8 31.e2 g5 32.hxg5 fg8 33.f4 xg5 34.e2 h4 35.gxh4 xh4 36.f1 h6 37.d3 b6 38.b3 c5 39.f4 c6 40.d2 h2 41.e1 h6 42.f2 g1+ 43.d2 gg2 44.xg2 xg2 45.d1 f5 46.e1 f3+ 47.c1 d4 48.xf3 xf3 49.d1 e2 50.b2 d4 51.c1 d7 52.b1 c6 53.b2 b5 54.axb5+ xb5 55.c3 h2 56.b2 c4 57.bxc4+ xc4 58.e1 e2 59.a1 c6 60.d3 b4 61.xb4 xb4 62.h1 xe5 63.h4+ c5 64.c3 d5 65.b3 e5 66.c3 d6 67.c4+ d5 68.a4 a6 69.c2 c5 70.b3 a8 71.c4+ d5 72.a4 e4 73.c2 e5 74.d2 f4 75.e2 c8 76.xa5 xc3 77.a6 c2+ 78.d1 b2 79.a3 f2 80.e1 f3 81.a8 b3 82.h8 a3 83.e2 a2+ 84.e1 a3 85.e2 1/2-1/2 Ghinda,M-Sygulski,A Potsdam 1985. ] 6.f4 d7 7.a4 b4 8.e4 f6 9.2g3 xe4 10.xe4 d5 11.f3 c6 12.xc7 xd4 13.b6 [ 13.c3 bxc3 14.bxc3 c6 ] 13...e5 14.c3 bxc3 15.bxc3 f5 16.d2 e6 17.a5 f4 [ 17...c5 18.c4! ] 18.c4 c6 [ 18...d3+ 19.f1 d6 20.b3 ] 19.0-0 c5+ 20.xc5 xc5+ 21.h1 e6 22.b3 e7 23.g3 [ 23.b6!? ] 23...ab8 24.a3 xa3 25.xa3 b2 26.xe6 xe6 27.c4 ½-½

W ith a dynamic posting thanks to the p re m a t u r e d 4 -d 5 . 10.c3 0-0 11.a4 Pushing the bishop away but at the cost of a misplaced knight. d6 12.e3 At this point, White may well have had plans of a queenside pawn expansion, but he isn't given time to consolidate... cxd5 Ivanov has a combination in mind but I wonder if [ 12...e7 is b e t t e r e . g . 13.ac1 cxd5 14.cxd5 xd5! 15.exd5 e4 with a good game. ] 13.cxd5 xd5!? Aiming to simplify and damage White's centre. The piece is regained, but does this lose a pawn? 14.exd5 e4 15.c3?! Unambitious. The attempt at refutation involves [ 15.xe4 xe4 16.xb6! when Black has some play for the pawn but nothing concrete e.g. axb6 ( or 16...e7 17.fe1 fe8 18.e3 b4 19.ed1 ) 17.xe4 e8 18.d4 f4 19.c3 ] 15...exf3 16.xf3 e5 17.e2 eg4! [ After 17...xd3 18.xd3 g4 19.h3 xe3 20.xe3 I would also prefer Black slightly, but the text leaves an extra pair of minor pieces on the board and thus enables Black to gain more pressure. ] 18.h3 xe3 19.xe3 e8 20.f3 e5 21.ac1 c8 Opposite bishops are often misunderstood. The standard obsession with drawish endgames masks the fact that with oth er p ie ces o n th e b oa rd t hey can b e a powerful force for the player with the initiative. Here dark-square play is more relevant as W hite's isolated d-pawn (stuck on a light square) is more of a liability than an asset. Indeed the simple plan of ...Rc5 and ...Qc7 122 B00 p u t s i t ' s l i f e i n i m m i n e n t d a n g e r . 22.a6 Stein,Alex 2362 Not an ideal square, but at least in this way Ivanov,Alexander 2590 White holds onto the d-pawn. c5 23.fd1 Cutting the bishop off from the rest of 7th Foxwoods Open (5) 25.03.2005 b5! W hite's forces. 24.d6 Enabling the queen to [Glenn Flear] come to the rescue. [ 24.xb5?? xc3 ] 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 f6 4.e2 c6 [ 24.xb5 is possible but Black then obtains 5.c3 e5 6.d5 An imprecision which already a strong initiative with xc1 25.xc1 a5 suggests that W hite was not prepared for 26.a3 d2! ] Black's opening. [ After 6.f3 d6 W h a t e l s e ? 7.d5 24...a5 25.b7? Right square, wrong piece. Black's dark-squared bishop cannot be Better is [ 25.b7 e.g. b4 26.e4 xc1 27.xc1 developed outside of the pawn chain. ] when although Black has good chances to 6...e7 7.f3 g6 8.0-0 c6! 9.c4 c5 98

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pick off a pawn in the complications, there would then be opposite bishops.. .. Naturally one shouldn't get 'obsessed' with the idea, but you never know, they could offer drawing chances to White! ] 25...c6! 26.xb5 b6 27.c7 xb5! Two pieces for the rook is adequate for the win. [ N o t h o w e v e r 27...xc3? 28.xd7! and W hite's d-pawn would be converted from a burden into a decisive passed pawn. ] 28.xb5 xb5 29.xa7 xb2 30.a4 b4! [ Instead 30...xd6 is also not bad, but the t e x t l e a d s t o a d e c i s i ve w e a k e n i n g o f White's kingside. ] 31.a5 f4 32.g3 f3 33.e3 a8! A great square combining attack with the slowing down of the a-pawn. 34.a3 e4 35.a6 g5! Now it becomes clear why provoking g2-g3 was so important. The lightsquares around white's king are indefensible. 36.f4 d4+ 37.xd4 f3+ 38.f2 xd4 The threat of ...Re2+ is too strong. 39.e1? Resigning before playing this move is less humiliating. 0-1

36.e3 a5 37.a3 g6 38.f2 h5 39.f4 g4 40.h4 f5 ½-½

124 Ter Sahakyan,S Petrosian,TL 74th ch-ARM 2014 (9.4) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2574 2654 21.01.2014

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.c3 f6 4.d4 e5!? A ve ry un u su al ch oice, a t t his p oin t, b u t certainly a reasonable option. Black transposes to a sideline of the Scotch Four Knights (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 and now 4...d6!?). However the move order from the Nimzovich, as here, looks more logical! [ By opting for 4...g6 Black seeks a type of Pirc Defence. The knight on c6 (so early) is slightly unusual, but White's 'classical' setup isn't particularly aggressive. 5.e3 g7 6.d2 g4 7.e2 0-0 8.0-0 d5!? 9.exd5 xd5 10.xd5 xd5 11.h3 f5 12.c4 a5 Bjornsson, Si-Kristjansson, St Icelandic league 2013, lef t W hite with only a tiny space advantage. ] [ The main line here is 4...g4 5.e3 e6 123 B00 6.h3 when White is able to keep a pull e.g. h5 7.d5 exd5 8.exd5 e5 9.g4 xf3+ Teixeira,Ricardo da Silva 2341 10.xf3 g6 11.0-0-0 e7 12.d4 Lima,Darcy 2525 ( White has also scored well with the plan of 67th ch Teresina BRA (8) 14.12.2000 12.g2 followed by f2-f4) 12...h6 13.h4 [Jon Tisdall] Kapnisis, S-Papadatos, I Paleochora 2013. ] Avoiding ...Bg4 and thus maintaining a A solid and uninspired Hippopotamus - worth 5.h3 c o m p a r i n g wi t h t h e e f f o rt s o f M i l e s a n d space edge. e7 [ Here 5...exd4 makes sense (after White McShane. A good illustration of how even the h a s s p e n t a t e m p o o n t h e s lo w h 2 - h 3 ) oddest of openings can look distinctly 6.xd4 and then g6 gives a dynamic game respectable if enough care is exercised by that could have transposed from a Scotch, both sides. 1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 a Philidor, or Three Knights opening! The 4.ge2 d6 5.g3 g6 6.g2 g7 7.e3 d7 8.d2 h6 9.h4 h5 10.0-0-0 e7 11.f3 b8 following involves both sides playing principled moves: 7.g4! g7 8.de2 h5! 12.f4 a6 13.g4 f6 14.gxh5 xh5 9.g5 h7 10.f4 f6 11.h4 fxg5 12.hxg5 15.xh5 xh5 16.e2 h7 17.f4 d7 g4 Vajda, L-Lu Shanglei, Golden Sands 18.h5 gxh5 19.xh5 h8 20.xg7 xh1 2012, with chances for both sides. ] 21.xh1 xg7 22.f1 h8 23.xh8 xh8 24.c4 h1 25.g2 xg2 26.xg2 d5 6.d5 [ 6.b5!? looks more like it originated from a 27.cxd5 exd5 28.h3+ d8 29.e5 c8 Spanish, Old Steinitz Variation, e.g. 1.e4 e5 30.f1 f5 31.g5+ d7 32.h3 c6 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 etc). d7 7.d5 b8 33.xf5 xf5 34.d2 b5 35.c3 c5 99

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.xd7+ ( if W hite retreats with 8.d3 B l a c k c a n h i t b a c k a n y w a y w i t h c6 ) 8...bxd7 9.e3 c6 10.d3 a5 11.0-0 cxd5 12.exd5 0-0 13.d2 a6 14.a4 fc8= Sredojevic, I-Todorovic, GN Serbian league 2011. ] 6...b8 7.g3!? White breaks new ground already! [ Other moves have been tried here, but it certainly isn't clear where the light-squared bishop is best placed. Here is an example: 7.e3 c5 8.dxc6!? (I might have been tempted to leave the structure intact and play a sort of Old Benoni with a space edge) bxc6 9.c4 0-0 10.0-0 a6 11.xa6 xa6 12.e2 c8 13.ad1 c7= Nanu, C-Rasinaru, G Deva 1998. ] 7...0-0 8.g2 c6 9.dxc6 bxc6 10.0-0 bd7 11.b3 A second fianchetto by White in an erstwhile classical opening is a rare o c c u rre n c e . c5 12.e1 e8= 13.b2 I'm not a great fan of placing a bishop on b2 against the d6-e5 wall, especially as f2-f4 looks a long way off. Nevertheless, it essentially stops Black seeking any pawn breaks, so the players both go into m a n o e u vrin g m o d e . b8 14.e2 f8 15.ad1 c7 16.e3 a5 17.a3 b7 18.h2 bd8 19.g4 Not really worrying. xg4 20.hxg4 c8 21.g5 g4 22.f3 h3 23.g2 h5 24.c1 [ More enterprising than offering a repetition with 24.f3 but also suggesting that b2 wasn't such a great square after all. ] 24...e7 25.f4!? The tension mounts as W h i t e go e s f o r ki n g sid e e xp a n si o n . e6 26.f2?! [ A f t e r t h e m o r e s o l i d 26.e2 xe2 27.xe2 chances would have been balanced, but as W hite isn't then going anywhere on the kingside this wouldn't have been a very coherent follow-up to his previous move. ] 26...f6!? It's a wise idea to nibble away at White's pawns before he gets settled. [ However it might have been better to have gone about this task in a diff erent way: 26...exf4 27.gxf4 h6! as 28.gxh6 dro ps m ate rial t o h4 29.e2 c5+ 30.e3 xe1 ] 27.gxf6 xf6 28.f5 g5?!

[ More natural is occupying the outpost with 28...d4! ] 29.e2 f7 30.a4 White has the 'threat' of playing c2-c4 with a bind, so Black is 'honour bound' to pre-empt this with his next move. d5! 31.c5 c8 32.e3 h6 33.c4! Forcing Black's hand. d4!? A committal move, b u t o n e t h a t sh o u ld b e go o d e n o u gh f o r equality. 34.c1 a7 35.d3 c5 36.a4!? A safe positional choice. White stabilizes the queenside and now prepares to lay siege to c5, noting that e5 and a5 will also require attention from his opponent. On the other hand, b3 and e4 will remain W hite's weak spots. [ 36.b4 axb4 37.axb4 cxb4 38.xb4 is more double-edged. ] 36...b6 37.c2 b7 38.e2 b8 39.a3 c6!? Sharpening the struggle. [ After 39...ec8 40.b1 I can't see how either player would be able to make progress. ] 40.b1 xa4 41.xc5 b7 42.d6!? [ Possibly 42.b4 xb3 43.xb3 axb4 44.c5!? when I think that White's pieces are slightly better than his opponent's, although m y co m p u t e r o n ly c o n sid e rs t h is t o b e equal. ] 42...xb3 43.c1 c6? Sacrificing the exchange, but not in the best manner. [ Promising is 43...bc8!? 44.a3 ( after 44.c5 xc5 45.xc5 a4 White may miss his knight) 44...a4 45.c5 ( 45.xa4 xa4 46.xb7 xc4 leaves Black a clear pawn ahead ) 45...xc5 46.xc5 c8 and Black has excellent compensation for the exch a n ge , e sp e cia lly a s t h e d -p a wn is mobile. ] 44.xb8 xb8 45.c5 a4 46.eb2 b5 47.f1 The presence of the knight on d3 (rather than a bishop, see the previous note) limits Black's options. So it seems that White is the one seeking a way to make progress. c8 48.d1!? b8 49.c1! xd1? Not good. [ However 49...xc5 50.xb3 axb3 51.xb3 looks prospectless for Black. ] 50.xb5 xb5 51.xb5 f8 52.b7 The c-pawn is going to be more dangerous than the a-pawn, although having the only rook helps! e8 53.d3 c2 54.c6 xd3 100

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 55.b8+ e7 56.c7 a6 57.c8 xc8 58.xc8 Ter Sahakyan has noticed that the apawn is going to drop. d6 59.f2 a3 60.a8 c5 61.xa3 b4 62.a7 c5 63.e2 b6 64.a1 There is no immediate breakthrough, so W hite will have to think something up on the light squares. This will involve improving all his pieces one after another. f7 65.d3 d6 66.b1+ c5 67.f3 b5 68.h5 c3 69.b2 a4 70.b1 d6 71.f3 c6 72.c1+ b5 73.b1+ c6 74.b4 c5+ 75.c4 d7 76.h5 b6+ 77.d3 c5 78.b1 a4 79.e8 Finally the bishop is ready to take on a more active role, thus limiting Black's knight to a certain extent. c3 80.a1 b4 81.c6 c5 82.d5!? b4 [ 82...xd5? makes life easy for White after 83.a5+ ] 83.a8 d1 84.b8+ c5 85.c8+ b4 86.c4+ b5 There is no apparent Zugzwang and no pawn breaks available, so White will need all three pieces to squeeze away at Black's king. This takes time, indeed, lo t s o f t i m e ! 87.c2 g5 88.c7 f6 89.b7+ c5 90.b1 f2+ 91.e2 g4 92.b3 g5 93.c2 c4 94.b7 f6 95.c7+ b5 96.d3+ b6 97.d7 e3 98.d2 c6 99.a7 g4 100.c2 f2 101.a1 g5 102.a6+ b7 103.e6 f6 104.e2 h1 [ 104...xe4?? 105.f3 ] 105.g4 It was 44 moves since the last pawn mo ve , s o it wa s a bo ut tim e! No w h e h a s another 50 moves to try and make further inroads. f2 106.f3 c7 107.a6 e7 [ More natural is 107...b7 ] 108.a7+ d6 109.b3 f6 110.c4 The king is advancing up the board. This finally feels like progress. c6 111.a6+ b7 112.a2 h3 113.g2 f4 114.f1 b6 115.a1 e7 116.a8 b7 117.a5 f6 118.b5 e7 119.a2 f6 120.a1 c7 121.c1+ d6 122.b6 d8+ 123.b7 e7?! [ Better is 123...f6! 124.c6+ ( 124.c8!? ) 124...e7 125.c4 d7 126.b5 e7 127.c7 and White probes away, but hasn't found a chink in the armour...yet! ] 124.c8 Black is now too tangled and soon

drops the e-pawn. e8 125.b5+ e7 126.c5 b6 [ After 126...d6 127.c6+ e7 128.a6 Black is in Zugzwang. ] 127.xe5+ For the record, it was 66 moves s i n c e W h i t e l a s t c a p t u r e d a p a w n ! d6 128.e8 d3 129.e5+ d5 130.f6 gxf6 131.exf6 d2 A race, but one that Black will not win. 132.a4 c5 133.d7! [ Less clear is 133.f7 g6 134.b3+ d4 135.d7 f8+ as White's king doesn't have an easy route to the kingside. ] 133...g6 The f8-square is covered, but Black's knight is not comfortable here. 134.b3+ d4 135.e6 f4+ 136.f7 Now Kf7-g7xh6 is a threat. g2 137.d1 e3 138.f3 d3 [ 138...d1 goes down to 139.xd1 xd1 140.d8+ ] 139.g6 d1 140.d8+ d4 141.xd1 c4 [ 141...xd1 142.f7 ] 142.e2+ Time to call it a day! 1-0

125 Therkildsen,Thomas Philippe,Christophe IM Le Touquet FRA (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2108 2357 31.10.2001

1.e4 c6 2.f3 f5 3.exf5 d5 4.h4 The attempt at outright refutation option. This generally leads to massive chaos and black's outnumbered forces very active. Despite this, I have a feeling a cool head should be able to t a ke t h e m o n e y a n d ru n , b u t p ro vid e a n overview of games in the line to help arm potential players of either side of this line. e5 5.h5+ g6 6.fxg6 f6 7.g5 [ 7.g7+ xh5 8.gxh8 xh4 A) 9.c3 f5 10.g3 d4 11.e2 0-0-0 12.b5 e4 13.f3 xc2 14.g8 a6 15.d1 c5 16.f7 d7 17.xh5 axb5 18.a3 d4 19.g5 e4 20.e3 g7 21.fxe4 e8 22.d3 dxe4 23.dxe4 h3 24.d2 xb2 25.c3 xe4 26.xb2 xe3+ 27.e2 e7 28.d1 b4 29.axb4 xb4 30.a8+ d7 31.h8 f5 32.f1 g6 33.f3 e7 34.d3 f7 35.f5+ 101

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 59.e8+ d7 60.e3 g2+ 61.f7 d6 36.xh7 d5 37.d3 e1+ 38.c2 g1 62.d3+ c7 63.f8 f1 64.f7 e2+ 39.c1 e1+ 40.d1 e2 g1 65.d5 c6 66.d4 c7 67.e7 41.d7+ 1-0 Lambert, A-Mueller,H GER e1+ 68.f6 f1+ 69.e6 c6 1996.; 70.c4+ b7 71.c5 1-0 Lalic,S-Toll,A B) 9.b5 e4+ 10.f1 f4 ( 10...h3 St Heliers 1997.; 11.g1 0-0-0!? ) 11.f3 f5 12.d4 g6 C2) 10...d8 11.g3 ( 11.d3 f4 13.xh7 xc2 14.c3 f5 15.xd5 12.g8 e8 13.xf4 xf4 14.a3 d1+ 16.f2 xd4+ 17.e3 0-0-0 e6 15.g3 xa3 16.xf4 exf4 18.d1 c5 19.xd8+ xd8 20.c4 17.bxa3 xc2+ 18.d2 xa1 19.e2 d4 21.h5 e7 22.e1 d7 23.h7 d4 20.f3 d7 21.xa1 h8 22.e1 ec6 24.e4 b4+ 25.e2 d6 26.a3 c5 23.e4 f8 24.e5 d6 25.g5 d4+ 27.f2 c5 28.b4 b6 29.b2 b5 26.g6 e5 27.g7 f7 28.g8 1-0 Samoilov,I-Ferencz,I Budapest 1998.; c4 29.b8 a6 30.a8 c7 31.xa6 C) 9.xh7 d4 10.g6+ ( 10.c3!? c3+ 32.c2 xa2 33.h6 b3+ g4? 11.xd5 f5 12.xh5+ xh5 34.c1 a7 35.d1 xa3 36.h5+ 13.f6+ e7 14.xh5 xc2+ 15.d1 d6 37.xb3 xb3 38.f5 b2 xa1 16.d3 a5 17.g5+ f7 18.e2 39.xf4 e5 40.f8 b4 41.b8 xf2 e6 19.a3 b3 20.g3 c5 21.e3 42.xb4 xg2 43.b5+ f4 44.h5 d4 22.c2 a6 23.e4 c6+ 24.b1 f2 0-1 Pavasovic,D-Gross,G Bled d5 25.f3 xe4 26.xe4 b6 1995. ) 11...g4 12.xg4 xg4 13.d3 27.d5+ e7 28.xb3 xb3 29.xd4 ( 13.g2 xc2+ 14.f1 xa1 exd4 30.c2 b5 31.e1+ f7 32.e4 15.xd5 c6-+ 16.g2 f5 17.c3 d5 33.h4 c5 34.a4 f5 35.f3 f8 d3+ 18.g1 c2 19.e4 e1 36.b3 f7 37.c4 1-0 Salmensuu,O20.xd3 xd3 21.g2 f6 22.f3 c5 Porrasmaa,T Helsinki 1997.; 10.d3?! e4 23.h4 e7 24.g4 g8 25.h5 xh5 11.g6+ d8 12.g8 e7 13.b3 e6 26.xh5 f4+ 27.h2 xh5 28.gxh5 14.a3+ d7 15.h7+ g7 16.c3 f5 h8 29.d3 xh5+ 30.g2 d4 17.g3 g4 18.h3 f3 19.xh5 xh5 31.e2 e6 32.f4 h8 33.fxe5 xe5 20.g4 xg4 0-1 Berg,E-Johansson,R 34.f3 d5 35.f4+ xf4 36.xf4 a5 Stockholm 1994. ) 37.e2 b5 38.a3 h3 39.e3 h2+ C1) 10...e7 11.d3 f4 12.xf4 40.f2 c5 41.e3 a4 42.f3 c4 ( 12.g3 f6 13.d1 f5 14.f3 43.dxc4+ xc4 0-1 Sorsa,N-Kiik,K Pori h4 15.g3 f5 16.f3 h4 17.g3 1997. ) 13...e4 14.c3 f3+ 15.f1 1/2-1/2 McAleer,J-Toll,A Viborg 1996.) h3+ 16.e2 g2 17.d1 exd3+ 12...xf4 13.c3 xc2+ 14.d1 b4 18.xd3 d7 19.c2 e8 20.d3 15.g3 d4 16.e3 g4+ 17.e2 e1+ h6 18.xd4 xe2+ 19.xe2 exd4 C2a) 21.d2 h6+ 22.f4 20.xd4 f8 21.e2 g7 22.f3 d6 C2a1) 22...xf4 23.xe1 xe1 23.hd1 c5 24.a3 c6 25.ac1 xb2 ( 23...h3+ 24.c2 ) 24.gxf4!; 26.b1 xa3 27.xb7 b4 28.h4 a5 C2a2) 22...f3+ 23.c2 xh2; 29.a1 e8+ 30.f1 c3 31.a2 d4 C2b) 21.b3 f3 22.d2 h6 23.d4 32.b6+ c7 33.g6 xf3 34.gxf3 xd2 24.xd2 d1+ 0-1 Jahr,Uh8 35.e2 d7 36.ee6 xh4 Poethig,H Germany 1982. ] 37.a6 h1+ 38.g2 h8 39.a7+ [ 7.d1 c5 8.g7 g8 9.e2 xg7 c8 40.f4 b8 41.f7 d8 42.f5 b4 10.h5+ f8 11.d4 xd4 12.h6 43.b6+ a8 44.f6 c4 45.dxc4 d4 1 / 2 - 1 / 2 R o d r i g u e z L o p e z, R - F e r e n c z , I 46.a6+ b8 47.c5 xc5 48.xa5 Budapest 1998. An odd result since xb2-+ d5 49.f3 d3 50.xc5 xc5 51.e3 seems to win. ] f5 52.xd3 xf2 53.e4 c8 54.e5 d8 55.f8+ d7 56.a8 7...c5 [ 7...e7? 8.b5 d6 9.b3 b4 10.xc6+ e2+ 57.f5 f2+ 58.g6 e6 102

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bxc6 11.0-0 h6 12.g7 g8 13.g6+ d8 14.f3 a6 15.xe5 1-0 Vidarsson,J-Ulvin, D Gausdal 1988. ] 8.d3 [ 8.d4!? xd4 Black loses some of his initiative by not having the threat/option of playing the N to d4 later, so perhaps the m o r e d r a s t i c ( 8...xd4!? should be considered, when 9.xe5+ d7 10.d1 e8 is interesting.) 9.d3 e4 10.e2 e6 ( 10...g8!? ) 11.c3 hxg6 12.b5 e5 13.xg6 g8 14.h6 xg6 15.xg6+ f7 16.f5 a6 17.c3 d6 18.f4 exf3 19.xf3 ( 19.xf3 ) 19...d4 20.d3 e6 21.e3 f5 22.xd4 xd4 23.xd4 c5 24.xf6 xf6 25.0-0-0 d4 26.d5 g5+ 27.b1 0-0-0 28.h4 xc2+ 29.xc2 f5+ 30.c1 xd5 31.xd5 xd5 32.h5 xa2 33.h6 d3 34.h7 c4+ 35.d2 c2+ 36.e3 e2+ 37.f4 f2+ 38.e4 e2+ 39.d5 xg2+ 40.xc5 c2+ 41.d4 xb2+ 42.xd3 1/2-1/2 Brendel,O-Gross,G Germany 1996. ] 8...d4 [ 8...e7!? 9.e2 d7 ( 9...g8!? ) 10.0-0 ( 10.f5?? xf5 11.xf5 d4 ) 10...0-0-0 11.f5 e6 12.g7 he8 13.h6 e7 14.c3 d4 15.h5 xh5 16.xh5 c6 17.e3 xc2 18.ac1 b4 19.xa7 xd3 20.b6 f4 21.f7 xh6 22.xd5 e2+ 23.h1 e6 24.xe7+ xe7 25.f8 ee8 26.f3 xc1 27.a3 xa2 28.d6 e6 0-1 Jurkovic, A-Tribuiani,R Nereto 1998. Presumably black lost rather than white losing on time in this position. ] 9.d1 [ 9.xe5+!? d7 ( 9...e7 10.xe7+ xe7 11.d1 g4 12.e3 xe3+ 13.fxe3 g4+ 14.d2 ) 10.d1 e8 11.f4 and black has yet to justify his sacrifices. By comparison to the note above in Brendel-Gross, black has a pawn less and no access to e4. ] 9...d6 10.c3 c6 11.e2 e6 12.g7 g8 13.h6 e7 14.g5 d7 15.h5+ d8 16.h3?! xh5 17.xe7+ xe7 18.xh5 xg7 Black's lead in development is uncomfortable for white. 19.g4 f6 20.d2 f8 21.f1?? [ 21.hf3 ] 21...g5 22.xh7+ f7-+ 23.g6+ xg6

24.h5 h6 0-1

126 Tian Tian Bordas,Gyula FSIMB December (1) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2224 2186 02.12.2000

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.h3 h5 8.d5 exd5 9.exd5 xf3 10.xf3 e5 This kind of position is quite solid for black if white has committed his king to castling short. 11.e2 0-0 12.e3 a6 [ 12...c5 13.a4 a6 14.b1 d7 15.c4 ae8 16.c3 d8 17.a5 g6 18.b1 c8 19.e1 d7 20.d3 f6 21.c2 e5 22.f3 g3 23.xg6 hxg6 24.e2 e5 25.f2 f6 26.g4 h5 27.gxh5 xh3 28.e4 h2+ 29.h1 g3+ 30.g1 f5 31.e6 h2+ 32.h1 gxh5 33.ae1 e5+ 34.g1 xe6 35.dxe6 h2+ 36.h1 f4+ 37.g1 f6 38.g3 g6 0-1 Spisak,CPrzewoznik,J Lubniewice 1995. ] 13.d4 fd7 14.f4 c5 15.dxc6 xc6 16.f2 f6 17.a3 d5 18.f3 c7 19.xd5 xd5 20.xd5 xf4 21.b6 e5 22.e1 xb2 23.b1 xa3 24.xc6 bxc6 25.b3 d6 26.d3 b4 27.b3 c5+ 28.h1 c4 29.a5 ae8 30.xe8 xe8 31.d3 h6 32.d2 b8 33.h2 e7 34.c3 g5 35.e2 e6 36.f1 b5 37.f3 e7 38.d3 d6+ 39.xd6 xd6+ 40.g1 b1+ 41.f2 c1 42.d3 xc2+ 43.f3 c5 44.g4 f2+ 45.e4 e2+ 46.f3 e8 47.h4 e6 48.g5 hxg5 49.hxg5 d6 50.e4 xd3 51.xd3 h7 0-1

127 Tkachiev,Vladislav Minasian,Artashes op Cannes [Alexander Volzhin]

B00 2575 2540 1995

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 f6 4.c3 e6 5.f3 b4 6.g5 h6 7.xf6 xf6 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 d6 10.d2 e5! The main line. 103

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 As we have seen in previous games Black's attempts to deviate from it are hardly s u f f i c i e n t . 11.f4 exd4 The most popular continuation. 12.e5 dxe5 13.fxe5 [ 13.h5 the main alterna tive, was played in Ionescu - Smyslov, Sochi 1986. However, in my opinion this move is inferior to the text: g6! ( Grabbing the second pawn is too d a n g e r o u s : 13...exf4 14.ae1+ f8 15.e4 , and White's attack is very strong.) 14.e2 ( The endgame af ter 14.xe5+ xe5 15.fxe5 dxc3 16.e4 d7 is clearly better for Black.) 14...c6 15.fxe5 e7 16.e6 f5! ( 16...xe6 17.xe6+ fxe6 18.xg6+ and White has some compensation.) 17.b3 0-0-0 Black has successfully completed his development and k e p t t h e e x t r a p a w n . 18.cxd4 xd4 19.xd4 xd4 20.e5 A) The easiest route to the win was by l i q u i d a t i n g t o t h e e n d g a m e : 20...c5! 21.xc5 Forced. ( 21.xh8+? d8+ ) 21...bxc5 and soon Black will win the weak e6-pawn.; B) 20...hd8?! 21.ae1 a4? A m is t a k e a ga in . ( 21...4d6 ) 22.b5 xa2 23.d1! Now Black is in trouble. xc2 24.xd8+ xd8 25.d7+ b8 26.d1! It becomes clear that Black has overestimated the strength of his Rook on the seventh rank. He cannot create real threats for White's King, while White's epawn is unstoppable. g8 27.b5 a6 28.e7 xg2+ 29.f1 b3 30.e8+ a7 31.e2 h3 32.e1 h4+ 33.d2 g5+ 34.c3 , and Black resigned. ] 13...g5 14.f3 e3+ The only move. [ 14...xf3? 15.xf3 xe5 16.e1! Probably Black underestimated this move. White's attack is very strong even after the Qu e en swa p . f6 ( 16...xe1+ 17.xe1+ f8 18.g6 and W hite wins.) 17.cxd4 xe1+ 18.xe1+ d8 19.fe3 Now White's Rook is ready to penetrate to the seventh rank, while Black's forces are u n d e v e l o p e d a n d u n c o o r d i n a t e d . d7 20.g6 c8 21.e8+ b7 22.e4+ c6 23.e7 and Black couldn't avoid huge material losses in Sepp-Vetemaa, Brugge 1995. ] 15.h1 0-0 Black should play very carefully

to avoid a quick loss. [ For example, both 15...dxc3? 16.e6! 0-0 ( 16...fxe6 17.e5! xe5 18.g6+ e7 19.f7+ ) 17.exf7+ xf7 18.c4 ] [ and 15...xf3 16.xf3 xe5 17.cxd4 e7 18.e1! ( borrowing Sepp's idea) xe1+ 19.xe1+ d8 ( 19...f8 20.g6 ) 20.xf7 are clearly insufficient for Black. ] [ However, 15...c6 is worthy of consideration, after 16.cxd4 0-0-0 17.c3 e7!? a position with mutual chances arises. Of course, this line needs practical tests. ] 16.cxd4 d7! Black has successfully completed his development and has sufficient co u n t e rc h a n c e s d u e t o h i s s t r o n g l ig h t squa re d Bisho p. His on ly p ro b le m is t h e vulnerable position of his Queen. The position af ter Black's 16th move is critical for the evaluation of the whole line. [ In one of the first games in this line (Dautov - Kengis, Daugavpils, 1989) Black played the inaccurate 16...c5? which was refuted by force: 17.e1! xf3 ( The alternatives a re n o b e t t e r : 17...f2 18.e4! xe4 19.xe4 and Black's Queen is trapped as he can't stop Re2; 17...f4 18.d5! xd5 19.h7+ xh7 20.xd5 a6 21.d3+ winning a piece.) 18.gxf3 xd4 19.e4 a6 20.xd4 cxd4 21.xa8 xa8 22.ad1 and White won this endgame. ] 17.h4 Probably not the best move. It's obvious drawback is that Black's Queen is le s s re st ri ct e d a n d ca n o c cu p y t h e v e r y comfortable g5-square. [ However,the natural 17.c3 is also not so clear: ad8 ( 17...e4?! 18.c4 intending e6, and White is better.) 18.c2 d5 19.ae1 f4 and I can't see how W hite can exploit the unsafe position of Black's Queen. ] 17...g5 Now Black has little to worry about. At the right moment he can play c7-c5 undermining W hite's pawn centre. 18.e1 ae8 19.f2 d5! Provoking c2-c4 which makes White's centre more vulnerable. 20.c4 b7 21.f5 c8 22.ae1 c5! 23.xd7 [ 23.e6 is the alternative, but it doesn't give White anything: fxe6 24.xe6 f6 25.xe8 xe8 and Black has everything in order ] [ The position after 23.xd7 xd7 24.f3 ( 24.d5?! g4! is dangerous for White as 104

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 it's not clear how he should protect the c4pawn. ) 24...f4 25.dxc5 xc4 26.cxb6 axb6 27.xb6 xa2 is equal, so a draw wa s a g r e e d . A s h o r t b u t t h e o r e t i c a l l y important game. ] ½-½

128 Tukmakov,Vladimir B McShane,Luke J 22nd Open Arbo ITA (7) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2582 2480 27.10.2000

1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 g6 [ 4...d6 5.0-0 d7 6.c4 g6 7.c3 g7 8.e3 e7 looks inspired by the heroic efforts of Miles against Baburin seen in the p r e v i o u s r e p o r t . 9.c1 Compare with Baburin-Miles and Ehlvest-Baburin - here white has not had to play either a3 or h3, and black has also left out these little moves. Mc S h a n e , li k e M il e s, h a s t h e n o s e f o r danger in these positions, and is quick to pre-empt expansion with d4-d5, avoiding the horrible squeeze that befell Baburin. c5! 10.d2 0-0 11.fd1 b8 12.b1 d8 13.dxc5 dxc5 14.g5 f6 15.f4 e5 16.xe5 xd2 17.xb8 xd1+ 18.xd1 xb8 19.d7 f8 Black would have a pleasant position if he could evict the rook, but this beast has arrived to stay, so it is wh i t e w h o e n j o y s t h e b e t t e r c h a n c e s . McShane can never quite get the piece out of his hair. 20.c2 a6 21.a4 f7 22.f1 h6 23.d1 g5 24.h3 f8 25.d7 h6 26.e2 a8 27.g3 g7 28.g4 b7 29.h4 f8 30.e3 h5 31.hxg5 hxg4 32.gxf6 h6+ 33.d3 xf6 34.e5+ f7 35.h2 f4 36.xg4 f3 37.f6 xe5 38.fe4 xe4+ 39.xe4 xc3 40.bxc3 b5 41.cxb5 axb5 42.b3 f6 43.d6 c4 44.d1 d5 45.d4 e7 46.e5 xc3 47.xe6+ f8 48.c2 xa2 49.f6+ e7 50.a6 b4 51.a7+ f8 52.e4 d8 53.f6 d6+ 54.e5 h6 55.b7 c3 56.c7 c2 57.xc2 c6 1/2-1/2 Bagaturov,G-McShane, L Arco ITA 2000. ] 5.g5 [ 5.0-0 g7 6.g5 f6 7.e3 h6 8.d2 f7 An interesting twist on the trendy Hippo.

9.c4 0-0 10.c3 d6 11.ad1 d7 12.e2 e7 13.b4 f5 14.c2 f6 15.b5 f4 16.d2 c6? ( 16...a6! ) 17.xd6! xd6 18.e5 e7 19.exd6 xd6 20.c5 e7 21.fe1 b5 22.e2 f7 23.de1 f8 24.e4 g5 25.h4 h6 26.hxg5 hxg5 27.e5 e8 28.c3 c8 29.xc6 1-0 Karaklajic,N-Puschmann,L Budapest 2000. ] 5...c8!? This looks like an improvement over [ 5...e7 6.h4 d6 7.bd2 c6 8.c3 f6 9.e2 d7 10.h6 f8 11.g5 e7 12.c4! h6 13.f4 f6 14.h5 g5 15.g3 e7 16.e3 g7 After much toing and froing Black has again achieved the h6+g5 double f ianchetto f ormation. It is worth noting that despite white's rather indirect a p p ro a c h , h e s e e m s t o h a ve g a i n e d a definite advantage - in particular the Ne3 is wonderfully posted, and it is really this piece which black must neutralize - it renders virtually all central pawn breaks by black impossible by having access to f5 and d5, a n d d 6 via c4 . 17.0-0-0 0-0-0 18.d2 f8?! A p l a n l e s s i n t e r l u d e . 19.dc4 ( 19.a6!? ) 19...b8 20.c2 e7 21.f3 c8 22.h2 hd8 23.g4 a6 24.e2 b5?! This seems -advised, but this is not a strain of the English Defence for nothing. It seems that if you carry the proper passport all manner o f really outra geous goings-o n merely lead to complete pandemonium, whereas if some f oreigner were to give these things a try, total disaster would be likely to result. But black's problem is still finding something to do, and this is very d i f f i c u l t i n d e e d wi t h t h e wh i t e k n i g h t s constantly in his face. 25.d5 ce5 26.a5 c5 27.a4?! ( 27.dxc6 xc6 28.a4!? or; 27.xb7 xb7 28.b3 would scare the hell out of me if I were black, particularly the former.) 27...c4 28.axb5 axb5 29.d2 c5 30.e1 c7 31.a1 b6 32.g1 c7 33.b4 cxb3 34.xb3 d7 35.b1 e8 36.d4 a6 37.f1 a5 38.g2 cd3 39.dxe6 ( 39.xd3!? xc3 40.xb5+ xb5 41.d2 d3!? ) 39...xc3 40.exf7+ xf7 41.d2 f4+ 42.g3 b4! 43.xa6 xa6 44.ef5 ( 44.xb4 d3 45.b2 xd4 46.xd4 e2+ 47.h3 with at least a draw for black.) 44...c4 45.d1 e5 105

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 46.a1 a3 47.f2 a8 48.xa3 bxa3 49.b3 d5 50.exd5 b8 51.d1 b2 52.c6 xh5+ 53.g2 f4+ 54.g1 a2 55.xe5+ xe5 56.xh6+ e8 57.f5 a1 0-1 Gofshtein,L-McShane,L Arco ITA 2000. Very impressive tenacity from McShane, but a unjust end to some sophisticated strategical handling f rom Gofshtein. ] [ 5...f6!? ] 6.bd2 d6 7.0-0 g7 8.c3 d7 9.e1 Another solid, Russian kind of deployment white is well placed to move in if black tries to take a stake in the centre, and in the meantime, white plans to inch forward. This position is a bit easier to play for black than the rather grim version McShane got against Gofshtein - for one thing he knows where White's king lives very early, and the Bg5 is floating a bit. h6 10.h4 e7 11.d5 e5 12.b4 g5 13.g3 f5 Black appears to have achieved very reasonable chances - the Bg5 has been walled in and the Bb7 is liberated but black's position is a bit loose and the e4 square will be useful for white. 14.exf5 xd5 [ 14...xd5 15.d4!? ] 15.c4 f6 16.e3 f7! [ 16...b7 17.c4 is rather unpleasant as it is not easy to shake off the pressure on the light squares without loosening his position further. xf5? 18.xf5 xf5 19.xe5+- ] 17.h4!? e4 [ 17...gxh4 seems to give white the better of it after either recapture. ] 18.b5+ c6 19.f1 A very neat idea. d5! [ 19...exf3 looks a bit too risky: A) 20.c4 xc4 21.xe7+ xe7 22.xd6+ ( 22.xd6+ e8 23.xc4 xf5 ) 22...e8 23.xc4 d7 and black defends.; B) 20.xd6 e4 ( 20...fg8 might be possible - it also might be forced - but just looks too passive. I can understand someone not wishing to contemplate a position where this has to be played.) 21.c4 xf5 22.gxf3 xc4 23.xc4 B1) 23...xc3 24.xe4 f6 ( 24...h7 25.d3!+- ) 25.xe7 xe7 26.xe7+! xe7 27.d4!+-; B2) 23...xd6 24.xd6+Nice variations - Black does the sensible

thing and consolidates his chunky centre and gets his king to safety. ] 20.d4 0-0 21.hxg5 hxg5 22.c4!? c5 23.bxc5 bxc5 24.b5! [ 24.e6 A) 24...xf5!? A1) 25.xf8 xg3 26.fxg3 xf8 ( 26...d4!? 27.d5 xd5 ) 27.cxd5 xd5 28.xd5 d8; A2) 25.xf5; B) 24...d4!?; C) 24...xe6 25.fxe6 xe6 26.cxd5 fxd5 27.c4 ad8 28.xd5 xd5 29.b1 ] 24...d4 25.d6 d7 26.g4 xf5?! I t a p p e a rs t h a t b la ck f in a ll y slip s in t h i s incredibly complex battle. [ 26...e3!? should keep black in with full chances: A) 27.fxe3 xf5 28.xf6+ xf6 29.g4!? ( 29.xf5 xf5 30.d3 d7 ) 29...e6 30.e4! e7 31.xf6+ xf6 32.exd4 e3!? ( 32...xd4 33.h5 ); B) 27.xf7 xg4 28.xg4 xf7 ] 27.xf6+ xf6 28.xe4 g6 29.g4 c6 30.xg5 g7 31.e4 f5 32.f4 [ 32.xf6+ ] 32...d3 33.ad1 [ 33.xf6+ ] 33...d4 34.xd3 ae8 Now black gets some practical chances thanks to white's exposed queen and the sof t spot on f 2. I assume time pressure was a major factor after all this. 35.h4 e6! 36.e2 h6 Black's counterplay has now reached serious proportions. [ 36...fe8 37.de1 ] 37.f4 g6! With a vicious threat to double on the h-file, as well as ... Bxe4 followed by ... Qxg3. 38.h4 g4?? [ 38...xe4! 39.xe4 xe4 40.xe4 xh4! would have completed black's fight back. ] 39.f6+! xf6 40.xf6 h5 41.b8+ f7 42.c7+ 1-0

106

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 129

B00 Valet,Richard 2148 Barmbold,Jens 2270 72nd ch Seebad Heringsdorf GER (7) 23.11.00 [Jon Tisdall]

33.xb6 axb6 34.e3 d2+ 35.g3 g8 36.e7 xb2 37.xc7 xa2 38.xc4 c2 39.g4 ½-½

1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 xe5 4.f3 f6 5.e2 c5 [ 5...b4+!? is an interesting way to prevent a knight coming to c3-d5. 6.bd2 xf3+ 7.xf3 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.c4 d6 10.c3 c5 11.e3 xe3 12.xe3 e6 13.g3 e5 14.d2 ad8 15.fe1 c6 16.g2 c5 17.ad1 b6 18.b3 d5 19.exd5 xd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.xd5 xd5 22.e2 xd1 23.xd1 c7 24.d2 e8 25.d7 b8 26.d4 c5 27.f4 f8 28.h4 b6 29.d5 c7 30.a4 1/2-1/2 Kudrin,SBenjamin,J/Reykjavik 1986 ] 6.0-0 e7 [ 6...xf3+ looks much better, as seen in the next note - it hampers white from expanding so quickly on the kingside. ] 7.xe5 [ 7.c3 xf3+ 8.xf3 d6 9.e2 0-0 10.a4 b6 11.xb6 axb6 12.a3 d7 13.e3 c6 14.d4 h4 15.f3 g6 16.d2 f4 17.c4 a5 18.e3 g6 19.f2 f6 20.b4 h5 21.a4 f4 22.e3 g5 23.b5 d7 24.g4 h4 25.h1 h3 26.d4 g6 27.c3 h5 28.d4 h7 29.e5 f4 30.exd6 hxg4 31.fxg4 xg4 32.d3 xd3 33.f6 f3+ 34.g1 xd4 0-1 Al Hadarani,H-Cobb,J Elista 1998. ] 7...xe5 8.c3 0-0 9.h1 d6 10.f4 d4 11.xd4? This relieves black of his main worry, the wandering queen. [ 11.d3 poses black more problems. b6 12.a4 a6 13.e2 c5 14.b3 h5 15.b2 g4 16.f5 f6 17.e1 xe2 18.xe2 e8 19.c4+ h8 20.f3 c6 21.e6 g8 22.h4 d8 23.d1 e7 24.h3 h6 25.g4 1-0 Jakovlev, D-Zubkov,K Moscow 1996. ] 11...xd4 12.b5 b6 13.c3 c6 14.a3 f5 15.exf5 xf5 16.c4+ h8 17.d2 ae8 18.ae1 e4 19.e2 d5 20.h3 e7 21.h2 f5 22.f3 xf3 23.xe8 xe8 24.xf3 e2 25.d3 h4 26.c4 xg2+ 27.h1 g1+ 28.h2 g2+ 29.h1 g1+ 30.h2 f3+ 31.xf3 dxc4 32.e3 d1

130 Van Wely,Loek McShane,Luke J Dutch Open Blitzchess blitz (4) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2700 2460 24.02.2001

Included for the sake of occasion and completeness - it is always interesting to see such a daring defence roll up such a big name, even if just in a ratty blitz game. More evid en ce to su gge st t ha t t his o pe n in g is McShane's calling. 1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d3 e6 4.f3 d6 5.0-0 d7 6.e2 e7 7.h4 h6 8.e1 g6 9.bd2 g7 10.f1 0-0 11.1h2 c5 12.c3 cxd4 13.cxd4 c6 14.a3 c8 15.e3 f6 16.ad1 h5 17.g5 e7 18.b1 a5 19.hf3 g4 20.f4 c4 21.e5 dxe5 22.dxe5 b5 23.e4 xe4 24.xe4 cxe5 25.xe5 xe5 26.g5 f6 27.d2 c7 28.g3 d4 29.f4 xf2+ 30.g2 e5 31.g5 xe1 32.xe1 c5 33.f1 fd8 34.f3 d7 35.b1 cd8 36.a2 f8 37.h1 d6 38.g2 e4 39.e2 c6 40.h3 e3 41.f4 f2+ 42.xf2 exf2 43.h2 c5 44.f3 f1 45.xf1 c2+ 0-1

131 Van den Doel,Erik Kogan,Artur VI Open Lisboa POR (9) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2547 2504 26.11.2000

1.e4 c6 2.b5 This is seen more often than I would have thought. Black's play in this game leads to a very interesting position. f6 3.d3 d4 4.a4 b5 This is a kind of weird mirrored and reversed Trompovsky ... 5.c3 bxa4 6.cxd4 a6 7.c3 a3 8.b3 c5 9.dxc5 a5 10.ge2 e6 11.d2 xc5 12.a4 b4 13.xb4 xb4+ 14.d2 b5 B l a c k s e e m s t o h a ve a r e l a t i ve l y a c t i v e position, but the a-pawn will be a serious 107

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 weakness sooner or later, and black has no real targets. [ 14...xd2+!? 15.xd2 d6 16.hc1 d7 17.e5!? ] 15.d1 0-0 16.ec3 h5 17.0-0 g4 18.h3 e5 19.e3 fc8 20.f4 c6 21.f2 b4 22.d4 c7 23.d5 exd5 24.d4 b8 25.xd5 xd5 26.xd5 h4 27.c5 b5 28.e5 e7 29.f5 f6 30.e4 h8 31.d4 c1+ 32.h2 c6 33.exf6 gxf6 34.xf6 1-0

counterplay on the kingside. xg6 26.f3 h4 27.f4 hxg3 28.fxg3 xf4 29.xf4 c6 30.a2 and now control of the a-file proves to be the pivotal aspect of the position. f8 [ 30...gh6 31.b4 h5 32.g4 threatening to break through on e6. ] 31.ea1 g8 32.a7 e8 33.h4+- g7 34.xg7+ xg7 35.g4+ g6 36.xe6 e8 37.d7+ g8 38.xc6 e3 39.a8+ g7 40.d7+ h6 1-0

132

133

Van der Wiel,John TH Hoogendoorn,Joost sf ch Leeuwarden NED (3.2) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2495 2388 10.03.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 d7 5.c3 [ 5.e2 f6 6.0-0 e6 7.c3 ge7 8.b4 g6 9.b5 a5 10.a4 b6 11.e3 a6 12.bd2 h5 13.fe1 f7 14.f1 e7 15.3d2 h4 16.g4 hxg3 17.fxg3 h3 18.ab1 fxe5 19.dxe5 f5 20.bc1 axb5 21.d1 xe5 22.d4 ec4 23.h5+ g8 24.g4 xh5 25.gxh5 c5 26.f2 b2 0-1 Shabalov,AArdaman,M/Philadelphia USA 1999 (26) ] 5...f6!? 6.b5 a6 7.a4 [ 7.e2 g5 8.0-0 0-0-0 9.b4 b8 10.bd2 h5 11.b3 b6 12.a4 h4 13.a5 b5 14.c5 e8 15.d3 g6 16.xb5 g4 17.e1 fxe5 18.e2 exd4 19.cxd4 e5 20.ed3 xc5 21.xe5 g7 22.bxc5 f6 23.b3 e8 24.xg4 1-0 Wohl,A-Yadao, I/ Surfers Paradise AUS 2000 ] 7...e6 8.exf6!? gxf6 9.h4 g6 10.0-0 d6 11.e1 ge7 12.d2 f7 [ 12...0-0-0!? 13.b4 ] 13.a3 b5 14.b3 f5 15.xf5! xf5 16.f1 h5 17.a4 ag8 18.axb5 axb5 19.e3 e7 20.xf5 xf5 21.c2 After some very patient and very instructive manoeuvring, white has finally annexed the bishop pair and increased the scope of his f o rc e s . H e h a s p a id f o r t h is b y a l lo wi n g counterplay on the g-file, rather than ever taking on g6 which would have made black's position more solid. h4 22.g3 g6 23.f3 h4 24.d1 g6 25.xg6+ To dull black's

Vitic,Ivan Mestrovic,Zvonimir TCh Medulin CRO (5) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2332 2387 13.09.2002

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3 g4 5.e3 e5 6.b5 d7 7.d5 xf3 A very unusual move, and a sign that Mestrovic's various experiments in the Ncb8 line have not satisfied him. 8.gxf3!? [ 8.xf3 e7 9.0-0-0 a6 10.xd7+ ( 10.f1!? ) 10...xd7 11.b1 and Black has some difficulties completing development, Hendriks,W-Mestrovic,Z Wijk aan Zee 1999. ] 8...e7 9.f4 exf4 10.xf4 a6 11.e2 g6 12.e3 e7 [ 12...h4 cries out to be played, hindering the advance of the f-pawn and trying to c o n t r o l f 4 . 13.d2 e7 14.0-0-0 f6 gives Black interesting counterplay. ] 13.d2 c5!? [ 13...f6 14.0-0-0 e7 seems far more natural, and a solid version of the previous note. ] 14.dxc6 bxc6 Now Black has lines to use against all potential homes for the White king, but with care White's bishop pair and slightly better pawn structure should be more relevant. 15.c4? [ 15.0-0-0!? must be better. I find it very hard to understand White's manoeuvrings which begin now - they simply seem to wast e time. ] 15...de5 16.e2 xc4 [ 16...g5! gives Black very active play on the dark squares. ] 108

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.xc4 e5 18.e2 a5 [ 18...g5!? ] 19.0-0-0 b8 20.d4 b4? [ 20...b6!? to try and dislodge the Nc3 so that Black can use ...Qb5 to consolidate the qu e e n s i d e lo o k s l o g ic a l . 21.b3 a5 22.a4 is just an interesting position. ( 22.b2 f6 23.xd6 e7! )] 21.xb4 xb4 22.xa6 0-0 23.a4 b7 24.a7 xa7 25.xa7 c5 White's bishop looks very silly but not silly enough to compensate for the pawn. 26.d5 h4 27.f4 d7 28.c7 f2 29.d2 [ 29.f1 ] 29...f5! 30.e2 h4 31.d1 Black does a good job of wriggling, but White should be well on his way to scoring the full point here. f6! 32.e5?! [ 32.exf5 ] 32...dxe5 33.xc5? The beginning of a s e r ie s o f t im e - wa s t i n g m o ve s a n d o t h e r methods of allowing counterplay. [ 33.fxe5 was simple and superior. ] 33...c8 34.d6 exf4 35.xf4 g5 36.e5 g4 37.d6 f4 now Black has been allowed to create total chaos. 38.g1 [ 38.a4 ] 38...h5 39.c3? White should be pushing pawns with m ore au thorit y than this . d8 40.h3? [ 40.b5 ] 40...xd6 41.hxg4 hxg4 42.xg4 d7!-+ Suddenly Black is much better as his pieces are more active and his pawns in motion. White's pieces are virtually useless and Black threatens to check and usher the f-pawn in by force. 43.g1 [ 43.b5 e7+ 44.f3 ( 44.f1 f3; 44.d3 f3 45.g1 f2 ) 44...e3+ 45.g2 f3+ ] 43...xc7 44.f3 d7 45.g4 d3 46.f1 f7 47.f5 d5+ 48.e4 e6 49.a4 e5+ 50.d4 f5 51.b4 g4 52.a5 g3 53.c4 g2 54.a1 e1 0-1

134 Wells,Peter K Minasian,Artashes European Club Cup [Alexander Volzhin]

B00 2545 2565 1995

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.d3 f6 Now White has two different ways to develop his b1-Knight - to c3 or d2, and currently it's difficult to say which is more promising. Let's deal with 4.Nc3 first. 4.c3 e6 5.f3 b4 6.g5 h6 7.xf6 xf6 8.0-0 T h e k e y p o s i t i o n o f t h i s l i n e . f8?! Extremely risky. Black keeps the Bishop pair and transfers the Bishop to the g7-square ( after g7-g5 ) . However such a retreat cannot be recommended as W hite's development advantage is now very big. The position is similar to a Trompovsky (1.d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6), but obviously Black has lost some tempi. [ The usual 8...xc3 9.bxc3 d6 will be considered in subsequent games. ] 9.d2 e7 [ 9...g5 i s p r e m a t u r e , a s 10.e5 e7 11.e4! leads to a clear edge for White. ] 10.fe1 d6 11.b5+?! Beginning a very interesting but quite dubious attack. [ In my opinion White could obtain a clear edge by simple means. The natural 11.d5! wa s ve ry st ro n g e5 This move is forced. ( 11...g5?! leads to terrible consequences after 12.e5! and Black is in trouble, for example: g7 13.exd6 cxd6 14.dxe6 fxe6 15.c4 e5 16.d4 with an overwhelming a d v a n t a g e .) 12.b5+ d7 13.a4! and White has a strong initiative on the Qside, and after the unavoidable exchange of light-squared Bishops it will be difficult for Black to protect the weak light squares on the Q-side. ] 11...d7 12.d5 d8 13.b4 Now White wants to occupy the important c6-square, so Black's reply is forced. c5 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.e5!? This spectacular move is the point of White's combination. Unfortunately, Black has many defensive resources here. dxe5 [ 15...cxb4 16.xd7+ e7 17.xb4 b6 18.xb6 axb6 19.c6+- winning ] 16.ad1 c8 [ 16...cxb4 17.xd7+ e7 18.xb4+ f6 109

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.xb7+- winning ] 17.c6 b6 18.a4 f6 19.a5 [ 19.xe5 fxe5 20.xd7+ f7 21.xc8 xc8 22.d7+ e7 ] 19...c7 20.e3 e7 21.d3 b6 22.c6 b8 23.d8 g5?! The last ten moves for both side s we re f orce d, bu t no w Black ha s t o choose between the text and some alternatives and he probably makes the wrong choice. [ In my opinion, 23...f5 freeing the f6-square for the King was better, and I can't see any way for White to increase the pressure, for example: 24.e8 b7 25.xb8 xb8 26.c6 a6 ] 24.e8 b7 25.xb8 xb8 26.h5? After this mistake White has little hope. [ White could exploit Black's inaccurate 23rd move: 26.c6! A) 26...c8 27.d8+ f7 28.e8+ g7 29.c4! and Black cannot hold onto his extra piece: b7 ( 29...xc4?? 30.d7+ xd7 31.xd7+ , mating. ) 30.xb6 axb6 31.d7 d6 32.xc8 xd8 33.xb7 , and the endgame is equal.; B) 26...a6 27.d7+! xd7 28.xd7+ e8 29.b7+ d8 30.xb8+ c7 31.e8! b6 32.b8+! xa5?! ( It's better to take a draw by repetition with 32...c7 ) 33.c3! (threatening b2-b4) c4 34.b4+ cxb3 35.axb3 ( threatening b3b4 , m a tin g) d3 The only move. 36.c4 xc4! The only move again! ( 36...a6 37.b5+ a5 38.d7 with the idea of 39. Rb5+ Ka6 40.Bc8# xc4 39.b4+ xb4 40.xh8 with a large advantage) 37.bxc4 Despite being a pawn up Black's position i s c r i t i c a l : a6 ( w h a t e l s e ? ) 38.c5 and W hite's c-pawn is very dangerous: g7 39.e8 f8 40.f7 g7 41.g8! and the c-pawn is unstoppable. A picturesque position! ] 26...a8! 27.b4! [ 27.c4 c7 28.d6 g7 29.b5 b8 30.xa7 d8-+ winning ] 27...c4 28.b5 f5 29.xc4 f6 30.exf5? T h i s m o v e a ll o ws B la ck t o co m p le t e h i s development. [ Although objectively White's position was already bad, 30.xe5! was a good practical chance, as Black has to choose the only

correct continuation among many options: d6! Other moves are not so good: ( 30...xe5?? 31.d4+ f4 32.g3#; 30...xe5 31.d8+ g7 32.d7+ g8 33.f7+ h7 34.g6+ g8 35.f7+ and it's a draw by perpetual; 30...xe4 31.d4! xe5 32.d8+ g7 33.d7+ g8 34.f7+ is similar to the previous line) 31.f7 xh2+ 32.h1 c8! and Black wins as 33.g3 doesn't work in view of xg3 34.fxg3 xe4+ 35.h2 xc2 ] 30...e7! 31.xb6 [ 31.fxe6 d8 32.e2 xd1+ 33.xd1 xc4 34.d3 e4 35.xc4 e5-+ winning ] 31...xb6 32.fxe6 d8 Now the fight is over. W h i t e h a s n o t h i n g f o r t h e p i e c e . 33.e1 xd1 34.xd1 d4 35.e1 g4 0-1

135 Wojtaszek,Radoslaw Bezold,Michael Bundesliga 2009-10 (8) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2640 2517 06.02.2010

1.d4 e6 2.f3 b6 3.e4 b7 4.d3 You can try this yourself. If you enter the following moves: 1 e4 b6 2 d4 Bb7 3 Bd3 e6 4 Nf3 you reach the same position as the game, but with a B00 label. This won't change any assessments but complicates the task of seeking games in a particular section. g6!? A dynamic option where Black seeks a double-fianchetto. If he continues with ... Bg7, ...d6, ...e6 and knights to e7 and d7 then this development plan is often called a 'Hippopotamus', so W ojtaszek opts f or a destabilizing move. 5.g5!? f6?! I don't like this move: as a consequence, Black will have problems to organize his forces with any sort of harmony. [ Most stronger players have opted for the no n -co mm itt a l 5...c8 e.g. 6.c4 g7 7.c3 c6 8.d5 e5 9.xe5 xe5 10.d2 g7 11.0-0-0 and White had an aggressive set-up in Rublevsky, SChernyshov, K Ohrid 2001, but Black had no pawn weaknesses. ] 6.e3 h6 7.d2 f7 8.c4! 110

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 I am convinced that, even for players who begin with 1 e4, an early c2-c4 is the way to challenge the soundness of Black's set-up. If Black doesn't do anything dramatic White will obtain a clear advantage (space, harmonious development and control) in a type of English Defence. f5 9.c3 b4 Now the position looks more like a real 'A40' (English Defence) than a 'B00' (!) but the knight should really be on f6 rather than f7. 10.exf5 gxf5 11.d5 Aiming to pressurize Black's position whilst he has a lead in development. f6 12.d4! [ Instead after 12.0-0-0 xc3 13.bxc3 e5 Black would be able to keep everything together. ] 12...e5 13.xe5! Striking while the iron is hot! [ T h e s l o w e r 13.e3 would again allow Black the breathing space necessary to obtain a decent position: d6 14.a3 xc3+ 15.xc3 c6 16.dxc6 xc6 17.0-0-0 0-0-0 with only a small pull for White due to the potential of the bishop pair. ] 13...xe5 14.e2 d6 15.f4 h4+ [ After 15...bd7 16.0-0 White will be able to capture on e5 and then f5 with a clear advantage. ] 16.g3 g4 17.fxe5 xd4 Taking the piece, but probably without enthusiasm. [ After 17...xe2+ 18.xe2 c5 19.b5 cxd4 20.a3 the complications favour White e.g. dxe5 ( 20...c5 21.b4 ) 21.axb4 e4 22.c7+ e7 23.xa8 exd3+ 24.xd3 a6 25.c7! xc7 26.xa7 b8 27.xd4 etc. ] 18.exd6+ f7 19.0-0-0 Strong, but not the most incisive. [ The direct 19.e7+! g8 20.xf5 xc3+ 21.bxc3 xc3+ 22.f2 b2+ 23.f3 c3+ 24.g2 leaves Black in a hopeless state. ] 19...f6 [ After 19...xc3 then 20.e7+ g8 21.xf5 wins. ] 20.hf1 g5+ 21.b1 c8 The fact that Black has an extra piece doesn't compensate for his suffering. It must have been evident to the players that Black's king will be dethroned long before he can get all his pieces out. 22.h4! f6 [ After 22...g6 23.e7+ g8 White probably has several ways to win, one

being 24.xc7 a6 25.c6 b8 26.d7 ] 23.e4 e8 24.c2 [ Playing for the attack is perhaps the most fun in such positions, but simplifying and winning material was possible: 24.dxc7 a6 25.xf6 xe2 26.xe2 xf6 27.d6 d7 28.a3 ] 24...g6 25.g5+ g8 26.xf5! Tempting and, of course, impossible to meet satisfactorily. xf5 27.xf5 h6 28.a4 f8 29.xh7+ g7 30.dxc7 e5 31.xb4 a6 Bezold wanted to move his knight at least once before resigning! 32.c3 f6 33.d6 1-0

136 Yudasin,Leonid Blatny,Pavel 92nd NY Masters (2) [Glenn Flear]

B00 2568 2452 02.03.2004

1.e4 b6 2.d4 b7 3.c3 e6 4.d3 Not bothering with a2-a3, see Game 2. f6 5.ge2 c5 6.0-0 c8! Blatny likes these tricky moves that take his opponent out of the comfort zone. 7.dxc5 bxc5 Still threatening ... c4 winning a piece. Note that Black now has a central pawn majority which makes it harder for White to find any pawn breaks in that zone. 8.g3 h5!? Very manly and obviously not flinching at the prospect of having his king stuck in the centre again! [ 8...c4 9.e2 d5 seems wrong as opening the central arena must favour W hite e.g. 10.exd5 xd5 11.xd5 xd5 12.f3 xf3 13.xf3 d7 14.d1 when Black has problems to complete development. ] 9.h4?! I'm not sure about this. Why not [ 9.e5 h4 10.ge4 xe4 11.xe4 c6 12.f4 with extra space and everything under control? ] 9...c6 10.e1 d6 11.f1 b8 Out of harm's way but still pointing in the right d i r e c t i o n . 12.b3 e7 13.g5 g6 B rin gin g t h e h 4 - p a wn in t o t h e e qu a t io n . 14.d2 h7! 15.a4 e5 Coming to the central area to influence the dark squares where W hite has some problems. 16.ad1 xg5 17.xg5 d6 18.b5+ I don't think that Blatny cared that his king had to move! f8 111

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.g3 h6 Another tricky move from the wily Czech player. Yudasin doesn't sense the danger... 20.h2? Normal enough but a fatal mistake! instead [ 20.c3 covering d4 was required when the continuation f4? 21.gxf4 f6 22.g2 g6 fails as White has 23.g3 ] 20...f4!! Surrounding the White queen. 21.gxf4 f6 The cool intermezzo that makes Blatny's combination so special. 22.g3 g6 23.xg6 fxg6 24.xd6 c7 White has enough wood for the queen but his position is a collection of tactical weaknesses! 25.e5 [ 25.d7? is bad after a5 hitting b5 and e1. ] 25...e7 26.dd1 d8 27.c4 Trying to bring his pieces onto effective squares but his kingside is so shaky. .. xh4 28.c3 a5 29.xd8+ xd8 30.d1 [ If 30.e4 then xe4 31.xe4 d1+ 32.g2 xc2 33.e2 f5 etc. ] 30...xf2+! Piling further humiliation onto his opponent. 31.xf2 h4+ Now everything goes with check. 32.e3 g3+ 33.d2 xf4+ 34.d3 d4+ 35.e2 xe5+ 36.d3 xh2 37.f1+ e7 38.e1 d6+ 39.e2 d4 40.b5 g4+ 41.d2 h4 42.xe6+ xe6 43.xe6 xe6 It's fitting that Black's h-pawn is the decisive factor as 8...h5 was a courageous move. A truly great game from Black. 0-1

137 Zawadzki,Stanislaw Heberla,Bartlomiej ch-Pol u20 Brzeg Dolny POL (9) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2335 2364 15.02.2001

33.axb5 cxb5 34.g4 b4 35.g5 b3 36.g6 b2 37.g7 g2 38.h7 c5 39.xg2 b1+ 40.h1 d3 41.h8 b6 42.h6+ a5 43.g8 e4+ 44.g2 xg2 45.xg2 b5 46.hg6 b4 47.6g3 a4 48.h4 d5 49.e3 b3 50.ee2 1/2-1/2 Akopian,VMiles,A Moscow 1990. ] 6...f6!? There is nothing wrong with ... d6 a la Miles. 7.e5 g4 8.c4 [ 8.e4 b6 ] 8...d6 9.e4 [ 9.g5!? is similar, but it seems more logical to bring more firepower to bear first. ] 9...b6 10.fg5 h6 [ 10...dxe5!? leads to interesting complications, and looks safer to me - after all white's king is not exactly safe yet either, and the move accelerates black's development. Though after a closer examination of the game, maybe white is simply 'bluffing'. 11.xf7+ e7 12.f3!? ( 12.d5 b4 ) 12...d4 13.a3+ c5 14.b3 ] 11.h5 [ 11.exd6 0-0 and white must solve the problem of his king. ] 11...0-0 12.xf7 [ 12.e6 fxe6 ( 12...d5 13.xf7 ) 13.xe6 xe6 14.xe6+ h8 ] 12...xf7 13.g5 d5 14.d3 f5 15.d2? [ 15.xf5 xf5 ] 15...xg5! 16.fxg5?! g4 17.h4 xe5 As they say, black has compensation for his material advantage. A thought provoking game, as white's 'natural' threats were made to look terribly primitive. 0-1

138 1.e4 c6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 xe5 4.c3 c5 5.f4 c6 6.f3 [ 6.c4!? d6 7.f3 e6 8.xe6 fxe6 9.a4 b6 10.xb6 axb6 11.0-0 f6 12.g5 e7 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 xe5 15.e2 a5 16.b4 xb4 17.xe6 e7 18.xg7+ xg7 19.d2 d5 20.c4 xd2 21.xe5+ d8 22.xf6+ xf6 23.xf6 e8 24.a4 ee2 25.f8+ e7 26.g8 d6 27.g7 c6 28.h1 a2 29.g1 h5 30.g6+ c5 31.g5+ xc4 32.xh5 b5

Zilberstein,Dmitry Blatny,Pavel National Open (3) [Jon Tisdall]

B00 2324 2433 09.03.2002

1.d4 b6 2.e4 b7 3.d3 f6 4.e2 c6 5.c3 e5 6.f3 exd4 7.e5 d5 8.cxd4 [ 8.e4!? has the best track record. Here is an example of an unrated player shoving GM Blatny around: a5 9.xd4 e7 10.b5 b8 11.0-0 a6 12.xb7 xb7 112

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.d4 c5 14.f3 d8 15.g5 g6 16.f4 e7 17.f3 1/2-1/2 Koo, O-Blatny,P/ Las Vegas USA 2001 (45). ] 8...b4+ 9.f1 [ 9.d2? xd4 ( 9...f4 ) 10.xd4 f4 11.g4 ( 11.xb4 xe2 12.xe2 h4 )] 9...c8 [ 9...e7 10.a3 c8 11.d2 d8 12.g3 e6 13.c3 c6 14.xd5 xd5 15.e4 b7 16.e1 0-0 17.g2 f5 18.exf6 xf6 19.xd5 xd5 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 af8 22.e3 d5 23.e5 d6-+ 0-1 Hamberger,H-Lovric,B/Celle Ligure 1997 (35). ] 10.d2 xd2 11.xd2 d8 12.c3 e6 13.c4 ef4 14.g3 a6 15.xa6 xa6+ 16.g1 xc3 17.bxc3 d5 The control of c4 a n d d5 give bla ck a sm a ll b u t la st in g advantage. This is also one of those types of small disadvantages that are tough to play, with far more opportunities to worsen the position than improve it. 18.g2 0-0 19.ac1 c4 20.he1 b5 21.e2 xe2 22.xe2 a5 23.d2 [ 23.c4 bxc4 24.xc4 fb8 still gives black a nagging edge, with a better rip on the queenside and the massive knight on d5. ] 23...a6 24.e4 c6 25.b2 b8 [ 25...b4!? ] 26.c4 [ 26.c5!? led to interesting complications, but is very risky. d6 27.d7 b7 ( 27...d8 28.xb5 ) 28.c4 b4 29.exd6 cxd6 ( 29...d3? 30.e5 ) 30.e1 f6 31.cxb5 cc7 32.e8+ f7 33.f8+ e6 34.b8 and white's poorly coordinated pieces are not worth the pawn. ( 34.e2+? d5 )] 26...b4 27.c5 d6 28.d7?? [ 28.cxb5 xb5 29.exd6 cxd6 30.e1 ( or 30.d3 would more or less equalize. )] 28...d8 29.d5 xc4 30.xc4 bxc4 31.e6 0-1

139 Adams,Michael Pechenkin,V Canadian Open (3) [John Watson]

B01 2699 2346 13.07.2009

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 xd5 4.d4 This is the equivalent of 3 d4 Nxd5 4 Nf3, which is a more common order. g6 [ 4...g4 is seen in this month's game Tzermiadanos-Shen Siyuan. ] [ 4...f5 5.d3 xd3 6.xd3 f avours W hite, a s you can verif y in th e recent Archive game Wan Yunguo-Laylo. ] 5.c4 A relatively slow line. [ 5.c4 b6 6.c3 g7 7.c5 is featured in Kovalev-Pluemer. ] 5...g7 6.0-0 [ Emms suggests 6.c3 , in order to avoid the next note. ] 6...0-0 [ 6...b6 7.b3 c5!? tries to break up White's centre immediately: 8.dxc5 xd1 9.xd1 6d7 A) Perhaps White gets something out of 10.g5 0-0 11.c4 h6 ( 11...xc5? 12.xf7 with the idea xf7 13.d8+ f8 14.xc8 ) 12.e4 h7 13.bc3 f5 14.d2 xc5 15.b3 , but this looks manageable following ba6 16.xc5 xc5 17.e1 e5 18.e3 b6; B) 10.c3 xc3?! ( 10...xc5 11.d5 ba6 ) 11.bxc3 xc5 12.e3 xb3 13.axb3 a6 14.c5 c6 15.d4 d7 16.e1 0-0 17.xc6 xc6 18.xe7 fe8 Rausis-Thorhallsson, Cappelle la Grande 1993. Rybka likes White, but this is one of those opposite-coloured bishops endings in which progress is extremely hard to make - what's his plan? ] 7.e1 g4 [ 7...c6 8.c3 b6 9.b3 g4 has been played a fair amount, for example, A) White can also choose to hit the bishop with 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 and now: A1) 11...e5 12.dxe5 xe5 13.d2! ( 13.h6 g7 14.xg7 xg7 followed by ...Qf 6 is okay f or Black) 13...g7 14.e4 e5 15.g3 d3 Lagudin-Piskur, Slovenia 1996) and here I b e l i e v e t h a t 16.h4 keeps some 113

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 advantage (White had the bishop pair in an open position).; A2) 11...a5!? 12.a4 e5 13.dxe5 xe5!? 14.xb7 d3 15.d1 e7 16.f3 xc1 17.xc1 ad8 (Dautov) and Black has some compensation for the pawn, although I would still take White after 18.a3 d2 19.c2 fd8 20.f1!; A3) 11...--; B) 10.f4 e5!? 11.dxe5 xd1 12.xd1 c4 13.bd2! ( After the alternative 13.fd2?! 4xe5 14.xg4 d3 15.e3 xf4 (Cao Sang-Palkovi, Budapest 1995) it's W hite who is playing to equalise.) 13...xb2 14.c2 fd8! 15.ab1 d3 16.xd3 xd3 17.xb7 d8 18.xc7 e6 19.c4 xf4 20.xf4 e6 21.a4 xc3 The advantage of the bishop pair over the knights just about compensates for the pawn deficit. With accurate play the game should be drawn. 22.d4 d5 23.a5 d3?! ( 23...d8 24.xa7 xe5! (Dautov) is simpler. Now Black has to work hard for half-a-point.) 24.2f3 c4 25.h3 h6 26.a1 f4 27.a4 c3 28.b5 xb5 29.xf4 ac8 30.a4 c1+ 31.xc1 xc1+ 32.h2 c6 33.g5 d5 34.d4 c5 35.e4 xe4 36.xe4 f8 37.f4 a5 38.d4 e7 39.g4 c3 40.d5 c4 41.xa5 xf4 42.g3 b4 43.a8 e6 44.a5?! xe5 45.a6 b3+ 46.f2 a3 1/2-1/2 Klovans-Dautov/USSR (Game 46) 1986/The Scandinavian/ [John Emms]; C) 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 a5 ( 11...e5 12.dxe5 xe5 13.d2! g7 14.e4 ) 12.a4 ( 12.f4! a4 13.c2 with the idea c4 14.e2 xb2 15.b5 e5 16.dxe5 a3 17.xb7 ) 12...e5 13.dxe5 xe5 14.xb7 d3 15.d1 - analysis by Da u t o v a n d n o w B l a c k m ig h t t r y c5! 16.xd8 axd8 17.xc7 xb3 , when the game is about equal following 18.d2! xa1 19.xb6 h6 20.f4! xf4 21.f2 g5 ] 8.c3 e6 [ 8...c6 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 e6 transposes. ] 9.h3 [ 9.bd2 , probably better, has been played in several games, for example, d7 10.h3

xf3 11.xf3 (the point White has clamped down on e5 now Black has to play for ...c5 if possible) 5b6 12.b3 c5 13.g5! A) 13...c7! has the idea ...c4 and comes c l o s e t o e q u a l i s i n g , e . g . , 14.h4!? ( 14.d2 c4 15.c2 d5 16.h6 ) 14...c4 15.g3 c6 16.c2 d5 17.d2 h6 intending ... b5-b4.; B) 13...f6?! 14.h6 g7 15.d2 cxd4 16.xg7 xg7 17.xd4 c5 18.xe6! fxe6 ( 18...xe6 19.xe6 ) 19.b4 c4 20.e2 d5 21.ad1 ae8 22.bxc5 f6 23.b3 1-0 Zapata, A (2530)-Sariego, W (2435), Linares 1992. ] 9...xf3 10.xf3 c6 This standard structure is designed to restrict White's bishops. Here, as in most openings, it gives White a slight e d g e t h a t i s d i f f i c u l t t o c o n v e r t . 11.a4 Another safe move which looks for space on the queenside (perhaps contemplating a5 to stop ...Nb6 at some point), while preventing a n y s u r p ri se e xp a n s io n b y B l a ck o n t h e queenside. [ Bertona-Gomez Laosa, Aragon 2003 was also favourable for White following 11.d2 f6 12.d1 ( 12.g3!?; 12.xf6 with the better ending) 12...h6 13.e4 d8 14.f3 d7 15.b3 h7 16.d6 c7 17.g3 7f6 18.c4!? h5 19.h2 b4 20.d1 ad8 21.c5 d5 and Black is holding his own. ] 11...a5 12.a3 d7 13.d2!? [ 13.c2 prepares for 5b6 14.b3 e5 15.e3 , to capture with a piece on d4, but Black can play something slower like 13... Qc7. ] 13...5b6 Black prepares to break in the centre. [ 13...c7 14.c2 fe8 is a solid alternative. ] 14.b3 e5 This break is always doubleedged: On the one hand, it opens the position for the bishops (the one on b3 gains in range) but if Black can isolate and blockade a pawn on d4, that will in and of itself limit W hite's bishops and other pieces. 15.c2 exd4 16.cxd4 [ 16.xd4 c5 17.c2 would be desirable, but c4 is strong. ] 16...f6 17.g5 bd5! 18.e5 b6 A standard spot for the queen. Black should 114

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 be okay here. 19.ae1 h6 20.h4 h7!? [ 20...ad8 is natural and good. Black probably can't undertake anything positive, but he's in no danger. ] 21.5e2 g5 [ Or 21...hf6 ] 22.g3 [ 22.xg5 hxg5 23.xd5 cxd5 24.e3 ad8 25.xd5 xd4 ] 22...f4!? 23.e7 [ 23.xf4 xb3 ] 23...d5 24.xg5 hxg5 25.7e4 ad8 T h e g a m e i s s t i l l a b o u t e q u a l , a lt h o u g h Black's pieces are better-placed and he has what chances there are. 26.h1 f6 [ 26...f4! ] 27.4e3 d5 28.f3 xd4!? Daring. [ 28...f6!? 29.xd5 cxd5 30.b3 c6 keeps in touch with f6. ] 29.xg5?! [ 29.xd4 xd4 30.xg5 g7 ( 30...xb2 31.xf7! ) 31.xf7+ xf7 32.xd8 xf2 33.e8 f1+ 34.h2 f4+ draws. ] 29...xb2 30.h4 d6! Covering both g6 and f6. 31.h5 d8 32.g3 g7?! [ 32...g7! keeps everything defended and contemplates ...gxh5. Then Black is a solid pawn up. ] 33.g1 f6 [ 33...f6! ] 34.xd5! xd5 35.b3 d4 36.xd4 xd4 37.xb7 xa4!? 38.hxg6 xg6 [ 38...f4! ] 39.e5+ g8 40.g3 e6 41.g5+ g6 42.d2 a3 43.e4 c5 44.f4 g5 45.a7 xf4 46.xf4 Of course this is draw, but with a 350-point rating difference, Adams pla ys on . He m a ke s re a l pro gre ss, e ve n wining a pawn, but can't get through in the end. g7 47.xa5 d8 48.af5 d7 49.g2 gd6 50.c5 e6 51.g4 g6 52.fc4 dd6 53.g3 f6 54.c3 e1 55.f3 ee6 56.f4 h6 57.f3 g7 58.f5 e1 59.xc6 xc6 60.xc6 f1+ 61.g2 a1 62.e6 b1 63.f2 a1 64.d6 b1 65.f3 f1+ 66.e4 g1 67.d7+ h6 68.f3 f1+ 69.g2 a1 70.g3 g1+ 71.f4 f1+ 72.e3 e1+ 73.f3 f1+ 74.e4 g1 75.d5 xg4 76.e6 a4 77.xf6 a6+ 78.e5 a5+ 79.d5 a7 80.e6 g7 81.d6 f7 82.d1 f6+

83.e5 a6 84.d7+ f8 85.d6 xd6 86.xd6 f7 87.e5 e7 88.f6+ f7 89.f5 f8 ½-½

140 Ahn,Martin Sebastian 24th ECC Kallithea GRE (2) [John Watson]

B01 2321 18.10.2008

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 g4 4.b5+ This is a very interesting approach, helping Black's development but hurting his piece coordination. Last month, in Goh Wei Ming's excellent update, he looked at 4 Nf3, [ 4.e2 and ] [ 4.f3 , the main line. There are 6 other games with 4 f3 in the Archives. ] [ I also showed a game with 4.d3 xd5 , when 5 h3! seems best but the move 4... Qxd5 is probably all right for Black after 5 Nc3 Qd7 and ...Nc6. ] 4...bd7 [ 4...d7 leaves Black cramped after 5.e2 xd5 6.c4 f6 7.c3 or 7 Nf3. ] 5.e2 xe2 6.xe2 [ 6.xe2 xd5 7.c4 5f6 8.bc3 e6 9.0-0 e7 is another line it seems solid enough f or Black, the more so because W hit e's knight is so passive on e2 an d therefore ...e5 becomes feasible. ( 9...d6 is a more ambitious way to proceed )] 6...xd5 7.f3 [ 7.c4 (before ...e6 and ...Bb4+ can interfere) 5f6 8.c3 ( 8.f3 e6 9.0-0 c6 transposes to the game.) 8...g6!? 9.f4 (9 Nf3 is simple and mildly better for White I wouldn't like to play Black in such a position, but he has a fairly standard setup) h5!? 10.g5 h6 11.h4 df6!? (artificial Black hunts down the bishop at the cost of time a n d s p a c e ) 12.0-0-0 g5 13.g3 xg3 14.hxg3 g7 15.f3 0-0 16.e5 with a substantial advantage, Rodriguez Vila, A (2467)-Cubas, J (2369)/ Serra Negra 2002. ] 7...e6 8.0-0 This type of position is discussed in the forum. I find it in White's favour, which is not surprising in view of his greater central 115

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 control. [ 8.c4 b4+ 9.f1!? 5f6 10.d5?! A Rodriguez, A (2498)-Fiori, N/Buenos Aires ARG 2003 now 0-0! 11.dxe6 e8 12.exf7+ xf7 yields an attack worth more than a p a wn . T h u s 9 B d 2 sh o u ld p r o b a b l y b e preferred. ] 8...c6 9.c4 5f6 10.f4 [ Another instructive recent game went 10.b3 e7 11.b2 0-0 12.c3 e8 13.ad1 b6 ( 13...a5! looks more accurate, when 14.e5 ad8 15.f4 might be tried, intending a slow advance on the kingside) 14.e5 a5 15.a3 bd7 16.d3 c7 17.f4 ad8 18.g4!? should probably allow for defence, although it can be dangerous for Black, e.g. , g6 19.h1 f8 20.f5?! ( 20.df3 ) 20...exf5 21.gxf5 8d7! 22.e4 xe4 23.xe4 xe5? 24.dxe5 xd3 25.xd3 d8 26.f3 f8 27.e6! and W hite's attack is too strong (Qc3 is one threat), Flores, D (2359)-Fiori, A (2136), Ezeiza 2001. ] 10...e7 11.c3 0-0 This could be considered a sort of main line. Black lacks positive prospects, but, again, his restraint centre (my term) makes it hard for W hite to do anything. 12.a3 e8 13.ad1 f8 [ White played too passively after 13...a5 14.c1 f5 15.d2 ad8 16.fe1 d6 17.d1?! e5! 18.e3 e4 in RiazueloSpitz, France 2001. ] 14.e5 g6 15.g3 a5 16.d3 c5? This runs into concrete problems based upon Nb5. [ The stereotyped 16...ad8 would have kept Black's disadvantage minimal. ] 17.xg6 hxg6 18.b5 ac8?! This fails tactically. [ But 18...cxd4 19.c7 ad8 20.xe8 xe8 21.e5 isn't attractive either. ] 19.dxc5 a6 20.c7! xc7 21.b4 a4 22.xc7 c8 23.xe6 fxe6 24.xe6+ f8 25.xc8+ 1-0

141 Al Modiahki,Mohamad Tiviakov,Sergei 3rd ACT Amsterdam NED (5) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2564 2668 19.07.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 6.g3 g4 7.g2 c6!? W hen you think about it, 7..c6 is logical, blockin g t h e act io n o f t h e Bisho p o n g2 . Perhaps the combination of ...a6 and ...c6 could be seen as a luxury. [ 7...c6 has been most common: A) 8.0-0 e6 9.f4 b4 10.xc7 A1) 10...c8! is my suggested imp roveme nt : 11.f4 xb2 12.a4 b4 ( 12...b5?! 13.c4 a5 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 xd4 16.xd4 xa4 17.xb7 xc4 18.a7 ) 13.c3 a5 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 b5 16.c5 xc5 17.dxc5 0-0 18.d6 fd8; A2) 10...e7?! 11.a3 xb2 12.d2 c8 13.fb1 xa3 14.xb2 xb2 15.b1 xc3 16.xc3 d5 17.c5 xf3 18.xb7 xc7 19.xf3 d5 20.xd5 exd5 21.d6 1-0 Senff, MPfleger, M/Bad Wiessee 2005; B) 8.h3 h5 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.f4 b4 11.a3 xb2 12.a4 xf3 13.xf3 xd4 14.b3 a5 15.b4 xb4 16.axb4 e5! 17.xe5 c4 18.xf6 gxf6 Delchev, ASulava, N/Hyeres 2001 ] 8.f4N [ 8.0-0 e6 9.a4 ( 9.e1 e7 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 0-0 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 f6 14.c3 c7 15.f4 b6 16.c2 g6 Dworakowska, J-Ogloblin, N/Moscow 2004; 9.f4 d8 10.d3 d6 11.e5 f5 12.e2 0-0 13.h3 h6 14.ad1 e7 15.a3 bd7 16.fe1 fd8 17.h2 ac8 18.xd7 xd7 19.xd6 xd6 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 cd8 22.c3 xe4 23.xe4 c7= Cristian, S-Rentner, D/playchess.com 2004 ) 9...a5?! ( 9...bd7 10.f4 b4 ) 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 e7 12.f4 Sh a b a lo v, A -G o n za le z, R/P h ila d e lp h ia 2004 ] 8...d8 He intends a solid build-up with ...e6, .. Bd6 etc. As usual, the Knight on c3 is slightly misplaced and the time W hite uses to redeploy the Knight Black uses to develop. 116

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.h3 [ 9.0-0 e6 10.e1 d6 11.xd6 xd6 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 f5 14.e3 0-0 15.h4 g6 ends up solid, but passive from Black's side. ] 9...xf3 10.xf3 xd4 11.0-0 e6 12.ad1 Modiahki could be relied upon to play sharply p e r h a p s e ve n s a c rif ice a p a wn a s h e re . Tivia k o v wa nt s to win an d th in ks h e ca n d e f e n d t h e p o s i t i o n o u t . G a m e o n ! b6 13.a4 [ 13.e3 c7 ( 13...xb2 14.a4 xa2 15.b6+- ) 14.e4 bd7 15.xf6+ xf6 16.f4 a5 17.a3 e7 does not really garner much for White. ] 13...b5 14.b3 bd7 15.c4 a5 16.g4 The riddle for White is that he is trying to find a way through and is labouring under the illusion that he holds the advantage. Therefore he MUST play very actively. But the reality check is that Black is already a bit better, without really doing very much and picks W h i t e o f f a s h e c o m e s t o wa r d s h i m . h6! 17.g3 c8 [ One can understand the reluctance to play 17...0-0-0 but this was also playable: 18.e3 e5! 19.g3 b4 20.f4 e4 21.f5 he8 ] 18.e3 a8 19.g3 e7 No draw, thank you! 20.c7 b4 21.d4 [ 21.f4 c8 22.e5 xe5 23.fxe5 d7 retains the Black advantage although an a n a l y s i s o f 24.xd7 is necessary: xd7 25.xf7 cf8! 26.xg7 c8 27.e3 d8! 28.h1 hg8! ( 28...g5 29.g1 hf8 30.xc6! ) 29.h7 g5 30.f2 d1+ 31.f1 f8 32.f7 xf7 33.xf7 e1-+ 34.e8+ d8 35.f7 e4+ ] 21...0-0 22.fd1 c5 23.b6?! [ H e s h o u l d s e t t l e f o r 23.xc5 xc5 24.4d3 and hope that there is compensation enough. I doubt it after e7 ] 23...ae8 24.f4 ce4! Sharply seen. A fork will follow on c5. 25.xe4 [ 25.xe4 xe4 26.xe4 c5+ ] 25...c5 26.a3 xa3 27.c2 d8 28.xd8 xd8 29.g2 xd4 Against players with an active style, 3...Qd6 works very well. 0-1

142 Almasi,Zoltan Tologontegin,Semetery Chigorin Memorial 20th (8) [Danny Gormally]

B01 2707 2338 03.11.2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 e6 7.f4 d8 [ 7...d5 has been played. 8.xd5 xd5 9.f3! with the idea of Bc4, should ensure some advantage for White. ( 9.d3!? d7 10.xd7 xd7 11.c4 f5 12.xf5 xf5 13.e2 0-0-0 14.0-0-0 1/2-1/2 Macak, S (2400) -Epishin, V (2562)/Odense 2011) 9...d8 10.d2 d7 11.0-0-0 xe5 12.xe5 where White enjoys a useful lead in development. ] 8.d2! [ 8.e2 g6 9.d2 bd7 10.f3 g7 11.h6 xh6 12.xh6 b6 13.0-0 d6 14.h3 0-0-0 15.ad1 bd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.c4 f6 18.xd5 cxd5 19.e3 he8 20.fe1 f7 21.h6 g8 22.d2 d7 23.e3 b8 24.de1 f7 25.a5 g5 26.a3 b6 27.b5 c8 28.e2 g6 29.c3 h5 30.d2 e8 31.e6 c7 32.f1 d6 33.e3 d7 34.d2 b7 35.b3 c8 36.a4 a8 37.a5 bxa5 38.a3 a4 39.ea1 c6 40.e3 e8 41.e2 b7 42.f3? ( The simple 42.xa4 is almost winning for W hite) 42...d6 43.3a2 h4 44.c2 e5 45.dxe5 fxe5 46.f5 d4 47.xe5 d5 48.f6 dxc3 49.bxc3 b5 50.b4 bc5 51.e2 d7 52.e7 xc3 53.xg5 a3 54.d1 3c7 55.d5 c5 56.d2 c2 57.e3 a2 58.d3 b2 59.b6+ xb6 0-1 Haslinger, S (2524)-Tiviakov, S (2674)/Roosendaal 2012 ] 8...g6 9.0-0-0 bd7 10.d5! This pawn sac has been seen before. Black's position is very solid, and if he can get mobilised any danger will pass for him, so it's important for White to act quickly. xd5 [ none of the other captures offer a save h a v e n e i t h e r , f o r e x a m p l e 10...cxd5 11.xd7 xd7 12.xd5 which is obviously not much fun for Black. ] [ 10...xd5 11.xd5 xd5? ( 11...cxd5 12.b5! also looks pretty horrible.) 12.xd7 xd7 13.c4! e6 14.c3 is immediately 117

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 catastrophic ] 11.xd5 xd5 12.c4 c7!? After this W hite can force a clearly better endgame, where Black can only fight desperately for a draw. The problem is that reasonable alternatives were thin on the ground. [ 12...5f6 13.c3 gives White very clear compensation. He already has a threat of ta k in g o n d 7 an d winn in g m at e ria l. g8 14.e2 and although Black remains solid, given his lead in development, and easy play, I'd much rather take White. ] 13.cxd5 xe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.dxc6 c7 16.d7+ [ a nice option and quite possibly better was 16.b1! xc6 ( 16...g7 17.d7+ xd7 18.cxd7+ d8 19.g3 a6 20.d3 is better for White as then the plan of ...Ra7 is not so effective, as W hite is in time to defend the d7 pawn) 17.c1 b6 18.c3 f6 19.c4 with very dangerous attacking chances for White. ] 16...xd7 17.cxd7+ d8 18.g3 c7? This ending looks very uncomfortable, which might explain why Black was not able to put up much resistance (perhaps he thought he was already lost.) [ But even in difficult positions we should look for a plan, and if he had found the clever idea of 18...a6! with the plan of ...Ra7 followed by b5, he would most likely been a b l e t o s a v e t h e g a m e . 19.g2 a7 20.b1 b6= ] 19.h3 e6 20.d3 d8 21.hd1 Now W hite has managed to preserve the annoying pawn on d7, which ties Black down completely. h5 22.c3+ b8 23.g2 h4 24.g4 h3 25.xh3 h6+ 26.b1 f4 27.b3 b6 [ 27...xh2 28.g2 b6 29.f3 h7 30.f1 heading for b5, and W hite maintains uncomfortable pressure. ] 28.f1 xh2 29.f3 g5 30.a6 h7 31.c3 c7 32.b5 f6 33.a3 e5 34.c2 a6 35.c6 h4 36.f3 h7 37.c6 h4 38.e4! c7? [ 38...xg4 39.dc1 xe4 40.c8+ b7 41.xd8 d4 would have enabled Black to show stern resistance. ] 39.f3! White has co-ordinated beautifully, and now is free to go on the rampage with his

rooks. h2 40.c6 f2 41.xe6 a7 42.c1 xd7 43.e8 b8 44.cc8 d1+ 45.a2 dd2 46.e7+ 1-0

143 Amin,Bassem Sengupta,Deep WCh-Junior Gaziantep TUR (11) [John Watson]

B01 2561 2454 13.08.2008

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e2 Again White makes this modest move (compare Maze-Bauer), simply t r y i n g t o u s e h i s s p a c e a d v a n t a g e . f5 Black responds naturally, but he can also consider [ 6...g4 ] 7.e5 This seems to go well with Be2. bd7 8.f4!? White doesn't often set up with Ne5 and f4 versus the Scandinavian, but perhaps he sh o u ld . Ge n e rally t h e kn ight re tre a ts , is exchanged, or is supported by Bf4 or Qe2, for example. Now g4 is becoming a major theme, e6?! [ 8...h5 is more accurate. ] 9.0-0!? [ 9.g4! e4 ( 9...g6 10.0-0 with f5 next, or e4 11.c4! c7 12.f5 , etc. ) 10.xe4 ( 10.0-0 d5 11.xd5 exd5 may also f a v o u r W h i t e .) 10...xe4 11.d3 and White has bishops, space, etc. ] 9...h5 Either this or [ 9...h6 is necessary see the last note. ] 10.e3 b6 11.f2!? [ 11.d3 e7 12.xf5 exf5 13.d3 e6 and ...0-0-0 offers Black safety. ] [ 11.a4 is a useful interpolation. ] 11...c7 Black can't castle without protecting f7. Now White discourages 0-0-0: 12.a4! a5 13.f3 e7 14.e2!? e4 15.g3 xf3 16.xf3 g6 [ 16...h4 17.e2 h3 leaves the h-pawn a later target after 18.g4 ] 17.ae1 f8!? 18.b3 bd5 19.c4 b4 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 g7 Now White has space, but at first it looks as though there's nothing else. However, the knight on b4 is out of play, so White has some ideas of attacking Black's weakened kingside . 22.e1 h4? 118

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Soon we see how badly this move weakens 14.f3! would've left White with a pleasant the kingside, especially by allowing White to bind on the centre. ] use g4. 23.h3 d6 8.ge2 e6 9.b3 A new move from Anand [ 23...f6 24.g4 e7 25.e2 ( 25.d5!? ) and it's nothing spectacular but it does seem 25...ad8 26.c3! and d5 follows. ] to secure a slight advantage. 24.xg6! This should win. [ 9.0-0 doesn't seem to yield much edge e7 [ 24.c3 a2 defends. ] A) after 10.e1 0-0 11.a4 Black could've [ But 24.g4! with the idea f5 is quite equalised in Hamdouchi, H (2617)-Borgo, awkward for Black, threatening Nxg6, but G ( 2 3 9 7 ) L u g a n o 2 0 1 2 w i t h a5! also f5 with attack. ] ( inste ad af te r 11...a6?! 12.a5 c6 24...f5? 13.b3 b5 14.axb6 cxb6 15.d5! [ Black has to accept by 24...fxg6 25.xe6 White has much the better game and went ( 25.c3 a2 ) 25...d8 26.f5! f6 on to win. ); , w h e n W h i t e n e e d s t o f i n d 27.d5! B) 10.h1 0-0 11.a4 a5 12.e4 c6 , for example, cxd5 28.fxg6 f8 29.xh4 ] ( 12...c6! 13.xf6+ xf6 14.c3 d7 25.xe7! fxe4 and Black is very close to equalising.) [ 25...xe7 26.xf5 ] 13.c3 fd8 14.c2 was slightly better for 26.g4+ f7 27.g6+ xe7 28.g7+ W hite in Gharamian, T (2658)-Prie, E e8 29.xh8+ f8 30.xh4 With 2 extra (2526) Charleroi 2011 ] passed pawns and threats against Black's [ 9.e3 c6 ( possibly Black should accept exposed king, White wins easily. d3 31.h7 a slightly worse position with 9...e7 10.0-0 f5 32.g8+ f8 33.xe6+ e7 34.g8+ 0-0 ) 10.a3 e7 11.0-0 ed5 12.f2 f8 35.g6+ d7 36.xe4 xb2 37.d5 0-0-0 led to interesting play in Edouard, R xa4 38.g3 e8 39.dxc6+ bxc6 40.d1+ (2607) -Bauer, C (2679) Switzerland 2012 c7 41.f5+ b7 42.d7+ b6 43.c7+ but after 13.b4! h5 14.e4 xe4 15.fxe4 b7 44.d6+ f6 and here White should be somewhat 1-0 better after 16.h4! which holds up Black's play on the kingside ] 9...c6 10.e3 a5 It's logical to go straight 144 B01 after the bishop pair but it's not the only option [ 10...0-0-0 is surely a critical way to play this Anand,V 2772 position and in fact Black seems to have Van Wely,L 2679 re aso na b le ch an ces h e re , f or exa mp le 75th Tata Steel GpA (7.6) 19.01.2013 11.d2 e8 12.0-0 b8 ( 12...h5!? ) [Tom Rendle] 13.ad1 e7 and chances are very balanced. 14.d5?! is met by c5 ] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.d2 g4 6.f3 d7 Probably the most 11.0-0 xb3 12.axb3 e7 13.f4 0-0 14.e1 fd8 It's hard to believe that Black is sensible retreat. [ 6...h5 7.g4 g6 8.f4 gives White good more than minimally worse but Anand keeps chances and was covered in two games by up the pressure with some accurate moves This prevents Van Wely from playing Eric Prié in the archives, Golubev-Kislinsky 15.d3 ...c5 and freeing his game. d6 and Koepke-Kislinsky ] [ 15...a5! is probably a slight improvement [ 6...f5 has also been tried but White keeps and now after 16.f2 b4 White has to s o m e a d v a n t a g e wi t h 7.c4 ( 7.g4!? ) decide how to make progress. One option is 7...b6 8.ge2 ] 17.d5 d6 18.dxe6 xe6 19.xb4 xb4 7.c4 b6 but Black should be holding a draw fairly [ 7...c6 was seen in Fedorov, A (2598)co m f o r t a b l y h e r e a l t h o u g h wi t h 20.e2 Mamedyarov, S (2542) Batumi 2002 but it and Ra4 White still has the easier position to just seems to give W hite an easy game: play. ] 8.e2 e6 9.e4 d8 10.0-0-0 b5 11.d3 a6 12.f4 b4 13.xb4 xb4 and now 16.f2 c6 17.e4! xe4 18.fxe4 f5?! 119

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g7 10.h1 f5! 11.c4 ( After the game Kasparov recommended 11.e3! xd3 12.xd3 0-0 13.xd7 xd7 14.f5 although in my opinion, Black keeps a tiny advantage.) 11...e6 12.e2 ( threatening g2-g4 ) h5! 13.e3 d8 14.g1 0-0 15.f3 d5! 16.xd5 Forced, as ( 16.e2 fails to xf4! ) 16...exd5 with a clear edge. ] 6...f5 7.e5 e6 8.g4 g6 9.h4 bd7! The best line [ 9...b4 does not solve Black's problems as the game Campora - Cu. Hansen, Palma de Mallorca GMA 1989 proved: 10.d2 e4 11.f3! xc3 12.bxc3 xc3 13.b1 b5 14.b3 d7 15.xc6 xd2+ 16.xd2 c7 17.d5 with a clear advantage. ] 10.xd7 xd7 11.h5 e4 12.h3 [ 12.0-0 gives W hite nothing real: d5 13.xd5 cxd5 14.d3 d6 15.c3 g6 16.d2 d8 17.g2 gxh5 18.g5 e7 19.xh5 0-0-0= with equality, Westerinen Prie, Andorra 1994 ] 12...g2 The idea of this move is that if White plays Rg3, then Black will gain a tempo with a later Bd6. [ 12...d5 is the main Black reply and is probably best as the move played here was disastrous for Black. White then usually tries 13.d3 0-0-0 ( 13...d6 14.d2 c7 15.xd5 cxd5 16.e2 f4 17.0-0-0 gave White a small edge in the game Ochoa de Echaguen - Denker, New York 1989) 145 B01 14.d2 b6 15.xd5 exd5 with good counterplay in the game Rublevsky - Lastin, Anand,Viswanathan 2765 Russia (ch) Elista 1995. ] Lautier,Joel 2660 Biel 1997 13.e3! [ St ro n ge r t h a n 13.g3 d5 although [Alexander Volzhin] White's chances are still preferable. ] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 13...b6 [ 13...b5 14.d3 b4 does not solve Black's f6 5.f3 c6 problems as he will soon be forced to part [ 5...g4 ] with a Bishop by taking on e4 after 15.e4 ] [ 5...f5 are the alternatives. ] 14.d3! 6.c4 [ 14.b3?! c5! would give Black good [ 6.e5 was tried in the World title match counterplay ] between Kasparov and Anand. White didn't 15.f3! The point. The bishop is obtain any advantage from the opening, 14...d5 mo re o ve r t h e W o rld Ch a m p ion , wh o is trapped on g2 and White's task now is not to famous for his great knowledge of opening give up too much material for it. [ P r e vio u s l y 15.g3 had been played, the theory, found himself in an inferior position game Bauer - Prie, France (ch) 1996 after 15 moves! The game continued: e6! continued with xc3 16.bxc3 d5 17.d2 7.d3 bd7 8.f4?! ( 8.xd7 ) 8...g6! 9.0-0

This is unnecessarily weakening and ultimately it costs Loek the game. [ 18...b6 was better although White is somewhat better after 19.c4 d7 20.e5 e8 21.g4 b7 however Black's still very solid so he definitely should have played this way. ] 19.exf5 exf5 20.c4! e4?! After this Black is just losing a pawn. [ 20...h4 was a better try but after 21.g3 e4! 22.d5 ( would be a big mistake due to 22.gxh4? g6+ 23.g3 xd4 and Black regains the piece with a good positio n) 22...xd3 23.xd3 f6 24.xf5 xb2 25.a2 f6 26.ae2 White is clearly better ] 21.c5 g6 22.xe4 fxe4 23.b1! f6 24.xe4 xe4 25.xe4 Anand is a pawn up and makes the rest of the game look very easy indeed c6 26.f1 d7 27.e2 a6 28.d3 ad8 29.ae1 f7 30.e3 h5 31.f1 g6 32.b4! d6 33.h3 6d7 Black is unable to do more than wait and now Vishy clamps down on the kingside as well. 34.g4! hxg4 35.hxg4 f8?? A blunder that brings the game to a swift conclusion 36.g5 xd4 37.e6+ [ 37.e6+ f6+ 38.c2 f7 39.e4 and the Bishop is still lost on f6! ] 1-0

120

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a4 18.e2 b5 19.h6 0-0-0 with complicated and double-edged play. ] 15...b4 [ After 15...xc3 16.bxc3 xc3+ 17.d2 xd4 18.f2 xf3 19.xf3 White has a big advantage, according to Anand. ] [ 15...xe3!? was interesting: 16.xe3 a3 17.c1 ( 17.bxa3 xf3 18.d2 xg4 19.h6 Black is slightly better) 17...b4 18.f2 xc3 19.bxc3 xc3 20.d2 xd4+ 21.xg2 and White's chances looks preferable. ] 16.f2! xc3 [ 16...xc3 was not better: 17.bxc3 xc3 18.b1 xd4 19.xg2 xe3 20.xe3 with a clear advantage. ] 17.bxc3 xc3 18.b1 xd4 [ Both alternatives 18...xf3 19.xf3 xd4 20.xb7 ] [ and 18...xe3 19.xe3 xf3 20.xf3 fail to make Black's life easier. ] 19.xb7 d8 [ 19...h3 was another try which would be met by 20.xf7! c5 21.f5!! xe3 22.xe3 b2 23.xc5 0-0 24.g3! with a decisive advantage, as was pointed out by Joel Lautier. ] [ 19...f4 20.g3 d6 does not help either because of the beautiful 21.a3! xh5+ ( 21...xa3 22.e4! winning ) 22.xg2 g3+ 23.f1 winning ] 20.h6!! The idea behind this spectacular move is very beautiful and was not appreciated by Lautier. gxh6? [ B l a c k c o u l d s t i l l f i g h t w i t h 20...xe3 21.xe3 e5 22.hxg7 g8 23.g1 ( 23.h6 h2! ) 23...xf3 24.xf3 with a big advantage, according to Anand. ] 21.g6!! The point! It's not very often you see such a beautiful combination on the board, especially in a game between two top players. e7 [ Other moves were also losing: 21...xe3+ 22.xe3 fxg6 ( 22...hxg6 23.d4 ) 23.c5 ] [ 21...f6 22.xf7+ xf7 23.xf7 xe3 24.xd8+! xd8 25.xe3 h3 26.xa7 ] [ 21...xe3 22.xf7+ f8 23.xd4 xd4 24.xe3 ] [ and the main idea is to checkmate the B l a c k K i n g a f t e r 21...xd1 22.xe6+ with Bh6 and Bf7 to follow. ]

22.xd4 xd4 23.d3! The simplest. d8 24.xd8+ xd8 25.d3! [ 25.d3 h1 26.b2 e8 27.f6 It is remarkable that White still has not won the trapped Bishop, but he doesn't need it! Black resigned. A very beautiful game by Vishy Anand. ] 1-0

146 Ansell,S Martin,Andrew D 4NCL West Bromwich [Andrew Martin]

B01

01.05.2005

No w, a ra re p e rso n a l d isa s t e r u s in g t h e Scandinavian. I've been meaning to experiment with 3...Qd6 for some time what a beginning! 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6!? I think the punctuation is correct. Some things I like about this move particularly the dynamic aspect of the centralized Queen. But t h e Q u e e n is e xp o se d a n d b lo cks in t h e Bishop on f8 for the time being. Black's plan of ...a6, ...b5, ...Bb7, ...e6, ...Nbd7, ...Be7 and eventually ... c7-c5 is easy to understand though. 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 6.d3! This prevents 6.. b5 for the time being: g4 [ 6...b5 7.a4 b4 8.e4 and Black is already much worse. ] 7.h3 xf3? There is no excuse for this move. Ceding the Bishops at this stage is weak. I thought I might be able to make up for this concession by developing quickly but this is simply the wrong view of the position. [ Instead 7...h5 is correct and then Black should be able to equalize comfortably: 8.g4 ( 8.e4 xe4 9.xe4 c6 10.c3 g6!; 8.e3 c6 9.e2 b4 ) 8...g6 9.xg6 hxg6 10.g5 d5= Looking at it now I really cannot find any reason for playing 7...Bxf3. I must have been having a very bad day! ] 8.xf3 c6 9.e3 0-0-0 10.0-0-0 b4 This seemed absolutely necessary in view of White's idea of Ne4, which is his main trump. For instance [ 10...e6 11.e4! xe4 12.xe4 and already the White position is winning. ] 11.a3 xd3+ 12.xd3 e6 13.e1! A nice move. I'd analysed 121

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 13.hd1 e7 14.d5 exd5 15.xd5 xd5 for 8.e2!? xg2 9.f3 h3 10.f4 16.xd5 g6 and saw that Black was e6+ 11.e5 which gave White some surviving. The point of 13 Re1 is to play d4compensation in Plaskett - Houska,J, d5! again, but this time with added power. ] Islington 1998?) 8...g4 9.f3 e6 10.d2 13...e7 14.g5 d7 0-0-0 11.e5 c4 12.d3 e6 and Black [ 14...b6 15.d5 seemed horrible. ] was fine in the game Ponomariov 15.d5! e8 After much thought and mental Hauchard, Belfort 1998 ] torture. Actually, I could have saved myself 7...f5? This leads to disaster. the mental recrimination by simply admitting [ T h e c r i t i c a l l i n e i s 7...xd4 8.c4 that Black is lost and resigning. Yes, it's that ( White can force a draw with 8.g6 e6+ bad! 9.e5 (threatening both the knight on d4 [ 15...exd5 16.xf6! ( 16.xd5 xd5 and 10.Bc4) b6 10.c4 e6+ 11.e5 17.xe7 he8 18.e5 c6 might just be d6 12.g6 e6+ 13.e5 1/2-1/2 as in s u r v i v a b l e) 16...xf6 17.xd5 Smith - Sermek, Auckland 2000. Can he do is disgusting. ] better?; I t h i n k t h a t 8.g3!? 16.xe7 xe7 17.e3! I must say that looks interesting.) 8...e6 9.xe6 ( And not Ansell finishes the game incisively . I was 9.g6 b6 10.xh8 xc4 when the already getting short of time and could find no knight on h8 is trapped.) 9...xe6 10.f3 answer to the direct attack on the King. d6 xf4 11.xf4 e6 12.0-0 e7 13.e4 To try and cover the possible need to play ... d5 14.fe1 d8 15.c4 d4 16.f3 d7 Kd7 18.a7 he8 17.e5 d4 18.f3 d7 19.e5 d4 [ 18...e5 19.a4! ] 1/2-1/2 Mortensen - Bronstein,D, Hastings 19.dxe6 g5+ 20.b1 xe6 21.xe6 fxe6 Challengers 1996 ] 22.e4! G a m e o v e r . e5 23.c5 c6 8.c4 xe5 9.dxe5 c6 24.b3 e8 25.xb7 One mistake in the 3... [ After 9...xd1+ there is 10.xd1 d7 Qd6 and you get gunned down. That was the 11.d5 but the text leads to even greater valuable lesson taught to me from this game. horrors. ] 1-0 10.e2 xg2 11.0-0-0 e4 12.d5 0-0-0 13.e3 xd1+ 14.xd1 g6 15.d3 b8 16.d8+ c8 17.e6 d6 18.d5 147 B01 A strong argument against moving your queen Arakhamia Grant,Ketevan 2425 too much in the opening. Mashinskaya,Iulia 2300 1-0 3rd EIWCh Varna BUL (4) 30.05.2002 [Nigel Davies] 148 B01 Baron,Ta 2455 I must admit that I am suspicious about the merits of 3...Qd6 and this game may point to Kurajica,Bojan 2529 20.11.2010 its potential vulnerability. 7.Bf4 offers a pawn 4th Mediterranean Open (9.7) for fast development and whilst Black has [Gawain Jones] d o n e O K s o f a r , t h e p o si t io n l o o k s ve r y dangerous to me. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 g4 4.e2 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 6.e5 c6 c6 5.d4 0-0-0 6.c4 f5 7.e3 xf3 [ 6...e6 7.f4 looks very unpleasant for 8.xf3 xd4 9.xd4 e6+ 10.e2 c5 Black. ] [ Last time I looked at this line I concentrated 7.f4!? White continues his development and on 10...e4 which didn't solve Black's problems - see Bruzon Batista, L (2641)offers his d-pawn. At the moment it looks as if he has nothing more than a draw by repetition, Kurajica, B (2525) La Laguna 2010. I've but in such a sharp position there may be ad d e d in a f e w mo re re ce n t e xa mp le s . improvements for White. 11.0-0 [ 7.xc6 xc6 8.f4 ( Are there any takers A) 11...xd4 12.a4 The first practical 122

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 line.' I still don't see how White can hope for encounter of the forum's suggestion. xe2 an advantage here. 13.xa7 A) 13.0-0!? xe2 14.a3 ( 14.a8+ A1) I e x a m i n e d 13...g4?! with the is probably a draw although allows Black threat of ...Rxg2 for a draw but 14.a8+ to try playing on with the dangerous c7 d7 15.h3! foils Black's plan and leaves 15.a5+ b6 16.a7+ c6 17.b4 e6 White with a great position.; but I feel this is rather foolhardy.) 14...e5 A2) and 13...xb2 la s t t im e : 14.a3 15.b5 ( 15.c5 g4 16.f4 is another d3 15.b5 f6 16.ad1 c2 17.c1 suggestion of AlanG, but I would be rather d2 18.a8+ ( 18.c5!? ) 18...d7 scared playing this as White as a knight on 19.a4 c6 20.cd1 cxb5 21.xb5+ e3 dominates the position rather.) 15...e6 c8 22.xd2 xd2 23.c5+- winning for 16.c5 g4 17.g3 b8 18.a4 e5 White.; 19.a7+ c7 20.b5+ d7 21.xd4+ A3) 13...d6 A new try but this doesn't e7 given by gewgaw, when Black's king s a v e B l a c k . 14.a8+ d7 15.c5!? has escaped the worst with good chances ( 15.xf8 xb2 16.a3 looks like the to convert the extra piece. In particular easiest when Black won't survive long.) watch out for ...Rxd4!; 15...d4 16.xf8 d1 17.d2 xd2 B) 13.a3 is the safest although allows 18.xg7 f6 19.xh8 xb2 20.c6+ Black to equalise with a6=; bxc6 21.a4 b4 22.fe1 g4 23.f8 C) 13.a8+ 'allows Black at least a draw d5 24.a5 1-0 Lyell, M (2202) -Ivanov, and he might even be able to play f or M (2438) Zdar nad Sazavou 2010 saw more with' c7 14.a5+ b6 15.e5+ the lower rated Englishman grateful to c8 ( This looks more reliable than ChessPublishing!; AlanG's 15...d6 16.a5+ b8 B) 11...xd4 12.a4 e6 13.c3 d6 which isn't so clear.) 16.d2 This was B1) Bruzon chose 14.f3! which looks actually tried in a correspondence game strong. My critical line from the previous w h i c h w o r k e d o u t w e l l f o r B l a c k . d3 annotation ran f4 15.fd1 xh2+ 17.f3 e6 18.0-0 d6 19.c3 b4 ( Looking at the game now I wonder 20.b3 d7 21.e4 c5 22.xc5 whether 15...a6!? might be an xc5 23.c3 d4 and I feel Black really in t e re s t i n g m o ve o rd e r ke e p in g t h e can't have any problems. Lopez, A (1670)queen active although 16.b4 xc4 De h a yb e , A (1 8 8 8 ) Ch e s sf r ie n d . c o m 17.e4 b5 18.c2 e5 19.ac1 2003. ] looks extremely dangerous.) 16.f1 a6 [ A practical game saw 12...d3 13.c3 dxe2 17.c5 xc5 18.xb7+ xb7 19.xd8 14.a8+ d7 ( 14...c7 simply loses to h1+ 20.e2 xg2 21.e4 15.b5+ ) 15.xb7+ e8 16.d5 c8 and White has a decisive advantage.; when Top Notch gives 17.a4 with good B2) 14.b5 e5 15.xd6+ cxd6 winning chances. The queenside pawns are 16.f3 b8 17.ad1 ( I looked at extremely fast! ] 17.fe1 previously.) 17...f6 18.d3 c5 19.fd1 d7 20.c3 hd8 21.b4 13.a3 This was gipc's line on the forum. [ 13.0-0!? looks critical to me. With another b6 22.dc1 e5 23.c5 dxc5 24.bxc5 look at this variation I believe that W hite c7 25.a3 a6 26.c6 d4 with very should try this but still White has a question strong compensation. Trygstad, K mark on how to react to 12... Nf 6. xe2 (2301)-Kasparov, S (2492) Leros 2010 ] 14.a3 11.a4 And I thought this the critical test. I've A) L a s t t i m e I s a i d 14...e5 15.c5! added in my annotations from last time. cxd4 gives W hite good chances but perhaps 'This is now forced as' B l a c k c a n h o l d . b8 16.a4 e5 [ 11...xd4 12.xa7 e5 13.c3 ( 16...h5!? looks like a promising idea is great for White. ] 17.c4 h6 18.fc1 c6 19.b6+ c7 12.xa7 'when' e5 20.a5 e6 looks very artificial but if White [ 12...f6 'has been discussed as the critical 123

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 has no killer blow then Black will be able to consolidate.) 17.b5 d7 18.ac1 d8 19.c6 bxc6 20.xc6 and the computer starts to like White...; B) 14...e6 15.a8+! d7 16.xb7+ e8 17.b5 ( 17.c6+ is the perpetual draw f o r W h it e .) 17...e7 ( 17...d6 18.c5 e5 19.ae1 also looks good for White. ) 18.c5 e5 ( 18...d3 simply loses to 19.c6 as the line given by Top Notch illu stra tes : d2 20.c7 d1 21.axd1 xd1 22.c6+ f8 23.a8+ d8 24.xd8+ xd8 25.cxd8# ) 19.c6 b8 20.a4! xb7 ( 20...c5 21.fc1 doesn't help.) 21.cxb7 f6 22.a5 d7 23.fc1 d5 24.a6 g5 25.c4+is an excellent line given by Top Notch when the passed pawns are far stronger than the piece. ] [ 13.f1!? linksspringer is another interesting possibility. It look rather artificial but it does keep the bishop. e6 14.d2 c5 ] 13...e6 We decided this wasn't so good and I think this is a case of our analysis outstripping both players. [ 13...d3 was my mainline. A) 14.0-0-0!? "look an interesting attempt to me which I don't think has been m e n t i o n e d b e f o r e " xe2 15.a8+ ( 15.b1!? ) 15...c7 16.b5+ c6 17.a4 gives Black extreme practical problems. While the computer informs me it's a draw, I'm not completely convinced.; B) 14.a8+ c7 ( 14...b8?! was tried in a Corr. game but 15.xb8+ xb8 16.0-0-0 e5 17.xd3 xd3 18.xd3 xa3 19.bxa3 f6 20.e1 an d W h it e co n ve rt ed h is e xt ra p a wn . Kovac, S-Nielsen, J (2048) ICCF email 2005. ) 15.b5+ c6 16.a7+ c7 17.b5+ is simply a draw. ] 14.a8+ [ 14.b5! was our choice when Black's position is tough. A) 14...c5 immediately is better but 15.f4! A1) 15...c7 16.a4! xf4 17.f1 xh2 18.xf7 e7 ( 18...b8 19.b4! ) 19.0-0-0 and White's attack must be simply too strong.;

A2) 15...xa7 16.xa7+ b8 17.fxe5 xa7 18.h5 and White has something with pressure on f7.; B) 14...b4+?! Actually this is probably the mistake. 15.f1 B1) 15...d3 16.f3 d7 17.a8+ b8 18.a4 c5 19.d1+And again Black's king is unlikely to survive. ( 19.b4 actually looks even easier. ); B2) 15...c5 16.a5 ( 16.a8+ b8 17.a4 looks very strong too.) 16...d3 17.f3 e7 18.e1 f4 B2a) 19.b4! is actually stronger (a better computer now :)). Black cannot k e e p t h e b i s h o p . d4 ( 19...d6 20.b6+- ) 20.g3 b8 21.xd4 xd4 22.c5+ c6 23.xc6 both win a piece.; B2b) 19.g3+- Continuing the line for a few more moves b8 20.b4 c6 21.xc6 bxc6 22.bxc5 cxb5 23.cxb5 d5 24.g2 and White is material up and with the safer king. ] 14...b8 15.a5 This controls the e5 square but allows Black to gain time with Ne7-c6. [ 15.xb8+ xb8 16.c2 e5 obviously favours Black with the central pawns. ] [ 15.a4 I initially thought was an improvement but Black has absolutely no problems here. d3 16.f3 d2+ 17.f1 xa3 18.xa3 f6 19.d1 with a very complex position. It's one of those positions in which both sides have ugly positions. Black's king is vulnerable and his d2 pawn is fairly likely to drop. On the other hand the pawn d oes a goo d job kee pin g W hit e's rooks out of the game. A possible continuation runs: d7 20.g3 hd8 21.a5 ( 21.g2 d4! 22.a5 c7 23.a8+ d7 ) 21...c7 22.a8+ b8 23.a5 d4!? 24.b3 e5 and I'd select Black. ] 15...d3?! It's hard to refrain from this move to try and stop White castling but the pawn now becomes vulnerable. [ 15...e7 would exploit the precarious nature of W hite's queen. 16.f3 ( 16.0-0 c6 17.a4 d3 18.f3 xa3 19.xa3 e5 20.h5 d6 21.c5 d4 and Black's queen and knight dominate the board. Black of course always has to be careful in this line as his king is still somewhat 124

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 vulnerable.) 16...c6 17.xc6 bxc6 18.0-0 d6 19.g3 b4 ( 19...xb2 looks very risky. ) 20.a8+ c7 21.a7+ b7 22.a5+ b6 23.d2 e5 with a very complex position. ] 16.f3 [ 16.d1 looks to pick up the pawn but Black can again exploit W hite's queen position with e7 17.xd3 ( 17.f3 c6 18.xc6 bxc6 19.0-0 is extremely complicated but subjectively I'd prefer to be Black.) 17...xd3 18.xd3 c6 19.g5 b4+ 20.e2 d4+ 21.f1 d8 and Black has taken over the initiative. ] 16...d2+ 17.e2 e7 18.hd1 f5 This allows White a clear advantage. [ 18...c6 was the alternative but here too W hite has an edge with 19.xc6 bxc6 20.a6+ c7 ( 20...b7 21.xb7+ xb7 22.b1 is a clear extra pawn.) 21.c2 and W hite aims to win the d2 pawn and slowly consolidate. It's important that xb2? loses to 22.ab1 xc2 23.b7+ d6 24.xd2+ xd2+ 25.xd2 ] 19.b5 d4+ Kurajica acknowledges the opening hasn't gone well and offers liquidation into a clearly worse middlegame. [ 19...c5 was the alternative but 20.f1! l e a v e s W h i t e c l e a r l y o n t o p a s xh2 21.a8+ b8 22.xb7+ d7 23.xd2+ e7 24.xb8 xb8 25.e4 should be a decisive advantage with the three passed queenside pawns. ] 20.f1? Baron presumably overestimated his position and thought he was mating swiftly but this lets Black off the hook. [ The straightforward 20.xd4 was much better when Black would have to grovel t e r r i b l y a f t e r xd4 21.xd2 xd2+ 22.xd2 ] 20...xf3 21.a7+?! And this is the wrong way. It looks logical to force the king forwards but it becomes surprisingly safe. [ Instead he should have settled for 21.gxf3 when c5 22.b4 xf2 23.xf2 xh2+ 24.f1 h1+ 25.f2 h2+= is drawn. ] 21...d7 22.gxf3 e7! Suddenly the knight looks really offside on a7 and the d2 pawn prevents W hite from launching a decisive attack. 23.c5?! And this is probably the decisive mistake. Baron cannot adjust to the

sudden swing in fortunes and is still trying to crash through on the queenside but ceding d5 is terrible. [ Instead he could have still bailed out with 23.xd2! xd2 24.b4+! f6 ( 24...e8 25.xd2 actually favours White as xa7? loses to 26.d1; 24...d6 25.c6+! is the cunning idea.) 25.xd2 xh2! and Black is still for preference but W hite stays in the game. ( 25...xa7 26.f4+ e7 27.c7+ f6 28.f4+= is a draw. )] 23...d5! The rook now dominates the board. 24.b5 [ 24.xd2 giving up the knight was White's best chance but with accurate defence Black is clearly bette r xd2 25.xd2 xa7 26.d1 b8! 27.b4 c7 28.c6+ f6 29.xb7 d6 and Black has successfully developed his kingside pieces. ] 24...xh2 25.d6 f6! Running the king to safer pastures 26.e4+ g6 27.e2 h6 A human move creating shelter for the king which has just run from c8 to g6 with all the major pieces still on the board. [ H o w e v e r t h e f e a r l e s s 27...f5! was the quickest route to victory as 28.g1+ f7 29.g5+ g8 leaves the Black monarch safe. ] 28.xd2 xd2+ Exchanging off pieces simplifies Black's task. [ 28...e5!? pinning and winning the knight was also possible, for instance 29.c3 h7 30.d1 xe4 31.d3 h1+ 32.c2 xa1 33.xe4+ g8 34.xb7 xc5 35.d8+ h7 36.xh8+ xh8 37.c8+ h7 38.xc5 xa2 with a clear advantage in the queen and pawn endgame but playing in such a fashion is very foolhardy. ] 29.xd2 f5! Black's king has found safety and now White can't prevent Black's kingside pieces finally coming into the game when W hite's position will be hopeless. 30.d7 White tries to complicate the issue. [ It's easy to see that 30.d6 e5+ 31.f1 xc5 offers White no respite. ] 30...e5 31.g1+ h7 32.xb7 fxe4 It's amusing that Black can have a completely wi n n i n g p o s it i o n wi t h o u t d e ve lo p in g h i s kingside pieces and the king march makes q u i t e a n i m p r e s s i o n . 33.b4 b2+ Nothing wrong with this check but missing an 125

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 immediate win. [ Instead 33...xc5! activating the rook wins as W hite's king is too vulnerable. 34.bxc5 exf3+ 35.xf3 f8+ 36.g2 e2 and Black will mate shortly. ] 34.f1 b1+ 35.g2 exf3+ 36.h2 xa2 37.xf3 d5 White's queenside pawns look a little scary but Black does have an extra piece. 38.xd5 exd5 39.e1 g6 40.e5 f6 41.xd5 e7 42.d4 b8 43.e4 d8 44.g3 c7+ 45.f3 h5 46.e3 g5 47.d3 h4 48.c4 h3 49.b5 f5 50.e1 f4 Not a perfectly played game but nevertheless very interesting and proof that even GMs find it hard to navigate correctly in this minefield. The theoretical onus is still on White. 0-1

149 Becquart,Julien Sacliez,Alain 6th Open, Elancourt (3) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2105 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.b5+ d7 [ I believe that 3...bd7 may be underrated . It is certainly true to say that 3...Bd7 is played much more often. After 3.. .Nbd7 a pawn sacrifice is usually involved-something like 4.c4 a6 5.xd7+ ( 5.a4 b5 6.cxb5 b6 ) 5...xd7 6.c3 c6 7.dxc6 xc6 but you can see from both of these small lines that the game is very messy. ] 4.e2 xd5 5.d4 White plays for coordination. At some point he simply intends c 2 -c 4 , t a k in g t h e ce n t re in a f a vo u r a b l e manner. g6?! [ It looks as though 5...f5 is better. Black will not fianchetto his King's Bishop aiming for an ...e6 set-up, or, when White gets too frisky, maybe even . ..e7-e5! A) 6.c4!? b4 7.a3 e5 8.f3 e4 9.e5 f6 10.a4+ c6 11.c5 fxe5 12.xb4 xd4 13.xb7 xc5 14.0-0 d7 15.xa8 0-0 What an unholy mess! 16.c4 c7 17.a5 ( Fritz suggests 17.d2! a6 18.a5 xa8 19.xc7 xc7 20.xe5 ) 17...xa5 18.c4+ h8 19.b7 b6 20.xb6 axb6 21.e3

d4 It is tough to know who to prefer at this point-the Bishop[ on d4 acts as an effective 'stopper' . Eventually Black won! Le Thi Phuong Lien-Chau Thi Ngoc Giao/ ch-VIE w, Dong Thap VIE 2003; B) 6.f3 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.a3 0-0 9.c4 This would be more representative. It is difficult to cast off the notion that White is at least slightly better but, as the game goes, Black sustains his position. f6 10.h3 h6 11.e3 bd7 12.b3 c6 13.c3 c7 14.ac1 fd8 15.fd1 e4! Each exchange decreases White's edge. 16.a4 f6 17.d5 c5 18.d2 d6 19.c3 xc3 20.xc3 e5 Again Black went on to outplay his opponent. Bellaiche, A-Bergez,L/GM, Evry FRA 2003 ] 6.c4 b6 7.c3 g7 8.e3 0-0 9.d2 White will borrow a plan from Fischer: h4-h5, s a c , s a c , m a t e ! f5 If this is the best that Black has he really does have serious problems but [ 9...c6 doesn't look great either after 10.c5! c8 11.d5 e5 12.h6 ] 10.g4! c8 11.0-0-0 c6 12.h4 Direct and almost impossible to meet. e5 13.d5 d4 14.h5 There should be no hesitation. xe2+ 15.xe2 d7 [ B l o c k i n g w i t h t h e d i s g u s t i n g 15...g5 is legal but little else. Black's position is gh a st l y a f t e r 16.c5 d7 17.h6 h8 ( 17...f6 18.e4 ) 18.f3 f6 19.e4 ] 16.f3 [ I quite like 16.hxg6 too. Black's position is horrid: fxg6 ( 16...hxg6 17.f3 xg4 18.h4 f5 19.dh1 f6 20.g5!! ) 17.f3 b8 18.h3 h6 19.f2 f7 20.h3 ] 16...a4 17.e4 f5 18.g5! [ 18.c5 xc5 19.xc5 f7 ( 19...f6 20.hxg6 xg6 21.gxf5 xf5 and Black scrapes an existence.) 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.h2 ] 18...fxg4 [ 18...e4 19.d4 e7 was the only try. White is still much better after both 20 f4 and 20 Ne6 but it's still a game. ] 19.hxg6 hxg6 20.e6+- f7 21.h2 f6 22.fxg4 xe6 23.dxe6 3 Bb5+ can be overlooked in the rush to play 3 d4 or 3 c4 but it remains an interesting line where White is 126

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 trying to disturb the natural flow of Black's development form a very early stage. My experience is that Black players know this line much less well than the variations stemming from the other third moves. As a practical choice for W hite, recommended, although beware 3...Nbd7! 1-0

and it is for that reason that I have to give the n o d t o B l a ck h e r e . O ve r t h e b o a r d , t h i s position is just a lot of grief for White. 13.f2 c5 As White has so obligingly put his King o n f 2 , B la ck' s B ish o p f in d s a n e x c e lle n t square. 14.b1 a5 15.b3 f7 Here, rather than 0-0-0 which would allow Bh3+. 16.d3 ad8 17.d1 f5 Tactical threats abound. W hite has not solved his problems, 18.b2 d7 Just threatening to pile up on the pinned 150 B01 Knight with ...Re8 and ...Rde7. 19.c2 xd1 Belaska,Premysl 2295 20.xd1 d8 21.e2 e8 22.b4 axb4 [ 22...xe3+ 23.xe3 xe3 24.bxa5 Sikora Lerch,Jan 2345 exc4 25.xc4+ xc4 26.xb7 xa5 TCh Czech Republic 2002 27.a7 c6 28.xc7+ e7 is, of course, [Andrew Martin] completely lost for White. ] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 23.b3 a4 24.d3 c3 25.d2 e7 Clearly playable, but allows Black a free hit at 26.xc3 bxc3 A very simple win for Black, the centre. b6 5.c3 e5! It turns out that underscoring the unpromising nature of 4 c4.4 White has rushed his central expansion and Nf3 is much, much better. White's problems in fallen into not exactly an opening trap, but t h i s l i n e a r e t w o f o l d : 1 ) H e c a n n o t consolidate his early central gains quickly certainly a line to avoid. 6.dxe5 [ 6.d5 c6 7.e3 b4 8.b3 a6 9.0-0-0 enough. The White centre is shaky. 2) Having e7 10.ge2 1/2-1/2 Krupkova, P-Sikora won the pawn, he find developing a clumsy Lerch, J TCh-CZE 2003 says nothing, apart experience. In particular, he cannot anchor that Black is very comfortable in the final a n y o f h i s m i n o r p i e c e s i n t h e c e n t r e . Me an while, Bla ck uses th e d 4 squa re t o position. ] strong effect. 6...xd1+ 7.xd1 c6 8.f4 f6! [ 8...e6 is different and I'm not sure I like it 0-1 as much as the game move. Yes, Black forces b2-b3, but it's a move White wants to B01 ma ke a nd t he B isho p blocks t he e f ile . 151 Benjamin,Joel 2552 9.e3 c5 10.b3 0-0-0 11.f3 f6 12.f5 Schroer,Jonathan 2359 xe3 13.xe3 xf5 14.exf6 gxf6 15.e2 26.09.2011 b4 16.f2 he8 The position on which US Chess League 2011 (5) 8...Be6 stands or falls. Black's active, White [Milos Pavlovic] has two Bishops. Take your pick. 17.d4 d3+ 18.xd3 xd3 19.ad1 e4= 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 This is the first Bluvshtein, M-Paschall, W New York 2003 ] time that a game in the Scandinavian 9.exf6 gxf6 10.f3 g4 11.e3 Defence featured in one of my updates. a5 4.c4 c6 5.e2 f5 6.d3 At first sight this The point being that [ 11.e2 b4+! is embarrassing for White is a modest approach but actually White has a dangerous attacking idea in mind. f6 who has to move the King. ] [ Relevant is: 6...e6 7.g4 g6 8.f4 e7 11...xf3 12.gxf3 d4 Let's take stock. 9.f3 h5 10.e5 h4+ 11.f1 W hite has an extra doubled pawn. He also Safer and probably stronger was: ( 11.d1 ) owns the Two Bishops. In return Black owns 11...e7 12.f5 exf5 13.g5 b5 14.b3 b4 the centre and has a particularly strong Knight 15.a4 f4 16.xf4 0-0 17.g2 d5 on d4. Black has easy development with Bb4+, 18.f3 d8 19.c5 f5 20.xd5 cxd5 0-0-0 and Rhe8 being the easiest moves in 21.xh5 c8 22.d4 xg5 23.xg5 f6 the world to play. I know I am always very And now with 24. Bxf6 Rxf6 25. Raf1 White happy when I see a clear plan of campaign 127

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 i s w i n n i n g , M u zy c h u k , A ) - R e p k o v a , E Dresden 2008 ] 7.d2 c7 8.h3 e6 [ 8...h5 I think this is more to the point even if it allows White the g5 square, its surely the safest option. 9.f3 bd7 10.0-0-0 A) 10...e6 11.d4 g6 ( 11...h7 12.xe6 fxe6 13.xe6 e5 14.c7+ f7 15.xa8 xe2 16.xe2 d6 17.f4 xf4+ 18.xf4 xa8 19.he1 ); B) 10...b5 11.d4 bxc4 ( 11...g6 12.xb5 cxb5 13.cxb5 b8 14.f3 With attack.) 12.xf5 g6 13.d4 cxd3 14.xd3 e5 15.a6 b6 16.xb6 axb6 17.he1 c4 18.g5 g7 19.xc6 White is clearly better, Muzychuk, A -Blazkova, P /Stockholm 2008 ] 9.g4 g6 10.f4 e7 11.f3 bd7 12.0-0-0 White has a very dangerous initiative here. b5N [ 12...b6 13.de1 f8 14.b3 Already we can consider Black's position bad. d6 15.e5 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.fxe5 fd7 18.e4 g8 19.d4 h5 20.g5 xe4 21.xe4 d5 22.f1 g6 23.xd5 cxd5 24.ef4 h7 25.b4 b8 26.d6 c6 27.1f3 Black has a difficult endgame. d8 28.b3 d7 29.d2 e7 30.xe7 xe7 31.c3 g7 32.c8 h8 33.xh8 xh8 34.f3 g8 35.c3 f8 36.a4 e8 37.c8+ d7 38.a8 a6 39.c3 c6 40.b4 c7 41.c4 dxc4 42.bxc4 White won in Short, N -Liu Dede / Mallorca 2004 ] 13.b3 a5 14.de1 c5 [ 14...a4 15.xe6 fxe6 16.f5 b4 17.b1 e5 18.fxg6 hxg6 19.xe5 ] 15.f5 exf5 16.d4 Alternatives were stronger it seems: [ 16.g5!? xb3+ 17.axb3 h5 18.e5 f8 19.xc6 ( 19.f3 c8 20.e2 d6 21.he1 g8 22.h4 With strong compensation. ) 19...xg5 ] [ 16.gxf5 h5 ( 16...xf5 17.d4 xb3+ 18.axb3 g6 19.xc6+- ) 17.hg1! a4 18.xf7+! xf7 ( 18...xf7 19.xg7 g8 20.xf7!! xf7 21.e5+ g7 22.xb5!! cxb5 23.g2+ f8 24.xa8++A fascinating line!) 19.e5+ f8 20.g2 With a winning attack for White. ] 16...0-0-0 17.gxf5 xd4 18.fxg6 xb3+

19.axb3 b4 20.f2 d7 21.gxf7 xf7 22.hf1 hf8 23.g2 After a more or less forced sequence of moves the position is about equal but Joel managed to outplay his opponent. xc3 24.xc3 d5 25.xf7 xf7 26.e8+ d7 27.e4 c8 28.e8+ d7 29.e4 c8 30.e5 d7 31.h2 f5 32.e1 b7 33.g1 g5 Suddenly it is Black who controls the game. 34.b1 h5 35.d2 b4 36.a2 f4 37.g2 a4 38.e4 c1 39.bxa4 f1? Black missed an opportunity to beat his famous opponent: [ 39...c3+! 40.bxc3 ( 40.b3 xe4 41.dxe4 f4 ) 40...a3+ 41.b1 bxc3-+ ] 40.d4! The only but good move. d1 41.f2 d2? The last and decisive mistake. Black was still ok with: [ 41...b1+ 42.b3 xd3+! 43.c4 xd4+! 44.xd4 xb2 And Black is not worse anymore. ] 42.f7+ c7 43.e5 xc2 44.xc7+ a6 45.c8+ a5 46.c7+ xa4 47.a6# 1-0

152 Bevilacqua,Andrea Drazic,Sinisa Open A Trieste ITA (1) [Neil McDonald]

B01 1978 2497 04.09.2005

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 Black isn't satisfied with symmetry after [ 3...exd5 ] 4.f3 [ I can't resist giving the following game by Nimzowitsch in view of its pretty f inish: 4.c3?! If White wants to refute the early black queen move, it has to be through utilising the c-pawn with c2-c4 at some point, rather than bringing out the knight immediately. b4 5.f3 f6 6.g5 xc3+ 7.bxc3 c6 8.xf6 gxf6 9.e2 g8 10.0-0 d7 11.c4 h5 12.d5 0-0-0 Black can be pleased with his active set up, but now he is out calculated by his great opponent: 13.d4!? ( not 13.dxc6? xc6 14.c1 xg2+! 15.xg2 g8+ 16.h1 xf3+ 17.xf3 xf3# ) 13...h3? ( Black is better after 13...g5 14.g3 exd5 ) 14.g3 g6? ( Here 14...e5 is unclear.) 128

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.dxc6! A) Or 15...h6 16.cxb7+ b8 17.f3 and wins. ( or 17.c6+!? ); B) 15...xc6 16.xc6! xd1 17.fxd1 bxc6 18.c5! Now Black is suddenly in a mating net based on Ba6+. g8 ( Or 18...b7 19.ab1+ a8 20.d8# ) 19.ab1! 1-0 Nimzowitsch, A-Fleuss/ Zurich 1906. ] 4...f6 5.c4 [ Perhaps the most irritating line for an ambitious player of Black is 5.e2 d8 The black queen gets out of the way of Ne5 and Bf3 before b7-b6 is played. 6.0-0 b6 7.e5 More or less forcing the simplification that follows. b7 8.f3 c8 9.g5 e7 10.d2 0-0 11.xb7 xb7 12.f3 xf3 13.dxf3 h6 14.h4 d8 15.h3 f8 16.c4 a6 17.fd1 c6 18.d3 and White has a very small but persistent positional advantage, and Black, one of the top Chinese GMs, was unable to gain more than a draw in a long struggle in Wei ChenpengZhang Zhong/Wuxi CHN 2005. ] 5...d8 6.c3 b6 It makes sense to clear the way for Bb7 as soon as possible. It is inadvisable to aim for a too quick c7-c5: [ 6...e7 7.d3 0-0 8.0-0 c5?! 9.d5! s t o p p i n g N c 6 a n d c r e a t i n g a p o we r f u l passed pawn in the centre. a6 10.f4 exd5 11.cxd5 e8?! ( 11...d6 ) 12.d6! f8 13.a3 e6 14.b5 d7 15.b3 c8 16.ad1 b6 17.c4 with considerable pressure for White in Kovalev, A-Zakhvatov, V/Cherepovets 1997. ] 7.e2 b7 8.h3 [ More vigorous was 8.g5 ] 8...bd7 9.e3 a6 A useful precaution against Nb5, especially in view of his next move. 10.0-0 d6 11.a3 White has played the opening solidly, but he can't find any plan apart from the advance of the queenside pawns. This will create an imbalance which will suit Black just fine. 0-0 12.b4 e8 13.c5 Obviously this loosens the light squares, but White was probably afraid of Black gaining counterplay after say [ 13.b3 e5 etc. ] 13...f8 14.c2 h6 15.fd1 d5 16.xd5 xd5 17.e5 xe5 18.dxe5 bxc5 19.bxc5 h4 20.d4 e7 21.a4 d7 22.xa6?

So Black has finally managed to entice a tactical blunder out of his much lower rated opponent. Still, after [ 22.g4 h8 Black can strengthen his position with moves like Qc6 and Rab8, etc. ] 22...xa6 23.xa6 xg2! 24.xg2 c6+ 25.h2 xa6 Drazic regains his pawn and can begin the process of wearing down his opponent by exploiting the holes in the white kingside. 26.g1 xa3 27.xh6 d8 28.c4 f3 29.h4 d3 30.e3 d5 31.g5 g6 32.b1 e4 33.g1 g7 34.f4 d5 35.a1 xe5! 36.a8+ [ Or 36.xe5 xe5+ 37.xe5 xe5+ 38.g2 xa1 ] 36...h7 37.xe5 xe5+ 38.g1 f6! Black decides to force the white queen onto a more passive square rather than simplifying immediately with [ 38...xa8 39.xe5 ] 39.g2 e1+ 40.f1 h2+ 41.g2 e4+ 42.xh2 xa8 43.e2 d5 44.e3 e5 45.a3 d4 46.g1 h6 47.c6 d1+ 48.h2 c2 49.f8+ g5 50.h4+ f5 51.c8+ f4 52.g1 xc6 0-1

153 Bielczyk,Jacek Sabek,Pascal Katowice [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2380 1992

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 b6 5.c3 e5 6.d5!? A continuation which deserves serious attention. c6 [ 6...c5 was tried in the game Wagner Dinstuhl, GER 1991: 7.f3 0-0 8.e2 e8 9.0-0 with a small advantage for White followed. ] [ 6...b4 w o u l d b e m e t b y 7.b3 a l t h o u g h t h e p o s i t i o n a f t e r a6!? is far from clear. ] 7.f3 b4 8.e3!? An interesting idea. cxd5 9.c5! d4 [ A p r i n c i p l e d d e c i s i o n , a f t e r 9...6d7 10.xd5 White was slightly better. ] 10.xe5! [ 10.cxb6 xb6 was unclear. ] 129

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10...dxc3 [ 10...xc5 also came into consideration: 11.b5+ 8d7 12.xd4 xd4 13.xd4 0-0 14.0-0 with a small advantage for White. ] 11.xd8+ xd8 12.0-0-0+ e7 13.cxb6 axb6 14.c4 cxb2+ 15.xb2 a3+ This loses control of the e1 square. [ 15...e6!? deserved attention: 16.xe6 xe6 17.c4 d7 ( 17...b5!? 18.b6 a6 ) 18.d2!? c5 19.he1+ d5 looks good for Black. ] 16.a1 f6?? Missing something interesting. [ 16...e6 was necessary and after 17.xe6 xe6 18.c4 the position looks dangerous for Black but things are not so clear after b4 19.xb6 c3+ 20.b1 a5 21.a4 with advantage to White ] 17.g6+! hxg6 18.c5+! Surely Black did not think his king could be mated so easily. It's curious that W hite could sacrif ice his pieces in either order to clear the e-file for his rook. xc5 19.he1+ e6 20.xe6+ Black resigned. 1-0

154 Blesic,Vaso Karaklajic,Nikola Belgrade Premier League (9) [John Watson]

B01 2301 2303 13.10.2008

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.b5+ d7 4.e2 [ The other game from this month saw 4.c4 g4!? 5.f3 c8 (the basic Portuguese idea to provoke f3 and then recover the pawn) 6.c3 bd7 7.d4 b6 8.b3 bxd5 9.e4!? ( 9.xd5 xd5 10.e2 g6!? ) 9...e6 10.e2 b5!? (compare the main game this stops c4 and prepares ...Bb7) ( 10...e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.c4 b6 13.e3 should give White a small advantage) 11.0-0 e7 12.a4 b4 13.c4 ( 13.a5! -compare what follows) 13...bxc3 14.bxc3 a5 15.c4!? b4 16.e3 0-0 d there's nothing particularly wrong with Black's game, Grekh, A (2391)-Muzychuk, M (2436), Lviv 2008. ] 4...xd5 5.d4 b5!? [ An original idea, to prevent c4. The main line goes 5...f5 (I have over 900 games

with this in my database!) 6.f3 e6 7.0-0 e7 , when a typical continuation is 8.a3 0-0 9.c4 b6 10.c3 c6 11.e3 f6 and Black might play for ...Qe7 and ...Rfd8. ] 6.f3 e6 [ The only other game I have with 5...b5 went 6...g6 7.0-0 g7 8.bd2 0-0 9.e4 a6 10.c3 f5 11.g3 c8?! ( 11...e6 ) 12.a4! bxa4!? ( 12...b4 13.c4 f6 14.f4 ) 13.xa4 with a definite advantage, Haznedaroglu-Ayaz, Istanbul 2004. ] 7.0-0 d6 8.e5!? 0-0 9.a4 This is the key idea, but Black seems to have enough queenside play to neutralise White attempts there. b4 10.d2 [ Black's activity compensates for the bishop pair following 10.c4 bxc3 11.bxc3 c6 12.xd7 xd7 ] 10...c6 11.df3 h6 12.d3 e8!? 13.d2 a5 14.c4 [ 14.fe1 would be more patient. ] 14...bxc3 15.bxc3 b6!? [ 15...ce7 ] 16.g4!? f5 17.e3 e7 18.c4 c6 19.fe5 e4 20.g3 f6 Versus Bxh6. 21.f3 xc4 22.xc4 d5 23.xd5 exd5 24.f4 xe5 25.xe5 g6 26.h4 [ Better seems 26.f2 c6 27.c2 ] 26...c6! Preparing ...Ng6. 27.fe1?! [ An active line suggested by Rybka is 27.ab1 xc3 28.g3 f8 29.b7 ] 27...g6 28.g3 h4?! Trying to complicate, although [ 28...b8 appears better. ] 29.xc7 xg3 30.xg3 xc3 31.d6? [ 31.e6! f7 32.d6 ] 31...c2 32.ac1 ac8 33.e8+ xe8 34.xc2 e1+ 35.f2 a1 36.c5 xa4 37.xd5 f4 38.g3 a2+ 39.g1 a4 40.xf4? The last move before time control, I imagine. White could draw after [ 40.a5 ] 40...xf4 41.gxf4 d2 42.d7?? [ 42.a5 xd4 43.f5 ] 42...a3 The pawn queens. 0-1

130

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 moment. ] B01 Sharp, too sharp. Perhaps the Bologan,Viktor 2665 8...c5?! Gofshtein,Leonid D 2522 alternatives will have to be considered : [ 8...b6 9.d5 exd5 10.xd5 xd5 ACP Blitz Prelim4 blitz (12) 15.04.2004 11.xd5 e7 12.g5 f6 13.e4 g6 [Andrew Martin] 14.h5 ( 14.f4 ) 14...c6! ] [ 8...e7 9.f4 b6 10.d2 0-0 11.a4 The increasing t endency in internationa l b4= I think I like this line best of all. Black chess towards faster and faster time limits is avoids any slaughter with his King stuck in leading to an obvious lowering of quality in the middle and concentrates on the basics the games. It seems to me the emphasis is of development. ] switching very much away from aesthetic considerations towards the outright brutality of 9.f4 c6 10.e1! [ 10.e5! also looks pretty strong. competition. Chess is becoming less an art Essentially W hite is getting on the case more a sport. This doesn't matter too much on before Black castles it's as simple as that. this site where opening information is xe5 ( 10...b6 11.c4 d8 12.dxc5 ) paramount. Quite often in these quick games 11.dxe5 d7 12.f3 b6 13.b1 e7 the opening is the only part of the game of 14.e2 ] interest. Take a look at this recent massacre! 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6!? 4.d4 10...b5? Horrible but blitz mode is full of such f6 5.f3 a6 6.e2 e6 Having played . .. aberrations. [ If we are talking damage limitation then a7-a6,Black probably feels that his Queen's 10...cxd4 11.xd4 b6 was probably best Bishop belongs on b7. However it will take but Black's failure to get castled is making quite some time to get it there! W orth me very unsettled. ] consideration is [ 6...g4!? which aims for harmonious 11.d5! POW! But Black was asking for it. b6 development: 7.0-0 e6 8.e1 e7 9.g5 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.g5 With attack! Bf3 is 0-0 ( Either 9...bd7; 9...c6 10.xf6 coming up and e6 hangs. Already Black is gxf6!? could have been preferred.) 10.xf6 dead. a7 14.h5+ e7 15.xe6 xe6 Light fare, easily digested. 8 g3 xf6 11.e4 d8 12.c3 d7 13.b3! 16.d6+ White begins to work up an edge. His Rooks could well be a dangerous move!. are influential whereas the Black Rooks 1-0 have yet to enter the fray. b8 14.ad1 e7 15.e5 f5?! ( 15...xe2 16.xe2 B01 d6 minimises White's edge. Black is very 156 nearly equal here.) 16.c5 b6 17.f3 Bologan,Viktor 2692 Fedorov, A-Gashimov,V/Dubai UAE 2004 ] Grafl,Florian 2428 7.0-0 bd7 8.g3!?N If the 3...Qd6 variation 9th Amplico Life Rapid rapid (9) 20.12.2009 is to be exposed as insufficient it will surely [Neil McDonald] hinge on the insecure position of the Black Queen. In time-honoured fashion with 8 g3!?, 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 White plans a quick Bf4. [ Of course 3.c3 is the main move here. ] [ Instead 8.g5 does not seem as incisive: 3...g4 4.e2 c6 5.d4 0-0-0 e7 9.d2 b5 10.f4 b6 11.d5! Direct, vigorous attacking play by Black. It If Black were allowed to play ...Bb7 in peace intimidates lower rated opponents and doesn't his position would be fine. c5 12.dxe6 allow a higher rated player a calm positional xe6 13.e3 c5 14.xc5 xc5 15.ad1 advantage. 6.e3 b7= Dabo Peranic,R-Sermek,D/TCh-CRO, [ I n t h e a r ch ive s yo u ca n a ls o f i n d 6.c4 Rabac CRO 2003 What's wrong with Black's which incidentally is the move I recommend game. Castles comes next and all the entry for W hite in 'Starting Out with 1. e4'. One points on the d file are covered. Perhaps good point about delaying c2-c4 is that Black will even have kingside chances in a after Black's next move his queen can't go to 155

131

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 or h5. However, as we shall see, the queen check on a5 contains a lot of energy. ] 6...e5 7.c4 a5+ 8.d2 b4 9.d5 xf3 10.xf3 d4 [ For 10...xd2+ see the relevant note to the game Morozevich- Rogers in the archives. ] 11.c3 a6 12.e2!? Bologan withdraws his bishop from a possible future attack by f7f5 and e5-e4. [ The natural move is 12.b3 in order to secure the c4 pawn. But then Ivanchuk achieved active play in the following high profile game: a5 ( Grafl himself has tried 12...g6!? here in Novkovic, J-Grafl, F/ Austria AUT 2009.) 13.c1 f5 14.0-0 f6 15.g3 b8 16.g2 he8 17.e1 h6 18.e3 a6 19.h3 d7 20.e1 c5 21.h1 g5 22.f4 exf4 23.xe8 xe8 24.xd4 xe1+ 25.xe1 xc3 26.e8+ a7 27.f2 fxg3 28.xg3 d4 29.d6 cxd6 30.xd6 c3 31.h2 a1 32.b8+ b6 33.d8+ a7 34.b8+ b6 35.d8+ a7 and draw agreed Leko, PIvanchuk, V/Mukachevo UKR 2009. ] 12...f6 13.a3 he8 14.axb4! This is the idea behind 12.Be2- Bologan sacrifices the exchange in order to trap the black knight on a1. [ I f i n s t e a d 14.0-0 t h e p a wn g r a b xc3 15.xc3 xe2+ 16.xe2 xd5 looks better for Black, notwithstanding the fact that W hite has certain attacking chances. ] 14...xa1 15.xa1 c2+ 16.f1 xa1 17.d1 The black knight is now shut in, and given time White will trap it with 18.Ba4 and 19.Ke2. Therefore Grafl has to break open lines in the centre as a matter of urgency. c6 18.g5 b5 [ The critical line is 18...cxd5 19.xf6 ( Not 19.xd5? b5! or; 19.cxd5? xd5 20.xd8 xd8 21.xd5 xd5 22.e2 b5 and White can't win the imprisoned knight and meanwhile b4 is a target: 23.e3 d4 24.h3 f5 and Black is winning.) 19...gxf6 20.cxd5 b5 to stop 21.Ba4 21.e2 a6 with a bizarre position- W hite is still the exchange down and can't easily capture the knight, but Black can't rescue the knight either. ( Thus if 21...a5? 22.xb5 xd5

23.a4 and White wins due to the double threat of 24.Rxa1 and 24.Na7+. )] 19.xf6 [ Not 19.dxc6 as after bxc4 the black knight has the b3 square. ] 19...gxf6 20.c5 a5 21.bxa5 b4 22.e4 xd5 23.a4 b3 24.e2 c2 25.xf6 ed8 26.xd5 xd5 27.h4 d4+ 28.e1?? [ After an exciting fight Bologan makes a horrible blunder. The game should be a draw af ter 28.d2! xc5 29.c1! d5!? ( Black would be worse af ter 29...xa5?! 30.xc6 )] 28...xc5 Now White is going to lose the vital b2 pawn as well. 29.h3 c1+ 30.d2 c2+ 31.d3 xb2 32.f4 a2 33.xb3 xb3 34.fxe5 c5+ 35.c4 d7 36.g3 a4+ 37.b3 xh4 38.g7 xe5 39.a6 b8 40.g3 g4 41.xh7 a7 42.h5 f6 43.f5 xg3+ 44.b4 f3 45.h5 xa6 0-1

157 Bologan,Viktor Tiviakov,Sergei TCh-CRO Gp1A (9) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2690 2637 12.09.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 This strikes me as the most critical option against 5....c6 . bd7 7.c4 And it was only a matter of time before we had a look at this move. Instead we have seen [ 7.f4 ] [ and 7.f4 in the archives. ] 7...c7 8.f3 This is a very direct plan and Black has to play accurately to prevent a quick loss. b6 9.f4 d7 Black hopes to exchange queens on g4. [ 9...d8 is the other option of course. 10.e5 This seems to be the most sensible o p t i o n h e r e . ( 10.h3 doesn't look so effective here as Black can ignore the pawn and play e6; 10.0-0-0? allows g4 ) A) 10...g4 11.g3 h5 12.h3 ( 12.f3 was Grischuk's attempt but never really troubled Tiviakov.) 12...h4 13.f4 e6 14.e3 bd5 15.exd5 xd5 16.d2 132

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc3 17.bxc3!? ( 17.xc3 d5 18.d2 e6 19.c4 e4 20.f3 f5 21.a3 h5 22.d1 d6 23.e3 f6 24.xd6 xd6= Hossain, E (2460)-Tiviakov, S (2669) Turin 2006. ) 17...a5 18.e2 d5 19.0-0 0-0-0 20.d3 f6 21.h2 f7 22.e3 e6 23.c4 f5 24.d5! saw Black encounter some serious problems. exd5 25.xa7 d6 26.xd6 xd6 27.ab1 d7 28.a8+ c7 29.xb7+ d6 30.a3+ 1-0 Womacka, M (2478)-Pizzuto, S (2168) Schwarzach 2010.; B) 10...e6 11.e3 fd7 12.g3 f6 13.0-0-0 a6 14.b1 bd5 15.cxd5 xd5 16.e2 ( 16.xd5 xd5 17.e3 looks slightly better for W hite thanks to the bishop pair.) 16...e6 17.f3 b5! 18.h4 e7 19.h5 was rather unclear, Saric, I (2580) -Drazic, S (2531) Pula 2010.; C) 10...bd5 was tried by Epishin against Gashimov in Ourense 2009 but didn't work out too well: 11.xd5 xd5 12.e2 e6 13.c3 e4 14.xe4 xe4 15.d3 0-0-0 16.e3 c5?! 17.c2?! ( 17.dxc5 xd3 18.d4 winning the exchange is the obvio us st ep .) 17...d7 18.g3 g6 19.b3! h6 20.xe6 fxe6 21.c4 hf8 22.0-0 f4 23.fe1 xg3 24.hxg3 f6 25.b4 and he successfully converted his structural advantage.; D) 10...-When Black has tried a few different moves: ] 10.h3!? Seeing as Black plans to use the g4 square this move makes sense. Therefore it is perhaps surprising that the move hasn't been played before. Black is obliged to take the pawn or else his last looks rather foolish. [ I looked at 10.xb6 in the notes to BulskiStopa which ended in a quick W hite victory. ] [ 10.e5 with a parallel to 9...Qd8 has been playe d a f ew tim es a lth o ugh a ga in g4 seems satisfactory for Black. A) Keeping the queens on with 11.e3 wa s a t t e m p t e d in S wie r cz, D (2 5 0 1 ) Tiviakov, S (2634) Wroclaw 2010 although fd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.d2 h5!? 14.e2!? xg2 15.0-0-0 f6 was quite p r o m i s i n g . 16.h4 ( White isn't actually losing the piece as 16.g3 h4 17.e3 xe3 18.fxe3 threatens a discovered

attack on the Black queen. d5 19.c4 f7 leaves a complicated position but one in which White doesn't have as much for t h e p a w n a s h e d o e s i n t h e g a m e .) 16...fxe5 17.xe5 g6 and White never got enough for the piece.; B) 11.xg4 xg4 was tried in a recent game. ( 11...xg4 has also been played by, amongst others, Tiviakov himself and Black doesn't seem to have any major problems. ) 12.g3 g6 13.0-0-0 h6+ 14.b1 0-0 15.a5 d8 16.e2 f6 17.he1 bd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.b3 f8 20.f3 d8 21.c5 and White had a temporary initiative although he couldn't convert it to anything more than that Lastin, A (2643) -Lenderman, A (2601)/ICC 2010. ] [ 10.0-0-0 has been the most common but g4 as Tiviakov has played previously seems ok for Black. 11.xg4 xg4 12.f3 e6 13.xb6 axb6 14.c7 b5 15.d5 xd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 c8 18.a5 cxd5 19.xb5+ c6 20.d1 e6 and Black was holding Vokarev, S (2521) Tiviakov, S (2697) Bhubaneswar 2009. ] 10...xc4 [ 10...xd4 11.d1 c5 12.e3 f5 13.g3 looks very risky with the Black king stuck in the centre. ] 11.xc4 xd4 12.b3 e6 13.d1 b6 14.0-0 so at the cost of a pawn White has a large lead in development. However Black's position looks solid and there's no way to break through. The real problem for Black is his c8 bishop which will struggle to get out of his own pawn chain. Meanwhile White can set Black some problems on the kingside and on the open lines. e7 15.e4! xe4 16.xe4 0-0 17.e5 The White bishops clearly outrank t h e i r c o u n t e r p a r t s a n d wi t h t h e k n i g h t s exchanged Black's kingside suddenly looks much more vulnerable. Black has to watch out for a rook swing and subsequent sacrifice on g7 while c3 , Bc2 is also on the cards . c5 I think the point of the move is to allow the queen to defend the e6 pawn laterally so that ...f6 will be playable and thus he won't have to weaken himself with ....g6. [ 17...a5 is another option but 18.d3 d8 19.g4 g6 20.xd8+ xd8 21.d1 b6 133

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.a4 leaves White with great compensation for the pawn as Black still really struggles to develop. ] 18.fe1 a5 19.e3 Simple play by Bologan who is preparing nasty business on the Black king. d8 20.xd8+ xd8 21.d3 f8 [ 21...b6 would be more actively placed but now 22.xg7! is very strong. I think the f o l l o w i n g l i n e i s f o r c e d : ( 22.f4!? ) 22...xg7 23.g3+ f8 ( 23...h8 24.g4+- ) 24.xh7 f6 25.h6+ e7 26.g8 d4 27.f8+ f6 28.g7 c7 29.h7 xf2+! 30.f1 ( 30.xf2 f4+= ) 30...c4 31.h8+ e7 32.xf7+! xf7 33.h7+ e8 34.xc7 cxb3 35.axb3 leaving White clearly better in the endgame as Black still has problems to develop his queenside while the g and h pawns will be able to swiftly advance down the board. ] 22.a4 f6 23.c7 f5 I don't like this move but it's really tough to offer Black any su gge st io n s . 24.c4 f6 25.b5 a6 26.xa5 This leaves White with a commanding position but he had an even stronger possibility. [ 26.d8! would have exploited the undefended c8 bishop. f8 ( 26...xd8 27.e8+ f8 28.xd8 xe8 29.xe8+ f7 30.xc8+- is simply a free bishop.) 27.xe7 xe7 28.e8+ xe8 29.xe8 and surprisingly Black has no way to hold onto the c8 bishop. f8 30.d8 b6 31.xc8 xb2 32.a4+ e7 33.b3 and White should convert. ] 26...e5? The position is already difficult but this just loses. [ 26...c6 was probably necessary but after 27.c3 f8 28.e5 White completely dominates the board. ] 27.d8+! Def lection! xd8 28.e8+ f8 29.b3+ e6 30.xe6+ xe6 31.xe6+ h8 32.c8 e7 33.xb7 At the end of the forced line W hite has f inished up with an extra pawn but more importantly there's no way to prevent the a pawn running home. e4 34.a4 f6 35.c7 c4 36.a5 An interesting idea employed by Bologan and Black players will have to take this positional pawn sacrifice into account. Maybe they'll revert to the older 9...Qd8. 1-0

158 Boros,Denes Motylev,Alexander 11th EICC Men (4) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2485 2705 09.03.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 [ 4.g3 was also tried recently. f6 5.g2 c6 ( 5...c6 was played successfully by Nisipeanu against Topalov in the archives) 6.ge2 f5 7.0-0 e5 8.d3 0-0-0 9.b4!? from a non-threatening start suddenly White decides he wants to play an aggressive game. A) Taking the pawn must be critical although 9...xb4 10.b1 looks dangerous with play along on the b file but ( 10.a3 a5 seems ok for Black.) 10...d7 11.a3 c6 and it doesn't seem like White should have enough for the pawn with .. .Bh3 coming next to trade off one of the attackers.; B) 9...e4 10.e3 e6?! It turns out White has better attacking chances with that pawn on the board than without so taking the pawn was necessary. 11.b5 b4 12.d4 e5 B1) 13.xe4 is an extra pawn as xe4?! ( 13...xe4 14.xf5! c3 15.f3 ) 14.dxe4 xe4?! 15.g4+ is winning; B2) 13.f4!? c5?! ( 13...exf3 14.xf3 xd4 looks exceedingly dangerous but h a d t o b e t r i e d) 14.xe4 xe4 15.dxe4 and White had everything he could hope for in the recent game Sedlak, N-Caspi, I Rijeka 2010. ] 4...f6 5.f3 [ 5.c4 bd7!? 6.b3 ( The natural 6.f3 seems to favour White a little although b6 7.b3 g4 was evidently Black's idea) 6...c5 was an interesting idea 7.ge2 cxd4 8.xd4 a6 9.e3 e6 10.e2 e7 11.0-0-0 e5 12.g4 c5 13.f4 xb3+ 14.xb3 c7 15.g5 d7 16.f5 looked like a Sicilian which had really gone wrong for Black, Simeonov, S-Chatalbashev, B Plovdiv 2010 although the aggressive Bulgarian actually went on to win. ] 5...g6 [ 5...a6 used to be the mainline but is played 134

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 less these days 6.g3 g4 7.h3 h5 8.g2 c6 9.d5!? ( 9.0-0 has been examined in the archives a couple of times ) A) 9...e5 is the alternative place for the knight 10.f4 ( 10.g4!? g6 11.xe5 xe5+ 12.e3 seems better for White, the bishop on g6 is in danger of being trapped while Black's kingside is difficult to develop.) 10...xf3+ 11.xf3 xf3 12.xf3 b4?! ( 12...e5 13.dxe6 xe6+ 14.f1 0-0-0 15.g2 d6= ) 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 14.he1 h6 15.e5 b6 16.f4 c5 17.d4 xd5? This loses but the position is already very unpleasant 18.xf7 xc3 19.e6+ 1-0 Samhouri, AAbdulla, A Abu Dhabi 2006.; B) 9...b4 10.f4 c5 11.e3 a5 ( 11...d6 is also possible, it's not clear which square the queen stands better on.) 12.0-0 bxd5 B1) 13.xd5 xd5 14.d2 a4 ( 14...c5 15.b4! xb4 16.g4! g6 17.xb4 xb4 18.e5 d8 19.c6+! is a very pretty tactic bxc6 20.xd8+ xd8 21.xc6+ d7 22.xb4 leaves W hite with an extra exchange although Black has reasonable drawing c h a n c e s wit h t h e b ish o p p a ir a n d a pawn. ) 15.b3 d7 16.g4 g6 17.c4 f6 18.e5 c8 19.g5 d7 20.xd7 xd7!? ( 20...xd7 21.xb7 b8 22.g2 would also leave White with the more pleasant chances.) 21.f3 c6 22.ad1 and surely White's play is worth a pawn, look at the king on d7! Calistri, T-Chabanon, J Clichy 2006.; B2) 13.d2 0-0-0 14.e2 was Janev, E-Panbukchian, V Plovdiv 2010 which White won quickly but I'm sceptical that he has enough compensation after b6 15.c4 b4 16.g4 g6 ] 6.b5 The reason 5...a6 and 5. ..c6 have been more common in the past but maybe Black shouldn't be so worried. [ 6.g3 g7 7.g2 a6!? ( 7...c6 would be more normal and probably what Motylev had in mind.) 8.f4 c6 9.d2 0-0 10.h6 was played twice by Bodiroga in the recent European Individual Championships. A) 10...f5 was played in the first game 11.xg7 xg7 12.h4 e6 13.f4 bd7

14.f5 c4 ( 14...d5 would be more prudent ) 15.g4!? A1) Again the proof of the pudding is in the taking! 15...xg4 But this looks very dangerous. I examined a few lines which a re win n in g f o r W h it e : 16.g1 e6 ( 16...gf6 should be tested) 17.e4 exf5 18.xf5+ gxf5 19.g5+ h8 20.xg4 fxg4 21.f5 g7 Initially Rybka said this position was a draw but I didn't believe it and continued a few moves... 22.xg4+ h8 ( 22...f6 23.xd7 is very dangerous too but I guess is Black's best hope.) 23.f5 g7 24.0-0-0! fd8 defends the knight but n ot th e kin g ( 24...fe8 25.xd7 The exchange looks like a small price to pay for such a huge attack.) 25.xh7+ f8 26.d3! e8 ( 26...xd3 27.cxd3! and despite his extra rook Black is lost: c5 28.h8+ e7 29.e1+ d6 30.h6+ c7 31.d5+ c8 32.f4 e5 33.xe5 and Black isn't any significant material up anymore while the attack is still raging.) 27.h8+ e7 28.e1+ d6 29.xe8 xe8 30.xe8 xd3 31.cxd3 Is a forced line leaving W hite a pawn up as xd3? 32.e4+! c7 ( 32...d5 33.f6+! is another pretty tactic showing that Black still has to watch out for his king's safety. xf6 34.e5+ c4 35.c5# ) 33.xd7+! picks up the piece.; A2) 15...ae8 16.g5 d5 17.e4 c7 18.b3 d5 19.c4 xe4 20.xe4 W h it e h a d m o r e s p a c e a n d B l a c k ' s attempt at counterplay b5 21.c5 e5 22.0-0 g8 23.ae1 had rather backfired, The queen is stuck on a6, especially after White's subsequent b4. Although Black managed to hold on to the draw it's understandable he varied the next time he played this variation. Andriasian, Z-Bodiroga, P Rijeka 2010.; B) 10...e6 11.h4! Aggressive play and surprisingly effective a5 12.h5 xh5 13.xg7 xg7 14.e5 f6 15.g4 fxe5 16.gxh5 f4 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.0-0-0 d7 19.e3 h8?! Black's position was already teetering but here it collapses ( 19...af8 20.dxe5 g4 21.f3 e6 135

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.e2 xe5 23.xe5+ xe5 24.xf4 xf4 allows Black to get into an endgame but W hite should be able to co nvert .) 20.xh8 xh8 21.h3! Picking up a piece c5 22.dxe5 1-0 Azarov, S-Bodiroga, P Rijeka 2010. ] 6...b6 7.f4 [ Another recent game ran 7.c4 c6 8.c3 g7 9.e2 0-0 10.0-0 g4 11.a3 d8 12.e3 e8 was Diamant, A-Kurajica, B La Laguna 2010 when critical looks 13.c5 c7 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 when xd4!? 16.xd4 e5 17.xe5 xd1 18.xc7 xa1 19.xa1 xc7 20.d1 would have left Black in an extremely unpleasant ending but he should be able to hold the draw. ] 7...d5 8.d2 an unconvincing novelty [ John Watson gives 8.e5 f6 9.g3 a6 10.c4 axb5 11.cxd5 a6 12.b3 a5+ 13.d2 d7= as a line from Karolyi's survey in NIC 90 ] 8...c6 9.a3 [ 9.c4!? looks more critical when Black can c h o o s e e i t h e r cxb5 ( or the safer choice 9...f6 10.c3 f5!? attacking b2 and giving Black reasonable chances.) 10.cxd5 is very messy but I feel should favour White as the doubled d pawns control more relevant squares than the doubled b. The g a m e m i g h t c o n t i n u e g4 11.a4!? One of the most difficult aspects of chess, converting one advantage (the doubled b pawns) to another (a strong initiative). xf3 ( 11...bxa4 12.xa4+ d7 13.c2 g7 14.a5 d6 15.b3 is awkward for Black. ) 12.xf3 bxa4 13.xa4 xb2 14.d3 g7 15.e2 0-0 16.0-0 b3 17.a5 b6 18.b1 xd4 19.b4 e5 20.xe5 xe5 21.xb7 and Black still has difficulties with his undeveloped queenside. ] 9...g7 [ Of course not 9...xb2? 10.c4 b5 11.d6++- ] 10.c4 c7 11.ce5 White has used a lot of time to put his knight on e5 which can be pushed back easily with ...Nd7 and so Black has e qu alis ed com f o rta bly. T he p osit io n reminds me of an Alekhine and if we compare this position with 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5.Nxe5 c6 we see that while White has made another two 'useful moves' (whether

Bd2 is really useful is debatable), Black has played three he's fianchettoed his bishop and played the queen to c7. Hence Black should be very comfortable. 0-0 12.c4 b5!? Black starts to press for more than the half point [ B l a c k ' s a l t e r n a t i v e p l a n w a s 12...d7 13.xd7 ( 13.d3 e5! ) 13...xd7 14.0-0 g4 15.c3 b6 16.e2 xf3 17.xf3 e5 18.dxe5 c4 and Black has definitely equalised ] 13.b3 a5 14.a4 b4 I'm not totally happy about Motylev's plan. True he has gained space on the queenside but he has ceded control of c4 and c5. Chances remain balanced. 15.0-0 b7 16.c1 d7 [ I like 16...c5 trying to exploit White's previous 17.h6 cxd4 18.xg7 xg7 19.d2 d7 ( 19...f6?! 20.xd4! ) 20.xd7 xd7 21.xd4+ f6 and Black can continue to have fun with play along the c file. ] 17.h6 [ 17.xd7 xd7 18.h6= is safer ] 17...xe5 18.xd5?! This doesn't work but [ 18.xe5 c5 19.xg7 xg7 favours Black as d4 is loose and the bishop on b3 is also in danger of being trapped. 20.c3 ( 20.d2 f6! 21.f3 c4! 22.a2 c3 23.bxc3 xc3 is very unpleasant for W hite) 20...bxc3 21.bxc3 fc8 and Black's making progress, c3 and d4 are going to be a constant headache for White. ] [ 18.dxe5 c5 19.xg7 xg7 20.c3 c4 21.d1 ab8 and Black's play on the queenside is starting to worry White. ] 18...xh6 19.xh6 g4 20.h4 cxd5 21.xg4 c8?! [ T h e s i m p l e 21...xc2 22.d7 a6 23.fe1 xb2 is a safe extra pawn for Black ] 22.g5 f5 23.fc1 fc8 24.h6 f6 Black hasn't yet picked up the pawn but he's still definitely got the advantage with pressure o n t h e c f il e a n d M o t yl e v u se s h i s 2 7 0 0 technique to outplay his opponent rated 220 points lower. 25.e3?! [ 25.c3 was necessary to hold on to the pawn ] 25...a6! no w c2 is do om e d 26.c3 c6 27.h4 bxc3 28.b3 e6 29.f3 e4 136

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30.h3 b6 31.e1 c2 32.ac1 f5 33.e3 bishops and a big lead in development. ] c3 34.g5 xd4 35.xe7 f6 36.xf6 8.g2 c6 9.h4 b4 10.a3 Not the best xf6 37.f3 g5 38.fxe4 fxe4 39.f3 exf3 m o v e h e r e b u t i t ' s g o o d e n o u g h f o r a 40.e5 d4 41.d5 f2+ 42.f1 e8 reasonable advantage. A success for Black and I wonder if 5...g6 will [ 10.0-0! looks rather strange but Black is see more high rated adherents? lacking a good move here - for example d5 0-1 ( 10...xc3 11.bxc3 a5 doesn't help W h i t e h a s t h e v e r y s t r o n g 12.b1 and Black's position is pretty much lost here as after 0-0 13.c4 h5 is again a very strong 159 B01 threat. ) 11.xd5 exd5 ( or 11...cxd5 12.c4! Brkic,A 2584 0-0 13.h5 e4 14.f3 ) 12.h5 f6 13.c3! Bogdanovski,V 2444 d6 14.hxg6 fxe5 15.dxe5 c7 16.c4! Karpos Open 2013 (6.20) 13.03.2013 and White is obviously doing very well. ] [Tom Rendle] 10...xc3+ 11.bxc3 d5? [ 11...a5 was completely necessary here 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.d4 b u t W h i t e i s s t i l l b e t t e r a f t e r 12.b1! f6 5.f3 f5 This normally would ( 12.d2 is safer and keeps a small edge transpose but it does give White the option to after a4 13.b1 ) 12...e4 13.xe4 play more aggressively, something that Brkic xc3+ 14.f1 xe4 15.xb7 but at least immediately does. here Black has some counterplay. ] [ Black normally chooses the more solid 5...c6 which can be found in several games 12.h5 f6 13.hxg6 fxe5 14.xh7 It's obvious the opening has been a disaster for Black g8 in the archives. ] [ 14...xh7? 15.gxh7 h4 16.d3 6.e5! is completely hopeless for Black ] [ 6.c4 is obviously reasonable as well but after e6 7.e2 e7 8.e3 bd7 9.0-0-0 15.dxe5 [ 15.c4! f4 16.xf4 exf4 17.e2 b6 10.b3 Black was absolutely fine in is even stronger ] Laznicka, V (2480)-Popchev, M (2460) Brno 16.f4?! After this Black escapes 2005 ( 10.d5!? looks more testing here, for 15...d7 example bxd5 11.h4! g6 12.xg6 s o m e w h a t a n d t h e g a m e i s a l l o w e d t o hxg6 13.xd5 exd5 14.b5+ c6 15.xb7 continue [ 16.c4 would've kept a complete bind and and White probably has the better chances after e7 17.b1! a5+ ( 17...xe5 although it remains complicated after c8! )] 18.xd8+ xd8 19.xb7 d7 20.b8+ 6...e6?! d8 21.xd8+ xd8 22.b2 5xg6 [ 6...c6 should probably be preferred here as 23.xg7 is a simple win for White.) 18.f1 it lessens the impact of both g4 and Qf3. Still, 0-0-0 19.d6 c5 20.g5 xc4+ 21.g1 W hite should be a little better after 7.f4 White should be easily winning ] ( 7.g4 isn't dangerous here as after e6 8.g5 d5 9.e4 d7 Black has no 16...a5 17.h3 0-0-0 18.d2?! [ 18.xd5 was more accurate here - possibly problems and White will probably come to Brkic was worried about c5 but after regret pushing the g-pawn so early.; 7.c4 19.d2 exd5 ( or 19...cxd5 20.c4! b6 is a better option for White is he still wants 21.e2 ) 20.e2 he has a much better to go in for g4 e6 8.g4 g6 9.h4 bd7 version of the game ] 10.xd7 xd7 11.h5 e4 12.xe4 xe4 19.xd5 cxd5 20.e3 e4 13.c3 0-0-0 was only a little better for White 18...a4 i n S v i d l e r , P ( 2 7 1 3 ) - A d a m s , M ( 2 7 1 6 ) Even though White is two pawns up he has to Frankfurt 1999) 7...bd7 8.d3 xd3 be careful here as his pawn structure is dodgy and Black's pieces are suddenly very well 9.xd3 e6 ] coordinated. 21.d3 g2 Obviously Black 7.g4! g6 [ 7...e4 is just bad here after 8.xe4 xe4 isn't interested in an exchange of queens at 9.f3 d6 10.e3 and White has the two t h is st a ge . 22.h5 xg4 23.g5 h4+ 137

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.d2 b6 [ 24...b8! is more flexible and it's no longer clear that White is better at all here. ] 25.xb6 The can't be allowed to land on c4 axb6 26.g3 h8 27.f1 xg3 28.xg3 df8 29.g5 [ 29.c4!? dxc4 30.c3 h2 31.gf3 wa s wo r t h c o n s i d e ri n g a l t h o u g h B la c k should be holding here with g2 ] 29...h2+ 30.d3 d7 31.f5 exf5 32.gxf5 and here I assume Black lost on time as it's rather a premature time to resign. [ After 32.gxf5 h3+ 33.d2 c8 Black's rooks are both very active and it won't be easy for White to win. All in all a very strange game - Brkic was basically winning from the opening before letting Black back into it. Black should definitely prefer the more solid lines with .. .c6! ] 1-0

160 Brkic,Ante Muzychuk,Anna 12th ch-EUR Aix les Bains FRA (9.67) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2592 2528 31.3.11

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 xd5 4.d4 g6 Muzychuk keeps faith with her speciality. 5.c4 b6 6.c3 [ 6.c5 has been looked at a couple of times in the archives, most recently in Friedel, J (2551)-Pechenkin, V (2372) Edmonton 2009 by Neil. The lines are pretty similar to the mainline seen in this game. ] [ Last time I examined this variation I had a look at 6.a4!? in Ni Hua (2657)-Muzychuk, A (2523) Wijk aan Zee 2010. ] [ While the older 6.h3 was looked at in detail by Alexander Volzhin over ten years ago but has since fallen out of fashion. ] 6...g7 7.c5 d5 8.c4 c6 [ 8...xc3 is Black's other option which was looked at by John W atson in Kovalev, A (2533)-Pluemer, D (2172) Dresden 2009. Black continues to have grave problems in this line. ] 9.0-0 [ Should Black's line continue to be f a s h io n a b le t h e n t h e m o ve o rd e r 9.b3

wi l l b e p r e f e r r e d - a s I p l a ye d m y s e l f . However White is now forced to commit his queen to b3 and so Black can generate c o u n t e r p l a y wi t h a q u i c k . . . b 7 - b 5 . 0-0 10.0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 b5 This is Black's try to exploit the queen already being on b3. 12.cxb6 ( 12.d3 e6 13.c2 d7 14.a4 a6 15.g5 was seen in Sjugirov, S (2643)Smagin, S (2551) Olginka 2011 when e8 keeping e7 defended would have left Black with a fully respectable position.) 12...axb6 13.g5 ( I tried 13.e1 which I think I prefer: a6 14.xa6 xa6 15.g5 a7 16.a4 f6 17.h6 g7 18.xg7 xg7 19.e5 and White has a pleasant edge although failed to convert. Jones, G (2562)-Welling, G (2371) Gibraltar 2008.) 13...e6 14.e4 Polgar, J (2686)-Tazbir, M (2527) W arsaw 2010 when a6 15.xa6 xa6 16.g5 d5 17.f6+ xf6 18.xf6 b5 would have been completely fine for Black. ] 9...e6!? This speciality of Jacek Tomczak has recently caught a flurry of interest. [ 9...0-0 10.e1 continues to put Black under pressure, see Vuckovic, B (2525)Vukanovic, S (2358) Bar 2005 annotated by Andrew Martin in the archives. ] 10.g5 This move results in a long forcing variation. [ 10.b3 is the alternative which has scored much b etter f or W hite . xc3 ( 10...b5 11.cxb6 axb6 12.g5! Sacrificing the d4 pawn to wreck Black's structure and weaken his king. xd4 13.xe6 fxe6 14.h6 d7 15.ad1 c5 16.c2 f6 17.b4 d7 18.e4 c8 19.fe1 gave White great play for the pawn. Van der Velde, W (1 9 7 8 ) -A k o t c h i k , V ( 2 1 2 8 ) H o o g e v e e n 2008. ) 11.bxc3 xc4 12.xc4 d7 13.b1 b6 14.cxb6 axb6 15.xc6 A) 15...xa2 regains material equality but 16.e5 is unpleasant to deal with. a7 ( 16...xe5 17.dxe5 0-0 18.c4 a5 19.e6 e5 20.exf7+ xf7 21.e6 ) 17.f4 and Black is in a lot of difficulty.; B) 15...0-0 16.c4 c8 17.b3 a6 18.b2 fc8 and Black has some counterplay for the pawn with queenside pressure but can it really be enough? I'm sceptical and certainly Najer successfully 138

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 converted here: 19.d2 c4 20.e1 e6 21.h4!? c8 22.h5 a5 23.h6 f6 24.d1 ca4 25.c2 c4 26.b3 a8 27.g5 xg5 28.xg5 c8 29.e4 a5 30.d1 c7 31.d2 h5 32.g3 d5 33.b3 a8 34.e4 h5 35.g3 ha5 36.b2 d5 37.e3 a3 38.b3 xa2 39.c4 f5 40.d5 1-0 Najer, E (2608)Zurek, M (2421)/ Pardubice 20041 ext ] 10...xc3 11.xe6 xd1 12.xd8 xb2 13.xb2 xd8 14.xf7 So the forcing variation has resulted in an interesting queenless middlegame position. W hite has the bishop pair and superior development but if Black succeeds in developing peacefully then he will be doing well with a ready made outpost for the knight on d5 and pressure on the backward d4 pawn. The position reminds me of certain Alekhine positions, White has the initiative but should Black successfully coordinate he has good long term chances. a6 Developing the knight immediately looks right. [ The specialist tried 14...f8 against Shirov but after 15.c4 b5 16.e2 a6 17.a4! xc5 18.axb5 A) 18...cxb5 19.c3 b3 20.a3 b4 ( 20...xd4 21.d1 e5 22.xb5 ) 21.xb4 xd4 22.d1 e8 23.d3 and W hite has the better chances with strong pressure against Black's position. The open board favours W hite's bishop pair and gives him the advantage despite the pawn deficit.; B) 18...b3?! 19.a3 xd4 20.d1 e5 S h i r o v , A ( 2 7 2 0 ) - T o m c za k , J ( 2 4 2 0 ) Warsaw 2006 when 21.f3! f7 22.xc6 b8 23.xd4 exd4 24.e1 would leave White with a decisive advantage. ] 15.ad1 [ 15.ab1 has been seen in the earlier games to defend against the ...Nxc5 threat but the rook doesn't do much on the b file as Black is happy to play ...b7-b5 anyway. f8 16.c4 c7 A) 17.fe1 b5 ( 17...f6 also worked out we ll f o r B la ck f o llo win g 18.e3 b5 19.cxb6 axb6 20.c3 b5 21.b3 d7= Saric, I (2500)-Tomczak, J (2449) Szeged 200 8 but t he im med ia te .. .b5 is m ore forcing. ) 18.f1 d5 19.g3 f6 20.g2

d7 21.e2 a5 22.be1 b4 and Black started to take over. It's interesting to see how easily he managed to reroute the knight round to d5 followed by gaining space on the queenside. Yilmaz, M (2477)Onischuk, V (2505) Kharkov 2011.; B) 17.c3 b8 18.fe1 d7 19.e2 Dubinski, M (2082) -Tomczak, J (2448) S z k l a r s k a P o r e b a 2 0 0 7 w h e n d5 ( 19...b5 20.b3 e6 21.be1 be8 looks fine. ) 20.b2 fe8 21.be1 b6= ] 15...d7 16.fe1 c7 17.e2 hf8 18.b3 d5 19.de1 ae8 So again Black has fully coordinated and with his strong knight on d5 I doubt he can really be worse. The computer gives White a slight edge, presumably due to the bishop pair, W hite's spatial advantage and Black's isolated e pawn but I don't see ho w h e 's t o m a ke p ro gre ss. Ce rt a in ly in practice Black hasn't had any signif icant difficulties defending here. 20.g3 b6?! This gives Ante the chance to claim an edge. [ I w o n d e r i f 20...e6! might be a more accurate move order to prevent the following variation. Black can reroute the bishop round to c7 followed by ... b7-b5. ] 21.cxb6 [ 21.xd5! could have exploited Anna's move order. cxd5 22.c6+ d8 23.f4 h6 24.g2 f6 25.e6 would have left Black under unpleasant pressure. ] 21...axb6 22.g2 f6 [ I quite like the idea of 22...e6!? followed by ...Rf5, ...Bf8-d6 which looks very solid. ] 23.h4 a8 24.h1 a5 25.f4 b5 26.he1 a8 27.f3 b4 28.d1 b5 29.g4?! It was hard to suggest a good plan for White but this ambitious approach by Brkic shouldn't have worked. I'm going to hazard a guess at mutual time trouble as both sides start to err. xh4 [ 29...e6!? was also fully playable. ] 30.g5?! A logical continuation of the plan but this makes matters worse. [ 30.h1 g5 31.f5 would at least keep Black's bishop out of the position although h5!? 32.gxh5 f8 33.e5 e6 looks a little better for Black. ] 30...h6? But this plays into the Croatian's hands. [ Instead 30...xb3+! 31.axb3 f8 139

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 looks very good for Black. White cannot hold o n t o e i t h e r f 4 o r g 5 p a w n s a n d 32.h2 xf4+ 33.e2 xg5 34.xh7 e4+ 35.f2 h4+ 36.g1 f6 is looking very good for Black. ] [ 30...f8? immediately f ails to 31.xd5 xd5 32.g4 although still h5+ 33.gxh6 f6 is hardly clear. ] 31.gxh6 f8 32.xd5 xd5 33.g1?! [ 33.h1 re t a in e d t h e a dva n t a ge . f6 34.g2 h5 35.xh5 gxh5 36.f5 ] 33...h5?! [ 33...g5 was better when it is White who has to play energetically to keep the position level. 34.xg5! ( 34.h1 xf4+ 35.g3 f8 36.h7 h8 and with the d pawn successfully blockaded the advanced h pawn is nothing to fear.) 34...xg5 35.d5! The same idea as the following note. It's interesting that the exchange and a pawn down White is certainly not worse. A) 35...xd5 A1) 36.h2 e5 37.h7 exf4 38.e4! ( 38.h8 d3+! 39.e2 xh8 40.xh8 g3 and only Black can win) 38...d1 39.c3=; A2) 36.g7 a8 37.h2 e6 ( 37...a3+ is the initial suggestion of the com put er bu t 38.g4 h5 39.xh5 gxh5+ 40.g5! leaves Black in trouble as the h pawn cannot be stopped.) 38.h7 f5 39.h8 d3+ 40.e2 xh8 41.xh8 a3 should be a draw.; B) 35...h5 36.dxc6+ xc6 37.e6+ d7 38.xg6 e5 39.g4 h2 40.xe5 g2+ 41.h5 h2+ 42.g5 g2+= ] 34.xg6?! Missing a strong shot. [ Instead 34.d5! would have kept the h pawn and left Anna in trouble: cxd5 35.g7 f7 36.xg6 f6 37.g3 ] 34...f6 35.g4 xh6 36.g7 e6 37.xe6 xe6 38.f5+ d5 39.c1 h8 40.g5 xg5 41.xg5 Move 40 has been reached and a totally level endgame has resulted. d6 42.g6+ d7 43.d5 cxd5 44.xb6 a8 45.f4 xa2 46.e5 d2 47.b7+ e8 48.b5 f7 49.xd5 xd5+ 50.xd5 f6 51.e4 An interesting game, hardly devoid of errors but Black's try of 9...Be6 is important as Black was really suffering in the mainline. I think 10.Qb3 is a better try for an edge as I'm

not convinced there is anything Black should worry about after 10.Ng5. ½-½

161 Bronstein,David I Lutikov,Anatoly S USSR (ch) [Alexander Volzhin]

B01

1960

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.b5+ d7 4.e2!? This move has achieved a certain degree of popularity in recent practice and it's considered to be the most dangerous f or Black in the 3. Bb5+ line. We begin with this brilliant game (one of the first where 4. Be2 was played). xd5 5.d4 g6?! Black plays in a similar fashion to the main line with 3.d4, but this is a different position! The difference will become clear after White's 8th move. [ 5...e6?! is also not good. Black voluntarily restricts his light-squared Bishop. 6.f3 e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 b6 9.c3 c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.a3 e7 12.e3 f6 13.c2 c6 14.fd1 c7 15.d4 with a clear edge in Zakharov - Remizov, Moscow 1992. ] 6.c4 b6 [ 6...f6?! was played in Yakovich - Hania, Leeuwarden 1995. This move def initely cannot be recommended as it blocks Black's main idea - creating pressure on the d4square. 7.c3 g7 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 c6 10.f4 g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 White is clearly better due to his control of the centre and his pair of strong Bishops. bd7 13.e1 b6 14.d3 d7 15.ad1 ad8 16.b4! Black has no counterplay and White starts a pawn attack on the Q-side. e8 17.e3 e5 This move leads by force to a hopeless position, but it's not easy to find a real improvement. 18.c5! c8 19.d5! cxd5 ( 19...f5 20.dxc6 xd3 21.xd3 xd3 22.cxb7 and the pawn queens.) 20.xd5 xd5 21.xd5 d7 22.f3! Now Black can't avoid material loss. xd1 23.xd1 c7 24.xb7 e6 25.b5 e7 26.xa7 c7 27.b5 f5 and Black resigned. ] 7.c3 g7 8.c5! White exploits the 140

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 drawbacks of Black's set-up very convincingly. Because of the position of the Bishop on d7 the Knight can't go to d5 and has to retreat to c8 where it has no prospects. c8 9.d5!? A very ambitious continuation. Now both Black's Knights look miserable. 10. Qb3 is also an unpleasant threat. Black's reply is forced. c6 10.b3 b6 The only move again. [ 10...cxd5 11.xb7 c6 12.b5! is bad for Black. ] 11.f3 0-0 12.e3 cxd5 13.xd5?! W hite has to choose between several possibilities, and the one he picks is not the best. [ 13.d1! is very strong, and although Black has plenty of plausible continuations here I can't see an acceptable defence: A) 13...c6 14.xd5 bxc5 15.f6+ exf6 ( 15...xf6 loses on the spot in view of 16.xd8 xd8 17.xc6 xc6 18.b7! ) 16.xd8 xd8 17.xc5 with a decisive advantage; B) 13...xc3+ 14.xc3 e6 15.h6 f6 16.xf8 xf8 17.e2 and Black has no compensation for the exchange; C) 13...e6 14.xd5! exd5 15.xd5 and Black can't avoid material loss: c6 16.xd7 xd7 17.xd7; D) 13...e8 14.xd5 a4 -this attempt fails to 15.c7! xb3 16.axb3! and White wins material: d7 17.xd7 xd7 18.xa8; E) 13...c6 is just bad in view of 14.xd5; F) 13...e6 Relatively the best. The alternatives are clearly insuff icient: 14.xd5 d7 ( 14...c6 is bad as it loses a piece: 15.f6+ xf6 16.xd8 xb3 17.xf8+ xf8 18.xc6 b8 19.axb3 ) 15.c6! ( 15.a3 is not so good in view of bxc5 16.f6+ xf6 17.xa8 d6 and Black has good compensation as a ll h is m i n o r p ie ce s a r e ve ry a ct ive .) 15...e5 16.c7 xf3+ 17.xf3 d6 18.0-0 with a huge edge as the c7-pawn is very strong ] [ White's other possibilities are not so good: 13.0-0-0 with the same ideas is strongly met by e6 14.xd5 exd5 15.xd5 f6! (th at 's t he d if f e re nce! ) 16.xa8 a4! which is very good for Black ]

[ and 13.xd5 allows c6! and Black has sufficient counterplay. ] 13...c6 14.d1 c7 15.b5 b7 16.d4 b8 17.gf3 e5?! This careless move allows a brilliant combination. [ 17...e6! forcing simplification was correct, and gives Black equal chances: A) 18.e4 xd4 19.xd4 ( 19.xb7?! xb3 20.xd7 xc5 21.xc5 bxc5 with a clear advantage for Black) 19...c6 20.xc6 xc6 is also OK for Black.; B) 18.xc6 xc6 19.xc6 xc6 20.0-0 e7! and after transferring the Knight to d5 Black has little to worry about. ] 18.xf7+!! B r o n s t e i n a t h i s b e s t ! xf7 19.xc6 xc6 [ 19...xc6 was no better: 20.g5 e8 21.d8! Now Black is completely tied up: f8 22.xf7 xf7 23.h6! and White wins: e4+ ( 23...d6 24.xb8 e8 25.h3 e4+ 26.e3 xg2 27.f1 c4 28.xe8 xf1+ 29.d2; 23...xc5 24.c3 ) 24.d2 d4+ 25.d3 xb2+ 26.e3 d4+ 27.xd4 exd4+ 28.d2 ] 20.d8+ f8 21.xe5 bxc5 22.h6!? [ Here White has a pleasant choice: besides t h e t e xt t h e r e a re a f e w o t h e r wi n n i n g continuations: 22.xf7 xb3 23.h6+ g7 24.axb3 ] [ or 22.xc6 ] 22...c4 [ 22...xb3 23.axb3 bb7 24.xf7 xf7 25.xc8 ] 23.xb7 bxb7 24.xf7 xf7 25.xc8 xg2 26.g1 b7 27.xf8+ xf8 28.xf8 xf8 29.g5 An excellent game! 1-0

162 Bruzon Batista,Lazaro Kurajica,Bojan IV Open La Laguna ESP (7) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2641 2525 10.04.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 g4 4.e2 c6 5.d4 0-0-0 6.c4 f5 7.e3 xf3 [ Instead 7...f6 resulted in a quick White in in DeFirmian, Waitzkin in the archives. ] 8.xf3 xd4 9.xd4 [ 9.g4 is White's other option but the recent 141

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 game Jovanovic, Z-Mrdja, M Sibenik 2009, g a v e B l a c k l i t t l e t o w o r r y a b o u t c2+ 10.xc2 xg4 11.0-0 f6 12.xa7 e6 13.h3 e4 and a draw was already agreed. ] 9...e6+ 10.e2 Kevin asks if we can examine this position. I have tried to copy in as much of the analysis from the forum as possible and attempted to credit it to the right p e o p le b u t I a p o l o gise if I ' ve m is qu o t e d someone. Black has two main tries to regain the piece when Black will have an extra pawn. In the meantime W hite tries to use his development advantage to fire up a quick initiative. On the surface I would prefer White, but perhaps with accurate play, Black s h o u l d n ' t h a v e a n y p r o b l e m s . e4 I doubt I can get to the truth of these positions but certainly to play this line Black has to be happy with certain scenarios: A) Black has to be content with a draw. W hite has various lines which end in repetition, especially with Qa4xa7-a8-a4+. B) Black has to memorise lots of forcing variations or else he will lose very quickly. Of course this point can also apply to W hite who needs to know how to keep compensation for the sacrificed material. C) Black has to be happy to soak up pressure before hoping to convert his extra material, Black doesn't get much play of his own in the following positions. [ 10...c5!? has been played very rarely but it's the main topic of discussion on the forum a n d I p re d ic t t h a t B la ck will swit c h h i s attention to this move if he's to continue playing the line. I've tried to add all the useful notes from the forum coupled with a few notes of my own but I doubt I can get down to the complete truth of the position as there are so many possibilities. A) 11.c3 cxd4 12.d5 d6! didn't get W hite anywhere 13.xd4 e6 14.xa7 exd5 15.c5 xc5!? 16.xc5+ xc5 17.c1 b6 18.b4 Jurkovic, ANevednichy, V Bizovac 2008 when b7 19.bxc5 c8 would result in an ending a pawn up.; B) 11.c2 cxd4 ( 11...xd4 12.c3 a6 should also be investigated) 12.0-0 f6 13.c5 Milov, L-Pitl, G Barcelona 2009 when I'd probably go for b8 with good

chances for an advantage.; C) 11.a4 feels like the most critical test o f B l a c k ' s o p e n i n g t o m e . cxd4 T h i s i s n o w f o r c e d a s ( 11...xd4 12.xa7 e5 13.c3 is great for White. ) 12.xa7 when C1) 12...e5 C1a) 13.a3 is given by gipc but his line finishes in a draw following C1a1) 13...e6 looks good for White: 14.b5! b4+ 15.f1 c5 ( 15...d3 16.f3 d7 17.a8+ b8 18.a4 c5 19.d1+- ) 16.a5 d3 17.f3 e7 18.e1 f4 19.g3+-; C1a2) 13...d3 C1a21) 14.0-0-0!? look an interesting attempt to me which I don't think has been mentioned before xe2 15.a8+ ( 15.b1!? ) 15...c7 16.b5+ c6 17.a4 gives Black extreme practical problems. W hile the computer informs me it's a draw, I'm not completely convinced.; C1a22) 14.a8+ c7 15.b5+ c6 16.a7+ c7 17.b5+ is simply a draw.; C1b) 13.f1!? linksspringer is another interesting possibility. It look rather artificial but it does keep the bishop. e6 14.d2 c5; C1c) 13.0-0!? xe2 14.a3 e6 ( 14...e5 15.c5! gives White good chances b8 16.a4 e5 17.b5 d7 18.ac1 d8 19.c6 bxc6 20.xc6 and the computer starts to l i k e W h i t e . . .) 15.a8+! d7 16.xb7+ e8 17.b5 ( 17.c6+ i s t h e p e r p e t u a l d r a w f o r W h i t e .) 17...e7 18.c5 e5 ( 18...d3 simply loses to 19.c6 as the line given by Top Notch illustrates: d2 20.c7 d1 21.axd1 xd1 22.c6+ f8 23.a8+ d8 24.xd8+ xd8 25.cxd8# ) 19.c6 b8 20.a4! xb7 ( 20...c5 21.fc1 d o e sn ' t h e l p .) 21.cxb7 f6 22.a5 d7 23.fc1 d5 24.a6 g5 25.c4+is an excellent line given by Top Notch when the passed pawns are far stronger than the piece.; 142

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 C2) A p r a c t i c a l g a m e s a w 12...d3 13.c3 dxe2 14.a8+ d7 ( 14...c7 s i m p ly l o s e s t o 15.b5+ ) 15.xb7+ e8 16.d5 c8 when Top Notch gives 17.a4 with good winning chances. The queenside pawns are extremely fast!; C3) 12...f6 has been discussed as the critical line. C3a) 13.a8+ allows Black at least a draw and he might even be able to play for more with c7 14.a5+ b6 15.e5+ c8 ( This looks more r e l i a b l e t h a n A l a n G ' s 15...d6 16.a5+ b8 which isn't so clear. ); C3b) 13.a3 is the safest although allows Black to equalise with a6=; C3c) 13.0-0!? xe2 14.a3 ( 14.a8+ is probably a draw although allows Black to try playing on with the dangerous c7 15.a5+ b6 16.a7+ c6 17.b4 e6 but I feel this is rather foolhardy.) 14...e5 15.b5 ( 15.c5 g4 16.f4 is another suggestion of AlanG, but I would be rather scared playing this as White as a knight on e3 dominates the position rather. ) 15...e6 16.c5 g4 17.g3 b8 18.a4 e5 19.a7+ c7 20.b5+ d7 21.xd4+ e7 given by gewgaw, when Black's king h a s e s c a p e d t h e wo r s t w i t h g o o d chances to convert the extra piece. In particular watch out for ...Rxd4!; D) 11.d2 xd4! apparently first suggested by Michael Ayton, this looks ve ry c o m f o r t a b le f o r B l a c k . ( 11...cxd4 12.0-0 d7 has been given as slight edge B l a c k o n t h e f o r u m b u t 13.c5! keeps enough compensation in my view.) 12.a4 b6! 13.f3 ( 13.b3 with the idea of 0-0, Bf3, Na5, a3, b4 has been suggested by linksspringer. His line continues d7 14.0-0 f6 15.f3 e5! when Black's successfully consolidated his position.; 13.0-0-0!? GJ f6 14.f3 xd1+ 15.xd1 e6 16.e5 d6 17.xf7 f4+ also f avours Black.) 13...d8 14.0-0 e6 15.a3 b8! 16.b4 f6 17.fb1 c7! 18.b2 g5!? 19.bxc5 xc5 20.ab1 b6 given as clear edge to

Black by linksspringer and I think it could be sim p ly win n in g f o r h im a s W h it e 's attack has disappeared.; E) 11.0-0 The most straightforward move b u t h e re W h i t e h a s a l o t o f d i f f e r e n t alternatives. E1) 11...cxd4 12.c5! is Stefan Buecker's suggestion. Personally I don't like recapturing on d4 with the pawn ever, as it allows W hite to open up Black's k i n g w i t h c 4 - c 5 - c 6 . ( 12.d2 is also possible ); E2) 11...f6!? was offered by gewgaw and look like a perfectly respectable m o ve t o m e . 12.e1 ( 12.a4 cxd4 13.f3 a6 diffuses White's attack.; 12.d2 xd4 merely transposes) 12...xd4 13.c2 is unclear but I have a feeling that Black should be doing well with the rook on d4 and fairly safe king.; E3) 11...h5!? is another interesting su gge st io n b y S t e f a n B b u t it lo o k s rather artificial to me E3a) 12.a4 cxd4 13.xa7 xe2 14.a8+ c7 15.a5+ d7 ( 15...b6 GJ is a very risky winning try. 16.a7+ c6 17.a3 e6 18.c2 d6 19.b4 is very dangerous for Black as he hasn't even started developing his kingside.) 16.a4+ e6?! ( 16...c7 17.a5+= a d ra w lo o ks l ike a f a i r o u t c o m e .) 17.c3 with an extremely strong initiative.; E3b) 12.f3 a6 13.d2 ( 13.c3 cxd4 14.b5 e5 15.e2 also gives W h i t e d e c e n t c o m p e n s a t i o n .) 13...xd4 ( 13...cxd4 GJ allows the typical break with 14.c5! ) 14.e2 e6 15.b3 d7 16.ad1 f6 looks ok for Black but White still has an a dva nt age a nd t h e mo ve .. . h 5 looks rather irrelevant.; E4) 11...h6 12.c2 cxd4 13.c5 is another thematic line given by Stefan B but I confess I'm rather confused as to why Black would put the knight on h6 ra t h e r t h a n t he m o re a ct ive f 6 f ro m where it can jump to d5 and hold the centre.; E5) 11...xd4 143

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 E5a) 12.e1!? doesn't seem in the spirit of the line at all, the queen looks s o p a s s i ve o n e 1 b u t a t l e a s t t h e que en m igh t ju mp ou t to a5 a nd it h e l p s s u p p o r t t h e b 4 b r e a k . f6 13.d2 d6 14.b1 is given by linksspringer when White still seems to have at least some compensation, for example following: g6 15.b4 h6 16.b3 cxb4 17.xb4; E5b) 12.c2 was another line of analysis given by TopNotch but can hardly be a winning attempt as this allows the trade of queens with e4 ( 12...f6 13.c3 b6 14.b4= ) 13.xe4 ( 13.a4!? would transpose t o 1 2 . Q a 4 .) 13...xe4 14.c3 w h e n i n s t e a d o f d4 ( A l a n G ' s s u g g e s t i o n o f 14...h4 would give Black a decent position and indeed following 15.g3 h6 16.g4+ e6 White is struggling to keep enough initiative going for the pawn.) 15.b5 d2 16.g4+ e6 17.xa7+ b8 18.b5 xb2 19.ab1 E5b1) 19...b4 20.a3 xb1 21.xb1 f6 22.f3 b6 23.a4 c8 24.a7+ c7 was another long line given on the forum but this gives W hite a chance for an advantage with 25.a5! GJ ( 25.b5+ c8= ); E5b2) 19...xb1 20.xb1 and despite the simplification of the position, White still has a dangerous initiative, i.e . f6 21.f3 e8 22.a4 e7 23.a5 d8 24.c3 d6 25.a6 b6 26.d1+winning material.; E5c) 12.a4 given an exclamation mark by TopNotch but I'm not so sure. I haven't managed to find any analysis on this move except the note that we shouldn't believe our computer's evaluation! Let's look a little further. xe2 13.c3 e5 was bizarrely agreed drawn already in Gaponenko, IKharitonov, A Rethymnon 2009. White has a few different ways to continue but perhaps the most logical would be E5c1) 14.ad1 f6 15.xa7 e6 16.b5 d6! successfully

consolidates the extra material.; E5c2) 14.fe1 b8 15.d5 f6 doesn't get anywhere either.; E5c3) 14.xa7 e6 ( 14...h4? 15.fd1! reminds me of the mainline when White has a decisive advantage.) 15.b5 b8 16.b6 e7 17.xd4 cxd4 18.xd4 c6 and Black successfully completes his development with the advantage.; E5c4) 14.b5 f6 ( It's far too greedy to try and keep the rook with 14...d7? 15.ad1 f6 16.xa7 e6 17.b6 is winning for White due to th e th reat of 1 8.Na7 + an d 19 . Nc6+; 14...b8 15.xd4 cxd4 16.e8+ c7 17.xf7 looks wrong f o r B l a c k .) 15.xa7 ( 15.xa7+ d8 16.b5 d7 ) 15...e6 ( 15...d7 also seems reasonable. 16.fe1 b8 17.a5 b6 18.c3 e5 19.f3 f6 20.c6+ d8 and Black's centre looks quite i m p r e s s i v e .) 16.b6 ( 16.a8+ b8 17.a7+ c7 18.b5+ is simply a draw) 16...b8 17.ad1 g4 18.f4 e3 19.a7+ d7 20.xd4+ cxd4 21.xd4+ d6 22.xe3 c5 23.d1+ e8 24.d4 b6! favours Black. ] 11.0-0 This looks more accurate than 11.Nc3. It's important to get the king to safety and develop the kingside rook, even if White has to sacrifice the e2 bishop too. [ 11.c3 xd4 12.c2 ( 12.xd4 gives Black a favourable endgame position after xd4 13.b5 d8 14.xa7+ b8 15.b5 e5 Lyell, M-Korpa, B Budapest 2010. ) 12...e6 13.0-0 d6 14.b5 e5 15.f4? ( 15.xd6+ still gives White ad e qu a t e co mp e n sa t io n f o r th e pa wn .) 15...c5+ 16.h1 e3 17.f3 Zakic, SSavic, M Subotica 2008 when the simplest f o r B l a c k l o o k s t o b e d2 forcing an exchange of queens with a decisive advantage. ] 11...xd4 [ The most common recapture although Black has also tried taking with the rook although this leaves Black's back rank very vulnerable. 11...xd4 144

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 12.d2 has been White's practical choice A1) 12...f4 13.a4 xd2 14.ad1 f6 15.xa7 d7 16.f3 c6 17.xd2 xd2 18.d1 h6 19.b4! This looks slow but Black still has no time to develop his kingside and so is simply lost e6 20.b5 g6 Spraggett, K-Shaw, J Gibraltar 2006 when the most precise finish would have been 21.a8+ b8 ( 21...c7 22.b6+! ) 22.bxc6 bxc6 23.b1 d6 24.b7+ d8 25.d1+-; A2) 12...e6 13.a4 xd2 14.ad1 xd1 15.xd1 f6 16.xa7 a6 17.d4 d6 18.a7 a6 19.d4 d6 20.a7 and both players were forced to repeat 1/2-1/2 Boskovic, DSavic, M Vrnjacka Banja 2009.; B) 12.a4! was suggested on the forum and looks exceedingly dangerous for Black. One line where I managed to beat my computer ran: xe2 13.xa7 B1) 13...xb2 14.a3 d3 15.b5 f6 16.ad1 c2 17.c1 d2 18.a8+ ( 18.c5!? ) 18...d7 19.a4 c6 20.cd1 cxb5 21.xb5+ c8 22.xd2 xd2 23.c5+winning for White.; B2) 13...g4?! with the threat of ...Rxg2 for a draw but 14.a8+ d7 15.h3! foils Black's plan and leaves White with a great position. ] 12.a4 [ 12.b3 looks inaccurate e6 13.c3 d6 14.b5 c5 15.f3 c6 16.xd6+ xd6 17.a4 e7 and Black has succeeded in completing his development. Rodriguez Lapetra, P-Alvarado Diaz, A La Laguna 2010. ] 12...e6 [ 12...xb2 was far too greedy 13.xa7 e6 14.f3 Black never gets time to take the rook f6 ( 14...xa1 15.xb7+ d7 16.d1+ d6 17.c5 is hopeless.) 15.c3! xc3 16.xb7+ d7 17.c6+ e7 18.xc7+ d7 19.ad1 ( 19.fd1 l o o k s e v e n b e t t e r a s xc4 loses to 20.ac1! ) 19...g5?! ( 19...xc4 was necessary although White's still winning after 20.c1! a6 21.fd1! ) 20.xd7 g7 21.e8+ was a complete demolition in

Meijers, V-Antoniewski, R Martigny 2005. ] 13.c3 So White has completed his development while Black hasn't moved a single piece on the kingside. True, Black has gained a pawn, but he will have to suffer for a long time before he can hope to utilise it. d6 The most logical looking move, both developing one piece and looking at starting a counterattack. [ 13...b6 was tried by the Dutch expert on the Scandinavian but he had to suffer a little. 14.ad1 ( 14.a3 f6 15.b4 and the players wi m p e d o u t i n G r a b a r c zyk , B - M i l o v , L Frankfurt 2008. Of course White has good compensation for the pawn and it's disappointing not to be able to see how the game might have continued.) 14...xd1 15.xd1 f6 16.b4! Dynamic play by the young IM. A) 16...c5 looks like a potential improvement f or Black. 17.e4 a6 18.xa6 ( 18.c2!? is a better winning attempt. ) 18...bxa6 19.g5 cxb4 20.xf7 g8 seems roughly level.; B) 16...xb4 17.b1 a5 18.a3 xc3 19.xb6 cxb6 20.c5! bxc5 21.a6!? A f l a s h y w a y t o g e t a d r a w ( However 21.f3 would leave White with all the winning chances Black's exposed king will c o s t h i m a t l e a s t a c o u p l e p a w n s .) 21...bxa6 22.c6+ b8 23.b6+ 1/2-1/2 Brandenburg, D-Tiviakov, S Hilversum 2008. ] [ 13...f6 resulted in a quick White win but the game was hardly convincing 14.b5 ( 14.ad1 b6 15.xd8+ xd8 16.d1+ c8 17.b4 with similarities to 13...Qb6 would be my attempt as White.) 14...b6 15.b4!? The start of a piece sacrifice. I wonder wheth er this was intend ed or a blunder? I am highly doubtful whether this piece sacrifice is objectively sound but Black now has to play extremely accurately. c6 16.c5 cxb5 17.xb5 c7 18.xa7 d5 19.fc1 Slightly illogical, why not place the other rook on c1 so that we can play Rfd1? b8 20.a4 c7 21.e2 a8 22.b3 e7 23.a4 Around here Black's position collapses. Maybe d4 is the first mistake ( 23...d2 followed by ...Bf6 leaves Black with good chances of converting the extra 145

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 piece. ) 24.a5 a6? Leaving Black's king u n g u a rd e d . . 25.c6! And the attack breaks through hd8 26.f3 b8 27.xa6 1 -0 V u c k o vi c, B - Mi la n o vic , D B e o g ra d 2006. ] 14.f3! This novelty looks strong. Bruzon is not concerned about Black's plan of ...Qf4-h2 as once the rook moves from f1 there's no mate, and he makes sure his attack will come first. [ The rather f orcing line 14.b5 e5 15.xd6+ cxd6 16.f3 b8 17.fe1 c5 18.b4 has been played twice against fellow ChessPublishing writer, Eric Prie. Apparently Emms and Houska claim a slight edge to black here. I haven't seen the analysis but certainly following A) Eric played 18...xc4? the first time he reached this position, allowing the knockout 19.xb7! e7 was Brunello, SPrie, E Arvier 2007 when White has great compensation f or the pawn f ollowing: ( 19...xb7 20.ec1 d5 21.c7+! xc7 22.xa7+ wo u l d b e m a t i n g) 20.ac1 d4 21.a6; B) 18...c7 A n i m p r o v e m e n t 19.ac1 e7 20.e3 d7 21.d1 c8 22.c5 hd8 23.d3 c7 24.a4 dxc5 25.xd8 xd8 26.bxc5 c6 27.b1 d4 28.c2 h4 29.xc6 xc6 30.g3 h5 and Black had consolidated his extra pawn. D'Amore, C-Prie, E Arvier 2007. ] [ 14.fd1 has also been tried but it seems too automatic e5 15.g3 b8! 16.b5 a6 17.xd6 cxd6 18.f3 f6 19.d3 d7 20.b3 c5 21.b4 d7 and again our French contributor had completed his development successfully and could attempt to convert his extra pawn. Michna, C-Prie, E San Sebastian 2009. ] 14...f4 15.fd1 xh2+ 16.f1 So Black has gained another pawn and forced the king to f1 but Bruzon has accurately calculated that his king won't encounter any problems on e2. Black's king, on the other hand, has four pieces directed towa rds it and he swif tly regrets his retarded kingside development. e7 [ 16...a6 was offered as a possible improvement by MnB. His line runs 17.c5 xc5 18.xb7+! xb7 19.xd8 h1+

20.e2 xg2 but this looks extremely dangerous to me and indeed White must be c l o s e t o w i n n i n g w i t h 21.e4 b6 ( 21...g4+ 22.e1 g1+ 23.d2+- ) 22.c1 as Black does not have perpetual g4+ 23.f1 h3+ 24.e1 h1+ 25.d2 h6+ 26.c2 and the checks have run out when White has more material and better placed pieces. ] 17.xa7 c6 18.a4 c7 This doesn't save Black. [ 18...h1+ 19.e2 h2 20.c5 b8 21.b6+ c7 22.a5 looks lost to me, the extra pawn is looking extremely irrelevant. ] [ 18...g6 looks like Black's best to me. A c o u p l e s a m p l e l i n e s m i g h t r u n : 19.c5 ( 19.g3 xg3 20.fxg3 xg3 21.f2 is rather unclear) 19...b8 20.b6+ c7 21.a5 ( Of course White always has his draw with 21.a8+ c8 22.b6+= ) 21...e5! 22.c4+ c8 23.d6+ xd6! 24.cxd6 d8 seems ok for Black but I think White still has a small something following: 25.d7+ xd7 26.xd7 xd7 27.g3 ] 19.c5 e5 20.a5+ c8 21.b6+ b8 [ 21...c7 was the only way to survive although in my view W hite has the advantage. Of course, on the practical level, this isn't a good choice for Black as White always has at least a draw. 22.g3 ( 22.c4+ c8 23.d6+ b8 24.xf7 xd1+ 25.xd1 f8 26.xe5 xe5 seems to hold on for the second player.) 22...xg3 23.fxg3 xg3 24.c4+ c8 25.d6+ b8 26.c3 and the knight on d6 dominates the position and thus the bishop looks more relevant than the kingside pawns. ] 22.d7! Now Black's king's trapped. xd7 23.xd7+ c8 24.b6+ b8 25.d1! And the other rook swings into the game when there's no way to avoid dropping a large amount of material. A disaster for Black but the line certainly still has life, especially in the 10...c5 line when I think 11.Qa4 is critical but I can't find an advantage for White. 1-0

146

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 163 Brynell,Stellan Hodgson,Julian M Bundesliga 2001-2 (14) [Nigel Davies]

B01 164 2505 Bulski,Krzysztof 2598 Stopa,Jacek 27.04.2002 ch-POL Warsaw POL (6) [Gawain Jones]

Here we see the solid 10...Bxc3, forcing White to accept doubled pawns on his queenside. This weakness is not a serious problem if he plays accurately and mass exchanges lead to a draw. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.e2 b4 9.0-0-0 bd7 10.a3 xc3 11.xc3 c7 12.e5 [ 12.d2 b5 13.a2 e4 14.b1 0-0 15.g5 d5 left Black with a very solid game in Enders - Wahls, German Ch., Binz 1995 ] 12...b5! This may be Black's best, but it is not his only move. [ He can also play 12...xe5 13.dxe5 d5 14.d2 0-0-0 15.g4 g6 16.f4 h5 17.h3 hxg4 18.hxg4 xh1 19.xh1 b6 as in Morovic Fernandez - W ahls, Cienfuegos 1996 ] [ A further possibility is 12...d5 13.d2 b5 14.b3 h5 15.xd7 xd7 16.a5 g6 17.he1 0-0 as in Morovic Fernandez Rodriguez, Cienfuegos 1996, though this looks rather passive for Black because of the blockade of his queenside pawns. ] 13.d3 [ 13.b3 e4 intending ...Bd5 is super-solid as usual. ] 13...0-0 14.xf5 exf5 15.f3 d5 16.xf5 xc3 17.xd7 With his queenside so weak White has to exchange Black's knight. [ 17.bxc3 f6 would be very dangerous. ] 17...xd1 18.xf8 xf8 19.xd1 Gallagher - Prie, French Team Ch., Clichy 1997 was agreed drawn at this point. xh2 20.e4 h6+ 21.f4 g6 22.e1 g3 23.e3 f2 24.b3 h6 25.c3 f5 26.e6+ h7 27.g3 xd4 28.xc6 a5 29.c5 f6 30.b1 a4 31.b4 d8 32.d3 xd3 33.cxd3 e6 34.c1 e1+ 35.c2 e2+ 36.c3 e1+ ½-½

B01 2416 2494 14.01.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 bd7 This is a very topical position in the line 7.f4 [ 7.f4 is White's most aggressive setup b6 8.g4 g6 ( 8...e6 was seen in ShirovIvanchuk. Here Saric tries to do without this move but runs into difficulty.) 9.g2 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.a4 a5 12.h1 fd5 13.e4 c7 14.c3 f6! 15.d3 f5! 16.gxf5 xf5 17.e2 was very messy and hardly a safe way to play for White although he went on to win Radulski, J-Saric, I Zagreb 2010 ] [ 7.c4 is yet to be seen in a featured game on ChessPublishing but resulted for a quick W hite win here. c7 8.f3 b6 9.f4 d7 10.xb6 An interesting swap so as to lessen the power of ... Qg4 axb6 11.0-0-0 g4 12.e3 f5 ( Maybe 12...e6 should be attempted although I prefer White after 13.d5! ) 13.d5!? xd5 14.xd5! cxd5 15.b5 e5 16.xe5 c5 ( The analyst that l i v e s i n m y c o m p u t e r s u g g e s t s 16...f6 17.xf6+ f7 18.d4 xa2 19.b1 a4 20.d3 e6 when it looks like Black has s u r vi ve d b u t W h i t e h a s t h e s u r p r i s i n g 21.c7!? xe3 22.fxe3 when despite being the exchange down W hite is doing very well as the rook is trapped on a4 and B la ck 's p a wn s a re d ro p p i n g l ike f lie s .) 17.d4+ d8 18.d3 d7 19.g5+ e7 20.xg7 xd4 21.xd4 f6 22.xb6+ d7 23.c7 was an impressive game by my namesake 1-0 Jones, R-Zeidler, S Cardiff 2010. ] 7...d5 8.xd5 xd5 9.e2 xe5 10.xe5 xg2 11.f3 g6 12.e2 and here Stopa deviates from Caruana, FMilanovic, D in the archives but it doesn't work out well. e6 [ 12...h5 was played in that game. ] 13.d5 White needs to play aggressively or he'll suffer with his pawn deficit. cxd5 14.0-0-0 f6 Critical, and obliging W hite to sacrifice the piece. Alternatively: [ 14...d7 15.xd5 h6+ 16.b1 c6 147

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is possible but I don't see how Black is going to develop his kingside and so must be practically lost. ] 15.xd5! xe5 16.c4! White's barbaric play is effective. He's already threatening mate in one which obliges Black to sacrifice his queen. e6 Forced [ 16...h5 doesn't prevent the mate 17.f7+! xf7 18.b5+ ] 17.he1 exd5 [ 17...g5+ 18.f4 followed by a subsequent Bxe6 is curtains. ] 18.b5+ So far White has played perfectly but here he should have continued with [ 18.xe5+! when after the forced line fxe5 19.xd5 e7 20.xe5 f8 21.e4 f7 22.xh7 Black would be experiencing great problems. True he has rook and two bishops for the queen and two pawns but his king is still stuck in the centre and he continues to have difficulty in developing his queenside. ] 18...d7 [ 18...f7 is the suggestion of the fearless computer 19.xe5 fxe5 20.xd5+ ( 20.xd5 is no longer as efficient as g6 21.xe5 h6+ 22.b1 d8 and Black's pieces are starting to get out of their s t a r t i n g b l o c k s .) 20...e6! 21.f3+ ( 21.xb7+ e7 and once Black's pieces are de ve lo p ed , he 'll b e ab le to u se h is material advantage.) 21...g8 22.xb7 e8 23.xa7 is highly unclear but Black can continue with either h5!? ( or 23...e7 with a satisfactory position. )] 19.xb7 [ 19.xd5?! 0-0-0! 20.xe5 fxe5 21.xe5 h5! followed by ...Rh6-c6 and Black's taking the upper hand. ] 19...d8 20.f4 [ 20.xe5+ would keep the advantage with similar ideas to those which we have already seen: fxe5 21.xd5 e7 22.xe5 f7 23.f4+ f6 24.c7 e8 25.xa7 W hen W hite's picked up a lot of pawns which should give him the advantage but the position is still not so clear. It's important that W hite succeeds in keeping Black's pieces offside as they'll control a lot of squares if they work together. ] 20...e7! Perhaps White overlooked this [ 20...xe1 loses 21.xe1+ f7 ( 21...e7

22.b4+- ) 22.xd5+ g6 23.f5+ h6 24.a5! e8 25.d2+ h5 26.xe8 xe8 27.e2+ and the piece drops. ] 21.xd5 g6 22.c4 An interesting choice. White pushes his passed pawn! Black needs to develop his kingside quickly which isn't so easy h5! This looks like the best way to do it with ...Rh7-e7 themes and also threatening ... Be6. [ 22...e6 immediately doesn't work as 23.c6+ f7 24.xd8 xd8 25.xe6+ g7 26.d1 w i n s t h e q u e e n b6?! 27.d7+ h6 28.h3# ] 23.c5?! Again I wonder if White overlooked Black's reply. [ 23.xe7+ xe7 24.b7 would keep Black struggling to hold. ] 23...e6! 24.c6+ f7 25.xd8 xd8 26.xe6+ g7 27.d1 a5 The difference now is that the king doesn't get mated on h6. So White's regained one piece but is now a piece f or two pawns down, while his own king's vulnerability gives Black some counterplay. 28.c6 [ 28.d7+ h6 29.c6 ( 29.xf6 xc5+ 30.b1 g8 and White's attack gets no further. ) 29...c5+ 30.d2 f2+ and Black has taken the initiative. ] 28...c5+ [ 28...h6! running the king to safety would promise Black good winning chances. ] 29.b1 The game now proceeds logically and a draw is the result. A fair result in the end perhaps, but Black's risky opening shouldn't be repeated and he'll have to go back to alternative 12th moves. e7 30.d7 e8 31.a3 f8 32.a2 a5 33.c7 h4 34.h3 a4 35.a1 c1+ 36.a2 c5 37.a1 c1+ 38.a2 c5 39.a1 ½-½

165 Burovic,Ismet Monange,Serge op Torcy [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2375 2070 1991

The following gambit was introduced in the early nineties. This game shows that Black's attacking potential should not be 148

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 underestimated. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 g4 A very interesting but dubious line. Black sacrifices a pawn hoping to get active piece play, but W hite's defensive resources are huge and it's quite difficult to get full compensation. On the other hand White has to tread very carefully, otherwise Black's initiative may become extremely dangerous. 4.f3 f5 5.c4 Very natural but probably far from best. It may seem that now Black is in trouble as W hite has an extra pawn and a ve ry s t ro n g p a wn c e n t re . B u t B l a c k h a s s o m e t h in g in m in d ! e6! 6.dxe6 c6! The point. 7.e2 [ White couldn't solve his problems with 7.e3 b e c a u s e o f b4+ 8.c3 e7! For only a pawn Black has a huge advantage in development and great activity for all his pieces. It's extremely difficult to find a suf ficient def ence for W hite. 9.d5 0-0-0 10.a4 xd5!! A fantastic blow! 11.cxd5 h4+ 12.d1 ( 12.g3 loses the Queen: xc3+ 13.bxc3 xa4; 12.e2 is hardly an improvement: d4+ 13.xd4 xd4 14.d1 e5+ with a decisive attack) 12...xd5+! Another very nice blow! 13.xd5 e1# Wang Zili - Damaso,1996. ] [ Of course 7.exf7+ xf7 (now or later) should not be considered seriously as it gives Black an important tempo for developing his Rook (Rh8-e8). ] 7...b4! Aiming at the c2 and d3 squares. 8.g3 c2+ 9.f2 g6 10.e3 c5! A brave and correct decision! Black plays for a direct attack on White's king. [ The hasty 10...xa1 spoils the attack: 11.exf7+ xf7 12.d3 and after Nb1-c3 W hite wins the Knight back and has two pawns for the exchange, with a playable position. ] 11.a3 xe3 12.xe3 g4+! Excellent! After this unexpected sacrifice Black's attack becomes unstoppable. 13.fxg4 g5+ 14.f3 [ 14.f2 didn't help W hite either: f4+ 15.f3 xd4+ 16.e1 b4+ 17.e2 xb2+ and Black wins. ] 14...fxe6! After this simple move the game is over. Black opens the f-file for his Rook and the White king is in dead trouble now. 15.d3 0-0+ 16.f5 exf5 17.dxc5 fxg4+ 18.g3 h5!

[ Of course, 18...e3+ wins easily, but the text leads to forced mate. ] 19.h3 [ 19.xg6 h4# ] [ or 19.h4 e3+ 20.h2 g3+ 21.h3 xd3 and White has no defence against Bd3-f5. ] 19...h4+ 20.h2 g3+ 21.g1 e3# 0-1

166 Camps,Ronald D Tiviakov,Sergei IV Open Alajuela CRC (1) [John Watson]

B01 2098 2645 09.07.2008

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 [ The latest adventure with 5...a6 played last week was Van Oosterom-E Berg, Maastricht 2008: 6.g3 g4 ( an option is 6...f5 ) 7.g2!? ( 7.h3 h5 8.g2 c6 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.f4 b4 11.g4 g6 12.a3! xb2 13.e1 was the exciting game Caruana-Strikovic, Lorca 2005, featured in this column with Fabiano's notes. Check out the Archives.) 7...c6 8.e3 ( 8.h3 h5 9.0-0 would transpose to the Caruana game here 8...Bxf3 9 Qxf3 0-0-0 10 Be3 doesn't improve for Black) 8...0-0-0 9.h3 h5 ( 9...e6!? 10.g5 xd4 11.xd4 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.xe6 fxe6 14.0-0 g6 isn't entirely clear, especially since Black can counter the attack on e6 by 15.fe1 d2 ) 10.e2 e6 11.0-0 ( 11.0-0-0 is equally interesting, but makes it harder to assault Black's king d5 m i g h t f o l l o w) 11...d5 12.xd5 exd5 13.c4!? dxc4 14.xc4 b4! 15.fc1 ( 15.e2!? followed by attack on the king.) 15...xc4 16.xc4 f6 17.d5 f7 18.dxc6 xc4 19.cxb7+ b8 20.d4 d5 21.c6+ xc6 22.xc6 b4 23.a3 d2 24.c5 d3 25.f1?! ( 25.d1 hd8 26.f1 ) 25...b3! 26.d1?! ( but 26.b1 c3! isn't thrilling) 26...xb2 27.e4 a5 28.d7 g6 29.d4? d2 30.xf6 xd7 ( 30...e8 31.xd2 xd2 is the computer solution. ) 31.xh8 d1+ 32.g2 d2 0-1. ] 149

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6.g5 An interesting move. [ In Gashimov-Tiviakov, Reggio Emilia 2008, Tiviakov lost on the Black side of 6.e5 bd7 7.f4 d5 , but he certainly had improvements. White decides to go another way. ] 6...g4 7.e2 bd7 8.d2 e6 9.f4 b4 10.a3! b6 [ White has a considerable advantage in all t h e l i n e s a f t e r 10...xb2 11.0-0 f5 ( 11...xf3 12.xf3 b6 13.fb1 a5 14.xb7; 11...b6 12.fb1 d8 13.xb7 ) 12.a2 b6 13.b1 d8 14.xb7 e7 15.c7 ] 11.0-0 e7 12.a4 d8 13.c4!? 0-0 14.fd1 [ The conventional and probably better course is 14.c3 b6 15.b3 with advantage. ] 14...b6 15.xb6 axb6 16.h3 [ As so often (and against the traditional idea), exchanges make it easier for the side with space: 16.e5 xe2 17.xe2 ] 16...f5 17.e3 e8?! [ We've seen the theme 17...b5! 18.cxb5 d5 before, in the Caro-Kann: 19.d2 cxb5 with total control of d5. If 20.xb5 , then b6 21.f1 xf4 22.xf4 xb2 wins White's a-pawn next. ] 18.b3 e4 [ 18...b5!? 19.cxb5 d5 20.g3 b6 21.c4! ] 19.e3 c7 20.d2 d6?! 21.ac1 [ 21.f4 ] 21...c5 22.f3 [ 22.f4 cxd4 23.e5 ] 22...f6 23.d5!? e5 [ A clever response is the easy-to-miss 23...exd5 24.xd5 d7! , when 25.c2 f5 repeats, and here 25...Nf5 is a try for advantage. ] 24.b1 xb1 25.xb1 e4 26.g4 g6 27.f4 e5 28.xe5 xe5 29.c3 [ Or 29.bc1 ae8 30.e3 ] 29...e7 . Here White would have a comfortable but limited edge after 30 Re1. The game continued in technical fashion for a long time, with White losing after inaccuracies. 0-1

167 Carlsen,M Djukic,Ni 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (3.3) [Neil McDonald]

B01 2877 2521 04.08.2014

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 Black sidesteps any critical theory by bringing the queen back home. White is given a freer hand but at least the lady will never become a target of Bf4 (after 3...Qd6) or Bd2 (after 3... Qa5). Incidentally, GM Nikola Djukic plays this opening system regularly so Carlsen must have played through a lot of 3...Qd8 games in preparing for the present encounter. It is a st ro n g en d orsem en t f or th e lin e t ha t t h e W orld Champion was persuaded to play it himself as Black three rounds later against Caruana, one of his biggest rivals. 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.h3 xf3 Not letting White build up an initiative in the centre with [ 6...h5 7.g4 g6 8.e5 ] 7.xf3 c6 In return for the bishop pair and a slight space disadvantage, Black will achieve a full development, get his king to safety and avoid any weaknesses in his pawn structure. For some players he has paid too high a price. But others will enjoy having a secure position with the chance to outmanoeuvre the opponent. It's no wonder that Carlsen was willing to play this line as both W hite and Black. He likes a game without theory, in which he can outplay his opponent from a position where he has either a small advantage or a small disadvantage- it is all the same to him! 8.d3 Consistent with his plan to make his opponent think for himself. Djukic has played many games with [ 8.e3 e6 Here are some examples. These segments- they are not the complete gamesend with more or less equality. As you can see Djukic replies to 0-0-0 by W hite with Bb4, whilst against 0-0 he tries to put his knight on d5 and cement it there with b7-b5. 9.d3 ( Or 9.0-0-0 b4! 10.e4 xe4 11.xe4 d5 the exchange of queens is a cold shower on W hite's attacking aims. 12.xd5 cxd5 13.c4 dxc4 14.xc4 d7 and Black was fine in Erdogdu, M (2467)Djukic, N (2503)/Novi Sad 2009. ) 9...bd7 A) 10.0-0 d6 150

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A1) 11.ad1 0-0 12.fe1 ( 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 g6 14.c4 keeping the black knight out of d5, so Djukic prepares c6-c5 to attack d4 instead. e8 15.f4 c7 16.f3 c5 Dastan, B (2371)Djukic, N (2545)/Skopje MKD 2013.) 12...e8 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.d3 d5 16.d2 b5 stopping White kicking back the horse with c2-c4. Ali Marandi, C (2383)-Djukic, N (2534)/ Sarajevo BIH 2014; A2) 11.fe1 0-0 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 g6 14.c4 e8 15.ad1 a5 16.a4 b6 17.b3 d5 once again the black knight lands on d5 with balanced chances.; A3) 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 f6 13.d3 d5 14.d2 f6 15.e4 ( 15.xf6 gxf6 16.e4 f5 17.f3 0-0-0 Klino va, M (2 302)-Djukic, N (2 551)/ Cappelle-la-Grande FRA 2014.) 15...f4 16.c4 0-0 17.fe1 fd8 18.ad1 b5 19.f1 d5 20.d3 g6 21.g3 ac8 Sp a s o v, V (25 7 3 )-Dju kic, N (2 5 5 1 )/ Kragujevac SRB 2013.; B) 10.0-0-0 b4! 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 f6 13.c4 xe4 14.xe4 e7 Palac, M (2578)-Djukic, N (2528)/Neum BIH 2014. I hope these extracts give you some idea of how to play against 8.Be3. Ca rls e n go e s h i s o wn wa y a n d t a ke s Djukic out of his tried and trusted opening lines. ] 8...e6 9.g3 Carlsen fianchettos on g2 and hopes to eventually soften up Black along the h1-a8 diagonal with an advance of his queenside pawns. In a later game from the Tromso 2014 Olympiad Karjakin preferred [ 9.e2 against Iotov- see the archives. ] 9...bd7 10.g2 d6 The most active square for the bishop. In the only other game with 9.g3 Black preferred [ 10...e7 with a solid enough position after 11.0-0 0-0 12.b3 c7 13.b2 ad8 in Bojkovic, N (2434)-Voicu Jagodzinsky, C (2 2 9 0 ) / P lo vd iv 2 0 0 8 . T h e d ra wb a ck o f course is that on e7 the bishop doesn't support the freeing e6-e5 break. ] 11.0-0 0-0 12.a3 Preparing b3-b4 in the distant future. c7 Djukic is building up his game sensibly. He is angling for the e6-e5

advance to negate White's space advantage. However, he has to be sure that he is freeing his game rather than opening lines for his opponent's bishop pair. 13.d1 ad8 14.b3 fe8 15.b2 a6 16.e2 e5 At last Black has completed his preparations and carried out the pawn advance. Objectively speaking it is equal, but Carlsen is able to probe away with no worries. Perhaps it was better to try for the initiative with [ 16...h5!? 17.c4 ( After 17.h4?! e5 18.c4 e4 19.c3 e3! Black has dynamic play in view of the weakness on g3.) 17...h4 18.b4 ( If 18.g4?! f8 heading for g6 when White has to worry about the hole on f4.) 18...hxg3 19.fxg3 e5 only now. The position remains equal, but Black has more potential counterplay as the white king's defences are slightly eroded. ] 17.c4 exd4 Again this should be OK, but as the World Champion loves to play 'without an opponent' Djukic might have done better to keep the tension with [ 17...e4 for example 18.e3 ( If 18.c3?! e3! 19.f4 e4 gives Black counterplay as 20.xe3? fails to xg3 21.xg3 xe2 ) 18...c5 19.d5 b5 with a double edged game. ] 18.xd4 e5 19.c2 c5 20.f3 xb2 21.xb2 f8 The Magnus Magic starts to have its effect: a couple of imprecise moves by the opponent is all it takes for Carlsen's relentless technique to turn a 'dead equal' position into one where he is winning. [ It was better to keep the knight active with 21...e4 for example 22.e1 ( Or likewise 22.h4 df6 ) 22...df6 ] 22.h4 Unleashing the bishop and preparing a long journey with the knight to e3 where it eyes the hole in Black's centre on d5. g6 [ Black can bring his knight into contact with the hole in White's own structure on d4, but he is uncomfortable after 22...e6 23.f5 b6 24.ab1 as the white horse looms over his kingside. ] 23.f5 e7 24.e3 b6 25.b4 Finally White plays the pawn advance he prepared with 12. a3. c6 26.xd8 xd8 27.b1 cxb4? A serious mistake that concedes a potential passed pawn on the c-file and dissolves the base for his knight on d4. He had to stand his 151

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ground on c5 with [ 27...b8! keeping the option of Nd4 to activate his game. ] 28.axb4 e5 29.c3 d3? Losing a pawn. He might have tried [ 29...h5 though White keeps his advantage with 30.h4! ( but not immediately 30.c5 as Black gets counterplay with h4 31.g4 g6 and 32...Nf4. )] 30.a1! I'm sure Carlsen enjoyed making this queen retreat into the corner. He excels like Karpov in manoeuvring his pieces on the first rank. Now Black has no good way to defend a6. h5 [ There could have been a pretty finish after 30...a5 31.bxa5 bxa5 32.b7 d6 the queen has to defend e5 33.c5 e6 ( i t ' s m a t e a f t e r 33...xc5 34.b8+ ) 34.b8+ e8 35.c6! xc6 36.xc6 xc6 37.f5! with the unstoppable double threat of 38.Ne7+ winning the queen and 38.Qxg7 mate. ] 31.xa6 h4 Finally Black switches to aggressive mode but it is too late. 32.g4 d2 33.c5! Creating a passed pawn along the bfile is more important than being a pawn up. bxc5 34.b5 ed7 35.b6 f4 36.a8+ h7 37.f3 A bit of housekeeping is needed on t he k ingside be f o re th e pa sse d pa wn decides the game. xf3 38.xf3 d4 39.b7 b4 40.d1 T h r e a t e n i n g 4 1 . g5 . e5 Black can't keep up a blockade of the pawn as attempts to stop 41.g5 fail to Nd5 ideas. For example [ 40...g6 41.g2 b6 ( Or 41...b2 42.f4 t h e n 4 3 . g 5 .) 42.d5 xd5 43.xd5 w h e n B l a c k l o s e s t h e r o o k a f t e r xb7 44.d6+ ] [ If instead 40...g5 41.d6 b2 42.d5 xd5 43.xd5 b8 44.d8 and wins. ] 41.g2 fd7 42.c2 f4 [ Or 42...b2 43.f4 xc2 giving white a pleasant choice between 44.fxe5 and ( 44.e4+ )] 43.d5 Threatening 44.Rxe5. f6 44.xc5 b8 45.c8 [ The blockade on b8 will crumble after say 45.c8 ed7 46.d5 a4 47.e6 ] 1-0

168 Carlsen,Magnus Short,Nigel D Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (4) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2810 2696 19.01.2010

1.e4 d5 A surprising number of Scandinavians were seen in Corus. Tiviakov of course has 3...Qd6 as his main defence but Short and Ivanchuk also gave it a try despite knowing that their opponent, in their preparation for Tiviakov, would have looked at it. 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 [ B l a c k ' s b e e n s t r u g g l i n g a f t e r 3.f3 recently. I wonder whether Nigel was going to play xd5 4.d4 g4 transposing back into the game ] 3...g4 [ 3...xd5 4.f3 g6 is seen in the following game ] 4.f3 [ Magnus evidently didn't feel comfortable or ready for the supposed critical 4.f3 ] 4...xd5 5.h3 xf3 6.xf3 c6 A new move for the site. Instead John Watson examines alternatives in his notes to TzermiadianosShen Siyuan in the archives. 7.e2 [ 7.c3 has been tried by White in a few recent games but I prefer Carlsen's move as t h e n h e c a n p l a y c 4 i n o n e g o . d7 A more dynamic reply compared to ( 7...e6 8.c4 d6 9.0-0 0-0 10.d2 d7 11.e4 e7 12.b3 7f6 and White maintained his typical advantage but Black was very solid in So-Strasser, Bad Wiessee 2006 1-0 ((35)) 8.d2 e5 9.dxe5 ( 9.d3 might be a better attempt although exd4 10.cxd4 f6 shouldn't be anything for Black to fear, despite my computer's opinion!) 9...xe5 10.e4 e7 ( 10...d6 would be a more aggressive continuation 11.f3?! 0-0! and White cannot gain a piece due to the pin on the e file.) 11.c4 xc4 12.xe7+ xe7 13.xc4 d8 was completely fine for Black and he even went on to win in Szabo-Varga, Budapest 2009 (51) ] 7...g6 8.0-0 g7 9.d1 0-0 10.c4 c7 So Black has a reasonably solid position but I'd prefer W hite with more space and the bishop pair. 11.e4 152

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 11.b3!? looks awkward to deal with xd4 is critical and wild complications ensue! ( 11...b5 12.a3 bxc4 13.xc4 d5 14.b7 c7 15.xc7 xc7 16.f3 gives W hite a pleasant advantage, Black will struggle to get his queenside pieces out.; 11...c8 would keep the queenside solid but is extremely passive.; 11...b6 A concession weakening the queenside 12.e3 ) 12.xb7 e6! 13.xa8 ( 13.e3 b6 14.xb6 xb6 15.f3 is probably s l i g h t l y b e t t e r f o r W h i t e .) 13...b6 Black threatens Nc7 trapping the queen so W hite has to act fast 14.h6 ( 14.c3!? migh t b e pla ya b le bu t d e f in it e ly n e e d s analysing.) 14...xf2+ 15.h1 ( 15.f1 g3-+ ) 15...c7 16.xf8 xa8 17.xe7 ( 17.h6 d4 ) 17...xb2 A) 18.d8+ g7 19.f8+ f6 20.d6+ g5 21.e7+ f4!? ( 21...h6 22.f8+= ) 22.f6+ A1) 22...e4 23.xf2 xa1 24.f3+ is winning for White as Black's king is in deep trouble e5 ( 24...f5 25.d5+ e5 26.f6++-; 24...d3 25.d2+ e3 26.g5# ) 25.e2+ f4 26.e4+ f5 27.g4#; A2) 22...e5 23.xf2 f5 24.b4! ( 24.g4!? xa1 25.d3 e6 is extremely unclear) 24...xb4 25.f1! is a truly bizarre line which looked pretty forced and which ends up in a roughly balanced position.; B) 18.c3 forces Black to be careful xc3 19.d8+ g7 20.f8+ f6 21.f1 e3 and the computer claims the position is a draw: 22.d1 a6 23.xa8 g5 24.d6 d3 25.e7+ h6 26.f8+ g5= Of course all of this is probably not forced but definitely some fun to analyse! ] 11...f5!? Nigel goes for some counterplay [ 11...d7 12.c3 f6 13.h4 ] [ 11...e6 is the other critical move targeting the d4 pawn. 12.e3 ( 12.d5 is the other op t io n b u t I 'd pre f e r n o t t o rele ase t h e tension in the centre cxd5 13.cxd5 c5 14.c2 bd7 looks acceptable for Black) 12...c8 13.c3 f5 14.d3 f4 ( 14...d7 would be somewhat similar to the game) 15.g4! ( 15.d2 xd4 ) 15...h5 ( 15...fxe3?! 16.xe3 gives Black problems

f5 17.xf5 gxf5 18.d5 f8 19.xe7 ) 16.xe6+ xe6 17.d5 ( 17.d2 f3 ) 17...cxd5 18.cxd5 a6 19.d4 xd3 20.xd3 a6 gives White a slight advantage as Black's pawn advances has rather weakened himself. ] 12.e3 h8 Nigel takes a time out to give his king a bit more safety [ However 12...d7 with the following sacrifice looks interesting 13.b3 h8 ( 13...b6 14.c3 ) 14.xb7 e6 gives Black some compensation for the pawn 15.d5 dc5 16.b4 ( 16.xc6?! c8 17.b5 d4 18.xd4 xd4 is good for Black.) 16...b8 17.a3 cxd5 18.cxd5 d4 ] 13.c3 d7 14.b3 e8 15.f4 This move is not necessary yet but it's understandable leaving Black with the chronic weakness on e7. [ 15.a3 f7 16.xe7 xe7 17.xe7 fe8 18.a3 e6 19.d5 cxd5 ( 19...ef8 20.dxc6 bxc6 21.ac1 xc3 22.f3! ) 20.ac1 ( 20.cxd5 ef8 when the pins are extremely annoying.) 20...d4 is perhaps slightly better for White but nothing special ] 15...f7 16.b2 ad8 17.f3 so White has a definite advantage here with the bishop pair and potential use of e5 while the e7 pawn will be a permanent weakness. Black on the other hand tries to get some counterplay going on the kingside and the d4 pawn isn't always so secure. f6 18.d2 g7 19.ad1 g5! Nigel doesn't want to be squashed by Magnus and so goes for broke on the kingside 20.e2 g8 21.f1 Just removing the king from the g file although [ 21.c3 looks like an interesting alternative with the idea of Ba5 to try and force Black to compromise his position. ] 21...h6 22.g3! Exploiting Black's previous to reroute the knight to a stronger square. g6 [ 22...gxf4? 23.xf4 xg3?? ( 23...g5 24.xc7 xd2 25.xf5 g5 26.xe7+is hopeless for Black ) 24.xh6# ] 23.d3?! This throws away some of White's well constructed advantage. Instead Carlsen should have played [ 23.h5 immediately when White retains a clear advantage ] 23...gxf4! 24.h5 153

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 24.xf5 e5 25.dxe5! The queen sacrifice is the only way to continue for W hite here ( 25.e4 xf3 26.gxf3 e6-+ ) 25...xd3 26.xd3 xf5 27.exf6 exf6 Is messy. Black is material up with queen+pawn for the rook and bishop but Black's king is rather vulnerable while the two bishops are extremely strong here. It's about balanced ] 24...c5 [ 24...e5 is the other option but allows the strong sacrifice 25.dxe5! More active than ( 25.e2 ) 25...xd3 26.xd3 When I prefer White, he has total control over the position and Black now has no counterplay. ( 26.exf6 looks strong f or W hite if it were not f or xf3+!-+ )] 25.c2 [ 25.dxc5!? xd3 26.xf6+ exf6 27.xd3 leads to a curious position. W hite doesn't have the bishop pair in this variation but t h e b i s h o p a n d k n i g h t a r e ve r y s t r o n g pieces combining attack and defence, while W hite rules the d file. Black has queen + pawn for rook and bishop but one of the so called Irish pawns will drop on the f file. I'd actually prefer White here but I like playing material down but with the initiative. Chances look roughly balanced objectively. ] 25...e4 26.e2 [ Understandably White didn't want to allow 26.xe4 xh5 27.xf5 ( 27.f3!? ) 27...f3 which is very messy ] 26...g3+ 27.xg3 fxg3 Black's kingside play has netted him a pawn but now his attack has stalled while his pawns are rather more advanced than ideal. 28.d5! Time for White to seize the initiative cxd5 29.cxd5 [ 29.xe7! looks very strong for White g7 30.xg7 xg7 ( 30...xg7 31.cxd5 ) 31.c1 gives White a pleasant advantage. The two bishops are very strong and Black's king is vulnerable. A sample line could run dxc4 32.xd8+ xd8 33.xf5 c3 34.f4 c2 35.e2!+- ] 29...xb2 30.xb2+ [ Again 30.xe7! is favourable for White f6 ( 30...g7 31.xc7 ) 31.xc7 g7?! 32.d6! ] 30...g7 31.c1 Carlsen tries to exploit Black's weakened king and so keeps the

queens on. The other option would be [ 31.xg7+ xg7 32.e5 when despite b e in g a p a wn d o wn W h i t e h a s s li g h t l y better prospects due to his activity and Black's terrible pawn structure. ] 31...d7 32.de1 f8 33.e5 [ 33.f4 would retain some chances for an a d v a n t a g e a s b5 34.e6 wields unpleasant pressure ] 33...b5! once Black gets his knight to d6 he shouldn't really be worse. 34.c5 d6 35.xa7 Carlsen decides to regain material equality or else he might well be worse. e4 36.d4 e6! This manages to trade the position off into a level ending 37.d1 exd5 [ 37...f2! 38.d2 e4 would be an immediate draw ] 38.xd5 xd5 39.xg7+ [ 39.xd5? c3-+ ] 39...xg7 40.xd5 f6 White has a nominal advantage in the endgame but Black held comfortably. 41.xe4 fxe4 42.e2 e6 43.d4 f2+ 44.e3 xg2 45.xe4+ d5 46.d4+ e5 47.e4+ An interesting game. White got a comfortable advantage out of the opening but Black defended well and held the draw. However he failed to solve the opening problems Black has been facing in the 2...Nf6 line. ½-½

169 Caruana,F Carlsen,M 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (6.3) [Neil McDonald]

B01 2801 2877 08.08.2014

1.e4 d5! I believe this is the World Champion's first Scandinavian Defence in a serious game. Was he influenced by the fact that he was playing for Norway in his homeland? More likely he had studied the variation prior to his game with Djukic a few rounds earlier and realised it was a solid and reliable defence that avoided theory. It was theref ore a good choice against Fabiano Caruana, who is exceptionally well prepared in the open ing. 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 The safest retreat, albeit a little passive. On the other hand, W hite has a lead in 154

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 development, but he no longer has a pawn on e4 to spearhead his attack. 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 Carlsen continues to copy his game with Djukic. You may like to look up this game in the archives for a discussion of the early moves. 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 c6 8.e2!? A rare move. Of course Caruana had no idea that Carlsen was going to play this variation as Black, so he is unlikely to have spent days studying it. e6 In the only other game with 8. Ne2 Black preferred to fianchetto on g7 and aim for a quick e7-e5: [ 8...bd7 This may be less accurate than 8.. e6, for reasons explained below. A) White has an aggressive plan available with 9.d2 g6 ( Or 9...e6 10.g4 ) 10.0-0-0 g7 11.g4 etc.; B) 9.g3 g6 10.g2 g7 11.0-0 0-0 12.d1 e5 13.b3 c7 14.dxe5 xe5 15.f4 fd7 16.a4 c5 17.b4 So far this is Fedorchuk, S (2647)Danielsen, H (2501)/Kolkata IND 2014. White has the proverbial advantage of the two bishops, but it isn't much. After b6!? 18.xb6 axb6 19.b3 fe8 Black would be very solid. ] 9.g4! This pawn thrust was suggested above in the variation after 8...Nbd7. But because he has preferred 8...e6, Carlsen can avoid the attack by offering the exchange of queens. On t h e o t h e r h a n d , W h i t e ' s ki n g s i d e s p a c e advantage is also of value in the endgame. d5! The black queen returns to d5. 10.g2 bd7 11.g3 c4 [ The bizarre computer variation 11...b4+?! leaves White with an edge after 12.c3 d6 13.xd5 xg3 14.xc6! xf2+ 15.xf2 bxc6 16.e1 etc. due to his long range bishop and better pawns. ] 12.b3 xb3 Evidently Carlsen wasn't bothered by the opening of the a-file as he planned to castle queenside. Nonetheless avoiding the strengthening of White's pawns with [ 12...b6 was very natural. ] 13.axb3 d6 14.c4 a6 15.e3 0-0-0 16.0-0-0 he8? Since the battle is going to be fought on the kingside, it seems strange to remove the rook from the h-file. Instead [ 16...f8 followed by Ng6 would immediately bring up reinforcements. For

example if 17.g5 It may be wrong for White to push his kingside pawns without more prep arat ion . g8 18.h4 e7 19.g3 fg6 and Black's knight gains access to the f4 square. ] 17.g3 f8 18.f3 Already White could get his kingside pawns rolling with [ 18.g5 g8 19.h4 ] 18...g6 19.h4 f4 20.h5 xe3+ 21.fxe3 e7 22.e4? It looks like a fine idea to conquer space in the centre and get the knight to d6, but this is the wrong plan. He should have played [ 22.h6! to undermine the black kingside pawns and leave Black with problems along the f-file. For example A) 22...g8!? 23.g5!? ( Also good for White is 23.hxg7 xg7 24.df1 with pressure as taking on g4 would cost Black the f7 pawn.) 23...e8 24.hxg7 xg7 25.e4 and the pawns on f7 and h7 are more of a liability than the pawn on g5.; B) 22...g6 23.df1 f8 Black's problems along the f-file haven't gone away and the white pawn on h6 will be very strong in the endgame. Of course Black is far from lost in these variations, but it would have taken all Carlsen's resourcefulness to defend successfully against a player like Caruana. ] 22...h6! This little move is a whole lesson in strategic play. W hite's last move gave the World Champion a vital breathing space to consolidate his kingside by preventing h5-h6. He also clears h7 for his knight and creates a fine post for it on g5. 23.e5 h7 24.e4 f8 25.d6+ c7 26.g2 g5 The situation on the kingside has turned around. The black knight blocks White's pawns from expanding with g4-g5, which means they become passive and potentially weak. The horse also helps guard the f7 pawn. Meanwhile, it may look pretty, but what exactly is the white knight d o i n g o n d 6 ? 27.hf1 f6! The pawn that would have been a feeble fellow requiring careful defence after 22.h6! is transformed into an attacking weapon. 28.c2 fxe5 29.dxe5 c8! In order to maintain the knight on d6 White must defend it again with 30.c5 but now the black knight can return to e7 155

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 when the d5 square is opened up to it. e7 31.b4? Since Caruana is planning 32.Bxd5 this pawn move is understandable. However, he could have kept a defensible position with moves like [ 31.a1 d5 32.d2 which deal with the threat of Ne3. Of course it isn't easy to play such extremely passive moves when you've been pressing for the advantage. ] 31...d5 32.xd5 It is unpleasant to give Black a passed pawn, but with the pawn on b4 hanging as well as the threat of 32...Ne3+ t h e k n i g h t w a s i n t o l e r a b l e o n d 5 . cxd5 The strength of the knight on d6 is purely visual. The Uzbekistani SuperGM Rustam Kasimdzhanov was watching this game live a n d r e m a rk e d t h a t t h e wh i t e kn igh t wa s terrible on d6- it should be on d4, blocking the passed pawn and putting pressure on e6. 33.b5 Perhaps the last realistic drawing chance was [ 33.b3 e.g. f3 34.a2 xe5 35.xf8 xf8 36.e1 when White will at least pick up the e6 pawn. ] 33...axb5 34.xb5+ c6 35.d6 f3 36.b4 a8 37.a1 xa1 38.xa1 xe5 39.a7 White has lost a key pawn as after [ 39.e1 f3 he would drop the rook upon 40.xe6 d4+ ] 39...b8 Now Carlsen's technique is more than good enough. 40.a3 b6 41.a7 bxc5 42.a6+ c7 43.bxc5 d7 44.a7+ c6 45.g5 xc5 46.f7 d4 47.e5+ d5 48.d7 d3+ 49.c1 xd7 50.xd7+ e4 White resigned as Black's passed pawns soon cost him a rook e.g. [ 50...e4 51.xg7 e3 52.d7 ( Or 52.e7 d2+ 53.c2 c8+ ) 52...e2 53.gxh6 c8+ 54.b2 d2 ] 0-1

with previous columns and Michael Melts' new book. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 [ 6.g3 g4 7.g2 e6 8.h3 ( we saw 8.0-0 e7 9.h3 in our game Socko, B (2631)Tiviakov, S (2686)/Eppingen GER 2008, almost transposing after xf3 10.xf3 , but White has castled and this gives Black a tempo more to set up: 0-0 11.f4 d8 12.d3 bd7 13.e2!? e8 14.fd1 f8 with rough equality) 8...xf3 9.xf3 e7 10.e2 bd7 11.c3 c7 12.f4 d6 13.xd6 xd6 14.d2 0-0 ( 14...e5! ) 15.0-0 ad8 16.ad1 e5 17.g2 fe8 and Black had equalised in Lanin, A (2457)-Tiviakov, S (2697)/Dagomys RUS 2009 ] 6...bd7 7.f4 [ Here 7.c4 c7 8.f3 b6 9.f4 T h i s i s , a s Me l t s s a ys , a ve r y p o p u l a r position. Black sometimes plays 9...Qd8, but there's also a lot of experience with d7 10.0-0-0 , which looks to favour White, but the exchange g4 11.xg4 xg4 12.f3 e6 seems to achieve complete equality, Simacek, P (2493)-Sedlak, N (2592)/Budva MNE 2009 (and earlier games). ] 7...d5 [ 7...xe5 is legitimate, but I think not quite equal: A) 8.dxe5 b4 9.d2 ( 9.d2 d5 and 9...Ne4 are considered equal) 9...e4 10.e2 xd2 11.xd2 f5 is equal, according to Melts. Then 12.0-0-0 g6 13.a3 a5 14.f4 is worth a try.; B) 8.xe5 d8 ( 8...b4 9.a3 b6 10.e2 f5 is given by Melts, when 11.b4 a5 12.0-0 d7 13.f4 keeps some kind of edge ) 9.d2 ( 9.c4 f5 10.0-0 e6 ) 9...f5 10.0-0-0 may well be better for White, if only by a limited margin. ] 8.xd5 170 B01 [ Tiviakov doesn't lose many games with 3.. . Qd6, and in this one he doesn't go down Caruana,Fabiano 2646 easy: 8.g3 Milanovic,Danilo 2552 A) 8...xe5 9.xe5 xc3 ( 9...b4 10th EICC Budva MNE (5) 10.03.2009 10.a3! wit h t h e id e a xb2? 11.a4 ) [John Watson] 10.bxc3 a3 11.d2 transposes; B) 8...xc3 9.bxc3 xe5 10.xe5 a3 An interestin g back-and-f o rth game. I've ( 10...g6!? ) 11.d2 b2 12.d1 xa2 merged quite a few other games from this ( 12...e6 13.e2 - Melts ) 13.d3 f6 month, most by Tiviakov, and compared them 156

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.f4 e6+ 15.e2 f7 16.0-0 e6 17.c4 e5?! ( 17...e7 ) 18.dxe5 e7 19.exf6 xf6 20.c5! 0-0 21.c4+ ( 21.d6 ) 21...e6 22.xe6+ xe6 23.d6 f7 24.fe1 f6 25.e4!? ( 25.f3 d8 26.b4 ) 25...d8 26.g3 g6 27.e2 xd6?! 28.cxd6 xd6 29.e8+ f8 30.c4+ d5 ( 30...f7?? 31.xf8+ xf8 32.b4 ) 31.xf8+ xf8 32.xd5 cxd5 33.c5+ f7 34.xd5+ e8 35.xb7 xc2 36.b8+ f7 37.xa7+ Mastrovasilis, D (2580)-Tiviakov, S ( 2 6 8 4 ) / B u d va M N E 2 0 0 9 . A f t e r 9 4 moves, White managed to claim a victory, but that really shouldn't happen. ] 8...xd5 [ Tiviakov has also played 8...xe5 , but 9.dxe5 xd5 10.xd5 cxd5 11.c4 should yield some advantage. ] 9.e2 This pawn sacrifice is the way Anand played against Tiviakov in Wijk aan Zee 2006. Other moves include [ a) 9.f3 , as played this month in Pikula, D (2570)-Tiviakov, S (2684)/Budva MNE 2009 it l e d t o a q u i c k d r a w: b6 ( 9...f6 is also played) 10.e2 f5 11.c3 ( 11.0-0? e4! ) 11...e6 12.0-0 e7 13.e5 0-0 14.e1 d8 15.b3 d5 1/2-1/2 ] [ b) 9.d3 g5 10.g3 g7 ( 10...xe5 11.xe5?! f6 12.g3 f5 is suggested by Melts here 11 dxe5 improves, but 11...Qa5+ is a good equalizer) 11.e3 ( 11.h4! xe5 12.dxe5 a5+ 13.d2 xd2+ 14.xd2 g4! ) 11...xe5 12.dxe5 f5 13.c3 ( 13.d1 ) 13...h5 14.h4 g4 with some advantage for Black, Stojanovic, D (2469)Tiviakov, S (2684)/Budva MNE 2009. ] 9...xe5 10.xe5 xg2 11.f3 g6 [ 11...g5!? - Melts ] 12.e2 [ Th e A n an d ga me we n t 12.d5?! g4! (easy to miss) 13.dxc6 ( 13.xg4? e4+ 14.d2 xe5 ) 13...bxc6 14.e2 xf3 15.xf3 d8 and Black had some advantage. ] 12...h5!? Still in theory. Also previously played were [ 12...e6 ] [ 12...f5 ] [ 12...e6!? ] 13.0-0-0 Apparently a new move.

[ 13.h3 f6 was K Szabo-Khernazhitsky, Za la ka ro si 2 0 08 , wh e n Me lt s su gge s t s 14.f4 ] 13...g4 14.h3 [ The truly adventurous player might try 14.hg1 e6 15.b1 0-0-0 16.xg4!? hxg4 17.xg4 f5 18.f3 with the attacking ideas d5 and c4. ] 14...xf3 15.xf3 e6!? 16.b1 f6!? [ 16...d5!? 17.d3 0-0-0 might be better. Maybe W hite is a little short full compensation, but he certainly has free play. ] 17.h2 d5 [ Or 17...0-0-0 18.a3 a6 19.a5!? d7 20.de1! e5! 21.dxe5 fxe5 22.xe5 d6 ] 18.d3 e6?! I don't get this. 19.g6+ e7 20.he1 d8 [ 20...h6 21.g3 d8 22.c4! with the idea xc4?? 23.c7+ ] 21.a1? [ 21.f4! ] 21...h6 22.d3 f7 Now Black is okay again. 23.c4 f5 24.e3 d7 25.a3 e7?! Over the next few moves he gets careless. [ 25...g6! was a strong move. ] 26.d3 h8? [ 26...e5! ] 27.e2 hd8 [ 27...e5 28.e3 hd8 is unclear. ] 28.f3 h7?! [ 28...g6! 29.xe6+ f8 is about equal, since 30.fe3 allows f7 ] 29.xe6+ f8 30.fe3! g6 31.d5? Some kind of hallucination. W hite stands better after [ 31.b8! a6 32.a7! f7 33.f5 ] 31...cxd5 32.cxd5 f7 [ or 32...c5 with the idea 33.c3 e7 ] 33.e4 The d-pawn won't last. c5 34.3e2 xd5 35.c2 b6 36.f4 d3 37.d2 d5 38.ed1 xd2 39.xd2 d3 40.a4 a5 41.h4 g8 42.a2 xf2 0-1

157

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 171 Caruana,Fabiano Strikovic,Aleksa Narcisco Yepes Memorial (2) [Caruana]

B01 2381 2498 02.07.2005

GM Fabiano Caruana was on my ChessFM (ICC) radio show and had prepared a few games for the listeners/viewers. We didn't get to this one and he agreed that I could share the game with ChessPublishing readers. The verbal commentary is wonderful and, although the game itself is a few years old, I think it's still of theoretical value, and I've included a game or two. The original annotations are extensive, and I've excerpted few of his main comments, since I hope that he will publish the complete version else where. [All annotations are his except as noted by "jw:"] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 6.g3 g4 7.h3 h5 8.g2 c6 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.f4 b4 11.g4! This was a new move at the time and was found over the board. Previously White had played exclusively 11.a3. It is interesting that although my idea found few followers for a long time, in Wijk aan Zee 2007 Peter Svidler chose it against Sergei Tiviakov and won! For sure he had accurately checked all the consequences of it and concluded White had, if n ot a n ad va nt age, t he n go od p ra ct ica l c h a n c e s i n u n c l e a r p l a y . g6 12.a3 Th ere is n o t urn in g b a ck, a s I 'm alrea d y committed to sacrificing at least one pawn. For the material I receive a strong attack along the b- and c-files also notice all my pieces two bishops glaring down the board at b7 and c7, knights waiting to hop into any entry squares in the centre - in particular Ne5 rooks coming in on b1 and c1 and my queen will quickly swing around to the centre or queenside) are aiming at Black's undefended king. At f irst t he compu ter estimates th e position as hopeless for W hite, but after 5 minutes its evaluation drops to roughly -0.2, which is not bad for the machine considering a two pawn deficit! [ jw: The only other game I (jw) found with this line went 12.e2!? xb2 ( But after 12...e6! , Black is threatening the d-pawn and b-pawn. Then 13.ab1 xd4 14.xd4

xd4 15.e5 b6 doesn't look like sufficient compensation) 13.e3! e6 14.ab1 a3 15.b3 a5 16.e5! with an almost winning game, although W hite went astray: d5 17.xd5 exd5 18.xc6 bxc6 19.fb1 d7 20.b7 ( 20.xc7! ) 20...d6 21.xd6 xd6 22.f4+ ( 22.e5+ d7 23.xg7 ) 22...d7 23.h4 he8 24.h5 ( 24.1b2! and 25 h5 will win something) 24...xc2 25.1b2 g5?! 26.hxg6 xg6 27.g5 e7 A m e s z, J ( 2 1 8 5 ) - V a n B e e k , A ( 2 2 7 0 ) / Vlissingen 2000 and here 28.f6+ d7 ( 28...f8 29.h8+ e7 30.e2+ ) 29.h3+ wins material. ] 12...xb2 [ [ j w : ] T i v i a k o v c h o s e 12...c4!? against Svidler in Corus 2007, annotated by Jonathan Rowson ["JR"!] for ChessPublishing. The game (with selected notes) went 13.g5 d5 14.xd5 xd5 ( 14...xd5 15.e5 xd4 16.g4+! e6 17.xc6 looks winning. ) A) 15.e5 xe5 16.xd5 xd5 17.dxe5 e4 18.d2! , when xc2 ( jw: but 18...e6 19.fd1 c5 looks reasonable) 19.xc2 xc2 20.fc1 g6 21.e6 is good for White.; B) 15.c3!? d8 16.b3 d3 ( 16...xc3 17.c1 d3 18.e1 e4 19.e3 and it looks like White's initiative is about to grow" - JR) 17.c1 c2 18.e3 e6 19.b4 e4 20.d2 xe3 21.fxe3 e5 22.g3 exd4 23.cxd4 d6 24.xd6 cxd6 25.ac1 d7 26.c4 with some advantage for White. ] 13.e1! Black has an important choice now. Strikovic prefers to develop, which is probably t h e w a y t o g o . e6! An interesting move, preferring to finish develop rather than go pawn hunting. [jw: I'll just show a condensed version of FC's analysis and comments on 13...Bxc2, following his main line, although he also covers 13..Qxc2:] [ 13...xc2 14.a2 ( Actually, the slow 14.e3!? should be considered) 14...b3 15.c1 A) 15...d5 16.xc2 xf4 17.b2 xa3 18.e5 xg2 ( 18...a5!? 19.a1!! ) 19.xc6 f4 ( 19...bxc6? 20.b8+ ) 20.xb7 xh3+ 21.g2 xc1 22.xc1 158

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f4+ 23.f3 e6 24.b8+ d7 25.xd8 xd8 is a decidedly odd line leading to an equally odd position! White has good play after 26.e4; B) 15...d3 16.b2 xa3 17.e5; C) 15...e5! 16.xc2 xa3 ( 16...exf4 17.b2 xa3 18.e5 is a formidable attack ) 17.b1 xb1 18.xb1 exf4 19.xa3 xd4 20.xd4 xd4 gives Black an amazing four pawns for the piece, but White is very well coordinated, and has an initiative after 21.b1!? e4 22.bc1 c6 23.c4 xc4 24.xc4 ] 14.b1 xc2 15.e5 [Fabiano:] n White's compensation is clearly visible. But Black has defensive resources. Now comes a large and unpleasant choice for Strikovic, who must separate between two main moves: 15...Nd5 or 15...Bd6 (other moves such as Bxa3 or Rxd4 are not very serious). Both are almost impossible to fully calculate, so the choice is partly intuitive." d6!? [ [Fabiano analyses various options here, including 15...Nd5!, which I've only take his m a i n l i n e o f ] 15...d5! , a natural move brin gin g t h e knigh t t o t h e d e f e n s e a n d opposing the bishop's demand of the long dia go n a l, wh ich le a d s t o a lo n g f o rce d variation after 16.c1 xf4 ( 16...b2? 17.xd5 exd5 18.xc6 ) 17.xc2 xg2 18.xg2 xe5 , when the position has undergone a remarkable transformation: Bla c k h a s s a crif ice d h is qu e e n f o r t wo bishops and two pawns, but at the same time has rebuffed W hite's attack and left W hite with many weaknesses, whilst receiving good control over both the light and dark-squares. In fact I feel Black is only very slightly worse at the maximum. 19.a2 c4 20.e2 xd4 21.d1 xd1 22.xd1 c5 looks like formidable compensation. ] 16.xb7!! [jw: Here Fabiano analyses the move 16 Bxc6! at great length, with absurd complications, ultimately good f or W hite] xb7! Tenacious defence! So what happens after 16... Bxe5? In conclusion, it is a tough nut to crack but leads to a f orced win for White. [ 16...xe5? 17.xc6 xf4 18.a7 d7 looks very dangerous for Black but it isn't easy to see a knockout for White. I spent a

long time (therefore later on I was in serious time trouble) trying to break Black's defenses and eventually I found it! 19.d5! ( 19.a8+? b8 leads nowhere) 19...d6! 20.b4! This somewhat illogical backwards move was t he mo st d if f icult p art o f th e combination. Surprisingly W hite has no o t h e r w a y t o m a k e p r o g r e s s . c4 ( 20...b3 21.b7+ b8 22.c6# ) 21.e2! The final point, after which Black can no longer defend. I should mention that the entire attack starting with Rxb7 doesn't w o r k w i t h o u t t h i s r e s o u r c e . xe2 The queen had no other square to cover the critical points a6 and c6 22.b7+ b8 23.c6# ] 17.xc6 c8 18.e5! xe5? My opponent cracks under the sustained tension. A possible alternative was 18. ..Bd3 with a probable draw. 19.dxe5 d5 20.xd5 exd5 21.e7+ Not blindly taking the material. After this strong move W hite gets a huge advantage. d7 22.xd5 Black is up a lot of material but is so uncoordinated and has a terribly weak king that White is near winning! [jw: There's much more, but since this finishes the opening stage, I'm going to show t h e m o ve s o n l y: ] d3?! 23.b4 c4 24.d2 e8 25.c1 b3 26.xc7 h6 27.c6+ f8 28.d5?? c4! 29.xf7+ e8 30.c6! xd5 31.e7+ f8 32.f4+ g8 33.xg7+ xg7 34.f6+ h7 35.f5+ g7 36.f6+ h7 37.f5+ g7 38.f6+ ½-½

172 Casper,Thomas Speelman,Jonathan S Bundesliga [Andrew Martin]

B01 2390 2580 2002

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 Having recently made a video recommending this system, I approve of Speelman's choice. If White chooses straightforward development i.e. d4,Nf3 Bc4 Bd2 etc it's difficult to work up any advantage at all. Furthermore, If White's play is too routine, Black can easily take over the game. In that video, I thought that Black 159

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 should aim to put his Bishop on f5 and follow up with ...e6, ...Nf6, ...Bb4, ...Nbd7 etc . Very solid stuff. Here we see an exception to that rule when W hite goes off the beaten track early. 4.g3 Glek favours this idea against almost any Kings Pawn opening. The plan is very interesting i.e. an eventual b4-b5, prising open the long diagonal. That takes some preparation but Black must be aware. f6 5.g2 c6! [ 5...g6! 6.f3 g7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e1 c6! Braga's method is noteworthy-piece play above all. But I like Speelman's move too and it is logical, shutting down the diagonal. 9.h3 e5 10.d3 e8 11.e3 b4 12.a3 d6 13.b4 a5 14.c5 d8 15.b5 d7 16.e3 d4 17.xd4 exd4 18.d5 ( 18.xe8+ xe8 19.d5 d8 20.e2 c5 21.e7+ f8 22.xc8 xc8= ) 18...f6 19.xe8+ xe8 20.e1 d7 21.b1 d6 22.a4 e6 23.f4 f6 24.xe6 fxe6 25.h4 h6 26.d2 f5 27.e1 f7 28.e2 e8 29.d2 b6 30.c4 xc4 31.dxc4 f6 32.e4 e7 33.d1 g8 34.d3 f7 35.a3 f8 36.d3 g8 37.a1 f7 38.e1 g7 39.e2 h5 40.g2 d6 41.d1 c5 42.d3 d6 43.e1 e7 44.e4 f7 45.e2 e7 46.g4 hxg4 47.xg4 h6 48.e4 f7 49.e2 g7 50.f1 f4 51.xe6 xh4 52.e4 h3+ 53.e1 g4 54.h1+ h5 55.a8 g4 56.h8+ g5 57.d8+ h6 58.h8+ g5 59.d8+ h6 60.d5 d6 61.h1+ h5 62.e4 h7 63.g2 b4+ 0-1 Ehlvest,J-Braga,F/ Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (63) ] 6.ge2 White keeps the diagonal open, hoping for the b4 idea mentioned earlier. If he tries 6 Nf3 then I think Black should go for the normal plan: [ 6.f3 f5 7.0-0 e6 8.d3 e7 9.h3 h6! 10.e2 bd7= A typical position where the battle lies in the difference between the two light-squared Bishops. It's up to Black to prove that the pawn c6 is a more effective blocker than the pawn d3. I think he can do this with active play: A) 11.a3 0-0 12.e4 h7 13.b4 c7 14.b2 ( 14.xf6+ xf6 15.b1 ae8= ) 14...a5; B) 11.d2 d5 12.c4 d8 13.e1

7b6 14.e5 0-0 15.d2 h7 16.ad1 xc3 17.xc3 d7=; C) 11.d2 b6 12.ab1 a5 13.h1 0-0 14.e4 xe4 15.dxe4 g6= ] 6...g6! 7.0-0 g7 I like this active method. g7 is a much better square than e7 or d6. 8.b1 0-0 9.b4 d8 10.a4 e8 11.b5 d6 Note how Speelman left his Queenside pieces at home to be able to cope with this 'threat' 12.d3 c5 And now counterplay is threatened with the help of ....c5-c4 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 d7 15.d2 b8 16.c3 xc3 17.xc3 f6 18.g2 b6= 19.e4 xe4 20.xe4 d4 21.e1 e6 22.a1 a5! Sp ee lm a n is in h is elem en t - a ma s te r o f simple positions and endgame structures. Casper tries to break Black's hold on the game and should really draw but his position worsens as time trouble approaches. 23.bxa6 xa6 24.a3 fd8 25.a1 xa1 26.exa1 c4! 27.dxc4 xc4 28.b1 g7 29.c3 d5 30.xd5 xd5 31.cb3 c8 32.1b2 [ 32.xb6 xc2 33.6b2 must be a draw although Black could play on forever- not easy at 30" per move. ] 32...d4 33.b4 xc2! 34.xb6 c1+ 35.g2 xa4 36.b7 g5 37.7b4 c4 38.xa4 xa4 39.b5 f6 4 g3 has to be respected, but I think that Black can attain a position of equality as long as he pays due respect to the upcoming b4-b5. Here Speelman did just that. 0-1

173 Cheparinov,Ivan Lorenzini,Martin XI Anibal Open (5) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2572 2412 01.03.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 f5 6.c4 e6 7.d2 c6 8.e4 d8 Avoiding doubled pawns at the cost of a loss of time. 9.g3 [ 9.xf6+ xf6 10.c3 d6 holds no terrors. ] 9...g4 10.c3 bd7 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 e7 [ 12...d6 is a more active deployment and sh o u ld b e p re f e rre d , a lt h o u gh t h e re i s 160

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 nothing really wrong with the game move. Nevertheless, against strong opposition, one should avoid overly quiet play. 13.e2 c7 14.g4 d5 15.a4 a5 16.g5 5b6 17.b3 c5 18.h4 c4 19.c2 d5 20.h5 1/2-1/2 Movsesian, S-Istratescu, A/Ohrid 2001 ] 13.0-0 0-0 14.fe1 White has a moderate edge with two Bishops and the possibility of probing the Black kingside. Black's problem is that he doesn't seem to have an active plan. Perhaps he should play ...a5, ...b5 and plant a Knight on d5. a5N [ 14...e8 15.ad1 a5 is sim ila r 16.d3 b6 17.c1 ad8 18.c2 f8 19.f1 g6 20.e3 c7 21.c4 d5 22.g3 b5 23.e3 dd8 24.h4 f8 25.h5 h6 26.g4 8h7 27.e5 Thipsay, P-Koeller, O/Biel 1999 Throughout Black has been hampered by his inability to trouble White with counterplay. ] 15.a4 c7?! An imprecision. [ I c a n s u gge st 15...d5 16.d3 e8 as a modest improvement. Black is solid-he must wait. ] 16.f5! fe8 17.f4 b6 18.xe7+ xe7 19.e2 Now the White position is starting to look very nice. ee8 20.d6 d8 21.d3 f8 22.g3 g6 [ 22...h5 23.e5 f6 24.ae1 g6 25.h2 hardly helps. ] 23.ae1 h5 24.h2 g5 25.e3 hf4 26.h4! One can play such moves when the opponent's pieces are tripping over each other's toes. h6 27.xg6 xg6 28.h5 e7 29.f4 f6 30.e5 f5 31.f3 c2 32.g3 Because 32...g6 33 Qh4 is too unpleasant to contemplate. I'll summarise by saying that I don't think 9 Ng3 holds too many terrors for Black as long as he plays 12...Bd6! a little later on in reply. Above all, he must avoid an over-passive reaction. 1-0

174 Chiburdanidze,Maia Klaric,Zlatko Banja Luka (3) [Nigel Davies]

B01

1985

4.Nf3 is another interesting alternative. It will of ten transp ose b ack in to th e main line s should White play a later d2-d4, but he can delay this move or even omit it altogether. Here we see Black pin the knight with 4...Bg4, but White uses this bishop move to develop here kingside in novel fashion. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 This natural developing move can transpose into the lines with d2-d4, but also be a prelude to some other plans of development. [ The immediate 4.h3 invites Black to occupy the centre with e5 ] 4...g4 The move with independent significance. [ Both 4...f6 ] [ and 4...c6 can be met by 5.h3 , preventing the pin. ] 5.h3 h5 6.g4 g6 7.g2! c6 [ After 7...c6 White can consider 8.b4 ] [ 7...e5 would be bad because of 8.0-0 intending Re1 and d2-d4. ] 8.0-0 0-0-0 9.a3 e5 10.b1 [ Chiburdanidze also mentioned the weirdlooking 10.a2!? , once again with the intention of playing b2-b4. ] 10...c5 11.d3 [ The immediate 11.b4!? could conceivably be met by xc3!? 12.dxc3 xd1 13.xd1 xc2 though this seems to offer White excellent compensation after 14.b5 ( or 14.e3 xb1 15.xb1 )] 11...e4 12.h4 exd3 13.xg6 dxc2?! W inning a pawn but accelerating W hite's initiative. [ 13...hxg6 would have been more solid. ] 14.xc2 hxg6 15.e3 e5 16.fe1 c5 [ 16...d6 is answered by 17.f4 ] 17.b4 xe3 18.xe3 f6 19.a4 With a very strong attack. Black has an extra pawn, but no real counterplay. ge7 [ 19...b8 is met by 20.e4 intending Nc5. ] 20.e4 [ And not 20.b5 because of d4! ] 161

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20...f4 21.b5 d4 22.c2 d5 [ Or 22...e5 23.c5 etc. ] 23.bxc6 xe3 24.cxb7+ b8 25.c5 d6 [ After 25...d6 there is 26.c6! ( xc6 27.d7# ) ] 26.fxe3 xh3 27.a6+ xa6 28.xc7+ xc7 29.b8+ d7 1-0

175 Chomet,Pascal Collas,Didier Championnat de Accession (2.5) [Eric Prié]

B01 2317 2425 08.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e4?! 6.d3! xc3 7.bxc3 xc3+ This is suicidal. Although even without taking the pawn Black's survival only hangs by a thread... [ 7...g6 8.0-0 g7 A) 9.e1!? 0-0! 10.xe7 c6 11.e3 xc3 12.d2 b2 13.c3 Of course and not 13.Bxg6? as in the Reprintsev game commented by Andrew. h6 ( 13...g4 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3; 13...e6 14.b1 xa2 15.xb7 ) 14.e1 xd2 15.xd2 xd2 16.xd2 e6 17.e4 a5 18.c5 Thus, past the surprise effect, Black does not manage to equalize in this line either.; B) 9.d2!? My young opponent, who was having quite a good run in the league, although visibly surprised by the variation, only spent half an hour to retrieve all the best moves over the board! 0-0 10.e1 c6 B1) 11.c4 is c r it i c a l a3 ( 11...a4 12.c3 xd1 13.axd1 ) 12.c3 xd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.cxd4 xd3 15.xe7 f5! ( 15...xc4? 16.h6 d8 17.e1! c6 18.d5! a4 19.e5; 15...xd4? 16.h6 ) 16.h6 fd8 However, Black should be able to hold thanks to his activity and the presence of the opposite coloured bishops.; B2) 11.h3! On the other hand represents, I reckon, the refutation of Black's optimistic 5th move after which I c a n n o t s e e h o w h e wi ll d e ve lo p h i s

queen's bishop whilst continuing to have the move c3-c4, with or without Rb1, hanging over his head like a sword of Damocles. f5 12.c4 a4 ( 12...a6 13.xf5 gxf5 14.d5! xa1 15.xa1 a5 16.d4 Provides White with a winning attack.) 13.d5! The Qa4-Qd1 vis-Ã -vis gives W hite supplementary t a c t i c a l m o t i v e s . d4 ( 13...a5 14.b1 xd3 15.cxd3 xd1 16.bxd1 b6 17.xe7 ) 14.xd4 xd4 15.xe7 xa1 16.xa1 xd3 17.h6 f6 18.cxd3 f7 19.e1 And Black has to part with his queen to avoid mate.; B3) 11.e4?! As in the Lacasa-Sanchez g a m e o f t h i s s u m m e r . d8!? Possibly an improvement, with unclear play, as W hite should play here 12.h3 ( 12.c4 a4 13.d3 g4 14.c3 xd1 15.axd1 c5!= Dranischnikow, E-Prie, E Rheinland Pfalz ChT1 2005) 12...c5 13.e2 e6 With unclear play. Partly f rom my notes in ChessBase MEG A 2006. ] 8.d2 a3 [ 8...b2 9.0-0 White's lead in development is crushing. ] 9.0-0 [ 9.e5!? d7? ( 9...d6 10.f3 f6; 9...e6 10.h5 e7 ) 10.xf7! Gamback, BPaasikangas Tella, J Aaland-Stockholm 1997 W ith the idea xf7 11.f3+ e8 12.g6+ hxg6 13.xa3 ] 9...d7 10.e1 What impresses me in this game is the methodical quietness of the white moves on one side when related to the feeling of helplessness of Black on the other side, totally unable to check the opposing natural initiative after his 6th move 'over provocation' and forced to weaken his position one move after another. c6 11.f4 e6 12.d2 a4 13.c4 f6 14.f3 d7 [ 14...e7 15.d6 ] 15.ab1 b5 [ 15...0-0-0 16.g3 d5 Only move to parry the threat of Qf4. 17.xf7+- ] 16.e5 xd4 17.xd7 xd7 18.xb5 d5 19.a4 [ 19.c4 cxb5 ( 19...e7 20.a6 ) 20.cxd5 b7 ( 20...d8 21.dxe6 fxe6 22.bd1 ) 21.h5 a3 22.xe6+ f8 23.c6 162

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Wins too. ] 19...c8 20.e5!? [ 20.bd1! Would have spared White a couple of moves e7 The black queen has no squares! ( 20...e7 21.xd5 ) 21.c4 0-0 22.cxd5 exd5 Black ends up in a miserable position with only 2 pawns for the piece. ] 20...f6 21.g3 I really like this game because White has missed several clearer opportunities by not calculating (or calculating too much and becoming muddled afterwards!) and the attack is still overwhelming! [ 21.c4 fxe5 22.cxd5 xd5 23.g4 c5 24.b3 ] 21...f7 22.ed1 e7 23.c4 b6 24.xc6 a3 25.b3 xa2 26.d7! xd7 27.xd7+ e7? [ 27...g8! was more stubborn. 28.h3 h5 A) 29.c5 xc5 ( 29...xc5 30.d8 ) 30.b7 f8 31.xg7+ xg7 32.xc8+ h7 33.xe6 c2 34.b7; B) 29.e4 xb3 30.xe6+ h7 31.f5+ g8 32.d5+ h7 33.xh5+ g8 34.f7+ h7 35.d5! The point, White has to provoke the occupation of the c5 square by a rook. ( 35.d4 xg3! 36.fxg3 c5 ) 35...c5 36.d4 And that is why 28.h3 was more precise than 28.h4. White must have various other ways of continuing the attack (for only one pawn!) but this is a nice one. ] 28.xe7+! Tragicomic, Black's king bishop eventually leaves the 8th rank on move 28 just to pointlessly attend the end of the game! xe7 29.b7+ e8 [ 29...d8 30.d3+ e8 31.d7+ f8 32.d6+ g8 33.xe6# ] 30.xc8+ f7 31.b7+ g6 32.e4+ h6 33.h4+ g6 34.g4+ h6 35.f4+ g5 36.xg5+! It is mate in 3. 1-0

DVD for ChessBase on the Scandinavian because it shows a good way for Black in one of the 3...Qd6 critical main lines. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.c4 a6 6.ge2 b5! [ If you wish to embark on an adventure, why not try 6...c6 The 3...Qd6 shoreline is littered with the corpses of adventurers who have gone bef ore you. To be serious, I believe that 6...b5 is simpler and thoroughly thematic. ] 7.b3 b7 8.f4 b6! It's surprising to me that 8...Qd8 has been played more often than this very logical sideways step. Presumably Black has felt in the past that the Queen would be hassled by a4-a5 and thus avoided 8...Qb6. To me, that isn't a dangerous idea. For the moment, g2 is en prise. [ So, what of 8...Qd8? 8...d8 9.0-0 e6 10.g3 ( 10.e1 e7 11.g3 0-0 12.d2 c5 13.dxc5 xd2 14.xd2 bd7 15.ce4 xe4 16.xe4 xe4 17.xe4 xc5 18.e2 fd8 1/2-1/2 Pavlov, M-Hasangatin, R/Alushta 2004) 10...d6! Black regains the tempo he lost after 8 Bf4. 11.g5 ( 11.xd6 cxd6 12.e1 0-0= ) 11...e7 ( 11...h6 12.xf6 xf6 13.d5 might be a bit awkward for Black.) 12.e1 0-0 13.d5 c5 14.dxc6 xc6= Parligras, M-Svetushkin, D/ Bucharest 2002 I think what we are seeing is that Black has more than one good way to meet 5Bc4 ] 9.f3 e6 10.d2 [ 10.a4 is the traditional way to give the Black Queen ' a bit of hassle' but I recommend not to panic: Solving any problems instantly. c5! 11.axb5 ( 11.a5 a7 ) 11...axb5 12.xa8 xa8 13.0-0 cxd4 14.xd4 c5 ] 10...c5! The Black Queen supports ...c7-c5 wonderfully well. Already Black has a good game. 11.dxc5 xc5 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.b1 c6 One can't ask for more from the opening. 176 B01 Black is fully developed and his queenside Chulivska,Vita 2262 attack seems to be further advance than any comparable White initiative on the Kingside. Stanislavskaya,Kristina ch sf (Women) (2) 16.05.2005 One can reach similar positions from the Sicilian or Caro-Kann, but not quite as good! [Andrew Martin] 14.g5 e7 15.h4 a5 16.a4 b4 17.b5 This is not the most interesting game in the ad8 [ 17...fd8 ] world, but I am featuring it on my forthcoming 163

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.f4 xd1+ 19.xd1 d8 20.xd8+ xd8 [ After 20...xd8! presumably White continues the hoovering procedure with 21.d2 (the best move) and then ( 21.c7 xc7 22.xc7 c5 ) 21...xd2 22.xd2 d7 is only slightly better for Black. Yet maybe this is the line Black should have chosen if she really wanted to win. Black can squeeze a bit here. ] 21.g4 h6 22.xf6 xf6 23.g5 hxg5 24.hxg5 e5 25.g4 e3 [ 25...e7 26.f4 b8 27.ed4 g6 is an improvement. ] 26.f4 d4 27.exd4 xd4 28.f5 g1+ 29.xg1 xg1 30.fxe6 fxe6 31.xe6+ f8 32.f5 e7 33.d3 e3 34.g6 c6 35.b3 xb5 36.axb5 d6 37.b2 d4+ The play towards the end was uninspiring best to leave alone. But the beginning of the game will be of great interest to 3.. .Qd6 fans where the fangs of 5 Bc4 appear to be completely drawn. ½-½

Bugojno 1980 ] 10.a3 [ Neither 10.e5 xe5 11.dxe5 d5 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 xd2+ 14.xd2 0-0-0 (Sveshnikov - Sutovsky, Bled 1997) nor ] [ 10.h4 g4 11.f3 xc3! 12.bxc3 ( 12.xc3 g5+ ) 12...h5 13.g4 g6 (Barua - Speelman, Calcutta 1996) gives White anything. ] [ O n t h e o t h e r h a n d t h e q u i e t 10.b3!? deserves consideration as after 0-0 11.h4 White has an improved version of the 10. Nh4 line because Black has committed his king. ] 10...b6 [ For 10...xc3 see Brynell - Hodgson. ] 11.b3 xc3 12.xc3 b5 13.xb5 [ Or 13.e5 xe5 14.xe5 0-0 with equality as in O'Donovan - Brady, Irish Ch 1996 ] 13...cxb5 14.d5 bxd5 15.xd5 Setting in motion an ambitious plan which ultimately backfires. [ 15.xf6 xf6 16.d4 e4 17.xb5 e7 18.f3 d5 19.xd5 xd5 20.he1 hd8 177 B01 21.d2 a6 22.d4 ac8 was equal in Sebe - Vezdeutsan, Bucharest 2001 ] Chytilek,Roman 2390 Konopka,Michal 2468 15...xd5 16.xg7 g8 17.e5 xg2!? Czech Ch Ostrava CZE (11) 26.05.2002 18.d4 g6 19.g3 Incarcerating Black's rook, but actually trapping the beast is far [Nigel Davies] from easy. Meanwhile it acts as a thorn in 8.Qe2 is the most dangerous move with the White's flesh. a6 20.de1 c8 21.h4 b4 clear intention of castling queenside. Black 22.axb4 xb4 23.e2 h5 24.d1 d3+ plays the ambitious 10...Nb6 in this game and 25.b1 c5 26.de1 b5 27.a2 b4 28.b3 later on allows his rook to be caged. 1.e4 d5 a5 29.b5 f8 30.d6 c6 31.c4 a4 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 32.d2 c3+ 33.b2 e4! Eureka! The f6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.e2 b4 elimination of the bishop on g3 will mean that the trapped rook can break free. And his extra 9.0-0-0 bd7 e7 35.e5 [ T h e wi l d l o o k i n g 9...b5 led Black into pawn will cou nt . 34.d8+ serious trouble after 10.b3 bd7 11.d5! xc2+ 36.xc2 xg3+ 37.xg6+ xd8 in the game Rowson - Shaw, Scotish Ch., 38.e5 xf2+ 39.d3 e7 40.c1 f6 41.d7+ e7 42.e5 f5 43.c6+ d6 Harwick 1995 ] [ A n o t h e r d u b i o u s m o v e i s 9...d5 44.d8 d5+ 45.e3 f5+ 46.f4 e7 after which 10.xd5 xd2+ 11.xd2 cxd5 47.c6+ f6 48.e1 xh4 49.h1 g6+ 12.b3 xa2 ( 12...d8 13.b5+ c6 50.e4 h4 51.d4 g5 52.f1+ g7 14.c5 c7 15.g4 gave White a powerful 53.f3 g4+ 54.e3 f5 i n i t i a t i v e i n K o l o s o w s k i - Z i e l i n s k a , 0-1 Polanica Zdroj 2001) 13.xd5 c6 14.g4 g6 15.xc6+ bxc6 16.f4 left Black in serious trouble in Ljubojevic - Kurajica, 164

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 178 Collins,Sam Mcphilips,Karl Masters Bunratty IRL (5) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2409 2210 19.02.2006

We now turn our attention once again to the fashionable 3...Qd6. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.d4 a6 6.g5 One of the sharper moves. Presumably White is angling to castle long as soon as he can. c6 This move I am not sure about and Collins tries to exploit the exposed Knight immediately. [ Instead, I believe 6...b5! to be consistent and I think Black is OK: 7.d3 ( 7.xf6 xf6! 8.d3 b7 9.e4 c6 10.0-0 0-0-0 ) 7...b7 8.e2 bd7 9.0-0-0 e6 Black is comfortable, planning ...Be7, ... 0-0 and ...c5 ] 7.d5N [ Alternatives: 7.e2 g4 ( 7...e5 8.dxe5 xe5 9.0-0 e7 10.e1 0-0 11.xe5 xe5 12.f3 xg5 13.xe7 e6 14.d4 e8 15.b4 a5 16.a3 d8 17.e4 e5 18.c3 xc3 19.xc3 d2 20.c1 f5 21.e4 d4 22.g3 Van den Dikkenberg, E-Ellenbroek, T/Dieren 2005 ) 8.0-0 0-0-0 9.xf6 xf6 10.d5 e6 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 exd5 13.xd5 b4 14.a3 xd5 15.xd5 e6 16.c4 d6 17.e1 d7 1/2-1/2 Borsato, C-Rigo, C/ Bratto 2005 ] [ 7.d3 g4 8.xf6 xf6 9.e4 f4 10.d2 xd2+ 11.exd2 0-0-0 12.c3 e6 13.0-0 e7 14.e4 a7 15.e5 h5 16.g4 g6 17.xg6 hxg6 18.xf7 h3 19.xd8 xd8 20.g2 h4 21.h3 c6 22.fe1 d7 23.f3 h8 24.e5+ xe5 25.xe5 d6 1-0 Alford, P-Woosh, A/Dos Hermanas 2004 ] [ 7.d2 f5 8.0-0-0 0-0-0 9.c4 e6 10.he1 b4 11.e2 e7 12.d5 exd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 he8 15.c4?? xg5+ 0-1 was the comical end to DaurelleBratanov La Fere 2002 ] 7...e5 8.e2 xf3+ There was no need to rush with this capture. Black can consider [ 8...h6 ] 9.xf3 f5 10.0-0 h6 But the Black position is still reasonable. 11.h4 0-0-0

[ 11...b4 was certainly an interesting c o u n t e r a t t a c k i n g p o s s i b i l i t y : 12.xf6 ( 12.g3 0-0-0 13.e2 e6 14.a3 b6 15.ad1 d6= ) 12...gxf6 13.e1 0-0-0 14.e4 d7 ] 12.e2 [ I quite like 12.d4 with the idea of Qa7 and so b6 13.xb6 cxb6 14.g3 is then possible, with an edge to White. ] 12...d7 13.g3 g5 14.e3 b8 15.b4! The Black King seems to be in greater danger now. g7 16.b5 g4 17.bxa6! gxf3 18.b6 Given the opportunity, Collins puts his opponent away with style. c8 19.b5 Does this mean that 3...Qd6 is in trouble? I don't think so. 6..b5 is a logical choice, better than 6...Nc6 and has to be preferred on all counts. 1-0

179 Collutiis,Duilio Genocchio,Daniele ch-ITA Montecatini Terme (10) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2330 2345 2002

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.b5+ Fischer liked this destabilising idea-Black cannot find the ideal formation for his pieces although White struggles too if the real truth be known. I like 3...Nbd7 now but 3...Bd7 is far more common and quite satisfactory. d7 4.e2 [ 4.c4 ] 4...xd5 5.d4 f5 6.f3 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.a3 [ 8.c4 is more incisive. Perhaps White can hope for a edge based on his central control and easy development: A) 8...b6 is best. 9.c3 c6 10.d5 exd5 11.cxd5 b4 12.d4 c8 13.f3 A1) 13...4xd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.a4+ d7 ( 15...c6 16.xc6 ) 16.b3 b4 17.e1 0-0; A2) 13...0-0 Fritz thinks Black can take the pawn and live- to me it looks as though it might become ugly: 14.c2 f5 15.xb4 xb4 16.d4 e7 17.d2 c5 18.f4 MatanovicKaraklaic Belgrade 1956; B) 8...b4?! provokes some strange 165

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 analysis: 9.a3 0-0 10.b3 a5 11.d1 c6 12.f4 d7 13.e1 f6 14.b1 a4 15.e3 b6 16.c3 ad8 17.a3 c2 18.xc2 xc2 19.d2 b3 20.e5; C) 8...f6 9.c3 0-0 10.e3 bd7 ( 10...h6 11.b3 ) 11.h4 g6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.f3 c6 14.c2 c7 15.ad1 ad8 16.g3 a5 17.g2 e5 18.d5 c5 19.g5 d4 20.dxc6 bxc6 21.e4 b8 22.b3 a4 23.b1 axb3 24.axb3 xe4 25.xe4 c5 26.h4 b6 27.e2 fb8 28.d5 f6 29.xf6 gxf6 30.h5 g5 31.h6 f5 32.h5 e7 33.h1 f8 34.b4 h7 35.bxc5 xc5 36.xb6 xb6 37.b1 f6 38.g4 fxg4 39.e4+ h8 40.xb6 xb6 41.xg5 g8 42.xe5+ f6 43.f5 1-0 Kallio,H-Beloudah,S/ Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (43) ] 8...h6 [ Could he not just have castled?: 8...0-0 9.c4 b6 10.c3 c6 11.h3 ( 11.e3 g4! 12.b3 f6 13.e4 xf3 14.xf6+ xf6 15.xf3 fd8 16.xc6 bxc6 17.g4 h6 ) 11...f6 12.e3 g6 13.b4 e5 14.dxe5 xe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.b3 f6 17.ac1 c6 18.b5 fe8 19.c5 d7 20.fd1 f8 21.f3 c7 22.bxc6 bxc6 23.e2 ac8 24.a4 b8 25.f4 xe2 26.xb8 b2 27.g3 h6 28.e1 d2 29.e5 d8 30.xc6 e6 31.g3 c2 32.xc2 xc2 33.xc2 xc6 34.a4 xc5 35.xa7 d2 36.a8+ h7 37.e4+ g6 38.e2 a5 39.a1 c3 40.e1 d3 41.h2 h5 42.h4 f5 43.a4 a5 44.b4 c5 45.b7 g7 46.d7 f5 47.a3 d5 48.b7 c5 49.b2+ h7 50.f3 d7 51.a5 e4 52.a6 d2 53.b7 0-1 Hamdouchi,H-Adianto,U/Gp A, Cap d'Agde FRA 2002 (53) ] 9.c4 f6 10.b3 c8 11.c3 0-0 12.d5 Despite appearances, it really isn't easy to take Black's position by storm. And after more measured methods, Black gets counterplay too. It seems an important nuance to avoid moving the c pawn early-Black can then play ... c7-c5 in one go, prefaced by ... a7-a6 to secure the position of a Bishop on d6. [ 12.e3 would be considered traditional. Black can go through with his plan: bd7 13.ad1 d8 14.fe1 a6! 15.h3 c5 16.d5 exd5

A) 17.xd5 xd5 18.cxd5 ( 18.xd5 e4 19.d2 f6 20.ed1 c7 ) 18...d6; B) 17.cxd5 d6 ] 12...exd5 13.cxd5 c6 14.d4 g6 15.dxc6 xc6 16.xc6 bxc6 [ 16...xc6 17.f3 ] 17.c4 d5 18.e4 [ After 18.xd5 cxd5 19.xd5 f6 Black has excellent compensation based on strong pressure against White's Queenside and the exposed White Queen.. ] 18...e6 19.d3 ad8 20.c2 fe8 Somewhere along the line W hite lost the thread. 21.d2 b6 22.fe1 d5-+ 23.f4 [ 23.e3 xe4 24.xe4 ( 24.xe4 xd2 ) 24...xd3 ] 23...xd3 24.xd3 xd3 25.d6 a8 26.xe7 d5 0-1

180 Cornette,Matthieu Prie,Eric FRA-Cup 1/16 Bordeaux-MTP [Eric Prié]

B01 2392 2429 28.03.2004

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.c4 g4 6.ge2 bd7! Although it is difficult to name it this way, considering the paternity of the move or the number of games available on my Megabase, this is 'my variation'. After having deprived White's king's knight of its best square, Black combines aggressive development (more or less implying long castles) and the concern of his queen's restrictedspace 7.f3 f5 8.g4 [ 8.d2 b6 A) 9.a4?! c6 10.b3 e6 11.g3 g6 12.e2 b6 13.xb6 axb6 14.c4 0-0-0 15.e3 b4+ 16.f2 h5 17.hc1 h4 18.f1 h3 19.g3 g4+ 20.g1 xe3 21.d5 exd5 22.cxd5 d6 23.xe3 he8 24.f1 e7 25.a4 e5 0-1 Dupre, M (1820) -Prie, E (2470) Andorre open 1997; B) 9.b3 0-0-0 10.a4 d6 B1) 11.xf7 e5 ( 11...e6 12.g4 e7 13.gxf5 xf7 14.fxe6 xe6 15.0-0 ) 12.g4 g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.g5 166

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h5; B2) 11.f4 a6! 12.g3 e5 Popa, C (2199)-Prie, E (2429) St Vincent op 2004; C) 9.a4 a5! Generally the best response in this configuration, gaining the square on b4, even when Black intends long castling. 10.0-0 ( 10.f4 e6 11.b5 c8 12.0-0 e7 13.h1 0-0 Black is slightly better having successfully fulfilled his objective of disorganizing the opposing pieces. 14.e1? With such a lack of coordination, embarking on forced lines is just bound to fail. xc2-+ 1-0(40) Alas! Kaaber, J (2092) -Prie, E (2464) Figueres op 2005. It seems, however, that this electroshock did me so me go od be cause, su ddenly all awake, I eventually won thetournament!) 10...e6 11.h1 c6= With a pleasant equality for Black. Crouan, S (2221) -Prie, E (2467) Nantes 2005. ] 8...g6 9.h4 [ 9.f4 e5! ( 9...0-0-0? 10.xg6 fxg6 11.e6 ) 10.xg6 hxg6 11.g5 h5 12.d2 d6 ( 12...0-0-0! ) 13.e2 ( 13.e4 ) 13...g3 14.e4 xe2 15.xa5 xd4 Perdomo, C (2320) -Peredy, F (2235) FSIM Budapest 1995 ] 9...h6 10.f4 White wants to keep the d4pawn protected by his queen and does not wish to displace the black queen onto an arguably better square. [ 10.d2!? b6 ( 10...0-0-0!? 11.h5 h7 12.xf7 e5 ) 11.f4 A) 11...xd4 Is too risky. 12.xg6 fxg6 13.e2 e5 14.e3 g3+ 15.f2 e5 16.e6; B) 11...e5!? 12.dxe5 xe5 13.e2 0-0-0 14.xe5 xd2 15.xd2 ( 15.xg6 f2# ) 15...d6; C) 11...0-0-0! 12.h5 ( 12.xg6 fxg6 13.e2 e5 14.dxe5 xe5 15.0-0-0 xc4 16.xc4 b4= ) 12...h7! ( 12...xd4!? 13.e2 e5! 14.xg6 xd2+ 15.xd2 xf3+ 16.e2 xd2+ 17.xf3 fxg6 18.e6+ d8 19.ad1 d6 20.b5 gxh5 21.gxh5 c6 22.xd6 exd6 ) 13.e2 ( 13.xf7 e5 W ith suddenly a strong counter attack) 13...e6 14.0-0-0 c6 Black is OK. 15.g5 hxg5 16.g6 g8 17.xf8 xf8

18.xg5 xd4 ] 10...e5! 11.xg6 fxg6 12.d2 [ 12.dxe5 xe5 13.b5+ c6 14.f4 ( 14.e2 0-0-0 15.xe5 e8 ) 14...b4! 15.xe5 xb5 ] 12...0-0-0! 13.d5 [ 13.d5 a4 14.b3 a6 ( 14...c6 ) 15.e2 xe2+ 16.xe2 exd4 17.xf6 gxf6 ] 13...b6! The key improvement in this key variation! [ 13...b4 14.e2 e4 15.fxe4 e5 16.0-0-0 fxg4 17.a3 hf8 18.hf1 xf1 19.xf1 xc3 20.xc3 c5 21.d3 e7 22.e1 c6 23.e2! cxd5 24.exd5 e3? ( 24...f6 25.f3 e8 26.g2 ) 25.f4! c7 ( 25...xd5 26.xe5 xe5 27.g4+ ) 26.e4 5c4 27.g1 b8 28.b3? ( 28.d4 Simply wins a knight.) 28...xd5 29.xc4?? ( 29.d4 xa3 30.e5 ) 29...e7?? I have seen both these chess legends in a better day. Is it possible that they were already in a furious mutual time scramble? The fact that Black will continue the game a piece down until reaching the time control seems to add credence to this hypothesis. ( 29...xc3 ! ) 30.h2+ a8 31.b2 e8 32.d4 e3 33.d2 f5 34.b1 xh4 35.a2 g5 36.g4 a6 37.d7 e4 38.c7 f3 39.xf3 xf3 40.d8+ xd8 41.xd8+ 1-0 Kavalek, LLarsen, B Beverwijk 1967. ] 14.e2 xc4 15.xc4 xd5 Team strategy in (4 board) cup matches! With Black I had neutralized the most dangerous and by far the strongest player in the opposing team. The extra pawn is not so easy to exploit. It was a good moment to propose a draw that could hardly be declined. As a result, we qualified for the last 16 without sweat. ½-½

181 Cuartas,Jaime Alexander Mohota,Nisha XXX Open Barbera del Valles ESP (2) [John Watson]

B01 2504 2332 7.7.07

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 One of the very main 167

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 lines of the Scandinavian. f5 7.e5 [ An interesting comparison is BrynellHo d g s o n , H a m b u r g 2 0 0 2 , a n a l ys e d i n ChessPub: 7.d2 e6 8.e2 b4 9.0-0-0 bd7 10.a3 xc3 11.xc3 c7 12.e5 In that game, if Black castled, the only difference between it and the game before us would be kingside versus queenside castling on W hite's part. Thus Hodgson played b5! with the idea . ..Be4-d5, which works because White's king is exposed in certain lines. ] 7...e6 8.e2 bd7 9.0-0 b4 10.d2 0-0 11.a3 xc3 12.xc3 c7 There it is. With 0-0 instead of 0-0-0, White doesn't have to worry about onslaughts and so can take his time and try to use the bishop pair. 13.xd7 xd7 14.fd1 c7 15.f3!? d5 16.e1 f4 17.c3 h5!? It's a little hard to find a plan. This probably isn't worth creating a weakness for. [ 17...e3+? 18.f2 xe2 19.xe2 is an ideal position for the bishops: Black's knight has no outpost to compensate for them. ] 18.d2 c7 19.f2 b5 20.f1 ad8 21.e1 b6 22.h4 g6 23.f4 White's grip on the board increases. He has won the opening. c8 24.g3 a4 25.f2 b6 26.h3 d5 27.b3 White is bluffing a bit with c4, but Black has to devote his forces to stopping it. fd8 28.e3 5d7 29.g5 f6 [ 29...e8 allows 30.c4 ] 30.c1 f7 31.f4! Clamping down on ...e5. White's dark-squared bishop will be restricted, but perform a useful function within lines. c7 32.f3 d5 33.d3?! [ 33.e3 would prevent ...c5. ] 33...c5! 34.e4 5d6 35.e3 c4! [ Probably 35...cxd4 36.xd4 d5 is playable, but the text creates an outpost and prevents queenside pawn breaks. ] 36.b4 d5 [ 36...f5!? 37.c2 d5 allows an eventual g4, although I suspect this is drawish. ] 37.d2 a5 38.f5 The one break, but is it enough? exf5 39.xf5 axb4?! Opening a new front for White. [ 39...a6 should come first. ] 40.axb4 b7 41.g3 f8 42.f4 xf4 43.xf4 a6 44.xa6 xa6 45.c7

[ T y p i c a l l y , t h e c o m p u t e r f i n d s 45.d7! , when b6 ( 45...b7 46.d6+ g8 47.e7; 45...xd7?? 46.b8+ ) 46.f5! wins the b5 pawn due to b8? 47.h7 ] 45...d6 46.c5 g6 47.e4 g7 48.f3 f4 Black has come out fine. 49.a7 h4 50.a1 e8 51.xe8 xe8 52.e1 f8 53.d5 d7 54.h1 e8 55.e6 g3 56.d2 e7 [ 56...g5! would activate Black's bishop, because 57.f5 d6 58.e2 c6 59.h5! d5 60.h8+ f7 61.h7+ is drawn. ] 57.d5!? Incredibly risky! d3?! [ 57...d7! 58.xd7 xd7 and White's dpawn will probably fall soon, e.g., 59.e2 ( 59.a2 e1+ 60.h2 e5+ 61.h1 xd5 ) 59...e5 60.d2 ( Maybe 60.f2! s a v e s W h i t e : xc3 61.a7+ d6 62.c5+ e5 63.d6+! e6 64.d7! xd7 65.xb5+ ) 60...d6 ] 58.f2! f5?? [ 58...g3 59.c5+ d8= ] 59.xh4+ d6 60.f4+ e7 61.e5 d1+ 62.h2 d2 63.xf5+ Fortune favours the brave? Or the fortunate. 1-0

182 David,Alberto Tkachiev,Vladislav (m/4) Cannes [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2540 2645 1999

The Center counter wasn't so popular this month, but the theoretical battle which took place in the Tkachiev - David match was quite interesting. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 f6 5.d4 c6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.d5 [ Another possibility was tried in the 6th game o f t h e m a t c h : 8.e4 c7 ( 8...d8 i s n o t s o g o o d h e r e , i n v i e w o f 9.g3 and the position is similar to a main line Caro Kann,although W hite has won some extra tempi.) 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.e2 d7 ( The brave looking 10...xc2 is in fact a great mistake after 11.c1 g6 12.d5! Exploiting the position of White's Rook and B l a c k ' s Q u e e n o n t h e s a m e f i l e . cxd5 168

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.b5+ c6 14.d4 and Black is in trouble. ) 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 A) The position after Black's 11th move was seen previously in Nunn - Conquest, Hastings 1995/96. This game continued 12.h4 g6 13.b3! d6?! ( I w o u l d p r e f e r 13...b6 with a comfortable position for Black.) 14.g3 he8 15.he1 f5 16.g2 A1) With his previous move, Black probably intended to transfer his Knight to the central e4-square, but now he d i s c o v e r s i t d o e s n ' t w o r k 16...f6 17.g5! e7 ( Unfortunately, the natural 17...e7 loses on the spot to 18.xe6+! fxe6 19.xe6+ b8 20.xf6 d6 21.xe7 xe7 22.xe7 and White wins d8 o t h e r wi s e 2 3 . B e 5 23.xb7+ ) 18.f4 and it's not clear how Black is going to unpin.; A2) 16...b8 17.f4 White now secures a clear advantage, and Black`s attempts to complicate are easily refuted: f6 18.xe6! f8 19.c4 A2a) 19...xe6 20.xe6 xf4+ ( 20...f7 21.xd6+-; 20...f7 21.xd6 xd6 22.b4+- ) 21.xf4 f7 22.d5 xe6 23.xe6 d6 24.xd8 xd8 25.d3 xd5 26.xd5 cxd5 27.d4+-; A2b) 19...h5 20.d3! and in a few moves White won.; B) 12.b3 b6 13.g3 g6 14.f4 d6 15.xd6 xd6 16.h4 a5 17.a4 d5 18.f3 e7 19.he1 hd8 20.c3 a n d in t h is le ve l p o sit io n a d ra w wa s agreed. ] 8...d8 9.xf6+ xf6 10.e2 Up to this moment the players have been following the game Shirov - Salov. Now Black deviates with a clear improvement. d7! [ 10...g4?! was played in the aboveme nt ion ed ga m e an d W hit e seize d t h e initiative after 11.d5! ] 11.d5 cxd5 12.xd5 Black's position seems to be precarious, but the young French has something in mind! e7! [ It's extremely risky to grab pawns without a n y d e v e l o p m e n t : 12...xb2?! 13.0-0 and White obtains a strong initiative: A) The other capture loses by force

13...xc2 14.g5! Threatening both Be6 with a mating attack and Rac1 winning material a3 ( 14...h6 doesn't help Black either: 15.xe6! hxg5 16.xd7+ xd7 17.e5+ will set in motion a decisive attack. ) 15.xe6 fxe6 16.xe6+ f8 17.xd7 and Black should resign.; B) 13...xc2 14.fc1 d3 15.xd3 xd3 16.xb7 b8 17.c6 White holds a strong initiative even in the endgame. b5 ( 17...d6 18.c3 - White threatens both Rd1 and picking off the g7-pawn with a serious advantage.) 18.xb5 xb5 19.c8+ e7 and Black is completely tied up. ] 13.c3 b4! The point. This unexpected blow solves all Black's problems. 14.xb4 xb2 15.0-0 xb4 16.ab1 Now both sides can be satisfied. W hite regains his pawn wh i l e B l a c k s u c c e s s f u l l y c o m p l e t e s h i s development. After the short storm a quiet balanced position has arisen. a4 17.xb7 d8 18.e3 0-0 19.d4 b6 20.xf5 Here a draw was agreed. A short but interesting and important game. ½-½

183 De Firmian,Nick E Schroer,Jonathan Open New York (USA) (9) [Nigel Davies]

B01

1984

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 e6 7.e1 Here too this is a st ro n g m o ve , a im in g sim p ly t o su p p re s s Black's attempts to free himself, in the short term at least. e7 8.c3 0-0 9.bd2 d7 [ Another example was Belov - Shorin, Russian Ch., Serpukhov 1999, which went 9...f5 10.b5 b8 11.e4 a6 12.d3 d7 13.e2 g6 14.c4 b4 15.b1 b6 16.b3 a5 17.b2 c6 18.a3 with a clear advantage. Black's problems, as always, stem from a lack of space. ] 10.e4!? [ 10.c4 is an alternative, restraining ... e7e5. De Firmian reckons that the surrender of the two bishops involved with executing this advance is too high a price to pay, but 169

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 this assessment of the position is slightly to go all in, but on this occasion discretion controversial. ] might have been the better part of valour. 10...xf3 11.xf3 e5 The 'freeing' move Ziatdinov is also a highly dangerous which gives rise to a double-edged struggle. tactician ) 10.xf3 xd4 11.xd4 xd4 White now 'wins' a second minor exchange 12.xa7 e5+ 13.e2 xc4 14.xb7+ (bishop for knight) at the cost of giving Black d7 15.d1+ d6 16.xd6+!! (Pow!!) a be t te r p awn struct ure . 12.c5 xc5 xd6 17.b5+ c6 18.0-0! c5 19.d1+ 13.dxc5 ad8 14.b3 a5 15.c2 fe8 d5 20.xd5! xb5 21.xc6+ xc6 16.g5 f6 17.ad1 f7 18.c1 e7 19.b4 22.d4+ c5 23.xb5 xb5 24.d7 c6 ac6 20.e3 f5 21.b5 e4 22.e2 25.xf7 d8 26.g4 d2 27.xg7 xb2 [ I'll cop out of assessing 22.bxc6 exf3 28.xh7 d6 29.g5 c5 30.g6 b8 31.h3 23.cxb7 g6 24.g3 c6 - though this e7 32.f3 c4 33.f1 c8 34.f7+ looks as if it would give Black excellent 1-0, Ziatdinov R - Shabalov A, Toront o counterplay. ( and not 24...g4 25.xd8 1998 ] xd8 26.b3+ h8 27.b8 )] [ 8.0-0 e5 9.d5 e4 10.fd2 e5 11.c3 22...e5 23.d4 7g6 24.f1 h6 25.h3 h5? ( 11...xe2 ) 12.xg4+ exg4 13.h3 f4 This is starting to look dangerous for xe3 14.xh5 xh5 15.fxe3 f6 White, with storm clouds definitely gathering 16.dxe4 xe4 17.xe4 f6 18.f2 e8 round his king. The threat of a Black knight 19.f3 and White won the endgame in landing on d3 makes White give up one of his Dolmatov - Perez Candelario, Linares Open bishops and go hunting for pawns. 26.xe5 2000. ] xd1 27.xd1 xe5 28.a4 xc5 29.xa7 8...e5 9.d5 b4 10.c1 xa2 11.a1 b4 xc3 12.0-0 a6 13.h3 [ In the shoot-out that follows, de Firmian [ Waitzkin must have had an improvement shows that he's the stronger player. Black ready because he repeated all of this in a might have considered 29...b6 at this point, later game. But in Sax - Wiatzkin, Pula 1997, wit ho ut worryin g ab ou t 30.b8+ h7 the Hungarian got his new move in first with 31.d8 which can be answered by e6 ] 13.a4! and went on to win a dashing 30.xb7 h7 31.c8 a3 32.d8 xa2 a t t a ck in g ga m e : d3 14.xd3 xd3 33.f8 d5 34.h8+ g6 35.xc7 a1 15.a1 e8 16.b4 xf3 17.xf3 xc4 36.xf4 xb5? 18.c1 xd5 19.a5 d3 20.b5 b4 [ Looks like time trouble. Black could play 21.bxa6 xa5 22.xa5 d6 23.g5 hf8 36...xf1+ when W hit e mu st go 37.h2 24.a7 d7 25.c5 a6 26.d2+ c8 ( 37.xf1? d1# )] 27.d6 c6 28.xf8 xf8 29.d6 d8 37.d6+ g5 38.e7+ f4 39.c7+ 30.b8+ d7 31.xf7 e8 32.d1+ e6 1-0 33.d6 a4 34.f1 g8 35.c8 f4 36.d6+ f5 37.a8 g4 38.e7 g5 39.g3 1-0 ] 184 B01 13...xf3 14.xf3 d6 [ Waitzkin might have had the immediate De Firmian,Nick E 14...c5 in mind had Sax repeated de Waitzkin,Joshua Firmian's play. Now things get out of hand. ] New York (USA) (7) 1996 15.a4 c5 16.xb4! cxb4 17.c5 b8 18.d6 [Nigel Davies] a7 19.b3 e4 20.g5 b8 21.xf7 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.d4 c6 4.f3 xc5 22.g4 c8 23.c1 b6 24.xh8 xh8 g4 5.e2 0-0-0 6.c4 f5 7.e3 f6 25.a4 d7 26.xa6 xe3 27.c7 xf2+ 8.bd2 A subtle move which lends added 28.xf2 e3+ 29.g2 protecting to the d4 square by supporting the 1-0 knight on f3. Yet W hite has also done well with the more primitive alternatives: [ a) 8.c3 e6 9.a4 xf3 (Shabalov likes 170

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 185 Degraeve,Jean Marc De Wolf,Johan Ch (team) 1996/97 (5) [Nigel Davies]

B01 186

1996

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.e2 f5 5.f3 e6 6.0-0 e7 [ The alternative is 6...d6 , though the bishop looks more exposed on this square and it blocks any pressure Black might hope for on the d-file. Nijboer - Hoodendoorn, Dutch Ch., Rotterdam 2000 went on 7.c4 f6 8.c3 c6 9.b3 c7 10.c5 e7 11.f4 c8 12.fe1 0-0 13.h4 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.c4 with a tremendous position and an immediate threat to 'sac' the rook on e6. ] 7.e1 0-0 8.a3 Preparing to play c2-c4 without having to worry about Black's knight coming in to b4. c6 [ Black can 'develop' his pieces, but there's not much to do about W hite's grip on the centre. He needs to free himself with either ...c7-c5 or ...e7-e5, but 8...c5 would be met by 9.c4 b6 10.c3 cxd4 ( 10...c6 11.d5 ) 11.xd4 with Bf3 coming and very strong pressure against Black's queenside. ] 9.b5! A nasty move which prompts a fullscale retreat. b8 10.f1 c6 11.bd2 f6 12.c3 Protecting the d-pawn leaves Black with nothing. W ith the knight on c6 Black's only useful pawn lever is ...e6-e5, but in this position it is out of the question. h6 13.a4 c8 14.a5 b8 15.b3 b6 16.axb6 axb6 17.e5 fd7 18.df3 c5 Fin a lly ge t t in g in t h e ke y le ve r, b u t n o w White's superior development starts to tell. 19.xd7 xd7 20.d5 f6 21.f4 c4 22.xc4 c5 23.d1 exd5 24.b5 e4 25.g3 a8 26.xa8 xa8 27.d4 a2 28.f3 g6 29.b4 xd4+ [ 29...b7 would have put the knight on a pretty miserable post, but now Black is losing a pawn. ] 30.xd4 e6 31.xb6 d2 32.e3 a2 33.d7 f5 34.b5 d8 35.xe6 xe6 36.b6 b3 37.c7 e8 38.d3 d4 39.b1 xc3 40.xc3 dxc3 41.b7 c2 42.c1 1-0

Degraeve,Jean Marc Kovarcik,Guillaume Open Saint-Affrique (France) (4) [Nigel Davies]

B01

1999

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 f6 4.d4 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.h3 h5 8.c4 d8 9.b3 [ This position is just nice for White because of his greater control of terrain. 9.c3 0-0 10.f4 d6 11.e5 xe2 12.xe2 c6 13.ad1 e8 14.fe1 wa s a lso ra t h e r m ise r a b le f o r B la c k i n Krauss - Forster, US Open 1982. ] 9...c8 10.c3 0-0 11.g4 With Black so p a s si ve ly p l a c e d , t h i s we a k e n i n g o f t h e kingside is of little significance. White wants to add the bishop pair to his collection of pluses. g6 12.e5 bd7 13.xg6 hxg6 14.f3 c6 15.f4 d8 16.fe1 f8 17.ac1 a5 18.a3 e8 19.c5 Played as soon as the knight moves away f rom d5 . Degraeve actually has a nice tactic in mind. ef6 20.a4 d5? Strictly speaking this is the losing move. But Black's position is pretty m i s e r a b l e i n a n y c a s e . 21.xd5 cxd5 22.b6! c6 [ White's last move was a killer - 22...xb6 23.cxb6 d7 24.c7 loses the b-pawn and the game ] 23.xa8 xa8 24.a4 1-0

187

B01 Del Rio Angelis,Salvador Gabriel 2472 Minasian,Artashes 2567 Open Ubeda ESP (10) 30.01.2001 [Neil McDonald] Much of the analysis to this opening is indebted to a ChessBase article by Matthias Wahls which gives a very deep examination of this variation. I have only quoted some key va ria t io n s . 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 I haven't seen this line in ages. Naively, I thought this was one of the main lines but white seems to avoid it like the plague in practice. We get some indications why in this game. xd5 4.f3 g4 5.e2 0-0-0 6.e3 171

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f6 [ 6...e5!? may be black's most solid route to equality. A) 7.c4 a5+ 8.d2 b4 9.xe5? ( 9.d5 xf3 is better, but looks very nice f o r b l a c k .) 9...xe2 10.xc6 e8! 11.xa5 xc4+ 12.e2 xe2+ 13.d1 xa5 14.xa5 xf2-+ Hrivnak-Babula, Kecskemet 1987.; B) 7.c3 a5 8.xe5 xe2 9.xe2 xe5 10.dxe5 xe5= ] 7.0-0 [ 7.bd2 f5! 8.c4 e5 9.d5 b4 10.0-0 c2 11.h4 xe2 12.xf5 xd1 13.axd1 xe3 14.fxe3 g6!? 15.g3 g4 16.xf7 xe3 17.e1 c5 18.h1 df8 with black having some pressure due to his active pieces - Wahls. ] 7...h5 [ 7...xf3! 8.xf3 b5 is black's best according to Wahls - the queen gains a bit of peace and there is pressure against d4. A) 9.b3?! xd4 10.xd4 c5 ( 10...e5? 11.g4+ b8 12.xa7+ ) 11.a4 a6 12.c3 ( 12.e2 c6 ) 12...cxd4 13.cxd4 b8 14.c3 e5 15.d5 b4 is fine for black, according to Wahls.; B) 9.xc6 xc6 10.e2 d5 11.c4 xe3 12.fxe3 e5 13.dxe5 e6 14.c3 d7! ( 14...c5 15.e4 e7 16.h5! g6 17.h3 ) 15.ad1 xd1 16.xd1 ( 16.xd1 c5 ) 16...xe5 Wahls. ] 8.bd2 [ 8.h3? A) 8...e5? 9.hxg4? ( 9.bd2! ) 9...xg4 10.h4?! f5 11.xg4?! fxg4 12.g3 exd4 13.c1 g5 14.g2 c5 15.d3 hf8 16.e1 d6 17.a3 h6 18.h4 hf6! 19.xg5 xg5 20.e2 e5 21.d2 h5 22.e1 f5 23.c4 xc4 24.xf5 xf5 25.b3 e3 26.fxe3 dxe3 27.b4 b6 28.d1 e5 29.d3 f2 0-1, Hresc-Wahls, Velden Open 1996.; B) 8...xf3! 9.xf3 b5 Wahls. It is very interesting to know this theme. ] 8...e5 [ 8...d5 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 xe3 11.fxe3 h6 Wahls. ] 9.dxe5 [ 9.h3! When Wahls des that black is worse because he cannot justify a piece sacrifice -

he gave: b4 10.hxg4 ( 10.c3?! exd4 ) 10...xg4 11.c3 exd4 12.cxd4 ( 12.g5? dxc3 13.xd8 xd8 ) 12...xd4 ( 12...he8 13.c4; 12...xd2 13.xd2; 12...d6 13.h4 ) 13.f4 e6 ( 13...xd2 14.xd4+-; 13...f5 14.c1 d6 15.e5 xe2+ 16.xe2 g5 17.g3+- ) 14.g3 h6 ( 14...f5 15.b3 ) 15.a4+- ] 9...xe5 10.e1 d6 11.xe5 [ 11.h3 ] 11...xe5 12.xg4+ xg4 13.c3 d7! 14.xg4?? [ 14.h3 xd1 15.axd1 hd8 when black might be able to claim a tiny advantage due to pre ssure on th e d-f ile - though eve n 16.a1!? seems to give white no real problems. ] 14...xh2+! A nasty trick. 15.xh2 xg4+ 16.g3 xe3 17.xe3 xd2 18.b4 h5 19.f3 f6 20.a4 e8 21.h4 d5 22.g3 0-1

188 Demetrios,Agnos Santos,Carlos P Pula [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2495 2340 1997

In this game Black tried to improve the whole line by playing 6...e6. Although the arising positions are very interesting, W hite outplayed his opponent very convincingly. White's play in this game is very instructive if you wish to gain an understanding of White's resources. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 g4 4.f3 f5 5.b5+ bd7 6.c4 e6!? 7.dxe6 xe6 8.d5 Other moves hardly pose any problems for Black, for example: [ 8.c3 b4 ( 8...c6?! 9.d5! is very good for White ) 9.c5?! ( 9.d5 with a transposition to the 8.d5 line should be preferred.) 9...c6 10.d3 d5 11.ge2 h4+ 12.g3 h3 13.f2 xc5! and the complications favour Black, Ribeiro - Damaso, Lisbon, 1995. ] 8...f5 9.c3 b4 [ 9...c5 is inf erior in view of 10.e2+! A very nasty check. e7 ( 10...f8 11.g4! g6 12.f4 is also bad for Black) 11.xe7+ xe7 12.f4 d6 13.xd6+ cxd6 wi t h a cl e a r e xt r a p a wn in t h e e n d in g , 172

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Rogado-Lima,Spain,1993. ] [ 9...e7 10.g4!? ( In my opinion, the simple 10.ge2 0-0 11.xd7! xd7 12.0-0 is even better I doubt if Black has anything for the pawn.) 10...g6 11.f4 h6 12.f5 h7 13.h3 0-0 14.f4 c5 15.f3 a6 16.a4 xa4 17.xa4 and White is better, although the position remains very complicated, Polgar, J-Damaso,R, Oviedo, 1992. ] 10.ge2 0-0 11.xd7! A very instructive move, typical for such positions. The Bishop on b5 is offside, so it's necessary to exchange it. On the other hand, Black has also achieved something as he hasn't lost a tempo with a7-a6. xd7 12.0-0 c5?! [ 12...e5! is much more to the point, aiming at both the c4-pawn and the d3-square. 13.h1!? White gives up the extra pawn and plays for a small but lasting advantage. ( S i m p l y p r o t e c t i n g t h e p a w n b y 13.b3 allows c5+ 14.h1 d3 with great activity ) 13...h4?! Too active, and based on a miscalculation. ( Simply 13...xc4 was called for, and W hite's advantage is minimal: 14.d4 xc3 15.xc3 d6 16.f4 ) 14.g3 d3 15.ce4! Probably Black missed this. d8 ( 15...xf1? 16.g5 trapping the Queen) 16.f4! White converts his advantage into a full point very convincingly. Now Black has no choice. xf1 17.fxe5 xc4 18.f5 How strong White's Kn igh ts a re ! xd5 ( 18...xd5 allows a beautiful mate: 19.f6+! gxf6 20.g4+ ) 19.g4 g6 20.f6+ h8 21.h4 h5 22.g5 and Black resigned in Votava,JRibeiro,F, Erevan 1996 ] 13.f4!? Protecting the d3-square against the penetration of the Knight or Bishop. [ 13.a3!? is not bad either, and Black's a t t e m p t t o w i n a p a w n b a c k b y xc3 14.xc3 d3 15.e1 xc4 is strongly met by 16.d4! b3 17.xc4 xa1 18.f4 c2 19.e2 winning the Knight with a big advantage. ] 13...e8 14.ce2 f6 15.g3 d7 Admitting the mistake at move 12. 16.h1 [ 16.xf5!? xf5 17.d3 also deserved attention. ] 16...d6 17.gh5 e5 18.g4!? g6 19.g3 c5 20.xg6 hxg6 21.f4 e7

22.g2 Now it becomes clear that Black has little to show for the sacrificed pawn. Although the White King is slightly exposed, I can't see any way to exploit this. a5 23.d2 h4 24.f3 f5? Desperation. Black tries to complicate, but White parries all the threats very easily, moreover in few moves it is White who will begin an attack! Wait and see tactics don't help Black either as White plays Ra1-e1, liquidating to a completely won endgame. 25.gxf5 gxf5 26.xf5 h7 27.xd6 cxd6 28.f5! A very good move. White prevents the penetration of Black's Queen to an active position (c2) as well as preparing f5-f6 with an attack on Black's King. The rest is a matter of technique. e4 29.b3 d4 30.e3 d3 31.ae1 e8 32.f4 e4 33.g3 c3 34.f6! The surest way to victory although before playing this move W hite should calculate the variations very precisely. c2+ 35.h1 [ The trick is 35.g1?? g4! and it is Black who is winning! ] 35...xh2+ The last chance. 36.xh2 h4 37.f7+ f8 38.f4 e4 [ 38...xh2+ is more stubborn although with accurate play White should easily win this position. ] 39.e2 h3 40.f3! Black resigned in view of: [ 40.f3 xh2+ 41.xh2 and after the Queen retreat, Bd6 with Rh8 to follow wins immediately. ] 1-0

189 Diringer,Klaus Lin,Michael 1990 Wuerttemberg [Paul Motwani]

B01

1990

W 40: "Lady in trouble" 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 [ 5...c6 is the most common move here, because if necessary Black's queen can later retreat to d8, thereby avoiding the type of disaster which soon happens to that precious piece in the current game. ] 6.h3 h5 7.d2 e6 [ After the move that White has just played, 173

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black's queen should already have sensed promising continuation here although there some danger, and so 7...c6 would have are alternatives been a wise reaction. ] [ 7.c4 d8 8.e3 g6 9.h4!? 8.g4! g for "go for it!". g6 9.e5 c6?? looked dangerous but led to no problems for Black finally puts something on c6, but it's the Black af ter h6 10.h5 h7 11.d5 cxd5 wrong piece at the wrong time! 10.b5 b6 12.exd5 c6 13.b5 xd5 14.xd5 Puzzle Diagram W 40D1 for Reader's xd5 15.xd5 0-0-0 and Black was if Challenge W40P1: Can you now find a forced a n yt h in g slig h t ly b e t t e r i n S u t o vs k y, E win f o r W hit e? L o ok o ut . .. t h e an swe r is (2669)-Rogers, I (2594) Nottingham 2005 ] coming on the very next move of the game! [ 7.g4 is premature and Black quickly 11.c4! xb5 12.d6+ Black resigned equalised after e6 8.c4 wi t h o u t w a i t i n g t o s e e h i s q u e e n b e i n g A) 8...xg4 wins a pawn here although captured by the f1-bishop on W hite's next White has dangerous compensation after move. 9.xe6 xe5 10.b3 g6 11.f3 1-0 ( 11.d5!? ) 11...e6 12.d2 with a strong initiative in return for the pawn. White is going to castle long and then play h4-h5 190 B01 and Black will have to be very careful not to get over-run.; Dominguez Perez,L 2723 B) 8...bd7 9.xe6 xe5 10.e2 g6 Nakamura,Hi 2775 11.b3 e6 and White's early aggression Makedonia Palace GP (6.3) 28.05.2013 had come to nothing in Pikula, D (2476)[Tom Rendle] Zhukova, N (2471) Belgrade 2000 ] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 7...xd3 8.xd3 e6 9.0-0 bd7 10.g3! 5.f3 f5 6.e5!? A rare choice from This makes it just a little more difficult for Nakamura to develop his kingside although Dominguez and a new move for this site. f6 Black should still be just about OK here. [ 6...d7 [ 10.xd7 xd7 11.e4 e7 12.g3 g6 A) 7.c4 d8 8.d3 is a very logical 13.d6+ xd6 14.xd6 d5 15.a3 way of playing with some advantage to was a little better for W hite in Sokolov, A White after ( 8.d5!? ) 8...xd3 9.xd3; (2568)-Fischdick, G (2251) Crans Montana B) 7.f3 2001 ] B1) 7...g6 may be playable here although it does allow White the option 10...c7 11.e1 [ 11.f4?! is an obvious try but the tactics of 8.xf7!? ( 8.c4 d8 9.e3 after h5! are in Black's favour 12.xf7 is a safer route to a slight edge) 8...xf7 ( 12.h4 xf4 13.xf4 is equal ) 12...a5! 9.g4 although Black seems to be OK 13.c7 ( 13.f3 xf7 and White is missing here after gf6 10.gxf5 xf5 11.c4+ a kille r d isco ve re d ch e ck) 13...xg3 e6 12.e2 e8 with a roughly level 14.xa5 xf1 15.xh8 d2 and Black position.; can hardly be worse with White's knight on B2) 7...e6 8.f4 ( 8.xd7 xd7 h8. ] 9.d2 f5 10.g3 f6 11.0-0-0 is a very logical setup for W hite with 11...b6 12.f3?! [ 12.g5 was better, for example d6 ( or some edge because of White's lead in 12...h6 13.h4! g5 14.f3 g7 15.g3 ) development.) 8...gf6 9.h3?! d5?! 13.h4 is very awkward for Black ] ( 9...xe5 10.xe5 d7 11.f4 g6 equalises for Black) 10.c4! xc4 12...b4? [ 12...d6 13.f4 ( 13.h6 0-0 14.g3 11.xc4 e6 12.0-0 e7 13.ad1 e8 is fine for Black) 13...0-0 and Black and White had a typical advantage with has equalised. ] the two bishops in Klimov, S (2518)13.h6! After both sides swap mistakes Romanov, E (2594) St Petersburg 2010 ] 7.d3 This seems to be White's most Dominguez takes a clear advantage with a 174

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 simple tactic gxh6 [ 13...0-0? fails to 14.xg7! xg7 15.g3+ h8? 16.g6+ - the point, obviously this doesn't work with the bishop on d6. ] [ 13...f8 is a rather ugly move to have to play and White has a clear advantage after 14.g5 e7 15.e4! ] 14.xf6 f8 15.a3 xc3 16.bxc3 d5 17.xh6 xc3 18.h4 e7 19.xh7 W h i t e i s s i m p l y a p a w n u p h e r e . b5 20.ed1 [ 20.c3! is more precise with the nice point b e i n g t h a t a f t e r xc3 White wins an exchange with 21.h3 b5 22.g6! ] 20...d8 21.f3 f6 22.d3 g8 23.ab1 b6 24.g3 g4 25.c3 [ 25.h3 was better but perhaps Dominguez didn't want to weaken his kingside, however after g7 ( 25...gxd4 26.xd4 xd4 27.e4 is winning for White) 26.c4 d6 27.e5 White is in control ] 25...f5! 26.a4 xd3 27.xd3 a3 28.e1 c4 Nakamura has done a fantastic job staying in this game and now has pretty good drawing chances although White will always be hopeful with the passed h-pawn. 29.e5 xe5 30.xe5 d5 31.f4! e7 32.f2 g8 33.c4 d7 34.f5 g5 35.fxe6 xe5 36.exd7 a5 37.f3 xd7 38.xf7+ e6 39.f4 xa4 40.d5+! Now the ending feels like it should be winning for W hite - it's all about getting the kingside pawns moving quickly here. d7 [ o f c o u r s e n o t 40...cxd5?? 41.cxd5+ and Black drops the rook on a4 ] 41.dxc6+ xc6 42.g4 a2+ 43.g3 a1 44.g5 [ 44.h4 seems obvious and strong here, e.g. a5 45.g5 a4 46.f2! and White's pawns will get there first ] 44...g1+ 45.h4 a5 46.g4 xg4+ 47.xg4 d6 48.h5 a4 49.g6 a3 50.g7 a2 51.g8 a1 52.d8+ c6 53.c8+ d6 54.d8+ c6 I wouldn't like to say whether or not this endgame is winning or not for W hite. I suspect it isn't but it's tough to defend as well. 55.d5+ c7 56.f7+ d6 57.h4 e5+ 58.h6 b5?! 59.cxb5 xb5 This ending is winning - at least according to t h e t a b le b a s e s 60.h5 But after this natural move it's drawn - very mysterious

[ for those interested the winning line is as follows 60.g7! e2 61.h5 c5 62.f5+ b4 63.h6 b2+ 64.g6 g2+ 65.f6 c6+ 66.g5 b3 67.h7 c1+ 68.f4 c5+ 69.g4 c8+ 70.g3 Black has run out of checks h8 71.c7 a2 72.a7+ b3 73.g2 c2 74.c5+ d2 75.d6+ c1 76.h6+ d1 77.h1+ c2 78.h2 d3 79.g3+ e4 80.g4+ e3 81.g8 and White is queening. ] 60...e5 61.g7 c6 62.h6 g2+ 63.g6 b7+ 64.f7 g2+ 65.h8 a8+ 66.g8 f3 White is so close but unable to make progress 67.g6 f8+ 68.h7 f3 69.g7+ e6 70.g8 h5 71.h7 e8+ 72.f8 g6+ 73.h8 f7 74.c8+ e7 75.c7+ e8 76.e5+ d7 77.b5+ e7 78.g5+ e8 79.g8+ f8 80.xf8+ xf8 An incredible save from Nakamura who had to find several only moves in the queen ending. ½-½

191 Dominguez Perez,Leinier Caruana,Fabiano FIDE GP Tashkent (7.5) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2726 2786 29.11.2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g6 6.c4 This is less critical than Nb5 which is analysed in Leko-Caruana g7 7.0-0 [ 7.e5 was tried in a blitz game between Polgar and Kramnik and after 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.b5 d8 10.f4 h5 Black was absolutely fine so Judit tried 11.xf7!? xf7 12.xc7 f8 13.xf7+ xf7 and she went on to win - still I think Black is better here so this way of playing is hardly to be recommended at a slower time control. ] 7...0-0 8.h3 [ 8.b5 b6 9.f4 a6 10.b1 c6 11.c3 g4 12.e1 ae8 13.e5 b8 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 bd7 16.ed1 a5 17.h2 b5 18.b3 b6 19.a4 b4 20.e2 1/2-1/2 (20) Lobzhanidze, D (2483)Chatalbashev, B (2596) Vaujany FRA 2011 ] 8...a6 [ 8...c6 9.b5 is potentially a little bit 175

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 awkward for Black ] 9.e1 White is developing very naturally but I don't really see where it is all going - this is the kind of position Qd6 Scandinavian players are after in this opening. [ 9.a4! has been White's most popular choice in this position but Black should be d o i n g f i n e a f t e r c6 10.b3 e8!? ( 10...b6?! runs into 11.a3 b4 12.a5! bxa5 13.a4 and Black is in some trouble) 11.a3 d8 12.e1 d6 13.d5 d7 14.d3 e6 15.xc6 xc6 as in Vovk, A (2549)-Tiviakov, S (2656) Altenkirche n 2012 ] 9...b5 10.b3 b7 11.g5 c5! After this Black has comfortably equalised and can think about playing for more [ 11...bd7 is also very sensible and Black c a n h a rd l y b e wo r s e h e re . D o m in gu e z Perez's opening play has certainly been less than inspiring. ] 12.dxc5 xc5 13.e2 e6 14.ad1 bd7 15.f4 fe8 [ 15...f5!? was an interesting way of u n b a l a n c i n g t h e p l a y . A f t e r 16.e3 ( 16.e3 c5 is just better for Black) 16...xf3 17.xf3 h5! 18.xd7 xf4 19.xf4 xf4 White is under a little bit of pressure, although a draw remains the most likely result. ] 16.d6 b6 17.e3?! Swapping the queens still leaves White under some pressure [ 17.f4 offering to repeat was probably a better idea. Black's advantage is very small after ac8 18.a3 ] 17...xe3 18.xe3 b6 19.e5 ac8 20.ed3 c4?! [ 20...e4! may have been stronger as after 21.xg7 xg7 22.xe4 xe4 23.d6 xf3 24.gxf3 b8 it feels to me like White's activity is going to be short-lived and the long term weaknesses on the kingside will make the endgame at least unpleasant to defend. ] 21.xc4 xc4 22.a3 h6 23.d2 cc8 24.xf6 xf6 25.de4 xc3 26.xc3 With a pair of bishops swapped off Caruana no longer has and advantage so it's impressive that he manages to squeeze out a win from here. c6 27.1d2 g5 28.d6 f8 29.d1 e7 30.e3 h5 31.c4?!

I'm not sure a pawn sacrifice was necessary here but I suppose W hite didn't want to sit passively and wait. [ 31.f3 f5 32.f2 and Black doesn't have serious chances here I believe. ] 31...bxc4 32.6d4 b5 33.h4 g8 34.h2 c3 35.c2 cxb2 36.xb2 c5 37.a4 c6 38.b6 a5 39.hxg5 gxg5 40.a6 e5 Black may be a pawn up here but W hite is active and must still have excellent chances t o h o l d w i t h a c c u r a t e p l a y 41.a7+?! This only forces the king to a better square [ 41.h4 f5 42.f4! exf4 43.xf4 e4 44.f2! and White should hold the draw ] 41...e6 42.d8 f5 43.h8 g6! 44.hh7 f4 45.ae7+ d6 46.f5+ d5 The King escapes and Black picks up the a4 pawn which gives him excellent chances to win. 47.xh5 xa4 48.a7?! After this it's probably just lost. c4 49.h8 c2 50.h4 b6 51.f3 a4 52.g5 b4 53.ha8 h6+ 54.h3 b3 55.f3 c2 56.g1 d6 57.e8 dd2 58.g7 a3 59.xe5 a2 60.e1 b2 61.h2 b1 62.e4+ c5 63.a7 a1 64.xa1 xa1 65.xf4 a4 66.e5+ d6 67.f5 White can put up some defence here but the extra rook is always going to win in the end. c2 68.f7 e5 69.g3 d8 70.h3 g8+ 71.h2 h4 72.c7 f5 73.c5+ e6 74.g4 gh8 75.xf5 xh3+ 76.g2 h2+ 77.g3 8h3+ 78.f4 f2 79.e5+ f6 80.e3 a2 81.g5+ f7 82.g4 h1 83.b3 g1+ the pawn on g5 now falls and with it the game. A nice grind from Caruana. 0-1

192 Dominguez Perez,Leinier Ivanchuk,Vassily Edición 2012 (7.1) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B01 2725 2764 11.05.2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.d2 c6 Black's most popular (and perhaps most solid) way of meeting Bd2 [ 5...g4 is also possible and now 6.f3 A) 6...f5 is Bauer's own recommendation but it does look very dangerous for Black after 7.g4!? g6 8.f4 176

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e6 9.f5 exf5 10.g5 fd7 11.e2+ d8 12.g2 ( 12.0-0-0 looks stronger to me with a very strong initiative for the pawn I wo u ld b e re lu ct a n t t o p la y a s B la c k here! ) 12...c6 13.xc6?! an o d d de c isio n bxc6 14.0-0-0 b8 a n d B l a c k w a s b e t t e r i n G o l u b e v, M (2499)-Kislinsky, A (2384) Kharkiv 2006 15.e1 b4 16.h3 c8 17.f4 d8 18.c4 c5 19.fd5 b6 20.e7+ b7 21.e2 xc3 22.xc3 xa2 23.f3+ d5 24.e5 c6 25.b3 f4 26.b2 xc2 27.xd5 b1+ 28.d2 xb2 29.e7+ a6 30.b4+ a5 31.xc6+ b6 32.e1 e8 33.xf4 xe7+ 34.xe7 c3+ 35.d2 a1+ 36.f2 xd4+ 37.xd4 cxd4; B) 6...d7 was Bauer's actual choice possibly to avoid preparation - and there followed 7.c4 b6 8.ge2 e6 9.e3?! ( 9.0-0 makes more sense as taking the pawn on b2 is not good xb2? 10.b1 a3 11.xb7 as Black can't really cover everything here, e.g. d6?! 12.b3 a5 13.b5 b6 14.xd6+ xd6 15.b4 and Black is in terrible trouble) 9...c6 10.a3 to prevent Nb4 e7 11.0-0 ed5 12.f2 and White had a slight edge in Edouard, R (2607)-Bauer, C (2679) SUI 2012 and in fact won very quickly. ] [ 5...b6 6.f3 g4 ( 6...xb2?? loses to 7.b1 a3 8.b5 ) 7.h3 h5 8.g4 g6 9.c4 with some edge for White ] 6.d3 [ 6.c4 is also a dangerous way of playing and now play is likely to transpose back into mainlines after f5 7.f3 e6 which has been covered heavily in the archives ] 6...g4 [ 6...b6 7.f3 and ] [ 6...c7 7.ge2 are possible and White seems to keep an edge in both cases ] 7.f3 [ 7.e4 was tried by Kasparov in a blitz game and it does seem to give W hite a sligh t e dge a f t e r xd1 8.xf6+ exf6 9.xa5 h5 10.f4 d6 ( 10...c5!? ) 11.f5 g6 and now 12.h3 gxf5 13.e2 would've given White a comfortable position in Kasparov, G (2812)-Van Wely, L (2636) Wijk aan Zee 1999 ]

[ 7.ge2 e6 8.f3 h5 A) 9.e4 was perhaps critical and now d8 ( 9...b6!? 10.xf6+ gxf6 ) 10.xf6+ xf6 although it's not clear how m u c h o f a n e d ge W h i t e h a s h e r e f o r example 11.0-0 g6 12.f4 d7 and Black is holding comfortably enough; B) 9.f4 c7 10.e2 g6 11.0-0-0 xd3 12.xd3 bd7 13.f4 d6 14.xd6 xd6 and Black was very solid in Lie, E (2457) -Houska, J (2392) Bergen 2009 ] 7...h5 8.ge2 bd7 [ 8...g6 has been tried here before and now 9.e4 b6 10.c3 bd7 11.c2 0-0-0? ( 11...xe4! 12.fxe4 e5 seems to give Black an acceptable game although t h e p o sit io n re m a in s t e n s e) 12.g5 Black is already in trouble but now it goes from bad to worse xd3 13.xd3 xb2?! 14.b1 xa2 15.c1 d5 16.c4 d6 17.e2 and there's no good way to defend against all the threats and Black went on to lose in Dominguez, L (2638)-Leon Hoyos, M (2428) Cuernavaca 2006 ] 9.f4 g6 10.xg6 [ 10.c4 b6 is another critical position, and here White tried the pawn sac 11.e2!? ( 11.d5 might be worth investigating but my feeling is Black is OK after d8 ) 11...xc2! 12.c1 f5 ( 12...xb2!? ) 13.d5 g5 14.e3 a5 15.dxc6 bxc6 16.d3 e6 17.0-0 xd3 18.xd3 c5 19.e4 xe3+ 20.xe3 b6 and at most White had a tiny edge in Aza rov, S (26 48)-S ergie nko, S (2415) St Petersburg 2011 ] 10...hxg6 11.e2 e6 12.e4 [ 12.0-0-0 would've been a more ambitious move but maybe Dominguez was just playing for a safe edge ] 12...b4 13.c3 e7 14.g3 xe4 15.fxe4 g5 Ivanchuk is playing very logically - he wants to swap dark squared Bishops and then target d4 16.0-0 xd2 17.xd2 c5 [ 17...e5 is very similar - and perhaps a touch more accurate. The position is about equal after 18.c4 f6 19.ad1 b6 ] 18.f2! 0-0 19.e5 ad8 20.e4 cxd4 21.cxd4 b8 Black begins his slow play to attack d4 22.ad1 [ 22.xb7! would've justified White's play 177

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 although the advantage is rather minimal [ 7...0-0 8.0-0 a6 And now White usually after b6 23.g2 xd4 24.ae1 goes 9. a4 preventing ...b5. For instance: but I still think that the only (small) winning 9.a4 c6 ( Or: 9...f5 10.b3 c6 11.a3 chan ces lie with W h ite he re due to th e d8 12.e1 e8 13.d5 d6 14.xc6 outside passed pawns. The smart money bxc6 15.e5 e8 16.e2 a5 17.ad1 would still be on a draw though! ] h8 18.d5 White's position looks much 22...c6 23.d3?! better. e4 19.xe4 xe5 20.g3 f6 [ 23.xc6 isn't a move White really wants to 21.xf5 gxf5 22.f3 cxd5 23.xd5 c6 play but then again it should be easy 24.dxe5 fxe5 25.xe5 f7 26.b2 g8 enough to hold a draw after bxc6 24.b3 ] 27.e6 d7 28.g3+ f8 29.c3 e8 23...b6 30.xc6 d8 31.h2 d2 32.g3 f4 [ 23...xa2! puts White under more pressure 33.g8+ f8 34.xh7 xf2 35.h5+ f7 as t he c ou n t erp lay d oe sn 't see m to b e 36.g6 1-0 Kosintseva, T -Foisor, C Rijeka e n o u g h , e . g . 24.f3 ( 24.xc6 bxc6 2010 ) 10.e3 f5 11.e2 b4 12.b3 25.a3 c4 ) 24...xd4 25.xf7 f5 bd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.g5 ae8 and Black is definitely better ] 15.fe1 h6 16.h4 f4 17.e3 g5 24.fd1 d7 25.b3 a6 26.a3 b5 18.g3 e6 19.h4 c6 20.hxg5 hxg5 27.xc6 Finally White tries to simplify bxc6 21.xf4 gxf4 22.xf4 Leko, P -Kramnik, V / 28.f1 f5! 29.b3? A strange move which cuts Moscow 2009, W hite has a pawn for no the rook on a3 out of the game - the mistake compensation ] is s wi f t l y p o u n c e d u p o n b y Ch u c ky wh o 8.0-0 c6N Again hesitating with the usual 8.. immediately goes for the kill in the centre 0-0 [ i n s t e a d a f t e r 29.c1 fd8 30.b3 [ Relevant is: 8...b5 9.b3 b7 10.e5! Black has some work still to do to create 0-0 11.f4 Due to the unusual move order real winning chances ] from Polgar White has managed to achieve 29...fd8 30.a4 c5! 31.dxc5?! his best setup here. d8 12.e1 bd7 [ 31.d1 was necessary but Black will be 13.e2 c5 14.dxc5 xc5 15.ad1 c8 going a pawn up after b6 which should be 16.xf7+ xf7 17.xf7 xf7 18.xe7+ enough to win here, especially as White's g8 19.c7 ( 19.e5! c6 20.d5! king is the more open ] White is winning.) 19...f8 20.xf6 xc7 31...d2 Now it's all over 32.f3 xc5+ 21.d5 f7 22.e7+ xe7 23.xe7 33.h1 c2 34.c4 xa2 35.h4 g5 xe7 24.xe7 This endgame is hopeless 36.h5 g4 37.c6 xb3 38.g5 d1 for Black. b8 25.b4 f8 26.xh7 g8 A wonderfully controlled game by Vassily who 27.e7 f8 28.e5 a4 29.d6 f7 shows that it's also possible to win at the 30.ee6 c8 31.xg6 xc2 32.h6 g7 highest level with the Scandinavian - although 33.hg6+ f7 34.h4 c1+ 35.h2 c4 some mistakes from your opponent do help! 36.h6 g7 37.h5 e4 38.he6 0-1 White won in Dominguez Perez, L -Polgar, J/ Khanty Mansiysk 2011 ] 9.a3 0-0 10.e1 d8 11.e3 Black is 193 B01 missing pawns in the center so we can say Dominguez Perez,Leinier 2719 that its not easy to equalize here despite the Polgar,Judit 2699 fact that W hite doesn't threaten anything 12.xe6 FIDE World Cup 2011 (4.6) 08.09.2011 significant for the moment. e6 xe6 13.e2 f5 14.ad1 d6 [Milos Pavlovic] [ 14...d5 15.xd5 xd5 16.c4 f5 17.d5 e5 18.d4 h5 19.xh5 gxh5 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 20.b3 White keeps the advantage. ] f6 5.f3 g6 6.h3 g7 7.c4 [ 14...e6 15.c1 d5 16.e4 f4 17.xf4 White decides to develop in a simple logical xf4 18.c3 b6 19.c2 Again White has wa y a n d a v o i d e a r l y s h a r p a t t e m p t s . a6 easier play. ] The usual move order is: 178

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.g4 e6 16.f1 dd8 17.f4 d7 18.d5 a7 19.e5 e8 20.a4 c8 21.b3 d6 22.g2 White is controlling all the central squares and the main problem of Black's po sition rem ains: no p awn brea ks in th e center. d7 23.d3 xe5 24.xe5 xe5 25.xe5 f8 26.de3 d7 27.f3 Simply improving the position move by move W hite actually gains an even bigger advantage. b5 28.f4 g7 29.e2 f6 30.b4 a5 31.d4 h6 32.c3 b8 33.g2 bxa4 34.xa4 dd8 35.xa5 h5 36.xc7 With two extra pawns the rest is just t e c h n i qu e . hxg4 37.hxg4 f4 38.xe7 xg4+ 39.g3 f4 40.e4 xe4 41.xe4 f5 42.e5 xe5 43.xe5 f6 44.e7 xd5 45.xg6+ f8 46.c7 b6 47.gg7 f5 48.cf7+ e8 49.h7 g5+ 50.f1 h5 51.xf6 1-0

to d8,enquiring how White will break in. 7.e1 [ 7.f4 e7 8.bd2 0-0 9.c4 d8 10.e3 g6 is a good indication of the sort o f p o s it i o n B l a ck i s h e a d in g i n t o , wi t h 11.e5 bd7 12.xg6 hxg6 giving White a minimal edge. ] 7...b4!? A little zwischenzug, encouraging the White c pawn forward. Of course, White takes the opportunity. 8.c3 e7 9.e5 d8 10.a3 bd7= Painless equalization. What could be better after a hard day at work or in a tournament when one needs to economize on e ne rgy. 11.b3 b6 12.ac4 xb3 13.axb3 xe5 14.xe5 d5 15.b4 0-0 16.f3 a6 [ 16...fd8 ] [ 16...d6 were both decent alternatives. ] 17.d7 fe8 For all the world it looks as thought the game will be drawn. Sometimes I don't understand what goes through a player's head? 18.xd5? Pointless. [ 18.c5= ] 194 B01 [ 18.d2= and a handshake was indicated. ] Drljevic,Ljilja 2175 18...exd5 19.b6 c5! Even here White can Milovanov,Olga 2038 just about play on with 20 Rxe8+ Rxe8 21 g4 TCh-SCG Women (10) 18.09.2004 but after 21..Re1+ 22 Kg2 Be4+ she is of course, much worse. Disgraced by her recent [Andrew Martin] play though, Drljevic decides to call it a day. The players in the coming game aren't that Re-running the opening, we find that Black's highly rated, bu t they d o provid e us wit h choice can be used against 3 Nf3 e.g. 3...Nf6 t y p i c a l ' c l u b p l a ye r s e n t e rt a i n m e n t ' F o r 4 d4 Bf5,with transposition. As such, it is a whatever reason, White tries to avoid theory development worth noting. by choosing 'natural methods' in the opening. 0-1 This can never work against the sophisticated Modern Scandinavian and Black equalizes B01 easily, going on to score a quick win. 1.e4 d5 195 Dutreeuw,Marc 2394 2.exd5 xd5 3.d4?! I don't rate this move at Rocha,Sergio 2427 a l l . F o r s t a r t e r s , B l a c k h a s a ve r y g o o d 1999 counter in 3...e5!, which takes the wind right Euro Team Ch out of W hite's sails. Here we see another [Alexander Volzhin] approach. f6 4.f3 f5!? Unusual, but A very instructive game for understanding viable. [ I have played 4...g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 Black's attacking resources in the Center 7.c4 d8 many times now. Black gets a Counter gambit. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 stout defensive position which reacts well to g4 4.f3 f5 5.c4 [ A s I ' v e o p i n e d b e f o r e , 5.b5+ being attacked. For instance, after 8.c3 is more promising for White. ] 0-0 9.b3 c8 10.e3 bd7 11.fd1 a6! 12.ac1 e8 13.h3 h5 Black is ready for 5...e6 6.dxe6 c6 7.e3 b4+ 8.c3 e7 ... c7-c5. He may or may not play ...h7-h6 9.a4 xe6 10.f2 0-0-0 Black has already completed his development while White lags. first, another useful move. ] 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 e6 After c2-c4,Black retreats 11.e1 179

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ The attempt to win a piece doesn't work: 11.d5 xd5!! 12.cxd5 xd5! 13.xd5 h4+ 14.g3 e1+! 15.xe1 xa4 and although W hite has 3 pieces for the Queen, his position is insufficient because o f p o o r c o o r d in a t io n o f h i s f o rc e s a n d exposed position of the King, for example: 16.h3+ b8 17.c3 b4 18.e2 d4 , with huge advantage for Black. ] 11...xd4!! This unexpected exchange s a c r if i c e g ive s B l a ck a st ro n g in it ia t ive . 12.xd4 xd4 A huge development advantage, dark-square domination and the exposed position of W hite's King is tremendous compensation for the exchange. 13.g4?! This ridiculous move loses by force. However it's not easy to find suitable defence for White. [ 13.xa7 This move is hardly an improvement: c5! 14.a8+ d7 A) 15.xh8 c2+ 16.e2 ( 16.g3 h5# ) 16...xc4+ 17.d2 xe1+ 18.xc2 xf1 with a decisive attack.; B) 15.a4+ b5! 16.d1 c8! and White is helpless, for example: 17.g4 e2+ 18.xe2 f5+ 19.e4 xe4 20.gxf5 f2+ 21.d2 g5+ ] [ 13.d3 This attempt to complete development looks most natural, however W h it e 's p o s i t io n re m a in s d if f icu lt : c5! 14.e3 ( If 14.f1 , then d8! threatening Nxf3, is very strong: 15.d1 (what else?) d7! 16.b5 xb5 17.cxb5 d5! with decisive threats.) 14...f5! 15.xf5 xf5 Now 16... Bc5 is a nasty threat and the bishop cannot be taken in view of 16.xb4 g4+ 17.e2 c2+ ] 13...xg4+! 14.fxg4 h4+ 15.g2 xg4+ 16.f2 h4+ 17.g2 xe1 The game is over: Black has 2 extra pawns and an unstoppable attack. The rest is easy. 18.xa7 [ White can't take the Bishop in view of 18.xb4 f5! and White can't parry the ... Nh4 threat, if 19.f3 then e3+ 20.g1 xf1# ] 18...xc3 19.bxc3 f5 20.e2 d8 21.a8+ d7 22.xb7 e3+ 23.f3 xf1 24.b5+ e7 25.g5+ e8 26.d4 d2+ 27.g2 e4+ 28.g1 xd4+ 0-1

196 Edouard,R Danielsen,Hen Politiken Cup 2013 (5.5) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2662 2510 30.07.2013

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.h3 [ 6.e5 is White's main move here but Edouard is normally very good on his theory so it's interesting to see him demonstrate that a slightly slower approach can also be very effective. ] 6...f5 This is Black's most popular response here but there are alternatives: [ 6...g6 7.e5 A) 7...bd7 as played by Tiviakov is p r o b a b l y s a f e r f o r B l a c k h e r e 8.f4 ( I prefer 8.c4! e6+ 9.e2 b6 10.e5 g7 11.0-0 0-0 and Black is solid enough although it's still W hite's position that is easier to play.) 8...d5 9.xd5 xd5 10.f3 xf3 11.xf3 b6 12.d3 e6 13.0-0 d5 14.d2 g7 15.c3 0-0-0 and Black had equalised and went on to grind out the win in Hrisanthopoulos, D (2076) -Tiviakov, S (2623) Vrachati 2011; B) 7...e6!? 8.f4 d8 9.d2 g7 10.0-0-0 Of course White can also play it safe by castling on the other side and keeping a slight edge, but this option is a l o t m o r e f u n ! 0-0 11.h6 ( 11.g4?! is premature as after d5! Black has enough play) 11...bd7 12.xg7 xg7 13.f4 a5 14.xd7 xd7 15.a3 f6 16.g4 and with f5 coming quickly White had a very dangerous attack in Bartel, M (2587)-Muse, M (2445) 2007 ] 7.e5 bd7 8.c4 This is now the only way to cause Black any problems [ 8.f4?! d5! 9.xd5 xd5 and Black has at least equalised - h3 is rather superfluous at this point. ] 8...c7 [ 8...e6+ doesn't really make sense here as after 9.e2 the bishop on f8 is rather trapped in, especially as ...g6 is rather risky in view of g4 ideas. ] 9.f3 e6 [ 9...e6 10.f4 d8 11.0-0-0 b6 12.g4 180

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g6 13.h4 h5 14.g5 fd5 and now in Loeffler, S (2463)-Kreindl, H (2200) Vienna 2006 W hite could've obtained the better c h a n c e s wi t h 15.xb6! axb6 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 exd5 ( or 17...cxd5 18.b5+ d8 19.a3 ) 18.e1+ d8 19.a3 and White's two bishops and control of the open e-file give him a clear advantage. ] 10.f4 d8 11.0-0-0 b6 [ maybe Black should try 11...g6 12.e3 g7 when his position looks solid if not particularly well developed. White can start pre p a rin g a kin gside a ssau lt h ere wit h 13.b1 0-0 14.g4 ] 12.xb6 [ 12.a5!? d7 13.b1 was also quite a reasonable option, and again White is ready to play g4 and increase the pressure on Black's position. ] 12...xb6 [ 12...axb6 would be Black's ideal recapture i f i t w e r e n ' t f o r t h e s t r o n g r e p l y 13.d5! which basically wins on the spot, f or example xd5 ( 13...d7 is sadly the best Black can manage but his position is horrendous after 14.c4 c8 15.e5 ) 14.c4 d7 15.xd5 cxd5 16.xd5! xd5 17.xd5 a4 18.d1 and despite being an exchange ahead Black can safely resign. ] 13.e5 0-0-0 14.a3 a5 15.h2 Very simple play from Romain, keeping all of his options open and waiting to see what, if anything, Black will do. Obviously there are also ideas of Qg3 at some point so Danielsen at least puts a stop to that g5+ 16.b1 g6 17.g4! Suddenly the queen is rather short on squares h5 18.g3 [ 18.a6! is very flashy but it leads to a similar kind of thing to the game after d5 ( 18...bxa6?? 19.xc6# ) 19.g3 d6 20.f4 h6 21.g5 ] 18...d6 19.d5! cutting off the queens escape along the 5th rank xd5? [ 19...h4 was Black's best try here but it's still very bad after 20.f3 xd5 ( or 20...xd5 21.xd5 xd5 22.c4 xd1+ 23.xd1 and Black is defenceless against W hite's coming attack. ) 21.xd5 xd5 22.c4 ] 20.f4?! [ 20.h4 wins on the spot as xg4 ( 20...h6 21.g5 ) 21.h3 picks up the queen ]

20...h6 21.g5 h7 22.gxf6 xh1 Black is still on the board but with the queen out of the game on h7 it's not surprising the Edouard is able to find a crisp end to the game with 23.f5! h4 24.e5 exf6 [ or 24...xd1+ 25.xd1 d7 26.c7+ e8 27.c8# ] 25.e8+ c7 26.xd6 xd6 27.e7+ b8 28.xd6+ a8 29.a6 A pleasing and exact finish bxa6 30.c5 g8 31.xa7# 1-0

197 Erturan,Yakup Exizoglou,Dimitrios Acropolis Open (3) [John Watson]

B01 2389 2224 16.08.2007

W ith this game I look at various ideas involved when W hite plays Bc4 and Nge2 (instead of Nf3). These are not easy lines to meet, and if they discourage Black from ...Bf5, that's quite an achievement for W hite. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.c4 c6 [ The game Yudasin-Oll, Dos Hermanas 1992 illustrated 5...g4 : 6.f3! f5!? 7.ge2 A) Yudasin analyses 7...bd7 8.d2! ( 8.g4 g6 9.h4 h6 10.f4 e5! , as in Cornette, M-Prié, E/ Saint Vincent 2004 - given in an earlier column) 8...c6 9.g4! g6 10.h4 h6 11.f4 h7 12.e2!; B) 7...c6 8.g4! g6 9.f4 bd7 10.h4! e5 11.h5! f5 ( 11...xc2!? 12.xc2 exd4 13.e2+ is messy ) 12.gxf5 exf4 and now Yudasin gives 13.e2+! e7 ( 13...d8 14.d3! ) 14.xf4 xf5 ( 14...0-0 15.d3 15 or h6 ) 15.d6 and wins. ] 6.ge2 f5 This could also arise via 4...c6 5 Bc4 Bf5 6 Ne2 Nf6. [ 6...bd7 7.0-0 e5 is rather loose: 8.e1 e7 9.g3 ( 9.d2 c7 10.g3 ) 9...0-0 10.d2 c7 11.f5 b4 12.b3 with the idea exd4 13.b5! cxb5 14.xb4 c5 15.h6+! gxh6 16.xd4 xb3 17.xf6 c6! 18.xc6 bxc6 19.axb3 d8 20.a5! d6 21.e8+ g7 22.c3+ f6 181

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.ae1 ] 7.d2 [ Okhotnik-Keitlinghaus, France 2003 went 7.0-0 e6 8.g3 and Black tried the other main plan d6!? ( avoiding the dangerous 8...g6 9.f4 ) 9.xf5 ( 9.d2!? ) 9...xf5 10.d3 ( 10.e2 ) 10...a5 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 d7 13.f3 f6 14.c4 0-0 15.d2 c7 16.g3 ad8 17.c2 with perhaps a small advantage, but nothing disastrous for Black after c5 ] 7...e6 8.g3 g6 9.h4 Or [ 9.e2 and 0-0-0. ] 9...h5?! [ Black can't solve his problems tactically by 9...b6? 10.h5 xd4 in view of 11.e2! xc2 12.c1 b5 13.xb5 cxb5 14.xb5+ bd7 15.xc2 with a bundle of threats, e.g., e7 16.c3 b4 17.0-0! ( also good is 17.f5 f4 18.xd7+ xd7 19.xg7+ f8 20.h6 ) 17...xc3 18.xc3 with the idea Rd1. ] [ 9...h6! is probably an improvement on the game, when A) 10.d5!? d8! 11.f4 h7 12.e2 d6 ( 12...d5 13.0-0-0 d6 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 ) 13.xe6!? ( 13.0-0-0 ) 13...fxe6 14.xe6 is more interesting because White has h5 available in some lines but bd7 ( 14...d8?! 15.0-0-0 c7 , but 16.he1 intends Qf3.) 15.f5 xf5 16.xf5+ e7 17.g6+ d8 18.xe7+ xe7 19.0-0-0 looks too speculative, although Black is rather tied up.; B) 10.e2 m a y b e b e s t , e . g . , d8 ( 10...e7 11.d5! ) 11.0-0-0 e7 12.ge4 xe4 13.xe4 xd4!? B1) 14.d3 0-0? ( 14...xe4 15.xe4 d7 16.c3 a4 17.b1 f6 18.g6! ) 15.c3 a4 16.g4! - threatening Nf6+ - xa2 17.h5; B2) 14.c3 c5 15.e3 e5 16.f4 c7 17.g4! 0-0 18.h5 h7 19.g5 with attack. ] 10.d5! d8 11.f4 h7 12.e2! d5 [ 12...d6 13.0-0-0 bd7 14.fxh5 0-0-0 15.g5 ] 13.0-0-0 d6 14.gxh5 [ Or 14.fxh5 d7 15.f3 , tying Black to f7. ]

14...d7 15.xd5 cxd5 16.b3 c6 Maybe not best, but there's no real compensation for the pawn. 17.h3! b6 18.c3 d7 19.f4 c8 20.xc8+ xc8 21.e5! b5 [ 21...g8 22.f4 with the idea Qh5. ] [ 21...f6 22.xf6 ] 22.xg7+ xg7 23.xg7 g8 24.e5 a5 25.c3 xg2 26.g3 d6 27.xd5 Not a well-played game, but W hite's plan certainly deserves notice. 1-0

198 Fedorchuk,Sergey Bauer,Christian TCh-FRA Top 12 2012 (5.2) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B01 2634 2672 04.06.2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 g4 4.e2 c6 5.c3 a5 Quite an unusual choice of square in this line and judging by this game Black should stick to the more popular Qd7 as we shall see the Queen is a potential target on a5. [ 5...d7 A) 6.b4 is an interesting way to mix things up early on and now A1) 6...f6 is probably the simplest reply as in Chelushkina, I (2398) Zhukova, N (2471) Belgrade 2000 which continued 7.b5 d4 8.xd4 xd4 9.b2 ( 9.xg4 xg4 10.0-0 e6 can't be a problem for Black) 9...e6 10.f3 h3! 11.f1 and now ( 11.gxh3? h4+ 12.f1 c5 and there's no satisfactory way to meet the threat of Qf2 as after 13.e1 xh3# is mate ) 11...f5! would've left Black clearly on top; A2) 6...e6?! 7.b5 ce7 8.0-0 g6 9.h3 and White was better in Sumets, A (2 5 7 9 ) -A ra b a cio gl u , C (1 5 2 4 ) I zm i r 2011; B) 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 0-0-0 8.d3 has all been seen in the archives before with d4 being analysed by Gawain in the game Vachier Lagrave, M-Tiviakov, S ( and 8...e5 examined by John Watson in Van den Doel, E-Tiviakov, S )] 182

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6.h3 h5 [ 6...xf3 7.xf3 e6 8.0-0 leaves White with a stable advantage and in fact he may now choose to simply capture on c6 for a lasting structural edge if given the chance. ] 7.b1 [ 7.b4!? xb4 ( 7...xb4? 8.b1 d6 9.xb7 a6 otherwise Nb5 is strong 10.e4! d5 11.d3 is very uncomfortable for Black the lack of Kingside development causes real problems. ) A) 8.a3!? c6 9.b1 looks more d a n g e r o u s t h a n i t a c t u a l l y i s a6! ( 9...0-0-0? 10.b5 wins an exchange) 10.xb7 f6 11.0-0 e6 12.d4 A1) 12...xc3?! is a rather riskier way to p l a y a s a f t e r 13.xc7 d6 14.d2 Black should give up his Queen with xd2 ( 14...xa3 15.xc6 0-0 16.c4 leaves Black struggling) 15.xd2 xc7 despite Black's nominal material superiority White's initiative is ongoing an d in f a c t h e is on to p a f t e r 16.c3 ( 16.g4!? ) 16...d7 17.e5+ A1a) 17...xe5 18.xh5 g6 ( 18...xh5? 19.dxe5 and Black's position will quickly collapse ) 19.f3; A1b) 17...xe5 18.dxe5 xe2 19.b1 and it looks unlikely that Black will be able to survive the onslaught; A2) 12...d6 and Black has equalised fairly comfortably; B) 8.b1 was an interesting idea tried in Pokazanjev, N-Zolotukhin, V and now g6! 9.a3! ( 9.b2 0-0-0 and Black must be at least equal I think) 9...xc2+ 10.f1 0-0-0 11.b5 xc3! 12.dxc3 xd1+ 13.xd1 d3+ 14.e2 xb5 15.xb5 e6 and Black had come out of the opening with good chances, although the position remains tense as it's hard to retrieve the knight from c2 and in fact later Black erred and lost. ] [ 7.0-0 is a very flexible alternative ] 7...e6 [ 7...0-0-0 8.b4! seems to give White strong p l a y , f o r e x a m p l e xb4 9.a3 d5 ( 9...xf3?! 10.xf3 c6 11.xc6 bxc6 12.0-0 and Black's shattered Queenside will cost him in the long run) 10.xd5 ( 10.b5 isn't so clear after xc3! 11.xa5 xf3

12.xf3 xd1 13.xa7 c6 14.xd1 f6 ) 10...xd5 ( 10...xd5 11.c4 g6 12.b4 d6 13.b5 a6 14.d4 and Black is being pushed all over the place) 11.b5 c5 12.c4 c6 13.0-0 and White's attack and lead in d e ve l o p m e n t a r e m o r e t h a n s u f f i c i e n t compensation for the sacrificed pawn. ] 8.a3! [ 8.b4 doesn't really seem to work here as White doesn't have anything after the simple xb4 ] 8...xf3 Not a move that Bauer really wanted to play I suspect but his options were already limited [ 8...f6? 9.b4 f5 ( 9...b6? 10.a4 is rather embarrassing ) 10.g4 wins a piece ] [ 8...b6 9.b4 and Black has nothing better than to take on f3 here ] 9.xf3 ge7 [ 9...e5+ was perhaps a safer option but Black is left suffering after either 10.e2 ( or 10.e2 d6 11.d4 f5 12.0-0 ) 10...xe2+ 11.xe2 0-0-0 12.xc6 ] [ 9...f6 10.0-0 d6 11.d4 and White is simply threatening b4-b5 with a clear edge ] 10.b4 [ 10.0-0 delaying b4 looks at least as strong b6 11.b4 d4 12.b2 0-0-0 13.e4 and again W hite's Queenside potentia l seems the most impo rtant f actor in th e position ] 10...e5+ 11.e2 0-0-0 12.0-0 d6 Sid este pp in g Bb 2 13.g3! Getting ready to play b5 with the idea that after Ne5 or Nd4 the Bishop can simply drop back to g2 [ 13.d3 e5 14.g3 xf3+ 15.xf3 f6 16.e1 should also keep the advantage ] 13...h5! A good decision - Black is really in need of some counterplay 14.b5 d4 [ 14...e5 15.g2 h4 16.g4 f5 ( 16...xg4 17.hxg4 h3 18.f3 doesn't get Black anywhere ) 17.d4! and Black is being forced b a c k - f o r e xa m p l e f7 18.c4! e5 wh a t e l s e ? 19.a4 and Black has serious problems ] 15.g2 ef5 [ 15...xe2+ 16.xe2 h4 may look dangerous but in fact W hite is fine after 17.d3! ( 17.g4 d5 18.h1 is probably better for White as well although it's more unclear ) 17...f5 18.g4 d4 19.e3 c5 183

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 19...xc2 20.xa7 b6 21.a8+ d7 22.a4 must be good for W hite) 20.c3 xc3 21.e4 with a very strong attack - the computer wants to try defending with the greedy xa3 but after 22.xb7+ d7 23.c6+ d6 it's hard to believe Black can re a l l y g e t a wa y wi t h t h i s , f o r i n s t a n c e 24.g2 planning Ra1! is strong ] 16.a4 [ 16.xd4 xd4 17.d3 was perhaps a simpler way to keep the initiative ] 16...b6 17.h1 xe2 18.xe2 d4?! Up until now Bauer has been doing an excellent job of staying in the game despite a very difficult position but this move really doesn't help his cause [ 18...g5! would've given Black real counterchances for example 19.c3 ( 19.b2 g7; 19.d3 g4 ) 19...g4 20.d4 gxh3 ( 20...h6!? ) 21.xh3 h6 22.b2 b8 with h4 coming the position is less clear than it could be alth ough W hite still has th e better chances after 23.f3 as Black is always going to be vulnerable on b7 ] [ 18...h4 fails to 19.g4! d4 20.e3 xc2 21.e4 b4 ( 21...d4 22.a5 wins ) 22.xb4 xb4 23.xb4 and the two Bishops should be enough for White to win here ] 19.a1 a5 [ 19...a5 doesn't help either after 20.f3 d6 21.d3 xa4 22.d2 xb5 23.c4! a6 24.xa4 xa4 25.c5 and the knight drops ] 20.c3 d7 21.d4 The rook has been forced back and Black has just lost time that he couldn't afford. Fedorchuk puts on a forceful display from here to generate a quick win e7 22.b2 b8 23.ad1 g6 Black is just sitting and waiting and hoping W hite can't find a breakthrough. 24.d3 hd8 25.fd1 f6?! Letting the Bishop come to a more active diagonal [ 25...d6 26.a3 a7 ( 26...c4? 27.c5 wins ) 27.c5 a8 28.b6 is rather unpleasant for Black ] [ 25...f8 simply waiting was probably Black's only hope but it doesn't look good after 26.c1 e7 27.h4 f8 28.g1! a k ey mo ve t o d ef e nd f 2 e7 29.f3 a n d B la c k is slo wly b e in g squ e e ze d e5

doesn't work here because of simply 30.dxe5 xd3 31.xd3 xd3 32.xd3 and f2 is defended ] 26.a3 e7?? A blunder but it was close to lost in any case [ 26...a7 27.c5 b6 28.a3 is a rather ridiculous position , the Black Que en is trap pe d o n a7 an d it sh ou ld be a f a irly simple matter for White to open the game up and win from here. ] [ 26...e5 leaves White with a choice of strong lines 27.dxe5 ( 27.f3 e8 28.e1 a7 29.dd1 and Black is almost in zugzwang! ) 27...xd3 28.xd3 xd3 29.xd3 xe5 ( 29...xf2 30.exf6 xg3+ 31.h2 e2 32.d1 and White is simply a piece up ) 30.d8+ a7 31.d5 with a crushing position ] 27.c5! xc5 28.dxc5 xd3 [ 28...xc5 29.xd7 ] 29.xd3 xd3 30.cxb6 A fine game from Fedorchuk, the plan of a3, b4 seems to be a simple way of dealing with a Qa5 setup in this line. 1-0

199 Fedorchuk,Sergey Cornette,M 28th Cappelle Open (4) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2634 2545 05.03.2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 [ 3.f3 was tried against Cornette by another strong Grandmaster this month but a ga in h e d r e w ve ry co m f o rt a b ly. . . . g4 4.e2 c6 5.c3 d7 6.d4 ( 6.h3 is perhaps a better try for W hite and then xf3 7.xf3 0-0-0 8.d3 has featured in both Vachier Lagrave-Tiviakov and Van Den Doel-Tiviakov, which can be found in the archives. ) 6...e6 7.0-0 f6 8.e5!? ( White gets nothing at all after 8.e3 d6 9.h3 h5 10.e1 when Black can play the simple 0-0 for equality or go for more by castling Queenside.) 8...xe2 9.xe2 ( 9.xd7 xd1 10.xf6+ gxf6 11.xd1 0-0-0 12.e3 e7 causes Black no problems at all. ) A) 9...xd4 also looks like a good option 184

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 for Black here, for example 10.d3 d6 11.f4 ( 11.c4 doesn't get anywhere c5 12.a4 d5 13.c3 c5 14.a4 d5 15.c3= ) 11...b6 12.c4 c5 13.ad1 d8 and Black is still a pawn up although W hite's lead in development gives him reasonable compensation; B) 9...xd4 10.xc6 bxc6 B1) 11.e3 was perhaps a better way to play f or an edge, and now af te r d7 12.ad1 d6 13.d4! e7 ( 13...0-0?! runs into difficulties after 14.xf6 gxf6 15.e4 e7 16.g4+ h8 17.h4 e5 18.c3! with f4 to come next move) 14.e4 White has a strong initiative in return for the pawn; B2) 11.d1 b4 12.d2 ( 12.f3! b7 13.g5 looks more testing although Black is solid enough af ter e7 ) 12...d6 13.d5 xh2+! 14.f1 ( not 14.xh2 h4+ 15.g1 xd5 ) 14...h4 15.xf6+ xf6 16.c3 f5 17.d3 xd3+ 18.xd3 d6 19.xg7 g8 1/2-1/2 Bruzon Batista, L (2691)Cornet te , M (2 54 5)/ Ca ta lun ya ES P 2012 ] 3...a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 f5 6.d2 e6 7.c4 b4!? Cornette chooses an unusual move in this position but the choice seems very sensible to me [ 7...c6 is much more popular and now 8.d5 ( 8.e2 has been examined a n u m b e r o f t i m e s in t h e a r ch ive s, m o s t recently by Gawain in the game Vaibhav, S (2430)-Yu, R (2431)/Mashhad IRI 2011) 8...d8 9.xf6+ xf6 10.e2 was looked at by Pavlovic in the game HowellPapaioannou ] 8.0-0 [ 8.a3 is perhaps more testing and it features in another couple of Cornette games from the last month or so. xc3 9.xc3 b6 10.d5! this must be critical ( 10.0-0 0-0 11.e5 c6 12.xc6 xc6 13.d3 e4 14.xe4 xe4 was already a little better for Black and Cornette shows that he can grind out these positions against lower rated opposition by going on to beat Urbina Perez, J (2210) ) 10...bd7 11.0-0 ( 11.e2 led to another quick draw after 0-0 12.dxe6 xe6 13.xe6 ae8 1/2-1/2 Istratescu, A

(2650)-Bauer, C (2631)/ Rogaska Slatina SLO 2011; 11.d4!? should perhaps be investigated by White players 0-0-0 12.xf5 exf5 13.0-0 ) 11...0-0 12.dxe6 xe6 13.xe6 xe6 14.e1 f5 15.d4 d5 16.f3 xf3 17.xf3 fe8 18.ad1 xe1+ 19.xe1 e8 20.f3 c5 21.f1 e7 was another draw in Magem Badals, J (2545) -Cornette, M (2545)/ Catalunya ESP 2012 ] 8...c6 9.e1 [ 9.a3 this doesn't feel as critical as it was on the previous move xc3 10.xc3 b6 11.b4 ( 11.e1 has also been tried but after 0-0 12.b4 e4 13.g5 f5 14.f3 e4 W hite ended up regretting avoiding the r e p e t i t i o n o f m o v e s w i t h 15.d2?! as he didn't have enough compensation after xc2 16.e2 a6 17.c4 a7 18.c1 g6 and Black went on to win in the game Naiditsch, A (2685)-Papaioannou, I (2 6 2 8 )/ No vi S a d S RB 2 0 0 9) 11...0-0 ( 11...a6! 12.b2 0-0 is perhaps even more accurate, not allowing White any chance for an edge. ) 12.b5 e7 13.b4 fe8 14.e1 was about equal in Rombaldoni, A (2471)Dvirnyy, D (2492)/ Siena ITA 2010 ( 14.e5!? g6 15.a4! might give some small edge to White )] 9...0-0 10.a3 xc3 11.xc3 b6 12.a4 a5! Black is comfortably equal here, White's two Bishops have no open lines to work with and there are no obvious weaknesses in the Black camp. 13.d3 xd3 [ 13...g4!? keeps more life in the position but then again I'm sure Cornette is happy to swap off and get closer to the draw! 14.d5! xd5 ( 14...exd5 15.xf6 gxf6 16.d2 le a ve s B la c k' s K in g r a t h e r vu ln e ra b l e) 15.xh7+ h8 16.e4 ad8 17.c1 f6 and Black is probably doing fine, but there's no reason to allow any of this of course. ] 14.xd3 fd8 15.b3 b4 16.e2 c6! Once Federchuk is forced to take on b4 only Black can be better. 17.xb4 axb4 18.ad1 a6 19.d3 b5 20.axb5 xb5 If he wanted to Black could try and press for an edge with ... Nd5 - White has no pawn breaks and no plan. Still an impressive set of games from Cornette in the Scandinavian this month! [ 20...xb5 21.h3 d5 22.e4 a2 185

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is a little better for Black ] ½-½

200 Fedorchuk,Sergey A Tiviakov,Sergei 25th ECC Ohrid MKD (5) [John Watson]

B01 2643 2670 08.10.2009

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g6 This move has gained so me wh a t in p o pu la rit y, a lt h ou gh it isn 't m e n t io n i n H o u sk a 's S t a r t i n g O u t b o o k . Karolyi calls it the Czebe Variation based upon the many games that Czebe has played wit h it in t h e p a s t t h re e ye a rs . I h a ve n ' t covered the precise position, even in my answer to a question in the game 'Scandinavian 3.. Qd6 w ...g6 - READER QUESTION' from earlier this year. The reader had asked about combining ...g6 with ...a6, which is slightly different, and I included a host of lines without Nf3. Anyway, why 5...g6 instead of 5...a6 or 5...c6 ? One idea the Czebe has introduced is the move ...Qa6, for e x a m p l e , a f t e r 6 g 3 B g 7 7 B g 2 . 6.g3 A couple of alternatives played this month, and a comment on the main line. [ a) 6.h3 g7 7.b5 b6 8.c4 c6 ( 8...a6 is more flexible, for example, 9.c3 0-0 10.e2 c6 11.d5 d8 ) 9.c3 0-0 10.d3 c5 11.d5 ( 11.dxc5 xc5 12.0-0 d8 13.e3 a5 14.e2 is a touch better for White ) 11...e6 12.0-0 a6 13.dxe6 xe6 14.a3 ad8 15.c2 c6 16.g5 c7 17.e3 ( 17.f4 d7 18.fe1 ) 17...b6 18.ad1 c8 19.ge4 ( 19.e2! f5 20.c1 ) 19...fe8 20.xf6+ xf6 21.e4 h4 22.c6 f8 23.xd8 xd8 24.d1 d4 25.e4 ( 25.xd4 xd4 26.e2= ) 25...xe4 26.xe4 e6 27.d2 ( 27.xd4 xd4 28.d5 e6! 29.c3 is roughy equal) 27...g7 28.d5 xe3 29.fxe3 c7 30.c6 ( 30.c3 e6 31.e4 ) 30...xd2 31.xd2 e6 with the better pa wn s tru ct u re , Fo n ta n a S ot o ma yor, L (2373)-Magem Badals, J (2553), Montcada ESP 2009. ] [ b) Strikovic, A (2512)-Gashimov, V (2740), Ourense ESP 2009 saw the elite

grandmaster on the defensive in the opening: 6.g5 g7 7.d2 h6 8.f4 d8 9.0-0-0 c6 10.c4 bd7 11.he1 (pretty impressive pieces) b6 , and here White missed the chance for 12.xf7+ xf7 13.e5+ g8 14.xg6 , when Black's position is being torn apart. But it was only a Blitz game! ] [ c) 6.b5 is the subject of an article in New in Chess 90 by Tibor Karolyi (he also covers 6 Bc4 and 6 Ne5). The main line seems to be b6 7.f4 , and now Karolyi suggests d5 A) 8.e2 d7! ( 8...xf4 9.e5 ) 9.c1 a6 10.c3 7f6=; B) 8.e5 f6 9.g3 a6 10.c4 axb5 11.cxd5 a6 12.b3 a5+ 13.d2 d7= ] 6...g7 7.g2 c6 [ Here Czebe's 7...a6 prevents 0-0. In his article, Karolyi cites 5 games with this move, complete with notes on the critical lines. He thinks that Black stands satisfactorily. This takes some guts to play, however, since Black's queen is still exposed and White can develop his queenside. ] 8.0-0 g4 9.f4 [ 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 xd4 looks risky. In anoth er O hrid game , Tiviako v survive d 11.d1 c5 12.e3 f5 13.xf5!? ( 13.e2 0-0 ) 13...gxf5 14.b5 1/2-1/2 Azarov, S (2625)-Tiviakov, S (2670)/ Ohrid MKD 2 00 9. T he n ( 14.b5 a6 15.c3 0-0 16.xa7 is obviously risky, since the knight is trapped on a7. On the other hand, it is hard to attack, and under some circumstances White might play Nxc6 and gain three passed pawns on the queenside. )] 9...d8 10.d2 [ 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 is possibly better: 0-0 ( 11...xd4 12.b5 ) 12.ad1 e6 13.fe1 with a nice advantage. ] 10...xf3 11.xf3 e6 Tiviakov has faith in this rather passive standard structure, which also arises in the Slav and Caro-Kann. Of course, W hite has two bishops which are active enough, and even he might hesitate to try something like this against a Kasparov or Anand, however. 12.e2!? [ 12.a4!? 0-0 13.c4 is more aggressive. ] 186

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12...0-0 13.c4 bd7 14.ad1 e8 15.g2 [ 15.b4 b6 16.c3 ad8 17.c1!? prepares Nd3 with a discernible edge. ] 15...b6 16.c3 e5! 17.dxe5 xe5 Now Black has active pieces and sufficient counterplay. ½-½

201 Fedorov,Alexei Hauchard,Arnaud Belfort FRA [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2659 2518 1999

Within a month Alexey Fedorov, 14th in the world rankings, twice had to face the Center Counter, and he has scored only half a point in 2 games! Even more surprising, both times his opponents followed the game Anand Lautier which was disastrous for Black, and both times Fedorov deviates from Anand's method! 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 f6 6.c4 f5 7.e5 e6 8.g4 g6 9.h4 bd7 10.xd7 xd7 11.h5 e4 12.h3 [ In an earlier game vs Nisipeanu in the European Team Championships Fedorov prefered 12.0-0 but failed to obtain any a d v a n t a g e . T h e g a m e c o n t i n u e d : d5 13.xd5 cxd5 14.d3 d6 15.d2 d8! 16.g2 h4 17.h1 f6 18.c3 f4! After the exchange of dark-squared Bishops Black has little to worry about. 19.c1 xd2 20.xd2 0-0-0 21.f4 e7 22.ae1 d6 23.h3 b8 24.f2 g6 25.eh1 f6 26.hxg6 fxg6 27.g5 h5 28.h4 df8 29.f1 f7 30.e2 g7 31.g4 f5 32.xf5 xf5 33.e3 a6 34.e1 and in this level position a draw was agreed. ] 12...g2 13.g3 [ 13.e3 was Anand's choice. ] 13...d5 14.xd5 cxd5 15.d2 d8 16.e2 d6 Due to the position of White's Rook Black wins a very important tempo and successfully completes development. 17.f3 0-0 18.g5 b6 19.b3 a6 20.g6?! A hasty move. [ 20.0-0-0 first should be preferred. ] 20...h4! Probably White underestimated this

move. 21.0-0-0 [ After 21.gxf7+ xf7 White can't grab the p a w n i n v i e w o f 22.xe6?? h1+ and Black wins. ] 21...xh5! [ It's not good to take the other pawn: 21...xd4 22.gxf7+ xf7 ( 22...h8 23.h6 is even worse for Black.) 23.xe6 af8 24.g5 e5 25.xe5 xe5 26.xf7 xf7 27.xd5 with a clear extra pawn in the endgame and excellent winning chances for White. ] 22.e3?! Too optimistic. [ 22.xf7 is also bad: xe2 23.xf8+ xf8 24.gxh7+ xh7 25.xe2 xf2 and Black has a clear extra pawn ] [ 22.gxh7+ was obligatory, with mutual chances. h8 ] 22...xg6 White is 2 pawns down for no compensation. 23.h3 fc8 24.dh1 c7 25.h4 d7! 26.xh7 xh7 27.xh7 xh7 This position is hopeless for White. Bla ck co n ve rt s h is ad va n t a ge in t o a win wit h o u t a ny p ro b le ms. T h e rest n e e d n o comment. 28.e2 ac8 29.c3 g8 30.b2 b5 31.d3 c6 32.g1 f6 33.f3 e5! 34.dxe5 xe5 35.e2 b4 36.c2 xc3 37.d1 d4 38.g5 e8 White resigned . It's not clear to me what's wrong with Anand's 13 Re3, his win over Lautier seemingly very convincing. Nisipeanu and Hauchard definitely have something in mind. But what? We have to wait for new games in this line. Undoubtedly we'll see them very soon. If so, I'll tell you immediately. 0-1

202 Ferguson,Mark Matin,Adam 4NCL Telford [Andrew Martin]

B01 2380 2425 19.01.2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 In some ways an awkward move for Black to meet. The standard white-squared pawn chain plans are no longer available and he has to change tack. I've played the f ollowing plan twice now, against GM Rowson and here and have never been entirely happy with my position although 187

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the results are OK. In purely chess terms, White delays Nc3 giving priority to Be2 and 0-0 and then maybe d4 and c2-c4,gaining space and time in the centre. f6 There are two sharp alternatives: [ 3...g6 4.d4 h6!? Of course Black doesn't have to play this m ove, bu t t he ide a o f pressurising d4 is without doubt interesting. 5.c3 d8 6.f4 f5 ] [ 3...g4 4.e2 f6 5.0-0 c6!? 6.d4 0-0-0 is another dance on a volcano e.g. 7.c4 h5 8.h3 e5!? ] 4.d4 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.f4 Rowson put his Bishop on e3. Black sticks to the plan. d8 The Queen was going to get pushed back anyway. 8.c4 0-0 9.b3 c8 10.c3 bd7 11.ad1 a6 A key move, preventing Nb5 and planning ... Bd6. Black hopes to get ...c7-c5 in one move that is the p o i n t o f h i s p l a y. Fe r gu s o n co m f o r t a b l y maintains an edge. 12.fe1 e8 13.e5 xe2 14.xe2 xe5 15.dxe5 d7 Variations are inapplicable. Black works with a 'manageable disadvantage ' As long as he is modest in his ambitions I believe the Black position to be def ensible. 16.e4 f8 17.g3 g6 Covering g7 18.ed2 d8 O r W h i t e d o m i n a t e s . 19.xd8+ xd8 20.g4 e7 Creating room for ...Qe8 and ... Rd8. 21.g3 e8 22.h4 d8 23.h5 xd1+ 24.xd1 f8 25.g4 d8= I was happier no w. W it h rat io n al e xch an ge s B la ck h a s minimised any disadvantage and the next task was to get rid of the powerful Knight on e4.. 26.h2 [ 26.f4 d4? ( 26...d7! 27.h6 g6 28.d1 c6= ) 27.g5! idea ...Nf6+! ] 26...d7 27.h6 g6 28.f4 c5! Now a curious thing happened. W hite continued to believe that he was better. That cannot be so once Knights are exchanged. Back rank tricks and possible Queen ending squeezes are counterbalanced by the poor white bishop. 29.xc5 xc5 30.f3? [ 30.e3 xe3 31.fxe3 c5 32.b3 f8 is slightly better for Black but I think White should draw. ] 30...d4! Overlooked completely. The tables turn. 31.g3 xb2 32.f6 f8 33.d8 c1! 34.xc7 xh6+ 35.g1 c1+ 36.h2 b5-+ 37.c6 bxc4 38.xa6 c3

39.c4 g5 [ 39...c2! 40.f4 xf4+ 41.xf4 a3 would have been a nicer way. I didn't even see this cute line, concentrating on making the win as simple as could be. ] 40.f4 c2 41.fxg5 d1 42.f4 a3 43.g6 [ 43.c8+ g7 44.g6 hxg6 45.h6+ h7-+ ] 43...hxg6 44.c8+ g7 3 Nf3 is less common than 3 Nc3 but it does restrict Black's choice. I will learn the lines with .... 0-0-0 and go for that next time. 0-1

203 Fernandez Garcia,Jose Luis Karpov,Anatoly Country vs. World Advanced, Sant [Andrew Martin]

B01 2450 2685 2003

1.e4 d5 The ultimate seal of approval. Anatoly Karpov plays the Scheming Scandinavian! Same type of pawn structure as the Caro Kann and not half as much to learn. It's a very practical choice. 2.exd5 xd5 3.d4?! A move which is fine as long as you are content with an equal position which of course most W hite players are not. I think Fernandez Garcia has been genuinely surprised by Karpov's choice of opening and is in rather a hurry to get away from established main lines. e5! The best move, guaranteeing an excellent position for Black. 4.f3 [ 4.dxe5?! A horrible move which, if you are as skilled as Movsesian, you can just about get away with. Others should shun 4 dxe5 because it just allows Black to obtain a very active position. xd1+ 5.xd1 c6 6.f4 c5 7.f3 ge7 8.bd2 g4 9.g3 0-0-0 10.d3 f5 11.h3 Already White is scrambling f or equality. xg3 12.fxg3 xf3+ 13.xf3 he8 14.d2 xe5 15.xe5 xe5 1/2-1/2 Movsesian, SIstratescu, A/National I, Clermont-Ferrand FRA 2003 (15) ] [ 4.c3!? Perhaps the best try although objectively Black is comfortable. A) 4...xd4 5.xd4 exd4 6.b5 b4+ 7.d2 xd2+ 8.xd2 a6 ( 8...d8 9.xd4 f6 10.e1 e8= ) 9.e1+ e7 188

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.xd4; B) 4...b4 5.f3 g4 6.e2 exd4 ( I like 6...e4 7.e5 xe2 here. ) 7.0-0 xc3 8.bxc3 f6 9.h3 h5 10.a3 bd7 11.cxd4 a5 12.d3 0-0-0 13.ab1 Vasquez Ramirez, R-Ruiz Jimenez, F Havana 2003 ] 4...c6 5.c3 b4 6.d2 xc3 7.xc3 e4 8.e5 xe5 9.dxe5 e7 10.xd5 xd5= With effortless equality for Black, although winning this position against the Two Bishops i s q u i t e a n o t h e r m a t t e r . 11.d4 b4 Black's active play and ease of development combat the Bishops. 12.b5+ c6 13.a4 There was no better way to defend c2. e6 With the idea of ...b7-b5. 14.a3 d5 15.c3 [ I prefer 15.0-0-0 f4 16.g3 although W hite has nothing there too. The game move seems to voluntarily weaken the d3 square. ] 15...f4! 16.c2 xg2+ 17.d2 f5 18.hg1 f4 19.ae1 [ 19.xg7 g6 leaves the Rook embarrassed. ] 19...e6 20.xe4 xe4 21.xe4 0-0-0 22.c2 b6 23.e3 d7! If White could arrange to play f4-f5, he might be able to put Black under pressure, but the Knight on e6 is so strong and that advance can be easily parried by ...g7-g6. 24.h4 d5 25.f4 g6 26.h3 g7 Completing the picture. Black has a better pawn structure and a superior m in o r p ie c e . B u t if W h it e is vigila n t , it ' s difficult to see Karpov winning. 27.f2 hd8 Black is in a hurry to take the d file lest White exchanges a pair of Rooks to ease the defence. [ 27...h5 28.d3 hd8 29.xd5 xd5 30.c4= ] 28.xh7! d2+ 29.b3 e6 30.e3 e2 31.c1! Holding. d7 32.h4 f2 33.h5 gxh5 34.xh5 xf4 35.xf4= Not an especially memorable game but clear evidence that the line with 3 d4 is not to be feared. ½-½

204 Filipovic,Branko Furrer,Marc 8th Hilton Schachfestival (3) [Eric Prié]

B01 2412 2163 03.01.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 Last year I wrote: "I took up t h e S c a n d i n a vi a n i n 1 9 9 1 . I m e a n T H E Scandinavian, the real one and only with 3... Qa5, not the feeble 'substitutes' of 2...Nf6 nor 2...Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8 or 3...Qd6 that I will talk about (if I am given the chance to comment Topalov-Kamsky Corus 2005 [1-0 in 20 moves] in the next update!) where White can either make immediate use of his c-pawn or hinder the successful development of Black's light-squared bishop outside his pawn chain. Unfortunately, I had to give up this aggressive system, with which I and Etienne Bacrot, who was my pupil at the time, had tremendous results, quite soon, when the ultimate refutation started to spread." Here it is: 6.d2! a6 Parrying the lethal threat of Nc3-b5, c2-c4c5 which once again highlights the delicate positioning of the black queen in connection with the move ... Nb8-c6. Still, such a move can only represent a makeshift, waiting for better days when White does not play 6.Bd2 (6.Bb5 Ne4! for instance in my dated Encyclopaedia B...) [ For 6...g4 10 See game ] 7.c4 Threatening Nd5, trapping the Black queen which is the main feature of the p r e v i o u s g a m e s o n t h e 5 . B d 2 l i n e . h5 For other queen's moves, 7...Qb4, 7... Qb6, 7...Qf5 and the Pseudo-sacrifice 7...Nxd4 8. N x d 4 Q c 5 s e e t h e n e x t g a m e . 8.e5! Alas, the white initiative will not abate in spite o f t h e e x c h a n g e o f q u e e n s . xe5? More tenacious is [ 8...xd1+ 9.xd1 e6 is relatively best as p o in t e d o u t b y G M C u rt Ha n se n i n h i s ChessBase CD on the Scandinavian. Unfortunately practice lacks relevant e x a m p l e s . P l a y m a y c o n t i n u e ( 9...d8 10.0-0 Then the Nd8 is as badly placed as on h5 but at least it is not threatened with b e i n g l o s t !) 10.xc6 bxc6 11.a4! The obligatory move before the optional one, like castling kingside. The knight is very well 189

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 placed on this square as Hansen mentions as well in his general comments about the position. It eyes c5 and b2 with the idea a5 12.d3! a6 13.c4 d5 14.b3 b6 ( 14...b4 15.b1 Threatening a2-a3.) 15.c5 xc5 16.dxc5 d7 17.e3! Black can play more subtly, however, with a timely ...Nd7, then White should be ready to meet ...Nb6 with Nc5 implying a previous b2b3 to keep the a4-square under control or Bc4-b3 protecting a4 with c6 as a target. It is also good when White prevents the black c-pawns from undoubling with Be3. In any c a s e t h e e n d i n g r e m a i n s d i s s u a s i ve l y superior for White as in Spassky-Prie ] 9.xh5 xh5 A new idea that should backfire like [ 9...d3+ 10.cxd3!? Safer is ( 10.xd3 xh5 11.d5 ) 10...xh5 11.d5 d8 12.c1 A) 12...e6! 13.xc7 b8! Now Black will be able to parry the a5 check with ... b7-b6. ( 13...xc7 14.xe6+ d8 15.a5+ e7 16.xc8 ); B) 12...g6? 13.b3 f5 ( 13...c6 14.a5+ d7 15.b6+ ) 14.xc7 1-0 Ernst, T-Einvik, G Gausdal 1995 ] 10.dxe5 c6 The threat of Nd5 has to be circumvented and since this is not possible with [ 10...e6 because of 11.g4 ] 11.0-0-0 g6 12.h3 The position was already ripe for a frontal assault leading to the win of a pawn at least: [ 12.a4! b5 ( 12...f5 13.c5 b5 14.e2 g7 15.f3 c8 16.xa6 ) 13.b6 b8 14.e2! e6 ( 14...xb6 15.a5 f4 16.f3 d5 17.xd5 ) 15.e3 g7 16.f3 ( 16.g4 f4 ) 16...xe5 17.xc6+ f8 18.d7+ xd7 19.xd7 f4 20.a7 xe3+ ( 20...b6 21.b7 a5 22.f3 a4 23.e1 ) 21.fxe3 b6 22.b7 a5 23.f3 a4 24.d1 f6 25.d8+ g7 26.xh8 xh8 27.xe7+- ] 12...h6? Black overdoes it a bit... [ 12...g7 13.a4 e6 ] 13.a4 g7 [ 13...b5 14.b6 b8 15.xc8 ( 15.e2! ) 15...xc8 16.b3 ( 16.e2 g7 ) 16...e6 ( 16...g7 17.e3 f5 18.e6! ) 17.g4 g7 18.e3 ]

14.b6 b8 15.e6!! xe6 [ 15...xe6 16.c3 f6 ( 16...g8 17.e5; 16...g7 17.xe6 xc3 18.xc8 a5 19.d7+ f8 20.c4 ) 17.xc8 xc8 18.xe6 ] 16.f4 d8 [ 16...xc4 17.xb8 e6 18.c7 f6 19.d8+ f7 20.b8+- ] 17.xd8+ xd8 18.d1+ e8 19.a8! d7 [ 19...f6 20.c7+ f7 21.xe6 xe6 22.e1 ] 20.c7+ d8 21.xf7 g5 22.e5 c8 23.a8! The postman always rings twice! 1-0

205 Fischer,Robert James Robatsch,Karl olm Varna [Alexander Volzhin]

B01

1962

This line was known not to be very good but it has received a certain amount of attention recently and from time to time it occurs even at the very highest level, mainly in Michael Adam s' games. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.d4 The initial position of the variation. Now Black has two different plans. One possibility is the fianchetto of his darksquared Bishop, and another is to play the light-squared Bishop to f5 and the arising position looks like a typical Caro Kann. g6 5.f4! Although this game was played almost 40 years ago Fischer's plan is considered as the best nowadays. The idea of this move (followed by 6 .Qd2) is to prevent Black's Knight manoeuvre to f5-square via h6. [ Another possible plan is 5.c4 g7 6.f3 aiming for a small but steady advantage, but recent practice proves Black has good cha nces o f equa lising: h6 7.xh6!? ( The alternatives are: 7.e4 f5 8.c3 0-0 9.0-0 d7 10.f4 d6 11.d3 Kaminski-Kiedrowicz, Bielsko-Biala 1991.; 7.g5 f5 8.0-0 0-0 9.e1 h6 10.f4 c6 11.e5 Arakhamia-Petrovic, Tuzla 1987, with a tiny edge in both cases.) 7...xh6 8.e5 0-0 9.0-0 d7 10.e2 b6 11.ad1 xc4 12.xc4 f5 13.b3 b8 190

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and Black has little to worry about, Tiviakov-Galliamova, Elista 1998. ] 5...g7 [ the immediate 5...h6 is not good in view of 6.e5! f6 7.f4 , weakening Black's Kside. ] 6.d2! [ T e m p t i n g i s 6.b5 as was played in Bronstein-Kholmov, Tbilisi 1959 is harmless: a6 7.f3 f6 8.c4 c6 9.c3 g4 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 d7 12.e3 e5 13.d5 c5 14.e1 xe2 15.xe2 f5 and in this complicated position Black's chances are by no means bad. ] 6...f6 [ It's not good for Black to take the d4-pawn: 6...xd4 7.xd4 xd4 8.b5 b6 9.xc7+ xc7 10.xc7 and the endgame clearly favors White ] [ 6...xd4? 7.0-0-0 c6 8.b5 d7 9.d5! e5 10.f3 and Black can't avoid gross material losses. ] 7.0-0-0 c6 8.h6 0-0? This natural looking move is indeed the decisive mistake! [ 8...xh6 9.xh6 f5 intending to castle Qs id e s h o u ld b e p la ye d , a lt h o u gh in m y opinion White is clearly better here. ] 9.h4! Exploiting Black's mistake White starts a K-side attack without delay. a5 10.h5! gxh5 The only move. [ Black can't allow the opening of the h-file: 10...d8 11.hxg6 fxg6 12.xg7 xg7 13.h6+ g8 14.f3 15 and Black can't parry the threat of Ng5 ] [ 10...xh5 is also insufficient: 11.e2 f6 12.xg7 xg7 13.h6+ g8 14.g4! and White wins by force: d8 15.g5 h5 16.xh5 gxh5 17.xh5 f5 ( or 17...f5 18.g6! ) 18.g6! xg6 19.g5 winning the Queen. ] 11.d3! bd7 [ It would be very good for Black to transfer his light-squared Bishop to the g6-square but White's last move made this manoeuvre impossible: 11...f5? 12.g5 ] 12.ge2 d8 13.g4! The decisive breakthrough. Now White's attack becomes unstoppable. f8 [ Black can't accept the sacrifice in view of 13...xg4 14.dg1! with decisive threats. ] 14.gxh5 Now Black is helpless against threats

on the g-file. e6 15.dg1 h8 [ Or 15...f8 16.xg7+ xg7 17.h6 g4 18.xh7 and White wins. ] 16.xg7+ xg7 17.h6 g8 [ 17...e6 18.f4! ] 18.g5 d8 [ 18...f5 i s a l s o b a d : 19.xg8+ xg8 20.f8 , Rg1 to follow. ] 19.hg1 f5? A blunder but Black's position is lost anyway. 20.xf5 Bobby Fischer at his best! 1-0

206 Fressinet,Laurent Bauer,Christian 83rd ch-FRA Pau FRA (2) [John Watson]

B01 2673 2583 12.08.2008

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 c6 A very unusual move order in conjunction with Black's next move. 5.f3 g4!? [ 5...f6 transposes to the main ...Qd6/...c6 line. ] 6.e3 [ After 6.h3 , perhaps Black was planning to grab the pawn following xf3 ( 6...h5 7.g4!? g6 8.e5 would be interesting, e.g. , d7 9.c4!? c7 10.f3 ) 7.xf3 xd4!? , following a game Andrew Martin cited: ( 7...f6 8.e3 e6 9.0-0-0 has appeared in a couple of games - see Vorobiov-Hasangatin 2006 in the Archives.) 8.e3 d8 9.d3!? ( probably 9.d1 is m o r e d a n g e r o u s f o r B la ck a f t e r a5 10.c4 f6 11.0-0 ) 9...d7 10.0-0-0 gf6 11.g4!? ( 11.b1 e6 12.g3 ) 11...e6 12.d4 a5 13.b1 c5! 14.xf6 xf6 15.g5 d7 16.xh7 e5 Grabaczyk - Cicak, Oberliga Ost 2001. ] 6...f6 7.h3 h5 [ 7...xf3 8.xf3 e6 is a standard structure that arises f rom m any openings. W hit e probably has the advantage because Black's pieces aren't developed or coordinating ideally. ] 8.g4 g6 9.e5 This is all normal-looking except for W hite's bishop on e3, which is a little passively-placed to have used up a tempo on. Still, W hite will try to make 191

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 something of his space. bd7 10.xg6 [ A very important idea in these positions is 10.f4!? . Then e6 ( 10...d5? 11.c4! and f5 follows) 11.g2 has ideas of Qe2 and h4 o r 0-0-0 . Compa re this month's Amin-Sengupta game. ( 11.h4 d5 )] 10...hxg6 11.f3 e6 12.0-0-0 c7 White has two bishops, but this pawn structure is theoretically suited for restraining W hite pawn moves that might activate them. For all that, I think that White's space gives him the a d v a n t a g e . 13.b1 b4 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.f3 d5 17.c1 b5! W e ' ve s e e n t h is i d e a in t h e C a r o - K a n n : prevention of c4 takes precedence. 18.h4! [ 18.c4?! bxc4 19.xc4 b8 ] 18...0-0-0!? Daring, because it risks attack down the c-file. Other ideas would be [ 18...e7 and ] [ 18...d6 ] 19.h5 [ More ambitious is 19.c4! bxc4 20.xc4 . Rd3-b3 and a transfer of the h1 rook to c1 would be more pointed. ] 19...gxh5 20.gxh5 e7!? 21.c4 f6! 22.g2 bxc4 23.xc4 e7 Versus Bg5, but also in order not to lose time on the queenside after, say, Rh3-b3. 24.h3 g5 25.f3!? [ 25.e4 g7 26.dd3 with the idea Rb3 is one setup. W hite's next few moves don't seem to do anything. ] 25...g7 26.f1?! b6 27.b3 b7! 28.a4 g4?! [ Black would be well on top after 28...xh5! with the idea 29.a5 g4! ] 29.h6! xh6?! Perhaps not objectively best, but Black wants to fight for the initiative in what is probably approaching time trouble. 30.xh6 xh6 31.g3 [ 31.xf7?? g6+ ] 31...f4 32.e2 xd4 33.xd4 xd4 34.xg4 White stands better, but he has some weaknesses to give Black hope. f6 35.a2 c5 36.f3 a5 37.d2 b4 38.f4?! [ 38.xb4! axb4 39.xb4 gives White a good attack: c7! 40.a5 d7 41.a6 g5 42.a7 d8 43.c2! a8 44.a4 and Black remains tied up. ] 38...e7! 39.e4!?

[ Only White can win a position like 39.xf6 xf6 40.f4 d7 41.c4 ] 39...d7 40.f4 g7 41.g4 f6 42.f4 A bit odd, since W hite risks nothing by continuing. ½-½

207 Fressinet,Laurent Feygin,Michail Bundesliga 2008-9 (7) [John Watson]

B01 2676 2569 28.11.2008

3...Qd6 has taken over from 3...Qa5 in practice at the top levels of play. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e3 This apparently passive move is actually rather hard to contend with. 6 Ne5 and 6 g3 are more common. g4 7.h3 xf3?! In this position, because White has played Be3, it seems undesirable to bring White's queen to f3 while ceding the bishop pair, because 0-0-0 can come so quickly. It seems to me that [ 7...h5 is better, with a typical continuation along the lines of A) in an earlier update I showed FressinetBauer, Pau 2008: 8.g4 g6 9.e5 bd7 10.xg6 ( I think that 10.f4 deserves strong consideration, as explained there) 10...hxg6 11.f3 e6 12.0-0-0 c7 W hite has two bishops, but it's not as much as he gets in our game, primarily due to the open h-file.; B) 8.e2 e6 9.d2 c7 (so as to answer Bf4 by ...Bd6) 10.0-0-0 bd7 ( 10...b4!? ) 11.b1 d6 12.he1 0-0-0 and White's edge is nominal. ] 8.xf3 bd7 [ 8...e6 is a standard structure that arises from many openings. W hite probably has th e ad va nt a ge b e cau se B la ck's pie c e s aren't developed or coordinating ideally. 9.0-0-0 has appeared in a couple of games see Vorobiov-Hasangatin 2006 in the Archives. ] 9.0-0-0 e6 10.b1 [ 10.f4 b4 11.c7! cuts the queen off then c8 12.a3 e7 13.e5 d8 14.g3! must be in White's favour. ] 192

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10...c7 11.g4! A major decision. White prevents 11...0-0-0 because of 12 g5 and Qxf7, while gaining space. On the whole, this seems to count for more than the fact that g4 is weakening. d5!? [ 11...h6 12.h4 0-0-0 13.d3! ] [ 11...e7 lo o ks b e st t h e n 12.d3 0-0 13.g5!? d5 14.xd5 ( 14.e4 c5 ) 14...cxd5 15.h4 b6 16.h5 g6 17.e2 c4 18.h5 with the idea of Rh4 and Rdh1 gives some attacking chances. ] 12.c1 [ 12.xd5! cxd5 13.c1! and 14 c4 would exploit Black's last move. ] 12...xc3+ 13.xc3 d6 14.f3 f6? [ 14...0-0 is relatively solid. White might r e s p o n d w i t h 15.h4 ( 15.d3 c5?! 16.xh7+ xh7 17.d3+ g8 18.dxc5 will win a pawn. 15...Rac8 is better) 15...e5 16.h5 exd4 17.h6 g6 18.xd4 ] 15.g5 g8?! Black wants to stay in touch with f7 so as to castle queenside, but he can't easily achieve that, so [ 15...d7 16.h4 f8 17.h5 0-0-0 might improve. Nevertheless, White has a clear advantage after 18.h6 g6 19.f6 g8 20.d3! b8 21.c4 ] 16.c4 d7 A very bad sign. [ After 16...0-0-0 17.c5 f8 18.c4 , Black can't develop. ] 17.d5! [ Or 17.h4 wit h t h e id e a e7 18.d3 and h5. ] 17...cxd5 [ 17...exd5 18.cxd5 e7 19.dxc6 bxc6 20.c4 0-0 21.d2 and White's bishops are asserting themselves. ] 18.cxd5 e5 19.h4! e7 20.h3 a4 21.h5 0-0? But Black had serious problems anyway, for example, [ 21...d8 22.he1 0-0 23.h6 gxh6 24.gxh6 f5 25.g5 ] 22.h6 Suddenly the position is resignable. gxh6 23.f5! g6 24.h3! fd8 25.xh6 f8 [ 25...f8 26.xh7+ xh7 27.xh7+ f8 28.f5! e7 29.g6! is the end. ] 1-0

208 Friedel,Joshua E Pechenkin,V 4th Int Edmonton CAN (8) [Neil McDonald]

B01 2551 2372 21.12.2009

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 xd5 4.d4 g6 5.c4 b6 6.c5 d5 7.c4 c6 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 0-0 10.c3 As you can see in the archives, Black is really labouring to stay alive in this variation. His next move makes matters even worse. b6? This game demonstrates in startling fashion why Black usually chooses to prevent White's next move with [ 10...h6 ] 11.g5 e6 The natural way to defend d5 and meet the threat to e7, but rather surprisingly it allows a combination. 12.xd5 cxd5 13.xe7! xe7 14.xd5 c6 [ After 14...a6 15.xa8 xa8 16.d5 d8 17.e2 xd5 18.xa6 xc5 19.e2 Black's two bishops aren't enough for the exchange. ] 15.xc6 ac8? [ A better chance is 15...ad8 to attack the d4 pawn, when White still has a far amount o f wo r k t o d o t o c la im t h e win , t h o u g h 16.cxb6 axb6 17.a4 d6 18.ad1 etc. should do the trick. ] 16.d5 bxc5 17.b3 [ Even stronger was 17.a4 so that if c7 18.ad1 intending 19.dxe6 Qxc6 20.Qxc6 Rxc6 21.e7 Re8 22.Rd8 when the passed pawn gets through. f5 19.g4 and wins. ] 17...d6 [ Black could have muddled on with 17...b8 18.e3 d6 ] 18.dxe6 xc6 19.g5 fxe6 20.xe6 d7 21.c6+ h8 22.f7+ xf7 23.xf7 xc6 24.xa7 xb2 25.b1 d4 26.h1 xf2 27.e7 1-0

193

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 209 Frolov,Denis Vshivkov,Konstantin Perm [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2330 1997

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 b6 5.c3 e5!? 6.f3 g4 7.e2 xf3 8.xf3 exd4 9.0-0!? Starting interesting complications. [ After 9.b5 b4+ 10.d2 xd2+ 11.xd2 c6 12.xd4 xc4 13.e2+ e7 14.0-0-0 xe2 15.xe2 White had achieved a small advantage in the endgame in Peptan - Casagrande, Biel 1996 ] 9...dxc3 [ 9...c6 trying to complete his development safely also comes into consideration, the game Bochinski - Klawa, Germany 1993 continued with 10.e1+ e7 11.g5 c8 12.b5 0-0 13.xe7 xe7 14.xd4 xd4 15.xd4 g6 16.f5 and Black's life is not so easy in this endgame. ] 10.e1+ e7 11.g5! [ Sacrificing the knight. White of course was n o t g o i n g t o p l a y 11.xd8+? xd8 12.xb7 after 8d7 13.xa8 xa8 14.bxc3 f6 15.d1 c8 with a big advantage for Black as in the game Kaps Calota, Rimavska Sobota 1996 ] 11...f6 12.h5+ g6 13.xf6 0-0 [ 13...f7? was losing by force: 14.xe7+! xf6 15.f3+ xe7 16.e1+ A) 16...d7 17.g4+ d6 18.e6+ d7 ( 18...c5 19.e3+ d4 20.e5+ ) 19.xb6+ e8 20.e6+ e7 21.f6 winning; B) 16...d6 17.d3+ ( 17.c5+ is good enough as well: xc5 18.xc3+ c4 19.e5+ d5 20.b4+ c6 21.xd5 xd5 22.f3+ etc. ) 17...c6 18.f3+ d5 19.xd5+ b6 20.c5+ a5 21.e4 winning ] 14.xe7 [ Of course not 14.xe7? xd1+ 15.xd1 xf6 winning ] 14...xd1 15.axd1 [ This position had already been played a c o u p l e o f t i m e s b e f o r e , 15.xd1 is also worth considering: cxb2 16.b1 e8 17.c5 c6 18.cxb6 xe7 19.xe7 xe7

20.bxc7 c8 21.xb2 xc7 22.g3 g7 23.g2 with a small advantage in the game Smirin - Preissmann, Geneva 1992 ] 15...c2 [ 15...gxh5 does not solve all Black's problems 16.xf8 xf8 17.c5 6d7 18.bxc3 a5 19.d5 a6 20.xh5 f6 21.f5 f7 22.b1 with an advantage in the game Frolov - Sivokho, St. Petersburg 1995. ] 16.c1 gxh5 17.xf8 xf8 18.xc2 c6 19.d2 [ 19.b3 was tried in the game Groszpeter W a d s a c k , O b e r w a r t 1 9 9 6 : d8 ( 19...e8!? ) 20.h3 d4 21.c3 d7?! ( 21...e8 ) 22.e5 f7 23.ce3 d7 24.xh5 with real winning chances. ] 19...e8 20.xe8+ xe8 21.b3 Two knights are not bad against a rook in such endgames but of course W hite has some winning chances. e7 22.f3 d7 23.f2 d8 24.d5 f6 25.e5+ d6 26.g5 e6 27.f5 e7 28.a5 a6 29.b4 c6 30.b5 axb5 31.cxb5 c5 32.a7 c4? Too risky. W as Black really hoping to promote his cpawn? Now the White passed pawns are very dangerous. [ 32...d8 was good enough to hold the balance: 33.a4 c4 34.a5 c3 35.e3 d5+ 36.d3 d6 and the position looks drawish. ] 33.xb7+ d6 34.b6+ d5 35.e3 [ 35.c6!? deserves attention: e8 36.c8 d6 37.b6! c5 38.c7 c3 ( 38...e6 39.b7 ) 39.e2 c4 40.b7 but Black is still fighting after c2!? ( 40...xb7 41.d3 ) 41.b8 c1 42.g8+ d4 43.d8+ c3 44.f6+ b4 a l t h o u g h a f t e r 45.d4 White has real winning chances. ] 35...e5 36.c6 d5+ 37.d2 c3+ 38.xc3 Forced. xc3 39.xc3 The position looks completely winning for White but Black has an important resource. h4 40.d2?! [ 40.c4 looks more logical: d6 ( 40...h3 41.gxh3 g5 42.f4+ xf4 43.d5 ) 41.a4 and now after h3 42.gxh3 g5 White is not losing the f-pawn as in the game. 43.f4 ] 40...h3 41.gxh3 d4 42.b6 xf3+ 43.d3 d6 44.e3 e5 45.f4 d7 46.b7 e6 47.g5 e5 194

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ And a draw was agreed as taking the hpawn is not enough to win the game: 47...e5 48.h6 f6 49.xh7 as the White king is locked up on the edge o f t h e b o a rd a n d t h e kn ig h t ca n e a sil y neutralise the passed pawns: f7 50.a4 b8 51.h4 a6 52.h6 f6= ] ½-½

210 Gabrielian,Artur Glek,Igor V Geller Mem Moscow RUS (7) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2520 2560 08.05.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.f3 W ith this particular move-order, W hite is trying to blunt the variations with...Bc8-f5. If Black plays that move, White responds with Bc4 and d2-d3! and the light-squared Bishop 'bites on granite' I personally don't think this matters a great deal Black is solid anyway, but here we see that Glek is intimidated and enters a somewhat simplistic sideline which all the way along the line is a little better for White. [ 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 This is how he likes to play it . ( I prefer 5...c6! a more flexible try. ) 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 c6 8.e3 e6 9.d3 bd7 10.0-0 d6 11.ad1 0-0 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 g6 14.c4 e8 15.f3 h4 16.fe1 e5 17.g4 ( 17.c5 exd4 18.cxd6 dxe3 19.xe3 b4 ) 17...xg4 18.hxg4 exd4 19.xd4 e5 20.xe5 xe5 1/2-1/2 Khruschiov, A-Glek, I/Moscow RUS 2006/ ] 4...g4 [ 4...f6 5.c4 c6 is the flexible choice again. ] 5.h3 [ 5.c4 e6 6.0-0 f6 7.d4 c6 8.e3 e7 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 0-0 11.g3 d6 12.f4 d5 13.xd5 cxd5 14.d3 d7 15.f3 g6 16.f5 h4 17.f2 f4 18.xf4 xf4 19.fxe6 fxe6 Ladron de Guevara Bravo, PMartinez Garret, J/Malaga 2005 20.ae1 ] 5...xf3 6.xf3 c6 This is clearly an option for Black, but not very exciting! After ceding the two Bishops, all that Black can hope for now is long-term equality and a struggle to

get even that! So why does Glek choose this line? I think he is confident about his technique and of course it is not THAT easy for White. The type of small edge that White is getting could easily dissipate. 7.b4!?N [ 7.c4 has been most common: f6 8.0-0 e6 9.d3 d5 ( 9...d6 10.e4 xe4 11.dxe4 d7 12.e2 c7 13.e3 h2+ 14.h1 f4 15.ad1 0-0-0= Karatorossian, D-Sulskis, S/Linares 2000; 9...e7 10.e1 bd7 11.g5 c8 12.a4 a5 13.ad1 0-0 14.d4 Jonasson, R-Kurucz, L/Balaton 1996 ) 10.e4 e7 11.e1 0-0 12.e3 d7 13.d4 5f6 14.c3 xe4 15.xe4 c7 16.g4 f6 17.d4 ae8 18.ae1 h8 19.1e3 c5 20.g3 g6 21.f4 h5 Vazquez Gonzalez, J-Borrajo, A/Orense 1997 22.f3 ] 7...a6 8.b1 f6 9.a4 Very interesting play! Quite often the pawn lever b4-b5 is accompanied by a fianchetto of White's King Bishop here White is using his Queen to add fuel to the fire. Gabriellan's plan is logical, attacking c6 and b7. Yet White's insistence on a ' different' type of game gives Black extra winning chances too and enables Glek to come to lif e from his currently rather dull position. e6 10.b5 c7 [ 10...axb5 11.axb5 e7 is OK for Black according to Deep Fritz, but the machine doesn't seem to understand that W hite is just massively better after 12.bxc6! ] 11.d3! bd7 12.e4 In my view, White's o p e n i n g p l a y i n t h i s g a m e i s e xt r e m e l y original. e5 [ 12...xe4 13.xe4 conforms to the main theme. ] [ but Glek could have considered capturing o n b 5 f i r s t : 12...axb5 13.axb5 e5 14.xf6+ gxf6 15.xf6 xd3+ 16.cxd3 g8 17.0-0 cxb5 18.b2 ( 18.a1 a4! ) 18...c6 19.g3 c5 20.e5 ] 13.xf6+ gxf6 14.xf6 [ 14.g3 xd3+ 15.xd3 e5+ 16.e3 d5! ] 14...xd3+ 15.cxd3 g8 16.bxa6 xa6 17.0-0 a5! [ A small edge could be gained by 17...xa4 18.d4 g6 19.h4 h6 ] 18.h1 ag5 Changing gears! 19.g1 d6 The worm has well and truly turned and with 195

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the threat of ...Bh2, Black is on top! 20.f3 [ 20.g3 f5 is of course, lost for White. ] 20...h2! 21.e1 [ I don't hold any great hope out for Gabriellan after 21.xb7 but it would have been better than the game. xb7 22.xh2 f5 23.e3 b3! ] 21...xg2 22.xg2 xg2 23.xg2 d6 24.e4 e7 25.f1 f5 26.c4 f7 27.a5 c5 28.a3 The game comes to an abrupt end courtesy of the clock. We should discard the latter stages an d con centrate o n th e opening though. Solid, but passive is my overall impression of Black's system. 0-1

211 Gashimov,Vugar Hamdouchi,Hicham Galicia Festival Blitz blitz (4) [John Watson]

B01 2740 2590 26.09.2009

Gashimov is a leading grandmaster, and even his Blitz games can be instructive. Here's a short listing of recent ideas in a critical line. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 f5 6.c4 c6 7.d2 e6 8.d5 Houska devotes 28 pages(!) of her new book to this move, in a chapter 'The Main Line: Shirov's 8 Nd5'. d8 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.0-0 Here are the main lines, with a couple of my previously Archived games as examples, and a few of Houska's notes: [ a) 10.b3 d7 11.e2 c7 12.h4 g6 , when the Archives give the f ollowing: 13.0-0-0 ( 13.f4 0-0-0 14.0-0-0 f5 15.g3 b8 16.c4 f6 17.xg6 hxg6 was about equal in Socko-D Schwarz, Warsaw 2008.) 13...0-0-0 14.g3 A) 14...d6 15.b1 ( 15.xg6 hxg6 16.h4 b8 17.c3 c8 18.b1 c5 19.dxc5 xc5 20.c2 looks to be slightly in White's favour (h5 can follow), GroverAlmond, Hastings ENG 2008) 15...he8 16.xg6 hxg6 17.h4 f5 18.g5!? ( 18.h5 ) 18...e7 19.f4 d6 20.g5 e7 21.f4 d6 1/2-1/2 BittencourtVescovi, Porto Alegre BRA 2008.; B) 14...b8 15.b1 a8 16.xg6 hxg6 17.h4 h6 18.c3 g7 19.h5 gxh5

20.xh5 f5 21.dh1 f6 22.xh8 xh8 23.xh8+ xh8 24.d2 d8 25.c3 g7 26.f4 d5 27.c1 h8 28.g4 h3 29.gxf5 xf5+ 30.c2 1/2-1/2 Kravtsiv, M (2527)-Tomczak, J (2447)/Lublin POL 2009. White could play on. ] [ b) 10.e2 xc2 is critical and apparently safe enough for Black if he knows what he's d o i n g , e . g . , 11.c1 g6 12.0-0 e7 13.fe1 0-0 14.h4 e8 15.xg6 hxg6 16.xe6 fxe6 ( 16...f8 17.d3 fxe6 18.xg6+ g7 19.h6 e7 20.xe6 ends in a draw in the main line) 17.xe6+ g7 18.c3 d7! with equal chances, Zhang-Nisipeanu, Cap d'Agde (rapid) 2000. ] [ c) 10.c3 d7 ( versus 10...c7 , we've looked at the interesting 11.h4 g6 12.f3 d7 13.h3! , threatening Nxg6, when White might get a small edge if b o t h s id e s p la y a c cu ra t e ly.) 11.0-0 ( Emms suggests 11.h4 g6 12.e2 c7 13.0-0-0 ) 11...c7 12.h4 g6 13.e1 ( 13.f3!? ) 13...0-0-0 14.e2 d6 15.g3 f5!? 16.g2 is the Archive game Zhigalko, S (2 592 )-T omczak, J (24 61), Warsaw POL 2008. ] 10...g8?! [ 10...d7! is Houska's recommendation. S h e wa n t s t o ca st le f irst a n d t h e n 'ge t some action' along the g-file. I still prefer White, however. ] 11.e1 g4 [ White also gets space and the bishops following 11...d7 12.h4 g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.e2 ] 12.h1 d6 [ 12...xf3? 13.xf3 xd4 14.b3! hits b7 and e6. ] 13.b4!? Stopping ...c5 and preparing b5. [ 13.h3 h5 14.c3 is a solid alternative. ] 13...d7 [ 13...xf3 14.xf3 xd4 15.e2 e5 16.d3 h5 17.b3! threatens Bxe6. ] 14.b5 cxb5 15.xb5 0-0-0 [ 15...d5 16.e2 xf3 17.xf3 xd4 18.b1! b8 19.e2 b5 20.h5! threatens Qxe6+, and e5 21.xb5 c8 22.c3 doesn't help. ] 16.b1 d5 17.f4 xf3 18.gxf3 b6 19.c3 d6 20.g3 h5 21.f4 d5+ 196

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.g1 xf4 23.c4 xd4 White's attack [ 9.c4 cxd5 10.dxe5 b4+ 11.d2 e6 isn't good enough, and Black should 12.0-0-0 probably the former is the most consolidate, but tragedy strikes: 24.f3 xg3 promising. ] 25.hxg3 c5 9...d3+ 10.xd3 xf4 11.d5!? cxd5? [ 25...f5 ] [ (a) Black could have gone for the pawn 26.a4 d7 grab 11...b4+ 12.c3 xb2 , but White [ 26...h5 27.a5 h4! ] ha s co mp en sa tion , f o r exam ple , 13.d1 27.a6 b6?? 28.xb7# ( 13.b1?! xa2 14.dxc6?! bxc6 15.d1 1-0 a5 16.e2 c7 ) 13...d7 ( 13...b6 14.c4 c7 15.e4! e6 16.d6 b8 17.e2 and Black has no play.) 14.c4! 212 B01 xa2 15.e5 with a convincing attack. Then perhaps best is c5 16.xd7 xd7 Gashimov,Vugar 2664 17.b5+ c7 18.xc5+ d8 , but any Tiviakov,Sergei 2643 d e v e l o p i n g m u c h s u c h a s 19.d3 50th It Reggio Emilia ITA (7) 04.01.2008 yields the advantage. ] [John Watson] [ (b) 11...d7 12.0-0-0 e6 deserves attention. ] Tiviakov suffered two recent losses with 1...d5. Maybe he should go back to the Accelerated 12.xd5 e6? [ 12...a6 13.0-0-0 c7 is better, but slow, e. Dragon! 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 g., 14.e2 e6 15.d4! d7 16.h5! ] 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 The archives are flooded with games with 5...a6. Only recently has the 13.b5+ e7 14.d2 Threatening Nd5+ and ...c6 formation taken hold. However, I prefer thus winning yet another tempo d6 15.e2 to establish it on move 4 (3...Qd6 4 Nf3 c6). And now Nf5+! f6 16.f3+ [ 16.d1 c5 17.g4+ e7 18.0-0 6.e5 bd7 This natural move seems a bit keeps the king in the centre. ] shaky after White's reply. 16...e7 17.e2 f6 18.f3+ e7 19.0-0 [ 6...f5 is the main alternative. ] c5 20.a4 g6 21.fe1 g7 22.ad1! 7.f4 [ Even 22.b4! g5 23.ad1 makes it [ 7.c4 is also possible, for example, c7 impossible to get the h8 rook out and king 8.f3 b6 9.f4 d8 10.e5 to safety. ] Smeets-Feygin, Netherlands NED 2007. ] 22...xb2 23.c3! 7...d5 [ 23.d5+ f8 ] [ 7...b4 8.a3! ] [ 7...xe5 8.dxe5!? ( 8.xe5 b4 9.a3 23...f5 24.b1 It's over. a3 25.b5 c6 b6 10.c4 ) 8...b4 9.d2 is a problem: 26.g3 d7 27.xf5+! d8 28.b4! c7 e4 10.xe4 xe4+ 11.e2 , when of 29.h4+ c8 30.xd7+ xd7 31.e7+ 1-0 course xg2 12.0-0-0 is extremely risky. ] 8.xd5 xe5 [ After 8...xd5 , Ni Hua chose 9 Nf3 with a B01 small advantage. The most entertaining idea 213 Geller,J 2544 is 9.c4!? ( 9.f3 xe5 10.xd5 cxd5 Kovalenko,Igor 2572 11.dxe5 e6 12.e2 is formally better for 12.04.2012 W h it e ho wever, Bla ck sho uld n't be t o o 19th TCh-RUS 2012 (4) worried.; Finally, 9.c4!? e4+ 10.e3 [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] is worth a look.) 9...e4+ 10.e2 xf4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 11.xf7 ( 11.g3 f6 ) 11...g8 12.g3 f6 1.e4 13.0-0-0 b6 14.d6+ xd6 15.xg8 Kovalenko is something of an expert in this line, having played it on numerous occasions and it's not obvious what's happening. ] 9.e3 recently. 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.h3 h5 [ Slower ideas were 9.dxe5 xd5 10.xd5 7.g4 g6 8.e5 bd7 [ 8...c6 has also been played but 9.f4 cxd5 11.c4 and ] 197

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 t h e k n i g h t o n a 8 g ive s W h i t e s o m e has done well for White ] headaches, e.g. 9.xg6 The first new move for B1a) or 16.d1 xh1 17.xd2+ c8 ChessPublishing. when both 18.b5 ( or 18.e6 fxe6 [ 9.b5 has been played most often and 19.c4 d5 ) 18...c6 19.xc6 bxc6 looks quite critical. A recent game 20.f4 e6 look good for Black.; c o n t i n u e d : b6 10.c4 c6 B1b) 16.xd2 xh1 17.b5 c6 ( I n s t e a d G a w a i n l o o k e d a t 10...e6+ 18.xc6 bxc6 19.d1 e6 20.e2+ in Najer, E (2665) -Kovalenko, I (2486) c8 21.d3 e7 22.c4 d8 Mo s c o w 2 0 1 0 .) 11.d5 xd5 12.xd5 and the knight still cannot escape and xd5 13.xc7+ d8 14.xd5 e4 will soon be rounded up.; 15.h2 ( Previously Gawain wrote: 15.g1 B2) 12.g2 xd2 13.xd2 d8 xd5 16.f4 White has some advantage 14.e2 e6 15.0-0 c6 16.e4 xe4 as Black's exposed king on d8 gives him 17.xe4 xe4 18.xe4 c5 some problems along the d file.) 15...xd5 when due to the weakness on e5 Black 16.f4 c8 17.e3 f3 18.g2 xg2 had the more comfortable endgame and 19.xg2 e5= and Black was fine. Edouard, e ve n we n t o n t o wi n . K h a l i f m a n , A R (26 0 7 )-Mila n ovic, D (2 5 20 ) De izisa u (2632)-Kova lenko, I (2 587) Jurmala 2012. ] 2012. ] [ 9.f4 is seen in the archives and also looks 10.g2 And this looks like the d a n g e r o u s . A r e c e n t K o va l e n k o g a m e 9...hxg6 continued: xe5 The experienced Russian correct continuation. [ Instead 10.f3 has been tried a fair bit, GM continued ( Instead 9...d5 was seen including a recent game of Ivanchuk's: c6 in the archives but was very good for White, 11.e3 eve n if o ur b oss la ter e rred . Ko st en , A A) In those he tried 11...b6 which also (2507)-Govciyan, P (2411) Pau 2008. ) l o o k s r e a s o n a b l e f o r B l a c k : 12.0-0-0 A) Instead 10.xe5 lo o k s b e t t e r b6 bd5 13.e4 ( 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 Here John Watson gives cxd5 15.g2 e6 16.he1 d7 17.b1 A1) b u t w e t h i n k 11.f3! is actually d6 was around level but Black eventually stronger, for example converted against his lower rated A1a) 11...xc2 looks very risky opponent. Grekh, A (2369) -Kovalenko, I 12.c1 g6 13.b5 e4 ( 13...c8 (2581) Mukachevo 2011.) 13...xe4 14.xc7 xc7 15.xc7+ d8 14.xe4 b5!? 15.g2 e6 16.d2 e7 16.d3 doesn't look at all comfortable 17.f4 a5 18.hf1 d7 19.e5 f6 f o r B l a c k .) 14.xc7+ ( 14.a3!? ) 20.xd6+ xd6 21.c3 a4 and only Black 14...xc7 15.b5+ d7 16.xd7+ could be better in the endgame. xd7 17.xe4 and Black has Kononenko, D (2563)-Kovalenko, I (2465) problems completing his Poltava 2009.; development.; B) 11...e6 Kovalenko deviates from a A1b) 11...xb2? loses to 12.b5+!; couple of earlier games. 12.0-0-0 d5 A1c) 11...0-0-0 12.0-0-0 e6 13.d3 ( B e t t e r t h a n 12...c7 13.b1 b4 with a pleasant edge.; Fressinet, L (2673)-Bauer, C (2583) Pau A2) 11.g2 an exclamation mark but e6 2008 when 14.g5! d5 15.xd5 cxd5 l o o k s o k f o r B l a c k . ( Definitely not 16.h4 gives White good attacking 11...xb2? as 12.d2! as observed by chances. ) 13.e4 c7 14.c4 xe3 John, is very strong ); 15.fxe3 e7 16.b1 f5! 17.c3 0-0-0 B) 10.dxe5 b4 11.d2 e4 18.c5 hf8 19.g1 f4 20.d3 g5 B1) The computer wants to grab the wi t h a c o m p l e x g a m e i n wh i c h B l a c k exchange with 12.d5 but it seems only triumphed. Ivanchuk, V (2766)-Kovalenko, Black can be better: xd2+ 13.xd2 I (2587) Jurmala 2012. The game was xd2 14.xc7+ d8 15.xa8 e4! only rapid but perhaps this inspired And Black regains the exchange when 198

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Ivanchuk to play the Scandinavian too seen elsewhere in this update. ] 10...c6 [ 10...0-0-0?! immediately is too risky 11.f3 ( Perhaps 11.g5 immediately was a better move order, forcing the knight to move h5 12.f3 b6 13.e3 xb2 14.c1! b6 15.b1 e6+ 16.e3 c6 17.d5 looks very good for White.) 11...a6 when 12.g5 e5! was a good practical try although W h i t e wa s o n t o p a f t e r 13.gxf6 exd4 14.e2 e5 15.b3 d3 16.f4 d6 17.fxg7 he8 18.g8 xg8 19.xe5 d2+ 20.xd2 ge8 21.xb7+ xb7 22.xb7+ xb7 23.c3 Lallemand, R (2285)-Verot, M (2125) Pau 2008. ] 11.g5!? Geller forces Kovalenko to make a decision with his knight. [ The logical 11.0-0 is also possible and was seen in another recent game. That continued: e6 12.e1 c7 13.e2 ( Here 13.g5 looks critical but Black does have some play for the pawn after d5 14.xd5 cxd5 15.xd5 c6 16.f4 0-0-0 ) 13...d6 14.c4 0-0-0 15.b1 h2+ 16.f1 e5 17.b4 exd4 18.xd4 b8 19.e3 b6 20.c3 he8 with a very sharp position. Yee, S (2285)-Barbosa, O (2461) Bandar Seri Begawan 2011. ] 11...h5?! After this Black is left suffering in an unpleasant queenless middlegame. [ 11...d5 is definitely critical when perhaps Geller's idea was 12.0-0! ( 12.e4 c7 13.f3 e5 14.dxe5 xe5 15.e2 0-0-0 should have been ok. Sakelsek, T (2454)Scharrer, P (2160) Lienz 2007.) 12...xc3 ( Neither 12...e6 13.e4; nor 12...f4 13.e4 are pleasant for Black as c7 14.xf4 xf4 15.d5 looks dangerous as Black is rather under-developed.) 13.bxc3 looks good for White with his initiative on the queenside and lead in development. He can also play for d5 supported by c3-c4. ] 12.d5! White breaks in the centre before Black has time to go ...e6. cxd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 b8 [ As the course of the game is so unpleasant for Black, there's a case to be made for 14...c5 although 15.e3 e6 16.g2 0-0-0 17.d1 e7 18.e2 is very unpleasant with the two bishops raking down on the a7

and b7 pawns. ] 15.0-0 e6 16.g2 d6 17.e2 Keeping the knight on h5 out of the game. Geller plays very well around here, not giving Kovalenko e n o u g h t i m e t o a c t iva t e h i s p i e c e s . e7 18.d1 hc8 19.c3 e5 20.a4 a5 21.b1 c4 Attempting to prevent the b4 break but as W hite manages this anyway the plan obviously fails. [ It was probably better to try and get some c o u n t e r p l a y w i t h 21...f6 but White is obviously much better. ] 22.b3 [ It was possible to prevent the rook staying on the fourth rank with 22.f4 d7 before 23.b3 but there was no need. ] 22...h4 [ 22...c7 23.e3 is very straightforward. W hite will continue to press on the queenside while keeping the h5 knight out of the game. ] 23.e3 c6 24.f1 c8 25.b4! Well calculated. [ Of course it was possible to continue r e g r o u p i n g w i t h 25.b2 when Black's position is really hideous but the game is more forcing. ] 25...axb4 26.cxb4 f4?! After this Black is simply lost. [ The best looks to be to bring the rook back into the game with 26...c4 but 27.dc1 xb4 28.xb7 xc1+ 29.xc1 b8 30.e4 is obviously much better for White wi t h h i s b i sh o p p a i r a n d p a s s e d p a wn although Black at least has better drawing chances with d5 ] [ While it doesn't matter which way to take on b4 - they all seem to fail: 26...xb4 27.xb4 xb4 ( or 27...xb4 28.b1 ) 28.xb7 ] [ 26...xb4? 27.f4! ] [ and 26...xb4 27.f4! both cut off the rook and leave White in a winning position. ] [ 26...f6 ] 27.c5+ e8 28.b5 d8 29.b6 xg5 30.a5 Black has succeeded in winning a pawn but he cannot stop the a pawn. The rest of the game requires no comment. a4 31.a1 xa1 32.xa1 f4 33.xf4 xf4 34.a6 bxa6 35.bxa6 b8 36.a7 xa7 37.xa7 c6 38.a8 e7 39.c6+ f8 40.xc8+ xc8 41.c5+ e7 42.d7 e5 43.e2 f6 199

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 44.e6 e8 45.d3 g5 46.e4 g6 47.c4 h4 48.d5 g6 49.e6 g2 50.d5 f4+ 51.d6 f8 52.e3 g2 53.d5 f4 54.xf4 exf4 55.e6 g7 56.f3 Kovalenko has played 5...Bg4 a lot but it seems White has a few different paths to an edge. Perhaps 9.Nb5 isn't much for White but 9.Bf4 is interesting while Kovalenko failed to find anything here against Geller's 9.Nxg6 followed by a quick g5. 1-0

18.f3 exf3 19.xf3 d3 20.d1 c8= ) 12.g5 e8 13.b5? ( 13.d1 e4 14.d4 with a slight edge) 13...e4 14.fd4 c5! with great complications in the game Womacka - Hennings, DDR 1986 ] 11.g4! Very typically for this kind of position. W hite prevents Ne7-f5 and prepares a kingside attack. f5 [ 11...e4 is interesting but not good enough: 12.xe4 ( 12.g5 f5 13.0-0-0 gave White a small edge in the game Hellers Kristiansen, Gausdal (zt) 1987) 12...f5 13.c5 fxg4 14.g5 f5 15.ce6 xe6 214 B01 16.xe6 f6 17.xf8 xe3 18.xh7! xb2 19.xb2 xb2 20.fxe3 with a big Gipslis,Aivars advantage, Braga-Maric, Bad Woerishofen Maric,Rudolf 1985 ] Erevan 1971 12.0-0-0! fxg4 [Alexander Volzhin] [ 12...d7 wa s n o t b e t t e r : 13.h6 a6 14.xg7 xg7 15.e3 with a clear The most popular White set up against 4...g6 advantage for White. ] is to play h3, Be3, Qd2 and castle queenside. In this classic game White showed the merits 13.g5 f5 [ The endgame after 13...h6 14.e6 xe6 of his position very convincingly. 1.e4 d5 15.dxe6 xd2+ 16.xd2 was not much fun 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.f3 g6 5.c4 for Black, for example: f5 17.c5 c8 b6 6.h3 g7 7.c3 0-0 8.e3 c6 18.hxg4 xe3 19.fxe3 e7 20.d7 9.d2 e5 winning ] [ 9...e8?! does not solve Black's problems as the game Smirin - Rechlis, Tel Aviv 1992 14.hxg4 xe3 15.xe3 xg4 It seems like proved: 10.0-0-0! e5 11.d5 a5 Black has achieved good counterplay, but ( 11...e7? is bad: 12.c5 e4 13.cxb6 exf3 White's next move shows what's really going 14.bxc7 winning ) 12.b3 e4 13.d4 on! 16.xh7!! [ Other moves leads to Black's advantage: with the better prospects. ] 16.e6 e7 ( 16...xe6 17.dxe6 e7 10.d5 e7 18.c5 )] [ The pawn sacrifice 10...d4? is dubious: [ or 16.h3 xh3 ( 16...xc4 17.xg4 11.xd4 exd4 12.xd4 e8+ 13.e3 xe3 18.e6+ f7 19.xf7+ f8 and it seems Black does not have enough 20.e6+ ) 17.xh3 xc4 18.g3 f5 compensation, for example: h4 14.g3 19.xh7 d6 and it is Black who has the e7 15.e2 b4 16.b5!? xb2 initiative now. ] 17.xb2 xb2 18.d1 e5 19.c5 a6 Although White's position looked ( 19...a4 20.d6 winning ) 20.xc7! xc7 16...f4? 21.d6! d5 22.xd5 a5+ 23.f1 d7 very promising, only after this mistake does 24.f3! c6 25.g2 xd5 26.xd5 ab8 his advantage become clear. Now White came 27.b1 ed8 ( 27...b5 28.c6 ) 28.xb7 up with a blow: [ Black has two reasonable alternatives: and W hite had achieved a decisive 16...f6 17.ce4 f4 18.e1 with a small advantage in the game Yilmaz-Brady,Manila advantage ] ol 1992. ] [ 16...xf2!? 17.d3 ( 17.xg7+?! xg7 [ 10...a5 seems to be interesting: 11.b3 18.xe5+ h6 ) 17...f6 18.g1 f5!? ( Black almost equalised in Bjerring with the initiative on the kingside but in I s k o v , K o b e n h a v n 1 9 8 8 a f t e r 11...e4 both lines Black's position was playable. ] 12.d4 c6 13.dxc6 xc6 14.xc6 bxc6 15.xd8 xd8 16.c1 f5 17.e2 e6 17.xg7+! xg7 18.xe5+ f6 200

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Other moves did not save Black either: 18...f6 19.ce4 d7 20.d4 ] [ or 18...h6 19.e6!? ( of course 19.xf4 is also not bad: xg5 20.xg5+ xg5 21.e1 winning ) 19...f6 20.xf4+ xf4+ 21.xf4 xd1 22.xd1 with a technical win ] 19.xc7+ h6 [ 19...g8 20.ce4 winning ] 20.ce4 xe4 21.xe4 f5 22.d4! White converts his advantage into a win very convincingly. This solid move protects the Knight and prevents any counterplay. e8 [ The tricky 22...xd5 doesn't work because of 23.h2+! with an immediate win. ( of course not 23.cxd5?? c8 winning the Queen )] 23.d3 The rest is simple. f3 24.h2+ g7 25.c2 e2 26.c7+ d7 27.d1 e1 28.c3 f5 29.d2 e5 30.xe5+ xe5 31.e2 h8 32.b3 h2 33.d1 g5 34.b2 f6 35.c3 Black resigned. 1-0

Black does not have enough time to capture the d pawn successfully. c5 11.e3 d6 [ It looks like 11...a5! is even better. The d p a w n f a l l s : 12.h3 ( 12.e2 bxd5 13.xd5 xd5; 12.a3 bxd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.d4 e6 ) 12...bxd5! 13.xd5 xd5! 14.d2 xf3 Given the simplicity of these lines, it's surprising that 11...Qd6 has been preferred so many times. ] 12.c1?!N I think Glek is genuinely surprised by Black's potential in this position and can see no other way of proceeding. He feels he has to get the Queen off the d-file and make room for his Rook. This is an unconvincing idea. [ Instead 12.h3 h5 A) 13.e2 A1) 13...g6! is at least equal for Black: 14.f4 ( 14.fd1 xc2 15.ac1 xe3 ) 14...c5 15.e3 a5 16.e5 bxd5 17.xd5 xd5; A2) 13...e5!? 14.dxe6 xe6 15.g4 g6 16.d4 Fressinet, L-Wong Meng Kong/Mallorca 2004; B) 13.f4 c5 14.e3 d6 ( 14...a5 215 B01 15.g4 bxd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.d2 xd2 18.xd2 xd2 19.xd2 g6 Glek,Igor V 2597 20.c3 e6 21.fe1 ) 15.e2 bxd5 Muhammad,Stephen A 2334 ( 15...g6 ) 16.xd5 xd5 17.ad1 f6 HB Global CC (6) 21.05.2005 ( 17...b4! is a much better move: 18.d4 [Andrew Martin] e6 19.a3 a4! 20.c4 White certainly has attacking chances but no definite 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 advantage.) 18.d4 e6 19.xe6+ fxe6 f6 5.f3 a6 6.g3 g4!? 20.e5 Ibarra Jerez, J-Trent, L/Chalkidiki [ A recent New In Chess Yearbook article 2003 ] concluded that Black's chances after 6...b5 Why not? 13.xd5 xd5 7.g2 b7 8.0-0 e6 9.e5 were very poor. 12...bxd5 I shall return to this in future months. But 14.d1 f6! Reminding White that the Knight for the time being, fans of 3....Qd6 need not is still pinned clear evidence that white has to f e a r b e c a u s e 6 . . . B g 4 i s a p l a y a b l e play h2-h3 somewhere. 15.g5 [ 15.d4 f5! 16.h4 h5 17.e1 f6! alternative, as you are about to see. ] 18.h3 d7! and White is without 7.g2 c6 8.0-0 compensation. ] [ 8.d5 is only tempting for a second. After b4 9.f4 d8 White already runs out of 15...f5 16.h4 e6 17.d2 [ If 17.d4 h6 18.d2 c6 19.e1 d7 steam. ] 20.f4 e6 21.c4 b4! ] [ 8.f4 b4 9.xc7 xb2 10.a4 a3 18.xd1 h6 19.e3 g5 is not a favourable transaction for W hite, 17...xd1 whose pieces are misplaced and pawns are 20.d4?? [ 20.c4 gxh4 21.xd5 was the best way weak. ] forward perhaps White can equalize there: 8...0-0-0 This is the point of the variation Black d6 22.f4 e5 23.xe5 xe5 24.e6+ is arguing that White's d4 pawn is vulnerable. b8 25.xd8+ a7= ] 9.d5 b4 10.f4 And White proposes that 201

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20...g7! 21.a7 Glek must have believed that this was a strong move, but his hopes are quickly dashed. [ 21.xg7 xe3 ] 21...c6 22.c5 gxh4 6...b5 is dead, long live 6... Bg4! 0-1

216 Glek,Igor V Nakamura,Hikaru HB Global CC (3) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2597 2657 19.05.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 f6 5.d4 c6 6.d2 As I think I have mentioned before, this is a move recommended by GM John Emms in a recent 1 e 4 re p e rt o ire b o o k. W e ca n n o t e xp e ct Na k am u ra to s ho w t o o m uch re spe ct f o r anything, as he is quite confident in his ability to overturn almost any theoretical verdict. f5 [ 6...b6 7.c4 xb2 is another, riskier way, which I concluded that Black can get away with in my 'Scheming Scandinavian' DVD. Emms likes white in the upcoming doubled pawns position whereas Nakamura seems delighted with Black's activity. Glek is caught in the middle but he's not a man short of one or two original ideas himself. ] 7.e4 c7 8.xf6+ gxf6 9.g3 e6 Other moves have been played, presumably with the intention of going ...e7-e5 in one go, should the need arise: [ 9...d7?! or ...Bh3 maybe? 10.g2 e6+ 11.e3 h6 Black's whole scheme is about t o b e e xp o s e d . 12.d5! e4 13.h4+Pikula, D-Savic, M/Herceg Novi 2001 ] [ 9...d7 10.g2 0-0-0 11.0-0 e5 There she blows! 12.c3 b6 13.e2 g7 14.a4 he8 15.a5 d7= Hunt,H-Repkova, E/Mallorca 2004 I must say that I have a liking for Black's straightforward solution in this game. ] 10.g2 d7 11.0-0 0-0-0 12.e1 All seen before and Glek's 12 Re1 adds little new to the argument. 12 c4 is also possible: [ 12.c4 g4 13.e3 b6 14.b3 c5 15.fd1 d6 16.a4 d7 17.a5 e5 18.dxc5 xc5 Niedermaier,H-Mueller,K/

G e r m a n y 2 0 0 2 a n d n o w 19.c2 would retain White's edge. This is the type of position that Emms was referring to in his book. Black has permanent defects in his pawn structure and a poor endgame looms unless he can create counterplay. But where are the weaknesses in White's position to aim at ? Note th e very saf e W h ite king, another key feature of this line. Returning now to 12 Re1, obviously a decent move, preparing c2-c4. After that, Black has to worry about d4-d5 or some sort of white advance on the queenside. ] 12...d6 13.c4 One move delayed but could the Rook be slightly misplaced on e1? e5 14.h4 [ 14.c5! looks very strong: f8 15.a4 b8 ( 15...b8 16.a5 e8 17.h4 with Bxc6! next.) 16.a5 encourages Black to weaken himself and looks much better. I can only find advantage for White after b6 17.cxb6 axb6 18.c3 ] 14...g6 15.c5 f8 16.b4 [ Point being that after 16.a4 trying to get into the previous variation, Black has xc5! for example: A) 17.xa7 b8! ( 17...xd4 18.c3 d3 19.f1 d8 20.a5 ) 18.a5 ( 18.xb8+ xb8 19.xg6 hxg6 20.dxc5 xd2= ) 18...xd4; B) 17.dxc5 xd2 18.xa7 d7 19.f3 d3 20.b4 e4 and Black is causing confusion, or ] 16...exd4 17.b3 b8 18.f4 e5 19.b5 [ 19.ad1 ] 19...xc5 20.bxc6 b6 21.ac1 So now we reach a position where Black obviously has to defend with care, but the d pawn is there to help out later if he does so. d6 22.ed1 d3 23.xg6 hxg6 24.c3 he8 25.a4 Glek is hammering away, but it's hard to break the Black blockade. [ 25.xe5 fxe5! 26.cxd3 ( 26.a4 f5 27.cxd3 f8 28.a6 f6! 29.a4 e4 ) 26...e4 27.3d2 f5= ] 25...g5 26.xe5 fxe5 27.cxd3 e4 28.d5! so far very well played by White. Just a pity that as he moves in for the kill he is so short of time. xc6 29.xg5 [ I like 29.a5! I really don't see what Black is doing against that. ] 202

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 29...c7 30.gd5 xd5 31.xd5 e6 32.a5 Flag down....... Black can bluster all he likes in this variation, but Emms' judgement is difficult to argue with. Perhaps 9...Nd7 is the way, with ... e7-e5 to follow. 0-1

217 Goh Wei Ming Laylo,Darwin 3rd PGMA Cup (6) [Goh Wei Ming, Kevin]

B01 2403 2504 10.09.2008

I received this game and all the notes from an International Master, who writes: "My name is Wei Ming and one of the contributors in the 1. e4 e 5 co lu m n . I n a re ce n t t o u rn am e n t , I played an interesting game against GM Laylo Darwin in the afore mentioned opening and I thought you might want to consider it for your next update." IM Goh Wei Ming Singapore [jw: Wow! It's not often that I get a contribution of this quality out of the blue Thank you!! Here's the game with Wei Ming's notes:] GM Laylo Darwin is the newest GM from the Phillipines where Chess is one of the most popular sports in the country. Laylo is a specialist in the Portuguese Gambit in the Scandinavian and plays it in almost every game with excellent results even against Grandmasters. So, is the Portuguese gambit playable or not? 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 g4!? 4.f3 Surely, this move, with the intention of clinging to the extra pawn is the critical response. However, L a y l o h a s s h o we d t h a t B l a c k ge t s g o o d practical chances in the ensuing middlegame. [ 4.e2 Needless to say, this is too straight forward and Black equalizes easily. xe2 5.xe2 xd5 6.f3 e6 7.c4 h5 In general, this is the ideal square for the Black queen. It's influence on the d1-h5 diagonal and the kingside tends to be one of the characteristics in this variation. ( 7...b4+ 8.c3 xc3+ 9.bxc3 e4 was a safe option for Black but Laylo had no intentions of simplifying the position!) 8.c3 bd7 9.b5?! ( 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.f4 is safer. ) 9...c8 10.f4 b4+ 11.f1 a6? Laylo is well known in the region for his tactical prowess but here, he missed a trick.

( 11...0-0 was the safest move) 12.xc7+ d8 13.g5? ( 13.c5! a5 14.xa6 bxa6 15.xa6 c7 16.xc7+ xc7 17.b4 would have given Black real headaches.) 13...xc7?! ( 13...xe2+! 14.xe2 h5 15.xf7+ e7 16.xh8 xf4+ 17.f3 f8-+ ) 14.xh5 xh5 15.xf7+ e7 16.xc7 xf7 With 2 pawns and a rook for the 2 pieces, W hite stands reasonably ok and has a slight advantage though he went on to lose the game against his experienced opponent. 17.c5 c8 18.d6 hf6 19.e2 a5 20.ab1 c7 21.xc7 xc7 22.b4 b8 23.b5 axb5 24.xb5 c6 25.d1 d7 26.e3 d5+ 27.d3 e5 28.db1 f4+ 29.c3 exd4+ 30.d2 d8 31.a4 d5 32.1b3 c3 33.xc3 dxc3+ 34.xc3 e6 35.f4 d5 36.f5 c7 37.b4 c6+ 38.a3 d4 0-1 Ochoa, Karl (2268)-Laylo, Darwin (2504)/Duty Free Fiesta Mall, 3rd PGMA Cup 2008 ] [ 4.f3 is one of the most common responses, especially against the unprepared! xd5 5.e2 c6 A) White can try to win the 2 bishops with 6.c3 f5 7.h3 but after xf3 8.xf3 A1) 8...b4 is too greedy. 9.0-0 0-0-0 ( 9...c6 10.e2! xc2 11.e5! with dangerous compensation.) 10.e4! with a clear advantage for White.; A2) 8...0-0-0 9.xc6 e6+! 10.e4 xe4 11.0-0 f5 , there is nothing interesting left in the position.; B) 6.e3 B1) Again, there is an option to simplify if Black wishes to play for a draw, namely 6...e5 7.dxe5 ( 7.c3 a5 8.dxe5 d8 promises Black rich play.) 7...xf3 8.xf3 xd1+ 9.xd1 d5! 10.d2 xe5 11.c3 0-0-0 and I doubt the 2 bishops mean anything much.; B2) 6...0-0-0 7.bd2 f5 8.0-0 ( 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 e5 again gives Black easy development and active play. 10.g4? This is just pure madness and Laylo finishes his opponent (incidentally a decent 2324 player) cleanly. e6 11.c3 exd4 12.cxd4 b4+ 13.f1 d5 0-1 Cordts, I (2324)-Laylo, D (2448)/Bad W iessee 2006) 8...e5 9.c3 ( 9.xe5 203

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 after 5...d7 6.c4 f6 7.c3 e6 ) xe2 10.xe2 xe5 11.dxe5 xe5 6.e4 c8 7.c4!? ( Slow. An alternative 12.f3 a5= ) 9...e4 A combative move is 7.b5+ c6 8.d3 ) 7...f5 8.f4 e6 t o s t ri ve f o r a co m p l ica t e d p o si t io n 9.c3 e7 10.f3 h6?! ( 10...0-0 though this move might return to haunt 11.e2 c6 ) 11.g3 g5 . And here him a few moves down the road. The 12.c5 d5 13.c4 would have kept a simple ( 9...exd4 10.cxd4 d6 solid advantage. 1-0 Dzhumaev-Laylo, was also possible but it is difficult to see Kuala Lumpur MAS 2008. ] how Black can make further progress on 4...f5 his Kingside attack. ) [ jw: 4...c8!? has also been played. ] B2a) T h e c o u n t e r i n t u i t i v e 10.h4! a p p e a r s t o b e st r o n g a s we l l xe2 5.b5+ Again, the most critical response. [ 5.g4!? g6 6.c4 ( 10...h5 11.xg4+ xg4 12.h3! A) In view of the difficulties that Black xh4 13.xg4+ xg4 14.hxg4 e8 faced, a safer alternative could be 6...c6 15.ae1 and White wins the pawn on t h o u g h a f t e r 7.b3 c7 8.c3 e4. ) 11.xf5 xd1 12.axd1 e8 W hite definitely has the better of it. jw: 13.g5 and as mentioned above, the cxd5 9.b5+ bd7 ( 9...c6 10.g5 e4 pawn seems to be more of a fd7 11.xd5 ) 10.g5; weakness then a strength.; B) 6...e6 7.c3 ( I suspect Laylo was B2b) 10.g5 d6 11.f3? planning after 7.dxe6 to play b4+ 8.c3 ( 11.dxe4! xh2+! 12.xh2 xe2 0-0 sacrificing a second pawn but getting 13.xe2 xe4 14.xf7! xf7 more pieces out. jw: 9.h4 fxe6 10.h5 f7 15.g4+ b8 16.xe4 and White is 11.h6 g6 12.g5 e7 13.ge2 ) a p awn up f or n ext t o no th in g an d 7...exd5 8.g5 h5 9.xd5 d6 would have been clearly in the driving 10.e2+ f8 11.h3 c6 12.e3 d7 seat. ) 11...exf3 12.xf3 xf3 13.d2 ( 13.f2 appears to be a safer 13.xf3 xf3 14.xf3 d7 option. ) 13...e8 14.f2 b6 15.hf4 with a m ore or less equal positio n xf4 16.xf4 xf4 17.xf4 h6 18.gxh6 though Black actually went on to win xh6 19.f6! White has played forcefully this position: 15.af1 e8 16.c4 h6 in the opening and wins an exchange 17.h3 d5 18.c1 f6 19.xd6+ despite both sides playing the most logical cxd6! It is instructive to see Black and natural moves. Where has Black gone placing his pawns on the same color of wrong? xd4+ 20.xd4 xd4 21.xe8 the enemy's dark square bishop, xe8 22.d1 c5 23.d3 f5 This must effectively blunting it and reducing it's be a winning position for White but Laylo scope of activity. 20.g4?! The highly somehow managed to win this position! ra t e d G ra n d m a st e r f ro m Ro m a n i a 24.de1+ f7 25.e5 h3 26.e2 f6 must have some idea which I fail to 27.d5 h5 28.g2 h4 29.d1 f7 notice but this does seem to be a tad 30.d7 xc4 31.e1 g6 32.xa7 g5 u n c a l l e d f o r . T h e s i m p l e ( 20.f4 33.b3 d5 34.e5?? The culprit. c6 s e e m s t o b e g o o d , a n d e q u a l .) 35.xd5 xa7 36.e2 c6 37.g3 20...de7 0-1 Nevednichy, V (2582)d4 38.d1 e6 39.d6 f4 40.a3 L a yl o , D ( 2 4 0 6 ) / S a n M a r in o 2 0 0 6 h3+ 41.f2 xh2+ 42.e3 b5 43.a4 (56) ] bxa4 44.bxa4 a2 45.c6 d5+ [ John Watson: A recent game went 4.d3 0-1 Kutuzov, D (2315)-Laylo, D (2448)/ xd5 Calvia 200607 ] A) 5.b5+ c6! ( or 5...c6 6.xb7 xd4 ) 6.xb7? b6 threatens ...Bc8, 5...bd7 6.c4 e6 [ Sensing a trap, Laylo deviated with 6...a6 and Black is winning after 7.f4 xd4; wh i c h a p p e a r s t o b e a we a k e r o p t i o n . B) 5.h3! is correct, with perhaps a small 7.xd7+ xd7 8.e2 e6 9.dxe6 xe6 advantage after e6 6.f3; 10.b3 0-0-0 11.0-0 c5 12.h1 he8 C) 5.a3 b6 ( Black stands well enough 204

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 12...xd4? 13.xd4 d7 14.e3 c5 15.c3 cxd4 16.a4! was White's main idea in this set-up. b8 17.f4+ a7 18.d2 and the idea of Qd2-a5 is d e v a s t a t i n g .) 13.bc3 h6 14.b2? The first real mistake by White in this game and I get the impression that Black did not give him any chances after this slip. After ( 14.f4 c6 15.fd5 xd5 16.xd5 d6 17.e1 xe1+ 18.xe1 e8 19.a5! an idea spotted by my good friend Rybka 3. The threat is Ne7+ d7 20.d2 and White appears to be a safe pawn up.) 14...e3! 15.c1 b4 16.xe3? ( 16.g3 xc1 17.axc1 d3 18.fd1 seems good enough. ) 16...xe3 17.g1 d3 18.f2 de8 Now White is under enormous pressure. 19.g3 xc4! 20.bxc4 xc3 21.f1 d3 22.d5 d7 23.xc3 xc3 24.d2 b6 25.d6 f5 26.dxc7 xc7 27.d1 d8 28.e1 xc4 29.xc4 xc4 30.fe2 d7 31.f2 b5 32.g3 g6 33.h4 h5 34.e6 d6 35.e7+ b6 36.1e2 a5 37.7e6 cc6 38.6e5 d4 39.e6 dc4 40.e7 a4 41.a7 b4 0-1 Mallahi, A (2393)-Laylo, D (2504)/ 4th Prospero Pichay Jr Cup 2008 ] 7.dxe6 xe6 8.d5 f5 9.c3 c5 10.e2+ f8 11.g4 I have prepared this va ria t io n f o r o u r ga m e b u t d u e t o e it h e r carelessness or probably just being un pro f e s sio na l, I co mp let e ly ove rlo oke d B l a c k ' s n e x t m o v e . xg4! This was an unpleasant shock which caused me a lot of thinking time. After the game, Laylo told me he had already played this variation and this very move in blitz games with his friends! 12.fxg4 h4+ 13.d1? And almost immediately, I erred. [ The correct move is 13.d2! A) I was afraid of the continuation 13...e8 14.gxf5 ( 14.xe8+?? xe8 15.gxf5 g5+ and White can resign.) 14...xe2+ 15.gxe2 e5 which I assessed to be good for Black in my calculation. I forgot to count the pieces and after a normal move like 16.c2 a6 17.a4 xc4 18.b3 d6 19.f4 White has managed to finally complete development and along wit h a ma te ria l a dvant age , sho uld b e slightly better in this position.;

B) 13...xg4 14.f3 h5 15.xd7 xf3 16.f1 d8 ( 16...xh1 17.xh1 d8 18.a4 c6 19.d1 g5+ 20.c2 g6+ 21.e4 ) 17.a4 c6 18.d1! h6+ 19.c2 g6+ 20.b3 xh1 21.xh1 cxd5 22.cxd5 b6+ 23.c2 g6+ 24.e4 xe4+ 25.xe4 xd5 26.d2 This piece of analysis is by no means exhaustive but it does outline the difficulties that W hite must go through before he is able to get out of the opening unscathed. ] 13...xg4 14.xd7 More or less forced, but I was attracted to the position with 3 pieces against Queen and many pawns on move 17. xe2+ 15.gxe2 d8 16.f5 xc4 17.c2 xd5 White has 3 pieces for a Queen and 3 pawns, a complete mismatch in terms of quality wise. However, I had (misplaced) faith in my active pieces but ultimately fell vict im to m y o pp on e nt 's re so urce f ul a n d accurate defence. 18.f1 b4 19.e3 e5 20.f4 c6 21.e4 e8 22.d4 e6 My pieces are beautifully centralized and..... what next? 23.g1 f6 24.d3 d6 25.fg4 c5! 26.f2 [ 26.xg7 was a popular suggestion during the post mortem but was ultimately refuted easily by my opponent. cxd4 27.xd4 e7! 28.7g4 h5! 29.g6 f7 and White's attack is snuffed out. ] 26...g5! Black is slowly but surely unravelling his pieces and it is only a matter of tim e before he is able to consolidate his hefty material advantage. 27.h4?! Not the most testing option. [ 27.g3 h5 28.e4 with the possibilities of 29.Nf5 and doubling rooks on the e-f ile would be something for Black to worry about. Ho we ver, t he a ccu ra t e xe4 ( 28...h4 29.ge1 xe4 30.gxe4 ) 29.gxe4 c4! A deep move, diverting the bishop off the b1-h7 diagonal, the point of which is r e v e a l e d o n m o v e 3 2 . . . ( 29...xh2 30.xc5+ g7 31.g2 f4 32.d4 with good chances for W hite.) 30.xc4 xh2 31.e1 e5! 32.xf6 g6+ Black's ability to give this critical check is the point behind Black's 29th move. 33.fe4 g7 though the competition remains highly complicated with chances for Black to go 205

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 wrong. ] 27...h5 28.e4 [ 28.c4 was my initial intention but I o v e r l o o k e d t h a t a f t e r b5 29.xc5 , t h e d e v a s t a t i n g b4! wins almost immediately! ( 29...xc5 30.xc5+ g7 31.hxg5 was what I have previously calculated. )] [ 28.a4 g4! 29.xa7 c6 ] 28...g4 The rest of the game was a convincing technical demonstration. 29.g3 xg3 30.xc5+ g7 31.xg3 xe4 32.xe4 e5 33.f2 f4 34.g2 c8 35.xb7 c7 36.a8 a4+ 37.b1 e8! So, is the Portugese Gambit playable after all? It does seem to be an ef f ective practical weapon in the hands of my GM opponent but it could well be an even more dangerous we a p o n a t c l u b l e ve l . I ' l l l e a ve i t t o t h e subscribers to judge for themselves.:) 0-1

218 Goldin,Alexander Stripunsky,Alexander San Diego USA (9) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2620 2533 04.12.2004

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 Stripunsky seems absolutely convinced that 3. ..Qd6 is OK, and he continues to use the move with success against all comers. Let's take a look at one of his latest efforts from the recent US Championship. 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6!? In many ways this reminds me of certain lines of the Sicilian, Caro-Kann or even the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Black just plays ... b5,...Bb7,....e6,...Nbd7 and he eventually gets ...c7-c5! in. White must act soon, because this is a pretty reliable and easy-to-play plan. 6.e3 [ 6.g3! is more testing I believe. ] 6...b5 Here are a couple of other, recent examples. In the first, Black shows another dimension to his scheme involving an early... Nc6. W ho is to say that this isn't very playable? In the second I think we see GM Nijboer putting Black's whole idea to the test with some very accurate piece placements. [ 6...c6!? 7.d2 g4 8.g5 f5 9.f3 e6

10.0-0-0 d7 11.ge4 d5 12.xd5 exd5 13.g3 g6 14.d3 1/2-1/2 Mastrovasilis,D-Nikolaidis,I/Athens GRE 2004 ] [ 6...e6 7.e2 bd7 8.0-0 b5 9.g5 b7 10.f3! I think that the diagonal h1-a8 is crucial to the understanding of this variation. As is typical for the Scandinavian, whoever wins the battle of the light squares rules the board. You'll note as you go on through this game that Nijboer gets control of f5 and that more or less decides the issue. d5 11.a4 b4 12.ge4! c6?! ( I think he has to try 12...b6 13.a5 xe3 14.fxe3 a7 but White's still better after 15.a4 e7 16.e1 ) 13.xd5 exd5 14.g3 e7 15.f5 f6 16.xe7 xe7 17.e1 0-0 18.d2 b6 19.f4 f6 20.e5 c6 21.xb4 a5 22.b5 c4 23.xc6 xc6 24.b3 xe5 25.xe5 ae8 26.ae1 xe5 27.xe5 b8 28.xd5 xa4 29.c4 1-0 Nijboer,F-Spoelman,W /Zwolle NED 2004 ] 7.d3?! So natural , but I don't think I like this square. It's ineffectual. What you often find is that the game boils down to whether the Bd3 or the Bb7 is the better piece. Black quite often wins that contest. b7 8.0-0 [ 8.e2 g6 9.a4 b4 10.b1 g7 11.bd2 0-0 12.0-0 c6 13.fd1 a5 14.c4 xc4 15.xc4 g4 16.h3 xe3 17.fxe3 c5!= Van Dijk,T-Hasangatin,R/Olomouc 2003 ] 8...bd7 9.e2 e6 10.g5 e7 11.a4 Otherwise ...c7-c5 comes and Black has no problems whatsoever. b4 12.e4 d5! Looks riskier than it actually is. If White can't drive the queen away without making concessions, then d5 is a very good outpost. 13.c4 bxc3 14.xc3 The concession of the b4 square has been made. a5 [ 14...d6 15.fd1 0-0 16.ac1 ab8 17.e5 fd8 18.c4 is perhaps a little congested for Black so Stripunsky makes the sensible decision, which the new time limits oblige one to do. Practicality and universality are the new canons of modern chess one had better get used to them ..... FAST! ] 15.ad1 d8 16.h4 c5= This is now very similar to the QGA. 17.b1 cxd4 18.xd4 206

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b4 19.g3 0-0 Summarizing so far we can say that Black is very comfortable. Perhaps even slightly more than that. He has active pieces, no weaknesses and a strong queen. He must watch out for Nxe6 or some such move but that's about all. 20.a2 c5 21.b3 a7! The exclam is for the idea alonewhat an audacious exchange sacrifice! The brain just see Bd6 and switches off surely he cannot play . ..Ba7 etc. Stripunsky looks further. Chess is a practical game and he wants to find ways to eat at W hite's clock. 22.d6 Who could resist? [ Declining the offer was poor: 22.fe1 b6 23.a5 c4 ] 22...h4 23.xf8 xf8 24.d3 e5 25.g3 h5 26.d4 g6 I'm really not sure what to make of this sacrifice. My feeling is that White MUST be able to defend, but his Kingside is very bare and Black's bishops, knights and queen are frighteningly close. Over the board this must be seen as a speculative, but very noble try by Black. 27.h3 [ 27.c4 b8 28.f4 c5 29.b3 xf4! 30.xf4 h5 is a brief example of how things might go wrong quickly, if White is not right on the button. ] 27...b8 28.f4 e5! Obviously he has to be ve ry q u i c k . 29.fxe5 xe5 30.e3 g4 31.e2 [ The computer shows White surviving after 31.hxg4 h2+ 32.f2 xg2 33.e1 g3+ 34.f2 e5 35.f5 I am convinced that no human would go into this line voluntarily unless all else failed. Goldin is obviously still hoping to tough this one out, though with so many pieces around his King the practical difficulties at the board are enormous. ] 31...h2+ 32.h1 xh3 33.d5 h4 [ 33...xd5! 34.xd5 h5! 35.f5 h4! A) 36.g3 xg3+ 37.g1 f2+ 38.xf2 xf2 39.xf2 ( 39.f5 g5+ 40.xf2 xf5+ 41.e1 h3-+ ) 39...g4+-+; B) 36.f3 f2+ 37.xf2 xf2 38.xh2 ] 34.f5 h5 35.g3 [ 35.xf7+ h8 36.xg6 hxg6 37.xg7 xf1+ 38.xf1 h3!!-+ ] 35...xg3+ 36.g1 h2+ 37.g2 c8 38.xf7+ h8 39.xg6 hxg6 40.d6

xd6 41.xf8+ xf8 42.d8 At last clarifying the situation. 43.f3 44.e3 g3+ 0-1

219 Golubev,Mikhail Jirovsky,Milos Bundesliga [Andrew Martin]

h2+ e5+

B01 2525 2455 2002

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6!? An irregular move which has become popular in recent years. Eric Schiller would have you believe that the variation is named after him but many strong players have dabbled here, Bronstein and Dzindzichasvili among them. Previously W hite was thought to obtain an easy advantage after d4, Nge2 and Bf4 but a recent book by Michael Melts (Russell Enterprises 2002) shows otherwise. 4.d4 [ 4.f3 f6 5.g3 g4 6.g2 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.e1 c6 9.e3 0-0 10.d3 d5 11.xd5 exd5 12.d4 xd4 13.xd4 e6 14.f4 d7 15.fe1 c5 16.e3 fe8 17.e5 f6 18.d6 xd6 19.xd6 xb2 20.ab1 c3 21.e2 b6 22.b3 f6 23.f4 g6 24.e5 xe5 25.xe5 ad8 26.b5 f6 27.e3 d4 28.e4 xa2 29.xe8+ xe8 30.b2 f7 31.c6 e1+ 32.f2 a1 33.f3 a2 34.xa2 xa2 35.e4 f7 36.d5+ xd5+ 37.xd5 a5 38.c4 e6 39.b5 f5 40.h3 h5 41.a4 h4 42.gxh4 xf4 0-1 Tan Bin Keong-Wee Zhen Yang/ 20th Cairnhill Open, Singapore SIN 2002 (42) ] [ 4.c4 f6 5.ge2 a6 6.d3 b5 7.b3 b7 8.f4 e5 9.g3 bd7 10.0-0 c5 11.f3 e7 12.a4 b6 13.f2 0-0 14.g3 g6 15.e2 b4 16.ce4 d5 17.d2 f4 18.d1 ad8 19.e1 g7 20.c4 c7 21.a5 c6 22.b6 f5 23.c4 d6 24.xd7 xd7 25.xa6 a8 26.c4 xa5 27.xa5 xa5 28.a1 c7 29.a2 c6 30.b3 a8 31.e2 xe2+ 32.xe2 a1+ 33.e1 a4 34.xa1 xb3 35.xb3 e4 36.dxe4 xh2+ 37.f1 fxe4 38.fxe4 e5 39.d5 xb2 40.a6 d4 41.c6 f4 0-1 Arjol Etxeberria,D-Mellado Trivino,J/ Pamplona 2002/[amartin] (41) ] 207

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 4...f6 5.f3 [ 5.c4 a6 6.ge2 b5 7.f4 b6 8.b3 g6 9.0-0 g7 10.a4 b7 11.axb5 axb5 12.xa8 xa8 13.d3 b4 14.b5+ bd7 15.xb6 xb6 16.b5 fd5 17.xc7+ d7 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.d2 a8 21.b1 e5 22.dxe5 xe5 23.c4 bxc3 24.xc3 xc3 25.xc3 xc3 26.bxc3 a3 27.c1 d6 28.f1 a2 29.g4 h5 30.gxh5 gxh5 31.g2 a5 32.h4 f5 33.g3 c5 34.e1 c4 35.e4+ xc3 36.f4 a5 37.xf7 d4 38.f4 a2 39.d7+ c5 40.g5 xf2 41.xh5 g2 42.h6 c6 43.d4 c5 44.d3 g1 45.h5 h1 46.g6 g1+ 47.h7 c6 48.h6 c7 49.h8 c8 50.h7 c7 51.a3 d7 52.a8 e6 53.g8 h1 54.g7 g1+ 55.f8 f1+ 56.e8 b1 57.g6+ f5 58.f6+ g4 59.f8 1-0 Collins,S-Sprenger,W/41st WJun, Goa IND 2002 (59) ] [ 5.ge2 c6 6.f4 d8 7.f3 f5 8.g4 ( 8.g3 g6 9.h4 h5 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 e6 12.0-0-0 bd7 ) 8...g6 9.h4 h5 10.g5 d5 ] 5...a6 In many Scandinavian lines, particularly after 2..Qxd5, you'll see Black playing ...c7-c6. Here his intentions are much sharper, planning Queenside expansion with ...b7-b5 and... c7-c5! as well as active development w i t h . . . B b 7 . 6.e3 I think Golubev was surprised, perhaps unpleasantly. The Bishop doesn't sit comfortably on e3 but there are ideas of Qd2 and Bf4 as well as the suppression of ...c7-c5 Other ideas: [ 6.e2 c6 7.0-0 f5 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 g6 10.e4 xe4 11.xe4 g7 12.f4 d8 13.c3 0-0 14.d5 b8 15.fe1 e8 16.c4 c6 17.ad1 cxd5 18.xd5 b6 19.b4 c6 20.a4 ac8 21.a5 xa5 22.bxa5 xc4 23.axb6 xf4 24.d7 xc3 25.c1 a5 26.xb7 b4 27.h3 xb6 28.h2 a5 29.c2 g7 30.e5 d4 31.xb4 xe5+ 32.f4 axb4 33.fxe5 b3 34.b2 b8 35.g3 f8 36.f3 e8 37.e4 d7 38.d5 b5+ 39.c4 c6 40.d4 b4+ 41.c3 c5 42.d3 b8 43.e6 f6 44.c3 d5 45.d2+ xe6 46.b2 f5 47.e2+ f6 48.d2 g5 49.d4 h6 50.c4 e5 51.c7 d6 52.a7 b6 53.a5 e5 54.a8 d5

55.a5+ e4 56.a4+ e3 57.c4 f4 58.c5 e4 59.h4 g4 60.f5 f3 61.g3 f2 62.f4 h5 0-1 Lim Jean Nie-Yeo Min Yang, E/20th Cairnhill Open, Singapore SIN 2002 (62) ] [ 6.e5 c6 7.f4 xd4 8.c4 e6 9.f3 d7 10.xf7 xf4 11.xf4 xf4 12.0-0-0 b5 13.b3 g8 14.d5 e6 15.g5 xg5 16.xc7+ d8 17.xa8 h8 18.he1 h6 19.f4 h7 20.e6 hf6 21.b6 c7 22.xc8 xc8 23.e3 d8 24.ed3 g5 25.f5 g7 26.xd7 xd7 27.xd7+ e8 28.d8+ f7 29.xh8 xh8 30.e1 h5 31.e6 h4 32.xa6 e5 33.h3 d6 34.d1 f6 35.e2 xf5 36.a5 f4 37.xb5+ e5 38.a4 1-0 Vazquez,R-Ivanovitch Balsinde,N/Open, Pamplona ESP 2002 (38) ] [ 6.c4 e6 7.e2 b5 8.b3 b7 9.g5 bd7 10.0-0-0 d5 11.e4 b6 12.b1 h6 13.c1 e7 14.he1 0-0-0 15.c4 bxc4 16.xc4 7f6 17.xd5 xd5 18.a1 b4 19.a3 c6 20.e3 b5 21.c2 a5 22.f4 d7 23.e5 b3+ 24.b1 xd4 25.xd4 xd4 26.xf7 c4 27.c3 f8 28.g6 xc3 29.xe6+ b8 30.xe7 f5+ 31.a1 xf7 32.b4 b3 33.xc7+ a8 34.c5 b5 35.d4 xc7 0-1 Zelcic,R-Kurajica,B/Salona Rapid 1hr, Solin-Spilt CRO 2002 (35) ] 6...f5!?N I searched in Melts for this move and was very surprised when I didn't find it. 6...Bf5 looks solid and respectable to me, certainly when one considers that Jirovsky intends to follow up with ...Nc6, adding spice to the mix. Black is not limited: [ 6...e6 7.d2 e7 8.d3 0-0 9.0-0-0 b5 10.g5 b7 11.f4 d8 12.h4 bd7 13.e2 b4 14.ce4 xe4 15.xe4 f6 ] [ 6...g4 7.e2 bd7 8.d2 e6 9.0-0-0 d5 10.xd5 exd5 11.f4 b6 12.g5! ] [ 6...b5 7.d3 b7 8.0-0 bd7 ] 7.d2 e6 8.0-0-0 c6!= 9.h4 g6 10.f4 d7 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d5 exd5 13.xd5 0-0-0 14.c4 f5 15.g3 xd5 16.xd5 e7 17.he1 g5 18.f4 f6!= Black's opening has worked very well. 19.c4 e7 20.e4 c5 21.c2 f5 22.f2 d4 23.xd4 xd4 24.xd4 xd4 25.g3 c6 208

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.a3 c7 27.b1 d8 28.a2 c5 29.g2 b5 30.e4 a5 31.e2 b4 32.axb4 xb4 33.c5 d2 34.xb4 xe2 35.f3 f2 36.b3 a4 37.d3 xb2 38.h4 f5 39.d1 d4+ 40.a3 xc5+ 41.xa4 a2+ 42.b3 a3+ 43.c4 xd3 44.xd3 f2 45.b3 xg3 46.f7 g5 47.fxg5 xh4 48.g6 d6 49.e3 e5 50.e8 c5 51.f7 g5+ 52.d3 h4 53.e8 f4 54.b5 f2 55.e2 d4 56.f1 g5 57.e8 c4 58.e2 f4 59.d7 f6 60.b5 c3 61.d3 g4 I think that 3...Qd6 isn't a bad move at all and can certainly be employed as a surprise weapon. The Melts book is required reading. 0-1

220 Golubev,Mikhail Kislinsky,Alexey VIII Rector Cup (10) [Eric Prié]

B01 2499 2384 04.04.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.d2 g4! Of course there are other black options against 5.Bd2:5...Qb6 immediately that Kasparov and Kramnik faced over the board, 6.Nf3 and then 6...Bg4 or even 6...c6 but anything other than the suicidal capture on b2. Be that as it may, it seems clear that, if Black can never take any of the white pawns on b2, c2 or d4, then 5...c6 is preferable and after 6.Bc4 the retreat 6...Qc7 intending 7.Nf3 Bf5 or 7...Bg4 if Black feels lucky and wishes to test the validity of the rule I have previously stated of never moving his queen 3 times unless forced in the Scandinavian... 5...c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 remains the main line in any case. Nevertheless, since I understand it would be an error of taste not to advertize one's products in this peculiar 1...e4 section, I can invite its subscribers to watch for the publication of the next 2 New In Chess yearbooks (81 and 82) if they want to know more about the W orld classical champions' m o v e 5 . B d 2 ! 6.f3 h5!? Protecting f7, although on principle I prefer [ 6...f5 to keep this bishop in play. Then, in case of the aggressive 7.g4 I would think about ...Bg6. Instead I have regularly played

d7 in this situation, but Kislinsky's games ma y m a ke m e ch an ge m y m in d . . . 8.c4 After this move, we rejoin my work on 5.Bc4 last year (instead of 5. Bd2) 5...Bg4! ( 8.g5 h5 9.ge2 e6 10.g2?! c6! 11.e4 b6 12.c3 0-0-0 Boudre, J-P-Prie, E Narbonne-Plage 1hKO op 2005; 8.h3 ) 8...b6 9.e2 ( 9.ge2?! c6 10.b3 xf3 11.f1 xg4 12.f4 Sanchez, J (2450) - Prie, E (2475) Villeneuve-Tolosane op 2006 ) 9...c6 10.d5 d4 11.d3 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 e5 ( 12...c5 13.ge2 e6 14.xd4 cxd4 15.dxe6 xe6 16.e2 ) 13.ge2 xe2+ ( 13...h5 14.h3 c5 15.xd4 xd4 16.g5 e8 17.b3 d6 18.e4 f5 19.c3 e3 ) 14.xe2 d6= I don't think White is better here, but I do not feel comfortable with this pawn structure, which is unusual for me, Mack, A (2262) Prié, E (2429) 4NCL2 Telford ENG 2004 ] 7.g4 White takes up the gauntlet. Otherwise, the exile of the bishop on h5 also throws up a couple of questions. [ 7.ge2 c6 8.f4 xd4 9.b5 b6 10.e3 c5 11.xh5 xh5 12.xd4 0-0-0 13.c3 xb2 14.c1 cxd4 15.cxd4+ b8= ] [ 7.h3!? c6 8.b5 ( 8.b5 0-0-0 ) 8...b6 9.f4 d5 10.c4 xf4 11.xf4 0-0-0 12.xh5 e6! ] [ 7.c4! b6 8.h3! c6 ( 8...xd4 9.e2 ) 9.d5 With the initiative, winning a piece in return for two pawns and some activity, for instance after d4 10.a4 d6 11.c3 e5+ 12.f1 xf3 13.gxf3 xd5 14.e2 f5 15.g2 0-0-0 ] 7...g6 8.f4! e6 9.f5 exf5 10.g5 fd7 11.e2+ d8 12.g2 The improvement. One can imagine that Golubev, like every fierce Dragon player, is usually keen on such complicated games with the opposite colour and had time to prepare something in this closed tournament, 8 rounds after the surprise caused by his young compatriot. c6 13.xc6 bxc6 14.0-0-0 This must have been his idea: get rid of the opposing queen's knight, which was ready to jump to b4, and which caused all W hite's sorrows in the previous game, prior to long castling. b8 15.e1 b4 16.h3 c8! [ 16...xc3 17.xc3 xa2 18.f4 b6 19.h4 c4 20.b3 ] 209

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.f4 [ 17.a3 xa3 Of course. ] 17...d8! 18.c4?! White eventually decides to defend a2 or maybe play for a win when he had to go all in to look for a saving perpetual check. [ 18.h4 xc3 19.xc3 xa2 20.h5 c5 21.g2 ( 21.hxg6? e4 ) 21...a4 ( 21...e4 22.xe4 fxe4 23.hxg6 e3 24.b3 ) 22.xc6 b6 ( 22...xb2 23.xb2 xb2+ 24.d2 xd4+ 25.e2 ) 23.a8+ b8 24.c6 ( 24.f3 xb2 25.d2 c4+ 26.e2 xc2+ 27.f1 b3 28.a8+ d7 29.d5+ d6 30.hxg6 hxg6! 31.a1 e8!-+ ) 24...b6 25.a8+ b8= ] 18...c5 The opening of the d-file is obviously wh a t B l a c k a i m s f o r w i t h a r o o k o n d 8 . 19.fd5? [ 19.a3! b6 ( 19...xa3? 20.bxa3 xa3+ 21.d1 b4 22.a2 xa2 23.xa2 b1+ 24.c1 cxd4 25.h4 f6 26.h5 f7 27.g6 c4 28.e7 ) 20.a2 ( 20.b3 xc3 21.xc3 a6 ) 20...xc3 21.xc3 a4 22.b3 c6 23.dxc5 d5 24.xd5 xd5 And Black retains some initiative which is the most important in complicated middle games with opposite-coloured bishops. 25.xg7 f4 26.b4 xg5 ] 19...b6! 20.e7+ b7 21.e2 xc3 22.xc3 [ 22.f3+ d5 23.xd5? xd2+ ] 22...xa2 23.f3+ d5! [ 23...a6 24.b3 cxd4 25.c6 dxc3? 26.b4+ ] 24.e5 c6 25.b3 f4! The black dragon is free! [ 25...h5 26.g2 ( 26.xh5 xc3 )] 26.b2 [ 26.xg6 hxg6 27.dxc5 f6 ] 26...xc2! 27.xd5 [ 27.xc2 b4+ 28.c1 ( 28.c3 cxd4+ 29.xb4 a8+ 30.c4 a6+ 31.b5 xb5# ) 28...xd4 29.d1 bd8 30.ee1 d3! 31.f2 ( 31.f1 c3+ 32.xc3 c2#; 31.e2 f3 ) 31...xb3 32.e2 a2+ 33.b1 c3+ 34.c1 xe2+ ] 27...b1+ 28.d2 xb2 29.e7+ a6 30.b4+ [ 30.f1+ d3+ 31.xd3 xd5 32.a1+ xa1 33.xa1+ b6 34.axa7 cxd4 35.xf7 c5 36.a3 b4 37.a6 c5

38.xg7 xb3-+ ] 30...a5 31.xc6+ b6 32.e1 [ 32.c3 xc3+ 33.xc3 xc6 34.xc2 xd4 35.xf7 b7+- ] 32...e8?? [ 32...xd4! 33.xd4 xd4 34.f1 ( 34.h4 d3 35.h3 d6 ) 34...d6! The point of it a l l , t h e e 7 - r o o k i s d o m i n a t e d ! 35.e2 ( 35.xf7 e8+; 35.e2 d3 ) 35...d1 36.xf4 xf4 37.xf4 xe2 38.xe2 b7-+ ] 33.xf4?? Mutual time trouble, probably. [ 33.dxc5+ xc5?! ( 33...b5 34.xa7+ a5 35.c6+ b5= ) 34.b4+ b6 ( 34...d6 35.xf4+ xc6 36.c4+ b6 37.c5+ a6 38.a5# ) 35.f2+ b5 ( 35...xc6? 36.c5# ) 36.e2+ a4 37.xe8 xe8 38.xe8 d3! 39.g1 c3+ 40.f2 b5 41.e4 d2+ ( 41...xc6 42.xf4 ) 42.f3 c3+ 43.xf4 xc6 44.e3 xb4+ 45.g3 d6+ 46.f4+ xf4+ 47.xf4 ] 33...xe7+ 34.xe7 c3+ 35.d2 a1+ 36.f2 xd4+ 37.xd4 cxd4 0-1

221 Gormally,Daniel Nakamura,Hikaru Gibraltar Masters (2) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2472 2613 26.01.2005

There now follows a long, rather dour clash between two very strong players. Nakmura seems to have embraced the Centre-Counter with enthusiasm perhaps he likes the ease with which one can get a playable position. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 f6 6.e5 The teeth have probably been drawn from 6 Ne5. However, if W hite wa n t s t o i n s u r e ' a g a i n s t t h e l o s s ' , t h e n perhaps this is the best way to go about it. f5!? Encouraging g2-g4, which has hitherto tho ught t o be risky. 6 .. .B e6 is O K, b ut if Nakamura can make 6...Bf5 work, then we will all be very ha ppy. 7.d3 OK, Gormally is angling for a draw that is the only explanation of this boring move. [ Clearly 7.g4 is critical and then I think that e6! is best, with 8.c4 ( 8.d2 bd7=; 210

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.c4 xg4! 9.xe6 xe5 10.c8 c7 11.xb7 xb7 12.dxe5 e6 ) 8...xc4 9.xc4 e6 10.e2 b4 11.d2 d5= If this analysis of John Emms, in his excellent recent book on the Scandinavian is correct, then Black is absolutely fine after 6...Bf5 ] 7...xd3 8.xd3 bd7 Challenging the Knight brings complete equality. Many players would shake hands here. 9.f4 [ 9.xd7 is not especially awe-inspiring, rather the prelude to deep and everlasting peace: xd7 10.0-0 f6 11.d2 c7 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 e6 14.c4 e7 15.c3 0-0 16.d5 1/2-1/2 Nijboer, FHansen, C/Groningen 1992 ] 9...e6 [ 9...xe5 looks faintly inaccurate, although even here Black obtained a decent position in a r e c e n t g a m e f r o m T u r k e y: 10.xe5 ( 10.dxe5 d5 11.d2 e6= ) 10...d7 11.f4 e6 12.0-0 e7 13.a3 0-0 14.ad1 f6 15.fe1 d5 16.xd5 cxd5 17.d2 xd2 18.xd2 ac8 19.h3 c6 20.g4 fc8 Korniyuk, M-Warakomska, A/Urgup 2004 Completely equal. ] 10.0-0 b6 [ 10...d8 11.c4 h5 12.ad1 e7 13.c7 with the idea of Nd6+ gives White an edge. ] [ 10...xe5! seems reliable again. Somehow my head doesn't want me to play this move, but the positions reached are quite alright: 11.dxe5 ( 11.xe5 d7 12.g3 e7= ) 11...d5 12.xd5 xd5 ( 12...cxd5 13.c3 c8 14.e3 e7= ) 13.fd1 xd3 14.xd3 d8= ] 11.a3 bd5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.b4 a4 14.c4 This is about the best that White could have hoped for. He has the initiative and is ahead in development, although not massively so. W hat Nakamura has to do now is to go into defensive mode for a few moves and get castled. This he does. dxc4 15.xc4 d7 Preventing Nd6+ 16.e5 e7 17.f4 0-0 18.f5 Gormally tries to rustle up a kingside attack, but Black's position is very solid and the early simplification doesn't help White's cause either. g4 [ 18...b5!? gives counterplay at the expense of driving White's Knight to a better square.

19.e3 a5 ] 19.ad1 ac8 20.h3 xc4! Each exchange favours Black due to the isolated d-pawn. White must make sure that he keeps as active as possible in the upcoming ending to divert Black from realising that positional trump. 21.hxg4 [ 21.xc4 e3 22.fxe6 fxe6 23.xf8+ xf8 24.e2 xd1 25.xd1 b5!= ] 21...fc8 22.e3?! [ 22.d5! would have saved a lot of moves: exd5 23.xd5 xd5 24.xd5 g5 25.d7 e4 ] 22...c3 23.d3 xd3 24.xd3 exf5 25.gxf5 f6 26.f4 d8 27.e3 d5 Now, if a nyon e, B lack has a sm all edge . 28.c1 f8 29.f2 d6 30.h3 g8 31.e1 c8 32.g4 b6 33.h4 f8 34.f2 a5 35.bxa5 bxa5 36.h3 [ 36.a4 is desirable long-term but might well result in the pawn becoming more vulnerable: b4 37.e6 a2 ] 36...g8 37.a4 b4 38.d1 h8?! Prompted by time pressure perhaps? I find it difficult to understand why Nakamura didn't play [ 38...c2! o t h e r w i s e : 39.g4 a2 the point is to combine seventh-rank pressure with an attack on a4. 40.f3 xa4 41.a8+ f7 42.b7+ f8 43.d5 e8 44.d6 xd6! 45.xd6 c1+ 46.h2 h5+ 47.g3 c3+-+ ] 39.d3 h6 40.b5 d8 41.c1 [ 41.xd5 xd5 42.g4 h5 43.gxh5 xf5 44.d5 d6 45.b6 gives some counterplay. ] 41...e4 42.b6 d5 43.e6 xf5 44.c8+ h7 45.g8+ g6 46.e8+ h7 47.g8+ g6 48.e8+ g5 OK, he goes for it. At 30 secs a move it's a good punt. 49.e3+ [ 49.e3+ g4 50.c7 g5 leaves White with no obvious continuation although both Kings are shakily placed. Really, in the quickplay shootout, these positions become rather random. ] 49...h5 50.g8 b1+ 51.h2 d6+ 52.g3 g5 53.e2+ g6 54.e8+ f5 55.c8+ g6 56.e8+ f5 57.d7+ e4?! 58.c6+ [ Dee p Fritz is showin g 58.e8+ d3 211

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 59.g2! with xg3 ( 59...b6 60.e3+ fxg3 25.f4! ( 25.fxg3 ce8 26.h2 f7 d2 61.e6 d5 62.xg7 ) 60.e3+ 27.h3 f8 is very good for Black.) d2 61.xg3 e4+ 62.g1 b1+ 25...ce8 26.e3 f7 27.h3 f8 63.h2 h5+ 64.h3 But with no time, it 28.hg1 c7 29.ef1 b5! 30.xg3 take s a ge niu s ( or a comp ute r) to f in d ( 30.cxb5 c4 with a crushing attack.) quiet moves such as Kg2!!. ] 30...a5 and in this complicated position 58...f5 59.d7+ e4 60.e8+ f3 Bla ck's ch an ce s a re b y n o me ans b ad , 61.c6+ g4 62.g2 f5 63.e4+ g5 Malev-Malinin,1990. ] 64.e8 xf2+! 65.xf2 b2+ 66.f3 12.d4 f5 (threatening 13...f5-f4) 13.g5! c3+ 67.e3 xd4 68.e4 xe4+ [ 13.ce2 is not so convincing in view of 69.xe4 f5 70.g4+ 6 A royal struggle in the A) In Macieja-Terekhin, Sankt Peterburg end. As for the opening I recommend having 1 9 9 7 B l a c k t r i e d 13...axc4 14.bxc4 another look at ... Bf5! which seems a xc4 , but with a few precise moves White complete answer to 6 Ne5 r e f u t e d t h i s i d e a : 15.b4! xe3 ½-½ ( 15...xd5 16.f4 ) 16.fxe3 xd5 17.c1! a5 18.f4! axb4 19.xd5 c6 ( 19...xa2 20.c4 ) 20.b6! a3 222 B01 21.c4+ h8 22.b3 a6 23.xc8 xc8 24.h4! and in this position 3 pawns Grischuk,Alexander 2581 is not really enough for the piece.; Malakhov,Vladimir 2593 B) 13...c5! 14.xa5 f4! ( Of course, Lausanne 2000 14...cxd4 15.xd4 is insufficient for [Alexander Volzhin] Black. ) 15.xc5 ( 15.xf4 is bad in view of cxd4 and White is helpless.) 15...fxe3 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 xd5 4.d4 g6 16.fxe3 g5! Obviously Black has 5.c4 b6 6.c3 g7 7.e3 0-0 8.h3 c6 tremendous compensation for sacrificed 9.d2 e5 10.d5 a5!? Nowadays this old material. move becomes more and more popular. The B1) 17.0-0-0 xe3+ 18.b1 g5 reason is Black suffers serious problems in ( 18...f5 is not bad either.) 19.g4 e5 10. .. Ne7 a s we have alrea dy se en . 11.b3 , in te nd ing B d7 , Ra8 -c8 wit h a ve ry The critical position of this line. Now Black strong attack.; has to choose between two lines: 11...f5 and B2) 17.d2 f2 18.h4 and now the 11...e4. e4 natural g3 ( in st ea d o f 18...h6?! [ 11...f5 is the alternative to the text. In 19.d6 f5 20.g4! c8 21.g5 h5 numerous games played in this line up to 22.d7! and Black is in trouble, Firmanthis moment White had failed to prove his Ne st e r, L viv 1 9 9 8 .) 19.e1 g4 advantage. Just a few examples: 12.c5 secured Black a very strong attack, for ( 12.0-0-0 e4 13.e1 f6 14.b2 c6 example: 20.e6 c8 21.b4 15.d6 e6 16.c2 axc4+! and Back ( 21.e7? c3+! 22.xc3 xd5+ ) wins, Markovic-Gostovic, Jugoslavija 1985.) 21...xe6 22.dxe6 e5 and White's 12...e8 13.0-0-0 ( 13.e2 d7 14.a3 position is barely defensible. ] c5 15.g5 h6 16.h4 b6 17.b2 f8 18.f4 exf4 19.xf4 b7 20.b5 e7 13...e8 14.0-0-0 c5 15.de2! [ The tempting 15.db5 is strongly met by 21.d2 a6 22.c3 d6 23.0-0-0 d7 a6! 16.c7 e5 17.xa8 xa8 18.b1 24.he1 e3 25.f3 b5! and Black is f4 with tremendous compensation for clearly better, S.Nikolic-Stefansson, sacrificed exchange. ] Komotini 1993.) 13...d7 14.b4 c5 15.xa5 xa5 16.b5 d8 17.d6 f8 15...axc4!? The Knight on a5 has no better xc4 18.g5 h6 19.h4 e4 20.xc8 xc8 role than to be sacrificed! 16.bxc4 21.c2 xg5!? 22.hxg5 ( 22.xg5 xg5 17.c2 The critical position for the whole line. 23.hxg5 e5 intending 24...Nf7 is very Black's position looks promising but White's good for Black.) 22...f4 23.e1 e7 24.g3 d e f e n s i v e r e s o u r c e s s h o u l d n o t b e 212

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 underestimated. e5 [ The tempting 17...b5 doesn't work in view of 18.d6! c6 19.d5 and White is better. ] 18.d6! d3+ 19.xd3! exd3 20.xd3 f4?! [ 20...e6 is worth considering, for example: 21.d5 c4 22.f3 a4 and Black obtains real counterchances. ] 21.e7! f7 22.c4! b5 Desperation but I can't see real improvement for Black. 23.xb5 b8 24.ec3 b7 25.d5 a6 26.bc7 White Knights dominate in the centre of the board. The fact W hite's King has no pawn shelter is of no importance here since all Black pieces are passive and can't create any real attack. The rest needs no comment. c6 27.d3 b2+ 28.d1 g7 29.e1 d4 30.e4 d7 31.xd4 cxd4 32.e6+ g8 33.f6+ h8 34.c5 1-0

223 Groszpeter,Attila Reprintsev,Alexander Pardubice Czech op (5) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2505 2440 1998

REPRINTSEV'S SURPRISE It's not at all easy to surprise a well-prepared opponent, especially in these days of the giant database. I believe the idea we are about to examine will come as a complete shock to most players and is much better than it looks. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e4!? Seen this before? Maybe the stronger players among you will have done, but you didn't bother to analyse it. I must admit 5... Ne 4 lo o k s lik e n o n s e n se . I t sh o u ld b e a simple matter to ref ute this time-wasting Knight move with simple development. Reprintsev and Sulskis don't think so, play 5... Ne4 whenever they can and get pretty good results with it. Besides, 5...Ne4 is unsettling. W ho likes to be threatened on move five! Perhaps when we have f inished with this article, 5 Bc4 will suddenly become more popular. So a bit of feelgood chess to start off with a quick Black win. 6.d3 xc3 7.bxc3 [ I thought 7.d2 might be a move, but then e5! is a further shock to the system. Black's

idea is ...Bb4. Then 8.bxc3 ( 8.xe5 b4 9.c4 d5! 10.bxc3 xg2 11.f1 e7 ) 8...exd4 9.xd4 e7 is nothing for White at all. ] 7...g6! Reprintsev seems to have decided that t h is m o ve is b e s t , a n gli n g f o r a n a lm o s t Grünfeld-like position. I suppose that if Black is left unmolested, he will simply play 0-0 and ...c7-c5! So White must be very concrete here and attack e7. 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 [ 9.b1 0-0 10.e1 ( 10.e1!? xa2 11.f4 c6 12.xc7 d5 13.b5 d7 14.f4 e6 ) 10...c6 11.h3 xa2 led nowhere in another Reprintsev game: 12.g5 e6 13.d2 d5 14.b5 d7 15.h6 xh6 16.xh6 f6 17.c4 g7 18.f4 ( 18.xe6+ xe6 19.xg7+ xg7 20.xe6 f7! 21.e1 b6 ) 18...d8 19.h4 a6 20.bb1 b5 21.a2 h8 22.c4 c6 23.c5 a7 Strukov, R-Reprintsev, A/ Moscow 1999 Black's game is a bit awkward, but he's a pawn up! What do you want? ] [ If 9.g5 xc3 10.e1 e6 11.d2 a3 12.f4 a5 is another pawn-down position for White, where he has some compensation, but nothing clear. ] 9...0-0!? 10.xe7 c6 11.e3 [ 11.e1 led to the decidedly unthrilling xc3 12.d2 a3 13.c1 c3 14.d2 a3 15.c1 c3 1/2-1/2 Genser, H-Plank, F/ Austria 1999 ] 11...xc3 12.d2 b2 This guy is a very tricky player as you are about to see. It still looks dubious. Material is level and Black's queen seems stranded in the W hite camp. Moreover White's pieces appear to be better developed. In a clearly optimistic frame of mind, Groszpeter goes straight ahead. He is a b o u t t o e xp e r i e n c e a r u d e a w a k e n i n g . 13.xg6 [ 13.c3 is certainly better, but not conclusive. Black is still fighting: a3 14.e4 ( 14.b3 xb3 15.axb3 d8 16.c4 f5 ) 14...d6 15.b3 b6 16.ae1 b7 17.b5 ae8 ] [ 13.b1 xa2 14.c3 d5 ] 13...xd4! 14.b1? In shock. [ 14.xd4 is surprisingly difficult to play against because W hite is so far ahead in development. I think I've found a good line f o r B l a c k t h o u g h : hxg6! ( 14...xd4 213

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.xh7+ xh7 16.h5+ g8 17.g3+ g7 18.f1!; 14...fxg6 15.c3 b6 16.b1 d6 17.b5 xd1+ 18.xd1 xc3 19.xc3 c6 20.d6 ) 15.c3 b6 16.b1 d6 17.b5 xd1+ 18.xd1 f5 19.xg7 xg7 20.xc7 ac8 21.e7 fd8!= ] 14...xf3+ 15.xf3 xa2 16.xh7+ xh7 17.b4 d8! 18.h3 a1 Of course, it's all over . 19.xa1 xa1 20.g3 d4 Black could never h ave expected such a speedy victory treading a familiar highway. 0-1

224

B01 Hagen,Andreas Skytte 2290 Bo,Morten 2343 49th TCh-DEN XtraCon 2010-11 (9.4) 13.03.11 [Gawain Jones]

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ gxf6 [ 9...xf6 is the other main move. We ought to check a game of the French author's. 10.e2! g4 ( 10...d7 was played against me but doesn't have a good reputation. 11.0-0-0 b6 given a question mark by Bauer who considers that Black should transpose to the game with 11...Bg4. 12.g5 g6 13.d5! xc4 14.xc4 exd5 15.he1+ e6 16.xd5! e7 17.xe7 cxd5 18.b4 c8 19.c3 g4 20.d6 a4 21.xe6! fxe6 22.e5 b5 23.h4 1-0 Jones, G (2522)-Wang Puchen (2397) Limburg Open Maastricht 2008 was a game I wa s ra t h e r p le a se d wit h !) 11.0-0-0 Oddly Bauer believes this is inaccurate but in this game he opts to switch back to the mainline. ( Instead 11.d5 xf3 12.gxf3 cxd5 13.xd5 d7 14.0-0-0 would transpose to the game.) 11...d7 ( He considers 11...e7 to equalise but for some reason chooses not to play it here.) 12.d5 xf3 13.gxf3 cxd5 14.xd5 0-0-0 15.e4 e5 16.b1 ( 16.c3! was Shirov's choice in the archives and Bauer considers this the most challenging. c7 17.b1 f6 Shirov, A (2720)-Bauer, C (2 5 8 5 ) P a m p lo n a 2 0 0 6 is lo o ke d a t b y

Ro wso n in t h e a rch ive s. He re P la y t h e Scandinavian recommends 18.hg1 c5 19.xd8+ xd8 20.d4! c8 21.c4 a6 22.xc5 xc5 23.xe6+ b8 24.a3 g6 25.xf6 d8 when he writes "Black will likely recover a pawn on either f2 or h2. White can play for a win without any risk, but the presence of opposite-coloured bishops is a sign if ica nt dra win g f a cto r". Hard ly what Black was hoping for and it would be interesting to know if Bauer had found an improvement over his analysis or whether he was confident he could hold the draw here.) 16...c7 17.g5 f6 18.e3 c5 19.c3 g6 20.c2 b8 21.h6 e5 22.d2 c7 23.e2 e5 24.d2 c7 25.e2 saw Black holding pretty easily. 1/2-1/2 Hamdouchi, H (2593)-Bauer, C (2633) Calvi 2011. ] 10.b3 This is actually the main move but hasn't been featured on ChessPublishing before. W hite defends the c2 pawn in preparation for Qe2 and 0-0-0. [ Instead 10.c3 has been looked at a few times ] [ W h i l e J o h n W a t s o n l o o k e d a t 10.0-0 in Gashimov, V (2740)-Hamdouchi, H (2590) Ourense 2009. ] 10...a5!? This is a rare try which has recently seen a rise in popularity. [ 10...d7 is by far the main move and the only one considered in Play the Scandinavian but wasn't Bauer's choice in a recent game. I've added in some of John Watson's analysis from the archives: A) 11.h4 The point of this is apparently to bring the queen over to the kingside but lo o k s a b i t o d d t o m e . g6 12.f3 ( 12.xg6 was the choice in a high rated blitz game but following hxg6 13.e2 c7 14.h4 0-0-0 15.0-0-0 h6! Exploiting White's rather early exchange on g6. 16.xh6 xh6 17.g3 dh8 18.he1 g5! and Black had equalised. Nepomniachtchi, I (2720) -Nakamura, H (2741) Moscow 2010. ) A1) An ot h er re cen t gam e sa w 12...f5 13.h3 g7 14.f3 ( 14.c3 Bauer. ) 14...f6 15.h6 xh6 16.xh6 h5?! This leaves Black's pieces rather loose. ( 16...d6 looks fine to me.) 17.e5 214

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e7 18.f3 g8 19.g3 0-0-0 20.0-0-0 b8 21.d2 a8 22.hd1 c8 23.b1 cd8 24.a3 c8 25.a1 cd8 26.c4 and White was starting to take ove r b ut st ill e4? was an ill-advised idea. Talla, V (2505)-Tripoteau, N (2425) Chur 2010.; A2) 12...a5 given an exclam by Bauer. 13.a4 f5 14.h3 g7 15.f3 0-0 16.0-0 f6 17.g5 b6 18.ad1 e4 19.h6 fd8 20.xg7 xg7 1/2-1/2 Venkatesh, M (2468)-Chatterjee, D (2312) Chennai 2011 saw Black hold comfortably.; B) 11.e2 The mainline and logical. W hite prepares to castle long and has interesting d4-d5 ideas. c7 12.h4 g6 B1) 13.f4 was seen in another high rated blitz game but giving away the e4 s q u a r e i s a r i s k y d e c i s i o n . 0-0-0 14.0-0-0 f5 15.h3 ( Watson gives 15.g3 b8 16.c4 f6 17.xg6 hxg6 as about equal in Socko-D Schwarz, Warsaw 2008. ) 15...f6 16.c3 h5 B1a) 17.g4! was necessary but still fxg4 18.xe6+ fxe6 19.xe6+ d7 ( 19...d7 20.hxg4 e8 21.f5 d6 i s i n t e r e s t i n g .) 20.xf6 g8 and Black hs good play for the pawn.; B1b) 17.f3? d6 18.g3 e4 19.hg1 hg8 and Black had taken over the initiative. Svidler, P (2734)Nielsen, P (2700) Copenhagen 2010.; B2) 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 14.g3 b8 Given Bauer's approval when his mainline continues ( 14...d6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.h4 gives W hite an edge.) 15.g2 ( 15.xg6 hxg6 16.h4 is no longer so good for White as Black can play h6! removing White's bishop pair. It's important to remember to wait for ...Bd6 before exchanging on g6.; 15.b1!? was tried in Kravtsiv, M (2527)Tomczak, J (2447) Lublin 2009 when Black doe s best to sit and wait wit h a8!? ) 15...e5!? ( He also devotes a lot of analysis to 15...d6 ) 16.c3 exd4! 17.xd4 c5 18.he1 xd4 19.xd4 c5 when White must have a small edge due to his better structure but the position is fully playable for Black. ]

11.a4 g8?! Considering White's next is a move he wants to play anyway I feel this is an error. [ Most of the other players have continued with the more logical 11...a6 12.e2 A) 12...b4 13.xb4 ( 13.0-0-0 is surely more critical but perhaps White w a s w o r r i e d a b o u t s o m e b5? plan? Nonetheless this would be highly p r e m a t u r e a s 14.d5! is ve ry s t ro n g.) 13...axb4 14.h4 g6 15.e3 g7 was an easy draw for Black in Balogh, C (2628)-Hamdouchi, H (2600) La Massana 2010.; B) 12...b6 13.h4! g6 14.e3?! This move is rather odd ( Again 14.0-0-0 was critical. This is a much better version of the game f o r Black who ca n castle safely but still I feel W hite may have a nibble. ) 14...b4+ Now White is forced to c e d e c a s t l i n g r i g h t s . 15.f1 d8 ( 15...0-0-0 w a s s a f e a s 16.d5 c5 17.dxe6 xe3 18.xe3 xe3 19.fxe3 c5 gives Black great play for the pawn.) 16.c3 e7 17.g3 c7 with a doublee d g e d b a t t l e in p ro sp e c t . F a r ge re , F (2520)-Bauer, C (2633) Nancy 2011. ] 12.e2! Tactically defending the g2 pawn and preparing to castle long. e7 13.0-0-0 a6 [ 13...b5!? was an interesting alternative but perhaps W hite can safely ignore it with 14.hg1 ] [ 13...xg2? still drops material to 14.h4! g4 15.e4 xd1 16.xg2 h5 17.g8+ f8 18.xh7+- ] 14.he1 b4 15.h3 A slightly odd move [ 15.h4! looks more logical. The computer offers the enterprising xc2 but I remain unconvinced that Black has anything like enough for a piece following ( Both 15...g4 16.f3 h5 17.g4 g6 18.f4; and 15...g6 16.xg6 xg6 17.c3 d5 18.g4 clearly favour W hite) 16.xc2 xc2 17.xc2 xd4 18.g3 xa4+ 19.b1 ] 15...d6 16.h4 g6 17.f4!? f5 18.f3 d5?! Boe wants to utilise the outpost on e4 as fast as possible but now he has difficulties castling. [ Instead 18...0-0-0 and Black would be close to equalising although W hite can retain a small edge with 19.xb4 axb4 215

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.e5 ] 19.e5 f6 20.g4! Energetic play e4 21.g5 h6 22.h4 hxg5 23.hxg5 So Black has managed to entrench his knight on the outpost but the rest of his pieces remain passive while the weakness of the a5 pawn prevents him from castling and therefore his pieces remain uncoordinated. f8 [ It seems a shame to give away the beautiful k n i g h t b u t 23...xd2 would at least allow B l a c k t o g e t c a s t l e d . 24.xd2 c7 ( 24...h5 wins the exchange but 25.b1 xd1 26.xd1 g7 27.h5 allows White a very dangerous attack. Black does best here to give back the exchange with 0-0-0 but W hite stands better following 28.xf7 xf4 29.xe6+ b8 30.xd8 xd8 31.g6 ) 25.h1 0-0-0 and Black is solidly placed but his pieces are rather passively located and so White can continue probing without any risk. ] [ 23...c7?! defends a5 and looks logical but fails to the common blow in the Scandinavian of 24.d5! exd5 25.xd5! cxd5 26.b5+ A) 26...d8 27.xd5+ d6 ( 27...d6 28.xg6 xg6 29.xe4! fxe4 30.f5 g7 31.f4 and White regains a piece with a vicious attack.; 27...c8 28.xg6+- ) 28.e3 with a very dangerous attack.; B) 26...f8 27.d7+ e8 ( 27...g7 28.xe4! fxe4 29.c3++- forces Black to give his queen to prevent a mating attack. ) 28.b6+ c6 29.xa8 h5 30.c7+ d7 31.xa5 xd1 32.xd1 xb5 33.axb5 and with d5 dropping White has an extra two pawns in the ending. ] 24.h2 This allows Black to finally castle and thus eases his position. [ 24.b1 should have also been considered c7 25.d5!? exd5 26.xd5 cxd5 27.b5+ d8 28.e3 is still a very dangerous attack. ] 24...g7?! [ With 24...c7 Black could castle next move and only be a little worse. It's important to recognise that the White queen can no longer come to b5 so the d4-d 5 break won't work. ] 25.xg6! fxg6 26.h7 Now Black doesn't h a v e t i m e t o c a s t l e . f7 27.xe4!

The Dane (who I notice will be 2454 next list!) plays the energetic exchange sacrifice ripping open Black's position. fxe4 28.f5 gxf5 29.xf5+ e7 30.xe4 White has a pawn for the exchange but much more relevant is the Black king which is running naked in the centre of the board with all of W hite's army behind it. d7 [ 30...gf8 31.e1 d8 32.c3 c7 33.h7 f7 34.xe6 picks up another pawn while Black's king isn't much safer. ] 31.f4 e7 32.d5! Stripping open the king. exd5 33.xd5+! The rook on g8 will drop so material is actually level while W hite's ferocious attack continues. cxd5 34.xd5+ e8 35.xg8+ d7 36.d5+ [ Definitely not 36.xa8?? e1# ] 36...e8 37.b1 But now that's a threat. d8 38.b5+ f8 39.f5+ e8 40.a2 d1 41.c3 The line employed in this game continues to be the critical test of the 3...Qa5 Scandinavian and Black doesn't have a surefire route to equality. 1-0

225 Hamdouchi,Hicham Bo,Morten 26th European Club Cup (1.18) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2592 2349 17.10.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.d2 A slightly unusual move order, delaying the development of the king's knight. c6 The most logical giving the queen a line of retreat. [ 5...b6 is the most critical, forking d4 and b2 pawns. 6.f3 ( 6.c4!? is rare but also looks interesting xd4 7.e2 definitely gives White very good compensation for the pawn. He will castle long and Black will have to be very accurate.) 6...g4 7.c4 ( 7.d5!? c6 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 cxd5 10.xd5 xd5 11.xd5 e6 12.b3 c5 13.xb6 xb6 14.a4 gave White a definite advantage thanks to his bishop pair. Meier, G (2641)Dubkov, A (2311) playchess.com 2009.; while hitting the bishop immediately with 7.h3 also looks logical.) 7...e6 8.h3 xf3 ( 8...h5 9.g4 is a typical theme in the 216

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Scandinavian. g6 10.e2 gave White a s t r o n g i n it i a t i ve . S i m e o n o v, S ( 2 3 5 4 ) Zheljazkov, V (2027) Borovets 2008.) 9.xf3 c6?! ( 9...c6 would be more of a challenge 10.b5 d6 11.0-0-0 0-0 12.e3 d5 13.xd5 xb5 14.c3 c4 looks to equalise. ) 10.0-0-0 c7 11.he1 gave Carlsen a huge advantage in development which he exploited rapidly: bd7 12.xe6!? ( 12.d5 is a safer method. ) 12...fxe6 13.xe6+ d8? ( 13...f7 was f orced although 14.e4! g8 15.e1 still looks very dangerous.) 14.f4 a5 15.d5! h6 16.d6 c8 17.de1 1-0 Carlsen, M (2765)-Boixeda, P Madrid 2008. ] [ Eric looked at a game with 5...g4 A) 6.f3 c6 ( 6...bd7!? has been Eric's choice in a couple of games. 7.h3 h5 8.c4 0-0-0 9.g4 g6 10.e2 e6 11.0-0-0 b4 12.a3 xc3 13.xc3 b6 Leo n Hoyo s, M (24 28)-Prie, E (24 67 ) Villeneuve Tolosane 2006 when Black went on to win but 14.d3 d5 15.d2 must be a little better for White.; 6...e6 wa s t he s t ron g G M Ch rist ia n Ba u e r's choice 7.h3 h5 8.g4 g6 9.e5 b6 Kosintseva, N (2551)-Bauer, C (2612) Biel 2 0 1 0 w h e n t h e d i r e c t 10.g5 fd7 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d5 would leave Black with some problems.; 6...f5 was Prie's most recent choice. 7.d3 d7 8.h3 h5 Terrieux, K (2437)-Prie, E (2529) Belfort 2010 in which Black won quickly but here 9.g4 g6 10.e3! c6 11.b5! leaves White with a clear edge.) 7.h3 h5 8.c4 e6 9.g4 g6 is a position more often reached from a 5 Nf3 move order. O n e g a m e c o n t i n u e d : 10.e2 b4 11.0-0-0 bd7 12.a3 xc3 13.xc3 c7 14.e5 d5 15.d2 0-0-0 16.xg6 hxg6 17.f3 7f6 18.b3 b5 19.b1 and White must have had an edge with his bishop pair but Black is f airly solidly placed and he held the draw in Kudrin, S (2550)-Rogers, I (2475) Valjevo 1984.; B) 6.f3 in the archives but I think I'd prefer ] [ H e a l s o p o i n t e d o u t t h a t 5...f5?! is a n e rro r d u e t o 6.f3! when Black is

f o r c e d t o p l a y c8 see Kvisla, J (2123)Jakobsen, M Prague 2006 for details. ] [ In the same game he notes that 5...c6?! is also a mistake as 6.b5! already leaves Black with severe problems: b4 7.d5 a6 8.a4 b5 9.xb5! and Black is in all kinds of trouble. ] [ 5...a6!? is a peculiar looking move but the idea is to prevent the pinning Bb5 6.c4 b6 7.f3 e6 8.e2 b4 9.0-0-0 0-0 10.h4!? ( 10.a3 xc3 11.xc3 must be an edge to W hite.) 10...c6 11.e4 d5 12.c3 e7 13.g4 d7 14.g5 h8 Mundaca Alvarez, J (2119)-Munoz Pantoja, M ( 2 4 9 4 ) / B a d a l o n a 2 0 1 0 w h e n 15.h5 starts an extremely promising attack. ] 6.c4 f5 Another logical looking move but it may be more prudent to drop the queen back, either now or the following move. 7.e2 e6 This is by far the more common but allows White a very strong attack. [ 7...xc2 is very greedy. 8.f3 d8 9.g5 g6 Rosen, B (2322) -Wyrwich, M (2196) G e r m a n y 2 0 0 7 10.0-0 and Black is still a long way from getting his king to safety while e6 can be met with 11.d5 cxd5 12.xd5 c6 13.ad1 with a powerful attack. ] [ P e r h a p s B l a c k s h o u l d c h o o s e 7...c7 8.f3 e6 9.0-0-0 with a typical Scandinavian position. Three games from t h i s y e a r c o n t i n u e d : bd7 ( 9...g4 loses a tempo on a normal position. 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 bd7 12.he1 0-0-0 13.b3 d6 14.b1 and White was safely better. Siebenburger, V (2116)-Divis, J (1882) Zdar nad Sazavou 2010.) 10.h4 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d5! cxd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 0-0-0 ( 14...e7 15.f3 0-0 was seen in Dickmann, T (2086)Hermsen, F (1897) Goch 2010 when I think White should exploit the doubled g pawns to kick-start his attack with 16.h4! ) 15.f3 f6 16.c3 d6 17.g3 b8 18.d3 White has a clear advantage thanks to his bishop pair on the open board and quickly converted the full point. d7 19.hd1 hd8 20.b1 c8? This is just a blunder and a rather strange looking move anyway. 21.xf6 gxf6 22.c3 c5 23.xd7 xd7 24.b5 b6 25.b4 1-0 Arat, U (2007)Mukhtarov, K (1802) Batumi 2010. ] 217

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.d5 [ 8.d5 has previously been investigated on this site by Andrew Martin. Have a look at Handke, F (2475)-Motwani, P (2525) 12th Monarch Assurance, Port Erin 2003 and also by Eric Prie in Solodovnichenko, Y (2514)-Pantioukhine, S (2260) Rochefort 2 0 0 5 . A r e c e n t g a m e c o n t i n u e d : cxd5 9.xd5 d8 10.xf6+ gxf6 ( 10...xf6 as anno tated by Martin lo oks essentia l here. ) 11.0-0-0 c7 12.g4 xc2? ( Eric's annotated game continued with 12...g6 but already White looks to be doing v e r y w e l l . 13.h3 d6 14.f4 xc2 15.xc2 b5 16.c3 bxc4 17.xf6 g8 18.xd6 xd6 19.d1 c7 20.d8+ xd8 21.xd8 xd8 1-0 Solodovnichenko, Y (2514)-Pantioukhine, S (2260) Rochefort 2005 [Prié, Eric]) 13.xc2 b5 14.c3! bxc4 15.xf6 g8 16.d8+ xd8 17.xd8 xd8 18.f3 and Black should already have resigned. Nedev, T (2506)-Galopoulos, P (2095) Porto Carras 2010. ] 8...d8 9.xf6+ xf6 This is probably Black's mistake as after this it becomes very hard to combat White's threats. [ 9...gxf6 is the alternative approach althou gh, if tru th be told , I a lread y like White's position. 10.0-0-0 g8 ( 10...d7 was played in a more recent game but this allows 11.g4! g6 12.f4 f5 13.d3 f6 14.d5! fxg4 15.dxe6 fxe6 16.c3 xf4+ 17.b1 e5 18.xg6+ hxg6 19.xd7 xd7 20.xe5 and Black was already in trouble. Gross, D (2462)-Jirovsky, M (2447) Czechia 2001. ) 11.f3 e7 ( 11...xg2 12.h3!? g7 13.h4 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.h4 leaves White with a good initiative for the pawn. ) 12.he1 ( The straightforward 12.h4 g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.c3 also favours White.) 12...g6?! 13.xe6! fxe6 14.xe6 g7 15.xf6 f7 16.h8+ f8 17.g7 f7 18.g8+ d7 19.e5+ c8 20.xd8+ xd8 21.xf7+ xf7 and White's rook and three pawns should have been more than a match for the two pieces in Kupreichik, V (2485)-Votava, J (2540) Meisdorf 1996. ] 10.0-0-0 White has racked up a huge score from this position with just one draw and the rest wins . g6 Black drops the bishop out of

the way of a g4 advance. This move looks strange but it's not so easy to offer Black a good alternative. [ 10...d7 11.g4 g6 12.f3 d6 13.b1 ( The direct 13.h4 h5 14.g5 f4+ 15.b1 xg5 16.hxg5 f4 17.h4 xg5 18.f4! also looks extremely strong.) 13...e7 14.e5 xe5 15.dxe5 0-0-0 16.f4 h5 17.h3 b6 18.b3 hxg4 19.hxg4 and White had at least a slight edge. Guido, F (2300) -Ferretti, F (2255) Verona 1997. ] [ 10...g6 targets c2 but White can ignore it with 11.f3! xc2 This was seen in Sanchez, F (2251)-Frederico, G (2190) P a s s o s 2 0 0 7 w h e n t h e d y n a m i c 12.d5! looks extremely dangerous to deal with xd1 ( 12...a4 might be forced but 13.g5 l e a ve s W h i t e wi t h a v i r t u a l l y d e c i s i v e attack. ) 13.xd1 cxd5 ( 13...e7 14.dxe6 f5 15.e5! xg2 16.h5+ g6 17.h6+a n d B l a c k ' s k i n g w o n ' t s u r v i v e l o n g .) 14.xd5 c6 15.xc6+ bxc6 16.a6 e4 17.g5 d5 18.b7 and Black loses the rook. ] [ 10...e7 was seen in a recent game but 11.g4! g6 12.f3 h6 unfortunately forced to keep the queen. 13.h4 d6 14.b1 d7 15.g5 e7 16.h5 f5 17.h4 hxg5 18.xf5 exf5 19.xg5 xe2 20.xe2 and W hite was clearly better Nijboer, F (2582)-Font Purroy, V (2117) La Bordeta 2010. ] 11.f3 d7 12.g5 f5 Already Black's pieces look very tangled. 13.d5! The time is ripe f or this them atic b reakth rough . cxd5 14.d3 g4 15.b5 d6? The final error. [ 15...d8 would last longer but White's initiative should power through: 16.xd5 e7 17.b1!? xg5 18.xd7+ xd7 19.xd7 f6 20.xb7 0-0 21.h3 gives Black some compensation but not nearly enough for the exchange and pawn. ] 16.xd7+ and Black resigned as after 16... Kxd7 17 Ne5+ picks up the queen. A brutal display which seems to have refuted this way of playing the line for Black. 1-0

218

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 226 Handke,Florian Motwani,Paul 12th Monarch Assurance, Erin (7) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2475 2525 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 Paul wrote a very nice review of my video/ DVD on the Scandinavian. It's good to see him playing this very solid line. 4.d4 f6 5.d2 c6 6.c4 f5 7.e2 e6 8.d5!? Could come as a total shock to the unprepared but never to the thorough Motwani. Black's position is far too stable to be shaken by such brazen means. cxd5 9.xd5 d8 10.xf6+ xf6 11.f3 [ I wonder what Motwani had in mind against immediate castling? 11.0-0-0 c6 12.g4 g6 13.f4 xc2?! ( 13...0-0-0 14.f3 a3!? is a possible improvement.) 14.xc2 d4+ 15.b1 0-0-0? ( Having reached this crazy position 15...xe2 is the only option. However 16.b5+! d8 17.c3+ c7 18.xf6 xg1 19.d7+ b6 20.d4+ xb5 21.xg1 will be a very rough ride for Black. ) 16.e4+- Rutkowski, I-Schoene, M/ Frankfurt 2002. ] 11...c6 12.b5 [ If 12.0-0-0 g4! is an accurate reply: 13.e3 e7= ( 13...c8; 13...xf3 14.gxf3 c8 15.b1 e7 )] 12...xb2!N Very brave, but on the other hand, why not? Black calls White's bluff and as long as he can get his King to safety rapidly, should stand well. [ The less precise 12...g4 is answered by 13.e4 xf3 14.xc6+ bxc6 15.gxf3 c8 16.0-0-0 a3 17.c3 d6 18.hg1 0-0 19.g5 e5 20.h6 xe4 21.fxe4 e5 22.f4 and White has a large advantage. To cede the initiative so easily is not Motwani's style. h8 23.fxe5 gxh6 24.d7 a5 25.f1 g7 26.c2 h5 27.f2 Nielsen, S-Petersen, F/Aarhus 1990. ] 13.0-0 d6 [ 13...d8 also seems perfectly viable: 14.fb1 xc2 15.c1 e4 16.xc6+ bxc6 17.a6 d5 18.a5 a8 19.b7 ( 19.xc6 e7 20.c8+ xc8 21.xc8+ d8 ) 19...c5 One can understand Motwani's desire to prepare castling. ]

14.fb1 xc2 15.c1 b2 Really playing with f ire although as long as he keeps attacking the Rook on a1 he should be surviving. W hite hacks on as he must-he's material down! 16.xc6 bxc6 17.xc6+ f8 18.e1 d8! Keeping the pieces protected is vital in a position like this. As long as Black can buy enough time to safety his King he will be winning. 19.e3 b6 20.c3 c5! With a double attack on f2 and c6. The fate of the position is clarifying. 21.e3 xe3 22.fxe3 d3 23.c1 e7! 24.e5 c8! Black chooses a risk-free way. He returns the exchange to enter a better ending. 25.xd3 xc6 26.a3+ [ 26.xc6 xc6 27.e4 g6-+ ] 26...d6 27.b4 f8 28.e4 c5+ 29.h1 Very calm. xe4 30.a6 d8 31.a3 f2 Verdict: 8 d5 is sharp but perfectly OK for Black as long as he is precise and courageous. Motwani's novelty, the capture on b2, seems exciting, playable and an excellent way of playing flat-out for the win. 0-1

227 Handke,Florian Zill,Christoph 7th BayEM Bad Wiessee (7) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2475 2295 2003

Poor old Handke. In our last update we saw h i m f o u n d e r i n g a g a i n s t M o t wa n i ' s s o l i d Scandinavian and now we see him again trying to blow Black away in the very same opening and again coming unstuck. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6! I quite like this move-order over 4..Nf6. It makes W hite think twice about Bd2. 5.c4 f5 6.d2 e6 7.g4!? Well, there he is at it again. It was 7 d5 against Motwani and now comes something even more violent. Can Black's position be assaulted by these means? I am very doubtful. What has Black done wrong? It even benefits him that the Knight remains on g8 so there's nothing to hit with g4-g5. g6 8.e2 [ 8.h4 h5 9.g5 e7! is absolutely OK for Black. ] 8...b4 219

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ A word or two about taking on c2 now, because Black can play this way in many lines. The usual response is 8...xc2 9.d5! and in this particular case the pawn grab looks too risky: cxd5 10.b5+! c6 11.c1 d4 12.e4! xa2 13.xc2 Only comp uters take these p awns - f o r humans the defence is just too difficult. ] 9.0-0-0 e7 10.h3 d5= Zill has a very comfortable game with no problems about his development and ample counterplay. Indeed, if anyone is better it is Black with his compact pawn structure. 11.xd5 cxd5 12.f4 c6 13.fxd5? Handke just doesn't enjoy playing against 1 ...d5, that is clear. Salvation possibly lies in the second of the two following variations: [ 13.xg6 hxg6 14.a3 e7 15.d3 c8 ] [ 13.a3 xd4 14.e5 xc3 15.xc3 a4 16.d2 f3 17.xg7 0-0-0 18.xg6 fxg6 19.d3 Tough to find. ] 13...xc2! 14.de1 0-0 [ 14...xc3 wa s st r o n ge r st i l l : 15.xc3 ( 15.xc3 xd5 16.xc2 xa2 ) 15...xd4 16.e5 xe5 17.xe5 g6 There's no way back for White here. ] 15.xb4 xb4 16.b5 a4 17.c3 a5 18.b5 xa2 19.xc2 The Bishop led a charmed life until now but Zill still has the game under control. a6 20.c3 [ 20.d5! was the only chance: xd5 21.c3 d4+ 22.b1 xh1 23.xh1 xe2 24.xe2 fd8 25.e3 ac8 Black has a large advantage but White has some hope .] 20...xd4+ 21.d1 b3+ 0-1

228 Hansen,Eric Spraggett,K TCh-ESP Div Honor 2014 (1.1) [Neil McDonald]

B01 2593 2564 04.09.2014

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 g6 Avoiding 4...Nf6. Black plans to put immediate pressure on the d4 pawn with Bg7. 5.b5 [ Another recent game went 5.f3 g7 6.b5 b6 7.a3 The knight retreats in

order to attack the black queen again from c4. This isn't just stubbornness, as on c4 the horse will be in touch with the strategically important e5 point. c6 8.c4 c7 9.g3 e6 10.f4 ( Or 10.e2 xc4 conceding the bishop pair allows Black to play e7-e6 and set up a solid light square centre. 11.xc4 d7 12.g2 gf6 13.0-0 0-0 14.e1 e6 15.a4 a5 16.c3 b6 17.e2 a6 18.c2 fe8 19.h4 ad8 20.g5 c8 and Black survived the slight pressure to hold a draw against his very strong opponent in Giri, A (2758)Rakhmanov, A (2626)/ Linares ESP 2014.) 10...c8 Black's queen has been pushed around, but it's not clear White has achieved that much. The white queen's knight has moved four times after all! 11.d2 d7 12.e2 h6 13.fe5 A) Here 13...gf6 looks OK for Black due to a tactical point a couple of moves in the future: 14.f3 g5 15.e3 c7 16.h4 g4 17.f4 A1) After 17...gxf3 18.xf7 the white knight isn't after the rook on h8- it wants the black queen which has no safe move as if c8 ( Instead 18...e4! c o m p l i c a t e s m a t t e r s b u t 19.e3 is st ill go o d f o r W h it e .) 19.fd6+ and after chasing the black queen all o ve r t h e b o a rd t h e wh it e h o r s e m e n finally capture her.; A2) 17...b6! 18.xb6 ( 18.xf7? xc4 ) 18...xb6 19.g2 h5 ( 19...xb2? 20.0-0 with an attackwhere can Black castle safely as h6 is hanging and the b-file plus white bishop on g2 look deadly after 0-0-0.) 20.0-0-0 0-0-0; B) 13...df6 14.h4 ( White should p r o b a b l y s e t t l e f o r t h e s o l i d 14.d3!? d5 15.d2 ) 14...d5 15.h5 ( 15.0-0-0 gf6 ) 15...g5 16.e3 gf6 17.f3 xe3 18.xe3 0-0 19.0-0-0 d8 20.b4 c7 21.c4 xc4 22.xc4 d5 23.xd5 xd5 24.f4 ad8 Black has gained pressure against d4 typical of that in the Caro-Kann where he often doubles rooks along the d-file. B1) 25.he1!? c5?! ( Better to play 25...e6!? keeping the tension.) 26.b4 220

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe5 27.dxe5 xd1+ 28.xd1 xd1+ 29.xd1 d7+ 30.c1 gxf4 31.gxf4 cxb4 32.xb4 is about equal.; B2) 25.c3? creating a weakness on c3 that Black exploits. b5! 26.e2 b4 27.c4 bxc3 28.bxc3 xe5! 29.dxe5? ( But 29.fxe5 c5 is still good for Black.) 29...b6 30.xd5 e3+ 31.b2 xd5 32.xc6 ( 32.fxg5 hxg5 is still terrible f o r W h it e .) 32...e2+ 33.a1 a5 34.a4 c2 0-1 Raetsky, A (2426) Rakhmanov, A (2626)/Abu Dhabi UAE 2014. ] 5...b6 6.f4 a6 7.e2 Beginning an ambitious scheme involving queenside castling. White is playing with fire as a black bishop on g7 often has the last laugh in such step ups. [ Black develops easily after 7.f3 f6 8.e2 f5 etc. ] 7...g7 8.0-0-0 f6 9.f3 f5 10.e5 0-0 11.g4 e6 12.c4 c6 13.c3 ad8 14.e3 a5 15.f4 c5! A pawn thrust typical of Black's half open defences versus 1.e4. 16.d5 [ Upon 16.h3 cxd4 17.xd4 b4 18.a3 c6 19.xc6 bxc6 20.e3 a6! defending the c4 pawn is a nuisance and after 21.c5 a5 22.g2 the exchange sacrifice xd4!? 23.xd4 xc5 24.d3 c4 25.hd1 d5 gives Black a nice initiative. ] 16...xg4! Not a shattering blow as White is a b l e t o k e e p a s o l i d c e n t r e . H o w e ve r i t activates the black pieces, whereas retreating the bishop to c8 would leave Black without much dynamism. 17.xg4 xg4 18.d2! [ White will be mated after 18.xg4 xc3 19.bxc3?! xc3+ 20.b1 d6 ] 18...h6 19.b1 f5 20.b5 b6 21.h3 d4 22.xd4 xd4? A strange mistake. Black would have a very pleasant game after [ 22...cxd4 -threat 23...d3- 23.d3 c5 etc. ] 23.c1 f6 24.hf1 b5 25.f5 g5 26.h5? [ White would be better again after 26.cxb5 b4 27.g2 xd5 ( Or 27...h8 28.c4 ) 28.h4! seeing that gxh4? loses material to 29.xd5 xd5 30.g2+ ] 26...h6 27.cxb5 b4 28.g2 xd5 29.d3? [ Now 29.h4 leaves the game unclear. ]

29...f4! 30.xf4 [ After 30.xf4 xf5 to defend d3 31.h3 g6! An insidious quiet move White has no good way to meet the twin threats of 32... gxf4 and 32...c4. ] 30...gxf4 31.xf4 e5 White is now losing 'on points' as there is no strong blow against the black king. 32.g4+ h7 33.xd8 xd8 34.c1 d4 35.f3 b4 36.e2 xf5+ 37.a1 g7 38.a3 h4 39.h3 f6 40.e3 e5 41.f2 c4 0-1

229 Haslinger,S Kjartansson,G 38th Seville Open (5.1) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2535 2408 15.01.2013

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 This used to be the main move in this line but in the last couple of years it seems to have fallen strangely out of fashion. 6.g3 g4 7.h3 h5 8.g2 c6 9.0-0! So far we've followed the mainline of 5...a6 and the current consensus is that W hite is doing well but maybe it's not so clear... e6!? An unusual move in this position but Black is in definite need of something new [ 9...0-0-0 10.f4 b4 11.g4 g6 12.a3! is analysed in Svidler-Tiviakov by Rowson but in summary White is just doing well here as it's to o risky f o r Black to take on b 2 because of xb2 13.e1 e6 14.e5 ] 10.f4 [ 10.g4 is less convincing here, after g6 11.e3 and now in Korneev, O (2568)-Vinas G u e rre ro , C (2 0 9 7 ) Ma l a g a 2 0 0 2 0-0-0! would've given Black an excellent opening ] 10...b4 [ 10...d8 is too passive after 11.g4 g6 12.e5! xd4 13.xb7 xc2 14.c1 and Black was already in trouble in Marzahn, H (1984)-Kaspereit, H (2124) W iesbaden 2011 ] 11.a3 [ 11.xc7! may be the safest way to play the position as W hit e if yo u're not keen o n allowing a piece sac. c8 12.f4 xb2 13.a4 and now b4 14.c4! gives White a 221

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 good game. Black can temporarily win a pawn with xd4 15.xd4 xa4 but 16.e5 leaves White doing well and the pawn on b7 is dropping anyway. ] 11...b6 12.a4 [ 12.g4!? avoids the piece sacrifice as A) 12...g6 should be preferred and now 13.a4 a7! and now ( 13...b5?! 14.b3 leaves Black in real trouble) 14.xc7! leads to huge complications but af te r computer analysis I think White is doing well: b5 15.b6 A1) 15...d8 16.e5! ( 16.xd8 xd8 isn't so clear as the knight is trapped on b6 ) 16...xe5 17.xd8 exg4 18.c4 xd8 19.c5 h6 20.b4 and although Black has two pieces for the rook it's cle a r W h it e is d o in g we ll a s h e h a s complete control of the centre and queenside and Black's king is in real danger.; A2) 15...c8 16.xc8 xc7 17.e5 d8 18.c4! xc8 19.cxb5 axb5 20.a4 d6 21.axb5 0-0 22.a8 c7 23.b3 and White has much the better chances with a dangerous passed pawn on b5; B) 12...xg4? 13.hxg4 xg4 14.d5! and White is pretty much winning here. ] 12...b5?! [ 12...a7!? is probably best but after 13.g4 g6 14.xc7 we transpose to the mainline of 12.g4 which is better for White although at least not totally clear. ] 13.b3?! [ 13.c4! is a strong suggestion of Houdini's and it does seem as though White is doing well after xc4 14.c1 b5 15.g4 g6 16.e1 A) 16...0-0-0 17.f1! d5 18.c4 d7 and now 19.e5! leads to a clearly better ending for White after xd4 ( 19...xe5? loses to 20.b6+! cxb6 21.xe6+ ) 20.xc6 xd1 21.exd1 xd1+ 22.xd1 bxc6 23.xa6+ b8 24.d8+ a7 25.c8 and Black is completely tied up; B) 16...d3 17.xd3 xd3 18.xc7 ] 13...0-0-0 This commits Black to a piece sacrifice but I don't think he gets quite enough compensation. [ 13...xf3 was a better option as White is on ly sligh t b e t t e r a f t e r 14.xf3 0-0-0

15.e3 h5!? ] 14.g4! xg4 The only move that makes sense here [ 14...g6? 15.c4 a5 16.d2 would be rather embarrassing for Black ] [ 14...xg4?! 15.hxg4 xg4 16.c3 and Black doesn't have nearly enough for the piece ] 15.hxg4 xg4 Black has two pawns for the sacrificed knight and reasonable practical chances but I don't think it's quite enough against accurate play. 16.e1?! [ 16.c3! leaves Black struggling for enough compensation - f or examp le play could continue h5 17.c2 h4 18.g5! f5 19.d1 g6 20.e3 h5 21.h3 and Black's attack is going nowhere. ] 16...f5! 17.g3 h5 Suddenly White is under real pressure and he chooses to swap queens although this does allow Black to gain a third pawn. 18.d3 [ 18.e3!? is my computer's suggestion but even it agrees that Black has real chances after g5! ] 18...xd3 19.cxd3 xf3 20.xf3 xd4 21.e4 d6 Things have calmed down and we've reached a f airly level middlegame. Normally I'd slightly prefer the piece over the pawns but here White's pawn structure is still slightly compromised. 22.ac1 f5 23.xd6 xd6 24.h1 g5 25.c5 c6 26.c4 e8 27.e5 e7 28.b4 b8 29.a4 h4 Black is very solid and has the easier position to play with a plan of pushing the kingside pawns. The rest of the game has the feeling of mutual time-trouble. 30.h2 a7 31.a5 g4 32.g1 h7 33.f1 h6 34.g2?! g6?! [ 34...h3 35.h1 h2 and with Nf3 and e5 co m in g it 's c le a r t h a t B la ck i s t h e o n e pressing to win ] 35.h1 d8 [ 35...g3! and I still prefer Black here ] 36.d5 xd5 37.xd5 cxd5 38.xd4 h3 39.g1 b8 40.d7+?! [ 40.b5! was needed to activate the rook ] 40...c7 41.e5 d6?? This must be based on a terrible miscalculation because now White is simply winning [ 41...g7 may just be winning here after 42.f4 ( or 42.h2 d6 43.c4+ e7 222

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 44.e3 f6 45.b5 e5 46.b4 f4 ) advantage could be retained with simple 42...d6 43.d4 c7 and the rook is horribly moves: misplaced on f4 ] [ 12.xd6 xd6 13.0-0-0 bd7 14.e4 42.xg6 e5 43.e7! exd4 44.xf5+ e5 xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.g2 0-0 17.he1 ] 45.g3 White keeps an extra knight and [ 12.e5 xe5 13.dxe5 xd3 ( 13...d5 Black can no longer get his pawns rolling. The 14.0-0-0 d7 15.he1 ) 14.cxd3 fd7 rest of the game is simple d6 46.e2 b6 15.d4 ] 47.axb6 c6 48.xd4+ xb6 49.h2 12...c7 c7 50.f3 gxf3 51.xf3 c6 52.d4+ [ Commentating live at the time, I thought d6 53.xh3 e5 54.e2 f5 55.g3 Black's id ea m ight h ave be e n 12...xf4+ g5 56.f3 f5 57.e3 13.gxf4 g6 This is very risky because of the 1-0 immediate 14.f5! and the Black King gets st u ck in th e m id d le : ( 14.h4; 14.he1 ) 14...gxf5 15.he1! Already Qxf5 is an 230 B01 u n p l e a s a n t t h r e a t . ( 15.hg1 bd7 16.g7 ) 15...0-0 ( 15...d6 16.d5! xd5 Haslinger,Stewart 2423 17.xd5 cxd5 18.xd5+- ) 16.g1+ h8 Parker,Jonathan 2509 17.e3 bd7 Such a variation can't be 93rd ch-GBR Swansea WLS (7) 13.08.2006 seen through to the end one must trust [Andrew Martin] one's intuition. Parker makes the practical choice, rejecting a line where his King would 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 be in peril, whether he could have defended A complete surprise for Haslinger. 4.d4 f6 the position or not. ] 5.f3 a6 6.g3 g4 7.g2 c6 Another outing for Tiviakov's solid idea. White 13.xd6 xd6 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 d7 may be able to gain a small advantage in T h e K n i g h t w i l l c o m e t o f 6 a n d t h e n many different ways, but the Black position everything will be in order. Haslinger makes a remains diff icult to crack. 7..c6 is a good bold move. 16.xh7!? [ 16.he1 f6 17.g2 leads to a position choice against opponents who are desperate where it's very tough for W hite to make to win. 7..Nc6 is more combative. 8.h3 progress. ] [ 8.0-0 e6 9.a4 ( 9.e1 e7 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 0-0 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 16...g6 17.xg6 fxg6 18.xg6+ d8 Dworakowska, J-Ogloblin, N/Moscow 2004 19.he1 e8?! [ 19...c7! is an improvement, with the idea (23) leads to a typical example of White's 20.xe6 ( 20.h4 might be better: af8 21.f4 minute advantage. Two Bishops and the hg8 22.d3 d5 23.b1 b5 ) 20...d5 long-term prospect of b4-b5.; 9.f4 d8 21.b1 hg8 22.f7 af8 Black marshals 10.d3 d6 11.e5 f5 12.e2 0-0 h i s f o r c e s ve r y q u i c k l y a n d c a n n o t b e 13.h3 h6 14.ad1 e7 15.a3 bd7 worse. ] 16.fe1 fd8 17.h2 ac8 18.xd7= Cristian, S-Rentner, D/playchess.com 2004) 20.c4? [ 20.f4! probably justifies the piece sacrifice. 9...a5 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 e7?! I don't see how Black organises his pieces ( 11...xd4 12.d1 b6 had to be played, now: c7 ( 20...d5 21.b1 c7 22.g4 asking W hite to prove it!) 12.f4 d8 h8 23.d3 ) 21.d3 h8 22.h4 ag8 13.ad1 0-0 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 d7 23.e3 f6 24.de1 e8 25.e5 16.c4 e8 17.c2 c8 18.h4 b6 Haslinger is intent on opening up the Black 19.d3 f6 20.fd1 Shabalov, AKing, but as the game goes, c2-c4 only Gonzalez, R/Philadelphia 2004 ] exposes his own monarch! ] 8...xf3 9.xf3 Not repeating Al-Modiahaki's 9 Qxf3, which we saw in the previous update. 20...c7 21.h4 b5! 22.c5 d5 23.b3 f5! e6 10.f4 d8 11.d3 d6 The time 24.h5 [ 24.xf5 exf5 25.d2 f6 sees the W hite gained with 10 Bf4 is regained! Black Kn ight h ea ding f or t wo e xc elle n t 12.0-0-0!? Very sharp! Once again a small 223

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 squares. ] l o o k i n g a t ( W h i t e a l s o h a s 16.f3 24...xg6 25.hxg6 f6 26.d3 , to prevent ...Bf4: c5 17.b1 b8 18.b3 [ 26.f4 was perhaps a superior try, but both f5 19.g4! ) 16...f4! 17.h5 xd2+ 18.xd2 p l a y e r s we r e i n t i m e - t r o u b l e a f t e r t h e c5 19.b1! Then e5?! 20.b3! xg4 earlier complications. As the game goes, 21.hxg6 is too ambitious. ] Black keeps light-squared control to the end 14.b3 c7 15.g3 and this is enough to take the point. ] [ White keeps space and two bishops after 26...e7 27.f3 d5 28.h1 g8 15.xg6! hxg6 16.f3! with the idea h4 29.h6 d7 30.g4 e8 31.g5 eg7 and g4. This time his advantage would be a 32.h7 e7 33.f7 xh7 34.xh7 xg6-+ serious one. ] 35.f4 d5 36.a7 xf4 37.xa6 e2+ 15...0-0-0 16.xg6 hxg6 17.h4 f5!? 38.d2 xd4 39.e3 e5 40.a4 bxa4 [ Definitely better although still not equal was 41.bxa4 xg5 42.a5 g1 43.a7 e1+ 17...c5 18.b1 b8 19.dxc5!? xc5 44.d2 a1 45.e3 b3 46.a6 xc5 20.g4 ] 47.a8+ d7 48.a7 c7 49.e8 xa7 18.b1 50.xe5 d6 My verdict on 7...c6 is that [ Or 18.g5! d7 ( 18...e7? 19.xe6+! Black should o nly play this move if he is fxe6 20.xe6+ d7 21.xe7 e8 happy with a draw. 22.xg6 dxe7 23.xf5+ ) 19.f6 g8 0-1 20.h5 ] 18...he8 19.h5 gxh5 20.xh5 h8 21.dh1 xh5 22.xh5 d5 23.h7 d7 231 B01 Black's pieces are very awkwardly placed, and Haznedaroglu,Kivanc 2440 the f-pawn is a real problem. From here on out Gogolis,Alexandros 2289 he can't hold. [ 23...f6?? 24.xe6+ ] Acropolis Open (3) 16.08.2007 24.g5 g8 25.h5! e8 26.c4 [John Watson] [ 26.xf7? xg5 ] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 26...c7 27.c5 e7 28.xe7 xe7 29.xf7 The ChessPublishing e-book gives this an '!' d8 30.h7 e8 [ 30...h8 31.xc7+ ] for 'sidestepping a number of attacking ideas.' 31.a4 a5 32.g7 b8 33.d7 c8 34.f7 5.f3 [ But the line given, 5.c4 f5 , has its own h8 35.xe6 h1+ 36.a2 f1 37.xf5 drawbacks, in that W hite can play 6.ge2 a7 38.d5 a6 39.d6 h8 40.c4 d4 a n d t r a n s p o s e t o s o m e o f t h e m o r e 41.xb7+ xb7 42.d7+ An instructive ga m e . B la ck wa sn 't t h a t b a d ly o f f in t h e attractive Ng3/f4/f5 lines. ] 5...f6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.d5 opening, but it was hard to shake W hite's This is still a popular sequence after many modest pressure. y e a r s , a n d s t i l l n o t f u l l y r e s o l v e d . O n e 1-0 attraction is that White can safely play for a small advantage. d8 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.c3 B01 d7 11.e2 d6 12.h4 g6 13.0-0-0 232 In Hungaski-Di Diego, we see a plan with 0-0 Heinatz,Thomas 2332 Keitlinghaus,Ludger 2503 that shouldn't have achieved much. b6 13.02.2004 [ In the notes to that game I suggested that Bundesliga 2003-4 (7) 13...c7 14.xg6 hxg6 15 g3, and gave [Andrew Martin] W h ite o nly t h e m in or ad va nt a ge o f t h e bishop pair. Perhaps the plan with 15.h4 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 0-0-0 ( 15...f4 16.xf4 xf4+ 17.b1 5.f3 f5 6.c4 d7!? A very interesting 0-0-0 18.g3 c7 19.g4!?; 15...f5? 16.xe6 approach, delaying ...Nf6 in order to develop fxe6 17.xe6+ d8 18.xg6 ) 16.g4 the other pieces first and thus taking away a and h5, to create a passed pawn, is worth lot of W hite's attacking options. As long as 224

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black can't be downed by an early d4-d5 then I think this is a pretty good idea. 7.d2 e6 8.e4N Other moves appear satisfactory for Black. White has a very hard time commencing the attack: [ 8.b3 c7 ( 8...gf6 9.e2 b6 10.0-0-0 d6 11.he1 0-0 12.h3 fe8 13.e3 c7 14.b1 b4 15.d2 c5 16.dxc5 xc5 17.e3 e7 18.g4 g6 19.g5 e4 20.xe4 xe4 21.d2 f5 22.c4 ed8= Handan, A-Nuesken, N/ Oberhof 1998) 9.e2 e7 10.h3 gf6 11.e5 xe5 12.dxe5 d7 13.f4 b4 14.0-0 xc3 15.bxc3 h6 16.c4 0-0 17.d3 xd3 18.cxd3 b5 19.fe1 b6 20.g4 h7 21.e3 c5 22.e4+ h8 23.c4 b4 24.ad1 a4 25.h4 h7 26.e4+ h8 27.h4 h7 28.e4+ 1/2-1/2 Stepovaia Dianchenko, T-Zhukova, N/Belgrade 2000 ] [ 8.0-0 c7 9.e2 e7 10.e4 gf6 11.xf6+ xf6 12.d3 xd3 13.xd3 0-0 14.g5 xg5 15.xg5 is level, Sutovsky, EDoettling, F/Tel Aviv 2001. ] [ 8.e2 b4 ( 8...c7?! 9.d5! e5 10.0-0-0 e7 11.he1 f6 12.h4 g6 13.g4 Fuellgrabe, T-Rickert, D/ Ruhrgebiet 1999 ) 9.a3 e7 10.0-0 xc3 11.xc3 c7 12.h4 b6 13.d5 f4! 14.xf5 xf5 15.d3 xd5 16.e5 g5 17.f4 g6 18.g4 de3 19.xf5 xf5 20.h1 h6 21.g1 0-0-0 22.b4 f6 Korneev, OKogan , A/Port Erin 2003 And of course, if White cannot attack Black directly then the Black position is very solid indeed. ] 8...c7 9.g3 g6 10.h4 h6 11.h5 h7 12.e2 [ 12.h4 gf6 13.f4 b6 is Caro-Kann like, but only W hite has problems in this position. ] [ Maybe either 12.0-0 ] [ or 12.e3 are the moves to play, just accepting that White has no advantage yet. ] 12...xc2! In other main lines where this capture is possible, White would usually have the advance d4-d5 ready. No such advance is possible here. The Knight on g3 seems a little o u t o f t h e ga m e so wh y n o t t a ke o n c2 ? 13.c1 h7 14.0-0 gf6 15.d5 This has to work or White is just a pawn down for nothing. cxd5 16.xd5 b6 17.e3 c5! 18.xb7

What else does White have? His position is dubious and therefore he has to try some tactics. xe3 19.xa8 xc1 20.xc1 0-0 21.c6 [ 21.e4 xe4 22.xe4 xe4 23.xe4 xb2 24.c7 f6 25.c2 xc2 26.xc2 b8 is simple enough well, White's a pawn down. Other than that there is no other retreat. ] 21...c8-+ A crushing pin! 22.c4 xb2 [ 22...b8! ] 23.a4 [ 23.d1 b6 24.d6 f8! Deep Fritz! 25.b5 xb5 26.xb5 c1+ 27.f1 e5-+ ] 23...b8 24.d4 d3! No way back from here. 25.c3 xc3 26.xc3 a6 27.c2 e5 28.df5 f8 I think it was Wahls in his excellen t 'Mode rnes Ska ndinavisch' wh o suggested this move order for Black and you will see a similar strategy ef fected in the Pat ze r Va ria tion where Black d elays th e development of his Kingside. I see no reason at all why this should not be a very successful method. Highly recommended! 0-1

233 Heinemann,Ernst Sieber,H 16th VR Bank Open (5) [John Watson]

B01 2211 2067 25.08.2007

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c3 a5 5.c4 c6 6.ge2 This poses a real ch a ll e n ge t o B la ck' s d e ve l o p m e n t . f5!? This is the consistent move, however risky. Black can also accede to blocking off his bishop by [ 6...e6 7.0-0 bd7 , accepting a Slav/CaroKann structure in which W hite's knight is not ideally place on e2. Of course, W hite still has the advantage by virtue of his space and free development. ] 7.g3 g6 [ 7...e6 8.xf5 ( 8.d2 ) 8...xf5 9.0-0 bd7 is playable, although I'd rather be White with the bishops. ] 8.0-0 [ 8.h4 h6 A) 9.0-0 bd7 ( 9...e6 10.f4 d6 11.f5 225

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 exf5 12.d3 0-0 13.xf5 with an attack, and the immediate threat of 14 Nxh6+.) 10.f4 h7!? is harder to crack than it looks. Perhaps 11.e2 c7 12.ce4 is as good as anything; B) 9.h5 h7 10.e2 e6 B1) Insipid. The natural course was 11.d2 c7 12.0-0-0 e7 ( 12...bd7 13.xe6 fxe6 14.xe6+ d8 15.he1 with attack) 13.ge4 bd7 ( 13...0-0 14.g4! ) 14.f3 with the idea of Bf4, although W hite should have only the slightest of advantages.; B2) 11.b3!? b4 12.d2 bd7 13.0-0 0-0 14.a3 xc3 This is now the standard Scandinavian motif, introduced (or at least brought to general attention) by Larsen. 15.xc3 g5 16.fe1 h4 17.f3 g4!? ( 17...fd8 ) 18.f4 df6 19.f3 xh5 1/2-1/2 Becerra Rivero, J -A Rodriguez, San Martin 1995. ] 8...bd7 [ 8...e6 9.f4 and f5 with a nice initiative. ] [ 8...h5!? has been played more than once: A) 9.e1 bd7 ( 9...h4 10.ge4 xe4 11.xe4 e6 ) 10.ge4 e6 11.g5!?; B) 9.e2 (safe bd7 10.f4 ( 10.ge4 t h is is r o u gh ly e q u a l, a lt h o u gh B la c k always has to deal with his small space deficit in this line.) 10...h4 11.ge4 0-0-0 12.g5 e6 13.f5 h5! 14.e1 e5! 15.xf7 exd4 16.e2 ( 16.ce4= ) 16...xe1 17.xe1 b4 ( better may be 17...c5 18.f4 d3+ 19.h1 dxc2 20.xh5 xh5 21.ge6 de8 ) 18.c3 dxc3 19.xc3 xf7 20.xf7 and White enjoyed some advantage in Van den BergSaptarshi, Dieren 2006. ] 9.f4 e6 10.f5 exf5 11.e2+ d8 12.d2 b6 13.h1 [ 13.xf5! is a more convincing move in view of xf5 14.xf5 xd4+ ( 14...d6 could lead to something like 15.d1 c7 16.g5 ae8 17.f1 e7 - else Bxf7 18.a4! b4 19.b3 b5 20.c3 a5 21.c4! he8 22.d2 ) 15.e3 g4 16.f1! ] 13...d6 [ 13...xd4 ] 14.xf5 xf5 15.xf5 f8? [ 15...xd4 16.d1 ]

16.e4! e8? 17.a5 and White won easily: xe4 18.xb6+ axb6 19.f3 xd4 20.d1 xd1+ 21.xd1 c7 22.f1 e5 23.g3 b5 24.d3 xa2 25.b3 eg4 26.e2 a8 27.h3 e8 28.xe8 xe8 29.xf7+ b6 30.hxg4 h6 31.g2 b4 32.g6 c5 33.c3 f6 34.xg7 d5 35.f3 xc3 36.f5 d5 37.h7 e3 38.c8 g5 39.xb7+ c5 40.e4 e7 41.e6 f6 42.d7 b4 43.b7 c5 44.f7 d6 45.a7 c3 46.a2 c5 47.c2 b4 48.d3 f6 49.f2 g5 50.e2 d5 51.e4+ xb3 52.d4 b4 53.c4 a4 54.xc6 e3 55.c4 a3 56.a6+ b2 57.a2+ b1 58.a4 b3 59.xb3 b2 60.e6 c1 61.a1+ b2 62.e1 xg4 63.xg4 d8 64.e6 c7 65.g4 d8 66.h1 g5 67.h2+ a3 68.e4 b4 69.f5 c3 70.g6 d4 71.xh6 c1 72.h5 f4 73.f5 c1 74.f7 e4 75.g5 xg5 76.xg5 f4 77.a5 e4 78.c8 d4 79.e6 c4 80.d6 b4 81.c5 a4 82.c1 b5 83.d5 b4 84.f5 b3 85.d4 b2 86.b1+ a3 87.c4 a2 1-0

234

B01 Hernandez Carmenates,Hold 2541 Almeida Quintana,O 2506 ch-CUB Men Final 2013 (6.3) 12.02.2013 [Tom Rendle] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.c4 [ 5.f3 is more common and now it seems that c6 is somewhat dubious, for example 6.d2 g4 7.b5 ( 7.d5 is also dangerous) 7...b6 8.c4 xf3 9.xf3 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xb7 e4+ 12.xe4 xe4 13.e3 and White had a very comfortable endgame and went on to win in Yu Yangyi (2585)-Wang Chen (2399) Hefei 2010. In fact this position has been reached a few times and it just seems this line is a good antidote to 5...Nc6 ] 5...c6!? This move is pretty rare and has never been examined on ChessPub before c6 and Bg4 have both been seen many times. 6.d5 The critical response but it might not be 226

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 7...g4 8.f3 xf3 9.gxf3 c6 best. ( 9...0-0-0!? 10.a3 c5 11.axb4 xc4 [ 6.ge2 is safer and now the mainline 12.xa7 e6 may be playable for Black but continues g4 7.f3 it's certainly a bit risky.) 10.dxc6 e5+ A) 7...e6!? is worth investigating here 11.e3 xc6 12.f4 a5 13.f3 8.xe6 must be critical and I feel White and White had some advantage due to his should have slightly the better position two bishops and control over the centre after ( 8.d3 led to equality after f5 in Hernandez Leon, A (2227)-Hernando 9.0-0 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.a3 0-0-0 Rodrigo, J (2375) La Laguna 2007 ] in Ortiz Suarez, I (2569)-Ruiz Sanchez, O A key move in this line - other options (2418) Badalona 2012) 8...fxe6 9.e3 7...c6! are not so good. 0-0-0 10.d3; [ 7...g4 8.b5+! B) 7...h5 8.d2 0-0-0 9.b5 b6 A) 8...xb5 doesn't equalise either after 10.a4 a5 11.a3!? led to a very sharp 9.xb5 xd1 10.xc7+ d7 11.axb4 game in Pavasovic, D (2561)-Bauer, C d8 12.e6 ( or 12.xd1 xc7 13.f4+ (2631) Rogaska Slatina although I would c8 14.c4 e6 15.c2 exd5 16.c5 a6 certainly rather be White in these positions 17.f3 wit h so m e e d g e f o r W h it e) a s i t a l wa y s f e e l s a s t h o u g h B l a c k ' s 12...fxe6 13.xd1 a6 14.dxe6+ xe6+ position is somewhat precarious. ] 15.e2; 6...b4 B) 8...c6 9.axb4 xa1 10.dxc6 a6! [ 6...e5 is another option but it seems ( 10...bxc6 11.xc6+ d7 12.ge2! White keeps a safe edge after 7.b3 e6 leaves Black in real trouble) 11.cxb7+ 8.e2 d6 9.d2 ( 9.f4 immediately may axb5 12.bxa8+ xa8 13.f3 be stronger, e.g. g6 10.f5 e7 11.dxe6 and Black does not have enough for the fxe6 12.fxe6 0-0 13.f3 and Black doesn't pawn as b5 is still very weak ] have enough for the pawn) 9...c5 10.f4 [ 7...f5?! is tricky but bad after g6 11.f5 and White had good chances in A) 8.axb4?! is not so convincing although Neuschmied, S (2308) -Schramm, C (2371) it worked well in the following game xa1 Jenbach 2012 although it went wrong after 9.ge2 g6? 10.d4 e4 11.xe4 f4 12.xf4 xf4 13.h3 e3 14.fxe6?! xe4 12.0-0 0-0-0 13.b3 ( 13.e2 ( 14.dxe6 should keep the advantage) is possibly stronger, e.g. xd5 14.f4 14...0-0 15.c4?! fxe6 16.xc5 xc5 a4 15.e5! d7 16.xd5 and White 17.dxe6 e8 and Black was suddenly should be winning) 13...b1?? ( 13...a4 better. ] was an only move but White is now only a 7.a3 At first this looks good but I can't actually little better after 14.d4 xc2 15.c3 see any edge for W hite at all after Black's e6! 16.xc2 exd5 ) 14.d4 xc2 strong reply. 15.xa7 xc4 16.c5 1-0 Warakomski, [ 7.d2 has scored well for White and it may T (2485)-Kleman, M (2238) W arsaw be the simplest way to play this line 2009; A) 7...c5 8.b5+ d7 ( 8...c6 B) 8.b5+! leaves W hite a little better after 9.e3 B1) or 8...c6?! 9.axb4 xa1 10.dxc6 d6 10.dxc6 xc6 11.xd6 exd6 b6 11.c7+ d7 12.xd7+ ( 12.f3!? 12.f3 ) 9.xd7+ xd7 10.e3 d6?! xc1+ 13.d1 also wins ) 12...xd7 ( 10...c4 offered much better chances 13.ge2 a6 14.d5 c8 15.0-0 although White is still better after 11.f3 and although Black can survive for a few e8 12.e5 a6 13.a3! bxd5 moves it's clear he's getting crushed.; 14.xd5 a5+ 15.c3 xe5 16.f3 c6 B2) 8...d7 9.a4 xa4 ( 9...a6 17.0-0-0 and Black's king is terribly placed. 10.f3 g6 11.e3 leaves Black in a Of course it would be different if he could horrendous tangle - the best move may still castle!) 11.e2 and White had a clear be ab8 and that helps to illustrate just advantage in Lazic, M (2459)-Hernando how bad Black's position is!) 10.xa4 Rodrigo, J (2393) Halkidiki 2002; 227

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc2+ 11.f1 xa1 12.c3 and with Black's pieces rather uncoordinated White's queen must be worth more than the rook, bishop and pawn. ] 8.axb4 Very aggressive but it seems to me that only Black can be better in this line [ 8.dxc6 xc6 9.f3 g4 and Black has a very com f ortable o pening a nd an e xtra centre pawn. ] 8...xa1 9.ge2 e6 [ 9...e5!? cuts out the line played in the g a m e a s n o w 10.d6?! ( 10.dxe6 i s b e s t a n d n o w xe6 11.xe6 fxe6 12.d4 a6 and White doesn't have enough for the exchange although he can keep it unclear with 13.0-0 d8 14.e3 c4 15.b3! xb4 16.f4 and White still has some practical chances) 10...e6 11.xe6 fxe6 followed by 0-0-0 looks much better for Black ] 10.d6 [ 10.dxe6 transposes to the variation above. ] 10...b5 11.a2 a5! This forces White to act quickly and although he is trapping the queen Black is always getting plenty of material for it. 12.d4 axb4 13.b3 xa2 [ 13...bxc3! is more accurate I think as it doesn't allow a draw but perhaps Black wasn't so worried about that. After 14.xa1 xa2 15.b3 cxb2 16.e3 e4 ( 16...d5!? is also strong) 17.d4 xd6 Black has the better chances and White has to be very careful. ] 14.xa1 [ 14.e2! seems to force a rather odd draw after b1 15.d2 a1 ( 15...xb2 would be taking a big risk playing on after 16.xb2 xb2 17.a1! xc2 18.a8 d7 19.d4 and Black has to be very careful in this incredibly complicated position. ) 16.b3 b1 17.d2= ] 14...xa1 [ 14...bxc3! transposes to the 13...bxc3 line and it's still Black's best option. ] 15.e2 d5 16.d4 f6 17.b3 a2 This position is very difficult to judge but I don't think Black can be worse here as the knight on d5 is very strong. 18.0-0 After this I like Black's position but it's hard to find an

improvement: [ 18.c5 d7 ] [ 18.g4 makes it a little harder for Black to develop and perhaps g6 19.h4 xd6 20.h5 g5 21.f4 is the way for White to continue. Still I prefer Black here after f5! 22.xg5 e7 ] 18...xd6 19.d3 After so much early excitement the players agreed to a draw here. [ I think it's Black who should play on at this point, one possible continuation is 19.d3 0-0 20.c4 bxc3 21.xc3 a1 22.xd5 exd5 and Black has most of the winning chances as the pawns could certainly get dangerous as the game goes on. ] ½-½

235 Hess,Robert L Tiviakov,Sergei 48th Groningen Open A (8.1) [Milos Pavlovic]

B01 2625 2650 29.12.2011

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g6 In my survey on 3...Qd6 I focused mainly on 5...a6 and 5...c6, but here we will see a third idea. 6.b5 d8 [ 6...b6 A) 7.f4 d5 8.e5 f6 9.g3 This is another way of handling this line a6 10.c4 axb5 11.cxd5 e6 ( 11...c6 12.d3 cxd5 13.0-0 c6 14.b3 e6 15.xb5 a5 16.a3 f7 17.ac1 d7 18.fe1 e7 19.d3 a7 20.b1 hc8 21.e3 g7 22.h4 b6 23.b4 f8 24.h5 Menkinoski, R -Milanovic, D Obrenovac 2011, White managed to built up a better position ) 12.d3 a5+ 13.f1 c6 14.c2 f7 15.h4 a6 16.h5 b4 17.xg6+ e7 18.d6+ d7 19.e4 hxg6 20.e1 xa2 21.xg6 xd6 22.xd6 xd6 23.g3+ d5 24.e5+ d6 25.xb5+ e5 26.dxe5+ fxe5 27.xe5+ d7 28.xb4 c5 29.xc5 a6+ 30.g1 d6 31.e5+ e6 32.xd6+ xd6 33.f7+ c5 34.hh4 1 - 0 P e t r o s i a n , T (2 6 1 3 ) - K u r a j i c a , B (2535) Plovdiv BUL 2010; B) 7.c4 c6 8.c3 g7 9.e2 0-0 10.0-0 d8 11.h3 f5 228

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B1) 12.c5!?N c7 13.c4 b5 ( 13...bd7 14.g4 e6 15.xe6 fxe6 16.e2 ) 14.b3 b4 15.e2 a6 ( 15...bd7 16.f4 b7 17.g5 e6 is very risky for Black as the f5-bishop is "in the air" ) 16.g5 d5 17.g3; B2) 12.e1!?N e4 13.f1 ( 13.c5 c7 14.b3 e6 15.c4 xc4 16.xc4 xc3 17.bxc3 e6 18.g5 ) 13...xd4 14.xe4 xf2+ 15.xf2 xd1 16.xd1 a6 17.g4 e6 18.b3; B3) 12.b3 a6 13.e3 xb3 14.axb3 b4 15.g4 d3 16.xd3 xd3 17.fd1 b4 18.d2 Anan d, V -Kram nik, V Moscow RUS 2009 ] 7.f4 a6 8.a3!? I like this move, it prepares Na3-c4 where it strongly controls the center. Also possible was: [ 8.c4 c6 9.c3 g7 10.h3 f5 11.e2 0-0 12.b3 b6 13.xb6 axb6 14.a3 Playing against the knight on a6 White has s o m e p r e s s u r e i n t h i s e n d g a m e . b4 15.0-0-0 c5 16.g4 c2 17.axb4 xd1 18.xd1 cxb4 19.b5 e4 20.e3 Polgar, J)-Tomczak, J Warsaw POL 2011 ] 8...c6 9.c3 c7 10.c4 g7 11.e5 0-0 12.a4 The position resembles many from the Alekhine or even Caro-Kann, we can say that it is += cd5 13.a5 h6 14.e2 h5 15.0-0 hf4 16.e1 xe2+ 17.xe2 e6 18.g3 c8 19.ce5 f5 20.d3 xd3 21.xd3 e6 22.c4 e7 23.b3 An unpleasant position for Black. b6 24.axb6 xb6 [ 24...axb6 25.h4 ] 25.c3 f5 26.e5 f6 27.c5! b7 28.g3 fe8 29.c4 d7 30.a4 xg3 31.hxg3 c7 32.a6 f7 33.a4 b8 34.b4 b5 35.d5! xd5 36.xa7 xa7 37.xa7+ g8 38.e7 xb4? [ 38...f8 39.xf6 xb4 40.xe6 b7 41.e5 d7 White is better but Black can still play on. ] 39.a1! f8 40.a8 b1+ 41.h2 h5+ 42.h4 h6 43.xe6+ h8 44.f7 1-0

236 Hinks Edwards,Thom Martin,Andrew D T/T England [Andrew Martin]

B01

04.11.2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 As good as 3 Nc3 and cuts out a lot of tricky lines. g6?! I approached this game in a rather experimental mood. My results with 3.. Nf6 have been good: draw vs Rowson, win vs M. Ferguson, but Black was undoubtedly slightly worse in both games out of the opening, and not the type of edge that is easily shaken off. So to 3... g6, offering W hite the chance to transpose to the 3 Nc3 Qd8 4 d4 g6 variation, another Scandinavian adventure bringing mixed results. Probably Black's most reliable move right now is 3... Bg4 - I just didn't feel like playing it! 4.c3! d8 5.c4 g7 6.d4 h6 The point of Black's idea is to attack White's d pawn with Nh6-f5. The Knight often drops back (out of necessity) to d6 which can be a very influential central post. Do you remember the game Fischer-Robatsch, which started 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qd8 4 d4 g6 5 Bf4! and is traditionally thought to be good for W hite? Then Larry Evans recommended 5... Nh6! and if 6 Be5 Rg8!? in 'The Chess Opening for you'. This may look zany but Black is threatening to recuperate with ... Nc6 and W hite's game isn't quite as promising as it looks. 7.f4 f5 8.e5! Hinks-Edwards finds an excellent plan. If White dallies, Black's idea takes shape and he will have a fine game. W hite must play sharply, emphasizing the slowness of Black's knight manoeuvre and go for the throat. 0-0 I didn't like it at all by now but Black has nothing better. He's got to hope that he can survive the attack. 9.xg7 xg7 10.e2 d6 11.h4! g4 [ 11...h5 12.d3 g4 13.0-0-0 just seemed too disgusting for words. ] 12.h5 d7 [ 12...xh5 13.d3 c6 14.e3 xf3 15.gxf3 just seemed to be checkmate... soon. ] 13.d3 f6 14.e5! A very powerful move reminding me of a unpleasant experience in this line at the hands of Peter Wells back at 229

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Oakham in 1995. White centralizes and it will be some time before Black shifts the Queen from this dominant position. Qe5-h2 lurks in the wings. I thought I was lost now not a nice feeling. Black has to take a risk. [ 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.0-0-0 e6 16.e3 h8 17.b1 xf3 18.xf3 d7 ] 14...xh5 15.xh5!? Executed instantly and with confidence, but I am far from convinced that this is best. Instead [ 15.d2! I believe to be better, threatening f 3 an d g4 . I do n't se e wh at B la ck d oe s against that: g8 ( 15...g4 16.f3 f5 17.de4 c6 18.0-0-0 ) 16.f3 ] [ By contrast 15.0-0-0? xf3 16.gxf3 h8 allows Black the chance to recuperate. ] 15...gxh5 16.e2 [ 16.0-0-0 with the idea of Nd5 might be better, although Black is surviving e.g. c6 A) 17.g5 h6 18.h7 g8 19.xf6 exf6 20.xh5 f5 21.b1 g5!; B) 17.h1 g8 18.xh5 f8 19.g5 ( 19.h2 g4 ) 19...xg5 20.xg5 e8 21.xh7 xh7 22.xh7 d7; C) 17.e2 g8 18.f4 f8 ] 16...g8 17.f4 f8 18.0-0-0 d7 19.e1 e8 20.xh5 xh5 21.xh5 g4! After several accurate moves Black is right back in the game. Hinks-Edwards sacrifice has been shown to be optimistic and if only Black can find time to take on g2 or to get his Rooks going he will surely be winning. 22.h6+ g7 23.e3 xg2! 24.xh7 g7 25.d3 h3! An excellent defensive move, tying the W hite Queen down and keeping communication open with d7. 26.c4 c6 27.c5 W hite is very disappointed at his failure to mate and doesn't put up any further resistance. [ Maybe 27.f4 but Black is winning by now. ] 27...f5 28.e4 e6 29.e5 d8 30.h1 [ 30.xf7 was the last chance to confuse matters but I think Black escapes : d5!! The key defence! 31.xe6 ( 31.d6 xd6 32.cxd6 xd6-+; 31.h1 g4 32.xe6 xf7 33.c8+ e7 34.xb7+ d7 35.e1+ f6 36.xc6+ g7-+ ) 31...xf7 32.c4 h6+ 33.xh6+ xh6 34.xd5 cxd5 35.e5 f5-+ ] 30...g2 31.h8+ e7 32.xd8 xd8

33.xf7+ e7 34.xg2 xg2 35.xf5 xf7 In all honest y, I cannot recommend 3... g6. The defensive task just seems too onerous. Hinks-Edwards found a very strong attacking idea and if White plays 15 Nd2!, I think Black is going down. 0-1

237 Howell,David Papaioannou,Ioannis 18th European Teams (2.5) [Milos Pavlovic]

B01 2633 2600 04.11.2011

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 f5 6.c4 e6 7.d2 c6 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ xf6 10.e2 d7 11.0-0-0 The mainline of the Scandinavian, or should I say one of the mainlines. In the last couple of years the Scandinavian has started to become a very popular defence with lots of tactical ideas ready to be discovered, just as in this game. e7!?N Allowing Bg5, on the other hand, exchanging one more pair of pieces might help Black to solve his opening problems. [ The usua l p la y f or Black was: 11...b6 12.b3 g4 13.d5 xf3 14.gxf3 cxd5 15.xd5 0-0-0 16.e4 d6 17.b1 ( 17.a4 f4 18.xf4 xf4+ 19.b1 b8 20.a5 c8 21.a6 b6 Black holds somehow. ) 17...e7 18.a4 a6 ( 18...b8 19.a5 d5 20.a6 b6 21.f4 g6 22.f3 ) 19.a5 d5 20.c4 ( 20.hg1 g6 21.f4 b8 22.g3 ) 20...f4 ( 20...b4 21.f4 b8 22.hg1 g6 23.g3 f5 24.g2 c7 ) 21.e3 f5 22.c5 xc5 23.c1 b8 24.xc5 xc5 25.xf4+ d6 26.xd6+ xd6 27.c2 d2 28.hf1 1-0 Fedorchuk, S-Reinderman, D /Warsaw 2005 ] 12.h3 [ 12.g5 g6 13.xe7 xe7 14.b1 ( 14.h4 g4 15.d5 cxd5 16.xd5 ac8 17.xb7 c7 18.e4 f6 ) 14...hd8 ( 14...f8 15.hg1 g4 16.d2 f6 17.b4+ e7 18.xb7 ) 15.h4 ( 15.h3 f8 16.g4 e4 17.d3 xf3 18.xf3 f6 19.g3 b6 ) 15...f6 16.xf5+ xf5 17.d3 f6 18.c3 f8 19.h4 h6 This is less clear. ] 230

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 W hite at all .) 11...xc3 12.bxc3 d7 13.ab1 Vila Gazquez, J-Alsina Leal, D/ B a r c e l o n a 2 0 0 2 w h e n I t h i n k t h a t b6! is the best way: A) 14.fe1 b7 15.e5 ( 15.g5 f6 16.f3 fd8= ) 15...xe5 16.xe5 fd8; B) 14.b5 d8 15.c6 b8 16.fe1 b7 17.xb7 xb7 18.c4 f6= All seems comfortable enough. ] [ 8.a3 almost wastes a tempo but White's development must be given full respect. b4 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 d7 12.fb1 c5 13.e3 c7 14.g5 h6= ] 8...b4 9.a3 [ E m m s s u g g e s t s 9.g2 after which I recommend d7 10.0-0 0-0 11.fe1 d8 12.a3 and now Black may simply take on c3, o r p l a y m o r e a m b i t i o u s l y w i t h e7 Either way, he is alright. ] 9...b6 10.g2 b7 11.0-0 xc3 12.xc3 [ 12.bxc3 0-0= ] 12...xc3 13.bxc3 c6 14.d2 a5 15.a4 0-0-0 [ 15...xg2 16.xg2 e7 wasn't bad either. W e have reaches another one of those p o s i t i o n s wh e r e W h i t e h a s s h o w n h i s opponent far too much respect and now faces an uphill struggle to make a draw. If Black could guarantee such a position from the opening he would play 5...Ne4 every game. ] 16.b3 c4 17.a5 xg2 18.xg2 b5 19.fe1 g5 20.a6 c6 21.c5 c7 22.e4 h5 23.e2? A nothing move. Given Black's plan of playing his King to b6 he has to try a diversion such as 238 B01 [ 23.ae1 b6 24.f4 g4 25.h3 ] Howell,David 2304 23...d5 24.d3 f5 25.h3 b6 26.e4 Sulskis,Sarunas 2582 d8 27.h4 d6 28.e5 gxh4 29.gxh4 Masters Catalan Bay ENG (10) 05.02.2004 g8+ 30.f1 g4! 31.xf5 xf5 32.e5 xh4 33.e2 h3! 34.f3 h2+ 35.d3 [Andrew Martin] d6 36.g1 xa6 37.xc6 c4 38.e4 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 b6 39.d8 h4+ 40.d3 f4 41.g7 f6 5.f3 e4 6.d2 I guess people will do d6 42.e3 f6 43.h7 c7 44.xf7 this. White relies on his development to see xf7 45.xh5 a5 46.c5+ b6 47.e5 a4 him through. xd2 7.xd2 e6! Time for a 48.xe6 c6 49.h6 a3 50.h1 e7+ quiet life and perhaps to contemplate ...Bb4, 51.f2 a2 52.a1 a7 53.e3 d5 saddling White with the same doubled pawns. 54.d3 a8 55.c4+ xc4 56.c3 b6 57.f4 a3 58.c2 a4 Instinct tells me that 8.g3 [ 8.c4 b4 9.0-0 0-0 10.a3 xc3 5...Ne4 cannot really be a permanent idea but 11.xc3 ( 11.bxc3 b6! is really nothing for it is by no means easy to play against as

12...h5 13.he1 White decides to centralise his pieces. [ 13.g5 g6 14.xe7 xe7 15.b1 f8 16.hg1 h4 17.e5 xe5 18.dxe5 g8 A strange-looking position, but Black does have counterplay here. ] 13...g6 14.f4 c8 15.d5 This looks premature. [ 15.b1 b5 ( 15...h4 16.d3 xd3 17.xd3 f5 18.h2 ) 16.d3 xd3 17.xd3 h4 18.d5 cxd5 19.xd5 h5! With a defendable position. For instance: 20.xd7 xd7 21.e5+ xe5 22.xe5 a6 23.g4 hxg3 24.fxg3 e8 25.g4= ] 15...cxd5 16.xd5 b6 17.d4 xc4 18.xc4 xc4 19.xc4 0-0 White didn't manage to get anything in the opening and instead has a slightly inferior position. 20.d4 g5 21.c7 xf4+ 22.xf4 xg2! 23.xf5 exf5 24.xf5 g6 25.c5 xh3 26.xa7 f5 27.xb7 a5 28.e3 d8 29.a3 d2+ 30.b1 d1+ 31.a2 xc2 The black king is safer and this helps Black to conduct the initiative. 32.f3 c4+ 33.b3 c7 34.c3 d7 35.c4 f5 36.f3 f6 37.b3 g7 38.e4 h4 This is a lost position for White, with a perfectly safe king the black h-pawn starts rolling without any n e g a t i v e c o n s e q u e n c e s . 39.g4 d4 40.h3 f4 41.e3 c6 42.c3 d5+ 43.b1 g5 44.c1 d4 45.h2 e5 46.h1 d4 47.b1 f5+ 48.a1 h3 49.g1 h4 50.h2 f4 51.xf4 xf4 0-1

231

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 we've seen. Used occasionally, it could be a v e r y u s e f u l a d d i t i o n t o yo u r r e p e r t o i r e . Summarising Black's intentions: 1) 5...Ne4 is a disturbing move and also a gamble. 2 ) Black hopes to double W hite's pawns and settle in for a nice technical game. W hite must find a precise way to take advantage of his lead in development. He has not done so yet. 0-1

239 Hungaski,Robert Andrew Diego,O XXXVIII Open (2) [John Watson]

B01 2382 2059 01.04.2007

As often happens, a lower-rated player finds a natural plan that calls into question the previous assessment of a theoretical position. The game itself is another matter! 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 f5 6.d2 c6 7.c4 e6 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.c3 d6!? Black plays a simple move that retains the active character of Black's position. [ In ChessPub, Martin, who had previously promoted 9...gxf6 in a video, said that it was u n d e r a c l o u d d u e t o t h e l i n e 10...c7 11.h4 g6 12.f3 d7 13.h3! 'with uncomfortable pressure'. ] [ 10...d7 may also improve upon that line, especially because Black retains the idea of ...Be7 at some point. ] 11.e2 [ Now 11.h4 g6 12.f3 d7 13.h3 is n't cle ar a f t e r e4! (which would have been answered by Bxe6 in the last note) 14.0-0-0! ( 14.f3 d5 ) 14...b6 15.b3 d5 ( or 15...d5!? ) 16.xd5 cxd5 17.he1 d7!? , keeping White's knight from f5. ] 11...d7 12.0-0 Slow. Thematic is [ 12.0-0-0 , b u t a f t e r c7 , White has nothing special, e.g., 13.h4 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.g3 0-0-0 and the theoretical advantage of the bishop pair doesn't mean much. ] 12...b6!? [ Or 12...c7! , with no problems. ]

13.b3 c7 14.h4 g6 [ 14...xh2+? 15.h1 g6 16.xe6! 0-0! 17.b3 looks nice for White. ] 15.g3 0-0-0 16.a4 c5?! Loosening, and therefore dangerous. [ 16...d7= ] 17.a5 d5 18.dxc5!? [ 18.xd5 exd5 19.dxc5 xc5 20.g4+ b8 21.f4 d6 22.xd6 xd6 23.fe1 gives White an optical advantage which is probably real as well. Such a position would be hard to win. ] 18...xc5 19.c4 e7? Cutting off his bishop's retreat. Better simply [ 19...b8 ] 20.b4 d6 21.b5! c5?! 22.b6!? [ 22.f4! e5 23.h6 threatens b6, when Black is in some trouble. ] 22...axb6 23.axb6 e5?? [ 23...xb6 has to be tried, when 24.e3 ( or 24.h6 ) 24...xe3 25.fxe3 retains serious queenside attacking chances. ] 24.b5! An intermezzo. Now Black can't capture White's queen due to mate, but Ra8+ and Bf4 are threats, among others. c6 [ 24...xb6 25.f4 ] 25.xc6 1-0

240 Huschenbeth,Niclas Dranov,Aleksandar 82nd ch-GER Bonn GER (5) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2502 2465 30.05.2011

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 bd7 7.c4 c7 8.f3 b6 9.f4 d8 According to Sergey Kasparov in New in Chess "This leads to a more complicated struggle (than 9...Qd7). The queens remain on the board in any case. Black attacks on the kingside with ...h7-h5-h4 and ...g7-g5." Perhaps but I found the whole article absurdly pro-Black these positions look easier for White to play for me as Black must play accurately to survive the opening. [ I looked at 9...d7 10.h3!? in Bologan, V (2690)-Tiviakov, S (2637) Sibenik 2010. ] 10.e5 232

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 10.e5 is White's alternative when the author of the New in Chess article declined the pawn e6 ( 10...xd4 is critical but W hite of course has good compensation with his large lead in development.) 11.0-0-0 g6 12.h4!? g7 13.e2 fd5 14.d2 xc3 15.xc3 d5 16.a3 0-0 17.f4 f6 18.f3 c4 19.c3 b5 with a complex struggle. Petrosian, T (2634)-Kasparov, S (2493) Bhubaneswar 2011. ] 10...g4 11.g3 h5 12.h3 h4 13.e3! This looks like an improvement. [ I looked at 13.f4 in the notes to BologanTiviakov. ] 13...e6 Unfortunately Black is still forced to stick his bishop here and therefore it's not so easy for Black to develop his kingside. [ 13...f5 14.d6+ exd6 15.xf6+ e7 16.xg7 g8 17.f6 gives Black very little for the pawn. ] [ 13...xc4 14.xc4 f5 15.0-0-0 e6 16.d5! is very dangerous. ] 14.xb6 xb6 [ 14...axb6 is also possible but Black remains very passive after 15.d3 g6 16.0-0 ( 16.xg6!? wins a pawn or two but h6 17.e2 g8 18.e4 xe4 19.xe4 d7 20.xh4 g6 at least gives Black some counterplay.) 16...h6 ( 16...g7 17.xg6! now leaves Black with zero play.) 17.f4 and Black still struggles to breathe. ] 15.0-0-0 g6?! This doesn't solve Black's problems and so we have to look at Black's alternatives. [ 15...0-0-0 16.a3 A) 16...a5 is better but following 17.d3 g6 18.b1 h6 19.f4 White is still on top. ( 19.e1!? ); B) 16...g6 17.a4! a5 18.c5 h6 19.f4 d5 20.f3 f6 21.xe6 ( 21.b4!? traps the queen but xc5 22.dxc5 fxe5 23.c4 xf4+ 24.b2 doesn't feel so c l e a r t o m e .) 21...fxe5 22.dxe5 is very good for White. ] [ 15...d7 16.f4 g6 ( 16...f5 17.d3 xd3 18.xd3 e6 19.b1 ) 17.e2 0-0-0 18.he1 g7 19.f3 and Black still can't coordinate perfectly. ] 16.xf6! exf6 17.c4 h6 [ 17...c7!? would be an interesting move order when it's important to throw in 18.b1

and White is still clearly better: ( 18.xe6? h6 ) 18...h6 19.e2 ] 18.f4 f8?! Attempting to keep material equality but there's a flaw. [ Perhaps 18...c7 was the best chance. 19.hf1 e7 temporarily keeps material leve l bu t W hite now ha s 20.de1 0-0 21.xe6 fxe6 22.xe6+ xe6 23.xe6 which looks like an extra pawn to me. ] [ 18...0-0-0 19.xe6+ fxe6 20.xe6+ b8 21.xf6 hf8 22.xh4 xf4+ 23.b1 xd4 24.xd4 xd4 25.e7 and White has a clear extra pawn. ] 19.xe6 e8 Consistent but still not good! 20.a4! Black's pin on the e file looked like he was winning back the piece but this throws a spanner in the works. b4 This simply leaves Black a piece down. [ 20...a5 was the best try but 21.a3+ g7 22.b3 xf4+ 23.b1 b5 24.c5+- ] [ 20...b5 21.a3++- ] 21.b3! Sidestepping the pin and suddenly Black's a piece down. He grovelled on for a while but the result was never in doubt. xf4+ 22.b1 xb3 23.xb3 e2 24.hf1 g5 25.d5 xg2 26.d6 [ 26.c5 b6 27.d3+- bringing the knight back into play looks the easiest. ] 26...b6 27.d7 e7 28.xf7 g3 29.h1 c7 30.g6 g4 31.f5 gxh3 32.xh3 f8 33.c3 f5 34.he1+ d8 35.xf5 h3 36.e4 13.Qe3! looks like a good improvement and I don't see an easy equalising plan for Black. 1-0

241 Ibragimov,Ildar Fierro Baquero,Martha Lorena North American Open (1) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2565 2310 2003

NATURAL MOVES?! This game gives us a reminder that the Scandinavian cannot be defeated purely by 'natural moves'. White has no advantage as of right - he must demonstrate a good plan. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 The BANKER - still viable. 4.d4 c6 5.g5 [ 5.c4 is critical. ] 233

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 5...f6 6.c4 f5 7.f3!? [ It's a little surprising that Ibragimov doesn't t a k e t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o p l a y 7.ge2 After all, that is the main point of delaying Nf3 so long. ] 7...e6 8.e2 b4 9.0-0 0-0 10.ad1 You see what I mean about normal moves because W hite ahs simply chosen a bogstandard plan of development, hoping to outplay Black in the middlegame. there is no reason to suppose that W hite is in any way bett er h ere . bd7= Black's active plan is ... Qa5 etc 11.e5 xc3! 12.bxc3 a5 13.b3 [ 13.xd7 xd7 14.e7 fe8 15.b4 c7 delivers nothing for White. ] 13...xe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.dxe5 e4 16.e7 fe8 17.d7 a5! Still equal although unbalanced. W hite's pawn structure we a k n e s s e s a n d t h e p o o r B is h o p o n b 3 cancel out the active Rook on d7. Black can d i s s o l v e h i s p r o b l e m s wh e r e a s W h i t e ' s defects are permanent. 18.g4 g6 19.f4 [ 19.a4 b5! ] 19...a4 20.c4 b5 21.d3 xc3! The only thing one can say is that Black is playing forced moves which are very easy to see and understand. 22.f5 Or White is just lost. exf5 23.gxf5 h5 24.e1 d5 [ Here, I think Black could have been bold: 24...xa2! White's initiative soon runs out of steam: 25.e4 ( 25.e6 fxe6 26.fxe6 g4! ) 25...c3 26.xc6 ac8 27.b7 c4 28.e6 fxe6 29.fxe6 g6-+ ] 25.c5 f4 26.f1 ad8 [ 26...g4! would have called a complete halt to White's ambition. ] 27.xd8 xd8 28.d6 f6 29.c4 fxe5 30.c5 I suppose in an Open tournament with the clock ticking, White is still (just) in the game. B u t B l a c k p l a y s v e r y w e l l i n d e e d . e8 31.xe5 f7 32.a3 c4! 33.f2 xf1 34.xf4 xe1 35.xe1 d3 There is no solace in opposite-coloured Bishops. Black can establish pawn majorities on both sides of the boa rd and st ret ch W hit e's re sou rce s beyond the limit. 36.d2 f7 37.f2 xf5-+ 38.e3 g5 39.d4 g6 A simple, effective game by Black. That's why the Scandinavian is popular! 0-1

242 Iordachescu,V Tiviakov,S Nakhchivan Open A 2013 (8.5) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2599 2650 30.04.2013

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 Tiviakov is obviously very experie nced in these 3...Qd 6 lines but it surprises me that he went for this line as W hite appears to have a number of good options. 6.h3 h5 [ 6...xf3 7.xf3 c6 8.e3 is very comfortable for White who has a lead in development and the two bishops. ] 7.g4 g6 8.e5 bd7 A critical position has now been reached but the strange thing is that all the sensible moves seem to give White the advantage here so I'm not really sure why strong players still play this way as Black. 9.c4 Another dangerous idea for White which further calls into question this line for Black. [ 9.xg6 hxg6 10.g2! is probably White's main alternative and should lead to some advantage. It's analysed in detail in GellerKovalenko ] [ 9.b5!? b6 10.c4 is also dangerous. Black has to try e6+ but White is better after 11.e2 see Najer-Kovalenko ( 11.e3!? is tricky and is examined in the notes to the above game. )] 9...e6+ [ 9...a6 10.f4 and the threat of Qe6+ forces the queen to e6 in any case. ] 10.e3 h5 11.g5?! This gives Black good chances to equalise here although Tiviakov still has to find some accurate moves. e4 12.g2 b6 [ 12...c6 has been seen before in Kostitsina, L (2000) -Rakhmangulova, A (2196) Moscow 2011 and here W hite should've played 13.0-0 0-0-0 14.d5! ( 14.a4 is also strong, intending to play d5! in the n e a r f u t u r e) 14...cxd5 15.exd5 b6 16.xb6+ xb6 17.e2 xc3 18.bxc3 and White has a very dangerous attack on the queenside, once a rook lands on b1 Black is going to be in serious trouble. ] [ 12...xc3 13.bxc3 a6! seems to equalise, for example 234

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 14.b1 c6 ( 14...b6 15.c4! ) 15.f1 is probably White's best try for an edge, he k e e p s t h e b e t t e r c h a n c e s a f t e r b5 ( 15...a5 16.xb7 xc3+ 17.d2 xd2+ 18.xd2 and White's activity gives him a pleasant advantage.) 16.a4! xa4 17.g2 c8 18.0-0 and White has a dangerous initiative combined with a clear plan of f4-f5.; B) 14.e2 xe2+ 15.xe2 0-0-0 16.b1 c6 and although White is more active he has some weaknesses in his structure whereas Black is very solid. ] 13.f3 d6?! [ 13...xc3 was definitely Black's best option h e r e . A f t e r 14.bxc3 c6 15.0-0 d7 Black prepared to play ...e6 with a solid positio n. I s till pref e r W hit e a f te r 16.a4! but the advantage is only small. ] 14.a4! Now Black is in serious difficulties a6 [ 14...a5 i s n o b e t t e r : 15.b5! xb5 16.axb5 b8 ( 16...a7 17.0-0 is miserable for Black, that rook on a7 is horribly placed!) 17.xa5 xc2 18.a7 and White wins a pawn ] 15.0-0 [ 15.a5 was even stronger straight away, e. g. bc8 16.f4! xc2 17.0-0 d3 18.d1 g6 19.ed5 d8 and Black is so poorly developed and coordinated that it's pretty much hopeless. ] 15...d7 16.a5 bc8 17.e1 [ 17.a4 bringing the knight to c5 is also very good for White. ] 17...e6 18.d5! Iordachescu thematically opens up the centre with Black's pieces still un co ordina te d an d Tiviakov is un ab le t o defend. e7 [ 18...e7 was possibly more stubborn but W hite's init iative still gives him a clea r a d v a n t a g e a f t e r 19.b3 ( 19.a4!? is also dangerous, either the rook is swinging over to d4 or it supports Nc4.) 19...0-0-0 20.c4! ] 19.dxe6 fxe6 20.h4 f8 21.e2 c6 22.h3 White targets the weak pawn on e6 and Black is in no position to defend. f5 23.xf5 exf5 [ 23...xf5 24.xf5 xf5 25.xh5+ is also easily winning for White ] 24.f4! A simple developing move that u n d e rl i n e s e v e ryt h i n g t h a t ' s wr o n g wi t h

Black's position. d4 25.a4 c5 26.d2 [ 26.c7! was more clinical, threatening to trap the queen with Rc4. Black can try f7 but after 27.d3 threatening mate on d8 Black's position is completely hopeless. ] 26...f7 27.e5 d8 28.e2 a7 29.xf5 A crushing victory f rom Iordachescu and although the game wasn't perfect from either side it's another good example of what can happen to Black in this line. I wouldn't recommend 5.. .Bg4 to anyone right now!! 1-0

243 Jaulin,Philippe Prie,Eric 2nd Open Nantes (1) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2105 2425 2003

A BRACE OF PRIE 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ xf6!? I recommended 9...gxf6 in a recent video although that move is slightly under a cloud due to [ 9...gxf6 10.c3! c7 ( 10...d7!? ) 11.h4 g6 12.f3 d7 13.h3! with uncomfortable pressure. So to 9...Qxf6, undoubtedly a tricky and provocative move, well suited to playing for the win. ] 10.e2! d7 [ 10...g4 11.d5 xf3 12.gxf3 cxd5 13.xd5 d7 14.0-0-0 a3 15.c3 0-0 16.e4 Shirov-Salov Madrid 1997 is a possible way to go for Black although White has the makings of a good Kingside attack. ] [ Meanwhile taking on c2 is very risky : 10...xc2 11.c1 f5 12.d5 I prefer W hite's initiative to the long haul needed to exploit the extra pawn. So to Prie's 10... Nd7, just sensible development. As long as Black isn't falling victim to either d4-d5! or Bg5 then he should have a playable position. ] 11.0-0-0 b6 12.e5?! I don't think allowing Black to take on c4 is very testing and two of Prie's recent opponents seem to agree. [ 12.b3 g4 W e l l - t i m e d ! 13.d5 If this tactical stroke doesn't work, White will simply be left with a bad pawn structure. 235

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf3 14.gxf3 cxd5 A) 15.xd5! The best move in the position. A1) 15...xd5 16.b5+ e7 ( 16...d8 17.xb7 c8 18.a5+ c7 19.xc7+ e8 20.c8+ e7 21.d8# ) 17.xb7+; A2) 15...0-0-0! 16.e4 d6 17.e3 f4 18.b5 e5 19.xe5 xe5 20.f4 f6 21.xb6 All steam ahead for the draw. axb6 22.c3 g6 23.xd8+ xd8 24.d2 c7 25.e3 d8 26.f3 d6 27.b4 c7 28.e2 a8 29.c4 b5 30.b3 a6 31.d1 f8 32.d3 h6 33.e4 g7 34.h3 h5 35.d3 f8 36.f5 exf5 37.xf7 e7 38.e3 d6 39.e6 g5 40.f6 xh2 41.xa6 1/2-1/2 Delorme, A-Prie, E/2nd Open, Nantes FRA 2003; B) 15.b5+ Looks more uncomfortable than it actually is! d8 16.a5 ( 16.hg1 d6! 17.b1 xf3 ) 16...d6 B1) 17.xb6+ axb6 18.xb6+ c7 19.xb7 b8 20.c6 ( 20.a6 possibly the best try. xf3 21.c4 ) 20...e5 21.d3 xb2+ 22.b1 e5 23.c4 g6 24.c2 c8 25.b6+ e7 Prie is pushing his lower-rated opponent into making difficult decisions at the board and of course, that is the way to win Open tournaments.; B2) 17.b1? Rank bad. Whether he liked it or not White had to take on b6: e7 18.xd5 exd5 19.he1+ f8 20.a4 c4 21.xd5 xa5 22.f5 d8 23.b4 c6 0-1 Mullon, J-Prie, E/2nd Open, Nantes FRA 2003 Naturally these results and positions reached are very satisfactory for Black. ] 12...xc4 13.xc4 d6 I slightly prefer B l a c k n o w . 14.b4 Jaulin to exchange the pieces, aiming for a balanced position that he cannot lose. Prie now takes a risk. [ 14.h4 h6 15.de1 0-0-0 16.e3 was also possible, with White taking up a more aggressive stance. ] 14...xb4 15.xb4 g5+!? [ I prefer 15...0-0-0! 16.he1 h5 which is rather equal. ] 16.b1 xg2 White has a decision to make. He gets it wrong. 17.xf7?

[ 17.dg1! would have given White a very st ro n g a t t a ck . P rie se e m t o b e a b l e t o mesmerise his opponents into playing weak moves. After 17 Rdg1, the variations are brief and uncomplicated: xf2 18.xg7 xc2+ ( 18...xc2+ 19.a1 e4 20.hg1 0-0-0 21.xf7!+- ) 19.a1 f8 20.xb7 d8 21.xc6+ ] 17...xc2+! By contrast, the Black Queen now returns to the defence. 18.xc2 xf2+ 19.c1 xf7 20.hf1 e7 21.a4 f8 22.fe1 f7 23.b3 ae8 24.e5 g8 Castling by hand. Two pawns up is too much so the game ends rapidly. 25.de1 f6 26.e3 d8 27.xe6 xe6 28.xe6+ xe6 29.xe6 xd4 30.e7 b4 At this time of writing I don't see why 9...Qxf6 cannot be played. Prie's results are very good although he pushed the boat out a long way in our featured game. Nevertheless, 15...0-0-0 would have been OK. 0-1

244 Kaidanov,Gregory S Zatonskih,Anna USA-ch GpB San Diego (6) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2603 2433 08.03.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 A move which has caused considerable discomfort to Scandinavian fans over the past few years. White gains by delaying Nc3 and is able in many cases to push the Black Queen around with the help of a well-timed c2-c4. However, Black does not need to give up hope just yet. 3... Bg4, as played here, is perfectly good and 3 . . . g 6 i s we l l p l a ya b l e a s t h e g a m e s o f Epishin and Kurajica have shown. g4 [ 3...f6 4.e2 g4 5.d4 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 d8 8.c3 0-0 is similar to the game and a system for Black which I recommended in 'The Essential CentreCounter' Black can play ... c7-c5 in one move if need be. ] 4.e2 c6!? Tiviakov's idea which is solid of course. 5.d4 f6 6.c4 d8 7.c3 e6 8.h3 h5 9.0-0 The recent match between Korneev and Tiviakov in Khanty-Mansiysk featured this position more than once, 236

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 although Tiviakov did not opt for the coming 9...Bd6 sticking to more solid 9...Be7. d6?!N Active and slightly more risky than 9...Be7. [ The evidence about 9...e7 will show what we intuitively know already that White must keep a small edge: 10.f4 ( RR 10.e3 0-0 11.g4 g6 12.e5 fd7 13.f4 xe5 14.dxe5 f6 15.exf6 xf6 16.c5 a6 17.c4 c7 18.f5 f7 19.fxe6 xe6 20.xe6+ xe6 21.b3 h8 22.e4 d4 23.c4 e7 24.f4 e6 Paragua, M-Laketic, G/Milan 2001 Black has negated any W hite pressure and stands slightly better.) 10...0-0 11.a3 bd7 ( 11...a5 12.e1 e8 13.e5 xe2 14.xe2 a6 15.d2 d7 16.e4 c8 17.c2 Korneev, O-Tiviakov, S/Khanty Mansiysk 2005) 12.e5 xe2 13.xe2 e8 14.ad1 b6 15.fe1 a6 16.g4 f8 17.g5 6d7 18.xd7 xd7 19.d5 Korneev, O-Tiviakov, S/Khanty Mansiysk 2005 ] 10.g5 Trying to take advantage of the pin. h6 [ 10...bd7 11.d5 cxd5 12.cxd5 exd5 ( 12...e5?! 13.e4 e7 14.h4! ) 13.xd5 0-0 ] 11.xf6 gxf6? Poor, almost inexplicable, making it appear as though she is making it up on the spot. [ Black HAS to play 11...xf6 12.e4 f4 13.xd6+ xd6 14.b3 b6 15.c5 c7 16.e3 ] 12.d5! e7 [ 12...e5? 13.h4! ] 13.e1 Increasing the pressure on e6. [ Or 13.d4!? xe2 14.xe2 e5 15.ad1 Finkel ] 13...a6 14.h4 [ Finkel gives 14.d4!? xe2 15.xe2 e5 16.dxc6 and I think he is right. ] 14...xe2 15.xe2 e5 16.dxc6 bxc6 17.f3 Black has no place for her King. c8 18.ad1 0-0 19.h5 [ 19.e3 h7 20.f3 is equally uncomfortable: ] 19...h7 20.e4 fd8 [ 20...xb2? 21.f5 exf5 22.g5+ ] 21.f3?! [ Preferable is 21.d6 xd6 ( 21...c7 22.df5+- ) 22.xd6 xd6 23.f5 f8

24.xd6 b8 ( 24...d8 25.e4 ) 25.e3! and White wins. The text is OK, but Black gets the chance to grovel on. ] 21...b8 [ 21...xb2 22.b1 b8 23.h4 c5 24.xb2! is devastating: xb2 25.xf6+ g7 26.h5+ f8 27.f4-+ ] 22.a5 c7? Losing on the spot. [ 22...f5 is the reason that 21 Nd6 was better. Maybe Black survives after 23.ed2 c5 24.b4 ( 24.c3 d3 25.c2 f6 ) 24...d3 25.xf5+ exf5 26.xe7 xb4 27.xf7+ g6 Of course this will not be pleasant. ] 23.d4+- d5 [ 23...e8 24.xc6 xc6 25.xd8+- ] 24.cxd5 cxd5 25.c3 d6 26.f3 g8 27.e4 f4 28.g3 c2 29.d4 xf3 [ 29...c7 ] 30.gxf3 xg3 31.g4 xf2+ 32.h1 xe1 33.xe1 xg4 34.hxg4 xb2 35.c3 xa2 36.xf6 g8 37.xh6 f2 38.f6 a5 39.g1 c2 40.g5 c6 41.g6 4...c6 is clearly possible, although I feel Black should continue in the same restrained manner a little later by playing his King's Bishop to e7. 1-0

245 Kalegin,Evgenij Galkin,Sergey Perm [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2485 1997

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 xd5 4.c3 a5 5.d4 c6 6.b5 [ 6.d2!? which leads to quieter play is also worth considering we'll take a closer look at this move in the next game. ] 6...d7 7.d5!? b4 8.xd7+ xd7 9.a3 f6 10.axb4 The point of White's previous play. This exchange sacrifice is dangerous for Black as his Queen is forced to go to a very bad square, while his other pieces remain undeveloped. xa1 11.0-0 a6 [ After 11...d8 12.d4!? c6 ( 12...xd5? 13.db5 winning; 12...e6 13.db5 ) 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.e2! xd4 15.e3 Black is in trouble ] 12.d4 237

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Usually white tries to maintain the initiative by 12.d4 d8 13.db5 d7 14.f4 and after A) 14...xd5 also comes into c o n s i d e r a t i o n : 15.xd5 ( 15.xd5!? is int e re st in g: xd5 16.xc7+ d8 17.xa6 f5 18.e3 bxa6 19.a1 f6 20.f1 trying to breakthrough on the queenside.) 15...xb5 16.xc7+ xc7 17.xc7 d7 18.b8 xd1 19.xd1 e6 Black was able to hold the balance in Siklosi - Laszlo, Hungary (tt) 1993.; B) 14...d8 15.e2 An unclear position has arisen. White has sufficient compensation for his material losses. ] 12...g6 [ 12...d8!? deserves attention. ] 13.f4 b6 [ Black has two good alternatives: 13...c8!? 14.b5 b6 15.c4 a6! is unclear ] [ 13...g7!? 14.xc7 h5 15.c5 ( 15.b5 d6 16.xd6 xd4 17.e1 0-0-0 18.xd4 exd6 with a small edge) 15...0-0 in both cases with unclear play. ] 14.c4 a5? This is a big mistake. [ 14...c6?! was dubious because of 15.e3 c7 ( 15...d8?! 16.dxc6 c8 17.e5 e6 18.d1 c7 19.f4 puts Black in trouble) 16.b5 c8 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.xa7 b7 19.xc6+!? ( 19.xc6 ) 19...xc6 20.xc6 and Black has real problems neutralising the White pawns on the queenside. ] [ Probably Black had underestimated his defensive possibilities, but he was not doing a s b a d l y a s h e b e li e ve d a f t e r t h e c o o l 14...a6! Now taking on c7 is good for Black. 15.e1 with excellent compensation for the exchange. ] 15.b5?! This looks good but White has a much better move. [ After 15.b5! Black was hopelessly lost: c8 ( 15...xd5 16.xd5 c6 17.e5 winning ) 16.bxa5 xa5 17.b4 b6 18.xc7+ d8 19.e5 winning a lot of material. ] 15...g7 16.a4! [ 16.xc7 was much weaker: c8 17.xb6 ( 17.d6? xd6 ) 17...xc4 18.xa5 e4 19.xe4 xe4 20.b3 was unclear. ] 16...a7 17.xc7 0-0 18.b6 a6 19.xa6 xa6 20.c4 Black's life is difficult as he has

problems halting White's queenside advance. The pawn on b6 plus the Bishop on c7 keep t h e B la c k Ro o ks p a ssive . d7 21.c5! xb2!? Trying to do something active, rather t h a n j u s t w a i t f o r t h e e n d . 22.b1! winning The text move is stronger. [ Of course not 22.xb2?! xc5 23.c1 b3 24.c3 a4 and Black is okay ] [ 22.c6 was possible but after bxc6 23.dxc6 xb6 24.xb6 c8 25.c7 xb6 26.xb6 xc7 White should eventually win. ] 22...a3 23.c6 bxc6 [ 23...b8 does not help as after 24.cxb7 the Knight is going to c6. ] 24.dxc6 xb6 25.xb6 c8 26.d4 d6 27.c1 f4 28.c2 c7 There was nothing better. 29.xc7 xc7 30.f4! The ending looks winning for W hite. His plan is simple: his King is going to the queenside to help the c-pawn promote. f6 31.c5 Securing the Knight on d4 against e7-e5. f7 32.f2 e6 33.e3 g5 34.g3 gxf4+ 35.gxf4 e5 36.fxe5 fxe5 37.f3 [ 37.xe5 axc6 38.xc6 xc6 was also winning for White but the text move is stronger. ] 37...e8 38.xe5 d8 39.d4 g7 40.d5+ c7 41.c5 e7 42.c3 a4 43.b5+ c8 44.c4 White's pieces look v e r y s p e c t a c u l a r ! h6 45.b6+ Black resigned. 1-0

246 Kaminski,Marcin Gipslis,Aivars Cappelle la Grande [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2535 2450 1998

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.b5+ d7 4.e2 xd5 5.d4 f5 The most popular move. 6.f3 e6 7.a3 e7 8.c4 b6 9.c3 0-0 10.h3 c6 11.e3 f6 12.0-0 The "tabiya" of this line. White has a certain advantage in space while Black has counterchances due to his pressure on the d4-pawn. By the way the position looks like one from the Alekhine Four Pawns Attack, (without the f2 and f7 pawns it's just a position from Yudasin - Kengis!) and the ideas of both sides are very similar. h6 238

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black prepares 13...Qe7 (he couldn't play it im m e d ia t e l y in vi e w o f 1 3 . g4 B g 6 1 4 . g 5 winning a piece). But his move wastes an important tempo and now Black has no time to create pressure on the d4-pawn. [ 12...d7! is much more to the point. After this move White can't hold the centre, and has to sacrifice his d4-pawn and hope to gain sufficient initiative as compensation. 13.b4 ad8 14.b3 ( 14.a2!? xd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.d2 xc3! 17.xd7 xd7 18.b3 f6 19.d1 xd1+ 20.xd1 d8 21.c2 xc2 22.xc2 c6 and Black's chances are by no means worse, as shown by the game Hait - Romcovici, Eforie Nord, 1996. ) 14...xd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.ad1 e5 17.b5 e7 18.fe1 f6 19.xc7 e4 20.b5 A) The natural 20...a6! is much stronger and Black has equal chances here: 21.c3 ( 21.bxd4 exd4 22.c5 d5 23.xd4 This attempt to win a pawn is strongly met by xg2! 24.xg2 f4+ ) 21...c6 22.c5 d5=; B) 20...c6?! A m i s t a k e . 21.c5 xb5 22.xb5 d5 23.c4! f4 24.xd4 xd4 25.xd4 exd4 26.f3 with a clear edge as in Hait - Rasskazov, Moscow 1997. ] 13.b4! A multipurpose move. White starts a pawn attack on the Q-side. The other idea is to chase away Black's Knight in order to free the d4-pawn from attack. [ 13.c1 A somewhat sophisticated move. e7?! ( B l a c k s h o u l d p l a y 13...d7! intending Rd8 and again White has to think about how to protect the d4-pawn.) 14.c5! d5 15.xd5 exd5 16.b3 e6 17.xb7 ab8 18.xc7 xb2 19.d1 e4 20.a4? ( 20.e1 was much better and Black has little to show for the pawn.) 20...c8? M i s s i n g a d r a w : ( 20...xf3! 21.xc6 xe3! 22.fxe3 xg2+ 23.h1 f2+ 24.g1 g2+ with a perpetual.) 21.d6 a2?! 22.d2 xd4 23.xe6 fxe6 24.xe4 xe3 25.fxe3 dxe4 26.b3 and Black resigned in Pokorna - Aleksieva, Batumi 1999. ] 13...e7 14.b5 a5 15.c5 d5 16.d2! xc3 This move loses material by force. [ 16...fe8!? was relatively best although

White's advantage is big already: 17.xd5 exd5 18.e1! b6 19.xa5 ( 19.d3 e4 ) 19...bxa5 20.a4 Now White wins a pawn for nothing: e4 21.xa5 d7 22.c3 xf3 23.c6 d6 24.xf3 f4 25.xe8+ xe8 26.d1 and with accurate play White should win the game. ] 17.xc3 b6 18.cxb6 axb6 [ 18...b7 19.bxa7 xa7 20.a4 is also hopeless for Black. ] 19.b4 d8 20.xf8 xf8 21.d3 White is the exchange up for nothing. The rest is a matter of technique. xd3 22.xd3 c5 23.bxc6 xc6 24.e4 e7 25.e5 a4 26.fd1 f5 27.b7 e7 28.d5 So after considering these games we can conclude that the 4.Be2 line is rather promising for White. In my opinion the line considered in this game is the most solid for Black. 1-0

247 Karjakin,Sergey Iotov,V 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (5.2) [Neil McDonald]

B01 2786 2553 06.08.2014

1.e4 d5 The Scandinavian Defence is a rare bird at elite level. 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 Sergey Karjakin is one of the best prepared players in the world, so it makes sense to play this 'anti-theory' system against him. 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 c6 8.d3 e6 9.e2!? A couple of rounds before this game at the Tromso 2014 Olympiad, Carlsen had essayed [ 9.g3 against Djukic. ] 9...bd7 10.0-0 d6 [ Another way to arrange the black pieces was 10...e7 11.f4 f8 then 12...Ng6 and 13...0-0. The point of going 11...Nf8 is tha t af te r 11 .. .0 -0 Black wo uld ha ve t o prepare the knight manoeuvre with Rfe8, so it might save a tempo to play it straightaway. ] 11.g5 c7 12.e4 h2+?! Playing with fire. [ He should prefer 12...xe4 13.xe4 h6 Instead A) 14.d2 0-0 ( White has some edge 239

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 after 14...f6 15.f3 d5 16.c4 f4 17.d1 retaining the bishop pair and threatening 18.c5 winning a piece.) 15.d3 f6 16.f3 threatening 17.Bxh6. e7 Black has less space but he can put his rooks on d8 and e8 when his position would be very hard to crack. The exchange of two sets of minor pieces has eased his game. Nonetheless White has kept his opening advantage which indicates that 9. Be2! was a good move.; B) 14.e3 f6 15.d3 d5 seems OK for Black. ] 13.h1 f4? He had to bail out with [ 13...xe4 14.xe4 h6 15.d2 f6 16.f3 d6 then 17...Qe7 and 18...0-0. He is a tempo down on the line given in the notes to 12...Bh2+ above, but he still seems OK. ] 14.xf6+? Symptomatic of the poor form of some of the Russian players at the Tromso Olympiad. White misses the shot [ 14.a3! when Black is suddenly busted. For example xg5?! ( Not only is the black king displaced, the f 7 pawn drops after 14...d8 15.h5!; The best chance is to g i ve u p a p a wn f o r n o t h i n g wi t h 14...c5 which is resignable against a 2786 player.) 15.d6+ d8 ( Even worse is 15...f8 16.b5+ ) 16.xf7+ e8 17.xg5 and Black is ruined. ] 14...xf6 15.xf6! Good judgement. As we shall see, Black can do nothing down the gf i l e wh i l e t h e r e s p e c t i ve p o s i t i o n o f t h e opposite coloured bishops favours W hite's attack. [ Instead after 15.xf4 xf4 Black looks very comfortable. ] 15...gxf6 16.c4 0-0-0 17.f3 For attacking purposes, the black queen and bishop are the wrong way around. If the queen were on f4, and the bishop on c7, W hite would be compelled to play g2-g3 to stop mate on h2. Then the g3 point would become an object of attack with the pawn ram h5-h4 or f5-f4, or even a sacrifice with involving Bxg3 or Rxg3. With the actual situation in the game, Black has no way to provoke g2-g3. The white pawn therefore remains beyond the reach of Black's o wn k i n g s i d e p a wn s , a n d a n y i d e a o f a sa crif ic e on g2 is f a r f et ch e d. Th ere f o re

Iotov's only hope of counterplay is against the d4 pawn. As we shall see, he enjoys a spectacular success af ter Karjakin loses control. b8 18.ad1 h5 Black makes an aggressive looking pawn move, but what can it attack? In contrast, White's b-pawn has a ready target on c6. 19.b4 d7 20.b5? Kramnik discussed this position during the live commentary at the Tromso 2014 Olympiad. He was highly critical of his team mate's decision to allow Black to gain counterplay with his next move. He couldn't understand why Karjakin didn't play [ 20.c5! to squash any c6-c5 move, and then follow up with b4-b5. He felt W hite would then at least have a strong attack, whether or not it is winning. Here are some sample variations. My computer program thinks Black is doing OK, but it wouldn't be at all fun to defend like this: hd8 Black can also fight to scrape a draw in an endgame after A) White could instead let Black give up his rooks for the queen: 21.b5 xd4 22.xd4 xd4 23.xd4 e5 24.b4 a5 25.fb1 b6 Somehow Black stays alive by blocking the b-file. 26.cxb6 c5 27.bxa7+ xa7 28.b6 xa2 29.d1 d4 ( 29...cxb4 30.d8# ) 30.b5 a6 31.xc5 xc5 32.d8+ c8 33.xc8+ xc8 34.b7+ ( Or likewise 34.xh5 xb6 35.xf7 d7 ) 34...b8 and Black just holds the draw thanks to the opposite coloured bishops.; B) 21.c4 a6 22.a4 e5 23.d5 cxd5 24.xd5 xd5 25.xd5 d7 26.f3 d3 27.xd3 xd3 28.xh5 d4 and Black's pressure on b4 probably gives him enough to hold the game. ] 20...c5 21.d5 e5 22.de1 h4 23.a4 [ White is losing the thread of the game. He might have played 23.c2 to break the pin on the d-file. ] 23...a5! The queen manually blocks the advance of W hite's a pawn and cement s Black's control of the dark squares. 24.a3 d2 25.e3 After [ 25.a5? f4 Black would have achieved the rearrangement of bishop and queen we talked about earlier. With the lady leading from the front they are suddenly a deadly duo, threatening mate on the move. ] 240

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25...b4 26.a2 exd5 27.d3? Losing a couple of pawns. It's equal after [ 27.xd5 xd5 28.cxd5 f4 29.xe5 ( but not 29.g3 hxg3 30.xg3 e4+! 31.f3 h4! when Black wins. ) 29...xe5 ] 27...hd8 28.c1 Here [ 28.xd5 xd5! 29.xd5 xd5 30.cxd5 f4 is suddenly winning for Black as compared to the variation after 27.Rd3? above White no longer has a defence with Rxe5 giving up the exchange. For example 31.g3 f3+ 32.g1 hxg3 33.d6 g2 34.b1 xh3 and the mate threats are decisive. ] 28...dxc4 29.xd7 xd7 30.c2 [ Instead 30.xc4 loses to the spectacular move d1+!! winning the queen as 31.xd1 e1+ mates. ] 30...c3 31.d1 b2 32.e4 d2 33.xd2 cxd2 34.d1 d4 [ White resigned as it's all over after 34...d4 35.f3 f2 and a check on e1. ] 0-1

248 Karpatchev,Aleksandr Prie,Eric 4eme Open International de (5.2) [Eric Prié]

B01 2461 2439 17.02.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e4?! A breath of fresh air in the Scandinavian, where, walking in Shirov's footsteps, (See game 10) White often plays the same line , whatever his level of play may be, which may not be particularly dangerous as we will see, but annoyingly enough to play for a win... At least was that my state of mind before tackling this game with the assurance that ignorance brings. 6.c4 Scottish Master Geoff Chandler's suggestion as I later learned. See the next game for the refutation of the opening. xc3 7.d2 b6!? Instead of [ 7...e6 which had previously been briefly analysed by Andrew. ] 8.bxc3 a6 9.e5 [ 9.xa6 xa6 10.e5 d7 11.xd7 xd7 12.f4 c4 ] 9...xc4 [ 9...e6!? 10.xa6 ( 10.0-0 d6; 10.f4

xc3+ 11.d1 xc4 12.xf7+ d8 13.g5+ c8 14.e8+ b7 ) 10...xa6 11.f4 f6! ( 11...xc3+? 12.d2 xa1+ 13.e2 xh1 14.xf7+ d8 15.d7# ) 12.f3 d5 I missed this move which permits Black to equalize on the spot. ] 10.xc4 d5 11.e3 d7 12.0-0 g6 The move that stands at the heart of the Black idea: If he manages to castle without getting mated, then he will enjoy a superior pawn structure. 13.e2 [ 13.e1 g7 14.c4 0-0 15.a3 ( 15.e5 d6 ) 15...e8 Just in time. ] 13...g7 14.f3 [ 14.e1 0-0 15.g4!? ] 14...c6 15.d5 e5 16.e2 f5! White's fine strategy falls through with this forgotten move. 17.e1 0-0-0! [ 17...0-0!? 18.c4 f7! 19.xe7 xd5 20.xc7? fc8 ] 18.a4? [ 18.b2 f4 19.d1 e6! ( 19...f3 20.a6+ b8 21.c4 g4 22.e3; 19...xd5? 20.c4 ) 20.dxe6 xe6 21.c4? he8 ] 18...f4! 19.a5? [ 19.c4 f3! 20.gxf3 ( 20.xe5 fxe2 21.xd7 xd7 22.xe2 xc3 23.a3 xd5 24.f3 f6 ) 20...xc4 21.xc4 xd5 22.a6+ b7 ] [ 19.d1 w a s t h e m o s t s t u b b o r n f3 20.a6+ b8 21.f4 xd5 22.a5 c4 23.xc4 ] 19...b5! Without the check on a6, White's position is now collapsing for having only relied, in this 'morning game', on [ 19...fxe3? 20.xe3 A) 20...xd5 21.d4 ( 21.axb6 axb6 ); B) 20...f7 21.axb6 cxb6 22.xb6! axb6 23.a8+ b7 24.a6+ c7 25.a7+ d6 26.xb6+ ] 20.a6 fxe3 There is no compensation for the 'sacrificed' piece. 21.xe3 [ 21.xe3 c4 22.xa7 xc3 ] 21...b8 22.d1 c4 23.c5 a8 24.f4 e5 25.g5 b8 26.d6 c6 27.e7 he8 28.ab1 b6 29.a1 f8 30.h3 xe7 31.dxe7 xe7 Partly from my notes in ChessBase MEGA 2006. 0-1

241

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 249 Karpov,Anatoly Rogers,Ian Bath [Alexander Volzhin]

B01

1983

In this game we'll see similarities to the game Anand - Lautier when White pushed the Black bishop back by g4 and h4 etc. The key difference in my opinion, is that Black preferred e7-e6 rather then c7-c6 and found himself in trouble because his Queen had few po ss ib le re trea t s. L at er he p la yed c7-c6 anyway but this lost time so that's probably wh y th is line h a s no t be e n so p o pu la r in recent practice. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.h3 h5 7.g4 g6 8.e5 e6 9.h4 b4 [ 9...bd7 has been tried a couple of times but Black has failed to equalise: 10.c4 a6 11.h5 e4 and here White has a number of possibilities: A) 12.xe4 xe4 13.f3 with a small edge; B) 12.d2!? a5 13.cxe4 xe4 14.f3 B1) 14...xd2 15.xd2 d5 16.g2 ( 16.xd5!? ) 16...c6 17.c3 h6 18.g3 d6 19.xd5 xg3 20.f3 with a small edge in Kotliar - Garma, New York 1993; B2) 14...f5 15.d3 df6 16.g5 d5 17.xe4 fxe4 18.xe4 with a large edge in A. Sokolovs - Sh ch eka ch ev, Moscow 1992; B3) 14...d6 15.c4 c5 16.dxc5 xc5 17.a3 d8 18.e2 ce4 19.e3 with a slight edge in Nataf Abdulghafour, Bratislava 1993; C) 12.h3!? b4 13.d2 xc3 14.xc3 This pos ition which wa s te ste d in th e game Westerinen - Zeidler, Pula 1997 is in White's favour in my opinion because of the bishop pair, the possibility of attacking on the kingside, and the opportunity to utilise the awkward position of the Black queen on a6, but of course Black's better development should not be ignored. ] 10.h3 c6 [ 10...h5 does not look good as it weakens

the kingside too much: 11.xg6 fxg6 12.g5 d5 13.d2 with a clear advantage. ] 11.d2 b6 12.h5 e4 [ 12...xd4 13.f3 ] 13.e3 [ Unfortunately 13.c4? xd4 14.xe4? is impossible because of xe4 15.xb4 xf2# mate! ] 13...xc3 [ 13...xd4? was bad for Black because of 14.g5! ] 14.xc3 d5 [ The pawn advance g4-g5 could not be stopped by 14...h6 because of 15.c4 c7 16.b4 with Nd6 to follow ] 15.g5 e4 16.g4 d6 [ 16...xc3 17.bxc3 b2 18.d1 c5 w a s n o t b e t t e r a s a f t e r ( of course not 18...xa2? 19.c4 winning xc4 20.xc4 b5 21.d6+ ) 19.c4 xc4 20.xc4 Black is in trouble (Rb1 and g5-g6 are the threats). ] 17.0-0-0 d7 Finally Black has developed his Queen's Knight but was faced with another p r o b l e m a f t e r t h e v e r y s t r o n g 18.e1! (c2-c4 is threatened) xe5 19.dxe5 f5 20.h3! White's idea is still c2-c4 and it cannot be parried! 0-0-0 [ 20...c5 is not a defence due to 21.xd5 exd5 22.xf5 with a large advantage ] 21.c4 c5 22.b4 That's why the Rook did not retreat to a3 - it would be hanging after Qb4. f3 23.xd8+ xd8 24.xf3 xe5 25.c3 The rest is n ot imp ort ant . d6 26.d3 d4 27.xf7 f5 28.xf5 f4+ 29.e3 Black resigned. 1-0

250 Kasparov,Garry Rogers,Ian EUR-ASIA Rapid Match rapid (2) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2835 2535 2001

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 Well, there it is, the ultimate endorsement. Rogers normally plays 3...Qa5 and is one of the world's leading experts in that line. It is very interesting to see him venture 3..Qd6. 4.d4 f6 5.d3 g4!? 6.f3 h5 7.ge2 242

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a6 [ 7...c6 is definitely worth a thought too: 8.f4 d8 A) 9.d2 e6 10.0-0-0 g6 11.e4 d5 12.g5 e7 13.xe7 xe7 14.h4 h5 15.f4 xe4 16.fxe4 xf4 17.xf4 e5! 18.g3 ( 18.xe5 xe5 19.dxe5 d7; 18.dxe5 d7 ) 18...d7 19.xg7 0-0-0; B) 9.0-0 e6 10.e4 e7 11.c4 0-0 12.h1 a6= ( 12...bd7= )] 8.f4 d7 9.d5! Apparently Kasparov screwed this one in as if to demonstrate his total control of the game. Certainly things look difficult for Black. There is a distinct danger that the Knight on b8 may never emerge! g6 10.d2 xd3 11.xd3 g6 12.0-0-0 g7 13.c4 c6! Black is clinging on as best he can. 14.d6 The only realistic way to play for the initiative. It's not clear whether White has even a technical advantage after [ 14.xb8 xb8 The only realistic way to p l a y f o r t h e i n it ia t ive . 15.dxc6 xc6 16.xc6+ bxc6 17.he1 d5!= ] 14...0-0 15.b1 [ 15.dxe7 xe7 16.d6 e3+ 17.b1 e8 18.he1 bd7= ] 15...e8 16.g3 exd6 17.xd6?! [ Ro ge rs give s 17.xd6 e7 18.hd1 as much stronger and it is certainly puzzling that Kasparov rejected this natural continuation. White seems to mobilize his whole army with no problems. A) 18...b5 Probably this is the best response. Intuitively, it feels dubious. 19.d3 ( 19.b3 a5 20.ge4 xe4 21.xe4 a4 22.a3 a6 23.g5 c7 ) 19...b4 20.ce4 d5 21.g5 e5 22.b3 a5; B) 18...bd7 19.g5! ] 17...e6 18.xe6 xe6 19.ge4 bd7= By contrast, here White has nothing. Due to the fact that this was a 25 minute game and that Kasparov was ahead on the clock, the game continued.... . 20.g3 b5 21.a3 xe4 22.xe4 b6 23.f2 d5 24.d4 a5 25.g4! White finds a way to prevent the game from f izzling out. W ith time ticking down, Rogers resolved to keep the position solid. h6 26.h4 xd4 27.xd4 g7 28.h5 b4 29.a4 f6 30.d6 e3 31.f4 g5

[ 31...e6!= Rogers ] 32.f5+ h7 33.xe3 gxf4 34.c4 d5 35.e1?! [ 35.e5 ] 35...g7 36.e5 f6 37.f5+ e6 With the idea of ...f7-f6, trapping the White Rook. 38.e5+ f6 39.e4 g5! 40.e5 h4! 41.xc6 g3! The game has been coloured by time shortage. Of course with any normal time control, Black's active King would guarantee him at least an equal game. 42.d4 d8 43.c1?! with one minute left! [ 43.e1 e3 44.c3 bxc3 45.bxc3 xd4 ( 45...d5! 46.b2 f2 47.e2+ g3 48.b3 ) 46.cxd4 xf3 47.g5+- ] [ 43.e5 e3 44.c3 bxc3 45.bxc3 xd4 46.cxd4 xf3 47.g5 hxg5 48.h6+- ] 43...e3?! forty seconds left, not enough time to find the deadly [ 43...f6! when Black is better in all lines: 44.e2+ ( 44.f5+ xf3 45.e5 xg4 46.xa5 e3 47.b1 d1+ 48.a2 e4; 44.c6 xe4 45.xd8 xf3 46.xf7 e2 47.e5 f3-+ ) 44...xf3 45.xf4+ xe2 46.xf6 d1# ] 44.c3 bxc3 45.bxc3 c8 46.d2 b8 47.e2+ xf3 48.xf4+ Kasparov's play in the opening was powerful enough for me to move away from 7...a6 in favour of either 7... c6 , 7 .. . Nc6, o r 7. . . e 6 . A f t e r 9 d 5 , B la c k should have been toiling. 1-0

251

B01 Keserovic,Milan 2225 Lajthajm,Borko 2464 ch-Serbia Vrnjacka Banja SCG (1) 30.01.2006 [Andrew Martin] SHORT AND NOT SO SWEET Here's what can happen when W hite does not pay the Black system full respect. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 There is nothing wrong with this move. Attempts to bury 3...Qd6, such as the over-optimistic recent article in New In C h e s s Y e a r b o o k h a ve n o t b e e n p r o v e d conclusive. 4.d4 f6 5.c4 [ 5.f3 a6 6.g3 is satisfactorily answered with g4! ] 5...a6 Now Black may answer 6 Nge2 with the 243

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 risky 6....Qc6!? or stick to the program with 6....b5 (which I prefer). 6.f3 b5 7.b3 b7 8.0-0 e6 9.e1 [ 9.g5 c5 10.dxc5 xd1 11.axd1 bd7 12.c6 xc6 13.d4 b7 14.fe1 0-0-0 15.a4 b4 16.a2 c5 17.c3 xb3 18.xb3 xd1 19.xd1 d5 20.bc1 e4 21.e3 bxc3 22.xc3 xc3 23.bxc3 e7 Vass, V-Werner, D/Budapest 2005/ ] 9...c5! All part of the grand plan. In general Black can delay this move preferring .. . Nbd7, ...Be7 and ...0-0 beforehand, but I guess if he can play it immediately he should! [ However 9...e7 10.g5! initiates a dangerous attack, with a sacrifice on e6 not far away. In my opinion Black is unwise to allow this sequence: A) 10...0-0? 11.xe6! fxe6 12.xe6+-; B) 10...c5 11.xf7! xf7 12.xe6 xe6 13.xe6+ xe6 14.g5! ( 14.dxc5 f7 15.g5 bd7 ) 14...f7 15.xf6 xf6 16.h5+ g6 17.xc5 d8 18.b6 d7 19.d1 c6 This last variation is unclear, but Black is walking a fine line. It seems more sensible not to allow the complications.; C) 10...h6 11.xf7! ( 11.ge4 is good, but not as good: xe4 12.xe4 c6 13.c4 0-0 14.d5 exd5 15.cxd5 d7 16.f4 Djalal, B-Bordi, K/Cannes 2000 ) 11...xf7 12.xe6 xe6 13.xe6+ xe6 14.f4 c5 15.e2+ f7 16.d5 e8 17.e6+ g6 18.b6 c8 19.xb8 d7 20.d6 d8 21.xc5 c8 22.d4 c4 23.d2 b6 24.d3+ f5 25.f3+Delivre, R-Le Ruyet, L/Clichy 2003; D) 10...d5 U n c o m f o r t a b l e . 11.xd5 xd5 12.e4 d8 13.g4! g6 14.g5 h5 15.f3! xg5 16.xd5 xc1 17.xa8 xb2 18.ad1+- Matikozian, A-Mitkov, N/ Santa Monica 2005 ] 10.xe6!? Tempting. However the alternatives do not achieve much: [ 10.dxc5 xd1 11.xd1 xc5= ] [ 10.a4 c4 11.a2 b6= ] 10...fxe6 11.g5 e7 [ 11...xd4 also appears possible: 12.xe6 ( 12.e2 e5 13.d1 g4 14.xe5+ e7 15.f3 c8 It would take a certain type of player to go for this.....) 12...xd1 13.xd1

e7 14.c7+ f7 15.xa8 xa8 ] 12.xe6 f7 13.dxc5? This is a real howler. W hite should take on c5 with the Knight of course: [ 13.xc5 c6 ( 13...a7 14.xb7 xb7 15.e4 d5! 16.f3 d7 ) 14.d3 c8 ( 14...d8 15.e2 c7 16.f4 d6 17.d5 ) 15.f4 d8 16.e5+ g8 ] 13...c6 Disgusted, White throws in the towel. He should have least have tried 14 Ng5+ Kg8 15 Nf3, but there can be no doubting that Black is better. An odd conclusion. 0-1

252 Koepke,Christian Kislinsky,Alexey VIII Rector Cup (2) [Eric Prié]

B01 2274 2384 29.03.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.d2 [ 5.c4 g4 Often transposes or at least leads to very similar positions to our subject. A crucial difference may be that 6.f3 f5 7.g4 g6 8.f4 ( 8.h4 h6 9.ge2 bd7 10.f4 e5! 11.xg6 fxg6 12.d2 0-0-0 13.d5 b6! A capital improvement on the 13...Bb4 of Kavalek-Larsen Bewerjik 1967 which has rehabilitated this way of treating . . . B g 4 f o r B l a c k , a s we s a w l a s t y e a r . 14.e2 xc4 15.xc4 xd5 1/2-1/2 Cornette, M-Prie, E FRA-Cup 2004) 8...e6 ( 8...e4 9.f3 b4 10.xf7+ xf7 11.g5+ g8 12.a3 ) A) 9.d2 b4 10.e2 c6 11.f3 0-0-0 12.d5 ( 12.0-0-0 xd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.b3 d6 ) 12...exd5 13.xd5 xb2 14.c3 b4; B) 9.h4 e4; C) 9.e2 c6 10.f3 0-0-0; D) 9.f5 exf5 10.e2+ Is less to be feared because of the possibility e7 Instead of having to move the king as in this game. 11.d2 b6 12.g5 h5! This is the key move in these positions. 13.f3 e4 14.0-0-0 xd2 15.d5 d6 16.xd2 D1) 16...xf3!? 17.xf3 xg5 18.e1+ f8 19.e3 c6 ( 19...g6 20.xb7 ); D2) 16...c6 17.e1 0-0 18.xe7+ 244

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe7 19.f2 xf3 20.xf3 c6 21.h4 Yet to pass the test of practice. ] 5...g4! 6.f3 [ 6.e2 Cannot be critical. Still, Black has to watch out for the surprising recapture xe2 7.cxe2 b6 8.f3 bd7 9.0-0 e6 10.c4! Karpov, An ] 6...h5 7.g4 g6 8.f4! The critical line, and this is where the two branches 5.Bd2 and 5. Bc4 diverge because here the bishop is not exposed, the knight on c3 is not pinned and White is ready to castle long after a queen move. [ 8.h4 h6 9.c4 b6 ( 9...c6? 10.h3 e6 11.f4 h7 12.e2 b4 13.0-0-0 With a winning attack. bd7 14.g5 d5 15.xd5 cxd5 16.g6+- Nijboer, F-Massink, H Vlissingen op 2005) 10.ge2 bd7 11.f4 A) 11...xd4 Is too risky. 12.xg6 fxg6 13.e2 e5 14.e3 g3+ 15.f2 e5 16.e6; B) 11...e5!? 12.dxe5 xe5 13.e2 0-0-0 14.xe5 xd2 15.xd2 ( 15.xg6 f2# ) 15...d6; C) 11...0-0-0! 12.h5 ( 12.xg6 fxg6 13.e2 e5 14.dxe5 xe5 15.0-0-0 xc4 16.xc4 b4= ) 12...h7! ( 12...xd4!? 13.e2 e5! 14.xg6 xd2+ 15.xd2 xf3+ 16.e2 xd2+ 17.xf3 fxg6 18.e6+ d8 19.ad1 d6 20.b5 gxh5 21.gxh5 c6 22.xd6 exd6 ) 13.e2 ( 13.xf7 e5 W ith a strong counter attack suddenly) 13...e6 14.0-0-0 c6 Black is OK. 15.g5 hxg5 16.g6 g8 17.xf8 xf8 18.xg5 xd4 ] 8...e6 9.f5 Consistent. [ 9.g2 a6! 10.g5 ( 10.f5 exf5 11.gxf5 h5! And not 11...Bxf5 12.Qf3.) 10...fd7 11.d5 d6 ( 11...c5! Intending 12.e3 bd7 ) 12.e2 xe2+ 13.gxe2 exd5 14.xd5 c6 15.0-0-0 0-0-0 16.c3 Lanka, Z (2575) - Bacrot, E (2500) Linz 1997 ] 9...exf5 10.g5 fd7 Only move. [ 10...g4 11.e2+ e7 12.g2 a6 13.h3 ] [ 10...h5 11.b5+! c6 ( 11...d7 12.d5 ) 12.e2 ] 11.e2+ d8!

[ 11...e7 12.g2! a6 ( 12...c6 13.d5 That is one of the interesting features of 5. Bd2 compared to 5.Bc4. By developing himself on the long diagonal in a more active way, White's king bishop also controls the d5 square, enabling this recurrent theme.; 12...c6 13.h4 ) 13.h4! ( 13.xa6 xa6 14.xb7 b4 15.xa8 xc2+ ) 13...f4 14.0-0-0 xe2 15.gxe2 c6 16.h5 f5 17.xf4 0-0-0 18.b5+- ] 12.0-0-0 f4! 13.g2 c6 14.xf4 b4! 15.b5 [ 15.a3 xc2 16.b5 c8! 17.xb7 b4! A) 18.axb4 xb4 19.e4 e8 20.e5 xe4 21.xe4 xb5 22.g2 ( 22.f3 f6 ) 22...xe5 23.dxe5+ e7 24.f3 f8-+; B) 18.c4 a2+ 19.xa2 xb5 20.xc8 a4! 21.d2 ( 21.d2 c6+ 22.d1 xh1; 21.b3 xa3+ 22.d2 b4+ ) 21...b4+ 22.e3 xd1 ] 15...d6 16.xd6 cxd6 17.e1 [ 17.xd6 e8! Parrying the mating threat of Qe7 first. A) 18.d2 c8 19.c5 xc5 20.dxc5+ d3+!! 21.cxd3 xc5+ 22.c2 ( 22.b1 xd2 23.xd2 e1+ 24.d1 xd1# ) 22...e1 23.f3 xc2+ 24.xc2 a4+ 25.b3 ( 25.c3 xd1; 25.d2 xd1+ ) 25...xa2+ 26.c3 xd1 27.xd1 xg2; B) 18.xb4 xb4 19.d2 c8 20.xb4 ( 20.c3 c4 21.f1 d5! 22.g2 xa2 ) 20...xc2+ 21.b1 c4+ 22.a1 xb4 ] 17...c7 18.c4+ [ 18.e7 b6 19.e3 xa2+ 20.b1 he8 21.xd6+ xd6 22.xd6+ xd6 23.xe8 xe8 24.xa2 xc2 25.f3 e4-+ ] 18...b6!-+ Suddenly, the white queen finds herself on the most embarrassing place of the chessboard, powerless to prevent the hoovering of a black rook along the second rank. 19.d2 ac8 20.xb4+ xb4 21.xb4 xc2+ 22.d1 xg2 23.h3 xb2 24.c3 xa2 25.f4 c8 26.d5+ b5 0-1

245

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b4 21.ad1 d5 22.f4 White eventually B01 won this superior endgame. Khalifman, Korneev,Oleg 2543 A -Polgar, Z Ruschess.com INT 2005 ] Galego,Luis 2498 Tch-POR 1st Div Final (3.1) 26.07.2010 10.a4 b4 11.a5 a7 12.xc7! bd7 [ 12...xf3 13.xf3 xc7 14.b5! axb5 [Milos Pavlovic] 15.xa8 fd7 16.a6 b6 17.b7 d7 18.xb6 xb6 19.a7 d6 20.a8 c8 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 21.a7+ e8 22.e4 d8 23.b7 xb7 f6 5.f3 a6 6.g3 One of many choices for 24.xb7 a6 25.c6+ f8 26.a1 W hite, but to me the most logical one. b5 1-0 Mazi, L (2401)-Djurkovic, M (2150) Alternatives will be seen in the next game. Aschach AUT 2004 ] 7.g2 b7 8.0-0 e6 [ 8...bd7 9.f4 b6 10.a4 b4 11.a5 13.a4 d5 14.b6 7xb6 15.axb6 xb6 a7 12.a4 c8 13.c4! bxc3 14.bxc3 e6 16.xb6 xb6 17.c4! e7 [ 17...bxc3 18.bxc3 c7 19.b1 e4 15.c4 White is much better, with d5 coming. 20.e5 xg2 21.xg2 d6 22.f3 a7 Black will face a difficult task defending. d6 23.c6 a8 24.b3 0-0 25.fb1 16.b6!? d8 17.xd7 xd7 18.g5 b8 With a big, almost winning advantage. ] 19.a4 a8 20.d5! h6 21.d2 e7 22.fe1 c5 23.c2 f8 24.e5 e8 18.e5 c7 19.a4+ f8 20.d7! xd7 25.ab1 c8 26.b4 a8 27.xc5 xc5 21.xd7+ e8 22.xb7 xd7 23.xa8 28.dxe6 xe6 29.g6+ xg6 30.xe8+ xa8 24.a4 Winning the exchange simply xe8 31.xg6 fxg6 32.b8+ f7 33.xh8 puts an end to this game. f6 25.d1 a5 xg2 34.xg2 f8 35.f3 g5 36.e4 26.b3 c6 27.f1 d8 28.da1 b7 1-0 (36) Gerzhoy, L (2497)-Kudischewitsch, 29.e2 c7 30.d3 g5 31.c5 g4 32.c4 h5 33.b5 d8 34.xa5 xa5 35.xa5 D (2348) Petach Tikva ISR 2011 ] xd4 36.c6+ b8 37.b6 9.f4 b6 1-0 [ 9...d8 10.e5 A) 10...xg2 11.xg2 d6 12.f3 a7 13.ad1 0-0 14.d5!? B01 A1) 14...b4 15.dxe6 bxc3 16.exf7+ 254 h8 17.e3 e7 18.xa7 xe5 Kosintseva,Nadezhda 2468 A1a) 19.fe1 b5 ( 19...g5 Mohota,Nisha 2311 20.xb8!+- ) 20.d4 bd7 21.xc3 38th Olympiad w (3) 15.11.2008 c4 22.b3 xf7 23.f5; [John Watson] A1b) 19.d4 g5 20.xc3 bd7 21.fe1 g6 22.a3; 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.b5+ This is a good A2) 14...exd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5 w a y t o g o i f y o u a r e n ' t h a p p y w i t h t h e c8 17.fd1 b7 18.e3 a8 19.c5 Portuguese Gambit xc5 20.xc5 b6 21.b4 Sulskis, S [ 3.d4 g4 ] (2564)-Ramon, D (2169) Cappelle la 3...d7 4.e2 xd5 5.d4 f5 Grande FRA 2005. White has a winning [ In last month's column, we saw 5...b5!? ] position.; 6.f3 e6 7.0-0 e7 B) 10...c8 11.d5 b4 12.dxe6 fxe6 [ A too-aggressive option is 7...d6 8.c4 B1) 13.e4!N 0-0 ( 13...xe4 f6 ( 8...b4 9.c3 c2 10.b1 b4 14.h5+ g6 15.xg6 f6 16.e5 11.g5!? f6 12.e3 xb1 13.xb1 xg2 17.xf6 g8 18.e5 f8 gives White terrific compensation. Compare 19.h4 f5 20.xg2+- ) 14.xf6+ this with the note to 8 a3 below.) 9.b3! xf6 15.xb7 xb7 16.e2 f8 c8 10.c3 bd7 11.b5!? ( 11.h4 ) 17.ad1; 11...0-0 12.xd6 cxd6 13.f4 with two B2) 13.xb7 xb7 14.g5 0-0 bishops and threats: c6 14.d5 c5 15.xf6 xf6 16.d4 e7 17.e4 15.e3 c8 16.dxe6 xe6 17.fd1 c5 xe4 18.xe4 f8 19.fe1 d8 20.a4 18.a3 ce4 19.d4 and Black won't be 253

246

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 able to hold on to his d-pawn, MovsesianAl Subaihi, Dresden 2008. ] 8.a3 A little slow White wants to play c4 without allowing . ..Nb4. [ It's remarkable that Rybka 3, in contrast to the materialistic reputation of some playing engines, says that 8.c4 b4 9.c3 c2 10.b1 b4 11.e3!? xb1 12.xb1 actually f avours W hite!! W hether or not that's true, he has a lot of space and development, whereas Black will have a hard time getting his pieces out at all. A sample line might be 0-0 13.a3 4a6 ( 13...4c6 14.d5 ) 14.d1 d7 15.b4 f6 16.e5 with attacking chances, for example, xe5 17.dxe5 e7 18.e4 c6 19.d3 g6 20.h6 fd8 21.f4 ( 21.h4 is another good move ) 21...f6 22.exf6 xf6 23.c1! with ideas of Bg5 and Ne4. ] 8...0-0 9.c4 b6 10.c3 g4 At least this indicates that 3 Bb5+ and 4 Be2 was a type of gain of time, because Black has now played three moves (...Bd7-f5-g4) to get this bishop to its best post. On the other hand, a3 isn't exactly a powerhouse move. 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 c6 13.c5 d5 14.xd5 exd5 15.e3 f6 16.d3 g6 17.fe1 [ 17.ad1 (wit h t h e i d e a o f Q b 3 ) e7 18.fe1 c6 19.h6 e8 20.g4 looks a little irritating for Black. ] 17...e8 18.b4 e7! 19.g4!? To stop ...Nf5. g5!? Black would like to sink a knight on f4 or h4. White sacrifices a pawn to prevent this, which is hardly necessary, but interesting. 20.h4!? gxh4 [ Not 20...g6?! 21.xg5 xe1+ 22.xe1 xg5 23.hxg5 c6 24.e3 ] 21.g5 g7 22.g4 g6 23.f5 c6 24.d1!? To take up an active post on g4. It's about equal here. [ A lt e rn a t i ve l y 24.h1 would prepare b5 without allowing ] [ 24.b5 cxb5 25.xb5? xe3! ] 24...c7 25.g4 e7 26.e2 ae8 27.ae1 d8 [ 27...b6 has the idea 28.cxb6 axb6 29.c1 b5 30.ec2 xe3! ( or 30...a7 31.c3 xe3 32.fxe3 xe3 ) 31.fxe3 xe3 32.xc6 g3+ 33.xg3 xg3+ 34.h1 xd4 with a kind of dynamic equality. ] 28.f1

[ 28.a4 ] 28...a6 29.d2?! xe2 30.xe2 xe2 31.xe2 c7 [ 31...h3!? 32.f3! h2 33.g2 ] 32.xg6 hxg6 33.xh4 . This is about equal, in spite of Black's better bishop. I'll let you see the consequent ups and downs for yourself. e7+ 34.e3 f6 35.gxf6 xf6 36.g3 f7 37.a4 f8 38.b8 e7 39.d2 f7 40.c3 h7 41.b5 axb5 42.axb5 g7 43.b4 d7 44.d6 c8 45.e7 g8 46.a5 cxb5 47.xb5 c6+ 48.b4 f8 49.d8 f7 50.a8 b6+ 51.c3 b5 52.a2 e6 53.d2 b4+ 54.d1 b5 55.c2 f6 56.e1 f7 57.f3 e7 58.f2 h4+ 59.g2 f6 60.f2 g7 61.d2 c6 62.f4+ f6 63.e3 e7 64.c1 e6 65.b1 a6 66.b3 c6 67.a2 f6 68.a8 d7 69.b8 c6 70.f4 g7 71.e3 e8 72.f2 f7 73.h2 g7 74.h6+ g8 75.f4 g7 76.g4 e7 77.e2 e8 78.f4 b5+ 79.f2 e8 80.d2 f7 81.a5 e7 82.d2 e8 83.e3 f7 84.e2 e8 85.d2 f7 86.h2 g7 87.d6 c6 88.b8 d7 89.h2 e8 90.h3 g8 91.g4 f7 92.g5 g7 93.f4+ g8 94.h6 xh6 95.xh6 e6 96.f4 c6 97.e5 f7 98.c3 g8 99.b4 f7 100.f4 g8 101.e7 h8 102.d6 c8 103.xd5 a8 104.d7 a6 105.d6 a8 106.xg6 d8 107.h6+ g8 108.g5+ 1-0

255 Kosintseva,Nadezhda Zhukova,Natalia FIDE WCh Women KO (2.5) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2425 2471 25.05.2004

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6! The most accurate way, sidestepping various W hite tries with an early Bd2 followed by discovered attacks from the Knight on c3. Black delays ...Nf6 until he or she is ready. 5.f3 f5 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 f6 It's fine now that White has castled short, taking outright attack out of the equation. 8.e2 [ T h e r e i s n o t h i n g t o f e a r f r o m 8.d2 247

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 for instance: bd7 9.d5 d8 10.xf6+ ( 10.e3 g6 11.e1 d6= ) 10...xf6= ( 10...xf6!? 11.g5 g6 12.c3 g4 )] 8...b4 Again quite regular. Black is happy to surrender the dark-squared Bishop in order to gain control of the central light squares and to facilitate a queenside pawn advance. [ 8...bd7 9.h4 g6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 0-0-0 also seems good. ] 9.b3 0-0 10.d2 bd7 [ 10...c7 11.b5! ] 11.a3 xc3 12.xc3 c7= Lots of strong players would be looking at the two Bishops, expecting an advantage as of right. But it's really tough for White to get the dark-squared Bishop going and often, if Black plays ...Nf6d5, White will just have to surrender the other Bishop, forfeiting any hope of attack. 13.d2 [ The following fragment is a good example of what I meant: 13.fe1 fd8 14.ad1 a5 15.c1 b6 16.e5 xe5 17.xe5 d5! 18.xd5 cxd5= Kerbrat,J-Kovarcik,G/ France 2003 Perhaps Black is even f or choice. ] 13...c5! An unusual counter but in this instance, with the Bishop on b3, completely c o rre c t . B l a c k a ct iva t e s a t ju s t t h e righ t moment, before White is allowed to sit on his trumps. 14.ac1 [ 14.c3? b6 ] 14...ac8 15.c4 g4 [ 15...b6! was an active deployment: 16.c2 ( 16.e3 e4! 17.dxc5 xc5 18.c2 xb2 19.c3 a2 20.xf6 xc2 21.xg7 xg7 22.c3+ f6 23.xc2 b3 24.xb3 xb3 ) 16...cxd4 17.xf5 exf5 18.b4 fe8 19.d3 e5 20.xe5 xe5 21.c5 d8 22.g5 d5 ] 16.dxc5 xc5 17.c2 c6 18.b4 The only danger to Black comes from the queen side pawn ma jority b ut Zhuko va is active enough to at least keep a balance. ce4 [ 18...xf3 19.xf3 ( 19.gxf3 cd7 20.fd1 b6 ) 19...xf3 20.gxf3 fd8! 21.c3 d3 ] 19.xe4 This is a lazy move. White tires of even the thought of complications and heads for quieter waters. [ 19.f4 keeping some tension, was the way

to play for a win, but of course White risks more this way. xf3 ( 19...fd8 ) 20.xf3 xc4 21.fe1 c3 22.d3 d5 ] 19...xe4 20.f4 d6 21.xd6 xd6 22.e4 xf3 23.xf3 b6 24.fd1 e5= Black must keep the Queens on for as long as it takes to adjust Rook endings in his favour. W ith the Rook on c1 ready to support the advance of the c pawn it might look as though White is better but practically, in view of the weakness of W hite's a pawn, chances are equal. 25.h3 All roads seem to lead to equality: [ 25.d7?? xc4 ] [ 25.d3 c7 26.h3 h6 27.d6 xd6 28.xd6 fc8= ] [ 25.g3 f6 26.c5 bxc5 27.bxc5 c6 28.h3 fc8 29.d7 a6= ] 25...c7 26.c3 h6 27.dc1 fc8 28.d3 g5 29.d6 c6 30.d7 6c7 31.d3 e5 32.c2 g5 33.c5 Without this advance, White cannot win. bxc5 34.bxc5 c6 35.c4 e5 36.a4 g5 37.c3 d5 38.b4 e5 39.a5 White has to attack or cre a t e a se co n d we a kn e s s - t h e c p a wn cannot win alone. In this case there is no weakness to be found. a6 40.b4 d5 41.c3 e5 42.e3 f5! Just reminding White about her own majority. 43.4c3 g6 44.f3 gc6 45.1c2 d8 46.h2 d4! Progress has been made, the c pawn might be weak so off come the Queens. 47.xd4 exd4 [ I would surely have preferred 47...xd4! 48.c4 f7 49.xd4 exd4 50.d2 xc5 51.xd4 e6 With the White King so remote, Black is slightly better. ] 48.d3 d5 49.c4 cxc5 50.xc5 xc5 51.xd4 a5 52.f4 f7 53.d7+ f6 54.a7 c4 55.a6+ f7 56.xa5 xf4 57.a8 f1 58.a5 Black's opening play is very good. By delaying ...Nf6 a lot of aggressive and dangerous W hite tries are avoid ed . I b e lieve it was GM W a hls wh o suggested this approach. As...c7-c6 and ... Bc8-f5 have to be played anyway, why not play them first? Recommended. ½-½

248

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 256 Kosmo,Santul Smerdon,David 41st WJun, Goa (1) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2145 2380 2002

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.c4 e6 4.dxe6 xe6 The Icelandic Gambit, usually the scene of a brief, violent struggle which ends in a victory for Black. W hy W hite would allow this co n t in u a t io n I d o n o t kn o w-t h e p ra ct ica l chances all lie with Black. The popularity of 3 c4 has suffered as a result of 3...e6 5.f3 [ 5.d4 b4+ 6.d2 e7 ( 6...xd2+ 7.xd2 e7 is also strong.) 7.e2 c6 8.f3 0-0-0 9.d5 xd2+ 10.bxd2 b4 11.0-0-0 f5 12.e1 xa2+ 13.d1 b4 14.e5 g6 15.g3 he8 16.h3+ b8 17.d4 c5 18.f4+ a8 19.f5 xb2 20.e3 xe3 21.fxe3 c1+ 22.e2 xh1 23.xg6 hxg6 24.c7 e8 25.d6 c1+ 0-1 Hernandez,J-Lopez,M/Merida 2002 (25) ] 5...e7 Perhaps this is the trickiest move. 6.e2 [ Giving back the extra pawn doesn't hinder Black in any way : 6.e2 xc4 7.d3 a6 8.0-0 c6 9.c3 0-0-0 Quite a good way of handling Black's position. 10.a3 e5 11.xe5 xe5 12.e3 c5 13.xc5 xc5 14.d2 d4 15.b4 f5 16.b5 xb5 17.xb5 xb5 18.ab1 e5 19.f3 b6 20.b2 e8 21.b3 e7 22.h3 a5 23.fc1 h5 24.c2 d6 25.a4 a6 26.c4 g5 27.g3 b8 28.g2 g4 29.hxg4 hxg4 30.c6 f5 31.h1 c8 32.a5 ee6 33.a4 b7+ 34.g1 d8 35.h6 b5 36.c2 de8 37.d2 f3 38.b4 e4 39.h2 c5 40.b2 g5 41.c3 e4 42.a1 xg3 43.b3 e2+ 44.f1 e5 45.h8 a7 46.h7 c4 47.xc4 bxc4 48.b2 g3+ 49.g1 e1+ 50.h2 f1+ 51.g1 e3+ 0-1 Sandipan,C-Smerdon,D/ 41st WJun, Goa IND 2002 (51) ] 6...c6 7.d4 [ 7.a3 0-0-0 8.h3 is a cagier way of treating the position. White keeps the Black minor pieces out as far as he can. d7 9.d4 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.e3 e5 12.c3 f5 13.g4 d3 14.f3 xf1 15.xf1 c5 Of course this position is excellent for Black.

16.g2 xe3 17.he1 A) 17...h5! 18.xe3 ( 18.xe3 xe3 19.xe3 hxg4 ) 18...hxg4; B) 17...d2 18.xe3 c5 19.b3 h5 20.f5+ xf5 21.gxf5 e8 22.ae1 xe3 23.xe3 d7 24.g3 c2 25.xg7 e7 26.g3 c6 27.e3+ d7 28.e4 xe4 29.xe4 a2 30.a4 d2 31.f6 d6 32.e7+ d8 33.xf7 e8 34.xb7 xf6 35.xa7 d6 36.b7 h4 37.a5 c5 38.b6 d7 39.c6 b7 40.b6 a7 41.b5 1-0 Litwak,P-Bennett, H/Christchurch 2002 ] 7...g4 [ 7...0-0-0 8.e3 f5 9.c3 b4 10.0-0-0 e4 11.f4 g5 12.e5 xc3 13.bxc3 g4 14.xh8 d6 15.c5 h6+ 16.b2 d5 17.cxb4 gxf3 18.xf3 xf3 19.gxf3 xh8 20.c4 f6 21.de1 d7 22.c3 c6 23.d5 1-0 Krupko,A-Kobzar,A/ Evpatoria 2002 ] 8.e3 0-0-0 9.d5 e5 10.c3 fd7 11.h3 So now comes the question :Is this all bluff? Smerdon seems unconcerned to be a pawn down. He lames White's structure and plays for positional pressure. [ 11.0-0-0 f6 12.h3 h5 13.g4 xf3 14.gxh5 e8 15.c2 c5 16.g2 xe3+ 17.fxe3 g5 18.b1 h4 19.hg1 xh5 20.e4 e5 21.f2 b6 22.f1 f5 23.xg7 h6 24.g1 fxe4 25.g4 f5 26.xe4 e3 27.e1 xf1 28.xf1 f8 29.h1 xe4 30.xe4 c5 31.e7 g6+ 32.a1 f7 33.e8+ b7 34.b5 d3 35.b1 b4 36.b3 g7+ 0-1 De Silva,N-Eid,F/Bled 2002 ] 11...xf3+ 12.gxf3 h5 13.0-0-0 e5?! [ 13...f6 14.g2 b4 15.b5 a6 16.d4 he8 must also have appeared attractive. Black organises his game and stands well. ] 14.g2 b4 That was the reason he kept his Queen on e7 but there is a flaw. 15.d4 [ Fritz suggests 15.xa7 xc4 16.d4 but then Fritz would. Frankly, I don't see wh a t B la c k d o e s a g a in st t h i s. K o s m o s reaction is timid-he has been well and truly intimidated. ] 15...c5 16.h4 xe3+ 17.xe3 he8! 18.xh5 xc4 19.d4 c5! Open up those lines please! 20.g4+ d7 21.d1 e2 22.f4 a3 23.f5 d2# In its own little way a typical Icelandic game. I have some 249

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 advice for White : play 3 d4 or 3 Nf3-they are both good moves...... 0-1

257 Kosten,Anthony C Govciyan,Pavel 83rd ch-FRA National B (4) [John Watson]

B01 2507 2411 14.08.2008

I think that this is the first time I've shown our webmaster and Fearless Leader lose a game! Probably Black can keep his opening disadvantage to a minimum, based upon some unusual tricks. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.h3 h5 7.g4 g6 8.e5 The most challenging move, and I think best. [ 8.c4 is an aggressive option, to be followed by Qe2 and Be3/ g5 with 0-0-0 in some lines. ] 8...bd7 9.f4!? After this natural move White's advantage isn't clear. [ 9.f3 is an obvious option, if nothing else to discourage castling: 0-0-0 10.xg6 hxg6 11.g5 and White will soon capture on f7. ] 9...d5!? Black works with tactics. [ Another surprising possibility is 9...xe5 10.xe5 ( 10.dxe5 b4! hits f4 ) 10...b6 11.g2! c6 , which may not be so bad for Black, although W hite's control of space m u s t c o u n t f o r s o m e t h i n g . ( 11...xb2? 12.d2! threatens Rb1 with a large advantage. )] 10.xg6 [ 10.f3 xf4 11.xf4 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 cedes the bishops for some attacking chances. ] 10...xg6 11.xd5 [ Another sharp line is 11.f3 xf4 12.xf4 e5! 13.dxe5 xc2 14.c4 0-0-0 15.0-0 , although Black has counterplay my engine suggests g5 , w i t h t h e i d e a 16.xg5 ( 16.xf7 xb2 17.e6 xc3 18.exd7+ b8 ) 16...xb2 17.ac1 h5! with an unclear position. One feels that White should maintain an edge after 11 Qf3, but again, not much. ] 11...e4+ 12.e3 [ Or 12.e3 xf4 ]

12...xd5 13.g1 0-0-0 [TK: Accompanied by a draw offer, which I immediately refused. At this point I was in the lead, a half point ahead of my opponent, but although I had used a lot of time in the opening I like having more space and the pair of bishops!] 14.g2 [ 14.c3 e6 15.g2 b5 16.b3 leaves White with his bishops, although this time the second player has well-placed pieces and a good bishop. ] 14...a5+!? [ 14...b5! is more solid. ] 15.c3 c6 16.f3!? [ [TK: 16.b3 e6 17.0-0-0 was my first choice, f o llowed by c4 with a small bu t obvious plus.] ] 16...f6 17.g5 d5 18.d2 [TK: Aiming for more than the pawn grab.] [ Or 18.xf7!? xe3 ( [TK: After the game my opponent revealed that he had intended 18...e5? but this loses to 19.xd5 xd5 20.e8+ c7 21.dxe5 xe5 22.f7+ e7 23.f4+ with a solid pawn more.]) 19.e6+ b8 20.fxe3 xg5 21.0-0-0 d6 22.e4 yielding a limited advantage (opposite-coloured bishops help Black in this case). ] 18...e5!? 19.dxe5 b6 [ 19...c5 w o u l d h a v e t h e i d e a 20.b4 ( 20.f1 he8 ) 20...xb4! 21.cxb4 xb4 22.g4+ c7 23.xb4 xe5+ ] 20.f5+ b8 21.f4 a8 22.e4!? Perhaps dreaming of e6 and Qxc6. [TK: And also a4 followed by b4.] f6! 23.gxf6 [ 23.e6 d6 ] 23...gxf6 24.e6 d6 Apparently Black stands all right now. White's next is risky: 25.0-0-0?! [TK: I still think this is best!] [ 25.xd6 xd6 26.e7!? e8 27.f3 h a s i d e a s o f R g 8 a n d B h 5 , b u t c8 seems to hold. ] 25...f5! Driving the queen from defence from b1 or c2. [ White was probably counting upon 25...xf4+ 26.xf4 wit h t h e id e a xa2 27.e7 ] [ C o n t r a s t t h e g a m e w i t h 25...xa2?? 26.xd6 c4 27.b1! ] 26.f3 xa2! 27.xd6 [TK: I was very short of time, and still wanted to win the game, but this is just a blunder.] 250

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 27.e7 a4! 28.exd8+ xd8 29.xd6 B) 9.0-0 xd4! 10.xd4 xe2 xb2+ 30.d1 xd6+ 31.xd6 xc3+ 11.cxe2 ( 11.xe2 xd4 12.e3 e5 32.xc3 xc3 is extremely difficult for 13.b5 d1! ) 11...e5 12.e3 c5 W h it e b e ca u se h e ca n't coo rdin at e h is 13.c3 exd4 14.xd4= This Is the normal pieces and Black's a-pawn will advance. ] theory I know where Black has obviously [ 27.xd6! [TK: This is forced and leads to easily equalized. That said, with little risk an immediate draw, c4 28.a3 xa3 he can certainly push for more... ] 29.bxa3 xa3+ 30.b1 b3+ [ Of course not 7...xf3? 8.xf3 xd4 with perpetual.] ] 9.xb7 d8 10.0-0 ] 27...c4!? 8.g4 g6 9.d2 0-0-0 10.g5! [ Similar but slightly more promising would be [ 10.d5? a4 The "mouse hole trick" as in 27...xd6 28.xd6 c4! ] the previous game! This only works when c7 [ 27...a4! [TK: Is very strong.] ] is defended, when the square a3 is not 28.d7! xb2+ 29.d1 b1+ Heading for a occupied by a white pawn and preferably draw. when White does not have a queen on e2 to [ 29...xd7+ 30.exd7 d8 31.xc6!! b1+ avoid a horrible doubling of the a-pawns (or 32.e2 c2+ 33.e1 xc3+ 34.e2 the draw by repetition...) after the exchange c2+ 35.e1 will also draw. ] of queens. ] 30.c1?? Trying for too much. [TK: I had just 10...xd4! seconds left and still wanted to win!] [ 10...h5? 11.d5 b4 12.b3 e6 13.a3 ] [ W hite had to settle for 30.e2 c2+ [ 10...d7!? However is interesting, and ( again, 30...xg1 31.xc6! is too strong.) leading to a maze of complications: 11.b5 31.e1 he8 32.xd8+ xd8 33.e7 b1+ ( 11.d5? b4 12.b3 c5 ) 11...b6 , etc. ] 12.a4 a5 ( 12...a5 13.e2 Intending b230...xd7+ 31.exd7 d8 32.f4 b4 ) 13.d5 b4 ( 13...ce5 14.e3+- ) [ 32.e1 xd7+ 33.e2 e7+ 34.f1 14.xb4 axb4 15.a5 c5 16.e2 ] xe1+ 35.xe1 xc1+ only delays the 11.xd4! worst. ] [ 11.gxf6? xc2-+ 12.d5 a4 13.b3 32...b2+ 33.e1 ( 13.fxe7 xd1 14.exd8+ xd8 15.xd4 [ 33.e2 d3+ 34.e1 d1# ] xc4 ) 13...xd1 14.bxa4 xf3 15.fxe7 33...d3+ 34.d2 xf4 35.f1 c2+ 16.f1 xe7 17.xe7+ b8 0-1 Everything hangs in the white camp! ] 11...xd4 12.b5? [ 12.d5? e4+ 13.f1 ( 13.e3 xg5 ) 258 B01 13...c5 ] [ 12.e2!? is the critical continuation. Kotlyar,Dimitri 2313 A) 12...e4?! 13.xe4 xe4 14.f3! Prie,Eric 2439 ( 14.xa5? xd1+ 15.xd1 xh1 ) Rheinland Pfalz ChT1 (1.1) 12.10.2004 14...e5 15.fxe4 e6 ( 15...xe4 16.f1 ) [Eric Prié] 16.d3 g3+ 17.f1 c5 18.e1 xg5 19.f3; 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 B) 12...e5?! 13.gxf6 gxf6 14.c1 g8 f6 5.c4 g4! 6.f3?! c6 7.h3 h5!? 15.e3; More tricky, with 10...Nxd4! in mind, and the C) 12...d5!? 13.b5 b6 ( 13...xd2 idea of playing for a win, than the levelling 14.xd2 xd2+ 15.xd2 This position [ 7...h5 8.e2 0-0-0 looks superior for White to the one of the A) 9.e3 e5 10.0-0 ( 10.g1? xd4 game be cau se of the possib ility Bd3 , 11.xd4 exd4 12.hxg4 a5 13.xd4 exchanging one of Black's strong bishops. a3! The legendary one!) 10...exd4 Anyway Fritz gives 15...a6 15.Nc3 Nf4 17. ( 10...xd4 11.xd4 exd4 12.hxg4 xg4 h4 e6 as 0.00 where on general grounds, 13.e4 ) 11.xd4 xe2 12.cxe2 c5 as in the game I would not mind being 13.c3 he8; 251

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black (exposed enemy king, weaknesses on g5, c2 and f2, excellent pieces and a strong pair of bishops) as I know I cannot lose this position! a6 16.c3 f4 ) 14.xd4 xd4 White's position looks quite uncomfortable. Indeed where to castle now? If Black wins a second pawn on g5 or b2 he will even have a material advantage! Fortunately for him, compared to the main line, he now benefits from a tactical trick because of the seemingly more aggressively placed knight on d5 which will allow him to force the exchange of queens. 15.c3 e4 16.0-0 e6 17.f3 h4 18.xd5 exd5 19.g4+ xg4+ 20.hxg4; D) 12...d7! 13.b5 b6 14.xd4 xd4 With the queens still on the board, and such white weaknesses and exposed king, the exchange sacrifice for one pawn is almost trite and will always be in te res t in g. 15.c3 e4 16.g1 e6 17.d2 xc2 18.xc2 xc2 I prefer Black. ] 12...xd2? I misjudged this position. The moment of simplifying (i.e. looking for the material of two pawns for the exchange) had not come yet. [ 12...e4+! 13.f1 b6 A) 14.d3 e5 15.e3 ( 15.gxf6 xd3+-+ ) 15...xd3+ 16.xd3 xb5 17.xb5 xb5 18.gxf6 exf6-+; B) 14.e2 d7! ( 14...d5?! 15.c4 f4 16.c5 ) 15.e3 xe3 16.fxe3 c6 17.d4 e5 18.f3 c5-+; C) 14.e3 xe3! 15.fxe3 e4 16.g4+ e6 17.d3 c5 18.xg6 xb5+ 19.d3 xd3 20.cxd3 xd3+ 21.f2 c5 22.he1 d8-+ ] 13.xd2 xd2+ 14.xd2 e4+ 15.e1 [ 15.e2!? was possibly better. White must have been af raid of some check on h5. Anyway, in this line or in the game, Black cannot take g5 under favourable circumstances because of tactical counter points. e5! ( 15...a6 16.d4 xg5 17.h4 e5 18.hxg5 exd4 19.d3 ) 16.xa7+ b8 17.b5 h5+ 18.e1 ( 18.e3 xg5 ) 18...b4+! To take the c3 retreat square off the white knight. 19.c3 c5 20.e2 xf2+ 21.f1 g6 22.h4 b6 White is still under

pressure. ] 15...e6! [ 15...a6!? 16.d4 xg5 17.h4 e5 18.hxg5 exd4 19.d3 xd3 20.cxd3 e7 21.f4 I do not think Black can lose this, but this is definitely not a good pawn structure to exploit his 2 pawns against the exchange. I understood that a bit late. ] 16.h4! h6! [ 16...c6 17.h5 cxb5 18.hxg6 bxc4? 19.xh7 b4+ 20.c3+- ] [ 16...b4+ 17.c3 c5 18.f3 g3 19.h3 ] 17.gxh6 xh6 18.xa7+ b8 19.b5 c6 20.d4 [ 20.c3! xc3 ( 20...b4 21.a3 ) 21.bxc3 xc2 22.e2 Against such a weak opposing structure, with already one pawn for the exchange, Black has little chance of losing the ending but he may not win. ] 20...c5 21.c3 e5 22.f3 xf2+ 23.f1 b6?! Giving the opponent a unique chance to escape. [ 23...f6!? Maintaining the pressure. ] 24.h2? [ 24.xe5! g3+ 25.g2 xh1 26.xg6 xg6+ 27.xh1 g4 ( 27...f6 28.h5 g5 29.f7 ) 28.xf7= ] 24...h5! 25.xe5 [ 25.g5 f6+ 26.g2 ( 26.e1 f2+ 27.xf2 xf2 ) 26...f2! 27.e1 ( 27.f1 f4 ) 27...g4 28.hh1 ( 28.h3 f2+ 29.h1 xb2 ) 28...e3+ ] [ 25.e2 g3+ 26.e1 xe2 27.xe2 e4 ] 25...f6+ [ 25...c7 26.d7+ c8 Is even stronger. ] 26.g2 A bit more resistant, then, was [ 26.e1 f2+ 27.xf2 xf2 28.d3 f4-+ ] 26...f2+ 27.h3 xh2+! 28.xh2 c7 29.e1 xe5+ 30.h3 f5 31.g1 f3! Installing an uncommon mating network . 32.f1 [ 32.h5 xh5 ] 32...g4+ 33.g2 d2 34.e1 xc4 35.b3 xc3 36.e8+ c7 37.bxc4 d6 38.b8 c7 39.f8 b6 40.a4 d6 0-1

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B01 12...c8?! [ 12...xc3+! 13.bxc3 a5 This is it! With Kotronias,Vasilios 2570 the help of a surprising resource a f e w Candela Perez,Jose 2430 moves down the line, Black obtains X Anibal Open (2) 2003 sufficient and in some cases very strong [Andrew Martin] counterplay. A) 14.d2 a4 15.h2 f6; 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 B) 14.b2 c6! 15.xc6 bxc6 16.h5 Believe me,this move is better than it looks. In xh5!! A shock! 17.xh5 ( 17.gxh5 England, we have christened it the BANKER b8 ) 17...b8; variation. 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 f5 C) 14.d2 xc2 ] [ 6...d5? is just nonsense. 7.e5 e6 c6 14.b5 e7 15.f4 8.f3 f6 9.g3 h6 10.e4 d8 11.0-0 13.d2 d7 12.b3 7f6 13.f3 xe4 14.xf7# Mat te rs a re d if f e re nt h ere. B la ck h as n o 1-0 Rizouk,A-Ortega Garcia,F/6th Open, structural weakness to aim at and he has to worry continually about the threat of h4-h5. I Malaga ESP 2003 (14) ] think White's chances are better: xe5 7.e5 e6 8.g4 g6 [ 15...0-0 16.h5 xc2 17.xc2 xe5 [ 8...e4!? is interesting and rarely played. 18.xc8 xf3+ 19.f2 fxc8 20.xf3 Black is arguing that the loss of the Two c2 21.ab1 ] Bishops means little, set against W hite's f6 17.c7+ f7 18.f4! weakening pawn advance g2-g4. 9.xe4 16.xe5 Very calm. It was important to see that ...e6xe4 10.f3 d6 11.d3 19.dxe5 fxe5 A) T h e r e ' s a l s o 11...d7 leading to e5 leads to nothing. e5 12.d2 b6 ( 12...e7 13.0-0-0 b6 ) 20.xe5 d8 21.0-0-0 f6 22.e2 d7 23.h5 When it came, Black's goose was 13.0-0-0 ( 13.xd7 xb2 ) 13...d8; B) 11...a5+ 12.d2 d5 13.c4 xf3 cooked. xc2 24.xc2 ac8 25.b1 14.xf3 d7 15.b4 f6 16.g5 d7 This game was very critical from moves 10-14. 17.0-0 g6 Structurally, Black is fine. Black must be exact or he will be swept from 18.ae1 0-0-0 19.a4 g7 20.c1 f5 the board. I think Kotronias won this game 21.e3 h6! 22.gxh6 xh6 23.xh6 t h r o u g h s h e e r p s y c h o l o g i c a l p r e s s u r e xh6 Velcheva,M-Jovkova Draganova,P/ somehow he convinced Black to lose faith in 52nd ch-BUL w, Sofia BUL 2003 If the his position. But as we've seen, 12...Bxc3+ main line fails to hold up, 8. ..Be4 should and 13...Qa5 is good enough and therefore 12 Qe2 cannot be considered a refutation. be examined more closely. ] 1-0 9.h4 b4 Better than [ 9...bd7?! 10.e2 ( 10.f3! xe5 11.dxe5 xd1+ 12.xd1 0-0-0+ 13.d2 d7 B01 14.h5 xe5 15.e2 ) 10...b4 11.d2 260 xe5 12.dxe5 d7 13.h5 xc2 14.c1 Kotronias,Vasilios xc3 15.xc3 a4 16.b3 b5 17.xb5 Thorhallsson,Throstur cxb5 18.d1 c7 19.h3 c5 20.h6 Reykjavik (Iceland) 1988 gxh6 21.d4 b4+ 22.c3 c5 23.d4 [Nigel Davies] b4+= Soltanici,R-Ardelean,G/Bucharest 2003 ] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 10.f3! The acid test, leading to extremely [ 3.e2! xd5 4.d4 would cut out the sharp play. d5 11.xd5 possibility of Black's gambit line with 3... [ 11.h5 f6 ] Bg4 and is, in my opinion, more precise. But 11...cxd5 12.e2 This works well for this was not how Thorhallsson wanted to Kotronias but Black misses a good chance. play it. ] [ 12.h5 f6 13.hxg6 fxe5 14.gxh7 c6 3...xd5 4.e2! g6 5.f3 g7 6.0-0 0-0 15.dxe5 d4 16.a3 a5 17.b4 dxc3 7.e1! 18.bxa5 xa5 19.f4 d8 20.e2 d5 ] [ Once again this restricts Black's options. 259

253

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A f t e r t h e i m m e d i a t e 7.c4 Black gets counterplay with b6 8.c3 c6 ] 7...c5 [ Black has a major alternative in 7...c6 after which White should once again avoid pla yin g c 2-c 4 p re m at u re ly. In Lo b ro n Veinger, Munich 1987 White kept insidious pressure with 8.h3 ( 8.c3 e8 9.a3 b6 10.f4 a6 11.c4 d5 12.g3 was also nice for White in Galkin - Genba, Russia Cup, Ekaterinburg 1997) 8...b6 9.c3 e5 10.dxe5 xe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.f4 xf3+ 13.xf3 c6 14.c7 f8 15.a4 when Black's queenside was under serious pressure. ] [ 7...f5 develops a piece but ignores the crucial battle for the centre. Romanishin Comas, Moscow (ol)1994continued 8.c3 c6 9.a3 a6 10.c4 c8 11.a4 h6 12.a5 b8 13.h3 c8 14.f1 with a very passive game for Black. ] 8.c4 [ Alternatively White can play 8.dxc5 a6 9.c4 ( hanging on to the pawn gives Black g o o d p l a y , 9.xa6 bxa6 10.c3 b7 11.d4 c7 12.c6 c8 13.f3 d8 14.d2 e5 15.c2 xc6 seeing Black recover his pawn with the better position in, one example being Lobron - Stefansson, Moscow (World Cup) 1989) 9...e6 10.g5 a5 11.c3 h6 12.h4 g5 13.g3 d8 14.bd2 xc5 15.e5 with the better game for W hite in Godena - Comas, Mondariz 200 0 due to the weakn ess o f Black's kingside. ] 8...b6 9.d5 e5 10.c3 f5 The battle lines are drawn. White has a passed d-pawn, Black a kings id e p awn ma jorit y. 11.g5 f6 12.xf6 xf6 13.c1 [ Another possibility is 13.f1 e4 14.d2 , a im in g to re st ra in B la ck's p a wn s a n d p o s s ib ly g e t in a la t e r f 2 -f 3 . K o t ro n ia s chooses a much more forcing line. ] 13...a6 14.h6 d7 15.g5 g7 16.xg7+ xg7 17.a3 c8 18.ed1 e8 19.b5 h6 20.e6+ xe6 21.dxe6 b6 22.d6 e7 23.ad1 f6 24.xa7 White is managing to maintain the initiative by the skin of his teeth. But the position remains OK for Black for a long time to come. xa7 25.xb6 xe6 26.xe6+ xe6 27.d8 b6

28.h8 d7 29.xh6 f6 30.h3 d2 31.b3 xe2 32.xb6+ f7 [ This and the following moves look as if they were influenced by time-trouble. 32...g5 33.xa6 xb2 looks better, with Black's king more active than in the game. ] 33.f1 c2 34.xa6 xb2 35.d6 c2 36.d5 c1+ 37.e2 c2+ 38.e1 xc4 39.xe5 c2 40.a4 f6 41.e2 c1+ 42.d2 g1 [ This must have been a time-scramble. 42...a1 just wins the a-pawn and draws and in fact Black could have taken the apawn at almost any point. ] 43.g3 f4 [ 43...a1 ] 44.gxf4 a1 45.e3 a2+ 46.e1 f5 47.f1 xf4 48.g3 f5 49.g2 c2? Missing the last chance to capture on a2. Now W hite is better. 50.h4 a2 51.g5+ f6 52.g4 c2 53.g3 c3+ 54.f3 b3 55.f4+ g7 56.f2 b8 57.e3 d8 58.c4 e8+ 59.f4 f8+ 60.e4 f5 61.a5 1-0

261 Kotronias,Vasilios Tiviakov,Sergei 1st Isthmia Open (5.1) [Milos Pavlovic]

B01 2588 2623 22.08.2011

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 bd7 7.c4 c7 8.f3 b6 9.f4 We come to an important crossroads in this line, in the next game we will focus on 9...Qd8 d7 10.xb6 axb6 11.0-0-0 e6 12.e5 d5 [ 12...e7 13.g3 0-0 14.h4 e8 ( 14...b5 15.h5 b4 16.e4 d8 17.h6 g6 18.xf6+ xf6 19.c4 b5 20.b3 White is much better.) 15.c4 b5 16.b3 f6 17.f4 d6 18.xd6! ( 18.b1 c4 I s n o t t h a t cle a r.) 18...xd6 19.e3 White has easy play and the better pieces. ] 13.c4 f6 14.f4 e7 15.he1 [ 15.de1!?N b5 16.xd5 exd5 17.d3! Now in such a structure it is obvious that the bishop belongs on the b1-h7 diagonal. xa2 18.b1 a4 254

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 19.e3 f7 20.e2 b6 21.he1 e8 ( 21...d8 22.c3 ) 22.b8! Black is paralysed, W hite's advantage is undisputed.; B) 19.e3 0-0 20.he1 f7 21.h5 f5 22.g5 xg5 23.xg5 d6 24.e8+ f8 25.1e7 g6 26.xf8+ xf8 27.e3 White is winning. ] 15...b5 16.b3 Even here it was possible to play in the same manner: [ 16.xd5 exd5 17.d3 0-0 18.e3 f7 19.de1 d8 20.b1 d7 21.g3 ( 21.h4 f8 22.h5 a5 This gives counterplay to Black. ) 21...f8 22.c7 c8 23.h4 White has the initiative. ] 16...b4 17.xd5 exd5 18.h5+ g6 19.h6 f7 Although White has pressure here, in my opinion he simply doesn't have enough for a big advantage due to the blocked bishop on b3. 20.f3 b6 21.g4 a7! 22.d3 d8 23.de3 f8 24.h4 e7 Exchanging one rook Black will get easier play. 25.g3 xe3 26.xe3 d7 27.h4 c5 28.dxc5 bxc5 29.d3 b7 30.g5 e6 31.e3 d7 32.e5 fxe5 33.xe5 c4 34.a4 xa4 35.e6+ g7 36.e5+ g8 37.e6+ g7 38.h5 gxh5 39.f6+ g8 40.e6+ g7 ½-½

B) 7...d5 ] 5.f3 g6 6.c3 g7 7.c5 One of several moves, but after Black's next, the position becomes extremely important, because it is a direct way for White to deviate from the 2... Nf6 Scandinavian that begins with 4...Nb6, as given in the previous note. d5 Transposing to the main 4...Nb6 line of the previous note. The main options are [ 7...0-0 8.c4 g4 and ] [ 7...b6 ] 8.c4 xc3 This is the normal move. [ We saw 8...c6 in Vuckovic-Vukanovic, Sozina 2005 it has been used a lot, but W hite seems to get the advantage in all lines. The game continue d 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1! h6 ( 10...g4 11.g5 f6 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 bd7 14.b4 h6 Smirnov-Prokopchuk, Nefteyugansk 2002 and instead of 15 Bh6, when Black missed 15...Nc5, White keeps the upper hand with simply 15.f4; After 10...e6 , Martin suggests 11.b3 with a considerable advantage; 10...b6 11.g5 e6 12.xd5! cxd5 13.xe7! xe7 14.xd5 Zakurdyaeva-Muzychuk, Dresden 2004) 11.b3 ( or 11.e2 ) 11...e6 12.e4 with the idea Nd6 and White must have the better of it. The game went d7 13.d2 b6 14.a3 c7 15.ac1 a5 16.b4 bxc5?! 262 B01 17.bxc5 e5 18.d6! , with a winning game. ] Kovalev,Andrei 2533 Pluemer,Detlef 2172 9.bxc3 0-0 10.0-0 [ Jo hn Em m s calls 10.h4 g4 11.h5 ZMD Open Dresden GER (4) 28.07.2009 "a very dangerous continuation". He gives [John Watson] xh5 12.xh5 ( 12.d3 xf3 13.xf3 ) 12...gxh5 , when "White's attack after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 f6 13.g5 looks menacing." To carry this This is an independent alternative to the main further, Black is forced to play h6 14.xf7 line 4...Nb6. It is less popular and reduces ( 14.e4 is also interesting, and probably Black's counterplay, but still playable. In this the best winning try) 14...xf7 15.xf7+! game it transposes to ( 15.xh5 e6 16.xe6 f6 ) 15...xf7 [ 4...b6 5.f3 g6 6.c3 g7 7.c5 16.xh5+ ( 16.f3+ g8 17.xb7 d7 A) 7...6d7 8.c4 0-0 9.0-0 18.d5+ h8 19.xh5 f6 ) 16...g8 has a terrific score for W hite. One ugly 17.xh6 xh6 18.xh6 d7 19.0-0-0 f6 example for Black was b6 10.e1 b7 20.g6+ ( 20.d3 f7 21.g3 h8 ( 10...bxc5 11.g5! ) 11.g5 f6 22.g6+ f8 ) 20...f8 21.h1 d5 12.e5! c6 ( 12...c6 runs into 13.a6! ) 22.h8+ g8 23.h6+!? f7 24.f4+ 13.xf7+!? ( 13.b3 ) 13...xf7 14.b3 e8 25.g4 f7 26.f4+= ] f8 15.xf7 xf7 16.xe7 xb3 17.axb3 fd7 18.e4! and it's hopeless, 10...c6 [ Another of this month's games tested the Yakovich-Zagema, Leeuwarden 1993.; 255

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 logical 10...b6 : 11.e1 e6 ( Emms gives 11...bxc5 12.g5 f6 13.h6 g7 14.xg7 xg7 15.e2; The incredible continuation of Nataf-Galego, Andorra 1999 was 11...b7 12.g5 f6 13.xf6! exf6 14.d5! bxc5 15.b1 c8 16.d6! c6 17.d5 xd6 18.xd6 cxd6 19.d5 d7 20.b7 ad8 21.xd7 xd7 22.xc6 ) 12.g5 f6 13.h6!? ( or 13.xf6! xf6 14.e5 bxc5 15.g4 with attacking ideas including Qf3 and d5 White is clearly better) 13...e8 14.e5 b7 15.b5 ( 15.e2! ) 15...d5? 16.g4! e7 17.c4 d8 18.xf7 xf7 19.xe6 d5 20.xf6+ xf6 21.f4+ e6 22.e5+ f7 23.xd5+ e8 24.h8+ d7 25.xd8+ xd8 26.xa8 1-0 Kaaber-Berkemer, Helsingor 2009. ] 11.e1 g4 12.g5 [ 12.h3? xf3 13.xf3 xd4! ] 12...h6 13.h4 g5 [ 13...xf3 14.xf3 xd4? 15.cxd4 xd4 16.xe7 xc4 17.ac1! xa2 18.xf8 xf8 19.xb7 d4 20.f1 a5 21.xc7 Tiviakov-Maliutin, USSR 1987. ] 14.g3 e5!? [ 14...b6 15.h3 h5 was played in De Firmian-Thorhallsson, Akureyri 1994 but it doesn't seen to work out any better: 16.a4 ( 16.e2 e6 17.a4 e7 was the game, a n d n o w W h i t e h a s 18.a3! -Emms ) 16...xf3 17.gxf3 a5 18.d3 e8 19.ad1 c6 20.b1!? ( or 20.f4 ) 20...d5 21.c2 c4 22.h7+ f8 23.e4 d7 24.d5! ] 15.d5 [ 15.h3!? h5 16.dxe5 gives White the edge in view of xd1?! 17.axd1 xf3 18.gxf3 with the idea e6 (and f4). ] 15...a5 16.f1 [ 16.e2?! e4 17.e5 xe2 18.xe2 e8 ] 16...f6?! Passive. Better looks [ 16...e4! 17.xe4 xf3 18.xf3 xd5 19.d1 xc5 20.d7 , and White's activity is a plus, but Black is still in the game, e.g., xc3 21.e3 f6 22.d5! b6 23.xc7 c6 24.f5 ] 17.h3 h5 18.d3 c6 19.c4?! [ 19.d6! ] 19...f7 20.ad1 e8?!

[ 20...cxd5! 21.cxd5 c8 ] 21.c3 c7?! [ 21...b6 is the last chance not to be tied down. ] 22.d6 d8 23.d3! f8 24.d2 b6 25.f5 bxc5 26.b1 White is winning. Compare the effect of each side's pieces. e6 27.xe6 xe6 28.e4 g8 29.ed1 e8 30.xc5 f5 31.d7 e7 32.c2 f4 33.h2 e4 34.d6 c7 35.bd1 d8 36.e6 xe6 37.xe6 xd7 38.e8+ f7 39.xe4 b7 40.ee1 xd1 41.f5+ g8 42.xd1 e7 43.c8+ h7 44.f5+ g8 45.c8+ h7 46.d7 e2 47.b1 I'm not sure why Black continues to play this line, except that it's hard to avoid! 1-0

263 Kristensen,Bjarke Bern,Ivar Gausdal [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2470 2370 1993

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.d2 g4 7.d5!?N [ 7.b5!? b6 8.c4!? deserves attention. St ra ight f rom t he op en in g we re ac h a n ending where Black's life is not so easy. xf3 9.xf3 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xb7 e4+ 12.xe4 xe4 13.e3 White's position is clearly better thanks to his pair of bishops and better pawn structure. In my opinion it's not much fun for Black but surprisingly a lot of games have been p l a ye d wi t h t h i s p o s i t i o n . A ve r y g o o d example of utilisation of W hite's winning chances was the game Macieja - Myc, Sopot 1997. ] 7...xd5?! [ 7...e5 8.b5+ ed7 looks more reliable but of course White is better here. ] 8.b5 xf3 [ 8...b6? is weaker because after 9.c4 the threat of c4-c5 wins material. ] 9.gxf3 [ 9.xf3?! i s d u b i o u s a s a f t e r db4 Black gains valuable time. ] 9...b6 The only move. 10.c4 0-0-0 [ Black is forced to give up a piece as 10...db4 was losing due to 11.c5! a5 256

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 11...xc5? 12.xc7+ d8 13.xb4+ ) left vacant for the white queen! This is why 12.a3 ] Black has to play the preventive 5...c6. See 11.cxd5 xd5 12.c3 further. [ 12.b3 was also not bad: e5+ 13.e3 [ 5...c6? is another blunder in this position. ( but not 13.e2? xe2+! 14.xe2 6.b5! Much stronger than the transposition xb5+! 15.xb5 d4+ with a clear into the previous chapter after ( 6.f3 g4 advantage ) 13...a5+ 14.c3 ] 7.b5 b6 8.c4 E t ce t e ra .) 6...b4? 12...e5+ 13.e2 e6 ( 6...d8 In fact is the only move in this [ After 13...xb2 White would maintain the position to protect c7, but who would not initiative on the queenside by 14.b1 a3 snort in front of such a plight.) 7.d5! a6 15.0-0 with f4 and Bf3 to follow. ] 8.a4 b5 9.xb5! ( 9.xb5? axb5 14.f4 f5 15.0-0 White has almost 10.dxc6 c5 Mauko, L-Pokorna, R EUcompleted his development and his extra lightYouth Ch Szombathely 1993 ) squared bishop is quite enough to win this A) 9...e4+ 10.e2 axb5 ( 10...xg2 position without many problems. b4 11.xc7+ d8 12.xa8 xh1 [ 15...d6 16.g4 winning ] 13.0-0-0 ) 11.xe4 xe4 12.xb5; 16.a3 xc3 17.bxc3 d8 18.c2 e7 B) 9...xa4 10.xc7+ d8 11.xa8 19.e3 a5 20.c4 g6 21.e4 c6 xd5 ( 11...d4 12.b3 a3 13.e3 ) 22.fd1 xd1+ 23.xd1 c7 24.g4 f6 12.e2 b7 13.c3 d4 14.xd5 25.f5 Black resigned. xd5 15.b6+- xg2 16.f4+ e8 1-0 17.d7# ] 6.f3! c8 [ 6...c6 7.b5 ( 7.b5? e4 ) 7...b6 264 B01 8.xf5 a6 9.d5 e6 10.dxe6 axb5 11.xb5+- ] Kvisla,Johannes Luangtep 2123 [ 6...c6 7.b4 ] Jakobsen,Terje Vidar Open A Prague (2) 14.01.2006 7.c4 c6 8.h3 bd7 9.0-0-0 e6 10.ge2 c7 11.f4 Normally, White has made [Eric Prié] positional concessions, as in the first four 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 games, or sacrificed a pawn, as in the next game, to obtain such a steam-roller against f6 12.b3 d7 [ 4...f5? 5.f3! c6 ( 5...c6 6.b5 d7 the Centre Counter... b6 7.d2 a6? 8.d5 ) 6.b4 xb4 7.b1 13.d3 d6 14.g4! After having completed a5 ( 7...xd4 8.xf5 xc3+ 9.d2 e6 mobilization, it is now time for concrete action. 10.xf7+! xf7 11.xb7+ e7 12.xc3 ) f8 [ 14...0-0 15.g5 fd5 16.e4 a5 17.a3 8.xb7 e4 9.g3 d7 10.d2 g6 a4 18.a2 e7 19.c4 Wins a piece but 11.d5! c8 12.dxc6 e5+ 13.e2 W hite may also ignore it and play on the 1-0 Prie, E-Rodriguez, D La Reunion IBM kingside with Rhg1 and the idea Nf6+ ] open 1997 ] 5.d2 By comparison with the Caro-Kann, 15.g5 fd5 16.e4 0-0-0 17.xd6+ xd6 Of course anything wins but this which brings about the same pawn structure 18.h5 after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3(d2) dxe4 4. Nxe4, o v e r c a u t i o u s e va c u a t i o n o f t h e f - f i l e i s practice suggests that it is rather problematic nonetheless difficult to understand. [ 18.c4 f6 ( 18...xc4 19.xc4 f6 ) 19.cxd5 for White to hope for an advantage against fxg5 20.e3 exd5 21.b4 g6 22.xf8 t h e C e n t r e C o u n t e r wi t h o u t s o l v i n g t h e xf8 Black again obtains a 'normal' position problem of setting his beast on c3 free. Thus, but if you look at it more closely, something this most direct attempt, keeping the king's is missing ...! ] knight back for the moment, is the move order And Black resigns seeing that 19. chosen by at least the last 3 (classical) World 18...e7? c h a m p i o n s t o r e a c h t h i s p o s i t i o n . f5? Bb4 eventually wins a rook after the capture A mistake precisely because the f3 square is 257

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 on e7. 1-0

265

B01 Lacasa Diaz,Jose Antonio 2420 Sanchez Guirado,Francisco Javier 2408 49th TCh-ESP Honor 1 (3) 26.08.2005 [Andrew Martin] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e4!? A move that caused a flurry of attention after I wrote a TWIC Theory article on this very subject. To my knowledge Reprintsev's 5 ...Ne4 remains unrefuted and interesting. Doubtless White has several ways to step around Black's move order for instance with 5 Bc4. but that might commit him to moves he otherwise would not like to have played. 6.d3 [ 6.c4!? has been suggested and played by S c o t t is h Ma s t e r G e o f f Ch a n d le r. I t 's a natural move alright and White's first idea is that xc3 will be met by ( I propose 6...f5 7.0-0 xc3 8.e1 e6 with a reasonable game for Black.) 7.d2 However, after e6! 8.bxc3 d6 9.0-0 0-0 Black plans ...Nd7, ... b6 etc and there's no reason why he should be worse e.g.. 10.b1 d7 11.b5 a4 12.d3 a6 13.h5!? ( 13.b2 b5 14.b3 a5 ) 13...f6 ] 6...xc3 7.bxc3 [ 7.d2 was played in one of the earlier examples of the system: g6 ( 7...e6 8.bxc3 d6 9.0-0 d7 may be better still.) 8.xc3 xc3+ 9.bxc3 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 e6 12.f4 c6 13.ab1 d7 14.a4 e8 15.a5 f6 16.d2 e5 Melamed, T-Reprintsev, A/ Alushta 1999 ] 7...g6 [ Naturally enough 7...xc3+ is suggested by my trusty silicon friend but I cannot like Black's position after 8.d2 c6 9.b1 d6 10.c4 although Deep Fritz insists that Black is OK. ] 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 The most natural move in the world. [ 9.b1 0-0 10.e1 c6 11.h3 ( 11.f4 or; 11.b5 xa2 12.f4 are more testing.) 11...xa2 12.g5 e6 13.d2 d5 14.b5 d7 15.h6 xh6 ( 15...a5! ) 16.xh6

Strukov, R-Reprintsev, A/Moscow 1999 ] 9...0-0! Inviting White to go on a small spree with his Rook, when Black will use the time either take on c3 or to develop his pieces: 10.d2 [ One would assume that Black is OK after 10.xe7 xc3 11.d2 a3 12.xc7 c6 The position has Grünfeld-like contours. ] 10...c6 11.e4 g4 [ 11...e8 ] 12.h3 [ 12.xc6 bxc6 13.xe7 ( 13.e4 xf3 14.xf3 e6= ) 13...c5 14.e3 fd8 gives Black welcome counterplay ] 12...xf3 13.xf3 e5! I think this is also a correct move. Black comes out of his corner aggressively and tries to pin White down, even if it means giving up a pawn. 14.d5 [ 14.xc6 bxc6 15.c4 a4 16.dxe5 ad8! ] 14...e7 15.c4 a4!= Again, Black has developed sufficient counterplay to at least hold the balance. White has two Bishops, but his pawn structure is poor and Black's queen is very active. 16.c3 [ 16.c5 fd8 is no solution for White. ] 16...xc4 17.xe5 f5 18.xg7 [ 18.e4 c5 19.b1 xe5 20.xe5 d6 21.d3 fe8!= ] 18...xg7 19.e2 xe2 20.xe2 d6= As lon g a s B lack keep s W hit e o ut of th e seventh rank his excellent Knight will ensure equality. 21.d3 [ 21.ab1 b6 22.g3 fe8= ] 21...fe8 22.f4 White opens up a route for his King to come to the centre. Both parties now seem to understand that the game is going to end in a draw and play develops accordingly. [ 22.c4 b6 23.a4 f6 might even be better for Black! ] 22...xe1+ 23.xe1 e8 24.xe8 xe8 25.f2 f6 26.e3 e7 27.d4 d6 28.g4 f6 29.c4 b6 30.e2 White has the wrong colour bishop to make progress. h6 31.h4 d7 32.d3 f6 33.e2 [ 33.g5 is the last chance to play on: hxg5 34.fxg5 g4! ( 34...h5 35.e2 g3 36.g4 ) 35.e2 e5 It is now unclear what White can achieve further. ] 33...d7 34.d3 f6 A reasonably correct game by both players and evidence that 5... 258

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Ne4 is still very much in business. ½-½

266 Landa,Konstantin Chatalbashev,Boris Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 16th (9) [Danny Gormally]

B01 2641 2535 04.11.12

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g6 6.b5! b6 7.c4 [ 7.a4!? is examined in Smirin, I (2638)Kurajica, B (2558)/Eilat 2012. ] [ White could also throw in 7.f4 a6 8.a4 first, somewhat misplacing the knight on a6. ] 7...c6 8.c3 g7 9.c5! I can see this method of play becoming quite popular, as there seems no obvious way f or Black to equalise after this. Landa plays as aggressively as possible. He wants to put the bishop on c4. [ Normal would be 9.e2 g4 ] [ 9.h3 with the idea of preventing Black's normal idea of playing ...Bg4, has also been played. ] 9...c7 [ Landa has played this position himself from th e B la c k p oin t o f vie w, (p e rh a ps wh a t inspired him to try this opening in the first place) and preferred 9...d8 which led to a draw after 10.c4 0-0 11.0-0 g4 12.e3 bd7 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 e6 15.fd1 d5 16.e4 1/2-1/2 Djukic, N (2509) Landa, K (2635)/Rijeka 2010 (32) ] 10.c4 0-0 11.0-0 b5 12.b3! a5 13.a3 g4?! Now I think this exchange just gives White too easy a life. The problem is that with this pawn on c5 cramping the queenside, White is threatening to create a complete bind on the Black position, therefore he needs to try and breakout as quickly as possible. [ However, there is no easy way for Black to breakout and create any meaningful play, for example 13...bd7 14.e1 e6 15.g5 with the idea of Qd2, followed perhaps by Bh6 or Bf4, where White has a bind. ] 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 bd7 16.f4 b7 A pretty unpleasant position to have to play, although I will hesitate to say that Black's

position will not take on any supporters, as it's amazing what people are willing to defend these days. [ Black can hardly play 16...e5 as after 17.h2 the pin on the e5 pawn is most annoying for him. ( 17.xe5? by contrast does not work out in White's favour: xe5 18.dxe5 d7! 19.e6 fxe6 20.xe6+ h8 21.e3? ae8 and the pin on the bishop is nasty. )] 17.fe1 e6 18.a4! White has won the opening battle. Black is very passive and can only look forward to a difficult defence. bxa4 19.xa4 d5 20.ad1 fc8 21.e4 [ the simple continuation 21.xd5 exd5 22.e3 e8 23.dd3 was certainly worthy of consideration. ] 21...b4 [ 21...xb2? 22.d6 c7 23.xf7! xf4 24.xf4 loses quickly for Black. ] 22.b3 xd4 23.d2 b8 24.d6 Black is now left with a difficult choice. f8? The c6 pawn proves too important to give up so easily. [ it was time to give up the exchange: 24...f6! 25.xc8 xc8 and White will have a tough job indeed breaking down the tough carapace of Black's position. ] 25.xc6 e5 26.xe5 xe5 27.xa8 xa8 28.h6 g7 29.xg7 xg7 30.a1 a7? Walking into a tactical shot. 31.b4! a4 [ 31...xb4 32.c3+ f6 33.xb4 ends matters immediately. ] 32.a3 With two strong connectors White is winning easily. e7 33.b5 f6 34.b6 c3 35.e1 d4 36.b7 e5 37.c8 d2 38.a1 1-0

267 Lanka,Zigurds Hauchard,Arnaud Torcy [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2510 2420 1991

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 g4 4.f3 f5 5.b5+! In my opinion only by playing this move can W hite hope for an opening a d v a n t a g e . bd7 6.c4 The position is somewhat similar to Movsesian - Damaso. But compared to that game White has gained 259

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 some tempi here, so it's not so easy for Black to prove he has something for a pawn. a6 [ B l a c k c a n t r y 6...e6 immediately. We'll consider that move in the next game. ] 7.xd7+ [ 7.a4?! is strongly met by the thematic b5! 8.cxb5 b6 with ample compensation. ] 7...xd7 8.e2 e6! 9.dxe6 xe6 10.b3! [ 10.d5 is inferior as it seriously weakens the d a r k s q u a r e s . A f t e r b6 White has difficulties evacuating his King from the centre. ] 10...0-0-0 11.0-0 So White has managed to complete his development. Often he can only dream about castling! c5!? Now Black has t o f i n d s o m e t h i n g , o t h e r wi s e W h i t e wi l l complete his development with a clear extra pawn and an undisputed advantage. The prospects of a kingside attack are far from clear, so Black decides to win the pawn back. 12.h1! [ The inaccurate 12.bc3?! allows e5! with equality. ] 12...xd4! 13.xd4 d7 Absolutely the only move, as [ 13...e5? fails to 14.b2 c5 15.e2! a n d W h i t e k e e p s a n e xt r a p i e c e : xe2 16.xe2 d3 17.bc3 xe2 18.xe2 d2 19.xf6 ] 14.b2 c5 15.b4! Excellent! Now it's White who is attacking! cxd4 16.b5! axb5 17.a3! bxc4 [ Of course not 17...b4? 18.b5 and Black has no defence against Qa4 with a decisive attack. ] 18.xc4 For only one pawn White has a very strong attack, as he has opened files on the queenside and Black's King is not protected by his pa wn s. Th e pre sen ce o f o p p osit e coloured Bishops favours the attacker as usual. All these factors make Black's defence extremely difficult. b8 19.a3! [ The position after Black's 18th move also oc c u rre d in t h e ga m e Ma rcin ke viciu s Azevedo, 1997. W hite preferred 19.c1!? and obtained a huge advantage after e6 20.d2 b5 21.a4 a6 22.a3 c8 23.xd4 a8 24.b5 hd8 25.g5! ] 19...d5 20.c1 he8 21.d2! e6 22.a5! White continues his attack with very simple and natural moves. Each move

contains a threat. Now Black should parry Rc5. b5 [ Relatively best 22...d3 Doesn't help Black t o o m u c h i n v i e w o f 23.xb7! xf1 24.xd8 and Black's King is in trouble. ] 23.c5! Now all White's pieces participate in t h e a t t a c k . a8 24.Qf4 was threatened. 24.a4! a6 25.b3! d3 [ 25...d3 didn't help Black either in view of 26.d4 ] 26.g1 e2 27.b4 h5 28.b6! de8 29.c5 8e5 T h e l a s t t r i c k . 30.gd1 It's necessary to keep your concentration even in completely won positions. Taking the queen led to sudden mate: [ 30.xa6?? g3+ 31.hxg3 h5# After the text Black has nothing to hope for, so he resigned. A very good performance from Latvian GM Zigurds Lanka. ] 1-0

268 Lee,Graham D Ledger,Stephen ch Scarborough ENG (8) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2316 2203 10.08.2004

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 A dangerous move. f6 4.d4 g4 5.e2 c6!? I have played 5...e6 here several times and believe that move to be well playable. 5...Nc6 is much sharper, immediately unbalancing the game. Black puts pressure on d4 and will get castled quickly. The downside is he'll have to give up the two bishops. Which will be more important? I prefer White. [ 5...e6 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 d8 8.c3 0-0 9.e3 bd7 10.b3 c8! has feature d in two of my games against GM Rowson and IM Ferguson. Black plans ... a6 and . ..c5, working with a manageable disadvantage. Black scored 1.5 from 2 in those games. ] 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 e6+ Awkward. 8.e3 0-0-0 9.0-0 d5 Speed is of the essence, lest White just sit on his advantages. 10.e2 xe3N An unimpressive novelty, but then the whole variation seems unpromising. [ Instead 10...d7 was roughly treated in a recent Olympiad game: 11.xd5 xd5 12.c3 260

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 12...xd4 13.xd4 ( 13.g4+ f5 ) 13...xd4 14.ad1 b6 15.xd8+ xd8 16.d1+ c8 17.d3 d6 18.c4!; B) 12...f5 13.d5 b4 14.b5 xd5 15.xa7+ b8 16.c4 d3 17.f3 xc4 18.xf7 c5 19.ac1 e4 20.b5 f5 21.f4+ 1-0 Rohl Montes,J-Bryson,D/ Elista 1998 ] 11.fxe3 d7 12.xc6 xc6 13.xf7 Black must find a better way to play against 3 Nf3 because this is just hopeless. e5 14.dxe5 d5 15.g4+ b8 16.e6 c5 17.c3! Lee is very happy to jettison the weakling on e3 in order to fully develop. It's not an exaggeration to say that Black is lost. xe3+ 18.h1 c6 19.e7 de8 20.xg7+- hg8 21.xg8! xg8 22.f8+ e8 23.xg8 What a hero! xg8 24.e1 c6 [ 24...e6 25.d5! ] 25.xe3 e8 26.e2 c7 27.g3 3 Nf3 is a definite threat to the Scandinavian but Black must not panic. He can choose to defend stoutly with 3...Nf6 (but NOT with a subsequent ...Nc6) or punt the sharper 3...Bg4 . In either case, he must study the resulting positions very carefully indeed. 1-0

269 Leko,Peter Caruana,Fabiano FIDE GP Tashkent (11.1) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2732 2786 04.12.2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g6 6.b5 A critical test of 5...g6. In Dominguez Perez-Caruana we see the m a i n a l t e r n a t i v e 6 . B c 4 b6 7.a3!? Previously 7.Bf4, 7.c4 and 7.a4 have all been analysed on ChessPub c6 [ 7...g7 8.c4 c6 9.e2 0-0 10.0-0 bd7 11.e1 d5 was a little better for White in an "advanced rapid" game: Karpov, A (2686)-Fernandez Garcia, J (2452) Santurtzi 2003 ] 8.c4 d8 [ 8...c7 9.ce5 ( 9.g3 as in the game is probably a better option) 9...g7 10.c4 d5 11.0-0 d7 12.d3 0-0 13.b3 b5 14.e1 7b6 15.c3 a5 16.a3 f5

and Black had equalised comfortably in Solak, D (2567)-Milanovic, D (2499) Vrnjacka Banja 2010 ] 9.g3 [ 9.ce5 again this move doesn't really co n vi n c e m e g7 10.c4 0-0 11.0-0 bd7 12.c3 xe5 13.xe5 d5 14.e1 e6 and Black had largely equalised in Soltanici, R (2367) -Grigore, G (2505) Baia Sprie 2011 ] 9...e6 10.e2 The knight on c4 has to be defended before White can fianchetto on the kingside. g7 11.g2 0-0 12.0-0 c8!? A slightly odd move as Black can't play Bh3 with the pawn on e7 undefended - probably the idea is to support a possible c5 break. [ 12...bd7 would be my preferred choice and White has a typical slight edge for this line after 13.a4 a5 14.e1 ] 13.g5! [ 13.a4 c5! 14.dxc5 xc5 15.ce5 bd7 and Black has no real problems here. ] 13...d5 14.h3 xc4 [ 14...bd7 15.e5 is uncomfortable for Black who has to play the weakening move b5 in order to prevent c4 and White must be doing well after 16.a4! ] 15.xc4 Leko must be very happy with how the opening has turned out, two bishops and a space advantage - he should be able to play f o r a wi n f r o m h e r e wi t h l it t l e ri s k . bd7 16.e2 [ 16.e1 feels more natural to me with a very c o m f o r t a b l e g a m e f o r W h i t e a f t e r e6 17.b3 ] 16...d8 17.c4 h6 18.f3 [ 18.e4?! would not be so good as Black is helped by the swapping of pieces and also after xe4 19.xe4 b6! White cannot defend both central pawns and is actually a li t t l e wo r s e I t h i n k a f t e r 20.c5 d5 as the p awn on d 4 h as th e p ote nt ial t o become vulnerable in the long run. ] 18...e8 19.d1 e6 20.d2 a5 21.c3 c7 22.ac1 a4 23.g2 ad8 Both sides have placed their pieces on sensible squares and now the question is "can W hite do a n yt h i n g ? " 24.d3 g4! A nice idea from Caruana who realises the knight can be more useful than on f6. 25.e1 h5 26.h3 h6 This is the point, the knight isn't heading back 261

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to f6 but instead to f5 via h6 (although it takes a while to actually get there)! 27.d2 c5 [ 27...f5 seems more natural to me but perhaps Fabiano was worried about 28.g4 hxg4 29.hxg4 d6 30.f4 although Black should be OK after c5 ] [ 27...e5! may be the best move in the position as it's not clear White is better at all after 28.dxe5 ( or 28.g5 f6 29.xh6 xh6 30.dxe5 xe5 31.xd8 xd8 32.e4 xf3+ 33.xf3 f7 which will almost certainly end in a draw) 28...xe5 29.xd8 xd8 30.f1 e6 ] 28.g5 c8 29.f4 [ 29.d5 was worth considering when play m i g h t c o n t i n u e f5 30.d1! exd5 31.xe8+ xe8 32.xd5 d4 33.xa4 and Black must fight hard for compensation for the pawn with b5! but I still prefer White after 34.a6 bxc4 35.a4 xf3+ 36.xf3 e1+ 37.g2 as the two bishops should be worth something in this ending. ] 29...a5 30.dxc5 xc5 31.d2?! [ 31.dd1 keeps a slight edge ] 31...xd2 32.xd2 ed8 It's hard to believe Black is worse any longer. 33.ed1 xd2 34.xd2 e4 35.c2 c5 36.d2 e4 [ 36...f5 surely it was time to bring the knight into the game? W hite can try 37.g4 but h6! 38.g5 f8 is just equal ] 37.d7 c5 38.d1 f6 39.e3 f5 40.xc5 xc5 41.d8+ h7 42.f1 Black's last f ew moves have been a little sloppy and suddenly Leko is a little better again - it's not quite enough to create serious winning chances though. c7 43.a8 e5 44.xa4 e4 Counterplay arrives just in time 45.d2 d6 46.a5 f5 47.d5?! [ 47.c5 f7 48.c4 was more promising ] 47...c8 48.b4 c3 49.a3 e7 50.d6 b2 51.b1 c6 52.c5 e7 53.g2 h4! 54.b5 d4 55.d2 hxg3 56.xg3 c3 57.b1 b2 Black's pieces are active enough to dissuade W hite from going for the win. 58.d2 c3 59.b1 b2 60.d2 ½-½

270 Lemos,Damian Flores,Diego zt 2.5 m San Luis ARG (3) [John Watson]

B01 2439 2541 20.03.2007

A fairly typical example of the Scandinavian ... c6/...e6 structure in one of the standard lines. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 f6 5.d4 c6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 [ The 'old' main line is 7.e5 e6 8.g4 g6 9.h4 bd7 10.xd7 when Black seems to be doing well enough after either recapture on d7. This has been analyzed in earlier ChessPublishing games. ] 7...e6 8.e2 [ (a) 8.e4 c7!? ( 8...d8 9.xf6+ is the main line that usually stems from 8 Nd5) ) 9.xf6+ gxf6 has held up reasonably well for Black. A recent game West-Katz, P a r s i p p a n y 2 0 0 7 w e n t 10.e2 e7 11.0-0-0 d7 12.h4 g6 13.f4?! f5 14.xg6 hxg6 15.g3 0-0-0 16.h4 f6 and Black had the more comfortable game. ] [ (b) 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ xf6 (often arrived at by 8 Nd5 Qd8, etc.) 10.e2 is Shirov's favourite, which has been played and analysed by some very strong players. In Jonathan Rowson's recent overview, White was coming out on top, but that could change at any moment. ] 8...b4 9.0-0-0 bd7 10.a3 xc3 11.xc3 The whole idea here, brought to attention by Larsen, is that White's bishop on c3 is bad and all of Black's pieces are active, in spite of his slightly cramped pawn structure. Variations like this helped in the explosion of popularity of the .. .e6/...c6 restraint structure. c7 12.e5 xe5 Logical, but it does give White a permanent space advantage. [ A more dynamic approach was 12...b5!? 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 xe5 ( 14...a5!? ) 15.dxe5 d5 Pavlogianni-Makropoulou, Aghia Pe la gia 20 04 , give n as e qu al b y Davies. ] 13.dxe5 d5 14.d2 0-0-0 Traditionally, White has been held to stand better in such positions, aided by space and the two bishops. That may be objectively true, but it's going to be very hard to break through on either wing. White tries the most likely side to attack on, 262

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 gaining important space there: 15.g4 g6 16.f4 h5! A tough decision, because if Black doesn't gain activity, he can regret opening lines for White on the kingside. 17.h3 b6 18.hf1 hxg4 19.hxg4 c5! 20.b3 h3! The point. Black gets activity (and threatens ... Rxb3) before f5 can come. 21.f2 xf2 22.xf2 e4 23.e1 f3 24.g5?! Weakening, although it needn't be as bad as it turns out. e7 25.b4 d5 26.d2 g4 [ 26...e7 27.c4!? ] 27.c4 f5 28.b3 [ 28.f1 h1 29.c4 e7 30.g2 xe1+ 31.xe1 d4! 32.b3 c5 33.c3 d3 34.b2 c7 is roughly equal. The bishops are frustrated on the kingside. White begins to play aimlessly. ] 28...e7 29.a4!? g6 30.a5 b6 31.f1 g3 32.e3 g1 33.c3?! c7 34.e3 h8! 35.b2 hh1 36.d3? b1+ 37.c3 e7 38.c4 c5! 39.b5 b7 40.a6+? [ 40.g3 ] 40...c7 41.e4 hd1! A kind of zugzwang. 42.f3 [ 42.h2 b2! 43.c3 a2 ] 42...xc2! Taking over the light squares, although. [ 42...g1! is more sadistic. ] 43.xd1 xd1 44.e1 f5?! [ 44...xb3+ 45.c4 b1 ] 45.c3? [ White could have mixed it up with the riskylooking 45.b4! b3 46.bxc5 d4+ 47.b4 c2+ 48.c3 xe1 49.cxb6+ xb6 50.xe1 xe1 51.xb3 g6 ] 45...xb3+ 46.c4 a3 [ Or 46...b5+ 47.d3 b4 48.xd1 xc3+ 49.d2 d4 ] 47.d2 f3 48.a1? d5+ 49.d3 c4+ 0-1

Cuba, was a Scandinavian Defence with the following moves: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 [ Reader's Challenge W12P1 Consider also 4.f3 f6 5.c4 c6 6.e2 f5 7.d3 e6 8.d2 b4 9.a3 bd7? as happened in one of my games from a 1992 simultaneous exhibition in Troon, Scotland. a) What is White's strongest possibility now at move 10? b) Going back to move six, why would 6...Bg4? be a serious mistake? A solution appears after the game W12. ] 4...c6 Black gives his queen an extra retreat path along the a5-d8 diagonal in case trouble arises withBc1-d2 5.c4 f5 6.d2 e6?! [ A common line is 6...f6 7.d5 d8 ] 7.g4 the action really starts with this case of g f o r " g o f o r i t ! " g6 8.h4 h5 9.d5! White quickly blasts open the position to take full advantage of Black's lack of development c5 [ 9...cxd5 10.xd5 d8 ( 10...c5 11.e2 would transpose to the actual game) 11.f4 is also fabulous for White ] 10.e2 cxd5 11.xd5 hxg4? Black cannot af f ord t he time to make this unimportan t capture when he is already critically behind in development 12.f4! c6 [ White was threatening 13 Nc7+ and intending 12...d6 13.b4! d4 ( or 13...c6 14.b5 a fatal pin ) 14.d1 ] 13.c7+ e7 14.xe6 [ B la ck wa s h o p in g f o r 14.xa8 d4 but W hite had other plans. IM Carlos Matamoros (rated 2492) resigned in view of 14...fxe6 15 Qxe6+ Kd8 16 0-0-0+ Nd4 17 Ne2, with a totally crushing attack against Black's bare king. Solution to W12P1 a) 10 Nd4! not only pu ts Black's f 5-b ishop in trouble, but also threatens to win his other b i s h o p v i a 1 1 N b 3 wh i c h p r o t e c t s t h e a1-rook and thereby unpins the a3-pawn. 271 B01 Black could struggle on after 10...Be7 11 Nd5 Qd8, but in the 'simul' game he lost Leyva,Ricardo quickly with 10...Bxc3? 11 Bxc3 Qe5 12 Matamoros,C Qxe5 Nxe5 13 Nxf5 Nxc4 14 Nxg7+ 1-0: Mem Premier II, Var 2000 re sign a t io n in vie w o f t h e f a ct t h a t t h e [Paul Motwani] black knights were both 'en prise' simultaneously---a real (k)nightmare! b) 2) W 12: The game R.Leyva-C.Matamoros White wins with 7 Bxf7+!, intending 7...Kxf7 played on 7 May 2000 in the Capablanca 8 Ne5+ putting Black in double trouble at f7 Memorial Premier II tournament at Varadero, 263

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27.h2 hxg4 28.hxg4 h8+ 29.g3 f4+ 30.exf4 gxf4+ 31.xf4 bf8+ 32.e3 f3+ 0-1

and g4. ] 1-0

272 Lopez,Manuel Huerta,Ramon XIV Torre Merida MEX (4) [Jon Tisdall]

B01 273 2288 17.12.2001

Luther,T Hera,I TCh-AUT 2012-13 (5.1) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2535 2573 18.01.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.e3 e5 5.c3 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 [ 5.c4!? ] f6 5.e3 c6 5...b4 6.a3 xc3+ 7.bxc3 d6!? [ 5...a6 is Black's other option, keeping the [ 7...f6 8.c4 e4 9.dxe5 xe5 10.d4 c6 square free for the knight. e6 11.xe4 xe4 12.d3 f6 13.f4 A) 6.d3 as in the game would be a more fd7 14.f3 xf3+ 15.gxf3 0-0-0 16.g1 testing approach c5 17.0-0-0 xd3+ 18.cxd3 hg8 A1) 6...g6 7.d2 g7 8.f3 0-0 9.f4 19.c2 c5 20.c3 b6 21.a4 d7 22.a5 d8 10.0-0 is more comfortable for f5 23.axb6 axb6 24.d4 cxd4+ 25.xd4 White.; xd4 26.xd4 d8+ 27.c3 d3+ A2) 6...c6 is possibly Black's best 28.b4 g6 29.e3 b7 30.c5 bxc5+ response and now 7.f3 ( 7.d2 b4! 31.xc5 e6 32.b1+ c7 33.f4+ d7 must be fine for Black ) 34.b7+ c8 35.b8+ d7 36.b7+ c8 A2a) 7...g4 is a lso p laya b le 8.h3 1/2-1/2 Maria,L-Stefanova,A Moscow 1994. ] h5 9.g4 g6 8.f3 f6 9.b5?! A2a1) 10.xg6!? hxg6 11.e2 [ 9.dxe5 xe5 10.xd6 cxd6 ( 10...xf3+ is an interesting pawn sacrifice, for 11.gxf3 cxd6 12.0-0-0 ) 11.0-0-0 example xg4 12.0-0-0 ( 12.d5!? ) and white's active pieces compensate for 12...xe3 13.xe3 and Black is a his fractured pawns. ] long way behind in development; [ 9.e2 ] A2a2) 10.e2 and I slightly prefer 9...e4 10.e5 0-0 11.xc6 bxc6 12.0-0 W hite although both sides can be a6 black has a very comfortable position fairly happy.; t h e wh it e p l a n o f u si n g so m u c h t im e t o A2b) 7...g6 8.d2 g7 fracture black's queenside has not been worth A2b1) 9.0-0-0 is probably too the loss of light-squared control. 13.e1 d5 a m b i t io u s h e r e . B la c k h a s go o d Mobilizes the kingside pawns and begins chances after b4 10.c4 bd5 pressure on white's wobbly centre. 14.c4? ( or 10...b5!? 11.f4 b6 12.b3 White may have thought that he could achieve b7 ); c5 and save the front c-pawn, but this proves A2b2) 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 and White to be problematic. ha s a slight a d va n t a ge a lth o u gh [ 14.d2 f6 15.g4 ad8 ] Black is very solid as is typical for 14...xe3 15.fxe3 this line.; [ 15.xe3 f6 16.c5 d5 17.c4 ( 17.g4 A3) 6...g4 gives White the better h5 ) 17...e6 18.f3 xc4 ] c h a n c e s h e r e a f t e r 7.f3 ( 7.d2 15...c5 White's centre pawns now collapse. is also sensible) 7...d7 8.ge2 c6 16.c3 f6 17.g4 xc4 18.f2 f5-+ 9.d2; A pawn up with the better position, the rest is B) 6.d2!?; already technique. 19.a4 d5 20.a5 C) 6.g3 wasn't a particularly successful cxd4 21.xd5+ xd5 22.cxd4 g5 23.ac1 approach by White in Zhang Zhong-Dreev, c6 24.g4 h5 25.h3 ab8 26.b1 g7 a n n o t a t e d in t h e a rch ive s b y A n d re w 264

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Martin ] 6.d3 [ 6.d2 with the idea of castling queenside as soon as possible has also been tried, including by Luther himself. f5 7.0-0-0 ( 7.f3 was Luther's choice and it maybe critical e6 8.h4 g6?! 9.xg6 hxg6 10.h4 and White had the two Bishops and some advantage in Luther, T (2541)Boricsev, O (2396) Marrakesh 2010 bd7 11.0-0-0 b4 12.b1 d5 13.e4 xe3 14.xe3 e7 15.f4 a5 16.d3 e5 17.dxe5 xe5 18.f3 e6 19.he1 e5 20.g3 xh4 21.h3 0-0-0 22.c5 ) 7...e6 8.f3 bd7 9.ge2 b6 10.g3 g6 11.ge4 xe4 12.fxe4 and White was a little better in Alekseev, E (2688)Zolotukhin, V (2338) Olginka 2011 although B la c k s u c c e ss f u lly h e ld a d r a w in t h a t game. ] 6...g4 7.d2 c7?! This doesn't work out well and gives White exactly what he's after with this Be3 setup. [ 7...e6 has been played before here and brought Black a quick win in the following game although there are plenty of points for im p ro ve m e n t . . . 8.ge2 bd7 9.0-0-0 ( 9.f3! h5 10.f4 b4 11.0-0-0 gives W hite some edge) 9...h5 10.f4?! This doesn't really fit with the position 0-0-0 ( 10...b5!? ) 11.f5 e5 12.dxe5 xe5 13.de1 xe2 14.xe2 a5 15.h3 e5 W hite is already in some trouble 16.g4? b4 17.a3 xa3 18.bxa3 xa3+ 19.b1 f3 0-1 Eisen, L (2242)-Gonzalez, R (2419) Las Vegas 2004 ] [ 7...bd7 is more combative as Black may be able to play ...e5 in one more to gain counterplay in the centre, e.g. 8.ge2 e5 but I still like White's position after 9.0-0-0 0-0-0 10.h3 e6 11.b1 and White is better placed for when the centre opens up. ] 8.h3 h5 9.f4! [ 9.f4 i s a l s o p r o m i s i n g a f t e r b6 10.ge2! as xb2? 11.b1 a3 12.xb7 bd7 13.d5! is simply winning for White ] 9...e6 Otherwise the bishop is simply getting trapped 10.g4 g6 11.f5 exf5 12.gxf5 h5 13.ge2 It's clear that the opening has gone in White's favour and so Hera has to be very

c a r e f u l o v e r t h e n e x t f e w m o v e s . bd7 14.f4 [ 14.g1 was worth considering - Black now to solve the problem of how to develop the bishop on f8. ] 14...d6 15.e3+ f8 [ 15...d8 might've been a safer option although it's clear White is still doing well after 16.g3 xf4 17.xf4 g6 18.d2 ] 16.g3 xf4 17.xf4 e8+?! Things quickly turn more unpleasant after this move although the position was already tricky. [ 17...c8 to defend the queen from discovered checks was better although White keeps the initiative with 18.d2 g6 19.ae1 ] 18.d2 d8 19.ae1! Luther swaps off Black's only active rook xe1 20.xe1 g6 21.xh5 xh5 22.d6+ g7 23.e7? An unfortunate mistake just as W hite was building a winning attack [ 23.fxg6! hxg6 24.e7 was the way to do it and now W hite has excellent winning chances after hf6 ( of course 24...e8?? c a n n o w b e m e t b y 25.xg6+ h8 26.h7# ) 25.c4 f8 26.e6! g8 27.xd7 e8! a remarkable move to keep Black in the game 28.xf7 xf7 29.xe8+ xe8 30.c7+ e7 31.xe7+ xe7 and the extra pawn should be enough to win although there's still quite a bit of work to do. ] 23...e8! 24.xe8 [ the point is that 24.xd7?? loses to g5+ 25.d1 g1+ 26.f1 xf1+ 27.d2 e1+ 28.d3 b5! and White will get mated or lose huge amounts of material ] 24...xe8 25.e4 [ 25.c7 puts Black in an awkward pin but he can escape with e7 26.d1 g5! and now he has a perpetual after 27.xd7 g1+ 28.d2 g5+ 29.d1 g1+ 30.e2 g2+ 31.e1 g3+ 32.f1 f3+ ] 25...df6 26.xf6 xf6 Black has escaped and the position is just equal. 27.h4 c8 28.e5 d8 29.c3 g8 30.fxg6 A missed opportunity for W hite but 5.Be3 looks to be an interesting (and nontheoretical) way to play against 3...Qd6 ½-½ 265

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 274 Macieja,Bartlomiej Tiviakov,Sergei Remco Heite Wolvega NED (3) [John Watson]

B01 2600 2686 29.11.2008

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 [ In an earlier update, Fabiano Caruana annotated a lovely game versus Strikovic which began with 5...a6 6.g3 g4 7.h3 h5 8.g2 c6 9.0-0 0-0-0 ] 6.g3 One of White's favourite setups. His f1 bishop gets a safe post on g2, and he places his dark-squared bishop on its best square f4 while gaining a tempo. g4 7.g2 e6 [ The more active 7...bd7 keeps both ...e5 and ...0-0-0 as options, for example, 8.0-0 ( 8.f4 b4 9.0-0 0-0-0 ) 8...0-0-0 9.e3 ( 9.f4 xf3!? 10.xf3 e5 11.dxe5 xe5 12.g2 e6 13.e2 d6 is only slightly better for White) 9...e5!? 10.dxe5 xe5 11.xd6 xd6 12.xe5 xe5 13.xa7 d2 gives some compensation, e.g., 14.ac1 xc3 15.bxc3 e8 ] 8.0-0 e7 [ IF he intends to play ...Bxf3 (see below) then, given the course of the game, Black may wish to consider another order: 8...c7 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 bd7 ( and not 10...d6? , as in Rahal-Bravo Barranco, Valles Tancat 1999, because of 11.b5! , which White neglected to play. )] [ The typical chase that Black experiences is illustrated in Azarov, S (2571)-Zablotsky, S (2500), Voronezh 2007: 8...bd7 9.f4 b4 10.b1 a5 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 e7 13.a3 0-0 14.b4 f5 15.e2 d5 16.xd5 cxd5 17.c4 dxc4?! (all reasonable play thus far, but this allows the bishops to become strong better was ( 17...b6 ) 18.xb7 ad8 19.c7 de8 20.xc4 xh3 , and here simply 21.g2 f5 22.c6 would have won material. ] 9.f4 d8 [ In the 3...Qd6 lines we usually see 9...b4 , and that indeed keeps the queen a bit more active, e. g., 10.a3! b6 ( 10...xb2 11.d2 f5 12.a2 b6 13.b1 ) 11.d2 0-0 , though White still has a normal, small, advantage. ]

10.h3 h5 11.g4 g6 12.e5 fd7?! Simply [ 12...bd7 13.xg6 ( 13.e2 xe5 14.dxe5 d7 15.fd1 h5!? ) 13...hxg6 with ...Qb6 next would keep Black's disadvantage minimal. ] 13.xg6 hxg6 This must favour White's bishop and space. 14.e4 Not a bad move, but there's no need for this before completing development, since Black isn't going anywhere. [ A simple way to expand would be 14.d3 f6 15.fe1 0-0 16.e2! bd7 17.c4 , etc., with a healthy advantage. ] 14...f6 15.c5 b6! [ 15...xc5 almost equalises following 16.dxc5 xd1 17.axd1 a6 18.d6 ( 18.e3 d7 ) 18...0-0-0 with the idea ... Ne8. ] 16.xb8!? Interesting [ 16.b3 keeps an edge. ] 16...xb8 17.xc6+ f8 18.a6 [ 18.d3 is safer: xh3 19.e5 h4 20.f3 d6 21.g2 ] 18...c8!? [ Black plays for compensation by placing a powerful knight on f4. He decides to bypass a pretty good opportunity with 18...xh3! , which has the idea 19.xb8 xb8 20.f4 h4 ] 19.g2 d5 20.c3 f4 21.f3 d6 22.fe1 g5 [ 22...f6 23.e3 ] 23.e3 g6 24.b7!? Greedy, but apparently harmless. White's knight on a6 is a problem piece, so maybe he should bring it back into play by [ 24.a3! g7 25.b4 ] 24...g7 25.xa7? [ 25.ae1 e8 26.a3! e7 27.e4 ] 25...e8! Black threatens ...Re7. 26.b7 e7 27.e4 a7 28.b4 [ 28.f1 ca8 ] 28...xb4 29.cxb4 c4 30.a3!? [ 30.d1 xa2 ] 30...ac7!? [ 30...xa3! 31.bxa3 xd4 is a very clear way of demonstrating the strength of Black's knight on f4 Black follows with ...Rd3 and stands much better. ] 31.c3 h7 32.xc4 xc4 33.d1 xb4 266

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 34.b3 Black still has compensation for the pawn, but only that. c7? [ 34...xd4 35.xd4 xd4 36.xd4 e2+ 37.f1 xd4 38.e1 would be depressing for Black, since a potential outside passed pawn is supported by a powerful W hite bishop. ] [ 34...b5 is also possible, with a point that immediately becomes clear: ] 35.f1! Black's rook on b4 is trapped, and this h a u n t s h i m f o r m u c h o f t h e g a m e . d5? 36.e1 [ 36.f3 threatens a3 and therefore forces f4 37.xf4 gxf4 , but then White is simply a pawn up ( 37...xf4? 38.c4 b5 39.a3 )] 36...b5? 37.d2!? Time trouble has obviously taken over. Here W hite can win outright with [ 37.g2 , which threatens to win the rook by Bxd5, and c3 38.d2 doesn't save Black because Rc2 follows. d5 39.xd5 exd5 40.d3 c2 ( 40...d6 41.a3 ) 41.d2! xd2 42.xd2 followed by Rd3 and a3. ] 37...e7 38.e1?! [ 38.b2 with the idea 39 a3 will wins, for example, after e5 39.dxe5 f4 40.d2 e4 41.d7 ] 38...a7 39.d1 e7 40.g2 [ Again, 40.b2! ] 40...f4 41.f1 e5 One last bad decision. 42.e3?? [ 42.e1! is extremely strong. ] 42...a7! 43.dxe5 xa2 44.d5 c2 [ 44...xd5! 45.xd5 xb3 ] 45.d2? [ 45.c1! ] 45...xd2 46.xd2 g7 47.f3 f8 Black stan ds be tter now. The rest o f th e ga m e c o n t a i n s m i s t a k e s , b u t i s e a s y t o understand: 48.f2 xh3+ 49.e3 f4 50.f2 e7 51.d1 xd5 52.xd5 xb3 53.d6 b4 54.b6 b1 55.e3 b3 56.f2 b2 57.g2 d7 58.h2 c7 59.b3 c6 60.g2 d5 61.b5+ e6 62.h2 f1 63.xb2 xf3 64.g2 f4 65.g3 xe5 66.b5+ f6 67.b6+ g7 68.b7 d4 69.a7 d3+ 70.g2 c3 71.f2 c4 72.f3 f4+ 73.g3 h6 74.a8 f5 75.gxf5 gxf5 0-1

275 Makropoulou,Marina Papadopoulou,Vera ch-GRE w Athens GRE (6) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2270 2227 09.12.2004

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 There are many grey areas after 3...Qd6 that the adventurer may wish to explore. I find 3... Qd6 much less reliable than 3... Qa5. 4.d4 f6 5.c4 g4!? Is it worth a tempo to provoke f2-f3? I doubt it, as in many Scandinavian lines W hite plays that move anyway as a prelude to swamping the lightsquared Bishop with g2-g4,h2-h4 etc. However, with the Black queen on d6 the g3 square becomes exposed, and therefore this procedure is not at all easy to carry out. [ We know 5...a6 to be playable, and in this case, better I think. For instance: 6.ge2 b5 7.b3 b7 8.0-0 e6 9.f4 d8 10.e1 e7 11.g3 0-0 12.d2 c5 This would be a good representation of a successful Black pla n . He ge t s h is K in g t o sa f e t y ( n o t e castling SHORT) and as in many of the Semi Open games, follows with ... c7-c5. 13.dxc5 xd2 14.xd2 bd7 15.ce4 xe4 16.xe4 xe4 17.xe4 xc5 18.e2 fd8 1/2-1/2 Pavlov,M-Hasangatin, R/Alushta UKR 2004 With such a reliable plan available, 5...Bg4 becomes something of a luxury. ] 6.f3 f5 7.ge2 bd7 [ 7...c6 8.f4 d8 9.g4 g6 A) 10.h4! h5 11.g5 d5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.xb8!! xb8 ( 13...xb8 14.xd5 ) 14.f4 f5 15.fxd5 A pawn or the bishops. Take your pick!; B) 10.g3 e6 must be at least a little better for W hite, but as we've seen in many Scandinavian variations, Black's position is very solid when he uses lightsquared counterplay as his focus: 11.ce4 d5! 12.d2 xf4 13.xf4 e7 ( The computer ( I won't say which one but they all will) states that Black should take on d4. If he can ,why not? 13...xd4! 14.c3 d8 15.d1 d7 16.d6+ xd6 17.xd6 e7 White is not breaking through and is thus a pawn d o wn f o r n o t h i n g .) 14.0-0-0 xe4 267

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.xe4 a5 16.e5 0-0 17.g5 b5 18.d3 d5 19.f6+ xf6 20.gxf6 d7 21.xd5 exd5 22.fxg7 Stoumbou,EPapadopoulou,V/Athens GRE 2004 ] 8.f4 This would be a very usual objection to placing the Queen on d6. b4 9.b3 0-0-0 10.a3 b6 11.a4 Tempo after tempo, but are they moves that W hite wants to make? Perhaps the main use of Na4 is to free up the c pawn for action. [ Alternatives do not give Black any especial trouble: 11.xf7 e5! ( 11...xb2 12.b3 ) 12.g3 exd4 13.xd4 b8 ] [ 11.g3 g6 12.e2 e6 ( 12...xd4 13.xc7! ) 13.0-0-0 d6= ] 11...a6 12.c1 [ We wouldn't get the same excitement after 12.g3 g6 13.e2 xe2+ 14.xe2 e6 although this was maybe the objectively best course of action. Of course, in order to play this way, White must admit that he (or she) has no advantage. ] 12...h6?! It's around here that Papadopoulou begins to play erratically. Just [ 12...e6! was indicated to be followed by ... B d 6 , a d t h e re is n o t h i n g wro n g . A l l t h e tempo-gaining moves turn out to be tempos W h it e d o e s n 't e sp e cia lly wa n t t o ga in ! Quantity versus quality. ] 13.c4?! A double blip. [ W hite misses 13.xc7! xc7 14.f4+ c8 15.xf5 ] 13...g5 14.e3 d3 15.g3 e5 16.d5 e4 W h it e n e e d s t o ge t ca st le d a n d q u ickly. 17.fxe4! [ 17.c3 d6 18.xe4 xe4 19.fxe4 xe4 leads only to advantage for Black. ] 17...xe4 18.xe4 xe4 19.0-0 With a sigh of relief no doubt. Now she can start to think about attack. f5 Nothing better. 20.c3 g8 [ S h e p r o b a b l y d i d n ' t p l a y 20...d6! b e c a u s e o f 21.d4 he8 22.c5 but I think Black is more than OK, with nice centralization and some aggressive possibilities: e5! 23.ae1 ( 23.ad1 e2! 24.f2 h5 ) 23...xd4+ 24.xd4 e5 25.c3 d3 26.xe5 xf1 27.xe8 xe8 28.d6 ] 21.ad1 f4 22.d4 Whereas now it looks like W hite who has the more meaningful centralization. Both sides have pieces on the

edge and in this type of situation it makes sense to stick to basics. Black loses because she never attends to her queen. b8 23.fe1 f5 24.c5 b5? [ 24...g6 offers protection, but it is only of the most temporary kind: 25.c2! xc2 26.xc2 g7 27.c6! Cutting communication! xd4+ 28.xd4 f8 29.c5 ] 25.c6 Too obvious to applaud loudly. bxa4 26.c4 And resigns rather than face 26...Qc8 27 Qa5! Nb6 28 d6! Bxd6 29 Ba6. There are enough exclamation marks for me to have asked Black to play that out. These Greek women see everything. 5...Bg4 seems quite OK. 1-0

276 Martin,Andrew D Lalic,Susan Corres Ward Higgs Surrey [Andrew Martin]

B01

2005

A recent correspondence team tournament game gave me the chance to play against the sharp Portuguese Gambit. I must say I am su sp icio u s a bo u t B lack' s pa wn o f f e r, a n observation made more than once at ChessPublishing.com. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 g4 I was pretty surprised that a very strong player like Susan would try this line in correspondence . Let's face it, everyone uses playing engines these days to help them and Fritz 9 or f riends will just take you to the cleaners if you make an unsound sacrifice. That's not to say I use Fritz 9 of course, just a slip of the keyboard. 4.f3 f5 5.b5+ Definitely the critical test. White tries to keep his extra pawn. bd7 6.c4 e6 [ 6...a6 is the other variation, with White doing very well recently after the greedy 7.a4 b5 8.cxb5 With ample time to reflect on the position, I was not af raid of this continuation. Over the board, it may well be another matter. ] 7.dxe6 xe6 8.d5 f5 9.c3 b4 [ 9...c5 10.e2+! e7 11.f4 ] 10.ge2 0-0 11.xd7! So that the Bishop does not get stranded on b5. 268

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 11.0-0 e5! ] 11...xd7 12.0-0 e8!?N An innovation of Graeme Buckley I believe. Black relies on the two B is h o ps a n d t h e we a kn e ss if t h e e 3 s qu a re t o p r o vi d e co m p e n sa t io n a n d s o makes a natural developing move. It's surprising that 12...Re8 hasn't been tried before, but perhaps it has just been thought too slow. Certainly Black needs an improvement here: [ 12...e5 is unpromising: 13.g3 A) 13...d7 14.d4! e7 15.e3 xc4 16.f2 b6 17.fe1 xc3 ( 17...d6 18.ce4 e7 19.h5+- ) 18.xc3 d8 19.ad1; B) 13...d3 14.e1 c5+ 15.e3 d6 16.h1 xe3 17.xe3 xc4 18.d4 ae8 19.xe5 xe5 20.xc4 f5 21.d1 h8 22.g1 a6 23.d4 b5 24.a3 g8 25.f2 fe8 26.f4 e4 27.cxe4 xf4+ 28.g1 fxe4 29.xg7+ xg7 30.h5+ 1-0 Kaugars, A-Pitre, H/San Francisco 1999 ] [ Maybe 12...c5 is the best chance, after which I was intending 13.e3 e8 14.d4! ( 14.xc5 xc5+ 15.h1 h4 16.b3 e3 17.g3 f6 18.a4 d3 19.f2 xe2 0-1 Dworakowski, L-Krivoshey, S/ Koszalin 1998 ) 14...e7 15.g3! g6 16.f2 d3 17.ce4 xf2 18.xf2 f5 19.a3 wit h a dvant age t o W hit e. Su ch ta ctica l jousting is easy to handle in correspondence. ] 13.g3 g6 [ 13...f6 is a move of the same kind as 12... Re8, getting the pieces out, but Black is a pawn down! So it's not surprising that White can keep an edge, although as the game goes, it may well have been Black's best shot. 14.ce4 b6+ 15.h1 g6 16.b3 ] 14.ce4 f5 [ Two alternatives fail to convince: 14...e7 15.g5 f6 16.d2 f5 17.b3! xd2 18.xd2 c5+ 19.h1 b6 20.a4 ] [ 14...c5 15.d4 xe4 16.fxe4 e7 17.f2! f8 18.a3 d6 19.f4 xe4 20.xd6 cxd6 21.d4 g6 22.ae1 ] 15.g5 b8!? I hadn't seen this move at all, and when I spoke to Susan at a recent 4NCL weekend she told me that she had missed 16

Qa4! Perhaps we should both hand in our titles! [ But if 15...e7 White's route to advantage is clear enough: 16.xe7 xe7 17.f2 c5 18.d2! b6 ( 18...xc4 19.fc1 ) 19.b3 ] 16.a4! Very strong. fxe4 [ 16...c5+ 17.xc5 xc5 18.b4 b6 19.d2 is a pawn more for White, simple as that. ] 17.xb4 exf3 18.xf3 e5 [ I thought that the main idea behind 15... Qb8 lay in 18...b5 but now I see that this is no good either|: 18...b5 19.c5 ( 19.xb5 xb5 20.cxb5 e5 21.f4 xd5 22.a4 a6 23.xc7 axb5 24.a5 c5 ) 19...e5 20.g4 xc5 21.e3 e4 22.d4 xg3 23.xg3 ( 23.xe5 b6+ 24.f2 e4 )] 19.e3 d3 [ 19...a5 20.c3 a7 21.c5+- ] 20.xe8+ xe8 21.xb7 Over the board a cowardly White might not take all the pawns, but this is a different type of game. Black is just busted I think. h6 22.d2 f8 [ Or 22...b8 23.xa7 xb2 24.e3 d7 25.h4! c2 26.h5 h7 27.b1+- ] 23.e3 h5 24.xc7 h4 25.f1 I think the conclusion is clear that this is a variation for over the board play only. Black's pawn offer, whilst popular (because Black gets a temporary initiative), is ultimately dubious. 1-0

277 Maze,Sebastien Bauer,Christian 83rd ch-FRA Pau FRA (4) [John Watson]

B01 2553 2583 14.08.2008

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.h3 h5 7.e2 A sa f e m o ve W h it e co u n t s u p o n a s m a ll space advantage. This is the sort of thing that ca n d rive B la ck n u t s in a S ca n d in a via n , because he has no natural source of counterplay. [ The main move for years has been 7.g4 (7 Bd2 is also played, usually with the same idea) g6 8.e5 , a position which Bauer has played many times, for example, e6 269

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.g2 c6 10.e2 bd7 11.xd7 xd7 12.d2 0-0-0 13.0-0 c7 with no problems, Libiszewski-Bauer, Calvia ESP 2005. Of course, there's much, much more theory here. ] 7...bd7 8.0-0 e6 9.d2!? White's idea is to play Nc4 and then develop his c1 bishop aggressively. A normal-looking sequence would be [ 9.f4 b4 10.d3 , or ] [ 9.d2 c6 10.e1 c7 ] 9...xe2 10.xe2 c6 11.c4 c7 12.g5 e7 13.ad1 0-0 14.h4 Now he would like to play Bg3. b5!? Very committal. Objectively, Black is better off waiting, but that's hardly satisfying. [ 14...b6 15.g3 d8 is the sort of solid, slight disadvantage that leading GMs play accept. ] 15.g3 d8 16.e5 [ 16.d6 b6 17.b7! c8 18.c5 is a n a c t ive a p p ro a ch p r o m i sin g s o m e advantage. ] 16...c8 17.f3 [ Or 17.a4 b4 18.e4 ] 17...d5 18.e4 7f6 19.xf6+ xf6 20.c3 c5?! Finally, this freeing move, but Black should get off the d-file first: [ 20...a5 . The position would remain somewhat better for White, however. ] 21.dxc5 xe5? [ 21...xc5 22.d3 c6 23.b4 c5 keeps Black's disadvantage down. With the text, he cedes the dark squares and loses material. ] 22.xe5 xc5 Sacrificing the exchange in the face of Qg4 or Bd6. 23.g3 g6 24.d6 c4 25.xf8 xf8 26.e5 c5 27.e4 c8 28.d4 g7 29.a4 a6 30.axb5 axb5 31.a1 c7 32.d3 White is drifting 32 Re1 is more natural, or even 32 g3. f4! 33.d2 f5 34.e4?! [ 34.d7! c6 35.f3 ] 34...e5 35.h2 c6 36.ae1 h5 37.xf4!? White feels some pressure (in time trouble?) and goes for a lesser, but clear, advantage. The rest of the game isn't very interesting. Black fights like a tiger, while White evidently tires and gives away the win. exf4 38.xf4 f5 39.d4+ f6 40.xf6+ xf6 41.g3 g5+ 42.f3 f5+ 43.e2

h5 44.d1 e5+ 45.f1 h4 46.d4 g5 47.f3 [ 47.g3! ] 47...f5 48.f2 f6 49.b4 d5 50.e3 e5+ 51.e4 d5 52.d4 [ 52.f4 d1 53.d4 ] 52...e5+ 53.d2 e6 54.c4?! bxc4 55.xc4 b6 56.b4 e5 57.c3 b7 58.e4+ d5 59.g4 a7 60.f4 gxf4 61.xf4 a3+ 62.b2 g3 63.xh4 f5 ½-½

278 McShane,Luke J Lalic,Bogdan Masters, Catalan Bay (5) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2565 2545 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.c4 a6 6.ge2 I wonder if McShane s a w B l a c k ' s n e x t m o v e ? c6?! The 'Poisoned Pawn' variation of the S c a n d i n a vi a n ! P e r s o n a l l y I d o n ' t l i k e i t because of the massive advantage in development that White gets but matters are not so clear. Let's take a look at the complications: 7.b3 [ The alternative is 7.d3!? White develops a new piece, protects the Bishop and facilitates long castling. This gives quite a dangerous initiative: xg2 8.g1 xh2!? Leading to a white-knuckle ride! ( 8...h3!? More circumspect. Black gives his Queen a way out and intends to close the g file as soon as he can. 9.e3 g6! If Black is to grab pawns and live he must trust in the following idea. 10.0-0-0 g7 11.f4 f5 12.d2 d7 13.h4 b5 14.b3 c6 15.d3 A position reminiscent of the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. It's not entirely clear that the W hite initiative is worth a pawn but Black certainly has some serious defending to do before he can consolidate.) 9.f4 h3 10.g3 b5 ( 10...d7 Time-wasting. 11.0-0-0 g6 12.e5 c6 13.xf6 exf6 14.d5 g7 15.de1+ f8 16.a3+ ) 11.b3 c6 12.0-0-0 bd7 13.e2 g4 14.e3 e6 15.ge4 h5 16.h1 f5 17.g3 g6 18.dg1 Most players would be very unwilling to allow 270

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 such an attack unless forced to. I believe in White's compensation and my conclusion is that 7 Qd3 is probably the best move. ] 7...xg2 8.g1 h3 [ 8...xh2!? 9.f4 h5 10.xc7 ( Perhaps its better to ignore pawns at this stage and play for outright attack: 10.d2 g6 11.0-0-0 a5 12.b1 g7 13.d5 xd2 14.xc7+ f8 15.xd2 a7 Even so, Black is surviving.) 10...g4 11.d2 bd7 12.0-0-0 c8 13.g3 a5 14.f4 e6 15.d5 e5 16.f3 xf3 17.e3 c5 18.xf3 xg1 19.xg1 exf4 20.xg7 f8 21.g5 g8 22.f5 g4 23.xf4 g1+ 24.d1 e1 25.c3 e4 26.h3 xf3 27.xf3 e1 28.hf2 h5 29.d2 e5 30.d3 e4+ 31.c1 g5 32.f4 g3 33.f1 h4 0-1 was the complicated continuation of Govbinder-Melts Internet 1998. If you don't mind defending for a while you can take the second pawn. The Lalic game plan seems to be to lead the game into as murky a position as possible. ] 9.f4 d7 [ After 9...f5 10.xc7 g6 11.d5! c8 12.f4 bd7 13.d4 Black is tied up. ] 10.d3! As before, I like this idea. White trusts in development and prepares to castle. It's straightforward. A wedge can be established after [ 10.d5!? The story is the same. Is Black able to extricate himself from his cramped p o s i t i o n b e f o r e t h e r o o f c a v e s i n : g6 11.d2 g7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.h6 e5 14.h4 e7 15.g5 xh6 16.xh6 ] 10...c6 11.a3 e6N A sign that Lalic is feeling uncomfortable with McShane's pressure. He shuts down the diagonal. Surprisingly this move is a novelty-previously Black gave priority to ...b7-b5 and ...Na5, again trying to blot out the strong Bishop on b3. According to Michael Melts this latter method is both interesting and satisfactory: [ 11...b5!? 12.0-0-0 b7 13.d5 ( 13.g3 0-0-0 14.ge4 xe4 15.xe4 e5 ) 13...a5 14.a2 c5 15.b4 ( 15.dxc6 xd3 16.xd3 xc6 ) 15...cxb4 16.axb4 c4 17.xc4 bxc4 18.xc4 c8 ] [ 11...a5!? 12.a2 b5 13.0-0-0 b7 14.b4 c4 15.xc4 bxc4 16.xc4 ] 12.0-0-0 e7?! So this was the idea-to pack

the Kingside. I do not like this time-consuming m a n o e u vr e . 13.e5 g6 14.xf6 gxf6 15.d5! e5 [ 15...h6+ leads to a position which seems disgusting for Black, but which might just be playable due to the strength of the darksquared Bishop : 16.b1 e5 17.a4 b5 18.xb5 f8!? 19.bc3 d8 20.d6 ( 20.c4!? ) 20...cxd6 21.xd6+ xd6 22.xd6 e6 ] 16.a4 b5 17.xb5 h6+ 18.b1 0-0 he could have transposed with ...Kf8. The problem with the text move isn't the vulnerability of the Black King as much as the impending power of the W hite d pawn and the inability of the King on g8 to play a defensive role. 19.bc3 h3 20.c4 g7 21.xc7 g4 22.d6 f5 23.d7 McShane has played the position very well, giving Lalic no time at all to a ctiva te th e potential monster on g7. ad8 24.d3 h5 25.e1 xh2 26.c5 e4 [ 26...f4 27.d6 h3 28.c6 with the idea of Rh1 is very good for White. h5 ] 27.d5 f4 28.xf4 xf4 29.e2 b8 30.d4 h5 31.c3 xd4 32.xd4 f4 33.d1 h4 34.xg4 xg4 35.f3! with Rg1 to follow. Summarising: The Poisoned Pawn variation is not for the timid, with either colour! Many White players won't even realise that they are giving away a pawn after 6 Nge2 and 6. ..Qc6 could come as a colossal shock! Knowledge of the complications could be quite a good point scorer for potential Black players, but I would prefer to keep this line as a surprise weapon in my repertoire. W ith 6...b5 available, to venture 6... Qc6 on a regular basis to me just seems too risky. 1-0

279 Milos,Gilberto Sapis,Witalis Cappelle la Grande [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2620 2403 2000

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 Considering this line a few months ago we came to the conclusion Black suffered serious problems. 271

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Nevertheless currently this line is played rather often although the statistics are disastrous for Black. Mainly W hite chooses dif ferent setups with an early g2-g4. 3.d4 xd5 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.h3 g7 7.c3 0-0 8.e3 c6 9.d2 e5 10.d5 e7 11.g4 f5 12.0-0-0 fxg4 13.g5 We have already examined this line in GipslisMaric (AV60) where Black failed to equalize after 13... Nf5. Now he tries a relatively new idea. g3!? 14.c5 [ Black's idea would be justified after the natural looking 14.fxg3?! : xf1! 15.hxf1 xc4 and Black has ample compensation for the sacrificed exchange. Unfortunately in Afek-Shrentzel, Tel Aviv 1993 Black committed a blunder on the very next move: 16.f2 xe3? Missing a very nice com bin ation . ( 16...f5! should be played and here Black's chances are by no means worse, for example: 17.e6 xe6 18.dxe6 e8 ) 17.f7+! (an unexpected piece s a c r i f i c e ) h8 18.d6! g8! and now 19.ce4!! (with the idea 20.Q:g7! K:g7 21. R f 7 ) w o n b y f o r c e : ( Instead 19.f4? was played and after xg5!! 20.xg5 xf1 21.xf1 h6 22.xh6 xh6 23.f8+ g7 24.d7! xd7 25.xa8 xh3 26.xa7 g2 an equal endgame had arisen.) 19...xf1 ( 19...h6 20.dxc7 xd1+ 21.xd1 xf7 22.d8+! winning on the spot.) 20.dxc7! xd1+ ( or 20...f8 21.d8! ) 21.xd1 e3+ 22.e2 f5 23.xf5! and White wins ] [ B e s i d e s t h e t e x t , 14.e2!? is worth considering. In Liss-Veinger, Rishon Lezion 1991 White obtained an opening advantage after g2 ( 14...gxf2 15.c5 ) 15.hg1 h6 16.ge4 xh3 17.xh6 c8 18.xg7 xg7 19.g5 f5 20.d3 d6 21.xe5+ g8 22.xd6 cxd6 23.xd6 f7 24.g3 g7 25.c5 f5 26.e6+ and Black resigned. ] 14...g2 15.xg2 c4 16.e2 xe3 17.fxe3 f5 18.h4! An important novelty. [ Before White played 18.ge4 h6 19.d3 w h i c h d o e s n ' t l o o k p r o m i s i n g : b6! (threatening 20...Ba6) 20.b4 bxc5 21.xc5 g3 22.b2 xh1 23.xh1 f1+ 24.d1 xe3+ 25.b1 f5+ 26.a1 xd1+ and in view of 27.xd1 xc5 28.bxc5 b8

White resigned, Vlcek-Kujovic, Bratislava 1998. ] 18...g3 Black has to accept the exchange sacrifice since after [ 18...e7 19.d6 cxd6 20.d5+ h8 21.ce4! dxc5 22.h5! White has an unstoppable attack. ] 19.c4 xh1 20.d6+ h8 21.d7! White plays very inventively. [ The hasty 21.f7+ is not good in view of xf7 22.xf7 cxd6! , and Black is better: 23.xd6 f8! ] 21...xd7 22.f7+ xf7 23.xf7 xh4! [ 23...f8?! i s i n f e r i o r : 24.xd7 f2 25.xb7 d3+ 26.c2 xc5 27.xg7+! xg7 28.xg7 xb7 29.xc7 with a huge edge for White. ] 24.xd7 h6 25.e4! g8? A gross mistake. [ 25...f8 is also bad in view of 26.g5! ( t h r e a t e n i n g 2 7 Q x f 8 ) f2 27.d5! and Black is hopeless against the threat of 29 Qg8+. ] [ 25...xe3+? is even worse: 26.c2 e2+ ( 26...g8 27.xh1 ) 27.d2 g8 28.d5 winning on the spot ] [ but the unexpected 25...g3! 26.xg3 f8! secured Black good counterchances: 27.xg7+ (the only move) ( 27.b3? g5; 27.e7 f6 ) 27...xg7 28.xg7 xg7 29.xb7 h5 and in this complicated endgame Black's chances are by no means worse. ] 26.c2! Probably Black missed this very st ro n g p ro p h yl a c t i c m o ve . No w B l a c k i s defenseless. h4 27.xh1 xh1 28.f6! g2+ 29.c3 Now White's King is in safety and in view of the unavoidable mate Black resigned. Despite the convincing win in this game it would be premature to draw definite conclusions since the position is very complicated and Black had the possibility to improve on move 29. So in my opinion, 14 Be2 as was played in Liss-Veinger deserves serious attention and undoubtedly we'll see this move in future games. 1-0

272

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 way the Bishop on g2 has no future. 15.f3 ( 15.g3 xc3 16.bxc3 d5 17.d2 a4 18.e2 b5 19.h6 0-0-0 20.a3 g6 21.g5 d6 22.xd8 xd8 23.f3 f5 24.f1 xf3 25.xf3 c7 26.e3 fxg4 27.xe6 a5 28.f7+ d7 29.b3 f4 Bauer, C-Prie, E/Auxerre 1996) 15...b4 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 16.f2 xc3 ( 16...xe3 17.xe3 xc3 Muc h h as bee n mad e rece nt ly abo ut th e 18.bxc3 h3 19.h1 xc3 20.b1 ) uncertain future of 3...Qa5. Read some of the 17.bxc3 xc3 18.b1 xd4 19.xb7 d8 posts at the forum and one would think that 20.h6 gxh6 21.g6 e7 22.xd4 xd4 this venerable line were all but refuted. This is 23.d3 d8 24.xd8+ xd8 25.d3 nonsense of course and Eric Prié continues to 1-0 Anand, V-Lautier, J/ Biel 1997 ] play 3...Qa5 with success. In our featured game W hite is happy to repeat a line which 14.f4 b6 15.b3 0-0-0 Black is absolutely Anand has used with success. No doubt he fine, albeit in a complicated position. His King expected Prie to fold in the same way that is safe, the Bishop on g2 can get out and Lautier does in one of our sidelines. 4.d4 f6 White's King is not altogether secure in the 5.f3 f5 6.c4 c6 7.e5 e6 8.g4 g6 middle of the board. It's also not clear to me 9.h4 A system which is described as ' whether the white pawns aren't just a target menacing' by GM John Emms, but which I for Black to latch on to. 16.f2 d5 17.xd5 analyse as satisfactory for Black in my recent There are only a limited number of moves Centre Counter book. bd7 10.xd7 xd7 which deal with the threat of ..Qxf4+ xd5 11.h5 e4 12.h3 g2! An important move 18.f3 f6 19.g3 g6! The first prod at mentioned by Beat Zuger and Matthias Wahls, those exposed pawns. There is a downside to the point of which is to drive the White Rook all this White aggression you know. 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.g5 to an awkward square. [ 21.c3 d6 22.g1 g5 spells serious [ 12...d5 13.d3 0-0-0 14.d2 b6 problems for White ] 15.e2 xd4 16.0-0-0 d6 17.b1 e5 18.h6 g6 19.f4 xf4 20.xd5 cxd5 21...e4+ 22.g2 xg5-+ Game, set and 21.c3 b6 22.xh8 xh8 23.c4 d4 match I think. White limps to the finishing line. 24.f3 e5 25.e4 c5 26.d5 f6 23.d3 e4 24.f3 d6 25.e3 f5 27.a3 b8 28.b4 b6 29.b2 e6 26.f2 d6 27.d5 exd5 28.xd5 h4+ 1/2-1/2 Matsuura, E-Zarnicki, P/Santos 29.xh4 xh4 Just a very convincing game by Prie. Rumours of the death of 3... Qa5 2004 ] have been greatly exaggerated. 13.e3 0-1 [ 13.g3 d5 14.d3 d6! ] 13...c7!N An interesting new move. Prie makes f2-f3 unattractive. Other moves may 281 B01 be satisfactory too: [ 13...d5 14.xd5 ( 14.f1 0-0-0 15.d2 Morozevich,Alexander b6 16.xd5 exd5 17.c3 f6 ) 14...cxd5 Rogers,Ian 15.d2 b4 16.a3 xc3 17.xc3 d8 Bundesliga 1998/99 (10) 1999 ( 17...c7 is an obvious improvement.) [Nigel Davies] 18.f3 0-0 19.0-0-0 a5 20.a4 b5 21.axb5 b8 22.g5 xb5 23.g4 a4 24.g6 a3 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 g4 4.e2 ( 24...f6! 25.gxh7+ h8 ) 25.gxh7+ c6 5.d4 0-0-0 6.e3 In my view is the xh7 26.bxa3 f6 27.g5 g8 28.h6 most accurate order of moves, something e4 29.xe4 gxh6 30.h5 g5 31.xf7+ which Scandinavian expert Ian Rogers seems g7 32.xe6 1-0 Otero, D-Matamoros to agrees with because he later played it Franco, C/Santa Clara 1999 ] himself. [ 13...b6 14.d3 d5 If Black plays this [ After the immediate 6.c4 , Black can play 280

B01 Moriuchi,Toshiyuki 2301 Prie,Eric 2439 XXVIII Open San Sebastian ESP (9)26.03.2005 [Andrew Martin]

273

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 7.e3 xf3! 8.xf3 xd4 9.xd4 ( or 9.g4 c2+ ) 9...e6+ 10.e2 c5 ] 6...f6 [ After 6...e5 7.c4 , Black's queen is cut off from either f5 or h5. Rogers - Matamoros, Hamburg 1999 continued a5+ 8.d2 b4 9.d5 xf3 10.xf3 xd2+ 11.xd2 d4 12.0-0 b4 13.b3!? ( Rogers sacrifices a pawn for a dangerous looking attack, though Black manages to hold the balance with precise defence. White could also consider 13.e1 and meet xb2 with 14.b3 ) 13...xc4 14.xd4 xd4 15.c2 f6 16.fd1 f4 17.d6 d7 18.c5 b8 19.dxc7+ xc7 20.d6 hc8 21.e1 g4 22.xg4 xg4 23.xe5 f6 24.d6 d7 25.g3 a6 26.h3 1/2-1/2 ] 7.c4 h5 For 7...Qf5 see de Firmian Waitzkin. [ 7...a5+ 8.c3 e5 9.d5 b4 10.0-0 he8 11.c2 xf3 12.xf3 d4 13.xd4 exd4 14.e4 e7 15.a3 xe4 16.b4 b6 17.xe4 gave Whtie a tremendous position in Kudla - Majer, Valtice (Czech Ch) 1992, though he later managed to lose. ] 8.bd2 e5 9.d5 d4 10.xd4 exd4 11.xg4+ [ Improving on 11.xd4 , after which Rogers might have intended to follow the game De La Villa - Arizmendi, Pamplona 1998. Black scared his opponent half to death with b4 ( 11...e8 12.f3 f5 13.f1 h4+ 14.g3 h3 15.f2 d6 16.e3 e7 17.f1 left Black struggling to find adequate counterplay in Poluljahov - Volokitin, Polanica Zdroj Open,1999; and 11...d6 12.xg4+ xg4 13.h3 f5 14.0-0 left Black a pawn down in S Movsesian Damaso, Cappelle la Grande 1998.) 12.f3 xf3 13.gxf3 ( 13.xf3 h4+ 14.f2 xc4 keeps W hite's king in the centre) 13...xd5 14.cxd5 xd5 15.c2 xd4 16.0-0-0 h6 17.a3 xd2+ 18.xd2 hd8 19.hd1 f4 20.c3 8d6 21.c2 xd2+ 22.xd2 xd2+ 23.xd2 xh2 with a probable draw if both sides play well. There is also the danger that Rogers may have found an improvement for Black. ] 11...xg4 12.xd4 b4 13.h3 xd2+ 14.xd2 g5+ 15.c3 Having bee n brought up on the King's Gambit, this is all

rather ho hum for Morozevich. Black is a pawn d o w n w i t h o u t m u c h t o s h o w f o r i t . e5 16.e2 xc4 A rather desperate piece sac in an attempt to drum up counterplay. Morozevich deals with it in very cool fashion. 17.xc4 xd5 18.ad1 hd8 19.e3 e5+ 20.c2 b5 21.xd5 xd5 22.g4+ f5 23.f4 e6 24.b1 g5 25.xg5 e4+ 26.a1 1-0

282 Movsesian,Sergei Biolek,Richard Olomouc [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2555 2410 1997

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.b5+ d7 4.e2 xd5 5.d4 b6 6.c4 e5!? A rare but very interesting gambit line. Black's ideas are similar to those in the well-known line 3.d4 Nxd5 4.c4 Nb6 5. Nc3 e5 which we have considered already ( see Remizov - Bezgodov ). 7.dxe5 c6 8.f3 [ 8.f4?! seems to weaken White's position. Another drawback of this move is that White lags behind in development. e6! 9.xd8+ xd8 10.b3 c5 11.b2 d4 12.d1 f5 13.c3 e3 with tremendous compensation. ] 8...b4+ 9.bd2 e7 [ 9...0-0 10.a3 xd2+ 11.xd2 g4 12.c5 xf3 13.xf3 c4 14.c3 xd1+ 15.xd1 4xe5 16.e2 with a huge edge as White's bishops dominated Black's Knights in Rasik Zurek, Czech, 1993. ] 10.0-0 0-0-0 11.c2 g5! [ Black could win the sacrificed pawn back, but this allows White to gain some tempi for launching a Q-side attack: 11...xe5 12.a3 d6 13.b4 ] 12.b3 g4? A mistake which loses by force. [ 12...xe5 Here this move was already o b li g a t o r y: 13.a3 xf3+ 14.xf3 c5 15.xc5 xc5 16.b4 xc4 17.xc4 xc4 18.xg5 de8 and White's chances are only slightly better. ] 13.g5! Definitely Black underestimated this move. f8 [ The Queen sacrifice is also hopeless for 274

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black: 13...gxf3 14.xe7 fxe2 15.xd8 exf1+ 16.xf1 xd8 17.c5 with a decisive advantage. ] 14.fd4 xd4 15.xd4 e7 16.xe7 xe7 17.c5! a4 [ 17...d5 18.c6 winning ] 18.c3 [ 18.b3! was not bad either: xd4 19.cxb6 c6 20.bxa7 a3 21.c5!! and White wins. ] 18...d5 This move loses a piece. [ 18...d7 is more stubborn, although the position is very bad for Black: 19.a5 xc5 ( 19...xc5 20.xa7 h5 21.fc1 ) 20.xa4 b6 21.xg4+ b8 22.b3 xa4 23.xc5 xc5 24.f4 and with accurate play White should win the endgame. ] 19.a5 xe5 20.xa4 f4 21.xg4+ b8 22.f3 e2+ 23.h1 g7 24.ae1 Despite the speedy disaster in this game this gambit line looks rather viable. The theory of this line is based on just a few games, and there is much scope for further investigation. 1-0

283 Movsesian,Sergei Damaso,Rui Pula [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2630 2465 1997

The following game is an excellent example of dynamic positional chess. Early in the o p e n i n g B la c k sa c rif ic e s a p a wn f o r t h e initiative and outplays his strong opponent very convincingly. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.b5+ bd7! This move leads to a very sharp and interesting game. It allows White to k e e p a n e xt r a p a wn b u t B l a ck h a s g o o d prospects for gaining the initiative. [ 3...d7 winning the pawn back, is also possible, but White is slightly better after 4.c4 g4 5.f3 c8 6.c3 bd7 7.ge2 b6 ( now White can't protect the d5-pawn ) 8.b3!? bxd5 ( After 8...xc4 9.bxc4 e6 10.dxe6 xe6 11.d3 Black hardly has full compensation for the pawn.) 9.xd5 xd5 10.b2 as the game Kalichkin - Pisakov, Russia, 1997 proved. ] 4.c4 a6 5.xd7+

[ 5.a4!? deserves attention, but after b5! 6.cxb5 xd5 7.c3 b7 in my opinion Black has ample compensation. ] 5...xd7!? [ Black wouldn't obtain sufficient compensation after 5...xd7?! 6.d3 c6 7.dxc6 xc6 8.f3 f5 9.0-0 d8 10.e5! c8 11.d4 Now White has an extra pawn as well as a huge advantage in development . d7 12.a4 f6 13.xd7 xd7 14.b3 e6 15.f4 and I would not like to play Black in this position, Calzetta, M-Medina, Espana, 1992. ] 6.d4 White has tried various different continuations in this position, but none of them have brought him any advantage, for example: [ 6.f3 e6! 7.dxe6 xe6 8.a4+ c6 9.0-0 d3! ( blocking the d-pawn and preventing W h i t e ' s n o r m a l d e v e l o p m e n t ) 10.b3 0-0-0! 11.xd3 xd3 12.b3 c5 13.b2 e4 with fantastic compensation in Euler Buenermann, 1993 ] 6...e6! This is much more to the point than the p la n wi t h c 7 -c 6 f r o m Ca lze t t a - Me d in a . 7.dxe6 xe6 8.d5 g4 9.f3 f5 10.e3 Otherwise after Bf8-c5 it would be difficult to castle kingside. Queenside castling is also very dangerous for W hite because Black's li g h t -s q u a r e d B i sh o p i s ve r y s t r o n g , f o r example: [ 10.c3?! c5 11.ge2 ( 11.e2+?! l e a d s W h i t e n o w h e r e i n v i e w o f d7! and although the threat of Re8 is obvious, it's not easy to parry.) 11...0-0 12.g5 h6 13.h4 e8 14.b3 b8 , intending to meet 15.0-0-0 with b5! ] 10...b4+ 11.f2 [ 11.d2?! is weaker: e7 the pin on the efile is quite unpleasant ( 11...0-0 intending Re8 is not bad either.) 12.e2 0-0 13.a3 ( w h a t e l s e ? ) c5 14.xc5 xc5 Now Re8 is threatened, and the only move 15.0-0-0 allows Black to win the pawn back: xd5 16.b3 e3+ with a clear edge. ] 11...0-0 12.a3 d6 13.e2 e8 White's extra pawn is of no importance for an assessment of this position, because all the Black pieces are placed very actively and the White king can't feel completely safe. All this fully compensates Black f or the loss of a 275

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pawn. 14.g3 g6 15.d4 This move is just a waste of time. [ Either 15.e1 protecting the Be3 and preparing an escape for the king ] [ or 15.c3 completing his development, should be preferred. ] 15...d7! Clearing a e for the queen and t r a n s f e rr i n g t h e kn i g h t t o a m o re a ct i ve position. 16.f1 White decides to give up his extra pawn to give time for his king to escape. e5 17.g1 It took White three moves to castle, definitely too many! h4!? [ Simply 17...xc4!? is not bad either. ] 18.c3 xc4 Now the material balance has b e e n re s t o re d a n d B la ck's a d va n t a ge i s beyond doubt. 19.ce4 f4! [ Of course, gathering the harvest immediately is possible: 19...xe4 20.fxe4 xg3 21.hxg3 xe4 but the text is even better as White has no defence against f7f5. ] 20.e1 f5 Now White is in real trouble. 21.d3 [ 21.c3 didn't help W hite either: xe1+ 22.xe1 xg3 and Black wins a piece. 23.xg3 xd4+ ] 21...e5 22.xe5 fxe4! 23.c4 xe5 The rest needs no comment. 24.d6+ h8 25.d7 ed8 26.ad1 e7 Excellent game! 0-1

284 Muzychuk,Anna Repkova,Eva II Controceni Open (4) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2528 2446 05.03.2011

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 Black delays ...Nf6 which we will see in the last games of the update. According to Bauer's book this line is known as the "Konigspringerzuruckhaltungspolitik". It really rolls off the tongue doesn't it! 5.c4 f5 [ 5...f6 6.f3 ( 6.d2!? would transpose to various games in the archives including Hamdouchi-Boe which I looked at last year.) 6...f5 7.d2 would transpose to the mainline seen later in this update. ] 6.d2 e6 7.d5 Suggested by Eric Prié in notes to earlier games and after checking this

game it appears very threatening. [ 7.g4 has also been looked at a couple times in the archives. ] 7...cxd5 8.xd5 d8 9.e2 f6 [ Bauer observes that 9...e7? 10.e3 bc6 11.c3! c7 12.0-0-0 is very good for White. ] 10.xf6+ xf6 [ 10...gxf6?! didn't work well in Solodovnichenko, Y (2514)-Pantioukhine, S (2260) Rochefort 2005 looked at by Eric Prié in the archives. ] 11.0-0-0 [ White should avoid 11.c3? b4! 12.xb4 xb2 ] [ B a u e r ' s m a i n l i n e r u n s 11.f3 c6 12.0-0-0 a3 13.c3 c5 14.g5 g6 15.d2 0-0 16.h4 h5 17.e2 g4 18.f3 h6!= ] 11...c6 [ This was the last opportunity to play 11...a3 but 12.c3 c5? is no longer playab le du e t o ( 12...e7 13.g4 g6 14.h4 h6 15.f4 Proved very unpleasant for Black. One game continued: c6 16.f5! exf5 17.g5 e5 18.gxh6 0-0-0 Lanka, Z (2494)-Zvara, P (2409) Czechia 2008 when 19.h5 h7 20.hxg7 xg7 21.h3 g4 22.f4 would have left White with a fantastic position. ) 13.b5+ c6 14.c4 e7 15.b4+- ] 12.c3! This looks like a nuance cutting out Bauer's ...Ba3 plans. [ 12.g4 is looked at by Andy Martin in the archives in the notes to Handke-Motwani Port Erin 2003 but Bauer is unimpressed. ] [ T h e Fr e n c h G M o n l y co n sid e r s 12.f3 transposing back into his mainline with a3 ] 12...g5+ Perhaps this logical check is actually an error as if the g2 pawn is too hot then Black is just giving White an extra tempo to develop his knight. [ 12...g6 13.f3 e7 14.h3 f6 ( 14...0-0 15.g4 e4 16.he1 xf3 17.xf3 b4 might be Black's best but I'd still choose W hite after 18.xb4 xb4 19.b3 ac8 20.c3 ) 15.g4 ( 15.xf6 xf6 16.b5 0-0 17.xc6 bxc6 18.e3 ab8 19.e5 gives White a slight positional edge.) 15...e4 16.xf6 xf3 17.xf3 xf6 18.xf6 gxf6 19.b5 c8 276

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.d6 e7 21.hd1 b8 22.e2 and only White can win the endgame but the draw was successfully held in Kaufeld, J (2265)-Boehnke, M (2206) Germany 2005. ] [ 12...h6+ has also been played a couple of t ime s b u t 13.b1 b4 14.g4! g6 ( 14...xc3 15.gxf5 ) 15.h4! xc3 16.bxc3 0-0 17.h5 forces Black to try f6 to keep the piece 18.xe6+ f7 19.f3 and Black doesn't have enough for the pawn. ] 13.b1 c5 This is a logical developing move but in conjunction with her next it leaves an odd impression. [ Taking the pawn is very risky but needs to be examined: 13...xg2 14.f3 g4 A) 15.b5 is also possible and also forces Black to be accurate. This might even be stronger. e4 ( 15...e7 16.hg1 e4 17.d2 d8 18.d4 g6 19.d3 d5 20.xc6 xc6 21.xg7 g8 22.c3 and Black's king has no safe location.) 16.d2 d5 17.e5 h5 A1) 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xd5! is very appealing but xd5 ( 19...exd5 20.xc6+ e7 21.he1+ d6 22.xa8+- ) 20.xd5 cxb5 21.xb5 h5 22.d1 h4 gives Black good drawing chances.; A2) 18.he1 With huge pressure on Black's position, i.e. e7 19.xd5! A v e r y s t r o n g q u e e n s a c ri f i c e . exd5 20.xc6 bxc6 21.xc6+ f8 22.xa8 xh2 23.xd5 c7 24.b5 and White's position looks fantastic to me.; B) 15.d5!? when unfortunately for Black i t a p p e a r s n e c e s s a r y t o p l a y e7 to prevent being mated in the centre but now 16.hg1 h5 17.xc6+ bxc6 18.xg7 ( 18.g3!? ) 18...g6 19.e5 with ongoing pressure. ] [ 13...e7 14.f3 g6 15.b5 0-0? This loses on the spot but the position was already very difficult. 16.xc6 bxc6 17.e5 xg2 ( 17...f6 18.g4 g6 19.h4 h6 20.h5 h7 21.g6 e5 22.xf8+- ) 18.hg1 e4 19.xc6 xc6 20.xg7+ h8 Lutz, D (2139) -Hillmann, M (1763) W illingen 2003 when W hite overlooked forced mate with 21.xh7+! xh7 22.h5+ g8 23.h8# ]

[ 13...b4 would at least try to exchange some pieces but energetic play proves Black still ha s h uge p ro ble ms. 14.f3 g4 15.xb4!? ( 15.h3 e4 16.xg7 g8 17.g4 xe2 18.xe2 xc2+ 19.xc2 xg7 20.b5 leaves Black in an unpleasant ending.) 15...xb4 16.b5+ f8 17.a4! c8 18.d4 xg2 19.hd1 a n d W h i t e 's in it ia t ive is d e cisive : xc2 20.d8+ e7 21.1d7+ f6 22.e5+ g6 23.h4+ g5 24.xf5! 1-0 Schlesinger, O (2207)-Duncker, J (2256) Germany 2004. ] 14.f3 xg2 Grabbing the pawn is extremely foolhardy. [ 14...g4 was played in the only other game to reach this position and looks a better choice. 15.he1 ( 15.h3 is a further possibility when e4 16.g4 xe2 17.xe2 e4 18.xg7 g8 19.c3 xf2 20.hf1 c5 21.b5 is very good for W hite.) 15...0-0 16.h3 f4 17.d7 b4 18.g3 b8 19.xb4 xb4 Feuerstack, A (2286)Storm, R (2235) Germany 2004 and Black was closing in on equalising. ] 15.h4 e4 [ Grabbing yet another pawn simply opens another file towards Black's king. 15...xf2 16.xf5 ( 16.xf2 xf2 17.xf5 exf5 18.hf1 h4 19.xf5 d8 20.xd8+ xd8 21.xg7 g8 22.d4 regains both pawns and would give W hite a great endgame. ) 16...xf5 17.xg7 g8 18.hf1 g6 19.f6 with very strong pressure for the pawn. ] 16.xf5 xf5 17.hg1 I wonder if we were still following Muzychuk's preparation. [ Restoring the material balance was also possible and favoured White: 17.xg7 g8 18.hg1 d8 19.d3 xf2 ( 19...h3 20.b5 xd1+ 21.xd1! leaves Black u n d e r u n p l e a s a n t p r e s s u r e a s xg7 22.e5! wins back the piece when I doubt Black's king will survive very long.) 20.d4! i s a n e a t t r i c k g a i n i n g m a t e r i a l . xg1 21.xf2 xd1+ 22.xd1 xf2 23.e2 ] 17...g8?! This move looks pretty terrible as Anna's energetic play shows. [ 17...d8 is more logical when 18.xd8+ ( 18.d3 now allows xf2 as there's no Bd4 trick. ) 18...xd8 19.xg7 e8 20.d3 f4 277

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.h5 although White still has a clear [ 9.b1 is a very meek move given that advantage ] Black isn't threatening to take on b2 anyway. 18.d3 xf2 White pretends that his Rook move is doing [ 18...h3 would prevent White's next but something by playing b2-b4 in short order following 19.e4! Black is totally lost. ] but Black's game is very comfortable: bd7 19.h5! xg1 Repkova decides to give up 10.b4 c7 11.e1 d6 12.h3 h6 13.f1 material to reduce the pressure on her 0-0= 14.a4 e5 15.c5 e4 16.h4 h7 position but at the end of the following forced 17.g4 A very silly move. ad8 18.c1 variation Black can resign. xc5 19.bxc5 h2+ 20.h1 xd4 [ 19...0-0-0 would attempt to get the king to winning, Gazarek,D-Horvath,C/Pula 1998. ] safety but 20.gf1! g6 ( 20...xd3 21.cxd3 9...e7 10.b3 As Black moves his queen e3 22.xh7+- is no better.) 21.xh7 e3 three times, so White moves his bishops. 0-0 22.de1 g5 23.xf7 e7 24.xe6+- 11.g5N would see White suddenly having an extra [ 11.h3 h6 ( 11...e8 12.e2 bd7 pawn whilst still keeping a strong attack. ] 13.ad1 ad8 14.g4 g6 15.e3 d5 20.xg1 xg1 21.xh7 h8 22.xg7 d4 16.xd5 cxd5 Benda,H-Riedner,M/Austria [ 22...xh7 23.xh7 d8 would be a better 1999 ) 12.g4 h7 13.f4 bd7 14.e2 move order but still I feel the h pawn will fe8 15.a4 a5 16.d2 c7 17.g5 decide matters easily. ] hxg5 18.xg5 f5 19.f3 g6 20.c4 h5 23.xh8 xh8 24.g8 0-0-0 25.xf7 21.e4 df6 22.ac3 ad8 23.e3 g7 The complications have cleared and White is 24.ac1 h8 25.g5 d6 left with queen and pawn for rook and knight. Kiss,G-Kamaras,P/ Hungary 2002 The Black Repkova fights on for almost 20 moves but Bishops are more influential and there are the result is never in doubt. e5 26.a3 b8 prospects on the Kingside. ] 27.g6 a6 28.h4 a8 29.h5 e7 30.g5 [ 11.e3 c7 12.h4! I feel that this is c6 31.h6 e4 32.d5 b8 33.xe4 e5 White's best chance in this line to nab the 34.c3 c4 35.a2 d6 36.d5 a7 two Bishops and try to make something of it. 37.e3+ b6 38.e7+ b7 39.b3 a8 It may be worth Black considering an early ... 40.a4 a7 41.c2 a8 42.h7 a7 43.a5 h7-h6 to stop this idea. g6 13.xg6 hxg6 bxa5 44.e3+ 12.Bc3! looks to put a big hole 14.f3 bd7 15.e2 d5 16.d2 b5 in Black's attempts to play the 17.c3 7b6 18.c2 a5 19.h4! xh4 Konigspringerzuruckhaltungspolitik and it'll be 20.h3 e7 21.g3 c4 22.c1 a4 interesting to see if any Black players can 23.xe6! fxe6 24.xg6 h4 25.xh4 f6 repair the damage. Calavalle,G-Lotti,F/Marche Estate 2003 1-0 26.h7++- ] 11...bd7= Once again we are treated to an effortless Scandinavian development by Black 285 B01 and he is fully equal in this position. W hite Myhrvold,Rune 2192 players can get very frustrated by the ease of Pedersen,Lars Erik 2054 this process and go right over the top. 12.e5 [ White can try to fish in troubled waters with Open ch Oslo NOR (6) 08.04.2004 12.h4 but the tactics are easy to rebuff: [Andrew Martin] g4 13.f3 h5 14.f5 b4 15.g3 g6= ] KING HUNT 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.d2 Could be 12...xe5?! [ 12...ad8 was the simple way. Black dangerous if White is allowed to play Bc4 and chooses wild tactics, possibly right for this Nd5 or Ne4. Black moves to prevent this particular opponent. ] scheme. b6! One could argue that Black is moving his Queen too much but the Bd2 isn't 13.dxe5 g4 14.xe7 xf2 [ 14...xf2+ 15.h1 is nothing. ] exactly ideal. 7.c4 f5 Normal service is 15.d2! g4+ 16.f1 Yes, for the first time resumed. 8.0-0 e6 9.e1 278

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 he is starting to think about winning the game. K h 1 o f c o u r s e l e a d s t o a d r a w . xh2+ 17.e2 One of those positions where White is balancing on the edge of the mountain. One would think that the Bishop on e7 would stand him in good stead ... but ... g4+ [ I like 17...ad8! I think Black has at least a draw: A) 18.xd8 xd8 19.e3 a6+ 20.f2 ( 20.b5 xb5+ 21.c4 d3+ 22.f2 xc4 ) 20...g4+-+; B) 18.d6 g4+ 19.d3 f5+ 20.e2= ( 20.c4 a6+ 21.d4 c5+ 22.e3 c4 23.a4 f6 )] 18.d3 fd8+ 19.d6 c5? Goodness me, this fellow is willing to take a risk. Saner players would have preferred [ 19...f5+ which again looks drawn: 20.e2 ( 20.c4 a6+ 21.d4 g4! cutting off the retreat. ) 20...g4+= ] 20.e4?? [ 20.f4 f6 21.d4! was a very strong defensive manoeuvre. One cannot blame White too severely though. ] 20...xd6! 21.xd6 [ 21.exd6 f6! takes away squares and creates multiple threats. Black should win. But it's preferable to the game where White suffers an attack of panic. 22.d7 d8 ] 21...f5+ It's mate in three more moves! A short game which points out the importance of holding the initiative in chess. 0-1

he'll have a pleasant position. Here he didn't... [ 5...e6 is Black's more solid option. ] 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 d7 8.c3 e5 9.d5 Immediately grabbing space and trying to exploit Black's previous. [ 9.0-0 was suggested by Andy Martin. His line continues A) 9...exd4 is rather dangerous 10.e1+ e7 11.b3 ( 11.cxd4 leaves White with a tiny advantage after xd4 12.xb7 b8 13.a6 0-0 14.c3 fd8 15.b1 b4 16.e3 c6 17.f1 f5 18.c2 xe3 19.xe3 d5 20.e4 e6 21.xd5 xd5 and Black was very close to equ ality. Fern andes, A-Dam aso, R Portugal 1992.) 11...b8 ( 11...dxc3?! is bad for Black thanks to 12.xb7 b8 13.xc6 cxb2 14.xb2 xb2 15.a8+ d8 16.c6+ f8 17.xa7 as pointed out by Mueller.) 12.xc6 xc6 13.g5 h6 14.h4 f8?! ( 14...d8 is Karsten Mue ller's sugge st io n bu t af te r 15.cxd4 xd4 16.xf6 gxf6 17.e3 e6 18.c1 White has a lot of compensation for the pawn. ) 15.cxd4 d8 16.d2 Liss, E-Afek, Y Herzliya 1998 was rather unpleasant for Black but here he blundered with A1) 16...b6!? looks like Black's best t r y b u t h e r e e i t h e r 17.e3 ( or 17.ac1!? Mueller ) 17...b4 18.c4 xd4 19.ad1! xe3 ( 19...xd1 20.xd1 xd1+ 21.h2 and despite the material deficit Black's in trouble without a safe haven for his king and p i e c e s w h i c h d o n o t c o o r d i n a t e .) 286 B01 20.xd8+ e7 21.xe3+ xd8 22.xf6+ gxf6 23.b3 c5 24.xb7 Nabaty,Tamir 2493 and White has the better of the ending.; Chatalbashev,Boris 2593 A2) 16...xd4? allowing 17.xe7!+-; Open Eforie Nord ROU (11) 27.06.2010 B) 9...0-0-0 [Gawain Jones] B1) 10.a4 exd4 11.xc6 xc6 12.xa7 c5 De la Torre, I-Krivoshey, 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 f6 S Me t z 2 0 0 1 wa s ve r y p l e a s a n t f o r Recently more time has been devoted to the Black.; immediate B2) 10.b3 looks the critical test. e4 [ 3...g4 ] 11.e2 d5 ( 11...d6!? 12.d2 h5; 4.d4 g4 5.e2 c6 Black's sharpest 11...h5!? ) response to 3.Nf3. Generally, Black gives up B2a) 12.d2!? is also interesting as important trumps, the centre and the bishop f5? fails to ( 12...e8 13.c2 f5 p a ir, b u t in re t u rn h e d ru m s u p a st ro n g 14.c4 d6 15.b4 g5 16.b5 d8 initiative with his development advantage and 17.xd6+ xd6 18.c4 f4 pressure on White's centre. If White survives 279

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Leventic, I -Filipovic, B Zadar 2003 was highly unclear.) 13.xe4! fxe4 14.g4+-; B2b) 12.c2 didn't make much sense, encouraging Black's kingside initiative f5 13.d2 f4 14.c4 g5 15.b4 xb4! 16.xf4 gxf4 17.d5 g7 18.dxc6 hg8 19.g4 fxg4 20.xe4 gxh3 21.cxb7+ b8 22.e5 d6 23.fd1 xc3 24.xd6 xe5 and Black's attack hit first. 0-1 Webb, R -Povah, N West Bromwich 2004.; B2c) 12.d1 Kovalev, A-Krivoshey, S Rymarov 1999. when Black could have used the trick d6!? to complete his development although the position is still a little better for White with 13.c4 f4 14.xf4 xf4 15.d5 e5 16.c5 although Black has reasonable counter chances.; B3) 10.g5 exd4 ( 10...b8!? is also interesting (GJ)) 11.g4 xg4 12.xd8 leaves a curious material imbalance. B3a) 12...h5 has also been tried. 13.h4 ( 13.g5!? ) 13...ge5 14.cxd4 Rios Parra, A-Krivoshey, S Salou 2005 when Black should have r e c a p t u r e d o n d 4 w i t h xd4 with a respectable position.; B3b) 12...xf2 13.xf2 xd8 ( 13...xd8! GJ is far stronger as Black shouldn't worry about 14.xf7 d3 with d e ce nt co mp en sat io n .) 14.cxd4 c5 15.h1 c8 16.c3 xd4?! (GJ) 17.d2 e8 18.e2 e4 19.c1 d6 20.xc6 xc6 21.xd4 e8 22.f3 g5 23.d5 Shabalov, A-Gershon, A Paget Parish 2001. ] [ 9.b3 e4 ( 9...a5!? 10.c2 exd4 11.cxd4 c6 12.xc6 xc6 13.xc6+ bxc6= looks fine to me.) 10.e2 0-0-0 11.d2 h5!? 12.c4 d5 13.d2 f5 14.0-0-0 e7 and Black could be happy with his opening. Felgaer, R-Gershon, A Linares 2001. ] [ 9.dxe5 is very tame and practice has shown that Black shouldn't have any worries after the simple xd1+ Kabanov, N-Genba, V St Petersburg 2000. ]

9...e7 10.c4 g6 [ 10...e4 was tried by Dave Smerdon who's experienced in the Scandinavian. However his position was dodgy following: 11.e2 f5?! ( 11...c6 looks interesting although W hite retains an advantage with 12.c3 cxd5 13.cxd5 a6 14.c4 ) 12.g4! The Englishman finds a strong dynamic reply. b4+ 13.c3 h4 14.g5 ( 14.g5! g8 15.d4 would cause Black's position to totter.) 14...g6 15.b3 e7 16.0-0-0 0-0 17.h4 d6 18.b5 f4+ 19.b1 e5 and David used his higher rating to offer a tactful draw. 1/2-1/2 Ashton, A-Smerdon, D Port Erin 2007. ] 11.0-0 c5 White has the bishop pair and has caught up in development whilst he can try pressing forward on the queenside and thus should have an advantage. However, as Chatalbashev shows, Black's counterplay s h o u l d n o t b e u n d e r e s t i m a t e d . 12.b3 As taking the pawn on b7 doesn't work out well, perhaps here W hite should look f or alternatives. [ 12.c3 0-0 13.e1 a6 is a little better for W h it e bu t pe rf ectly p la ya ble f o r Blac k . 14.g5 can be safely responded to by f5 ( while relocating the knight with 14...e8 is also interesting. )] 12...0-0! 13.xb7? Very foolhardy. It wasn't too late to keep an easy equality with Now Chatalbashev shows why he's famed as an attacker. [ 13.e3 ] 13...e4 14.e2 ab8 15.c6 [ 15.a6 e7 isn't so different to the game b u t a t l e a s t t h e q u e e n wo u l d n ' t lo s e a tempo against ...Ng6-e5. ] 15...e7 So White is a pawn up but that's the end of the positives. Black has queen, rook and three minor pieces all pointing towards White's king and the e4 pawn is a very useful battering ram. 16.c3 e3 17.fxe3 [ 17.f4 h5! doesn't slow Black's attack: 18.f5 e5 19.a4 h4 and I see no reason why White should survive. ] 17...xe3+ 18.xe3 [ 18.h1 looks like a better bet although d4! ( 18...xc1 19.axc1 xb2 is better for Black but allows White to fight on. ) 19.d1 ( 19.f3 e5 is no better.) 280

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19...xc3 20.bxc3 e4! 21.f4 f2+! 22.h2 xf4 23.xf2 e5 wins, White's pieces are too uncoordinated for any hope. ] 18...xe3+ 19.h1 xb2 20.d1 xe2 21.xb2 h4! 22.g1 e4 Perfectly precise play. Now White must deal with the threat of ...Ng3+ and ...Qe5. 23.xc7 [ 23.d3 is W hite's last hope but xd3 24.xc7 f5! threatening ...f4 to claim the g3 square is decisive. ] [ 23.d1 would fail to deal with the threat: g3+ 24.h2 e5 when the computer informs me it's mate in 7! ] 23...f2 and Nabaty threw in the towel as he has no defence to ...Ng3+ and ...Nf3 mate. An extremely energetic display by the Bulgarian Grandmaster who shows the hidden potential in Black's position. I believe that with perfect play White has a couple of different ways for an advantage but no human is perfect and White's positions are difficult to keep together. 0-1

bd7 12.h4 c5 13.dxc5 c7 and Black had at least enough play on the queenside here although W hite could consider the risky A1) instead after 14.e4 Black went on to score a quick win: xe4 ( 14...h6! 15.xf6+ xf6 and I slightly prefer Black ) 15.xe4 ac8 16.c6 c5 17.xf6 xf6 18.xh7+? a nice idea bu t it d o e sn 't qu ite wo rk h e re ! xh7 19.g5+ g8 20.h5 fd8 21.xf7 xf7 22.xc5 c7 23.xd8+ xd8 24.c4! d2 0-1 Vujacic, B (2318)-Djukic, N (2509) Bar 2010; A2) 14.b4!? here to try and hang on to the pawn but it's hardly convincing; B) 6...h6 7.xf6 exf6 8.h5! g6 9.e2+ e7 10.0-0-0 ( 10.e3! delaying Black from castling also looks promising here) 10...0-0 11.h4 Sutovsky true to style immediately goes for the attack ( 11.e3 again looks stronger, e.g. g7 12.f3 d7 13.b3! with a pleasant edge for White ) 11...h5 12.f3 f5 13.h3 b5 14.b3 xh4! I think Black can safely take 287 B01 this pawn but of course it's a risk! 15.g4 fxg4 16.fxg4 hxg4 17.f4 g7? Naiditsch,A 2706 one mistake is all it takes in this kind of Danielsen,Hen 2501 position ( 17...f5! 18.h2 g5 19.fd5 N1 Reykjavik Open 2014 (6.4) 08.03.2014 d7 and White has a dangerous attack... [Tom Rendle] but is it enough for two pawns?) 18.e5+ f6 19.e4 g5 20.b1 f5 21.h5+! 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.d4 ( 21.xa8?! xf4 i s j u s t u n c l e a r) f6 5.c4!? Slightly unusual from Naiditsch, 21...gxh5 22.xf5 f6 23.e4 f3 developing the bishop rather than playing the 24.e5+ f6 25.xc7 e7?! ( 25...f4 usual 5.Nf3 - the idea is he wants to play was the only chance but Black is still only Nge2 later and not allow a pin with ...Bg4. j u s t h a n g i n g o n a f t e r 26.b7 c6 The other move we've seen here is 5.Bg5 and 27.e7 g6 28.e2 ) 26.h2! h4 Naiditsch has tried this before, see Naiditsch27.g2 d7 28.xg4 h6 29.d5 f5 Djukic which I annotated in 2012. Still his 30.xh4+! xh4 31.xe7 h5 32.dg1 setup isn't a success, at least as far as the f6 33.d5 1-0 Sutovsky, E (2655)-Djukic, opening goes as Danielsen shows the right N (2528) Crete 2007 ] way for Black to handle this setup. a6 6.a4 6...c6 7.ge2 e5! This looks like the critical [ 6.g5!? A) 6...e6 perhaps Djukic was better off test of White's setup [ 7...f5 didn't work out so well for Black in sticking with what he'd previously played the following game but of course he but I suspect he was worried about could've improved: 8.0-0 e6?! ( 8...b4! running into Sutovsky's preparation 7.f3 9.b3 e6 prevents White's idea of d5 and b5 8.d3 e7 9.e2 ( 9.xf6!? xf6 Black is close to equalising after 10.e1 10.0-0 b7 11.e4! is perhaps slightly e7 11.g3 g6 12.ce4 bd5 13.c3 b e t t e r f o r W h i t e) 9...b7 10.0-0-0 0-0 ) 9.d5! exd5 10.xd5 e6 ( or This feels rather risky to me 0-0 11.b1 281

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10...e7 11.g3 e6 12.xf6+ xf6 13.xe6 fxe6 14.h5+ g6 15.g4 a n d B l a c k i s i n s o m e t r o u b l e a l r e a d y) 11.ef4 xd5 12.xd5! xd5 13.xd5 d7? ( 13...e7! looks a bit grim but Black is surviving here after 14.e1 c6 15.e3 xd1 16.xd1 d8 and Black is only a little w o r s e a f t e r 17.d2! ) 14.e1+ d8 15.g5+ ( 15.f4! d6 16.xd6 xd6 17.b6! a7 18.g4 wins immediately) 15...c8 16.f4 c5 17.xc7 b4 18.b6+ xb6 19.xb6 d5 20.d4 xb6 21.xb6 d8 22.a3 1-0 Ljubicic, F (2398)-Plenkovic, Z (2366) Zupanja 2007 ] 8.d5 [ 8.dxe5 is very unambitious xd1+ 9.xd1 xe5 10.b3 d6 11.0-0 0-0 and if anything Black has a slight edge in a fairly dull queenless middlegame ] 8...b4 9.g5?! f5 [ 9...h6! immediately is also good ] 10.b3 h6! 11.xf6 [ it seems a shame to give up the bishop pair but after 11.h4 g5! 12.g3 d6 the bishop on g3 is rather shut out of the game and I like Black's position ] 11...xf6 12.g3 0-0-0 [ 12...g6! 13.0-0 0-0-0 and Black keeps the bishop pair and a slightly better position ] 13.xf5 xf5 14.e2 e7 15.0-0-0 d7 16.b1 hd8 17.he1 f6 The position is still roughly equal but the presence of opposite coloured bishops is interesting here. In an ending it would lean to wards ma king th e positions more drawish but here it helps the side with the initiative. 18.f3 b8 19.g4! Naiditsch starts to take control of the light squares h7 20.d2?! Perhaps missing Black's next move [ 20.a5! slowly increases the pressure. Black can keep the position level but only with accurate play c6! 21.dxc6 xc6 22.xd7 xd7 23.a4 d4! 24.g2 d8 and chances are still about equal ] 20...c6! 21.ed1 d4 22.xd4!? A n i n t e re s t i n g e xch a n ge sa cr i f i ce b u t i t shouldn't be enough here exd4 23.xd4 d6?! [ 23...c5! 24.e4 h5 25.h3 hxg4 26.hxg4 h8 is much more active and White doesn't really have enough compensation here,

although it will be difficult for Black to win without a further mistake from White ] 24.e4 f5 25.e6 f8?! Black is playing too passively and this allows White time to bring the bishop on b3 back into the game 26.c4! Suddenly there are real threats of Bxa6 fxg4 27.fxg4 [ 27.xa6! is already very close to winning bxa6 28.xa6 gxf3! the only move! ( 28...g5? 29.b5 c5 30.c6 and a5-a6 is very difficult to stop b4 31.a5! xa5 32.c5 b6 33.xf8+ b7 34.xh6 and White is winning) 29.b5+ ( 29.b5? now loses to c5 30.c6 f2! 31.xc5 f1+ 32.a2 f2 33.d4 xd4 34.xd4 f5 ) 29...c8 30.c6! b8 31.xd7 f2 32.e8+ xe8 33.xe8+ b7 34.f7 c5 and Black is hanging on here - the f-pawn is enough of a distraction to hold the draw although it's still tricky! ] 27...dd8 28.e4 g8 29.g5 Black starts to get the better of it around here [ 29.xa6 bxa6 30.xa6 f7 is just a perpetual here 31.b5+ c8 32.a6+ b8 ( not 32...d7?? 33.c6+ c8 34.xd6+ xd6 35.xd6 ) 33.b5+ ] 29...hxg5 30.xg5?! [ 30.xa6 is again a draw ] 30...h8 31.g6 h4 32.e6 f2 33.d3 h8 Suddenly Black is very active and should have the advantage but first he must defend accurately on the queenside 34.b3 h3 35.d3 xh2 36.xg7 e3? Under pressure (both position and possibly on the clock as well) Danielsen makes a first mistake in a while and Naiditsch immediately seizes upon it [ 36...h4! was the key here allowing the rook to come to b4 for defense, for example 37.xc7! h1+! 38.a2 b4 39.xa6+! ( 39.a3? h4 wins ) 39...bxa6 40.g8+ a7 41.g7+ a8 42.g8+ a7 43.g7+ b6!? 44.a3 a5 45.g6 h2 46.c3 e5 47.cxb4 xd5+ 48.b3 a1+! 49.xa1 xb3 50.xd6+ c7 51.d4 xa4+ 52.b1 axb4 and Black can press for a win but this looks like a fortress for White after 53.c2 a5 54.b3 ] 37.xc7! xc7?! [ 37...e1+ 38.a2 b4 39.xb4 xb4 40.e6 2h5 and Black should hold the 282

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 11...c6 12.h1 xe4 ( 12...0-0-0 is risky but perhaps it's just about playable. Still, W hite has an easy plan after 13.c3 and slowly preparing b4 so I wouldn't like to b e B l a c k h e r e .) 13.fxe4 0-0 14.c3 and Black is struggling for space in the centre ] [ 11...xe4! 12.fxe4 c6 13.d3 d7 is perhaps Black's most solid setup but White still has control of the centre and with 14.c3! he is well placed to start a kingside attack with Nf4 ] 12.dxc5 288 B01 [ 12.c3 allows xe4 13.fxe4 cxd4! 14.xd4 c7 15.d3 0-0 and Black Naiditsch,A 2710 should be fine. ] Stevic,H 2626 TCh-CRO Ia Liga 2013 (7.3) 20.09.2013 12...xc5+ 13.h1 xe4 14.fxe4 0-0 15.f4! This move signals what is to come [Tom Rendle] Naiditsch is massing his forces for a kingside 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 attack and Black will have to be extremely f6 5.d2 g4 6.f3 d7 7.c4 b6 accurate to defend. c6 [ 15...xb2?! is, unsurprisingly perhaps, too 8.ge2 e6 9.0-0 greedy: 16.c3! b6 17.h5 e5 ( or [ 9.b3 led to an easy win for Anand against 17...e7 18.g4 g6 19.g5 with a winning Van Wely in the archives but the move itself attack, e.g. gxh5 20.g3! xg5 21.xg5+ isn't particularly dangerous as can be see h8 22.f6+ g8 23.f3 and Black is from the analysis to that game. ] completely lost) 18.xg7! xg7 19.h5 9...e7 10.a4 e8 20.f3 and despite the extra piece [ 10.b4!? is a typical idea in these kind of there is no way for Black to survive. ] position and it's well worth considering here. N o t o n l y d o e s i t s e i z e s p a c e o n t h e 16.h5 d4 [ 16...e5? loses to 17.c3! queenside but it prevents a ...c5 break from A) 17...xc4? 18.f6+ h8 ( 18...gxf6 Black. 0-0 11.b1 ( 11.a3 was safer a6 19.g4+ h8 20.xf6# ) 19.h5 wins; 12.e3 and White is a little better, Black has B) 17...d6 18.e1 and with Rd1 coming to be wary of a quick Qd2 and d5.) 11...a5?! as well as Qg3 or Qh4 Black is in trouble. ] ( 11...a6 12.e3 b5! is not so clear) 12.b5 a4 13.e3 d8 14.d3 ( 14.f2!? e8 17.g4 c5? A first big error from Stevic and 15.e4 was perhaps slightly more already it's the decisive mistake. [ 17...h8 was an only move and now there accurate ) 14...e8 15.e4 d5 doesn't seem to be a crushing blow f or and now in Muzychuk, A (2594) -Daulyte, D White although he can keep a very pleasant (2363) Belgrade 2013 W hite could've p o s i t i o n w i t h 18.ad1 g8 19.c3 achieved an obvious advantage with ( 19.xf7?? runs into e5 ) 19...e5 16.xd5! exd5 17.4c3 and Black is rather 20.e2 xc4 21.xc4 c5 22.e3! xe3 cramped - in particular it will be tough to 23.xd7 and Black is still purely on the develop the knight on b8. ] defensive. ] 10...a5! Otherwise White will play a5 with a good game. 11.e4!? A new and interesting 18.e3! xc4 [ 18...f5 loses to 19.xg7+! xg7 20.xc5 idea from Naiditsch, forcing Black to find a fc8 21.xg7 xg7 22.ad1 and Black is plan before castling. c5 a pawn down with a completely hopeless [ t h e p o i n t i s t h a t 11...0-0 12.g5! position. ] will leave Black with doubled pawns and an 19.e5! A nice touch, closing off the bishop exposed king. ] draw with accurate defence ] 38.d6 c8 39.dxc7+ xc7?! A final mistake brings the game to an abrupt conclusion [ 39...a7 40.f5 xb3 41.cxb3 hh8 and it's unclear if W hite is winning in this ending but obviously he has good chances ] 40.g8+ c8 41.d5 c6 42.e4! hh6 43.e5+ a8 44.e8+ [ 44.e8+ a7 45.xb7+ xb7 46.xc6+ xc6 47.xe3 ] 1-0

283

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 from g7 so Black has no choice but to give up [ 6.xf6 exf6 7.c4 his queen but there's no way back at this A) 7...c6 looks like an interesting sta ge f or St evic. xf1+ 20.xf1 xe5 alternative here but maybe White has an 21.f4?! e d g e a f t e r 8.h5! e7+ 9.ge2 g6 [ 21.xg7! h8 22.h5 opens up Black's ( 9...xd4?! 10.d5! xc2+ 11.d2 king and would've led to an easier win ] c5 12.xf6+ gxf6 13.xf7+ d8 21...f5 22.g3 f6 23.b3 d8 24.d1 14.xf6+ e7 15.xe7+ xe7 16.xc2 c6 25.g3 h8 26.e5 f7? This brings leaves Black with insufficient the came to a swift conclusion compensation for a pawn) 10.h4 f5 [ 26...xe5 27.xe5 g8 was more 11.g3; stubborn but Black is so passive that after B) 7...e7 is a possibility and perhaps 28.b3 e4 29.d7 c6 30.g3 Black simplest way of playing.; he is still going to lose in the end although C) 7...b4 8.e2+ e7 9.0-0-0 xc3 f4! 31.xf4 ad8 will give him the slimmest ( 9...0-0 10.a3 d6 11.d3 and White of hopes to setup some kind of fortress with keeps a tiny advantage) 10.bxc3 xe2 his rook and bishop. ] 11.xe2 c6 12.he1 0-0 13.f4 27.xf6 gxf6 28.c3 e5 29.d6 was unpleasant for Black in Filippov, A [ 29.xa5! ] (2558)-Golod, V (2575) Tashkent 2009 ] 29...e7 30.g3 e6 31.xe6 d7 32.d6 6...c6 7.c4 f5 g8 33.xg8+ A tricky new idea from [ 7...b5!? 8.b3 e6 9.a4 g5 10.g3 b4 Na i d it s c h t h a t i sn ' t s o e a s y f o r B l a ck t o 11.ce2 c5 12.f3 b7 13.a5 neutralise. ha d ch a nce s f o r b o t h sid e s in B rk ic , A 1-0 (2541)-Kurajica, B (2555) Zadar 2006 but n o w B l a c k w e n t w r o n g w i t h xf3?! ( 13...e7 w a s b e t t e r) 14.gxf3 d6?! 289 B01 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xd8+ xd8 17.h4! and White's two Bishops and extra activity Naiditsch,Arkadij 2712 gave him an obvious advantage. ] Djukic,Ni 2523 40th Olympiad Open (5.3) 01.09.2012 8.xf6 [ 8.f3 had been played against Djukic [Tom Rendle] before but with no success after e6 9.e5 bd7 10.e2 xe5 11.dxe5 d4! 12.g3 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.d4 d5 and Black was already better in f6 5.g5 Not as unusual a move as I P a va s o vi c , D ( 2 5 6 6 ) - D j u k i c , N ( 2 5 2 1 ) expected but it hasn't been covered yet on Portoroz 2005 ] ChessPub, so I'll do my best to do an 8...exf6 9.e2+ e7 10.0-0-0 I'm not sure overview of the variation. h6 [ 5...c6 6.c4 f5 7.xf6 ( 7.f3 this aggressive move is best here as Black takes us back into more of an mainline seems to get very easy play and W hite's position and now e6 8.e2 e7 9.0-0-0 Kingside attack was not as dangerous as he 0-0 and Black had no real problems in Jansa, hoped [ 10.f3 seems more sensible to me and the V (2478)-Kolbak, J (2262) Rijeka 2011) question is does White have any real edge 7...gxf6 8.ge2 e6 9.0-0 ( 9.h4!? after 0-0 11.0-0 d6 12.ae1 c7 s e e m s m o r e c h a l l e n g i n g b u t b6 ( 12...g4?! 13.h3 h5 14.e4 is a good reply and Black is doing fine after and Black has to take on f3 anyway here so 10.b3 h5 ) 9...d7 10.g3 g6 11.e1 W h i t e i s o b v i o u s l y b e t t e r) 13.h3 b6 12.b3 e7 13.a4 c7 ( 13...a5 and I susp ect th e a nswer is tha t W hit e is logical and pretty much equalises) 14.a5 keeps slightly the better chances as he can d5 15.a6 b6 with unclear equality in always play Bd3 to swap off light-squared Belov, V (2619) -Szabo, G (2525) Rijeka Bishops ] 2010 ] 10...0-0 11.f3 b4! A move that shows 6.h4 284

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black has no real problems here at all. 12.g4!? [ 12.h4 h7 13.d3 xc3 ( 13...a5 allows 14.e4!? with dangerous play) 14.bxc3 a5 15.xh7+ xh7 16.b2 d7 and White has to be careful ] 12...h7 [ 12...xg4 is possible but White does get a d a n ge r o u s a t t a c k a f t e r 13.hg1 h5 ( 13...c8!? might be safer) 14.e4 h8 15.xg7! xg7 16.g1+ h8 17.h4 so perhaps Black was wise to decline the pawn ] 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 a5 15.e4!? An interesting pawn sacrifice designed to complicate a position that was heading for dull equality - but ultimately it backfires. [ 15.a3 xc3 16.xc3 xc3 17.bxc3 d7 is just equal ] 15...xa2 16.c3 e7 17.g5? Another interesting idea but this one doesn't really work against accurate defence [ 17.h4 would've been much more challenging, for example d7 18.f5 fe8 19.h4 and White is building up a decent attack on the Kingside. Still, I prefer Black after a5 ] 17...fxg5! [ 17...hxg5 18.de1 is less convincing for Black ] 18.h4 [ 18.de1 now doesn't have any threat of Nxg5 ] 18...g4 19.e5 a5 Black chooses to go on the attack which works out very well, although it may not have been objectively the most accurate move. [ 19...e6 would've been the safe option W hite doesn't really have compensation here and Black is just going to play Nd7 on the next move. ] 20.dg1?! [ 20.hg1! was perhaps a trickier way to play, e.g. h5 ( 20...a4? 21.xg4 and it's White's attack that is the more dangerous because now e6? 22.de1 wins ) 21.g3 a4 ( 21...g6?? 22.xg6 ) 22.xh5 a3 23.d2! suddenly isn't so clear as axb2 ( 23...f5! 24.b1 d6 still leaves Black with the ad va nt a ge b u t t h e p o sit io n is st ill ve ry unclear ) 24.b1 blocks off Black's attack ]

20...a4! 21.xg4 e6! An important move that holds Black's position together [ 21...h8?? loses to 22.ef6! xf6 23.xf6 gxf6 24.g3 ] [ 21...d7?! 22.xh6+ h8 23.g3 g6 24.h5 and Black is coming under a nasty a t t a c k a l t h o u g h i t ' s n o t c l e a r a f t e r g5 25.xg5 a3 ] 22.b1?! Too slow but perhaps there was nothing really in the position for White [ 22.e5 a3 23.bxa3 xa3 24.g3 g6 and White has no breakthrough ] [ 22.g3 looks dangerous but in reality there Black can simply continue with a3! 23.bxa3 xa3 and sadly White's best here is to swap Queens into a miserable ending with 24.e5 ] 22...f5 [ 22...a3! is also very strong ] 23.ef6+? [ 23.xh6+ was relatively best but after xh6 24.c4+ h8 25.g5 h5 26.e6 b5 27.d3 f6 and White doesn't have anything special here - still at least here th e re a re ch a n ce s t o get b a ck in t o t h e game. ] 23...xf6 24.xh6+ h8 25.xf5 e8 [ 25...a3! would have been more to the point, Black is simply winning now as he has the more dangerous attack as well as an extra piece ] 26.h5 [ 26.e1 is a better try but Black is winning e a si l y e n o u g h a f t e r g8 ( 26...xe1+ 27.xe1 xe1+ 28.a2 a6 is also good enough ) 27.d6 xe1+ 28.xe1 d7 29.g6 h7 ] 26...a3! 27.d5 Pure desperation xd5 [ 27...e2! kills the game off immediately ] 28.xd5 cxd5 29.h6 g5 30.f4 axb2 31.xb2 This gets mated but it was safe to resign in any case. e2+ 32.b3 d7 33.fxg5 c5+ 34.b4 d3+ White resigned as it's mate next move. 0-1

285

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 290 Najer,Evgeniy Ajrapetian,Gevorg TCh-RUS Premier (11) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2638 2419 23.04.2011

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 [ If Black is anxious to avoid the game continuation he can try either 4...c6 or 4...a6 but th is one looks a little pre mat ure . A recent game continued 5.f3 ( 5.ge2 has been looked at in the archives by John Tisdall. Check out Sprenger, J (2326)-Ristic, A (2155) Metz 2001.) 5...b5?! This lunge is too weakening. ( 5...f6 would transpose to a more theoretical position but one in which White has been scoring well recently.) 6.a4! b4 7.e4 d5 8.d3 f6 9.e2 b7 10.eg5! And suddenly the GM playing Black f o und he could no t def en d his f 7 pawn. a5 11.c4 ( 11.e5 is even more crushing ) 11...d5 12.e5 bd7 13.exf7 g8 14.e5 b6 15.e6 c8 16.c5 e6 17.xd5 bxd5 18.c4 1-0 Djukic, N (2486)-Kurajica, B (2531) Sarajevo 2011. An opening experiment that I doubt will be repeated. ] 5.b5!? We've looked at this jump with 5.Nf3 g6 thrown in but not this immediate attack on the queen. The idea is to be able to play c2c4 when White's extra space should grant him a s m a ll a d van t a ge . b6 Black keeps his queen out hoping to disrupt W hite's development. A somewhat risky strategy it's interesting to note that Tiviakov used ...Qd8 against GM opposition but this sidestep in order to generate greater winning chances. [ 5...d8 This retreat has been played more often. In comparison to 3...Qd8 Black has spent an extra tempo with his queen but White will have lost two with his knight (Nc3b 5 - c 3 ) . T h e r e f o r e W h i t e m u s t t r y 6.c4 when, as usual in the 3...Qd6 Scandinavian, i t ' s u s e f u l t o f o l l o w S e r g e y T i vi a k o v' s defence. c6 7.c3 A) Other GMs have tried 7...g4 when 8.f3!? l o o k s c r i t i c a l . ( 8.e2 xe2 9.gxe2 bd7 10.0-0 g6 11.f4 g7 12.c2 0-0 13.ad1 and White had a small plus but Black was solid. Najer, E

(2635)-Berg, E (2593) Khanty Mansiysk 2007. ) 8...f5 9.g4 g6 10.h4 h5 11.g5 is the most dynamic reply and worked well in the game Najer, E (2634) -Kharitonov, A (2524) Moscow 2008. g8 12.h3 f5 13.b3 c8 14.f4 e6 15.f2 e7 16.fe4 g6 17.d6+ xd6 18.xd6 d7 19.a3 and White had a clear edge.; B) 7...f5 This has been Tiviakov's choice. 8.f3 e6 9.e2 ( 9.h4!? g4 10.b3 i s i n t e r e s t i n g .) 9...e7 ( The second time the Dutchman reached this position he opted to keep the bishop with 9...h6 and drew easily. 10.0-0 e7 11.d3 xd3 12.xd3 bd7 13.f4 0-0 14.fe1 e8 15.e4 xe4 16.xe4 b6 17.e2 c5 18.e3 f6 19.ed1 ac8 20.ac1 a6 21.b3 1/2-1/2 Leon Hoyos, M (2490)-Tiviakov, S (2635) Lodi 2008. ) 10.0-0 0-0 11.h4 g6 B1) In a recent game White deviated with 12.e3 bd7 ( 12...h5!? 13.xh5 xh5 14.xh5 xh4 15.d5 exd5 16.cxd5 f6 17.fd1 and White has an edge as Black's failed to complete his development.) 13.xg6 hxg6 14.d5!? exd5 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.xd5 c5 17.xf6+ gxf6 18.h6 e8 19.b5 e7 20.c1 a6 21.a4 b5 22.b3 b6 23.d5 ae8 24.h4!? and White still retained an edge thanks to his bishop pair and kingside initiative. Vysochin, S (2526)-Zolotukhin, V (2338) Olginka 2011.; B2) 12.xg6 hxg6 13.f3 a6 14.e3 d6 15.b3 b8 16.g3 e8 17.ad1 c7 18.fe1 c8 and Black's position was passive but solid. Certainly in the ga me W hite f ailed t o achieve a n y t h i n g a n d a f t e r 19.e4 xe4 20.xe4 a5 21.a3 a4 22.c2 e5 a draw was agreed, albeit rather pre ma t u re ly a s W h it e st ill re t a in s a n i g g l i n g e d g e . K u r n o s o v, I ( 2 5 9 3 ) Tiviakov, S (2635) Plovdiv 2008. ] 6.c4 The logical follow up. [ Instead White has tried 6.d5?! attempting to trap the queen but this makes W hite's position too loose. e6 7.e3 c5 8.xc5 xc5 9.d6 a6 10.dxc7 0-0 286

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pleasant for Black.) 16.cxb5 axb5 ( There wasn't anything wrong with 17.xb5 Rozentalis, E (2577)-Caspi, I 10...xc7 as 11.d6+ e7 12.xc8+ (2408) Israel 2008 when a6 18.xa6 axc8 leaves Black with a completely safe xa6 19.c3 c4+ 20.g1 d7 king and huge development advantage.) gives Black great play for the pawn.; 11.c3 d7 12.d4?! ( 12.d6 xb5 B1b) 9...0-0 would leave White with 13.xc5 xc5 14.xb5 d5 15.f3 p r o b l e m s d e v e l o p i n g a s 10.d3 xc7 16.e2 would have allowed White to ( 10.a4 b4+ 11.d2 xd2+ retain rough equality.) 12...xc7 13.gf3 12.xd2 d6 ) 10...e8 followed by e5 14.b3 e7 15.e2 fd5 16.0-0 f4 ...e5-e4 is awkward.; 17.e1?! ad8 18.c2 f6 19.f3 f5 B2) 8.e2!? xd4 9.f3 c5 20.e4? h3+! 0-1 Armbrust, F (2321)10.xe5 e7 looks acceptable.; Tiviakov, S (2684) Neustadt an der B3) 8.dxe5 g4 9.h3 c5 10.c2 Weinstrasse 2009. ] c6? This fails tactically ( 10...e6 6...c6 Black's two moves to kick back the would leave Black with strong play for knight have been tried an equal number of the pawn. ) 11.d5 d4 when times. The move chosen is solid but I can't 12.a4+! works tactically: ( Instead of help feeling that if Black is simply going to 12.d1?! as played in Gavric, M (2398) develop his pieces normally then his queen K u r a j i c a , B ( 2 5 3 9 ) N e u m 2 0 0 5 .) might be bette r ba ck on d8 as it 's rathe r 12...c6 13.xc6+ bxc6 14.xc7+ offside here on b6. e7 15.g5+ f6 16.exf6+ gxf6 [ 6...a6 is the sharper alternative when Black 17.xa8 c2+ 18.d1 xa1 19.d2 has to play dynamically. 7.c3 and White has an extra pawn while his A) T h e s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d 7...c6 knigh t ca n escape more ea sily tha n isn't enough to equalise: 8.d5 g4 9.h3 Black's. ] d4 10.e2 xe2 11.xe2 left Black w i t h p r o b l e m s i n c o m p l e t i n g h i s 7.c3 [ 7.c5 d8 8.c3 was tried in one game d e v e l o p m e n t . H e t r i e d f5 12.0-0 but Black can equalise with the customary ( Forcing the pieces back with 12.f3!? f6 break e5! ( I n s t e a d t h e s a f e 8...g6 13.g4 d7 14.f4 0-0-0 15.e3 b4 was played in Blesic, V (2383)-Milanovic, D 16.0-0-0 looks very pleasant for White with (2499) Vrnjacka Banja 2010.) 9.dxe5 his extra space and development xd1+ 10.xd1 d5= and c5 drops when a d v a n t a g e .) 12...0-0-0 13.g5 g6 Black is fine. ] 14.d1 h6? ( 14...e5 15.h3 f6 looks respectable for Black as 16.xe5?! 7...g6 [ 7...g4!? should also be considered when e8 17.d4 h6 18.f3 xh3 19.h4 Black is close to equality. g4 is better for Black.) 15.f3 e5 16.h3 A) 8.ge2 to keep the bishop pair is h5 Safarli, E (2587)-Agaragimov, D (2313) s e n s i b l e b u t a6! sets White some St Petersburg 2009 when 17.h4 h7 concrete problems on the light squares. 18.xf5 xf5 19.hxg4 hxg4 20.e3 White's best looks to be ( Instead 8...e6 h5 21.f1 h1+ 22.e2 xg2 9.h3 xe2 10.xe2 c7 11.0-0 d6 23.e4 leaves Black insufficient play for 12.e3 f4 13.xf4 xf4 14.d5 the piece.; gave White an edge. Shimanov, A (2583) B) 7...e5! Opening up the position is the Rozum, I (2468) St Petersburg 2011.) 9.h3 most energetic approach. f5 10.g4 g6 11.c5 a5 12.f4 e5 B1) 8.d5 was Rozentalis' choice and he with a highly complex position.; eventually triumphed but c5 9.c2 B) 8.e2 xe2 9.gxe2 e6 10.0-0 e7 B1a) Instead 9...g4 10.h3 0-0 11.d5 exd5 12.cxd5 0-0 13.e3 c7 11.d3 f5 12.a4 b4+ 13.f1?! 14.c1 d8 15.b3 a6 16.b5 d7 Ove r-o p tim ist ic d4 14.a3 e7 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.fd1 and White still had 15.d2 b5!? ( 15...d7 16.c3 a5 a slight edge but Black held the draw. followed by ...Nb8-a6-c5 is very 287

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Amonatov, F (2647)-Zhigalko, A (2572) Moscow 2009. ] [ Again 7...e5!? should be considered, exploiting Black's temporary development edge. 8.dxe5 ( 8.e2!? xd4 9.f3 c5 10.xe5 e7= is again satisfactory.) 8...g4 9.e2 c5 10.e4 0-0 ( 10...b4+ 11.d2 xe5 12.a3 xd2+ 13.xd2 e7 and White's advantage is minimal. ) 11.xc5 xc5 12.f4 b4+ 13.d2 a6 14.a3 a4?! The queen is rather misplaced here. This was Khruschiov, A (2400)-Sulava, N (2526) Ohrid 2001 when ( 14...e7 retained good compensation.) 15.h3 h6 16.g4 f6 17.exf6 e8+ 18.f2 looks risky but Black's queen is offside so it looks as though White's doing well. ] 8.h3 Preventing Black from exchanging his light squared bishop. [ 8.f3 would transpose to a position more often reached via the move order 5.Nf3 g6 6. Nb5!? I f eel W hite should have slightly better chances here but Najer attempts to get a better version. ] 8...g7 9.f3 0-0 10.d3 I'm not convinced that this is the best square as the bishop rather gets in the way on the d file. [ Instead a high powered blitz game continued 10.e2 which I think would be my choice. Th e downsid e is of course tha t Bla ck ' s b is h op ca n de velo p t o f 5 b ut it appears White still has an edge. d8 11.0-0 f5 12.a4!? c7 13.e3 bd7 14.c1 e5 15.d5 f8 16.c3 Svidler, P (2754)Kramnik, V (2772) Moscow 2009 and White c o n ve r t e d . I t 's in t e r e st in g t o n o t e t h a t Kramnik tried this line three times with Black in the blitz tournament but he failed to score a single point. ] 10...c5!? Not the first move you'd look at as the pawn has moved once already. [ I n s t e a d d e v e l o p i n g w i t h 10...a6 looked flexible, preparing the break. ] 11.d5 [ W h it e c o u ld a lso h a ve ch o se n 11.dxc5 with a slight initiative while White can hope to make gains on the queenside. However Bla c k h a s t h e e xtra ce n t ra l pa wn . O n e sample line runs xc5 12.e3 a5 13.0-0 c6 14.a3 d8 15.b4 h5 16.e2 e5 17.xe5 xe5 18.c2 and White has a

slight edge thanks to his queenside space. ] 11...e6 12.0-0 a6 [ 12...d8!? also looks possible. The most forcing line is 13.g5 xb2 14.a4 a3 15.c1 b4 16.b1 a5 17.b5 c7 18.xc5 d6 which is respectable for Black. ] 13.f4 This is actualy the first new move of the game. [ Earlier White tried 13.dxe6 xe6 14.a3 ad8 15.c2 c6 16.g5 c7 17.e3 b6 18.ad1 c8! 19.ge4 fe8 20.xf6+ xf6 and Black equalised and even went on to win. Fontana So tomayour, L (2373)Magem Badals, J (2553) Montcada 2009. ] 13...h5 Black declines grabbing the pawn immediately. [ However the pawn grab must be critical. Arjapetian was obviously concerned about 13...xb2 14.e5 when White certainly has good compensation but perhaps no more than that, e.g. a3 15.b5 a5 16.d6 b4 17.e1 xd3 18.xd3 exd5 19.cxd5 a6!? 20.xa6 bxa6 21.ad1 d8 22.g5 d7 23.xf6 xf6 24.e8+ g7 25.ge4 and White has managed to keep some initiative but perhaps Black's play can be improved. Anyway grabbing the pawn is certainly dangerous. ] 14.e5 Najer continues to offer the pawn. [ It was possible to keep the b2 pawn by t h r o w i n g i n 14.a4!? a5 ( 14...d8 15.g5 is a bit better for White) 15.d6 d7! 16.c3 fe8= and Black's almost completed his development with a respectable position. ] 14...xe5 15.xe5 xb2 16.c1 I'm not convinced Black's plan of exchanging bishops first has really worked. True he no longer has to worry about discovered knight attacks but now his king is rather vulnerable. b6 Black runs his queen back but now he struggles to develop his queenside. [ 16...b4 17.b1 b6 would at least allow Black to complete his development but the queen's location on b2 is very precarious which he can exploit with 18.e1 exd5 19.e2 a3 20.b5 a5 21.a3! wh ich win s ma t eria l a s a6? 22.c6 traps the queen. ] 17.e1 c7 18.d2 f6 19.g5 g7 288

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 19...exd5 20.cxd5 d6 21.cd1 doesn't solve Black's problems. ] 20.cd1 White's pieces are perfectly positioned while Black still has problems completing his development. The extra pawn is rather meaningless here. d8 [ 20...exd5 21.cxd5 cxd5 22.xd5 xd5 gives W hite a choice between grabbing a p a w n b a c k w i t h 23.xf7 ( A n d m y p r e f e r e n c e 23.c4! d8 24.e5+ f6 25.g3 which gives White a lot of pressure for the couple pawns.) 23...xf7 24.xd5 when Black can still not complete h i s d e v e l o p m e n t a s f5?! 25.c4 wins material, f6? 26.e7+ cannot be considered. ] 21.e4 [ 21.c2 was also possible as d5 is not yet hanging. exd5 22.cxd5 ce8 23.e3 is still dangerous for Black. ] 21...exd5 22.cxd5 ce8 23.f3 d6 Black has defended well and is preparing to finally develop his queenside, hence White's following choice: 24.g4!? Perhaps preparing g4-g5 to gain further attacking chances on the kingside but more importantly preventing Black using the f5 square. a5 25.e3 e8 26.f4 d8?! After playing very well Black makes a small error, after which Najer doesn't look back. [ 26...h6!? threatening ...g5 keeps White's attack under control. The important tactic to be aware of is 27.h4?! allows xe5! ] [ 26...b4!? 27.g3 g5! would also see Black starting to see the upper hand. ] 27.de1 Building up a slow burn attack on the kingside against which Black is pretty powerless. [ A tactical possibility was available in the shape of 27.c6! which looked very strong bxc6 ( 27...d7 28.g5 g8 29.xe8 xe8 30.d6! bxc6 31.g4 d8 32.d7+- ) 28.dxc6 xe3 29.xe3 and Black fails to keep his material, i.e. h5 ( 29...e6 30.e5 c4 31.xd8 xe5 32.xa8 xf3+ 33.g2 d4 34.c7+- ) 30.g5 fe8 31.c7 xc7 32.xa8 ] 27...h6 As there's no longer any tactic preventing h4 I think this just further weakens Black's kingside but it isn't easy to offer an alternative. 28.h4 e7 29.g2 c7 30.a4!

Keeping full control of the position and preventing Black from achieving any counterplay before breaking open Black's position. fe8?! [ 30...c4 was probably essential to prevent White's next. ] 31.c4! a6? And this just loses material. [ 31...d7 would have kept the material temporarily but 32.g5! followed by Bg4 is too strong. ] 32.xe8! xe8 33.xe8 xe8 34.xc7 Two knights for rook and pawn but Black's sad queenside is still undeveloped. Black tries a crazy bid for counterplay but White converts easily. b5 35.b6 b4 36.xa8 bxc3 37.xc5 e1 38.xc8 d2 39.d6 c2 40.d7 1-0

291 Najer,Evgeniy Kovalenko,Igor Open A Moscow RUS (6) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2665 2486 04.02.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 [ 5...c6 is still causing White problems to gain an advantage and was seen no less than three times in the A group of Corus last month. 6.e5 ( 6.g3 was attempted by Fabiano Caruana to break Tiviakov's opening: g4 7.g2 e6 8.0-0 e7 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 0-0 11.e2 finally deviating from a previous Tiviakov game which had gone 11.Bf4 Socko-Tiviakov and agreed drawn which is examined by John in the archives. bd7 12.g2 e5 13.c3 ad8 14.b3 c7 15.dxe5 xe5 16.e3 when White had a small advantage with the two bishops but Black is very solid. Caruana converted eventually in a long game with very good technique. I remember being convinced the game was going to end in a draw, Caruana-Tiviakov, Corus 2010) 6...bd7 7.c4 ( Instead on the White side, earlier in the tournament, Ivanchuk tried 7.f4 but failed to get any real advantage after d5 8.xd5 xd5 9.f3 b6 10.e2 f5 11.c3 e4 12.d2 c2 289

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.xc2 xc2 and the game was ultimately agreed drawn, Ivanchuk-Tiviakov, Corus 2010 ) 7...c7 It's surprising to see Ivanchuk attempt the Black side but he must have been convinced of it's sound solid game when preparing for his game against Tiviakov. 8.d5!? A new move. White immediately tries to force some concessions in Black's camp. g6 ( 8...b6 looks like an immediate equaliser 9.dxc6 bxc6 10.d4 xc4 11.xc4 e5 12.d3 e7= Black's increased control over the kingside and centre compensates for the damaged queenside.) 9.d4 g7 10.f4 ( 10.d6 d8 doesn't get White anywhere.) 10...d8 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.d2 b7 14.h6 c7 15.xg7 xg7 16.e3 b6 17.e5 ac8 18.e1 fe8 19.f3 xe5 20.xe5 bd5 although this even favoured Black. The Black pawn structure remind me of certain lines of the Dragon but when Black has control over the d5 square he has nothing to fear, White could never really us e t h e c 5 s qu are . 1 / 2-1 / 2 Dom in gu e z Perez-Ivanchuk, Corus 2010 (56) ] 6.h3 h5 7.g4 g6 8.e5 bd7 9.b5 Deviating from 9.Bf4 seen in Kosten-Govciyan in the archives. This move must be critical for the future of this variation. b6 10.c4! Of course b5 isn't really en-prise as W hite has the discovered check on d6. e6+ [ 10...c6 is also possible although after 11.d5! Black is forced to go down the following variation xd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.xc7+ d8 14.xd5 e4 15.g1 xd5 16.f4 White has some advantage as Black's exposed king on d8 gives him some problems along the d file. ] 11.e2 [ 11.e3 was tried previously in this position A) 11...b6 i s a l s o p l a y a b l e 12.g5 ( 12.c4= ) 12...a6 13.c3 e4 14.g2 xc3 15.bxc3 e6; B) 11...0-0-0 12.f4 ( 12.xa7+ grabs a pawn but leaves W hite dangerously behind in development b8 13.b5 h5 14.g5 e4 gives Black very good compensation, it's not clear where W h i t e ' s k i n g w i l l e v e r f i n d s a f e t y .) 12...d5?! ( 12...e4 13.g1 a6 14.c3 is very messy but again W hite will find

problems finding a safe square for his king. ) 13.f5 xe3 14.fxe6 xd1 15.exd7+ xd7 16.xd1 e6? ( 16...a6 17.c3 xd4+ 18.d3 White's piece is more effective than the three pawns as his pieces will coordinate faster.) 17.a3? ( 17.xa7+ b8 18.b5 c6 19.c3 xd4+ 20.d3 gives Black nothing like enough ) 17...xd4+ 18.e2 0-1 RigoScharrer, Arco di Trento 2007 (52) ] 11...xe2+ [ 11...c6 12.f4! d5 13.xc7! i s u n c o m f o r t a b l e f o r B l a c k a s xc7 14.bd6+ d8 15.a5 xh1 16.axb7+ xb7 17.xb7+ c8 18.a5 leaves Black's king seriously exposed. ] 12.xe2 d8 [ 12...0-0-0 13.xa7+ b8 14.b5 xc2 15.f4 d5 16.g3 also has Black under pressure on the queenside ] 13.a5 [ 13.e5 c6 ( 13...xe5 14.dxe5 ) 14.xg6 hxg6 15.c3 e6= and Black is rock solid and has nothing to fear. ] 13...c6 14.c3 c8 15.f4 And so Black has his typical super-solid pawn structure and if he can just switch around places of the rook on a8 and king then he would have the better c h a n c e s . H o we ve r t h i s i s i m p o s s i b l e t o achieve and so W hite has chances to hold onto the initiative. e6 [ The pawn is taboo 15...xc2 16.c1 e4 ( 16...g6 17.d5 c5 18.f3 Despite the queens being traded Black encounters big problems, d6 is a big threat while White also has ideas of Nb5 and b4 while how exactly does Black develop any pieces?) 17.xe4 xe4 18.d5 c5 19.f3 d6 20.b4 b6 21.bxc5 bxc5 ( 21...xc5 22.b3 ) 22.c6 ] 16.a3 [ 16.0-0-0 b4 17.c4 b6 18.d6+ xd6 19.xd6 bd5 20.xd5 xd5 is theoretically better for W hite with the two bishops but Black shouldn't have too many problems, he has successfully swapped off enough pieces that he will be able to finally develop his rooks while he still has his perfect structure. ] 16...b6 [ 16...xc2!? This pawn might be edible now 290

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.c1 g6 18.g5 ( White should probably play 18.f3 and play slowly when he has some compensation for the pawn as it is still awkward for Black to develop his final pieces. ) 18...e4 19.b5 ( 19.d5 exd5 20.xd5 c5 ) 19...a6! 20.c7 a7 21.xa6 d6 22.xd6 xd6 23.xc6 bxc6 24.xc6+ d8 25.xd6 e7 26.xd7+ ( 26.c6 e4 ) 26...xd7 ] [ 16...e4! looks like it equalises 17.d3 d6= ] 17.0-0-0 e7 18.h4 h5 19.g5 e8 20.f3 Black has to watch out for sacrifices on c6 which he falls for in the game. Black still has problems developing while W hite has coordinated his pieces well. d6 21.e2 d5 22.e5 c7 23.b3 h7 [ 23...b6 24.c4 e7 25.a1!? with the idea to reroute the knight to c2 and then either to e3 or b4 is slightly better for W hite but at least Black can bring out that a8 rook. ] 24.c4! b6 [ 24...e7 25.f4 is also extremely unpleasant for Black. ] 25.a5 xe5?! This just makes it worse [ 25...d7 26.xc7 xc7 might still be manageable for Black. ] 26.dxe5 d7 27.xc6! [ 27.xd7! i s a l s o v e r y s t r o n g xd7 28.xb7 c7 29.a5 White gets two pawns for the exchange while Black's pieces are still imp ossible to co ordinat e while Black's king will also find itself in difficulty. However the game continuation is simpler and also winning. ] 27...bxc6 28.xc6 xe5 [ 28...b8 29.xd7+is of course totally lost. ] 29.xa8 c7 30.g2 d3+ 31.d2 xf2 32.d4 xh1 33.xh1 so Black has survived without dropping any material but his rook on h7 is looking decidedly silly while White's queenside pawns are extremely fast. f6 [ 33...h8 34.c6 a6 35.e7+ d8 36.xg6 fxg6 37.e3+ e7 38.c6 d8 39.xd8 xd8 40.d4 e7 41.e5+W hite is totally dominating, Black has an awful pawn structure and his knight cannot move ] 34.c6 e8 35.gxf6 gxf6 36.xa7+

White picks off the a pawn and now has three connected passed pawns. Black already could resign, his own two connected passed pawns wo n ' t h e l p m u c h . b8 37.c6+ b7 38.d4+ a6 39.f1 h6 40.b4 g6 41.b5+ b6 42.c3 e5 43.b3 xb5 Black tries to get rid of all White's pawns as his best winning try. 44.cxb5 xb5+ 45.b2 d6 [ 45...g4 successfully gets rid of the h4 pawn 46.xf6+ c7 47.c6+ d8 48.f3 xh4 49.e2 h2 50.c2 xa3 51.xa3 is of course totally lost but at least might force White to show he can remember how to mate with bishop and knight vs king:) ] 46.d5 e4 47.c1 f5 48.c6+ a7 49.d4 e3 50.b5+ b8 51.xd6 e2 52.c8+ a7 53.c4! A cute finish. b6+ 54.c2 1-0

292 Najer,Evgeniy Kruchev,Boris ch-Rapid Olginka RUS rapid (4) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2638 2256 25.04.2011

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 It's been a while since this queen retreat has been examined on the site. Generally I've felt this is solid but non-critical and White should have various ways to gain an edge due to his development advantage. However White has t o b e c a r e f u l a s if t h e a d va n t a ge o f t h e temporary initiative dries up then Black will stand well. 4.d4 [ W h i t e c a n a l s o d e l a y d 4 w i t h 4.f3 wh ich is t ricky f o r Bla ck t o h an d le . f6 ( Glek has tried to exploit White's move o r d e r w i t h 4...g4 but this looks like it should be a comfortable edge for W hite. 5.h3 xf3 6.xf3 c6 7.b4!? is an int erestin g wa y to e xploit Blac k's missing c8 bishop. a6 8.b1 f6 9.a4 e6 10.b5 1-0 Gabrielian, A (2520)-Glek, I (2560) Moscow 2006. ) 5.c4 A) 5...f5 has been the most common but Black now encounters difficulties following 6.e5! e6 7.f3 when a game from this year saw Black surviving only a few more moves. 291

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A1) 7...c8 looks best when Rybka suggests 8.h3!? Preparing taking on f7. ( 8.xf7? Immediately fails to g4! ) 8...d6 ( 8...xc2?! is far too risky. One sample line could continue: 9.d3 b4 10.d2 0-0 11.c1 xc3 12.xc3 a4 13.0-0 bd7 14.xd7 xd7 15.g3 g6 16.fe1 with a huge initiative.) 9.xf7 c6 10.xd6+ cxd6 11.f4 d5 12.b3 0-0 13.0-0 and Black appears to have some compensation for the pawn but a pawn is still a pawn!; A2) 7...c6? has actually been played m o s t c o m m o n l y b u t n o w 8.xf7+is very strong.; A3) 7...d4?! 8.xb7! xe5+ 9.e2 c6 ( 9...e4 10.xe4 xe4 11.xe4 xe4 12.f3 is the lesser evil.) 10.d4 a5 11.f4 b4 12.0-0 0-0 13.c7 and Black found his queen embarrassingly short on squares. bd7 14.xa5 xa5 15.xc6 fc8 16.a6 1-0 Tesik, C (2299)-To, N (2340) Budapest 2011.; B) 5...e6 is probably safest but White can usually claim an edge in these positions due to the blocked in bishop on c8.; C) 5...a6 Recently this seems to be Black's preferred method of exploiting the early bishop sortie. 6.d4 b5 C1) 7.b3 c5 8.a4 ( 8.dxc5 xd1+ 9.xd1 e6 10.a4 1/2-1/2 Papp, G (2545)-Szabo, G (2568) Szombathely 2010 wasn't much of a game but I suppose therefore a successful opening by Szabo. ) 8...c4 9.a2 b6 Reached an interesting position. The bishop on a2 is currently totally out of play but the question is whether White, by playing actively, can exploit Black's over-extension before he gets round to some development. In Getz, N (2333) Djukic, N (2494) Aix-les-Bains 2011 the young Norwegian succeeded in defeating the GM from Montenegro but it c e r t a in l y wa s n ' t so l e l y d o wn t o t h e opening choice. 10.e5 e6 11.0-0 b7 12.e3 bd7 13.d5 c5 14.xd7 xd7 15.dxe6 fxe6 16.h5+ g6 17.xc5 xc5 18.h6 0-0-0 19.axb5

axb5 and the position remained highly complex but White ultimately triumphed.; C2) 7.d3 This is actually a rare retreat but looks a more active square to me. Black can try and claim that he's gained a tempo with ...a6-b5 but W hite can counter that he is rather over-extended. Remember too that Black arguably lost two tempi with ... Qd8-d5-d8. e6 8.g5 ( 8.a4!? b4 9.e4 bd7 10.0-0 b7 11.e2 looks slightly more comfortable for White to me but fully playable for the second player.) 8...e7 9.e2 b7 10.0-0 0-0 11.fd1 bd7 12.e5 xe5 13.dxe5 d5 14.xd5 xd5?! ( 14...xg5= ) 15.e3 b8 16.b3 and White ultimately exploited his extra couple hundred rating points. Timofeev, A (26 7 7)-Dju kic, N (2 49 5 ) S ara je vo 2010. ] 4...c6 [ U s u a l l y B l a c k s t a r t s w i t h 4...f6 which seems more flexible to me but likely to t ra n sp ose t o simila r p o sitio n s . 5.c4 This looks the most accurate to me. ( 5.f3 is more common but this gives Black further options. ) 5...e6 ( 5...a6 6.f3 transposes to 4.Nf3; 5...c6 6.f3 would transpose to the game. ) 6.f3 And White should have a definite edge as the bishop is blocked in on c8. One recent game continued: c6 7.0-0 e7 8.f4 0-0 9.e1 a6 10.a3 d5 11.xd5 exd5 12.d3 g4 13.c3 h5 A n d B la c k h a d d e f e n d e d we ll t o r e a c h almost equality but never succeeded in getting quite there and ultimately went down. S ve t u s h k i n , D ( 2 5 6 0 ) - O r l o v, A ( 2 5 0 2 ) Rethymno 2010. ] 5.c4 f6 6.f3 f5 If Black has to play ... e6 then White can claim an edge due to the blocked in bishop on c8 and so this is the critical test. 7.e5 And White continues to go down the critical line. [ Of course 7.0-0 can also be played but one feels this shouldn't trouble Black unduly. ] 7...e6 8.g4 g6 9.h4 b5?! This hasn't been considered previously and probably for good reason. To me it feels that this is too weakening. [ 9...bd7 was twice the choice of England's 292

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 number one Mickey Adams, admittedly over 10 years ago. Here Andrew Martin's suggestion of 10.f3! looks strong, e.g. xe5 ( 10...c7 was seen in Philippe, C (2360) Mateuta, G (2435) St Lorrain 2003 but here 11.e2! would leave Black with severe problems. ) 11.dxe5 d5?! ( 11...d7 was necessary but White still has the upper ha n d a f t e r 12.h5 xe5 13.b3 xd1+ 14.xd1 xh5 15.xh5 xf3 16.e3 d8+ 17.e2 d4+ 18.f2 as with so many pieces left on the board a piece is worth more than three pawns.) 12.xd5 exd5 13.h5 d4 14.hxg6 dxc3 15.xd8+ xd8 16.xh7 ( 16.gxh7!? ) 16...cxb2 17.xb2 g8 18.gxf7+ xf7 19.f4 saw White with a clear extra pawn. Hanley, C (2322) -Vujatovic, R (2249) Hastings 2004. ] [ 9...b4 has been the most common and covered a few times on this site before but th is wh o le line h a s ra t h e r f a lle n o u t o f fashion. I've had a look with newer computer analysis. 10.f3! This looks critical. W h it e t h re a t e n s h 5 t r a p p in g t h e B la c k bishop. ( 10.h3!? is looked at by Volzhin in Ponomariov, R (2550)-Garcia Ilundain, D (2520) Pamplona 1996 ) A) The computer advises Black to try his lu c k wi t h t h e p ie ce sa cr i f i c e 10...xc2 although this is condemned by Volzhin. 11.xc2 xd4 12.e2!? ( 12.f4 is recommended by Volzhin and should g i v e W h i t e a s m a l l e d g e a f t e r bd7 13.xd7 xg4! 14.b3 xd7 15.d2 but Black still has three pawns for the piece. ) A1) 12...b5?! was given as an improvement but here W hite has the shot 13.xf7! xc3+ 14.f1 0-0 15.xe6 xf7 ( 15...a5 16.e3! and the queen ha s actually becom e trapped. ) 16.bxc3 leaves White with a material advantage.; A2) 12...xc3+ 13.bxc3 xc3+ 14.f2 xa1 15.d1 c3 16.b2 b4 17.xf7! with a decisive attack. Perez, L (2459)-Lopez Martinez, J (2465) Varadero 2000.; B) 10...d5 This is Volzhin's suggestion in the archives and more common but with

correct play I think White has a clear edge. 11.xd5 cxd5 ( 11...xd5 12.h5 xc2 13.xc2 f6 14.d3 xf3 15.g1 is clearly very good for White as observed by Volzhin.) 12.h5 ( This looks a lot more reliable than the 12.e2 of Kotronias, V (2570) -Candela Perez, J (2430) X Anibal Open, Linares 2003 analysed by Andrew Martin. ) 12...f6 13.hxg6 fxe5 14.gxh7 B1) V o l z h i n o n l y l o o k s a t 14...c7 giving the line 15.d2 c6! ( 15...exd4 16.e2 xd2+ 17.xd2 c6 18.0-0-0 e5 19.f4!+- ) 16.dxe5 g6 17.b5 xe5+ 18.e2 xb2 19.xe6+ e7 but here the computer observes White can improve over 20.Nc7+ with 20.e2! xc2 21.d6+ xd6 22.xd6 d8 23.e5 f7 24.ac1 xa2 25.c7+with a decisive advantage.; B2) 14...e7 15.dxe5 c6 Prokopchuk, E (2520)-Lopez Martinez, J (2468) Moscow 2005 when continuing in the same spirit with 16.d2 followed by Q e 2 a n d 0 - 0 - 0 g i ve s W h i t e a c l e a r edge. ] 10.b3 b4 11.f3! We've seen this idea before. Black cannot retain his light squared bishop and doesn't even have ...Bxc2 ideas to complicate the position. d5 12.xd5 cxd5 [ 12...xd5 13.h5 f6 14.hxg6 fxe5 15.d2 A) 15...xd4 16.e2 ( 16.gxh7!? ) 16...h6 17.0-0-0 leaves White with a strong attack.; B) 15...xc3 16.xc3 h6 17.dxe5 and Black has no compensation for the pawn. ] 13.h5 f6 14.hxg6 fxe5 15.dxe5 [ 15.gxh7 looks even stronger when Black is a pawn down and has nothing to show for it. True the position is complex but I struggle to s e e p o s i t i v e s i n B l a c k ' s c a m p . c7!? ( 15...c6 16.dxe5 xc3+ 17.bxc3 xe5 18.e3 f6 19.f4 c4 20.d3 ) 16.d2 ( 16.f2!? ) 16...exd4 17.xb5 g3+ 18.f1 xd2 19.xd2 xf3+ 20.g1 xg4+ 21.g2 xg2+ 22.xg2 a6 23.xd4 c5 24.c4 and Black has managed to survive to a materially level ending but is extremely passive and I have a feeling that the h7 pawn should win the day. ] 293

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15...c6 [ 15...h6 was necessary, at least to prevent White having a passed pawn on the seventh but of c ourse W h ite is still on top af te r 16.d2 i.e. xc3 17.xc3 g5 18.e2 0-0 19.d2 xg6 20.xb5 xf3 21.0-0-0 ] 16.d2 [ Again 16.gxh7 was strong transposing to 15...gxh7. ] 16...e7 [ 16...xc3 17.xc3 h6 should have been played when at least Black is only a pawn down although the natural line 18.f4 0-0 19.f3 e8 20.0-0-0 xg6 21.f5 leaves White with a very dangerous attack and completely safe king. ] 17.xh7 h4+ 18.f1 0-0 19.h5 White has an extra two pawns and as long as he's careful should be able to convert the win. b4 20.a4 [ 20.b5 i s a b e t t e r s q u a r e a s a6 can be met with 21.g2! axb5 22.h1 xe5 23.g5! xg6 24.xd8 xd8 25.e1 with a large material advantage. ] 20...e8! A good practical try. [ 20...c8 is the computer's top suggestion but 21.c3 bxc3 22.xc3 leaves Black with very little to show for his material deficit. ] 21.g2! Najer declines the piece, a good practical decision in rapid chess. [ 21.xh4 Suddenly allows Black's pieces to become active although objectively White is s t ill b e t t e r. Ho we ve r t h e f o llo win g lin e indicates some of Black's chances: xe5 22.h3 xg6 23.f4 ac8 24.g1 c4! 25.b3 d4 26.e2 e4 27.g2 exf4 28.xf4 xf4 29.h1 xg4 30.f3 h6+ 31.g1 xf3 32.xf3 h2+ 33.f1 h4 and Black looks to be holding the draw. ] 21...xe5? But this knight was necessary to crea te pro ble ms in W hit e's ca mp so this sacrifice is unsound. [ 21...e7! was best and would force White t o f i n d a c c u r a t e m o ve s t o s u r e u p h i s advantage 22.xh4 xg6 23.h2! xa4 24.c4! d7 25.c2 f7 26.f4 ] 22.xe5 xa4 23.h5! f6 [ 23...f6? a l l o w s m a t e w i t h 24.h8+ so Black is forced to give up the piece with absolutely zero compensation. ]

24.xh4 xg6 25.a3 d7 26.axb4 e5 27.h1 f8 28.h8+ f7 29.xf8+ xf8 30.h5 f6 31.xe5 a6 32.e1 d4 33.g5 These lines with 7. Ne5 and 8.g4 are complex but White looks to have great chances. 1-0

293 Nevednichy,Vladislav Afek,Yochanan 5th Open La Fere FRA (6) [Eric Prié]

B01 2576 2316 12.07.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e4?! 6.d3! In this line it is clear that moves like 6.Bd2?! (or 6.Qd3?) will a l wa ys m a k e t h i s v a r i a t i o n l o o k a l m o s t playable for Black. The question then may be: what is the point of proposing such games when Black has been consistently crushed all year long when faced with this critical move? To draw a red herring across the trail of chess Truth? This is hardly going to stop people from playing this refutation, you can take my word for it. xc3 7.bxc3 g6 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 c6 A Novelty. 10.h3!? [ 10.d2 g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 0-0 May have been the idea behind it ... a l t h o u g h e ve n t h i s d o e s n o t lo o k v e r y promising after ( 12...xd4? 13.cxd4 xd2 14.b5+ c6 15.xc6+ ) 13.ad1! e5 ( 13...xa2? 14.a1 b2 15.eb1 ) 14.d5 e7 15.c4 a4 16.c3 ] [ 10.b1!? ] 10...f5 In order to profit from the move order, it is now or ... a lot later, as illustrated by the next games. 11.b1! xd3 [ 11...0-0-0 12.b5 xa2 Practice suggests it is not very wise to open two files o p p o s i t e o n e ' s o w n k i n g . . . ( 12...xc3? 13.b2 )] 12.xd3 0-0-0 Castling 'coffin side'?! Or else, how to defend b7? [ 12...b8 13.d5 d8 ( 13...d8 14.d6; 13...xc3 14.b5 ) 14.b5 xa2 ( 14...a6 15.c4 a5 16.xc7 xb5 17.xe7# ) 15.e4 xc3 16.dxc6 xe1 17.cxb7 0-0 18.xe1 ] 13.c4 e6 [ 13...d5 14.a4 a5 15.xa5 xa5 294

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xe7 ] 14.b5 a6 15.f4 d7? [ 15...d5! 16.a4 hd8 17.eb1 ( 17.g5 f5 18.xf7 xf7 19.xe6+ dd7 ) 17...8d7 And there is no direct win in sight for White since 18.d2? allows xd4! ] 16.eb1 a5? [ 16...d5 17.g5! f8 ( 17...f5 18.xf7 xf7 19.xe6+ d7 20.xb7; 17...xd4 18.cxd4 xd4 19.c3 xf4 20.xh8+ ) 18.e4+F o l l o w e d b y N c 5 . a5? 19.xc7# ] [ 16...h6 17.d2! ] [ For all the tactical hints given above 16...e8! Then was the most stubborn. 17.b3 b6 18.c4 b7 ] 17.d3 c6 Realizing the unavoidable nature of the capture on b7 a bit late. [ 17...c6 18.xb7 xb7 19.a6!! xa6 20.b8# ] 18.xb7 xd3 19.cxd3 f6 20.d5! [ 20.d5 exd5 21.d4 ] 1-0

294 Ni Hua Muzychuk,Anna Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (6) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2657 2523 22.01.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.a4!? A new move for the site. White decides he'd prefer having a4 and a5 thrown in. On the downside it gives Black the b4 square potentially but it also makes the thematic b6 break harder to achieve for Black as she will be forced to recapture with the c pawn rather than the preferred a pawn. a5 [ Ann a trie d 6...g7 last time she reached this position but I feel White should be able to get the advantage without too much effort here. 7.a5 6d7 8.c3 A) 8...0-0 was tried by Boris Savchenko, a high rated Grandmaster recently 9.e2 c6 A1) A case could be made f o r 10.0-0 when after Black's only logical break e5 11.g5 f6 ( 11...f6 12.e3 ) 12.xf6 xf6 13.b5 exd4 14.xc7 b8 15.d5 g7 16.b4 gives White a

pleasant game.; A2) 10.d5 Committal. White forces Black's knight to move again but leaves the c5 square vulnerable. b4 11.0-0 c5 12.e3 b6 13.d4 was a little better for White. I'll leave the rest of the game as it was a nicely played game by the young Pole. d7 14.b3 ba6 15.f3 b8 16.axb6 axb6 17.xc5 xc5 18.a7 f5 19.b5 xb2 20.g5 ( 20.f4! ) 20...b7 21.a2 e5 22.e1 d6 23.h6 e8 24.d4 f6 25.ae2 d7? ( 25...b8 26.g4 d7 ) 26.g4! Suddenly the bishop's trapped e5 27.xe5 xe5 28.xe5 c8 29.e3 b8 30.f4 b7 31.g3 d7 32.d6! c6 33.dxe7 xe7 34.xc6 1-0 Swiercz-Savchenko, Budva 2009; B) 8...c5 9.dxc5 ( I prefer 9.d5 k e e p i n g t h e b i n d o n t h e q u e e n s i d e .) 9...xc3+ ( 9...0-0!? 10.e3 xc3+ 11.bxc3 c7 looks double-edged. Black will be better if she completes development so White needs to go for an attack against the exposed Black king 12.d4 c6 13.h4 f6; 9...a6!? ) 10.bxc3 xc5 11.xd8+ xd8 12.e3 ba6 and Black didn't really have anything to f ea r and went o n to win in Dembo Muzychuk, Kusadasi 2006 0-1(57) ] 7.c3 [ 7.c5 Immediately has also been tried but it gives Black additional options d5 8.c4 A) 8...g7 has been played more often when 9.Nc3 would be a direct transposit ion to the game while 9.b3 is the other way to play for White A1) 9...e6 10.c3 ( 10.g5 was played in Real de Azua-Luconi, Mendoza 2008 1-0 (30) but instead of 10...f6 I'd prefer e7 not weakening the kingside squares.) 10...c6 11.0-0 ( 11.xd5 seems to lead to a long forcing line exd5 12.xd5 0-0 13.0-0 g4 14.g5 xd4 15.xf7 xb3 16.xd8+ h8 17.f7+ xf7 18.xb3 e7 which nets White a pawn but gives B l a c k ve ry go o d d ra wi n g ch a n c e s .) 11...0-0 12.d1 ce7 13.g5 Gave W hite a comfortable advantage and Black's bid for counterplay with f6 295

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.h4 g5 15.g3 h5 16.h3 g4 17.hxg4 hxg4 18.e1 c6 19.d6 f5 20.xd5 exd5 21.e2 f6 22.d3 g6 23.df4 xf4 24.xf4 h6 25.g3 didn't improve matters for him Le k ic -Jo van o vic, He rce g Novi 2 0 0 6 1-0(65); A2) 9...c6 10.c3 0-0 11.0-0 ( 11.xd5 taking the pawn is also p o s s i b l e h e r e cxd5 12.xd5 c6 13.e3 g4 14.0-0 ) 11...b4 has been seen in a couple of games and looks promising for W hite but Qb3 so early isn't necessary and he might find the queen has a better square.; B) 8...c6 9.0-0 I'd prefer 9.Nc3 tran sp os in g b ack in to t h e ga me style position. g7 10.c3 cb4 11.e1 e6 12.b3 ( 12.xe6! looks like a thematic sacrifice ruining Black's pawn structure and significantly weakening his king fxe6 13.g5 d7 14.g4 when White will pick up a pawn for the exchange too and ha ve go o d co m p e n sa t io n .) 12...0-0 13.g5 f5 and Black had at least equalised, It's important for White not to allow Black to set up his knight on the d5 outpost while 14.xd5 xd5 15.xd5?! xd5 16.xe7 cannot be advised as B l a c k c o u l d p l a y t h e s i m p l e d8 gives Black a clear advantage as he's regaining the pawn on d4 when White will regret his queenside pawn pushes. ( Instead in the game Mader-Tomczak, Neuhausen 2007 Black played 16...f6 which was also strong and he converted in 32 moves. )] 7...g7 8.c5 d5 9.c4 b4 Perhaps Black should transpose into the previous notes with 9...c6 or 9...e6 [ 9...xc3 looks too obliging this is exactly th e p awn s tru ct ure W h it e is a im in g f o r 10.bxc3 0-0 11.0-0 h6 12.c2 e6 13.f4 1-0 Szabo-Malmdin, Caleta 2009 (42) ] 10.0-0 0-0 [ Black cannot play 10...g4? immediately as it falls for the well known trick 11.xf7+ xf7 12.g5++- ] 11.h3 And now Ni Hua prevents Black developing the bishop to the ideal g4 square

b6 Muzychuk decides to play this despite having to recapture with the c pawn. [ The other option would be 11...f5 12.e3 8c6 ( 12...c2 13.c1 xe3 14.fxe3 Gains Black the two bishops but White has a big centre now and attacking chances d o w n t h e f f i l e .) 13.d5 ( 13.c1 is also possible slowly building up when it's unclear what the bishop is doing on f5.) 13...e5 14.xe5 xe5 15.h6 e8 16.e2 f6 17.ad1 gives White a pleasant space advantage. ] 12.cxb6 cxb6 13.g5 This is a useful square for the bishop. Not only does it put pressure on e7, it also means that it will be harder for Black to utilise the d5 square. a6 14.b5 Of course W hite would prefer not to trade bishops but to keep as many pieces on the board as possible. The d4 pawn will become wea ker with eve ry exchan ge. Me anwhile White will want to put pressure on the e7 and f7 pawns. d7 15.b3 f6 [ 15...c8 16.fe1 f6 17.e5 is rather similar to the game. ] 16.e5 fd5 17.fe1 b7 On the surface, Black can be fairly happy with her opening sh e 's m an a ge d t ot a l co nt ro l o ver t h e d 5 square thanks to the b4 outpost which keeps e7 and f7 adequate defended. However Black is a little passive and it's unclear how she improves her position much. She wants to exchange as many pieces as possible, a perfect endgame would be a knight on d5 against the dark squared bishop. W hite on the other hand has more space and the d4 pawn is useful at the moment and so White needs to hold on to the initiative and attack! 18.d2 e6 19.ac1 c8 20.g3 e7 [ 20...e7 Trying to reroute that knight to f5 and the other from b4 to d5 would be a sound strategic plan but unfortunately it fails tactically to 21.xf7! xf7 22.xe6 xc1 23.xc1 d5 24.xf7+ xf7 25.g5 Leaves White with rook and two pawns for the two pieces which in itself is not so bad but his king is in a lot of danger while 26.Rc7 i s a b i g t h r e a t bc6 stops that but now W hite has a choice either to keep the pressure on or swap off into a favourable e n d ga m e wi t h 26.d6+ g8 27.xc6! xc6 28.b3+ d5 29.xd5+ xd5 296

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30.xd8 xd4 31.b3 Should probably be winning for White although Black has some chances to hold. ] 21.h4! The more I look at this game however, the more difficult it appears for Black to come u p wi t h a n y a c t i v e p l a n . h6 22.g4! Forcing Black to relinquish control over g5 and further weakening his kingside. h5 [ 22...h7 would be the other option when 23.d6 cd8 24.xb7 xb7 25.h5 g5 26.f3 leaves Black under unpleasant pressure. ] 23.e5 f6?! [ 23...h7 is probably necessary to stop the dark square infiltration which occurs in the game. Black needs to play very accurately to hold and against such a good attacking player as Ni Hua she's in deep trouble. ] 24.h6! fd8 [ 24...xh4 h a d t o b e t r i e d 25.xg6! ( 25.xf8 xf8 isn't at all clear, White no longer has an attack.) 25...fxg6 ( 25...xg3 26.xe7+ xe7 27.xf8 xf2+ 28.xf2 xf8 29.h1 is extremely unpleasant for Black. Compared to the previous variation Black's kingside pawns are shattered and B l a c k d o e s n ' t h a ve t h e b i sh o p p a ir a s compensation.) 26.xg6+ h8 27.xf8 xf8 28.xh5+ g7 ( 28...h7 29.xh7+ xh7 30.g3 g5 31.f4 f6 32.xe6 and White has too many pawns.) 29.e5+ f6 30.g3 g5 31.f4 xf4!? ( 31...xe5 32.xe5 f6 33.xe6 again gives White rook and three pawns for the 2 pieces which should be more than enough.) 32.gxf4 xf4 33.xf6+ xf6 34.c3 with the reduced number of pawns and some kingside activity Black has good chances to hold the draw. ] 25.xg6! Crashing through fxg6 26.xg6+ h8 27.xe6! Ni Hua doesn't miss the chance. xe6 28.g7+ xg7 29.xe6 So after a forced line we've reached a position where W hite has queen and three pawns for rook, bishop and knight which is roughly balanced. However Black's king is still vulnerable and the h5 pawn looks like it will drop while Nd6 is an awkward threat to meet so White has a big advantage. d3 [ 29...f4 is the computer's top choice trying to solve Black's problems tactically but after 30.f7 bd3 31.c3 xc4 32.xc4 d5

33.c7 Black now has a bind in the middle of the board but at the cost of too much material f8 ( 33...e8 34.d7 e1+ 35.h2+- ) 34.e7+- with the threat of Rc7 ] 30.d6! xd6 [ 30...3f4 31.f7+ g8 32.e4+- ] 31.xd6 xc1 32.xd5 e2+ 33.h2 xd5 34.xd5 And so after a fairly forced line, White's swapped off material and h5 is falling by force when the connected three passed pawns on the kingside will decide. Black has no passed pawn of her own and thus no counterplay. xd4 35.xh5+ g8 36.d5+ h7 37.e4+ g8 38.h5 c6 39.f4 e6 40.d5 h7 41.g4 e2+ 42.h3 e3+ 43.g2 e6 44.f5+ g8 45.g5 f8 46.d5+ h8 47.f7 e6 48.h6 1-0

295 Ni Hua Tiviakov,Sergei 50th It Reggio Emilia ITA (5) [John Watson]

B01 2641 2643 02.01.2008

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 bd7 7.f4 d5 8.xd5 xd5 This month's other Scandinavian game went 8...Nxe5 at this point, without success. The queen recapture is surely preferable. 9.f3! Whether this is the very best move or not, it is clear and logical, emphasising W hite's space advantage. For alternatives, see Gashimov-Tiviakov. f6 10.e2 g4 11.0-0 e6 12.h3 xf3 [ 12...h5 13.c4 a5 14.a3 prepares a q u e e n s i d e a t t a c k a n d p r e v e n t s 0-0-0? due to 15.g4 g6 16.b4 a6 17.c5 b5 18.a4 ( or 18.cxb6 xb6 19.e5 )] 13.xf3 d7 We've arrived at the standard ... e6/ ...c6 restraint structure that comes up so often in the Scandinavian (and Slav, and Caro-Kann). W hite h as a healt hy lead in development, however, and that should make a difference. It's not clear if he handles the position so well over the next few moves. 14.c4 Committal. [ Also possible is just 14.e1 d6 15.e5 , when 0-0 16.xf6 gxf6 17.d2 g7 297

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.e4 f5 19.h4 f4 20.c3 f6 21.e1 looks advantageous (compare the next note). ] 14...d6 15.g5 [ 15.e5!? ] 15...e7 [ After 15...0-0 , I don't think that White gets mu c h f ro m 1 6 B xf 6 gxf 6 , b u t t h e m o ve 16.d5!? could lead to a better version: cxd5 ( 16...exd5 17.xf6 gxf6 18.cxd5 and the f-pawns are weak) 17.xf6 gxf6 18.cxd5 e5!? (intending ...f5) 19.d2 f5 20.fe1 ] 16.b3 0-0 17.fd1 fd8 18.f4 a5 19.a3 a4 20.c2 d6 21.g5 e7 [ 21...e7 is probably equal. The idea 22.d5 cxd5 23.xf6 xf6 24.cxd5 is usually harmless, here because of exd5 25.xd5 ac8 ] 22.d3 h6 23.d2 a6 24.e1 c7 25.b4 d7!? [ 25...d6 ] 26.ed1 d6 27.c3 c7 28.d5! Finally. cxd5 29.cxd5 e5? This pawn becomes a target. [ 29...exd5 30.xd5 xd5 31.xd5 h2+ 32.h1 xd5 33.xd5 leaves White the better bishop. Whether that can be exploited is not clear. A sample line might be d6 (versus g3) 34.d3 f6 35.e4 ( 35.h4 f8 36.e2 ) 35...e7 36.g4 ] 30.e3 aa8 31.f5 e8 32.de1 d7 33.h5!? [ 33.e4!? f6! ( 33...g6 34.g3 f8 35.h5 g7 36.d2 ) 34.g3 e7 35.d2 f8 36.c1 with control of the c-file, since d7 37.xd7 ( 37.xh6!? xf5 38.xg7+ e7 39.xf5 h5 is unclear) 37...xd7 38.gc3 f6 39.f3! keeps the edge. ] 33...f8?! [ B e t t e r t o e n t e r t h e e n d i n g b y 33...f6 34.xe5 xe5 35.xe5 xe5 36.xe5 xe5 37.xe5 xh5 38.xh5 d8 39.h4! ] 34.g3 e7?! [ But 34...g6 35.e4 with the idea Bxg6 and Reg4 is tough to meet. ] [ Best may be 34...d7 35.f6 g6 36.xe5 xe5 37.xe5 xe5 38.xe5 with the idea e8 39.d4 e1+ 40.h2 b5 41.f3 f1 42.g4 ]

35.e4 a6? [ A pretty line is 35...g6 36.d2! g7 37.xh6+! xh6 38.xg6 xg6 39.f6! ] 36.xg7+! xg7 37.g4+ g6 38.xg6 f8 39.h7 d7 40.g8+ e7 41.g6 1-0

296 Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter Prie,Eric TCh-Top 16 Gp A (4) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2693 2467 30.03.2006

It is rare to see Eric Prié smashed in his favourite variation although it happens to us all occasionally. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.e4 b6 [ I presume after 8...d8 Nisipeanu would have played 9.g3! ] [ I prefer 8...c7 when some analysis from my own book 'The Essential Centre-Counter', de mo nstrat e s th at B lack is O K : 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.e2 ( 10.c3 d7 11.e2 0-0-0 12.h4 g6 13.g3 c5!; 10.h4 g6 11.f3 d7 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.g3 d6= ) 10...d7 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 12.h4 g6 Reaching a critical position. 13.g3 ( 13.c3 b6 14.b3 c5 15.xg6 hxg6 16.dxc5 xc5 17.g3 c6 18.f3 d5=; 13.b3 c5! 14.d5 b6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.a5 exd5 17.xd5 f5 18.f3 g7 19.c3 d7= ) 13...b6 14.a5 h6+ 15.b1 d6! 16.f4 hd8 gives Black a coherent game. Why did Prié not go into this line, when he must surely have known this analysis? Perhaps he f e a re d h o me p re p a ra t ion , o r a s t h e featured game shows, he had the instinct to try something new and to take a risk. ] 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.e2 xb2 11.0-0 xc2 Once he has committed himself with 8...Qb6, he has to take the pawns. 12.fe1 [ White is relying on moves such as 12.d5 possibly combined with Nh4 to make his sacrifices work, but here cxd5 13.xd5 d3 14.e1 c7 enables Black to escape with his extra booty. ] 12...d7 Prié misses his opportunity! [ After 12...a3! covering c1, White may not have enough compensation for the pawns: 298

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.d5 ( 13.h4 d7 14.d5 cxd5 15.xd5 d3 16.e3 c5 17.f4 b2 18.ac1; 13.ad1 d7 14.d5 cxd5 15.xd5 0-0-0 16.d4 d3 ) 13...cxd5 14.xd5 c6 15.b5 ( 15.xc6+ xc6 16.d4 d5 17.b5 0-0-0! 18.f4 d3 ) 15...0-0 16.b3 d3 It is very hard to evaluate such lines at the board, for even a Grandmaster. But put it this way: for the future of 8...Qb6, 12...Ba3 has to work! ] 13.ac1N [ 13.d5 cxd5 14.xd5 d3 15.xd3 xd3 16.xb7 b8 17.c6 b5 18.xb5 xb5 19.ac1 c5 20.e3 e7 21.xc5+ xc5 22.d4 hc8 23.b1 b6 24.f4 a5 25.b2 c4 26.d2 d5 27.ed1 a4 was unconvincing for White. Bloemhard, RRemmel, T/ Dieren 2000 ] 13...b2 14.h4! From here on in, Nisipeanu plays extremely well. By decoying the Bishop he softens e6. g6 15.xe6 0-0-0 [ Naturally 15...fxe6 loses: 16.xe6+ d8 17.a5+ b6 18.xg6 hxg6 19.xc6+- ] 16.xd7+ xd7 [ 16...xd7 17.xg6 hxg6 18.b1 is simple enough. ] 17.e8+ d8 18.xc6+! Black is dead meat. bxc6 19.xc6+ b8 20.f4+ d6 21.xd6+ xd6 22.xd6+ a8 23.xg6 fxg6 24.xf6 c8 25.e6 b7 26.d5+ b8 27.g3 A challenging game for CentreCounter fans, but Black need not play 8...Qb6 and even if he does, there might be 12...Ba3 to fall back on. 1-0

297 Palliser,Richard Majer,Christopher Monarch Assurance Isle of Man (3) [Eric Prié]

B01 2413 1991 25.09.06

threatens to take on e7 with the bishop and t h e n o n c 5 w i t h t h e s a m e p i e c e . c6 ( 11...f6 12.xf6 exf6 13.d2 g4 14.f4 xf3 15.xf3 d7 16.xb7; 11...e6 12.e7 e8 13.xc5 xc3 14.b1 ) 12.d5 This is the problem with having the c5-pawn interrupting the queen's control of this square. c4 13.dxc6 ( 13.f1 d8 ) 13...cxd3 14.xe7 xc3 ( 14...e8 15.b4 )] 11...e8 12.c4 c6 13.d5 d8 [ 13...b5 14.d3 d8 15.c4 b4 16.e5 ] 14.b1 d7 [ 14...a6! 15.d6 e6 ] 15.e5 a4 16.f3! f8 [ 16...xc2 17.b5 ] [ 16...c8 17.d6 e6 18.d7 ] 17.d3 c8 18.c4 c7 19.g5 e6 20.d6 d7 21.e7 e8 22.e5 xe5 23.xe5 xe7 [ 23...c6 24.f6 xd6 ( 24...xe5 25.xe5 f5 26.xb7 ) 25.h5 e5 ( 25...f8 26.g3 e5 27.h4 e6 28.xh7 xf6 29.h8+ g7 30.h6# )] 24.dxe7 xe7 25.b5 xb5 26.xb5 b6 27.b1 c6 28.ee1 g7 29.bd1 c7 30.d3 f6 31.g3 e7 32.h4 h5 33.ed1 f8 34.f4 g7 35.d6 g8 36.e4 e8 37.a4 g7 38.f3 e7? [ 38...c8 39.d7 ] [ 38...h7 ] 39.xc6 e8 40.dd6 xc6 41.xc6 W hat amazes me in this saga is that there seem to be such a weariness with the burden of computerized theory nowadays that even titled players are ready to accept anything and even give the highly suspect 5...Ne4 a try in a serious game, just to emancipate themselves from its tyranny. Unfortunately, 'one swallow does not make a summer', when no t e sta b lish ed on so lid last in g o p en in g principles. 1-0

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e4?! 6.d3! xc3 7.bxc3 g6 8.0-0 g7 9.d2 0-0 10.e1 c5 Black is desperately striving to improve on 10...Nc6 as in the next game but it seems to just make things worse. 11.h3!? [ 11.xe7?! c6 12.e1 g4 ] [ 11.g5! The inconvenience of ...c5. White 299

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2004 ] B01 d5 16.d2 0-0-0 17.f4? Pavlogianni,Despina 1964 15.dxe5 Makropoulou,Marina 2246 Putting another pawn on a dark square seems TCh Aghia Pelagia GRE (1) 04.07.2004 wrong. Maybe he should settle for [ 17.d1 d7 18.g3 when White might be [Andrew Martin] a little better although the Black Knight on d5 is very strong. ] No w I t h i n k I wo u l d l i k e t o sh o w yo u a n interesting possibility for Black in the main line 17...g6 18.g4 h5! 19.f5 hxg4 20.fxg6 fxg6 which is not often played. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 21.xg4 xe5 22.xg6 f5 Our light xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 f6 squared theme persists all the way through 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.e2 b4 9.0-0-0 the book. 23.g1 e4! 24.e1 xe1+ bd7 10.a3 xc3 11.xc3 c7 12.e5 25.xe1 e5 26.f2 [ 26.h4 h5 27.f2 e4 28.g3 a5 b5!? Wahls thinks very highly of this move, a is certainly better for Black but maybe not sharper alternative to the usual much. ] [ 12...xe5 13.dxe5 d5 ] 26...a6 27.h4 h5 28.e1 f8 29.g3 ff5 13.d3 [ After 13.b3 Black appears to get a very 30.d2 d7 31.de2 e6 The poor White b6 good game by stationing his Bishop on d5 e. Bishop is almost redundant. 32.d2 g. e4! 14.he1 ( 14.f3 d5; 14.b1 a6 33.b3 d7 34.f2 f3 35.g1 f6 15.he1 d5 ) 14...d5! It's crucial that the 36.g3?? [ 36.e1 escapes the tactics but the tactics aren't working f or W hite: 15.xf7 uncomfortable endgame pressure persists ( 15.xd5 xd5 16.xf7 f4+ ) 15...xf7 after hf5! ] 16.xd5 exd5 17.e7+ g6 18.d3 36...xf2 Crushing. 37.xf2 e4+ 38.e3 he8! 19.g3+ xg3-+ ] xg3 39.f8 f5+ Black didn't seem in 13...xd3 [ There's also 13...0-0 which Wahls favours. trouble at any stage. Certainly I will be trying W hite can double Black's pawns but he 12... b5 myself. The further manoeuvre ... Be4does not achieve anything in particular by d5 is rather nifty! My new book, 'The Essential doing so: 14.xf5 exf5 15.f3 d5 Ce n t re-Co u n te r' will b e p u b lish e d in t h e autumn of2004 16.xf5 xc3 A) 17.xd7 xd1 18.xf8 xf8 0-1 19.xd1 ( 19.xd1 xh2= ) 19...d8! 20.e4 c5 21.d5 c6! 22.e1 xd5+ 299 B01 23.xd5 xd5+=; B) 17.bxc3 b6 18.d3 e7 19.b2 Perelshteyn,Eugene 2526 ac8 when Black has obviously good Gonzalez,Ren 2470 attacking chances. ] Masters Las Vegas USA (7) 13.06.2006 14.xd3 Not everyone will like the idea of [Eric Prié] bringing the White Rook into play on the third rank. xe5 But it's clear that his idea is to 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 Hoover the pieces of f and go into a good f6 5.f3 e4?! 6.d3! xc3 7.bxc3 g6 Knight vs Bad Bishop scenario. I feel White 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 0-0 10.d2 It is also has to react energetically and probe Black's possible to play this move earlier as in the Kingside before all the possible middlegame/ next game. e8? 11.b1! An excellent move endgame squeezes take over. not only because it mobilizes the last White [ 14...d5 is a second move worth piece before her majesty, usefully along an co n s id era t io n : 15.d2 xe5 16.xe5 open file, but also because it enables White xe5 17.dxe5 c5 18.g3 g8 19.c4 bxc4 to freely set his central mass in motion after 20.g4 b6 21.d1 0-0-0 22.e3 d5 removing the rook from a1. This is the only 23.xd5 exd5 24.xc5 d7= opening at Master level where White can be Abhay,T-Murali Krishnan,B/Chennai IND lucky enough to get such a massive lead in 298

300

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 development, with each of his pieces active and ideally posted, in return for the opponent's laughable joy at having "sprung a surprise"! d7 [ 11...xa2 12.e5 Forces Black to part with the sole defender of his castle unless d7 13.c4+- ] [ 11...c6 A) 12.c4!? h6 13.d5 ( 13.c1 g4 14.e2 ) 13...d8 14.b3; B) 12.c1!?; C) 12.a4! a6 13.e4 ( 13.c4!? h5 14.c3 e5 15.e4 f5 16.xb7 xe4 17.xe4 exd4 18.xe8+ xe8 19.xc7 ) 13...d5 14.c4 d8 15.d5 b8 16.e2 Isn't Black's position comic?! ] 12.c4! Game over. h5 [ 12...a6 13.c3 xa2 14.a1 b2 15.a4 ] [ 12...xa2 13.c1 a4 14.c5 c6 15.b5 f6 16.g5 f5 17.d3 d5 ( 17...g4 18.e4 ) 18.c4 c6 19.e4 a6 20.a1 e6 21.d5! Stronger than the 'got you!' 21.Bxb7 which would allow the black queen to die with honour. f5 22.c6 bxc6 23.xc6 b8 24.xa7+- ] 13.e4! g5 Unfortunately for Black, this is the only move. [ 13...f6 14.g4 h3 15.f1 ] 14.xg5 f5 15.xe7 xe7 16.xe7 W hite has good compensation for his two extra pawns, thus the prolongation of this game, f rom the B lack point of view, only destined to lessen the ridiculousness of his aborted ambush, does not entail any interest. b6 17.h4 xd1+ 18.xd1 f4 19.f5 b7 20.g5 f3 21.xg7 xg7 22.e1 f8 23.e7+ f7 24.h6+ f6 25.g5+ g7 26.xf7+ xf7 27.xh7 fxg2 28.f5 f6 29.d5 c6 30.d6 1-0

300 Perez,Luis Martinez,Jose Varadero [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2459 2465 2000

Black's plan of developing his light-squared Bishop to the f5-square. is much more

popular nowadays and it's not easy for White to prove an advantage. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.d4 f6 5.f3 [ In the classic game Fischer-Addison, Palma de Mallorca 1970 W hite pref erred 5.c4 and Black immediately committed serious mistake: f5? ( 5...c6 should be played, and after 6.f3 f5 the game would t r a n s p o s e t o t h e m a i n l in e .) 6.f3! E x p l o i t i n g B l a c k ' s i n a c c u r a c y . c8 (wh a t e lse ? ) 7.g5! xc2 8.c1 g6 9.ge2 For the cost of only one pawn White has an overwhelming development advantage and the active position of all his pieces that makes Black's defence extremely hard. bd7 10.0-0 e6 11.xf6 gxf6 ( 11...xf6 is hardly better in view 12.d5! e5 13.b5! with a growing initiative.) 12.d5! e5 13.b5 e7 14.g3 a6 15.d3! By exchanging light-squared Bishops White obtains firm control over the key f5-square. d8 16.h4 h5 17.f5 b6 18.ce4 xd5 19.fd1 c6 20.c3 b6 21.xd5 cxd5 22.xd5 xb2 23.b1 xa2 24.xb7 and Black resigned. ] 5...c6 [ Black has also tried 5...g4?! , but this move is weaker: 6.h3 h5 7.g4 g6 8.e5 e6 9.g2! c6 10.0-0 bd7 11.e2 xe5 12.dxe5 d7 13.e4 h5 14.f4 hxg4 15.hxg4 a5 16.ad1 0-0-0 17.a3 e7 18.d6+ xd6 19.xd6 b6 20.c4 with a huge edge for White, Chandler-Santo Roman, Cannes 1992. ] 6.c4 f5 7.e5! This move is the only way to fight for any real opening advantage. [ Quiet moves like 7.0-0 don't promise White anything: e6 8.f4 e7 9.d3 g4 10.e4 xe4 11.xe4 d7 12.h3 h5 13.c3 f6 14.d3 0-0 with a balanced position, Rivera Kuzawka-Garcia Ilundain, Ponferrada 1997. ] 7...e6 8.g4 g6! [ 8...e4?! is weaker since after 9.xe4 xe4 10.f3! White is clearly better. The game Sermek-Gerencer, Pula 1999 c o n t i n u e d : d6 11.b3 d7 12.e3 xe5 13.dxe5 a5+ 14.c3 xe5 15.0-0-0 For the cost of only one pawn W hite has h u g e d e v e l o p m e n t a d va n t a g e a n d h i s initiative grows rapidly. e7 16.he1 g5 301

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and Black wins.; 17.h4 xe3+ 18.xe3 c5 19.xe6! 0-0 B) 12...xd7 13.h5 e4 14.f3 d5 20.b3 a5 21.f4 a4 22.e5 a7 23.c2 15.d3 c5 16.c4 c6 17.d5 exd5 b5 24.h5 g6 25.h6 and in view of 18.cxd5 xd5 19.b2 e7+ 20.f2 unavoidable mate Black resigned. ] 0-0-0 with an unclear position, Moreno9.h4 b4!? The sharpest continuation. Candela, 2000. ] [ 9...bd7 i s t h e a l t e r n a t i v e : 10.xd7 [ 10.h3 will be considered in the next ( 10.e2 b4 11.h5 e4 12.h3 d5 game. ] 13.d2 xc3 14.xc3 xe5 15.dxe5 A striking blow but does it really xc4 16.xc4 d5 17.d2 0-0 18.0-0-0 10...xc2?! f5 19.gxf5 xf5 20.g3 h8 21.g4 f8 favor Black? [ Later Lopez tried 10...d5!? The game is Ok for Black, McShane-Hodgson, continued: Kilkenny 1999.) 10...xd7 11.h5 e4 A) The natural 11.xd5 (with the idea h412.xe4 xe4 Practice proves White's h5 on the next move) should be played chances should be preferred due to the and Black has difficult problems to solve. b i s h o p p a i r : 13.e3 ( or 13.c3 0-0-0 Here is my analysis: cxd5! The only move. 14.e2 f6 15.d2 d6 16.0-0-0 he8 ( L i n e s l i k e 11...xd5 12.h5 xc2 17.f4 c7 18.f3 c5 19.dxc5 xc5 13.xc2 f6 14.d3 xf3; or 11...exd5 and White is slightly better, Svidler-Adams, 12.h5 are clearly insufficient for Black.) Frankfurt 1999.) 13...0-0-0 14.f3 b4+ 12.h5 f6 13.hxg6 fxe5 14.gxh7 15.c3 xc3!? 16.bxc3 xc3+ 17.e2 ( 14.dxe5 looks harmless: d4 15.a3 a5 xa1 18.xa1 f5!? 19.gxf5 exf5 20.d5!? 16.b4 dxc3 17.xh7 xd1+ 18.xd1 cxd5 21.d3 b8 22.f4+ a8 23.d4 0-0 19.bxa5 c6 20.f4 e7 and Black b6 24.a4 f4 25.xf4 and in this position is OK. ) 14...c7 15.d2 c6! W h it e 's t wo B ish o p s a re st ron ge r t h a n T h e o n l y m o ve . ( T h e n a t u ra l 15...exd4 Black's Rook and 2 pawns as the game Lutz16.e2 xd2+ 17.xd2 c6 18.0-0-0 Adams, Frankfurt 1999 proved. ] e5 19.f4! is insufficient for Black.) 16.dxe5 10.f3!? The most ambitious continuation. g6 17.b5 xe5+ The critical position. W h it e h o p e s to t ra p t h e B ish o p (1 1 h 5 ). A1) 18.f2 c5+ 19.g2 a6 20.c3 Besides the text lots of alternatives has been ( 20.c3 is n o t go o d in vie w o f d4 tested: 21.e1 g7 22.xe6+ f7 ) 20...0-0-0 [ 10.h5 looks harmless: e4 11.f3 d5 21.e1 f6 and Black has good 12.d3 bd7 and Black is OK, for example: chances due to the exposed position of 13.h6 g6 14.g5 a5 with excellent play ] White's King.; [ 10.f1 is also hardly good: xc3 11.bxc3 A2) 18.e2 xb2! 19.xe6+ e7 bd7 , and it's already White who has to 20.c7+ d8 21.e2 xc2 22.xa8 think about equality. 12.e2 xe5 13.dxe5 xd2+ 23.f1 c3 24.g2 d2+ d5 14.g5?! A blunder but after ( 14.d2 and W hite should take a draw by h5 I prefer Black as well.) 14...xc3! perpetual 15.e3 d5 16.e2 c3 17.e3 a5 A2a) 25.g3 c5 26.h2 f5+! 18.h5 b4 19.xe6 xc2 20.xf7+ xf7 a n d B l a c k wi n s : 27.xf5 ( 27.gxf5 21.c1 c4+ 22.e1 d5 and White g5+ 28.h3 xh7# ) 27...d6+ resigned, R.Perez -Lopez Martinez Varadero 28.f4 e3+ Of course, all these lines 2000 ] need practical tests.; [ 10.a3?! (wasting an important tempo) A2b) 25.f1 as playing for a win xc3+ 11.bxc3 bd7 12.xd7 leads to disaster:; A) I would prefer 12...xd7 13.h5 e4 B) 11.d2?! After this passive move Black 14.f3 d5 15.d3 c5! with good play for ha s e a sy p la y. b6! 12.e2 xd2+ Black. If 16.g5 then d6! ( 16...g8!? 13.xd2 8d7 14.c3? A blunder. is worth considering.) 17.gxf6 g3+ ( 14.xd7 is better although the endgame 18.d2 f4+ 19.e1 g3+ , and White after xc4 15.c3 xd7 16.xc4 d5 c a n 't a vo i d p e rp e t u a l : 20.f1 xf3 302

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.xd5 cxd5 18.0-0-0 f6 is slightly better for Black.) 14...xe5 15.dxe5 xc4 16.xc4 a5+ 17.c3 0-0-0 18.f4 h5 19.d4 d5 20.f2 xe5 wi t h a d e c is i ve a d va n t a g e f o r B l a c k , Haznedaroglu-Lopez Martinez, Yerevan 2000. ] 11.xc2 xd4 12.e2?! This move leads to wild complications. [ After the simple 12.f4! it's not easy to prove B l a c k h a s e n o u g h f o r t h e p i e c e : xg4 ( 12...e4 13.h3 g1+ 14.f1 ) 13.xg4 xc4 14.d2 intending Q-side castling with a clear edge for White. ] 12...xc3+? [ Just a few days later after this game Black im p r o v e d wit h 12...b5! , Herrera-Del Rio, Santa Clara 2000. 13.b3 xc3+ 14.bxc3 xc3+ 15.f2 xa1 16.d1 c3 The difference is Black's Queen can now retreat to the e7 via c5 squares. 17.xf7 0-0 18.xe6 a6 19.b2 c5+ 20.d4 e7 The critical position for the whole line. It's not easy to evaluate it even in home analysis. 21.g5? A gross mistake. ( 21.xf6!? deserves serious attention: xf6 22.g5+ h8 23.c2 h6 24.g3! - I can only say the position is a mess!) 21...g4+ 22.g2 xf7 23.fxg4 e8 24.e1 c7 25.xf7+ xf7 26.e5 d5 27.g3 b6 28.c2 c4 29.c3 xe5 30.xe5 c7 31.f4 xe5 32.xe5 xe5+ 33.xe5 c5 and White resigned. Undoubtedly, this line is very interesting and both sides are able to improve. Definitely we can expect new exciting games here. ] 13.bxc3 xc3+ 14.f2 xa1 15.d1 c3 16.b2 b4 17.xf7! Here this blow is decisive. 0-0 [ 17...e4+!? doesn't work either: 18.xe4 xb2+ 19.g3 and Black is helpless: 0-0 20.g5 g6 21.xe6+ h8 22.d8! xd8 23.e7 with unavoidable mate. ] 18.xf6 gxf6 19.xe6 c3 [ 19...g7 is no better in view of 20.h5! h6 21.f5 , mating. ] 20.d8! Exchanging the sole defender of Black's King. d7 21.xa8 [ 21.xd7 w a s n o t b a d e i t h e r : ae8 22.g5+! xe6 23.xe6+ f7 24.xf7+

h8 25.d8+ g7 26.g8+ h6 27.e4 d4+ 28.g2 b2+ 29.h3 with unavoidable mate. ] 21...d4+ 22.g2 d2+ 23.h3 g7 24.e7 f4 25.g5+ 1-0

301 Perez Ferris,Miguel Hernando Rodrigo,Jose Maria VII Pablo Gorbea (1) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2355 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 An older move which hasn't really been getting much attention recently but, as you'll see, the results are very good. 5... Bg4 is a very aggressive move but the Bishop might get into trouble? 6.e3 [ 6.h3 is the critical line which I don't think most average players know very well at all. h5 ( 6...xf3 7.xf3 c6 is an extremely tough nut to crack, although a radically different game to the one that we will see. There are similarities with the French Fort Knox. ) 7.g4 g6 A) 8.b4!? In the style of the Mieses Gambit. 8 b4 might not be sound but, hey, it's difficult to play against and a lot of fun!. xb4 9.d2 d6 10.b1 A1) 10...b6 i s m u c h b e t t e r : 11.e5 ( 11.g2 c6 ) 11...xd4 12.xg6 e4!; A2) 10...c6? Poor. 11.xb7 bd7 12.g2 h5 13.g5 e4 14.0-0 e6 15.xd7 xd7 16.e5 xd4 17.xg6 fxg6 18.xe4 0-0-0 19.e2 c7 20.d1 d6 21.b5+ 1-0 Tronenkovs, V-Dimitrijevic, A/EYb18, Budva YUG 2003; B) 8.e5 e6 9.g2 ( 9.h4 b4 10.h3 is supposed to be good for White but just look at what happens to him here! xc3+ 11.bxc3 bd7 12.h5 xe5 13.dxe5 xe5+ 14.e3 e4 15.d3 xc3+ 16.d2 c6 17.g5 xd3 0-1 Moes, WBjarnason, O/12th Monarch Assurance, Port Erin IOM 2003) 9...c6 10.h4 ( 10.0-0 bd7 11.h4 xe5 12.dxe5 xe5 13.e1 c7 14.h5 xc2 15.xc2 xg4 303

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.a4 f6 17.g5 should favour White, Del Rio Angelis, S-Hernando Rodrigo, J/ VII Pablo Gorbea, Madrid ESP 2003 (57)) 10...e4 11.xe4 xe4 12.f3 d6 13.e3 ( 13.d2 c7 14.0-0-0 d7 15.he1 e7 16.h5 0-0 17.g5 xe5 18.dxe5 f5 gives an edge to White, Macak, S-Karnik, P/Tatry Open, Tatranske Zruby SVK 2003 (87).) 13...e7 14.a3 0-0 15.f1 d8 16.g2 d7 17.ad1 f6 18.d3 e8 19.g3 f7 20.he1 c4 21.f4 db6 22.f2 d5 23.b1 b5 24.c3 d6 25.f3 ae8 26.d2 g6 27.e4 f5 28.xd6 fxg4 Baeza Andres, R-Hernando Rodrigo, J/VII Pablo Gorbea, Madrid ESP 2003, when 29.e4 is forced. Without the main idea of flinging his Kingside pawns forward to gain space and put pressure on the Bishop, White achieves nothing. Matters are far from clear however- Black has counterplay!! ] [ 6.e2 You can count on this insipid type of move if the opponent is unprepared. Black equalizes effortlessly: e6 7.0-0 bd7 8.e5 xe5 9.dxe5 d8 10.d2 xe5 11.xg4 xg4 12.xg4 xd2 13.ad1 xd1 14.xd1 c5 1/2-1/2 Sejkor a, VPapan, C/ Tatry Open, Tatranske Zruby SVK 2003 Although Black is for choice. ] 6...c6 7.b5 e4! Good enough for equality. Black is f orcing exchanges and demonstrating that the Bishop on e3 is i n e f f e c t u a l . 8.d2 Others lead to easy equality for Black: [ 8.xc6+ bxc6 9.d2 ( 9.d3 xf3 10.gxf3 xc3 11.d2 e6 12.xc3 b4 13.g1 g6= ) 9...xd2 10.xd2 xf3 11.gxf3 b8 12.d1 d5= ] [ 8.d3 xf3 9.gxf3 xc3 10.bxc3 a6 11.xc6+ bxc6 12.g1 e6 13.c4 d5= ] 8...xd2 9.xd2 xf3 10.gxf3 e6 11.g5 Threatening Bxc6+ but the idea is comfortably parried. b4!= 12.xc6+ bxc6 13.xa5 [ 13.xg7 xc3+ 14.e2 ( 14.bxc3 xc3+ ) 14...0-0-0 15.bxc3 xc3 ] 13...xa5 14.0-0 b8 The opening phase has gone extremely well for Black. W hite hasn't played with much of a plan and now s t a n d s wo r s e . He h a s a ve ry p o o r p a wn structure and the Bishop is potentially much

stronger than the Knight. It's easy for Black to dissolve his weaknesses i.e. ...Bb6, ...c6-c5 but virtually impossible for White to do likewise. Demoralised with the turn of events, W hite goes under. 15.ab1 [ If 15.d1 then b6 16.c3 c5! 17.dxc5 xc5 18.e1 e7 ] 15...xc3 16.bxc3 e7 17.b3 hd8 18.fb1 b6! The rook and pawn ending might look tricky for Black to win, but he has two major advantages: 1) His King is nearer to the centre. 2) He has only three weak pawns, easily covered, to White's six! 19.f1 d5 20.e2 a6 21.a3 c5! 22.dxc5 xc5 23.d1 ac6 It's just too easy. 24.d3 d6+ Some lines are theoretically suspect, but can give excellent results over the board. For me, 5...Bg4 fits into that category. Below master level, I think it's a very good bet and even for the strongest players will yield very good results if used correctly at the right time. 0-1

302 Perez Mitjans,O Monell Camarasa,D 40th La Roda Open (9.8) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2487 2266 31.03.2013

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.f3 f6 5.d4 c6 This is more solid than the 5... Bf5 played by Bogdanovski in the previous game but Black still has to be careful in this position. 6.c4 [ 6.g5 is another option for White but it's not as dangerous, at least not in the shortterm. Andrew Martin examines it in Stellwagen-Bartel. ] 6...bd7 This is the first time this move has been seen on ChessPublishing - the idea is obviously to avoid the complication that arise after 6...Bf5 7.Ne5 with g4 to follow. I've also added in some recent games and analysis to complement what can be found in the archives. [ 6...b5!? was played in Zorko-Vukovic and there White played 7.Bb3 but I'm wondering if i t ' s b e t t e r t o c h a n g e p l a n s n o w wi t h 7.d3!? and claim Black's b5 move is a weakness. Play might continue g6 8.0-0 304

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g7 9.e4 ( or 9.e1!? ) 9...0-0 10.c3 and W hite has a normal slight advantage even without Black's now rather odd looking b5. This is certainly a very comfortable way for White to deal with the interesting 6...b5 ] [ 6...f5 has long been considered the mainline and now critical is 7.e5 e6 8.g4 g6 9.h4! b4! 10.f3! ( 10.h5 e4 should be OK for Black ) A) 10...d5 11.xd5 cxd5 12.h5! ( 12.e2 was less clear in KotroniasCandela Perez.) 12...f6 13.hxg6 fxe5 14.gxh7 c6 15.dxe5 A1) 15...d4!? is Andrew Martin's suggestion from several years ago. With the help of a faster computer I believe W hite is doing well after 16.a3 a5 17.b4 dxc3 18.bxa5 xa5 19.d3! ( stronger than saving the pawn with 19.f4 d8 ) 19...xe5+ 20.f2 and although the position remains unclear White has managed to coordinate and the pawn on h7 still gives him a clear advantage.; A2) 15...b6 16.f1 0-0-0 17.g2 xe5 18.e2 g6 and here a draw was agreed in Paramos Dominguez, R (2434)-Garcia Ilundain, D (2467) Cala Galdana 2001 but I believe White should p l a y o n wi t h 19.d3! e5 20.b5 xc3 21.xb6 axb6 22.bxc3 and White is basically a pawn up.; B) 10...xc2 11.xc2 xd4 12.e2! has scored very well for White. Indeed it seems that after xc3+ 13.bxc3 xc3+ 14.f2 xa1 15.d1! Black is in serious trouble - see Perez-Martinez from the archives. ] 7.e2 b6 8.b3 f5?! Black's attempted improvement over his own previous game but W hite comes up with a f orcef ul idea that almost refutes it. [ 8...a5 had been tried by Monell Camarasa in an earlier game and I think it's the best move although with accurate play White is still somewhat better: 9.a3 a4 10.a2 bd5 11.d2 g4 and now White could've kept an edge with ( 11...xc3! 12.xc3 f5 looks like a better equalising attempt although W hite can still try 13.e5 e6 14.f3!? preparing g4.) 12.xd5! ( instead

12.0-0-0?! e6 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 xc3 15.xc3 and Black had pretty much equalised in Gonzalez Perez, A (2491)Monell Camarasa, D (2259) Lleida 2012) 12...xd5 13.h3 xf3 ( 13...h5?! 14.g4 g6 15.0-0-0 and White has a big initiative. ) 14.xf3 ] 9.e5 e6 10.g4 g6 11.f4! [ 11.h4?! is less effective here as Black can probably get away with xd4 and then meet 12.h5 with e4 ] 11...e7 This blocks the e-file and stops f5 but now White's h-pawn joins in the fun! [ 11...xd4? 12.f3! d6 13.f5 wins a piece. ] [ 11...b4 is Black's other option - at least he's now threatening Be5 but instead of h4 W hite now plays 12.f5 and Black is in big trouble: xd4 is the best that Black can do but after ( 12...exf5?? loses a queen to 13.xc6+ ) 13.fxg6 ( 13.d2!? ) 13...xc3+ 14.bxc3 xc3+ 15.f1! Black is lost. For example xa1?! ( 15...hxg6 16.b1 is Black's best chance but it must still be good for W hite as the extra piece is definitely worth more than 3 pawns here.) 16.gxf7+ d8 17.g2 and Black's queen is in trouble and White has a winning attack. ] 12.h4! There's nothing Black can do here he's simply losing a piece. bd5 13.xd5? This appears to be the simplest option but actually Black has a clever way to get counterplay [ 13.f5! was the right way to do it - for example exf5 14.h5 xc3 15.bxc3 and the bishop on g6 is lost. ] 13...xd5? Black misses his opportunity and now he's lost. [ 13...exd5! isn't so clear. What both players p r o b a b l y m i s s e d w a s t h a t a f t e r 14.f5 Black can keep fighting with e4! 15.fxg6 xh4+ 16.d1 f2+ 17.d2 e4+! and the position is a mess, although apparently White is better after ( 17...xh1?? 18.xc6+ ) 18.e3! according to Houdini at least! ] 14.h5 f6 15.xc6 [ 15.hxg6 is also very strong ] 15...bxc6 16.hxg6 b4+ [ 16...h6 17.xe6 is also terrible for Black ] 17.c3 xc3?! A desperate attempt that 305

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d o e s n ' t re a l ly h e l p b u t t h e p o si t i o n wa s shouldn't be too concerned. already hopeless for Black. 18.bxc3 xc3+ [ Instead 8.d2 was seen in Boros, D (2485)19.d2 xa1 20.xh7 f8 Motylev, A (2705) Rijeka 2010 in the [ or 20...xh7 21.gxh7 d7 22.xe6+ c7 archives. ] 23.a5+ ] 8...f6 9.g3 a6 This appears to be a novelty 21.xe6+ e7 22.xe7+ xe7 23.b4+ although it has been examined previously. c5 24.xc5+ d7 25.xg7+ c6 26.xf8 [ 9...c6?! was played in an earlier game from xf8 27.h7 A very forceful game from Perez this yea r bu t 10.c4! is a strong antidote. Mitjans that shows the danger of going wrong cxb5 11.xd5 e6 12.e4 f5 13.d3 g7 in this line as Black. 8...a5 is a better option 14.e2 c4?! 15.xc4 bxc4 16.xc4 where W hite's advantage is kept to a c6 17.c3 d8 18.g5 minimum. was straightforward. 1-0 Perez Aleman, P 1-0 (2111)-Septien Lopez, V (1887) El Sauzal 2010. ] 10.c4 axb5 11.cxd5 This is a strange 303 B01 position. Both sides' pawn structures are Petrosian,Tigran L 2613 compromised and the assessment will come Kurajica,Bojan 2535 down to whether Black's play against the d5 26th European Club Cup (4.2) 20.10.2010 pawn and down the a file is stronger than W hite's play down the c file and attacking [Gawain Jones] chances against Black's kingside. I think 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 Black would be better were the f6 pawn back f6 5.f3 g6 6.b5 The critical test of the on f 7 but here the position is simply very 5...g6, 3...Qd6 Scandinavian. b6 7.f4 messy. e6 [ 11...a6 is the computer's suggestion and d5 12.b3 ( 12.a3 might be a better try but [ 7...a6 Used to be the method to defend a5+ 13.d2 h6 14.f4 0-0 is probably c7 but White must be somewhat better here. ok f or Black.) 12...a5+ 13.d2 d7 A) 8.c3 c6 ( 8...g7 should be preferred was examined in Tibor Karolyi's NiC Survey. which looks satisfactory for Black.) 9.a3 A potential line could run: 14.e2 h6 g7 ( 9...xb2? 10.c4 xc3+ 11.d2 15.d1 b4 16.c3 f7 17.b3 hc8 traps the queen.) 10.c4 d8 11.e2 18.0-0 xc3 19.bxc3 c5 and I'd prefer 0-0 12.0-0 c7 13.e1 cd5 14.e5 Black. ] f5 15.a4 a5 16.b3 and Black was u n d e r u n p l e a s a n t p r e s s u r e . L o p e z 12.d3! If White had to take on e6 then Black Ma rt in e z , J (2 5 8 9 ) -M a g e m B a d a l s, J would be doing very well as Black would be a b l e t o s t a r t u p a n i n i t i a t i v e . a5+ (2564) Barcelona 2009; B) 8.c4 c6 9.c5 a5+ 10.c3 b4 Perhaps this check is a mistake. [ Having said that, I think Black can get away 11.c4 g7 12.0-0 0-0 13.d2 with taking on d5 although he will have to looks like a simple White edge. Krishnan, soak up a lot of pressure. 12...exd5 13.0-0 V (2042)-Lee, K (1775) Kemer 2009.; f7 14.b3 e6 15.fe1 h6 16.e2 C) 8.a4 g7 ( 8...g4 Bellia, F (2405)e8 17.ae1 d7 18.h4 c5 19.dxc5 Epishin, V (2587) San Nicola Arcella 2007 xc5 20.xb5 xb5 21.xb5 d7 should be met by 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 with equality. ] g7 11.0-0-0 ) 9.a5 c6 10.e2 g4 [ 12...b4+ 13.f1 ( 13.e2!? looks weird 11.c3 0-0 was seen in the high rated but is the computer's choice.) 13...exd5 encounter Adams, M (2735)-Epishin, V 14.c2 e7 15.xc7 c6= is also fine for (2554) Gibraltar 2007 when 12.h3 xf3 Black. ] 13.xf3 e6+ 14.e2 leaves White with 13.f1 c6? And this is definitely a mistake. a very pleasant advantage. ] [ T h e p a w n h a d t o b e t a k e n . 13...exd5 8.e5 This must be the critical test of Black's 14.c2 ( 14.e2+ e7 15.xb5+ c6 opening but as far as I can see Black 306

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.e1 0-0! 17.xc6 b4 is v e r y m e s s y.) 14...c6 ( 14...d8!? is very odd but at least would prevent White capturing on g6 with check. However White must have decent compensation after 15.h3 c6 16.a3 b4 This is probably overambitious. 17.axb4 xa1+ 18.e2 a6 19.xc7+ e8 20.e1 e7 21.f1 e6 22.f4 and White has dangerous pressure for the exchange. )] 14.c2! Black evidently overlooked this. The pawn on d5 may be vulnerable but it does a good job keeping Black passive. f7 [ Of course Black cannot take on d5 with the c pawn with the loose bishop, while 14...exd5? allows 15.xg6+! hxg6 16.xg6+ e7 ( 16...d7 17.xf6+- ) 17.e1+ e6 18.e2! ( Of course not 18.f5?? xe1+ ) 18...d7 traps in the Black king and so ( 18...xa2 19.f5+- ) 19.xe6+! xe6 20.g5+ e7 21.f7+ d8 22.e6+ c8 23.e8+ ] 15.h4! Both activating the dormant h1 rook and opening up lines towards the Black king. a6 16.h5 b4 17.xg6+!? Hard to resist. The bishop is poisoned. [ However the calm 17.e2 is also very good for White. g7 ( 17...xd3 18.hxg6+ g7 19.xd3 b4 20.b3 leaves White material up and with an ongoing initiative.) 18.g5! and Black cannot survive, i.e. fxg5?! 19.e5+ g8 20.hxg6! xd3 21.f6+- ] 17...e7 [ 17...g8 18.e4! and the Black king won't survive for long: xd5 ( 18...f5 19.f7+! xf7 20.dxe6+ e8 21.xf5+- ) 19.h6! f5 20.e5 hxg6 21.xh8+! xh8 22.e5+ g8 23.h7+ f7 24.h8 and White wins. ] 18.d6+ d7 [ Perhaps 18...d8 is stronger with chances to survive for longer although White has a huge initiative. 19.e4 hxg6 20.xg6 d5 21.h6 b4 22.h4 xh6 23.xf6+ xf6 24.xh6 and Black's position is resignable. ] 19.e4 hxg6 [ 19...xd6 i s b e t t e r b u t 20.xh7 should still be winning as f5?! 21.xf5 xg3 22.fxg3 exf5 23.xf5+ c7 24.e5+ b6 25.xh8+- wins ] 20.e1?! Not throwing away all the advantage

but [ 20.xg6! immediately was winning easily. d5 ( 20...xd6 21.g7++- ) 21.f7+ d8 22.h4 xd6 23.xf6+ xf6 24.xf6+ wins the rook and game. ] 20...xa2 21.xg6 xd6 22.xd6 xd6 23.g3+ d5 This looks ridiculous but [ 23...e7 24.g7+ is of course easy. ] 24.e5+ [ 24.d2!? is the computer's top suggestion and it reckons White is still winning but this is obviously much more complicated than 20. Qxg6. ] 24...d6 I wonder if both sides were in time trouble. [ 24...fxe5 25.xe5+ c4 26.d2+ d3 27.e3+ c2 28.c3+ d1 29.f3 xh5 30.g1! and Black cannot ultimately prevent Kf1-f2 mate. ] 25.xb5+? This is actually a mistake. [ 25.e2+ d5 26.e1 is very good for White with Black's king stuck in the centre. ] 25...e5? But this loses immediately. [ 25...e7 26.xb4 ( 26.g7+ d6 27.xh8 c4+ 28.g1 c1+ 29.h2 f4+ 30.g3 xf3 31.xb4 xf2+ 32.h3 f5+= ) 26...a6+ 27.g1 a1+ 28.h2 xh5+ 29.h4 a5 and Black looks fine so White should take the draw 30.g7+ e8 31.g6+ e7= ] 26.dxe5+ fxe5 27.xe5+ d7 28.xb4 W hite is even material up now, while also threatening mate in one and Black has no counterplay. c5 29.xc5 a6+ 30.g1 d6 31.e5+ e6 32.xd6+!? [ 32.b6 is simpler. ] 32...xd6 33.f7+ c5 34.hh4 So White reached a very powerful position out of the opening but this doesn't seem to be a problem with the opening. Instead 13...c6? was the mistake and I imagine we'll see more games in this complicated line. 1-0

307

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 structure promises White a slight ongoing B01 edge. ] Pikula,Dejan 2537 Saric,Sinisa 2448 9.g3 [ 9.h4!? is another interesting try seen time ch-SRB Kragujevac SRB (10) 10.03.2011 to time. Another recent game continued: [Gawain Jones] g6 10.f4 f5 The bishop is blocked in on g6 but in return he's got the potential of a very 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 pleasant e4 outpost. 11.d3 e6 12.e2 f6 5.f3 c6 6.d2 f5 7.e4 e7 13.f3 h5 14.0-0 d7 15.ae1 [ The next game focuses on the mainline of 0-0-0 16.c3 d6 17.e3 f6 and Black's 7.c4 e6 8.d5 ] p ie ce s h a d co o r d in a t e d we ll. V a zq u e z 7...c7 This move is more common Re ye s , R ( 2 2 1 7 )- C h a t t e r j e e , D ( 2 2 8 8 ) [ although previo usly on the sit e 7...b6 Khanty-Mansiysk 2010. ] has been recommended. 8.xf6+ gxf6 A) 9.b4!? was examined last year by Neil 9...d7 [ 9...e6 was looked at by Andrew Martin in in S t a r o s t i t s , I (2 4 7 1 ) -H a m d o u c h i , H Glek, I (2597)-Nakamura, H (2657) (2601) Seville 2010.; Minneapolis 2005 but the text gives Black B) if White is worried about the capture on the opportunity to play ...e7-e5 in one go. ] b2 he can try the rather artificial looking 9.c3 but this feels like a gain for Black 10.g2 0-0-0 [ 10...g4 has also been seen fairly recently over 7...Qc7. The game could continue: but it looks slightly suspicious ceding d7 10.g3 0-0-0 11.g2 e6 another tempo and 11.h3 h5 12.e2 ( 11...a6!? would make a virtue out of 0-0-0 13.0-0-0 is a little more pleasant for Black's oddly placed queen.) 12.h4 g6 White. ] 13.0-0 b4 14.d2 xc3 15.xc3 f5 e5 I'm not sure about this move. I 16.d5 exd5 17.xd5 c5 and Black's 11.0-0 activity made up for his compromised understand that this is the point of delaying ... structure. Black can also play ...f 5-f 4 e6 but now Black has crippling weaknesses, anyway. De Firmian, N (2598)-Matamoros in particular the f5 square and I don't think Black's activity adequately compensates for it. Franco, C (2462) Las Palmas 1999.; [ 11...e6 would transpose to the previously C) 9.c4 w h e n o b v i o u s l y xb2 mentioned game in the archives when Glek is critical ( 9...g8 is looked at in Renet, O continued with 12.Re1 but 12.h4!? g6 (2520)-Prie, E (2480) Clichy catX 1995 by 13.c4 b6 14.a5 c5 15.d5! d6 E r i c P r i é .; while John Watson looks at 16.a3! xc4 17.xd8 xd8 18.xg6 hxg6 9...d7 in Popovic, P (2478)-Savic, M left White material up in Korneev, O (2583)( 2 5 1 9 ) S u b o t i c a 2 0 0 8 .; 9...e6 Mellado Trivino, J (2447) Montcada 1999. would transpose to a position more The most clinical finish looks to be 19.b4! commonly reached via 7.Bc4 e6 8.Ne4 b6 20.dxc6 bxc6 21.a4+- ] Qb6 9.Nxf6 gxf6.) 10.b3 ( John Watson gives 10.b1 xc2 11.xc2 xc2 12.c4 Aggressive. [ Andrew Martin offers the line 12.c3 b6 12.xb7 "gives White compensation for 13.e2 g7 14.a4 he8 15.a5 d7 his pawn and probably more, for example in the archives as equal. It's a rather odd e4 13.e2 d7 14.e3 d5 15.xd5 assessment as ( 15...d5 is better but still cxd5 16.c1 with a decent initiative.) 16.dxe5 fxe5 17.h4 e6 18.a6 b6 19.c4 10...g8 11.0-0 e6 12.b1! ( 12.a4 g4 e7 20.c5! looks very pleasant for White.) was s atisf actory f or B la ck. S edina , E 16.h4! e6 17.a6 b6 18.e4 (2342)-Repkova, E (2447) Khantypicks up material and leaves White with a Mansiysk 2010.) 12...a3 13.h4 g4 clear advantage. In fact 12.c3 looks very 14.f3 h5 15.e2 would have given logical and I don't see a good way for Black White a strong initiative for the pawn. ] to equalise here. ] 8.xf6+ gxf6 [ 12.e1!? is another interesting semi[ 8...exf6 is played from time to time but this 304

308

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 w a i t i n g m o v e . A f t e r d6 13.c4! is now stronger. h5 14.c5 e7 15.a4 b8 16.a5 dg8 17.h4 e6 18.xc6! and Black's position had collapsed instantly. Popovic, P (2489)-Chokouhian, A (1972) Belgium 20 09. RR g4 19.e4 xe4 20.xe4 d5 21.f5 f8 22.c1 c6 23.b3 xe4 24.xf7 b6 25.cxb6+ c5 26.xc5+ xc5 27.bxa7 1-0 Popovic, P (2489)-Chokouhian, A (1972)/Belgium 2009/ EXT 2010 ] 12...exd4 This move is really ugly and gives White quite easy play. [ 12...b8 makes more sense to me but perhaps Black has a major problem here, viz. White's attack on the queenside looks like it can crash through much more easily than Black's corresponding play on the kingside, i. e. 13.e1 h5 14.b4! g4 15.b5 b6 ( 15...cxb5 16.cxb5 b6 17.c1 d7 18.c2 a3 19.cd1 xb5 20.dxe5 ) 16.bxc6 xc6 ( 16...xc4 17.c2 xd2 18.xd2 looks suspicious) 17.c5 e4 18.f4+ a8 19.cxb6 exf3 20.d5 xb6 21.xf3 and White's attack still looks more threatening while he's also achieved positional gains. ] 13.xd4 g6N [ 13...d3 was played in the only other game t o re a c h t h is p o sit io n . 14.a5! xa5 15.xd3 h5 16.c3 e5 17.ad1 c5 18.b4 xd4 19.xd4 e2 and White had a definite edge but wimped out, presumably due to the rating disparity. 1/2-1/2 Bosboom, M (2425)-Dorfman, J (2580) Brussels 1993. 20.f4! d3 21.e1 would force Black to grovel in a frankly disgusting position. ] 14.e3 [ 14.c3 is perhaps more accurate. It looks more natural to point the bishop towards Black's king but the idea is that after h5 ( 14...c5 would of course be illogical as 15.b4! is strong.) 15.a4 b8 16.ad1 h4? Black cannot defend against ( 16...d6 was better but 17.a5 b6 18.b3 c5 19.c3 e5 20.f3 xc3 21.xc3 stops Black being mated but White still has good chances thanks to the superior structure. ) 17.a5+- ] 14...c5 15.g4 h5 [ 15...b8 is perhaps better but White could

still try 16.h4!? tying the knight down to the defence of f6. ] 16.h4 b6 Black's moves around here don't achieve very much. [ 16...e7 would prepare to move the knight but 17.e4!? e5 18.f5 b8 19.f4 xf5 20.xf5 h4 21.c5 a5 22.b4 still looks more comfortable for White. ] 17.ad1 e5 Finally Black activates the knight. [ A n o t h e r w a i t i n g m o v e w i t h 17...b8 would be too slow as 18.a3! preparing b2b4 is very strong. ] 18.xf6 g4 [ G r a b b i n g t h e p a w n w i t h 18...xc4? leaves Black's king f ar too open. W hite actually has a choice of ways to win material but the most direct is 19.b4! xd4 20.xd4 xb4 21.xa7 and Black's king is caught in a net created by the queen and bishops. ] 19.h3 b8? The pressure takes its toll and Saric blunders. [ Black should probably have retaken the pawn with 19...xb2 but White is still clearly on top following 20.f4 a3 21.f5 ] 20.xg4 hxg4 21.xc6+ Everything drops with check. [ In fact the silicon monster slightly prefers 21.e6! but if any of your opponents choose that you can check their pockets for an iPhone! ] 21...bxc6 22.xc5 xc5 23.xd8+ xd8 24.xd8+ b7 25.d7+ This line looks troublesome for Black to me and I think the suggestion of previous annotators of 7...Qb6 is a better try. 1-0

305 Polgar,Judit Stefansson,Hannes Egilsstadir [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2365 2395 1988

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 b6 5.f3 g6 [ 5...g4 is the alternative. ] 6.e2 g7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c3 c6 9.d5! The only way to fight for an opening advantage. 309

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ After 9.e3?! g4! it is White who has to fight for equality! In Janetsch - Larsen, 1977, he f ailed to achieve this: 10.d5 xf3 11.gxf3?! ( The natural 11.xf3 looks better e5 12.c5 bc4 with mutual chances.) 11...a5! 12.c5 bc4 13.f4 e6! sacrificing a pawn in order to penetrate to the 7th rank 14.dxe6 fxe6 15.xd8 axd8 16.xc7 d2 with a clear advantage for Black. ] 9...e5 [ 9...a5?! leads to a clear advantage for W h i t e a f t e r 10.c5 xc3 11.cxb6 g7 12.f4! xb2 ( 12...axb6 13.b4 xa1 14.xa1 b3 15.b2 winning ) 13.bxc7 ] 10.xe5 [ 10.c5!? is worth considering. The game Brodski - Maljutin, Moscow, 1991 continued: bd7 11.e3 xf3+ 12.xf3 e5 13.e2 c6 14.f4! d7 15.f3 a5? A ridiculous move. ( 15...cxd5 should be preferred, after 16.xd5 c7 17.ac1 f6 18.d1 d8 19.e2 White is slightly better, but Black easily held the position in Vlad - Prudnikova, Romania, 1992.) 16.dxc6 xc5 17.d5! and Black is in trouble. ] 10...xe5 11.h6 g7?! A clear inaccuracy. After the exchange of dark-squared Bishops White obtains a huge space advantage. [ Black has a playable position after 11...e8 12.d2 ( 12.c5 leads White nowhere after xc3 ) 12...e6! and White couldn't obtain any advantage in Dmitriev - Volzhin, Russia, 1990: 13.ad1 exd5 14.cxd5 d7 15.fe1 c8 16.g5 f6 17.xf6 xf6 18.b5 xb5 19.xb5 d6 20.b4 xb5 21.xb5 xe1+ 22.xe1 b6 23.g3 d6= ] 12.xg7 xg7 13.d4+ f6 [ 13...g8 14.c5 d7 was also not much fun. ] 14.c5 e5 15.d2 d7 16.b4 f5 17.ad1 a5 18.a3 axb4 19.axb4 Black's position is very diff icult. His pieces are passive and cannot be activated due to White's powerful pawn mass, his king is also not safe. f4?! [ This pawn advance makes things worse. 19...f6 was more tenacious. ] 20.d6! f6 21.b5! cxd6 22.b2! f5 23.xd6 e7 24.f3 e4 This is losing but B l a c k h a d n o c h o i c e . 25.xe4! xe4 26.de1

[ Although there was nothing wrong with 26.fe1 the text move is good as the rook could be useful on the f-file as we'll see. ] 26...h6 27.f3 b6 28.fxe4 bxc5 29.bxc5 h5 [ 29...g4 30.f3 winning ] 30.e5 e6 31.f2 a5 32.c6 c5 33.b7 The quickest way to win as the pawn on e5 cannot be taken. d5 [ 33...xe5 34.xe5 xe5 35.f7+ xf7 36.xf7 e1+ 37.f1 winning ] 34.e7 Black resigned. 1-0

306 Ponizil,Cyril Bombek,Peter 17th Pobeskydi Hamont Cup (8) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2198 2225 16.04.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e4 I have given up putting !? next to 5..Ne4. You either like it or you don't! The surprise value is waning so I will simply say that there is no known refutation. The only problem for Black is that the line is very easy to avoid, White can either delay d4 or Nf3. 6.d2 xd2 7.xd2 e6 8.g3 b4 The idea is simple enough. Black will downgrade White's pawn structure and hope t o s lo wl y n e u t r a l ize sm a l l W h i t e l e a d i n development. [ 8...c6 has recently been tried, a passivelooking move, but as usual with these type of positions, very difficult to play against. Black plans a slow unfolding of the game for the two Bishops. In the following example White can find no way through. 9.g2 e7 10.0-0 d7 11.a3 0-0 12.fe1 f6 13.b4 c7 14.e5 d8 15.f4 d6 16.h4 a5 17.ab1 axb4 18.axb4 d5 The dormant Bishop on c8 doesn't seem to worry Black at all. 19.e4 e7 20.h5 g6 21.h6 f8 22.h4 e7 23.xe7 xe7= 24.b5 cxb5 25.xb5 c7 26.b3 xd4 27.c3 b4 28.d1 xb3 29.cxb3 a6 ( 29...g7 ) 30.a4! Hanging on. b8 31.b6 c5 32.b4 b3 33.ec4 e5 34.xc8 1/2-1/2 Ponizil, C-Chytilek, R/Brno 2005 The strategy of gaining the two Bishops 310

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 early, SLOWING DOWN the game and then gradually playing to gain the upper hand has been known since the days of Nimzowitsch. Immense patience is required, but if you possess this quality then 8..c6 is alright. ] 9.g2 [ 9.a3 b6 10.g2 b7 11.0-0 xc3 12.xc3 xc3 13.bxc3 c6 14.d2 a5 15.a4 0-0-0 16.b3 c4 17.a5 xg2 18.xg2 b5 19.fe1 g5 20.a6 c6 21.c5 c7 22.e4 h5 23.e2 d5 Howell, DSu ls k is , S / Ca t ala n B ay 20 0 4 h as be e n quoted here before, but is worth seeing again as a counterpoint to our featured game. ] 9...d7 10.0-0 0-0 11.d3 xc3 12.bxc3 b8 Quite thematic for this line. Black slows down the pace and goes for the long-haul structural win. His next task is to drain the life out of W hite's initiative. White, for his part, must press and get active as quickly as he can. 13.ab1 b6 14.c4 [ 14.b5 is confidently answered by xa2 Ideas of ...Ba6 come into the frame. ] 14...h5 15.b5 g6! In general, exchanges favour the player with the better structure. 16.c3 [ Deep Fritz is giving 16.e5 but what is wrong with xe5 17.xe5 xd3 18.cxd3 d8 19.d5 exd5 20.xd5 e6 The game looks completely equal to me. ] 16...b7 17.fb1 c5! Black has a fine position. 18.dxc5 xf3 [ 18...xc5 19.e5 grants White a bit of activity, but even there f6 20.xb7 xb7 21.a3 bd8 22.xa7 d6 looks good for Black. ] 19.xf3 xc5 20.a3 xc2 21.xa7 d3 22.f1 xc4 23.xb6 xb6 24.xb6 e5 25.g2 xa2 White should really have to struggle now. 26.d4 e2 27.c3 d7 [ 27...d3 28.d4 h6 29.e4 c5 30.g2 c2 looks like a decent way to continue, preparing to use the Rook. ] 28.e1 g4 29.h3 g5 30.a1 f6 31.c1 b8 32.a7 f8 33.c5 h6 A baffling draw offer. In the hands of most s t r o n g p l a y e r s , t h e g a m e wo u l d j u s t b e starting! Summarising, 6 Bd2 leads nowhere against 5...Ne4. White must find something

better. ½-½

307 Ponomariov,Ruslan Fressinet,Laurent EuroTeam Ch Batumi [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2616 2440 1999

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 Last year this move became rather popular in tournament practice, but I doubt it's really good enough. Anyway the statistics of this line can hardly satisfy Black players. 4.f3 f6 5.d4 a6 [ 5...g4 was tried in Psakhis - Sygulski, Jurma la 1 987 . W h it e e asily gaine d th e upper hand after 6.h3 h5 7.g4 g6 8.e5! c6 9.f4! White exploit s the unsafe position of Black's Queen very energetically. Now Nxg6 winning a piece is threatened. d5 10.d2 xf4 11.xf4 d7 12.0-0-0! xe5 13.dxe5 c7 A) 14.d5! Here Black is unlikely to able to avoid quick loss: A1) 14...a5 15.b4!; A2) 14...cxd5 15.a4+ d8 ( 15...c6 16.b5 ) 16.xd5+ c8 17.e8+; A3) 14...b8 Absolutely the only move, the alternatives lose on the spot: 15.d2! (threatening 16 Nf6+ exf6 17 Qd7) c8 16.a5! b6 17.c3! and Black is hopeless against White's threats (18.Ba6! or 18.Bb5!, to name only a few).; B) 14.d3 This isn't bad. However, White could exploit his huge development advantage by playing xd3 15.xd3 g6 16.e4! Although White missed a quick win Black's position remains difficult. f6 ( 16...g7 is even worse in view of 17.d6+! exd6 18.exd6 b6 19.e1+ f8 20.c3 , and Black is helpless.) 17.g5! g7 18.gxf6 0-0 19.g5! exf6 20.e6 f7 21.xf8 xf8 22.b1 and Black has no compensation for the exchange White won in a few more moves. ] 6.c4! [ 6.e3 Is another good possibility for White. the game Karpov - Lutikov, USSR, 1979 311

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 continued: c6 7.d2 g4 8.g5! e5 9.d5 b4 10.f3 f5 11.ge4 with an obvious advantage for White. d7 12.0-0-0 c6 13.dxc6 xd2+ 14.xd2 xe4 15.xe4 xc6 This move leads to new weaknesses, but ( 15...xe4 is no better: 16.fxe4 xc6 17.c4 e7 18.f1 with a huge advantage in the endgame.) 16.xf6+ gxf6 17.d3 0-0-0 18.hd1 c7 19.c3 h5 20.f5 xd2 21.xd2 b8 22.h4 h6 23.xh6 xh6 24.a4 h8 25.b4 b6 26.b5! Now the Knight is completely out of play. g8 27.c2 axb5 28.axb5 e8 29.c4 , and Black resigned. ] 6...bd7 7.0-0 b5 8.b3 b7 9.g5! Only 9 moves have been played, but Black's position is hopeless already! e6 [ 9...d5 is just a blunder in view of 10.xf7! xf7 11.xd5 xd5 12.h5+ and Black can resign. ] 10.e1! Simple and good. Now the e6-square becomes the main target. e7 11.xe6! fxe6 12.xe6 b4 13.a3 a5 14.d2 [ The straightforward 14.e2 was not bad either after the obligatory g8 15.g5 df6 White has quite a pleasant choice between 16.e5 ( and 16.xf6 gxf6 17.d5 ) 16...f8 17.xg8 d6 18.e6 xe5 19.xe5 with a quick win in both cases. ] 14...b4 The only move as 15 Nd5, trapping the queen, was threatened. 15.axb4 f5 16.e2 g8 17.a5! f8 18.d5 d8 19.b5 d6 [ 19...axb5 20.xb5 ] 20.bxa6 c6 21.b4! b8 [ B l a c k r e s i g n e d i n v i e w o f 21...b8 22.xc6+ xc6 23.e4 and White wins the piece back. A great performance from the 16-year-old! ] 1-0

308 Ponomariov,Ruslan Garcia Ilundain,David Pamplona [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2550 2520 1996

attempt to fight for an opening advantage. W hite intends transfer the rook to the e3square threatening h4-h5, and meanwhile the Kn igh t o n c3 is "o verp ro t ecte d " whic h is important in many lines (for example, ...Bxc2 will never work). bd7 11.e2 b6 12.h5 e4 13.f4 [ T h e t e m p t i n g 13.g5? is bad in view of xd4! 14.gxf6 xe5 15.fxg7 g8 16.e3 ( Unfortunately, 16.h6 is impossible in view of xc4 ) 16...xg7! and Black wins, as was pointed out by Ponomariov: 17.xe4 xc3+ 18.f1 h2! ] 13...xd4 14.d1 d3! Both players play very inventively. 15.hxd3 xf4 16.d4 h2 17.xf7! The typical blow. 0-0 18.xe6 The critic al position. Although W hite's ach ieveme nts are o bviou s B lack h as his chances due to the unsafe position of White's King in the centre. bd5 19.e5! g2 20.xb4! [ 20.d6+ le a d s W h i t e n o wh e re : h8 21.1d3 xf2+! 22.xf2 xg4+ 23.g2 xe5 with advantage for Black. ] 20...xb4 21.d8! xc2+ 22.e2 g1? A gross blunder. [ T h e c o r re c t 22...axd8 leads to a draw: 23.xd8+ h8 24.f7+ xf7 ( 24...g8? is bad in view of 25.h6! g1 26.hxg7 e1+ 27.d3 b4+ 28.c4 and White wins. ) 25.b8+ ( 25.xf7? xf2+! 26.d3 e1+ 27.c4 b5+ 28.b3 xb2+! ) 25...g8 26.xf7 xg4+ 27.f1 h3+ with perpetual or an equal position after 28.e2 g4+ 29.d2 d7+ 30.xc2 xf7 31.xa7 h6 ] 23.d6! Obviously Black missed this move. Now the game is over. e1+ 24.d3 e8 25.xa8 b4+ 26.c4 [ In view of 26.c4 b5+ 27.b3 xa8 28.d8+ Black resigned. Now let's draw some conclusions. This variation occurs ve r y s e l d o m i n m o d e r n p r a c t i c e b u t i t certainly deserves more attention. It leads to very sharp, interesting play where both sides have chances. ] 1-0

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 f5 7.e5 e6 8.g4!? g6 9.h4 b4 10.h3!? An interesting 312

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ But also losing is 18...xd4 19.c4 d8 20.e5 c5 21.xc6! bxc6 22.xd4 xd4 Popovic,Petar 23.a6+ d7 24.d1 e7 25.a3+ e8 Savic,Miod1 26.a4 ] TCh-SRB 1st League (2) 19.f3 b5!? Black wants to discourage Nc4. [John Watson] He doesn't have much in the way of We've seen this type of variation before (with counterplay, but even worse, he is losing to Nxf6+ doubling Black's pawns) and it's still not threats such as Nxf5: [ 19...de8 20.c4 d8 21.g4! fxg4 much fun for Black. Again, that's not because 22.e5 d7 23.xh5 ] of his theoretical disadvantage, which is fairly [ 19...d5 20.xd5! ( or 20.xf5 exf5 small, but because of his lack of positive 21.xd5 xd5 22.xe7 xf3 23.c4 ) prospects against careful play by White. 1.e4 20...cxd5 21.c4! ] d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 20.c4 a6 21.xf5! This is even stronger 5.f3 c6 6.d2 [ 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.d5 d8 than it looks. White wins a pawn and retains a 9.xf6+ gxf6 was the actual order of the clear positional advantage. He wins rather Babaev-Del Valle Cirera game below which, easily. g6 22.c2 xf5 23.xf5 d7 surprisingly, transposes at a considerable 24.d3 f6 25.d5 c5 26.dxe6 fxe6 27.c2 h5 28.a3 d4? 29.xd4 xd4 distance from this divergence point. ] 6...f5 7.e4 b6 8.xf6+ gxf6 9.c4 30.e5 1-0 d7 [ 9...xb2 10.b1 xc2 11.xc2 xc2 12.xb7 gives White compensation for his B01 pawn and probably more, for example, e4 310 13.e2 d7 14.e3 d5 15.xd5 cxd5 Pruijssers,R 2519 16.c1 ] Tiviakov,S 2659 10.b3 e6 11.e2 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 c7 Bundesliga 2012-13 (7) 02.02.2013 13.h4 g6 14.g3 e7?! Too passive. [Tom Rendle] [ White's immediate prospects after 14...d6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.h4 are nothing special, 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 bu t h e ha s t o b e care f u l a bo u t W h ite 's f6 5.f3 g6 This is currently the most bishop pair and stay active, for example, f5 fashionable way for Black to proceed in the 17.g5 de8 18.h5!? gxh5! 19.xh5 f4 Qd6 Scandinavian. See Haslinger-Kjartansson 20.g4?! ( 20.dh1 hg8 is unclear) 20...f6? for the some of the current problems after 5... Now the e-pawn becomes surprisingly weak. a6 6.e2 ( 20...xh5 21.gxh5 g8 22.h4 a5 [ 6.b5 is the most critical line here and it with the idea ...Qf5 should be fine) 21.h4 was tried against Tiviakov again recently: e5 ( 21...b8 22.xe6!; 21...xh5 22.gxh5 d8 a5 23.g4! ) 22.dxe5 fxe5?? ( But A) 7.f4 was seen in Hess-Tiviakov which 22...xe5 23.d3 keeps White well on top: is annotated by Pavlovic in the archives. bishops and structure) 23.d3 xh5 Hess won that game so presumably 24.gxh5 1-0 Babaev -Del Valle Cirera, Se rge i h a d so m e imp ro ve me n t . . . a6 M a n r e s a E S P 2 0 0 8 . . I n v i e w o f c5 8.a3 25.g6 ] A1) 8...b4!? is one possibility, looking 15.b1 f5 16.g2! Quite strong, with the to target the bishop on f4, however this dual ideas of Bf4 and Nf4. isn't convincing af te r 9.d2 bd5 [ 16.xg6 hxg6 17.h4 resembles the 10.e5 and White is still a little better.; previous note. ] A2) 8...g7 is perhaps a more 16...f6 interesting option, obviously critical is [ 16...d6 17.f4! threatens h4-h5. ] 9.xa6 bxa6 10.0-0 and after 0-0 17.f4 b6 18.e3 h5?! 11.c4 b7 it's unclear whether or not 309

B01 2478 2519 02.09.2008

313

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black's two bishops give him enough compensation for his bad pawn structure, although I think I'd be happy enough as Black here. ( or 11...b8!? ); A3) 8...c6 9.c3 c7 10.c4 g7 11.e5 0-0 12.a4 cd5 13.a5 h6 14.e2 h5 15.0-0 hf4 16.e1 even this position seems fine for Black to me. Here Tiviakov took on e2 but perhaps it was better to simply develop with e6 and I can't believe Black is really worse here.; B) 7.c4 g7 8.f4 a6 9.h3 I'm not sure if this is necessary, Black seems to be close to equalising here. ( 9.e2 offers more chance for an advantage ) 9...0-0 10.e2 c5! 11.0-0 cxd4 12.fxd4 e4 13.f3 ac5 ( Black is very comfortable after the immediate 13...e5! 14.xe4 exf4 15.d2 c5 16.d5 e6! followed by ...a6) 14.b4 e5 15.bxc5 xc5 16.g3 exd4 17.c7 b8 18.d5 a8 19.c7 b8 20.d5 a8 ( 20...e6 was the more ambitious way to proceed - Black has exc elle nt pla y f o r t h e e xch a nge af t e r 21.xb8 xb8 22.d2 d6 ) 21.c7 1/2-1/2 Grandelius, N (2572)-Tiviakov, S (2655) Wijk aan Zee 2013 ] 6...g7 [ 6...c6!? has been tried in one game but W hit e is do ing well a f te r 7.d5! ( 7.a3 was less critical in Sonjaya, D (2313)-Bitoon, R (2504) Jakarta 2011.) 7...b4 8.b5 b6 9.c4 A) 9...a6 10.e3 c5 ( 10...a5? 11.c3 and the knight is trapped on b4) 11.c3 with a clear edge to White; B) 9...c6 10.e3 a5 11.c3 ] 7.e5 0-0 8.0-0 e6 After this White seems to get some edge [ 8...c6 puts more pressure on White's centre but after 9.b5 d8 10.xc6 bxc6 11.a3 b8 12.c3 White keeps an edge ] [ 8...c5! looks best to me and Black could be equalising here, for example 9.b5 b6 10.a4 cxd4 11.c4 d8! 12.xd4 ( or 12.xd4 d5 ) 12...c6 and Black has no problems ( 12...xd4 13.xd4 a6 is also sensible )] 9.f4 d8 10.e1 c6 11.d2 bd7

12.ad1 White has kept a typical edge for this line. All pieces are still on the board and he has a pleasant space advantage - his main problem is finding ways of increasing the pressure. e8 13.c1 [ 13.h3 feels more natural and now after b6 14.b3 a5 15.h6 Black's position is very difficult to play ] 13...b6 14.b3 a5 15.a4 [ 15.h6 personally I'd want to exchange these bishops but it's partly a matter of taste I guess. xh6 16.xh6 a4 17.h3 ] 15...f5 16.a2 White is looking to gain space in the centre with c4 but this strikes me as a little artificial [ 16.d3!? xd3 ( 16...e6 may be best, keeping the tension) 17.xd3 gives White's rooks a few more options ] 16...bd5 17.d2 c7 18.c4!? xd4 This seems to lead to a draw [ 18...d7 is a possible way for Black to play on but White is a little better after 19.h6 ] 19.f4 c5 20.xf7! Otherwise White is simply a pawn down xf7 [ 20...g4!? would be a final attempt but it's hard to play this during the game. It seems likely to lead to a draw anyway with one m a i n l i n e b e i n g 21.xg4 ( 21.xc7? loses to xf2+ 22.h1 e3; 21.f1 e6 is a little better for Black) 21...xg4 22.d2 xf7 23.xc7 h6 24.e5 xd2 25.xd2 a3 26.f4+ f5 27.xf5+ gxf5 28.xf5+ g7 29.g5+ f7 30.f5+= ] 21.e3 e5 22.f4 c5 23.e3 Black has nothing better than to take the repetition here e5 24.f4 c5 A short but interesting draw. ½-½

311 Psakhis,Lev Manor,Ilan Israel [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2599 2504 2000

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 xd5 4.d4 g6 5.c4 b6 6.h3 g7 7.c3 0-0 8.e3 c6 9.e2 e5 10.d5 e7 11.g4!? This line is considered in the games Varavin-Terekhin and Varavin-Vshivkov (see AV134). Now this 314

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 line becomes more and more popular and recent practice proves Black has difficult problems to solve here. e8!? Alternatives: [ 11...a5 was played in the above mentioned games where Black failed to equalise ] [ T h e p a n i c k y 11...e4? is bad as well: 12.xe4 f5 ( 12...xb2 fails to 13.d4! xa1 14.f6+ h8 15.xa1 and Black is in real trouble.) 13.c3 fxg4 14.hxg4 xg4 15.g5! The refutation is not difficult xe2 16.xe2 d7 17.xh7 fe8 18.0-0-0 and White is winning, R.Anderson-Levina, Los Angeles 2000 ] [ 11...f5!? Definitely this natural move is critical for the evaluation of the whole line. Here White has a wide choice. A) 12.d2 e4! ( 12...fxg4? 13.g5 g3 14.0-0-0 h6 15.ge4 f5 16.fxg3 h7 17.h4 xe3 18.xe3 f5 19.hf1 xe4 20.xe4 e7 21.d3 g8 22.c3 b4 23.e4 and White is winning, AnkerstPfeiffer, Germany 1992.) 13.g5 h6 14.gxe4!? fxe4 15.xe4 exd5! 16.cxd5 xd5 17.c2 e6 18.0-0 c4 19.d2 xd2 20.xd2 ad8 21.e4 h7 and Black is even slightly better, Sulskis-Zolnierowicz, Pardubice 1994.; B) 12.gxf5? i s r i d i c u l o u s : xf5 and Black is already better: 13.c5 e8 14.e4 d4 15.d3 f5 16.fd2 d7 17.a3 f6 18.g4 xe4 19.xe4 h6 Now White can castle neither side. 20.c5 b6 21.xf5 gxf5 22.g1+ f7 23.d6 bxc5 24.dxc7 xc7 25.d1 e6 and White resigned, Ciuksyte-Medvegy, Szeged 1994.; C) 12.g5 h6 13.e6 xe6 14.dxe6 e8 15.b3 d8 16.0-0 c6 17.c5 bd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.c4 xe6 20.f3 c6 21.ae1 d7 22.c2 h8 23.xd5 cxd5 and in this complicated position Black has sufficient compensation for the exchange, Eolian-Mnatsakanian, Erevan 1977.; D) 12.b3! In my opinion, the best. The alternatives are weaker: h8 13.0-0-0 d7 14.g5 f6 15.b5! a6 16.a7! After exchanging off Black's light-squared Bishop White's Knight will occupy the key e 6 - s q u a r e f o r e v e r . f4 ( 16...xa7 This idea doesn't work: 17.xa7 b6

, and the Bishop is by no means trapped in view of 18.d6! ) 17.xc8 fxe3 ( 17...xc8 18.e6 is even worse for Black.) 18.xe7 xe7 19.xe3 Now White has a clear extra pawn as well as a positional a d va n t a ge . h6 20.h4 d7 21.b1 ae8 22.h2 xg5 23.hxg5 c5 24.e4 and in a few moves Black resigned, Rodriguez,A - Gomez Baillo, 1996. ] 12.b3! The best square for Queen in this line is b3 . d7 13.c5 b6 14.g5! f8 A sad necessity. [ The natural looking 14...h6 is bad in view of 15.xf7! and Black is in trouble: xf7 16.d6+ f8 17.b5! c6 ( 17...xc5 18.xc5 bxc5 19.f3+ ) 18.d5! b7 19.c4 with unavoidable mate. ] 15.c6 c5 16.xc5 bxc5 17.ge4 Now White wins the c5-pawn and it's not easy for Black to prove he has enough for it although the position is very sharp and very precise play is required. h8 18.0-0-0 f5 19.gxf5 gxf5 20.xc5 e4?! After this inaccuracy W hite quickly obtains huge advantage. [ Black should try 20...d6 21.c4 e4 with certain counterplay for the pawn. ] 21.e6! xe6 22.dxe6 e8 Black had a joyless choice. [ 22...c8 is bad as well in view of 23.d7 xc6 24.xg7! xg7 25.g1+ h8 26.d5! and White wins: b7 27.e7 fe8 ( 27...f6 28.d7 ) 28.f7 ] 23.d7 b8 24.c4 g6 [ 24...b6 didn't help Black either: 25.c5! xc6 ( 25...h6+ 26.b1 xc6 27.d5 xe6 28.c3+ e5 29.xb6 xc3 30.bxc3 axb6 31.xc7 ) 26.xg7! xg7 27.g1+ h8 28.d5! with decisive threats. ] 25.b1 f6 26.c1 fc8 27.c5 g6 28.e7 The rest is easy. e5 29.a6 xd7 30.cxd7 xa6 31.dxc8+ xc8 32.xf5 d3+ In this hopeless position Black exceeded the time limit. 1-0

315

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 312

B01 [ and 6.d5 are examined elsewhere. ] 7.xd1? Although Black has Rantanen,Tanja 2149 6...xd1+ Grabics,Monika 2354 excellent play it was not obligatory to make 2nd ch-EUR Women (7) 29.04.2001 things worse by placing the king on the open file. [Jon Tisdall] [ After the correct 7.xd1 c6 8.f4 e6 9.b3 0-0-0 10.e3 d4 ( weaker is 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.f3 10...b4?! 11.a3 d3+ 12.xd3 xd3 g4 5.e2 0-0-0 6.e3 e5 7.c4 a5+ 13.f5 d7 14.b4 White had obtained an 8.d2 b4 9.d5 e4 10.g5 xe2 11.xe2 advantage in the game Torre - Hsu Li, Kuala d4 12.d1 h6 13.0-0 xd2 14.xd2 Lumpur 1993) 11.e2 b4+ 12.f2 c5 This is all fairly well known theory, and white Black had enough compensation for the is supposed to pick up the e-pawn with a pawn. ] massive advantage. Black plays a new and n a t u r a l m o v e t o c o n f u s e t h e i s s u e . e3!? 7...c6 8.g5 [ 8.f4 was bad as after g4+ with 0-0-0 next 15.b3?! the attack could become decisive. ] [ 15.fxe3 df5 16.e2 b6 ] 15...exf2+ 16.xf2 xb3 17.xb3 c5 8...h6 9.h4 [ 9.f4 e6 was about the same. ] 18.d3 he8 19.af1 e5 20.e4 e7 21.d2 f5 22.b3 a6 23.d4 g6 24.h3 9...g5 10.g3 e6 11.b3 0-0-0+ 12.e1 [ 12.c2 loses immediately af ter f5+ f7 25.c3 e3 26.a5 e5 27.c2 e4 13.b2 ( 13.c1 a3# ) 13...d2+ 14.c1 28.d1 xd4 29.xd4 f3+ 30.gxf3 e3+ c2+ ] 31.g2 xd4 32.c3 f4 33.e2 g5+ 34.h2 f4 35.g2 h5 36.g4 g5 37.e5 12...d4 13.d3? [ 13.c1 a3 14.d1 b4 was also bad for e8 38.xg5 e2+ 39.g1 xg5 40.xg5 White but resistance could be prolonged. ] xb2 41.f5 xa2 42.xf4 c2 43.e4 a5 44.f4 a4 45.f5 a3 46.f6 a2 47.e1 xc4 13...b4 14.c1 xb3 [ The text is good enough for a win, but 48.f1 f4 49.a1 xf6 50.xa2 f5 14...b5! wins a piece by force: 15.cxb5 51.a8+ d7 52.h8 h5 53.h7+ d6 xd3 16.ge2 d5 and White should 0-1 resign. ] 15.axb3 xd3 16.ge2 a5! 17.f1 a4 xa4 19.bxa4 hd8 313 B01 18.xa4 Remizov,Juri 2150 White resigned. Bezgodov,Alexei 2425 0-1 St.Petersburg op 1994 [Alexander Volzhin] 314 B01 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 b6 Renet,Olivier 2520 5.c3 This move order prevents the 5.Nf3 Prie,Eric 2480 Bg4 line but allows an interesting counterblow catX Clichy (8) 1995 in the centre. e5!? 6.dxe5?! In my opinion [Eric Prié] this is a dubious move. [ The alternatives are: 6.e2 then the game 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 Tivjakov - Maljutin, URS (ch) Moscow 1991 5.f3 f6 6.d2 f5 7.e4 b6! 8.xf6+ continued with e7 7.dxe5 c6 8.e3 [ 8.g3 g4! The logical complement to ... e6 ( 8...xe5?? 9.xb6 ) 9.d1 c8 Q b 6 a im in g a t d 4 a n d b 2 . 9.c4 e6 10.c5 ( 10.b3 b4 with initiative) 10...d7! ( 9...xf3? Watch out for this trap! 10.xf3 11.f4 0-0 12.d5 xd5 13.xd5 b4 xd4? 11.b3+- e6 12.xb7 xc4 14.d1 c6 15.f2 d5 with good 13.c8+ e7 14.a5! bd7 15.xa8 ) prospects for black ] A) 10.b3!? xf3 11.xf3 xd4 [ 6.f3 g4 7.e2 ] 12.0-0-0 bd7 13.f5? e4! 316

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 13...exf5? 14.he1+ e7 15.f4 b6 16.d6 ); B) 10.0-0!? Hamdouchi, H Intending xf3?! ( 10...bd7 ) 11.xf3 xd4 12.b3 b6 13.xe6!; C) 10.c3 xf3! 11.xf3 xb2 12.d1 bd7 13.0-0 d6 14.g5 b6 Co n t ra ry t o S ca n d in a via n le ge n d I a n Ro ge r s , I d o u b t W h i t e h a s s u f f ic ie n t compensation for the pawn here. ] 8...gxf6 9.c4 [ 9.b4!? A) 9...e5?! 10.c4! Nijboer-Prié, E Linares zt 1995; B) 9...e6 10.a3 Intending Bf4, c2-c4-c5 g8 11.f4! And not ( 11.h4? xc2 12.xc2 xd4 13.d1 xh4 ) 11...d7 12.c4; C) 9...g8! In the opening, when in doubt (...e6 or ...e5?) start playing the forced moves before the optional ones! With the idea 10.c4? ( 10.c4 d7 And Black will lo n g c a s t l e a n d p l a y . . . e 7 - e 5 wi t h a complicated game without having to worry about f7. ) 10...xg2 11.h4 xd4 12.xg2 xc4 13.e3 e4 ] 9...g8!? Designed to prevent White from short castling but not really threatening to take on g2 in a position where development should be the priority. [ 9...e6 Transposing into the next game, therefore should be preferred, if only to meet 10.c3 with A) 10...a6!? 11.h4! g6?! ( 11...e4! is the right approach: With a bishop on c3 it not easy to try to catch a black bishop on d 5 wi t h c 2 - c 4 . 12.0-0 b4 13.h5 d5 ) 12.f4! 0-0-0 ( 12...f5 13.d5 This is the problem.) 13.f5 exf5 14.0-0 b4 ( 14...h6 15.xf5 xf5 16.xf5 e3+ 17.h1 xd4 18.a5; 14...c5 15.f3; 14...d6 15.xf5 xf5 16.xf5 c7 ) 15.xf5 d5 16.f3; B) 10...b4 11.0-0 d7 12.h4 g6 13.f4 xc3 14.bxc3 f5 15.b1 c7 16.a4 ( 16.f3 h5 ) 16...0-0-0 W ith an unbalanced position difficult to assess: Black has a poor bishop, though it is possible to a ctivate it via h 5, but a strong outpost on e4 while both sides have a worsened structure with an open file

against each other's castle. ] [ When 9...xb2!? is also a test, intending 10.b3 ( 10.b1 xc2 11.xc2 xc2 12.xb7 e4 ) 10...g8! now A) 11.0-0!? h3? ( 11...g4 ) 12.g5! fxg5 13.h5! e6 ( 13...g7 14.xh3 d7 15.ad1! 0-0-0 16.c1 a1 17.a3 ) 14.xh3 xd4? 15.xe6; B) 11.b1 a3 12.0-0 g4! Unclear. The pin on f3 is a bit annoying for White. 13.h3 xh3 ( 13...h5!? ) 14.g5 fxg5 15.h5 e6 16.xh3 g6 With good chances of holding the opposing attack, and then... ] 10.b3 [ 10.0-0 d7 11.e1 e6 12.a4 0-0-0 13.b4 c7 14.b5 cxb5 15.xb5 b8 16.a5 a6 17.d3 xd3 18.cxd3 c6 19.f4+ d6 20.g3 xg3 21.hxg3 c8 22.b3 c3 23.a4 c7 24.a3 c6 25.b4 e8 26.b3 d5 27.d2 ec8= Smirin, I-Prie, E Bastia op 1997 ] [ 10.c3! A) 10...xg2? 11.h4 g5 12.xf5 ( 12.f4 g4 13.d3 h5 ) 12...xf5 13.g4 e6 ( 13...g5 14.c8+ ) 14.g8 c7 ( 14...d7 15.xe6! ) 15.0-0-0 xf2? 16.he1 Followed by Bxe6.; B) 10...e6 ] 10...a5! 11.a4 a6! The 'semi refutation' of this set-up for White. Thus the d-file remains open after long castling, the queen can stay on b6 for a while with the Bb3 in the line of fire in case of a white c2-c3, and the knight is annoying on b4 with the retreat square d5 in case of necessity, instead of the less economical manoeuvre ...Nd7, ...Qc7, ...Nb6, ...Nd5. 12.e2? [ 12.0-0! e6 And White now has a problem. ( 12...h3 13.g5! Again ) 13.c3 A) 13...h3!? 14.e1 ( 14.g5 no longer works xg2 15.xg2 fxg5 ) 14...0-0-0; B) 13...g4! 14.c4 d6 It is important to prevent W hite's Bf4-g3 consolidation with attacking prospects for Black. ] [ 12.c3 e6 13.h4 ] 12...b4 13.0-0-0? [ 13.e3 d5= ( 13...d3+ 14.f1 b4 15.d5 )] 13...d3+! 14.cxd3 317

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 14.b1 xb3! 15.cxb3 f4+ 16.a2 xe2 17.e3 ( 17.de1 d3-+ ) 17...e4 ( 17...xg2 18.h4 ) 18.he1 xg2 19.d2 ( 19.h4 xh2 ) 19...c2 20.a1 d3-+ ] 14...xb3 White realizes his position has suddenly become a ruin. [ 14...xb3 15.c3 xg2! ( 15...xa4 ) 16.h4 g4 17.d2 ( 17.e4 xd1 18.xg2 c2# ) 17...xd1 18.xg2 f3 19.g1 xa4-+ ] 0-1

315

B01

Rhode,AB Tsitevic [Alexander Volzhin] Before considering the main lines, let's have a lo o k a t t h e p ro vo ca tive 4 . . . Nb 4? ! wh ich contains a very nice trick. Although this has been known since the last century, Black has won hundreds of games very easily with this line. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 b4 5.a4+ Why not play to win the brave Knight?! [ 5.a3!? is worth considering 4c6 6.d5 e5 White is slightly better here, but matters are not so clear. ] 5...8c6 6.d5? [ Instead of the text 6.a3! should be played a6 ( a sad necessity) 7.f3 ( 7.d5?! here is also far from good in view of c5 and now 8.b5?! is too optimistic in view of e6! 9.dxc6 b6! and White's Queen is trapped, for example: 10.e3 a6 11.b4 d3+; In my opinion, 7.e3! is best, after d7 8.d1 e5 9.d5 e7 White is clearly better, although the fight is still ahead.) 7...e5! An excellent move! A) 8.d5 c5 9.d1 d4 Look how active Black's Knights are now! White can't win a p a wn : 10.xd4 exd4 11.xd4? ( 11.b4 e7+ 12.e2 d3! is unclear.) 11...b3 12.e3+ e7 and Black wins material; B) 8.dxe5 c5 with obvious compensation.; C) 8.xe5 Probably White has nothing better: xd4 9.xc6 e4+ 10.e3 d7

11.c3 xc6 12.xe4 xa4 13.c1 c6 14.c3 c5 and Black had e q u a li s e d i n G u n a r s so n - B r o n s t e i n , Reykjavik,1996. ] 6...b5!! The point! 7.xb5 [ Probably 7.cxb5 is better, although after d4! 8.a3 ( 8.b6+ d7 ) 8...e5! Black has an excellent position. ] 7...c2+ Now White's king has to choose between two squares .Unfortunately for him both moves lose! 8.d2 [ 8.d1 d7 9.dxc6 ( After 9.a6 6b4 10.b7 c6! White's Queen was suddenly trapped, Brashon - Gedult,1973.) 9...g4+ It's interesting to note that from this moment on all Black's moves are checks! 10.xc2 d1+ 11.c3 xc1+ 12.b3 d1+ 13.b4 a5+ 14.c5 e5+ 15.d5 d8+ 16.xe5 d6+ and White resigned in Goldobov - Kanadin, Minsk, 1970, as the "brave" King will soon be mated. ] 8...d7 9.dxc6 f5+ 10.d5 b4!! Black's attack is even very strong without Queens. 11.xd8+ xd8+ 12.c3 c2 13.f4 e5! Gaining an important tempo for developing the dark-squared Bishop. 14.xe5 b4+ 15.b3 b8 16.xc7 0-0! Excellent! Now all Black's pieces participate in th e a tt ack. 17.xb8 xb8 18.a3 xa3+ 19.c3 [ W h i t e ' s K i n g h a s n o e s c a p e : 19.a2 xb2# ] 19...b4+ 20.b3 d2+ 21.a4 [ 21.a2 also leads to a beautiful mate after c1! and 22... Rb2 as 22.b3 allows another mate: b4# ] 21...b4+ 22.a5 d4 Now Nxc6+ and Bc8 is unavoidable, so White resigned. Although I can't recommend you try this line against Kasparov, why not to try it against somebody else? 0-1

318

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.e4 g6 15.e5 b6 16.xg6 hxg6 17.ab1 d8 18.c3 c5 19.dxc5 xc5 Ristic,Neb1 20.bd1 d7 ) 14.e4 f6 15.h4 h6 Markovic,Milovan 16.e5 d8 17.c3 d5 18.e4 f6 ch-Serbia, Dimitrovgrad (8) 19.f3 d7 20.e3 ] [Andrew Martin] 13.c3 d7 14.e5! c6 15.f3 h6 16.d2 NASTY,BRUTISH AND SHORT 1.e4 d5 The Bishops look very menacing and some 17.h3 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 The Banker n- sort of sacrifice is inevitable. d7 Doesn't help. The net effect is that the quite playable. Black plans ...c6,...Nf6 and .. xe5 d7 Bf5 with a Caro-Kann like position. At least, White Rook joins the party. 18.xe5 t h a t ' s w h a t h e s h o u l d b e d o i n g ! 4.c4 19.xh6! gxh6 20.xh6 A brief game and a lesson to all defenders. COUNTERPLAY IS OK, no problem-just play 4.. .Nf6! [ 4.d4 f6 5.g5 c6 6.f3 f5 7.e5 NECESSARY! bd7 8.f3 xc2 9.c4 e6 10.e2 g6 1-0 11.h4 b4 12.f1 xc3 13.bxc3 a5 14.xd7 xd7 15.xf6 gxf6 16.h5 f5 B01 17.f3 hg8 Pap,M-Markovic,Z/ch-Serbia, 317 Dimitrovgrad YUG 2003 was much more like Ritov it f rom Black's point of view. A more Skuya orthodox development, provocation with the USSR 1971 ca pt ure o n c2 a nd a ge nu in e ly u ncle a r [Alexander Volzhin] middlegame. Markovic lost this one too . ] 4...e6?! Black might be able to make 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 e5 something of this if he angles for a Rubinstein A rare continuation which can confuse the French structure. But apparently Markovic White player if he does not know what to do. intends to just sit there, weather the storm 5.f3 and take over later. 5.d4 c6?! Ugly-far too [ After 5.dxe5 Black can develop his pieces passive. Why not very quickly: b4 6.f3 g4 7.d2 c6 [ 5...f6 6.f3 e7 followed by castles and 8.a3 d4 9.e2 xf3 10.xf3 xe5+ angle for a quick ...c7-c5? ] 11.f1 xc3 12.xc3 0-0-0 13.xd4 xd4 6.f3 f6 7.0-0 e7 8.e1 0-0 9.g5 and Black was completely okay in bd7 10.e2 b6 Evidence of the 'sitting' Landenbergue - Casagrande, Biel 1996. ] procedure. My problem with this move is that 5...exd4 there is no counterplay to be seen for Black. [ 5...b4 does not solve Black's problems: Of course W hite keeps an edge after other 6.d2 g4 ( 6...exd4 7.xd4 e5+ moves : is not enough: 8.e2 xe2+ 9.xe2 c6 [ 10...h6 11.h4 b6 12.ad1 b7 10.e4 xd2+ 11.xd2 with a big 13.e5 ] advantage in development in the endgame.) [ 10...b6 11.ad1 b7 12.e5 xe5 7.a3 d6 8.c4 with a strong initiative. ] 13.dxe5 d5 14.xe7 xe7 15.e4 6.e2+ e7 7.xd4 c6? but I feel that these positions are [ After 7...f6 8.b5+ xb5 9.dxb5 a6 manageable, particularly the first line. ] 10.f4 d8 11.0-0-0 0-0 12.c4 11.d3 bd5 12.xd5 cxd5? Ugly and W hite has an unpleasant initiative in the now Markovic gets what he deserves. He must endgame thanks to his development not a llow W hite such a f re e ha nd o n th e advantage but this was obviously the lesser Kingside. I think evil. The text move allows White to maintain [ 12...xd5 was more or less forced : a very strong attack against the Black king. ] 13.xe7 xe7 ( 13...xe7 Defending 'a la' 8.f4 a6 9.0-0-0 d7 It's hard to see how Lasker might be possible. Black knows he is Black can castle kingside. 10.b1 0-0-0 worse but will avoid making any further 11.c4! weaknesses and invite W hite to attack. [ White could win a pawn by force with 316

B01 2380 2320 2003

319

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.b3 f5 12.xa6! xf4 ( 12...bxa6?? xd5 16.c4 e5 17.cxd5 exf4 18.e2+ 13.xa6# ) 13.xa7 but the text move is d8 with decent play - Buecker; even stronger. ] A2) 12.g2! xb2 ( 12...0-0-0! 11...g5 13.f3 ) 13.cd5 xd5 14.xd5; [ 11...f6 12.e6 ] B) 10.d5!? e6? ( 10...e4! , when [ 11...h6 12.b3 b4 13.d5 ] 11.xe4 xe4 12.f3 g6 13.e3 e6 [ 11...h5 12.xa6 ] 14.d2 might yield an edge) 11.f4 e5 12.g3 Black already has no defence against 12.xe5 b6 13.c4 c5 14.e2+ the numerous threats. h6 13.b3 b4 d8 15.0-0-0 and Black is getting killed, [ 13...f5 14.xa6! ] Lagerman- Rodriguez Fonseca, Reykjavik 14.d5! ISL 2009. ] [ 14.xa6 bxa6 15.xa6+ b7 16.xb7+ 9.d2 xb7 could prolong Black's suffering. ] [ One game this month followed a much14...e6? a n a lys e d va r ia t io n ch a m p io n e d b y I a n [ 14...xc4 15.xe7# ] Rogers as Black: 9.g2 c6 10.h4 ( 10.0-0 [ 14...e8 was the only move to avoid has also been played) 10...bd7 ( 10...e4 checkmate after which W hite has a lot of 11.xe4 xe4 12.f3 d6 13.d2 winning possibilities: 15.xb4 ( 15.xa6!? with advantage, Macak, S-Karnik, P/Tatry xd5 16.xd5 winning ) 15...xd1+ 16.c1 Open, Tatranske Zruby SVK 2003. ) xb4 ( 16...xb4 17.e2! ) 17.b3 A) 11.0-0!? xe5 ( 11...0-0-0 12.e2 ) winning another piece. ] 12.dxe5 xe5 13.e1 may well give 15.xc6+! Black resigned. W hite the advantage this simple ide a 1-0 should be looked into; B) 11.xd7 xd7 (a long-debated position) 12.d2 318 B01 B1) 12...h5 13.g5 g8 - Andrew Martin but it's hard to like Black's game after Rivera,Daisy 2338 14.e2 c7 ( 14...xc2 15.d5 ) Bauer,Christian 2590 15.e4! xe4 16.xe4; Galicia Festival Blitz blitz (3) 26.09.2009 B2) 12...h6 [John Watson] B2a) 13.d5 exd5 14.xd5 e8+ 15.e3 a4 16.b3 f4 17.f1 Black is still playing one of the oldest lines in ( 17.0-0 d6 18.e1 e4 ) 17...e4 the Scandinavian, and GM Christian Bauer is 18.xe4 xe4 19.f3 Wynn Zaw Htunleading the way. Remarkably, the variation R ogers, I, Bangkok 2004. In this doesn't even appear in Jovanka Houska's colu mn, An drew Ma rtin su gge ste d 'Starting Out: the Scandinavian', probably e6! 'maintaining a strong initiative'.; because the most recent battles concentrate B2b) 13.d5 a4 14.e3 d5 upon other lines. Nevertheless, there seems a 15.h5 h7 16.f3 xd4 17.xf7+ lot to look into here. The best source that I e7 18.xd5 cxd5 19.f3 e5+ know of is John Emms' second edition of 'The 20.e3 e4 21.h3 b4+ 22.f1 Scandinavian'. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 xc2 23.f3 e4 24.e2 a6 25.d1 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.h3 h5 7.g4 xg2+ 26.xg2 ac8 27.d3 hf8 g6 8.e5 e6 28.h3 c5 29.e1 xe3 30.hxe3 [ Another recent game went 8...bd7 9.c4 xb2 31.1e2 f6 32.b3 b5 a6 33.xe6 xe6 34.xe6 xe6 35.a4 A) 10.f4 is more usual and important, c4 36.e3+ e4 37.b6+ f7 with the continuation e6+ 11.e3 b6! 38.b7+ f6 39.f3 xa4 40.c6+ can lead to e7 1/2-1/2 Safarli, E (2587)-Bauer, C A1) 12.b5!? c8 13.g5 e4! 14.g1 (2590)/Lugo ESP 2009/The Week in ( best looks 14.f3 d5 15.xd5 xd5 Chess 777 ] 16.c4 e5 17.e3! ) 14...d5 15.xd5 320

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 9.h4 b4 ( 9...bd7 10.c4 a6 11.h5 e4 12.h4! is thought to give some advantage ) A) 10.h3 used to be the 'refutation' of Black's play in this line based upon a famous game by Karpov but theory has changed over the years: A1) Alexander Volzhin annotated the following game in this column: ' 10...c6 11.d2 b6 12.h5 e4 ( 12...xd4 13.f3 ) 13.e3 xc3 ( 13...xd4? was bad for Black because of 14.g5! ) 14.xc3 d5 15.g5 e4 16.g4 d6 17.0-0-0 d7 18.e1! (c2-c4 is t h r e a t e n e d ) xe5 19.dxe5 f5 20.h3! White's idea is still c2-c4 and it c a n n o t b e p a r r i e d ! 0-0-0 ( 20...c5 is not a defence due to 21.xd5 exd5 22.xf5 with a large advantage) 21.c4 c5 22.b4 That's why the Rook did not retreat to a3 - it would be hanging after Qb4. f3 23.xd8+ xd8 24.xf3 xe5 25.c3 The rest is not important. d6 26.d3 d4 27.xf7 f5 28.xf5 f4+ 29.e3 Black resigned. 1-0 Karpov, A-Rogers, I/Bath 1983; A2) 10...xc3+ 11.bxc3 bd7 12.h5? ( 12.xd7 xd7 13.g2 , and I like h5! 14.xb7 d8 ) 12...xe5 13.dxe5 xe5+ 14.e3 e4 15.d3 xc3+ 16.d2 c6 17.g5 xd3 0-1 MoesBjarnason, 12th Monarch Assurance, Port Erin IOM 2003; B) 10.d2 bd7 11.xd7 xd7 12.g2 h5 13.g5 d5 , and Emms thinks White gets something from 14.xd5 exd5 15.c3 he8+ 16.e3 d6 17.b3! ] 9...b6 [ One of the shortest games I've ever seen on ChessPublshing was 9...c6?? 10.b5 b6 11.c4! xb5 12.d6+ 1-0 Diringer, B-Link, M/Wurttemberg 1990 1990. ] [ 9...bd7 10.c4 a6 11.f3 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 ] 10.e2 [ 10.f3! c6 ( 10...c6 11.b5 0-0-0!? ) 11.0-0-0 seems better, although Bauer was doubtless ready for this. ] 10...c6! 11.xc6 xc6 12.b5 xb5 13.xb5 0-0-0 Black is more active and stands better. 14.0-0-0?!

[ 14.xa7+ b8 15.b5 xc2 16.c1 e4 17.g1 d5 ] 14...a6 15.c3 xd4 16.g2 c5! 17.e2 c4 18.c3 xf2 with a won game: 19.hf1 e3+ 20.b1 h5 21.f3 hxg4 22.hxg4 e4 23.xg7 g8 24.xe4 xe4 25.c3 xg4 26.c1 g2 27.d3 b6 28.a4 a5 29.b3 d8 30.f6 d5 31.fe1 d4 32.xd4 xd4 33.g1 xg1 34.xg1 xd3 35.cxd3 xd3 36.c2 f3 0-1

319 Rohde,Michael A Seirawan,Yasser USA [Nigel Davies]

B01

1976

5.Bc4 continues to flirt with transposition into the main lines, and this could easily come about if W hite played a later d2-d4. This game sees White stubbornly refuse to do so, and this highly imaginative game is rich in combinative play. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 f6 5.c4 g4 [ Black can also wait with 5...c6 but then 6.e2 creates some problems, for example f5 ( 6...e6 7.d4 b4 8.0-0 0-0 9.d2 left Black passively placed in Plaskett - Hunt, B r i t i s h C h . , H o v e 1 9 9 7; 6...g4? is bad because of 7.xf7+ xf7 8.e5+ etc. ) 7.e5 g6 8.d4 e6 9.d2 b4 10.h4 bd7 11.h5 f5 12.f3 xe5 13.dxe5 d7 14.0-0-0 and White was much better in the game Crosa Spangenberg, Buenos Aires 2000 ] [ In Kharlov - Westerinen, Gausdal 1992 Black's 5...f5 wa s m e t b y 6.b4!? b6 ( 6...xb4 7.e2 gives White very dangerous attacking chances for the pawn) 7.0-0 e6 8.d3 e7 9.f4 0-0 10.b5 a6 11.a3 d5 12.e5 f6 13.e1 with much the better game for W hite because of his space. ] [ Another Kharlov game went 5...c6 6.h3 e5 7.b3 xf3+ 8.xf3 e5+ 9.e2 e6 10.d4 e4 11.g3 d7 12.f3 g6 13.f2 h5 14.h4 , once again with excellent play for White in Kharlov - Reprintsev, St Petersburg 1998 ] 321

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6.h3 h5 [ The safe line is 6...xf3 7.xf3 , but here White might claim to be better because of his bishop pair. ] 7.e2 bd7 8.g4 g6 9.b4!? Continuing in ga m b it s t yl e , a n d i n f a ct W h it e c h a rg e s forward throughout the game. [ 9.d3 was the solid way to play it. ] 9...b6 [ 9...xb4 10.b1 wins the b7 pawn. ] 10.h4 h6 [ Capturing on g4 is very good for White after 10...xg4? 11.d5 d6 12.h5 f5 13.d4 etc. ] 11.h5 h7 12.a4 c6 13.g5 hxg5 14.xg5 g8 15.a5 c7 16.b5 cxb5 17.xb5 c6 18.h3 a6 19.c3 e6 20.b2 g2!? Ambitious. [ The solid way to play it was with 20...c8 21.b3 c5 etc. ] 21.e3 c5 22.d4 xd4 23.xd4 xg5 24.e4 xe4 25.xe4 h7 26.d4 g8?! [ Black should have taken this opportunity to get the queens off with 26...f5 27.g3 f6! after which 28.xg7 xd4 29.xd4 would probably be drawn ] 27.e3 xh5 [ A n d h e r e t o o h e s h o u l d p l a y 27...f6 . Now W hite's initiative moves up a notch with the sacrifice of another pawn. ] 28.a3! xa5+ 29.f1 f5 30.d1 0-0-0 31.d6 b6 32.c3?! [ 32.c3! would have been even stronger as after xd4 33.xd4 Black would have to try and bail out with c5 ] 32...c6 33.xa6 c5! 34.xb7+! xb7 35.b1+ a8? The final mistake. [ 35...c8 36.xc5 h1+ 37.e2 g4+ 38.f3 g2+ would draw by perpetual check. ] 36.xc5! h1+ [ 36...xc5 37.xc5 leaves Black defenceless against the threat of 38.Ra3 but the text doesn't fare much better. ] 37.e2 g4+ 38.d2 xd6+ 39.xd6 xb1 40.a3+ b7 41.b3+ xb3 42.cxb3 f5 43.d7+ b6 44.c3 h8 45.xf7 h3+ 46.b4 h4+ 47.a3 g6 48.f6 h3 49.d8+ b5 50.b8+ a5 51.a7+ b5 52.b7+ c5 53.a4 d3 54.c7+ d5 55.b4 d4 56.a5 d3

57.c5+ e4 58.f3+ 1-0

320 Rosandic,Denis Zelcic,Robert 9th Open, Bosnjaci (4) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2285 2575 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.e2 Just a 'normal' developing move, the reaction of an opponent who has been unsettled by 3...Qd6. White has been drawn out of theory and seeks a simple solution. This type of approach cannot worry Black when he has such a straightf orward plan available. a6 Why not? The usual ideas of ... b7-b5, ...e7-e6, ...Bb7, ...Nbd7 ...Be7 and eventually ...c7-c5! are perfectly applicable here. [ 5...c6 Also playable: A) 6.g5 f5 7.f3 bd7 8.d2 b6 Giving the Queen some room. I prefer ( 8...e6 9.f4 b4 ) 9.e5 e6 10.g4 e4 11.xe4 xe4 12.f3 g6 13.f4 d8 14.c4 e7 15.0-0-0 d7 16.xg6 hxg6 17.b1 f6 18.e5 Obodchuk,AKuntz,P/Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002; B) 6.f3 f5 7.0-0 e6 8.e1 e7 9.h3 0-0 ( If h2-h3, why not ...h7-h6, preserving t h e B i s h o p ? 9...h6!= ) 10.h4 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.f3 bd7 13.e4 c7 14.c4 ad8 15.b3 xe4 16.xe4 f6 17.e3 d7 18.d1 c5! Kim,E-Zavar Mosavi,M/Asian Youth GU14, Tehran IRI 2002 ] [ 5...c6!? Combative. 6.f3 g4 7.b5 d7 8.f4 d5 9.g3 a6 10.c3 e6 11.0-0 xc3 12.bxc3 d6 13.b1 xg3 14.fxg3 b8 15.g5 xe2 16.xe2 d8 17.f4 h6 18.h4 d5! 19.e4 xa2 20.f1 b5 ( 20...0-0? 21.f6+ gxf6 22.g4+ h7 23.f4!+- ) 21.g4 b4 22.g5 h5 23.g6 fxg6 24.c5 bxc3 25.e4 h6 26.hf4 g5 27.c6+ xc6 28.f8+ e7 29.1f7+ d6 30.d7# 1-0 Manea,AOsman,M/Juventus, Bucharest ROM 2002 ] [ 5...e6 6.f3 a6 7.ge2 bd7 8.f4 b6 9.0-0 c6 10.a4 d8 11.c4 e7 12.d3 0-0 13.fd1 e8 14.ac1 f8 322

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.ec3 a5 16.a3 e5 17.b4 c7 18.g3 1/2-1/2 Muhren, W-Ryan,J/Lost Boys Open, Amsterdam NED 2002 (66) ] 6.f3!? He prevents ... b7-b5 but Black can switch plans with ease. Straightforward play leads to nothing either: [ 6.f3 b5 7.d3 b7 8.e5 bd7 9.f4 b6! 10.a4 b4 11.a5 e6 12.a4 xg2 Black point-blank refuses to be intimidated. 13.g1 e4 14.d2 xe5 15.xe5 c6 16.c4 e6 17.c5 d5 18.c4 f6 19.g3 e7 20.xd5 exd5 21.xb4 0-0 22.c3 f3 23.a4 b7 24.b4 fe8 25.d2 c8 26.c6 g4 27.ge1 xd4+ 28.c2 0-1 Crouan,S-Carton,C/TCh-FRA Nat 2002 In continually seeking compensation, White ran out of time. ] 6...c6 7.ge2 f5 8.f4 d7 9.d2 0-0-0 10.d1 e6 11.a3 h6 12.h3 g5 Posing the question as to where White will put his King. 13.g3 d6 14.xd6 xd6 15.xc6 xc6 16.0-0 e4 17.xe4 xe4 18.f3 f5 19.c3 White's policy has been to exchange as many pairs of pieces as he can to lessen the impact of the Black attack. One cannot fault this strategy but if this is the best that he can do the variation with 5 Be2 and 6 Bf3 will have to be scrapped. h5 20.xg5 xh3! 21.c5 xc5 22.dxc5 f5 23.d4 g6 24.f4 d5! 25.b4 h4 26.h2 h3 27.gxh3? He decides to eliminate the passed p a wn . T h is is u n d e r st a n d a b le b u t f a u lt y judgement. I believe that a better chance was [ 27.g3!? e5 ( 27...h5 28.de1 g4 29.e5 f6 30.xd5 exd5 31.e1 d7 may be Black's best, although this is far from winning.) 28.fxe5 xe5 29.de1 f6 30.f3= ] 27...h5 28.de1 g4! The problem now is that W hite has to contend with two weaknesses. His Queenside is weak and the King is exposed. 29.g3 [ 29.e3 dh5 ] 29...xh3 30.h1 dh5 31.e5 g8+ [ 31...5h7 32.c6! ] 32.g5 hxg5+ 33.fxg5 f5 34.f4 g6 35.e5 d8 36.f6 e4 37.e1 d5 38.g6 fxg6 39.xg6 g8+ 40.f6 g3 He penetrated eventually. 41.e7 [ 41.xe6 xe6 42.xe6 xc3 43.a4 c4 ]

41...xc3 42.g1 e5 43.f1 b8 He is losing a second pawn with little to show for it.. 0-1

321 Roth,P Rogers,Ian Baden [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2252 2618 1999

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 f6 5.d4 c6 6.c4 g4 7.h3 h5 8.g4 g6 9.d2 e6 10.e2 b4 11.e5 bd7 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.h4?! White hopes that the h4-h5 threat will give him a big advantage. However an unpleasant surprise awaits him. [ 13.a3 xc3 14.xc3 c7 ] 13...xe5 14.dxe5 xd2! 15.xd2 xc3 16.bxc3?! [ 16.xc3 xc3 17.bxc3 xg4 18.he1 xf2 19.d4 h5 20.f4 g4 21.d3 xd3 22.cxd3 h6 By transferring his Knight to f5 Black avoids any possibility of losing while keeping some winning chances, although in my opinion White should hold the draw. ] 16...a3+ [ Probably 16...e4 immediately was even better, for example: 17.d7+ b8 18.e7 c8! 19.d7 c5 and after the Rook retreat Black just takes the c3-pawn with major threats. ] 17.b1 e4 18.d7+? A clear inaccuracy. After the sudden blow on move 14 White has completely lost his confidence. [ 18.e3 should be played, and the interesting complications lead by force to a rook ending! xc3+ 19.a1 e4 20.h3 Absolutely the only move, otherwise 20... Bd5 wins. b2+! A very nice exchanging co m b i n a t i o n . 21.xb2 xd1+ 22.b3 xe3 23.xe3 d5 24.xd5 cxd5 25.f3! (making Black's Rook very passive) f8 26.c4 and White has drawing chances. ] 18...b8 Now the game is practically over. After the unavoidable Nxc3 Black wins the exchange back, keeping an extra pawn as well as a big positional advantage and the possibility of an attack on the W hite King. 323

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.b3 xc3+ 20.a1 xd1 21.xd1 h5! 22.b1 White tries to create an attack down the b-file, but Black parries all the threats very easily. a5! 23.d5 [ 23.xe6 d o e s n ' t h e l p e i t h e r : xe5+ 24.b2 c7 25.xc7+ (forced) xc7 and after the Bishop retreat and 26...hxg4 Black wins one more pawn. ] 23...c3+ 24.b2 e1+ 25.b1 xe5+ 26.b2 c7 27.xc6? Blundering a Bishop but White is absolutely lost anyway. 27... exd5 is too obvious, so White resigned immediately. T h is ga m e i s a n e xc e l l e n t e xa m p le o f a sudden attack. 0-1

322 Rowson,J Kramnik,V 5th Classic GpB 2013 rapid (6.2) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2569 2793 13.12.2013

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 g4 4.e2 c6 5.h3 [ Because of the line Kramnik chooses in this game I pref er 5.0-0 0-0-0 and only now 6.h3! which we saw in Vachier LagravePapaioannou which I annotated back in November. ] 5...xf3 6.xf3 e6+ 7.f1!? Very creative play from Rowson but I'm not sure this really gives White any chances for an edge against sensible play. [ in my notes to Zhigalko-Sharif I only c o n s i d e r e d 7.e2 xe2+ 8.xe2 when Black should equalise without too many problems, e.g. e5 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.d3 g6 ] 7...0-0-0 8.d3 [ 8.c3?! just leads to trouble after g6! 9.d4 e5 10.e3 f5 11.a4 e4 12.e2 f6 13.c4 d5 and Black was already better in Bozic, M (2427)-Cabarkapa, N (2361) Kragujevac 2013 ( 13...d7! is also strong )] 8...g6! Kramnik chooses a very harmonious setup - with his queen blocking the e-pawn it makes a lot of sense to fianchetto the bishop and gain complete control of d4. 9.c3 d4 [ 9...h6! may give Black the slimmest of advantages, e.g. 10.e4 e5 11.g3 xc1

12.xc1 f6 13.g2 h5! and Black has the easier position to play. ] 10.e3 g7 11.g3 xf3 [ 11...h5!? is slightly more aggressive but probably Kramnik wanted to grind out a win with a slower approach but after 12.g2 h4 13.g4 f5! White definitely has to be the more careful ] 12.xf3 f6 13.e1 f5! Kramnik is happy to swap the queens into an endgame where only he can really press for the win. It's fair to say the opening has not been a success for Rowson, however he now digs in deep to defend the endgame. 14.g2 [ 14.xf5+ gxf5 15.g2 e6 and Black's doubled pawns are hardly a weakness here and in fact they help by giving him more control of the centre. ] 14...xf3+ 15.xf3 d5 16.xd5 xd5 17.b3 e6 18.a4 Sensibly Jonathan just places all his pawns on light squares and waits to see what Black will do hd8 19.b1 W hit e is pu rely on the def ensive here a5 20.he1 b6 21.e2 b7 22.be1 8d6 23.d1 c3 24.f4 c6 25.e4 e5! Finally Black has all of his pieces on the best squares so he now grabs more space in the centre. It's not quite enough for real winning chances however. 26.e3 f5 27.c4 dd6 [ 27...xc4 doesn't help at all 28.bxc4 d8 29.b1 c6 30.b5! and White is easily holding the draw. ] 28.e2 h5 [ 28...xc4 is perhaps worth a try as now after 29.bxc4 c6 30.b1 Black can prevent Rb5 with b4! although probably W h it e sh o u l d d ra w wit h 31.d2! c5 32.e3 ] 29.g4! When under pressure you should try to excha nge p awns and that's exactly wha t Rowson is doing to get himself closer to the d ra w h e is a f t e r . hxg4 30.hxg4 xc4 31.bxc4 c6 32.b1 b4 33.gxf5 gxf5 34.b3?! [ 34.f4! e4 35.dxe4 fxe4 36.f5 gives White a little counterplay and now the draw should be easy enough, for example d7 37.h1 g7 38.h6+ d7 39.h4 g2+ 40.d1 e7 41.xe4+ f6 42.c5! xf5 43.c4 and the position is just a draw ] 34...f4! 35.d2 f3+ 36.e1 c5 37.e3 324

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b4+ Kramnik decides to force a draw but I'm surprised he didn't go for one last trick [ 37...e4! keeps White under pressure for a little bit longer - even so White should draw with accurate play 38.xc5 xc5 39.dxe4 e6 40.e3 xc4 41.d2! d6+ 42.c1 f6 43.d2 and Black can't really make progress here. ] 38.d2 c5 39.e3 b4+ 40.d2 c5 Great defence from Rowson but not the most inspiring opening considering he had White! ½-½

323

23.e4 c8 26.d5 e6 29.bxc4 g7 32.e3 e5 35.a3 e6 ½-½

24.b3 e5 25.xf6+ 27.d3 f8 28.d8 30.xc8 xc8 31.d2 33.a3 e6 34.d3

324 Rozentalis,Eduardas Khalifman,Alexander Germany [Nigel Davies]

gxf6 bxc4 e6 e5

B01

1993

B01 2512 2443 29.03.2002

K h a l i f m a n wi s e l y r e f r a i n s f r o m c a s t l i n g queenside but even here the pressure on the b-file proves to be unpleasant for Black. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.g3 f6 5.g2 c6 Attempting to impede the activity of W hite's bishop on g2. In this game W hite What should Black do against the flexible 3. manages to remove this obstacle later on. Nf3, which leaves open the option of a later 6.f3 g4 7.0-0 [ W hite can also play the immediate 7.h3 c2-c4? In this game Black plays the standard h5 8.0-0 e6 9.a3 ( 9.d3 bd7 10.e2 3 . . . Nf 6 a n d 4 . . . B g4 - a n d a s u su a l f in d s e7 11.d2 c7 12.b4 0-0 13.b1 ad8 himself worse. Having lost the first game of 14.f4 was also nice for White in Benjamin this two game mini-match, Martin needed to Shabalov, Key West 1994) 9...bd7 10.d3 win this one at all costs. In this respect, I e7 ( 10...h6 11.b1 a6 12.b4 c7 can't help but think that another defence, such 13.g4 g6 14.h4 h7 15.f4 Rozentalis, as the Modern, would have been better. 1.e4 E-Paasikangas,J/Bad Wiessee GER 1999 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 f6 4.d4 g4 (55) ) 11.d2 c7 12.b4 0-0 13.b5 c5 5.e2 e6 14.e1 ad8 15.g4 g6 16.h4 b6 [ The sharpest move is 5...c6 after which 17.xg6 hxg6 18.f3 fd5 19.xd5 6.c4 f5 leads to complications which exd5 20.a4 with a strong initiative for White probably favour White. ] [ Rowson has also played this position with in Smirin - Oll, New York 1994 ] B l a c k , c h o o si n g 5...c6 against Lyell in a 7...e6 8.h3 xf3 [ 8...h5 would probably transpose into the 4NCL game this year (2002). After 6.0-0 e6 note to 7.h3 above ] 7.c4 d8 8.c3 e7 9.h3 h5 10.f4 0-0 11.b3 b6 12.xb6 axb6 13.g4 9.xf3 e7 g6 14.e5 his position did not seem [ Black can also play 9...bd7 as in Tiviakov massively promising though he did - Hansen ] 10.a3!? 0-0 11.b1 c7 12.b4 a6 13.d3 eventually manage to eke out a win. ] 6.h3 h5 7.c4 d8 8.0-0 e7 9.b3 c8 bd7 14.f4 d6 15.d2 a5 16.e2 10.c3 0-0 11.e3 bd7 12.ad1 a6 White's pair of bishops and space advantage 13.c2 If Rowson needed more than a draw, g i v e s h i m t h e b e t t e r g a m e . H e r e h e i s he might well have played more aggressively directing pressure towards b7 along the b-file a t t h is s t a ge . E ve n so h e ke e p s a sligh t and with his bishop on g2. e7 17.f4 fe8 advantage right to the end of the game. c5 18.g4 f8 19.f3 g6 20.h1 axb4 14.d5 exd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5 f6 21.axb4 g7 22.b5 ac8 23.bxc6 bxc6 17.d2 c7 18.g5 g6 19.d3 ad8 24.e2 d6 25.g3 d5 26.f2 d6 20.xg6 hxg6 21.fd1 xd2 22.xd2 b5 27.f5 exf5 28.gxf5 c5 29.f4! e5 Rowson,Jonathan Martin,Andrew D Redbus Knock-Out (1.2) [Nigel Davies]

325

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 29...d4 30.b7 would win the exchange. ] 30.g5 ed7 31.b7 d4 32.e4 xe4 33.xe4 xf2 34.xf2 e5 35.d5 b8 36.a7 h8?! [ 36...gxf5 would have been a better chance, before this pawn lands on f6. ] 37.f6 f8 38.xf7 xf7 39.xf7 h6 40.d2 e6 41.c3 c4 42.dxc4 e3 43.d4 xh3+ 44.g2 h5 45.c7 g5+ 46.f1 g4 47.c3 b1+ 48.e2 g3 49.f3 [ W hite must be careful not to play 49.c5? because b2+ 50.f1 b1+ would force a draw. ] 49...g2+ 50.d3 d1+ 51.e4 e1+ 52.e3 f1 53.c5 1-0

325 Rozentalis,Eduardas Milos,Gilberto Tilburg (4) [Nigel Davies]

B01

1992

The move 4.g3!? represents a much quieter way of playing this opening for White, aiming to complete his development and hopefully develop pressure on the h1-a8 diagonal. The position of Black's queen on a5 encourages an advance of W hite's b-pawn with gain of t e m p o , wh ic h ca n se t u p co m p lim e n t a r y pre s s u re o n t h e b -f ile . Ne e d le ss t o sa y, queenside castling will be very risky for Black, as in this game. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.g3!? An alternative mode of development for W hite, with which aims to complete his development and hopes to keep a slight space advantage. f6 5.g2 g4 [ 5...c6 , blocking the h1-a8 diagonal, f ea tu res in Rozent alis - Kha lif ma n an d Tiviakov - Hansen. The text is more aggressive, forcing White to block the attack on his queen before deciding whether or not to move the c-pawn. ] 6.ge2 [ W hite can also play 6.f3 after which B l a c k ' s m o s t a g g r e s s i v e p l a n i s c6!? ( 6...e6 7.h3 h5 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 c6 10.d3 0-0 11.a3 ad8 was fine for Black in

Bischoff - Hickl, Altensteig 1987; 6...c6 transposes into Rozentalis - Khalifman) 7.h3 h5 8.0-0 0-0-0 9.d3 g5 10.g4 g6 11.d2 h5 gave Black a dangerous attack in Payen - Prie, Cannes 1992 ] 6...c6!? [ 6...c6 is solid enough but slightly passive. ] 7.h3 h5 8.d3 e5 9.0-0 0-0-0 The natural follow-up to 6...Nc6, but Black's king will come under fire on the queenside. W hite's bish o p o n g2 will su pp o rt an ad van c e o f White's queenside pawns. 10.a3 d4 11.g4 g6 12.f4! exf4 13.xf4 xe2+ 14.xe2 c5+ 15.h1 d4 16.f3 c6 17.ae1 he8 18.g3 Threatening 19.Qf4. Black attempts to construct a ramshackle blockade in the centre. d7 19.b4 b6 20.e4 e5 21.d6+ xd6 22.xd6 d4 23.h2 e5 24.g3 f6 25.g5! f8 26.gxf6 gxf6 27.h4 d6 28.f4 f7? Losing a piece, but Black is in a bad way in any case. 29.h5! b8 [ 29...xh5 30.f5+ picks up the bishop. ] 30.hxg6 hxg6 31.xe5 h7 32.e2 xf4 33.xf4 dh8 34.h4+ c8 35.xh7 xh7 36.e6 f7 37.h3 1-0

326 Rusanov,Michail Alekseev,Evgeny St Petersburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2448 2300 1999

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.c3 g7 7.e2 0-0 8.0-0 g4 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 c6 11.c5 c4 [ 11...d7 is the alternative to the text, but it looks rather passive: 12.e3 e5 13.xc6 bxc6 14.d5! Now Black has difficult problems to solve. b8 15.c1 f5 16.b3 h8 17.cd1 h4 18.f3 e4 19.f4 g5 20.e2! with a huge positional advantage for White, Lutz - Casagrande, Biel, 1996. ] 12.xc6! An important novelty. [ Before this game the whole line was considered as harmless as after the natural 12.d5 d4! Black's Knights are very active and his chances are by no means worse. One example: 13.e2 a5 14.d3 c6! 15.b4?! White clearly overestimates his 326

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 chances. ( Modest 15.dxc6 axc6 sh o u ld b e p la ye d , wit h le ve l ch a n ce s.) 15...b5! 16.xb5 xa1 17.h6 g7 18.xg7 xg7 19.c3 cxd5 20.bxa5 xa5 21.xd5 xc5 22.a1+ f6 , and Black has the better prospects, Polak Stefansson, Oberwart, 1991. ] 12...bxc6 13.e2 e5 14.a4 d5!? Black sacrifices a piece, hoping for a strong pawn phalanx in the center. [ 14...exd4!? is the alternative to the text, and after 15.xc4 d3 16.c3 d2 17.d1 dxc1 18.axc1 White's chances are only slightly better. ] 15.b3 b6 16.cxb6 axb6 17.c4?! I don't like this move as it creates a weak pawn. [ White should definitely prefer 17.b4 exd4 a n d n o w e i t h e r 18.f4 ( or 18.b2 , and I doubt whether Black has enough for the piece. )] 17...xc4 18.bxc4 exd4 19.b2 fe8 [ 19...d3 is worthy of consideration after 20.c3 d2 21.fd1 fd8 Black has adequate compensation for the piece. ] 20.fe1 c5 [ 20...d3 Here too this move deserves attention: 21.c3 ( 21.xg7 xg7 22.c3 xe1+ 23.xe1 a3 and Black is OK.) 21...b5! 22.xe8+ xe8 23.cxb5 cxb5 24.d1 d8 , intending to advance c-pawn, with ample compensation for the piece. ] 21.f4 [ White could retain some winning chances b y p l a y i n g 21.a4 a5 22.a2 ea8 23.ea1 intending to transfer his knight to the d3-square. ] 21...xe1+ 22.xe1 xa2 23.d3 a4 24.c1 f8 25.f1 b5 26.cxb5 c4 27.e5 c3 28.xc3 [ White can't keep his extra piece in view of 28.a1 h6! 29.e1 d2 and Black wins. ] 28...dxc3 29.xc3 g7 And a draw was agreed. [ 29...g7 30.c5 ] ½-½

327 Russell,MKA Sulskis,Sarunas Calvia ol (Men) (1.35) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2221 2555 15.10.2004

Sulskis would be about the strongest player a r o u n d wh o is wi ll i n g t o g i ve 5 . . . N e 4 a regular outing. He seems quite convinced that the move is good. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 f6 5.d4 e4 The positional idea behind 5.. . Ne4 is easy to understand. Black wants to double W hite's pawns, hunker down and try to win over the long haul with his better structure. The risks involved are very clear in that he permits his opponent to develop quickly. We see a good example of 'structure play' here in a game from the recent Olympiad, where Sulskis wins effortlessly . 6.d3!? A move which has been very popular, without giving White any joy at all. xc3 7.xc3? I really don't like 7 Qxc3 at all. White permits the downgrading of his pawn structure and gets nothing in return. [ But 7.bxc3 f5! is OK for Black too : 8.b5+ xb5 9.xb5+ c6 10.d3 xd3 11.cxd3 e6 12.b1 b6 13.f4 d7 14.0-0 e7 15.a4 ( 15.e5 xe5 16.dxe5 0-0 17.e3 fd8 18.fd1 d5 19.f4 ad8 20.d4 a5 21.d2 c5 22.c2 g6 23.g4 c8 24.bb2 a4 25.g2 c4 26.f3 cxd4 27.xd4 c5 28.xc5 8xc5 29.b3 a4 Pisarsky, L-Vickers, K/San Francisco 2000) 15...0-0 16.fe1 f6 17.e5 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5 fd8 20.a5 f8 21.f1 b5 22.c5 d6 23.e2 a6 24.e3 c8 25.c4 cd8 26.cxb5 cxb5 27.b4 e7 28.f4 d5 29.g4 d6 30.c2 h5 31.g5 d7 32.c5 c8 33.xd5+ exd5 Bernat Capdevila ECa n e lla s Ma gid e B a rce lo n a 2 0 0 4 I a m reminded of the Czech Pirc, . where Black falls behind in development, but because his structure hasn't been compromised at all he is able to defend. The defense requires patience without doubt, but there are chances of success at the end. ] [ 7.d2 f5 8.xc3 d5 is critical, in the sense that the White pawn remain intact. I still think that this position is equal though: 9.b5+ xb5 10.xb5+ c6 11.a4 e4! 327

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.e2 d7 13.e1 0-0-0 14.f3 g6 15.d3? ( 15.b3 e6= ) 15...xd3+ 16.cxd3 ( 16.xd3 c5+ ) 16...e6 17.h4 h5 18.a3 b6 19.c2 e7 20.a4 d5 21.ac1 f6 22.d2 xd4 23.b4 b2 24.b1 c3 25.b5 xd2 26.xd2 c5 27.b3 f4 28.c4 d4 29.g3 hd8 30.gxf4 xc4 31.hc1 xc1 32.xc1 b6 33.c4 d4 34.e3 xc4 35.dxc4 d7 36.e4 e7 37.e5 g6 38.e4 f6 0-1 Pavlov-Reprintsev Alushta 1999 A t first opportunist, then remarkably patient. Di d y o u n o t i c e B l a ck c h a n g e h i s s t yl e DURING the game? ] 7...xc3+ 8.bxc3 e6 9.b2 [ 9.a4 c6 10.d3 d6 11.0-0 0-0= is another very equal position from our 'silly' line. 12.g5 h6 13.e4 Zozulia, AReprintsev, A/Alushta 1999 and now most accurate seems to be d8 14.b1 b6 15.xd6 cxd6 16.e1 b7= ] 9...d7 10.c4 b4+ 11.c3 e7 12.d3 b6 13.e4 b8 14.c6 b7 15.e5 xc6 16.xc6 a8 17.a4 White's pressure is an illusion. He is working with very few tools. Sulskis now plays an excellent move. b8! Exchanging off W hite's best placed piece. Eventually, Black's trumps will make themselves felt. 18.xe7 xe7 19.a3+ f6 20.c5 c6 If White takes on b6, his a pawn becomes exposed. It's not so easy. 21.0-0-0 a5 22.c2 c4 23.b3 [ 23.c1 a6 24.he1 b5 25.f4 c6 26.a1 was a better chance to maintain equality. ] 23...xa3 24.xa3 hd8 25.b4 [ 25.cxb6 axb6 26.b1 d5 27.b4 leaves Black only marginally better. ] 25...d5 26.cxb6 axb6 27.a1 g5! Sulskis has fashioned a position where the stronger player can begin to stretch out, go up a g e a r a n d p u ll a h e a d . T h e B l a c k p a wn advances to g4, pinning down White's h and f pawns and giving the Black Rooks excellent mobility along the fourth rank. 28.hd1 g4 29.d3 da5 30.c4 c5+ 31.b3 cxd4 32.xd4 h5 33.b4 e7 34.b3 f5 35.b4 h4 36.d3 [ There's no guarantee that White would h a v e s a v e d t h e g a m e a f t e r 36.f4 but his chances would certainly have been

improved. ] 36...f4 37.h3 [ 37.g3 f8! 38.gxh4 h8 39.ad1 xh4 40.d7+ f6 41.b7 xh2 42.xb6 e5 43.a5 xf2 44.a1 ee2! 45.a6 a2 ] 37...g3 38.fxg3 hxg3 39.c3 e5 40.c5 bxc5+ 41.xc5 xc5 42.xc5 e4 43.d4 f3 44.gxf3 exf3 45.e3 f8 46.a5 f2 6 Qd3 cannot be a ref utation of our little scheme. 0-1

328 Saiboulatov,Danial Geirnaert,Steven ch-BEL Namur BEL (2) [Eric Prié]

B01 2413 2357 02.07.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 c6 Following Matthias Wahls' recommendation in his Mammoth book "Modernische Skandinavish", published 9 years ago. However, a more modern approach suggests it may not prove the most accurate to lose a development tempo and compromise oneself with the c-pawn so early in the game. [ 4...f6 5.d2 c6 Forced then, prior to d e v e l o p i n g t h e b i s h o p t o f 5 . 6.c4 Is the fashionable white order of moves transposing into the game and our subject. ] 5.c4 As a matter of fact this move should be preferred to 5.Bd2 against 4...c6 for reasons of common sense and logic. [ 5.d2 Nevertheless, the greedy b6 6.f3 g4 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 xd4 must be extremely perilous for Black. For instance 9.0-0-0 d7 10.f4 f6 11.b5+- ] 5...f6 [ 5...f5 Is more consistent then 6.d2 e6 According to me this is the only way to justify 4...c6, restricting the black options without provoking the equivalent in the o p p o si n g c a m p . 7.d5! cxd5 ( 7...c5 8.e2 ) 8.xd5 d8 9.e2! ( 9.e3?! g6 10.f3 d7= Batyte, D-Dubkov, A Salzburg 2004) 9...f6! 10.xf6+ xf6 Better than 10...gxf6, that I produced an example of one year ago. 11.0-0-0 ( 11.c3 b4! 12.xb4 xb2 13.d2 xa1+ 328

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.e2 e5+ ) 11...c6 Just transposes into a well known line of the Scandinavian about which some food for thought can be found in Handke-Motwani previously commented in this section. This transposition is also what Wahls gives and the only reason I see for having centred his analysis on 5...Nf6 instead of 5...Bf5 is that he wanted to lean on the actual order of moves of the presented games. ] 6.d2 b6?! As a quasi unbreakable rule in the Scandinavian, the black queen should not move 3 times in the opening phase unless being forced to. A rule that people who do not practice the variation themselves in serious games over the board rather than games without stake on the Internet, are usually not too well acquainted with. 7.f3 xb2? One too many. Moving the queen for more than half of the moves in the opening can only lead to disaster in the Centre Counter. 8.b1 a3 9.e5 e6 I bet that whoever has faced this position with Black in a real game on a proper board will never reproduce the experience. Such a thing as danger, with a screaming flashing huge D in our case, can only be sensed during the tension and conc ent ration of a re al gam e. W hen yo u comfortably sit in front of your 'advanced' screen, it is easier to give in to the siren's song... 10.0-0 e7 11.e1! The right plan, mobilizing the last piece to exchange the main defender of the enemy kingside, instead of the previously played 11.Qe2 since the wh it e qu ee n m a y join t h e a ssa ult o n t h e kings id e d irec t ly with ou t p assin g b y th is station. 0-0 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 This leads to an overwhelming attack. It might not be possible to demonstrate a forced win after the capture on b2, but the amount of suffering Black will have to endure after being forced to shut his queen's bishop in with ...e7e6 is clearly not worth a pawn. b5 13...Nd7 or 13...Qd6 could be better defences but I do not think this can change the outcome of the game. 14.b3 d6 15.h5! f6 [ 15...f5 16.h3 h6 17.xh6 ] 16.g4! fxe5 17.xg7+! [ 17.h3 Wins too: f6 ( 17...bxc4 18.xh7+ f7 19.g6+ g8 20.xg7# ) 18.xg7+ xg7 19.xh7+ f7 20.f3+

e8 21.g6+ d8 22.a5+ d7 23.f7+! xf7 ( 23...e7 24.xe6+ ) 24.xf7+ e7 25.xe6+ d6 26.b4+ c5 27.xc5+ c7 28.xe7+ A masterpiece of optimization of attacking forces. ] 17...xg7 18.g3+ h8 19.d3 End of the fireworks. Fritz announces a quick forced mate after [ 19.d3 e4 20.xe4 f5 21.xf5 exf5 22.e8+ f8 23.f4 ( 23.f7 xg3 24.hxg3 d7 )] 1-0

329 Sakaev,Konstantin Kurajica,Bojan 4th IECC Istanbul (1) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2660 2550 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 Kurajica seems fatally attracted to this move. He loses lots of games b u t s t i l l c a r r i e s o n . T h e r e wi l l b e m a n y explanations for this strange state of affairs but I think we can simply put it down to good old-fashioned stubbornness- not a quality guaranteeing success in today's pragmatic chess scene. 6.g3 [ Movsesian chose simple development in another game from the same event : 6.d3 g6 7.0-0 g7 8.g5 c6 ( Perhaps Black could consider 8...g4!? ) 9.h3! 0-0 10.e3 b4 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 f5!? ( Even here 12...d5 was less manic.) 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 b5 15.a4 b8 16.axb5 axb5 17.fe1 b7 Which is more important : The backward e pawn or Black's powerf ul light-squared Bishop? Movsesian-Kurajica Sarajevo 2003 ] 6...g6!? This is on e interpretation. Black can certainly consider the simple ....c7-c6 and later . . .Bc8-f5 but that might not marry too well with ...a7-a6. 7.f4 [ 7.g2 g7 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 d8 10.d2 c6 11.fe1 g4 12.e5 e6 13.ad1 bd7 14.c1 b6 15.h6 c8 16.xg7 xg7 17.e4 h3 18.c5 g4?? 1-0 Asrian, K-Kurajica,B/4th IECC, Istanbul TUR 2003 What prompted such a blunder. Rather than face the captures on g4 and 329

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e7 Kurajica does the gentlemanly thing. ( Of course Black has a playable but slightly worse position after 18...xg2 19.xg2 e6 nothing catastrophic though. )] 7...d8 8.e5 g7 9.g2 0-0 10.0-0 c6 11.d2 e6 12.fe1 We must take stock : W hite's game is freer and he will probably build on the e file e.g. Re2,Rae1 etc. He's probably interested in Bf4-h6 and an exchange on g7 because that loosens Black's King giving him something extra to worry about. I would question the value of ... a7-a6 in the current position. However, I think that Black is solid and will be difficult to break down thus I call this only a slight edge to White. d5?! I find this move a little weird. Why not just get the pieces out : [ 12...bd7! A) 13.ad1 xe5 ( 13...d5! 14.e4 xf4 15.xf4 xe5 16.dxe5 a5 ) 14.xe5 d5 15.xg7 xg7 16.e4; B) 13.h6 xe5 14.dxe5 ( 14.xe5 xh6 15.xh6 g4 ) 14...xd2 15.xd2 d7= ] 13.h6 xh6 14.xh6 xc3 15.bxc3 d5 16.xd5 cxd5 17.e3! A multi-purpose Rook deployment which will leave Black regretting his undeveloped Queenside. e6 18.g4! W ith ideas of Rh3 and/or g5,Ng4-f6 . I like this pla n ve ry m uch . f6 19.g5 g7 20.h4 f6 21.g4 fxg5 22.xg5 c6 Too late! 23.xe6 ad8 24.ae1 Sakaev's play gives a very good, clean impression. He attacks with all his pieces and continually finds ways to prevent the optimal development of his opponent. h8 25.1e3! The third ran k a gain! Jus t Rh3 and Rxg6 is a very worrying threat. f7 26.f6 g7 27.xf8+ xf8 [ 27...xf8 28.xd5+- ] 28.f6 g7 29.h3 h5 30.f1! Very elegant. The idea is Nxh5 and there's no pin on the g f ile. Black's rook and knight spectate this procedure. 6 g3 may well pose a problem to Black's variation with 5...a6 which seems dependant on ...b7-b5 and . ..Bb7 for Black to get his act together. Poor Kurajicahe will have to start searching for improvements- how about 3...Qe5+? 1-0

330 Sanchez,Louis Marchal,Nicolas Le Touquet op 17th (3) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2239 2034 28.10.2002

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e4 6.d3 If there is a drawback to Black's idea it must be that he is moving the same pieces twice in the opening. Back to basics! So energetic action is needed and po ssib ly th e p awn sacrif ice wh ich 6 B d 3 precedes is the right way to go from White's point of view. xc3 Black must damage the pawn structure. 7.bxc3 g4 The parting of the ways. Each Black move here has good and bad things about it 7... Bg4 develops but leaves b7 unguarded.. [ 7...e6 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 d7 10.d2 c6 is modest and must lead to a small edge for White, but a tough defender might like the Black position, whose long-term chances are good: 11.c4 c7 12.a4 0-0 13.a5 c5 14.c3 d8 15.e2 f8 16.h4 d7 17.h5 f6 18.h4 e8 19.d5 f7 20.dxe6 xe6 21.f5 xf5 22.xf5 d6 23.g4 h8 24.e7 xe7 25.xe7 xe7 26.e1 d7 27.h6 g6 28.f3 e8 29.g5 1-0 Nevednichy, V-Tratar, M/Cannes 2005 A very good display by Nevednichy. ] [ 7...xc3+ is critical: 8.d2 a3 9.0-0 d7 10.e1 c6 11.f4 e6 12.d2 ( 12.e3 a4 13.e2 e7 14.c4 0-0 15.e1 gives White tremendous compensation for a pawn.) 12...a4 13.c4 f6 14.f3 d7 Chomet, P-Collas, D/ Chartres 2005 and now 15.c3! seems to be excellent for White. Black's counterplay is non-existent. It looks like Reprintsev's 7...g6 is about the only decent way to play the position for Black. ] 8.0-0N [ 8.d2 c6 9.b1 b6 10.e5 h5 11.0-0 g6 12.xb6 axb6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.fb1 a6 ( 14...b5 15.c4 ) 15.c4 e6 16.c5 d7 17.xd7 xd7 Faibisovich, VDragovic, N/Pula 1990 and now 18.xb6 xb6 19.cxb6 c5 20.e3 c6 21.a4! xb6 22.dxc5+ c6 23.b1 ] [ I like the logical 8.b1! b6 9.0-0 d7 10.h3 e6 11.g5 xa2 12.xe6 xe6 330

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.f3 Ryan, J-McDermott, R/Dublin 2003 Does the sum total mean that Black is in trouble? He certainly has it all to prove. ] 8...e6 9.h3 h5 10.e2 [ Again 10.b1! with xa2 11.xb7 d6 12.e4 c6 13.d3 g6 14.d2 Black is going to be kicked around. ] 10...c6 11.f4 d7 12.ab1 g5? I think he is simply desperate for moves. [ 12...b6 would appear 'obvious', but then 13.c4 0-0-0 14.d5!! xf3 ( 14...cxd5 15.e5 ) 15.xf3 cxd5 16.cxd5 xd5 17.c4 b4 ( 17...b6 18.e4 a6 19.c5 d5 20.fc1 ) 18.e4 a6 19.a3 ] 13.g3 xf3 [ Better resistance is possibly offered by 13...0-0-0 b u t e ve n t h e r e 14.b3 e7 15.fb1 is shaping up horribly for Black. ] 14.xf3 xc3 15.xb7 e7 16.d5 e5 17.xe5 xe5 18.dxe6 xe6 19.f5 e5 20.xc6++- f8 21.b5 e2 22.xa8+ g7 23.d5 f6 24.b7 f8 25.d3 h5 26.xa7 h4 27.c4 h5 28.b1 d8 29.xf7+ It took me a while to get to this game, but it is a convincing rebuff of Black's seventh move alternatives apart from 7...g6 The path is narrow. 1-0

wa s B e laska -S ikora L e rch , Cze c h T Ch 2002. ] [ 6.d5 c6 is considered harmless, as is ] [ 6.f3 exd4 7.xd4 c6 8.xd8+ xd8 9.d4 e6 ] 6...xd4 [ 6...e7 may be best, or at least not so risky, although it needs more tests. One example is 7.dxe5 c6 8.e3 e6 ( 8...xe5?? 9.xb6 ) 9.d1 c8 10.c5 ( 10.b3 b4 with initiative) 10...d7! 11.f4 0-0 12.d5 xd5 13.xd5 b4 14.d1 c6 15.f2 d5 with good compensation, Tiviakov Maliutin, Moscow 1991 ] 7.f3 g4!? An odd square Black wants to get the queens off. [ 7...c5 8.e3 a5 9.d2 b4!? 10.a3 c6 Nisipeanu-Palkovi, Balatonbereny 1996 Emms quotes Nisipeanu's analysis 11.d1! xc3 12.xc3 a4 13.g5! 0-0 14.d3 g6 15.g3 d4 16.h4 'when White has obvious compensation for the pawn.' ] 8.xe5 [ 8.xe5+! frees White's bishop on f1, and in some cases, Qxc7 becomes possible, e.g., e7 ( 8...e6 9.f4 c6 10.xe6+ xe6 11.0-0-0! ) 9.e2 c6 10.xc7 xc4! 11.e5!? xg2 12.f3 xf3! 13.xf3 d6 14.b5 xc7 15.xc7+ e7 16.xa8 g4 17.d2 looks better for 331 B01 White ] Sarenac,David 2227 8...xe2+ 9.xe2 e6 10.b3 f6 11.d3 Scepanovic,Labud 2228 c6 12.e3 0-0-0 13.f4? This doesn't 13th Battle of Senta Open A (9) 25.07.2009 work out for tactical reasons. White stands sl i g h t l y b e t t e r d u e t o h i s s u p e r i o r p a wn [John Watson] structure after [ 13.0-0 ] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 b6 5.c3 The idea with this order is to avoid ... 13...b4 14.c1 f5 15.g4!? [ 15.0-0 d4! 16.xd4 xd4 17.h5 g8 Bg4, as in is pleasant for Black. ] [ 5.f3 g4 , one of the main Scandinavian 15...d7? lines. The problem is Black's next move: ] [ 15...g6 16.0-0 d4 ] 5...e5! 6.e2! This 'gambit' appears to be the 16.c5! a8 17.fd5 xc3+ 18.xc3 most promising course. [ 18.xc3 leaves White with the bishops [ We've seen 6.dxe5 xd1+ 7.xd1 c6 now he has to deal with getting his pieces 8.f4 in the Archives. Then f6!? ( or 8...e6 out. ] 9.b3 0-0-0 10.e3 d4 11.e2 b4+ 12.f2 c5 ) 9.exf6 gxf6 10.f3 g4 18...he8 19.g1 [ 19.0-0 d4! ] 11.e3 ( 11.e2 b4+ 12.f2 or here 11...0-0-0! 12 Be3 is not so clear) 19...e5 20.f4 f7 21.f5 [ 21.f2 ] 11...xf3 12.gxf3 d4 13.f2 c5 with obvious compensation and then some 21...c6 22.f4 c7 23.h4 e7 24.f2 331

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 de8 25.b4?! e4 Jirovsky, P/ Czechia 2 00 4, whe n f5!? [ 25...h5! has the idea 26.xh5? d5 ] is interesting, 13.f3?! b3 ) 6...b4?! 26.a3 e5 27.d1!? 7.a3! xb2?! 8.c7! traps the queen and [ 27.d3 xd3+ 28.xd3 keeps White leaves Black in dire straights, Saiboulatov, disadvantage down. ] D-Kalka, A/Belgium BEL 2005; 27...h5 D) 5...f5 simplest, in my view, Black [ 27...g6! 28.fxg6 hxg6 29.g5 b5 ] prepares to castle queenside 6.f4 b6 28.gxh5 ( 6...d7 also makes sense, as a white [ 28.xh5 d5 ] knight cannot hop to e5, 7.d2 e6 8.a3 28...xf5 29.d4 g4+!? c6 9.0-0-0 0-0-0 Esprit, Y-Boudre, J/ [ Or 29...b5 30.xe4 xc3 31.d4 g4+ Toulon 1999) 7.d2 e6 8.0-0-0 c6 32.xg4 xg4 ] 9.g3 g6 10.d3 0-0-0 11.xg6 hxg6 30.xg4 xg4 31.xe4 xe4 32.g3 f5 Black is already better, Ayas Fernandez, A33.d2 b5 34.f3 d4 35.e3 c4 Mellado Trivino, J/Cala Mendia 2001 ] 36.f2 c3 White is tied down and beginning 5...a6 6.d3 to face concrete threats. 37.e3? [ As 6.g3 now seems to be very satisfactorily [ 37.e1 e4+ 38.h2 ] met by g4! White is turning to other moves 37...e4+ 38.xe4 to try to secure an advantage. I learned a [ 38.f3 d2+ 39.e2 xf4 ] hard lesson against Simon Ansell that 6 Bd3 38...xe4 39.f3 c4 And wins. 40.e1 could not be underestimated fortunately d7 41.d2 c2 42.e3 a2 43.e2 g4 Black has improvements on my play there. ] 44.c3 xa3 45.f4 xh5 46.f5 a6 6...g6!? 0-1 [ 6...g4 7.h3 h5 8.e4 xe4 9.xe4 c6 is reasonable too. ] 7.h3 g7 8.0-0 0-0 You expect a position 332 B01 like this to be a little better for White who will Saric,Ibro 2476 s i m p l y p l a y a R o o k t o e 1 a n d f o r c e a Milanovic,Danilo 2513 con cessio n. Ho wever, a s so o f t en in th e XXXVI Bosnia GMB (6) 13.05.2006 Scandinavian the Knight on c3 is not ideal an d t his a llo ws B lack t o get co un te rpla y [Andrew Martin] against d4. So the upcoming game move of 9 E a s y t o l e a rn a n d e a sy t o p la y - f o r t h e Ne4 , wh ich ap pe ars odd a t f irst sigh t, is umpteenth time in recent years the Centre W h i t e ' s l o g i c a l a t t e m p t t o g e t r i d o f h i s Counter proves reliable. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 problem piece. 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 d7 11.c3 b8!?N The pawn structure offers xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 [ 5.ge2 has aroused some interest on the Black the chance to play this peculiar Rook Forum. White wants to play Bf4 and gain a move, planning ...b5-b4! [ 11...c5 12.dxc5 xd1 13.xd1 xc5 tempo on the queen, but the knight is not 14.c2 b6 1/2-1/2 Babas, V-Kaufmann, R/ particularly well placed on e2. Budapest 2005 only reinforces the thought A) 5...a6 6.f4 d8 7.d3!? that Black is equal. ] is a suggestion of Melts, with the clear idea of Qf3, c6 8.0-0-0 e6 9.f3 b4 12.g5 b5 13.e1 f6 It is simple enough 10.g4 was tried by jeupham (see the to cover e7. 14.c2 b7 15.e2 fe8= It remains to play....c7-c5 and Black will then Forum); B) 5...g4 6.d3 c6 7.f4 d7 be completely free. 16.ad1 d5 [ 16...c5 17.dxc5 xc5 18.f4 bc8 8.0-0-0 e6 9.h3 f5 10.f3 0-0-0 19.e5 might be a little better for White. ] looks solid enough, Malinovsky, K-Klima, L/ [ I quite like 16...h6! 17.xf6 xf6 18.e4 Olomouc 2004; xe4 19.xe4 b4 20.c4 c5 which seems C) 5...c6?! 6.f4 ( 6.d3 g6 7.f4 b4 co m p l e t e ly t h e m a t i c t o m e a n d u t t e r l y 8.0-0-0 g7 9.h4 e6 10.c7 h6+ equal. ] 11.b1 a6 12.a3 is Fedorchuk, S332

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.b3 a5 18.d2 [ 18.xd5 xd5 19.h4 a4 20.g3 d7 21.a3 f5 22.e5 was certainly a better try. ] 18...a8 19.a3 c5 The game now fizzles out. 20.dxc5 xc5 21.xf6 xf6 22.e4 xe4 23.xe4 ed8 24.xd8+ xd8 25.d1 It's frustrating as White to play such games. You think you are a little bit better throughout but nothing seems to come of it. Then if you try too hard, the opponent can step in and take advantage. I give this game, not because it is b y a n y m e a n s gre a t , b u t b e ca u se it shows just how reliable 1...d5 can be. ½-½

333

B01

Scandinavian 3..Qd6 w ...g6 Reader Question [John Watson] Reader Wane Inkpen (Wink) asks about the line 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 The question is about combining ...a6 with ... g6, something that he feels may have been played by Bronstein, which is quite plausible. I will look at the combination of the moves ... Qd6 and ...g6 in many contexts below. [ First, however, in the only Bronstein game I can find with ...g6, he was W hite (which doesn't of course mean that he didn't play ... g6, just that I haven't found it) . That game went 3...d8 4.d4 g6 5.f4 g7 6.b5 a6 7.f3 f6 8.c4 c6 9.c3 g4 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 d7 12.e3 e5!? 13.d5 c5!? Bronstein, D-Kholmov, R, Tbilisi 1959. White has various good moves here, f o r e x a m p l e , 14.a3 xf3 ( 14...f5?! 15.g5; 14...h8 15.b1 with the idea b4) 15.xf3 f5 16.d6 e4 17.e2 , but he played 14 Ne1?! Bxe2 15 Qxe2 f 5, and Black got a mobile centre, sufficient for equality. The game was drawn. ] 4.f3 [ Other lines with ...g6 go 4.d4 and: a) A) M e l t s c i t e s g a m e s w i t h 4...g6 a n d i r r e g u l a r m o v e s s u c h a s 5.ge2 ( 5.e3 g7 6.f3 a6 7.d2 f6 8.f4 b6 9.0-0-0 0-0 10.e5 bd7 11.c4 a7; 5.c4 g7 6.ge2 f6 7.f4

d8 ) 5...f6 6.f4 b6 ( 6...d8 ) 7.d2 g7 8.0-0-0 0-0 9.h4 d8 10.e3?! e5 11.xe5 g4 12.g3 xe5 13.dxe5 xd1+ 14.xd1 a5 and Black was better in a game VolokitinKurajica, although he later lost; B) 4...f6 5.g3!? c6 6.g2 g6 7.f4 ( 7.f3 g7 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 b4 ) 7...b4 8.ge2 g7 9.c1 0-0 10.0-0 g4 11.a3 a5 12.h3 xe2 ( 12...f5!? -Melts ) 13.xe2 bd7 14.c4 e5 15.b4 c7 16.dxe5 xe5 17.c2 Topalov-Nisipeanu, Sofia 2007. White's a bit be tt er becau se of his b ish op pa ir, although Black ultimately won. ] 4...a6 [ If Black is going to get away with ...Qd6 and ...g6 he should probably do so without ...a6, so as not to completely retard his development. That is the only way that Melts or Emms uses ...g6, as far as I can tell, for example, the lines of the previous note and: a) 4...f6 A) 5.c4 g6 isn't mentioned in Melts, who gives . Then ( 5...e6; 5...c6 and; 5...a6 ) 6.d4 and 6 0-0 will probably transpose.; B) 5.d4 g6 6.c4 g7 7.0-0 ( 7.b5 b4+ 8.d2 a5; Melts cites games with 7.e5 0-0 8.0-0; 7.h3 , and; 7.g5 0-0 8.d2 , suggesting the line c6 9.b5 d8 10.f4 e4 11.e2 d6 ) 7...0-0 with the idea 8.b5 ( 8.h3 a6 9.e2 d r a wn wa s a g a m e P s a k h i s - E p i s h i n) 8...d8 9.f4 a6 ( 9...e8 10.e1 a6 11.c3 d6 12.b3 g4 is only slightly in White's favour (space).) 10.d5 xd5!? ( 10...d7 11.c3 g4 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3; 10...d7 11.e2 xb2!? 12.ad1 gives White a lot of compensation Black has trouble getting his pieces out) 11.xd5 c6 12.xf7+! xf7 13.bd4 and White is for choice. ] [ b) 4...g6 is obviously possible, but I'm not sure that it will have much independent s i g n i f i c a n c e a f t e r 5.d4 g7 6.c4 , w h e n 6 . . . N f 6 i s n o r m a l a n d c6?? ( 6...g4? 7.xf7+ xf7 8.g5+ e8 9.xg4 ) 7.b5 b4+ ( 7...d8 8.f4 ) 8.d2 xc4 9.xc7+ d8 10.b3! and Black's queen is trapped! ] 5.c4 Wink: "Since the pawn at e6 becomes a 333

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 huge target for White I was wondering what the latest theoretical assessment was for a Black K-side fianchetto the idea being to get the Black K castled before playing ...e6. I think Bronstein introduced this idea about a deca de ago ." jw: This pa rticular o rde r is unusual, probably because W hite doesn't want to get hit with a timely ...b5. But it will usually transpose: f6 [ 5...b5? has been played on several o c c a s i o n s , b u t 6.g5! (unplayed) is a strong response, threatening to capture on f7: ( 6.xf7+ xf7 7.g5+ e8 8.f3 e5+ 9.f1 a7 isn't quite as clear) 6...e5+ ( 6...bxc4 7.f3 f6 8.xa8 c6 9.0-0 ) 7.f1 and whichever piece Black ca pt u re s , W hite pla ys 8 Qf 3 , e .g. , bxc4 8.f3 xg5 9.xa8 e5 10.xb8 d8 11.a8 f6 12.c6+ d7 13.b3 , etc. ] [ At this point, 5...g6?! is slow and neglects development, for example, 6.e4 d8 7.0-0 g7 8.d4 h6 ( 8...f6 9.xf6+ xf6 10.h6 ) 9.f4 0-0 10.c3 f5 11.e1 with greater control of the board. ] 6.d4 It's best to revert to a main line, although [ 6.0-0 is naturally possible. Then g6 7.d4 ( 7.g5 e6 8.f3 g7 9.ce4 e7 ) 7...g7 transposes. ] 6...g6?! The timing is difficult here, but I think that this is too slow. The main moves are: [ a) 6...g4 7.h3 h5 8.g4 ( 8.e3 ) 8...g6 9.e5?! c6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.e3 e5! equalises, as in KamskyTiviakov, Wijk aan Zee 2006. ] [ b) 6...f5 7.e5!? ( 7.0-0 e6 8.d5!? ) 7...e6 8.g4 xg4 9.xg4 c6 10.g1 xc4 11.e3 c6 12.d5 is unclear ] [ c) 6...e6 , when White has a slew of reasonable moves, for example, 7 Bb3 and 7.a4 , preventing ...b5 and maintaining a space advantage. ] [ d) 6...b5 7.d3 ( 7.b3 has been played a lot. Then b7 8.0-0 b4 9.e2!? xf3 10.gxf3 e6 11.a3! bxa3 12.xa3 favours White: d7 13.a1 d6 14.h1 0-0 15.g1 g6 16.d3 ) 7...b7 8.0-0 e6 ( 8...g6 9.e1 g7 10.e4 xe4 11.xe4 xe4 12.xe4 d5 13.e2 with some advantage ) 9.e2 e7 10.a4 b4 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.xe4 c6 14.c4 bxc3 15.bxc3 with a positional superiority. ]

7.g5! [ 7.e5 e6 ] 7...e6 8.0-0 g7 9.d5! e5 [ 9...h6 10.ge4 xe4 11.xe4 b4 12.e2 0-0 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.c3 e7 15.e3 with a big advantage. ] 10.ge4 xe4 11.xe4 b4 12.b3 f5 [ 12...0-0 13.a4! threatening Ba3 ] 13.c3 f8 [ 13...e7 14.d6 ] 14.g3 d7 15.xf5 gxf5 16.f3 and Black has problems defending f5 in view of f4 17.d6! [ 17.a4 ] 17...c6 [ 17...xd6 18.d1 e7 19.xb7 0-0 20.xc7 ] 18.a3 0-0-0 19.xa6!

334 Schoucair,Henry Prie,Eric 4eme Open International de (1.4) [Eric Prié]

B01 2106 2439 14.02.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 Unlike GM Wahls, I never was an a d vo c a t e o f t h e " K à P n i g s p r i n g e r z u r à 1 / 4ckhaltungpolitik"! (The policy of keeping the king's knight back) as IM Leon PLIESTER teasingly wrote in NIC Yearbook 68. In certain sharp and interesting lines for White, like this present one, I need my knight on f6 to play ... Bg4 in order to disturb the nice attacking order of the white pieces as shown in the 2 previous games of this update. 5.c4 g4 There are many other lines where this idea represents the acid test for White. Maybe next 6.f3 f5 I have also had success with the idea [ 6...d7!? 7.d2 b6 8.ge2 e6 A) 9.0-0 b4 But I do not think it is quite sound because of 10.a3! ( 10.e4 e7 11.h1 c6 12.xf6+ xf6 13.c3 b5!= Bedouin, X (2274)-Prie, E (2464) Ch-Fra ACC Chartres 2005) 10...xc3 11.bxc3 b5 Otherwise White will play Rb1, Bd3, c4 12.b1 xc4 13.xb6 axb6 14.e1 Black will win a pawn in addition to having rook and bishop against the queen, 334

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with enhanced control of the white squares b u t t h e re m a y b e le s s co m p r o m i si n g options in this line!; B) 9.e3?! c6 10.d2 b4 11.b3 0-0-0 12.e4 bd5 13.f2 xe4 14.fxe4 f6 15.g3 h5 16.e5 g4 17.g1 c6 18.h3 xe5 19.dxe5 xd2 20.xb6 xg2 0-1 Paci, C (2238)-Prie, E (2464) Ch-Fra Acc Chartres 2005 ] 7.ge2 [ 7.g4 d7!? Some time after this game, I s t a r t e d t o i n v e s t i g a t e ( 7...g6 more seriously, and although the position looks quite dangerous for Black, I have not seen how White could avoid transposition into the key next game. I guess therefore that this retreat should be preferred at this state of knowledge. 8.h4 h6 ) 8.d2 b6 9.e2 c6 10.d5 d4 11.d3 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 e5 ( 12...c5 13.ge2 e6 14.xd4 cxd4 15.dxe6 xe6 16.e2 ) 13.ge2 xe2+ ( 13...h5 14.h3 c5 15.xd4 xd4 16.g5 e8 17.b3 d6 18.e4 f5 19.c3 e3 ) 14.xe2 d6= I don't think White is better here, but I do n o t f e e l c o m f o rt a b l e wit h t h i s u n u su a l pawn structure for me. Mack, A (2262)-Prié, E (2429) 4NCL2 Telford ENG 2004 ] 7...bd7! This variation enjoys a bad reputation for Black because he has often gone wrong here with [ 7...c6? which is as usual refuted by 8.d2! 0-0-0 ( 8...b4 9.c1 0-0-0 10.a3 c6 11.a1! is the same) 9.a3! And not ( 9.d5 a4 The "mouse hole trick" again! ) A) 9...e6 10.d5!? ( 10.b4! W i n s i m m e d i a t e l y b6 11.a4 ) 10...xd5 ( 10...a4 11.b3 a2-a3 makes a diff erence!) 11.xa5 e3 12.d2 xc4 13.c3 4xa5 14.b4 Wins too.; B) 9...xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.b5 xd2 ( 11...b6 12.xd4 xd4 13.xf7 ) 12.xd2 xd2+ 13.xd2 Because, compared to the previous game, White did not weaken his position, with a relatively safe king close to manual qu e e n s i d e c a st l i n g s a f e t y a n d , m o s t important, Black will not be able to prevent the disappearance of his pair of bishops after the exchange Bc4-d3. ]

8.0-0 g6!? Black wants to castle queenside in this line and for doing so generally has to pro t e ct f 7 . T h e n h e will h a ve t h e c h o ic e between ...e5 or ...e6, the reason behind the subtle bishop's move instead of the more natural 8...e6. 9.f4 [ 9.b4!? Fritz9 xb4 Usually, Black does not have to fear this pawn move unprotected when attacking the bishop after its capture. 10.d3 Followed by Rb1, Nb5 with some initiative for W hite. Is it worth a pawn is another question. ] 9...e6 10.g3 0-0-0 11.e3? [ 11.f5 exf5 12.d3 c5 13.xf5? c4! 14.xc4 xf5 ] 11...b6! When White does not exactly know what to with his pieces and castles kingside Black generally obtains excellent prospects b y ca st lin g o n t h e o t h e r si d e wit h d ire c t pressure against the enemy d4 pawn. 12.e2?! [ 12.d3 xd3 13.xd3 g4 14.ce4 e7 Is fine for Black ( 14...xe3 15.xe3 c4 16.e2 xb2 17.g5 d7 18.f5 ) 15.f5 e5 ] 12...b4 13.b1?! Two inaccuracies in this sharp variation and W hite goes down ineluctably. [ 13.b5 bd5 14.c1 c6 15.c3 e7 16.c4 b4 17.d2 ( 17.c3 xd4 18.xd4 c5 ) 17...cxb5 18.a3 b6 19.c5 xc5 20.dxc5 ( 20.c1 xd4 21.axb4 xd2+ 22.bxc5 d8 ) 20...xc5+ 21.h1 c6 ] 13...bd5 14.d2? [ 14.c1 b6 15.a3 ( 15.c3? xb1 16.xb1 xc3 ) 15...d6 16.c4 ( 16.c3 c5 ) 16...xf4!! 17.xf4 xb2 18.xd6 xd6 19.d2 xa1 20.c3 xa3 21.b5 b3 22.xd6+ cxd6-+ ] 14...xd2 15.xd2 xd2 16.xd2 e3-+ At least two pawns or the exchange, the game is over. 17.c3 xf1 18.xf1 h5 19.f3 h4 20.ge4 xe4 21.xe4 [ 21.xe4 c5 ] 21...xe4 22.xe4 c5! Always have in mind that in rather closed positions, an exchange up do es n ot win b y itself . T o expres s it s superiority over the light pieces, it needs files and ranks! 23.dxc5 d2 24.b1 [ 24.f2 hd8 ] 335

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24...hd8 25.f3 h3 26.g3 8d3 27.g4 g2+ 0-1

23...xd5 24.e5! Not only a good move, but there is little else to try! xe5!? 25.dxe5!? [ Or 25.xe5 , intending to expand on both wings, now that Black is in no position to play actively. ] 335 B01 25...e7 26.d1 [ 26.e3!? d8 27.h3 ] Senff,Martin 2468 27.d6! gxh5 28.d2! Man 2457 26...d8 Bundesliga 2006-7 (12) 17.03.2007 Well-calculated. The passed pawn and Black's kingside weaknesses combine to give White [John Watson] just enough to work with. xd6 29.exd6 d7 In his game we see the classic battle between 30.g5+ f8 [ 30...h8?? 31.e7 ] White's bishop pair and Black's pawn structure, which is ubiquitous in contemporary play. The 31.e5 Threatening mate. g8 32.g5+ same issues arise n the Caro-Kann and Slav f8 33.e5 g8 34.c4! The point of Rd6 Defence, among others. The play itself is of and Qd2: Once c5 is in, Black will be simply very high quality. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 too tied down. [ 34.g3+ f8 35.c4 generally transposes, 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 g4 since c5? loses to 36.e5 ] [ 6...f5 is by far the most common choice. ] 7.h3 xf3 This is also not the usual move, 34...f6 [ 34...b6 35.b4 ] although it has been used now and then. Black's idea is to get rid of his bad bishop and 35.g3+ f8 36.c5 f7 [ After 36...f7 , Black might hold out hope establish the kind of position in which White of simplification, but not blockade: 37.a3 can't make progress without allowing Black's b6 38.b4 b5 39.f3 g6 40.h2! knights to become effective. Zugzwang to come. ] [ 7...h5 ] 8.xf3 e6 9.0-0 bd7 10.b3 37.a3 a6 [ 37...b6? 38.cxb6 axb6 39.d7+ ] An interesting choice. White is settling down for the long haul, and will exchange off his 38.b3 d7? [ Not offering maximum resistance. 38...e8! remaining knight next. e7 forces W hite to make progress, which he [ 10...d6 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 0-0? can try to do by zugzwang, e.g., 39.a4 d7 allows the tactic 13.xe6! f6 14.f5 ] ( 39...f8 40.b6 e8 41.a7 d7 11.e4 0-0 12.c3 fe8 Black covers e6, and 42.b8+ f7 43.h8 g6 44.g8+ f5 ...e5 lingers in the background. 13.f4 xe4 45.f3 ) 40.c3 f7 ( 40...f7 41.f3 g6 14.xe4 f6 15.fe1 b6 42.h2 ) 41.b4 e5 ( 41...g6 42.b5 ) [ More assertive would be 15...e5 16.f5! 42.h3 d8 43.f5 h4 44.h2 e7 17.ad1 ( 17.g5 ) 17...g6 18.g4 and again Black is running out of moves. ] ae8 , when 19.g3 should maintain some 39.d1 g7 40.xh5 b6 41.b4 bxc5 advantage. ] 42.bxc5 e5? 43.h3! xh3 16.e2 g6 17.d6 [ 43...f5 44.d3 a5 45.a6 ] [ 17.ae1! g7 18.f3 looks good, but f7 45.f4 White's exchanges White still needs a way to make progress, 44.gxh3 pawns and his king comes to f3. perhaps h4-h5. ] 1-0 17...e7 [ 17...ad8 18.f4! b5 ] 18.xe7 xe7 19.ae1 d8 At some point Black should bring his queen's rook into the centre, if only for defence. 20.f4 b6 21.h4! d7 22.h5 d5 23.xd5 [ 23.g3 f6 is not so easy, although Fritz approves of 24.h6 ] 336

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 336 Shaw,John K Zeidler,Sven P EuTCh Plovdiv (9) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2465 2245 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 e5+ I met Zeidler at the recent 4NCL weekend and we fell into conversation about the PATZER variation. I was impressed that he had been prepared to try this outlandish Queen move at what is, after all, a pretty high level. He said that John Shaw took a week out to refute the whole line and thought that he had succeeded. Let us see. I'll just repeat that ...Qxd5-e5-c7 is exactly the same number of tempi as .... Qxd5a5-c7 and the idea is to get a regular Sc an dina via n po sitio n with W h it e's Kin g Bis h o p le s s a ct ive ly p la ce d o n e 2 . 4.e2 Clearly critical. c6 5.d4 c7 6.f3 f5 [ 6...g4 7.e5 xe2 8.xe2 d7 9.f4 xe5 10.xe5 b6 11.0-0-0 f6 12.xf6 gxf6 13.d5 ] [ 6...f6 7.e5 bd7 8.f4 xe5 9.dxe5 e6 10.b5! ] 7.e5! And this is once again by far the best move. After everything else, Black is quite comfortable. I know I must have played about 500 blitz games in this line against some very strong players. d7 Otherwise Bf4. [ 7...e6!? 8.g4 g6 9.h4 b4 ( 9...f6 10.f3 ) 10.f4 a5 11.d2 xc3 12.xc3 d5 13.f3 ] 8.f4 xe5 9.xe5 b6 10.a4 a5+ 11.c3 f6! My own idea, where Black intends to sacrif ice a pawn after Typically, Shaw continues down the critical line. 12.b4 [ Not 12.g3 e5! 13.dxe5 d8 14.b3 b5 ] 12...d5 13.g3 [ 13.f3 e4 14.g3 xf3 15.xf3 xf3 16.gxf3 e6 is fine for Black whilst ] [ 13.c7 e5 14.dxe5 xg2 15.h5+ g6 16.f3 h3 is murky, but Black has good counterplay. ] 13...0-0-0 One could call this move natural, but [ 13...e5! is possible too, although Black will have to play creatively: 14.dxe5 xg2 15.f3 h3 16.d4 e7 A) 17.c5 d8 18.exf6 ( 18.e3 xc5

19.xc5 g4! 20.xg4 xg4 21.0-0 f5 ) 18...xf6 19.e5 c8; B) 17.0-0-0 h6+ 18.b2 e6 19.he1 f5 ] [ Finally 13...xg2 14.f3 h3 15.c5 c8 16.a4 is an adventure few would relish. ] 14.0-0 Bf3 would be answered by ...Be4 e5 This has to work or the Black pieces will end up as targets. 15.dxe5 fxe5 16.b3 [ 16.xd5 xd5 17.fd1 ( 17.c4 d2 18.ae1 b5 19.xe5 d7 20.f4 d6! 21.xd2 xe5 22.xg8 xg8 23.c5 f5 24.e1 f6 25.e2 d8 ) 17...e4 18.b2 f6 ] 16...b5 17.c5 xc5 18.bxc5 f6 19.c4! I like the way Shaw played it. He has two Bishops and a big attack. Zeidler has problems. d2 20.fe1 Simple play. The deficiencies in Black's position won't go away. a6 21.cxb5 axb5 22.a4 The can-opener attack! b4 23.xe5 b7 24.ad1 c2 25.f7+ d7 26.xd2 So is the end for the Patzer Variation? Black must rely on 13...e5 perhaps that is not too bad. A good game by John Shaw. 1-0

337 Shirov,Alexei Bauer,Christian XVI Magistral A (5) [Jonathan Rowson]

B01 2720 2585 27.12.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 Around 2000, I lost a few games to Julian Hodgson in the Scandinavian, despite trying hard to make s e n s e o f a l l t h e l i n e s wh e r e W h i t e wa s supposed to be better. For a while I opted for 3.Nf3, intending d4 and c4 later, and in the process I realised that really I wanted to play d4 and c4 much earlier- as in moves one and two-so I started to play 1d4, and the Scandinavian ceased to be a problem! a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.d2 f5 7.c4 e6 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ xf6 Critical. As far as I can tell, W hite is just a bit better if Black takes with the pawn(a good version of the alre ad y su sp ect gf 6: Caro-Ka nn ). 10.e2 g4 11.d5! An important move, creating 337

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 some fluidity in the position. xf3 12.gxf3 cxd5 13.xd5 d7 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 Currently thought to be Black's best, but perhaps not the only move. [ 14...a3 15.c3 0-0 16.e4 c5! ( 16...e7?! was Salov's mistake in the o r i g i n a l g a m e i n t h i s l i n e .) 17.e3 This is given by Shirov, but it is not forced, and White may have better chances without th e bis h o p e xcha n ge . ( 17.hg1!? h6; 17.h4!? e7 ) 17...xe3+ 18.xe3 given as slightly better for White by Shirov, and probably is at the highest level, but more generally I think this position should be playable for Black. e5!? looks like a good place to start. ] 15.e4 e5 [ 15...a3 16.b5 ] 16.c3 c7 17.b1 f6 18.f4! This appears to be a novelty and it is probably quite a good one. d6 [ 18...xf4 19.a5 Looks terminal- I don't think Black even has a dodgy exchange sac. ] 19.f5 exf5 [ 19...e5 is worth considering. g7 remains a weakness, but the bishop on c3 is less powerful. However, Black was probably ok in the game. ] 20.xf5 b8 21.h4! b6 22.h5 a4 23.d4 c5 24.c3 b6 [ 24...a3!? ] 25.c2 xd4 26.cxd4 xd4 [ 26...d5!? 27.e4 xd4 28.xd4 xd4 29.c1 c5 30.xh7 and white keeps some nagging pressure. ] 27.xd4 xd4 28.c1 a6 29.b3 b6 [ 29...g6!? ] 30.c7+ a7 31.xg7 [ 31.f3 was also worth considering, given that Black could have forced a draw now ] 31...e8 [ 31...a4! is a surprising shot, but it seems to draw immediately. 32.bxa4 ( 32.c2 e8! winning. ) 32...b4+ 33.a1 ( 33.c2 is probably losing e.g. d8! 34.d7 e4+ 35.c3 f3+ 36.c2 xf2+ 37.b1 b6+ 38.a1 d4+ 39.b1 xd7 ) 33...d4+ with a perpetual ] 32.g4 xf2 33.xh7 Now the h-pawn is very dangerous. e2 34.c2 d5 35.c4

b6 36.g4 d5 37.c4 b6 38.d3 d2 39.f5 xf5 40.xf5 h2 41.g4! Instructive. I think many players might play Bg6 here, only to realise that they have no further ideas. Shirov plans Bg4-f3 and Rh1. f5 42.f3 h3 43.h1 xf3 44.h6 e3 45.h7 e8 46.h8 xh8 47.xh8 d5 48.f8 f4 49.f5 c3+ 50.b2 e2 51.f6 a5 52.c2 f3 53.d2 g1 54.e3 e2 55.d2 g1 56.d3 b6 57.c4 b7 58.b5 c7 59.f7+ d6 60.xb6 e5 61.xa5 e4 62.b4 h3 63.b5 f2 64.b6 f4 65.b7 f1 66.b8 d5 67.f5+ 1-0

338 Shirov,Alexei Mueller,Karsten Nordhorn op act rapid [Eric Prié]

B01 2705 2489 09.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 f6 5.d4 c6 6.c4 f5 Commenting s game which, considering the 'fighting intensity' it exhibited, would certainly have been ignored by Andrew... is a special treat for me! Indeed, reacting to Sergei Tiviakov's article (published in NIC Yearbook 74) provocatively entitled "A series of simple moves suffices" and insinuating that 3...Qa5 was doomed (!) on the grounds of the line [ 6...g4 7.h3 h5 8.d2 e6 9.d5 d8 10.xf6+ gxf6 ( 10...xf6 is here impossible because of 11.g4 g6 12.e2 xc2 13.c1 g6 14.f4 W ith a winn ing attack.) 11.g4 g6 he asserted that: "White has the upper hand in the centre and on the kingside, castling on the queenside. Lots of games have been played. It is still up to Black to prove that he can reach a satisfactory position anywhere", I have myself published two articles on this annoying white idea: The first, confidential as it was not included in MEGA2006, in ChessBase Magazine 106, and the second in the latest NIC yearbook 77 '(Centre) Counter-provocatively' entitled "can a series of simple moves suffice?" o) from where the following comments of this game are mainly extracted. ] 338

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7.d2 e6 [ 7...bd7? is the first mistake the classic 1. e4 d5 student is warned about! 8.e2 e6 9.d5 cxd5 10.xd5 d8 11.xf6+ xf6 12.0-0-0 Threatening Bb5 with an initiative practically winning by force! ] 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ xf6 Quoting myself: "Like me most Scandinavian players believe that it is an improved Caro-Kann where White was not even given the choice of opting for the advance variation 3.e5. What they like is this structure and show reluctance, apart from well defined dynamic cases, to play with the doubled f-pawns. I agree that the idea 8.Nd5 is critical first of all because it exchanges the 'good' knight on f 6 which was controlling some interesting squares in the centre against the 'worse' knight c3 which, opposed to the Caro-Kann main lines was hampering the use of the c-pawn by White. If I had to recapture with [ 9...gxf6 which if Tiviakov is right could be the only move to get a playable position. Then I would be distinctly less enthusiastic about Black's game, so much so that I would feel like giving up the opening! Indeed, in spite o f the h ighly tactica l chara cter o f some continuations, the c6-Bf5 Scandinavian has to be ranked among the 'static' defences against the king pawn, to employ the GM Iossif Dorfman's terminology. In the middle term, It means that if White plays passively, without clear ideas of what to do, then Black will harmoniously catch up in development obtaining comfortable play with all his pieces on good squares." By way of reaction, White has to play 'dynamically', that is to say to try to profit from his advanced development to keep the initiative basically using short term themes against the Black queen and/or his queen's bishop. The recapture with the g-pawn compromising the structure and potentially le a d in g t o a c le a r d is a d va n t a g e in t h e ending - does not fit in with Black's philosophy. Playing dynamically right from the beginning of the game gives me the impression of 'putting all my eggs in the same basket'. At least is it not the way I understand or like to play chess. ] 10.e2! I had to switch to the ...c6-...Bf5

setup in '93 and was happy enough to become a Grandmaster and French champion in 1995 with it. It was the golden age of the variation. Everybody was playing it, even at the highest level under the impulse of GM Matthias Wahls and others. Then came Shirov-Salov (from Madrid 1997) which, incredible as it may seem, first saw this move, intending a rapid d4-d5, only 9 years ago! and things were never going to be the same again... g4 The only move 11.d5! [ 11.0-0-0 e7!? The best set-up for Black is o b vi o u s l y . . . B d 6 , . . . Q e 7 , . . . N d 7 b u t various games have demonstrated he had no time for that. Thus, profiting from W h ite 's m o ve ord er, Bla ck will d u ra b ly prevent the critical d4-d5 breakthrough. ] 11...xf3 12.gxf3 cxd5 13.xd5 "Suddenly we have a completely different picture: White has managed to get in the d4-d5 push (dangerously opening the play for his better developed pieces) and the doubled f-pawns (usually so crippling when Black could hold onto the d5 square) prove to be irrelevant as he is going to castle queenside anyway. In addition, the opening of the g-file seems to se r ve h i m we ll wh e n c o m b in e d wi t h t h e further harassment of the black queen, who is more exposed than ever! It looks as if this was the of the story..." d7 [ 13...c6 14.xc6+ bxc6 15.e4! c8 16.0-0-0 a3 17.c3 c5 18.hg1 xf2? 19.g5! g6 20.xc6+! 1-0 Marciano, D (2470)-Prie, E (2465) Ch-Fra Narbonne 19 9 7 O f cou rse , yo u can im a gin e t ha t , although I had overlooked W hite's super 15th move in my prep, things are not that simple... Anyway, I actually had to give up t h e S c a n d i n a vi a n a f t e r a n a l ys i n g t h i s disaster, finding no mercy for Black in this variation. If you want to know the whole story about it (including why 14th FIDE W orld champion Alexander Khalifman's conclusion, covering the idea 10... Nd7 11. 0-0-0 Nb6? as in Jaulin-Prié, at the very end of his otherwise excellent 3rd volume of his series "opening for White according to Anand" is erroneous and irrelevant!) I invite you to refer to any of the 2 works mentioned above... Or wait f or the time wh e n I co m e b a ck t o t h is se ct io n , in a 339

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 couple of months hopefully, to give you time to digest this material, for the second part of my 'secrets'! As a matter of fact, I could have made at least 2 updates with great games only issued from this specific line which stands at the front of all the 1.e4 d5 corpus, but I am curious to see how my sown ideas will grow. ] 14.0-0-0 0-0-0! Its is likely that the Spanish no. 1 was not aware of the theoretical articles in ChessBase Magazine 106. And NIC 77 was not yet out in September. As for his German opponent, he happens to be a member of staff o f t h e f a m o u s H a m b u r g f i r m . . . 15.e4 "This position looks terrible for Black: He's behind in development, his queen is out of play and two mighty white bishops are pointing at his castled king. Anyway, so far, Black has passed the test of [ 15.xb7+ See Ye-Malakhov in the archives. ] 15...e5! Once again the only move and a small miracle about which I would not be so confident if it had not been acknowledged by high level practice so far and by my friend super-GM Laurent Fressinet (whose game against Hod gso n is Kh alif man 's u ltimat e ref erence) and who much to his surprise "found nothing for W hite" in this position. 16.e3 A novelty that will probably not remain long in the annals... [ 16.b1 c7 17.c3 f6 18.d3 c5 19.c4 d6! With h2 in the line of fire, is Black's central resource in this line, while An drew's in t erest in g sugge stion of 1 8 . Rhg1!? has yet to be tested in practice. ] 16...c5! 17.c4 c7 18.e2 f6 19.g5 h6 20.xf6 gxf6 21.h3 f5 Black is clearly better but the chessboard pyromaniac, even though in bad form at the moment, remains an impressive opponent! If you look at the statistics in MEGA 2006, which do not comprise some of my results (including a nosweat draw against hard fighting Baklan rated 2601 - just two weeks ago!) you will be awa re t ha t, ap art f rom t he ga me s wh ere W hite obviously went crazy, Black has not been able to score any victory yet after 14... 0-0-0! It is a sad thing to say, but only White can press for an edge in this variation and for that reason alone we are not about to see

such thing as 'the Scandinavian revival' just yet. One immense consolation, nevertheless, is that the player who brought doubt, sorrow and misfortune to the Centre Counter kingdom did not find a way of breaking this last bastion of resistance! ½-½

339 Shirov,Alexei Salov,Valery Madrid [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2690 2665 1997

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ xf6 [ After 9...gxf6!? the position is similar to a Caro-Kann line: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6 gxf6. In my opinion White has the better chances here. ] 10.e2!? True to his style, Shirov uses the first opportunity to complicate. White has tried different moves in this position, but has failed to achieve anything real from the opening. [ 10.0-0 d7 ( 10...g4!? ) 11.c3 d6 12.g5 g6 13.d2 h6 14.f4 e7 15.fe1 0-0 16.g3 with a small advantage, Campora-Wolff, Buenos Aires 1997. ] [ 10.c3 d7 11.b3 b6 ( 11...0-0-0 12.0-0 Djurhuus - Westerinen, Gausdal 1996 ) 12.0-0-0 d6 13.e2 ( 13.g5 g6 14.h4 xc4 ) 13...0-0 14.g5 g6 15.h4 g4 with unclear play, Donev - Bacrot, Biel 1995. ] [ 10.e5 d7 11.xd7 xd7 ( 11...xd4!? ) 12.c3 g6 13.0-0 d6 14.e1 h5 15.f1 h4= and Black was more o r less o kay in t he ga me Emm s Haveland, Gausdal 1996. ] [ 10.c3!? deserves attention, White was able to get an advantage in the game Koch Relange, France, (tt) 1993: g4 11.e2 d8 12.h3 h5 13.d2 d7 14.0-0-0 f6 15.g4 g6 16.e5 ] 10...g4 [ After 10...xc2 11.d5 White's initiative would be dangerous. ] [ as it would be after 10...d7 11.d5 ] 11.d5 xf3 340

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 11...xb2!? deserves attention and after 12.0-0 xf3 13.gxf3 cxd5 14.xd5 c6 15.ab1 d4! it's not clear if the activity of the White pieces is sufficient compensation f o r t h e p a w n , a c c o r d i n g t o A l e xa n d e r Finkel. ] 12.gxf3 cxd5 [ 12...xb2!? 13.0-0 cxd5 14.xd5 c6 15.ab1 d4! was interesting as we have already mentioned above. ] 13.xd5 d7! [ 13...c6 14.0-0-0 a3 15.c3 was in White's favour. ] 14.0-0-0 [ T h e l o g i c a l 14.c3? was bad for White after b4! 15.xb4 xb2 ] 14...a3 [ Castling queenside does not solve Black's problems completely but probably should have been preferred: 14...0-0-0!? 15.e4 with Be3 next W hite's chances are better but Black's position is playable. ] 15.c3 0-0 16.e4 [ W hite had no need to go in for 16.xb7? ab8! ( 16...xb2+ was unclear: 17.xb2 ab8 18.b5 xb7 19.xb7 b8 20.xb8+ xb8 21.e3 ) 17.b5 c5 18.bxa3 fc8! with a big advantage for Black. ] 16...e7?! [ After 16...c5 17.hg1 h6 18.b5!? ad8 19.e3 xe3+ 20.fxe3 Black had problems but this was clearly the lesser evil. ] 17.xh7+?! [ According to later analysis White could obtain a very strong and maybe decisive attack by 17.h4! h6 18.g5! hxg5 19.h7+!! ( 19.xd7? gxh4 ) 19...h8 20.hxg5 xg5+ 21.b1 f6 ( 21...fd8 22.f4 xf4 23.d4 g5 24.f4 c5 25.h2 winning ) 22.c2+ g8 23.dg1 f4 ( 23...d5 24.e3 winning ) 24.f1!! g6 ( 24...fd8 25.h3 f8 26.h8+ g8 27.xg7 e8 28.g4 winning ) 25.g2 with Bg6 next but it was not easy to calculate the whole variation, even for a great tactician like Alexey Shirov, since we have not reached the end of the line yet. Black could now defend by c5 26.xg6 fd8 etc. ]

17...xh7 18.d3+ g8 19.xd7 W hite has an advantage which should be provable only by precise play as his kingside p a w n s a r e w e a k . b6 20.hg1 ad8 21.xa7 [ 21.b7!? deserved attention. ] 21...c5 22.e3 a8 23.b7 xa2 24.e4 xe3+?! This makes White's task easier. [ 24...fa8 looked better. ] 25.fxe3 b5?! [ 25...c8 was more to the point. ] 26.c2 b4 This was probably Black's idea but White has enough resources to defend his King. 27.xb4 f5+ [ 27...xf3 loses by force after the excellent 28.b3!! ( t h e i m m e d i a t e 28.xg7+? wa s p r e m a t u r e : xg7 29.g1+ f6 30.h4+ e5 31.d4+ f5 32.d3+ e5= ) 28...aa8 29.xg7+! xg7 30.g1+ f6 31.h4+ e5 32.d4+ f5 a n d n o w W h it e h a s t h e ve ry im p o rt a n t resource 33.e4+! f4 34.f6+ e3 35.e1+ d2 ( 35...e2 36.g5+ d3 37.b5+ winning ) 36.xf3 and fortunately the White King has an escape route: fb8+ 37.c4 c8+ 38.d4 d8+ 39.e5 winning ] 28.b3 aa8?? Although Black's position was bad there was no need to blunder like this. [ After 28...a5 29.e4 ( 29.xg7+? d o e s n o t w o r k : xg7 30.g1+ h7 31.xf8 b5+ 32.a3 a5+= with a perpetual..) 29...h5 30.c2 xh2+ ( 30...b5 31.d4 g6 White is winning) 31.d2 xg1 32.xa5 Black could continue fighting. ] 29.xg7+ Black resigned because in the line [ 29.xg7+ xg7 30.g1+ g6 ( 30...h8? 31.h4+ h7 32.f6+ g7 33.xg7# ) 31.xg6+ fxg6 32.e4 Black has nothing to hope for. An interesting game which is important for theory. ] 1-0

341

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 340 Shirov,Alexei Tiviakov,Sergei Unive Crown Group (2) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2749 2637 26.10.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 bd7 7.f4 Shirov keeps faith with his aggressive pawn thrust. b6 [ 7...e6 8.g4 A) 8...c7 9.g2 d5 10.e4 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.c4 5b6 13.b3 ( 13.g5!? looks an interesting try with the idea that xe5 14.fxe5 xc4 15.d3 b5 16.b3 b6 17.f6+ gives White a strong attack. ) 13...f6 14.d3 d8 15.e2 f8 16.b2 and White had a clear advantage as Black was so passive. Kosintseva, N (2551)-Huang Qian (2447) Ningbo 2010; B) 8...c5 This was the route of a previous Shirov game from this year. 9.g5 d5 10.e4 c7 11.c4 xe5?! This just leaves Black with significant positional problems. 12.dxe5 b4 13.g2 d7 14.0-0 0-0-0 15.d6+ xd6 16.exd6 b8 17.e3 b6 18.a3 c6 19.b4! and already W hite's attack is breaking through. Shirov, A (2732)-Kurkowski, K Toronto 2010. ] [ 7...c7 8.d3 ( 8.g4 is no longer so good as xe5 9.fxe5 xg4 10.e2 xe2 11.xe2 d5 doesn't look threatening.) 8...e6 9.0-0 e7 10.f3 0-0 11.h1 c5 12.e3 a6 13.ae1 cxd4 14.xd4 c5 Kosintseva, N (2551)-Huang Qian (2447) N i n g b o 2 0 1 0 w h e n t h e s i m p l e 15.e2 leaves W hite with a pleasant edge with more control of the position. ] 8.g4 bd5 [ 8...e6 was tried in their previous encounter - see Shirov, A (2726)-Tiviakov, S (2686) Benidorm 2008 annotated by John Watson in the archives. ] [ I l o o k e d a t t h e i m m e d i a t e 8...g6 in the notes to Bulski, K-Stopa, J earlier this year. A couple of more recent encounters continued: 9.g2 g7 10.0-0 A) 10...h5 11.g5 g4 Kosintseva, N (2565)-Kosteniuk, A (2524) Moscow 2010 w h e n I l i k e t h e l o o k o f 12.f3

as the knight is trapped on g4. ( 12.a4!? also looks interesting.) 12...f5 13.h3 f6 14.e1 0-0-0 15.e4 xe4 16.xe4 f5 17.e1 e5! 18.hxg4 e4 19.gxf5 exf3 20.xf3 gxf5 21.c3 and White's king lo o ks se cu re t o m e a n d t h u s h a s t h e advantage with his extra pawn.; B) 10...0-0 11.a4 a5 12.h1 ( 12.f5!? ) 12...fd5 13.e4 c7 14.c3 f6 15.d3 f5 16.gxf5 xf5 17.e2 h6 18.ec5 f6 19.e5 af8 feels promising for White as his knights dominate the board but Black has counterplay thanks to his pressure on f 4 . 20.d2 ( 20.c4 b4 21.e4 looks stronger to me with an edge. ) 20...c8 21.e4 f5 22.g3 5f6 23.f5!? xd2 24.xd2 xf5 25.c4 b4 26.xf5 gxf5?! After sensible play b y b o t h s i d e s B l a c k e r r s . ( Instead 26...xf5 27.xf5 xf5 28.h3 f6 29.e1 leaves White with decent compensation for the pawn but the game is still ongoing.) 27.g1! h8 28.f4 a6 29.f3 e6 30.h4 d8 31.g5 c5 32.ag1 1-0 Radulski, J (2577)-Saric, I (2556) Zagreb 2010. ] [ 8...fd7?! looks far too passive, ceding the c e n t r a l c o n t r o l . 9.e4 c7 10.g2 ( 10.d3!? ) 10...xe5 11.fxe5 e6 12.0-0 d5 13.a4! xe4 14.xe4 d7 15.a5 d5 16.f3 e6 17.c4 b4 18.a6! bxa6 19.xa6 left White with a fantastic position. Gledura, B (2102)-Kreindl, H (2206) Zalakaros 2010. ] 9.g2 This seems to be a novelty but a very sensible developing move and the top suggestion of the computer. [ 9.g5 was played in the previous game. xc3 10.bxc3 d5 11.c4 c7 12.c5 d5 13.g1 f6 14.c4 e6 15.e3 0-0-0 16.d2 f5 17.c4 d7 was very messy but I'd pref er to b e Black as W hite ha s severe problems finding sanctuary for his king. Lorenzo de la Riva, L (2331)-Caspi, I (2417) Barcelona 2009. ] 9...g6 10.g5 xc3 11.bxc3 d5?! After this Black is in trouble. [ I n s t e a d h e s h o u l d g o f o r 11...d7 The position is hard to assess. I feel that W h it e sh o u ld b e b e t t e r wi t h h is s p a c e advantage but Black can create counter342

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 chances with ...h6. Perhaps this will be examined in the next Shirov-Tiviakov game? 12.b1 h6 13.gxh6 xh6 14.0-0 g7 15.e2 e6 16.c4 d6 17.c3 and the computer rates the position as equal but I feel practically W hite has the more pleasant chances. ] 12.c4 c7 13.c5 This is obviously a better version of 9.g5 as now Black cannot play ... Qd5, and thus W hite will not lose castling rights. Already I think Black is in some trouble as he has become so passive. d8 [ 13...e6 would prevent White's next and should be preferred although if White reacts dynamically Black will be in trouble: 14.0-0 g7 15.e1 f5 16.b1 h6 17.b3 hxg5 18.fxg5 h4 19.f1 e6 20.f4 and Black is obliged to sacrifice the exchange when xf4 21.xf4 xe5 22.e4 xh2+ 23.xh2 leaves White clearly on top. ] 14.d5! Shirov doesn't miss this tactical opportunity, exploiting Black's lack of development. cxd5 [ 14...xd5 is an alternative try but 15.c4 f6 16.cxd5 fxe5 17.a4! also leaves Black in trouble. g7 18.dxc6 b5 19.cxb6 ( 19.xb5!? ) 19...axb6 ( 19...xb6 20.c7+ f7 21.xa8 e4 22.b3+ xb3 23.axb3 xa1 24.e3+- ) 20.xa8 exf4 21.0-0! xa1 22.xf4 0-0 23.c7 and White has a clear edge. ] 15.c4 e6 [ 15...h6 attempting to get kingside counterplay also leaves Black much worse: 16.a4+ d7 17.xd7+ xd7 18.xd7 xd7 19.cxd5 leaves White with a huge positional advantage. ] 16.b2 g7 [ 16...g8 17.g4 xc5 ( 17...e7 18.f6+ would be very similar to the game.) 18.f6+ f8 19.xh7+ e8 20.f6+ f8 when of White is clearly better and perhaps most accurate is 21.b3 h8 22.e4 dxe4 23.xh8 with a great advantage. ] 17.c6! bxc6 18.xg7 g8 19.e5 White completely dominates the dark squares and has more than enough compensation for the pawn. c6 is vulnerable while Black is exceedingly passive and cannot coordinate his pieces and so it's not a surprise that Black

does not last long. d7 20.0-0 b8 [ 20...dxc4 would take the d5 square for the knight but fails tactically to 21.f6 b8 22.b1 b5 23.xb5! cxb5 24.c6+- ] 21.a4 b7 22.ab1 [ 22.fb1 is the computer's suggestion, with the idea a8 23.xb7 ( 23.a5!? also appears to win a piece.) 23...xb7 24.b3! A) 24...xb3 25.axb3 d8 26.xa7 e8 27.a8+ c8 ( 27...e7 28.d6+ wins the rook.) 28.cxd5 cxd5 29.f1 c7 30.a7 e8 31.c3+-; B) 24...c8 25.h3+and Black's position collapses. ] 22...c8 23.xb7 xb7 24.f2 Simple chess. Tiviakov cannot prevent White taking the b file and infiltrating Black's position. d4 25.a5!? [ The straightforward 25.xd4 also wins. ] 25...d8 26.e4 Black resigned as he is basically in zugzwang. A demolition of the Russian-Dutch GM and I imagine Shirov's pet variation 7 f4 will garner more interest. [ 26.e4 c8 27.b2+- is one idea. ] 1-0

341 Shirov,Alexei Tiviakov,Sergei VII Stars Benidorm ESP rapid (8) [John Watson]

B01 2726 2686 07.12.2008

Some Tiviakov games (see the notes) should cla rif y t his p a rticula r m ain lin e. Sh iro v's approach is typically dynamic, but no great threat to Black's system. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 [ 5.c4 c6 6.ge2 f5 7.f4 b4 8.b3 e6 9.c7 e7 10.g3 gave White a standard space edge characteristic of the surrendered centre in Stenersen-Tiviakov, Gjovik NOR 2008, although Black's 500-point rating edge told in the end. ] 5...c6 6.e5 bd7 7.f4!? [ In previous updates, Tiviakov lost twice to 7.f4 d5 8.xd5 xd5!? ( after 8...xe5 9.e3 d3+ 10.xd3 xf4 11.d5!? of Gashimov-Tiviakov, Reggio Emilia ITA 2008, I suggested 11...Bd7 or even the 343

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pawn grab 11...Qb4+ 12 c3 Qxb2, rather than cxd5? 12.xd5 e6? 13.b5+ e7 14.d2 with a strong attack.) 9.f3! , so in Vila Gazquez-Tiviakov, Benidorm ESP 2008, he played b6 ( rather than 9...f6 10.e2 g4 11.0-0 e6 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 and White stands better see, for example, Ni Hua -Tiviakov, Reggio Emilia ITA 2008 in the Archives) 10.e2 f5 11.c3 (Black's point with ...Nb6 was to temporarily prevent c4) e6 12.0-0 e7 , although this was perhaps more to avoid the theory stemming from 9...Nf6 than to prove equality: 13.e1 0-0 14.e5 ac8 15.a4 (White appears slightly better in any case) d8 16.a5 d5 17.g3 g5!? 18.b3 e7 , and here White should probably be content with a small advantage following 19.d3 ] 7...b6 8.g4!? Typical Shirov, creating a maximal imbalance. e6 9.g2 g6 10.0-0 g7 [ 10...0-0-0 puts serious pressure on the dpawn. White would undoubtedly offer it via something like 11.f3 , but Black can play a6 ( 11...xd4+? 12.e3 d6 13.b5 ) 12.d1 h5! with good counterplay. ] 11.f5 gxf5 12.gxf5 c4 13.xc4!? This and W hite's next look inaccurate. An alternative is [ 13.e1 d8 14.a4!? ] 13...xc4 14.d3?! g4! 15.f4 xb2! 16.g3 xd4+ 17.h1 f2+?! [ T h e c o u r a g e o u s w a y w a s 17...xc3! 18.xc3 g8 , when 19.xb2 d1+ 20.f1 ( 20.f1 xf1+ 21.xf1 f2# ) 20...e3! threatens ...Qd5+. ] 18.xf2 xg3 19.hxg3 xc3?! [ 19...xf2! 20.xb2 g8 wins a third pawn in exchange f or the two-pieces-for-rook trade-of f . That more than makes up f or bishop pair, although it won't be easy to gain a serious advantage in the face of White's bishops. ] 20.b1 c4 21.xb7 White is clearly better now why did Black allow this to happen when he had so many options? Anyway. the opening came out well for him, and Scandinavian players needn't be afraid of Shirov's setup. a5 22.c7 d8 23.xa7 d7 24.a8+ d8 25.xd8+ xd8 26.f3

e5 27.a3 c4 28.a7 d6 29.xc6 xf5 30.g4 d4 31.a4 h5 32.g5 e2 33.d7+ c8 34.xe7 g3+ 35.g2 c7 36.xc7+ xc7 37.xg3 h4+ 38.h3 d6 39.b3 e7 40.b2 1-0

342 Short,Nigel D Liiva,R 12th Puhajarve Rapid 2012 (6.1) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2692 2451 23.11.2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 This is an option that is increasingly worth considering with the rise in players choosing lines like the 3...Qd6 Scandinavian as a solid repertoire against 1.e4. One major advantage of this move is that W hite aims to play c4 before developing a knight to c3. f6 [ 3...g4 4.e2 c6 5.d4 f6 6.c4 d8 7.c3 e6 is quite similar to the game and was analysed in Kaidanov-Zatonskih by Andrew Martin. ] 4.e2 g4 5.0-0 e6 This exact position hasn't really been examined on this site before so I'll add in a few possibilities for both sides. [ 5...c6 was also tried against Nigel in the same event. 6.h3 A) 6...xf3 7.xf3 d7 8.d3 should be a li t t l e b e t t e r f o r W h i t e d u e t o t h e t wo bishops ( 8.e1 0-0-0 9.c3 is more ambitious than settling for d3 ); B) 6...h5 7.d4 0-0-0 8.e3 e6 9.c4 f5 10.bd2 xf3 11.xf3 h6 12.b1 and W hite had a comf ortable ed ge in Short, N (2692) -Vihmand, A Puhajarve 2012 ] [ 5...c6 6.h3 h5 7.c4 d8 8.d4 e6 9.b3 ( 9.c3 e7 10.f4 0-0 11.e1 is also very comfortable for White as he can co n si d e r m e e t in g bd7 with 12.d5!? which seems to lead to some advantage) 9...b6 10.c3 was somewhat better for W hite in Turov, M (2527)-Megaranto, S (2499) Dieren 2005 ] 6.h3 I quite like this plan of a quick h3 to put the question to the bishop h5 7.d4 e7?! This gives White a very easy game [ 7...c6 is more challenging and now 8.c4 344

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 8.e3 is a very flexible alternative) 8...d8 ( 8...d7 9.e3 0-0-0 10.bd2 h6 11.a3! and White had the more dangerous attack in Michielsen, J (2359)-Reed, D (2061) Jyvaskyla 2009) 9.e3 e7 10.c3 0-0 11.d2 ( 11.a3!? seems a bit more ambitious to me) 11...g6 and White has a minimal edge in Kaufman, L (2364)Zatonskih, A (2445) Philadelphia 2004 ] 8.c4 d8 9.b3! Now Black has to waste time covering b7 c8 [ 9...b6 is not a move Black wants to play as it leaves too many weaknesses on the lightsquares around it ] 10.c3 0-0 11.e3 bd7 12.ad1 a6 A sign Black is still searching for a plan. 13.g4 g6 14.h4 Nigel grabs the two Bishops to add to his space advantage and already White is clearly better. c5 15.g5 It's pretty safe to push the g-pawn here as any Black counterplay is a very long way off here! e8 16.xg6 hxg6 17.d5 [ 17.dxc5!? xc5 18.a3 creates an awkwa rd p in o n th e knigh t an d af te r b6 19.b4 d7 20.e4 White is doing well ] 17...e5 [ 17...d6 probably offered more play, after 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.g4 f5 Black may have a wrecked pawn structure but the position is still complicated. Still White is much better after 20.c2 c6 21.e4! ] 18.e4 d6 The only move as otherwise d6 was coming. [ 18...c7? runs into 19.d6! xd6 20.xd6 xd6 21.d3 and Black drops a piece ] 19.xd6 xd6 20.c2 e8 21.e4 [ 21.d3 would have kept more control over the kingside but Black can aim for counterplay with b5!? ] 21...f5! 22.gxf6 gxf6 23.h6 f5 Suddenly things aren't so clear and Short chooses an interesting Queen sacrifice. 24.xf8!? [ I suspect at a slower time-limit he might've chosen 24.g2 w h e n a f t e r f6 25.f3 White should have some edge with the two bishops and half-open g-file for play. ] 24...fxe4 25.xd6 d8 26.g4?! [ 26.b4 keeps the game very unclear ] 26...g5?! Liiva misses his best chance of the game [ 26...b6! 27.xe5 xc4 28.g3

is hard to asses but after f6 Black is starting to get coordinated and the extra Queen should give him the better chances ] 27.h1 f6 28.e6+ h7 29.g1 f4 30.xc5 f3+ 31.h2 f4+ 32.g3 Pla yin g f o r th e win h5 33.e3 f6 34.gg1 f4 [ 34...g7! 35.d7 f5 36.xf5 gxf5 and now Black has enough counterplay - for example 37.d6 f4 38.b6 e3! 39.fxe3 f3 a n d i t 's W h it e t h a t h a s t o b e t h e m o r e careful although it's possible the game is drawn after 40.g4 f2 41.f1 f8 42.c5 f3 43.d7 e2 44.g2 f3+ 45.h2 e2 ] 35.g4 d3 36.d2 h8? Finally Black cracks - it's inevitable someone is going to go wrong in a rapid game like this. 37.f3! g7 38.fxe4 It's not just that Black has lost a pawn but the counterplay is gone as well. The last few moves are not especially accurate as both players were no doubt low on time. f4 39.g3 b6 40.d6 d8 41.d7 c6 42.b4?! [ 42.b3 ] 42...f7?! [ 42...xc4 gives Black chances to hold ] 43.c5 xe4 44.cxb6 d5? 45.f3 This setup is a useful one to learn as it takes players out of their normal Qa5/Qd6/Qd8 systems where often the knight on c3 looks out of place in front of the pawn on c2. 1-0

343 Smeets,Jan Feygin,Michail NED-chT 0708 (5) [Milos Pavlovic]

B01 2558 2531 15.12.2007

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 bd7 7.c4 c7 8.f3 b6 9.f4 d8 [ 9...d7 is considered in this month's game Kotronias-Tiviakov. ] 10.e5 As Gawain wrote: "This seems to be the most sensible option here." e6 [ 10...g4 is the main alternative, 11.g3 h5 12.h3 h4 A) 13.e3!? is an interesting move, my first analysis shows that is strong. e6 345

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B2b) 17.bxc3 d5 ( 17...a5 14.xb6! This is the idea of 13. Qe3 was played in Womacka, M-Pizzuto, S/ A1) 14...axb6 15.d3 It is not clear to Schwarzach 2010, which is examined me what Black should do to untangle his by Gawain in his notes to Bologanpieces. g6 ( 15...d5 16.xd5 xd5 Tiviakov. ) 17.0-0 b5 18.fe1 ) 16.d5!? ( 16.0-0 B2b1) Very sharp might be: h6 17.f4 f8 18.ad1 c8 18.e3!?N f5 19.e2 ( 19.b1 19.e4 ) 16...h6 17.e2 ( 17.f4 xa2 20.xb7 h6 21.e2 e6 cxd5 18.b5+ f8 19.0-0-0 g7 22.0-0 f6 23.f3 g6 Computer 20.b1 c8 ) 17...cxd5 18.b5 0-0 style chess, but interesting 19.c7 d7 ( 19...h7 20.xa8 xa8 nonetheless, the position is 21.d4 ) 20.xa8; unclear. ) 19...e4! ( 19...xg2 A2) 14...xb6 15.0-0-0 20.f3 g6 21.0-0-0 e6 22.c4 f6 A2a) 15...d7 16.f4 g6 17.e2 23.hg1 f7 24.h2 0-0-0 ( 17.d3 g7 18.xg6 0-0-0 19.e4 25.d5 ); f6 20.f3 h5 With some chances B2b2) 18.b1 0-0-0 19.e3 f5 f o r B l a c k .) 17...f6 ( 17...g7 20.e2 f6 21.h2 e4!; 18.g4! ) 18.he1 0-0-0 19.f3 g7 B2b3) 18.f3 h5 19.f4 d8 20.a4! a5 21.c5 xa2 1/2-1/2 (19) Brkic, A (2577)22.xe6; Gallagher, J (2497) Crete GRE 2007, A2b) 15...g6 16.xf6 exf6 17.c4 Interesting play by Gallagher, in the h6 18.f4 f8 ( 18...0-0-0 19.xe6+ final position after 20.Bd3 g6 21.0-0 fxe6 20.xe6+ b8 21.hf1 xd4 Bg7 it is unclear. 20.d3 g6 21.0-0 22.xf6 xd1+ 23.xd1 f8 g7; 24.xh4 xf4+ 25.b1 g5 B3) 16...a5 17.d3 b4 ( 17...f6 26.e1 ) 19.xe6 e8 18.h2 f7 19.0-0 e6 20.e2 xc3 Black overlooks W hite's reply. 21.bxc3 ) 18.0-0 xd3 19.xd3 f6 ( 19...c7 20.hf1 fxe6 21.xe6 ) 20.fe1! 0-0-0 21.c7 xc7 22.xe6 20.a4! b4 21.b3! White stays a with a positional advantage, Kotronias, V piece up, see Gawain's annotations to (2570)-Marcelin, C (2493) Clichy FRA Huschenbeth, N-Dranov, A/Bonn GER 2007. ] 2011 in the PGN Archive.; B) 13.f4 The usual move. e6 14.e3 11.e3 bd7 [ 11...g6 can be met by This was considered best, and after... A) 12.h4; bd5 15.exd5 xd5 16.d2 B) 12.d1 g7 13.d5!? cxd5 This also looks like good pressure as ( 13...bxd5 ) 14.b5+ f8 15.0-0 Black is cramped here. with compensation, Geffroy, L (1867)-Pytel, B1) 16...f5 17.d3 xd3 18.xd3 K (2314)/Rennes 2011.; xc3 19.bxc3 d7 20.0-0 e6 21.ab1 C) 12.a4! a5 13.d5! bxd5 14.cxd5 Although the position is simplified it is xd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5 cxd5 not easy for Black with his king stuck in 17.b5+ d8 18.0-0-0 g7 19.c4 the center, no possibilities to undermine C1) 19...g8 20.b1 e6 21.he1 d7 the central structure and passive rooks( 21...c8 22.cxd5 xd5 23.xg7 more then enough to say that White has xg7 24.xd5!+- ) 22.xg7 xg7 the better prospects. b6 22.c4 f6 23.cxd5 e5 24.d6; 23.f4 Kotronias, V-Ardelean, G/Kavala C2) 19...c8 20.b1 e6 21.cxd5 exd5 GRE 2004.; 22.he1 e7 23.c7+ f8 24.xa5 B2) A very interesting line is: 16...xc3 which should win, Zuniga, D-Libre, V/ B2a) 17.xc3!?N d5 18.d3 f6 Greenhills 1996. ] 19.f4 xg2 ( 19...g5 20.e3 xg2 [ 11...bd5 is the most common, 12.cxd5 21.0-0-0 d5 22.b4 0-0-0 23.c4 ( 12.d3!? xc3 13.bxc3 a5 14.0-0 d6 24.a5 ) 20.0-0-0; 346

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is promising, Nokso Koivisto, A (2226)Haanpaa, J (2110)/ Turku 1999.) 12...xd5 13.c3 f6 14.g3 g6 15.d3 with a plus, Ghattour, M-Ekstroem, R/ Graechen 2009. ] 12.0-0-0 [ 12.c4 is also good, xc4 13.xc4 g6 14.0-0-0 h6+ 15.b1 0-0 16.h4! with a strong attack, Roeder, F (2183) -Barth, N (2221)/Bayern 2007. ] 12...a5 13.xf6 exf6 14.c4 [ 14.b1 b4 15.d5! cxd5 16.cxd5 0-0-0 17.e4 f8 18.e2 ] 14...b4 15.xe6 fxe6 16.g4 xc3 [ 16...0-0-0! 17.d3 ] 17.xe6+ d8 18.bxc3 xc3 19.he1 e8 20.f7 [ Missing 20.xe8+! xe8 21.d5+ xe1 22.xe1+ d8 23.f4 with a big a d v a n t a g e i n t h e e n d g a m e , e . g . g6 24.e6+ c8 25.c5 menacing Re8+. ] 20...a3+?! 21.d2 a5+ 22.e2 c7 23.f1 W hite is much better now. ad8 24.xg7 [ 24.d5! ] 24...xa2? [ 24...b8 ] 25.g3+ c8 26.f5 Black is losing. xe1+ 27.xe1 f8 28.d6+ d8 29.xb7+ c8 30.d6+ d8 31.c4 d2 32.f3 c7 33.e8+ b7 [ 33...xe8 was forced, but 34.xe8 c1+ 35.e1 xc4+ 36.g1 xd4 can only prolong the inevitable. ] 34.b1+ [ 34.b3+! b6 35.c5 ] 34...b6 35.d6+ c7 36.g3 [ 36.a3! ] 36...g8 A last trick, but it loses in various ways. 37.b5+ [ 37.xg8?? d3+ 38.e1 xb1+ draws. ] 37...d7 38.d6+ e8 39.xc6+ [ 39.e6+ forces mate in 9. ] 39...f7 1-0

344 Smirin,Ilia Kurajica,Bojan EU-Cup 28th Eilat (4.6) [Danny Gormally]

B01 2638 2558 14.10.2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g6 6.b5 b6 7.a4!? [ White could also throw in 7.f4 a6 8.a4 first, somewhat misplacing the knight on a6. ] 7...c6 8.a5 d8 9.c3 g7 10.c4 0-0 11.h3 c5!? A typically "Grunfeldesque" move, Black strives to find immediate counterplay in the cen ter. T he pro ble m is t hat he 's los t several tempi. He's played ...c6, and he's also lost time with the queen (...Qd5-d6-b6-d8) so by all rights White should be better. But chess is a funny old game... 12.d5?! The problem is this blocks the path of the bishop on c4. [ 12.dxc5! was critical. xd1+ ( 12...c7!? 13.e3 a6 14.0-0! xc5 15.b5 c6 16.e5 e4 with messy play, is one option. ) 13.xd1! ( much better than 13.xd1? e4 14.e3 d7 which allows Black to equalise with little effort) 13...d8+ 14.e2 c6 15.d1 xd1 16.xd1 f5 I don't think gives enough for the pawn after 17.a6! bxa6 18.g4 d8+ 19.d2 c8 20.xa6 ] 12...e8 13.0-0 d6 14.d3 a6! Now the game is balanced. 15.e3 f5 16.xf5 xf5 17.d2 e8 18.a4 e5! 19.g5 d7 20.aa1 f5? Too optimistic. [ After the forcing line 20...h6 21.ge4 f5 22.xc5 f4 The computer points out the v e r y s t r o n g 23.e2! but even here Black can maintain the balance with careful play: xc5! ( 23...fxe3 24.xb7 c7 25.xa6 eb8 26.d6 xb2 27.de4 is good for White. ) 24.xc5 e4 with good play for a pawn. 25.xe4? f5! 26.f3 xd5 ] 21.d6! e6 22.f4!? [ 22.ad1! f4? 23.xe6 xe6 24.d5+- ] 22...d7 23.fxe5 xe5 24.f4 d4+ 25.h1 c4 26.fe1 b4 27.f3 c6 28.xd4 cxd4 29.a4 f7 30.b3 d5 31.c5 xe1+ 32.xe1 b6 33.axb6 axb6 34.a4 b7 35.h6 e4 Black has defended well in the face of a sizeable White initiative, and now Smirin starts to go astray. 347

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 36.g5?! e8 37.h2 e5 38.f6 f7 39.d7? xd7 40.xb6 xg2!? Not strictly necessary, but it gives White a chance to go astray. 41.c5? [ 41.xg2 d5+ is curtains for White, of course. ] [ The only way to save the game was by 41.xe5! xe5 42.xg2 e2+ 43.g1 e8 when I feel the game should objectively end in a draw- it is difficult for either side to mount a winning attempt without exposing his own king to too much danger. ] 41...f7 42.xe5 xe5 43.d6 [ 43.xg2 No w lo se s t rivia lly t o d5+ 44.g1 xc5 ] 43...e2 44.g1 e7? [ 44...a8 45.xd4 c6 and Black should be winning easily. ] 45.xe7 xe7 46.xg2 e2+ 47.f3 xc2 The ending is clearly better for Black, but W hite does retain some hopes of a draw. 48.e6 [ 48.b4! h2 49.f4 xh3+ 50.e2 a3 51.d6 would have been tricky, with this annoying b-pawn, even if objectively speaking Black should be winning here. ] 48...c3+ 49.g2 c2+ 50.f3 d3! 51.f4 c3 52.b4 d2+ 53.e2 c4 54.b5 e4+ 55.xd2 xe6 56.c7 e4 57.c3 f4 58.b6 f3 59.g3 f7-+ 60.f2 g5 61.d3 e7 62.c4 e2 63.c3 h5 64.d4 g4 65.hxg4 hxg4 66.f2 g6 67.b7 e8 68.g3 f2 69.xf2 b8 0-1

effective long diagonal and supports Bf4 with tempo. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 [ A rather passive approach is 5.d3 a6 6.ge2 , although White will gain another tempo with Bf4. Another game from this month, Howell-Bosboom, W ijk aan Ze e 2009, saw g4 7.f3 h5 8.f4 b6 9.g4 g6 10.g5 h5 11.e3 e6 12.e4 c6 13.d2 ( 13.c3 e5! ) 13...b4 , winning t h e b ish o p p a ir, sin c e 14.c4?! c6! favoured Black. ] 5...a6 6.g3 g4 [ Let me quote some of my own notes to Spasov-Kurajica, La Laguna 2007: " 6...c6 7.f4 d8 ( Almost automatic, but Melts analyses 7...e6+ at some length, for example, 8.e2 d5 9.xd5 xd5 10.xc7 h3 with compensation.) 8.g2 e6 ( 8...f5 is also played.) 9.0-0 e7 10.e2 ( 10.e1 0-0 11.d3 might be a better setup.) 10...0-0 11.ad1 (White's development should give him a big edge, but...) d5! 12.c1 ( 12.xd5 exd5 13.fe1 e8 14.e5 e6! ) 12...b5!? 13.e4 b7 14.c3 d7 15.fe1 "White has harmoniously-placed pieces and must be better, but how to make progress?". Black eventually took over the initiative, but the opening phase favoured his opponent. ] [ 6...b5 7.g2 ( 7.f4 b6 ) 7...b7 8.0-0 e6 looks a little slow after 9.e5 or 9 Re1. ] 7.g2 [ Fabiano Caruana annotated a game for this column that continued 7.h3 h5 8.g2 c6 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.f4 b4 11.g4 g6 345 B01 12.a3 xb2 ( Tiviakov chose 12...c4!? against Svidler in Corus 2007) 13.e1! e6! So,Wesley 2627 14.b1 xc2 15.e5 with compensation, Bosboom,Manuel 2418 Caruana-Strikovic, Lorca 2005. ] Corus C Wijk aan Zee NED (11) 30.01.2009 7...e6 8.0-0 c6 If Black has to combine ...e6, [John Watson] ...c6, and ...a6, he probably stands badly. [ 8...c6 9.f4 should favour White, It's interesting that the ...a6/...b5 lines are especially in view of b4!? 10.a3! xb2 taking a backseat to the ... c6 lines recently. 11.d2 ] Ultimately, whether ...a6 works will nevertheless determine whether the most 9.f4 d8 10.h3 [ Or 10.e1 ] aggressively-minded players will be attracted to the 3...Qd6 lines and, for that matter, to 1... 10...xf3 11.xf3 e7 [ Black can muddy the waters with 11...xd4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 as a whole. The g3 system in 12.ad1 b6 13.e4!? xe4 14.xe4 this game may be the biggest threat to ...Qd6 d7 ( 14...xb2?? 15.b1 is killing )] with ...a6. White quite simply takes over the 348

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.e2 0-0 [ 12...bd7 ] 13.b3! a7 14.c4 b5!? 15.fc1 d6 16.e5!? bxc4 Now things go from bad to worse. But [ 16...xe5 17.dxe5 fd7 18.e3 is easy for White. ] 17.xc4 d5 18.c3!? xe5 19.dxe5 g5 20.e1 d7?! 21.xc6 xe5 22.xd5 exd5 23.xd5 e7 24.e3 White remains a clear pawn ahead with pressure. h6 25.xa6 f5 26.g2 c8 27.a4 d8 28.b5 d2 29.xe5 xb2 30.c5 xf2+ 31.xf2 xh3 32.a8+ h7 33.h5 1-0

bishops, but if you're a Scandinavian player, it's very likely that you'll have some positions like this in your repertoire. The restraint centre makes it difficult for White to progress with pawn breaks, and Black himself can aim for ... e5 or ...c5 once he's caught up in development (although the latter extends the range of W hite's bishop along the long diagonal). Top players seem happy with these formations, which also arise in the Caro-Kann and Slav Defences. 11.f4 d8 12.d3 bd7 13.e2!? Clearly White would like to achieve c4 and possibly d5. It would be more conventional to preface this with [ 13.fe1 and perhaps a3, but he may feel that Black has more to gain than he does in that case by, say, bringing rooks to e8 and 346 B01 d8. ] 14.fd1 f8 15.g2 c8 Socko,Bartosz 2631 13...e8 Tiviakov,Sergei 2686 A typical manoeuvering policy. Now W hite Bundesliga 2008-9 (8) 13.12.2008 could move slowly, but he chooses to commit: 16.c4 e5! This break (as well as ...c5) is [John Watson] ge n e ra lly p la ye d a s a re sp on se t o c 4 . I f 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 played earlier, he doesn't have the square d3 f6 5.f3 c6 6.g3 This has become a to try to exploit. 17.e3!? [ 17.dxe5 xe5 18.c3 is a natural popular setup in the 3...Qd6 systems. But it's s e q u e n c e , w h e n g6 19.e3 c7 worth noting that Black's pawn on c6 to some might follow. Again, W hite has a nominal extent restricts the effectiveness of White's edge, but obviously Tiviakov is confident that fianchettoed bishop. Compare the game Sohe can handle any strategy that White can Bosboom from this month, in which ...a6 was cook up. ] played instead of ...c6. Then the bishop on g2 18.xd4 c5 19.c2 a5 has more scope. g4 7.g2 e6 For 7.. . 17...exd4 Nbd7, see my notes to Macieja-Tiviakov, Black h as se cured an exce lle n t ps e ud o outpost on c5 with tempo. 20.e1 c7 Wolvega 2008 in the Archives. 8.0-0 e7 21.f5 e6!? 22.ad1 c5 [ L i k e w i s e f o r t h e m o v e 8...c7 . Black delays ...Nbd7 so that he can keep a Now he eliminates the bishop pair. The rest is dull stuff, although I perhaps W hite could path to d8 open in case of Bf4. ] have tried harder to squeeze the bishop9.h3 A direct approach. [ The Macieja-Tiviakov game continued 9.f4 versus-knight position that arises. 23.a3 xe3 d8 10.h3 h5 ( Tiviakov may have 24.xe3 ed8 25.de1 d4 26.xd4 intended 10...xf3 , as in the game) 11.g4 xd4 27.c3 dd8 28.e7 d7 29.7e5 g6 12.e5 , and here I suggested bd7 d8 30.5e3 d1 31.b4 axb4 32.axb4 xe1+ 33.xe1 c7 34.e3 h6 35.c5 with a minimal disadvantage. ] e8 36.xe8+ xe8 37.f3 9...xf3 [ After 9...h5 , Black needn't fear 10.g4 ½-½ ( 10.f4 i s m o r e p o i n t e d , w h e n d8 transposes to the previous note.) 10...g6 11.e5 bd7 12.f4 xe5 13.xe5 b4 14.b1 0-0 ] 10.xf3 0-0 It's interesting that any computer will like W h ite he re, ba sed up on the two 349

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 advantage. ] B01 11.d2 e6 12.0-0 0-0-0 Solak,Dragan 2515 10...g7 Nadanian,Ashot 2418 It's quite clear that Black's opening has been 1st ch-Europe (7) 10.07.2000 a s u c c e s s . W i t h m i n i m u m e f f o r t h e h a s obtained the initiative. 13.fd1 h5 14.e1 [Carsten Hansen] h4 15.ge4 xe4 16.xe4 d5 17.c3 [ 17.c4 h5 18.d5 f5 with a complicated 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 game was certainly also worth considering. ] To me it doesn't make much sense to place the queen on this awkward square. More 17...f5! 18.d3 h5 19.e2 xd4 [ 19...xd4!? 20.f4 h6 21.xd4 xd4 logical, and, I'm confident, much better is the 22.xe6 fxe6 only leaves Black with a normal 3...Qa5. 4.d4 f6 5.e2 useless extra pawn, but much more [ 5.f3 a6 6.e3 c6 7.d2 f5 importantly also with opposite coloured this improves over 7...Bg4 8 Ng5! e5 9 d5 bishops which favour the attacking side, in Nb4 10 f3 Bf5 11 Nge2 Qd7 12 0-0-0, with a this case Black. Therefore Black is clearly clear advantage for White, Karpov-Lutikov, better. ] USSR 1979 8.h4 d7 or 8...Be6!? 9.f3 f5 10.c4 e6 11.h4 g6 12.xg6 20.f4 h6 21.xd4 xd4 22.xe6 fxe6 hxg6 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 13...b5!? is also very 23.e4 g7 24.c3 b5 25.xb5 interesting for Black 14.h3 b4 15.b3 ½-½ a5 16.e2 1/2-1/2 Zhang Zhong-Ye Jiangchuan/Beijing CHN 2000 ] 348 B01 5...a6 6.f3 h6 [ 6...c6 7.ge2 e5 Black can also Solak,Dragan 2629 consider 7...Bg4 and 7...Bf5 8.xc6+ xc6 Schartz,Alain 2160 9.dxe5 g4 10.d5 White understandably 18th European Teams (1.18) 03.11.2011 w o u l d l i k e t o h a n g o n t o h i s m a t e r i a l [Milos Pavlovic] advantage, but 10 0-0 is probably even better to enhance the lead in development. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 b6 11.0-0 e6 12.e4 c5 13.a4+ f6 5.f3 a6 6.g3 g4 This is considered d7 14.f4 e6 White invested all that the 6.g3 main line. time just to keep the pawn, and now he has [ 6...f5 7.g2 c6 8.0-0 0-0-0 ( 8...e6 to hand it back anyway. That should teach 9.a3 0-0-0 10.e2 b8 11.e3 e7 him a lesson. 15.h3 xe5 16.d4 xd4 12.e5! ) 9.d5 It is also possible to play in 17.xd4 c6 18.h4 e7 19.f3 f5 a different way: ( 9.e3 e6 10.e2 e7 20.e4 0-0-0 21.xe6 xe6 22.f4 f6 11.a3 d5 12.xd5 exd5 13.b4! g6 23.fe1 d4 24.ac1 xh3 25.e3 f5 14.fc1 h5 15.b5 axb5 16.xb5 h4 26.xd4 xd4 27.e2 hd8 28.f2 h5 17.ab1 b6 18.a6+ d7 19.b7 ) 29.h1 g6 30.h3 f7 31.g3 g5 9...b4 ( 9...xd5 10.xd5 xd5 32.e4 c4 33.e1 h4 34.h3 f5 35.c3 11.xd5 xd5 12.g5 d7 13.xf7 g8 d1 36.xd1 xd1 37.xg5 f4 14.xc6 bxc6 15.e5 d6 16.e1 xc2 0-1 Rezonja,S-Sermek,D/Ljubljana CRO 17.e3 It seems that White's advantage in 2000 ] the endgame is undisputed.) 10.f4 c5 7.ge2 g5!? This bizarre move looks 11.e5 g6 12.e3 d6 13.c4 d7 absolutely awful, but it attempts to punish 14.d4 g4 15.c5 e6 16.d6 xd6 White for his Bf1-e2-f3. 8.e3 c6 9.g3 17.xd6+ xd6 18.h3 1-0 Rohonyan, K g4 This is a bit unnecessary, moves like 9... (2316)-Braunlich, T (2177) Stillwater USA Rg8 and 9...Bd7 are excellent choices for 2007 ] B la c k , a n d p ro m isin g h im a t l e a st e qu a l 7.g2 c6 8.0-0 0-0-0 chances. 10.e2 [ 8...e6 9.f4 d7 10.h3 xf3 ( 10...h5 [ 10.xc6+ xc6 11.d5 c4 12.d2 11.g4 g6 12.e5! xe5 13.dxe5 d5 is a more active way of seeking an 14.xd5 exd5 15.c4 ) 11.xf3 d6 347

350

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.d5! exd5 13.fe1+ e7 14.xd5 fxd5 15.xd5 xf4 ( 15...0-0 16.xb7 xf4 17.gxf4 Simply transposes.) 16.xb7 0-0 17.gxf4 g6 18.ad1 f5 19.e4 f6 20.f5 h4 21.e7 ] 9.d5 e5 [ 9...b4 10.h3 h5 11.f4 c5 12.e3 d6 13.e2 e5 ( 13...bxd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.ad1 e6 16.g4 xe3 17.g5 b6 18.xd8+ xd8 19.gxh5 xf1 20.d3+ e8 21.f5 d6 22.xb7 1-0 (22) Brkic, A (2530) -Niemi, M (2214) Gaziantep TUR 2008 ) 14.dxe6 xe6 A) 15.fd1!?N xd1+ 16.xd1 c6 17.a3 d6 18.b4 It looks to me that W hite is much better here. e8 19.b5 axb5 20.xb5 xf3 21.xf3 xh3 22.f4! e6 ( 22...xf4 23.xc6+- ) 23.xd6 xd6 24.xd6 cxd6 25.xc6 bxc6 26.xc6+; B) 15.g4 g6 16.d4 e8 17.fe1 h5 18.f3 c6 B1) And now with: 19.g5 fd5 20.h4+Fressinet could get easy win. d6 21.a3 xe3 ( 21...xc3 22.axb4 d5 23.b5+- ) 22.xe3+-; B2) 19.a3 hxg4 20.hxg4 bd5 21.xd5 xd5 22.g5 e4! 23.h3+ c7 24.f4+ d6 25.gxf6 xf3 26.xe8 xe8 27.xd6+ xd6 28.xf3 xf6 1/2-1/2 (71) Fressinet, L (2640)W ong Meng Kong (2470) Calvia ESP 2004 The position is unclear. ] [ 9...xd5 10.xd5 xd5 11.xd5 xd5 12.g5 ] 10.f4 xf3+ 11.xf3 xf3 12.xf3 e5 13.dxe6 xe6 14.g5 h5 [ 14...d6 15.ae1 e5 16.a4! he8 17.c5 d5 18.xd5 xd5 19.xf6 gxf6 20.d3 We have a typical endgame of knight vs bishop, but the problem for Black is t h e s h at t e re d p awn st ru ctu re o n t h e kingside. e6 21.e4 d6 22.fe1 d7 23.f1 h5 24.h4 b5 25.a4 c5 26.axb5 axb5 27.b3 xe1+ 28.xe1 e5 29.d2 b4 30.e3 d6 31.f3 e6 32.e2 c7 33.f4 The idea now is to bring the knight to c4. It's not a winning endgame by default but it 's o bvio us t ha t B la ck h as t o de f e nd a d i f f i c u l t e n d ga m e . b6 34.b2 c4 35.xc4 g1 36.b2 c5 37.d2 f5

38.d3 c5 39.e2 d5 40.f3 d4 41.g4 hxg4+ 42.xg4 d5 43.h8 e3 44.h4 f5+ 45.g3 d4 46.e8+ d2 47.xb4 winning, Hracek, Z (2629) Tomczak, J (2541) Miedzybrodzie-Zywiec POL 2011 ] 15.ad1 xd1 16.xd1 d6 17.xf6 xf6 18.xf6 gxf6 19.e4 e5 20.c3 Aga in we have a similar en dga me to th e Hracek game above, and again Black was unable to solve the problems. f5 21.g5 f6 22.e6 h4 23.g2 d6 24.d2 d7 25.d4 hxg3 26.fxg3! f4 27.g4 e8 28.h3 e5 29.f3 This is practically over. d6 30.h4 f7 31.e2 d8 32.h5 h8 33.h3 f5 34.g5+ f8 35.gxf5 xh5+ 36.g4 h1 37.f6 f3 38.xf3 g1 39.e4 f7 40.xd6+ cxd6 41.e7+ xf6 42.xb7 a1 43.e4 e6 44.a3 1-0

349 Solodovnichenko,Yuri Pantioukhine,Slava 4eme Open International de (3.4) [Eric Prié]

B01 2514 2260 2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.c4 [ 5.f3 g4 directly is dubious because of 6.h3 h5 7.g4 g6 8.e5 Threatening Nc4 e6 ( 8...c6 9.h4 bd7 10.c4 c7 11.h5 e4 12.xe4 xe4 13.f3 d6 14.f4 b6 15.e3! ) 9.g2 ( 9.c4 a6 Intending ...Qc6 with complications.) 9...c6 10.h4 e4 ( 10...bd7 11.xd7 xd7 12.d2 With the combined ideas of h4-h5, g4-g5 and the classical d4-d5 corresponds to the game Wynn Zaw HtunRogers already commented in this section and highly dangerous for Black....) 11.xe4 xe4 12.f3 d6 13.g5! d7 ( 13...f6 14.xf6; 13...h6 14.d2 White has won the g6 square for his e5-knight in case of ...f7f6. )] 5...c6 As the rest of the game will testify, this system for White, postponing the development of his Ng1 with the idea of threatening to win the black queen as early as possible with Bc1-d2, Nc3-d5 and then long castles to open 351

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the position with the d4-d5 breakthrough before Black has time to interpose ... Bf8-b4 does not lack venom . That is why I have regularly played the more unusual. [ 5...g4 h e r e , b e c a u s e 6.f3?! i s n o w s u s p i c i o u s a l l o w i n g c6! S e e t h e n e x t 2 ga m e s. A n d t h a t is t h e reason why 5.Nf3 (avoiding the disruption of 5.Bc4 Bg4) is the main move order of the Scandinavian where 5... Bg4 then allows a free expansion of the white kingside, beginning with 6.h3, against the Bg4, with his counterpart better placed on g2 than c4 as shown above. ] 6.d2 f5 7.e2! e6 8.d5! The main weapon for White against the Centre Counter then! His advance of development generated by Black's early queen sortie is naturally expressed in a more vigorous way by breaking open the lines. cxd5 9.xd5 d8 10.xf6+ gxf6 [ 10...xf6 11.0-0-0 g6 12.f3 xc2? 13.b5+ c6 14.c4 e4 15.e5 ] 11.0-0-0 c7 12.g4! The side idea of keeping the knight on g1: g4 remains under control! g6 [ 12...xc2 13.xc2 b5 14.c3 bxc4 15.xf6 is expensive. ] 13.h3! Immediately followed by its natural complement. d6 14.f4! White has played his partition with the best possible rhythm and it is already time to say goodbye. xc2 [ 14...f5 15.c3 f8 ( 15...0-0 16.gxf5 xf5 17.xe6! fxe6 18.hg1+ g6 19.xe6+ f7 20.xd6; 15...g8 16.xe6 ) 16.xd6!! xd6 17.d1 A) 17...e7 18.b5+ c6 19.xc6+ bxc6 20.a6 c7 21.a5 c8 22.d8+ xd8 23.xc6+! e7 ( 23...d7 24.xa8+ e7 25.b4+ ) 24.b4+ f6 25.c3+ e5 26.xe5#; B) 17...b6 18.f6 c6 ( 18...d7 19.b5 ) 19.xe6; C) 17...c7 18.xe6! fxe6 19.xe6+ e7 20.c8+ f7 21.g5+ g8 ( 21...xg5 22.c4+ ) 22.c4+ f7 ( 22...f7 23.d4 ) 23.xf7 xf7 ( 23...xf7 24.d8# ) 24.c8+ e8 ( 24...e8 25.d8 ) 25.e1 ] [ 14...0-0 15.c3!! A) 15...d7 16.f5 exf5 17.gxf5 xf5

18.hg1+ g6 ( 18...h8 19.f3 xc4 20.xd6 ) 19.d3! e5 ( 19...g7 20.xd6 xc4 21.xd7 xa2 22.f4 ad8 23.h5+ h6 24.d2+ xh5 25.h3# ) 20.xe5 xe5 21.xg6+! hxg6 22.xg6+ h8 23.h6+ g8 24.g1+; B) 15...xf4+ 16.xf4 xf4+ 17.b1 e4 ( 17...c6 18.h4! e4 19.f1 e5 20.h5 xc2+ 21.a1 e4 22.d2 ) 18.f2! c6 19.xf6 xc2+ 20.a1 e5 21.b3! e2 ( 21...g2 22.d5 xg4 23.xc6 bxc6 24.xe5 ) 22.he1 xg4 23.xe5 ] 15.xc2 b5 16.c3 bxc4 17.xf6 g8 18.xd6! xd6 19.d1 c7 20.d8+ xd8 21.xd8 xd8 A queen move along the h1-a8 diagonal would have followed. 1-0

350 Solovjov,Sergey Alekseev,Evgeny St . Petersburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2445 2300 1999

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.f3 g6 5.e2 g7 6.c4 b6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c3 c6 [ 8...g4 is the main alternative to the text, and will be considered in RusaanovAlekseev. ] 9.d5 e5 10.c5! This move is the most serious attempt to fight for an opening advantage. [ After 10.xe5 xe5 11.h6 e8! White has failed to prove his advantage in numerous games. ] 10...bd7 11.e3 xf3+ The alternatives are clearly insufficient: [ 11...g4?! 12.d4 df6 13.h3 h6 14.e5! with an obvious advantage for W hite, Veselovsky - Sluka, 1999. Black's attempt to improve position of ugly-looking Knight f5 fails to 15.g4! , and White wins a piece ] [ 11...b6?! This move was played in Prie Lepelletier, 1997 and White easily got the upper hand: 12.c6 xf3+ 13.xf3 f6 14.e1 e8 15.g5 f6 16.h6 with a clear edge. ] 12.xf3 e5 13.e2 c6 352

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 13...f5?! was played in some games, but it looks quite dubious: 14.f4 f7 This move leads to a very passive position, but ( 14...g4 is even worse: 15.xg4 fxg4 16.d4! f5 17.xg7 xg7 18.d4+ g8 19.fe1 with an overwhelming positional advantage, Vogt - Preismann, 1993. ) 15.b3 a6 16.ad1 e8 17.fe1 and W hite is clearly better due to his space advantage, pressure down the e-file and the poor position of all Black's pieces, Isaksen - Nielsen, Esbjerg, 1994. ] 14.f4 d7 15.f3 c7 16.c1 [ I n m y o p i n i o n , 16.d6!? is worthy of c o n s i d e r a t i o n : a5 17.a3! ( Other possibilities lead nowhere for White: 17.dxe7 e8; 17.d4 xd4+ 18.xd4 xc5 19.xc5 xc5 20.dxe7 e8 a n d in b o t h c a s e s B la ck h a s e xce l le n t prospects.) 17...e8 18.b4 d8 19.d4 f8 20.e4 and White's pieces dominate th e c e n te r. T h is lin e re qu ires pra ctica l tests. ] 16...f6 17.e2 [ 17.dxc6 is another possibility, but it gave W hite no advantage in Evdokimov Alekseev, Russia, 1998: bxc6 18.b5 d7 19.xd7 xd7 20.d4 fc8 21.h3 e6! 22.f2 d5 and due to the strong position of the knight in the center Black's chances are by no means worse. ] 17...d7 Black has successfully completed his development and can be satisfied with the result of the opening fight. 18.dxc6 xc6 19.b4 ad8 20.fd1 e5 21.fxe5 xe5 22.f2 xd1+ 23.xd1 f4 24.c4 e4! [ The endgame after 24...xc4 25.xc4 xf3 26.gxf3 is not good for Black as soon White will get a dangerous passed pawn on the queenside. ] 25.e3 e5 [ 25...h4 is a good alternative to the text. Here the game could continue: 26.f2 h6! 27.xh6 xf2+ 28.h1 e8! 29.f1 d5 30.b5 c6 31.c4 ,with a draw by repetition. ] 26.b5 d5 27.d3 c8 28.f2 xf2 29.xf2 xf3 30.e1 b2 31.gxf3 f6 32.d7 d8 33.e8+ [ 33.xb7 d4 34.xd4 xd4+ 35.h1 xc5 ]

33...xe8 34.xe8+ g7 35.d7 h5 36.xb7 In my opinion this line is promising for White. Although Black managed to hold the position W hite missed some promising possibilities (especially 18. d6). ½-½

351 Sonter,Matthew Smerdon,David Mount Buller AUS (7) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2206 2425 04.01.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 g4!? 4.e2?! [ 4.f3 f5 5.b5+ is a very stern test of Black's open ing variation. The poin t o f showing this game of course, is to demonstrate how effective 3...Bg4!? can be against an unprepared opponent. ] 4...xe2 5.xe2 xd5 6.f3 e6 7.0-0 Of course White's play is reasonable and he expecting to get an edge with the forthcoming c2-c4. But this advance will bring as many problems as it sets. Note the following points: 1) After c2-c4 White's d pawn becomes easier to attack. 2) The Black Queen is driven to a much more dangerous square on h5. c6 8.e3 0-0-0 9.c4 [ If White must play this line then I prefer 9.bd2! here. The idea is to meet a subsequent ...Bd6 with Nc4. As far as I can see this maintains equality: h5 ( 9...e7 10.fe1 f5 11.c4 d5 12.a3 he8 13.ad1 f6= ) 10.fe1 d5 11.c4 e7 12.ad1 xe3 13.xe3 d6 14.c4= ] 9...h5 10.c3 I understand that White is trying to be ambitious but he has no real justification for thinking that he is better. With ...Rg8 and ...g7-g5! Black has very good chances. The Bishop on f8 can stay where it is for the time being. g8! 11.fd1 g5 12.c5? I was very surprised to discover that this move had been played bef ore it's just so horrible and anti-positional to cede the d5 square. [ 12.d5 appears to be the move that White has been leading up to, but the c o m p l i c a t i o n s f a v o u r B l a c k I t h i n k : g4 13.d4 ( 13.dxc6 gxf3 14.xd8+ xd8 15.d3+ d6 16.g3 g4 17.h4 bxc6; 353

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.g5 exd5! 14.xd5 xd5 15.xd5 d6 16.g3 e7! 17.a5 h6 18.xa7 hxg5 19.c5 h8! 20.h4 gxh3 21.a8+ d7 22.xd8+ xd8 23.xh5 xh5 24.cxd6 cxd6 ) 13...d6! 14.g3 e5 15.dxe6 c5 ] [ The meek 12.e5 was certainly called for, demonstrating a true grasp of the needs of the position and White can hope for equality, although xe2 13.xe2 xe5 14.dxe5 d7 doesn't look too great for him. ] 12...d5! 13.xd5 xd5 14.b4 g7N [ 14...g4! is also very strong: 15.e1 g7 16.c2 gd8 The dark side of c4-c5 is revealed or even c2-c4 in the first place. The d pawn will be done to death. 17.c4 e5 18.b5 xd4 19.xd4 exd4 20.c6 b6 21.ab1 d3 22.e3 d4 23.b3 f8 24.bc1 8d6 25.c4 g3 26.hxg3 h6 27.f3 d6 28.a4 h1+ 0-1 Keskinen,SSalmensuu,O/Helsinki 1998 ] 15.b5 Now a forced sequence follows. g4 16.bxc6 gxf3 17.b5 bxc6 18.xc6 g4! 19.f1? He did not want to suffer after [ 19.g3 h3 20.a6+ d7 21.b5+ e7 22.f1 xf1+ 23.xf1 gd8 The d pawn falls and W hite cannot play a Rook to b7 due to the back-rank mate. ] 19...fxg2+ 20.g1 e5! 21.a8+ [ W hite can prolo ng the game wit h 21.f4 xf4! 22.xf4 xf4 23.a8+ d7 24.c6+ e7 25.xg8 e3+ 26.xg2 g5+ 27.xg5+ xg5+ 28.f3 h5+ 29.g2 d5+ 30.f2 xc6 31.ac1 d6 ] 21...d7 22.xd5+ exd5 23.dxe5 e4 24.e6+ Black can just take on e6 either way perhaps the pawn is best. No, Black is in good shape after 4 Be2, a wimpy move from White. 4 f3 is necessary. 0-1

White has more than one good way to obtain a definite advantage. 3...Bg4 develops and at the same time tries to force a concession. The trouble is that White can quite often make use of the 'weakening' 4 f3 and so the whole idea is devalued if this is indeed the case. 4.f3 Curiously, Spangenberg plays a quiet move, rejecting two sharper alternatives which are simply good for White: [ 4.b5+! d7 ( 4...c6 5.dxc6 xc6 6.f3 f5 7.e2 ) 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 b5 7.cxb5 xd5 8.e2 c6 9.bxc6 xc6 10.f3 g6 11.0-0 g7 12.d1 0-0 13.c3 ab8 14.xd5 xd5 15.e3 fc8 16.b3 b4 17.ac1 e4 18.d2 d8 19.f4 bc8 20.c7 1-0 Pelikian, J-Lucena, S/Pre-Amazon Open, Imperatriz BRA 2003 (20) ] [ 4.f3! f5 5.b5+ This is the line which most worries me. bd7 6.c4 e6 7.dxe6 xe6 8.d5 f5 9.e2 c5 10.g3 g6 11.e2+ e7 12.c3 1-0 Bitalzadeh,ANaalden,M/ ch-NED Open, Dieren NED 2003 (21) ] 4...xd5 5.e2 c6 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 d7 8.c3 0-0-0 Nimzowitsch taught that the two Bishops become increasingly powerful the longer the game goes on. Thus Black's strategy in this particular situation must be to open the centre as quickly as possible and try to get some action together with his Knights before White has a chance to settle down. [ Thus 8...e5 would appear more logical than 8... 0-0-0, provoking an immediate crisis. Th e f ollowing ga m e de m on stra te s h o w White can cope: 9.0-0! 0-0-0 10.g5! exd4 11.g4! xg4 12.xd8 xf2 13.xf2 xd8 14.cxd4 c5 15.h1 c8 16.c3 xd4 17.d2 e8 18.e2 e4 19.c1 d6 20.xc6 xc6 21.xd4 e8 22.f3 g5 23.d5 Shabalov,A-Gershon, A/Paget Parish 2001 Black toiled on for a further 45 352 B01 moves but his position is almost resignable right now. ] Spangenberg,Hugo 2495 Llanos,Guillermo 2395 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5N [ The straightforward 10.0-0 also appears II American Continental, A (5) 2003 good: e4 11.e2 b8 12.d2 a5 [Andrew Martin] 13.c2 c6 14.xe4 xe4 15.xe4 d5 16.xd5 xd5 17.e1 d8 18.c4 f6 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 g4?! 19.f4 d6 20.xd6 cxd6 21.d5 he8 Th e J a d o u l va ria t io n , t ricky, b u t lo o kin g 22.f1 c7 23.xe8 xe8 24.e1+increasingly unsound as time goes by. I think 354

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Della Morte,P-Fiori,N/Esperanza 2002 1-0 (39) Easy chess ] 10...d3 Desperate already. This is one sacrifice that simply doesn't work. Probably Llanos intended 10..Re8 but that's pretty lousy: [ 10...e8 11.0-0 xe5 12.f4 e6 13.d1 d6 14.xd6 xd6 15.xd6 xd6 16.xc6 ] [ 10...a5 11.c2 e8 12.0-0 xe5 13.f4 e8 14.d1 ] 11.exf6 Why not? c5 12.d2 a5 Hoping to attack with a subsequent ..Nc4. The immediate 12...Rhe8 could be deemed more 'natural' but with Qc2 as the key resource, White defends comfortably. [ 12...he8+ 13.d1 xf2 ( 13...gxf6 14.c2 e5 15.e4! a6 16.e1 ) 14.fxg7 e3 15.c2 b5 16.e1+- ] 13.a4 he8+ 14.d1 c4 15.c2 d6 16.b3! A killer. The attack on b7 forces Black's retreat. a5 17.b5 xf2 18.xa5 g3 19.b4 Of course 3...Bg4 is a great idea and has scored reasonably well over the years. For me though, the surprise element has gone (which accounted for most of the wins in th e f irst p la c e), an d we a re le f t t o ju d ge objectively whether Black's pawn sacrifice stands up. I hope I've shown some key lines h e r e wh i c h d e m o n s t r a t e B l a c k h a s r e a l the oret ic al p ro blem s t o so lve. 3 .. .B g4 is almost certainly on the way out. 1-0

353 Spasov,Vasil Kurajica,Bojan I Open La Laguna ESP (7) [John Watson]

B01 2588 2549 10.03.2007

The Scandinavian has that strange quality that good defenders always seem to win from inferior positions. Here W hite, the higherrated player, does everything right, but can't seem to find a way through. Then he gets careless. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 The Melts Variation. No one seems to trust it, but a lot of people play it! 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 [ I ' v e m e n t i o n e d t h e m o v e 5...c6 in numerous articles, and think that it's

underrated. ] 6.g3 One of White's favourite lines. c6 [ 6...g4 '!' is suggested in Jonathan Rowson's Scandinavian survey. But then 7.h3! h5 8.g2 c6 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.f4 b4 11.g4 was clearly to White's advantage in Svidler-Tiviakov, Wijk aan Zee 2007. ] [ I think that 6...b5 7.f4 b6 is the most interesting option. ] 7.f4 d8 [ Almost automatic, but Melts analyses 7...e6+ at some length, for example, 8.e2 d5 9.xd5 xd5 10.xc7 h3 with compensation. ] 8.g2 e6 [ 8...f5 is also played. ] 9.0-0 e7 10.e2 [ 10.e1 0-0 11.d3 might be a better setup. ] 10...0-0 11.ad1 White's development should give him a big edge, but... d5! 12.c1 [ 12.xd5 exd5 13.fe1 e8 14.e5 e6! ] 12...b5!? 13.e4 b7 14.c3 d7 15.fe1 White has harmoniously-placed pieces and muct be better, but how to make progress? ae8 16.c2 h6 17.b3 f5!? 18.c5 [ 18.ed2 is probably advantageous after b4 19.b1 bxc3 20.a3 . Black can try to hang on to the pawn for a few moves by b4!? and then shift his bishop to b6, for example, 21.e5 xe5 22.dxe5 a5 23.b4 b6 24.xc3 ] 18...xc5 19.dxc5 c8 20.c4 f6 21.b2 e4 22.cxb5 axb5 23.a4!? [ 23.h4!? . After the text, White forces the pace. ] 23...bxa4 24.bxa4 a8 25.d7 e7 26.xe7 xe7 27.e5 d8 28.c6? An obscure move. Perhaps White missed a tactical theme. [ White stands better after 28.d1 ] [ or 28.xe4!? xe4 29.c4 d5 ( 29...d5?? 30.c3 wins outright!) 30.c3 d2 although his advantage is limited. ] 28...xc6 29.xe4 fxe4 30.xe4? They always say that one mistake follows another, probably because the player is trying to make up for the first. Better [ 30.c4 ] 30...d4 31.g4? 355

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 31.b1! h1! 32.f3 xf3+ 33.xf3 xf3 9.xf3 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xb7 34.c2 a8 and White's king is still the e4+ more exposed one. ] [ 11...d8!? At least this is more exciting 31...a5! Threatening ...Qxe1+ as well as ... than a depressing ending after the exchange Qxe5!. The game is suddenly over. 32.e3 o f q u e e n s . 12.e3 e5 13.d1! f5 The analysis stops after 13.c5 instead in [ 32...d5! 33.f3 f5 is even stronger. ] Khalifman's book "Opening according to 33.c3 d5 34.f3 d1+ 35.g2 f8 Anand" vol 3, with the evaluation of a "big On this or the next move, ...Ba6 wins, but it advantage for White" based on some game makes no difference. 36.a5 e2 37.g1 Kotsur (2500) - Lependin (2395) RUS-Cup a6?! Krasnoiarsk 98 which was eventually won by [ 37...xf3! 38.xf3 ( 38.xf3 d8 ) White. It may be right at the end of the day, 38...d4 wins. ] but 13.Rd1! is a much stronger continuation, 38.h4 d1+ 39.g2? exchanging a vital defensive piece in the [ 39.h2 b7 40.a6 hangs on for a while. black camp while searching shelter on the On move 39, it's understandable that both queenside for the white king. ] sides miss the next shot. ] 12.xe4 xe4 13.a5? 39...b7?! [ 13.e3! [ 39...e3+!! 40.fxe3 f1+ 41.h1 A) 13...e6 14.g3! 0-0-0 15.g2 c5 ( 41.h2 e2+ ) 41...h3+ ] 16.e2 e7 17.b3 f5 18.ab1 g5? 40.a6 xf3+ 41.xf3 e2 42.g1 xa6 ( 18...a6 19.b4 e4 20.hc1 ) 19.b4 Black could resign. 43.e5 e3 44.h3 a4 ( 19...e4 20.xe4 fxe4 21.xa7 ) d6 45.d3 xd3 46.xe6+ h7 20.b3 b6 21.c1 Volokitin, A47.xe3 Reprintsev, A Swidnica op 1999, and after 0-1 this severe defeat, the Ukrainian, who is re a so n a b ly we l l kn o wn in t h e Ce n t r e Co u n te r un iverse f o r h is o rigin a l a n d 354 B01 often tactical ideas, imagined 5...Ne4 to bring this update full circle, in a way.; Spassky,Boris V 2545 B) 13...e5 14.g3! I have known this Prie,Eric 2440 refutation for long time... before it was Coupe de FRAnce Fin (1) 1992 played by Macieja in 97 or reproduced in [Eric Prié] Khalifman's book. Thus, Black cannot exchange the dark-squared bishops with 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 14...Bc5? because of 15.Bg2 winning the f6 5.f3 c6 6.d2 g4 The obvious exchange and at the very least ends up in reaction, instead of the more artificial 6...a6. a miserable ending where the check 14... 7.b5 b6 8.c4! As a bonus for this Bb4+ 15.Ke2 hardly helps. 0-0-0 15.g2 section's subscribers, I will now follow with the c5 16.d5! An illustration of the pros necessary complement to explain the and cons of having pushed the e-pawn 2 theoretical state of this line nowadays. Indeed, squares. f5 17.e2! ( 17.b4!? one can't imagine things could be as simple Karavaev, V (2384) - Rodin, D (2260) as they appeared to be in the previous 2 Voronezh op 1999; 17.0-0-0!? e4 18.f3 ) games! xf3 17...e7 18.ab1 ( 18.xc5? xc5 [ 8...xd4 9.bxd4 e5 10.h3 xf3 19.e6+ b8 20.xf5 hf8 ) 18...g5 11.xf3 e4 12.a4+! c6 13.0-0-0 exf3 19.b4 a4 20.hc1 b8 21.c6 b6 14.e1+ e7 15.a3 0-0-0 16.xe7 xd2 22.a4 f4 23.d2! White is clearly better 17.xd2 xf2+ 18.c1 fxg2 19.xg2 in every ending resulting from the strong xg2 20.he1 d8 21.a5!+- Covering plan (inaugurated by 6.Bd2!) that was lots of important squares while threatening implemented in this game up till move 15, mate. Matjushin, G (2349) -Kislinsky, A thanks to his powerful pair of bishops and (2412) UKR-ch U18 Kiev 2001 ] 356

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 better structure. Unless there is a miracle like the one we are about to witness in this game, the best Black can hope for nowadays in the long traditional ...Nc6, ... Nf6 Scandinavian is to defend a difficult opposite bishop and rooks ending a pawn down. A rather dissuasive argument at the very least. ( 23.c5 c8 )] 13...0-0-0 14.g3 e6 15.f3 For some reason my great opponent, on leave from the Lyon chess club, was not in a fighting mood that day... when, as for me, I had felt the wind of the cannonball whistle past my ears, and so soon dropped the line after this game. But what sort of a Scandinavian update would it be without at least one game of mine o) ½-½

355 Speelman,Jonathan S Martin,Andrew D 4NCL (2) Birmingham [Andrew Martin]

B01

19.09.2004

Only a short draw, but a variation of great interest to Scandinavian fans. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 Speelman didn't think too long before playing this move. Training in on his thought patterns I sensed that something tricky was coming up. f6 [ 4...g4!? is certainly an interesting move here. Black wants to play ...Nf6 and ...c6 but his main priority seem to me to be to develop the Queen's Bishop without risk. Could this be problem solved? If so then 4 Bc4 could be White's best then I think 4...c6! 5 Nf3 Bg4! is probably the way 5.h3 h5 6.c4 e6 ] 5.c4 c6 6.e2!? Dangerous. White sets up ideas of Ne5 and the usual Kingside pawn storm. Speelman has dabbled in the Scandinavian himself and mentioned after the game that he was under the impression that 6...Bf5 was a mistake. I was just playing at this point, could see what was coming up and was trying to survive. f5 [ I considered 6...h5 for a brief moment but this fails to a typical trick: 7.h3 g4 8.xf7+! ] 7.e5 e6 8.g4 g6 9.h4 bd7!

Playable thanks to the loose pawn at c2 and the best move. [ 9...d6 is possible. I wasn't sure where I wanted the f8 Bishop though. ] 10.xd7 xd7 11.d3 [ The critical variation arises after 11.h5 xc2 12.d3 b5 ( 12...a4!? ) 13.xe6 fxe6 14.xe6+ e7! ( 14...d8 15.g5+ c7 16.f4+= ) 15.g5 d8 16.d2 xd3! A) 17.xe7 xe7 18.xe7+ xe7 19.xd3 e5+ 20.c2 ( 20.d4 xg4= ) 20...hf8; B) 17.ae1? f6 If Black is surviving this one the opening lives. At this moment I don't see why he isn't surviving. ] 11...h5! 12.d2 [ 12.xe6 0-0-0 is far too dangerous for White to contemplate. ] 12...e5 13.g5 Maybe Black is even slightly better just taking on e2. I was happy to split the point having done the job for the team. As far the opening goes you will not find the line that Speelman played in W ahls' mammoth book on the Scandinavian and that is saying something. What I did seems OK, but Black should investigate 4.. .Bg4 as well. ½-½

356 Sprenger,Jan Michael Martyn,Rafe Open Vienna (9) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2490 2265 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.c4 Dangerous. White may follow with Nge2 and keep his f pawn free- that is the basic idea. It is particularly effective if Black pla ys his B ish o p t o f 5. In principle I lik e Black's reply. g4! 6.f3 [ After 6.d3 both sides have to change strategy. white has to cope with strange pie ce p la ce men ts a nd B lack mu st t ak e advantage quickly of the poor position of the Qd3. Castling on the queenside is indicated! c6 7.b5 0-0-0! 8.xc6 bxc6 9.c4 e6 10.d3 c5 11.ge2 cxd4 12.xd4 b6 13.e3 c5 14.0-0-0 cxd4 15.xd4 g6 16.b5 h6+ 17.b1 b7 0-1 Szitas, G-Innocente,N/2nd Open, 357

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Condom FRA 2003 (63) ] 6...h5 [ 6...f5 7.ge2 bd7?! ( 7...c6 ) 8.g4 g6 9.h4 h6 10.f4 h7 11.e2 b6 12.fd5 xd5 13.xd5 c6 14.f4 0-0-0 15.xc7 e6 16.xd8 exd5 17.b5 b4+ 18.f2 g6 19.h5 d6 20.h4 f8 21.e8+ c7 22.g3 e6 23.xd6+ 1-0 Wilsbeck,J-Manley,C/25th Politiken Cup, Copenhagen DEN 2003 ] 7.ge2 c6 8.d2 0-0-0 9.b5 A move which completely throws Rafe Martyn although he must surely have been aware of the dangers. In fact W hite has several dangerous alternatives each of which has to be paid close attention: [ 9.a3 xd4 10.b5 b6 11.bxd4 e5! 12.f5 e4 13.eg3 c5 14.b4 ( 14.xh5 e3 15.hxg7 exd2+ 16.f1 xb2 ) A) 14...f2+! I think this move is very strong: 15.f1 ( 15.e2 xg3 16.hxg3 exf3+ 17.gxf3 e4-+ ) 15...e3 16.xe3 xe3!! ( 16...xd1+ 17.xf2 xa1 18.xa1 ) 17.e1; B) 14...g1? 15.e2 Palac,M-Tkachiev, V/Pula 1999 ] [ 9.d5 a4 10.xf6 gxf6 11.b3 a3 12.c3 d6 13.g3 g6 14.e4 d7 15.0-0 f5 16.c5 d6 Typical Hodgson juggling 17.f4 xd4 18.cxd4 xd4+ 19.h1 xc5 20.e1 e6 21.c1 a3 22.c3 g8 23.xe6+ b8 Gdanski,JHodgson,J/ Germany 2002 ] 9...b6 10.a4 xd4!?N [ Black can try to hold W hite up: 10...a5 The analysis is complicated: 11.a3 ( 11.c3 e6 12.b3 e7 13.g5 g6 14.f4 b8 15.xg6 xg6; 11.c3 e5 12.b3 exd4 13.cxd4 b4 ) 11...b4 ( 11...e5 12.b3 b8! Fritz7 ) 12.c3 ( 12.xb4 axb4 13.a5 a6 14.a4 g6 15.f4 e6 16.xg6 hxg6 17.c3 ) 12...bd5 13.b3 e5 14.d3 e6 15.dxe5 c5 16.bd4 xe5 17.b5 b6 18.0-0 g6 19.c4 c5 20.c2 c7 21.g3 xc2 22.xc2 e3 23.xe3 xe3+ 24.f2 d2 25.b3 Werner,V-Didenko,L/ Germany 1999/ GERchT and now 25...b6 would be equal. Black must walk a very fine line in this variationhis Queen is in constant danger. ] 11.bxd4 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.e2

xb2 14.0-0 Martyn has ample material two pawns for the exchange, but will he ever get to use it? Black is behind in development and must catch up without delay. e6 15.e3 e5 16.f2 d7 17.fe1 c5?? Horrible. Is Black's position so bad after [ 17...d6 18.f4 f6 19.ab1 d8 I think not. W hile most strong players would prefer to be White it's all to play for. ] 18.xc5 xc5 19.xc5 xc5 20.e5 The sting in the tail. g6 21.xc5 b6 22.a6+ Verdict: Can Black place his faith in Martyn's exchange sacrifice? I am doubtful a l t h o u g h I h o p e I ' ve sh o wn t h a t B la c k ' s position is by no means as bad as Martyn made it look. 1-0

357 Starostits,Ilmars Hamdouchi,Hicham XXXV Open Sevilla ESP (6) [Neil McDonald]

B01 2471 2601 13.01.2010

1.e4 d5 [ The position that arises in this line of the Scandinavian Defence is very similar to the 5...gxf6 variation of the Caro-Kann: 1...c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.f3 f5 and if we add a rather lousy move f or W hite and an unusual one f or Black we get the position that arises in the main game af ter 8...gxf 6: 7.d2 b6 The comparison would seem to suggest that Black is doing at least OK- in fact he is probably already better. ] 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 [ In my book 'Starting Out with 1. e4', I give the sequence 5.d2 c6 6.c4 f5 7.d5 d8 8.xf6+ gxf6 9.f3 I prefer this way of handling it with White as Black's queen has been driven right back to d8, whereas in the main game she can retreat to b6, attacking the b2 pawn. ] 5...c6 Black opens up a line of retreat for the queen and stabilises his control of the important d5 square. 6.d2 f5 7.e4 b6 8.xf6+ gxf6 9.b4 White tries to make a virtue out of the necessity of defending b2 by clearing the way for the rook on a1 to enter 358

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the game via b3. But this time consuming plan doesn't work out well as W hite lags behind with the development of his kingside. g8!? Making it difficult for White to develop his kingside in view of the attack on g2. [ A sharp battle also occurs after 9...d7 10.a4 e5 11.a5 c7 12.e2 ( Ideally White would like to fianchetto on the kingside but he doesn't have enough time e.g. 12.g3 0-0-0 13.a6 b6 14.g2 exd4 15.0-0 e5 leaving him in trouble.) 12...d6 Black's well centralised pieces and initiative on the kingside give him at least equal chances in the melee that follows. 13.0-0 e4 14.h4 xh2+ 15.h1 e6 16.c4 h5 17.a3 f4 18.d5 g4 19.xf4 xf4 20.g3 d6 21.a6 b6 22.xg4 hxg4 23.xg4 cxd5 24.cxd5 xd5 25.e3 f5 26.f4 -Hracek, Z-Mueller, K/ Werder Bremen GER 2009. ] [ Meanwhile White would have the initiative after 9...e5 10.c4! d7 11.0-0 as discussed previously by Eric Prie in the archives. ] 10.b1 d7 11.b3 e5 12.e3 c7 13.dxe5 e6 14.c4 0-0-0! White has wasted too much time making moves on the queenside and is unable to cope with the opening of lines in the centre. 15.c2 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.f4? A blunder, but White was already in difficulty due to his inability to develop his kingside. xb4+! Overloading the roo k on b 3 tha t mu st kee p e 3 de f e nd ed . 18.f2 a5 19.xb4 [ After 19.e2 c5 threatening 20...Rd2 Black is a pawn up with a strong attack. ] 19...xb4 20.e2 a5 21.xh7 xa2 22.c1 xg2+ 23.xg2 xe2+ 24.f2 g4+ 25.h1 xc4! winning the d5 square for the bishop. 26.g3 d1+ [ For if 26...d1+ 27.xd1 xd1+ 28.g2 f1# ] 0-1

358 Steiner,B Brustkern,Juergen FSIM September (9) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2245 2225 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6!? 5...c6 is safest but doesn't afford the same dynamic potential. 6.g3 b5 7.f4 b6 8.g2 b7 9.0-0 e6 10.a4 The f irst critical moment f or Black. Quite correctly W hite makes an effort to open up the position-he has castled and Black has not! Brustkern has two answers: b4!? Risky. [ 10...d6 As the evidence stands, this seems quite decent. Black isn't in too much difficulty on the a file and his b pawn can be p u s h e d o r p r o t e c t e d e a s i l y : . 11.xd6?! ( 11.e5 bd7 12.axb5 axb5 13.xa8+ xa8 14.e2 b4 15.b5 is certainly more challenging but not lethal by any means.) 11...cxd6 12.axb5 axb5 13.e2 xa1 14.xa1 c6 15.g5 xg2 16.xg2 0-0?! 17.xb5 c6 18.c3 h6 19.f3 d5 20.e5 b8 21.xc6 xc6 22.a5 b6 23.b4 c6 24.d3 White has almost consolidated his extra pawn, Berczes, CBrustkern, J/FSIM October, Budapest HUN 2003 (48). ] 11.a5! a7 12.e2 d5 Ok, as long as Black can maintain the central blockade. 13.c4?! Hum. One can understand his anxiety to attack but I believe that [ 13.g5! was much more effective. White vacates the f4 square for a knight and puts Black under immediate pressure. I do not see how Black equalizes after this: bd7 14.f4 A) 14...c6 15.c4! bxc3 ( 15...h6 16.xf6 xf6 17.e5 xg2 18.a4+ c6 19.xg2 ) 16.bxc3 e7 17.xf6 xf6 18.e5 xg2 19.a4+!; B) 14...c4 15.e1 d8 16.c3 d6 17.b3 b5 18.c4 c6 19.d5 ] 13...bxc3 14.bxc3 d6 15.xd6 cxd6 16.f4 e4 Different to the earlier line. White can't occupy e5 Black is ready to castle. However, it quickly becomes clear that Steiner is still keen to punish Black for his seemingly dubious opening play. 17.e1 bd7 18.g4!? [ At this point White would do much better 359

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ju st t o p la y f o r a d ra w: 18.d2 xg2 19.xg2 0-0 20.f3 He SHOULD achieve the desired result from here. ] 18...h6 19.h4 Consistent but thoroughly w e a k e n i n g . d5 The worm turns.. ..so suddenly Steiner is unable to react. There are dark-squared weaknesses all the way down to h2. 20.e5 [ 20.g5 c7! ] 20...g5! 21.hxg5 hxg5 22.fd3 c7! B r u s t k e rn is v e ry f a st wh e n h e g e t s t h e opportunity. 23.xe4 [ 23.f3 xd3 24.xd3 xe5 25.xe5 d7 26.xg5 h2+ 27.f1 b8 ( 27...f4! 28.h5 xh5 29.gxh5 f6 30.h6 xh6 ) 28.d2 g3 29.h5 ] 23...dxe4 24.f4 Panic! exd3 25.fxg5 xc3 26.a4 d2 Steiner didn't get what he wanted out of this game. The variation with 3...Qd6 strikes me as opportunistic. 'Playable but dubious', to reverse Tartakower's famous aphorism. 0-1

359 Stellwagen,Daniel Bartel,Mateusz World Jr Ch - Boys U20 (8) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2561 2513 17.11.2005

A recently published book from New In Chess called Secrets of Opening Surprises Vol 4, has an article by Artur Kogan on the BANKER v a r i a t i o n , r e n a m i n g t h e wh o l e l i n e a n d updating a lot of analysis which I investigated over 5 years ago. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 Very straightforward. Black develops coherently and argues that the White Knight on c3 is not ideal. 6.g5 Looks more dangerous than it is although Black must respect White's plan of quick development. h6?!N Not much respect here. Black cannot really afford this loss of time. Fortunately, there are at least two good alternatives: [ 6...g4 i s s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d : 7.xf6 It is obvious that if this is White's best move ...Bg4 should be preferred to . ..h7-h6. exf6 8.e2 b4 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 d7 11.a3 a5 12.d2 e6 13.c4 c7

Leko-Adams Frankfurt 1999 ] [ 6...f5 is also very standard perhaps a little bit duller: 7.d3 xd3 8.xd3 e6 9.0-0 bd7 10.e4 e7 White has an edge, but Black's position is hard to break down. ] 7.xf6 exf6 8.c4! Paying homage to Morphy. Getting the pieces out really does mean something in chess. b4 [ 8...e7+ might be the best shot and there are similarities to a line of the Caro: 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 5 Nxf6+ gxf6 6 Bc4 Qe7+!? 9.f1! ( 9.e2 xe2+ 10.xe2 e6 11.0-0-0 d7= ) 9...g4 10.d3 d7 11.e1+ e7 12.e4 f5 13.e5 But if the White King is on f1, it's not the type of advantage which will be easy to prosecute. ] 9.0-0 0-0 10.d3 a5 [ 10...g4 11.d2 d7 12.f3 e6 13.ae1 keeps the White edge. ] 11.e4! Black's pieces on the queenside hang in the air and Bartel has no real compensation for the queenside pawn majority. f5 [ 11...f5 12.c3 d6 13.ae1 d7 14.c2 ae8 15.d3 xe4 16.xe4 b6 17.a3 is another typical line. W hite has an obvious small advantage based on pawn structure. ] 12.g3 g6 [ With hindsight 12...f4 had to be preferred but there is no doubt about White's ongoing advantage after 13.e4 h5 ( 13...d7 14.c3 e7 15.fe1 b6 16.b3 f5 17.e5 d5 18.f3 ) 14.c3 e7 15.d2 ] 13.e5 g7 [ 13...d6 14.xg6 ] 14.h5+!! A tremendous move which I am sure t hat Ba rtel o verlo oked . At a strok e White highlights the nakedness of the Black King. h7 [ Taking increases the risk of after-game embarrassment: 14...gxh5 15.g3+ A) 15...h8 16.xf7 ( 16.xf7+ xf7 17.xf7 d8 18.c3 d6 19.g6 f8 20.fe1 d7 21.f6+ h7 22.e2+- ); B) 15...f6 16.c3! d6 17.xf7 xe5 18.g6+ e7 19.fe1 d7 20.dxe5 f4 21.ad1+- ] 15.g3 g5 [ 15...gxh5 16.xf7 h8 17.g6 d2 360

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.f4 leads to mate. ] 13.e5+ g8 14.xh5 g6 15.f3; 16.xf7+- White's sudden strike leaves Bartel B2) 9...xd4 10.e2 h4+ 11.f1 quite powerless. e7 17.g6+ g8 18.fe1 h5 12.d5 and here Black made the W hat is the point of being fancy now? bizarre decision to sacrifice a rook with Stellwagen brings up the reserves to finish the c6? ( 12...d8 was critical although job. b4 19.h4 d7 White has reasonable compensation for [ 19...xb2 20.c3! b6 21.g4!! d8 the pawn after 13.d1 but with White's 22.e5+- ] king also vulnerable the position is just 20.a3 xb2 21.ab1 xa3 22.xd7 xd7 unclear. ) 13.xc7+ d8 14.xa8 [ 22...xg3 23.fxg3 xd7 24.xe7 ] but he never really got compensation in 23.e5 A very attractive miniature, although Ib a rra Je re z, J (2 53 8 )-Ha slin ger, G Black organised his own funeral to a certain (2127) Seville 2013 and White quickly extent with the risky 6...h6. won. ] 1-0 8...d5 [ 8...h5 9.c4 leaves the knight on h5 badly placed and the best Black can do is 360 B01 ( 9.f4!? g6 10.f3 c6 11.0-0-0 also gives W hite a good position) 9...f5 10.d3 Stevic,H 2618 e6+ 11.e2 xe2+ 12.gxe2 Kovacevic,Bl 2436 with a slight edge for White. ] Zagreb Open A 2013 (4.3) 28.02.2013 9.e4 a4! The only move to give White any [Tom Rendle] problems [ 9...b6?! can quickly get Black into trouble 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 after 10.c4! f5 ( 10...b4? simply drops a f6 5.d2 g4 6.f3 f5 piece to 11.c5 a5 12.a3 ) 11.c5 b4 [ 6...d7 last month we saw Van Wely try 12.a3 4a6 13.xd7 xd7 14.c5 e6+ this against Anand with little success. ] 15.f2 and despite the messiness of the 7.g4 d7 8.g5 p o sit io n W h it e is d o in g we ll wit h a b i g [ 8.c4 is White's main alternative and it space advantage and the two bishops. ] also cau ses Bla ck some prob lem s b6! This leads to a pleasant endgame but other moves are not so good as g5 just 10.c4 it's not the only option gives White a good position [ 10.e2 might also be better for White as A) 9.e3 is probably better and White is the Queen on a4 is still vulnerable. Perhaps somewhat better after e6 10.d2 ( 10.g5 Black can get reasonable chances with e5! d5! 11.xd5 exd5 12.xd5 a5+ 11.dxe5 c6 as it's not easy to see what 13.c3 a3! 14.c1 0-0 and Black has should do next. Both 12.a3 ( and 12.f4 full compensation for the pawn as White's deserve attention. ) 12...xe5 13.2c3 ] pawn structure is poor and he still has to find time to castle queenside.) 10...e7 10...xd1+ 11.xd1 b6 12.f4 a6 ( 10...xb2 is risky af ter 11.b1 a3 13.b3 e6 14.e2 0-0-0 15.h4 c6 16.h3 17.f2 Both sides have developed 12.g5 but maybe Black is OK after d5 b8 sensibly over the last few moves but it's clear 13.xd5 exd5 14.xd5 c6 ) 11.0-0-0; that Stevic has the easier position with a B) 9.g5 space advantage on all parts of the board but B1) 9...h5 10.f4 is bad for Black after 18.h5 hf8 B1a) or 10...g6 11.f3 e6 Black is still very solid. e7 White prepares g6 but it's possible ( 11...g7? 12.d5 c6 13.e2 e6 19.hg1 14.f5! gxf5 15.0-0-0 and Black is in that it was already strong [ 19.g6! hxg6 20.hxg6 fxg6 ( 20...f5?! deep trouble. ) 12.e2; 21.g5 d7 22.g2 and Rh7 is clearly B1b) 10...xd4 11.xf7+ xf7 better for W hite) 21.g2! and Black will 12.f3! d6 ( 12...g4 13.xd4 have a hard time defending against Bc1 (or xd1 14.xd1 e6 15.e4 g3) followed by Nf4. ] and the knight on h5 is still offside) 361

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19...g6! Now the chance is gone. 20.e5 d7 21.g7 g8 22.h6 xe4 B la ck a t t e m p t s t o a lle via t e h i s cr a m p e d position by swapping off a pair of pieces but this leaves the f7 pawn a long term weakness. [ 22...b4 23.d2 xe4! 24.fxe4 c6 was a better way to do it although White is still better after 25.e3 ] 23.fxe4 f8 24.xf8 gxf8 25.e3 e5 Black sacrifices a pawn rather than waiting patiently for W hite to double on the f-file. 26.xd7?! [ 26.d5! ac5 27.df1 was much stronger as the f7 pawn is a far bigger prize than the doubled pawn he wins in the game. ] 26...xd7 27.dxe5 e7 28.f4 c6 White is a pawn up but Black still has good chances to hold a draw. The one thing that makes it really tough is the pawn on h6 with always gives W hite good winning chances. 29.d3 c7 30.d2 e6 31.e1 d8 32.xd8+ xd8 33.f3 e6 34.d4 f8 35.f1 d7 36.e6!? fxe6 37.b4 [ 37.xe6!? doesn't quite work here against a c c u r a t e d e f e n c e xe6 38.f7 c5 39.xh7 xe4+ 40.f3 h4 41.g3 h1 42.e7 a5 and Black is holding a draw ] 37...e5 38.c2 c7 39.d3 d6 40.c5+ e6 41.e3 a5 42.a3 f7?! After this the ending is probably winning for White although Stevic has to show excellent technique. [ 42...axb4 43.axb4 e8 forces White to f i n d a w a y t h r o u g h a l t h o u g h 44.a1 gives White good winning chances. ] 43.xf7 xf7 44.c4 axb4 45.axb4 e7 46.a5 f8 47.xb7 e6 48.a5 d4 49.c4 e6 50.d2 d7 51.c3 e7 52.b2 d7 53.a3 c7 54.a4 b7 55.c4 f3 56.d6+ c7 57.f7 d7 [ 57...d2 58.a5! xe4 59.a6 is winning, e.g. d2 60.xe5 e4 61.f3 c3 62.d4 ] 58.b5 cxb5+ 59.xb5 e7 60.b6 xf7 61.c6 1-0

361 Strikovic,Aleksa Larino Nieto,David IX Open Mondariz ESP (4) [Neil McDonald]

B01 2519 2467 28.12.2009

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6?! The active move Black wants to play, but where is his queen going to find shelter? 6.d2! A very awkward move to meet. In fact it makes 5...Nc6 look unplayable. g4 [ Perhaps Black has to make do with 6...a6 here. ] [ After 6...b6?? White could win the queen with 7.a4! Rather surprisingly this was missed by Garry Kasparov in a simul' although he eventually won after ( 7.d5 b4 8.c4 in 1-0 Kasparov, G-Saripanidis, S/ Corfu 1996. )] 7.b5! Looks stronger than the natural [ 7.b5 when Black is active after 0-0-0 8.xc6 bxc6 ] 7...b6 8.c4! Continuing to harass the black queen. The threat is 9. c5 Qa6 10. Nxc7+. b8? It is easy to criticise this move, but Black only needs one safe moment to play 9... c6, driving away the white knight, and his opening problems are over. Furthermore, Black isn't much behind in development, even after retreating the knight. This idea might have worked, and can only be ref uted by energetic play by White. [ Eric Prie has analysed his game with Spassky in an ea rlier upd ate th at wen t 8...xf3 9.xf3 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xb7 Despite holding the great man to a draw as Black, Eric is decidedly gloomy about his chances in the opening. ] 9.c5! c6 [ Instead 9...e6+ runs into 10.e5! xd1? ( In any case Black is a pawn down for n o t h in g a f t e r 10...c8 11.xg4 xg4 12.xc7+ xc7 13.xg4 ) 11.xc7+ d8 12.xe6+ fxe6 13.xd1 when Black is wrecked. ] 10.a4! Threatening 11.Nxc7+ and the less obvious 11.Nd6+! cxd6 12.Bb5 pinning the queen. xf3 11.gxf3 bd7 Now the second wave of the white attack begins. 12.a5! c8 [ If 12...d5 13.c4 7f6 14.d6+! exd6 362

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.b5 and wins. ] 13.b3 Threatening a fork on a7. b6 [ Again if 13...d5 14.d6+! is the killer move- it's goodbye to the black queen after cxd6 15.b5 ] 14.d2 a8 15.c6! b8 The knight is sitting on b8 for the third time in the game. 16.d5 With the idea of 17. Bh3 Rd8 18.Nxc7 when both the black king and queen are checkmated. e6 A desperate attempt to break the stranglehold that costs a lot of material. 17.dxe6 c5 18.exf7+ f8 19.h3 xc6 20.xc8 xc8 21.e3 a6 22.c3 xe3 23.fxe3 a5 24.b4+ xf7 25.0-0-0 e6 26.f4 e8 27.d5 c6 28.xf6 gxf6 29.b1 xe3 30.d7+ g6 31.g4+ g5 32.g1 c5 33.xg5+ fxg5 34.f4 e2 35.b3 c4 36.xg5+ A very fine game by White. He punished Black's inaccurate move with his knight [5...Nc6?!, 8...Nb8?] in brilliant style. 1-0

362 Stripunsky,A Rakhmanov,Ale 4th Continental Class 2013 (5.3) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2549 2603 12.10.2013

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g6 6.b5 I still consider this to be the critical test of 5...g6 b6 7.a3 T h i s is f a s t b e co m i n g W h it e ' s m a in l in e against this setup although 7.Bf4, 7.a4 and 7. c4 have all been analysed in the archives. e6 [ 7...c6 is examined in Leko-Caruana where White obtained a pleasant position from the opening with 8.c4 d8 9.g3! ] 8.c3 c6 [ 8...g7 9.c4 xc4 10.xc4 0-0 11.0-0 bd7 12.e1 e6 13.b3 not very ambitious but it is a low risk way to keep a slight edge, especially against a higher r a t e d p l a y e r ( 13.e2! preparing Bg5 is more aggressive) 13...c6 14.a4 d5 15.a5 xb3 16.xb3 and White was slightly better in L u k o v i c , V ( 2 3 4 6 ) - B o g o s a vl j e vi c , B (2552) Kragujevac 2013 ] [ 8...bd7 hasn't been played but it looks very logical to me - one point is that 9.c4 c a n b e m e t b y a6! - with a pawn on c6

t h e r e w o u l d b e N d 6 + 10.e3 d6 and now W hite's best try f or an edge is probably 11.g5 g7 12.xe6 xe6 13.e2 0-0 14.0-0 but Black is close to equalising here and he can choose between the solid c6 ( and the more attacking option 14...c5!? )] 9.c4! This is more accurate than moving the knight to c4. Obviously there's a threat of taking on e6 and ruining Black's pawn structure so Black has to do something here but I don't like the option Rakhmanov chooses as it gives White a very comfortable game [ 9.c4 c7 10.d3 c5!? gives Black reasonable play ( 10...g7 11.0-0 bd7 is more flexible as Black keeps the option open for ...c5 but may instead choose to gain space on the queenside with ...b5. )] 9...xc4?! [ 9...d5 was a more solid option and White gets no more than a typical slight edge after 10.0-0 g7 11.e1 e6 12.d3 0-0 13.c4 xc4 14.xc4 bd7 ( 14...c5!? )] 10.xc4 a6 [ maybe 10...c7 is a better option but it's definitely W hite that has the easier game still after 11.0-0 g7 12.ce5 0-0 13.d3 bd7 14.f4 b6 15.e1 e6 16.a4! and one plan for W hite is Nd2-c4 with an eye on the d6 square. ] 11.e2! Threatening Nd6+. [ 11.ce5 is less accurate as White cannot castle immediately ] 11...e6 It's not ideal for Black to have to play this move as now the bishop on f8 is overworked protecting the dark squares on the kingsid e a s well a s d6. Th is is a ke y reason why the Black queen should be on c7. 12.g5 bd7 13.fe5 e7 14.0-0 White's moves have been simple but strong and Black is already struggling to complete development b5 [ 14...xe5?! 15.dxe5 d5 16.xe7 xe7 17.e4 is very unpleasant for Black. ] 15.f4!? [ 15.fe1 threatens Nxf7 and after d5 16.h6 Black's king is still caught in the centre and White is clearly better ] 15...d5 16.xd7 This is still good for White but I feel it lets Black off the hook just a little [ 16.ae1! and what can Black really play 363

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 here? Perhaps best is h6 17.xd7 xd7 ( 17...xd7 18.xe7 xe7 19.f5!; 17...hxg5?! loses to 18.xf6+ xf6 19.f5! gxf5 20.xf5 and the rook cannot be taken because of the knight fork on d6.) 18.e5+ e8 19.xf6 xf6 20.f5 and White is still a lot better ] 16...xd7 17.xe7 xe7 18.e3 h5 19.g4!? Aiming to decide the game in the middlegame isn't a bad choice but objectively I think W hite's advantage is larger in the endgame. [ the ending after 19.xh5 gxh5 20.ae1 is obviously good for W hite with a space advantage and much the better pawn structure but Black would have reasonable drawing chances here after b5 21.f5+ f8 22.d6 e7 23.e4 hg8 and there is a lot of work for W hite to do here. ] 19...b5 Rakhmanov is desperate to escape to the relative safety of an ending but Stripunsky is equally determined to keep the queens on. 20.c4 b6 21.f5 af8?! [ 21...xd4 was worth a try - if under pressure you might as well be a pawn up. Still, W hite has more than enough compensation and would be doing well after 22.fxe6 fxe6 23.ad1 c5 24.d2! ad8 25.b4 e5 26.fe1 c7 27.f5+! gxf5 28.g5+ f7 29.xe6! xe6 30.xf5+ e7 31.e1+ e5 32.xe5+ xe5 33.xe5+ d7 34.d4+ c8 35.xa7 with excellent winning chances in the ending with two pawn and a queen for two rooks. Still, this line is easy to find with a computer but in a game it's almost im p o s s i b le t o ca lc u la t e s o I ca n 't h e l p thinking Black's chances would've been improved by grabbing the risky pawn! ] 22.c5 b4 23.ad1 hg8 24.a3 b5 25.d5+ d8 26.xb5 Finally White agrees to an exchange of queens as he's got all of his pieces to their best squares cxb5 27.fxe6 fxe6 28.f4 e8 29.fe1 f8 30.d5?! This almost let's Black escape with a draw but the position remains difficult to defend for Rakhamov [ 30.g5 would've kept a firmed grip on the game and White should eventually win here after g7 31.e2! and the knight is

heading to d6 via c3 and e4. ] 30...exd5 31.xe8+ xe8 32.xd5 g7?! [ 32...d7 was a better chance although W hite retains slim winning chances after 33.c7+ e7 34.e1+ d8 35.xb5 xc5 36.b4 a4 37.xa7 but with so few pawns on the board a draw is the most likely result. ] 33.f6+ f7 34.g5! The ending is probably lost for Black now as W hite's pieces are so much more active and Black immediately goes wrong to bring a swift end to the game e6?! [ 34...e6 was more stubborn but White shou ld be win nin g a f te r 35.d7+ f8 36.xh7+ g8 37.f6+ f8 38.d5 ] 35.e1+ f5 36.f1+ e6 [ 36...xg5?! 37.e4+ ] 37.e1+ f5 38.e8! g8 39.d6+ xg5 40.e8 And Black resigned (or possibly lost on time) as the position is hopeless - he can't move the knight or rook! [ 40.e8 h6 41.b8 g7 42.xb7+ f6 43.c6! e6 44.c7 xc7 45.xc7 is easily winning for White ] 1-0

363 Stripunsky,Alexander Lein,Anatoly ch-USA Seattle (1) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2550 2400 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 Anatoly Lein has been a one of the faithful for many years. He clearly believes in the merit of 3...Qd6. 4.d4 f6 5.d3!? A little unusual .The Bishop most often develops to c4. But White plans Nge2 and the ever-present worry B f 4 s o t h i s is a d e ve l o p m e n t i d e a t o b e reckoned with. And as you will see, 5 Bd3 has been endorsed by Kasparov! c6 Black has three ways to mobilize his Queenside after 3... Qd6. He can play . .. c6 or...a6 or go for quick piece development with ...Nc6 and ...0-0-0. All three plans are available here-how do they co m p a re ? O b vio u sly t h e m o ve t h a t L e i n chooses is the most solid. Black cuts out any tricks based on Nb5 and will continue with the usual Scandinavian light-squared strategy e.g. ...Bg4 or..Bf5,...e6. My only concerns are this 364

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 might be a little slow and that if W hite can organise Ne5 and Bf4,the Black Queen can find herself in the wrong place. Presumably as soon as W hite plays Nf3,setting up this plan, Black goes . ..Bg4! Sermek has shown a liking for 5...Bg4 here, intending ...Nc6 and ... 0-0-0.The positions reached are sharp and murky, with Black attacking d4 to counterbalance his shaky King position. That leaves 5...a6, which Hasangatin employed recently. If 6 Nge2 e6 7 Bf4 Qd8 is forced, then I tend to prefer the other lines, although the f ull story after 8 0-0 c5 has yet to be written. [ 5...g4 A) 6.ge2 c6 7.f3 h5 8.f4 d7 9.d2 e6 10.a3 ( 10.0-0-0 b4 11.a3 1/2-1/2 Palac,M-Sermek,D/7th HIT Open, Nova Gorica SLO 2002) 10...a6 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 12.c4 d5 13.g3 ce7 14.f4 g6 15.h4 f6 16.f2 xf4 17.xf4 d5 18.xd5 exd5 19.d3 d6= Ozgibcev,A-Zaitsev,V/TCh-RUS, Tomsk RUS 2001; B) 6.f3 h5 7.ge2 a6 ( 7...c6! 8.f4 d7 I think I prefer this approach. 9.d2 e6 10.0-0-0 b4 11.a3 a5 12.g4 g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.b4 b6 15.d5 White tries to assume the initiative but the Black position is well-developed enough. xd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 exd5 18.xd5 d8 19.xd8+ xd8= Jurkovic,H-Sermek,D/Croatian Cup, Pula CRO 2002; 7...e6 8.f4 d7 9.g4 g6 10.h4 xd3 11.xd3 c6 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.b1 d5 A key idea in this line, taking advantage of the position of White's Bishop. 14.g5 f6 15.c1 xc3+ 16.xc3 f7 17.h5 e5 18.dxe5 b4 19.e3 fxe5 20.g3 xd1 21.xd1 f8= Hracek,Z-Kantorik,M/KB Czech Open, Pardubice CZE 2002) 8.f4 d7 9.d5 g6 10.d2 xd3 11.xd3 g6 12.0-0-0 g7 13.c4 c6 14.d6 Kasparov,GRogers,I/EUR-ASIA Rapid Match, Batumi GEO 2001 ] [ 5...a6 6.ge2 e6 7.e4 ( 7.f4 d8 8.0-0 c5 ) 7...xe4 8.xe4 d8 ( 8...d7! 9.f4 e5 10.dxe5 b4+! ) 9.d3 h6 10.f3 c6 11.0-0 d7 12.c4 f6 13.c2 d6 14.d1 1/2-1/2 Berezjuk,S-

Hasangatin,R/TCh-CZE 2001 As we have seen, improvements are available. ] 6.ge2 e6!? Very solid indeed. [ 6...g4 ] 7.0-0 e7 8.e4 xe4 9.xe4 0-0 10.d3 g6 11.h6 e8 12.ad1 We know these positions from the Caro-Kann. White has a nice edge but where does he go from here? Using all his experience, Lein deploys his pieces prophylactically and waits..... d7 13.fe1 f6 14.f3 b6 15.c3 b7 16.g3 ad8 This is about the best that Black can do after 6...e6. White has more choice but that's it. 17.h4 a8 Taking away any tactical shots involving unprotected pieces. 18.h5 c5 19.xa8 The exchange of light-squared Bishops neutralises any thought White may ha ve h ad o f a la te r sa crif ice on g6 . xa8 20.g5 cxd4 21.f3 He was depending on this move but Lein's next, very accurate idea puts paid to the White initiative. [ 21.hxg6 hxg6 22.xf6 ( 22.f3 d5! ) 22...xf6 23.e4 e7 24.xf6+ xf6 25.xd4 xd4 26.xd4 ed8 27.ed1 xd4 28.xd4 g7 29.d7 f6 ] [ 21.xf6 xf6 22.e4 e7 23.hxg6 hxg6 24.f3 g7 25.cxd4 ed8 ] 21...d5!= 22.xd5 xd5 23.xe7 xe7 24.xd4 f6 25.h6?! That really is a bit ambitious. The veteran is happy with a draw b u t a yo u n g e r G r a n d m a s t e r m i g h t h a v e punished Stripunsky for this move. f8! 26.f3 g8 27.f2 f5 [ 27...xh6 28.h1 g7 29.dh4 ] 28.h1 f7 The h pawn ties White down. If anything, Black is better now. However, the overall verdict on Lein's play of solid but passive must stand. ½-½

364 Suetin,Alexey S Steiner,Guenter Open Velden op (8) [Nigel Davies]

B01

1996

With 4...Nf6 Black invites a transposition back into the main lines with 5.d4, but Suetin lends the game an original flavour by playing 5.h3 and then 6.Bd3!?. Not the kind of chess we 365

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 have co me t o e xp ect f rom so lid Ru ssia n grandmasters, but interesting nevertheless. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.f3 f6 5.h3 c6 A typical move for these positions, but there are a number of alternatives: [ a) After 5...c6 6.b5 d7 7.0-0 e6 8.d4 b4 9.d3 xc3 10.bxc3 xc3 11.b1 xd4 12.e5 c6 13.c4 d4 14.xb7 White had a strong initiative in Lalic - Zeidler, 4NCL1997 ] [ b) 5...e6 6.g3 c5 7.g2 e7 8.e5 0-0 9.0-0 c7 10.e1 bd7 11.c4 b6 12.b5 d8 13.d3 bd5 14.a4 a6 15.c3 xc3 16.bxc3 gave White some pressure on the queenside in Lalic Golubovic, Pula 1997 ] [ c) Against 5...f5 Murey has specialised in the move 6.b4!? b6 7.a3 e6 8.c4 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.d3 c6 11.h4 ( 11.e2 bd7 12.h4 g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.d2 d6 wasn't much for White in Murey W este rinen , Brighton 198 3) 11...g6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.e1 e8 14.b2 bd7 15.f3 c7 16.b3 b6 17.e4 xe4 18.xe4 d5 19.c4 with the bishop pair and a nice initiative in Murey - Schmid, Zurich 1992 ] [ d) After 5...c5 I quite like 6.g3 intending similar play to Lalic - Golubovic above. ] 6.d3!? An intriguing idea, which prevents Black from developing his queen's bishop for the time being (6...Bf5?? 7.b4). Of course t e m p o ra ri ly b lo ck in g t h e d -p a wn h a s it s disadvantages, but White might also develop his queen's bishop on b2. [ A natural alternative is 6.d4 f5 7.d3 with W hite having a slight space advantage. ] 6...bd7 [ 6...a6 7.0-0 b4 8.c4 f5 9.d3 e6 10.e2 c7 11.e4 0-0-0 was OK for Black in Hansen,S - Nielsen,P, Gausdal 1999 ] [ A game Kosintseva - Polyakova, Moscow 1999 went 6...e5 7.0-0 d6 8.e1 0-0 9.a3 bd7 10.f1 c5 (to prevent d2-d4) 11.d3 b8 12.g5 b6 13.b1 with Black coming under pressure. ] 7.0-0 c5?! This forces White's bishop to move, but the knight will be driven back later

with a loss of time. [ Maybe 7...e6 is more solid, but then 8.e1 d6 9.f1 0-0 10.d4 c7 11.e2 b6 12.e4 was slightly better for White in Saric Begic, Bihac 1999. ] 8.e2 f5 9.a3 c7 10.b4 ce4 11.xe4 xe4 12.b2 e6 13.e1 d6 14.f1 g6 15.c4 Having sent Black's pieces scuttling home, W hite starts taking oodles of space. d7 16.b3 0-0 17.ad1 fd8 18.d4 c7 19.a4 ab8 20.e5 xe5? Making a passive position into a downright bad one. Black should sit there and do nothing. 21.dxe5 e8 22.e3 b6 23.c5 bxc5 24.xc5 d5 25.xd5 cxd5 26.xc7 xc7 27.c1 With his queenside majority, bishop pair and the initiative, this endgame is winning for White. e8 28.b5 f6 29.a5 f7 30.d4 b7 31.a6 d7 32.b6 axb6 33.xb6 d4 34.b5 e7 35.a7 1-0

365 Sutovsky,Emil Van Wely,Loek 40th Olympiad Open (9.6) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2687 2691 06.09.2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.d2 f5 7.e5 An unusual move which has not yet been covered on the site. [ 7.c4 e6 8.e2 is the mainline and was most recently covered by Gawain in VaibhavYu. ] [ 7.e4 b6 8.xf6+ gxf6 9.b4!? was examined by Neil McDonald in Starostits-Hamdouchi ( 9.c4 is probably the move I would choose here and it was covered by John Watson in Popovic-Savic )] 7...bd7 [ 7...c7 is too passive here I think, for example 8.f4 d8 9.c4 ( 9.d3!? xd3 10.xd3 is also very comfortable for White) 9...e6 10.g4 e4 ( 10...g6 11.h4 is dangerous for Black but possibly preferable to the game) 11.xe4 xe4 12.f3 xd4? ( 12...d6 13.b3 is clearly better for White but at least Black is still in the game) 13.c3 now Black can 366

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 safely resign b6 14.xe4 xb2 15.b1 xc3+ 16.d2 a3 17.xf7! 1-0 Di Paolo, R (2 326 )-Va nob bergh, G (2 105 ) Clich y 2001 ] 8.g4 Sutovsky is known to choose the most aggressive lines where possible but I don't really like this move here as it can cause White to become overextended as we will see in the game. [ 8.c4 is safer and now c7 9.f3 g4 10.f4!? ( 10.f4 xf4 11.xf4 b6 12.e3 e6 should be OK for Black) 10...xf3 11.xc7 d5 12.0-0-0 and White had a very slight edge in Renet, O (2500)-Giua, F (2145) 1998-9 French T e a m C h 1 9 9 9 ( 12.a5!? was worth considering to provoke a weakness )] 8...e6! [ both 8...xe5 9.gxf5 ] [ and 8...g6 9.f4!? e6 10.h4 would've given Sutovsky exactly the kind of position he was after (and a slight edge) ] 9.f4 A pawn sac that Van Wely chooses to decline [ 9.xd7 would probably have been a wiser choice and now A) 9...xd7! seems more accurate e.g. 10.f3 ( 10.e2 0-0-0 11.0-0-0 b6 and Black is at least equal) 10...g6 11.f4 0-0-0 12.g2 c7 with balanced chances; B) 9...xd7 10.g5 d5 11.e4 b6 12.c4 c7 13.c3 a6?! ( 13...e6 14.d2 is slightly better for White) 14.d2 a7 and now in Velcheva, M (2273)Hopman, P (2193) W ijk aan Zee 2001 15.0-0-0! would've given White a clear space advantage and an easy game. ] [ 9.c4 c7 10.e3 is unclear but it isn't really consistent with how White has played so far ] 9...0-0-0 [ it's not clear exactly what Black was worried about after 9...xe5 for example 10.fxe5 xg4 11.g2 0-0-0 12.e4 b6 and it's hard to believe that W hite really has enough compensation for a pawn although the position remains complex. ] 10.f3?! This must've been based on a miscalculation, Sutovsky has clearly missed Black's 11th move

[ 10.c4! would've given White the position he had been after, e.g. A) 10...xg4 11.d5! a4 12.b3 a3 13.b4 e3 and White can choose between 14.xa3 ( or 14.b1!? with a mess after xc4 15.xa3 xa3 16.b2 xd5 17.0-0 xe5 18.fxe5 e6 although it seems White should have the better chances after 19.xf7 ) 14...xd1 15.xe7+ xe7 16.xe7 with a slight edge; B) 10...xc4 11.xc4 c7 12.e5 xe5 13.fxe5 d5 14.e2 with chances for both sides, although I'd rather have White here. ] 10...xe5 11.dxe5?? This just loses, albeit to an unusual tactic [ 11.fxe5 xg4 12.h3 h6 13.xh6 gxh6 14.0-0-0 leaves White with at least some compensation for a pawn although Black must have some edge here. ] 11...xd2! This must have come as a nasty shock to the Israeli Grandmaster 12.exf6 [ 12.xd2 d5 13.e3 e4+! 14.c1 xc3 15.g1 a4 leaves Black a clear piece up. ] 12...xc2 13.d3 xb2 14.c1 exf6 W hite may not have dropped a piece but Black has three extra pawns and a crushing positional advantage 15.0-0 h5! 16.g5 fxg5 17.d1 c5+ 18.h1 g4! A crushing victory for Van Wely and a game that Sutovsky will want to forget. [ 18...g4 19.e4 d5 ] 0-1

366 Svidler,Peter Dreev,Alexey Elista [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2640 2650 1997

This game shows that to play the Centre Counter against a top player is not always a very good idea. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 xd5 4.d4 g4 5.h3 h5 6.c4 b6 7.c3 [ 7.c5!? 6d7 8.b3 also looks promising. ( or 8.c4 )] 7...e5 367

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ More accurate was 7...e6 8.g4 g6 9.e5 c6 ( 9...8d7 10.xg6 hxg6 11.c5 with a large advantage; 9...c6 10.xc6 bxc6 11.g2 d7 12.0-0 xc4 13.a4 b6 14.xc6 d8 15.b7 ) 10.g2 8d7 11.xg6 hxg6 12.e2 with a small advantage for W hite, according to Peter Svidler. ] 8.g4! [ T h e e n d g a m e a f t e r 8.dxe5?! xd1+ 9.xd1 c6 10.g4 g6 with compensation wa s f i n e f o r B l a c k we s a w t h is k in d o f position in the game Remizov - Bezgodov. ] [ According to Svidler 8.e2!? could give White a small edge: e7 ( 8...c6 9.g4 g6 10.d5 b4 11.xe5 with a clear advantage ) 9.xe5 ( 9.dxe5 c6 ) 9...xf3 10.gxf3 A) 10...c6 11.xg7 f6 12.g4 xd4 13.d3 d7 14.f4! e7+ ( 14...c5 15.0-0-0 with a clear advantage) 15.f1 h5 16.g2 with a clear edge; B) 10...0-0 11.e3 c6 12.f4 ( 12.e4 f6 13.0-0-0 e8 14.g4 with a slight edge) 12...d6 13.f5 with a slight edge but Black has a lot of tactical possibilities thanks to his better development. ] 8...exd4 9.xd4 g6 [ 9...c5? w a s b a d d u e t o 10.e2+! with Nf5 next. ] 10.g2 c6 [ 10...c5 11.db5 was bad for Black ] [ 10...c5 did not solve his problems either: 11.e2+! f8 12.b3 d3! 13.d1 e7+ ( or 13...e8+ 14.e3 xe3 15.xd3 h6+ 16.f1 c6 17.c5 with a clear advantage ) 14.e3 xe3 15.xd3 c1+ ( 15...c5+ 16.f1 8d7 17.e1 e5 18.f5 with a clear advantage) 16.e2 xb2 17.b1 and Black is in trouble. ] 11.0-0 e7 12.f4 h6 Black had no opportunity to keep his Bishop in play. 13.f5 h7 14.c5! White maintains his initiative with very strong and natural moves. 6d7 [ 14...xc5!? comes into consideration although it looks dangerous: 15.e1+ f8 ( 15...e7 was weaker because of 16.f6! gxf6 17.xh6 c4 18.g7 xb2 19.d2 winning (found by Alexander Finkel)) 16.e3 a6 and now White has a lot of possible

c o n t i n u a t i o n s , f o r e x a m p l e 17.e4 with the clearly better chances because all the Black pieces are very passive and his k i n g i s n o t c a s t l e d . ( or the prophylactic 17.b3!? )] 15.g5!! Excellent! Although White's position looks very promising anyway he chooses the most energetic way. 0-0 Black decides to give up the exchange to get his king away from the centre. [ If 15...hxg5 White continues with 16.e6! and after a5 ( 16...fxe6 is losing: 17.h5+ g6 18.fxg6 xc5+ 19.h1 ) 17.xg7+ ( 17.h5!? is also not bad: xc5+ 18.h1 with a clear edge) 17...f8 18.e6+ and the knight cannot be taken: fxe6?! 19.fxe6+ f6? 20.h5 with mate on f7 ] [ after 15...xc5 16.b4! ca6 ( 16...cd7 17.g6 fxg6 18.e6 b6+ 19.h1 would give W hite strong attacking po ssib ilit ie s.) 17.g6! g8 ( 17...fxg6 18.fxg6 xg6 19.g4 with a clear advantage ) 18.b5 Black's pieces look ridiculous. ] 16.g6! fxg6 17.e6 c8 [ 17...xc5+ was not better: 18.h1 e7 19.xf8 xf8 20.e4 with a big advantage. ] 18.xf8 xc5+ [ After 18...xf8 White could leave the Black light-squared bishop locked out with 19.f6! gxf6 ( 19...xf6 20.e4 ) 20.xh6 ( or 20.e4 In all cases White is much better )] 19.h1 xf8 20.fxg6 xg6 It could seem that Black is more or less okay here as he has enough pawns for the exchange, and W hite kingside pawn structure is also damaged but it's White turn and he continued with the unexpected and crushing 21.xh6!! e5 [ Taking the bishop by 21...gxh6 could lead to Black finding himself under a very strong attack after 22.g4 g7 ( other moves do not help: 22...h7 23.f6 e8 24.xg6 e5 25.e6 xg4 26.xe8 f2+ 27.g1 c5 28.f1 winning; 22...e8 23.ae1 e5 24.xe5 xe5 25.xg6+ g7 26.e6+ h8 27.c8 g8 28.g1 h8 29.d5 winning ) 23.e4 e8 24.ae1 A) other saving attempts were: 24...c5 368

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.e2 e5 ( 25...h5 26.g3 e6 27.f5 d6 28.xd6 xd6 29.xg6 xg6 30.e6+ winning; 25...f8 26.xg6 xg6 27.c4 winning; 25...d6 26.g1 e5 27.xg6 xg6 28.d4 winning ) 26.xg6 xg6 27.xe5 xg4 28.hxg4 d7 29.ef5 with a large advantage; B) 24...h5 25.g5 e6 ( 25...e7 26.xg6 xg5 27.xe8 f6 28.e7+ winning ) 26.f5 f6 27.g1 xg5 28.xg5 f6 29.xg6+ f7 30.g2 winning; C) 24...f6 25.xf6 xf6 26.f1+ g7 27.xg6 xg6 28.d4+ g8 29.g1 with real winning chances, according to Svidler. ] 22.f4 bd7 23.e4 e8 24.b3+ f7 25.g3 [ There wa s no thin g wrong wit h 25.xb7 b8 26.xa7 xe4 27.xe4 h5 28.g2 with a decisive advantage but W hite probably decided to place his pieces close to his king to avoid surprises in time trouble. ] 25...xe4 26.xe4 f6 27.g2 [ 27.xe5 was more direct: xe4 28.g2 d5 29.xf8+! xf8 30.xg7+! ( 30.xg7+?! e8 31.h8+ d7 32.xa8 leaves W hite's king exposed) 30...g8 ( 30...f7 31.f1+ e6 32.e1 winning ) 31.e5+ ( 31.c3+ g3+ ) 31...f7 32.f1+ e6 33.g4+ xe5 ( 33...e7 34.g7+ e6 35.f7+ xe5 36.f5+ ) 34.f5+ d6 35.xd5+ cxd5 and the hpawn should be decisive. ] 27...h5 Trying to make things complicated but White keeps cool. 28.g5 d3 29.e5 e7 [ After 29...e7 White was winning by 30.g4 xe5 ( 30...f6 31.xf6 xf6 32.xf6 xf6 33.c4+ winning ) 31.xf7 xg4 32.xe7 ] 30.xh5 [ 30.xf8+ was not winning as was pointed out by Svidler: xf8 ( 30...xf8 31.f1+ winning ) 31.xh5 c5! 32.f1 xe5 ( 32...xe5 33.f7+ h7 34.f5 winning ) 33.e4 g6 34.xg6 d5+ 35.h2 d2+ 36.g3 xg6 37.xg6+ h8 and the Rook's transfer to the h-file is not decisive as the white king is too exposed. ]

30...xe5 [ 30...xe5 31.ae1 e8 32.e4 winning ] 31.f7+ h8 32.f5 f2+ Trying to confuse his opponent but W hite is winning anyway. 33.g1 [ 33.xf2 wa s a lso go o d e n o u gh : d6 34.f1 f8 35.xf8+ ( in time trouble White could easily miss 35.c4 xf2 36.h4+ ) 35...xf8 36.xf8+ h7 37.f2 winning ] 33...xh3+ 34.f1 Black resigned. An excellent game by Peter Svidler. This victory allowed him to equalise the score in the match and win it after the tie-break rapid games. 1-0

367 Svidler,Peter Tiviakov,Sergei Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B01 2728 2667 14.01.2007

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 6.g3 At the moment, the position seems quiet, and g3 looks like an inn oce nt at te mpt t o gain a t emp o on th e queen with Bf4. However, the resulting lines tend to be very sharp, so anybody seeking to play this way should study this game carefully. g4 7.h3 The advantage of playing this now is that when things liven up, White is ready to play g4 to keep the knight on f3 controlling the centre. However, there is also something to be said for keeping the bishop on g4. For instance after [ 7.g2 c6 8.0-0 A) 8...0-0-0 9.d5 Black cannot take on d5 due to the position of the bishop on g4. ( 9.f4!? ) 9...b4 10.h3 h5 11.f4 c5 12.e3 a5 13.g4 bxd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.d2 xd2 16.xd2 xd2 17.xd2 was better for White in KotroniasGodena Batumi 2002.; B) 8...d8?! 9.f4 d7?! 10.d5! the position of the bishop on g4 is im p o r t a n t , d u e t o t h e N f 3 - e 5 t r i c k i n several lines. b4 ( 10...xd5 11.xd5 xd5 12.e5! ) 11.e5! xd1 12.xd7 xd7 13.fxd1 was clearly better for White in Rowson-Lazik, Verona 2006. ] 7...h5 369

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 7...xf3 8.xf3 c6 9.e3 followed by 0-0-0(or perhaps just Bg2 and 0-0) looks better for White. ] 8.g2 c6 [ 8...c6 is another way to play, but one which never made much sense to me. ...a6 and ... c6 are useful moves, but you don't need both of them! ] 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.f4 b4 [ 10...d7 is n o t s o g o o d . 11.g4 g6 12.e5! xe5 13.dxe5 xd1 14.axd1 xd1 15.xd1 d7 16.e6 ] 11.g4! g6 12.a3 c4 [ If 12...xb2 t h e i d e a i s 13.e1! intending Ne5, with a dangerous initiative. Black may be able to play this way, but my intuition, for what it is worth, is that White has more than a pawn's worth here, with a le a d in d e ve lo p m e n t a n d se ve ra l o p e n lines pointing towards Black's king. ] 13.g5 d5 [ 13...e8 is playable, but hardly attractive, a n d W h i t e c a n r e p l y i n va r i o u s w a y s , including the mundane 14.e3 with the idea of Nd2 or d5. ] 14.xd5 xd5 [ 14...xd5 15.e5 xd4 16.g4+! e6 17.xc6 looks winning. ] 15.c3!? An instructive decision, showing, yet again, that at the highest level, 'winning the exchange' is not always thought to be worthwhile when it means 'losing control'. [ 15.e5 gives Black various options. xe5 ( 15...xe5 16.xe5 h6 and would be enough to put me off this line, even though it seems likely that White should have some way to be better.) 16.xd5 xd5 17.dxe5 e4 looks like it gives Black serious counterplay. However, this is probably not sufficient after 18.d2 when xc2 19.xc2 xc2 20.fc1 g6 21.e6 looks good for White. ] 15...d8 16.b3 There is something simple about Svidler's play. He relies on his extra space and well-placed bishop on g2 for his advantage, and knows that is Black takes any pawns he will be able to whip up an attack. d3 [ 16...xc3 17.c1 d3 18.e1 e4 19.e3 and it looks like White's initiative is abou t t o grow, alt hou gh, aga in, a well-

prepared Black player with a strong nervous system might find a way to make this line playable. That said, I think it is quite lowrisk for White, unless you really hate being a pawn down, in which you probably sh o u l d n 't b e a c h e ssp la ye r in t h e f i rs t place. ] 17.c1 [ 17.xd3 xd3 18.fe1 also looks good, simply planning b4 and a4. ] 17...c2 18.e3 e6 19.b4 e4 20.d2 xe3 21.fxe3 e5 22.g3 exd4 23.cxd4 d6 24.xd6 cxd6 Taking some pressure off the c-file, but Black still has some problems. 25.ac1 d7 26.c4 h6 27.b6+ e8 28.gxh6 xh6 29.d5 f6 30.a4 f7 31.b5 [ 31.c7+ e7 ( 31...d7 32.xa6! ) 32.xa6 looks playable, and may have been a more incisive way to exploit the advantage. ] 31...axb5 32.axb5 a5 33.a1 c4 34.a7 h5 35.c7+ f8 36.xb7 xh3 37.f3 h5 38.c6 I suspect Svidler could have been more accurate, but he has retained so m e a d van t a ge , an d Bla ck n o w f ind s it difficult to deal with the b-pawn. b8 39.g3 b6 40.e4 c8 41.a1 h4 42.a6 b6 43.b4 b8 44.ga3 b6 45.a7 d5 46.a6 d8 47.b7 c4 48.c5 dxe4 49.aa7 g4+ 50.h2 d6 51.xf7+! xf7 52.e6+ g8 53.xd8 g5 [ 53...xd8 54.a8 ] 54.d5+ h7 55.e6 f3+ 56.h3 f5 57.xg7+! xg7 58.xg7 xd4 59.b6 e3 60.g2 c2 61.f1 b4 62.b7 a6 63.xf5 g6 64.e7+ f6 65.c6 Svidler was probably relieved to see that he wouldn't have to mate with bishop and knight. Bc4 is the next move and the b-pawn will soon be a queen. 1-0

370

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 368 Svidler,Peter Zolotukhin,Valery TCh-RUS Premier (7) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2730 2338 19.04.2011

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 bd7 7.f4 Svidler follows Shirov's example and plays the most aggressive line. [ 7.c4 is the mainline and looked at in the following game. ] 7...b6 [ 7...e6 is quite a passive approach that I've looked at previously. A game from this year went 8.g4 c7 9.g2 c5?! 10.e3 cxd4 11.xd4 xe5 12.xe5 b6 13.e2 b4 14.a3 xc3+ 15.xc3 0-0 16.0-0-0 and White had a fantastic position with the bishop pair, development advantage and a r e a d y m a d e a t t a c k . G r o ve r , S ( 2 4 9 5 ) Ptacnikova, L (2307) Reykjavik 2011. ] 8.g4 bd5 [ 8...e6 was Tiviakov's first choice but he went down and later varied. Check out John Watson's annotations in Shirov, A (2726)Tiviakov, S (2686) Benidorm 2008. A recent encounter continued 9.g2 g6 10.0-0 ( 10.a4!? is interesting.) 10...d8 ( 10...g7 was Tiviakov's choice; while 10...0-0-0 was John's suggestion.) 11.g5 ( 11.a4 g7 12.a5 bd5 13.e2 0-0 14.f5 is a valid approach.) 11...h5 12.a4 ( 12.e3 d5 13.xd5 xd5 14.f5 ) 12...f6?! T o o a m b i t i o u s 13.a5! fxe5 14.axb6 axb6 15.fxe5 c7 Grover, S (2432)-Crouch, C (2335) London 2010 when 16.e2! looks very good for White as xd4 17.b5! cxb5 18.xb5+ d8 19.a8+ c8 20.c3 d7 21.e3+- ] 9.g2 g6 10.g5 xc3 11.bxc3 d7 This was my suggested improvement with the comment: "The position is hard to assess. I f eel th at W hit e shou ld b e b ett er with his space advantage but Black can create counter-chances with ... h6. Perhaps this will be e xam ine d in t he next Sh iro v-T iviako v game?" W e've now got our practical encounter! [ Tiviakov chose 11...d5?! 12.c4 c7 13.c5 d8 14.d5! cxd5 15.c4 e6 16.b2

g7 17.c6! bxc6 18.xg7 g8 19.e5 and I wrote: White completely dominates the dark squares and has more than enough compensation for the pawn. c6 is vulnerable while Black is exceedingly passive and cannot coordinate his pieces and so it's not a surprise that Black does not last long. Shirov, A (2749)-Tiviakov, S (2637) Hoogeveen 2010. Check out the archives for my comments. ] 12.0-0 A logical move continuing development. W hite's not planning f or a quick kingside assault but instead wants to use his extra space to slowly crush Black. [ 12.b1 h6 13.gxh6 xh6 14.0-0 g7 15.e2 e6 16.c4 d6 17.c3 and the computer rates the position as equal but I feel practically W hite has the more pleasant chances. ] [ 12.e2 xe5 13.fxe5 c7 14.0-0 f5 is offered in Sergey Kasparov's article in NiC Yearbook 98 but without an assessment. ] 12...h6 13.f3! xe5 A change of tack and were I White I would enjoy seeing this move, improving W hite's structure and allowing strong pressure down the f file. [ 13...hxg5 was obviously the idea of 12...h6 b u t t h i s a l l o ws W h i t e t h e s h o t 14.xf7! xf7 15.fxg5+ e8 ( Giving the piece back with 15...f6 16.f4 a3 17.ab1 keeps White on top.) 16.f7+ d8 17.f4 e5 18.dxe5 e7 19.xg6 and White has three pawns for the piece and obviously dangerous play but this is probably the critical test of Svidler's opening idea. c5 20.ad1+ d7 21.e4 continues to look highly dangerous. ] [ Perhaps 13...g7 was best but White can continue as in the game with 14.a4 as hxg5 15.xf7! is still strong, i.e. xf7 16.fxg5+ e8 17.f7+ d8 18.f4 xd4+ 19.cxd4 xd4+ 20.h1 f8 21.ad1 xd1 22.xf8+ xf8 23.xd1+ and White continues to have strong pressure in the centre compensating for the pawn. ] 14.fxe5 e6 15.a4 Black has a major problem that he cannot complete his development due to the pressure down the f file and so the Russian GM continues to grab space, dissuading Black from castling long. 371

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 hxg5 16.xg5 h6 [ 16...h5 17.f4 continues to leave Black with problems completing development. ] [ Against 16...f5 White can sidestep with 17.g3! as xc2?! 18.d5! c5 19.d6 gives White an overwhelming attack. ] 17.xh6 xh6 18.a5 a6 19.ab1 h5 20.f4 f8 21.f3 Simple play. White trebles on the f file tying down Black further. [ 21.f3 h7 ( 21...f5 22.e3 leaves Black struggling to move.) 22.e4 would also increase the pressure on Black's position. ] 21...g8 [ 21...a2 is the computer's choice but after 22.b2 he has to drop the queen back with e6 when 23.f2 g7 24.h4 still leaves Black with problems. ] 22.bf1 h7 [ 22...f5 23.h4 h5 24.e1 h7 25.b1! and the rook still had to go passive on h7. ] 23.g3 d7 [ 23...g7 24.g5! preparing 25.h4 is similar to the game. ] 24.h4! d8 25.g5 f8? The king is now caught in the crosshairs and cannot escape. [ 25...h8 was necessary although White can win material with 26.h3 ( 26.d5!? cxd5 27.h3 f5 28.exf6 exf6 29.xf6 e1+ 30.f1 b5 31.f2 is also good for White. ) 26...d5 27.xe7 xh3 28.xh3 and White has a clear extra pawn. ] 26.e4! g7 27.h5!? [ Th e re wa s no t hin g wron g wit h 27.xg6 forcing resignation ] 27...g8 28.hxg6 f8 29.f5 d5 30.xd7 xg6 31.f5! xg5 32.xg5+ h8 33.f2 A pretty finish. 7.f4 is still looking an interesting approach. White isn't planning on an immediate mate but instead keeps Black under pressure and leaves him struggling for good squares for his pieces. 1-0

369 Tal,Mihail Bronstein,David I Moscow (16) [Nigel Davies]

B01

1967

An game from the great era of Soviet chess in which we see Bronstein play a similar plan to that of Epishin - but with the queen on d8. Even so it would have been reasonable if Black had played more actively on move 12. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 [ 2...xd5 3.f3 g6 4.d4 f6 5.c4 d8 would transpose back into the game. ] 3.f3 xd5 4.d4 g6 5.c4 f6 Against an aggressive player such as Tal, Bronstein no d o u b t wa n t e d t o k e e p h i s k n i g h t o n t h e kingside though it does block the activity of his bishop on g7. [ In this particular position Black could also play 5...b6 , but with a 2...Qxd5 move order this would not be an option. ] 6.c3 g7 7.h3 [ 7.e2 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.e1 g4 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 bd7 12.b3 e5 13.dxe5 c5 14.c2 fd7 led to approximate equality in Chandler - Hodgson, Hastings 1991 ] 7...0-0 8.e3 bd7 9.d2 c6 10.e2 e8 11.d1 [ After 11.0-0 Black plays e5 with equality. ] 11...a5 12.0-0 a6?! Black hesitates. [ The logical move was 12...e5 after which 13.d5! would give White some advantage. ] 13.a3 d8 14.c1 b6 15.e5 b7 16.c5 c7 17.f4 c8 18.c4 xe5 [ With White developing such massive pressure, Black decides to make a bid for freedom. 18...e6 would be very passive and seriously weaken d6. ] 19.dxe5 d5 20.xd5 cxd5 21.cxb6 Winning a pawn for which Black never gets enough counterplay. e6 22.e3 ac8 23.fe1 ed8 24.d4 h6 [ And not 24...c4?? 25.xc4! etc. ] 25.b3 g5 26.g3 c6 27.c1 e6 28.h4 c5 29.xc5 xc5 30.a4 b5 31.c7 gxh4 32.xh4 b8 33.e3 d4 34.g3 h8 35.xf7 xe5 36.f4 g8 37.xb7 xg3 38.xg3 d6 39.d7 xa3 40.b7 d3 41.f5 exf5 42.b8+ xb8 43.e5+ g8 44.xb8 372

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d2 45.f1 1-0

370 Tan,Desmond Prie,Eric 4NCL/Div2/WG3-HK1 (7.3) [Eric Prié]

B01 2332 2447 09.04.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 f5 One big question at this early stage about the Scandinavian (Provided that 5...Bg4 is clearly inferior, see the note to game 3) is which is the most precise move at this important moment: The prophylactic [ 5...c6 or the move of the game? ] 6.c4 For instance, neither [ 6.d3 xd3 7.xd3 c6 8.0-0 e6 ( 8...0-0-0? 9.g5 xd4 10.h3+ )] [ Nor 6.d2 e6 7.e4 b6 8.xf6+ gxf6 W o r k f o r W h i t e i n t h i s o r d e r o f m o ve s because Black will play ...Nc6 and castle queenside with big pressure against d4. ] [ But 6.e2 e6 ( 6...c6? 7.d2 b4 8.c1 0-0-0 9.b5 ) 7.0-0 c6 8.h4 That would not exist in the order of moves 5... c6 6.Be2 Bg4! and, because of the extra tempo and the innocuous placement of White's light squared bishop, Black does not fear (on the contrary!) W hite's expansion (weakening then!) on the kingside anymore by 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4 Bg6. ] 6...c6 7.d2 e6 8.e4 b6 I always found it important to gain immediate counter-play a ga in s t W h it e 's d a n d b p a wn s wh e n h e threatened to transfer his queen's knight to the k ingside , in th is wa y solving W h it e's foremost concern in the Centre Counter: its misplacement on c3, in front of the c-pawn. [ 8...d8 9.g3! g4 ( 9...g6 10.h4! Compared to a normal 4...Bf5 Caro-Kann W hite benefits from the extra tempo Bd2 and ca n d eve lop an a nno yin g init iat ive thanks to this. h5 11.e2! xg3 12.fxg3 xc2 13.c3 f5 14.e5 ) 10.c3 Followed by h2-h3 seizing Black's strong bishop at a cheap price. ] 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.b3?! Likewise in the game against Smirin, White had better leave b2 hanging.

[ 10.0-0 xb2 11.b1 ( 11.b3!?; 11.e2?! xc2 12.h4 ) 11...xc2 12.xc2 ( 12.e2? b5 13.b3 d3 14.e1 xb1 ) 12...xc2 13.xb7 ] 10...a5 11.a4 a6! 12.h3?! Only weakening the kingside and losing an important development tempo. Better is [ 12.h4 g6 13.e3 0-0-0 14.0-0 b4 ( 14...c7 15.c3 And the Na6 looks stupid.) 15.h3 ( 15.f3!? xc2 16.d5 ) 15...c7 16.c3 d5 17.xd5 xd5 18.c4 h5 19.xg6 hxg6 20.f3 f5 ( 20...g5! 21.xf6 g4 22.f4 d7 23.fd1 gxh3 24.g3 h2+ 25.h1 g8 26.e5 f5 27.h4 xf2 ) 21.f4 d6 22.xd6 xd6 23.d5! A) 23...g5! 24.dxe6 g4 25.fd1! ( 25.c3 xh3 26.gxh3 xh3! ) 25...xe6 26.c3 f4!! Maximising the efficiency of the black rook on h5. 27.c5 gxh3 28.xa5 e7 29.a8+ c7 30.a5+ b8 31.d2 hxg2-+; B) 23...exd5? 24.cxd5 xd5 25.xd5 cxd5 26.fd1 f4 27.ac1+ d7 28.c5 b6 1/2-1/2 Slaby, J-Prie, E Figueres op 2005 ( 28...d6 29.xa5 f3 30.d3 )] 12...g8! 13.h4 e4 14.e3 0-0-0 [ 14...b4+! 15.c3 e7 With a big black advantage underlined by the idea ...f6-f5 and the W hite queen cannot go to h5 because of the hanging Bb3. ] 15.0-0 c7 [ 15...e7!? 16.h5 f5 17.xf7? ( 17.d5? xh4; 17.f3! d5 18.xd5 cxd5 19.c3 Unclear. White will eventually play f3-f4 and Nf3 recycling his knight. xb2? 20.ab1 e2 21.fe1 c4 22.xf7+xh4 23.xb7#; 17.g3 c7 18.h2 d6 19.f4 b4 ) 17...xh4 18.xe6+ b8 19.f3 c7! ( 19...d5 20.xd5 c7 21.xg8 ) 20.fxe4 xg2+ 21.xg2 g3+ 22.h1 xh3+ 23.g1 xe3+ 24.g2 g3+ 25.h1 h3+ 26.g1 g3 27.xf5 h2+ 28.f1 h1+ 29.e2 xa1-+ ] 16.f3 g6 17.xg6 hxg6 [ 17...xg6!? ] 18.e2 [ 18.c3 Would have forced Black to use a less economic circuit via c7 in order t o reactivate his knight to d5. Possibly White was afraid of e5 19.c4! ( 19.e2 exd4 373

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.xd4 c5 ) 19...exd4 20.cxd4 b4 21.b3 d7 22.fd1 d5 23.xd5 xd5 24.xd5 cxd5 25.ac1 b4= ] 18...b4 Now, White is condemned to waiting with his inferior pawn structure provided that Black maintains the overprotection of the d5 square. 19.f2 h8 20.fd1 h5 Not the right regrouping but it does not really matter. 21.c4 d6 22.f1 g3 23.g1 f4 24.f2 b8 25.g1 d7 26.f2 h8 27.e1 hd8 28.g3 h6 29.c5 [ 29.g2 c5! 30.dxc5 d3 31.f1 xf2 32.xd7 xd7 33.xf2 d2 ] 29...f5 30.g2 g7 31.c3 e5 And the opposing position explodes. 32.dxe5 xe5 33.xd7 [ 33.c4 d3-+ ( 33...xd1 34.xd1 xd1 35.xd1 xb2 36.b3 d5 )] 33...xd7 34.e1 d3 35.e2 xf2 36.xf2 xg3 0-1

371 Tari,A Smerdon,D Visma GM 2014 (7.2) [Neil McDonald]

B01 2402 2519 28.06.2014

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.d2 b6 Black attacks the d4 pawn left unguarded by W hite's previous move. More usual are [ 5...c6 or ] [ 5...g4!? ] 6.f3 g4 [ Of course the b2 pawn is immune as 6...xb2 7.b1 a3 8.b5 is fatal. ] [ In view of what follows 6...f5 7.c4 e6 looks a safer approach for Black, but it begs the question why he played 5...Qb6 if he doesn't try to put further pressure on the d4 square. ] 7.c4 [ Instead 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 e6 9.0-0-0 c6 10.c4 reaches the Carlsen game given in the notes below. ] 7...e6 8.0-0 White is always sad he has been deprived of the d4-d5 advance in the Scandinavian, so maybe he should take the chance for

[ 8.d5!? for example A) 8...e7 9.h3! and there doesn't seem to be any satisfactory move for Black's bishop e.g. h5 ( Other moves also give W hite strong pressure: 9...f5 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 or; 9...xf3 10.xf3 e5 11.0-0-0 bd7 12.g4 ) 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.g4 g6 ( Or 11...f7 12.e2 ) 12.g5 and the weak pawn on e6 is a terrible burden.; B) 8...bd7 9.dxe6 ( 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 e5 ) 9...xe6 10.e2 e7 11.xe6 fxe6 and Black was left with a weak pawn in Popelyshev, I (2078)-Cherepova, B (2026)/Konopega 2007. ] [ It's good to see Magnus Carlsen in action, even in a simul'. He preferred to challenge Black's bishop straightaway with 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 c6 10.0-0-0 Now the d4 is taboo: A) 10...xd4? 11.e2! preparing a sac on e6. e7 ( Also decisive for White is 11...bd7 12.xe6! fxe6 13.xe6+ e7 14.he1 when Black does best to remain a p a w n d o w n a f t e r 0-0-0 15.xe7 ) 12.xe6! fxe6 13.g5! b4 14.a3 c5 15.xf6 gxf6 16.xe6 and Black will be unable to escape with his king or develop his queenside without dropping material. Play could continue f8 17.c8+ g7 18.xb7 a6 19.he1 he8 20.d7 f8 21.exe7 xe7 22.xa8+ etc.; B) 10...c7? Since capturing on d4 is too risky Black should at least develop a piece. W asting a tempo in such a position is fatal. 11.he1 bd7 12.xe6! Making good use of his extra tempo. fxe6 13.xe6+ d8? ( White has an initiative for the piece but it isn't over after 13...f7! 14.de1 g8 15.d5 ) 14.f4 a5 15.d5 h6 Now most decisive is B1) 16.dxc6 bxc6 17.xf6 gxf6 18.d3! a quiet computer move that wins the house because d7 can't be defended. Most humans would prefer the butcher's approach with ( 18.xc6 which also wins at once. ); B2) 16.d6 c8 ( The only defence is 16...f5 but then 17.e3 l o o k s o v e r w h e l m i n g .) 17.de1 No w t h e r e 's n o g o o d a n swe r t o t h e threat of 18.Qe2 and 19.Re8+ forcing 374

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 mate. 1-0 Carlsen, M (2765)-Boixeda, P/ Madrid 2008 ] 8...c6 9.b3 xf3?! Black decides he wants to take on d4. Instead after [ 9...bd7 his position looks fairly comfortable, which indicates that back at move eight White should have played 8.d5 or 8.h3. ] 10.xf3 xd4 A risky decision but consistent with his previous move. Objectively [ 10...bd7 should be preferred, though it leaves W hite in possession of the bishop pair. ] 11.f4 e7 12.ad1 c5 13.fe1 bd7 14.g4! White needs to use his pawns to soften up Black's defences. 0-0? Rather surprisingly this leads to a bad endgame for Black. He had to oppose White's next move with [ 14...h6 One double edged variation is 15.h4 g5 16.e3 a5 17.d4 c7 18.xe6 fxe6 19.xe6 f8 etc. ] 15.g5 d5 16.xd5! cxd5 17.xd5 exd5 [ U n f o r t u n a t e l y f o r B l a c k a f t e r 17...d8 18.d6! wins t he e xch an ge a f t e r c6 ( 18...xd6 19.f6+ ) 19.e7+ xe7 20.xc6 bxc6 21.xe7 ] 18.xd5 xc2 19.xd7 b4 20.e4! c6 [ Even worse is 20...xb2 21.b1 ] 21.xc6 bxc6 22.e4 a5 With a rook on the seventh rank and weak pawns to attack, White has excellent winning chances. 23.c4 f6 24.xc6 fxg5 25.e3! A cute move! Before recapturing on g5 White forces 25...a6 so that the b6 square doesn't become a base for Black's bishop as occurs after [ 25.xg5 b6 ] 25...a6 [ Obviously Black wouldn't relish 25...b6 26.xb6 axb6 27.cc7 when g7 drops with mayhem on his second rank. ] 26.xg5 f7 27.dd6 b4 28.xa6 W ith connected passed pawns W hite e v e n t u a l l y b r i n g s h o m e t h e b a c o n . af8 29.d8 xf2 30.xf8+ xf8 31.e3 e8 32.b6 a5 33.b5 c7 34.f2 e6 35.g3 b6+ 36.f1 f7 37.a4 d4 38.b4 a6 39.a5 e6 40.f2 e5 41.g2 c7 42.b7 d6 43.b6 xb6 44.xb6 d5 45.b5 c4 46.a6 b8 47.a7 xa7 48.xa7 xb5 49.d4 g6 50.f3 c6

51.g4 d5 52.g7 1-0

372

B01

Tennyson Gambit N,N [Tony Kosten] 1.f3 d5 2.e4?! I must say, I was not even aware of the existence of this gambit until last month! Apparently it is named the 'Tennyson' alt ho u gh I ha ve b e e n u na b le t o f in d a n y mention of it in any of my opening books, and no games by the 'creator', either! the earliest game I have is one by Latvian Gambit aficionado Victor Pupols, dating to 1951. dxe4! As this is a reversed Budapest Gambit, the only critical move is the capture, although Black sometimes tries to avoid the issue: [ 2...c6 might appeal to a Caro player, 3.exd5 ( 3.c3 g4 is a Caro Two Knights, Pessi,E-Moldovan,D/Miercurea Ciuc 1998) 3...cxd5 4.d4 is a Caro Exchange, Pessi,EVidoniak,N/Drobeta 1993. ] [ 2...e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 fd7 5.d4 leads to a French, Shepley,J-Franklin,M/ England 1996. ] 3.g5 [ The 'Reversed Fajarowicz' with 3.e5?! is even worse than here, as Black's c-pawn is on c7, and he doesn't have to worry about a check on b5. ] 3...f5! This is best. [ As in the Budapest, 3...f6 is the other main possibility, A) 4.c3 bd7?! ( 4...f5! as in the m a i n l i n e ,) 5.c4 e6?! ( 5...e5 ) 6.xe6!? White can also capture the other e-pawn, of course! fxe6 7.xe6 e7 8.xc7+ d8 9.xa8 is very messy, Kozii,Y-Sutorikhin,V/Szeged 1998.; B) 4.c4 e6 5.c3 e7 ( 5...d7!? 6.gxe4 c6 7.e2 bd7 looks like the Fort Knox variation of the French: Black is solid, but White has a spatial plus, Opalka, G-Smagin,S/Dortmund 1995.) 6.0-0 0-0 7.cxe4 bd7 8.d4 and now the game resembles a Rubinstein French, with a small edge for W hite, Pessi,E-Susak,Z/ Pula 1997. ] 375

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 3...e5!? is sharper, 4.xe4 f6 ( 4...f5!? ) 5.xf6+ ( 5.f3!? ) 5...xf6 6.c3 c6 7.b5 d7 8.d3 I prefer Black, Kahn,EMork,K/Budapest 1998. ] 4.c3 [ 4.g4!? is probably the best chance, g6 5.g2 f6 6.c3 c6 7.gxe4 recuperates the pawn, but W hite's wea ke ne d k in gside d ark squ ares are a cause for concern, Soppela,J-Cording,H/ Hamburg 1992. ] 4...f6 5.c4 This is the reason that the variation is worse than the Budapest, as with colours reversed Bb5+ would be played, but here ...c6 would be the reply. [ 5.e2? (threatening Qb5+) c6! 6.c4 e6 7.gxe4 xe4 8.xe4 d4 led to an upset Black victory in Rivas Pastor, M-Gonzalez Merino,F/Cala Galdana ESP 2001, but ( 8...d4! is even better, 9.d3? b5! 10.c3? b4 wins. )] 5...e6 6.f3!? This seems like the best try, and at least contains a trap. [ 6.e2 d4 Black simply hangs-on to his pawn, 7.b5 d7 8.c3 d4 9.b5 d7 10.c3 c6! 11.b5 a6 White is losing, Mangei,P-Stern,R/Baden-Baden 1991. ] 6...c5! This is a good idea, g1-a7 looks very sensitive, [ 6...exf3 7.xf3 c6?! ( missing the more i m p o r t a n t o f t h e t w o t h r e a t s , 7...c8! is simpler: 8.xf7?! g4 and should win) 8.xf7! Ouch! d4! ( 8...xf7? 9.xf5 d7 10.e4 is horrible, Moser,G-Schone/ Biel 1981.) 9.xh8 ( 9.xe6!? ) 9...xc4 10.d3 h4+ 11.g3 h3 if Black can roundu p t h e h 8 - k n igh t t h e n h e will h a ve f a i r c h a n c e s , Ho f f m a n n , W -A u t e n gru b e r, R / Erlangen 1994. ] 7.cxe4?? [ 7.fxe4 xe4 8.gxe4 xe4 9.h5 ( 9.xe4 h4+ 10.g3 xc4 ) 9...d4 looks pretty disgusting for White. ] 7...xe4 8.xe4 xe4 and White has lost a piece, Neher,G-Teubner,W/Ulm 1995.

373

B01

The Patzer Variation N,N THEORETICAL [Andrew Martin] Mr Buckley of Bath asks: I saw a recent article o f y o u r s i n C H E S S m a g a z i n e wh e r e a n outlandish variation of the Scandinavian was suggested. Can you give a basic analysis here and go through some ideas. It looked interesting! 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 e5+!? Let us christen this ' THE PATZER ' for obvious reasons. Black sees a check and gives a check... .... It is quite remarkable that this move can be made to work sensibly. In f a c t , B l a ck re a ch e s a n o t t o o d i s s i m il a r p o si t i o n t o t h a t o f t h e 3 . . . Q d 8 li n e . T h e psychological impact is considerable- it will be very difficult for your opponent to take the game seriously now. 4.e2 I am forecasting that most people will play this irrespective of rating. They think they are going to punish you after 5 Nf3' Not so! [ 4.ge2! Once a few games have been played this might turn out to be 'the main line'. c6 ( 4...f6 I prefer this move I think. 5.d4 a5 6.g3 c6 7.g2 f5 8.0-0 e6 9.d2 bd7= ) 5.d4 c7 6.g3 f5 7.f4 b6 ] [ 4.e2 Nothing xe2+ 5.xe2 f6 ( 5...c6 6.f3 f6 7.0-0 f5 8.d3 e6 9.f4 bd7 10.fe1 b4= 1-0 Sarquis,MHegarty,S/Oropesa del Mar 2001) 6.f3 f5= ] 4...c6! Useful, giving the Queen a retreat and keeping a White Knight out of d5 5.f3 [ 5.d4 c7 6.e3 ( 6.f3 f5 7.ge2 e6 8.0-0 d7 9.b1 gf6 10.e1 d6 11.g3 g6 12.ce4 xe4 13.xe4 xe4 14.xe4 f6= 1-0 Zhao Jun-Buckley, S/Oropesa del Mar 2001) 6...f5 7.d2 f6 8.0-0-0 e6 ] 5...c7 Check this line out on your database and you'll find a wealth of games from assorted U8 Championships. Forgive me for not showing them here. 6.d4 [ 6.0-0 f5 7.d3 d7 ( 7...e6 8.h4 g6 9.e3 d6 ) 8.h4 g6 9.f4 e6 10.g4 e7 ] 6...f5! This move holds the real key to the 376

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 PATZER. Black delays the development of his Knight on g8. It's the Bishop on c1,you seethat's the W hite piece that can hassle the Black Queen i.e. Bg5-h4-g3 for instance, or, with Knight on f6, Ne5 and then Bf4. We keep our Knight at home then and play other useful moves first e.g. ...Bf5, ...e6,,, Nd7. .Bd6- you sort out the order. I'll just say that the timing of ...Nf6 is crucial. A few lines: 7.0-0 [ 7.h4 g6 8.f4 e6 9.0-0 f6 ] [ 7.g5 e6 8.h4 g6 9.0-0 e7! I prefer Black now ] [ 7.e3 e6 8.d2 f6 9.f4 d6 ( 9...a5!? idea ...Bb4 ) 10.e5 bd7= ] [ 7.e5 d7 8.f4 ( 8.f4 gf6 9.0-0 e6; 8.xd7 xd7 9.0-0 f6 10.e3 e6= ) 8...xe5 9.xe5 b6 10.b1 f6 11.f4 d8 ] 7...e6 8.g5 d7 9.h4 d6= You couldn't say that Black has been in any way troubled by the opening. Very odd! This weird idea seems to produce a position similar to that of the Caro-Kann. I rather like the White Bishop sitting pretty on e2, doing precisely nothing.

Black has gotten rid of White's dark-squared bishop and retained his own, to cover his weaknesses. Arguably, too, the bishop on f5 is better developed outside of the pawn chain (compare the previous note). But Black may not get time to castle kingside. 7.d2 [ Now if W hite gambits by 7.0-0 xc3 8.bxc3 xc3 , his bishop hangs. N e v e r t h e l e s s , 9.e5 e6 10.b1 gives some compensation. ] 7...xd2 8.xd2 e6 9.0-0 [ 9.d5! is critical, to tear apart the centre before Black consolidates. In NarayananTiwari, New Delhi 2009, the second player managed to hold on after d7 ( 9...b4 may improve) 10.dxe6 fxe6 ( 10...xe6 11.0-0-0 d6!? ) 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 12.g5! ( 12.d4 b6 ) 12...d6 13.xe6 ( here 13.xe6! calls Black's play into doubt) 13...b4 14.d4 xc2! 15.cb5 ( 15.xc2 xc4 16.he1 might retain an edge ) 15...a4 16.xb4 xb4 17.xa7+ b8 18.b3 xa7 19.bxa4 , and here c5 was approximately equal. There's a lot to be looked at here I suspect that if there's a serious problem with 6...Ne4, it's 9 d5. ] 374 B01 9...d7 10.a3 c6 Playable, if a bit slow. [ 10...e7 11.b4 b6 looks risky, but the Thipsay,Praveen Mahadeo 2453 queen is actually relatively safe on b6. 12.d5 Tiwari,Arjun 2256 0-0-0 13.ad1 f6 14.fe1 might follow, 1st Open Gurgon IND (4) 23.01.2009 with White probably having some edge. ] [John Watson] 11.fe1 W hite has 12 d5 in mind. 0-0-0?! When Black plays 3...Qa5, he's often happy Allowing some bothersome threats. [ 11...c7 is better, intending ...0-0-0. ] with simplification, so the following idea of ... 12.g5! e5?! Ne4 bears notice. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 [ 12...g6 , when 13.b4 f5 ( 13...c7!? 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 f5 14.xe6! fxe6 15.xe6 d6 16.xd8 [ 5...e4 is the normal version of the idea in xd8 17.d5! ) 14.d3 f6 15.b5!? ] the game, for example, 6.d2 ( quite a few ga m e s h a ve co n t in u e d 6.d3!? xc3 13.xe5!? [ 13.b3! is still more convincing after e7 7.bxc3 , when instead of grabbing the pawn, ( 13...h6 14.xe5 xe5 15.xf7 ) 14.xe5 Black can choose g6 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 xe5 15.xf7 xd4 16.c1! f6 0-0!? 10.xe7 c6 11.e3 xc3 17.xh8 d8 18.e3 ] , but it's hard not to prefer White somewhat after 12.d2 b2 13.c3 ) 6...xd2 7.xd2 13...xe5 14.xf7 xd4 15.e2! c5 16.xh8 xh8 17.xe6+ xe6 18.xe6+ e6 with the idea ...Bb4. ] 19.e2 f8 Black has some 6.c4 Now 6...e6 has been played in b8 hundreds or thousands of master games. c o m p e n s a t i o n , b u t i t s h o u l d n ' t b e q u i t e e4!? This is a rather counterintuitive line that enough, because White lacks weaknesses. aims at gaining the bishop pair at the cost of 20.d1 [ Or 20.f1 , transposing. ] considerable development. Still, a structure with ...e6 and ...c6 can hold up a lot better if 20...d8 21.c3!? 377

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 21.g3 intends Rc1 and b4. ] 21...f8 22.f1 xa3! 23.d1 f6 24.bxa3 xc3 25.e7 c8 26.g3 xc2 27.d7 [ 27.d8!? b1+ 28.g2 b6 ] 27...b1+ [ 27...b2! covers g7. Black seems to be holding. ] 28.g2 b6 29.d6+ a8 30.xg7 a5?! 31.xh7 a7 32.h6 d8 33.e5 d2 34.f6 Now it's 'a matter of technique'. The rest of the moves were d8 35.c5+ a6 36.f5 d5 37.c4+ b6 38.f7 b5 39.h4 a4 40.xa4 d5+ 41.f3 c5 42.f4 b3 43.h5 c6 44.g4 c4 45.g5 xf3 46.xf3 c3 47.xc6+ bxc6 48.g6 c2 49.g7 c1 50.g8 f4 51.g6 b5 52.h6 c5 53.h7 e5 54.g8 e4+ 55.h2 f4+ 56.g1 c1+ 57.g2 1-0

375 Tiviakov,Sergei Hansen,Curt Wijk aan Zee (5) [Nigel Davies]

B01

Sax - Gausel, Skelleftea 2001 continued c7 8.b5 (White could also delay this move) e6 9.0-0 a6 10.bxc6 xc6 11.h3 h5 12.e2 d6 13.d4 a5 14.f4 1/2-1/2 ] 7...xf3 [ 7...h5 8.b4 c7 9.0-0 e6 10.b1 a6 was a game Shahade - Stefanova, Andorra 2000 af ter which 11.d3 intending Ne2-f4 would have been quite promising for White. ] 8.xf3 e6 9.0-0 bd7 10.a3 [ The idea of a queenside expansion is more p r o m i s i n g t h a n t h e ' c l a s s i c a l ' 10.d4 when Ward - Emms, 4NCL 1997 went d6 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 0-0 13.c4 ad8 14.c2 fe8 15.d2 c7 with a solid game for Black. ] 10...e7 11.b3 0-0 12.b2 fd8 13.d4 ac8 14.d1 b5 15.e3 c7 16.e2 [ According to Tiviakov, the immediate 16.c4 would have given him an edge. ] 16...b6 17.fd1 a5 18.c4 ½-½

1994

Hansen's play is much better, but even here W hite could have maintained an edge with stronger play on move 16. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.g3 f6 5.g2 c6 6.f3 [ White can also play 6.ge2 in this position, which has the advantage that it does not block his f-pawn. g6 ( 6...f5 7.b4!? c7 8.b1 bd7 9.0-0 e6 10.d3 e7 11.h3 h6 12.f4 e5 13.d2 d6 14.f4 exf4 15.xf4 h7 16.b5 and White had the initiative in Payen - Kholmov, St Petersburg 1998 ) 7.0-0 g7 8.b1 c7 was a game Paz Ladron - Bellon Lopez, Malaga 1998 and now 9.b4 looks logical (in the game White played 9.d4) ] 6...g4 [ Once again White can meet 6...f5 with 7.b4!? after which Shabalov - Minasian, New York Open 1998 went c7 8.0-0 e6 9.b1 wit h W h it e 's ch a n ce s b e in g s o m e wh a t preferable in this rich position. ] 7.h3 [ White can also consider 7.b4 after which

376 Topalov,Veselin Kamsky,Gata Corus Chess 2006 [Andrew Martin]

B01

2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 A rare outing for the Modern variation at this level. W as Kamsky trying to surprise Topalov? 3.f3 xd5 4.d4 f5 Rare in comparison with 4...Bg4 or 4...g6 Topalov sticks with a tried and trusted formula: when surprised keep it simple and aim for a small, enduring edge. 5.d3 xd3 6.xd3 e6 7.0-0! [ But not the reckless 7.b5+ c6 8.xb7 db4 9.a3 b8 ] 7...c6 8.c4 b6 9.c3 e7 10.f4 White has obtained a typical small edge with the simplest of moves. He has choice for this Rooks, good development and ands plenty of scope for the middlegame. Black is cramped. Perhaps this is why 4...Bf5 isn't seen more often, although there is no need for Kamsky's ne xt m o ve . g5?! He feels that his position is so prospectless that he has to try and unbalance the game. But 10...g5?! is almost 378

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 certainly a game-losing move. [ Black should keep it tight with something like 10...0-0 11.ad1 d7 He is still worse, but very much in the game. ] 11.g3! A deliberate sacrifice of a pawn (or two) in order to keep the initiative. g4 12.e5 xd4 [ 12...xd4 leads naturally to 13.e2 0-0-0 14.xf7 ( 14.ad1 c5 15.xf7 ) 14...xc4 15.ae1 ] 13.c5! Excellent. Black's central pieces hang in the air and after the capture on c5 White threatens Ne4. [ The natural 13.ad1 was also good: c5 ( 13...f5 14.e2 c8 15.c5! xc5 16.b5+ ) 14.e2 a4 15.xd4 xb2 16.e2 xd1 17.xe6!! fxe6 18.xg4+I guess Topalov just didn't want him to play ...c7-c5 ] 13...xc5 14.ad1 0-0? I put a question mark by this move simply because it is so ugly. However, I am not sure what advice to offer because the Black King is already permanently compromised: [ 14...e7 15.b4 0-0-0 16.bxc5 f3+ 17.gxf3 xd3 18.xd3 d5 19.c6 gxf3 20.cxb7+ xb7 21.xd5 exd5 22.xd5+- ] [ 14...f6 15.xg4 d7 16.b5! ] 15.e4 e7 16.xg4! [ Many would have been tempted by 16.xd4 but White gets pushed back: xd4 17.xd4 f5 18.c3 c5 19.dd1 f4 ] 16...c5 [ Or 16...f5 17.c3 d5 18.xd5 exd5 19.ef6+ xf6 20.xf6+ g7 21.e5!+- ] [ 16...f5 17.h6+ g7 18.e5+ xh6 19.h3+ g6 20.xd4+- There really is nothing worthwhile to say about these lines other than the damage has already been done. ] 17.b4?! [ Kasparov pointed out at the time that 17.e5! won immediately: f6 18.g5 f5 19.h3+- ] 17...d5 [ 17...f5 18.c3 d5 19.xd5 exd5 20.ef6+ h8 21.e5 ] 18.bxc5 f5 19.f3 c8 20.d6 xd6 21.cxd6 h4 22.d7 c6 [ 22...c7 leads to a further White sacrifice: 23.xd5 exd5 24.ef6+ xf6 25.xf6+

g7 26.e8+ xe8 27.dxe8 xe8 28.g3+ h8 29.xc7+- ] 23.e5 c7 24.g4+ h8 25.d6 Not a very good advert for 4...Bf5 and I am not sure what advice to offer Black, other than to avoid the whole thing! 5 Bd3! is the easiest of moves to play and understand and seems to offer an advantage. 1-0

377 Topalov,Veselin Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter MTel Sofia BUL (1) [John Watson]

B01 2772 2693 10.05.2007

It's hard not to include such a high-profile game, but it wasn't particularly exciting, so I'll just take a run through the opening. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 This has become a m a j o r w e a p o n f o r N i s i p e a n u . 4.g3 I don't think that this is enough to truly bother Black, but there are 129 games with it in Megabase and White has done respectably well. Topalov probably wanted to get away from hypercritical lines. f6 [ T h e m o s t p o p u l a r m o v e i s 4...c6 , to exploit White's lack of control over d4. Some examples and notes 5.g2 f6 ( 5...f5 prepares ...0-0-0 more quickly, but most players seem to hold off just in case White plays Nf3 and they can play ...Bg4. Also the move ... Bg4 can be irritating in and of itself. ) A) 6.d3 g4! 7.f3 d4 8.h3 xf3+ ( 8...xf3 9.xf3 0-0-0 is tempting, to exploit Black's increasing lead in development) 9.xf3 xf3 10.xf3 c6= MaciejewskiM-Sygulski, POL-ch 1987; B) 6.ge2 B1) 6...f5 7.b4!? is a very bizarre move by a leading grandmaster! Black naturally accepts: xb4 8.d3 c6 9.0-0 d7 ( 9...e5!? ) 10.b1 e6 11.g5 bd5 12.e4 h6 ( 12...e7 Does White have anything?) 13.xf6 xf6 14.xf6+ gxf6 15.b3 c8 16.f4 e7 17.h5 d6? 18.h4 e7 19.h5 and Black had equalized in Bologan-Hauchard, Belfort 1998, 379

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 eventually drawn!; B2) 6...g4 7.h3 h5 ( 7...f5 8.d3 e5 clamps down on d4. It's hard to believe that this can be bad: 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.a3 h5! 11.b4 d7 12.g5? xh3 13.e4 xg2 14.xg2 f5 with a clear extra pawn, SkripchenkoGofshtein, playchess.com INT 2004. But I liked Black's position anyway) 8.d3 0-0-0 9.0-0 e5 10.e3 (this is more like a picture of what W hite is after) b8 11.d2 d4 12.g4 g6 13.fe1 ( 13.f4! xe2+ 14.xe2 ) 13...h6 14.a4!? a6 15.b5 c5? ( 15...c6 ) 16.exd4 exd4 17.f4 b6 18.a5!? ( 18.b4 ) 18...xb5 19.axb6 xb6 20.a4 with a strong attack, AmonatovZablotsky, Internet 2006. ] 5.g2 c6 [ 5...h5!? is a funny move that led to success after 6.d4 ( 6.h3 ) 6...h4 7.f4 b6 8.ge2 c6 9.d3 a6 10.a3 ( 10.0-0-0 ) 10...hxg3 11.fxg3 g4 12.0-0-0 e6 13.h3 f5 14.f3 d5 15.g4 h7 16.g3 and W hite is probably slightly better but went on to lose in Smirin-Kurajica, Solin 1999. ] 6.d4 [ (a) The game takes a conventional course after 6.f3 f5 ( 6...g4 ) 7.0-0 e6 8.d4 ( 8.d3 c7 9.e2 bd7 10.e4 Hogenacker-Brecht, BLW9697 GriesheimKKS Koeln 1997 about equal) 8...e7 ( 8...bd7!? 9.f4 b4 ) 9.e5 h5 10.h3 ( 10.f4!? ) 10...bd7 11.f4?! ( 11.c4!? ) 11...b6 12.g4?! hxg4 13.hxg4 xg4! 14.xg4 xg4 15.xg4 xd4+ 16.f2 h4 with a strong attack, Kharlov-Vokarev, Moscow1998. ] [ (b) 6.ge2 g4! 7.h3 h5 8.d3 e6 9.g4 g6 10.f4 e5?! ( 10...bd7 ) 11.e2 e7 12.xg6 hxg6 13.d2!? bd7 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 15.e3 with the better prospects, Delgado-R Gonzalez, Dos Hermanas 2004. ] 6...g6 [ Slightly odd, but apparently fine. A normal line is 6...f5 7.ge2 e6 8.0-0 c7 , when things turned wild after 9.e1 d6 10.d5! cxd5 11.d4! 0-0 12.xf5 exf5 13.g5 e4 14.xd5 d7 15.e3 c6

16.h5! e6 17.ad1 e5 18.f4 ( 18.f4! ) 18...f6? 19.d4 fe8 20.xe4 g6 21.d5 d8 22.h4! g5 23.h5 fxe4 24.xe4 e6 25.f4 f5 26.xe5 1-0 SockoBitansky, Panormo 2001. ] 7.f4 This is one of the few games in which we actually see the 'point' of g3 realised! b4 8.ge2 g7 9.c1!? Very odd, especially since [ 9.0-0 xb2 10.d3! f5 ( 10...b6 11.ab1 a6 12.d2 ) 11.e4 must favour White's space and development. ] 9...0-0 10.0-0 g4 11.a3 a5 12.h3 xe2 13.xe2 bd7 (With ...e5 coming, Black has near-equality in this typical Slav structure) 14.c4 e5 15.b4 c7 16.dxe5 xe5 17.c2 a5 18.ae1 axb4 19.axb4 fe8 20.c5!? d5 21.d2 d7 22.c4 7f6 and the game was roughly even. White went on lose when Topalov blundered: 23.g4 h5 24.g3 hxg4 25.hxg4 d7 26.g5 xe1 27.xe1 e8 28.f3 ec7 29.g4 d8 30.g2 b5 31.d1 a1 32.xa1 xa1 33.f3 e5 34.e2 dc7 35.e3 e6 36.g4 bc7 37.e4 g7 38.f4 d1 39.f2 c3 40.b5 e1+ 41.g2 d5 42.bxc6 bxc6 43.d3?? d4 44.xe6 xe3+ 45.h2 f2+ 46.h3 f3+ 47.g3 g2+ 0-1

378 Trabert,Bettina Fakhiridou,Ekaterini 35th TCh-GRE (6) [Eric Prié]

B01 2269 2296 07.07.2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e4?! 6.d3! xc3 7.bxc3 g6 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 0-0 10.d2 c6 The fact that Black has to play this move, thus blocking his c-pawn in order to defend e7, is an alarming sign for the line. It means that h i s ga m b le t o a cc e p t a s e ve r e r e t a r d i n development in return for some attacking prospects against the damaged opposing structure, turns out to be just a dream. 11.h3! I gave this refutation "of Black's optimistic 5th move" one year ago, but it seems to have 380

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 gone unnoticed... at least on this site! a3 I do not see how Black could develop his queen's bishop whilst continuing to have the move c3-c4, with or without Rb1, hanging over his head like a sword of Damocles. [ 11...f5 12.c4 a4 ( 12...a6 13.xf5 gxf5 14.d5! xa1 15.xa1 a5 16.d4 Pro vid e s W h it e wit h a win n ing a t t a ck.) 13.d5! The Qa4-Qd1 vis-Ã -vis gives White s u p p l e m e n t a r y t a c t i c a l m o t i v e s . d4 ( 13...a5 14.b1 xd3 15.cxd3 xd1 16.bxd1 b6 17.xe7 ) 14.xd4 xd4 15.xe7 xa1 16.xa1 xd3 17.h6 f6 18.cxd3 f7 19.e1 And Black has to part with his queen to avoid mate. ] 12.c1! [ 12.d5!? a5 13.c1 c5 14.h6 xc3? 15.xf8 xe1 ( 15...xa1 16.xa1 xf8 17.h8#; 15...xf8 16.h6+ g7 17.xh7 xa1 18.e5! xe5 19.xe5 e8 20.g8+ d7 21.xf7 ) 16.h6! xf2+ 17.h1 c3 18.f1 f5 19.g5+- ] 12...xc1 13.axc1 Black will lose a pawn, either on b7, c7 or e7. Thus it has to be c7 f r o m h i s p o i n t o f v i e w . e6 14.g5! It was also tempting to activate the queen's rook and provoke considerable disruption in the black camp. [ 14.b1 A) 14...d8 15.c4 c6 ( 15...c5 16.d5 d7 17.xe7 ) 16.a4 ( 16.f4 e8 17.c3 ) 16...e8 17.a5; B) 14...b6 15.xe6! fxe6 16.e4 a5 17.xa8 xa8 18.e1 e5 ( 18...f7 19.g5+ ) 19.xe5 xe5 20.xe5 c4 21.e2; C) 14...ab8 15.g5 xa2 ( 15...d7 16.f4 ) 16.a1 d5 17.c4 e6 18.xe6 ( 18.d5 xa1 19.xa1 d7 20.dxc6 xc6 21.f4 bd8 22.xc7 d7 23.f4 ) 18...fxe6 19.c3! xd4 The best cha nce . ( 19...d8 20.xa7; 19...f6 20.g5 ff8 21.xe6; 19...e5 20.d5 b6 21.dxc6 bd8 22.e3 h6 23.d1 xe3 24.xe3 f6 25.c5 g7 26.f1 ) 20.cxd4 xd4 21.e3 xa1 22.xa1 a6 23.c5; D) 14...fb8! 15.a4 ( 15.f4 xa2 16.b2 d5 17.xc7 c8 18.xb7 xd4; 15.g5 xa2 16.a1 d5 17.c4 e6 18.xe6 fxe6 19.c3 e5 20.d5 d8

21.c5 ) 15...a2 16.b2 d5 17.e4 xe4 18.xe4 e6 19.f4 b6 20.xc7 c8 21.d6 a5 22.b4 c4 With compensation, but for Black! ] 14...d7 [ 14...xa2 15.a1 d5 16.c4 e6 17.xe6 fxe6 18.c3 xd4 19.cxd4 xd4 20.e3 xa1 21.xa1 a5 22.a4 ( 22.c5!? a4 23.a3 a5 24.f1 ) 22...b6 23.c5 fb8 24.cxb6 cxb6 25.b5 ] 15.f4 [ 15.b1 b6 16.f4 fe8 17.xc7 ( 17.f3 a5 18.e5 e6 19.e4 xe5 20.xe5 c6 ) 17...ac8 18.g3 ( 18.f4 e5 ) 18...a5 19.e3 ( 19.e4 f5 20.g5 xc3 21.f3 c6 ) 19...h6 ( 19...xc3 20.xg6! xe3 21.xf7+ f8 22.fxe3; 19...h6 ) 20.f4 c4 21.xc4 xc4 ] 15...h6 [ 15...fe8 16.xc7 ac8 17.g3 a5 ( 17...h6 18.f4 a5 19.e4 b6! ) 18.e4 f5 ( 18...f5 19.c5 )] 16.f3 e6 17.b1 g5 [ 17...b6 18.e4 ] [ 17...a5 18.xc7 ( 18.h4!? ac8 19.b5 b6 20.xe6 fxe6 21.xg6 fe8 22.h5 ) 18...b6 19.bd1 ( 19.xe6 fxe6 20.e1 ac8 21.g3 f7 ) 19...ac8 20.e5 xc3? ( 20...xe5? 21.xe5 xc3 22.xg6 ) 21.d5 xe5 22.xe5 c8 23.xe7 ] 18.xc7 b6 19.a4 [ 19.a6! xa2 20.a1 d5 21.b7 ae8 ( 21...ac8 22.xc8 xc8 23.g3 f5 24.e5 xe5 25.xe5 xc3 26.xa7 e6 27.b1+- ) 22.xc6 xc6 23.xa7 ] 19...ac8 20.g3 a5 21.e5 [ 21.h4 g4 22.e5 xc3 23.g6 e8 24.d5 ] 21...fd8 [ 21...xe5 22.xe5 xc3 23.d5 ] 22.xg7?? Time trouble already? Anyway this is an incomprehensible slip that spoils all White's efforts so far in this quality game. [ 22.e3! And Black is not out of trouble yet. xc3? 23.h7+ ] 22...xg7 Now White loses the pawn back and will rapidly go down. 23.bd1 xc3 24.e4 d7 25.a1 c6 26.d3 Certainly not the most difficult to negotiate for the opponent... xf3 27.gxf3 e6 28.e4 381

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c6 29.f4 xd4 30.fxg5 hxg5 31.a2 d5 32.g2 f5 33.e1 e5 34.d1 e6 35.e1 e4 36.f1 f4+ 37.h2 d2 38.g1 xh3+ 39.xh3 xh3 40.a5 c3 41.axb6 axb6 42.b1 dxc2 43.a7+ c7 0-1

379 Tzermiadianos,Andreas Shen,Siyuan FSGM August Budapest HUN (4) [John Watson]

B01 2447 2321 04.08.2009

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.f3 g4 5.h3 h5 [ 5...xf3 6.xf3 wins the bishop pair and/or secures a central advantage after A) 6...b4? 7.xb7 xc2+ 8.d1 xd4 ( 8...xa1 9.b5+ d7 10.xd7+ xd7 11.d5+ e8 12.c6+ d7 13.xa8+ ) 9.xa8 b3+ 10.d2; B) 6...c6!? 7.c3!? ( or 7.b5 e6 8.0-0 wit h a n e d g e) 7...d7 8.d3 e6+ 9.e2! 0-0-0 10.0-0 f6 11.d2 e5 12.dxe5 xe5 13.xf6 xf6 14.c4 with the bishop pair; C) 6...e6 7.c3 e7 (White can play Bd3 or Bc4 versus most moves) 8.c4 ( 8.d3 0-0 9.0-0 d7 10.d1 ) 8...0-0 9.0-0 c6 10.d2 d7 11.e1 ] 6.c4 I like this move order, which reverts to 4 c4 positions but without Be2 and retaining the idea of an early g4. b6 [ 6...xf3 7.xf3 b4 again appears to fall a bit short after 8.c3! e5!? ( 8...8c6 9.a3 e5 10.d2! exd4? 11.b3 with the idea a6 12.xb7 ) 9.d5 d7 10.a3 a6 11.b4!? c5 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.c5 c7 14.c4 ] 7.c3 [ W h it e h a s a l so h a d s u c ce s s wi t h 7.c5 , e.g., A) 7...d5 8.b3 b6 9.e5! c6 10.c3 ( 10.g4 f6! ) 10...e6 11.a4; B) 7...6d7 B1) 8.b3 b6 ( 8...c6 9.g4 g6 10.c3 ) 9.d5!? xf3 10.xf3 c6 11.g5!? bxc5 12.dxc5 ( 12.c4 f6 ) 12...a5+ 13.c3 e6 14.e2 xc5 15.0-0 0-0 16.g3 with attack;

B2) 8.c4 e6 9.e3 c6 10.c3 e7 11.a3!? ( 11.0-0 0-0 12.e2 ) 11...e5?! ( 11...0-0 ) 12.d5 d4 13.g4 xf3+ 14.xf3 g6 Byrne-Rogoff, US Ch 1978 and 15.d6! cxd6 16.cxd6 xd6 17.d1 gives White tremendous pressure. ] 7...e6 [ 7...e5?! 8.g4 exd4 9.xd4 g6 10.g2 c6 11.0-0 has won some games for White, intending e7 12.f4 ] 8.g4 [ 8.e3 b4!? 9.b3 c6 10.e2 0-0 11.a3 e7!? 12.g4 g6 13.d5 ( 13.0-0-0 a5! ) 13...a5! 14.b5 bxc4! 15.xc4 c6 16.dxc6 a6 , and White should give the piece back by 17 Qb4, rather than 17.b6? 1/2-1/2 of Keitlinghaus (2525) -Holzhaeuer (2355), Gladenbach 1997 because here axb5 18.xd8 axd8 19.xb5 bxc6 20.e2 f6 uses the bishops to good effect. ] 8...g6 9.e5 [ R y b k a l i k e s 9.b3 threatening c5 and Qxb7 then c8 ( 9...c5!? 10.e3 8d7 11.0-0-0 ) 10.c5 6d7 11.h4 e7 12.xg6 hxg6 13.g2 c6 14.e3 is at any rate more comfortable for White. ] 9...c6 Black has tried all kinds of things here, but without much success: [ 9...8d7 10.xg6 hxg6 11.e3 ( 11.e2 b4!? 12.g2 c5 Conquest, S (2601)Ekstroem, R (2495), Leon 2001 and here 13.d5! was stron g) 11...f6 12.f3 c6 13.0-0-0 b4 14.g5! fd7? ( 14...h5!? ) 15.e4 e7 16.h4 a5 17.h5 gxh5 18.xh5 xh5 19.xh5 c7? ( 19...f8 20.h8 g6 21.d5! ) 20.g6 f5 21.g5 f8 22.f7 ( 22.h8! wins, in view of f6? 23.xf8+ ) 22...bd7 ( 22...f6 ) 23.b1 f6 24.d5! exd5 25.xf5 e5 26.cxd5 cxd5? 27.b5+ c6 1-0 Conquest (2530) Branger, Paris 2001. ] [ 9...b4 10.g2 8d7 ( 10...c6 11.h4 f6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.d3 ) 11.xg6 hxg6 12.b3 c5 13.0-0 xc3 14.xc3 f6 15.e3 c8 16.b3 c7 17.ad1 0-0 18.fe1 e8 19.c1! and Black's position was horrendous in Voitsekhovsky-Ulko, Novgorod 1998. ] [ 9...c6 10.g2 8d7 11.xg6 hxg6 12.e2 favours White, according to 382

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Svidler. ] 14.cxb4 e5 15.b2 xb3 16.axb3 10.xc6 bxc6 11.g2 xb2 17.xa7 b8 18.a2 e5 [ 11.a4! w i t h t h e i d e a a5 12.g2 and Black has enough compensation for compare Black's 12th. ] the pawn. ) 14.g3 h5 15.b5!; 11...d7 12.f3 c5?? B) 12.xe4! xe4 13.xe4 f5 14.e1 [ 12...0-0-0 13.0-0 ( 13.a4 xc4 ) 13...h5 and Black probably doesn't have enough ( 13...xc4 14.b5! b8 15.f4 ) 14.b5 for the pawn here. Still, it's a lot better b8 15.f4 hxg4 16.hxg4 c8 17.b3 a6 than what happens in the game! ] 18.c3 d6 and Black is hanging in there, 12.a4!? although White still has an advantage after [ \/White has a safe advantage after 12.e2 19.e2 ] but Vachier Lagrave is going for a quick 13.b7! Threatening Bc6. d8 14.g5+ f6 win ] 15.dxc5 xc5 16.d1 d4 17.e3 xc3+ 12...xd3?! 18.bxc3 xd1+ 19.xd1 A disaster, but it's [ 12...e4! is now necessary when White is interesting to look over the opening I can't only slight better after help but wonder about the worth of 2...Nf6 in A) 13.xe4?! e5! ( of course not this and several other lines. 13...xe4?? 14.g4 winning the queen ); 1-0 B) 13.dxe4 e5 14.g3 xb4 15.f4 a5 16.b3 c5 ] 13.b5! b8 14.e3 Suddenly White has a 380 B01 massive attack and sadly for Papaioannou he Vachier Lagrave,M 2742 makes a further mistake here which brings the Papaioannou,I 2639 game to a premature end. f5?! [ 14...a6 is a better try but after 15.d2! 19th European Teams (6.1) 14.11.2013 xb5 16.c2 Black is still in a lot of trouble [Tom Rendle] as Rab1 is a big threat. ] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 g4 4.e2 15.d2 c5?! After this Black is just lost [ 15...he8 16.xa7 should still be winning c6 5.0-0 0-0-0 This is a very risky setup for White but at least Black can fight on for that can payoff against an unprepared a little with g6 17.ab1 fd7 ] opponent. Unfortunately for Black I don't think Vachier Lagrave is the right player to play this 16.e4 xe3 17.xe3 h5 18.xa7 d5 19.c5! Black can resign here but he way against! 6.h3 [ in s t e a d t h e o d d 6.e1 worked well for s p o r t i n g l y a l l o w s m a t e i n s t e a d . xe3 20.xb7# A pretty painful game for Centre White in Zhigalko-Sharif in the archives. ] Counter players to watch, but it just shows 6...xf3 7.xf3 d7 8.c3 e5 [ 8...e5 I mentioned as an options in the why this quick ...0-0-0 line isn't popular at a above game with a typical slight edge to higher level. W h i t e a f t e r 9.d4 xf3+ 10.xf3 e6 1-0 11.d2 and now White's plan should be Nc4 with the option of coming into e5 or 381 B01 assisting a queenside push of a4/b4-b5 ] Vachier Lagrave,Maxime 2721 9.e1 f6 10.b4! One nice thing for Black in Tiviakov,Sergei 2637 this line is he gets control of the centre with 29.10.2010 th e e a rly . . . e5 b u t Va ch ie r L a gra ve isn 't Unive Crown Group (5) worried as he's just going for a big queenside [Gawain Jones] attack! d6 11.d3 f5 [ perhaps Black should try a pawn sacrifice 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 g4 4.e2 c6 5.c3 d7 with 11...e4!? [ The extremely unusual 5...f5 was tried in A) 12.dxe4 e6 when he has some a recent game. The queen looks rather counterattacking chances based on ...Qe5 awkwardly placed here but Black equalised a n d h 5 - h 4 . 13.b3 e5 ( 13...xb4!? 383

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 equality. ) 11...xc3 12.bxc3 e7 rather comfortably. 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 e6+ 13.d1 c6 14.c4 0-0 15.a3 fe8 A) 8.e2 xe2+ ( 8...d4!? 9.xe6 16.xe7 xe7 17.d3=; xf3+ 10.gxf3 fxe6 11.d3 and White's A2) 8.e3 b4 ( 8...0-0-0 structure looks slightly less ugly than would transpose to my own game.) 9.0-0 Black's. W hite will be able to achieve ge7 10.e4 g6 11.d3 f5 12.c3 strong pressure down the e file.) 9.xe2 xe3 13.fxe3 e7 14.b4 0-0 15.b5 0-0-0 10.xc6 bxc6 11.d3 and White has b8 16.a4 c6 17.e5 c7 18.xg6 a slight but definite edge and Black has hxg6 19.b3 d7 20.f3 f6 a thankless task to hold the draw.; and Black had gradually equalised and a B) 8.e2 Perhaps the wrong piece to draw was agreed in a few moves. Short, blo ck t he c he ck. d4 9.0-0 xe2+ N (2695)-Hansen, C (2595) Yerevan 10.xe2 0-0-0 11.d4 f6 12.f4 g5!? 1996.; 13.h2 ( 13.xg5 g8 14.xf6 xf6 B) 7...0-0-0 gives Black strong kingside pressure for B1) 8.d5! looks strong here, exploiting the pawn. ) 13...g8 ( 13...g4!? 14.h4 Bla ck's m ove o rd er. xf3 ( 8...b4 f5 also looks quite comfortable for Black 9.e5 xe2 10.xe2 e8 11.0-0 but Abu Sufian wanted to go for mate.) looks more pleasant for White with Black 14.c4 h5 15.d5 f6 16.c3 so passive.) 9.xf3 e5 10.e4 f6 This looks to rather tie in with Black's plan 11.d4 xe4 12.xe4 and White has ( 16.d3 is more sensible when I'd still a very comfortable position.; prefer White slightly.) 16...f4 17.a4 a6 B2) 8.e3 e6 9.b5 f6 ( 9...a6 18.ad1 g4 19.xf4 xf4 20.c5 xa4 could be a better move order, forcing the 21.xa4 gxh3 22.g3 g5 23.c3 g7 bishop to retreat immediately. ) 10.e2 and Black is doing extremely well so I'm B2a) 10...a6 looks stronger as I don't rather confused why he offered a draw! 1/ s e e a k n o c k o u t b l o w . 11.xa6 2-1/2 Torre, E (2484)-Abu Sufian, S ( 11.a4 is of course a way to play (2340) Guangzhou 2010. ] on. ) 11...xf3 12.gxf3 bxa6 6.h3 Vachier Lagrave employs a quiet method 13.xa6+ b8 14.d5 exd5 15.0-0-0 seeking a small, risk free advantage. xf3 d4 16.b5+ a8 17.a6+ b8 Black accepts that he will be slightly worse seems to be a draw although W hite but hopes to equalise within the next few doesn't have to take the perpetual moves. immediately.; [ When looking through games in this B2b) 10...f7 11.0-0-0 ge7 variation I was surprised to discover one of and Black was somewhat passively my own! 6...h5 is the other try. 7.d4 ( 7.d3 pla ce d but f airly solid in Jon es , G as in the game is of course possible here; (2526)-Dubois, M (2073) Porto San while 7.b4!? should also be considered. ) Giorgio 2007. I believe White should A) 7...e6 is more circumspect guarding probably look into the alternatives to 7 the d5 square. d 4 f o r a n a d va n t a ge , p e rh a p s t h e A1) 8.e5!? is untried but looks like an unplayed 7 b4!? ] int eres ting ide a alt ho ugh Black ca n prob a bly e qua lise . xe2 ( 8...xe5 7.xf3 0-0-0 [ 7...e6+ now looks frankly bizarre but 9.xh5 must favour White with his would actually transpose to the 5...Qf 5 bishop pair.) 9.xe2 xe5 ( 9...xd4 note. ] 10.d3 d6 11.f4 b4 12.a3 b6 d4 Immediately aiming to trade off 13.c4 c5 14.e4 d5 15.xc7 8.d3 looks good for White.; 9...xd4 10.xc6 White's bishop pair. [ Tiviakov played 8...e5 in a previous game bxc6 11.e3 b4 12.0-0! annotated by John Watson in the archives with a decent initiative for the pawn.) and drew fairly quickly but the young 10.dxe5 b4 11.0-0 ( 11.d2 e7 Frenchman must have found an 12.0-0-0 c6 and Black is close to 384

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 improvement. 9.0-0 d4 10.e1 d6 Van den Doel, E (2581)-Tiviakov, S (2667) Dresden 2007. Maybe here Vachier Lagrave h a d p l a n n e d 11.a4!? followed by a subsequent Nb5. ] 9.0-0 e6 So Tiviakov decides it's safer to leave the pawn on e6 where it keeps the light squares defended. 10.e3 e7 Sensibly defending. Black threatens to support the d4 square with ...Nef5 so W hite is obliged to exchange his bishop. [ 10...xf3+ is not so strong as following 11.xf3 b8 12.a4 Black's pieces aren't doing a good job defending his king. ] 11.xd4 xd4 12.e4 Strictly speaking Black probably shouldn't have any problems here but White's queenside expansion looks easier to achieve than Black's counterplay on the kingside. The opposite coloured bishops will favour the side which can start attacking f irst while W hite's bish op is alread y well located to cause Black some problems. c6 [ 12...f5 The knight could also come out to f5. 13.a4 I was talking to the author of the Rybka software at the weekend and he mentioned that it often shows an evaluation of 0.00 and not just when there's a perpetual upcoming. This is a case in point but I feel the position is easier to play with the White pieces as if Black drops his guard then he will quickly run into trouble. If we continue along the top line we have: c6 14.a5 xb2 15.a6 b6 16.c3 e7 17.d4 b8 18.e1 and Black's pawn grab is starting to look somewhat foolish. ] [ Grabbing the pawn is very dangerous 12...xb2?! 13.b1 e5 14.xb7!! regaining the pawn as xb7 15.d6+ a6 16.b7+ b6 17.c4+ wins the queen. ] 13.c1 This isn't so much to defend the pawn but to prepare advancing in the centre. e7 14.d1 f5 [ M a y b e B l a c k s h o u l d t h r o w i n 14...e5 15.e2 a n d o n ly n o w f5 16.c3 b6!? in comparison with the following note the knight cannot drop to back to d2 but again 17.g3 hf8 18.d4 g6 19.b4 looks more pleasant for the first player. ] 15.c3 d7 [ 15...b6 ca n n ow be m e t b y 16.d2!? xd3 17.c4 xd1+ 18.xd1 a6

19.e2 d8 20.b4 with strong queenside pressure in return for the pawn. ] 16.g3 g6 17.d4 White has successfully forced Black's pieces to retreat and visually the position is starting to look promising. The computer still states Black is fine but it doesn't fully comprehend how quickly White's pawns can overpower Black's queenside. d6 [ 17...f6 is the computer's suggestion but it isn 't im m ed ia t e ly ob vio u s t o m e h o w it intends to fight for the initiative following 18.b4 ] 18.b4! Continuing to gain space, White doesn't worry about a slight structural weakening while the f3 bishop is still a strong attacking piece. xg3 19.fxg3 d6 20.b5 a5 Trying to slow up White's pawn storm and defending b7 but the knight is rather offside here and indeed in a few moves time it drops off. [ 20...e7 should probably be preferred although White is obviously on top following 21.c4 b8 ( 21...xg3? 22.a3 wins material) 22.h2 e5 23.c5 e6 24.dxe5 xd1 25.xd1 xe5 26.c6 and Black still has some problems. ] 21.c4! e5 [ 21...xg3? would be a blunder as 22.c3 b6 23.b7+ wins the queen. ] [ 21...c5 22.bxc6 xc6 23.b1 and it doesn't look like Black should be able to survive for long. ] 22.c5 e7 23.c3 e4 Tiviakov tries to complicate matters. [ 23...b6 24.cxb6 axb6 25.dxe5 wins a clean pawn and continues with the attack. ] 24.xe4 [ 24.xa5 is another promising option. exf3 25.e1! d7 26.xa7 xb5 ( 26...f2+?! d o e s n ' t g e t B l a c k a n y w h e r e . 27.xf2 xd4+? 28.f1 c4+ 29.g1 xb5 30.a8+ d7 31.ad1++- ) 27.a8+ d7 28.a3 he8 29.xf3 and White has an extra pawn although Black has some chances to hold. ] 24...fxe4?! after this Black has no compensation for the pawn deficit. [ He should have tried 24...xe4 25.xa5 xd4 when the position is rather complex. W h i t e s h o u l d p r o b a b l y c o n t i n u e 26.c6 385

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 26.xa7?? a4 unexpectedly traps the queen. ) 26...b8 27.h2 and White still has some advantage thanks to his somewhat safer king but Black's position is hardly a disaster. ] 25.xa5 b8 26.c3 [ 26.b6 cxb6 27.cxb6 a6 28.e5+ a l s o l o o k s v e r y p r o m is i n g b u t V a ch i e r Lagrave prefers to keep more material on the board. ] 26...d5 27.e1 hd8 28.ad1 d7 This series to exchange pawns leaves Black with a horrible position. [ 28...b6 29.cxb6 cxb6 30.a4 is a clear extra pawn for W hite while Black must sit passively but perhaps this was his best option. ] 29.c6 d6 30.xe4 xb5 31.cxb7 xb7 32.d5! Not only does White have an extra pawn b ut he now ha s t he saf er kin g t oo . Vachier Lagrave converts with admirable ease, n o t a l l o w i n g T i vi a k o v a n y c h a n c e s . b5 33.h2 b6 34.a4 b3 35.c4 b2 36.e7 f8 37.e4 b4 38.e5 b2 39.e8+ [ 39.h4! is the computer's choice, giving the king a safe square on h3 but this would r e q u i r e f a r m o r e c a l c u l a t i o n a f t e r ff2 It's easy for a computer to state that 40.d6 xg2+ 41.h3 is completely winning for White but this isn't the kind of thing you want to analyse on move 39 with little time. ] 39...xe8 40.xe8+ b7 41.a5 [ 41.d6!? cxd6 42.h8 is another route to immediate victory as Black cannot defend his kingside pawns but the newly crowned European Blitz Champion prefers to go for mate. ] 41...c5?! The final mistake. [ Tiviakov had to try 41...d6 although 42.a6+! xa6 43.d6! is winning once we se e t h a t B lack ru n s o u t o f ch e cks: c4 44.d7! xg2+ 45.xg2 c2+ 46.f3 xd1+ 47.f4 d6+ 48.g5 xg3+ 49.h6 xh3+ 50.g7 c3+ 51.xh7 h3+ 52.g8 b3+ 53.f7 d3 54.e7 d5+ 55.g7 d4+ 56.h7 and Black has run out of checks ] 42.a6+! The king is forced out alone to fend against the queen and rook. It doesn't have a chance. xa6 43.c8+ b5 44.b8+ b6

45.e8+ a6 46.c8+ b5 47.c1! e3 48.b8+ b6 49.e8+ b4 50.e4+ a3 51.a1+ a2 52.d3+ b3 53.a6+ b2 54.f6+ a3 55.e7+ [ 55.d6! is a neat win as cxd6 56.xd6+ b2 57.e5+ a3 58.c5+ wins material. ] 55...a4 56.xa2+ The simple approach going into a winning queen and pawn endgame. [ 56.e1!? was an alternative, more complicated path. ] 56...xa2 57.xc7 xd5 58.xa7+ b5 59.xh7 e6 60.h4 c5 61.h6 e8 62.f4 d5 63.g4 e1 64.g5+ d4 65.f6+ d5 66.h5 gxh5 67.gxh5 e8 68.f5+ d4 69.h6 b8+ 70.h3 b3+ 71.g3 b7 72.h7 h1+ 73.g4 d1+ 74.g5 1-0

382 Vaibhav,S Yu,Ruiyuan ch-Asian Individual (9.18) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2430 2431 10.05.2011

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.d2 f5 7.c4 e6 8.e2 Finally we have come o nto W hite's mos t common try. bd7?! Already I think this is an error. [ 8...b4 has been by far the most common and has been looked at a few times in the archives. 9.0-0-0 ( 9.a3 is Bauer's recommended move order to cut out Black's plans with ...Nd5.) 9...bd7 ( 9...d5!? is also examined in Play the Scandinavian. ) A) 10.h4 A1) B a u e r p re f e r s 10...g4 with the tactical point of 11.f3 xc3! 12.bxc3 ( 12.xc3 g5+ is the idea.) 12...h5 13.g4 g6 and his line demonstrates that Black has good counterplay due to White's weakened queenside.; A2) 10...g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.a3?! xc3 13.xc3 h5 ( 13...g5+ was critical picking up a pawn. W hite has some play but I'm sceptical if it's really enough.) 14.f3 0-0-0 15.h4 d5 386

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 similar ideas are played in the Caro16.d2 de8 17.g4 h7 18.b3 Kann and here the knight on d5 keeps and Black's position had become Black's position solid. Check out the extremely passive. Alekseenko, K (2317)archives for Andrew Martin's comments Smirnov, V (1957) Kirishi 2011.; in Pavlogianni, D (1964) -Makropoulou, B) 10.a3 M (2246) Aghia Pelagia 2004. ] B1) Nigel Davies examines 10...b6 [ Should Black want to get the position he B1a) 11.axb4 a1+ 12.b1 a4 reaches in the game without allowing White 13.c3 e4 14.d3 a5 15.bxa5 the strong deviation on move 9 then 8...c7 ( 15.b5!?; and 15.d5!? are also looks the most accurate move order when c o n s id e r e d b y B a u e r .) 15...xa5 9.0-0-0 bd7 would transpose to the 16.b3 exc3 17.bxc3 0-0 18.d2! game. ] Bauer's proposed improvement. d8 19.xa4 xa4 20.e3!? and White's 9.0-0-0 Letting Black off the hook. [ 9.d5! looks to refute this variation. cxd5 king has run to safety and thus he 10.xd5 sta nd s be tt er with t he two kn ight s A) 10...c5 is rare but was tried by two versus rook.; Grandmasters, including Larsen. However B1b) 11.b3 in Chytilek, R (2390)Spassky's dynamic play illustrates White is Konopka, M (2468) Ostrava 2002 but still doing well. 11.b4! c8 12.xf6+ fails to look at the critical; gxf6 ( 12...xf6?! 13.b5+ is horrible) B2) 10...xa3?! of course needs 13.d4 g6 14.h4!? h5 15.f4! e7 examining but as Bauer observes 16.h3!? ( 16.0-0-0 looks slightly suspect 11.d5! b4 12.xb4 a1+ 13.d2 after the b4 advance but White is vacating xb2 14.b3 xd5 15.b1 xb1 the e1 square and following a5 17.he1 16.xb1 xb4 17.h4 and White's White would have a dangerous initiative.) doing very well.; 16...c7 17.0-0-0 b6 18.e1! 0-0-0 B3) 10...xc3 11.xc3 c7 12.e5 19.b5 b8 20.xd8+ xd8 21.f2 W hen Black has tried a few different c6 22.xa7 and White had picked up a paths. b5!? ( 12...xe5 isn't enough to pawn whilst Black still hadn't found safety equa lis e . Che ck o ut Jo h n W at son 's for his king. Spassky, B (2640) -Larsen, B annotations in Lemos, D (2439)-Flores, (2620) Montreal 1979.; D (2541) San Luis 2007.; 12...e4 B) 10...d8 11.xf6+ 13.e1 d8 14.f3 xe5 15.dxe5 B1) 11...xf6 has actually been played xd1+ was seen last year in Andjelkovic, m o r e o f t e n b u t n o w 12.0-0-0! S (1827)-Vos, C (2083) Davos 2010 leaves Black in severe difficulties. a3 when the more logical recapture ( 12...a6 13.g5 g6 14.xd7+- ) 16.xd1 c5 17.d4 would be very 13.c3 and the computer suggests pleasant for White.; 12...d5 is Bauer's Black's best is giving up the piece with mainline. ) 13.d3 xd3 ( 13...0-0 0-0 although I can hardly believe that 14.xf5 exf5 15.f3 d5 16.xf5 following ( 13...e7 14.b5+xc3 17.xd7 xd1 18.xf8 xf8 is hopeless.) 14.bxa3 ac8 15.b2 19.xd1 xh2 20.e4 was all looked c5 16.e5 fd8 17.he1 Black has at in Brynell, S (2505)-Hodgson, J (2598) anything like enough play for a piece.; Hamburg 2002 by Nigel Davies. The B2) 11...gxf6 12.0-0-0 a6 13.d4! endgame is drawish but Black hasn't g6 14.f4 c5 was seen in the recent q u i t e s o l v e d a l l h i s p r o b l e m s y e t .) game Petrushin, A (2465)-W inter, K 14.xd3 xe5 15.dxe5 d5 16.d2 (2077) Dresden 2010 when White's must 0-0-0!? Black was evidently worried dynamic continuation would be 15.xe6! White would generate a quick attack with fxe6 16.xe6 and White's attack looks a rook swing should he have castled o ve r wh e l m i n g , e . g . e7 17.xd7+ short but castling long makes an odd xd7 18.b4+ e8 ( 18...c6 im pres sio n af te r . .. b5 . No n et he le ss 387

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is a lesser evil but still 19.xe7 xe7 20.xe7 he8 21.xf6 leaves White a whole three pawns up.) 19.xe7+ xe7 20.he1+and White regains the piece with an extra couple of pawns while he still has a decisive attack. ] 9...c7 [ 9...b4 simply transposes to the mainline of 8...Bb4. ] 10.h4 [ 10.e5 is also played frequently but the text looks the most forcing. ] 10...g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d5! Again this push is critical as if Black were to complete his development he could be happy with his opening. Therefore White strives to open up the position. cxd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 0-0-0 The most common. Black tries to find relative safety for his king whilst the bishop on d5 is suddenly hanging. [ 14...e7 has also been seen from time to time. 15.c4 S o l i d p l a y . ( 15.f3 0-0 as played in Dickmann, T (2086)-Hermsen, F (1897) Goch 2010 looks very dangerous. If I were White here it wouldn't take me long to c h oo s e to pla y 16.h4! The doubled g pawns have created a big hook with which White can open up the position.) 15...xc4 16.xc4 c8 17.e2 0-0 18.e3 f6 19.f3 and White's bishop pair and queenside majority gave him good chances in the ensuing endgame. Ivanov, A (2430)Grigorian, A (2509) Belgorod 2008. ] 15.g5!? The most dynamic. White offers Black two pieces for the rook but W hite will regain at least one pawn while the weakness of Black's king makes it likely he'll have to cede another. [ If White doesn't feel comfortable giving the bishops then he could also retreat with 15.f3 when the bishop pair ought to grant him a little something. A couple of recent g a m e s h a v e c o n f i r m e d t h i s vi e w . h4? was a bit of a lemon. ( 15...f6 is better but doesn't equalise. 16.c3 d6 17.g3 b8 18.d3 d7 19.hd1 hd8 20.b1 c8?? hoping to start exchanging major pieces but allowing 21.xf6! gxf6 22.c3 c5 23.xd7 xd7 24.b5 b6 25.b4 1-0 Arat, U (2007)-Mukhtarov, K (1802) Batumi 2010.) 16.g5! b4 17.xd8 xd8

18.d3+Guttulsrud, O (2110) -Haubro, S (2190) Oslo 2011 with nothing to show for the exchange. ] 15...exd5 [ 15...e8 is of course possible but 16.f3 should be a good version of 15. Bf3. However this would probably be my preference were I to have this with Black. ] [ 15...f6 is important to check but the tactics appear to work for W hite: 16.xe6 fxg5 17.d3! Threatening Rc3 pinning the queen whilst also preparing doubling on the d file. b8 18.hd1 xh2 19.xd7 c5 20.b1 f4 21.f3 and White has regained the piece with a far better structure. ] 16.xd8 xd8?! This looks like the wrong way to capture to me. [ is pretty similar but now at least the king is a b it s a f e r. T h e g a m e m i g h t co n t in u e : 16...xd8 17.xd5 h5 Black is forced to give away a second pawn to release the pressure down the d file. 18.xh5 gxh5 19.xh5 f6 20.e2 and White should have an edge with rook and two pawns for t h e t wo p i e c e s b u t B l a c k i s st i ll i n t h e game. ] 17.xd5 h5 As in the previous note, giving away another pawn looks to be the only way to survive. [ If Black tries sidestepping the pin with 17...f4+ 18.b1 c7? then White's a t t a c k w o u l d b e d e c i s i v e ( 18...h5 should still be preferred.) 19.hd1 b6 ( 19...c5 20.e8+and Black's king cannot survive.) 20.5d3! c5 ( 20...b4 drops a piece to 21.d4+- ) 21.c3 a4 22.c4+- and the knight drops. ( Although 22.f3!? might even be stronger. )] 18.xh5 [ 18.e1 was played in the only previous game to have reached this position but following f4+ 19.d2 d5! Black had parried the threats. 20.e8+ c7 21.ed1 b4 22.c3 xd2 23.xd2 d6= Zubarev, A (2476) -Ustianovich, N (2258) Kharkov 2000. ] 18...gxh5 19.xh5 g6 [ Perhaps 19...f4+ should have been preferred to stop the plan White adopts in the game. ] 20.h4+ e7 21.h8+ f8 22.d1 388

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White has rook and two pawns for the bishop and knight which is normally a slight material advantage, especially in an endgame, while Black still has some problems coordinating his pieces due to the vulnerability of his king. c5 [ Escaping the pin with 22...f4+ 23.b1 c7 merely lands in a worse one following 24.c3+ c5 25.a3!+- ] 23.f6+ e8 24.f3 c7 25.e3+ Another pawn falls. e7 26.xa7 b6 27.b1 A time out but there was no particular reason for the move. [ Instead White could have pinned the knight i m m e d i a t e l y w i t h 27.a5 followed by something like f8 28.g3 c6 29.c3!? xc3 30.bxc3 and despite the ugly structure the extra pawns should suffice. ] 27...f8 28.a5 g7 29.b5 f6 30.c3 c4 31.d7 [ 31.g3! controlling the f4 square would prevent any complications. ] 31...f4 Now White has to start being careful as Yu Ruiyuan's pieces are well coordinated and his own king isn't totally safe. 32.d5 e5 [ 32...e5 33.xb7 xh2 34.a4 g1+ 35.a2 xf2 36.a5 must be winning for White as the a pawn is too difficult to stop. ] 33.g3 f5+ 34.d3 e6 35.xb7 Now it's rook and four pawns! [ 35.d5!? b6 36.b5 is the computer's odd path but humans would of course grab the pawn. ] 35...f6 This threatens ...Qe1+ but can easily be parried. [ Instead 35...xg3 wa s crit ica l. 36.fxg3 e1+ 37.c2 f2+ 38.b3 xb2+ ( 38...a5+ 39.b4 xb7 40.d4+ xd4+ 41.cxd4 is a complicated ending but the three pawns will probably overpower the knight. ) 39.xc4 xb7 40.d4+ f6 41.a4 and White's retained a two pawn advantage in the queen and pawn endgame and should convert in the end although he has to beware some perpetual ideas. ] 36.a3 [ Seeing as it's a passed pawn there's no reason not to push the a pawn two squares here. 36.a4! ] 36...e1+?! Drifting. Perhaps Black was in

time trouble but this check gets him nowhere. 37.a2 e6? 38.d7 The queens are co ming o f f wh en W hite win s t rivially. A n interesting game but I feel that against this move order 9.d5! is very strong. Black should return to 8...Bb4 of the mainline in which it isn't easy for White to prove an advantage. 1-0

383 Vaklinov,Atanas Prie,Eric Vergèze 20' op [Eric Prié]

B01 2250 2429 02.05.2004

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.c4 [ 5.f3 c6 I took up the Scandinavian in 1991. I mean THE Scandinavian, the real one and only with 3... Qa5 not the feeble 'substitutes' of 2...Nf6 nor 2...Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8 or 3...Qd6 I will talk about (if I am given the chance to comment Topalov-Kamsky Corus 2005 1-0 (20) in the next update!) where White can either make immediate use of h is c-pa wn o r h in d e r t h e su cc e s s f u l development of Black's light-squared bishop outside his pawn chain. Unfortunately, I had to give up this aggressive system, with which I and Etienne Bacrot, who was my pupil at the time, had tremendous results, quite soon when the ultimate refutation 6.d2! g4 ( 6...a6 7.c4 h5 8.e5 ) 7.b5 b6 8.c4 started to spread. xf3 9.xf3 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xb7 e4+ 12.xe4 xe4 13.e3 e5 Or 13...e6 it does not matter. 14.g3! With the idea b4+ 15.e2 c5? 16.g2 leads to an unplayable position for Black, with no turning back, to complete what Andrew said about that line ] 5...g4! 6.f3?! However, this experience pro ve d ve ry f o rma t ive f or t h e res t o f m y career with the ...c6, ...Bf5 Center Counter since I ha d be en a cqua in te d with lot s o f unusual and aggressive motives based on the original spirit of the line i.e. long castling and qu ick d e ve lo p m e n t . c6! For instance, I knew that this dubious setup for White was possibly th e o nly one whe re Blac k c ould develop like this, without having to fear the 389

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 diminishing space available for his queen too much. This is the recurrent problem of the ... Nf6, ...Nc6 combination, much more than the doubling of the c-pawns that you sometimes find as a reference in not up-to-date theory books! 7.d2? [ 7.h3 is the only move, see next game. ] [ 7.b5 e4 And White has lost an important tempo. ] 7...0-0-0 8.d5 a4 9.b3 [ 9.b3 a3 10.c1 d6 11.f4 e6+ 12.e3 e4 13.g3 xd4-+ ] 9...a6 I call this manoeuvre "the mouse hole trick" and you cannot imagine how often I have used it with success in rapid or blitz games! 10.xf6 exf6! Black can afford to compromise his structure, he is just winning by force now. 11.e3 Everybody had played the natural [ 11.c3 against me and my little execution was well into its stride: xd4! 12.cxd4 e8+ 13.e3 b4+ Winning the queen. ] 11...c5? For some reason in rapid play, I overlooked it also worked, a bit more complicatedly though, the other way round! [ 11...xd4! 12.xd4 b4+ 13.c3 he8+ 14.d2 xd4+ 15.xd4 xd1-+ 16.axd1 c5-+ ] 12.c3 xd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.e2! xe2+ 15.xe2 e8+ 16.f1 And despite Black's overwhelming advantage I even ended up not realizing the technical win! ½-½

but Black seems to have sufficient pressure against the centre, e.g., 5.d4 0-0-0 A) or 6.bd2 f6 7.c4 ( 7.h3? xf3 8.xf3 wins the bishops at the cost of too much development after e5! ) 7...a5 8.d5 xf3 9.xf3 e5 10.0-0 e6 with a comfortable game; B) 6.e3 e6 (I like this modest move) ( After 6...e5!? , Davies likes the straightforward 7.c3 b4 8.0-0 xc3 9.bxc3 f6 10.c4 and d5; Following 6...f6 , Morozevich beat Rogers (Germany 1999), as given before in this column: 7.c4 h5 8.bd2 e5 9.d5 d4 10.xd4 exd4 11.xg4+ xg4 12.xd4 b4 13.h3 xd2+ 14.xd2 g5+ 15.c3 and Black didn't have enough (or anything?) for his pawn.) 7.c3 a5 ( 7...d7!? ) 8.0-0 f6 ] 5...d7 6.h3 [ Likewise, 6.d4 doesn't gain much after e6 ( 6...0-0-0 7.d5 b4 8.e5! xe2 9.xe2 e8!? with the idea ...e6 is almost equal.) 7.0-0?! ( 7.e5 xe2 8.xe2 is better, in view of xd4 9.d3 d8 10.f4 and 0-0-0 ) 7...0-0-0 8.e3 xf3 9.xf3 xd4 ] 6...xf3 7.xf3 0-0-0 8.d3 e5 Black establishes a grip on d4 this should equalise. 9.0-0 d4 Black wants one of the bishops back. [ Other moves are 9...ge7 10.e1 b8 ] [ 9...f6 ] 10.e1 d6 11.e3 f5!? [ 11...f6 is more natural. The text slightly 384 B01 distorts Black's structure, although that's nothing special. ] Van den Doel,Erik 2581 Tiviakov,Sergei 2667 12.xd4 exd4 13.d5!? Fancy, but White 8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (5) 07.04.2007 has to waste some time to win a pawn. Some advantage was to be had by [John Watson] [ 13.e2 c5 14.d2! intending c3, to open up queenside files, whereas Nf4 may also W hite's f le xible move 3 Nf 3 has e njoye d be bothersome. ] some success, but Black finds a 14.f3! A clever sacrifice which, straightforward solution. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 13...b8 xd5 3.f3 In general, White plays this with however, has its risks. [ van der Doel realises that 14.e6 c6 d4 and c4 in mind, rather than putting his 15.e2 e5 16.xf5 f6 with the idea ... knigh t on c3. But the latt er mo ve c an b e g6 gives Black enough play. ] played if White thinks circumstances are right. g4 4.e2 c6! I like this move, which 14...c6!? [ Acceptance might be strongest: 14...dxc3!? directly challenges the key square d4. 5.c3 15.xb7 threatens bxc3 and Rb1, when the [ White can get his desired d4/c4 moves in, 390

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 o p p o s i t e - c o l o u r e d b i s h o p s f a vo u r t h e , and the Bishop is by no means trapped in attacker, as the old saying goes. Black may view of 18.d6! ) 17.xc8 fxe3 ( 17...xc8 have a difficult time defending. Still, e7 18.e6 is even worse for Black.) 18.xe7 16.bxc3 c6 17.ab1 c7 would make xe7 19.xe3 Now White has a clear extra White prove his point. ] pawn as well as a positional advantage. h6 15.e6 c7 16.e2 e7!? 20.h4 d7 21.b1 ae8 22.h2 xg5 [ 16...e5 17.c3 g6 should be okay. ] 23.hxg5 c5 24.e4 and in a few moves 17.c3 Black resigned, Rodriguez,A - Gomez Baillo, [ 17.xd4 h2+ 18.h1 xd4 19.g3 xg3 1996. ] 20.xg3 g6 is only slightly in White's favour 12.a4 because of his bishop. ] [ Just a few rounds later in the same 17...e5 18.c4 t o u r n a m e n t V a r a v i n p l a y e d 12.c2! [ 18.cxd4 xd4 19.xd4 xd4 20.c4 This move seems even stronger than the hd8 is also solid. ] text. The game Varavin - Vshivkov 18...c5 19.cxd4 cxd4 20.g3 Improve the c o n t i n u e d : a4 13.d1 a3 14.b3 f5 position of your worst piece! g6 21.f1 d6 15.g5! f4 16.c5 Already it's reasonable 22.d2 c6 Likewise. 23.ac1 b4 to claim that White has strategically winning 24.d1 f4 25.c2 he8 26.xe8 xe8 position. e4 By sacrificing a pawn Black 27.b5! Before Black gets real pressure. ho pe s to o bt ain so me cou nt erplay, bu t xd2 28.xd2 W h i t e c a n e a s i l y p a r r y t h i s . ( 16...f5 ½-½ was another possibility to complicate, but is didn't work as well in view of 17.xf8 xf8 18.xh7! with a decisive material advantage 385 B01 a s B l a c k c a n ' t p l a y d4 in view of 19.xg6+ ) 17.cxe4 f3 18.xf3 e8 Varavin,Viktor 2445 19.0-0 and Black has no compensation for Terekhin,Anatoly 2330 sacrificed pawns. ] Perm 1998 12...d7 13.a3 b6 14.h4 c5 15.h5! [Alexander Volzhin] White tries to hold the initiative at all costs. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 b6 xg4 16.hxg6 hxg6 17.xc5 bxc5 18.e4 5.f3 g6 6.h3 g7 7.c3 0-0 8.e3 c6 xf3 19.xf3 f5 20.d3 d4 21.g3 b8?! This move allows a very nice blow, 9.e2 [ 9.d2 e5 10.d5 e7 11.g4 is a well a f t e r w h i c h W h i t e ' s a t t a c k b e c o m e s known set-up, the game Gipslis - Maric unstoppable. [ 21...b8 looks more natural, with mutual proves that Black has difficult problems to chances. ] solve here. ] 9...e5 10.d5 e7 11.g4! This move is 22.h5!! d8 [ Of course, the Queen is taboo: 22...gxh5 played very rarely, but I believe after this 23.f6+ h8 24.xh5+ h6 25.xh6# ] game it will become popular. [ 11.0-0 has been played in numerous 23.xg6! This well-calculated sacrifice wins by games before, but after f5 12.c5 e8 force. fxg6 24.xg6 xb2 25.f1! c1+ 26.g2 f4 27.h7 f3+ 28.g1 f7 Black has excellent prospects. ] Losing the Queen, but Black's position is 11...a5 [ 11...f5 is the main alternative to the text. hopeless anyway: [ 28...d7 allows a very beautiful mate: But compared with Gipslis - Maric White has 29.f6+! xf6 30.h8+! xh8 31.h7# ] a n im p o rt a n t re so u rce : 12.b3! h8 [ The attempt to find perpetual also fails: 13.0-0-0 d7 14.g5 f6 15.b5! a6 28...d1+ 29.f1 f3+ 30.g2 e1+ 16.a7! After exchanging off Black's light31.h2 f3+ 32.g3 , and there are no squared Bishop White's Knight will occupy more checks. ] the key e6-square forever. f4 ( 16...xa7 T h i s i d e a d o e s n ' t wo r k : 17.xa7 b6 29.h8+! xh8 30.xf7 Although there is 391

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 material equality (Queen vs. 2 Rooks and 13.d2 b8 14.ab1 d7 15.e2 f4 equal pawns) Black's position is totally lost 16.f3 e3 17.fc1 f5 18.e4 d4 because his forces are uncoordinated and his Galego, L-Ferreira, P/Porto 1998 ] king is very weak. These factors allow White 4...e5 to win the game in just a few more moves. f8 [ 4...f6 5.d4 e6 is ludicrously slow. Is it 31.h5+ g8 32.xc5 f3+ 33.h1 f4 any wonder that in the following game Black 34.h7+! gets crushed: 6.d3 e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e1 [ Black resigned as he will lose everything: a6 9.c3 b5 10.g5 b7 11.bd2 h6 34.h7+ h8 35.g6+ g8 36.h7+ f8 12.e3 d6 13.a4 b4 14.c4 g4 15.e2 37.e6+ Now it's possible to draw some xe3 16.xe3 g5 17.e4 f5 18.xe6+ conclusions. As we can see, W hite has g7 19.c5 f6 20.a2 f4 21.d5 e7 m a n y p o s s i b i li t i e s t o f ig h t f o r o p e n i n g 22.d6 d5 23.c4 xd2 24.xd5 xd5 advantage against 2...Nf6 and in many lines 25.xd5 xe1 26.xe1 d7 27.xa8 black has to overcome serious difficulties. 1-0 Neu ba u er, M-Cha n se au d , M/ Colo n Players who tend to play positionally can 2003 ] choose the variation with kingside castling 5.b5 d6 6.e2N (like in Soloviov - Alekseev or Rusanov [ 6.c3 is an adequate remedy once again. Alekseev), while the system with g2-g4 Perhaps White was confused by the choice (see Gipslis - Maric or Varavin - Terekhin) of so many good moves. f6 7.0-0 0-0 is good for those who prefer attacking chess. 8.d4 exd4 ( 8...xd4! 9.xd4 exd4 Now it's Black's turn to find improvements. 10.e2 c7 11.h3 c5= ) 9.xc6 bxc6 Definitely there is much room for further 10.xd4 c7 11.h3 xh3 12.gxh3 ad8 debate. ] 13.e3 c8 14.f3 fe8 15.xc6 1-0 1-0 Hyll, J-Okos, A/Bratislava 1991 ] 6...ge7 7.0-0 0-0 8.d4 g4 I guess this sort of position is the best that Black can 386 B01 hope for from his crazy gambit. He has the Vela Ignacio,Jose Manuel 2033 usual open lines and tricky tactical chances Razmyslov,Alexander 2337 for his pawn. In rapidplay Black's idea might X Open Coria del Rio ESP (4) 14.02.2004 be viable but hardly against anyone with any class. However.... 9.d3? Drug test please. [Andrew Martin] An amazingly awful move. xd4 10.e4 f5 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 c6 Complete trash? We are 11.e3 xf3 12.gxf3 h8 13.c3 d5 about to witness a game where Black wins in A brevity of little overall value except to show 13 moves. And as White, you would really like t h e r e f u t a t i o n o f 2 . . . c 6 P l e a s e d o n o t to know what to do against this outrageous complain that you have been shocked by 2... pawn sacrifice. I hope I can oblige with some c6?! in a game of your own. You know what to answers. 3.dxc6 A pawn that MUST be do now. 0-1 taken. xc6 4.f3 [ 4.c3! is a very good choice. If Black is going to advance his e-pawn, W hite will B01 delay Nf3 so there's nothing to hit. As far as 387 I can see W hite en ds up a pawn up f o r Velicka,Petr 2480 nothing in this line. e5 5.b5 c5 6.xc6+ Dausch,Rene 2373 bxc6 7.e2 e7 8.f3! Well-timed. 0-0 26th Open Böblingen GER (8) 30.12.2009 9.0-0 g4 [Gawain Jones] A) The cold light of day reveals 10.xe5! d6 ( 10...xf3 11.xc5+-; 10...d5 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.b5+ Here we have 11.xd5 cxd5 12.g3 f5 13.d3 ) a look at White trying to hold on to the pawn. 11.e4 f5 12.a4+-; Personally I'd probably go for Carlsen's 3.Nf3 B) 10.h3?! xf3 11.xf3 d5 12.d3 f5 which seems comfortable for W hite. bd7 392

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 12.axb3 b7 13.a3 4.c4 a6 5.a4 and I'm sceptical about W hite's [ 5.xd7+ is the other option but Black compensation but it's not so easy to seems to get sufficient counterplay with the refute. ) 12...e6 13.b2 d5 bishop pair and a lead in development. 14.e4 f6 15.c5 b6 16.ed3 e6 xd7 6.d4 ( V o lzh in su gge st s 6.d3 17.e1 xc5 18.xc5 0-0 in the archives) 6...c6! Black wins back his an d W h it e 's co m pe n sa t io n f o r t h e pawn immediately 7.f3 ( 7.dxc6 xc6 pawn has dwindled.; win s e it h e r c 4 o r g2 p a wn .) 7...cxd5 C2b) 11...b4 results in really messy The position reminds me of a Panov (see positions 12.e2 ( 12.a4 c3 13.a3 my last update). W hite has traded off his e6 looks more than adequate for Black, light squared bishop and so can't hope for especially as I don't believe in Rybka's any advantage unless he can use his su ggestion o f 14.g4 at all ) 12...c3 te m p o ra ry in it ia t ive, e xp lo it in g B la ck' s 13.a3 when, compared to 12.Na4, misplaced queen. Black cannot play A) 8.0-0 dxc4 9.e5 d8 10.xc4 C2b1) Black's position seems wa s B a e k e l a n t , R - S a n c h e z, J M a r c y playable with the alternative 13...b7 L'Etoile 2007 when instead of e6 ( I like 14.axb4 c8 15.f3 is very messy. 10...g6! when I'd prefer Black, the d4 pawn Black has some problems to develop looks potentially vulnerable, while I can't his kin gsid e a s .. .e 6 t ra ps in h is see any pluses for White. ); queen.; B) 8.c5 looks a good try to me. If Black C2b2) 13...d7 seems illogical, could play Bc8-g4 then he'd have a good Black really needs to develop some position but the queen gets in the way. pieces 14.g3 ( 14.c4!? ) While White has control of e5 he can hold 14...e6 15.f3 b8 16.axb4 onto the ever important initiative. e4?! xe5 17.dxe5 gives White good ( 8...c7 looks sensible but 9.c3 g4 attacking chances with his lead in 10.0-0 xf3 11.xf3 e6 12.f4 development, although a sample line and White is still better with control over could run xb4 18.xc3 xb3 e5. ) 9.0-0 ( 9.e5 ) 9...f6 10.bd2 g6 19.d4 b6 20.c4 e6 21.d4 11.e1 xd2 12.xd2 g7 13.a4 0-0 b6=; 14.b4 f7 15.b3 g5!? Thirion, MC2b3) 13...e6 as 14.g3 Hoogendoorn, J Belgium 2003.; traps the queen.; C) 8.e5 seems to be the mainline f5 C2c) 11...h5?! Dave told me 9.0-0 dxc4 afterwards he was doing well out of the C1) 10.xc4 b5 11.e5 e6 ( 11...b7 opening and I think it's here he should looks more relevant) 12.c3 ( 12.a4! look for improvements. 12.bxc4 e6 wo u ld f o r ce so m e c o n c e s s io n f r o m 13.cxb5 and from a pawn up suddenly Black ) 12...d5?! ( 12...h5! Black's a pawn down while h5 is of is an intriguing suggestion of Rybka's to dubious benefit g4 14.b6! xe5 cu t o u t g4 an d st a rt p ush ing o n t h e 15.dxe5 xe5 16.b7! xb7 17.a4+ kingside. ) 13.a4 ( 13.xd5 exd5 d8 18.d1+ d6 19.f4 xc3 14.e1 ) 13...b4? ( 13...xc3 20.ac1 xc1 21.xc1 xf4 22.xf4 was necessary) 14.xd5 exd5 15.e1 c8 23.d6+ e8 24.xc8+ xc8 e6 16.a5! was Okladnikov, G25.c7 1-0 Li Chao2-Smerdon, D Shevchenko, V Novosibirsk 2003 when Parramatta 2010 was played in the White had a huge advantage with Qa4+ Sydney International, the last coming although he subsequently threw tournament in which I played where I away his advantage..; managed 1st=. ] C2) 10.c3 was played in a recent high 5...b5 6.cxb5 xd5 so White is a pawn up rated encounter b5 11.b3 C2a) 11...cxb3 i s c r i t i c a l 12.xb3 but with an awkwardly placed bishop on a4 393

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 while Black can hope for Benko Gambit style compensation on the queenside and a n n o y i n g p r e s s u r e wi t h a b i s h o p o n a 6 exerting pressure on d3 and f1. I also prefer Black's pawn structure and my gut feeling is that he should have sufficient chances here. 7.f3 [ 7.c3 A) 7...c5 also looks promising 8.bxa6+ xa4 9.xa4+ d7 10.c4 ( 10.a5!? ) 10...e6 11.f3 b4 12.0-0 xa6 ( 12...c8! is a pretty move, the bishop belongs on the a6-f1 diagonal here when control over the light squares, in particular d3 will give Black the better chances.) 13.d4 d6 14.a3 0-0 15.g5 a8 16.e5 1/2-1/2 Pesotsky, V-Barbashin, I/ Lipetsk 2008.; B) 7...5b6 8.b3 ( 8.c2 might be a better try so White can contest the a6-f1 diagonal with a future Bd3.) 8...e6 9.d4 axb5 10.xb5 a6 11.c3 e7 ( 11...d6 would be more active) 12.ge2 0-0 13.0-0 f6 14.g5 h6 15.h4 c6 16.e1 fd5 17.xe7 xe7 18.xd5 cxd5 19.d2 c4 20.xc4 xc4 and Black had continued pressure for the pawn in Zierk, S-Hong, E Reno 2008. ] [ 7.d4 resulted in a very quick defeat after 5b6 8.bxa6?! This wins a pawn but Bla ck ' s p re s su re is f ar to o st ro n g xa4 9.xa4 xa6 10.c2 b7 11.f3 e5! 12.e2 exd4 13.xd4 c5 14.e3 xd4 15.xd4 e6+ 16.d1 e5 was a disaster for White and he resigned here in Cernousek, L-Spacek, P Czech Republic 2005. ] 7...5b6 White now has a difficult decision. He can either keep his light squared bishop or keep his extra pawn. [ 7...7b6 8.b3 With a knight on d7, rather than d5, the bishop exerts pressure against f7 but here Bb3 seems illogical ( Instead 8.c3 xc3 9.dxc3 xd1+ 10.xd1 axb5 11.0-0 is somewhat better for White as b5 is vulnerable.) 8...axb5 9.d4 e6 10.0-0 e7 11.bd2 f6 12.e2 b4 13.d1 0-0 14.e4 b7 15.c5 d5 16.c2 a5 17.d2 a8 18.xb4 was agreed drawn in Todorovic, J-Mamuzic, M Senta 2006. ] 8.c2

[ 8.bxa6?! Tries to do the latter but Black gets too much play xa4 9.xa4 xa6 10.c2 e6+! An unusual rook lift. 11.f1 a6+ 12.g1 and I can't believe anyone can be happy with White's position. Sure, he has an extra pawn but Black has complete control. ] [ 8.c3 is the best way to keep hold of the p a w n b u t a f t e r xa4 9.xa4 b7 I'd feel much happier being Black White's really going to have to suffer to complete his development and keep that extra pawn, while Black's bishop pair and sound structure mean that he has good long term as well as short term prospects. Giving back t h e p a w n w i t h 10.0-0!? axb5 11.f4 looks the most prudent with roughly balanced chances. ] [ 8.0-0 xa4 9.xa4 b7 10.c3 axb5 11.f4 would in fact transpose to 8.Nc3. ] 8...axb5 9.d4 b7 In my opinion Black has equalised comfortably here, but White's next makes his position worse. 10.c3 [ 10.0-0 b4 11.e1 e6 and I can't really see how White can possibly say he's better but at least he can try utilising e5 and c5 to keep himself in the game. ] 10...b4 11.e4 b3! 12.d3 xa2!? b3 is an extra pawn but it's going to drop off. [ 12...bxa2 gives Black a comfortable a d v a n t a g e , f o r e x a m p l e 13.c3 g6 14.xa2 xa2 15.xa2 g7 and d4 is a perpetual weakness. ] 13.b1 a8 14.c3 a5 [ 14...e6 is an interesting alternative as 15.xa2 bxa2 is extremely risky for White. Though as a practical decision I don't rate this for Black as if White doesn't take on a2 its likely Black will have to retreat the rook anyway. 16.a1 b4+ 17.d2 ( 17.f1 c5! opens up the position for Black's horde o f p ie ce s .) 17...xf3 18.xf3 ( 18.gxf3 xd2+ 19.xd2 xf3 20.g1 d5 is another extremely messy position but one where White has to be the more careful with his exposed king while the a2 pawn hasn't been recaptured yet...) 18...xd2+ 19.xd2 a7 I can't see how the a2 pawn is retrieved and so White's in trouble. ] 15.xb3 [ 15.d2 trying to exploit Black's premature 394

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ...Ra5 is strongest which keeps the position roughly level. a6 16.e4 c6 17.e2 a2 18.xb3 ( 18.c3 a5= ) 18...c4 ] 15...xf3 16.gxf3 xf3 and so Black keeps his extra pawn. Compared to previous lines where Black sacrificed a pawn, White needs t o u s e h i s i n i t i a t i ve i m m e d i a t e l y a s h i s structure is a mess. 17.e4 h5?! [ 17...f6 would stop White developing his bishop to f 4 when I don't really believe White's compensation, in general I like to have a good structure if I'm material down! ] 18.f4! Now B la ck sta rts t o su f f er. e5 19.dxe5 g4 [ 19...e7 trying to complete development l o o k s s t r o n g e s t , f o r e x a m p l e 20.e6 ( 20.0-0!? ) 20...c5 21.exf7+ f8 22.c2 xe4 23.xe4 d5 when all three results are possible. ] 20.g3 xe5 21.0-0! A dangerous looking move but W hite's bishop pair will look after his king while Black doesn't have enough time to castle himself now. d6 22.f4 ec4 [ 22...ed7 23.f3 f5 24.be1+ f8 25.e4 is a strange looking position. Black's pieces d on't coo rdinate very we ll while White's are perfect. ] 23.c6+ f8 [ 23...d8 looks very ugly but at least there's no immediate mate ] 24.be1 Black's in trouble, there's no good way to avoid the mate. g5 [ 24...c5+ 25.h1 e3 doesn't save B l a c k e i t h e r 26.f3 g6 27.b5 and Black has to allow the trade of rook for two pieces which is obviously hopeless because c6? 28.fxe3 xe3 29.b4++- ] 25.e4 [ 25.b5! blocking in the rook on a5 and t h r e a t e n i n g Q c 3 i s d e c i s i v e , e . g . gxf4 26.c3 g8 27.e8# ] 25...gxf4 26.xd6 xd6 27.xf4 h5 This is of course very good for White too as the bishop pair dominate the position while Black's king is still much more vulnerable than W hite's. Black's rooks are still extremely loose too. 28.f2 [ 28.xf7+! is a pretty win xf7 ( 28...xf7 29.e8+ g7 30.c3++- ) 29.c3 proves how Black's rooks are really on the worst possible squares. ]

28...g8 29.h1 bc4 30.b8+ [ 30.xd6+ xd6 31.b8+ g7 32.xc7+was an easy win ] 30...g7 31.xc7 f5 32.f3?! xg3+ 33.xg3+ g5 White has played inaccurately over the last few moves but such was his dominance that he's still winning. 34.h3 [ 34.c7! c5 35.a7 h8 36.g2 f5 37.e4 h5 38.b3! xg2 39.xg2 and again we see how badly Black's pieces coordinate as here he drops a piece. ] 34...e3 35.e4 f8? [ 35...f5! was necessary when Black's still in t h e g a m e a s 36.g1? xg1+! 37.xg1 a1+ turns the tables. ] 36.c8+ g7 37.c3+ h6 38.f6+ h5 39.f3+ h4 40.d4+ h3 The king has run a long way but sadly it's not safe there on h3. 41.xf7 [ 41.h6+ xh6 42.xe3 is forced mate but the game continuation is adequate. ] 41...h5 42.g4+!? h4 [ Neither 42...xg4 43.c3+ ] [ or 42...xg4 43.xe3+ h4 44.f6+ ag5 45.f2+ survive for Black either. ] 43.e6+ g4 44.xg4 An interesting game but Black was very comfortable out of the opening and it seems like he still has enough compensation if White tries to hang on to the pawn for dear life. 1-0

388 Volokitin,And Cioara,A TCh-ROU 2013 (5.1) [Tom Rendle]

B01 2688 2462 04.09.2013

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 xd5 4.c3 a5 5.d4 c6 6.d2 g4?! A very risky move against 6.Bd2 and it certainly doesn't work out well for Black in this game. [ Black should stick to 6...f5 which has been seen many times on the site before, most recently in Sutovsky-Van Wely. ] 7.h3 h5 [ 7...xf3 8.xf3 is rather uninspiring for Black as White is ready to castle queenside with an excellent position. For example: b6 395

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.0-0-0 e6 ( 9...xd4? loses to 10.b5! b6 11.e3 c5 12.xc5 xc5 13.xb7 ) 10.g3 and Black already has problems developing his kingside. ] 8.g4 g6 9.e5 e6 [ 9...bd7 is probably Black's safest option a t t h is p o in t b u t st il l W h i t e ca n c re a t e problems for the opponent with 10.f4 e6 11.h4! with the threat of f5 followed by h5 trapping the bishop and now possible line is d5!? 12.h5! ( 12.f5?! is unclear here after xe5 13.dxe5 exf5 14.h5 0-0-0! ) 12...xe5 13.dxe5 xc3 14.xc3 a4 15.hxg6! e4+ 16.e2 xh1 17.gxf7+ xf7 18.0-0-0 with a big attack and more than enough compensation for the sacrificed exchange. ] 10.h4 b6 [ 10...d6? loses to 11.h5 xe5 12.b5! and after b6 13.dxe5 e4 14.e3 a5+ 15.c3 cxb5 16.hxg6 Black's position was already hopeless in Antoli Royo, J (2399)Arance Gonzalez, L (2129) La Roda Albacete 2010 ] 11.e2! An improvement from Volokitin in a position that was already very precarious for Black players. I don't like 6... Bg4 at all after this! [ 11.h5 e4 12.xe4 xe4 13.f3 xb2 ( 13...f5!? is a possible alternative although 14.0-0-0! xd4 15.c4 xf2 16.d3 looks very strong for W hite) 14.d1?! ( 14.xf7+ d8 15.d1 is more accurate an d is lik ely t o t ra n sp ose t o t he ga m e) 14...xd2?! ( 14...d6! is much less clear here, it's not obvious to me that W hite is better at all here) 15.xf7+ d8 16.xd2 b4+ 17.e3 f8 18.xg7 xc2 19.e2 e7 20.d2 c3+ 21.d3 c2 22.b3 c5?? A losing move in a tough position ( 22...b5 23.f1 is better for White but the position is still tricky. Black has real problems developing though so it's probably winning for White anyway.) 23.d1 cxd4+ 24.xd4+ e8 25.xb7 c1+ 26.d3 c5 27.xh7 xf2 28.g6+ f8 29.d8+ 1-0 (29) Balogh, C (2448)Dimitrijevic, A (2369) Novi Sad YUG 2003 ( Bla c k is ma t e d a f t e r 29.d8+ xd8 30.f7+ e8 31.g8+ f8 32.xf8# )] 11...b4?! In this kind of position Black can't

afford to make a mistake and sadly Cioara does just that and it's quickly punished. [ 11...xd4 i s c r i t i c a l a n d n o w 12.f4! is a real problem for Black as f5 is a big threat so he should try e4 13.h3 d5 but after 14.0-0-0 bd7 15.d3 c5 16.xd7 xd7 17.xd5 cxd5 18.f5! c6 19.fxe6 fxe6 20.g5 White is going to e a sily re ga i n t h e p a wn wit h a m a s s iv e position. ] [ 11...a6 fails to 12.h5! xc2 13.c1 b4 14.a3 xd4 15.axb4 e4 16.h4! with g5 coming W hite's extra piece gives him a winning position. ] 12.0-0-0 xc3 13.xc3 e4 This is Black's n o r m a l p l a n t o a vo i d g e t t in g t h e b is h o p trapped by running it to d5. Sadly that turns out not to be far enough! [ 13...a6 is apparently Black's best try here but it's pretty terrible after 14.h5 ( 14.xa6 xa6 15.xa6 bxa6 16.he1 is a safe option for White and also strong.) 14...e4 15.f3 d5 16.e1! b5 ( 16...xa2 17.c4 ) 17.g5 fd7 18.a3 and Black can barely move ] 14.h3! d5 15.e1 Now c4 is coming to trap the bishop and there's not a lot Black can do about it xa2 [ 15...c5 gives the bishop a retreat square but it loses to 16.g5! ( 16.c4 c6 17.d5 is also good enough) 16...e4 17.f3 d6 18.c4 c6 19.dxc5 xc5 20.b4 b6 21.c5 ] 16.a3 Here we see the benefit of Rh3 inste ad o f f 3 . d5 17.a5 a6 18.c4 The bishop has run as far as it can but it's finally trapped. Black can already resign b6 19.b4 b7 20.cxd5 cxd5 21.d6 bd7 22.a6 1-0

389 Volzhin,Alexander Gausel,Einar Bergen [Alexander Volzhin]

B01 2556 2492 2000

An interesting and theoretically important game which I played in the Center Counter Gambit. My opponent grandmaster Gausel 396

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 has prepared an interesting novelty in a long theoretical line... 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 g4 4.f3 f5 5.b5+ In my notes to LankaHauchard I opined this line is the most unpleasant for Black. This game was a good opportunity for me to support this opinion! bd7 6.c4 a6 [ Black has also tried 6...e6 7.dxe6 fxe6?! In the game Tiviakov-Vukovic, Saint Vincent 2000 W hite obtained clear edge after ( 7...xe6 which was played in AgnosSantos looks more sound.) 8.e2 c6 9.a4 d6 10.bc3 0-0 11.c5! c7 12.0-0 b8 13.h3 e8 14.f4! e5 15.b3+ h8 16.xb7 c8 17.dxe5 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.b4 xc5 20.d4 e7 21.g3 and Black had absolutely nothing for the pawn. ] 7.xd7+ xd7 8.e2 e6 9.dxe6 xe6 10.b3 0-0-0 11.0-0 c5 12.h1 xd4 13.xd4 d7 14.b2 c5 15.b4 cxd4 16.b5 he8!? A very interesting attempt to improve Black's play. [ After 16...axb5?! which was played in Lanka-Hauchard White obtained crushing attack after 17.a3! ] 17.bxa6 bxa6 18.d2 d3 The critical position for the evaluation of Black's idea. The position is very sharp and unbalanced. Black's King has no pawn shelter, but merits of his position are also obvious: he has a very strong passed pawn in the centre of the board and after the unavoidable ... Re2 White's king also becomes unsafe as there will be some tric ks like ... Bh3 . 19.xf6! Played after a massive thought. This move looks risky as o p e n i n g o f g - f i le g i ve s B l a c k a d d i t i o n a l chances but the calculations convinced me White's chances are preferable. [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 19.c5 allows d5 and Black is by no means badly off ] [ 19.b1 has also failed to convince me in view of e2 20.xf6 gxf6 21.b3 a7 and the position is a mess. ] 19...gxf6 20.c5! This is the idea behind the previous move. W hite intends 21.Nc4. e2 21.c4 c7 [ 21...b5 deserved certain consideration. I i n t e n d e d t o p l a y 22.c1 and now the tempting ( because 22.d6+? is not good as after xd6 23.cxd6 d2! Black has

tremendous compensation for sacrificed exchange. ) 22...d2 doesn't work in view of 23.xe2 dxc1 24.xc1 d3 25.d6+ ] [ By the way, the attempt to play for pe rp e tu al wit h 21...g8 22.b6+ c7 23.xd7 gxg2 fails to 24.xe2! xe2 25.xf6 and White is a clear rook up. ] 22.d6! The knight occupies a very strong position here. Both opponents have executed their plans: White has transferred the knight to th e d6-square wh ile B lack's Roo k ha s penetrated to the 7th rank. The question is whether it's possible to benefit from this. c2 This move took Black a fair amount of time. [ He noticed that 22...h3 which he intended originally doesn't really work: 23.g1 A) 23...g8 24.b1! Now Black has wide but joyless choice: A1) 24...xg2+ 25.xg2 gxg2 26.b7+ d8 27.xd7+; A2) 24...gxg2 25.b7+ c6 26.a4+; A3) 24...e6 25.b7+ c6 26.a4+ xc5 27.c1+ xd6 ( 27...c2 28.e4+ xe4 29.a3+ ) 28.d4+ d5 29.c6+ xc6 30.b6#; A4) 24...c6 25.b3 e6 26.xd3 xa2 27.b7+ and in all variations White wins.; B) 23...b8!? 24.b1 xb1 ( T h e i n t e r e s t i n g a t t e m p t 24...xg2+ 25.xg2 h3 has a nice refutation: 26.xe2 dxe2 27.e8+! The only move! a n d W h i t e w i n s o n t h e s p o t . xe8 28.d6+ (pointed out by Einar Gausel)) 25.xb1 c6 26.e4! ( 26.xd3? a l l o w s B l a c k t o e s c a p e a f t e r xg2+! 27.xg2 e1+ 28.g1 xg1+ 29.xg1 xc5+ with a drawish Queen ending.) 26...e6 27.xd3 xa2 28.d1 and W hite has a clear edge due to the unsafe position of Black's King. ] 23.b1! xc5 24.b7! Black missed this unexpected knight jump. [ He hoped for 24.b7+ xd6 25.xd7+ xd7 and Black's chances are by no means bad due to the strong passed pawn. ] 24...c2 25.xd8 xd8 White has won the exchange but still precise play is required as Black's passed pawn may become dangerous. [ 25...xd8 is hardly any better in view of 397

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.b8+ c7 ( 26...e7 27.e1+ ) 18.xe3 xh3 19.g5 1-0 Lazic - Vukovic, 27.b1 c6 28.f8 and White wins. ] Serbia 2005 ] 26.e1! Bringing the Queen into the attack. 4...c6 c5 [ A recent example of the more common [ 26...d2 is no better in view of 27.e3 ] 4...f6 : 5.c4 a6 6.ge2 c6 7.d3 27.b4 Now the game is over. b5 28.c4+ xg2 8.g1 h3 9.xh3 xh3 10.f4 d6 29.xb5 axb5 30.f4+ Black resigned. f5 11.fd5 d8 12.xf6 exf6 13.f4 g5 In spite of the convincing win I still suspect 14.g3 d7 15.0-0-0 g6 Rodriguez Black can improve somewhere. No doubt we Galego, Sao Paulo 2005 1/2-1/2 ] can expect new battles here. 5.f3 g4!? Hasangatin's interesting idea 1-0 delays the entry of the Knight on g8 into the game, presumably to talk W hite out of the more critical lines involving g3. 6.h3 390 B01 [ 6.e3 f6 7.h3 h5 8.g4 g6 9.e5 bd7 10.c4 c7 11.f3 e6 12.f4 Vorobiov,Evgeny E 2543 d8 13.0-0-0 d5 14.g3 f6 15.g2 Hasangatin,Ramil 2460 xf3 16.xf3 Zinchenko - Hasangatin, 22nd Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (5) Alushta Victory Cup 2005 1/2-1/2 ] [Andrew Martin] 6...xf3 7.xf3 f6 Black decides not to A game in the 3...Qd6 line of the Scandinavian. accept White's pawn sacrifice, but maybe he Voroblov's kingside attack progresses much should. [ 7...xd4 8.e3 d8 9.d3 d7 more quickly than Hasangatin's queenside 10.0-0-0 gf6 11.g4 e6 12.d4 a5 attack and then Black falls into a nasty trap. 13.b1 c5 14.xf6 xf6 15.g5 d7 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 16.xh7 e5 17.e2 b4 Grabaczyk A relatively new way of playing the Cicak, Oberliga Ost 2001 0-1 ] Scandinavian Defence that has significantly increased in popularity this de cade. It is 8.e3 e6 9.0-0-0 e7N [ 9...bd7 10.f4 b4 regularly played by the likes of GMs Sermek, A) 11.c7 b6 12.a3 e7 13.e5 Hasangatin and Kurajica as well as many 0-0-0 14.b1 d7 15.g4 d8 16.g5 other players of all levels and Black has had e8 17.e4 h6 18.h4 hxg5 19.xg5 considerable success. 4.d4 By far the most e7 20.g3 f6 21.g4 d8 popular move, but others are also frequently ( 21...d6= ) 22.h3 c7 ( 22...h6= ) played: 23.he1 bd5 24.c4 f6 25.f3 e7 [ 4.f3 f6 5.e2 g6 6.0-0 g7 7.d4 0-0 26.e3 b8 27.f3 a8 28.f2 b6 29.f4 8.g5 c6 9.d2 f5 10.fe1 e8 g6 30.g2 b7 31.f3 d6 32.f5 h5 11.ad1 bd7 12.f4 b4 13.h4 g4 33.fxg6 fxg6 34.f7 1-0 Zdebskaja Voigt - Kritz, Bundesliga 2005 0-1 ] Gheorghe, Chisinau 2005 We have seen [ 4.c4 f6 5.d4 a6 6.e2 c6 7.e3 that Black had chances to equalize along f5 8.f3 0-0-0 9.0-0 e5 10.dxe5 xe5 the way.; 11.xd6 xf3+ 12.xf3 xd6 Djurhuus B) 11.a3 a5 12.c4 e7 13.he1 0-0 Gausel, Norway 2005 1-0 ] 14.b3 ac8 15.b1 b5 16.e4 xe4 [ 4.g3 is probably one of the toughest moves 17.xe4 f6 18.e2 d5 19.c1 fd8 for Black to meet. c6 ( 4...f6 5.g2 20.f4 f8 21.f3 c7 22.f5 exf5 c6 6.f3 g4 7.h3 h5 8.d4 0-0-0 23.xf5 d7 24.f3 Jansa - Cicak, 9.0-0 e5 10.dxe5 xe5 11.xd6 xf3+ Passau 2000 ] 12.xf3 xd6 13.xh5 xh5 1/2-1/2 Marinkovic - Vojinovic, Serbia 2004) 10.b1 bd7 11.d3 0-0 [ 11...b4 might be a better way for Black to 5.g2 h5!? 6.f3 h4 7.xh4 g5 8.f3 play, holding off from castling until he has g4 9.g1 f5 10.d3 0-0-0 11.e3 h6 started to launch his own queenside attack 12.d2 d4 13.0-0-0 e5 14.h3 gxh3 against White's king. 12.he1 d5 13.d2 15.xh3 xh3 16.xh3 f3 17.xf3 xe3 398

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd4 14.xd5 xd5 ] 12.g4 b4 13.h4 d5 14.xd5 [ 14.e2 is slightly better to stop Black from opening up the c-file, aiding his attack. xe3 15.fxe3 ] 14...cxd5 15.g5 f5?! Black opens up files and diagonals against his king unnecessarily. It's best for him to just to get on with his own attack. [ 15...ac8 16.h5 f5 17.gxf6 xf6 18.e5 d6 is an improvement, securing equality. ] 16.gxf6 xf6 17.h3 d6 18.hg1 f7 19.h5 h8?? [ 19...b6 20.h6 g6 21.xg6 hxg6 22.xg6+ h8 ] 20.g6! ff8 21.h6! gxh6 22.xh6 [ 22.xh6 is slightly better, but makes no difference to the result. ] 22...g8 23.f7 One should not be dissuaded from playing 3...Qd6 because of this game! 1-0

391 Votava,Jan Mueller,Karsten Hamburgo (4) [Nigel Davies]

B01 2508 2530 21.05.2002

7.Bd2 is a popular alternative to 7.Ne5 and the complex positions which arise are similar to th e Ca ro-Ka nn . 8.Ne4 is not t he m ost challenging move and Black seems OK after both 8...Qd8 and 8...Qc7. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 e6 8.e4 c7 [ Black has also played 8...d8 9.g3 ( 9.xf6+ xf6 10.c3 d7 11.e2 g4 wa s n o t h i n g f o r W h it e in Fe d o r o wi cz W a i t z k i n , N e w Y o r k 1 9 9 9) 9...g4 ( 9...g6?! 10.e2 bd7 11.0-0-0 c7 12.h4 h6 13.xe6 fxe6 14.xe6+ e7 15.he1 was very dangerous for Black in Rossiter - Povah, Portsmouth 2002) 10.c3 d6 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 c7 13.0-0-0 bd7 14.he1 0-0-0 15.e4 xe4 16.xe4 f6 and White had only a nominal edge in Kudrin - Khmelnitsky, Seattle 2002 ] 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.h4 [ 10.e2 d7 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 12.h4 g6

13.g3 b6 14.a5 g7 15.b1 f5 wa s a b o u t e qu a l in I l le s ca s C o r d o b a Speelman, Leon 2001 ] 10...g6 11.c3 d7 12.e2 0-0-0 13.0-0-0 b6 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 13...c5?! is less good b e c a u s e o f 14.d5 b6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.dxe6 xd2 17.xd2 h6 18.hd1 fxe6 19.xe6+ b8 20.g3 xd2+ 21.xd2 xc4 22.xc4 with a good pawn up in Psakhis - Gausel, Ohrid 2001 ] 14.b3 c5 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xg6 hxg6 17.f3 f5 18.h3 c6 19.xc6+ bxc6 20.f3 ½-½

392 Vuckovic,Bojan Vukanovic,Sasa Sozina Open Bar SCG (9) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2525 2358 12.03.2005

It's rare indeed to see a strong player reduced to rubble after only a few moves. Here Black plays what looks like a normal variation and soon finds himself in a kind of Zugzwang! 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 xd5 4.d4 g6 5.c4 A m o ve wh i ch is c ri t ic a l f o r t h e s u r vi va l chances of 4...g6. b6 6.c3 g7 7.c5 Once again White plays the sharpest move. [ Although 7.e2 appears rather placid, I am unconvinced that Black equalizes after 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.d5 e5 10.c5 bd7 11.e3 xf3+ 12.xf3 e5 13.e2 We follow a recommendation of Alex Volzhin: c6 14.f4 d7 15.f3 c7 16.d6! a5 17.a3 e8 18.b4 d8 19.d4 f8 20.e4 Black is running out of things to do. ] 7...d5 [ 7...6d7 8.c4 0-0 9.0-0 is just very pleasant for White who can further build up with ideas such as Re1, h3 Bf4. It is so nice to have an uncontested initiative. ] 8.c4 c6 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1! In his recent excellent book on the Scandinavian, Emms describes this move as 'straightf orward'. White plans Bg5. It is hard to see an effective, active plan for Black. h6 Is it worth a tempo to p r e ve n t B g 5 , t h a t i s t h e q u e s t i o n ? T h e alternatives seem so unpromising that perhaps the answer is yes! 399

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 10...g4 11.g5 f6 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 bd7 14.b4 h6 15.h4 e6 16.ad1 Smirnov, P-Prokopchuk, E/ Nefteyugansk 2002 sees White effortlessly maintaining the advantage. ] [ Meanwhile 10...e6 has been suggested in certain quarters, presumably provoking W h i t e i n t o 11.xe6 fxe6 12.e2 which does look promising, although 11 Qb3! just keeps the edge without risk. ] 11.b3 [ 11.e2 led to an early bath for Black in a r e c e n t g a m e : e8 12.e5! d7? ( 12...f5 13.f3! ) 13.xf7! xf7 14.xd5 cxd5 15.e6+ 1-0 Golovchenko, GKadatsky, A/Samara 2004 Ouch! ] 11...e6 12.e4 Eyeing d6. Once the Knight arrives on that square Black will have serious problems. As it is I see no real comfortable way to get the queenside pieces out. d7N [ 12...b6 is the only other real way to try to get the queenside going, but White has an i r o n g r i p : 13.e5 bxc5 14.xc5 a5 15.e2 Singer, K-Zolnierowicz, K/ Bydgoszcz 2001 ] 13.d2 b6 14.a3 c7 15.ac1 a5 [ 15...bxc5 16.dxc5 b8 17.b3 e5 is a reasonable way to try and simplify. Then I think W hite should play 18.xe5 xe5 ( 18...xe5 19.d6! b2 20.xa7 xd2 21.xb8 d4 22.e4 xa2 23.cd1 ) 19.xh6 xh2+ 20.h1 f4 21.xf4 xf4 22.xa7! g7 23.g1 h8 24.g3 ] 16.b4 bxc5?! In a cheerless position one is bound to lose patience and make a mistake. Black is champing at the bit to play an active move but he has no way of doing so just yet. [ 16...a6? is poor: 17.cxb6 xb6 18.bxa5 ] [ but 16...d8 might hold out some hope: ] 17.bxc5 e5 18.d6! Suddenly Black has no moves. If 18...exd4 19 Ne8! Qd8 20 Nxg7 Kxg7 21 Bxd5! cxd5 22 c6+- Otherwise White takes on e 5. The f irst active move Black played lost the game for him! There seems to be more than one way for White to subject the 4...g6 variation to serious pressure. Black has to do some homework! 1-0

393 Wan,Yunguo Laylo,Darwin 8th Asian Continental Open (10) [John Watson]

B01 2434 2509 22.05.2009

I was surprised myself to see that I hadn't a single game with one of the Scandinavian main lines 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6 3 Nf3 (I have covered 3 d4 Bg4) 3... Nxd5 (and 3...Bg4) 4 d4. Here are a couple of new games, into which I've folded notes from John Emms' second edition of the Scandinavian, and short comments from older Archives files. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.f3 [ 3.d4 g4 is the Portugese Variation - see the Archives. ] 3...xd5 4.d4 f5 [ This month's game Rasmussen-Tikkanen, B a l l e r u p DE N 2 0 0 9 s a w t h e i m p o r t a n t a l t e r n a t i v e 4...g4 (4...g6 is a popular o p t io n , re p re se n t e d b y 9 ga m e s in t h e Archives) 5.e2 ( John Emms: ' 5.h3 h5 6.g4 g6 7.e5 d7 8.xg6 hxg6 9.g2 c6 10.c4 5b6 11.e2 e6 12.c3 b4 13.0-0 0-0 when perhaps White has a pull, although Black's position is extremely solid, Vitolinsh-Dautov, Daugavpils 1989.' ) A) A selection from John Emms' lengthy notes in his book, skipping the analysis and giving an overview: ' 5...e6 6.0-0 ( White can try to eliminate one or two black options by playing Ne5 a move early: 6.e5 xe2 7.xe2 c6!? 8.xc6 bxc6 9.0-0 h4 10.c4 f6 11.f3 e4 12.d2 xf3 13.xf3 gives White a structural edge in the ending, GlekCasagrande 1997.) 6...c6 prevents Ne5 for the moment because an exchange on e2 leaves the d4-pawn hanging. Instead ( 6...e7 7.e5! xe2 8.xe2 Emms: 'One useful point of delaying c2-c4 is that the black knight on d5 blocks the a t t a c k o n W h i t e ' s d 4 - p a wn , a ll o wi n g W h i t e ' s q u e e n t o m o v e f r o m d 1 . '; he also analyses 6...d6!? and thinks that it's reasonable) 7.c3 d6 8.e5 xe2 9.xe2 xe5 10.dxe5 h4 11.d2 f4 12.e4 g4 13.e1 h5! left Black reasonably placed in Aagaard-Bryson, Rotherham 1997.'; 400

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 5...c6 6.c4 b6 7.d5 xf3 8.gxf3 ( 8.xf3 e5 9.e2 c6! ) 8...e5 9.f4 g6 10.c3 e6 11.dxe6 fxe6 12.c2?! ( 12.g4 xd1+ 13.xd1 f7 14.e1 with a somewhat better position,) 12...f6 13.e4 b4+ 14.f1 f5 ( 14...h4 is advantageous) 15.h3 h4 ( 15...xf4 16.g4 e5 ) 16.d3 h5 17.e2 f5 18.d3 with equality, A RasmussenTikkanen, Ballerup 2009 a game from this month's batch. ] 5.d3 Agreed to be the best move by most authors. xd3 6.xd3 e6 7.0-0 [ 7.b5+ is tempting, but c6 8.xb7? db4! threatens ...Rb8, winning the queen. ] 7...d7 [ a) Another recent game saw the ultra-solid, but passive, 7...c6 8.c4 f6 9.c3 e7 10.f4 0-0 11.ad1 e8 12.fe1 , with an instructive game to follow, in which you see that White's space is a significant advan tage : bd7 13.h3 f8 (it's a bad sign if Black has to retreat like this) 14.c2 ( 14.a3 is a good option, intending b4, with the idea a5 15.b4 xa3? 16.a1 xb4 17.eb1 ) 14...a5! 15.h2 b5!? 16.c5 ( 16.e5! ) 16...b4 17.e4 xe4 18.xe4 ac8 19.e5 a6 20.a3! bxa3 21.a1 a2 22.e3 ( 22.b3 f6 23.f3 ) 22...f6 23.f3 e5! 24.b4!? exd4? ( 24...c4 ) 25.xd4 cd8 26.b2 f7 27.a3 b5 28.xa2+ d5 29.d4 xb4 30.xc6 xc5 31.b4 ( 31.d3! ) 31...ed8? ( 31...a5! 32.d3! xb4 33.xd5+ e6 34.h5+ f8 35.xa5 ) 32.d3 xb4 33.xd5 xd5 34.xd5+ e6 35.g3 b6 36.h5+ g8 37.e8+ f8 38.c1 d4 39.c8 b4 40.h2 g6 41.c7 1-0 Al Sayed-Causo, Subic Bay PHI 2009. ] [ b) Topalov-Kamsky, Corus 2006 went 7...c6 8.c4 b6 9.c3 e7 10.f4 with the type of advantage in the last note. Kamsky lashed out with g5?! 11.g3! g4 12.e5 xd4 13.c5! with a great attack. See this game in the Archives. ] 8.c4 5f6 9.c3 e7 10.f4 0-0 11.fd1 Once again we have the basic position for White, and in fact Black sets up a restraint structure as he did above: c6 12.e2 e8 13.e5 f8!? I'm not thrilled with this reorganisation perhaps Black should play

[ 13...a5 ] 14.d3 b6 15.a3 [ Or 15.ad1 ] 15...a5 16.ad1 a6 17.h4 A standard Kingside advance, both initiating attack and driving away a knight if it goes to g6. ad8 18.h5 6d7 It's hard for Black to do anything about the coming attack. He tries to exchange p ie ce s b u t le a ve s W h it e 's b ish o p a im e d directly at g7. 19.g3 xe5 20.xe5 f6 21.g4 Good. Also, [ 21.h6 g6 22.f3! is a clever trick, intending fxe5?? 23.xe5 ] 21...g6 22.hxg6 xg6 [ 22...hxg6 23.h5 g7 24.dd3! intending Rxg6+. ] 23.c7 [ Or 23.h5 g7 24.c7 xc4 25.xd8 xd8 26.h3 h8 27.h6+ g8 28.e1 ] 23...c8? [ 23...xc4 was the last chance: 24.h5! ( 24.b3 ) 24...g7 25.h3 h8 26.xd8 xd8 27.b3! xb3 28.b1 c2 29.xb7+ is too strong. ] 24.xe6+ g7 25.f4 cd8 26.e4 b6 27.xf6 xf6 28.h6+ xh6 29.xf6 e5 30.dxe5 [ 30.dxe5 xd1+ 31.h2 mates soon. ] 1-0

394 Webb,Richard M Buckley,Simon T Open Portsmouth (5) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2370 2265 2003

THE PATZER VARIATION, NUMBER ONE IN THE NATION 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 e5+! I'm coming to the conclusion that 3... Q e 5 + is p la ya b le i n a ll l in e s . I t s t il l h a s considerable 'shock' value. I have tried to persuade forum members to start to give this line a try perhaps games such as this one will help. 4.e2 c6 [ 4...d6? is complete rubbish and was dealt with very severely in this recent miniature: 5.f3 g4 6.d4 xf3 7.xf3 c6 8.0-0 0-0-0 9.b5 e6 10.d5 f6 11.dxc6 xd1 12.cxb7+ b8 13.xd1 e6 14.e3 xb2 15.xa7# 1-0 Vachier Lagrave, M401

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Shakibi,S/Simul, Aubervilliers FRA 2003 The PATZER variation taken to extremes! ] 5.f3 c7 6.d4 f5 7.d5 I've had this several times at ICC against decent opposition. White thinks the time is ripe to try and blast Black out of the sky. However Buckley and I have discussed this position and Black's reply is accurate, cold-blooded and good. [ 7.e5 is most critical. White aims for Bf4 which will highlight the exposed position of the Black Queen. He also threatens g2-g4 and h2-h4 should Black venture Bg6. d7 ( 7...e6?! 8.g4 g6 9.h4 is White's basic idea. b4 10.f4 d8 11.a3 xc3+ 12.bxc3 d5 13.f3 ) A) 8.xd7 xd7 9.0-0 0-0-0 ( 9...f6 10.e3 e6= ) 10.e3 e6 11.d5 f6! 12.xa7 xd5 13.xd5 exd5 14.b6 e8; B) 8.f4 xe5 9.xe5 b6 B1) 10.d2 B1a) 10...e6! 11.0-0-0 ( 11.0-0?! f6 12.f4 0-0-0 ) 11...f6; B1b) 10...xb2 11.b1 xc2 12.xc2 xc2 13.xb7 e6 14.0-0 e7 15.c1; B2) 10.a4 B2a) 10...a5+ is better here, forcing the pace. W hite must then make a choice a nd I give some o f my own analysis : B2a1) 11.c3 f6 ( 11...0-0-0 12.c5 e6 13.b4 ) 12.g3 e5 ( 12...0-0-0 13.b4 d5 14.0-0 e5 ) 13.dxe5 d8 14.b3 b5; B2a2) 11.c3 f6 12.0-0 d7 13.g3 e6= Of course this is all virgin ground.; B2b) 10...d8?! I t h in k t h a t 11.c5 b6 12.0-0 e6 13.b4 f6 14.b1 a6 15.a4 xc5 16.bxc5 a5 17.xb7 xa4 18.d3 xd3 19.xd3 0-0 20.fb1 1-0 Skripchenko, A-Tolhuizen,L/Aosta 2003 (20) ] [ 7.c4 e6 8.e2 f6 9.e5 b4 10.d2 bd7 11.0-0-0 xc3 12.xc3 xe5 13.dxe5 d5 14.d2 0-0-0 15.g4 g6 16.f4 h5 17.h3 b6 18.b3 d4 19.f5 exf5 20.g5 c5 21.xd8 xd8 22.gxh5 h7 23.xd5 cxd5 24.hg1 f4 25.xg7 f3

26.d2 e4 27.c3 xc3 28.bxc3 d7 29.h6 e6 30.h7 h8 31.f1 xh7 32.xf3 g6 33.e3 a5 34.d2 b5 35.a3 c8 36.h4 h8 37.c1 xh4 38.g8 h2 39.b8 xc2+ 40.d1 b2 41.b6+ e7 42.e6 b1+ 43.d2 b2+ 44.e1 e4 45.exf7 xf7 46.h3 g7 47.hh6 b4 48.axb4 axb4 49.cxb4 1/2-1/2 Rendle,TRogers,J/4NCL, Telford ENG 2003 (49) ] 7...f6! 8.dxc6 [ 8.0-0 xd5 9.xd5 cxd5 10.xd5 e6 leads to nothing for W hite. Fritz even suggests that Black might be able to take on c2-a challenge I wouldn't relish but you know what computers are like.... ] 8...xc6 9.b5 b8 What is wrong with Black's position? He has an extra central pawn and is ready to repel boarders with ...a7a6. 10.bd4 d7 11.0-0 e5 12.xc6 xc6 13.e1 d6 14.d3 0-0 I like Black. He has to exercise a modicum of care on the Kingside but as long as that is forthcoming he has no problem with any piece and the pawn o n e 5 co n t in u a lly t h re a t e n s t o a d va n c e . 15.g5 c7 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 ad8 18.e2 xe4 19.xe4 f5 20.e2 W ebb is doing the best that he can to minimise his disadvantage but Black's next move underscores his initiative and thereby the advantage. e4! 21.h3 de8 22.b3 f4 23.c4+N That was the only move with ...f4f3 looming. xc4 24.bxc4 c5 25.a4 f5! White's a bit tied up so Buckley anticipates Ba3 and prepares in the event of a Bishop exchange to bring his Rook into the action on c5 or a5. 26.a3 e3 [ There was something to be said for the calm 26...f7 27.ed1 xa3 28.xa3 c5 29.b3 b6 too. ] 27.xc5 xc5 28.fxe3 xe3 29.xe3 fxe3 30.e1 xc4 31.xe3 xa4 32.e7 b4-+ Of course this is ghastly for Webb. How does he stop that passed pawn on a7? 33.c3 [ 33.f2 a5 34.e3 a4 35.d2 b1 36.c3 a3 37.e8+ f7 38.a8 b5-+ ] 33...b6 34.c4 a5 35.c5 b5 36.c7 a4 37.c8+ f7 38.c7+ e6 39.c6 d6 40.xg7 xc6 Fascinating stuff! 0-1

402

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B01 castling kingside. Instead [ 7...c6 was preferred in the aforementioned Wei Yi 2638 Fedorchuk game. ] Miroshnichenko,E 2602 Black looks comfortable after a queen TCh-TUR Super League 2014 (5.6) 22.08.2014 8.f4 exchange for example [Neil McDonald] [ 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 xe2 10.xe2 f5 11.c3 e4 as in Malakhov, I (2441)1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 Kovalenko, I (2650)/St Petersburg RUS The queen stays resolutely in the middle of 2014. ] the action. The question is whether White can gain anything worthwhile by harassing her with 8...c6 9.d2 0-0 10.0-0-0? Leads to trouble. Nb5 or Bf4 in the future. 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g6 Black is comfortable but no more after [ 10.h6 but Black appears to be able to A kind of Scandinavian-Pirc hybrid. You might hold his own or more after xh6 11.xh6 like to examine Tiviakov- Fedorchuk in the f5 12.0-0-0 b5 for example Sit back and archives for more details. 6.g3 A natural enjoy the attack the attack after response as White's light squared bishop will A) Instead 13.h4 might lead to a sharp exert pressure on the queenside on g2 and draw: e6 14.he1 b4 15.xe6 bxc3! the black queen can be hunted by his other ( Steering clear of 15...fxe6 16.h3 bxc3 bishop with Bf4. However as we shall see 17.xe6+ f7 18.xg6 when mate on f8 Black can throw a spanner in the works when is threatened.) 16.f5 cxb2+ 17.b1 it comes to White castling kingside. gxf5 18.g5+ h8 19.xf6 exf6 [ Instead 6.b5 gains time for White to play 20.xf6+ g8 21.g5+ h8 draw!; the strategically desirable c2-c4 advance. B) 13.a3 b4! 14.axb4 a1+ 15.b1 For example d8 a6 16.h4 xc2! 17.xc2 xb4+ A) 7.f4 a6 Slightly awkward for Black 18.d2 ad8 19.e2 a6+ 20.f3 c5 is ( 7...d5 8.e5 ) 8.c4 Slightly awkward 21.g4 xd4 22.xd4 cxd4 23.d1 d3 for Black is g7 9.e5 0-0 10.e2 h6 24.d2 e5 25.g3 e4 26.f4 b8 27.f1 11.0-0 c6 12.c3 c7 13.b3 e6 e6 28.h3 b3 0-1 Berbatov, K (2481) 14.d5 f4 15.ad1 this sharp position Chatalbashev, B (2555)/Albena 2010. ] was reached in Dastan, B (2432)[ Meanwhile 10.e5 e6 11.d3 bd7 Mamedov, R (2659)/Kocaeli TUR 2014, looked OK for Black in Akash, G (2404) and now I like d7!?; Sethuraman, S (2520)/ Kolkata 2012. ] B) 7.c4 c6 8.c3 g7 9.e2 0-0 11.a3? Leads to trouble. Black is 10.0-0 g4 11.e3 bd7 12.b3 10...b5 White would have a small plus due to the comfortable but no more after [ 11.b1 b4 12.e2 d5 ] bish op p air an d his e xt ra spa ce a f t e r A move familiar from the Berbatov ( 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 ) 12...c7 13.fd1 11...b4! fe8 14.d5?! Evidently Wei Yi doesn't game in the notes above. Black gambits a a1+ enjoy playing against Black's opening pawn for a big initiative. 12.axb4 system. It's not too late to get a tiny edge 13.b1 a5!? [ Black also had an attack after 13...d5 with ( 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 ) 14...xf3 14.d3 a5 15.b5 cxb5 16.e5 e6 15.gxf3 Not an aesthetic recapture. 17.a3 xa3 18.xa3 b4 in Juggernaut, Pe rha p s W h ite h ad missed t ha t af t e r R (2613) -W ikiman, R (2478)/ playchess. ( 15.xf3 e5 16.e2 eg4 the double com INT 2007, but W hite can at least be attack on e3 and h2 is very pleasant for pleased to have got the queens off! ] him. ) 15...b6 So far this is Wei Yi (2638)Wei Yi is relying on this move to keep Benidze, D (2458)/Kocaeli TUR 2014 and 14.b5 here ( 15...h5 16.d2 e5 looks good the queenside blocked, but he meets with an 15.e1 f o r B l a c k d u e t o W h i t e ' s f r a c t u r e d u n p l e a s a n t s u r p r i s e . cxb5!! White decides to take the piece on offer. If he kingside. )] 6...g7 7.g2 a6!? The black queen slips declines he is left in a horrible position as the away from attack by Bf4 and prevents White black queenside pawns will run at his king.

395

403

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a6 16.xb8 e6 The bishop on b8 is now h a n g i n g a n d W h i t e h a s n o g o o d wa y t o prevent Black's next move. 17.e5 [ After 17.d5 e4 Black threatens both the white queen and mate on b2. ] 17...a2 18.c3 b4 19.c7 [ Attacking the black rook doesn't help much as it slides to a better attacking square on the third rank. 19.d3 e6! 20.d2 xb2! The knight on b1 can wait. Black keeps up the attack rather than falling into a pin after ( 20...xb1? 21.f3 when suddenly White is winning as 22.Rxb1 follows.) 21.f4 ( after 21.f3 c8 the threats include 22...Bh6+ 23 .K e1 B c 4, t ra pp ing t he wh it e qu ee n . 22.e1 xb1 ) 21...d8 22.f3 g4! 23.xg7 f2 24.b5 ( Or 24.f1 c8 a n d W h it e 's d e f e n c e s co lla p se o n c2 .) 24...e4+ 25.d3 xb1 26.xb1 c3+ 27.e2 xc2+ and White is soon mated. ] 19...xb1+ 20.d2 xb2 21.d3 a3 22.a1 It appears that Wei Yi has fought back well as the black queen is in an awkward pin. But now comes a decisive strengthening of B l a c k ' s a t t a c k . e8! 23.c5 d6 A powerful rerouting of the black knight. It wins the c8 square for the rook after which White's defences finally crumble. 24.xg7 [ Or 24.d5 c3+ 25.xc3 bxc3+ 26.xc3 xd5 and Black has won a piece. ] 24...c8 25.g5 xg7 26.hc1 c3+ 27.e2 c4 28.f1 b3! The queenside pawns have the last word as White's knight is fatally undermined. 29.g1 xd3 30.cxb3 [ Unb ea ra ble f or white is 30.cxd3 b2 31.xc3 bxa1+ ] 30...xd4 31.xe7 xc1+ White remains a piece down. 0-1

Robatsch. ] 5...h6 [ 5...g7 6.c4 c6 7.ge2 h6 8.d2 f5 was also fine for Black in Meitner Blackburne, Vienna 1873 ] 6.d2 [ Or 6.c4 f5 7.f3 g7 8.0-0 0-0 9.d2 b6 10.ad1 b7 with a good position for Black in Golmayo - Blackburne, Havana 1891 ] 6...f5 7.d3 g7 8.xf5 xf5 9.h3 h5!? 10.ge2 a6 11.a3 c6 12.g3 d7 13.0-0-0 h4 14.xf5 xf5 Black has achieved a highly satisfactory position out of the opening, 9...h5 was a nice idea and here W hite's kin gside is ra the r com pro mis ed . 15.d3 a5 16.e4 e6 17.f4 0-0-0 18.e3 c7 19.xc7 xc7 20.f4?! h5 21.hf1 b6 22.e2 c5! 23.c3 cxd4 24.xd4 e5! 25.c2 [ And not 25.fxe5 h6 etc. ] 25...xd1+ 26.xd1 xe3 27.xe3 h6 28.d5 exf4 29.c4 [ If 29.xf4 then f5 . So Black wins a pawn. ] 29...e5 30.e1 xe1+ 31.xe1 d7 32.e2 f5 33.f3 g5 34.b4 g7 35.d3 d6 36.b3 d4 37.e2 e3 38.f3 b6 39.b4 a6 40.a4 d4 41.e2 c3 42.b5 a5 43.f2 d4+ 44.e2 g1 45.f3 e3 46.g4 hxg3 47.g2 d2 48.c5+ bxc5 49.b6 c4 50.e5 xe5 51.b7 e4 0-1

397 Wojciechowski,Adam Janaszak,Dawid ch-Boys U18 Zakopane POL (9) [Jon Tisdall]

B01 2112 2134 24.01.2001

1.e4 c6 This move seems to have been almost obligatory in the recent Polish youth championships with boys and girls of all ages 1883 running it up the flagpole. Unfortunately these games did not produce any stirring theoretical currents, but may indicate f uture trends. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 4.d4 g6 Having gone through the entire section, I 5.e3 Rather inviting the following strong began to wonder if CPub ought not to set up manoeuvre. an office in Poland - nearly every one of the [ 5.f4! is White's best as in Fischer - extremely Daring defences got a workout in

396

B01

Winawer,Szymon Blackburne,Joseph Henry Nuremberg (8) [Nigel Davies]

404

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the Polish youth events. 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.f3 g4 5.e2 0-0-0 6.c3 e5 7.c4 a5+ 8.d2 b4 9.d5 e4 10.g5 xe2 11.xe2 d4 12.xe4?? [ 12.d1 h6 13.0-0 xd2 14.xd2 b6 15.dxe4 Wahls ] 12...b3! 13.xf7 [ 13.axb3 xd2+ 14.d1 xa1 15.xf7 b4 16.xh8 h6-+ ] 13...f6 14.f5+ b8 15.xd8 xd2+ 16.e2?? Whoa [ 16.d1 xd8 17.axb3 xa1 18.xd2 xb2+ exposes white to a terrific attack, but... ] 16...d4+ 0-1

398 Wynn Zaw Htun Rogers,Ian Bangkok [Andrew Martin]

B01

2004

I saw the following game in Informator 90. It is well worth studying here. Ian Rogers makes yet another expedition into the Scandinavian jungle. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 A variation he cannot put down 6.h3 h5 [ I p r e d i c t t h a t 6...xf3 7.xf3 c6 will be the next Fort Knox Defence. ] 7.g4 g6 8.e5 e6 9.g2 c6 10.h4 bd7 11.xd7 xd7 12.d2 The first critical position of the game. If White is going to win the opening battle he will have to make d4-d5 work somewhere. Otherwise the pawn advances look ludicrous. [ This is the first moment where d4-d5 has to be considered. In my view it gives Black the attack, not White : 12.d5 exd5 13.h5 e8+ 14.f1 a6+ 15.g1 ( 15.e2 e4 16.f3 c5! 17.fxe4 xe4 18.d3 b6 ) 15...e4 16.f3 c5+! 17.h2 d6+ 18.h3 g6 Over the board to go into this variation without thorough preparation would be madness. ] 12...h6 Rogers gives this as the only move but I believe that 12...h5 is also playable: ' [ 12...h5 13.g5 ( +-, Rogers) g8 14.d5 exd5 15.xd5 e8+ 16.e3 a4

17.b4+ c7 I think it's important to take away the g4 square from White, so that he cannot check with the Queen. ] 13.d5 [ 13.g5!? is a dangerous attacking move, which forces Black to find a good defence: hxg5 14.hxg5 xh1+ 15.xh1 e8 16.d5 exd5 17.g4+ ( 17.xd5 a4 ) 17...d8 Perhaps Black stays on the board after all. 18.xd5 b5 19.c3 e5+ 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 xe4+ 22.xe4 d6 23.xd6 xd6 24.c3 g6 ] 13...exd5 14.xd5 e8+ 15.e3 a4 A novelty according to Rogers. 16.b3 [ 16.0-0 d6 17.c4= Rogers. ] 16...f4 17.f1 [ 17.0-0 d6 18.e1 e4 ] 17...e4 18.xe4 xe4 19.f3 d4 [ 19...e6! was superior, maintaining a strong initiative. ] 20.c3 d3+! Securing a nominal advantage in the ending. Black gets the seventh rank. 21.xd3 xd3+ 22.cxd3 xe3 23.g2 f6 24.d4 e2+ 25.f1 d2 26.e3?! [ He should take on a7: 26.xa7 a3! 27.e3 xd3 28.e2 d5 29.ad1 e8 30.xd5+ cxd5 31.d3 b5= White had to play a few good moves but the smoke is clearing and he's not worse. ] 26...c2 27.g1 c5 28.xc5 xc5 29.g2 e8 30.e1 ce5 [ Rogers gives 30...xe1+ 31.xe1 e6 as technically correct. With the better King and holes on d4 and f4 to occupy, it's hard to see White holding this ending. ] 31.e4 c5 32.ge2? [ 32.h5! freezing the kingside pawns, was a better way to play the position. ] 32...xe4 33.dxe4 g5! Instead it is Black who ' freezes ' the pawn majority. Now he gets to advance on the queenside with an extra pawn. 34.hxg5 hxg5 35.f2 e6 36.d2 a5 37.g3 c1 38.f2 b5 39.g3 b4 40.f2 c5 41.e3 c4 Rogers appends a rather harsh question mark to this move which I will not repeat. These endgames are tough even for the strongest grandmasters. He then gives the following conclusive analysis : [ 41...c3+ A) 42.e2 a4 43.d3 ( 43.bxa4 a3 ) 43...c2+ 44.d2 xd2+ 45.xd2 a3 405

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 46.d3 e5 47.c4 f4 48.xc5 xf3 49.xb4 xg4 50.xa3 f4 51.b4 xe4-+; B) 42.d3 xd3+ 43.xd3 e5 44.e3 c4 45.bxc4 a4 46.d3 a3 47.c2 d4 48.b3 c5-+ I Rogers ] 42.bxc4 xc4 43.e2 c3 44.f2 a3 45.e2 a4 46.f2 c3 47.e2 [ 47.d4! c2+ 48.g3 b2 49.a3! bxa3 50.xa4 a2 51.f4 I Rogers. ] 47...c6 48.e3 b3 49.axb3 axb3 50.f4 gxf4+ 51.xf4 b6 52.b2 b4 53.e3 e5 54.d3 d4+ 55.c3 xe4 56.xb3 xg4 57.c3 g3+ 58.c4 e3! This one is losing. The Lucena position will inexorably arrive. 59.b5+ e4 60.b8 f5 61.e8+ f3 62.f8 f4 63.d4 e7 64.f6 g3 65.d3 f3 66.f8 f2 67.g8+ f3 68.f8+ g2 69.g8+ f1 70.d2 d7+ 71.e3 [ 71.c2 d5 is the aforementioned Lucena position. ] 71...e1 5...Bg4 is still on the board! 0-1

1987 12.g5! h6 13.h4 and now tactical complications led to a quick White victory xf3 14.xf3 xd4?! 15.cxd4 xd4 16.xe7 xc4 17.ac1 xa2 18.xf8 xf8 19.xb7 d4 20.f1 and Black has little hope.) 12.a3 e6 13.b1 White has a space advantage and pressure on the b-file while Black has no counterplay, Tiviakov Khmelnicky, 1987. ] 7.c4 g7 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 b6 10.e1! Continuing with active development White is going to play Bg5. b7 [ 10...bxc5 11.g5! with advantage ] 11.g5! f6 12.e5 Now Black is in real trouble, and this is no big surprise since he has wasted too much time on piece manoeuvres. c6 [ 12...e6 was probably more stubborn. ] 13.xf7+! [ 13.b3 d5 14.g4 was also good enough but the text move is stronger. ] 13...xf7 14.b3 f8 [ 14...d5 was losing after 15.xf7 xf7 16.xd5 cxd5 17.xe7+ xe7 18.xe7 xe7 19.e1+ f7 ( 19...d8 20.e3 ) 20.g3 winning ] 399 B01 15.xf7 xf7 16.xe7 xb3 17.axb3 Yakovich,Yuri 2525 fd7 The only move. 18.e4! The knight Zagema,Wieb 2360 enters with decisive effect. h6 [ Other moves were immediately losing Leeuwarden 1993 18...f8 19.f6+ ] [Alexander Volzhin] [ 18...xd4 19.d6 a6 20.h6 ] f8 20.f6+! T h e p o i n t . xf6 5.Nc3 is a very interesting way to fight for an 19.f4 opening advantage. Importantly this move 21.xb7 bd7 22.cxb6 a5 [ 22...a6 wa s n ot be t te r: 23.a7 xb6 order doesn't allow the system with Bg4. As 24.xa8 xa8 25.xa6 ] the following game shows, the fianchetto system also has its drawbacks. 1.e4 d5 23.d2!? e8 [ After 23...a6 24.xa5 b4 25.a7 xa5 2.exd5 f6 3.d4 xd5 4.c4 b6 5.c3 26.1xa5 xa5 27.xa5 xb6 28.c5 g6 6.c5! This is the idea behind an early Nc3. one of the W hite pawns would eventually 6d7 promote. ] [ Black has also tried 6...d5 but failed to equalise: 7.c4 xc3 Forced, other moves 24.xa5 d6 25.c1 c5 26.c3! e6 are bad: ( 7...e6 8.b3 xc3 9.xe6 27.f1 f8 28.e1! The rook exchange puts and Black is in trouble; 7...c6 8.b3! e6 an end to Black's resistance. xe1+ 29.xe1 9.f3 g7 10.0-0 with a big advantage due e8 30.dxc5 xc5 31.xf6 xf6 32.g7 to the weakness of the d6-square.) 8.bxc3 g5 33.b7 d6 34.g6 f7 35.xh6 g4 g8 37.e2 g7 38.h5 ( 8.f3!? is worth considering) 8...g7 36.h8 9.f3 0-0 10.0-0 c6 11.e1 The critical Black resigned. position for the assessment of 6...Nd5. It's 1-0 not easy to find a suitable plan for Black. h6 ( 11...g4 was tried in Tiviakov - Maljutin, 406

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 400 Ye Jiangchuan Malakhov,Vladimir RUS-CHN Moscow CHN (4) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2681 2674 14.08.2004

GRANDMASTER DRAW NO 687 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.c4 c6 6.f3 f5 7.d2 e6 8.d5 Certain lines of the Scandinavian are more crucial than others. W ith 8 Nd5 and 8 Ne4 W hite really puts the pressure on early and Black must fight for his life. I show here one way against the critical 8 Nd5 which leads to a draw by perpetual-I guess Black should be happy with that. d8 9.xf6+ [ White is not under any obligation to take on f6,however the transfer to e3 is rather timec o n s u m i n g : 9.e3 g6 10.0-0 h5 11.e1 e7 12.c3 bd7 13.h3 0-0 14.d3 c5 15.g4 g6 16.xg6 hxg6= White,K-Natter,M/Triesen LIE 2004 ] 9...xf6 [ 9...gxf6 has been scoring well for Black recently: 10.c3 ( 10.b3 d7 11.e2 c7 12.h4 g6 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 14.g3 b8 15.f4 f5 16.c4 g7 17.c3 c5 18.b1 he8 19.he1 cxd4 20.xd4 xd4 21.xd4 f6 22.xd8+ xd8 23.xg6 hxg6= Folk,P-Konopka,M/ Czech Republic 2003 The Bishop is anaesthetized and is set to remain so. If anyone, Black has the edge. ) 10...c7 11.e2 d7 12.b3 ( 12.h4 g6 13.f4 f5 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 ) 12...0-0-0 13.0-0-0 g4 14.h3 h5 15.g4 g6 16.e3 e4 17.he1 d5 18.xd5 cxd5= Padelli,M-Bourjol,D/ 6th Open Vins du Mer, Naujac sur Mer FR 2003 Black's comfortable and has the easy plan of ...Kb8 and ...Nb6-c4 at his disposal. ] 10.e2N Shirov's move. g4! 11.0-0-0 d7 12.d5 xf3 13.gxf3 cxd5 14.xd5 0-0-0 So far all known and Black's survival chances seem fine as long as he is aware of White's next idea: 15.xb7+ Good enough for a draw but little else. [ 15.e4 e5!? ( 15...d6 16.c3 f4+ 17.b1 f6 18.hg1 hg8 19.xb7+ xb7 20.b5+= leads to the same type of d ra win g m e c h a n i sm t h a t o ccu rs in t h e game. ) 16.f4 ( 16.c3 c7 17.b1 f6

18.hg1 g6 19.h4 c5 20.h5 gives White the initiative.) 16...c7 17.f5 exf5 18.xf5 g6 19.xd7+ xd7 20.c3 h6+ 21.b1 xd1+ 22.xd1 d8 23.xd8+ xd8 24.a4 b8 25.e5+ a8 26.a5 a6 27.d4 f8 28.b6 e7 29.c3 b8 30.e3 d8 31.b3 d6 32.d4 c8 33.c3+ d7 34.b6 e7 35.f3 e8 36.c3 d7 37.f3 e8 38.c3 d7 1/2-1/2 Carmeille,L-Prie,E/ Montpellier FRA 2004 ] 15...xb7 16.e4+ a6 17.a4+ b7 18.e4+ a6 19.a4+ b7 There is no re a so n t o sh y a wa y f ro m su ch 'd r a wi n g ' systems. 1) W hite has to know everything (very few do). 2) A draw with Black is a good result. 3) You must believe in the soundness of your opening systems if you are to play at your very best. Players who continually play tricky or even unsound ideas in the hope of catching the opponent out only handicap themselves in the long run. ½-½

401 Zarnicki,Pablo Fiorito,Fabian Zonal Tournament [Paul Motwani]

B01

2000

Quick Tricks and Traps 1) B12: "A Cool Win with the Icelandic Gambit", Code B01 The game P.Zarnicki-F.Fiorito played at a zonal tournament in Buenos Aires on 29 July 2000 was a Scandinavian Defence which saw White (ra t e d 2 4 8 8 ) lo sin g in o n ly 2 2 m o ve s a s follows: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.c4 e6 The so-called "Icelandic Gambit" 4.dxe6 [ Personally, I would prefer to decline the gambit with a move like 4.d4 which does not give Black the same lightning-speed piecedevelopm en t t ha t h e get s in th e a ct ua l game ] 4...xe6 5.d4 b4+ [ I've actually seen 5...e7!? 6.a4+?? d7+ discovered check & White resigns happen before!! ] 6.d2 e7 7.xb4 xb4+ 8.d2 e7! This cool, calm retreat creates the nasty threat of 9...Bxc4+: another cheeky discovered 407

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 check 9.e3 c6! 10.f3 [ Black did not fear 10.d5 because of A) or 10...g4! 11.e2 ( and 11.e4 f6!? leaves White with a head full of worries too ) 11...d4; B) 10...b4 ] 10...g4! 11.e2 0-0-0 12.h3 [ 12.d5 would be met by he8! intending 13.dxe6 b4+ 14.c3 xe6 ] 12...he8! 13.hxg4 b4+ 14.d2 xg4+ 15.e2 [ If 15.d1 then xd4 16.d3 xf3+ 17.gxf3 d6 is one possible route to a quick victory for Black ] 15...xe2+! I bet that rook-move rocked White! 16.xe2 xd4+ 17.f1 xc4+ 18.g1 xf3+ 19.gxf3 xf3! the threat of 20...Qg4+ is so great that Black didn't even stop to capture White's queen! 20.h3 [ 20.g5 l o s e s i n s t a n t l y t o d1+ ( or the prettier 20...f1+ )] 20...g4+ 21.g3 h5! 22.xf3 xf3 W hite resigned in view of 23 Qe3 Rd1+ 24 Kh2 Rh1. 0-1

402 Zawadzka,Jolanta Socha,Anna POL-chT U20 Girls [Eric Prié]

B01

1999

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.d2 a6 7.c4 b6 [ 7...xd4 8.xd4 c5 9.xf7+! xf7 10.e3 ( 10.f3!? b6 11.b3 e6 12.e2 d6 13.g5+ Drabke, L-Langrock, H D r e s d e n 2 0 0 2) 10...g4 ( 10...g4 11.f3+ e8 12.0-0-0 xe3 13.fxe3 e5 14.b3 e7 15.d5+- ) 11.f3 d7 12.e2 White has obtained a big advantage: He is ahead in development, the opposing royal couple is weak and he enjoys a better pawn structure, favourable for his cavalry. Kotsur, P (2415) - Rodin, M (2345) Vladivostok op 1995 ] [ 7...b4 8.d5? ( 8.b5! xc4 9.xc7+ ) 8...xc4? ( 8...d6 9.f4 e6+ ) 9.xc7+ d8 10.xa8? ( 10.b3+- ) 10...g4 11.c3 d7 is less clear Swiatnicki, A-Michalczyk, S

Polanica Zdroj 2004 ] [ 7...f5 8.h3 e4 9.d5 d7 10.f4 d6 11.e2 e6 12.0-0 Li ShilongMariano, N/ Tagaytay City 2004, which has already been commented in this section. ] 8.a4! a7 9.e3 g4 10.g5! d8 [ 10...e6? 11.xg4 ] 11.b3 To avoid the ...b7-b5 fork. e5 12.f3! f6 13.dxe5 xe3 14.exf6!+- Undoubtedly nice preparation from the polish youth champion... xg2+ [ 14...gxf6 15.fxe3 fxg5 16.0-0-0 Threatening both Qf6 and Qh5+ ] 15.f1 gxf6 16.xf6 g7 17.f7+ xf7 18.xf7+ d8 19.d1+ d4 20.d5+ e7 21.xd4 f6 22.e4+ g7 23.e5+ g6 24.f6+ h5 25.g3# 1-0

403 Zelcic,Robert Kurajica,Bojan Salona Rapid 1hr, Solin-Spilt rapid (16) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2550 2545 2002

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 6.c4 e6 7.e2 b5 8.b3 [ 8.d3 did the business in the following recen t min iature, b ut th ere a re se vera l p o i n t s a t wh i c h B l a c k c a n l o o k f o r a n improvement. b7 9.0-0 e7 ( 9...bd7 10.a4 b4 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.xe4 c6 14.f4 d5 15.fe1 a5 16.e5 b6 17.g4 ) 10.a4 b4 11.e4 d5 12.xf6+ xf6 13.c4 bxc3 14.bxc3 A) I prefer to strike in the centre immediately : 14...c5! A1) 15.b1 0-0 16.c4 c6 17.dxc5 d7 18.xb7 ( 18.c2 g6 19.xb7 xb7 20.e4 c7 21.xa8 xa8= ) 18...xb7 19.e4 c7 20.xa8 xa8=; A2) 15.c4 d7 16.b1 cxd4; B) 14...0-0? 15.b1 c6 16.c4 h5 17.e4 g4 ( 17...xe4 18.xe4 d7 19.c6 b6 20.d2! ) 18.d5 exd5 19.cxd5 e8 20.b4 xd5? ( 20...d7 ) 21.xd5 1-0 Crosa,M-Giaccio,A/ch-URU, Montevideo URU 2002 (21) ] 8...b7 9.g5 bd7 A very typical piece set408

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 up for both sides. 10.0-0-0 d5 11.e4 b6 12.b1 h6! An important little defensive prod which drives the Bishop back to c1 and prepares ...Be7. 13.c1 [ 13.h4 f4 14.d2 xg2 ] 13...e7 14.he1 0-0-0= 15.c4?! Seeing that the Bishop on b7 has so much more potential than the Bishop on b3 Zelcic tries to change to the emphasis of the game towards a tactical melee. He finds Kurajica on top form and equally combative. To be frank I find 15 c4 over-ambitious. Much more realistic was the quieter [ 15.c3 7f6 16.xf6 xf6 17.g3= admitting that Black has equality and simply limiting any damage. ] 15...bxc4 16.xc4 7f6 17.xd5 xd5 18.a1 b4 19.a3 c6 20.e3 b5! 21.c2 a5 Eyeing b3 and c4 as well as unleashing the giant on b7. 22.f4 d7! Extremely well-calculated. This looks like a mistake. Zelcic is tempted. 23.e5 b3+ 24.b1 xd4! 25.xd4 xd4 26.xf7 c4 27.c3 f8 28.g6 xc3! The point. White e n d s u p wi t h t o o m a n y p i e c e s h a n g i n g . 29.xe6+ b8 30.xe7 f5+! 31.a1 xf7 32.b4 b3 33.xc7+ a8 34.c5 b5 35.d4 xc7 A game of great control from veteran Grandmaster Kurajica. 0-1

404 Zelcic,Robert Sermek,Drazen Cup 14th Sibenik (5) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2514 2555 30.05.2005

D O O M A N D G L O O M I N T H E SCANDINAVIAN? 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 6.g3 g4! We saw last month that 6...Bg4 could be an effective antidote to the highly-rated 6 g3 variation. Let us see some more compelling evidence now. To recap: Black's plan is ...Nc6 and ...0-0-0, hitting d4. Later if allowed, he will either break with ...e7-e5 or attack White's King directly. 7.h3 h5 8.e2 c6 9.e3 0-0-0 10.g2 e6 11.0-0 One could call this main-line. [ White may also castle long as an attempt

to justify his order of moves but the King is surely misplaced on the queenside: 11.0-0-0 d5! 12.xd5 xd5 A) 13.c4 a5 14.a3 ( 14.b1? g6+ 15.a1 b4 ) 14...e7=; B) 13.b3 a5! 14.b1 b4 15.a4 d5 16.d2 b4 17.c4 xd2 18.cxd5 c3 19.dxe6 he8 20.e5 d5 21.xg7 b4 22.a2 a5 0-1 Drabke, LPirrot, D/Bundesliga GER 2005 W hat a depressing game for White! ] 11...e7 [ Fritz 9 is showing me the remarkable move 11...g5!? now, claiming advantage to Black! L e t ' s s e e . . . 12.xg5 ( 12.a3 g8 ) 12...xd4 13.e3 e7 14.f4 xf3+ 15.xf3 c5= Thus 11..g5 is certainly an option, but not a guaranteed advantage. ] 12.a3 d5 Sermek is very well versed in this line of the Scandinavian and one can trust his choices. 12...Nd5 pays W hite due respect and states that Black is happy to equalize. 13.e4 [ 13.xd5 exd5 14.b4 f6 15.c3 he8 is effective development by Black. ] 13...d7 14.b4 f5! 15.c5 [ 15.ed2 f4 was obviously unappealing. ] 15...xc5 16.bxc5 f4 But it happens anyway! 17.gxf4 hf8 18.ab1 xd4!? really going for it! [ 18...xf4 19.xf4 xf4 20.e3 xf3 ( 20...df8 21.e5! ) 21.xf4 xg2 22.xg2 d5+ 23.f3 xf3+ 24.xf3 xd4+ 25.e4 xc2 ] 19.xd4 xf4 20.e5? [ 20.e3 xg2 ] [ 20.e4 is the only move and may just be good enough to hang on: d5! 21.g5 xe4 22.xe4 xd4 23.xb7+ d7 The kings are mutually exposed but Black's position is the tighter. ] 20...xg2-+ 21.xh5 f4 Suddenly White is lost. 22.e5 c6 23.b3 xd4 24.fb1 xh3+ 25.h2 xf3 26.xf3 xf3 27.xd4 f4 To be honest I don't understand all the fuss about 6 g3 The articles in New In Chess Yearbook are very selective and do not cover everything. 6...Bg4 just seems like a good choice! 0-1

409

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 majority outweigh Black's passed pawn and the d5 square? xa4 25.xa4 d5 26.f2 Zhang Zhong c8 I slightly prefer Black. All his pieces are Dreev,Alexey working and the c4 pawn is inhibiting. 27.e2 CHN-RUS Chess Summit (7) b6 28.c2 f6 29.h4 No pawns left to [Andrew Martin] push. [ 29.a4 d6! is Dreev's point. ] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 Dreev is tiring of the Caro-Kann, but notice he 29...c7 30.e4 fd8 31.ed1 d6 32.h5! goes into a line where the pawn structure is Now it is Zhang who has to create active very similar. 4.d4 f6 5.e3 I doubt this counterplay to offset d4. gxh5 33.xh5 g6 move troubles Black. W hite may fianchetto 34.a5 [ 34.g4 cd8 35.f5 exf5 36.xf5 g7 his King's Bishop or he can consider Qd2 and continues in the same careful style and 0-0-0. Either way, Black is comfortable. a6 Black keeps his advantage. ] [ I d o n ' t l i k e 5...f5?! 6.f3! c8 35.b7 b8 36.f3 xd4 as much. W hy give W hite a f ree move? 34...d8 37.xd4 A strange time to agree a draw. Short, N-Sulava, N/Ohrid 2001 ] Surely 37... Rxd4 is worth continuing f or 6.g3 c6N [ 6...g4! is also interesting: 7.f3 ( 7.f3 Black? f5 8.d2 c6 9.0-0-0 b4! ) 7...c6 ½-½ 8.g2 e6 9.h3 h5 10.f4 b4 11.xc7 d5 12.a3 xc3 13.axb4 xd1 14.b5 B01 ( 14.xd1 xb4 15.c3 d5= ) 14...xf3 406 15.xf3 xd4 16.xb7 a7 17.xd1 Zhigalko,A 2588 ( 17.bxa6 ) 17...xb7 18.bxa6 xc7 19.a7 Sharif,Me 2444 xa7 20.xa7 e7 21.a8+ Zamarbide 29th Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (3.14) Ib a rre a , B -Ma rtin e z P ere z, J/Mo n d a riz [Tom Rendle] 2005/ ] 7.g2 f5 8.f3 e6 9.0-0 bd7 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.f3 g4 4.e2 He gets his desired structure. W hite goes c6 5.0-0 This move is unusual but actually after the Bishops in typical fashion. 10.h4 very flexible. White hasn't committed to d4, c4 [ 10.a3 is interesting, preparing Bf4, but after or Nc3 so he still has many setups available. c7 11.f4 d6 12.xd6 xd6 13.h4 [ 5.d4 0-0-0 was last examined in Barong6 it all comes to very little. ] Kurajica by Gawain for ChessPub. ] 10...g6 11.f4 b4 12.a3 b6 [ 5.c3 has also been covered many times [ 12...xb2 13.xg6 hxg6 14.d3 b6 for this site, most recently by myself and 15.fb1 is an adventure Black would be illGawain in Fedorchuk-Bauer last year. ] advised to embark on. White's pieces spring [ 5.h3 is another slightly unusual option that to life. ] deserves to be looked at xf3 6.xf3 e6+ 13.xg6 hxg6 14.b4 d8 7.e2 xe2+ 8.xe2 [ Or 14...0-0-0! ] A) 8...0-0-0 9.c3 e5 10.d3 f5 15.e1 e7 16.a4 a7 17.c4 0-0 looks to be a very sensible way for Black 18.c3 fe8 Dreev prepares for his usual to handle things. After 11.d2 g6 12.f3 siege. 19.e3 b8 20.f4 b5! h6 the position was equal in At some stage Black has to do something and Panchanathan, M (2564)-Kasparov, S Dreev judges that the time is right now. The (2490) Ranshofen 2012 White should've overall purpose of ...b7-b5 is to secure th timeaccepted this with 13.xh6 ( but instead honoured square d5, but White can take on after 13.g5?! d7 14.d2 xg5! c6. 21.xc6! bxc4 22.f3 f8 23.ac1 15.xg5 f4 16.h4 h6 17.f3 ge7 b6 24.a4 The battle begins for the 18.g4 fxg3 19.xg3 f8 Black had a nice advancement of W hite's queenside pawn advantage and went on to win a smooth m a j o r i t y . D o t h e W h i t e b is h o p s a n d t h e game. ) 13...xh6 14.0-0-0;

405

B01 2639 2666 17.08.2006

410

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 8...d4 9.d1 e5 10.0-0 0-0-0 11.d3 g6 ( 11...e7 12.e1 ec6 might give B l a c k a b e t t e r c h a n c e o f e q u a l i s i n g) 12.e1 g7 13.d2 was slightly better for White in Nakamura, H (2708)-Tiviakov, S (2662) Wijk aan Zee 2010 ] 5...0-0-0 [ 5...f6 transposes to my notes on the game Short-Liiva in the archives where I r e c o m m e n d e d 6.h3 h5 7.d4 0-0-0 ( 7...e6 8.c4 d7 9.e3 is also a little better for White ) 8.e3 ] [ 5...e5 probably isn't a good idea here as after 6.c3 d7 White has ( or 6...d6 7.e1 0-0-0 8.xe5 ) 7.xe5! xe5 8.d4 winning a pawn as xe2 9.xe2 xd4 10.d1 c4 11.xe5+ gives White a winning initiative. ] 6.e1 Another very rare move from Zhigalko it's not quite a novelty but it hasn't been seen at this level before. [ 6.h3 is much more popular and now Black has a choice of whether or not to capture on f3. A) 6...h5 I generally feel is more testing but White is also a little better here after A1) 7.c3 d7 8.b4!? is very interesting here and it's featured in a couple of games: A1a) perhaps it's best to decline the s a c r i f ic e wi t h 8...f6 9.a3 xf3 10.xf3 d4 as in Aleksic, N (2371)Savic, M (2519) Subotica 2008 when Black had a good game after 11.d3 g6 12.b1 g7 13.e1 he8 14.e3 e5 15.g5 ( 15.b5 was better with balanced chances.) 15...f5 16.e4 h5 17.xf6 xf6 18.xf6 xf6 19.e4 a6; A1b) 8...xb4?! 9.e5 xe2 10.xe2 e6 11.b1 c6 and now ( 11...f6 is probably best but White is still clearly better after 12.xb4 xe5 13.f3 c6 14.d4! ) 12.b5! would've given White a winning attack in Nevostrujev, V (2510)-Kabanov, N ( 2 4 8 9 ) T o m s k 2 0 0 3 a f t e r xe5 13.xb7+ d7 14.b5 e6 15.d5 f6 ( 15...d6? 16.a3 ) 16.xc7 and Black loses material.; A2) 7.d3 e6 8.e3 f6 9.c3

( Black was fine after 9.bd2 g8 10.d4 g5 11.g4 g6 in Palac, M (2553)Prie, E (2489) Cannes 2009 although of course the position is very complicated!) 9...d7 10.a3; B) 6...xf3 leads to a typical slight edge f o r W h i t e a f t e r 7.xf3 d7 8.c3 ( instead after the odd 8.g3?! e5 9.d3 f5 10.c3 d4 11.g2 f6 Black had a fine game in Sitnikov, A (2506)-Kasparov, S (2521) Donetsk 2011) 8...e5 9.d4 xf3+ 10.xf3 f6 11.d2 ] 6...f6 [ 6...e5?! allows White to win a pawn with 7.xe5! xe2 8.xe2 and Black doesn't seem to get enough compensation here, for example e8 ( or 8...d4 9.d1 d6 10.c3 e6 11.g4 g6 12.d3 ) 9.g4+ b8 10.xc6+ xc6 11.xe8+ xe8 12.d1 and White has a safe extra pawn. ] 7.h3 xf3?! This seems inaccurate to me. White gets time to prepare d4 and keeps the two bishop advantage. [ 7...h5 is more critical and now play might continue 8.d3 ( 8.c3?! can simply be met by e5 ) 8...e6 9.c3 f5 10.e3 b8 11.d2 ( 11.g4?! xg4 is at least a draw for Black ) 11...xf3! 12.xf3 d4 and Black is close to equalising. ] 8.xf3 d7 9.c3 g5 Black's play might look dangerous on the kingside but in reality it's too slow as he struggles to get in ...h5 whereas White's attack is pretty automatic on the queenside. [ or 9...e5 10.a4! ( 10.xc6 xc6 11.xe5 d6 is less clear) 10...e4 11.xe4 xe4 12.xe4 and Black has insufficient compensation for the pawn. ] 10.d4 g8 11.d2 e6 12.b4 d6 13.c4 d5?! [ 13...e7 avoids the line in the next note but W hite is still doing well after 14.d2 and Na5 is something of a threat now. ] 14.d2?! [ 14.b5! was very strong here as White's attack is f ast af ter ce7 ( 14...xc3?? 15.bxc6 simply wins) 15.d3 f5 16.xd6+ xd6 17.g3 and c4 is coming with a crushing attack ] 14...ce7 15.a4 f5 16.g3! Zhigalko takes a move to show that Black has absolutely no 411

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 attack on the kingside. g7 17.a5 h5 in desperation Black gives up a pawn that White gladly takes. 18.xh5 f6 19.f3 g4 The start of a completely doomed tactic. 20.hxg4 xg4? 21.a6! b6 22.xg4 xg3 23.f3! dg8 [ 23...c6 24.xd6+ xd6 25.f4 is h o p e le s s so B la ck s p o rt i n gly a llo ws himself to get mated. ] 24.a8# A straightforward win in an unusual line f or W hite but I think Black's position should be playable if he keeps the bishop on after 7.h3 1-0

407 Zhigalko,Sergei Tomczak,Jacek 8th Amplico AIG Life Rapid rapid (10) [John Watson]

B01 2592 2461

The line in this game may be considered the main line of the 3...Qa5 variation these days. White has a tendency to gain a small edge, but nothing significant. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 [ In the Archives I give games with 6.d2 f5 7.e4 b6 8.xf6+ gxf6 9.c4 , with a small advantage. ] 6...f5 7.d2 e6 8.d5 d8 One of the main Scandinavian lines. 9.xf6+ gxf6 [ Or 9...xf6 but 9...gxf6 is more doubleedged and gives more dynamic counterchances. ] 10.c3 [ A number of recent games have followed the old 'main line' 10.b3 d7 11.e2 c7 12.h4 g6 , when Black has scored reasonably well, but W hite should still be able to scare up chances 13.0-0-0 ( 13.f4 0-0-0 14.0-0-0 f5 15.g3 b8 16.c4 f6 17.xg6 hxg6 was about equal in Socko-D Schwarz, Warsaw 2008.) 13...0-0-0 14.g3 d6 15.b1 ( 15.xg6 hxg6 16.h4 b8 17.c3 c8 18.b1 c5 19.dxc5 xc5 20.c2 looks to be in slightly in White's favour (h5 can f ollow), Grover-Almond, Hastings ENG 2008) 15...he8 16.xg6 hxg6 17.h4 f5 18.g5!? e7 19.f4 d6

20.g5 e7 21.f4 d6 1/2-1/2 Bittencourt-Vescovi, Porto Alegre BRA 2008. If White were inclined to play for a win, 18 h5 would be appropriate. ] 10...d7 Noncommittal. Caro-Kann players may recognize this type of position (Caro with 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 5 Nxf6+ gxf6). The other main move is [ 10...d6!? , as in Hungaski-Di Diego in the Archives. ] [ A well known line is 10...c7 11.h4 g6 12.f3 d7 13.h3! , threatening Nxg6, , when Black's best seems g7! 14.0-0 ( 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 15.f3 b8 is probably okay for Black White's plan is not apparent.) 14...0-0! 15.f4!? ( 15.ae1 looks slightly better for White - Emms) 15...f5! 16.f3 c5 with good counterplay. ...Nf6-e4 is a theme ] 11.0-0 c7 12.h4 g6 13.e1 [ 13.f3!? -compare the preceding note. ] 13...0-0-0 14.e2 d6 15.g3 f5!? 16.g2 To put a piece on f4, although ...f4 wasn't really a threat. e5?! [ Black should sit tight and prepare his defences, for example, 16...b8 ] 17.dxe5 xe5 18.f4!? [ 18.g5! de8 19.ad1 puts pressure on Black, whose pawn structure is in any case suspect. ] 18...he8 19.xe5!? [ 19.ad1 ] 19...xe5 20.f3 d2?! Perhaps missing the fork. [ Black can ask White to find a plan by playing 20...b8 ] 21.e3! d8 22.f4 [ Possible, but less clear is the immediate 22.xa7 b8 ( 22...xb2?? 23.ad1 c7 24.a8+ b8 25.xe5! xe5 26.d8+ xd8 27.xb8+ ) 23.a3 ] 22...d7 [ 22...xb2? 23.ad1 a5 24.xg6 hxg6 25.f4 ] 23.e6?! Too fancy. Simply [ 23.d3 f6 24.xe5 fxe5 25.xa7 would win a clear pawn. Now Black hangs on in an inferior position. ] 23...fxe6 24.xe5 f7 25.e2 c7 26.ae1 xe5 27.xe5 d2 28.5e2 xe2 29.xe2 d8 30.f4 e7 31.f2 d8 32.e1 d6 33.e3 h5 34.b3 f6 412

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 35.c2 c5 36.h3 b6 37.b3 h6 38.a3 e8 39.g4 g6 40.c4 fxg4 41.hxg4 h5 42.e2 hxg4 43.xg4 f5 44.e2 d7 45.g3 e5 ½-½

408 Zinchenko,Yaroslav Bauer,Christian XXVIII Open A (7) [Gawain Jones]

B01 2546 2607 14.04.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 a5 4.c4 [ 4.d4 ] [ or 4.f3 are usually played but White has a different idea in mind. ] 4...f6 5.ge2 A somewhat more passive square than the usual f3. White cedes control over the centre, in particular the e5 square, but prevents the ...Bg4 pin being as annoying as usual. I don't think this line is critical but I've seen a few games with W hite adopting t h i s p i e c e c o n f i g u r a t i o n r e c e n t l y . c6 This is the most flexible move order. [ 5...g4 6.d3 e5 This doesn't work out well. ( 6...c6 transposing to the game should be preferred.) 7.d2 c6 8.h3 h5 9.g4 g6 10.f4 exf4 11.xf4 e5+ 12.e2 bd7 13.0-0-0 xe2 14.cxe2 gave W hite a pleasant advantage, Geller, J-Cornette, M Moscow 2006. ] [ 5...c6 is an alternative, solid way of playing but this does nothing to exploit the passive location of the knight. A) 6.g3 h5! I nearly always like this way o f d e a l i n g wi t h a k n i g h t o n g 3 . 7.e2 bd7 8.d4 h4 9.f1 b6 10.b3 h3 ( 10...h5!? is completely fine for Black.) 11.g3 g4 12.f3 h5 13.d2 0-0-0 14.g4 g6 Runic, Z-Savic, M Vrnjacka Banja 2004, and here W hite could have hoped for an advantage with 15.d5 a6 16.xa6 bxa6 17.f4 xd4 18.xg6 fxg6 19.0-0-0; B) 6.d4!? isn't ridiculous of course. Another drawback for Black is that ...Qc7 i s n o t a s e a s y t o a c h i e ve a s n o r m a l because of Bf4 ideas.; C) 6.d3 g6 7.0-0 g7 8.g3 0-0 9.d2 c7 10.a4 e5 11.h3 e8 12.ge4 e6

13.xf6+ xf6 14.xe6 xe6 1/2-1/2 Mirzoev, A-Ibrahimov, R Baku 2009. ] [ 5...g6 is another very sensible approach 6.0-0 g7 7.d4 0-0 8.f4 d8 ( 8...c6 would restrict White to a very small edge.) 9.d3 f5 10.e3 c6 11.a3 A) 11...g4! 12.g3 xd4 13.xc7 c5 14.xd8 xd8 15.xd4 ( 15.a2 e5 is a terrific position.) 15...xd4 and Black's initiative is easily worth the exchange.; B) 11...xd4? A shame, throwing away a good position. 12.xd4 g4 13.xe7 Here we see the problem both f7 and c7 are en-prise. d7 14.b3 xe7 15.xa5 xc3 16.bxc3 b6 1-0 Shabalov, A-Wahls, M Neu Isenburg 1992. ] [ 5...f5 is a little premature as the bishop may want to roost on g4. A) 6.g3 g6 7.d4?! e6 ( Aggressive play with 7...c6! 8.b5 0-0-0! looks very strong for Black. Admittedly White can wreck the pawn cover in front of B l a c k ' s k i n g w i t h 9.xc6 bxc6 but the bishop pair, Black's lead in development and pressure on d4 promise Black the better game, e.g. 10.f3 e5 11.dxe5 xe5+ 12.e3 c5 with the i n i t i a t i v e .) 8.0-0 c6 ( 8...c6 should again be considered.) 9.f4! b4 10.f5 exf5 11.e2+ f8 12.d2 b6 13.xf5 and White had a powerful attack. S h a b a lo v, A - W e s t e r i n e n , H G a u s d a l 1991.; B) 6.0-0 e6 7.d3 c6 ( 7...c6 would be somewhat similar to the game b u t a b e t t e r ve rsi o n f o r W h it e a s t h e bishop is worse placed on f5 than g4.) 8.e1!? bd7 9.f4 b6 10.h3 e7 11.e3 c7 12.d4 g6 13.f4!? 0-0 14.f5 exf5 15.xf5 xf5 16.xf5 ae8 was unclear but White had started to take the initiative. Milos, G-Bertona, F Buenos Aires 1997. ] 6.0-0 g4 White has tried various options here. 7.d3 [ 7.b3 Beter, A-Klima, L Strmilov 2005 can hardly be a serious test for Black and indeed d4! threatening 8...Nxb3 when White wo u l d h a ve t o r e ca p t u re wi t h t h e a n t i 413

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 positional c pawn, would leave Black the preferred colour. ] [ 7.b5 b6 ( 7...e5 looks fine as taking on c6 isn't a serious threat, especially as Black has not even castled long yet.) 8.d3 e5 9.a4 a6 10.e3 c5 11.a5 a7 12.xc6+ bxc6 was positionally better for White. Muslimov, E-Moiseev, V Saratov 2007. ] [ 7.a3 e6 ( 7...d4!? again is interesting.) 8.d3 0-0-0 9.d2 h5 ( 9...xe2 w o u l d h a v e b e e n m o r e c i r c u m s p e c t .) 10.c1?? Typical blitz blunder ( 10.f3 d6 11.f4 c5+ 12.h1 h5 13.b4 f5 14.fe2! and Black's pieces are clumsily placed. ) 10...xe2 11.xe2 xe2 12.f3 c5+ 13.h1 h5 14.b3 e5 15.e1 g3+ 0-1 Ozgur, E-Bereza, P ICC 2009. ] [ 7.h3 looks sensible to me. Perhaps Black s h o u l d r e a c t xe2 ( 7...h5 8.d5!? prevents Black from launching an attack.; 7...h5 is of course also possible but then the Black queen doesn't have access to h5. ) 8.xe2 e6 9.d4 d6 10.c3 0-0 and White has a small advantage with the bishop pair. ] 7...e6 8.f3 loosening the g1-a7 diagonal but forcing Black to relinquish his annoying pin and preventing an exchange on e2. [ 8.d2 has been White's alternative. e5 ( 8...h5 9.f3! Now this move has added venom as the queen f urther congests Black's pieces. d6 10.f4 c5+ 11.h1 h5 12.b5 0-0-0 13.e1 g6 14.a4 xf4 15.xf4 e5 16.e3 e7 17.xa7+ xa7 18.xa7 d5 19.f2 h5 20.a5 c6 21.xd5 cxd5 22.b6 1-0 De Visser, LHerda, C Bad Homburg 2009 was the model game from the White viewpoint.; 8...0-0-0 appears possible as I don't see a way to trap the Black queen.) 9.e1 ( 9.f3!? ) 9...xe2 10.xe2 d6 11.xe5 xe5 12.b3 c6 13.h3 ed7 14.a3 0-0 15.ae1 and surprisingly W hite won quickly but I don't really believe he can have any serious edge here. Summerscale, A-Brady, S Dublin 1997. ] [ 8.h3 again should be considered although Black doesn't have any major problems after either the retreat or the capture. ] 8...f5 9.g3 Only this is a novelty but one that won't be repeated in a hurry.

[ In a previous game, White first played his king to safety 9.h1 c5 A decidedly odd looking move. Evidently Black was worried about getting his queen trapped but in that case the line with ...Nc6 probably wasn't for him. ( Better was 9...e5 10.b3 0-0-0 w i t h a n u n c l e a r p o s i t i o n .) 10.a3!? would attempt to exploit the queen's position. W hite plans to follow up with b4 and an attack against Black's king. As an added trump W hite gets a square to retreat his bishop to on a2. ( 10.g3 Manelidou, MMakka, E Athens 2008. )] 9...g6 10.d2 [ 10.f4 is an idea that has been seen in previous variations but here it doesn't make sense as Black simply castles long 0-0-0 when White's attacking on the wrong side of the board. ] 10...b6+ Bauer simply gets the queen out of any potential discovered attack. 11.h1 0-0-0 It's important to realise that had W hite not played Ng3 then this would be impossible as 12.Na4 would then trap the Black queen. Thankfully here we have the d4 square. 12.a3 [ 12.a4 d4 13.e2 h4 and White only a ch ie ve s in f o rcin g B la ck' s qu e e n t o a stronger square. ] 12...h5! Time to attack! A knight on g3 always provokes an ...h7-h5-h4 thrust, even when Black has castled short and here with Black's king on the queenside the move is logical. 13.e1 [ 13.ge2 e5 14.b3 h4 is not appetising for W hite either. He is exceedingly passive and has no counterplay whilst Black's kingside attack is obvious. ] 13...h4 14.e3 [ 14.ge4 xe4 15.xe4 xe4 16.fxe4 h3 17.g3 xb2 was the better evil but still. ( 17...e5!? )] [ 14.a4 is probably the best d4 15.e2 t o f o r c e t h e q u e e n t o r e t r e a t d7 but Black is still obviously better. ] 14...hxg3!! Not too difficult once you've seen the concept but Bauer had to realise the queen sacrifice was strong before playing ... h4. 15.xb6 xh2+ 16.g1 axb6 Black isn't actually that behind in material with two minor pieces and a pawn for the queen. The important aspect is that W hite cannot 414

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 defend against both the threats on the dark squares (...Bc5+) and the penetration of the rooks with ....Rd8-h8. 17.b4 [ 17.b5 c5+ 18.f1 gives Black various wins but the most accurate appears to be: d5 19.xd5 ( 19.c1 only survives a few moves longer, e.g. f2 20.g5 h1+ 21.e2 h5 22.d2 e5+ 23.f1 e3+ 24.xe3 xe3 and White has no way of preventing ...Rd8-h8-h1 other than giving h i s e x t r a q u e e n .) 19...xd5 20.d4 Otherwise ...Rh1+ and ....Re5+ ( 20.c3 d4-+ ) 20...xd4 21.xd4 xd4 22.g1 dh5-+ ] 17...d6 So one threat prevented but Black has the other path. 18.b5 [ 18.e2 looks like the toughest test but dh8 ( 18...e5 is another option 19.f1 h1+ 20.g1 d4 21.e2 c3! followed by ...Nh5-f4 closes the cage on White's king.) 19.f1 h1+ 20.g1 8h2 21.e2 ( 21.c3 xg2! 22.xg2 h2+ 23.f1 f2# ) 21...d4 and Black is going t o b e a h e a d in d e ve lo p m e n t wh i lst h i s attack continues will full steam. ] 18...f4 19.d4 d5 20.xd5 exd5 White is powerless and crippled. 21.e2 d7 22.d6 xd6 A very pretty game by the French GM. The lines with Nge2 are quite common but I don't think they should pose a significant threat to the Scandinavian. 0-1

409 Zorko,Jure Vukovic,Zdravko 24th Open Bled (4) [Andrew Martin]

B01 2215 2435 2003

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d8 The BANKER Variation. Here, Black finds a novel way to interpret the play. 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.c4 b5!? Very, very unusual, and on the evidence of this game, not so bad [ 6...f5 is more traditional, allowing White to play very sharply: 7.e5 e6 8.g4 g6 9.h4 bd7 10.f3 This is the critical move, threatening to win the Bishop. c7!? A) 11.xd7 g3+ 12.f1 xd7 13.h5 ( 13.d3 f6 ) 13...xc2 14.xc2

xf3+ 15.g1 xg4+ is the saving grace.; B) 11.f4 d6 12.d2 ( 12.e2! b6 13.b3 fd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.d2 xe5 16.xe5 xe5+ 17.dxe5 h5 ) 12...0-0 13.h5 xc2 14.xc2 xe5 15.dxe5 xe5 16.xe5 xe5+ 17.e2 g3+ 18.f1 ad8 19.d1 xd1+ 20.xd1 d8 21.f2 b5 22.b3 d4 23.g1 f4 24.g2 g6 25.hxg6 hxg6 26.d1 a5 27.xd4 xd4 28.e4 xe4 29.fxe4 a4 30.d1 c5 31.c2 c4 32.e2 e3 33.f3 a3 34.bxa3 xa3 35.e2 e3 36.a4 bxa4 37.xc4 a3 38.a2 g7 39.c4 h6 40.a2 g5 41.b1 xg4 42.f1 h3+ 43.g1 g3+ 44.f1 g5 45.a2 h3 46.c4 g4 47.d2 f3+ 48.g1 g3+ 49.h1 1/2-1/2 Philippe,C-Mateuta,G/Masters, Saint Lo FRA 2003 From this game, we can deduce that 6...Bf5 is still very much on the board. ] 7.b3 e6 8.0-0 bd7 9.g5 c7 10.e2 d6 Given time, Black will set up a very reasonable position with ...0-0, ...Bb7, ...a6 a n d . . . c 6 - c 5 ! 11.e4 More forcing moves don't appear to do the trick: [ 11.d5 xd5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.xb5 ( 13.xd5 c4 14.xc4 bxc4 15.e3 a6 16.fd1 c7 17.d2 ) 13...b6 14.xd6+ xd6 15.fe1 0-0 16.ad1 a6 17.d2 fc8 ] [ 11.a4 b4 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 h6 14.h4 0-0 15.c4 b7 16.d3 g6 17.g3 xg3 18.fxg3 c5 ] 11...f4 12.xf6+ xf6 13.xf4 xf4 14.e5 A noble attempt to obtain the better ending but I believe a waiting move was better, tempting Black to castle and only then Qe5: [ 14.fe1! 0-0 15.e5 xe5 16.xe5 b7 17.c3 c5 18.dxc5 ac8 19.ad1 xc5 20.d7 ] 14...xe5 15.xe5 b7 16.a4 d7 17.xd7 xd7 18.a5 White has a slight pull and he wants to insure himself against defeat. Nevertheless, against a lower-rated opponent, I am convinced that Zorko would have played either 18 c3 or 18 f4,keeping the tension. The game heads towards a drawn ending: a6 19.fe1 b4 20.f4 g6 21.e5 ab8 22.f2 b5! Simplification reduces the number of 415

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pieces that can train on b4. 23.xb5 xb5= 24.e1 d6 25.e5 h5 26.h4 Inelastic. Either of the two following suggestions kept the small White edge: [ 26.g3 ] [ 26.e3 although this advantage is nominal. ] 26...b8 27.g3 c8 28.c5 b8 29.e3 f1 30.f2 b5 31.e3 f1 At this moment it was sensible to shake hands. Zorko plays bravely but the net effect is to invite the Black Bishop to a better square. 32.a4 g2 33.d2 d5 34.c4 The crux of White's winning try but I feel it is misguided for the following reasons: 1) Black's Rook comes stra ight into the game. 2) From a position of a mutual stand-off, where Black can do nothing, the game suddenly becomes unclear. bxc3+ 35.xc3 f6 36.b4 g5 Game on! 37.fxg5 fxg5 38.d1 [ 38.hxg5 g8 39.d2 xg5 40.c3 g4 41.d3 c4 42.d1 e4 is hardly desirable. ] 38...gxh4 39.gxh4 g8 40.xh5 g3+ 41.c2 h3 42.e2 xh4 43.c3 h3+ 44.c2 h2 45.d3 h1 46.c2 h2 47.d3 e5 48.dxe5+ xe5 Must be drawn now but for the first time in this game, Vukovic spies a chink of light and plays with renewed energy. It is now White that has to fight for the draw. 49.c1 h3+ 50.c2 b3 51.b1 a3 52.e1 e4+ 53.d2 d4 54.d1?? The defence was difficult. Perhaps the only way was [ 54.c1 a2+ 55.e1 b2 ( 55...d5 56.d1+ c3 57.b5= ) 56.c4+ e3 57.c3+ f4 58.c4= ] 54...a2+ 55.c1 c3 56.e3+ d3 57.xd3+ xd3 58.f3 c3 59.b1 a3 My impression is that 6...Bf5 is a better move than 6... b5. White can expect an edge. 0-1

410 Ashton,Adam Baburin,Alexander 4NCL Nottingham ENG (8) [Andrew Martin]

B02 2299 2523 10.04.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c3 xc3 4.dxc3 I remember playing the Alekhine a long time ago and quickly came to the conclusion that 4 dxc3 is nothing for White. Sure, he gets active piece play ... for a few moves...and then as soon as Black catches up with development, problems with the pawn structure begin to loom large. d6 5.f3 dxe5! [ 5...c6 is less reliable, due to 6.b5 g6 7.f4 g7 8.exd6 cxd6 9.d2 followed by long castling. ] 6.xd8+ xd8 7.xe5 e6! Has the twin merit of being less common than 7...Ke8, forcing the opponent to think for himself, and at the same time being not at all a bad move. The main difference is that the Black King has c8 as flight square if needed and of course, Black develops a piece. ...f7-f6 is on the cards, to be followed by maybe ....Bg4 or, ...Bf7 and then...e7-e5! [ 7...e8 8.b5+ d7 Meanwhile ( 8...d7 9.f4 f6 10.xd7 xd7 11.xd7+ xd7 12.0-0-0+ c6 13.g3 e5 14.f4 exf4 15.xf4 e8 Lopez Martinez, J-Jimenez Villena, F/La Roda 2004 is a typical scenario. W hite is slightly worse due to his pawn structure. His initiative is illusory he has no pieces left to attack with!) 9.xd7 xd7 10.f4 c6 11.e2 e6 12.c4 c5 is not much for White either, despite the two Bishops. In fact the Bishops tilt the game towards equality. 13.c3 e7 14.d1 a5 15.d3 hd8 16.e2 f6 17.h3 d7 18.a4 ad8 19.c2 xd1 20.xd1 e4 21.c2 e5 22.c1 d6 23.d3 h6 24.f3 f5 25.d1 f8 26.b3 f6 27.c2 e4 28.f4 1/2-1/2 Rozentalis, E-Volzhin, A/ Zakopane 2000 ] 8.e3 d7 9.0-0-0 e8 [ Maybe 9...c8 i s b e t t e r : 10.d3 f5 11.g3 e4! 12.g1 f3 13.d2 e6 14.d4 c5 15.e3 e7 16.h3 h5 17.e1 c6 18.d3 g5 19.f4 g4 20.g2 xg2 21.gxg2 f5 22.ge2 h6 23.d1 c7= Radulov, I-Letzelter, J/Vraca 1975 416

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black is untroubled. I guess the problem I have with 9... Ke8 is that if Black really wanted to put his King on this square, why not play it immediately and not commit his Bishop? It's all about playing the opponent and giving him problems to solve. ] 10.f3 g4 11.e2 e5 [ The modest 11...e6 12.h3 h5 13.g4 g6 should perhaps have been preferred. ] 12.h3 f5 13.he1 f6 14.c4! e4 15.h4 g5 16.f3 c5 [ 16...c6 17.f5 ] [ 16...xc2 17.xc2 gxh4 18.f4 ] 17.f7+? White has been playing extremely well so far but now he loses his bearings. Instead [ 17.xc5! keeps an edge: xc5 18.fxe4 gxh4 19.d5! b6 ( 19...d7 20.d2 e7 21.e3 ) 20.b4 e6 21.b5+ ] 17...xf7 18.xd7+ e6 In principle, every exchange should favour the guy with better pawns. 19.xc5 xd7 20.xe4 gxh4 21.xh4 h5! Cutting the White Rook out of the g file. Now Black can target g2. 22.e4 ag8 23.e2 g3 24.d2 hg8 Conclusion 4 dxc3 isn't good for anything other than the occasional surprise. Either 7... Ke8 or 7...Be6 are comfortable enough. 0-1

nowadays, however the Ukranian GM Vladimir Baklan plays it with great success. [ 4.dxc3 is the alternative and we'll consider it in Rozentalis-Volzhin. ] 4...d5 After this move a long fight with a blocked centre and much manoeuvring will normally arise. [ Another possibility is 4...d6 After the natural 5.f4 Black has a choice. A) 5...f5 can hardly be good as the Bishop is clearly misplaced here: 6.f3 dxe5 7.fxe5 d5 8.e2 c6 9.0-0! xe5 10.xe5 xe5 11.d4 a5 12.b1! and Black's position is barely defensible: e6 13.xb7 d6 14.b5+ e7 15.e2 g6 16.g5+ f6 17.d5! with an unstoppable attack was LisitsinTolush, Moscow 1948.; B) 5...dxe5 6.fxe5 d5 7.d4 c5 was played in Tal-Podgaets, USSR 1970 where Black failed to equalise: 8.f3 c6 9.e2 g4 10.0-0! cxd4 11.cxd4 e6 ( 11...xf3 12.xf3 xd4+ 13.xd4 xd4 14.xb7 b8 15.b1 is just bad f o r B l a c k .) 12.b1! d7 13.g5! Tal at his best! Most players would play 13. c3 without much thought. xe2 14.xe2 e7 ( 14...xd4 15.e4 is very dangerous for Black) 15.c3 xg5 16.xg5 h6 ( After 16...0-0 17.g4 h8 18.f3 W hite's attack is very strong.) 411 B02 17.c1 B1) Again Black can't castle in view of Baklan,Vladimir 2552 17...0-0 18.xh6! with a crushing attack: Miroshnichenko,Evgenij 2500 gxh6 19.g4+ h7 20.f6 g8 Alushta 1999 ( 20...h8 21.bf1 af8 22.xh6+ [Alexander Volzhin] xh6 23.f6+ h7 24.h5+ g7 25.g5+ h7 26.h6# ) 21.f4 g7 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c3 xc3 22.xh6+ g8 23.h4 f8 24.h8+ This natural move is definitely the best. g8 25.h7 e7 26.f1 with mate [ After 3...e6 4.d4 d6 5.e4! White is soon.; better. The game Baklan-Marchev, Zagan B2) 17...e7 18.f3 d5 19.c4 b6 1995 continued: c6 6.f3 e7 7.c3 0-0 20.c5 d5 21.c6! Tal executes the 8.d3 a6 9.e2 b5 10.h4! Starting a attack very energetically. bxc6 22.a3! direct attack on Black's King. b4 11.c4 b6 Now the Black King has to stay in the 12.eg5 g6 13.h5! dxe5 14.xh7! centre of the board forever. The rest is This well calculated blow destroys the Black easy ( for Tal, of course!) f5 23.exf6 K i n g ' s s h e l t e r . xh7 15.hxg6+ g8 gxf6 24.b3 d8 25.fb1 h7 26.g3 16.xe5 xe5 17.h5! xd3+ 18.f1 b6 27.xb6 axb6 28.g8+ e8 g7 19.h6+ g8 20.g5 In view of 29.xh7 and Black resigned; unavoidable mate Black resigned. ] C) 5...c6 6.f3 dxe5 7.fxe5 d5 8.d4 4.bxc3 This old line is not so popular 417

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g4 9.e2 e6 10.0-0 e7 Unlike in TalPodgaets Black hasn't played an early ... c7-c5, and due to this important saved tempo he has time to complete his development. Nevertheless W hite has good prospects for a Kingside attack. The game Bilek-Larsen, Sousse 1967 continued: 11.g5 xe2 12.xe2 0-0 13.h5 ( 13.g4! intending Rf3-g3 or Ne4 is even stronger.) 13...xg5 14.xg5 e4 15.a3 fd8 16.f2 d7 17.af1 and White had strong pressure on the Kside ] [ 4...c5 5.f4 d6 6.f3 g6 In my opinion, this set-up is worthy of serious attention. Obviously Black can choose another move order such as 4...d6 5.f4c5 7.d4 g7 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 dxe5 10.fxe5 c6 11.f4 g4 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 cxd4 14.xc6 bxc6 15.cxd4 d5 16.c3 c5 17.b3 fd8 18.e3 cxd4 19.cxd4 f6 20.exf6 xf6 and Black was clearly better in HenningsGipslis, Havana 1971. ] 5.d4 c5 6.f3 c6 7.e2 g4 [ 7...e6 is also playable. After this move the position looks similar to a Winawer French. ] 8.b1 b8?! The usual move in this position. However after this game it is unlikely to be played any more. [ 8...d7 seems to be more solid. 9.c4!? White tries to seize the initiative at any cost. A) 9...e6 In my opinion the best. 10.cxd5 exd5 11.0-0 cxd4 12.xd4 xe2 13.xe2 c5 14.f4 d8 15.e6!? fxe6 16.h5+ ( T h e t e m p t i n g 16.xe6? as played in Shilin-Tobak, Polanica Zdroj 1999 is weak in view of xe6 17.e1 xf2+! 18.xf2 0-0+ 19.g1 d7 and Black is a clear pawn up.) 16...g6 17.xg6 f7 18.f4 xh5 19.xh5 b6 with chances for both sides in a complicated endgame; B) 9...dxc4 is risky: 10.d5 xf3 11.xf3 ( 11.gxf3 i s d u b i o u s i n v i e w o f d4 12.xc4 f5! and Black is OK) 11...xe5 12.e2 b5 13.f4 and White has a strong initiative which is clearly worth the sacrificed material; C) 9...cxd4?! Definitely far from best. The alternatives are: 10.cxd5 xd5 11.xb7 e6 12.0-0 c5 13.b5! 14.c4 is

threatened and Black has no adequate defence against this move! d3 The only move. 14.xd3 xd3 15.xd3 b6 16.e3 xf3 17.gxf3 0-0 18.f4 xe3 19.fxe3 and after a few more moves Black resigned in Baklan-Schneider, Antwerp 1999. ] 9.e6! A very strong novelty. [ After the usual 9.0-0 e6 Black has no problems. ] 9...xe6 10.f4 c8 11.xb7 The Rook is very active, and is a bone in Black's throat. c4 The only move, otherwise 12.Bb5 is very nasty. 12.g5! d7 [ 12...f5 is strongly met by 13.g4! xg4 14.xg4 and White has managed to hinder the comfortable development of Black's Ks i d e s i n c e h6? is bad in view of 15.e6! fxe6 16.g6# ] 13.g4 e6 14.f3! White must play very actively, otherwise Black will complete his development. The text creates threats on the f 7 s q u a r e . f6 Now it may seem that White has run out of ideas, but he finds an excellent resource. 15.xd7!! xd7 16.xf7! [ T h e t e m p t in g 16.xd5+ is not so good: e7 17.d6+?! ( 17.f3 with some compensation deserves attention.) 17...e8 18.xe6 fxe6 19.xe6 xd6 20.xd6 b8! parrying the attack. ] 16...h5 [ 16...xf7 is hardly better: 17.xd5+ e8 18.xe6 b7 19.xc8 xc8 20.0-0 and the position is similar to the game. ] 17.h3 xf7 18.xd5+ e7 19.g5+ e8 20.xe6 c7 21.xc8 xc8 22.0-0 Now it's clear that Black's position is hardly defensible. W hite has three pawns for the sacrificed piece, (and will probably win the pawn on c4) as well as a strong attack on Black's King. e7 23.e1 d7 24.b5 a6 25.xc4 d8 26.d5! xg5 [ 26...a5 is hardly better in view of 27.xa6 xg5 28.xa5+ c7 29.a6 and with five (!) pawns for the piece and a strong attack White is easily winning. ] 27.dxc6 d2 28.c7+ c8 [ 28...d7 also loses by force: 29.f7+ c6 30.c8+! xc8 31.e6+ c5 32.a7+ c4 33.xa6+ xc3 34.xc8+ ] 29.b1 d7 30.a4+ This move is good 418

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 enough to win, but [ 30.c8+! is quicker: xc8 31.b7+ d6 32.b6+ e7 33.e6+ ] 30...xc7 31.xa6 d7 32.b7+ e8 33.e6+ d8 34.b8+ c7 35.b6+ d7 36.b5+ Black resigned. An excellent performance by Vladimir Baklan! However despite this convincing victory, I don't think that this line is really dangerous for Black. Black has several solid possibilities: I particularly recommend you pay attention to the set-up used in the game Hennings-Gipslis. Thus we can conclude that this system is playable for both sides, and that there is much scope for further investigation. 1-0

412 Dolzhikova,Kateryna Pavlov,Sergey1 Independence Cup A (9) [Andrew Martin]

B02 2248 2459 20.08.2005

BERSERKER 1.e4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.e5 fd7 4.e6!? Spielmann's move from long ago, which leads to sharp complications, but which objectively should be fine for Black as long as he knows what he is doing! fxe6 5.d4 c5 An e m ine n t ly p la ya ble m o ve . Ma y I a lso suggest 5...g6: [ 5...g6! 6.h4 g7 7.h5 f8 8.h6 ( 8.d3 c6 9.hxg6 hxg6 10.xh8 xh8 11.e3 e5; 8.f3 c5! ) 8...f6 9.g4 g8 10.g5 h8 11.f3 e5! 12.dxe5 ( 12.xe5 xe5 13.dxe5 c6 ) 12...c6 intending ...Bg4 ] 6.f3 [ 6.dxc5 is given as the 'main line' on ECO, and then c6 7.f3 g6 8.h4 g7! 9.h5 a5! Relying on development to see him through. 10.d2 xc5 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.xh8+ xh8 13.b5 b6 14.e3 d8 15.c3 f8 16.b3 a6 17.bd4 e5 18.xc6 bxc6 19.0-0-0 c7 20.b6 b7 21.c5 e6 Csapo-Blatt Hungary 1991 ] 6...c6 7.b5 g6 8.e2 g7! 9.xe6? [ 9.dxc5 however unattractive, had to be played. I prefer Black after a6! 10.xc6 bxc6 because how is White ultimately going to be able to resist the Black centre, given that 11.xe6?? fails to e5 But 9 Qxe6 is

disastrous. ] 9...cxd4! 10.xc6 [ 10.xd5 de5-+ ] 10...bxc6 11.xc6 dxc3! The diagonal h8a1 is very long indeed. 12.f4 [ 12.xa8 cxb2 13.xb2 xb2 14.b1 a5+! is a motif known from the Pirc. Black's active pieces overwhelm the White King: 15.d2 b6 16.c6+ d7 17.c7 c3-+ ] 12...cxb2 13.d1 a6! 14.g5 [ So that if 14.xa6 b6! 15.xb6 axb6 16.e2 e5 17.g3 d4 and the b2 pawn is a winner. ] 14...c8 15.c7 b7 White walks a fine line after 4 e6. You better hope your opponent doesn't know what to do or you are likely to suffer a crushing reverse! 0-1

413 Escudeiro Tilve,Ramon Piay Augusto,Diego II Open, Poio (1) [Andrew Martin]

B02 2285 2002

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.c3 xd5 4.xd5 xd5 Playing against this type of thing is a question of attitude. Above all it's important not to be disgusted about White's apparent lack of ambition-just be thankful that he has given you such easy equality. I show some recent games where, by and large, Black is not troubled . 5.d4 [ 5.f3 g4 ( 5...e5 6.d4 e4 7.e5 e6 8.c4 d6 9.xe6 xe6 10.0-0 d6 11.f4 f5 12.h5+ g6 13.g5 0-0 14.h4 f6 15.g3 g7 16.h5 c6 17.e3 xe5 18.fxe5 e6 19.ad1 ad8 20.c3 xa2 21.g5 d7 22.f6+ f7 23.hxg6+ hxg6 24.f2 g8 25.fd2 d5 26.c4 xc4 27.d5 c5+ 28.h1 e3 29.h4 e8 30.e6 exd2 31.exd7+ xd7 32.dxc6+ xc6 33.c3 e8 34.xd2 b5 35.a1 e4 36.a5+ b6 37.f6+ d6 38.c3 a6 39.b4 e7 0-1 Kuznetsov, Y-Glukhov,M/Capital of Siberia Open, Novosibirsk RU 2002 (39)) 6.e2 c6 7.h3 ( 7.d3 e6 8.a3 d6 9.e3 h5 10.h3 0-0 11.0-0 xf3 419

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.xf3 e5 13.g3 xb2 14.b1 xa3 15.xb7 a6 16.xc6 xc6 17.xa7 ab8 18.a2 b4 19.e2 h5 20.h4 fb8 21.c4 b1 22.d4 xf1+ 23.xf1 f3 24.e2 b1+ 0-1 Phanikanth,J-Skytte,R/ Proclient Cup, Olomouc CZE 2002 (24)) 7...h5 8.0-0 e6 9.b3 d6 10.c4 e4 11.b2 xf3 12.xf3 f4 13.e1 h2+ 14.f1 0-0 15.c2 e5 16.xc6 bxc6 17.c5 e7 18.xe5 h1+ 19.e2 xg2 20.g1 xg1 21.xg1 f6 22.xc7 fe8 23.d1 d8 24.c4+ h8 25.f7 g8 26.xd8 axd8 27.xa7 1-0 Lafortune,GTardits,A/II Open, St Chely d'Aubrac FRA 2002 (27) ] [ 5.f3 A) 5...e5+!? 6.e2 c6 7.b3 d4 8.a4+ d7 9.b4 xc2+ 10.d1 xb4 11.f3 f6 12.c4 a4+ 13.e1 c2+ 0-1 Rodriguez Pazos,J-Aguiar Macineiras,S/ XVIII Open, Ferrol ESP 2002 (13); B) 5...xf3 6.xf3 f5! 7.b5+ ( 7.d3 c6=; 7.d4 d7!= ) 7...c6 8.a4 d7=; C) 5...c6 6.e2 f5 7.xd5 cxd5 8.b5+ c6 9.xc6+ bxc6 10.d3 e5 11.e2 c5 12.e3 b6 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 14.xb6 axb6 15.d4 e4 16.he1 he8 17.d2 g4 18.a1 xe2 19.xe2 d7 20.e3 f5 21.h4 h6 22.h5 f8 23.f4 e6 24.e3 c5 25.d1 a8 26.b3 fb8 27.a3 c4 28.g3 f7 29.xf5 g8 30.e5 f8 31.d2 b5 32.xd5 ae8 33.c6 f5 34.d5 b8 35.d6 c8+ 36.b7 d8 37.c7 ff8 38.d7 f7 39.e3 1-0 Mrkonjic,N-Balazs,G/2nd Summer Open, Savaria HUN 2002 (39) ] [ 5.c4 e5+ 6.e2 e6 7.f3 f6 8.0-0 d6 9.d4 h5 10.g5 g6 11.h4 f6 12.d3 f7 13.c5 fxg5 14.cxd6 cxd6 15.xg5 f4 16.g3 xd4 17.g6+ d8 18.xd4 1-0 Olias Munoz, F-Sanz Chacon, C/Madrid 2002 (18) ] [ 5.c3 e5 6.h3 c6 7.a4 f5 8.c4 d7 9.a4 0-0-0 10.b5 d3 11.e2 c5 12.0-0 h5 13.xd3 xd3 14.d1 h6 15.a4 g6 16.h2 a5 17.e1 h4 18.h1 f5 19.g1 e4 20.f3 xg1 21.xg1 exf3 22.xf3 xf3 23.e6+ xe6 24.gxf3 e1+ 25.f2 de8

0-1 Sadiqi,A-Cubas,J/ Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (25) ] 5...c6 [ 5...g6 6.c4 d8 7.f3 g7 8.e3 0-0 9.c2 f5 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 e5 12.0-0-0 c6 13.d5 e7 14.g4 h6 15.h4 f5 16.gxf5 gxf5 17.dg1 f4 18.c5 h8 19.e4 b5 20.xe5 f5 21.xg7 xg7 22.g1+ f6 23.xe7+ xe7 24.g6# 1-0 Van der Veen,R-Velema,S/6th HZ Open, Vlissingen NED 2002 (24) ] [ 5...f5 6.c4 e4+ 7.e3 e5 8.a3 c6 9.e2 exd4 10.g3 e6 11.xf5 xf5 12.xd4 0-0-0 13.d3 d7 0-1 Gaillard, BTherkildsen,T/Open, Le Touquet FRA 2002 (13) ] 6.f3 [ 6.e3 f5 7.f3 b4 8.c1 xa2 9.h4 xc2 10.xc2 xc2+ 11.xc2 0-0-0 12.f3 e6 13.e2 b4+ 14.d2 xd2+ 15.xd2 b1+ 16.d1 e4+ 17.e2 xe2+ 18.xe2 f6 19.0-0 e5 20.dxe5 fxe5 21.xe5 d2 22.g4+ b8 23.b3 e8 24.c4 d3 25.b1 xb3 26.c1 c3 27.b1 xc4 28.f3 c6 29.h3 e7 30.g4 c3 31.g2 c7 32.a1 b6 33.b1+ c5 34.a1 b5 35.a6 d6 36.d1 b4 37.f3 b3 38.a3 b2 39.xc3 b1 40.xc6+ d7 41.a6 e8 42.d6 f8 43.d5 b8 44.c6 e5 45.f3 a5 46.a6 f7 47.a8+ e7 48.a7+ f6 49.a6+ g5 50.b6 h4 51.b5 0-1 Neethling,C-Maeckelbergh,M/Olympiad w, Bled SLO 2002 (51) ] 6...g4 7.e2 0-0-0 8.c3 e5 9.c4 b4+ 10.d2 a5 11.d5 e4 12.g5 xe2 13.xe2 he8 14.xe4 f5 15.dxc6 d4 16.cxb7+ xb7 17.xb4 xb4+ 18.f1 d2 0-1

414 Hector,Jonny Kengis,Edvins Haninge (Sweden) (9) [Nigel Davies]

B02

1992

1.e4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.e5 d4 4.exf6 dxc3 5.fxg7 cxd2+ 6.xd2 xg7 7.f3 [ Prior to Balashov's introduction of this move 420

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (in the 1974 Alburt game given below), White used to play 7.h5 ] 7...c6 Hector's opponents have tried a number of moves with truly miserable results: [ a) 7...d6 8.0-0-0 c6 9.c3 h6+ 10.b1 0-0 11.g3 f5 12.b5 ad8 13.e2 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.xg7 xg7 16.xc6 bxc6 17.d4 gave White an endgame edge in Hector - Grujic, Malm0 1998 ] [ b) 7...d4 8.c3 g4 9.xg7 xg7 10.0-0-0 Hector - Blees, Kecskemet 1987 ] [ c) 7...xb2 is extremely risky - White's pieces are being developed at lightning speed and the position is wide open. A game Balashov - Timoshenko from the 1989 Moscow Ch., went on 8.d1 d6 ( 8...d4 9.e2 g4 10.b3 f6 11.f4 gave White excellent attacking chances in Balashov - Alburt, USSR Ch., Leningrad 1974. ) 9.c4 f6 10.e2 c6 11.c3 xc3+ 12.xc3 b4 13.b5 xc3+ 14.xc3 d7 15.d5 c8 16.0-0 with Black's king still trapped in the centre. ] 8.b5 d6 [ Or 8...0-0 9.xc6 bxc6 10.c3 xc3+ 11.xc3 d5 12.d1 e4+ ( 12...xg2 13.d3+- ) 13.e2 a6 14.d2 ad8 15.f3 e6 16.f2 Hector - Daillet, Cannes 1989. One of the big problems with this line for Black is that even if he avoids getting mated in the middlegame, he often finds himself with a poor pawn structure for the endgame. ] 9.c3 0-0 10.xc6 xc3+ 11.xc3 bxc6 12.e2 a6 13.d1 e6 14.e3 xe3 15.fxe3 Ex-Soviet GM s don't usually expect to lo se s ligh tly wo rse e nd ga me s against W esterners. But this one's in for a big surprise. fd8 16.xd8+ xd8 17.f1 e5 18.f5 e8 19.g5+ f8 20.h5 g7 21.h4 b8 22.b3 c8 23.a4 a6 24.c1 f6 25.d3 b5 26.c4 b6 27.c5 Hector's fancy rook moves have given him a big plus, with Black more or less completely tied down. The harvest of pawns is about to begin. f7 28.a4 b7 29.xc6 a7 30.c5 a5 31.d2 e7 32.c3 f5 33.g3 h5 34.e4 h3 35.d2 h4 36.gxh4 a8 37.d3 h8 38.xc7+ d6 39.a7 xh4 40.a6+ e7 41.f2 d7 42.xa5 xh2

43.e3 g2 44.c4 g3+ 46.e2 c3 47.d3 c2+ 49.b4 1-0

415 Hector,Jonny Mas,SJ Copenhagen (Denmark) [Nigel Davies]

45.d2 f3 48.e3 g4

B02

1990

1.e4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.e5 fd7 4.e6 [ This pawn sac is White's sharpest option, and once again Hector has his own ideas. The fact that in a later game (against H i l l a r p ) H e c t o r a v o i d e d t h i s w i t h 4.d4 doesn't tell us much - he might simply have wanted to avoid any 'home cooking' whilst landing his opponent in unfamiliar territory. After e6 5.f4 c5 6.f3 we get a Steinitz variation of the French. ] 4...fxe6 5.d4 g6 6.h4 g7 [ 6...f6 is no better as White plays 7.h5! anyway: g8 ( 7...xh5 8.xh5 gxh5 9.xh5+ d7 10.f3 g7 11.h6 f6 12.xd5! exd5 13.xd5+ e8 14.h5+ d7 15.0-0-0 led to a quick win for White in Bellon - Kovacevic, Karlovac 1979) 8.hxg6 hxg6 9.f3 c5 10.e5 c6 11.b5 d7 12.xc6 xc6 13.e3 a5 14.f3 b4 15.0-0-0 c4 16.g4 g5 17.h5 Hector Schoen, Malmo 1988 ] 7.h5 f8 8.f4! Another of Hector's ideas, clamping down on the e5 square. c5 9.b5 a6 10.f3 d7 11.e5 a5+ 12.d2 xd2+ 13.xd2 c4 Burgess ('The Complete Alekhine') gives no comment on this complex endgame. Personally speaking I would not want to play Black - the extra pawn is useless and he is under severe pressure. 14.a4 gxh5 15.e2 g6 16.xh5 0-0 17.xg6 hxg6 18.g3 [ And not 18.xg6 f6 19.xe7+ f7 etc. ] 18...e8 19.ae1 f7 20.e2 fc8 21.he1 e8 22.c3 h6+ 23.f4 g7 24.h4 f6 25.xf6 [ Choosing to force matters but Black m a n a g e s t o h a n g o n . 25.g5 was an interesting alternative, keeping the 421

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 tension for the time being. ] 25...exf6 26.g4 xb5 27.axb5 c7 28.xf6+ g7 29.d7 b6 30.e3 d8 31.e5 f8 32.g3 f6 33.h3 h8 34.xh8 xh8 35.g4 g7 36.e3 xb5 37.h1 f8 38.g5 d6 39.f3 f7 40.d7 xg5+ 41.g4 d8 42.xg5 xd7 43.h6 f7 44.xg6 e7 45.f5 exf5 46.xf5 d8 47.c6 e7 48.e6 d7 49.c6 e7 50.e6 d7 ½-½

416 Hector,Jonny Sergeev,Vladimir Open Berlin (Germany) (7) [Nigel Davies]

B02

1995

1.e4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.e5 fd7 4.e6 fxe6 5.d4 c5 6.f3 c6 7.b5!? Hector's move, fighting for control of the d4 and e5 squares. g6 From a statistical point of view, this certainly looks like the best shot Black develops his kingside and challenges for the key dark square. The alternatives have held out for a maximum of 25 moves: [ a) 7...e5 8.dxe5 e6 9.g5 d4 10.g4 e7 11.xh7 xc2+ 12.d1 xa1 13.xd5 exd5 14.g5 xe5 15.h5+ 1-0, Hector - Konopka, Bundesliga1997 ] [ b) 7...cxd4 8.xd4 xd4 9.xd4 a6 10.d3 c7 11.0-0 c5 12.e2 d7 13.h5+ d8 14.e1 b5 15.f4 c6 16.ac1 b7 17.f7 c8 18.e2 d8 19.h5 c4 20.e5 b7 21.b3 c5 22.c4 c6 23.c7# 1-0, Jirkovsky Smejka, Czech Team Ch., 1994-5 ] [ c) 7...a6 8.xc6 bxc6 9.0-0 g6 10.e1 f6 11.dxc5 g7 12.f4 0-0 13.e5 h6 14.d4 h5 15.h4 f4 16.g4 g7 17.d4 xe5 18.xe5 c7 19.g3 b8 20.b3 d7 21.e3 f7 22.f4 f8 23.f1 g5 24.ce2 gxf4 25.xf4 0-1, Dobrowolski P.(2376) - Oliwa M.(2370), Poland 1994 Ch Poland ] 8.dxc5 White should not allow himself to be distracted from the priority of central control. [ 8.h4 looks far too optimistic g7 9.dxc5 d4 ( 9...xc5 10.e3 d6 11.h5 d7 a l s o l o o k e d ve r y s e n s i b l e i n B a l o g h -

Miroshnichenko, Budapest 1999) 10.xc6 dxc3 11.xd7+ xd7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.b3 c6 14.e3 d8 15.d1 0-0 and Black had a strong position in VinnikovSedina, Ukrainian Ch., Lutsk 1986 ] 8...g7 9.e3 a5 [ The following year Madsen varied with 9...0-0 but after 10.0-0 c7 11.e1 de5 12.d4 d7 13.e2 xd4 14.xd4 f4 15.e3 f7 16.f4 c6 17.b5 d8 18.c3 W hite still maintained his hold on the ce n t re (He cto r - Ma d se n, Co p en h a ge n 1996 ] 10.0-0 0-0 11.b1 a6 12.xc6 bxc6 13.e1 c7 14.g5 e5 15.d4 f5 16.h3 f7 17.xg7 xg7 18.a4 e5 19.b6 b8 20.c4 e6 [ 20...e6 might have been better but I still like White. Black's centre is immobile and more of a target than a strength. ] 21.b4 h5 22.f4 exf4 23.xe6 f3 24.g3 g5 25.cxd5! A strong exchange sacrifice which recaptures the initiative. xe6 26.dxe6 f8 27.b3 e5 28.d7 d8 [ After 28...xe6 29.xf8 h3 30.xf3 Black's dreams evaporate ] 29.e3 d5 30.xf3 xf3 31.xf3 f5 32.a3 a8 33.g2 a7 34.b8 f6 35.xc6 a8 36.d3 c8 37.d8 e5 38.a4 f8 39.b7 c7 40.a5 xe6 41.b3 fc8 42.f3 d7 43.c3 b7 44.b5 axb5 45.axb5 f6 46.e4 xb5 47.d5 e6+ 48.c4 b7 49.d4 b1 50.f4 e7 51.c6 d6 52.b5+ xc6 53.a7+ b7+ 54.xc8 xc8 55.d4+ d7 56.e5 b7 57.f6 b5 58.g7 h5 59.h4 e5 60.d3+ c6 61.fxe5 xe5 62.xh7 e6 63.h6 c7 64.g4 1-0

417 Hector,Jonny Van der Werf,Mark Open Berlin (Germany) [Nigel Davies]

B02

1993

1.e4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.e5 e4 4.ce2 The critical move, aiming to gain time against Black's errant knight. f6 [ The other method of disrupting White's 422

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 plans is with 4...d4 when the main line runs 5.c3 c6 6.xd4 xd4 7.a4+ c6 8.xd4 xd4 9.cxd4 g5 . In this position Hector came up with a new move in 10.d3!? which left Black with very little for his pawn after ( 10.c4 e6!? 11.d3 b5 12.xb5 cxb5 13.xg5 d5 14.f3 e6 gave Black very annoying play for his pawns in Hector - Werner, Andorra 1988 - and both 10... Ne6 and 10. ..b5 are good alternatives) 10...e6 ( 10...e6? 11.h4 wins a piece) 11.e2 g6 12.e4 c7 13.b3 h6 14.h4 in Hector - Anagnostou, Komotini 1992 ] 5.d3 g5 6.xg5 fxg5 7.h4 g4 8.f4 f5 [ An attempt to improve on the older 8...g6 after which 9.d4 h6 10.d3 a6 11.e2 gives Black insufficient compensation for the g-pawn that's about to drop. ] 9.ge2 [ 9.d4 looks like a reasonable alternative ] 9...c6 10.g3 d7 11.d4 b4 12.e6 d6 [ 12...xe6 13.c3 c6 14.e2 intending to ca s tle , e lim in a te th e b ish o p o n e 6 a n d recapture the g4 pawn would be very unpleasant for Black. Understandably he tries to confuse the issue, but Hector maintains a vice-like grip. ] 13.xf5 xf4 14.e3 g3 15.f3 xf3 16.gxf3 gxf2+ 17.xf2 0-0-0 18.c3 a6 19.h5! Sealing in Black's f8 bishop gives W hite a strategically won game. The rest requires little comment. c6 20.xa6 bxa6 21.f4 g8 22.f5 g6 23.hxg6 hxg6 24.ag1 g7 25.xg6 f6 26.hh6 xg6 27.xg6 c5 28.g4 h8 29.f6 xf6 30.xf6 exf6 31.dxc5 e8 32.xf6 d8 33.e3 e7 34.f7+ xe6 35.xa7 e5 36.xa6 b8 37.b6 1-0

3.c3 Hubner plays for fun these days I guess. However, the resulting positions from 3 Nc3 can be anything but fun for Black if he gets it wrong. Keres used to favour 3 Nc3 it suits attacking players who like free piece play. xc3 4.dxc3 g6?! [ 4...d6 5.f3 dxe5 6.xd8+ xd8 7.xe5 e6 was seen in the recently covered game Ashton-Baburin. No doubt uncomfortable with the thought of an early endgame against Hubner, Junge deviates. 4...g6 is uncommon and I'm guessing will remain so. Black is putting his head into the lion's mouth. ] 5.f4 As long as the pawn remains on e5, Black will find it difficult to free himself, so Hubner indulges in a bit of over-protection before launching the inevitable assault with h2h4. [ 5.f3 g7 6.c4 0-0 7.f4 d6 8.e2 g4 9.0-0-0 c6 10.e6 f5 11.e3 xf3 12.gxf3 e8 13.h4 also looked pretty uncomfortable for Black in Samuelsson, LSafranska, A/ Debrecen 1992 ] 5...g7 6.e2!N So that if Black plays . ..d7d6, White promptly castles long and goes for the throat. [ 6.d2 0-0 ( 6...d6 7.0-0-0 c6 8.b5 d7 9.f3 dxe5 10.h6 f6 11.e3 c8 12.he1 a6 13.xc6 xc6 14.xe5 f5 15.xc6 bxc6 16.g4 xg4 17.c5 a4 18.g7 g8 19.d4 1-0 Grabczewski, RGawlikowski, S/Poznan 1962) 7.0-0-0 c6 8.f3 d6 9.exd6 exd6 10.h6 g4 11.xg7 xg7 12.e2 e8 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 f6 15.he1 ab8 16.b3 e5 17.e4 d7 18.g3 c6 1/2-1/2 Myagmarsuren, L-Kraidman, Y/ Skopje 1972 ] 6...c6 7.0-0-0 a5 8.b1 0-0 9.f3 a6 10.d4! A strong move. a) It's very difficult to shift this Knight without making major concessions. b) h2-h4 is imminent and then 418 B02 maybe h5, hxg6 and Qe3-h3. Chess is an Huebner,Robert 2624 easy game when you have five moves in a Junge,Kai 2259 row. b5 11.h4 b4 12.c4 Why open any lines BL 0405 Preetzer TSV - OSC Baden Baden (9.5) at all? c5 13.h5 b7 14.e3 It's all coming true! e6 15.xe6 dxe6 [Andrew Martin] [ 15...fxe6 16.hxg6 hxg6 17.xd7+- ] Now a miniature, where Hubner trounces the 16.d3 fd8 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.de1 d7 Alekhine in fine style. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 19.h3 The attack requires little comment. b3 423

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.axb3 d4 21.h7+ After 21 ...Kf8 22 Bh6 is curtains. By no means a great game, but very direct and easy to understand. 1-0

7. Who would have thought that only 5 moves earlier White had no development advantage at all! f6 14.f4! White is ready for a decisive attack, so this move which opens central files suggests itself. Now W hite's initiative progresses without any obstacles. e6 [ 14...exf4 15.h5+ f7 16.be1+ e7 419 B02 17.xe7+ xe7 18.b4+ , winning the Keres,Paul Queen. ] Mikenas,Vladas 15.fxe5 d7 Black was relying on this move it URS 1968 seems that he will recapture on e5 and castle [Alexander Volzhin] queenside, completing development 1.e4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.ge2 successfully. However an unpleasant surprise awaits him. 16.exf6!! xg3 17.fxg7 c5+ g4 [ Unfortunately, Black can't recapture the [ 4...c6 This developing move is natural pawn: 17...xg7 i n v i e w o f 18.e1!! and good, moreover it contains very nice a n d W h i t e w i n s a p i e c e b a c k : xe1 trap. 5.g3? This seemingly natural move 19.bxe1 xc3 20.xe6+ d8 21.dxc3 lose by force! g4! 6.g2 d4! 7.xd5 with a decisive material advantage. ] ( 7.h3 was the only move to avoid immediate loss, although Black already has a huge 18.h1 g8 19.e1! [ 19.e2 is inferior in view of the unexpected a d v a n t a g e i n t h e e n d g a m e a f t e r xc3 0-0-0! 20.xe6 d6! and Black has little to 8.dxc3 f3+ 9.xf3 xf3 10.xd8+ xd8 worry about. ] 11.g1 e5 ) 7...xd5! The point! Here this idea doesn't work. Incidentally this combination is typical and 19...d6 has occurred plenty of times in different 20.xe6+ d8 21.xg8+ c7 22.xb7+! openings. One example: 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 xb7 23.b1+ b6 [ 23...c7 is no real improvement: 24.a5+ 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 ed 5.Nd5 Bg7 6. Bg5 Nge7? b6 25.f7+ and the pawn queens. ] 7.N:d4! B:d4 8 Q:d4! 8.f3 xf3 9.f1 g2 a n d W h i t e r e s i g n e d , G i b b s - S c h m i d , 24.f7+ c7 25.g1! The last move of a brilliant combination, foreseen by Keres when Lugano, 1968. ] [ 4...g6 is not bad either: 5.xd5 xd5 he sacrif iced the piece on move 16! Now 6.c3 d8 7.b3 g7 8.b2 0-0 9.g3 Black has no threats while White's g7-pawn is d7! 10.g2 c6 11.xc6 xc6 about to queen. d8 [ 25...h2+ 26.f2 g3+ 27.f1 ] Bla ck alrea d y is b e tt e r. 12.h4?! d6 26.c5 xd3 27.cxd3 h2+ 28.f2 g3+ 13.0-0?! This move doesn't fit with previous one. d4 14.e4 c6! 15.e1 xc2 29.e2 Black resigned. An excellent game! Black has a clear extra pawn and won in a 1-0 few moves, Horvath,C-Dede,1997. ] 5.h3 xc3 6.bxc3 f5 B02 [ Later Mikenas tried to improve with 6...xe2 420 The game Lisitsin-Mikenas, USSR, 1968 Markovic,Miroslav 2517 continued: 7.xe2 c6 8.d4 e6 9.b1 c7 Andonov,Bogomil 2364 10.e3 d7 11.c4 e7 12.d2 0-0 TSGM June Belgrade YUG (6) 20.06.2002 13.0-0 ad8 14.c3 e5 and Black has [Glenn Flear] solved any major problems, although White keeps small advantage. ] Note how this line occurs via the 7.b1 d5?! I don't like Black's last two Scandinavian (Centre Counter) move-order. moves. Now White firmly seizes the initiative. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.c3 The same 8.g3 c8 9.c4 a5 10.b2 c6 11.c3 position arises from 1 e4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 exd5 c7 12.d3! e5 13.0-0 It's interesting to Nxd5. xd5 4.c4 c6 Both 4...e6 and 4... compare this position with that after the move Nb6 are better-known. 424

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 4...b6 5.b3 c6 6.f3 f5 7.0-0 e6 8.e1 e7 is solid. ] [ 4...e6 can also be met by 5.f3 when A) 5...b4 6.b3 8c6 7.ge2 a5 8.a4+ d7 9.a3 d5 10.xd7+ xd7 11.xd5 ( 11.d3!? c5 12.xd5 exd5 is a better try for something out of the opening ) 11...xd5 12.xd5 exd5 K a l i n i n a - M e l a m e d , S l o ve n i a 1 9 9 9 i s frankly dull.; B) 5...b6 6.b3 e7 7.ge2 0-0 8.d3 c6 9.0-0 a5 10.f4 c6 11.fe1 xb3 12.axb3 d5 and Black had easily equalized in D. Jere-M.Kopylov, Golden Cleopatra 2002 ] 5.f3 A few years ago a young Galkin tried to defend this line three times as Black against Skatchkov and lost each time. Now increased popularity has led to Black's resources being b e t t e r u n d e r s t o o d . e6 6.ge2 d7 Natural but there are other ways of handling the Black position [ 6...b6 7.g3 h5 8.h4 d7 9.d3 7f6 10.g5 b7 11.xd5 exd5 12.e5+ d7 Olcayoz-Gaprindishvali, Turkey-Georgia 2002 and Black's king found a safe square on c7 and soon grasped the initiative. ] [ The experimental 6...f6 turned out to be better for White in Skatchkov-Galkin, Russia 1997 after 7.h3 d7 8.0-0 7b6 9.d3 f4 10.xf4 xf4 11.e1 g6 12.b3 g7 13.a3 e5 14.e3 xe3 15.dxe3 e6 16.ad1 because Black then castled long allowing the strong manoeuvre Ne4-d6. H o we v e r B l a c k s h o u l d h a ve p l a ye d f5! and his position looks sound. ] 7.d4 xc3 8.bxc3!? An interesting decision. White allows the doubling of his pawns but the d-pawn is thus well protected. Instead if White captures with the queen then despite his space advantage Black can play for a timely ... c5 and dissolve White's centre. d6 9.d3 c5 10.0-0 c7! Much better than automatically castling. Black threatens the hpawn but has a second idea in mind. 11.g3 c4! Closing things up and obtaining the d5square for his knight. 12.e2 f6 13.g5 d5 14.f5!? Trying to complicate as o t h e r wi s e W h i t e h a s n o t h i n g o u t o f t h e opening. xh2+ 15.h1 exf5 [ 15...0-0 looks dangerous after the simple

16.g3 ] 16.xd5 d6 17.xc4 xc4 18.xc4 The smoke has cleared but despite the equal ma t e ria l t h e a sym m et ric p a wn s le a d s t o i n t e r e s t i n g c h a n c e s f o r b o t h s i d e s . f4 19.fe1+ f8 20.f3 h6 21.h4 f5?! [ 21...d7 was better as after 22.d3 c8 23.c4 b6 Black has the centre under control. ] 22.d3 xd3 23.cxd3 g5 24.f2 g7 25.c4 White's central pawns are more dangerous than Black's kingside. Indeed he has potentially the better bishop so W hite must be better. b4 26.e4 b6 27.b1 a5!? Not ideal but it's out the way of White's pawns and it does cover e1. 28.d5 he8 29.b2 f5 30.d4+ f7 31.ee2 ad8 32.a4 e1 33.g1 a5 Black waits to see what White is intending. 34.f1 h5 35.e5 xe5 36.xe5 c8 37.b5 d2 38.d6!? A reasonable try. White activates his rook at the risk of exchanging this pawn for one of Black's kingside phalanx. e6 39.d4 e3 40.d7 d8 41.e5+ d6 42.d5+ e6 43.e5+ d6 44.c3 xd7 45.xf5 c8 46.e2 g8 47.e5 h4 48.d4 [ 48.f6? allows an unfortunate pin f8 ] 48...g4 49.fxg4 [ 49.f7 is messy after h3! ] 49...xg4 50.f8+ b7 51.f7+ a6 52.f1 [ 52.b8? is weak in view of xg2+ 53.f3 f2+ 54.e4 a5 ] 52...xd4! A clever way of obtaining a drawn ending. 53.xd4 f3 54.d7 fxg2+ 55.g1 h3 56.c5 f4 57.h2 f1 58.g1 bxc5 59.h7 a1 60.xh3 xa4 61.xc5 b5 62.f2 a5 63.xg2 a2 64.f3 a4 65.e3 a3 66.h8 c2 67.e4 a2 68.d4 g2 69.d3 b4 70.b8+ a4 71.h8 [ Not 71.c4 c2+ 72.c3?? xc3+ ] 71...b3 72.e5 f2 73.g8 f3+ 74.e2 f5 75.d4 a5 76.a1 c2 77.b8 a3 78.b2+ ½-½

425

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 421 Nagy,Bence Kahn,Evarth FSIMB August (11) [Andrew Martin]

B02 2355 2307 15.08.2006

It is rare that we encounter an entirely new variation these days. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.f3 d6 4.c3!? I haven't seen this variation played before. If the coming evidence is anything to go by, it lends itself to brutal, short games. dxe5 5.xe5 xc3 [ 5...e6 is unnatural, although Black can still achieve coherent development: 6.f3 c6 7.c4 d6 8.d4 d7 9.xd7 xd7 10.0-0 g6 11.xd5 xd5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.c3 g7 14.e1 0-0 15.f4 e6 16.a3 b5 17.g3 a5 18.d6 fc8 19.h4 c6= Seidov, Z-Logdahl, H/Dos Hermanas 2004 ] 6.f3N I presume this is one of the 'points'. White angles for a lead in development and early tactical skirmishes, in the style of the open game. But af ter Black's next move, there really is nothing to fear. [ Yet 6.bxc3 seems to have been played relatively frequently, continuing in the same, t r a p p y s t y l e : d7! I think this is the most reliable move. Black picks up a couple of tempi exchanging off the aggressive White Knight. ( 6...f5 should get roughly treated: 7.f3! c8 8.c4 e6 9.xf7! g8 10.g4 g6 11.g5 c6 12.xe6 e5 13.e2 d8 14.xe5 e7 15.a3 f6 16.b5+ c6 17.xb7 xa3 18.xa8+ e7 19.xa7+ d6 20.xa3+ c5 21.a6+ e5 22.0-0-0 xg5 23.de1+ e4 24.xe4+ xe4 25.e2+ 1-0 Plasman, HRiefel, J/Deventer 1997) 7.xd7 xd7 8.f3 c6 9.c4 xf3 10.gxf3 e6 11.d3 c5 12.0-0 0-0 13.d1 h4 14.d4 d6 15.d3 xh2+ 16.f1 e5 17.e4 exd4 18.cxd4 fe8 19.xb7 h3# 0-1 Fernandez Arroyo, C-Asensio Diaz, J/ Almendralejo 2003 ] [ 6.c4?! is another 'try'. Look at the effect on Black here! A) O f c o u r s e h e s h o u l d p l a y 6...d5! when the complications after 7 Nxf7 are merely brief and hardly advantageous to White. 7.xf7 ( 7.f3? e6 ) 7...xf7 8.f3+ g8! 9.xd5+ e6 10.xb7 xb7

11.xb7 d5!-+ ( 11...d7 is also winning. ); B) 6...d4?? V e r y p o o r . 7.xf7+ d8 8.dxc3 xd1+ 9.xd1 e6 10.e2 c5 11.f4 d6 12.ad1 c7 13.xd6 xd6 14.d1+ 1-0 Braun, G-Schaefer, O/ Badenweiler 1995 ] 6...d5 7.xc3 d7 Logical, as per the previous note. 8.d4 [ 8.f3 e5! 9.xc7 ( 9.c4 e4+ 10.e2 d6= ) 9...c5 gives Black the initiative. ] 8...e6 9.e3 xe5 Opening the d file seems wrong. [ Instead, Black should think about co n tin u in g de ve lo p me n t a n d t h u s 9...a5 Intending .. Bb4 and setting a cute trap: 10.a3 b4! 11.axb4 axb4 12.xa8 bxc3 13.xc8+ e7 14.xh8 ( 14.xc7 cxb2 15.xd7+ xd7 16.xd7 b1+ 17.d2 xd7!-+ ) 14...cxb2-+ ] 10.dxe5 d7 11.e2 [ I prefer 11.d1 and after c6 12.xc6 xc6 13.f3 White is a fraction better. His refusal to change down gears costs him the game. ] 11...c6 12.b3 xg2 13.0-0-0 c6 14.hg1 e4 15.f4 a4 16.xe6+?? Bizarre. Nagy has an hallucination. [ Just 16.xa4 xa4 17.f3 was indicated. ] 16...fxe6 17.h5+ g6 18.xg6 The point. xc2+! Counterpoint and quite decisive. 19.xc2 e4+ This ' variation' is no better or worse than a lot of lines against the Alekhine and may give White a small edge. An early ... Nd7 is recommended to Black, after which he can count on equality. 0-1

422 Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter Bagirov,Vladimir Cuxhaven [Alexander Volzhin]

B02 2410 2525 1994

1.e4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.e5 e4 [ 3...d4 is possible immediately, but after 4.ce2 black has nothing better than A) 4...d3 5.f4! ( 5.cxd3!? d5 wit h a m p le co m p e n sa t io n) 5...dxc2 426

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6.xc2 leads to a serious advantage for white.; B) 4...e4 transposing to the game, as ] 4.ce2 d4 5.c3 White should undermine the d4 pawn as soon as possible, otherwise black will strengthen it with a comfortable game. One example: [ Filtzer - Bronstein, 1959 5.d3 c5 6.b4 e6 7.f3 c5! This temporary pawn sacrifice leads to an excellent position for black 8.bxc5 c6 9.b2 b6! 10.c3 ( 10.cxb6 xb6 11.b1 b8 is too dangerous for white) 10...bxc5 11.c1 b8 12.a1 a5 13.d2 g6 14.cxd4 xd2+ 15.xd2 b4 16.g3 cxd4 17.a3 d5 18.e2 h6 19.xd4 0-0 and despite being a pawn down black is better, as it is very diff icult f or white to complete his development. ] 5...c6! [ Of course, 5...dxc3 6.bxc3 is bad for black, as white has an overwhelming advantage in the centre. ] 6.cxd4 [ 6.xd4 doesn't promise white any a d va n t a ge , a s b la ck o b t a i n s su f f icie n t c o m p e n s a t i o n f o r a p a w n a f t e r xd4 7.a4+ c6 8.xd4 xd4 9.cxd4 g5 10.c4 e6 11.e2 c7 12.d3 a5 13.a4 e6 14.d2 d5 15.c3 b4 as the game Yakovich - Kengis, 1984 proved ] 6...g5 7.f4 e6 8.f3 exd4 [ Black has no time f or moves like 8...a6 because of 9.d5! xd5 10.d4! and black will be smashed after Nc3, d5 etc. ] 9.exd4 xd4 10.a4+ c6 11.b5 d7 12.e6! xe6 [ 12...fxe6 is insufficient, as after 13.e4 White has a lot of threats. ] 13.e5 d7 14.xc6 bxc6 15.xc6 e6 16.0-0 White is slightly better, as he has a development advantage and Black's pawn structure is weak [ Besides the text, 16.b3! and /\\ Bb2+/= also is worth considering. ] 16...e7 17.d4 b8 18.f5 White plays for a direct attack. exf5 19.xf5 f6? This panicinduced move is clearly a mistake. After this black's king will never find a safe place. [ The paradoxical 19...0-0! was possible, as 20.xd7 b4 21.c6 b6 leads to

equality. ] 20.d5 Now black's position is truly m is e r a b le . d6 21.f4 xc6 22.xc6+ d7 23.e1+ d8 With the king in the centre black can hardly hope to hold the position. 24.a6 e8 25.c1! e6 [ 25...e6 26.xd6+! cxd6 27.a5+ b6 28.xa7 c6 29.a5+ d7 30.b5 threatening d5, and after d5 31.b7+ wins ] 26.xa7 xb2 27.a8+ e7 28.g8 ee2 29.xg7+ e8 30.g8+ e7 31.g5!+xf4 32.g7+ d6 33.xd7+ xd7 34.g4+ So as we can see, 2. Nc3 deserves serious attention. I wonder why it is relatively rarely played. Probably white doesn't want to give black the chance to transpose to other openings, for example, 2... e5 leads to the Vienna game, 2...d5 3.e5 Nfd7 4.d4 e6 is the French, and even the Pirc may occur after 2... d6 3.d4. But anyway, if you play 1.e4 you should be ready for these openings! 1-0

423 Novitzkij,Dmitrij Kupreichik,Viktor D 70th ch Minsk BLR (1) [Andrew Martin]

B02 2408 2464 04.03.2004

1.e4 f6 2.c3 We don't see this variation too often. Possibly White was running scared of Kupreichik's attacking skills and wanted to run the game into a quiet branch line. Of course 2 Nc3 is OK, but it's not very sharp. d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.g3 A move is a move. Why should Black let W hite settle on the long diagonal? He has ways of mixing it up. xc3 5.bxc3 And here's another. I quite like 5..Qd5, which equalizes immediately by the way, but the Queens come off early which might not be to everyone's taste. d7 This is one of them. [ 5...d5! 6.f3 e4+ 7.e2 xe2+ 8.xe2 b6 9.d3 b7 10.g2 d7 11.e1 e6 12.f1 e7 13.f4 0-0 14.c4 d6 15.e5 xg2+ 16.xg2 fd8 17.c6 xf4 18.xd8 d2 19.c6 xe1 20.xe1= Meyer, U-Schlawin, M/Senden 2 0 0 3 B l a ck h a s f e w p ro b le m s t o s o lv e here. ] 427

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6.g2 c6 7.f3 g6N Inventive as ever, Kupreic hik tries to com e u p with a n ove l winning attempt. A Black Bishop on g7 will intimidate this particular W hite pawn formation because if White ever gets around to playing d2-d4, then Black prepares ... c7-c5, with pressure. [ 7...d7 8.d4 f6 9.0-0 e6 10.f4 d6 is less energetic but perfectly viable. Black is equal here too. 11.d2 ( He should settle for 11.e3 0-0 12.c4 with equal chances.) 11...0-0 12.e5?? xf3 13.g5 xg2 14.xf6 xf6 15.xf6 gxf6 16.xg2 c6-+ 0-1 Vilar Rodriguez, M-Alonso Macias,V/ Santiago de Compostela 2002 This should n o t b e a s d i sa st ro u s a s W h it e m a d e i t seem. ] [ 7...e6 is sometimes played: 8.0-0 A) 8...e7 9.e1 g5 10.f1 d5 11.e3 f6 12.c4 f5 13.d4 e4 14.e2 xc2 15.e5 xe5? ( 15...g4! ) 16.xe5 g6 17.d5 d7 18.xg5 f6 19.dxe6 fxe6 20.b5 f8 21.b2 g6 22.xb7 c5 23.xc7 d3 24.xc2 1-0 Brendel, O-Grosshans,R/Frankfurt 1999; B) 8...d7 9.d3 e7 10.b1 0-0 11.e1 f6 12.c4 e8 13.d2 xg2 14.xg2 b6= Guyot,P-Hauchard, A/ France 1993 Summarising this information I feel that Black is equalizing in virtually every conceivable logical line. I fail to understand why White tries this variation apart from as I say to dampen the ardour of a violent attacker or to completely avoid the main lines. ] 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 0-0 10.d4 d7 11.g5 e8 Back at the chicken shack Black is lo ok ing f o r a p a wn brea k. He's got go o d development and comfortable squares for his pieces. If he could only play .. e7-e5 now he might stand better. White moves to stop him. 12.c4 h6 13.f4 e6 14.d5 exd5 Opening up the Rook, only to be exchanged unfortunately. He could have played ...Ba4 immediately: [ 14...a4 15.b1 e5 16.e3 ( 16.d2 b6 17.c3 e4 18.d4 c5 ) 16...b6 17.d2 f5 ] 15.cxd5 xe1+ 16.xe1 a4 17.b1 b6 18.d3 This looks a shade better for White

than the previous variation, where there were two c pawns to defend. d7 19.c4 c6! A correct move, breaking up the centre before the d pawn becomes dangerous. 20.dxc6 [ 20.e3 e8 21.d6 e6 22.c5 d5 23.xd5 cxd5 24.xd5 c6 25.d2 is rather risky for W hite who for his extra pawn faces a game-long defence on the light squares. ] 20...xc6 21.xd7 xd7 22.xc6 bxc6 Both players seem happy with this equal ending. W hite gets his Rook active first but cannot nurse his weak pawns at the same time. 23.b7 b6! 24.c7 [ If 24.c5 d5 25.d6 e8 26.d3 a5 27.a7 c3! and Black is fine. ] 24...g5 Nudging the Bishop out of position. 25.e3 xc4 26.xa7 e5! 27.xc6 xa7 28.xc4 ...Rxa2 is next when there is nothing left to play for. A short game but full of quality ideas. The 2 Nc3 variation and subsequent positions is important because it can arise from a Scandinavian move order as well. I feel that 4 g3 whilst unusual isn't very effective if Black gets on the case immediately, disrupting W hite's plans. 4...Nxc3 5 Bxc3 Qd5! seems particularly good. ½-½

424

B02 Nuevo Perez,Antonio 2195 Vera Gonzalez Quevedo,Reynaldo 2546 Open Malaga (2) 26.02.2000 [Gary Lane] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c3 e6 8.xd5 exd5 9.d3!? [ 9.e2 is the main alternative and has the merit of avoiding the pin with ...Bg4. ] 9...g4 [ 9...dxe5 10.dxe5 b4+ 11.d2 xd2+ 12.xd2 0-0 13.0-0 g4 14.e2 xf3 15.xf3 1/2-1/2 M.Mueller-G.Moehring, Senden 1999. ] [ 9...e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.h3 A) 11...e6 12.e1 h8 13.exd6 xd6 14.g5 xg5 15.xg5 f5 16.d2 f4 ( 16...xd4 17.f4 d7 18.e3 a4 19.e5 c6 20.xg7+ xg7 21.xe6 428

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is good for White) 17.b5 f3 18.g4 xg4 19.hxg4 d7 20.h4 xg4+ 21.g3 h5 22.h2 h4 23.g1 hxg3+ 24.xg3 xd4 25.g5 f4 it is interesting just to see how Black goes wrong in such a good position ( 25...xf2+ 26.h1 d4 wins ) 26.h3+ g8 27.g1 e5 28.hg3 h8 29.d3 af8 30.a3 xg5 31.xg5 d4 32.h5+ g8 33.h7+ h8 34.f5+ g8 35.e6+ f7 36.xd5 and White had turned the tables and was winning in V. Chikovani-J.Zhitin, Tallinn 1997.; B) 11...e8 12.e1 e6 13.b1 dxe5 14.xe5 f6 15.b3 c7 16.b2 g6 17.f4 with equal chances, M.Mueller-M. Heinelt,Kassel 1999. ] 10.b3 [ 10.0-0 e7 11.e1 0-0 12.b1 dxe5 13.dxe5 b4 14.d2 xd2 15.xd2 xf3 16.gxf3 the wrecked kingside pawn structure is a long-term problem. h4 17.xd5 ad8 18.e4 h6 19.c2 d4 20.e3 xe3 when the king is weak it pays to keep the queens on the board ( 20...h5! 21.ad1 h4 ) 21.xe3 e8 22.e4 d2 23.xc6 bxc6 24.b3 and White had a plus due to the extra pawn, P.Varley-A.Longson, Birmingham 1999. ] 10...xf3 11.gxf3 [ 11.xb7 xd4 12.gxf3 dxe5 is winning for Black. ] 11...dxe5 12.xb7 xd4 Black is a pawn up and the knight covers the vital b5 square so the check with the bishop on d3 would not be effective. 13.e3 c5 14.c1 b8 15.a6 White's initiative has run out of steam and now he must watch Vera go on the off ensive. xf3+ 16.e2 xe3 17.b5+ Finally, White is able to deliver a check to prevent Black from castling. However, on f8 the black king is fairly safe in contrast to White whose king is exposed. f8 18.fxe3 e4 19.c6 [ 19.cd1 keeps the game going because g5? runs into 20.d6+ g8 21.xb8+ d8 22.xd8# ] 19...g6 20.hc1 g5 0-1

425 Nurkic,Sahbaz Leventic,Ivan TCh Neum BIH (3) [Glenn Flear]

B02 2415 2424 26.08.2002

1.e4 f6 2.e5 [ 2.c3 d5 ( 2...e5 is of course OK but it's not an Alekhine!) 3.e5 e4 4.ce2 is considered in ECO as a route to an edge after 4...d4. However in a number of games Black has been fairly successful with f6!? for instance 5.d3 g5 6.xg5 fxg5 7.h4 g4 8.f4 g6 9.g3 h6 10.ge2 c6 11.d4 f5 12.g2 b4 13.0-0 c6 14.c3 a6 15.c4 e6 and Black had a rock-solid position J.Hector-J.Eriksson, Skara 2002. Despite his 200-odd point def icit Blac k never looked in trouble and drew comfortably. ] 2...d5 3.c4 b6 4.c5 d5 5.c4 e6 6.g4!? Unusual but Nurkic has played this before. Usual are 6 Nc3 and 6 d4, for instance [ 6.c3 xc3 ( 6...xc5!? ) 7.dxc3 c6 8.f4 h4 9.g3 e7 10.b4 g5 11.e3 xe5 12.d4 g7 13.e2 d6 14.cxd6 cxd6 15.h4 d7 16.hxg5 xg5 17.h5 g6 18.h3 with a sharp struggle in PoschBaburin, Vienna 1995 ] [ 6.d4 b6 7.cxb6 xb6 8.d3 d5 9.exd6 Otherwise Black has a promising Frenchstyle position. cxd6 10.f3 b7 11.0-0 e7 12.c3 0-0 and Black has no real problems Kruglov-Pushkin, Russia 1992 ] 6...b4! as White no longer defends c2 this move complicates White's development plans. [ Nurkic-Corvi, Toscalano 1996 continued 6...c6 7.f3 f5 8.g3 keeping an eye on g7 to f rustrate Black's development. b6 9.cxb6 axb6 10.0-0 a6 11.xa6 xa6 12.c3 a5 13.d4 g8 14.d2 e7 15.a3 f7 and Black's control of the d5square doesn't compensate having a lack of space t o co-o rdinat e h is pie ces . W hit e developed a dangerous passed a-pawn in subsequent play. ] 7.a3 b6 8.d4 a6 9.e4 This doesn't look very dangerous for Black but White needs to defend both c2 and d3. xc4 10.xc4 [ 10.xa8?? loses to d5 11.xa7 8c6 12.a4 xg2 etc. ] 429

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5.f4!? d6 6.f3 g4 7.d4! dxe5 ( 7...c5! looks more to the point, counter-attacking the centre before W hite can complete his development.) 8.fxe5 e7 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 with the more comfortable game for White Szilagyi-M.Kovacs, Budapest 1974. ] 5...c6 6.d4 d6 7.d3! More dangerous than [ 7.f4 dxe5 8.xe5 e6 9.0-0-0 a5 10.b1 d7 11.g3 f6= Pacual ArevaloGarrido Moreno, Spain 2002 ] 7...dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.g3! The combination of the queen on g3 and the pawn-wedge on e5 created difficulties for Black. The g7-square is under observation and the knight cannot come to f6 to defend. a6 10.f3 b4 11.0-0 xd3 12.cxd3 The bishop pair is not really an important feature here as the position remains fairly closed. In particular, the bishop on f8 can only b e d e ve l o p e d a f t e r p l a y i n g t h e h o r r i b l y weakening ...g6, so Black prefers to leave this piece at home. Unfortunately Black's king thus stays in the centre. d7 13.e3 c5 14.a3 f5 [ 14...0-0-0 fails to 15.xc5 xc5 16.fc1 and Black will lose a pawn. ] 15.fc1 d4 [ 15...xd3 16.xc5 xc5 17.xc5 0-0 18.d4 would yield White a pleasant positional edge. ] 16.d2 a5 By keeping the queenside under 426 B02 c o n t r o l B l a c k h o p e s t o g a i n t i m e f o r Oral,Tomas 2549 development, but White is having none of it... [ 16...xd3 allows the strong blow 17.e6! Pribyl,Josef 2409 and ideas such as Ne5, Ng5 and Re1 lead KB Czech Open (8) 26.07.2002 to White winning material. ] [Glenn Flear] 17.b4! Something has to give. Black's opening strategy is left in ruins. a6? Hopeless. A 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c3 e6 [ 3...xc3! 4.bxc3 d5 5.d4 c5 could be a better chance was [ 17...cxb4 18.axb4 a4 19.c4 xd3 ice for Black who would seek counterplay 20.xd4 b5 despite 21.e6!? against the compromised white queenside, looking dangerous. ] much as in a French Winawer. ] [ But not 3...b6?! which looks distinctly 18.bxc5 e7 19.xg7 f8 The game is won dodgy despite Shabalov having played it for all intents and purposes. White now found 4.d4 d6 5.f4 g6 6.e3 g7 7.f3 0-0 a series of elegant blows to put his opponent 8.0-0-0 d7 9.e2 a6 10.h4 for instance out of hismisery! 20.c6! bxc6 21.ab1 a8 as in Mastrovasilis-Aliev, Baku 2002 yields 22.e6! fxe6 23.e5 d5 24.b7 f6 25.g5! xg7 26.e7+ d8 27.xc6+ good attacking chances for White. ] 4.xd5 exd5 5.f3!? A relatively recent idea. c8 [ 27...xc6 28.xg7+ e8 29.e7+ d8 The queen intends to pressurize the black 30.xh7+ e8 31.e7+ d8 32.xc6 kingside early in the game.

10...8c6 11.f3? A suspicious-looking gambit. Equality with [ 11.a3 d5 12.cxb6 w a s s a f e r . ( or 12.e3 )] 11...bxc5 12.dxc5 xc5 13.0-0 f5! After this thematic move White is unable to maintain much pressure for the pawn. Nurkic's idea has been well-countered by Leventic. 14.exf6 xf6 15.ce5 f5 16.xf5 exf5 17.f4 d6 18.a3 d5! [ 18...xe5 19.xe5 dxe5 ( 19...d3?! 20.xg7 g8 21.d4 is o n l y e q u a l) 20.axb4 xb4 21.xe5 maintains the extra pawn but leaves Black with loose-looking structure. ] 19.xc6 xf4 20.ad1 f7 21.g3 e6 22.b4 b6 23.a4! White has to keep hammering away before Black consolidates. a5! Temporarily giving back the pawn but obtaining the valuable c5-square to anchor t h e b i s h o p . 24.d5 f6 25.bxa5 c5 26.e1 he8 27.f1 g6 28.h4 a6 W ith everything now tidied up this simple move leads to a complete disintegration of White's "position". 29.cd4 xd4 30.xe8 xf3 31.d3 e5 32.d2 xa5 33.a2 h5 34.g2 f7 35.d8 b6 36.e2 xa4 37.f4 g4 38.h8 e3+ 0-1

430

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc4 16.xc4 b5! 17.d4 xd4 18.cxd4 b7 19.f3 a5! 20.b1 axb4 21.xb4 e7 22.xb5 c6 23.b2 hb8-+ winning ] 12...g7 13.e2 d6 14.cxd6 cxd6 15.h4 [ 15.f4? doesn't win a piece but blunders a pawn: gxf4 16.gxf4 h4+ ] 15...d7 16.hxg5! The best. [ Here 16.f4?! doesn't achieve it's goal: gxf4 427 B02 17.gxf4 c6 18.h3 0-0-0 19.c2 f6 Posch,Werner 2175 20.fxe5 xh4+ 21.f2 xf2+ 22.xf2 Baburin,Alexander 2495 dxe5 and Black has three pawns and a Wien 1995 strong attack for the piece. ] [Alexander Volzhin] 16...xg5 17.h5 g6 18.h3! c6 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.c5 d5 19.g5? The losing mistake. [ White should try 19.f4! e4 20.f1! 5.c4 e6 6.c3 Now 21.f3 Kf3 22. Bd3 is an unpleasant [ After 6.d4 d6 7.cxd6 cxd6 suddenly we t h r e a t , s o h6 is forced, and after 21.f3 have a position from the 2.c3 Sicilian! ] h7 White has sufficient compensation for 6...xc3 7.dxc3 c6 the pawn. ] [ 7...xc5 is too dangerous 8.g4! f8 ] 19...e4 20.xg7 f3+ 21.f1 h2+ 8.f4 [ After 8.f3 Black can take the pawn xc5 22.e1 f3+ 23.f1 xd4-+ 24.f3 [ White loses everything after capturing the , and 9.Qg4 is illegal now. ] Knight: 24.xd4 h1+! 25.g1 g2+ 8...h4!? A very interesting idea of the 26.e1 xg1+ 27.d2 xa1 ] Romanian GM Mikhai Suba. This move wins a pawn by force, and white has to prove he has 24...xf3 25.f2 e5 Black is two pawns up as well as having an attack, so the outcome of sufficient compensation for it. 9.g3 [ 9.d2 xe5! That's the idea. 10.e2 g6 the game is beyond any doubt. 26.f4 0-0-0 11.xc7 xc5 12.g3 a4 13.h4 27.b5 e8 28.b1 d5 29.b4 c4 30.a4 Of course W hite has the initiative, but in b8 31.f3 e3+ 32.g2 xc3 33.xe6 Angelov - Suba, Varna 1975 he couldn't c8! 34.xd5 d2+ prove that it's worth a pawn. h5 14.f3 d5 0-1 15.b4 b6 16.d4 a6 17.d1 d7 18.c2 e7 19.0-0 c7 ] B02 9...e7 Now White has to choose which pawn 428 (e5 or c5) to sacrifice. 10.b4 Potkin,Vladimir 2471 [ 10.e2 was tried once, but White had no Neverov,Valeriy 2541 c o m p e n s a t i o n f o r t h e p a w n a f t e r xc5 St . Petersburg 2000 11.0-0-0 d5! 12.exd6 xd6 13.e3 a5 [Alexander Volzhin] in Silva - Rakic, 1981, and now the effective but not sufficient 14.d5?! led to a decisive 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.c5 advantage for Black: exd5 15.b6+ e6 [ Dan Heisman from the USA asked me 16.xa5 dxc4 17.b4 xb4 18.cxb4 xb4 about 4.a4!? This move is not played often. 19.f3 0-0-0-+ winning ] I believe Black should play a5 ( since after 10...g5 11.e3 xe5 12.d4!?N 4...d6 5.a5 6d7 6.exd6 cxd6 7.d4 [ 12.h5 was played in Schwarts the space advantage on the Q-side secures S o l o z h e n k i n , N e w Y o r k , 1 9 9 4 . g7! W h i t e t h e b e t t e r p r o s p e c t s . c6? ( O f c a u s e , n o t 12...xc4?? 13.xg5 is b a d i n vi e w o f 8.d5! xa5? 9.b4 and suddenly Black's queen is trapped!; an d W h it e wins a p ie ce . A f t e r 4 . . . a 5 I 12...h6 is also bad be cause o f 13.d4 think Black has good play since interpolation with f4 to follow.) 13.xg5 f6 14.xf6 of the moves a2-a4 and ... a7-a5 should xf6 Now White is in big trouble. 15.e2 normally favor Black. But of course, it would etc. ] 28.b4+ b8 29.xd5 xd3 30.xg7 exd5 31.e7 Oral's idea seems to create problems in the 3 Nc3 e6 system. 1-0

431

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 be interesting to test this line in practice. )] 4...d5 5.c4 e6 6.d4 b6!? [ 6...d6 is possible as well, after 7.cxd6 cxd6 the position is similar to an Alapin Sicilian. ] 7.cxb6 axb6 8.e2 [ White has also tried 8.f3 but this move didn't bring him any advantage in Machulski Gurgenidze, USSR, 1973: a6! 9.xa6 xa6 10.0-0 e7 11.c3 ab4 12.a3 0-0 13.e4 f5 14.c3 c6 15.d2 a6 16.xd5 exd5 17.c1 c7 intending 18... Ne6 and Black's chances are by no means worse. ] 8...d6 A novelty, according to my database, but in my opinion one of rather dubious merit. [ I would prefer the old 8...a6 9.xd5!? ( 9.xa6 xa6 is similar to MachulskiGurgenidze considered above.) 9...exd5 10.bc3 c6 11.0-0 e7 12.e1 0-0 13.g3 d6 and Black has a very solid position. ] 9.0-0 b7 10.b3 dxe5 11.dxe5 d7 12.g3! Now it's not easy for Black to complete the development of his K-side. e7!? (intending 13...Nf5) 13.d4 c5 14.xe6!? A very interesting piece sacrifice. It leads to a sharp position which is difficult to e v a l u a t e e v e n i n h o m e a n a l y s i s . fxe6 15.xe6 c6 16.e3 e7 17.h3 d4 18.xd4 cxd4 19.a3! c5 20.g4 h5 21.f5 f7 22.b5 xe5 23.fe1 f6 [T h e t e m p t i n g 23...xa2!? was the alternative to the text, but here W hite gets a very strong attack: 24.ac1! Intending a sacrif ice on the c5-square . ( 24.ad1 i s b a d : a f t e r f6 25.b4 doesn't work in view of g6! 26.xd4 gxf5 27.bxc5 d5! 28.cxb6 c5 and Black has a decisive advantage. ) A) 24...f6 25.xc5! xc5 26.e6+ f8 27.xa2 d3 28.g3! , threatening 29 Qb8 and White has a decisive attack; B) 24...d5 25.xc5! and White wins by force: xc5 26.e6+ f6 27.xa2 xb5 28.e6+ g5 29.h4+ f4 30.g3+ f3 31.d5+ xd5 ( 31...xd5 32.f5# ) 32.e2#; C) 24...xg2!? Other moves are even worse: 25.xg2 d5+ 26.g1 xb2 27.xc5! This blow here is as strong as it was in previous lines. xc5 28.e6+ f6

29.f3+ g5 30.h4+! h6 31.f7! and Black is helpless: xb5 ( 31...e7 32.e6+ g6 33.f4+ ) 32.e6+ g6 33.f4+ g7 ( 33...h7 34.xg6+ g7 35.f7+ ) 34.f6+ mating Black's King. ] 24.b4! White plays very inventively finding new attacking resources. g6 25.c2 d3? This allows White to win the piece back. [ 25...e6 is also bad in view of 26.b3 c8 27.c7 and White is winning ] [ In my opinion, Black should play 25...c8! 26.g3 e6 Now it's not easy for White to continue the attack although the position remains very sharp. ] 26.bxc5 dxc2 27.d7+ g8 28.xb7 d8 [ 28...a5 deserved attention. Now White can't play the tempting 29.c6 in view of xb5 30.c7 xa1! and Black wins. ] 29.ac1 [ 29.d6!? is worth considering: xd6 ( or 29...bxc5 30.b3+ h7 31.e4 f5 32.xc2 g7 33.ab1 and although the game goes on White's advantage is beyond any doubt.) 30.cxd6 xd6 31.ac1 h7 32.e4 and after winning the c2-pawn White has excellent winning chances due to his extra pawn and the weak position of Black's King ] [ By the way, the tempting 29.xb6? fails to xa1! 30.e6+ h7 31.xa1 d1+ 32.e1 xe1+ 33.xe1 h6! and Black wins. ] 29...xc5 30.xc2 h7! 31.e4 f7 32.e2 df8 Black has managed to complete his development and create pressure on the f2-square which secures him certain compensation for the pawn. 33.f1 g5 34.c4 h7 35.d4 g4! 36.e6?? A gross blunder in mutual time trouble. [ 36.f3! s h o u l d b e p l a y e d : f4 ( The tempting 36...xf3 37.xg4 xf2 doesn't work in view of 38.fxf2! and White wins on the spot: hxg4 39.xc5 xf2 40.c7+ ) 37.e6! The only move. 8f6 38.xg4 hxg4 39.e5 d6 and a draw is the most likely outcome of this exciting encounter: 40.fc1 e4 41.c4 f6 ] 36...xf2! 37.xf8+ xf8+ 38.ff2 xc4 W hite resigned since he loses a piece. An exciting game! 0-1 432

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 429 Rose,M Davies,Nigel R 4NCL Birmingham [Nigel Davies]

B02

2001

Black has a good answer to the Chase variation in protecting his knight on d5 with both ...c7-c6 and ...e7-e6 and then undermining the c5 pawn with a later . ..b7-b6. In the following game I was faced with a rabid attempt at attack, but Black's position proved very solid. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.c5 d5 5.c4 c6 6.f3 This looks like a novelty, though it may not be very good. [ The usual move is 6.c3 af ter which e6 7.d4 ( 7.e4 b6 8.d6+ xd6 9.cxd6 0-0 10.d4 a6 11.b3 f6 12.e2 c8 was rather good for Black in Szabolcsi Knezevic, Budapest 1981) 7...b6 8.cxb6 axb6 9.ge2 a6 10.b3 d6 11.xd5 was agreed drawn in Rozentalis - Kengis, USSR Ch., Daugavpils 1989. Black stands quite well in the final position. ] 6...e6 [ I a ls o c o n sid ere d t h e imm e dia t e 6...b6 , but thought that W hite would play 7.c3 anyway and force me to go ( 7.xd5 cxd5 8.xd5 c6 would give Black terrific com pen sat io n) 7...e6 . In retrospect this would have been a more accurate order of moves. ] 7.d4 b6 8.cxb6 axb6 9.h3 a6 10.xa6 xa6 11.0-0 f5 12.c3 ac7 13.f4 xf4 14.xf4 e7 [ At the time this was the only move I considered, but given the solidity of Black's position he could also go more slowly with 14...e7 . Now White gets some irritating play. ] 15.h5+ g6 16.h6 f7 [ And given my time over again in this position, I'd think about 16...f8 17.h3 g7 followed by castles. ] 17.g4 f8 18.h3 g8 [ Black could also try going to the queenside with 18...e8!? ] 19.h6 f7 20.h1 b5 21.a3 f8 22.xf8? The start of White's troubles. [ He should keep the bishops on with 22.g5 ]

22...xf8 23.f3 g7 24.g2 e7 25.ad1 f7 Little by little, Black makes some headway, the plan is to double rooks on the f-file and fish around with the queen on h4. W hite's next move shows that he's hurting, it's difficult to keep still against gradually increasing pressure. 26.gxf5? xf5 27.e4 d5 Black's knight has been waiting a long time f or t his. In t im e-troub le W hite crum bles . 28.g3 f7 29.d2 hf8 30.d3 h4 31.f2 f4 32.b3 g4 33.g2 g5 34.f2 xg3 35.e4 0-1

430 Rozentalis,Eduardas Volzhin,Alexander Poland [Alexander Volzhin]

B02 2570 2556 2000

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c3 xc3 4.dxc3 This move contradicts the well-known principle of capturing "towards the centre". But it has its points. White tries to gain an advantage in development, and maybe create pressure on t h e d - f i l e . d6 5.f3 The main line. The alternatives are harmless: [ 5.f4 c6! 6.f3 dxe5! Now Black can recapture on d8 with the Knight, retaining the possibility of castling. This is an important difference in comparison with the m a i n l i n e . 7.xd8+ xd8 8.xe5 c6 9.0-0-0 f6 10.c4 f7 11.g3 e5 12.d2 g6 13.c4 d6 14.b3 h6 15.f3 f5 16.b1 0-0-0 Black had successfully completed his development and had a clear edge in Filipowicz-Chekhov, Warsaw 1990. ] [ 5.c4 c6! 6.f3 dxe5! 7.xd8+ xd8 Again this manoeuvre is good. Black completes his development easily. 8.xe5 f6 9.d3 e5 10.0-0 e6 11.b3 d6 12.e1 g5 13.e3 f7 14.f3 c6 Again Black was clearly better in Nezhmetdinov-Spassky, USSR, 1959 ] 5...dxe5 [ 5...c6 here is not so good as after 6.b5! W hite is better as became clear several decades ago. The game Keres-Schmid, Zurich 1961 continued: d7 7.e2 dxe5 8.xe5 xe5 9.xe5 c6 10.c4 b8 433

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.e4 e6 12.g5! h6 13.h4 d6 14.0-0-0 c7 15.d4 e5 16.c5 f6 17.xf6 f4+ 18.d2 gxf6 19.hd1 with a huge edge for White. ] 6.xd8+ xd8 7.xe5 e8 The critical position of this line. The plans of both sides are evident. Black would be happy to exchange as many pieces as possible, as a pawn ending will obviously be easily won for Black due to his pawn majority on the K-side, while White's extra pawn on the Q-side will be useless. But there are still many pieces on the board and W hite can try to exploit the temporary lack of co-ordination of the Black piec e s. ( Re me m be r B la ck ca n't cast le ! ) 8.b5+!? An attempt at an improvement. P re vi o u s l y W h it e h a d f a i le d t o g a i n a n y advantage. [ The natural looking 8.c4 leads White nowhere: e6 9.f4 d6 10.g3 d7 11.f3 b6 12.e2 d7 13.e5 f6 14.xd7 xd7 15.0-0-0 e7 16.f3 xg3 17.hxg3 c6 and Black was slightly better in Tarrasch-Reti, Baden-Baden 1925. By the way, this was one of the first games with the Alekhine's! ] [ 8.e3 doesn't promise White any edge either: A) 8...f6 is less precise (although this m o v e i s v e r y co m m o n i n t o u r n a m e n t practice) in view of 9.d3! c6 ( After 9...e5 White can immediately undermine Black's pawn chain: 10.f4! e4 11.f2 f5 12.g4! with the initiative.) 10.f4! e6 11.0-0-0 b6 12.c4 b7 13.c5 b5 14.e2 e7 15.he1 f7 16.f2 a6 17.f3 and White had a small but clear edge in Radulov-Smejkal, Siegen 1970.; B) 8...d7! 9.f3 e5?! ( I would prefer 9...e6 intending ... Bc5 or Bd6, with comfortable equality.) 10.0-0-0 f6 11.d2 c5 12.xc5 xc5 13.c4 c6 ( 13...e6 14.f4! ) 14.f4! b5 15.e2 exf4 16.f3! and White's initiative was very dangerous in Listengarten-Bagirov, USSR 1974. ] 8...d7! [ W h i t e ' s i d e a w a s t o p r o v o k e 8...c6? after which it's very difficult for Black to complete his development. Now the d6square is unprotected which is important in many lines, for example: 9.c4 e6 10.f4

d6 11.d1 e7 ( 11...c7 12.xc6! xf4 13.d8# ) 12.xd6! ] [ 8...d7 is also not so good: 9.f4 c6 10.c4 ( T h e t e m p t i n g 10.xc6? doesn't work in view of a6! 11.a4 c5! ) 10...xe5 11.xe5 f6 12.g3 e5 13.0-0-0 and W hite can follow up with f2-f4 at the right moment, after which Black's King in th e ce n t re o f t h e b o a rd m a y b e c o m e a target. ] 9.xd7 xd7 10.f4 c6 11.e2 e6 12.c4 c5 13.c3 e7 Now we can say that Black ha s e qu alise d . 14.d1 Now 15.b4 Bb6 16. Bd6+ is threatened so Black's next move is forced. [ 14.b4 d6 is OK for Black ] 14...a5 15.d3 hd8 16.e2 f6 17.h3 d7 18.a4 ad8 19.c2 xd1 20.xd1 e4 21.c2 e5! [ Of course not 21...xf2?? in view of 22.f1 and the Knight is trapped. ] 22.c1 White still is playing for a win. [ 22.xe4 exf4 leads to an immediate draw. ] 22...d6 23.d3 h6 24.f3 f5 25.d1 f8 26.b3 f6 27.c2 e4 28.f4 Here my opponent offered me a draw, which of course was accepted as after [ 28.f4 g5 29.xd6+ xd6 30.xd6 xd6 31.fxe4 f4!? neither side can even think about playing for a win After this game I strongly suspect that White can set Black no serious problems in this line, although Black needs to play very precisely in the opening. White's moves are not as harmless as they may seem! ] ½-½

431 Rudd,Jack Palliser,Richard 4NCL Nottingham ENG (10) [John Cox]

B02 2291 2402 01.05.2005

1.e4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.e5 fd7 4.e6 An objectively probably rather unsound gambit, but one which suits Jack Rudd's swashbuckling style. fxe6 5.d4 c5 6.f3 c6 7.dxc5 [ 7.b5 is the main alternative, fighting for 434

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 comfortable play effortlessly. xc3 5.bxc3 c5 6.f3 g4 7.e2 c6 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 e6 10.0-0 c8= Karavade,EMohota,N/Asian Teams Jodhpur IND 2003 ] 4...d4 [ 4...c5 is provocative and not very good: 5.d4 e6 6.f4 ( 6.e3! is almost certainly best. White can be very direct as Black is taking his time in the opening : g6 7.f3 g7 8.h4 h5 9.c3 b6 10.g5 ) 6...g6 7.e3 g7 8.d2 b6 9.h3 e6 10.f3 c5 11.g4 c6 12.g2 d7 13.c3 c8 14.f2 e7 15.d1 a5 16.0-0 ] [ 4...f6 was played in two old games of Kengis which still stand as the benchmark: 5.d3 g5 6.xg5 ( 6.f4 g6! 7.h4 e6 8.h5 xf4 9.xf4 g5 10.g3 c6 11.d4 h6 12.exf6 exf6 13.b5 0-0 14.c3 e7 Terentiev-Kengis USSR 1983) 6...fxg5 7.h4 gxh4 8.f4 g6 9.xh4 g7 10.d4 c5 11.d3 a5+ 12.f1 cxd4 13.xh7 xh7 14.xg6+ d8 15.xh7 xe5 16.f3 c6 17.xd5 e6 18.f8+ d7 19.xa8 b5+ 20.d3 xb2 21.b6+! VorotnikovKengis USSR 1983 Black doesn't have enough for the exchange ] 5.f3!?N I have seen 5 c3 and 5 d3 but not this. Schmaltz argues that the Knight on e4 isn't running away-why attack immediately? c6 6.c3 g4 7.exd4 A small trap. xe5 [ W hich Black avoids: 7...xd4 8.a4+! d7 9.xd7+ xd7 10.xd4 ] 8.e2! d5 9.b5 It is getting very murky. By contrast [ 9.b5+ d o e s n ' t le a d t o m u c h : xb5 10.xb5+ d7 11.e5 ef6 12.xg4 xg4 13.f3 ( 13.0-0 c6 14.e2 gf6 ) 13...c6 14.e2 e5 ] 9...0-0-0 10.c4 e6 11.d4!? Already enormous complications fill the board. 432 B02 B l a c k h a s t o m a k e a j u d g e m e n t : g6 Schmaltz,Roland 2525 And he ducks the main issue. Probably it was Gikas,Basilius 2270 impossible to calculate everything and he Bundesliga 2002 intuitively rejects lines where his Knight ends up on h1. They do look good for White: [Andrew Martin] [ 11...xf3 12.gxf3 d3+ ( 12...xf3+ 13.xf3 g5+ 14.e3 f3+ 15.d1 1.e4 f6 2.c3 d5 3.e5 e4 A line which xd4 16.xd4 b6 17.c2 xd4 doesn't crop up very often but which I think is 18.d2+- ) 13.xd3 g3+ 14.e3 xh1 very playable for Black. Not however the way 15.g2 g6 16.f1 ] Gikas plays it here! 4.ce2 [ 11...d3+ 12.xd3 g3+ 13.e3 xh1 [ 4.d4 Less critical. Black obtains

control of e5 and d4, and is the favoured move of this variation's strongest modern day supporter, Jonny Hector. The crucial position arises after g6 8.e3 g7 9.dxc5 a5 10.0-0 , Hector-Sergeev, Berliner 1995, and Hector-Madsen, Copenhagen 1995. ] 7...g6 8.h4 g7 Palliser isn't bothered about preventing ...h5, and probably rightly: [ 8...f6 9.b5 g7 10.h5 ( 10.f4 0-0 11.xc6 e4 occurred in LyublinskyMikenas, Moscow 1949, when 12.e5 xe5 13.xe4 g7 was about equal.) 10...xh5 11.e3 d7 12.xc6 bxc6 13.d4 (J Petronovic-Marinkovic, Niksic 1997) ] 9.e3N [ 9.h5 has been White's invariable choice previously, although after xc5 10.hxg6 hxg6 11.xh8+ xh8 12.d3 d7 both 13.b5 (Guilbert-Komarov, Clichy 2001), and now xc3+ 14.bxc3 h8 , and 13 Bf4 Qf8 14 Bg3 Qh6 (Leitao-Milos, Santos Mario Covas 2001), are promising for Black. ] 9...a5 10.d2 xc5 11.h5 d7 12.b5? Black is doing fine here, a pawn up and about to evacuate his king to safety. Neither [ 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.xh8+ xh8 nor ] [ 12.h6 f6 worries him unduly, but the text is a weak move which is a little fortunate not to lose at once. ] 12...e4! 13.xe4 xb5 14.c5 xb2 15.0-0 c3 16.e2 c4 [ 16...c8 was perhaps even more efficient, but Black wants to force the queens off. ] 17.xc4 dxc4 18.ad1 c8 19.g5 f6 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.fe1 Taking on e6 was better, although Black should still win. e5 22.f4 exf4 23.xf4 g4-+ 24.d6 0-0 0-1

435

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.xa7+ b8 15.xe6 xe6 16.b5 c6 17.f4+ ] 12.d5 But so does this! f5 13.bd4+- e5 14.xe5 xe2 15.xg6 xf1 16.xh8 xc4 17.xf7 xd5 18.e6 f5 19.xf8 A Knight hurricane has left Black's position devastated. xf2 20.g1 xf7 21.g4 d3+ 22.e2 I think the best chance for 3...Ne4 is to follow it up with 4..f6. Both 4...Nc5 and 4.. . d4 seem dubious. 1-0

433 Sevillano,Enrico Bego,Nick North American Open (1) [Andrew Martin]

B02 2485 2002

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.c5 A question of taste this, I think. Perhaps there are so many good lines against the Alekhine that the Chase Variation has been sent to the back of the queue. Or and this is more likely, in t h e ru s h t o f o llo w t h e gre a t a n d go o d playing 4 Nf3 this aggressive little line has been forgotten. d5 5.c4 c6 6.c3 e6 Played correctly this is a perfectly adequate response. Black can attack the centre with ... b7-b6 [ 6...xc3 7.dxc3 b6 ( 7...d5 8.cxd6 exd6 9.exd6 xd6 10.f3 g4 11.e2+ e7 12.e3 0-0 13.h3 h5 14.0-0-0 b5 15.d3 d7 16.d2 c5 17.he1 xf3 18.gxf3 e5 19.b1 c4 20.c2 f5 21.xc5 xc5 22.d7 fe8 23.ed1 g6 24.a3 e5 25.a2+ h8 26.c7 b6 27.dd7 xd7 28.xd7 e1+ 29.d1 ae8 30.d2 xd1+ 31.xd1 xf2 0-1 Miele,R-Loviscek,M/Nova Gorica 2002) 8.g5 c7 9.cxb6 xe5+ 10.e3 axb6 11.f3 c7 12.g5 d5 13.xd5 e6 14.e4 g6 15.f3 g7 16.xb6 b7 17.c5 f5 18.d1 h6 19.xf5 d7 20.xg6+ d8 21.xe6+ c8 22.xg7 xa2 23.0-0 1-0 Watharow,S-Brockman,R/ Melbourne 2002 ] [ 6...d6 7.xd5 ( 7.b3 d7 8.xd5 xc5 9.c7+ d7 10.e3 xc7 11.d4 e6 12.e2 d7 13.f3 d5 14.d2 h6 15.c1 g5 16.h3 g7 17.b4 b8 18.b5

dxe5 19.bxc6 xc6 20.b3 b6 21.xf7 f8 22.g6 f6 23.xe5 xg6 24.xg6 e8 25.0-0 xd4 26.fe1 e5 27.g4 c7 28.c3 xc3 29.xc3 d5 30.c4 b6 31.c5 e4 32.f5 d7 33.xd7 xd7 34.d1+ c7 35.e5 e6 36.c4 d8 37.c1 d5 38.xd5 xd5 39.e3+ c6 40.f1 e5 41.g4 a5 42.c2 d7 43.xh6 d5 44.g4 e6 45.b2 xa2 46.b4 b5 47.e3 c6 48.g3 a5 49.b1 b4 50.h4 gxh4 51.gxh4 b5+ 52.g2 d3 53.b3 a1 54.h5 e2 55.h6 f3+ 56.g3 f6 57.d5+ g6 58.xb4 axb4 59.xb4 xh6 60.b5 g1+ 61.f4 g4+ 62.e3 g5 63.b6+ g6 64.b5 f6 65.e5 g6 66.c5 f5 67.c6+ g5 68.c8 g4 69.d8 h3 70.h8+ g2 71.g8+ f1 72.c8 d5 73.c1+ g2 74.c3 d1 75.c2 e1+ 76.f4 f1 77.e3 d1 78.b2 d3+ 79.f4 f1 80.a2 e1 81.g3 d2 82.a1+ e2 83.a4 b2 84.a3 c2 85.e3+ d2 86.b3 c3 87.b2+ c1 88.a2 d1+ 89.f4 c2 90.a4 d2 0-1 Lupi,P-Malbran,G/Buenos Aires 2002) 7...cxd5 8.xd5 e6 9.xe6 xe6 10.cxd6 g5 11.f3 xg2 12.g1 h3 13.g3 f5 14.d4 d7 15.e3 e4 16.c1 g6 17.d2 h1+ 18.f1 d5 19.c7 g7 20.h4 f6 21.f4 0-0 22.b3 a5+ 23.d2 xd2+ 24.xd2 xb3 25.xb3 fxe5 26.fxe5 xe5 27.xg7+ xg7 28.dxe5 ad8 29.e3 b6 30.d4 fe8 31.e2 h5 32.d3 g5 33.e4 g4 34.d5 1-0 Mlensky,D-Svoboda,J/Znojmo 2002 ] [ 6...a5 7.f3 ( 7.xd5 cxd5 8.d4 b6 9.d2 bxc5 10.xd5 d8 11.dxc5 e6 12.f4 c6 13.f3 xc5 14.0-0 0-0 15.c1 e7 16.a4 a5 17.e3 b8 18.d3 b4 19.xb4 xb4 20.c2 b7 21.d4 d5 22.b3 a8 23.f3 a4 24.fd1 axb3 25.axb3 b8 26.f5 exf5 27.xd5 xb3 28.c5 c8 29.d1 xc5 30.dxc5 xc5+ 31.xc5 b1 32.c1 b6+ 33.f1 b5+ 34.g1 c5+ 35.xc5 xd1+ 36.f2 g5 37.a5 d2+ 38.g3 g7 39.h4 h6 40.hxg5 hxg5 41.a3 d5 42.f4 f6 43.a7 fxe5 44.fxe5 f7 45.f3 e6 46.g4 f4 47.a6+ xe5 48.g6 d4 49.f6 d6 0-1 Acosta,P-Bulcourf, C/Buenos Aires 2002) 7...xc5 8.b3 d6 9.ge2 436

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 dxe5 10.xd5 cxd5 11.xd5 e6 12.xb7 xb7 13.xb7 c6 14.xc6+ xc6 15.0-0 c5 16.c3 d7 17.d3 ab8 18.e3 d4 19.xd4 exd4 20.a4 b4 21.b3 e5 22.c5+ d6 23.ac1 b5 24.e4+ d7 25.c5+ e7 1-0 Miserendino,A-Ligato,G/Olivos 2002 ] 7.d4 There are two other tries, but neither give too much trouble e.g. [ 7.e4 b6 8.d6+ xd6 9.cxd6 0-0 10.d4 a6! ] [ 7.g4 f5 8.g3 b6 9.cxb6 axb6 10.ge2 a6 11.d3 e7 12.0-0 f7 ] 7...b6 8.cxb6 axb6 9.g4 [ 9.ge2 a6 10.b3 d6 11.xd5= ] 9...xc3 Seeing Ne4-d6+ coming up Bego hastens to get rid of the Knight. 10.bxc3 a6! A f t e r . . . b 7 - b 6 , h e r e is B la ck' s n e xt id e a , reducing any hope of a White advantage to minimal proportions. This is hardly Sevillano's concern. He just wants to have an interesting position to play. 11.xa6 xa6 12.e2 c7 13.0-0 g6 One can understand that the Queen is worrying Black-this move looks ext re m e ly c o m m itt a l. I f W h it e cou ld ju st exchange those dark-squared Bishops now. I recommend [ 13...d5 after which I think Black is fine : A) 14.a4 d7 15.a3 ( 15.b1 a6! ) 15...c5; B) 14.exd6 b5! 15.g5 xd6 16.c4 a3; C) 14.f4 g6 ] 14.g3 h5 15.f3 b5 16.e4 e7 17.g5! He achieved his objective. Black is no w c le a rly wo rse . 0-0 18.f6+ g7 19.g3 h8 20.f4 The prelude to a nice combination which exposes all the defects in Bego' s position. e8 21.f5! xf6 22.fxg6 e4 23.xf7+ g8 24.xe7 xg3 25.xd8+- f5 26.g5 h4 27.xd7 h5 28.d2 f8 29.c7 e7 30.f1+ f5 31.g7+ e8 32.xf5 exf5 33.g5 Time and again we have seen that timid play does not work in the face of attack. Instead, in order to defend successfully counterplay must be created as soon as is humanly possible. In this particular game Bego was outplayed- he didn't like that Queen on g4 at all. 1-0

434 Soloviev,Mikhail Sharafiev,Azat Muhamedzjanov mem (5) [Andrew Martin]

B02 2294 26.01.2007

1.e4 c5 2.f4 f6!? I have often wondered about this particular move order as a try for Black, but in the rush to play 2..d5, it has been somewhat overlooked. 2..Nf6 is very playable and takes the fight to W hite immediately. 3.d3 d5 4.e5 g8 5.f3 c6 6.e3 White must now form a centre and the question is: what is the best way? 6 c3 and then d3-d4 involves a loss of time and with Black's Bishop on c8 unimpeded, it is hard to believe this will lead anywhere. [ For instance: 6.c3 g4! 7.e2 e6 8.0-0 f6 9.e1 e7 10.a3 h6 11.c2 0-0 12.h3 xf3 13.exf6 xe2 14.fxe7 xe7 15.xe2 ae8 16.d2 Lesny, S-Miklas, M/ Slovakia 1998 ] [ So to 6.e2 which was played by Larsen, but as with so many of his original ideas, his successes were due to his phenomenal talent for the middle-game: h6 ( 6...f5! 7.0-0 e6 8.c3 b6 9.h1 h5 10.d4 h6 11.bd2 g4 Sigrist, W-Dudas, J/Bern 2000 ) 7.0-0 e6 8.c3 b6 9.h1 e7 10.a3 d7 11.c2 Larsen, B-De Fotis, G/ Aspen 1968 when ...0-0 and then a quick... f6 would be pretty satisfactory for Black. ] 6...g4 7.e2 e6 8.bd2 h6 9.f2 f5 10.0-0 h5 This is very satisfactory for Black too, who even has some attacking chances on the Kingside. Where is White's play coming from? Perhaps from preparing b2-b4, but that takes an age. 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 h4 [ Just 12...b6 ] [ or 12...e7 are both perfectly decent moves if you don't fancy the coming complications. ] 13.e1 e7 14.c4 d4 15.d2 g5! I do like this move, reminding White that he may have castled prematurely, although it is rather risky.. 16.g4 [ 16.f3 gxf4 17.xc6+ bxc6 18.e4 c8 ( 18...b6 19.xf4 ) 19.f3 f8 20.e4 e3 21.xe3 fxe3 22.h5 a5 23.xf7 xf7 24.f1 e2 25.xf7+ d8 ] 16...h6 17.f3 gxf4 18.xc6+ bxc6 437

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.e4 c7 20.f3 b8 21.b3 f5 [ 5.dxc3 is considered the main line. ] 22.xf4 White's bit better structurally, 5...d5 although he will have to shift the Nf5 before [ 5...d6 6.b5+ d7 he can claim any real advantage. Quite rightly, A) 7.xd7+ xd7 is equal ( 7...xd7?! Black continues his aggression. a5 23.ab1 allows the tricky 8.e6 when fxe6 9.g5 [ Overprotection with 23.ae1 was called for. e5 10.g4 is good news for White. ); W ith the Black King still in the centre B) 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 dxe5 9.xe5 c6 opening lines on the queenside with a4?! 10.h5 xe5 ( 10...g6 11.e2 g7 would be inappropriate: 24.bxa4! b2 12.f4 is roughly equal) 11.xe5 f6 25.b1 xa2 26.a1 b2 27.a5 d7 12.c7 b6 13.a4 d8 14.g3 28.a6 b6 29.a3 ] with equality, Kabisch,T-Kunin,V/ 23...g8 24.e4 c8 25.h2 g6 26.g4 Schwabisch Gmund 2002. ] He found away to distract Black's Knight. h6 6.d4 27.xh6 xh6 28.f4 h5 29.be1 f5! [ 6.exd6 30.f3 h7 31.a3 b8 32.b1 d7 33.f4 A) 6...xd6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 g4 g7 34.h1 g5 35.h2 f4! Very good! 9.b1 c7 ( 9...xf3? 10.xf3 c6 W hite has to survive a strong attack now. 11.c4 with excellent play) 10.h3 xf3 36.fe1 f8 37.b4 f3 11.xf3 c6 12.d5 ( 12.c3 is the calm [ 37...cxb4 38.axb4 axb4 39.xb4 f3 a p p r o a c h o f f e r i n g W h i t e a n e d g e) a ls o s e e m s p r e t t y st ro n g, b u t B la ck i s 12...d4 ( 12...e5+! is the right reply probably to correct not to touch the when 13.e3 c3+ 14.d2 e5+ queenside whilst he is operating on the leads to a draw) 13.b5+ xb5 14.xb5 other flank: 40.g1 ( 40.c5 e3! 41.gxf3 xc2 15.0-0 one can already see the root xf3 42.xe3 dxe3 43.g4 xg4 44.hxg4 of Black's problem because the queen is d8 45.b2 A move which hints that a the only piece on active duty c7 16.d6 capture on b4 earlier might be wrong. h3+ xd6 17.xb7 c8 18.a3 f6 19.g4 46.g2 g3+ 47.h2 xg4 48.xe3 e6 and Black did not wait for the queen g5 ) 40...c5 41.b2 gg8 42.gxf3 xf3 check forcing mate,1-0 Zaitsev,I-Maljutin,E/ 43.g4 c6 44.g2 a8!! 45.h2 f4+ Moscow 1996.; 46.g1 a1+ ] B) 6...e6 7.d4 ( 7.b5+ d7 8.a4 xd6 38.e4 f4! 39.xf4 xg2 40.e4?? 9.0-0 0-0 10.d4 c7 11.a3 d8 [ 40.xf8 xh2+ 41.xh2 xe5+ 42.h1 12.e2 xb5 13.axb5 d7 14.fd1 e2 43.bxc5! was forced and may lead to a with equal chances, Brnas,A-Kovacevic,V/ draw: e7 44.f4 xf2 45.b7+ e8 Pula 1996.) 7...xd6 8.d3 c6 9.0-0 46.b8+ e7= ] c7 10.e2 h6 11.d2 d7 12.a4 c8 40...xh2+ An uneven game, but Black 13.d5 e7 14.c4 ( 14.dxe6 xe6 players might like to take a closer look at 2... 15.fb1 is about equal despite White's Nf6 doubled c-pawns) 14...exd5 15.cxd5? 0-1 whoops, White is obviously not expecting to have a piece trapped in the opening c4 0-1 Gromer,R-Bogdanovich,G/ 435 B02 Untergrombach 1999. ] Staeger,Pascal 2100 6...c6 7.f4 g4 The position resembles Murey,Jacob 2490 an Advanced French which can arise after 1 Metz (5) 2003 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3. The crucial difference is that in the French the [Gary Lane] light-squared bishop is locked out of the game 1.e4 c5 2.f3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.c3 xc3 due to the e6 pawn, but here it does a good 5.bxc3 The idea is to build up a central pawn job undermining the defence of the d4 pawn. formation with d2-d4. Admittedly, this line is a 8.e2 e6 9.0-0 e7 The grandmaster is wise just to complete his development before bit unusual in tournament play. 438

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 trying to bite chunks out of W hite's pawns. 10.d2 0-0 11.e3 c8 12.ab1 b6 Safety first . If given time Black will play a timely ...f7-f6 to break the extended pawn chain. 13.e1 xe2!? [ Perhaps Murey is playing quick as usual but I suspect he could have made more of an impression with 13...cxd4 14.cxd4 b4! when the initiative is with Black. For instance: 15.d1 xe2 16.xe2 c3 17.d3?! ( 17.f3 f6 is slightly better for Black ) 17...b4 with the advantage. ] 14.xe2 d7 15.f4 cxd4 16.cxd4 b4 17.a3 a2 It seems a strange place to put the knight but it will soon return to the centre via c3. I think Black's edge is based on his superior queenside pawn structure. 18.b3 c3 19.g4 e4 20.f3 f5! A nice intervention before Staeger can make a serious attempt at attacking the king. 21.exf6 [ 21.h5 e8 22.xe8 fxe8 gives Black a very promising ending ] 21...xf6 22.h3 a4 Now that Murey feels his kingside is adequately protected he is free to wreck havoc with the queen on the other s i d e o f t h e b o a r d . 23.h5 No prizes for guessing the threat! h6 24.d1 One could argue this is a bit like resignation because the attack has obviously failed. A rearguard action is the right policy and against a lesser player White might have even sneaked a draw out of the position. Jacob Murey is just too good! c4 25.f3 b5 26.f1 a6 27.d3 ff8 28.c1 c3 The threat is ...Ne2+ followed by ...Nxc1. 29.f2 f6 30.e3 xd3 31.xd3 d1 Abandon the board is my advice to White. 32.c5 xe3 33.xe6 [ 33.xe3 xd4 wins. ] 33...g4 0-1

436 Sveshnikov,Evgeny Knezevic,M Dubna [Alexander Volzhin]

B02

1979

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.c5 This is one of the sharpest attempts to "refute" Alekhine's Defence. Advancing his

central pawns W hite obtains a space advantage. The main expert in this line is the Russian GM Evgeny Sveshnikov who invariably plays it against the Alekhine's. d5 5.c3 c6 [ 5...xc3 is not good, as it helps White's d e v e l o p m e n t : 6.dxc3! d6 ( 6...e6?! is even worse, after 7.g4! c6 8.f3 b6 9.g5 e7 10.c6! dxc6 11.d1 d7 12.a6 Black is in trouble, Utiatsky - Bagirov, 1971 ) 7.cxd6 exd6 8.c4 e7 9.f4 dxe5 10.xe5 0-0 11.xd8 xd8 12.f3 with an obvious advantage for White. ] 6.c4 [ L a t e r S v e s h n i k o v s w i t c h e d t o 6.d4 a n d wa s s u cce ssf u l in so m e ga m e s . A recent example: d6 7.cxd6 exd6 8.f3 e7 9.c4 c7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 d5 12.d3 e6 13.c2 g6 14.h6 e8 15.g3 b6 16.h4 with a strong kingside attack in Sveshnikov - Stavrinovs, Latvia, 1994. ] 6...d6 7.b3 White has to play this move, if he wants to fight for the advantage. [ After 7.xd5 cxd5 8.xd5 e6! 9.f3 dxe5! 10.b4 e4! Black is already better. ] 7...d7 [ 7...dxe5 seems to be somewhat dubious, although in Sveshnikov - Palatnik, USSR, 1974 Black managed to maintain the balance after 8.xd5 cxd5 9.xd5 e6 10.xb7 xb7 11.xb7 d5! 12.c8+ e7 13.c7+ f6 14.d4 c6 15.f3 xd4 16.g5+ g6 17.xe5+ xg5 18.0-0 xc5 19.f4+ h6 20.xf7+ h5 21.b7 e7 22.xh8 ( 22.b4!? xb4 23.g4+ is a very interesting attempt to continue the attack ) 22...xh8 ] 8.xd5 cxd5?! [ In Sveshnikov - Neckar, Bern 1992 Black t r i e d t h e v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g 8...xc5!? T h e g a m e c o n t i n u e d : 9.c7+ xc7 ( In my opinion, even 9...d7!? 10.e3 xc7 is possible, and White has to prove he has enough for a pawn.) 10.xf7+ d8 11.e3 d5 12.d4 e6 13.f3 g6 and now according to Sveshnikov, W hite s h o u l d p l a y 14.h4! g7 15.h5 xh5 16.xh5 gxh5 17.e6! with excellent prospects. ] 9.xd5 e6 10.xe6! This piece sacrifice is 439

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the only way to fight for an opening advantage. After the bishop's retreat Black has an e x c e l l e n t g a m e . fxe6 11.xe6+ e7 12.xe7+ xe7 13.cxd6+ f7 14.d4 Let's consider this position. W hite has four pawns for the sacrificed bishop, but black dominates on the light squares. In my opinion white is better, but he should play actively, otherwise black will obtain a comfortable blockade. b6 15.f4 g6 16.f3 h6 [ 16...g7 17.g5+ with e6 to follow. Black can't let white's pawns move! ] [ and after 16...h6 17.0-0 the bishop on f8 definitely can't be happy! ] 17.f5! [ Black hoped for 17.0-0 f5 with a good position after Rfc8, Ke6 etc. So white breaks in the centre. ] 17...xc1 18.e6+ xe6 19.fxe6+ xe6 20.xc1 After the complications white has a safe extra pawn and should win this prosaic endgame ac8 21.0-0 [ 21.f2 may be more precise ] 21...xc1 22.xc1 xd6 23.h4 e8 24.f2 d5 25.e1 f8 26.g3 f4 27.e5 e6 28.a5 a6 29.a3 d5 30.a5+ d6 31.b4 c7 32.d5 f4 33.g5 h6 34.c5+ d7 35.f3 d6 36.d2 xd5 37.c4+ e6 38.b5 axb5 39.xb5 b8 40.a4 c3 41.b6+ d5 42.e3+ e4 43.g4 h5 44.f6+ f5 45.d7 e4+ 46.f3 a8 47.b4 c3 48.c4 d8 49.c5 b6 50.xc3 bxc5 51.xc5+ f6 52.c3 d4 53.a3 xh4 54.a5 d4 55.a6 d8 56.a7 a8 57.f4 g5+ 58.e4 e8+ 59.f3 a8 60.a5 g6 61.a3 f5 62.a6 e5 63.a5+ f6 64.e4 e8+ 65.d4 a8 66.c5 f5 67.b6+ f4 68.b7 xa7+ 69.xa7 h4 70.b6 g4 71.a3 1-0

437 Sveshnikov,Evgeny Solozhenkin,Evgeniy Russia [Alexander Volzhin]

B02 2575 2535 1998

pawn chain and intends Ba6 (not obligatory). 8.g4! White's play is consistent: pursuing the initiative at any cost. Now very interesting complications arise. bxc5 9.g5 e7 10.xe7 xe7 11.xg7 f8 12.f3 cxd4 13.e2 [ By playing 13.g5? a3! 14.e4 b7 15.f6+ e7 White achieves nothing on t h e k i n gs i d e , wh i l e h is q u e e n s i d e h a s already been destroyed. ] 13...f5! [ 13...f6 14.h6 ] 14.h6 g8 15.0-0 b7 [ 15...dxc3 16.e3 ] 16.cxd4 d5 It's not easy to evaluate this position correctly. Black's King is slightly exposed, on the other hand White's king is hardly safe, as Black has pressure on the gfile and the a8-h1 diagonal. So both players have chances in my opinion the position is balanced. 17.fd1 c6 18.e1 b8 19.ab1 b6 [ G r a b b i n g a p a w n i s s u i c i d e : 19...xb1 20.xb1 xa2 21.b7 d8 22.b5 ] 20.a4 d8 21.d2 a3 22.h6 e7 23.b5?! [ 23.d2 ] 23...g7 [ Maybe 23...b3 was even better: 24.d2 xa4 25.xb6 axb6 26.e3 b4 and in my opinion, white's compensation for the pawn is insufficient. ] 24.h3 e7 25.db1 c6 26.xb6 axb6 27.a5 d5 28.f3 g5 29.g3 c3 30.a1 e4 31.xh7 bxa5 32.b1?! Ever the optimist, GM Sveshnikov overestimates his chances. He should take a draw by playing [ 32.xa5 g7 33.h8+ g8 34.h7 with unavoidable repetition of moves. ] 32...c8 33.e2 b7 34.h3? This time trouble blunder loses at once, but Black is already better anyway. c3 35.xb7 xe2+ 36.f1 xb7 37.g2+ c6 38.xe2 g4+ 39.f3 e4+ 40.d2 d5 41.h1 a2+ 42.e3 b3+ 43.e2 b2+ 44.d3 a4 45.d1 a3 46.c2 b5+ 47.c3 a8 48.a2 d5 49.b1+ c7 50.d2 a2 0-1

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.c5 d5 5.c3 e6 6.d4 xc3 7.bxc3 b6! Black immediately undermines the W hite 440

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 does that? ] B02 I think Black is winning now, although Tavoularis,Nicholas 2196 20...c5 Cox,John J 2385 the finish was amusing. 21.e2 d7 22.b5 Gothenburg SWE 2005 d5 23.f3 gxf3 [ 23...c4 24.g5 cxb3 25.xd8 xd8 [John Cox] wins as well ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.c5 24.f2 h4 25.c4 xe5 26.f4 hxg3 I f i n d i t v e r y h a r d t o t a k e t h i s va r i a t i o n 27.xe5 [ 27.xg3 g5 was the point of Black's last, seriously. W hite can't do this to his ligh t threatening ...Rxh2 ] squares - can he? d5 5.c3 e6 6.c4 What one might call the pure Chase Variation - 27...gxf2+ 28.xf2 xe5 Black's five units to 6 d4 d6 leads to a c3 Sicilian and 6...b6 or 6... nil superiority around the enemy king ensures Nxc3 7 bxc3 b6 to positions similar to those a qu ick en d . 29.h1 dg8 30.a5 g2+ arising from that opening. xc3 7.dxc3 c6 31.f1 d8 A lightweight game, but what am I doing this for if not to show off my own small 8.f4 h4 [ 8...xc5 9.g4 g5 10.xg5 g8 a c h i e v e m e n t s , a n d a n y w a y i n r a t h e r a was once the main line and has been the depressing month for the defence it's nice to subject of a fair bit of analysis, albeit most show W hite getting mated in one game at of it awhile ago, but this has now taken over. least. It may even suggest to some readers a It leads to quite strange positions which way of meeting the Chase variation. are deceptive for White: he can easily think 0-1 he's got a great position only to fall on his face. ] 439 B02 9.g3 e7 10.f3 [ 10.b4 g5 11.e3 xe5 12.d4 Toothill,John is really the only way for White to play, in Davies,Nigel R m y v i e w, a lt h o u g h I d o n ' t f in d t h i s t o o 4NCL Birmingham 2001 terrifying for Black. The text leaves Black [Nigel Davies] comfortable. ] 10...b6 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c3 An old line [ 10...xc5 is certainly possible and favoured by Keres. White accepts some flaws computers indeed recommend it strongly, in his pawn structure but in return obtains free but I like the text. ] piece play. xc3 4.dxc3 d6 11.cxb6 axb6 12.0-0 h6 13.e2 g5 [ I ' m n o t s u r e I p a r t i c u l a r l y l i k e 4...d5 14.d2 g7 Black's pieces are remarkably , despite it's solid theoretical reputation. effective remarkably quickly. Having swapped After 5.f3 White's queen comes to g3 and h is d -p a wn in e f f e ct f o r B la ck's a -p a wn , makes life uncomfortable. A recent game W hite's structure is not too clever, and he Hector - Jessen, Copenhagen 2000 went g6 needs something to compensate for that. 6.d3 g7 7.g3 c5 8.f3 c6 15.b5 White is struggling to hold on to his gafter which I like 9.f4 (Hector castled short pawn b7 16.a4 g4 17.xc6 dxc6! at this point) c4 10.e2 f5 11.0-0-0 ] [ 17...xc6 18.d4 b7 wasn't nearly so 5.f3 c6 6.f4?! After this Black can clear. ] transpose into what is probably a favourable 18.d4 h5 endgame. [ 18...c5 19.xg4 xe5 20.b5 [ After the normal 6.b5 I was intending g6 was an alternative, and perhaps better. ] 7.f4 g7 but then 8.exd6 cxd6 9.d2 19.e4? f o l l o we d b y c a s t l i n g l o n g g i ve s W h i t e [ 19.f4 was pretty much essential, with an i n t e r e s t i n g p l a y. B l a c k ' s c e n t r a l p a wn unclear position. ] ma jo rit y will f in d it dif f icu lt t o a dva n c e 19...0-0-0 20.b3 whilst White's king will be well protected by [ 20.e2 might have been better, but who the doubled c3 pawn. It blocks both the c-file 438

441

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and the h8-a1 diagonal. ] 6...g6 [ In the light of experience I prefer 6...dxe5 7.xd8+ xd8 8.xe5 ( 8.xe5 f6 ) 8...c6 with the game L. Huebner - Baburin, Berlin 1992 having gone 9.0-0-0 f6 10.c7 g4 11.c4 e5 12.he1 e7 13.d2 e6 and now W hite sacrificed unsoundly with 14.xe5 ] 7.c4 g7 8.e2 [ A few White players have been tempted by 8.g5 not knowing that dxe5 9.xf7+ f8 10.f3 exf4 11.d1 xd1+ 12.xd1 h6 just wins for Black as in Payrhuber Ligterink, Stockholm (W orld Junior Ch.) 1969. ] 8...0-0 9.0-0-0 g4 [ According to my database this natural move is new. Previously Black had played odd moves such as 9...d7 and ] [ 9...e8 ] 10.e6 fxe6 11.xe6+ xe6 12.xe6+ h8 13.g5 c8 14.de1 xe6 15.xe6 f7 16.he1 h6!? An interesting pawn sacrifice. 17.d2 [ After 17.xe7 I i n t e n d e d g5 , leaving White's bishop stranded on e7. ] 17...g5 18.h4 g4 19.d4 [ I felt that 19.h2 e5 20.xh6 xh6+ 21.xh6+ g7 22.e6 h8 would have given Black more than enough compensation. ] 19...e5 20.f4 gxf3 21.xf3 xf3 22.gxf3 f6 23.xh6 xh4 24.h1 f6 25.xf6 [ The s pe cta cu la r 25.g7+ is refuted by xg7 26.xe7+ f8 27.xc7 h6 threatening ...Bg5+. ] 25...xf6 26.g1 g8 27.xg8+ xg8 28.d2 f7 29.b3 g6 30.e3 g5?! [ 30...a6 would have been better when Black still has some chances. ] 31.f4 h6 32.xa7 f5 33.d3 xf4 34.a4 e5 35.c4 e4+ 36.e2 Setting up a blockade. c5 37.b6 e5 38.a5 f5 39.e1 e6 40.f2 e5 41.e1 d5 42.cxd5+ xd5 43.c3 f6 ½-½

440 Vorotnikov,Vladislav V Kengis,Edvins Tallinn [Alexander Volzhin]

B02

1983

1.e4 f6 2.c3 This is not a very popular move. But as we shall see, black has to solve a lot of problems. d5 3.e5 e4 4.ce2! The knight on e4 is in danger! f6 [ The knight can retreat immediately: 4...c5 5.d4 e6 but I doubt whether it is well placed on e6. One example from recent practice: 6.f4 g6 7.f3 c5 8.c3 c4 9.g4! A pawn attack is typical in positions with a blocked center. g7 10.h3 h5 11.g1 hxg4 12.hxg4 d7 13.b3! c8 14.bxc4 dxc4 ( 14...xg4 15.d2! e6 16.g2 dxc4 17.b1 ) 15.f5! gxf5 16.g5! a6 17.g6 fxg6 18.f4 and black has a hopeless position, Tseitlin - Bredemeier, 1995. ] 5.d3 g5 6.xg5! White gives up his Bishop, but gets strong pressure on the h-file. fxg5 7.h4! gxh4 8.f4 g6 The sole defence a g a i n s t 9 . Q h 5 9.xh4 g7 10.d4 c5 11.d3 a5+ 12.f1! cxd4 13.xh7 xh7 14.xg6+ d8 15.xh7 xe5 16.f3 c6 [ 16...xf4 17.xf4 c6 18.f3 c7 19.f8+ d7 20.e1 d6 21.d3 a6 22.e6 led to a big advantage for White in Polovodin- Palatnik, USSR, 1978 ] 17.xd5 e6 18.f8+ d7 19.xa8 b5+ 20.d3 xb2 21.b6+! [ 21.e1 xd5 22.f8 is only slightly better for White. ] 21...xb6 22.f3 b8 23.c3! The point. R b 1 i s a n u n p l e a s a n t t h r e a t . dxc3! The queen sacrifice is the only chance for black. 24.b1 xb1+ 25.xb1 Has anybody seen such a position? Black has only one minor piece for the queen, nevertheless the fight is still ahead! c7 26.e4? It's difficult to believe, but after this move it is White who has to fight for equality! Nevertheless... [ 26.e1 should be played, although there are some tricks, for example d5 27.g5?! ( 27.d1! is correct) 27...a5 28.e4 c2! 29.d2 c4+ 30.xc2 b6 leads only to a draw ] 26...d5!! 27.h7 442

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Of course, the bishop is taboo: 27.xd5 c2 28.xb7+ xb7 29.xc6+ b6! and Black wins! ] 27...e6 28.g5 b4? It's a pity, this move spoils a fantastic game! [ After the correct 28...a5! 29.e2 c4 30.g4 b6 31.xb8+ xb8 black is better, although in my opinion a draw is the most likely outcome. ] 29.e2 b5 30.xe6+! Probably E. Kengis missed this blow. c8 31.xd5 xd5 32.f5 d7? [ 32...b7 still led to a draw 33.e4 c6 34.d4+ c5 and White can't take the pawn: 35.xb5? c2 36.d2 b4 ] 33.d4+ d6 34.xb5+ c5 35.a3 b4 36.b1! d6 37.g3 a6 38.f4 c7 39.f3 d4 40.c2+ xc2 41.xc2 The endgame is easily won: White wins a bishop for the g-& h-pawns, and wins the game, as a8 is the same colour as W hite's Bishop. So Black resigned. This is one the of most fantastic games I've ever seen. 1-0

441 Zaichik,Gennadi Dreev,Alexey Lvov [Nigel Davies]

B02

1987

2...d5 may be the move which is most in the spirit of the Alekhine, but it gives White a lot of space on the kingside. As someone who has played 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.Nf3 e4 as Black, this is something I'd like to play for White. 1.e4 f6 2.d3 d5 3.e5 [ 3.d2 c5 4.gf3 c6 5.g3 e5 does not give W hite much hope of an a d va n t a ge . ( 5...g6 and; 5...e6 are both main lines of the King's Indian Attack )] 3...fd7 4.f4 e6 [ 4...c5 5.f3 c6 6.g3 ( 6.c3 b6 7.h3 f6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 f5 10.c3 e6 11.e2 fxe5 12.fxe5 Efimov - Bagirov, Sevastopol 1986) 6...b6 7.g2 g4 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 e6 10.c3 c7 11.0-0 0-0-0 12.a3 was quite promising for White in Strikovic - Laketic, Yugoslav Team ch 1997 ] 5.f3 c5 6.g3 c6 7.g2 e7 8.0-0 0-0

9.c4 Setting up a favourable pawn structure in which Black is denied space in either the centre or the queenside. b6 10.b3 f5 11.c3 d4 12.e2 d7?! The start of an o d d -l o o k in g m a n o e u vr e b y B l a c k . I n m y opinion he should try to do something about his badly placed knight on b6. 13.h3 e8 14.g4 g6 15.g3 h4 16.gxf5 xf5 17.xf5 xf5 18.xh4 xh4 19.g4! Effectively a winning move. White is better on both flanks and his bishops exert tremendous pressure. e7 20.e4 f7 21.d2 af8 22.a3 d7 23.g2 b8 24.b4! h8 25.f5 c8 26.fxe6 xe6 27.xf7 xf7 28.f1 e7 29.e6 1-0

442 Adams,Michael Santo Roman,Marc TCh-Nat1 Final (9) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2731 2403 09.05.2004

EFFORTLESS 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 It is hard criticize Black's choice at this early stage although recent results have been very bad with 5... cxd6. the precise problem is the Voronezh variation, which Adams is about to use. The top players bore in on any weakness remorselessly. That is why at the very top we are reduced to a boring diet of Sveshnikov's, Najdorf's, the occasional Caro-Kann and 1... e5. Anything else in this ChessBase era is considered inferior. Sometimes I am gad that I am not on that level-I can still enjoy chess! 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0! 9.b3 The essence of White's plan is contained in this simple move. The Knight on b6 is rendered ineffectual and the time Black uses to regroup it will be more usefully spent by White. It's hard to believe that Black can be that much worse with W hite's kingside development so retarded but no good way of opening up the game has been found just yet at least, not at Adams' level. e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.f3 c6 14.c4 All well-known. White has a use f ul que e n sid e p a wn m a jo rity a nd t h e easier development. He is solidly better. h6 443

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Preventing Ng5 and perhaps the first step in the mobilization of Black's own majority. It takes ages though. [ 14...a5 should have been successful in th e f o llo win g ga m e b u t a s yo u will se e White played poorly: A) 15.g5! I'm sure this was Adams' intention. A1) 15...e8 16.b5! ( 16.d5 e4 17.c7 exf3+ 18.xe8 fxg2 19.g1 b2! 20.c2 xc4 21.bxc4 xc5 22.c7 b8 23.d5 h3 24.e3 ) 16...e4; A2) 15...f8 16.b5 h6 17.e7 e8 18.d5; B) 15.d5?! f6 16.g5 f5 17.xf6 xf6 18.0-0 ac8 19.e4 e6? ( He didn't calculate too well: 19...xc5! 20.xf5 gxf5 21.b4 c6 22.bxa5 e4 ) 20.b4 c6 Bujisho, B-Santo Roman, M/ Belfort FRA 2004. ] 15.e4 e8 16.0-0 e7 17.d6 f8 18.xc8 Preferring the simple gain of the two Bishops. If Adams can see a clear line he will go for it. [ Yet 18.fd1 also looks good simple centralization. a6 19.xc8 xc8 20.f1 h7 21.d2 f5 22.f3 e6 23.xe6 xe6 24.c4 Cherniaev, A-Hugentobler, P/ Silvaplana 2003. ] 18...xc8 19.d2 Heading for d6 perhaps? a5 20.b4 xc4 21.xc4 e6 22.fd1 White owns a nagging, small edge. He aims to push his c-pawn at the right moment. Black must stand tough, occupy d4 and hope to make a draw. d4 23.f1 d8 24.d2 ed7 25.cd1 f5 26.f4! Undermining the Knight. exf4 27.xf4 g5 [ 27...h7 28.e5! ] 28.e5! It is incredible how this simple move completely blows the Black position away. By simply removing the foundation of Black's Knight, Adams achieves a winning position. xe5 29.xe5 d5 30.c4 5d7 31.f2 Ne3-c2 or Na5-b3 cannot be stopped. 1-0

443 Adams,Philip Crocker,Philip J Greater Cup Final [Nigel Davies]

B03

27.06.2002

If nothing else, I hope my efforts on this site have resulted in Alekhine players learning that the have to recapture with the e-pawn against the exchange variation. Here's another example of Black's sufferings against the Voronezh. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.f3 c6 14.c4 h6 15.0-0 [ After the game Adams felt that 15.e4!? may have been more accurate. ] 15...f8 16.e4 e6 17.d6 d7? [ 17...ab8 is better. Now Black gets into a real tangle. ] 18.b5 b8? [ After 18...d5 Adams intended 19.fd1!? after which xf3 20.gxf3 leaves Black very tied up and under massive pressure. ] 19.xb7! dxb7 [ 19...d5 20.xc6 xc6 21.a5 also leaves White a good pawn up. ] 20.xc6 c7 21.a4 f5 22.c6 d8 23.fd1 xd1+ 24.xd1 f7 25.d8 h7 26.xe5 [ 26.a8 was a good alternative. ] 26...xe5 [ Or 26...e6 27.xf7 etc. ] 27.xf8 e7 28.c5 c7 29.a8 g7 30.xa7 xa7 31.xa7 c7 32.g3 f6 33.d4+ e7 34.g7 h5 35.h6 d5 36.g5+ e6 37.f1 f3 38.e1 a5+ 39.d2 c7 40.b4 d5 41.e3 c4 42.d2 h4 43.a3 d5 44.f4 hxg3 45.fxg3 xf4 46.gxf4 d6 47.f2 1-0

444 Amin,B Giri,A Reykjavik Open 2013 (8.3) [Tom Rendle]

B03 2631 2722 25.02.2013

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.b3 dxe5 444

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ I analysed 5...d5 6.f3 e6 last year in Ibarra Jerez-Asis Gargatagli. ] [ 5...f5 was analysed in Conquest-Baburin but I'll add in some recent developments here: A) 6.e6!? is well worth a look here xe6 ( 6...fxe6 7.c3 c6 8.f3 is awkward for Black ) 7.xe6 fxe6 8.f3 c6 9.0-0 g6 ( 9...c8 10.e1 d8 11.g5 g6 12.d3 e5 13.dxe5 f5 14.b3 and White was on top in Totsky, L (2498) Dubois, J (2280) Cappelle La Grande 2008 ) 10.g5 d7 11.e1 A1) 11...e5 is probably best and Black is defending adequately after 12.dxe5 ( or 12.d5 d4 13.c3 f5 ) 12...xe5 13.f4 f7 14.xf7 ( 14.e6 d8 ) 14...xf7; A2) 11...d8 12.d3 ( 12.a4 putting pressure on another part of the board looks promising here) 12...h6 13.c3 xg5 14.xg5 and White had enough compensation for the pawn, but no more in Nun, J (2380)-Konopka, M (2433) Zdar nad Sazavou 2008; B) 6.f3 c8 7.e2 c6 8.exd6 ( 8.g3 got White nowhere in the Conquest-Baburin game after g6 ) 8...cxd6 9.c3 e6 10.0-0 a5 11.g3 xb3 12.axb3 g6 13.c4 was about equal in Yankovsky, R (2314)-Ivanov, M (2090) St P e t e r s b u r g 2 0 0 9 ( perhaps White should try 13.h4!? h5 14.c4 when it's a bit harder for Black to get his king safe. )] 6.h5 e6 [ 6...g6 looks wrong and indeed White is d o i n g w e l l a f t e r 7.xe5 f6 8.e2! as it's too risky for Black to grab the pawn as after xd4 9.f3 d6 10.c3 White is too far ahead in development. ] 7.dxe5 c5 [ 7...a5 is a major alternative and now 8.a4 a6 ( 8...d7 9.f3 c6 10.0-0 g6 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 c6 and now in Skytte, R (2399)-Sulskis, S (2568) Borup 2009 W hite could've kept an edge wit h 13.c3! g7 14.f4 ) 9.c3 c5 10.a2 d7 11.f3 bxa4 12.g5 e7 13.xa4 xa4 14.d1 d7 15.e3 and White has a dangerous initiative in return for a pawn in Rogulj, B (2430)-Fahrner, K (2378) Gleisdorf

2012 ] 8.c3 [ 8.a3!? hasn't been played but it deserves a l o o k . B l a c k ' s b e s t i s p r o b a b l y c7 t h re a t e n in g c4 a n d a f t e r 9.e2 e7 the position is equal ] 8...d3! Improving on the ThorhallssonMamedyarov game below. [ 8...c6 9.e2 g5 10.c2 d7 11.d2 e7 12.e4 and White was much better in Thorhallsson, T (2455)-Mamedyarov, S (2709) Reykjavik 2006 ] 9.f3 [ 9.a3 e4+ A) 10.e3 is interesting and sets something of a trap but if Black is careful he's doing well here xg2?! ( 10...c4! is a much safer way to play the position with this included Black should be able to g r a b t h e p a w n , e . g . 11.d1 xa3 12.bxa3 xg2 13.f3 g6 and Black is d o i n g w e l l) 11.0-0-0 xh1 12.f3! ( instead 12.g5?? d7 13.xe6 g6 14.b5 c6 and Black was winning in Yurtseven, M (2088) -Bawart, M (2417) Rogaska Slatina 2011) 12...g2 13.b5 and White is doing well - if Black tries to hang on to all of the extra material he gets into trouble after a6 14.g5 g6 15.h4 d5 16.xf7! xf7?! ( 16...e7 17.bd6+ d7 18.a4+ c7 19.xh8 and W hite has regained the rook with a strong attack) 17.xd5 exd5 18.f6+ e8 ( or 18...g8 19.d6 xd6 20.h6! and Black has to give up his queen to avoid mate. ) 19.e6 and White is winning; B) 10.e2 d7 ( 10...c4 again seems to be the way to handle the position - Black is f i n e a f t e r 11.f3 d5 12.c2 xa3 13.bxa3 8d7 14.f4 c5 ) 11.c2 xg2 12.g1 d5 13.f4 c6 14.h3 and White had a dangerous initiative for the pawn. c7 15.f4 d5 16.c4 xf4 17.xf4 c6 18.xg7 xg7 19.d6+ d8 20.g5+ e7 21.xg7 g8 22.xf7 g1+ 23.d2 g8 24.g1 h8 25.g7 e8 1-0 Phadke, S (2245)Minhazuddin, A (2419) Chennai 2011 ] [ 9.f3! is critical here but it's understandable that W hite wanted to remove the queen from d3 immediately. Still, 445

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the position seems about equal here after d7 10.a3 c6 11.c2 xf3! 12.gxf3 a6 13.f4 and White's bad pawn structure is counter-balanced by chances for play on the kingside. If I had to choose I would rather be White here. ] 9...xf3 [ 9...c4! seems more accurate here - Black has slightly the easier game after 10.xd3 ( or 10.d1 8d7 11.f4?! c5 and Black is clearly better) 10...cxd3 11.f3 d7 ( or 11...c6 12.e3 d7 ) 12.0-0 c6 13.d1 xf3 14.gxf3 c6 15.f4 0-0-0 and it's not easy for White to round up the pawn on d3, meanwhile Black can consider a ...g5 break on the kingside. ] 10.xf3 d7 11.f4 a5 12.a3 c6 13.0-0-0 a6 A roughly level middlegame has been reached and we enter a period of manoeuvring. 14.d2 a4 [ Giri rightly rejects the pawn grab 14...xg2?! as after 15.ac4 xc4 16.a4+! c6 17.xc6+ bxc6 18.xc4 Black's queenside pawns are in such a mess that it's White that should be looking to win this endgame. ] 15.c2 d5 16.g3 h5 17.h4 g6?! [ 17...b5! was a better option, both gaining space on the queenside and preventing the knight on a3 entering the game via c4. If 18.c4 then bxc4 19.axc4 db4 20.b1 xg2 21.hg1 d5 ] 18.e4 h6+ 19.b1 e7 20.c4 ac7 21.xc5 Amin has won a pawn but the position remains murky and Giri does his best to increase the complications a3! 22.d6 axb2 23.xb2 b6 24.b3 [ 24.f3 allows cd5 and with the knight coming into e3 Black has excellent play here. ] [ 24.e4 is one way to try and hang on to the e xt ra pa wn b ut Black ca n get goo d counterplay with a4+! 25.xa4 xa4 ] 24...xg2 25.hg1 d5 26.c4 c6 27.d4 ad8 28.gd1 Black may have regained the pawn but White has complete control over the centre and b7 is weak. g7 [ 28...b8 leaves Black very passive but th ere 's n o c lea r way th ro u gh f o r W hit e here. ] 29.dxb7 xd4 30.xd4 xb7 31.xb7

d7 32.f4 f6 33.a5! c5 34.c6+ f7 35.c2 White has done a lot of the hard work here and is a safe pawn up but Black hangs in there and makes it very tough from here. a8 36.d8+ e7 37.c6+ f7 38.f2 7a6 39.d8?! [ 39.c3 c8 ( 39...f5 40.a4 ) 40.exf6! was the way to play it - after xf6 41.e5+ g7 42.d6 the win should not be too difficult. ] 39...xd8 40.xd8+ e8 41.c6 g5?! [ 41...f5! and it's not so easy for White to breakthrough here as there's no way for his king to enter the Black camp and h4 always going to be vulnerable. ] 42.hxg5 fxg5 43.fxg5 h4 44.xh4 It should be winning again here but I guess time-trouble caused problems at this point! d7 45.g6 A nice idea but it's unnecessarily complicated [ 45.d4 xe5 46.c3 b8 47.f2 c6 48.g6 should be winning, although the pin on d4 makes it very tricky. ] 45...xc6 46.f6 h6 47.g7 xg7 48.xg7 b4 49.g6 b6 50.a3 c6 51.c3 a4+ 52.c2? [ 52.b3 should be winning after c5+ 53.c2 a4 54.e8 ] 52...c5 Now Black has setup a blockade that ca n 't b e b ro ke n 53.d3 b2+ 54.e4 xc4 55.f8+ b6 56.d6 xd6+ 57.exd6 c5 58.d7 d6 59.e8 c7 60.a4 An interesting game. Bc4 & Qh5 definitely cause problems but Black managed to equalised here before going wrong and having to pull off a good save for the draw. ½-½

445 Andresen,Tarald Gilmore,Alan NAtlantic tt4 B08 corr9599 [John Watson]

B03

20.12.1995

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.exf6 xf6 13.d2 e7 14.ad1 ad8 15.c1 e5 16.d5 d4 17.xd4 [ The alternative to 17.xd4 , which we saw 446

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 in Moser-Baburin. ] 17...exd4 18.xd4 c8! I think that this is best, maintaining the indirect pressure on d4 (...c6 and ...c5 may follow) and since the variations work out well, I'll skip over 18...Bd7. 19.d2 Black threatens 19...c5 with threats that will win back material, so White should protect e2. [ 19.h1 c5! will win some material back. ] 19...c6 [ This looks better than 19...e5 20.xf8+ xf8 21.g3 , for example, c6 22.dxc6 bxc6 23.e4! but there are holes in White's position that limit his advantage. ] [ Now 19...c5?! 20.f3 lets White consolidate. ] 20.b3 Taking the knight away from defence of the kingside indicates that Black should be doing well enough. A more natural course would be [ 20.h1 , for example, h8 ( 20...cxd5 21.cxd5 e5 22.e3! ) 21.f3 xc3 22.d6 . Still, e6 23.bxc3 xc4 24.xc4 xc4 25.fe1 e6 is not clear. One problem for Black is that W hite has all the chances in such a position. ] 20...xc3?! [ 20...e5! would be more pointed, th re at en in g .. .Q h4 . T he n W h it e sh ou ld probably bail out and play 21.xf8+ ( 21.g3 cxd5 22.cxd5 h3 23.xf8+ xf8 24.d6!? xd6! 25.xd6 f1+! 26.xf1 e3+ 27.h1 f3+= ) 21...xf8 22.f1 h4 23.xf8+ xf8 24.g3 xg3 25.hxg3 xg3+ 26.h1 h3+ , with a draw. ] 21.xf8+ xf8 22.bxc3 cxd5 23.f1+ g8 24.cxd5 c7 25.f3! This gives up the c4 square, but preserving the d-pawn is more important. e5?! [ White maintains the advantage, albeit a less drastic one, after 25...e6 26.e3 f7 ( 26...xd5? 27.xd5+ xd5 28.e6+ h8 29.xd5 ) 27.d1 ] 26.e1 d6 27.d4 Threatening c4-c5. a3? 28.c5 xa2 29.d6 f7 30.e7 [ Resignation is premature, yet a variation like 30.e7 f6 31.xf6 gxf6 32.e4! w i l l w i n i n t h e e n d , f o r e x a m p l e , d5 33.h5! f5 34.f7+ f8 35.xd5 fxe4 36.xe4 xd6 37.xh7 and White will pick

up another pawn. ] 1-0

446 Andrews,Todd D Schmidt,L R USCL 2007 ICC INT (3) [John Watson]

B03 2298 2340 12.09.2007

The Voronezh again. Black is probably theoretically okay, but for some reason he often ends up on the worse side of things. I'll cut-and-paste in some earlier notes to put the theory in one place, with a few new ideas. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.exd6 cxd6 5.c4 b6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.f3 c6 14.c4 h6 This was see n in the game Luther-Pajeken, Dresden 2007 that we analysed two months back. [ The recent game Paschall-Bogdan, Arad ROM 2007 went 14...b6? 15.g5 f8 A) 16.ce4 A1) 16...h6 17.xf7 xf7 18.d6 d8 19.cxb6 ( 19.d5 b8 20.c6 ); A2) 16...xc5 17.xc5 bxc5 18.d5 b7 19.xc5 h6 20.xf8 xg5 21.c4!+-; B) 16.ce4 DRAW?? It looks as though White is winning material, and winning the game outright, for example, ] [ 14...a5 may be the safest move, when 15.b5 was Hanley-Summerscale, London 2007. ( We've seen 15.e2 b6! is probably what Bogdan was thinking about; 15.g5 f8 16.e7 xc4! 17.xf8 xf8 18.bxc4 xc5 19.0-0 e4 "with ample compensation", Honfi - Varga, 1994.) 15...f8 ( A big point to look for improvements. 15...a6 16.e2 c6 17.d1 d4 18.xd4! exd4 19.xd4! xd4 20.xd4 and Ne4 will follow, with more th an e nou gh compe nsat ion .; 15...c6!? dares White to play something b e t t e r t h a n 1 6 B c 4 wi t h a r e p e t i t io n . I believe this is analysed in the Forum, but because the ChessPublishing site is down just now, I'll have to verify that and check it out for next time!) 16.0-0 or 16 Ne4 and White had some advantage. ] 447

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.e4 [ In the Luther game, White was better after 15.0-0 d4?! ( but 15...f8! should hold the balance. )] 15...a5 [ 15...d4? 16.d6 xf3+ 17.gxf3 f8 18.g1! threatens Rxg6 and wins material or better. ] [ 15...f8!? 16.d6 e6 ( 16...e6 17.xb7 db8 18.d6 b4 19.a3! xc4 20.axb4 ) 17.0-0 and White plans Rfd1 with a bind. But this is playable for the second player. ] 16.e2 [ 16.b5 would resemble the idea above and c6 may be the best reply. Otherwise it's hard for Black to get his pieces out. ] 16...f5 [ 16...c6 is a little depressing and yet solid enough. Then 17.d6 f5!? 18.c4+ h7 is a logical way to reorganise. ] 17.d6 f8 18.0-0 c6 19.g3 Versus ...f4. f6 [ 19...e4 20.h4 de5! is unclear. ] 20.c4+ g7? [ 20...h7 21.f7 e8 is nothing special. ] 21.f7 f4 [ Obviously not 21...e8 22.xh6+ ] 22.xd8 [ Another idea is 22.gxf4 exf4 23.xf4 , but the tricky d5! holds for a while. ] 22...fxe3 23.xc6 exf2+ 24.xf2 bxc6 25.b4 a5 26.xe5 [ 26.a3 is simple and strong. Black would ha ve a pa wn f o r t h e e xch a nge , b u t h is position is too loose. ] 26...axb4 27.b3 a5 28.xc6?! [ 28.fc2 protects the c-pawn, and if e4 , 29.xc6 xc5 ( 29...xc5+ 30.g2 b5 31.a4! ) 30.xb4 leaves Black no resource. ] 28...xc5 29.fc2 xc2 30.xc2 f5 31.c1 e4 Now it's not so easy for White. 32.f1 c5!? 33.d4 [ 33.d5 ] 33...h3+ 34.e2 g4+ 35.e3 e7 36.h4 [ 36.f3 is a good option. Time pressure was likely a factor. ] 36...g5 37.h5 d6 38.d5! d7 39.f1? [ 39.f3 would consolidate Black has nothing special for the exchange. ]

39...f6 40.e6 xe6 41.xe6+ f7 42.d8+ g7 Now White's kingside pawns are h an gin g. 43.c6 xh5 44.g4 f6 45.f3 h5! 46.gxh5 xh5 [ 46...g4+ is more natural. Then 47.g2 xh5 48.b1 f6 49.xb4 f4+ gives Black a lot of play. ] 47.g4? [ 47.b1 ] 47...g6 48.b1? [ 48.d1 ] 48...f6+ 49.f3 g4+ 50.g2 d5 51.f2 f5 [ 51...c3 and Black might decide to play for a win! ] 52.d4+ e4 53.c2 g3+ [ 53...c3! 54.e1+ f4 ] 54.g2 d3 55.d1+ xc2 56.xd5 f4 [ 56...b3 57.axb3 b4 secures the draw, but Black is trying to avoid R v B. In what follows, nothing happens. ] 57.d4 d2 58.xg3 c3 59.e4 b2 60.e2+ a3 61.f3 b2 62.e3 xa2 63.d3 b3 64.e1 c3 65.b1+ b2 66.d2 a2 67.h1 b3 68.h3+ c3+ 69.c1 c4 70.c2 b3+ 71.c1 e5 72.f3 c3 73.b1 e5 74.e3 c3 75.e8 d4 76.c1 c3 77.c8+ d3 78.b1 e5 79.c5 d4 80.b5 c4 81.b7 e5 82.c1 c3 83.d1 e5 84.d2 c3+ 85.e3 d4+ 86.e4 c5 87.xb3 xb3 ½-½

447 Arencibia Rodriguez,W Panjwani,R 50th Canadian Open 2013 (4) [Tom Rendle]

B03 2526 2409 15.07.2013

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 f5!? An unusual choice from the young Canadian IM, avoiding the mass of theory that occurs after 9...e5 (and to a lesser ext en t 9 . . .Nc6) which a re b ot h an a lys e d extensively in the archives. 10.f3 [ 10.e2 is a logical alternative if White d o e sn 't wa n t a l lo w B la c k t h e o p t io n o f pinn in g his kn ight o n f 3 a nd given t ha t 448

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White fails to get an advantage in the game perhaps this is White's best. c6 11.d5 ( 11.f3 d5 12.c5 c8 13.0-0 transposes back to the game ) A) 11...b4 and now White can be slightly better in a couple of ways: 12.d2 ( 12.a3! seems to lead to a very pleasant position for White after a6 13.f3 c5 14.d4 d7 15.0-0 and White is ready to play b4 with control of the centre and the q u e e n s i d e .) 12...e5 13.dxe6 xe6 14.f3 c6 15.d4 d5 16.c5 c8 17.0-0 and White was a little better in Pit ch e r, J (2 2 0 5)-P ola cze k, R (23 7 7 ) Hinkley Island 2012 although Black later went on to win.; B) 11...e5 is Black's best option although I still like White's position after 12.f4 ( 12.g4!? c8 13.f4 ed7 14.f3 isn't completely ridiculous but then again there's no real reason why White should weaken his kingside like this.) 12...ed7 13.f3 c5 14.0-0 bd7 15.d4 f6?! ( 15...e4! 16.xe4 xe4 17.f3 xf3 18.xf3 a6 and Black is only slightly worse. ) 16.xf5 gxf5 17.c2 d7 18.f3 fc8 19.b4! a6 20.b3 and White was clearly better in Gavrilov, A (2496)-Chetverik, M (2272) St Petersburg 2012 ] 10...d5 [ 10...g4 is played more often here. Black may have 'wasted' a tempo but White does not normally allow his knight to get pinned in this line so I guess it's a fair swap! 11.e2 e6 12.d5?! This has been played a couple of times but it seems to be a mistake ( 12.h3 seems logical here, forcing Black to take on f 3 but af te r xf3 13.xf3 c6 14.0-0 W hite is now threatening to play d5 and after d5 15.cxd5 exd5 16.e1 White has a very pleasant position. The plan is something like Qd2, Ne2 and then Bf4 or Bh6 to swap of Black's bishop on g7. ) A) 12...exd5! 13.cxd5 ( or 13.xd5 c6 14.0-0 xd5 15.cxd5 e7 ) 13...8d7 14.0-0 c8 and Black has equalised, for example 15.d4 xf3! 16.xf3 h4 17.xg7 xg7 and Black has absolutely no problems here.; B) 12...e5?! 13.0-0 xf3 14.xf3 a6

15.e2 f5 16.f3 c8 17.a3 f6 18.f2 h4 19.g3 g5 20.c2 c7 21.b4 and White's play on the queenside gave him a definite edge in Baklan, V (2647) Nakamura, H (2670) Marseille 2008 ] 11.c5 c8 [ 11...6d7 hasn't been played here but it's not completely silly, although after 12.xd5 c6 13.c4 e4 14.0-0 xf3 White can give the pawn back with a good position after 15.xf3! e6 16.c3 xd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.fd1 xc3 ( 18...xc5? 19.xb7 l o s e s a p i e c e) 19.xc3 c7 20.b4 and White can play for a win at no risk. ] 12.e2 c6 13.0-0 g4! This definitely Black's best option and it's not at all clear how White gets an advantage in this position. [ 13...e6 14.h3! leaves the bishop on f5 rather short on squares and White is at least a little better after h5 15.d2 ] 14.b4! Other moves get White nothing [ 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 e6 and Black will be fine after ...N8e7 and ...Nf5 ] [ 14.e5!? is tricky but ultimately Black equalises after xe2! 15.xc6 ( 15.xe2 e6 ) 15...bxc6 16.xe2 e6 17.d3 e7 ] 14...a6 15.e5 After this I'm sure Black is fine but other moves do not promise White much either [ 15.b1 e6 16.a4 xf3 ( 16...8e7! also seems to be fine here, for example 17.b5 axb5 18.axb5 a5 19.d2 xe2 20.xe2 f5 and I see no reason why Black should be worse here, especially with ...e5 coming in the near future.) 17.xf3 8e7 18.b5 A) 18...axb5 19.axb5 a5 20.e2 f5 21.d2 e5 22.a4?! and now in Hou Yifan (2578)-Le Kieu Thien Kim (2291) Beijing 2008 Black missed a big chance to play ( 22.g5 f6 23.e3 is about equal) 22...c4! 23.xc4 dxc4 24.g5 c3! 25.c1 ( or 25.xc3 f6 and White loses h is b ish o p) 25...xd4 26.xc3 xc5 and Black has a safe extra pawn; B) 18...a5 19.g5 h6 20.xe7 xe7 21.d3 fd8 and Black had at least equalised in Narayanan, S (2229) Nakamura, H (2651) Catalan Bay 2007 ] [ 15.a4 is my computer's suggestion, with the possible threat of b5 and indeed White 449

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 may keep a minimal edge here after a7! 16.fd1 e6 17.e1 xe2 18.xe2 8e7 a l t h o u gh t h i s p o si t i o n c a n h a r d l y b e a massive headache for Black who keeps a very solid position and still has the potential to play ...e5 later on. ] 15...xe2 16.xc6 [ 16.xe2 xe5 17.dxe5 e6 18.f4 d7 and Black's protected pawn on d5 means he shouldn't be worse here although perhaps White can try 19.d2 with Ne2-d4 with the slightly easier position. ] 16...bxc6 17.xe2 e5! This break frees Black's position and comfortably equalises. 18.d2 [ 18.dxe5 xe5 19.h6?! fails to xh2+ ( 19...e8 20.g4 e7 is also better for Black ) 20.xh2 h4+ ] 18...e7 19.dxe5 xe5 20.d4?! [ 20.e2 was needed to hold the balance with the position looking very equal after f5 21.f4 xf4 22.xf4 ] 20...xd4 21.xd4 f5 22.d3 h4 Suddenly W hite has to be careful here as Black's pieces are clearly the more active. 23.a3 fe8 24.fe1 d4! 25.xe8+ xe8 26.xd4 xd4 27.f1 b5?! A rather negative move which quickly brings about a peaceful end to the proceedings. [ 27...g7 allows Black to slowly improve his po sit io n a n d pre ss in th e e nd gam e . O f course White should hold the draw here but it's still a little uncomfortable, for example A) 28.d1 c2 29.e2! is probably W h i t e ' s b e s t b u t e v e n h e r e e4! leaves Black better ( 29...xa3?! 30.d4 c8 31.a1= ); B) 28.g3 g5! 29.h3 h5 30.d1 f3 and Black is gaining control of the kingside ] 28.a4 xc3 29.xc3 e4 30.b5! axb5 31.axb5 cxb5 32.c6 e8 33.c5 b4 34.xd5 c8 35.b5 xc6 36.xb4 9...Bf5 is definitely worth a look for Black players wishing to avoid too much theory. ½-½

448 Aroshidze,Levan Chigladze,Iveri European GP Izmir (9) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2390 2250 2003

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 Still dangerous after all these years. exd6 [ 5...cxd6 is currently experiencing a crisis of confidence in the positions after 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 ] 6.c3 e7 7.d3!? A slightly offbeat system which nevertheless seems very dangerous. Black has to play very exactly. Development is simple enough for White. He intends Nge2 and b2-b3, hoping to deny Black's Bishop on c8 a sensible square. If Black is then reduced to ... Bg4xe2, the two Bishops should then give White an enduring edge. 0-0 [ 7...c6 with the Bishop on d3, an early ... Nc6 b e co m e s m u ch m o re a cce p t a b le : 8.e3 A) 8...0-0 9.b3 f6 10.ge2 g4 11.f3 h5 12.0-0 e8 13.f2 b4 14.b1 a5 15.a3 a6 16.d3 c6 17.c1 d5 Much bette r timing by Black, who developed first before taking concrete action. But I still think White has an edge: 18.c5! d7 19.g3 ( 19.f4! g6 20.xg6 hxg6 21.e1 is correct, I think, with a typical position for this variation. Black has sniping chances against the W hite pawn structure, but with the two Bishops, stability and the plan of Rb1, b3b4 etc, White has any advantage that is going. ) 19...g6 20.f5 xf5 21.xf5 g6 22.xd7 xd7 23.a4 f5 24.b6 ad8 25.e1 c7 26.d2 e6 27.cd1 h5 28.xa5 e7 29.d2 de8 30.d3 g5 31.h4 f4 32.g3 c7 33.f4 g7 34.xe7 xe7 35.e1 xe1+ 36.xe1 xe1+ 37.g2 f5 38.d7 xd4 39.d2 e3 40.a5 xg3+ 41.h2 xb3 42.d8+ h7 43.e8 h6 44.e7 g7 45.b6 d4 46.xb7 d3 47.xc6 d2 48.d7 0-1 Pueyo Burell, DPeralta, F/V Open, Sants ESP 2003; B) 8...d5?! But not this way! 9.c5 c4 10.xc4 dxc4 11.a4 0-0 12.xc4 That was simple enough. W hite tucks 450

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 away the pawn and goes on to win easily: g5 13.f3 xe3 14.fxe3 e7 15.e4 b5 16.xb5 e6 17.d5 g6 18.0-0 e7 19.c6 g4 20.c5 c8 21.e5 g5 22.xg4 xg4 23.f2 1-0 Pilgaard, K-Szieberth, A/FSGM September, Budapest HUN 2003 ] 8.ge2 c6 9.b3! One of the main ideas is to reinf orce c4. 'A knight on b6 is always badly placed' said Tarrasch. He would have been pleased with 9 b3! g4 One struggles to find a better placement. 10.e3 [ 10.f3? is less exact. h4+ ] 10...e8 11.d2 f6 12.0-0 d5 [ 12...xe2 13.xe2 a5 14.ad1 d5 15.c5 d7 16.a3! f8 17.b4 axb4 18.axb4 e6! This is probably the way to go. White has an optical edge but as long as Black keeps gnawing away at the White pawns he should keep the balance. 19.f5 ( As 19.b5 cxd4 20.xd4 xd4 21.xd4 xd4 22.xh7+ xh7 23.xd4 c6 is roughly equal, White plays for more.; 19.b2 a4!? 20.xh7+! h8! 21.b1 xb4 22.a3 ) 19...g6 20.xe6 xe6 21.a1 e7 A) 22.f4 ea6 ( 22...xa1 23.xa1 a6 24.b1 f5 25.b5 a4 26.e2 ) 23.xa6 xa6 24.b5; B) 22.g3 ea6 23.xa6 xa6 24.g5 xg5 25.xg5 c6 26.f4? Losing the plot. ( 26.d2 a4 27.b1 f6 28.e2= ) 26...a4 27.b1 xb4 28.xb4 xb4 29.h4 h5 30.f1 c6 31.d2 e7 32.f3 d3 33.d2 e4 34.a2 g7 35.d2 f4 36.b4 f5 37.e5 e4 38.f3 e2 39.d2 xd2 40.xd2 e2+ 0-1 Real de Azua, ES z m e t a n , J / L X XV I I ch - A R G , T r e s d e Febrero ARG 2003 ] [ 12...b4 13.b1 d5 14.c5 ] 13.c5 c8 14.h3 e6 15.f4! If Black were left alone, he could get on with ...g6, ...Bg7, ... N8e7-f5 and some slow counterplay, but a rapid advance of the Kingside pawns exposes just how passive Black's position is. 8e7 16.g4 g6 [ 16...h4 17.f5 d7 18.f6 ] 17.f5 gxf5 18.g5! Excellent, stripping out the d ef en ders . g6 There is really nothing else. Black is lost already: [ 18...h8 19.gxf5 c8 20.h1 ]

[ 18...xg5 19.xg5++- h8 20.f6+ g8 21.gxf5 xf5 ( 21...c8 22.g3 ) 22.xd8 axd8 23.xf5+- ] 19.xf6 xf6 20.gxf5 xd4 21.fxe6 f3+ 22.xf3 xf3 23.f1 h4 24.exf7+ h8 25.fxe8+ xe8 26.g5 White changed gea r half way th ro ugh a nd Black was lef t gasping for air. I reckon the system with Bd3, Nge2 and b3 is well worth playing. There are chances of a clear strategical edge early on and the ideas just seem so easy to implement and understand. Chigladze didn't do much wrong but he was blown away! Perhaps the Szmetan method is the way to go for Black but right now, to me, White has just posted a serious threat to the Alekhine. 1-0

449 Atalik,Suat De Firmian,Nick E Imre Mem San Francisco USA (1) [Glenn Flear]

B03 2551 2551 04.09.2002

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 Not so fashionable these days but still one of the sharpest tries. W hite builds his centre so Black must react quickly not to be swept off the board. dxe5 6.fxe5 f5 7.c3 e6 8.f3 c6 9.e3 g4!? [ Mo re n o rm a l i s 9...e7 10.d5 exd5 11.cxd5 b4 ] 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 h4+ 12.f2 f4 13.c5 d5 [ 13...d7 is the preferred line in ECO B (4th edition 2002) but De Firmian repeats this move despit e ECO considering it t o b e dubious. ] 14.xd5 exd5 15.d2 xd2+ 16.xd2 g6 17.f4 [ 17.e3 (avoiding ...Bh6 for the moment) is recommended by ECO as in Myers-Hagerty, USA 1981 as a clear advantage to White. Presumably De Firmian has something up his sleeve. Something such as 17...Ne7 18 Bd3 h5 or even 17... f6 should yield food for thought! ] 17...h6 18.e3 e7 19.d3 f5 20.xf5 gxf5 21.hg1 d7 22.g3 ag8 23.b4 So far as in Timman-De Firmian, Malmo 1981. 451

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 19...b4?! 20.xa7+! xa7 21.xb6 ) 20.f3 c5 21.xc5 xc5 22.fd4 xe5 23.xe6 fxe6 24.e2 ed3+ 25.b1 ] 15.c7+ f7 16.e6+ g6 17.e3 This position is definitely worth a diagram! Black has an extra rook but his queen is trapped, his queen's rook is en prise and neither bishop can develop. But the really bad news is that his king is very 'mateable'! Rogulj must have underestimated his opponent! e5? [ 17...f5! is recommended by Fritz as it allows some luft for Black's king and avoids immediately dropping the queen. This is the only way to try and justify 14...f6!? 18.g2? xh2 ] 18.g2 xg2 [ Now 18...xh2 is answered by 19.e4+ ] 19.xg2 xd6 20.g4! Threatening mate in t w o . B l a c k l o s e s f u r t h e r m a t e r i a l . xe6 450 B03 21.xe6 d3+ 22.f1 he8 23.xb6 Bender,Ivan 2176 xe6 24.d5 f4 25.xb7 b8 26.xa7 27.f2 d3 28.d4 c5 Rogulj,Branko 2454 be8 Open Velika Gorica CRO (6) 27.06.2002 Black's pieces are finally in the game but unfortunately the White camp holds together. [Glenn Flear] 29.xc4 xf2 30.xc5 xg4 31.f3 e2 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 32.h4+ h6 33.g1 g5 34.f5+ g6 2e5 36.c2+ f5 37.xf5!? 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5?! Interesting or just 35.g3 risky? A Ljubojevic speciality in his youth. 7.d5 Sacrificing a piece to tangle Black up. Then it's the a-pawn that wins the day. xf5 38.f1 e6 8.c3 exd5 9.cxd5 c4 10.d6! [ Normal development by 10.f3 b4 ef8 39.a4 e3 40.xf5 xf5 41.d3 d5 11.xc4 xc3+ 12.bxc3 xc4 13.a4+ 42.a5 f4 43.c2 h3+ 44.g2 f4+ d7 14.xc4 b6 15.b5+ d7! 45.h1 d5 46.a6 f6 47.g1 e5 Rogulj's line is not for the faint-hearted only leads to equality, Formanek-Shabalov, 48.a7 but despite his recent reversal's it may be New York 1995 ] 10...c6 11.b5 Not the only move to cause playable for Black. Black some sticky moments as White probably 1-0 stands well after [ 11.f3 g4 12.f4 g5 13.e4 gxf4 B03 14.f6+ xf6 15.exf6 0-0-0 16.c1 451 Bener,Anna Pour-Burgess, Blitz 1994, and ] Pushin,Vladimir [ 11.f4 g5 12.e4 gxf4 13.f6+ xf6 1988 14.exf6 e6 15.h5 0-0-0 Zude-Buecker, USSR [Alexander Volzhin] Germany 1987 ] 11...h4+ 12.g3 e4+ 13.e2 xh1 14.g5 f6?! Rogulj tries to keep this line alive 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 g6!? Another playable possibility for with this outrageous novelty. In Fontaine- 5.f4 Ro g u l j, Ho t e l O p a t ij a 2 0 0 2 ( t wo m o n t h s Black. This line is played rather seldom, but obviously it deserves more attention. 6.c3 earlier) Black was slightly worse after [ 14...e6 15.d7+ xd7 16.0-0-0+ c8 g7 7.e3 0-0 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 7...e6!? is worth 17.g2 xg2 18.xg2 h6 19.e3 d7 In the notes in Informator 82 Black's next move is reco mmen ded by Timm an a s a n improvement. xg3! [ 23...g6?! 24.e2 f8? 25.g5! e6 26.h5 h6 27.b5 gave serious problems for Black in the aforementioned game. ] 24.hxg3 f8 25.b5 c6 26.a4 e7 27.h1 h5 De Firmian constructs an impenetrable fortress. 28.f2 d8 29.e2 h6 30.f3 h8 31.e1 h6 32.h2 h8 33.b2 c8 34.bxc6 bxc6 35.a5 a6 Whit cannot breakthrough or invade. Black seems to be able to hold out against 17 f4. If indeed Black has an answer to 17 Be3 then 13...Nd5 is OK but as it frankly doesn't really give Black any winning chances, most players would do well to investigate the main lines following 9...Be7. ½-½

452

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c o n s i d e r a t i o n : 8.b3 ( 8.c5 d5 l o o k s f i n e f o r B l a c k; 8.f3 0-0 is a transposition to the main line.) 8...a5! 9.a4 I don't like this move since the weakening of the b4-square gives Black exc e lle n t c h a n ce s. Bu t it 's no t e a sy t o recommend for White a real improvement. a6 10.d1 b4 11.f3 d5! 12.cxd5 ( 12.c5?! c4! is even worse for White.) 12...4xd5! 13.xd5 xd5 14.c2 xf3 15.gxf3 d5 16.c1 e6 and Black is clearly better due to his firm control over the important d5 square and W hite's exposed pawn structure, Kotek-Sergeev, 1997. ] 8.f3 [ W h i t e h a s a l s o t r i e d 8.c5!? 6d7 ( Of c o u rs e , t h e e n d ga m e a f t e r 8...dxc5 9.dxc5 xd1+ 10.xd1 6d7 11.d5 is bad for Black.) 9.f3 ( 9.h4!? is worth considering. In my opinion this position is c rit ic a l f o r t h e wh o le lin e a n d re qu ire s practical tests.) 9...b6 10.b4 b7 11.e2 a5 12.a3 bxc5 13.bxc5 dxc5 14.dxc5 a6 with excellent prospects for Black, Rogers-Loeffler, Wijk aan Zee 1996. ] 8...e6! This move introduced by IM Sergeev in his game vs Ivanchuk has revealed the whole line which was considered as insufficient before. [ Now it's too late to exchange the central pawn as 8...dxe5 9.dxe5! is very strong here. c6 ( The endgame after 9...xd1+ 10.xd1 is clearly better for White.) 10.b3 g4 11.e2 xf3 12.xf3 d3 13.e4! xb3 ( The pawn is taboo: 13...xc4?? 14.xb6 xb3 15.axb3 and White wins a piece. ) 14.axb3 with huge edge for White, Matanovich-Darga, 1964. ] 9.b3 Likely the only move. The alternatives are insufficient: [ After 9.d2 dxe5 10.fxe5 c5! W hite's central pawns are a good target: 11.d5 ( 11.dxc5 6d7 is also good for Black. ) 11...f5 12.f4 e6! IvanchukSergeev, USSR, 1984, and White can't hold the pawn centre, for example: 13.d6 c6 14.f3 d7 15.e2 g4 and Black wins the e5-pawn ] [ 9.d5? g4 10.exd6 (forced) exd6 , intending 11... Re8, and Black is clearly

better ] [ 9.b3 is no good either since Black can exploit unp rot ecte d p osit ion of W hite's Knight on c3 and break in the centre: c5! 10.dxc5 6d7 11.cxd6 exd6 12.xd6 xe5! with good prospects for Black. ] 9...a5! 10.g5 [ 10.a4?! a6 is similar to Kotek-Sergeev, here Black has also good prospects. ] [ 10.e4!? d5 11.eg5?! ( 11.ed2 is relatively better although the position after dxc4 12.xc4 c6 is quite OK for Black.) 11...dxc4 12.xe6 cxb3 13.xd8 xd8 14.axb3 c6 and the endgame favors Black due to development advantage and firm control over the d5-square, Nikitin-Pushkin, USSR 1988. ] 10...a4! [ 10...f5? 11.e6! fxe6 12.c5 is bad for Black. ] 11.xe6 [ 11.b5?! doesn't look promising in view of d7 12.b4 c6 13.a3 f6! -by breaking W h it e's ce n t re B la ck o b t ain s e xc elle n t game. ] 11...axb3 12.xd8 xd8 13.a3 c6 Just after the opening the opponents find themselves in a complicated endgame. Black's Bishop on g7 is rather passive now as it's restricted by White's pawn chain but after ...f7-f6 at the right moment it will become dangerous piece. Now White has to parry the 14...Nb4 threat. 14.0-0-0?! [ In my opinion, 14.c1 is better, after dxe5 15.dxe5 d4 16.d3 c2+ 17.xc2 ( 17.e2 is dangerous for White in view of xd3! 18.xd3 d8+ 19.e2 xe3 20.xe3 xc4+ 21.e4 xb2 ) 17...xc4! 18.e2!? bxc2 19.xc2 the position is balanced. ] 14...a5! Now Black is clearly better. 15.c5 dxc5 16.dxc5 xd1+ 17.xd1 [ 17.xd1 is even worse: bc4 18.c1 d8+ 19.e1 f6! and White is in trouble. ] 17...bc4 18.d4 d8 19.c3 d5 20.b4 g5! By undermining White's pawn chain Black seizes the initiative. Now White has difficult problems to solve. 21.fxg5 The only move. [ 21.g3 gxf4 22.gxf4 h6 23.g1+ f8 24.g4 d4 and Black wins. ] 21...xe5 22.xc4 xc4 23.e1 e6 24.h4 453

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ The rook exchange doesn't help White either as the bishop and knight endgame after 24.xe5 xe5 25.g3 d4 is very nasty for White. ] 24...d5! 25.e4 [ 25.c3 is bad as well: d2 26.e2 xe2 27.xe2 xb2+ ] 25...e5 26.f2 f8! Winning the c5-pawn. 27.c6 Desperation but White's position is very bad anyway: [ 27.e3 xc5 28.xc5 xc5+ 29.b1 c4 is hopeless as well. ] 27...xc6 28.xf8 xf8 The rest is just a matter of technique. 29.c4 d4 30.c3 xh4 31.xb3 a5 32.d3 h2 33.g3 g7 34.e4 g6 35.b4 c6 36.c5 d4 37.g4 e5! 38.e4 xg2 39.xe5 xg5 40.xg5+ xg5 41.xb7 g4 White resigned as the h-pawn march decides. 0-1

[ Here Alexander Volzhin looked at 9.b3 in Brener-Pushkin which leads to sharp and unclear play after a5! ] [ Note that is too late for White to change his mind and lash out with 9.d5? as g4 is now simply good for Black. ] 9...c5! Logical and necessary. Black has to c o u n t e r a t t a c k i m m e d i a t e l y . 10.dxc5 There begins a long forcing variation. Black has to sacrifice a couple of pawns to break White's stranglehold on the centre. Meanwhile White has to take the material on offer or else his e5 point will crumble, gu a ra n t e e in g B la c k a g o o d ga m e . 6d7! 11.cxd6 exd6 12.xd6 xe5! The point of Black's play. He gets one of his pawns back and shatters the white kingside structure. 13.xd8 [ Naturally 13.fxe5? xd6 14.exd6 xc3+ would be embarrassing for White. ] 13...xf3+ 14.gxf3 xd8 [ Black doesn't want to give up his dark 452 B03 squared bishop with 14...xc3+? 15.d2 xd2+ 16.xd2 ] Bologan,V 2654 Khairallah,F 2307 15.c1 c6 16.e2 The dust has settled. 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (5.29) 06.08.2014 W hite is a pawn up but his doubled pawns and Black's activity greatly complicate matters. [Neil McDonald] White has tried other moves here but they all 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 seem dubious. For example [ 16.f2?! e7! heading for f5 to nab 5.f4 g6!? It seems like this alternative to the W hite's important dark squared bishop. mainline is alive and kicking. The theory would 17.e2 f5 18.hd1 xd1 19.xd1 xe3 be developing faster if White played the Four 20.xe3 e8 21.d3 Stopa, J (2460)Pawns Attack more often. 6.c3 g7 7.e3 Narciso Dublan, M (2532)/Montcada 2011 e6!? Black tries to cajole his opponent into 8. and now d8+! looks strong for Black e.g. d5, but here Bologan resists. 22.e2 h6 23.e3 e8 24.e4 g7 [ Black could also delay this move with planning 25...f5. ] 7...0-0 8.f3 ( but 8.c5!? might throw a [ 16.e4?! b4 17.c5 Grabher, H (2228)spanner in the works- check out Tom Ager, J (2223)/ Austria 2002 and now simply Rendle's comments to Moser-Fier in the xa2 gets Black's pawn back with the archives. ) 8...e6 when 9.b3 initiative after 18.xe6 fxe6 19.d1 b4 would transpose to the present game. ] 20.e2 c2+ etc. ] 8.f3 [ 16.b5?! b4 17.c7 ( 17.a3 d3+ [ T o m a n a l y s e d t h e u l t r a - s h a r p 8.d5 18.xd3 xd3 when b3 drops.) 17...xa2 in Moser-Fier. His conclusion is that White ( 17...xa2 with better chances for Black. )] h a s s o m e a d va n t a g e . H o we ve r , i n t h e messy counterattacking positions that arise 16...d4! [ Instead Black could grab the pawn back at this isn't going to upset Alekhine fans too the cost of his dark squared bishop with much. ] 16...b4 17.f2 ( White is being crushed 8...0-0 9.b3 A slow move, but if left in peace after 17.a3? d3+ 18.xd3 xd3 19.d2 W hite will continue with Rc1, Be2 and 0-0 e8 etc. ) 17...xc3 18.xc3 xa2 maintaining a huge space advantage. 454

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 However, I think White might have a very slight plus after 19.d3 xd3 20.xd3 b4 21.b1 f5 22.d1 f7 23.d6 etc. There is no reason for Black to play like this when the game continuation gives him at least equal chances. ] 17.b5 This turns out poorly but Black has the initiative in all lines, for example [ 17.f2 f5 18.hd1 xe3 19.xe3 xd1 20.xd1 e8 21.f2 f5 intending 22...Bd4+. ] [ Or 17.e4 a5!? A) 18.c5 f5 19.xb7 d7 20.c5 e8! 21.e4 ( Awful for White is 21.xd7 xe3 ) 21...xe4 22.fxe4 xe4 23.xd4 xd4 White is trying to survive, not exploit his extra pawn.; B) 18.f2 a4 19.b4 xe2 20.xe2 b5! 21.cxb5 xa2 and the passed a-pawn, supported by the two bishops, is more dangerous than White's b-pawn. ] 17...f5 18.xa7 [ White does best to grovel with 18.f2 h6 19.g3 ] 18...xa7 [ Black would have a decisive initiative after 18...f6! e.g. 19.a4? ( But Black's onslaught is also unstoppable after 19.d1 h4+ 20.f2 xa2 21.xd8+ xd8 or; 19.b6 xa2! 20.xd8 xd8 with 21...Bh4+ looming. ) 19...xa7 20.xa7 h4+ 21.f1 e3+ 22.g1 d2 23.f1 f2# ] 19.xa7 f6 20.0-0 [ The best chance for White to survive was 20.d1! but it's no surprise that Bologan didn't see this quiet move when his king is being hunted. Black would have the pleasant choice between forcing a draw by re p e t i t i o n o r p u rs u i n g h is a t t a c k . h4+ ( T h e w i n n i n g a t t e m p t i s 20...h4 when White's king has to walk a tight rope: 21.e2 g2 22.c2 xf4+ 23.e3 h3 24.hd1 g5+ 25.e2 e8 26.f1 f4 and the assault continues.) 21.e2 d4+ 22.e3 f5+ 23.e2 ( but not 23.e4?? d4+ 24.e5 f6+ 25.xe6 d6# mate! )] 20...d4+ 21.h1 xa7 White's king has escaped the centre and nominally a rook and two pawns is ample material for two minor pieces. But Black's bishops are very strong whereas all is gloomy in White's camp: his f4

pawn is terminally weak, he has no passed pawn, his rook lack activity and his bishop is a p o o r p i e c e . 22.fd1 c8 23.d3 e3 24.b1 d4 [ Simply 24...xf4 was very good for Black. ] 25.e4 c6 26.f5 Bologan is fighting back. He sells the f-pawn as dearly as possible by doubling Black's pawns and circumscribing the activity of his light squared bishop. gxf5 27.d5 c7 28.b4 [ It was better to activate the rook on b1 with 28.b2! This would also guard the second rank. ] 28...d4 29.xe6 fxe6 30.c5 xf3 Black should be winning thanks to his passed pawns, but it won't be easy. 31.d8+ f7 32.bd1 e5 33.h8 g7 34.e8 f7 35.h8 f6 36.f8+ f7 37.a4 f4 38.a5 e5 39.b5! Bologan makes use of all his resources in a desperate position. In the end he is just saved by his passed pawn. xc5 40.b6 e7 41.c8 d6 42.b1 f3 43.a6 bxa6 44.b7 f4 45.c6 b8 46.c8 d6 47.c6 b8 48.c8 d6 A real scare for Bologan against a player rated almost 350 Elo points below him. If you give the game to a computer it will point out various missed opportunities for Black in the endgame, but Khairallah deserves credit for making it such a hard fight. ½-½

453 Bologan,Viktor Rozentalis,Eduardas TOP 16 GpB Mulhouse (6) [Gawain Jones]

B03 2684 2628 01.05.2010

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 The Four Pawns Attack. In my view, the most critical test of the Alekhine. Both sides m u s t h a ve a t h o ro u gh kn o wle d ge o f t h e intricacies of the variation or they can quickly run into trouble. dxe5 [ 5...g6 In my opinion this allows White a good game. A recent game did nothing to alter my belief, 6.c3 g7 7.e3 0-0 8.c5! 6d7 9.h4 Ultra-aggressive! ( I've also looked at 9.c2 followed by castling long which looks strong for White. ) 455

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 9...dxc5 10.dxc5 A1) 10...e6 11.h5 e7 ( 11...g5 12.h6 h8 13.g4+- ) 12.c2 and I imagine everyone would take White here.; A2) 10...b6 11.f3 c6 looks very suspicious. If this is the best Black can hope for then I think 5...g6 will have to be consigned to the trash heap.; B) 9...b6 10.cxd6 exd6 11.f3! is terrible.; C) 9...e6 10.cxd6 cxd6 11.h5 c6 12.hxg6 fxg6 13.d5 ( 13.f3 ) 13...dxe5?! ( 13...a5 14.dxe6 b6 15.e7 xe7 16.d5 f7 17.xb6 axb6 18.xd6 c4 is better for White but not yet all over.) 14.dxc6 xc6 gave Black nothing like enough for the piece. Bauer, C-Hug, W Switzerland 2001; D) 9...e8?! This is simply too slow but I haven't found a satisfactory route for Black here, for example: 10.h5 f8 11.hxg6 fxg6 Piscopo, P-Pesotskyi, V Rijeka 2010. Here the most accurate win looks to be 12.f5! when Black simply cannot deal with the attack. ] 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 This is the main line of the Four Pawns Attack. [ 9.e2 has also been tried, preventing Black's ...Bg4. A couple of recent games ran: d7 ( Perhaps Black should play 9...e7 when after 10.f3 The position has t ra n s p o s e d b a ck t o t h e t yp ica l 9 . . . B e 7 positions which Jo hn W atson analyse d thoroughly whilst avoiding the most critical 10.d5!? option.; 9...h4+ would attempt to e x p lo i t W h i t e ' s m o ve o rd e r b u t I d o n ' t believe it after the simple 10.f2 ) 10.f3 A) 10...0-0-0 It's very risky castling queenside here. 11.0-0 We have actually transposed back to Kotronias-Short in the archives. g4 ( N i g e l t r i e d 11...f6 but reached a pretty lousy position.) 12.c5 d5 A1) 13.xd5 xd5 14.b4 was Andrew Martin's suggestion in the archives and looks stronger. e4 ( 14...f6 15.h3 h5 16.b5 xd4 17.xd4 xe5 18.f2 xc5 19.xh5 xd4 20.e2 e4 21.c2! xf2+ 22.xf2! Novak, D-Bogut, Z Kastav 2002. h5 is taboo due to the threat of Qxa7 and the

piece is stronger than the three pawns here. ) A1a) 15.b3 Stopa, J-Sher, M Indianapolis 2009 allowed Black the trick: xd4! 16.xd4 xe2 as 17.xe2 ( 17.xf7 is strongest but Black's doing well after c4! ) 17...d3 regains the piece.; A1b) 15.d2 f6 16.ae1! looks interesting here and rather dangerous for Black who can grab a pawn two different ways but will be put u n d e r a l o t o f p r e s s u r e . ( 16.h3 allowed Black to complicate the position in typical Alekhine fashion with xd4! Abel, D-Beikert, G Germany 2008. ) A1b1) 16...xb4?! 17.h3 ( 17.g5 fxg5 18.xg4 xc5 19.xe6+ b8 20.f5 i s u n c l e a r .) 17...f5 ( 17...h5 18.xb4 xe3+ 19.h1 leaves Black with severe problems wit h h is kin g .) 18.xb4 xe3+ 19.h1 and I imagine the pressure on the b file is simply too strong.; A1b2) 16...xe5 17.xe5 fxe5 18.d3 A1b21) 18...d5 would leave the queen with too many difficulties following 19.f2! exd4 20.e4 f5 21.xd4 xd3 ( 21...xd4 22.xd4 xd4 23.xf5!+- ) 22.xd5 xd5 23.e1 and White's extra queen promises him a clear edge.; A1b22) 18...c6 19.h3 h5 20.f2! exd4 21.c4 and Black will quickly lose his temporary two pawn ad vantage whilst W hite's attack is raging.; A2) 13.f2 e7 14.a4 f6 15.xd5 xd5 16.b4 fxe5 17.b5 xf3 18.xf3 e4 Chkhikvishvili, M-Chighladze, I Tbilisi 2010 and here White could have kept an edge with 19.xe4 xe4 20.fe1 d5 21.bxc6 xc6 22.xa7; B) 10...d8 11.0-0 g4 12.g5!? Forcing the following series of moves. xc4 13.xf7 xe3 14.xd7 xd1 15.xd8+ xd8 16.xg4 ( 16.xd1 xe2 17.xe2 e7 18.e4 might give 456

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White a small edge but it's not much and the presence of bishop vs knight would allow the stronger player more chances to outplay his opponent.) 16...e3 17.h3 c5 18.b5 cxd4 19.c7+! e7 20.e1 g6 21.gxe6 xe6 22.xe6 h6 23.xd4 d8 24.f3 d1 25.e2 e3+ 26.f1 b6 27.d2 xd2 28.xd2 xb2 29.c8 c7 30.xb7 xe5 31.h3 d1 32.e4 e3+ 33.f2 d4 34.f3 h6 35.c3 xc3 36.xe3 1/2-1/2 Farran Martos, F-Narciso Dublan, M Sabadell 2010, didn't give the GM playing Black many winning chances. ] 9...g4 [ 9...e7 10.d5 Is the aforementioned critical line which received a recent outing. exd5 11.cxd5 b4 12.d4 d7 A) 13.e6 fxe6 14.dxe6 c6 A1) 15.g4 has been looked at a couple of times in the archives, when h4+ 16.g3 xh1 results in crazy co mp lica tion s - see K linger-Hernd l. ( Meanwhile 16...f6? is an error which White should have taken advantage of in P o m m e r e t - P h i l i p p e , a f t e r 17.0-0-0! see the archives for John's analysis. ); A2) 15.xc6 xd1+ 16.xd1 c2+ 17.d2 xe3 18.xe3 bxc6 19.d3 and W hite's advantage is somewhere between small and non-existent. Froewis, G-Schroll, G Vienna 2010.; B) 13.f3 c5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.e2 following Dominguez's example as we have seen before. 0-0 16.0-0 4d5 17.f2 xc3 Deviating from previous ChessPublishing analysis but not changing t h e v e r d i c t . ( 17...c7 18.g3 xc3 19.bxc3 c8 20.d3 was seen in Dominguez-Almeida when W hite had a pleasant position.) 18.bxc3 c5 19.f5 xf5 20.xf5 d2 21.f3 ad8 22.c4 a4 23.ad1 b2 24.xd8 xd8 25.d1 ( 25.d3! looks strong, the idea being tha t xe5 26.e1 f6 27.c2 c3 28.xe7 gaining the bishop pair for rook and pawn, a definite advantage.) 25...b6 26.e6!? fxe6 27.e4 f6 28.c2 g6 29.xe6+ g7 30.e3 d7? A blunder but the position was already extremely difficult. 31.g5! d4+ 32.h1

f8 33.e3 b2 34.xd7+ f7 35.h6+ was a po we rf u lly pla ye d gam e b y th e Indian. 1-0 Das, S-Shivananda, B Delhi 2010. ] 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 h4+ 12.f2 f4 13.c5 d5 14.xd5 exd5 15.d2 xd2+ 16.xd2 So again we see this ending which seems rather important to the viability of the main line of the Four Pawns Attack. Recently Black has come under pressure here as White can make good use of his bishop pair whilst p re p a r in g a qu e e n si d e p a wn st o rm . e7 Ro ze nt alis' ne w try. I n th e th re e arch ive games Black has always tried [ 16...g6 but after 17.e3! he seems to be in some trouble. A couple of Grandmaster g a m e s i n 2 0 0 8 c o n f i r m e d t h i s : d7 ( 17...h5 18.b5 e7 19.g5+ e6 20.c3 h4 21.h3 e7 22.f4 f5 23.e2 b6 24.b4 a5 25.a3 e7 26.g4 xg5 27.fxg5 e7 28.f3 hd8 29.hb1 a7 30.d3 b8 31.b5 bxc5 32.dxc5 a4 33.b4 a5 34.ab1 d8 35.d1 c6 36.b6 xc5 37.xa4 b8 38.a7+ e6 39.a4 xe5 40.a5 d4 41.a6 and the two connected passed pawns on the sixth were simply too strong for the king of bullet chess. Pavasovic, D-Nakamura, H Austria 2008.) 18.f4 e7 19.g4+ f5 20.xf5+ gxf5 21.ag1 h6 22.g3 ag8 23.e2 g6 24.h3 f8 25.h5 e6 26.b4 h6 27.xh6+ xh6 28.g1 f8 29.b5 e7 30.g3 b6 31.h3 f6 32.f2 b8 33.a4 a6 34.c6 axb5 35.axb5 h8 36.h4 f7 37.xf6 xf6 38.exf6 xf6 39.e3 a8 40.e5 a2+ 41.d3 xh2 42.xd5 g2 43.d7 1-0 Howell, D-Ramirez, A Gaziantep 2008 saw the Englishman grinding out the full point. ] 17.b5+ I like this intermezzo check forcing Black t o play ...c6 a f te r wh ich b4-b5 will become more powerful. Bologan's play looks l i k e a n i m p r o ve m e n t a n d t h e p o s i t i o n a l maestro Rozentalis, who relishes this type of position as White, is unable to hold it as Black. [ The previous time this position was reached, White tried 17.d3 g6 18.h4 d7 19.f6 g8 20.f4 f5 21.xf5+ gxf5 22.ag1 the same position as Howell-Ramirez except the bishop is placed on f6 rather than e3 which strangely gives Black better chances 457

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 for the draw as he can exchange bishops whenever he wants. e7 23.xe7 xe7 24.g3 g6 25.e3 ag8 26.f3 and W hite eventually ground out the full p o i n t i n A b e r g e l , T - R i s , R H o o g e ve e n 2007. ] 17...c6 18.d3 g6 19.b4 h6+ 20.c3 d7 21.b5 Bologan's play is hardly subtle yet he clearly has a very pleasant position. hc8 [ 21...b6 is a try to avoid being squashed. In general it's not good to open up the position when your opponent has the bishop pair but of course all positions have to be calculated on their own merits. 22.ab1 and it appears that Black must keep the tension as ( 22.bxc6+ xc6 23.b5 bxc5 24.dxc5 c7= ) 22...bxc5 23.dxc5 cxb5 24.xb5+ c7 25.he1 leaves his king too loose. ] 22.h4! Opening up a second front and exploiting Black's previous. b6 23.h5 f8 [ The fact that 23...h8 is the computer's top suggestion highlights his position's flaws. ] 24.hxg6 hxg6 25.h7 e6 26.a4 f5 27.xf5+ [ It wasn't necessary to break the tension yet and W hite could continue to pile on the pressure with 27.f4 ] 27...gxf5 28.ah1!? Bologan plays very d y n a m i c a l l y a n d p r e p a r e s a n e xc h a n g e sacrifice. [ 28.d3 was entirely possible too taking a time out to improve the king's location. Black ca n gra b a pa wn wit h bxc5 ( 28...cxb5 29.axb5 bxc5 30.a6+ is h o p e l e s s .) 29.dxc5 cxb5 30.axb5 xc5 31.h6+ d7 32.xc5 xc5 33.a5 but White is exceedingly active and likely to pick up both d5 and a7 pawns. ] 28...cxb5 29.axb5 a6 [ 29...bxc5 is critical when I presume Bo loga n h ad pla nn e d 30.1h6+! xh6 31.xh6+ e7 32.dxc5 when, despite being the exchange up, Black's position is very difficult as his pawns are so vulnerable whilst the c pawn is strong and W hite's pieces coordinate well. h8 33.h4+ d7 34.d6+ c7 35.f6!? A) 35...xh4 gives back the exchange 36.xf7+ d8 ( 36...b8 37.f8+ b7 38.c6+ i s h o p e l e s s .) 37.f8+ e7 38.xa8 c4+ 39.b3 xc5 40.xa7+

e6 41.b4 is a textbook position which looks difficult for Black but perhaps he can hold the draw.; B) 35...h7 36.g5 and White can start mopping up pawns. ] 30.c6! axb5 31.1h6+ xh6 32.xh6+ Thus White has sacrificed the exchange and a pa wn in a n e n d ga m e ye t h a s a p o we rf u l initiative. Bologan hasn't risked anything with his cavalier attitude to his pieces as Black's pawn structure is so bad that the pawns are always likely to drop off. f6 [ 32...e7 33.h4+ would force Black to give up his f pawn anyway as f8 34.b4 threatens 35.Bf6 and thus ( 34.f6 xc6+ 35.b4 xf6 36.exf6 g8 seems enough for the draw.) 34...g7 is forced but once White plays 35.d6 the c pawn is simply too strong. ] 33.xf6+ e7 34.b4 a1 35.h4 [ 35.xb5 b1+ 36.a6 d8 looks to hold for Black. ] 35...b1+ 36.c3 c1+ 37.d2 c4 38.d6+ e8 39.xd5 4xc6 [ 39...8xc6 40.d8+ f7 41.d5 and the central pawns would p rove to o strong. ] 40.e3!? [ 40.xb5 is safer ] 40...c3+?! That rook should stay controlling the 6th rank to slow White's pawns. [ 40...b4 should have been played when it's not obvious that White's better, e.g. 41.b5 c3+ 42.f4 3c4 43.xf5 xd4 44.f6 c6 45.f4 c5 46.xb6 d7 and the pawns are being slowed although this is difficult to play as Black and I imagine Black was under a far bit of time pressure, especially as it's move 40. ] 41.f4 d3? 42.e6 Rozentalis realises too late that the e pawn can go alone. There's no defence to 43.e7 and 44.Rd8. An impressive en e rget ic disp la y f ro m B o lo ga n a nd t h is endgame is looking difficult for Black. 1-0

458

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 454 Boric,E Rakic,Marija 17th CRO-chT 1w (3) [John Watson]

B03 455 2292 Boroday,Sergey 2276 Moliboga,Vladimir 29.09.2008 Independence Cup, Kyiv (11) [Andrew Martin]

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 c6 10.d5 e5 11.e2 f5!? [ W e lo o k e d a t 11...ed7 12.f3 f6 13.h3 with the idea Qd2 in K Lie-Es Lie, Hamar 2007. White seems clearly better. ] 12.f3!? A calm move, and not bad. But it's worth going back to look at options that we've covered before: [ 12.f4 g4 13.xg4 fxg4 14.ge2 f5 ( 14...e5! is wo r t h a t r y) 15.0-0 h5?! ( 15...e6!? ) 16.d4 f6 17.xf6 exf6 18.d4 was superb for White in Skorchenko, D (2460)-Tkachenko, G (2318)/Lugansk UKR 2007. See the Archives. ] [ 12.h3 and ] [ 12.d2 are also attractive, as I pointed out in that update. But Black plays 9...Nc6 with something in mind. Perhaps ...Nf7 followed by ...h6/...g5/...f4 is his idea. ] 12...h6 13.d2 h7 [ 13...g5? 14.xe5 xe5 15.f4! gxf4 16.xf4 xf4 17.xf4 is obviously terrific for White. ] 14.h4 [ 14.xe5! dxe5 15.0-0 with the idea f4 16.c5 keeps White in control of the centre as well as the e4 square. ] 14...bd7 15.h5!? [ 15.xe5 xe5 16.b5 d7 17.d4 is logical, but W hite will have to find an effective plan. ] 15...xf3+ [ 15...g5?! 16.d4 w i t h t h e i d e a f4? 17.e6 a5 18.c2+ g8 19.d2 has no good reply. ] 16.xf3 g5 17.b5 e5 18.e2 f4 19.d4 a6 This time Black has more squares to work with. 20.xe5 xe5 21.d4 xd4 22.xd4 f5 23.0-0 I still like White here, with the idea of exchanging bishops and bringing a rook to e6. Still, Black has kingside space and W h i t e ' s p a wn o n h 5 i s s h a ky, so m a yb e there's some counterplay. ½-½

B03 2395 2295 2003

Alekhine's Defence remains as controversial as ever. Numerous White systems, generally involving steady, unspectacular development put the opening under serious pressure. But if White tries full-on aggression from the very beginning, he should be ready for occasional disaster! 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 f5 7.c3 e6 8.e3 b4 9.f3 c5!? The Four Pawns isn't really the way to go Black just has too many reasonable ways to play. 9...c5 is just one of them. Boroday seems surprised and comes up with a most unsuccessful novelty. 10.d2?!N Just makes the White queen a target on the d file. White should play 10 a3: [ 10.a3 cxd4 ( 10...xc3+?! 11.bxc3 c6 12.e2 c7 13.0-0 d8 14.e1 0-0 15.g3 a5 16.g5 c8 17.h4 g6 18.xg6 fxg6 19.g4 xf1+ 20.xf1 e8 21.d5 exd5 22.cxd5 h6 23.d6 c6 24.e7 1-0 Bielczyk, J-Meiklejohn, I/ Groningen 1971) 11.xd4! ( 11.axb4 dxe3 12.c5 6d7 13.d6 c6 14.b5 c8 15.0-0-0 e7 16.g5 a5 17.xe7+ xe7 18.xf7 axb4 19.xd7+ xd7 20.xh8 bxc3 21.f7 0-1 Amate Tortosa, B-Suba, M/ Villa de Albox 2002) 11...xd4 12.xd4 xc3+ 13.xc3 a4 14.c1 ( 14.b4 xb2 15.d4 c6 16.xc6 bxc6 Ostojic, P-Marovic, D/Umag 1972) 14...c6 15.e2 0-0-0 16.0-0 g4 17.fe1 d7 18.h3 h5 19.d4 xd4 20.xh5 b3 21.d1 ac5 22.xb3 xb3 23.cd1 hd8 24.xd7 xd7= Lochte, T-Blees, A/ Budapest 1990 ] [ 10.e2 c6 11.0-0 xc3 12.bxc3 0-0 13.e1 g6 14.d1 cxd4 15.cxd4 e7 Counterplay is gained by controlling the central light squares e4 and f5. 16.b4 e4 17.g5 f5 18.c3 xe3 19.xe3 g6 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 c8 22.c1 c7 23.c3 1/2-1/2 Parma, B-Hecht, H/Berlin West 1971 ] 10...c6 11.dxc5? A disgusting move but by now I guess Boroday realised it was too late 459

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 for a2-a3: ( 7...xd3 8.xd3 looks rather [ 11.a3 cxd4 comfortable for W hite; while we don't A) 12.xd4 xd4 believe the tricky 7...xd4 can be good A1) 13.xd4 xc3 14.bxc3 ( 14.xc3 for Black following 8.xd4 xd3 9.xd3 h4+ ) 14...h4+ 15.f2 e4+ dxe5 10.c5! xd4 11.xd4 exd4 16.e2 0-0; 12.cxb6 axb6 13.e2 White will follow up A2) 13.xd4 xd4 14.xd4 xc3+ with Kd3, a4 and b3 and play on the light 15.bxc3 d7; squares when the extra piece will be more B) 12.xd4 xc3 13.xc3 h4+ 14.f2 valuable than the three pawns.) 8.e4 e6 ( 14.g3 e4 ) 14...e4+ 15.e2 g4 9.d5 a5 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 exd5 The analysis confirms Black's superiority. ] 12.cxd5 leaves White comfortably better.; [ 11.g5 tries to buy time, but using the B) 6...e6 7.c3 was the course of the same aggressive attacking ideas, Black miniature Jones, G (2593)-Baburin, A quickly obtains the upper hand: f6 12.exf6 ( 2 5 3 9 ) B u n r a t t y 2 0 1 1 wh i c h G a wa i n gxf6 13.e3 cxd4 14.xd4 xd4 15.xd4 annotates in the archives. ] e5 16.e3 a4 17.c1 a5 ] 6...c6 11...a4 12.d4 [ 6...e6 7.e3 was looked at by Andrew [ 12.a3 xc3 13.bxc3 a5 ] Martin in Collins, S (2408)-Baburin, A (2511) 12...xd4 13.xd4 a5 Ensuring that White 2005. ( But it's likely that Bromberger is kept with his pieces on very uncomfortable intended to simply play 7.f3 which would squares. 14.c1 Alternatives are bleak: transpose to the Jones-Baburin game. )] [ 14.a3 xc3 15.bxc3 xc5 16.b2 c7 [ Meanwhile 6...dxe5 7.fxe5 e6 8.f3 17.e2 0-0 18.0-0 b6 ] would be quite likely to transpose to the [ 14.d1 0-0-0 15.a3 xc5 ] mainline of the Four Pawns Attack after c6 14...d8 15.e3 xb2 16.g4 But this is 9.e3 ] bleaker. Rather than face 16..Bxg4, W hite 7.e3 Bromberger again offers Teske the resigns. Aself-inflicted fiasco! 9...c5 seems a option of transposing to the mainline. playable method and, as we've seen, White [ It was possible to play the Five Pawns only has to go slightly wrong for the game to Attack immediately with 7.g4!? but it does blow up in his face. look a bit loose. Black would do well to drop 0-1 his bishop back - perhaps all the way to c8 as xg4? 8.xg4 xd4 9.d1 dxe5 10.fxe5 e6 11.f3 c5 12.e3 xf3+ 456 B03 13.xf3 h4+ 14.f2 xf2+ 15.xf2 xf2+ 16.xf2 didn't give Black anything Bromberger,S 2513 like enough for the piece. Heymann, ATeske,H 2550 Lantzsch, C Eberstadt 1995. ] TCh-AUT 1st Bundesliga 2012 (9.1) 20.04.12 7...g5?! Which Teske declines but this looks [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] to be asking too much from Black's position. [ 7...dxe5 8.fxe5 e6 9.f3 is again the 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 mainline. ] 5.f4 f5 6.c3 This move order allows the [ In a recent game Black tried to keep to game continuation but that works out very well unchartered waters with 7...g6 8.f3 g7 for White. 9.e2 0-0 Beliaev, V (2007) -Kotov, A [ Previously a couple of games on ( 2 2 5 4 ) M o s c o w 2 0 0 9 b u t h e r e 10.c5! ChessPublishing have continued with 6.f3 looks pretty miserable. ] Once Black has committed his bishop to the f 5 s qu a re t h e re 's no n e ed t o d e lay t h e 8.g4! [ Pre sum a b ly B la ck h a d a loo k a t 8.fxg5 development of the kingside knight. dxe5 and thought the positions looked A) Here if Black tries to play as in the promising but White's pawn sacrifice is very game with 6...c6 7.d3 strong. ] l o o k s c o m f o r t a b l e f o r W h i t e : g4 460

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8...gxf4 After this we can't find enough defensive resources for Black but his position is perhaps untenable already. [ 8...d7 would give White a very pleasant a r r a y o f c h o i c e s . P e r h a p s 9.c5 is strongest. ] [ 8...c8 was the best bet but 9.d5 a5 ( 9...gxf4 10.xb6 won't give Black enough for the piece.) 10.f5!? looks very promising for White with his huge space advantage. ] 9.gxf5 fxe3 10.e6 c8?! After this Black is definitely lost. [ The computer tries to put up a defence with 10...g7 but we think White's attack is too strong: 11.h5 A) 11...f8 A1) or 12.h3 when both xd4 ( and 12...xd4 13.0-0-0 ) 13.g5 e5 14.g1 leave White with a decisive attack.; A2) 12.f3 xd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.g1! and, with Rg8 coming next move, Black is defenceless.; B) 11...0-0 12.f3 e8 13.g5 ( 13.h4!? keeping up a strong attack is also possible.) 13...h6 14.exf7+ xf7 15.xf7 xf7 16.xf7+ xf7 would at least allow Black to survive into a n e n d g a m e a l t h o u g h 17.c5 dxc5 18.dxc5 xc3+ 19.bxc3 a4 20.g1 is still more pleasant for White. ] [ 10...h5 would prevent the queen coming to h5 but 11.f3 is obviously very good for White. ] 11.exf7+ d8 [ Taking the pawn would lose instantly: 11...xf7 12.h5+ g8 13.f3 and it's pretty obvious the Black monarch won't survive. ] 12.h3! Defending the pawn and thereby preventing the Black queen getting out and keeping the king stuck in the centre. h5 [ 12...d7 13.f6! exf6 14.d5 leaves Black totally tied up - look at all his major pieces! ] [ 12...xc4 would give White options to finish off the game. The easiest looks to be 13.f6 xb2 14.e2 xd4 15.fxe7+ xe7 16.xb2 h4+ 17.d1 f5 18.b1 when Black's minor pieces are all dropping. ] 13.f6 b8 A really ugly move to have to play [ but 13...e6 14.d5 hardly helps. ]

[ 13...d7 would also fail to the game's 14.ge2 ] 14.ge2 Threatening to bring the knight into t h e h o l e o n e 6 . h6 By this point Black definitely has no defence: [ 14...h6 15.f4 xf6 16.e6+ xe6 17.xe6 ] [ 14...h7 15.f4 ] [ and 14...e5 15.g1 h7 16.d3 xf7 17.g6 are all completely hopeless. ] 15.g1 exf6 [ 15...f8 16.g6 picks up the bishop on h6 for starters. ] 16.g8+ e7 17.xb8 axb8 18.c5 A painful loss for Black. The Four Pawns continues to be a critical test of the Alekhine Defence. 1-0

457 Bromberger,Stefan Kremenietsky,Anm Gausdal Classics GMB (5) [John Watson]

B03 2487 2354 12.04.2008

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 b4 Black is always trying something slightly off the beaten track to answer the Four Pawns Attack. This move is entirely logical in terms of development and deserves more attention, as Nigel Davies suggests. It doesn't seem to quite equalise (or shouldn't) but there's a enough play to keep things interesting. [ See this month and the archives for the traditional 9...e7 ] 10.e2 [ White shouldn't move too slowly merely for structural reasons, for example, 10.c1 0-0 ( 10...g4!? ) 11.a3 e7 12.d5? ( 12.e2 ) 12...exd5 13.cxd5 xe5! 14.xe5 e8 and Black gets back at least most of the material, with attack, e.g., 15.e2 h4+ 16.g3 xe5 17.d4 xe2+ 18.xe2 g5 19.e3 g4! 20.xg4 xe3 21.d1 e7 ] 10...d7!? This doesn't seem to fit that well with ...Bb4. [ a) 10...a5 is one of the ideas of ...Bb4, e v e n i f t h e t i m i n g i s u n c l e a r : 11.c5! 461

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 11.d2 h4+ 12.f2 f4 13.a3 xc3 14.bxc3 0-0 15.0-0 g5 isn't too bad, but the knights on the queenside look funny and White's bishops are a long-term asset. ) A) 11...d5 12.d2 with advantage, I think. Black had to resort to bringing the k n i g h t b a c k w i t h c6 in RohdeShamkovich, New York 1976, when 13.0-0 ( 13.a3 xc3 14.bxc3 also looks good)) 13...0-0 14.g5 gave White a good game, because Black can't like d7 15.xd5 xd5 16.a3 xd4 17.axb4 xe2+ 18.xe2 d3 19.e3 xf1 20.xf1 at a ll, s o h e pro ba bly h as to p lay t h e weakening 14...f6.; B) 11...bc4?! 12.a4+! c6! covers a5, but Black's tightrope trick comes a little s h o r t a f t e r 13.d2! xd2 14.xb4 xf3+ 15.xf3 ] [ b) 10...0-0 is a pretty good try: 11.0-0 ( 11.d2 seems to take the sting out of a5 due to 12.b3 otherwise, White can castle and play a3. Black should probably just proceed with his development and he may stand a little worse, but it's no disaster) 11...a5 12.d2 ( 12.c5 xc3 13.bxc3 bc4 is praised by Davies, and is definitely playable, although I'd still rather have the bishops af ter 14.g5 ) 12...g6 13.e1 ( 13.a3; 13.c1 ) 13...c5!? 14.a3 Goldenburg-Ghizdavu, Graz 1972 and now ( 14.dxc5 d7 15.f3 xc5 16.d1 ) 14...cxd4! was an obvious and strong move: 15.axb4 dxe3 16.bxa5 exd2 17.g3 d7 ] 11.0-0 a5!? In a sense this is the 'point', since [ 11...0-0-0 and ] [ 11...0-0 are versions of main lines in which it's unclear why the bishop is out there on b4. ] 12.c5 [ Or 12.d2 0-0 13.c1 ( 13.c1 ) 13...c6 14.a3!? xc3 15.bxc3 , when Black may simply have to play slowly, although he would like to keep chipping away by f6 16.exf6 xf6 , when unfortunately 17.b3! threatens Nc5, and a4 18.d5 is awkward, or ( 18.g5 )] 12...bc4 13.c1 xc3 14.bxc3 b6?! A good move positionally, but Black should be securing his king first. 15.h4! e4

[ 15...g6 16.c6! d8 17.xg6 hxg6 18.a4 d5 19.b4 , and Black can't castle either way: 0-0-0?? 20.f3 ] 16.f4 d5 Again, covering the light squares is in the right principle, but the kingside is v u l n e r a b l e . 17.g4 f5! 18.exf6 gxf6 19.f4!? [ 19.h6! 0-0-0 20.g7 c6 21.f1 f5 22.f4 d7 23.g3! with the idea Nf3-e5 ] [ 19.f1 f5 20.f4 ] 19...e7? [ either 19...0-0 ] [ or 19...f5 20.h5+ d8 is playable. ] 20.xf6! Obvious, but pretty the finish is nice: xf6 21.f1+ [ 21.g5+! xg5 22.c1+ f6 23.f4+ also wins ] 21...g7 22.h6+! g8 [ 22...xh6 23.f6# ] 23.f6 e4 24.f1 [ 24.f1 (threatening Qf8+) f5 25.g5+ g6 26.xg6 is mate in 2. ] 1-0

458 Bryson,Douglas M Luther,Thomas Olympiad Bled (3) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2385 2535 2002

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 It's refreshing to see a Four Pawns Attack although most strong masters prefer 4 Nf3 or the Exchange Variation. Particularly annoying is 5 exd6 cxd6 6 Nc3 g6 7 Be3 Bg7 8 Rc1 0-0 9 b3-I cannot see any way for Black to equalize here. Perhaps subscribers can help? Douglas Bryson is a very strong master of course but he plays for enjoyment rather than the professional grind..... for our viewing p l e a s u r e m a yb e . . . . dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 Fun for all the family in this line. Some recent developments in the 'main line': [ 6...c6 7.e3 ( 7.f3 g4 8.e3 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 10.c3 h4+ 11.f2 f4 12.c5 d5 13.xd5 exd5 14.e2 0-0-0 15.0-0 f6 16.exf6 gxf6 17.h1 g8 18.g1 g5 19.xg5 fxg5 20.d3 g7 21.d1 g4 22.e3 f7 23.fxg4 e8 24.f1 e6 25.f3 xd4 26.xd4 xd4 462

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27.xd4 xe2 28.xd5 d8 0-1 Varavin, V-Smirnov,I/V Autumn, Alushta UKR 2002 (28) ) 7...f5 8.c3 ( 8.f3 e6 9.e2 d7 10.c3 b4 11.0-0 xc3 12.bxc3 a5 13.d2 c8 14.e1 c5 15.g3 g6 16.h4 cxd4 17.cxd4 h5 18.ac1 c7 19.h1 c8 20.e4 d7 21.d6+ 1-0 Gajadin,D-Mensing,F/Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (21)) 8...e6 9.f3 g4 10.d2 e7 ( 10...xf3 11.gxf3 b4 12.0-0-0 a4 13.g1 g6 14.g5 xc3 15.bxc3 e7 16.h6 d7 17.h3 a5 18.e2 a4 19.f1 a3+ 20.b1 xc4 21.c2 xc2+ 22.xc2 b6 23.c4 e7 24.c3 0-0-0 25.h3 b8 26.e3 c5 27.dxc5 a4+ 28.c2 xc5 29.xd8+ xd8 30.xc5 xc5 31.f1 d4 32.e2 d7 33.c3 h4 34.b1 xe5 35.c5 c7 0-1 Saed,K-Bjerring,K/Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (35) ) 11.e2 h4+ 12.f1 0-0 13.c5 xf3 14.gxf3 d5 15.xd5 xd5 16.g1 f5 17.d1 ad8 18.f4 h8 19.g2 g5 20.c3 e4 21.b4 gxf4 22.g1 f3 23.xf3 f4 24.e2 g8 25.xg8+ xg8 26.b5 xg1 27.bxc6 xh2+ 28.d3 xd1+ 29.xd1 bxc6 30.b3 f4 31.c4 e4 32.b4 e1 0-1 Fongarolli, D-Mollero, M/10th Ducale Open, Genova ITA 2002 (32) ] 7.d5 e6 8.c3 exd5 9.cxd5 c4 10.d6 [ 10.f3 b4 11.xc4 ( 11.g5 xc3+ 12.bxc3 xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.0-0-0 e7 15.xc4 bc6 16.hf1 e6 17.xe6 fxe6 18.d4 xd4 19.xd4 c8 20.b2 d5 21.c4 b6 22.b3 f8 23.xf8+ xf8 24.d2 e8 25.b4 c7 26.a5 c6 27.b4 1/2-1/2 Pirrot,D-Tischbierek,R/ 74th ch-GER, Saarbruecken GER 2002 (27) ) 11...xc3+ 12.bxc3 xc4 13.a4+ d7 14.xc4 b6 15.b5+ d7 16.xd7+ xd7 17.d6 c8 18.e3 ( 18.d2 a4 19.b1 b6 20.0-0 e6 21.d4 d7 22.bc1 c5 23.f3 h6 24.fe1 hc8 25.e3 b2 26.e1 a5 27.c2 c4 28.ee2 cc5 29.f2 cb5 30.g3 b1+ 31.f2 f5 32.d4 xc2 33.e6+ fxe6 34.xe6 f5+ 35.e2 f7 0-1 Hallaeva,B-Kopinits,A/Olympiad w, Bled SLO 2002 (35)) 18...xc3 19.xb6 axb6 20.0-0 0-0 21.ac1 c5 22.h3 h6 23.fe1 a8 24.xc5 bxc5 25.a1 b5 26.c1 c4

27.c2 f5 28.b2 c3 29.xb5 c2 30.c5 c8 0-1 Eaker,A-Popitz,A/40th Ann Open, Curacao AHO 2002 (30) ] 10...c6 11.f3 g4 12.f4 g5 13.e4 gxf4 14.f6+ xf6 15.exf6 0-0-0 16.c1 All as given in NCO and a clear advantage to W h i t e a c c o r d in g t o t h e a u t h o r -G r a h a m Burgess/ Fritz-difficult to tell between the two. However for a human with the clock ticking this position will never be easy and so it proves. e8+ A very interesting idea. Black defers the capture on d6 to a more propitious moment. It should not succeed but Bryson is known for his addiction to time trouble-I can imagine him using up oceans of time around here threading his way through the minefield. [ 16...xd6 17.xc4 he8+ 18.f1 e3 19.b5 xf3 20.gxf3 c7 ] [ 16...xd6 17.xf4 e6+ 18.d1 d5 19.g5 b4 ] 17.f2 [ 17.e2 xf3 18.gxf3 d4 ] [ 17.d1 e3 18.h3 xf3+ 19.gxf3 xd6 20.xc4 d8 ] 17...xd6 18.xc4 c5+ 19.f1 e3 20.c3 xc4 21.xc4 d8 22.e1 It really isn't easy. Black's idea is to take on f2 and play Rd2 and whether White takes on f7 or not his King feels the heat and he can't activate the Rooks. I reckon Bryson saw the drawing mechanism of the game and decided to bale out. [ 22.xf7 d7 ( 22...f5 23.b3 d3+ 24.e1 he8 25.f7! f8 26.d1+-; 22...xf3! 23.gxf3 d2 24.g7 hd8 This was almost certainly Luther's intentionit's a mess.) 23.c4 xf3 24.gxf3 f8 25.e6 d4 26.c1 ] 22...xf3 23.gxf3 d2 24.e2 d1+ 25.e1 d2 26.e2 d1+ 27.e1 d2 28.e2 So much for NCO, Fritz and the like. A game with lots of ideas and a strong human element. ½-½

463

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and the Rook on a3 is a powerhouse, Greet, B03 A-Carleton, J/England 2000. ] Buescu,Neculai 2260 Grunberg,Mihai 2405 12.b5 [ 12.g5! is strong and White has a solid ch-ROM, ROM (1.2) 2003 advantage e.g. f6 ( 12...f6 13.xf6 xf6 [Andrew Martin] 14.e1 c6 15.d5 d8 16.b4 e4 17.d4 e3 18.fxe3 xe3 19.d2 e8 20.f3 ) 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 13.e3 e4 14.d2 f5 15.b5 ] 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.a4!? Andrew Soltis once wrote a whole book on this 12...e4 13.g5?! [ 13.e1 is far less risky. ] l i n e . 7 a 4 i s d i s r u p t i ve a n d a t t e m p t s t o in t e rf e re wit h B la ck's n a t u ra l sch e m e o f 13...f8 14.f4 All very well but Black is able development or at least slow it down. It's hard to split open the White King. f6 15.h3 [ 15.f7!? xf7 16.xd6+ g8 17.xe8 to believe that the Alekhine Defence can xe8 18.d5 is flashy and unclear. Bit of a come under serious pressure from the reprieve for Black I think. ] advance of the a pawn. For starters, a4-a5 16.gxh3 e6 17.g3 f5 improves the position of Black's errant Knight! 15...xh3 A central response is indicated from Black to 18.xd6 f8 19.e5 c6 20.xg7 xg7 offset all this activity on the flank, and then I 21.d5 [ 21.xb7 l e a d s t o d i f f i c u l t i e s : g5+ think he will be OK. g7 8.a5 6d7 9.f3 22.h1 cxd4 23.c5 ( 23.b4 ) 23...ad8 0-0 10.e2 24.xe6+ xe6 25.c1 xc1 26.axc1 [ 10.a3!? was a very odd choice in a recent d2 ] game f rom England. I'm no t sure that I understand what the immediate point is long- 21...xd6 22.dxe6 xe6 White's early term there are some prospects along the aggression backfired he was far too keen to third rank. f6 11.e2 d5! 12.0-0 dxc4 put Black away immediately. 23.d5 xd5 13.xc4 g4 14.e2 c6 Carleton 24.cxd5 d4 25.c4 [ 25.ae1 ad8 ] respond ed correctly and now it's a 26.b3 f6 27.fd1 e5! Tarrasch Defence to the Queen's Gambit 25...ac8 reversed with a4-a5 and Ra3 thrown in! 28.h1? Limp. [ 28.f4+ In a position such as this you have Quite a mouthful. Equally correctly, Greet to take your chances. W hite missed exf3 takes the view that his position promises 29.f2 and it is not at all easy for Black to nothing and provokes simplification. 15.a6 maint ain his a dvan tage. He has t o ho p bxa6 16.xa6 b4 17.a3 a5 a ro u n d wit h t h e K n igh t : e2 30.e1 Greet, A-Carleton, J/Birmingham 2002. ] ( 30.d3 d6 31.ad1 f4 32.xf3 h5 10...e5!? As per the programme but now that 33.e3 g7 34.de1 fe8 ) 30...d6 White has obligingly pushed his pawn to a5 I 31.xf3 d4+ 32.f2 fe8 want to attack with In both variations Black is still keeping [ 10...c6! something but there is no guarantee that A) 11.a6 b6 12.0-0 f6 ( 12...db8!? ) over the board he would find some of these 13.h3 ( 13.e3 g4 14.h3 f5 ); tricky moves. ] B) 11.d5 xa5 12.a3 b6 13.0-0 ] 11.0-0 e8!?N Hoping to support the 28...f4 29.a4 e3 30.fxe3 fxe3 White puts up terrific resistance from here on in but he advance of the e pawn. [ 11...c6 12.d5 e7?! ( Maybe cannot save the game. 31.d6 e2 32.xe2 [ 32.e1 xc4! 33.xe2+ xe2 34.xc4 12...xa5!? 13.b4 xc4 14.xc4 e4 xd6 ] 15.d4 c7! Deep Fritz shows Black better. ) 13.a3 a6 ( 13...f5 14.g5 f6 ) 32...xe2 33.d7 c1! 34.xc1 xc1 14.b4 f5 15.e4 c7 16.c5 f6 35.c4 d6 Forced, in view of the threat of 17.fg5 d8 18.xf6+ xf6 19.e4 e7 Rc8. 36.xc1 xd7 37.g2 f5 38.b4 f4 d6 A Rook ending as passive as 20.b2 I don't like this for Black at all. 39.b1 d4 White has attacking opportunities with f2-f4 this has to be lost for W hite. 40.g3 459

464

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 41.h4 d5 42.h3 bishops clearly favours White. He intends [ 42.h5 gxh5 43.f3 c4 44.e3 d3+ d4-d5 and the transfer of the Knight to e6.' 45.e4 b3!-+ ] [jw: Korchnoi went on to win] ] 42...d3+ 43.g4 h5+ 44.g5 g3+ [ 9...f6 probably isn't bad, but 10.h4!? 45.h6 c4 46.b5 b6! The White pawns has the idea Nh3 and Bg5 and things came are ready to be taken. 47.axb6 axb6 48.b2 o u t we l l f o r W h it e a f t e r ( 10.c5 d7 c5 49.b1 xh3 The opening should have 11.cxd6 cxd6 12.d5 ) 10...e6 11.b3 d5 turned out bet ter f or W hite than it did . I 12.c5 c8 13.h3 b6 14.g5! recommend 12 Bg5! and then I don't see how in Chernyshov - Kopylov, 1993. ] Black equalizes. However, 10... Nc6! is better 10.c5! c4?! Vohlzin calls this a mistake than 10... e5 and then the onus is on White to (see the next few notes). He suggests prove something. As for the rest of the game [ 10...d7 (which looks resilient enough) ] W hite lacked self-belief and played far too [ or 10...c8 , but where's Black's play in passively at crucial moments when he HAD to that case after 11.d3 ? ] go active. We've all been there I think. 11.f4 0-1 [ 11.d5? 6e5 12.f4 xe3 13.xe3 f5 ] 11...dxc5? This is the real mistake, and so 460 B03 was [ 11...f6? 12.d5 4e5 13.e2 Caruana,Fabiano 2594 ( 13.e4! ) 13...g6 14.e3 xc3 15.bxc3 Genocchio,Daniele 2433 f6 16.dxe6 xc3+ 17.c2 in Leyva67th ch-ITA Martina Franca ITA (11) 04.12.07 Medina, Cuba 1994. ] [John Watson] [ Better was the bold 11...g5! , although White still holds a small edge after 12.h5! In this game we see a very direct and ( 12.g3? g4 13.e4 d5 14.e1 g5+ ) aggressive challenge to the ...exd6 system. 12...gxf4 13.d3 f5 14.d5 4e5 15.dxe6 ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 12.d5 d4 Now Black was probably feeling 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 7.e3 [ 7.f3 c6 8.e3 0-0 transposes, which better, but: 13.dxe6! fxe6 [ 13...xf3 14.xd8 axd8 15.xf3 is not to say that there are no options. ] and White wins. ] 7...0-0 8.f3!? c6 14.xc4 xf4!? [ 8...c6 is safer but a bit depressing. ] [ 14...xf3 15.xd8 xd8 16.xf3 xf4 9.0-0-0 e6 17.xe6+ ] [ The stem game (at least the most visible one) was Korchnoi-Miles, Biel 1992, a game 15.e3! Avoiding any tricks. The rest is easy, in t h e Arc hive s: 9...f5! ('?!' Volzhin, but I even if not perfectly played: f8 [ 15...g5 16.h3 ] think that it's best) 10.g3!? ( 10.h3!; 10.c5 [ 15...f8 16.ge2 g5 17.f4 ] f4!? ) A) A game E Berg-J Ericsson, Skara 2002 16.h3 f6 17.e4 g6 18.f4 h6 went 10...e6 11.b3 c8 12.ge2 a5!? 19.e2 b5 20.d3 f5 21.f3 c4 22.c2 13.a4?! ( 13.f4 f7 14.fd5 ) 13...f6 e8 23.d4 xd4 24.xd4 a5 25.g4 b8 14.f4 f7 15.h4 b4 16.h3 c5 26.g5 c5 27.d2 g6 28.h4 e5 29.f5 17.fe2 cxd4 18.xf5 e6 19.xe6+ c6 xe6 20.xd4 xd4 21.xd4 g6 1-0 and W hite has a slightly exposed king witho ut e nough co mpensatio n f o r th e exchange.; B) 10...f4? 11.gxf4 f5 12.c5! 'Probably Black missed this. Now White's advantage is undisputed.' - Volzhin d7 13.h3! 'The exchange of light squared 465

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 461 Collins,Sam Baburin,Alexander 4NCL 2005/2006 Division1 (4) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2408 2511 20.11.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 A lot of contributors on the forum have been requesting games in the Four Pawns Attack and so I will focus of a few of these this month. The Four Pawns should not be dangero us to Black in my view th ere are several good lines of play. f5!? By delaying the central capture, Black tries to make it difficult for White to place his pieces optimally. 6.c3 [ 6.d3 xd3 7.xd3 dxe5 8.fxe5 c5 9.f3 e6 10.0-0 c6 11.c3 xd4 12.g5!? Platonov-Efimov USSR 1966 enters uncharted territory. ] 6...e6 7.e3 Perhaps 7 Nf3 is more accurate, so that if Black takes on e5 early and follows up with ..Bb4, White has additional options with his c1 Bishop. dxe5 8.fxe5 b4! 9.f3?! Original! Is White really intending to castle queenside? I doubt 9 Qf3 is any good. White takes away the best square from his Knight on g1, albeit for an instant and d4 is weakened. [ White had several other options, for example: 9.a3 xc3+ 10.bxc3 c5 This jab at the centre is characteristic of the v a r i a t i o n . 11.f3 ( 11.dxc5 h4+ is simply awful for White.) 11...c6 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0 c8 and Black has good counterplay against c4 ] [ 9.d3 c5 ( Black may well have more than one good option here as can be seen from the following game: 9...xd3 10.xd3 c5 11.f3 cxd4 12.xd4 c6 13.e4 0-0 14.xc6 bxc6 15.0-0 d7 16.xc6 xe5 17.e4 xc3 18.bxc3 c7 19.f4 c5+ 20.e3 c7 21.c5 f5 22.f4 ac8 23.d4 d3 24.e3 xc5 25.e5 e7 26.ab1 e4 27.b3 fd8 28.fb1 d5 29.b7 xb7 0-1 Titzhoff, F-Wittje, B/ Germany 2004) 10.a3 cxd4 11.axb4 xd3 12.xd3 dxe3 13.xd8+ xd8 14.b3 c6 15.f3 xb4 16.0-0-0+ e7 17.he1 a5 18.xe3 a4 19.xa4 xa4 20.bxa4 hc8-+ Gunnarson-Agdestein, Reykjavik

open 1996. ] [ It is probably best to play 9.f3 but then after c5 Black is fine and has the enemy centre under pressure. ] 9...c6N As usual, Baburin tries to put his own individual stamp on the game. Yet He tries to justify his early excursion, but the White queen is simply drifting further out of position. [ 9...h4+! 10.f2 e4+ also looks very good. Far from cramping Black, the White centre now starts to look vulnerable: 11.xe4 xe4 I think Black is doing fine after 12.0-0-0 ( 12.f3 a4 13.a3 xc3+ 14.bxc3 xc3 15.d2 a4 16.e1 g6 17.c5 a6 18.c4 b2 19.e2 c6 20.h4 e4 21.f1 d5 22.b1 a4 23.xb7 xd4 24.xc7 b3+ 25.c2 0-0 26.f3 fd8 27.d3 a5 28.g5 b3+ 29.c1 xd3 30.xf7 f8 31.f1 c3+ 32.d2 c4+ 0-1 Soria, A-Leskovar, M/Mar del Plata 1972 ) 12...xc3 13.bxc3 c5 ] 10.f4?! [ 10.0-0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 e7 12.c5 d5 13.d2 0-0 is better for Black. ] [ Meanwhile 10.a3 would be answered by xc3+ 11.bxc3 0-0 12.g3 a5 13.g5 d7 14.c5 d5 15.c4 e7 16.f3 b3 17.d1 c2 when the White centre again starts to look creaky. ] 10...a4! The opening skirmishes have not go ne t oo we ll f or Co llin s. His po sit io n is alread y(o r sho uld b e) f alling apa rt . 11.a3 xc3 [ After 11...xb2?! 12.axb4 xb4 White has 13.d2! ] 12.axb4 xb4 13.c1 e4! [ 13...a4 also appears strong: 14.d2 ( 14.g3 xb2 15.xg7 f8 16.h6 h4+ 17.e2 e4+ 18.f2 0-0-0 ) 14...c2+ 15.xc2 xc2 16.g4 0-0 17.g5 d7 I think at this stage of the game Baburin saw the 'red mist' and was trying to f inish Collins off as quickly as possible. Yet 13...Na4 would possibly have been better suited to this purpose. ] 14.f3 c5!? [ Baburin gives 14...h6 15.h4 0-0 16.e2 f6 but here White can limp on with 17.exf6 xf6 18.0-0 It's not pretty, but White is surviving. ] 466

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.e2 g5!? [ Baburin recalls his difficulty choosing b e t w e e n t h e g a m e m o v e a n d 15...cxd4 16.xd4 c5 17.0-0 cd3 18.xd3 xd3 19.g3 g6 20.cd1 0-0 I think he made a g o o d c h o i c e , b e c a u s e h e r e 21.b5! looks awkward for Black to meet. ] 16.xg5 xg5 17.xg5 c2+! The point. 18.xc2 [ 18.f2 xe3 19.xd8+ xd8 20.xe3 xd4 21.f3 d3+ 22.f4 e7 23.hd1 hd8 leads to a cheerless endgame for White and so Collins correctly chooses the only move which will give him counterplay. ] 18...xg5 19.xg5 xc2 20.f3 g8 Choosing the right move here is surprisingly difficult. [ The line 20...cxd4 21.xb7 b8 22.c6+ f8 23.h6+ g8 cannot be the right way to proceed for Black. ] [ The ' safe' 20...b8 is answered by 21.d2 g6 22.f6 g8 23.dxc5 and we have a new f avou rite in t he gam e wit h Black's rooks inactive. ] 21.xb7 [ Bad is 21.h4? cxd4 22.xb7 b8 23.c6+ f8 ] 21...b8 22.c6+ f8 23.h6+ e7 24.d5 Now that the Black Rooks have taken up active positions White must go for the King. exd5 25.cxd5 xb2 26.c1! Diagram b1?! I played it too quickly. [ Better was 26...a2! keeping the rook on the 2nd rank. After 27.f1 Black can play a4! ] 27.f2! [ This is stronger than 27.0-0 d3 ] 27...c4?! In his notes for the excellent Chess Today, Baburin mentions the variation [ 27...xg2+?! 28.xg2 e4+ 29.f2 xh1 but then after 30.d6+ e6 31.d7! b8 32.xh1 xd7 ] [ However, he does not discuss the m a t e r i a l i s t i c 27...a5! when Black singlemindedly intends to push that pawn.! What is White to do? 28.e1 ( 28.g3 f6 29.e1 fxe5 30.xe5+ f6 31.e6+ f7 ) 28...a4 29.h4 h6! ] 28.a3+ d8 29.xb1 xb1 30.b4 e4 31.g3 g5 32.e3! This is tough for Black to win . W hit e h as excellent co ord ina tio n, a

strong passed pawn and a superior King. Black must somehow get his Rook going, but Baburin never finds a way.... xe5 33.d6 xd5+ 34.xe5 xc6 35.d4 b5 36.c5 a6 37.d6 e8 38.g7 [ 38.f6! ] 38...f5 39.e6 d7+ 40.d5 f7 41.c3 b5 42.e5 g6 43.h4 a4 44.d2 c2 45.c3 d3 46.d2 One of those extremely annoying positions which cannot be won. f7 47.b4 e8 48.d6?! f4! 49.gxf4 f7 50.e5 g6 51.e1 h5 52.f5 c3? [ According to Baburin the last chance lay in 52...a5 after which he gives 53.f6 g6 54.d5 ( 54.e6 a4 55.f7 xf7+ 56.xf7 a3 57.e6 a2 58.c3 xh4 59.d5=; 54.f4 a4 55.g3 a3 56.b4 a2 57.c3= ) 54...f7+ 55.c5= ] 53.xc3 xh4 54.f6 c4 55.d4 f7 56.c5 h5 One that got away from Black's point of view. Returning to the opening 5...Bf5 seems one good way to play against the 4PA . ½-½

462

B03 Conquest,Stuart 2536 Baburin,Alexander 2526 ch-IRL Dublin IRL 13.07.2008 [Alex Baburin (www.chesstoday.net)] Thanks to Alex Baburin for letting me pilfer notes f rom this game from Chess Today. Chess Today (chesstoday.net) is a daily email newsletter that Alex publishes, with tournament reports, annotated games, and ot he r f ea tu res. A le x wa s in a f orc ed -win situation with Black in the last round and relied upon his Alekhine's Defence, as usual. It's interesting that he explains that Stuart Conquest, his opponent, had 'a horrid tournament'. Only a few weeks later, Conquest just finished winning the British Championship! I'll put Baburin's notes in q u o t e s , m y o w n w i t h o u t : 1.e4 f6! 'Stuart himself often plays the Alekhine.' 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 [ 'I saw Stuart playing 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 but I was not worried too much about that line.' ] 4...b6 5.b3 f5! 'This is a clever idea by 467

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 GM Bagirov.' One main line is [ 5...dxe5 6.h5 e6 7.dxe5 a5 8.a4 a6 with the idea ...Nc5, but Alex thought that was too easy for White to play. ] 6.f3 c8 7.e2 [ Alex cites 7.h3 e6 8.g5 e7 9.xf7 f8 10.g5 xc2 11.h5+ g6 12.h3 xg5 13.xg5 d5 14.0-0 c6 15.c3 f7 16.a4 a5 17.a3 g8 18.ac1 d7 19.b5 db8 20.f4 a6 21.g4 ab4 22.e3 e4 Sibarevic - Bagirov, Banja Luka 1976 ] 7...c6 [ And his own game 7...e6 8.g3 dxe5 9.dxe5 c5 10.c4 c6 11.a3 a6 ( 11...d7 12.f4 b8!? 13.a4 presumably favours White.) 12.0-0 c7 13.f4?! ( 13.f4! 0-0-0 14.ad1 ) 13...0-0-0 14.e3 f6 15.exf6 gxf6 16.f2 b4 17.g3 d3 18.fd1 h5 19.d2 h4 20.e2 h3 21.g3 h7 with a clear advantage, Skytte - Baburin, Copenhagen 1999. ] 8.g3 [ Or 8.exd6 cxd6 9.0-0 ] 8...g6 Baburin gives this an '!' - he puts more pressure on e5. 9.f4 g7 10.d2 a5 11.a4 b4 12.0-0 [ 'After 12.c1 I was going to play c5! ' ] 12...0-0! 13.h4? 'White is planning something like Bh6 and Nd2-f3-g5. He does not mind sacrificing a pawn on the queenside, but it turns out that there is more at stake than a pawn.' In fact, W hite is doing reasonably well after 13 Rac1, but a more promising move is [ 13.f3! , intending xc2?! 14.xc2 xc2 15.ac1 b4 16.exd6 ] 13...xc2 14.xc2 xc2 15.ac1 xd4!? [ 'I saw 15...f5!? and it took me a while to decide which line to go for.' The opening has turned out in Black's favour, mainly due to White's mistake on move 13. ] 16.xd4 dxe5 17.b5 exf4 18.xc7 [ 18.xc7 f5 has the ideas ...Bf6 and .. Nd5. ] 18...b8 [ Baburin mentions 18...xa4!? , and ] [ 18...xb2 19.xa8 xa8 20.c2 xa4 21.xe7 b5 would mobilise Black's pawns. ] 19.a6 d8 I think this is probably best.

[ Baburin mentions the computer suggestion 19...d5!? 20.xc8 ( 20.xb8 xb8 ) 20...bxc8 and 'the a6-knight is lost, so Black gets better chances.' ] 20.xb8 xd2 21.fd1? [ 'When I played 13. ..Bxc2, I considered only 21.cd1 b4 22.d7 xd7 23.xd7 f6 - Black can't lose this, but converting his advantage into a full point may not be so easy.' ] 21...b4 22.d7 xd7 23.xd7 xb2 24.b1 e4 25.bd1 f6 26.g4 xa4 27.xb7 g7 28.h3 c8! 29.d7 [ Baburin gives 29.xc8 xd1+ 30.h2 f3!-+ ] 29...xd7 30.bxd7 a8! Black is winning now. 31.d8 a6 32.c8 a4 33.dd8 e6!? 34.f1 a3 35.a8 b2 36.d1 c6 37.e2 c7 38.d3 g5 39.d5 h6 40.a6 e6 41.d3 e5 42.f3 c2+ 43.d2 xd2+ 44.xd2 f5 45.d3 h5 'Black has too many pawns. His plan is simple - to place a pawn to g4 and then move his king to b7. Apart from zugzwang, White will also have to reckon with ideas such as ...e4+!, fxe4 f3!, gxf3 gxh3.' 46.a5 f6 47.a6+ e7 48.c2 g4 49.h6 e4 50.xh5 g3 51.xf5 [ 51.fxe4 fxe4 52.h4 e5 53.b3 e3-+ ] 51...exf3 52.gxf3 f6 A smooth win. 0-1

463 Daulyte,Deimante Nguyen Thu Giang 38th Olympiad w (2) [John Watson]

B03 2278 2101 14.11.2008

This month's Voronezh Variation game has the same moral as so many before: both sides have to know their lines by heart, especially Black. He goes wrong in the opening of too many games in which the opening is perfectly all right according to theory. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 a5 15.e2 b6 16.b4 Certainly a tempting move, although it has been considered relatively harmless. c6 17.b5 d4 18.c6 c5 In this surprising 468

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 position, White's wedge on c6 isn't sufficient f o r a s e r i o u s a d va n t a g e , b o t h b e c a u s e Black's pieces are active and because the move ...a6 will open more lines for him. 19.0-0 [ 19.a4? f5! and Black threatens both 20... Nbd3 21 Rd1 e4, winning and 20...Nxe2 21 Kxe2 Bd3+. ] 19...a6 20.c4 [ The following is based on a John Cox article on the Voronezh in New in Chess, which he kindly sent me: 20.fd1 e6 A) jw 21.g5 axb5 A1) j w : a b e t t e r t r y s e e m s 22.xd4! exd4 23.xe6 fxe6!? 24.xb5 ac8 ( 24...xa2 25.g4 f8 26.c7 c8 27.xc5! bxc5 28.xe6 aa8 29.xc8 xc8 30.c1 d3 31.xc5 d2 32.d5 e5 33.xd2 xc7 34.g3 ) 25.c7 d7 26.a4 dxc7 27.xc7 xc7 28.c4 w i t h a d v a n t a g e , f o r e x a m p l e , e5!? ( 28...a7 29.b1 xa4 30.xa4 xa4 31.b4 c3 32.c4! ) 29.b1 e4 30.xb6 d3 31.d1; A2) 22.xb5 dc8 23.xe6 fxe6 24.a4 cb3 25.b1 a5 26.d3 ab8 27.e4 axc6 28.b5 xb5 29.xb5 d4 30.b2 , about equal; B) 21.c7 dc8 22.xd4 exd4 23.xd4 xc7 24.e3 xc3 25.xc3 axb5 26.xb5 xa2 27.d8+ g7 28.d4+ f6 29.g4 b2 ( 29...xg4 30.d6= ) 30.f1 b3 31.g5 xc3 32.xf6+ f7 33.xc3 e4 34.e5 c5 35.f4 xg5; C) 21.bxa6 xe2+ 22.xe2 dc8 23.xc5 bxc5 24.xc5 xa6 25.xe5 W hite settles for a draw. ( 25.c7 f8 26.d8 d6 o n ly B la ck ca n win .) 25...xe5 26.xe5 cxc6 27.d4 1/2-1/2 Carlsson, P (2473) -Logdahl, H (2237)/Sweden 2001/[Cox] ] 20...e6?! [ I (jw) think that the following line is equal in general, even if I'm only giving a particular move sequence: 20...axb5! 21.xb5 e6 22.fd1 f6! 23.h3 ac8 24.xd4 exd4 25.a4 xa4 26.xa4 c7 27.b1 b5 28.xb5 xa2 29.b4 d5 30.xd4 xc6 31.xc6 xc6 32.xc6 xd1+ 33.h2= ] 21.xe6 cxe6 22.a4 axb5 23.axb5 Black will be plagued by the protected passed c-pawn. a3 24.h1 c7 25.xd4 exd4

26.f4 dxc3?! [ 26...a7 27.xc7 xc7 28.a4 b8 29.b2! f5 30.c4 f7 31.a1 e6 32.a6 ] 27.xc7 d5 28.xb6 xb5 29.c7 a8 30.fd1 f6 31.d4 e7 32.xc3 c8 33.e3 b7 34.f4 f8 35.g4 b4 36.g3 xg4 37.b3 c4 38.b8 e8 39.e1 c6 40.d6 xd6 41.xe8+ 1-0

464 Davies,Nigel R Sinha,K Calcutta [Nigel Davies]

B03

1990

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 [ Here Black can try 6...c6!? in order to prevent White from adopting the Bd3. The drawback is that the knight can be driven away immediately, a game between Ara and Artashas Minasian, Armenian Ch., Erevan 1 9 9 9 g o i n g 7.d5!? e5 8.f4 ed7 ( and not 8...exc4? 9.xc4 xc4 10.a4+ ) 9.d4 e7! 10.xg7 f6 11.g4 ( 11.h6 e7+ 12.d1 c5 gives Black very strong play for the pawn because of the offside position of White's queen.; 11.g3? is a blunder because of h4 ) 11...xc3+ 12.bxc3 f6 with plenty of compensation for the sacrificed pawn. ] 7.d3 c6 8.ge2 g4 9.f3 h5 10.0-0 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d5 e5 13.b3 d7?! Unrealistically hoping for some play on the kingside. [ 13...0-0 was better, intending ...Re8 and ... Bf6. ] 14.e3 f5 15.d4 h5 16.h3 Denying Black any hope of an 'attack'. The initiative starts to change hands. h4 17.e1 a6 18.f4 ed7 19.f3 h5 20.d4 f6 21.xb6 cxb6 22.e2 g8 This was o rigin a lly B la ck' s qu e e n 's kn igh t . 23.e3 0-0-0 24.xb6 f6 25.e4! e7 [ After 25...xa1 White forces mate with 26.xd6+ xd6 27.e8+ d7 28.d8# ] 26.d4 f6 27.c6! [ 27.c6 bxc6 28.dxc6 threatens mate on 469

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30...d2 31.f1 xd4 It's amazing how often in t his varia tio n W h it e ju st f ind s h im s e lf unable to defend this pawn. 32.xd4 xd4 33.xd5 c6 34.b4 e4 35.f4 g5 36.f5 465 B03 b5 37.f2 e7 38.a4 c3 39.a5 d7 Obviously this ending is a little more Degraeve,Jean Marc 2569 40.a6?? Bauer,Christian 2636 comfortable for Black with his bishop and ch-FRA Top 16 GpB (6) 02.04.2005 White's pawn weaknesses, but I would have thought W hite ought to be able to put up a [John Cox] decent fight. Not after this move, though! bxa6 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 41.xa6 d5 Oops - Black unveils his plan ... A rare guest in the games of players of this Kc8-b7xa6 White can do nothing about this. class, although many believe that this move is 0-1 not so bad as its reputation. 5.c4 b6 6.exd6 Rubinstein's 6 e6 is of course the B03 'refutation', although it is noticeable that this 466 has never performed well statistically. exd6 Djurhuus,Rune 2484 7.h3 e7 8.c3 0-0 9.e2 f6 10.0-0 f5 Agdestein,Simen 2588 A tabiya of the exd6 Exchange, although in ch-Playoff Asker NOR (2) 09.07.2000 recent times White's h3 move is more usually [Carsten Hansen] associated with a plan based on d5. 11.f4 e8 12.e1 This position was first reached in 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 Matanovic-Larsen, Palma 1968, in which 5.f4 f5 6.c3 e6 This move order isn't all W hite continued with the normal Rc1. This that common, but it causes no harm for Black, has two points - it enables White to meet ... a n d c a n e v e n g i v e W h i t e a f e w e x t r a Be4 with d5, and it prepares Re1! The game opportu nities to make a f alse step . 7.f3 demonstrates why Degraeve's move is not so This is already a sign that W hite is unsure challenging. b4 Formally a novelty, although about what is going on. The correct move is 7 of course White's last asked for this. 13.c1 Be3, after which 7...dxe5 8 fxe5 transposes to xe2 The point: otherwise Black's last move one of the main lines in Alekhine Four Pawns. wa s a s h o t in t h e d a r k . 14.xe2 d3 [ 7.e3 c6 8.f3 d5 9.c5 c4 10.xc4 15.b3 a5 16.e3 d5 17.c5 a4 18.b5 dxc4 11.a4 d3 12.d2 h4+ 13.g3 d7 19.xd7 xd7 20.g3 g6 21.g5 h5 14.xc4 was played in Koch-Boulard, xg5 22.xg5 f6 23.f3 b8 A classy France 1989. Here Krizsany & Videki move, regrouping the knight to its best square. recommend xc5 15.dxc5 f3 which they The exchanges initiated by Black's 13th move give a s u n cl e a r, b u t in re a l it y B l a c k i s have led to a type of ending quite typical for clearly better. But 14 Kf2 seems to improve this variation, in which White's d-pawn is a on this since a move like 14... 0-0-0 leads little tender and he has to be careful to avoid back to the actual game, which was better becoming worse. 24.c3 xe1 25.xe1 for W hite after 15 Nxc4. Therefore Black c6 26.e2 a5 27.a3 b5 28.xa4 sh o u ld pla y 7 . .. d xe 5 an d t ra nsp o s e a s xb2 White's last few moves have committed mentioned above. ] him to allowing this exchange of pawns, which 7...a6 8.d3 8 Be3 is still worth a try. xd3 is n o t r e a lly ve ry d e sir a b le . I n a n y ca s e 9.xd3 c5 10.dxc5?! Now White has though Black was going to activate his rook already handed over the initiative to Black. unpleasantly with the lift to the b-file via a5. [ 10.d5 can be met with exd5 11.xd5 It would take a better player than me to say dxe5 12.xe5 xd5 13.cxd5 c7 how White ought to have defended, but I can with a good game for Black. ] say that he shouldn't have played 12 Re1! 10...xc5 11.e2 dxe5 12.xe5 f6!? 29.c3 f7 30.g4 This looks like a blunder, but I presume that [ 30.xd5 b1 , of course ] everything has been coolly calculated by b7. ] 1-0

470

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black. [ Alternatively 12...h4+ 13.g3 h3 14.b4 cd7 15.c5 xe5 16.fxe5 d7 17.b5 is better for White. ] 13.h5+ g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.xh8 d4 The point behind 12...f6. Now Black's queen and two knights are alone with White's king. 16.e2?! White makes his own life more difficult than it ought to be. [ 16.f1 e4 17.xe4 xe4 18.xf6 ( or 18.h3 xc4+ 19.g1 e4 20.g3 c5+ 21.f1 c4+ 22.e1 e4+ 23.f1 c4+ with a draw by perpetual check.) 18...d3+ 19.f2 c5+ 20.e1 b4+ 21.f2 c5+ is also a draw. ] [ However, 16.h3 is a different story, e.g. d3+ 17.e2 f2+ 18.xd3 d8+ 19.d5 xd5 20.xe6+ e7+ 21.c3 d4+ 22.b4 d6 23.e1 b6+ 24.a3 xc4 25.b3 d4 and the white majesty has to give up his armed forces to avoid mate. ] 16...xc4+ 17.f3 d5 18.d1 d3 19.g8? [ White's best defense probably was to be found in the following line. 19.xd5 xd5+ 20.g3 f5 21.e3 e5 with great complications. ] 19...e7 20.h7 c6+ Now the white king m e e t s h i s f i n a l h o u r . 21.e2 xg2+ 22.xd3 0-0-0+ 23.c4 xd1 24.xd1 e2+ 0-1

467 Dominguez Perez,Leinier Almeida Quintana,Omar ch KO Santa Clara (2.2) [John Cox]

B03 2658 2452 22.04.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 f5 7.c3 e6 8.e3 c6 9.f3 e7 This has been Black's main defence to the 4PA for many years. In Starting Out: Alekhine's Defence I opined firmly that 'if there is one defence to the 4PA which is not going to be refuted, it is this one. '....... 10.d5 exd5 11.cxd5 b4 12.d4 d7 13.f3 [ 13.e6 and ] [ 13.b3 are alternatives ]

13...c5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.e2 This quiet move had been played before a couple of times, but not by anyone of quite Dominguez' calibre. W hite has rather tended to castle qu e e n sid e a n d go f o r it , b u t Do m i n gu e z doesn't see why he should stick his king right in front of Black's knights and at one end of the open b-file, and it looks to me as though he's right. 0-0 16.0-0 4d5 [ 16...6d5 is the most obvious alternative. Souleidis-Stefanopoulos, Greek Champs 2 0 0 4 , h a d t h e n g o n e 17.xd5 xd5 18.f2 c7 19.ac1 b7 ( 19...xe5 20.xc6 xc6 21.xc6 b4 22.c4 ) 20.fd1 xb2 21.xc6 xc6 22.xc6 b4 23.d4 xa2 24.c7 ae8 25.b5 a5 26.b7 b8 27.xe7 xb5 28.e6 f6 29.g3 g6 30.h4 h5 31.xh5 gxh5 32.c1 d3 33.a1 fe8 34.xf6 xe7 35.xe7 b6 36.h4 xe6 with equality, although clearly only a series of miracles saved Black in this game. ] 17.f2 c7 18.g3 xc3 19.bxc3 c8 20.d3 g6 21.e4 g4 22.f2 d5 By now W hite is obviously better, but to be quite honest I don't know what to suggest for Black. He has one or two alternatives over the last few moves, but they only seem to be rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. W hite has the more act ive pieces a nd is clearly the one who is pressing, even if Black does eventually discover an accurate sequence to let him hang on. 23.c4 c3 24.xc6+- xe4 25.xe7+ g7 26.f4 c5+ 27.f2 [ The naive 27.f2 also looks pretty p ro m i si n g t o m e , b u t D o m in gu e z m u s t have calculated deeply here. ] 27...f5 [ 27...xf2 28.f6+ h6 29.f4+ and mate, of course. ] 28.h4 f6 29.xf5+ gxf5 30.xf5 xe5 31.xe5 fxe5 32.e2 f4 33.g3 c3 34.xe5 xc4 35.f1 xa2 36.e7+ g8 37.ff7 g4 38.f6 g6 39.g7+ xg7 40.xg7+ f8 41.xh7 e8 42.xa7 e2 43.b7 c1 44.b2 f7 45.h8 e8 46.f2+ g6 47.b2 d3 48.d2 e3 49.d4 f3 50.f2 e5 51.g2 f7 52.h3 h7 53.g4 A very worrying game for Alekhine fans. It's pretty hard to improve on Black's 471

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 play right from move nine..... 1-0

468 Dushin,Aleksandr Viktorovi Siewert,Wolfgang EU-ch65 sf08 email [John Watson]

B03 2440 2457 2003

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.exf6 xf6 13.d2 e7 14.ad1 ad8 15.c1 [ This is the almost universally-played move. 15 b3 has been played a few times and likely deserves another look. I see only a few rather irrelevant games with 15.h1!? in my d ata ba se s, bu t I think it stron gly deserves attention. The move is handy in almost every variation (16 Qc1 might follow next, for example), and White sidesteps 15 Qc1 e5!? and removes the king from awkward checks, while preparing Bg1 in some lines.. A few sample lines would be A) 15...h6 16.c1 intending ( 16.e1!? is a good option) 16...g5!? ( 16...h8 17.b3 ) 17.d5! and White takes space and the initiative; B) 15...xd4? 16.xd4 xd4 17.xd4 c5 18.xc5!; C) 15...d7 16.c1 ( or 16.e1!? fd8 17.b3 ) 16...fd8 17.d5 exd5 18.cxd5 b4 19.d4! ( 19.xb6 axb6 20.d4 g6 21.c4 ) 19...xd4 20.xd4 4xd5? 21.de1 e6 22.g4 d6 23.e4 ] 15...e5 This is probably worth an '!'. My earlier presentation has been improved upon by Mark Morss, and I've looked at the position rather deeply (I think!), coming to the conclusion that Black is indeed O.K. An advantage of the move is that it's relatively forcing. Here's a few lines: 16.d5 d4 17.xd4 [ An important option is 17.xd4 exd4 18.xd4 . Then c8! threatens 19... c5 with threats that will win back material, so White should protect e2. For some analysis of this variation, see Andresen-Gilmore. 19.d2 . Then I think that Black has adequate play f o r h i s p a w n , b u t o n l y b a r e l y s o . c6 , but that is not written in stone. ]

17...exd4 18.xd4 g5 19.a1 c5 20.f2 c2 21.de1 xf2! 22.xf2 e3 As in the notes to the game I presented last month. 23.ef1 [ Mark Morss ides extensive analysis (mostly shown below) to establish that Black has enough play after this. He suggests that 23.b3 might improve a bit, but I've checked and extended his own line, concluding that Black can undoubtedly draw, e.g., A) 23...f8?! 24.f3 xf3 25.gxf3 g5+ 26.f1 d3+ 27.ee2 ( 27.e2 d4! ) 27...xf2 28.xf2 just doesn't seem to cut it, e.g., f4 29.g1!; B) 23...xf2+ 24.xf2 e8 25.g1 e3+! 26.h1 d3 27.d6 e5 (thus far Morss) 28.c1 d7 29.d2 e3 30.xe3 xe3 31.g1 ( 31.h4 h5! 32.g1 xe2 33.xe2 e6 ) 31...e6 32.f2 xe2 33.xe2 xd6= ] 23...f8 24.e1 f5?! [ M o r s s ' i m p r o v e m e n t i s 24...xc4! , f o r e xa m p l e , 25.xc4 ( 25.d6 xd6 26.d5 xf2+ 27.xf2 e8 28.xc5 xf1+ 29.xf1 e5 and Black is O.K.) 25...xf2+ 26.xf2 xf2 27.d6+ f7 28.xf7+ xf7 29.c1 d3 30.d1 c4 31.b3 d7 32.bxc4 xc4 I think I've done a thorough enough analysis to prove that this and the preceding is equal. Again, however, it's hard to see where Black can scrape up the slightest winning chances after 24... Nxc4!, which might dissuade some players. ] 25.f3 d3 Black went on to win a back-andf o r t h g a m e , b u t a t t h i s p o i n t , 26.b3! would preserve White's extra pawn and give him good winning chances, [ , instead of 26.d1?! xf2+ 27.xf2 e5 28.xd3 xe1 29.xe1 g5 with a promising game. I think that 15...e5 throws a wrench into White's plans and may get him to look in another direction (see my 16 Kh1!?, for example). ] 0-1

472

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.hxg5 f5 23.xf7 xf7 24.xh7+ g6 B03 25.h3 e5 white is better ] Dzindzichashvili,Roman 2545 18.d6! xd6 19.cxd6 Alburt,Lev O 2560 17...f6 ch Parsippany (4) 1996 White is better because of the strong passed pawn and his annoying pressure on the f7[Alexander Volzhin] square. d7 [ 19...h6?! 20.xf7! xf7 21.xf7+ xf7 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 22.c7+ d7 23.xb7 with advantage ] 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 20.a4! It's very important to keep the bishop 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 [ The immediate 11.c5 was tried once: 6d7 on c4 where it puts great pressure on f7 c6 12.c4 c6 13.f3 a5 14.0-0 xc5 21.fd1 a6 [ 21...h6?! 22.f3 d7 23.b5! fc8 15.b4! xb4 16.d5 Chernyshov - Lucko, 24.c4 with initiative ] 1995, but I don't believe that this sort of 22.f3 ad8 stuff can be good for White ] [ 22...h6!? 23.h3 ( 23.e4 xe4 24.fxe4 11...xd8 12.c5 xe4 25.d7 c6 26.b6 f6 27.c2 ) [ 12.b5?! is too optimistic, as black obtains 23...fd8 24.d2 e4 25.f4 f8 26.f2 ] excellent counterplay after c6! 13.xa7 d4! as was played in Chernyshov - Freisler, 23.xa6! d5 24.f2 with advantage h6 P a r d u b i c e , 1 9 9 2 . N o w W h i t e i s i n b i g 25.h4 fe8 26.c4 xd6 27.d3 d7 trouble. 14.xc8 xc8 15.xd4 28.cd1 ed8 29.e4! g7 30.c5 d6 I can't see any other way to save the a- 31.a5+- f8 32.b4 e7 33.e4 e3 [ 33...6d7 34.b5 ] pawn. exd4 16.a4 d3! 17.b1 ( 17.f3 So as we can see, 9...e5 seems to e8+ 18.d1 a7 19.xd3 ad8 20.c2 34.xd6 c6 21.f1 b4+ 22.b1 h6 ) 17...e7 be Black's best choice in this line. I believe by 18.d2 h6+ 19.c3 b5!! 20.axb5 g7+ a c c u r a t e d e f e n c e B l a c k c a n e q u a l i z e 21.b4 d5+ 22.cxd5 dc8 23.b6 c3+ completely here. But generally the statistics in this line are miserable for Black. This attracts 24.b5 a5# ] White players, so one can expect plenty of 12...6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 d4 [ 14...a5!? is worth considering. 15.e2 new games in this line. ( 15.g5 f8 16.e7 xc4! 17.xf8 xf8 1-0 18.bxc4 xc5 19.0-0 e4 with ample compensation, Honfi - Varga,1994.) 15...b6 B03 16.cxb6 ( 16.b4 c6 17.b5 d4 18.c6 470 c5 Despite the protected passed pawn Emms,John M W hite is not clearly doing well - Black's Davies,Nigel R knights are very strong.) 16...xb6 17.0-0 Redbus rd1 2002 ( 17.b5 d5 18.xa7 f4 ) 17...b7 [Nigel Davies] 18.fd1 c6 19.b5 Zukauskas - Bandza, Lietuva,1997. d5 20.xd5 xd5 21.c7 J o h n E m m s r e c e n t l y r e c o m m e n d e d t h e ad8 22.xd5 xd5 with equal chances , E x c h a n g e V a r i a t i o n f o r W h i t e , a n d i n as 23.xa7? xa7 24.c7 doesn't work: particular with the move 6.Bd3. I have played e4 25.xb7 exf3 26.xf3 c5 ] this way myself, but also defended Black's 15.g5 f8 chances in my recent Alekhine book. So this [ 15...xc5?! 16.xf7 d3+ 17.d2! game became something of a theoretical duel. e6 18.xd8! xc4 19.bxc4 xc1 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 20.xb7 with advantage ] 5.exd6 exd6 6.d3 16.ce4 f5 17.0-0 [ After 6.c3 c6 the Bd3 set-up would not [ 17.xf7!? is not bad either: xf7 18.g5 be possible. ] h6 19.e6 g5! ( 19...f8? 20.xg7! 6...e7 Attempting to show that Black is OK g4 21.e8+winning-[Olsson- even without fancy move orders. Zatterberg]) 20.h4!? e4 21.xg7 xg7 [ In Sulskis - Vasiukov, Moscow 2002, Black 469

473

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 played the immediate 6...c6 and stood well after 7.f3 ( 7.e2 b4 would deny W hite the possibility of retreating his bishop that he took advantage of in the game. ) 7...e7 8.d5 b4 9.e2 a5 10.0-0 0-0 11.e3 f6 12.d4 e8 13.d2 d7 14.c3 c6 etc. ] 7.e2 0-0 8.bc3 c6 9.0-0 e8 I advocated this sensible developing move in t h e b o o k . B l a c k o c c u p ie s t h e e - f i le a n d doesn't commit his minor pieces for the time being. [ 9...g4 10.f3 h5 11.f4 g6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.d5 e5 14.b3 was slightly better for White in Djuric - Miles, Aegina 1993. ] [ For 9...f6 see Sermek - Zelcic. ] 10.b3 [ After 10.a3?! f6 11.e3 g6 12.c2 e7 13.g3 d5 14.c5 d7 15.b4 f8 Black had reorganised his pieces with an exc ellen t game in A tkinson - Fogora si, G ro n in ge n 1 9 8 9 . E m m s' m o ve i s m o r e natural, but nevertheless fails to set the world on fire. ] 10...f8 11.h3 b4 12.e3 c6 13.b1 d5 14.a3 a6 15.c5 d7 16.b4 c7 17.d3 b6! Attacking c5 makes it difficult for White to organise b4-b5. 18.b3 [ 18.b5 bxc5 19.bxc6 b8 is nice for Black. ] 18...e6 19.fd1 a6! 20.cxb6 xb6 21.a4 xa4 22.xa4 d7 23.f4 g6! The equaliser. Black needs to preserve his bad, light-square bishop from exchange so as to cover the c6 pawn. 24.xe6 xe6 25.c2 d6 Neither side has an effective plan. ½-½

The most direct move, threatening Nb5-c7. [ Also f ro m th is m onth : 10.e3!? b4 11.xb6 xb6 12.d2 ( 12.f3 0-0 13.xc4 e8 ) 12...0-0 13.f3 ( 13.xc4 ) 13...f5 14.xc4 d7 15.a3 c7?! ( 15...xc3 16.xc3 fe8 ) 16.axb4 ( 16.b5! ) 16...xc4 17.d4? xe5! 18.xc4 xc4 19.0-0-0 a5 20.b5 a4 21.d4 fc8 22.g4 d7 23.e1? ( 23.d2 d6! and Black stands better) 23...a3 (a n d win s) 24.bxa3 xa3 25.c2 d6 26.e3 xb5 27.dd3 xg4 28.b2 axc3 29.xc3 xc3 30.xc3 d8 31.e5 f5 0-1 Blahynka-Markovic, Brno CZE 2009. ] [ 10.f3 is the old main line, worked out in incredible detail in the books. Black apparently stands well enough after b4 , but you'll have to check the Archives! ] 10...e6 Considered best by Cox. The older move is [ 10...c6 11.f3 ( 11.b5 h4+ 12.g3 e4+ 13.e2 xh1 14.g5 f6?! was shown in Bender-Rogulj in the Archives, as was the alternative e6 15.d7+ xd7 16.0-0-0+ c8 but here 16...Nd5 should be tested, I think) 11...g4 12.f4 , and now g5!? 13.e4 gxf4 14.f6+ xf6 15.exf6 0-0-0 16.c1 e8+ was Bryson, D -Luther, T Bled 2002 in the Archives. ] 11.f3 c6 12.e2 [ 12.b5 is critical: c8 13.g5 d7 14.a4 ( 14.bd4 may be better) 14...h6 15.e3 d5 Movsesian-Luther, Istanbul 2003 and neither Cox nor Martin (in the Archives) comments upon the game's 16 Bf 2, but White seems to have a nice advantage after 16 Qd2, or an even bigger one after 16.xa7! . Then db4 17.e2 g6 18.0-0 471 B03 g7 19.d2 leaves White a clear pawn ahead. ] Esserman,Mark 2391 Yermolinsky,Alex 2522 12...d7! Cox suggests this. [ 12...g6 was given by Martin, but Cox points Copper State Int (4) 31.05.2009 out that 13.g5 d7 14.f6 g8 15.g5 [John Watson] is basically winning. ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 13.a4 a6!? [ 13...b6 covers key squares. ] 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.c3 exd5 9.cxd5 c4 The archives have some material 14.f4! g6 [ 14...h6 is safer, but also slow. ] on this line, but I haven't shown a game with it yet. I'm a little surprised that Yermo would risk 15.g5? [ 15.g5 b6 16.0-0-0 retains the pressure i t v e r s u s a l o w e r - r a t e d p l a y e r . 10.d6 474

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black can try h6 17.f6!? xf6 18.exf6 0-0-0 19.xc4 b8! with some counterplay, although Black lacks full compensation. The idea is 20.xe6 ( 20.he1! f5!? 21.xf7 b4 22.a3! d3+ 23.xd3 xd3 24.e5 ) 20...e3+ 21.d2 xe6 ] 15...b5 16.xe6 fxe6 17.c2 g7! [ 17...dxe5 18.d7+! is messy. ] 18.0-0 0-0 19.g4 h8 20.d2 cxe5 [ or 20...dxe5 21.xe6 d3 ] [ After 20...cxe5 21.xe6 d3 , Black seems to stand well. ] ½-½

19.fd1 e4 20.e1 ) 19.e1 f6 ( 19...de5 20.f3 b4 21.fxe4 xa2 22.c2 b4 23.d2 a6 24.e2 fxe4 25.f4 , but there are countless options here; 19...h7 20.f3 ) 20.f3 h7 21.d1 with some advantage.; C) 17.d6 f5 18.c4+ h7 C1) 19.h4!? f6 20.d1 f4 ( 20...e4 21.d4 e5 22.e2 ) 21.c1 e4 22.g1; C2) 19.f7 e8 20.h4 ( 20.d6 d8!= ) 20...f6 C2a) a draw results from 21.h5 xh5 22.3g5+ hxg5 23.xg5+ h6 ( 23...h8 24.f7 ) 24.f7+ h7 472 B03 25.g5+=; C2b) 21.d6 d8 22.d1 f4 FORUM Voronezh Bb5/..Nc6 C2b1) 23.c1 can lead to the same N,N key line, but also to a nice pawn sac [John Watson] f o r B l a c k : e4 24.d2 ( 24.g1 h5 25.e2 f3 26.gxf3 exf3 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 27.f4 transposes to my main line) 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 24...g4 25.f3 exf3 26.gxf3 0-0 9.b3 e5 a n d n o w C r a i g ' s m o v e h5! [ In Horvath-Chetverik, I've examined 9...e6 ( 26...c8 27.f2 ) 27.xb7 e8+ and ] 28.f2 e3 29.he1 ( 29.hf1 [ 9...6d7 ] d4 ) 29...ae8 with excellent 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 compensation, a line I worked out in 13.c4 c6 14.f3 a5 15.b5 c6 detail to a number of dead equal 16.e4 Here's the move that was suggested positions; to revive White's fortunes. Previously, we'd C2b2) 23.d2 e4 24.g1! h5 looked at ( 24...g4 25.f3 exf3 26.gxf3 h5 [ 16.d5 ] 27.xf4 b6! is interesting, although I [ and 16.d1 ] think W hite has the chances after 16...f5 28.cxb6 axb6 29.h2! ) 25.e2 f3 [ Mark Morss originally intended 16...d4 26.gxf3 exf3 27.f4 xf4 28.xf4 here, but in a correspondence game, b4 ( 28...c3+ 29.f1 d4 someone found 17.c4! xf3+ 18.gxf3 30.b4! ) 29.a3 c2+ 30.f1 xa3 against him, when White's bishops seem to 31.d3 e6 32.h5 and Black is more than make up for his pawn structure. under considerable pressure, e.g., Mark thinks that White is indeed better, and xb3 33.hxg6+ g8 34.c1 d7 after f8 19.d6 e6 20.e2 35.h3 a5 36.xh6 ] and Rhd1, for example, Black seems to be 17.c4+ f8 18.eg5 f6 19.f7 e8 running out of ideas. ] [ But my original instinct was to call White's 20.d6 e7 21.0-0 e4 [ a) Craig Evans analyses 21...f4 22.d2 bluff by 16...h6 , which was suggested by Ig g4 23.c3 xf3 24.gxf3 d4 25.g2 and analysed by TonyRo. I'll mix in my notes e8 26.fe1 xd6 27.cxd6 d7 28.xd4 as well: exd4 29.b5 xd6 30.c7 ] A) 17.c4 a5 18.e2 ( 18.d5 f6 [ b ) T h e b e s t l i n e s e e m s t o b e 21...b8 19.xf6+ xf6 20.d1 g7 ) 18...f5 and here's some fairly random analysis it 19.d6 c6 20.c4+ h7 transposes; seem s t hat W h ite ha s a n e dge : 22.cd1 B) 17.0-0 f5 18.d6 e4 ( 18...h7 475

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (to allow Bc1, maybe) ( 22.g5 d7!? 23.fd1 h6 24.f3 g5 25.h4 g4 26.e1 f4 27.d2 ) 22...e6 ( 22...h6?? 23.h4 ) 23.xe6 xe6 24.a3 e4 25.g5 ( 25.d4 ) 25...e7 26.b4 e5 ( 26...h6 27.h3 ) 27.d4 h6 28.xe5 xe5 29.h3 g5 30.f4 exf3 31.xf3 with the idea f4 ( 31...g4 32.f4! ) 32.f2 ( 32.g3 ) 32...g8 33.h4!? f8 34.hxg5 hxg5 35.g3 fxg3 ( 35...h5 36.g4 ) 36.xf6 gxf2+ 37.xf2 xd6 38.dxd6 be8 39.d7 and White will win material ] 22.g5 d7 [ 22...e5 23.c6! xc4 24.xc4 b6 25.d1 h6 26.h3 g5 27.c1 a6 28.a3 xc4 29.xc4 f7 30.xe7 xe7 31.d6 e8 32.xf5+ f6 33.g3 [Ig and Craig Evans] ] [ 22...h6 23.xc8 ( 23.gf7 g4 24.f4 ge5 25.xe5 xe5 26.fd1 g5 27.xe5 xe5 28.b4 ) 23...xc8 24.e6+ g8 25.f4 h7 26.d6 d7 27.fd1 ( 27.h3 ) 27...e8 28.a3 ] 23.xb7 h6 24.h3 g5 . This is analysis by Kam. At this point, I think the right move is 25.fd1! (suggested by someone!) [ C r a i g E v a n s g a v e t h e s i m i l a r 25.cd1 when, mixing his analysis with mine, we get A) 25...e5?! 26.c6! xc6 27.a5 xc4 ( 27...d7 28.c5 ) 28.xc6 xe3 29.fxe3 and f5 hangs; B) 25...f4 26.xf4 gxf4 27.xf4 e5 28.d6 , again with 3 pawns for the piece and pressure.; C) 25...c8 26.d6 c7 27.b5 c8 28.xd7 xd7 ( 28...xd7 29.d6 c7 30.xf5 ) 29.d6 xd6 30.cxd6 f4 31.c5 with the upper hand. ] 25...f4 I can't see anything better for Black. [ 25...e5 26.d6 ] 26.xf4! gxf4 [ 26...xh3 27.d6 g4 ( 27...c8 28.xe7+ xe7 29.d6 e5 30.xc8+ xc8 31.b4 e8 32.a3 ) 28.e1 e5 29.b5 f7 30.xe7+ xe7 31.f3 with a very large advantage. ] 27.xf4 e5 28.d6 and not only does W hite have three pawns for the piece, but Black's position is rather sad. OK, that was a bit patchwork, but it might be nice to have this all in one file!

473 Fish,Andrew Sharp,Peter 4NCL 1999-2000 (4) [Nigel Davies]

B03

1999

White has often tried defending his d-pawn with Bc1-e3 in this line, but here he must be ready to meet ...c7-c5. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 g6 7.c3 g7 8.e3 0-0 [ Black has also played 8...c5 immediately though here White has a dangerous lead in d e v e l o p m e n t a f t e r 9.dxc5 xd1+ ( 9...6d7 10.e6 fxe6 11.f3 a5 12.c1 xc5 13.d4 e5 14.xe5 xe5 15.xe5 d3+ 16.xd3 xe5+ 17.e2 left White with the better pawn structure in Lasker Sidney Bernstein, New York (Simultaneous Display) 1928) 10.xd1 6d7 11.b5 a6 12.e6 e5 ( 12...fxe6 13.b4 ) 13.exf7+ xf7 14.h3 f8 15.e2 g8 16.f1 when White was still a pawn up in Mujagic - Neckar, Prague 1982 ] 9.f3 [ 9.d2 invites Black to play c5 under even more favourable conditions in Erturan Eriksson, European U20 Ch., Patras 1999 ] 9...c5 10.d5?! Having first put the bishop on e3, this makes little sense. [ But 10.dxc5 xd1+ 11.xd1 6d7 12.e6 ( 12.d5 c6 13.b4 e6 14.c7 b8 15.b5 cxe5 gave Black a good game in Greiff - Johansson, Swedish Open Ch., Vaxjo 1992 )] 10...g4 11.f4? And this belated attempt to fortify e5 loses a tempo compared with lines without the move Bc1-e3. [ Borges - Sigrist, Sao Paulo Open 1995 continued 11.xc5 xe5 12.h3 g3+ 13.f2 xf2+ 14.xf2 xf3 15.xf3 with a reasonable game ] 11...8d7 12.e2 b8! 13.e4 xf3 14.gxf3 xe5 Leaving Black a pawn up with a go o d p o sit io n . W h it e tries t o com p lic a t e matters by donating more material. 15.h6 e8 16.0-0-0 f6 17.e3 bd7 18.h4 d4 19.xd4 cxd4 20.xd4 e5 21.d2 f5 22.h5 xh5 23.h3 xf3 24.g2 g3 25.e4 g4 26.g5 df6 27.h4 xe4 28.xe4 g1+ 29.c2 ac8 30.d3 476

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b5 31.b3 a1 32.e3 bxc4 33.bxc4 xa2+ 34.d1 a1+ 35.e2 e6 36.d6 b8 37.f3 e5+ 38.e3 ed8 0-1

19.c7 xe3 20.fxe3 a7 21.b4 b7 22.fd1!? Black is tied up, so [ 22.d5 makes sense (threatening Ne7+), with the idea xd5? 23.xc8+ d8 24.c4 dd7 25.g5 ] 22...xd1+ 23.xd1 g4 [ 23...d6! 24.d5 e6 keeps White's 474 B03 advantage limited. ] Gara,Anita 2312 Grunberg,Sergiu Henric 2300 24.h3 xf3 25.xf3 c5!? 26.d8+ f8 TCh-HUN 2008-9 (9) 01.03.2009 27.c8 d7 28.d5 Apart from his betterplaced pieces, W hite's queenside majority [John Watson] can advance with effect. g7 29.e2?! [ 29.g4! d isco u ra ge s f5?! 30.gxf5 gxf5 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 31.e4 winning the light squares. ] 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 29...f5 30.c6 a5? 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 [ Black should try to draw a bishops of [ I'm surprised that 11.c5 is so rare probably o p p o s i t e c o l o u r s e n d i n g a f t e r 30...e4! players who are attracted to slow moves 31.xa6?! ( 31.a3! ) 31...xa6 32.xa6 such as Be3 and Rc1 like to get the queens f6! 33.xf6 xf6 ] off. ] 11...xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 31.b5 b7 32.b6 c5 33.c4 g5 34.c7 e7 35.e8+ h8 36.c8 xb6 37.d6+ a5 15.e2 g7 38.g8+ [ 15.b5 ] 1-0 15...b6 16.cxb6 [ We saw 16.b4 in Daultye-Nguyen Thu Giang from last year's Olympiad it 475 B03 shouldn't achieve anything. ] 16...xb6 17.b5 Gruenfeld,Yehuda [ From the Archives: 17.0-0 b7 18.fd1 Ljubojevic,Ljubomir c6?! ( 18...xd1+ 19.xd1 c8 20.b5 (izt) Riga 1979 d5 is fine according to Cox. Then White [Alexander Volzhin] seems to get just a little something out of 21.d2 c2 22.d3 xa2 23.b4 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 , but then comes e4! 24.xe4 c4 25.e1 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.c3 exd5 cb6 and there's no more doubt about 9.cxd5 c4 10.f3 Main line. g4 11.d4! equality. ) 19.b5 xd1+ 20.xd1 b4 xf3 12.gxf3 b4 13.xc4 21.d6 ( He re Co x cla im s t h a t 21.a4 [ 13.g4 is too optimistic xd5 14.xg7 "would have left White decidedly better."; f8 with advantage to black ] 21.c5 was played in K Martin-Cox - see the 13...0-0 14.g1 A very natural and strong Archives. ) 21...c6 Yandemirov-Konnov, move, but not the only one! Kazan 2008, and now 22.a4! is a good idea. [ 14.h6!? is very interesting 4d5 23.c1! d7 24.xb6! xb6 25.a5 A) 14...gxh6 15.e6 f6 16.d6 xc4 17.e7 c8 26.c7 is no fun. ] H o w s t r o n g wh i t e ' s p a wn s a r e ! ! ! e8 17...d5?! 18.g1+ h8 19.g4 f7 ( 19...f7 [ I n a n e a r l i e r u p d a t e w e s a w 17...b7! 20.xc4! ) 20.g8+! winning; 18.0-0 ( 18.xa7 d5 ) 18...d5 B) 14...8d7! the only move, as capturing with apparent equality. ] the bishop loses by force: 15.g1 g6 18.0-0!? 16.e6 e5! is very messy ] [ 18.d2 b7 19.c4 of Cioara-Hudecek, 14...g6 Pardubice 1998 probably favours White. ] [ 14...c7? leads to a quick mate: 15.e6 f6 18...a6 16.h6 xc4 17.xg7+ h8 18.g8+!! [ 18...a6! improves. ] 1-0, Luboevich - Honfi, 1970 ] 477

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.g5 This move and the following rook sacrifice are the only way to f ight for the advantage. [ 15.h6 is a mistake: this bishop is much better than the rook! c6 16.e4 xe5! and black is already better 17.xf8 xf8 18.b5 c5 19.0-0-0 xc3 20.bxc3 xc3+ 21.c2 a1+ 22.d2 xf3+ 23.e3 xd5+ with an unstoppable attack, Gibbs - Stewart, 1972 ] 15...c7 16.b3 c5 17.f4 xg1 Taking the rook gives white a strong attack, but the alternative is worse: [ 17...e8 18.f6 8d7 19.e4 xe5 20.xg6+!! Nice, isn't it? ] 18.d6 c5! The only defence, as [ 18...c8 allows white to castle ( I wanted to write "to castle queenside", but just in time I realised that with one rook sacrificed white has no choice! ) with a strong attack, for example: 19.0-0-0 c5 20.e6 fxe6 21.e5 d5 22.d7!! and white wins, as was pointed out by Bronstein ] 19.e4 d4 20.d1 xb2 21.e6?! In such crazy positions one mistake is enough to lose a game. In my opinion, this move is such a mistake! I think white missed black's next move, but in his defence, it's not too difficult to blunder in such positions! [ 21.f6+ should be played. I analysed this position and couldn't understand who was better! One variation: h8 22.d2 a1+ 23.e2 If you are tired already, you should u s e t h is o p p o rt u n i t y t o t a ke a d r a w b y repetition ( 23.d1 b2 24.d2 ) 23...c6 24.h4 h5 ( 24...xe5+ 25.f1 h5 26.xh5+winning ) 25.xh5 d4+ 26.xd4 xd4 27.f6+ g8 28.f4 f2+ 29.xf2 xf2 30.xg6 fe8 31.xf2 with an unclear position! ] 21...8d7! 22.e7 the rook is attacked, but black has such a big material advantage, that he can easily ignore this! xh2! 23.exf8+ xf8 24.xh2 White has nothing better, he has to go into an ending two pawns down.. xh2 25.f6+ g7 26.xd7 xd7 27.e7 Hoping for counterplay after 28.Ba4, but b8! 28.f2 e5 29.c1 c5! The final finesse in this excellent game! 30.d1 f6 31.xf6+ xf6 32.c4 d8 33.g3 a6 34.f1 e5

35.f4+ e6 36.c4+ f6 37.f3 b5 0-1

476 Hamdouchi,Hicham Garcia KUTXA Donostia ESP (2) [John Watson]

B03 2589 2465 08.07.2009

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 The normal move. [ Black won a recent miniature following 12.b5 c6! 13.xa7 d4! 14.xc8 xc8 ( or 14...dxc8 ) 15.xd4 exd4 16.a4 d3 17.d1?! d6! 18.xd3 f5 19.e2 d4+ 20.f1 xb3 21.d1 xa4 22.g3 b5 0-1 Chauca, J -Lima, J, Rio de Janeiro BRA 2009. ( because White loses another p a w n d u e t o 22...b5 23.cxb5? ad4 24.e2 xd3! 25.xd3 c1+ )] 12...6d7 13.f3 c6 14.c4 a5 15.e2 b6 16.a4 [ 16.cxb6 xb6 17.0-0 b7 with equality is Yandemirov Alek, V (2461) -Konnov, O (2325)/Kazan RUS 2008 in the Archives. ] 16...xc5 17.xc5 bxc5 18.xc5 We've seen this before more than once. e4 [ 18...b7 19.c7 d6 is also okay, only a bit better for White after 20.0-0 ] 19.d2 b7 20.c6!? [ Maybe a conservative move such as 20.c2 would keep more chances on the board. ] 20...d6 21.0-0 f5?! [ 21...e6 22.a6 d5 23.d1 is perhaps a tad better for W hite, so more accurate seems ] [ 21...b7! 22.c7 e5! 23.fc1 ac8 24.xc8 xc8 25.xc8+ xc8 ] 22.xe4 b7 [ 22...xe3 23.fxe3 presents Black with a few potential problems on the f-file, as well as leaving him a pawn behind. This happens in the game. ] 23.f6+ xf6 [ White has similar chances after 23...h8 24.c7 xg2 ( 24...xe3?! 25.fxe3 xg2 26.f2! ) 25.xg2 xe3+ 26.fxe3 d2 27.f3 xf6 28.xf7 ] 478

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.xf6 xe3?! [ 24...g7! 25.g5 d4 traps White's rook. T h is h e lp s , a lt h o u g h B la ck ca n 't win i t without allowing W hite a favourable exchange-down position with the bishop pair: 26.c1 h6 ( 26...e8 27.c4 f8 28.a6!? ) 27.c7 d5 28.xf5 gxf5 29.e3 b4 30.c5 d8 31.a5 b7 32.f3 g6 33.f2 and it's about even, but perhaps easier to play White. ] 25.fxe3 d2 [ This allows the rooks in, but defending f7 ties Black down: 25...d7 26.c4 f8 27.g4! g7 28.1f4 , etc. ] 26.xf7 d5 27.7f2 xa2 28.c4! a5 [ Or 28...xc4 29.xa2 xf1 30.xf1 ] 29.b4! [ 29.a2!? c5 30.xd5+ xd5 31.fa1 d7 32.a6 b7 33.1a3 ] 29...xc4 30.bxa5 xf1 31.xf1 e8 32.f2?! This is passive. White should activate by [ 32.b1! xe3 ( 32...e7 33.a6 and Rb7 ) 33.b7 a3 34.xa7 ] 32...e5 33.a1 a6 Now Black's rook is active and White's tied down. 34.a4 f7 35.f3 b5 36.h4 [ 36.g4!? ] 36...h5 37.g4 hxg4+ 38.xg4 f6 39.e4 e5 40.f3 h5 41.g4 e5 42.f4 g5+ 43.hxg5+ xg5 44.a2 b5 45.a3 e6 46.a4 h5 White can't make progress. ½-½

477 Hanley,James L Summerscale,Aaron Middlesex vs Young England (2) [John Watson]

B03 2213 2493 10.07.2007

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 [ The immediate 11.c5 was tried once: 6d7 12.c4 c6 13.f3 a5 14.0-0 xc5 15.b4! xb4 16.d5 Chernyshov - Lucko, 1995, but I don't believe that this sort of stuff can be good for White ] 11...xd8 12.c5 [ 12.b5?! c6! 13.xa7? d4!

wa s an alyze d in th is co lu mn , f ollo win g Chernyshov - Freisler, Pardubice, 1992. White couldn't even get out of the opening. ] 12...6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 a5!? It takes a g time to master this system (the Voronezh), and I certainly haven't. This move seems a bit odd, releasing pressure on the key d4 square and inviting b4, and yet it has done reasonably well. Two other moves given on ChessPublishing are: [ (a) 14...h6 15.0-0 ( 15.e4 ) 15...d4 a n d i n s t e a d o f 1 6 B xd 4 ? , I s u g g e s t e d 16.e4! xf3+ 17.gxf3 f8 18.d6 f5 19.f4! with advantage. ] [ (b) 14...d4 15.g5 f8 16.ce4 f5 17.0-0 ( or 17.xf7!? - Volzhin ) 17...f6 18.d6! xd6 19.cxd6 Dzindzichashvili, R -Alburt, L (2560)/Parsippany 1996 ] 15.b5!? This may be best. [ W e've seen 15.e2 b6 16.cxb6 xb6 before, when Black has plenty of play, as well as ] [ 15.g5 f8 16.e7 xc4! 17.xf8 xf8 18.bxc4 xc5 19.0-0 e4 "with ample compensation", Honfi - Varga, 1994. ] 15...f8 [ An attractive line is 15...a6 16.e2 c6 17.d1 d4 18.xd4! exd4 19.xd4! xd4 20.xd4 and Ne4 will follow, with more than enough compensation. ] 16.0-0 [ 16.e4 is also promising. ] 16...h6 [ 16...e6 17.fd1 takes the file just in time, and d4 is virtually refuted by ( 17...c6 18.xd8+ cxd8 19.e4 ) 18.xd4 exd4 19.g5! ] 17.e4 d7 18.xd7?! [ I like 18.e2! with the idea e6 19.d6 ] 18...xd7 19.b4 c6 20.b5 e7 Black has just about equalised. 21.c4? [ 21.fd1 ad8 22.xd7 xd7 23.d6 e6= ] 21...f5 22.c3 [ Now 22.d6 e6 favours Black. ] 22...c8 With the idea ...Ne6. Things have gone very wrong for W hite. 23.a4 e6 24.b1 d3 25.e1 d7 26.f1 g5 27.c2 f4 28.c1 d1+ 29.e2? h1 30.h3 f7 White is tied up and lost. 31.c6 bxc6 32.b6 axb6 33.xb6 b8 34.cb4 479

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 35.a4 c5 36.c4 xc1 37.xc1 xb6 38.a5 a6 39.a4 f6 40.a3 d6 41.f3 d8 42.c4 xc4 43.cxc4 xa5 44.xa5 xa5 45.a4 c3 46.d3 d4 47.e4 g7 48.a6 h5 49.xh6 g3+ 50.d3 f5 51.h7+ g6 52.c7 e3 0-1

478 Hofmann,Paul Khenkin,Igor ZDMI Open Dresden GER (4) [Gawain Jones]

B03 2382 2632 13.07.2010

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 John did a lot of work on the mainlines with 6.Nc3 but my eye was drawn b y t h e f o llo win g ga m e in wh ich a st ro n g Grandmaster was defeated with the more unusual 6.d5!? which has only been played 235 times in Mega2010 compared to 3196 w i t h 6 . N c 3 ! g6 And Khenkin replies with another sideline. This is actually the move which 6.d5 was intended to dissuade. John Cox even gives 6...g6 a question mark but as we shall see things aren't so clear. [ 6...e5 is the mainline. 7.c3 A) 7...f5 8.f4!? The most aggressive attempt. ( Instead 8.f3 e7 9.e2 0-0 10.0-0 a6 11.b3 d7 12.a3 g6 13.c1 c7 was Waitzkin, J-Stripunsky, A N e w Y o r k 1 9 9 8 wh i c h w a s a g r e e d dra wn a f e w m o ve s la t e r b u t h e re h e missed a chance with 14.xe5! xe5 15.f4 d7 16.f5 when White has a small edge. ) 8...8d7 9.f3 ( 9.e2 m i g h t b e m o r e a c c u r a t e a s t h e n c8 would allow 10.g4! ) 9...c8 10.b3 f6 11.e2 exf4 12.d4 h4+ 13.f1 g6 14.d2 was complex and had similarities to a King's Gambit! Czebe, A-Pesotsky, V Plovdiv 2008.; B) 7...a5 8.f3 ( 8.d3 e7 9.ge2 so as to be able to meet ...f5 with f4 is the normal treatment.) 8...a6 9.e2 e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.b3 f5 12.e3 d7 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 f5 and Black had started to take the initiative. Fuellgrabe, T-Bagirov, V Berlin 1995.; C) 7...e7 8.d3 ( 8.e2 is unusual yet

was Kaidanov's choice and resulted in rough equality after 0-0 9.f3 g4 10.d2 d7 11.0-0 f5 12.b3 c7 13.a5 Kaidanov, G-Leininger, R Dallas 1996. ) 8...0-0 9.ge2 f5 ( 9...6d7 was another very recent attempt 10.0-0 f5 11.c2 g6 12.h1 a6 13.a3 b6 14.b3 c7 15.f4 exf4 16.xf4 g5 17.d2 xf4 18.xf4 Biti, O-Runic, Z Zagreb 2010 and it was clear White had w o n t h e o p e n i n g b a t t l e .) 10.b3 Is the tabiya of this variation and W hite should do well to study this position should he want to play 6.d5!? C1) 10...a6 was essayed by none other than top English Grandmaster Mickey Adams although 11.0-0 d7 ( 11...c5 12.c2 a5 13.f4 e4 14.e3 bd7 15.d4 f6 16.h3 and I prefer W hite with his control over the dark sq u a r e s. S h a b a l o v, A - D o r r, C U S A 1994. ) 12.f3 c8 13.e3 ( 13.a4!? ) 13...c5 14.c2 a5 15.d2 f6 Landenbergue, C-Adams, M Garmisch P a r t e n k i r c h e n 1 9 9 4 w h e n 16.c1 gives White a small advantage. All these positions resemble a Kings Indian more than any 1.e4 opening.; C2) 10...a5 11.0-0 a6 12.f4 d7 13.e3 dc5 14.c2 f6 was rather co m p le x in Fo ssa n , E -Agd e s t e in , S Drammen 1994 but perhaps he should have now played 15.fxe5 forcing xe5 16.a3 with an intriguing battle between Black's kingside attacking chances and White's better structure.; C3) 10...8d7 has been Zelcic's choice but he hasn't scored well. 11.0-0 C3a) 11...e4 was his first attempt but after 12.c2 C3a1) 12...f6 was Krasenkow's attempt at an improvement but following 13.f4 ( 13.b1!? with the idea of Nb5-d4 seems to f avour W hite .) 13...exf3 14.xf3 e5 15.f1 g6 16.b1 e8 17.h3 d7 18.d4 he failed to beat his lower rated opponent. Huschenbeth, N-Krasenkow, M Germany 2007; C3a2) 12...e5 13.d4 f6 14.f4 exf3 15.gxf3!? g6 16.f4 d7 480

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.h1 looks like a good Kings I n d i a n f o r W h i t e b u t xd4?! 18.xd4 f6 19.a3 was decidedly loose. Biti, O-Zelcic, R Rabac 2003.; C3b) 11...h8 12.b1 f4 Of course Zelcic realised that he was ceding the e4 square forever but hopes to get enough activity to compensate. However, I'm far f rom convinced... 13.f3 c5 14.c2 a5 when I think W h i t e s h o u l d h a v e t r i e d 15.b5 ( 15.a3 was played in Tazbir, M-Zelcic, R Warsaw 2005, when a4 16.b4 b3 would have given Black decent counterchances.) 15...d7 16.ec3 with a more comfortable position. ] [ 6...e6 has also been played quite often wh en S h irov trie d t he in te restin g 7.a4!? ( Instead 7.c3 has been played in almost every game that reached this position.) 7...exd5 8.cxd5 e7 9.a5 6d7 10.f3 0-0 11.e2 b6 I think Black will have to look for improvements here as 12.0-0 bxa5 13.d2 b6 Shirov, A-Degraeve, J G e r m a n y 2 0 0 9 14.xa5! would have left S h i r o v wi t h a p r o m i s i n g e d g e a s xb2 15.b5 a2 16.d4 looks pretty terrible for Black. ] [ 6...8d7 was looked at in the archives by Andrew Martin and has attracted the intention of Nakamura. A) Instead 7.e3 was tried in the game between the two strong young Americans. g6 8.d2 f6 ( 8...e5 9.b3 g4 10.d4 h6 11.b2 0-0 ) 9.c3 A1) Nakamura is trying to delay 9...g7 t o l e s s e n t h e i m p a c t o f 10.h6?! but this would be premature as xh6 11.xh6 c7 12.c1 ( 12.b3 bxd5! would exploit the dark square holes in W h i t e ' s p o s i t i o n .) 12...c5 looks comf ortable f or Black as c4 is vulnerable.; A2) 9...d7 I don't particularly like this move. 10.d3 g7 11.d4 0-0 12.ge2 e5 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.0-0 e5 15.e3 was complex but I think White must have had an edge. Hess, RNakamura, H Connecticut 2007.; B) 7.b3 f6 8.b2 g6 9.d3 g7 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 is given as a little

better for W hite by Martin and Baburin, who observe that Black has no good pawn breaks. Landa, K-De Jonghe, B Belgium 2005. ] 7.d4 g8 So Black can no longer castle but he will now gain time against White's queen in order to gain some time in development. [ 7...f6 has been more common here for some reason but looks very ugly to me. 8.c3 ( 8.h4!? Hoffmann, P-Zrilic, B Rijeka 2010 was Hoffman's choice in a previous ga m e , a ls o f r o m t h i s ye a r .) 8...g7 9.ge2!? ( I can't see anything wrong with 9.f3 ) 9...e5 10.dxe6 c6 11.d1 xe6 12.f4 xc4?! 13.xc4 xc4 14.0-0 and Black's light squares were too vulnerable. Olesen, M-Andersen, P Copenhagen 1995. ] 8.h4 h5 [ 8...h6 is the alternative way of defending the h pawn. These positions are quite fresh, our main game being the first one in which a titled player has tried 6...g6 as far as I can see. 9.c3 f5 ( 9...a6!? ) 10.f3 Fazekas, M-Sull, G Hungary 2001 when instead of 8d7 which allowed ( 10...g7 should have been tried when Black has decent chances, for instance: 11.e3 a4! 12.xa4 a5+ 13.c3 xc3+ 14.d2 xd2+ 15.xd2 b6 and Black is certainly no worse. ) 11.d4 ] 9.d2 Finally the novelty although to be honest I quite like Black's chances here. [ The only other game to have reached this position that I can find was between two low rated players. That continued with 9.d3 Miturova, M-Janouchova, M Sec u Chrudimi 2008 but that appears to be an immediate inaccuracy as Black will be able to gain time on the bishop following a6 ] 9...a6 10.e2 [ Hoffmann is hoping to react with Bc3 to any ...Bg7 but due to the next note perhaps he should have played 10.c3 although after g7 Black's completely fine. ] 10...c5 [ 10...a4! looks problematic for White who must sacrifice his b2 pawn although after 11.f3 ( 11.b3 g7 is the problem.) 11...xb2 12.0-0 f5 I don't really see sufficient compensation. ] 481

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.c3 g7 12.b4 [ 12.b3 was more circumspect. ] 12...ca4 13.c1 xc3 14.xc3 xc3+ [ 14...h6! would have left Black in control: 15.d1 a5! 16.bxa5 a4 17.b4 g7 18.d3 xa5! ] 15.xc3 a5 16.b5 e5 17.g3 a4 18.a3 h4 [ 18...c5 immediately is more accurate as t h e n f o l l o w i n g 19.e3 ( 19.f3 e4 must favour Black.) 19...g4 and Black is doing well. ] 19.e3 c5 20.f3 f6 21.d2 [ 21.d4!? might well be more accurate as then b6 doesn't look so convincing. ] 21...b6 22.b3 xb3? A surprising error by such a strong player and shows that Khenkin was having a bad day. [ 22...d7 would still have left Black with a p e r f e c t l y p l a y a b l e p o s i t i o n a s 23.g4 can be dealt with by f4= ] 23.axb3! Now White can open up the position a n d t h u s B la c k' s is o la t e d kin g su d d e n l y becomes an important factor in the position. b8 24.0-0 g5 25.fa1 f8 26.b4! Opening up the position so that White's rooks can infiltrate and highlighting the problem with Black's 22nd. axb4 27.a8 xa8 28.xa8 g7 29.xb6 So now both players have passed b pawns but White's is more effective. g6 [ 29...f4 30.e3 ] [ and 29...e4 30.e3 get Black nowhere. ] [ 29...h3 might be the best source of counterplay, although W hite stays on top after 30.e3 hxg2 31.b6 ] 30.e3 b7 31.xg8+ [ 31.a7! b8 32.f1 followed by 33.Qb3 and p icking up the b4 p awn looke d th e simplest way to proceed. ] 31...xg8 32.d3 f6 33.e1 [ 33.g3! was the most accurate to give the White king some luft. ] 33...e4! Now Khenkin gets dangerous counterplay. 34.xe4 a1+ 35.b1 c8 [ 35...b3 was the most accurate when, although W hite is still better, I'm unsure whether he's winning any longer. ] 36.e1 f5?? Proof that it wasn't Khenkin's day. [ Instead 36...g7 37.xb4 would now

allow ( 37.f1 is a winning try but Black still s e e m s t o b e d o i n g f i n e f o l l o w i n g h3; 37.e4!? ) 37...f5 38.b6 ( 38.e1 xb1 39.c1 g6 40.h3 a2 is very complicated but certainly fine for Black. ) 38...xb1 39.h3 a2+ 40.h2 e5+ 41.g1 a1+ with a draw. ] 37.b6 I'm not sure what Khenkin overlooked as it's easy to see that the b pawn is simply too fast. a6 [ 37...c8 38.h7+ picks up the queen. ] 38.xf5 b3 39.b1 xb6 40.e3 a5 41.xg5+ f8 42.e3 b2 43.f1 An interesting line. Khenkin had no problems after the opening and it looks like 6...g6!? is a good response to 6.d5 despite its bad reputation. 1-0

479 Horvath,Gy Chetverik,Maxim Zalakaros [John Watson]

B03 2432 2305 2005

Chetverik has no less than 7 games in Informant using two moves other than the overwhelmingly played 9...e5. I've bundled them together, using the Informant notes but adding a few of my own. This is a good way to look over the material, even if it's clearly the lazy way out for me! 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e6 [ 9...6d7!? A) 10.h3 f6 A1) 11.d3 d5 12.f3 ( 12.ge2 c6 13.0-0 Toenniges, T (2089)-Chetverik, M ( 2 3 1 4 ) / B a d W i l d b a d 2 0 0 7 b4!? 14.b1 a5 - C h e t v e r i k) 12...c6 13.0-0 f5 ( 13...e6 14.g5! , f o r e xa m p le , c8 15.cxd5 xd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.e4 ) 14.xf5 gxf5 15.e5 ( or 15.e1 ) 15...e6 16.f3 and W hite can be happy with his pressure.; A2) Perhaps the best order is 11.f3 d5 , and now I like 12.d3! , vs ... Ne4 and ...Bf5 ( r a t h e r t h a n 12.c5 e4 or, as in the Chetverik game,; or 12.e2 482

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c6 13.0-0 f5 ); A3) 11.g4!? e5 ( 11...c6!? 12.f3 h5 13.g5 e8 ) 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.xd8 xd8 14.g2 c6 15.ge2 h5 16.g5 ( 16.g5 b4! 17.0-0 hxg4 18.cd1 e8 ) 16...e8 17.0-0 ( 17.e4 c7 18.0-0 e6= ) 17...d6 18.fd1 e6 19.a4! with a nice advantage, B r a e u n i n g , R ( 2 3 4 0 ) - C h e t ve r i k , M (2314)/Bad W ildbad 2007. Notes by Chetverik.; B) 10.e2 f6 11.h3 d5 12.f3 c6 13.0-0 f5 14.g4! ( 14.e5 dxc4 15.xc6 bxc6 16.bxc4 e4 17.xe4 xe4 18.d3 xd3 19.xd3 d6=; 14.c5 e4 15.a4 h5 16.a3 e5!? 17.dxe5 xe5 18.d4 f6! 19.e1 ad8 Kiselev, G (2424)-Chetverik, M (2311), Russia 2007) 14...e6 , and here Chetverik recommends 15.e5!? dxc4 16.bxc4 xe5 17.dxe5 d7 18.f4 ] 10.f3 d7 11.e2 c6 12.0-0 [ An exciting line is 12.h4!? A) 12...h6 13.d2 h7 14.h5 g5 15.xg5!? hxg5 16.xg5+ g8 17.h6 f6 18.ce4 ( 18.f4! looks better, with advantage I think) 18...xe4 19.xe4 d5 ( or simply 19...c6 ); B) 12...xf3 13.xf3 d5 14.cxd5 exd5 15.h5 c6 16.hxg6 fxg6!? ( 16...hxg6 17.d2 e8 18.0-0 c8 19.fe1 - Chetverik but this is better than ..fxg6) 17.e2 ( 17.0-0! a6 18.e1 , now that W hite has the bishop pair and the weakness on e6 is established) 17...f6 18.d2 ae8 19.0-0 d6 20.c5? xf3! 21.gxf3 Kulaots, K (2555)-Chetverik, M (2300)/Cappelle la Grande 2006 and here Chetverik recommends xd4!? 22.xd4 xe2 23.xe2 xd4 24.c2 g3+ with a draw. ] 12...xf3 13.xf3 d5 14.a4 [ a) 14.cxd5 exd5 15.a4!? ( 15.d2 ) 15...xa4 16.bxa4 c6 17.c5 e7 18.b3 ( 18.g5! ) 18...b6 19.b5 - Chetverik. ] [ b) 14.c5 c8 15.b4 a6 16.a4 c6 17.b5 axb5 18.axb5 a5 19.a1 ( I like simply 19.e2 ) 19...e7 20.a4 f5 wit h a p p ro xim a t e e qu a lit y, Do m a n y, M (2199)-Chetverik, M (2303)/Eger 2005. ]

14...c6 15.cxd5 exd5 16.d2 e8 17.fd1 d7 18.e2!? c8 19.c5 8e7 20.f4 [ White should play 20.c3! b4 21.f4 ac8? 22.b5 ] 20...b6 21.c3 [ Chetverik gives 21.b5 ad8 22.xd5 f5 with counterplay. ] 21...ac8 22.dc1 ed8 23.h3 [ 23.b4 might keep some advantage. ] 23...d6 24.e2 h5 25.g4 White feels that he has to keep Black's knight out of f5. hxg4 26.hxg4 d7 27.g2 Chetverik calls this equal. I still like [ 27.b4 , although White is only nominally better. ] 27...f5 28.g5 f4 29.xf4 f8 30.d3 f5 31.b5 d6 32.xd5 xd5 33.xd5+ xd5 34.xc6 xc6 35.xc6 xb5 36.xd6 xb3 37.d8+ h7 38.d7 a5 39.d5 g8 1-0

480 Hou,Yifan Short,Nigel D Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (4) [John Watson]

B03 2571 2663 20.01.2009

Any Alekhine's Defence by a top-level player like Nigel Short is worth seeing! 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 [ Versus 4.f3 , Short plays dxe5 5.xe5 c6 , when the recent game Navara-Short, W ijk aan Zee (Corus B) 2009 went out of theory quickly: 6.e2 f5 7.g4 e6 8.f4 f6 9.d3 f7 10.0-0 a6 11.c3 e6 12.xd5 xd5 13.e3 e7 14.f3 d7 with more or less equal play. ] 4...b6 5.exd6 exd6 Too bad we don't get to see Short playing the more dynamic [ 5...cxd6 ] 6.c3 c6 Short plays as Baburin does, to prevent the irritating Bd3/Nge2 setup which has done so well for White. That arises after [ 6...e7 7.d3 0-0 8.ge2 ] 7.e3 [ We previously looked at Zaragatski-Baburin, Kemer TUR 2007, which went 7.h3 f5 ( 7...e7 8.f3 0-0 is less committal) 8.e3 483

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e7 9.f3 f6 10.b3 h6 , and here I suggested 11.d3 xd3 ( 11...d7 12.0-0 0-0 13.b1 xd3 14.xd3 is almost the same ) 12.xd3 with a space advantage. ] 7...e7 8.d3 0-0 9.ge2!? [ 9.f3 would avoid what happens next, but it's not clear what the consequences are. ] 9...b4 Now White's important light-squared bishop is exchanged, because it can't retreat to e2. 10.b3 xd3+ 11.xd3 c6 12.d5! Nevertheless, W hite claims some space in return for the bishop pair. It's not so bad for Black, but he'll be the one who has to find good squares for his pieces. e8 13.0-0 f8 [ 13...cxd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.xd5 c7 16.c3 e6 17.d2 c6 18.ad1 is not yet equal. ] 14.ad1 g4!? 15.d2 c8!? [ 15...d7! has ideas of ...Ne5, and 16.f4 a5 prepares ...Nc5. ] 16.g3!? cxd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 d7 19.e2?! [ 19.fd1! c6 20.d4 g6 21.f4 with the idea Bd4 keeps a grip on things, although W hite's advantage is hardly decisive after, say, e6 ] 19...c6 20.g5 e6 21.f4 e5 Black has plenty of activity now. 22.g3 f5 23.h3 a6 24.d3 e6 25.f4 e5 26.d3 e6 27.f4 ½-½

13.d4 a6 14.0-0 e5 This move creates weaknesses, but what should he do? 15.dxe6 fxe6 16.f3 with a big advantage for white in Chernyshov - Zoltek, Pardubice, 1992. ] 12.f4 g4 [ 12...f7 has also failed to solve black's problems. 13.f3 ( intending Nd4 ) e5 14.dxe6 xe6 Now the d6-pawn becomes a target. 15.0-0 e8 16.d2 e7 17.ce1 d5 Even this break doesn't help black too much. 18.c5! Very typical: white controls the d4 square and keeps the possibility of the m a j o r i t y a t t a c k o n t h e q u e e n s i d e . d7 19.b5! Otherwise Black will transfer this Knight to e4 via f6. a6 20.a4 ed8 21.xd7 xd7 22.d4 with an overwhelming positional advantage in V. Ivanov - Ukolov, Moscow, 1995. ] 13.d4 [ 13.xg4 is not bad either: fxg4 14.ge2 e5 15.dxe6 xe6 16.d4! The exchange of dark-squared bishops clearly favours white. c8 17.0-0 e7 18.xg7 xg7 19.h1 f5 20.d4 with an obvious advantage for white, Moldovan - Bogdan, Romania, 1995. ] 13...e5 14.dxe6 xe6 15.f3 In my opinion this posit ion is simply bad f or B lack . e8 16.xg7 xg7 17.0-0 f7 18.d4+ f6 19.fd1 ad8 20.g5 h6 21.xf7 xf7 22.xf6+ The endgame should be easily won. xf6 23.f3 d7 24.d2 a6 25.cd1 e3 481 B03 26.e2 c8 27.f2 de7 28.h3 d5 Howell,James C 2525 29.cxd5 d6 30.d3 xd3 31.xd3 fe4+ Panchenko,Alexandar G 2480 32.xe4 xe4+ 33.f3 c7 34.g4 f6 Wichern-op Hamburgo (9) 1995 35.gxf5 gxf5 36.g3 c5 37.c3 a5 38.e3 g6 39.h4 h5 40.e5 f7 41.e3 [Alexander Volzhin] f6 42.d4 b6 43.e7 f8 44.c7 f6 d7 46.xf6+ xf6 47.e5 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 45.c6 5.exd6 cxd6 This move is much more So, as we can see 8.. .Nc6 ha rdly so lve s popular than 5...ed, but it would be too easy Black's problems. to draw any conclusions about the relative 1-0 strengths of the moves from that! 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 A very clever decision: first of all white develops his queenside overprotecting the knight on c3. c6 9.d5 e5 10.e2 0-0 11.b3 8.Rc1 made this move possible. Now 12.f4 is an unpleasant threat. f5 [ 11...ed7 was played once. 12.f3 f6 484

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 25...b6!? should be preferred. ] B03 Ianov,Viktor 2460 26.b4 b6 27.c4 h7 28.e4 h6 Chekhov,Valery A 2500 29.c2 e7 It's not easy to find an adequate Moscow (3) 1995 defence for Black. [ P r o b a b l y h e s h o u l d t r y 29...f5!? [Alexander Volzhin] as after the text W hite's advantage becomes decisive. ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 30.c6! f6 31.c7 e1+ 32.h2 e5?! [ 32...f3!? 33.g3 a5 34.b2 and Black is in 0-0 9.b3!? f5!? An interesting attempt to Zugzwang e2?? 35.c1+ ] create counterplay. 10.f3!? Other moves are possible, also with a slight advantage for 33.xa7 e6 [ 33...f3+ 34.g3 e2? 35.c1++- mating ] White. [ 10.h3!? h6 11.f4 e6 12.d5 f7 34.f7 e7 35.c4!+- xf7 36.xf7 f3+ 13.e2 e8 14.0-0 e6 15.dxe6 xe6 37.g3 e2 38.f4+ h7 39.c7+ [ 39.c7+ h6 40.xb6 f1 41.e3++16.d4 xd4+ 17.xd4 c6 18.f2 winning ] Malisauskas,V-Kupreichik,V/Moscow/1994/0, 1-0 5/57/ ] [ 10.d5 f4 11.d4 e5 12.dxe6 xd4 13.xd4 c6 14.d2 xe6 15.f3 e7 483 B03 16.e2 d5 17.cxd5 ad8 18.0-0 xd5 ] [ 10.g3 c6 ( 10...e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 Ibarra Jerez,Jose Carlos 2535 12.xd8 xd8 13.c5 6d7 14.c4+ h8 Asis Gargatagli,H 2462 15.b5 a6 16.d6 f8 17.c6 ) 11.d5 XVIII Navalmoral Open (5.7) 07.12.2012 e5 12.e2 e6 13.dxe6 xe6 14.f4 g4 [Tom Rendle] 15.xg4 fxg4 16.ge2 Ardeleanu Grunberg, 1996. ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 10...f4 Already a rare choice compared to 4.c4 and 4. [ 10...e5?! 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.xd8 xd8 Nf3 b6 5.b3 d5 13.c5 6d7 14.c4+ f8 15.g5 f6 [ 5...f5 was analysed in Conquest-Baburin ] 16.f7 e8 17.b5 with advantage ] [ 5...dxe5 is Black's main move here but 11.d2 c6 12.d5 e5 13.xe5! xe5 after 6.h5 e6 7.dxe5 White has good 14.e2 e6 15.dxe6 xe6 16.f3 d5 chances and in Thorhallsson, T (2455)17.cxd5 Mamedyarov, S (2709) Reykjavik 2006 he [ 17.c5 d4! 18.e4 d5 ] went on to score a giant-killing win after c5 17...xd5 18.xd5 8.c3 ( 8.a3!? deserves attention) 8...c6 [ There are some other ways for white to get 9.e2 g5 10.c2 d7 11.d2 e7 a slight advantage, for example 18.0-0!? 12.e4 and White was obviously doing well xc3 19.xc3 xc3 20.xc3 b6 g5 just looks out of place here. ] 21.e1 but I doubt if it is enough for the [ 5...c6 is a worthy alternative here. whole point. ] W hite's most interesting choice here is 18...xd5 19.b4 xf3 20.xf3 b2 6.e6!? and after ( 6.exd6 exd6 leads to a [ 20...f7 21.0-0 f6 22.fd1 ] balanced game ) 6...fxe6 7.f3 21.0-0! A) 7...g6 8.g5 d5 was a better option [ 21.xf8?! e8+! 22.d2 xc1+ 23.xc1 with a murky position arising after d8+ 24.c2 xf8 ] ( 8...g7!? 9.xe6 f8 should also be 21...xc1 22.xf8 xf8 23.xc1 f7 investigated. ) 9.f3! 24.c4 f8 25.h4 White has a tiny A1) 9...xd4 10.f7+ d7 11.c3 advantage, as Black's King is slightly exposed. xb3 and White can either take a draw However a draw is the most likely outcome of with 12.xe6+ ( or keep good chances the game. h5?! Black voluntary weakens his with 12.axb3 ) 12...e8 13.f7+ d7 kingside. 14.e6+ e8 15.f7+; 482

485

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A2) 9...d7 10.f7+ d8; B) 7...a5?! 8.g5 xb3 9.axb3 d5 10.0-0 g6 11.f3 f6 12.e1 here Black felt obliged to return the pawn with c6 13.xe6 xe6 14.xe6 and W hite had a good game in T h o rh a lls s o n , T (2 4 5 5 )-Hja rt a rso n , J (2628) Reykjavik 2005 ] 6.f3!? [ 6.c3 feels a little slow but it worked well in Ya n k o vs k y , R ( 2 4 0 0 ) - T a yl o r, T (2 2 7 9 ) Beverly Hills 2011 after e6?! after blocking in the c8 bishop Black is left in a bad French - the knight is hardly ideally placed on b6. ( 6...f5 is more logical and now 7.f3 e6 8.0-0 c5 9.e3 c6!? gives roughly equal chances ) 7.f3 e7 8.c2 d7 and here 9.a4! would've given White a very pleasant game ] [ 6.f3 has not really been tried but White should be a little better, for example c6 ( 6...f5 7.h4! d7 8.0-0 e6 9.g4 and Black has problems developing on the kingside ) 7.0-0 g4 8.c3 e6 9.h3 h5 10.a4 and White has slightly the better chances. ] 6...e6 7.g3 This sets Black some practical problems - how to develop the Bishop on f8? c5 [ 7...c6! is a sensible answer to this problem. After 8.e2 e7 9.0-0 f5 10.h3 Black can develop freely with e7 ( 10...h4 also leads to a balanced game )] 8.c3 [ 8.dxc5 isn't dangerous as after 6d7 9.f3 xc5 Black has no problems ] 8...a6!? [ 8...c6 is more logical - Black doesn't need to worry about A) 9.e2 is probably best and now f6!? leads to interesting play af ter ( 9...c7 is safer ) 10.exf6 xf6 11.0-0 although I probably prefer White here; B) 9.dxc5 as it can always be met with d7 ] 9.f3 d7 10.c2 h6 [ 10...c7 11.0-0 g6 was probably a better option although W hite has a good game after 12.e1 g7 13.a3 0-0 14.g5 ] 11.a4! Seizing space on the queenside and preventing Bb5. c8 12.0-0 Black is running

out of useful moves and has to now solve the problem of the bishop on f8. g6 13.bd2 e7 14.dxc5 xc5 15.b3 The opening has definitely been a success from White's point of view - Black still hasn't got castled and it's not easy to achieve here h5 [ for example after 15...a5 16.d4 0-0? runs into 17.xg6! fxg6 18.xg6+ h8 19.xh6+ g8 20.g6+ h8 21.f4! with a winning attack ] 16.d4 h4 17.e3 f8 This hardly solves the problem 18.b2?! [ White should've taken the opportunity to gain more space with 18.a5 a8 19.h3 c7 20.b4 5a6 21.d3 and Black has a miserable position ] 18...a5 19.fe1 a8?! [ 19...h3! 20.g3 g8 would still have been better for White but at least here the pawn on h 3 wo uld give B lack som e p rac t ic a l chances. After 21.2f3 h5 22.ad1 f8 the position remains tense ] 20.ad1 c7 21.e2 b8 22.c4! W hite starts to open the game up and of course his pieces are far the better coordinated here. h7 23.b5 c6 [ 23...h3 was still a better option ] 24.f3 g8 25.h3 Finally White prevents the last of Black's counterplay and also prepares to bring the knight into the attack with Nh2-g4 g7?! There's no good reason to put the king on the same diagonal as the bishop on b2 26.h2 [ 26.xc7 xc7 27.cxd5 xd5 28.xd5! exd5 29.e6+ was already very strong but perhaps White didn't feel like take a risk in such a strong position. After f6 30.e5! is crushing ] 26...d7 27.c3 b6 28.g4 xb5? This brings an abrupt end to the game but Black's position was already very unpleasant. [ 28...g8 was more stubborn when one possible continuation is 29.d6 f8 30.f3 a8 31.f4 and Black is still completely tied up ] 29.axb5 b7 30.cxd5 xd5 31.xd5 and here Black resigned [ after 31.xd5 exd5 32.e6+ Black is losing a lot of material - for example f6 33.e7 c7 34.xf6+ xf6 35.xf6 xf6 36.e8 xe8 37.xe8 and the bishop can't be 486

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 isn't pleasant viewing for Black. W hite has two bishops and substantially the more active pieces Black's d8 knight being a particular eyesore. I don't think Black can go on 484 B03 entering this endgame. 25.a4 f6 26.b4 a6 Illescas Cordoba,Miguel 2624 27.d7 g5 28.g3 h5 29.b5 axb5 30.axb5 Baburin,Alexander 2523 xa1 31.xa1 cxb5 32.xb5 g6 33.e1 15th ETC Gothenburg SWE (9) 07.08.2005 f7 34.d7 c6 A wee bit desperate, but I 'm s u re p a ss ive d e f e n c e wo u ld n 't h a v e [John Cox] helped either. Black isn't exactly threatening g7 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 to move any of his pieces. 35.e6+ 5.f4 The Four Pawns Attack has been the 36.b1+- xd4 37.xb7+ h6 38.xd5 weapon of choice for 2600 players against d8 39.c4 f5 40.e4 d4+ 41.b5 t h e A le k h in e j u s t re ce n t l y, a n d wi t h f a i r xe4 42.fxe4 xg3 43.hxg3 e5 44.e7 success, following the example of Kotronias A grim defeat for a great supporter of the a n d p e r h a p s e s p e c i a l l y D o m i n g u e z i n Alekhine. All of a sudden the 4PA is looking Dominguez-Almeida. dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 more menacing than it has done for many 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 g4 years. Isn't Sveshnikov supposed to have said O n e o f B la c k 's m o st re sp e ct e d syst e m s that one day the 4PA will refute Alekhine's against the Four Pawns Attack. 10.e2 xf3 Defence? That day surely can't be upon us, can it?! 11.gxf3 h4+ 12.f2 f4 13.c5 d5 [ 13...d7 14.b5 is an alternative, which is 1-0 usually regarded as a little better for White. ] 14.xd5 exd5 15.d2 xd2+ 16.xd2 g6 B03 17.e3 Strictly a novelty, I think, although I 485 know ECO mentions it with approval. White Ivanchuk,Vassily 2787 must be for preference in this endgame in my Carlsen,Magnus 2714 opinion. World Blitz Moscow RUS blitz (13) 21.11.2007 [ 17.f4 h6 18.e3 e7 19.d3 f5 [John Watson] 20.xf5 gxf5 21.hg1 d7 22.g3 ag8 23.b4 xg3 was Atalik-de Firmian, 2002, in 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 which de Firmian managed to draw after 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 losing a similar endgame to Timman the [ Baburin has played 6...c6!? , to avoid previous year. ] Bd3, when 7.f3 g4 8.e2 e7 9.d5 17...f6 xf3 10.xf3 e5 11.e2 seems only [ 17...e7 would be thematic of course, somewhat in White's favour. The game is coming to f5, although one can see that just beginning. ] t h e o m i s s i o n o f f 4 w o u l d g i v e W h i t e 7.d3 White has done well with this move additional possibilities in the ending after over the past few years. c6 8.ge2 f6 an exchange on f5, especially of playing This bypasses against the f5 pawn. Still I can't say that [ 8...0-0 9.0-0 f6 ( 9...e8 10.b3 f8 ) I'm wild about the positions arising after 10.c5! ] the text either. ] 9.e3 0-0 10.b3 18.exf6 f7 19.b5 d8 The players agree [ Or 10.0-0 b4 11.b3 xd3 12.xd3 t h a t t h e e n d in g a f t e r B xc6 b xc 6 is t o b e g4 13.g3! and f3 will drive Black back to avoided for Black. One can see that c7 is p a s s i v i t y . ( 13.f3 h5 14.g3 g6 going to be a long term problem, but Black h a s b e e n p l a ye d e ve n t h e n , f 4 - f 5 i s a already has only a choice of evils, I fear. problem )] 20.d7 xf6 21.f4 e7 22.h3 c6 10...e8 11.0-0 g4 12.d2! 23.he1+ f7 24.d3 g7 After this very [ Or 12.c2 g6 13.d2 The point is that natural sequence we can take stock, and it White avoids playing f3, which would only taken due to mate on e5. ] 1-0

487

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 encourage ....Bh5-g6. ] 12...d5!? It's hard to find a good plan. Perhaps [ 12...h5 13.f4 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.e4 , but then Black has to cope with the two bishops and a cramped game. ] [ The game Naiditsch, A (2581) -Timman, J (2623)/Dortmund GER 2002 was annotated by Glenn Flear on this site, and it clearly demonstrated that Black can't drift in the opening in this line: 12...b4?! 13.b1 xe2 14.xe2 c5 15.a3 c6 16.a2! e7 17.h3 g6 18.d5 e5 19.c1 g7 20.a4 bd7 21.c3 f5 22.g5 f6 23.xf6 xf6 24.e2 e7 25.f4! f7 26.xe7 xe7 27.e1 h4 28.e6 f8 29.e2 d7 30.h2 a6 31.g3 f6 32.g2 d8 33.e3 d4 34.g4! and this break ensures W hite's clear advantage. This all seemed to grow organically out of the opening. ] 13.c5 xe2 14.xe2 c8 15.fe1 8e7 [ 15...d7 16.d1! and Bg4 follows anyway. ] 16.g4! g6 [ 16...g6 doesn't give the knight any future scope, for example, 17.ab1 b6 18.b4 bxc5 19.bxc5 b8 20.f3 xb1 21.xb1 ce7 22.b7 with the initiative. ] 17.e2 g7 18.ae1 f5?! 19.xf5 gxf5 Often Black can live with this pawn structure, but here the dark squares are too weak and Ivanchuk goes after them: 20.h6 xe2 21.xe2 f6 22.xg7 xg7 23.d1! Ivanchuk abandons the open file to cover his only weakness. It's his knight that will do the kingside damage. e8 24.f3! To cover e4. e7 25.g3 f6 26.e1 f8 27.e5 c6 28.h5 g6 29.f4 f6 30.e3 It's almost zugzwang. h6 31.g3 c8 32.f2 No hurry. b6 33.h4 d8 34.h5 g6 35.xe7 xh5 36.xa7 e8 37.xe8+! xe8 38.cxb6 Black can't stop the pawn. f4 39.b7 fxg3+ 40.g2 A pretty finish. Amazing how accurate both players were in a Blitz game. 1-0

486 Jones,Gawain C Baburin,Alexander Bunratty Masters (6) [Gawain Jones]

B03 2593 2539 27.02.2011

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 f5 I mentioned in the annotations of the previous game that I saw Adam Hunt play the Four Pawns against Alex in an earlier round. 6.f3 [ That game continued: 6.c3 A) 6...dxe5 7.fxe5 c6 A1) 8.f3 might be possible now that Black has already committed his bishop to f5. A1a) 8...b4 looks the critical test 9.f2 c2 10.b1 b4 11.f4!? ( 11.a1 c2=; 11.e6!? ) 11...xb1 12.xb1 e6 13.e2 with interesting compensation for the exchange.; A1b) 8...e6 9.d2 d7 1/2-1/2 Farago, S (2292)-To, N (2375) Budapest 2011.; A2) 8.e3 e6 9.f3 would just transpose back into the mainline.; B) 6...e6 7.e3 dxe5 8.fxe5 b4 9.f3 c5 and Black seems to be fine. The game is not yet available but, after talking to Adam, he felt uncomfortable out of the opening and eventually grovelled for the half point. Hunt, A-Baburin, A, Bunratty Masters 2011. Check Boroday, S (2395)Moliboga, V (2295) Independence Cup, Kyiv 2003 annotated by Andrew Martin which shows what White has to avoid. ] 6...e6 7.c3 Transposing to a position in which Carsten Hansen writes: "This is already a sign that W hite is unsure about what is going on. The correct move is 7 Be3, after which 7...dxe5 8 fxe5 transposes to one of the main lines in Alekhine Four Pawns." I have to confess to disagree. After studying the line above I couldn't find an advantage for White a n d i n s t e a d t h i s s e e m s t h e b e s t wa y t o progress. a6 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 c5 Alex actually offered me a draw with this move. We were both on 4/5, half a point ahead of a group on 3.5 so a draw would guarantee first equal but I wanted to try it outright. And I was s t i l l i n m y p r e p a r a t i o n a f t e r a l l . 10.d5! 488

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 And this was my improvement. [ 10.dxc5?! is looked at in the archives in Djurhuus, R (2484)-Agdestein, S (2588) Asker 2000 by Carsten Hansen in which White had a disaster. However I don't think this is down to his first nine moves. ] [ 10.e3 was played against Baburin in an earlier game which is also interesting. b4?! T h i s a p p e a r s t o b e a n e r r o r . ( 10...cxd4 11.xd4 c8 looks more to the point although 12.d1 xc4 13.exd6 xd6 14.f5! gives White strong play for the pawn.; 10...d5 is also interesting: 11.cxd5 c4 12.d1 xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.a4+ d7 15.xc4 c8 16.b3 b4 and Black's control of the light squares gives him certain compensation f or the pawn although White should be better.) 11.e2 dxe5 ( 11...cxd4 might be the better move order. ) 12.fxe5 ( 12.xe5! cxd4 13.d1 d3 14.xd3 xd3+ 15.xd3 c7 16.b5 favours W hite.) 12...cxd4 13.xd4 c6 14.f2?! ( 14.0-0-0! is m o re crit ica l.) 14...b4 15.0-0 xc3 16.bxc3 d7 with an unclear middlegame, Eames, R (2 3 1 1 ) - B a b u r i n , A ( 2 5 1 9 ) B i r m i n g h a m 2006. ] 10...exd5 Alex played this after a long think and was already getting a little low on time. [ Before the game I also looked at 10...b4 but 11.e2 dxe5 12.a3! is highly unpleasant ] [ 10...dxe5 11.0-0!? ( 11.e4 exd5 12.cxd5 c4 13.xe5+ e7 14.xg7 f6 15.g4 is also good for White.) 11...exd5 ( 11...exf4 12.e4 e7 13.dxe6 0-0 14.xf4 is great for White.) 12.cxd5 c4 13.e4 and White regains the e5 pawn with a definite edge. ] 11.cxd5 [ Carsten only looked at 11.xd5 when dxe5 12.xe5?! ( 12.0-0! may still favour White.) 12...xd5 13.cxd5 c7 is fine for Black. Of course computers have advanced hugely in the past ten years and so mistakes are to be expected. ] 11...e7 [ 11...c4 is an important alternative. 12.e2 A) 12...dxe5 13.xe5+ e7 ( 13...e7 14.xg7 f6 15.g4 appears to favour White. ) 14.d6! xe5+ 15.fxe5 b4

16.0-0 and the d6 pawn is a major thorn in Black's side.; B) 12...e7 when a sample line could run: 13.0-0 0-0 14.d1 b4 15.e3 d3 16.ab1 e8 17.b3 dxe5 18.fxe5 xe5 19.xe5 f6 20.xc4 xc3 21.d6 and White keeps an edge. ] [ 11...b4 12.e4 dxe5 13.0-0! and Black cannot take the d5 pawn due to the d file pin. ] 12.0-0 0-0 13.e4 This was the end of my analysis and I believed W hite should have some advantage with his greater space but the position is fairly typical of an Alekhine. c7 [ 13...f5 14.e2 c7 15.d1 and Black would struggle to find counterplay. ] 14.d1 e8? Baburin overlooks my next. [ After the game Alex lamented that he s h o u l d h a v e p l a y e d 14...f6 However I believe White still has the advantage after 15.a4 ( 15.e6 f5 is the idea when Black will have the f6 square for the bishop.; 15.b3 is another idea.) 15...a5 16.e3 a6 17.f2 b4 18.b5 and I like White's position. ] 15.f5! It looked like the pawn had to stay on f4 to keep my centre but Black cannot take on e5 due to d5-d6 therefore my pawns roll on and Black is probably already lost. h8 [ 15...f6 16.e6 is truly hideous as the bishop on e7 is terrible. ] 16.f4 [ The immediate 16.f6! is also very strong: gxf6 17.exf6 xf6 18.f5! d8 19.e4 e8 20.fg5 xg5 21.xg5 f6 22.b3! with a crushing attack. ] 16...d8? And this natural move loses. [ 16...d8! was necessary. I could still continue with 17.f6!? ( 17.a4 is still a clear edge. ) 17...gxf6 18.exf6 xf6 19.f5 is very dangerous for Black. In particular the logical g8 can be met by 20.xd6! xd6 21.e4 ] 17.f6! Now this is completely winning. gxf6 18.exd6 xd6 19.f5! I was pleased with finding this move. Now Black cannot defend the f6 pawn. xf4 [ 19...e7 20.e1 wins at least a piece. ] [ The fact that the computer feels that Black is f o rce d t o p la y 19...cxd5 giving up a 489

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 piece highlights the huge problems he has. ] 20.xf6+ g8 21.xf4 Material is back to level and Black's king is too vulnerable to survive. d7 [ It wa s im p o rt a n t t o se e t h a t 21...cxd5 22.xd5 xd5 23.g5+ h8 24.xd5 wins a piece. ] [ 21...d7 was necessary to survive more than a couple moves but 22.e5 xd5 23.g5+ h8 24.f6+ g8 25.g4 h5 26.d3 will be mate shortly. ] 22.e5 e7 23.d6! and Alex resigned. [ 23.d6 xd6 24.xd6 xd6 25.g3+ h8 26.xf7+ xf7 27.xd6 wins the queen. A very pleasant first win for me against Alex and proof that the Four Pawns can also be dangerous for Black! I think the ball's in Black's court at the moment to find a path to equality. ] 1-0

487 Jones,Gawain C Short,Nigel D Bunratty Masters (4) [Gawain Jones]

B03 2593 2658 26.02.2011

1.e4 f6 A slight surprise. Of course I remembered annotating Nigel's game against Peter Leko from last year but more recently he's been doing very well with the Caro-Kann as we have seen. I couldn't decide what line t o p la y b u t n o t ice d t h a t A d a m Hu n t wa s playing the Four Pawns Attack against Alex Baburin on board three. Considering it was the third round of the day and I suspected Nigel was tired, the Four Pawns seemed a good choice. 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 [ Alex played 5...f5 against me in the last round which we'll examine next. ] 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 g4 This has been the choice of the higher rated players recently. [ W e l o o k e d a t 9...e7 10.d5 exd5 in Velimirovic, D (2425)-Cmilyte, V (2514) Marianske Lazne 2010 when I came to the conclusion that 11.cxd5 is a better response than 11. Bxb6. ] [ 9...b4 has also been seen a couple of

times recently. 10.c1 c5 11.a3 cxd4 12.xd4 c6 13.xf5 exf5 14.f3 ( 14.e2!? doesn't appear to have been played but xd1+ 15.xd1 xe5 16.b5 e7 17.b3 gives White good compensation for the pawn he has the better structure, bishop pair and Black struggles to develop.) 14...g6 15.e2 h6?! Inventive but dubious. ( 15...g7 looks ok for Black.) 16.d1 e7 17.xh6 h4+ 18.f2 xh6 19.c5 d7 20.b5 e7 21.d6 dxe5 22.b4! and Black's position was very ugly. Bogut, Z (2451)-Sale, S (2400) Sibenik 2010. ] 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 h4+ 12.f2 f4 13.c5 d7 After this I was actually on my own but in fact I see it has been played more often. [ I investigated 13...d5 14.xd5 exd5 15.d2 xd2+ ( 15...f5 was tried against me in round 8 of the Reykjavik Open (just as this update was going to press). I trie d 16.0-0-0 a5 Black has a cheap threat of ... Nb4xa2 but in the long run a5 has created a weakness on b5 which could prove highly important. 17.d3 d7 18.a3 a4 19.f4 g6 20.hg1 h5 21.f1! h6 22.h3 xf4+ 23.b1 e7 24.e6 0-0-0 25.exf7+ b8 26.xg6 xh2 27.e6 and my f pawn proved decisive. Jones, G (2578)S ve s h n i k o v, V ( 2 3 7 9 ) Re yk ja vi k O p e n 2011. ) 16.xd2 in Bologan, V (2684)Rozentalis, E (2628) Mulhouse 2010 and came to the conclusion that Black has a very tough task to hold the draw. ] 14.c1 I decided that this way of trading queens was logical and see that most players have agreed with me. [ I felt 14.d2 xd2+ 15.xd2 0-0-0 would be rather awkward here as Black has a lot of pressure against d4. ] [ In the archives I see 14.b5 given a note of approval but Nigel told me after the game that he had come to the conclusion that 14. Qc1 was the most challenging. e7 15.0-0 h4?! 16.xc6 bxc6 17.a4 0-0 18.ad1 ab8 19.xh4 xh4 20.f2 fd8 21.xc6 Koch, J (2500)-Konopka, M (2425) Clichy 1993 being the relevant game when Black had nothing to show for the pawn. Perhaps I'll t ry this next time ! Howe ver I'm sure 490

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Nigel had an improvement prepared the only problem he told me was he couldn't remember his analysis. ] 14...xc1+ [ 14...f5 15.b1 and Black cannot really avoid the queen trade. The rook is very well placed on b1 to prepare b4-b5. ] 15.xc1 0-0-0 16.a3 A slightly odd move but I wanted to be able to play Be2-c4 without allowing Black to repeat with ...Na5. Meanwhile I m ight a lso pre ss wit h b2-b 4 gaining even more space. [ 16.f4 has been the most common and probably better but I didn't want to fix my pawns yet. I believe White should have the advantage here with more space and the bishop pair but he has to be careful as the d4 and f4 pawns are long term liabilities. g6 is the move that concerned me when Black will continue ...Bh6 followed by rerouting his knights as in the game with ...Ndb8, ... Ne 7 a n d . . . Nb c6 wh e n b o t h p a wn s a re somewhat vulnerable. ] 16...db8 I breathed a sign of relief here. [ 16...f6 17.f4 g6 18.b4! favours White. h6 19.b5 e7 ( 19...xd4 20.xd4 xf4 21.d1 xe5 gives Black three pawns for t h e p i e c e b u t 22.c6 is very pleasant for White. ) 20.c6! bxc6 21.bxc6 b6 22.a6+ b8 23.exf6 ed5 24.e4 is very good for White. ] [ 16...g6 looks best. 17.e3 was my idea but as he was thinking it occurred to me that ( I should probably ignore Black with 17.c4 h6 18.d1 but e7 19.0-0 f5 20.fe1 f4 certainly looks playable for Black.) 17...f6 is rather annoying as 18.f4 h6 is good for Black. You can see already how easy it is for White's position to go wrong. ] 17.d1 e7 18.f4 bc6 So Nigel has managed his typical knight manoeuvre for the variation but White can stop Black taking any im p o rt a n t s q u a re s . 19.c4 g6 20.d5 I thought this was safest as, from a purely s t r a t e g i c p o i n t o f vi e w, o p e n i n g u p t h e position for the bishop pair and removing the d5 outpost from Black, this change of structure must favour W hite. However this allows Nigel a chance at equalising. [ I s h o u l d h a v e w a i t e d w i t h 20.e2 which was the other move on my shortlist.

d5 ( 20...h6 21.f3 keeps everything under control.) 21.xd5 exd5 22.b3 e7 23.h4 and White has a very comfortable edge. It might be possible for Black to hold but it's a thankless task. ] 20...exd5 21.xd5 xd5?! Logical, especially in the third game of the day, but now Black struggles for the rest of the game. [ 21...g5! would have generated good counter-chances. 22.f6 This seems best ( 22.e6!? fxe6 23.xe7+ xe7 24.xe6+ b8 25.fxg5 xg5 26.0-0 f6 and Black has equalised.; 22.fxg5 xe5 23.a2 h6 24.gxh6 xd5 25.xd5 xh6 26.g3 de8 27.0-0 e3+ 28.h1 xc5 29.xf7 xf7 30.xf7 e7 is likely to be a draw.) 22...xd1+ 23.xd1 gxf4 24.xf7 xe5 25.e6+ d8 26.c2 7g6 27.f5 and I would have strong compensation for the pawn but Black also has his chances. ] 22.xd5 [ 22.xd5 is the alternative but I wanted to delay the rook trade. ] 22...h6 23.h4 d7 [ During the game I wondered whether 23...xf4 might be best although following 24.xd8 xd8 25.e6!? fxe6 26.g2 White must have an edge. ] 24.f1 [ I also considered 24.0-0 but I thought d8 would be ok for Black. The main problem is that now I cannot swap rooks easily as the f1 rook is tied down to the f4 pawn. ] 24...e8 25.f6 d8 26.b4 The opening has definitely been a success for White. Black is very passive and can only hope to grovel a draw. White's extra space helps but the main trump is the bishop pair. f8 So Nigel tries to get rid of my bishop. 27.g2 e7 28.h3 e6 29.xd7 Again I made this choice as it's the risk free continuation, keeping a definite edge without any real chance of losing. [ The computer wants to play the illogical looking 29.f2 but trying to calculate ed8 30.xd7 xd7 31.d1+ e8 32.xd8+ xd8 33.xe6 fxe6 short on time and late at night isn't ideal. ( 33...xf6 34.exf6! fxe6 35.f3 e8 36.e4 f7 37.e5 and W hite wins as Black has less waiting moves. )] 29...xd7 30.f5 gxf5 31.xf5 d8 491

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Perhaps Nigel should have tried to generate some counterplay on the queenside with 31...b6 although it will still be similar to the game. ] 32.d2 c6 33.h5 xf6 34.exf6 f8 This was the position I was envisaging when I played my 27th move. Black is passively placed and the bishop is better than the knight. Also the c6 pawn is stuck on a light square while h7 is vulnerable so I decided a rook trade would give me great chances. 35.h4 Preventing 35...Re4 and preparing Kd3, Re4. b6 [ Nigel could have tried to activate his rook with 35...e5 but I thought 36.g4 h5 ( 36...g6 isn't playable as after 37.d4+ White takes over the d7 square.) 37.g8 e8 38.c8 should be good for White. The line might continue xh2+ 39.d3 h6 40.xb7 xf6 41.b5! cxb5 42.c6 f3+ 43.d4 f4+ 44.d5 c4 45.d6 when it looks like it should be lost for Black. ] 36.d3 [ 36.cxb6 axb6 37.g4 e6 38.a4 is R y b k a ' s s u g g e s t i o n b u t I wa n t e d t o c o n t in u e m y p l a n o f t ra d in g ro o ks a n d keeping his c6 pawn fixed. ] 36...c7 37.e4! The culmination of my plan. d8+ [ O f c o u r s e I h a d t o c a l c u l a t e 37...xe4 38.xe4 A) 38...bxc5 39.bxc5 g6 40.f5 h6 41.g4 h4+ 42.e4 g6 43.h5 h8 44.e5 a5 ( 44...d7 45.g4+ c7 46.f5 a6 47.f4+- ) 45.xf7! xf7+ 46.e6 g5+ 47.e7 and White has an easily winning king and pawn endgame.; B) 38...d7 Not forced but otherwise I don't see how Black gets his knight into the game. 39.xd7 xd7 40.f5 and Black ultimately can't defend against Kg5, h4, h5 and Kh6xh7. The problem for Black is I can triangulate with Ke5, f4, f5 i. e. B1) 40...bxc5 41.bxc5 h6 42.h4 a6 ( 42...h5 43.a4 a5 44.e5 c7 45.f4! d7 46.f5 c7 47.g5+- ) 43.a4 a5 44.e5 c7 45.f4 d7 46.f5 c7 47.g4 d7 48.h5 e6 49.xh6 xf6 50.h5 and White wins.;

B2) 40...c7 41.g5 d7 42.h4 e6 43.h5 e5 44.h6 xf6 45.xh7+- ] 38.c3 g6 39.d4 bxc5 [ The computer prefers 39...e5 but I can't see how it differs after 40.f5 ] 40.bxc5 e5 41.f5 [ Of course I wanted to play 41.xd8 xd8 but after 42.d4 Otherwise Black can play ...Nd7 and his king reaches e6 before mine can get to e5. f3+ 43.e3 xh2 44.f4 h5 45.g3 g4 46.xg4 hxg4 47.xg4 c7 and this seemed to be a draw to me. However the computer points out that this is s t i l l a wi n : 48.f4 d7 49.f5 c7 50.e5 d7 51.a4 a5 52.f5 e8 53.g5 f8 54.h6 g8 55.h5! f8 56.g5 and Black's in zugzwang as e8 ( 56...g8 57.f5 h7 58.e5 g6 59.d6 ) 57.h6 d7 58.h7! e6 59.g7+- ] 41...h5 42.h3 d7 43.xd7 xd7 44.c4! [ The immediate 44.d3? is an error as now d5! 45.xd5 cxd5 46.d4 c6 47.h4 a6 48.a4 a5 and this time White is in zugzwang. ] 44...d8 We already know that the king and pawn ending is a win as long as Black cannot get his king to e6. Therefore I need to get my king to e4 before trading rooks. 45.d3! c8 46.e4 b7 47.e5 c7 48.a4! Keeping his rook tied down to the a7 pawn. d7 49.h4 c7 50.f5 d7 51.g5 a5 52.e4 and White is winning as h5 drops. In fact I was very short on time by now and only surviving on a 10 second a move increment and so stopped noting my moves but eventually converted the whole point. It seems to be that Black still has some problems in this line and struggles to equalise. 1-0

488

B03

Kam Lee Question Voronezh Alekhine Defence [John Watson] Reader Kam Lee sent me a question about the line 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 f5 "I was wondering if you 492

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 have any literature about this variation? I have read [a book] which shows that 10 g3 is a big headache, but it seems Black is able to attain dynamic play with [the variation below]. I have analysed this variation with Fritz 7 [...] Do you know of other people who have researched this line? I have checked the forum and the continuation with 9... f5 is not comprehensively discussed." First, I should confess that 9...f5 has been neglected in this column, by both me and my predecessors. It keeps popping up as an alternative to the main line 9...e5, but has run into some serious problems. Let's follow Kam Lee's analysis, into which I'll mix some theory: 10.g3 [ a ) A n o t h e r i m p o r t a n t m o v e i s 10.h3 which hasn't been fully solved as far as I can tell, for example, h6 ( 10...c6 11.d5 e5 12.e2 bd7 13.0-0 f6 14.f4 f7 15.f2 h5 16.h3 a6 17.a4 e5 18.dxe6 xe6 19.f3 with a nice advantage, Fedorowicz-Shabalov, Tulsa 2008) 11.f4!? ( 11.g3 c6 12.g2 e5 i s n ' t c l e a r) 11...e6 12.d5 f7 13.e2 e8 14.0-0 e6 15.dxe6 xe6 ( 15...xe6 16.d4 xd4+ 17.xd4 c6 18.f2 d7 19.f3 c5 20.cd1 should favour White) 16.d4 xd4+ 17.xd4 c6 18.f2 with a limited advantage, Malisauskas-Kupreichik, Moscow 1994. ] [ b) Even 10.f3 f4 ( 10...e5?! 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.xd8 xd8 13.c5 6d7 14.c4+ f8 15.g5 f6 16.f7 e8 17.b5 ) 11.d2 , which appears fine for Black, has had some success for White, for example, c6 12.d5 e5 13.xe5! xe5 14.e2 e6 15.dxe6 ( 15.f3!? ) 15...xe6 16.f3 d5!? ( 16...d7 ) 17.cxd5 ( 17.c5 d4! ) 17...xd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.b4 xf3 20.xf3 V Ivanov-Chekhov, Moscow 1995, and here Chekov suggests f7 21.0-0 f6 22.fd1 wi t h a li g h t e d g e , wh e n d8 ( 22...d4 looks almost equal.) 23.xd8+ xd8 should suffice to draw. ] 10...e5 [ 10...h8 11.d5 e5 12.dxe6 xe6 looks similar to the last note and ...Kh8 doesn't seem to help, e.g., 13.ge2 c6 14.g2 e7 15.d2 ad8 16.g5 f6 17.xf6+ xf6 18.0-0 with a nice grip Fressinet, L -Beudaert, X, Bordeaux 2005. ]

[ b) Perhaps the best move is simply 10...c6 : 11.g2 ( 11.d5 e5 12.g2 bd7! 13.ge2 c5 14.0-0 d7 looks playable for Black) 11...e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.xd8 xd8 14.c5?! ( 14.ge2 ) 14...d7 15.ge2 e4! 16.0-0 de5 17.b5 b4 18.g5? d7 19.a3 bd3 20.c2 f8 21.e3 a6 22.bc3 g4 23.a4 xe3 24.fxe3 Rahal, M-Torrecillas Martinez, A, Spain 2004 and Black was b e t t e r a f t e r 2 4 . . . R c 7 a n y w a y , b u t d8 25.b6 b8 26.b4 a5 27.b1 axb4 28.axb4 e6 shows the bishop pair at work. ] 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.xd8 xd8 13.c5 f4!? [ 13...6d7 14.c4+ h8 15.b5 c6 16.d6 will win something. ] 14.d2 6d7 15.c4+ f8 [ 15...h8 16.b5!? ( 16.e4! looks very strong - a terrific outpost) 16...xc5 17.c7 b6 18.xa8 b7 19.f3 xa8 (Black has compensation) 20.b4 e4!? 21.fxe4 xe4 22.h3 xh1 23.g5 Pavasovic-Bawart, Bled 1998 W hite stands better after c8 24.f7+ g8 25.d6+ ( 25.xe5+ f8 ) 25...xc4 26.xc4 c6 27.gxf4 exf4 28.xf4 d5 29.b5! ] 16.d5 Now Nc7 is impossible to prevent, with the ideas of Nxa8 and the fork on e6. Mr Lee suggests h6 , with indirect pressure on d2. This might be particularly intimidating in practice, but with the help of my computer, I've come to doubt that this it's good enough after 17.c7 f6 [ I t w o u l d b e g r e a t i f 17...xc5 worked, because there are ideas of ..Rxd2 and even ...fxg3 and ...g2! But it looks like W h i t e h a s t i m e t o p l a y 18.gxf4! b6 ( 18...xd2 19.xd2 xf4+ 20.d1 xc1 21.xc1 b6 22.e2; 18...b5 19.xb5 xd2 20.xc5! xa2 21.xa8 b7 22.f3 ) 19.e2 b7 20.g1 c6 21.xa8 xa8 22.d1 and Black lacks compensation. ] 18.d1 e4 With some interesting-looking threats, but again, the calm response 19.gxf4 is good: b5 (o r 1 9 . . . b 6 ) 20.cxb6 xd2 21.xd2 xd2 22.xd2 b7 23.f3 , and White wins material, for example, axb6 24.xa8 xa8 25.e2 xf4 26.h3 h6 27.d1 e7 , and if nothing else, 28.f2 c6 29.d5 b7 30.e4 dominates the 493

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 position. So 9...f5 still seems a bit dubious, which is not to say that it can't be revived by the right ideas.

489 Klinger,Josef Herndl,Harald ch Austria (4) [Alexander Volzhin]

B03 2495 2325 1985

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.d5 exd5 11.cxd5 b4 12.d4 d7 13.e6 The most dangerous continuation. fxe6 14.dxe6 c6 15.g4 [ 15.h5+ g6 16.e2 ( 16.h6 h4+ 17.g3 g5 ) 16...f6 17.c5 4d5 ] 15...h4+ Black has to play this move which leads to wild complications- he has no choice! [ 15...0-0 16.0-0-0 is simply bad for black. ] 16.g3 xh1 17.gxh4 [ White has tried 17.b5+ once, but Black found a sufficient defence: c6 18.0-0-0 0-0 19.gxh4 h5! The only defence, as ( 19...cxb5 lo s e s a t o n c e : 20.f5 f6 21.d4! ) 20.g3 cxb5 21.g5 ( Here 21.g1 is not good: f6 22.f5 xa2+! 23.xa2 ac8+ 24.d1 f3+! ) 21...b8! 22.e7 e8 23.xh1 xg3 24.hxg3 and Black is slightly better, although White managed to hold the position in Velimirovic Kovacevic, 1984. ] 17...0-0 18.0-0-0 f6 19.b5 e5 The alternatives are bad: [ 19...f3 20.xf3 xf3 21.xf3 xf3 22.xb6+- winning ] [ 19...c6 20.g5 e5 21.e7 fe8 22.f5+- winning ] 20.g5! c5 21.e7 cxd4 22.exf8+ xf8 23.xh1 During the previous ten moves both sides made the only moves. Now Black has some cho ice, and he choo ses the wron g move! a5? This move loses by force, although White should play very accurately, as there are some tricks. Let's consider other possibilities: [ 23...c5 is bad : 24.e6+ h8 25.e7 xa2+ 26.c2!! f2+ 27.b3! c7 28.d6! and White wins. ] [ Black should play 23...dxc3! First of all this

move is good because all the alternatives are bad! 24.xb4 cxb2+ 25.b1 ( 25.xb2?? c8+ 26.b1 e4+ ) 25...d5! 26.c4 f2! and I can't see any way for W hite to make progress. 27.c8+ f8 28.c4 f2 ] 24.e2! [ After 24.e4?! interesting complications could arise: xa2+ 25.c2 f2+ 26.b3 xb2+ 27.a3 xb5 28.xe5 xe5 29.xa2 c4+ 30.b3 b5 with an unclear position! ] 24...c7 25.e6+ h8 26.f1!! The point. Probably Black underestimated this move. Now the weakness of the back rank is decisive. g8 It's difficult to find another square for the Rook: [ the exchange leads to a quick mate: 26...xf1+ 27.xf1 h6 28.h3 hxg5 29.e8+ h7 30.f5+ g6 31.xg6+ h8 32.h6+ g8 33.e6++- winning ] [ and 26...c8 fails to 27.e8 with unavoidable mate. xa2+ 28.b1 xc3+ 29.bxc3+- mating ] 27.f4! c8 28.xc8 xc8 29.c7!! Another nice blow with the same idea: the w e a k n e s s o f t h e b a c k r a n k . xa2+!? Other moves lose as well: [ 29...4d5 30.xd5 xd5 31.b1! xc7 32.c1+- winning ] [ 29...a8 30.d7 g8 31.xa5+winning ] [ 29...dxc3 30.xb6 xa2+ 31.c2 b4+ 32.b3 c2 33.xa5 c1 34.xc1 xc1 35.xb4+- winning ] 30.xa2 xc7+ 31.d2 g8 32.f4+The endgame is easily won for W hite. c5 33.e2 d5 34.b3! h6 35.g4 h7 36.d3 b5 37.f5+ h8 38.e6 e5 39.f8+ h7 40.f5+ g6 41.f7+ g8 42.xg6 d5 43.xb7 d7 44.e4 e5+ 45.d2 d6 46.b5 g4 47.xa5 xh2 48.d5+ g7 49.d3 1-0

494

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 490 Kobalia,Mihail Ikonnikov,Vyacheslav 14th Monarch Assurance (5) [John Cox]

B03 2614 2560 28.09.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.e2 Refreshing to see someone playing a move that isn't b3 here. This is a bit of a hybrid of the ideas of the Voronezh and the main line: White is still well-placed to meet 9... Nc6 with 10 d5 Na5? 11 b3 (this is the point of Rc1, to defend c3 and allow this), and is refusing to allow ...Bg4 just as in the main line he plays h3 to stop that, but is not protecting c 4 a g a i n s t B l a c k ' s o t h e r t yp i c a l f r e e i n g m a n o e u v r e . d5 10.c5 c4 Exactly: the logical reply. As far as I know Ikonnikov has never played the Alekhine before, but maybe he's got a copy of the GW , because I see I said airily there that this was 'the answer' to White's sequence. 11.xc4 dxc4 12.ge2 Compared to the position which often enough arises after 7 h3 Bg7 8 Nf3 00 9 Be3 Nc6 10 Rc1 d5 11 c5 Nc4 12 Bxc4 dxc4 W hite has lost the tempo h3, which probably isn't a great matter, but has gained the chance to develop t h is k n i gh t vi a e 2 . I n ci d e n t a l ly, t h e n e w webzine chesschronicle.org carries an excellent little article by CC IM M J Donnelly advocating the new move 13 00 Bf5 14 Qa4 Bd 3 1 5 Rf d 1 an d n o w 1 5 . . .Q e 8 ! ? , wh ich seems to equalise handily. My thanks to Phil Adams for drawing this to my attention. f5 [ 12...c6 13.0-0 e5 14.b5 exd4 15.exd4 e5 16.d2 b6 17.b4 cxb3 18.axb3 a6 19.d6 bxc5 20.e2 e6 21.xc5 with equality had been the initial o u t in g f o r 1 2 N g e 2 in T u r o v- T . I v a n o v, Nizhnii Novgorod 1999, but Ikonnikov has a different idea. I watched this game and I don't think preparation was involved on either side, or if it was the players were certainly hiding it well. ] 13.0-0 d3 14.e1 A slightly limp plan, normally W hite plays Qa4 and Rfd1 in this variation. Kobalia just wants to threaten Nf4 as soon as possible. e5 [ A curious moment. 14...c6 is far and away the most natural way to restrain Nf4

and I'm afraid I can't see why Ikonnikov rejected it. The computer blithely tells us that 15.d5 ( 15.a4 xd4 16.xd4 xd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.xe7 xc5 19.xb7 ab8 is pretty equal too) 15...b4 16.f4 doesn't work because of xc3 17.xc3 xd5 18.xd5 xd5 , and that disposes of both White's natural tries. ] 15.dxe5 c6 [ It's not obvious that 15...xe5 was bad: 16.f4 e8 17.xd3 cxd3 18.d2 ( 18.b3 d2 19.xd2 xd2 20.xb7 a6 because 21.xa6? xc3 wins ) 18...a6 19.b5 d7 , but White may be a b l e t o a rra n ge t o a b so r b t h e d -p a wn , perhaps with f4 and Nd6 at some point. ] 16.e6 [ 16.f4 f6 17.exf6 xf6 gives Black a lot of play once the knight cannot go to f4 the d3 bishop is there to stay and is a real bone in White's throat. ] 16...fxe6 17.f4 d7 I think Black ought to be fine here despite his somewhat ragged pawns: his pieces are active. 18.b3 e5 19.ce2 xf4 A remarkable decision. Ikonnikov must have seen something wrong with the natural [ 19...ad8 , but I don't see what it was. 20.bxc4 f5 21.xd7 xd7 doesn't seem to be too frightening, and if not that then what? ] 20.xf4 [ Also a bit surprising: Kobalia abandons the Nf 4 no tion . 20.xf4 e5 21.xd3 cxd3 was certainly possible and the machine likes it , wit h t h e p la n n o w o f 22.c4 fe8 23.e4!? I've tried this out a couple of times and W hite does seem a little better, although it's understandable why W hite steered clear. ] 20...f7 21.g3 e5 22.c3 ad8 Round about here I had a look and thought Black wa s do in g pret ty well, b ut K ob alia manages to find some play. 23.b5 d5 [ 23...cxb3 24.d6 xd6 25.cxd6 b2 26.xd3 bxc1 27.xc1 xa2?! ( 27...d8 is better although White is still for preference.. ) 28.d7 favours White. ] 24.d6 b5 [ Necessary after 24...b6 White gains the advantage with 25.h4 b8 , and now the 495

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 neat knight pirouette 26.xc4 bxc5 27.b2 e4 28.a4 ] 25.xb5 xc5 26.bxc4 xc4 27.g4 xb5 28.xc4 White evidently stands slightly better here but Black's well centralised army should be able to cope. d4 29.cc1 f5 30.h3 d5 31.c7 a5 32.h2 e6 33.e7 f4 34.xf4 xf4 35.g5 xf2 36.7xe5 d6 37.g3 f6 38.xa5 xg3+ 39.xg3 d3+ 40.h2 g7 41.e2 h5 42.a3 h6 43.a2 f4 44.a4 h4 45.a8 d1 In TWIC the game ends in a draw here: in fact it continued for over another hundred moves and the best part of three hours. They breed them tough in Mother Russia, though, and Ikonnikov managed to hang on despite having mislaid a pawn during the time scramble. White seems to have pretty good winning chances to me after 46 g3, but it wasn't to be. ½-½

491 Kobese,Watu Bouah,Lyndon ch-Kempton Park RSA (8) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2400 2175 2003

12.d2 c6? He's making it up as he goes along....it seems. Theory independent of the last note runs : [ 12...g6 13.e1! c5 14.a3 ( 14.f4!? cxd4 15.xd4 c8 16.a3 c6 17.axb4 xd4 18.xa7 c2 19.c1 c7 20.c5 xb4!! 21.cxb6 xb6+ 22.h1 xa7 23.xb4 e3! ) 14...xc3 15.bxc3 c8 16.c1 e7 17.h4 cxd4 ] 13.de4 Of course White isn't interested in repetition. d7 14.g3 g6 15.f4 ad8 16.h4! Unsettling the Bishop on g6 seems to be the key to this line. xc3 17.bxc3 a5 18.f1 c6 19.h5 c2 20.g4! the departure of the Bishop has uncovered a v e r y s e n s i t i v e s p o t . axc4 21.xg7+ Oh ! Qf6+ and Bh6 is not to be denied. 1-0

492 Kondenko,Alexey Volkov,Andrei Voronezh FIDE Open (5.3) [Milos Pavlovic]

B03 2242 2209 16.06.2011

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.e2 The Four Pawns Attack is 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 always a dangerous set up in Alekhine's, this 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 time White chooses a modest line but there is 9.f3 b4 I think I prefer this line without... still some play here. 0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.exf6 Nc6 thrown in (5...Bf5 etc) . xf6 13.d2 e7 14.ad1 ad8 15.c1 [ 9...b4 He changed his mind after the h8 coming debacle. 10.c1 c5 11.a3 cxd4 [ A recent idea to put pressure on d4 directly 12.xd4 c6 13.xc6 bxc6 14.f3 c7 is not that good: 15...g4 16.e4 c8 15.b5 cxb5 16.xb6 xe5+ 17.e3 17.xf6+ gxf6 18.h3 h5 19.fe1 b8 d6 18.d4 xe3+ 19.xe3 bxc4 20.f2 g7 21.h4 xe2 22.xe2 de8 20.xc4 0-0 21.0-0 e5 22.f2 fc8 23.d3 h8 24.de3 Piscopo, P-Sorbera, 23.b4 c7 24.d2 h6 25.g3 ac8 26.c5 G Forni di Sopra ITA 2011, although the xc5 27.bxc5 xc5 28.f2 f6 29.h4 g5 game ended in a draw W hite is obviously 30.h5 g4 31.xe6 xc1 32.xf5 c3 much better at this stage. ] 33.d3 1/2-1/2 Bhawoodien,S-Bouah,L/ch- 16.h1 h6 17.h3 h7 RSA, Kempton Park RSA 2003 More [ Relevant: 17...g6 18.b3 a6 preventing acceptable . ] c5 -B b 5 i d e a s 19.g1 d7 and now my 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 a5 suggestion looks promising: originally in one [ 11...xc3 is an older line. Perhaps there's game was played the more cautious: no need yet to be so committal. 12.bxc3 A) 20.d3N xd3 ( 20...h5 21.e3! a5 13.d2 d7 14.f4 g6 15.f1 c5 xd4 22.xd4 xd4 23.e2! xe2 16.b3 a4 17.xc5 c6 18.h4! 24.xe2 White is winning.) 21.xd3 c8 White's better here for sure. ] 22.dd1 with a small but in my opinion 496

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 lasting pressure as White's pawn structure is better than Black's.; B) 20.fe1 f7 21.f1 e7 22.fe1 f7 23.f1 A draw was agreed in Zilberstein, D -Baburin, A San Fransisco 2007. ] 18.g1 d7 19.fe1N An interesting idea. [ Some earlier examples: 19.d2 fd8 20.fd1 e8 21.b3 e7 22.d3 xd3 23.xd3 g6 24.f4 c5 25.e4 e5 A) 26.dxe5 g5 ( 26...xd3 27.xd3 xd3 28.exf6 gxf6 29.xc5 This position is also promising for White.) 27.xd7 xf4 28.xd8+ h7 29.xc5 looks winning for White; B) 26.xe5 xe5 27.xe5 c6 28.f4 cxd4 29.c5 f7 30.h4 df8 Simon, O -Velicka, P Cappelle la Grande 2002, here also White is better with the simple 31.Bxd4. ] 19...f7 20.c5 d5 21.b5 This is a key id e a h e r e - b y p i n n in g t h e k n i g h t W h i t e prepares to control both the e-file and the e5square h5 22.d3? Going forward and then back is not to be recommended. [ 22.h2! Is much more to the point, and in my opinion White can hope for something more then equality. e7 23.d2 a6 24.xc6 bxc6 25.e4 a complicated game is ahead of us, but surely W hite has the better chances here. ] 22...xd3 23.xd3 f5 24.dd1 g5 25.e4 g7 26.g3 g6 Black has easy p l a y h e r e . 27.b1 xb1 28.xb1 f4 Black is already prepared to win a pawn that guarantees him a much better endgame, which he was able to convert into a full point. 29.e4 xh3 30.e3 f4 31.b4 d5 32.b5 d8 33.d2 h7 34.b3 c6 [ 34...f6 35.e2 g4 ] 35.e5 xe5 36.xe5 f6 37.c3 g4 38.e1 f6 39.e4 xe4 40.xe4 cxb5 41.xb5 ff7 42.h2 c6 43.b2 d8 44.be2 d5 45.e1 fd7 46.c3 f5 47.g3 g6 48.a5 b6 49.b4 bxc5 50.xc5 h5 51.b2 f6 52.b8 c6?! 53.e8 [ 53.g8+ g7 54.e8 is not so clear. ] 53...f5 54.f3 h4 55.e3 b7 56.c8? b1 57.xc6 e1+ 58.d3 xe4 59.e7 f7 60.xg5 g4 61.c5+ g6 62.e3

xg2 63.c6 f6 64.c8 h3 65.h8 h2 0-1

493 Kornilovich,D Deviatkin,Andrei XII TCh-1st League (6) [John Cox]

B03 2166 2512 07.02.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 g5 Oh yes indeedy! Deviatkin is a new name to me, but he has been playing the Alekhine in delightfully offbeat fashion lately (1 e4 Nf 6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf 3 Nb6 is another line he favours) and here becomes perhaps the highest-rated player ever t o venture this rather splendid move (unless Pla n in c wa s o ve r 2 5 0 0 in 1 9 7 0 ? ). 6.exd6 xd6 7.e2 The authorities are surprisingly divided on the best way to ref ute Black's cheeky 5...g5 but this certainly isn't it: the point of 6 exd6 was to play 7 c5 now when Black plays 7...Qe6+ and now you can choose - Hort thought 8 Qe2 was strong (probably wrong - 8...Nd5 9 Qxe6 Bxe6 10 fxg5 Bg7 11 Nf 3 Nc6 1 2 Bb 5 Nd b4 is n ice f o r Blac k), Davies gave 8 Kf2 (8...Nd5 9 Bc4 gxf4 10 Qf3 c6 11 Bxf4 Qg6 unclear-Davies), I favoured 8 Be2 (8...Nd5 9 fxg5 Bg7 10 Nf3 Nc6 11 Nc3 00 12 Qd2! is good for White according to me) and unless my eyes deceive me Fritz likes 8 Ne2 (No, I've no idea what he's thinking about either). c5! 8.c3 xd4 9.xd4 cxd4 10.b5 a6 11.fxg5 [ 11.xd4 g7 12.gf3 g4 13.e5 d7 is also fine for Black. ] 11...e5 12.f3 g7 13.c5 d5 14.d6+ e7 15.xa6 bxa6 I believe I shall allow myself an 'unclear' verdict. 16.0-0 [ White might have tried going straight for f5 with 16.h4 . Evidently if he can't make something happen quickly he is rather likely to lose in the long run. ] 16...e6 17.d2 hd8 This is the trouble. Black is just going to take on d6, and there's nothing much to be done about it. After that Black's small material investment doesn't matter compared to his centre pawns, two bishops and massive knight, while the e6 bishop keeps White's rooks out of the game, 497

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 since they can't get anywhere on the f-file and c6 is out of bounds on the c-file. 18.a5 xd6 19.cxd6+ xd6 20.d2 e3 21.fc1 d5 22.c7 d3 I'm not sure about this. In conjunction with his next it's an understandable idea, but positionally it's terrible. 22..Nxg2 or 22...e4 were alternatives. 23.ac1 c2 The plug, quite a trendy positional idea just now, but I'm not sure Fritz isn't right that grabbing material with [ 23...xg2 wasn't stronger. ] 24.1xc2 White's always going to be worse after this. [ 24.c4+ e6 25.c3 (Fritz) puts up a much better fight, hoping to trade the darksquared bishops and perhaps bring the king to f2 and knight to e3 to exchange the c2 knight and establish a blockade on the dark squares. ] 24...dxc2 25.xc2 h6!? In the long run you wouldn't think W hite can hope to resist the connected pawns and the two bishops after this, but he still has some surprising and instructive resources.. 26.gxh6 xh6 27.f2 f5 28.c4+? [ 28.c7+ e6 29.f3 was much better and thematic: White has to aim to drive the pawns on the light squares and blockade them on the dark. Since e4? 30.d4+ f6 31.c5 e3+ 32.e2 turns in White's favour Black is forced into something like 29...Rc8 30 Rc3 Bxf3, when 31 gxf3 gives W hite decent chances to survive. ] 28...e6 29.e3 e4 Now Black is back on track. 30.c7 [ 30.c3!? ] 30...xe3+ 31.xe3 xg2-+ 32.g7 f4+ 33.d3 c6 34.c7 d5 35.g5 e8 36.b3 b5+ 37.d2 e4 38.a4 d7 39.h4 f5 40.g7 h3 41.e2 e6 42.f2 h6 A throwback to the good old days when White used to go for the Alekhine and chaotic games like this were much commoner - nowadays it can all be a bit too much like the Caro-Kann. I hope to see more of Mr Deviatkin. 0-1

494 Kortschnoj,Viktor Miles,Anthony J Biel (12) [Alexander Volzhin]

B03 2575 2595 1992

Some W hite players don't like the wild complications that are unavoidable in the Four Pawns Attack. I can recommend them the following system. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.exd6!? Currently this harmless looking move is very popular. Black has two possible recaptures. Let's deal with 5... ed first. exd6 6.c3 e7 7.f3!? /\\0-0-0 A very interesting idea. [ Of course, White can castle kingside: 7.f3 g4 8.e2 c6 9.d5 xf3 10.xf3 e5 11.e2 0-0 12.b3 f6 13.b2 g6 14.0-0 d7 15.g3 Dvoiris-Kengis Barnaul 1988, with a slight advantage. ] 7...c6 [ I can recommend trying 7...c6!? intending d5, for example 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0-0 d5! 10.c5 6d7 with 11...b6 to follow with counterplay. ] 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0-0 f5?! After this game 7.Qf3 became popular, and several games have been played in this line since. In this position Black has tried various different moves: [ 9...f6 10.h4 e6 11.b3 d5 12.c5 c8 13.h3 b6 14.g5! with a clear edge, Chernyshov - Kopylov, 1993. ] [ 9...e6 10.c5! c4?! ( either 10...d7; or 10...c8 should be preferred) 11.f4 f6 12.d5 4e5 13.e2 g6 14.e3 xc3 15.bxc3 f6 16.dxe6 xc3+ 17.c2 and White was winning in Leyva - Medina, Cuba, 1994. ] 10.g3 f4? Consistent but bad. 11.gxf4 f5 12.c5! Probably Black missed this. Now W h i t e ' s a d v a n t a g e i s u n d i s p u t e d . d7 13.h3! The exchange of light squared bishops clearly favours White. He intends d4d5 and the transfer of the Knight to e6. h8 14.d5 cb8 [ 14...b4? 15.xf5 xf5 16.e4+winning ] [ 14...a5 15.xf5 xf5 16.e4 f8 17.b4+- winning ] 15.cxd6 cxd6 16.xf5 xf5 17.ge2 /\\Nd4-e6 f7 498

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 17...a5?! 18.e4 f7 19.e6 g8 [ 10.d5 exd5 11.cxd5 b4 12.d4 6xd5 20.d4 /\\Nf5+-winning ] 13.xd5 ( 13.xf5 xf5 14.xd5 18.hg1 0-0-0 ) 13...xd5 14.xf5 b4+ [ 18.d4 is not bad either. ] ( 14...0-0-0!? 15.d3 g6 ) 15.e2 0-0-0 18...a6 19.h5 16.d6+ xd6 17.xd5 f5 ] [ 19.d4!? c8 20.e6 e8 21.b1 10...0-0-0 e5!? 22.h3 c4 23.d4 f6 24.xf6 [ 10...d8 11.0-0 g4 12.g5 ( 12.c5 d5 gxf6 25.h6+- winning ] 13.xd5 xd5 14.g5 xe2 15.xe2 19...e8 20.d4 c8 21.b1 ac5 d7 16.f2 d8= ) 22.e6 f6 23.h3 fe4 A) Black must put his faith in the [ 23...xe6? 24.dxe6 f8 25.g5 complications after 12...xc4!? 13.f2 /\\Rdg1+-winning ] ( 13.xf7 xe3 14.xd7 xd1 15.xd8+ 24.d4 f6 25.xe4 xe4 26.e3! xd4 xd8 16.xg4 e3 ) 13...xd4!? [ 26...c5 27.xf6 gxf6 28.f5+- ] 14.xg4 xe5 15.h3 e7 16.e3 h6 27.xd4 f6 28.xg7!+- winning 17.h5 g6 18.h4 c5 19.g3 xg5 [ 28.xg7? xg7 29.xf6 g6+ ] 20.xg5 ef3+ 21.gxf3 hxg5 28...e4+ A good memory and strong nerves are [ 28...xg7 29.xf6 f8 30.d4+required!; winning ] B) 12...xe2? 13.xe2 xd4 14.xd4 29.xe4 xe4 30.e6 Straightforward xd4+ 15.h1 d7 16.ad1 xc4 technique. f5 17.f3 c6 18.ce4 d5 19.xf7 g8 [ 30...xf2 31.d4! >
Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Safest is 12.exf6 gxf6 13.d5 which leads to an advantage in all lines: g7 ( 13...exd5 14.xb6! axb6 15.cxd5 c5+ 16.h1 e7 17.h4! g6 18.xf6 b8 19.b5 xd5 20.a4 ) 14.b3! g8 15.f2 exd5 16.cxd5 b4 17.d4 h3 18.e6 ( 18.f3 ) 18...xe6 19.dxe6 d3 20.xd3 xd3 21.e1 ] 12...xe5 [ 12...exd5 13.xb6 axb6 ( 13...cxb6 14.cxd5 e7 15.exf6 gxf6 16.h4 g6 17.xf6 ) 14.a4 ] [ 12...e8 13.xb6 axb6 14.a4 a5 15.b5! ] [ 12...f7 13.b3 e7 14.d6! cxd6 15.xb6 axb6 16.exd6 xd6 17.b5 Taking the Knight on b6 helps to propel the White attack. ] 13.xe5 fxe5 14.a4! a5 15.b5 b4 16.d6! Black's problems are easily visible. Short is reduced to a disgusting move. a8 [ After 16...c5 White should concentrate on exchanging o f f the Bisho p on b4 which holds Black's position together. To that end both 17.c1! and ( 17.g5 df8 18.d2 look very strong. )] 17.c5 b8 18.f3 c6 UGH! Computer programs like Black but the reorganisation of his position takes far too much time and White has a clear advantage now. 19.a3 e4 20.e2 b6 Had to come. Who could imagine Nigel Short with a Knight on a8! 21.cxb6 xd6 22.xd6+ xd6 23.ad1 hd8 24.xd6 xd6 25.g4 d2 26.f2 b7 27.c4 White's composure is particularly impressive. Kotronias understands that the Knight on a8 makes the Black position very tough to manage. d5 28.gxf5 exf5 29.d1 b4 30.e3 g6 31.f2 Oh for a chance to get those Kingside pawns moving. White moves to strip the board of active Black pieces. xd1 32.xd1 c5 33.b3 xb6 The Knight re-emerges... 34.xb6 xb6 35.g8! All the pawns drop, one by one. If Black must shun the main line of the Four Pawns, i.e. 9...Be7,how about another look at 9... Bg4 or 9...Nb4. To be honest, I feel that the best days of 9...Qd7 are long gone. 1-0

496 Kupreichik,Viktor D Alburt,Lev O USSR Ch 1st League (16) [Nigel Davies]

B03

1978

A game between these two should receive top billing in the theory stakes. Kupreichik is the leading exponent of the White side of this line, Alburt has championed the Black cause for many years. On this occasion an Alburt experiment goes badly wrong. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f4 dxe5 5.fxe5 f5 6.f3 c5?! In conjunction with 5...Bf5, this looks quite suspicious to me. Alburt tends to rely more on deep analysis than gut instinct, but sometimes the analysis can be flawed. [ 6...e6 7.d3 xd3 8.xd3 c5 leads to positions considered in the notes to Vitolinsh - Smit. ] [ 6...c6 is interesting as after 7.a3 ( 7.d3 can be met by xd3 8.xd3 db4 9.e4 xd4 ) 7...e6 8.c4 b6 9.c3 g4 10.e3 there is a transposition into a line of the Four Pawns Attack in which White has played the passive a2-a3. ] 7.b5+ c6 8.c4 c7 9.0-0 e6 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.a4 d7 12.e3 Putting Black in deep trouble. W hite wants to capture the pawn on c5 and then occupy the d-file. a5 Black wants to cover c5 by bringing his knight to a6. But if such artificial means are necessary it's a very bad sign. [ 12...cxd4 13.xd4 hits both c6 and f5. ] 13.c3 a6 14.ad1 e7 15.dxc5 c7 16.d6! Preventing Black from recapturing on c5 by sacrificing the exchange. The massive passed pawn on d6 provides plenty of compensation. xd6 17.cxd6 d7 18.xa5 0-0 19.a4 b7 20.b6 d7 21.d4 e4 22.b3 fb8 23.d4 c2 24.b6 W inning back the exchange. The rest requires little comment, with Alburt continuing a bit longer than he should. xb6 25.xb6 d3 26.c1 f5 27.exf6 gxf6 28.d4 g6 29.xf6 f8 30.e7 xe7 31.dxe7 e8 32.g5 b4 33.c5 h6 34.h4 d3 35.xd3 xd3 36.b3 e5 37.f2 a8 38.e3 e4 39.a4 b8 40.d4 f7 41.c3 g8 42.g1 c5 43.a5 g6 44.f2 xe7 45.xc5+ d7 46.b4 e2 47.b5 h5 48.a6 500

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c8 49.e3 d6 50.d4 1-0

497 Kupreichik,Viktor D Kengis,Edvins USSR Club Ch [Nigel Davies]

B03

1990

A n o t h e r A l e k h i n e e xp e r t t r ie s t o d e f u s e K u p re ic h ik 's p e t , a n d wit h s li gh t ly m o r e success than Alburt from a theoretical point of view. Af ter 8.Bb5 it looks as if Black can equalise with 8...Bf5, which later sent Kupreichik off in search of an alternative 8th move. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f4 dxe5 5.fxe5 c5 6.f3 White has tried a couple of alternatives, but without notable success: [ After 6.b5+ Bagirov recently played c6 and obtained good counterplay after ( In Vitolinsh - Bagirov, Frunze 1979 he was under some pressure after 6...d7 7.xd7+ xd7 8.f3 cxd4 9.xd4 e6 10.0-0 h6 11.a3 c6 12.d3 d7 13.c4 5b6 14.bd2 a5 15.b3 e7 16.b2 c5 17.e2 0-0 18.d4 ) 7.c4 c7 8.xc6+ bxc6 9.f3 g4 10.e3 cxd4 11.xd4 xd4 12.xd4 d7 13.c3 g6 14.0-0-0 g7 in Khalafov - Bagirov, Baku 1998 ] [ White has also tried to transpose into a Four Pawns Attack with 6.c4 but here he h a s t o re c k o n wit h b4! when ot looks difficult for White to justify his play. Zapata Tal, Subotica Interzonal 1987 continued 7.d5 ( 7.a3 4c6 8.e6 xd4 9.exf7+ xf7 10.f3 f5 11.e5+ e8 12.d3 d6 13.f4 bc6 was good for Black in Afek - Dunworth, Oakham 1993) 7...f5 8.a3 ( 8.f2 e6 9.c3 c2 10.f3 xa1 11.d3 xd3 12.xd3 e7 was too optimistic in Georgiev Kr Solozhenkin, France 1996) 8...e6 9.a4+ d7 10.xd7+ xd7 11.f3 exd5 12.cxd5 xd5 13.c4 7b6 14.b5+ d7 15.0-0 xb5 16.xb5 a6 17.c3 h6 18.e4 e7 19.b3 0-0 20.a3 b4 21.xb4 cxb4 22.ad1 ad8 23.d6 d7 24.d4 c8! 25.e4 ( 25.xc8 c5 ) 25...fd8 and Black was a good pawn up. ]

6...cxd4 7.xd4 c6 8.b5 [ As Black can probably equalise after this, Kupreichik later tried 8.e4!? and after g6 9.c4 b6 ( 9...e6!? 10.g5 g7 11.xe6 fxe6 12.0-0 b6+ 13.h1 0-0-0 gave Black interesting counterplay in Gipslis - Freisler, Pardubice 1996) 10.b3 g7 11.0-0 f5 12.f4 0-0 13.c3 had a secure space advantage. ] 8...a5+ [ Kengis later suggested 8...f5 followed by ...e6 as being a simpler route to equality. ] 9.c3 xc3 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.d2! b5 12.xa5 xd4 13.xd4 e6 14.0-0-0 [ 14.xc6 b7 15.d4 c5!? allows Black's bishops to become strong. Kupreichik wisely opts to keep Black bottled up. ] 14...d7 15.d3! c5 16.hd1! a4 [ Capturing the knight is too dangerous, Kengis giving the line 16...cxd4 17.xd4 c6 18.d8+ xd8 19.xd8+ e7 20.c8 e8 21.c7+ d7 22.xa7 with 3 connected passed pawns and ongoing development problems for Black. ] 17.a3 d7 18.f3 c6 19.c4 e7 20.c7 g5 21.d6 g4 22.xe7 [ The immediate 22.e1 would have been better. Now Black comes close to equality. ] 22...xe7 23.e1 a5 24.d6 hc8 25.g3 h5 26.d3 c7 [ A m o r e a c t i v e t r e a t m e n t i s 26...e4!? a f t e r wh ic h 27.f4 f5 28.xh5 h8 gives Black counterplay. ] 27.f4 g8?! After White's reply, the h-pawn gets fixed on a light square. [ 27...h8 looks better, after which 28.xe6+?? fxe6 29.g6+ f7 30.xh8+ g7 wins the knight. ] 28.h4 h8 29.b3 d7 30.g3 a4 31.bb6 a7 32.c2 c7 33.c3 Now it's getting ugly. Black is tied up whilst W hite calmly improves his position. a7 34.a6 b7 35.db6 c7 36.a5 h7 37.a8 c6 38.g8 e4 39.bb8 c6 40.g5 e4 41.gg8 c6 42.d2 d7+ 43.e3 d4 44.bc8 e4+ 45.d3 d4+ 46.c3 d7 47.xc5 d1 48.c7 f6 49.exf6+ xf6 50.g6+ f5 51.c5+ e4 52.xh5 f3 53.f6 h8 54.xg4 b8 55.b4 axb3 56.axb3 b1 57.d4 d1+ 58.e5 xb3 501

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 59.f6 g2 60.e5 g1 61.e3 f1+ 62.e7 b7 63.e5 a4+ 64.xe6 c2 65.g5 f8 66.e2 h7 67.a2 e8+ 68.d5 d8+ 69.c5 c8+ 70.d4 b3 71.a7 d8+ 72.c5 e4 73.d7 a8 74.d4 b1 75.h5 g2 76.g4 b2 77.gg7 e2 78.ge7 g8 79.h6 g5 80.d5 xg4+ 81.xg4 xe7 82.f6 f7 83.d6 1-0

498

B03 Landa,Konstantin 2562 De Jonghe,Bruno 2304 Belgian Interclub Championships 2004/5 (8.1) [Andrew Martin]

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.d5!? Rather an unusual move which nails down the pawn on e7 and sets Black new and unwelcome problems. [ The line which made me switch to 5...exd6 is 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 - White delays Nf3 (so Black can't develop the bishop to g4), while getting ready to play d4-d5. ] 6...8d7 [ Both 6...e5 ] [ or 6...e6 pay immediate attention to the backward e pawn before W hite has a chance to get his development into f ull swing. 7.c3 ( in case of 7.dxe6?! xe6 Black is already ahead in development.) 7...exd5 8.cxd5 ( 8.xd5 xd5 9.xd5 c6 ) 8...e7 Black should be happy enough with the outcome of the opening. ] 7.b3 f6 8.b2 g6 9.d3 g7 10.e2N Landa finds a good move order. [ 10.c3 0-0 11.ge2 bd7 12.0-0 c5 13.c2 a5 14.b1 d7 15.d4 c8 16.e1 Buenermann, V-Guenther, L/ Muenster 1993 certainly looks better for White too, who has more space, pressure on the e file and the b5 square. ] 10...0-0 11.0-0 Baburin makes the key point that Black has no favourable pawn breaks in this position that is at the heart of his disadvantage. e8 12.bc3 bd7 13.d2 a6 14.g3 e5 15.fe1!? White clearly believes that he does not need the light-

squared bishop. [ Why not 15.e2! planning h3 and f4. With more space, White should keep the pieces on for maximum effect. ] 15...fg4 Black has to rely on piece play alone and this move does just that! [ 15...xd3 16.xd3 g4 17.d2 a5 might be a better way of playing the position. ] 16.h3 [ Again, more ambitious was to keep the d3bishop - after 16.f1!? White was probably afraid of xf2 but after 17.xe5 ( 17.xf2! g4-+ ) 17...h3+ 18.gxh3 xe5 19.ce4 he would have the advantage. ] 16...xd3 17.xd3 e5 18.c2?! [ 18.e2!? seems best, planning f2-f4. ] 18...b8 19.a4 h5 20.ad1 h4 21.f1 [ 21.ge4 f5 ] 21...f5 22.e2 [ 22.e4 b5! ] 22...b6! Clearly Black has counterplay now. 23.e3! xb3 24.a1 bc8 25.d4! Landa recognises that the game has changed and that he must now create confusion. [ Premature is 25.xf5?! gxf5 26.d4 g6! ( 26...f3+ 27.xf3 xd4 28.xf5 transposes to the game. ) 27.b1 a3 ] 25...f3+ 26.xf3 xd4 27.xf5 gxf5 28.xf5 xc4 [ Perhaps 28...xc3 29.g5+ f8 30.h6+ g8= would have been a more pragmatic decision. ] 29.b1 [ 29.e4 b4! 30.g5+ h7 31.h5+ g8= ] 29...a3 [ Inferior was 29...xb1+ 30.xb1 xc3 31.xc3 xc3 32.xb7 Black will have a very tough time coping with White's a pawn and at the same time his exposed King. ] 30.b2 c5?? Cracking, a typical scenario in club chess. [ 30...b4 31.a1 a3= was the way to go. ] 31.e4 b4?! [ 31...c8 32.g5+ f8 33.xd4 xd4 34.xh4 f6 35.h8+ f7 36.h7+ f8 37.b3! is terminal. ] 32.g5+ [ 32.g5+- ] 502

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 32...f8 33.h6+ g8 34.g5 xf2+ which is just as bad. ] 35.h1 6 d5 seems like a good practical bet 12...xd3 13.xd3 d7 14.c2 and W hite's ideas are easy to understand. Hitting the pawn on a4 again so as to force Nevertheless, from an objective viewpoint 6... Black to commit. c5 15.ad1 e5 should be a good response, after which [ White keeps a simple advantage with Black is OK. 15.b4! axb3 16.axb3 xa1 17.xa1 1-0 with the idea b4. ] 15...g5! 16.fe1 [ Or 16.xg5 xg5 17.cb5 d8 18.fe1 d7 . White's advantage is limited now. ] 499 B03 17.f3 xe3+ 18.xe3 d7 Leko,Peter 2755 16...g4 Ivanchuk,Vassily 2787 19.db5 e8 20.xe8+ xe8 21.e2 d7 Rapid Match g/10+10 rapid (11) 28.10.2007 22.e1 h5 23.d2 [ 23.e7 l o o k s a g g r e s s i ve , b u t xe7 [John Watson] 24.xe7 f8 25.e3 c8 protects everything. ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 7.d3 23...c8 24.d4 f6 25.b4 axb3 26.axb3 Black needs to find a reliable way to play f5 27.e3 g6 [ 27...a8 a good move here, since 28.cb5 against this move. c6 d7! 29.xc7?? loses to a1+ 30.e1 [ A n o t h e r r e c e n t g a m e w e n t 7...8d7 xe1+ 31.xe1 xd4+ ] 8.ge2 0-0 9.0-0 e8 10.b3 c6 11.e1 f8 12.c2 h6 13.f4 f6 14.h3 28.ce2 h4 29.h3 [ 29.b4! ] with a clear advantage in space and 29...a8 30.h2 h7 31.b5 c8 32.d4 activity Fressinet-Drazic, Ajaccio FRA 2007 ] xd4?! 8.ge2 a5!? [ Probably 32...d8 was the best Black [ The most common continuation here is could do. ] 8...0-0 9.0-0 f6 or 9...Re8. ] [ 8...b4 9.b1 xc4?? fails to 10.a4+ 33.exd4 c6? [ 33...g8 34.f4! . Once Black has played ...0-0, this idea A) 34...f8? 35.f5 h5 36.e1 becomes realistic. ] is a kind of zugzwang: a6 ( 36...e8 9.0-0 a4?! Black gains space and finally is 37.xe8+ xe8 38.xc7+ d7 able to play ... Nb4 without worrying about 39.cb5; 36...g8 37.e7 f8 Qa4 but this is awfully slow and can also 38.xc7 ) 37.e4; expose the a-pawn to attack. B) 34...b1 35.e7 a6 36.e1 d3 [ 9...b4 10.b1! xc4? still comes up 37.e3 b4 38.f3 attacks h4. ] short after 11.a3 c6 12.d5 , for example, a7! ( 12...6e5 13.f4 d7 14.d4 ) 34.dxc6 bxc6 35.a7 a8 36.dxc6 d3 13.a4+ b5 14.xb5 d7 15.xc4 xb5 37.e7 f6 38.b4 [ Easier is 38.d4 ] 16.c2 and Black can't castle. ] 38...b2 39.a5 d3 40.c5 dxc5 41.bxc5 10.e3 b4 11.d5 0-0?! [ Better 11...xd3 12.xd3 , but White has c4 42.xc4 xc4 43.c6 a6 44.g1 [ Or 44.c7! f5 45.c6 c8 46.d4 ] space and harmonious piece placement, whereas Black is hampered by that knight 44...d8 45.d7 e8 46.c7 e1+ 47.h2 on b6. Then d7 13.d4 0-0 ( 13...e5 c1 48.d6! b7 49.b5!? The effects of a 14.c2 targeting a4) 14.c2 a3 15.b4 rapid game are clear as the game proceeds. [ 49.c6! wins on the spot. Now it takes is obviously better for White. ] longer. ] 12.d4?! [ Natural, but not as good as 12.xb6! cxb6 49...c5 50.b6 c8 51.g1 c1+ 52.h2 13.b1 and after a3 and Nxa4 White wins a c5 53.b8 d7 54.d8 xb5 55.c8 pawn, unless Black tries a3 14.bxa3 xa3 xc8 56.xc8 g5 57.g1 g6 58.f2 15.xh7+ xh7 16.b1+ g8 17.xb4 d3 59.e3 f1 60.c2 f5 61.c5+ g6 503

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 62.f2 d3 63.c1 b5 64.e3 a6 65.a1 c4 66.d4 b5 67.c5 e2 68.d6 f5 69.e5 g4 70.f4 d3 71.e1 g3 72.d4 c2 73.e6+ f7 74.h6 e4 75.xh4 xg2 76.h5 f6 77.e3 f1 78.h4 h3 79.g5 g4 80.h5 1-0

500

B03 Leko,Peter 2749 Ivanchuk,Vassily 2750 1st ACP World Rapid Cup rapid (4.4) 08.01.07 [John Watson]

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 This is the riskier capture, which has been more entertaining over the years than 5...exd6. 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 This, the Voronezh System, is still giving Black f its. Recent solutions seem a little unconvincing to me. Check out recent and archived ChessPub games, a few of which are cited here. 0-0 9.b3 White has cleared the a1-h8 diagonal so as to be able to play d5, and in the meantime, 9. . .d5? 10 c5 is bad because the pawn on b3 prevents ...Nc4. W hite's is an absurdly time-consuming manoeuvre that neglects kingside development, but its prophylactic purpose is typically modern, and no clear solution has appeared. a5!? An awfully slow move. Ivanchuk is clearly trying to avoid the betterknown lines. But what does the move accomplish? [ H Contreras-Bermudez, Bogota COL 2006 was a typical strategic win for White: 9...c6 A) 10.d5 e5 11.e2! is normal, i n t e n d i n g f 4 ( U n n e c e s s a r y i s 11.h3 as reported by JR in this column : e8 12.e2 e6 13.dxe6 xe6 14.f3 d5! and Black was doing well in SockoRozentalis, Warsaw POL 2006 ); B) 10.e2!? was seen in H ContrerasBermudez, Bogota COL 2006. The idea is to play 11 d5 Ne5 12 f4 and not allow ... Ng4: B1) 10...e5 11.f3! ( 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.c5 is a standard idea, although White's bishop may not want to be on e2 ) 11...f5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.xd8

xd8 14.c5 and Black has major problems.; B2) Perhaps Black can exploit White's slow 10 Be 2 b y 10...d5 11.c5 d7 12.xd5 db8! 13.c4 e6 14.c3!? xd4 15.ge2 f5 and White is only very slightly better.; B3) 10...d7!? 11.f3 f6 12.d5 b8 13.h3!? ( 13.0-0 and; 13.d4 are more natural) 13...a5 14.0-0 d7 15.d2 e8 To answer Bh6 by ...Bh8, and perhaps to assist in ...e6 16.fd1 a6 17.d4 White has ways of progressing on the queenside, and Black can't undertake anything. The opening has been a complete success for White. He converts after a tough defence from h i s o p p o n e n t : c5 18.f3 c8 19.db5! h5 (there isn't much else to do) 20.xc5 xc5 ( 20...dxc5 21.d6 ) 21.a4 c8 22.b6 c5 23.xa8 xa8 24.e3 xe3 25.fxe3 f5 26.c5 dxc5 27.d6 exd6 28.xd6 e6 29.xb7 a7 30.xc5 a4 31.a5 xa5 32.xa5 axb3 33.axb3 f8 34.c4 c5 35.f2 f8 36.c6 h4 37.f3 g5 38.e2 g4 39.hxg4 xg4 40.d5 c8 41.f1 f6 42.d2 a6 43.f4 xc4 44.xc4 xe3+ 45.e2 1-0. ] 10.e2 a6 11.f3 d7 12.0-0 c8 13.d2 a4 If Black has to play this (threatening nothing), things have gone badly. 14.fe1 [ 14.h6 was another good move. ] 14...axb3 15.axb3 e8 16.h6 h8 17.h4! e5?! This creates serious weaknesses, although to be fair there weren't any attractive options, for example, [ a) 17...f5 18.d3 ( 18.h5!?; 18.g5 d7 19.h5 ) 18...d7 19.xf5 xf5 20.g5 , n o t m e re ly a t t a ckin g t h e e -p a wn , b u t preparing moves such as Re4. ] [ b) Also sad-looking is 17...g4 , when one idea among several is 18.f4 d7 19.c5! with the idea dxc5 20.b5 ] 18.dxe5 dxe5 [ 18...xe5 19.xe5 dxe5 20.e4 forces c5 21.xc5 xc5 22.e3 and Rcd1 is too strong. ] 19.g5 504

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Or 19.e4 ] 19...f6 20.e3 c5 21.xc5 xc5 22.b4 xc4 [ 22...c8 23.c5 a8 24.e4 ] 23.xc4+ xc4 24.d5+ e6 25.xb7 Now W hite mops up. b8 26.c6 f7 27.d5 d6 28.c7 d8 29.ed1 xb4 30.a6 a3 31.c7 c8 32.xd6 xc1 1-0

501

B03 Leko,Peter 2749 Ivanchuk,Vassily 2750 1st ACP World Rapid Cup rapid (4.1) 08.01.07 [John Watson]

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 The is considered the safer recapture, with symmetrical open files. Black still has to deal with White's space advantage, but if he doesn't mind defending that's not so bad. 6.c3 e7 7.d3 [ 7.h3 0-0 8.f3 f6 9.e2 e6 10.d5 xc3+ 11.bxc3 d7 was the course of Volokitin-Ivanchuk, Foros UKR 2006, a very nice win for Black which was annotated for this column by both John Cox and Jonathan Rowson (separately). If it works against a 2660, Ivanchuk might be thinking, why not against a 2750? ] 7...c6 [ Previously you saw 7...0-0 8.ge2 c6 9.b3 g4 10.e3 e8 11.d2 f6 12.0-0 d5 13.c5 c8 14.h3 e6? ( 14...xe2 ) 15.f4 8e7 16.g4 (White is already nearly winning, as the pawns cannot be stopped) g6?! ( 16...b4 17.b1 h4 18.f5 c8 19.a3 19 or Bg5 ) 17.f5 gxf5 18.g5 g6 19.xf6 xf6 20.gxf5 xd4 21.fxe6 f3+ 22.xf3 xf3 23.f1 h4 24.exf7+ h8 25.fxe8+ xe8 26.g5 1-0 AroshidzeChigladze, European GP, Izmir TUR 2003. A game like this shows how delicate the play can be in such a solid-looking variation. ] 8.ge2 g4 9.f3 h5 10.0-0 g6 [ Nigel Davies annotated the game SimonsBaburin, 10th Monarch Assurance 2001 for ChessPublishing: 10...0-0 11.b3 ( 11.f4! g6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.d5 e5 14.b3 f6 15.b2 with a small advantage for White)

11...f6 12.e3!? e8 13.d2 d5! 14.c5 c8 (intending ...Nce7 and soon, ...Nf5) 15.fe1 g6 16.xg6 hxg6 17.ad1 b6 18.cxb6 ( 18.f4!? ) 18...axb6= ] 11.b3 0-0 12.e3 e8 13.xg6 A different approach. White will simply develop and use his space advantage. hxg6 14.d2 [ 14.d5 e5 15.g3 f6 16.d4 also seems to secure some advantage. This and succeeding choices for White all lead to small advantages for him, but ones that are probably manageable for Black. Nothing ever gets out of hand. ] 14...f6 15.d5 Cementing his space advantage. Otherwise Black will probably try his 15...d5 16 c5 Nc8-e7 plan. e5 16.f2 [ Or 16.d4 ] 16...bd7 17.e4 h4 18.d4 [ There are options on every move, most obviously 18.2c3 ] 18...f6 19.4c3 [ It's not obvious which if any move is best, for example, 19.xf6+ xf6 20.g3 d7 21.ae1 also maintains a limited advantage. ] 19...h7!? 20.ad1 [ Again, White might get some traction out of 20.g3 f6 21.ae1 d7 22.g2 g5 ( 22...g5 23.g1 ) 23.e4 ] 20...a6 21.h1 e7 22.g1 ad8 At this point White has some extra space, but Black is well with drawing range. This in fact occurs: 23.d4 d7 24.c2 f6 25.d2 e5 26.f4 xd4 27.xd4 h4 28.e2 hf6 29.d3 xe2 30.xe2 e8 31.f3 c5 32.f2 h5 33.xh5 gxh5 34.e1 xe1+ 35.xe1 h7 36.g3 g6 37.g2 fe4 38.xe4 xe4 39.f3 f5 40.h3 f7 41.g4 g6 42.gxh5 gxh5 43.e3 e8 44.d4 d7 45.h4 c6 46.e1 c5+ I t ' s n o t cl e a r t o m e t h a t W h i t e e ve r h a d anything that should have actually led to a win with perfect play, but it's also true that many players wouldn't enjoy playing the Black side. ½-½

505

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 502 Leko,Peter Short,Nigel D Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (10) [Gawain Jones]

B03 2739 2696 27.01.2010

1.e4 f6 Nigel plays another offbeat opening for us! 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 [ More solid than 5...cxd6 ] 6.c3 c6 7.h3 Deviating from the previous Hou Yifan-Short which John annotated last year. e7 8.f3 f5 This immediately hasn't been covered on ChessPublishing before. 9.d3 Leko's play is unusual in that he doesn't develop his bishop to e3. This is a very quiet, non critical move, happy to exchange light squared bishops and just play the position with slightly more space and try to outplay his opponent. Other moves which have been tried recently here: [ 9.e2 0-0 10.0-0 f6 11.e3 A) 11...e8 12.c1 h6 A1) 13.c5!? dxc5 14.dxc5 A1a) 14...xd1 A1a1) 15.cxd1 so Black's can't play ...Bxb2 with tempo hitting the rook. xc3! 16.cxb6 f6 ( 16...xb2!? ) 17.bxc7 e7=; A1a2) 15.fxd1 d7 16.d2 is a f ractio n b ett er f or W h ite bu t shouldn't trouble Black unduly.; A1b) 14...d7; A2) 13.b3 a5 14.b5 g6 ( 14...e7!= would attempt to exploit W hite's perilous state of his queen.) 15.c5 dxc5 16.dxc5 d5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xb7 ( 18.c4 d7 19.fd1 although it's hardly anything.) 18...b4 19.xc7 xa2 20.g3 xb2 had become double edged but after a series of inaccuracies by both sides the game ended drawn in Sai-Shivananda, Chennai 2010 (35); B) 11...h6 12.c1 d5 The typical Alekhine break but it doesn't work so well h e r e a s h a d W h i t e p l a y e d ( 12...e8 would transpose to 11...Re8) 13.c5 ( Instead 13.b3 was played in KotrotsosK a l l i o , K a v a l a 2 0 0 5 1 / 2 - 1 / 2 ( 7 1 )) 13...c4? fails to ( 13...c8 is necessary

b u t W h i t e h a s s o m e a d va n t a g e h e r e 14.h2!? ) 14.xd5! xb2? 15.xf6+ xf6 16.b3 and the knight is trapped. ] [ 9.f4 d7 10.e2 f6 11.0-0 0-0 12.d2 fe8 13.b3 h6 14.fe1 e7 15.a3 ae8 16.ad1 d5?! This just jumpstarts W h i t e ' s q u e e n s i d e p l a y . ( 16...h7 would leave Black very solidly placed but it's hard to come up with an aggressive plan for him. ) 17.c5! c8 A) Missing the chance to play 18.xc7! xc7 19.xd5 d7 20.xe7+ ( 20.xf6+!? gxf6 21.d5 also looks a lot of fun for White.) 20...8xe7 21.d5 b8 22.c4; B) 18.b4 e4? something had to be done about Ne5 19.b5 d8 20.e5 xe5 21.dxe5 e6 22.xe4 dxe4 23.g4 was a quick defeat of the Kiwi IM who plays the Alekhine exclusively. 1-0 Steadman-Dive, Wanganui 2007 ] [ 9.d5 immediately is very committal e5 ( 9...b4 10.d4 g6 11.a3 a6 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0 f6 14.b4 c5!? Black will get typical compensation and try to prove that W hite has overreached.) 10.d4 ( 10.xe5!? dxe5 11.d3 xd3 12.xd3 is a saf e attempt at a niggling edge f or White. ) 10...d7 Rather obliging. He was evidently scared that ( 10...g6 would allow 11.f4 at some stage but it cannot be played i m m e d i a t e l y d u e t o h4+ 12.d2 exc4+-+ when it's check on c4 so no time for the retaliation check on a4.) 11.b3 0-0 12.e2 c5 13.dxc6 xc6 1-0 HossainKrylov, Moscow 2008 (48) and here 14.0-0 would give W hite a small edge with potential pressure against d6. ] [ 9.e3 would transpose to a couple games of the Irish Grandmaster, and Alekhine expert Alexander Baburin examined in the archives. ] 9...d7 10.0-0 0-0 11.b3 f6 12.e2 Leko's really trying to do without Be3! fe8 13.g3 g6 [ 13...xd3 14.xd3 would threaten the knight jump on h5 and so g6 would be necessary. Therefore Short decides the doubled pawns are better defenders in front of his king. ] 14.xg6 hxg6 15.g5 I suppose this proves 506

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 that Leko was right not to develop his bishop earlier as it can go in one movement to g5 but White can hardly claim any advantage here. An opening success and it seems like the Alekhine is in as healthy a state as ever. xg5 16.xg5 d5 Time for the thematic break. Of course this forces Black to lose time with the knight but it isn't really doing anything on b6 a n y m o r e a s b 3 a n d c 4 t a k e a wa y a l l i t s potential squares. Once W hite plays c5 he loses flexibility with his pawn structure and has lost control of the b5 square and weakened the d4 pawn. 17.c5 c8 18.f3 8e7 the knight continues its path to a more active square. 19.e2 [ 19.e1 f5 would force the knight to retreat as 20.xf5 xf5 only favours Black. He will be able to take over control of the e file and start to pressure the d4 pawn. ] 19...f6!? Showing that Black is starting to think of more than the half point. 20.c3 g5 This was the idea behind Black's previous. Short tries to exploit W hite's slightly weakened kingside with the h3 pawn, Leko would prefer that pawn back on h2. g6-g5 also opened a path for the knight e7-g6-f4 w h i c h m i g h t c o m e i n u s e f u l . 21.d3 Stopping t he knight . f7 22.fe1 a6 stopping either queen or knight using b5 while Black tries attacking although [ 22...g4 immediately is also possible. ] 23.e3 g4! More dynamic than [ 23...f5 24.xe8 ( 24.xg5+!? fxg5 25.f3 is also interesting with the important point that cxd4? 26.xd4! and the knight c a n n o t r e c a p t u r e .) 24...xe8 25.a3 which is almost level. ] 24.h2 gxh3 25.xh3 h8 26.xh8 xh8 Black takes control of the h file and White has to start being very careful. 27.d1 g5!? The second pawn goes to g5. 28.e2 g6 [ 28...f5! looks strong here as White would have an extremely unpleasant task holding on. Again the d4 weakness cripples White and this is exactly what Black is aiming for in this line. ] 29.f3 ce7 [ 29...f5 would stop White's next and keep Leko very passive. ] 30.g4! c6 [ 30...f5 31.f2 is a more active square for

the knight while 32.f4 is a strong positional threat. ] 31.e1 f5 32.f2 White's managed to hold on to enough of the position for equality. g7 33.g3 f4 34.c2 h4 35.h1 xh1 36.xh1 f5 37.xf5 Now the position is dead le vel an d t he rem ain ing mo ves are superfluous. xf5 38.h6+ g6 39.xf5 xf5 40.g4+ e6 41.e3 g2+ 42.f2 f4 43.e3 g2+ 44.e2 f5 45.g3 f4+ 46.e3 fxg4 47.fxg4 d7 48.f1 c7 49.d2 e6 50.f3 b6 51.cxb6+ xb6 52.d3 a5 53.c3 b5 54.a3 a5 55.e5 b5 56.d7 f4 57.c5 h3 58.d3 g1 59.d2 f3+ 60.e3 h4 61.e5 g2+ 62.d2 f4 63.f3 e6 64.c3 a5 65.e5 b6 66.d3 c7 67.f3 b6 68.c2 b5 69.c3 ½-½

503 Li,Chao Garma,Chito 1st WMSG Rapid Team rapid (6) [John Watson]

B03 2622 2347 15.10.2008

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 h6 The old 'main line', instead of 14...Na5, which we ' v e l o o k e d a t q u i t e a b i t . I t wo u l d b e interesting to see what Li Chao2 has in mind there. At any rate, he prepared well for 14... h6. [ A sample line that I found in the main line of 14...a5 is 15.b5 ( 15.e2 -see the other Li Chao2 game in this month's column) 15...c6! (as pointed out and analysed by Mark Morss) is 16.d1 d4 17.xd4 exd4 18.xd4 ( This exchange sac for a pawn is White's only realistic chance 18.xd4 xc5 19.xg7 xd1+ 20.xd1 xg7= ) 18...xd4 19.xd4 b6 20.c6 b8 21.e3 d6 , and now instead of 22 0-0, 22.c7 A) 22...c6? let's White exploit Black's l o o s e p i e c e s , f o r e x a m p l e , 23.e4!? ( actually, 23.f4! e6+ 24.d2! and Rd1 is probably clearest) 23...e6 24.g5 d6 25.f4 f6 26.e4! e6 507

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27.0-0 with a probably winning advantage; B) 22...a6! 23.f4 f6! ( 23...e6+ 24.d2 is awkward, because ...Bb7 can be met by Bd7) 24.g3 b7! 25.xa6!? ( 25.0-0 xc7! 26.xc7 c8 27.e5 f5 a n d . . . Rxc 3) 25...xa6 26.d2 c8! 27.a4 ( 27.d1 c6 28.c2 6xc7 29.xc7 xc7; 27.c1 c6 28.d5 xc1 29.xc1 f8 ) 27...c6 28.d5 e6 29.c3 b7 30.d1 xd5 31.xd5 c6+ 32.b4 6xc7 ] 15.b5 This looks more promising than has previously been tho ught, and apparently somewhat advantageous. d4?! [ John Cox cites Arzumanian (2437) -Zubov, (2 3 2 8 ) A l u s h t a 2 0 0 1 a s t h e wa y t o g o : 15...e4 16.d2 de5 17.xe4 b4 18.0-0 xa2 19.cd1 d7 ( Well played: ensuring the exchange of the c4 bishop by 19...xd1 20.xd1 g4 looks natural at first sight, but after 21.f3 xc4 22.bxc4 White has the initiative.) 20.c7 ab8 21.d5 xc4 22.df6+ ( jw: White still has pressure after 22.bxc4 , for example, c6 23.f4 a8 24.d2 b4 25.fd1 ) A) Cox says that 22...xf6 23.xf6+ g7 24.xd7 ( jw: Black probably didn't like the looks of 24.d4 ) 24...xe3 25.fxe3 looks simpler and completely equal; B) 22...h8 23.xd7 b2 24.d2 a8 25.ef6 b4 26.d4 1/2-1/2 A curious move: ( 26.xb2 xd7 27.xd7 xb2 28.xh6 seems to win a pawn, and while Black might have a bit of compensation it's hard to believe this wasn't worth a try. )] 16.d6! xc5 [ But 16...e6 17.xe6 fxe6 18.0-0 is awful, for example, f8 ( 18...g5 19.fd1 f8 20.e4 ) 19.fd1 b8 20.c4 ] [ Probably Black missed 16...f8 17.h4! , winning material and leading to a huge advantage after xc5 ( 17...g5 18.g6 ) 18.xg6 d3+ 19.xd3 fxg6 20.xg6 ] 17.xf7 d3+ 18.d2 e6 19.xd8 xf3+ 20.gxf3 xc4 21.xc4 xd8 22.e2 Black can resign. b5 23.e4 f4+ 24.xf4 exf4 25.xf4 d6 26.d1 c6 27.d8+ h7 28.f7 e6+ 29.d2 g5 30.dd7 g6 31.xa7 h5 32.a4 bxa4 33.bxa4 1-0

504 Li,Chao Hoang Canh,Huan 1st WMSG Blitz Team blitz (4) [John Watson]

B03 2622 2363 13.10.2008

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 a5 15.e2 [ 15.b5 is the other LiChao2 game. ] 15...c6 [ 15...b6 is treated at length in the Archives. Then 16.a4 and 16 0-0 are critical. ] 16.0-0 [ John Cox analyses 16.b5 , for example, f8 17.d6 e6 ( Cox: 17...h6 18.c4 d7 would transpose to Yagupov-Ukolov: wit h t h e t e xt B la ck t rie s t o a vo id t h is .) 18.g5 xg5 19.xg5 d7 20.g4 Cox: An unusual idea: normally ...f5 is a move Black wants to play. f5 21.e2 h6 22.c4+ h7 23.d2 ( 23.xc8 hxg5 24.d6 was tempting, but Horvath believes in the strength of his position.) 23...e7 24.h4 e4 25.g5 e5 26.f4 e7 27.xc8 xc8 28.d6 ee8 29.f7 e5 30.xe8 d3+ 31.e2 xc1+ 32.xc1 xe8 33.c6 bxc6 34.xc6 Cox: I feel Black ought to hold this endgame, but he must have been in time trouble. a5 35.c7 g8 36.a7 d8 37.c7 c8 38.b7 d4 39.f3 e8 40.fxe4 xe4+ 1-0 Horvath, A (2497)-Sikula, V (2418)/Hungary 2002/ [Cox] ] 16...h6 [ 16...d4 is probably better. An example with Cox's notes is 17.xd4 Pretty much forced. The b4 pawn is en prise, and ( 17.b4 a5 18.a3 axb4 19.axb4 f8 is not at all desirable: White cannot expect to get much if the knight stays on d4.; For 17.c4?! see Fernandez Garcia - Nunez Lucero.) 17...exd4 18.b5 After other knight moves Black has easy development with moves like ...Ne5 and Bg4 a6 This leads by force to an endgame which needs only a little accuracy for Black to hold. An equally good alternative was ( 18...d3 when 19.xd3 xc5 20.xg6 hxg6 21.xc5 g4 is fairly forced, 508

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and now Black has play for his pawn which gives him equality, especially since White cannot avoid either the rook coming in at d2 or having his kingside pawns maimed by .... Bxf3, for example; 18...f8 19.fd1 e6 20.c4 xc5 21.bxd4 g4 22.h3 xf3 23.xf3 e4 was another possibility which also produces a very equal endgame: I've continued this variation because the trick at the end amuses me -) 19.bxd4 xc5 20.xc5 xd4 21.xd4 xd4 22.c7 Raetsky, A (2430)-Santo Roman, M (2394)/ S a u t r o n F R A 2 0 0 4 a n d C o x g i v e s e6 23.f3 d2 with good counterplay. ] 17.fd1 f5!? Loosening. [ But W hite keeps an edge af ter 17...f8 18.xd8 xd8 19.e4 c6 20.d6 ] 18.g3!? [ 18.b5 is good, with the idea f4 19.d2 e4 20.h4! ] 18...h7 19.d5 e4 20.d4 de5?! [ 20...xd4! 21.xd4 e5 activates Black's pieces. ] 21.xc6 xc6 22.c7 xd1+ 23.xd1 b8 24.c4 [ 24.e8! e5 25.d6 ] 24...b6? [ 24...e5 ] 25.cxb6 axb6 26.d6! b4 27.d8 c6 28.e8 e5 29.b5 d7 30.xb8 xb8 31.xb6 White's passed pawns are monstrous. 1-0

16...c8 17.b4 [ 17.d4 ] [ 17.d4 ] 17...b6 18.d4 e5 19.dxe6 fxe6 20.f3 b8 21.c5 [ 21.b5 axb5 22.dxb5 xb5 23.xb5 ] 21...bxc5 22.bxc5 e7 23.c6 [ 23.e2 ] 23...e8 24.c7!? Good enough, but [ 24.d5! wins easily, e.g. , A) but 24...xd5 25.xd5 xd4 ( 25...exd5 26.e6 ) 26.xe6+ f7 27.xf7+ xf7 28.xd4 wins quickly; B) 24...exd5? 25.e6 xe6 26.c7 ] 24...xc7 25.d5 xd5 26.xd5? [ White's position is still dominant after 26.xc7! xc7 27.g5 f7 28.c1 w i t h i d e a s l i k e B d 8 a n d B g 4 . ( 28.d8 is also good )] 26...d7 27.c6?! [ 27.b3! ] 27...d8 28.g5 xd4 29.xe8 e5! 30.a4 f8 [ 30...d5 ] 31.b3+ h8 32.xe7 xe7 33.c7 f6 White should still have a winning advantage, but this is a bit tricky. The details are not important, but Black scrambles his way to a draw. 34.e2 c5 35.d3? e4 36.d1 f8 37.xc5 dxc5 38.e1 d4 39.xe4 xf2+ 40.h1 f5 41.e5+ g7 42.e4 f5 43.xf5 xf5 44.a4 g3+ 45.g1 h5 46.h4 e2+ 47.h2 f4 48.xf4 xf4 49.c4 g5 50.xa6 gxh4 51.a4 g7 52.a5 e6 53.e2 d4 54.a6 c6 55.h3 f6 505 B03 56.xh4 e5 57.xh5 d4 58.g4 c4 Lie,Kjetil A 2536 59.g5 c3 60.d1 c5 61.f6 b6 62.g5 Lie,Espen 2404 b4 63.e6 d3 64.f5 b4 65.e6 ch-NOR Hamar NOR (4) 09.07.2007 d3 66.c2 f4+ 67.e5 h5 68.d3 g7 69.g6 h5 70.e4 a7 71.e3 b6 [John Watson] 72.e2 g7 73.d3 h5 74.f3 a7 9...Nc6 against the Voronezh system has 75.g4 g7 76.g5 b6 77.f6 h5+ reappeared a few times recently (even in GM 78.e5 a7 79.d6 b6 80.d7 f4 play!). This game is an example of how that 81.g7 h5 82.g8 f4 83.e4 xa6 still seems to be a mistake. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 84.c6 a5 85.c5 a4 86.c4 e2 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 87.f6 a3 88.d5 b2 89.e3 c1 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 c6 90.d3 f4+ 91.xc3 e2+ 92.d3 f4+ 10.d5 e5 11.e2 ed7 12.f3 f6 93.d4 e2+ 94.c4 f4 95.f1 d1 96.d4 e1 97.e3 e2 98.f5 e6+ 13.h3 d7 14.d2 e8 15.0-0 a6 16.fd1 [ Or 16.fe1! Black's position is 99.e5 c5 100.b1 d3+ 101.d4 f2 102.h4 d2 103.g6 e2 104.h5+ prospectless. ] 509

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d2 105.f3+ c2 106.g6+ d1 107.f5 e2 108.e5 d2 109.g6 e2 110.h5+ d2 111.c4+ e1 112.e3 d1+ 113.xd1 ½-½

506 Luther,T Rozentalis,E TCh-AUT 1st Bundesliga 2013-14 (2.1) [Tom Rendle]

B03 2556 2622

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.d5! This is considered the critical line of the four pawns attack. exd5 [ 10...b4 was tried by Rozentalis back in 2005 but 11.c1! ( instead 11.d4 g6 12.a3 a6 13.dxe6 0-0! gave Black dangerous play in Melnikova-Rozentalis annotated by John Cox in the archives.) 11...exd5 12.a3 c5 ( 12...a6 13.cxd5 0-0 14.b4 is obviously very comfortable for White ) 13.axb4 d4 14.xd4 cxd4 15.xd4 b8 16.e2 gave White a clear advantage in Hector, J (2575)-Appel, R (2529) Dortmund 2011 ] 11.cxd5 b4 12.d4 d7 13.e6 fxe6 14.dxe6 c6 15.xc6! This seems to be White's best option to fight for an advantage [ 15.g4 is very complicated but it seems Black is doing OK here, at least f or the moment h4+ 16.g3 A) 16...f6? loses to 17.0-0-0 A1) or 17...xh1 18.f5 c8? ( 18...xd1+ 19.xd1 is completely lost for Black ) 19.xg7+ with a mating attack; A2) 17...6d5 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xd5 xd5 20.c5 and White has an overwhelming advantage; B) 16...xh1! seems to be most accurate 17.0-0-0 0-0 18.gxh4 f6! 19.b5 e5 ( 19...d5! 20.g5 e5 21.e7 f2 ) 20.g5 c5 21.e7 cxd4 22.exf8+ xf8 23.xh1 and now in Klinger-Herndl (from the archives) Black could've obtained a g o o d g a m e w i t h ( 23.xd4 xa2+! 24.xa2 xb5 is at least OK for Black as 25.xh1? loses to c6+ ) 23...a6!

for example 24.e2 xe2 25.xe2 dxc3 26.bxc3 xa2+ 27.b2 f2 28.e1 d5! and Black stays a pawn ahead; C) 16...0-0 17.0-0-0 ( 17.xc6!? is a p o ssib le im p ro ve m e n t , e . g . c2+ 18.e2 bxc6 19.xh4 xh4 20.gxh4 xa1 21.h3 c2 22.e7 fe8 23.c5 and despite being an e xchange down White is clearly better. The knight on c2 is trapped and White's passed pawn on e7 is very strong.) 17...xh1 18.gxh4 f6 19.b5 c6 20.g5 e5 21.e7 fe8 22.xh1 cxb5 23.f3 d3+ 24.c2 d6 25.d1 f2 26.xd6 xg4 27.d4 f6 28.h5 xe7 29.h6 d7 30.xf6 gxf6 31.g4+ f7 32.xb5 c8+ 33.c3 g8 34.f4 d5 0-1 Grischuk, A (2748)-Svidler, P (2726) Odessa UKR 2009 ] 15...xd1+ [ 15...bxc6! is a little more risky but actually seems to be a more accurate way of handling the position A) maybe W hite should settle for 16.a3 xd1+ ( 16...4d5?! 17.d3! is good for White ) 17.xd1 d8+ 18.c1 4d5 19.xd5 xd5 20.c2 but Black is close to equalising here as well after g5!; B) 16.f3 f8 17.e4 feels a bit more comfortable for W hite but perhaps this position is OK for Black after the accurate d6! 18.e2 f6 19.d1 ( not 19.xh7 g6! and it's W hite who's in trouble) 19...6d5 ] 16.xd1 bxc6 We've reached the end of the opening phase and it seems to be that White has slightly the better chances. However, if Black manages to complete development and settle a knight on d5 he's going to be completely fine so White needs a good plan here. [ 16...c2+ 17.e2 xe3 18.xe3 bxc6 19.e2! is only a little better for White but he can certainly play for a win here with little or no risk. ] [ 16...xc6 allows 17.xb6 axb6 18.d7 with a definite edge to White ] 17.d2 [ 17.d2!? looks a bit strange but it may be the best try for an edge. A possible line is d8+ 18.c1 4d5 19.xd5 xd5 510

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 19...cxd5? 20.b5+ f8 21.hf1+ f6 22.c5+ wins f or W hit e) 20.d2 d6 21.d3 xe6 22.he1 and White's two bishops should give him the better chances in the endgame although I suspect with best play Black should still draw without too much difficulty. ] 17...f8 [ 17...0-0! seems more logical and I can see no way for W hite to be better here, e.g. 18.a3 4d5 19.xd5 cxd5! 20.xb6 cxb6 21.xd5 ac8 and Black's activity is enough for the pawn here. ] 18.a3 4d5 19.xb6 [ maybe White can try for a small advantage after 19.xd5 xd5 20.d4 f6 21.f2! as it's a little awkward for Black to move here. Still the edge is only small if Black plays b8! 22.c5! xb2 23.xf8 xf8 with a draw being the most likely result. ] 19...xb6 20.a6 g5 21.e2 e7 The game is heading for a draw, especially with the presence of the opposite coloured bishops. 22.d1 f6 [ 22...d5 23.e4 h6 is also just equal ] 23.c2 xc3 24.xc3 ad8 25.c1 f5?! [ 25...d5+! 26.b3 d6 keeps the balance ] 26.b3 c5 27.a2?! [ 27.g4! gives White real chances here, for example g5 28.f1 d6 ( 28...xg4? loses to 29.b5! c6 30.xc6 c4 31.f7+ d6 32.e7 a5+ 33.a2 xc6 34.exd8+ xd8 35.d2+ e6 36.xa7 ) 29.e7 e8 30.fe1 with an unpleasant position for Black to defend ] 27...dd5 28.ec2 xe6 29.g4 f4 30.xc5 xc5 31.xc5 If anything White now has to be more careful but Luther holds the draw easily enough d6 32.g5 g6 33.h4 d7 34.a5 e5 [ 34...xg4! 35.h5 e5 36.hxg6 hxg6 37.b7 should be a draw but White still has to show some good defensive technique ] 35.c8! Now it's just a draw f8 [ 35...xg4 36.xg4 xg4 37.h5! draws ] 36.b7 f2 37.d5+ e6 38.d4 c5 39.c8+ e7 ½-½

507 Luther,Thomas Pajeken,Wolfgang 8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (6) [John Watson]

B03 2580 2346 08.04.2007

W ith so many young players using the Voronezh system these days (perhaps prompted by several authors' recommendations), it is appropriate to see this month's games with the very main line. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 We saw other moves last month. Really, this continues to be Black's best try. 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.f3 c6 14.c4 [ Another critical line was played in Bauer-M Grunberg, Dresden 2007. I'll just show some m o ve s b e ca u se t h e y d o n 't f o l lo w wh a t seems to be best play: 14.e4 h6 15.d6 f8 16.c4 d7 17.0-0 e7 18.xc8 xc8 19.fd1 e6 20.d6 ed4 21.xd4 exd4 and play was almost level. But White certainly had the better of it in the opening. ] 14...h6 [ As far as I know, 14...a5 15.e2 b6 is still playable, at least in the line 16.a4 ( 16.cxb6 xb6 was covered in the game K Martin-Cox, annotated by Cox himself for this column.) 16...xc5 17.xc5 bxc5 18.xc5 b7 with the idea 19.c7 d6! 20.xa7?! xa7 21.xa7 e6 . It's interesting that the Repertoire for White book by Dzindzihashvili and Perelshteyn skip 15.. .b6 entirely. No one that I know of has demonstrated an advantage after that, but things ch ange pretty quickly in this variation. ] 15.0-0 White returns to calm development. This move has been rare by comparison with the more forcing [ 15.e4 , whose assessment seems to swing between equality and a slight edge for White. ] 15...d4?! At first this looks like a way to force the pace with favourable exchanges, but White's reply does away with that illusion. [ P Adams-Crocker, Manchester 2002 went 15...f8 (this seems adequate) 16.e4 e6 17.d6 d7? ( Davies suggests 511

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17...ab8 , probably good enough for equality ) 18.b5 b8? 19.xb7! dxb7 20.xc6 c7 21.a4 f5 22.c6 d8 23.fd1 xd1+ 24.xd1 f7 25.d8 with a winning game. ] 16.e4! White simply allows the doubled pawns in order to occupy Black's interior weaknesses. f8!? [ 16...xf3+ 17.gxf3 f8?! ( 17...f8 18.d6 f5 19.b4 favours White, but not by so much ) 18.d6 e6 19.xe6! fxe6 20.b4 and Black has saved his material only at the cost of a wretched pawn structure. ] 17.xd4! exd4 18.d6 e6 19.fe1!? [ 19.fd1! threaten Bxe6 and b6 20.b4 bxc5 21.bxc5 doesn't seem to help matters. ] 19...b6 20.xc8 [ A key option is 20.d5 b8 ( 20...bxc5!? 21.xa8 xd6 gives a lot of compensation, and may be best) 21.cxb6 axb6 22.xc8 bxc8 23.xc8 xc8 24.xe6 d8 25.xb6 xd5 26.f1 keeps White well on top with his two passed pawns, probably winn in g b ut th is will st ill no t b e e asy if Black advances his kingside pawns. ] 20...axc8 21.xe6! fxe6 22.xe6+ f8 23.xc8 xc8 24.e1! White stays a pawn ahead without pawn exchanges or weaknesses. Compare [ 24.b4 a5! 25.c6 axb4 26.e1 e5 27.d3 d6 28.c4 e7= ] 24...f7 [ 24...bxc5 25.d3 e7 26.xc5 xc5 27.xc5 ] 25.d3 b5?! [ 25...f8 26.b4 bxc5 ( 26...a5? 27.cxb6 ) 27.bxc5 e6 28.e1+ d5 29.f4+ xc5 30.xg6 b4! ] 26.f1 e6 27.e1+ d7 28.e4 It's a question of technique now, although it takes a while. a5 29.e2 b4 30.d2 g5 31.e1 g4 32.h1 f6 33.e1 a8 34.c2 c8 35.b2 h5 36.a3 bxa3+ 37.xa3 g8 38.a4 b8 39.e4 g7 40.e2 f6 41.g3 h8 42.b2 f6 43.xa5 c6 44.b4+ xc5 45.a6+ d5 46.xb8 d3 47.b1 d4 48.d7 d8+ 49.b5 d2 50.c5 e7 51.b4 1-0

508 Marechal,Andy Rozentalis,Eduardas 21st Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (3) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2258 2584

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 c6!? It's quite unusual to see Black playing ...Nb8-c6 before ...g7-g6, so we may suppose that Rozentalis is employing typical Open Tournament tactics of giving a weaker opponent plenty to think about.. 7.e3 g6?! [ 7...f5 ] [ 7...e5 ] 8.a4 [ 8.d5! appears quite strong: e5 9.d4 preventing ...Bg7 due to f2-f4. f6 ( 9...g8 10.c5 bd7 11.f4 dxc5 12.e3 h6 13.d2 g7 14.fxe5+- Hoang Ng Quang, NTruong Dinh Vy/Vung Tau 2004) 10.f4 f7 11.d3 h6 12.ge2 0-0 13.0-0 f5 14.b4 e5 15.dxe6 xe6 16.b3 d5 17.c5 c8 18.a4 e7 19.b5 d7 20.ad1 fc8 21.b4 d8 22.c2 f7 Carlier, BMollekens, R/Antwerp 1993 W hite maintained the advantage throughout.. ] 8...g7 9.a5N I doubt this advance can cause too much difficulty. W ith one move W hite e xp o se s h is p a wn a n d a t t h e sa m e t im e improves the position of Black's worst posted piece! He missed his chance to playd4-d5! [ 9.d5 doesn't have the same impact as before: a5 10.d4 xd4 11.xd4 0-0 12.d1 d7 13.b4 b3 14.e3 e6 15.e2 exd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.xb3 ( 17.xd5 xa4 ) 17...f4 18.g3 xe2 19.xe2 e8 20.d2 h3 Szurovszky, EBraun, M/Heves 1999 ] 9...d7 10.f3 0-0 [ 10...xa5! seems possible but obviously exposes Black to risk. He's going to lose time. 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 f6 13.d5 ( 13.a4 b6 ) 13...b6 White has some compensation with better development and th e c6 squ are . All t he sa me it 's a lit t le surprising Rozentalis didn't take the pawn. ] 11.d5 Better late than never. xa5 12.a3 b6 13.b4 b7 14.d4 xd4 This is a strange game. Surrendering the Bishop in this manner should only be considered if 512

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 abs olu tely f orced. L et's see if Bla ck ca n defend more economically: [ 14...b8 15.c6 d7 16.f3 d8! 17.b5 c7 ( 17...bxc6 18.bxc6 xc3+ 19.xc3 c7 20.d3 ) 18.e2 bxc6 19.dxc6 White has obvious compensation. ] [ 14...e5 15.c6 e8 16.b5 is no solution. It's remarkable: maybe Black has to take on d4. ] 15.xd4 f6 16.f4 a5 White would quite like a p a wn o n a 3 t o u n d e rp in h is s t ru c t u re . 17.b5 He aims to get his Knight on c6. Another way, and one which I think is quite effective is [ 17.e2 b8 18.a2! Black appears to be i n s o m e t r o u b l e i n t h i s p o s i t i o n : c7 ( 18...a8 B a c k a g a i n ! 19.0-0! e8 20.e1 ) 19.0-0! That was the nice thing about 17 Be2. W hite can play simply and re t a in h is p lu se s. e8 20.e1 axb4 21.xb4 bc5 22.ea1 Black has very little to do here. ] 17...b8 18.d2 axb4 19.xb4 dc5 20.e2 d7 21.0-0 a8 22.b1 a6?! Ambitious, but Rozentalis has shown throughout this game that he is prepared to give the opponent as much rope as it takes to hang himself. I would have whipped off the Rook on a3 without delay: [ 22...xa3 23.xa3 f5 24.b2 a8 Black is quite OK now. ] 23.d4 c7 24.c6? This is a clear mistake. White would have maintained a big advantage after [ 24.xa6! xa6 25.xb6 bc5 ( 25...xb6 26.xb6 ac5 27.b3 ) 26.xc7 xc7 27.b6 For me this is a simple enough variation, so it is a surprise that White did not play this way. Maybe he was short of time. ] 24...xc6 25.dxc6? [ 25.xa6 xa6 26.xb6! was much better, wh e n W h it e h a s ve ry go o d ch a n c e s o f s a v i n g t h e g a m e : xb6 ( 26...xd5 27.xc7 xc7 28.cxd5 c5 29.xc5 dxc5 30.c4 h8 31.b7 c8 32.f2 ) 27.xb6 xd5 28.cxd5 ( 28.xa6? e4! ) 28...ac5 29.f2 What do you deserve out of a game of chess if you fail to take repeated chances? ] 25...xa3 26.xa3 a5 27.f5 xc6

28.h6 d4! 29.xf8 xe2+ 30.f1 xf8 31.xe2 gxf5 With an invincible knight and lots of central pawns, Black wins comfortably now. 32.a8+ g7 33.d5 e4 34.b3 a7 35.d4 a4 36.xb6 c2+ 37.f3 e5 38.e3 g5+ Not a great game at all but interesting for the opening notes if nothing else. A typical Open Tournament melee. 0-1

509 Martin,K Cox,John J 14th Monarch Assurance (3) [John Cox]

B03 1953 2385 26.09.2005

1.e4 f6 This was another Tiger-Heffalump contest from the Isle of Man, in which Black's follies form a neat counterpoint to his follies in the Tiviakov game. My first bad move was to spend the morning hindering Richard Palliser's preparation in the Najdorf rather than doing anything useful. 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 The Voronezh. Not usually Katie Martin's choice - I suspect the hand of Oldham 3Cs supremo and British correspondence champion Phil Adams, who w a s a l s o p l a y i n g i n t h e t o u r n a m e n t . e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 a5 15.e2 b6 16.cxb6 Right down the main line. Regular forum visitors - or better still purchasers of the GW - will know that I don't rate this quite as devastating as its reputation. I did a database for CBM 105 (I think) which dealt with this line: I won't repeat what I said there but White now has three other tries: [ 16.b4 c6 17.b5 d4 18.c6 c5 19.0-0 a6 20.fd1 e6 21.bxa6 xe2+ 22.xe2 dc8 23.xc5 bxc5 24.xc5 xa6 25.xe5 xe5 26.xe5 cxc6 27.d4 1/2-1/2 was Carlsson-Logdahl, Swedish Champs 2001. ] [ 16.0-0 bxc5 17.e4 c6 18.g5 f6 19.c4+ f8 20.d5 b7 21.d2 a5 was Naiditsch -Grunberg, Antalya 2004, in wh i ch t h e Do r t m u n d h e r o wa s a l re a d y struggling for a draw. ] [ 16.a4 xc5 17.xc5 bxc5 18.xc5 513

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b7 19.c7 d7 ( 19...d6!? ) 20.xd7 xd7 21.0-0 a5 22.d1 e8 23.a4 d8 24.b5 c6 25.f1 d4 26.xe8 xe8 27.xd4 exd4 28.d2 was DvoirisGrunberg, Oberwart 2004, and precisely the sort of thing Black needs to avoid. ] 16...xb6 17.0-0 [ The key game in this line with 16 cxb6 is Varga-Llanos, Budapest 1998, which went 17.b5 b7 18.0-0 d5 19.fd1 c6 20.xd5 xd5 21.c7 dd8 22.xa8 xa8 23.b5 d4 24.xd4 exd4 25.g5 f6 26.d2 d5 27.c7 with another good example of what Black is trying to avoid (... Nd4 almost always promises more than it delivers in this line). However 19...Nxe3 20 fxe3 Rxd1 21 Rxd1 e4 22 Nfd4 Be5 (an improvement stemming from Finkel) gives Black a perfectly good game. ] 17...b7 18.fd1 c6 [ 18...xd1+ 19.xd1 c8 20.b5 d5 21.xa7 ( 21.xa7 c2 22.d2 c1+ 23.f1 f6 is much the same) 21...c2 22.d2 c1+ 23.d1 a1 gives Black at least equality with the kind of play he often seeks in this line by a sacrifice of the apawn: the trouble in the present context is that 23 Rd1 is an immediate draw. ] 19.b5 Opening the above-mentioned database I see that I pointed out that White's move order avoids the ..Nxe3 improvement on Varga-Llanos and might be considered critical in the future. I was wrong of course, if 18... Rxd1+ is indeed a good move. At the time of the game however I was entirely oblivious of all this, and moreover had so far been spending my time strolling around the room between moves and waiting for my 400 point rating advantage to take effect instead of thinking, with the usual poor results. xd1+ This move was the product of 64 minutes' agonised thought. 19...Nd5 is Varga-Llanos, of course, not that I knew that at the time, but I didn't fancy 19..Nd5 20 Rxd5 much. 20.xd1 b4 21.c5 I like to boast that I have never been worse out of the opening in the Alekhine, bu t o f c o urs e t his de p en d s u po n ca re f u l selection of what exactly is the 'opening'. On t h i s o c c a s i o n I s h a l l h a ve t o d e f i n e t h e 'opening' as ending after White's 21st, since [ 21.a4 would have left White decidedly

better. Visually this is not an easy move to understand: the point is shown in a variation like 4d5 22.xb6 xb6 ( 22...axb6 23.c4 ) 23.a5 d5 24.c4 : White just wants to clear c4 for his bishop and get into f7 in the way which is always in the air in this variation. ] 21...4d5 [ There wasn't anything wrong with 21...xa2 : Black can rescue the knight easily enough, f or e xam ple 22.a1 d7 23.d6 c3 24.xc3 e4 , but Simon Webb would advise Heffalumps against such adventures (this may not look like much of an adventure to you, but when you calculate like me any tactical variation longer than three moves tends to lead to an adventure). ] 22.d6 c6 23.c1 f4 24.f1 xf3 Always a relief for the stronger player to provoke a weakness like this, since he can hope that if the compensating activity peters out he has something to play for in the end. 25.gxf3 f8 26.xb6 axb6 27.c4 c5 [ 27...xa2 28.xb6 e7 29.d7 prevents Black from simply winning f2, so the choice between that and the text is a difficult one. ] 28.a4 d4 29.e3 a7 30.c6 g7 31.c4 d7 32.b4 h5 33.h4 Not clear this was such a good idea: this pawn is all too likely to drop off one day, and I suspect it was better to sit tight. a7 34.a5? A terrible blunder just when Black's strategy of playing a series of improving moves and assuming a win would somehow present itself was beginning to hit the buffers: after 34 Bb5 or, still more so, 34 Nc2 the outcome would have been very much in doubt, especially since both players were in serious time trouble. bxa5 35.bxa5 xa5 36.c7 a7 37.xa7 xa7 The two weaknesses at f2 and h4 should be enough for Black to win this ending despite the wrong rook's-pawn/ bishop combo and the opposite-coloured bishops, but as it happens White further spoils her position in the scramble. 38.h2 c5 39.g3 a7 40.d5 e6 41.f4 exf4+ 42.xf4 xf4 43.xf4 xf2 44.g5 e3# 0-1

514

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 aggressive moves up until now, whereas his opponent has shown his peaceful intentions McKinnon,Keith by o f f e rin g a d ra w b y re p e t it io n . I t is n o Kraai,Jesse surprise that Kraai's sense of danger deserted 4th Int Edmonton CAN (8) him. [Neil McDonald] [ He should acquiesce in the draw with 30...d3 31.d1 ( If 31.g1 f2 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 intending 32...Be3 looks risky for W hite.) 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 7.h3 0-0 8.f3 31...c2 etc. ] f5 9.e3 Evidently White hopes to prosper Forking the black queen and rook. by avoiding Be2 for a couple of moves. A 31.d1! characteristic Alekhine counterattack in the xd1 [ The only attempt to stay alive is 31...c1 centre based on d6-d5 and answering c4-c5 but 32.e8+ h7 33.e4+ is pretty awful with Nc4 is deterred if White can play Bxc4 in for Black. ] reply 'in one go'. The game Schubert-Kopylov MacKinnon is after bigger game in the archives shows the effectiveness of 32.c8+! such a plan for Black after White has played than the bishop on d1. h7 33.f5+ g8 34.e4!! Excellently played. The threats Be2. c6 10.c1 e8 [ B l a c k c o u l d a l s o t r y 10...f6 include 35.Qc8 mate and 35.Qxf7+ followed putting immediate pressure on d4. Then by mate on f8. [ Instead Black would escape after 34.xd1? 11.d5 ( 11.e2!? ) 11...e5 12.d4 g6 g6 ] 13.b3 e8 14.e2 d3+! 15.xd3 xd4 16.xg6 xe3 17.xh7+ xh7 18.d3+ 34...f6 35.c8+ f7 36.d7+ f8 37.g6 [ It's mate on f7 or on the back rank after g8 19.fxe3 h4+ 20.d2 d7 21.hf1 37.g6 e7 38.c8+ ] e5 22.f4 g5 23.cf1 ae8 and Black had strong pressure for his pawn in Jaenig, 1-0 R-Wohl, A/Bad Woerishofen GER 2008. ] 11.d5 MacKinnon gains space in the centre B03 and rules out any d6-d5 move for good. b4 511 12.d4 g6 13.e2 c5 14.dxc6 xc6 Melnikova,Yana 2331 15.0-0 f6 16.e1? Rozentalis,Eduardas 2567 [ Instead White should consolidate with 14th Open Kavala GRE (3) 13.08.2005 16.b3 or ] [John Cox] [ 16.db5 with a small advantage in either case. ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 16...xe3? A positional sacrifice of a kind 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 played by greats such as World Champions 9.f3 e7 The main line of the Four Pawns Petrosian and Kasparov, though they would attack. 10.d5 normally expect to gain a pawn in the bargain. [ 10.e2 is the quieter and less critical The question mark isn't meant to dismiss an alternative. ] imaginative idea, but rather to indicate that 10...b4 A discredited move which may or Black had something simpler and better: may not be due for a revival following the [ 16...xc4! 17.xc4 ( Or 17.xc6 xe3 ) Dominguez game given in September. 17...xd4 18.xd4 xe1+ 19.xe1 xd4 [ 10...exd5 is these days normally and Black has a fairly useful extra pawn. ] considered virtually forced, the point being 17.fxe3 h4 18.xc6 bxc6 19.f1 g5 t h a t a f t e r 11.cxd5 b4 12.c1? 20.f3 e7 21.d4 d7 22.d1 e5 just leaves the d-pawn en prise, so 12 Nd4 23.xd6 xf3+ 24.xf3 xe3+ 25.h1 h6 and the deeply-analysed main lines of the 26.xc6 b8 27.c5 c2 28.f1 d3 4PA follow. ] 29.d1 c2 30.f1 xb2?? I guess this has 11.d4 happened to all of us. Black, who has much [ 11.c1 is also supposed to be good the t h e h igh e r ra t in g, h a s m a d e m o st o f t h e main line being exd5 12.a3 c5 13.axb4 d4 510

B03 2125 2509 21.12.2009

515

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.xd4 cxd4 15.xd4 b8 16.xf5 xe5+ 17.e2 xf5 18.c5 d7 19.d5 d8 20.c3 0-0 21.e3 e6 22.g4 f5 23.f3 f6 24.0-0 e4 25.xe4 with advantage to White as in VelimirovicMarovic, Yugoslavia 1977. ] 11...g6 12.a3 a6 [ 12...c5 13.xe6! fxe6 14.axb4 cxb4 15.a4 0-0 ( 15...d7 is an insanely complicated alternative which generated, in Jon Speelman's phrase, 'pages of anarchy' all over the world after the game Ku p re ic hik -Gip slis, Mo sco w 19 7 2 . T h e verdict is that White is probably better, but if Black happens to have memorised the seven pages of analysis in Speelman's Best C h e s s G a m e s 1 9 7 0 - 8 0 ( i f yo u g e t t h e c h a n c e b t w t h e n b u y t h is b o o k ) t h e n I wouldn't give much for W hite's chances.) 16.xb6 axb6 17.xa8 xa8 18.d6 is the old main line which probably favours White, although there have been dissenting v o i c e s i n t h e p a s t . T h e t e xt i s a l o n g f o r go t t e n m o ve wh ic h wa s su p p o se d l y refuted by White's next. ] 13.dxe6 0-0!? This is the idea. [ 13...fxe6 14.g4 and ] [ 13...f6 14.c5 xc5 15.b5++- are given by various sources (for example Hort). ] 14.e2 These variations are scratching the surface, but they are enough to make it clear that there is much to be discovered and that Black has at the very least dangerous compensation over the board. W hether it's fully adequate we shall have to wait for further tests to see perhaps in a DominguezRozentalis clash...... [ One cannot blame White for being terrified when a much higher-rated player unleashed a novel pawn sacrifice of this kind, but really 14.exf7+ has to be the critical move. I think Black's idea then is A) 14...xf7 15.g4 c5 ( 15...c5 16.f3 f5 17.g3 d7 18.d1 e6 19.d5 is good for White) 16.0-0-0 e8 17.e6 e7 18.f3 ( 18.d5 xd5 19.cxd5 h5 20.h3 xd1 21.xa6 bxa6 22.xd1 xd4 is not so clear) 18...xd4 19.xd4 c5 sees Black managing to win his pawn back, but White gets a powerful initiative after 20.f2 f8

21.e1 ae8 22.xf8+ xf8 23.b4! cxb4 24.axb4 xe6 25.xe6 xe6 26.c5; B) 14...xf7 15.g4 c5 16.e6 g6 with an extremely complicated position in which Black has genuine chances for his pawn, for example. ( 16...h5 is worse: 17.xh5 xd4 18.d5 xd5 19.xd4 f4 20.e5 e7 21.0-0-0 ad8 22.g3 xe6 23.h3 g5+ 24.xg5 xg5 25.g2 ) B1) 17.d1 i s a n a l t e r n a t i v e : e8 18.b4?! ( 18.e2 is more sensible, for example xd4 19.xd4 c5 20.e5 f5 21.d6 f6 22.f1 xe6 23.f8+ xf8 24.xe6+ f7 ) 18...xb4! 19.axb4 xb4 20.c1 c5 21.db5 f5 22.g3 xe6 23.c7 f6 24.g5 d4 25.e2 a4-+; B2) 17.0-0-0 e8 18.e1 d8 B2a) 19.d5 xd5 20.cxd5 xf1 ( 20...xd5 21.c4+- ) 21.hxf1 a4 22.e7 c4+ 23.d1 d3+=; B2b) 19.b4 h5 20.d1 ( 20.h4 e7 21.g3 c5 ) 20...xd4 21.xd4 f4! ( 21...c5 22.e7 xd4 23.exf8+ xf8 is probably good too )] 14...g5 15.d2 [ 15.f2 c5 16.exf7+ xf7 17.f3 xc4 was the alternative, and here I suspect that White retains at least some advantage. ] 15...xe3 16.xe3 c5 17.f3 [ 17.exf7+ xf7 18.f3 xc4 is similar again I suspect that W hite would sooner lose c4 than e5 and can claim a little advantage here. ] 17...fxe6 18.0-0 e7 19.ad1 [ 19.b5 looks like the move. White ought to threaten Nd6 before the a-rook has emerged from a8 (so that ...Nc8 disconnects the rooks), and she ought to do that from b5 not e4, because from b5 the knight both eyes the a-pawn and sometimes prevents ..Nc7. c7 ( 19...c8 20.ad1 c7 21.xc7 xc7 22.g5+- ) 20.d6 d7 21.ad1 b6 looks a fair bit better for W hite to me. In fact it's quite possible that White was right n o t t o g ra b t h e p a wn a n d h a s a c t u a ll y played splendidly up to here. ] 19...ad8 20.e4 516

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 20.xd8 xd8 ( 20...xd8! ) 21.b5 c8 22.g5 xg5 23.xg5+- was still better. ] 20...c8 21.fg5 f5 22.g4 xe4?? [ 22...g6 was necessary, with or without a preliminary exchange on d1. ] 23.xe4?? [ W h i t e m i s s e s h e r m o m e n t : 23.xd8 wins on the spot since xd8 24.f7 xf7 ( 24...e8 25.xe4 is crushing) 25.xf7 xf7 26.xe4 wins more material. ] 23...b6 For the remainder of the game White thrashes around cluelessly while Black steadily improves. 24.g3 The knight on e4 is actually only in the way and White would have done better to shift it with [ 24.xd8 xd8 25.g5 h6 26.f3 In this way she prevents ...Nb8-c6 by Bd3 and Qe4, and retains a slight advantage. ] 24...b8 25.d3 c6 26.g5 xf1+ 27.xf1 d7 28.f2 8e7 29.d1 d4 30.h3 g6 31.xg6 hxg6 32.e3 f8 33.g2? c6+ 34.e4 f5-+ 35.f1 xe5 36.f4 xg5+ 37.f1 f5 0-1

the textbooks. Cafferty went on to write about the Alekhine, but I don't believe he mentioned this game. ] 8...b4?! [ In my view he should just take the medicine with 8...e7 Black's position does not inspire confidence after 9.f3 0-0 10.d3 ] 9.g4N A novelty over 9 Nf3, which is also good. With 9 Qg4 W hite prevents ... Qh4+, Black's only threat, and hits g7. Not bad with one move! g6 10.a3 xc3+ 11.bxc3 h6 12.f3 OK, Black is 2290 so a pretty strong player. Let's say he misjudged his opening choice. The dark squares are creaking horribly and there is very little counterplay to be seen. e7 13.d2 f5 14.f2 d7 15.h3 c5 16.g4! e7 17.d3 [ 17.e4! looks very powerful. ] 17...cxd4 18.cxd4 a5 19.e2! Why not. The threat of Ne4-d6+ now has to be attended to. f6 20.e4 f5 21.d6+ f8 22.e3 xe5 Desperate. [ However, attempts to defend legitimately a r e c r u s h e d : 22...g7 23.gxf5 xf5 ( 23...exf5 24.hg1 xe5 25.dxe5 xe5 26.g3+- ) 24.xf5 exf5 25.hg1 f8 26.h4+- ] 512 B03 23.dxe5 xe5 24.g3!+- b2+ 25.d2 e5 Milenkovic,Mladen 2338 26.gxf5 xf5 27.xf5 gxf5 28.xf5 xf5 Farago,Sandor 2290 29.af1 e7 30.xf5 d6 [ 30...ae8 31.g6 d8 32.d6+ c8 FSIMA March Budapest HUN (7) 11.03.2005 33.f7 b6 34.xb6 axb6 35.g1+- ] [Andrew Martin] 31.d3+ e7 32.b1 d4 33.xb7+ e6 Coming up, a rare Four Pawns attack against 34.xd4 exd4 35.h5 ag8 36.xh6+ the Alekhine, with a novelty thrown in! 1.e4 xh6 37.xh6 g2+ 38.d3 xh2 39.xa7 A one-sided game, but sometimes it's f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 e5 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 e6?! Have you necessary to show why a line is uncommon. ever wondered why Black almost always goes What surprises me is that Black is a strong 7...Bf5 in this position? I must admit I haven't player, yet here he is punting a very poor done so (until now) and developing the Bishop system. Oh well, one cannot get it right all the on c8 would be my first thought here, not time! wishing to block the pieces in. Yet several 1-0 have tried 7...e6?!, presumably to move White off the beaten track. I just don't think it can be a very good move. 8.c3 [ 8.f3 e7 9.c3 0-0 10.e2 f6 11.exf6 xf6 12.0-0 d7 13.e4 e8 14.fg5 xg5 15.xf8+ xf8 16.xg5 h6 17.e4 d8 18.d3 c8 19.f1 e7 20.b3 f8 21.e1 d7 22.f3 Ljubojevic, L-Cafferty, B/Teeside 1972 is the game quoted in all 517

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B03 24...g7 25.e3 [ White is pushed back as 25.d1 allows Milliet,Sophie 2404 xe2! 26.xe2 xd4+ ] Mirzoev,Azer 2617 26.xd2 d3 27.f2 h5! Meister Open (2) 02.01.2010 25...xd2 A far sighted and patient move- see move 27. [Neil McDonald] In some positions it is a fable to talk about the 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 power of the bishop pair, but here they really xe1+ 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 do exert enormous power. 28.c1 0-0 9.b3 c6! In my opinion this is a 29.xe1 b5 30.a4 c6 31.b4 d8 32.c5 f7 33.e3 So far White has promising way to avoid the over-analysed managed to resist the black bishops, but the [ 9...e5 ] 10.d5 e5 11.e2 f5!? The pawn structure intervention of Black's kingside pawns and is now similar to a Leningrad Dutch mainline. t h e n h is ki n g i n t e n s if y t h e p re ss u r e . h4! Thus Black has a backward pawn on e7 and a 34.c2 g3 35.hxg3 hxg3 36.f1 e6 hole on e6. On the other hand, the white 37.d2 xd2 38.xd2 f5 39.e2 g4 bishop is on e2, which is a worse square than 40.e1 d5 41.xg3 xb3 42.a5 c4 i t s t y p i c a l p o s t o n g 2 i n t h e D u t c h . 43.e1 f5! [ Black spurns to regain the pawn as Furthermore, there is no pawn on g3 as part of 43...xe2+? 44.xe2 xf4 is only a draw. a fianchetto to deter a black kingside pawn It is be tt er to kee p on p rob in g with t h e advance. 12.f4 White decides to take strong bishops. ] measures to prevent the further advance of 44.f2 e4 45.g3 f8 46.g1 c5+ the black f-pawn. [ Instead 12.f3 was examined in the game 47.g2 d3 48.g4 White is understandably keen to get some counterplay, but it was Boric-Rakic. ] 12...g4 13.xg4 fxg4 14.ge2 better to wait, say with [ 48.f1 Only when the black king went after If nothing happens fast White can gradually the a4 pawn would it be time to start moving bu ild up an at t ack a gain st Bla ck's sta t ic the kingside pawns. ] weaknesses along the e-file. e5! Breaking up t h e c e n t r e a n d s o g a i n i n g d y n a m i c 48...d5+ 49.f1 e6 50.g5 Now White's counterplay. 15.dxe6 xe6 So the backward pawns are all fixed, with no expansive power, p a w n a n d h o l e i n f r o n t o f i t h a s b e e n and Mirzoev will be able to pick off either the transferred from the e-file to the d-file. The pawn on a5 or f4. d6 51.g2 e3 52.f2+ pawn on d6 is easier to attack than the pawn e4 53.e2 b4 54.d4 d7 55.f3 that was previously on e7, but as we shall see xa5 56.e5 e8 57.g3 f5 58.f3 Mirzoev is happy to offer it as a sacrifice in e6 59.c4 c3 60.e3 a5 61.e4 a4 order to energise his pieces. 16.0-0 e7 62.c5 c6+ 63.d3 d5 64.f8 e1 17.d4 h6! If Black is going to stay active 65.e3+ e6 66.f5+ gxf5 67.g6 e8 he has to avoid the exchange of his dark 68.g7 f7 69.c2 a5 70.d4+ f6 squared bishop. 18.d3 ae8 19.ce1 d8 71.b5 xb6 72.d6 g8 73.xb7 g5 74.d6 a3 75.f7+ xf7 76.xa3 f4 20.b5? [ White is in too much of a hurry. Instead a 0-1 move like 20.a4 would keep some pressure on the queenside. ] 514 B03 20...a6 21.xd6? [ Better to sacrifice pride with 21.bc3 ] Minasian,Artashes 2600 21...xd6 22.c5 d5 23.cxb6 Thanks to Minasian,Ara 2480 the tactical trick Milliet has won a pawn, but ch Yerevan 1999 her pieces are loosely placed which allows [Alexander Volzhin] Black to take over the initiative. f5 24.d2 [ After 24.c3 c8 the black rook can I n t h e l a s t A rm e n ia n Ch a m p io n s h i p G M invade on c2. ] Artashes Minasian had to face the Alekhine's 513

518

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 twice. Both times he chose the Exchange Variation, and twice his opponents preferred 5... ed. Both games are of theoretical importance. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 c6!? A r e l a t i v e l y n e w i d e a . T h i s m o ve l o o k s provocative, but it's by no means bad! The idea behind the text is to prevent W hite's se tu p a s in th e p re vio us ga me (B d3 a n d Nge2). [ A few rounds earlier Art Minasian had already played this position vs Nalbandian. His opponent went for 6...e7 but failed to equalize completely. The game continued 7.d3 c6 8.ge2 g4 ( 8...b4 -this sortie leads Black nowhere as after 9.b1 the c4-pawn cannot be taken: xc4? 10.a4+ ) 9.f3 h5 10.0-0 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.b3 and White is slightly better and in due course quickly outplayed his opponent f6 13.e4 d5 This advance is typical for such pawn structures but unfortunately it doesn't work here. 14.xf6+ xf6 15.c5 c8 16.f4 d7 ( 16...d8 with the idea to castle kingside deserved serious attention) 17.d2 h4 18.b4 a6 19.a4 d8 20.b5 with a huge advantage. ] 7.d5 e5 8.f4 ed7 [ Of course, the pawn is taboo: 8...exc4?? 9.xc4 xc4 10.a4+ and White w ins a piece. By the way, this idea often occurs in different variations of Alekhine's. ] 9.d4 Playing this move White hoped to put the brakes on Black's normal development. However an unpleasant surprise awaits him. e7! Nevertheless! [ Other continuations can hardly successfully solve Black's problems: 9...f6 10.e3 e7 11.b5 d8 12.e4+ e7 13.xe7+ xe7 14.d4 f6 15.0-0-0 ] [ 9...f6 10.d3 e7 11.f3 0-0 12.0-0 and in both cases W hite has a small but steady advantage. ] 10.xg7 White has no other way to justify the Queen's sortie on the previous move, otherwise after Black castles the Queen will b e go o d t a r ge t f o r h i s m i n o r p i e c e s . f6 11.g4 [ 11.g3?? is just a blunder in view of h4 ] [ 11.h6 is also far from good as the Queen is "off side" here: e7+ 12.d1 c5

13.f3 f5 queenside castles will follow, and for the cost of only a pawn Black has a growing initiative. ] 11...xc3+ 12.bxc3 f6 For the cost of only a pawn Black has firmly seized the initiative. White now has to solve some rather difficult problems. 13.d2 c5 14.g5 The wise decision. [ 14.g3 f5 15.0-0-0 0-0-0 and Black has tremendous compensation for a pawn, and furthermore all his pieces are very active. Besides, White's King is seriously exposed. ] 14...xg5 15.fxg5 f5 16.0-0-0 d3+ 17.xd3 xd3 18.c5! The only way to maintain the balance, otherwise W hite will lose both central pawns. xd5 Very solid. Now the draw is obvious. [ 18...dxc5 is more ambitious, with a doubleedged position after 19.f4 c4 20.xc7 xd5 21.e5 g8 although I prefer Black here. ] 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.h3 c8 21.f4 xf4 22.xf4 xc3+ 23.b2 c2+ 24.b3 f2 25.xd3 xf4 [ The 4 Rooks ending is dead equal, so the p la ye rs n o w a g re e d t o a d ra w. 25...xf4 26.xd6 0-0 Now it's possible to reach the following conclusion: it seems that in the Exchange Variation, (which is one of most unpleasant lines for Black in the Alekhine`s), Black has found good ways after both 5... cd and 5...ed. Now it's White's turn to improve. Undoubtedly White players will try to do so and we will not wait have to wait long for new games in this line. ] ½-½

515 Moreno Carnero,Javier Schulze,Ulrich Bundesliga 2004-5 (12) [John Cox]

B03 2500 2333 12.03.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 The main line of the Voronezh va r i a t io n . I ' ve r e c e n t l y f in i s h e d d o i n g a database for CBM on this position so I count myself a bit of an expert just at the moment the debate goes on but most people seem to 519

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f ee l W h it e's do in g p re tt y we ll.. .. . 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 [ 11.c5 6d7 12.c4 is possible also, when Rowson-Baburin, Port Erin 1999, saw the muc h-pra is ed no ve lt y a5 after which 13.ge2 ( 13.f3? e4 14.d4 xc5 is the point) 13...c6 14.a3 d4 15.xd4 exd4 16.xd4 e8+ gave Black good compensation for his pawn. However, Fritz doesn't see why 15 b4 (with the point 15.. Qxa3 16 Rb1 and 17 Bc1) isn't just good for White, and I can't see why he isn't right. In my (present) opinion the old 12 ..Nc6 is more sensible, although that isn't what I said in Starting Out: Alekhine's Defence. ] 11...xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 [ 14.e4 is a testing alternative Black tried 14 ...Nf6 with success in Kupreichik-Barthel, 1998, but usually he plays f8 15.d6 e6 16.f3 cd4 17.g5 xg5 18.xg5 d7 as in Yagupov-Ukolov, Moscow 1996, although this is really quite nice for White in my view. ] 14...a5 15.e2 h6 This move is not the best in my opinion either 15...b6 (the best regarded) or the calm 15...Nc6 as in RaetskySa nt o -Ro ma n Ro hd e 2 00 4 (whe re B la ck equalised handily) are better. 16.0-0 f8 17.fd1 [ 17.e4 c6 18.d6 b8 19.a3! f5 20.fd1 e6 21.b4 was a very well-timed s e q u e n c e b y W h i t e in Hu n t - S ch n a b e l , Oxford 1998 (19 Rfd1 Be6 holds up the a3/ b4 push). I'm not sure that wasn't a better order than what Moreno Carnero does. ] 17...e6 18.b5 a6 I don't understand this move at all. 18....Nc6 is obvious and normal with this particular move order Black might also take the chance to exchange a pair of rooks with 18...Rxd1+ - this might be another reason why Harriet Hunt's immediate Ne4-d6 was better than Carnero's 17 Rfd1: probably W hite's rooks are both better pieces than Black's at the moment. ...a6 is seldom a good move for Black in these lines since it weakens b6 and prevents a ...b6 break ever being an option. 19.d6 d7 20.d2 [ 20.b4 c6 21.a3 was a thematic option, although by playing Rfd1 before Nb5-d6 White has allowed Black to save the tempo of ....Rb8 as compared to Hunt-Schnabel -

whether the ...a6 he's spent it on is a benefit is another matter. ] 20...f5 21.f3 Extremely thematic in these positions - White should not let Black from the pawn duo e4/f5 (to say nothing of the threat of ...f4). h7 22.b4 c6 23.a3 ad8 24.2c4 f6 25.b6 We've reached a very normal position for this line and W hite now demonstrates why ....a6 is not such a good idea. e7 26.f1 g5 27.xg5 hxg5 28.d2 g7 29.e1 Another thematic reorganisation - once he gets a grip like this in this structure White normally wants his rooks on the d and e files, and puts them on different ranks (rather than 28 Re1 and 29 Rc d 1 ) t o f a c i l i t a t e l a t e r d o u b l in g wh e r e needed. f6 30.h3 c7 31.f2 d7 32.d5+ xd5 33.xd5 f8 34.a4 W hite is loosening his structure with this move and he didn't have to do it now, but presumably the players were becoming short of time. xb4? A decisive error after [ 34...e6 35.b5 e7 36.dxe5 xc5 37.b6 c6 38.xb7 xb7 39.xe7 d2+ 40.g3 xb6 Black hangs on ] 35.dxe5+- cd7 36.g4? [ 36.e8+ f7 37.c4+ d5 38.d6+ won decisive material at once White must have been desperately short of time to miss this. ] 36...c6? Returning the compliment: [ 36...c2 37.1e2 d4 still gave chances of survival ] 37.e8 xe8 38.xe8+ f7 39.c4+ Another unpleasant defeat for Black in this variation, but Black didn't seem to know what he was doing in the line either theoretically or positionally. I'm not convinced by W hite's move order in the early middlegame either, but later he took control nicely before the slightly error-strewn finish. 1-0

520

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 516 Moser,E Fier,A 18th Vienna Open 2013 (5.3) [Tom Rendle]

B03 2433 2595 21.08.2013

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 g6!? This move is very rare and subsequently it hasn't featured on ChessPublishing for many years, so here I'll attempt to update the key lines! [ 5...dxe5 is of course the mainline featured heavily in the archives. ] 6.c3 [ 6.h3 strikes me as rather odd and it was well met by dxe5 7.fxe5 c5! in Brankovic, D (2364)-Marinkovic, I (2448) Kragujevac 2013 which continued 8.d5 e6! 9.f3 ( 9.d6? h4+ 10.e2 e4+ 11.f2 xe5 is clearly better for Black) 9...exd5 10.g5! e7 11.xe7 xe7 12.cxd5 0-0 13.c3 8d7 and Black already had the better chances as White's central pawns are more of a weakness here than a strength. ] 6...g7 7.e3 e6 [ 7...0-0 A) 8.g4? really doesn't work here dxe5 9.fxe5 c5! 10.dxc5 6d7 11.f3 and now in Mladenov, P (2390)-Ninov, D (2140) Blagoevgrad 2013 Black could've gotten a big advantage with the simple xe5 ( 11...a5!? i s a l s o s t r o n g) 12.xe5 xe5 13.g2 c6; B) 8.c5! must be the critical test of 7...0-0 and now B1) 8...dxc5 9.dxc5 6d7 10.c4 is already very comfortable for W hite ( 10.h4!? ); B2) 8...6d7 9.f3 c6 10.d2 b6? ( 10...dxc5 11.dxc5 b6 12.d1 c7 13.b4 is still very pleasant for White) 11.d1? a real missed opportunity ( 11.cxd6 exd6 12.e4! dxe5 13.dxe5 and Black is in a lot of trouble here) 11...bxc5 12.dxc5 dxe5 13.xe5 c7 14.c4 f6 and Black had at least equalised in Valenti, G (2177)-Forchert, M (2398) Bad Wiessee 2013 ] 8.d5 f5 [ 8...c8 is probably more solid but I still think W hite retains a slight advantage in

these positions, for example 9.f3 0-0 A) 10.d3 was played in Denisov, I (2300)-Khalifman, A (2637) Aix-les-Bains 2011 but now I think Black gets a reasonable game with c6! with the threat of . .. d xe 5 ( instead in the game White was better after 10...e6 11.0-0 a6 12.e2 exd5 13.cxd5 ) 11.exd6 exd6 12.0-0 cxd5 13.cxd5 with roughly level chances it's not clear to me whether Black should risk grabbing a pawn with xc3!? 14.bxc3 xd5; B) 10.e2 a6 11.0-0 g4 12.f2! and Black is lacking in counterplay somewhat - he can win a pawn with xf3 13.xf3 dxe5 but after the thematic 14.f5! I really like W hite's position with good attacking chances both on the kingside and also in the centre where he is preparing to play c5. ] 9.c5! [ 9.f3 is a safe option I suppose and White was a little better after A) 9...0-0! is probably more accurate when Black should be OK after 10.e2 a6 ( 10...c6!? ) 11.0-0 e6 12.dxe6 xe6; B) 9...g4 10.e2 xf3 11.xf3 dxe5 12.fxe5 xe5 13.c5 6d7 14.b3 b6 15.c6 f6 16.0-0-0!? and White had more than enough compensation for the sacrificed pawn in Solomon, S (2397)Teichmann, E (2388) Canterbury 2010 ] 9...dxc5 [ 9...c8?! 10.f3 gives White a massive space advantage ] 10.xc5 0-0 11.f3!? A very aggressive move, keeping the option for an early g4 open b u t o b j e c t i ve l y I d o n ' t t h i n k t h i s i s b e s t although it works well in this game [ 11.f3! should be enough for at least a s l i g h t a d v a n t a g e h e r e , f o r e xa m p l e c6 ( 11...h6 12.d4! xf4 13.xf5 gxf5 14.d4 is very promising for White) 12.d6 exd6 13.xd6 e8 14.e2 and White's bishop on d6 gives him a lot of control ] 11...8d7 [ 11...h5!? 12.h3 h4 13.d1 and White's control of the centre give him a definite advantage ] [ 11...e8! looks like Black's best option here 521

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and he should have reasonable chances, for example 12.g4 d7 13.0-0-0 c8 14.h3 a4! 15.d4 c5! and Black's counterplay is coming just in time on the queenside. Still, White is possibly a little better after 16.f2 but the position remains very complicated ] 12.f2 g5!? Fier plays a very interesting piece sacrifice and it looks just about sound, even with time to analyse with the computer! Because of this I think White players should probably stick to the safer 11.Nf3 13.g4 [ 13.g3 e6 gives Black excellent play ] 13...g6 14.f5 xe5 15.e4 e6! 16.fxg6 [ or 16.dxe6 xf5 17.xf5 fxe6 18.xe6+ h8 19.d1 e8 20.xe8 axe8 21.e2 bc4! and despite only having one pawn for the piece Black's initiative is really d a n ge ro u s h e re . W h it e will h a ve gre a t difficulty finishing development and I think most players would rather be Black here! ] 16...fxg6 17.xb6! [ 17.dxe6?! f6 18.h3 f3+ is very awkward for White to deal with and I wouldn't be surprised if White was lost here ] 17...axb6 18.0-0-0 exd5 19.xd5+ [ 19.xd5!? leads to the crazy variation xa2 20.e7+ xe7 21.c4+ h8 22.xa2 f6 when Black had three pawns for a rook and a big attack. A draw is quite lik ely he re , f o r exam ple 23.d2 a8! 24.b1 f1+ 25.c2 f6 ( not 25...xa2?? 26.d8+ f8 27.xe5+ g8 28.d5+ f7 29.xf7+ xf7 30.e2 and White is easily winning) 26.b1 f1+ 27.c2 f6= ] 19...xd5 20.xd5 xa2 21.b1 fa8 Despite all the complications it seems the position is still level here - amazing! 22.xc7 d3!? [ 22...a1+ 23.c2 xd1 24.xd1 a1+ 25.e2 xg4 makes a lot of sense as well, White has to be careful as Black already has 3 pawns for the piece but at least he can start to develop his kingside finally with 26.f3 and after b1 27.h3 xb2+ 28.d2 e5 29.g2 chances are still balanced ] 23.d2 [ 23.xa8? loses to xb2+ 24.a1 xh2+ 25.b1 b2+! 26.a1 d2+ 27.b1 xd1+ 28.c2 xf1 29.xd3 f8 with ...Bc5 coming. ]

23...a1+ 24.c2 8a2 [ also playable was 24...xf1!? 25.xa8 f2 26.xf2 xf2+ 27.d3 xb2 and again Black has three pawns for the piece ] 25.f3 xb2 26.d8+! White must force the draw now as Black's attack is too strong on the queenside f7 27.d7+ g8 28.d8+ f7 29.d7+ g8 [ 29...f6? is too ambitious as after 30.e8+ e6 31.xg7 a4+ 32.d3 a3+ 33.e2 1a2+ 34.e1 e3+ ( 34...xf3?? 35.c4+ ) 35.d1 b2+ 36.c1 xf3 37.b1! fa3 38.xh7 W hite remains a piece up and he is just about holding on. ] ½-½

517 Moser,Eva Baburin,Alexander III EUICC Arvier ITA (7) [John Watson]

B03 2405 2545 21.06.2007

This game (or at least the notes) surveys some of the basic 4 Pawn Attack theory. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.e2 [ 10.d5 is the most critical option refer to previous games for its analysis. ] 10...0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.exf6 xf6 13.d2 e7 14.ad1 ad8 15.c1 In the game Dushin-Siewert I exam in e 15 K h1 !? . g4 Mark Morss corrects me and points out that 15...Bg4, although Alekhine-expert Baburin's choice, is actually rare. In fact, in a Correspondence game database, I have 45 games with 15...h6 and only 26 with all other 15th moves. Now 15... Kh8, 15...Rfe8, and 15...Rd7 all need to be investigated, but since for many years 15...h6 has been considered to be the main one, I'll just stick to that one, given the limits of space. [ I think that White tends to retain some advantage, although it's not easy to d e m o n s t ra t e t h a t . A ga m e Zilb e rs t e in Baburin, San Fransisco 2007 continued 15...h6 A) 16.b3 is weaker af ter d7 17.d2 522

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 fd8; B) , but I like the move 16.f2 (!), which h a s t h e i d e a o f d 5 . F o r e xa m p le , f7 ( 16...h8 17.d5! exd5 18.xd5; 16...d7 17.d5 ) 17.b3 , and: d7 ( 17...g6 18.d5 exd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.cxd5 e5 21.f4 g4 22.ff1 ) 18.h3 fd8 19.g4 g6 20.f1 xd4 21.xd4 xd4 22.xd4 xd4 23.xd4 xd4 24.e2 d8 25.g2+-; C) 16.h1 h8 17.h3 g6 18.b3 a6 19.g1 d7 20.fe1 f7 21.f1 e7 22.fe1 f7 23.f1 1/2-1/2 . This all seems fairly logical, except that at the end White has ( 23.d3! , for example, xd3 24.xd3 g6 25.d2 with a comfortable advantage. The problem is that both sides' play is so flexible that you can't come to a conclusion based upon concrete analysis, so there's plenty of room for disagreement. )] 16.e4 h6 17.h1 d7 18.fe1 fe8 19.xf6+ xf6 20.e5 xe2 21.xc6 bxc6 22.xe2 e5 23.f4 e4 24.h3 h5 25.h2 e3 26.d3 f7 27.b3 e4 28.exe3 exd4 29.xd4 xd4 30.e5 d7 31.e1 g6 32.h2 e7 33.g4 c2+ 34.e2 xe5 35.xc2 xe1 36.gxh5 f7 37.g3 g1+ 38.f4 g5 39.d2 e7 40.d3 xh5 41.g4 g5+ 42.f4 g2 43.a3 a5 44.e5 h5 45.d4 h4 46.e3+ d6 47.c5+ d7 48.e4 g5 49.e5 g3 50.f5 xh3 51.d4+ c8 52.xg5 xb3 53.xh4 xa3 54.c4 b7 55.f4 a6 56.e4 b5 57.c1 a4 58.d4 h3 59.b1+ b3 60.h1 b4+ 61.c3 c4+ 62.b2 b4 63.h8 a3+ 64.a2 c2+ 65.b1 xc5 66.a2 c2+ 67.b1 b2+ 68.a1 d2 69.b8+ c4 70.a8 d3 71.a2 c5 72.c8 b4 73.b8+ a4 74.b7 d2+ 75.a1 c6 76.b6 c4 77.xc6 b3 78.b6+ c2 79.h6 c3 80.a2 c1+ 81.xa3 c2 82.a2 d8 83.b3 b1 0-1

518 Movsesian,Sergei Luther,Thomas 4th IECC Istanbul (3) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2655 2570 2003

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.c3 exd5 9.cxd5 c4 10.d6!? A very sharp move, originally suggested by Boleslavsky. W hite hems in the Bishop on f8 at the cost of development. e6 Perhaps surprised, Luther finds a decent square for his other Bishop. Alternative ideas : [ 10...c6 11.f3 ( 11.f4 e6 12.f3 d7 13.e2 0-0-0 14.d2 f6 15.exf6 xd6 16.0-0-0 c5 17.xd7+ xd7 18.e4 d4 19.xd4 xd4 20.fxg7 xg7 21.c5 xd1+ 22.xd1 1-0 Kotsur,PKoniushkov,I/Smolensk 1997) 11...g4 12.f4 g5!? ] [ 10...g6 11.f3 g7 Would be my choice. White's centre seems ripe for collapse. ] [ 10...f5 11.f3 c6 12.e2 b4 13.0-0! Although this variation has been recommended for Black the weakness at f7 makes me suspicious. ] 11.f3 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 11.b5 can be met by Alburt's d5 12.f3 ( 12.xc4?? h4+ ) 12...a6 ] 11...c6 12.b5 Continuing in the same sharp vein. The question is whether White can keep his game together without resorting to such committal play. [ 12.f4 Both g6 13.e2 g7 14.0-0 0-0 ] [ 12.e2 g6 seem fine for Black. ] 12...c8 Indicating a willingness to sacrifice the exchange. [ 12...d5 isn't any good now : 13.xc4 xe5 14.xd5 xf3+ 15.xf3 h4+ 16.g3 b4+ 17.c3 0-0-0 18.e3 xd6 19.c2 c5 20.a3 a5 21.d2 b3 22.xb3 he8+ 23.d1 a6 24.c1 e3 25.xb7+ 1-0 Pazo Coustie,R-Nunez Lucero, F/Santa Coloma 1994 ] 13.g5 [ Of course 13.c7+ xc7 14.dxc7 xc7 can only be good for Black. He has a pawn for the exchange with more to come and .... Bf8-c5 is a definite threat. ] 523

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13...d7 14.a4 h6 15.e3 d5 16.f2 a6 22.f3 c5 was the stem game Volzhin-L. 17.bd4 The critical position of the game. Sveshnikov, USSR 1979 23.b3 xb2 Black must act swiftly lest Rc1 and a capture 24.d2 a4 25.e3 b5 26.xa4 xa4+ on c4 just wins a pawn for nothing. xe5! 27.b3 xb3+ 28.axb3 4c5 18.xe5 xd6 19.ef3 f4 was recommended at the time in the game Compensation is evident. W hite has real W hite blundered with 23 h4? Qxa2+ and difficulties getting his King to safety. 20.e2 should have lost. ] b4+! 21.f1 0-0 22.xe6?! Opening the f [ 19...c5 20.e2 e6 21.g3 c4 file only seems to add to White's difficulty. 22.f3 a5 was Ilincic-Marinkovic, [ 22.c1 f6 23.c2 d6 24.d4 Vrnjacka Banja 1989, in which Black also tries to buy time for Kf2 etc. I'm not sure had some compensation. We can imagine why Movsesian rejected this obvious that Movsessian (who has been playing the continuation. ] Fo u r P a wn s r e c e n t l y) h a d s o m e id e a s 22...fxe6 23.d4 xd4 24.xd4 e5! against both of these moves, perhaps with The only move, but good enough. Black sets the same Qd1, Rh2-e2 plan he uses in the in motion a vicious attack, despite being a game. ] piece down. 25.xe5 e3+ 26.g1 c2 20.d1 c4 21.h2 a5 22.f3 c5 27.c1 c5+ 28.f1 e3+ 29.e1 xg2+ 23.he2 h6 30.d1 e3+ 31.d2 cd8+ 32.c3 [ 23...a3+ 24.a1 b5 25.a4 xf3! 33.b4 Desperate courage under fire. defends, so Black's immediate play has d5+ 34.b2 b3+ 35.a1 a3+ 36.b2 come to an dead end, as the text move b3+ 37.a1 a3+ 38.b2 b3+ Dynamic! suggests, but that doesn't mean the game's ½-½ over. The text is useful in that it prevents Bg5, which might be a handy resource in connection with some dash by the d-pawn. ] 519 B03 24.d4 A very sharp solution leading to Movsesian,Sergei 2624 forcing play. I don't see that White had any Varga,Zoltan 2533 convenient way of improving his position Extraliga CZE 2004-5 (5) 15.01.2005 available, so perhaps this was necessary, and anyway of course it's fine if this move wins [John Cox] directly: the question is does it? d5 25.e4 [ This was the idea, of course, not something 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 like 25.xd5 xd5 26.d3 xb2 27.xb2 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 g6 According to b6+ 28.b3 xd4+ 29.b1 xd6 ] Luther the last word was said on 7...e6 in his 25...xf4 26.b3 b4 A very critical choice: two games against Bryson and Movsessian annotated elsewhere on the site - and this the most obvious defence is [ 26...d5 when play is forced for a while: variation is no longer playable, although one 27.xa5 xd1+ 28.xd1 xa5 , and now I must say that the same verdict has been think White can win, avoiding various false pronounced on this variation before. The text t r a i l s , b y 29.c2 ( 29.ee1 c6= ) is a tricky sideline, not widely known but quite 29...xe5 30.d7 d8 31.c8 e6 32.c5 dangerous. 8.f4 g7 9.c3 0-0 10.d2 ( 32.d5 c7 33.xc7 xc7 34.xa5 In Starting Out: Alekhine's Defence I sang the a6= ) 32...f6 33.d6 xc5 34.xf6 praises of 10 h3 here: ( 34.xc5 e7 35.c8 c6 36.d5 ) [ 10.h3 e6 11.f3 exd5 12.cxd5 8d7 34...g7 35.xg6+ fxg6 36.xd8 c6 13.b5! was Novak-Havas, Pula 2000. But 37.b8 xd7 38.xb7 ce5 39.xa7 Movsessian heads straight for the main line, and I should think White ought to be able to such as it is in this unexplored subvariation. ] win. ] 10...e6 11.0-0-0 exd5 12.cxd5 g4 13.e1 c4 14.h3 f5 15.g4 d3 16.xd3 cxd3 27.exc5 xe2 28.xe2 xe5 29.d5 White has emerged from the complications 17.xd3 a6 18.d6 c8 19.b1 b4N [ 19...c4 20.d5 a5 21.e7+ h8 with some advantage, but it's not clear to me 524

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.h5 g5 15.f4 with the initiative, A r izm e n d i -C a u l o , O Z. C O M B li t z 2 0 0 0) 10...h5 ( 10...xe2 11.xe2 0-0 12.d2 d5 13.c5 c4 proved less clear in He n n i ga n -B u rg e ss , B i rm i n g h a m 2 0 0 2) 11.d2 Ardeleanu-Chetverik, Gyula 1997 b4 12.f4 xd3+ 13.xd3 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.0-0 0-0 16.b3 and White retains his space edge. ] 8.ge2 c6 9.0-0 f6 10.b3 Carefully played before committing the bishop to e3, thus avoiding the counterchances obtained in the Hennigan-Burgess game. g4 11.e3 e8 12.d2 b4 13.b1 White retains his central predominance. Timman hunts f or counterplay but W hite keeps control. xe2 14.xe2 c5 15.a3 c6 16.a2! e7 17.h3 g6 18.d5 e5 19.c1 g7 The position looks more like a King's Indian or Benoni. White has the bishop pair and space but Black is well dug in and hopes for counterplay on the dark squares. 20.a4 bd7 21.c3 f5 22.g5 f6 23.xf6 xf6 24.e2 e7 25.f4! Space enhancement and denying Black u se o f t h e e 5 -squ a re a re t h e m o t iva t in g factors behind this key move. f7 26.xe7 xe7 27.e1 White naturally takes the opportunity to control the only open file. h4 28.e6 f8 29.e2 d7 30.h2 a6 31.g3 f6 32.g2 Patiently improving. d8 33.e3 d4 34.g4! The pressure on f5 brings the bishop more into the game and eventually f o rces Black t o ce de f u rt he r gro un d . f6 35.f3 [ 35.gxf5? h5! is annoying. After the text Black has nothing better than exchanging 520 B03 pawns. ] 36.hxg4 f8 37.e4 xe4 Naiditsch,Arkadij 2581 35...fxg4 Timman,Jan H 2623 38.xe4 c3 39.c2 a1 40.e1 c3 Sparkassen Match (1) 13.07.2002 We sometimes overemphasise so-called "bad bishops" but here it's the superior minor piece [Glenn Flear] compared with Black's "bad knight". 41.g5! 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 b8 42.e2 f8 43.d3 Exchanging off 5.exd6 exd6 Considered the most solid, but Black's one good piece. xd3 [ 43...b2 is met by 44.e7 ] potentially rather passive as we shall see. 44.xd3 d8 45.g3 a5 Blocking the [ 5...cxd6!? is more double-edged. ] 6.c3 e7 7.d3! One of White's better tries queenside and ready to challenge any rook invasion such as 46 Re7 by 46...Rf7. However against 5... exd6. 0-0 [ Otherwise 7...c6 8.ge2 g4 9.e3 W hite has another way of making further f6 10.h3 ( simplest is perhaps 10.f3! h5 progress. 46.c2 f7 47.f5! A temporary 11.0-0 g6 12.f4 xd3 13.xd3 0-0 pawn sacrifice to get his king and bishop he's actually winning. b6 30.d3 [ 30.d7 bxc5 31.d8 xd8 32.xd8+ h7 isn't clear at all. ] 30...xd3 31.xd3 [ 31.e4! f4 32.c6 d4 33.d7 e6 34.xd4 d8 looks more like it, but these things are easier with computers, of course. ] 31...d8 32.d7 a4 33.d2 c6 34.c1 I don't think White really has any advantage here, but you can imagine the players might have been rather short of time.... a5 35.e2 f8 36.d1 e5 37.e3 b5?? [ I don't think White could have won after 37...g7 ] 38.c3!+- c5 [ 38...xc3 39.xc3 is the trouble of course xd7 40.h8+ e7 41.e1+ d6 42.b8+ c6 43.c1+ d5 44.d1+ e6 45.e8+ wins the rook this was why the queen had to stay covering c3. ] 39.xh6+ g7 40.d2 c6 41.d3 f6 42.e4 xd7 43.xd7 xe4+ 44.d3 g2 45.d2 h1+ 46.d1 g2 47.b3 a4 48.xb6 g7 49.a3 xh3 50.b4 g2 51.c1 e2 52.a2 g5 53.c5 g6 54.a5 xb2 55.xb2 e6+ 56.a1 A sad game for Varga but the jury is very mu ch ou t o n t he line . I m u st sa y I d ou b t whether it will ever be a good idea against a 2600 GM armed with computer preparation, but not many of us have that problem often, fortunately. 1-0

525

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 working. gxf5 48.f4 f8 49.xf5 g7 50.h2 g8 [ 50...f7 51.xh7 xg5?? 52.xf7+ ] 51.h6 f7 52.e6 f8 53.xf7! Simplifying to leave White with the superior pieces in the rook ending. Zugzwang is close. xf7+ 54.g4 e7 55.h4 d7 56.h5 e7 57.e6+ d7 58.h6 [ 58.h6 b6 ( 58...f3 59.xh7 is hopeless as the g-pawn soon queens) 59.f6 ( 59.e3 f5 struggles on) 59...e7 60.f8 c7 61.h8 and wins. An excellent game. ] 1-0

521

B03

New Notes on 4 Ps Alekhine with 10...Qd7 11 0-0 0-0-0 [John Watson] S e e t h e o t h e r g a m e ' Ne w A n a l ys is o n 4 Pawns Attack with 10...Qd7 11 0-0 Rd8' for the complement to this game. As I say there, I received many notes about the 10....Qd7 variation f eatured in this game from Luis Eduardo Neves Gouveia, to whom I will refer as 'LENG'! I will include his analysis and that from the Forum, where he and Mark Morss have been contributing ideas to this line for a long time, as I discovered wading through many posts. In this game we see 10 Be2 Qd7 11 0-0 0-0-0. I'm putting their and my analysis of 11...Rd8 in a separate game. Otherwise this will get too crowded and unreadable. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 g4 [ 9...d7 opens another can of worms, but it's worth noting that 10.e2 0-0-0 ( or 10...d8 11.0-0 g4 ) 11.0-0 A) Here 11...b8 has been played very dangerous, so is the Four Pawns in general. The main line in the Forum is 12 a4 a5 13 d5!, apparently (and perhaps not too surprisingly?) good for W hite. Still, th ere are un an swered que st io ns. Fo r example, LENG (=Luis) suggests 12.a4 b4 13.a5 (White gives away a pawn without immediate compensation but 12... Bb4 looks sound enough otherwise

( 13.b3!? has several answers an oddl o o k i n g o n e i s a5 , thinking about ... Nb4 ) 13...xa5 . Then I don't know his analysis, but play might go something like 14.c5! bc4 15.c1 ( 15.xc4 xc4 16.g5 xb2 17.b3 d3 is wild ) 15...xc3 ( 15...b5 16.a2 xc5 17.dxc5 c6 18.e1 xc5+ 19.f2 ) 16.bxc3 b6 ( 16...b5 17.g5 c8 18.d2 c6 19.xc4 xc4 20.xc4 bxc4 and it will be hard for White to overcome Black on the queenside) 17.a4! xa4 18.xa4 b5 19.b4 a6 20.h4 g6 21.xg6 fxg6 22.f7 hg8 23.g4 de8 and Black is tied down, but the follow-up is not evident.; B) the Forum has a nice game by 'brabo' following 11...f6 12.d5! , which is almost certainly bad for Black, but also discussed at great length.; C) 11...g4 transposes to the main lines. Thus 9...Qd7 is sometimes preferred, because the immediate 9...Bg4 allows another set of variations beginning with 10 Qd2, as well as avoiding an early c5. ] 10.e2 d7 [ 10...xf3 11.gxf3 h4+ 12.f2 f4 ha s b e en p la ye d a lo t a n d a n a lys e d a t length. I've looked at this with some very strong (titled) players and think that it's better for White (and potentially, torture for Black). ] 11.0-0 [ 11.c5 is also playable here Black avoids that with the 9...Qd7 and ... 0-0-0 move order. Of course that opens up other issues. There can f ollow d5 12.xd5 xd5 13.0-0 0-0-0 transposing to 12 c5. ( 13...e4 14.b3! intends Ng5 )] 11...0-0-0 The other analytical game this month features 11... 0-0-0. [ My game Stopa-Ramirez from last month went 11...xf3!? . I'll just quote my own notes: Unusual in fact, I'm not sure if this order has been played (well, I guess everything's been played). Black wants to clarify the pawn structure right away, and avoid Ng5 ideas. This is rare in comparison with two traditional moves, which I have put into another game, for the sake of clarity and in o rde r t o h igh light the co ntribu tio ns I 526

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 mentioned. A) 12.xf3!? xc4 13.f2 would be played in the hope of ripping the position apart with an early d5. Black has plenty of options, but watch out for standard tricks such as 0-0-0?! ( 13...b6 14.d5 xd5 15.xd5 exd5 16.g4 is unclear) 14.e2 b6 15.d5! xd5?? 16.xd5 exd5?? 17.g4; B) 12.gxf3?! has actually been the move played here, perhaps out of habit, but 0-0-0 seems to justify 11... Bxf3, for example, 13.c5 d5 14.f2 f6! with plenty of counterplay, especially since 15 f4 isn't available.; C) 12.xf3! It's hard to say what's best, b u t t h i s i s s a f e s t . 0-0-0 13.f4 ( The other critical sequence is 13.c5 d5 14.f2 , and if f5 , 15.exf6 gxf6 , but instinctively, White looks better, and Black had better move quickly.) 13...f6 Black is concerned and sacrifices a pawn. Other moves are slow, e.g. , ( 13...b4 14.f1 xc3 15.bxc3 hf8 16.b1; 13...g5 14.e4 g8 15.d5! with the idea exd5? 16.cxd5 xd5 17.g4 ) 14.exf6 gxf6 15.c5 d5 16.xd5 xd5 17.f3 d7 C1) 18.d5!? is attractive-looking, for example, e5 ( 18...exd5?? 19.g4 ) 19.dxe6 ( 19.c6! xf3+ 20.gxf3 wi t h t h e i d e a xd5!? 21.d4 c5 22.xd5 xe3+ 23.h1 exd5 24.d3 , presumably with some advantage due to Black's weak pawns and slightly loose king, but a t lea st this is interestin g) 19...xe6 20.c2 yields a small advantage, based upon Black's pawn weaknesses. The tactics favour White by a h a i r a f t e r h6 21.xb7+! b8! ( 21...xb7 22.b4+ a8 23.xh6 ) 22.c6!? xc6! 23.xc6 xe3+ 24.f2; C2) 18.f2 h6 19.xf6 g7 20.xe6!? xd4 ( 20...xe6?? 21.g4 ) 21.e4 ( Or 21.e1 xf3+ 22.xf3 ) 21...xf3+ 22.xf3 hf8 23.e2 d5?! ( 23...fe8 24.b1 xe4 25.xe4 d3! 26.xd3 xd3 with the idea .. .Rd2 gives Black counterplay, likely enough to draw.)

24.e1! Black's pieces have good scope, but White remains a pawn ahead. b8 ( 24...xa2?? 25.g4+ ) 25.b4 a6 26.g3 ( 26.h4! enforces a favourable simplification.) 26...c3 27.c1 d2 28.cc4?! ( 28.b1! xa2 29.d1 ) 28...g5 ( 28...d3! 29.xd3 xd3 threatens ...Be3+, and 30.f2 c3 31.e1 d2! 32.g3 is only moderately better for White.) 29.h4 f6 30.h2 N o w W h i t e i s i n c h a r g e a g a i n . g8 31.g4 ( 31.c6! h a s t h e i d e a b6 32.c5! d3 33.xc7+ xc7 34.e7+ xe7 35.xe7+ ) 31...h5 32.xg8 xg8 33.e4 ( 33.c6! ) 33...f7 34.f3 g7 35.a4 d4 36.f4 f6 37.g3?! ( White's attack is too strong after 37.b5!; or 37.e6! with the idea of Rb6.) 37...d7 38.xh5 h8 39.f3 xa4 40.e2 Time control, or he would have played What follows is not very accurate, but W hite's win is a fair result: ( 40.xc7+! xc7 41.f4+ ) 40...d7 41.e6 f7 42.e4 g6 43.e5 g8 44.f3 d8 45.f4 e8 46.f5 e7 47.f7 d8 48.f4 a8 49.f5 a7 50.d4 b8 51.f4 a8 52.f2 b8 53.f5 a8 54.d4 c6 55.f4 a7 56.f7 e2 57.f3 e6 58.f5 c4 59.h7 ] [ I b e l i e v e t h a t 11...f6 12.d5! is still considered good for White. ] 12.g5 is a fun move, going way back to books by Alekhine authors Eales and Williams, Bagirov, and Graham Burgess. There is a tremendous amount of material on the forum on this and on the main move 12 c5, which is likely best [ in p a rt icu la r , 12.c5 d5 ( 12...xf3 13.cxb6 xe2 14.bxa7! seems to favour White after xa7 15.xe2 ) 13.xd5 xd5 has been analysed at length, with many sidelines. A few possibilities: in the Forum, L E N G a n d M a r k M o r s s d i s c u s s 14.h3 ( 14.b4 and between them they write a t r e a t i s e a b o u t e4 , giving it a passing grade for Black) 14...e4 ( Mark Morss discusses 14...f5 , possibly better 15.c1 h6 16.c4 e4 17.c3 ) 15.c1 ( I n t h e F o r u m , 15.b3 gets another pamphlet's worth of analysis. I gather the 527

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 consensus between specialist Mark Morss and Luis is that Black stands okay... maybe? ) 15...f5 16.g5 xd4 17.c4 c6 18.xf7 xc5 19.h2 b6 20.c3 , ultimately arriving at a limited advantage, although I'm not sure if that wasn't countered with other analysis. This line is mostly forcing and therefore important. ] 12...xc4 [ 12...xe2 13.xe2 f6 ( 13...xd4 14.xd4 xd4+ 15.h1 favours White, with ideas of Nxf7, Rxf7, and in some cases Rad1 ) 14.exf6 gxf6 , and here White has a variety of moves: The indefatigable Luis Eduardo Neves Gouveia likes A) 15.f3 and Rad1 is okay for Black, even if he's slightly cramped; B) 15.xe6 is apparently a bit better for White after xe6 16.d5 d7 ( 16...e5 17.dxc6 d6!? 18.cxb7+ b8 19.g3 he8 20.ad1!? looks good for White, wi t h t h e id e a xe3+ 21.xe3 xe3 22.c5 ) 17.dxc6 xc6 18.b3; C) 15.xf6 After 15 Rxf6, I'll simply give a sample analysis: xd4 16.f2 e7 17.f7 c6 18.c5 xc5 19.xc5 d2 20.xe6 xb2 21.xc7+ b8 22.b1 xc3 23.xc6 d7 24.c7! d3 25.e1 wti d2?? ( 25...e8 26.xd7 xd7 27.e5+ c8 28.e4 d1+ 29.f2 c2+ 30.f3 d1+ 31.g3 g8+ 32.h4 d7 33.g4 ) 26.e5 and wins. ] 13.xf7 e8 [ 13...xe3 14.xd7 xd1 ( 14...xd7!? 15.c1 seems to come up a little short) 15.xd8+ xd8 16.xg4 xb2 17.xe6 xe6 18.xe6+ b8 19.b1 d3 20.d5 with initiative ] [ 13...e7 14.f2! xb2 15.c2 xd4 16.xb2 xe2+ 17.xe2 ] 14.b5! Found by the computer. xe3 [ 14...e7 may be met by 15 Bf2, with a limited advantage but the piece sacrifice 15.xg4!? xe3 16.xe6 xd1 17.exc7+ b8 18.xe8 e3 19.xg7 xg4 20.e6 also looks interesting, since Black has some loose pieces ] 15.xc7+ b8 16.b3 Conclusion by 'LENG': 'the move you have suggested, 14. Nb5! is really a good move and might (I said

"might") make people to think twice about using 9 ... Qd7 10...000 and 11...Bg4.

522

B03

New analysis 4 Pawns Attack with 10...Qd7 11 0-0 Rd8 [John Watson] I received many notes about the 10....Qd7 variation featured in last month's column from Luis Eduardo Neves Gouveia, who is the 'Ig' in the ChessPublishing Forum on the Alekhine. I'll refer to him as 'LENG' below. He not only sent new analysis, but pointers to old analysis in the Forum, most of it by him and Mark Morss. I'll also expand upon my previous analysis. For clarity's sake, because there is so much material overall, I'm going to add their analysis of 10...Qd7 11 0-0 Rd8 to my notes from last time and move it into this separate game, whereas the new analysis of 11...0-0-0 will be in the 'New Notes on 4 Pawns Alekhine...' game. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 g4 10.e2 d7 11.0-0 d8 The idea of this move is to improve upon 11...0-0-0 in the 12 Ng5 Nxc4 line because the king protects central squares. 12.g5 [ 12.c5 is also important, because in this case it's not clear that Black wouldn't like to be castled. I won't analyse it here, but I agree with theory and the Forum folk that Black stands all right. ] 12...xc4 [ 12...xe2 13.xe2 ( 13.xe2 xc4 14.b3 xe3 15.xe3 xd4 16.xf7 c5 17.h1 f5 18.xc5 xf7 i s u n c l e a r) 13...xd4 14.xd4 xd4+ 15.h1 is supposed to favour White. ] 13.f2! (I think this was Estrin's discovery [ 13.xf7 xe3 14.xd7 xd1 15.xd8+ xd8 16.xg4 e3! is unconvincing now, although White is not worse. ] 13...xe2 [ a) 13...e7 14.xf7 xb2 15.c2 looks very promising for White. Here's some analysis: A) 15...f5 16.xb2 xf7 17.ad1 ( or 17.g4 g6 18.d5!? exd5 19.ad1! ) 528

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17...hf8 18.g4 g6 19.d5!; B) 15...xe2 16.xh8 xf1? 17.xh7!; C) 15...xd4 16.xd4 xd4+ 17.h1 xe2 18.xe2! ( 18.xe2 xc3 19.xh8 d2! ) 18...d2 C1) 19.xc7 xe2?? ( 19...f8 ) 20.d6+; C2) 19.e4!+- ] [ b) There's also a strange move here that I'd never seen. Even if it's not very good, which is extremely likely, it's worth seeing: 13...xd4?! 14.xg4 xe5 15.h3?! ( 15.h5! g6 16.g3! ) 15...e7 16.e3 h6 17.h5 g6 18.h4 c5 19.g3 xg5 20.xg5 ef3+ 21.gxf3 hxg5 22.ae1 f5 23.g2 d6 24.e2 xg3 25.hxg3 f7 26.f2 f6 and Black was holding in Hernod, B-Bergdahl, A, correspondence/ Sweden 1974. ] 14.xe2 e7 [ 14...b6!? may be best, although 15.e3! t h r e a t e n s f 7 : xd4 16.xd4 xd4+ 17.h1 d7 18.ad1 c4 19.f3 with the initiative. ] 15.xf7 [ 15.h5 xg5! ] 15...xf7 16.e3+ [ LENG: 'Perhaps 16.xc4 hf8 A) jw: I gave 17.d5 exd5 18.b3 g8 19.ad1 xf2! 20.xf2 c5 21.xd5 ( 21.xd5 xf2+ 22.xf2 f5+ 23.g1 xd5 ) 21...xf2+ 22.xf2 h8 , at least =; B) 17.ad1 g8 18.d5 'might work'. jw: Yes, this is better, and maybe White can get a little something, but very little, after xe5 ( 18...exd5 19.xd5+ xd5 20.xd5 holds forth good promise the ep a w n i s a n a s s e t .) 19.b3 h8 20.xb7!? ( 20.dxe6 c6 ) 20...g4 21.dxe6 xe6 22.xd8 xd8 23.e4 xe4 24.xe4 xf2 25.xf2 ] 16...g8 17.xc4 Here Luis says: 'I think Black equalizes quite easily after your last line, namely after xd4 'Here is one possible line: 18.ad1 c5 19 Bxd4 cxd4 20 Ne2 Qd5.' But a better 19th move for White is 19.b4! b5 [ 19...b6 20.xd4 cxd4 21.b5 d5 22.xd4 because c5 is now covered xc4 23.xc4 ] 20.xb5 xb5 21.xd4 xc4 22.xc4

cxb4 23.c7 In the end, White seems to retain the edge against 11...Rd8, but there are still options to look into.

523 Onischuk,V Kovalenko,I Russian Cup Final 2013 (1.1) [Tom Rendle]

B03 2591 2643 12.12.2013

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 g4 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 h4+ 12.f2 f4 13.c5 d5 14.xd5 exd5 15.d2 xd2+ 16.xd2 So far we're just following the mainline. g6 [ 16...e7 was preferred in BologanRo ze nt alis (an alyse d by G awain in t h e archives) when White had the better position after 17.b5+! c6 18.d3 g6 19.b4 h6+ 20.c3 d7 21.b5! ] 17.f4 [ 17.e3! was Gawain's preference in his notes to the Rozentalis game and I think this is more accurate as it prevents Black playing the setup outlined in the De Firmian game (see note to Black's 18th) A) 17...e7 18.d3! ( 18.f4?! h6 would transpose to Atalik-De Firmian) 18...h5 19.g5 is very pleasant for White; B) 17...h5!? 18.b5 e7 19.g5+ e6 20.c3 h4 and now in Pavasovic, D (2597)-Nakamura, H (2704) St Veit 2008 I think White's most accurate continuation was 21.hg1! e7 22.xc6 ( 22.g4!? is also good if White prefers to keep more pieces on the board) 22...bxc6 23.xe7 xe7 24.g5 with a very unpleasant rook and pawn ending for Black to hold ] 17...h6 18.e3 f6!? A novelty [ Perhaps Black should aim for the fortress setup in Atalik-De Firmian (annotated by Flear in the archives) after 18...e7 19.d3 f5 20.xf5 gxf5 21.hg1 d7 22.g3 ag8 23.b4 xg3 24.hxg3 f8 but this is hardly an inspiring way to play as Black. Still, I don't see an easy way to break into Black's position so this remains a tough nut to crack. ] 19.h4 0-0 20.h5 fxe5 21.fxe5 xe3+ 529

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.xe3 g5 23.h6!? This effectively isolates Black's pawn on g5 but it does allow Black some counterplay at least with his next move [ 23.af1! h6 24.g4 is unpleasant for B la c k wh o h a s n o ch o ice b u t t o g rim l y d e f e n d a n d h o p e f o r a d r a w w i t h g7 25.e6 e7 26.b4 a6 but his position is still solid so maybe he has OK drawing chances although W hite can push on the queenside here with 27.a4! ] 23...f4! 24.ag1 e4+ 25.d2?! [ 25.d3! is slightly more accurate as now after xd4 ( or 25...xd4+ 26.c3 g4 27.h4! and White regains the pawn with the better chances) 26.xg5+ h8 27.g4 xe2 28.xd4 c6 29.f1 Black is in trouble as White is threatening to double on the 7th rank with Rf7 ] 25...xd4! 26.xg5+ h8 27.g4 No w i t s e e m s t h a t B l a c k s h o u l d b e O K , however with the pawn on h6 a constant threat it's still Black who has to be the more careful in t his en dgam e . g8 28.xg8+ xg8 29.c8 f3+ 30.d1 xe5 31.xb7 d4+ 32.e2 f7 33.g1 g6 34.a3 f6 [ I really like 34...a5! here, when I think Black should draw fairly easily, e.g. 35.b4!? axb4 36.axb4 xb4 37.xd5+ f6 38.g8 h4 39.xh7 xh6= ] 35.b4 h4 36.f1+ e6 37.c8+ e7 38.b7 d4!? [ 38...e6 taking the draw by repetition was probably a more sensible approach, although that's easy to say with hindsight! ] 39.h1! g4 40.f3 f4 41.d5 g4 42.d2 e5 43.f1 g5 44.a4 h5?! A first small error gives White a small chance to push [ 44...g3! and Black should draw after 45.b5 d3+ 46.e2 e3+ 47.d2 d3+ 48.c2 c3+ 49.d2 d3+ ( 49...xc5 50.g8 is risky for Black )] 45.h1 xh1?! Possibly the losing move [ 45...f5 46.e4 f7 is good for White but Black is hanging on here ] 46.xh1 f6 47.a5 c6?! After this it's definitely losing but perhaps it was already impossible to defend [ 47...g6 48.d5! xh6 49.b5 d7 50.c6 b8 51.e4 g7 52.d3 and with the knight trapped the ending is

easily winning for White, e.g. h5 53.xd4 h4 54.g2 g6 55.e5 f7 56.a6 e7 57.d5 f7 58.b6! and White promotes a pawn by force ] 48.e4 g5 49.b5! cxb5 50.c6 xh6 51.c7 c4+ 52.d3 d6 53.xd4 g7 54.c5! c8 55.b7 e7 and Black resigned without waiting for Kxb5 with an easy win. A f anta stic grind f rom Onischuk bu t Kovalenko was holding a draw earlier on. That being said White definitely got the better of the opening and these positions after 16. Kxd2 just look much easier for White to play whereas Black is really just hoping for a draw in most lines. 1-0

524 Parma,Bruno Schiffer,K ch Berlin-West [Nigel Davies]

B03

1971

Natural development is often the best policy, but here it doesn't work. White's nonchalant development of his knights allows Black his counterplay. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 g6 7.c3 g7 8.f3 Opting for a policy of simple development, but Black is able to pursue thematic counterplay in two different ways. g4 [ The immediate 8...c5 might be even better. After 9.f4 ( 9.d5 is strongly met by g4 , with my analysis running 10.f4 8d7 11.e2 b8 12.d6 0-0 13.dxe7 e8 with a good game f or Black) 9...cxd4 10.xd4 c6! ( stronger than 10...xd4 11.xd4 c6 12.xc6 bxc6 13.0-0-0 was slightly better for White in Zysk - Miltner, Bundesliga, Germany 1985) 11.xd8+ xd8 and Black's knight will be well placed on e6. ] [ I f B l a c k p l a y s 8...c6 there is an interesting reply in 9.h3 simply preventing ... Bg4 and leaving Black in a quandary as to how he should create counterplay. ] 9.c5 [ 9.e2 is well met by c5 10.dxc5 xd1+ 11.xd1 6d7 12.e3 xf3 13.xf3 c6 530

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 etc. ] 9...d5 10.c4 e6 11.0-0 [ If White tries to exploit the weakness of the b 7 p a w n w i t h 11.b3 he would be disappointed by xf3 12.xb7? ( 12.gxf3 c6 gives Black powerful counterplay.) 12...xc3 13.xf3 d5 winning a piece ] 11...xc3 12.bxc3 0-0 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 c6 15.g4 a5 16.g5 d7 17.e2 b6 The usual route to counterplay in this structure. It soon becomes apparent that White's attack isn't going anywhere and his structural we a k n e s s e s a re s t a rt in g t o h u rt . 18.cxb6 axb6 19.f3 a7 20.f4 c8 21.ad1 c4 22.h4 c6 23.f2 a3 24.c1 c5 25.f6 xf6 [ There is a strong argument f or 25...f8 keeping his bishop on the board. ] 26.exf6 d6 27.h6 f8 28.g5 cxd4 29.cxd4 a5 30.d5 h6 31.f4 exd5 32.xd5 [ 32.xd5 xd5 33.xc4 brings about a drawish major piece endgame. ] ½-½

525 Pegoraro,Giorgio Henderson,John B (open) Ischia [Alexander Volzhin]

B03 2185 2170 1996

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.d5 exd5 11.cxd5 b4 12.d4 d7 13.f3 [ 13.b3 c5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.0-0-0 c7 16.c4 xc4 17.xc4 xe5 18.he1 0-0 19.a3 d5 20.xc6 xc6 21.xd5 xa3 22.bxa3 fc8 23.c5 xd5 24.xe5 xc4 25.b2 f6 0-1Tsarev - Palatnik, Kiev, 1989. ] 13...c5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.e6 [ 15.a3 c5! 16.axb4 cxd4 17.xd4 0-0= ] [ 15.0-0-0 0-0 16.f5 6d5 17.xe7+ xe7 18.xd5 cxd5 19.a3 fc8+ 20.b1 c2 21.c1 ab8 Trkaljanov - Kovacevic, 1979. ] 15...fxe6 [ 15...xe6 16.a3 4d5 17.xc6 c7 18.xe7 xe7 19.b5+ with advantage ]

16.0-0-0 [ 16.a3 4d5 17.d3 xe3 18.xe3 0-0 19.e4 g6 20.h4 e5 21.f3 f5 22.c4+ g7 23.e2 xc4 24.xc4 b6 25.0-0-0 ab8 26.d2 xa3-+ winning in Velimirovic - Kovacevic, Yugoslavia, 1979. ] 16...6d5 17.a3 xc3 18.xe6 ca2+!!N [ 18...a5 19.xg7+ d8 20.xd7+ xd7 21.g4+ c7 22.axb4 a2+ 23.b1 xb4 24.c4 Velimirovic - Kovacevic, Yugoslavia, 1978. ] 19.b1 xe6! 20.xd8+ xd8 21.axb4 xb4 22.e2 [ 22.h5+ f7 23.g4 g6+ 24.a1 c2+-+ winning ] [ 22.e4 d1+ 23.c1 a2+-+ winning ] [ 22.g4 d5 23.e2 e4+ 24.a1 d5 25.c5 xc5 26.xe4 c1+ 27.b1 xb1+ 28.xb1-+ winning ] 22...f8 23.h5+ [ 23.g3 f5+ 24.a1 d5 25.b8+ f7 26.xa7 c2+ 27.a2 xe3 28.xe3 a8+ 29.b3 b8+ 30.c3 f6+ 31.c4 e6-+ winning ] 23...g6 24.e5 [ 24.a5 f5! 25.xa7 e5 26.f1 d5 27.f3 g4 28.d4 xf3 29.xe5 xe2 30.c5 d3+-+ winning ] 24...f5+ 25.a1 d5 26.b8+ f7 [ 26...f7 27.xa7 c2+ 28.a2 xe3 29.xe3 a5+ 30.b3 b8+-+ winning ] 0-1

526 Pelikian,Jefferson Milos,Gilberto Itau Cup 450th Ann (4) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2414 2594 19.01.2004

OOPS! 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f4!? A humorous deviation from the norm. White must be fully aware that he can no longer transpose back into a regular Four Pawns Attack. I quite like [ 4.e2!? here, Romanishin's idea, retaining options with the f-pawn. ] 4...dxe5 5.fxe5 c5! Way to go! Black strikes hard at the over-extended White centre. 6.f3 [ Clearly Pelikian knew about 6.c4 b4! 7.a3 ( 7.d5 f5 ) 7...4c6 8.d5 ( 8.f3 531

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd4 ) 8...xe5 but it's hard to believe that White can play for the advantage with the pokey 6 Nf3. ] 6...cxd4 7.xd4 c6 White's centre has already been destroyed. 8.b5 [ I couldn't understand the following reference when I first saw it: 8.e4 g6 9.c4 b6 10.b3 f5 1/2-1/2 Georgiev, K-Brochet, P/Paris 2003 What on earth is Georgiev grovelling around to make a quick draw with a weaker player in a poor opening variation? ] 8...f5! Simple and good enough, since Milos will emerge from the opening with an excellent position and no weaknesses to speak of. [ 8...a5+ is an over-elaboration: 9.c3 xc3 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.d2 b5 12.xa5 xd4 13.xd4 e6 14.0-0-0 d7 Kupreichik, V-Kengis, E/Podolsk 1990 ] 9.c3 e6 10.a4?N An unsuccessful attempt to mix it up and very dangerous facing a consummate tactician like Milos [ 10.g5 is relatively better, but White has no hope of advantage: e7 ( 10...a5 11.0-0-0 xb5 12.xb5 xd4 13.xd4 h6 14.h4 a6 15.xd5 axb5 16.xb5 e4! 17.a3 g5 18.g3 c8 19.c3 c5 ) 11.xe7 dxe7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.xd8 fxd8 14.h3 a6 15.xc6 xc6 16.a3 b5 17.xd8+ xd8 18.d1 xd1+ 19.xd1 h5 20.b1 e7 21.c3 g6 22.d2 f4 23.e1 g6 1/2-1/2 Ankerst, MHorvath, C/Budapest 1992 A rather sterile game. ] [ Perhaps best of all is 10.xd5 exd5 11.c3 a6 12.f4 axb5 13.xf5 b4 but Black has the initiative. ] 10...db4! White may already be in great peril. 11.xc6+ bxc6 12.e3 [ 12.0-0 c5+ 13.h1 xc2 14.b3 b6 is pretty much a disaster zone. ] 12...xc2 13.b3 d3! The Black pieces flood in for the kill. 14.d4 e7 15.a3 [ 15.e2 0-0 16.f2 c5 17.e3 fd8 18.a5 e4 19.g3 d5 20.hf1 d7 21.g1 c4 is disgusting for White. ] 15...xb3! But this is even worse! 16.xb3 c2+ 17.f2 xd4 18.ad1 xf3+ A drubbing. W hilst 4 f4 isn't as bad as was made out here, W hite can only equalize at

best. With so many good lines on offer against the Alekhine, why play this rubbish? 0-1

527 Pinchon,Henry Timmermans,Daniel Val Thorens (4) [Nigel Davies]

B03

1989

White habitually plays an early Nc3 in these ... g6 lines, but I have my doubts about whether it has to be played early on. In this game we see White focus on the development of his kingside, but he should play Nc3 on his 11th move, in my opinion. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 dxe5 [ In my book on the Alekhine I suggested that White may want to meet 5...g6 with 6.f3 , but this could then transpose into the game after g7 7.e2 0-0 8.0-0 dxe5 9.fxe5 c5 etc. ] 6.fxe5 g6 7.f3 [ Another interesting way to fortify e5 is with a queenside fianchetto. Binks - Cole, Bristol 199 2 co nt in ue d 7.b3 g7 8.b2 c5 ( Black could also consider 8...0-0 9.f3 f6 , undermining the pawn chain at its head.) 9.d5 c7 10.f3 g4 11.e2 0-0 12.h3 ( 12.bd2 m a y we ll b e e ve n b e t t e r .) 12...xf3 13.gxf3 and now e6 may be the best ( In the game Black was horribly cramped after 13...f6 14.e6 etc. ) 14.d6 d8 intending 15...Nc6 and with ...Qh4 and ...f7-f6 in the air. ] 7...g7 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 [ White can also play 9.c3 after which c5 10.d5 g4 ( 10...e6 11.0-0 transposes into the note to W hite's 11th move) 11.f4 8d7 12.g5 xe2 13.xe2 maintains th e e 5 p a wn wit h a cle a r a d va n t a ge t o White ] 9...c5 10.d5 The only consistent move. [ After 10.f4 Black can ease his position with cxd4 11.xd4 c6 etc. ] 10...e6 11.g5? In my opinion this is a serious error. [ The natural move is 11.c3 after which my analysis runs exd5 12.cxd5 g4 ( after 12...e8 the move 13.g5 is much more 532

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 effective ) 13.f4 8d7 14.d2! ( and not 14.g5 xe2 15.xe2 xe5 , when the knight on g5 hangs) 14...xe2 15.xe2 e8 16.f3 xe5 ( probably better than 16...xe5 because 17.xe5 f6 18.ad1 fxe5 19.e4 leaves Black with a bad bishop ) 17.xe5 f6 18.f2 xe5 ( 18...fxe5 19.h6 e7 20.ad1 also gives excellent compensation) 19.xc5 with W hite for preference because of the strong passed d-pawn. ] 11...e8 12.c3 exd5 13.cxd5 g4 14.d6 c6 The e5 pawn is dropping, and White never looks like getting enough compensation. 15.b5 xf3 16.xf3 xe5 17.h4 xb2 18.b1 xa2 19.c7 d4+ 20.h1 ac8 21.xc6 bxc6 22.f3 f6 23.xc6 f7 24.be1 d7 25.xd7 xd7 26.e7 g5 27.g3 e5 28.e6 fe8 29.xe5 xe7 30.dxe7 xe5 31.d1 e8 32.d7 c4 33.xa7 c3 34.c5 d4 35.c7 f7 36.b3 e5 37.b7 xe7 38.xe7+ xe7 39.a1 d6 40.g1 c5 41.f2 c4 42.g3 d3 43.e1 c2 44.b3 c3+ 45.f2 d2 0-1

'normal' move was [ 17...xh1 18.f5 , attacking the queen, b u t a l s o t h e k n i g h t o n b 4 , s o : g6 ( 18...xd1+ 19.xd1! 4d5 20.xg7+ xg7 21.h5+ d8 22.xd5 xd5 23.f7! e7 24.g5 e8 25.xg7 ) 19.xd8+ xd8 20.xb4 gxf5 21.b5+ c6 22.xf5 0-0 23.d3 xd3 24.xd3 with material and attack. ] 18.f5 So far, so good. Top players would resign here. g6 19.c4? [ Over thinking? White is still well on top after this, but one of several easy wins is 19.xd5 xd5 ( 19...xd5 20.xb4 gxf5 and everything wins, for example, 21.e2 h5 22.f4 0-0 23.e7! xe7 24.xd5 xd5 25.c4 )] 19...xe3 20.xd8+ xd8 21.xe3 xh1 The only chance is to grab material. 22.e4? [ 22.f4! f8 (forced) 23.h6 and with the loss of the h-pawn, Black is hard pressed to survive. He can do so by xc3 24.bxc3 d3+ 25.c2! e5 , when White will eventually win following 26.xh7! xc4 27.xg6+ e7 28.xc4 f2+ 29.b3 d5 30.g5+ f6 31.g7+ xe6 32.xc7 , but you can see that it's already become messier. ] 528 B03 22...d4? [ It's surprising that Black finally has a Pommeret,J 1923 chance to survive and misses it: 22...xe4 Philippe,Christophe 2407 23.xe4 c6 , and White needs to play 2nd Open Gap FRA (9) 19.04.2008 accurately by 24.e7! xe7 25.a3 a6 [John Watson] 26.xa6 bxa6 27.xc6+ f7 merely to maintain some advantage. ] Okay, White is a low-rated player, but it isn't often that we get to see a rare main line, and 23.c2! xc2 24.xc2? This is the turning in fact he gets a completely winning position! I point. [ 24.e7! wins, because Qe6 follows, for include this game for fun but also to remind example, d7 ( 24...e3 25.e6 xc4 folks about the theory. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 26.f6+ xf6 27.exd8+ xd8 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 28.xf6+ ) 25.e6 (the end mate is 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.d5 threatened) e3+ ( 25...xe7 26.c8# ) exd5 11.cxd5 b4 12.d4 d7 13.e6 26.xc2 ( or 26.d2 ) 26...xe4+ 27.b3! fxe6 14.dxe6 c6 15.g4 h4+ 16.g3 d3+ 28.xd3 xd3 29.xe3 a6 f6?? For years this has been called a 30.d4 , hitting d8 and h8. ] mistake (not even mentioned in Cox, justifiably), and Black should have known this 24...f8 25.c3? [ 25.b3 ] if he was entering such a crazy line but it's [ 25.b4 keep an objective balance. ] funny how one unfamiliar move can throw the o p p o n e n t i n t o a t i z z y . 17.0-0-0 6d5 25...f2+ 26.b3 d6? By now the issue An innovation, which is as good as anything, must be time trouble. Very strong was [ 26...a6! ( s t o p p i n g N b 5 ) 27.e7! d6! since Black's position is absolutely lost. The 533

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 , when W hite's king has become too exposed and Black will at least get a solid advantage. ] 27.b5+? Last chance. White gets his equality back at least after [ 27.h4 , threatening Qxh7, for example, e5 28.xh7 b6+ 29.a3 d6+ 30.b4 xb4+ 31.a4 c6+ 32.b5 ] 27...c6 28.c4 b5 29.e2 a5 Maybe White ran out of time, but it's looking extremely good for black, who must be winning now. So the 2400 wins after all, but what this means I don't know! 0-1

529 Prelevic,Mirko Dragasevic,Srdja TCh-SCG 2nd Sutomore SCG (6) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2169 2308 13.09.2004

Not many of the strongest Grandmasters play the Alekhine these days, which is a slight surprise, as Black's chances aren't all that bad. Maybe they feel 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3 dxe5 5 Nxe5 c6!? is a little passive, I don't know. Perhaps it's time for a revival certainly the Alekhine could still be moulded into a winning weapon with thorough preparation. Really, all you need is something against 4 Nf3 and the Exchange Variation and then you are in business. Here we see Black completely demolishing a strange try by White the Alekhine reacts well to unusual treatment. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.a4N I guess I've seen this after 6 Nc3 but never before. Perhaps it will transpose to 6 Nc3 g6 7 a4, perhaps it should do at least. [ 6.h3 is another odd move, quite normal in the context of the opening, but played at a peculiar moment. You will see that White did not have much luck in the following game: g6 7.f3 g7 8.g5 Hey ho, he insists on originality. e6!? 9.c3 ( 9.bd2; 9.b3 ) 9...d5 10.c5 6d7 11.b3 b6 12.b5 0-0 13.c6 f6 14.f4 e8 15.c1 a6 16.a4?? Awful. ( 16.a3; 16.a4 ) 16...b5 17.0-0 xc6 18.xb5 axb5 19.xb5 xd4 20.xd4 xd4 21.fd1 b6 22.c7

xb5 23.xb5 RR g7 24.a4 d6 25.c6 ab8 26.a5 0-1 Piat,J-Beudaert,X/Creon FRA 2004 ] 6...a5 7.d3 g6 8.f3 g7 9.e3 0-0 10.c1!? Adds a peculiar twist to the game, but I don't think this is a happy square for the White Queen. She loses touch with b3 and the Bishop on d3 hangs in some lines. [ 10.0-0 ] [ 10.b3 ] [ 10.c3 ] 10...c6 11.h6 b4! The relevance of the previous comment becomes apparent. 12.a3 xd3+ With a consequent weakening of c4. 13.xd3 f5 14.xg7 xg7 15.b3 [ 15.d1 xa4 ( 15...xb1 16.xb1 xc4 )] 15...c8 16.a3 c7 Black has very simply attacked White at his weakest point, wasting no time, and he has no defence 17.d5 xd5 18.d4 d7 19.g4? An incomprehensibly terrible move. [ 19.db5 xb5 20.xb5 b4 21.0-0 e6 22.c3+ g8 23.d1 is obviously still much better for Black but White is playing. ] 19...e5 20.h3 f4! 21.g1 xh3 22.f5+ xf5 23.gxf5 xg1 I don't think 6 a4 or 6 h3 are improvements on the traditional move orders at all. Playing these small pawn moves in advance of the Knight developments cannot be very good. What an awful game. It's meant to demonstrate that although the Alekhine may well be in the background, it's still very much alive! 0-1

530 Prusikin,M Miralles,G TCh-SUI 2013 (9.1) [Tom Rendle]

B03 2555 2472 13.10.2013

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 d7 [ 9...g4 was seen in a couple of important games in the archives: Jones-Short and Bologan-Rozentalis but White was better in both games after 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 h4+ 12.f2 f4 13.c5! and Black players 534

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 seem to have been avoiding playing this at GM level in the last couple of years. ] [ 9...e7 10.d5 exd5 11.cxd5! was given as be st b y Gawain in h is no te s to b ot h Bologan-Rozentalis and Velimirovic-Cmilyte and I've added in my thoughts as well as a couple of recent games to his analysis: b4 12.d4 A) 12...g6?! 13.b5+ f8 14.0-0 g8 is clearly better for White after either 15.d6 ( or 15.f5 (G a wa in 's ch o ice ) xf5 16.xf5 6xd5 17.d4 c6 18.c4 and despite having an extra pawn it's clear that Black is in a lot of trouble) 15...cxd6 16.e6! f6 17.f3 d5 18.a3 c2 19.xc2 xc2 20.ac1 b3 21.d4 and Black is a pawn up but in a horrible bind all over the board, in the long run White should be winning here.; B) 12...d7 B1) 13.e6 is interesting if somewhat less co nvin cin g fxe6 14.dxe6 c6 15.xc6 ( 15.g4 h4+! 16.g3 xh1 17.gxh4 0-0 18.0-0-0 f6 is obviously ve ry c o mp lica t ed b ut W hit e d o esn 't seem to be better here and there's no reason to go for this when 13.Qf3 leads to a c omf ort able e dge) 15...xd1+ 16.xd1 c2+ 17.d2 xe3 18.xe3 bxc6 19.e2 0-0 and Black had fully equalised and went on to grind out the win in Videnova, I (2301)-Cmilyte, V (2497) Gaziantep 2012; B2) 13.f3 c5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.e2 0-0 16.0-0 4d5 17.f2 h4 The first move that deviates from previous ChessPublishing analysis but White is still doing well here B2a) 18.e4 xf2+ 19.xf2 e7 20.g3 f5 21.exf6 xf6 22.g5?! ( 22.d6! looks safe enough and White's better pawn structure should b e e n o u gh f o r a sli gh t e d ge h e r e) 22...h6 23.b3+ bd5 24.gf3 g4 25.ff1 ab8 26.a3 xa3 ( 26...e3+! 27.xe3 dxe3 was even stronger) 27.bxa3 b2 and Black was much better in Newrkla, K (2078)-Schroll, G (2400) Vienna 2009; B2b) 18.g3! g5 19.e4 e7

B2b1) 20.f5! leads to a more definite advantage, for example xf5 21.xf5 h6 22.d3 and Black is forced into the weakening ( 22.ae1! is also simple and strong, keeping everything under control) 22...g6 23.h3 g7 24.c5 xe5 25.ae1 and White is doing well; B2b2) 20.xg5 xg5 21.b3 xe5 22.c5 and White had excellent play for the pawn in Geske, J (2383)-Schroll, G (2388) Jenbach 2012 ] 10.e2 0-0-0 11.0-0 e7?! This move is too slow here. Although the alternatives don't equalise for Black in my opinion they are definitely preferable to ...Be7 [ 11...f6 12.d5 xe5 13.xe5 fxe5 14.a4 a5 15.b5! gave White an excellent position in Kotronias-Short, examined by Andrew Martin in the archives ] [ 11...b8 was played by Tony Miles and is worth a look here although White should still be better A) 12.a3! may be more to the point, for example f6 13.b4 fxe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.dxe5 xd1 ( 15...e7 16.b3 and W hite's attack on the queenside is very promising) 16.axd1 e7 17.b5 and White has control of the queenside and Nd4 is awkward f or Black to deal with; B) 12.d2 f6 13.exf6 gxf6 14.ad1 g7 15.e1 g8 16.f2 h3 and Black had at least balanced chances in Narciso Dub lan, M (246 8)-Mile s, A (2579) Cappelle La Grande 2000 ] [ 11...g4 12.c5 d5 13.xd5 xd5 14.b4! and I like White's chances on the queenside ] 12.d5! This leads to a fairly forced variation and as far as I can see White is just clearly better with accurate play exd5 13.xb6 axb6 14.cxd5 c5+ 15.h1 b4 [ 15...e7 is not really any better after 16.d4! b8 17.cb5 with the nasty threat of Qa4 and Black can't do much here, e.g. xd5 ( 17...c6 fails to 18.d6! cxb5 19.xb5 c8 20.xf5 xf5 21.d7 c7 22.xf5 and W hite is a pawn to the good with the better position) 18.xf5 xe5 19.a4 c8 535

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.ae1 and with a piece for two pawns and the better position White should be winning here ] 16.e1?! This is enough for a slight edge but there's actually a better move [ 16.d4! looks like a blunder because of xd4 ( 16...g6?! 17.xf5 gxf5 18.c4 is miserable for Black who has a shattered pawn structure and no central control.) 17.xd4 c2 but White has the clever c o u n t e r t a c t i c 18.h4 xa1 19.xf5! when the knight on a1 is terribly placed. White is close to winning here, for example b8 20.f4 hf8 21.b5 e7 22.c1 and White will soon have two pieces for the rook. ] 16...g6 17.f3 h5 [ 17...e7 is perhaps a slight improvement. The point is that after 18.a3 a6 19.b4?! allows ( instead 19.g4 xe5 20.d3 g7 21.xf5+ gxf5 22.xf5 and White is at least slightly better as the pawn on d5 gives W hite excellent central control and the knight on a6 is rather offside) 19...xe5 with gain of time on the knight on c3 ] 18.a3! a6 19.b4 f8 Black has been f o rce d b a ck bu t h is p ositio n is still solid enough for the time being 20.e2 [ 20.d4 also looks sensible to me simply centralising and preparing Be4 ] 20...b8 21.f3 g7 22.b3 g4 23.ae1! The only move to keep control of e5 xf3 [ Black would love to increase the pressure on the centre with 23...he8? but obviously it drops an exchange to 24.b5 ] 24.xf3 he8 25.e6! The only move to keep the pawn but it's a strong one fxe6 26.dxe6 d3? Up until now Miralles had been hanging on but under a lot of pressure he makes a decisive error in allowing the passed e-pawn to move forwards. [ 26...e7 leaves Black with little counterplay but there are still reasonable drawing chances after 27.d5 g5 28.e7 d7 although 29.e6! is definitely strong h e r e a n d in t h e lo n g ru n W h it e s h o u l d probably win here ] 27.e7 c8 28.d5! White is happy to swap queens here and allow the e7 pawn to win the game xd5 29.xd5 c6 30.f4!

Pruisikin is not interested in the b6 pawn here as he can pick up g6 and h5 if he wants c3 31.e2 g5 32.g6! g4 33.e4 c7 34.f5 a8 35.e6 White's winning plan of Bf7, Bxe8 and Rf8 is completely unstoppable to Black decides it's time to resign. 1-0

531 Riedel,F Schnelzer,R Hessenliga Germany [Nigel Davies]

B03

1994

This game transposes into the 6...c5 7.d5 g6 variation and features an interesting alternative to the 12...Bg4 played in Volzhin Svechnikov. It certainly seems as if there is plenty of mileage in 5...dex5 and 6....g6, and it has the benefit of avoiding the massive amount of 4 Pawns theory. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 g6 7.c3 c5 Transposing into a line that is normally reached via a 6...c5 7.d5 e6 move order. 8.d5 g7 9.f4 0-0 10.d2 e6 11.0-0-0 exd5 12.cxd5 e8!? [ In the game Volzhin - Svechnikov Black's 12...g4 w a s a n s w e r e d b y 13.e1 followed by kicking the bishop on g4 with 14. h3. The text move sensibly intends to draw White's knight out to f3 before developing the bishop. ] 13.f3 After Black's reply, the e-pawn is in trouble. [ W h i t e c a n a l s o c o n s i d e r 13.e1 after which c4 looks interesting and doubleedged. ] 13...g4 14.b5 8d7 15.e6 Trying to mix it, but there's no apparent compensation for the pawn. fxe6 16.dxe6 xe6 17.g5 d4 18.he1 c4 19.xe8+ xe8 20.e1 f8 21.e6 xe6 22.xe6 e8 23.xe8 xe8 24.e2 g7 25.c3 a6 26.e2 h8 27.d3 f7 28.g3 e7 29.d1 e5 30.e4 c8 31.c2 d6 32.d5 f5 33.d1 d4 34.xe5 xe5 35.c4 g7 36.g8+ h6 37.e4 g7 38.d5 b5 39.d6 f6 40.f7+ g7 0-1

536

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 532 Rigo,Janos Andruet,Gilles Wuppertal [Nigel Davies]

B03

1986

A radical way for White to prevent ...c7-c5 by Black is to play c4-c5 himself, the disadvantage of this being that it makes a 'hole' on the d5 square. Can Black exploit this or will he suffer from permanent cramp? 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 g6 7.c3 g7 [ After 7...c6 White can adopt a similar plan with 8.c5 ( Moilanan - Olli, Finnish Team Ch., Aarno 1987 continued in entertaining style with 8.e3 g7 9.h3 0-0 10.f3 f6!? 11.e6 a5 12.b3 xe6 13.d5 f7 14.xb6 axb6 15.b4 f5 16.c1 d6 17.bxa5 g3+ 18.e2 e5 with compensation for the piece.) 8...d5 9.c4 xc3 10.bxc3 after which the early commitment of the knight to c6 may inhibit Black's counterplay. ] 8.c5 d5 9.c4 xc3 Opting for attack rather than blockade, which would probably be my own choice. [ Having said that, Shabalov - Chekhov, Tashkent 1987 continued in interesting fashion with 9...c6 10.f3 0-0 11.b3 a5!? ( Black offers a most interesting pawn sac. 11...e6?! weakens the dark squares on the kingside and led to a spectacular win for W h i t e a f t e r 12.0-0 b6 13.g5 c7 14.cxb6 axb6 15.e4 a6 16.xd5 xf1 17.f6+ h8 18.xf1 exd5 19.h4 d7 20.h3 xf6 21.xf6 ae8 22.d6 e6 23.xe6 fxe6 24.xg6+ g8 25.xe6+ 1-0, Zude - Majer, Hofheim 1995 ) A) Accepting the pawn with 12.xd5 cxd5 13.xd5 looks very dangerous for White after a4 14.c4 b5 15.cxb6 a5 ( and not 15...a6 16.b7 a7 17.c5 ) 16.e4 xb6 intending 17...Ba6.; B) 12.0-0 e6 13.xd5 xd5 14.xb7 xf3 15.xf3 ( After 15.xa8 I suspect t h a t B l a c k i n t e n d e d xd4+ 16.h1 xg2+ 17.xg2 g4+ 18.h1 xe5 , though Crafty suggests that White can get away wit h 19.xa5 h4 20.g2 xh2+ 21.f3 etc. All a bit much for an

organic to calculate.) 15...a6 16.e2 b4 17.g5 f6 18.exf6 exf6 19.f4 e8 20.f1 e7 21.b6 e8 22.c3 c8 23.e1 xe1+ 24.xe1 g5 25.g3 f5 26.a3 c2+ 27.d2 xd4 28.d3 f4 29.f2 a6 30.xd4 xb6 31.cxb6 xd4 32.xd4 b7 33.a4 c5 34.d8+ f7 35.c3 c6 36.b3 f6+ 0-1 ] [ Another possibility is 9...e6 after which Brasket - Berliner, US Open 1959 continued 10.b3 xc3 11.xe6 fxe6 12.bxc3 d5 13.f3 0-0 14.0-0 c6 15.g5 b6 16.cxb6 axb6 17.c4 d7 18.ad1 f5 with quite good counterplay. ] 10.bxc3 0-0 11.f3 b6 [ Another interesting possibility is 11...c6 after which Olivier - Hauchard, Lyon 1995 continued 12.a4 a5 13.a2 b6 14.0-0 and now b7 looks best ( in the game the apparently forceful 14...a6 was met by 15.g5!? xf1 16.xf1 e8 17.f3 b8 18.h3 h6 19.f3 h7 20.g5+ g8 21.f3 h7 22.g5+ g8 23.f3 h7 24.g4! f6 25.xh6 xh6 26.g5 with a winning attack )] 12.g5 b7 13.0-0 d5 14.xd5 Probably too cooperative - with the queen on d5 Black can face the future with confidence. [ A better move is 14.b3 which should be met by c6 ( and not 14...e6 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5 exd5 17.a3 which put him in serious trouble in Munoz Pantoja - Aguilar, Mar del Plata 1993 )] 14...xd5 15.a3 c6 16.f3 [ 16.b3 is better, as if Black exchanges q u e e n s wi t h xb3 White can at least tidy his pawn structure up with 17.axb3 ] 16...xf3 17.gxf3 fd8 18.f4 e6 19.ab1 ab8 20.cxb6? Little by little, White is making concessions, in this case presenting Black with an open a-file. [ 20.e4 would have been more argumentative. ] 20...axb6 21.f2 a8 22.c1 a4 23.e4 da8 24.bb2 c4 25.fc2 a5 26.e3 f8 27.d2 a3 28.bc2 e7 29.f6+ g7 30.f1 f5 31.e2 c6 32.f2 e7 33.d3 b5 34.h4 f5 35.f2 e7 36.e4 a3 37.e2 b4 38.e1 e7 The truly horrible threat of putting the knight o n d 5 d e c i d e s m a t t e r s . 39.d6 xd6 537

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 40.exd6 f5 41.f2 xd6 42.e5 f8 43.c5 e8 44.xc4 xc4 45.h4 d7 46.g3 b6 47.e4 d5 48.e1 d6 49.d2 b4 50.e1 bxc3 51.h4 f5+ 52.f3 c5 53.f2 c4 54.e1 b4 0-1

533 Rowson,Jonathan Baburin,Alexander Isle of Man [Alexander Volzhin]

B03 2490 2590 1999

There is quite a bit of interest in the exchange variation nowadays. As we concluded earlier, it's quite unpleasant for Black as he has no active counterplay and W hite has had very good results. But recently Black has found new resources both with 5...cd and 5...ed. In this first line Irish GM Alex Baburin, one of leading experts in the Alekhine's, introduces a very important improvement, and obtains a clear edge! Now it's W hite turn to find something serious, o therwise t his line is hardly playable! 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.c5 6d7 12.c4 Up to now this is a l l we l l k n o wn t h e o ry ( f o r e xa m p l e s e e Dzindzikhashvili - Alburt). a5! A novelty, according to my database. This move seems quite risky and ambitious, but it provides a good chance for Black to fight for initiative. 13.ge2 c6 14.a3 [ The attempt to exploit the position of Black's Queen doesn`t pay off 14.d2 xc5 15.b5 (threatening Bf7) e7 16.c7 b8 17.d5 h4 and although White has the initiative it's hardly worth a pawn. ] 14...d4! Very aggressively played again. Black tries to seize the initiative at all costs. [ Of course, the pawn is taboo: 14...xa3?? 15.a1 b4 16.a4 winning the Queen. ] 15.xd4 exd4 16.xd4 e8+ 17.f1 Having the King lodged on the f1-square, W hite can hardly be satisf ied with the outcome of the opening fight. So White should find an improvement somewhere between moves 13 and 15 (if one really exists!) [ 17.e2 is weaker xd4 18.xd4 xa3

19.d1 xc5 20.xc5 xc5 and White has no compensation for the pawn, although Black has to play very precisely in order to parry White's threats: 21.d5 e5! 22.f4 ( The alternatives are no better: 22.b4 e6! 23.f6+ g7 24.f4 xe2+ 25.xe2 xf6 26.bxc5 g4+ 27.f2 xd1 28.xd1 c8 and the rook ending is very bad for White; 22.c7 g4 23.xa8 xe2+ 24.f1 c2 25.f3 e6 and after capturing the b3-pawn, Black's united passed pawns are unstoppable, and 26.b4 d7 with Rc8 to follow is even worse for White.) 22...xe2+ 23.xe2 g4+ 24.e3 xd1 25.xd1 xb3 26.b1 c5 and Black has a decisive advantage. ] 17...xd4 18.xd4 xa3 White's position looks bad but he finds some resources to fight on. 19.f4! f6! 20.b5! b2 21.d6 It may seem that W hite has obtained excellent prospects. However, Black had foreseen 1 move further! e6! Parrying all White`s threats and beginning the counterattack. 22.d1 [ Grabbing the exchange allows Black to obtain a strong initiative: 22.xe8 xe8 Now it's problematic for White to complete his development and coordinate his pieces. 23.h4 What else? Of course this is not to attack, but just to complete development. A) 23...xc4+ -this alternative is not bad either, although inferior to the text the following moves are forced for both sides: 24.xc4 e4 25.c2 d2+ 26.g1 e1+! 27.h2 e5+! ( Hasty 27...f1+ leads only to a draw after 28.xf1 xc2 29.xc2 xf1 ) 28.h3 ( If 28.g3 then e2 is very unpleasant, threatening Nf3 check. ) 28...e3+! 29.fxe3 e4 30.xe4 xe4 and Black's chances are clearly better, as White has many pawn weaknesses, both his rooks are passive and his King is exposed.; B) 23...h5! 24.h6 xc4+ 25.bxc4 e2 and White's position is miserable: 26.g1 xf2 27.h2 f4 28.g5 h6! and Black wins. ] 22...ad8 23.h4 xc4+ There`s nothi ng wro ng wit h t his m ove , b ut I wou ld pre f e r heading for the endgame [ 23...e5!? 24.xe5 ( The alternatives fare 538

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 no better: 24.c1 xc4+ 25.xc4 e6; 24.d4 e4 25.xe6 xe6 26.xe5 xe5 27.b4 b6 with a big advantage for Black in both cases.) 24...xc4+ 25.bxc4 xe5 again with a big advantage, for example 26.b1 xc5 27.xb7 b8! and after the capture of the c4-pawn, Black will have a clear extra pawn while White's forces are still uncoordinated. ] 24.xc4 e4? This hasty move misses an easy win. [ 24...e6 was simple and good, intending to play Ne4 (or Ne8) on the next move. I failed to find a way to maintain the balance for White: 25.h3 ( or 25.h5 e4 26.d4 c3 and Black wins.) 25...e4 26.d4 ( 26.f3 d2+ 27.xd2 b1+ ) 26...xd4 27.xd4 xc5 and Black should easily win the game. ] 25.xf7+ h8 26.f3 xd6 [ 26...d2+ also leads to a draw: 27.xd2 xd2 28.f6+ g8 29.f7+ h8 30.f6+ g8 with perpetual, as White's attempt to play for a win with 31.g1 fails to e1+ 32.h2 f8 ] 27.cxd6 f8 28.e3 fe8 29.f3 e5? Black doesn't feel the danger and continues playing for the win, but now White takes the upper hand. Here was the last chance to grab a draw by repetition. 30.h5! [ 30.g3 is not so good: f8! ( 30...xd6 i s w e a k e r : 31.xd6 xd6 32.xb7 with excellent winning chances due to the extra pawn and weak position of Black's King. ) 31.d3 f6 and Black has little to worry about. ] 30...xd6 31.hxg6 xg6 32.h5! Now White's pieces find coordination and his c h a n c e s a r e b e t t e r d u e t o t h e e xp o s e d position of Black's King, although I believe by accurate defence Black should be able to hold on. e7 33.f5 g8 34.g3 e6 35.g2 a6 36.d4 c6 37.xc6 bxc6? Panic reaction. [ 37...xc6 was correct, and although White's Rooks penetrate the 7th rank, it's n o t c le a r h o w W h i t e ca n m a k e f u r t h e r progress: 38.d7 b6 39.ff7 h6 for example: 40.g7+ h8 41.h7+ g8 42.dg7+ f8 43.a7 g8 ] 38.a5 b8

[ 38...a8 39.da4 ] 39.b4 a8 40.d1 f6 In mutual time trouble White has outplayed his opponent, and has excellent winning chances in the resulting Ro o k e n d i n g . 41.d7 af8 42.f4 6f7 43.d6 b8 44.xc6 xb4 45.c8+ g7 46.g5+ f6 47.c6+ e7 48.e5+ f8 49.c8+ g7 50.g5+ f6 51.c6+ e7 52.xa6 b8 53.h3 f8 54.h4 g7 55.c5 g8 56.g4 gb7 57.cc6 f7 58.f5 d7 59.c3 db7 60.cc6 d7 61.g5 g7 62.c3 db7 63.h5 f7 64.ac6 a8 65.g5 b8 66.3c5 bf8 67.b6 a7 68.f6+ g8 69.h6 a1 70.g5+ h8 71.h5 f1 72.g5 g8 73.h4 f5 74.g4 f1 75.bb4 h1+ 76.h4 g1 77.bg4 f1 78.f4 g1 79.f5 c1 80.h3 c7 81.h5 f7 82.e3 a8 83.fe5 ff8 84.h6? [ 84.e7 won easily: a1 ( 84...g8 85.f7 gf8 86.e8 g7 87.xa8 xa8 88.e8 ) 85.e1 xe1 86.xe1 and in comparison with the game Black`s Rook is passive here. White executes his winning plan (Re7, Kh6) without obstacles. ] 84...a1 85.h3 g8 86.e7 g6+ 87.h5 g1 88.e8+ g8 89.xg8+ xg8 This position is well-known as a draw in the theory books. 90.a3 h1+ 91.g4 g1+ 92.f4 f1+ 93.g4 g1+ 94.f4 f1+ 95.f3 a1?! This inaccuracy doesn't change the evaluation of the position as White can't make any progress. [ 95...xf3+! heads for an immediate draw 96.xf3 f7 Having missed this chance here, Black grabs this opportunity a few moves later ] 96.b3 f1+ 97.e5 e1+ 98.f4 f1+ 99.f3 xf3+ 100.xf3 f7 101.f4 h6 102.gxh6 ½-½

534 Sarakauskas,Gediminas Baburin,Alexander ch-EU Cork IRL (6) [John Cox]

B03 2449 2523 27.03.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 c6 A bit unusual. Of 539

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 course 6...Be7 is the main move the early knight development is usually reckoned a little committal but Baburin is a great connoisseur of this variation and has a new idea in mind. 7.h3 f5 An interesting move. It has been played before, but not by anyone within 300 ELO points of Baburin's strength. Curiously enough I was debating this idea in the ChessPublishing forum with some other users only about three weeks before this game was played, and we didn't have anything like such a concrete reason for the move as Baburin demonstrates. 8.e3 [ 8.e2 b4 , of course, but this means that W hite cannot develop his pieces in quite the sequence he would like: this is the point of Baburin's idea. ] [ 8.f3? b4 9.e2+ e7 10.e4 d5 11.cxd5 xd5-+ 12.a3 xe4 13.axb4 0-0 14.d2 fe8 15.a5 xf3 16.gxf3 xd4 17.e5 xb2 0-1 was Wippermann-Baburin, played two days later in the same tournament: a curious way for a 2425 player to lose against a move he had presumably prepared for, but at least demonstrates Baburin's faith in his idea. ] 8...e7 9.f3 0-0 10.d5 A plan introduced by Ian Rogers - see Rogers-Loeffler, Dutch Interclub 1995, and Rogers-Bagirov, Bundesliga 1995. Neither game reached this exact position, but in both the same basic pattern of play developed. [ 10.e2 e8 11.0-0 f6 would lead to a fairly popular position, reached for example in Suetin-Vukic, Odessa 1975, but W hite has been swindled out of his options with his queen's bishop by the move order, and anyway this d5 plan is normally the idea of the early h3. ] 10...e5 11.d4 g6 12.b3 c6 13.dxc6 Normal in the Rogers plan W hite does not want to be left with a vulnerable pawn on d5 and either have to trade off the b6 knight for his c3 one or give the b6 knight a role by constantly attacking a weak d5 pawn after .... cxd5. bxc6 14.e2 d5!? [ 14...e8 15.0-0 would transpose into Rogers-Bagirov, but I imagine Baburin was ready for the d5/Nd4 plan (this is normally reckoned a drawback to the early ...Nc6) and with his move order may have intended

to reach this slightly different position. ] 15.f4 White doesn't have a lot of choice but to allow his king to be forced to move [ 15.cxd5 b4! 16.d2 gives Black a p l e a s a n t c h o i c e : d3+ ( 16...xd5 17.xd5 xd2+ 18.xd2 xd5 may be even stronger) 17.xd3 xd3 18.ce2 xd5 is pleasant for him ] 15...b4 [ 15...h4+ is the obvious alternative, for example 16.f1 f6 17.c5 c8 18.g1 d7 , but I'm not very sure about this if W h it e m a n a ges t o dise n t an gle him s e lf Black's pieces are not so beautifully coordinated either. ] 16.c1 [ 16.d2 c5 is quite effective, e. g. 17.fxe5 cxd4 18.xd4 dxc4 ] 16...h4+ 17.f1 c5?! To be honest, I find this an extraordinary decision, since the line played in the game seems to lead to a winning position for White by force in a few moves, and meanwhile Fritz's obvious suggestion [ 17...f6 produces huge complications A) 18.g4 : 18... A1) 18...c5 19.xd5 ( 19.g5 exc4! 20.bxc4 e7 ) 19...xd5 20.cxd5 cxd4 21.xd4 d6 22.g2 d7 23.f5 fe8 24.b5 xf5 25.gxf5 xf5=; A2) 18...xc3 19.g5 e7 20.xc3 c5 21.fxe5 cxd4 22.xd4 dxc4 23.bxc4 is possible also; A3) 18...ed7 doesn't seem to be so good now better alternatives are 19.f5 ae8 20.f2 c5 21.f3! meeting xc3 with 22.h4 seems to be good for White.; B) 18.g1?! A bit lame the crucial move is ed7 Of course these variations only scratch the surface and I am sure they can be improved upon, but it seems clear that this was the way Black had to go. ] 18.fxe5 cxd4 19.xd4 xd4 20.xd4 dxc4 21.bxc4 fd8 22.b5! A good move others are not so convincing and maybe it was this which Baburin underestimated a while back. d7 23.c5 White is clearly winning and the rest is not so interesting. d5 24.c6 e7 25.c7 c8 26.g4 d3+ 27.f2 xb5 28.xc8 xc7 29.xa7 d5 30.d4 f6 540

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31.e6 f4 32.b1 c6 33.hd1 A slightly sad game, as Baburin introduced a new and perhaps quite important wrinkle in this, which s e e m s t o b e h i s f a vo u ri t e b ra n ch o f t h e Alekhine, only to go astray in the complications. He was willing to repeat the line, however, and this is a game whose opening will repay careful study. The early move orders in this ..exd6 line are multifarious and tricky, and probably no-one knows them better than Baburin. 1-0

535 Schubert,S Kopylov,Mihail Oslo NOR (9) [Nigel Davies]

B03 2256 2520 30.03.2001

In this game White prevents ...Bg4 with h2-h3, but uses precious time in the process. And Black has a perfectly good square for his bishop on f5. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 7.h3 f5 Possibly Black's most flexible move. [ After 7...c6 8.f3 f5 White can play 9.d5 ( 9.e2 g6 10.0-0 0-0 11.e3 f6 12.c1 e8 13.d2 d5 14.b3 a6 was equal in Hagesaether - Gausel, Norwegian Open 2002.) 9...b8 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 e8 12.d4 c8 13.d3 when W hite had the better game in Kosintseva - Tomashevsky, Vladimir2002 ] 8.f3 0-0 9.e2 f6 Kopylov is an expert on the Alekhine, so his treatment is well worth studying. [ Another reasonable plan is 9...c6 10.0-0 a5 after which Salimaki - Eriksson, Finland 2002 went 11.b3 f6 12.e3 d5 13.c5 6d7 14.a4 a6 15.d2 e8 16.fe1 e4 with a promising position for Black because of the latent weakness of White's dpawn. ] 10.0-0 c6 11.e3 Leaving Black's knight on b6 access to c4. [ W h i t e s h o u l d p l a y t h e s t a n d a r d 11.b3 after which d5 12.c5 c8 gives rise to a typical exchange middlegame. ] 11...d5 12.c5 c4 13.xc4 [ After this things go from bad to worse, but

13.c1 b6 was hardly promising. ] 13...dxc4 14.a4 d3 15.fd1 e8 16.d5? xc3 17.dxc6 b5 18.cxb6? [ 18.xb5 b8 followed by capturing on b2 is also bad, but now he doesn't have a good square for his queen. ] 18...axb6 19.xd3 [ White may have missed the fact that 19.b5 is answered by a5 ] 19...xd3 20.d1 xb2 21.xd3 cxd3 22.d1 e6 23.d2 c1 24.xd3 xe3 25.fxe3 xc6 26.d7 c2 27.g5 h6 28.xf7 axa2 0-1

536 Sermek,Drazen Zelcic,Robert Croatian Team Ch (1) [Nigel Davies]

B03

1994

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 7.d3 0-0 8.ge2 c6 9.0-0 f6 The most popular move which applies pressure to the d4 pawn. There are several alternatives: [ For 9...e8 see Emms - Davies ] 10.e3 b4 11.b3 [ Emms' suggestion of 11.g3 is worth considering. ] 11...xd3 12.xd3 g4 13.f3 h5 14.g3 g6 15.d2 h4 16.d5 Gaining the familiar space advantage, but Black's position is very solid. e8 17.ae1 d7 18.e2 xg3 19.hxg3 a6 20.fe1 f8 21.d4 d7 22.e4 xe4 23.xe4 xe4 24.xe4 e8 25.e3 xe4 26.xe4 f6 27.f2 f7 28.g4 h6 29.e3 e7 30.xe7+ xe7 White has kept a small advantage right into a minor piece endgame and Black still needs to play carefully to draw. 31.e4 a5 32.c5 g6 33.cxd6+ xd6 34.f2 e7 35.g3+ d7 36.d4 c6 37.dxc6+ xc6 38.e1 b6 39.d2 b5 40.f4 c6 41.a4 g6 42.g3 f8 43.e4 e6 44.f5 d4+ 45.g6 xb3 46.xg7 c5 47.xh6 xa4 48.g6 c5 49.xf6 a4 50.e1 d3 51.c3 b5 52.g5 b4 53.g6 bxc3 54.g7 c2 55.g8 c1 56.e8+ c7

541

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Morss gives 22.g2 f3 23.d6 c6 ] 22...d6 This is a difficult choice, and perhaps a go o d p la ce f o r B lack t o se e k e qu a lit y. Another move that doesn't seem to fit the bill 537 B03 is [ 22...e7 23.f3 ( or 23.g2 ) 23...e8 Shabalov,Alexander 24.e1 ] Analysis 23.g2 e8 Superficially, here are a few [John Watson] more possibilities. [ 23...4xd5? 24.f3 ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 [ 23...a4!? 24.xa4 xa4 25.e3!? ( or 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 g6 8.f4 g7 25.f4 )] 9.c3 0-0 10.d2 e6 11.0-0-0 exd5 [ 23...g3 24.f4 f8 25.f1 ] 12.cxd5 e8!? 13.e1 a6 14.f3 b4 15.g5! f6 Here, instead of 16 Bh4, I 24.axb4 cxb4 25.a2 xd5 26.xd5+ suggested 16.exf6 xe1+ 17.xe1 xf6 xd5 27.c4 c8 28.e3 g7 [ 28...b5 29.xd5 xc4+ 30.b1 ] 18.xf6 xf6 19.a3 And now Mark Morss correctly points out that I didn't address the 29.xd5 xc4+ 30.b1 c6 31.d1 a5 move f5 , looking only at 19...a5 and 19... 32.c1 c5 33.e3 Well, long analysis, Na6. My excuse? I was at a coffeehouse you maybe wrong analysis. Probably both sides can't leave these engines alone for a minute! can improve that's the normal course of things. B u t m y o ve r a l l im p r e ss io n is t h a t W h it e Anyway, Morss claims equality after 20.h3 [ 20.e2 doesn't seem to achieve enough, stands somewhat better going all the way although it would be worth playing on. One back to exf6. main line is d8 21.g4 xg4! 22.axb4 cxb4 ( 22...xe2 23.bxc5 xd5 24.xe2 ) B03 23.e4 e5 ( 23...f5 24.xg4 xe4 538 transposes 25.e6+ g7 26.g2 e5 Shabalov Four Pawns 27.f3 d6 28.b1 xd5 29.g5 c6 Analysis,Continued 30.f1 f8 31.d1 f6 32.b3 ) 24.xg4 [John Watson] xe4 25.e6+ g7 26.g2 ( White could play on aiming for a small advantage without 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 much risk: 26.g2 xd5 27.e1 c4+ 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 g6 8.f4 g7 28.c2 xc2+ 29.xc2 f6 30.g4 ) 9.c3 0-0 10.d2 e6 11.0-0-0 exd5 26...c4+! ( 26...e5? 27.f3 c7+ 12.cxd5 e8!? 13.e1 a6 14.f3 b4 28.b1 xd5 29.g5; 26...e3+? 27.b1 15.g5 In previous columns, I looked at some b3 28.f3 d4 29.d6 xd6 30.xb3 ) analysis in the Forum by Mark Morss, who 27.c2 ( 27.b1 xd5 28.f3 b3! ) has demonstrated the 'Shabalov line' in the 27...f4+ 28.b1 xd5 29.d3 d6 Four Pawns has more life to it than I gave it 30.e1 e8 31.xd5 xe1+ 32.xe1 credit for. I believe that, based upon previous xd5 and even if White should play on (with analysis in this column, the line15...f6 16 exf6 33 Nd3, for example), it's very unlikely that u l t i m a t e l y w o r k s o u t i n W h i t e ' s f a v o u r the game will end in other than a draw, (although there are always surprises!). But in because the endgames are all drawn. ] t h e Fo ru m , Ma rk ca m e u p wit h t h e t ru l y 20...c8 21.g4 d7 So far according to courageous idea c7!? (or!!??), which dares Morss, and the computer agrees. But now my W h it e t o p la y 16.d6 (not surprisingly, there com pu ter f ina lly sto ps prod ucing in st an t are options, but let's stick with this one). Most opinions and starts waltzing around from point players wouldn't get near this position, but it's to point. After some investigation with actual b a s e d u p o n a c o n s i s t e n t t h e m e o f t h i s direction from a human, I think the best line is variation, that White's king is more exposed 22.e2! , when White always seems to keep than Black's (...Bf5/...c4/...Na4, and freeing some advantage. the g7 bishop are themes, among others), so 57.xa4 h6+ 58.f5 h5+ 59.f6 ½-½

542

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 however scary the centre pawns look, White has his own reasons to be afraid that the position will spin out of control. For all that, I'm a fan of these centralised pieces and my guess is that Black comes up a little short. But I'm not sure! For those with some patience, t h i s m i g h t b e f u n t o g o t h r o u g h : c6 The point. 17.h6 [ 17.a3 doesn't even threaten the knight (of course, it's much more complicated than that, but...). ] [ 17.b5 xa2+! 18.c2 f5+ 19.b3 e6+ 20.c2 is at best a draw, and Black will probably want to try for more by b4+ 21.c1 c8 ] 17...h8 Mark's idea. [ 17...f5 is also challenging, but ultimately White seems to come out on top. Here's a sample analysis: 18.a3 a6 (Stopping Bb5 or even Nb5. Black can't simply wait because there will come Nh4 soon an d pieces will start hanging) 19.xg7 xg7 20.d1 ( 20.h4 e6 21.e4 ec8! hangs in there ) A) 20...e6 21.h4! h5! 22.e2 with the idea Rhf1, and Black has a lot of tries that don't lose, but they all seem to leave him worse, e.g., a2+! ( 22...b3 23.g5 4d5 24.xd5 xd5 25.d3 ) 23.xa2 xa2 24.d3; B) 20...c2 (!?) 21.f2 a1 22.d3 d7 23.he1 xd3 24.xd3 c4 25.dd1 b3+ 26.c2 with the idea Ne4. Naturally there's plenty to look at here. ] 18.h4! g4! [ 18...e6 19.a3 a2+ ( 19...a6 20.h5 ) 20.xa2 xa2 21.h5 A) 21...a6 22.hxg6 fxg6 and a silly but fun line (and I think relevant) is 23.d3! ( 23.f4!? ) 23...c4 24.f4 b5 25.b4! cxb4 26.g5 f8? ( 26...d5 27.e4 ) 27.xg6!! hxg6 28.xf8 xf8 29.xh8+; B) 21...c4 (this cuts off the bishop, but what else?) 22.hxg6 fxg6 B1) 23.g5 wti Be7/Qh6 ac8 B1a) or 24.e7 c3 25.bxc3 xa2 d5 26.b1 B1a1) 26...xc3 27.xc3 xc3 28.d4 ec8 ( 28...a6 29.h3 xh3 30.gxh3 ) 29.h3 xh3 30.gxh3 c4 31.xc4+ xc4

32.c2+-; B1a2) 26...c5 27.g5 xa3 28.h3! c5 29.xh7 a4 30.h3 xc3+ 31.xc3 xc3 32.xc3 xc3 33.d7; B1b) 24.h4; B1c) 24.d4 [BEST?] d7 ( 24...c3 25.bxc3 d5 26.d2 c5 27.b4 a5 28.xc5 xc5 29.c2 ); B2) 23.d4 [Good, as are other moves] a4 24.d2 b5 wt i . . . N c 5 25.h4 ( 25.e4 xe4 26.xe4 c5 27.e3 b3+ 28.c2 xd2 29.xd2 ) 25...b7 26.c3 with e6: xc3 ( 26...a5 27.e6; 26...ad8 27.d4 ) 27.bxc3 ad8 28.b2 b3 29.d4 d7 30.g3 dd8 31.f5 g7 32.xg7 xg7 33.h4 h8 34.e2 g7 35.f3; B3) 23.h4 ac8 , and there are several good calm moves, but the direct 24.e3 looks very good, with the idea Bd4: d5 ( 24...c3 25.bxc3 d5 26.xb6 axb6 27.b2 and White's king is safer than it deserves to be) 25.d4 and White is threatening Qh6 and can otherwise build up slowly. ] [ 18...f5 19.h5 a4 20.hxg6 xg6 21.h4 a5 22.g4 d7 ( 22...b6 23.xg6+ hxg6 24.b5 xa2+ 25.c2 b4+ 26.b3 ) 23.ee4 b6 24.g3 e6 25.a3 a2+ 26.xa2 xa2 27.b5 ] 19.a3 a6 [ 19...xf3 20.b5 ] 20.f4 [ 20.e2 4d5 21.h5!? ] 20...xf3 21.xf3 xf3 22.gxf3 4d5 23.xd5 xd5 24.f4 g7 25.xg7 [ 25.g5 h6 26.d7 hxg5 27.dxe8+ xe8 28.fxg5 should also suffice ] 25...xg7 26.f5! ad8 27.h2! , a computer move that seems to do the trick. Naturally there can be improvements anywhere, and I think that Mark has proven how versatile and interesting this line can be.

543

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 539 Shaw,John K Davies,Nigel R 4NCL [Nigel Davies]

B03

2002

In this game I practice what I preach with the e-pawn recapture, and might have gotten the better of it had I remembered my own book! 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6! 6.c3 e7 7.d3 0-0 8.ge2 c6 9.0-0 e8 10.a3?! [ 10.b3 f8 was Emms - Davies, Southend 2002 ] 10...f6 11.e3 g4 [ This is fine for Black, but after the game we decided that 11...g6 was better as I gave in my book, with Black intending ...Ne7 followed by .... Nf5 or ...Bf5. My opponent hadn't seen the book which is why he played the somewhat dubious 10 a3. And meanwhile I'd forgotten my own recommendation.... ] 12.c2 g6 13.h3 xe2 14.xe2 g5 It's important to eliminate White's bishop pair before they become dangerous. 15.d5 b8 16.xg5 xg5 17.c3 8d7 18.ae1 xe1 19.xe1 a6 ½-½

540 Shirov,A Appel,R Bundesliga 2012-13 (9) [Tom Rendle]

B03 2718 2525 23.02.2013

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 This is generally considered more solid than cxd6 so it's interesting to see what the great attacking player Shirov has in mind against it. 6.d3 [ 6.c3 is the main move and it's been examined many times on this site before. Possibly it's a more accurate move-order even for Bd3 and Nge2 as Black is less likely to play ...g6 here because of g6 7.f3 g7 ( or 7...g4 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 ) 8.e2+ ( 8.g5!? ) 8...e7 9.xe7+ xe7 10.g5+ with a comfortable edge for White ] 6...c6

[ 6...e7 was played in Emms-Davies in the archives but after 7.e2 0-0 8.bc3 White has a slight edge in my opinion. ] 7.e2 g6! This looks to be a better setup for Black than the above Emms-Davies game 8.bc3 g7 9.e3 0-0 10.0-0 This position has been reached a few times and Black has tried a couple of different ways of equalising. b4! This seems to just about equalise. [ 10...e8 11.d5 ( 11.c1 with a minimal edge for W hite looks like the best option here d5 can be met wit h 12.c5 c4 13.xc4 dxc4 14.a4 ) 11...e5 12.b3 A) 12...g4 13.c1 ( not 13.h3?! xe2 14.xe2 exc4 ) 13...h4 is a more am b it io u s way o f p la yin g - B la c k c a n hardly be worse here; B) 12...xd3 13.xd3 was equal in Lopez Martinez, J (2440) -Nogueiras, J (2482) Santa Clara 2004 ] [ 10...g4 11.f3 ( 11.h3 xe2 12.xe2 e8 13.e1 also gives White a tiny advantage. ) 11...f5 A) 12.xf5 is obviously critical but the posit ion af te r xc4 ( 12...gxf5 13.b3 is obviously better for White) 13.f2 gxf5 14.d3 b6 15.xf5 f6 is still about equal.; B) 12.b3 e8 13.f2 xd3 14.xd3 and W hite was the more comfortable in Yildiz, B (2244)-Zhao Xue (2490) Nalchik 2010 although Black's position remains typically solid. ] 11.b3 c6 [ Black could grab the bishop with 11...xd3 12.xd3 c6 but after 13.d2 White can always swap off Black's key dark-squared Bishop with Bh6 and so his space advantage is still the most important aspect of the position. ] 12.b1 d5 13.c5 d7 14.a3 a6 15.b4 c7 16.d3 e6 This is an important setup for Black in this line. Appel's position is very solid, he has pressure on d4 and ...b6, ...a5 gives him chances to liquidate on the queenside. 17.d2 b6 18.ad1 a5 19.b5! Otherwise White is in danger of being worse. b7 20.xd5 Finally the trademark Shirov 'Fire on the board' starts but here Appel has things just about under control. bxc5 [ 20...cxd5 21.c6 c8 22.cxd7 xd7 544

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bedfellows. 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 7.e3 c6 8.e2 0-0 [ Of course 8...f5 is natural enough, but whereas Black will always have to castle short, he might not need to place his Bishop on f5. 9.f3 0-0 10.0-0 f6 11.b3 a5 12.ac1 a4 13.d1 a3 14.b3 e8 15.d5 b4 16.d2 a6 17.d4 ( 17.xb6! cxb6 18.fe1 d7 19.d4 is a n u n ste re o t yp e d wa y t o ha n d le t h e position and one which gives W hite the a d v a n t a g e .) 17...g6 18.db5 c5 19.xc5?! ( 19.fe1 ) 19...dxc5 20.d6 cxd6 21.f3 g5 22.xd6 xc1 23.xc1 Oms Fuentes, L-Jimenez Albadalejo, M/ Barbera del Valles 2005 and now g5 ] 9.f3 g4 10.b3 f5!? Exactly the type of move to confuse a weaker opponent, but objectively, it is dubious. [ Either 10...f6 ] [ or 10...e8 are superior. ] 11.0-0?! [ 11.d2! is easily the best move, after which White secures an undisputed edge: f6 12.0-0 h6 13.d5 xf3 14.xf3 e5 15.e2 bd7 16.ae1 ( 16.f4! is clearest: g4 17.xg4 fxg4 18.ae1; 16.c2!? g4 17.xg4 fxg4 18.ae1 e5 19.e2 h4 20.g3 ) 16...a5 17.b5 f7 18.d3 c6 19.dxc6 bxc6 20.a3 a4 21.b4 g6 22.xh6 xh6 23.xh6 f7 24.h7+ g7 25.xf5 gxf5 Oe, O-Carl sson, A/Randers 1973 The conclusion I draw from the examples above is that the Alekhine is slippery, difficult to get a grip on. Against tacticians this type of 'confusing play' works well, less so against strategical players. ] 541 B03 11...f4 12.c1 f6 13.b2 h8 14.e4 [ Again White misses his chance: 14.d5! ] Shukurova,Meihriban 2205 Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 2699 14...d5! 15.xf6 xf6 16.c1 ad8 17.c5 President's Cup (1) 04.05.2006 c8 Black has a very reasonable position now. His Knight comes to f5 and pressure is [Andrew Martin] created against d4. 18.d2 8e7 19.b4 1.e4 f6 Note that Mamedyarov is very f5! 20.cd1 [ 20.xf4 fxd4-+ ] happy to use the Alekhine against lower-rated opposition perhaps that will be the future for 20...de8 21.fe1 [ White would normally advance his this combative, but when the dust settles, queenside pawns as quickly as possible, but slightly worse for Black, opening. The here he is struck downafter 21.b5 h4!! Alekhine and the Scandinavian are

also looks fairly level although White does have a space advantage on the queenside it's not clear this is of any real benefit. ] 21.bxc6 [ 21.dxc5 might keep the slimmest of advantages after dxc5 22.bxc6 xc6 23.c4 c8 24.a2! although Black shouldn't have any serious problems here. ] 21...xc6 22.e4 a4 23.c1 cxd4 24.xd4 dc5 Suddenly White has to be very careful 25.xe6! The only move to keep the balance and it starts off a long sequence of exchanges which takes us into an equal endgame [ 25.f3?? allows xd4 26.xd4 b3 winning a piece ] 25...xe4 [ 25...xe6 drops a pawn to 26.b6 xd2 27.xd2 ad8 28.xa5 although Black has r e a s o n a b l e c o m p e n s a t i o n a f t e r b5 29.fe1 d4 and a draw is still the most likely result ] 26.xd8 [ 26.d3?! xf2! ] 26...xd2 27.xd2 fxd8 28.b6 b5 29.fd1 ab8 30.xa5 b2 31.xd8+ xd8 32.b1 xa3 33.c4 d3 The dust has settled and the position is just a draw. White's back rank is too weak for any of the tactics to end in his favour. 34.e5 d5 35.g4 b2! 36.h3 d3 37.xb2 xa5 A relatively comfortable hold for Black in a solid line of the Alekhine. White is still yet to prove a real edge against exd6 and I recommend trying other lines (the 4-pawns or 4.Nf3) ½-½

545

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A superb idea. 22.bxc6 ( 22.h1 a5!; 22.xh4 xe2 ) 22...xe2 23.xe2 xf3 24.e5 ( 24.gxf3 g6+ 25.h1 g2# ) 24...g6 ] 21...g6 22.h1 [ 22.b5 xf3 23.xf3 h4 24.xd5 g5 25.xe8 xe8 26.e1 xe1+ 27.xe1 xd5 28.e8+ g8 29.xg8+ xg8 30.bxc6 bxc6 ] 22...a6 23.a4 h5 24.b5 axb5 [ 24...h4 looks good again: 25.xh4 xe2 26.b1 xh4 27.xe2 e7 28.be1 f3 29.gxf3 axb5 30.axb5 xf3 but I think Mamedyarov preferred the text because he knew he was at least positionally better anyway. There comes a point in the game where you just KNOW that you are going to win as long as you don't take any risks. ] 25.axb5 a5 26.e5 xe5! 27.xg4 xe1+ 28.xe1 xg4 29.f3 [ Regrettably for White 29.xa5 is answered by f3-+ ] 29...g3+! 30.g1 [ 30.hxg3 h5+ 31.g1 fxg3 32.xa5 h2+ 33.f1 h1+ 34.e2 xg2+ 35.d1 xb2 ] 30...c4 31.fxg4 xd2 32.hxg3 f3 All still under control. 33.f2 e4+ 34.e3 fxg2 35.g1 f2 36.a3 a2 37.b4 g5 38.d2 xd2 A mismatch, but still a good opening choice by Black. 0-1

was stronger. ] 11.xc4 xc3+ 12.bxc3 xc4 13.a4+ d7 14.xc4 b6 15.b5+ d7 16.xd7+ xd7 17.d6 c8 18.d2 [ 18.e3 is m ore active b ut the n xc3 19.xb6 axb6 20.d2 a3 gave Black equality in Shirov - Shabalov, Riga 1986. ] 18...b5! [ Probably even more precise than the older 18...c4 , first of all Black stops his opponent from castling. ] 19.d4 d3 The fact that the draw was agreed at this point confirms the view that this position (the last word on the 6...c5 line) is fine for Black. [ The previous game in this line was MChess Pro - Shabalov, Boston 1994 which went: 19...d3 20.f2 d7 21.he1 he8 22.a4 g6 23.a2 c5 24.f3 c4 25.f4 h5 26.ae2 xf3 27.gxf3 a5 28.g1 g6 29.b1 b6 30.b4 xe5 , recovering the pawn with a good position. Shabalov actually lost this game but this was only due to a subsequent blunder. ] ½-½

543 Simons,Martin Baburin,Alexander 10th Monarch Assurance (2) [Nigel Davies]

B03

30.09.2001

The words 'Voronezh Variation' have been st ri ki n g f e a r in t o t h e h e a r t s o f A l e k h i n e Shulman,Yuri players and turned the once harmless Baburin,Alexander Exchange Variation into an instrument of Linklater Mem (11) torture. But Black has been fighting back with [Nigel Davies] the simple 5... exd6, getting castled and then figuring out where to put his minor pieces. It's 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 not quite the kind of chess some Alekhine 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.c3 exd5 players are used to, but it gives Black a very 9.cxd5 c4 10.f3 b4! The move which decent game. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 rehabilitated this line for Black - in the main 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 A sensible line it leads to an endgame in which Black approach. gets excellent positional compensation for a [ Baburin has evidently given up on trying to pawn. prove that the Voronezh Variation ( 5...cxd6 [ 10...g4 11.d4 was played in the famous 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3! B r o n s t e i n - L j u b o j e vi c g a m e f r o m t h e ) is OK for Black. It's not OK at all. ] Petropolis Interzonal in 1973, though the 6.c3 e7 7.d3 c6 8.ge2 g4 theoreticians later decided that 11.Be2 Trying to get White to move his f-pawn.

542

B03 2543 2598 08.03.2001

546

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ In Sermek - Zelcic, Pozega 2000 White met 8...0-0 9.0-0 f6 10.e3 g4 with 11.h3 and obtained the better game af ter h5 12.d2 g6 13.b3 xd3 14.xd3 d5 15.c5 c8 16.b4 xb4 17.b1 etc. ] 9.f3 h5 10.0-0 0-0 11.b3 f6 12.e3?! [ I prefer 12.d5 e5 13.b2 but then xd3 14.xd3 g6 15.d2 d7 looks quite adequate for Black. ] 12...e8 13.d2 d5 Creating a different kind of structure. Black rules out the possibility of W h it e ga inin g sp a ce wit h d 4 -d5 a n d will reroute his b6 knight to f5 via c8 and e7. 14.c5 c8 15.fe1 g6 16.xg6 hxg6 17.ad1 b6 Another instructive move. When White captures on b6 he leaves his opponent with the more solid pawn structure. 18.cxb6 axb6 19.f4 g5 20.e3 a5 21.c1 d6 22.f2 f5 23.a4 ce7 24.g4?! Driving the knight from f5 relieves the pressure on the d4 pawn, but weakens White's kingside in the process. d6 25.h4 g6 26.h5 f8 27.d3 c6 28.g2 a7 29.d1 c7 30.e3 g6 31.g3 ce7 32.f1 d7 33.c2? Allowing his kingside pawns to be shattered makes matters worse. [ W h i t e h a d t o p l a y 33.hxg6 , allowing Black's f8 knight a nice square after xg6 ] 33...gxh5 34.gxh5 f5 35.f2 e6 36.ec1 [ White loses his queen after 36.xf5 f4+ ] 36...c5 37.dxc5 bxc5 38.h1 ed4 Attempting to exploit the weakness of White's king with a forcing sequence. But the endgame reached is far from clear. 39.xd4 xd4 40.xd4 xd4 41.g2 [ And not 41.xc5 h3+ etc. ] 41...h3+ 42.h2 xf3+ 43.xf3 xf3 44.f2 g4 45.xc5 Obtaining connected passed pawns on the queenside. This is going to be close.... e5 46.c7 xh5+ 47.g2 d4 48.b4 d3 49.b5 e6 50.g3 e4 51.b6 b4 52.b7 g7 53.c4 h3+ 54.g2 [ The point of Black's ingenious play is that 54.xg4 is met by h4+ 55.xf3 , both winning the exchange and stopping White's passed pawn. hxc4 ] 54...h4+ 55.g1 xb7 56.xg4+ g6 57.g2 h5 58.d2 d7 59.g3 hd5 60.f3 f6 61.e4+ e7 62.g5 e5+ 63.f2 c4 64.xd5 xd5 65.d1 f5

66.c3 d8 67.b1 e6 68.b4 c8 69.d1 e5 70.e3 d2 71.d1 f4 72.f3 e3 73.e4+ d5 74.xf4 xd1 75.e2 White in turn shows considerable ingenuity in eliminating his opponent's last pawn. But he throws the game away in what looks like timetrouble. c3+ 76.xd2 e4+ 77.e2 c2+ 78.d1 [ It looks like a draw after 78.d3 ] 78...h2 79.c1 a2 80.h4 d4 81.h3 c3 82.h4+ d3 83.h3+ c4 84.h4+?? [ 84.h8 draws, because he can check Black's king away from the b3 square. ] 84...b3 85.b4+ xb4 0-1

544 Sjugirov,Sanan Baburin,Alexander III EUICC Arvier ITA (7) [John Watson]

B03 2405 2545 21.06.2007

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 Check out the archives for alternatives on this and the last few moves. I can't see anything for Black that I have full faith in. Fortunately, he has an incredible number of options, and I'll bet at least one key idea is yet to be discovered. [ William Martz used to play 9...d7 here, 10.e2 d8 ( I think 10...g4 11.0-0 d8 works as well. In my days with the Alekhine, because of analysis with Martz, that was my choice. I won some games but never could make it work in th eory. Now that I loo k around, I recognise some of the notes in the archives in the game Kotronias-Short! Playable? W ell, maybe, maybe not but I wouldn't bet that Black gains equality. )] 10.e2 Actually, this seems to be a very good move, perhaps better than its ancient reputation. White avoids the line analysed by John Cox in this column (see DominguezAlmeida, Santa Clara 2005), which also looks good for White but is highly unstable: [ 10.d5 (30 years ago we spent untold hours and days on this move. Now the computer would probably render a lot of that analysis 547

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 useless) A) An old line that might bear a new look is 10...b4 11.c1 f6 12.a3 a6 A1) It might be simpler to play 13.d4 , f o r e x a m p l e , fxe5 14.xf5!? ( 14.xe6 xe6 15.dxe6 0-0! 16.xd8 axd8 17.d5! doesn't look bad either: xd5 18.cxd5 xd5 19.xa6 bxa6 20.xc7 etc. ) 14...exf5 15.b4! Okay, that probably refutes 11...f6 ... maybe!; A2) 13.g4!? xg4 14.g1 with a terrific attack. Maybe Fritz could salvage that one.; B) 10...exd5 11.cxd5 b4 12.d4 d7 13.f3 c5 14.dxc6 bxc6 ( Maybe Black should look into 14...xc6 or 14...Nc6. Although W hite really should have an edge, as theory says, it may not be all that large ) 15.e2! 0-0 ( 15...c5 16.0-0 0-0 17.f5! ) 16.0-0 4d5 17.f2 , etc., and Cox thinks that W hite stands better - I agree, although I should say that his word carries more weight, since he knows a lot more than I ever will about these lines. ] 10...0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.exf6 xf6 13.d2 e7 14.ad1 ad8 15.c1 g4 The main move, although I have to admit that it simply looks good for White. [ (a) 15...e5!? has been tried, sacrificing a p a w n a f t e r 16.d5 d4 17.xd4 exd4 18.xd4 ( 18.xd4!? xd4 19.xd4 c5! 20.e3 xe3+ 21.xe3 d7 is unclear, Lanc-W Schmidt, Brno 1975.) 18...g5 19.a1 (forced, but not bad, since it influences the long diagonal) A) 19...c5! 20.f2 c2 21.de1 d2 ( 21...xf2!? 22.xf2 e3 is my computer's suggestion, although after the possible 23.ef1 f8 24.e1 xf2+ 25.xf2 e3 , simply 26.f1 is okay ) 22.d1 xe1 23.xe1 f6 24.xc5 xd1 25.xd1 (this is horrible f o r B la c k ! ) xc4 ( 25...fe8? 26.f1 ) 26.xf8 xf8 27.e2 d4+ 28.h1 e3 29.h3 and White went on to win in J Koch-Boulard, France 1993.; B) 19...c2 20.xf8+ xf8 21.f1 d8 22.f3! c6 23.f1 cxd5 24.c5?! ( White has played about perfectly to this point. 24.cxd5 is simple and strong)

24...a4? ( 24...a8 a n d . . . N c 7) 25.xa4? ( Probably there was already time trouble. 25.xd5! xd5 26.c4 e4 27.f2 doesn't look bad until you see that Re2 is threatened and the knight is trapped on a4. h5 28.e2 ) 25...xa4 26.d3 1/2-1/2 Durao-Karolyi, Helsinki 1989. W hite was outrated by a few hundred points perhaps that's why he didn't play on, although his advantage is limited. ] [ (b) I don't know what to make of 15...g6 16.h1 h8 17.fe1!? f7!? 18.f1! e8 19.g5!? , but I like White: e7 ( 19...xd4 20.xd4 xd4 21.xd8 xc3 22.xc7 f6 23.e5! ) 20.xf6 (or a slow move) gxf6 21.f4 d7 22.e4 with a nice advantage. W hite went on to win in Domnitz-Westerinen, Netanya 1969. ] 16.e4 h6 [ A strange move that sort of succeeded was 16...d7 17.fe1 ( or 17.f2 , for example or almost any slow move. The rook is wellplaced on f1) 17...h6 18.xf6+ xf6 19.h3 ( 19.f1! ) 19...f5 20.a3 ( 20.f1! ) 20...b6 21.c3 ( 21.f1! ) 21...e4 22.h2 d7 23.d2?! ( 23.f1! ) 23...f5 1/2-1/2 Ronchetti-Laketic, Cattolica 2005. ] 17.h1 Almost any solid move seems to keep White's advantage here, e.g., a truly classic game (played in 1938!) was [ 17.xf6+! xf6 18.a3 df8 19.b4 d7 20.de1 h8 21.c3 b6 22.d1!? f7 23.f2! (very often a good move in this variation) h5 24.g3 and Black is pretty much lost, Asztalos-Nedeljkovic, Ljubljana 1938. I would say that the year could be a misprint, but Asztalos goes back a long ways. ] 17...d7 18.fe1 fe8 19.xf6+ xf6 20.e5 xe2 21.xc6 bxc6 22.xe2 e5 23.f4 e4 24.h3 h5 25.h2 e3 26.d3 [ White seems to have a fairly clear advantage after 26.de1! g5 27.xe3 ( 27.g4?! f6 28.xe3 xe3 29.xe3 xe3 30.xe3 xd4 ) 27...xe3 28.xe3 xd4 29.e8+ f7 30.e1! f6 31.e5 and 32 Re5+. ] 26...f7!? 27.b3 [ 27.exe3! xe3 28.xe3 xc4 29.xc7 c8 30.b3 ] 548

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27...e4 28.exe3 exd4 29.xd4 xd4 30.e5 d7 31.e1 g6 32.h2 e7 33.g4?! c2+ 34.e2? xe5! 35.xc2 xe1 36.gxh5 f7 A complicated ending has arisen. Black went on to win. 37.g3 g1+ 38.f4 g5 39.d2 e7 40.d3 xh5 41.g4 g5+ 42.f4 g2 43.a3 a5 44.e5 h5 45.d4 h4 46.e3+ d6 47.c5+ d7 48.e4 g5 49.e5 g3 50.f5 xh3 51.d4+ c8 52.xg5 xb3 53.xh4 xa3 54.c4 b7 55.f4 a6 56.e4 b5 57.c1 a4 58.d4 h3 59.b1+ b3 60.h1 b4+ 61.c3 c4+ 62.b2 b4 63.h8 a3+ 64.a2 c2+ 65.b1 xc5 66.a2 c2+ 67.b1 b2+ 68.a1 d2 69.b8+ c4 70.a8 d3 71.a2 c5 72.c8 b4 73.b8+ a4 74.b7 d2+ 75.a1 c6 76.b6 c4 77.xc6 b3 78.b6+ c2 79.h6 c3 80.a2 c1+ 81.xa3 c2 82.a2 d8 83.b3 b1 0-1

32.fxe6+ g7 33.c5 c7 34.b4 a5 35.a3 axb4 36.axb4 h6 37.c3 h4 38.c6 h3 39.xh3 xh3 40.gxh3 b6+ 41.h1 xb4 42.b1 d4 43.cxb7 xd5+ 44.g2 1-0

546 Smeets,Jan Reinderman,Dimitri ch Eindhoven (3) [Gawain Jones]

B03 2659 2608 13.06.2010

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 [ 5...cxd6 is the more aggressive try and I'll have a look at that in the next game. ] 6.h3 It is somewhat unusual to play this so early but the game soon transposes back into previously chartered waters. [ A recent game illustrated Black's ideas if he is allowed to play ...Bg4. 6.c3 e7 7.e2 ( 7.h3 is also possible here and would be pretty similar to the game, i.e. Fedorowicz, 545 B03 J-Porper, E Calgary 2010.) 7...0-0 8.f3 g4 Otherwise there is no real point to Skorchenko,Dmitry 2460 W h i t e 's 6 . h 3 9.0-0 c6 Typical Alekhine Tkachenko,Georgiy 2318 play. ( 9...c5!?; and 9...c6 have both been Summer GM Lugansk UKR (10) 07.07.2007 looked at previously on the site.) 10.b3 e8 [John Watson] 11.h3 h5 12.e3 d5 13.c5 6d7 14.b4 I feel that W hite should be a little better A smooth win in Voronezh style. Isn't 9...e5 here with more space on the queenside but forced after all? 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 it's amazing how fast Black can break out. d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 f6 15.b3 f8 16.fd1 e6 17.b5 d7 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 c6?! 18.ac1 c7 19.e1? xd4! A case in We've seen this move a few times recently, but it still looks bad to me. 10.d5 e5 point! 20.xd4 ( 20.xd4 xe2 21.xe2 xe2 would have dropped a pawn but was a 11.e2 f5?! 12.f4 le sse r evil.) 20...xd4 21.xh5 xe3! [ 12.h3 and ] [ 12.d2 are also very attractive. Black's 22.xd5 xe1+ 23.xe1 cxd5 and White had no real compensation for the piece. plan is mysterious, to say the least. ] Nezar, M-Degraeve, J. Marseille 2010 ] 12...g4 13.xg4 fxg4 14.ge2 f5 6...c6 7.f3 e7 8.c3 f5 Transposing 15.0-0 h5 back to Leko-Short, a game which I [ 15...e6!? ] 16.d4 f6 17.xf6 exf6 18.d4 investigated in my first update on here. [ 8...0-0 was essayed by Thomas Luther but W ith total domination. W hite never lets up t h i s a l l o w s : 9.d3 which seems to give from now on, even though both sides make W h i t e a s m a l l e d g e . ( 9.a3 is likely to some technical errors. d7 19.d2 ae8 transpose to the game after f5 ) 20.ce1 a6 21.xf5 xf5 22.e2 c8 A) 9...e8 10.0-0 b4 11.b1 c6 23.d4 d7 24.e6 f7 25.e3 fe7 12.e1 g6 13.a3 a6 14.a2 c7 26.fe1 c5 27.c2 f7 28.f5 g5 29.h3! 15.d5 c5 16.f4 f5 17.g4!? c8 gxh3 30.xh3 h8 31.he3 xe6 549

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 his c pawn.; 18.d2 f5 19.g5 Gave White total control B) 9...e5 10.xe5 I said this might be over the position. Areshchenko, A-Sergeev, an attempt at a niggling edge and GuerraV Alushta 2009.; Mendez appears to confirm my view. dxe5 B) 9...b4 doesn't pick up the bishop pair 11.e3 0-0 12.e2 e8 ( 12...d7 as 10.b1! is playable a5 ( 10...xc4? would have been more flexible as it's not 11.a3 c6 12.d3 would win the clear whether the rook is better placed on knight. ) 11.0-0 c6 12.e1 e8 f8 or e8 Black may yet want to break with Boehnisch, M-Vasiukov, E Dresden 2007 ...f5. ) 13.0-0 d7 and here W hite's most accurate would B1) 14.d3 gaining possession of the have been 13.a3 a6 14.f4 c7 light squares looks a little better f or 15.d5 with a comfortable advantage as White. xd3 15.xd3 c5 ( 15...a5 Black is rather passive.; is probably a better way of playing, with C) 9...f6 10.0-0 e8 Luther's ideas of a rook swing along the sixth improvement over his own play. rank when W hite is limited to a small ( Initially he tried 10...xd4?! but after edge. ) 16.e4 xe3?! 17.fxe3! 11.xd4 xd4 12.xh7+ xh7 13.xd4 a n d W h it e h a s t a ke n co n t ro l o f t h e e8 14.b3 Naiditsch, A-Luther, T position.; Saarbruecken 2002, W hite had strong B2) 14.d2 a6 15.ad1 e4 16.f4 pressure on the dark squares.) 11.e3 Guerra Mendez, J-Aloma Vidal, R ( 11.b3 would be more in the spirit of Balaguer 2010, and here, instead of the White's setup as d4 still shouldn't be taken plan adopted by Black of ....Bc5-a7-b8, b4 12.b1 c6 13.a3 a6 Jasny, SI'd prefer the simple d6 when Black Sergeev, V Ostrava 2009 and although has equalised. ] B l a c k w e n t o n t o w i n 14.a4!? [ After 9.e2 I forgot to mention that Black looks interesting when I'd prefer W hite can try b4 as indeed Fridman played with his spatial advantage.) 11...b4 a g a i n s t m e a c o u p l e y e a r s a g o wh i c h 12.b3 xd3 13.xd3 c6 and, although resulted in a quick draw after 10.0-0 c2 W hite must still be sitting pretty well, 11.b1 b4 12.a1 1/2-1/2 Jones, GLuther successfully exploited his bishop Fridman, D EU Championships Liverpool pair. Grzeca, P-Luther, T Dresden 2010. ] 2008. Interestingly, however, the computer 9.a3 Deviating from Leko's 9.Bd3 which can thinks White can continue with c2 13.b1 be hardly critical although this move is rather b4 14.e3!? sacrificing the exchange. I rare. recall Dave Smerdon saying something [ 9.d5 I mentioned this committal attempt in about this as a possibility. I wonder if we'll my notes to Leko-Short and we've had a see any examples? Anyhow, it's obvious couple of recent tests to add in. Smeets wanted to avoid this repetition and A) 9...b4 10.d4 g6 11.a3 a6 thus played 9.a3. ] 12.b4 0-0 13.e2 b8 ( 13...f6 14.0-0 c5!? was my suggestion which looks 9...0-0 [ I'm not very impressed by the move 9...h6 adequate for Black.) 14.0-0 c5!? 15.b3 which was played in an earlier game to ( 15.bxc5 dxc5 16.f3 would favour reach this position but it's probably not so White with potential pressure down the b bad. 10.e2 d7 11.d5!? e5 12.d4 file. ) 15...f6 16.b2 cxb4 17.axb4 a6 h7 ( 12...exc4? drops a piece to and here instead of the speculative 18. 13.xc4 xc4 14.xf5 xf5 15.a4+ ) Rxa6!? which didn't really work out in: 13.0-0! accurately calculating that the pawn Berbatov, K-Kukov, V Kyustendil 2010 still isn't edible. W h i t e s h o u l d h a v e t r i e d : 18.c5 A) 13...bxc4? 14.f4 is straightforward, w h e n a f t e r a l l t h e e x c h a n g e s dxc5 when White picks up a piece; 19.bxc5 xc3 20.xc3 xd5 21.xa6 B) but 13...exc4?! is more complicated. bxa6 22.d4 xc3 23.xc3 d3 However Black runs into trouble af ter 24.fc1 White has a small edge thanks to 550

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.a4! a5 ( 14...e5 15.f4 doesn't help) 15.f4! when Black won't be able to extricate his knight from c4.; C) 13...0-0 14.b3 c5 15.dxc6 xc6 Dovzik, J-Bednar, M Slovakia 2005 when White had a small edge. ] 10.e2 e8 This position must be completely fine for Black otherwise the Alekhine would be in a very bad state! It's interesting to see how Smeets takes over. A textbook example as to how to treat these positions on the White side. [ A previous encounter with 9. a3 continued: 10...h6 11.0-0 f6 12.e3 ( I daresay Smeets would have played in the same fashion as the game with 12.f4 ) 12...e8 13.c1 g6 14.b4 e7 15.f4 c6 16.b3 d5 17.c5 d7 18.fd1 f8 with a typical Exchange Alekhine setup. Lysak, I-Kosikov, A Kiev 2002. ] 11.0-0 f6 12.f4 The first new move. [ 12.b3 has been tried a couple of times, including a game by another of Topalov's s e c o n d s , Ch e p a rin o v. g6 ( 12...d7 13.e3 d5 14.c5 c8 15.b4 a6 16.c1 h6 17.e1 8e7 18.f1 e4! and Black started to take over. Stark, S-Khenkin, I Dresden 2010.) 13.f4 a6 14.c1 d5 15.c5 c8 16.b4 8e7 17.b5 axb5 18.xb5 c8 19.g4!? was rather unclear, Cheparinov, I- San Martin, R Linares 2005. ] 12...e4?! And, as Reinderman refuses the exchange sacrifice in a couple of moves, this move must be deemed a mistake, simply ceding the bishop pair and light squares. [ 12...d7 would be the normal treatment of the position. I doubt Smeets had anything in particular prepared but was happy to have slightly more space on the queenside and hoped to outplay his fellow Dutchman. ] 13.xe4 xe4 14.e3 e8 15.d3 e7 [ 15...xe3 should probably have been tried as the course of the game just leaves Black worse. However this seems dangerous for Black following: 16.fxe3 xe3+ 17.h1 xd4 18.xd4 xd4 ( 18...xd4 could be stronger but W hite retains the i n i t i a t i v e w i t h 19.e1 f2 20.e7! with a powerful rook on the seventh.) 19.f3 c6 20.ae1 Black has restored rough material parity but White's rooks dominate the position and Black has to be careful not

to fall foul of an attack on the light squares. ( 20.f5 h4 seems ok for Black. )] 16.c1 g6 17.d2 So White has the two bishops and Black is rather passively placed. Smeets slowly expands on the queenside whilst Reinderman can do nothing but wait. d7 [ Black should probably try to stake some hold on the position immediately with 17...d5 when, should White push immediately with 18.c5 ( 18.b3!? just holding for a moment, is better for W hite.) 18...d7 19.b4 a6 20.a4?! a5! 21.b5 b4 Black would be solidly placed. ] 18.b3 ae8 19.fd1 d8 Smeets has zero weaknesses in his camp and thus Reinderman is forced to sit and await events. 20.b4 a6 21.f1 d7 22.b5! cb8 [ 22...axb5 23.cxb5 cb8 24.a4 is rather similar to the course of the game. ] 23.a4 c6 24.f4 f8 Black is being forced backwards and only a masochist could enjoy playing Black here! 25.g3 d7 26.b1 axb5 Perhaps Black should have continued sitting, as hard as that actually is in practical chess. 27.cxb5! A somewhat surprising recapture but the reason becomes apparent if you look at the final position! c5 28.a5! e6 29.d5 [ Continuing with 29.a6 looked extremely strong but there's nothing wrong with the game continuation either. ] 29...d4 30.xd4 xd4 31.e1 de7 32.h4 f6 33.a6 b6?! [ 33...d7 34.e6 is exceedingly unpleasant but would at least allow Black to play on a little longer. ] 34.a2! c4?! And this loses at once to a pretty finish. [ Although 34...a7 35.e6 isn't much better ] 35.xe7 xe7 36.xf6! Deflecting the bishop from control of a7 and thus Black cannot prevent a second queen from appearing on the board. A well played game by Smeets and, while not changing the theoretical verdict, teaches wannabe Alekhine players that they must understand the positions very well as even a frequent practitioner of the Alekhine rated over 2600 got into a lot of trouble. 1-0 551

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 547 Smith,Bry Shabalov,Alexander 35th World Open (5) [John Watson]

B03 2386 2606 02.06.2007

With this recent game I try to clarify what's going on in a Four Pawns Attack variation that has attracted some followers. It is extremely delica te to hand le, yet ce rtain ly f a r f ro m refuted. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 g6 A funny combination of ideas. More common is [ 7...e6 . By 7...g6, Black is saying: 'Do your worst!' and hoping that White's centre will eventually become weak. This is hypermodernism in the extreme, and is still somewhat experimental. ] 8.f4 [ 8.d3!? g7 9.e2 e6 10.d6 ( 10.f3!? exd5 11.g5 ) 10...h4+ 11.g3 h5 12.f3 c6 13.g4 xg4 14.g1 h5 15.f4 1/2-1/2 Milos-Lima, Sao Paulo 2005 but d7! looks strong. ] 8...g7 9.c3 [ 9.f3 failed in two games, but allowing ... Bg4 isn't necessarily bad: 0-0 ( 9...g4! gains a tempo in some lines) 10.d3?! ( 10.c3 ) 10...g4 ( 10...e6 11.d6 f6 ) 11.0-0 8d7 12.e1 b8? ( 12...e6 ) 13.bd2 e6 14.d6 ( 14.g3! xf3 15.xf3 ) 14...f6 15.exf6 xf6 with unclear play, maybe in W hite's favour, Rafie, APolaczek, R /playchess.com INT 2004. ] 9...0-0 10.d2 An important choice. White also has: [ (a) 10.e2 e6 11.0-0-0 exd5 12.cxd5 , for example, e8 13.h4 A) 13...8d7 14.f3 xe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.xe5 d7 ( 16...d7?? 17.c7 ) 17.g3 f6 18.xf6 xf6 unclear; B) 13...h5?! 14.g5! f6 ( 14...d7 15.f3; 14...g4 15.xd8 xe2 16.xe2 xd8 17.f3 8d7 18.e6 fxe6 19.dxe6 e5 20.xe5 xe5 21.d3 g7 22.hf1 f8 23.b5 a6 24.xf8 xf8 25.d3 g7 26.f1 ) 15.exf6 xe2 16.f7+ xf7 17.xd8 f2 18.h3 xh3 19.xh3 8d7 20.g5 ] [ (b) 10.f3 g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3

8d7 13.e3 b8 14.e6?! ( 14.e2 xe5 15.f1 ) 14...e5 15.exf7+ xf7 16.h2 exc4 Panarin, M -Polaczek, R playchess. com INT 2005. ] 10...e6 11.0-0-0 [ 11.f3 exd5 12.cxd5 g4 13.e2 e8 14.0-0 8d7 ] 11...exd5 12.cxd5 e8!? My feeling is that this improves upon older theory. [ In a previous ChessPublishing column, Volzhin annotated the game Volzhin, ASvechnikov, L/ Russia 1988: 12...g4 A) 13.e2 xe2 14.xe2 e8 15.f3 8d7 Volzhin likes Black. although I think that W hite can hold the balance by sacrificing his e-pawn in the style of the King's Indian Four Pawns attack: 16.hf1 ( 16.h4 xe5 17.xe5 d7 18.xf7!? xe2 19.xd8 xc3 20.bxc3 xd8 21.he1!? is unclear, but should be okay for Black; 16.he1!? ) 16...xe5 17.xe5 d7 ( 17...xe5 18.xe5 d7 19.d6!? ) 18.f2 xe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.xc5 unclear and probably balanced.; B) 13.e1 c4 ( 13...a6 14.h3 ) 14.h3 ( 14.h6 xh6 15.xh6 xd5 16.h3 f5 17.d1 xc3! 18.xd8 xa2+ 19.d2 xd8+ with a huge edge for Black. ) 14...f5 15.g4 ( or 15.h4!? h5 16.f3 a6 17.h6 ) 15...d3! 16.xd3 cxd3 17.xd3 a6 B1) 18.d1!? c8 ( 18...xe5? 19.xe5 g5+ 20.b1 xe5 21.f3 ) 19.b1 c4 20.e2 a5 21.f3 a3+ 22.bxa3 xc3 23.c1 unclear; B2) 18.d6 c8 19.b1 c4 ( i n s t e a d o f t h e u n c l e a r 19...b4 20.d1 c4 21.h2 a5 22.f3 c5 of Movsesian-Francsics, Czechia 2005, when I think that White is simply better after 23.he2 23 or even Qa4; 19...c5 of Ilincic-Marinkovic, Vrnjacka Banja 1989 was also not completely clear after 20.e2 e6 21.g3 c4 22.f3 a5 , b u t V o l zh i n t h i n ks t h a t t h i s is t h e we a k e s t o p t i o n , a n d i n d e e d , 23.c1 holds everything together) 20.d5!? ( I like 20.f3 b6 21.h2! I wonder whether this whole line with 12...Bg4 and ...c4 is objectively sound.) 20...a5! 21.e7+ h8 22.f3 c5 552

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 22...xb2!? is worthy of consideration:) 23.h4? ( 23.b3 xb2 24.d2 is messy ) 23...xa2+! 24.xa2 b4+ 25.b3! xd3 and White was probably lost but hung on to draw. ] [ Volzhin also notes the game 12...c4 13.f3 g4 ( 13...e8 looks better) 14.h6! xf3 15.xg7 xd1? 16.f6! and Black soon resigned, Solomon-Kanikevich, Sydney 1991. ] 13.e1 a6 14.f3 b4 15.g5! This seems best to me. [ 15.d1 f5 16.a3 c2! has the idea of ... Na1-b3 ] [ 15.b5 d7 16.g5 looks similar, but then Black can play c8 ] 15...f6 16.h4?! White may sur vive with this move but he gives his opponent an array of attacking ideas. A simple line that avoids too much risk is [ 16.exf6! xe1+ 17.xe1 xf6 18.xf6 xf6 19.a3 a6 ( 19...a5 is the ambitious t r y s t i l l , 20.e2! (in t e n d in g R f 1 ) d6! 21.axb4 axb4 22.b1 f5 23.c2! seems to come up short for Black) 20.e2 intending Rf1, and it's hard to believe that W hite doesn't have something. Probably Black should sacrifice a pawn by c4 21.f1 g7 22.g5! ( 22.f4 c5 23.xc4 xc4 24.xc4 is risky after b6 ) 22...d7 23.d6 h6 ( 23...c8 24.d5 ) 24.xc4+ xc4 25.d5+ h8 26.xc4 c8 27.f7 ( or 27.d5 )] 16...f5 [ 16...4xd5!? looks at least adequate, for example, 17.e4 ( 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5+ xd5 19.c4 h6+! 20.b1 f5+ 21.a1 e6 22.exf6 e3! ) 17...d7! 18.c4 c6 ] 17.b5?! [ 17.exf6 xe1+ 18.xe1 xf6 19.xf6 xf6 20.a3 a6 leaves Black a tempo ahead of the note to move 16. ( or 20...a5 )] 17...a6 18.exf6? xe1+? [ A serious error. Shabalov unch ara cte ristica lly overlooks 18...axb5! 19.f7+ xf7 20.xd8 exd8 and White is busted. Among other things, ...Bxc3 and ... Nd3+ are threats. ] 19.xe1 xf6 20.e8+ [ 20.xf6 xf6 21.f1 is playable, although

I'd rather be Black after, say, d8 22.e5 g7 ] 20...xe8 21.xe8 c4 [ 21...d3+ 22.c2! and there are no particularly good discoveries. ] 22.f7+ [ 22.h6 d3+ 23.c2 ] 22...xf7 23.h6 d3+ 24.d1 This is all right, but White needn't give Black options. [ 24.c2! leaves Black with pretty pieces, but facing an attack himself. Perhaps best is to bail out by b4+ ( or 24...g7 25.g5+ f8 26.xh7 b4+ 27.c1 d3+= ) 25.c1 d3+ , etc. White can try 26.d1 e8 27.xh7+ g7 28.g5+ f8 29.e6+ xe6 30.dxe6 xe6 , but Black has plenty of play. ] 24...g7 25.g5+ f8 26.xh7+? Now only Black can win. White had a draw by [ 26.xh7! e8! ( 26...dxb2+ 27.e2 e8+ 28.f1 ) 27.b3 ( or 27.e6+ xe6 28.dxe6 xe6 29.d5 dxb2+ 30.c1 f7= ) 27...e3+ ( 27...g4+ 28.c2 b4+ 29.b1 f5+ 30.c1= ) 28.d2 f1+ 29.d1 e3+= ] 26...g8 27.f6+ f7! 28.g5 h8! 29.fe4 [ 29.ce4?? h6 30.g3 f4 ] 29...e8 30.d6 [ 30.e2 dxb2 31.f3 d1! leaves White in poor straits. ] 30...dxb2+ 31.c2?? This loses. [ The best try was 31.c1 d3+ 32.c2 b4+ ( 32...b5 33.d7! b4+ 34.b3 a5+ 35.b2= ) 33.d1 , and in several lines d6 will be enough of a diversionary move to hold. ] 31...xd6 32.xf5+ and White resigned before 32...Nxf5. [ 32.xb2 xe4 33.f4 xc3 is a slaughter. ] 0-1

553

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B03 20.e4 [ 20.xd5 xd5 21.g2 b3! 22.de1 c6 Smolovic,Mile 2385 23.hf1 e6 ] Drazic,Sinisa 2460 2nd League TCh-SCG, SCG (1) 2003 20...g4 21.d2 ae8 As long as Black is aware of the obvious Nf6 then he should just [Andrew Martin] be a pawn up for nothing. 22.d3 f5 23.gxf6 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 xf6 24.g2 f3 25.xf6+ xf6 26.g5 27.hxg5 xh1 28.gxf6 xe3 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 7.f3!? xg5 I think that the fangs of this once dangerous 29.xh7+ xh7 30.h2+ g8 31.xh1 The smoke clears and White's two i d e a h a v e n o w b e e n d r a w n . B l a c k h a s gxf6 neutralised the Queen move. White's thought p a wn s d o wn . T h e r e s t o f t h e g a m e i s a is to castle long as quickly as possible and formality. 32.d2 b3 33.c2 g3 34.d2 start a Kingside attack. He thinks that the c6 35.h4 d5 36.h2 g7 37.e2 f7 Knight on b6 will make it difficult for Black to 38.h2 a5 39.h7+ g7 40.h8 e6 counterattack effectively. It's also difficult to 41.a8 f5 Korchnoi's 7 Qf3 bothered Black shift the queen from the intimidating post on f3. players for a while but I hope I have shown at The problem is that White's attack also takes least two effective counters. At present White has to find another way to combat 5...exd6. ages to get into gear. c6 [ 7...0-0 8.e3 c6! is an effective counter Perhaps it's time to go back to the main line. too. Black plans ...d6-d5! which will force a 0-1 concession i.e. c4-c5 and then Black prises open the queenside with ..b7-b6! 9.h3 d5 B03 10.c5 6d7 11.a3 b6 12.b4 bxc5 13.bxc5 549 f6 14.e2 xc5 15.0-0 It was far too hot Socko,Bartosz 2630 to castle long now but the d pawn is a target. Rozentalis,Eduardas 2591 e6 16.fd1 a5 17.ac1 d7 18.f4 6th Amplico AIG Life Gp1 rapid (2) 17.12.2006 xa3 19.h5 e7 20.a4 b7 21.b1 [Jonathan Rowson] ab8 22.f1 a8 23.bc1 g5 24.c3 xe3 25.xe3 g5 26.h3 f6 27.e5 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 h6 28.c5 xc5 29.dxc5 e4 30.g4 5.exd6 cxd6 I suspect that this move tends to f5 31.xf5 xf5 32.xf5 f8 33.e5 be welcomed by White players. To my mind it xf2 34.a1 g4 35.d6 e3+ i s m u c h h a r d e r t o g a i n a n y e n d u r i n g 0-1 W illemze, J-Van der W erf, M/Essent advantage if Black takes with the e-pawn. Open, Hoogeveen NED 2003 (35) ] 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0-0 g5 10.h3 xe3+ Black's basic problem in this line, as if it is in 11.fxe3 h4 12.g3 g4!= Pretty efficient . the Alekhine in general, is the knight on b6. In With the queens coming off only Black can be fact I would even say that the fate of Black's better with the pawn on e3 sticking out like a position is tied to this piece- when the knight sore thumb. 13.f2 does well, Black generally does well, as was [ 13.xg4 xg4 14.e1 ae8 15.b5 e7 the case here. c6 10.d5 e5 11.h3 16.f2 f3 17.g1 a6 18.c3 fe8 I don't like this move, because if and when is very nice for Black as is ] W hite plays f4 he will really have a lot of [ 13.f4 xc4 14.xg4 xg4 15.xc4 weaknesses on his kingside, and if he doesn't xh3 16.d5 ae8 ] play f4, then h3 doesn't have much point. 13...xc4 14.f4 b6 15.h4 f5 16.g4 [ 11.e2 is probably more accurate here and a5 17.g5 b4 This has been a rather if Black plays f5 White has ( 11...e6!? 12.f4 hopeful pawn sacrifice by W hite. He hasn't ed7 13.dxe6 e7!? is then noteworthy, gained too much momentum on the Kingside because Alekhine expert Baburin played it, and must now attend to Black's threats when b u t i t l o o k s f i s h y t o m e .) 12.h3 he would much rather be getting on with the and I prefer White. ] attack himself. 18.a3 4d5 19.fxd5 xd5 11...e8!? An interesting waiting move that 548

554

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 seems to be a novelty. 12.e2 e6 13.dxe6 [ 13.f3 gives Black various options, of which xf3+ 14.xf3 e5 looks clearest, and comfortable. ] 13...xe6 14.f3 d5! Socko must have thought this wasn't possible. 15.xd5 [ 15.xb6 xf3+ 16.xf3 axb6 ] [ 15.cxd5 xd5 16.xd5 is similar to the game and seems to be equal. ] 15...xd5 16.cxd5 a5+ 17.d2? Far too ambitious. [ 17.d2 leads to an equal ending. ] 17...xf3+ 18.gxf3 [ 18.xf3 gives Black pleasant options, but simplest is xd5+ 19.f1 a6+ 20.g1 ad8 with a commanding position. ] 18...xd5 Things have obviously gone wrong f o r W h i t e . 19.e3 h5 20.d6 ad8 21.c5 d5 22.d1 b6 23.b5 c3+ 24.f1 f6 25.h4 a6 26.xa6 xf3 27.e1 f5 28.xf3 xf3 29.h2 e5 30.g2 c3 31.e2 xe2+ 32.xe2 xe1 33.xe1 f5 0-1

550 Stepanov,Nikolay Tukhvatullin,Timur 6th ch-PriFO Men (3) [John Watson]

B03 1774 2248 25.01.2008

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 c6 If Black doesn't like 9...e5, he often tries this move (9...f5 is also played, and 9...a5 is still another possibility). Although it frequently succeeds, I think that accurate play should give White the better game. 10.d5 [ 10.e2 d5!? 11.c5 d7 12.xd5 db8 13.c4 b5! ( 13...e6 14.c3 xd4 15.ge2 e5 is playable, but leaves Black to deal with Ne4) 14.cxb6 axb6 and White will have to cede a pawn in view of 15.a4 e6 16.c3 xd4 ] 10...e5 11.e2 The normal move, preparing f4 and preventing any piece from going to g4. f5 12.f4!? [ 12.h3 develops and covers key squares perhaps g4 13.xg4 fxg4 14.g5 would follow. ]

12...f7 This just doesn't work out. Black intends . ..e5, when his d-pawn will be wellprotected. The problem is space. [ 12...g4 13.d4 xd4 14.xd4 d7 15.f3 b6!? may not be so bad then 16.xb6 axb6 17.d4 c5 18.0-0 keeps an edge. ] 13.f3 e5!? 14.dxe6 xe6 15.0-0 e8 16.d4 [ 16.e1 with the idea d7?! 17.d4! ] 16...d7 17.xg7 [ Again 17.e1 is very strong. ] 17...xg7 18.d4 f6 19.f3 b6 20.h1!? [ White misses the trick 20.c5! dxc5 21.a4 b4 22.xc5 c8 23.a3 b6 ( 23...xa3 24.d2 wins ) 24.e1 ] 20...e7 21.xe6+ xe6 22.d5 xd5 23.xd5 e3 24.xf7? Throwing the advantage away why exchange a terrific piece for a horrible one? One good move is [ 24.xb7! xb7? ( 24...ae8 25.f3 ) 25.d4+ e5 26.fxe5 dxe5 27.c3 ] 24...xf7 25.d5+ f6 [ 25...f8 ] 26.fe1 ae8 27.xe3 xe3 28.g8 c7 29.h8+ g7 30.d8+ e7 31.h8+ ½-½

551 Stopa,Jacek Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro UTD Invitational GM (5) [John Watson]

B03 2461 2533 28.11.2008

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 g4 [ 9...d7 opens another can of worms, but it's worth noting that 10.e2 0-0-0 ( or 10...d8 11.0-0 g4 ) 11.0-0 transposes to my long note to 11...Bxf3!? below. Thus 9... Qd7 is sometimes preferred, because the immediate 9...Bg4 allows another set of variations beginning with 10 Qd2, as well as avoiding an early c5. ] 10.e2 d7 An ancient line, perhaps still viable. My apologies for not explaining this l i n e we l l , b u t i t m i g h t t a k e d a y s . S o , i n cowardly fashion, I'll refer you to the Forum, 555

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 tells me that 14.b5! is a good move, where some amazingly detailed analysis has b a s e d u p o n xe3 ( 14...e7 been done, in large part by Mark Morss and may be best met by 15 Bf2, but also the an enthusiastic contributor 'Ig' from Lisbon, p i e c e s a c r i f i c e 15.xg4!? xe3 whose real name I'd be happy to provide here 16.xe6 xd1 17.exc7+ b8 if he sends it. He certainly deserves credit. 18.xe8 e3 19.xg7 xg4 20.e6 W hat I will do is try to give a some broad looks interesting, since Black has some overview and sketch an outline of moves, loose pieces ) 15.xc7+ b8 16.b3 ] most of which are probably subject to [ b ) B i l l M a r t z s h o w e d m e 11...d8 improvement if you turn on your computers. several decades back, and I played it in a I'll add just a few moves of my own. few games. Back then there was no theory [ 10...xf3 11.gxf3 h4+ 12.f2 f4 to speak of. The idea was to improve upon ha s b e en p la ye d a lo t a n d a n a lys e d a t 11...0-0-0 in the 12 Ng5 Nxc4 line because length. I've looked at this with some very the king protects central squares. All this strong (titled) players and think that it's eventually came under great scrutiny, and better for White (and potentially, torture for seems to have been given up, although I'm Black). ] n o t e xa ct l y su re wh y: 12.g5 ( 12.c5 11.0-0 is also important, because in this case it's [ 11.c5 is also playable here Black avoids not cle ar t ha t Black wo uldn 't like to b e that with the 9...Qd7 and ...0-0-0 move order. castled. Everything in these lines comes Of course that opens up other issues. ] down to specific, concrete lines) 12...xc4 11...xf3!? Unusual in fact, I'm not sure if this ( 12...xe2 13.xe2 xd4 14.xd4 order has been played (well, I guess xd4+ 15.h1 is supposed to favour everything's been played). Black wants to White. ) 13.f2 (I think this was Estrin's clarify the pawn structure right away, and discovery ( 13.xf7 xe3 14.xd7 xd1 avoid Ng5 ideas. This is rare in comparison 15.xd8+ xd8 16.xg4 e3! with two traditional moves: is unconvincing now, although White is not [ a) 11...0-0-0 is n o rm a l, wh e n 12.g5 worse. ) 13...xe2 ( 13...e7 14.xf7 is a fun move, going way back to books by xb2 15.c2 is also promising, if unclear. Alekhine authors Eales and W illiams, There's also a strange move here that I'd Bagirov, and Graham Burgess. There is a never seen. Even if it's no no good, which tremendous amount of material on the forum i s e xt r e m e l y l i k e l y , i t ' s w o r t h s e e i n g :; on this and on the main move 12 c5, which 13...xd4?! 14.xg4 xe5 15.h3?! e7 is very likely best ( in particular, 12.c5 d5 16.e3 h6 17.h5 g6 18.h4 c5 19.g3 13.xd5 xd5 14.b4 e4 has been xg5 20.xg5 ef3+ 21.gxf3 hxg5 analysed at length, as well as sidelines. I 22.ae1 f5 23.g2 d6 24.e2 xg3 confess not to have tracked these posts 25.hxg3 f7 26.f2 f6 and Black was down in a while, and it may take some time holding in Hernod, B-Bergdahl, A, for you. But they are really great, and well correspondence/Sweden 1974.) 14.xe2 worth it if you dare to enter such a wild e7 15.xf7 xf7 16.e3+ g8 17.xc4 and arguably risky line ) , and it's hard to imagine that W hite A) 12...xe2 13.xe2 xd4 ( 13...f6 doesn't stand better. ] 14.exf6 gxf6 15.f3 and Rad1 is okay for [ c) I believe that 11...f6 12.d5! is still B l a c k , e ve n i f h e ' s s li g h t ly cr a m p e d) considered good for White. ] 14.xd4 xd4+ 15.h1; 12.xf3! It's hard to say what's best, but this is B) 12...xc4 13.xf7 B1) 13...xe3 14.xd7 xd1 safest. [ 12.xf3!? xc4 13.f2 would be played ( 14...xd7!? 15.c1 seems to come up in the hope of ripping the position apart with a little short) 15.xd8+ xd8 16.xg4 an early d5. Black has plenty of options, but xb2 17.xe6 xe6 18.xe6+ b8 watch out for standard tricks such as 0-0-0?! 19.b1 d3 20.d5 with initiative; ( 13...b6 14.d5 xd5 15.xd5 exd5 B2) 13...e8 , and here the computer 556

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.g4 is unclear) 14.e2 b6 15.d5! xd5?? 16.xd5 exd5?? 17.g4 ] [ 12.gxf3?! has actually been the move played here, perhaps out of habit, but 0-0-0 seems to justif y 11...Bxf 3, for example, 13.c5 d5 14.f2 f6! with plenty of counterplay, especially since 15 f4 isn't available. ] 12...0-0-0 13.f4 [ The other critical sequence is 13.c5 d5 14.f2 , and if f5 , 15.exf6 gxf6 , but instinctively, White looks better, and Black had better move quickly. ] 13...f6 Black is concerned and sacrifices a pawn. Other moves are slow, e.g., [ 13...b4 14.f1 xc3 15.bxc3 hf8 16.b1 ] [ 13...g5 14.e4 g8 15.d5! with the idea exd5? 16.cxd5 xd5 17.g4 ] 14.exf6 gxf6 15.c5 d5 16.xd5 xd5 17.f3 d7 18.f2 [ 18.d5!? is attractive-looking, for example, e5 ( 18...exd5?? 19.g4 ) 19.dxe6 ( 19.c6! xf3+ 20.gxf3 with the idea xd5!? 21.d4 c5 22.xd5 xe3+ 23.h1 exd5 24.d3 , presumably with some advantage due to Black's weak pawns and slightly loose king, but at least this is in t e res t in g) 19...xe6 20.c2 yields a small advantage, based upon Black's pawn weaknesses. The tactics favour White by a hair after h6 21.xb7+! b8! ( 21...xb7 22.b4+ a8 23.xh6 ) 22.c6!? xc6! 23.xc6 xe3+ 24.f2 ] 18...h6 19.xf6 g7 20.xe6!? xd4 [ 20...xe6?? 21.g4 ] 21.e4 [ Or 21.e1 xf3+ 22.xf3 ] 21...xf3+ 22.xf3 hf8 23.e2 d5?! [ 23...fe8 24.b1 xe4 25.xe4 d3! 26.xd3 xd3 with the idea ...Rd2 gives Black counterplay, likely enough to draw. ] 24.e1! Black's pieces have good scope, but White remains a pawn ahead. b8 [ 24...xa2?? 25.g4+ ] 25.b4 a6 26.g3 [ 26.h4! enforces a favourable simplification. ] 26...c3 27.c1 d2 28.cc4?! [ 28.b1! xa2 29.d1 ] 28...g5

[ 28...d3! 29.xd3 xd3 threatens ... Be3+, and 30.f2 c3 31.e1 d2! 32.g3 is only moderately better for White. ] 29.h4 f6 30.h2 Now White is in charge again. g8 31.g4 [ 31.c6! h a s t h e id e a b6 32.c5! d3 33.xc7+ xc7 34.e7+ xe7 35.xe7+ ] 31...h5 32.xg8 xg8 33.e4 [ 33.c6! ] 33...f7 34.f3 g7 35.a4 d4 36.f4 f6 37.g3?! [ White's attack is too strong after 37.b5! ] [ or 37.e6! with the idea of Rb6. ] 37...d7 38.xh5 h8 39.f3 xa4 40.e2 Time control, or he would have played What follows is not very accurate, but White's win is a fair result: [ 40.xc7+! xc7 41.f4+ ] 40...d7 41.e6 f7 42.e4 g6 43.e5 g8 44.f3 d8 45.f4 e8 46.f5 e7 47.f7 d8 48.f4 a8 49.f5 a7 50.d4 b8 51.f4 a8 52.f2 b8 53.f5 a8 54.d4 c6 55.f4 a7 56.f7 e2 57.f3 e6 58.f5 c4 59.h7 1-0

552 Sutovsky,Emil Varga,Zoltan European Club Cup [Alexander Volzhin]

B03 2585 2540 1999

Black's dubious experiment in the opening is brilliantly ref uted by former Junior W orld Champion Emil Sutovsky. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 [ The 4 pawns attack was not very popular last month, and I managed to find only one game of some importance. 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 f5 7.c3 e6 8.e3 c6 9.e2 ( As we considered earlier, the most aggressive line and the only way to fight for opening advantage is 9.f3 e7 10.d5 with wild complications.) 9...e7 10.f3 0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.b3?! A novelty (according to my database), but of rather dubious merits. The idea is to play 13 . c4 -c5 , b u t B la ck d o e sn 't allo w t h is . ( 12.exf6 xf6 is well known theory ( see Yudasin - Kengis), with balanced chances.) 557

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12...a5! 13.a4 ( 13.c5 a4 also leads White nowhere. ) 13...b4! Now it's clear that White's whole conception is wrong. Black has many unpleasant threats (Nc2 or Bc2). 14.e1? Looks ugly. Now all White's pieces are quite passive . ( 14.ac1 suggested itself, with reasonable chances.) 14...fxe5 15.dxe5 d7! After the retreat of White's Knight, the e5-pawn is very weak. 16.d1 c8 17.f4 c5 18.a3 c6 Black already has a decisive positional advantage as all White's pieces occupy miserable positions. The up and coming Brazilian youngster converts his advantage into the win very convincingly. 19.b3 c7 20.b2 ad8 21.xd8 xd8 22.d1 e4 23.f3 c5+ 24.e3 ( After 24.h1 xd1! 25.xd1 d3 with Nf2 to follow, Black wins all the house! ) 24...xe3+ 25.xe3 b6 26.d4 xd4 27.xf5 exf5 and White resigned, Gonzalez - Leitao, Sao Paulo 1999. ] 3...g6?! Inviting a disaster. To play such rubbish against a strong grandmaster is not exactly the best solution. Probably Black believed that the move order is not important here and hoped to play d7-d6 later. Of course, W hite should play very energetically and creatively to refute this provocative play. 4.c4 b6 5.c5! d5 6.c4 The transformation to the Chase Variation is quite the thing here, as g7-g6 in this line is just a waste of time and weakens Black's position. As we saw earlier, for example in the game Sveshnikov Solozhenkin, Black should undermine White's pawn chain (...d7-d6 or ...b7-b6) prior to developing his kingside. c6 7.f3 b6 [ 7...g7 was the main alternative to the text, but W hite obtains clear edge here by the u n e x p e c t e d 8.xd5! Giving up the strong Bishop White compels further weakening of Black's position. cxd5 9.c3 e6 (forced) 10.g5! Now Black is in real trouble. His choice is quite unpleasant: f6 ( 10...a5 is no better in view of 11.d2! Intending the Bishops` exchange (Bh6) after which White will totally dominate over the dark squares. h6 12.f6 xf6 13.exf6 d8 14.b5 c6 15.d6+ f8 16.e5 and Black's position is miserable.) 11.exf6 xf6 12.xf6 xf6 13.b5 with an overwhelming advantage. ] 8.c3 xc3 9.bxc3 a6 Black hoped for

this move. Actually, after the exchange of light-squared Bishops Black has everything in order, and after the bishop`s retreat to b3 W h it e ca n't castle. Ho we ve r W hite f in d s h id d e n re so u rce s t o se ize t h e in it ia t ive . 10.b3!! An introduction to the brilliant attack. bxc5 11.g5! c4 The only move, its drawback is that the a6-f1 diagonal is closed now, and White can castle. [ 11...e6? is just bad in view o f 12.f3 with decisive advantage: f5 ( 12...e7 13.e4 ) 13.exf6 ] 12.f3! f6 13.exf6 exf6 [ 13...cxb3 14.f7# ] 14.0-0! A very picturesque position. Now Black should decide which piece to grab. Unfortunately for him none of them can be taken! e7 [ 14...cxb3 15.e1+ e7 16.xf6! ( White can already win the piece back: 16.a3 d6 17.xf6 f8 18.xd6 xd6 19.xd6 d7 20.xe7 , but the endgame is not so clear in view of e8 21.a3 xe1+ 22.xe1 bxa2 23.xh7 d3 and a2-pawn gives Black serious c o u n t e r c h a n c e s .) 16...f8 17.g7 and Black`s predicament is hopeless: d5 Ot he r m o ve s a re equ ally f u t ile : ( 17...b2 18.xh7! Qf8 mate is the threat and Black can't parry it! d5 19.xf8+ d7 20.xd8+ xd8 21.xb2 with huge material advantage ( by the way only three moves before White was a piece down!); 17...d6 18.e6 f7 19.g8+ and White wins: f8 20.xf8 ) 18.a3 c5 19.e6 c8 20.xf8 winning everything! ] 15.c2 f5 The only move. The alternatives lost quickly: [ 15...fxg5 This move allows a brilliant finale: 16.e1 f8 17.h3 f7 18.xg5 Now White's main threat is doubling Rooks (Re 3 , Ra e 1 t o f o llo w), so B la ck 's K in g s h o u l d g o a w a y f r o m t h e e - f i l e . f8 19.xe7! ( 19.xg6 is not bad either: xg5 20.xf7 wi t h a t re m e n d o u s a t t a c k :) 19...xe7 20.xg6 g8 21.f7+!! and Black has to give up the Queen to avoid being mated A) 21...g7 22.h6+ xf7 23.xh7+ e6 ( 23...f8 24.h6+ ) 24.g6+ d5 25.f5+ d6 26.f4+; 558

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 21...xf7 22.xd8 and White won`t need Karpov's technique to convert the edge into the whole point. When I found t h is va ria t io n , I a ske d E m il if h e h a d foreseen this line (especially 21.Bf7!!). He answered that he intended to play 19. Bg6, which is also good. This is correct, but I like my variation more! ] [ 15...0-0 This natural looking move is losing by force as well 16.xh7! Destroying the position of Black's King. f7 The only move. ( 16...xh7 17.h5+ ) 17.xg6 xh7 18.xh7+ xh7 19.h5+ g8 20.h6 is hopeless for Black f8 21.g6+ h8 22.ae1 xh6 23.xh6+ g8 24.e4 mating Black's King. ] 16.e1 0-0 It may seem that Black is OK as he has castled and even managed to hold onto his extra pawn. However W hite`s next move proves this statement is far from true. 17.e3! f6?! Missing White's threat. [ The alternatives to the text are: 17...h6 18.xe7 xe7 19.xe7 hxg5 20.xg5 with overwhelming advantage ] [ 17...d6 i s a l s o b a d : 18.xh7! h4 19.xf8 xh2+ 20.f1 with a winning position ] [ 17...xg5 was absolutely the absolutely only way to avoid immediate loss, but the endgame af ter 18.xg5 xg5 ( 18...d5 a l l o ws W h i t e t o wi n p a wn b a c k 19.xf5 xg5 20.e6+ g7 21.xg5 with overwhelming advantage.) 19.xg5 is difficult for Black despite his extra pawn. It's not clear how to develop his queenside, while White's Rook is ready to penetrate to the 7th rank. ] 18.xh7! No w t h e ga m e is o ve r . xh7 19.h6+ g8 20.xg6+ g7 [ 20...h8 21.xf5 and Qh7 mate is unavoidable. ] 21.g5 Black resigned as after the Queen's retreat W hite plays Re7 with unavoidable mate. Really a great achievement by Emil Sutovsky! A very instructive exa mple f o r Black players on how the Alekhine's should not be played! 1-0

553 Szoen,Dariusz Rozentalis,Eduardas DMP Ekstraliga (3) [John Watson]

B03 2477 2599 08.09.2008

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 c6 9.b3 0-0 10.f3!? We have seen several games with 10 Be2, including this month's Boric-Rakic contest. g4 11.e2 d5! Black resorts to a standard Alekhine plan he has everything in the right place for it. 12.c5 Virtually forced. c8 13.h3!? A slight waste of time, since Black was going to play ...Bxf3 anyway. W hite plans to force the pace, as we'll see. xf3 14.xf3 e6! Still the standard re o rga n iza t io n . . . N8 e 7 -f 5 sh o u ld f o llo w. 15.g4!? White prevents ...Nf5 in advance, but at the cost of some weakness on the kingside. 8e7 16.e2 The problem is that Black intends either ...f5 or ...e5, and it's difficult to prevent both. b6?! [ 16...e5! looks safe and sound. ] 17.0-0 c8 18.d2 d7 19.g2 [ 19.b4 is also natural, for example, bxc5 20.xc5 e5 21.fc1 ] 19...b5!? 20.h6 xh6 21.xh6 f6 22.f4 f7 23.cd1 cf8 24.h4 [ 24.fe1 is natural perhaps White will have a hard time breaking through, but Black can't undertake anything here. ] 24...c7 25.g3 d7 26.e3 h5!? Black doesn't want to wait around for his epawn to be targeted. 27.g3 [ Perhaps better was 27.f5!? exf5 28.gxh5 g5 29.h4! ] 27...hxg4 28.hxg4 h7 [ 28...e5!? 29.dxe5 xg4 ] 29.fe1 [ 29.g5!? ] 29...e5 30.dxe5 fxe5 31.fxe5?! [ W hite needs to play aggressively: 31.f5! gxf5 32.gxf5 g7 33.f1 is unclear. ] 31...xg4 White's kingside is weaker than Black's. 32.f1 hf7 33.e6 f6 34.e2 xe6? [ 34...b4 35.xf6 xf6 exploits the weak epawn without allowing the following activity for White: ] 35.xf8+ xf8 36.f4+! xf4 37.xf4 e5 559

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 32.fe3 xe3 33.xe3 d4 34.cxd4 xd4 0-1 Hanreck,A-Sherman,D/Islington 1972 ] [ 5...xe6? 6.xe6 fxe6 7.f3 c6 8.c3 d7 9.b3 g6 10.b2 g7 11.e2 e5 12.dxe5 e6 13.f4 f5 14.d3 e4+ 15.e2 xe2+ 16.xe2 d7 17.e6! f6 18.ae1 0-0 19.d2 A different type of game has arisen. The pawn e6 cuts the Black position in half. d5 20.xg7 xg7 21.e4 f6 22.g5 d8 23.c4 b6 24.he1 d5 25.cxd5 xd5 26.f4 c6 27.g3 h6 28.f3 c7 29.d4 b6 30.g4 c5 554 B03 31.g5 hxg5 32.fxg5 f8 33.c2 f5 34.h4 c6 35.e3 f3 36.f4 f2+ 37.e2 Theoretical xe2+ 38.xe2 d8 39.c4 d4 40.f3 ALEKHINE 4 Bc4,5 e6?! d8 41.xd4 cxd4 42.e4 dxe6 QUERY 43.xe6+ xe6 44.d5 f7 45.e5+ [Andrew Martin] 1-0 Coudari,C-Richard,D/Montreal 1980 ] Alec Aslett of Camberley asks: I was caught 6.exf7+ xf7 7.f3+ g8! If one is totally out in a tricky variation of the Alekhine which I shocked, it is very tough to play such moves. had never seen before e.g. 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 Y e t I t h i n k 7 . . . K g 8 i s c o r r e c t , t o t a l l y 3 d 4 d 6 4 B c 4 N b 6 5 e 6 ! ? ? I f e l t uncompromising, and may refute W hite's uncomf ortable because I had never even 'cheapo' attack. Black takes the centre! [ 7...e8 8.h5+ g6 9.b5+ d7 considered this move and I lost miserably 10.xc4 e6+ 11.xe6 xe6 12.c3 after 5...fxe6 6 Bd3. Can this move really be ( 12.f3 f5 13.c4 d7 14.0-0 g7 any good? 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 15.e3 c6 16.c3 a6 17.a3 ae8 4.c4 b6 5.e6?! Well, Alec the short 18.c5 c8 19.d5 e5 20.d4 c4 answer is NO, although there are some tricks 21.xf5 gxf5 22.ab1 e5 23.dxe6 xe6 to negotiate. Black can either take or leave 24.cxd6 xc3 1/2-1/2 Berger,A-Wecht,H/ this Bishop: xc4! D a r m s 1 9 9 5) 12...f5 13.d5 d7 [ 5...fxe6! If he's going to decline the offer it's 14.e3 1/2-1/2 Nuenchert,E-Winter,I/Erfurt best to retain the light-squared Bishop. 1973 ] 6.d3 The only move to give chances. ( 6.b3 g6 7.f3 d5 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 8.d5+ e6 9.xc4 d5 10.d3 c5 11.f3 c6 10.c3 d6 11.g3 0-0 12.f4 xf4 c6 12.0-0 cxd4 13.xd4 e5 14.xc6 13.gxf4 xf4 14.e2 e5 15.xe5 xe5 bxc6 15.c3 g6 16.g3 g7 17.g5 16.dxe5 h3 17.e3 f5 18.d2 h6 e8 Two Bishops and the central pawns add 19.f4 xf4 20.f2 g5+ 21.h1 xd2 up to something tangible. White fights very 22.ed1 e3 23.g3 xg3 24.hxg3 hard but it is an uphill struggle. 18.fe1 f7 0-1 Peau,J-Levieux,P/Urcuit 1989) 6...c6! 19.xe5 xe5 20.xe5 h6 21.e3 h7 But this is very uncompromising! 7.h5+ 22.xh6 e8 23.g5 f5 24.h4 g8 d7 8.f3 e8 9.g4 d8 10.g5 h6 25.e3 e6 26.d1 xc2 27.d4 f6 11.xe6+ xe6 12.xe6 xd4 13.g4 28.xf6 xf6 29.h4 e6 30.h3 e7 e5 White can only fish around for tactics 31.b3 a5 32.a4 b7 33.c5 f7 34.h4 here-the central pawn mass covers Black's g8 35.d4 f5 36.g4 d7 37.g2 bb8 King. 14.0-0 g5 15.c3 e6 16.f5 g7 38.g3 e8 39.f4 e1 40.d4 c1 17.c2 c6 18.d2 c7 19.e4 d8 41.d3 e8 42.f4 c8 43.g5 h7 20.e3 h5 21.xh5 xh5 22.ad1 c4 44.f3 e5+ 45.f4 e8 46.g5 e6 23.c1 d5 24.d2 xd2 25.xd2 c5 47.d4 c2 48.d3 f7 49.f4 e1 50.f5 26.e2 e4 27.e3 b6 28.xb6+ xb6 gxf5 51.gxf5 g2+ 52.f6 h5 53.b6 29.f3 f4 30.ee1 exf3 31.xf3 he8 g7 54.c5 f7+ 55.g5 xf5+ 56.h4 38.xd5 [ 38.xd5! xd5 39.xd5 gives more chances. The next few moves aren't optimal, and Black gets in trouble, but things peter out in the end. ] 38...b4 39.g2 g5 40.a3 gxf4 41.axb4 e3 42.d4 xb3 43.xf4+ e8 44.d4 a3 45.c6? c3 46.d6 c4 47.f1 g4+ 48.f2 g6 ½-½

560

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f3 57.xf3 xf3 58.g3 h5 59.b6 f1 60.xa5 g6 61.g2 f7 62.b6 f4 63.c7 f3 64.e2 f7 65.f4+ f5 66.d6 d1 67.f2 f6 68.b8 e4 69.e1 f3 70.d2 xf4 71.xf4 xf4 72.a4 g2 73.h4 f1 74.b4 a6 75.h5 g5 76.e3 xh5 77.d4 b7 78.c5 g5 79.b6 a8 80.c5 f5 81.a5 e5 82.b6 d4 83.a7 d3 84.xa8 d2 85.a6 d1 86.b7 d5 So Alec, White is relying on shock effect with 5 e6- you have two good ways to play now! 0-1

Black. ] 17.f4 [ 17.e3 a6 18.c3 e7 19.h4 h5 20.d3 d8 21.b4 0-0 22.ag1 was also unpleasant for Black in Myers Hagerty, corr. 1981 ] 17...h6 18.e3 e7 19.d3 f5 20.xf5 gxf5 21.hg1 d7 22.g3 ag8 23.b4 g6 De Firmian can be forgiven for thinking he might hold this position. But W hite has the edge because of the weak pawns, using this factor to keep Black tied up. 24.e2 f8 25.g5 e6 26.h5 h6 27.b5 e7 28.a4 a8 29.b1 f8 30.f3 b8 31.d2 e7 32.e1 f8 33.a5 b6 34.b4 bxc5 555 B03 In playing the following sequence, de Firmian might have missed the fact that White's 36th Timman,Jan H move is possible. 35.dxc5 a6 36.bxa6! De Firmian,Nick E Sigeman & Co (4) 15.06.2001 xc5 [ 36...a8 is also bad after 37.a5 xc5 [Nigel Davies] ( 37...xa6 38.xc7 ) 38.c1 ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 37.xc5 xb1 38.a7 b3+ 39.f2 b2+ 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 f5 7.c3 e6 8.f3 c6 40.e3 gg2 [ 40...gg2 41.f3 sees an end to the 9.e3 g4 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 h4+ checks. ] [ 11...d7 is another possibility, putting 1-0 pressure on d4. ] 12.f2 f4 13.c5 d5 [ This doesn't have a great reputation but B03 B l a c k h a s b e e n e x p e r i e n c i n g s o m e 556 Vajda,Le 2594 d i f f i c u l t i e s a f t e r 13...d7 14.b5 Varga,Zo 2441 , Koch - Konopka, Clichy 1993 continuing 17.11.2013 e7 15.0-0 h4 16.xc6 bxc6 17.a4 Great Hopes GM 2013 (2.2) 0-0 18.ad1 intending just to take c6. ] [Tom Rendle] 14.xd5 exd5 15.d2 xd2+ After this Black is slightly worse in a rather miserable 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 b6 A slightly odd move, going to b6 before being 'pushed' endgame. [ Black should probably keep queens on with with c4. It keeps a couple of options open to 15...f5 but even then the position looks a vary if White continues with 4.c4 but on the bit better for W hite. Bogdanovic - Vukic, downside Vajda's reply seems to give White a Yugoslavia 1973 continued 16.d3 ( 16.0-0 good game. [ 3...d6 4.f3 ] e7 17.e3 0-0 18.f4 f6 19.f3 ad8 20.g2 1/2-1/2, Bongers E. - Etmans M., 4.a4! [ 4.c4 Dieren 1998 It (37) was also favourable for A) 4...d5 5.c5! 6d7 6.c3 e6 7.f4 White in Bongers - Etmans, Dieren 1998.) ( 7.f3 b6 8.b4 is better for White. Black 16...d7 17.f4 e7 18.g1 h5 19.f1 g6 can try to undermine the queenside pawn 20.h3 with an edge. ] with a5!? but after 9.g5! e7 10.xe7 16.xd2 g6 xe7 11.b5 a6 12.a3 White keeps a [ 16...e7 17.f4 f5 18.f3 d8 19.hg1 definite edge ); g6 was the continuation of Nokso Koivisto B) 4...d6 Transposes to the mainline; Raaste, Finnish Ch 1994 after which the C) 4...e6 5.c3 ( 5.f4!? continues in immediate 20.h4 looks unpleasant for 561

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Four Pawn's Attack style) 5...d6 6.exd6 cxd6 7.e3 is similar to the mainlines and a little better for W hite. Black has lost the option of an early ...Bg4 though so I'd be very happy to be White here. ] 4...d5?! [ 4...a5 makes more sense to me here and now 5.f3 d5 ( 5...g6 is worth a look as well but perhaps Black players are afraid of 6.h4! when it's already awkward to deal with the positional threat of h5. h6 7.c3 g7 8.f4 and White is somewhat better here. Black can't castle in the near future because of Qd2 and Black's kingside looks rather precarious. ) A) 6.exd6 cxd6 ( 6...exd6 might be safer as W hite only has a minimal edge after 7.d3 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 ) A1) 7.b5+ is also better for White d7 8.c3 g6 9.h4!? h5 10.g5 g7 11.e2 c6 12.0-0-0!? c7?! ( 12...f6 13.f4 ) 13.d5 e5 14.xe5 xe5 15.f4! and White was winning in Orak, L (2317)-Katavic, B (2221) Sibenik 2010; A2) 7.d5 e5 8.dxe6 xe6 9.b5+ ( 9.d4! is more precise and White is comfortably better after d7 10.b5 d5 11.f4 xb5 12.xb5+ c6 13.0-0 ) 9...c6 10.g5!? a n d n o w i n c4?! ( 10...f5 11.f3 g6 12.xc6+ bxc6 13.xc6+ d7 is only slightly better for White. ) 11.xc4 xc4 12.0-0 4e5 13.f4 g6?! 14.d5 suddenly Black is in trouble f6 15.e3 h6 16.e4 e6 17.bc3 xd5 18.xd5 0-0-0 19.b6 d7 20.ad1 ge7 21.f3 ( 21.c4! keeps complete control) 21...f5 22.ec3 xd5 23.xd5 g6 24.g3 g8 25.b5 g7 26.c3 g5 27.xf5 e7 28.f7 d5 and a rather odd draw was agreed in He n d r i ks , W ( 2 4 1 1 ) - P e s o t s ky, V (2371) Budapest 2008 - White is close to winning after 29.xd7 xd7 30.d3! xb6 31.xd6+ c8 32.xb6 gxf4 33.f2; B) 6.d3 g4 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 e6 9.g3 c5 10.b5+?! ( 10.dxc5! 6d7 11.c3 xc5 12.0-0 c6 13.b5 a n d I p r e f e r W h i t e ' s c h a n c e s h e r e) 10...c6 11.dxc5 d7 12.f4 d4 13.a3 f5 14.d3 xc5 and Black had

at least equalised in Pavlov, M (2383)Zhigalko, S (2647) Alushta 2010 ] 5.a5 6d7 6.b4!? The game has certainly taken on an original look after only 6 moves but I'm not convinced this is the best move, although there's nothing much wrong with it. [ 6.c4! looks critical here and Black already has some real problems: c6 ( or 6...dxc4 7.e6!? fxe6 8.xc4 f6 9.c3 g6 10.f3 g7 11.0-0 0-0 12.b3 and White regains the pawn with a clearly better position) 7.c3 e6 8.c5! and Black will struggle to develop his queenside ] 6...e6 7.c3 f6?! The position looks like a very strange French Defence but with White having a big space advantage on the queenside. Obviously Black cannot break with ...c5 so he tries ...f6 instead but this quickly backfires. [ 7...g6 8.d3 g7 9.f3 f6 is possibly an improvement but W hite keeps much the better chances after 10.exf6 xf6 11.0-0 0-0 12.e1 as he has control over e5. ] 8.d3! g6 [ 8...e7 leads to the same sort of thing after 9.f4! f7 10.f3 e7 11.0-0 a6 12.e3 and Black's position is pretty miserable if not quite yet lost ] 9.f4 fxe5?! Another inaccuracy and one Black can't really afford [ 9...g7 10.f3 0-0 11.0-0 c6 is just about playable for Black although White is better on all parts of the board after 12.e2 a6 13.e3 e7 14.bd2 ] 10.fxe5 h6?! A tricky idea but one that quickly backfires as White choose simply to ignore the bishop [ 10...g7 is perhaps a slight improvement but Black is still in a great deal of trouble after 11.h4! ] 11.f3! [ 11.xh6?! h4+ regains the piece ] 11...xc1 12.xc1 0-0 13.h4! Black has castled into a massive attack and with his queenside totally undeveloped there is already no way to defend. The rest of the game is simply a carve up from White's point of view. f7 14.g5 [ 14.h5! immediately is also very strong ] 14...e7 15.h5 f8 [ or 15...h6 16.hxg6! hxg5 17.xg5 f8 18.a2! and with the rook joining the fun 562

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 from f2 Black can safely resign ] 16.hxg6 xg6 17.xg6 hxg6 18.a2 [ 18.f4 g7 19.h4 wins immediately ] 18...g7 19.f4 Black has had enough and throws in the towel. I don't think we'll see this line again in a hurry although things aren't so bad if Black chooses 4...a5. 1-0

557 Velimirovic,Dragoljub Cmilyte,Viktorija Czech Coal Match (5) [Gawain Jones]

B03 2425 2514 24.11.2010

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.f4 Again we see the critical Four Pawns Attack and who would expect anything else from the aggressive legend playing White? dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 [ I e x a m i n e d t h e m a i n l i n e 9...g4 in Bologan, V (2684)-Rozentalis, E (2628) Mulhouse 2010 which wasn't a great success for Black. ] 10.d5 and in that game I said this was the critical test. exd5 11.xb6?! This is the older move and rather rare which has not been previously covered on ChessPub. White gets rid of the pressure on d5 but in return he may find himself vulnerable on the dark squares. [ 11.cxd5 is usual and was investigated last time. b4 12.d4 g6?! ( I looked at 12...d7 a few months ago in the notes to Bologan-Rozentalis which is more logical preventing the forthcoming check.) 13.b5+ f8 14.f3 this is a novelty but rather unconvincing. ( Instead 14.0-0 has been played in all the previous games which looks extremely strong. g8 is forced due to the threat of Ne6+ but now 15.f5 f8 16.xb6 axb6 17.a3 a6 18.e6 c5+ 19.h1 h6 20.e2 was already winning in Csirik, A (2271)-Farago, S (2263) Budapest 2009. ) 14...g8 15.d6 cxd6 16.exd6 ( 16.e6! l o o k s s t r o n g e r) 16...xd6 17.xb7? Grgic, N (1661)-Stadler, B (2112) Sibenik 2010 when f6 18.ce2 e5 19.f3 a6! 20.c6 d8 21.0-0 h5 22.f2 c4 23.f4 xd4! wins material. ]

11...axb6 12.cxd5 b4 13.d4 g6 This is now possible as the check can be blocked. Nevertheless other bishop retreats have also been tried. [ 13...d7 14.a3 is now awkward to deal with as Black no longer has pressure on d5. c5! This looks to be Black's best try. ( 14...a6 15.e6 fxe6 16.dxe6 c6 17.xc6 xd1+ 18.xd1 bxc6 19.xa6 xa6 20.d7 Nagy, Z (2265)-Berta, T (2138) Hungary 2006 leaves Black in a somewhat unpleasant ending. ) A) 15.f3 a6 16.b4 xb4! ( 16...e7 is far too passive.) 17.axb4 xb4 18.c1 0-0 19.e2 a3 20.d4 c5 21.c4 e8 gives Black reasonable compensation for the piece as W hite's king is somewhat vulnerable.; B) 15.b3 a6 ( 15...0-0!? 16.axb4 xa1 17.xa1 xb4 18.e2 h4+ 19.g3 xc3+ 20.bxc3 e4 gives Black good compensation.) 16.xa6 xa6 17.xc5 bxc5 18.0-0 ( 18.e6! fxe6 19.0-0 keeping Black's king in the centre looks a better try for an edge.) 18...0-0 19.f3 g6 20.ae1 e7 21.e3 c8 22.h3 1/2-1/2 Tabor, J (2310)-Matlak, M (2440) Prievidza 1987. ] [ 13...c8 should be met by 14.d6! cxd6 ( Black should seriously consider the piece sacrifice 14...0-0!? ) 15.b5+ d7 16.e6 xb5 17.exf7+ xf7 18.h5+ g8 19.xb5 and White's on top. ] [ 13...e4!? is an interesting idea that has only been tried once but looks to equalise. 14.xe4 xd5 A) 15.b5+! is necessary but seems to lead to a f orced draw. c6 ( 15...f8? 16.0-0 xe4 17.e6+ g8 18.d7+- ) 16.d6+ xd6 17.exd6 xd4 18.e2+ f8 19.d1 ( 19.e7+ g8 20.d7 c2+ 21.e2 g4+ 22.f2 f5+= ) 19...c5 20.e7+ g8 21.f1 f8 22.xf7 xf7 23.e8+ f8 24.e6+=; B) 15.c3? xd4! 16.xd4 c2+ 17.f2 xd4 18.d5 a5 19.xc7+ d7 20.d1 xc7 0-1 Stips, F (1650)Andreoni, G (1983) Bratto 2005. ] 14.d6? Velimirovic true to his nature continues to play the most aggressive moves but this should have fallen foul to a counter sacrifice. 563

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 14.a3 a g a i n s h o u l d b e m e t b y c5! 15.b5+ f8 and Black is on top. Again W hite really misses the dark square protection afforded by the bishop. ] [ Therefore White should try 14.b5+ c6 ( 14...f8 15.d6! cxd6 16.0-0 is again very strong. ) 15.dxc6 0-0 16.cxb7 b8 This position is crucial to the viability of 12 Bxb6 (although already we have found an equalising line for Black). W hite is temporarily two pawns up but b7 is dropping and his position is very exposed. 17.c6 ( 17.ce2?! Reynolds, J-Gauthier, L E n g l a n d 1 9 9 2 c5! keeping White's king stuck in the centre is very strong.) 17...xc6 18.xc6 c7 19.d5?! ( White needed to find 19.f3 xe5+ 20.f1 although here I'd take Black after fd8 as his position is by far the easier to play.) 19...h4+! 20.g3 xc6 21.gxh4 Murey, J (2535)-Palatnik, S (2460) Palma de Mallorca 1989 and here the most accurate finish would have been c4! 22.g1 fe8 when White's king is completely naked. ] 14...h4+ Hardly bad but Black had a much stronger alternative. [ 14...0-0! as played first by Kengis is a very strong counter. 15.a3 cxd6 16.axb4 xa1 17.xa1 dxe5 leaves Black with a fantastic position. He is about to pick up a third pawn for the piece, W hite's king is stuck in the centre and Black has great play on the dark squares. 18.f3 xb4 ( The direct 18...e4! 19.e5 d4 20.xg6 fxg6! would not have let New Zealand's sole GM escape.) 19.d1 f6 20.b3 f4 21.e2 Chandler, M (2500)-Kengis, E (2460) Jurmala 1983 and here c1+! 22.d1 e3+ 23.e2 c5 24.f1 d8 would have been decisive. ] 15.g3 g5 Viktorija is trying to wrestle the initiative away from W hite but objectively W hite is now better. Perhaps she got her move order wrong and intended to play this on the following move. [ 15...0-0! has been tried in some correspondence games. This position is truly crazy and, even if W hite is somehow ok, practically his position looks too loose to survive. 16.a3 ( 16.b3? Is a logical looking move but already a decisive mistake.

c5! White's king is just too vulnerable. 17.cb5 Neumann, M (2360)-Alingh Prins, J (2060) ICCF corr 1989 when the simplest looks to be e4 18.g1 g5 19.f3 xf3 20.xf3 xe5+ 21.f2 xb2+ 22.e2 f6 with an obvious decisive advantage.; 16.gxh4? xh4+ 17.e2 a5!-+ ) 16...g5! ( 16...c5 17.f3 c2+ 18.f2 g5 19.d3 xa1 20.xg6 hxg6 21.xa1 saw White successfully neutralise Black's initiative with good play f or th e exchange thanks to his monster d6 pawn. Murey, J (2500)-Kovacevic, V (2560) Hastings 1982.) 17.axb4 ( 17.f2 xe5 18.f3 c5+ 19.d4 xd4+ 20.xd4 f6 21.d1 d3+ 22.xd3 xd4+ 23.g2 xc3 24.bxc3 cxd6 25.xg6 hxg6 26.xd6 xa3 27.xb6 Carlsson, AKuehnrich, H ICCF corr 1982 and Black e n d e d a p a wn u p a l t h o u g h W h i t e h a s reasonable drawing chances.) 17...xg3+ 18.hxg3 xg3+ 19.e2 ( 19.d2 xa1 20.xa1 f4+ 21.e2 xd4 also gives Black draw odds in the position.) 19...xe5+ 20.f3 h5+ 21.xh5 xh5+ 22.f2 h4+ ( 22...h2+ 23.g2 xa1 24.xa1 xd6 25.ce2 xb4 26.xb7 d8 leaves a peculiar material balance. Black's ro o k a n d f o u r p a wn s l o o k t o o u t we i g h White's three minor pieces as White's king is still insecure.) 23.g2 xa1 24.xa1 xd4 25.dxc7 g4+ 26.h1 e8 27.b5 h4+ 1/2-1/2 Flor Trejo, R-Rain, R ICCF email 2004 saw White survive but we can hardly call this an opening success. ] 16.d7+?! Playing this kind of position perfectly is basically impossible but nevertheless this gives Black back her clear advantage. Perhaps this gives White a clue - that these positions with such a vulnerable king should not be tried. [ 16.f2! was best when White takes the advantage although Black still has good co m p en sa tio n . xe5 ( 16...0-0 17.f3 is the point.) 17.gxh4 0-0-0 ( 17...d3+ 18.xd3 xd4+ 19.g2 xd3 20.e1+! is the difference to the game.) 18.f3 c5+ 19.d4 xd4+ 20.xd4 xd6 21.f3 sees White successfully exchange queens and thus he can start trying to utilise his extra piece. ] 564

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16...d8 17.f2 xe5 18.gxh4 d3+! 19.xd3 xd4+ 20.g2 xd3?! Keeping the queens on is rather foolish. [ 20...xd3 looks sensible as Black is now actually material up! ] 21.e1 So the difference between this position and the previous one seen in the notes is that Black is a pawn up rather than a pawn down (after a subsequent capture on c7) while the d7 pawn gives the king some protection. h5 [ 21...f5 might be a better method of exchanging queens on g4 as e4 is also now controlled. Following 22.h1 Black can exchange into a great endgame with e4+ 23.xe4 xd1 24.exd1 fxe4 ] 22.h1 d6 Of course Black is still clearly be t t e r a n d t hu s we ca n sa y t h a t W h it e 's opening was a failure. I think 12 Bxb6 has seen its day. 23.d2 c4 [ 23...f5! is more accurate. ] 24.g2 c6 25.e4 d5 26.ad1 xe4 27.xe4 The last few moves have let Black's advantage slip as the d7 pawn now promises W h i t e d e c e n t c o m p e n s a t i o n . a4?! And this throws away the rest of the advantage. [ 27...a5! would have kept Black on top. ] 28.b4! Perhaps Cmilyte missed this rather obvious counter. Now the Black rook finds itself sidelined. b5?? And this loses. [ 28...f5 was necessary when 29.g5+ f6 30.xh5 g6 31.e8+ xe8 32.dxe8+ xe8 33.e1+ f8 34.h6+ f7 35.h7+ f8 36.h6+ would end as a draw. ] 29.g5+! f6 30.d5?! [ 30.e3! and Black cannot prevent Re8+ in the long term. c6 31.g1 g6+ 32.f1 f5+ 33.e1+- ] 30...c6 31.e5 e6 32.d4 d6 33.g1 c6 34.g5+ f6 35.e3 Finally Velimirovic finds the win. c6 36.g1 g6+ 37.f1 f5+ 38.e1 xe4 39.xe4 a6 40.xb7 Despite the final result White's position out of the opening was fairly lousy so I don't think we'll see much more of this rare attempt. 1-0

558 Vetemaa,Juri Shabalov,Alexander USSR [Alexander Volzhin]

B03

1986

O n e o f t h e m o st in t e r e st i n g l i n e s i n t h e Alekhine's is the Four Pawns Attack. Some experts believe it's the most dangerous for Black. But in practice White chooses it rather infrequently, probably due to the necessity of knowing mountains of variations. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5!? This move leads to a very sharp game. This is why it is often played by such brilliant tacticians as Lubomir Ljubojevic and Alex Shabalov. Although a lot of games have been played in this line, the last word has not been said yet. 7.d5 e6 8.c3 [ The seemingly strong 8.d6 has a tactical refutation: h4+ 9.g3 e4+ 10.e2 xh1 11.f3 White hopes to trap Black's Queen, but Black has good chances to escape. c6! ( 11...xc4 is bad, af ter 12.bd2! xd2 13.xd2 g6 14.c2 c6 15.g2 b4+ 16.b3 the Queen is trapped) 12.bd2 d7! ( 12...d4 13.xd4 cxd4 14.f3 xc4 15.f2 e3 16.xe3 dxe3+ 17.xe3 d7 18.c1 c8 19.xc8+ xc8 20.xa7 xd6 21.b5+ e7 22.exd6+ xd6 23.b6+ ) 13.f2 dxe5! 14.xe5 xh2+ 15.g2 d4 16.d1 xd6 17.f1 Now the Queen really is trapped, but White h a s p a i d t o o h i g h a p r i c e f o r i t ! xg2+ 18.xg2 xe5 with a decisive advantage for Black. Bent Larsen once opined that he didn't like lengthy variations, as they always contain mistakes. I tend to share his scepticism, but sometimes we can't do without them! ] 8...exd5 9.cxd5 c4 The critical position. W hite has a wide choice of continuations. Besides the text, white has tried some other moves. 10.a3 [ 10.f4 b4 11.xc4 xc4 12.a4+ c6 13.dxc6 xb2-+ leads white nowhere: black wins ] [ 10.d4 c6 11.e4 b4 12.a3 ( 12.d6 g6 with the idea of Bf5 is too dangerous for white ) 12...4xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.xc4 c7 16.e3 e6 565

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 led to equality in Chokiltea-Luboevic,1971 ] played 3.f4 at this point, but after c5! [ 10.d6 has been played very rarely, but is a Black gets a favourable variation of the 2. very interesting move. One example: c6 f4 Sicilian (2...Nf 6 3.e5?!). ( In my view it 11.f3 ( 11.f4!? ) 11...g4 12.f4 g5! would be very dangerous to accept the pawn the introduction to a brilliant combination as after 3...xf4 4.d4 g6 5.h4 13.e4 W h a t e l s e ? ( 13.g3 g7 White threatens to win Black's knight with h4and white's centre is in danger) 13...gxf4!! h5.; 3...d6 4.d4 would transpose back into 14.f6+ xf6 15.exf6 0-0-0 with a big the game. )] advantage for Black in Paunovic -Mrserovic, 3...d6 4.f4 f5 5.f3 e6 6.d3 xd3 1982 ] [ Black has also tried 6...g4 but this looks [ 10.f3 is considered to be the main line. prom isin g f o r W h ite af te r 7.0-0 dxe5 We'll see this move in the next game. ] ( 7...e7 8.h3 h5 9.e4 c6 10.c4 10...c5 The first achievement for black: white b6?? 11.exd6 f6 12.c5 Maciejewski cannot castle kingside. 11.f3 0-0 12.e2 Malek, Rzeszow 1977) 8.fxe5 c5 9.h3 h5 f5! Now queenside castling is very 10.c4 b6 11.e4 c6 12.d5 xf3 dangerous for white, but he has no choice, as 13.xf3 xe5 14.g3 with a strong attack keeping the king in the centre is even worse. for W hite in Reeh - Ruehrig, German Ch 13.g5 d7 14.d2 h6 15.f4 a6 1987 ] 16.0-0-0 ac8 17.h3 a4! Black completes [ 6...g6 7.0-0 e7 8.c4 b6 9.c3 0-0 his development and begins a direct attack. 10.h1 c5 11.d5 exd5 12.cxd5 xd3 18.d4 White misses a fantastic blow, but he 13.xd3 left White with a massive centre in is in trouble anyway. xd4 19.xd4 6c5 Pyhala - Salokangas, Tampere 1990 ] 20.xc4 b5!! Unbelievable! When I see 7.xd3 e7 There is a strong argument for such moves I'm proud of how wonderful chess trying for some immediate counterplay: is! Mate on b2 is threatened, and taking the [ 7...c6 envisages counterplay on the d-file, Queen leads to mate in one 21.d2 after 8.0-0 B l a c k p l a y s d7 with the [ 21.xb5 b3# ] intention of castling long. Reeh - Hartmann, [ 21.xb5 b3# ] Bundesliga 1984-85 continued 9.a3 e7 [ 21.b4 b3+ 22.xb3 xc3+-+ winning ] 10.c4 ( 10.d1 dxe5 11.fxe5 0-0-0 12.b4 21...xc3 a6 13.bd2 f4 14.f1 xd4 [ 21...xc3 22.xc3 ( 22.bxc3 b1# ) won a pawn in Zichichi - Saidy, Venic e 22...b3+ 23.xb3 xb3 ] 1969 ) 10...b6 11.exd6 cxd6 12.b4 f6 0-1 13.bd2 a6 14.e4 d5 15.xf6+ gxf6 16.c5 c4 with a complex struggle in prospect. ] 559 B03 [ B l a c k ' s o t h e r a c t i v e m o v e i s 7...c5!? but after 8.0-0 c6 he must face a very Vitolinsh,Alvis dangerous possibility in 9.f5!? . In Georgiev Shmit,Anatoly Kr - Petkov, Bulgarian Ch., Bankja 1992 USSR URS 1976 White won the exchange after ( the relatively [Nigel Davies] tame 9.c3 dxe5 10.fxe5 e7 11.dxc5 xc5+ 12.h1 ce7 13.e2 also left If W hite wants a relatively unexplored White with a nice space edge in Kupreichik attacking line against the Alekhine, he could Kaunas, Prague 1990) 9...cxd4 10.fxe6 do far worse than try the so-called Vitolinsh fxe6 11.g5 d7 12.h3 0-0-0 13.f7 Variation. Recently it has been championed by e7 14.exd6 xd6 15.g5 etc. ] the Belorus GM, Viktor Kupreichik. In this [ Black can preclude this f4-f5 idea by first game we see a solid approach by Black, e xc h a n gi n g o n e 5 . B u t in K u p r e i c h i k though one which may leave W hite with an P u ra n e n , J yva s kyl a 1 9 9 1 W h i t e h a d a advantage in space. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 t y p i c a l s p a c e a d v a n t a g e a f t e r 7...dxe5 3.d4 8.fxe5 c5 9.0-0 e7 10.dxc5 c6 11.h1 [ The South African amateur Arnie Witkin has 566

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 etc. ] 8.c4 [ It is quite unnecessary to prepare this move. In Maciejewski - Schmidt W, Polanica Zdroj 1 9 7 6 , W h i t e p la ye d 8.0-0 0-0 9.a3 but after c5 10.c4 c7 11.c3 cxd4 12.e4 d5 13.cxd5 xd5 14.fg5 g6 Black had a good game ( 15.h3 is met by h5 16.g4 g7 17.gxh5 h8 etc). ] 8...b4 [ Black should probably avoid trying to exploit the 'omission' of a2-a3 by White and simply 8...b6 Now he gets problems with his bpawn. ] 9.b3 dxe5 10.fxe5 b5 An attempt to take control of some light squares, but it creates serious weaknesses in Black's camp. [ 10...a5 is better, intending to meet 11.a3 with a4 ] 11.cxb5 c6 12.d2 [ According to Gipslis, White could also have played 12.a3 d5 13.xd5 xd5 14.bxc6 xc6 15.c3 with a good extra pawn. ] 12...d5 13.xd5 xd5 14.c3 [ And here too White should probably be greedy with 14.bxc6 xc6 15.c3 cb4 16.e2 etc. ] 14...xc3 15.bxc3 cxb5 16.a4 bxa4 17.xa4 c6 18.a6 d7 In addition to the weakness of his a-pawn problems, Black's king is now vulnerable. [ 18...b8 19.a4 c6 was better, when Black is still on the board. ] 19.0-0 f6 20.exf6 gxf6 [ And here 20...xf6 was probably a better try. ] 21.c4 hc8 22.fa1 c7 23.d5 d8 [ Gipslis also analysed 23...c5+ 24.h1 d8 25.a5! b7 26.dxe6+ xe6 27.d1+ e7 28.e1 b6 29.xb6 xb6 30.xb6 axb6 31.d4 as winning for White, though here I should point out that f7! 32.xe6 ( 32.xe6?? a1+ ) 32...e8 saves the day. W as this Black's last chance? ] 24.e3 xc4 25.dxe6+ e8 [ 25...xe6 26.d1+ wins a piece. ] 26.d4 c5 27.g4 e5 28.f5 xe6 29.xa7 xa7 30.xa7 d8 31.g2 Bla ck 's po sition is t ru ly ho rrif ic. I n time trouble he cracks. h5? 32.d4 e4 33.f3

e1 34.gxh5 c6 35.h6! f1+ 36.e4 1-0

560 Volokitin,Andrei Ivanchuk,Vassily Aerosvit GM Foros UKR (8) [John Cox]

B03 2660 2731 25.06.2006

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 7.h3 One way of doing it Bd3/Nge2 is another system and another way is Be2/Nf3, just allowing the pin with ...Bg4. [ Korchnoi's 7.f3 is also an option. ] 7...0-0 8.f3 f6 9.e2 A pretty common position in which Black's next few moves are invariably ...Bf5, ...Re8 and ....Nc6 (actually more often than not Black plays some or all of these moves before ...Bf6) but Ivanchuk as so often has his own ideas. e6!? A novelty as far as I can see, and perhaps rather a v a l u a b l e o n e . 10.d5 It's surprising how annoying it is to defend the c-pawn. [ 10.b3 d5 11.c5 c8 12.0-0 c6 13.e3 would transpose into a position which is frequently met in the old main line where W hite allows ... Bg4, with the difference that then it is White's turn to move, since Black has played ....Bg4 (forcing b3) and then been obliged to meet a later h3 with .... Be6 for the reasons explained in Starting Out: Alekhine's Defence (p. 116, for those of you who very sensibly keep this magnificent wo rk b y yo u r b e d s, a n d I a lso su gge s t looking up the game Kurajica-Hort, 1971 or so, to show why ... Bxf3 is not so good). ] [ 10.b3 a5 11.a4 a6 is also a bit annoying. ] 10...xc3+ 11.bxc3 d7 [ 11...f5 is clearly an alternative, and indeed keeping d7 free for the moment has an obvious appeal. ] 12.0-0 a6 13.g5 f6 14.e3 c5 15.e1 e8 16.f1 e7 17.d4 Everyone has played terribly natural moves up to here, and Black looks fine to me. This move and White's next form a not terribly successful manoeuvre. I'm afraid though that I don't really know what to suggest instead. Black's ominously solid 567

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and it's not at all easy to say what W hite ought to play, although he shouldn't be worse. f8 18.b5 xb5 19.cxb5 ae8 20.a4 f5 [ An alternative method of obtaining counterplay against W hite's queensid e initiative was 20...f7 21.c4 e4 22.c2 g6 23.c3 ( 23.a5 xc4 24.xc4 xe3 ) 23...bd7 , but Ivanchuk's is more reliable, gaining eternal control of e5. ] 21.a5 [ After 21.g3 probably Black reverts to the m e t h o d o u t l i n e d i n t h e l a s t n o t e f7 ( 21...f4?! 22.gxf4 f7 23.c4 e4 24.c2 is not so good) 22.c4 g6 can lead to the splendid tactical line 23.a5 xc4 24.xc4 xe3 25.xe3 xe3 26.fxe3 xg3+ 27.f1 xh3+ 28.g1 xe3+ 29.g2 e4+ 30.f3 xc4 31.xf5 when Black has a material advantage, but I'm not at all sure how easy he's going to find it to convert. ] 21...f4 22.d2 xe1 23.xe1 bd7 24.f3 White comes to regret this, and it does look a bit of a nervous reaction. .... f 3 certainly wasn't a threat just yet. f6 25.c1 b6 26.axb6 axb6 27.f2 h6 28.d4 g5 29.c4 f6 30.a1 I'm not sure about this position. The computer slightly likes W hite Ivanchuk makes it look like a forced win for Black. Obviously we need a Fritz-Ivanchuk m a t c h u p yo u 'd s a y t h e t r u t h i s p ro b a b l y somewhere in between since actually it's not too hard to isolate where Volokitin goes wrong in what follows. h5 31.a7 e7 32.c2 g3 33.a1 g5 34.h2 f7 35.g1 d7 36.h2 e5 37.f2 g6 38.d3 h4 39.a7 e7 White to play and draw only one move will do, I think..... 40.a8? ..... and this isn't it: [ 40.d1 xg2 41.xg2 e4+ 42.f1 xf2 43.xf2 g3+ is no better ] [ b u t t h e w a y t o d e f e n d w a s 40.a1 , s o a s t o m e e t gf5 by ( 40...xg2 41.xg2 e4+ achieves nothing with f2 still defended ) 41.xh4 when xh4 ( 41...xh4 42.e4 is no better since the knight is trapped ) 42.xf5 g3+ 43.h1 e1+ is only a draw - this is the point of covering the first rank ] 40...gf5! [ No doubt Volokitin was expecting only

40...hf5 , but there is no threat then ...Ne3 is met by Bg6+ winning in view of ...Qxg6 Rf8+. ] 41.f1 [ 41.xh4 xh4! 42.a1 g3+ 43.g1 e1+ 44.xe1 xe1+ 45.h2 e3 is very uncomfortable also I don't see a forced win but it's hard to see W hite surviving, especially since after any queen exchange the Black king will cruise in via e5 and d4. ] 41...e3 42.xe3 fxe3 43.e2 f5 44.a2 f4+ 45.g1 d4 46.h2 e5+ 47.f4 xf4+ 48.g1 g3 49.d3 e4 50.e2 d4 51.b1 d2 A classy game by Ivanchuk: it's not easy to make Volokitin look so powerless. It's clear though that Black has an important new weapon in his armoury in t h i s va r i a t i o n , a n d i f c o u r s e i t ' s a l w a y s encouraging to see a player of Ivanchuk's class willing to play the opening. 0-1

561 Volokitin,Andrei Nogueiras Santiago,Jesus 36th Olympiad (11) [Andrew Martin]

B03 2652 2546 26.10.2004

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 There has been a lot of interest in t h e A l e k h i n e r e c e n t l y. T h e V o r o n e z h variation has been responsible for the decline in popularity of 5...cxd6 although whether that can be fully justified is debatable. So we see another example of 5...exd6 here, a solid move without especial pretensions. Black sets up a position which is difficult to break down. 6.c3 e7 7.h3 0-0 8.d3 [ White usually develops his King's Knight first: 8.f3 e8 ( 8...c5!? is an interesting strike: 9.d5 f6 10.d3 e8+ 11.e3 xc3+ 12.bxc3 f6 13.c2 h6 14.a4 a6 15.b1 b8 16.a5 d7 17.0-0 e5! 18.xe5 xe5 19.d2 c7 20.f4 e7 21.c2 f8 Pavasovic,D-Varga,Z/ Zalaegerszeg HUN 2004 Black has a marked structural advantage but remains cramped. If he can solve his development problems he will surely be better.; 8...f5 568

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.e2 c6 10.d5 a5 11.b3 f6 12.b2 c6 13.0-0 cxd5 14.cxd5 c8 15.c1 d7 16.d2 e5 17.d4 g6 Pavasovic, DKantorik,M/Deizisau GER 2004 Once again Black is cramped, the story of this line.) 9.e2 f6 10.0-0 f5 11.b3 c6 ( 11...a6!? 12.e3 c6 13.d2 h6 14.a4 d7 15.a5 f8 16.a4 e6 17.b4 c8 18.c1 d5 19.b5 ac5 The manoeuvering o f t h e B l a c k K n i g h t s sh o u ld b e n o t e d . 20.dxc5 d4 21.a6 bxa6 22.xd4 xd4 23.xa6 b3 24.b2 xc1 25.xc1 d4 Rainfray,A-Janev,E/BC Masters, Bois Colombes FRA 2003) 12.e3 d5 13.c5 c8 14.a3 e4 15.b4 a6 16.b5 ( 16.d2 ) 16...axb5 17.xb5 a5 18.f4 e7 19.e5 c6 20.c3 g6 21.e1 e8 22.d3 xe5 Kuba,G-Novkovic,M/TCh-AUT 2 0 0 3 A s l o n g a s B l a ck ca n re l ie v e h i s p o s it i o n wi t h s u it a b l e e xc h a n ge s I a m reasonably happy to recommend 5...exd6. ] 8...e8 9.ge2 An unusual placement for the Kingside pieces, but quite effective. White is trying to take the sting out of Black's Bishop on c8. Let's say Black manages to exchange light-squared bishops. Then the f5 and b5 squares become weak. It's a counterplay thing. g5 10.0-0 xc1 11.xc1 c6 12.a3 d7?! This seems to me to be the source of Black's problems. He has to aim for exchanges and/or counterplay to ease his position. Thus [ 12...g5 was indicated and now: 13.f4 ( 13.e4 h6 14.c5 dxc5 15.dxc5 d7 16.b4 de5 ) 13...e7! ( 13...f6 14.c5! dxc5 15.dxc5 d7 16.d5 d8 17.c2 ) 14.d5 xd5 15.cxd5 d8 16.c2 h6 17.h2 ] 13.b4 f6 14.c2 d7 Very modest. 15.fd1 e7 16.d5 g6 17.d4 W h it e h a s a s m all e dge bu t t he p o sit io n should be manageable. h5 [ 17...f4 18.e1 ( 18.f1 a5 ) 18...a5 19.xe8+ xe8 20.f3 xd3 21.xd3 axb4 22.axb4 c8 23.e1 f5 doesn't seem too bad for Black although he's still a bit worse. After the W hite Queen moves, the Bishop on f5 has limited potential. ] 18.d2 e5 [ 18...hf4 19.xg6 g5 ( 19...xg6

20.c5 ) 20.xh7+ xh7 21.g3 xh3+ 22.g2 ] 19.f1 h4 [ 19...a5! opens up another front and as this is a risk-free way of bringing the a8 Rook into the game I think it's the move I prefer. After 20.e1 axb4 21.axb4 f6 22.c5 f4 Black is alright. ] 20.g3 f6 21.c5! It turns out that White does not have to worry too much about Black's kin g sid e p re ssu r e . I n st e a d h e p la ys t h e thematic queenside lever and Nogueira s im m e dia t ely co m e s u n de r pre ssu re . g6 22.g2 dxc5 23.bxc5 ad8 24.c2 h6 25.cb5 f6 [ 25...xb5 26.xb5 d7 27.d6 ] [ 25...c8 26.xa7 a8 27.ab5+- ] 26.xc7 xh3 27.xe8 Why not? xe8 28.e1 fg4 29.f4 xg2 30.xg2 The short-term threats against the White King could not compensate for White's queenside potential and Nogueiras went quickly down. Black must solve this particular riddle. Perhaps, as indicated, a well-timed .. .a7-a5 is the answer. 1-0

562 Volzhin,Alexander Svechnikov,Leonid Russia [Alexander Volzhin]

B03

1988

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 g6 8.f4 g7 9.c3 0-0 10.d2 White prepares Q-side castling. The alternatives are: [ 10.d3 e6 11.d6 This tempting move is not normally good for White as in all lines Black creates pressure against the e5-pawn: c6 12.f3 d7 13.e2 d4! 14.xd4 cxd4 15.b5 a5+ 16.d2 b6 17.b4 xe5 18.c5 xd3+ 19.xd3 c6 20.0-0 e5 and Black was better in Ciuffoletti-Sedina, Saint Vincent 1998. ] [ 10.e2 e6 11.f3 exd5 12.cxd5 g4! Black creates pressure against the e5-pawn. 13.0-0 8d7 14.e1 xf3 15.xf3 xe5! 16.xe5 e8 17.f2 xe5 18.xc5 c8 19.f2 xc3 20.bxc3 xc3 21.ad1 d6 569

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and W hite has nothing for the pawn, Moraru-Grunberg, Bucharest 1999. ] 10...e6 11.0-0-0 exd5 12.cxd5 g4! [ 12...c4 is le s s p r e ci s e : 13.f3 g4 14.h6! After the exchange of dark-square bishops Black ha s no counterplay. xf3 15.xg7 xd1 This move looses immediately but after ( 15...xg7 16.gxf3 Black's position is joyless anyway.) 16.f6! and Black soon resigned, SolomonKanikevich, Sydney 1991. ] [ 12...8d7 is no good either: 13.f3 e8 14.e1 with a clear edge for White since Black didn't create pressure on W hite's centre. ] 13.e1! Up to this I was following a book recommendation. I was quite satisfied with the opening as according to the book "White was clearly better". But my opponent had something in mind. [ 13.f3 i s w e a k e r i n v i e w o f 8d7 intending 14...Re8 and it's not clear how White can hold the e5-pawn. ] 13...c4! This strong move which prepares a pawn sacrifice changes the evaluation of the position. 14.h3 [ Here 14.h6 is not good: xh6 15.xh6 xd5 16.h3 f5 17.d1 xc3! ( 17...d3!? is not bad either.) 18.xd8 xa2+ 19.d2 xd8+ with a huge edge for Black. ] 14...f5 15.g4 d3! 16.xd3 cxd3 17.xd3 a6! Black is a pawn down but the compensation is obvious: he leads in development, his Knights are very active and W h it e 's K in g is u n saf e . No w 1 8 . . . Nb 4 is t h r e a t e n e d . 18.d6 c8 19.b1 c4! Black already creates concrete threats. Now White has to parry 20...Qb6. [ 19...c5 as was played in IlincicMarinkovic, Vrnjacka Banja 1989 is weaker: 20.e2 e6 21.g3 c4 22.f3 a5 , although even here the position is not clear at all. ] 20.d5 Forced but now White's King has no defenders at all. a5! 21.e7+ h8 22.f3 c5 [ 22...xb2!? is worthy of consideration: 23.xb2 b4 24.b3 c2+ 25.b1 xa2 and the attack is very strong. ] 23.h4? To tell the truth I'd completely missed

Black's reply. Already after 20 moves both players had consumed a lot of time. [ 23.b3 was obligatory: xb2 24.d2 (the only move). a4 25.e3 b5 26.xa4 xa4+ 27.b3 xb3+ 28.axb3 4c5 wi t h m u t u a l c h a n c e s i n a c o m p l i c a t e d endgame. ] 23...xa2+! Not difficult to spot but non et heless a tt ractive . 24.xa2 b4+ 25.b3! The only move as will become clear later. xd3 It may seem that gross material losses are unavoidable for White, but still I h a ve m a n y i n t e r e s t i n g r e s o u r c e s . 26.h5! The only chance to f ight. Now all W hite's pieces are hanging and in time trouble it's not easy for Black to decide which one to take! gxh5? Black miscalculates and misses the win. In fairness it was not easy to find the correct solution! Let's see the variations: [ 26...xe1 27.hxg6 fxg6 28.xg6+ g8 29.e7+ h8 30.g6+ g8 31.e7+ and Black can't avoid triple repetition since after f7 32.xe1 it is White who has winning chances. ] [ Only 26...xf4! 27.hxg6 fxg6! was winning, and W hite has nothing for the piece ( B y t h e wa y , 27...xg6? is even losing! 28.xh7+! xh7 29.h1+ h6 30.g5+ g7 31.f5+ g8 32.xh6+ g7 33.f5+ g8 34.h7 d2+ 35.b4 c4+ 36.a3 b1+ 37.a2 d8 38.g7+ f8 39.xf7+ g8 40.h6+ h8 41.h7# )] 27.xh5 xf4 [ 27...xe1 was possible but it only leads to a drawish ending after the forced 28.g5 h6 29.d7! a5+ 30.a2 c6 31.xc6 bxc6 32.d8! xd8 33.xf7+ h7 34.xd8 d3 35.e6! xh5 36.gxh5 f6 37.c7 ] 28.xh7+! Forced but strong! xh7 29.h1+ h6 30.g5+ g7 31.f5+ g6 By playing 26...gxh6 Black calculated this far t h in kin g t h e f igh t wa s o ve r. Ho we ve r a n u n p le a s a n t su r p ri s e a wa i t s h i m . 32.h7! d2+ If White had played 25 Kb1 it would n o w b e m a t e i n t w o ! 33.a4 xh7 Black can't avoid perpetual. [ An attempt to play for a win is dangerous for Black: 33...c4+ 34.b4 h5? 35.xh5 xg4 36.xh6+ xf5 37.xf8 xe5 38.d7+! f5 39.f6+ e4 40.c5+ e5 570

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 41.d7 and Black is in trouble. ] 34.xh6+ g8 35.e7+ g7 36.f5+ g8 37.e7+ A very exciting game! ½-½

[ 21.c5 was played in K Martin-Cox - see the Archives. ] 21...c6 22.c4?! [ 22.a4! is a good idea here as well because ...a5 is not an option and 4d5 23.c1! d7 24.xb6! xb6 25.a5 c8 26.c7 is no fun. ] 563 B03 Yandemirov,Valeri 2461 22...xc4 23.xc4 xa2 24.g5 e8 Konnov,Oleg 2325 25.e4 a5 26.d6 c3 Black has levelled 27.d2 a4 28.bxa4 xa4 6th ch-PriFO Men (5) 27.01.2008 the game. 29.xe8 xc4 30.d8 f8 31.b8 c6 [John Watson] 32.g5 f6 33.xf6+ f7 34.b7+ f8 I thought that White had a good game here, 35.b8+ f7 36.b7+ f8 37.d7+ g8 but Black can improve earlier, so it turns out 38.h4 h6 39.e3 d5 40.b8+ h7 that I haven't added much at all to what has 41.c5 f4 42.f8+ xf8 43.xf8 c1+ been said in the Archives! With care, Black 44.h2 c2 45.b7+ g8 46.xh6 xf2 e q u a l i s e s a f t e r 1 6 c x b 6 . M a y b e t h e 47.xf4 xf4 alternatives to that move beat re-examination, ½-½ and 14 Ne4 deserves another look. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 B03 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 564 The main move. Our other game features 9... Yudasin,Leonid 2475 Nc6. 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 Kengis,Edvins 2430 6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 USSR Minsk (15) 1985 [ Oddly enough, 14.e4 is underexplored in [Alexander Volzhin] comparison with 14 Nf3. I think it has the p o t e n t i a l t o b e m o r e f r u i t f u l t h a n t h e 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 conventional move. ] 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c6 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 14...a5 15.e2 b6 16.cxb6 In the end this 9.f3 e7 This is the main line. 10.e2 gets nowhere. Possible, but in my opinion it's hardly [ There's a quick draw after 16.b5!? bxc5 consistent : after choosing the very sharp 17.g5 f6 18.d2 b7 19.c7 b8 Four Pawns attack white switches to slow 20.c4+ h8 21.e6 e8 22.c7= ] positional play. [ In the Archives, John Cox has analysed [ 10.d5 is considered to be White's main 16.b4 ] weapon. See the next games for it. ] [ 16.0-0 ] 10...0-0 11.0-0 f6! The correct plan: Black [ and 16.a4 . I'm not quite sure that Black undermines White's pawn chain. 12.exf6 has full equality after the last two, but it's [ 12.h4?! is not good: fxe5 13.xf5 exf5 certainly close enough to be within drawing 14.d5 d4! ( W hite hoped for 14...b8 bounds. ] 15.c5 with ample compensation) 15.xd4 16...xb6 This position has been considered exd4 16.xd4 d7! Now Black dominates equal. 17.0-0 b7 18.fd1 c6?! the dark squares. 17.h1 ( 17.a4 b5! [ 18...xd1+ 19.xd1 c8 20.b5 d5 18.cxb5 d6! At the cost of only one pawn is fine according to Cox. Then White seems Bla ck h a s go t a st ro n g kin gsid e a t t a c k to get just a little something out of 21.d2 19.ae1 e7 20.d3 e5 21.h1 f4 c2 22.d3 xa2 23.b4 , but then comes 22.e2 ae8 23.c3 h4 Spielmann e4! 24.xe4 c4 25.e1 cb6 Kolle, Dortmund, 1928.) 17...c5 18.d3 and there's no more doubt about equality. ] g5 19.b5 ae8 20.xc7 e3 21.e6 19.b5 xd1+ 20.xd1 b4 21.d6 h6 22.xc5 xc5 23.c2 e4 24.g1 [ Here Cox claims that 21.a4 "would have b6 25.h1 f6 26.f3 xf3 27.xf3 left White decidedly better." ] g3+ Arakelov - Bagirov, 1960. ] 571

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12...xf6 Now both sides have weaknesses (d4 and e6). In my opinion the position is about equal. 13.d2 e7 14.ad1 ad8 15.c1 h6 16.h3 h7 17.fe1 h8 18.f1 f7 19.h1 c8! Black improves the position of his only bad piece. 20.f2 d6 21.a3 e5 22.c5 exd4 23.xd4 xd4 24.xd4 xd4 25.xd4 f5 26.xd8 xd8 27.f4 ½-½

565 Zaragatski,Ilja Baburin,Alexander 23rd ECC Men (7) [John Watson]

B03 2471 2545 09.10.2007

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 c6 7.h3 f5 8.e3 e7 9.f3 f6 10.b3 h6 11.e2 [ 11.d3 xd3 ( 11...d7 12.0-0 0-0 13.b1 xd3 14.xd3 is almost the same ) 12.xd3 leaves White with a solid space advantage. Most players wouldn't want to play this kind of as Black, although nothing terrible should befall him. ] 11...d5 12.c5 c8 13.0-0 0-0 14.d2 8e7 15.e1?! [ 15.h2! is a better way to mobilise the pawns, as will soon become clear. Then h7? ( 15...b6 16.cxb6 axb6 17.g4 xg4 18.xg4 with the bishop pair) 16.g4! is very strong. ] 15...h7 16.g4!? g5? This is anti-positional in the extreme. [ Neither 17 f4 nor 17 g5 are real threats, so moves like 16...b6 ] [ or 16...e8! are preferable. In the latter case, 17.f4? is terrible following f5! 18.gxf5 xe3 and another pawn will fall. ] 17.g2 [ Now 17.f4! gxf4 18.xf4 is very promising, because g5? 19.f1 ( 19.f3 xe3+ 20.xe3 g7 21.g2 ) 19...xe3+ 20.xe3 g7 21.g2 leaves Black with too many weaknesses. ] 17...g7 18.f4 f5!? 19.f3 [ White is still on top, and better is 19.fxg5 hxg5 20.xg5 xd4+ 21.h1 ] 19...d7 20.e2?

[ 20.fxg5 ] 20...fxg4 21.hxg4? h5! This turns the tide completely now W hite stands much worse! 22.g3 [ 22.gxh5?? g4 ] 22...hxg4 23.e2 gxf4 24.xf4 ae8 25.fh5 f5! 26.xf5 xf5 27.xg7 xg7 28.xf5 xf5 29.b5?! e4? [ 29...e6! , to cover h6 so that ...Be4 and ... Qh7 can follow. ] 30.xc6 bxc6 31.f4? [ 31.h6 g6 32.g5! ] 31...g3 [ Black wins with 31...h8! 32.h6 e6 33.g5+ h7 ] [ or 31...e6 ] 32.e5 g6? [ 32...xe5! 33.dxe5 xe5 threatens ...Qh5 and ...Qf6-f3, so 34.e1 f6 35.xe4 dxe4 is forced, when Black is winning. ] 33.f4! g2 34.e1!? f8 35.h2 f5 0-1. [ I don't think that White should resign yet: 35...f5 36.g3+ ( 36.h8+? f7 ) 36...f7 37.f4! xf4 38.xf4 with opposite-coloured bishops which should give W hite some chances. Time trouble seemed to mar this game, but the opening was very interesting. ] 0-1

566 Zilberstein,Dmitry Baburin,Alexander 2nd Konig Mem [John Watson]

B03 2410 2559 15.07.2007

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f4 dxe5 [ The actual order of Olape-Baburin below was 5...f5 6.c3 e6 7.f3 e7 8.e2 ( a good result as Black was 8.e3 0-0 9.e2 Yermolinsky-Baburin, San Francisco 2002! ) 8...dxe5 9.fxe5 0-0 10.e3 f6 11.0-0 c6 12.exf6 xf6 a roundabout way to get to the main line I don't see any brilliant options for either side, at least none that are listed in the books, but they might be worth searching for. ] 6.fxe5 c6 [ Early on, Alex experimented with the line 572

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6...c5 7.d5 e6 8.c3 exd5 9.cxd5 c4 versus Yuri Shulman in San Francisco 2001. The game ended peacefully after the known pawn sacrifice 10.f3 b4 11.xc4 xc3+ 12.bxc3 xc4 13.a4+ d7 14.xc4 b6 15.b5+ d7 16.xd7+ xd7 17.d6 c8 Cox calls equal (based upon this game?). 18.d2 b5 19.d4 ( 19.f2 is the computer suggestion - isn't W hite just better?) 19...d3 1/2-1/2 . ut again, 20 Kf2 or 20 h4! with the idea Rh3 keeps an advantage, if not quite as convincing a one. ] 7.e3 f5 8.c3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.exf6 xf6 13.d2 The latest game in this line: 1/2-1/2 SvidlerBaburin, Bunratty 2008! e7 14.ad1 [ The fact that Baburin had trouble scaring up winning chances in the following game m ig h t r e f le c t a g e n e r a l p ro b l e m i n t h e Alekhine: 14.c5 d5 15.xd5 exd5 16.b5 d8 17.f4 e6 18.e5 e4 19.xf6 xf6 20.e5 f4 21.f2 g5 22.d7 f6 23.g3 af8 24.af1 g2 25.gxf4 xf4 26.e6+ h8 27.f7+ 8xf7 28.xf7 h3+ 29.h1 g2+ 30.g1 h3+ 31.h1 g2+ 32.g1 1/2-1/2 Olape, B (2216)-Baburin, A (2580)/Bled SLO 2002/ The Week in Chess 418 ] 14...ad8 15.c1 [ I gave some analysis to the rare move 15.h1 in my note s to Dushin-Siewert, Email 2003. It may be W hite's best shot for advantage. ] 15...h6 [ In the same game, I looked at the move 15...e5! in combination with the analysis provided by Mark Morss. Black seems to fully equalise, although it should be noted that he has to accede to extremely dull equality to do so, including a drawn endgame. ] 16.h1 I suggested and analysed [ 16.f2 (!), which I think should give White an edge. ] 16...h8 17.h3 g6 18.b3 a6 19.g1 d7 20.fe1 f7 21.f1 e7 22.fe1 f7 23.f1 [ And here I think that 23.d3! gives White the advantage. So one issue here is whether, as a higher-rated player, you can afford to play 15...h6, even if it seems unpleasant, or

if you really have to play 15...e5! and secure a draw in a line where it is hard for White to go wrong. I guess versus Svidler as Black, it's hard to complain! ] ½-½

567 Zubarev,Al1 Aloma Vidal,Roberto Acropolis Open (5) [John Watson]

B03 2517 2388 13.08.2008

Again, the Voronezh. This game demonstrates how important concrete preparation is even in such an apparently 'positional' line. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.f3 c6 14.c4 The most popular of White's setups. Black goes into the main line. a5 15.e2 [ We've looked at the odd idea 15.b5 c6! before Black seems to hold his own. ] 15...b6 16.cxb6 xb6 A key position. 17.0-0 [ 17.b5 b7 18.0-0 ( 18.xa7 d5 was analysed by Cox in his New in Chess Article about the Voronezh it seems as though Black has enough compensation, e.g. , he gives 19.b5 c6 20.a4 e4 21.d2 e5 22.g5 f6 23.e3 d3+ 24.xd3 exd3 'by which time even the computer is c o n c e d i n g e q u a l i t y. . . ' I t h i n k t h e b e s t comment on this pawn grab is the fact that no W h ite h as ye t tried it. ') 18...d5! ( 18...c6 19.c5 is promising for White. Then e4 20.g5 d2 21.fe1 threatens e4, but xa2?! 22.d6 clearly favours White ) 19.d2 ( 19.g5 f4! ) 19...f4! e qu a lise s. I t se e m s t h a t W h it e 's m o ve order doesn't matter if Black is careful. ] 17...b7 18.fd1 c6? Alekhine's is still considered an opening in which both sides can play by instinct, but here you have to know your stuff. [ 18...xd1+! 19.xd1 c8 20.b5 d5 still seems critical, as Cox gives in his notes to Martin-Cox, Port Erin 2005 in the Archives, and we analyse d again in Yan demirovKonnov, Kazan 2008. You might want to check out those games and look for 573

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 improvements. 21.d2 c2 22.d3 xa2 23.b4 , but then comes e4! 24.xe4 c4 25.e1 cb6 and there's no more doubt about equality. ] 19.b5 d5!? This transposes into an earlier game Va rga-Lla nos, bu t B lack ha s t o d o something in the face of Nd6 and this time, Nxa7 is also a threat. 20.xd5! xd5 21.c7 d4?! Not best, but [ 21...ad8 22.xd5 xd5 23.g5 looks strong and ] [ 21...dd8 22.xa8 xa8 23.b5! d4?! ( 23...f6!? ) 24.xd4 exd4 25.g5 f6 26.d2 d5 27.c7! was very good for White in Varga, Z (2518)-Llanos, G (2437)/ Budape st 199 9/. Black pa ssed p awn is blocked and doesn't cause white any problems, while the a-pawn becomes a target for white pieces (Finkel) - indeed this is precisely the kind of endgame Black must avoid in this variation. ] 22.xd4? This really doesn't achieve anything. Correct was [ 22.xd4! c8 ( 22...exd4 23.xa8 d3 24.d1 and wins ) 23.e3 d7 24.b5 xc1+ 25.xc1 looks a little dangerous for White, but he holds onto his material and consolidates ] 22...exd4 23.xd5 xd5 24.d2 h5 [ 24...e6 with the idea ...Rc8 is simplest. ] 25.c4!? [ 25.c7 ] 25...xc4 26.xc4 d3?! [ 26...e8 27.f1 d3 is a better order. ] 27.f1 [ 27.c7! with the idea e8 28.d7! ] 27...d8 28.b4 d4 29.a4 d7 At some point Black should centralise his king via ... Kf 8-e7. 30.b5 f6 31.e1 e7+ 32.e3! xe3 33.fxe3 xe3+ 34.d2 e2+ 35.xd3 xg2 36.c7?! [ 36.c2! has the idea g4 37.c8+ f7 38.a8 ] 36...xh2 37.xa7 b2 38.c4 This is almost impossible to calculate, so I'll hit only the obvious points. Presumably Black should be okay here. h4 39.a5 h3 40.d7 h2 [ 40...g5! ] 41.d1 f7 42.a6 a2 43.c5 e6!? [ 43...g5! with the idea 44.b6 a5+ 45.c6

xa6 46.h1 a2= ] 44.b6 a5+! 45.c6 xa6 46.h1 a2 47.b7 c2+ 48.b6 b2+ 49.c7 f5?! Trying to win, which could never happen here. Maybe Black missed White's next. [ 49...c2+ draws. ] 50.xh2 xb7+ 51.xb7 f4 52.c6 g5?? [ 52...e5! , as in any endgame book, prevents Black's king from being forced off the file. 53.g2 ( 53.c5 f3 ) 53...f3 54.g5+ f4 55.xg6 f2 56.f6+ draws. ] 53.c5 g4 [ It's too late for 53...e5 54.e2+ f5 55.d4 ] 54.d4 g3 55.h8 f5 56.g8 f3 57.xg3 f4 58.g8 f2 59.f8+ 1-0

568

B04 Adams,Michael 2729 Carlsen,Magnus 2714 World Blitz Moscow RUS blitz (14) 21.11.2007 [John Watson] A very important line, with all kinds of options on move 7. I think that 6 Bd3 has more value than supposed. This would be a good game and notes to go over. And watch that two bishops ending! 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.d3 Not the most common move any more, yet it may very well come back. Bd3 is thoroughly logical the drawback is that ...Nb4 comes with tempo in many cases. Now the players follow the m ain line . d7 7.f3 There are two majo r alternatives, with game s involvin g Mamedyar, Carlsen, and Rozentalis, all as Black. Briefly: [ (a) 7.xd7 is safe, when White probably keeps only a formal edge. In the main line below, Black's real disappointment will be the loss of positive chances, but there are plenty of alternatives along the way: xd7 8.0-0 g6 9.e1 ( 9.c4 f6 10.h3 g7 11.d2 0-0 12.f3 c7 13.e1 f5!? 14.xf5 gxf5 15.e3 ad8 16.c2 e6 17.ad1 e4 and Black had quite a decent game in Zhigalko, A (2505)-Rozentalis, E (25 82 )/ Ca pp elle la G ra nd e FRA 20 06 .) 9...g7 10.c3 0-0 11.g5 b6! 574

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 This dates back to Upleger-Loeffler, Bundesliga 2002-2003, which we'll follow. A successor game was Cuijpers, F (2510)-Cox, J (2418)/Amsterdam NED 2006, analysed by Cox on this site .Previously ( 11...e8 12.d2 c8 13.c4 had been played, after which W hite maintained the advantage. ) A) Cox's game continued 12.d2 e6 13.a3 , and he suggests that putting one rook or another on d8 was fine. Okay, then fd8 14.c4 c7 15.e3!? f4 16.c4 is s olid f or Black, perhap s a bit more comfortable to play for W hite after xc4 ( 16...c5? 17.f5! ) 17.xc4 e6 18.h4 . Black should be fine, however.; B) 12.c1!? c5?! 13.e4 e6 14.xd5 xd5 15.xe7 fe8 16.dxc5 c6 17.f3 b6 . Here 18.a3 looks like an appropriate move, when e6! 19.d6 bxc5 20.f4 ad8 gives decent compensation. ] [ (b ) A n o t h e r se r io u s ch a l le n ge i s 7.0-0 xe5! 8.dxe5 b4 ( 8...g6 was played in Sutovsky, E (2674)-Mamedyarov, S (2646)/ Gothenburg SW E 2005, and analysed on this site. I still think that White stands better, but I have a prejudice for space.) 9.e4 xd1 10.xd1 f5 11.a3 (according to Finkel) A) 11...fxe4 12.axb4 is Cox's preference, citing Martin's analysis on this site beginning with g6 . But instead of his 13 Be3!? Bg7 14 Ra5, I think that 13.c3! is better and more logical - if the e-pawns are exchanged, then W hite has the superior pawn structure. One sequence might be g7 ( 13...f5 14.b5!? g7 15.bxc6 bxc6 16.a5 ) 14.xe4 xe5 15.e1; B) 11...a6 12.f3 g6 13.d2 ( 13.e2 g7 14.f4 c7 15.d2 e6 16.f3 ) 13...e6 14.e2 c7 15.f3 d5 16.d4 g7 17.c4 f7 18.f4 Sutovsky, E (2635)-Carlsen, M (2385)/ E CC , Re t h ym n o n G R E 2 0 0 3 . Ma rt in : 'White's ad vantage grows. He's achieved nothing other than to show that his position has more potential but that is enough to put Carlsen under pressure. I like White's extra space and the throttled

Bishop on g7 gives cause for concern.' [ j w: ] O f c o u r s e , B l a c k c a n d o b e t t e r probably 8...g6 should be looked into. Overall, my impression is that 7 0-0 yields a normal advantage for White, much like most openings. ] 7...7f6 8.h3 Preventing ... Bg4, which would go well with Black's ...c6/...e6 setup. It is very common to give up the bishop pair in those lines. b4 9.c4 [ 9.e2 f5 10.a3 e6 11.0-0 e7 ( No one seems to like 11...d6; or 11...c7 in these systems, and for the life of me I don't understand why!) 12.c3 bd5 13.c4 0-0 14.ce5 h6 15.c4 b6 was played in two games, notably Navara-Rozentalis, Ermioni 2006, and Black came out with full equality. ] 9...f5 10.a3 [ (a) 10.e5 e6 ( 10...xc2+?? 11.xc2 xc2? 12.xf7# ) 11.a3 d6 12.0-0 h6 ( 12...c7 is a good alternative) 13.c3 bd5 14.c2 c7 15.d3? xe5 16.dxe5 xd3 17.xd3 xe5 was Del Rio Angelis, S (2490) -Conquest, S (2555)/4th IECC, Ist anbul TUR 200 3, an alys ed b y Andrew Martin on this site. ] [ (b) Andrew Martin gives 10.b3 a5! ( 10...e6 11.a3 a6 12.0-0 is a natural continuation) 11.a3 bd5 12.c4 b6 13.0-0 a4 14.a2 e6= . I'm not so sure. White has space and active pieces and the pawn on a4 can be weak after 15.c3 ] 10...e6 11.c3 bd5 12.c2 e7 [ 12...d6!? ] 13.e3 I think that this is an original manoeuvre. It doesn't seem to alter the basic characteristics of the position. g6 14.e5 0-0 15.0-0 xe3!? This helps White out a bit, because his knight was doing nothing and neither was the bishop on c1 this is a minor point. [ 15...c7 ] 16.xe3 d5 17.d2 c5 Thematic, although you could argue that when White has the two bishops, the ... c6/...e6 structure is more ideal. I don't know. 18.xg6 hxg6 19.dxc5 xc5 20.e2 f6 21.ad1 c7 22.b3 ad8 23.c1 [ 23.f3 is more forward-looking. ] 23...xd1 24.xd1 d8 25.xd8+ xd8 575

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.b5 c8 16.cxb6 axb6 17.ac1 Barskij,V-Miroshnichenko,E/Polanica Zdroj 2000 I daresay Mickey would have been delighted with such a position. The small, clear edge has materialised, based around the poor Black Knights and W hite's nagging pressure on the c file. Against the great players, just one poorly posted piece is often enough to decide the game. ] 10.c3 e8 11.b3 e6!N Lending a hand to ..d6-d5 a nd wh at a dif f icult move f o r th e average player to see! [ 11...f5 is also playable: 12.e3 d5 13.c5 c8 14.d2 e4 15.h2 8e7 16.g4 f5 17.xf6+ xf6 18.b5 a6 1/2-1/2 Dittmar, P-Komarov,D/Bratto 2001 ] 12.e4 d5! The point of Black's play. 13.xf6+ xf6 14.c5 d7 15.e3 f5 16.d2 h6 17.fe1 f8 18.ad1 g5 19.e5 [ 19.b4 g6 20.b5 d8 is not at all easy to assess. The computers like White but I am not at all sure. He may sometime be finding himself defending over-extended pawns. In a mini-match Adams will not push his pawns this far unless he absolutely has to and so settles for something more 569 B04 modest.. ] Adams,Michael 2731 19...g6 20.xg6 [ 20.g4 g7 21.b4 was an opportunity to Nakamura,Hikaru 2580 spice it up but Adams sticks to his FIDE WCh KO Tripoli LBA (4.2) 27.06.2004 uncomplicated agenda. ] [Andrew Martin] 20...xg6 21.b5 e7 A draw and with it the 1.e4 Playing Black against Mickey is usually match. Otherwise White could play on with, such an unpleasant experience that when we say 22 Bf1 at no risk to himself. I don't think see someone take a quick draw off him, we sit this changes the overall assessment of 4... up and take notice. f6 Especially with the N c 6 a s n o t b e i n g e s p e c i a l l y g o o d . F o r Alekhine! 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6!? surprise outings only or when desperate to win. 5.c4 b6 6.exd6 [ Obviously 6.e6 is still critical but to ½-½ embrace these wild complications is hardly the right tactical move. W hen surprised, B04 the stronger player looks for the way to a 570 small, clear edge. ] Adams,Michael 2699 6...exd6 7.h3 Porper,Eduard 2448 [ 7.d5 e5 is nothing special. ] Canadian Open (8) 18.07.2009 7...e7 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 f6 [John Watson] [ 9...f5 10.c3 f6 11.f4 d5 12.c5 c4 13.b3 4a5 is another way. The Black 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 Knights appear to be in a tangle but White's This isn't played much, but has been subject pawns are not yet secure. 14.d2 b6! to recent analysis purporting to show that 26.g3 [ 26.f3 b6 27.f4!? . Maybe White has a little something to play for in these positions. ] 26...b6 27.g2 c6+ 28.f3 d7 29.c4 a5 30.e2 d5 31.d3 c7 32.f3 f6 33.h4!? b6 34.e2 f8 35.b3 d5 36.d2 Nothing much is happening, but I still like White. f6 37.c2 [ 37.f4 d6 38.e3!? ] 37...d5 38.a3 c7 39.d3 f6 40.b4 e7 41.e3 g8 42.d2 b6 43.e3?! [ 43.b5! and White's really getting somewhere. ] 43...e5 44.g1 f8 45.d1 c6 46.d2 e6 47.e3 e7 48.e2 [ 48.b5! ] 48...d5 49.c4 xe3 50.xe6 fxe6 51.fxe3 e4! Now it should be drawn. 52.f2 f7 53.f1 f6 54.g4 g5 55.h5 e5 56.e2 d5 57.d2 f6 58.c2 e5 59.a6 d6 60.b7 g3 61.xe4 e1 62.d3 e5 63.f3 d6 64.c4 d2 65.d3 e1 66.d4 d2 67.d3 ½-½

576

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black is okay. 5.c4 b6 6.exd6 A safe try for a small advantage. [ 6.e6 is the critical move. Then the main line goes fxe6 7.c3 g6 8.h4 g7 9.e3 ( 9.h5 e5 10.d5 d4 11.hxg6 g4 or 11...Bf5 are apparently fine for Black, according to practice) 9...e5 10.d5 d4 11.xd4 exd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.xd4 e5 14.e3 ( or 14.dxe6 0-0 15.0-0-0 xe6 16.e4 . The last word hasn't been spoken about this line. )] 6...exd6 [ 6...cxd6 has been played as well. The critical line is 7.d5 e5 8.xe5 dxe5 , when White has tried various methods of attacking Black's pawn structure, for example, 9.h5!? ( 9.e3 ) 9...c7 10.a3 a6 11.d3 g6 12.h4 h6 13.g3 g7 14.0-0 0-0 and Black has reasonable prospects, Alavkin, A -Gorbushin, A, Perm 1997. ] 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.d5 A direct move. [ 9.h3 has been common, for example, f6 10.c3 f5 11.f4 e8 12.c1 h6 13.b3 a6 14.d2 d5 15.c5 c8 16.e3 8e7 17.h2 e6 18.g4 g5 19.f3 g6 20.e2 g7 ( 20...a5 ) 21.g2 e7 22.f4 gxf4 23.xf4 xf4 24.xf4 e8?! ( 24...d7! ) 25.f2 d8? 26.h4 1-0 Yudasin, L (2600) -Nikolaev, S (2375), St Petersburg 1997. ] 9...e5 10.xe5 dxe5 11.c3 c5 [ 11...f5! is a natural move. The most important other game I can find with 4...Nc6 and 6 exd6 exd6 went 12.f4 ( 12.c2 ) 12...c5+ 13.h1 e4 14.b1 a5 15.b3 d7 16.c2 e7 17.d1 c6 18.dxc6 xc6 19.e3 fd8 20.c3 d7!? ( 20...d7! ) 21.xc5 ( 21.b2 ) 21...xc5 22.e3?! xe3 23.xe3 d2 24.fe1 g6 25.a3 d7 26.b4 axb4 27.axb4 b6 with only a small edge, Rublevsky, S (2 6 1 0 )- Mo ro ze vich , A (2 6 2 5 ), Mo sco w 1996. ( 27...f6! was better )] [ and 11...c6 , breaking up the centre, can't be too bad. Then White gets some advantage from 12.a4! cxd5 13.cxd5 a5 14.e3 ] 12.e3! xe3 [ 12...e7 13.d3 d7 14.b5! is awkward for Black. ]

13.fxe3 White threatens 14 c5. g5 14.d3 g4 15.xg4 xg4 16.e4 d7 17.h3 g6 18.h2 [ 18.e3! ] 18...a6?! [ 18...b6! ] 19.b4 b6 20.a3 d4 21.ad1 xd3 22.xd3 b6 23.c1 fb8 24.g4 [ 24.d6 c6 25.a4!? with the idea c5. ] 24...f8 25.g3 e8 26.g5 c8 27.f1 a5? 28.b5?! [ 28.b5! axb4 29.axb4 a4 30.d6 wi t h a l a r g e a d va n t a g e W h i t e w i l l wi n material or better. ] 28...f6 29.gxf6 gxf6 30.d6 c6 31.c5? [ 31.f5 is still advantageous. ] 31...xc5 32.d7+? Refusing to accept equality, Adams risks trouble. Better [ 32.df3 a7 33.xf6 g7+ 34.h4 d7= ] 32...xd7 33.d6 cxb5 [ Black should play on: 33...cxb5 34.d5! ( 34.xb5 e7 ) 34...c4!? ( 34...a7 35.e6+ f8 36.xf6? f7 37.d6 e7 38.xd7+ xd7 39.xd7 c3+ ) 35.f5 ac8 with advantage, in view of 36.xf6+ xf6 37.dxf6 d8 ] ½-½

571 Adams,Michael Zhao Xue Canadian Open (7) [John Watson]

B04 2699 2544 17.07.2009

It's always important to see what a worldclass player does in a topical line. Adams leaves the main paths early and achieves success. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 f5 7.0-0 [ For 7.g4 , see Anand-Carlsen, Moscow 2007 in the Archives. ] 7...d7 8.g4!? In Vigus' book, he calls this 'rather feeble'. At the least, Adams wants to get away from the main lines, 8 Nf3 and 8 Ng4, both dealt with in the Archives. xg4 9.xg4 e6 [ a) 9...5f6 10.f3 ( 10.g3 looks better) 10...e6 11.c3 e7 12.b3!? ( may be best so 1 0 Q g 3 i s p a r t i cu l a r ly wo r t h n o t i n g 577

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.g3 ) 12...xe5 13.dxe5 d7 14.e1 a5 15.g3 0-0-0 16.b2 hg8 with counterplay, although White still has the better chances, Bellaiche, A (2424)Gozzoli, Y (2431), Evry 2003. ] [ b) 9...xe5 10.dxe5 e6 11.c4 ( 11.d2 h5 12.e4 e7 13.f3 0-0 is fairly safe W h i t e h a s a l i t t l e s p a c e) 11...b6 ( 11...b4 12.d1 c7 13.c3 , with the idea xe5 14.f4 h5! 15.f3 f5 16.b5! a6 17.d4 ) 12.d1 c7 13.e2 ( 13.e4 ) 13...d7 14.f4 e7 15.c3 g5!? ( 15...0-0 looks safe and ab ou t e qu a l) 16.g3 h5 17.h3 0-0-0 18.e4 b6 19.a3 h4 20.h2 c5?! 21.d6+ xd6 22.exd6 d7 23.b4 e5 24.c5 a6 25.g4 with an obvious positional advantage, Askarov, B (2421)Dergilev, I (2267), Tomsk 2006. ] 10.d1 [ The only other game I know of is David, A (2580)-Bauer, C (2599), Clichy 2004, featured in Cox: 10.c4 b4 11.xd7 xd7 12.e4 d8 ( I like 12...c5! 13.a3 f5! 14.e2 c6 , which fights back in the centre and targets d4) 13.a3 a6 14.e3 e7 ( 14...d6 ) 15.d2! 0-0 16.f3 f6 17.fe1 fe8 18.d2 c7 19.a5!? ( 19.ad1 - White has space and some advantage ) 19...b6 20.c3 f8 21.ac1 c8 22.h4 h5 23.e2 d6 24.cc2 f8 and White isn't making any progress. ] 10...5f6 [ 10...xe5 11.dxe5 c7 12.c4 b4 13.a3 c2 14.a2 d8 15.b4 h5 16.xd8+ xd8 17.e2 d4 18.d1 with the idea Rd2 seems to favour White, if not by a great deal. ] 11.e2 e7 12.c4 0-0 13.c3 e8!? Black embarks upon a passive reorganisation. In these Caro-Kann/Slav-like positions, it's generally better to connect rooks and simplify, as in the David-Bauer game above. One way is [ 13...c7 14.f4 xe5 15.xe5 b6 16.h3 fd8 ] 14.d3 f8 15.f4 b6 16.ad1 ad8 17.b3!? [ 17.h3 g6 18.g3 ] 17...a6?! 18.h4 6d7 19.h5 xe5 20.xe5 Black's queen is out of touch and

White has acquired serious kingside chances. f6 21.f4 a5 22.e4 [ Or 22.g3! ] 22...d7?! 23.g3 f5 24.e5 h4 25.f6+ xf6 26.xf6 f7 27.e5 d7 28.f4 e5 A bit desperate. On the other hand, Black isn't going to get much for his e-pawn following [ 28...f6 29.h6 g6 30.e3 ] 29.dxe5 c5 30.e3 e6 31.g3 c7 32.ed3 h6 33.d6 h7 34.f3 e7 35.g2 c7 36.b4 c8 37.a4 fe7 38.d3 f8 39.e3 g8 40.f4 a6 41.c5! xc5 42.bxc5 e8 43.e2 f7 44.g6 B la ck ca n 't m o ve , a n d Rd d 6 a n d e 6 a r e coming. 1-0

572 Adams,Michael Zhukova,Natalia 8th Gibtelecom Masters (7) [Gawain Jones]

B04 2694 2462 01.02.2010

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 [ 5.c4 b6 6.exd6 cxd6 would transpose to the ...cxd6 Exchange variation ] [ 5.g5 is the older move but according to John Cox it's rather ineffective after A) The trick is that after 5...g7?! A1) 6.xf7!? also looks possible xf7 7.f3+ f6 ( 7...e6 8.g3 gives White a pleasant attack ) 8.exf6 xf6 9.c3; A2) 6.f3 is rather unpleasant; B) 5...c6 6.f3 ( 6.f4 g7 ) 6...f6 7.e6 a5+ 8.d2 b6 ] 5...b6 [ 5...c6 has also been examined in the archives, most recently in the game Zeberski-Rozentalis where Black achieved a quick victory. A) 6.exd6 xd6 7.0-0 g7 8.e1 A new move for the site but logical 0-0 9.g5 A1) 9...e8 would leave the way open for the c8 bishop; A2) w h i l e t h e i m m e d i a t e 9...g4 would probably be my choice A2a) 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 xd4 578

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 opens up the c4 square, either to transfer ( 11...h6 12.d2 d7 is the safe the knight from b1-d2-c4-e5 or else push choice ) 12.c3 xc3 13.bxc3 f6 the knight back from d5 with a well timed is rather messy; c4 push. a6 11.bd2 ( 11.c4!? f6 A2b) T h e l e s s f o r c i n g 10.bd2!? 12.c3 ) 11...ad8 12.f1 ( 12.c4 could also be considered of course.; c7 13.ce5 would be my choice when A2c) 10.xd5 xd5 11.c3 I'd choose W hite but of course Black is ( 11.xe7 e8 gives Black adequate always solid.) 12...c5 13.g5 ( 13.g3 c o m p e n s a t io n f o r t h e p a wn , d 4 i s cxd4 14.xf5 gxf5 15.xd4 g6 ) p r o b a b l y g o i n g t o d r o p s h o r t l y .) 13...h6 14.h4 g5 15.g3 and Black had 11...xg5 ( 11...f5!? ) 12.xg5 successfully achieved some counterplay xd1 13.axd1 e6 looks equal.; although he has to make sure his king A3) 9...e6 is the computer's doesn't come to regret his kingside suggestion but seems a little passive to e x p a n s i o n . W h e n i n s t e a d o f g6 me 10.d2 d7 11.b3; which featured in Bruzon BatistaA4) 9...e6 If Black has to play this then Nogueiras Santiago, Ciego de Avila 2010 White has definitely gained as h3 is now 1-0 ( I 'd p r e f e r 15...f4 with complex u n n e c e s s a r y . 10.b3 b5 A typical play. )] response to stop c4 and cement the knight on d5. 11.bd2 d7 12.c4!? 6.b3 g7 7.e2 [ 7.g5 is a little more common. Some ( 12.e4 c7 13.d2 ) 12...bxc4 recent games ran e6 13.xc4 c7 14.c1 a5 15.ce5 A) 8.f4 dxe5 9.dxe5!? An interesting try ( 15.h4! looking at the vulnerable d6 and more positional than 9.fxe5 xd1+ square, starts to change the evaluation 10.xd1 It's curious that the computer from slight to clear edge White.) 15...a6 sligh t ly p re f e rs B la ck h e re , evid e n t ly was Rej-Wohl, Sydney 2010 when Black because of the misplaced king, but was struggling and although Alex won, Sutovsky (and I) prefer White. The bishop had Tomek found ( 15...xe5 16.xe5 on g7 is blocked out for the time being but b7 17.xd5 exd5 18.f4 it can be rerouted through f8. However leaves Black with a chronic weakness on once the bishop moves then f6 will prove c6. ) 16.xf7! a l i a b i l i t y . T h e g a m e c o n t i n u e d d7 A4a) 16...xf7 17.xe6!! xe6 11.c3 c6 12.ge4 8d7 13.e3 h6 18.e2+ e5 ( 18...f7 19.xd5+; 14.e2 g5 15.g3 d5 Simplifying the 18...d6 19.e7+ xe7 20.e6# ) position but worsening the Black pawn 19.xe5 xe5 20.xd5+ d7 structure and acknowledging he'll have to ( 20...xd5 21.c5++- ) 21.dxe5+-; suffer for the rest of the game. Perhaps A4b) 16...xf7 17.xe6 leaves Black ( 15...0-0-0 and waiting should be in dire straits, e.g. f8 18.e8 f5 preferred.) 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 exd5 ( 18...d7 19.xf8+ xf8 20.xd5+ 18.d2 e7 19.f3 c5?! A pseudoh8 21.e5 ) 19.e5 e6 20.xe6 act ive m o ve which o nly re sult s in h is xe6 21.xd5; pawns being harder to defend. 20.c3 e6 B) 6.0-0 g7 7.h3 ( 7.exd6 xd6 21.ad1 and Black's position was 8.bd2 is considered somewhat better for unpleasant in Sutovsky-Reinderman, Wijk W hite according to John W atson in his a a n Z e e 2 0 1 0 ( 21.fxg5! picks up a annotations to Fedorchuk-Genocchio in pawn ); t h e a r c h i v e s .) 7...0-0 ( 7...dxe5 B) 8.f3 0-0 This is very rare as it castles was played by Rozentalis) 8.exd6 xd6 straight into White's attack but 9.e1 f5 ( 9...d7 Svidler-Akopian Reinderman is confident in Black's annotated by Glenn Flear when Black position. 9.h3 h6 10.f3 dxe5 11.dxe5 developed the bishop to b7 never c6 12.xh6 xe5 13.xg7 ( 13.g5 managed to f ully equalise.) 10.b3 d3+ 14.cxd3 xb2 15.0-0 xa1 A normal move for this variation. W hite 579

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.d2 'with a strong attack' is given by John Watson in the archives. It would be interesting to see how Reinderman planned on combating such an aggressive approach. ) 13...xf3+ 14.xf3 xg7 15.d2 f6 16.0-0-0 a5 and Black had absolutely nothing to fear in Muzychuk, A-Reinderman, Wijk aan Zee 2010 ] 7...0-0 8.h3 c6 9.0-0 a5 A new try for the site where both games f ocused on exchanging on e5 either immediately or with 9...a5 10.a4 thrown in. Colovic-Pesotsky and Short-Timman are seen in the archives. I'll give just the moves to the Short game without annotations as it's definitely worth a look! [ 9...a5 10.a4 dxe5 11.dxe5 d4 12.xd4 xd4 13.e1 e6 14.d2 d5 15.f3 c5 16.e4 b4 17.c4 b6 18.b3 xc4 19.bxc4 e8 20.d1 c5 21.h4 b6 22.e3 c6 23.h6 h8 24.d8 b7 25.ad1 g7 26.8d7 f8 27.xg7 xg7 28.1d4 ae8 29.f6+ g8 30.h4 h5 31.h2 The start of a beautiful manoeuvre c8 32.g3 ce8 33.f4 c8 34.g5 1-0 Short-Timman, Tilburg 1991. Black has to watch out for the quick kingside attack which was employed in this game. ] 10.c3 [ 10.g5 d5 11.c3 f6!? true to his style, Nakamura goes for the most complicated continuations. 12.f4 g5 13.g3 xb3 14.axb3 f5 15.h2 c6 16.d2 e8 17.exf6 exf6 18.xe8 fxe8 19.f4 d3 20.f2 h6 when Black had taken control in Khachiyan-Nakamura, Las Vegas 2006 ] [ I suppose 10.e6 has to be investigated but B l a c k w a s c o m p l e t e l y o k a f t e r xb3 11.exf7+ xf7 12.axb3 h6 And I don't see why W hite should be better here, there doesn't seem to be a good way to exploit Black's king and Black has the two bishops and 'f' file. The old game De Firmian-Alburt, Estes Park 1986 seemed to confirm that opinion 13.c3 c6 14.e3 a6 15.fe1 f5?! 16.ad1?! ( 16.h4! ) 16...g5 17.d5?! And this just seems to give up a pawn xd5 18.xd5 cxd5 19.h4 g4 20.h2 e6 21.g3 h5 22.c4 e4 23.d4 xd4 24.xd4 f6 25.e3 h7 26.f1 af8 27.d2 b5 28.a1 c8 29.cxd5 exd5 30.xa6 c1 31.a7 g7 32.xf7

xf7 33.g5 e1 34.b4 f3 35.d4? Black has let his huge advantage slip but this gives it all b ack an d more . ( Instead 35.c2 e2 36.c1 and White has survived. ) 35...g6 0-1 ] 10...xb3 [ The other option is 10...d5 as the bishop isn't going anywhere so it's not essential to swap immediately. However I'm sceptical of Black's chances. 11.e1 ( 11.f4 bc4 12.xc4 xc4 13.b3 a5 14.d2 c6 15.h6 f5 16.xg7 xg7 17.h4 d7 18.ae1 gave White a pleasant advantage in Godena -Begovac, Switzerland 1996. He can start attacking on the kingside while I'm not sure how Black does anything but wait.) 11...c6 12.f4 bc4 13.xc4 xc4 14.b3 a5 15.d2 b6 16.h6 f5 17.e2 c8 18.ae1 d7 19.f4 c7 20.h4 fc8 21.e6 fxe6 22.xg7 xg7 23.g5 h8 24.g4 h6 25.gxf5 hxg5 26.xg5 xh3 27.xe6 1-0 Tiviakov-Aloma Vidal, Helsingor 2009 was a perfect attacking game by the Dutchman. ] 11.axb3 f5 I'd want to keep that pawn on d6 so that Black can open up the centre with ... dxe5 or with ...f6!? 12.e4 [ 12.d1 was played in Svidler-De Firmian K a s p a r o v C h e s s 2 0 0 0 c6 13.g5 Seeing as Black is planning on f6 anyway I think this is too provocative. I'd prefer sitting the bishop on f4. d7 14.e4 f6! 15.f4?! fxe5 16.dxe5 when instead of A) Finkel offers 16...xh3 17.g3 g4 18.exd6 exd6 19.xd6 xf3 ( 19...fe8!? GJ ) 20.gxf3 fe8; B) 16...g4 played in the game, ] 12...d7 So Black is passive but has a perfect pawn structure and good potential to open up the centre if W hite gets carried away. Meanwhile e5 is a potential target. On the other hand White has more space and so can develop his forces more easily and so I'd say chances are about balanced. White would like to attack on the kingside but that isn't going to be so easy without a light squared bishop. 13.g3 [ 13.g5 again allows f6! when the position starts to open up for Black's bishop pair. ] 13...a6 14.e1 h6 Perhaps Zhukova was dreaming of playing ...g5 but I don't think this 580

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 move is essential and h6 is a potential weakness so I would prefer something less c o m m i t t a l . 15.h4 This plan doesn't prove very effective. [ 15.c4!? grabs a bit more space when Zhukova shouldn't react with g5? as 16.h4 g4 17.h2 picks up the pawn. ] 15...e6 16.e4 xe4! 17.xe4 dxe5 18.dxe5 d5 Now Black shouldn't have any problems at all and W hite has to watch out less e5 becomes a big weakness. 19.e2 b5 20.e4 [ 20.xb5?! axb5 will only favour Black as the more pieces exchanged, the weaker e5 will become. White needs to try to use that pawn to start an initiative on the kingside. ] 20...d5 21.g4 Mickey declines the draw offer c6 22.c3 d7?! It seems harsh to award this?!, especially as the computer likes it. However this doesn't help combat White's attack. [ It would make sense to take the open d file with 22...fd8 when she can try a5-a4 to start proceedings on the queenside although she has to beware the plan used by Adams i n t h e g a m e . 23.f3 d5 ( 23...b5 24.h4 is the same) 24.h4 g5 25.xg5! hxg5 26.xg5 ] [ After studying the game for a while I've come to the conclusion that it's here where Zh u k o v a s h o u l d f i n d a n i m p r o ve m e n t . W hite's plan of Nf3-Qh4 is dangerous so 22...b5 with the idea of exchanging queens looks strongest, e.g. 23.b4 ad8 24.f3 c4 25.d4 The knight's been forced away from the kingside so now Black doesn't have to be fear being mated. d5 26.h4?! g5! 27.g3 xb4 28.h4 d3 29.hxg5 h5! a n d W h it e ' s a t t a ck h a s b e e n st o p p e d , leaving White with better chances. ] 23.f3 c5 24.h4 Suddenly Mickey has a dangerous attack. d3 [ 24...h5 weakens the dark squares too m u c h . A s a m p l e l i n e c o u l d r u n 25.g5 xb3 26.ad1 a5 27.f4 a4 28.f6 c5 29.g4! hxg4 30.hxg4 a3 ( 30...d7 31.xd7! xd7 32.h2+- ) 31.g5+- ] [ 24...g5? allows the typical 25.xg5! hxg5 26.xg5 fd8 27.h7+ f8 28.h5 d7 29.h7+ e8 30.g5 f8 31.f6+ d8 32.ad1+- ]

25.xh6! A good exchange sacrifice and Zhukova has to play very accurately now. xe1 26.xe1 f6 Otherwise 27.Ng5 was winning. 27.exf6 xf6 28.e5 e8 29.g4 f5 30.xg7 xg7 31.h6+ g8 After a long series of forced moves for Black, and top moves by W hite the position has become critical for Zhukova. 32.e5 [ I like the computer's suggestion of 32.h4! with the threat of h5 to gain access to f6 with the subtle point that f7 33.e3! and Black drops the exchange to Nh6 when she'll be a pawn down and still have the exposed king when you'd expect Adams to convert reasonably easily. ] 32...f7 33.h4 g5 [ 33...g7 is best when Mickey has to repeat 34.h6+ g8 When the winning move s e e m s t o b e 35.e4 followed by bringing the quee n back to e3 so a s t o pla y th e knight fork. I presume both players were starting to get into time trouble at this point. ] 34.h6 e8 [ 34...f8 would stop the fork on f6 but Zhukova can't defend after 35.xe6 h7 36.f6+ ( 36.f6!? ) 36...8xf6 37.xf6 xh6 38.xh6+- when the extra two pawns are too much. ] 35.xf5 Cashing in but Queen endgames are notoriously tricky and the def ending side always has good drawing chances. Therefore perhaps [ 35.h4! gxh4 36.e4! was more accurate keeping the pressure up when in practice this position must be impossible to defend. ] 35...xf5 36.h5?! [ 36.f6+ f7 37.xe8 xe8 picks up the exchange but would be difficult to convert. The game continuation gives W hite less though. ] 36...f8 37.h8+ e7 38.d4?! [ 38.g7+ d6 ( 38...d8 39.f6 ) 39.d4+ e7 would gain a move and promise W hite some advantage after 40.b4+ ] 38...d8 39.b4+ e8 [ 39...d6 40.xb7 d7 and it's no longer clear whether White is even the one trying to win ] 40.xb7 d1+ 41.h2 f4+ [ 41...a5! is the most accurate as 42.xc7? 581

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is asking for trouble f4+ 43.xf4 gxf4 when only Black has winning chances. ] 42.g3 d6 43.c4 b1 44.e4 d1! The mate threat forces White to take the draw. 45.xe6+ d8 46.f6+ c8 47.xa6+ b8 48.b5+ a7 49.a4+ b8 50.b5+ a7 51.c5+ b8 52.b5+ Well defended by Zhukova but Adams will rue not capitalising on his big advantage. A success out of the opening f or Black though and as long as Black remembers that White's attack on the kingside is potentially strong and takes steps, he should be very happy. ½-½

573 Alekhine'S 6.Qf3 [Alexander Volzhin]

of 13.c3 and W hite wins: g4+ 14.f3 e3+ 15.e1 c2+ 16.f2 ) 13.xb8+ d7 A very unusual position with both kings unsafe has arisen. I think White should take a d r a w b y p e r p e t u a l : 14.b5+ c8 15.e8+ b7 16.b5+ c8 ] 12...xa1 13.xb8+ d7 14.b5+ Again it's not clear if W hite has anything better than perpetual. [ After 14.e2 h6 Black's chances are by no means bad. ] 14...d8!? [ 14...c8 15.e8+ b7 16.e2 ( 16.c8+ ) 16...c6 17.f3 d6 and White's Queen is trapped! I can't see the antidote against 18...Bg7. ] B04 15.b8+ d7 16.b5+ It seems this line is a sufficient defence for Black although I suspect either side may improve here. All these lines need practical tests.

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 g6 6.f3 This line indeed looks quite interesting and I don't know why it's played so rarely. Let's analyse it. e6 7.c4 b4 The only move. [ 7...b6? is bad in view of 8.d5! ( 8.xb7 xd4 is not dangerous for Black as the Rook on a8 is protected now.) 8...f5 9.xf7! ( The immediate 9.g4! is not bad either: g7 10.xf7 xg4 11.xg4 xf7 12.e6+ with a clear edge.) 9...xf7 10.g4 and White wins the piece back and has an undisputable advantage. ] 8.xb7 xd4 [ 8...c2+?! is worth considering as well (although it looks too risky). It leads to a very sharp position after 9.d1 xa1 10.xa8 g7 11.d2 0-0 Just one line (certainly not obligative): 12.xa7 xe5 13.dxe5 c6 14.c5 d4 15.d3 g4+ 16.f3 xf3 17.gxf3 xf3+ 18.xf3 xd3+ 19.d2 c2 and Black's attack is very strong. ] 9.xa8 c2+ 10.e2 xe5+ 11.d1 d4+ 12.d2 The few previous moves were forced but now White has a choice: [ 12.xc2? i s t h e wo r s t : f5+ 13.b3 b6+ 14.c3 g7+ 15.d2 xb2 and Black is winning ] [ 12.d2 xa1 ( 12...xb2? is bad in view

574 Almasi,Zoltan De la Villa Garcia,Jesus Maria Pamplona [Alexander Volzhin]

B04 2663 2473 2000

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.a4 dxe5 8.a5 6d7 9.xf7+ xf7 10.g5+ g8 11.e6 e8 12.xc7 d8 13.xa8 exd4 14.0-0!? The latest development. In my opinion, this move is more precise than the immediate 14. c3. c6 15.c3 c5 16.b4 The critical position for the whole line. dxc3!? [ In the game where 14.0-0 was introduced (Gu ban ov-Ro man ovich , St. Pe te rsb urg 1995) Black played 16...e6 17.b3 dxc3 18.xc3 cd4 19.c4 d7 20.e3 A) 20...f5 was obligatory: 21.ad1 d6 22.b3 xc3 ( 22...xa8 23.b5! xb5 24.xd6! exd6 25.xe6+ f8 26.xd6+ f7 27.d5+ ) 23.c5! xa8 24.xd6 exd6 ( 24...g7 25.b8! ) 25.xd6 e8 26.fd1! ( 26.xc3 is less precise in view of h5! intending .. .Rh7-e7.) 26...a4 27.xe6 xb3 28.xe8+ f7 29.xh8 xd1 30.b8 and White's rook should be easily superior to the Black minor pieces in this ending.; 582

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 20...xa8? A gross blunder. 21.xd4 xd4 22.ad1! Now Black can't avoid large material losses. f7 23.xd4 c8 24.b3 and Black resigned. ] 17.xd8+ xd8 18.bxc5 c2 19.c3! T h e o n l y m o v e , b u t a s t r o n g o n e ! xc3 20.a3 [ 20.a2!? as played in Blehm-Navarro Cia, Avile s 2 0 0 0 m a y b e e ve n st ro n ge r: f5 21.c7 f7 ( 21...d3 is strongly met by 22.a3! and W hite wins: xf1 23.xc3 e2 24.xc2 g4 25.b2 ) 22.d5 d4 23.b4 xc5 24.xc2 e6 25.e3 b6 26.axb6 axb6 27.xc5 bxc5 28.e3 d3 29.e1 and White has good winning chances in the endgame. ] 20...f6 21.c7 c6 22.d5 f7 23.xf6 exf6 24.f3 Although the pawn on c2 gives ce rt a in c o un t erch a nces, B lack is cle arly fighting for a draw. h5 25.h3 h4 26.f2 f5 27.a6 bxa6 28.xa6 c8 29.h2 c7 30.d2 e5 31.dd6 d3 32.xf6+ g7 33.g5 xc5 34.ac6 xc6 35.xc6 b3 36.c3 d4 37.c7+ f8 38.xa7 e2! Black defends very imaginatively. The Knight on e2 prevents the centralization of the White King. 39.c7 g8 40.c4 f7 41.xh4 The only possible attempt to play for a win, c1 42.xc1 xc1 43.g4 e6 44.h7+ f6 45.h4 e2 46.g2 [ 46.h5 deserves serious attention, as the endgame of Rook and two united passed pawns vs a Knight and Bishop should be won for the Rook. ] 46...e5 47.a7 f4+ 48.g3 e2+ 49.f2 f4 50.a3 f6 51.a4 d5 52.e4 c3 53.e1 d5 54.g3 f7 The endgame still looks very good for White, but it's difficult to push the pawns and without doing this W hite can't make any progress. 55.a1 [ 55.f4 is strongly met by f6! ] 55...f6 56.a7 e3 57.a6 d5 58.a3 f7 59.a7+ f6 60.a5 f7 61.a6 f6 62.f4 e3! 63.f3 xg4 64.xe6+ xe6 65.xg4 f6! Despite being a pawn down Bla ck eas ily h old s t he dra w in this p awn ending. Now we are able to draw certain conclusions: undoubtedly the last word has n o t b e e n s a i d ye t , b u t c u rre n t ly W h i t e ' s chances seems to be pref erable. In both

Almasi-de la Villa and Blehm-Navarro White had a very comfortable edge in the endgame, where he could play for a win without any risk of losing. Now it's Black's turn to find im p ro ve m e n t s , a n d u n d o u b t e d ly we c a n expect some more exciting battles in this line in the future. ½-½

575

B04

Analysis 4...Nc6 in Alekhine Kaissiber Recent Games [John Watson] Here's some fascinating analysis supplied by Stefan Buecker in the Forum and elsewhere, b a se d u p o n m a t e ria l f ro m h is wo n d e rf u l Kaissiber magazine, issues 19 and 20. It concerns the 'Haakert-Variation' of the A l e k h i n e . I h o p e t h a t I ' ve c o l l e c t e d t h e material properly for conversion into ChessBase/PGN format at any rate, I've given some of my own thoughts on the analysis and games. Many more details are to be found in the issues mentioned above. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.e6 fxe6 7.c3 [ A n o t h e r im p o rt a n t m o ve h e re i s 7.e3 , which Buecker points out takes up 8 pages in Juergen Fleck's article in Kaissiber 19! Both that move and the h4-h5 idea anticipate Black's ...g6/...Bg7 plan, and if g6 8.h4 g7 , you can make the case that W hite's move Be3 is more effective than Nc3, since it protects d4. Of course, that's only the beginning of the story. ] 7...g6 8.h4 g7 9.e3 [ White can also ignore the struggle for d4 and attack directly, as in a fascinating game from this month's batch. Regez makes a point of deferring castling and playing ...e5 rather than walking into W hite's kingside attack: 9.h5 e5 10.d5 d4 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.xh8+ xh8 A) 13.d3 c6 ( 13...g4? 14.xg6+ f8 15.xd4! ) 14.h4 ( 14.xg6+ d7 is fine for Black) 14...d7!? 15.xg6 c7 is unclear; B) 13.xd4 exd4 B1) 14.b5 c6!? ( 14...e5 ) 15.dxc6 583

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bxc6 16.xd4 d7 17.d3 c5 18.b5 a6 19.c3 e6+; B2) 14.d3 c6!? ( 14...c5! 15.xg6+ d7 16.f5+ c7 17.b5+ b8 ) 15.a4! d7!? ( 15...cxd5 16.xg6+ d7 17.xb6+ xb6 18.h5! e5 19.cxd5 ) 16.d2 e6 ( 16...g8 ) 17.dxc6+ bxc6 18.a5 b8 (Black stands satisfactorily here) 19.c5 g5 20.xb6 axb6 21.xb6+ c7 ( 21...d8! 22.f3 xc5 23.f8+ c7 24.xc8 xc8 25.e7+ b8 ) 22.cxd6+ xd6 23.xc8+ xc8 24.f3 b8 25.b3 g7 26.e4 h8 27.g3 h2 28.f3 h6 ( 28...h5!= ) 29.d1 a5+? 30.f1 g7 31.g1 h8 32.c1 c5 33.xg6 f8? ( 33...xa2 34.b4 c4 ) 34.e2 e5 35.e4 h6? 36.b4! a3 37.xc5 1-0 Filev, G (2395)Regez, M (2208)/Ohrid MKD 2009 ] 9...0-0 [ Another Regez game from the same tournament illustrates the idea of getting . .. e5 in before castling, but this time White has the centre under control: 9...e5 10.d5 d4 ( 10...a5!? looks strange, but although Black can't capture on c4 yet, the future threat to do so will influence the play, for example, 11.h5 c6 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.xh8+ xh8 14.d2 e4!? , and the extended range of Black's bishop on h8 combines with central pressure to equalize) 11.xd4 exd4 12.xd4 xd4 ( 12...e5 13.dxe6 0-0 may well be best) 13.xd4 e5 14.dxe6 0-0 15.h5 f6 16.xf6 xf6 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.b5 and White gets into c 7 wit h t h e b e t t e r ga m e f o l lo win g xe6 19.xc7 af8 20.b3 Brenjo, S (2495) Regez, M (2208)/Ohrid MKD 2009. ] 10.h5 e5 11.d5 d4 12.xd4 exd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.xd4 e5 15.e3 g5 16.h6 f4 [ Fleck later suggested 16...g4! intending A) or 17.d3 f5; B) or 17.e4 f5 18.g5 f6; C) R a j T i s c h b i e r e k s u g g e s t e d 17.e2 with the ideas f5 ( 17...f5 18.d3 ) 18.h5 . The latter line doesn't seem so bad after g6 , and if 19.g5 f4 . T he W hite has th e coun te r 20.xg6+! hxg6 21.g3 , when Black seems

c o m p e l l e d t o p l a y d4! ( 21...f6 22.0-0-0 d7 23.c5!; and 21...f7 22.xg4 give risk-free advantages to White, who has more than enough for an exchange ) 22.b5 f6 ( 22...xc4? 23.xc4 xc4 24.d3 hits c4 and g6) 23.xd4 exd4 24.e4 ( 24.e6+ xe6 25.dxe6 e8 26.xg4 xc4 ) 24...f8 25.0-0-0 g5+! 26.b1 f5 . This is a b i t o f a m e s s , b u t t h e s e c o n d p la y e r seems to stand satisfactorily. Perhaps 16... g4 is the best course, albeit an unstable one.; D) 17.h5 Rf5!, ] 17.c5 c4 This is Buecker's idea. [ Fleck later decided that Black was in serious trouble after 17...dxc5 18.xe5 ( 18.0-0-0 a l s o l o o k s g o o d) 18...f7 ( 18...f6 19.xf6 xf6 20.h5 g4 is pe rh aps b et ter, bu t W hite sh ou ld b e h a p p y wi t h 21.e4 f5 22.xf5 xf5 23.xc5 e8+ 24.d2 ) 19.0-0-0 , which indeed seems to be the case ] 18.c1 [ Buecker gives 18.xc4 xc4 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.h5 f4 21.e4 f5 ] 18...dxc5 19.e2 [ 19.g3 d4 20.xc4 xc4 21.e3 is worth a try. ] 19...e7 20.xf4 exf4+ 21.e2 d6 22.0-0 [ 22.xc5 is a good try, for example, d7 23.f1 e8 , and Buecker's most important line is 24.h5 ( 24.d3!?; 24.e1 b5 25.c2 e5 26.a4 c4 27.h3 g4 28.c3 , and here e7 threatens the hardto-stop ... f3, perhaps in conjunction with .. Qh5. ) 24...b6 25.b4 ( or 25.c1! ) 25...a5 26.d2 ( 26.d4 ) 26...e4 27.c2 f5 28.g1 c8 , when 29.e1 b4 30.h2 favours W hite. In fact, this note requires serious improvement for black, as W hite has various moves which look advantageous. ] 22...xe2 23.e1 Buecker gives various alternatives, but by now it's likely that Black stands fine. h5 [ 23...c4 24.xc4 xc4 25.e8+ f7 26.ae1 d6 27.h8 f6 28.xh7 f5 29.xc7 h8 with a double-sided game. ] 24.xc5 xh6 25.xc7 f6 26.e6 584

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 26.ac1! , when f5 27.e6 xe6 9.h4! g6 28.xd6 ( 28.dxe6 c8 ) 28...e8 29.dxe6 [ 9...e6 10.c4 b6 11.b3 g6 isn't out of xe6 gains White a tempo, although it's still the question, but 12.c3 g7 13.f4 0-0 in Black's favour. ] 14.d3 retains a space advantage. This 26...xe6 27.xd6 e8 - Buecker space-for-solidity trade-off is characteristic [ Actually, 27...d8! 28.xe6+ xe6 of the 4...dxe5 system. ] 29.dxe6 e8 is a still better course. ] 10.c4 b6 11.c3 e6 12.g3! This protects the knight on h4 from discovered attacks, and restricts the influence of a bishop on d6. The 576 B04 light square weaknesses don't count for much Anand,Viswanathan 2799 because Black's light squared bishop will be Carlsen,Magnus 2733 gone. e7 13.e3 c7 14.xg6 hxg6 Amber Blindfold rapid (7) 22.03.2008 15.b3! d8 16.fd1 0-0 17.ac1 e5 18.d5 bd7 Black has to cover c5. Clearly [John Watson] White has won the opening, since his bishops Carlsen continues to play the Alekhine with are both influential, but it's not the end of the 4...dxe5 5 Nxe5 c6, so we'll look at a couple w o r l d y e t : 19.f3 c5 20.xc5 xc5 more games, unfortunately in Blindfold Rapid! 21.a3 b6 22.b4 e4! 23.e2 b7? [ 23...cd7 was better because of the Both Karajakin and Anand win against him, following mini-tactic: ] but Black gets playable positions out of the opening. The problem is that he is always 24.xa7! a8 25.d6 xa7 26.dxc7 c8 s o m e wh a t wo r s e w i t h o u t m a n y p o s i t i v e 27.c5!? bxc5 28.b5 cxb5 29.xb5 xa2 chances. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 30.f1 (now it's obvious that White is winning) g5 31.a1 xa1 32.xa1 d8 33.cxd8+ 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 [ The famous (due to the result) Topalov- xd8 34.c3 e3 35.f3 g4 36.f4 g5 Carlsen, Morelia/Linares 2008 went 6.d3 37.fxg5 h7 38.e4 e8 39.g2 g7 d7 7.xd7!? ( 7.f3 ) 7...xd7 8.0-0 g6 40.f1 e2+ 41.e1 e5 42.c1 xg5 9.d2 (modest, and allowing easy equality. 43.xc5 xc5 44.xc5 f5 45.xe2 f6 ( 9.c4 is more natural) 9...g7 10.f3 0-0 46.e3 f7 47.d3 ( 10...g4 at this point runs into 11.c3 0-0 1-0 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 ) 11.e1?! ( 11.h3! ) 11...g4 12.c3 c5 ( or 12...e5! 13.dxe5 B04 e8 ) 13.e4 ( 13.dxc5 can be answered by 577 xc3! 14.bxc3 xc3 ) 13...cxd4 14.cxd4 Anand,Viswanathan 2801 e6 and Black was already better. If only all Carlsen,Magnus 2714 Alekhines could work out so well! ] World Blitz Moscow RUS blitz (1) 21.11.2007 6...d7 [John Watson] [ 6...f5 was analysed two months ago games by Carlsen versus Anand, Rublevsky, A n a n d e n t e r s i n t o a w i l d s i d e l i n e t h a t Lupulescu, and Grischuk! Carlsen tries Kasparov either invented or popularised. something different this time. ] Maybe it's the best way to get some 7.f3 7f6 advantage? 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 [ We looked at 7...g6 8.c4 c7 9.c3 g7 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 An interesting 10.0-0 0-0 in this column (in a note to choice, because Anand has used 6 Bc4 in the Anand-Carlsen, World Blitz 2008), where I past. f5 This move has become the main recommended 11.f4 ] one by far. 8.0-0 f5 You can argue that this is a more [ 6...d7 is the serious option, played by positive way to cede the two bishops than Mamedyarov and Miles, for example. The [ 8...g4 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 as in our other usual, frustrating, response by W hite is game Karjakin, S-Carlsen, M, Nice FRA simply 7.f3 , refusing exchanges. Since 2008. ] no one seems to playing Black here (and I 585

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 don't know why!), I'll content myself with a ChessPublishing game and a few notes by John Cox: g6 8.c4 c7 9.c3 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.g5 Miles had the position after Black's tenth quite a few times, for example ( 11.f4 [jw: I like this simple line] c5 12.d5 e5 13.g5 f6 14.e3 f7 15.a3 f8 16.b1 e8 17.b4 b6 when Black managed to hang on in the complications in Degraeve-Miles, Mondariz 2000, although th in gs lo o k a lit t le ro p e y a t th is p o in t .) 11...e6 12.e3 f6 13.h3 b6 On ly he re d oe s t h e gam e d e via te f ro m Zarnicki-Miles, Oviedo rapid 1993, which went on ( 13...c7 14.d2 d8 15.fe1 h5 16.f1 b6 17.ad1 b7 18.c1 ac8 with approximate equality.) 14.b3 c7 15.fe1 b7 16.ad1 fd8 17.f1 a6 18.a4 ab8 19.a3 b5 An extremely typical break in these positions, although played, like here, as a pawn sacrifice it is naturally rarer. 20.g5 ( White cannot win the p awn d irect ly on acco unt o f 20.axb5 cxb5 21.cxb5 xf3 22.gxf3 axb5 ) 20...xg5 21.xg5 but now the attack on e7 and b5 does force the win of a pawn. e6 22.axb5 cxb5 23.cxb5 axb5 24.xb5 Bauer, C (2641)-Mamedyarov, S (2646)/ Merida ESP 2005/ 'Black has compensation in the form of White's two weaknesses on d4 and b2 which ought to be enough to hold the balance, although it's hard to believe in more than that.' [jw: Black went on to win] ] 7.g4!? As played by Kasparov and Polgar. Our other two games feature 7 0-0. e6 8.c4 [ 8.f4 f6 9.d3 f7 10.0-0 a6 11.c3 xc3 12.bxc3 g6 was complex in J PolgarShort, Bled 2002. This looks like fun! ] 8...c7 [ 8...b6 9.b3!? (a pawn sac) ( 9.a4!? a5!? 10.c5 d5 11.c3 may give something, in view of d7 12.c4 , but who knows?) 9...f6! 10.d3 xd4 11.b2 d8 12.c3 a6 13.d2 c7 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 15.e3 f7 16.f4! b8 17.h4 e6 18.e4 Kasparov, G (2838)-Short, N (2682)/Moscow RUS 2002, and here Flear recommends the clever d5! with an advantage for Black. The game was drawn. ] 9.g1!? d7 10.f3 This is the usual way to torture Black (avoiding exchanges), but White

also had [ 10.b3 xe5 11.dxe5 and it's unclear wh o s e p o s i t i o n l o o k s s t u p i d e r ! W h i t e probably stands better. ] 10...g6 11.c3 g7 12.e3 0-0 13.d2 b5! A typical light square grab via a pawn sa crif ice . 14.cxb5 cxb5 15.xb5 xb5 16.xb5 d5 [ Or 16...f6 17.h3 d5 ] 17.e2 c8 18.b3 f6 19.e5 e4! These may not be the optimal moves, but they are all very logical. 20.b2 e6 21.g5! d6 22.h4 c3 23.g3 xe2 24.xe2 c7 25.c1 a6+ 26.e1 fc8 27.xc7 xc7 28.f4 f8 29.g4 b4+ 30.d2 d6 31.c3 g2! Threatening mate on f1 and distracting W hite's knight from f6. 32.e3 f3!? Again maybe best was [ 32...e4 ] 33.c4 d5 34.xd6 xd6 35.xc7 xc7 36.a3 h2 37.e3 h1+?! Oppositecoloured bishops seems to be the motif of the d e ca d e ! W i t h li t t l e t im e , t h e re ' s n o t t h e slightest chance of playing accurately. 38.d2 b1 39.xa7 b2+ 40.d3 b1+ 41.c3 e1+ 42.b2 e2+ 43.a3 Did you follow that? g7 44.f4 b5 45.e5+ f8 46.c5+ 1-0. Probably Black forfeited. An incredibly high-quality game under the circumstances. 1-0

578 Arakhamia Grant,Ketevan Baburin,Alexander 4NCL, West Bromwich [John Cox]

B04

18.10.2004

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 The fashionable Miles variation. 6.d2 A rare try. Britain's best have been stepping on Black with the alternatives just lately: [ 6.e2 g6 7.0-0 g7 8.f3 g4 9.e1 0-0 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 d7 12.c4 5b6 13.c5 c8 14.c3 e5 15.e3 e7 16.d5 cxd5 17.xd5 f5 18.c1 h4 19.g3 d8 20.b3 c8 21.xb7 xe3 22.xc8 was Hunt-Skripchenko, Calvia 2004, although it's fair to say that Black's play 586

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 throughout this game verged on the appalling: starting at the beginning, though, the idea of this old-style Miles variation (i.e. 5... c6 and 6...g6 as opposed to the highly fashionable 6...Bf5) is to go ...Nd7, retreat the d5 knight to c7, and push c5.8...Bg4 does not fit into this plan at all this manoeuvre is drawn from the Kengis system (5...g6) but there White's bishop is on c4. 11...e6, 13...Nd5, and any one of several moves on move 14 were also better, while ] [ 6.d3 d7 7.xd7 xd7 8.0-0 e6 9.c4 f6 10.c3 e7 11.f4 0-0 12.e2 c5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.ad1 b6 15.e5 c6 16.xf6 gxf6 17.xh7+ xh7 18.h5+ was Adams-Maki Uuro, Izmir 2004. Normal is 8...g6 rather than ....e6, as in Stefansson-Gausel, Aarhus 2003. Having said that, it's not quite clear to me how England's finest intended to put Black to the sword if he played 11...Qb6 and grabbed the pawn on offer. There also might have been something to be said f or 10...Qc7 rather than 10...Be7, securing the h2-b8 diagonal (quite a common theme in this 5... c6 system, by the way). ] 6...d7 7.df3 xe5 8.xe5 f5 9.f3 If White wants to achieve anything then she really has to try to make something of her advanced knight in a hurry. Moves like 9 Bd3 or 9 Bc4 leave Black able to develop comfortably. An alternative is [ 9.xf7 xf7 10.f3 Black then needs to avoid e6 ( 10...g6 allows an immediate draw with 11 Qg3+ and 12 Qf3, which might well be White's best idea, as the tempting 11.g4 seems to fall short, for example xc2 12.e2 a5+ 13.d2 a4 14.e6+ f6 15.g5 xd4 16.gxf6 e4+; 10...e6 is also a possibility although evidently White has a considerable initiative, for example 11.c4 g6 12.0-0 d6 13.xd5 cxd5 14.f4+ c6 15.c4 ) 11.g4 b4 12.gxf5 xc2+ 13.d1 xd4 ( 13...Nxa1? 14 fxe6+ just loses) 14.fxe6+ xe6 15.g4+ f5+ when Black's exposed king is the more serious, for example 16.d2 g6 17.c4+ d7 18.c3 c7+ 19.c2 g7 20.ad1 ] 9...e6 10.d3 [ 10.d2 b6 11.0-0-0 xd4 12.d3 a3 13.c4 xd3 14.xa3 f5 15.c4 g4

16.g3 xd1 17.xd1 0-0-0 18.g5 c5 19.xd8 xd8 20.xg7 was the chaotic encounter Zapata-Grunberg, 2002, which was shortly drawn. The game continuation swiftly makes apparent the merits of 10 Bd2! ] 10...b4+ A safer alternative was 10.. .Ne7, intending 11...Qd5 next. The text is tempting but whether it is actually good is another matter. 11.d1 [ 11.c3 leads to a comfortable advantage for Black af te r xc3 12.xf5 ( 12.a3 a5 13.xf5 exf5 14.0-0 d5 15.xf5 0-0 16.b4 c7 is similar.) 12...d5+ 13.e2 exf5 14.xf5 0-0 ] [ 11.d2 xd2+ 12.xd2 b4 is also very nice for Black. ] 11...e7 Again Black has alternatives, for example it's not clear at all that just 11....Qf6 was bad. (12 Bxf5 exf5, or 12 c4 Nb6 13 g4 Bxd3 14 Qxf6 gxf6 15 Nxd3 Be7 16 b3 Rd8). But Baburin must already have had his next move in mind. 12.c3 [ 12.g4 xd4 is bad, but now White is hoping for 12...Bd6 13 g4 Bxe5 14 gxf 5 when she stands well, for example, 14...Bf6 15 fxe6 fxe6 16 Re1. But Baburin has a terrific shock in store. ] 12...0-0!? 13.g4 The critical moment in the game: with the text W hite admits that her opening has been a failure and settles for a decidedly inferior position. After 13 Bxf5 Nxf5 14 cxb4 Qxd4+ 15 Nd3 Rad8 White cannot hold on to the knight, for example 16 Ke2 (16 Kc2 Qc4+ is the same) Qc4 17 Kd2 Rd5 and double rooks. But the critical move had to be [ 13.cxb4 , when to be honest I don't see that Black has enough compensation for his piece, for example xd4 14.e3 xb4 ( 14...d5 15.e2 xg2 16.d2 f6 17.f3 xf3+ 18.xf3 xd3+ 19.xd3 is hopeless) 15.d2 d4 16.xf5 xe5 17.d3 ad8 18.c2 Black has a lot of moves here and one can see that White will have to be careful for some time, but my computer seems to see off anything I try for Black with some ease, f or example d6 ( 18...d7 19.xh7+ xh7 20.xd7 d5 21.f3; 18...d5 19.f4; 18...d4 19.e2 c5+ 20.b1 d6 21.c2 all look fairly comfortable for White too) 19.e2 d5 587

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.d2 It may very well be that I'm not doing Baburin's idea any kind of justice here, though - certainly Arakhamia must have thought accepting the sacrifice was pretty grim before settling for what happens in the ga m e . I t wo u l d b e i n t e r e s t i n g t o k n o w whether this was preparation - on either side - or an over-the-board punt. ] 13...xd3 14.xd3 d6 15.c2 d5 16.h4 b5 Always thematic in these structures, securing the d5 knight, but especially here with the W hite king exposed on c2. 17.d2 c7 18.g5 I'm not at all sure about this, giving f5 away. It looks more natural to me to try 18 Rad1 and Kb1, but there's no doubt that Black is better. c5 19.dxc5 xc5 20.e4 d6 21.ac1 c4 A notably cal m solution. Black was surely also better after a move like 21..Rac8, but Baburin calculates that in the ending White's pawn advances will simply be weaknesses, and he also has a specific idea for driving White's pieces into p a s s i v i t y . 22.xc4 bxc4 23.b4 e7 24.b1 The threat was .... a5, but possibly the strange-looking 24 Na6 was a better chance f or def ence. c5 25.f4 While here Fritz is decidedly more taken by 25 Be3, which does at least unload White's pathetic bishop and give birth to an e-pawn which can control d5 and f5 (at least it does if Black plays 25... Bxe 3 2 6 f xe 3 m a ybe h e sh ou ld n 't ? ) fd8 26.h2 a5 27.c2 f5 28.h5 d3 29.e1 ad8 30.c1 d1 31.hh1 1d5 32.h6 I must say I don't understand this move, and since Black eventually wins the game by taking the pawn on h6 and queening his own hpawn, it's fair to say that whatever Arakhamia's idea was the game didn't demonstrate it. It's always easy to sit tight in someone else's passive position, but either repeating with Rh2 or even possibly Ne3 was su re ly pref e ra ble . gxh6 33.gxh6 f8 34.h2 d1 35.xd1 And here 35 Rhh1 was surely necessary: after the text White loses a pawn an d t he game is ef f ective ly over. I imagine that time trouble was affecting the p l a y h e r e a b o u t s . xd1 36.b3 d6 Decisive White's rook is outnumbered. 37.f2 cxb3 38.axb3 xh6 39.e3 h1 40.c2 h5 A classy manoeuvre, controlling f5 to get the knight back into play. 41.c4 c7

42.g2 f6 43.e3 f5 44.c5+ f7 45.d2 xf4 46.d7+ g6 47.xa5 h2+ 48.d1 h5 49.c6 h4 50.d8 h3 51.xe6 e3+ 52.xe3 52 Kc1 Bh6 was no better, and nor was 52 Ke1 Bg3 mate. xe3 53.g7+ f5 54.g3 e4 55.d4 d2+ 56.e1 f2+ 57.xd2 xg3 58.e2 f2 0-1

579 Bauer,Christian Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 49th TCh-Honor Final (1) [John Cox]

B04 2641 2646 10.09.2005

1.e4 f6 Good to see Mamedyarov hasn't been put off by the unfortunate loss to Sutovsky given in September, and indeed he's b e e n d o i n g ve r y we l l wi t h t h e A l e k h in e , beating Harikrishna and Potkin besides this game and a couple of other draws and wins against lower-rated players. 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 d7 6...Bf5 is the more common way nowadays: the text is the way Miles used to play the variation. 7.f3 g6 8.c4 c7 9.c3 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.g5 Miles had the position af ter Bla ck's ten th quite a f ew t imes , f o r example [ 11.f4 c5 12.d5 e5 13.g5 f6 14.e3 f7 15.a3 f8 16.b1 e8 17.b4 b6 when Black managed to hang on in the complications in Degraeve-Miles, Mondariz 2000, although things look a little ropey at this point. ] 11...e6 12.e3 f6 13.h3 b6 Only here does the game deviate from Zarnicki-Miles, Oviedo rapid 1993, which went on [ 13...c7 14.d2 d8 15.fe1 h5 16.f1 b6 17.ad1 b7 18.c1 ac8 with approximate equality. ] 14.b3 c7 15.fe1 b7 16.ad1 fd8 17.f1 a6 18.a4 ab8 19.a3 b5 An extremely typical break in these positions, although played, like here, as a pawn sacrifice it is naturally rarer. 20.g5 [ White cannot win the pawn directly on accou n t o f 20.axb5 cxb5 21.cxb5 xf3 22.gxf3 axb5 ] 20...xg5 21.xg5 but now the attack on e7 588

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 an d b 5 d o e s f o rce t h e win o f a p a wn . e6 22.axb5 cxb5 23.cxb5 axb5 24.xb5 Thus, but Black has compensation in the form of W hite's two weaknesses on d4 and b2 which ought to be enough to hold the balance, although it's hard to believe in more than that. dc8 25.c1 b6 26.f4 a8 27.d6 a5 28.e7 d5 29.xb7 xf4 30.e4 h6 31.b1 ab8 32.f1 b4 By now Black has pretty good compensation: as usual the opposite-coloured bishops assist the player who has made a positional sacrifice. 33.g3 h5 34.d3 d8 35.e5 a7 36.b5 b8 37.c3 f8 38.a1 f6 39.a7 a8 40.a6 d5 41.f3 c7 42.xa8 xa8 43.aa5 xb2 44.c6 c8 45.e2 xe2 46.xe2 d5 47.a6 b4 An excellent strategic decision the knight looked pretty on d5 but the best balance for Black is in fact rook and opposite-coloured bishops. 48.xb4 xb4 Whether White ought to lose this endgame with best play is very hard to say but it's definitely not easy to hold it: if d4 goes the extra protection Black's f7 has compared to f2 makes a big difference. 49.a4 e7 50.f3 c2 51.f1 g7 52.h4 [ 52.d5? c5 illustrates the point. ] 52...h5 53.e4 d2 54.e1 b2 55.c4 b4+ 56.f1 a5 57.d5 This doesn't help, but Black was all set up for ...Bb6 and ...Rd2. f5 58.d3 d2 59.e2 xd5 60.c6 e5 61.c4 d1+ 62.g2 c1 63.d5 d1 64.c4 e4 65.a6 b4 66.a7+ f6 67.a6+ d6 68.b5 d2 69.f1 g5 70.e1 d5 71.c4 d4 72.hxg5+ xg5 73.e2 h4 74.gxh4+ xh4 75.c6 g5 76.c4 d5 77.f1 e5 78.b4 d8 79.b5 f4 Black is winning by now - the king is just too snug here. 80.b4 a8 81.b1 a2 82.c4 c2 83.e2 d6 84.d1 e5 85.b1 c5 86.b3 f4 87.f3 c1+ 88.g2 g1+ 89.h2 e1 90.b2 d4 91.c2 e3 92.b5 d4 93.fxe4 f3 94.h3 f4 95.e5 h1+ 96.h2 b1 97.d2 e3 98.d3 b8 0-1

580 Colovic,Aleksandar Pesotsky,Vitaly IX EICC Plovdiv BUL (8) [John Watson]

B04 2493 2371 29.04.2008

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.e2 0-0 [ 7...c6 8.bd2 0-0 9.h3 is Motwani-Tan, Tilburg 2000, to be found with notes in the Archive. ] 8.h3 c6 9.0-0 dxe5 I'm not sure how meaningful the insertion of a4/...a5 is in these lines. [ The outrageously famous game ShortTimman, Tilburg 1991 (re-annotated by Alex Volzhin for ChessPub)went 9...a5 10.a4 dxe5 11.dxe5 d4 12.xd4 xd4 13.e1 e6 14.d2 and there are two examples: A) theoretically important is DimitrovMarinkovic, Tivat 1995, the main game in C o x ' s b o o k : 14...d7 15.f3 c5 16.e3 e7 17.g5 c5 18.e4!? I'm not sure that this does much. Better looks ( 18.c3; or 18.h4! c6 19.e3 e7 20.h5 , which loosens up Black's kingside a bit before shifting pieces over there.) 18...c6 19.h4 fe8 20.h2 b4! 21.xb4 axb4 22.a5 d7 23.g4 h5 24.f6+ xf6 25.exf6 f8 with equality.; B) 14...d5 (as in the Short game) 15.f3 c5 16.e4! b4! 17.c4! b6 18.b3! xc4 19.bxc4 , an assessment that Volzhin explains at length and that you can find in the Archives. This is the well-known king-walk game with Kh2-g3-f4g5. ] 10.dxe5 d4 11.xd4 xd4 12.e1 e6 13.d2 d7 As opposed to Timman's ...Nd5 idea. The obvious point should be ... Bc6, but Black also uses the bishop to support his queen: 14.f3 c5 15.e3 b5!? [ a) 15...a5 16.d2!? c5 17.e4! has the idea Qh4 and Bh6, with the tactical point c6 18.b4! ] [ b) 15...e7 is like the Dimitrov game (without a4/. ..a5): 16.ad1 h6 17.d2 fd8! 18.c3 c6 19.c5 e8 20.d4 keeps a small edge. ] 16.d2 c6 17.d4 a6 18.xc6 bxc6 19.c4!? This looks logical, trying to restrict 589

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B l a c k ' s k n i g h t a n d d e n y i t a cc e s s t o d 5 nevertheless, [ 19.ad1! d5 20.g5 masters the d-file and prepares c4 anyway. ] 19...fd8 20.c3 d7 [ 20...h6! would stop Bg5, although White still has a nice advantage with space and the bishops. ] 21.g5 db8 22.ad1 c5 23.f3 b7 24.e3 a5 25.e2 a6 26.e3?! [ 26.d4! must be good, heading towards the kingside, since every Black piece is far away from defence on the other side of the board! ] 26...xb3 27.d7! f8 28.axb3 xe5? [ 28...ad8 forces simplification: 29.ed2 xd7 30.xd7 c8! 31.xc6! xe5 32.f4 xb2 33.xc7 and White still has initiative, but it's not an easy win. ] 29.h6 g7?? [ But 29...h8 30.xf8 xf8 31.xc7 is pretty bad. ] 30.xg7 xg7 31.xe6 ad8 32.f6+ h6 33.e4! Mate follows. 1-0

581

B04 Corrales Jimenez,Fidel 2590 Nogueiras Santiago,Jesus 2570 45th Capablanca Mem Premier (3) 12.06.2010 [Gawain Jones]

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 d5!? A speciality of the Hungarian Grandmaster Zoltan Varga, this move ha sn't b een co vered previo usly o n ChessPublishing. The move is fairly rare and Finkel calls it a "dubious variation" in his a n n o t a t io n s f o r Ch e ssB a se , b u t a ga m e played between two Grandmasters has to be taken seriously. Perhaps with the problems Reinderman faced against Nisipeanu more players will be attracted to this more solid move although after analysing this game I can't say the line looks very rosy for Black. 7.h3 White has tried various setups here but this move to prevent ...Bg4 is sensible. [ 7.c3 has generally been the choice of the strongest White players and has potential to transpose to the game.

A) 7...f5 The problem with this move is that White may gain time on the bishop for a kingside assault. 8.bd2 a5 9.e2!? True to form, Sulskis goes his own way. ( 9.a4 would be the automatic response when I'd plump for White although Black's position is solid.) 9...a4 10.d1 d7 11.h3 h6 12.g4!? Don't say I didn't warn you. xd2+ 13.xd2 e6 ( 13...e4 is more logical but perhaps the Russian IM was scared of 14.e6! xe6 15.g5 c6 16.f3 h6 17.xf7 d3 18.xd3 xf7 wh ich is m essy b ut I 'd p re f e r W h it e's bishops. ) 14.h6 c4 15.c1 b5 16.b3 axb3 17.axb3 b6 18.g5 c6 19.f4 And W hite had taken complete control. S u ls ki s , S - Ch e t ve r ik , M . Ca p p e ll e l a Grande 2006.; B) 7...g7 8.bd2 a5 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 a6 ( 10...g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 e6 13.g5 d7 14.d2 is given by Finkel and indeed I like W hite's prospects of mating the Black king here.) 11.c2 c5 12.a3 Preventing that a6 knight from jumping back into the game. cxd4 13.cxd4 c7 14.h3 e6 15.f1 a4 16.h4! d7 17.h5 c8 18.g3 Resembled a French. White's kingside initiative should not be underestimated but Black was probably doing ok. Almasi, Z-Varga, Z Heviz 2003. ] [ 7.f4 was Smyslov's choice here and thus should also be considered. A) 7...g4 was Varga's choice. That game continued: 8.a4 e6 9.a5 6d7 10.bd2 c5 11.h3!? A pawn sacrifice xf3 12.xf3 c4 13.a4 ( 13.a6!? is an intriguing option forcing Black's knight to the wrong circuit. ) 13...xa5+ 14.c3 b5 15.c2 b6 16.h4 h5 17.g4!? c6 18.g5 and W hite's attack was worth far more than the missing a pawn. Pedersen, DVarga, Z Budapest 1996.; B) 7...g7 8.c1 h6 9.c3 a6 10.0-0 g4 11.bd2 c5 12.c2 c7 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 e6 15.dxc5! Another motif taken from the French, d4 is a superb outpost for a White knight. xc5 16.e1 cd7 17.d4 g5 18.b5 c6 19.d6+ f8 20.g3 and the former World Champion had a very pleasant position. Smyslov, V-Segal, A Sao Paulo 1978. ] 590

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 7.0-0 has been the most common option when Varga has tried various replies. c6 ( 7...g4 8.bd2 a5 9.c3 a4 10.c2 e6 11.e1 c5 12.d3 cxd4 13.cxd4 c6 14.h3 f5 1/2-1/2 Istratescu, A-Varga, Z Herculane 1996 must be deemed a success for Black.; 7...a5 8.c3 g7 9.c2 0-0 10.g5!? h6 11.f3 g4 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 e6 14.a3 c5 15.e3 cxd4 16.cxd4 c6 17.ac1 e7 18.d3 a4 19.e2 b4 20.b1 fc8 21.b5 Acs, P-Varga, Z Budapest 1996 was unpleasant for Black who eventually regretted the weakness he made on his tenth move.) 8.c3 g7 9.e1 0-0 10.bd2 h8 11.f1 f6 12.exf6 exf6 13.g3 d6 14.c2 f5 15.b3 f4 16.f1 g4 17.h3 h5 18.d3 ae8 19.b2 c8 1/2-1/2 Byrne, R-Ljubojevic, L Buenos Aires 1978 was an old game that was respectable for Black although White still holds an edge in the final position after 20.b4!? ] 7...a5 This is the logical way to play the position but Black has also tried without the pawn thrust. [ 7...g7 8.c3 f5 Again I'm not totally sure a b o u t t h is m o ve a n d p e r h a p s Jo va n k a should have tried playing as Sulskis did in the 7.c3 note? 9.f4 ( 9.bd2 would be my suggestion, not fearing d3 as White can always play 10.c2 ) 9...c6 10.0-0 0-0 11.a4 a5 12.c2 e6 13.b3 xc2 14.xc2 c5 15.dxc5 d7 16.e1 c6 17.b4 a5 18.d2 ( 18.b5 e7 19.c6 bxc6 20.a3 is a safer way of playing, although I d o u b t B l a c k h a s a n y r e a l p r o b l e m s .) 18...axb4 19.cxb4 f6! The position reminds me of certain lines of the Caro Kann but Black's initiative is easily worth the sacrificed pawn and indeed White can't hold on to the pawn anyway. Houska, J Golubenko, V Crete 2007. ] 8.a4 [ 8.c3 also resulted in a small White edge. g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.c2 a6 11.e1 c6 12.bd2 c7 13.f1 ( 13.b3!? looks like an interesting alternative.) 13...f6 14.exf6 ( White could also wait before taking with 14.a4 whe n if B lack plays e6 White can start aggressive proceedings with 15.h4! seeing as Black no longer has ...

Bg4. ) 14...exf6 15.h4 g4 16.1h2 d7 17.xg4 xg4 18.e7 ac8 19.f1 fe8 20.h2 xh4 21.g3 h5 22.d1 xh2+ 23.xh2 1/2-1/2 Rozentalis, E-Krasenkow, M Gausdal 2007 was an interesting final positio n but I have a f eeling th e quee n should really be stronger than rook, knight and pawn here. ] 8...g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 I like this flexible move and I think this position is probably critical to the viability of this variation for Black. His position is fairly solid but it's hard to engineer any pawn breaks. Generally, in this type of position, Black tries for ...c5 but here that will create a big hole on b5 which in turn might result in a knight on the super outpost on d6. Alternatively Black can play for ...f6 but then he has to watch out for White razzing the h pawn down the board as the g6 pawn will prove very vulnerable. [ 10.c3 has been played in the past which also looks acceptable providing the knight drops back to e2. A couple of games have continued: a6 A) 11.e3 h6 I don't like this move. Understandably Black wasn't keen to allow Qd2 and Bh6 but this really weakens both h a n d g p a w n s . 12.e2 looks strong, when I'm not really sure what Black is to d o , f o r e x a m p l e : ( Instead 12.h2 was played in Lengyel, B-To Nhat Minh Budapest 2006.) 12...c6 13.d2 h7 14.xa5 and White has an extra pawn.; B) 11.f4 h6 Again I confess I don't like this move despite the expert in the variation trying it. Perhaps the idea is 12.d2 ( 12.e1 Heinatz, T-Varga, Z Budapest 1996.) 12...g5 13.g3 b4 but now 14.d1! and White will expel the knight from b4 followed by playing for f2-f4 when Black's king looks too vulnerable. ] 10...a6 [ 10...c6 has been tried by Varga when he reach ed t his position . Th e mo st recen t game co ntinued : 11.c3 ( 11.c3 a6 12.e2 c7 13.c3 e6 14.c2 f5 15.exf6 exf6 Borgo, G-Varga, Z Budapest 1999 also looked strong for W hite when I would try 16.h4! loosening up Black's king.) 11...a6 12.bd2 c7 13.f1 e6 14.h4 c5 15.h5 and I'd always pick White 591

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 as I like his dynamic chances. Agopov, MVarga, Z Budapest 2009. ] 11.e3 [ 11.d2! has been tried before here and i n d e e d i f B l a c k i s f o r c e d t o p l a y b8 as both players have done then this must be an improvement for White. ( Perhaps 11...c5 was Black's intention, sacrificing the a5 pawn although I'm sceptical that he has enough compensation following: 12.xa5 c4 13.a2 b8 14.xb6 xb6 15.b3 cxb3 16.xb3; 11...b4 12.xb4 axb4 13.d2 would also drop a pawn.) 12.c3 ( 12.e3!? can't be completely stupid as W h it e h a s a n e xt ra t e m p o .; 12.c1 a la Smyslov would also attract my attention.) 12...c6 Smagin, S-Marinkovic, I Cacak 1991 and around here White started l o s i n g t h e p l o t . I ' d a d v o c a t e 13.e2 with a pleasant advantage. ] 11...f6 ...c5 looks rather hard to achieve so Nogueiras goes for the other break in the position. 12.bd2 [ There's no need to release the tension and allow Black a bit more freedom with 12.exf6 ] 12...c6 13.c3 c7 14.c2 e6 [ 14...f5!? looks interesting although of course after this move White will always be better as he has more space and can slowly try and push Black backwards on both sides of the board. ] [ 14...e6 is the other option and we've see n th is ide a in t he no te s to p re viou s moves. However, perhaps Black was scared of 15.h4! which, as you'll have gathered by this point, looks like a good antidote to ...f6 once Black can no longer play ...Bg4. ] 15.b3 Corrales Jimenez is content to take squares away from Black and slowly suffocate him. The mark of a good player is knowing when there's no need to rush the position. d7 16.exf6 exf6 17.f1 f7 18.d2 Black's position is n ot a disaster but th e problem is he's a bit cramped and lacks any active plan. Anyone who has played practically knows how hard it is to come up with good moves when you cannot find a useful plan. e8 19.e2 e6 20.ae1 f8 21.1h2 White's pieces start to amass like thunder clouds in front of the Black king. c7

[ 21...f5 is the computer's suggestion to stop the h2 knight jumping into the game but not a pleasant move to play as it cedes the e5 outpost and means that Black will be forced to grovel for the rest of the game. 22.g5 f6 23.xe6 xe6 24.f3 e4 25.xe4 dxe4 26.e5 would be a typical line which isn't disastrous for Black but still unpleasant. ] 22.g4 d6 23.g3 g7 [ My computer is enthralled by 23...xg3? but after a couple of seconds it changes its mind once it sees 24.fxg3 xg3+ 25.g2 xf3 26.h2+- and there's no way out for the Black queen from its raid. ] 24.g2 Very calm. White could have played Nh6 on either of the previous moves but first he gets everything ready and frustrates Black into yet more waiting moves. e7 25.h6+ [ 25.h4!? continuing the same plan while forcing Black to calculate the consequences of 26.h5 also looks strong. ] 25...g8?! This has a tactical problem. [ The king had to retreat into the corner 25...h8 but the position is exceedingly unpleasant after 26.h4! ] 26.g5! xg5?! And this was the worst way to take the piece. [ 26...fxg5 was the lesser evil but Black's position is still unpleasant after 27.h6+ Of course this was the point of 25.Bh6+ g7 28.xf7 xf7 29.xe6 but Black is still holding on after af8 30.1e3 at least temporarily. ] 27.xe7 xe7 28.xe7 Now the rook on the seventh is simply too strong. f8 29.xg5! xe7? This loses [ 29...fxg5 would survive a few moves longer but the position should still be lost following 30.e1 ( Not 30.xg5? when d8 isn't so clear. )] 30.e3+ f8 31.xh7+ g8 32.h6 d6 33.xg6 e6 A well played game by White and I think Black has some problems in this 6... d5 line and thus there are justifiable reasons why it's played much less frequently than 6... Bg7. 1-0

592

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 582 Cuijpers,Frans Andre Cox,John J 3rd ACT Amsterdam NED (9) [John Cox]

B04 2510 2418 23.07.2006

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 The Miles variation, which we've seen plenty of (and plenty of difference of opinion about!) on this site bef ore. 6.d3 The dangerous move popularised by SutovskyCarlsen, Rethymnon 2003. d7 7.xd7 [ 7.0-0 was Sutovsky-Carlsen. The straightforward text has been played by Adams among other GMs, but I find it very hard to believe that W hite can hope for much by trading his active knight like this for Black's passive one. ] 7...xd7 8.0-0 g6 [ 8...e6 was the far inferior move played in Adams-Maki Uuro, Calvia, which I gave on this site last year in the notes to another game. Of course Black shouldn't wall in his d7 bishop like that. ] 9.e1 g7 10.c3 0-0 11.g5 b6 A new move, and actually I think quite a good one. [ I discussed Stefansson-Gausel, Aarhus 2003, in Starting Out Alekhine's Defence. That went 11...e8 12.d2 c8 13.c4 f5 14.e2 c7 ( 14...b5 15.e3 xe3 16.xe3 e5 was my proposal) 15.f3 ad8 16.b3 e6 and now the thoroughly thematic 17.xe6 fxe6 after which White won handily ] 12.d2 It's not terribly convenient to defend b2 [ 12.e2 h6 ] [ 12.b3 fe8 , and ] [ 12.c2 c5 (Black's main idea is to enable either an ...e5 or ...c5 break quickly) all have drawbacks of one kind and another in this last line 13.c4 c6 14.xd5?! xd5 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xe7? fe8-+ is an important tactical point. ] 12...e6 White's point with his last move was to meet [ 12...c5 with 13.e4 when c6 fails to 14.xd5 xd5 15.dxc5 , but of course the price is that now the b1 knight is obstructed, so B la ck f igures h e can con tinu e mo re

quietly. Rxe6 isn't so terrifying when Black has a quick ..c5 available his problem in Stefansson-Gausel was exactly that he couldn't get this move in and thus could never open any lines for his rooks. ] [ The machine instead proposes entering murky complications with 12...f6 13.h4 e5 , which looks horribly anti-positional to me a n d a l s o a p p e a rs a t f i r st s i gh t t o l o s e material, but as usual the creature has some tactical resources, for example the obvious and 'crushing' 14.c4 f4 15.c5 c7 16.dxe5 fxe5 17.e7 f7 18.d6 d8 19.xe5 xe5 20.xe5 can be met with f6 when it is t simple, if at all possible, to demonstrate any advantage for White, e. g. 21.c4 e6 22.xe6 xe6 23.e3 f4 24.c3 d3= ] 13.a3 c7 At the time I thought this move was incredibly clever, aiming for 14 Nc4 c5 (of course the immediate [ 13...c5 loses to 14.c4 b4 15.xe7 ) Fritz however tells me it's rubbish and that placing a rook sensibly on d8 was called for. I should add that this was the last round and that the previous evening some - if not all - of the British players in the event had looked upon the wine when it was red to celebrate our last evening in Amsterdam, so if Black plays any good moves in this game it was a m at te r of lu ck, as will be co m e apparent later on. ] 14.c2 [ 14.c4 f6 15.f4 d7 16.e5 was correct according to Fritz (this is why Black should have waited for Nc4 blocking the c-pawn before retreating his queen), and I must reluctantly admit that the horrid thing has a point. ] 14...ad8 15.a4 I didn't understand this move a lot at the time and I don't now, but since White wins the game by queening this pawn I dare say there's more to it than meets the eye. d7 With this move I had in mind ...f6 and ... Bf7, a manoeuvre Black quite often employs in this type of position. I didn't see much point in stopping White's next move, although in fact 15...a5 had a great deal to be said for it. 16.a5 [ If I remember correctly I was planning to meet 16.c4 with c7 ( 16...f6! ) 17.h6 f6 , thinking idly that White was trading my 593

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 worse bishop and that I would now have a nice solid position, but in fact a continuation like 18.ad1 f7 19.xg7 xg7 20.e4 would have rudely shattered my illusions. White's set-up with the queen/bishop line-up on c1-h6 is a bit unusual and I didn't appreciate at all the difference this makes. ] 16...f6 17.h4? [ A bit unfair to give my opponent a question mark when he's played so much better than me up to now, but this is altogether wrong. As Cuijpers (a most charming opponent by the way) pointed out after the game, 17.h6 was much be tter. After the trade of bishops rook on e4 is a real nuisance for Black with the constant threat of Rh4 and Qh6 to deal with as well as the possibility of doubling in the e-file. ] 17...f7 18.e4 fe8 19.g3 c5 Initiating ations which White might perhaps have positioned himself better to meet over the last couple of moves (my opponent had overlooked that the move was possible at all in this position) . 20.dxc5 b5 21.a3 W hite has a few tactical ideas with a6 and then c6, but as far as I can see they simply don't work and he has nothing better than allowing Black to recapture his pawn with a good game. xc5 22.b4 c8 [ I don't recall consciously contemplating 22...xc3 23.xc3 xc3 24.xb7 e5 at all, although this is quite good for Black in fact he may well hold a clear advantage. My mindset was that Black ought to keep the queens and attack with his kingside majority, while White's queenside majority would be fearsome in an ending. I suspect J o n a t h a n Ro wso n wo u l d d e sc r ib e t h i s scornfully as fabulation, but certainly it was pretty poor. Another way of looking at the mat ter would have bee n t ha t t he f e we r pieces you have left the more serious it is if some of them (e.g. the a3 knight and the g3 bishop) aren't doing anything: alternatively of course I could have resorted to calculating the odd variation, although for the reason I mentioned that wasn't really an option. Having said that the position is about equal after Black's move, and with both of us beginning to get short of time pretty tense as well. ]

23.c4 c7 24.e3 f5 25.f3 e5 26.xa7 Objectively these last few moves of White's form a rather rash adventure, although I'm not entirely sure what he ought to have played instead at move 24. It may be that Black's kingside majority already does give him the better chances. e4 27.e2 g5? [ T h e s i m p l e 27...e6 is more or less winning since ...f4 and ...g5 is threatened, the f-pawn cannot move and 28.h3 f4 29.h2 is too humiliating for words apart from anything else Black might well take the exchange now that the h2 bishop is under lock and key. ] 28.xc7 xc7 29.b5 e7 30.ab1 f4 31.f1 [ The computer is confident about the outrageous-looking 31.c5 humans (weak ones like me, anyway) are afraid of shutting the quee n out f rom the def ence , not t o mention allowing ...e3 (the idea of the text is to stop this move, of course) but actually there isn't all that much defending to be done and White is playing a6 in a minute . The game certainly goes on though after e3 32.f3 e5 33.a6 bxa6 34.xa6 d2 or such, especially with both players short of time. ] 31...g6 32.c5? A dreadful and panicky move, something sensible like [ 32.bd1 was much better and quite possibly objectively good for White. So far this hasn't been one of Frans Cuijpers' better games, but Black pays for all with his next few moves. I just utterly failed to adjust t o t h e f a c t I wa s su d d e n l y wi n n i n g ( o r winning again, rather). This is a common psychological problem which I've noticed bo t h in my o p po n e nt s an d m yse lf (a n d indeed in other players' games), but it's more easily stated than cured. ] 32...xc5 33.bxc5 e3 Winning. 34 fxe3 is 'forced' but of course it loses. 34.b3 c2?! [ This doesn't spoil anything but 34...exf2+ 35.xf2 d2+ 36.e2 exe2+ 37.xe2 h5 wins a piece fairly trivially at once particularly inept since exploiting the pin on e2 like this was my one and only idea, but for some reason the h5 square fell outside my view - possibly the board was getting a little fuzzy at the edges by this time. ] 594

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 35.a3 exf2+?? [ As Cuijpers pointed out afterwards, a d i f f e r e n t i d e a a l t o g e t h e r w i t h 35...d1 wi n s m a t e r i a l s i n c e i f 36.xd1 xd1 the e-pawn is decisive ] [ Alternatively I could have executed the idea I had in the game correctly with 35...b2 , since 36.a2 exf2+ 37.xf2 d2+ 38.e2 exe2+ 39.xe2 d3 ( or indeed 39...b3 ) leads to what I was hoping to achieve in the game. )] 36.xf2 d2+ 37.e2 exe2+ 38.xe2 b2? By now this is a losing mistake, although in fact Black was still well in the game after [ 38...e4 I had even seen White's next move, but I somehow lacked the mental drive to adjust and play something other than my previously planned winning move (I had been thinking of 39 Ra2? Bd3, of course). Another quite common psychological phenomenon, although with this one to be aware of it goes a long way towards eliminating it - I hope, anyway. ] 39.e1 xe2+ 40.xe2 xa3 41.c6! An alert move instead of [ 41.xa3 e4 , which I had - perhaps correctly - anticipated wouldn't be too bad for Black. Now however 41....bxc6 42 Nxa3 Bf5 43 c5 is hopeless, and so is 41...Bb2 42 cxb7 Be5 43 c5 Be4 44 Nd6, although it would have been nice to have noticed this last variation, which I didn't. Not a game for either side to be proud of, but I found t h e p l a y a ro u n d W h it e ' s m o ve 1 7 ve r y instructive - neither of us grasped at all tha t Blac k's g7 b isho p st ill ou gh t to b e t ra d e d e ve n a f t e r . . . f 6 . I f yo u f in d t h a t obvious then I'm afraid you may not get much out of this game, but even then I think Bla c k p laye d qu ite a go o d m o ve in t h e opening. ] 1-0

583 Degraeve,Jean Marc Miles,Anthony J Zonal Mondariz ESP (5) [Nigel Davies]

B04

07.09.2000

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 One of several quiet moves which aim to keep the tiny plus conferred on him by the pawn structure. The following possibilities are similarly motivated: [ a) 6.c3 g6 7.g3 g7 8.g2 d7 9.xd7 xd7 10.d2 0-0 11.f3 c8 12.0-0 h3 left Black very comfortably placed in Shur Bagirov, Baku 1996 ] [ b) 6.h3 looks innocuous but the idea is quite good when Black challenges the knight on e5 White plans to drop it back and not have to worry about a pin. Jansa - Burkar, Bonnevoie1999continued d7 7.f3 g6 8.c4 g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 e6 ( the immediate 10...b5 loses a pawn after 11.xd5 cxd5 12.c3 ) 11.b3 b5 12.g5 c7 13.bd2 b7 14.c4 bxc4 15.xc4 c5 16.c1 and now ac8 17.dxc5 xc5 looks fine for Black. ] [ c) 6.d3 d7 7.xd7 xd7 8.0-0 g6 9.e1 g7 10.c3 0-0 11.g5 e8 12.d2 c8 13.e4 f5 left White with nothing special in Macieja - Kuczynski, Polish Ch., Warsaw 2001 ] 6...d7 [ 6...g6 7.c4 c7 8.c3 g7 9.e3 d7 10.f4!? 0-0 11.0-0 xe5 12.dxe5 ( 12.fxe5 c5 ) 12...xd1 13.axd1 f6 was an equaliser in Dolmatov - Tseshkovsky, Russian Ch., Tomsk 2001 ] 7.f3 g6 8.c4 c7 9.c3 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.f4 c5!? 12.d5 e5!? Giving White a passed d-pawn, but Black will blockade it with a knight on d6 13.g5 f6 14.e3 f7! 15.a3 f8 16.b1 e8 17.b4 The position starts to become very sharp with White trying to create a breach before Black's knight settles in to d6. This position could actually become dangerous for White if he doesn't play sharply Bla ck' s kin gsid e p a wn ma jority co u ld b e advanced with great effect. b6 18.d2 d6 19.de4 f5 20.d6!? b7 21.bxc5 xe3 22.fxe3 f5 23.c6! xc6 24.c5! g7 25.b5 c8 26.b3+ h8 27.g5 xc5 28.f7+ 595

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g8 29.h6+ h8 30.f7+ g8 31.h6+ ½-½

584 Del Rio Angelis,Salvador Gabriel Conquest,Stuart 4th IECC Istanbul (8) [Andrew Martin]

B04 2490 2555 2003

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.d3 Slightly unusual but can't be too bad. The Bishop does rather encourage Nb4 though. As stated last month, I prefer 6 Be2. Equalization isn't easy for Black. [ 6.e2! Sensible development, no targets and c2-c4 waiting in the wings. I like White's options in this position. g6 7.0-0 g7 8.e1 d7 9.f3 With more space, White naturally avoids exchanges. 0-0 10.f1 7f6 11.bd2 g4 12.c4 b6 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 White hasn't done very much but there's no doubt about it: Black is slightly worse. Black can try to target d4 but th e Kn igh t o n b 6 is p a ssive a n d act ive counterplay appears in short supply. c7 15.g3 ad8 16.f4 d7 17.b3 fe8 18.ad1 c8 19.a3 d7 20.xa7 c8 21.a3 d6 22.b3 e6 23.c2 a8 24.a4 h5 25.c1 ed8 26.b3 c7 27.g2 f6 28.g4 g7 29.f4 a5 30.e5 ac8 31.c5 de8 32.c4 1-0 Groszpeter,A-Hugentobler, P/3rd Zurich Lake Plaza Open, Pfaeffikon 2003 Black has it all to prove after 6 Be2. Adherents of this system would call 5.. .c6 ' flexible '. Well then, 6 Be2 is equally flexible. ] [ 6.d2 d7 7.df3 In principle, any exchanges ease the Black position. xe5 8.xe5 f5 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.0-0 d6 12.g4 f6 13.d2 d8 14.ad1 g6 15.e2 0-0 16.fe1 f5= Compare this with the Groszpeter game. Black isn't cramped and hasn't surrendered the Two Bishops. He's fine. 17.g3 e7 18.c3 fe8 19.c1 d6 20.a3 b5 21.d2 f6 22.e4 xe4 23.xe4 f7 24.f1 g5 25.a4 a6 26.a1 a8 27.ee1 b6 28.axb5 axb5 29.b3 ed8 30.e2 e7 31.h3 h6 32.ec1 e8 33.h4 d7

34.h1 d5 35.hxg5 hxg5 36.hc1 b6 37.d1 xa1 38.xa1 a8 39.xa8 1/2-1/2 Palac, M-Bauer,C/1/2 Coupe de France, Senat FRA 2003 ] 6...d7 7.f3 7f6 8.h3 On the ball pre ve n t in g . . . B g4 bu t Co n qu e st s e e s a n opportunity to take advantage of the Bd3. b4 9.c4 f5! 10.e5 [ If 10.b3 a5! 11.a3 bd5 12.c4 b6 13.0-0 a4 14.a2 e6= I guess he just didn't want to move that Bishop again! ] 10...e6 11.a3 d6 12.0-0! h6 13.c3 bd5 14.c2 c7 15.d3? A move lacking in confidence. I'm at a loss why he didn't prefer [ 15.e1 0-0-0 ( 15...d8 16.e2 0-0 17.b3 c5; 15...0-0 16.e2 ad8= ) 16.e2= Although White has nothing to shout about the position is interesting and there's plenty of play. Del Rio Angelis seems to give up a pawn rathe r desperately it seems to me. ] 15...xe5 16.dxe5 xd3 17.xd3 xe5 Why not ? 18.e1 c7 19.c4 e7 20.b3 0-0 21.f3 With the idea of Bxh6 but this is easily parried. d7 22.b2 g6 23.g3 [ After 23.c3 centralisation will do nicely for Black: e5 24.ad1 ad8 25.g3 fe8 ] 23...ad8 24.c3 e5 25.h4 f6! A typically powerful defensive move by Stuart Conquest, putting paid to any thoughts of mate on the long diagonal. 26.e3 a6 27.a3 fe8 28.e4 df8 White is thrashing around cre a t i n g ra n d o m a t t a ck s b u t t h e re is n o coherence. He's simply a pawn down! 29.c5 e6 30.e3 gf8 31.g4 h8 32.h5 g8 33.g4 f7 34.b6 [ 34.xh6 f5-+ ] 34...d2 35.e3 h5 36.e4 d7 White has been left with nothing to attack any more. Black begins the cleaning up procedure. 37.a5 dc5 38.f3 d3 39.g2 g6 40.b4 e4 41.b5 axb5 42.cxb5 d4! Payback! 43.bxc6 xc6 44.b6 d2 45.h1 e4 46.h3 f3 47.ed1 ce5 48.f5 xf5 49.xf5 c4 50.c5 e5 51.e7+ f7 52.b4 xe7 53.xe7 xe7 54.dc1 d2! A nice game by Black. Evidently Del Rio Angelis is a player who thrives on inspiration. He had one moment only when he could have played rationally and 596

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 kept the position equal (15 Re1). Failing to appreciate that cost him the point. As far as 5...c6 goes I remain sceptical. I don't think Black can equalize after6Be2! 0-1

585 Dgebuadze,Alexandre Sadkowsky,Daniel 33rd Taminco Open (8) [Gawain Jones]

B04 2537 2255 20.07.2010

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.a4 We haven't seen this move since 2000 on here, although Volzhin believed it to be the most dangerous for Black to face and has Kasparov's seal of approval. [ 7.g5 is the main move when e6 8.f3 0-0 "This is very rare as it castles straight in t o W h i t e ' s a t t a c k b u t Re i n d e r m a n i s confident in Black's position" was my comment when I investigated this position last time. Evidently he had enough faith to repeat against Nisipeanu but that proved to be f oolhardy. 9.h3 h6 10.f3 dxe5 11.dxe5 c6 12.xh6 xe5 13.g5 d3+ 14.cxd3 xb2 15.d2 xa1 16.0-0 I mentioned up to this point last time when I wrote: 'with a strong attack' is given by John W atson in the archives. It would be interesting to see how Reinderman planned on combating such an aggressive approach. " Perhaps he missed John's suggestion? d4 17.de4 e8 18.xf7!! A) 18...xf7 After thirty minutes my c o m p u t e r c o m e s u p w i t h 19.f3+ ( 19.g5 e7 20.h7+ g7 21.f6 f8 22.g5+ xf6 23.h4 d5 24.h7+ f7 25.xf8 xf8 gives Black too much material for the queen.; 19.g5+ g8 20.xe6 xe6 21.xe6+ xe6 22.xe6+ h7 survives the attack. ) A1) 19...g8 20.g4 ( 20.g3 f7 21.f3+= is the computer's immediate s u g g e s t i o n .) 20...f7 21.e1 f6 22.f3 would transpose to 19... Bf6; A2) 19...f6 20.e1! d5 21.g5+ g8 22.e4 f4 ( 22...e7 23.xe6+ is of course hopeless.) 23.xf4 xg5

24.xg5 xd3 25.xc7 f5 26.e3 when, despite being the exchange down, White has a clear advantage thanks to his activity and Black's weak king. Of course Reinderman should have gone in to this though. I notice that this is also given by Tabanus on chessgames.com and was evidently Nisipeanu's deep preparation.; B) 18...d7? This move is as good as resigning. The piece had to be taken to see what the creative Romanian had in store. 19.e3! xf7 20.h7+ g7 21.g5+ f6 22.e4+ f7 23.g5+ f6 24.f3 d6 25.g5+ f7 26.h6 f8 27.e5+ f6 28.xg6+ e7 29.xg7 f5 30.h6 d5 31.g4 1-0 Nisipeanu, L-Reinderman, D Rijeka 2010 was a crushing victory and proved Jo h n ' s in t u i t i o n c o r r e c t a n d p e r h a p s refutes 8...0-0. ] [ I looked at this position earlier this year when Mickey opted for 7.e2 in AdamsZhukova seen in the archives. ] 7...dxe5 The most uncompromising reply. The following few moves are all forcing: [ 7...a5 was covered in Kasparov-Palatnik a n d G r i s c h u k - P o n o m a r i o v wh i c h b o t h c o n t i n u e d : 8.g5 ( Ni Hua played the straightforward 8.0-0 here and af ter 0-0 9.h3 c6 10.e2 dxe5 11.dxe5 d4 12.xd4 xd4 13.e1 e6 14.xe6 fxe6 15.d2 f5 16.f3 c4 17.b3 xe2 18.xe2 d8?! 19.d2 d5?! 20.c4! d3 21.xa5 was a pawn to the good in Ni HuaLi Wenliang Hefei 2010. ) 8...e6 9.f4 A) 9...h6 was tried in a recent game. 10.f3 c6 11.0-0 e7 12.c3 ( 12.c4!? is a more direct approach.) 12...d7 13.e2 c6 14.e3 d7 15.d2 with a complex game in prospect. Reinwald, P-Plat, V Rijeka 2010.; B) 9...dxe5 10.fxe5 c5 when Volzhin considers B1) t h a n K a s p a r o v ' s 11.0-0 which allowe d xd4+ although I think W hite is doing well here after 12.xd4 cxd4 13.xf7! ( Volzhin only considered 13.xf7 when 0-0 is ok for Black.) 13...xe5 14.f4 with a strong initiative.; 597

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B2) 11.c3 to be a more accurate move order cxd4 12.0-0 0-0 13.cxd4 c6 14.f3 f6 15.c3! fxe5 16.g5 d7 17.dxe5 xe5 18.xe5 xf1+ 19.xf1 d4+ 20.h1 xe5 21.d8! with good compensation for the pawn. ] 8.a5 6d7 9.xf7+! xf7 10.g5+ g8 11.e6 e8 12.xc7 d8 13.xa8 [ 13.e6 e8 14.c7 is of course a draw. ] 13...exd4 14.c3 We're still following Oral-De Firmian in the archives. [ 14.0-0 is the alternative and was Volzhin's choice although it will probably only transpose. This is investigated in Almasi-De la Villa Garcia. ] 14...c6 [ 14...c5 immediately was played in another fairly recent game. This doesn't se em as a c cu rat e a s th e ga me a s n o w Black will be forced to capture on d4 with the bishop. The game proceeded. 15.cxd4 xd4 16.0-0 c6 17.c3 e6 ( 17...h5!? lo o k s lik e a n im p ro vem e n t , e . g. 18.b5 g4 19.c2 f5 20.c4+ e6 21.c2 f5= being a possible repetition.) 18.b5 b3 when instead of 19.Qg4 as played in Cabrilo-Laketic, Kragujevac 2009, W hite c o u l d h a v e i m p r o v e d w i t h : 19.d2 for example f7 20.xd4 xd4 21.a3 e5 22.e3 with the advantage. ] 15.0-0 h6 This deviates from 14...Nc5 in the archives but is probably a case of forgotten theory rather than a nuance. [ These positions were fashionable 10 years ago but have been seen very rare recently. White is the exchange up but will probably lo s s t h e k n ig h t o n a 8 wh i lst B la c k h a s d e c e n t c o n t r o l o ve r t h e p o s i t i o n . T h e question is whether, while Black takes time to win the knight, W hite can drum up an initiative. It appears that most players have come to a consensus that Black is doing well but perhaps Dgebuadze has found something. The only other high rated encounter which wasn't covered already on chesspublishing continued: 15...c5 16.b4 ( Playing like the game with 16.cxd4 xd4 17.e3 is possible and my suggestion for White although he's a tempo down on the game. ) 16...dxc3 17.xd8+ xd8 18.bxc5 c2 19.c3 xc3 20.a2 ( 20.a3

was played in Almasi-De la Villa Garcia but this seems an improvement.) 20...f5 21.c7 Blehm, P-Navarro Cia, M Aviles 2000 and here instead of 21...Kf7, Black c o u l d h a v e t a k e n c o n t r o l w i t h ( 21.a6!? might be stronger in order to have a second way out for that knight but still I'd prefer Black with that powerful pawn on c2 and the bishop pair.) 21...e5! 22.d5 ( 22.b5 c6 23.a6 b4 is also good for Black.) 22...e6 23.xe7+ f7 24.xc2 xe7 when the two pieces outweigh the rook and pawn. ] 16.cxd4 xd4 17.e3 e5 18.d2 [ 18.c3! looks strongest. The problem is that Black doesn't have time to win the stranded knight on a8, e.g. c5 19.b5! f5 20.ac7 and White is material up, although he must be accurate for a few m o re m o ve s: d7 21.b4 c2 22.e1 cb3 23.xd4 exd4 24.a2 d3 25.e6+ xe6 26.xe6 and the d pawn is worth something but not a whole exchange. ] 18...f6?! Black switches between two different plans. [ He should have stuck to his plan with his 15th move and played 18...h7 Perhaps he was worried about 19.e4 ( 19.c1!? b8 20.xd4 exd4 21.b4 is probably better for W h ite bu t st ill ext rem e ly co m p lic at e d .) 19...f8 20.c1 f5 21.g3 xa8 22.xd4 exd4 23.xf5 gxf5 24.f3 gives W hite a strong initiative as compensation but the position is highly unclear. ] 19.c4?! [ 19.c1! is simplest when White will be able to extricate his knight the following move. g4 can be simply dealt with by 20.f3 ] 19...h5 20.a4?! I'm at a bit of a loss as to what this move achieves. [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 20.e1 was stronger although the position is unclear after h7 21.c1 f8 White's offside knight compared to Black's strong knights (d4 and f4 soon) promises Black decent compensation for the exchange. ] 20...f4 21.e1 d3? A shame. Sadkowsky gets carried away against his Grandmaster opposition. [ 21...d7 was better when White struggles 598

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to ke ep equa lity, f or exam ple 22.xe5!? fe2+! 23.xe2 xe2+ 24.xe2 xa4 25.xg6 e8! 26.xh8 Both knights are trapped in the corners! xa8 27.xa7 xh8 28.b4 and Black's bishop pair are m o r e re l e v a n t o n t h e o p e n b o a r d t h a n White's three pawns. ] 22.xe5! This is the move Black missed and suddenly his position collapses as neither knight has any support. xe1 [ 22...xe5 is even worse as White plays 23.xd4! xd4 24.xd3 and the knight is free as there's no discovered check anymore. f6 25.xg6+ g7 26.d4! would be final. ] 23.xd4 xa5 24.d5 a2 25.xg6 So a successful W hite win but a shame for Black who had a promising position. It seems that if Black remembers his theory in this crazy line then he has nothing to worry about. The line with 8.Ng5 looks like a much bigger theoretical problem. 1-0

586 Efimenko,Zahar Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter 11th EICC Men (6) [Gawain Jones]

B04 2640 2661 11.03.2010

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 This has replaced 5...g6 as the mainline in the past few years. 6.e2 d7 [ 6...f5 is examined in the following game. ] 7.f3 [ 7.0-0 has also been tried recently. xe5 8.dxe5 f5 ( 8...e6 was Miroshnichenko's choice 9.d2 g6 10.f3 g7 11.c3 0-0 12.g5 c7 13.e1 Potkin, VMiroshnichenko, E bereg.ru 2003 when fd8 leaves Black the preferred side.) 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 c7 ( 10...e6 should have been played, when I can't see anything wrong with Black's position.) 11.c4 b6 12.e6! fxe6 13.d2 Jakimov, V-Bortnik, A Alushta 2010 with a dangerous initiative for the pawn. ] 7...g6 [ In 2008 John annotated a couple of games o f M a g n u s C a r l s e n w i t h 7...7f6

but his positions weren't inspiring. ] 8.0-0 [ Playing the immediate 8.c4 has been covered in the archives but I doubt it changes much. ] 8...g7 9.c4 5f6 An unusual retreat and Nisipeanu was probably regretting it in a few moves time. A problem for Black in this line seems to be his light squared bishop which struggles to find any activity. [ 9...c7 is the usual retreat, when a couple of recent games have continued: 10.c3 0-0 A) 11.e3 e6 12.d2 c7 13.ad1 d8 14.d5!? xc3?! ( 14...b6 had to be played although White's still on top after 15.c1 cxd5 16.cxd5 f8 17.d4 ) 15.xc3 f4? And this just loses. 16.xf4 xf4 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.e5 c5 19.f3 b8 20.c6 e8 21.xb8 xb8 22.a5 1-0 Radulski, JKukov, V Kyustendil 2010.; B) 11.e1 f6 12.h3 fe8 13.f1 d6 14.f4 f5 Konguvel, P-Khusnutdinov, R Delhi 2010 when the simplest looks to be 15.e5 when White has a small edge.; C) 11.f4; D) and 11.g5 have been investigated in the archives - see Degraeve-Miles and Bauer-Mamedyarov.; E) 11.h3 A slightly mysterious move immediately but I don't think it changes the assessment of slightly better for White. a6 12.f4 ( 12.e3 is more sensible.) 12...e6 13.e3 b5 14.c1 b7 15.a4 b4 16.e4 and White was still a little better. Hou Yifan-Dimakiling, O Kuala Lumpur 2010. ] 10.c3 0-0 [ Perhaps 10...c7 is better to avoid Bf4 but the positions are likely to be similar following A) 11.e1 was tried in the only game I could find that reached this position. 0-0 12.f1 e8 13.g5 f8 This position illustrates a problem I can see with 9... N5f6, viz, I think c7 is a better square than f8 for the Black knight as it prevents White from playing d5 whilst from both squares the knight can jump to e6. Black has also been forced to play ...Re8 but after ... Ne6 the rook would prefer to be on d8. 14.h3 599

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 14.d5!? not allowing the f8 knight out looks interesting.) 14...d7 15.b3 ad8 16.ad1 c8 17.g3 h5 18.g2 h6 19.e3 d7 20.d5! and White had taken over: Bojkov, D-Gvetadze, S Izmir 2006.; B) 11.e3 0-0 12.d2 but at least here Black could try for counterplay with g4 13.g5 ( 13.f4 e5 14.g3 is similar.) 13...f6 14.f4 e5 15.g3 although White should stand somewhat better here. ] 11.f4 A new move but very sensible. Efimenko takes control over the important e5 square and prevents Black from developing his queen to c7. The position resembles an extremely passive Scandinavian and thus we can say has hardly been successful. [ 11.h3 was the strongest ever woman's choice. b6 ( 11...c7 is more logical although White has a comfortable edge after 12.e3 d8 13.d2 ) 12.a4 f5 13.f4 c8 14.b3 d6 15.a5 c8 16.e5 d7 17.g4!? e6 18.xd7 xd7 19.c5 b5 20.xb5 cxb5 21.fd1 a6 22.f3 was a little better for W hite who was ultimately successful. Polgar, J-Visser, Y Amsterdam 1990. ] [ 11.e3 e8 ( 11...g4 should have been tried as 12.g5 h6 13.h4 gf6 f o l l o we d b y . . . N h 5 wo u l d g i ve B l a c k a playable position.) 12.h3 e5 13.dxe5 xe5 14.xe5 xd1 15.axd1 xe5 was only a little better for W hite. Fakhretdinova, MGvetadze, S Moscow 2008. ] 11...h5 It's hard to suggest a good plan for Black here as there are no targets to hit. [ 11...e8 12.e1 f8 13.h3 e6 14.e5 leaves Black without many options. ] 12.g5 h6 This gives White a target but Nisipeanu is famous for his play with the initiative which is noticeably lacking here. [ 12...e8 13.d2 hf6 14.ad1 would have been rather pleasant for White. ] 13.e3 c7 [ 13...e5 14.d2 f4!? is the computer's suggestion which highlights quite how bad Black's position is. I see no real compensation following ( 14...exd4 15.xd4 e5 16.ad1 and Black has terrible problems on h6 and h5.) 15.xf4 exf4 16.xf4 g5 17.d2 g4 18.e1 ]

14.d2 h7 15.ad1 [ If White wants to advance his g pawn then he could do it straight away 15.g4!? hf6 16.f4 d8 17.h3 when Black is struggling to find squares for his pieces. ] 15...d8?! This entraps his own queen. 16.g4! Ef imenko chooses the aggressive option which he has accurately calculated. [ 16.fe1 is simple when it's difficult to come up with a good plan for Black. f5!? 17.c2 is nothing to worry about while Black is still struggling to find squares for his pieces. ] 16...hf6 17.f4 b6 A rather passive location for the queen. [ 17...a5 would be more actively located but it fails to 18.b4! xb4 19.c7 e8 20.a3 ( 20.b1 a3 21.b3 a6 22.c5 b5 isn't so clear; 20.g5!? may be even stronger. h5 21.a3 ) 20...xa3 21.a1 b4 22.fb1 e4 23.xe4 xd2 24.exd2 leaves White winning. ] 18.g5! Consistent. [ 18.c5 xc5! 19.dxc5 xd2 20.cxb6 xb2 isn't so clear. ] 18...h5 Black's position is hopeless after this. [ 18...hxg5 19.c5! is ve ry st r o n g . b4 ( 19...xc5 20.xg5+ g8 21.dxc5 is now winning as xd2 22.cxb6 xb2 loses to 23.d8+ f8 24.c4 ) 20.xg5+ g8 21.c7 e8 22.c2 and Black must sacrifice his knight to release his trapped queen. ] [ 18...g8 was strongest when I think W hite's best is 19.e4! when the threat of 20.c5 is hard to deal with. ( 19.c5 xc5 20.dxc5 xd2 21.cxb6 xb2 is better for White but gives Black decent counterchances. )] 19.gxh6 f6 20.e4 [ 20.a4 is also possible, continuing to chase the Black queen. a6 21.c7 e8 22.c3 c5 23.d5 is terrible as Black's pieces are so badly coordinated. ] 20...xf4 21.xf4 White simply has too many pieces attacking Black's monarch. f8 [ 21...xb2 22.d2 b4 23.fg5+ is no better. ] 22.c5 xb2 23.c4 h8 24.fg5 xg5 25.xg5 f6 26.f7+ h7 27.fe1 e8 28.g5+ h8 29.e6 600

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 29.d6! was the most accurate finish as 15.0-0 f5 e5 can be dealt with by 30.xe5! ] [ 15...0-0 might be an improvement for Black, 29...b5 30.b3 a5 31.c7 a4 32.f7 e5 bu t t h is e nd ga me worse f o r h im in a n y 33.g3 An impressive game by the Ukrainian case. ] w h o e x p l o i t e d t h e R o m a n i a n ' s p a s s i v e 16.f3 e4?? opening. I doubt ...N5f6 will be repeated at [ A b l u n d e r . B l a c k s h o u l d p l a y 16...0-0 the high levels as White achieves a pleasant a f t e r w h i c h 17.b2 a6 18.xc5?! position without much effort. ( 18.d1 ) 18...bxc5 19.xb7 e6 1-0 leaves him without further problems. ] 17.xc5 xf3 18.d4 e5 19.xe5 f6 20.e1 fxe5 21.xe5+ f7 22.gxf3 hc8 587 B04 23.d7+ f6 24.b5 xc4 25.xb6+ g5 26.xh7 xc3 27.h4+ f5 28.f7+ e5 Ernst,Thomas 29.xg6 xa2 30.e7+ d5 31.d7+ e5 Bagirov,Vladimir Open Helsinki (Finland) (9) 1992 32.xb7 xf3 33.b5+ d4 34.g4+ c3 35.g2 c4 36.bg5 a1+ 37.h2 f1 [Nigel Davies] 38.h5 f6 39.g3 d4 40.g4 e4 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 41.g6 1xf2 42.xf2 xf2 43.e6+ d5 5.xe5 g6 6.c4 At the present time this 44.e8 h2 45.g5 d6 46.h6 g2+ looks like the most dangerous continuation. 47.f6 f2+ 48.g7 g2+ 49.h8 d7 White takes bags of space, putting the onus 50.g8 h2 51.h7 e6 52.g7 g2+ on Black to find counterplay. b6 7.c3 53.f8 f2+ 54.e8 a2 55.g6+ f5 56.f6+ g5 57.f8 g7 8.e3 c5 [ The 'critical' line, but one which seems to 1-0 leave Black fighting for a draw. Alekhine expert Alexander Baburin recently tried B04 8...0-0 9.c1 c5!? against Grischuk 588 (Grischuk - Baburin, Torshavn 2000) with Ernst,Thomas the game going 10.e2 cxd4 11.xd4 h6 Josefsson,Kenneth 12.a1 f6 13.g4 xg4 14.xg4 c6 Swedish Ch Sweden 1983 15.c5 e5 16.e6+ g7 17.d5 xd5 [Nigel Davies] 18.cxd5 a5+ 19.b4 a6 20.e2 d3+ 21.f1 xc5 22.bxc5 and now a5 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 l o o k s b e t t e r t h a n e x c h a n g i n g q u e e n s 5.xe5 g6 6.f3 e6 [ In 'The Complete Alekhine' (1992) Burgess ( in the game Baburin was much worse after 22...xe2+ 23.xe2 b6 24.c6 f4 op ine d t h a t 6...f6 was probably necessary 25.d3 )] but then reconsidered this view in 1996 [ 8...c6 is a known concept, allowing ('New Ideas in the Alekhine Defence'). My doubled pawns but eliminating the knight on view is that if Black has to play the ugly 6 ... f6 the Kengis variation would be put out of e5. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work business. ] after 9.xc6 bxc6 10.d2 a5 11.e2 a4 12.d1 0-0 13.h6 was much better for 7.c4 [ 7.c4 doesn't make much of an impression W hite in Ivanov - Men, US Ch., Durango on Black's game and the queen starts to 1992. ] 9.dxc5 xd1+ 10.xd1 xe5 11.cxb6 look misplaced on f 3. Luther - Bagirov, xc3+ Leningrad 1989 continued g7 ( 7...c6 8.0-0 d7 9.c3 g7 10.d1 xe5 [ Black should take the chance to double White's pawns as after 11...axb6 12.d4 11.xd5 xd5 12.xd5 g7 was also very xd4 13.xd4 White was much better in comfortable for Black in Sherzer Panchenko, Chicago 1992) 8.0-0 c6 9.e1 Campora - Abreu, Las Palmas 1993 ] 12.bxc3 axb6 13.d2 d7 14.e2 c5 d7 10.xd7 xd7 11.c3 0-0 12.g5 601

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 fe8 13.h3 c7 14.d2 d5 15.xd5 cxd5 when Black's position was already slightly preferable ] 7...b4 8.xb7 xd4! [ Burgess and his trusty computer give award it a '?!' and give some convoluted lines based on 8...c2+ 9.d1 xa1 10.xa8 g7 11.d2 ( or 11.b7 - Fleck ) 11...c5!? , "all of which requires careful analysis". I'd prefer to skip the 'careful analysis' and go down the pub. Taking on d4 feels right to me. ] 9.xa8 [ 9.xb4 xe5+ 10.e2 d7 11.c3 g7 12.0-0 0-0 13.e3 ab8 gave Black strong play in Ziska - Flindtholt, Festuge 1991 ] 9...xe5+! [ Burgess only gives 9...c2+ which feels all wrong to me. I like my knights where they are, bringing 'Dobbin' (the one on b4) back to c6 ke eps W h it e's qu ee n o ut of play. Meanwhile Black will race ahead with the rest of his development - good compensation for the exchange as White's king is in the middle. This is the kind of factor that materialistic computers tend to underestimate. ] 10.d1 4c6 11.c3 g7 12.e3 0-0 13.b7 d8+ 14.e1 d4 15.d3 bc6 16.d5 b8 17.a6 h6 18.f1 xe3 19.e1 f5 20.xf5 xf5 21.xe3 d3+ 22.g1 xb2 23.h3 d2 24.f1 e2+ 25.h2 d6+ 26.f4 [ 26.g3 xg3 is not an improvement ] 26...xf4 27.c5 e5 28.f3 xe3?? [ A jolly amusing way to draw a winning position. 28...xg2+ butchers White on the spot and I could see the headlines in the Swedish newspapers. Ernst is a GM but I've never heard of Josefsson. ] 29.hf1 xg2+? [ Black may also be winning after 29...e5 ] 30.h1 g1+ 31.h2 g2+ 32.h1 g1+ 33.h2 g2+ ½-½

589 Fedorchuk,Sergey A Genocchio,Daniele Open Conegliano ITA (5) [John Watson]

B04 2671 2416 02.06.2008

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 c6 6.0-0 g7 7.exd6 xd6 8.bd2 Th is is a n o ld lin e t h a t h as a lways b e e n considered somewhat better for White. Black tries to play as he does in the Caro-Kann and other Alekhine lines, with a ...c6 centre. g4 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 d7 11.b3 [ 11.e1 is the traditional and natural move, intending Bg5 in many lines. W ith Bb3, White aims for c4 directly. ] 11...0-0 12.c4 5f6 13.e3 ad8 Now the key for Black, if he doesn't want to fall under a permanent bind is to get one of the freeing moves ...e5 or ...c5 in. [ 13...b5!? , to secure the d5 square, is another strategy. ] 14.e1 [ 14.e2 might be more accurate. ] 14...fe8 For example, here are the two possible breaks: [ 14...e5 15.dxe5 xe5 16.xd6 xf3+ 17.gxf3 xd6 18.xa7! with two bishops and a mobile queenside. ( 18.c5 d2 19.xf8 xf8 with the ideas ...Rxb2 and ... Bc5 gives Black full compensation. )] [ 14...c5 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xd6 exd6 17.c2 and Black's weaknesses on d5 and d6 are a problem. ] 15.g5!? This sets up an indirect attack on f7. 16 c5 threatens. [ 15.c1 with the idea Bf4 is another approach. ] 15...c5!? Good alternatives are [ 15...c7 16.d2!? e5 17.d5 b6 , ] [ 15...f8 16.c5 c7 17.f3 e5 , and ] [ 15...e6 . Perhaps White retains the edge in all these lines, but it isn't much. ] 16.a4 f8 17.dxc5 c7 [ Again, 17...xc5 18.xd6 exd6 19.c2 favours White, in part because Black can't free himself by h6 20.f3 fe4? 21.b4 xa1 22.xa1 ] 18.e2!? [ Or 18.c6 with the idea bxc6 ( 18...e5 19.e2 xc6 20.ad1 ) 19.f3 ] 602

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18...xc5 19.c2 h6 20.f3 e5 21.ad1 simp ly a n a tt em p t to re ach le ss ma pp e d Black has achieved a lot in the centre, but waters. now faces the advance of White's queenside [ 8.g4 has been the main move pawns supported by his bishop pair. investigated on the site in the past. e6 9.c4 [ 21.xc5 xc5 22.xe5 xc4 ] xg4 ( 9...5f6; and 9...b4 have been 21...e6! Looking at d4 and f4. looked at in the past.) 10.xg4 5f6 [ Instead, 21...a5 22.xc5! xc5 23.xe5 11.f3 d6 White has the bishop pair and a xc4? 24.b3 b4 25.xf7+! picks up space advantage but Black is solidly placed material. ] and has go t rid of h is problem atic ligh t 22.b4 e4?! This pawn and the d4 square squared bishop. 12.c5!? c7 13.b4 0-0 were anchors. 14.c3 Acs, P-Degraeve, J Remagen 2010 [ 22...f4 23.xf4 exf4 24.c5 gives White when fighting back in the centre with e5! the advantage, but with plenty of play. ] would have given Black good chances. ] 23.d4 xd4 24.xd4 g4?! [ 8.f3 Clever, threatening mate and d4 but it loses A) 8...h6 has been tried by a few strong material. Solid play by players recently. I believe the idea is that [ 24...fe8 25.c5 d5 is preferable. ] White no longer has the Bg5 hit we see 25.xg4 xd4 26.xe4 c3 27.c5 a5 after 8...e6. 9.c4 must be critical. ( 9.a3 28.a3 xd1+ The score runs out here with a h a s b e e n t r i e d i n va r i o u s g a m e s b u t '1-0'. Presumably the game continued for a Black's results have been reasonably while and White eventually won. The advance successful.) 9...b4 10.a3 ( 10.c3!? of p awns o n bo th sid es o f th e bo ard will c2 11.b1 b4 12.e3 xb1 create problems f or Black, and opposite13.xb1 is an exchange sacrifice that I coloured bishops won't be relevant until more mooted in another line in this update which material comes off the board. looks interesting, and indeed my computer 1-0 awards this position as .35 to W hite.) 10...c2 11.a2 xd4 12.xd4 ( 12.xd4 xb1 13.a1 h7 did not give 590 B04 White enough. Kleinman, J-Pechenkin, V Toronto 2010.) 12...xb1 13.a1 f5 Fedorchuk,Sergey A 2665 14.f4 and White had decent Shchekachev,Andrei 2546 co m p e n s a t i o n f o r t h e p a wn a n d wo n 33rd Taminco Open (9) 21.07.2010 convincingly. Jones, R-Garcia, J Cardiff [Gawain Jones] 2010.; B) 8...e6 9.c4 If 9...Nb4 isn't any good 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 then there's no point to the preparatory a3. 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 f5 In the previous game ( 9.a3 d6 10.c4 f4 11.xf4 xf4 we i n ve s t ig a t e d 6 . . . Nd 7 . T h is is B la ck' s 12.c3 0-0 13.d3 g4 14.e2 e5 slightly more active choice. 7.0-0 15.c2?! f5! gave Black a strong attack. [ 7.g4!? was both Kasparov and Anand's Munguntuul, B -Zhao Xue Nalchik 2010.) c h o i c e s e e n i n t h e a r c h i v e s . c8 9...5f6 ( 9...b4 must be critical but A slightly strange choice. ( Instead Short and after 10.a3 c2 11.a2 xd4 12.xd4 Carls en p la ye d 7...e6 which was rather xb1 13.g5 f6 14.xb1 fxg5 15.d1 unclear after 8.c4 ) 8.c4 b4 9.e3 d7 I really like White's position.) 10.c3 d6 10.xd7 xd7 11.a3 a6 12.c3 b6 11.h4 0-0 12.xf5 exf5 13.d3 g6 13.c2 b7 14.0-0-0 and White had a 14.g5 gave White a small advantage. pleasant position. Rundgren, A-Rodvik, T Wyss, J-Tomazini, A Chur 2010. ] Oslo 2010. ] [ 8.g4 was Adams' choice which may give 7...d7 8.d3 This move has only been W hite a tiny edge. xg4 9.xg4 xe5 played sporadically but the average ELO has ( 9...e6 was seen in Adams-Zhao Xue been pretty high. Fedorchuk fails to get any analysed last year in which Mickey advantage, however, and I wonder if this was 603

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 eventually converted his small advantage.) 10.dxe5 c8 11.e4 g6 12.c4 c7 13.d2 f5 14.xf5 gxf5 15.f3 e6 16.e3 e7 17.fd1 c5 and Black's position was solid enough to hold the draw. Sipos, I-Tomazini, A Chur 2010. ] [ 8.c4 is another option which I imagine might take off. b4 9.g4! A clever way to defend c2 which has had a couple of tests recently. e6 ( 9...c2 10.e3 xe3 11.xe3 e6 seems playable. ) 10.e3 A) Taking the pawn looks too risky. 10...xb1 11.xb1 xa2 12.d2 b4 13.d5! a5 ( 13...exd5 LupulescuGrunberg in the archives via the 8.Ng4 move order.) 14.dxe6 fxe6 Langer, MPechenkin, V Edmonton 2010 when 15.c3! would have left White with the upper hand.; B) 10...g6 11.a3 a6 12.d5 e5 13.b4 c5 14.c3!? ( 14.b5 c7 15.g4 looks good for White.) 14...cxb4 15.b5 c5 ( 15...c7 holds on. ) 16.d6 0-0 17.d5 b6 18.b2 xd6? 19.xb6 xb6 20.xd6 xd6 21.xd6 ad8 22.fd1 1-0 Philippe, C-Green, A Hastings 2010. ] 8...e6 [ 8...a5!? might be possible to grab the b4 square although I think W hite retains a small something with 9.c4 b4 10.c3 ] 9.c4 5f6 And this is the most sensible retreat square. [ 9...5b6 has also been tried but the knight just gets in the way here. 10.b3 ( 10.f4 e7 11.c3 0-0 Nevednichy, V-Beudaert, X Creon 2004 and here White should have played concretely with 12.g4! g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.a4 when White should be better although there's nothing particularly wrong with Black's setup either.) 10...a5 11.a4 b8 12.f4 ( 12.c5 d5 13.c3 le ave s W h ite a s f avo urit e .) 12...d6 13.xd6 xd6 14.c5 d5 Pavlidis, ALoeffler, S Plovdiv 2008 when White should have retreated his queen to 15.d1 c8 16.f4 e4 17.d2 when White is a little better. ] [ 9...b4 doesn't equalise: 10.xb4 xb4 11.b3 c5 12.f4 b6 13.c3 with a small but pleasant edge. ]

10.f4 [ 10.b3 has also been played but doesn't trouble Black. d6 11.d2 e5 12.b2 exd4 13.xd4 0-0 14.f3 e8 15.e1 when Black's pieces coordinate slightly better than White's. Borriss, M-Degraeve, J Germany 2007. ] 10...b6 A new move but probably not an improvement. [ I see nothing wrong with 10...e7 when 11.c3 0-0 12.f3 xd3 13.xd3 e5! 14.dxe5 xe5 15.e2 xf3+ 16.xf3 left Black comfortably equal although he later went on to lose. Zhang PengxiangGrunberg, M Cannes 2005. ] 11.e3 [ 11.c5 would be a concrete try at an advantage although committal as it cedes the d5 square. However I think that following d8 12.c3 e7 13.b3 c8 14.a4 White has chances to convert his initiative into some advantage. ] 11...c7 Black has a typical Scandinavian or Caro-Kann setup in which he is very solidly placed. He has managed to get his bishop outside the pawn chain and I don't really see why he should have any problems here. [ 11...c5 looks the easiest to me when the obligatory 12.dxc5 xc5 13.xc5 xc5 14.a4+ e7 15.xc5+ xc5 reminds me of certain lines of the Caro Kann where Black must be ok although perhaps White still has a slight advantage thanks to his queenside majority. ] 12.c3 d6 13.h3 0-0 14.c1 [ Again, perhaps, White should play concretely with 14.c5 h2+ ( 14...e7 15.f4 is definitely something.) 15.h1 xd3 16.xd3 f4 17.f3 e5 ( 17...xe3 18.fxe3 is quite promising.) 18.xf4 exf4 but I doubt White has anything here. ] 14...ad8 [ 14...e5 15.c5 e7 16.dxe5 xe5 would have promised Black easy equality as 17.f4 xd3 18.xd3 xc5 leaves White wit h n o go o d d isco ve re d a t t a ck o n t h e bishop. ] 15.a4 a6 16.fd1 fe8 17.b4 b8 18.b3 h6 19.a4 White has grabbed space on the queenside but it hasn't changed the assessment from equal. e5 Black decides 604

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 he's played all his preparatory moves and so plays the thematic central breakthrough. [ 19...e4 would also have been fine for Black. ] 20.d5 xd3 21.xd3 c5 [ I think Black should take control over the centre immediately and therefore 21...e4 was stronger, when 22.e2 c5 shouldn't leave him with any problems. ] 22.a5 [ White should have exploited Black's previous with 22.e4! as xe4 23.xe4 wh e n t h e b is h o p p a i r a n d li gh t sq u a r e control is at least something. ] 22...e4 23.e2 c7?! But this is the first real error. [ I see nothing wrong with 23...cxb4 24.a4 f4 and Black has the better prospects. ] 24.a4 e7 25.b1 cxb4? This is a curious blunder, I wonder what Shchekachev missed. T h a n k s t o h i s p re vio u s e rro r h e 's u n d e r pressure now but he had to sit tight with [ 25...b8 when Fedorchuk would have been forced to play accurately to get anything. Perhaps Black was worried about 26.xc5 xc5 27.bxc5 xc5 28.c3 when the d p a wn i s p o t e n t i a l l y s t r o n g b u t B l a c k ' s position is hardly lost. ] 26.c5! xc5 27.xc5 xc5 28.bc1 The bishop drops and so Black threw in the towel. It seems that 6...Bf5 is currently doing better than 6...Nd7 and 8.Nd3 won't change the assessment. I wonder, however, if we'll see more of 8.c4!? while 8.Nf3 still causes Black some difficulties in finding equality. 1-0

pressure against W hite's remaining centre pawn and avoids shutting in the other bishop with e7-e6 7.0-0 [ After 7.d2 it's best not to try for too much as after f4?! ( Respectable are 7...d7 and; 7...g7 ) 8.c4 e6 9.xe6 xe6 10.f3 f6 11.b3 White had a strong initiative in A.Grischuk-H.Nakamura, Beijing 2012. ] 7...g7 8.e1 This seems a little slow. Two alternatives should have been considered: [ Firstly 8.f3 0-0 9.c4 c7 10.c3 g4 The bishop help to put pressure on the d4 pawn. 11.e3 d7 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 f5!? A strange move at first glance. However it gains space and controls the e4 square. It introduces the idea of f5-f4 which is consistent with the plan of undermining the d4 pawn. 14.d5 White decides to advance the pawn out of harm's way, but now the b l a c k k n i g h t g a i n s t h e e 5 s q u a r e . e5 15.f4 xf3+ 16.xf3 e5! and Black had equalised in Aveskulov, V (2526)-Baklan, V (2627)/Kharkov 2009. ] [ Alternatively 8.c4 c7 9.e3 0-0 10.f4 d7 11.c3 e6 12.g4 xe5 13.dxe5 f6 A typical Alekhine strategy: Black lets White build a centre and then dismantles it. 14.exf6 xf6 15.e1 g7 16.d1 c7 17.xc8 axc8 18.b3 cd8 with balanced chances in Vovk, Y (2546) -Miroshnichenko, E (2667)/Cappelle la Grande 2009 ] 8...0-0 9.f3 A typical retreat for White in this p a wn c e n t r e . H e h a s m o r e s p a c e s o h e prefers not to exchange pieces. He anticipates Black's Nd7 challenge to his horse by returning it to f3 straightaway. [ N o n e t h e l e s s 9.c4 might have set Black 591 B04 more problems. ] Francisco,R 2281 9...f5 10.c3 White consolidates his d4 pawn Zherebukh,Y 2625 and plans the manoeuvre Na3 and Nc4 to het US Chess Masters 2014 (1.4) 28.08.2014 his horse in touch with the e5 square. But as we shall see Black can easily equalise or [Neil McDonald] more. d7 11.a3 c5 Black nibbles away at 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 the d4 pawn. Another approach was [ 11...e5 which would free Black's game, but 5.xe5 c6 With his last two moves Black has maybe reduce the tension too much for an eliminated the white e5 pawn and ambitious player of Black. ] strengthened his control of the d5 square. White keeps a space advantage but the black 12.g5 [ There is a forcing line if White attacks d5 position is a tough nut to crack. 6.e2 g6 and b7 with 12.b3 namely e6 13.xb7 T h e k in gs i d e f ia n ch e t t o p r e p a re s t o p u t 605

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e4 14.b3 xf3 15.xf3 cxd4 16.cxd4 xd4 and Black is doing fine as after 17.xd5 c5 18.c4 xd5 19.xd5 exd5 20.d1 g7 he has pressure on b2 and 21.xd5? would be bad for White after fd8 22.xd8+ xd8 ] 12...h6 13.h4 5f6! Black shows he also knows how to retreat a knight. He blocks an attack on e7 by the white bishop and clears the way to safely put his own bishop on e4. This continues his plan of softening up the d4 pawn. 14.c4 e4 15.f1 [ White would do better to centralise his pieces and bolster d4 with 15.d2 c8 16.ad1 ] 15...c8 16.dxc5 White concedes the d4 point as the pressure was getting uncomfortable. xc5 17.xd8 Losing more ground. White would still have an active game after [ 17.d4 ] 17...fxd8 18.fd2 f5 19.b3 [ White loses material after 19.xe7 b5 ] 19...d3 Black has liquidated the d4 pawn and now acquires the bishop pair. 20.xd3 xd3 21.e5 b5 22.d4 a4 23.ef3 e6 24.g3 f8 25.b3 Now the white queenside pawns become more fragile. He should have made do with [ 25.h3 ] 25...e8 26.c4 b4 Notice how the advance of White's queenside pawns has opened up squ are s t o B lack's da rk squ are d b ish op . 27.e3 [ Makes matters worse, but White is going downhill anyway after 27.ed1 e4 ] 27...c5 28.d1 b5! 29.ed3 [ White is going to be left with a feeble pawn on c4 as 29.cxb5 allows a back rank trick: xd4 30.xd4 xd4 31.xd4 c1+ ] 29...bxc4 30.bxc4 b6 31.e5 e4 32.b3 xd3 33.xd3 f6 White either gave up or lost on time. In any case the c4 pawn is dropping. A good example of how a top player c a n p o s i t i o n a l l y o u t p la y a l o we r ra n k e d opponent. 0-1

592 Gallagher,Joseph G Baburin,Alexander 10th Monarch Assurance (6) [Nigel Davies]

B04

04.10.2001

Led by the anarchistic GM, Tony Miles, Black has been bending the rules a bit against 4.Nf3. In this game we see Baburin giving his 4...c6 another try, which certainly dampens Gallagher's attacking ambitions. Castling queenside turns out to be very ill-advised. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 [ Baburin has been playing this a bit. It is a similar line to Tony Miles' favourite treatment with 4...dxe5 5.xe5 c6 . There is often a transposition if Black later captures on e5. ] 5.c4 [ Probably the most critical reply, gaining space in th e cen tre. W hite has s evera l other possibilities of which 5.e2 and ] [ 5.c4 are the most common. ] 5...c7 The availability of the c7 square is one of the plus points of 4.. . c6. The danger is that Black might drift into a passive position because he is not challenging White's centre energetically enough. 6.exd6 exd6 7.c3 g4 8.h3 h5 9.e3 [ White played the aggressive 9.g4!? g6 10.b3!? in McShane - Baburin, Kilkenny 1998, and obtained a strong initiative after b6 ( I prefer 10...c8 , which would probably have been Baburin's choice this time around. )] 9...e7 10.g4 g6 11.b3 c8! 12.e2 a6! [ A clever move, avoiding the dangers of 12...0-0 13.h4!? and preparing ... b7-b5 should W hite castle queenside. Actually it's difficult to know where he should put his king after the weakening g2-g4. ] 13.d2 d7 14.0-0-0?! [ A very committal move, typical of Gallagher's sharp style. But on this occasion it misfires badly. I prefer 14.f4 , not worrying about the loss of castling rights after h4+ 15.f2 xf2+ 16.xf2 ] 14...d5 15.f4 f6 16.f5 f7 17.b1 b5! 18.cxb5 [ White has little choice but to open the a-file as 18.c5 is met by xc5 19.dxc5 d4 606

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 etc. In the game we get a similar theme. ] 18...axb5 19.f4 c5! POW!! This bolt from the blue sets in motion a powerful attack. 20.c2 [ 20.dxc5 is strongly met by d4 ] 20...b4! 21.b5 [ Gallagher tries to confuse the issue. 21.dxc5 bxc3 22.xc3 xa2 23.xa2 d4+ is a sample of the horrors that face White in many variations. ] 21...xb5 22.xb5 cxb5 23.dxc5 0-0 24.he1 xc5 25.b3 d4 26.xc5 Bailing out into a bad endgame. [ After 26.xc5 there follows xa2+ 27.c1 b3 28.xb3 xb3 etc. ] 26...xb3 27.xc8 xa2+ 28.c1 fxc8+ 29.d2 d5 30.d3 d8 31.a1 xa1 32.xa1 g2 33.h4 h3 34.g1 h5! Breaking up White's pawns. 35.gxh5 xf5+ 36.d2 f7 37.c1 e6 38.c5 h8 39.h6 gxh6 40.xb5 h5 41.b6+ f7 42.xb4 d8 43.b7+ g6 44.b6 e8 45.d6 d3 46.g5 f8 47.e3 c8 48.g5 c2+ 49.e3 e2+ 50.f3 e4+ 51.g3 f5 52.xf6+ e5 53.f2 e1 54.f6+ d5 55.f4 g6 56.g5 e4+ 57.g3 g4+ 58.h3 e4 59.f6 e3 60.f1 e2 61.h1 e4 0-1

no real attacking chances. [ T h e s i m p l e 10.0-0 should be preferred, although I doubt whether white has any advantage. ] 10...c6! After this unexpected and very strong move it is white who has to fight for equality. Black's main target is the d4 square. 11.xc6 Forced. [ 11.f3 g4 is even worse. ] 11...bxc6 12.e5 [ 12.e3 e6! 13.b3 a4!? looks good for black. ( Maybe 13...c5 is even better. )] 12...xe5 13.dxe5 e6! 14.b3 xd1+ 15.xd1 a4 Opening the a-file obviously favours black. 16.e4!? It's not easy to find a good defence for white. [ 16.c5? is too optimistic in view of d5! 17.xa4 b4 18.d2 xa2! ] [ Maybe 16.0-0 is the best chance, as the ro ok e nd ing a f t e r axb3 17.axb3 a3 18.b1 xc4 ( 18...d8!? ) 19.xc4 xc4 20.bxc4 xc3 21.fc1! xc1+ 22.xc1 seems to be holding. ] 16...axb3 17.axb3 f5 18.c5 a5 19.d3 [ 19.b4 was possible, but Black is better after a2 20.g4 e6! 21.xe6 fxe6 22.h3 b2! ] 19...xd3 20.xd3! xe5+ 21.d2 d7 22.he1 xe1 23.xe1 e5 24.c3 f5 25.f3 f7 26.a1 e7 27.c2? [ 27.b4! was better, and black needs to work 593 B04 hard to win the endgame. ] Gallagher,Joseph G 2510 27...c5! 28.h5 f6 29.hxg6 hxg6 30.a8 Kengis,Edvins 2575 f8 [ 30...f8! was possible immediately. But in Bern Berna 1992 couple of moves black finds this idea. ] [Alexander Volzhin] 31.a6 b6 32.a5 d7 33.a6 f6 f8! Straightforward technique. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 34.a8 5.xe5 g6 This move was revived by the 35.b4 cxb4+ 36.xb4 b6+ 37.c3 [ 37.c5?? d7+ 38.d5 d6# ] Latvian GM Vladimir Bagirov. His compatriot GM Edvins Kengis is an old adherent of this 37...e6 38.g8 f7 39.c8 d6 40.h8 line too. 6.c4 A natural looking move, but in g7 41.e8 f6 42.g4 d8!? 43.xd8 the game black solved his opening problems xd8 44.gxf5 gxf5 45.c5 A very weak move, but the endgame is lost anyway. very easily. [ 45.d3 g5 46.e3 c5 /\\ Nb7-d6-/+ ] [ As 6.f3 e6 7.c4 g7 8.c3 c6 9.0-0 d7 also doesn't promise white too 45...g5-+ winning 46.c4 [ 46.b4 c6+! ] much, ] [ 6.c4 became very popular. We'll consider 46...c6! 47.b4 e6 48.d1 [ 48.a5 xc5 49.b6 e6 ] this move in subsequent games. ] 49.a5 xc5 50.b6 e6 6...b6 7.c3 g7 8.f4 0-0 9.e2 a5!? 48...f4 10.h4?! Quite a dubious move, as white has 607

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 51.xc6 d4+ 0-1

594 Gallagher,Joseph G Wohl,Aleksandar H 4NCL, Telford (10) [Andrew Martin]

B04 2515 2400 2003

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6!? An idea of Tony Miles, endorsed by GM Nigel Davies in his recent book on the Alekhine. Naturally there should be several ways for White to get a small edge, although whether he can obtain more is very much open to question. The Black position is very solid. 5...c6 keeps options open for the Bishop on c8 and after c2-c4, Black's Knight can drop back to c7 if necessary, with ...Ne6 to follow. 6.c4 The Bishop is a little on the exposed side here. As noted, I prefer 6 Be2. [ 6.d3 d7 7.f3 e6 ( 7...7f6 I prefer this move which doesn't block the Bc8. 8.a3 g4 9.0-0 e6 10.h3 h5 11.c4 b6 12.e3 bd7 13.bd2 d6 14.c2 0-0 15.g5 g6 16.xg6 hxg6= Black's position is very reasonable. 17.de4 xe4 18.xe4 e7 19.f3 f6 20.e5 e8 21.fd1 d6 22.ac1 f6 23.c5 f5 24.f4 e7 25.e5 b6 26.e2 1/2-1/2 Moreno Carnero, J-Lezcano Jaen, P Lanzarote 2003) 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 0-0 10.c4 5f6 11.c3 b6 12.f4 b7 13.e2 e8 14.ad1 Black has play ed it passively and has allowed White to build up an ideal attacking position f8 15.e5 g6 16.g3 c8 17.c2 d6 18.xg6 xg3 19.e5 f4 20.f3 h6 21.e4 d8 22.c5 f8 23.d6 e7 24.xc6 xc6 25.xc6 g6 26.b3 d7 27.f3 g7 28.xf7 ae8 29.g5 d5 30.h3 h6 31.xe6 f5 32.f4 xe1+ 33.xe1 xd4 34.xd5+ h7 35.g4 1-0 Kovalev, A-Konopka, M TCh-CZE 2003 You can get away with this type of stuff against weaker players. When facing Kovalev, forget it! ] [ 6.e2 f5 7.0-0 d7 8.f3 The quiet treatment. White will play c2-c4 in his own good time. Interpretations like this leave me doubtful about Black's idea. W hite

establishes a leisurely advantage in space which is difficult to shake off. e6 9.a3 h6 10.c4 5f6 11.c3 Milliet, S-Joanovits, M National I, Clermont-Ferrand FRA 2003 ] 6...d7 7.f3 Gallagher plays it quietly, relying on space , freedom of movement and the ever-present menace of a well-timed c2c4. [ 7.f3!? shouldn't trouble Black: xe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.0-0 g6! 10.c3 c7 11.d3 g7 12.g3 d4 13.e3 g4 14.xg4 xg4 15.f4 0-0 16.a4 fd8= Baron Rodriguez, J-Lezcano Jaen, P Lanzarote 2003 ] 7...b5!? trying to take advantage of White's Bishop in the most direct way. 8.b3 e6 9.0-0 b7 10.bd2 c5 11.c4 [ 11.c3 c4 12.c2 c7 is quite in order for Black. ] 11...bxc4 12.xc4 e7 13.g5 Gallagher sees a veiled tactic. This shot is only the beginning. 0-0 [ 13...xg5 14.d6+ f8 15.xb7 e7 16.xd5 exd5 17.e1 ] 14.xe7 xe7 15.d6 xf3 16.xf3 cxd4 17.xf7 That was the point, a very sharp combinational idea. b6 18.ac1 ae8 19.fe1 g6 Looks good, but Black could have taken on f7 e.g. [ 19...xf7 20.xe6 ( 20.xe6? xe6 21.xe6 xf3 22.gxf3 f7 23.ce1 c5 ) 20...xf3 21.xb6+ xb3 22.xb3 e5 23.a3 5c6 24.f1 d8 25.e2 A very unclear endgame has been reached where I slightly prefer Black. ] 20.c6 a5 21.d1 Basically Gallagher has thrown down the gauntlet. W ohl is a very talented but somewhat lazy player-here he is being asked to work hard to get to the bottom of the tactics. f4 [ Again, taking on f7 was possible. I am not sure why Wohl rejected this idea: 21...xf7 22.cxe6 xe6 23.xe6 de5 24.xf7+ xf7 25.b3+ f6 26.d1 d3 ] 22.d6 Amazingly, the Knight has escaped the death sentence. g5 23.f3 e5 I think Wohl saw this position and just decided t o go f o r it wi t h o u t c o u n t in g t h e p i e c e s . 24.g3! A thoroughly annoying resource. f6? He has been freaked out by the tactics. Black can make it to a position which should 608

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.d1 d8 18.c1 fe8 19.e1 c5 20.h4 f6 21.h5 xe1+ 22.xe1 d3 W h i t e i s b e i n g p u s h e d a r o u n d . 23.e2 xb2 24.e1 d3 25.d1 xc3 26.e7 f8 27.g4 f4 28.f7+ xf7 29.d8+ xd8 30.xd8+ f8 31.c7 e5 32.xb7 b8 0-1 Blatny, P-Baburin,A/North American Open, Las Vegas USA 2003 A game which tends to confirm the suspicion that 6 c4 is a premature advance. ] 12.xd4 0-0 If any strong player were offered Black's position before the game they would take it. Black has active pieces, the initiative and a safe King to boot. 13.0-0-0 Hopeful. Black presses on with the initiative. a6 14.d3 fd8! 15.xf5 xf5 Once again we reach a structure where White would much rather not have his pawn on c4. He can probably defend this position with ca re f u l p l a y b u t t h a t is n o t f o rt h c o m in g . Probably Gilliani just didn't like his position and in that frame of mind one cannot play 595 B04 endless good moves. 16.c2? [ 16.e2! is a better stab at defence: b5! Gillani,Tunveer MD 2277 17.g3 ( 17.h3 d6 18.g4 e6 19.cxb5 Baburin,Alexander 2527 xe2 20.bxa6 xa6 21.b1 ) 17...f6 36th Olympiad (10) 25.10.2004 18.b3 e6 19.cxb5 xb3 20.axb3 cxb5 [Andrew Martin] 21.c3 ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 16...f4+ 17.d2 [ 17.e3 xc4 ] 5.xe5 c6 Baburin is quite happy to play this THE VERDICT: 6 c4 is a poor line against all comers. It seems solid but 17...xd4 passive as I have remarked before. As usual choice. with these limited variations, W hite does 0-1 better to build up slowly, gradually turning the screw, rather than to attack immediately. B04 6.c4!? I'm not sure about this. Black seems 596 Golubov,Saveliy 2344 OK in the complications. b4 7.e3 f5 Bortnik,A 2516 8.d3 If this is the best that White has then 20.05.2014 he had better look elsewhere. e5! 9.xb4 Somov Memorial 2014 (7.1) [Neil McDonald] xb4+ 10.c3 a5 11.b3 [ 11.c1 is probably a mistake: xa2!? Why not? 12.e2 ( 12.d2 a5 ) 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 [ The variation examined in this game can 12...0-0 13.dxe5 d8 14.c5 b3! ] also arise via the move order 4.c4 b6 11...exd4N Black opens up the game to 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.h3 ( Here White s a t is f y h is a c t ive p ie c e s. A n in t e r e st in g has the option of 7.e3 which has caused novelty from the Baburin laboratory! But Black Black problems- see the archives.) 7...g7 may well have more than one good move here 8.f3 0-0 9.e2 c6 10.0-0 f5 etc. ] as another Baburin game shows: 5.e2 Unnecessarily passive in this [ 11...0-0 12.e2 exd4 13.xd4 a6 4...g6 14.0-0 c5 The pawn on c4 sticks out like move order. We have seen a lot of examples a sore thumb. 15.e5 ae8 16.g3 b4 of

be drawn: [ 24...xg3 25.hxg3 xc6 26.xe8 xe8 ( 26...a5 27.gxf4 xb3 28.c7 c5 29.xe6 xe6 30.xe6 xf4 31.d6 White's a little better but with best play....) 27.gxf4 f7 28.a4! c8 29.c1 e7 30.xc8 xc8 31.f1 ] 25.xe8+- xe8 26.d6 Suddenly Whit e has it all under control. Grandmasterly skill or just a stroke of luck? d3 27.h3 e2+ 28.xe2 dxe2 29.e3 g6 30.xe6 xe6 31.xe6+ f8 32.c4 xb2 33.xe2 a1+ 34.f1 d4 35.d3 a1+ 36.h2 e5 He didn't wait for 37 Qf5+ Knowledge of the opponent plays a crucial role. Gallagher's skill in this game lay in creating the type of position which Wohl would play inaccurately, i. e. a violent tactical battle. As far as 5...c6 goes I am not sure..... 1-0

609

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5.c4 b6 ( or 5...c6 ) 6.b3 in the archives. ] 5...g7 6.0-0 0-0 7.exd6 cxd6 8.c4 b6 9.h3 A useful preventive move as after say [ 9.c3 c6 10.e3 g4 The exchange on f 3 is unappealing for W hite. Already Black threatens 11...Bxf3 when if 12.Bxf3 Nxc4. 11.b3 d5 Black is going to play Bxf3 so it makes sense to set up a solid light squared structure in the centre. 12.c5 c8 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 e6 15.d2 8e7 and Black's knight comes to f5 to put pressure on d4. He has scored very well in this variation, see for example Ducros Salva, A (2203)-Pinheiro, J (2371)/Palma de Mallorca 2002. ] 9...c6 10.c3 f5 The most active square for the bishop now it is denied g4. 11.b3 [ Instead 11.f4 was played in Nataf, I (2560)-Konopka, M (2441)/ Pardubice CZE 2002- see the archives. ] 11...e5!? This advance looks attractive now that White has weakened himself along the diagonal with 11.b3. It is hard to criticise a move when it leads to a sparkling attack with sacrifices, but as we shall see W hite could have thrown a spanner in the works on his next move. So maybe objectively speaking the alternative pawn thrust [ 11...d5!? was to be preferred. For example 12.c5 ( White has tried standing his ground with 12.e3!? dxc4 13.bxc4 but Black can undermine and then liquidate the hanging p a wn s wi t h a5 14.c5 d5 15.xd5 xd5 16.a4 b6! as in Andreev, ERozentalis, E, Cappelle La Grande 2013.) 12...d7 13.b2 ( here 13.xd5? xc5! is already excellent for Black.) 13...e4 putting the bishop on e4 is a thematic idea i n t h i s t y p e o f p a w n c e n t r e . 14.a4 He has to guard the d4 pawn again because of the threat of 14...Bxf3 and 15...Nxd4. ( 14.xe4 fails as in the previous note to a knight capture on c5: dxe4 15.g5 xc5 ) 14...xf3 15.xf3 e6 16.d2 ( Instead White has tried to stop Black's next move with 16.d3 but Black was at least equal af ter b8!? 17.fd1 b5 18.cxb6 axb6 19.e2 c8 in Rozentalis, E-Appel, R, Bundesliga 2006.) 16...b5! a key idea. The wh i t e k n i g h t c a n ' t r e t r e a t a s d 4 f a l l s .

Therefore White has to dissolve his strong c5 pawn. 17.cxb6 xb6 18.c5 h4 and Black had an active game in Bohm, HAlburt, L, Wijk aan Zee 1980. ] 12.e3?! [ White might have tried to profit by cajoling B l a c k ' s b i s h o p t o f 6 w i t h 12.g5!? for example f6 13.e3 e4 14.h2 d5 15.c5 c8 16.g4 xg4 17.hxg4 and White has the bishop pair and a solid centre. The position is far from clear after say 8e7 but perhaps Black would have done better with 11...d5. ] [ Meanwhile 12.d5? e4 is best avoided by White. ] 12...e4 13.e1 d5 14.c5 d7 15.a4 [ Instead 15.b5 might have been more active as the knight aims at the d6 square. ] 15...e6! Clearing the way for the advance of his f-pawn. 16.c2 f5 17.d2 f6 18.g5? Surprisingly enough, this might be the decisive mistake as it lets Black's pawns rampage forwards on the kingside. [ Golubov should have recalled Nimzowitsch's teachings about prophylaxis and set up a more permanent barrier to Black's f-pawn than his bishop on f4, which can be brushed aside. This can be done with 18.f4! Then Black decided to open l i n e s w i t h exf3 19.xf3 in Mamedov, N (2392) -Badjarani, I (2368)/Baku 2001. Now f4 20.f2 g5 threatening the h3 pawn and clearing the way for 21...Nf6 looks active for Black. ] 18...f7 19.f4 g5! Exactly. This energetic pawn thrust breaks the blockade on the f4 square. 20.d6 [ After 20.xg5 f4 Black pawns are ready to strike against the white king's defences with 21...f3. ] 20...f4! Anyway! Black is positionally justified in sacrificing the exchange as he will have an enormous advantage in firepower where it ma t te rs, na m ely o n t h e kin gsid e . 21.xf8 xf8 White has a knight on a4 no where near the kingside. There are no open lines on the queenside to use to distract Black from his o n s l a u g h t o n t h e o t h e r w i n g . 22.f3? W hite is understandably keen to block the advance 22...f3, but in doing so he shuts in his bishop on e2- his only minor piece that 610

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 was helping to defend his king. And as we shall see, the pawn that Black acquires on e3 helps him to set up a mating net by depriving the white queen and rook on f1 access to the second rank. A better defensive chance was [ 22.g4 though Black keeps up his attack after xg4 23.hxg4 f6 ] 22...e3 23.c3 Now the white queen joins her knights in exile on the queenside. Black is able to make some heavy sacrifices to remove the flimsy cover in front of the white king. h5 24.b4 xh3! 25.b5 [ After 25.gxh3 xh3 the threat of 26... Qg3+ 27.Kh1 Rf6 and mate along the h-file is decisive. ] 25...e7 26.c6 bxc6 27.bxc6 f5! It turns out White's bid for counterplay on the queenside has merely brought the black knight into the kingside attack. 28.b5 [ Even after a move like 28.c4 Black can play g3 with the decisive idea of moving the bishop back from h3 and mating on h1. ] 28...xg2! 29.xg2 g4 30.cxd7 h3+ 31.g1 g3 Mate will soon follow. A splendid a t t a c k b y B o r t n i k. I l ike t h e wa y B la ck' s sacrifices increased in size from a pawn, to the exchange, to a bishop. 0-1

597

B04 Grischuk,Alexander 2715 Carlsen,Magnus 2714 World Blitz Moscow RUS blitz (38) 22.11.2007 [John Watson] Another Ng4-e3 game! Not the most exciting affair, but I like Black's method of reducing White's chances in the opening. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 f5 7.0-0 d7 8.g4 e6 9.c4 5f6 10.e3 g6 11.c3 In the note to our other game, Hague tried [ 11.d5!? versus John Cox, which may be premature. ] [ 11.c5 followed by f4 was given by my computer - that's hard to believe. See the note there. ] 11...d6! As indicated in the other games, I prefer this active outpost. It also makes sense on general grounds, because it prevents or

neutralizes Bf4, whereas Bg5 seldom achieves anything. 12.b3 Okay, but White sort of drifts around in this game. [ Now 12.c5 c7 13.f4 is also possible. Then f5 at any point will activate Black's bishop on c7, however, . ] [ Just clamping down with 12.f4 is a decent alternative. ] 12...c7 13.h3 [ Better looks 13.g3 0-0 ( 13...h5!? 14.c5 e7 15.c4 i n t e n d i n g B f 4) 14.f4 . Well, that's at best a technical point. It's a Blitz game, after all. ] 13...0-0 14.b2 ad8 15.d2 fe8 [ 15...c5! 16.fd1 ce4 17.xe4 xe4 18.e1 e7!? has ideas of ...Qh4. Black has the initiative. ] 16.fd1 f4!? [ Again, 16...c5 17.e1 ce4 ] 17.e1 e5 18.d5 xe3!? Giving up the dark squares is a bit odd, but not bad. The consistent move is [ 18...e4 , to use the e5 square. ] 19.fxe3 c5 20.ac1 b6 21.f1 [ 21.dxc6 bxc6 ] 21...h6 22.h2 cxd5 23.xd5 xd5 24.cxd5 e4 25.c4 d6 26.a3 [ Eyeing the blockader. 26.c3 is the other way. All this has been well-played, and I'd guess the chances are level. The opening was interesting, especially Black's calm treatment, and bishop on d6 (not e7!). The rest is a yawner. ] 26...e4 27.b4 xc4 28.bxc4 g6 29.g3 a6 30.a3 d7 31.g4 g6 32.xg6 xg6 33.c5 a8 34.d2 e4 35.dd1 f6 36.a4 f7 37.a5 c7 38.d6 d7 39.c5 h5 40.h4 g6 41.e1 d3 42.ed1 e4 43.e1 f5 44.g3 c7 45.d6 d7 46.c5 g6 47.ed1 c7 48.d6 d7 49.c5 b6 A break! Nothing much h as hap pened f or 25 moves or so . Black justifies everything tactically. 50.axb6 axb6 51.xb6 a2 52.g1 b7 53.c5 xd5 54.a1 e2 55.ae1 xe1 56.xe1 f5 57.a1 e4 58.f2 d7 59.a4+ f5 60.a7 ½-½

611

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 598 Grischuk,Alexander Kamsky,Gata 40th Olympiad Open (9.1) [Tom Rendle]

B04 2763 2746 06.09.2012

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 f5 7.0-0 d7 8.g4 I have to say I like this move, it seems to lead to a stable slight edge for White - in this game though it looks like Grischuk is after more than that. ... [ 8.f3 , Ng4 and Nd3!? have all been covered in the archives ] 8...xg4 9.xg4 g6 [ 9...e6 10.d1 5f6 11.e2 e7 12.c4 is slightly better for W hite and has been looked at by John Watson in the instructive (at least for White players) game AdamsZhao Xue ] [ 9...7f6 10.f3 g6 11.d1 g7 12.c4 c7 13.c3 0-0 14.e3 d7 15.h3 f5 16.f4 c8 17.ac1 d8 18.f3 e8 19.b4 b6 20.d5! and Black was struggling in Friedel, J (2505)-Ramirez, A (2577) Los Angeles 2010 ] 10.c4 [ 10.e2 is pretty similar to 10.c4 but gives White the option of recapturing on e5 with the Queen if Black plays Nxe5 but I'm not really certain that it's an improvement g7 ( 10...xe5 11.xe5 f6 12.e1 g7 13.c3 e6 14.g5 0-0 15.d2 d5! and Black equalises) 11.c4 5b6 12.f3 0-0 13.a4 a5 14.f4 ( 14.c3 should keep a slight edge) 14...c5! 15.d5 e8 ( 15...e6 16.dxe6 e7! gives Black excellent chances to equalise as Black regain s the pawn af te r 17.exf7+ xf7 18.g3 xc4 ) 16.g5 c8 17.c3 and White was better in Zhigalko, A (2566)Gorovets, A (2408) Minsk 2011 ] 10...c7 [ 10...xe5 11.dxe5 c7 12.e4 e6 13.e3 Is a slight edge for White although Black certainly remains solid it's hard for him to get much activity. ] 11.d1 A very logical move but I don't believe it to be the most accurate here [ Instead 11.f4! seems to lead to a slight advantage after f6 ( 11...xe5 12.xe5

g8 13.c3 g7 14.g3 xd4 15.d1 is very risky for Black) 12.h4 g7 13.c3 0-0 14.e1 ] [ 11.f4 if White was going to play this move then here seems to be the best time for it, for example after g7 12.e3 White has enough control over the centre to avoid ... c5 being a serious problem ] 11...g7 12.c3 c8 [ 12...xe5 13.dxe5 c8 also seems completely fine for Black ] 13.f4?! An attempt to hold on to the advantage of the White pieces that only leads to problems. [ 13.f3 b6 14.xc8+ xc8 is just equal ] [ 13.xd7 xd7 14.h4 0-0 15.e4 was probably White's best option although Black doesn't have any real problems after e8! ( 15...fd8 16.g5! is a tiny bit awkward for Black to deal with) 16.h6 f6 ] 13...c5! [ 13...xe5 was also worth considering 14.xc8+ xc8 15.dxe5 ( 15.fxe5?! c5! is very comfortable for Black) 15...g5 a n d it 's W h it e wh o h a s t o b e t h e m o r e careful to maintain equality ] 14.e2 [ 14.e2 e6 15.dxc5 xe5 16.fxe5 xc5+ 17.e3 xe5 18.d5 b8 and although W hite has a lot of activity it should not be enough for the pawn in the long-run. ] [ 14.xd7 xd4+! 15.f1 xd7 16.xd7+ xd7 17.e3 e6 18.e2 hc8 19.g3 e8 20.xd4 cxd4 21.xd4 xc4 22.xe6 fxe6 leaves Black a little better although White should hold the draw fairly comfortably ] 14...f5 [ 14...e6! is stronger here and now White has to be careful 15.xd7 ( 15.e3?! cxd4 16.xd4 xd4 17.xd4 xe5 18.xc8+ xc8 19.b3! xc4! 20.xg7 g8 21.d4 b6 and White still has some work to do in order to hold the ending) 15...xd7 16.d5 d4 17.xd7+ xd7 18.f2 b5!? and Black is pressing, the Bishop on g7 and a Rook on b8 will cause W hite some problems on b2 here. ] 612

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.g3 cxd4 [ 15...0-0?! 16.e3 would leave White with a comfortable space advantage ] 16.xd4 xe5 17.fxe5 e6 18.xe6 Although this should be OK is does lead to a more difficult position for White [ 18.b3! was better although it does sacrifice a pawn after c5 ( 18...xd4 19.xd4 0-0 20.f4 c5 21.e3 and White has some minimal edge) 19.e3 xe5 20.f2 it's not possible for Black to h a n g o n t o t h e p a w n a n d a l s o 0-0?? n o w l o s e s t o 21.c5 and the knight on e6 drops ] 18...xe6 19.d5 b5! Kamsky finds the most effective way to keep the pressure on 20.xb5 xc4 21.b3 xb3 22.axb3 a6 23.ba5 d8 24.f2?! [ 24.f4 was perhaps a more accurate move and after 0-0 25.xa6 b8 26.a7 fe8 27.c7 xb3 28.aa7 White's activity should be enough for an easy draw ] 24...f7 25.g5 he8 26.e1 b8 27.a3 [ 27.xa6 xb3 28.a2 seems more logical to me - why not swap off one of the doubled pawns? Nevertheless Black is better after eb8 29.e2 8b6 ] 27...b5 Suddenly Grischuk is under real pressure 28.e6+ g8 29.g3 b6! 30.e2 h6 31.e3 xe6 32.c5 c6 [ 32...xe2+! 33.xe2 c8 was possibly even stronger as now the pawn cannot be taken due to the pin on e8 ] 33.xe7 f7 34.b4 xe2+ 35.xe2 xb2 36.a2 e5 Despite being a pawn down White should have good drawing chances but it's instructive to see how Kamsky secures the full point from here. 37.d2 g5 38.b4 e6 39.d3 f6 40.e3 e7 41.b2 h5 42.b5 axb5 43.xb5 g4 44.f4 f6 45.b7 a6 46.h7 a3+ 47.e2?! [ 47.c4 h4 is still strong for Black but W hite can create counterplay now wit h 48.h6! ] 47...a2+ 48.f1 d5 [ 48...xh2 was probably better but I'm guessing both players were down to almost 30 seconds a move and the idea of bringing the King to f3 is certainly attractive ] 49.xh5 e4 50.h3 gxh3 51.xh3 d4 52.h5 f2+ 53.e1 g2 54.f1 f3

55.e3 xe3 56.xf5+ xg3 The ending is now a theoretical draw but short on time anything can go wrong 57.e5 f2+ 58.e1 f4 59.e8 a2 60.d1 f3 61.e7?? Now the rook can be forced onto the 6th rank which results in disaster [ 61.f8+ f4 62.d8 should still draw ] 61...d2+ 62.e1 d8! 63.f7+ f4 Zugzwang - the Rook has to stay on the f-file to prevent Bg3+ and so it's f orced onto a worse square 64.f6 [ 64.f5 e8+! 65.d1 c8 wins ] 64...c8 0-1

599 Grischuk,Alexander Ponomariov,Ruslan Torshavn op 3rd (5) [John Watson]

B04 2606 2630 10.10.2000

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 As far as I can tell from the written theory, this variation is still in decent shape. 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.a4 a5!? [ 7...dxe5 has a better reputation: 8.a5 6d7 9.xf7+ ( This sacrifice has appeared in many games with thorough analysis, but it's not clear to me that W hite can't get a little something out of 9.dxe5 , which as far as I know hasn't been played. For example, xe5 10.xd8+ xd8 11.xe5 xe5 12.xf7 with the better pawn structure, a plausible continuation being f5 13.b3 a6 14.a3 c5 15.a2 ) 9...xf7 10.g5+ g8 11.e6 e8 12.xc7 d8 13.xa8 exd4 . Black has always seemed to have enough compensation for the exchange here, and I don't think that will change. ] 8.g5 e6 Lev Alburt specialized in this line. The earlier (and very old) old move was [ 8...d5 , when 9.f4 establishes a strong bind. ] 9.f4 [ The original try for refutation was 9.f3 e7 10.e4 , but Alburt showed that dxe5 11.g5 b4+ held. Maybe this could use a closer look! ] 9...dxe5 10.fxe5 c5 Attacking the base of the 613

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pawn chain. 11.c3 cxd4 12.0-0 0-0 13.cxd4 c6 14.f3 [ 14.e3 d5! is awkward for White. Now the battle centers around the d4-pawn. ] 14...f6 Black has to move quickly, and now he a t t a c k s t h e f ro n t o f t h e c h a i n , t h e m o s t common technique in the French Defence. [ 14...b4 15.g5 ( 15.c3 is also promising, especially with both e4 and b5 available.) 15...d7 16.c3 h6 17.f6 xf6 18.exf6 d8 19.d2 xf6 ( 19...h7 20.e5 ) 20.xh6 g7 21.h4 favours White. ] 15.c3 [ A promising pawn sacrifice, although White has a very interesting alternative pawn sacrifice that may even be better: 15.exf6!? xf6 ( 15...xf6 16.e3 d5 17.h6 e8 18.c3 ) 16.c3! ( 16.e3 d5; 16.g5 f5 threatens ..Nxd4 or ...Bxd4+) 16...xd4 17.e3 , and it's not clear that Black can equalize: A) 17...xf3+?? 18.xf3+- and Bxb6; B) 17...d8 18.xd4 e5 ( 18...xd4?? 19.xf6 xd1+ 20.xd1 xf6 21.xb6 ) 19.e1 xd4 20.xd4 xd4 21.xd4 xd4+ 22.h1 and Black is too uncoordinated to claim compensation.; C) 17...xb3! (the only way to preserve material) 18.xb3 d5 ( 18...d7 19.g5 e5 20.xe6+ xe6 21.xe6 xf1+ 22.xf1 xc3 23.c7! b8 24.bxc3 b6 25.d1 favours White, although Black is not necessarily lost, and the opposite-coloured bishops could prove helpful later ) 19.c5 C1) 19...xc3 20.bxc3 can lead to any number of lines, but I think that W hite maintains some edge, for example, e8 ( 20...xc3 21.xc3 xc3 22.a3; 20...d8 21.ad1 ) 21.b5! ( or 21.ad1 ) 21...d8 22.ad1; C2) 19...e8 20.ae1 ( 20.d4!? e7 21.xg7 xg7 22.ac1 ) 20...xc3 21.e5! g5 22.xc3 gives plenty of compensation then d7 23.f7! xe5 24.xe5 xe5 25.xe5 xf7 fails to 26.d4 f8 27.g7+ e8 28.c5; C3) 19...d8 20.ad1 xc3 ( 20...f8 21.d4 ) 21.bxc3 xd1 22.xd1 h6 ( 22...xc3?? 23.d8+; 22...f8

23.d4! e7 24.e5 ) 23.d4 e7 24.b5 h7 25.xg7 xg7 26.e5 with a substantial advantage. ] 15...fxe5 16.g5! d7 17.dxe5 xe5? [ The improvement that I give in my book is 17...xd1! 18.axd1 xe5 19.xe5 xf1+ 20.xf1 xe5 21.e3 , which I think leaves White somewhat better, perhaps not fatally so to Black. At any rate, reader Luis Eduardo Neves Gouveia, who has been an excellent contributor, suggests that Black has A) Luis Eduardo Neves Gouveia: 21...d5 22.xd5 exd5 23.xd5+ ( 23.xd5 ) 23...h8 "and Black is holding". But this doesn't look so easy, for example, 24.d4 ( 24.b3!? ) 24...xd4 25.xd4 b8 26.c4 f5 27.g4 c2 28.b3 h6 29.d5 b6 30.f2; B) 21...a6 and Luis gives 22.xb6 xb6 23.d8+ f7 24.b5 c6 25.a7 c1+ 26.e2 b1 27.c2 xb2 28.d3 xh2 'and three pawns for the piece - here I am not sure Black is OK but ...' Then W hite should pla y 29.xc8 ( or 29.xc8 h5 30.b5 b4 31.c4 xc4 32.xc4 g5 33.c5 g1+ 34.d6 f6 35.b3 e5 36.c3 ); C) 21...xc3 22.d8+ f7 23.bxc3 and I said that the bishops are worth more than a pawn but Black can certainly hope f o r s u r v i v a l . I w o u l d n o w a d d d7 ( 23...d5 24.d4 ) C1) acut e trick f ollows 24.e1 b6 25.h8 g7? ( 25...f8 26.xb6 b8 27.c5 d7 28.d4 xb3 29.xh7+ is messy ) 26.xe6! xh8 27.d4+ and mates; C2) 24.f2 b6?! 25.c4 ( 25.d1 ) 25...c5 26.h8! and Black is in trouble, for example, g7 ( 26...h5 27.d4 ) 27.d4+ h6 28.f8! b7 29.f7! e4+ 30.e3 d6 31.g7+ g5 32.h4+ xh4 33.f6+ g5 34.xh7+ g4 35.xe6+ f5+ 36.xf5+ xf5 37.xb7 xf6 38.xb6+ ] 18.xe5 xf1+ 19.xf1 d4+ [ 19...xe5 20.d1 d4+ 21.h1 ] 20.h1 xe5 21.d8! c5 [ 21...a6 22.d1 ] 22.e4 b4 This makes it easy. 614

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Or 22...f5 23.xb6 xe4 24.d1 h5 25.d8+ h7 26.f7 ] [ 22...c6!? 23.g5! d5 24.c1! e8 ( 24...d7 25.xe6 xe6 26.e1 e5 27.c7 xc7 28.xd5! ) 25.xd5 exd5 ( 25...xd8 26.xc8 ) 26.e1 d7 27.e7 f5 28.e1+- wins ] 23.g5 h8 24.f7 d7 25.xe6 xd8 26.g8+! xg8 27.f7# 1-0

600 Grischuk,Alexander Ponomariov,Ruslan Torshavn [Alexander Volzhin]

B04 2606 2630 2000

An interesting theoretical battle between two rising stars. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.a4! The most dangerous line for Black. [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 7.g5 has also been played, but this move is not as strong since the addition of the moves 7.a2-a4 a7-a5 favours White, as we'll see later. ] 7...a5 This natural move is Black's most frequent choice. [ 7...dxe5!? is a sharp alternative to the text. We'll consider this move elsewhere. ] 8.g5! We have already considered this line in the game Kasparov-Palatnik, a brilliant win by W hite. This move still remains one of W hite's main weapons. e6 9.f4 dxe5 The only way for Black to obtain counterplay is to challenge the centre. [ A f t e r p a s s i v e m o v e s l i k e 9...c6 (as was played in Sutovsky-Reinemer, Port Erin 2000) White is clearly better due to his considerable space advantage: 10.c3 d7 11.0-0 e7 12.e4 d5 13.c5 d8 14.c2 c8 15.b3 b6 16.d3 f5 17.exf6 xf6 18.a3 d6 19.e5 8f7 20.c4 with a huge edge for White. ] 10.fxe5 c5 11.c3! The most precise move order. [ In the above mentioned game Kasparov played 11.0-0 which is less precise, and Black could have exploited this inaccuracy by p la yin g xd4+! ( instead of 11...0-0? ) 12.xd4 cxd4 with excellent prospects for

Black: 13.xf7 ( or 13.xf7 xe5 ) 13...0-0! ] 11...cxd4 12.0-0! 0-0 13.cxd4 c6 14.f3 f6 The critical position of this line. 15.c3! A very strong move. By sacrificing a pawn W hite gains some important tempi for completing his development, and obtains a dangerous initiative. Strictly speaking this move is not a novelty since it had been played in a couple of earlier games, but its strength had clearly been underestimated. [ After the natural looking 15.exf6 xf6 16.e3 d5 17.f2 f4 Black has sufficient counterplay. ] 15...fxe5 16.g5! d7 [ 16...e8 is the alternative to the text, but it doesn't solve Black's problems either. The game Nimzo 7.32-Hiarcs 7.32, Computer W orld Championship 2000 continued: 17.dxe5 xe5 18.xe5 xf1+ 19.xf1 xe5 20.e1! d4+ ( or 20...g7 21.e4 with a growing attack.) 21.e3! xe3+ 22.xe3 e7 The only move since Black ca n ' t a ll o w 2 3 . Q f 6 : ( 22...d7 23.f6! and the threat of 24.Rxe6 is decisive: f7 24.xe6 xf6 25.xf6+ g7 26.xb6 ) 23.b5! Exploiting the hanging position of Black's Knight. b4 24.e8+ g7 25.f3! The Rook joins the attack. d7 26.f7+ h8 27.f6+ g8 28.h1! f8 ( If 28...xb3 29.f7+ h8 30.h3 with unavoidable mate.) 29.xe6+ xe6 30.xe6+ g7 31.e5+ g8 32.xf8+ xf8 33.h8+ e7 34.xh7+ and White is winning. ] 17.dxe5 xe5 18.xe5 xf1+ 19.xf1 d4+ The only move. [ 19...xe5? l o s e s o n t h e s p o t : 20.d1 d4+ 21.h1 and White wins a piece, for example: g7 22.e3! ] 20.h1 xe5 21.d8! I would like to remind you once again of the importance of the fact that Black's Knight on b6 is unprotected, which is due to the interpolation of the moves 7.a2a4 a7-a5. c5 It may seem surprising, but we are still in the realms of theory! The alternatives are: [ 21...a6 Theory considers this move to be best, and evaluates this position as better for Black. However this is far from true! A) 22.b5? was played in Zhukov615

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 P u s h k in , US S R 1 9 9 1 : d7 23.xe5 xe5 24.d1 xc3 25.bxc3 f8 26.xb6 xb6 27.xd7 xb3 28.g1 b6! and Black had good winning chances.; B) 22.e1?! which was recommended in the comments to the above mentioned ga me also le a ds W h it e n owh ere : f5! 23.xf5 gxf5 24.xe6+ xe6 25.xe6 xc3! 26.bxc3 xa4 and Black is fine: 27.xa6 bxa6 28.c4!? ( 28.xa5 b2 ) 28...b2! 29.c5 a4 30.c6 a3! 31.f6 c4 and White has to fight for a draw; C) 22.d1! My improvement. After 22.Rd1 Black's position is very difficult. White is threatening 23.Bxb6 Rxb6 24.Rd8 and it's not easy for Black to find a defence as the following variations prove: f5 ( 22...f8 23.xb6 xb6 24.d8 g7 25.a2 d7 26.e4! and Black can't avoid vast material losses; 22...a8 allows White to bring his Knight decisively into the attack: 23.d5!! exd5 24.xd5 xb2 25.e5+ e6 26.xe6+ h8 27.f6! with a quick mate; 22...h6 is also not good in view of 23.c2! exploiting the weakening of the Kside ) 23.xf5 gxf5 24.xb6 xb6 25.d8+ f7 ( 25...f8 26.b5! winning the Bishop on c8: c6 27.xc8! ) 26.b5! and again White wins a piece. ] [ Other possibilities are: 21...d5? 22.xd5 exd5 23.e1 and W hite is winning: f5 24.xd5+ f8 25.e7+ e8 26.b5+ d7 27.f6+ and Black resigned in Felsberger-Wach, 1991. ] [ 21...d4 is hardly good either, in view of 22.d1 b4 23.xb6! xb6 24.b5! and Black is completely tied up ] [ 21...d6 is the only way to avoid immediate loss, but Black's position is very difficult anyway: 22.d1 d5 23.h4! f8 24.xd5 xf1+ 25.xf1 exd5 26.xd5+ h8 27.b3! and the differ ence in activity of the armies make the endgame very bad for Black. ] 22.e4 b4 Leads to a beautiful mate but [ 22...c6 23.g5 is hardly an improvement. ] 23.g5! h8 24.f7 d7 25.xe6! xd8 26.g8+! xg8 27.f7# An excellent win by Alexander Grischuk! Without doubt this game

is very theoretically important. To be honest I can't see an improvement for Black after 15. Nc3! Black urgently needs to find an antidote otherwise he will have to forget this line for good. The only playable alternative in this line seems to be 7...dxe5 (instead of 7.. .a5) which we consider in the game Oral-De Firmian . 1-0

601 Groszpeter,Attila Pitschka,Klaus KB Czech Open (1) [Carsten Hansen]

B04 2478 2266 21.07.2000

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 d7!? This move was introduced by the Danish Viking Bent Larsen in one of his candidates matches against Mikhail Tal. Tal didn't dare to take on f7, afraid that he would have to settle for a draw. However, for many years Nxf7 was considered the refutation of 5...Nd7, although this is no longer the case. 6.f3 If White isn't up to the challenge of 6 Nxf7, this is an excellent alternative. Videki & Krizsany consider this W hite's best option a f t e r 5 . . . N d 7 . e6 7.g3 The positional treatment. W hite can also opt for the more aggressive 7 c4. e7 The NCO quotes the following line: [ 7...c5 8.g2 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.c4 5f6 11.e2 cxd4 12.xd4 c5 13.d1 b6 with equality. ] 8.g2 0-0 This is considered an inaccuracy by Videki & Krizsany, who claim that Black is equal after 8...b5. [ 8...b5 9.0-0 0-0 10.b3 a6 I don't like this move a whole lot. Also 10...Bb7 can be considered 11.e1 c8?! too slow, correct is 1 1 .. . c5 wit h a f a irly b ala n ced ga m e 12.g5! Given the fact that the majority of the black pieces are located on the queenside, it makes sense for White to try to grab the initiative on the kingside. An extra incentive is that Black has weakened his dark squares, and therefore an exchange of the dark-squared bishops will be to White's advantage. b4 12...Bd8!? allows Black to move on without making further concessions. 13.d2 c5? This is a very 616

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 unfortunate mistake. The correct way for Black to continue is 13...Bxd2 14 Nxd2 c5, and W hite is at best slightly better. 14.c3 a5 15.dxc5 b4 16.c4 5f6 17.a3 b8 18.d4 xc5 19.c6 bc8 20.e3 1-0 McDonald,N-Nataf,I/London 1994 Oops! ] 9.0-0 c5 10.c4 5f6 11.c3 Deviating from t h e N C O l i n e . cxd4 12.xd4 c7 This move is playable, although somewhat passive. [ A more active attempt to equalise is 12...e5 13.b3 a5 14.b2 d8 and Black should not be any worse. ] 13.e2 e8?! Black is playing overly cautiously right now. 13...Rd8 is the correct move. 14.d1 f8?! Black follows the flow from his previous move. Preventing a Nb5 from White is more important, and therefore 14. ..a6 wou ld h ave been correct . 15.b1 15 Ncb5!? b6?! [ 15...a6 followed by ...e5 is better. ] 16.db5 b8 17.e3 e5? [ 17...bd7!? admits that going to b6 was wrong, but Black has to do something to contain White's queenside majority. ] 18.c5 bd7 19.c6 bxc6 20.xc6 and White wins at least an exchange. The rest is played out with only one goal in mind. e7 21.xa8 xa8 22.d6 e4 23.xc8 xc8 24.bc1 e5 25.g2 f5 26.d5 b7 27.xf6+ gxf6 28.d5 h5 29.h4 g6 30.c8 g7 31.dd8 d7 32.c5 e3 33.xf8+ xf8 34.xf8 e4+ 35.f3 xf3+ 36.xf3 xb2 37.fxe3 xa2 38.e4 a1 39.g8+ h7 40.h8+ 1-0

behaviour. e6 I seemed to recall opining that this was the way to go. 9.c4 5f6 [ Now that my computer points it out I remember 9...b4 10.e3 xb1 11.xb1 xa2 being something that concerned Mark. Mark wasn't sure the computer thinks this is what Black should do, but the whole thing loo ks rid iculou s to me . I do n't se e wh y Black shouldn't just develop. ] 10.e3 g6 11.d5 [ Some insanity like 11.f4 had concerned me before, but it's very hard to believe this: Black could just play d6 when 12.g4 seems to fail to c7 13.f5 xh2+ 14.h1 e4 I was toying vaguely with such lines when Ben played something else. I don't think the text is much good either, although it's not as bad as I thought at the time. W hite probably ought to admit he has no advantage and just develop quietly. ] 11...c7 Of course Black doesn't capture on d5. After dxe6 fxe6 his rapid development on the d and f files will more than make up for t h e we a k e -p a wn . 12.c3 d6 13.h3 One of the with White's set-up, apart from the fact that the Ne3 blocks his queen's bishop and king's rook, is needing to lose a tempo on this move. [ 13.h4 h2+ 14.h1 e5 15.h5 d8 16.g1 h2+ 17.h1 e5 is how the machine thinks the game ought to end, although I doubt many human players would have this variation in mind. ] 13...0-0 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.d3 fd8 A bad move. I had some idea that doubling my g-pawns was desirable inasmuch as it creates luft without costing a tempo, but I was wrong. 15...Bxd3 was right, getting positions like the game but with the h-pawn on h7. 16.xg6 602 B04 hxg6 17.c2 h2+ 18.h1 e5 19.d2 Hague,Ben 2300 c5 20.ad1 d7 21.c1 During the game Cox,John J 2384 I was labouring under the impression that 4NCL Kavala GRE 23.10.2005 B l a c k w a s m u c h b e t t e r h e r e , a n d consequently getting frustrated and spending [John Cox] a lot of time when I couldn't find a way to 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 prove it. As usually happens this leads to over 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 f5 7.0-0 d7 8.g4 pressing although as luck would have it Black The webmaster's splendid innovation from p l a ys t h e r i g h t m o ve s f o r q u i t e a wa y a Kosten-Ferguson in the May update. As luck psychological misconception of this kind would have it Mark Ferguson was sitting next generally has its expression in the form of 22.xd7 to me in this team match, so I was on my best bad moves sooner or later. ad8 617

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd7 23.d1 d8? Missing the moment. Correct was [ 23...xc3 , a thoroughly thematic move which I don't believe I considered f or a second despite it being the entire purpose of m y . . B h 2 + - e 5 m a n o e u v r e . . 24.xd7 ( 24.xc3 fe4 25.c2 d3 26.f1 f4 27.g1 xc1 28.xc1 d2 ) 24...xd7 25.xc3 fe4 26.c2 d3 ] 24.xd7 xd7 25.ed1 d4 [ I had been pinning my hopes on 25...d3 an d wh en I cou ld n 't m a ke it wo rk a f t e r 26.xd3 xd3 27.d2 ( 27.e3 xc3 I began to lose my feeble grasp on the plot a bit. )] 26.e3 e5 27.b4 xe3 28.xe3 d3 29.b5 cxb5 30.cxb5 d4 31.g1? e4? [ Black misses his second one-move win of the game: 31...xf2 wins a pawn 32.xf2 ( 32.xf2 xc3 ) 32...xc3 ] 32.a4 b4 Black has no advantage any more and it was definitely time to be thinking of making a draw, but adjusting in this way is n e v e r e a s y . 33.ed1 g5 34.a2 g4? Anything but this. Somehow the d5 square had escaped my attention. 35.hxg4 xg4 36.d5 dxf2 37.xf2 xf2 38.xf2 xc3 [ A f t e r w a r d s I t h o u g h t t h a t 38...e3+ wo u ld h a ve b e e n b e t t e r, h o p in g f o r 3 9 K x e 3 ? ? Q x c 3 + , b u t i n f a c t a f t e r 39.f3 xc3 40.a8+ h7 41.xa7 there is no longer perpetual check and W hite has at least some winning chances, and in fact I think is probably winning. I would like to think I saw this at the time and forgot about it, but I can't be sure. ] 39.xe4 c5+ 40.e2 f5 41.c6 e5+ 42.d3 g3+ 43.c4 f4+ 44.b3 Black is in grave danger of losing this queen ending whether he is actually lost I haven't yet been able to determine for sure. g3+?! [ 44...h7 was better than this, I think. After a5 W hite is a t his most vu lnerable to a checking sequence, as he has to protect a5 and b5 as well as escape the checks, so it made sense to hide the king away at this moment to prevent cross-checks. ] 45.f3 e5 46.c3 [ 46.a8+ h7 47.xa7 d5+ 48.c3 xg2 I f igu re d is a d ra w sin ce 49.b6

allows perpetual check starting with c6+ . I had been banking on this but White has better. ] 46...e8 47.c5 d7 48.c4 I think this is a mistake. 48 Kc3 is better so that Black doesn't have a check. White is then ready for a5, and I think he might very well be winning at all events I haven't discovered a convincing defence. h7 49.a5 e6+ Now I think Black is OK. White cannot avoid perpetual without dropping a5. 50.d5 e2+ 51.c5 e3+ 52.c6 c3+ 53.b7 xa5 54.xf5+ g6 55.d7+ h6 56.c6 This is scary but Black has a resource. a3 57.d5 1/2-1/2 [ 57.a6 c5 is simplest although I hadn't seen this ( 57...e3 was my intention and is a l s o a d e q u a t e s i n c e 58.xa7 e7+ gives perpetual. )] ½-½

603 Hoell,Jonas Kengis,Edvins London [Alexander Volzhin]

B04 2445 2575 1991

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.f3 d6 4.d4 dxe5 5.xe5 g6 6.c4 Currently the most popular continuation. c6 [ As 6...g7?? is just a blunder: 7.xf7 xf7 8.f3+ black should protect the Knight on d5. Besides the text, ] [ 6...e6 is possible. This move was played till it became clear that by playing 7.c3! g7 8.e4 xe5 ( 8...0-0 9.g5 ) 9.dxe5 c6 10.b3! ( Black intended to meet 10.c5 with e3! , maintaining the balance. ) 10...xe5 ( 10...0-0 11.h6 e8 12.c5 w i t h t h e a d v a n t a g e xe5? 13.xe6 fxe6 14.d4 ) 11.b2 f6 12.xe5 fxe5 13.c5 White wins his pawn back and h a s a n o v e r w h e l m i n g a d v a n t a g e f7 14.xb7 d7 15.0-0 c6 16.a5 c5 17.xd5 xd5 18.b4 d6 19.c4+winning in Vlasak - Petanek, corr, 1990. ] 7.0-0 g7 8.e1 0-0 9.b3 [ In my opinion, 9.c3 deserves attention, for example: e6 10.d2 d7 11.ef3 c7 12.f1! c5 13.b3 ] 9...e6 10.c3 d7 11.f3 c7 12.xe6 618

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Now this exchange is forced. xe6 13.b3 b6 14.c4 [ I w o u l d h a v e p r e f e r r e d 14.bd2 with equality. ] 14...c5! Black has an advantage in development, so he should open files. 15.d5 [ 15.dxc5 dxc5 aiming at the d3-square (after Rfd8) is very good for Black. ] 15...c7 16.xe7 d6 17.e1 xd5 18.a3 b6! N [ 18...xc4?! 19.xc4 was played in Kengis - Tseshkovsky, Riga, 1981, with a considerable advantage for White. The text is much better, as the White knight on a3 stays out of play. ] 19.xd5 [ 19.h4 fe8! >
52...b5 [ 52...b5 53.xe4 fxe4+ 54.e2 b2! 55.a7 b1 56.a8 d3+ 57.e1 c3# ] 0-1

604 Hracek,Z Appel,R Bundesliga 2012-13 (12) [Tom Rendle]

B04 2612 2525 17.03.2013

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 5.e2 f5 6.0-0 dxe5 7.xe5 d7 8.f3 e6 This has all been seen before on ChessPublishing but now we see a new move. 9.c4! Although this hasn't been seen in a main game it was suggested by Gawain in his notes to Fedorchuk-Shchekachev as an improvement over 9.a3 [ 9.a3 was seen in the blitz game RublevskyCarlsen but if 9...Nb4 in the game isn't a good move then a3 is obviously unnecessary. ] 9...b4 This is critical but it's probably just bad for Black. [ 9...5b6 10.c3 is obviously very comfortable for White. ] 10.a3 a6 Appel decides, probably wisely, not to invade with Nc2 but now the knight is offside and W hite is just a lot better. Black needs to look for a new way to handle this variation or abandon it all together. [ 10...c2 11.a2 A) 11...c5?! has been tried here but noone has responded with the very strong 12.dxc5 xc5 ( or 12...xc5 13.c3 followed by b4 is winning for White) 13.b4 and White is winning at least two pieces for a rook; B) 11...xd4 12.xd4 xb1 13.g5! f6 14.xb1 fxg5 B1) 15.d1! "and I really like White's position" is where Gawain's analysis ends and this indeed does seem to be the right way to play. I can see nothing bet te r f o r B la ck t ha n e7 allowing 16.xg7 f6 17.h6 e7 18.h5+ ( or 18.d2 coming to e4) 18...d8 19.b4 and White is clearly better; B2) 15.b4 f6 16.e3?! ( 16.d2! 619

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is a definite improvement) 16...e7 17.d2 g4 18.d4 e5 and the position was unclear in Alsina Leal, D (2515)-Bas Mas, J (2258) Donostia 2013 ] 11.c3 e7 12.d5! This a thematic b r e a k t h r o u gh wh i ch t a ke s a d va n t a g e o f W hite's lead in development and generally better coordination. Black is already much worse. [ 12.e3 0-0 13.b4 c7 14.b3 f6 15.e5 also gave White an edge in Milliet, S (2411)-Zhao Xue (2549) Istanbul 2012, but it's not quite as the game continuation and Black even went on to win this game in the end. ] 12...c5?! This feels wrong - it gives away the d5-square and leaves the knight on a6 even more sidelined than before. [ 12...cxd5 13.cxd5 f6 is possibly Black's best option although W hite is obviously better after 14.d4 Black can now at least play 0-0 15.e3 dc5 with some chances for counterplay later on. ] 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 b6 15.f4 0-0 16.ad1 Hracek is playing very simply and not allowing Black any chances here. [ 16.d6!? was a more aggressive option and it may be stronger, for example f6 17.e4 A) 17...xb2 18.ab1 f6 19.g5! xg5 20.fxg5 f5 ( 20...g6?! 21.c3! wins ) 21.h3 h6 22.xe6 d7 23.xf8 xf8 24.c3 and White is a safe exchange up; B) 17...h6 18.ab1 and White is in total control ] 16...f6 17.fe1 h6 18.e5 exd5 19.cxd5 g5?! [ 19...b8! is a pretty depressing move to have to play but at least the knight can now come and help out by blocking on d7. Still 20.d6 8d7 21.d5! is very good for White. ] 20.xg5 xg5 21.d6 ad8 22.e4 fe8 23.f4! f6 24.d7 [ 24.xb7 b8 25.xa7 is also just winning for White. ] 24...e6 25.f5! This picks up the exchange and effectively ends the game. xe5 [ 25...e7? 26.g4! xe4 27.xf6+ gxf6 28.xe4 g7 29.d3 and Black can safely resign ]

26.xe5 xe5 27.xe5 f8 28.b5 xd7 29.xd7 xd7 30.e2 c4 31.d6 c7 A fine game from Hracek which places this line in some doubt for Black. 1-0

605 Hunt,Harriet Skripchenko,Almira 36th Olympiad w (12) [Andrew Martin]

B04 2385 2474 27.10.2004

There has been a lot of clamour for more Alekhine games here, so much so that John Cox has been drafted in of f the bench to supply them. My own personal view of the Alekhine it's a bit of a gamble above, say, 2400 level, but below that it's still a decent opening to play on a regular basis. Let us examine a triumphant W hite win from the recent Olympiad, where Harriet Hunt shows her strength. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 If Black is reliant on 5...c6 he will ultimately be disillusioned. All he can hope for if White plays remotely sensibly is a slight disadvantage at best. Miles pioneered 5...c6 as a means of survival, not with any great vision of the idea becoming Black's main weapon against 4 Nf3. 6.e2! Quite OK. W hite settles for modesty and of course a slight edge. g6 [ 6...f5!? could well be Black's best here, as long as he or she is willing to withstand an immediate assault: 7.g4!? ( White could settle for 7.0-0 d7 8.f3 ) 7...e6 8.c4 b6 9.b3 f6 10.d3 xd4 11.b2 d8 12.c3 a6 13.d2 c7 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 15.e3 f7 16.f4 b8 17.h4 e6 18.e4 d7 19.h5 h6 20.g5 e7 21.g6 was the extraordinary course of Kasparov,GShort,N/Moscow 2002 ] [ 6...d7 7.f3 g6 8.c4 c7 9.c3 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e3 e5 12.e1 ] 7.0-0 g7 8.f3 Retaining pieces is extremely sensible given White's extra space and White has the very pleasant prospect of c2-c4 coming up. g4 9.e1 0-0 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 d7 12.c4 The position is solidly, slightly better for W hite and is very typical of many Alekhine variations, 620

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 notwithstanding all the propaganda. White has two bishops and a potential queenside pawn majority. Black would normally combat these trumps by activity, presumably looking to play ...e7-e5 somewhere. It doesn't work out that way 5b6 13.c5! c8 [ 13...d5 14.xd5 cxd5 15.g5 e8 16.c3 is easy chess. Even if Black nullifies the pressure on e7 there's still the queenside majority to worry about. ] 14.c3 e5 What else? [ 14...e6 15.e4 ] [ 14...c7 15.g5 e6 16.d2 are both awful. ] 15.e3 [ 15.d5! looks very strong indeed xc5 ( 15...cxd5 16.xd5+- ) 16.e3 a5 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.xc6 ] 15...e7 16.d5! The classic break, with Black very passive. cxd5 17.xd5 f5 [ 17...c6 18.b3! b8 19.ad1 is a picture postcard for White. ] 18.c1 h4 I have no useful idea to suggest given that the d file is creaking: [ 18...xe3 19.xe3 b8 20.a4 a6 21.ed1 ] 19.g3 d8 20.b3 c8 21.xb7 xe3 22.xc8 I very much doubt Hunt even broke sweat in that game so it is clear that Black has some work to do here. Perhaps 6...Bf5 can be recommended as the best available try. 1-0

They don't go 7 Ng5 these days because of Alburt's 7...e6. Let's see how Black should play: [ 7...e6 A) 8.f3 More testing. e7! 9.e4 dxe5 10.g5 b4+ 11.c3 a5 12.f6+ ( 12.f6 xf6 13.xf6 0-0 14.xe5 xe5 15.dxe5 d7= Alburt ) 12...f8 13.d5 e4 14.g3 a6 15.dxe6 f5 16.e7+ xe7 17.d5+ ( 17.g8+ e8 18.h6 xh6 19.xh6 e6 20.0-0 ) 17...f8 18.e3 d7 and Black will slowly consolidate beginning with ...f7-f6.; B) 8.f4 Rigid. Black can break up the centre with the traditional thrust ...c7-c5. dxe5 9.fxe5 c5! 10.0-0 0-0 11.c3 cxd4 12.cxd4 c6 13.f3 f6! 14.exf6 ( 14.c3!? fxe5 15.g5 d7 16.dxe5 xe5 17.xe5 xf1+ 18.xf1 d4+ 19.h1 xe5 20.e7 d7 21.e1 f5 22.e2 e8 ) 14...xf6 15.e3 d5 16.f2 f4 ] 8.f4 f6 9.f3 0-0 10.c3 c6 11.bd2 g4 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 I really feel that Black should avoid this position. Counterplay is not in evidence. He has tried to break up the centre with ...f7-f6 but the White pawn chain is almost indestructible. Two Bishops lurk in the wings waiting to be used and the Black Kingside looks shaky. d7 14.0-0 f5 Miserable. White has the later pawn lever g2g4! to aim for. [ 14...a5 15.a4 fxe5 16.fxe5 d8 17.c2 e6 is a better way of organising the Black pieces. Perhaps ...Rf 7 and ... Raf 8 will 606 B04 help matters. Obviously W hite still has a very nice, easy-to-play position. ] Ishkhamov,Tigran 2260 d8 16.e3 e6 17.ad1! Chernin,Oliver 2205 15.e2 North American Open (3) 2002 Prophylaxis against a (much) later ...c7-c5 ad8 18.h1 c6 19.h4 h6 20.g4! fxg4 [Andrew Martin] 21.f5!+- g5 22.xg4 About par for the 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 c o u r s e a f t e r 7 N g 5 d 5 ? ! B l a c k h a s t o concentrate on 7...e6 if he wishes to make A variation eclipsed by this line work. [ 4...dxe5 5.xe5 g6 ] 5.c4! b6 6.b3 g7 7.g5 That's how 1-0 they used to play it ! Instead, [ 7.a4 ] [ 7.e2 both pose Black serious theoretical problems. ] 7...d5?! I don't like this move very much because the Black position becomes cramped. 621

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 607 Jakovenko,Dmitrij Bu Xiangzhi IV RUS-CHN Match (7) [John Watson]

B04 2735 2685 27.08.2007

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 Black has been playing this unambitious system for years, challenging White to make progress against his ultra-solid setup. 6.c4 d7 7.f3 7b6 8.e2! An interesting sequence. W hite has moved his kn ight to e5 an d back aga in, a nd his bishop to c4 and back again. Yet Black's knights are awkwardly placed on b6 and d5. [ As we saw in this column, 8.b3 g4 9.bd2 e6 10.0-0 e7 11.h3 h5 12.c3 0-0 13.e4 g6 14.e2 d7 15.e1 a5 16.a4 e8 17.c4 c7 Van der Weide-A Miles, Saint Vincent ITA 2000 was roughly equal. ] 8...g4 9.0-0 e6 10.h3 [ 10.c4? allows xf3 11.gxf3 , when White's bishops and centre provide some compensation for his pawns, but probably not enough, for example, ( 11.xf3 xc4 ) 11...e7!? ( 11...f6 ) 12.c3 f5 13.d5 h4 ] [ 10.e5 allows Black the extra possibility of f5 ] 10...h5 11.e5 xe2 12.xe2 Notice how utterly safe W hite's setup is. He retains a central pull while exposing nothing to attack. Black has fairly good development and is close to equality, but it's a bit bothersome. He decides to reposition those oddly-placed knights. e7 13.c4 f6 14.d1 0-0 15.c3 bd7 16.f4 e8 17.d3 White has a standard space advantage and begins to eye the kingside. a5 18.ad1 ad8 19.a3!? This creates a few weaknesses. [ 19.g3 is crude but should be considered. ] 19...a6! 20.f3 [ Again, 20.g3 makes sense, to force Black into defence and avoid his next move. A s a m p le lin e m igh t f8 21.g5 g6 22.h4! ] 20...b6! 21.c5 The only defence to c4. Now it seems that control of d5 should secure equality. bd5 22.g5 f8 23.g4!? fe8 [ Or simply 23...h8= ]

24.e5 f8 25.h4!? xc3?! Why? This not only improves W hite's pawn structure but lessons Black's grip on kingside squares. 26.bxc3 h6 [ 26...xa3 27.g4! will win material. ] 27.c1 [ Or 27.f4! with the idea xa3? 28.c4 a5 ( 28...a4 29.b1 and Ra3. ) 29.b1 and again Ra3 comes in conjunction with Rxb7. ] 27...d7? Allowing a killing attack. [ 27...h8 ] 28.g4! The threat is Nxh6+, ...gxh6, and Bxh6 or Qh5, both winning. [ White would be only slightly better after 28.xd7? xd7 29.g4 h7 30.g3 g8 ] 28...f5 29.xh6+ Anyway! gxh6 30.h5 f6 There's nothing else. 31.g3+ g4 32.f3 e2 33.f1 f7 34.fxg4 f4 35.xf4 e5 36.g6+ g7 37.e6+ f7 38.e3 [ 38.g5! is quicker. ] 38...xf1+ 39.xf1 exf4 40.e5 xh4 41.xh6 [ 41.g6+ g7 42.xh6 ] 41...f6 42.f5 df8 43.g5 [ The easiest line after 43.g5 is h7 44.xf6! xh6 45.xf8+ xf8 46.gxh6 g8 47.c4 h7 48.d5 ] 1-0

608 Karjakin,Sergey Carlsen,Magnus Amber Rapid Nice FRA rapid (3) [John Watson]

B04 2732 2733 17.03.2008

One prodigy beats another, and even though the Blindfold/Rapid format obviously pulls down the overall quality of the game, the opening seems modestly but definitely in White's favour. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 d7 7.f3 7f6 8.0-0 g4 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 e6 Here we have a typical modern position with a ...c6/...e6 restraint structure by Black. But b e ca u s e o f t h e st ro n g b is h o p o n f 3 a n d immediate expansion in the centre, White is able to prevent both of Black's freeing moves ...c5 and .. . e5 while keeping his opponent's 622

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pieces relatively cramped. This situation goes on for many more moves: 11.c4 b6 12.b3 e7 13.b2 0-0 14.d2!? [ A more natural procedure would be 14.c3 a5 15.a3 c7 ( 15...a4 16.c5 bd5 17.xa4 ) 16.d3 fd8 17.ad1 . But Karajakin wants to cover the key e5 square. ] 14...a5 15.a3 c7 16.e2 fe8 17.g3 ad8 18.g2 bd7 19.f3 b6 20.c2 A l l o f t h e s e m o ve s a r e in t e l li ge n t o n e s , certainly no worse than one would get for a s i g h t e d g a m e ! I t ' s a m a zi n g h o w we a r e beginning to take this high standard of play for granted in Blindfold games. f8 21.e5!? [ 21.fe1 and 22 Rad1 is more patient. ] 21...g6 22.d3 [ 22.c5 c7 23.c4 d5 24.fe1 gives W hite space, and a normal advantage ] 22...h5! Black's intention is to stop g4, but also to prepare ...h4 and contest the f4 square. 23.ad1 c7 24.f4! d6 25.e5 [ or 25.d2 Black is still short of space ] 25...e7! Headed for f5. 26.c5 [ in a normal game, you might consider 26.xf7!? xf7 27.c5 ] 26...xe5 27.fxe5 fd5 Black has a beautiful outpost on d5 and White's bishop on b2 is bad, but W hite is ahead in space and can improve his pieces pretty much at leisure. Krajakin still has the better of it. 28.e2?! [ 28.d3 f5 29.c1! gets White's last bad piece into play and trains it against the kingside. ] 28...f5 [ In view of what follows, probably more accurate is 28...h4 29.g4 g6 ] 29.d3 h4! 30.gxh4 b6?! [ Better but also difficult for Black is 30...xh4 31.e4 followed by moves such as Rg3 and Bc1 ] 31.e4!? [ W h i t e f o r e g o e s 31.cxb6! with an easy advantage, for example, xb6 32.e4 de7 33.f2 followed by h5 and working on the g-file. ] 31...bxc5 32.dxc5 e7 [ 32...de7 ] 33.xf5! exf5 34.xf5 xh4 35.c1!? Right idea, wrong timing. h7

[ 35...g6! 36.f1 e7 hits c5, which can't be comfortably defended. ] 36.df3 c3? [ 36...d7 ] 37.c4 d1+ [ 37...d5 38.xf7 xe5 39.g4 puts pressure on Black, especially since e1+ 40.h2! xc1? loses to 41.f8+! xf8 42.e6+ ] 38.h2 g6?? [ White stands well but isn't winning right away after 38...d5 39.xf7 g6 40.e3 e1! 41.d4! 8xe5 42.f2 1e2 43.f8+ h7 44.h4+ ] 39.g5 c2+ 40.g2 1-0

609 Karjakin,Sergey Karttunen,Mika 23rd ECC Men (1) [John Watson]

B04 2694 2427 03.10.2007

Alekhine's players are very drawn to these solid positions without much space which challenge White to make progress. But what a silly t h in g a ga in st a n a ggre ssive s p a c e grabber like Karjakin. W hite never lets go. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 I've never liked this variation, which takes the dynamism out of 1...Nf6. 5.e2!? [ White doesn't take the opportunity for 5.c4 c7 6.exd6 exd6 7.d3 . He's happy to transpose into normal lines. ] 5...c7!? [ 5...dxe5 6.xe5 g6 is a decent option, and 5...Bg4 brings us back to normal Flohr Va riat io n ch an n e ls, if yo u ca n t o le ra t e those. ] 6.0-0 dxe5 7.xe5 g6 8.c4!? [ 8.c4 deserves a look in view of e6 9.xe6 xe6 10.f3! f6 11.b3 ] 8...g7 9.f4 Space. 0-0 10.c3 d7 11.e3 xe5 12.fxe5 c5 Too late. 13.d5! xe5 14.xc5 a6 15.d4 Ouch! Black will be squeezed to death, if his kingside doesn't fall first. c7 16.xe5 xe5 17.d2 d7 18.ae1 ae8 [ 18...d6 ] 19.h1 b6? 20.g4 c7 21.d6! exd6 623

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.d5 xe1 23.xe1 xc4 [ 23...d8 24.xd7 , winning, in view of xd7 25.f6+ ] 24.xd7 c5 25.c6 xa2 26.h6 1-0

610 Kasimdzhanov,Rustam Brochet,Philippe TCh-Nat1 Final (10) [Andrew Martin]

B04 2652 2397 10.05.2004

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 The Miles variation revisited. White keeps it simple. 6.c4! d7 7.f3 e6 8.0-0 b5 9.d3 a6?! [ The main idea of this line with ...b7-b5 is s im ila r t o t h e S e m i S la v, in t h a t B l a c k develops the bishop to b7 and looks to effect ...c6-c5 at the earliest opportunity. So 9...a6 could be seen as time consuming if Black does not need to play this move, why do so? 9...b7! 10.e1 ( I presume 10.b3 b4 11.a3 a5 is Black's idea, dissuading c2c4. ) 10...e7 11.bd2 0-0 12.e4 a6 H e f e e l s h e h a s t o p l a y . . . a 6 a n y wa y , although White's plan of b3 and c4 has been delayed. 13.c3 ( 13.g5 xg5 14.fxg5 h6 15.f3 c5 16.c4 bxc4 17.xc4 e7 18.c1 cxd4 19.xd4 fd8 20.f1 a5 21.e5 xe5 22.xe5 a6 23.xa6 xa6 24.ed1 aa8 25.g3 b4 26.d4 ab8 27.b3 a3= Lutz, C-Luther, T/Essen 2002 ) 13...c5! 14.dxc5 xc5 15.xc5 xc5 Black's position is absolutely fine. 16.e2 c7 17.e5 f6 18.h5 xf2+ 19.xf2 fxe5+ 20.g1 e4 ( 20...f6 21.xe5 xe5 22.xe5 ad8 was also pretty good.) 21.xe4 b6+ ( 21...ae8; 21...f6 ) 22.e3! f6 23.h3 c7 24.h4 c6 25.d4 h6 26.g3 ad8 27.e1 d5 28.e4 e5 29.xd5+ xd5 30.xe5 xa2 31.h3 f7 32.xh6 xb2 33.g6 h7 34.eg5 1-0 Murdzia, PLuther, T/Cappelle la Grande FRA 2003 ] 10.b3! A good plan White nudges the Black Knight out of the centre, gaining both time and space. e7 11.c4 5b6 12.c3 [ Both 12.a4! and ] [ 12.e2 deserved consideration. ]

12...b4?! Already Black's position starts to look poor. He has significant problems developing the queenside properly: [ 12...0-0 13.c2 f6 14.e4 bd7 15.d1 ] [ 12...b7 13.c5 d5 14.xd5 cxd5 15.c2 ] 13.e4 f6 14.c2 [ 14.a3 a5 15.axb4 xb4 16.c2 is simple enough too, with a weak Black pawn on a5. ] 14...b7 15.f4 [ 15.a3 again looks very good. ] 15...xe4 16.xe4 g5?! He cannot think what else to play. Black may lunge forward with his f pawn, but frankly his position is bad in any case: [ 16...f5 17.d3 g5 18.e5 0-0 19.c5! d5 20.fe1 g4 21.d2 ] [ 16...f5 17.d3 c5 18.d5! exd5 19.xf5 ] 17.e5 f6 18.xh7! g4 With the damage already done, he may as well lash out. I see no future in the following variations: [ 18...d7 19.g3 g4 20.d2 c8 21.c5 d5 22.e4+- ] [ 18...fxe5 19.xe5! c7 20.g6+ d8 21.f7+ d7 22.ae1!+- ] 19.g5!! But this beautiful move seals Brochet's fate. White's queen will run rampant. fxe5 20.xe6 d6 21.g6+ d7 22.c5 xe6 23.f5 The exposed King and ragged pawns massively favours the Queen. d5 24.fe1 ag8 25.xe6+ xe6 26.xe5+ d7 27.ae1 g7 28.f5+ d8 29.xe7?! [ 29.xd5+! w a s m u c h s t r o n g e r : cxd5 30.e5 hg8 31.b8+ c8 32.b6+ e8 ( 32...d7 33.c6+ e8 34.c7 f5 35.e5 ) 33.c7 f5 34.c6+ d7 35.a8+ f7 36.xd5+ ] 29...xe7? It looks like mutual time pressure to me. Black has to try [ 29...xe7 30.xe7 xe7 31.xg4 c8 32.f4 g8 although the kingside pawns will surely win for White. ] 30.f6 hh7 31.d6+ c8 32.g3 a8? [ 32...g6 ] 33.e4 [ I m m e d i a t e ly wi n n in g i s 33.d5 cxd5 34.xa6+ b7 35.e6+ b8 36.b6+g6 37.xb4 and this time it will be the queenside that touches down. ] 624

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 33...b7 34.d5! cxd5 35.c6! xc6 36.xe7 [ Or 36.xb4 b5 37.a4+- ] 36...xe7 37.xc6+ b8 38.xd5 e1+ [ If 38...hg7 39.d6+ a7 40.xb4 ] 39.g2 he7 40.g8+ b7 41.xg4 a5 It's remarkable how long the game continues after this, but of course, Black has no chance. 42.h4 1e2 43.f3+ a7 44.h5 xa2 45.h6 a3 46.f6 b7 47.d4+ a6 48.h7 xh7 49.d3+ b6 50.xh7 xb3 51.g6+ b5 52.e8+ c4 53.c6+ d4 54.b6+ c3 55.c5+ d2 56.xa5 b1 57.g4 c2 58.c5+ d2 59.d4+ c2 60.c4+ d2 61.g5 b3 62.g6 b2 63.d4+ c2 64.e4+ We can say that 6 Bc4 puts a serious question to Black and that 9... Bb7 seems like the best chance in this difficult line. 1-0

importance. d7 15.f4 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.xe5 and White is clearly better. ] 13.c3 cxd4 14.xd4 e6 15.e3 xd4 16.xd4! e6 [ The endgame after 16...xd4 17.xd4 d8 18.b5 e6 19.c7 e8 20.xe6 fxe6 21.xg7 xg7 is very bad for black. ] 17.h4! White has found an excellent square for his queen, and it's not easy for black to do the same. a5 [ 17...c7 18.ad1 /\\ Nd5+/- ( 18.ac1 )] 18.c5! xb3 19.axb3 c7 20.b4 N o w b l a c k ' s q u e e n s i d e i s i n d a n g e r . a6 Adams wriggles frantically, sacrificing a pawn for counterplay, but the W orld Champion allows him no escape. [ 20...fe8 21.b5 with a large advantage ] 21.f4 c6 22.xe7 d5 23.xd5 xd5 24.g4! It seemed Black had got good counterchances, as White's queenside pawns 611 B04 had become vulnerable. But by this excellent Kasparov,Garry 2795 move White takes control of d1for his Rook Adams,Michael 2660 and re-coordinates his pieces. ae8 [ 24...xb2 25.d1 c6 26.dd7 ] Linares 1997 25.d7 xd7 26.xd7 xb2 27.ad1 e4 [Alexander Volzhin] 28.d6 c8 29.xb7 The rest is easy. c3 1.e4 f6 I have always considered Michael 30.b1 c4 [ 30...e2 31.b6+- winning ] Adams to be a player with a somewhat Karpov xb4 32.c6 d4 33.c7 - l ik e s t r a t e g i c s t yl e . B u t s o m e t i m e s h e 31.c1! chooses very sharp openings. Maybe he was A very impressive performance from the World afraid of Kasparov's preparation against his Title holder. usual 1... e5 and decided to surprise the 1-0 W orld Champion. It's not easy to do , as Kasparov always seems to be well prepared! B04 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 g6 612 Kasparov,Garry 6.c4 c6 7.0-0 g7 8.e1 0-0 9.b3 d7 Palatnik,Semon Adams deviates from the previous game. 1978 U n f o r t u n a t e l y t h i s s t o p s u s s e e i n g t h e Duagavpils improvement Kasparov had prepared against [Alexander Volzhin] 9... Be6.The text is an attempt to relieve black's slight cramp by exchanging pieces. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 10.f3! White, who has a space advantage, 5.c4 b6 6.b3 a5 7.a4 g7 8.g5 e6 should avoid any exchanges. 7f6 11.c4 9.f4 [ 9.f3 is another possibility in this position. ] c7 12.h3! Otherwise black starts pressurising the d4-square (Bg4, Ne6). Now 9...dxe5 10.fxe5 c5 11.0-0 0-0 12.c3 c6?! Black doesn't want to give White's the bishop on c8 lacks good squares. c5 [ Another possibility was 12...b5 fighting for knight the c3-square after the exchange on t h e d 5 s q u a r e . 13.e5 b7 14.c5! d4. [ In recent games Black has solved his A typical move: The bishop on b7 is very o p e n i n g p r o b l e m s b y p l a y i n g 12...cxd4! bad now, and control of the d5-square and 13.cxd4 c6 14.f3 f6! One example: t h e we a k n e s s o f t h e d 4 - p a wn i s o f n o 625

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.exf6 xf6 16.e3 d5 17.f2 f4 18.c3 ( 18.bd2 deserves attention.) 18...h3+ 19.gxh3 xf3 20.xf3 xf3 21.d5 d4 22.xd4 xd4+ 23.g2 xf1 24.xf1 xc3 25.dxe6 ( 25.bxc3 a6! an d b la ck ha s n ot h in g t o wo rry a b ou t .) 25...b4 26.e7+ g7 27.f8 ( 27.e8 xh3+ ) 27...xh3+ and a draw was agreed in Shlepnev - Pushkin, corr, 1990. ] 13.e4! White is not forced to protect the d4 pawn at all! d7 [ 13...cxd4 14.g5 d7 ( 14...c7 15.cxd4 ) 15.f6+ xf6 16.xf6 dxc3 17.c1 ] 14.e3! [ 14.g5? is p r e m a t u r e , a s a f t e r b6 black has good counterplay, and a direct attac k do esn't ach ieve its goal: 15.f6+ h8 16.f4 cxd4 17.h4 xf6 18.exf6 dxc3+ 19.h1 cxb2 20.a2 c5 and W hite has little to show for the sacrificed pawns. ] 14...e7 15.g5! Just in time! What's the difference, you may ask. Now Black has no pressure on the d4-square,so White takes the f6 square under his control, and the pin on the diagonal d8-h4 is also very unpleasant for Black. So the weakening of Black's kingside (h6, g5) is forced. cxd4 [ As the immediate 15...h6 16.h4 g5 fails to 17.xg5 hxg5 18.h5 with a winning attack, the text is forced. ] 16.cxd4 h6 17.h4 g5 18.f2 [ Now 18.xg5 hxg5 19.h5 fails to xe5 ] 18...g6 19.bc3 e7 Now Black intends f7-f5. 20.c2! Preventing Black's idea. b6 [ 20...f5 21.exf6 xf6 22.xg5 ] 21.e3! White keeps his rook on the f-file and prepares a sacrifice on g5 a6 22.f2 h8 23.xg5! Thank you, Garry! This unexpected sacrifice created a masterpiece for all of us! Of course he had some easier ways to win. [ Probably Karpov would prefer 23.h4 gxh4 24.g4 f5 ( 24...g6 25.h5 ) 25.exf6 xf6 26.xf6+ xf6 27.xf6 xf6 28.e4 d8 29.h7+ f8 30.b5! also with a decisive attack but without sacrifices. ] 23...hxg5 24.h5 f5 [ After 24...f6 25.xg5 fc8 26.h7+ f8 27.ce4 all White's pieces participate in the attack. ]

25.xg5 f7 And now the point of the combination. 26.xf5!! xf5 [ After 26...exf5 White's e-pawn has a fantastic career: 27.d5 e8 28.e6 f6 29.h7+ f8 30.e7+ ] 27.xf5 exf5 28.d5 e8 29.h7+ f8 30.xf5+ g8 [ 30...f7 31.e6+ g8 32.g6 ] 31.h7+ f8 32.a3! c8 33.f3+ f6 34.h3! g6 35.xf6+ xf6 36.e6+ e8 37.xf6+ Really a champion's game (although Kasparov wasn't World Champion at that time)! 1-0

613 Kasparov,Garry Short,Nigel D vs. ROW Moscow RUS (6) [Glenn Flear]

B04 2838 2682 10.09.2002

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 [ T h e e v e n e a r l i e r 3...c6!? is a bit provocative even for most Alekhine players! Despite Black's intentions to create new problems and obtain an interesting game, after 4.c4 c7 5.c3 d6 6.exd6 exd6 7.e3 d5 8.f3 e7 9.b3 0-0 10.cxd5 xd5 11.xd5 xd5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.d3 (in Sommerbauer-Zo.Varga, Poynter Memorial 2002) White had a nominal edge in a dull position. ] 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 This early ... c6 move however requires some thought. There are some similarities with the Caro-Kann and the Scandinavian, but here an early c2-c4 advance gains a tempo and space. 6.e2 [ 6.c4 c7 7.c3 7 this transposes from 4... c6 5 c4 Nc 6 Nc3 dxe5 7 Nxe5 d7 8.f3 looks more convincing than Kasparov's attempt White retains his space advantage and Black doesn't find it easy to generate counterplay. g6 9.g5 ( alternatively 9.e2 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e3 ) 9...g7 10.d2 0-0 11.h3 f6 12.h6 e5 13.xg7 xg7 14.0-0-0 exd4 15.xd4 c5 16.e2 7e6 17.e3 c7 18.xe6+ xe6 19.g4 and White had persistent pressure Istratescu-Grunberg, Kavala 2002 ] 6...f5 7.g4!? Kasparov hopes to use his 626

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 advanced knight for this active thrust, but had he really calculated the consequences of B l a c k ' s n i n t h ? e6 8.c4?! Natural but already rather committal. [ 8.h3 is more solid but not exactly typical of GK's style! ] 8...b6 9.b3 f6! White now must shed a p a wn . K a s p a r o v o b t a i n s s o m e p l a y b u t Black's position is too solid for him to find a way through. 10.d3 [ 10.f3? xg4 ] 10...xd4 11.b2 d8 12.c3 a6 13.d2 c7 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 With Black's king out of the centre it's not easy for White to build any attacking chances. 15.e3 f7 16.f4! White must limit Black's opportunity for expansion and hamper his opponent's wish to develop his kingside. b8 17.h4 e6 18.e4 d7 [ 18...d5! 19.f3 ( 19.cxd5 cxd5+ 20.b1 dxe4 21.xe4 g6 22.f5 exf5 23.gxf5 f7 also leaves White "short" of c o m p e n s a t i o n) 19...db4 would easy B la c k ' s t a s k , h e wo u ld t h e n b e c le a rl y better. ] 19.h5 h6 20.g5 Going forward in order to open up the long diagonal. Kasparov uses his temporary lead in development to keep Black occupied. e7 [ 20...hxg5 21.fxg5 f5 22.ef2 gives White an extra tool a potential outside passed pawn. ] 21.g6 e8 22.b1 b6 23.d4 c5 24.b2 a8 25.g3 db8! Short lacks manoeuvring space, but is gradually getting o rg a n i ze d . 26.he1 d7 27.f5!? exf5 Releasing the pressure by simplifying, but the extra pa wn is de va lue d af te r it b ecom e s doubled. 28.xe7 hg8 29.f3 c6 30.xc6 xc6 31.e6! Kasparov decides that his best chances lies in an ending. [ The alternative 31.e2? ge8 32.f2 xe1 33.xe1 f3 is horrible. ] 31...xe6 32.xe6 c6 33.f2 c7 34.ee1 b8 35.c3 c8 36.c2 ge8 37.xd8+ xd8 38.xe8+ xe8 One factor in Black's inability to make significant progress is that his king cannot invade into the white camp. 39.d1 d7 40.e3 e6 41.d3 d6 42.d5 e4 43.c7+? A surprising lapse from the World's

no.1 (time trouble no doubt). [ 43.e1 was necessary to cover g3 ] 43...d7 44.d5 e7? [ C h a s i n g t h e h - p a w n w i t h 44...g3! must have been tempting but Short was p r o b a b l y p r e s s e d f o r t i m e 45.xf6! ( 45.xf6+?? gxf6 46.g7 e7 ) 45...xh5! 46.c3 e7! 47.xe7 ( 47.e5 xg6 ) 47...xe7 48.e5 f6 with a clear (outside passed to boot!) extra pawn and a probable win. ] 45.xe7 xe7 46.e1 d7 47.a4 b6 48.e3 c6 49.d3 a6 50.e3 b5 51.d3 bxa4 52.bxa4 b6 53.c2 d6 54.d3 c8 55.c3 e7 56.e3 W e're not the only ones who mess up our white's and spend the whole game playing to salvage a draw It even happens to the big guys (occasionally)! ½-½

614

B04

Kengis Variation N,N [Alexander Volzhin] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 g6 6.f3 This line indeed looks quite interesting and I don't know why it's played so rarely. Let's analyse it. e6 7.c4 b4 The only move. [ 7...b6? is bad in view of 8.d5! ( 8.xb7 xd4 is not dangerous for Black as the Rook on a8 is protected now.) 8...f5 9.xf7! ( The immediate 9.g4! is not bad either: g7 10.xf7 xg4 11.xg4 xf7 12.e6+ with a clear edge.) 9...xf7 10.g4 and White wins the piece back and has an undisputable advantage. ] 8.xb7 xd4 [ 8...c2+?! is worth considering as well (although it looks too risky). It leads to a very sharp position after 9.d1 xa1 10.xa8 g7 11.d2 0-0 Just one line (certainly not obligatory): 12.xa7 xe5 13.dxe5 c6 14.c5 d4 15.d3 g4+ 16.f3 xf3 17.gxf3 xf3+ 18.xf3 xd3+ 19.d2 c2 and Black's attack is very strong. ] 9.xa8 c2+ 10.e2 xe5+ 11.d1 627

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d4+ 12.d2 The few previous moves were forced but now White has a choice: [ 12.xc2? i s t h e wo r s t : f5+ 13.b3 b6+ 14.c3 g7+ 15.d2 xb2 and Black is winning ] [ 12.d2 xa1 ( 12...xb2? is bad in view of 13.c3 and W hite wins: g4+ 14.f3 e3+ 15.e1 c2+ 16.f2 ) 13.xb8+ d7 A very unusual position with both kings unsafe has arisen. I think White should take a d r a w b y p e r p e t u a l : 14.b5+ c8 15.e8+ b7 16.b5+ c8 ] 12...xa1 13.xb8+ d7 14.b5+ Again it's not clear if W hite has anything better than perpetual. [ After 14.e2 h6 Black's chances are by no means bad. ] 14...d8!? [ 14...c8 15.e8+ b7 16.e2 ( 16.c8+ ) 16...c6 17.f3 d6 and White's Queen is trapped! I can't see the antidote against 18...Bg7. ] 15.b8+ d7 16.b5+ It seems this line is a sufficient defence for Black although I suspect either side may improve here. All these lines need practical tests.

will make the black kingside shaky. And finally, the advance e5-e6 has deprived Black of the pawn move d6xe5 to gain space for his pieces (his other pawn break, with c7-c5, has been obstructed by his own Nc6 move. His pieces are theref ore somewhat entombed in the c e n t r e b e h i n d t h e i r p a w n f r o n t . 7.e3!? White avoids developing his knight to c3. The line played in the game should be compared with the sequence [ 7.c3 g6 8.h4 g7 9.e3 0-0 10.h5 e5 11.d5 d4 12.xd4 exd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.xd4 e5 15.dxe6 f6 and Black held a draw in the game Kobalia-Narciso Dublan as given in the archives. Gawain Jones has put a lot of analysis into that game and it should be e xa m in e d in re la t io n t o t h e p re s e n t game. ] 7...g6 Black has to develop his kingside, even th o ugh t h e g6 p oin t b eco me s a ho o k f o r White's attack. 8.h4 g7 9.h5 e5 10.d5 d4 A new attempt to solve Black's problems. Perhaps it was inspired by 11....Nd4 in the Kobalia game given at move seven above. But there is an important difference in the positions, as we shall see. [ Gawain discussed 10...e4 in the archive game mentioned at move seven when he 615 B04 thinks 11.g5 is the best response for White. Gawain gives Khalifman,A 2617 A) We should take a quick look at the very Nosenko,A 2492 risky lo okin g 11...xb2 12.d2 xa1 18th Voronezh Master Open 2014 (7.3) 13.xa1 e5 so far this is Lau, R (2465)[Neil McDonald] Fleck, J (2390)/Germany 1986 and now 14.hxg6! looks very strong for White: f5 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 ( Or 14...xg6 15.g7! d7 16.xh7 A bold move and quite in the spirit of the threatening mate on f6 looks winning for Alekhine Def ence: a second black knight White. ) 15.gxh7 bd7 16.dxe4 entices the white pawns to advance to their and W hite has a huge initiative as f6 destruction. 5.c4 b6 6.e6!? Well, a white can be met by 17.c5! dxc5 -or else the pawn has certainly advanced to its destruction, knight invades on e6- 18.xe5 etc.; but it's not clear that Black should rejoice. B) 11...e5 12.c3 f5 13.h6 f6 This is the sharpest response. Instead 14.gxe4 0-0 15.xf6+ exf6 as played [ 6.exd6 is of course quite reasonable. ] in Sutovsky-Nguyen, Moscow 2007, and 6...fxe6 What has White gained for his pawn? now he thinks 16.b3 is a simple way for Firstly, Black's light squared bishop is shut in, White to keep an edge. ] so there won't be a Bf5 or (the very annoying) Bg4 move for at least a while. Secondly, the 11.xd4 exd4 12.xd4 e5 Because White displacement of the f7 pawn to e6 means that h a s g a i n e d a m o v e f o r h i s i n i t i a t i v e b y when Black decide to develop his other bishop o m i t t i n g N c 3 , B l a c k h a s n ' t y e t c a s t l e d . wi t h g 7 - g 6 a n d B g 7 , t h e g - p a wn wi l l b e Therefore Black doesn't have time to play in vulnerable to a quick h4-h5 pawn ram. This the style of the Kobalia game with a bishop 628

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 exchange on d4 followed by e7-e5. Thus he merely destroys his position if he plays [ 12...xd4 13.xd4 0-0 ( or likewise 13...e5 14.dxe6 0-0 15.hxg6 ) 14.hxg6 Therefore Nosenko has to make do with p la yin g e 7 -e 5 wit h o u t f irst e xch a n gin g bishops on d4. ] 13.e3! Khalifman avoids dissolving the centre as he sees he can maintain long term pressure. After [ 13.dxe6 e7 Black has good chances to equalise despite his fractured kingside as his pieces spring to life. For example 14.c3 0-0 15.xg7 xg7 16.hxg6 hxg6 17.g4 f6! 18.0-0-0 xe6 etc. ] 13...e7 14.c3 f5?! Here [ 14...e4!? would activate the dark squared bishop. It looks the best try for counterplay, though White maintains an edge whichever side Black castles. For example 15.e2 f5 16.a4 ( Or 16.b3 0-0-0 17.a4 b8 18.a5 ) 16...a5 17.b3 0-0 18.hxg6 hxg6 19.0-0-0 In either case White has the initiative but there is a big fight ahead. In the game Nosenko loses rather tamely, without ever setting White any problems. ] 15.g4 Khalifman intends to squeeze the dynamism from Black's set up. First of all he secures the outpost square on e4 for his knight. d7 16.e4 f8 An awkward move, but after [ 16...0-0-0 White has the pleasant choice between winning the exchange with 17.g5 or continuing his attack with ( 17.a4 )] 17.e2 gxh5 18.xh5 0-0-0 19.a4! White wants a stranglehold on both sides of the board. b8 20.b3 c8 21.0-0-0 d7 22.h4 [ Instead 22.dh1 looks stronger as Black has no good way to defend the h7 pawn. For example h6 ( Black should prefer to fight on a pawn down after 22...f6 23.xf6 xf6 24.xh7 ) 23.g5! hxg5 24.xh8 xh8 25.xg5 and Black has no good way to b l o c k t h e a t t a c k o n h i s r o o k e . g . f6 ( H e a l s o l o s e s m a t e r i a l a f t e r 25...f6 26.xf6 xf6 27.f3 or; 25...e8 26.h5 ) 26.xh8 xh8 27.xf6 h1+ 28.d1 and Black will be t wo pieces f or a roo k down. ] 22...g8

[ Black could have eased the pressure with 22...f6 challenging the strong white knight, and if 23.g3 h6 to stop his own knight being driven back by 24.g5. ] 23.g5! Now 23... Nf 6 is p revented . f8 24.g4! and here the exchange of light squared bishops means that White's knight w i l l n e v e r b e d i s t u r b e d b y . . . B f 5 . g6 25.xc8 xc8 26.hh1 f8 27.a5 a6 28.f3 f7 29.b1 c5 Preventing the pawn break 30.c5, which looked very threatening. But now Black has a weak pawn on d6 which is under the direct gaze of the white horse. [ Of course not 29...xf3 30.a7+ ] 30.df1 c7 31.b6! The exchange of queens will facilitate an attack on the h7 and d6 pawns, as well as the 'tin opener' pawn thrust b2-b4. e7 32.xc7+ xc7 33.h3 cf8 34.fh1 f7 35.c2 Khalifman increases his advantage step by step. His king goes to e2 to defend f3 and so free his rooks for the final onslaught. f8 36.d3 g8 37.e2 gg7 38.b4! White gets rid of t h e c 5 p a wn so t h a t h e c a n r a m B l a c k ' s defences with c4-c5 once he has tied down t h e b l a c k p i e c e s o n t h e k i n g s i d e . cxb4 39.b1 g6 40.xb4 f4+ 41.xf4 xf4 42.h1 c8 43.bb1 f8 44.h5 e7 45.h6 b8 46.bh1 ff7 47.1h5 c8 Dropping d6, but it was already hopeless as after [ 47...c7 White has the thematic breakthrough with 48.c5 when if dxc5 49.d6+ ] 48.xd6! xd6 49.xd6+ d7 50.xf7 xf7 51.c5 d8 and Black gave up as he has no answer to W hite's pawn centre. A positional masterpiece by Khalifman. 1-0

616 Kobalia,Mihail Narciso Dublan,Marc 11th EICC Men (3) [Gawain Jones]

B04 2637 2530 08.03.2010

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 A rare line but nevertheless important. Black offers to transpose back into an Exchange Variation but with the knights already 629

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 accurate to keep rooks on the board.) committed on f3 and c6. 5.c4 b6 6.e6!? 12...hxg6 13.xh8+ xh8 14.c3 This must be critical for the theoretical was running well for Black until he standing of 4...Nc6. John usefully provided erred with f5? ( 14...c5! and Black some Kaissiber analysis augmented by his would have been doing well.) 15.xf5 own comments last year. I'll try to augment gxf5 16.h5+ f7 Lagopatis, Nthose notes with thoughts of my own and Sigouros, I Agios Kirykos 2010, when recent games. t h e s i m p l e 17.xf5 would have left [ 6.exd6 has been played slightly more often White with a clear advantage.; a s W h it e , i f h e i s n o t re a d y, h a s b e e n B2b) 11.g5 e5 12.c3 f5 unwilling to go into the chaos of the mainline 13.h6!? f6 14.gxe4 0-0 15.xf6+ and simply transposes into the alternate exf6 and here rather than the erratic line. ] 16.Rh4!?, 16.b3 would have left White 6...fxe6 7.c3 Unfortunately I do not have with the u pper hand . Su tovsk y, E access to the Kaissiber magazine but from Nguyen, N Moscow 2007. ] John's notes I presume this was the mainline. [ 7.e3 however, has also been mentioned 7...g6 [ Immediately sacrificing the pawn back with and apparently takes up 8 pages in issue 7...e5 doesn't allow Black equality. 8.d5 19! A couple of recent games proceeded: d4 9.xd4 exd4 10.xd4 f5?! ( Surely A) 7...e5 has been played as often in the 10...e5 was necessary, although this is past although I think White can hope for a probably a better version of the lines we pull. 8.d5 d4 9.xd4 exd4 10.xd4 have already examined in 7.Be3 for White.) e5 11.d2 ( 11.dxe6 xe6 12.c3 f6 11.e2 d7 12.h5+ g6 13.xg6+ hxg6 13.xf6 gxf6 left White with a small 14.0-0 0-0-0 15.e1 f5 16.e6 c5 positional edge. Groenegress, W 17.e4 xe4 18.xe4 d7 19.g5 Horstmann, M Germany 1985.) 11...f5 was a recent advert for 6.e6.1-0 De Firmian, 12.c3 e7 13.b3 ( The immediate N-Johnson, E Parsipanny 2009 ] 13.d3 looks a little better for White as [ 7...d5 looks extremely ugly, e5 is a big hole Black lacks play.) 13...d7 14.d3 xd3 in Black's camp while the e6 pawn is now 15.xd3 g5 and Black was close to backward. 8.c5 d7 When equality. Lau, R-Schroll, G Vienna 1998; A) Instead 9.d3 was attempted in a B) 7...g6 8.h4 Of course this is always recent game. e5 10.g5 ( 10.xd5 f6 the way of dealing with ...g6. 11.xf6+ exf6 12.dxe5 g4 13.0-0 B1) 8...e5 9.d5 b4 ( 9...e4!? xe5 14.e1 would favour W hite.) s h o u ld b e e xa m in e d a lt h o u g h a f t e r 10...f6 11.xh7 e4 12.xf6+ exf6 10.g5 e5 11.e2 I have a feeling Giraldo, L-Monsalve, L Medellin 2009.; W hite should have a way to keep the B) 9.b5 looks logical to me. g6 10.xc6 advantage.) 10.a3 a6 11.g5 g7 bxc6 11.0-0 g7 12.g5 f6 13.e1 Dos Santos, R-Garbarino, R Buenos and W hite has total control of the Aires 2010 was a recent example of this position. ] line when 12.a4! looked particularly strong, for example: h6 ( 12...f6 13.a5 8.h4 g7 9.e3 Keeping control of the d4 xg5 14.hxg5 d7 15.d3 f7 square. [ White can alternatively continue his attack 16.c3 gives White great play for the with 9.h5 although currently Black is pawn. ) 13.e6 xe6 14.dxe6 0-0 standing satisfactorily. e5 10.d5 d4 15.a5 c8 16.c3 and Black's kingside 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.xh8+ xh8 13.d3 looks too exposed.; ( 13.xd4 was examined by John Watson B2) 8...g7 9.h5 e5 10.d5 e4 who came to the conclusion that Black is B2a) 11.d4 was tried the most doing ok. ) 13...c6 14.e3!? A new try. recent time this position was reached ( 14.h4 d7!? 15.xg6 c7 unclear is bu t I p re f e r S ut o vsky's m o ve . e5 given in the archives.; While 14.xg6+ d7 12.hxg6 ( 12.d2 looks more 630

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is nothing for Black to fear according to Watson. ) 14...d7!? 15.xd4 exd4 16.xd4 c7 17.e2 c5 18.xh8 xh8 19.d2 h4 20.b3 d7 and Black's king run had given him the better chances and he went on to defeat his high rated opponent. Belov, V-Sek, K Ulan Ude 2009. ] 9...0-0 [ 9...e5 m a y t r a n s p o s e . 10.d5 d4 ( 10...b4 11.a3 a6 Kochetkova, JSlacky, S Banska Stiavnica 2010 and here I like the look of 12.g5! when White has more than enough compensation.; 10...a5 wa s s u gge s t e d b y W a t so n b u t h a s n o t received any practical tries.) 11.xd4 exd4 12.xd4 xd4 ( 12...e5 13.dxe6 0-0 is Watson's suggestion although White looks to have the better chances, for example: 14.h5 e7 15.xg7 xg7 16.hxg6 hxg6 17.g4 e8 18.0-0-0 xe6 19.e4 ) 13.xd4 e5 A) White can also keep the position closed with 14.e3 but Black survived following 0-0 15.h5 g5 16.h6 f4 ( 16...g4 would transpose to the critical line given below. ) 17.b3 ( 17.c5 is given in the af o re m e nt io ne d an a lysis.) 17...f6 18.e4 ( 18.e2! f5 19.g3 d4 20.h5 would have picked up a pawn.) 18...g6 19.d3 f5 20.f3 g4 1/2-1/2 Kovar, V-Leutwyler, M Pardubice 2009.; B) 14.dxe6 0-0 and here White deviated with B1) 15.h5 f6 16.xf6 xf6 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.b5 ( 18.e7!? is looked at in the note to 16.Qxf6.) 18...xe6 19.xc7 af8 20.b3 Brenjo, S-Regez, M Ohrid 2009 is given by W atson when W hite has a pleasant edge.; B2) 15.c5 A new try but this doesn't tro uble Bla ck. dxc5 16.xd8 xd8 17.b5 d5 18.e7 Heinatz, TLeutwyler, M Graechen 2009 when the s i m p l e s t a p p e a r s t o b e xe7 when Black has nothing to worry about. ] 10.h5 e5 11.d5 d4 12.xd4 exd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.xd4 e5 15.dxe6 This is the first deviation from the analysis which John Watson put up on ChessPublishing last year. I think this is

rather important to the future of the line for Black. [ He investigated 15.e3 when the critical line appears to be g5 16.h6 g4 17.e2 f5 18.h5 g6 19.g5 f4 20.xg6+ hxg6 21.g3 d4 22.b5 f6 23.xd4 exd4 24.e4 f8 25.0-0-0 g5+ 26.b1 f5 A mixture of analysis by John and Raj Tischbierek in which Black seems to be standing satisfactorily but there's a lot of potential for improvements for both sides. ] 15...f6 16.0-0-0 [ E x c h a n g i n g i m m e d i a t e l y w i t h 16.xf6 has also been tried and looks a little u n p l e a s a n t f o r B l a c k . xf6 17.hxg6 ( 17.b5 xe6 18.xc7 Motwani, PB r y s o n , D S t A n d r e w s 1 9 8 5 w h e n c8 looks simplest 19.xe6 xe6+ 20.d2 xc4+ should be a draw.) 17...hxg6 18.e7 ( 18.e4 f4 was already agreed drawn in Lau, R-Fleck, J Germany 1984.) 18...e6 ( 18...e6+ 19.d2 xe7 20.d3 f5 21.h6 looks pleasant for White.) 19.c5! dxc5 Petrik, T-Slacky, S Banska Stiavnica 2010 when 20.b5! to force Black to give up control of the d6 square. c6 21.0-0-0! e8 22.e4 f7 ( 22...f4 23.d8+- ) 23.d8 d7 24.d3 would have picked up material. ] 16...xe6 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.f3 The first new move of the game. [ 18.e4 is not so effective as the knight belongs on b5. xd4 19.xd4 g7 20.d3 h8 21.e1 ae8 didn't really get White a n yw h e r e . Z a w a d z k a , J - K a r h a n e k , P Frydek Mistek 2004. ] 18...g7 19.b5 g8 20.b3 Seeing as this allows Black equality [ White should have tried 20.xf6+ xf6 21.e1 f7 22.h4 with a small edge a lt h o u g h B la ck s h o u ld b e a b le t o h o l d without too many difficulties. ] 20...xd4 21.xd4 d5!? [ 21...a6! is the simplest route to equality as 22.xc7 ac8 23.xd6 f6 picks up the knight, although matters aren't so clear as White gets three pawns for the piece. ] 22.cxd5 xd5 23.c4 c6 24.xd5 xd5 25.c7 ac8 26.xd5 cxd5+ 27.d2 The endgame is better for White as he can put pressure on d5 but was unable to convert 631

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the full point. I think White had better chances for an advantage with 16.Qxf6 which looks unpleasant to hold. c5 28.c1 [ 28.b4! b5 29.a4 b6 30.a5 d6 31.dh4 was the best chance when White definitely has the advantage. ] 28...xc1 29.xc1 d8 30.d2 f6 31.d3 e5 32.g4 d6 33.g3 a6 34.a4 xa4 35.bxa4 b6 36.c3 g5 37.d3 d6 38.d4 e6 39.d3 e5 40.e3 f5 41.d4 e6 42.f4 gxf4 43.gxf4 f5 44.xd5 xf4 45.c6 e5 46.b7 d6 47.xa7 c7 48.a3 c8 49.a8 ½-½

617 Kosten,Anthony C Ferguson,Mark 4NCL Nottingham ENG (9) [John Cox]

B04 2528 2395 30.04.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 f5 The modern way of handling the Miles variation, popularised by German players and especially GM Thomas Luther. 7.0-0 d7 8.g4N 7f6 [ Mark Ferguson told me after the game that he had considered the variation 8...e6 9.c4 b4 10.e3 xb1 11.xb1 xa2 12.d2 b4 13.d5 and assessed it as 'scary' a fair enough conclusion, for example after cxd5 14.cxd5 xd5 15.xd5 exd5 16.c3 prevents Black developing readily Fritz seems confident it can survive ( 16.f3 e7 17.xd5 0-0 18.xb7 b8= ) 16...g5 17.f3 0-0-0 but I wouldn't be so sure. ] [ 8...e6 9.c4 5f6 10.e3 g6 however, is the most natural way to play, and looks perfectly sound to me, for example 11.c3 ( 11.d5 c7 12.dxe6 fxe6 followed by a swift ...Bd6, ...00 and... Rad8 gives Black very active play.) 11...d6 12.d5 c7 13.h4 h2+ 14.h1 e5 15.h5 0-0-0 is another try, with some amusing complications (or an immediate d r a w a f t e r 1 6 K g 1 B h 2 + ). I d o n 't t h i n k Tony's no velt y is goin g to blo w Black's opening away. ] 9.c4 xg4 10.xg4 xg4 11.cxd5

[ 11.xg4 f6 is feeble, of course. ] 11...f6 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.a4 In principle this structure is acceptable for Black, but White's lead in development is a bit annoying. d7 14.a3 An excellent move, bringing the knight to the ideal c4 square: more stereotyped efforts lead nowhere, for example [ 14.c3 e6 15.f4 e7 16.ac1 0-0= ] 14...e6 15.c4 [ 15.e3 was another move against which it is not simple to equalise: something like xa3 16.xa3 d5 17.ac1 b8 18.c2 b6 19.fc1 e7 20.a4 0-0 might be the best try, but Black remains under pressure. ] 15...c5 The twin threats of Ne5 and Nb6 are awkward for example [ 15...d8 16.e3 c5 17.a5 cxd4 18.e5 d5 19.a4+ d7 20.xd4 ] 16.a6 cxd4?? A mystery: Mark surely can't have imagined this did anything other than lose almost at once, so why he rejected [ 16...c8 is beyond me. After that I don't see that W hite has anything immediately decisive: 17.b5+ ( 17.d6+ xd6 18.xd6 cxd4 is fine for Black 19.d1 d7 20.b4 d8 is nothing for White.) 17...d7 repeats unless White wants to try 18.xd7+ xd7 19.e3 , which is slightly better for him to be sure, but hardly fatal. ] 17.b6 Maybe Black, most uncharacteristically, had missed 17 ...Qc6 18 Nxa8! Qxa6 19 Nc7+. axb6 18.xa8+ e7 19.b3 e8 20.a3+ f6 21.f3+ g6 22.g4+ f6 23.b2 A debacle, but to be fair it was Mark Ferguson's first time with the Alekhine (and last, he tells me), and as usual the problem in such circumstances is not knowing the existing theory but being able to re a ct a p p rop ria te ly whe n you r o pp o n e n t departs slightly from theory. 1-0

632

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 618 Krylov,Sergey Suder,Ryszard ch-Euro IBCA (2) [John Watson]

B04 2409 2209 15.08.2007

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 g6 6.c4 c6 Whenever Black has to make this move I feel a little nervous, because it's hard to undertake anything. But W hite's approach is not as subtle as in Jakovenko-Bu Xiagzhi. 7.0-0 g7 8.e1 0-0 9.c3 e6 10.d2 d7 11.xd7 xd7 12.e4 b6 13.g5 [ 13.f3 h6 14.g3! ] 13...f5 14.h3 h6 15.f3 d6 This doesn't seem so bad, even if W hite must have somewhat the better of it. 16.e2 fe8 17.e5 ad8 18.b3 f8 19.d2 c8?! [ Here was a chance to grab some space with 19...c5 , e.g., 20.dxc5 ( 20.f3 g5!? 21.dxc5 bxc5 22.xd5?! xd5 23.xe7 xh3! ) 20...xc5 21.ad1 d6 . As usual, White maintains some edge. ] [ A n o t h e r d e f e n s i v e m o v e w a s 19...b5 , when 20.ac1 h7 21.c4! bxc4 22.xc4 exerts pressure upon Black's queenside. ] 20.ad1 b7? [ Last chance for 20...b5 , when White will manoeuvre to put a knight on c5 and/or open the c-file against c6. ] 21.c4! After more than adequate preparation! c7 22.c5! bxc5 23.xf7 xf7 24.dxc5 f6 [ 24...d7 25.xf7+ xf7 26.a5! ] 25.c3 hitting d8 and f6. xd1 26.xf6 xe1+ 27.xe1 xf6 28.b4 Winning a piece. d5 [ 28...c8 29.b8 ] 29.xb7 e6 30.xc6 1-0

619 Lane,Gary William Wallace,John Paul 41st Doeberl Cup (5) [Andrew Martin]

B04 2395 2405 2003

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 g6 6.c4 c6 The Kengis move. 6...

c6 is usually preferred to 6...Be6 because it's thought that 7 Nc3! might cause Black some problems there. Matters are not so clear though: [ 6...e6 7.c3 c6 8.e4 ( 8.f3 g7 9.e4 0-0 10.0-0 c7! Psakhis 11.xe6 xe6 12.c3 d5= ) 8...c7! 9.xe6 xe6 10.f3 f6 11.b3 d5 12.xb7 xe4+ 13.e3 g7 14.xa8 fxe5 15.xb8+ f7 16.b4 xg2 17.0-0-0 exd4 It depends on your view. Not everyone likes sacrificing material. ] 7.0-0 g7 8.e1 0-0 9.b3 e6 [ 9...a5 Gaining space on the queenside. 10.c3 e6!? ( I personally prefer 10...d7 11.f3 7b6 12.a4 c7 13.g5 g4 14.bd2 c5 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 e6 and Black has an a cceptable position .) 11.d2 d7 12.ef3 g4 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 e6 15.a4 c7 16.d3 fe8 17.g5 b6 18.c4 c7 19.h4 5b6 20.g3 d8 21.d2 f6 22.c2 xc4 23.xc4 b6 24.b3 d5 25.ad1 Boros, D-Schnelzer, R Budapest 2003 ] 10.d2 [ 10.c3?! a5 11.a4 c7 12.a3 d7 13.f4 xe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.xe5 d7 16.e4 xb3 17.xb3 e6 18.d3 b6 19.g3 ad8 20.e2 c7 21.f4 d5 22.xd5 cxd5= I don't think White should block his c pawn in this line. The options of c3 and/ or c2-c4 and d4-d5 are to important to pass by. ] 10...c7 The rationale is simple : with each piece exchange comes a lessening of pressure. [ 10...d7 11.ef3 g4 ( 11...c7 12.c3 c5! 13.xe6 xe6 14.d5 c7 15.e4 f6 16.c4 xe4 17.xe4 e6 ) 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 a5 14.g5 e8 15.c4 5b6 Bagirov ] 11.c3 d5? But this is an odd move. Why not 11...Nd7! 12.g4! Very good indeed. Now White has serious attacking chances on the Kingside. a5 13.df3 a4 14.c2 xf3 15.xf3 d7 16.h4 e6 Fiddle as he might, W alla ce ha s invited too many of W h ite's pieces into the danger area. Although . .. e7e6 was more or less forced, the net effect has been to leave the Nc7 looking stupid. 17.g5 f6 18.h6! a5 A desperate way of 633

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 defending his King. 19.h4 e8 [ He could flick 19...a3 in, but it will come to the same. Black's Rook gets trapped in midboard. 20.b4 d5 21.c4 d6 22.c5 d5 23.e4 ] 20.e4! Lane is very direct, seeking to put Black away before either of his knights get going. e7 21.e5 g7 Perhaps this is the critical position. Wallace's move just loses. I give several defensive lines, but in all cases White keeps the advantage: [ 21...xg5 22.hxg5 f8 23.f4+- ] [ 21...d5 Probably the best try. 22.ae1 ] [ 21...xe5 22.dxe5 xg5 23.hxg5 f8 24.xa4 xh6 25.gxh6 d5 26.d1 ed8 27.ed4 ] 22.xe7 xh6 23.b4! d5 24.c4 xe5 25.dxe5+a6 There's nothing left apart from a few random attacking moves. Black is finished. 26.d6 dc5 27.d4 f6 28.exf6 e5 29.e1 exd4 30.xe8+ f7 31.e7+ xf6 32.g4 d3 33.g5+ White's attack hit very hard and all as a result of one inaccuracy : 11...Bd5. Instead 11...Nd7 would have led to a typical Kengis position- White's a little better but Black has counterplay. 1-0

[ 9...e6 was simpler, intending 10.h4 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 with a solid position for Black, but nothing more. ] 10.b3?! [ 10.d3 is a better way of preparing c2-c4. After xd3 11.xd3 c7 12.c4 W hite highlights ...h7-h6 as a worthless move and executes the main positional idea of this variation. Possibly Ledger had his mind fixed on keeping the pieces on, but now Palliser starts to play very well and manages to exploit the position of the Bb3 to gain equality. ] 10...e6 11.c4 b6 12.c3 e7 13.e2N [ Or 13.e1 0-0 14.a4 a5 15.f4 b4 16.c5 ( 16.e2 ) 16...bd5 17.d2 c7 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 xd2 20.xd2 exd5 21.b4 e4 22.a3 axb4 23.xb4 fe8 24.ae3 e6 25.d2 ae8 26.a5 8e7 27.g3 f5= Slaby, J-Mirzoev, A/ Salou 2005 ] 13...0-0 14.f4 a5! Exploiting clumsy position of the Bb3. To prevent a5-a4 by a2-a4 means to weaken the b4 square irreparably. White's answer is simple and logical... 15.a3 e8 [ 15...a4 16.a2 was definitely worth flicking in. ] 16.fd1 a4 17.a2 bd7! Preparing ...Qa5. 18.b1 Admitting that the opponent has 620 B04 solved the problem of the light-squared bishop Ledger,Andrew 2452 . xb1 19.axb1 a5 20.d3 White cannot Palliser,Richard 2411 quite see how to proceed now that d4-d5 has ch Scarborough ENG (10) 12.08.2004 been prevented. [ Perhaps 20.e5 was correct, after which [Andrew Martin] Notkin gives ed8 ( 20...a6?! 21.d3 ) 21.d3 xe5 22.dxe5 h7 ( 22...xd3 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 23.xd3 d8 24.c2 d7 25.xa4 5.xe5 c6 6.c4 d7 I must admit that I xa4 26.xa4 ) 23.g3 h4 24.g4 g5 am perplexed as to the popularity of the line 25.xg5 xg5 26.e3 and White has with 5...c6. Black toils to equalize. Here, with attacking chances. ] 6...Nd7 Palliser hopes to get rid of W hite's imposing Knight on e5. No such luck! 7.f3! 20...h5! Pinning the Nf3 21.e1 f8?! [ Simply 21...b5! would have been Correct! With more space, White keeps the satisfactory, obtaining d5 as an outpost. ] pieces on. W e go into a Caro position with 22.h2 a5?! Black drifts. 23.e5 ed8 White at least a little better. 7f6 [ If 7...g6 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 0-0 10.b3 24.f4 6d7 25.g4 [ 25.g4 f6 26.h4 8d7 27.xd7 an d B la c k h a s p ro b le m s wit h h is ligh t xd7 28.xh6 seems very dangerous squared bishop. ] indeed. ] [ Or 7...7b6 8.b3 g4 though the [ Meanwhile 25.g3 is met by xe5 evaluation doesn't change - Black is slightly 26.xe5 g6 ] worse. 9.h3 h5 10.0-0 ] [ A f i n a l a l t e r n a t i v e 25.d5!? 8.h3 f5 9.0-0 h6 Possibly 634

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is also interesting: xe5 26.xe5 g6! 27.g3 ( 27.dxe6? xd3 28.exf7+ xf7 29.xd3 xe5 ) 27...exd5 28.cxd5 cxd5 29.ed1 White had enough to think about! ] 25...g5 [ 25...g6 ] 26.d6! g6 27.g3 b6 28.c5 c8 29.h4 [ 29.e5! was strong with the idea of xd6 30.cxd6 xd6?! ( If 30...f8 31.e4 and the white knights are very lively) 31.c4 winning the exchange ] 29...e7 [ The line 29...xd6 30.cxd6 ( 30.hxg5 f5 ) 30...f6 31.xf6+ gxf6 32.e4 f5 33.c5 a7 34.xe6!? fxe6 35.xe6+ g7 36.h5 doe sn 't win d ue t o xd6! ( e v e n a f t e r 36...f8 37.e7+ g8 followed by b7-b5 Black isn't lost) 37.e8 d8 ] 30.h5 f8 31.f4 Now White's advantage is obvious as every piece is standing better than its counterpart. a6 32.ed1 b6 Weakening the c6 pawn which White exploits immediately 33.f3! bxc5 34.xh6 [ Maybe time trouble distracted Ledger from the obvious 34.e5 xd4 35.xd4 cxd4 36.xd4 with numerous threats. ] 34...f5! [ After 34...gxh6 35.xh6+ and Nxf7 White's attack is irresistible ] 35.e5 gxh6?! [ In the event of 35...c4!? 36.e3 gxh6 37.xc6 d7 White's compensation would have been questionable ] 36.g4! xd4 [ It's far too late for 36...c4 37.gxf5! cxd3 38.f6 xf6 39.xf6 d6 40.h2! b7 ( 40...h7? 41.f7 mating ) 41.xh6 with a decisive attack ] 37.gxf5 exf5 38.xf5 d6 [ After 38...xd3 it appears that mate is forced: 39.f7+ h8 40.g6+ xg6 41.hxg6 g3+ 42.fxg3 etc ] 39.g3+ g5 [ If 39...h8 40.g6+ xg6 41.xg6 g5 W h i t e h a s t o t a k e a p e r p e t u a l : 42.xd4 cxd4 43.xg5 hxg5 44.h6+ ] 40.f6! Ledger's ingenious play makes the opponent err [ 40.xg5+ hxg5 41.xg5+ h7 42.e7+ h8 43.xd4 cxd4 44.f6+ h7= ]

40...h7? [ C o r r e c t i s 40...e8 in order to meet 41.xh6 with xd1+ 42.xd1 xe5 43.xg5+ xg5+ 44.xg5+ f7= ] 41.xg5 hxg5 42.xd4 cxd4 Giving White the chance to unleash a fine little combination. Can you see what happens next? 43.e4!! xe4 [ 43...a7 44.xd6 g7 45.f5+ g8 46.h6 is crushing. ] 44.f7+ h8 [ 44...h6 45.g4# ] 45.g6+! xg6 46.hxg6 Mate is inevitable [ 46.hxg6 a7 ( 46...a7 47.f8# ) 47.g7+ h7 48.g8+ An erratic game with a good finish. As to the opening I am unconvinced by 5...c6. ] 1-0

621 Lupulescu,Constantin Grunberg,Mihai Victor Ciocaltea Mem (6) [John Watson]

B04 2566 2439 11.03.2007

I can't resist showing this game, annotated by Alexander Finkel in the New in Chess Yearbook, because it expands upon the line that we first saw in ChessPublishing a few years back. See also this month's Grischuk game. Do you suppose Lupulescu pilfered the idea f rom this site? Or that it at any rate originated here? 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 f5 7.0-0 d7 So far, so normal. Then our Webmaster Tony Kosten played (invented? I can't tell from my databases) the creative move 8.g4!? , also used by Grischuk in this month's column. e6 Probably the best answer, recommended by ChessPublishing Alekhine's guru John Cox. [ Tony had success in Kosten, A (2528)Ferguson, M (2395)/Nottingham ENG 2005 following 8...7f6 9.c4 xg4 10.xg4 xg4 11.cxd5 f6 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.a4 ] 9.c4 b4!? [ Cox had a chance to play his own s u g g e s t i o n 9...5f6 10.e3 g6 versus Hague in Birmingham 2005. There followed 11.d5!? (Grischuk played simply 11 635

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Nc3). My computer suggests the weird 11 c5 followed by 12 f4! The ideas are to play f5 (although it's hard to believe that by itself that can be so dangerous) or Nc4. A messy follow-up would be 12...b6 13 b4 a5 14 b5!? c x b 5 1 5 c 6 , a ls o s u s p i c io u s -l o o k in g. I suppose it's worth looking at. c7 12.c3 d6 13.h3 0-0 14.dxc6 bxc6 with something resembling equality. Alexander Finkel in NIC Yearbook 84 is sceptical of 14 dxc6"?!" and thinks that White's chances are not exhausted in this line. I'm not sure what he prefers, and I'd guess that there's nothing for White in the position. ] 10.e3! xb1 11.xb1 xa2 12.d2 b4 13.d5! White certainly has a nice attack for the pawn. exd5 [ 13...cxd5 14.cxd5 xd5 15.xd5 exd5 16.c3! (Finkel) looks tremendous for White. ] 14.cxd5 c5? [ 14...f6!? ] 15.xb4! xb4 16.dxc6 bxc6 17.d4 c5 [ 17...f8 18.fd1 c7 19.c4 and good luck, Black! ] 18.xg7 f6 19.g3?! According to Finkel, although I don't think it's a bad move. He gives [ 19.xf6! xf6 20.bc1 d7 21.f3 c8 22.f5 with a huge advantage. ] 19...e5 20.bc1 [ 20.fd1! f8 21.bc1 b6 22.c4 xc4 23.xc4 is strong. ] 20...d4! 21.fd1 d8 22.c2 c5? [ 22...b6 (Finkel) ] 23.xd4 cxd4 24.f4 [ 24.a3!? ] 24...g6 25.a3 e7 26.b5+ f8 27.f5 [ 27.xe7+! xe7 28.c7+ f6 29.xa7 ] 27...xa3 28.bxa3 e5 29.f6 g8 30.c5? [ 30.e2! was still very strong, according to Finkel. It's hard to disagree, especially since d3 ( 30...g6 31.xd4! ) 31.xd3 xd3 32.xd3 leaves White pawn and position up. ] 30...g5 31.xd4 f3+ 32.f2 xd4 33.xg5 d6 34.d3 e6 35.g3 h6 36.e3 c5 37.c4 d7 38.f3 xf6 A disappointing f inish f or W hite, but who wouldn't play on in this position? ½-½

622 Manca,F Sulskis,S Server24Chess 2012 (2) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B04 2424 2586 03.06.2012

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 d7?! This move is played quite frequently by strong players but seems an odd decision. White can either force a draw or else get a very strong attack for the piece. Here the strong Lithuanian GM playing Black gets destroyed. 6.xf7 xf7 7.h5+ e6 8.c4 And this is critical. [ Instead White can force a draw with 8.g4+ f7 seen many times, for example 1/2-1/2 Leitao, R (26 29)-Fier, A (2570) Santo s 2010. ( 8...d6? 9.c4 is suicidal. )] [ W h i l e A n d r e w M a r t i n l o o k e d a t 8.g3 in the archives. ] 8...5f6 9.d5+ d6 10.f7 e5 [ 10...b8?! has a very bad reputation due to 11.c5+! d7 ( 11...xc5 is far too risky. White has a variety of ways to finish off the game - one being: 12.e3+ d6 13.c3 e8 14.f4+ c5 15.e4+ b6 16.e3+ a5 17.xe8 xe8 18.b4+ xb4 19.b1+ a4 20.b5+ a5 21.d2+ b6 22.f1# ) 12.b5+ c6 13.dxc6+ bxc6 14.0-0 a5 15.d1+ ( John Cox looks at 15.c4 in Mutschnik, I (2408)-Pitschka, K (2212) Stuttgart 2005 but the text is stronger.) 15...c7 16.f4+ b7 when Hiarcs Opening Book gives 17.e2 b4 18.d2 xc5 19.e3 b4 20.a3 d7 21.c4 when White has a huge initiative for the piece. ] 11.f4 c5 This is almost universally played to prevent 12.c5+ [ 11...b6 was tried in Carrion Lara, L-Rijksen, H Alkmaar 1985, the only game to diverge but 12.a3! looks winning. White threatens both 13.Nb5+ and 13.c5+ followed by 14. Nc4+ ] [ Perhaps 11...g5 is Black's safest although 12.c5+ xc5 13.xe5 xd5 14.xd5+ xd5 15.xc7 is obviously very comfortable for W hite and certainly not what players are looking for when they try 5... Nd7?! ] [ W h i l e t r a d i n g q u e e n s w i t h 11...e8 636

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 And again Sulskis follows the main do e s n 't s a ve B lack a s 12.xe8 xe8 13...b6 13.c3 will pick up the e5 knight for free line but it's time to look for deviations. [ 13...b6 has also been tried, and on current and leave White a pawn up. ] evidence looks to be Black's best. White has 12.c3 a6 13.b4 The strong Russian GM a few different ways to continue but perhaps Boris Savchenko has tried this position twice A) 14.bxc5+; recently as Black but neither opponent has B) and 14.b5 are also possible. A battle of gone for this critical thrust. our computers (Houdini as White vs Rybka [ One tried 13.d3!? when Boris should with Black) continued a5 have reacted with B1) Hiarcs Opening Book gives 15.0-0-0 A) Instead the erratic GM went down after g6 16.b2 h6 17.xe5+ xe5 18.d6 13...g6 14.b4 f8 when its line ends. We've continued A1) In the New in Chess Yearbook 103 with 19.f4+ xf4 20.xe7+ xe7 Peter Boel gives 14...cxb4 15.a4 b6 21.dxe7 e8 22.g3 h6 23.g2 a7 ( 15...fg4 16.c5+ c7 17.h3 ) 16.c5+ 24.he1+ f5 25.d8 ( or 25.h3+ bxc5 17.b2 d7 18.c4+ c7 g5 26.xc8 xc8 which is apparently 19.xe5 b7 "with attack for the also a draw.) 25...axe7 26.xe8 xe8 pawn".; 27.h3+ g5 28.xe8 xe8 29.e4+ A2) He also gives a crazy line after h5 30.xc8 and the endgame's just a 14...b6 15.bxc5+ bxc5 16.b1 h6! draw; 17.b7! '"Threatening 18.Qxf6! and 19. B2) 15.d3 g6 16.e4+ xe4 Ne4 mate". He concludes his line with 17.xe4 h6 18.xe5+ xe5 19.d6 d7 18.g3 f8 19.xh7! a5 e6 20.f3 xc4 21.c6 xd6 20.xh6 xc3+ 21.d2 a1+ 22.b1 22.d1 xd1+ 23.xd1 ad8 24.d7 d4 23.0-0 f5 24.b6+ c7 25.a5! hf8 25.g3 d5 26.f4+ xf4 27.gxf4+ "wit h grea t at ta ckin g ch an ce s st ill" . xf4 28.c6 d4 29.a1 xh1 Very intriguing analysis and this looks 30.xh1 f6 and Black can hardly be like another critical test of Black's worse anyway.; suspicious opening.; C) 14.b1 is the most promising. cxb4 A3) 14...c7 15.bxc5+ The game 15.xb4 c o n t i n u e d : ( And here he recommends C1) Instead Black should probably try 15.0-0! " wi n n i n g b a c k t h e N e 5 " .) 15...e6 16.e2 b5 when his position 15...xc5 16.a4+ d4 17.0-0-0 h6 feels suspect but there's nothing 18.xh6 xd3+ 19.xd3+ xd3 completely clear. After an in-depth look 20.d1+ e2 21.d6 d7 22.c3+ we prefer 17.dxe6 ( 17.xb5 axb5 xf2 23.e4+ xg2 24.d2+ f3 18.xb5+ c5 19.e3+ b4 20.d2+ 25.f2+ xe4 26.xf6 e6 27.f4+ c5 and White's attack is only enough d3 28.f3+ d4 29.e3+ for perpetual.; 17.b2!? d7 18.c5+ 1-0 Boruchovsky, A (2333)-Savchenko, xc5 19.xd7 fxd7 20.dxe6 c4 B (2580) Plovdiv 2012.; 21.exd7 xd7 is roughly level.) 17...e7 B) 13...g5 14.g3 h6 as was seen in 18.e4+! ( 18.cxb5 xf7 19.exf7 e6 Nosov, A (2372)-Kutynec, V (2281 Alushta 20.a4 a5 is roughly level.) 18...c6 2008. ] 19.cxb5+ axb5 20.xb5+ b6 [ His other opponent played the non-critical 21.xe7 xe7 22.b1 xe4 23.xe5 13.0-0-0? when he didn't have enough after c5 24.e2+ a7 25.0-0 xe6 g6 White's problem is that Black threatens 26.fc1 and White has a dangerous 1 4 . . . B h 6 w i n n i n g t h e q u e e n . 14.xe5+ initiative despite queens being off the xe5 15.d6 h6+ 16.b1 e8 17.d5+ board. Black will probably have to give xd5 18.xd5+ f6 19.d3 exd6 back material with a rook to b8 when 20.xd6+ g7 21.d5 f8 22.xc5 e5 White has good winning chances in the 0-1 G oikh ma n, V (226 1)-S avch en ko , B ending.; (2630) St Petersburg 2011. ] 637

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 C2) 15...c5? This fails to a very pretty finish. 16.b1! xf7 17.a4+ d4 18.f3 and Black has no defence to Rd1 mate, e.g. f5 19.d1+ d3 20.xd3 e5 21.f1+ d3+ 22.xd3 e4 23.f1+ d2 24.xd2# ] [ 13...cxb4 14.c5+! cannot be advised: xc5 15.a4+ d6 ( or 15...d4 16.e3+ e4 17.c5+ f5 18.g4+ exg4 19.d3+ e5 20.f4+ d6 21.xb7+ xb7 22.e6+ c7 23.b6+ b8 24.xd8 ) 16.b2 b5 17.d3 winning back the piece with the advantage. ] [ 13...c7 is Black's final try to hold onto the c 5 s q u a r e b u t 14.a4 b6 ( 14...cxb4 15.c5+ d7 16.e6+ e8 17.xe5 xe5+ 18.xe5 xd5 19.c4 is very pleasant even if Black has succeeded in exchanging queens.) 15.0-0-0 fg4 16.e1 and the pressure on Black's position is unbearable. ] 14.c1! This looks like it refutes Black's setup [ 14.0-0-0 was looked at by Alexander Volzhin in the early days of ChessPublishing in Mysliwiec, E-Krzyzanowski, A corr 1995 ] [ while he also looked at 14.bxc5+ ] 14...g5 [ Black can try grabbing the pawn with 14...xb4 b u t f o l l o w i n g 15.d3 Black doesn't have a good defence to the s i m p l e p l a n o f c a s t l i n g a n d R f e 1 . g5 ( 15...b2 16.0-0 d2 17.e4+ xe4 18.xe4+- is also hopeless.) 16.g3 h5 17.0-0 h4 18.xe5+ xe5 19.f4+ gxf4 20.ce1+ d6 Predke, A (2436)-Danilenko, D (2307) Batumi 2010 when 21.e4+ xe4 22.xf4+ d7 23.xe4 and White's attack is far too strong. The threat is 24.Rxf8 and 25.Qxe7 ] [ 14...g6 also looks too slow 15.e2 c7 Prie, E (2470)-Nataf, I (2410) Andorra 1997 when 16.d1! is winning: h6 ( 16...f5 17.xe5+ xe5 18.d6!+- is a very common theme. ) 17.e4+ xe4 18.xe5+ xe5 19.d6+- ] [ Whilst it's hard to believe Black can get away with 14...c7 True White can no longer castle long but something like 15.d3 g4 16.xe5+ xe5 17.h3 d7 18.0-0 must be winning, i.e. cxb4 19.fe1+ d4 20.e4 a5 21.cd1 and Black's king

ca n n o t su rvive . xe4 22.xe4+ c5 23.d6! etc. ] 15.g3 f5? This loses instantly. [ 15...h5 looks like Black's last try but again A) 16.bxc5+ is also strong: xc5 17.g6 d4 18.c2 h4 19.c5+ d7 20.d1 f3+ 21.gxf3 xc5 22.e5 d8 and Black's survived to fight on for a few more moves but of course White's doing very well.; B) But 16.g6?! doesn't look as clear xb4 17.xg5 fg4 18.g6+ d7 ( 18...c7!? ) 19.xe5 xe5 20.e6+ d8 21.xe5 g8 22.e3 g7 23.d2 h4 24.f3 e5 25.e4 xd2+ 26.xd2 f5 and Black's equalised.; C) 16.d3 is probably just winning: h4 17.xe5+ xe5 18.0-0 d6 ( 18...d8 19.fe1+ d6 20.bxc5+ xc5 21.a4+ d6 22.c5+ c7 23.d6+ b8 24.b6 and White regains his material with a huge attack. ) 19.bxc5+ xc5 20.a4 d4 21.c5+ c7 22.d6+ b8 23.dxe7 xe7 24.xe7 e8 25.d6+ xd6 26.cxd6 and W hite's got an extra pawn and ongoing initiative in the endgame. ] [ 15...c7 16.d1 b8 17.a4 b6 18.d3 g4 19.0-0 e8 20.xe8 xe8 21.de1 fd7 22.xb6+and White regains the invested material with interest. ] [ 15...xb4 16.d3 transposes to 14... Qxb4 ] 16.d3 Sulskis throws in the towel. He can't take the bishop as 17.Qe6+ wins everything. If he drops back the bishop then again W hite simply castles and plays his rook to the e file, winning easily. This line looks extremely risky for Black. Play it at your peril! 1-0

623 Miles,Anthony J Pons,S Andorra [Nigel Davies]

B04

1996

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 g6 6.d2 For reasons known best to himself, Miles awarded this move two excla m a tio n m a rks in I nf o rm a t or 6 7 a n d 638

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 splattered more exclamation marks over the rest of the game. I suspect he was being ironic, especially in view of the fact that he later chanced sides. [ A s u p p o s e d ly qu i e t a lt e rn a t ive i s 6.g3 after which Plaskett - Hillarp, St. Hellier 1999 continued d7!? ( the 'rote' move is 6...g7 ) 7.f3 ( 7.g2 xe5 8.dxe5 c6 9.0-0 g7 10.e2 e6 11.b3 c8 12.b2 h3 was equal in Wolff - de Firmian, New York 1996.) 7...g7 8.g2 0-0 9.0-0 c5 10.e1 cxd4 11.xd4 e5 12.a3 g4 13.f3 e6 14.c4 xf3 15.xf3 b4 16.xb7 bd3 with the remaining moves being unfit for young eyes. Black won, but I'm not going to venture any kind of assessment. ] 6...g7 [ 6...d7 7.xd7 xd7!? 8.f3 g7 9.e2 d6 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 c5 12.dxc5 xc5 13.c4 b4 14.a3 c6 15.b4 wa s a b i t b e t t e r f o r W h i t e i n R i c a r d i Speelman, FIDE W orld Ch., Las Vegas 1999 ] 7.df3 [ 7.c4 0-0 8.df3 c6 9.0-0 d7 transposes into Nijboer - Vaganian ] 7...0-0 8.c4 b6 9.e2 8d7 10.f4 xe5 [ When Miles got Black in this position (Kofidis Kofidis - Miles, Agios Nikolaos 1997) h e p r e f e r r e d 10...c5 and got slightly the better of it after 11.d5 xe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.xe5 d6 14.f3 e6 etc. From this we can assume that 6 Nd2 doesn't refute the Alekhine after all. ] 11.xe5 d7 12.d2 xe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.dxe5 xd2+ 15.xd2 e6 16.c3 White's active king and control of terrain gives him a clear edge. f6 17.f3 c6 18.he1 f7 19.a4 ad8 20.a5 a6 21.ad1 xd1 22.xd1 d8 23.f3 f5 24.b4 d3 25.c5 b3 26.e2 [ After this Black manages to draw. According to Miles he should have f irst played 26.exf6 after which exf6 ( 26...xb2 27.xe7+ xf6 28.xh7 also wins for White ) 27.e2 followed by Rd2 and Bd1 will win. ] 26...fxe5 27.d2 e6 28.e2 h5 29.h3 h4 30.d1 d3 31.xd3 xd3 32.g4+ f5 33.b6 xg4 34.hxg4 d7 35.xb7 c5!

36.b4 cxb4 37.c5 b3 38.c6+ d6 39.c7 b2 40.c8 b1+ 41.a7 b5 42.xa6+ xa6+ 43.xa6 c6 44.f3 g5 45.a7 c7 46.a6 c6 47.a7 c7 ½-½

624 Motwani,Paul Pedersen,D 1980 Vordingborg [Paul Motwani]

B04

1980

2) W23: "c for charge!" P.Motwani-D.Pedersen, V o rd in gb o rg, De n m a rk 1 9 8 0 . A le k h in e 's Defence, Code B04. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 [ 4...g6 happened in game W19. ] 5.c4 This case of "c for charge!" drives back Black's knight in the centre. b6 6.exd6 [ Another idea is 6.e6!? intending xe6?? ( or 6...fxe6 7.e3 with compensation for White's sacrificed pawn, because Black has some development problems. ) 7.d5 ] 6...cxd6 7.e2 g6?! [ 7...g4 looks better. ] 8.d5! e5 9.xe5 dxe5 10.c3 g7 11.0-0 0-0 12.e3 White enjoys superior development and pawn structure, plus more s p a c e t o o . a6? Weakening the position of Black's knight. 13.b3 d7 14.c5 a5? The losing move! 15.c6! bxc6 16.dxc6 c5 [ If 16...f6 then 17.b6 costs Black his queen. ] 17.d5 Black resigned, faced with the imminent loss of his pinned knight. 1-0

625 Motwani,Paul Tan,K Eksakt Weekender, Holl [Paul Motwani]

B04

2000

Deadly Dynamic Duo... W19: "Tales, Tilburg, a n d T u rke y! " P . M o t wa n i -K . T a n , T ilb u r g Eksakt Weekend Tournament, Holland 2000. Alekhin e's De f ence, Code B04. T urkey's coming early this year for all the players and officials who are going to the W orld Chess 639

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Teams Olympiad in Istanbul from October 27 to November 13. It's a great honour to represent Scotland there, and my personal preparations for the big event have included competing in July at the Staffordshire Millennium Congress---where my tally of four wins, five draws, and no losses combined to give a rating performance of 2605---plus the tough six-round Eksakt weekend tournament at the stunning "Theater De Vorst" in Tilburg from September 8-10. Prior to the start of play on the Friday evening, I was as usual keeping my head clear by taking in some fresh air outside the venue. Then my quiet thoughts were interrupted in a highly unexpected yet most pleasant way by the greeting "Hi Paul" from Scotland's globetrotting Chris Morrison, whose work in Vietnam takes him practically everywhere else too, including Holland on this occasion! In his hectic schedule, Chris loves to grab any chance he can get to play even a couple of games over-the-board, and indeed he had to settle for precisely two good tussles in Tilburg because he was required to fly back to Vietnam before the end of the weekend. No objections from the very efficient and at the same time easy-going accommodating organisers. They were more than happy with Chris's keenness and efforts to get to Tilburg at all, and I think that Chris was quite satisfied too with his first-round victory followed by a second-round encounter with Willy Hendriks (the eventual tournament winner on 5.5/6) which resulted in Chris losing only after a long and close fight. W illy Hendriks's sole draw was with Black against myself in the final round, when a win for me would have meant outright first place on 5.5 points, and in that case Willy would have finished joint second on 5/6. Instead the roles were reversed, but I was still happy with my runner-up score of 5 p o i n t s , wh i c h i n c l u d e d a v e r y a t t a c k i n g penultimate round win against young Dutch talent Kevin Tan, who achieved an overall ra t in g p e rf o rm a n c e o f 2 4 7 4 f ro m h is si x games! 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.e2 [ White's other options include 7.a4 or ] [ 7.g5 ] 7...c6 8.bd2 0-0 [ 8...g4? is simply bad on account of the

t a c t i c a l t r i c k 9.xf7+ intending xf7 10.g5+ followed by 11 Qxg4. ] 9.h3 Now White does take a prophylactic measure to stop ...Bg4, which really is a threat after Black has castled. h6?! [ W19.1: 9...a5 looks better, although Black may have been put off that move by the fact that it also led to a quick White win in the game P. Motwani-R.Dam, Groningen 1990. Of course that was ten years ago, but it's amazing to see how much information people store in their computer databases nowadays! ] 10.c3! This not only supports White's central pawn-chain, but also allows W hite's lightsquared bishop to drop back to c2 if attacked by ... Na5. h7 11.h4! dxe5 [ "H for hunting!" is a favourite attacking motto of my Belgian friend Gorik Cools, and i n t h i s i n s t a n c e 11...g4? causes no problems (except for Black!) because White has the killing reply 12.g5+ ] 12.h5! I'm honestly NOT one of those annotators who can't stop showering his own moves with single or double "exclams"! I would give 12 h5 an '!' in any case because the move is a consistent and energetic followup to White's previous one. Also, quite a bit of calculation has already gone in to visualising and assessing the forthcoming sacrificial sequence of play and its related variations. g5 [ 12...exd4 is equally scary for Black because he must reckon with responses like 13.g5+ ( or my own preference of 13.hxg6+ fxg6 14.e4 when White's multitude of threats includes 14 Bxh6 Bxh6 15 Qd2. There are many possibilities which are both fun and instructive to analyse in one's own time, but a recurring motif that's ce r t a in ly wo rt h m e n t i o n i n g h e re i s t h e general idea of Neg5+ and then after ...Kh8 t h e f o l lo w- u p N h 4 ( m e n a ci n g N x g 6 ) i s sometimes much more deadly than Nf7+ which "only" wins material. )] 13.xg5+! Yes, I know, there's another '!', but after this move I promise to stop... at least for a while! hxg5 [ It was an offer that Black could hardly refuse---even though he wanted to do so! 13...g8 loses to 14.e4 hxg5 15.h6 h8 ( or 15...f6 16.c2 which is analysed 640

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 further in part 'c' of the notes to Black's 14th move below. ) 16.g6+ ] 14.h6 e6 One might have expected Black to move his attacked g7-bishop, so let's consider the options for shifting that piece:[ 14...xh6 15.h5 ( or first 15.e4 are "pretty horrendous for Black", to use a typical Chris Morrison expression! )] [ 14...h8 15.f3 g4 ( 15...g8 16.xf7 leaves Black facing terrible threats like 17 Qe4+, and; 15...f6 16.e4+ f5 17.xg5+ g6 18.h4 is a nightmare too)) 16.g5+ is crushing because of g6 ( or 16...g8 17.e4 ) 17.xf7 xf7 18.e4+ and then, for example, f6 ( or 18...f5 19.h7 (menacing 20 Rh6+) g7 20.h8 xh8 21.xg4+ f6 22.h6# ) 19.g5+ xg5 20.xf7 f5 21.h5+ ] [ W e c a n q u i c k l y d i s m i s s 14...h8 on account of 15.h5 ] [ 14...f6 15.e4+ g8 ( 15...h8 l o s e s i n s t a n t l y t o 16.c2 ) 16.c2 ( b e t t e r t h a n 16.g6+ h8 ) 16...e8 17.h7+ f8 18.e4 is, I believe, indef e nsible f or Black. Just look at th e congestion in his disorganised camp. A computer would typically generate screeds of variations, but the position practically speaks for itself, and one could almost say that White is not even down on material if on e c o n s id e rs t h e e f f e ct ive n e ss o f h is a t t a c k i n g f o r ce s in co n t ra st t o B l a c k' s dormant pieces. ] 15.hxg7+ xg7 16.e4 h8 [ If 16...f6 17.h5 h8 then 18.xh8+ xh8 19.xh8 xh8 20.xf6 is extremely simple and strong for White. ] 17.xh8 [ Why be overly flashy and less clear with 17.xg5 when instead the capture on h8 is obviously good? ] 17...xh8 18.xg5 h1+ 19.d2! It would be a bit harsh not to forgive me for this final '!' after a move which involves a rook sacrifice! xa1 20.h5 White's deadly duo of main threats is 21 Bf6+ Kf8 22 Qh8 or 21 Qh6+ Kg8 22 Nf6. xb2+ 21.c2 c4+ [ 21...d7 ( o r N d 5 ) l o s e t o 22.h6+ ( 22.h6+ d o e s t h e j o b t o o) 22...g8 23.f6+ ( or 23.f6 ) 23...xf6 24.xf6 followed by unavoidable mate at g7 or h8. ]

22.d1 a1+ 23.e2 Black resigned in view of 23...f5 24 Bf6+ Kf8 25 Qh8+ Kf7 and then, for example, 26 Ng5+ Kg6 27 Qg7+ Kh5 28 Qh7+ Kg4 29 Qh3+ Kf4 30 Qg3. I'll try my best to play like that for Scotland at the Olympiad in T u rke y, b u t f or t h e m om e n t I 'd lik e t o conclude my writings here by saying a big " T HA NK YO U" t o a ll f rie n d s wh o h a v e i n different ways encouraged me to continue developing at chess. The "complete" list could go on almost forever, but the following people (in alphabetical order of their surnames) really deserve a special mention for their much appreciated input at various times within the last 14 months or so: - David Anderton, FM Cesar Becx, Neil Berry, IM Douglas Bryson, Walter & Cecile Cardon, FM Lawrence Cooper, Jimi & Josiane de Melio, Suzanne de Vogelaer, Hugh & Moya Flockhart, Richard Furness, John & Nancy Glendinning, Jonathan & Keti Grant, John Henderson, Marc Holsteyn, IM Stephen Mannion, GM Colin McNab, Hans & Heleen Moors, Chris Morrison, Family Motwani, IM Jonathan Parker, IM Craig Pritchett, GM Jonathan Rowson, IM John Shaw, IM Johan van Mil, " S ch a a kn ie u ws" t e a m , Hu g o " B o s s " va n Steenwinckel, WIM Erika Sziva, Walter Tonoli, FM Tim & Andree Upton, Jan & Hanny Verbrugge, Chris White, Norman & Ilse Young, Family Zeng. 1-0

626 Movsesian,Sergei Svidler,Peter 3rd ACP World Rapid Cup rapid (2.4) [John Watson]

B04 2747 2726 23.5.09

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 Here we go again, the main line at the elite levels of play. This month's batch went well for Black, as shown in this game. 6.c4 We've seen several games in the Archives with 6 Be2. [ Yu Shaoteng-Hou Yifan, Subic Bay PHI 2009 continued 6.d3 (this deserves more a t t e n t i o n ) d7 7.f3!? 7f6 8.h3 , preventing ...Bg4, although allowing the following manoeuvre: b4 9.c4 f5 641

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.a3!? ( maybe 10.b3! is better, with the idea a3, as I indicated in a previous u p d a t e . T h e n a5 11.a3 a4 fails to 12.xf7+ xf7 13.axb4 -for notes on this line, see Adams-Carlsen, Moscow 2007 in the Archives.) 10...e6 11.c3 bd5 12.c2 (an uninspiring square for the knight Black stands about equal) e7 ( 12...d6 ) 13.0-0 ( 13.e3 is the main game Adams-Carlsen, Moscow 2007 in the archives) 13...0-0 14.e3 g6 ( 14...xe3 15.xe3 b6 ) 15.e5 c5!? 16.xg6 ( 16.xd5 exd5 17.e2 b6 ) 16...hxg6 17.dxc5 xc5 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 exd5 20.f4 d4 A) 21.b4 b6 ( 21...e7 22.cxd4 xb4 23.b1 a5 24.d3 c8 25.d5 ) 22.c4 and Black has to watch his c-pawn; B) 21.cxd4!? (this gives up the last chance to f ight on more interesting is xd4 ( 21...xd4 22.d2 ) 22.xd4 xd4 23.ad1 ad8 24.d2 f6 25.fd1 xd2 26.xd2 d8 27.xd8+ xd8 28.f1 a6 29.e2 f8 30.d3 f6 1/2-1/2. ] 6...g6 [ 6...d7 7.f3 7f6 8.h3 f5 9.0-0 e6 is Shirov-Carlsen, Moscow 1997 from the Arch ives t he b est m ove at t his po in t is probably 10.a3 , versus ...Nb4. ] 7.0-0 g7 8.d2 [ 8.e1 is the original move here, still played in a majority of games, for example, 0-0 ( 8...d7 ) 9.b3 A) 9...e6 10.c3 d7 11.f3 g4 ( 11...c7 ) 12.bd2 ( 12.h3; 12.g5 ) 12...e6 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 with an edge, Topalov-Ivanchuk, Monaco (rapid) 2002.; B) 9...f5 10.d2 d7 11.df3 xe5 12.xe5 a5 13.a4 c7 was about equal in Shirov-Agdestein, Bergen 2001.; C) 9...d7 10.f3 7f6 11.c4 ( 11.h3 ) 11...c7 12.h3 c5?! 13.c3 cxd4 14.xd4 e6 15.e3 xd4 16.xd4 e6 17.h4 a5 18.c5! xb3 19.axb3 c7 20.b4 a6 21.f4 , winning the e7pawn, Kasparov-Adams, Linares ESP 1997. ] 8...0-0 [ Or 8...d7 with the idea 9.df3 xe5 10.xe5 0-0 11.e1 e6 ] 9.df3 d7 10.h3

[ 10.d3 has been suggested. ] 10...xe5 11.xe5 e6 12.b3 c7 13.e1 xb3 14.axb3 c5?! 15.e3?! [ 15.f3! xd4 16.d3 threatens Rxe7, Qxb7, and Be3, for what it's worth (maybe not much). ] 15...b5! 16.c3 cxd4 17.cxd4 d5 Now Black is clearly better. 18.f3 e6 19.d3 ac8 20.ec1 a6 21.c4 d6 22.c3 xc3 23.bxc3 xb3 24.b1 d5 25.f4 c4 26.a1?! e5 27.d2 xd2 28.xd2 exd4 with a winning advantage. 29.c4 c6 30.b4 e8 31.c5 h5 32.b1 d8 33.a3 d7 34.b6 d5 35.h4 f5 36.xf5 gxf5 37.c1 d3 38.d2 d4 39.c6 xb6 40.cxd7 f6 41.e3 d8 42.f1 f7 43.e1 e6 44.d2 xd7 45.xd3 b5 46.f3 e6 47.d2 a5 48.c3 b6 49.b3 d5 50.c3 d8 51.d2 b4 52.a4 c4 53.c1 b3 54.b2 f4 55.a3 f5 56.a4 xh4 57.xa5 e1+ 58.a4 c3 0-1

627 Mutschnik,Ilia Pitschka,Klaus 10th Open Stuttgart GER (5) [John Cox]

B04 2408 2212 07.05.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 d7 6.xf7 Bravo! I don't know Mr Mu t sch n ik, b u t f e w h igh e r-ra t e d p la ye r s confronted by their opponent's pet line prefer taking him on with this sort of thing to the quiet 6 Nf3. xf7 7.h5+ e6 8.c4 5f6 9.d5+ d6 10.f7 b8?! A dubious move: [ 10...e5 11.f4 c5 12.c3 a6 is the main line of course, and the start of enormous and unresolved complications. ] 11.c5+ d7 12.b5+ [ Pitschka had previous here: 12.f4 e8 13.e6+ d8 14.e5 d7 15.c3 g5?! was Hiermann-Pitschka, Austria 1999 (1-0, 37), and presumably he intended something else, perhaps the more sensible ( 15...g4 16.e2 f5 17.d2 and now either Burgess' suggestion 17...g5 or 17...Ne5 18 000 Nbd7 19 c6 with unclear play: KopecSowray, corr 1990-2. )] 642

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12...c6 13.dxc6+ bxc6 14.0-0 a5 15.c4 Probably better than 15 Rd1+ Kc7 16 Bf4+ Kb7, driving the Black king where it wants to go. d8N [ Black made a run for b7... 15...c7 16.b4 xb4 17.f4+ d8 ..but soon changed course... 18.d2 bd7 19.b3 a6 20.xa6 xf4 21.b7 b8 22.xc6 e5 23.e6 xc6 24.xc6 c7 25.fd1+ d7 in Hammar-D.Cramling, Swedish Champs, Lulea 1980, in which 26 Qa4 now would have been won back the piece with a devastating ongoing onslaught, since 26.. Ke8 27 Rd2 piles up on the unfortunate knight. ] 16.d1+ d7 [ 16...bd7 is another try, of course, if the game goes similarly with 17.e3 g4 18.e6 xe3 19.fxe3 xc5 20.c3 B l a c k c o u l d t r y a n d d e f e n d w i t h b8 , b u t t h e n 21.d3 b7 22.ad1 e5 23.a4 g6 24.f4! xf4 25.exf4 e8 26.b3 h6 27.g3 is still very strong - the knight is pinned just as effectively by the threat of Rd8 mate as it was to the king. ] 17.e3 g4 Black must be lost - mustn't he?! - if the best he can do is exchange his only de ve lo p e d m in o r p ie ce f o r W h it e 's le a st effective attacker, but [ 17...c8 18.c3 c7 19.b4 g4 20.f4 e5 21.g5 also sees White increasing the pressure decisively. ] 18.e6 xe3 19.fxe3 xc5 20.c3 e5? A feeble move, both overlooking the threat and also making no effort to get Black's other four pieces out. Fritz is convinced it's winning as Black and rather sweetly tries to prove it with [ 20...xe3+ 21.h1 a6 , although I have to admit that the best my limited attacking skills can manage then with White is 22.a4 a7 23.ac1 g6 24.c5 h6 25.xd7 xd7 26.e6+ c8 27.xc6+ b7 28.c7+ b8 29.xa7 xa7 30.xe7 c8 31.d6+ ( 31.xh7 f8 32.xf8 xf8 33.xg6 ) 31...a8 32.d5+ b8 with a draw: no doubt readers can do better. Now it's over. ] 21.xd7+ xd7 22.d1 c7 23.xd7+ b6 24.e4 f6 25.h5 g5 26.h3 f4 27.d5+ All horribly reminiscent of Morphy -v-

the Duke of Brunswick. Maybe there's something to be said for developing the other pieces apart from your king and queen after all. 1-0

628

B04 Mysliwiec,E Krzyzanowski,Antoni

corr [Alexander Volzhin]

1995

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 d7!? 6.xf7!? xf7 7.h5+ e6 8.c4 5f6 9.d5+ d6 10.f7 e5 11.f4 c5 12.c3 a6 13.b4 b6! This move seems to be the only chance for defence. Alternatives are insufficient . [ 13...b6 14.b1! The rook will be very active on the b-file. g5 ( 14...cxb4 15.xb4 c5 Both queen and rook are hanging, but 16.b1!! xf7 17.a4+ d4 18.f3 and next move the king will be mated (19. Rd1) ) 15.g3 h6 16.bxc5+ bxc5 17.b7! Excellent! Now all white's pieces participate in the attack. d7 18.d3! e8 19.f5!! xf7 20.e4+ xe4 21.xd7# ] [ 13...cxb4 loses quickly to 14.c5+ xc5 15.a4+ d6 16.b2 b5 17.d3 ] 14.0-0-0 [ 14.bxc5+ was thought to be a winning move, but recent games have changed the evaluation of this position: xc5 15.d1 a3! ( GM Vladimir Bagirov a leading expert in the Alekhine's, in his book considers only 15...f5 which is insufficient: 16.d3 xd3 17.e6+ c7 18.xe5+ d8 19.xd3 The text is a decisive improvement.) 16.d3 c1+!! 17.xc1 xf7 18.c5+ c7! ( 18...xc5? 19.a4+ d6 20.b6 b8 21.f4+ e5 22.c4+ c5 23.xe5 g8 24.f7 a8 25.e3+ b4 26.b3+ a5 27.b6+ a4 28.c5+- mating ) 19.f4+ d8 20.a4 f5 21.d4 e8 22.c4 d8 23.0-0 c2 24.b6 e5 25.d6 xd6 1 Wydrowski-Krzyzanowski,A/corr/1993/ ] 14...cxb4! A very important novelty. [ After 14...xb4? 15.c2! white's attack is unstoppable: b5 16.xe5+ xe5 17.d6! f5+ 18.d3 xd3+ 19.xd3 xc4 643

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.e1+ f5 21.d5++winning in Wierzbicki-Krzyzanowski/ corr/1994/ ] 15.a4 xf2 16.c5+ d7 17.xe5 e3+ 18.b1 xe5 19.b6+ c7 20.d6+ [ After 20.xa8+ b8 21.b6 g4 22.c4 c3 it's black who attacks the king! ] 20...b8 21.d7 xd7 22.xd7 a7 After a long journey Black's king is safe. But we cannot say the same about white's king. 23.d1 e4 Queen and knight are usually very strong as an attacking combination. 24.xa8 c3+ 25.c1 xd1 26.xd1 xc5 27.d3 xa8-+ After the complications black is three pawns up and should easily win. 28.f1 e5 29.e1 e7 30.xg7 d8 31.e2 d5 32.d1 [ 32.xe7 xg2+ 33.e3 h3+ 34.f2 xh2+ 35.f1 g8 36.g6 f4+ 37.e2 xg6 38.d8+ a7 39.d5 c6-+ winning ] 32...c5 So we can see that both sides have chances in the 5.. .Nd7 line. At the moment it seems that black is doing well in this line. Take a risk and win! 0-1

629 Narayana,Samy S Nakamura,Hikaru Gibtelecom Masters (2) [John Watson]

B04 2229 2651 24.01.2007

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.e3 g7 8.e2 c6 9.c1 0-0 10.b3 f5 11.f3!? [ 11.d5! is critical, especially in view of e5 12.f4 ( or 12.g4 c8 13.f4 ) 12...ed7 13.g4 xc3+ 14.xc3 e4 15.f3 with a solid advantage. ] 11...d5! Now Black has something to play for. 12.0-0 [ 12.c5 c8 13.0-0 g4 transposes. ] 12...g4 13.c5 c8 14.b4 a6 This is all standard strategy. W hether Black has completely equalised is unclear, but he's not doomed to passive defence. 15.b1 [ 15.a4!? xb4 ( 15...e6!? 16.b5 ) 16.b3 a5 17.a2 xa2 18.xa2 and oddly enough, Black's weak b-pawn makes this about equal. ]

15...e6 16.a4 xf3 17.xf3 8e7 Now ...Nf5 and ...e5 are threats, but White's at t a ck co m es ju st in t im e : 18.b5 a5 Watching over c4. [ Or 18...axb5 19.axb5 a5 ] 19.g5!? [ White should probably take the opportunity to play 19.bxa6 bxa6 , which he loses later. Although Black gets c6 for a knight, the b-file is useful and the pawn on a6 will be a target. 20.d3 ( Or 20.g5 )] 19...h6 20.xe7!? xe7 21.d3 fd8 22.bxa6 xa6! See the last note. Now W hite's pawn on a4 will be a problem, and B l a c k h a s c 6 a n y w a y . 23.b5!? c6 24.d6? A blunder. White leaves his centre hanging. a7 25.b6 [ 25.b5 xa4 ] 25...xd4! [ 25...xd4 26.fb1 is advantageous, but not as clear. ] 26.xc6 xa4! 27.b5? But Black will win material anyway after [ 27.c8 f8! ] 27...bxc6?! [ 27...xf2+! 28.xf2 bxc6 picks up another pawn. ] 28.xd4 c8 29.g3? Now it's really over. White had to try [ 29.d1 or ] [ 29.g4 , both hopeless in the long run. ] 29...e5 Ouch. [ 29...xc5 30.xe6 is less clear. ] 30.b3 [ 30.e1 xc5 ] 30...f6 The rest goes smoothly. 31.g2 a3 32.c2 b8 33.d2 e4 34.c1 a2 35.xe4 d4 36.xd5 xd5 37.c4 xc5 38.c3 b4 0-1

630 Nataf,Igor Alexandre Konopka,Michal KB Czech Open (round 7) (7) [Glenn Flear]

B04 2560 2441 25.07.2002

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 cxd6!? The most dynamic option. 6.c3 g6 7.h3 644

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Instead 7.e3 g7 8.c1 0-0 9.b3 is the line that has been causing Black some problems these past few years but ECO suggests a way that seems to get Black a decent game e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c5 6d7 13.c4 c6 14.f3 a5! 15.e2 b6! the key move. ( 15...c6?! 16.b5! f8 17.d6 e6 18.c4 cd4 19.g5 gave White a promising initiative in Mitkov-C.Toth, V. Toth Memorial 2000) 16.cxb6 ( 16.b4 c6 17.b5 d4 18.c6 c5 19.0-0 a6 with suf f icient coun terplay f o r Black P . C a r l s s o n - L o g d a h l , S w e d i s h t c h 2 0 0 1) 16...xb6 17.0-0 b7 18.fd1 c6= Zukauskas-Bandza, Latvian ch 1997 ] 7...g7 8.f3 0-0 9.e2 c6 10.0-0 f5 11.f4 [ 11.g5 h6 12.e3 d5 13.b3 ( 13.c5 c4 is unfashionable as it's considered OK for Black. ) 13...dxc4 14.bxc4 a5 15.c5 bc4 16.f4 b6 L. Cooper-Burgess, Birmingham 2000 gave Black suf f icient counterchances and the game was soon drawn. ] 11...h6 12.d5 [ 12.e3 Isn't this just an ugly move-order by White!? Even so d5 then transposes to the above note. ] 12...a5 13.d4 A pawn sacrifice for active play against a ropey black structure. axc4 14.b3 e5 15.xf5 gxf5 16.d2 The game has been following an old analysis of Vaganian who helpfully concluded "unclear". h7 17.ac1 g6 18.e3 c8! [ Presumably a prepared improvement. NatafHudecek, Czech open (round 1) 2002 continued 18...e5?! this leads to Black's c e n t r a l p a wn s c o m i n g u n d e r p r e s s u r e 19.dxe6 fxe6 20.b5 d5?! ( 20...d5 c o u l d b e m e t b y 21.c7 but then d4 is still messy e.g. 22.xa8 xa8 23.f4 xf4 24.xf4 e5 with some practical chances for the exchange. Perhaps White s h o u l d i n s t e a d t r y 2 1 R c 7 wi t h s t r o n g threats along the seventh rank (Rxb7 and Bxh6 etc.).) 21.f3 d7 22.xd5 xb5 23.xe6 e5 24.d5 ae8 25.f7 e7 26.xg6+ xg6 27.d3 material is equal and White has clearly the better structure b6 28.c6 d8 29.d1 e6 30.c7

and White had a clear advantage. ] 19.fd1 e6 20.dxe6 fxe6 21.b5 xc1 22.xc1 d5 Unlike in the previous note Black can now safely make this advance as Rc7 is not available and Nc7 no longer forks e6 and the rook on a8. 23.c7 xc7 24.xc7 b2! Ko no p ka dit ch e s h is sickly e 6 p awn a n d p r e p a r e s t o g o a c t i ve . T h i s f i r s t e n t a i l s safeguarding the bishop. 25.f1 [ 25.xe6 e8 26.c7 e7 27.b5 d4 and because of the unfortunate placing of the white bishops, Black is not worse. ] 25...f6 26.f4 f7! Again the knight is invited to capture on e6 as the bishops are loose again. 27.xe6 e7 28.d4 xd4 29.xd4 xf4 30.f3 g6 31.a4 Black has played a sensible game and has emerged with an extra pawn. White has some counterplay but after 31...a5 Black should retain the advantage. W as K on op ka in awe of h is h ighe r ra te d opponent or just short of time? ½-½

631 Navara,David Miroshnichenko,Evgenij 5th IECC Playoff 5th (4) [Andrew Martin]

B04 2602 2599 30.05.2004

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 d7 Still as provocative as ever. 6.xf7! [ 6.f3! e6 7.g3 e7 8.c4 Was played against me once by Vlastimil Jansa and seems like a risk-free way to a small edge. Of course, Black is still on the board. Instead, 6 Nxf7 is as critical as can be and although White trips up in the coming game, Black still has some questions to answer. ] 6...xf7 7.h5+ e6 8.g3! I prefer this to the head-spinning complications after 8 c4 even Mikhail Tal didn't go for it when confronted by Larsen! So to 8 g3, just as dangerous, keeping c2-c4 lurking in the wings, hoping to exploit the precariously placed Knight in d5. In view of threats such as c2-c4 coupled with Bh3, Black's reply has been thought to be forced. b5 Larsen's original intention, should 8 g3 have ever cropped up. I believe he would have breathed a sigh of 645

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 relief when it didn't. [ Can Black possibly get away with 8...g6?! It will be a roller coaster ride at best and I'm not sure Black is coming off the fairground ride alive: 9.h3+ d6 10.e2 7b6 A) 11.xc8 A1) 11...xc8 12.e5+ c6 13.xh8 f6 ( 13...b4!? ) 14.d5+!; A2) 11...xc8 12.e5+ c6 13.xh8 f6 14.0-0 xd4 15.c3 h6 16.xc8 xc8 17.xh6 b4; B) 11.e5+ c6 12.xc8 g7!? 13.xb7+ xb7 14.xg7 d6 15.0-0 hg8 16.h6 f6 17.c3; C) 11.f4+ Other dangerous moves: c6 12.a4 a6 13.g2 e6 14.e5 ( 14.a5! is very strong.) 14...d6 15.xh8 xh8 16.c3 ( 16.a5! again ) 16...d7 17.a5 f4 18.gxf4 d5 19.d2 xf4 20.e4 e7 21.c4 Berelovich, A-Neverov,V/ Cairo 1999 White has finally consolidated h is e xt ra m a t e ria l a n d s t a n d s c le a rl y better. ] 9.a4 c6 10.c3N A novelty no doubt prompted by the speed of the game. I run the risk of being pilloried for annotating blitz games but this variation is too interesting to ignore. Let us see what ECO has to say: [ 10.h3+ The point of flicking the check in is simply to drive the King to d6, sidestepping the resource of our stem game. d6 11.c3 ( 11.e2! e5 12.axb5 cxb5 13.0-0 Lukin-Arkhipov USSR 1979 is given in the latest edition of ECO. I don't know what to make of the evaluation - slightly better seems the wrong description. I like White's safer King and attacking chances, but some greedy citizens might take Black.) 11...e6 ( 11...b4 12.f4+!? xf4 13.e4+ c7 14.a5+ b6 15.e5+ d6 16.xd6 exd6 17.xf4 xh3 V.Popov ) 12.axb5 7f6 13.e2 e7 14.0-0 f7 15.e1 d6 16.xe6+ xe6 17.xe6+ g6 18.f4 h6 19.f5+ h7 Theissen,HKubitza,G/Germany 1992 What a mess! ] 10...g6! A key defensive resource, securing the key square f7 for his King. 11.h3+ f7 12.f3+ 7f6 White's attack is exhausted already. 13.xc8 xc8 14.axb5 cxb5 15.xa7 xc3 16.bxc3 d5-+ It's completely lost now and Navara sportingly

admits def eat. The evaluation of 5...Nd7 remains unchanged: As a surprise weapon brilliant. Objectively dubious. Caught on the nose W hite should play it safe with 6 Nf3!. Memory men can happily venture 6 Nxf7! which is good, but you have to know a lot. 0-1

632 Nijboer,Friso Vaganian,Rafael A Dutch Team Ch. (5) [Nigel Davies]

B04

03.03.2001

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 g6 6.c4 c6 7.d2 White intends to reinforce e5 with his other knight. [ He ca n a lso pla y 7.0-0 g7 8.e1 a f t e r wh ich B la c k e qu a lise d wit h d7!? ( 8...0-0 9.b3 d7 10.f3 7f6 11.c4 c7 12.h3 was better for White in Kasparov - Adams, Linares 1997) 9.f3 7b6 10.f1 g4 11.c3 0-0 12.bd2 c7 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 e6 15.g5 c5 in Huebner Vaganian, Bundesliga 2001. ] 7...g7 8.df3 0-0 9.0-0 d7 10.d3 7b6 11.b3 g4 12.c3 e6 [ Another possibility is 12...a5 , with similar play to the game. ] 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 d7 15.g3 White is s lightly better here, but it's hard work trying to make something out of it. [ T h e r e i s a m a j o r a l t e rn a t ive i n 15.e1 after which Kolev - Panchenko, Villalba 1996 continued in somewhat artificial vein with a5 ( 15...b5 16.g3 a5 17.a3 e8 18.h4 h5 19.g5 f6 20.d2 a4 21.a2 e7 was an earlier Panchenko game as Black against Kruppa from the 1990 Ukranian Championship - no doubt he got the idea to play ...e6-e5 after this encounter ) 16.a4 b6 17.c4 ae8?! 18.e2 d8 19.d2 and now e5? 20.xd5 cxd5 21.xd5 exd4 22.xe8 xe8 23.cxd4 b6 24.xd8 xd8 25.xa5 left Black a pawn down. ] 15...a5 16.a4 e8 17.e1 b6 18.c4 c7 19.xc7 xc7 20.f4 ec8 21.ad1 b5 22.b3 f8 23.a1 d5 24.g3 a7 25.e2 ca8 26.f3 b7 27.f2 c7 28.g3 646

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 5b6 29.g2 xa4 I'm not sure Black 1991.; s h o u ld h a ve d o n e t h is a s h is qu e e n sid e B) 10...c6 11.d2 a6 12.df3 f6 pawns are now split. He probably got tired of 13.d3 e6 14.e1 f7 15.e2 e8 waiting - and in any case this isn't much for 16.f4 ac7 17.c4 with a clear edge White. 30.xa4 bxa4 31.xa4 b6 32.a2 was Mokry-Schroll, Vienna 1991. ] a4 33.f4 d6 34.c2 b7 35.f3 f5 9.xf7+! This sharp w is the only way to fight 36.e2 f7 37.c4 d7 38.c5 c7 39.c3 for an opening advantage. The alternatives ba7 40.ca3 f6 41.e1 e8 42.b3 are absolutely harmless: d5 43.xa4 xa4 44.xa4 xa4 45.bxa4 [ 9.e2 0-0 10.dxe5 c5 and if anyone is d7 46.b2 h5 47.c4 h4 48.f3 hxg3 better it is Black. ] 49.xg3 c8 50.b2 d8 51.f2 b7 [ 9.dxe5 xe5 10.xd8+ xd8 11.g5 52.c4 f6 53.e3 a6 54.e2 g7 e8 12.c3 h6 13.ge4 a6 14.e3 55.d3 b4+ 56.d2 d5 57.d3 b4+ g4 15.0-0-0 xe3 16.fxe3 f5 17.f2 c6 58.d2 18.d3 e5 and White had nothing for the ½-½ pawn in Nicholson-Khmelnitsky, Budapest 1990. ] [ 9.g5 e6 10.xe6 0-0! 11.0-0 exd4 633 B04 12.a2 e5 and again Black is a healthy pawn up as in Gavric-Khmelnitsky, Pula Oral,Tomas 2540 1990. ] Nicholas 2570 10.g5+ g8 11.e6 e8 Reykjavik 2000 9...xf7 12.xc7 d8! This move was introduced by [Alexander Volzhin] American GM Lev Alburt in the early nineties. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 This line had previously been discredited 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.a4 dxe5!? because of a game in which Black had played A v e r y s h a r p m o v e w h i c h l e a d s t o w i l d 1 2 . . . Q f 7 , b u t d id n o t ge t e n o u gh f o r t h e excha n ge . A lb urt 's mo ve is a signif ic a n t complications. 8.a5 [ 8.xe5 is harmless: xe5! 9.dxe5 xd1+ im p r o ve m e n t . No w W h i t e 's K n ig h t c a n ' t 10.xd1 c6 and in this ending Black has escape from a8. 13.xa8 [ W hite can take a draw: 13.e6 e8 no real problems: 11.a5 d7 12.e6 fxe6 14.c7 as he did in Svidler-Khalifman 1995, 13.xe6 de5 In this position the activity of however White can hardly be happy with this Black's pieces is ample compensation for his result. ] pawn weaknesses. 14.xc8 ( 14.b3 g4+ The critical position of this line. 15.e1 0-0-0 was Jelica-Sasu Ducsoara, 13...exd4 14.c3 c5 15.cxd4 Istanbul(ol) 2000.) 14...xc8 15.f3 d8+ [ The tempting 15.b4?! is too optimistic: e4 16.d2 0-0 and Black's chances were by no 16.b3+ e6 17.cxd4 c6! ] means bad in Pikula -Sutter, Biel 1996 . 15...xd4 16.e3 An attempt at an ( 16...c4!? is not bad either. )] improvement. 8...6d7 [ 16.0-0 was played in Christiansen-Alburt [ 8...d5 is possible but the position arising USA 1990, but this move didn't yield White after 9.xe5 is similar to a position from the even e qua lity! T he ga me con t in ue d : e5 Kengis Variation (4...dxe5 5.Nxe5 g6 6.Bc4), 17.e3 ba6! 18.c3 f5! 19.c1 b u t t h e p a wn b e i n g o n a 5 i s c l e a r ly i n ( 19.b5!? deserves serious attention.) White's favour: 0-0 10.0-0 19...g7! 20.xd4 xd4! 21.b4?! A) Th e ac t ive 10...c5 is strongly met by After this inaccuracy W hite is in trouble. 11.xf7! with a huge edge for White: xf7 ( 21.xd4 exd4 22.b5 should be played ( 11...xf7 is even worse in view of and after xa8 23.xd4 f6 Black is 12.dxc5 e6 13.c4 ) 12.f3+ g8 slightly better.) 21...d3 22.e2 d7 13.xd5+ xd5 14.xd5+ e6 15.e4 23.c3 xa8 24.g4 b2! 25.c1 d3 cxd4 16.g5 and White had a 26.xb2 xg4+ 27.g3 xf1 28.xf1 comfortable edge in Nunn-Schroll, Vienna 647

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d4 and Black was winning. ] 16...e5 17.xd4 exd4 18.0-0 ba6 Obviously the Knight on a8 is trapped, but B l a ck n e e d s s o m e t e m p i t o t a k e i t . T h e question is can W hite utilise this time efficiently? 19.d2 e6 20.e1 f7 21.e4 d3 22.b4 xe4 23.xe4 g7 24.a3 d2 25.e2 e8 26.xe8 xe8 27.a2 xa8 28.xd2 The progress of the game is typical of this line. Black has managed to win the Knight o n a 8, bu t h as ha d to give up his c e n t ra l p a wn . No w t h e re is a p p ro xim a t e m a t e ria l e qu a lit y o n t h e b o a rd . W h it e i s slightly for preference here, since the Black forces are uncoordinated and his King is slightly exposed. c8 29.d8 e6 30.h3 [ 30.d4+ is worth considering: g8 31.h3 and Black can't grab the pawn on b4: e1+ 32.h2 xb4 in vi e w o f 33.c4+ g7 34.d4! and Black can't avoid loss of material: c6 35.e4! xf2 36.xe8 ] 30...e5! Now Black is out of danger. 31.d5 c3 32.e2 xb4 33.xe8? A time trouble blunder. [ 33.e7+ w a s g o o d e n o u g h : f7 ( 33...h6?? 34.f8+ g7 35.f4+ g5 36.xb4 ) 34.d8! and Black hardly has anything better than a draw by perpetual check: c1+ 35.h2 f4+ 36.g1 c1+ ] 33...c1+! [ White resigned since he loses a piece: 33...c1+ 34.h2 f4+ 35.g1 xd5 36.d7+ f7 ] 0-1

[ I like 7.f3! stepping up the pressure, for instance : e6 8.0-0 d7 9.c3 xe5 10.dxe5 c7 11.xe6 xe6 12.e3 g6 13.e4 c8 14.f4 g7 15.a4 Balzar,A-Birk, S/Germany 2003 W hite's advantage is obvious, but to win such a position is not so easy. ] 7...d7 8.df3 e6 [ 8...xe5! appears logical, relieving the cramp by exchanging. Then 9.xe5 e6 10.0-0 d6 11.e1 0-0 12.c3 c7 13.e2 ad8 Stefansson, H-Luther,T/ Malmo 2002 is as close to equality as Black is going to get. ] 9.c3 d6 10.e2 0-0?! It is very hard to give this move an outright question mark but it does allow White an opportunity that, say [ 10...xe5 11.xe5 b6 12.b3 h4 or ] [ 10...h6 11.d2 ( 11.0-0 0-0 ) 11...c7 did not. ] 11.g4! On the case immediately. Black is passive in the centre with no real chance to break out, so this f lank attack is entirely justified. xe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.dxe5 g6 14.h4 h6 15.h5 h7 16.g1! I like the directness of White's approach. Black is not given even a single second's grace to organise the defence. Potkin comes straight through. b6 17.g5! xc4 18.xc4 d3 [ 18...d3 19.xd3 xd3 20.gxh6 g6 21.g5 is awful for Black. ] 19.f4 hxg5 20.xg5 The presence of opposite-coloured Bishops only enhances White's attack. d5 [ 20...f6 21.g3! c2 22.e3 f7 23.exf6 xf6 24.xf6 xf6 25.e2 h7 26.ag1 634 B04 f7 27.d4 is horrible again. Black is utterly passive. ] Potkin,Vladimir 2540 Kopylov,Mihail 2432 21.f3 fd8 22.e3 b5 23.b3 [ I am not sure why White didn't choose 8th OIBM Bad Wiessee GER (7) 05.11.2004 23.0-0-0! which seems like the most obvious [Andrew Martin] way. Black has very little defence on the K i n g s i d e : f8 ( 23...g6 24.h1 c4 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 25.xc4 xc4 26.hxg6 d3 27.gxf7+ 5.xe5 c6 Definitely the ' in move'. although I xf7 28.h6+- ) 24.dg1 f5 25.xg7 am sure that is prompted by dissatisfaction e7 26.g5++- Maybe Potkin doesn't know with Black's other options rather than on the castling rule?! ] objective merit. Black is solid, but passive in 24.f2 That was his idea. d3 this line and White has a number of ways to 23...f5 be slightly better. If that's your thing, fine! 25.xg7+! f8 [ 25...xg7 26.g1+ f8 ( 26...g6 6.c4 f5 7.d2 648

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27.f6+ f8 28.xg6 will do. c2+ 8...g4 29.g3+- ) 27.b4+! ] [ Or 8...f5 9.0-0 e6 10.c4 b4 11.a3 26.g5 e8 27.f6 Such a game points up e7 Fiorito, F-Soppe, G/Tres de Febrero the problems with 5..c6. Black is relying on 2003 and now I feel that White has a slight novelty and a lack of published theory to a d va n t a ge a f t e r 12.f4! 0-0 ( 12...a5 survive. As we've seen in this very update, 13.b3 0-0 14.fd1 ) 13.b3 Black's position reacts well to the immediate Naturally these positions are manageable as sa ult wit h 6 c4 ,b ut 6 Bc4 see m s mo re for Black although either ... c6-c5 or ...e6troubling. e5 seem a long way off. ] 1-0 9.0-0 e6 10.e1 e7 11.h3 h5 12.e5 xe2 13.xe2 0-0 14.c4 The first crunch moment. Has Black equalized? I don't think so. 635 B04 He is solid, but lacks space and has no active Quillan,Gary 2322 plan. f6 15.e3 bd7 16.c3 b4 [ 16...xe5 17.dxe5 d7 18.ad1 c7 Cox,John J 2311 19.f4 fd8 20.e4 leads to a position 4NCL 2005-06 (4) 20.11.2005 reminiscent of a poor Centre-Counter. Black [Andrew Martin] can only make a draw at best by trading on the d file. ] LISTEN TO W HAT THE PREACHER SAID 1.e4 f6 He writes about it enough. 2.e5 17.g5 xc3 18.bxc3 c7 19.ad1 c5 [ 19...xe5 20.xe5 xe5 21.dxe5! d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 rather surprisingly gives a large advantage Taste. 5...c6 has plenty of miles left in the to White. The Rook comes to d7. ] tank. Please note the awful pun. I'm sure Tony would have approved. 6.c4 d7 20.d3 cxd4 21.cxd4 xe5 22.dxe5 d7 23.d4 7.f3 7b6 [ The direct 23.g3 looks promising: fc8 [ 7...e6 looks more sensible to me, keeping ( 23...h8 24.e7 fc8 25.h5! g6 the Black Knights off the same circuit. After 26.h6 g8 27.e4+- ) 24.h6 g6 25.g4 t h a t m a y c o m e 8.0-0 b5 9.d3 b7 a6 26.e4 ab8 27.g5 b5 28.cxb5 axb5 10.e1 e7 11.bd2 0-0 12.e4 a6 29.d4 Black will be continually hampered 13.g5 xg5 14.fxg5 h6 15.f3 c5! by his weakened King position. ] The break Black is hoping will bring him sa lva t io n . 16.c4 ( 16.d6 c6 17.e5 23...fe8 24.h5 f8 25.h4 h6 26.f6 [ 26.xh6 gxh6 27.xh6 g6 28.ee4! xe5 18.dxe5 g5; 16.xc5 xc5 is the most accurate way of busting open the 17.dxc5 c7; 16.dxc5 c7 ) 16...bxc4 B l a c k K i n g . ( 28.h7+ f8 although 17.xc4 e7 18.c1 cxd4 19.xd4 fd8 th re a te nin g, d o es n o t le a d to a win f o r 20.f1 a5 21.e5 xe5 22.xe5= White. ) 28...ac8 29.ef4! The point. An Lutz, C-Luther, T/Essen 2002 ] accident looms on f7. ] 8.e2! Gary Quillan doesn't play a great deal these days, but he does play very solidly and 26...g6 27.ee4?! [ 27.xg7 xg7 28.xh6+ g8 29.ee4! ] properly. He presumes Black will shut down the a2-g8 diagonal and so stations his Bishop 27...gxf6 28.exf6 ed8 29.g3 f8?? [ 29...xh4 was the remarkable get-out as sensibly as he can. In my view Black is clause: 30.xh6 ( 30.xh4 f8 31.xh6+ struggling to prove full equality against this e8 32.f8+! d7 33.xf7+ c8 plan. 34.xe6+ d7 35.e4 ) 30...d1+ [ 8.b3 g4 9.h3 h5 10.0-0 e6 11.e1 31.h2 xg3+!! 32.fxg3 d2+ 33.g1 e7 12.bd2 0-0 13.e4 f6 14.xf6+ f3+ 34.f1 h2+= It is very hard to see xf6 15.c3= Casella, M-Taylor, T/Los this variation over the board. ] Angeles 2004 leads to nothing for W hite. No t e t h a t t h e B ish op o n b 3 will a lm o st 30.xe6! fxe6 31.xh6+ f7 32.g7+! certainly be repositioned on c2 in the coming e8 33.xc7 [ 33.xg6+ w a s e v e n s p e e d i e r : d7 play. ] 649

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 34.h7+ c8 35.xc7+ xc7 36.f7+ d7 37.xe6+- ] 33...d7 34.c5 xh4 35.h5+ f7 36.xh4 d8 37.g4 d4 38.h5 xc4 39.b5+ c6 40.g5 d7 Eventually a very exciting game. As far as the opening goes Black was always a bit worse. 1-0

636 Radulski,Julian Laketic,Gojko SCG First League m (6) [Andrew Martin]

B04 2521 2479 22.10.2005

Coming up a rare excursion into one of Lev Alburt's creative lines. Black is quite OK in this game out of the opening. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.g5 The older move, but I believe 7 a4 to be superior. e6! 8.f4 dxe5 9.fxe5 c5 Black is hoping that his central pressure will negate White's chances on the f-file and on the kingside in general. 10.c3 cxd4 11.0-0 Humourous. Of course capturing on c3 is impossible. 0-0 12.cxd4 c6 13.f3 f6 A necessary challenge, lest Bg5 comes and the dark squares start to creak. 14.c3 [ 14.exf6 xf6 gives White an undoubted positional advantage, but the Black pieces are so active that he never gets the chance t o r e a l i s e h i s e d g e . 15.e3 d5! covering e6 if nothing else. 16.xd5 exd5 17.c3 g4 18.xd5 d6 19.c3 ae8 20.b3+ e6 21.xe6+ xe6 22.e5 xf1+ 23.xf1 xe5 24.dxe5 a5 25.d4 xe5 26.xe5 xe5 27.a4 f5 28.d1 f7 Bittencourt, J-Fier, A/Belo Horizonte 2 0 0 4 I t is c l e a r t h a t t h i s li n e d o e s n o t trouble Black. ] 14...fxe5 15.g5 d7 16.dxe5 xd1N A novelty however there is nothing wrong with 16...Nxe5 , as you are about to see: [ 16...xe5 17.xe5 xf1+ 18.xf1 d4+ 19.h1 xe5 20.d8 ( 20.e7 d7 21.e1 f5 22.e2 e8 23.d6 f6 24.e4 xb2 25.f3 c6 26.f1 h8 27.g4 d4 28.c2 xe4 29.d1 f5 0-1 Pupols, V-Alburt, L/USA 1987; 20.h4 d7 21.e1 f8 Morozov, D-Sabaev, S/

P s k o v 1 9 9 8) 20...d7 21.e1 h5 22.xb6 axb6 23.d3 c6 24.xe6+ h8 25.g3 e8 26.h3 c5 27.b3 e5 28.h4 g7 29.f1 f8 30.c4 f2! 31.xc5 xf1+ 32.g1 xg1+ 33.xg1 d4+ 34.f1 f6 35.g8 h5 36.c4 h4 37.d3 g5 38.e4+ f5!! 39.d2+ f4 40.e2 xb2 0-1 Dueckstein , A-Fauland, A/ Austria 1989 The references suggest that this is not a variation which is frequently used these days. 7 Ng5 is uncommon. ] 17.axd1 xe5 18.xe5 xf1+ 19.xf1 xe5 I like Black here too. He's pawn up for the time being and the Knight on b6 plays a very useful role protecting the Rook on a8, should the W hite Rook come to the eighth rank. 20.a4 g7 [ 20...f7 might be marginally better, keeping an eye on e6. ] 21.a5 d7 22.e4 b6 [ 22...f8! was more accurate: A) 23.d8 b6 24.axb6 ( 24.e7? a6+ ) 24...axb6 25.d6 a6+ 26.c4 xd8 27.xd8 xd6 28.xa6 c5; B) 23.e7 b6! ] 23.xe6 a6+ 24.g1 f8 25.d5 c8 26.axb6 axb6 27.a1 b5 28.a7+ d7 29.e3 c7 30.a8 f6 The position looks very drawish now. 31.xf6 xf6 32.h4 [ 32.xb6 c1+ 33.f2 xb2 ] 32...xb2 33.f8+ g7 34.g8+ f6 35.f8+ e5! Going for it! 36.f3 [ 36.f4+ is tempting but I doubt White can win after xd5 37.xc7 d4+ 38.h2 d3 Black's extra queenside pawn, the strong bishop and White's offside King give ample compensation for the exchange. No wonder Radulski didn't go for this! ] 36...d4 37.xd4+ xd4 38.f6 d3 [ 38...c5 ] 39.f2 d7 40.e6 [ 40.xb6 ] 40...c4 41.e1?! The latter stages of the game are without doubt affected by the clock. d5 42.e2 xf3?? [ 42...f7 43.d2+ c4 ] 43.d2+ e5 44.xd7 h5 45.xh7 f4 46.b7 Despite the final result, Alburt's 7...e6 is holding up well. 1-0

650

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 637 Reyniers,Pieter Marin,Mihail XXVII Andorra Open (1) [John Watson]

B04 2046 2583 18.07.2009

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.g5 [ and 7.a4 ] [ 7.e2 are well-known alternatives. ] 7...e6 Alburt's defence. 8.f3 [ 8.f4 is the main option. ] 8...d7!? A sideline, perhaps meant to throw off his much lower-rated opponent. [ The famous main line is 8...e7 9.e4 dxe5 10.g5 b4+ 11.c3 a5 12.f6 ( 12.f6+ f8 13.d5 e4 has been widely tes te d an d is d yna mica lly equa l 14.g3 a6 ) 12...xf6 13.xf6 0-0 14.xe5 xe5 15.dxe5 with a small endgame pull for White. ] [ 8...0-0 is almost never played: 9.h3 h6 ( 9...h5 10.g4 ) 10.f3 with the idea Bxh6 is difficult for Black: dxe5 ( 10...a5 11.xh6 a4 12.g5 dxe5 13.d2! axb3 14.de4! ) 11.dxe5 c6 12.xh6 xe5 13.g5 ( 13.xg7 ) 13...d3+!? 14.cxd3 xb2 15.0-0 xa1 16.d2 with a strong attack. ] 9.e4 dxe5 10.f6+ [ 10.dxe5 is also good, for example, d4 ( or 10...a5 11.f6+ xf6 12.xf6 g8 but W hite still stands better af ter 13.a4; 10...xe5?! 11.f6+ xf6 12.xf6 g8 13.h4 f5?! 14.c3 c6 15.g5 d4 16.xh7 e5+ 17.f1 g7 18.xg7 xg7 19.e1 d7 20.b5 and White is on top, Van der Wiel, J-Hoeksema, Netherlands 1991) 11.bc3 ( 11.c3 xe5 12.f4 followed by Bxc7 wins the dark squares with some advantage, although this isn't so clear.) 11...c6 12.0-0 ( I like the looks of 12.e3! xe5 13.0-0-0 with attack ) A) 12...xe5 13.g3 ( but 13.f4! ) 13...bd7 14.e3 b4 15.a3 a5 , when White could keep the advantage by 16.fd1 0-0 17.a4! threatening b4; B) 12...xe5 13.f4 f5 14.g3!? a5!? ( 14...d4 15.e3; 14...c5 15.ce4 e7 16.g5 ) 15.xc7 d4?! 16.f4 0-0 17.fe1 b5 Ramesh, R

(2484) -Gozzoli, Y (2429), Abu Dhabi 2004, and Finkel points out 18.e5! ] 10...xf6 11.xf6 g8 12.dxe5 d4 13.c3! Probably Marin was regretting his opening choice. He may have expected [ 13.f4 8d7 14.g5 , when Black may already be slightly better, e.g., ( 14.h4 xe5 15.xh7?? f3+ 16.gxf3 h8 ) 14...c5 ( 14...a5! 15.a4 c5 ) 15.c3 a5 16.a3 a4 17.a2 e4 18.xe4 xe4+ 19.d1 d7 and Black stood much better in Ljubojevic, L (2625) -Alburt, L (2565), USA 1990. ] [ Or 13.f4 c6 ( 13...xf4 14.xf4 a5 15.a4 d7 16.0-0 c6 ) 14.xd4 xd4 15.c3 d7 16.e3 xb3 17.axb3 c6 18.0-0 d7 19.b4 b6 20.d4 e7 21.b5 b7 22.a3!? ( 22.f4 a6 23.bxa6 xa6 24.f2 ) 22...a6 23.bxa6 xa6 24.xa6 xa6 25.a1 a8 26.e4 b7 wit h a p p ro xim a t e e qu a li t y, G e e n e n , M (2329)-Cornette, M (2329), France 2003. ] 13...8d7 14.e3? White's big chance for an upset goes by the wayside. He should have played either: [ 14.f4!? , for example, xf4 15.xf4 g5 16.e3 ( 16.g3! is still better: c5 17.h4 g4 18.b5 d8 19.d1+ d7 20.c3 ) 16...xe5 17.b5 d8 18.d4 bd7 19.0-0-0 a6 20.c3 e7 21.he1 with an ongoing initiative, Hoff mann, M (2370)-Schulze, U (2400), Germany 1991. ] [ Or, be tt er yet , 14.g5! h6 ( 14...c6 15.e3! xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.e4 ed7 18.c4! c5 19.0-0-0; 14...xe5+ 15.xe5 xe5 16.b5 with the idea d7 17.f4 f6 18.0-0-0+ ) 15.xh6 xe5+ 16.e3! xe3+ 17.xe3 with a big advantage. ] 14...xc3+! [ 14...xe3+ 15.fxe3 xf6 16.exf6 d7 isn't so bad either. ] 15.bxc3 xf6 16.exf6 d7 17.0-0-0 c6 18.f3 d7 [ 18...g5! ] 19.he1 [ 19.g5 ] 19...0-0-0 20.d4 g5 21.h3 g6 22.c4 xf6 23.d3 h6 24.e5? [ 24.xa7 ] 24...d5! 25.de1 h4 26.xd5 xd5 651

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27.e5 h6 28.f2 a4 Black has material and attack. 29.b2 f4 30.f1 d5 31.a3 c4 32.e4 b5 33.xc4 xc4 34.xc4 bxc4 35.g3 e2 36.xa7 xg3 37.f2 f1 38.c1 h2 39.d2 xf3+ 40.e3 e5 41.g3 g6 42.f3 f5 43.a4 b7 44.a5 e5 0-1

638 Rozentalis,Eduardas Sokolov,Andrei Bern op Berna (5) [Alexander Volzhin]

B04 2585 2565 1992

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 An old move, revived by Bent Larsen. 5.xe5 Now let's have a look at the provocative 5... Nd7.This is one of the most interesting lines in Alekhine's Defence. For many years this move was considered to be bad, but this game ( at the very top level!) has proved that black's resources should not be underestimated. d7!? 6.xf7!? As other moves are rather harmless, this knight sacrifice is the only attempt to fight for the advantage. xf7 7.h5+ e6 The king has to go to the centre. [ 7...g8?? 8.xd5+ e6 9.xe6# ] [ 7...g6 8.xd5++- winning ] 8.c4 [ After some fiascos with 8.c4 white switched to 8.g3 but b5 9.a4 c6 10.axb5 g6 11.e2+ f7 12.bxc6 7b6 leads to an unclear position. Very few games have been played in this line ,so here is a wide field for future investigations. ] 8...5f6 9.d5+ d6 10.f7 [ The seemingly strong 10.f4+? fails to e5! 11.c5+ ( 11.dxe6+ xe6 and after the queen 's re trea t the king escapes to f 7) 11...e7 12.g5 e8-+ winning in Andreev-Kharlamov, USSR 1981 ] 10...e5!? After considering different knight moves the conclusion is obvious: the knight should go to the centre! [ 10...b8 is bad: 11.c5+ d7 ( 11...xc5 12.e3+ d6 13.a3! a6 14.c4+ d7 15.d6! winning ) 12.b5+ c6 13.dxc6+ bxc6 ( 13...xc6? 14.0-0+-

winning ) 14.0-0 c7 15.f4+ with a strong attack: b7 16.b3! ] [ 10...b6 is also insufficient. The following line shows how difficult it is to defend this position: 11.c3 e8 12.f4+ d7 13.e6+ d8 14.e5 d7 15.0-0-0 The previous moves were forced. Black is a piece up, but white has ample compensation. First of all, c5 is threatened, winning the knight back. e8 (protecting the c7 square) 16.d3! The queen exchange after ( 16.c5 f5 17.cxb6 xe5 18.xe5 axb6 simplifies the defence) 16...d6 17.c5 f7 18.e3 g5 19.g3 g7 20.b5 f5 21.he1 f6 22.cxb6 axb6 23.d6! wins ] 11.f4 Now 12.c5 is threatened, so black's next move is forced. c5 12.c3 [ 12.dxc6? a5+ 13.c3 xc6-+ is simply bad-black wins ] [ 12.d2 in my opinion doesn't promise w h i t e t o o m u c h : g5! ( 12...e8?? 13.e4+!+- winning ) 13.g3 g4 14.0-0-0 h6! ( theory considers 14...g8 15.e1 g5 as the only defence, but my analysis proves that the text is even better) 15.e1 f8 16.xe5+ d7 17.e6+ e8 Is white's queen trapped? Not at all! 18.d6! exd6 19.xf6+ d7 20.xd8 xd8 and black has excellent compensation for a pawn. ] 12...a6 [ 12...d7? is a b l u n d e r 13.b5+ xb5 14.e6+ winning ] 13.0-0-0 [ A f t e r t h i s g a m e t h e m o v e 13.b4 became white's main weapon. W e'll consider it in the next game. ] 13...g6! This is the point. 14...Bh6 is threatened. 14.xe5+ [ 14.e1 h6!!-+ winning ] 14...xe5 Black's king is brave isn't he? 15.d6 h6+ 16.c2 e8 17.d5+ What else? xd5 18.xd5+ f6 19.d3 [ A month later the game RublevskyHau ch ard was p layed . W hite p ref erre d 19.e4+ but also lost: g7 20.e5+ f7 ( 20...g8?? 21.f6+!+- winning ) 21.d3 ( 21.dxe7 f5 22.d3 xe7 23.d6+ xd6 24.xd6 ad8 25.c7+ d7 ) 21...g7 22.f4+ g8 23.e1 f8 24.g5 exd6 25.d5+ f7 26.xd6 652

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd5 27.e8+ f8 28.cxd5 c4 29.xc4 b5 30.b3 g7 ( The last trap: 30...f5+?? 31.xf5 xe8 32.d6+ ) 31.xc8 c5 32.e7+ h6 0 -1. ] 19...exd6-+ winning 20.xd6+ f7 T h e d re a m c a m e t ru e ! T h e k in g is s a f e ! 21.e4 c6 22.e5 d8 with the idea of ... Bf5 and ...Rxd3 0-1

pawn. ] 14.cxd5 xd5 15.xd5 cxd5 16.xd5 e6 17.xb7 c5 18.c7 b3 19.xd8 fxd8 20.ad1 Black has no compensation. f6 21.e5 xe5 22.xe5 xd1 23.xd1 c8 24.f3 [ Another idea is 24.a6!? c5 25.d8+ h7 26.d3+ g6 27.f4 ] 24...g5 25.d3 c5 26.g4 g7 27.f2 f5 28.e1 d4 29.e5! c1 30.e3! b3 31.xe6 e1+ 32.e2 fxg4 33.f2 c1 639 B04 34.d3 gxf3 35.gxf3 c5 36.g6+ f7 Rublevsky,Sergei 2676 37.f5 d1 38.c6 b3? A blunder, but the e7 Carlsen,Magnus 2714 g a m e w a s l o s t a n yw a y . 39.e6+ World Blitz Moscow RUS blitz (25) 22.11.2007 40.xb3 d2+ 41.g3 xb2 42.g8 h5 43.c7+ f6 44.xa7 h4+ 45.h3 f2 [John Watson] 46.d5 e5 47.e4 f4 48.f7+ e3 Another Blitz game. Rublevsky is incredibly 49.f5 g4+ 50.fxg4 well-prepared, so W hite's treatment bears 1-0 watching. Black will definitely have to find an improvement. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 B04 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.e2 f5 7.0-0 640 The Kasparov/Polgar/Anand 7 g4!? isn't right Sarma,Venu 2382 for Rublevsky's style. d7 8.f3 Miroshnichenko,Evgenij 2680 [ T o n y K o s t e n ' s 8.g4!? is discussed in 2nd Mayors Cup (4) 03.05.2009 Lupulescu-Grunberg. ] [John Watson] 8...e6 9.a3 This idea (preparing c4 and preventing ...Nb4 in response) has been used 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 in various positions, for example, on move 7, 5.xe5 c6 Arguably, this has become the and on move 9 of the main line. e7 main line of the Alekhine Defence! I hope it [ 9...c7 ] doesn't remain so, because I think of the [ or 9...d6 would be more active, Alekhine as a romantic, counterattacking preventing Bf4 and in some cases preparing opening, and this variation is a super-safe, ...Nf4. Black slips into passivity in this game, stodgy one. 6.c4 We've covered a lot about s o m a y b e t h i s wa s a g o o d p o i n t t o d o 5... c6 over the past couple of years. The something positive. ] game 10.c4 5f6 11.c3 h6 [ Dhar-Miroshnichenko, Mumbai 2009 from [ 11...c7!? ] this month followed known paths by 6.c4 12.f4 0-0 13.d5! An instructive positional b4! 7.e3 ( 7.a3? xd4! ) 7...f5 8.a3 break. It's very hard to break down the ...c6/... d7 . White's knight is misplaced on a3, e6 structure, used today in Defences like the and after 9.g4!? Black should have played Caro-Kann, Scandinavian, Alekhine's, and simply e6 with a good game. ] Slav (this column deals with 3 of these!). If [ A s w e ' v e s e e n i n t h i s c o l u m n , 6.d3 you get a chance to do so by playing d5, the is also played and is quite logical, aiming as resulting activation of your pieces will usually it does towards the king and leaving the way favour W hite because of his greater space. o p e n f o r c 4 . A g a i n , d7 should be exd5?! a n s w e r e d b y 7.f3 , when Black has to [ 13...cxd5 14.cxd5 e4 15.d4! xc3 decide how to organise his pieces. Adams16.bxc3 c5 17.f3 is unpleasant for Black, Carlsen, Moscow 2007 went 7f6 8.h3 but probably better than activating all of ( 8.0-0 g4 9.bd2 ) 8...b4 9.c4 f5 White's pieces. As it goes, Black gives up a 10.a3 (see notes to this game in the 653

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Archives) e6 11.c3 bd5 12.c2 e7 ( 12...d6!? ) 13.e3 and perhaps White had a little something. ] 6...g6 [ 6...d7 7.f3 7f6 8.h3 ( maybe in some of these positions White needn't be so worried about ...Bg4, because he hasn't committed his queen's knight. That is, 8.0-0 g4 9.bd2! e6 10.h3 h5 11.e1 ) 8...e6 ( 8...g6 is similar to the main game; 8...f5 9.0-0 e6 is Shirov-Carlsen Moscow 2007 from an earlier update) 9.b3 e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.c4 c7 12.c3 b5 13.g5 ( 13.e2 b7 14.d1 bxc4 15.xc4 cd5 16.e5 wit h a n e d g e) 13...b7 14.e5 bxc4 15.xc4 b5 16.xc6? ( 16.e2! d5 17.xe7 xe7 18.c1 ) 16...xc6 17.xb5 xb5 18.xb5 a5 ( 18...b8! f a vo u r s B l a c k) 19.a4 a6 1/2-1/2 Westerinen-Clemens, Velden 2009. ] 7.0-0 g7 8.e1 0-0 9.b3 d7 10.f3 Exchanges are not necessarily bad, but White needs to avoid a pawn on e5, blocking the efile and presenting a target. e8 11.h3 [ 11.c4 and 12 Nc3 is another setup I feel that White has a small pull regardless. Now Black tries to prevent that: ] 11...b5 12.a4 b4 13.a5 Trying to isolate Black's b-pawn from its support by ...a5, and incidentally depriving a queen or knight access to b6. Perhaps the direct central advance [ 13.c4 promises more: c7 ( 13...bxc3 14.xc3 is a nice-looking isolated queen pawn position in which W hite has space and activity, but also queenside weaknesses to attack, but covering up those weaknesses via xc3 15.bxc3 is depressing) 14.c5! (this cedes to Black a permanent outpost on d5, but establishes lasting pressure in the centre, prevents Black's pawn breaks, and wins an outpost on d6 if Black moves his epawn) f8! ( 14...f6? 15.e5 wins a pawn) 15.f4 ( or 15.e3 e6 16.bd2 ) 15...e6! 16.e5!? xb3 ( 16...d5 17.xd5 xd5 18.bd2 ) 17.xb3 d5 18.bd2 followed by doubling on the e-file. ] 13...a6 14.bd2 [ 14.c4 5f6! 15.f4 c5 is approximately e q u a l t h e n 16.d5 gains space, but opens the a1-h8 diagonal for Black and leaves

White's bishop on b3 poorly placed for the moment (later it goes to a4). ] [ 14.g5!? ] 14...c7 [ 14...e5!? 15.e4! targets d6, but that doesn't necessarily mean much after c7 . Then maybe 16.g5 , having in mind Bh4g3. ] 15.e4 e6!? It's often a bad sign when Black has to sit around, normally indicated by this move it is nevertheless a possible prelude to ... c5. [ An option is 15...h6 16.c4 bxc3 17.bxc3 ab8 ] 16.c4 bxc3 17.bxc3 c5 18.a3 cxd4 19.d6!? [ Better 19.cxd4! 7f6 20.c5 ] 19...d8 20.cxd4 7f6 21.xf6+ xf6 22.c5 b5 [ And now 22...d7 23.b4 c8 was equal. ] 23.e5 d7? 24.d6? Missing or underestimating [ 24.xf7! xf7 25.xe6! xe6 26.xe6+ xe6 27.b3+ c4! 28.e1+ e5 29.xc4+ d5 30.a6+ f7 31.dxe5 ] 24...xe5 [ 24...f6 ] 25.dxe5 a6 26.g4 c8 27.ed1 c3 28.b4 c8 29.a4 c4 30.b3 c3 31.b4 c4 32.b3 xa4!? Brave, but he sh o u ld p ro b a b ly r e p e a t . 33.xa4 c3 34.b6 d8 35.aa1 c6 36.b4 a8 37.ac1 dc8 38.xc6 xc6 39.b6 c2 40.e1 c4 41.b7 h5 42.e3 c6 43.xc6 xc6 With equality. I'll leave it at that, since some terrible mistakes (presumably in time trouble) marred the rest , and th e players deserve better. ½-½

641

B04 Shirov,Alexei 2739 Carlsen,Magnus 2714 World Blitz Moscow RUS blitz (16) 21.11.2007 [John Watson] Finally we get to the current 'main line' of 6 Bc4, although that can change at any minute. I suspect that 6 Bd3 and 6 Be2 are equally 654

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 good. This game doesn't say much for 6 Bc4, at any rate. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.c4 In his article, Finkel calls this the 'Strong Players' move. d7 [ 6...f5 7.f3! is a problem, when Black has no easy way to level things in view of e6 8.xf7! ( 8.d3 is also possible) 8...xf7 9.g4 f6 10.gxf5 xf5 11.d2! with two bishops and more targets to aim at in an ending. ] 7.f3 [ 7.0-0 xe5 8.dxe5 e6!? ( 8...f5 ) 9.b3 g6 10.e2 g7 11.d2!? f4 12.e4 d4!= was recently played in Popilski, G (2238)-Raznikov, D (2162)/ Kemer TUR 2007. ] 7...7f6 And together with 7... N7b6, he calls this 'The critical Line'. [ 7...e6 seems to be hanging in there, however. Anand-Conquest, Calatrava 2007 continued 8.0-0 e7 ( 8...b5 was seen in He rn a n d e z G u e rre ro , G - L u t h e r , T / Do s Hermanas 2003 and Kasimzhanov-Brochet, French Teams 2004, both on ChessPublishing ) A) 9.b3 b5!? 10.e1 0-0 11.a4 7f6 12.e2!? ( 12.g5 is mo re p o in t e d) 12...b4 13.e5 b7 was Skripchenko, A (2456)-Conquest, S (2543)/Pulvermuehle GER 2004, which Martin assesses as equal. Fair enough.; B) 9.e1 0-0 10.bd2 not bad, but ( 10.d3 is a nice alternative, with the idea of c 4 t h e n b5 11.a4 b4 12.c4 bxc3 13.bxc3 gives White space and very active pieces. Maybe this explains why Black h a s n ' t b e e n p l a y i n g 7 . . . e 6 a s m u c h) 10...b5! 11.f1 b7 ( 11...a5!? 12.e4 a6 was played in one game) 12.c3 c7 13.a4 a6 14.e4 5f6 15.g5 fe8 and again, Black may have a very small disadvantage, but it shouldn't be a serious problem with good play. ] [ 7...7b6 8.b3 ( see the Archive for 8.e2 in Quillan-Cox, 4NCL 2005-6. Andrew Ma rt in a pp ro ve s of W h it e's trea tm en t .) 8...g4 9.h3 h5 10.g4!? (interesting but not necessary) ( 10.0-0 ) 10...g6 11.e5 d7! ( 11...e6 12.h4 is a problem then b4+ 13.c3 e7 14.h5 xb1 15.xb1 f6

16.d3 should favour W hite's bishops) 12.xg6 hxg6 13.c4 5f6 14.f4 a5+ 15.c3 0-0-0 intending ... e5, Zhang ZhongYi Jiangchuan, Vuxi 2005 ] 8.h3 [ 8.0-0 g4 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 b6 hits c4 and d4, taking back one bishop. ] 8...f5 9.0-0 e6 [ 9...h6 is Palliser-Ledger on ChessPublishing, when Martin recommends simply 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 c7 12.c4 .Hard to argue with - W hite has his usual advantages without his usual disadvantages! And ...h6 looks stupid. ] 10.g5 This doesn't achieve much. [ 10.b3 d6!? (yes!) 11.c4 e7 ( darn. 11...f4 is just as good) 12.c3 ( 12.h4 ) 12...h6 Kindermann-Loeffler, Bundesliga 2006/7 and Finkel suggests 13.e2 ] 10...e7 11.bd2 h6 12.xf6 xf6 White only has a space advantage in return for the bishops, and it is shaky. I already prefer Black. 13.c3 0-0 14.b3 c5 15.c2 xc2 16.xc2 c8 17.b3 [ 17.dxc5 establishes the normal Caro-Kann/ French pawn structure 4:3 vs 3:2. I like Black. ] 17...c7 18.fe1 fd8 19.ad1 cxd4 20.xd4 c5 21.2f3 d5 22.c4!? Obviously weakening, although it's connected with a simplification plan. d7 23.b5 b6!? 24.e2? xd1+ 25.xd1 xf2+! 26.xf2 e4 27.d4 xd4 28.fxd4 xf2 29.xf2 xc4 30.b3 c5 31.xa7?! In light of the threat ...e5. Otherwise, [ 31.a3 a5 32.dc2 e5! ( 32...b5 33.f3 b4?! 34.c4 xa2 35.xb4 isn't what Black was after. )] 31...a5 32.c8 xa2+ 33.g3 b2 34.f4 [ 34.d6 d2 ( 34...e5? 35.c4 ) 35.6b5 e5 36.f5 d3+ 37.f2 xb3 ] 34...xg2 35.d6 d2 36.e3 h2 37.xb7 xh3+ 38.e2 e5 39.f3 e4 40.d2 f5 41.b4 f4! 42.d6 h2+ 43.e1 e3 44.f3 b2 45.b5 g5 46.e5 h5 47.d3 b3 48.c5 b1+ 49.e2 h4 50.e6 h3 0-1

655

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 642 Short,Nigel D Miles,Anthony J 2nd IECC Ohrid MKD (13) [Nigel Davies]

B04 44.d4 47.b6 1-0 14.06.2001

b8

45.c5

643 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.c4 c7 [ Black has also played the naive-looking 6...b4 and perhaps it isn't bad. In fact even Michael Adams obtained very little out of the opening in one game of his against Burkart, Adams - Burkart, European Club Ch. , London 1996 going on 7.e3 ( 7.a3? xd4 ) 7...f5 8.a3 d7 9.xd7 xd7 10.e2 g6 ( 10...e6 also looks very rea so na ble) 11.d5 g7 12.d4 c2+ 13.xc2 xc2 14.d2 xd4 15.xd4 0-0 16.0-0 cxd5 17.cxd5 and now the immediate d6 would leave things fairly even. ] 7.c3 d7 8.xd7 [ Apicella - Miles, Linares zonal 1995 varied with 8.f3 g6 9.e2 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e3 a6 ( 11...f6!? ) 12.a4 and now a5! was the best ] 8...xd7 9.e3 f5 10.g4?! Short loves to throw his pawns forwards like this, though very few other GMs would have played like this. Miles reacts very energetically and well. c8 11.e2 e6 12.c2 b5! 13.f3 bxc4 14.xc6+ d7 15.a4 [ 15.xa8 xa8 would have given Black excellent compensation for the exchange but now he is simply better. ] 15...c8 16.xc4 d5 17.xd7+ xd7 18.d3 b4 19.d2 0-0 20.0-0 xc3 21.bxc3 a4 22.f4 f5?! [ I prefer the immediate 22...c4 after which 23.f3 ( 23.xc4 xc4 24.f3 fc8 ) 23...xd3 24.xd3 c4 25.b1 fc8 is better for Black ] 23.gxf5 exf5 24.f3 c4 25.a4 xd3 26.xd3 c4 27.a5 b8 28.e1 With White's rook threatening to come into e5, things are getting out of control. I blame 22... f5. f6 29.d5 e4 30.e3 b7 31.a6 d7 32.b1 d6 33.b4 c8 34.d4 f7 35.d1 e8 36.e1+ d8 37.e6 e8 38.c4 d6 39.xa7 xc4 40.xc4 xa7 41.xc8+ xc8 42.f2 d7 43.e3 a8

Short,Nigel D Timman,Jan H Tilburg [Alexander Volzhin]

b2

46.a7

a2

B04 2660 2630 1991

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.e2!? We saw in the previous game that black has very good chances for equality after 7.Ng5. That is why Nigel Short tries a relatively new move. c6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 a5 10.a4 dxe5 11.dxe5 d4 12.xd4 xd4 13.e1 e6 14.d2 d5 15.f3 c5 16.e4! with the idea of Qh4 and Bh6- rel="nofollow"> b4! It seems that Black has obtained good counterplay: 17.Bd5 ed 18. Qd5 Be6 gives black good compensation for a pawn because of his domination of the light squares. But Nigel Short finds an excellent positional idea. 17.c4! b6 18.b3! xc4 19.bxc4 This assessment may seem strange to you. White has an exposed pawn structure on the queenside, Black has a pair of Bishops. B u t B l a c k h a s n o re a l wa y t o a t t a c k t h e doubled pawns. Even more importantly, next move White will take the only open file (d-file) under his control, and after the unavoidable exchange of the dark-squared Bishops White will dominate the dark squares. e8 20.d1 c5 21.h4 b6 22.e3! c6 23.h6 h8 24.d8 b7 [ Probably Black should give up his Queen 24...d7!? 25.d4 axd8 26.xc6 xc6 27.f4 d7 28.g5 with reasonable chances to hold the position. ] 25.ad1 g7 [ Grabbing the pawn costs a piece for Black: 25...xa4!? 26.e7! xf3 27.xa8 xa8 28.d8 a1+ 29.h2 xe5+ 30.f4 xf4+ 31.xf4 xd8 32.xd8+ g7 33.xa8 and White should win this endgame. ] 26.8d7! [ 26.xg7? axd8 ] 26...f8 Black must be careful, otherwise tactical blows work: [ 26...xe5 27.xf7! ] 656

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 26...e4 27.xf7! ] 27.xg7 xg7 28.1d4 ae8 29.f6+ g8 30.h4 h5 From now, only one White piece moved. Which one do you think? The king!!! 31.h2! c8? Timman misses White's idea. [ He should have tried 31...c8 But this move takes pressure off the a8 - h1 diagonal a n d a llo ws 32.g4! Black is hopelessly lost. In his comments in Informant-54 the winner g i v e s t h e f o l l o w i n g v a r i a t i o n s : hxg4 ( 32...xd7 33.gxh5 gxh5 34.g5+ h7 35.xh5+ g7 36.g4# ) 33.g5 g3+! ( 33...xd7 34.h5; 33...b7 34.f3 ) 34.fxg3 b7 35.e4 xa4 36.h5 xc2+ 37.f2 gxh5 ( 37...f5 38.hxg6! ) 38.d3 e4 39.d2 b1 40.d1 c2 41.7d2 xc4 42.d4+- winning ] 32.g3! ce8 33.f4! c8 34.g5! Excellent, Nigel! 1-0

must try to chip away at and eventually undermine the pawn on c3. c5 17.e2 d5 18.f3 fe8 19.e3 ad8 20.ad1 He rn a n d e z G u e rre ro , G - L u t h e r , T / Do s Hermanas 2003. ] 9.b3 b5!? [ 9...0-0 10.c4 was obviously what Conquest was afraid of. W hite is clearly a bit better with chances of a Kingside attack. ] 10.e1N [ 10.a4 b4 11.c4 bxc3 12.bxc3 There's a loose quality to the White queenside which gives Black every chance of counterplay. 0-0 13.e1 a5 14.a3 a6 15.c2 xa3 16.xa3 c7 17.c4 b4 18.c3 c5 19.b5 b6 20.ad1 ad8 21.c2 xc2 22.xc2 f6 23.e5 xb5 24.axb5 cxd4= Bologan, V-Conquest, S/Santo Domingo 2002 ] 10...0-0 11.a4 7f6 12.e2 b4 13.e5 A p i n p r i c k . b7= In comparison with the Luther game mentioned earlier, White doesn't have control over the position and, in 644 B04 particular, has to consider the implications of Skripchenko,Almira 2456 the imminent ...c6-c5!. If White can establish Conquest,Stuart 2543 and consolidate a Knight on d4, then I believe II GM-Tage Pulvermuehle GER (9) 26.02.2004 he has prospects of a big advantage, but if he cannot then Black will equalize easily. 14.a5 [Andrew Martin] a6 He shouldn't permit a5-a6! 15.d2 c5 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 16.df3 cxd4 17.xd4 c5 18.df3 5.xe5 c6 Remains a solid choice, although T h e r e y o u h a v e i t ! W h i t e s t a r t s t o g o not especially ambitious. 5...c6 works best backwards and immediately Black's position when White is desperate to win. 6.c4 d7 improves. c7 19.d2 ad8 A standard 7.f3 Refusing simplification must be the best deployment. I guess he leaves the Rook on f8 purely to guard against a tactical attack on f7. chance. [ 7.e2 xe5 8.dxe5 f5 9.0-0 e6 20.c4 c8 Defending a6. 21.d3 e7 shows a simple Black plan in action. The White is trying hard to angle for a Kingside exchange makes the defence easier and it's attack so Conquest increases his defensive possible to see good squares for all the strength. 22.g5 [ 22.ad1 g6 23.xg6 hxg6 24.e5 black pieces now. ...Be7, ...Qb6, ...0-0, ... d5! 25.h3 fd8 is fine for Black. ] Rfd8, ...Rd7, ...and ... Rad8 would be my [ 22.c3 bxc3 23.xc3 ed5 24.d2 a8 line-up. 10.d1 h4 11.xd5? Poor. exd5 sees the Black queen moving away from the 12.f3 c5+ 13.e3 xe3+ 14.xe3 centre but she nevertheless has an xc2 Marijanovic, I-Tarakcija, H/Bizovac influence on the game: ] CRO 2004. ] 22...g6 23.xg6 hxg6 24.e3 7...e6 8.0-0 e7 [ 8...b5 is similar to the game. 9.b3 b7 An admission that she sees no way forward. A vague attempt to win by retaining 10.bd2 c5 11.c3 e7 12.e4 0-0 e7 13.e1 a6 14.c2 5f6 15.g3 cxd4 pieces. 25.b6 d5 26.ac1 a8 27.c4 16.xd4 The solid occupation of d4 is what bxc3 28.bxc3 h5 Conquest's games are gives W hite any edge that's going. Black always most interesting and he can usually 657

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26...xa4 27.xe8 xe8 A case of the lower-rated player chickening out. ] [ Thus the normal 11...d5 seems safest. ] 12.xf3 f5!? Black seems to be relying on this very sharp move to see him through. 12... f5 has good and bad things painted all over it. Black threatens ..f5-f4 and if he is able to get ...e7-e5 at some point in the not too distant f uture the advancing pawns might caus e White inconvenience. The defect is obvious: B la ck we a ke n s t h e l igh t sq u a re s. I n o u r featured game White is intimidated by the idea of ...f4. [ 12...e5 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.c5! d7 15.xc6 bxc6 16.d6 is a good way to tackle 12...e5. White's superior pawns give him a distinct advantage. e4 17.ad1 e5 18.xd8 axd8 19.xe4 g4 20.f4 f5 21.d6 h6 22.c4 d4 23.d6 e8 24.h3 xd1 25.xd1 e5 26.xe5 xe5 27.d7+Pasko, A-Pervakov, S/ Dnipropetrovsk 2005 ] 13.xc6?!N [ 13.d2! is critical, allowing Black to execute his ' threat' A) All roads seem to lead to Rome for White after 13...f4: 13...f4 14.xf4 A1) 14...xd4 15.ac1 ( 15.xc6 xc3 16.xc3 bxc6 17.h6 f7 18.ad1 ) 15...e5 16.g5 d7 17.e4; A2) 14...xd4 15.xb7 b8 16.e4; B) 13...e5 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.d5+ h8 16.ad1 645 B04 B1) 16...e7 17.g5 f6 18.xf6+ xf6 19.xc6 ( 19.f4 e4 20.e3 ad8 Smolin,Dmitry 2191 21.c5 xd5 22.xd5 f7 23.c3 Pervakov,Sergey 2149 f6= ) 19...bxc6 20.d6 g7 21.c5 Tch-UKR Alushta UKR (2) 16.04.2006 c8 22.c7+ e7 23.d7 [Andrew Martin] Shlivinskas, M-Savko, A/Jurmala 1992; B2) 16...e4 17.h6 xh6 1/2-1/2 Kafka, 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 G-Roberts, P/W est Bromwich 2004 A 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g6 7.f3 g7 8.e3 slightly baffling decision as 18 Qxh6 is 0-0 9.e2 c6 10.0-0 g4 11.b3 xf3 clearly better for White! Thus I am not [ 11...e8!? 12.c1 e5 13.dxe5 dxe5 convinced that Black is able to attain 14.c5 e4 is another approach, leading to equality in this line. ] simplification: 15.cxb6 exf3 16.xf3 xf3 17.xf3 axb6 18.fd1 h4 19.a4 e5 13...bxc6 14.f4 e5! he has to play this move 20.f4 h5 21.g5 xg5 1/2-1/2 Kaps, D- before e7 gets nailed down. 15.dxe5 dxe5 Djuric, S/Rome 2005 W ith Odd, because 16.fxe5 [ 16.e1 f6 17.d1 was modest and 22.xg5 c6 is better for White: 23.e3 equal. ] a5 24.d5 xb3 25.b1 c5 26.c7 The good things about Black's ( 26.xb6 xa4 27.xa8 xa8 ) 16...xe5

persuade his opponent to join in the fun. He engineers a messy position and then takes his chances. Here both players appear to be in time-trouble that is my only explanation for the howlers that follow. 29.c4?? Exposing the b4 square! [ 29.ed1 xf3 30.xf3 xf3 31.gxf3 is roughly equal. ] 29...c8?? [ 29...xf3! is surely easy enough, time trouble or not: 30.xf3 ( 30.gxf3 b8-+ ) 30...xf3 31.gxf3 b4 32.ed1 xa5 ] 30.b1 d6 31.ed1 c5?! [ 31...xf3 appears good again: 32.xf3 xh2+ 33.f1 xf3 34.gxf3 f4 35.c5 This would be unclear if it were not for cxc5 36.xc5 xc5 37.xa6 xa5 38.d8+ h7 I just don't like this position for White in the long term Black will creep all over him. ] 32.b2 c6 He has a love affair with this Bishop. 33.e1 d7 34.eb1 e8 35.c2 f6 36.c7 d7 37.b6 a3 38.a2 d6 The new time control really does have a lot to answer for. Here we see two great players just 'making moves'. 39.d1 c5 40.b1 c8 41.ab2 a3 42.a2 c5 Enough piddling around for one day and I daresay a relief. You couldn't say that Black didn't have his chances! ½-½

658

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 position come to the fore. He has a nice, active Bishop, threats of ...Qh4 and if White trades queen a Black Rook arrives at d3. 17.c2 h4 18.h3?! White does not seem to be able to handle the pressure. [ 18.g3 i s t e m p t i n g xg3 ( 18...f6! kee ps Black 's ed ge .) 19.xb6 axb6 20.hxg3 xg3+ 21.h1 h3+ 22.g1 ae8 I would not like to defend the White position but maybe it's only equal. ] 18...g3 19.f3 h2+ 20.f2 f4-+ 21.xb6 axb6 22.d1 f6! It turns out that Bla ck doe sn't eve n n eed to e xtrica te his Queen! 23.e2 ae8 24.g1 e6 25.c5 b5 26.fd3 h4+ 27.f1 fe8 A game which perhaps gives a false impression of Black's chances, but a warning to White nevertheless. 0-1

646 Socko,Bartosz Efimov,Igor 24th ECC Kallithea GRE (1) [John Watson]

B04 2631 2442 17.10.2008

This game features an idea (...Nc7) which quite a few players use when they despair of the main lines. Even in the Alekhine's, there's such a thing as too backwards a placement, I think, and surely White should come out with the better of it. This game illustrates one way it can happen, although White goes wrong and the opponents exchange errors. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 c6 5.c4 c7!? Even though the knight here eyes e6, and may even come there at some point, Black's pieces never seem to coordinate after this move. I'd say that applies to most Alekhine Defence variations. 6.c3 g6 [ W h i t e g e t s a n e a s y e d g e a f t e r 6...g4 7.exd6 exd6 8.d3 ( or 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 )] 7.f4 [ 7.exd6 exd6 8.g5 is another route. ] 7...g4 8.exd6 exd6 9.e2 e7 [ 9...g7 10.g5! xe2 ( 10...c8 11.ce4 ) 11.xe2+ forces f8 ] 10.h6 d7 11.0-0 f8 12.f4 e7 13.d5 [ or 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 0-0 15.d5 ] 13...c5 14.e4 f6 15.xc5!?

[ Best was simply 15.xf6+! xf6 16.h6 ] 15...dxc5 16.d6? [ 16.e1! yields a serious attack after d6! 17.h6 xf3 18.xf3+ d7 19.g5! ce8 20.b4! , with an unclear position. ] 16...e6? [ Here 16...h5! would have won some material. ] 17.e5 xd6 18.xd6 e4 19.e5 0-0 20.c2 f5 21.h3 h5 [ 21...xf3 22.xf3 6g5 23.xe4 xe4 is only moderately in White's favour. ] 22.g4 fxg4 23.hxg4 4g5 24.h2 h3+ 25.g2 g5 26.g3 hf4+ 27.xf4 xf4+ 28.h1 xe2 29.xe2 ae8 30.d1 d8 31.c1 h4 32.gxh5 f3 33.e1 h3 34.e6+ g7 35.e5+ h6 36.hxg6 e8 37.d6 d8 38.gxh7+ xh7 39.c7+ h6 40.ae1 f6 41.e3 h4 42.g1 1-0

647 Sutovsky,Emil Carlsen,Magnus ECC, Rethymnon (1) [Andrew Martin]

B04 2635 2385 2003

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6!? Miles played this move, Davies rates it quite highly, I'm not so sure. Let's not get on to the hero worship bandwagon quite so quickly. Black's move is passive although it ha s so me 'waiting ' va lu e. B la ck le ts h is Queen out, prepares a possible retreat of the Knight to c7 and takes a small portion of the centre. However, I repeat, the move is passive. 6.d3 d7 7.0-0 As usual, best results are ob tained by pla ying f or small advantages, by not overreacting. There should be more than one way to keep at least an edge: [ 7.f3! b5 8.0-0 e6 9.e1 e7 10.c3 0-0 11.c2 7f6 12.a3 c7 13.g5 a5 14.bd2 a4 15.h4 h6 16.g3 b7 17.ad1 Timoshenko, G-Szieberth, A/ FSGM September, Budapest HUN 2003 (57) ] [ 7.xd7! xd7 8.0-0 g6 9.e1 g7 10.c3 0-0 11.g5 e8 12.d2 c8 13.c4 f5 14.e2 c7 15.f3 ad8 16.b3 e6 659

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.xe6 fxe6 18.e1 Stefansson, HGausel, E/ch-Nordic, Aarhus DEN 2003 (32). ] 7...xe5 8.dxe5 b4 9.e4 xd1 10.xd1 f5 11.a3 a6 [ He could take on e4 but Black is struggling a little: 11...fxe4 12.axb4 g6 13.e3 ( 13.b5 cxb5 14.e3 a6 15.c3 g7 16.xb5 xe5 17.d4; 13.f4 g7 14.d2 f8 15.g3 f5 16.c4 ) 13...g7 14.a5 a6 15.c3 f5 16.h3 h5 ] 12.f3 g6 13.d2 [ 13.e2 g7 14.f4 c7 15.d2 e6 16.f3 ] 13...e6 14.e2 c7 15.f3 d5 16.d4 g7 17.c4 f7 18.f4 White's ad vantage grows. He's achieved nothing other than to show that his position has more potential but that is enough to put Carlsen under pressure. I like W hite's extra space and the throttled Bishop on g7 gives cause for concern. e6 19.f3 Keeping the pieces on with more space. d8 20.e3 0-0 21.b4 a6 22.g3 xd1+ 23.xd1 d8 24.xd8+ xd8 25.d4 The advantage persists. The threat is Nb3, Bb6 and Na5 with the Black Bishops as onlookers. e8 26.b3 d7 27.c5 c8 28.b5! axb5 29.cxb5 cxb5 30.xb5 f8 31.f2 g7 [ 31...e6 32.a4! c6 33.b6 a7 34.e8! as a prelude to the capture on c8. There is nothing that Black can do. g7 35.xc8 xc8 36.d7+- ] 32.d7 f7 33.a4 xd7 34.xd7 e6 35.b6 e7 This really is depressing for Black. He's trapped in the jaws of the two Bishops and even the W hite King seems ready to join the assault: [ 35...e7 36.c8 e8 37.e3 h5 38.d4 b4 39.c4 e1 40.c5 h4 41.d6+- ] 36.a5 g5 37.e2 h5 38.c8 h4 39.xb7! The a pawn walks through. I think this sums up the line with 5...c6. Against an exp erie nc ed op po ne nt , Black o nly ha s a passive existence to look forward to. 1-0

648 Sutovsky,Emil Finkel,A TCh-ISR 2011-12 (11.1) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B04 2696 2499 02.03.2012

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.c4!? Potentially an important new idea from Sutovsky - previously recapturing on e5 has been pretty automatic. [ 5.xe5 c6 is the mainline and now after 6.c4 Black can play b4 if he wishes ] 5...e4 The critical test of White's idea [ one of the points of the early c4 is that now 5...b4 can be met with 6.a4+! 8c6 7.d5 f5 8.a3 and Black isn't getting enough compensation for the piece ] [ 5...f6 6.xe5 This leads to a typical slight edge for White - one idea Black could consider though to mix it up would be c5!? 7.d5 e6 although White's position looks comfortable after 8.f4! ] [ 5...b6 6.xe5 g6 ( 6...8d7 7.f3 was better for White in Bogut, Z (2440)-Sale, S ( 2 3 8 0 ) Z a g r e b C R O 2 0 1 1) 7.c3 takes us back into more mainline Alekhine positions that should be a little better for White - it was covered a while back in the archives in Gallagher-Kengis and it also featured in a Grischuk-Baburin in 2000 which wen t ( 7.c5!? ) 7...g7 8.e3 0-0 9.c1 ( 9.f4!? was perhaps a better way to keep an advantage) 9...c5 10.e2 cxd4 11.xd4 h6!? with an unclear position but one that looks playable for Black in Grischuk, A (2606)-Baburin, A (2590) Torshavn FAI 2000 ] 6.cxd5 exf3 7.xf3 c6? A logical move but surprisingly it looks to be a serious mistake! [ 7...g6 was probably best although White's chances are preferably after 8.b5+ d7 ( 8...d7 9.f4 g7 10.g3 is awkward for Black ) 9.c4! g7 10.c3 when W hite's doubled pawns are by no means weak and if f act severely cramp Black's position. ] 8.c4! cxd5 This is the start of a forcing variation that looks to us to be winning for White [ 8...e6 was perhaps a necessary evil although White is clearly better after 9.dxe6 660

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe6 10.xe6 fxe6 11.0-0 d5 12.g3 ] 9.xd5 e6 10.xb7 [ 10.e4 c6 ] 10...c7 [ 10...xb7 11.xb7 d7 12.c3 sim p ly le ave s W h it e a pa wn up f or n o t enough compensation ] 11.xc8?? It may be extreme to give this move a?? but it does seem to reverse the assessment from winning for White to at least a clear edge for Black. [ 11.xa8! is winning after xc1+ 12.d1 and neither of Black's options can save him here, for example A) 12...b4+ 13.c3 A1) if 13...xb2 14.0-0 xc3 ( 14...xc3? 15.c1 ) 15.b1 picks up the b8 knight; A2) 13...xc3+ 14.bxc3 xc3+ 15.f1 t h is m a y b e B la ck ' s b e st t r y b u t h e doesn't have enough compensation for an exchange here; B) 12...xb2 13.0-0! xa1 and now the simplest is probably 14.d2 followed by N c 3 t r a p p i n g t h e Q u e e n ( 14.b3 is a l s o v e r y s t r o n g f o r e xa m p l e xd4 15.xb8 d7 16.c1 d8 17.c6 with a powerful attack )] 11...xc1+ 12.e2 The odd thing is that Black seems to have a choice of ways to be fine here c4+! [ 12...xh1 13.xa8 d6 14.xa7 0-0 15.b7 d7 must be better for Black despite the temporary two pawn deficit as his pieces are much the better coordinated and White's king is wide open. ] [ 12...c2+ is safe if unambitious as it leads straight to an ending after 13.d2 c6! 14.ac1 xd4+ 15.e3 xd2+ 16.xd2 xf3+ 17.gxf3 d6 which is likely to be a draw although only Black can be pressing to win such a position. ] 13.d1 The only move [ 13.d3? xc8 simply leaves Black a piece up ] [ 13.e1? c6! 14.b7 xd4 is crushing ] 13...c6? [ 13...xd4+ would've left Black clearly on top after 14.c1 ( 14.d2 b4 ) 14...c5+ 15.c3 c6 16.b7 ( 16.a6 b8 ) 16...d4 ]

14.d2 b5?! [ 14...a4+! makes an important difference to the game by forcing the pawn to b3 it ch a n g e s t h e e n t i r e a s se s sm e n t o f t h e position af ter 15.b3 b5 16.a4 b6 17.xe6 fxe6 18.e1 d7 19.d5 exd5 20.f5+ c7 21.f7+ e7 22.xe7+ xe7 23.xe7+ b8 and in the game the pawn was on b2 which allowed Sutovsky to play Ra3 and force resignation. This position is much less clear although I'd still rather by W h it e a f t e r 24.a5! c7 25.b4+ b7 26.d4 with the threat of Ra4 ] 15.a4! A crucial intermezzo before taking on e 6 t o b r i n g t h e r o o k i n t o t h e g a m e b6 16.xe6 fxe6 17.e1 d7?! Now Black is losing by force [ 17...0-0-0! would've kept some chances to f igh t o n a f t e r 18.c1 d6 ( 18...b7? 19.xe6 d6 20.b3 and there's no way for Black to defend against the various threats (mainly Rxc6)) 19.d5! exd5 20.e8+ b7 21.xf8 xf8 22.xf8 d7 and W hite has a lot of work still to do to convert the full point ] 18.d5! exd5 19.f5+ c7 [ 19...d8 is more tricky but it's still lost after 20.xd5+ c7 21.f7+ e7 22.xe7+ xe7 23.xe7+ b8 24.a3 d8! This move isn't available to Black in the game as there's still a pawn on d5 but White can still force a win with 25.a5! xd2+ 26.xd2 xf2+ 27.d3 f1+ 28.d4 f4+ 29.d5 f5+ 30.c4 f4+ 31.b3 a n d t h e K i n g e s c a p e s t h e c h e c k s c7 32.e8+ c8 33.e2 with an easy win the rook on a8 is still entombed. ] 20.f7+ e7 21.xe7+ xe7 22.xe7+ b8 23.a3! A fascinating game although not free from errors. I expect we'll be seeing more of Sutovsky's 5. c4 in the future! 1-0

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 going about this. ] B04 Sutovsky,Emil 2674 19.exf6 exf6 [ 19...xf6 was another possibility, with the Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 2646 idea of ....e5 ] 15th ETC Gothenburg SWE (5) 03.08.2005 20.e3 b6 21.a4 f5 22.ed1 fd8 23.xd5 [John Cox] xd5 24.a5 f6 25.f2 d7 26.axb6 axb6 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 27.a6 d8 28.b4 cxb4 29.cxb4 d6 5.xe5 c6 6.d3 Sutovsky's idea from I think Black must have gone a little wrong Rethmynon 2003 against Carlsen, which at somewhere over the last ten moves - either the moment poses as much of a threat as that, of course, or else I was wrong and he anything to Black's new-fangled method of never did get equality out of the opening handling the main line of the Alekhine. d7 since now it's quite clear that White does have 7.0-0 xe5 8.dxe5 g6N To me this creates a bit of pressure. These positions are very a slightly odd impression in conjunction with ... hard to defend and in the end Mamedyarov Nxe5. Black's g7 bishop is always in danger goes down, although I'm sure a Kramnik or a of be in g b loc k e d o u t o f t h e ga m e in t h is Leko would have held on somehow: in fact structure. Having said that though one can unless the score is wrong or I'm going mad I see in this particular position that it is not think they'd have held on fairly easily. 30.e2 possible to develop the c8 bishop actively at f7 31.a7+ g8 32.a6 f7 33.a7+ the moment and for that reason it's certainly g8 34.b7 h5 35.d2 f6 36.e3 d8 tempting to keep e6 free for it. And to be sure 37.d2 f6 38.b5 White has to play this if he wants to progress but now this pawn is weak. Black looks to do pretty well in the game. [ 8...b4 9.e4 xd1 10.xd1 f5 11.a3 d4 39.b4 d5 40.d3 g1+ 41.c3 a6 12.f3 g6 13.d2 e6 14.e2 c7 d1?! [ 41...xb5 42.c4 xb4+ 43.xb4 xh2 was Sutovsky-Carlsen, in which Black was lo o ks like a clea r dra w t o m e. I h ave a ground down in this ending. ( 14...0-0-0!? )] nasty feeling I must be missing the point 9.c3 This obviously isn't the only move White though: it seems unlikely a 2650 player might play. Taking more space with 9 c4 would have missed this. The ending with h4/ certainly wasn't inconceivable, although after g3/f4 against h5/g6/f5 is won for White, by 9...Nb4 Black has gained a bit of time the way, although the p lay is n ot easy. compared with Sutovsky-Carlsen, and in this Kholmov showed in an article in structure the weaknesses in the d-file which Shakhmatny Byulleten in the 1970's that c4 creates can come back to haunt White if W hite breaks through with g4 at the t h i n g s g o w r o n g l a t e r i n t h e g a m e . g7 appro pria te mo ment , as every Ru ssia n 10.e1 0-0 11.a3 schoolboy presumably knows. But here [ 11.d2? xc3 would be poor of course, Black even wins the f-pawn as well as far as but there doesn't look too much bite in this I can see. Possibly the players were being knight manoeuvre to me..... ] hampered by some stupid modern time 11...e6 12.c2 c5 13.e4 d7 14.e3 limit. ] ad8 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 xd5 I must say it looks to me as 42.h3 e3 43.e7 d5 44.g5 g1?! though Black's done fine out of the opening No, I'm afraid I don't know why Black didn't here. He's got one pawn on the same colour play 44... Rxb5 either. 45.c4 d2 46.f6 as his bishop, sure, but should he really be in f8 47.e5 h4 48.h7 f2 49.c3 d1 danger of losing this endgame? He does 50.h8+ f7 51.h7+ f8 52.e5 d2 though. 18.f4 f6 Black does need to break 53.c7 g1 54.c6 e7 [ 54...xg2 allows 55.d5 going to e6, of the kingside pawn phalanx even though it's on course. I think Black is gone by now, but the same colour squares as White's bishop, for whatever reason I don't think a detailed since otherwise his own bishop cannot take analysis of the moves would be of much an active part in the game. merit. ] [ Possibly 18...g5!? was another way of 649

662

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 55.xg6 c5 56.g7+ e6 57.g6+ e7 58.c3 c2 59.g7+ e6 60.g6+ e7 61.h6 xg2 62.d5 f7 63.h7+ g8 64.h8+ f7 65.h7+ g8 66.xh4 g6 67.e5 I suspect all this game teaches us is that serious chess isn't meant to be played with only a 30 second per move increment after move 40 or so, but Black perhaps showed a good method in the opening. 1-0

650 Svidler,Peter Akopian,Vladimir ECC Halkidiki GRE (6) [Glenn Flear]

B04 2690 2678 27.09.2002

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 c6!? [ 5...b6 is the most popular at this point. ] 6.exd6 xd6 7.0-0 g7 8.h3 A promising continuation for W hite as Black's bishop is denied it's most active square. [ 8.e1 g4 is less worrying for Black. ] 8...0-0 9.e1 d7 [ 9...b5?! leads to the weakening of the c4square 10.b3 f5 11.a4 b4 12.bd2 a5 13.e2 e8 14.c4 c7 15.ce5 d7 16.xf7! xf7 17.g4 gave White a strong advantage in S.Haslinger-Broomfield, Smith & Williamson YM Millfield 2002 ] 10.b3 b5 11.bd2 b7 Now Black can meet a4 with ...a6, maintaining the pawn on b5 and avoiding the weakening of c4. However the bishop is rather passively placed. 12.e4 c7 13.g5 e6 14.c4 bxc4 15.xc4 5f6 [ 15...c5!? seems more critical but perhaps Black didn't fancy his chances after the annoying 16.c1 ] 16.xf6+ xf6 17.c1 h6 18.h4 ad8 19.b3 b6 20.c2 de8 [ 20...c8? (to bolster the c-pawn) could even be met by 21.xf6 xf6 22.xe6! for instance fxe6 23.xg6+ g7 24.xe6+ h8 25.g5! ] 21.g3 b4 Both sides have three pawn islands, but the difference is that W hite's pieces are bearing down open lines whereas Black's are rather dormant behind his own

pawns. 22.a3 e7 Black's pieces cover anything nasty against his king but now the cpawn simply falls. 23.e5 d5 [ not 23...c8? 24.xg6! ] 24.xc6 g5 By losing the c-pawn Black can at least obtain some breathing room. 25.h4 g4 26.d1 Forcing the exchange of queens. xd1 [ as 26...f5 27.d6 loses further material ] 27.exd1 xc6 28.xc6 e7 29.c4?! [ Otherwise 29.c7! f5 30.e5 looks pretty good. ] 29...f5 30.c7? [ 30.e5 is less artificial ] 30...c8! [ 30...xh4? f a il s t o b o t h 31.d6 ( and 31.d5 )] 31.d5!? Liquidating the centre to eliminate his main weakness. This temporarily gives back the pawn but unfortunately the black a-pawn is not so easy to pick off. [ 31.g3 fails to xd4 ] 31...exd5 32.xd5 xb2 33.a5 d4 34.a2 fe8 35.g3 e2+?! Heading for complications but White wriggles out. Instead [ 35...e7! 36.d6 ( 36.xa7 b5 37.b7 cxc7= ) 36...xc4 37.xc4 d7 doesn't give White much. ] 36.g2 c1 37.b1 b3 38.xa7 d2 [ 38...xa3!? 39.xa3 d2 looks a better try. ] 39.c2 d4 40.b7 xb1 41.xb1 e5 42.bc1 xc7 43.xc7 xc7 44.xc7 e2 45.f3 a2 46.a7 h5 A common endgame occurs which one intuitively feels (with the extra a-pawn) should be drawn. But Svidler had other ideas... 47.a4 g7 48.a5 f6 49.a6 e5 [ 49...e6 is more solid ] 50.e7+ f6 51.a7 e5?! [ 51...e6 52.e3 f6 53.a8 f5 looks a better try ] 52.e3 a3+ 53.d2 a2+ 54.c3 xf2 55.b7 a2 56.a7 f6? Black loses time as exposing the f-pawn so early offered White addition chances. [ Even so, why not 56...e6 57.c4 f6 58.b5 f5 (?) ] 57.c4 a1 58.b5 b1+ 59.c6 c1+ 60.b6 b1+ 61.c7 a1 62.b8 f5

663

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 63.b4 1-0

651 Tiviakov,Sergei Cox,John J 14th Monarch Assurance (1) [John Cox]

B04 2678 2385 24.09.2005

This game is something of a mismatch from the first round of the Isle of Man (digressing for a moment, why on earth doesn't everyone play in this event? It seems to me just about p e r f e c t f o r t h e n o n - p r o f e s s i o n a l. ) . I a m showing it only to encourage Alekhine fans by repeating Tiviakov's post-mortem comments. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.d2 I had half-expected this move since Tiviakov has played it against 5... g6. d7 7.d3 Tiviakov (who like most Russian GMs in my experience was very civil and a pleasure to play against) told me with some surprise after the game that he had spent an hour preparing against 5...c6 and had found no advantage ("this is good opening, I think"). He had tried the text because he thought that White could improve on 'some game of Luther's' (Lakos-Luther, I assume). I did think of mentioning that he needed a copy of my great work 'Starting Out: Alekhine's Defence', but desisted for fear of a patzersshouldn't-write-books rant along the lines of that Tiviakov subjected poor Eddie Dearing's rather inoffensive Dragon book to in New in Chess. g6 The previously plugged GW suggests that ...e6 and ....c5 is the easiest method, but at the board I had a different idea. The game Lakos-Luther had gone [ 7...e6 8.e2 c5 9.dxc5 xc5 10.xc5 xc5 11.e4 e7 12.b5+ d7 13.xd7+ xd7 14.0-0 c6 15.e2 c8 16.d2 0-0 17.fc1 b5 18.c3 xc3 19.xc3 fd8 20.g4 f6 21.a3 c4 when Black was already slightly better. ] 8.f3 g7 9.e2 c5 This is the point, I think. I t is im p o rt a n t t o p la y t h is b e f o re W h it e castles. [ 9...0-0 10.0-0 a5 ( 10...c5 is no good now s i n c e a f t e r 11.xc5 xc5 12.dxc5 the hanging d5 knight prevents ..Qa5 and it

is rather hard to regain the pawn at all.) 11.e1 b5 12.c3 a6 13.fe5 xe5 14.xe5 c7 15.a4 e6 16.d3 bxa4 17.xa6 xa6 18.xa4 b7 19.d3 aa8 20.h4 h5 21.g5 b6 22.a2 d7 23.e7 fe8 24.d6 b5 25.a1 d5 26.g3 c5 was Zapata-Nogueiras, Torre memorial 2003. Black was equal by now, but the impression is that earlier W hite must have had some method of retaining his edge. ] 10.xc5 A rather curious move: [ 10.dxc5 xc5 ( 10...e5 11.g5 is good for W hite according to Fritz, and annoyingly it seems to be right) 11.xc5 a5+ 12.c3 xc5 was what I was expecting. Black hasn't yet demonstrated equality here, although one might expect him to manage it shortly. Tiviakov told me he hadn't seen Black's last before, which just shows that he's not been using the 'get new games' button on ChessBase enough recently, since Egin-Nogueiras from Calvia 2004 had gone ] [ 10.c4 5f6 I had 10...Nc7 in mind, but I doubt it makes much difference White just isn't well-placed at all for this development 11.d5 b5 12.de5 xe5 13.xe5 bxc4 14.f3 0-0 15.d6 exd6 16.xa8 dxe5 17.xd8 xd8 18.g5 f5 19.f3 d3 20.0-0-0 h6 21.e3 e4 22.e2 d5 23.xd3 cxd3 24.he1 f5 25.f3 xe3 26.xe3 f6 27.g3 c4 28.b1 d4 29.ee1 e3 (readers may wish to insert their own smug 'Keenesque' hypermodernism-conquers-central-bastions type cliché at this point) 30.b3 e2 31.d2 e8 32.bxc4 b8+ 33.c1 c3 0-1 ] 10...xc5 11.dxc5 a5+ 12.d2 [ 12.c3? loses to xc3 , of course ] 12...f4 13.f3 0-0 14.0-0 xc5 Around here I began to get worried - why was a 2700 player letting me equalise so easily? As a result I began to spend lots of tim e worrying about what I was missing. The folly of this approach to these Tiger/Rabbit contests hardly needs emphasising: of course the Tiger is going to see more than you but there's no point worrying about that if you do he'll just have more time than you as well as being a better player. 15.b3 c7 16.c3 664

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 [ I had been rather dismissing 16 c3 because of 16...d8 but after a bit of contemplation I decided 17.xf4 would not be in my best interests. ] 17.xf4 xf4 18.xb7 I had hardly cons idered W hite 's grab bing this pa wn surely Black must have enough counterplay somehow? - and actually I think I was right Tiviakov described it afterwards as a good sacrif ice. ab8 19.a6 Aiming to blockade the a-pawn rather in the style of a variation of the Dragon 9 000 d5 pawn sacrifice which I learned in my childhood. Instead [ 19.f3 xf3 20.xf3 e6 is pretty much a draw at once, e.g. 21.fd1 xb3 22.axb3 xb3 23.xa7 xb2 while ] [ 19.f3 fd8 20.c1 c7 followed by ... a5 is also fine for Black. ] 19...b6 20.e2 e6 21.c5 fb8? Up to here Black has played rather well in a monkeys-and-typewriters sort of way, but this move totally misses the positional threat. Black had two much better moves. The one which Tiviakov pointed out after the game was [ 21...c7 22.b4 ( 22.a4? xa6 23.xa6 c4 wins the queen while; 22.e4 was putting me off 21...Qc7 for no good reason Black is fine after fb8 ) 22...xc3 23.ac1 e5 24.a4 'wins the exchange' Tiviakov xa6 ( 24...xe2 25.xe2 d2 26.xb6 xc1 27.xc1 axb6 actually saves the exchange but this endgame is probably more trouble for Black to hold than the position without the exchange) 25.xa6 xb4 26.xa7 xa2 'is a draw' - Tiviakov I expect this is true although I think White might have tried a few dozen more moves before calling it quits. ] [ The other one is 21...d5 which certainly never occurred to me and I suspect not to White either. The point is that the threat of ... Bxg2 is surprisingly difficult to meet. 22.d3 g5 23.f4 xg2+ 24.xg2 xg2 25.xg2 xa6 might be as good as White can do but White is in no danger at all of being better here. ] 22.d3 Once the knight comes to b4 Black's p l a y a g a i n s t b 2 i s a t a n e n d . c7 Aro u n d a b o ut h e re a spo t o f d e p re ssio n overtook me, not to mention time trouble, and

I am quite sure my subsequent resistance could be improved upon. At this point for example the machine likes [ 22...g5 23.b4 e5 24.fe1 d6 25.a3 b3 when the b3 bishop causes a bit of a nuisance for White. ] 23.b4 c8 24.xc8 xc8 25.ac1 From here on Tiviakov manoeuvres his pieces m o st d e f t ly - it i s wo r t h n o t ici n g h o w h e doesn't begin to push the pawns until his pieces are optimally placed. This is quite typical of these positions where one side has optical activity for a pawn but no real targets to at tack. a5 26.d3 a6 27.c2 d8 28.cd1 bd6 29.c1 e5 30.b3 b6 31.xd6 xd6 32.d2 c6 33.b3 a4 34.c4 d8 35.d1 b8 36.e3 f5 37.d5 c5 38.b4 a7 39.c4 e4 40.c5 c8 41.c4 1-0

652 Tiviakov,Sergei Van der Werf,Mark ch Leeuwarden NED (4) [Nigel Davies]

B04

24.06.2001

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.d2 White aims to maintain his knight on e5, hoping that this will guarantee a slight space advantage. But with a pair of minor pieces exchanged this won't mean very much. d7 7.df3 [ 7.d3 is another possibility, avoiding exchanges and trying to inhibit either the ... c6-c5 or ...e7-e5 pawn levers. On the other hand it has a somewhat artificial look about it. ] 7...xe5 8.xe5 g6 9.f3 e6 10.c3 g7 11.e2 a5 A typical space-gaining thrust. [ 11...0-0 12.d3 f6 13.g3 c4 was the continuation in Dutreeuw - Loeffle, Tanta City 2001 ] 12.0-0 0-0 13.d3 a4 14.a3 f5 15.e1 xd3 Giving up the bishop pair to eliminate the guy that controls the e5 and c5 squares. In the following play White tries to keep Black tied down whilst gradually trying to weaken Black's king position. Black wants to free his game with an ultimate ...c6-c5 or ... e6-e5 but 665

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 without allowing White's bishops to become too dangerous. The position seems fairly well balanced with White having a slightly greater level of comfort. 16.xd3 e6 17.g3 b6 [ 17...b5 looks preferable, cementing the position of the knight on d5 before preparing ...c6-c5. ] 18.h4 h5 Personally speaking I would avoid this weakening and instead focus on playing . ..c6-c5. [ The immediate 18...c5 is bad because of 19.c4 e7 ( 19...f6 20.dxc5 xc5 21.xb7 ) 20.d5 , all if which points to 17... b5 being an improvement. Even so we've got a tough game in prospect in which the stronger player finally emerges triumphant. ] 19.g2 fe8 20.e2 e7 21.g5 f5 22.ae1 a5 23.g4 hxg4 24.xg4 c7 25.g1 d7 26.c2 ea8 27.f1 c5 28.dxc5 xc5 29.h5 gxh5 30.f3 f8 31.d2 d5 32.e1 c8? Overlooking W hite's 34th. 33.g2 f6 34.xa4! b5 35.c2 c4 36.f3 g4 37.xg4 hxg4 38.xg4 c7 39.e4 c5 40.d2 h2 41.f4 h8 42.d2 e7 43.xf5 xf5 44.d6+ e8 45.g2 d5 46.xd5 exd5 47.xd5 h3+ 48.e1 e6+ 49.xe6+ fxe6 50.e2 d7 51.f8 c6 52.d3 1-0

dubious, but with the current move order, I a m su rp r ise d L u k e d id n 't o p t f o r t o t a k e advantage of white's early bishop move. [ Not 4...d7?? when 5.xf7+ xf7 6.g5+ wins in all variations. ] [ 4...e6!? would be my own preference, perhaps followed by a hippo, or just Ne7 and d5. That said, in the resulting positions I would much rather be White! 5.0-0! e7 6.e1 0-0! and now Fritz thinks White is already clearly better, but I don't think that means much- computers are not usually very useful on move 6! Personally I like the flexibility in Blacks' position, especially the fact that I can kick the bishop on c4 with d5 if I n e e d t o o p e n t h e p o s i t i o n . ( 6...d7 o r s o m e o t h e r h e d g e h o g m o ve i s a l s o worth considering. )] [ 4...g4? 5.xf7+ xf7 6.g5+ ] 5.e2! The point. 5.Nc3 is not considered very dangerous, but now White will achieve a stable space advantage with e5. 0-0 [ 5...g4 6.e5 dxe5 7.dxe5 d5 8.0-0 also looks more comfortable for White, but at least Black won't have a problem with his light squared bishop. ] 6.e5 dxe5 [ 6...g4 doesn't look promising. For instance, 7.h3 h6 8.h4!? feels quite dangerous. ] 7.dxe5 d5 8.h3 The position has 653 B04 transposed to an Alekhine! Anybody fond of Tregubov,Pavel V 2556 m id d l e g a m e ki n g -m a rc h e s wi ll p ro b a b l y McShane,Luke J 2609 recognise this position from the famous ShortBundesliga 2005-6 (9) 29.01.2006 Timman game involving Kh2-g3-h4-g5-h6 b6 9.b3 c6 10.0-0 d4 11.xd4 xd4 [Jonathan Rowson] 12.e1 a5 13.a4 d7?! I doubt that Luke was familiar with the theory, but this looks like 1.d4 [ 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 a strange attempt to improve on the more 5.c4 b6 6.b3 g7 7.e2 0-0 8.h3 conventional moves. [ 13...e6!? has been suggested here which dxe5 9.dxe5 c6 10.0-0 is the game I remember thinking was ludicrous when I position. ] first read about this game (I was 14). Why 1...g6 2.f3 g7 3.e4 d6 4.c4!? would black voluntarily allow his pawns to A noteworthy move-order, leading to lines that be doubled and his bishop on g7 are often highly distinct from those where (potentially) to be locked in (no f6 break)? white has already committed the knight to c3. Now I realise that it is not so simple Pirc/Modern players should be careful here or because Black gets a lot of counterplay on they might find themselves, as Luke did here, the f-file and against the e5 pawn. However, transposing into an Alekhine! Hardly a fate I still pref er W hite af ter 14.xe6 fxe6 worse than death, but not ideal either. f6?! 15.d2 ] It is p rob ably t oo much t o call th is move 666

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 13...d7 was once played by Timman but move changes the spirit of the game to a seems to give white an edge after Nc3-b5. ] Ce n t re -Co u n t e r . 8.exd5 xd5 9.c3 [ 13...e6 14.d2 d5 15.f3 c5 16.e4 ( 9.d1 is the computer's suggestion b4 17.c4 b6 18.b3 xc4 19.bxc4 although e6 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 e8 20.d1 c5 21.h4 b6 22.e3 c6 xc4 12.xc4 d6 looks around level.) ( 22...f8 ) 23.h6 h8 24.d8 b7 9...e8 10.d1 f5 11.a3 d7 25.ad1 g7 26.8d7! f8 27.xg7 xg7 Vachier Lagrave, M (2682)-Fressinet, L 28.1d4 ae8 29.f6+ g8 30.h4 h5 ( 2 6 9 3 ) N a n c y 2 0 1 2 w h e n ( 11...a6 31.h2 c8 ( 31...c8 32.g4! ) 32.g3 should be preferred, with a roughly level ce8 33.f4 c8 34.g5! Was Shortposition. ) 12.xd5! xd5 13.b5 ac8 Timman, Tilburg 1991. ] 14.c4 e4 15.e3 and Black has to 14.e6 fxe6 15.xe6+ h8 16.c3 e5 watch out to stop his queen getting 17.b5! h4 18.xc7! Calling Black's blufftrapped. ] there is not enough compensation for the 5.0-0 Maxime continues to develop. pawns. a6 19.xc8 af6 20.g3 b4 [ 5.b3 is the other main move here, in 21.f4 xf4 22.gxf4 xc8 23.d5 c5 prep arat io n f or B la ck's .. .d 5 . On e high 24.ad1 e6 25.fxe5 exd5 26.b5 e7 powered game continued f6 6.e2 0-0 27.xd5 h5 28.e4 h7 29.d6 g5+ 7.0-0 a5 8.a4 b6 9.d1 a6 10.e1 c7 30.h1 11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 d5 13.e6 fxe6?! 1-0 14.g5 f6 15.xe6 1-0 Kramnik, V (2770)-Svidler, P (2727) Dortmund 2004 hardly an endorsement of Black's opening! ] 654 B04 [ Meanwhile 5.c3 would transpose to Getz, N (2270)-Istratescu, A (2624) Hastings Vachier Lagrave,Maxime 2682 2009 examined by Neil. ] Bacrot,Etienne 2706 GP FFE 2nd stage KO rapid (2.2) 29.04.2012 5...f6 [ 5...d5 must be the critical test of White's [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] m o v e o r d e r b u t 6.b3! feels more comfortable for White. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c4 A) 6...dxe4 7.g5 ( 7.e5!? might also Vachier Lagrave uses the line Howell be possible.) 7...h6 8.c3 0-0 9.xe4 attempted against Aronian which Tom c7 10.bd2 d7 11.f3 f5 12.e1 annotated recently. c6 c5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.xc5 xc5 15.f4 [ Later in the day Fressinet deviated with and White was on top. Macieja, B (2538)4...f6 but didn't fare much better: 5.e2 Czerwonski, A (2414) Plock 2000.; 0-0 6.h3 ( Tom looked at 6.e5 in Howell, D B) 6...g4 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 e6 (2633)-Aronian, L (2807) Berlin 2012.; While Black's position would be fine could he 6.0-0 was looked at in Topalov, V (2777)complete his development smoothly but Mamedyarov, S (2742) Villarrobledo 2008 by B1) or 9.c3 e7 10.g5 0-0 John Watson.) 6...c6 ( 6...c6 here would ( 10...d7?! 11.exd5 cxd5 12.xd5! ) be similar to the game but at least W hite 11.fe1 with very awkward pressure has committed his queen to e2. Perhaps down the e file.; therefore White should try 7.b3 ) 7.0-0 B2) 9.exd5 cxd5 10.c4! e7 11.cxd5 A) Last year another quickplay game of xd5 12.c3 0-0 13.xd5 exd5 the Frenchman's continued 7...e5 8.dxe5 14.e3 is better for White. ] xe5 9.xe5 dxe5 10.d1 e7 11.c3 c6 12.a4 h5 13.b3 ( Perhaps 13.f3 6.e5 d5 Now the position starts to resemble is a slight nuance.) 13...f4 14.f3 f6 a n A l e k h i n e a n d a c t u a l l y i s m o r e o f t e n w h e n B l a c k s h o u l d h a v e e q u a l i s e d . reached by that opening. [ 6...dxe5 is of course the alternative: 7.dxe5 Vachier Lagrave, M (2710)-Gashimov, V d5 w h e n t h e u n u s u a l 8.c3!? (2757) Beijing 2011.; l o o k s t h r e a t e n i n g . e6 Mai DongqiB) 7...d5!? This looks new. Fressinet's 667

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Azmaiparashvili, Z (2671) Jinan 2005 when White should try ( 8...xc3 9.xd8+ xd8 10.bxc3 d7 11.xf7 xe5 12.g5 leaves Black with a rather draughty king.) 9.g5 with quite a dangerous initiative. ] 7.e1 Vachier Lagrave keeps the tension. [ John had a look at 7.exd6 in Fedorchuk, S (2671)-Genocchio, D (2416) Conegliano 2008 which is likely to reach fairly similar positions. ] [ While Neil investigated 7.h3 in Zeberski, J (2400) -Rozentalis, E (2611) Warsaw 2009. ] 7...0-0 [ Perhaps Black should try 7...dxe5 8.xe5 which transposes to quite a common Alekhine line - check out the archives for a few games including Kasparov-Adams. ] 8.exd6 xd6 9.bd2 f5 In all these positions Black looks fairly solid but W hite always seems to have a small advantage. [ It makes sense to develop the light squared bishop before developing the knight but 9...d7 is seen from time to time. 10.b3 e6 11.e4 c7 12.c4 5f6 13.c3 b6 14.g5 b7 and Black had a solid setup but W hite must still be a tiny bit better. Steingrimsson, H (2550)-Konopka, M (2454) Germany 2010. ] [ 9...g4 is the main move: 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 e6 12.b3 b5 13.g5 d7 14.h4 fe8 15.g3 f8 16.a4 a6 17.c3 Korneev, O (2588)-Spraggett, K (2573) Torres Vedras 2011 and, although Black's got a strong knight on d5 W hite must be better. ] 10.e4 b4?! This looks new and wrong. [ Black should give up the bishop pair with 10...xe4 11.xe4 The position is very similar to the previous notes and Black can't be t oo m uch worse a f te r e6 ( Instead 11...d7 was played in a previous encounter but 12.xd5 cxd5 13.f4 b4 14.e3 e6?! 15.b3 a4 16.xb7 was much better for W hite. Hoffmann, M (2458)-Appel, R (2481) Essen 2000. )] 11.xd5!? Although this works out remarkably well we don't think it's strongest. [ Instead 11.b3 followed by c2-c4 looks very pleasant for White. Black will probably have to take on e4 anyway. ] 11...cxd5 12.c3 b6 13.g3 e6

Perhaps this move isn't an error but Black's position does become difficult to play. [ 13...e6 can be met with 14.g5 ] [ but 13...g4!? 14.xe7 c6 15.e3 f5!? gives Black some play for the pawn. However we're not totally convinced. ] 14.xf5 gxf5?! Actually this is the error but it's the na tural f ollow up to his previous . Unfortunately for Bacrot he doesn't have enough time to cover his kingside. [ The computer thinks Black is basically fine after 14...exf5 but to a human this looks very pleasant for White with an extra pawn on c3 in the long term as the extra f pawn is rather irrelevant. White might continue with 15.f4! as xb2 16.d6 c8 17.b4 followed by 18.Re2 will force Black to give up his queen for rook and bishop. ] 15.e5! d8 [ Perhaps 15...f6 is better although 16.d3 followed by swinging the rook across to h3 looks very good for White. ] 16.h5 [ Starting with 16.e3! is more accurate as d7 ( 16...e8?! 17.g3 ) 17.g3! doesn't give Black enough time to play ...f6 and ...Rf7 as f6 18.h6 wins. ] 16...c6? Now Bacrot is totally lost. [ 16...d7 is b e t t e r b u t 17.xd7 xd7 18.e3 f6 19.h3 h8 20.g3+ g7 21.h6 f7 22.e1 leaves White obviously on top. ] [ Black's last chance was 16...e8 but 17.d3 is obviously very good for White. ] 17.xc6 bxc6 18.e3 Now Black cannot cover his king. f6 19.g3 h8? [ 19...f4 was necessary although 20.g4 fe8 21.xf4 f5 22.xf5 exf5 23.g5 should simply be lost. ] 20.f4 A couple of easy wins for Vachier Lagrave. Impressive, even if the games were only rapid. It seems it's not so easy to equalise for Black. 1-0

668

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 655 Van der Weide,Karel Miles,Anthony J 1st ch-Europe (7) [Nigel Davies]

B04 37.h2 [ There is no longer a defence, as if 37.g1 there follows xh3 ] 10.07.2000 37...xg2+ 0-1

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.c4 Arguably White's most natural move. [ 6.f3 e6 7.c4 d7 8.d3 g6 9.0-0 g7 10.c3 0-0 11.d2 was Rabiega Loeffler, Austrian Ch., Melk 1999 and now a5!? looks like Black's most interesting plan. ] 6...d7 This has been Tony Miles' choice at this juncture. [ 6...e6 has also been played but it looks a bit clumsy. ] 7.f3 [ Exchanging knights helps ease the slight cramp in Black's position: 7.xd7 xd7 8.0-0 f5 9.d3 ( or 9.c3 e6 10.e2 d6 11.d2 0-0 1/2-1/2, Kobalija - Miles, Capablanca Memorial, Cuba 2000) 9...xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.c4 f6 12.d2 e7 13.f3 0-0 14.d2 c7 15.fe1 ad8 16.e2 fe8 17.c3 1/2-1/2, Cao - Miles, Ohrid 2001 ] 7...7b6 This followed by his next move allows Black to develop his bishop to g4. [ 7...7f6 8.h3 is not as good ] [ but 7...g6 is worth considering ] 8.b3 g4 9.bd2 e6 10.0-0 e7 11.h3 h5 12.c3 0-0 13.e4 g6 14.e2 d7 15.e1 a5 16.a4 e8 Black is comfortably placed, which just about sums things up from a theoretical point of view. The rest of the game is a tough scrap in which Miles comes o u t o n t o p . 17.c4 c7 18.g5 xg5 19.exg5 h6 20.e4 ad8 21.ad1 5b6 22.b3 e5 23.g3 [ 23.dxe5 xe5 24.xd8 xd8 rather more than equalises because of the residual problems on the e-file ] 23...e4 24.h4 h7 25.h5 f6 26.xa5 a8 27.c5 [ After 27.b4 there follows fd5 28.xd5 xd5 29.b3 f4 ] 27...xa4 28.xa4 xa4 29.hf5 xf5 30.xf5 e6 31.b4 b6 32.c4 b5 33.b3 d5 34.e3 d7 35.a1 g6 36.h1 f4

656 Zeberski,Jakub Rozentalis,Eduardas 9th Amplico Life Rapid rapid (5) [Neil McDonald]

B04 2400 2611 19.12.2009

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.c4 As Black hasn't put pressure on f3 with 4...Bg4 White can afford a more aggressive development of his bishop than 5.Be2. c6 6.0-0 For the moment Zeberski decides to ma in t ain t he p a wn o n e5 a s it give s h im space advantage. [ Instead 6.exd6 xd6 7.0-0 followed by Re1 is a simpler way of playing it, when White has some pressure in the centre. He might for example gain time by hitting the black queen with Nbd2 and Ne4. ] 6...g7 7.h3 [ Deterring a pin on g4 is consistent with his plan of supporting e5. Here also White has a small but care-free edge with 7.exd6 xd6 8.e1 ] 7...dxe5 8.xe5 [ After 8.dxe5 the pawn might become a liability as Black can readily attack it with his pieces: a bishop on g7, a queen on c7 and a knight on d7, always watching out for a possible e5-e6 sacrifice by White. ] 8...d7 9.f3 It makes sense to decline the exchange on d7 as it would unclutter the black position. 0-0 10.e1 e6 [ The alternative was to prepare the development of Black's passive bishop on c8 with 10...b6 when 11.b3!? intending 12. c4 lo o ks like a p lea sa n t a d va n t a ge f o r White. ( Instead playing aggressively with a lot of piece rather than pawn moves doesn't seem very effective: 11.g5 7f6 12.e5 b7 13.d2 c5 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.h6 e6 16.b3 c7 17.xg7 xg7 and Black was well entrenched in Rabiega, RVaganian, R/Germany 1995. )] 11.c3 c5 12.g5? A tempting move as 669

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 whichever way Black chooses to block the a t t a ck o n h i s qu e e n we a ke n s h is ga m e . However, the black queen can runaway to a powerful square on b6. [ So far Rozentalis has been willing to repeat one of his earlier games which went 12.xd5!? this exchange still looks like the critical move exd5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.e3 and now b6!? is a likely improvement, with ideas of Ba6 and keeping the option of Ne6. If then 15.Bd4 f6 etc. Instead Rozentalis got ground down after he tried sacrificing a pawn to escape from the pressure: ( 14...e4 15.bd2 e8 16.d4 f6 17.b3 h8 18.ad1 e6 19.xb7 b8 20.xa7 xb2 21.c4 b8 22.xb8 bxb8 23.xe4 dxe4 24.xe4 xc4 25.xe8+ xe8 26.a4 e2 27.e1 e4 28.c3 g8 29.d2 e6 30.b3 c4 31.xe6 xe6 32.c5 d5 33.a5 f7 34.a6 e7 35.a4 d6 36.b6 c6 37.a7 c7 38.d4 f5 39.a8+ 1-0 Macieja, B-Rozentalis, E/Warsaw POL 2006. )] 12...b6! Perhaps Zeberski underestimated this move as W hite gains a dangerous looking initiative on the kingside. However, whether through intuition or through preparation with a computer, Rozentalis is able to refute this misconception. [ Instead Black would have a poor game after 12...f6 13.xd5 exd5 14.f4 etc. ] 13.xd5 Plunging into the life or death variation. [ T h e c a r e f u l 13.d2 should have been preferred, though 7f6 is then comfortable for Black. ] 13...exd5 14.e7 e8 15.xc5 xe1+ 16.xe1 xc5 17.dxc5? [ White might have scraped a draw with 17.e8+ f8 18.g5! threatening mate in two e6 ( Not 18...f6? 19.xf8+ xf8 20.xh7+ etc. ) 19.xa8 xb2 20.dxc5 xa1 ( Black could speculate with 20...c1+ 21.h2 xg5 intending 22...Kg7 and 23... Bxc5. ) 21.xb7 xc5 22.xe6 fxe6 23.c8+ f7 24.xc5 xb1+ 25.h2 b6 26.c8 ( The pawn endgame after 26.xb6 axb6 is at least unpleasant for White. ) 26...xf2 27.d7+ f6 28.xh7 xa2 29.h8+ f5 30.f8+ e4 ( Or

30...e5 31.g7+ ) 31.f6 and White should draw. ] 17...xb2 18.e8+ f8 19.e5 [ Here 19.g5 loses the horse to c1+ ] 19...c1+? In some ways this inaccuracy reflects credit on Rozentalis, as it indicates t h a t h e wa s n 't j u s t r e l yi n g o n p r e - g a m e computer analysis to bag the win. [ Instead the fearless 'computer' move 19...f5! would end the game very quickly, as after 20.xf7+ ( Or 20.xa8 xa1 and the knight on b1, which is attacked twice, is lost. ) 20...h8 White has no good way to continue his attack, while a1 and b1 are hanging, as is the knight on e5 to a Qc1+ and Qf4+ sequence. ] 20.h2 f4+ 21.g1 xh3! 22.xa8 [ White could spoil the pretty finish with 22.xf7+ xf7 23.xf7 xf7 24.gxh3 t h o u g h t h e st r o n g G ra n d m a st e r wo u l d undoubtedly exploit his extra pawn once c5 drops after c8 etc. ] 22...g5 23.g3 [ T h e o n l y w a y t o p l a y o n w a s 23.f1 but Black has an irresistible attack after xg2+ 24.e2 xe5+ 25.d2 f4+ 26.c2 e4+ 27.b3 xf2 ] 23...c1+ 24.h2 f1! Despite White' s extra rook he is powerless to prevent mate on g2. A fine, if slightly flawed, game by Rozentalis. 0-1

657 Zhigalko,Andrey Rozentalis,Eduardas 22nd Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (9) [John Cox]

B04 2505 2582

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 dxe5 5.xe5 c6 6.d3 d7 7.xd7 xd7 8.0-0 g6 So far the same as Cuijpers-Cox, but now Zhigalko plays a more direct move than has usually been preferred. 9.c4 In fact as far as I know this move has never been played before. To me (and presumably all the other humans who've had White in this position) it looks a little strange to weaken d4, but the computer goes straight for it. f6 10.h3 A common theme in this sort of position, playing against 670

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the d7 bishop, but White is spending a lot of time. It was more natural to play something like [ 10.c3 g7 11.e1 0-0 12.g5 , but I don't think Black's in too much danger - m a y b e h e s h o u l d e v e n p l a y g4 , just for fun. ] 10...g7 11.d2 0-0 12.f3 c7 13.e1 f5!? A shocking move, and the reason I'm showing this game. The idea is known in the Caro-Kann Exchange, but there Black has a pawn on d5 instead of c6 (and White's c-pawn is on c3). There one can see Black has more influence in the centre and wins firm control of e4. Also with the centre closed Black has more chance to do something down the g-file. I've never seen the idea in this structure before, but Rozentalis, with his characteristic positional originality, makes it look pretty good in the game. I suspect, by the way, that it wouldn't work half so well if W hite had a knight on c3 rather than f3 - the black knight wouldn't get e4, and Black would have to watch out for a d5 break (in the game this never really becomes an issue until it's far too late). 14.xf5 gxf5 15.e3 ad8 16.c2 e6 17.ad1 e4 18.c1 h8 19.f4 e7 20.e3 g8 Both players have played a natural series of moves, and Black has all his pieces where he wants them. I doubt White has any advantage at all - he has to defend d4 all the time for one thing, while Black has no similar weak pawn, and for another it's not easy to do anything about the e4 knight. 21.a3 [ 21.d2?? loses at once to xd4 but ] [ 21.g5 was a very plausible option. Black can play the tactical line xd4 22.xd4 xg5 23.xg5 xg5 24.xd8+ xd8 25.xa7 but I think this ending is about as good as W hite can do. Probably Zhigalko wanted more, but it looks as though he overestimated the game continuation. ] 21...c5! Excellent and well-timed if White were allowed b4 he might stand a little better. 22.b4 Still playing ambitiously White was in no great danger after [ 22.dxc5 , for example xb2 23.b3 f6 24.d6 xd6 25.cxd6 xd6 26.xd6 xd6 27.xb7= ] 22...cxb4 23.axb4 xb4 24.e5?! White could still play for some compensation

on the open files on the queenside with a move like [ 24.b1 , but I suspect he failed to take Black's next move properly into consideration at all. ] 24...xe5! Excellent. It's scary but White is never able to create any threats against the king or the e-pawn which Black is forced to weaken with his next move. [ 24...f8 25.f3 would be much less good, and would allow W hite to show some compensation for his pawn. ] 25.xe5+ f6 26.b1 e7 27.f4 g7 28.g3 A big concession now it's very hard to arrange f3 to remove the e4 knight, and if White can't do that then he's always going to be worse, if not lost. b6 29.bd1 de8 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e a n d f e a r l e s s 29...e5 is the machine's suggestion, and this does seem to be very strong, but it's easy to see why a human would prefer a spot of manoeuvring first. ] 30.f3 g6 31.c1 c8 32.d5 White isn't doing himself much good like this, but sitting still wasn't going to help either. e5 33.d6 gd8 34.a3 xc4 35.c1 xc1 36.xc1 f4 37.d7 fxg3 38.fxg3 d2 [ 38...c5 would have retained a greater material lead, but the text is more forcing and easier in time trouble. ] 39.c3 g7 40.xd2 [ 40.c7 xg3+ 41.h1 f3 wins ] 40...xg3+ 41.g2 xg2+ 42.xg2 xd7 This ending should be winning and the rest of t h e ga m e s e e s a st e a d y a n d i n e xo ra b l e advance. 43.c3 g6 44.g3+ f5 45.h4 d4 46.h3 e4 47.c1 d3 48.e3 h5 49.g2 a5 50.f2 b5 51.g8 a4 52.b8 d5 53.g3 a3 54.b6 e5 55.f2 f5 56.e1 f4 57.c1 e3 58.xa3 f3 59.b2+ f5 60.c1 f2+ 61.e2 d1 62.xb5+ g4 63.b4+ g3 64.f4 e1+ A quietly original game, which reminds me somehow of the young Nigel Short, who had a similarly realistic approach to danger as Rozentalis shows with ...Bxe5! 0-1

671

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 658 Abdulyazanov,Malik Tukhvatullin,Timur 6th ch-PriFO Men (8) [John Watson]

B05 2361 2248 30.01.2008

In general I don't like the line Black plays in this game (10...d5), but it continues to be contested. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 b6 8.h3 It's a very complicated question whether this helps or hurts W hite's cause, but I suspect that doing without it is better. h5 [ 8...xf3 9.xf3 is frowned upon because there's no comfortable way to defend b7: c6 ( 9...c6? 10.exd6 xd6 11.c5; 9...c8 10.exd6 cxd6 11.b3 c6 12.c3 with space and free development )] 9.c3 White can play 9 exd6, but waiting doesn't hurt. 0-0 [ 9...dxe5? 10.xe5 xe2 11.xe2 xd4? ( 11...0-0 12.d1 c6 13.xc6 bxc6 14.f4 ) 12.d1 ( or 12.b5 d8 13.f3 ) 12...c5 13.b4! xb4 14.b5 and both Nxc7+ and Ba3 are threatened. ] 10.e3 d5!? The radical approach. 11.c5 6d7!? [ 11...xf3 is far more common, when both recaptures are possible, but key is 12.gxf3 c8 13.f4 A) 13...g6? 14.f5! exf5 ( 14...gxf5 15.b3 b6 16.h2 h8 17.g1 ) 15.xd5! , etc.; B) 13...h4 is also played. Theoretically it helps Black that the move h3 has been played.; C) 13...c6 14.f5 ( or 14.d3!? with the idea xc5 15.dxc5 d4 16.e4! ) 14...exf5 , and now 15.b3 might be better than 15 Bf3 Bg5!, as in the Archives. T h e i d e a i s s i m p l y b8 16.ad1 , which threatens d5. ] 12.b4 [ 12.b3 b6 13.ac1 is a natural sequence. ] 12...f6!? [ 12...c6 gets the pieces out. Then 13.b5 a5 14.a4 c6 ( 14...xf3 15.gxf3 c4!? 16.xc4 dxc4 17.xc4 doesn't give serious compensation. )] 13.exf6 xf6 Black covers e5, but unless he

can get the move ...e5 in, his pawn on e6 will remain a problem. 14.e1 c6 Rather passive. The idea is to protect d5 and thus prepare ... e5, but White is too well developed. [ 14...a5!? 15.b5! xc5 16.g4 g6 17.g5 e4 18.xe4 dxe4 19.gxf6 exf3 20.fxg7 xg7 21.xf3 is materially equal, but White's bishops are very strong. ] [ Perhaps 14...c6 is best, but not equal following 15.b1 ( or 15.b5 a5 16.a4 ) 15...g6 16.d3 ] 15.f4!? a5! 16.bxa5!? [ 16.b5! is still a shot, based upon xc5 17.e5! xe2 18.xe2 and White will regain his material. ] 16...xf3 [ 16...xa5!? ] 17.xf3 xc5 18.c1 e4 Almost an action of despair, giving away all the key squares. Black should play something more active, for example, [ 18...xa5 19.d6 bd7 20.xf8 xf8 wh e n W h it e st a ys a h e a d m a t e r ia ll y b y 21.xd5! exd5 22.dxc5 xa2 , but at least there are opposite coloured bishops and a lot to play for. ] [ 18...bd7 19.d6 xa5 transposes ] 19.xe4 dxe4 20.xe4 xa5 21.b3 [ or 21.xe6 xd4 22.d6! d8? 23.b3! ] 21...xd4? But everything is falling apart anyway: [ 21...d5 22.xb7 xd4 23.b4! ] 22.xe6+ h8 23.d6 a7 24.xf8 xf8 25.f4 1-0

659 Arakhamia Grant,Ketevan Baburin,Alexander 25th Liechtenstein Open (7) [John Watson]

B05 2435 2545 17.05.2007

Baburin seems to have faith in the Flohr move 5...c6. That's a good enough reason to investigate it. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 Various reasons are given why this is weaker than 5...e6, but none o f t h e m a r e t o t a l l y c o n v i n c i n g . 6.0-0 Other, currently less popular, moves are still critical: 672

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ a) 6.c4 b6 ( 6...c7 is also playable) 7.bd2 8d7 8.0-0 ( 8.exd6 exd6 9.0-0 e7 10.e1 0-0 has the idea ...d5, and is certainly playable.) 8...dxe5 9.xe5 xe5 10.dxe5 f5 11.b3 e6 12.d1 c7 13.g3 0-0-0 14.b3 h5 A Greet-A Baburin, Birmingham 2006 previously cited in ChessPub. ] [ b) 6.g5 f5!? ( 6...xe2 7.xe2 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 is better than its reputation, and in fact the choice of several strong players, but is more defensive.) 7.e6! fxe6 8.g4 ( 8.d3; 8.g4 ) 8...g6 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 has been debated for a long time. I think a plausible unique idea would be a6 ( 10...f6 11.xe6 d7 12.e2 is normal ) 11.xh7 ( 11.xe6 d7 12.e2 ac7= ) 11...a5+!? 12.c3 ( 12.d2 f4 13.e4 d5 is unclear) 12...0-0-0 13.g5 d7! with a messy position. ] 6...xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.e2!? Cox strongly criticises this defence of the dpawn, but it's played by a lot of strong players. In fact, 9 Qe2 (or sometimes 10 Qe2, transposing) is played f ar more than any other line in MegaBase, and occurred in the last 6 games that I've seen with this line in international play. In theory White has been thought to have better chances of gaining the advantage by bringing his rook to e1, perhaps preceded by Nd2. See this month's game Se n f f -K ra s e n ko v. d7 10.c4 'Another mistake', says Cox, and indeed, this move could wait. But it's not so bad. e7 11.g4!? Cox has a low opinion of this idea, to say the least: 'the great Botvinnik came up with the moderately ludricrous idea of Bf3-g4-h3 in a game against Flohr at Nottingham 1936 (I assume - charitably - that it wasn't preparation).' Well, Bg4-h3 and f4 is simply a plan - not great, but not bad either. And for its purpose, playing Qe2 and leaving the rook on f1 is appropriate. [ 11.d1 c7 12.f4 g6 13.g3 t ra n s p o s e s t o t h e n o t e t o t h is m o n t h ' s Ibarra Chami-Fernandez Garcia game. ] 11...h5 12.h3 c7 13.f4 It's a matter of timing, and this move will probably be played soon anyway. Here's another example: [ 13.e1 (unnecessary) 0-0-0 14.c3 g6

15.f4 b4 16.e3 xc3!? (risky) 17.bxc3 a5 18.f2 e7 19.ab1 g6 20.g3 b6 21.g2 and White had all the chances in Boensch, U -Bagirov, V, Berlin East 1979. ] 13...f5 14.c3 [ White can also continue naturally by 14.xf5 exf5 15.e3 In an older contest, this resembled our game: c5 16.h1 b6 17.xc5 xc5 18.c3 0-0-0 19.ab1 ( 19.c2 g6 20.a4= ) 19...e6! 20.c2 d4 21.a4 ( 21.d3! g6 22.b4! is more enterprising) 21...e6 ( 21...c5! stops b4 ) 22.c2 d4 23.a4 d7 24.b4 a6!? 25.xa6 bxa6 26.bc1 hd8 1/2-1/2 Rakic, T (2455) -Knezevic, M (2490)/Maribor 198001 ] 14...0-0-0 15.xf5 exf5 16.e3 c5 17.a4 xe3+ 18.xe3 b6 19.xb6+ xb6 20.xb6 axb6 21.ad1 The endgame is rather dull. I'd rather be White, but it's hard to believe in more than a tiny edge, and nothing much happens for a while. Then White gets careless and the tables turn. S t ill, it t a ke s a f in a l, h o rr ib le b lu n d e r t o decide things: d7 22.xd7 xd7 23.d1+ e6 24.d6+ e7 25.d3 a8 26.b3 d7 27.a3 c7 28.f2 d8 29.e3 d1 30.d3 h1 31.h3 e1+ 32.f3 h4 33.b3 a1 34.a4 a2 35.d1 b2 36.d3 c2 37.e3 d7 38.g4? e6 39.d3 g6 40.d6+ e7 41.gxf5 gxf5 42.h6 c3+ 43.g2 g3+ 44.h2 xb3 45.xh4 b4 46.h8 xc4 47.b8 e6 48.xb7 xf4 49.xb6 d5 50.a5 a4 51.a6 c5 52.g3 c4 53.f4 c3+ 54.e3 xe5 55.d3 a3 56.h4 f4 57.c6 f5 58.h5 f3 59.xc3?? [ 59.e3 ] 59...f2 0-1

660 Arnold,L Rozentalis,Eduardas GM Augsburg GER (6) [John Cox]

B05 2340 2595 01.01.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.c4 b6 7.c3?! I can't think White meant to play this. Maybe he wanted to play Bologan's idea 7 h3 Bh5 8 exd6 cxd6 9 673

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Nc3 Be7 10 d5 and wasn't too careful about move order? If he wants to play that way (i.e. delaying castling) exd6 is essential before Nc3 for the reasons Rozentalis now demonstrates. dxe5 8.xe5 xe2 9.xe2?! Sitting here with a computer we can all see that this just loses a p awn, but no doub t White's spirit rebelled at the idea of fighting for equality after something like [ 9.xe2 b4+ 10.d2 ( 10.c3 8d7 is pretty easy for Black too) 10...xd2+ 11.xd2 when Black can choose between f6 12.c5 d5 or just 11...N8d7. ] 9...xd4 10.b5 b4+ 11.f1 d8 12.f4 [ 12.g5 xg5 13.xc7+ e7 ( 13...f8 14.xf7 ) 14.xf7!+- was worth a glance but Black can spoil the fun with the calm 11... Qc8. ] 12...0-0 13.h4 This doesn't have much effect, but Black is probably just winning anyway, certainly much better. a6 14.d1 e7 15.d4 8d7 16.xd7 xd7 [ 16...xd7 17.c2 d6 18.c5 d5 19.xd5 exd5 20.cxd6 is not so clear at all Rozentalis prefers to keep the initiative. ] 17.xc7 ac8 18.f5 [ 18.g3 fd8 19.h5 is Fritz's idea, to bring the rook in via h4, when it reckons White is only slightly worse. I suspect this was a better try t han t he text, wh ich le ads b y fairly forced steps to defeat. ] 18...f6 19.xd7 exf5 20.e5 c6 21.d3 fe8 22.f4 [ 22.xf5 f6 23.g4 xc4+ 24.xc4+ xc4 25.c3 xc3 26.bxc3 xc3 is surely a winning endgame for Black, but opening up lines like this is hopeless with the king on f1. ] 22...f6 23.xf5 xc4+ 24.g1 fxe5 25.xg7+ xg7 26.g5+ f7 27.f5+ e7 28.xe5+ d7 The game itself was rather one-sided, but I have included it for the move order point in the opening. In combination with Libiszewski-Rozentalis, it seems to be the case that if W hite wants Bologan's plan then 6 c4 Nb6 7 h3 Bh5 8 exd6 cxd6 9 Nc3 Be7 10 d5 may be his only accurate move order - unless Rozentalis has something up his sleeve against that as well. 0-1

661 Aseev,Konstantin N Bagirov,Vladimir Berlin [Alexander Volzhin]

B05 2575 2475 1990

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 b6 8.h3 h5 9.c3 0-0 10.e3 d5 [ 10...c6 is not so good, as the position after 11.exd6 cxd6 12.d5 exd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 clearly favours white (the d6pawn is a weakness). ] 11.c5 xf3 12.gxf3!? This move became p o p u l a r wh e n it b e ca m e cl e a r , t h a t T h e position after the text is a "tabiya" of the 4.. . Bg4 lin e . I t h as o ccu rre d in hu n d red s o f games, but it's still not clear if white should interpolate 8.h3 Bh5 or not. Both variations have their merits and drawbacks. [ 12.xf3 c4 13.f4 doesn't promise w h i t e a n y a d v a n t a g e . P l a y i n g b6! black undermines the white pawn chain and obtains good counterchances. The game Lukin - Bagirov continued: 14.b3 a5 15.b4 c4 16.c1 c6 17.e2 a5! 18.xc4 dxc4 19.a3 axb4 20.axb4 a6! 21.b5 b4! and black had the upper hand. ] 12...c8 [ 12...6d7 is bad, as the knight has no prospects here. After the text black intends to transfer the knight to f5 via e7 ( after Bh4), obtaining a comfortable blockade. W hite should play aggressively to prevent this. He has a somewhat exposed pawn structure, bu t t h e lat e n t p o we r o f h is bish o p p a ir should not be underestimated. ] 13.f4 c6 14.f5 White takes the first opportunity to break in the centre. It's a very interesting, but probably somewhat premature decision. exf5 15.f3 This is the idea behind 14. f5: the d5-pawn is defenceless. Now Black has to find counterplay, otherwise he'll be smashed by W hite's strong central pawns. g5! 16.xd5 f4! 17.xf4 [ 17.c1 was tried once, but in my opinion, Black has nothing to worry about after 8e7 18.xe7+ xe7! , f or example 19.xc6 bxc6 20.f3 e6 and Black has excellent position, as 21.xf4 blunders a piece after f5 ] 674

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17...xf4 18.xf4 8e7! Very strong. After this excellent move White has no advantage, despite his extra pawn and massive pawn centre. Black intends Rb8 and only then to recapture on d4. [ White is better after 18...xd4 19.xb7 b8 20.g2! xb2 21.g4! with a strong kingside attack. ] 19.b3 [ 19.d2 d7 ] 19...b8 20.e4?! White overestimates his chances in the endgame. He should take a draw by [ 20.e2 d7 21.g4 d5 22.f4 ( White can't protect his d4-pawn, as 22.d2 fails to xe5 ) 22...fd8 23.f3 d7 24.g4 d5= , and triple repetition is unavoidable. ] 20...xd4! The forthcoming endgame is good for Black. [ On the other hand, 20...xd4? 21.g4! gives White a strong attack. ] 21.xd4 xd4 22.fd1 fd8 23.d3? [ 23.d5 was better, although the position after e2+! 24.f1 xd5 25.xd5 xd5 26.xd5 f4! 27.g2 f8 28.d1 e7 is quite unpleasant for White. ] 23...dc6 24.e6? White's position could tolerate one mistake, but two in a row is too much! [ After the correct 24.xc6 xd3 25.xd3 xc6 Black still has to prove his advantage is enough for a win. ] 24...f5! 25.g2 xd3 26.xd3 d8 27.f4 g6! Now Black is planning Kg7-f6, and the e6pawn is in danger. 28.e1 g7 29.xc6 bxc6! [ 29...xc6? allows White to escape: 30.e7! e8 31.e6+ f7 32.xc7 xe7 33.xe7+ xe7 34.f4= ] 30.g2 [ White can't prevent g5, as 30.h4 fails to d4-+ winning ] 30...g5! 31.e2 f6 32.h4 gxh4! 33.f4 d4 34.f3 e4 35.xe4 fxe4+ 36.xe4 The knight ending is won for Black, as he has a strong passed pawn on h4, and W hite's pawn on e6 is about to fall. d5 [ 36...g6! at once was even better. ] 37.e2 [ Of course, the pawn ending is lost:

37.xd5+ cxd5+ 38.f3 d4-+ winning ] 37...e7! 38.d4 [ 38.f4 g6-+ winning ] 38...h3! 39.f3 [ 39.f3 doesn't help W hite, after e5 Black should win . ] 39...d5 40.e7 xe7 41.f5 f6! 42.f4 e6 43.g3 e4+ 44.xh3 xf2+ 45.h4 d5 46.g5 [ 46.g5 d3 47.h6 c1 ] 0-1

662 Baklan,Vladimir Kosikov,Alexey I Kiev [Alexander Volzhin]

B05 2571 2460 2000

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.e1 d7 10.d2 e7 The games Gufeld-Goh and Cmilite-Zhukova show that attempts to win the e5-pawn are too risky for Black. Therefore quiet moves such as the text move or 10...Qc7 11. Nc4 N7b6 as played in Malakhov-Sedina seem to be the only playable possibilities for Black in this variation. [ Black tried this move after 10...c7 11.c4 e7 in Krstic-Havas, Pula 1999, but this doesn't look good: 12.d6+ f8 A) I would prefer 13.xd5 and Black has difficult problems to solve: A1) After 13...exd5?! White has a pleasant choice between 14.f5 and ( 14.xf7 xf7 15.e6+ with a huge edge in both cases. ); A2) 13...cxd5 14.f4 and White intends to open files in the centre by playing c2c4 at the right moment, while Black has se ri o u s p r o b l e m s c o -o r d i n a t in g h i s forces. It's important that Black can't exploit the unstable position of White's K n i g h t o n d 6 , f o r e x a m p l e : xe5 ( 14...f6? is bad in view of 15.b5 c4 16.exf6 xf6 17.d4 and Black is in trouble. ) 15.xf7 xf7 16.xe5 with a huge edge for White.; B) 13.c4?! A tactical oversight. xe5! Now Black has everything in order. 14.cxd5 xd6 15.dxe6 xd1 16.xd1 675

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d3 17.e2 fxe6 18.xe6 f6 19.c2 xc1 20.xc1 e8 21.xe8+ xe8 22.e1+ d7 23.b3 h6 and a draw was agreed. ] 11.c4! [ White has also tried 11.f1 but this didn't give him any advantage: c7 12.c4 5b6 13.e2 0-0 14.b3 fd8 15.b2 f8 16.g3 bd7 17.g2 c5 18.ad1 xd1 19.xd1 d8 and Black managed to equalise in Van den Doel-Baklan, Zagan 1995. ] 11...0-0 12.a4 a5 13.d2 c7 14.e2 Although White hasn't got much here, it's not pleasant to play this position with Black, since he lacks active counterplay. fd8 [ After the game GM Baklan recommended 14...b4!? 15.c3 e7 reducing the pressure on the a5-pawn and intending Nc5b3, but in my opinion, 16.e4! is strong enough and Black can't create any serious c o u n t e r p l a y : b5 ( 16...c5 17.c2 ) 17.axb5 cxb5 18.e3! ] 15.e4 b4 16.f4 c5 17.e2 d4 18.g3 ad8 Both sides moves are very logical. 19.d6! [ 19.c3 xc4 20.xc4 c2 and Black is OK, to say the least. ] 19...g5? A tactical oversight. [ 19...d5 is wo rt h c o n sid e rin g : 20.b3 (forced) and only now g5! obtaining real counterchances. The game could continue: 21.xd5 xd5 22.g4 d2 23.ed1 c3 24.xd5 exd5 25.f5 e6 26.f1 i n t e n d i n g t o m a r c h h i s f - p a w n xe5!? ( Black has to play actively as White's tactical threats on the K-side should not be u n d e r e s t i m a t e d , f o r e x a m p l e 26...b5? is bad in view of 27.h4! b8 28.xg7 xg7 29.f6 ) 27.h6+ f8 28.xf7 xf7 29.xe5 and White is only slightly better. ] 20.h5! Surprisingly, after this simple move Black is hopelessly lost. He can't avoid large material losses. f5 Desperation, but Black's position was already lost. [ 20...g6 21.c3 d2 22.g4 and White wins material. ] 21.f7+ f8 22.c3 d2 23.h5 h6 24.cxb4 axb4 25.xe6 Black resigned. Now we can draw certain conclusions. Obviously in t h e M a i n li n e o f t h e A l e k h i n e 's B l a c k i s currently having serious problems - certainly

the statistics are very poor for Black. In many lines White enjoys a small but steady edge, while Black is compelled to passive defence wit h o ut se rio u s ch a n ces o f co u n t erp la y. Cle arly B lack u rge ntly n eed s n ew ide as , o t h e r wi s e i t ' s t i m e t o s wi t c h t o a n o t h e r variation. 1-0

663 Becerra Rivero,Julio Yermolinsky,Alex Foxwoods Open (8) [John Watson]

B05 2609 2522 12.04.2009

Black employs a known but rare idea involving ...a6. White plays too cautiously to gain the advantage, which he probably could have gotten with queenside expansion. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.c4 b6 7.c3 e7 8.h3 [ A similar setup followed in another Ye rm olin sky ga m e : 8.0-0 0-0 9.e3 and: a) A) b) 9...c6 is a traditional main line. This month's game 10.exd6 cxd6 11.d5 xf3 12.xf3 e5 13.dxe6 xf3+ 14.xf3 fxe6 15.g4 f6 16.ae1 c8 17.xb6 axb6 18.e4 f8 19.a3 a5 20.e2 af5 21.f3 f4 22.d1 xe4 23.xe4 f5 24.h1 ( 24.b4! t h r e a t e n s t h e p a w n o n d 6 , a n d b5 25.xd6 xd6 26.xd6 bxc4 27.xe6 f7 28.e7+ f8 29.e3 with a relatively safe pawn lead.) 24...d7 25.d3 b5! 26.b4 bxc4 27.xc4 d5 28.d3 a4 29.g3 e5 and suddenly Black was more active in Kotsur-Neverov, Dubai 2009.; B) 9...a6!? 10.b3 d5 11.c5 6d7 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 c6 14.a3 h8 15.g3?! A strange idea. ( 15.d3 f6 16.exf6 xf6 17.ad1 ) 15...f6! 16.exf6 xf6 17.c1 (...Nxc5 was threatened and White can't protect his centre, for example, ( 17.d3?? de5! 18.dxe5 xe5 19.e2 xf3+ 20.xf3 xc3; or 17.e2 xc5 ) 17...xd4! 18.g4?! c6 19.xe6 d4 20.e4 dxe3 21.xd7 xd7 22.xd7 e2 23.fe1 e5 24.g4 676

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d3 25.xe2 xc1 26.xc1 b2 27.d1 ad8 and Black went on to win in Zhao-Yermolinsky, Ledyard 2009. ] 8...h5 9.e3 0-0 10.0-0 a6!? The main point of this mysterious move is that in lines with ...Bxf3 and Bxf3, Black can play ...Nxc4, since Bxb7 doesn't win a rook after ...Ra7. This means that 11...Bxf3 is an immediate positional threat. Furthermore, in lines where Black plays ...d5 and W hite plays c5, the move ...a6 is useful in restraining b4-b5. [ 10...d5 is the main line featured in John Cox' book. ] 11.exd6 cxd6 12.d5 [ 12.b3 always has to be calculated when ...a6 is played. Here White, who threatens c5, may have some advantage: a) A) b) In an earlier ChessPublishing game Hoepfl-Tischbierik, Osterburg 2006 we saw 12...8d7 13.a4 A1) 13...a5 14.ac1! combines the ideas of Qb5 (with tempo versus h5) followed by c5, and c8! 15.b5 d5 16.c5 c4 17.xc4 dxc4 18.xc4 xf3 19.gxf3 , when Black comes up a little short in the natural line f6 20.f4 d5 21.g3 b4 22.d6 c7 23.xb4!? ( 23.g2 ) 23...axb4 24.xb4; A2) 13...xf3 14.gxf3!? ( This occurred in no less than 3 games! Is there s o m e t h i n g w r o n g w i t h 14.xf3 ? A sample line would be c7 15.c5 dxc5 16.a5 c8 17.xb7 xb7 18.xb7 a7 19.f3 cxd4 20.xd4 c5 21.xc5 xc5 22.fd1 when you have to prefer White) 14...b8 15.h1!? ( 15.fd1 is played twice in the notes to that game) 15...g5 16.g1 xe3 17.fxe3 h4 18.g2!? c8 and White had a small edge with 19 Kh2, but could also play 19 Ne4 or 19 Rag1.; B) 12...c7 13.d5 8d7 14.dxe6! fxe6 15.d4 xe2 16.xe6 xc4 17.xe2 with a positional advantage. ] 12...xf3 13.xf3 e5!? I'm not convinced that this equalises. The greedy [ 13...xc4 14.dxe6 fxe6 might be okay: 15.e2 ( 15.b3 xf3! 16.gxf3 c7; 15.d4 xf3! 16.gxf3 d5 give Black obvious compensation; 15.e1!? with the

idea c6 16.d5! ) 15...d5 ( 15...xf3!? 16.xf3 d7 17.b3 e5 18.h5 g6 19.e2 ) 16.fd1 (with the idea Nxd5) e5 ( 16...xe3 17.xe3 with ideas of Qxe6+, Nxd5, and/or Bg4) 17.xd5 ( 17.e4 bd7 18.xd5 exd5 19.xd5+ h8 20.f4 and Bxb7 is unclear) 17...exd5 18.xd5 bc6! 19.b6 c7 20.f4 ae8 ( 20...g6 21.d7 ) 21.d5 d6 22.fxe5 xe5 23.xe7+ xe7 24.c4+ e6 and White has bishop-versus-knight, but this is basically equal. ] 14.e2 Not bad, but a little cautious. [ 14.c5!? seems gives White some a d v a n t a g e f o l l o w i n g dxc5 ( 14...c4 15.b3 xe3 16.fxe3 ) 15.c1 ( 15.d6!? xd6! 16.xd6 xd6 17.e4 e7 18.xc5 c4! 19.xb7 xe3 20.fxe3 d7 21.a5 is at most nominally better for W hite but now d6 is a threat) 15...c4 ( 15...d6 16.e4 c4 17.e2 ) 16.e4 xe3 17.fxe3 with the idea f5 18.d6! ] 14...8d7 15.c1 Slow. [ 15.a4 a5 16.b5 c8 17.b3 c5 doesn't seem to scary, but White could try ] [ 15.b3!? f5 ( 15...c8 16.e4 f5 17.c5! ) 16.c5 f4 17.cxd6 xd6 18.xb6 xb6 19.e4 with an irritating edge. ] 15...c8 16.a4 xa4 17.xa4 c7!? [ 17...f5! 18.f4? ( 18.b4 f4 19.d2 c5 ) 18...exf4 19.xf4 c5 20.a3 g5 with good activity, open files, and White's interior weaknesses to jump on. ] 18.a3! h6 [ 18...f5 ] 19.fd1 [ 19.b4! intends c5: f5 ( 19...g5 20.c5 ) 20.f4 exf4 21.xf4 ] 19...c8 20.a4 c5 [ 20...g5 21.xg5 hxg5 22.b4 e4! ] 21.c2 g5 22.g4 xe3 23.fxe3 d7 This is about equal, and nothing changes that: 24.b4 b6 25.e4 a8 26.f2 f6 27.f3 c8 28.c3 a5 29.a3 axb4 30.axb4 a8 31.b2 h7 32.g4 f6 33.f3 h7 34.g4 f6 ½-½

677

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7xe2+ 37.xe2 b1 38.f4 b2+ 39.e3 e1 40.c3 g2+ 41.xg2 xg2 42.d4 Belkhodja,Slim f4 43.gxf4 f5 Winning because of the Vaganian,Rafael A mighty g-pawn. 44.c5 xf4 45.cxd6 cxd6 FIDE WCh KO Moscow RUS (1.1) 46.c7 d2+ 47.c3 xd5 48.xb7 g3 [Nigel Davies] 49.g7 f3 50.b4 axb4+ 51.xb4 d4+ Vaganian plays the standard 9...Nc6 after 52.b5 g2 which his opponent plays a simple line, hoping 0-1 for a safe space advantage. The endgame is a superb illustration of how even an B05 innocuous looking position can be played for a 665 win. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 Bilic,Vladimir 2257 d6 5.exd6 exd6 6.c3 e7 7.f3 g4 Gavric,Miladin 2391 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 c6 TCh-BIH Vogosca BIH (8) 09.06.2007 [ The traditional move, pressuring d4 but far [John Watson] more gently than with 9...c5!? ] 10.d5 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 [ The alternative is 10.b3 after which Borik - 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 Gazik, Nove Zamky 1999 went f6 11.e3 e6 9.c4 This is considered completely e8!? ( waiting for another move is more harmless, as the game seems to confirm. But subtle than 11...d5 12.c5 c8 ) 12.c1 d5 it may have some poison in it, or at least pose 13.c5 c8 14.d2 h6 15.f4 8e7 s o m e s e r i o u s p r o b l e m s f o r B l a c k . e7 16.e5 xe2 17.xe2 xe5 18.dxe5 10.xd8+ xd8 11.e4!? Here the d7 19.g3 g6 and with his e-pawn overwhelming choices are 11 b3 and 11 Rd1+, about to fall, White sacrificed unsoundly with with underwhelming results: Black achieves a 20.xh6 gxh6 21.xh6 after which e7 100-point performance rating advantage. But 22.h5 xe5 was a simple defence. ] my computer raves about 10...xf3 11.xf3 e5 12.b3 g5 [ 11.d2! (11 Re1 Nd7 12 Bd2 transposes), [ 12...xf3+ 13.xf3 f6 is similar, but and it may have a point: why chase the king White would not be forced to put his bishop to a good square on c7, and why allow the on b2. ] disturbing move ...Bb4 by Black? W hite's 13.b2 xf3+ 14.xf3 f6 15.ae1 d7 idea would be to hold the fort and then let 16.d1 e8 17.xf6 xf6 18.xf6 xf6 the bishop pair slowly get in place and have Obviously this position is very drawish, but them work with a space advantage. The only Vaganian sees no reason to agree a draw just game I see with White protecting his e-pawn ye t . A n d t h e wa y in wh ich h e e ve n t u a ll y like this went d7 12.c3 g6 ( 12...c7 causes difficulties is very instructive. 19.c3 13.e1 a5 14.d2 c5 15.d1! a6 20.f3 d7 21.f2? This careless move intends Bc2, Nf3, etc. Another computer signals the start of White's problems. idea, although White has other ways to get [ He should play 21.g4 a f t e r w h i c h e5 the advantage) 13.e1 a5 (with the idea of 22.g2 e7 23.e3 ae8 24.fe1 ...Bb4 and capturing on c3 and e5) 14.a3 looks equal. ] c5 ( 14...c5 15.d1! again, with the idea 21...e5 22.e3 a4 16.d2 c7 17.c2 e7 18.e4 18 [ And here 22.d1 is better. The following or g3 ) 15.g3!? ( A key juncture. This isn't advance of Black's kingside pawns secures bad, but what is Black's response to the position of the knight on e5 and allows 15.d2! ? Not 15...Bb6 16 Rad1 and Ne4, Black to improve his king. ] but b6 16.ad1 ) 15...b6 16.g2 c5 22...f5 23.d1 e7 24.h3 ae8 25.e2 g5 17.d2 ( 17.h4!? b3 18.a2 c7 19.h5 26.g3 f7 27.d4 f6 28.c2 h5 29.e2 e7 20.d2 xd2 21.xd2 h6 ) 17...d3 g4! 30.fxg4 hxg4 31.h4 f3 32.d3 e4 ( 17...a4! ) 18.e2 e7 19.f1 ( 19.f3 ) 33.b2 8e7 34.a4 a5 35.c3 e1 36.e2 19...hd8 20.f4 c5 21.e4 xe4 664

B05 2489 2650 27.11.2001

678

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.xe4 d7 23.f3 with a slight advantage, Travenec-Cibulka, Slovakia 1996. I find this idea very interesting! ] 11...d7 12.f4 c7 13.c3 [ Or 13.d2 f5 14.f3 c5+ 15.h1= ] 13...f5 14.g4 c5+ 15.g2 e3+ 16.xe3 xe3 17.f3 d2 18.d1 xc3 19.xc3 c5 20.c2 a5 With no weaknesses and one open file, Black has equalised. ½-½

666 Bologan,Viktor Tischbierek,Raj Wien (open) [Alexander Volzhin]

B05 2600 2500 1996

Of course, some players don't like positions with pawn chains, like we saw in the main line. Among the deviations from the main line the following idea of GM Victor Bologan is worth considering. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.h3 h5 7.c4 b6 8.exd6 cxd6 9.c3 e7 10.d5!N This natural move seems to be a novelty. Now white obtains a space advantage and prospects of a queenside attack. e5 11.e3 xf3!? [ 11...8d7 threatening 12... B:f3 12.g4 ( 12.d2 xe2 13.xe2 is not bad either f5!? 14.g4 f4 15.xb6 xb6 16.de4 and white should be happy with his position. ) 12...g6 13.h4 h6 ( 13...h5 14.g5 c8 15.b3 f5 16.d2 g6 17.de4 white is clearly better) 14.d3 xd3 15.xd3 f6 16.g1 with a big advantage for white. ] 12.xf3 8d7 [ From a positional point of view the exchange of dark-squared bishops favours black, unfortunately he has no time for it, as w h i t e b r e a k s i n t h e c e n t r e : 12...g5? 13.xg5 xg5 14.b5 d8 15.c5! dxc5 16.d6 winning. ] [ Of course the pawn is taboo: 12...xc4?? 13.a4+ ] 13.e2 c8 14.b3 f5 Otherwise white will play g4, for example: [ 14...0-0 15.g4! g5 ( 15...f5? after g4 this

is simply bad: 16.gxf5 xf5 17.g4 ) 16.h4! xe3 ( 16...xh4 is too dangerous 17.e4 g6 18.f3 threatening Qh3) 17.xe3 intending Ne4, g5, Bg4 etc. with an obvious advantage. ] 15.g4! Playing this move white already should have calculated the consequences of his 17th move. e4 otherwise white will dominate on the l i g h t s q u a r e s 16.g2 f6 17.b5!! Excellent! The rook sacrifice gives white a strong attack. [ Black's idea was to meet the natural looking 17.c1 with xc3+ 18.xc3 xd5! 19.c1 xe3 20.xe3 a5+ winning a pawn for nothing. ] 17...xa1 18.xd6+ f8 [ 18...e7 doesn't help black too much: 19.xf5+ f8 20.0-0 Black is a rook up, but his pieces are uncoordinated and his rook on h8 doesn't take part in the fight. So we can talk about "material equality"! Now white intends to play f3, opening the f-file. f6 21.g5! xg5 22.d4! Now it's impossible to protect the e6 square. c5 23.b4 bd7 wh a t e ls e ? 24.bxc5 xc5 25.f3! now white has a decisive advantage, for example: xe3+ 26.xe3 g8 27.fxe4 and black can't prevent e5, d6 etc. ] 19.0-0 e5 [ 19...f6 fails to 20.g5! xg5 21.h5 g6 22.xg5 xg5 23.xg5 White has won a pie ce back, and black's f orces are s till uncoordinated. b8 24.f3 exf3 25.xf3 c8 ( 25...e5 26.f6 xf3+ 27.xf3 g8 28.e3 d7 29.d4+- winning ) 26.b5 f7 27.f4 e8 28.xb8 xb8 29.c5 with advantage ] 20.xf5! Of course, white's knight is better than black's passive rook! h5? This ridiculous move is a waste of time, but black's position is a lre a d y h o p e le ss. He h a s n o d e f e n c e against f3 (or f4). The following variations are illustrative of black's difficulties: [ 20...g6 21.d4 xd4 22.xd4 f7 ( 22...g8 23.f4 g7 24.xe4 e7 25.xg7+ xg7 26.f5+- winning ) 23.f4 e8 24.f5 g5 25.f6 f8 26.e3 h6 27.h4 h7 28.xe4+- winning ] [ 20...g8 21.f4 exf3 22.xf3 h6 23.d6 f6 24.e7+ f8 25.xb7 b8 26.e4+winning ] 679

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.f4+- winning exf3 [ 21...f6 22.g5 g6 23.h4 ] 22.xf3 g8 23.d6 f6 24.g5 Excellent performance from GM Victor Bologan! 1-0

667 Breznik,Kristijan Rogulj,Branko TCh-East 1st League (8) [Neil McDonald]

B05 2178 2453 07.11.2009

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 [ As Black is getting used to facing this move perhaps White should get back to investigating the sharp 6.g5 For example there is Jonkman-Krasenkow in the archives which went xe2 ( Or 6...f5 7.e6 etc. ) 7.xe2 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.0-0 d7 10.c4 e7 with some advantage to White. ] 6...xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.b3? W hite's dark squared bishop is somewhat short of options and so Breznik intends to use it to defend e5. Thinking in the abstract this sounds like a good idea- the white queen, rook and bishop will 'overprotect e5 in good Nimzowitschian style' as the phrase goes- but the problem is it doesn't seem to work! Once the bishop goes to b2 the black knight on d5 can exploit the undefended f4 square to reach g6, an d t hen th e e 5 p awn is su rprisingly fragile. [ Nonetheless the critical line is probably 9.d2 d7 10.e1 -see for example Vuckovic- Bogut in the archives. ] [ Meanwhile White achieves nothing after 9.c4 e7 the black knight has been pushed back from the fine d5 square, but it has hardly been exiled from the game as it can join in an attack on e5 with Ng6 combined with Nd7. 10.xd8+ xd8 etc. when the black king can sit happily on c7. So White should keep the c4 square for his knight, rather than block it with a pawn. ] 9...d7 10.b2 c7 11.e2 [ With his dark squared bishop absent from the battle for key squares such as f4 White can't afford any loose play. For example 11.c4? f4 12.e1 0-0-0 13.d2 g5!

Black already has such an advantage in firepower in the centre that he can afford to p la y ve ry a ggr e ss ive ly. 14.e3 c5 15.d4 cd3 16.d1 xd4 17.xd4 c5 18.c3 xf2 19.d4 b6 0-1 In 't Veld, DZilverberg, J/ Maastricht NED 2007. ] 11...f4 12.e4 g6 13.e1 d8 14.g3? [ E s s e n t i a l w a s 14.a4! to prepare the development of the knight to a3. Then A) After 14...c5 15.a3 Black has no Nxe5 trick of the kind that occurs in the game as the two white rooks will be able to protect each other if necessary. ( But not 15.b4? b6! hitting both b4 and f2, when 16.bxc5 xb2 is awful for White. ); B) 14...a5 15.a3 b4 16.c4!? Giving up the exchange for the initiative. xe1?! ( Perhaps the simple 16...0-0 was called for when after 17.e2 b6 18.xb6 xb6 19.h4 e7 we have a typical scenario of White having space on the kingside but Black controlling the d-file. I think Black has the somewhat better chances. ) 17.xe1 0-0 18.a3 f5 19.exf6 xf6 20.d6 c8 21.g4 and W hite had strong pressure for the exchange and went onto win in J.HouskaM.Cornette, La Roche sur Yon FRA 2007. ] 14...c5 15.h4 0-0 He could already cash in with [ 15...dxe5! but there's no need to hurry. ] 16.h5 gxe5! It is somewhat ironic that White laid so much stress on defending the e5 pawn with 9.b3 and 10.Bb2, but it is precisely this manoeuvre that leads to the loss of the pawn. 17.g2 [ White has to give up his centre pawn for nothing as if 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5 d4 when his two rooks are impaled by the bishop. ] 17...f5 18.f4 d6 19.d4 f7 20.a3 g4 21.c4 c5 Not only attacking f2, but also threatening 22...Qxg3. 0-1

680

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 668 Cmilyte,Viktorija Zhukova,Natalia Olympiad Istanbul [Alexander Volzhin]

B05 2335 2450 2000

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.d2 d7 10.e1 We have already s e e n t h i s p o s i t i o n i n G u f e l d - G o h . b8!? An attempt at an improvement. [ 10...c7 11.c4 b5 was brilliantly refuted in t h e a b o ve me n t io n ed ga m e : 12.xd5! cxd5 13.d6+ xd6 14.xd5!! ] 11.c4 b5 Now the above mentioned c o m b i n a t i o n d o e s n ' t w o r k . 12.d6+ This pawn sacrifice is forced but strong! xd6 13.exd6 xd6 14.b3 c5 15.c4! An important novelty. By sacrificing a second pawn White opens up the position, after which her Bishops run riot. [ 15.b2 as previously played is not so good: 0-0 ( 15...7f6 is weak in view of 16.d4! a3 17.xf6 gxf6 18.xd5 cxd5 19.xd5 0-0 20.xb5 ab8 21.d3 and White was winning in Koscielski-Jostes, P o r z 1 9 9 3 .) 16.d4 d6 17.c4 bxc4 18.bxc4 5b6?! ( 18...5f6 is better in my opinion. White cannot really hope for more than winning b ack h is sa crif iced pawn : 19.xf6 xd1 20.axd1 xf6 21.xc6 ac8 22.d6 fd8 23.ed1 xd6 24.xd6 f8 and the endgame is even slightly better for Black.) 19.c5! xc5 20.c1 ca4 21.xc6 b4 22.a1! f6 23.cxe6 with a huge edge for White was Rhodin-Paulsen, Germany 1994. ] 15...bxc4 16.bxc4 xc4 [ 16...5b6 is the alternative to the text: 17.e3! A) To accept the sacrifice here is even w o r s e t h a n a m o v e e a r l i e r : 17...xc4 18.c1 h4 ( 18...xa2 is bad in view of 19.xc6 d8 20.xb6 axb6 21.d6 and Black is defenceless.) 19.xc6 d8 20.xb6 axb6 21.e4 e7 22.d4 and Black has no way to unpin the Knight.; B) 17...e7 Now White has several promising possibilities: personally I would play 18.c5!? d5 19.xd5 cxd5 20.c1!

Now it's not easy for Black to complete her development . c8 ( Unfortunately, Black can't castle in view of 20...0-0 21.c6 f6 22.c5 winning the exchange.) 21.c6 e5 22.c5 g5 ( 22...c7 is even worse in view of 23.d4! ) 23.b3! xc6 24.b7 d8 ( 24...d8 loses on the spot in view of 25.b4! c7 26.a5! ) 25.xe6+! fxe6 26.xg7 wi t h a n o ve r wh e l m i n g a d va n t a g e f o r White. ] 17.a3 White's compensation is massive and obvious. Since Black has no possibility of castling, her position is sliced in two, therefore despite being two pawns down W hite has extra Rook to attack with. 7f6 18.b1 a6 [ Grabbing the third pawn is suicide: 18...xa2 19.a4 c8 20.b2! and Black's Queen is trapped. ] 19.c1! (threatening 20.Qc5) d7 20.b2! g8? A gross blunder after which White wins on the spot. Black missed White's main threat. [ 20...7f6 is equally bad: 21.xd5 cxd5 ( 21...xd5 22.xg7 ) 22.b4 ] [ 20...5f6 seems to be the only move but Black's position is difficult anyway: 21.b3! Switching the attack to the e6-square which cannot be defended: b8 22.xe6+! d8 Th e on ly wa y to a void im m e d ia t e lo s s . ( 22...fxe6 is bad in view of 23.xe6+ d8 24.e7+ c8 25.c1! b6 26.xc6! and Black is helpless.) 23.e7+ c8 ( 23...c7 24.d6+ d8 25.xb8 fxe6 26.xe6 ) 24.xc6+ xc6 25.xc6 xb3 26.xb3 e8 27.e3 and White has a huge edge in the endgame due to her pair of strong Bishops. ] 21.xd5 b8 Desperation but Black's position is lost anyway. [ 21...cxd5 22.b4 and W hite wins: d8 23.e7+ c7 24.ec1+ ] 22.b3 Black resigned . This game is an excellent illustration of the strength of the Bishop pair in an open position. 1-0

681

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B05 the dark squares around his king. 18.xf2 Dvoirys,Semen I 2562 18 Rc2, intending 19 Rcxf2 and 20 Bd5+ is Zilberman,Yaacov 2488 probably better. h4 [ 18...xb6 19.f1 h8 20.d5 Open Dieren NED (7) 25.07.2000 is somewhat better for White. ] [Carsten Hansen] 19.d5+ h8 20.xf8+ xf8 As if by magic, 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 the white king seems awfully lonely on the 5.exd6 The Exchange Variation is all the rage kingside... 21.xc6 This is either a blunder or right now. exd6 Taking back with the e-pawn a very risky attempt to play for a win. [ 21.e4 f4 22.g3 h6 23.h4 axb6 tends to lead to more balanced positions, is about equal ] while 5...cxd6 leads to more dynamic positions. 6.c3 e7 7.f3 0-0 8.e2 g4 21...bxc6 22.bxa7 g3 23.g1 xc3 9.0-0 c5!? A fairly new idea, which I only 24.f1 g8?! [ 24...c8! is the correct way forward. Black have found one prior example of. The normal is p o ssib ly in time trou b le a t t his p oin t move is 9...Bf6. 10.e3 because his play appears very nervous. ] [ The stem game went as follows: 10.b3 c6 e1?! This is a somewhat feeble or 10...Re8!? 11.d5 xf3 12.xf3 d4 25.f3 (this is one of Black's ideas behind 9...c5!? - a t t e m p t t o g e t a win n i n g e n d g a m e . T h e to play on the dark squares. Please notice s t r a t e g y b a c k f i r e s v e r y q u i c k l y i n t h e how Black continues to play on this strategy. endgame that arises. The correct way for ) 13.e1 d7 14.g4 e5 15.h3 h4 Black to proceed is 25...Qe5 to keep control 16.e3 f6 17.h1 g6 18.xd4 d3! over the dark squares and keep White under 19.e3 xf2 20.f1 xe3 21.f5 b2 lo ck a n d ke y in a ve ry p a s sive p o s i t io n . 22.e2 h6 23.xb2 ae8 24.f3 g6 26.xe1 xe1 27.f7 h6?! [ 27...g3!? to maintain some mating threats 25.h3 g7 26.c8 e5 27.xb7 g5 on the white king looks worth considering. ] W hite is a full piece up, but see how everything is falling apart for the computer, 28.b7 f2 29.b4 h7 30.c5?! [ White tries to confuse Black who already while the German IM methodically picks up has thrown away a clear advantage. the material he has sacrificed. 28.c6 g4 Otherwise 30.b5 cxb5 31.cxb5 a8 32.b6 29.g3 f5 30.h3 h5 31.f1 f4 32.xe3 xb6 33.xb6 xa7 34.xd6 xa2 xe3 33.d1 xb2 34.xb2 f3 35.hxg4 with a drawn endgame would have been the fxg2+ 36.xg2 e2+ 37.g1 xf1+ logical way for the game to end. ] 38.xf1 xb2 39.gxh5 xa2 40.d7 b2 31.b5?! White gradually repays 41.e1 xb3 42.d2 a5 43.f5 a4 30...a8! 32.c6? 44.c2 b4 0-1 Comp Mephisto Milano Pro- Black for his past mistakes. cxb5 White is making things worse for himself. Like Loeffler,S/The Hague 1997 (44) ] on the previous move 32 cxd6 was the way to 10...c6 11.b3 [ 11.d5 xf3 12.xf3 e5 13.b3 g5 go. xa7?? I guess we should have expected is pleasant for Black, notice the theme of this. .. Black panics. The cool [ 32...g3! 33.c7 ( 33.f7 d5 also wins strong knight vs. bad bishop ] comfortably. ) 33...e8 mates. ] 11...f5 This a very ambitious plan by Black. A g6 34.xa7 c8 35.g1 solid and good alternative is 11... Bf6 which is 33.c7 and a draw was agreed upon. about equal. 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 f4 [ Or 13...f6 14.dxc5 dxc5 15.xc6 bxc6 ½-½ 16.c2 with a better game for White. ] 14.dxc5 fxe3 15.cxb6 exf2+ 15...Bf6 16 Rc1 exf2+ 17 Kh1 reaches the same position. 16.h1 f6 17.c1 e5! Rather than worrying about taking the pawn on b6 which is of no significance anyway, Black directs his counterplay against White's only weakness 669

682

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 670 Fedorowicz,John P Baburin,Alexander Imre Mem San Francisco USA (8) [Glenn Flear]

B05 B05 671 2509 Garcia Pantoja,R 2369 2580 Garcia 2457 14.09.2002 XLIV Capablanca Memorial Open (6) 14.06.09 [John Watson]

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 b6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 h5 10.e3 d5 11.c5 xf3 12.gxf3 Considered the critical test for Black. Instead [ 12.xf3 c4 is less challenging for Black. ] 12...c8 13.f4 c6 14.b4 [ A f t e r t h e m a i n a l t e r n a t i v e 14.f5 Black recently tried h4?! but following ( 14...exf5 15.f3 is standard but Black has yet to prove a totally convincing route to equality ) 15.d3 exf5 16.f3 6e7 17.h5 g6 18.xf5 c6 19.h1 ce7 20.c2 f5 21.exf6 xf6 22.f4 W hite retained the initiative in Von BahrFriberg, Skara 2002 ] 14...h4 15.b1 8e7 16.d3 g6 17.h2 [ 17.f3 f5 18.xf5 gxf5 19.h5 h8 20.h2 g8!? 21.xf7 e8 22.xe8 axe8 is the earlier game KindermannBaburin, Germany 1997/8. Theory says equal as the extra pawn is not relevant as White's bishop is so bad. ] 17...f5 18.xf5 exf5!? In the game against Kinderman Baburin recaptured with the other pawn. Here he shows an alternative defensive set-up. 19.g1 d7 20.f3 fd8 21.h5 e7 22.d1 a6 23.e2 h8 Black isn't going anywhere, but W hite isn't really achieving a great deal either! ECO prefers White in these lines but I don't think Baburin agrees! 24.c2 g8 25.a3 d8 26.g3 e6 27.a4 c6 28.b3 f8 29.b1 h6 30.h4 g7 31.h3 h5 32.c1 e6 It looks to me that 14 f5 is the best hope for an opening advantage. ½-½

There's a lot of action in this brief encounter. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 xf3 Black goes into the main line. 6...Nd7 is featured in our other 4... Bg4 game, Ol Ivanov-Derbenev, Lipetsk 2009. 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.e2 d7 10.d2 [ No one tried (noticed? Been able to stomach?) my suggestion from an earlier update, 10.d1 , after which I'll quote myself and add a few notes: " c7 11.c4 e7 12.f4 g6 13.g3 This is supposed to be a terrible square for White's bishop, although it serves its purpose of preserving the cramping e-pawn. And the rook is on d1, usually a bad square. In fact, Cox says with emphasis that the rook does NOT belong on d1, wanting to put it on e1 before doing anything else. I think that's true in most cases, but in concrete terms the rook prevents captures on e5 while discouraging ca st li n g qu e e n si d e . B l a c k m ig h t t r y t o encourage an exchange on g6, for example, e7 ( 13...dxe5? 14.h5! a5 15.d2 d7 16.e4 gives White more than enough f o r a p a wn .; I did find this single example: 13...0-0-0 14.c3 (I still like 14 Bh5) b4 15.e4!? dxe5 16.c5! f5! 17.d6+ xd6 18.cxd6 xd6 19.xe5?! xe5 20.g3 g6 21.g2 e8 22.ab1 g4 23.b4! e5 24.h3 f6 25.b5 Kuzmin, G (2525)-Pribyl, J (2405), Ceske Budejovice 1995 maybe W hite's a bit better, but it's certainly not clear) 14.h5 0-0! ( 14...0-0-0 15.d2 c5 16.f3; 14...h4 15.xh4 xh4 16.c3!? xe5!? 17.e4 0-0 18.d6 wit h u n cle a r co m p e n s a t io n) 15.d2?! ( 15.c3 ad8 16.f4 gives White an edge) 15...ad8 16.xg6 hxg6 17.e4 xe5 18.b4! with the idea of c5, and xb4? 19.b2 xd1+ 20.xd1 d8 21.f1 . Perhaps the setup with Bg3, Qe2, and Rd1 deserves more attention. ] 10...e7 11.b3? Perhaps simply missing the reply. Better is 683

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 11.e1 ] 11...xe5! 12.xe5! [ 12.xd5 cxd5 13.b2 c6 14.xg7 g8 15.b2 f6 and you have to like Black's centre pawns. ] 12...f6 13.g3 xa1 14.a3 White is an exchange and a pawn down, and though he may not have full compensation (almost!), there are some real chances. [ 14.e4!? ] 14...f6 15.e4 a5! 16.d6+ d7 17.c4 c7!? [ 17...c3 is daring but consistent, with 18.d6+ c8 19.xd5 exd5 20.b2 xc2 21.xf6 gxf6 22.xf6 d8 23.d6+ c7 24.xf7 d4 a plausible follow-up. ] 18.d6 d8 19.d1 [ 19.c5 ] 19...c8 20.a3!? c7 [ 20...e7 is ris ky a f t e r 21.xe7 xe7 22.d6+ d7 23.xb7 b4 24.c4 ] 21.d6 d8 22.a3 c7 23.d6 ½-½

4...g4 5.e2 c6 I've tried many systems against the Main Variation (4.Nf3) and this is one of them. It is called Flohr Variation, after famous Czech GM Salo Flohr, who tried it against Botvinnik. 6.c4 [ T h e r e i s n o t h i n g w r o n g w i t h 6.0-0 but then the idea of Flohr becomes apparent: xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 White has the two bishops, but this is hardly an asset here - the dark-squared bishop is limited by the e5-pawn, while the lightsquared one is restricted by black pawns (e6/ c6). The main features of this position are: weakness of the e5-pawn and weakness of the d6-square. Chances are about equal, I think. ] [ The most critical line is 6.g5 After xe2 7.xe2 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 White has better chances, as he has kept the knight rather than the light-squared bishop. That night is much more useful both in protecting the e5pawn and occupying the d6-square. ] [ Of course, poor is 6.h3 as taking on f3 fits Black's plan: xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 ] 672 B05 6...b6 7.bd2 [ I usually faced here 7.exd6 exd6 ] Greet,Andrew 7...8d7 8.0-0 Baburin,Alexander [ Also possible is 8.g5 xe2 9.e6 f6 4NCL Birmingham (6) 15.01.2006 10.xe2 fxg5 11.e4 f6 12.xg5 xc4! [Alex Baburin (www.chesstoday.net)] (Burgess) ] 1.e4 f6 Yes, I know... The Alekhine IS a 8...dxe5 [ Another popular line is 8...xf3 9.xf3 risky opening, but at least this is the devil I dxe5 10.dxe5 e6 Again, Black's idea has know! In any game I lost with this opening I been to get rid of one of the enemy knights. ] could always said where I went wrong, while in some Najdorf games I lost without having a 9.xe5 xe5 10.dxe5 This position was clue about the source of my troubles! 2.e5 new to me. I had probably seen it in some books on the Alekhine, but during the game I d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 [ Of course, the Four Pawns Attack - 4.c4 did not have a clue how Black was supposed b6 5.f4 is the most critical line. to play here... Which is not always a bad thing ( while t he Exch an ge Va riat io n - 5.exd6 - allows you to look at the position afresh. f5 is the most practical and theref ore very I think this is best. [ I did not particularly like the position after p o p u l a r . I ' v e p l a y e d d o ze n s o f g a m e s 10...xe2 11.xe2 e6 But perhaps it's not starting from this position (I usually reply too bad. For example: 12.b3 ( Bagirov in his with 5. ..exd6 ) and the only thin g which 1987 book gives 12.e4 "with advantage", keeps me intrigued is my memory - I don't clearly missing d4! ) 12...d4 13.b1 remember my games and have to work out d8 14.e4 d3 15.xd3 xd3 16.e3 things again and again! I read somewhere e7 17.fd1 d8 18.c5 d7 19.d6 f5 that Emanuel Lasker dreamt of forgetting 20.exf6 gxf6 21.c7 c8 22.f4 c5 anything he had learnt. To me that comes 23.c3 d8 24.xd8+ xd8 naturally! )] 684

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Vogt-Cibulka, Stary Smokovec 1973. ] [ In some games Black tried 10...e6 ] 11.b3 I don't like this move, which my opponent played rather quickly. [ Better was 11.g4 seeking the exchange of the light-squared bishops. ] 11...e6 12.d1 White spent 24 minutes on this move, but I don't think it was best. [ I think 12.g3 ] [ or 12.f3 was preferable. ] 12...c7 13.g3 0-0-0 Because of the pressure on g7, Black has troubles developing the f8-bishop, so castling long seems natural. 14.b3 White needs this move if he wants to relocate his knight. [ I am impressed that Junior suggests (at least initially!) as the main move 14.f3 xd1+ 15.xd1 xc4 16.e2 b6 have computers lost all respect to material? ] 14...h5!? I spent 25 minutes on this move. [ 14...b4 15.a3 gives Black nothing. ] [ I mainly looked at 14...c2 15.f1 b4 16.b1 I felt that he Black should be OK, but could not see a clear plan. Computer favours Black after d7 17.b2 f6 ] 15.f1 [ 15.f3 xd1+ 16.xd1 h4 17.xh4?? xh4 18.xh4 xe5 ] [ Probably better was 15.e3?! when ...h4 can be met with h2-h3. ] 15...xd1 16.xd1 h4 17.c3 h3 That was my idea - to weaken the white king. [ In fact, I completely missed a nice tactical shot: 17...b4! ] 18.g4 There is nothing wrong with this move it won't be easy for Black to get at the enemy king. However, my opponent played this with a wrong idea in mind. g6 19.g3 d7 20.f4? That was his plan - to lock out the g6bishop after the eventual f4-f5. But W hite can't afford to weaken his position so much. b6+! 21.e3 b4! 22.c1 c5 23.f2 [ 23.xc5? xc5+ 24.f1 d4 is hopeless for White. ] 23...d8 [ M y f i r s t i n t e n t i o n w a s t o p l a y 23...f6 But I could not find anything concrete after 24.exf6 gxf6 25.e2 I must say that I missed the paradoxical idea f5! ] 24.f3?

[ I expected 24.e2 Here I considered two ideas. First is the peculiar-looking move h7!? - intending to blow up the White's c e n t r e w i t h . . . g 5 ! . ( But I was leaning towards 24...d4! which makes it hard for W hite to untie his pieces. For example: 25.d2 xe5! 26.d1 d3+ 27.xd3 xd3-+ )] 24...xe5! I saw this move instantly, but then nearly rejected it on false grounds. 25.fxe5 d3 26.f1 xe3+ [ When I first looked at 24...Nxe5!, I only saw here 26...xe3 27.xe3 d4 This is possible, but clearly not best for Black. ] 27.xe3 d4! 28.e1 xe5! [ The line 28...xe3 29.xe3 xa1 is probably winning, but why settle for so little? ] 29.f1 [ Or 29.d1 xh2+ 30.f1 f4 31.f2 e4 32.e2 h2-+ ] 29...f4 30.e2 d4+ 31.e3 d2 32.d1 xe2+ 33.xe2 b2+ 34.d2 e5 Time: 1.51 - 1.52 Time control: 40 moves in 2 hours, 20 moves in 1 hour and 30 minutes allegro finish. 0-1

673 Gufeld,Eduard Goh,Cheng Hong Penang [Alexander Volzhin]

B05 2480 2320 1991

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0! xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.d2! d7 10.e1 c7 This natural looking move is a waste of time. [ In my opinion, Black should try 10...e7 intending kingside castling. It's not easy for White to prove his advantage. 11.c4 0-0 12.d6? is strongly met by xe5! ] 11.c4! b5 This optimistic move allows a brilliant combination. Anyhow it's difficult to find a reasonable defence: [ 11...0-0-0 12.d6+ xd6 13.exd6 and the d6-pawn is taboo: xd6? 14.c4 ] [ 11...7b6 is probably the best, although the position after 12.d6+! xd6 13.exd6 685

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd6 14.c4! xc4 15.d4! b4 White. ] ( 15...cb6 16.xg7 0-0-0 17.xf7 11.g4!? with advantage) 16.g5! is very dangerous [ 11.e3 was played in Bologan-Tischbierek for Black. ] and after xf3! 12.xf3 8d7 12.xd5! cxd5 Black obtained a solid position (although [ Of cause 12...bxc4 is bad: 13.xc4 xe5 W hite is slightly better). The text is more 14.f4 d6 15.xe5 xe5 16.h5+ambitious. It was introduced by Bologan and after the bishop's retreat 17.Re6 wins. ] recently after his game vs. Tischbierek. ] 13.d6+ xd6 14.xd5!! The point. c8 11...g6 12.h4 h5 [ 14...exd5 doe sn 't h elp Black 15.exd6+ [ In Bologan-Agdestein, Yerevan (ol) 1996 d8 16.dxc7+ xc7 17.e7 ] where 11.g4 was played for the first time 15.exd6 c4 Otherwise the sacrifice on e6 B l a c k p r e f e r r e d 12...h6 but failed to works: equalise: 13.d3! [ 15...xc2 16.xe6+! fxe6 17.xe6+ f8 A) 13...xd3 14.xd3 c8 18.g5 f6 19.d7+- winning ] is the alternative but White is also better [ 15...c6 16.xe6+! fxe6 17.xe6+ f8 here: 15.b3 xg4 16.g1 h5 17.xg7 18.g5 f6 19.xf6 gxf6 20.e7+ g8 and an attempt to create counterplay with 21.d7+- winning ] f5 is st ro n gly m e t b y 18.b5! f8 16.b7+- winning c6 17.xa7 White is two ( 18...e4 19.d4 is bad for Black as well.) pawns up and should win easily. 0-0 18.f4 19.xe7 xe7 20.a3 e4 21.d4 fd8 19.ad1 b6 with a decisive advantage for White.; [ 19...xc2 20.c1 ] B) 13...c8!? Black hopes to obtain 20.c3 Of course Black could play some more co u n t e rc h a n c e s o n t h e f - f i l e . 14.xg6 moves, but the outcome of the game is fxg6 15.d2 0-0 ( 15...xc4? 16.a4+ beyond doubt. winning the Knight.) 16.b3 f4 17.g5! 1-0 and White is clearly better: hxg5 18.hxg5 f5 19.e2 a6 20.de4 f3 21.e3 d7 22.0-0-0 dc5 23.h4! h3 674 B05 24.g3 d7 25.xh3 xh3 26.c2 f7 27.a3! g4 28.b4 xg5 29.xg5 xg5+ Hamdouchi,Hicham 2513 30.b2 d7 31.ge4 and White won a Baburin,Alexander 2591 few moves later. ] Saint Vincent 2000 [ An attempt to seize the initiative with [Alexander Volzhin] 12...e4?! l o o k s d u b i o u s : 13.g5 0-0 14.gxe4 In Messa-Corvi, Italia 1997 Black After the game Bologan-Tischbierek we came f a i l e d t o p r o ve h e h a d e n o u g h f o r t h e to the conclusion that this line is a good way sacrificed pawn: e8 ( 14...xh4? 15.g5 for White to deviate from Alekhine's main line. winning the Bishop.) 15.d4! a6 16.h5 This recent game confirms this opinion. 1.e4 b4 17.d1 xe4 18.xe4 c8 19.a3 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 a6 20.h6! f6 21.xf6+ xf6 22.xf6 e6 6.h3 h5 7.c4 b6 8.exd6 cxd6 gxf6 23.b3 and White has a decisive edge 9.c3 e7 10.d5! e5 in the endgame. ] [ 10...exd5?! is weaker since after 11.xd5 0-0 12.0-0 White is clearly better due to his 13.g5 8d7 14.e3 The critical position for strong Knight on d5 and the weakness of the whole line. c8 [ 14...a6 was played in Vescovi-Leitao, Black's d6-pawn. Now Black can't win a Itabirito 1998. Here Black also failed to pawn: xf3 13.xf3 xc4 in view of solve his opening problems: 15.b3 c7 14.c2! e5 15.e4 (now 16.Nc7 is 16.d3 0-0 17.e4 ( 17.xg6 was also t h r e a t e n e d ) ( Hasty 15.c7 gives Black possible: fxg6 18.d2 c5 19.e2 good compensation for the exchange: xf3+ intending Kf1-g2 or even K-side castling and 16.gxf3 c6 17.xa8 d7 ) 15...bc6 then at the right moment Bxc5 and Nd2-e4 16.xh7+ h8 17.f4 with a clear edge for 686

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with an edge although the open f-file and slightly unsaf e position of W hite's King g i v e s B l a c k c e r t a i n c o u n t e r c h a n c e s .) 17...xe4 18.xe4 g6 19.d2 c5 a n d n o w s i m p l e 20.c2 ( instead of 20.c2 ) 20...a5 ( 20...ac8 21.b4!? cd7 22.b3 ) 21.b1 secured White a clear edge. ] [ 14...f5 was tried also but after 15.d2 g6 16.de4 threatening Ng3, White is clearly better. Leonardo-Rodrigues Maceira 1997 ] 15.b3 c5 16.g1!? bd7 17.b4! e4!? Both opponents play very inventively and now very sharp position has arisen. [ 17...e4 deserved attention. ] 18.d2 d3+ 19.f1 xb4 20.dxe4 0-0 21.d4! Now it's clear that White has outplayed his opponent. White's centralized pieces are well coordinated and after capturing the h5-pawn W hite has good chances for a K-side attack. e8 22.a3 a6 23.xh5 xc4 24.e2 c8!? Black tries to complicate. [ A f t e r t h e n a t u r a l 24...c8 25.h5 Black's position is very difficult, for example: xe4 26.xe4 ac5 27.g3! By transferring the Knight to the f5-square W h i t e o b t a i n s a c r u s h i n g a t t a c k : xg5 28.f5 e5 29.f4! xf4 30.xg7! h2 31.g2 f6+ 32.f3! and White wins: xf3+ 33.xf3 xf3 34.xe8+ ] 25.h5! The correct approach. White doesn't accept the sacrifice and just executes his plan. [ 25.xc4 xc4+ 26.g2 dc5! allows unnecessary complications. ] 25...f5 26.g3! A very strong manoeuvre. f8 27.e3! b6 28.xb6 cxe4 Otherwise White wins easily: [ 28...axb6 29.xc4 xc4+ 30.e2 ] [ 28...xe4 29.xc4 xc4+ 30.e2 xe2+ 31.xe2 axb6 32.xe4 - both lines are hopeless for Black. ] 29.xe4 xe4 [ 29...axb6 30.d4 is also very bad for Black. ] 30.xa7 f5 After the exchange sacrifice Black has managed to activate his pieces but of course White's material advantage should be enough for the win. 31.d4! c5 32.g3 xd5 33.g4 xg5 34.f3 xg3!? Black tries his last chance.

[ 34...e5 35.xe5 xe5 36.xd5 xd5 37.xc5 dxc5 38.b1 is hopeless for Black. ] 35.fxg3 xf3 36.xc5 [ I wo u ld p r e f e r 36.e1 a8 37.e3! and Black is in trouble: xh5 38.xc5 dxc5 39.d5 winning the b7-pawn. ] 36...dxc5 37.f4 xh5 38.e1 xe1+ 39.xe1 g6 40.a4? The last move before the time control throws away the win. [ 40.c4! preventing the bishop transfer to the a6-square should be played and after f5 41.d5 c8 (the only move) 42.a4 Black can hardly hold the endgame. ] 40...d3! 41.a5 b5 42.c7 a6 Black has built a fortress and now White can't make any progress. 43.g4 g6 44.g5 c4 45.d2 b4+ 46.c2 g7 47.d8 h7 48.f6 g8 ½-½

675 Hoepfl,Thomas Tischbierek,Raj ch-GER Osterburg GER (8) [Andrew Martin]

B05 2313 2466 10.02.2006

A sharp tactical Alekhine's Defence game where both sides have chances but Hoepfl makes a serious error in allowing Tischbierek a passed pawn which ultimately wins him the game. 1.e4 f6 Alekhine's Defence 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 Although not as popular as it was in the 1970s and 1980s, this line is still played frequently by many grandmasters such as Baburin and Sergeev. 5.e2 e6 [ 5...c6 is also frequently played. 6.0-0 ( 6.g5 xe2 7.xe2 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.0-0 e7 10.h5 xg5 11.xg5 c7 12.c4 b6 13.c3 xe5 14.g4 0-0 15.fe1 1/2-1/2 Almasi - Zlatic, Budapest 2005; 6.c4 b6 7.exd6 exd6 8.b3 e7 9.c3 d5 10.c5 6d7 11.0-0 0-0 12.f4 e8 13.e1 xe2 14.xe2 b6 15.cxb6 1/2-1/2 Hansen - Baburin, Calvia Olympiad 2004 ) 6...xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.d2 d7 10.e1 b4 11.xd5 cxd5 12.g4 b6 13.xg7 0-0-0 14.c3 c5 15.g3 dg8 16.f4 g7 17.b4 e7 687

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.f3 hg8 19.g3 b8 20.e3 c7 21.ac1 b6 22.xb6 xb6 23.a3 h5 24.c4 h4 25.e3 hxg3 26.hxg3 xe3 27.xe3 dxc4 28.xc4 d8 29.d3 b6 30.g2 and eventually White went on to win with the extra pawn. Carlsen - Dannevig, Norway 2005 1-0 ] 6.c4 b6 7.0-0 e7 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 [ 9.e3 is another popular move. c6 10.exd6 cxd6 11.d5 exd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.xd5 e6 14.d2 d5 15.c5 c8 16.b4 f6 17.ad1 e8 18.a3 a6 19.fe1 c7 20.d4 xd4 21.xd4 ce7 22.f1 f5 Sutovsky - Berkes, George Marx Memorial 2005 1/2-1/2 ] 9...h5 10.e3 a6 11.exd6 cxd6 12.b3 8d7 13.a4 [ 13.ac1 c8 14.d2 xe2 15.xe2= ] 13...xf3 14.gxf3 b8 15.h1N [ 15.fd1 f6 ( 15...c7 16.ac1 fc8 17.e4 c6 18.a5 d5 19.axb6 dxe4 20.f4 e5 21.dxe5 c5 22.e3 e6 23.g3 c5 24.xe4 xb6 25.f4 d4 26.g4 d8 27.h4 f6 28.exf6 gxf6 29.h2 d6 30.g1 Lekic - Stefanopoulos, Ikaros 1999 1-0) 16.d5 bd7 17.e4 e5 18.c3 c8 19.b4 xe4 20.fxe4 g5 21.a3 a5 22.d2 xe3 23.xe3 c5 24.f4 exf4 25.xf4 b6 26.h1 ce8 27.g3 xb2 28.f3 e5 29.h4 g6 30.g4 xa4 31.dg1 c5 32.h6 a4 33.h4 g7 34.f4 d3 0-1 Kotliar - Yermolinsky, St Martin 1993 ] 15...g5 16.g1 xe3 17.fxe3 h4 18.g2?! [ 18.g2 c8 19.f4 e7 ] 18...c8 [ 18...xh3+ is probably Black's best option. 19.h2 f5 ] 19.h2 e7 20.ag1 g6 21.d3 e5 22.e4? This allows Black some serious chances. [ 22.e2 is a much stronger move. c6 23.d5 ] 22...exd4 23.g4? [ 23.exd4 White has to go into this line even t h o u g h i t i s n o t v e r y g o o d f o r h i m . f5 24.xd6 xd4 25.c5+ h8 26.e6 e5 ] 23...h6 24.g5 dxe3 25.b1 e2

[ 25...f6 26.c5+ d5 27.xe3 e5-+ ] 26.e3 e5 27.4g3 [ 27.4g2 is better but probably would not have changed the result. ] 27...be8 28.d2 f6 29.f4 fxg5 30.fxe5 f2+ 31.h1 dxe5 32.e3 f8 33.d3 f4 34.xe2 f5 0-1

676

B05 Ibarra Chami,Luis Fernando 2325 Fernandez Garcia,Jose Luis 2467 42nd Capablanca Mem Abierto (1) 18.05.2007 [John Watson]

As the game goes, there's not much difference with Illijin-Horn, but in this game I will also concentrate upon the idea of 10 Rd1 (in the notes). 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.e2 d7 10.c4 [ A strange-looking reorganisation with White making all 'bad' moves is 10.d1!? c7 11.c4 e7 12.f4 g6 13.g3 This is supposed to be a terrible square for W hite's bishop, although it serves its purpose of preserving the cramping e-pawn. And the rook is on d1, usually a bad square. In fact, Cox says with emphasis that the rook does NOT belong on d1, wanting to put it on e1 before doing anything else. I think that's true in most cases, but in concrete terms the rook prevents captures on e5 while discouraging castling queenside. Black might try to encourage an exchange on g6, for example, e7 ( 13...dxe5? 14.h5! a5 15.d2 d7 16.e4 gives White more than enough for a pawn.) 14.h5 0-0! ( 14...0-0-0 15.d2 c5 16.f3; 14...h4 15.xh4 xh4 16.c3!? xe5!? 17.e4 0-0 18.d6 with unclear compensation) 15.d2 ( 15.c3 ad8 ) 15...ad8 16.xg6 hxg6 17.e4 xe5 18.b4! with the idea of c5, and xb4? 19.b2 xd1+ 20.xd1 d8 21.f1 . Perhaps the setup with Bg3, Qe2, and Rd1 deserves more attention. ] 10...e7 11.d2 White's idea is to play Bc3 a n d R e 1 , t h u s n o t a l l o w i n g . . . B b 4 . g6 12.c3 c7 13.e1 0-0-0 We've arrived at 688

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the same position as Illijin-Horn, where Black played 13...Nf4? 14.b4?! This just exposes White's position, but [ 14.a3 c5 15.ad1 xd1 16.xd1 a4! is at least equal for Black. ] 14...e7 15.a4? Losing. As shown in IllijinHorn, this position is much more difficult for White than it at first appears. [ 15.a3 has the idea gxe5?! 16.xe5 xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5 f6 19.ee1 d3 20.c2 xa1 21.xa1 hd8 . But here 15...a5! improves. ] [ 15.b2 looks best, as analysed in IllijinHorn. f6 ( 15...b6 16.b3 d7 17.b2= )] 15...dxe5! Whoops. 16.a3 xf3+ 17.xf3 f4 18.e2 f6 and Black went on to win. 0-1

and W hite's e-pawn will still fall in most lines. ] 14.d2?! [ 14.e4 g5 15.d2 ] [ Or 14.e3! g5 15.d2 c5 16.e4 ] 14...g6 15.e2 0-0-0 16.b4 e7 No w t h e t h re a t is a t r ip l e ca p t u re o n e 5 followed by ...Bf6. 17.g3?! White speculates better but not terribly attractive was [ 17.b2 f6 ( 17...b6 18.b3 d7 19.b2 repeats ) 18.exf6 gxf6 with the idea 19.xe6?! de5! 20.d2 d7 21.xe7 xe7 and White is short of compensation because his light-squared bishop will have to be exchanged. ] 17...dxe5 [ 17...gxe5! 18.g2 h5 is still better, because it leaves the queenside protected. ] 18.e4 f6 [ 18...b8 ] 19.a4 d7!? 677 B05 [ Black should be more aggressive, e.g., 19...h5 20.a5 h4 21.b5 hxg3 22.hxg3 Illijin,Neboisa 2290 d6! ] Horn,Pascal 2320 Biel-C (2) 1990 20.a5 xc3?! 21.xc3 f5 22.g2 he8? 23.b5! Suddenly White threatens 24 a6 with a [John Watson] killing position. There's no good defence. b8 [ 23...a6 24.bxa6 bxa6 25.c5 b8 Another test of 9 Qe2. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 26.ab1 , etc. ] 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 xf3 24.a6 bxa6 25.bxc6 xc6 26.xa6 d4 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.e2 d7 10.c4 [ 10.e1 c7 11.c4 ( maybe 11.d2!? W h a t e lse ? 27.a2 e7 28.b5! xb5 would be more flexible) 11...e7 12.d2 29.c6 d4 30.a6+ d7 31.xc7+ xc7 32.xa7+ c8 33.a6+ d7 34.a4+ g6 13.c3 transposes. ] c8 35.b1 c7 36.b8+ An entertaining 10...e7 11.d2 c7 game, but Black would have had no problems [ Black can try to exploit White's move order by 11...g6 12.c3 g5!? ( 12...c7 with accurate opening play. Perhaps 10 Re1 13.e1 i s t h e g a m e) 13.e1 f4!? and 11 Bd2 is a better order. ( 13...0-0-0 is solid ) 14.c2 c5?! 1-0 ( 14...g6 15.d2 e7 16.xg5 xg5 17.g3 and White has a slight theoretical B05 edge due to the bishops.) 15.b4! h3+ 678 ( 15...b6 16.d2 ) 16.f1 xf2 17.e2 Ivanov 2461 Derbenev,Andrey 2408 b6 18.c5 and Black will lack compensation King's Gambit A (8) 30.06.2009 for his piece. ] 12.e1 g6 13.c3 Okay, now we're at the [John Watson] basic position, which could have arisen by 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 various orders. f4? [ I s e e n o t h i n g w r o n g w i t h 13...0-0-0! 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 d7!? I didn't know this , for example, 14.a3 ( 14.b4 e7 15.b2 move, even though it's been played on a fairly f6 17 -see Qb2; 14.d2? dxe5 ) 14...c5 high level. It's very logical to try to attack the 15.ad1 xd1 16.xd1 a4! 17.d4 c5! centre as quickly as possible. White's next is 689

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 critical. [ W e've seen 6...xf3 many times, and it is featured once more this month. ] 7.g5 This has scored very well, and so has [ 7.c4 even if it's not completely clear, for example, A) 7...c7 8.exd6 exd6 9.g5!? with the idea xe2 10.xe2+ e7 ( or 10...e7 11.d1 0-0-0 12.c3 h6 13.e1 f6 14.ge4 with White on top, Stanojoski, Z-Simovski, G Struga 2002) 11.e1 ( or 11.h5 ); B) 7...5b6 8.exd6 exd6 9.e1 ( 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 e7 11.b3 0-0 12.c3 wins the bishop pair and establishes a n ic e a d va n t a ge , Ja m ie so n -C o c o g n e , N o u m e a 1 9 9 5 .) 9...e7 10.g5!? ( 10.c3; 10.h3!? xf3 11.xf3 h a s t h e i d e a xc4 12.c3 0-0?? 13.e2 ) 10...0-0 11.xg4 xg5 12.f4?! f6 equalised in Fischvogt-Fischman, Columbus 1987. ] 7...xe2 [ An interesting try is 7...f5 8.g4! ( 8.g4 xg4 9.xg4 dxe5 10.f5 f6 11.xh7 b6 is unclear) 8...h6 9.gxf5 hxg5 10.e6 7f6 11.xg5!? ( 11.exf7+ xf7 12.xg5 b6 13.c3! ) 11...a5 ( 11...fxe6 12.c4 c7 13.xf6 exf6 14.h5+ d7 may favour W hite, but it mixes things up) 12.d2!? xd2 13.exf7+ xf7 14.xd2 with a pawn and clear advantage, LangrockFloegel, Germany 2002. ] 8.e6!? Clever, but [ 8.xe2 dxe5 9.dxe5 e6 10.c4 c7?! ( 10...5b6 11.c3 e7 12.f3 c7 13.f4 ) 11.d1 is the kind of position that we've looked at before, with W hite to be preferred. ] 8...f6! [ Not 8...xd1?? 9.exf7# ] [ And 8...fxe6?! is a positional mistake: 9.xe2 c7 Kaspersen-Aagaard, Denmark 1980 but instead of 10 f4, 10.c3 f6 11.e1 keeps Black bundled up. ] 9.exd7+ xd7 10.xe2 fxg5 11.xg5 [ 11.c4?! f4 looks good for Black after 12.xf4 gxf4 13.d5 cxd5 14.cxd5 g6 15.c3 g7 16.fe1 e5! ] 11...0-0-0 [ Better 11...f5! with the idea 12.e3 g6

13.c4 f4 ] 12.c4 c7 13.c3 h6 14.e3 d5 15.cxd5 xd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.f4!? [ 17.b4 e6 18.fb1 with attack. ] 17...e6 18.fe1 d6 19.e5 hf8 20.ad1 f5 21.g3 xg3 22.hxg3 d6 This looks about equal - the weaknesses cancel out. 23.b3 h5 24.d3 f6 25.c2 f5 26.e2 f6 27.c2 a5!? 28.e5 d8 29.c5! b6 30.c4 g6 31.de3 d7 32.3e4 b7 33.a4 d5 34.b4 b5? This turns out to be t o o we a k e n i n g . 35.axb5 cxb5 36.e2 xe5? [ 36...d6 37.xb5+ a8 , but this is sad. ] 37.xe5 b6 [ 37...a6 38.d5! ] 38.e3 c6 39.d5+ b7 40.dxe6 e8 41.c5 xe6? [ 41...a6 42.d5+ b8 43.d6+ b7 44.c5 is also hopeless. ] 42.d5+ c6 43.xe6 1-0

679 Jonkman,Harmen Krasenkow,Michal Corus C Wijk aan Zee NED (11) [John Watson]

B05 2425 2651 26.01.2007

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.g5!? This is the line that originally deterred everyone from 5...c6. It has only been mentioned in passing on ChessPub (by Baburin, who calls it the most critical). The main games with 6 0-0 have scored so well that 6 Ng5 perhaps seemed unimportant. But t h e n o t e s i n t h is c o lu m n r e n d e r W h it e ' s advantage unclear after 6 0-0. xe2 [ For many years, the leading Alekhine player a n d t h e o r e t i c i a n wa s B a g i r o v, a n d h e analysed 6...Bf5 at length. A wild recent game went 6...f5 7.e6 ( 7.g4 is the important alternative, probably somewhat in W hite's f avou r) 7...fxe6 8.h5+!? ( 8.g4 ) 8...g6 9.g4! xc2!? 10.xc2 gxh5 11.xe6 d7 12.f5 (threatening mate in 1! ) f6! 13.g5!? ( 13.0-0 ) 13...f7 14.d8+ xd8 ( 14...e8! 15.xd7+ fxd7 ) 15.gxf6 exf6 16.xh5+ e7 17.c3 d7 ( or 690

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17...e8= ) 18.f5+ c7 19.f4 d7 20.0-0-0 e8 21.hg1 f7 22.d5 e5 23.xe5 dxe5 24.e4 cxd5?? ( 24...d8 ) 25.xf6 The end. c8 26.b1 b8 27.d7+ 1-0 Lehmann-Karrer, Zurich SUI 2006. ] 7.xe2 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 This much-tested position is probably satisfactory for Black, who has the better bishop and pressure on e5 to compensate for his deficit in space. Whether he fully equalises is another matter. 9.0-0 [ 9.c4? b4+ has the idea 10.d2 xg5 11.cxd5 xg2 ] 9...d7 10.c4 e7! This knight will pressure White's e-pawn from g6, or in some cases go to f5. 11.f4? Anti-positional, but more importantly, tempo-wasting. [ 11.d1 is the book move, considered a tad b e t t e r f o r W h i t e a f t e r f5 ( 11...g6 12.e4! with the idea gxe5?! 13.f4 g6 14.f5 ) 12.c3 ] 11...g6 12.h5 It almost looks like White 'missed' 11...Ng6! [ He doesn't have enough compensation after 12.e3 e7 ( 12...dxe5 13.d1 ) 13.f3 dxe5 ] 12...e7 13.g3 gxe5 14.e4 g6 15.e2 f5 16.f4 [ 16.ec3 g7 leaves Black a pawn ahead with the central majority to boot. ] 16...f7 17.ec3 g7 18.e1 e5 19.fxe5 dxe5 20.d2 0-0 21.f2 fd8 Black is simply winning now. 22.c5 f8 23.b3 d3 24.ed1 xf2 25.xf2 e5 26.f4 f7 27.xd8+ xd8 28.d1 xd1+ 29.xd1 c4 30.d2 d3 31.f2 xd2 32.xd2 d7 33.d3 xc5 34.xc5 d4+ 35.f1 xc5 36.c4 f7 37.a5 b6 38.c4 e6 39.e2 g5 40.d3 d5 41.d2 g4 42.f1 f4 43.h3 f3 44.gxf3 gxh3 45.f4 h5 0-1

680 Karjakin,Sergey Short,Nigel D Rapid Match Kiev UKR rapid (3) [John Watson]

B05 2727 2655 04.05.2008

This top-level game features the Flohr V a ria t i o n wit h 4 . . . B g4 a n d 5 . . . c6 . W h it e doesn't deliver a fatal blow, but he has the better of it, and in general one has to wonder if this variation is going to fade from the scene. See the notes, for example. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 [ The solid approach. If you delve through the ChessPub lishing Forum, you 'll f in d analysis from Mark Morss on the line 6.c4 A) 6...xf3 7.xf3 b6 8.e6! ( or 8.b3 ) 8...fxe6 9.g4 e5 10.e6!; B) 6...b6 7.g5! (his '!') xe2 ( the old 7...f5 has more than one good answer s e e m y e a r l i e r u p d a t e s )) 8.xe2 . He conclude s that W hite stands very well indeed. In previous updates, I also suggested that certain setups in the main line look promising for White. You wonder if lines like this survive simply because t h e A le kh i n e d o e sn 't re ce ive e n o u g h attention. W e'll ha ve to wait f or more grandmaster tests in order to see what the top-level players think, but I'm not optimistic for Black. ] 6...xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.d2 White has played an astonishing number of moves here, such as 9 Qe2, 9 c4, 9 a3, 9 g3, 9 b3, 9 a4, 9 Qd4, 9 Bh5, and 9 Nc3. [ In a previous game I discuss the line 9.c4 e7 10.xd8+ xd8 , generally considered harmless, in conjunction with 11.d2! , after which I don't see Black fully equalising. ] 9...d7 10.e1 Here too various moves are talked about in Archive games formerly [ 10.c4 b5 11.d6+ was popular. ] 10...h6!? Deviating from mainstream theory. Black prevents Bg5 (after, say, Ne4) and prepares ...g5 in some lines. [ In earlier columns you will see games with 10...c7 11.c4 ] [ and 10...e7 , which ran into trouble after 11.c4! 0-0 12.a4 a5 13.d2 with some advantage for White in Baklan-Kosikov, Kiev 691

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2000. ] 11.a4 a5 12.g3!? I'm not sure what this move is about. The most natural move is [ 12.c4 ] 12...c7 13.c4 7b6 14.d4 [ The interpolation of a4 and ...a5 actually helps Black in the line 14.xb6 xb6 15.c4 b4 ] 14...xc4 15.xc4 d8 16.c3 b6 B l a c k r e t u r n s t o a t t a c k t h e e - p a wn . H e doesn't seem to have any major problems after [ 16...e7 either ] 17.e4 d7 18.b4! Stopping ...Nc5. e7 19.b1 h5!? Black grab s some kingside space. White is probably better, on grounds of territorial control, but [ 19...0-0 20.f4 a8 is a plausible alternative. ] 20.e2 g6 Black feels that he should construct a safe kingside structure, with pawns on the squares opposite that of own bishop. Although [ 20...h4 looks a bit crude, it also keeps White from straying too far from the kingside. Perhaps Black wasn't happy letting White's bishop get to g4 followed by f4-f5. ] 21.bxa5!? The key decision of the game, and it seems a good one, at least in practical terms. White both gives up c5 and the a-file, but his attack along the b-file disturbs the equilibrium. [ 21.h4 may be objectively better, with advantage. ] 21...a8 22.b2 a7?! A sad decision, but [ 22...xe5 can be answered by the radical 23.xe5! xe5 24.a6! (perhaps Black missed this) ( 24.xb7 0-0! 25.xe7 f5 forks f3 and b1, although 26.g2 xb1 27.h6 is still dangerous because of the apawn. ) 24...xa6 ( 24...bxa6 25.xc6+ ) 25.xb7 a5 26.c8+ d8 27.xc6+ f8 28.b7! ] [ Best is 22...b8! , when 23.c4 xa5 24.d1! c7 25.e3 with the idea xe5 26.g2 is playable, but difficult for Black to defend. ] 23.a6! b6 [ or 23...bxa6 24.e3 c5 25.e4 , for example, h4 ( 25...xe5? 26.f4 f6 27.b8 ) 26.f4! ] 24.e2 0-0

[ 24...xe5 25.e3 c5 looks better, but simply 26.d4 xd4 27.cxd4 has ideas of d5 (if allowed) or Bf3 with Qc3. ] 25.e3 b8 26.a5!? c5 27.xc5 [ Or 27.axb6 xb6 28.d2 xe5 29.f4! ] 27...bxc5 28.d2 xe5 29.xb8+ xb8 [ 29...xb8 30.c4 is positionally winning. This last part of the game is impressive, in t h a t K a r a j a k i n swit ch e s t o t h e s e c le a r themes that are independent of tactics. ] 30.d1 c7 31.d6 xa5 32.xc6 f6 33.c8+ g7 34.b8 e7 35.b1 [ Or 35.e5! ] 35...d5 36.b7 xc3 37.a7 xb7 38.xb7 e1+ 1-0

681 Kobalia,Mihail Nalbandian,Tigran Moscow [Alexander Volzhin]

B05 2537 2439 1999

T h i s e xc e l l e n t g a m e wi t h a s p e c t a c u l a r Queen sacrifice is a good example of White's play in the Alekhine Main Line. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 b6 8.c3 0-0 9.e3 d5 10.c5 xf3 11.gxf3 c8 12.f4 We've already seen this position in Ulibin - Morovic and suggested this line as the most dangerous for Black. The present game confirms that statement. h4?! [ 12...c6?! is inconsistent with the previous play. Now it is difficult to find good squares for both Black's Knights. 13.d3 g6 14.b4 e8 15.h1 f8 Now everything is ready for a breakthrough. 16.f5! exf5 17.xf5! g7 ( T h e b i s h o p i s t a b o o : 17...gxf5 18.g1+ h8 19.h5 d7 20.g5 e7 21.f6+ xf6 22.exf6 with a quick mate.) 18.h3 with a huge advantage, Gurgenidze Suba, 1975. ] [ 12...a5? This careless move allows a direct b r e a k t h r o u g h . 13.f5! g5 ( 13...exf5 14.b3 ) 14.f4 h6 15.fxe6 fxe6 16.g4 d7 17.b3 c6 18.a4! and Black's position is truly miserable, Shamkovich Vukic, New York 1976. ] [ 12...c6 is best. We have already considered it in Ulibin - Morovic. ] 692

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.d3 g6?! Another inaccuracy. [ 13...f5 is obligatory here. White is clearly better on both sides of the board, but Black's defensive resources should not be underestimated. In my opinion, Black should avoid playing f7-f5, as the f5- square is needed for one of his Knights, but the text is even worse. It's main drawback is that it doesn't prevent f4-f5! ] 14.f5! exf5 15.f3! c6 16.h1 h8 17.g1 Bf5 is unavoidable. a6 [ 17...e7 is not better in view of 18.h3! ] 18.xf5! The Bishop is taboo, White wins his pawn back maintaining a huge positional advantage. e7 [ 18...gxf5 19.h6 g8 20.xg8+ xg8 21.g1 and Black has to give up his Queen. ] 19.c2 Now White has a strategically winning position as Black has no defence against the doubling of Rooks on the g-file and f2-f4-f5 with an unstoppable attack on Black's King. g8 20.h3 c7 21.g4! White plays very precisely. First he doubles his Rooks after this Black can't meet f2-f4 with f7-f5 in view of Rxg6. e7 22.ag1 d7 23.f4 ae8 24.f5 d8 25.e2! Now all White's pieces are taking part in the attack. After the transfer of the Knight to f4, Black will not be able to hold the g6-square any more. b6 26.f4 g5 This move allows a brilliant combination, but Bla ck is los t a nyway. 27.xh7+!! xh7 28.f6+ h6 [ 28...h8 29.xg5 ] 29.h4+! gxh4 30.e6+ h5 31.d1# A n e x c e ll e n t a ch i e ve m e n t b y t h e yo u n g Russian GM Mikhail Kobalija. Now it's possible to draw some conclusions. Both this game and Ulibin - Morovic prove that White should avo id p la yin g 9 . h 3 B h 5 , as h e h a s m o re attacking resources, if the h3-square is left vac an t f o r h is p ie ce s. In t his case Black should be very careful, because White's main threat f4-f5 exists on every move. However by accurate play Black can obtain a very solid although quite passive position (see Ulibin Morovic). 1-0

682 Kosintseva,N Ehlvest,J UT Dallas GM Inv 2013 (5.5) [Tom Rendle]

B05 2523 2574 24.11.2013

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 b6 8.c3 0-0 9.b3!? Not quite a novelty but a very rare move indeed, and not once we've seen here before. Obviously the idea is to over-protect the c4 pawn so that if Black takes on f3 White can safely recapture with the bishop. It also has the advantage of cutting out any idea Black might have of a quick ...d5 followed by ...Nc4. [ 9.e3 (or 9.h3 Bh5 and then 10.Be3) is a l m o s t a l wa ys s e e n i n st e a d a n d I la s t covered this in Lahno-Gaponenko f rom 2012. ] 9...c6 [ 9...dxe5!? is also worth a look 10.xe5 xe2 11.xe2!? ( 11.xe2 8d7 12.xd7 xd7 13.b2 and a draw was agreed in Sott, P (2203)-Jorgensen, J (2277) Liberec 2010 - Black has no problems here after ad8 14.c2 c6 ) 11...xd4 12.b2 f4 but now in Bodnaruk, A (2425)-Schleining, Z (2340) Germany 2013 White would've had excellent prospects after 13.b5 a6 14.ad1 ] 10.e3 [ 10.exd6 is obviously playable but it just leads to a slightly inferior version of the 9, Be3 mainline for White after cxd6 11.e3 d5 12.c5 d7 and Black should be completely OK here ] 10...d5 Ehlvest is happy to transpose into a norma l p osit ion b ut I th in k t his mis se s a reasonable chance to equalise. [ 10...dxe5! 11.xe5 xe2 12.xe2 ( 12.xe2?! xd4 13.h5 f6 and White has some compensation for the pawn but certainly not more than enough.) 12...xe5 13.dxe5 xd1 14.axd1 fd8 with equality. Perhaps Black wanted to keep more winning chances than this as this endgame certainly looks quite drawish. ] 11.c5 d7 12.b4! The most testing move here [ 12.a3 is rather slow and after f6 13.exf6 693

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf6 I quite like Black's position ] 12...a6 [ 12...xb4?! 13.b1 c6 14.xb7 is definitely a favourable swap for White ] 13.b1 f6! If Black sits and does nothing then he risks just getting squashed on the queenside 14.exf6 xf6 15.e1?! This looks rather odd to me. The idea is to play f4 and get control of the e5 square but as the bishops are now getting swapped off this leaves White's light squares rather weak. [ 15.h3! h5 16.e1 e8 17.d2 f7 18.a3 and the position is finely balanced. If Black could get ...e5 in he'd be better but the d5 pawn is too weak here but on the other hand what is W hite's plan to be better? Perhaps b5 is playable but then Black gets the open a-file and can also try ...Na5-c4 in some positions. ] 15...xe2 16.xe2 e8! 17.d3 f7 18.f4 g6! The best square for the queen and now W h it e h as p la yed f 4 sh e ca n n o t u se t h e square for either of her knights. 19.d2 e7 20.e5 This leads to a slightly worse endgame so perhaps White should have just waited. [ 20.f2 f5 21.a4 is fairly equal although I wonder if Black can try h5!? here ] 20...xe5 21.fxe5 xf1+ 22.xf1 f8 23.xf8+ xf8 24.c3 c6 25.a4 h5! Black is only a tiny bit better but he has lots of options and we get to see a masterclass from Ehlvest here as he squeezes out a win. 26.h3 f5 27.f2 h7 28.h2 g5 29.f4 h6 30.e3?! [ 30.g3 holds the position together and W h i t e s h o u l d b e d e f e n d i n g a f t e r e4 31.xh6 xh6 32.xe4 dxe4 33.g2 as Black's king cannot get into White's half of the board the position is just a draw. ] 30...e4! 31.xe4 xe3 32.f3 f5 33.e2 h4 Black fixes a favourable pawn st ruc t u re on t he kin gsid e - su d de n ly t h e ending is clearly better for him. 34.g4 f7 35.g1 e3 36.f3+ e7 37.f2 f5 38.f3 f4+ 39.g1 g5 Black is in no rush at all [ 39...c1+! 40.h2 g5 is even more accurate as White cannot defend with Qb2 ] 40.b2 g3 41.b5? This drops a pawn but White is already struggling

[ 41.b1 is the best chance but Black is still much better after d8! avoiding a check on h 7 . P ra ct ica l ly sp e a kin g t h is is a lm o s t impossible to defend as White with no active plan. ] 41...axb5 42.axb5 cxb5 43.a3 [ 43.xb5?? loses to c1+ 44.f2 e4+ 45.e2 c3+ picking up the queen ] 43...f7! Black avoid the check and suddenly there's no defence to the slow advance of the b-pawn. W hite's position falls apart here. 44.f2 e4+ 45.g1 g4 46.hxg4 h3! 47.b2 h2+ 48.h1 g3 [ 48...b4! is a cleaner finish as the pawn cannot be take here because of ...Nf2 ] 49.xh2 [ 49.g5+! is the only move to survive even a few moves but of course Black is easily w i n n i n g a f t e r xg5 50.xb5 xg4 although it still takes some accurate moves here: 51.xb7+ g6 52.c6 xd4 53.xh2 xe5+ 54.g1 and surprisingly it 's n o t so e a sy t o st op t h e c-p a wn . O f course the computer finds a very clever win here with d4+ 55.h2 f4+ 56.g1 c1+ 57.h2 e4! 58.c7 f6! 59.c8 f4+ 60.g1 d4+ 61.h2 h4+ 62.g1 e1+ 63.h2 g4+ 64.h3 f2+ 65.h2 h1+ 66.g3 e4+ 67.f4 f1+ 68.g4 ( or 68.e3 f2+ 69.d3 d2# ) 68...f5+ 69.h4 h5# Still, this isn't a line a human would ever go for as Black so White should definitely have tried this final practical try. ] 49...e1+ 0-1

683 Lahno,K Gaponenko,I 72nd ch-UKR w 2012 (3.3) [Tom Rendle]

B05 2542 2404 27.09.2012

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 This remains Black's most popular setup in the 4.Nf3 Alekhine 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 b6 8.c3 [ 8.h3 would transpose to another game in this update, Smeets-Tjiam. ] 8...0-0 9.e3 d5 Not Black's most popular 694

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 move and probably not best either. [ 9...c6 10.exd6 cxd6 11.d5 exd5 is a crucial position to the line and now 12.xd5 ( 12.cxd5 xf3 13.xf3 e5 14.e2 ec4 15.d4 f6 16.b3! gave W hite a small positional advantage in Kasparov, S (2504)-Neverov, V (2542) Lipetsk 2010) 12...xd5 13.xd5 ( 13.cxd5 has hardly been played but seems enough for an edge because of a nice trick after e5?! 14.xe5 xe2 15.xf7! xd1 16.xd8 g4 17.e6 xe6 18.dxe6 f6 19.ac1 xe6 20.c7 and Black will have an unpleasant ending to hold.) 13...e6 14.d2 ( 14.b5!? ) 14...d5 15.c5 c8 16.b4 f6 17.ad1 e8 18.a3 a6 19.fe1 was slightly better for White in Sutovsky, E (2665)-Berkes, F (2617) Paks 2005 ] [ 9...8d7 10.exd6 cxd6 11.b3 seems to me to be very comfortable for W hite, although Black's results in this position are OK. The game Cabezas Ayala, I (2355)Appel, R (2544) Vila Nova de Gaia 2010 continued with f6 12.h3 h5 13.e1 e8 14.d2 ( 14.a4! ) 14...bd7 15.ad1 ( 15.d5!? ) 15...f8 16.b2 a6 17.d2 c8 18.ed1 h6 19.c1?! c7 20.dd1 b8 and Black had obtained good chances, although I've suggested a couple of improvements for W hite in the preceding moves. ] 10.c5 [ 10.cxd5!? deserves some attention in this position xd5 ( 10...exd5 11.e1! gives W hite good chances for Kingside expansion ) 11.b3 and Black has to be careful here. Perhaps the reason this isn't played is c6!? and now grabbing the pawn i s r i s k y b e c a u s e o f 12.xb7 cb4 alt h ou gh a f t e r 13.xd5 xd5 14.a6 it's not clear to me Black has enough compensation for a pawn here ] 10...xf3 [ 10...c4 didn't solve Black's problems in Hnydiuk, A (2431)-Tymrakiewicz, R (2294) Krakow 2012 after 11.xc4 dxc4 12.a4 f5 13.exf6! xf6 14.xc4 and Black had insufficient play for the pawn. ] 11.gxf3 c8 12.b4!? Varying from the usual 12.f4 but this move also seems to keep Black under pressure.

[ 12.f4 h4 13.d3 was analysed by Alexander Volzhin in Kobalia, M-Nalbandian, T ( 13.h1 seems less to the point and in P a n a r i n , M ( 2 5 2 5 ) - L e o n t i e v, A ( 2 3 1 5 ) Voronezh 2011 Black was very solid after e7 14.d3 g6 15.g1 h8 )] 12...c6 [ 12...h4 was tried the only previous time the position was reached and now 13.f4 e7 14.d3 g6 15.f5! exf5 16.xf5 c6 and here in Turkin, V (2285)-Vinokurov, A (2394) Voronezh 2003 W hite could've obtained a dangerous attack with 17.h5 ( or 17.f4!? xb4 18.b1 c6 19.f3 )] 13.f4 White does not necessarily have to include this move, although it's a very sensible one, gaining space on the Kingside an d givin g t h e B isho p o n e 2 so m e e xt ra options [ 13.b1!? simply planning a quick b5 was worth considering ] 13...f5?! This blocks up the Kingside but leaves Black with little or no counterplay [ 13...d7 14.d3 d8! would be my preferred way of playing - Black can setup a blockade on the Kingside with g6 and Ne7 although W hite will keep the slightly better chances. ] 14.h1! b6 15.g1 This mini-operation to put the rook on the half-open file makes sense, even if Lahno isn't planning an immediate Kingside assault g6 16.a4 a5 [ is was no better to sit tight with 16...d7 as White remains better after 17.b5! bxc5 18.bxc6 b8 19.dxc5 xc6 20.b5 d7 21.e2! ] 17.b5! An excellent move that leaves White clearly on top bxc5?! [ 17...a7! was a better option as now White has more difficulty in breaking through on the Queenside. One option therefore is to switch to a Kingside attack with 18.h5!? ( 18.b3 is a sensible alternative) 18...f7 19.g2!? planning Qf3 and Rag1 with a dangerous attack ] 18.dxc5 d7 [ 18...cxb5? 19.axb5 would simply leave W hite with connected passed pawns advancing down the board ] 19.bxc6 xc5 20.b5 Black now has a truly miserable position with no counterplay and 695

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Lahno calmly improves the position until it's basically winning whilst Gaponenko can do nothing but wait. f7 21.c1 a6 22.c7 d7 23.b3 b4 24.gd1 g8 25.d2 h8 26.c3 g8 27.d4 a7 28.xe6? The right tactic but the wrong pawn [ 28.xf5! would've broken Black's re s is t a n c e exf5 29.xa7 xa7 30.c8 xc8 31.xc8 xc8 32.xc8 with the difference here being that g5?! here doesn't achieve anything as White can simply play ( 32...e6 33.g8! is also winning for White ) 33.fxg5 xg5 34.d4 with an easily winning endgame ] 28...xe6 29.xa7 xa7 30.c8 xc8 31.xc8 xc8 32.xc8 g5! Suddenly Black has a few chances 33.fxg5 [ 33.h8 gxf4 34.xh7 xe5 35.g2 wa s p r o b a b l y a m o r e a c c u r a t e wa y o f playing - the h-pawn should be enough to give White the win. ] 33...xg5 34.d1 xe5 35.g2 e7 36.f3 d4 [ 36...d6 37.b5 f6 would've put up more stubborn resistance although W hite has excellent winning chances after 38.h3 f7 what else? 39.e1 ] 37.c4 d5 38.e1+ d6 39.d1? A serious mistake, presumably under mutual time-pressure as now Black misses her big chance e5? [ 39...b6! leaves White fighting for equality. Best is 40.e6 xc8 41.xc8 d5 42.xf5 with a drawn ending. ] 40.xd5 xd5 41.b8 b4?! 42.d8+ c4 43.8xd4+ b3 44.b1+ xa4? A final mistake which hastens the end 45.dxb4+! And the rook on a7 drops to a skewer down the a-file. 1-0

chooses. It suits his solid yet off-beat style. 5.e2 e6 6.h3 A slightly unusual moment at wh ich t o pla y th is mo ve : n o rma lly W h it e would castle first. Possibly White wanted to adopt Bologan's plan (6 h3 Bh5 7 c4 Nb6 8 exd6 cxd6 9 Nc3 Be7 10 d5) in which case he needs both to get h3 and avoid 00, but Rozentalis has another idea. xf3 Attempting to exploit the early h3. 7.xf3 c6 [ 7...dxe5 8.c4 is good for White, so Black has to make this move before he is 'threatening' .. . dxe5. ] 8.0-0?! A slightly naive move. This exact position is surprisingly unexplored but [ 8.exd6 is 'correct' after which A Sokolov-S Pedersen, Katowice 1993, continued xd6 9.0-0 a6 10.d2 0-0-0 11.c3 c7 12.e2 g5 13.e4 h6 14.b4 g7 15.d2 e5 16.b5 cxb5 17.xb5 b6 18.c4 f5 19.g3 xd4 20.e3 c5 21.xf5 a6 22.a5 f6 23.xd4 exd4 24.ab1 xc4 25.xb7+ xb7 26.xa6 1-0, but clearly Black could do better with a sensible plan involving castling kingside. ] 8...dxe5! This is the point. Black now has a version of the Flohr-Agzamov system effectively a tempo up. This position would normally be reached by 4... Bg4 5 Be2 c6 6 00 Bxf3 7 Bxf3 dxe5 8 dxe5 e6, when W hite would understandably not usually play 9 h3. Since the Flohr-Agzamov line is perhaps a little better for W hite, the difference is not enough to make Black actually better, but it does eliminate all question of an opening advantage for W hite. It is surprising that a player of W hite's strength should know so little about the Alekhine as to be tricked in this way. 9.dxe5 d7 10.e2 c7 11.e1 If White had the move g3 in (both controlling f4 and preparing Bg2 and perhaps f4) instead of h3 then we would now have a position which sometimes arose in an old-fashioned 684 B05 way of tackling the Flohr-Agzamov. Black's Libiszewski,Fabien 2415 best move then is 11...Bc5 (see IvanovicRozentalis,Eduardas 2584 K o v a c e v i c , S u b o t i c a 1 9 8 4 , f o r a f i n e illustration of what Black is trying to do), and 21st Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (7) that might well have been best here too. A [John Cox] thematic alternative is 11. ..Ne7. Instea d 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 Rozentalis goes his own way. g6 This puts Rozentalis has been playing the Alekhine a more pressure on e5 sooner, but the trouble b it la t e ly, a n d t h is is t h e lin e h e u su a ll y with it is that it takes away Black's d5 knight's 696

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 usual square in this system. 12.c4 5b6 13.c3 g7 14.f4 0-0 White is a little better here: Black's fianchettoed bishop is, as often in the Alekhine, not particularly effective if White manages to hold on to e5. 15.b3 a5 16.e3 This allows Black a chance to free himself. [ 16.ad1 , for example, would have maintained White's edge. ] 16...a4! Picking a moment when White cannot reply b4. If the a-file is opened Black will be able to relieve his cramp by exchanges and/ or activate a rook along the file. 17.c5 d5 18.xd5 cxd5 19.xa4 No doubt when playing 16 Qe3 W hite had relied upon this move to prevent 16...a4, but it turns out that he cannot maintain the c-pawn. a6 20.ac1 fa8 21.c3 White settles for immediate equa lit y: it s ee m s th at he h a s no wa y t o arrange his pieces to defend the extra pawn on c5, which can be attacked by all Black's army with the threat of ...b5 to boot. [ 21.d4 c6 22.c2 b8 23.ee2 c8 illustrates the problems. ] [ 21.a3 f8 ( 21...c6 22.c3 xc5?! 23.xd5 exd5 24.e6 c6 25.exd7 xc1 26.xc1 xd7 27.c7 shows a trick similar to the game which White would like to use to defend his pawn, but Black does not have to allow this.) 22.h6 e7 23.g5 f8 24.f6 c6 , for example, sees all three results rapidly becoming possible. ] 21...xc5= 22.xd5 xe3 [ 22...xd5 23.ed1 ] 23.xe3 xe5 24.xe5 xe5 25.c7 xa2 26.xb7 d3 27.d1 c5 [ 27...xf2? 28.f1 ] 28.c7 e4 29.g4 a1 30.xa1 xa1+ 31.h2 f8 An unexciting draw in a way but the jockeying for position in the opening is interesting. Rozentalis specialises in finding unexplored byways like these with reasonablelooking non-committal moves, and perhaps Burgess' defiant 1996 prediction is coming tru e - " loo k in g in t h e cryst al b all I se e a talented player looking at the position after 5... e6 and thinking 'this position can't be too bad for Black, there must be ways to make it work. ' And he will work furiously at developing new plans for Black, new move-order tricks to avoid the bad lines and reach the good ones.

I know neither who nor when, but |I state this with certainty, for such is the way of chess openings." ½-½

685 Malakhov,Vladimir Sedina,Elena Porto San Giorgio [Alexander Volzhin]

B05 2570 2395 1999

This game is further proof that the main line of the Alekhine's is in crisis. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.d2 d7 10.e1 c7 11.c4 7b6! The only move. [ T h e e r r o n e o u s 11...b5? was played in Golubev - Lehmkuhl, Hamburg 1999 12.xd5 cxd5 13.d6+ xd6 14.xd5! Definitely Mr. Lehmkuhl is not a subscriber to this site, otherwise he should know the game Guf eld-Goh, where this blow has already been played! 0-0 15.xd6 xd6 16.exd6 fc8 17.c3 c6 18.f4 e8 19.g3 and White won easily. ] 12.d4!? [ Theory considers 12.d6+ as the main continuation here and I discussed this move in the comments to Gufeld - Goh. However now I have found an improvement for Black: xd6 13.exd6 xd6 14.c4 xc4 15.d4 cb6!? ( T h e t h e o r e t i c a l 15...b4 is refuted by force: 16.e4! b5 17.xg7 f8 18.xe6+! fxe6 19.b7! threatening Bh5 check and winning the Rook back, with decisive advantage.) 16.xg7 f8! 17.e5 0-0-0 - White definitely has compensation for a pawn, but it's not clear if it's enough. The position requires practical tests. ] 12...xc4 13.xc4 White is slightly better due to the Bishop pair and space advantage. On the other hand, Black's position is very solid, with no weaknesses or bad pieces. But in the further struggle he doesn't find a good plan and begins to drift. 0-0-0 [ The attempt to castle kingside doesn't work 13...e7 in view of 14.g4! g6 ( if 14...0-0 15.h6 winning the exchange) 15.h6 with obvious advantage for White. ] 14.a3 a5?! Quite a dubious move. 697

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6...e7 7.f3 g4 8.0-0 c6 9.b3 0-0 10.c3 f6 11.e3 d5 12.c5 c8 This is all standard stuff, played hundreds of t i m e s b e f o r e . 13.h3 White plays this more frequently than other moves. Indeed, 13 h3 has been the choice of most grandmasters, and it scores rather well. [ 13.b4 and ] [ 13.d2 are the main alternatives. ] 13...f5 An interesting sideline, which hasn't been played nearly as much as the main moves 13...Be6 and 13...Bxf3 (13...Bh5 is an older move, now out of favour). W hite has caused some problems versus those, although not insurmountable ones. A few unannotated examples: [ a) 13...xf3 14.xf3 8e7 15.g4 ( 15.b4 f5 16.xd5!? xd4 17.b1 xe3 18.xe3 xe3 Wang Hao (2610)-Berkes, F (2601)/Taiyuan CHN 2006, and here 19.fxe3 gives some edge) 15...g6 16.d2 g7 17.e2 d7 18.h6 xh6 19.xh6 f5 20.e3? fxg4 21.hxg4 f7 22.g2?? af8 0-1 Baljon, C (2220)-Bohm, H (2410)/ Eerbeek 1978/MCD ] [ b) 13...e6 A) 14.g4 h6 ( 14...g6 15.e1 g7 16.g2 b6 17.b5 6e7 18.b4 a5 19.a3 a7 20.e2 axb4 21.axb4 ac6 22.b1 , about equal, De Firmian, N (2 5 9 8 ) - L e zc a n o J a e n , P ( 2 3 9 9 ), L a s Palmas 1999) 15.b1 g5 16.d2 g7 17.h2 8e7 18.f4 gxf4 19.xf4 g6 1/ 2 -1 / 2 B a n a s, J (2 3 65 )-K n e ze vic , M (2410)/Luhacovice 1973/MCD; B) 14.e1!? b6 ( or 14...8e7 15.g4 g6 16.b4 a6 17.a3 d7= Arencibia Rodriguez, W (2485)-Medina, M (2415), 686 B05 Matanzas 1995.) 15.a4 d7 16.c1 e8 17.d2 xd4 18.xd4 xd4 Mok Tze Meng 2308 19.xd4 xe2 20.c3 e8 21.xd5 Hernandez,G 2360 e7 22.d4 c6 23.c2 d5 38th Olympiad (5) 17.11.2008 1/2-1/2 Marciano, D (2529)-Baburin, A [John Watson] (2593), Germany 1999. It's fit to end with a Baburin game! ] This game illustrates an unusual move in one of the traditional main lines of the Exchange 14.c1 Although you might think that g4 fits in Variation. It seems quite playable. 1.e4 f6 with White's plans anyway (he often tries to 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 prevent ...Nf5), here Black's intention is ...Be4, when White's weakened kingside is an easy 6.e2 [ 6.c3 e7 7.h3 is another popular target. Thus he tries slower methods. [ 14.d2 has been the other move here. approach. ]

[ Simply 14...e7 should be preferred. ] 15.e4 e7 16.b1 b6 17.b4 b5 18.f4! hf8 19.g4! White outplays his opponent in a very instructive way. First of all he forces his opponent to weaken the kingside. g6 20.h6 fe8 21.e4! Keeping the c4-square under control and co nt in uin g to rest rict B la ck's Qu ee n . f8 22.g5 h5 23.h4 d7 24.e2! a4 [ 24...d5 25.c4 ] 25.b3 Now Black's Queen is completely out of the game and has no moves at all (by the way, the Queen will stay here until the end of the game!). On the other hand it's funny that White can't attack and winit! e7 26.xe7 exe7 27.h3! Very typical for Malakhov's positional style: [ He doesn't pay attention to possibilities like 27.b5 a5 28.bxc6 bxc6 which weaken B l a c k ' s K in g a n d g ive W h it e a t t a c ki n g chances, but allow Black's Queen to enter the game. He just continues to strangle his opponent! ] 27...e8 28.f4! The final regrouping of White's forces. Now the f7-pawn becomes the main target. ed8 29.f3 c7 30.f4 f8 31.f6! Changing aim. Black has protected the f7-square, but all his forces are uncoordinated so it's impossible to kee p material on level terms. a5 Desperation, but B l a c k ' s p o s i t i o n i s l o s t a n yw a y . 32.xe6 It's time to harvest. axb4 33.f6 d5 34.e6 xf6 35.xf6 Severe losses are unavoidable, so Blac k resigned. A textb ook positiona l game! 1-0

698

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Because White will soon be threatening the favourable exchange Bg5 (after Rfd1, for example), one of Black's most logical moves is h6 ( 14...e8 15.a3 a6!? 16.ad1 8a7 17.fe1 h6 looked a little strange, Vymazal-Pakhomov (2449), Brno CZE 2007, although Black didn't stand badly) 15.ad1 8e7 16.g4 g6?! ( 16...e6!; 16...h7 ) 17.e1!? ( 17.h4! threatens g5, and Black's 16...Bg6 doesn't allow the response 17... Ng6 ) 17...h8 ( 17...e8!; 17...b6!? ) 18.f4! e8 ( 18...e4?? 19.g5 ) 19.g2 ( 19.g5 f5! ) 19...g8 20.f3 e4? 21.xe4 dxe4 22.g5 e7 23.d5 b8 24.d6 and Black was getting blown off the board in Kurajica-E Pedersen, Kapfenberg 1970. ] 14...e8 [ Or 14...h6 , for example, 15.h2 e6!? 16.g4 h4 17.f4!? 8e7 18.d3 f5 19.xf5 xf5 20.f3 e4!? ( 20...b4! 21.a3 c2 22.f2 c6 ) 21.xe4 dxe4 22.xe4 e8 23.d3 h5! 24.e5 ( 24.h2 b4 25.d2 d5 ) 24...xe5 25.fxe5 xe5 26.cd1 d5 with a doubleedged game, Baron Rodriguez -Fontana Sotomayour, Aragon 1998. ] 15.d2 e4 [ The player of the White pieces in the above game switches to Black in this one: 15...h6 16.h2! 8e7 ( 16...e6 17.g4 e7!? ) 17.g4 xg4 18.xg4 (with two bishops) g6 19.g3 f8 A) 20.f3 e6 ( or 20...e7 ); B) 20.e2 e6 21.b4 ( 21.h4 ) 21...a6 22.a3 g5 23.c3 g6 ( 23...e6 24.a2!? - the point of 22 a3!) 24.h4 e4 25.xe4 dxe4 26.d5 e5 27.e2 h5 28.g2 d7 29.fd1 f5 with unclear complications, F Gomez (2329)-Baron Rodriguez (2431), Havana 2007. ] 16.fd1 [ 16.h2!? -see the examples above. ] 16...8e7 17.g5?! (still too early) [ 17.xe4!? dxe4 18.h2 d5 19.g4 h4 ( 19...h6 may be better, with the idea 20.xf6+ xf6; 19...e7 20.c4 ) 20.c4 looks ad vantage ous, wit h the idea of a timely Ne5 ] 17...f5 18.xf6 [ 18.f4 ] 18...xf6 19.b5?

[ 19.h1 g6! ] 19...ac8 [ Or 19...e7 20.g5 xg5 21.xg5 xg2! ] 20.g5 It's hard to find a good alternative. a6? [ Here Black could get a substantial advantage with 20...xg5! 21.xg5 xg2! 22.g4 ( 22.h5 g6! ) 22...h4 23.xc8 xc8 threatening ...h6. Black recovers his material with the better game: 24.c2 h6 25.f4 hxg5 26.xg2 xg2 27.xg2 gxf4 28.f3 g5 29.h4 gxh4! ] 21.xf6 gxf6 22.c3 cd8 23.f1 [ 23.h2 g7 24.g4 xf3 25.xf3 fxd4 26.xd5 f5 is unclear. ] 23...e7 24.g4 g7 25.d2?! [ 25.h4! ] 25...e6! 26.cd1 f4 27.xe4 xe4 28.d3 ee8 29.h4 g7 30.b1 Now Black should play 30...h5! with the better game. After this, the game is fairly level and then goes in White's favour for a long time. Black comes back, but at move 116(!), he loses the thread and the game. In general this is a very interesting and ambitious way for Black to play a difficult line. e7 31.h5 h6 32.e1 c6 33.e3 e6 34.f5 e7 35.d1 xe3 36.fxe3 e6 37.f2 e7 38.d3 g8 39.g1 a5 40.h4 a8 41.g3 g7 42.f1 e8 43.h1 h6 44.f1 g7 45.f3 g8 46.g3 e8 47.a3 d8 48.a1 a8 49.a2 g5 50.f2 e8 51.b2 a8 52.b1 e6 53.f3 h6 54.g3 g7 55.f1 e8 56.f2 b8 57.c2 h6 58.c1 g8 59.b1 a8 60.b2 g7 61.b1 h6 62.a4 g7 63.b4 axb4 64.xb4 a7 65.c2 h6 66.f3 f8 67.e2 g7 68.b1 e6 69.d2 g7 70.c3 f8 71.a1 a5 72.b1 a7 73.f1 g7 74.f5+ xf5 75.xf5 c6 76.f1 c7 77.b1 f8 78.d3 e7 79.a5 d7 80.b4 d8 81.c3 d7 82.b4 d8 83.f1 e7 84.a1 a8 85.a4 d7 86.b1 a7 87.b6 a8 88.b1 c7 89.f1 e7 90.e1 a8 91.b1 a7 92.f5 d8 93.b3 a8 94.b2 c7 95.d3 d7 96.b4 e7 97.c3 d7 98.d2 c8 99.a2 d8 100.e2 e7 101.b2 e6 102.b6 d8 103.a6 bxa6 104.xa6 c7 105.f3 d7 699

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 106.d3 a7 107.f5 a4 108.b8 a7 109.c8 e8 110.e4 dxe4+ 111.xe4 d7 112.xd8+ xd8 113.xc6 a1 114.e4 c1 115.b5 e7 116.d5 b1?? [ 116...d1= ] 117.d3 d1 118.f5 c1?? [ 118...d8= ] 119.c6 c3 120.d5 d8 121.d6 c1 122.c6 c3 123.h7 c1 124.g8 c3 125.xf7 c4 126.e6 c3 127.f5 c1 128.e6 c7 129.xf6 d6 1-0

687 Motylev,A Appel,R Bundesliga 2013-14 (13) [Tom Rendle]

B05 2676 2535 04.04.2014

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 b6 8.h3 Normally this is played on the next move (after 8.Nc3 0-0) but I can see no difference in this move order [ 8.c3 0-0 9.b3 I covered last year in Kosintseva-Ehlvest where I thought Black could probably equalise with c6 10.e3 dxe5! 11.xe5 xe2 12.xe2 xe5 13.dxe5 xd1 14.axd1 fd8 ] 8...h5 9.c3 0-0 10.e3 d5 11.c5 xf3 12.gxf3 c8 13.f4 c6 All very mainline so far 14.h2 [ 14.f5!? is another critical move here but Black gets reasonable chances in this line. The mainline according to Hiarcs opening book (and unsurprisingly my engine agrees with it!) goes exf5 15.f3 g5 16.xd5 f4 17.xf4 xf4 18.xf4 8e7! and d4 is dropping. Black is at most slightly worse but this position needs further tests! ] [ 14.b4 but Black seems to be holding his own here h4 ( 14...a6 is also solid but maybe now 15.f5! is more dangerous than on the previous move ) A) 15.b5 6e7! ( 15...a5 16.d3 c4 looks risky for Black but may be playable) 16.d3 f5 and Black's position is a hard nut to crack; B) t h e s l o w e r 15.b1 was covered by Glenn Flear back in 2002, but I don't think

this really gives W hite much. See Fedorowicz-Baburin in the archives.; C) 15.h2 8e7 16.b5 a5 17.d3 f5 18.c6 bxc6 19.xf5 exf5 20.a4 c4 21.bxc6 e8 and Black had equalised and even went on to have the better of the draw against his much higher rated opponent in Tiviakov, S (2654)Tischbierek, R (2422) Cape Town 2013 ] 14...xc5?! A very tricky move but I think it's a slight mistake with best play [ 14...f5 leads to more typical positions for this line. White is a little better after 15.g1 h4 16.b4 a6 17.b3 but Black is very solid ] 15.dxc5 d4 16.e4?! This leads to a queenless middlegame in which White has a very slight advantage, thanks to his extra space, but Black should be OK after this. [ 16.b3! seems to lead to a White a d v a n t a g e a f t e r dxe3 17.fxe3 h4 18.e4! ( 18.xb7?! 8e7 19.xc7 fc8 20.d7 d8 21.c7 ac8 22.b7 b8 23.a6 xb2 and Black has a very strong initiative) 18...b8 19.g1 xe5 20.g5 g6 21.d1 and White has more than e n o u g h f o r t h e p a wn - e s p e c i a l l y wi t h Black's queen out of the game on h4 ] 16...dxe3 17.fxe3 xd1 18.axd1 8e7 19.g2 fd8 20.f2 f8 21.c3 b4 [ 21...a6! cuts out any nonsense with Nb5 and I don't really see what W hite is doing h e r e . P e r h a p s 22.d3 h6 23.e4 is a little somethin g f or W hit e? But th e e n d i n g a f t e r xd1 24.xd1 d8 is surely very equal ] 22.a3 bd5 23.b5! a6 24.d4 With this knight on d4 Motylev ensures the rooks will stay on the board for the foreseeable future and he expertly increases the pressure from here b6 25.c6 b5 26.g4 b6 27.b3 g6?! I'm not sure White was threatening f5 and now Black's knight on b6 gets sidelined [ 27...bd5 was better although White can slowly improve with 28.d2 Black should be fine if he sits tight ] 28.e4! e8 29.e3 Now f5 is coming - not necessarily soon but whenever Motylev wants it to happen! Appel can do nothing but wait and try not to weaken his position ab8 30.h4 700

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bc8 31.c1 [ 31.f5! looks good already, but Motylev is in no rush ] 31...b6 32.c5 [ 32.xe6! is probably stronger here but White seems not to be interested in anything that complicates the game. Still, W hite is clearly better after fxe6 33.xe6 xc6 34.xd8 xd8 35.fd1+ e8 36.h5! ] 32...a7 33.fc1 h6?! A serious mistake which greatly strengthens White's next move [ 33...h5 34.h3 bb8 and Black is still just a b o u t h o l d i n g o n , a l t h o u g h 35.f5! is still strong ] 34.h5! gxh5 35.xh5 Now Black's position collapses f8 36.f5 exf5 37.exf5 xd4 As good as anything at this point 38.xd4 xf5+ 39.d3 b8?! 40.f1! d8+ 41.c3 g3 42.xf7+ g8 43.d7 e4+ 44.d4 [ 44.d4 xc6+ 45.xc6 xd7+ 46.xe4 is completely hopeless ] 1-0

688 Motylev,Alexander Yermolinsky,Alex Aeroflot Open (4) [John Cox]

B05 2665 2570 18.02.2005

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.h3 I don't know why high-rated players go on playing this move, since for the reasons explained in Starting Out: Alekhine's Defence it is better for White not to have it in if Black intends to play the main line (7 h3 Bh5 8 c4 Nb6 9 Nc3 00 9 Be3 d5 11 c5 Bxf3 12 gxf3 Nc8). Possible explanations in general are (i) White wants to play either 11 cxd5 or 12 Bxf3, two oncefashionable but now uncommon plans (ii) White doesn't like 7 c4 Nb6 8 Nc3 00 9 Be3 Nc6, when he would rather have h3 Bh5 in as 11 d5 exd5 12 Nxd5 Nxd5 13 Qxd5 then gains a te mpo on h5 (iii) (ina pplica ble here a s White has already castled) he wants to play Bologan's 6 h3 Bh5 7 c4 Nb6 8 exd6 cxd6 9 Nc3 Be7 10 d5 e5 11 g4!?. It must have been either (i) or (ii), or else SOAD hasn't yet come out in Russia and Motylev's having to soldier on without it..... h5 8.c4 b6 9.c3 a6

An interesting little move which has been popular with the high-rated players who have taken Black's position in recent times. The main idea is to threaten . ...Bxf3 Bxf3 Nxc4 and so, Black hopes, force a resolution of the central tension without him needing to commit to ...d5 as he does in the old main line, but Black has some other ideas. 10.e3 0-0 11.b3 The main alternatives are [ 11.b3 when Black's idea is that after d5 ( 11...8d7 is another possibility) 12.c5 the game is like the old main line but with .. a6 and b3 in. Black claims that his extra move is more useful since he often plays ... a6 to ho ld W hit e u p o n t he qu e en s id e , whereas White's b3 is useless since he will normally play b4 at some point. There is something in this, but on the other hand the usual ...Bxf3 is now ineffective since after Bxf3 Black cannot play .. .Nc4 anyway, so p l a y u s u a l l y c o n t i n u e s w i t h c8 W hether the trade-of f f avours W hite or B l a c k i s u n r e s o l v e d . ( 12...6d7 is also played )] [ 11.exd6 cxd6 12.b3 8d7 13.ac1 c8 14.d2 xe2 15.xe2 g5 16.xg5 xg5 17.e4 e7 18.c5 Anand-Morozevich, Moscow rapid 1995, is also a little better for White and is usually considered the way to handle it for White.. ] 11...8d7 12.a4 [ 12.exd6 cxd6 13.a4 xf3 would be Kotliar -Yermolinsky, St Martin open 1993, in which for some reason White now played 14 gxf3 and not surprisingly lost. The text is actually a novelty, but Yermolinsky deals with it easily enough. ] 12...dxe5 13.xe5 [ 13.dxe5 xf3 14.xf3 xe5 15.xb7 a7 shows one of the points of ...a6 although complications continue: 16.fd1 b8 17.a5 xb7 18.axb6 aa8 ] 13...xe2 14.xe2 xe5 15.dxe5 Perhaps White has a slight edge but it is very manageable. c8 16.f4 d7 17.c3 c5 18.c2 a5 I find it a bit odd that White never found time for a5 - this looks like a positional achievement to me - but probably he had in mind forcing the coming structure change. 19.d4 f5 White probably had it in mind to play f5 himself: the knight on f5 would give 701

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 him dangerous play on the kingside. 20.exf6 xf6 21.f5 e5 22.e2 c6 23.g3 f7 24.h1 f8 25.f3 e4?! Up to here both sides seem to have manoeuvred sensibly, but why Yermolinsky didn't just continue in the same vein with something like 25...Rd8 I can't think, especially since the text is associated with an idea which just loses from an equal position in a move or two as far as I can see. 26.xe4 xf5? [ 26...xe4 27.xe4 f6 was essential, when Black still has some compensation with ...Re8 and ...Qb4 to come, but that wasn't what he played 25. ..e4 for. ] 27.xc5 xc5 28.g5! Whether Yermolinsky overlooked this move completely or miss-assessed the resulting ending is hard to say, but either way White is now winning. xg5 [ 28...g6 29.e6 e7 30.xf5 gxf5 31.xf5 is unthinkable. ] 29.xf8+ xf8 30.d2 If Black had time to co-ordinate his pieces he might put up a stout defence, but the queen picks up a loose unit first. gf5 [ 30...h6 31.xa5 f2 32.d8+ ( 32.a8+? h7 33.xb7?? gxg2 34.c7 g6! wins for Black since the bishop cannot be kept off the h2-b8 diagonal. ) 32...h7 33.d3+ g8 34.e4 defends g2 and wins, so Black is lost. ] 31.xa5 f1+ 32.xf1 xf1+ 33.h2 d6+ 34.g3 f2+ 35.h1 xb2 36.d8+ f8 37.c8 b1+ 38.g2 g6 39.g4 c5 40.e6+ g7 41.g5 b4 42.f6+ g8 43.a5 b3 44.f2 b4 45.e2 b3 46.d2 b4 47.e6+ 47...Kg7 48 Kc2 is the zugzwang White is after. A strange game. I can't guess what Yermolinsky overlooked. 1-0

689 Najer,Evgeniy Yermolinsky,Alex World Open Philadelphia USA (5) [John Watson]

B05 2670 2530 04.07.2008

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.c4 b6 7.exd6 A simple approach. W e've seen several games with

(by transposition) [ 7.0-0 e7 8.h3 ( 8.c3 leads to similar positions without h3. It's not clear whom that favours, according to John Cox) 8...h5 9.c3 0-0 10.e3 ( 10.exd6 cxd6 is the game )] 7...cxd6 8.0-0 e7 9.h3 h5 10.c3 0-0 11.e1 A relatively rare move, waiting to see what Black will do. c6 [ 11...a6!? is recommended, the idea being that 12...Bxf3 13 Bxf3 Nxc4 will be possible, because the rook has a square on a7 after 14 Bxb7.Then 12.d5 would be interesting: ( 12.a4!? xf3 13.xf3 xc4 14.xb7 a7 15.f3 ) 12...xf3 ( 12...e5 13.b3 ) 13.xf3 e5 14.b3 f5 is double-edged, but White appears to stand better. ] 12.d5 [ 12.b3 is more common here. ] 12...exd5 [ 12...xf3 13.xf3 e5 eliminates White's bishop due to the attack on c4, but leaves t h e e 6 - p a w n w e a k f o l l o w i n g : 14.dxe6 ( 14.g4!? xg4 15.hxg4?! xc4 16.e2 Bronstein, L -Lida Garcia, Buenos Aires 1985 and c8! 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.xe6+ xe6 19.xe6 f6 would favour black) 14...fxe6 15.xb7 b8 16.e4! bxc4 A) 17.c2 with attack on h7 is complex, for example, h6?! ( 17...h4 18.e2 g6 19.b3 b6 20.h6; 17...d5! 18.xh7+ h8 19.b3 c5 20.f1 b6 with the idea ...Qh4) 18.b3 b6 19.f4 ed7 20.h7+ h8 21.xe6; B) 17.b3 h4 18.f1 d5 19.b1 d6 20.h5 f5 21.f4 and White's pressure seems just a bit better than Black's. ] 13.cxd5 [ Or 13.xd5 , which may be better for White: xd5 14.xd5 (hitting h5) g6 15.a3 ( 15.e3!? b4 16.xb7 c2 17.d4 b8 18.xa7 a8 repeats; yielding a small advantage is 15.b5 c7 16.f4 ) 15...a5 16.f4 fd8 17.xa5 xa5 18.b4 c6 19.ad1 a5 20.b5 e5 21.xe5 dxe5 22.xe5 xa3 23.f3 with a clear superiority, Rogic, D -Hribar, J Ljubljana 1997. ] 13...xf3 14.xf3 e5 15.e2!? White decides to retain the bishop pair. c8 16.f1 a6 17.b3 bd7! 18.e3 c7 702

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.ac1 c5 20.d1 d8 21.f4!? [ 21.b4 is obvious, but perhaps also good, for example, cd7 22.b5 a5 23.a4 xc1 24.xc1 with more space. ] 21...g6 22.g3 Restriction of the knight on g6, although it loosens White's king position. f6 23.f2 e8 24.b4 xe1 25.xe1 d7 26.e4 e7 27.b5 [ 27.xc8 xc8 28.c3 xc3 29.xc3 gives White the bishop pair. This is one of those times where I need a very strong grandmaster to assess whether the first player h as s e riou s winn in g cha nces. I t seems hard for White to make progress, but if he advances his pawns and centralises his king, who knows? Maybe d8 30.e4 c7 31.c4 e7 is a logical reorganization, when White has to beware of the simplifying ...Bb6. Then 32.b3 f8 ( 32...h6 33.a4 f5 34.c5! ) 33.a4! h6 ( 33...a5!? ) 34.a5 f5 35.c3 doesn't solve Black's long-term problems. ] 27...axb5 28.xb5 f6 29.xf6+ xf6 30.xc8 xc8 31.b4 h5 [ 31...h5 32.h4 with the idea Be2 might follow, when White may as well play on. ] ½-½

have a nice space advantage to compensate for the outpost on d5. This recapture leads to a solid position. ] 14.e2 c6 15.c3 a6! Shifting to the blockade square on e6, 16.d3 [ 16.e6!? ] 16...c7 17.e2 e6 [ 17...f6! ] 18.g3 g6!? To stop Nf5, yet allowing that move might have been preferable to weakening the kingside. [ 18...f6 19.f5! looks good for White probably ] [ 18...e8 19.f5 df8 is the right way. ] 19.h6 e8 20.e1 Versus ...f6. Now a lot of manoeuvring takes place, with White always having a slight advantage because of his pawn on e5. a5 21.e3 f8 22.xf8 dxf8 23.d2 a4 24.e2 a5 25.c3 b6 26.ac1 a5 27.1c2 b5 28.d3 a8 29.a3 b3 30.c3 a6 31.e3 g7 32.e1!? This is getting too negative. Better [ 32.e2 xe3 33.fxe3 ] 32...fe6 33.g5!? b6 34.xe6 xe6 35.d1 d8! Switching to the kingside. 36.f1 h4 37.e2 g7?! [ 37...f6!? w i t h t h e i d e a 38.exf6 f8! would activate all of Black's pieces. ] 38.f3 690 B05 [ 38.c3= ] Ni Hua 2681 38...e6 39.f4 a6 Somewhere hereabouts Torre,Eugenio 2536 Black should play ... f5 and stop White on the 6th ch-Asia Cebu City PHI (8) 26.09.2007 kingside for the foreseeable future. 40.c1 b5 41.h2 ab6 [John Watson] [ 41...f5! ] 1.e4 A high-rated battle which demonstrates 42.e2 [ 42.f5!? gxf5 43.xf5 with the idea xd4? b o t h s id e s o f p la y ve rsu s W h i t e 's d 4 / e 5 44.h6 ] structure. f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.h3 f5!? Black retains his 42...b3 43.c3 a6 44.g3 h5 45.f2 bishop for a while, but this doesn't seem to h6 46.d2 a8 White probably has the best of things by a hair. Still, he only wins improve upon the normal line [ 6...h5 7.c4 b6 8.exd6 cxd6 9.c3 because Black weakens himself: 47.e2 g7 , because after 6...Bf5, Black can't even get 48.d3 b5? 49.d1 [ 49.a2 and Nb4 was a good plan. ] rid of White's pawn on e5. ] 50.e3 h5 51.d2 xd3 7.0-0 e7 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 0-0 10.e4 49...e6 52.xd3 h8 53.d2 d8 54.g4 c5 d7 11.d1 b4!? 12.c4!? h6 56.dxc5 xc5 57.b4 [ 12.a3! illustrates White's advantage, since 55.f6 c6 ( 12...d5 13.g4! ) 13.c3 and wins. Black's queen was cut of f from defence. e6 58.xb5 f8 59.d3 c5 leaves him clearly superior in the centre. ] 60.d4 e6 61.d2 c5 62.f5 e4 12...d5! 13.cxd5 exd5!? [ 13...xd5 is more natural, but White would 63.xe4 dxe4 64.g5 e8 65.e6?! 703

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 65.fxg6 hxg6 66.f4! ] 65...fxe6 [ 65...e7 ] 66.f6 e5 67.f7 e6 68.g4 e7 69.xe4 g7 70.g1 h5 71.xa4 xf7 72.xf7+ xf7 73.e4 c7 74.g2 d6 75.e3 h7 76.h4 d7 77.f2 b7 78.c3 d5 79.e3 g7 80.a4 f6 81.f2 e6 82.a5 h1 83.f3 c1 84.b3+ f6 85.c3 a1 86.a3 c1 87.c3 a1 88.g2 a2 89.a3 c4 90.f3+ 1-0

691 Pedersen,O Wohl,Aleksandar H Open ch Oslo NOR (5) [Andrew Martin]

B05 2123 2399 07.04.2004

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.exd6 exd6 Since 5...cxd6 is experiencing something of a crisis thanks to the Voronezh variation ( 6 Nc3 Bg7 7 Be3 0-0 8 Rc1 etc) attention is once again focusing on this solid move. There is nothing wrong with 5...exd6. Black's choice of plans is limited, but as stated, his position is very difficult to break down. 6.c3 c6 7.e3 e7 8.f3 0-0 9.e2 e8 10.0-0 g4 11.b3 f6 Black has three plans in this position. Two are constructive, the other cunning. He can aim to play ... d6-d5. This is the usual idea. He can prod the White pawn structure with ... a5-a4, although it's not clear what this achieves. Finally he may just wait, let White advance his Kingside pawns and try to pick him off on the rebound. 12.c1 I don't see the point of this meaningless Rook move. [ Wohl had this position before: 12.h3 f5 ( 12...h5 13.c1 h6 14.d5 xf3 15.xf3 e7 16.e4 d7 17.b1 f8 18.h5 eg6 Unique manoeuvering with the Knights. One would expect W hite to be better here but the Black Kingside is very carefully protected and at present Black has charge of the only open file. 19.e4 b2 20.cd1 h4 21.f5 e5 22.f3 f5 23.g3 f4 24.d4 xd4 25.xd4 ae8 Delchev,A-Wohl,A/Metz 2002 Many players would be perfectly happy with the Black

position, myself included.) 13.d2 g6 14.a4 a5 15.ac1 b4 16.fd1 c6 17.a2 xa2 18.xa2 d5 19.c5 d7 20.d2 b6 21.e5 xe5 22.dxe5 bxc5 23.f4 f6 24.g4 fxe5 25.xd7 xd7 26.fxe5 xe5 Hendriks,R-De Waal,M/ Zwolle 1998 Black was not troubled. ] [ 12.d2 g6?! ( 12...d7; 12...a5; 12...d5 13.c5 c8 are all ideas which Black can consider. ) 13.ad1 is a good approach. White simply centralises. e7 14.e4 g7 15.g5 d7 16.fe1 f6 17.f4 f5 18.h3 xh3 ( 18...xf3 19.xf3 g5 20.h2 h4 21.h5 ) 19.xd6! xd6 20.gxh3 e4 21.a5 Alvarez Solis,D-Fernandez Diaz, I/ Asturias 1998, White will win this particular battle of tactics because his pieces are much more active. ] 12...d5! Now that the White Rook has moved, White puts the ...d6-d5 plan into action and it is especially appropriate here. The point is that white usually answers ..d5 with c5 and then a quick b3-b4. If then Black takes on b4, Rb 1 a n d R xb 7 wi n s b a c k t h e p a wn wi t h interest. In this variation thanks to Rc1 White loses a tempo. 13.cxd5 [ 13.c5 c8 14.b4 8e7 15.b5 a5 ] 13...b4 14.h3 h5 He feels it's important to retain the option of ...Bxf3. 15.b5 f8 16.c4 c8 17.d6 cxd6 18.a3 xc4 19.bxc4 c6 Black has a fine position. The pawn on c4 'hangs' and Black has two good Bishops. 20.g4 g6 21.d5 e4 22.xf6+ xf6 23.g5 At least this way White got rid of the Bishop pair but look at the price that he has had to pay! His King is wide open and the queenside weaknesses remain. It's very tough to handle this type of game over the board. g6 [ 23...fe8 24.e1 h6! 25.xe4 xe4 26.g2 ce8 was a good way of coordinating too. ] 24.f3 e4 25.g5 fe8 26.xe4 xe4 27.b1 b6 After this easy move, White is in a mess. 28.b3? [ 28.c5 dxc5 29.dxc5 bxc5 30.xc5 c3 31.d7 ee8 32.e3 xa3 wasn't too great for White either. But the text move is poor. ] 28...a5 [ Wohl's move is a product of his talented but 704

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 lazy style. He undoubtedly saw 28...xd4! but probably couldn't be bothered to analyse it too deeply. Why extend yourself when you don 't ha ve to ? 29.f3 xb3 ( 29...f4!? 30.xf4 xf4 31.b2 xc4 ) 30.fxe4 c3 31.f3 xc4 32.xb6 axb6 33.xb3 d4+ 34.e3 c1+ 35.g2 c2+ 36.g3 e5+ 37.f4 e6 ] 29.d3 f3 30.c3 ce8 White cannot defend this position. 31.h2 f5 The attack commences and it is a very brief skirmish indeed. 32.g1 f4 33.c1 xf2+-+ 34.g2 xd4 35.c2 xc4 36.d3 e5 37.f3 d5 38.gf2 e2 39.a4 xf2+ 40.xf2 f3+ 5.... exd6 is very playable, particularly against weaker opposition. The fangs of Korchnoi's early Qf3 seem to have been drawn, and as you can see from this game, White may selfdestruct given half a chance. 0-1

A) an entertaining miniature went 7...dxe5? 8.f3! (often not played) f6?? 9.e6 d6 10.xd5 1-0 Varnusz, E Ponyi, A/ Salgotarjan 1978; B) 7...e6 is doubtless best, when the obvious 8.c4 b6 9.f3 d7 10.xb7? ( 10.f6!? g8 11.xh7? dxe5; 10.exd6!? cxd6 11.c3!? ) 10...c6! 11.xc6+ xc6 collapses White's centre; C) 7...h6 8.f3 ( I saw only one game with 8.xf7! xf7 9.f3+ e6 , and the best idea is probably 10.c4 dxe5 11.cxd5+ xd5 12.g4+ f7 13.c3! with an initiative that should translate into some advantage) 8...c6! 9.c4 ( 9.e6 g7 10.exf7+ xf7 looks perfectly playable due to Black's quick develo pme nt .) 9...b6 10.c3 g7 11.0-0 dxe5 12.dxe5 d4!? 13.e4 xf3+ 14.xf3 xc4 15.xb7 xe5 16.d1 b8 17.e4 0-0 and undoubtedly White has the superior 692 B05 position, but it's not much. ] Popovic,Dusan 2556 7.e6!? [ 7.g4 c8 is also unclear. 8.c4 c6 9.f3 Zubak,Zeljko 2018 f6 10.exf6 exf6 11.e4 g7 12.0-0 ] 15th Belisce Metalis Open (1) 21.03.2008 7...xe6 [John Watson] [ 7...fxe6?? 8.g4 traps the bishop. ] The variation played by Black here is unusual, 8.xe6 fxe6 9.g4 c6 10.h4!? [ 10.xe6 g7 11.0-0 a6 12.c4 dc7 and perhaps accidental. After all, the rating 13.g4 0-0 favours White due to Black's differential is over 500 points. At first 5...g6 problems on the e-file, but the second player appears awful, and yet Black may be able to has some activity, for example, 14.c3 d5 escape with a normal disadvantage at any rate, 15.cxd5 xd5 16.e1 ac7 17.e4 some normal themes occur in the notes. 1.e4 ( 17.e3 xe3 18.fxe3 e5 ) 17...b5! f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 with the idea of forcing Be3 and swapping. ] g6!? An odd mix of systems with the two main moves ...Bg4 and ...g6 both represented. 10...h5? [ Much better are 10...b6 11.xe6 g7 ] White spots what he thinks is a flaw: 6.g5! [ 10...g7 11.c4 c7 12.h5 d7 13.hxg6 This looks strong, and it seems to compare hxg6 14.xh8+ xh8 15.d3 f7! well to similar systems. and Black has excellent development. Both [ 6.0-0 can't be bad, but doesn't punish ...e5 and ...c5 are equalising possibilities. ] Black's move order, e.g., g7?! ( 6...c6 seems better, e.g., 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 dxe5 11.xe6 c7 12.c4?! [ 12.h3 ] 9.dxe5 db4 ) 7.h3 xf3? 8.xf3 c6 [ 12.b3 are both better, when Black's on 9.exd6 xd6 gives White various ways to the ropes he really had to put up with the use his spac e advantage, f or example , move h5, because after ...h5, g6 is so weak. 10.c4 c7 11.e3 ba6!? (versus Qb3) Now, however, he could reorganise. ] 12.c3 , when White is on top of things. ] 12...e6?! 6...f5!? [ 12...d5! 13.d3 d6 with the idea ...Nd7 [ 6...xe2 7.xe2 is natural but risky. Then and ...0-0-0 was perfectly reasonable. ] Black needs to be careful: 705

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.d3 g8 14.d2! Headed for f3 with a nice positional advantage. It turns into a big squeeze, and Black never has a chance. ba6 15.c3 d7 16.f3 0-0-0 17.0-0 g7 18.e1 b8 19.b4 d7 20.a4 e7 21.b5 c5 22.a5 f7 23.b6 axb6 24.axb6 xb6 25.b3 bd5 26.a7 b6 27.a4 b8 28.dxc5 b5 29.a5 f6 30.c6 xc3 31.b7+ c8 32.a7 1-0

693 Sahl,Bjarke Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar EU-Cup 21st Saint Vincent (6) [Gawain Jones]

B05 2391 2646 23.09.2005

Reader's Question. A reader wrote in: 'My name is Cengiz Hasman. I recently became a member of ChessPublishing.com. I wanted to ask you what the best line for Black to continue in the Exchange Alekhine (5-ed ed) is. I have bought Timothy Taylor's Alekhine Alert! but he does not give any lines after 6Nf3 Bg4. As Black, I would like to know if you can suggest a good line.' I've had a look and decided that following Mamedyarov must be sensible. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f3 Perhaps this isn't a big enough mistake to let Black actually take the advantage but at least it makes it easier for him to complete his development and generate play against White's centre. [ 5.exd6 exd6 6.f3 is the more common move order but it comes to the same thing. ( 6.c3 not allowing Black to pin the knight is generally played. In the Alekhine the c8 bishop is of ten a problem piece and so White wants to keep it from having a good square for as long as possible. )] 5...g4 6.exd6 exd6 7.h3 h5 [ C e n g i z a s k s m y o p i n i o n o n 7...xf3 which also seems possible. 8.xf3 c6 A) 9.d5 i s c o m m i t t a l : e5 10.e3 ( 10.b3 e7 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 f5! 13.c3 f4 sees Black with a fantastic knight on e5 and potential of a kingside attack. ) 10...e7 11.f4 Meszaros, T (2200)-Gombocz, Z (2110) Budapest 1996 when the retreat ed7! should have been

selected as the knight finds fresh life on c5 while W hite's created a few holes in his structure.; B) 9.e3 B1) C e n g i z a s k s a b o u t 9...e7 but White can deal with the threat and develop with 10.e2; B2) The simple 9...e7 is safest 10.c3 ( 10.e2 f6! is awkward to deal with.) 10...0-0 11.e2 f5!? 12.g3 g5 13.0-0-0 left Black with decent counterchances had W hite not accepted the draw. 1/2-1/2 Ginzburg, M (2455)-Garcia Palermo, C (2484) Buenos Aires 2009.; B3) 9...g6 This looks logical but creates a focus point for White's attack and so is not best. 10.c3 g7 11.0-0-0! 0-0 12.h4! and White had a very powerful kingside attack. Tabak, S (2100)Vanderwaeren, S (2299) Antwerp 1999. ] 8.a4 Sahl chooses to grab space on the queenside but White has a huge selection of moves. I've added a quick overview. [ 8.e3 e7 9.c3 c6 A) 10.b3 0-0 11.e2 xf3 ( Again a plan with 11...f5!? should be considered but 12.d2 keeps control.) 12.xf3 g5 13.xg5 xg5 14.0-0 fe8 and it looks to me that Black's position is completely respectable although the computer gives White a nibble.; B) 10.e2 xf3! is a problem for White even if it's not quite enough to promise B l a c k a n e d g e a f t e r 11.xf3 xc4 12.xc6+ bxc6 13.a4 b6 14.xc6+ d7 15.f3 0-0 16.0-0 c6=; C) 10.d5?! Dynamic play but not something that should concern the Black player. 0-0 11.xe7+ xe7 White has gained the bishop pair but he's a long way behind in development. C1) 12.e2 xf3! is again the problem; C2) 12.d3 f5! ( 12...xd4 13.xh7+ xh7 14.xd4 isn't so clear.) 13.0-0 f4 14.c1 xd4 15.xh7+ xh7 16.xd4 xf3 17.gxf3 e2 and Black has a fantastic position.; C3) 12.d2 f5! 13.0-0-0 xf3 14.gxf3 f4 15.xf4 f7 16.g3 xc4 17.c2 b6 and White's structural weaknesses 706

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 look more relevant than the bishop pair. Sahl, S (2175)-Zhao Xue (2469) KhantyMansiysk 2010. ] [ 8.d3 is the move which concerned him b u t I f e e l c6 must be very reasonable. The pressure on d4 provokes W hite into 9.g4 g6 10.c3 e7 but now the pawn on g4 grants Black play for the rest of the game. ] [ 8.e2 is the most logical as the Bf3xb7 threat prevents Black's typical ...Bxf3 and ... Nxc4. e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.c3 Rahman, S (2288)-Enkhtuul, A (2133) Narayanganj 2010 when rather than 10.. . Bg6 I'd prefer c6 11.d5 ( 11.e3?! xf3!; 11.b3 keeps the structure intact with a typical Alekhine position, i.e. f6 12.e3 e8 13.d2 h6 and Black will follow up with ... a5-a4. ) 11...xf3 12.xf3 e5 13.b3 xf3+ 14.xf3 d7 15.f4 f5!? 16.ad1 f6 followed by ...Nc5, ...Qd7 and ...Rae8 when I don't see any reason he should be worse. ] 8...e7!? Tempting White to continue queenside play. [ 8...a5 makes sense preventing the White pawn going any f urther when Black can make use of the b4 square. ] 9.b3?! Too optimistic [ 9.a5 was the logical continuation 6d7 10.c3 0-0 11.e2 c5!? ( 11...e8 would be normal.) 12.e3 c6 13.0-0 e8 14.dxc5 dxc5 15.a4 and White's extra space would give him slightly better chances. ] 9...c6 [ 9...xf3 10.xf3 c6 might be the better move order. It allows 11.e3 but b4 12.a3 c6 and Black's queenside play gives him good chances. ] 10.d5 [ 10.a5 A) 10...xf3 n o w a l l o w s 11.axb6! ( Instead 11.xf3 d7 is no problem: 12.e3 f6 13.d1 0-0 14.e2 g5!= ) 11...e4 12.bxc7 xc7 When White's structural edge promises him a small edge, i.e. 13.e3 xb1 14.xb1 f6 15.a4 0-0 16.d5 e5 17.e2 d7!? 18.0-0 c5 19.a3 a5 20.b4! axb4 21.xb4; B) 10...d7!? might have been Shak's

idea When 11.g4! is obligatory. ( 11.xb7? xf3 12.gxf3 xd4 is very good for Black.) 11...g6 12.c3 ( 12.xb7? is s t il l b a d e4! 13.bd2 b8 14.a6 b4 15.xa7 a8 traps the queen.) 12...b8 13.e3 0-0 when White's looking rather over-extended. He can win material with 14.d5 ce5 15.xe5 xe5 16.f4 but h4+ 17.d1 e8! leaves Black with fantastic compensation. ] 10...xf3 11.xf3 e5 [ 11...b4 12.b3 a5 is a reasonable alternative. ] 12.b3 0-0 [ 12...bd7!? looks interesting as 13.xb7? c5! 14.b5+ c6 15.dxc6 0-0 leaves the W hite queen trapped in by her own pawns. ] 13.e2 [ 13.a5 bd7 14.e2 ( 14.xb7? is again a big error as c5 traps in the queen 15.b4? cd3+ ) 14...g5! 15.0-0 xc1 16.xc1 f5! would give Black good kingside chances. ] 13...a5! Fixing the outposts on c5 and b4. White has the bishop pair but Black has the better long term chances with such weaknesses in White's camp. The strong GM playing Black must have been very content to re a ch su ch a p o sit i o n in wh ic h h e c o u l d outplay his lower rated opponent. 14.0-0 e8 15.c3 ed7 16.c2 g5! This is always a useful plan to remember. Either White has to give up his bishop pair advantage or else cr e a t e f u r t h e r h o l e s i n h i s c a m p . 17.f4?! Probably the wrong choice as the bishop is trapped in on c1. [ 17.xg5 xg5 18.b5 d8 would keep rough equality as Black is tied down to the defence of c7. ] 17...f6 18.e4 d4+ 19.h1 f6 20.f3?! Sahl should have taken the opportunity to keep the knights on the board. [ 20.g3 bd7 21.f3 g6 22.a3 e7 is about equal. ] 20...xe4 21.xe4 h6 22.d2?! This drops a pawn. [ However it wasn't easy to come up with a go o d m o ve : 22.h7+ h8 23.f5 f6 24.g4 e3 25.xe3 xe3 sees Black 707

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 taking control and exploiting all the weaknesses that White's cavalier opening created. ] 22...xb2! 23.h7+ h8 24.xb2? And White collapses [ 24.ab1 d4 25.f5 f6 would leave Black a pawn up but with the pressure on t h e k n i g h t i t wo u l d a t l e a s t b e h a r d t o convert. ] 24...xc4! Obviously White overlooked this tactical possibility but now another pawn drops. 25.c2 xd2 26.fe1 c4?! [ 26...xe1+ 27.xe1 c4 was move accurate so that c7 was still defended. ] 27.d3? [ 27.xe8+ xe8 28.xc4 xh7 29.xc7 was W hite's last chance. c8! 30.xd6 ( 30.xb7 c2! is ve ry d a n ge ro u s.) 30...d8 31.c5 e4 32.d1 xa4 33.d4 and White still has some chances. ] 27...b6 I'm not convinced these final moves are accurate. [ 27...e3! was possible as the knight escapes: 28.b3 h4! 29.b5 g3 30.e2 e4 31.g1 ( 31.ae1? f1! ) 31...f5 with a winning endgame after the exchanges. ] 28.c1? [ 28.xe8+ xe8 29.xc7 xa4 30.xd6 would still require a lot of play to convert the extra pawn. ] 28...xe1+ 0-1

694 Senff,Martin Krasenkow,Michal Bundesliga 2006-7 (11) [John Watson]

B05 2468 2651 25.02.2007

Theory in this main line of the Flohr Variation seems to have settled down a bit, and it's up t o W h it e t o s h o w s o m e t h in g. T h is ga m e indicates that he has somewhat the better of it if Black goes for a lot - it's still unclear. The play after the opening is rather irrational. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.d2 [ 9.e1 d7 10.d2 transposes. ]

9...d7 10.e1 c7 [ In an earlier column, Volzhin analysed 10...e7 11.c4! 0-0 12.a4 a5 13.d2 with some advantage for White in Baklan, VKosikov, A/Kiev 2000. ] 11.c4 7b6! When a 2650 player repeats this solution, you feel that it's probably sound. [ For the third time in this column the reader can enjoy 11...b5? 12.xd5! cxd5 13.d6+ xd6 14.xd5!! ] 12.e2 [ 12.d4 xc4 13.xc4 transposes. ] [ Volzhin's analysis of 12.d6+ goes xd6 13.exd6 xd6 14.c4 xc4 15.d4 cb6!? 16.xg7 f8! 17.e5 0-0-0 - 'White definitely has compensation for a pawn, but it's not clear if it's enough. The position requires practical tests.' ] 12...xc4 13.xc4 0-0-0 14.a3 h6 A new, ambitious move, trying to attack on the kingside! Volzhin suggests 14...Be7, which is solid-looking. [ But 14...a5?! 15.e4 e7 16.b1 b6 17.b4 b5 18.f4! hf8 19.g4! g6 20.h6 fe8 21.e4! worked out very p o o rly in M a la kh o v- S e d in a , P o r t o S a n Giorgio 1999 ] 15.b4 g5 16.b2 h5 17.g3!? g4 18.g2 g7 19.e4! e7 20.a4! d2!? 21.f4!? [ 21.b5 should be considered. The opening is well over and the game takes a very backand-forth course: ] 21...xc2 22.xf7 xb2 23.xg7 d8 24.ad1!? d5 25.g6 e7 26.b5 f8 27.bxc6? [ 27.f1 . This position is good for White. ] 27...fxf2 28.xd5 exd5 29.g8+ c7 30.xd5 bxc6 31.c1 d7 32.xd7+ xd7 33.e6+ e7 34.xc6 g2+ Black doesn't have quite enough to win here. 35.h1 xh2+ 36.g1 hg2+ 37.h1 h2+ 38.g1 bg2+ 39.f1 f2+ 40.g1 fg2+ 41.f1 xg3!? 42.c7+ f6 43.f7+ [ 43.e7?? h1+ 44.f2 f3+ ] 43...g6 44.e4! b3 45.g1 bh3 46.e7 h1+ 47.f2 3h2+ 48.g3 h4+ 49.xg4 g1+ 50.f4 f1+ 51.g4 g1+ 52.f4 f2+ 53.e3 e1+ 54.xf2 xe4 55.e8 xe8 ½-½ 708

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 695

B05 Smeets,Jan 2609 Tjiam,D 2386 TCh-NED Meesterklasse 2012-13 (2.1) 6.10.12 [Tom Rendle]

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.h3 In LahnoGaponenko White achieved a good position by doing without this move. h5 8.c4 b6 9.c3 0-0 10.e3 c6 A slightly unusual choice and I think with accurate play White should now have a safe edge. [ 10...d5 is the critical test as it's generally felt that this works better for Black now that W hite has included h3. Play normally continues 11.c5 xf3 12.gxf3 c8 13.f4 and here we have a critical position: A) 13...h4 would probably be my choice as Black here 14.d3 g6 15.f5!? exf5 16.b3?! ( 16.f3! was probably a more testing move) 16...e7 17.xb7 bc6 18.b5? a6! 19.d6 d7 and Black wa s wi n n in g in B r o n n i ko v, K ( 2 2 6 5 ) Kovalenko, I (2567) Izhevsk 2011; B) 13...f5!? is another possibility, although it does limit Black's counterplay on the Kingside.; C) 13...c6 14.c2 ( 14.f5!? exf5 15.f3 ) 14...h4 15.a3 8e7 16.d3 g6 17.h2 f6 18.e2 fxe5 19.dxe5 f5 and Black has an excellent game in Edouard, R (2634)-Kovalenko, I (2515) Moscow 2011 ] 11.exd6! cxd6 12.d5 This is the critical test of 10...Nc6 [ 12.b3 is also an option and Black should p r o b a b l y n o w t a k e t h e c e n t r e w i t h d5 and after 13.c5 c8 ( 13...d7 also seems logical to me) 14.a3 xf3 15.xf3 f6 16.c1 8e7 with balanced ch an ce s in B acalla o A lo n so , Y (25 80 )Hernandez Carmenates, H (2570) Havana 2012 ] 12...xf3 [ 12...exd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 g6 and now in Aronian, L (2551)-Anastasian, A (2571) Yerevan 2000 White could have kept a pleasant advantage with 15.ad1 f6 16.d4! due to the long-term weakness of the pawn on d6. ]

13.xf3 e5 14.dxe6 [ 14.b3 is rare but definitely worthy of attention here, for example xf3+ 15.xf3 e5 16.ad1 f5 17.c5!? and Black has some tricky problems to solve ] 14...fxe6 [ 14...bxc4?! does not solve Black's problems 15.exf7+ h8 16.d4 xb2 17.e2 bd3?! ( 17...xf3+ 18.xf3 f6 was a better try although W hite is much better after 19.xf6 xf6 20.xf6 gxf6 21.ab1 ) 18.xb7 b8 19.ab1 an d W h ite h ad a win nin g a d van t a ge in G ri t se n ko , A ( 2 3 1 7 ) -A b a so v, N (2 3 8 1 ) Moscow 2008 although Black somehow managed to hold a draw in the end. ] 15.g4! This is an important position for the line - I don't see an easy way for Black to equalise here so W hite players should probably follow Smeets' way of playing. [ 15.xb7 b8 is unclear but looks at least OK for Black ] 15...exc4 After this White has more than one way to keep the advantage [ 15...xg4 16.xg4 f6 might be Black's best option, although W hite retains the be t te r ch a n ce s af t e r 17.fd1 ( instead 17.ad1 c7 18.d4 c6 19.e4 g6 20.fd1 c8 wasn't so clear in Gopal, G ( 2 4 5 5 ) - A h m e d , S ( 2 3 2 4 ) D h a k a 2 0 0 7) 17...g6 18.e4 c7 19.ac1! ] [ 15...f6 16.b3 xg4 17.xg4 d7 18.e4 and White's advantage was obvious in Vesselovsky, S (2379)-Holub, M (2061) Ricany 2011 and in fact he went on to win quickly after c8?! 19.g5! c5 20.d4 d8 21.xf6 xf6 22.e3 a5 23.ac1 e8 24.b5 d8 25.a3 ] 16.xe6+ h8 17.xc4 [ 17.xb6! was also a good option. The p o s i t i o n a f t e r xb6 18.g4 is an unpleasant one for Black who probably have to defend for a long time with only the h o p e o f a d r a w a t b e s t . ( 18.a4!? is also worth considering, aiming to gain even more control of the light-squares. )] 17...xc4 18.d4 White's advantage is obvious here. The pawn on d6 is a long term weakness, as is the square on d5 in front of it. f6 [ 18...xb2? runs into 19.e2 f4 20.e3 709

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a n d B la c k lo se s a n e xch a n ge wit h a4 21.xf4 xc3 ] 19.d5 xd4 [ 19...xb2 is more interesting on this move. White has a few ways of playing but the one I like best is 20.g4! d3 21.xf6 gxf6 22.f3 and Black's tattered pawn structure is likely to count against him in the long run. ] 20.xd4 e5 21.ad1 Simple play from Jan, building up pressure on the d6 pawn. c6 22.g4 f7 23.d2 d7 24.fd1 d8 25.c3 e7?! [ 25...xg4 was probably a better try although Black faces a difficult task to hold after 26.hxg4 fd7 27.e4 d5 28.c5 e7 29.xd5 xd5 30.xd5 g8 and the presence of doubled pawns on the gfile give Black excellent drawing chances. ] 26.e4! now the pawn drops for no compensation and Smeets is quick to close the game out df8 27.xd6 f4 28.g3 h6 29.b3 f6?! 30.xb7 Simply another free pawn d4 31.c5 f7 32.e1 f3 A last ditch attempt but of course White is not i n t e r e s t i n g i n t a k i n g t h e r o o k 33.e5 And with the Queens coming off the board Black decided it was time to resign. A model game from Smeets that puts 10...Nc6 under question. 1-0

retreat f5 is unstoppable.) 16.f3! c6 17.b3 intending the sacrifice Nd5. I agree a n d b e li e ve t h a t W h it e h a s a d e c is i v e advantage here. ] 14.b5 a5?! I don't like this move ( by the way, that was the last move of the Knight in this game!) [ 14...6e7 should be preferred, and White's advantage after 15.d3 f5 16.xf5 exf5 17.f3 c6 ( 17...e7? just blunders a pawn after 18.h5 ) 18.a4 is minimal. ] 15.d3! g6 And only now does White break in the centre. This is very effective, as Black's Knight on a5 is out of the game. [ 15...e7 doesn't help Black 16.h5 g6 17.f5! , and Black is in trouble. ] 16.f5! exf5 17.f3 c6 18.h6 [ 18.h1 g5 19.g1 xe3 20.fxe3 e7 /\\ f6~~ ] 18...e8 19.f4! The point. White prevents the exchange of dark-squared bishops. Now the attack becomes unstoppable. e7 [ Black could easily win the Bishop: 19...e6 20.h1 g5 21.xg5 xg5 but to protect h is K i n g is a m u ch m o re d if f ic u lt t a s k ! 22.xf5 g6 23.f4 The assessment of the position is clear: White has a decisive attack, an d t h e K n igh t is st ill st u ck o n a 5 . h6 24.h5 g7 25.g1! h8 26.xg6 fxg6 27.xg6 e8 28.f5 e7 29.g5+winning ] 20.h1 f8 There are lot of defensive tries for Black, but I hardly feel that a profound 696 B05 analysis is necessary to demonstrate how Ulibin,Mikhail 2570 difficult it is to resist the White initiative. [ 20...f6 21.g1 h8 ( 21...fxe5 22.xf5 Morovic Fernandez,Ivan 2570 h8 23.xg6!+- winning ) 22.ae1 ] Las Palmas 1992 21.g1 xh6 22.xh6 h8 [Alexander Volzhin] [ 22...e7 23.g3 /\\ Rh3 ] 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 23.e2! e7 24.f4 g8 [ 24...g8 25.h3 /\\ 26. Bf5 gf5 27. Qg3 5.e2 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.c4 b6 8.c3 0-0 e7 26.ae1 /\\ e6-> ] 9.e3 d5 10.c5 xf3 11.gxf3 c8 12.f4 c6 13.b4 I believe this move is much more 25.g3 f8 26.h4 e8 [ 26...g5 27.xg5 g6 28.g3 h6 to the point than 13.f5. h4 29.g1+- winning ] [ 13...a6 was played in van Riemsdijk A l b u r t , 1 9 8 1 . 14.f5! exf5 15.f4! b8 27.ag1 /\\ Nh5 h6 28.e6! h7 29.exf7! I can't see any other way to protect the d5- xf7 30.h3 [ 30.h3 h5 31.xh5! ] pawn. Now according to Alburt's notes in Informant-32, W hite shouldplay ( 15...h4 1-0 doesn't work: 16.d3 8e7 17.h5 xb4 18.b1 g6 19.xf5 and after the Bishop's 710

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B05 15...hd8?! A little sloppy. [ 15...c5! 16.e3 f4! is very strong. ] Verbruggen,Samuel 1891 Krasenkow,Michal 2660 16.xg6? [ Last chance for 16.a3 ] HZ Open Vlissingen NED (1) 04.08.2007 16...hxg6 [John Watson] [ Or the clever 16...c5! White is in terrible shape because he can't hold the key In this game White tests the queen exchange squares. ] that we recommended in the June column. a5 18.f1 c5 19.d4? Alas, the almost 700 -point rat ing sprea d 17.c3?! between the opponents soon has its effect. But White is reeling anyway. xd4 20.xd4 Nevertheless, Black's play is a model of how d8 21.e3 [ 21.xc5+ xc5 22.c3 d4 23.c1 to conduct the play. 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 xe5 is also hopeless. ] 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 22.e2 e1+ 23.f3 d3 [ W e've seen 6.c4 b6 7.g5 xe2!? 21...d1+ ( 7...f5 ) 8.xe2 dxe5 9.dxe5 e6 24.e4 xf2+ and normal is 10 0-0, but the rarer ( 9...h6 0-1 10.e4 seems to favour White somewhat) 10.h5!? has done quite well after 10...g6 B05 1 1 Q e 2 ! S t i l l , t h a t ' s o n l y a p o s i t i o n a l 698 advantage, and it must have frustrated a Vuckovic,Bojan 2572 2 4 0 0 p l a y e r t o m i s s t h e s i m p l e c7? Bogut,Zeljko 2467 11.xe6! e7 12.xf8 , and White won BHTelecom Open (7) 16.05.2009 quickly in Varavin, V - Gavrjushin, O, Perm [Neil McDonald] RUS 2007. ] 6...xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 e6 9.c4 e7 1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.f3 g4 10.xd8+ xd8 11.b3?! This move has 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 xf3 7.xf3 dxe5 8.dxe5 n u m e r o u s d i s a d va n t a g e s , b e s t s e e n b y e6 9.e1 d7 10.d2 c7 A critical comparing my analysis in June's column, moment in the 6.0-0 variation. As you can see which went in the archives, Black has tried several ideas [ 11.d2! (or 11 Re1 Nd7 12 Bd2, here without finding a convincing way to keep transposing), which stops ... Bb4 by Black reasonable chances. The game move seemed and leaves open the interesting idea of Bd1. t h e m o s t p r o m i s i n g , b a s e d o n S e n f f If Blac k do esn 't d o so me thing, W h it e's Krasenkow, but it too is now under pressure. b i s h o p p a i r w i l l g r a d u a l l y t a k e o v e r . 11.c4 7b6 Travenec-Cibulka, Slovakia 1996 continued [ Players are still falling for the 11...b5? trap: d7 12.c3 g6 ( you can see my notes 12.xd5! bxc4 ( If 12...cxd5 13.d6+ on 12...c7 13.e1 there ) 13.e1 a5 xd6 14.xd5! -see the archives) 13.xc4 14.a3 c5 and now best was ( 14...c5 xe5 14.f4 d6 15.xe6? ( Instead 15.d1! ) 15.d2! with a definite 15.xe5 xe5 16.h5 is entirely crushing, advantage. ] as if f6 17.xe6+ ) 15...0-0 ( the best 11...d7 12.b2 g6 13.e1 b4! c h a n c e , a s i f 15...fxe6 16.xe5 xe5 See the difference? 14.e4 e7!? 17.h5+ and White will regain the piece [ 14...a5! threatens ...Bc7, winning a pawn, whilst keeping his extra pawn.) 16.b3 and 15.a3 ( 15.h5 c7 16.xg6 hxg6 f3+ 17.xf3 xf4 18.g3 e5 19.c3 a5 17.d2 e7 18.f3 ad8 is fine for Black. and Black, thanks to his near 100 point Elo He can even consider ...c5, to prevent a advantage, managed to draw in S. Iermito-G. piece from coming to d4 and plan ...Nb8-c6 Mahia, Buenos Aires ARG 2008. ] himself. ) 15...c7 16.ae1 e7 12.d4 followed by ...Rhd8 is fully satisfactory. ] [ T h e S e n f f g a m e w e n t 12.e2 15.h5?! White should make luft with which amounted to a transposition after [ 15.h3 ] xc4 13.xc4 ] 697

711

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12...xc4 [ White has a very dangerous initiative after 12...0-0-0 13.g5 f6 ( Or 13...e7 14.d6+ ) 14.exf6 xc4 ( Even worse is 14...gxf6 15.xb6+ axb6 16.xd5 xd5 17.xf6 ) 15.f7 db6 16.xd8 xd8 17.c3! etc. ] 13.xc4 0-0-0 14.a4!? Vuckovic intends to throw all his pawns forwards on the queenside. This is a rather obvious attempt at an improvement over the Senff game, which went [ 14.a3 etc. ] 14...h5 15.c3 e7 16.b4 g5 17.g3 g4 18.g2 If the game is to be decided by a battle between wing attacks, W hite should com e up t rum ps e ve n if th e bla ck a tt ack appears to be faster. This is because of the enormous strength of the bishop on g2 both as a defender and an attacking piece. Even if Black breaks open the h-file and through some astounding manoeuvre got his queen to h7, there still wouldn't be a mate in sight. In contrast, the apparently solid black queenside structure can become very brittle when it is rammed with b4-b5. Incidentally, it is the power of a similar fianchetto bishop which makes openings such as the Sicilian Dragon attractive to many players. hg8 19.b5? This proves very successful in the game, but perhaps a slower approach was objectively stronger with say [ 19.b3!? h4 20.a3 intending to drive back the black knight with 21.c4 ] 19...cxb5 20.xb5 xc3!? Not greed, but more of a desire to eliminate the c-pawn before it can push the knight away with 21.c4. [ A l s o i n t e r e s t i n g w a s 20...a6!? when White's queen is forced to a passive square e.g. 21.b1 since ( 21.b3 xc3 forces an exchange of queen unwelcome to white as if 22.xd5? xe1+ )] 21.b3 d3?? An awful tactical oversight. [ After 21...b8 the position would still be full of fight- W hite has open lines on the queenside, but Black has the d-file and can always obstruct the bishop on g2 with Nd5. ] 22.xb7+! d7 [ Black is busted as if 22...xb7 23.c4+ b8 24.xd3 and White is the exchange up with enormous attacking chances. ] 23.c2 c4 24.g2

[ Or 24.b2 threatening 25.Be4 with a quick win. ] 24...d4 25.e3 xe3 [ If 25...c4 26.f1 ] 26.xe3 e2+ 27.f1 xa1+ 28.xe2 a3 29.d3+ Winning a piece is quite good enough, though perhaps W hite's light squared bishop deserved the last word with [ 29.d3+ e7 30.c7+ f8 31.d8+ g7 32.f6+ h7 33.e4+ followed by a quick mate. ] 1-0

699 Adams,Michael Carlsen,Magnus 39th Olympiad Men (6.18) [Gawain Jones]

B06 2728 2826 27.09.2010

1.e4 g6 2.d4 f6 3.e5 h5 The North Sea Defence, so called after its founders Gerard W elling from the Netherlands and Rolf Martens from Sweden. This wasn't what I expected when I glanced over at board 1. The line seems to be to be most similar to the Alekhine and Nigel Davies has analysed this a fair bit in the archives. Black loses time in the opening but hopes to gain counterplay against W hite's extended centre. I'm very sceptical about the line but nevertheless the choice of the W orld number one has to be taken seriously. Before we look at the game the match situation should be considered. Magnus out rated Mickey on board 1 but we had a rating advantage on all other boards, particularly on 3 and 4 and thus Carlsen must have decided that Norway's only chance was him winning with Black, and, therefore, he considered playing an offbeat opening for better chan ces. Ironically the rest of th e match was drawn and thus this game decided the match. 4.e2 Not obligatory but played by m o st p la ye rs wh e n t h e y've re a ch e d t h i s position. [ Stefan Bücker wrote an in-depth article for chesscafe.com back in 2008 on the opening. He amalgamated various analysis by Welling, Martens, Hjorth and Bickford. One of his mainlines continues: 4.f3 d6 A) 5.c4 712

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A1) 5...dxe5 was tried in a recent game. 6.xe5 e6 7.f3!? The most aggressive although White should have been better with a normal move like 7. 0-0. f6 8.d3 xd4 9.b3 e5 10.c3 g4 11.d5 d7 12.g4! g7 13.e4 e7 14.g5 d7 15.xd7+!? A very dramatic move which gives White fantastic compensation. ( However the 'boring' 15.gxf6 xf6 16.a4+ was just winning as c6 17.xc6+ bxc6 18.xc6+ f7 19.xa8 picks up material. ) 15...xd7 16.gxf6 e8 17.fxg7?! But taking this knight appears to be a mistake. ( 17.g5! regains the queen as there's no good response to 18.f7 when White would still be on top.) 17...xg7 and the game eventually finished as a draw. Hillarp Persson, T (2538) -Andersen, J (2276) Copenhagen 2010.; A2) 5...c6 6.e2 g7 7.h3 f5 8.exf6 xf6 9.c3 d5 10.b3 0-0 11.g5 e6 The position reminds me most of a French where White should have some advantage thanks to use of the e5 square but it's not the end of the world for Black.; B) 5.c3 dxe5! 6.e3! exd4 7.xd4 f6 8.e2 h6 9.d1 d7 10.c5 (Wind) c6 11.g3 e5 12.h3! a5 13.d6 f8 14.d2 a6 15.xa6 bxa6 16.b3 b6 17.g2 d7 18.xf8 xf8 Bücker, when W hite has the advantage thanks to his better structure and use of c5 and d6 squares. He will win back either a6 or c6 and be very comfortably placed. ] 4...d6 This hasn't been covered on ChessPublishing before but is in fact played more often and is the top choice of the computer. It appears that taking on h5 may not be a serious threat. [ 4...g7 was looked at in Lautier-Miles but this looks exceedingly passive. A more recent GM encounter continued: 5.f3 d5 6.c4 c6 7.c3 dxc4 8.xc4 e6 9.e3 g7 10.d2 h6 11.d1 c7 12.h3 e6 13.xe6 xe6 14.0-0 c7 15.fe1 ba6 16.a3 d7 17.d5 cxd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.xd5 e6 21.a5 and Black held the clearly worse endgame

but this was hardly an advert for the opening. Burmakin, V (2552)-Morozevich, A (2717) Sochi 2005. ] 5.f3 Mickey plays it safe, a very sensible decision considering the match situation. To sum up I'd say that taking the knight is rather foolish in practical games but 6.f4 looks like a good try for an edge. However Adams' move is also good enough. [ 5.xh5 must be critical but Deep Rybka 4 is fairly happy with Black's position. gxh5 6.xh5 dxe5 A) 7.dxe5 d5! (Martens) 8.f3 ( 8.f3 c6 9.c3 Reinderman, D (2495)Bundgen, A Zwolle 1996 and here keeping the queens on with c5 gives Black good practical chances.) 8...e4+ 9.e3 xc2 10.c3 c6 11.g5 g6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.0-0-0 g7 14.f4 a6 15.h3 c7 Westerinen, H (2430)-Heinola, K Jyvaskyla 1992 and Black was only a little worse.; B) 7.xe5 g8 and here I'll give some of Bücker's analysis but without going into too much detail. 8.e2! c6! 9.e4 f5 10.h4 e6 11.bc3 b4 12.h5+ g6! 13.0-0 xc2 14.b1 f7 15.xf5 xd4 16.xd4 xd4 17.e3 g4 18.xg4 xg4 19.b5 0-0-0! 20.xa7+ b8 21.fd1 d5 22.f3 b4 23.b3 c6 24.a3 h4 25.b4 h6 26.f2 h5 is a long line given by Bücker in which Black eventually holds the draw although White is still the one pressing. ] [ 5.exd6 was tried by Ni Hua when he found himself with this position but this doesn't seem critical. xd6 6.f3 f4 7.xf4 xf4 8.0-0 g7 Ni Hua (2533)-Heinola, K (2181) Dos Hermanas 2004 was respectable for Black who must have equalised thanks to his bishop pair. ] [ 5.f4 is given an exclamation mark by Bücker. I'd pref er to be W hit e but here Carlsen would at least get his counterplay and unprepared this would be a foolish option. c5 ( He considers 5...e6 6.f3 g7 to be more reliable but this is hardly scary and White will have a fairly risk free edge. ) 6.d5 e6 7.c3! and in all lines W hite appears to be doing well. ( 7.xh5 h4+ looks good for Black. ) 713

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 7...h4+ 8.f1 g3+ 9.hxg3 xh1 10.e4 gives White fantastic compensation.; B) 7...dxe5 8.fxe5 B1) 8...exd5 GJ doesn't seem to have been mentioned but looks to me like Black's best. White should still be better after both 9.xd5 ( and 9.xd5 e6 10.c4 d7 11.f3 g7 12.0-0 0-0 13.g5 f6 although Black is closing in on equality.) 9...b6 10.a4 ( 10.g4!? ) 10...c6 11.a5 c7 12.b5 b8 13.a6 when Black's position looks pretty ugly.; B2) 8...g7 9.f3 exd5 10.xd5 0-0 11.e3; C) 7...exd5 8.xd5 g7 9.g4 dxe5 10.gxh5 e6 11.c4 h4+ 12.f1 0-0 13.h6 is messy but again White should have a clear advantage. ] 5...c6 6.exd6 exd6 This seems to be the novelty. [ 6...cxd6 7.d5 is rather annoying for Black as there's no good square for that knight and following b8 I can't really believe that W hite can have any problems against an opening in which Black has played Ng8-f6h 5 a n d N b 8 - c 6 - b 8 . 8.e3 would leave White with a very pleasant edge. ] [ 6...xd6 has also been played but this looks like some sort of fishy ...Qd6 Scandinavian. 7.0-0 f4 Ionov, S (2530) Hernandez Padron, S (2290) Alcobendas 1994 and here 8.c3! xe2+ 9.xe2 g7 ( 9...a6 10.d5! ) 10.b5 d8 11.f4 wins material. ] 7.d5 e7 8.c4 g7 9.c3 0-0 10.0-0 g4 11.e1 e8 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 f6 14.f4 So a normal looking position has arisen but this can hardly be what Carlsen was aiming for. W hite has more space and th e bis h op p a ir a nd B lack ha s very lit t le counterplay. d7 Black's only plan is to use the e5 square. Were that d5 pawn back on d4 White would have a clear edge but here it's probably only a slight one. Unfortunately for Black it's one in which he has to sit and wait. 15.c1 Not allowing Carlsen any opportunities to confuse the issue with ... Bxc3. e5 16.b3 a6 17.g3 f5 [ I think the bishop had to be taken.

17...xf3+ 18.xf3 although this leaves Black passive and struggling to do anything wh ile W h ite can slowly bu ild u p on t h e kingside. It is too difficult for the e7 knight to find a good location as any ...g6-g5 will give White a huge outpost on f5. A sample line: d7 19.g2 b5 20.d3 b4 21.e4 a5 22.g5 and Black's position is miserable. ] 18.g2! Taking the opportunity to keep the b i s h o p p a i r . g5 While watching the game I thought this move was the downfall for Black but in fact it is already very difficult. At least here he prevents Adams from keeping both bishops but the light squares around his king a re n o w ve ry vu l n e ra b le . T h e re ' s a ls o a question as to what Black should do if he doesn't try this move. [ 18...d7 19.e4 h6 20.b1!? e7 21.c1!? f8 22.b2 followed by Rbe2 and Bb2 and W hite stea dily improves while Black must wait. ] 19.xe5 xe5 20.e4 g7 An unpleasant move to play but Black had to cover the h5 pawn. 21.d2 h6 22.f4! Dynamic play! Adams correctly assesses that he will be the one to gain access to the g file. gxf4 23.gxf4 f6 24.h2 h5 [ 24...h4 25.g1 f5 is the computer's suggestion. 26.g3 xg3+ 27.xg3 h5+ 28.h2 h7 although here too Black is worse and will have to suffer, in particular to defend the f5 pawn after 29.f1! ] 25.g1 Logical play. h7 [ 25...h8 is a safer square although Carlsen was understandably nervous about leaving h6 unguarded. ] 26.cf1 g8 27.e2 g7 That Black knight looks really stupid and is not on a good circuit. 28.d3 h8 29.f3 b5 30.d1! Strong rerouting. Now Carlsen has to create more holes in order to prevent a mate on h7. bxc4 31.bxc4 h4 32.c2 f5 33.g6! Immediately exploiting the hole created by Black's last. h7 34.fg1! e7 [ 34...fxe4 35.xe4 is mate in four. ] 35.g3 xg3+ 36.xg3 f7? And this loses instantly. [ Black could have lasted a few more moves with 36...h5 but 37.f3 xg6 38.xf5 g7 39.d3! leaves White a pawn up with an ongoing attack. ] 714

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 37.d1! Covering the h5 square and now Black has no way to prevent mate on the h file. ae8 38.xh6+ And Carlsen resigned as it's forced mate. [ 38.xh6+ xh6 39.g5+ h7 40.h4+ h5 41.xh5 xg1 42.xf7+ g7 43.xe8 etc. A very strong showing by England's number one who skilfully exploited Carlsen's unusual opening choice an d d em on s trat e d th a t Ca rlsen ca nn o t afford to take any liberties against him. ] 1-0

700 Akopian,Vl Iordachescu,V 15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014 (11.15) [Tom Rendle]

B06 2682 2583 14.03.2014

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f3 d6 5.e3 b6!? An interesting choice from Iordachescu - the move is somewhat unusual but in fact he's played it before. The idea is to try and provoke 6.Rb1 from W hite, thereby preventing 0-0-0. Akopian takes this on with the most critical line - simply sacrificing the bpawn! 6.d2 [ 6.b1 is the safer option but now Black just drops the queen back to c7 (either immediately or in a couple of moves) and doesn't have to worry about White castling queenside anymore. A) 6...f6 7.h3 bd7 8.e2 c7 9.a4 0-0 10.0-0 a6 11.a1 this just shows Rb1 isn't a move that helps W hite! b6 12.d2 ( 12.d2 is more natural but White is only a little better at most after b7 ) 12...b7 13.f4 c5 14.d5 e6 15.c4 exd5 ( 15...xe4! 16.xe4 exd5 17.exd6 c6! and I like Black's chances ) 16.exd5 fe8 with a fairly level middlegame in Asrian, K (2611)-Bologan, V (2700) Warsaw 2005; B) 6...c7 7.d2 b5 8.d3 d7 9.0-0 gf6 10.h3 0-0 11.e2 c5! 12.c3 c4 13.c2 b6 ( 13...b7 14.g3 e5! seems to equalise fully for Black) 14.h6 e5 15.g3 e8 16.xg7 xg7 17.bd1 and White has a very slight advantage in Tkachiev, V (2641)-Istratescu, A (2633)

Nancy 2012 ] 6...xb2 There's no going back - the pawn must be taken or White will simply castle and the queen will be badly placed on b6 7.b1 a3 8.c4 f6 9.0-0 [ 9.e5! appears to be the critical test of this line, and now g4 ( 9...fd7 10.e6! fxe6 11.xe6 and it's clear that White has more than enough for the pawn here) 10.g5 ( 10.b3!? a5 11.exd6 exd6 12.h3 f6 13.0-0 looks promising for White as well ) A) 10...dxe5 11.b3 a5 12.xe7! h6 ( 12...xe7? 13.d5+ xd5 14.xd5 cxd5 15.h3 h6 16.b4+ e8 17.xe5 and White has a winning attack) 13.g5 xg5 14.xg5 0-0 15.ce4! xd2+ 16.xd2 exd4 17.e1 and Black is so far behind in development here it'll be very difficult for him to defend; B) 10...d5 11.d3 f6 12.b3 a5 13.exf6 xf6 14.0-0 0-0 and now in Roy Cho wd hu ry, S (2 39 4)-I orda ch es cu , V ( 2 6 0 3 ) V l i s s i n g e n 2 0 0 6 15.e1 would've given W hite excellent chances despite being down a pawn ] 9...0-0 10.e5 This isn't as dangerous as on the previous move, but of course Black still has to be careful [ 10.g5 bd7 11.f4 I don't really believe this should work but it scored a major upset in t h e f o ll o win g ga m e : b6 ( 11...b5! 12.d3 g4 is better for black) 12.b3 d5 13.f5 dxe4?! ( 13...gxf5! 14.exf5 g4 ) 14.fxg6 hxg6 15.cxe4 bd5 16.e1 xe4 17.xe4 f5 18.g5 f6 19.xf5! gxf5 20.e6 f7 21.c4 xe3 22.xe3 c5 23.f4 cxd4 24.xf5 d3 25.xd3? ( 25.c5 and Black is lost) 25...d6 26.h3 b6 27.c5?! ( 27.c2! h8 28.e4 wins ) 27...bxc5 28.g4 f5! 29.h5 c4 30.xc4 c8 31.b3 b6+ 32.h1 c4? ( 32...e3 and now White has to find the tricky 33.g5! f4 34.h4! as apparently this is the only way to win!) 33.g5 c8 1 -0 S a n d u , M (2 2 8 8 )- Ch a t a l b a sh e v , B (2596) Bucharest 2008 ] 10...dxe5 11.xe5?! [ 11.dxe5! was the correct way to recapture, with a dangerous attack after g4 12.d4 a5 A) or 13.fd1!? setting the trap xe5? 715

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.xe5 xe5 15.d5! xd2 ( 15...d8?! 16.xe5 cxd5 17.h6 f6 18.xd5 wins ) 16.xe7+ h8 17.xe5+ f6 18.xd2 fxe5 19.xc8 xc8 20.xb7 and despite material equality Black must resign; B) 13.f4 ] 11...e6 [ 11...bd7! leaves White struggling to demonstrate sufficient compensation for the pawn ] 12.b3 d6 13.f4 d8 14.g5 c7 15.xf6?! Akopian decides to play for the win but he never really gets enough as Black's position is so solid [ 15.f4 taking the draw by repetition was probably a more sensible decision, but Akopian didn't want to 'waste' the W hite pieces ] 15...xf6 16.f4 g7 17.e4 b5 18.h3? Faced with not enough for the pawn Akopian finds a creative way to keep the attack going, but with accurate defence the attack doesn't quite work. f6 [ White's idea is that after 18...bxc4 he has 19.f5! exf5 20.f6+! xf6 21.h6 but even here Black can defend with h4! 22.xh4 f6 23.xg6 e8! 24.f4 g7 25.h5 e3 and Black should win ] 19.f5?! This just doesn't work, but I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures [ 19.d3 fxe5 20.fxe5 xf1+ 21.xf1 and of course White doesn't have enough for the piece - but Black still has plenty of work to do here ] 19...gxf5 20.xf5 bxc4 21.fh5 c3 22.xc3 fxe5 23.xh7 So White's attack has 'broken through' but there's no follow up and he's two pieces down. Iordaschescu wraps up the game very easily. a6 24.d2 exd4 25.a3 f7 26.f3 f4 27.h1 e3 28.xg7+ xg7 29.a5 d7 30.h5 c1+ 31.g1 g5 White resigns as he's had enough by this stage 0-1

701 Alekseev,Evgeny Onischuk,V Universiade Men (7.2) [Tom Rendle]

B06 2714 2576 14.07.2013

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.f3 g7 4.c3 g4 Quite a rare move that hasn't previously been covered on ChessPublishing. Here we see Alekseev with a very sensible antidote. 5.e3 c6 We see Black's idea is to put pressure on d4 and possibly play a quick ...e5. 6.b5! I really like this way of handling the position which takes some of the pressure off White's centre. Black's next move is almost forced as there's a threat of d5. [ 6.e2 e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.xd8+ xd8 9.d5 d7! and Black was very close to equalising in Danilenko, D (2395)-Anton Guijarro, D (2526) Prague 2012 ] 6...a6 [ 6...e6 is possible as well I suppose but White is very comfortable after 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 ] 7.xc6+ [ 7.a4 leads to nothing for White after b5 8.b3 e6 and Black has a very playable position. ] 7...bxc6 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 b8 This is a sensible option but if 10.e5! is strong then Bla ck n e e d s t o e xa m in e t h e a lt e rn a t ive . Unfortunately they don't look great either: [ 9...e6 is perhaps Black's most solid option but White is better after 10.0-0-0 ( 10.h4 straight away may be even more accurate) 10...e7 11.h4 h6 ( 11...h5 12.g5! is awkward for Black) 12.b1 b8 13.d3 a5 and now in Anton Guijarro, D (2490)Ma t e A d a n , C (2 2 7 6 ) Do n B e n it o 2 0 1 2 White could've obtained a strong attack with 14.h5! g5 15.g3 with f4 to follow shortly. ] [ 9...h6?! makes little sense here 10.0-0 d7 11.e5! d5 12.a4 e6 13.c5 d8 14.c4 f8 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.ac1 and Black's position had almost nothing to recommend it in Galyas, M (2390)-Pirisi, G (2271) Budapest 2006 - White went on to win quickly. ] 10.0-0-0 Very logical but perhaps not best [ 10.e5! is worth investigating here - Black has to be very careful as there are plenty of 716

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 traps to fall into c5 ( 10...dxe5 11.dxe5 xe5 12.d1 c8 13.xc6+ f8 14.0-0 and White is obviously much better; 10...d7 11.0-0-0 is a better version of the game for White as Black lacks the counterplay on the b-file ) 11.0-0-0 cxd4 12.xd4 c5 A) or 13.xc5 xe5 ( 13...c7?! fails to 14.exd6! xc5 15.d7+ d8 16.xf7 h6+ 17.b1 f6 18.a4! b4 19.he1 with a winning attack. One nice line here is f8 20.e6 xa4 21.xf6 h6 22.b3 b4 23.c6! with a crushing attack ) 14.he1 c7 15.d4 f6 16.xe5 dxe5 and although the position remains complicated White's better pawn structure should ensure he has the better chances.; B) 13.e6!? f6 14.exf7+ xf7 15.xf6 xf6 16.d5 g7 is only a little better for W h i t e a f t e r 17.xf6 exf6 18.he1 although Black's position is rather uninspiring with the backward pawn on d6 a long-term weakness. ] 10...c8?! [ 10...e6 was still needed to sure up Black's centre although W hite retains the better chances after 11.g4 e7 12.h4 ] 11.d3?! [ 11.e5! is still strong, for example b7 12.b3 h6 ( 12...dxe5 13.dxe5 xe5 14.c5! d6 15.e4 is very unpleasant for Black, e.g. h6 16.d4 0-0 17.f6+! g7 18.d7+ f6 19.xf8 xf8 20.h4 and White is close to winning.) 13.g4 0-0 14.f4! and the knight on h6 is completely sidelined and in danger of being trapped. ] 11...b7 Now Onischuk should probably be OK although he still has to find time to get castled. 12.a4 a8?! [ 12...f6 seems sensible here. If Black castles he may even be better so critical is 13.e5 d5 14.exd6 exd6 15.b3 a8 16.xb8+ xb8 17.c3! b7 18.e4+ d7 but despite not being able to castle Black seems to be only a little bit worse as his king is actually safe enough on d7. ] 13.e5! Finally the central breakthrough although it's not quite as strong as it was before h6 14.c3 c5! This forces the queens off into an acceptable ending for Black 15.xa8 xa8 16.dxc5 f5 17.cxd6 cxd6

18.f4 [ 18.b6! b8 19.c6 xe5 20.c3 xe3 21.fxe3 is definitely a little better for White. The plan is to play a4-a5 and support it with b4. Then the pawn on a6 will always need constant looking after and the knight is actually well situated on b6. ] 18...dxe5 19.d2 0-0 Onischuk has pretty much equalised now but with pawn majorities on opposite sides the endgame remains very tricky. 20.e1 fd8 21.c4 ab8 22.b3 b5 23.c3 bd5 24.g3 h6+ 25.b2 f6 26.c6 d2! 27.e2 a5 Black has maxim ised th e act ivit y of his pie ce s an d s h o u l d b e a b s o l u t e l y f i n e h e r e . 28.a6 xc3+?! This releases the tension in a favourable manner for W hite who can now use his knight again. [ 28...f7 would've kept chances balanced and indeed it's hard to see how White can make any progress here. ] 29.xc3 d2?! [ 29...c5 30.e4 cd5 31.c4 also wins the pawn on a5 ] [ 29...8d6! was necessary here to keep the material balance, although W hite has a slight edge still after 30.xd6 xd6 31.e4 d1 32.c3 Black should still hold the draw here. ] 30.c1 2d6 31.xa5 d4 32.e3 c6 33.b2 dc8 34.a4 f7 35.g4 h5 36.a7 hxg4 37.hxg4 h8 38.d3 e6 39.b7 hc8 [ 39...h4 was needed so at least Black has some counterplay here. White is obviously much better after 40.g5 f4 41.d2 f3 42.dd7 xg5 43.d1 but Black is at least fighting in this line. ] 40.e3 h8 41.d3 hc8 42.a5! Now W hite is winning a8 43.b4 c4 44.b6+ d7 45.h3 ac8 46.d3? A careless mistake that could've cost Alekseev the win [ 46.a6! ] 46...g5? But Black misses his chance [ 46...8c6! saves the game, e.g. 47.b7+ ( or 47.b8 c7 ) 47...c8 48.xe7 xb4+ 49.c1 b8 and Black should be able to stop the a-pawn fairly easily. ] 47.b7+ e6 48.a6 a8 49.b5 Now the connected passed pawns are 717

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 unstoppable b4+ 50.c1 d6 51.e2 c4 52.c3 c5 53.xd4 exd4 54.d2 e5 55.cxd4+ exd4 56.f3 b4 57.a7 ac8 58.b8 c2+ 59.d3 8c3+ 60.e4 e2+ 61.d5 xf3 62.a8 d3 63.a1 e5+ 64.d6 e2 65.d4+ 1-0

702 Almasi,Zoltan Norwood,David (Bundesliga) 1994 (1) [Nigel Davies]

what follows is very ugly if you're a Gurgenidze fan... 16.xh5 gxf4 17.gxf4 g8 18.e3 g7 19.g1 e6 20.d3 Threatening 21.Qh7 - and meanwhile Black can't castle because f7 hangs. a5+ 21.d2 xa2 22.c3 c4 23.xc4 dxc4 24.e4 h8 25.d6+ e7 26.e2 b6 27.b4 e8 28.xf7+ 1-0

B06 703 1994

1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5 6.f3 g4 [ In the game Bakre - McNab, York 2000 Black tried 6...b6 but after 7.a4 a5+ 8.c3 g4 9.c5 c7 ran straight into the unpleasant 10.e6 . ] 7.e3 [ W hite can also play the immediate 7.h3 but then xf3 8.xf3 e6 leaves Black's dark-squared bishop on the superior g8 square. Lanka - Chernin, Rome 1990 continued 9.g3 ( 9.d3 b6 10.e2 h4 11.0-0 d7 12.b3 a5 13.c4 e7 14.e3 f5 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.c3 b8 was OK for Black in Thipsay - Hickl, Calcutta 1994 ) 9...b6 10.a3 e7 ( and not 10...xd4?? 11.e3 ) 11.e2 c5! 12.dxc5 xc5 13.b3 d7 14.e3 a5+ 15.d2 c7 16.d4 c6 17.c3 c5 with a very comfortable game ] 7...b6 [ Norwood had previously enjoyed some success with 7...e6 8.h3 ( Almasi probably intended 8.e2 , with similar play to the game. ) 8...xf3 9.xf3 b6 , which makes it difficult for White to avoid putting his king on the queenside. ] [ Personally speaking I would prefer simply 7...h6 8.e2 f5 9.f2 e6 intending 10... Nd7 and 11...c5. ] 8.b1 h6 9.e2 f5 10.f2 h6 11.g3 d7 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 g7 14.e2 Th is regrou ping is very n ice. W h it e ge t s everything covered and will eventually expand with g3-g4. e6 15.d2 g5 A desperate bid for counterplay before he gets squashed. But

Anand,Viswanathan Shirov,Alexei Dos Hermanas [Alexander Volzhin]

B06 2725 2690 1996

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.c4 d6 5.f3 e6 6.ge2 b5 7.b3 a5 8.a3 a6 9.d5 cxd5 10.exd5 e5 11.e4 We have already seen this position in J.Polgar - Shirov but now Black tries something new... h6!? An interesting attempt to improve. Black prepares ...f7-f5 (of course, Black couldn't play it immediately in view 12 Ng5). 12.g4! The only move, otherwise White's pieces will be thrown back after ...f7-f5. Just one example to illustrate the strength of Black's position: [ 12.h4 f5 13.d2 e7 14.a4 b4 15.h5 g5 16.c4 0-0 17.b3 d7 18.xa6 xa6 19.0-0 c5 20.c4 a8 and Black is winning, Sargissian - Galdunts, Erevan, 1996. ] 12...f6 13.2g3 xe4 14.xe4 0-0 15.h3 The critical position for the evaluation of the whole line. f5!? Shirov is true to his style and chooses the sharpest continuation. Now the position becomes a mess. [ The alternatives are: 15...d7? is very bad, i t w a s p l a ye d i n Z u l f u g a r l i - B o l o g a n , Nikolaev, 1995 where the game lasted only three more moves! 16.xh6 c5 17.g5! f6 18.g7! and in view of unavoidable mate Black resigned. ] [ But 15...h7 deserves serious attention. In a l l a va il a b le p u b l i ca t io n s t h i s m o ve i s labelled with a question mark in view of the f o l l o w i n g l i n e : 16.xh6 xh6 17.g5 "and White wins". However I disagree. Let's a n a l y s e t h i s p o s i t i o n : h8! 18.gxh6 The only move. ( 18.g1? c8 19.h4 718

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g8 20.f6+ xf6 21.gxf6 d2+; Of c o u rs e , W h it e ca n't p la y 18.xh6+?? g8 and White's Queen is trapped! 19.f6+ xf6 20.gxf6 xh6 and Black has an extra piece. ) 18...f5 and the situation is not clear at all! ] 16.gxf5 c8! The only move. [ T h e a l t e r n a t i v e s a r e b a d : 16...gxf5? 17.xh6 fxe4 18.xg7 xg7 19.g1+ mating ] [ 16...xf5? 17.xh6 h5 18.e6+ also with a decisive advantage. ] 17.g3 [ 17.xh6? is just a blunder in view of xf5 18.e3 xh6 and Black wins a piece. ] 17...xf5!? This exchange sacrifice is the best solution in this position. The alternatives are inferior: [ 17...gxf5 Opening the g-file looks very dangerous and White has many promising possibilities: 18.g2!? ( 18.f4!? ) 18...h4 ( 18...f4 19.e4 ) 19.g1 f7 20.d2 with Q-side castling to follow. ] [ 17...xf5 is sim ply b ad : 18.xf5 xf5 19.xh6 ] 18.g2!? [ In Izmukhambetov - Bologan, Sevastopol, 1997 White decided to accept the sacrifice. However this cannot be recommended: 18.xf5 xf5 19.g3 d7 20.e3 and now the natural e4! gave tremendous compensation as all Black's minor pieces are very active and White's King is exposed, for example: 21.xd6 a4 22.a2 xb2 23.b1 c3+ 24.d2 xd2+ 25.xd2 g5+ 26.e1 e3 and Black's attack is very strong. ] 18...a4 19.a2 f4!? Black's Rook is thirsting t o s a c ri f i c e i t s e l f b u t W h it e d o e s n ' t p a y attention to it! 20.c3! [ Definitely nobody would like to play Shirov in the position after 20.xf4?! exf4 21.e4 f5 22.0-0-0 b4! 23.axb4 a3! with a very strong attack. ] 20...h4 [ 20...h4!? is also worthy of consideration: 21.h3 ( 21.xf4 exf4 22.e4 d7! ) 21...d7 22.e3 with mutual chances. ] 21.h3 f5?! A serious inaccuracy. Black voluntarily gives up his strong bishop, weakening his light squares.

[ 21...d7 22.e3 f6 should be preferred. ] 22.xf5 gxf5 White's bishop pair doesn't seem too impressive now, but in a few moves we will see them start attacking Black's weak pawns. 23.g6 f8 24.e3 h8 25.0-0-0 Finally White has managed to evacuate his King to a safe place. Now we can conclude White is clearly better. The bishop pair is very strong here, Black's king is exposed and after Black's mistake on move 21 White dominates the light squares. d7 26.e6 d8 [ 26...c5 didn't make Black's life easier: 27.xc5 dxc5 28.d6! and the passed pawn is very strong. ] 27.dg1 f4 28.a7! It looks strange, but the Bishop is unassailable on a7. It controls c5 and can attack the pawn on d6 from b8 or c7 later. f6 [ 28...f6 29.g6!+- ] 29.b1 e8 30.f5 f7 31.b6 f8 [ 31...xd5 didn't help Black much: 32.h2! f7 ( 32...e4 33.g6 e7 34.d4+- ) 33.hg2 g8 34.d8! xd8 ( 34...h5 35.xf6! xf6 36.xf6+ xf6 37.xg8# ) 35.xg7 xg7 36.xg7 xg7 37.g6+ and White wins. ] 32.g6 h5 33.e6 g5 34.xg5 hxg5 35.d1! d7 [ 35...xe6 36.dxe6 d5 37.a2 ] 36.xd7 xd7 37.c7 f6 38.d3 [ 38.d8! was more precise, according to Anand: h6 ( 38...f7 39.g6 f8 40.e7 ) 39.xg5 xh3 40.f5 h5 41.xd7 xg5 42.xb5 with a decisive material advantage. ] 38...c5 39.xb5 e4 40.b6 f8 41.xc5 dxc5 42.e1! e3 43.fxe3 f3 44.xa4 c4 45.b5 h6 46.d7 f2 47.f1 c5 48.e4 f6 49.b5 f4?! After this inaccuracy Black is absolutely helpless. [ He should try 49...f3 intending to take the h3-pawn and then to advance his g-pawn. ] 50.xc4 xe4 51.b5 e3 52.d6 [ It's necessary to keep one's concentration u n t i l t h e v e r y e n d . 52.xf2?? spoils everything in view of e1+ ] 52...xd6 [ 52...e1+ 53.d2 xf1 54.xf1 xd6 55.b4+- ] 53.xf2 xh3 54.d7 g3 55.c2 g4 719

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 56.d2 c7 57.a4 g1 58.c6 [ 58.c6 g3 59.d1! xd1 60.xd1 ] 1-0

so one would expect a plan such as Bd3,0-0, Qe1-h4 to be critical but we will have to wait and see. 10.e3 c6! 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.e2 xa5 13.e5 b6 14.e4 b7 15.d6 d5 There's no compensation for the e7 17.ge4 f6 704 B06 p a w n h e r e . 16.g5 The trad itio nal dism antling of t he c entre Armbrust,Florian Delchev,Aleksander 2560 begins. 18.xc5 xc5 19.xc5 bxc5 3rd Autumn Open (9) 2002 20.xa5 fxe5 21.fxe5 xe5 22.c4 g5 23.xf8+ xf8 24.f1 f4 Remarkably easy [Andrew Martin] for Black. I really do think that this new idea 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6!? has a future . The plan of ...c7-c5 is clear and I have always enjoyed playing 4...a6 because easy to understand-meanwhile the W hite it's very provocative. Black is living on the position is rather rigid. Fascinating. edge and it's a question of whether he can 0-1 t im e h i s s t ri k e a ga i n st t h e W h it e ce n t r e successfully before he gets blown away. Here, B06 Delchev shows something new. The normal 705 plan for Black would involve ...b5,...Bb7,... Arngrimsson,Dagur 2239 Nd7 and a quick... c7-c5! . Meanwhile White Carlsen,Magnus 2484 tries to blast through with e4-e5! Interestingly, 21st Open Reykjavik ISL (3) 09.03.2004 Black dispenses with .. .b7-b5 altogether [Gary Lane] 5.f3 [ 5.a4 d7 The same plan as Delchev! 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 6.f3 e6 7.e3 e7 Hedgehog-like. 5.f3 g7 6.c4 It seems logical to attack the 8.d2 0-0 9.g4?! c5! And here's the big queen but this continuation has rarely been moment. 10.dxc5 xc5 11.e5 d5 played. The reason is that W hite tends to 12.xd5 exd5 13.xd5 xg4 14.e2 c8 prefer to develop his pieces with moves such 15.c3 dxe5 16.xd8 fxd8 17.xe5 xe2 as 6 Na3 or 6 Be3 before chasing the black 18.xe2 xe5 19.fxe5 e8 20.b4 d7 queen. e4+ The most direct move which 21.d4 xe5 22.xe5 xe5+ 23.d3 really tests W hite's early pawn push. It is d8+ 24.c4 e3 25.ac1 f5 26.b5 worth remembering that Carlsen is a natural axb5+ 27.xb5 c8 28.b6 exc3 player who a few months after this event 29.xc3 xc3 30.a5 b3+ 31.c5 b2 became the world's youngest grandmaster. 32.h3 f7 33.d1 e7 34.e1+ d7 [ 6...d8 35.d1+ c7 36.e1 c2+ 37.b5 b2+ A) 7.e3 f6 8.h3!? a cautious move to 38.c5 d7 39.d1+ e7 40.e1+ f6 co p e wi t h t h e p o t e n t i a l p i n o n g 4 0-0 41.d1 f4 42.d4 f5 43.c1 b5 ( 8...e4! should be considered to apply 44.a1 b3 45.h4 g4 46.h1 a3 pressure to the d4 pawn) 9.c3 cxd4 47.b1 xa5 48.xb7 h5 49.e4 xh4 10.xd4 a6 11.e2 fd7 ( perhaps 50.f7 g5 51.f6 h5 0-1 Orel,K-Bonnafous, 11...bd7 to speed up queenside N/EuYCh G18, Peniscola ESP 2002 (51) ] development is better) 12.0-0 e5 13.b3 5...d7 6.c4 Already White seems to be at c6 14.d6 e8 15.ad1 with an edge a lo s s . He s e e m s t o b e t ryin g t o p u n i s h thanks to the more active pieces, Klinger, Delchev for omitting .....b7-b5. But 6 Bc4 feels J-Nemet,I/Zuerich 1991.; wrong-probably 6 Bd3 is correct. e6 7.a4 B) 7.d5 h6 Black keeps the h8-a1 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.a5?! c5! First a Modern, diagonal open for his bishop and will later then a Hippopotamus, now a Sicilian. And bring his king's knight into the game via with White committing himself all the time. It's the f5 square. 8.c3 0-0 9.e2 f5 a bit early to say how White should respond. 10.0-0 e5 11.dxe6 xe6 with equal play, A quick attack should be the order of the day M i c h a l c z a k , T - N e v e d n i c h y, V / S e n d e n 720

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2003. ] [ 6...d6 7.d5 f6 8.c3 0-0 9.g3?! t h e e x t r a m o ve n e e d e d f o r a k i n g s i d e fianchetto means that the white king is still stuck in the centre which will prove to be a problem ( 9.e2 intending to castle is sensible. ) 9...e6 10.f4 ( 10.g2 exd5 11.cxd5 e8+ 12.e3 g4 when the pin on the e-file gives Black excellent tactical play ) 10...b6 11.d2 exd5 12.cxd5 e8+ 13.e2 ( or 13.e2 f5 14.g2 e4 15.c1 xb2 and the game is over as a contest ) 13...e4 14.xe4 xe4 15.0-0 ( 15.b1 is not advisable because h3 traps the white king in the centre meaning t h a t B l a c k c a n a t t a c k a t h i s l e i s u r e .) 15...xb2 Black is a pawn up but still has to activate his queenside before declaring hims elf win ner of the op ening skirmish 16.d3 xd2 17.xd2 e8 18.fe1 d7 19.ab1 b6 20.f4 xe1+ 21.xe1 b5 22.e5 c4 23.e4 xe5 24.xe5 a6 25.d4 e8 Black is threatening ...f7-f5 and has better position due to the extra pawn. Afek, Y-Berkvens,J/Amsterdam 2002 ] 7.e3 cxd4 I think it is a good idea to relieve the tension in the centre especially because otherwise W hite would just play Nc3 embarrassing the queen. 8.xd4 f6 9.c3 e5 I suspect a lot of players would now be worried about losing their queen in such an exposed square. However, a careful look at the tactics should eliminate such a fear and Black will aim to swiftly activate his queenside. 10.e2 0-0 11.db5 White is still trying to find a plan to make the most of the black queen being on e5, so finds this interesting move. [ I prefer 11.0-0 when at least White has got his king out the way before trying to create complications. For instance: c6 ( 11...d8 is equal ) 12.xc6 bxc6 13.c1 f5 14.d4 c7 Black resists the ending because with damaged queenside pawns, it will be White pressing for a win even though accurate play will be sufficient to draw. 15.h4 fd8 16.fd1 ab8 17.b3 a5 18.a4 e5 19.xd8+ xd8 20.f3 d3 21.e1 c7 22.xd3 xd3 23.d1 xd1 24.xd1 e4 25.c5 exf3 26.gxf3 h5? ( 26...h6 is likely to lead to a draw) 27.d7

e5 28.d8+ f8 29.xf8+! 1-0 Hanley,CDvorak,T/Millfield School 2003. ] 11...c6 12.c1 White has v ague ideas of playing Bf4 to harass the queen but it is just harmless. [ If 12.0-0 then f5 completes Black's development with a level position. This should not be to White's liking because in the C3 Sicilian he is normally rewarded with a slight edge at least from the opening. ] 12...g4 13.f3 [ 13.f4 c5 14.e3 h5 is roughly equal. ] 13...e6 14.f4 h5 [ 14...f5 to make sure the queen can back on e6 after an exchange is an option when 15.c7 ( 15.g4 c5 16.c7 ad8 17.xe6 fxe6 is superior for Black because W hite has weakened his kingside pawn cover ) 15...ad8 16.xe6 xe6 is equal. ] 15.c7 ad8 16.xe6 fxe6 Carlsen has double e-pawns but does that mean he is worse? I think every position is different so you have to look at all aspects. White's bishop on e2 is restricted and the pawn on f3 just gets in the way. This makes it difficult for Arngrimsson to quickly target the e-pawns with his rook on the e-file. 17.0-0 d4 The knight is influential on such a central square and it protects the e6 pawn from future attacks. 18.e1 f5 19.d1 [ Not 19.g3? because c2 forks the rooks. ] 19...d7 I think Black has the better chances in such a position because his pieces have good co-ordination. 20.e3 c5 Black is making the most of White's passive play by trying to invade with the knights. 21.f1 d3 22.b1 [ 22.d2 e5 23.b3? xb3 wins. ] 22...e5 23.f2 xf2 24.xf2 e3 [ I like 24...h6 to activate the bishop in o rd e r t o t h re a t e n . . . B e 3 25.f1 c5 26.h1 xc4 is good news for Black. ] 25.e4 h6 26.f1 xe4 Sometimes a decent attack is missed because one side thinks queen's are needed to force mate but this is clearly wrong. Here Black is content to enter the ending having calculated that he has a strong initiative. 27.fxe4 [ Or 27.xe4 e3 when Black wins the 721

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 exchange. ] 27...e3 28.xf8+ xf8+ 29.f3 [ 29.e1 allows f2 which easily wins. ] 29...xf3 30.gxf3 xf3+ 31.g2 f2+ 32.g3 xb2 It is time to start counting the pawns and Black has two extra which means W hite c an f etc h his co at . 33.d1 e2 34.f3 e1 35.b1 d4 0-1

centre it's unlikely this can ever succeed. The rest of the game is predictable: Davies continues to play with due care and takes W hite apart! f8 22.g1 c4 23.g4 f4 24.d4 e5 25.c3 e8! [ 25...d5 26.g5 f5 27.xe5!! xe5 28.g6 g7 ( 28...xg6! 29.xg6+ h8 ) 29.xh7+!! ] 26.g5 f5 27.f3 e6 Keeping the Bishop out of d5 and securing the position against any Qxg6 tricks. 28.e1 d7 29.g1 d5 706 B06 Preparations are complete. It is time to 'let those truckers roll'! 30.h1 e4 31.g2 f7 Baker,Chris W 32.f6 f3 33.xf3 exf3 34.xf3 d4 Davies,Nigel R Crewe 1996 35.xf5 d5+ 36.xd5+ xd5 37.d1 g7 38.f3 xf6 39.gxf6 f7 40.b3 cxb3 [Andrew Martin] 41.cxb3 c6 42.h3 h5 43.hd3 cd6 The following game is a real gem. White sets Davies made chess look easy. We know that out his stall with a lot of hustle and bustle, this is not the case. comes forward aggressively and is picked off 0-1 in an exemplary manner. The Black centre towards the end of the game is a sight to B06 behold! 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 707 e6 'Already a prophylactic idea against the Baki,Peter 2092 possibility of W hite playing f4-f5.The way I Ianov,Viktor 2381 see it is that if I prevent White from moving Marx Gyorgy Open (2) 15.06.2005 his f-pawn forward his Bishop on c1 will never [Andrew Martin] be able to exchange itself off for my Bishop on g7. And in that case my king keeps a vital 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e3 a6 defender' GM Davies. 5.f3 e7 6.e2 5.d2 d7 6.0-0-0 White is shaping up for d7 7.0-0 b6 As mentioned, thoroughly the big one. To play slowly with Black here ap p ro p ria t e wh e n W h it e e it he r pla ys h is would be a crime. He has to start the action. Bishop to e2 or castles short. 8.e1 b7 b5! 7.f3 b7 8.h4 h6 9.g4 Many, many of 9.h1 0-0 10.h4 Primitive. Black hits back your opponents will play this way. They just with a show of strength in the centre. c5! stick the kingside pawns forward to gain space There comes a time when the pussyfooting and dissuade Black from a later 0-0. The must stop. Serious counterplay is initiated M o d e r n d e f e n d e r s h o u l d n o t f e e l wi t h 1 0 . . . c 5 ! 11.e3 f6! Hitting e4, an uncomfortable facing this aggression. He attack which is very difficult to meet. 12.ad1 must juggle the obligations of flexible defense [ White's two other moves are not very good: and the preparation of counterplay, but that is 12.e5 f5 ] the intellectual challenge after 1...g6 . If you [ 12.d3 c4! and so he has to rely on this cannot cope with this pressure, don't play the Rook centralisation. However, Davies is not Modern! to be bluffed and takes the pawn! ] [ 9.d5 h5 10.h3 c5 11.dxc6 xc6 12...xe4! 13.xe4 xe4 14.f5 White is 12.d5 gf6 13.xf6+ xf6 14.g5 getting desperate already. gxf5! 15.dxc5 c8 Black has very satisfactory counterplay bxc5 16.g5 xg5 17.xg5 f6 18.e3 on the c file. He has a good version of the c8! Carefully guarding against White's only Dragon. White has no breakthrough in sight threat of Bxc5. 19.f3 g6 20.h5 f7 and the Knight on g5 is simply misplaced. 21.h3 Baker's whole game plan seems to be 15.d4 c7 16.xf6 xf6 17.d3 d7 based on checkmate. However, without a 18.f4 c5 19.f5 gxf5 20.exf5 f6 21.e6 722

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe6 22.fxe6 d8! 23.hg1 b6 24.f4 e8 25.g3 c6 26.ge1 c7 27.g7 ce8 28.g6 hg8 29.h7 h8 30.g7 hg8 31.h7 1/2-1/2 Koziak, V-Bezold, M/ Neuhausen 2004 ] 9...c8! An easy idea to remember. Black prepares ...c7-c5, with his Rook in the right place. 10.g5 hxg5 11.xg5 c5 The second key move. It's a turbo-charged Hippo, un re co gn is ab le f rom t he o rigin al b ea st . . 12.dxc5 xc5 13.h3 b4! 14.d5 b3!! Baki certainly didn't expect this one. All the good things about Black's position come into play now. White may already be lost. 15.b1 [ The variations are easy if White moves his queen. 15.e1 xd5 16.exd5 bxa2 17.d2 b8-+ ] [ 15.e3 bxa2 16.d2 xb2 17.xc8 xc8!-+ ] 15...xe4 Not that this isn't easy to understand. All of White's kingside advances are rendered irrelevant. 16.fxe4 bxc2+ 17.a1 cxd1+ 18.xd1 c4 19.g2 xd5 20.exd5 [ 20.xd5 c2! ] 20...b6 21.e2 b4 22.c1 f6 Black might even castle in a minute. 23.h3 Unless White plays this one. hxh4 24.e1 e4 25.c2 c5 White woke up and counted the pieces. A brilliant, short game by Ionov. 0-1

whittle away White's central pawns with 6... cxd4. ] 3...g7 4.f4 e6!? The argument is that if Black can prevent f4-f5 White's dark-square bishop will not be a great piece. Meanwhile he intends to develop in true hippo style with ... Ne 7, . .. Nd 7, . .. b6 an d .. .B b7 a nd t he n counterattack White's centre with ...c7-c5. [ I used to play 4...c6 until one rainy day Velimirovic played 5.b5 against me and left me with little counterplay after ( 5.e3 f6 6.f3 0-0 7.d2 e6 followed by ... Ne7 will reach a similar set-up to 4...e6.) 5...a6 6.xc6+ bxc6 7.f3 f5 8.e5 h6 9.e2 e6 10.e3 0-0 11.0-0-0 d7 12.h3 b8 13.g4 etc (Velimirovic - Davies, Vrnjacka Banja 1991). ] 5.f3 e7 6.e3 d7 7.d2 a6!? 8.d3 [ Black's 7.. .a6!? was designed to make White's queenside less habitable by going for ... b7-b5. Rajlich - Khechumyan, Budapest 2001 went 8.0-0-0 b5 9.h4?! f6 10.d3 b7! when suddenly Black was threatening to win the e4 pawn with 11... b4. ] 8...b5 Whenever I play this move, I end up wondering if the b-pawn might not be better placed on b6 from where it supports ...c7-c5. [ Gara - Khechumyan, Budapest 2001 varied with 8...b6 9.0-0-0 f6 10.h3 b7 11.g4 h6 12.hf1 d7 when White finally ran out of patience with 13.g5 and did not stand very well after hxg5 14.fxg5 h5 15.h2 c6 16.f2 0-0-0 etc ] 708 B06 9.0-0 f6 10.ae1 g4!? An unthematic idea which I'm not sure I would repeat, Black Baum,Bernd gets the bishop pair but loses time. Davies,Nigel R [ In retrospect 10...0-0 looks more natural. ] Gausdal (1) 1993 11.f5! xe3 12.xe3 0-0 13.g4 b4 [Nigel Davies] 14.d1 exf5 15.gxf5 d5 16.f4 f6 The Austrian Attack has always been one of An un f ortu nate nece ssity af te r which m y Black's main worries. After an early career position starts to look very ugly. But it's still with 4...Nc6 I switched to a Pirc transposition a tough fight in which my opponent comes (4...Nf6) before discovering 4...e6!?. The idea second. 17.e3 c6 18.c3 bxc3 19.bxc3 is to make f2-f4 look like a mistake because it h8 20.h1 a7 21.g1 a5 22.exd5 blocks White's dark-square bishop. 1.e4 d6 xc3 23.b1 g5 24.g4 b7 25.d6 g8 26.e4 d7 27.c1 b4 28.d5 xd6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 xb1! The kind of exchange sac [ W hite can also play the immediate 3.f4 29.dxc6 after which I've played g7 4.f3 c5 5.c3 that's ideal for your opponent's time-trouble. ( 5.d5 f6 6.c3 0-0 is an Austrian attack Direct threats are not necessary, you just need with 5...c5.) 5...a5!? which threatens to t o s t o p h i m f r o m s o l v i n g h i s p r o b l e m s . 723

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30.xb1 xc6 31.gf1 a8 32.g1 b8 33.c2 b4 34.c4 f4 35.a3 g4+ 36.g2 xc4 Winning material and the game. 37.xg4 xg4+ 38.f2 f4 39.e2 e4+ 40.d3 a4 41.c3 e4+ 42.e3 e7 0-1

This bold leap forward carries the enormous threat of 9 e6. f8 [ If 8...e6 then Black must reckon on White blasting open the position with lines like 9.d5!? exd5 10.e6 ] 9.e2! This powerful move not only reinforces the idea of playing e5-e6, but also immediately threatens 10 Bxb5+! axb5 11 Qxb5+, winning Black's loose b7-bishop. b4 709 B06 10.ce4 f5? Black misses White's stunning forthcoming tactical combination... 11.b5+!! Beliavsky,Alexander G c6 Hickl,Joerg [ 11...axb5 12.xb5+ echoes the line given European Zonal, 2000 2000 in the previous notes at move nine. ] [Paul Motwani] 12.c4! Black is in deadly double trouble at W7: "Alexander The Great!" A.Beliavsky-J. c6 and f7. d7 13.f7! Menacing 14 Nxd6 Hickl, European Zonal Tournament, Pula 2000. or 14 Qxg7 in particular. cxb5 14.xg7 xe4 Modern Defence. 34 top players from Austria, 15.xe4 fxe4 16.f5! [ Black could fight on longer after 16.xh8 Bosnia, Croatia, Germany, Israel, h6 ] Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Switzerland recently converged on the city of 16...gxf5 17.xh8 e6 18.d5 c7 [ 18...d4 19.e6+ uncovers a fatal attack Pula from April 11-22 to compete in a really from White's queen towards d4. ] tough 11-round European Zonal Tournament, Black resigned, with his position in wit h jus t a sin gle re st -da y. A lt h ou gh t h e 19.xh7 ferocious field included 21 grandmasters and ruins and hopelessly behind on material. ten IMs, a clear outright winner emerged: 1-0 Slovenia's 46-year-old super-GM Alexander Beliavsky, with an impressive tally of five wins B06 and six draws. Beliavsky's sensational 8/11 710 score put him a full point ahead of a runnerBerezovsky,Igor 2434 up Israeli trio, namely Lev Psakhis, Emil Almasi,Zoltan 2650 Sutovsky and Ilia Smirin. I particularly liked Bundesliga 2004-5 (3) 27.11.2004 Beliavsky's 19-move victory on April 19, which [Andrew Martin] wa s c e r t a i n l y a " B l a c k W e d n e s d a y" f o r Germany's GM Jorg Hickl playing Black, as 1.d4 IS BLACK REALLY EQUAL IN THE 150 he suffered the quickest loss of the entire ATTACK? If the evidence of this high-rated tournament! 1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.c3 g7 g a m e i s t o b e b e l i e ve d , B l a c k ' s t a s k o f In general, the Modern Defence is not too defence in the 150 is eased. Almasi starts popular amongst the world's very best players, regularly, with the Modern move-order and probably because it allows White to establish the usual immediate queenside counterplay a large spatial advantage. 4.f4 "f for forward!" but then flicks in ...e7-e6,which puts W hite is a favourite attacking motto of mine. a6 almost at a loss for a move. . g6 2.e4 g7 [ W7.1: 4...c6 5.b5 also worked out well 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6! 5.d2 b5 6.d3 b7 for White in the game P.Motwani-C.McNab 7.a4 at the 1999 Scottish Championship, and in [ 7.f3 d7 8.a4 b4 9.e2 a5 preparing for that encounter, I found the comes to the same. ] analysis on page 136 of "Nunn's Chess 7...b4 8.ce2 Openings" to be very useful. ] [ 8.d1 isn't '150' style, more positional, but 5.f3 b5 6.d3 b7 7.e5 I like this central is a good move nevertheless. White's point thrust, which leaves Black's king's knight and is to relocate the Knight with f3 and Nf2, bish op with litt le scop e . d7 8.g5!? reinforcing e4 and g4 rather than the Ne2-g3 724

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 path. a5 9.c3 f6 10.cxb4 ( 10.f3! would be more in keeping with the positional treatment. Instead W hite goes f o r t a c t ic s :) 10...xe4 11.xe4 xe4 12.d3 d5 13.bxa5 c5 14.dxc5 xa5+ 15.f1 e6 16.c1 xa4 Kryvoruchko,YPopovics,A/Hungary 2003 Black went on to lose this game, but in the current position he stands better with a potentially safer King and superior pawns. ] 8...a5 9.g3 d7 10.f3 e6!? Almost waiting for White to reveal his hand. 11.c3 Still very normal for this system. bxc3 12.bxc3 gf6 13.0-0 [ 13.h6 is the knee-jerk reaction but I must say that I don't see too much for Black to worry about : 0-0 14.xg7 xg7 15.0-0 ( 15.b1 c8 16.0-0 c5 17.b2 c6 ) 15...c5 16.ab1 ( 16.fe1 c7 ) 16...c6 The 150 attack depends heavily on moves such as Qg5,Nh4-f5+. Black's small advance of the e pawn has taken a lot of the sting out of this approach. So to an extent, White has to switch tack. I don't see W hite winning the battle of the queenside and neither does Almasi. ] 13...0-0 14.fb1 b8 15.c2 c6! 16.b5 [ 16.xb8 xb8 17.b1 a8 18.d2 ( 18.g5 h6 19.d2 b8 20.xb8+ xb8 seems about equal. ) 18...g4! ] 16...a8! This is Black's better bishop and so it makes little positional sense to exchange. 17.h3 c6 18.e2 c7= 19.xb8 White has only a nominal advantage in space and heads for the draw. xb8 20.b1 xb1+ The average player does not play the 150 attack to exchange pieces and make a quick draw so Almasi's method is very good. Note the Black central pawns, hanging back and covering all the right squares ( f5 in particular) By the way in the final position after 21 Qxb1 either 21 ...c5 or 21...d5! 22 e5 Ne8 are OK, in t h e l a s t c a s e i n t e n d i n g . . . c 6 -c 5 ! , wi t h counterplay. ½-½

711 Berg,Emanuel Angskog,Kent 37th Rilton Cup (1) [John Watson]

B06 2593 2271 27.12.2007

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.h4 [ 5.d2 b5 6.h4 h5 is Berg's usual order, transposing. ] 5...h5 6.d2 b5 7.h3 xh3!? Perhaps an innovation, although very close to what I mention in the next note. [ H i l l a r p - P e r s s o n r e c o m m e n d s 7...f6 '!' here, with the idea ...Ng4, encouraging 8.f3 bd7 ( here 8...xh3 9.xh3 bd7 of Morrison-Benjamin, Philadelphia 1998, could even transpose to our game after 10.0-0-0 ) 9.0-0-0 b7 10.g5 . Then Tiger h i m s e l f p l a y e d 0-0 versus Berg, but he analyses 10. ..e6 as well. ] 8.xh3 d7 9.0-0-0 gf6 10.f3 c6 Logical and a little slower than usual for this va ria t ion . It 's p o ssib le t o ca st le , b u t t h e normal move [ 10...c5!? allows 11.dxc5 dxc5 ( 11...xc5 12.e5! ) 12.d5 ( 12.f4! prevents castling because of e5, and e5 13.g5 0-0 14.g4 la u n c h e s a s t r o n g a t t a c k) 12...0-0!? 13.xf6+ xf6 14.xd8 fxd8 15.xd8+ xd8 16.c4! bxc4 17.xc4 with superb bishops. W hite won't immediately win a pawn, but in the long run the pressure will be too great. ] 11.b1 a5 12.g3!? This doesn't prove very useful. White can keep a small advantage by more pointed moves, for example, [ 12.d3 , and if b6 ( 12...c5 13.dxc5 dxc5 14.e2! ) 13.e5 fd5 14.xd5 xd2 15.xd2 xd5 16.f4 ] 12...b6 13.d3 b8! 14.e2 b4!? [ 14...xd2 15.xd2 leaves White with the normal bishop pair advantage, which is limited in this case. ] 15.c1 a4 Black should have enough counterchances here. 16.b3 [ 16.e2! a8 ( on the other hand, it's risky for W hite to take the pawn after 16...0-0!? 17.b3 c7 18.xa6 a8 ) 17.hh1 may be a better order. ] 16...b6 17.e2!? a5 725

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 17...0-0 ] 18.g4!? 0-0 19.g5!? [ 19.gxh5 xh5 20.c4 c5 is unclear ] 19...d7 20.f4 c5 21.e5 fc8?? The advance e6 had to be stopped. [ 21...e6 ] 22.e6 fxe6 [ 22...cxd4 23.exf7+ xf7 24.xd4 xd4 25.xg6+! ] 23.xg6 f8 24.xh5 xg6 25.xg6 xb2 26.h5 f8 27.h6 1-0

712 Boguslavskyy,O Bacrot,Etienne Schachbundesliga 2011-12 (15) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B06 2467 2705 15.04.2012

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.f3 b5 6.d3 This looks more critical than moving the a-pawn here [ 6.a3 b7 7.d3 and ] [ 6.a4 b4 7.e2 have been examined in the archives by Andrew Martin ] 6...d7 7.0-0 b7 [ 7...c5 was examined by Watson in Jovanovic, Z-Skoberne, J Nova Gorica 2007 - my feeling is that 8.dxc5 is promising for White here ] 8.d2 gf6 9.e5! As usual this is not only critical but timely - White can't delay as Black is threatening b4 [ 9.a3?! c5 and Black has no real problems after 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5 g4 12.e6 fxe6 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 de5 with an equal game ] 9...g4 [ 9...dxe5!? is worth checking but White seems to have an edge anyway after 10.dxe5 g4 11.e6! de5!? 12.exf7+ xf7 13.ad1 0-0 14.e2 ] 10.e6 fxe6 11.g5 f8 White obviously has good compensation for a pawn here but it's surprisingly easy to drift in these positions - it takes very accurate play to set Black serious problems here 12.a4?! [ 12.e2! i s s t r o n g e r xe3 ( 12...f6? 13.xb5+ picks up a useful pawn) 13.fxe3 f6 14.ce4 h6 15.f3 d7 16.fd2

and Black is struggling here and it's unlikely his King would ever be safe. As ever playing these lines for Black against a lower rated player is gamble but now Bacrot cashes in on his opponent's mistake. ] 12...b4 13.ce4 h6 14.f3 f6!? Not a move the computer likes but this looks like a cle ver id e a t o u s 15.xf6+ exf6 16.xb4 c8 17.d2 b8 What an odd position we have here - it looks as if W hite should be better but what plan is there? Black is going to play ...f5 and bring a knight to f6 and slowly improve and meanwhile there is not a lot for White to do 18.c4 [ 18.a5 was our attempt at an improvement but still Black is doing fine after f5 19.b4 ( 19.ae1 f7 ) 19...d7 20.b5 axb5 21.axb5 0-0 22.f3 b6 ] 18...f5! 19.b3 f7 20.fd1 h7 21.f1 f6 22.e2 g5! White has done nothing at all for the last few moves and Bacrot is clearly taking control 23.f4?! [ 23.a5 it was better to sit and wait a8 24.c3 and now Black must do some work if he wants to open the position up here ] 23...g4 Now the Bishop on b7 is a monster piece! 24.a5 e4 25.c4 c5 [ 25...h5! was probably more accurate - after all Bacrot doesn't need to rush here ] 26.a3 cxd4 27.xd4 e5 28.xd6?! [ 28.fxe5 dxe5 29.d2 was a better defensive try although of course Black has the better chances after c7 30.b3 f4 ] 28...exf4 29.f2?! This leads to a swift collapse [ 29.xf4 c5+ 30.f2 xa5 is also very strong for Black ] [ 29.a7! was the best try, at least forcing t h e r o o k t o a 8 a8 30.f2 f8 and n ow W h ite can try 31.xf6+ xf6 32.b4 with fighting chances ] 29...f8! 30.c5 [ 30.xf6+ xf6 just doesn't work very well here with the Rook actively placed on b8 ] 30...xd6 31.cxd6 f3 32.d2 fxg2 33.c4+ g6 34.d4 d8 35.f4?! h5 After a risky opening from Bacrot he showed his class and understanding in outplaying his opponent in a complicated middlegame. 0-1

726

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 713 Bohlke,Christian Krasenkow,Michal Politiken Cup 25th (2) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2205 2585 15.07.2003

Whilst researching a book on the Hippopotamus system of defence for Black, I came across the unusual 4...e6!?, an example of which we will see in this game. Among Grandmasters, Krasenkow has shown a liking for this messy line. He chooses his opponents carefully and generally plays 4..e6 when he either needs to win at all costs or expects that White might overreach. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 e6!? 5.f3 e7 6.e2 Unchallenging and Black can be happy now. He can get on with his plan unmolested. The first task is to hit e4. [ Clearly either 6.d3 or ] [ 6.e3 are less respectful and therefore more critical. ] 6...b6 7.0-0 There was little danger that White would castle long and go for the big attack the bishop on e2 hardly lends itself to this aggressive plan. 0-0 8.e3 b7 9.d2 d7 10.ad1 f6= With equality in my view , and a position where the better player will win. White already has a slightly awkward decision to make about the pawn on e4. 11.e5 g4 12.h3 xe3 13.xe3 f5 14.f2 f6! Initiating dark-squared counterplay, which makes perfect sense given that Black has a bish o p o n g7 wit h ou t a n o p po n en t . 15.g4 e7 16.h4 xf3 17.xf3 d5 18.e2 g5! [ Whereas 18...c6 generally improving the position and letting out Black's Queen was safe, here we have a much sharper interpretation. The way to win games againt les se r op po sition is to con tinu ally give them problems to solve. Never let them settle. I always tell my students to imagine themselves as the opponent: which move would they least like to have played against them? I'm guessing that 18....g5 fits squarely into this category. ] 19.g3 fxe5 20.fxe5 g6 [ As 20...c5 21.c4 might well open the game up in White's favour. ] 21.c4 c6 22.cxd5 cxd5 23.c3 b5! W hite has problems on f4 and h4 and

consequently about the future safety of his K in g . H e 's t i e d d o wn . S o B la ck o p e n s a second f ront impeccable positional play. 24.e2 [ 24.xb5 b6 ] 24...b6 25.h1 a6 26.xf8+ xf8 27.d3 h4 W ith the idea of ..Rf3. 28.e2 f4 29.d3 xe5!? Maybe not objectively best, but almost certainly the move which will win the game most quickly. Instead [ 29...c6 would retain all of Black's positional trumps and the game continues with White grovelling. However I'm guessing that Bohlke was running into time-pressure and so Krasenkow attacks him directly. ] 30.dxe5? [ He had to find 30.xd5! exd5 31.dxe5 with counterplay. For instance: f2 ( 31...d4 32.b3+ g7 33.d5 ) 32.xd5+ g7 33.b7+ f7 34.e4 g3 35.e6 It's a very tough ask to find this idea several m o v e s i n a d v a n c e . xh3+ 36.g1 and White seems to have enough to oblige Black to take a draw. ] 30...f2 Whereas now, White has nothing. 31.f1 f3 32.g2 g3 There's plenty more of this stuff in the book but it won't be out until the end of the year. In the end, I have come to the conclusion that 4....e6 is very playable. Something more for you to think about! 0-1

714 Bologan,Viktor Azmaiparashvili,Zurab European Club Cup, Crete (3) [Nigel Davies]

B06

25.09.2001

I found this game to be deeply impressive. Playing Black against a fellow GM, Azmaiparashvili throws his opponent on his own resources as early as move 4 with an original queen move, thereafter transposing very neatly into a supped-up Gurgenidze system. A game worth careful study. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 c6 The sign of a Pirc player who is bored with theory. 4.f4 b6!? [ And this is a very interesting move by Azmaiparashvili. In last month's update I 727

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ga ve s e v e ra l ga m e s wit h t h e st a n d a r d Gurgenidze move, 4...d5 ] 5.c4 [ After 5.f3 Black can play g4 ] 5...g7 6.f3 h6!? Dr Tarrasch would be turning in his grave! Black develops his knight in this unsteriotyped fashion, to keep the pressure on the d4 pawn. Meanwhile it turns out the Azmai has plans to return to a Gurgenidze type plan, but with White's pieces on all the wrong squares. 7.b3 g4 8.e3 d5! 9.e5 [ The point is that 9.exd5 is met by f5 10.f2 xf3 11.xf3 xd4 with excellent play for Black. ] 9...f5 10.f2 h5 I don't think I've ever seen such a good version of the Gurgenidze. I really hate that bishop on b3. 11.d3 a6 12.0-0-0 h4 13.e2 xd3 14.xd3 a6 15.c3 c7 16.f1 e6 17.d1 White gets his bishop back into 'play'. h6 18.g3 hxg3 19.hxg3 g5! Shredding the last remnants of White's central fortifications. 20.fxg5 xg5 21.xg5 xg5+ 22.f4 xf4+ 23.gxf4 xd1 24.xd1 d7 Now it's clear that Black is much better. He has a good knight against bad bishop, his king comes to the centre and he's first to the open files on the kingside. 25.g1 a5 26.e2 a4 27.dd1 h2 28.df1 ah8 29.c1 8h4 30.f3 4h3+ 31.e2 e3+ 32.f1 f3 33.g2 h1+ 34.g1 h2 35.g2 g3+! The repetition of moves was just a sham. This wins the exchange. 36.xg3 xg3 [ 36...xg3 37.xg3 h1+ picks up the rook on c1. ] 0-1

715 Bosch Porta,David Pavlovic,Milos Andorra (2) [Gary Lane]

B06 2230 2505 1999

1.e4 c5 2.f3 g6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.d4 g7 6.e2 cxd4 7.cxd4 Just in case White is beginning to panic about having an isolated d-pawn, it is not a disaster. Indeed, it helps the other pieces to activate and White tends to have a space advantage. The main

problem is that if this initiative is not extended into the middlegame, then the fact that d4 is n o t p ro t e ct e d b y a n o t h e r p a wn m a k e s i t vulnerable to attack. f6 8.c3 d8 [ 8...a5 is the main alternative. For example: 9.0-0 0-0 10.e5 bd7 11.c4 d8 12.f3 b6 13.e5 fd5 14.e1 e6 15.e4 b8 16.c5 f5 17.d2 d6 18.c1 h5 19.a4 d7 20.c4 c6 21.a5 b6 22.xd7 xd7 23.xd5+J. F ri e s Ni e ls e n -S . S ie b re ch t , H a m b u r g 1995. ] 9.0-0 0-0 10.e3 [ 10.g5 e6 11.d2 c6 12.fd1 d5 13.h6 a5 and Black had the traditional play against the isolated queen's pawn in R. Neyer-A.Wojtkiewicz, Bern 1996. ] [ 10.b3 is worth considering for White. ] 10...e6 Black is keen to blockade the d5square so that in time he can undermine the dpawn. In the short-term it also stops Qb3. 11.e5 d5 12.d3 c6 13.c5?! [ 13.xd5 xd5 14.f4 ] 13...xe3 14.fxe3 xd4! 15.h1 [ 15.exd4 xd4+ 16.h1 xc5 leaves Black two pawns up for nothing. ] 15...xe2 16.xe6? Obviously shocked by the loss of a pawn W hite loses a piece in a tactical mix up. xd1 White resigned in view of 17 Raxd1 Nxc3 18 Nxf8 Nxd1 19 Rxd1 Kxf8 when a quick count of the pieces reveals that Black has an extra bishop. 0-1

716 Boskovic,Drasko Rakhmanov,Alexander 11th EICC Men (10) [Gawain Jones]

B06 2434 2584 16.03.2010

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 [ 4.e3 a6 5.f4 is an alternative move order to play the Austrian Attack. A recent game went b5 6.f3 b7 7.d3 b4 ( 7...d7 was played in Delchev-Nakamura investigated in the archives.) 8.e2 f6 9.g3 deviating from the 9.e5 of Yu S h a o t e n g -A n n a b e r d i e v. bd7 10.a3 ( 10.c3 is more usual) 10...a5 11.c3 bxc3 12.bxc3 728

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 12...h5 is asking for White to break through with either e5-e6 or f4-f5xg6. 13.f5 ( 13.e5 g4 14.e2 also looks promising.) 13...h4 14.fxg6! hxg3 15.b3 ( 15.gxf7+!? ) 15...fxg6 16.g5 b6 17.e6 wins back the piece and displaces Black's king.; B) 12...0-0 So we have the typical battle between W hite's big centre and Black's efforts to undermine it with a well timed c5. 13.b1 b6 14.c4 ( 14.0-0 is rather safer when I'd prefer to have White's extra space. ) 14...a6 15.c1 c5 16.dxc5 dxc5 17.h3 a4!? 18.c2 b8 19.e2 c3!? Black delights in putting the knight on squares on which it's poisoned. 20.f1 b7 21.d3 a4 ( Maybe he should go the whole hog with 21...a2!? ) 22.0-0 c6 23.e5 e8 24.b1 h5 25.e2 ( 25.xb8! xb8 26.f3! with ideas of e5 followed by e6 or f5 looks extremely strong f o r W h i t e .) 25...h7 26.xb8 xb8 27.b1 c7 28.d2 xe5 29.fxe5 c6 30.h6 continued to be messy in Palac, MChatalbashev, B Zagreb CRO 2010 which ended in a draw in a few more moves. ] 4...a6 5.a4 given as dubious by Tiger here and indeed he's never happy with this as W hite. This is due to the fact that often it simply loses a tempo as Black was intending to play b7-b6, or at least not play b5 immediately as then a2-a4 challenging the structure sometimes gives Black problems. White has also ceded control of b4 and thus the 5...Nc6 recommendation. [ 5.f3 b5 is probably the critical line of the whole Tiger's Modern and you should be ready for this if you want to play the early a6 Modern. ] 5...e6 Interesting, Black goes for an immediate Hippopotamus setup. I've written earlier in this update that I get worried playing Hippos when White has played f2-f4. This is because I find e6 to be a weak square in Black's position and thus f4-f5 always has to be feared. Nevertheless, if Black is accurate and takes appropriate measures, there shouldn't be anything particularly wrong with this. [ 5...c6! is Tiger's suggested refutation. His lines run

A) 6.f3 g4 7.e3 xf3 ( 7...d5! looks like a cute nuance to me (GJ) as then dxe4 could be a threat. ) 8.gxf3 d5!; B) 6.d5 b4! and Rybka agrees that there's no way to trap that knight so White is rather over-extended. 7.a5 e6! 8.dxe6 xe6 9.f3 f6 10.d3 g4; C) 6.e3 f6 7.f3 0-0 8.e2 b6! ( 8...d5 GJ is the computer's choice but it encourages W hite to start pushing his kingside and so I'm not convinced. 9.e5 g4 10.g1 h6 11.h3 f6 12.d2 wh e n I ca n se e a b ig kin gsid e a t t a c k arriving shortly.) 9.0-0 e6 10.h1 b7! and Black has a solid position with good chances to strike out. e4 is a weakness and White has to watch out for either c7c5 or even f 7-f5!? challenging his big centre. ] 6.e3 [ 6.a5!? is interesting to stop Black developing his bishop to b7 as now b6 would be a major structural concession. However in the game, Rakhmanov played differently anyway. ] 6...d7 7.e5 Overly committal in my opinion. I had this position on the White side a bit over a year ago. [ I played the logical 7.f3 e7 8.d3 putting further pressure on the important f5 square. 0-0 e xt r e m e l y r i s k y ! ( 8...b6 would be my choice on the Black side.) 9.g4!? I had lost the last game horribly to another ChessPublishing author and was l o o k i n g f o r b l o o d i n t h i s g a m e ! d5?! Th is is t he wro n g pla n h e re a s B la c k 's p o s it i o n so o n r e se m b l e s a n e xt re m e l y passive French. ( 9...c5! is the necessary break when I was intending to continue with 10.d2 cxd4 11.xd4 c5 wi t h a n u n c l e a r D r a g o n ( D r a g a d o r f ! ? ) position, but Black's chances certainly don't l o o k w o r s e .) 10.e5 c5 11.h4 cxd4 12.xd4 c6 13.h5 e8 ( 13...g5 14.h6 h8 15.xh7+! xh7 16.d3+ g8 17.xe6! was a fun line I remember calculating.) 14.hxg6 fxg6 15.f3 b4 16.g5 ( 16.d2 was simpler with a great position. In the game I allowed him c o u n t e r p l a y .) 16...d4! A good practical decision 17.xh7? Flawed ( 17.xd4 xe5 729

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.xe5 xe5 19.xh7 xd3+ 20.xd3 xd3 21.cxd3 g7 and I'm no longer going to mate him but at least I have an extra pawn. ) 17...f8! Oops. Now I'm losing a lot of material I decided to go 'all-in'! 18.xg6!? xg6 19.e2 dxc3?! ( 19...dxe3 20.d1 e7 and the cold hearted computer says I have no compensation for the couple pieces I s a c r i f i c e d .) 20.h2 f8? 21.e2 ( 21.xg7+! xg7 22.f2 was actually winning for White as Black has no defense to the rook swing.) 21...xg5 22.fxg5 xh7 23.g6 f8 24.c5 cxb2? ( 24...xg6 was necessary when the position is extremely unclear following 25.xb4 cxb2 26.h1 f8 ) 25.xf8!! Jones, G-Dragicevic, D Q u e e n s t o wn 2 0 0 9 a n d m y o p p o n e n t resigned as bxa1 26.xg7 and he has no way to prevent Qh7 mate, despite the extra p a i r o f r o o k s a n d k n i g h t ! A g a m e wi t h many mistakes but entertaining. ] 7...e7 8.e4 Provoking d5 [ 8...d5!? also looks possible if Black wants to keep his flexible structure ] 9.g5 f5 10.f2 c5! 11.c3 If we compare this position to my game in the notes, we see that Black has a much better version of a French here. He's already developed three pieces and the knight is looking strong on f5. Meanwhile W hite's re ally going to regre t having played a2-a4 as the e1-a5 diagonal is vulnerable. cxd4 12.cxd4 b6 Somewhat risky [ 12...a5+ 13.d2 xd2+ 14.xd2 b8 looks perfectly fine for Black but the GM was looking for more than this equality. ] 13.b3 f6 [ 13...f8 14.d3 will probably transpose after f6 ] 14.5f3 f8 Rerouting the bishop onto the vulnerable e1-a5 diagonal 15.d3 b4+ 16.f1 Looking more at this position I think White is better. He has more space and Black may regret having played g7-g6 and his knight is misplaced on b6. I think this is more important than White's uncastled king but he has to be careful and Black's position if of course playable. fxe5 17.fxe5 [ 17.dxe5 so that White can use the d4 square would be my preferred recapture ] [ whilst the most ambitious is 17.xf5! e4

( 17...exf5 18.dxe5; 17...gxf5 18.xe5 is an extremely strong knight) 18.h3 exf3 19.xf3 d7!? 20.h4 ( 20.xe6 f6 with very reasonable compensation for the pawn. ) 20...f6 is unclear but I like White's chances with his pressure on e6 which I think is more important than his own misplaced king which he can improve with g2-g3 and Kg2. ] 17...d7 [ 17...0-0 would deter 18.g4 as Black can now play h4 although this position is hardly clear either. ] 18.g4!? [ 18.xf5 followed by Bh4 must also favour White. ] 18...h6 19.h3 c6 20.h4 e7 21.xe7 xe7 22.d2 f7 23.g2 0-0-0 24.e2 W hite has successfully completed his development and Black's pieces are hemmed in by that pawn on d5. Thus the reasoning for Rakhmanov's next to try and f orce som e co u n t e rp la y. c4! The square isn't actually adequately controlled. 25.c1! [ T h e k n i g h t i s t o x i c 25.bxc4?! dxc4 26.xc4?! xe5! and Black's pieces would have suddenly come to life ] 25...b8 26.c2?! Overlooking Black's creative next. [ 26.f1 would keep White with the advantage as the knight would now have to retreat. ] 26...cxe5! Forcing White to take the cursed knight. 27.dxe5 [ 27.xe5 xe5 28.f4 ( 28.dxe5? d4+ d r o p s m a t e r i a l .) 28...c7 29.hf1 ( 29.xe5? is still not playable as after xe5 30.dxe5 d4+ 31.g3 xh1 32.xh1 d3 The tactics have resulted in giving Black a winning position.) 29...d7 and White's a pawn down. ] 27...d4 This is the point. At the cost of a piece, Black's pieces suddenly come to life. The bishop on c6 looks directly at the king with ... Bxf3 followed by ...Nxe5 as a threat. d4-d3 is also threatened regaining the kamikaze knight. It's too late to save White's position. 28.eg1 The only move to deal with both ...Bxf3+ and ... d3 [ 28.g3 xf3 29.xf3 d3 is pretty much game over. ] 730

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28...hf8 Simple chess putting yet more pressure on f3. W hite's in dire straights to escape. [ 28...xe5 29.f4 isn't clear ] 29.e1 [ 29.g3 xe5! now that f4 is covered 30.xe5 c7! 31.e1 d5! 32.gf3 xf3+! and Black has easily enough remaining pieces to mate White. ] 29...g5 30.d1 f4 simple chess again. Rakhmanov intends to simply double on the f file when W hite is powerless to defend f3. 31.h4 Boskovic desperately tries to release the pressure on f3 but the alternatives don't help. [ 31.c1 might be best with the idea to sacrifice the exchange but again simply e4 32.c2 df8 33.f2 h5! and White can't move and must await his fate. At least it won't take long... ] 31...xg4+ 32.h2 f8! 33.hxg5 f4+ 34.h3 h6 Black's play has been impressively methodical in carrying out this attack. The d8 rook isn't yet doing anything so he opens up the h file. White can do nothing about it despite his extra two pieces. 35.h4 xh4+ 36.xh4 f1+ A pretty game although objectively White was better had he n o t a l l o we d t h e s a c r i f i c e s . 5 . . . e 6 l o o k s reasonable though, I couldn't find any way to get an ad vantage a s W hite a nd seems a playable alternative to Tiger's 5...Nc6(!) I don't like 7.e5 so if we see more games in this line I predict they will follow my play with Nf3. 0-1

them "en prise") and yet they both lose! You are invited to find those moves, and answers appear after the game B17. 5.0-0 e6 6.g5?! The bishop puts itself too far too soon into the enemy camp, where it quickly becomes a target for Black's pawns to attack. e7 7.d2 h6 8.f4? [ 8.e3 avoids being hit by ...g5. ] 8...g5 9.e3 d5 10.exd5 [ 10.d3? loses material by force to dxe4 11.xe4 f5 12.d3 f4 ] 10...exd5 11.d3 bc6 12.c3 f5! This case of "f for forward" threatens to trap White's e3-bishop with 13...f4. 13.c2 0-0 14.e1 Hoping to play f4 next, but Black gets there first. f4 15.c1 g4 16.a4 e8 17.g3? f3 Virtually sealing the fate of White's king. 18.e3 h5 19.b4 White's queenside gestures are coming much too late, because h e i s s i m p l y l o s t o n t h e o t h e r wi n g . f5 20.d2 h3 21.b3 xd3 22.xd3 f5 White resigned, having no proper answer to the crushing threat of 23...Rh5. Solution to B17P1 4... Bg4? or 4... Nd7? both lose to 5 Bxf7+ Kxf7 6 Ng5+. If you want to be ultraprecise, then it's also true that the bizarre 4... Kd7?? drops a pawn to 5 Bxf7 too! 0-1

718 Campora,Daniel Hugo Rocha,Sergio Santo Antonio (3) [Nigel Davies]

B06

1999

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 f6 717 B06 5.c4 bd7 The critical move, denying White Bouroutzakis,Georgios the time he needs to reinforce the pawn on d5. Agdestein,Simen 6.g5 Aiming to keep the extra pawn at the Open, 2000 Kiel 2000 co s t o f t h e b i s h o p p a i r - b u t B l a c k g e t s [Paul Motwani] compensation. [ 6.b3 b6 7.f3 , as in Klovans Quick Tricks and Traps 1) B17: "W hite Gurevich, seems to give White a worry free steamrollered by a stampede of black pawns!" edge. On practical grounds that would be G.B ourout zak is-S.A gd est ein , K iel Op en , my personal preference. ] Germany 2000. Modern Defence, Code B06. 6...b6 1.d4 g6 2.f3 g7 3.e4 d6 4.c4 a6 [ One of the highest level games in this Reader's Challen ge B17P1 Instead of 4...a6, opening was Sadler - Turner, British Ch., there are two different developing moves Hove 1997 in which Black stayed a pawn which activate black pieces (without putting down after 6...0-0 7.b3 b6 8.f3 d7 731

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.f4 c6 10.d6 exd6 11.xd6 g4 12.xd8 axd8 13.h3 fe8+ 14.e3 e6 15.0-0-0 d5 16.xd5 bxd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.g5 f6 19.xf6 xf6 20.f3 etc. Black never really got going in this game so he should force White to concede the two bishops. ] 7.xf6 xf6 8.b3 0-0 I like Rocha's cool treatment in this game - he doesn't snatch at forcing lines but relies on the natural strength of his bishop pair to deliver compensation. [ 8...c6 9.dxc6 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.ge2 xc3+ 12.xc3 bxc6 13.0-0-0 left Black worse and miserable in Aseev K Schulz, Erfurt 1991 ] 9.ge2 a5 [ Black has not managed to develop sufficient counterplay with 9...g4 10.f3 f5 Palliser - Houska M, Witley 1999 going on ( 10...h4+ 11.g3 f5 12.0-0 xg3 13.hxg3 e8 14.g4 left Black with zero compensation in Keitlinghaus - Siebrecht, Dortmund 1998) 11.g3 d7 12.d2 c6 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.0-0-0 fd8 15.f4 a5 16.xf5 gxf5 17.a4 with very little compensation for Black. ] 10.a4 c6 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.0-0 c7 Once again a cool wa y t o p lay it. Be f ore c o m m it t i n g h is b ish o p o n c8 , B la ck f irs t applies more pressure to the d4 pawn. [ After 12...a6 13.e4 g7 14.c3 b8 15.c5 c8 16.e1 Black had very little for the pawn in Rasmussen - Bangsbro, Aarhus 1995 ] 13.d2 [ This time roun d 13.e4 g7 14.c3 is not such a convincing plan as W hite's Ne4-c5 will not be threatening a bishop on a6. Black gets good play with e5 15.dxe5 xe5 16.g3 h3 17.e1 ad8 ] 13...d8 14.e3 a6 Only now does the bishop come out. Black is no worse here and W hite so on give s b ack t he pa wn . 15.fe1 d5 16.f3 xc3 17.xc3 xd4 18.e4 g7 19.xf6 exf6 20.ad1 xd1 21.xd1 d8 22.f3 c5 23.d5 d7 24.c6 d2 25.c3 xc3 26.bxc3 d2 27.b5 c8 28.d3 c4 29.xc4 xc2 30.b5 xc3 Black has a nominal extra pawn but will be unable to create a kingside pawn majority. Still, he's got what chances that are going so he

might as well play on. 31.f3 e6 32.d1 c4 33.d8 xb5 34.axb5 b3 35.b8 b2 36.b6 f5 37.a8 xb6 38.xa5 b2 39.h3 f4 40.a7 f6 41.c7 h6 42.a7 d2 43.b7 g5 44.b6+ g7 45.h4 f6 46.h5 f5 47.g6+ f7 48.f1 d1+ 49.f2 h1 50.xh6 g4 51.fxg4 fxg4 52.g6 f3 53.gxf3 ½-½

719 Cheparinov,Ivan Sakaev,Konstantin 8th ch-Euro T/B (3.4) [John Watson]

B06 2646 2633 15.04.2007

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6!? Here we go again. 5.f3 Maybe Whit e should play this instead of f4, because it's unclear how Black can attack e4 and d4 with real effect. d7 [ 5...f6 is a pretty normal Pirc and may well be best. Presumably ] [ 5...b5 6.d2 b7 is an option I have to prefer White, however. ] 6.d2 b5 [ 6...e5 7.0-0-0 b5 8.dxe5 xe5 9.f4 g4 10.d4 doesn't help matters. ] 7.h4!? Probing. T his is possible because White's centre is relatively immune to attack. [ Options include 7.ge2 ] [ 7.h3 ] 7...h5 [ 7...gf6 8.0-0-0 b4 9.ce2 a5 10.f4 has the double idea h5 and e5. ] 8.h3 c5 9.g5! Tricky, and it's a good square in any case. b4 10.e2 a5? [ 10...h6 improves greatly, as we shall see, because it protects f7. ] 11.d1 [ 11.dxc5! is good here but Black doesn't catch it: ] 11...c7? 12.dxc5 xc5?? Sakaev was having an off day and still suffers from chess b l i n d n e s s . 13.d5 whoops! White forks a8 an d f 7 . Black cou ld resign , bu t prob ab ly doesn't want a 12-move loss on his record. h6 14.xa8 0-0 15.d5 a4 16.d4 16...e5 is met b7 17 Qb3. 1-0 732

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 720 Cubas,Jose Fernando Leitao,Rafael Festival Internacional de Xadrez (8) [John Watson]

B06 2448 2601 10.12.07

Here we have a standard Tiger's Modern versus W hite's popular Be3/f3/Qd2 plan. White plays one of the most critical lines, but Black should have had a satisfactory game out of the opening. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e3 a6 5.f3 b5 6.d2 d7 7.h4 h5 [ In my notes to Cheparinov-Sakaev, D r e s d e n 2 0 0 7 , I g a v e t h e l i n e 7...gf6 8.0-0-0 b4 9.ce2 a5 10.f4 with the double idea h5 and e5. ] 8.h3 b7 [ 8...c5 9.g5! b4 10.e2 is the Ch eparinov-Sakaev ga me. Black sh o u ld t ry h6 ( 10...a5 11.d1 c7? 12.dxc5 xc5? 13.d5 w a s p l a y e d) 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.0-0-0 with the idea Nf4 and Bc4. ] 9.g5!? This is the usual idea behind White's insertion of h5/...h5. c5 [ 9...c8 10.0-0-0 c5 transposes to a game Miladinovic-Hickl in 'Tiger's Modern': A) Tiger analyses 11.e5 cxd4 12.e6 fxe6 13.xd4 ( but 13.d3! f8 14.xd4 e5 15.e3 ) 13...e5 14.e3 f8=; B) 11.e2?! c7 12.b1 gf6 13.d5 e5 14.f4 b6 with roughly equal play. ] 10.dxc5 dxc5?! [ 10...xc5! is perfectly okay. A sample line is 11.d1 ( 11.0-0-0 c8 12.b1 ) 11...h6 ( 11...b4 12.d5! ) 12.xb5 axb5 13.xc5 0-0 14.d4 xd4 15.xd4 xa2 ] 11.0-0-0 h6 [ Black is tied up, and 11...gf6 12.e5! xe5 13.xd8+ xd8 14.xd8+ xd8 15.f4 ( 15.xc5 fd7 ) 15...eg4 16.xf7+ e8 17.xh8 xe3 18.xg6 should favour White, who for the time being is an exchange and pawn ahead. ] 12.b1 [ 12.f4!? g4 13.e5 xe3 14.xe3 e6 15.ge4 is a good alternative. ] 12...c6 13.d5 e6 14.f4 [ 14.xe6 fxe6 15.g5 f6 16.xf6+

xf6 17.xh6 is clearly in White's favour, with the idea xh4 ( 17...xh6? 18.c1 ) 18.xh4 xh6 19.c1 xh4 20.xh6 ] 14...f6 15.c1 0-0-0 16.e2 b6 17.xd8+ xd8 [ 17...xd8 ] 18.d1 e7 19.gxe6! fxe6 20.xg6 e8 21.xh8 Black too many weaknesses. a4 A nice counterattack which also protects c5, although it shouldn't work. 22.g5? [ 22.c3! wins: xh8 23.d6! b7 24.xe6 xc3?! 25.xh6 e5 26.f4 ] 22...xb2 23.f4? [ 23.xb2 xb2 24.d8+ xd8 25.xd8 xd8 ( 25...a4 26.a5 ) 26.xb2 and White's extra pawn should eventually tell. ] 23...xh8 Threatening ... Nc3+. Now Black has a very big advantage. 24.d3 c4 [ 24...f7!? 25.f6 g8! is strong. ] 25.a3 f7 26.f6 f8?! [ 26...xf6 27.xf6 c5 ] 27.xa4! bxa4 28.xh8 b4+ 29.c1 xh8 30.f6 e1+ 31.d1? [ 31.b2 c3+!? 32.xc3 xc3+ 33.xc3 is unclear. ] 31...e3+ 32.b1 b6+ [ 32...d2! , trapping White's bishop, works because W hite runs out of checks: 33.xh8+ c7 34.e5+ d7 35.g7+ d6 36.f8+ c7 37.e7+ d7 38.c5+ b7 ] 33.c1 e3+ 34.b1 c3? Black has the idea of ...Qb6+, mating, and ...Qd2, but now White has enough time: [ 34...d2 ] 35.xh8+ c7 36.g7+?? [ 36.e5+! draws. ] 36...d7 37.e5+ b7?? [ Black wins after 37...c6 38.b8 d4 ] 38.d6 c6 39.e7+ [ 39.g3 ] 39...b6 40.d8+ a7 41.c7+ b7 42.d6 a5 43.a3 e5 44.c7 d2 45.xa5+ b8 46.xe5+ c8 47.c5+ b8 48.e5+ a7 49.a2 xd1 50.xc3 e2 51.b2 xg2 52.a5+ b8 53.d8+ a7 54.a5+ b8 55.d8+ a7 56.a5+ ½-½

733

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 721 Daamen,Ferry Welling,Gerard club Eindhoven [Nigel Davies]

B06 722

1988

Of course White doesn't have to play 3.e5 and with 3.Nc3 he can hope to transpose into a Pirc Defence should Black play 3...d6. Not that there's much chance of W elling doing anything normal in the opening, with Black ge t t i n g h i s k n i gh t t o t h a t k e y h 5 s q u a r e anyway. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 This looks a bit wimpy, but even Khalifman has paid Black's opening this compliment. d5 [ Khalifman - Svidler, Moscow 1995 transposed into a Pirc after 3...g7 4.f4 d6 . W e llin g, a s u su al, give s t he gam e a n independent turn.... ] 4.e5 h5 5.e2 g7 6.h6 c5 7.f3 [ After 7.dxc5 there is d4 with similar play to the game. ] 7...c6 8.dxc5 d4 9.b5 e6 10.xf8 xf8 11.c3 dxc3 12.xd8+ exd8 13.xc3 g4 14.0-0-0 e6 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 xc5 17.xc6 bxc6 18.d4 g7 19.hd1 hc8 20.c4 e6 At this point White is slightly better, but he gets completely outplayed in the endgame. 21.d7 f8 22.a4 d8 23.c5 xd7 24.xd7+ e8 25.c5 xc5 26.xc5 d7 27.c2 c7 28.b4 b6 29.b3 d8 The tables have been turned, and suddenly it is Black who is threatening to penetrate with his rook. 30.f4 d1 31.c2 h5 32.h4 h1 33.g3 g1 34.c3 g2 35.a3 a5 36.a4 g1 37.c4 axb4 38.xb4 c5+ 39.c4 a1 40.d5? White may have been in time trouble as he manages to get his king into a net and has to give up his rook to avoid mate. [ 40.b3 b1+ 41.a3 probably holds. ] 40...xa4 41.xc5 [ After 41.d3 there is e6+ 42.d6 d4+ ] [ and 41.e6 is answered by d4+ 42.e5 f6# ] 41...e6+ 42.d6 d4+ 43.e7 xc5 44.xf7 d5 45.xg6 d3 0-1

Danielsen,Henrik Salmensuu,Olli Zt Munkebo (Denmark) (1) [Nigel Davies]

B06

1998

If Black adopts a Modern Defence move order he can meet 2.f4 with 2...d5. This is one of the joys of leaving your d-pawn at home. 1.f4 g6 2.e4 d5 3.e5 [ After 3.exd5 Black can offer a pawn sacrifice with f6 4.b5+ ( 4.c3 xd5 is f i n e f o r B l a c k) 4...d7 ( 4...bd7 may also be possible) 5.c4 g4 6.f3 xd5 7.c3 c6 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 e6 10.e4 d7 and Black had a solid game in I Zaitsev - Komliakov, Orel 1994 ] 3...c5 [ Black can also opt for a Gurgenidze type set -u p wit h 3...h5 , Hebden - Lobron, New York 1983 continuing 4.d4 h6 5.c3 c6 6.a3 b6 7.c2 g4 8.d2 e6 9.a4 a5 10.e3 f5 11.f2 e7 with a supersolid position for Black. ] 4.c3 Probably not the best, White should leave open the option of advancing his cpawn. [ The usual move is 4.f3 c6 5.d4 ( Black is doing well after both 5.b5 b6 6.xc6+ xc6; and 5.c3 g4 6.e2 h6 7.d3 f5 Dimitrijevic - Root A, US Open Ch., 1994 ) 5...cxd4 6.xd4 e6 7.b5 d7 8.0-0 c5 9.c3 ge7 10.e3 b6 11.a3 a6 12.xc6 xc6 13.b4 xd4 14.xd4 xd4 15.xd4 xd4+ 16.cxd4 a4 17.ac1 d7 left Black with the better endgame in Myrstad - Ivanov M, Trondheim 1997 ] 4...h6 5.f3 f5 6.b5+ d7 7.e2 e6 8.0-0 xb5 9.xb5+ d7 10.xd7+ xd7 Black is doing well, but even good positions aren't immune to blunders. 11.b3 c6 12.b2 c8?? 13.xd5! And that's that, White wins a pawn. He can't take the knight because of e5-e6+. Black could have saved himself much of the rest. g7 14.c3 fd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.e4 c7 17.c4 c6 18.xd4 cxd4 19.f3 d8 20.d3 f8 21.a4 b4 22.g4 h6 23.g2 b6 24.a5+ c6 25.a4 f8 26.f3 cd7 27.f6 c7 28.e4 cc8 29.b4 g5 30.f5 g7 31.h5 734

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f8 32.f6 b5 33.axb6 axb6 34.xd4 xd4+ 35.xd4 b7 36.d3 b5 37.a5 bxc4 38.dxc4 d8+ 39.c3 d1 40.c5 e1 41.g3 c1+ 42.d4 d1+ 43.c4 e1 44.d3 d1+ 45.c4 e1 46.b3 b1+ 47.a4 e1 48.h5 c6 49.a6+ d5 50.b3 e3+ 51.c2 e2+ 52.d3 xh2 53.a8 h3+ 54.e2 xc5 55.bxc5 c3 56.a7 xc5 57.xf7 xe5 58.d7 c2+ 59.d2 c3 60.b2 c7 61.f2 e4 62.g2 f7 63.f2 d5 64.f1 e5 65.e2 e6 66.g7+ d6 67.e3 f8 68.e4 h5 69.gxh5 g4 70.d2+ c6 71.xe5 1-0

723 Dauth,Benjamin Paulsen,Dirk ch-city Berlin GER (3) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2281 2376 11.04.2004

1.e4 g6 2.d4 c6 I've always found it a little odd that Black can seemingly freak out with impunity in the Modern Defence but when White tries to do the same he generally gets the worst of things. Got to do with pawns I t h in k . T h e B la ck p a wn f o rm a t io n is ve r y flexible meanwhile with e4 and d4 White has already committed himself! The current game sees White heading off the beaten track into jungle territory. I don't think that what Dauth does can be BAD, but he certainly ends up with a poor position from the opening. 3.c3 g7 4.d3 d6 5.e2 Slightly unusual. One would expect W hite to be thinking of f2-f4 now. f6 6.f3?! My punctuation. White's formation leads to neither attack nor defence so I don't understand what he wants from the opening? A weird position? OK, but then you have to be going somewhere. bd7 7.e3 e5 Straightforward. The lack of forcing play gives Black plenty of choice. 8.d2N [ 8.d2 d5! 9.h3 0-0 10.0-0 e8 11.g3 c7 12.e1 b6 13.f2 b7 14.ac1 ac8 Liljedahl, L-Szabo, L/Gothenburg 1971 Pretty patterns. Level. ] [ 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 Changing his mind? g4 10.f2 xf2 11.xf2 f6 12.h3 e8 13.d2 d7 14.c4 b6 15.f1 xc4 16.xc4 exd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.cxd4

xe4 19.d3 f5 20.d2 e7 21.d1 e8 22.df1 c5-+ Ineke, J-Geragousian, B/ Nijmegen 2002 ] 8...0-0 9.g4 O r i g i n a l c e r t a i n l y . d5! This would be a classic response to White's flank action. Black prepares immediate central counterplay. 10.exd5 xd5 11.g5 b6 12.a3 exd4 13.cxd4 c5 14.c4 Already White is toiling just to keep his head above water. Black has blown open the centre at the right moment and the move g2-g4 looks way out of place. b4! 15.c1 He couldn't bring himself to castle queenside yet this may be the right move. [ 15.0-0-0 cxd4 16.e7 xa2+ ( 16...d3!? 17.xf8 xa2+ 18.xa2 dxe2 19.xe2 xf8 20.b1 d7 ) 17.xa2 e8 18.g5 ] 15...cxd4 [ Black is much better after 15...c6! ] 16.e7 e5 [ 16...c6 17.xf8 xf8 18.d1 de5 gives a dangerous attack. But Paulsen does not want to fall back, even for an instant. ] 17.xb4 e8 18.d1 [ 18.xb6 axb6 19.d6 xc4 20.xc4 d3 21.xb6 xg4!! 22.fxg4 xa2 23.c8 xc8 24.xc8 a1+ 25.d2 xh1 ] 18...xf3+ [ The computer indicates 18...xc4 19.xc4 e6 and White is in deep trouble. ] 19.f2 e5 20.h3 d3+ 21.xb6 axb6 22.xd3 xe7 A storm has swept the board leaving White in very poor shape. The Bishop on g7 is unopposed and the white queenside looks shaky. 23.c4 e6! Ensuring that the queenside will fall apart. 24.xb6 xa2 25.b5 xb2-+ Mopping-up time. 26.d8+ f8 27.d5 g7 28.a4 d3+ 29.g3 xd5 30.xd5 e3+ 31.h4 e7+ 32.g5 bxe2 33.b5 g2 34.xd3 xd3 White needs to go in with a plan against the Pirc/Modern, whether it be the positional squeeze or outright attack. What happened here was very half-hearted just shunting out the pieces with no real aims. A good game by Paulsen who took energetic action at exactly the right moment. 0-1

735

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 better after 23.xd6 xh3+ 24.gxh3 xf3 B06 25.xe5+ f6 due to his more compact Deepan,C 2518 pawns. ) 23...h5 with unclear play. ] Akshayraj,Kore 2394 ch-National A (4) 04.12.2009 22...xd8 23.c3 g6 24.e3 g4 25.hxg4 xg4 26.h2 h5 27.xa7 d2 28.d3 [Neil McDonald] [ Awkward f or W h it e is 28.xg4 hxg4 29.e2 f4! ] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 c6 5.a4 White stops the expansion 5...b5 at the 28...f4 29.e3 g5! 30.h1 [ Of course if 30.xd2 h3+ while after ] v e r y f i r s t o p p o r t u n i t y . f6 6.g5 [ 30.g3 xd3 31.cxd3 f4! White is An aggressive and natural move, but perhaps bullied into an endgame that is bad for him, it commits the bishop too soon: now Black despite his extra pawn, due to the power of knows that the bishop won't be going directly the black rook on the seventh rank that can to e3 in response to any pressure he exerts on gobble up a couple of pawns. ] d4. 'Waiting' with 30...g6 31.g3? Better to submit to a slight [ 6.e2 or ] inferiority after [ 6.h3 are the preferred moves. ] [ 31.f1 xc2 ] 6...a5! The black queen is in no danger of 32.f4 Losing at once, but being bothered by Bd2 and so takes up an 31...xd3 energetic post where she supports the threat understandably he doesn't want to play the of 7...Nxe4. 7.d3 bd7 8.0-0 0-0 9.d2 horrid endgame after [ 32.xg5+ xg5 33.cxd3 xf2 ] e5 10.fe1 e8 11.f1 f8! The knight heads for e6 where it increases the pressure 32...f2+ 33.g1 d8 34.fxe5 h3+ on d4 and also intends to exchange on g5 35.h1 d4 which would be positionally unwelcome for 0-1 White. 12.h3 e6 13.xf6 xf6 14.d5 W hite had relied on this trick to give him a B06 good game, but he is in for a surprise. d8 725 15.xf6+ xf6 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.d6 Delchev,Aleksander 2648 It appears t the 6.Bg5 plan will triumph after Nakamura,Hikaru 2701 all as the e5 pawn looks indefensible. g7! TOP 16 GpA Mulhouse FRA (7) 03.05.2009 The trapper trapped: Black keeps his pawn on [John Watson] e5. 18.a5 [ If 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5 d4 20.ad1 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.e3 g7 4.c3 a6 xc2 21.e2 xe5 22.xc2 e6 5.f4 and White has loose pawns with both 23... [ Marcelin-Nakamura, Mulhouse FRA 2009 Rxe4 and 23...Bb3 threatened. ] didn't go as well for Black, but he could have [ Or 18.xe5 d8 19.g4! xf2+! ( Not had some opening advantage: 5.f3 19...xd6? 20.xf6 xf6? 21.e5+ ) A) this month's game Emms-S Williams, 20.xf2 xd6 with a small advantage to Southend 2009 showed Black in a Black due to the isolated pawn on e4. ] He d ge h og mo d e : 5...d7 6.d2 e6 18...f4 19.a3 g5! Given time White will 7.d3 h6 8.0-0 b6 9.e2 b7 10.g3 assume control of the d-file and begin to make e7 11.h3 f5?! (good grief!) 12.c4 ( or his queenside pressure count. Therefore 12.fe1 ) 12...f6 13.d5 fxe4 14.xe4 Akshayraj creates a diversion on the kingsideexd5 15.xf6+ xf6 16.cxd5 d7 he wants to get maximum value f rom his 17.e4 0-0-0 18.xh6 ( 18.a4! ) excellently placed queen and knight. 20.ad1 18...xb2 19.ab1 a3 20.e3 f5 e6 21.d6 ad8 22.xd8 White gives up 21.d4 ( 21.g5! ) 21...xd4 22.xd4 control of the d-f ile. He wins a pawn, but c5 23.d3 b8 24.xc5?! dxc5 Black has huge counterplay once his rook and things are going poorly for White; invades on d2. A safer approach was B) 5...b5 6.d3 b7 7.h3 d7 8.e2?! [ 22.ed1 xd6 23.xd6 ( Black is slightly B1) 8...gf6! definitely more accurate, 724

736

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and in fact White has to grovel a bit to defend his e-pawn: B1a) or 9.d2 e5 ( or 9...c5!? 10.c3 0-0 11.0-0 c7 ) 10.c3 ( 10.d5 0-0 11.0-0 c6! ) 10...exd4 11.cxd4 0-0 12.0-0 c5 ( or 12...e7 13.f3 c5 ) 13.a4 cxd4 14.xd4 c5 15.c2 b4 with excellent play; B1b) 9.g3 h5 10.g5 c5 11.c3 cxd4 12.cxd4 a5+ 13.d2 xd2+ 14.xd2 f8! 15.a4! ( 15.d5? 6h7 attacks b2 and threatens ... Nxg5 and ...Bh6, winning a pieces; 15.hc1 e6 ) 15...bxa4 16.xa4 e6 17.xf6 xf6 18.b4 a7 19.e2 g5! 20.d5 c5 21.fd4 e6!; B2) 8...c5 9.c3 gf6 10.g3 h5 11.d5! (since Black can't play ...c6) c4 12.c2 c5 13.g5 h4 14.e2 h5?! 15.b1 ( 15.f3 ) 15...fd7 16.f4 e5 17.f3 ( 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.0-0 ) 17...a5 18.0-0 B2a) 18...b4 19.fxe5 , for example, xe5 ( 19...xe5 20.xc5 dxc5 21.f4 h8 22.a4+ ) 20.xe5 xe5 21.d4 ( or 21.d4 e7 22.f4 g5 23.f5 ) 21...bxc3 22.bxc3 b8 23.f3 h5 24.c1; B2b) 18...b4 1/2-1/2. White stands distinctly better after ] 5...b5 6.d3 b7 7.f3 d7 8.e5!? [ 8.e2 was analysed in an earlier update, or to be sure, I quoted Tiger Hillarp Persson's analysis from his book. He prefers b4!? ( One of his games went 8...c5 9.dxc5 xc5 10.xc5! xc3+! 11.bxc3 dxc5 12.e5 with some advantage for W hite) 9.d1 gf6! 10.f2 ( 10.d2 c5 11.e5 d5 12.e6!? fxe6 13.g5 xd4!? 14.xh7 f8 15.xf8 xf8 16.xg6 c8 , and Tiger says that he's satisfied as Black. At any rate it's exciting!) 10...c5 11.c3 bxc3 12.bxc3 0-0 13.0-0 e8 (versus e5-e6) 14.ab1 c8 as I said then, I prefer White in this position. ] 8...c5 [ Tiger mentions both 8...h6 and ] [ 8...e6 as alternatives. ] 9.e4 [ 9.g5 cxd4 10.e6 f5! 11.xf5 df6! San Segundo-Hillarp Persson, Elista 1998. ]

9...c8 [ 9...xe4 10.xe4 h6 is also analysed at length in Tiger's book he thinks it's satisfactory for Black. ] 10.xb7 xb7 11.dxc5 dxe5 12.d5 xd5 13.xd5 c8 14.b6 [ Black equa lise s af te r 14.fxe5 xc5! 15.b6 c6 16.d1 h6 ] 14...xb6 15.cxb6 f6 16.0-0-0 Tiger queries this, preferring [ 16.fxe5! . 'when Black has to walk a fine line: d5 17.d4 0-0 18.a4 ( 18.0-0-0! ) 18...xc2 19.axb5 axb5 20.0-0 b8 ] 16...g4 17.b7 [ 17.he1 is probably worse. MortensenHillarp Persson, Danish TCh 2003 went xe3 18.xe3 h6 A) 19.b7! b8 20.c3 xf4+ 21.b1 0-0 ( 21...f5! 22.c8+ f7 ) 22.g3! e4! this is unclear; B) 19.a3 xf4+ 20.b1 e4 21.d4 d8 22.c3 , a n d h e l i k e s xh2 but the computer thinks that Black stands better after ( 22...e3! )] 17...b8 18.b6 f6?! The first deviation from Tiger's analysis! That goes [ 18...0-0 19.fxe5 ( 19.d7!? ) 19...xb7 20.d4 f6 , a lth ough ( 20...c8 with the idea...Nh6-f5, or 21.h3 h6+ 22.b1 e3 , looks fine )] 19.d8+ f7 20.d7 h6 21.g3 exf4 22.b1 e5 23.xe5+ fxe5 24.a7? Finally White slips up. [ 24.c5! A) 24...g5 25.gxf4 exf4 ( 25...xf4 26.xe7+ f6 27.c7 h5 28.a7 ) 26.e1 e8 27.exe7+ xe7 28.xe7+ d8 29.g7; B) 24...he8 25.f1 e6 26.c7 is awkward White would like to play gxf4 and Rf3-a3. ] 24...e6! 25.hd1? [ 25.c7 d6 26.xb8 xb8 27.c8 xb7 will probably draw. ] 25...f3 26.c7 e4 27.dd7?? White's last few moves are almost certainly a result of time pressure. he8 28.a3 g5 29.h4 e3 30.xb8 f2 31.a7 f1+ 32.a2 e2 0-1

737

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B06 727 Dominguez Perez,Leinier 2712 Duarte,Leonardo Kamsky,Gata 2732 Flores,Diego Sportaccord WMG Blindfold rapid (2) 14.12.11 80th ch-ARG Los Polvorines ARG (8) [Milos Pavlovic] [Andrew Martin]

726

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 The Modern Defence. 5.d2 d7 6.0-0-0 Dominguez is going for sharp play which is quite usual for him. e6 [ 6...b5 7.h4! h5 8.h3 b7 9.g5 e6 Is like the main game but instead of having a bishop on b7 Kamsky has a knight on e7 10.f4!? h6 ( 10...b4 11.e2 gf6 12.f5 gxf5 13.exf5 e5 14.xb4; 10...e7 11.f5 gxf5 12.exf5 gf6 13.fxe6 fxe6 14.d3 0-0-0 15.he1 Reinderman, D-Kabanof, N Dieren 2009) 11.d3 c5 12.dxc5 a5 13.xb5! axb5 14.xd6 b4 15.xe6 fxe6 16.xe6+ f8 17.xd7 h7 18.f5 a6 19.d6 bxc3 20.f6 xa2 21.d8+ xd8 22.fxg7+ xg7 23.f1+ f7 24.xh6+ g8 25.xa2 d5 26.xd5 xd5 27.xf7 xc5 28.g7+ h8 29.xg6 h7 30.e6 1-0 Wirig, A -Moussard, J Caen FRA 2011 ] 7.h4! h5 8.h3 This is a key idea b5 9.g5 e7 Kamsky is aware of the f4-f5 possibility and plays elastically. 10.b1 b7 11.f3 b6 12.b3 At this point its is not obvious what White intends to do d7 13.g3! b4 14.e2 a5 15.h3! A very strong idea, now d5 is hard to meet. b5 16.xe6 fxe6 17.xe6 d7 [ 17...f7 18.xc7 d7 19.xa8 xa8 20.d5 c7 21.d4 ] 18.xg7 h7 19.d5 xg7 20.d4 a6 21.g2 f7 22.h3+ e8 23.e6 g8 24.g4 a4 25.h2 White has a strong attack c o m b i n e d w i t h p o s i t i o n a l p l u s s e s . f6 26.gxh5 gxh5 27.xc7+ xc7 28.e6+ e7 29.xf6 axb3 [ 29...xd5! 30.g6+ d7 31.f5+ c7 is less clear. ] 30.cxb3 xd5 31.g6+ [ 31.exd5? xe3 ] 31...d7 32.f5+ c7 33.xd5 xd5 34.xd5 f1+ 35.b2 g2+?? [ 35...a6 offers to repeat. ] 36.xg2 An impressive game by Dominguez 1-0

B06 2317 2513 15.9.05

Coming up a game where Black employs an unusual move-order in the opening to what should have been good effect. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 d7!? We soon transpose to a Modern-like position but there are many cases when Black would want to respond with a Philidor. 3.f4 g6 4.f3 g7 5.c3 c6 6.d3 b6! [ 6...e5 could certainly be termed ' thematic', although White retains the better game after A) 7.fxe5 dxe5 8.d5 h6!? 9.e3 ( I think I prefer 9.dxc6 bxc6 10.e3 when Black has structural defects which cannot be repaired. Doubtless the position is unclear, for instance after e7 11.0-0 gf6 ) 9...gf6 10.dxc6 bxc6 11.d2 g4 12.g1 0-0 13.h3 gf6 14.e3 h7 15.g4 e8 16.h4 c7 17.e2 e6 18.g3 dc5 19.c4 d4 20.g5+ hxg5 21.hxg5+ g8 22.xd4 xd4 23.h2 d8 24.xf7+ xf7 25.e2 d2+ 0-1 Poliviou, E-Koukoufikis, A/Korinthos 2004; B) 7.dxe5! dxe5 8.e2 e7 9.f5 with the initiative c5 10.c4 gxf5 11.g5 e6 12.xf7 Lalic has assessed T u r n e r we l l a b r il l i a n t p l a ye r wh o o n o cca sio n ca n b e a lm o s t u n f o r giva b l y careless. xf7 13.exf5 xf5 14.0-0 e8 ( 14...g6 15.xf5 xf5 16.f3+ g6 17.d3+ ) 15.xf5+ g8 16.e3 h8 17.h5 e4 18.f1 e7 19.xe4 d7 20.xh7+ xh7 21.h5+ g8 22.g5 xg5 23.xg5 f8 24.d1+- 1-0 Lalic, BTurner, M/Kilkenny 1998 ] 7.c4 [ 7.e2 has been played and found wanting: gf6! ( 7...c5 is also fine: 8.c3 e6 9.0-0 e7 10.e1 d5 11.e5 c4 12.c2 d8 13.h4 f8 14.g4 h5 15.g3 hxg4 16.xg4 f5 17.f2 e7 18.d2 d7 19.h1 h7 20.h4 0-0-0 21.h5 dg8 Seiler, A-Jopek, E/Germany 1996) 8.c3 0-0 9.c2 e5 10.0-0 exd4 11.cxd4 c5 12.h1 cxd4 13.exd4 c5 14.f5 xd3 15.xd3 e8 16.fxg6 hxg6 17.e1 g4 18.e2 738

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e5 19.xe5 dxe5 20.c2 g4 21.e1 ad8 22.e3 xe3 23.xe3 1/2-1/2 Hessler, M-Fischer, M/Germany 2003 Results like this can never satisf y White. ] 7...e6 8.d5 So that the position does not become blocked. [ Instead White may encourage Black to play...d6-d5 in two ways: 8.0-0 d5 9.e2 e7 10.e5 ] [ 8.e5 d5 9.d3 e7 I have to say that in either case, with . ...c6-c5 not too far away, the Black position seems perfectly playable. ] 8...exd5 9.exd5 e7! Development above all else and note the weakness of the central dark squares. 10.e2 So White tries to cover his weaknesses. The natural response is to take on c6 but there I think the Black position can spring to life: [ 10.dxc6 xc3+ ( 10...xc6 11.b5 d5 12.e2 0-0 13.c3 e8 14.0-0 f5 ) 11.bxc3 xc6 12.d4 0-0 13.d3 c5 14.c4 f5 15.xf5 xf5 16.b2 ae8+ 17.f1 f6 ] 10...f6 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.b3 e6?! [ The main reason I included this game was to show you 12...a6! here, with s lightly the better prospects for Black. The move as played I do not understand fully. ] 13.e3 [ Why not 13.xe6 fxe6 14.xe6 d5 15.d2 ( 15.e5 f8 16.d2 ) 15...xb2 16.b1 xc2 17.g5 It is the Black King who is in trouble. Very odd. ] 13...b7 14.d2 Has he a blind spot? [ Again 14.xe6 fxe6 15.xe6 is good. ] 14...0-0 15.0-0-0 c5 [ And here 15...xb3 16.axb3 a6 17.b1 ed5 ] 16.he1 f5 17.g1 c4 18.a4 I wondered about a misprint until I saw 18 Ba4. d5 19.g4 ab8 Black's opening is worth looking at but the play after 12...Be6 can only be described as perplexing. 0-1

728 Enders,Peter Gallagher,Joseph G Bundesliga [Andrew Martin]

B06 2520 2525 2003

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 g7 4.f3 e6!? The Hippopotamus rises once again from the swamp. The 'three row' system is particularly effective against White variations where the Bishops are committed early. 5.b3 [ 5.0-0 a6 6.a4 e7 7.f4 b6 8.bd2 b7 9.c3 h6 10.e1 d7 11.e2 Black's position is as pretty as can be and now he feels he wants to go somewhere! g5 12.e3 g6 13.d5 e5 14.f1 f4 15.c2 f6 16.b4 0-0 17.g3 c8 18.f1 g4 19.d2 h5 20.c4 h4 21.e2 6h5 22.a3 a5 23.bxa5 xa5 24.b3 a8 25.a5 f6 26.ea1 bxa5 27.c5 h6 28.xf4 xf4 29.xf4 exf4 30.xa5 xa5 31.xa5 f3 32.g3 hxg3 33.hxg3 e5 34.cxd6 xg3 35.d3 g7 36.fxg3 xg3+ 37.f1 h8 38.c3+ f6 39.xc7+ g6 40.e5+ f5 41.xf5+ xf5 0-1 Lund,FCherniaev, A/ Gibraltar Masters, Catalan Bay ENG 2003 (41) This type of game is still a revelation to me. It's not just shunting out the pieces that counts in an opening of this type-it's where you put them! ] 5...b6 [ 5...e7 6.h4! ( 6.0-0 d7 7.e1 b6 8.f4 b7 9.d2 h6 10.c3 a6 11.a4 g5 12.g3 g6 13.h3 0-0 14.ad1 h8 15.d3 e5 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.e3 d7 19.d5 ae8 20.f4 gxf4 21.xf4 h7 22.xh6 xh6 23.f6+ g7 24.xe8+ xe8 25.c3 e7 26.d5 xd5 27.exd5 f5 1-0 Daurelle,HGuilbert,H/Clichy 2002 (45)) 6...h6 7.c3 d7 8.e3 a6 9.e2 f6 10.g3 b6 11.c3 b7 12.d2 h5?! Once moves like this appear on the board, I start to like White, who has demonstrated focus and patience in getting to this position. I prefer ( 12...d7! ) 13.f3 h6 14.xh6 xh6 15.e2 h7 16.0-0-0 1-0 Enders,PHaskamp,S/ Bundesliga 2002 (49) ] 6.c3 b7 7.g5 e7 8.e2 h6 9.e3 d7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.h4 Enders throws down the gauntlet. Black will be overrun by a 739

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 sacrifice on g5 if he doesn't take action in the m a y b e g o o d o n e l i n e w o u l d b e c7 centre. d5 12.exd5 xd5 13.xd5 exd5 14.xb8 xb8 15.e3 f6 16.b6 d7 14.e5!? This liquidation is a little surprising 17.c5 ) 13...xb8 14.d5 e6 15.e3 but perhaps after a long think he saw little h a s b e e n t e s t e d : gf6 16.c6 0-0 future in more direct continuations: , but here he continues [ 14.h5 g5 15.c3 e8 16.c2 c5 17.d3 A) wh e n in s t e a d , 17.c4! looks more c8 18.h7+ f8 No mate yet. ] p o i n t e d , a l t h o u g h a l a t e r g a m e we n t [ 14.d2 a5 15.c3 a4 16.c2 h5 ] astray: e4 18.d6?! ( 18.a3! ) 18...d8 14...xe5 15.dxe5 xe5 16.xh6 e8 19.e3? ( 19.d1 retains the advantage) 17.f3 c6 18.g5 f6 19.f4 d6! 20.g3 19...xd6 20.xd6 b8 21.xc8 xc6 g7 21.c3 a6!= There is no reason now to 22.a7 xa7 23.xa7 d5 suppose that Black is worse. 22.d2 e6 with initiative, W esterinen, H (2386) 23.xe5 xe5 24.c2 e2 25.g2 h5 Nithander, V (2301), Gothenburg 2006.; 26.g1 f3 The Hippo is enjoying great B) 17.xd7 xd7 18.fxe5 xe5 success these days and may well represent 19.g4?! ( 19.a3!? ) 19...xg4 20.xg4 the future of the Modern Defence. A refutation b5 with at least equality, Svensson, B is nowhere in sight and the results just keep (2388) -Nithander, V (2301), on coming in for Black. Gothenburg2006. ] ½-½ 13.xb8 xb8 14.fxe5 xe5 [ One game went 14...xe4 15.xe4 xe5 16.e1 with advantage. ] 729 B06 15.f4 0-0 [ 15...h5?? 16.c6+ , but now ...Nh5 is Fedorovsky,Michael 2425 threatened. ] Pel,Bonno 2304 16.f3 b4 19th Czech Chladek & Tintera A Open (7) [ 16...e6? 17.e2 fd7 18.ad1 b6 [John Watson] 19.e4 xf3 20.xf3 e5 21.g5 f5? 22.d6 Karajakin-Hillarp-Persson, Benidorm 1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 a6 5.f3 2003. ] b5 6.d3 d7 This is Tiger's 17.d5!? recommendation. 7.e5 The usual move. [ Tiger likes 17.e2! and analyses it to some [ Another idea is 7.0-0 b7 8.a4 ( 8.e3 advantage in every line. ] c5 9.dxc5 xc5 is a common position) 17...xd5 18.xd5 An innovation! At least I 8...b4 9.e2 ] think so. Malmdin-Hillarp-Persson, Sandviken 7...c5 2004went [ 7...b7 is the main alternative. ] [ 18.xd5 e6 19.e4 f5 20.e2 b5 8.e4 b8 Tiger gives two main games in his 21.xb5 axb5 with complex play. ] book that begin in this position. 9.0-0 [ 9.e3 isn't as critical after b4 10.e2 c7 18...e6 [ 18...b5 19.a3!? ( or 19.d2 ) 19...bxa3 11.c3 h6 ] 20.xa3 with the idea g4 21.e1! xd5 9...cxd4 10.xd4 dxe5 Sacrificing the 22.a5 , but this isn't much. ] exchange this has occurred in many games b5 20.a3 bxa3 21.xa3 and is arguably the main line of the Austrian 19.b3 White is still the exchange up for a pawn, and version of Tiger's Modern (with f4). [ 10...b7?! 11.xb7 xb7 12.e6 fxe6 i t ' s n o t c l e a r wh e r e B l a c k i s g e t t i n g h i s 13.xe6 b6+ 14.h1 xc3 15.bxc3 co u n t e rp la y. g4 22.c4!? h5 23.h3 gf6 16.a4 is awkward for Black, according xb2!? [ 23...f6 24.d3 has the idea Bd1-f3 ] to Tiger, although bxa4 17.xa4 c6 18.b4 a5 with the idea ... Nf8 limits the 24.a2 e5 25.xb2 exf4 26.f3 g5 27.g1 f6 28.xh5 xh5 29.c5 damage. ] Black has levelled the material, but White's 11.c6 b6+ 12.h1 gf6 [ Tiger's 12...b4 13.xb8 ( 13.a4 rooks and passed pawn are too strong. g3 740

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30.d1 f5 31.c2 e6 32.d3 a5 33.c6 c8 34.c1 f8 35.c7 e7 36.a6 e4 37.xc8 xc8 38.d1 1-0

730 Fercec,Nenad Kljako,Damir 4th ZNG111 IM (7) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2500 2260 2002

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 Undoubtedly the most popular idea these days at all levels. White's idea is very straightforward- develop the pieces , strip out the Bishop with Be3-h6 and then claim an advantage with the strong centre and chances of a kingside attack. Black has been suffering, a l t h o u g h we ' l l s e e t h a t 4 . . . a 6 i s a g o o d response, ensuring satisfactory counterplay. c6 A move which has been cast to one side in favour of the sharper lines after 4...a6. Nevertheless,4...c6 is playable in my opinion although it allows White to dictate the early stages of the game. 5.d2 b5 6.d3 [ 6.f3 Works well here although 6 Bd3 is more direct d7 7.a3 Setting a trap. b6?! ( 7...a6 ) 8.d5! d7 9.dxc6 xc6 10.xb5 f6 11.d3 0-0 12.e2 fd7 13.bd4 c7 14.h6 xh6 15.xh6 d5 16.h4!+dxe4 Giving up. The only chance was to put the Knight on f8. 17.h5 exd3 18.hxg6 f6 19.f5 1-0 Pilgaard,K-Ahlander,B/1st It, Klaksvik FAI 2002 (19) ] 6...d7 7.f3 c7 In general Black should wait as long as possible before playing ...Ngf6. The question is : has he enough useful moves to play in the meant ime? if Black f iddle s around too much he can simply get crushed by White's massive central build-up 8.0-0 [ 8.a4 b4 9.e2 a5 ( Possibly 9...b8 first. ) 10.c3 This would be a typical way by which White tries to open the position . b8 11.g3 h5!? 12.h3 gf6 13.0-0 e5 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.cxb4 xb4 16.c2 0-0 17.fc1 d8 18.d2 b8 19.xc6 h4 ( 19...xb2 20.c3 b4 21.c7 ) 20.xh4 xb2 21.f3 b3 22.c2 b8 23.c7 Of course...h7-h5 has turned out to be useless. a8 24.b5 e8 25.xd8

xd8 26.c6 a6 27.ab1 f8 28.b5 a3 29.c2 c5 30.bxc5 xc5 31.xc5 d7 32.c1 f6 33.b5 a8 34.c4+ g7 35.d5 a7 36.e3 a6 37.c7 h8 38.h4 f8 39.c5 f5 40.e7 e8 41.f7 1-0 Stefanova,A-Matveeva,S/FIDE W o rld Cu p S F w, Hyd era ba d IND 20 0 2 (41) ] 8...gf6 9.h3 [ 9.h6 is more critical. ] 9...0-0 10.a4 b4 11.e2 a5 12.c3 bxc3 13.xc3 One would expect a pawn recapture but 13 Nxc3 is more subtle than it looks. Black's ideal pawn structure in the centre against this particular system is ...e7-e6,...d6d5! and then if White blocks,...c6-c5!. if Black can get those moves in he gets a very pleasant game. Hence13 Nxc3 dissuading this structure because of the possible hole at b5. Having stated that ,I don't believe Black is worse here. He plays correctly to begin with. a6 14.fc1 xd3 15.xd3 fb8 16.c2 b4 17.ac1 ab8 Which is weaker,b2 or c6? 18.d2 b7 It looks like Kljako decided to play for a win around here -he could have fallen for the trap e.g. [ 18...xb2 19.b5 xc2 20.xc2 b7 21.xc6 b6!= ] 19.b3 e8 20.f4 e6 21.a2 b6 22.d5 c5 [ 22...exd5 23.xb6 xb6+ 24.h1 c5 25.f3 dxe4 26.xe4 xb3 27.b1 d4 28.c1 ] 23.c3 xc3 24.xc3 exd5 25.exd5 df6 26.c4 a6? Baffling. This particular Benonilike position cannot favour White due to the weakness of the pawn at d5. If Black takes on b3 he cannot be worse e.g. [ 26...xb3 27.xb3 xb3 28.xb3 xb3 29.d2 xd5 ] 27.d1 c7 28.c1 cxd5 29.b2 xf4 Looks as if time-trouble is coming into play. Black misses another clear route e.g.: [ 29...xc3 30.xc3 d5 31.xa5 xa5 32.xf6 d4 ] 30.f1 6d5 31.f3 g5 32.g3 e6 33.f5 xb3 34.fxd5 xg3+ 35.h1 g4 [ 35...f4 36.xd6 ( 36.5d2 d5 ) 36...xd6 37.xd6 xh3 38.d2 e8 ] 36.g5+ A game which went completely off the rails at the end thanks to the time scramble-the last move is reminiscent of an 741

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Internet Chess one minute fiasco. However, before that Kljako furnished ample proof that Black can counter 4 Be3 safely using 4...c6, although 9 Bh6 in place of 9 h3 would have been a more pointed test. 1-0

731 Ferguson,Mark Hodgson,Julian M Masters Kilkenny IRL (3) [Nigel Davies]

B06 2371 2605 27.11.1999

Like his compatriot Tony Miles, Julian Hodgson also took a shine to this openings and fared slightly better in this game. But his position looked pretty disgusting before 20.d6. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 f6 3.e5 h5 4.f3 d6 5.c4 d5 6.e2 g7 7.h3 e6 I'm not quite sure why the knight is coming here when f5 might turn out to be its best square. [ As I stated in the notes to Lautier - Miles, Black's best may be 7...c6 ] 8.0-0 g7 9.e3 0-0 10.c4 c6 11.c3 dxc4 12.xc4 c7 13.c1 e6 [ A q u e e n s i d e e x p a n s i o n w i t h 13...b5 14.b3 a5 leaves the c5 square weak after 15.a4 b4 16.e4 ] 14.xe6 xe6 15.b3 b6 16.a3 d8 17.fd1 c7 18.b3 b6 19.d5 c5 20.d6 Black manages to hang on after this, so it might have been better to turn the screw more slowly. [ 20.g5 h6 21.h4 looks strong to me. ] 20...exd6 21.xd6 e8 22.d5 xd5 23.xd5 a6 24.a3 c7 25.e4 e6 26.b4 a4 27.g5 xg5 28.xg5 ae8 29.e6 fxe6 30.xe6 d4 31.e3 d7 32.xe8 xe8 33.d3 g7 34.xd4 cxd4 35.d1 d8 36.e1 f7 37.g3 b5 38.c1 a6 39.h4 d5 40.c5 e6 41.c1 f5 42.xf5 gxf5 43.f1 d3 44.d1 f7 45.e1 e8+ 46.d2 e2+ 47.xd3 a2 48.d4 xa3 49.e5 f3 50.d2 g6 51.a2 h5 52.xa6 xf2 53.a7 g6 54.a6+ h5 55.a7 g6 56.a6+ ½-½

732

B06 Filippov,An UZB 2615 Benidze,D 2458 TCh-TUR Super League 2014 (2.6) 19.08.2014 [Neil McDonald] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5 More adventurous than [ 4.e3 ] 4...d7 [ Note that the move order in Shanava game mentioned at move seven below meant 5... c5 wasn't a possibility. It began 4...c6 5.d2 d7 6.f4 b5 7.f3 ] 5.d2 Filippov delays Nf3 as he wants to utilise his f -pawn t o build a mobile pawn centre with f2-f4. A Hedgehog set up is less attractive for Black when W hite hasn't committed himself to Nf3 and can play f2-f4. [ After 5.f3 h6 ( Instead 5...a6 6.d3 c5 is the 5...c5 6.Nf3 a6 note below but with B d 3 f o r W h i t e r a t h e r t h a n Q d 2 . 7.dxc5 xc5 8.0-0 f6 is then Frolyanov-Graf in the archives.) 6.e3 e6 7.d2 a6 8.d3 b6 Black set up a Hedgehog in RublevskyKamsky, which is another archive game. ] 5...c6 [ The immediate attack on d4 with 5...c5!? is logical as the white bishop is absent from de f e nsive du t y on e 2. I t d id well in t h e following game: 6.f3 ( White could try for a d i f f e r e n t t y p e o f g a m e w i t h 6.d5 and nurture a space advantage with Nf3 and Be2 etc. ) 6...a6 7.0-0-0 cxd4 8.xd4 b5 9.f4 As we shall see In the game Black is ab le t o t ake t he st in g ou t o f an y e 4-e 5 advance by sacrificing the exchange on c3. In the resulting position the move f2-f4 has merely weakened W hite's pawn structure and cut off the interaction of the bishop on g 5 w i t h t h e c e n t r e . ( More logical were 9.h4!? or; 9.f3 b7 10.b1 ) 9...b7 10.e2 a5 11.b1 c8 12.g4 xc3! t h e e xc h a n ge s a cr i f i ce d e f u s e s W h i t e attack. 13.xd7+ xd7 14.bxc3 xe4 Black has a pawn, the two bishops and counterplay against the fractured white queenside to compensate for the rook. On the other hand he still has to be a bit cautious as he is behind in development and his king is sitting in the centre. 742

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 15.e3 f5 16.he1 a3 ( but not 16...f6 17.b3 a3 18.c5! ) 17.h3 b4! 18.cxb4 ( White loses after 18.xe4 bxc3 ) 18...xb4+ 19.b3 xb3+ 20.xb3 e8 with a balanced position. Black's bishops and compact centre make up for the material deficit.; B) 15.b3?! A needless decentralisation of the knight. c7 16.e3 xg2 17.hg1 b7 18.a7? ( White should try 18.c5+ c8 19.xb7 xb7 though Black is d o i n g we l l d u e t o W h i t e ' s s p l i n t e r e d pawns. ) 18...c8 19.g3 f6 20.xf6 xf6 21.d4 d7 22.b3 a8 23.e3 c8 24.d4 d5 White's inaccurate play has let his opponent build up a vicious attack on his king. 25.f5 b4! 26.b3 ( After 26.cxb4 xd4 the c2 point is hanging. ) 26...xb3 27.cxb3 bxc3 28.c2 a5 0-1 Osmanodja, F (2295) Belezky, A (2454)/Dresden GER 2014. ] 6.f4 b5 7.f3 gf6? Over the next two moves Benidze seems to forget he is playing a hypermodern opening and plays the 'classical' developing moves Nf6 and 0-0. In doing so he presents the white pieces with a ready made target. To be preferred were the moves discussed in Perunovic-Shanava in the archives, namely [ 7...b6 or ] [ 7...b4 ] 8.d3 0-0?! 9.e5 e8 10.h4! With best play White's attack already looks decisive. h5 Black would be ripped apart if he tried to trap White's bishop on g5, for example [ 10...h6 11.h5 hxg5 12.xg5 c7 13.hxg6 when the black king will soon perish or ] [ 10...f6 11.h5 fxg5 12.hxg6 h6 13.fxg5 h5 14.e2! c7 15.h4 and the white queen is ready to go to h5. ] 11.g4! [ A more positional approach with 11.e6 fxe6 12.xg6 ef6 13.0-0-0 was also very strong for White. ] 11...dxe5 12.fxe5 hxg4 13.h5 gxf3 14.hxg6 [ Another way to win which gives Black fewer defensive options is the immediate 14.h2! ] 14...fxg6 15.0-0-0 b6 16.h2 f5 17.h7+ f7 18.h6 f2 19.xg7?

[ White would win if he could get his rook to the g-file to attack the weak point on g6. T h i s c o u l d b e d o n e w i t h 19.h4! for example b4 20.g4 bxc3 21.xg6+ f8 22.xg7+ with a massacre. ] 19...xg7 20.h6 xd4! Benidze now has saving counterplay due to his passed pawn and his queen's potential threats against the white king. 21.xg6+ g8 22.h7 xe5 23.dh1? It seems like Filippov's attack is going to be crowned with glory after 24. Rh8 mate, but a nasty surprise is in store. He must play [ 23.c4+! leading to yet another crazy variation: Black really would be mated on h8 after A) 23...d5! 24.xd5 cxd5 25.xd5+ e6 26.xg7+! xg7 27.xf5 exd5 28.xd5+ f8 29.d6+ ( Here 29.xa8? fails to h6+ 30.b1 h3! 31.h1 xh1 32.xh1 h3 But how could a human player work all that out over the board? ) 29...g8 30.d5+ f8 31.d6+ and a draw by repetition.; B) 23...xc4? 24.d8+ f8 25.xf8+ xf8 26.h8# ] 23...f1+! 24.xf1 [ Alas for White he will be mated after 24.xf1 e3+ 25.d1 ( or 25.b1 e1+ ) 25...xf1+! 26.xf1 g4+ 27.xg4 d8+ etc. ] 24...xf1+ 25.xf1 f4+ White resigned before suffering the indignity of being mated by a knight with [ 25...f4+ 26.d1 xf1+ 27.d2 c4# ] 0-1

733 Frois,Antonio Davies,Nigel R d'Or Cala d'Or [Nigel Davies]

B06

1986

This games featured a similar concept to Godena - Davies but under slightly less manic conditions. W hite castled kingside and fianchettoed his king's bishop. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g3 c6 5.e3 Chasing the knight on c6 is worse here than after 4.Nge2 Nc6. 743

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5.d5 e5 6.f4 d7 7.f3 c6 8.g2 cxd5 9.exd5 xc3+ 10.bxc3 gf6 11.d4 b6 12.c4 c7 13.d2 f5 put White in serious trouble in Popchev - Davies, Albena 1986 ] 5...f6 6.h3 e5 7.dxe5 [ After 7.ge2 Black can even play d5!? ] 7...xe5 8.g2 0-0 9.ge2 b5!? The patented pawn thrust by which Black takes the initiative. 10.0-0 [ Capturing the pawn is very dangerous for W hite after, say 10.xb5 b8 11.xa7 b7 ] [ 10.f4 is met by c4 11.d4 b7 with White's position looking shaky already. ] 10...b4 11.d5 xd5 12.exd5 c4 13.d4 xb2 14.b1 a4 15.xb4 Maintaining m a t e r ia l p a r it y, b u t B l a c k is b e t t e r h e r e because of his superior development. d7 16.ab1 e8 17.e3 a5 18.b3 b8 19.c4 b2 20.f4 b4 21.d4 f5 22.a3 e5 23.f3 xd4 24.xb2 e4 25.e2 xg2 26.xg2 xd5 27.b7 d7 28.c4 c5 29.xc5 c6+ 30.h2 xb7 31.e3 f3 32.g4 xg3+! 33.xg3 xe3 34.fxe3 xf1 35.g5 f2+ 36.h1 f1+ 37.h2 f2+ 38.h1 e1+ 39.h2 c3 0-1

734 Frolyanov,Dmitry Azmaiparashvili,Zurab 8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (11) [John Watson]

B06 2525 2632 14.04.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.g5 a6 Why not? 5.f3!? White generally plays a4 when his knights are on c3 and f3. On the other hand, it's tempting to develop rapidly. b5 6.d3 d7!? The normal move against f4, but here it unnecessarily gets in the way (see the next note). [ 6...b7 would prepare .. .Nf6 and ...b4, forcing W hite to do something about his centre. ] 7.a4!? [ 7.0-0! c5 8.e5!? looks ridiculous, yet Black has real problems: cxd4 ( 8...b7? 9.exd6; 8...dxe5 9.dxe5 xe5 10.xe5 xe5 11.f3 a7 12.fe1 b7 13.e4

generates a big attack ) 9.xd4 A) 9...dxe5 10.c6 c7 11.a4! ( 11.xe7!? xe7 12.xe7 b7! 13.b4 ) 11...bxa4 12.xe7! xe7 13.xe7 b7 14.a3 with a clear advantage; B) 9...xe5? 10.e4; C) 9...xe5 10.e4 a7 11.a4! b4 12.d5 b7 13.e1 , and again Black has trouble getting his pieces out. ] 7...b4 8.e2 c5 9.c3 a5?! A very odd m o ve , i n c o n s i s t e n t wi t h T i g e r ' s i d e a o f attacking the centre, Better was [ 9...bxc3 10.bxc3 gf6 ] 10.0-0 b7 11.d2 [ 11.cxb4 is also good. ] 11...bxc3 12.xc3 d8 13.dxc5 [ One good idea is 13.c4 e6 14.dxc5 xc3 15.xc3 dxc5 ( 15...xc5 16.d4 f6 17.e5 ) 16.d6 ] [ and 13.g5!? protects e4 while threatening Nxf7. ] 13...xc3 14.xc3 xc5 15.c4 f6 16.d4 [ 16.e5 dxe5 17.xe5 0-0 18.b4 also yields some advantage. ] 16...0-0 17.e5 dxe5? [ A crazy try, and a failure of calculation. Perhaps Azmaiparahvili couldn't stomach 17...fd7 18.exd6 xf3 19.gxf3 exd6 20.xd6 , but Black is in the game. ] 18.xc5 xf3 19.gxf3 c8 20.b4 d4 The point? 21.xe7 Finishing the game. g7 [ 21...h5 looks more natural, aiming at f4, but 22.a2 f4 23.e4 threatens Nd6. ] 22.a2 f4 23.d5 xd5 24.xd5 c2 25.ae1 Qxe5+ follows. 1-0

735 Frolyanov,Dmitry Graf,Alexander 17th Open Kavala GRE (8) [John Watson]

B06 2567 2621 06.08.2008

W h it e 's o p e n in g in vo lve s co m mo n s e n s e moves aimed at development and the acquisition of territory. Ignoring the game result, it works reasonably well. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5 White chooses to 744

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 address the Modern Defence with piece play as opposed to pawn breaks. d7 [ 4...f6 would be a well-known Pirc Defence line. ] 5.f3 a6 6.d3 c5 7.dxc5 xc5 8.0-0 f6 [ 8...xd3?! 9.xd3 wins the two bishops, but W hite ends up too far ahead in d e v e l o p m e n t , e . g . , f6 10.ad1 with the idea e5. ] 9.e1 b5?! This takes too many liberties, since Black needs to get his pieces out. [ 9...0-0 was correct. ] 10.d5! [ Or 10.a4! b4 11.d5 ] 10...xd5 11.exd5 a7 A well-timed defensive resource. Not only is e7 covered, but af ter ...Rc7, Black's pieces will have flexibility as to how to develop. But White still has space and the better game. 12.c3 0-0 [ 12...xd3 13.xd3 h6 ( 13...0-0 14.d4 ) 14.e3 b7 15.d4 0-0 16.a4! bxa4 17.c6 c7 18.c1! e5 19.xa4 gives White play against the a-pawn. ] 13.f1!? [ 13.c2! keeps a straightforward advantage 14 a4 might follow, or even direct attack: c7 ( 13...h6! 14.e3 c7 15.d2 h7 16.a4! ) 14.d2 b7 15.ad1 e8 16.d4! ( 16.f4 a8! )] 13...c7 14.d2 b7 15.h6 [ 15.c4 bxc4 16.xc4 still looks a bit better for White. ] 15...e5! 16.dxe6?! It's under standable that W hite doesn't want to leave Black with the easy expansion by ... f5, but this gives him some serious weaknesses. xh6 17.xh6 xf3 18.exf7+?! [ 18.gxf3 xe6 ( 18...fxe6 19.b4 a4 20.xe6 xc3 21.h3! is unclear) 19.g2 c5! leaves White with the awful f-pawns. ] 18...cxf7 19.gxf3 xf3 20.g2 xf2 21.e3? [ But 21.f1 xf1+ 22.xf1 xf1+ 23.xf1 e7 leaves Black in command. ] 21...f6 [ 21...d7 with the idea ...Ne5 is very strong as well. The rest doesn't require any notes. ] 22.ae1 d3! 23.xd3 xg2+ 24.xg2 f2+ 25.h3 f3+ 26.xf3 xf3+ 27.h4 f2+ 28.h3 f3+ 29.h4 f2+ 30.h3

xe1 31.f4 e6+ 32.g2 xa2 33.f6 xb2+ 34.g3 e2 35.d8+ f7 36.xd6 e3+ 37.g2 xc3 38.xa6 d2+ 39.g3 e3+ 40.g2 e4+ 41.g3 b4 42.a7+ g8 43.b8+ g7 44.c7+ h6 45.d6 e3+ 46.g4 g5+ 47.h3 f5+ 48.g3 g5+ 49.h3 e3+ 50.g4 e2+ 51.g3 e1+ 52.h3 f2 53.g4 b3 54.a3 g2+ 55.f4 b2 56.f8+ h5 0-1

736 Gausel,Einar Davies,Nigel R Oslo [Nigel Davies]

B06

1988

A similar game to those against Godena and Frois, though in this one White played 4.Bc4. Whilst he can certainly do better than this I don't believe this line is dangerous for Black. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.c4 c6!? I first played this move as a teenager. [ After 4...f6 the tricky 5.e2 was popular in the UK at that time and I did not want to be involved in that particular debate. ] 5.e3 f6 6.h3 [ 6.f3 is better. Byway - Nunn, England 1977 went 0-0 7.ge2 b6!? 8.b5?! b7 9.d2 a5 10.b4? a6 11.d3 c6 12.a3 e5 with the better game for Black due to the weakness of White's queenside. ] 6...e5 7.dxe5 xe5 8.b3 0-0 9.d2?! [ In retrospect White should have continued his development with 9.ge2 ] 9...b5! 10.f3 b4 11.d5 xd5 12.xd5 c6 13.b3 a5 14.a4 d5! 15.exd5 [ Had White seen what was coming, he might have tried 15.e2 dxe4 16.f4 ] 15...c4! 16.xc4 xb2! 17.e2 h4+ 18.f2 xc4 19.b1 [ White gets nothing for the exchange after 19.0-0 xa1 20.xa1 xd5 ] 19...c3 20.xc3 bxc3 21.d3 e8+ 22.d1 a2 23.c1 a6 24.xc3 xd5+ 25.d2 ad8 [ 25...ad8 26.xd5 xd5+ 27.d4 xd4# is a good way to illustrate the importance of early castling. ] 0-1 745

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 737 Georgiev,Vl Caruana,F 46th TCh-ITA 2014 (7.1) [Neil McDonald]

B06 2553 2783 04.05.2014

1.f3 Black's formation in the game is more attractive once White has committed himself with an early 1.Nf3 as the white f-pawn won't be rushing at him anytime soon. d6 2.d4 g6 3.e4 g7 4.c4 a6 Very logical. Black intends to gain time for the development of his bishop to b7 by hitting c4 with b7-b5. He avoids [ 4...f6 and so sidesteps the sharp line 5.e2 0-0 6.e5 which is discussed in the archives. ] 5.0-0 e6 Putting up a barrier to the attack on f7 and preparing a safe development of his knight to e7. Note that White isn't well placed t o ra m t h e b la c k kin gsid e wit h t h e p a wn advance f4-f5, as the knight on f3 is in the way. [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 5...b5 6.b3 b7 has been tried in some big name games: A) I know there's zero chance of 7.xf7+? working in a game between Kramnik and Carlsen, but always make sure it doesn't in your own games! xf7 8.g5+ e8 9.e6 c8 10.xg7+ ( Or 10.d5 f6 ) 10...f8 11.h5 gxh5 12.xh5 e6 and W hite doesn't have enough for the piece.; B) 7.e1 e6 8.a4 d7 9.g5 ( A n a l t e r n a t i v e a p p r o a c h i s 9.c3 intending moves like Qe2 and Na3 to put pressure on b5.) 9...e7 10.axb5 axb5 11.xa8 xa8 12.d5 This looks very threatening, but Black survives the onslaught and gets dynamic chances. A s l o w e r a p p r o a c h w i t h ( 12.a3 w a s p o s s i b l e .) 12...c5 ( Note that 12...e5 looks like a safe move as it blocks the centre, but it would leave Black without any counterplay. White could play to pick off the b5 pawn with 13.c3 etc. ) 13.d4 hitting both e6 and b5. h6 14.xe7 xe7 If you study Carlsen's games you'll notice he is never afraid to take chances with his king's safety if it improves his strategic prospects. He now has an unopposed

d a rk squ a r e d b i sh o p . 15.xb5 a5 16.1c3 b8 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.d4 xb3 19.xb3 b4 20.g4 ( How could you resist such a move in a blitz game? Instead he should defend with 20.d2 though Black has obvious compensation for the pawn thanks to his pressure on the queenside.) 20...xc3 21.bxc3 xc3 22.e3 xc2 23.h3 f8 Due to the weakness of f2 White has no time to carry out an attack on the black king. The best he can do is enter a bad endgame, which is no fun against Magnus. 24.xe6+ xe6 25.d4+ e5 26.xc2 c5 27.e1 a8 28.d3+ d4 29.e5 c4 30.f4 dxe5 31.e2+ d5 32.c3+ e6 33.f4 e4 34.f2 c6 35.xe4 a2+ 36.g3 d5 37.f6+ d4 38.e6 xg2+ 39.h4 f3 40.g4 c3 41.d6+ c5 42.d8 xg4+ 43.hxg4 c2 0-1 Kramnik, V (2801)-Carlsen, M (2835)/ Moscow 2012 ] 6.e1 [ Here's another example of how lower rated players can be positionally outplayed as W hite in the Hippopotamus set up: 6.e2 e7 7.c3 0-0 8.a4 d7 9.e1 b6 10.bd2 b7 11.f1 ( White should get his bishop out of harm's way with 11.d3 and then expand on the queenside with 12. b4. ) 11...c5 Already Black has the edge. His bishops are better placed than White's and his centre pawns are more flexible. 12.g3 d5! breaking up the white centre and creating a great post for his knight on d5. 13.exd5 xd5 14.e4 cxd4 15.xd4 c7 16.b3 c5 Now after the exchange on c5 the white knight will lose its post on d4 and B la c k' s b i sh o p o n b 7 wi ll co m e t o l if e . 17.xc5 bxc5 18.f3 f4 19.xf4 xf4 The rest of the game is a demonstration of the superiority of the bishop pair in an open position. 20.c2 ab8 21.ab1 fd8 22.ed1 d5 23.e1 c4 24.d3 c7 25.e3 a2 26.a1 d5 27.ab1 c4 28.b4 b7 29.xd8+ xd8 30.d1 xd1+ 31.xd1 a5 32.a2 d7 33.e2 c6 34.c2 h6 35.f3 White was caught in a neat zugzwang position. The white queen and bishop are tied to the defence of a4 and ( 35.c1 loses to a back rank trick: 746

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e4! when if 36.e2 xc1 ) 35...e3+ 36.h1 xa4! 37.xa4 d2 38.g3 f2 0-1 as mate follows on g2. Mammadov, Z (2453) -Smirnov, P (2626)/ Nakhchivan AZE 2014 ] [ Meanwhile 6.g5 e7 was examined in the archives. ] 6...e7 7.c3 0-0 8.b3 d7 9.bd2 b5 Black takes away the c4 square f rom the white knight and prepares to use his wedge of queenside pawns to fight for the initiative. [ There is also a case for 9...b6 here to avoid creating a target on b5. However a subsequent c7-c5 would then be problematical as White could attack d6 with Nc4 and maybe Bf4. Or W hite could play 10.c4 to deter ...c7-c5, followed by 11.a4 to cement the knight on c4. ] 10.a4 b7! Carunana insists on not being bullied into [ 10...b4 when 11.a5 leaves him with a fixed weak pawn on a6 and White's knight has the c4 square again. ( But not 11.cxb4?! b8 when Black regains the pawn in an advantageous way. )] 11.e2 b8 Still standing his ground on b5. Note that Black avoids 11...c6 as he wants to use his c-pawn actively. Besides, it would shut in the bishop on b7. 12.axb5 axb5 13.h4? I've seen lots of games where players like Michael Adams chip away at the opponent with moves like a2-a4 and h2-h4 after stabilising the position in the centre. Unhappily for Georgiev, the centre isn't fixed here. Caruana is able to focus attention onto the d4 square, after which 13.h4 is seen to be a luxury White can't afford. [ White could try for pressure on the q u e e n s i d e w i t h 13.c2 c5 14.b3!? f o r e xa m p le c4 15.a5 a8 and now 16.b3 or ( 16.g5 probe away at the black position. )] [ But W hite should avoid 13.xb5 xe4 which is a good swap for Black. ] 13...c5 14.h5 c6 15.hxg6 hxg6 The pressure on d4 forces the dislocation of White's centre. 16.d5 [ Black has a fine queenside initiative after 16.dxc5 xc5 17.c2 b4 ] 16...exd5 17.xd5 c4! Creating a base on d3 for a black knight. 18.f1 ce5 19.f4

Exchanging his bishop on e5 makes matters worse, but hardly pleasant for White was [ 19.xe5 xe5 20.e3 d3 ] 19...xd5 20.xe5 dxe5 21.exd5 c5 22.ed1 e4 The combination of a weak pawn on d5, outpost for the black knight on d3 and mobile black e-pawn is too much for White's position to cope with. 23.d4 xd4 24.cxd4 [ W h i t e d r o p s t h e e xc h a n g e o n 24.xd4 b3 ] 24...d3 25.e3 f6 26.b3 xd4 27.bxc4 bxc4 28.a4 b2 29.d2 [ It's hopeless for White after 29.d2 A) when the obvious way for Black to gain material is 29...f4 30.xb2 ( Or 30.xd4 xe2+ 31.f1 xd4 ) 30...xe2+ 31.xe2 though White can fight on for a while. More precise is; B) 29...fb8 after which White has no good move, for example 30.xc4 xd2 31.xd2 b1+ 32.h2 h8+ and mates: 33.g3 e5+ 34.g4 f4+ 35.h3 h1# ] 0-1

738 Ghannoum,Marc Hillarp Persson,Tiger Internacional de Sants [Hillarp Persson & Andy]

B06

2004

This game is from 'Tiger's Modern ' - one of the best opening books I have read for quite some time! 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6!? 5.f3 b5 6.d3 d7 7.e5 c5 8.g5 cxd4 [ To be fair Hillarp Persson points out that 8...h6 is safer than the text and OK for Black e.g. 9.e6 f6 10.dxc5 dxc5 11.e3 xe6 12.xe6 fxe6 13.xc5 d5 and Black has the initiative. ] 9.e6 f5 10.d5 [ 10.exd7+ xd7 11.b1 ( 11.d5 h6; 11.e2 e5 ) 11...e5 12.0-0 e7 ] [ 10.xf5 df6! 11.e4 d5 12.f7 a5 13.xd4 xe6 14.g5 h5 15.e3 xc3+ 16.bxc3 gf6 17.xg6+ hxg6 18.xe6 c8 ] [ 10.f3 dxc3 11.b3 b6 12.c6+ f8 13.f7 d7! 14.xd8 xc6 15.xc6 747

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f6 All as analysed by Hillarp Persson in the book and there is plenty more. Hairraising! ] 10...c5 11.f7 xe6 12.xd8 xd5 'It is not everybody's cup of tea to play a position like this, but 'objectively' I believe I am fine here. I control the centre and my pieces will soon find active squares. On the other hand. W hite f aces a scenario quite opposite from Black's. If only he could get in a2-a4 or exchange a few pieces...... Yeah, try me!' Hillarp Persson 13.0-0 xd8 14.b3 h6 15.e1 [ 15.e1 is a big improvement, according to Persson. ] 15...0-0 16.a4 [ 16.xe7 fe8 17.h4 g4 18.e1 Persson ] 16...bxa4 17.c4 xc4 18.bxc4 g4 19.h3 f6 20.xe7 fe4 21.b2 d7 22.h4 b7 23.a2 fb8 24.a3 b1 25.xc5 xf1+ [ According to Persson 25...f6 26.xf6 xf6 27.xd4 h5 28.xa4 xf4 29.xb1 xb1+ 30.h2 e6 was the best way. ] 26.xf1 dxc5 27.g4 f6 28.e1? White blunders, in my time trouble.....Persson [ 28.g5 b1+ 29.g2 d8 30.xa4 a5 31.a3 c1 32.b3 xc2+ 33.g1 c1+ 34.g2 h5!! 35.b8 a4 36.xd8+ f7 37.d7+ f8 38.d8+ e7 39.g8 f7 40.d8 a3 41.a8 d3 42.a7+ e8 43.a8+ e7 44.a7+= since it's dangerous for Black's King to come to the third rank: d6?! 45.xa3 d2 46.d3+ c6 47.xd2 xd2 48.g3 xc4 49.f3+ b6 50.a8! ] 28...b1 29.xa4 xe1+ 30.xe1 h4+ 31.f1 g3 'Was that too strong for you? W ell, some days I feel that way too. Especially the line beginning 10 exd7+ needs to be taken seriously and I cannot guarantee that White is not capable of improving on my analysis somewhere. It might prove to be lucky that Black has an alternative to 8...cxd4 in the reliable 8...Nh6.' - Hillarp Persson. Anyone interested in or currently playing the Modern should get this book immediately. 0-1

739 Godena,Michele Carlsen,Magnus Claude Pecaut Mem, Taormina (4) [Gary Lane]

B06 2520 2450 2003

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 This is the latest fashion. Black wishes to employ a kingside fianchetto to put pressure on White's pawn centre. 5.f3 g7 6.a3 cxd4 7.b5 [ An important move is 7.c4 which tries to prove that Black has no time for a kingside fianchetto by using his better development to chase the black queen e4+ 8.e3 h6 The players Hamdouchi and Kudrin had a mini match in the contest for the FIDE world championship with this line: ( The natural move 8...f6? fails in spectacular fashion to 9.xf7+ when of course xf7 10.g5+ e8 11.xe4 is game over. ) A) 9.cxd4 0-0 10.0-0 g4 11.xh6 xh6 12.e1 f4 13.xe7 c6 14.xb7 ( 14.e1 allows fd8 with tremendous play. For instance: 15.d5 e5 16.xe5 xf3 17.e1 g4 18.f1 xd5 and Black's pair of bishops are very in f l u e n t i a l) 14...ab8 15.xb8 xb8 16.e2 ( 16.b3 xf3 17.xf3 xf3 18.gxf3 xd4 19.g2 g7 gives Black e n o u g h c o m p e n s a t i o n f o r t h e p a w n) 16...xf3 17.xf3 xd4 18.b3 g7! 19.b1 e5 when the attack on the hpawn means disaster for W hite, Hamdouchi,H-Kudrin,S/Tripoli 2004.; B) 9.b5 B1) 9...0-0 10.d3 g4 11.xh6 xh6 12.c7 it looks like White is easily winning but Black is rather resourceful dxc3 13.bxc3 ( 13.xa8 cxb2 14.b1 xg2 15.g1 h3 16.xb2 f4 is difficult to assess but I prefer Black because White is always going to have problems protecting his king.) 13...xg2 14.g1 h3 15.xa8 f4 16.e2 c6 17.b3 e6 18.a4 h6 ( 18...e5! looks good for Black) 19.h4 xa8 the material level is equal but White's king is stuck in the middle of the board, Hamdouchi, H-Kudrin,S/Tripoli 2004.; B2) 9...a6 10.cxd4 ( 10.bxd4 0-0 748

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.0-0 is roughly equal but Black still needs to get his pieces into the game) 10...0-0 11.c3 c6 12.b5 d6 13.0-0 f5 at last Black can stop worrying about the safety of his queen and get his pieces into the game 14.d2 xe3!? a double-edged move because B l a c k d e p r ive s W h i t e o f h i s p a i r o f bishops but at the same time s t r e n g t h e n s t h e d 4 p a w n ( 14...c7 15.f4 d8 16.e5 ) 15.fxe3 c7 16.d3 g4 17.g5 e5 ( 17...f5! l o o k s r i s k y b u t a f t e r 18.c4+ e6 Black is fine) 18.c4 e6?! ( 18...e6 19.ce4 e7 20.xe6 xe6 21.xe6 xe6 is equal ) 19.ce4 e7? ( 19...d8 is necessary to keep an eye on the d-pawn advancing) 20.d5! xd5 ( 20...fd8 21.xe6 fxe6 22.d6 h4 23.d3 is go o d n e ws f o r W h i t e .) 21.xd5 ad8 Under closer examination the pin just doesn't work 22.xe6 fxe6 23.xf8+ xf8 24.xe6+! g7 25.d5 d7 26.d1 c5 27.xc5 c8 28.e6+ 1-0 Hamdouchi,H-Kudrin,S/ Tripoli 2004. ] 7...a6 8.e3 A little sneaky move which is fairly normal in this line so W hite can take back on d4 with the bishop. d7 9.xd4 f6 10.a4 0-0 11.e2 [ 11.xa7 f5 12.e3 c5 13.e2 fd8 14.0-0 g4 offers sufficient compensation for the pawn in view of the active play ] 11...xb5 12.axb5 c5 [ I prefer 12...c7 when play might proceed: 13.xa7 fd8 14.b6 ( 14.b6?! xd1+ 15.xd1 ) 14...xd1+ 15.xd1 xd1+ 16.xd1 cd5 when White might be a pawn up but the bishop on a7 might not move for the rest of the game so Black is better. ] 13.0-0 fd8 14.a3!? The rook covers the b 3 s q u a r e b u t t h e p o si t io n i s e q u a l . f5 15.b1 [ If White does not take heed of the pin on the d-file by playing 15.h3 then fe4 intending ...e7-e5 is roughly equal. ] 15...h5 16.e1 [ Perhaps 16.a2! would cause Black more problems by targeting the a7 pawn. ]

16...e6 17.xa7 Finally, Godena finds time to grab an extra pawn but in return Black has plenty of play. f4 18.f1 d5 [ 18...d7 19.d4 xa3 20.bxa3 h3+ 21.h1 is better for White because Black's attack has run out of steam. ] 19.e3 xa3 20.bxa3 h6 [ Or 20...e5 21.xf4 exf4 22.b3 favours White. ] 21.b4 f5 One has to admire Black's relentless drive to attack but it should not succeed against accurate defence. 22.xe7 g4 23.h4? It seems a ploy to stem the attack by offering to exchange queens but here it allows Black into the game. [ The threat of backrank mate with 23.d4! is a worry for Black: g7 24.xb7 xd4 25.cxd4 with a winning advantage. ] 23...xe3 24.fxe3 h3+! 25.xh3?! I suspect White is still in shock having ruined his winning position so responds poorly. [ 25.h1 xh4 26.xh4 h5 27.f3 f2+ 28.g1 g4 is still a bit better for W h i t e b u t a f e w m o ve s a g o B la c k wa s busted. ] 25...xh3 26.gxh3 xf3 27.g2 xe3 28.xe3 xe3+ 29.f1 Carlsen is a strong player and can easily draw this opposit e coloured bishop ending despite the pawn minus. b6 30.e2 c5 31.a4 f8 32.d3 e7 33.c4 d6 34.d5 f6 35.g8 h6 36.h4 g5 37.hxg5 hxg5 38.h7 g1 39.h3 e5 40.b4 c5+ 41.c4 g1 42.b4 c5+ 43.c4 g1 44.d3 f5 45.b4 c5+ 46.c4 g1 47.b4 c5+ 48.c4 g1 ½-½

740 Godena,Michele Davies,Nigel R Budapest Budapeste (10) [Nigel Davies]

B06

1993

This was the game which brought me my second GM norm, needing a win at all costs I sharpened the play with 10...b5!?. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.ge2 c6 [ I have also played 4...a6 5.a4 and only then ( 5.g3 b5 6.g2 b7 7.0-0 d7 749

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.a3 c5 9.e1 b8 10.e3 cxd4 11.xd4 gf6 was fine for Black in Zilberman Davies, Rishon Lezion 1994) 5...c6 but after 6.d5 the problem is that a later ... c7-c6 will weaken the b6 square. I don't know if this is such a great problem, but I prefer to avoid it if possible. ] 5.e3 [ 5.d5 e5 6.f4 d7 7.e3 gf6 8.g3 0-0 9.e2 c6 10.0-0 cxd5 11.exd5 c5 12.f5 a5 13.d2 d7 14.a3 a4 gave Black good counterplay in Klinger Davies, Budapest 1988 ] 5...f6 6.h3 e5 7.dxe5 xe5 8.g3 0-0 9.d2 e8 10.0-0-0 b5! I learned this kind of pawn sacrifice from Leonid Stein's games. There is no clear compensation, the objective is simply to open the b-file 11.xb5 d7 12.e2 [ Godena's original intention had been 12.f4 but then he became concerned about the line xb5 13.fxe5 xe5 14.d4 e7 15.xe5 xe5 with excellent compensation for the exchange. ] 12...b8 13.f4 c6 14.f3 b4 15.a3 b7 16.e5 ab8 17.b3 [ The alternative way to defend b2 is with 17.a4 but then there would follow dxe5 18.fxe5 b5! af t e r wh ich 19.exf6 xf6 20.b3 is met by xe3! 21.xe3 g5 etc. ] 17...dxe5 18.fxe5 xe5 19.ge4 a6! 20.a4? The decisive mistake. [ White had play 20.xf6+ first after which xf6 is forced. ] 20...a5 21.xf6+ xf6! The difference. Black's queen and bishop get lined up on the h8-a1 diagonal and carnage ensues. 22.d4 d6! 23.b1 A despairing attempt to hold things together. [ 23.xe5 is answered by a3+ 24.b1 xb3 ] [ and 23.b1 by xb3 ] 23...xb3! 24.xe5 b6 [ After 24...b6 25.c3 I would have played a3 ] 0-1

741

B06 Gopal,G 2558 Petrosian,TL 2641 21st Abu Dhabi Masters 2014 (9.2) 28.08.2014 [Neil McDonald] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.d2 b5 6.0-0-0 White puts pawns on e4 an d d 4, de ve lop s in d ire ct st yle , ca s tle s queenside and tries to punish Black for his lackadaisical development and his multiple pawn moves. Of course Black's set up is by no means bad, but f ast development and seizing space is not to be laughed at either. b7 [ Instead 6...d7 7.h4 h5 is analysed in Gopal-Smirin in the archives. ] 7.h4!? Not bothering about the potential attack on e4. [ The more careful 7.f3 d7 8.h4 h6 was seen in Nanu-Nevednichy. ] 7...b4 8.d5 xd5 9.exd5 f6 10.h5!? Pressing on with his attack. Here [ 10.xb4 xd5 is a good swap for Black. ] 10...xd5 [ A l t e r n a t i v e l y 10...xh5 11.h6 ( White might consider 11.xb4 here.; After 11.g4 f6 12.h6 f8 the black king h e l p s h o l d t h e k i n g s i d e .) 11...xh6 Black should edge his queen out to activity on the b-file, which also allows his king to e s c a p e t o t h e q u e e n s i d e : ( Note that 11...f6? in the style of the game would lose a piece here to 12.g4 g7 13.g5 ) 12.xh6 c8 13.e2 f6 14.e1 bd7 15.f3 b7 16.h3 b5 17.e3 0-0-0 with unclear play. ] 11.h6 f6 Naturally Black avoids the bishop exchange as he would like to keep the white qu e e n o u t o f h is ki n gsid e d a r k squ a re s . 12.c4 c6 13.f3 d7 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.xd5 cxd5 16.xb4? A significant mistake. After [ 16.g5! in contrast to the game Black wouldn't be able to exchange along the h-file. Therefore he would have to put his rook on a passive square. For example Therefore necessary is A) This attempt to counterattack just loses material after 16...a5? 17.xf6 xh1 18.xh1 xf6 ( 18...exf6 19.e3+ d8 750

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.h8+ ) 19.h8+ d7 20.xa8 xa2 21.a7+ e8 22.h6 a1+ 23.d2 e4+ 24.e2 and White must resign.; B) 16...f8 but then the rook remains shut out of the game giving White the initiative after 17.xb4 b8 18.d2 b6 19.b3 a5 20.de1 etc. ] 16...b8 17.a3 b6 18.e3 xh1! Here Black can saf ely get rid of his roo k rat he r tha n mo ve it t o a p assive squa re . 19.xh1 b5! The queen's potential access to e2 and f1 might be useful in the future. 20.g5! g7! Tigran Petrosian, like his World Championship namesake knows which pieces to exchange, which to keep on the board. He has to maintain a guard on the h8 square. 21.e1 f6 22.d2 [ Bad for White is 22.xd6 xb2+ 23.d2 b4+ 24.xb4 xb4 as he is left with weak pawns. ] 22...e4! The exchange on e4 ensures that Black's centre pawn mass will give him good chances in an endgame. 23.xe4 dxe4 uncovering an attack on g5. 24.e3 f5 Rather than enter an endgame where Black has impressive pawns maybe he should keep the tension with 25.b3 [ 25.g3 to stop f5-f4 or lash out with ] [ 25.g4 ] 25...d5 26.h1 f7 27.xb5 axb5 28.a3 g5 29.xg5? Now Black's centre pawns will advance like an avalanche. He had to hold them back with [ 29.g3 or ] [ 29.c3 when his position remains uncomfortable due to the potential dynamism of Black's pawns, but it should be defensible. ] 29...xd4 30.e3 f6 31.c3 c8 32.d2 e5 33.h7+ e6 34.b7 f4 35.a7 g8 36.b6+ f5 37.xb5 e3+ [ Good enough to win, but simpler was 37...xg2 38.xd5 g5 39.d1 e3 40.fxe3 fxe3 41.xe3 -forced or the pawn promotes- xe3 when the white king is tied down to the first rank making the advance of the e5 pawn straightforward. ] 38.xe3 fxe3+ 39.xe3 xg2 40.xd5 h4 41.d7 [ The f2 pawn is indefensible as if 41.d2 g5+ ]

41...xf2+ 42.f3 h2 43.f7+ e6 44.b7 f5 45.f7+ e6 46.b7 g1 Black finds a way to get his f-pawn rolling by preparing a check on f2. 47.b4 f2+ 48.e4 f4+ 49.d3 e4+ 50.e2 f2+ 51.e1 a2 52.f1 h2 53.h7 e3 54.h3 f4 55.b5 f5 56.b6 g4 57.h8 e2+ 58.f2 g3+ 0-1

742 Gopal,G Smirin,Ilia IND-ISR Match 2012 (10.3) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B06 2572 2657 04.04.2012

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.d2 [ 5.h4 immediately is also possible but players generally wait for Black to play ...b5 before going for this - Black can now try f6 preventing h5 is a sensible option 6.e2 h5 and the Bishop is slightly awkwardly placed on e2 ] 5...b5 6.0-0-0 [ Personally I would play 6.h4 immediately and now h6 ( 6...h5 7.f3 d7 8.h3 b7 9.g5 )] 6...d7 7.h4 h5 The problem here is White has a very simple plan of Nh3-g5 now and the knight is very difficult to shift. 8.h3 gf6 [ 8...b7 9.g5 gf6?! 10.e5! is very strong for White because now A) 10...b4 was agreed a draw in Dominguez Perez, L (2719)-Bologan, V (2678) Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 but only because the result sent Dominguez through their knockout match. W hite is basically winning after 11.e2! e4 12.e6! fxe6 ( 12...xd2 13.exf7+ f8 14.f4 is mating ) 13.xb4; B) 10...dxe5 11.dxe5 xe5 ( 11...g4 12.f4 is very unpleasant - Black's pieces a r e p r e t t y b a d l y c o o r d i n a t e d h e r e) 12.xd8+ xd8 13.xd8+ xd8 14.f4 fg4 15.d2 e8 16.fxe5 xe5 and two pawns aren't enough for the piece here. ] [ 8...e6 is a sensible way of playing and now 9.g5 e7 10.b1 b7 11.f3 b6 751

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and Black had reasonable chances in Dominguez Perez, L (2712)-Kamsky, G (2732) Beijing 2011 ] [ 8...b6 also looks like a sensible move but so far it's not been played. I guess play c o u l d c o n t i n u e 9.g5 f6 10.d3 when Black has to be on the lookout for e5e 6 i d e a s s o g4 is a sensible move to consider ] 9.g5 [ 9.e5! is usually the critical test of Black's setup in the positions and now g4 10.e6 fxe6 11.g5 This looks favourable for White ( 11.d3!? ) 11...f8 12.f3! as usual W hite really needs to force the issue in these positions xe3 13.xe3 and Black has real problems unravelling here. ] [ 9.f3 seems a bit slow here for example in Berg, E (2514)-Hillarp Persson, T (2474) Umea 2003 b7 10.g5 0-0 11.f2 b4 12.e2 c5! 13.dxc5 a5 Black managed to get a dangerous attack going bef ore White ] 9...g4 10.f4 White really has to keep hold of this Bishop if he wants any advantage here [ 10.f3 xe3 11.xe3 e5! 12.dxe5 ( 12.d5? h6 i s a w k w a r d) 12...xe5 and Black has at least equalised ] 10...0-0?! After this Black quickly gets into hot water [ 10...c5 is more thematic and now 11.dxc5 ( 11.f3?! cxd4! 12.fxg4 dxc3 13.d5 looks like a winning double-attack but in fact after 0-0 14.xa8 cxb2+ 15.b1 c7 16.d5 b6 followed by Bxg4/Na4 and Black has a serious attack going) 11...xc5 12.f3 e5 with chances for both sides although I quite like Black's position with the strong Bishop on g7 ] 11.f3 gf6?! The game was played at a rapid time-limit so this accounts for a lot of the mistakes - but still it's important to see how quickly a strong player gets into trouble in these lines as Black - I've never really seen the attraction of this way of playing for Black especially against a well-prepared player. [ 11...h6 was relatively best but White is still much better after 12.h3 h7 13.g4 hxg4 14.g5+ ( 14.h5!? i s a l s o d a n g e r o u s) 14...g8 15.h5

and Black is under severe pressure ] 12.e5! Obvious and strong b4 [ 12...h7 13.e6 wins at least an exchange ] 13.b1?! This keeps a clear edge but it's not best [ 13.e2 is more logical with a very strong attack after d5 14.e6 7b6 ( 14...7f6 15.exf7+ h8 16.e3 ) 15.exf7+ h8 16.g4! with what should be a winning attack (and extra pawn) ] 13...d5 14.e6 7b6 15.exf7+ h8 16.g4 [ 16.e1! keeps more control - Black doesn't even have ..e5 with counterplay now ] 16...e5 17.g3 exd4 18.d3?! [ 18.d3! f6 19.d2 bringing the knight to the centre and threatening gxh5 ( not 19.gxh5? f5! )] 18...e3 Now Black is doing OK again although with limited time and a very complex position it's not surprising the rest of the game contains many more mistakes. 19.xg6 d3?! Aggressive but inaccurate [ 19...hxg4! 20.fxg4 xg4 would've kept the game about equal and very unclear ] 20.xd3 bc4 21.c3 hxg4 22.fxg4 xg4 23.df1! [ 23.de1 should also win after bxc3 24.b3! c2 25.c3 and White is winning a piece ] 23...bxc3 24.xc3 d7 [ 24...b8 25.h2 and White has everything covered ] 25.f4 c6 26.e1 White has managed to just about keep control and now Black tries one final trick.... xb2!? 27.xe3 [ 27.xb2?? ab8+ wins ] 27...xc3 28.c2 h5 29.e6! Now White just needs to check on h6 and it's all over g6 30.f2?? A tragic blunder, Gopal finds one of the few rook moves that doesn't win and in fact allows a winning tactic for Smirin [ 30.c4! was the cleanest win - the Queen i s l o s t a s a f t e r xc4 31.h6+ h7 32.xh7# perhaps White forgot about the Bishop on c2 covering h7? ] 30...d3+! 31.d1 [ 31.xd3 d4+ 32.c2 xe3+ picks up the Queen with check ] 31...xf2+ 32.xf2 [ 32.xf2 xf7 and White has nothing ] 32...xc2+ 33.c1 h7 34.d1 a4+ 752

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 35.e2 c4+ 36.d1 xf7 37.h1 I suspect White lost on time here although of course it's time to resign in any case 0-1

743 Gordon,Stephen J Martin,Andrew D 4NCL West Bromwich [Andrew Martin]

B06

09.04.2005

Another tale from the 4 NCL.... 1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.e3 Quite an unusual move but there is nothing wrong with it. W hite deliberately delays Nc3 giving himself the option of c2-c4 should a good opportunity arise. I had to slow down and try to find a good plan. d6 [ The first ( and obvious) line to be considered is 3...c5 4.c3 b6 5.d2 I stared at this position f or a while and d e c id e d t h a t t h is wa sn 't t h e righ t wa y. White's centre is securely protected. ] [ 3...d5! attracted more and I think this is wh at I 'll p la y ne xt time . Th e p oint is t o expose the position of the Bishop on e3. Thus 4.e5 ( 4.exd5 xd5 5.c3 f6 seems quite OK too.) 4...h6! is logical, with .. .c7-c5 to come. But I guess in the end I wa n t e d t o s t i c k wi t h t h e s p i r i t o f t h e Modern and besides, I was happy to take on the Nc3, Be3, Qd2, Nf3 stuff. ] 4.f3 a6 Elastic. Black is waiting for Nc3. 5.d2 c6! There is no need to be too passive. Black intends to play ... e7-e5 and why not! 6.e2 e5 7.d5 [ 7.bc3 f6 is just fine for Black, who will answer 8.0-0-0 with the cold-blooded 0-0 ] 7...ce7 8.c4 So, the critical moment. We go into a King's Indian-type position where Black has to be ve ry caref u l n ot to slip into a n in f e rio r ve rs io n of t h e Classical syst e m . Importantly, he must not make any premature kingside commitments whilst the White King can still go long. f5! However, it's important to put pressure on e4. This does not contradict the last remark, because it's ...f5-f4 that really gums up the works. 9.bc3 f6 10.h3 0-0 11.g4 h8 'In this type of position one always has to consider the fate on the Knight on e7. Thus 11..Kh8! is a good, flexible move, not

only removing the King from any danger on the g file, but also preparing...Neg8, should the need arise. I am very happy with th e Black position here. He has enough space to play with and there's also ...c6 and ... b5 if White castles long. 12.0-0-0 b5! Or maybe even straightaway! W e now see the usefulness of hitting e4. 13.cxb5 [ 13.gxf5 gxf5 14.g1 f4 15.f2 bxc4 leaves White in a bit of a mess. ] 13...axb5 14.a3 [ I expected 14.b4 which I felt was more or less necessary. However d7! 15.gxf5 gxf5 16.g1 f4 17.f2 b8 quite clearly gives Black superior chances, thanks to his safer King. In the game Gordon seems right offcolour and permits Black to muster a crushing attack. ] 14...d7 15.g5 h5 16.g1 b4! Opening up lines is par for the course. 17.axb4 [ 17.b1 bxa3 18.xa3 b8 19.c3 f4 is t oo disgusting f o r word s bu t t he text move might even be worse! ] 17...b8 18.b5 fxe4! When one is ready to commence a direct attack it is very important to bring as many units into play as possible. I couldn't exactly see when and now, but I felt that the options of ...Rxf1 and/or ...Nf4 could be useful at a later stage ( if White survived that long.) 19.fxe4 xb5 20.xb5 xb5 21.c3 b4 No ...Rxf1 then, but the latter idea is put into immediate effect. 22.e2 f4 23.c2 c6! [ 23...fb8 was the original intention, but with White's Queen and King on the same file 23...c6 is much stronger. I think White's lost now. ] 24.h4 cxd5 25.h5 xe2+ 26.xe2 fc8-+ 27.d2 d4 28.h6 dxc3 29.hxg7+ xg7 30.xc3 xc3+ 31.bxc3 xc3+ 32.c2 a1# White's opening idea of delaying Nc3 certainly has merit and Black must beware an unfavourable transposition back into a poor King's Indian. However, with flexible play as displayed here, he should emerge from the opening in good shape. 0-1

753

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 seem playable here and he won't have to B06 worry being wiped off the board as Gormally,Daniel 2479 happened in our main game. ] Shoker,Samy 2485 Uxbridge Int Alekhine (1) 13.02.2010 7.f4 h5 This is suggested as possible in the book but I find it hard to believe. True, Black [Gawain Jones] now has the g4 square to use, but playing so 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 provocatively is really encouraging White to attack you immediately! 8.f3 h6 5.d2 d7 [ 8...e5 was played in Van den Doel, E[ 5...b5 is similar to the Kramnik game seen Rudolf, H Bundesliga 2003 which was a next but with Nf6 played instead of Bg7. disaster for the second player after 9.dxe5 Tiger prefers the game continuation in his dxe5 10.0-0-0 exf4 11.xf4 e7 12.e5 book but we've had a few high recent games 0-0 13.e6 fxe6 14.c4 was already pretty in this line and so I thought we should have disgusting. ] a look. 6.a4 ( 6.d3 f6 I wonder if Black should delay this with either 6...Nd7 or 6... 9.0-0-0 If I'm to be fair I have to say that Black Bb7. 7.a4 b4 8.ce2 a5 9.h6 0-0 10.h4 is far from lost here. However, playing this e5 11.h5 xh5 12.f3 c6 13.g4 f4 position I would be very scared of either an e514.xg7 xg7 15.xf4 exf4 was Bauer, C- e6 break or f4-f5 while his counterplay has yet Todorov, T Vandoeuvre 2010 when the to start. b5 10.d3 g4 11.e5 This move simple 16.xf4 would have given White a has to be carefully judged. On the positive great position.) 6...b4 7.ce2 ( 7.d1 side it hems in the bishop on g7 and opens up was seen in a note to the previous game.) the d3 bishop towards g6 with dangerous e57...a5 8.g3 c6!? ( Tiger only considers e6 threats. On the other hand Black now has 8...d7 ) 9.f3 h5 10.d3 g4 11.g5 the light squares, d5 and f5 and if he can h6 12.h3 c8 looks suspiciously slow for successfully coordinate his pieces then White 12.hf1 Bla ck . Th e ga me progre ssed wit h 13.c3 wi l l f e e l o ve r- e xt e n d e d . b6 bxc3 14.bxc3 d5 15.e5 h4 16.e2 f5 I don't think this is accurate as he doesn't 17.f4 a6 18.0-0 c7 19.ab1 f6?! manage to push f5 through. [ 12.g5 would delay moving the h1 rook It's hard to see how to create counterplay until we know where it's best placed. ] so maybe Black had to sit still as this just worsens his position. 20.f3 e6 21.c2 12...d5 [ 12...f5!? is a typical way to slow White's 0-0 22.xf5 gxf5 23.xh4 was terrible for attack with the neat idea 13.xf5 c4!? Black. Zhigalko, S-Tseshkovsky, V Tashkent ( T h e s im p l e 13...gxf5 is also playable) 2010. ] 14.d3 gxe3 15.xg6 fxg6 16.xg6+ 6.h4! This is supposed to be the most critical d7 17.xg7 g8 18.xg8 axg8 test of Black's opening and given an 19.g1 xd1 20.xd1 with dynamic exclamation mark by both Tiger in his book equality as they say. ] and by John in the archives. e6 This gives the bishop on c8 no [ Normally 6.f3 is played first but then after 13.g5 future. b5 7.h4 h6 could be played ] [ 13...c4 14.xc4 bxc4 and I actually start 6...h6 I don't like this at all, it seems far too to favour Black. He's starting to get slow p re ssu r e d o wn t h e b f ile a n d h a s t o t a l [ 6...h5 immediately is more prudent. Tiger's control over the light squares. You can see mainline runs 7.h3 b5 8.g5 c6! 9.a4 why I said e4-e5 was double-edged. ] b7 10.e2 gf6 11.f3 0-0 12.0-0 f8 15.d1 c4 16.e2 when he considers that e6!? might be 14.de1 Black's best 13.d1 b6 14.axb5 axb5 Gormally has managed to defend the bishop 15.xa8 xa8 16.b3 bd7 17.f2 on e3 so that he doesn't have to give up his giving the resulting position as unclear. I light squared bishop. c5 17.dxc5 gxe3 [ 17...a5!? is more accurate not allowing understand that Black doesn't want to cede White his attack. ] control of g5, but at least the positions 744

754

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.xe3 xc5 It looks like Black is starting to t a k e o ve r s o i t ' s t i m e f o r W h i t e t o f o rc e through his attack. 19.xc4 bxc4 20.f5! It comes later than expected but now White uses his development advantage to crash through. Significant sacrificed material is required. xe3+ [ 20...gxf5 21.xf5! White has to keep up his aggression. exf5 22.e6 f6 23.exf7+ f8 When the cool 24.d1! looks great for W hite. He has dual threats of Re8+ and Qxd5 while e7 25.xe7 xe7 26.xd5! b8 27.e1+ f8 28.e8+ g7 29.g8+ mates ] 21.xe3 gxf5 22.xf5! More fuel on the fire. White has to open Black's position at any cost o r h e will h a ve n o co m p e n s a t io n f o r t h e sacrificed pawn. exf5 23.e6 f6 [ 23...fxe6 24.xe6 A) 24...xe6 25.xe6+ and Black loses too much material to stave off mate. f8 26.xf5+ g7 27.e6 h6 28.e5+ h7 ( 28...f6 29.e7+ i s s i m i l a r) 29.e7+ xe7 30.xe7+ when the queen picks up all the loose pawns.; B) 24...f6! is a very brave way of playing for Black but maybe White has no more than to win back the material. 25.c7+ f7 26.xa8 regaining material equality when I favour W hite with Black's loose king position. ] [ 23...f6 24.exf7+ d7 25.e6! puts Black in all kinds of problems. ( 25.e8+ d6 isn't so clear.) 25...b8 ( 25...xf7 26.b6! with no defence to 27. Nc5 mate or at least picking up the queen.) 26.c3 c6 ( 26...xf7 27.e5!+- ) 27.f8 xf8 28.c5+ b7 29.xf8 and material's level but Black's king still hasn't f o un d safety. ( In fact 29.xf8 is also possible as Black's pawns are all stuck on vulnerable squares. )] 24.f7 a5 25.xh8 Danny has regained the sacrificed rook and still has a decisive i n i t i a t i v e f4 26.e2 f3 27.gxf3 Black temporarily closes up the d1-h5 diagonal to stop the queen infiltrating but now Black is even material down. b7 [ 27...xa2 28.g2! a1+ 29.d2 a5+ 30.c3 would also be time to resign. ] 28.e7 d4 29.f7 d5 30.d8 d3 31.d2

[ I'd be tempted to go for 31.g2 forcing d2+ t o p r e v e n t 3 2 . Q g 6 + 32.xd2 xd2+ 33.xd2 xf3 34.e6+Everything is winning by this point though. ] 31...c3 32.bxc3 dxc2 33.xc2 f5 34.a4+ An enjoyable game to annotate but not to play on the Black side. However his position was playable had he not allowed the f5 break. Nonetheless, I don't like 6...h6 and think the positions are easier for White to play as Black has to be constantly on the lookout for this type of sacrificial attack. 1-0

745 Greet,Andrew Conquest,Stuart 92nd ch Douglas IOM (8) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2425 2503 09.08.2005

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6! 5.f3 It seems to me that many, many players are churning out this stuff EXPECTING an opening advantage. Tiger Hillerp Persson's excellent new book on the Modern should help to dispel those illusions as well as my own upcoming book on the Hippo. Black is in good shape after 4 Be3 and 5 Nf3. d7 6.c4 F r e d R e i n f e l d w o u l d h a v e a p p r o v e d . e6 Of course! Black shuts down the Bishop. 7.a4 b6 8.0-0 e7 I suppose th ere are various scenarios where Black might benefit from leaving his Bishop on c8. I'm thinking of a variation where White plays d4-d5, Black ...e6e5 in response and then the Bishop is in pole position to support ...f7-f5! But such lines are rare White doesn't hurry to close the centre [ 8...b7 is of course, natural and probably makes little difference at this stage: A) 9.d2 h6! An absolutely key move, preventing both Bg5, disrupting, and Bh6 a t a n y s t a g e . 10.e1 df6 D e n yi n g W h i t e f 2 - f 4 a n d e g g i n g h i m forward in the centre. 11.f3 ( 11.d5 e5 12.h3 e7 13.d3 g5 ) 11...d5 12.exd5 exd5 13.b3 e7 14.e2 f5 15.f4 g5 16.e5 0-0 17.c3 Dirr, U-Thiede, L/ Germany 2004 and now e8 gives Black a perfectly playable position.; 755

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 9.e1 gf6 10.f4 0-0 11.f1 e8 12.g3 c5 13.xd6 cxd4 14.xd4 c5 I daresay both players were happy with this result it certainly looks that way! ] 9.d2 h6 10.h3 b7 11.fe1 f6 I was commentating live at the British Championships on the game and it became clear at this point that Greet didn't have the faintest idea what to do. White has arranged his pieces in the usual pretty picture but what next? Seeing this and other similar games it's clear to me that W hite has real problems placing his Bishops correctly against the Hippo this is the key opening problem to solve. 12.f4 g5 13.h2 [ 13.g3 would have least have saved a little time, but you could not say that the position is at all clear: g6 14.d5 e5 15.a5 b5 16.d3 h5 ( 16...g4 17.hxg4 c8! ) 17.h2 hf4 ] 13...g4 Why not? Black takes the initiative. 14.hxg4 xg4 15.g3 g6 16.h2 h5! A strong move and distinctly annoying for Greet who finds himself on the back foot with the White pieces after only 16 moves! What advice can one offer apart from try to sit tight! 17.ad1 [ 17.xg4 hxg4 18.ad1 h7! gives Black all the chances. ] 17...f8?! This one was a shock to the audience a move which nobody could understand and particularly when Black has a very promising alternative: [ 17...h4! 18.xg4 ( 18.xd6 xf2! 19.xf2 cxd6 20.f1 c7 ) 18...hxg3 19.fxg3 c5! White creaks on the dark squares. ] 18.e2 [ 18.xg4 hxg4 19.e2 h6 20.d3 g5 de mo n st ra t es t h at B lack is st ill f u lly in charge of the initiative. ] 18...g5 19.f3 e7 20.h2 f6 21.f1 h4 Vast amounts of time were being eaten up over these moves clear evidence that Hippo position are sometimes difficult to play. White has problems: his King is in the firing line! 22.h2 h6 23.f3 h7 24.h5 f6 25.f3 g7 26.h3 Greet recognises that all he can do is not to weaken his position and wait for Black. ag8 27.d5 e5 [ 27...c8 28.dxe6 xe6 29.xe6 xe6

is not quite as accurate. With the exchange of queens comes relief for White. ] 28.e3 xe3 29.fxe3 Sacrificing the exchange to try and get a bit of counterplay. [ 29.xe3 c8! leaves the Queen with no squares. ] [ After 29.xe3 g4 30.h3 G r e e t p r o b a b l y f o u n d ( 30.f3 c8 ) 30...c8 unattractive. He's worse, he's defending and he's got no time . ] 29...c8 30.f3 g4 31.f1 xd1 32.xd1 a5 [ I daresay with more time Conquest would have settled for 32...xe4 33.xa6 g5 ] 33.f2 f8 34.e2 g7 35.f3 d7 36.b3 h3 The concentration of force against the White King is considerable. In every respect 36...h3 is the correct move. 37.g3 h4 38.e2 [ 38.h1 e7 39.xh3 g6 40.g2 gh7-+ ] 38...xf3+ 39.xf3 h6 40.c4 e7 41.f1 g4-+ 42.xg4 xg4 43.e2 f6 44.h1 gg6 45.f1 g4+ 46.d3 xf1 47.xf1 f6 48.e2 f3 49.e1 f5 0-1

746 Hansen,Per Hillarp Persson,Tiger 6th Gibtelecom Masters (3) [John Watson]

B06 2108 2535 24.01.2008

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.f3 b5 6.d3 d7 7.e5 c5 8.e4 b8 9.g5 h6 10.xf7? This is self-destructive. A much more interesting move is [ 10.e6 , wh e n a p o ssib le lin e is f6 ( 10...fxe6?? 11.xe6 a5 12.xg7+ f7 13.h5! ) 11.c6+ f8 12.exf7 xf7 ( 12...cxd4 13.d5!? is fairly crazy) 13.dxc5 ( 13.d5!? ) 13...h6 14.xf7 xf7 15.e2 ] 10...xf7 11.e6 cxd4 12.exf7+ [ 12.exd7+ xd7 13.e2 b6 14.g3 0-0 15.0-0 bc8 with an extra centre pawn and superior position. The game is similar. ] 12...xf7 13.d5 c5 14.f3 e6 15.b4 d7 16.0-0 f8 17.b1 g8 18.c3 e5 19.c6 xc6 20.xc6 dxc3 21.bxc3 h8 22.h1 c8 23.d5 a4 24.d2 exf4 756

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 This is pretty bad for White - the rest is not 4...h5 easy, because Black allows opposite[ 4...d5!? coloured bishops, but it's probably always A) 5.e5 has been tried here but it doesn't under control. 25.b7 xc3 26.xc3 xc3 make much sense to me as Black got a 27.xa6 f3 28.b7 fxg2+ 29.xg2 c5 very comfortable game after c5! 6.dxc5 30.d3 xf1+ 31.xf1 e5 32.h3 g7 d4 7.a4 a5+ 8.c3 dxc3 ( 8...d7!? 33.e6 c7 34.d5 e7 35.g4 c7 9.b6 dxc3 was also worth considering) 36.e6 b4 37.h3 g5 38.f3 c8 9.bxc3? ( 9.xc3 was more sensible but I 39.h3 c7 40.f3 f6 41.b3 c1 still think Black has the more pleasant 42.d1 h5 43.f1 xd1 44.xd1 f4 position after c6 ) 9...d7 and White 45.e2 e5 46.c4 g5 47.b3 g4 48.d5 was already in a lot of trouble in Cao Sang h6 49.e4 g5 50.d5 h4 51.e4 c1+ (2488)-Bauer, C (2629)/Dresden GER 0-1 2007; B) 5.xd5 c6 6.e3 xd4 7.xd4 xd4 was played by Chernyshov back in 747 B06 2003 against Motylev and is examined by Andrew Martin in the archives. ] Harutjunyan,G 2455 Chernyshov,Konstantin 2561 5.f3 [ 5.g5!? was tried in another recent game 28th Cappelle Open (2) 04.03.2012 but it seems a shame to me to take a square [Tom Rendle] t h e k n i g h t s e e m s b e t t e r s u i t e d t o b5 ( 5...f6 looks better as White gains nothing 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 a6 I quite like this with 6.e5 g4 7.e2 c6 8.0-0-0 d5 move, delaying playing d6 and waiting to see and the position is fairly balanced.) 6.a4 b4 what setup White employs 4.h4 7.d5 b7!? ( 7...a5 looks too slow and [ 4.e3 b5 5.d2 was examined by after 8.f3 c6 9.f4 f6 10.d3 Gawain in Tirard, H-Bauer, C ] and Black is lacking any control over the [ 4.a4 is a quieter approach from White and centre ) 8.c4 f6 9.f3 and White had a may keep a minimal edge, for example d6 dangerous initiative in the game Babujian, ( 4...d5!? 5.xd5 e6 is still an option for L (2474)-Minasian, A (2525)/Yerevan ARM Black ) 5.e3 f6 for example see Meijers2012 although Black eventually went on to Kengis in the archives ] win a topsy-turvy encounter. ] [ 4.f4 is quite an aggressive way to meet 3... a6 and now d5!? is an interesting idea that 5...d6 [ 5...b5 was played by Chernyshov was p la ye d a co up le o f time s la st yea r previously and looks to be more in the spirit 5.xd5 e6 6.c3 ( or 6.e3 xd4 7.d3 of 3...a6. However perhaps he didn't fancy c6 8.f3 c5 9.c4 f6 10.e3 e7 meeting an improvement after 6.a4 b4 with chances for both sides in Gabuzyan, H 7.d5 b7 8.c4 ( 8.f4!? d6 9.xb4 (2394)-Minasian, A (2558)/Jermuk ARM xe4 10.g5 b7 11.c4 2011 ) 6...xd4 7.f3 this looks too is one dangerous line that he might've been a m b i t i o u s t o m e ( 7.xd4 is probably a trying to a void) 8...e6 9.xb4 xe4 more circumspect way to play as W hite which was perhaps a little better for White keeps a minimal edge after xd4 8.d2 in Voitsekhovsky, S (2503)-Chernyshov, K c6 9.f3 a7 10.0-0-0 ) 7...c6 8.ge2 (2567)/Voronezh RUS 2007 ] b6 9.d2?! ( 9.a3 ge7 is only a tiny bit I must confess that I quite like these b e t t e r f o r B l a c k a s W h i t e s t i l l h a s 6.g5 problems getting castled.) 9...xb2 10.d1 lines where W hite gets a knight to g5 as it w a s p l a y e d i n S v e s h n i k o v , V ( 2 4 0 7 ) - a lwa ys se e m s t o gu a ra n t e e ch a n c e s f o r Fedorchuk, S (2618)/Presolana ITA 2011 Kingside play - however it's probably just and now ge7! would've left White personal taste. f6 [ 6...c6 was tried in a previous game and struggling to show any compensation for the then 7.e3 e5 8.dxe5 xe5 ( 8...dxe5?? pawn. ] 757

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.xd8+ xd8 10.d5 would be something of a disaster) 9.d2 f6 10.h3 e6 11.f4 f7 12.f3 e7 and here the simple 13.0-0-0 would've given White an excellent position in Karpatchev, A (2477)Kondenko, A (2254)/Novgorod RUS 1999 ] 7.c4 0-0 8.f4 b5 9.b3 The Bishop is excellently placed here and, as we shall see, Black has to be very wary of problems down the a2-g8 diagonal. b4 [ 9...e6 attempting to block the diagonal and play a position similar to a Hippo would've been more sensible. A possible continuation would be 10.0-0 b7 11.d3 bd7 12.ad1 b4 13.e2 e7 14.a3!? and I slightly prefer W hite here although Black's position is solid. ] 10.e2 b7 11.d3 a5? Black's sense of danger seems to have deserted him [ 11...e6 Chernyshov really should've taken time out to blunt the Bishop although White is better after 12.f3 ] 12.e5! dxe5 [ 12...d5 is no better as after 13.e6 f5 14.xd5! xd5 15.e3 Nf4 is coming and Black's position is deeply unpleasant. ] 13.xe5 d5 [ 13...e6 14.f4 d5 transposes to the note below ] 14.f4 c6? After this Black is simply lost [ 14...e6! was the only chance and now W hite has a lot of tempting options but I don't see a convincing win. Perhaps best is 15.xd5 exd5 16.g4!? with a strong attack. The pawn shouldn't be taken as after hxg4 ( 16...bd7! 17.gxh5 e7 is a better try but it doesn't look great for Black) 17.h5! fd7 18.xg7 xg5 19.e3! White is winning because the Bishop is immune from capture as xg7 20.e6+ wins the Queen ] 15.xd5 cxd5 16.g4! Already Black has no defence c6 [ f or example 16...bd7 17.gxh5 xh5 18.xg6! fxg6 19.xg6 df6 20.xf6 xf6 ( 20...xf6? 21.e6 wins ) 21.h7+ f8 22.xh5 and White is two pawns up with an attack ] 17.gxh5 xe5 18.dxe5 e4 What else? 19.hxg6 f6 [ 19...xg5 20.hxg5 fxg6 21.xg6 is also easily winning for White ]

20.xe4 dxe4 21.c4+ h8 22.e2 A crushing victory for White but Black players need not despair: early d5 deviations as well as Hippo structures involving an early ..e6 both give reasonable chances. 1-0

748 Hector,Jonny Gurevich,Mikhail Mariehamn Mariehamn (Sweden) (2) [Nigel Davies]

B06

1997

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5 6.e3 h6 [ After 6...b6 White should choose between 7.Na4 and 7.Rb1, as after 7.d2 xb2 8.b1 a3 9.d3 h6 10.ge2 e6 he did not have enough for the pawn in Edelman - Chernin, USA 1990 ] 7.d2 g4 'Winning' the two bishops, not that it's so important in such a position. White can argue that his dark-square bishop is 'bad'. 8.d1 [ In Marusenko - McNab, London 1993, W h i t e p l a y e d t h e c o m m i t t a l 8.0-0-0 and after xe3 9.xe3 g4 10.f3 e6 11.g3 a5 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 b4 14.b1 xc3 15.xc3 xc3 16.bxc3 d7 Black was certainly no worse. ] 8...f5 9.f3 xe3 10.xe3 e6 11.e2 b6 12.0-0 c5 13.a4 [ W h i t e wa s p r o b a b l y t e m p t e d b y 13.c4 but then cxd4 14.xf5 gxf5 leaves him no time for 15.cxd5 because of d3+ ] 13...cxd4 14.xd4 c5 15.b5+ f8 16.a5 c7 17.exf5 gxf5 18.b4 xd4+ 19.xd4 g7 20.a3 h4 21.c3 e7 22.g4 hxg3 [ And not 22...fxg4 b e c a u s e o f 23.f5 . Also after Gurevich's move it looks as if White has a strong initiative. ] 23.xg3+ f8 24.ff3 c6 25.xc6 bxc6 26.h3 g8+ 27.fg3 xg3+ 28.xg3 b8 29.c3 c5 The thematic counterplay comes at last. What follows looks like a ferocious time scramble, with White trying to give mate and Bla ck' s kin g h e a d in g f o r t h e h ills . 30.f2 cxb4 31.h3 c7 32.h4 bxc3 33.h8+ e7 34.f6+ e8 35.h8+ d7 758

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 You need nerves of steel to play like this! 36.xf7+ c6 37.xe6+ c5 38.xb8 xb8 39.xf5 b2 40.c8+ b4 There's nothing to be done about the advance of Black's c-pawn. 0-1

749 Howell,David Aronian,Levon Schachbundesliga 2011-12 (9) [Tom Rendle]

B06 2633 2807 05.02.2012

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c4!? f6 5.e2 This strikes me as quite a straightforward way to play as White - the idea is to establish a pawn on e5 early on without allo win g t he s wap o f Qu e e n s t h a t wo u ld otherwise occur after dxe5 dxe5. It's interesting to see how the world no. 2 responds. 0-0 6.e5 [ 6.0-0 is perhaps a safer way to play for a small edge and now e5 ( 6...g4!? ) 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.d1 e7 9.b3 was featured in a top-level rapid game between Topalov and Mamedyarov in the archives. ] 6...dxe5 7.dxe5 d5 8.h3 [ 8.0-0! looks like a more critical test of Black's setup - the question is does White have to be afraid of Bg4 - I think the answer is 'not really'. g4 ( 8...c6 9.h3 e6 10.g5 c8 was played in Sax-Palkovi and now 11.b3 is slightly better for White) 9.bd2 b6 10.h3 ( 10.b3 c6 11.e6 f5 with chances for both sides in Schlosser, P (2511)-Bologan, V (2684)/Mulhouse FRA 2001 ) 10...xc4 11.hxg4! xd2 12.xd2 c6 13.c3 d5 14.fd1 c5 15.d7 and White was on top and went on to win in the game Hernandez, H (2473) -Arencibia, W (2516)/Yucatan MEX 2004 ] 8...e6 [ 8...b6 is Black's main alternative and now A) 9.e6!? xc4 10.exf7+ h8?! ( 10...xf7 is an obvious improvement 11.xc4 h6! and I think Black's two Bishops and lead in development are enough for equality here) 11.xc4 c6 12.0-0 was better for White in Hebden, M (2556)-Mangione, C (2087)/Leicester ENG

2010; B) 9.b3 B1) 9...a5 has been tried a couple of times but I think White should be better after 10.e6 ( 10.a4!? ) 10...xe6 11.xe6 fxe6 12.xe6+ h8 13.0-0 although the advantage is only small; B2) 9...c6 10.0-0 ( 10.c3 looks like a possible improvement to me, for example d4 11.xd4 xd4 12.f4 e6 13.e3 d7 14.0-0 was better for W hite in the games Tesik, C (2275)Szablowski, P (2340)/ Budapest HUN 2011 and Enders, P (2485)-Huss, R ( 2 2 2 0 ) / B a d Z w e s t e n G E R 1 9 9 9) 10...d4 11.xd4 xd4 with balanced chances was covered by Rowson in the game Tregubov-McShane ] 9.0-0 d7 10.d2 a5 The first new move comes from Aronian [ 10...c6 looks quite reasonable for Black e. g. 11.e1 ( 11.c3!? c7 12.fe1 is interesting but hardly a problem for Black) 11...a5 12.c3 7b6 13.xd5 xd5 ( 13...cxd5= is more solid) 14.e4 c7 and Black was doing f ine in Riordan, C (2270)-Ivanov, A (2565)/Foxwoods USA 2007 ] 11.c3 7b6 After this White seems to get some advantage [ 11...c6 might be an improvement but then I don't see any reason not to have played it on move 10. Now White can try for an edge with 12.ad1 a4 13.a3 c7 14.fe1 a n d t h e p a wn o n e 5 i s s t i l l r e s t r i c t i n g Black's game somewhat ] 12.xd5! David correctly judges that giving up the B isho p pa ir is the way t o play f or a n advantage [ after 12.xd5 xc4 13.f4 xd2 14.xd2 f5 15.f3 c6 Black has comfortably equalised ] 12...xd5 [ 12...xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.b3! fd8 15.ad1 c6 16.c4 and White has a nice space advantage and the Bishop on g7 is still a problem for Black ] 13.e4 I think the opening has been something of a success for Howell, especially against such an illustrious opponent. Aronian now does his best to cause complications and 759

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 in f act his next move of f ers a p awn . b4 14.xb4 Which David decides to grab [ perhaps a safer option would be to leave the pawn along and attempt to keep a slight edge with 14.ad1 c8 ( 14...xa2?! is far too greedy because after 15.h6 c8 16.xg7 xg7 17.c5 b4 18.d4 W h i t e h a s a ve r y s t r o n g i n i t i a t i v e a n d Black's pieces are rather uncoordinated) 15.a3 d5 ( not 15...xc2?? 16.d3 a n d t h e k n ig h t is t ra p p e d) 16.g5!? and with c4 coming Black would have some tricky problems to solve ] 14...axb4 15.fd1 c8 16.b5 c6 17.xb4 d5 I would guess this was the position Black envisaged when he decided to sacrifice the pawn with 13...Nb4. My feeling is that White should be better but it's no longer so easy to suggest a plan and David has definitely lost some of his earlier control. Still, a pawn is a pawn..... 18.ed2?! [ 18.e1! was perhaps the critical test of the sacrifice and now there are a few options f5 was probably Aronian's intention and now ( 18...c5!? 19.xc5 xc5 20.xc5 fc8 21.b4 e6 and Black is following up with Bf8 - still I hardly believe White isn't a little better here after 22.c4 xf3 23.gxf3; 18...c7 19.c4 xe4 20.xe4 is clearly better for White) 19.xe7! ( 19.a4 is safer ) 19...xe4 ( 19...fe8 20.h4 xe5 21.xe5 xe5 22.f6+ g7 23.xd5 xd5 24.e2 and Black's central control is not worth a pawn) 20.d4 perhaps this move was missed xe5 ( 20...f4 21.g3 and Black will have to take on e5 anyway) 21.xe5 xe5 22.xe4 f6 23.c3 a4 and I guess Black should hold a draw but only White can be pressing here ] 18...c7 19.c4 [ maybe it was time to offer the return of the pawn with 19.a4 a n d n o w a f t e r xe5 ( 19...fd8!? keeps compensation) 20.xe5 xe5 21.c4 e6 22.f3! c7 23.e1 I prefer W hite as Black is a bit tied down and Black is missing his fianchettoed Bishop ] 19...c5! 20.b5 e6 Now Aronian seems to have equalised although to David's credit he fights hard and only starts to get outplayed around the time-control on move 40. 21.e4

a5 22.b3 b5! [ 22...xe5 also wins the pawn but again Black is loathe to swap off his dark-squared Bishop 23.xe5 xe5 24.c3 is perhaps a little better for White ] 23.e3 bxc4 24.c3 h6 Cutting out any Ng5 ideas White might've had 25.d2 b8 26.ad1 c8 27.e4 a7 28.a3 f8 Perhaps preparing Rb7 without allowing Rd8+ [ 28...b7 29.d8+ h7 30.xc8 xc8 31.d8!? c7 32.d2 just looks equal (White would be better but I see no plan at all to improve the position) ] 29.d5 [ 29.e2!? looks like a reasonable alternative and now after b3 30.h4 White is actually threatening to do something! b7 31.c2 and if Black isn't happy to repeat with Qb3 then I think White has some edge here as both Nf4 and f2-f4 are possibilities ] 29...b3 30.c3 David is happy to offer a repetition and ask Aronian to come up with a plan f5 Aronian declines the repetition but objectively after this White is better 31.e3! aa8?! 32.e1?! [ 32.g4! now was the time to go for it - White suddenly seems to have a dangerous attack after A) 32...d3 33.e6! ( 33.e1 g7 34.f4 g5! i s n ' t s o c l e a r) 33...f6 34.e1 is very unpleasant for Black; B) 32...e6 33.h4 with f4-f5 looking difficult to stop ] 32...h5! Now it's too late 33.h2 [ 33.f3 was better, hoping for Ng5 and perhaps a tiny edge ] 33...g7 34.f3 b7 35.f4 h6 36.g1 a6 White has drifted over the last few moves and suddenly Black's pieces are looking well coordinated and there's nothing for White to do but sit and wait. 37.d5 e6 38.f2 g7 39.c3 b6 Aronian is a master at slowly increasing the pressure - Howell is forced to simply shuffle around and see if Black can breakthrough his defences. 40.h2 b3 41.e2 b6 42.g1 a5 43.f3 d8 44.xd8 xd8 45.f2 h4! 46.h2 d7 47.h1 b8 48.e4? The decisive mistake [ David should tried passive defence with 48.e3 d4 49.c2 d3 50.c1 760

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 although it's pretty grim for White. Black has a number of ways to increase pressure perhaps Kf8, Qf5 and ...g5 or alternatively just an immediate ..f6!? ] 48...d5! 49.e3 xe4 50.xe4 d4 51.c2 [ 51.xd4 cxd4 is easily winning for Black, the central pawns are far too strong ] 51...xf4 A pawn drops and the Bishop is finally let into the game 52.e2 g3 53.f3 d3 54.g1 d8 55.d2? a final blunder but it was completely lost anyway [ after 55.f1 d1+ 56.xd1 xd1+ 57.e1 g5 White is so tied up Black can choose any way to win he wants ] 55...xc2 Despite the result I think this Bc4, Qe2 system is a very sensible way to play I'm not totally convinced that Aronian improved with his novelty. 0-1

750 Humphrey,Jonathan Hofman,Ron 12th Essent Open (2) [John Watson]

B06 2330 2165 18.10.2008

The players seem to know their theory, and this game confirms the general verdict. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.f3 b5 6.d3 d7 7.e5 c5 8.g5 h6 Safe. [ 8...cxd4!? 9.e6 f5! is a more exciting line that has been played by Tiger, with the idea 10.exd7+ ( 10.d5 c5 11.f7 xe6 12.xd8 xd5 is Tiger's other sacrificial line, which seems to give Black plenty of compensation) 10...xd7 11.b1!? e5 12.0-0 e7 'and White has some problems d i s e n t a n g l i n g h i s p i e c e s ' . ( 12...h6 is also promising, I think )] 9.f3 Apparently harmless. This is an important juncture, for example, [ 9.e6 f6 10.dxc5 dxc5 is a game from t h e b o o k t h e n 11.xb5!? is Rybka's suggestion, when c4! 12.exf7+ f8 13.f3 b8 14.a7 cxd3 15.c6 is wild. ] 9...b8 10.e6 f6 11.dxc5 fxe6 12.0-0 0-0 13.cxd6 [ 13.e3 f5 14.xf5 gxf5 15.cxd6 exd6 is good for Black, because 16.a7 b4!

is strong. ] 13...exd6 14.d2 The first new move. Yemelin-Mehmedovic, Neum 2002 went [ 14.ce4 xe4 15.xe4 , and both Tiger a n d R yb ka 3 l ik e f5 with an advantage (centre pawns), in view of 16.xe6?? b6+ 17.h1 d5 ] 14...f5 15.ae1 d5!? [ 15...e8 is a simple alternative, about equal. ] 16.h3 d4!? [ 16...d6 ] 17.e5 A creative and eccentric odd move, with ambitious intent. But the obvious [ 17.e3! poses problems on the dark squares. ] 17...c6 18.fe1! b6+ [ 18...xe5 19.fxe5 h5 20.g4 gives White excellent compensation. ] 19.e3 d4 20.f2 h6!? 21.f3 xe5 22.xe5 d6 23.e4 [ 23.e2! leaves g6 a target White should have some advantage in that case, in view of g5 24.fxg5 xe5 25.gxh6! ] 23...xe4 24.xe4 xf4! 25.xf4 xe5 26.xd4 g5 27.e4 e5 28.g3 xg3 29.xg3 f5 30.e3 ½-½

751 Hunt,A Svidler,Peter Gibraltar Open (4.14) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B06 2462 2749 27.01.2012

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.f4 b5 6.d3 [ 6.e2 b4 can be seen in the archives in Nachev, S - Khismatullin, D ] [ 6.f3 allows Black the additional option of ...b4 which was examined in 1-0 Slobodjan, R - Azmaiparashvili, Z ] 6...b7 7.f3 d7 [ 7...b4 has featured quite a lot recently here t o o a n d n o w 8.e2 f6 9.g3 0-0 ( 9...bd7 10.d2 a5 11.f5 gave White a dangerous initiative in Moiseenko, A (2715)-Komljenovic, D (2451) San Sebastian 2011) 10.d2 a5 11.f5 g4 12.g5 c5 and now 13.f4 would've given 761

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 W hite a pleasant advantage in Xu Yuhua (2484) -Li Chao2 (2619) Hefei 2010. ] 8.e5 h6 Svidler chooses a rare option here, possibly hoping for early complications [ 8...c5 9.e4 was covered in Smeets, JSiebrecht, S ] [ 8...e6 has been covered in the notes before and it does still seem that White is better after 9.a4 b4 10.e4 so perhaps 8... Nh6 is the critical move in the line at this time ] 9.e2 [ 9.e4 hasn't scored well for White c8 10.d3 0-0 11.0-0-0 c6 12.g5 b6 13.h4 d5 14.f3 b4 15.e2 a5 16.g3 a6 17.d2 c4 18.e1 f6 19.h3 a4 20.b1 b3 21.cxb3 axb3 22.axb3 xe3 23.xe3 fxe5 24.fxe5 f5 25.xf5 xf5+ 26.c1 e6 27.g5 f7 28.h5 d3 29.e3 f5 30.hxg6 b1 31.d2 c2+ 32.e1 xg6 33.f2 a2 34.h5 xg2 35.e2 xb2+ 0-1 Green, A (2203) Rowson, J (2591) Edinburgh SCO 2009 ] 9...c5 [ 9...b6 10.a4 b4 11.e4 was covered by Andrew Martin in Zufic, M-Nevednichy, V where Black didn't fully manage to solve his opening problems ] 10.dxc5 dxe5N a critical new move which may go some way to rehabilitating the line for Black [ 10...xc5 11.xc5 dxc5 12.0-0-0 b6 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 0-0 15.d5 a7 16.e3 fd8 17.g4 was good for White in Saric, I (2511) -Muse, M (2444) Sibenik 2008. ] [ 10...0-0 was played in Suetin, A (2505) Sznapik, A (2325) Sochi 1974 but it doesn't seem to be as convincing as after 11.0-0-0 Black doesn't have a better option than dxe5 here ( 11.e4!? also looks like a strong option for White )] 11.fxe5 [ 11.0-0-0!? ] [ 11.xe5! is Houdini's suggestion and indeed it will probably prove to be the acid test of this line, for example xe5 ( 11...0-0 is likely to transpose) 12.fxe5 0-0 ( 12...f5 13.0-0 doesn't look convincing for Black either and I prefer W hite's chances after c8!? 14.ae1! ) 13.0-0 when a critical

position has been reached. Black may have two good Bishops and dynamic chances but White is still a pawn up and it's up to Black to demonstrate adequate compensation in this position - and that's easier said than done! ] 11...c7 Accurate play from Svidler [ 11...0-0?! would be a mistake as now 12.e6 is strong because of the nice line fxe6? 13.xh6! xf3 ( 13...xh6 14.c6! wins a piece) 14.xe6+ f7 15.xg7 xc5 16.e3 xd3+ 17.cxd3 xg2 18.g1 White should be winning although there is still some work to be done. ] 12.e6!? an interesting try but it doesn't seem to lead to an advantage for White [ 12.e4 is worth a closer look although I believe Black has good chances after xe4 13.xe4 xe5 14.0-0-0 0-0 and here if W hite is going to look for an advantage either 15.b1 ( or 15.f4 should be examined )] [ 12.0-0-0 is very likely to transpose to either the game or the above note after 0-0 ] 12...fxe6 13.0-0-0 [ Given the way the game went perhaps White regretted not castling kingside 13.0-0 g4 ( 13...0-0!? ) 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 xb2 is very unclear ] 13...f5 bringing the knight into the centre [ 13...xc5 looks risky, for example 14.xc5 xc5 15.e4 b6 ( 15...xe4 16.xe4 0-0 17.xe6+ f7 18.h4 ) 16.d6+! ] [ 13...0-0 14.g5 causes problems for Black ] 14.e4 very logical but things start to become quickly difficult for Adam [ 14.xf5!? exf5 15.d4 xd4 ( 15...f4+ 16.b1 xf3 17.f2! xd4 18.xd4 e5 19.xf3 looks promising for White) 16.xd4 xc5 17.xf5 f4+ ( 17...gxf5 18.h5+ f8 19.xf5+ g7 20.g5+ f8 21.hf1+ wins ) 18.e3 and now Black should swap Queens into a roughly level endgame A) 18...xf5? 19.hf1 c8 ( 19...h5 20.g4 ) 20.e5; B) 18...xe3+ 19.xe3 0-0= ] [ 14.g5 is very dangerous and perhaps c r i t i c a l f o r e xa m p l e xc3 ( 14...xe3 15.xe6 e5 16.xg7+ f7 17.xg6+ 762

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 hxg6 18.xd7 c6 19.d2 xg7 20.e1 regains piece with edge) 15.xe6 e5 16.xf5 xb2+ 17.b1 f6 with huge complications ( not 17...gxf5?? 18.h5#; 17...xf5? or 18.c7+ )] 14...0-0 [ 14...xe3 15.xe3 d5! also looks promising for Black as after 16.h4 a5 Black's attack feels more dangerous ] 15.b1 [ 15.f2 d5 16.b1 would transpose to the following note ] 15...d5 16.a3? things go downhill from here Svidler quickly seizes the opportunity to play a thematic b4 break and open up the Queenside [ 16.f2 was necessary here, although White is basically having to find only moves in order to survive a5 17.c4! ( 17.a3?! b4 18.a4 b3! is strong for Black for example 19.cxb3 xb3 20.c4 ab8; 17.b3 xe4 18.xe4 c3 ) 17...bxc4 18.xc4 ab8 19.xd5 incredibly this seems to end in a d ra w b y f o rc e a f t e r ( 19.b3? loses to a fantastic variation xb3+ 20.xb3 xb3 21.axb3 a1+ 22.c2 b2+ 23.d3 xb3+ 24.d2 b4+ 25.c2 b8 26.b1 a4+ 27.c1 h6+ 28.ed2 a3+ 29.c2 a2+ 30.c3 g7+ 31.d3 xc5+ 32.xc5 d8+ 33.e4 d5+ 34.f4 h5! 35.g4 e5+ 36.xe5 xe5+ 37.xe5 xd2+ 38.e3 xe3 39.e6+ f8 40.xe3 d4+ 41.f3 hxg4+; 19.d2 a3 ) 19...xb2! ( 19...xb2+ 20.xb2 xb2 21.xd7 and W hite has too much material for the Queen; 19...exd5 20.xd5+ h8 21.b3 also seems to be better for White) 20.b3 xb3 21.axb3 a1+ 22.c2 a2 23.xd7 d4+ 24.d1 a1+ 25.d2 a5+ 26.d1 a1+ 27.d2 a5+= ] 16...ab8 and already White's position seems indefensible 17.f2 [ 17.c3 doesn't help at all after a5 18.f2 b4 ] 17...b4 18.a4 b3 19.c4 [ 19.c3 a5 ] 19...xe4 20.xe4 xc5 Svidler calmly grabs a pawn and keeps an ongoing attack 21.xc5 xc5 22.xe6+ other options are no better

[ 22.g5 d4 23.h4 h6 ] [ 22.he1 a5 23.c5 h8 ] 22...h8 23.he1?! [ 23.xf5 was the last chance to fight on but Black is of course doing very well after xf5 ] 23...b6 [ 23...a5 should also win quickly ] 24.d5 b4 25.xf5 this quickly leads to mate but White is also lost after [ 25.e5 d6! 26.a5 ( 26.c5 xa4 ) 26...xc4 ] 25...xa4 26.d4 xf5 27.d8+ f8 28.xe7 [ 28.xb6 a2+ 29.c1 h6+ 30.d2 a1# ] 28...a2+ 29.c1 a1+ 30.d2 xb2+ 31.e3 f2+ 32.e4 f4+ 33.d5 xd4+ 34.xd4 xd4# A fine game from Svidler who breathes new life into 8... Nh6, although W h i t e p l a ye rs s h o u ld lo o k t o 1 1 . N e 5 a s probably the best way to counter Svidler's novelty 0-1

752 Ibragimov,Ildar Zhelnin,Vladimir V Cup02 Moscow (8) [Eric Prié]

B06 2590 2490 1998

1.d4 d6 I know this is probably not the appropriate section but I feel "d-pawn specials" players have a special approach to the so-called "daring defences". So I wanted to illustrate a part of my repertoire in this update, profiting from the intimately linked themes presented in the previous games. 2.f3! [ 2.f4 is clearly inferior because of g6! And in this order of moves White will not be able to prevent a further advance of the opposing e-pawn two squares against his bishop. ] 2...d7 3.e4! g6 This game and the next (supplementary) can be considered as introductory games. I will define everything, for instance what happens after 1...Nf6 2.Bf4 d6, 2...Nf6 and even 3...e5, in the next issue. 4.c4! Would you believe this? I have found 137 occurrences matching this position in my 763

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 database with still 73 games continuing g7? And only 24 with 5.xf7+! I guess this is the record for the shortest game in chess, with 'sensible moves' from both protagonists. And although I remember I placed it in a rapid some years ago, I have forgotten where and against whom, so I naturally picked up the most emblematic example, beginning with 1. d 4 a n d wi t h t h e s t r o n ge s t a ve r a g e E L O besides happily pushing Black to leave it at that! [ 5.xf7+ xf7 6.g5+ e8 ( 6...f6 7.f3#+- ) 7.e6+- ] 1-0

753 Izoria,Zviad Inarkiev,Ernesto 7th ch-Euro t/b (3.3) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2647 2602 16.04.2006

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 d7 5.f4 a6 6.f3 b5 7.d3 b7 8.e5 A position which has been hotly debated since the publication of ' Tiger's Modern, where the Danish GM more or less recommended Black's set up as the best way play against the Austrian Attack. As usual in such sharp situations, Black's path to a good game has become narrower, as we will see in this game. c5 [ 8...e6 was mentioned by Hiilerp Persson, but on the evidence of the following fragment, seems to lead to difficulties for Black: 9.a4! b4 10.e4 b6 ( 10...xe4 11.xe4 d5 12.d3 c5 13.dxc5 c7 14.e2! xc5 15.xc5 xc5 16.xa6 ) 11.d2 a5 12.b5+! By playing straightforwardly, White has established a dominating position already. f8 13.e2 e7 14.0-0 c6 15.xc6 xc6 16.c3 d7 17.fc1 bxc3 18.xc3 b4 19.b5 4d5 20.c2 h6 21.ac1 g7 22.f5 exf5 23.xc7+Morozevich, AAzmaiparashvili, Z/ Bugojno 1999 ] 9.e4 c8 [ 9...xe4 10.xe4 h6 is suggested in ' Tiger's Modern, with the following analysis: A) 11.dxc5 g4! A1) 12.e2 dxe5 13.0-0-0 c7

14.fxe5 dxe5= Lalic, but 15.d4 0-0 16.h3 h6 17.h4 Martin, looks dangerous for Black to me.; A2) 12.g1 dxe5 13.h3 h6 ( 13...gf6 14.xf6+ exf6 15.c6 f8= ) 14.c6 f6 15.xd8+ xd8 16.xf6+ exf6=; A3) 12.d2 dxe5 13.c6 df6 14.xf6+ xf6=; B) 11.e6 fxe6 12.eg5 f5! 13.e2 f8 with the idea of ...h6 and ...cxd4.; C) 11.exd6 f5! 12.f2 exd6 13.0-0 0-0 14.dxc5 dxc5 15.xc5 xc5 16.xc5 xb2 17.b1 xd1 18.fxd1 fc8 19.d5 f6 Prospective Black players should study this analysis carefully and decide whether this is the line for them. It may be the only way out. ] 10.dxc5!N A new move, after which it is difficult to see a good continuation for Black. White logically opens the game, relying on his better development to see him through. There are plenty of alternatives: [ 10.d3 b4 11.xb7 xb7 12.e4 b8 13.xb7 xb7 14.e4 cxd4 15.xd4 dxe5 16.fxe5 f8 17.c5 with a plus, Van Delft, M-Giddins, S/Amsterdam 2005. ] [ 10.e2 b4 11.xb7 xb7 12.d1 dxe5 13.dxe5 e6 14.f2 Krivec, J-Socko, M/ Athens 2004. ] [ 10.g5 b6 ( 10...b4 11.f3 b8 12.xb7 xb7 13.e2 h6 14.xb7 xb7 15.f3 cxd4 16.xd4 dxe5 17.fxe5 f6 Hillerp Persson) 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.xc5 xc5 13.xb7 d8 14.f3 b4 15.c6+ xc6 16.xc6+ f8 17.a4 xa4 18.xa4 h6 19.h4 xg5 20.hxg5 e6 21.d1 xd1+ 22.xd1 e7 23.e2 g7 24.b3 a8+- Pavasovic, D-Touzane, O/ Leipzig 2002 ] 10...dxe5 11.xb7 xb7 12.d5! That's the main point! A favourable endgame position emerges. xd5 13.xd5 0-0-0 [ 13...c8 14.b6 is very good for White. ] 14.0-0-0 e6 15.b6+ xb6 16.xd8+ xd8 17.cxb6 exf4 18.xf4 c8 19.d1 f6 20.e5 g8 21.g5 Play has more or less been forced since 12 Qd5 and what a cheerless position this is for Black. He's tied down on all fronts and if he comes too close to the advanced b pawn, the White Rook hits 764

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the se ve nth ra nk. g4 22.xg7 xg7 23.e4 e3 24.d6+ b8 25.d3 d5 Black defends stubbornly with the very best moves. 26.a3 xb6 27.xa6 d7 [ 27...c4 28.xb5 b7 29.a7+! b6 30.a4 d6 31.a8 xb5 32.b8+ a5 33.axb5 may have been the best chance, but most unpalatable. ] 28.xb5 g5 29.a7 e5 30.a4 What can one say apart from ' the extra pawn must win'? g6 31.a5 c6 32.a6 e7 33.b6++a8 34.c7+ a7 35.b5+ a8 36.a6 d5 37.b7 g8 38.a7+ b8 39.b7+ a8 40.c4 c8 41.a7+ b8 42.a8+ xa8 43.b3 c6 It is safe to say that Black chances in this line rely on Hillerp Persson's suggestion at move 9. 1-0

754 Janev,Evgeni Todorov,Todor BC Masters Bois Colombes (5) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2420 2470 2003

The battle-hardened Modern player will love this game. W hite sets out to give Black a good thrashing, but his aggression is coolly rebuffed and in the end the counterattack triumphs. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 c6 5.d2 Seems that everyone plays this way these days. What is wrong with the original recipe of delaying ...Nf6 for as long as possible? b5 6.0-0-0 I'm pretty that either 6 Bd3 or 6 Nf3 are more dangerous for Black. The text move reveals W hite's hand a little too quickly. d7 The Knight could well be on th e way t o c 4 ! 7.h4 As Black isn't remotely intending to castle I suppose 7 h4 can be seen as the beginning of 'space-gaining' operation. I guess after 6 0-0-0 White hasn't really got anything else to do that is the truth of the matter. [ Possibly 7.b1! is superior. This small safety move will have to be played anywayWhite may as well see another move from Black before he further commits himself. b4 ( 7...b8!? intending ...Nb6-c4 is interesting.) 8.ce2 gf6 9.f3 0-0 10.g4 ( 10.xb4 b8 11.a3 b6 12.f4 c7

gives Black the initiative, albeit at the cost of a pawn. I'm sure that this is a question of courage and judgement and that lots of strong players would have captured that pawn. ) 10...b6 11.c1 ( 11.xb4 ) 11...b8 12.h6 a4 13.b3 h8?! 14.h4?! ( 14.xf8 xf8 15.h4 This is such a weird game.) 14...c5 15.h5 cxd4 16.hxg6 fxg6 17.xf8 xf8 18.c4+ e6 19.e2 b6 20.d3 e5 21.g3 e6 22.g5 e8 23.h4 xf3 24.g1 h5 25.gxh6 h7 26.f1 c4 27.e2 xe2 28.xe2 f6 29.fd2 e3 30.f3 xb3 31.axb3 b7 1/2-1/2 Alvarado, N-Nisipeanu, L/It Resort and Casino, Decameron DOM 2003 I gave up trying to forecast the moves long ago. The result is even stranger. Isn't White still clearly better after 32 Ng5+? I think the overall quality of the variation with 6 0-0-0 is upheld by 7 Kb1 rather than 7 h4. ] 7...a5 8.b1 b6 9.d3 h5! Key. Black halts the ambitious intentions of the h pawn and prepares the entry of the King's Knight into the game. Now I start to like Black's flexibility. 10.h3 [ 10.ce2 xd2 11.xd2 f6 12.f3 0-0= ] 10...f6 11.f3 A bit routine. Once again we co m e d o wn t o 'b o t t le ' (E n glish sla n g f o r courage). Todorov talks his opponent out of the central advance. [ Thus 11.e5 is critical: fd5 ( 11...g4 probably what Black would have played. 12.exd6 exd6 13.f4 0-0 14.xd6 d8 15.f4 b4 16.e2 e6 ) 12.xd5 xd2 13.c7+ d8 14.xd2 xc7 15.g5 f8 16.f4 d5 17.g3 ] 11...xh3 12.xh3 fd7 13.f4 b4 14.e2 c5! This position would be a good example of a n id e a l B l a ck p i e ce p l a ce m e n t . 15.dxc5 xc5 16.d4 e5 17.fxe5 dxe5 18.xc5 [ After 18.f2 h6 19.e1 c8 20.f3 0-0 Black has a very nice position indeed. ] 18...xc5 19.c1 0-0 Finally. Now White has an uphill struggle to prove equality. Black has the attacking plan of launching his a pawn all the way to a3 whereas White will have to defend for a while. Psychologically, Janev seems unable to cope with the thought of defence. 20.e2 d7 After ... Nd7-f6 Black would have a clamp so.... 21.g4 But of course this is another concession. hxg4 22.xg4 765

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f6 23.f3 h5! White can shift this Knight but then ...Nf4 advances to an even more powerful square. 24.e2 a5 Well-prepared. 25.g3 f4 26.h2 a4 27.h5 a3 28.hxg6 [ T h e r e i s l i t t l e h o p e a f t e r 28.h6 Black's attack is immediate: f6 29.h7+ h8 30.e2 axb2 31.xf4 ( 31.hh1 c6! 32.hf1 e6!-+ ) 31...exf4 32.xf4 e5 33.d2 xa2-+ ] 28...fxg6 29.b3 [ 29.e2 fd8! 30.xd8+ xd8 31.b3+ f8 32.h1 axb2 33.xb2 d2 ] 29...d5! All the tactics run in Black's favour here: 30.f5? Desperate. Maybe he was short of time. [ 30.g4 appears to give more play but Black's attack is winning: c3+ 31.a1 xd1 32.c4+ f7 33.xg6 d4+ 34.c3 xc3+ 35.b1 f3!-+ ] 30...c3+ 31.c1 xa2+ 32.d2 ad8 33.e1 I guess that 6 0-0-0 is playable but I feel that Black can be encouraged if he sees this move on the board. Now he has something to aim at! The 4 Be3 system is not so one-paced and White players should prefer the more elastic 6 Bd3 or, best of all, 6 Nf3! 0-1

e6 a s a re su lt . Th is is th e clo sest ye t t o Thompson's original Hippopotamus concept. Of course Black is showing discretion because White's attacking possibilities have been limited by his quieter approach. 7.g5?! Although a GM, Janosevic does not seem to understand what Black is trying to do. 7 Bg5 presents Suttles with a valuable tempo! [ 7.e1 c7 ( 7...f6 8.d5 f7 9.d4 highlights a possible drawback to Black's setup. One must watch the e6 square very caref ully indeed!) 8.a4 0-0 ( 8...e5 seems very reasonable; as does 8...a5 ) 9.h3 h8 10.c4 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.e3 f5 13.g5 A) 13...f7! l o o k s b e t t e r : 14.e7 ( 14.exf5 gxf5 15.e7 e8 16.g5 xg5 17.xg5 f6 ) 14...e8 15.g5 ( 15.a3 b6 16.b3 e6 17.xe6 xe6 18.e2 d8 ) 15...xg5 16.xg5 c5; B) 13...f4 14.e7 e8 15.d6 xd6 16.xd6 f6 17.ed1 g7 18.a5 f7 19.a3 g5 20.d2 f8 21.a6 b6 was perhaps a little better for W hite in Jimenez Zerquera, E-Suttles, D/ Palma de Mallorca 1970/IZT ] [ Meanwhile 7.d2?! He wants to play Qc1 evading ...Ng4. e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.h3 755 B06 Motwani, P-Bischoff, K/Groningen 1980 and now the immediate e7 ( 9...f6!? 10.c1 Janosevic,Dragoljub f7 ) 10.c1 g8 11.d1 gf6 Suttles,Duncan is reasonable for Black, although he has not Belgrade (2) 1969 been able to carry out his main idea ] [Andrew Martin] 7...f6 8.e3 0-0 9.d5 f5?! One can only say Let's take a look now at an obscure scheme that such situations present the vast majority devised by Canadian Grandmaster Duncan of Black players with an excellent opportunity Suttles, which as far as I know is unrefuted to to win the game. W hite is having to make this day. There is no shame in studying and critical decisions all the time and he may well restudying old games. They shape the g o w r o n g ( a s J a n o s e v i c d o e s h e r e ) . present. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 Objectively, Black's whole idea looks dubious 4.c3 c6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 h6!? to me, but it will always be a practical choice This is the introductory move. Black intends ... and as such, deserves a goodlook [ Instead 9...f7 10.d4 b8 11.d2 c5 f7-f6 and ...Nh6-f7 and later he will expand in 12.e6 xe6 13.dxe6 e5 14.f4 the centre with either ...f6-f5! or ..e7-e5. Note is poor for Black. ] the timing of 6. .. Nh6. Suttles waited until [ 9...c5! but 10.h3 f5 is the way to go if White castled thus rendering h2-h4 unplayable. Black want to play ....f5. he cuts the Knight But I'll try to show 6 a4 Nh6 is also possible, out of d4. ] allowing the dangerous 7 h4. f7 is a very good s qu a re f o r t h e K n igh t in su c h p o sit i o n s , 10.d4 [ 10.dxc6! bxc6 11.d4 e5 12.xc6 cutting out Ng5 by White, indirectly defending 766

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc6 13.d5+ f7 14.xc6 d7 15.d5 c7 gives Black compensation how much is difficult to say. ] 10...xd4! Suttles was never dogmatic. If a move had to be played, so be it! The point of 10...Bxd4 is to try to shut down White's-light squared Bishop and create an outpost on e5 for a Knight. 11.xd4 [ 11.xd4 c5 12.e3 f4 13.d2 e5 14.c1 g5 ] 11...f4 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.c4+?! [ 13.c4+ A) 13...g7 14.xc6 fxe3 15.xa8 b6 ( 15...exf2+ 16.h1 ) 16.d5 exf2+ 17.h1 xb2 18.b3; B) 13...f7 14.xc6 b8 15.c1 f3 may or may not be OK for Black the point is that it is frightening for White to face at t h e b o a r d . ( 15...b6!? 16.b5 e5 17.b3+ h8 ) 16.gxf3 de5 17.a4 h3 18.d1 ] 13...f7 14.xf4 White has been suitably confused. [ but 14.c1 b6 15.b3 a6 16.e1 c5 is quite OK for Black. ] 14...e5 Obviously, Black now has serious counterplay. 15.xd6 exf4 16.ad1 g5 [ 16...f3 looks very dangerous. ] 17.xf7+ xf7 18.xc6 f3 19.g3 b6 20.d5 d7 21.d6 c4 When given the opportunity to do so, Black hits very hard in fact he keeps pounding away until Janosevic falls over!. 22.b4 c8 23.b3 e5 24.e3 h6 Something has got to give around the W hite King. 25.d5 g4 26.xg4 xg4 With the idea of ...Qh3. 27.h4 xc2 28.fd1 c8 29.e5 [ 29.d8+ f8! 30.xc8 xc8 31.c4+ h8 32.d4+ g7 33.xg7+ xg7 34.c1 e6 35.c7+ f7 ] 29...e6 30.d8+ xd8 31.xd8+ g7 32.c3 h5 33.f1 f5 A nice square, threatening simultaneously ...Qh3 and ...Qb1+. W h it e c a n n o t st o p b o t h . 34.d6 b1+ I cannot state that this particular idea is 100% sound but it is certainly an interesting addition to Black's armoury in the classical Modern. A murky position was all that a talented player like Suttles needed to try and win the game and crucially, to ENJOY the game of chess.

That's what it's ultimately all about. 0-1

756 Jansa,Vlastimil Joksic,Sinisa ch-Euro Seniors (7) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2500 2340 16.09.2004

This is how to deal with the Hippopotamus. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 d7 5.f3 a6 6.d2 The 150 Attack has filtered t h r o u g h e v e n t o v e t e r a n J a n s a . h6!? Certainly stops Be3-h6 for quite some time, although Bxh6 might be a possibility later. W hite's approach shows great experience. When confronted with slow, confusing moves such as 6...h7-h6 he does not overreact. Instead White builds his position and tries to prevent his opponent from finding an active plan. 7.h3 Not at all in the same category as 6...h6. Later on W hite knows that to deny Black g4 will be very useful indeed. e6 8.d3 e7 9.0-0 g5?! Having come this far Black feels he should be doing something and ... Ne7-g6 is the only idea he can see. Maybe just ...b7-b6 was indicated, with the usual rubbishy position which is difficult to assault. 10.ad1! I like this move very much prophylactic development against a future central pawn break. Added to which the Rook can be very useful in the centre, whether Black tries to go active or not. c6 11.h2! Centralisation preceded the idea of f2-f4! which ...g6-g5 only encouraged. I really don't like Black's position at all. e5 12.dxe5 Now the Rd1 is very useful. dxe5 [ 12...xe5 13.e2 leaves the d6 pawn hanging. ] 13.c4 c7 14.a4 g6 15.e2 It could almost be a normal Modern position, but not quite, thanks to that horrible pawn on g5,weakening the light squares. W hite is much better. 0-0? [ He just has to try and hang on, with something like, say, 15...b5 16.b3 f6 17.g3 d7 18.d6 xd6 19.xd6 The queens have bee n exchange d an d there is the chance of salvation, although White remains with a substantial edge. ] 767

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.g3 e8 17.g4 f6 18.xf6+ xf6 19.a5! Fairly merciless. Black is being squeezed on both sides. g4? You can sense he wants to end it all, one way or another. Elderly players cannot stand the tension for too long. [ 19...f4 would certainly have been tried by a younger, more combative opponent, but it is doubtful whether Black's problems are solved: 20.b6! e7 ( 20...b8 21.e3 g7 22.b3 e6 23.xe6 xe6 24.d7 ) 21.c3 e6 22.d2 g4 23.hxg4 xg4 24.c5! c7 25.d6 c8 26.b3 ] 20.b6 e7 21.xh6 g7?? Collapse. [ 21...f4 22.h5 xh5 23.xh5 gxh3 24.c5! finishes the job rather nicely. ] 22.xg6 f8 23.h7 gxh3 24.h5 I think this is just a superb performance by White. It's not at all easy to find the way to crack Black's three rank position, but here Jansa encouraged Joksic to self-destruct by simple centralisation and the active plan of f2f4.Just the thought of f2-f4 seemed to be enough. 1-0

Black stands well enough. ] 7...c5 8.e1 [ Tiger analyses 8.dxc5!? dxc5 ( 8...xc5 9.d4 ) 9.a4 b4 10.e2 gf6 11.e5 d5 12.e4 xe3 13.fxe3 b8 14.e6 fxe6 15.g5 e5 unclear. ] [ Hillarp-Persson gives 8.a4 '?!' b4 9.e2 cxd4 10.exd4 b7 11.d2 gf6 12.xb4 b8 and 'Black will get the pawn back'. Then A) 13.g5!? h6! 14.de6 ( 14.gf3 xe4 15.a3 xf3 16.xf3 d5 17.c3 xe3 18.fxe3 b6= ) 14...fxe6 15.xe6 c8 16.b3 h5=; B) 13.c4! c8! ( 13...0-0 14.c6 xc6 15.xc6 xb2 16.d4 b8 17.xa6 ) 14.g5 ( 14.xc8+ xc8 15.d2 g4 ) 14...xc4 15.xc4 e5 16.b3 xe4 17.xe4 xe4 18.f3 b7= . These lines are marginal, however, and Black may want to try a different move order. ] 8...b7 9.a4 b4 A lot of these Tiger's Modern lines look the same but have slight differences. Here the a4/...b4 trade off is normal. 10.e2 cxd4 [ Or 10...gf6!? with the idea 11.g3 g4 ] 11.xd4 757 B06 [ 11.fxd4 gf6 12.f3 d5 13.d2 dxe4 14.fxe4 a5= ] Jovanovic,Zoran2 2557 Skoberne,Jure 2436 11...gf6 12.g3 0-0 13.a5 e5!? [ A solid line is 13...c5 14.d2 b8 ] 12th HIT Open A (9) 01.02.2007 14.e3 d5 Having said 'A'... 15.g5 [John Watson] [ Possible is 15.d2!? b3!? 16.exd5 bxc2 17.xc2 xd5 18.b3 c5! 19.xe5 e8 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e3 a6 20.f4 xb3 21.xb3 b8 5.f3 b5 6.d3 d7 with compensation in the form of the two [ Tiger prefers the order 6...b7 ] bishops and activity. ] 7.0-0 [ Because here he's a little worried about 15...c7 16.exd5 xd5 17.xf6?! xf6?! [ B l a c k s t a n d s b e t t e r a f t e r 17...xf6! 7.d5 . There might follow b7 8.d4 e5!? 18.xe5 h5! 19.xg6!? ( 19.xh5 xe5 A) 9.a4! c5 ( 9...b4? 10.a2! c5 20.g3 xb2 ) 19...f4! ] 11.dxc6 xc6 12.xc6 xc6 13.xb4 b7 14.c3 f6 15.f3; 9...c6 ) 10.dxc6 18.e4 xe4 19.xe4 e7 20.d2 ad8 21.e2 xc6 [ 21.h6 f6 ] A1) 11.e2! xd4 ( 11...b4 12.d5 f6 13.xc6 xc6 14.b6 ) 12.xd4 21...c6 22.ed2 f6 [ 22...xc2!? ] f8! 13.axb5 axb5 14.xb5; A2) 11.xc6 xc6 12.axb5 xc3+ 23.d4 exd4 24.xe7 xc2 25.f3 [ 25.xb4 e5 26.ac1 f5 27.c7 f7 13.bxc3 axb5 14.0-0 xa1 15.xa1 28.xf7 xf7 at least equal. ] f6 16.f3 0-0; B) 9.0-0 c5 10.dxc6 xc6 , an odd sort 25...d3 26.ac1 xb2 With an two extra of Sicilia n ('Dragod orf ' like! ) in which pawns and an advanced passed one, the rest 768

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is pretty clear: 27.c7 d2 28.f1 fe8 29.xd7 xe7 30.xd8+ f7 31.xd2 a3 32.d4 c3 33.f3 b3 34.b1 b7 35.db2 xa5 36.d2 c3 37.h3 a5 38.xb3 xb3 39.xb3 a4 40.c1 a3 41.a2 c2 42.b7+ e8 43.b4 b1+ 0-1

758 Kanep,M Iturrizaga,E 11th Gibraltar Masters (6.11) [Tom Rendle]

B06 2512 2650 27.01.2013

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.f3 b5 6.d3 b7 7.0-0 [ 7.e5 is also critical and led to a quick win for White in the archives in Beliavsky-Hickl but Black's play can definitely be improved upon: d7 8.g5 and now Motwani's suggestion of e6 looks sensible for example ( 8...h6 9.e6 f8 may also be playable although I prefer W hite's chances after 10.exf7+ xf7 11.xf7 xf7 12.e4 ) 9.d5 exd5 10.e6 e7 11.e2 fxe6 12.xe6 c5! and the position is a complete mess. ] 7...d7 8.e5 h6 [ instead 8...c5 is analysed by John Watson in Kulicov-Gelashvili and he gives 9.e4 as an alternative to exd6 which was played i n t h e g a m e . H i s l i n e c o n t i n u e s xe4 10.xe4 cxd4 11.exd6 gf6 12.dxe7 xe7 13.xf6+ xf6 and now I like his s u g g e s t i o n o f 14.e1! ( 14.xd4 0-0 15.e1 b7 is not so clear) 14...e4 15.d3 f5 and here 16.g5! is very awkward for Black, e.g. 0-0 17.d2 ac8 18.xe4 fxe4 19.xe4 c5 20.c1 and Black is struggling to prove enough compensation for the pawn ] 9.a4 b4 10.e4 0-0 [ 10...c5 11.c3 cxd4 12.cxd4 0-0 13.a5 dxe5 14.dxe5 c8 15.b3 and White has a nice edge in Stefanova, A (2535)-Arun, K (2291) Paleohora 2009 ] 11.e1 c5 [ 11...a5 is Black's other option as this point and now in Baklan, V (2612)-Grimberg, B (2357) Deizisau 2012 W hite played the

m o s t c r i t i c a l m o v e 12.e6!? ( 12.c3 may keep a slight edge but Black is doing OK after bxc3 13.bxc3 b6 ) 12...f5 13.exd7 ( 13.eg5! deserves more attention here, for example b6 14.h4 and the knight on h6 is rather strangely placed. Still after d5 the position remains tense. ) 13...fxe4 14.xe4 xe4 15.xe4 xd7 and Black has almost equalised ] 12.dxc5 [ 12.e6!? is also very interesting. Black has a few options here: A) 12...f5 13.xd6! xf3 ( 13...exd6? 14.e7 ) 14.xf3 xd4+ 15.h1 b6 16.c4 is somewhat better for White a lt h o u gh t h e p o sit io n is ve ry u n c le a r here.; B) 12...fxe6?! 13.eg5 is very unpleasant for Black; C) 12...d5! may be best and perhaps t h i s w a s I t u r r i z a g a ' s i d e a ? 13.eg5 ( 13.exd7?! c4 14.e2 xe4 15.xc4 d5! and Black is better) 13...f6 14.xh7 xh7 15.exd7 xd7 with an unclear m i d d l e g a m e ( 15...c4!? 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 xd7 )] 12...dxc5?! This feels like the wrong recapture to me [ 12...xc5 is better, swapping the inactive knight on d7 for White's well placed one on e4 13.xc5 dxc5 14.e3 and White's edge is small at best. ] 13.a5 d5 14.e2 c7 15.b3?! This is a little slow [ 15.c4! leads to comfortable White advan tage in all lin es, f or example c6 ( 15...e6 16.d6; 15...xc4 16.xc4 b7 17.e1 ) 16.xd5 xd5 17.d1 c6 18.c4 and White has control over the centre and c5 is going to be a long-term weakness for Black. ] 15...f6!? [ 15...f5 16.b2 e6 is more solid but I suppose Iturrizaga was looking to complicate the game ] 16.c4 e6 17.exf6 xf6 18.eg5 e4! 19.xd5?! A mistake that hands the initiative over to Black [ 19.xe6! wa s b e t t e r a n d a f t e r xe6 20.xe4 xc4 21.xc4+ h8 22.b1 xa5 23.e3 White has marginally the 769

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 better chances here ] 19...exd5 20.e6 f7 21.xg7 [ 21.xf8? not xa1 and the knight is trapped on f8 ] 21...xg7 22.d2 f5 23.d3 fd8 24.g4 A risky move which later causes problems for Kanep. [ 24.e5 was safer ] 24...h6 [ 24...c4!? 25.bxc4 a7+ 26.h1 xd2 27.xd2 e3! was a promising alternative for Black. ] 25.h3 f7 26.ad1 f6 27.c1 ac8 28.e3 c6 29.c1 f6 30.e3 Black repeats the po sition once b ut he's obviously not interested in a draw here as he h a s m u c h t h e b e t t e r p o s i t i o n . h5!? A risky decision that quickly pays off as White is unable to find the best moves in this tricky position 31.d2? After this White's position quickly collapses [ 31.gxh5 is a little ugly but it should be tried. At lea st no w Bla ck's kin g com es un de r attack as well: f5! ( 31...gxh5 32.h2 h8 33.g1 and White might even be b e t t e r h e r e) 32.hxg6 xg6+ 33.g5! and things aren't so clear anymore ] 31...hxg4 32.hxg4?! [ 32.xe4 was more stubborn but after dxe4 33.e2 xd1 34.xd1 gxh3 35.c4 c6 Black should be able to win in the long run if he can bring the knight on f7 into the game. ( 35...f5 36.h2! )] 32...h4! Suddenly it's all over 33.e2 g3+ 34.h1 g7 35.g1 h3+ White faces mate or the loss of at least a queen. 0-1

with c3 to bolster the White centre but it's just too slow as it allows Black to finish development and get an easy game. [ 9.0-0 h6! was played in an important game last year by Tiger Hillarp Persson, the main advocate of this line for Black. A) 10.exd6 exd6 11.f5! must be critical Black is OK after 0-0 ( not 11...xf5? 12.xf5 gxf5 13.e1+ f8 14.f4 and Black is in serious trouble) 12.fxg6 hxg6 13.g5 f6 but I'd still rather be White after 14.d5!; B) 10.h1 0-0 11.e3 b4 12.e2 c7 13.g3 cxd4 ( 13...g4!? 14.g1 cxd4 15.exd6 xd6 16.xd4 c5 is also about equal) 14.xd4?! ( 14.exd6 xd6 15.xd4 should've been preferred, with a balanced middlegame.) 14...dxe5 15.c6 f6 16.xb8 hg4!? 17.f3 xe3 18.xe3 g4 19.f3 exf4 20.xf4 e5 21.f3 xb8 and Black had a pawn and excellent play in return for the exchange and went on to win 22.ae1 xb2 23.b1 e5 24.c3 a5 25.cxb4 axb4 26.a3 xg3 27.hxg3 e5 28.fc1 h5+ 29.g1 a6 0-1 Arvola, B (2358)Hillarp Persson, T (2517) Oslo NOR 2013 ] 9...h6 [ 9...c7 also looks fine for Black ] 10.c3 cxd4 11.cxd4 [ 11.exd4 is a little more testing but then wh y p l a y 1 0 . c3 ? B l a ck is O K a f t e r b7 12.xb7 xb7 13.exd6 b6! 14.0-0 ( 14.dxe7?! xe7+ 15.f2 g4+ 16.g3 f6 and Black has more than enough for just one pawn. ) 14...xd6 ] 11...e6 12.0-0 b6 13.h3 f5 14.h2 b7 15.xb7 xb7 Karjakin's opening has been 759 B06 surprisingly unambitious and as a result Black Karjakin,Sergey 2772 has at least equalised and Kamsky starts to Kamsky,G 2714 press for an advantage. 16.g3 [ 16.g4!? e7 17.d2 h5 is a pawn for 21st TCh-RUS 2014 (6.1) 12.04.2014 W hite but maybe the position is OK after [Tom Rendle] 18.gxh5 xh5 19.g3 h8 20.c1 ] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.f3 16...xg3 17.xg3 The king is oddly placed on g3 but with the centre solid enough the b5 6.d3 d7 7.e5 c5 [ 7...b7 8.e2!? is unpleasant for Black - ki n g i s f a i r ly s a f e f o r n o w. S t i ll , B la c k ' s chances are preferable here as he has no see Svidler-Lobron from the archives ] 8.e4 b8 9.e2?! An odd novelty from weaknesses b6 18.e2 0-0 19.g5 dxe5 Karjakin - the idea seems to be to follow up 20.dxe5 d5 21.d2 fc8 22.ac1 f8 770

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.e4 e7 24.e3 [ 24.h2! makes a lot of sense I'm not sure how Black makes progress here ] 24...xc1 25.xc1 c8 26.d1?! [ 26.xc8+ xc8 27.f3 should be OK for W hite as it's hard for Black to make p r o g r e s s h e r e , e s p e c ia l ly s i n c e W h i t e currently has all the entry squares covered on the c-file and after xe3?! 28.xe3 c2 29.d2! it's Black that has to be slightly more careful as White's centralised king is suddenly to his advantage! ] 26...c4 27.d4 c7 28.b3 c2 29.d2 c1 30.d1?! White tries to force a draw by repetition but Kamsky finds a nice tactic to win a pawn here f5! [ 30...a3 is also clearly better for Black ] 31.f2 [ 31.xc1 xc1 32.d2 xd2 33.xd2 a3 34.f3 c1 35.e3 g5! offers excellent winning chances for Black ] 31...h4+! The start of a nice forcing line 32.xh4 [ 32.h2?! xf2 33.xf2 xf4 34.f3 xd1 35.xd1 d5 should be winning in the long run for Black ] 32...xf4 33.f3 d8+ 34.g3 xd1 35.xd1 xd4 36.xd4 e2+ 37.f3 xd4+ 38.e3 c6 The dust has settled and Black is a clear pawn ahead - but with Karjakin's king the more active it's not at all clear if this is winning or not for Black. 39.d3 a5 40.a4 b4 [ possibly 40...bxa4 41.bxa4 f7 is more accurate but this is a tough judgement call to make right at the time control ] 41.f4 h6 42.h4 f7 43.c5 e7 44.b7 f8 45.c5 f7 46.b7 e7 47.c5 d8 48.g4?! [ 48.e3 g5 49.h5! is a better defensive try ] 48...fxg4 49.xg4 f7 50.f4 g5+! 51.hxg5 hxg5+ 52.e4 Kamsky has managed to make the most of his position and now it seems to be winning for Black [ 52.g4 xe5+ 53.xg5 c6 54.f4 d6 55.e4+ d5 is winning for Black ] 52...d8 53.d3 c6 54.c4 xe5+ 55.b5! Karjakin goes for the queenside p a wn s a s t h e o n l y p r a c t i c a l c h a n c e f6

56.e4+ f5 57.g3+ f4 58.f1 g4 59.xa5 f3?? The knight was needed to defend the White pawns [ 59...d7 wins, for example 60.xb4 g3 61.xg3 xg3 62.a5 e5 63.a6 b8! 64.b5 ( 64.a7 c6+ ) 64...xa6 65.xa6 e4 66.b4 e3 67.b5 e2 68.b6 e1 69.b7 b4 with an easily won ending for Black. ] 60.xb4 d2 61.a5 [ amazingly 61.g3! also holds a draw after xg3 62.a5 f4 63.a6 g3 64.a7 g2 65.a8 g1 66.b8+ f5 67.f8+ e4 68.a8+ d3 69.a6+ c2 70.c6+ b1 71.xe6 ] 61...xf1 62.a6 e3 63.a7 d5+ 64.c5 c7 65.c6 a8 66.b7 White is just in time to force the draw g3 67.xa8 g2 68.b7 g1 69.a8 g2+ 70.b8 xa8+ 71.xa8 e5 72.b4 d5 73.b7 e5 74.b5 e4 75.b6 e3 76.a8 e2 77.b7 e1 78.b8 ½-½

760 Karjakin,Sergey Kotsur,Pavel Kallithea [Andrew Martin]

B06

2002

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5 It was David Norwood who tried to popularise this move order here in England. By leaving the Bishop at home on f8 Black is su p p o s e d t o ga in t im e la t e r o n wh e n h e eventually gets around to ...c6-c5. So 3...c6 can be seen as an attempt to reduce the power of the Austrian Attack. I personally believe that Black achieves nothing from this move-order nuance what he gains on the swings of the Austrian Attack he loses on the roundabouts of the Classical Variation, the line with an early Be3 and others .He gets shunted into positions where a quick ...c6 isn't the best option. 6.f3 h6 7.e3 b6!? Quite a n in te resting ide a which K arja kin criticizes in his annotations but isn't really that bad. Positionally, Black tempts the white Knight to go to the edge of the board and retains balance in his position. Kotsur only goes wrong later. 8.a4 a5+ 9.c3 g4 771

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.c5 c7? Here's the loss of time which costs Black the game. It is very important that he pla ys .. .e 7-e 6 a s soo n as possible t o stabilise the position. [ 10...f5 11.f2 e6! That's what I mean! 12.b3 ( 12.d3 d7 13.e2 c7 14.0-0 c5 15.d2 e7 16.fc1 0-0 17.h3 xf3 18.xf3 c4= 19.e1 h4 20.g4 g7 21.f3 h8 22.b3 b6 23.e1 d8 24.d2 1/2-1/2 Jaracz,P-Urban,K/ Plock 2000/CBM 78 (24); 12.xb7 b6 ) 12...b6 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 h4 15.d3 d7 16.0-0 e7 17.ab1 f8 18.d2 g7 19.e2 a5 ( 19...c5 is somewhat better. ) 20.b4 c7 21.f3 b5 22.a4 a6 23.axb5 axb5 24.a1 b7 25.fc1 xa1 26.xa1 a8 27.xa8 xa8 28.xf5 gxf5 29.e1 h8 30.xh4 xh4 31.xh4 h6 32.g3+ f8 33.f3 b6 34.g5 h5 35.e1 a4 36.h2 e8 37.g3 e7 38.d2 e8 39.f3 g6+ 40.h2 h5 41.e1 h4 42.d3 e7 43.c1 f8 44.b3 e8 45.a5 d7 46.e3 c7 47.g3 xg3+ 48.xg3 xc3 49.h4 d7 50.h5 e8 51.xc6 f8 52.f3 g7 53.g4 fxg4+ 54.xg4 f5+ 55.g5 e4+ 56.h4 d2 57.g3 h6 58.d8 xh5 59.xe6 b3 60.f3 a1 61.c7 c2 62.e6 xd4+ 63.g3 c6 64.xd5 g6 65.h4 g7 66.h5 d4 67.e7 f7 68.g5 e6+ 69.xf5 g7+ 70.e5 e8 71.f5 g7 72.c7 1-0 Luther,TGurevich,M/Cappelle la Grande 1998 ] 11.h3 f5 12.f2 xf3 13.xf3 b6 14.d3!N [ 14.b3 h4 15.d3 e6 16.0-0 b7 17.e2 a5 18.d2 e7 19.f3 c8 20.fc1 a6 21.c4 c7 22.b3 f8 23.c2 g7 24.e1 d8 25.c1 a4 26.bxa4 xa4 27.b1 dxc4 28.xc4 d5 29.b3 1/2-1/2 Bologan,V-Badea,B/Sovata 1999 ] 14...h4 15.e6! The world's youngest Grandmaster is very fearless and 15 e6 is indeed an excellent move. With this inspired pawn sacrifice White cuts the Black position into two separate halves. Of course if Black were allowed to play ... e7-e6 himself we would have reached a normal position. Now Kotsur struggles. fxe6 16.g4 h6 17.e5 White has plenty of time to build up-a scheme

such as 0-0,Rae1-e2, Rfe1 comes to mind and if Black takes on e5 then the Rook on h6 will have to withdraw leaving g6 exposed. d7 18.d3 [ 18.xg6? f6 ] 18...g7 [ 18...xe5 19.fxe5 0-0-0 20.0-0 ] 19.0-0 xe5 20.fxe5 f8 21.a4! Preparing a hot reception for the Black King should he venture to the queenside. And look at that Rook on h6! c5 22.b3 In his revealing notes, Karjakin mentions an unusual combinational possibility : [ 22.xh4!! A) 22...xh4 23.b5+ d7 ( 23...d8 24.xh4 ) 24.xg6+ f8 25.xe6+-; B) 22...c4 23.g5 cxd3 24.xh6 xh6 25.xf8+! xf8 26.xg6 f5 27.f1 d7 28.xf5+ exf5 29.e6 e8 30.h7!!+-; C) 22...xh4 23.f4! h8 24.f7+ d7 25.b5+ c8 26.g7+- That would have been very nice but after 22 b3 ,White is still overwhelmingly better. ] 22...cxd4 23.cxd4 c3 24.d1 xd4 [ 24...c8 25.a6 c7 26.c1 xc1 27.xc1 xc1 28.xc1 d7 29.c8+ d8 30.c6 shows the extent of Black's plight, who hardly has a decent move. ] 25.c1! b2 26.e3 h8 27.f2 xb3 28.xd4+- xd1+ 29.xd1 c8 30.df1 g8 31.xf8+ The Gurganidze System where Black plays for a light-squared blockade, is very playable against the Austrian, with or without an early ...Bg7. But, as graphically demonstrated here, accuracy is required! 1-0

761 Kasimdzhanov,Rustam Alber,Horst 15th Ordix Open rapid (3) [John Watson]

B06 2679 2357 02.08.2008

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 Tiger Hillarp-Persson's system. The theory in his book is still well ahead of the practice. 5.f3 b5 6.d3 b7 Hillarp-Persson queries this move, preferring 6...Nd7 of the next game. 7.e2! f6 This is an innovation, and tries to 772

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 improve upon looking move to molest the queen with Na3-b5 [ 7...d7 8.e5!? ( or 8.e3! , when Tiger has been neglected in the past but is due for gives b4 9.d1 gf6! as best, although he a resurgence of interest. played 8...c5 9 dxc5! Nxc5 10 Bxc5 Bxc3+! [ There are plenty of alternatives: 8.a4+ 11 bxc3 dxc5 with only a moderate d7 9.b5 f6 10.xd7+ bxd7 11.a3 disadvantage.) 8...c5 9.g5!? ( 9.e4 ) the knight emerges on a3 to help aid the 9...cxd4 10.e6 f5! ( 10...f6 11.xh7 ) q u e e n ' s r o o k t o j o i n i n t h e a c t i o n . 0-0 11.exd7+ xd7 with an unclear game, De 12.d1 a6 13.0-0 b5 14.b4 e5 Fi r m i a n - H i l l a rp P e r s so n , C o p e n h a g e n 15.xe5 xe5 16.f4 ( 16.d4 1996. ] looks like a decent alternative that gives [ 7...c5!? is worth considering. ] W hite an edge.) 16...f5 17.g3 d5 8.e5 d5 9.xd5 18.b3 f4 19.fe1 e6 20.c2 xc2 [ 9.e6!? 0-0 ( 9...fxe6?! 10.g5; 9...f5!? ) 21.xc2 d5 22.e5 fc8 23.xg7 xg7 10.f5! frees White's c1 bishop to join the 24.e3 b6 25.d2 with equal chances, A. attack. Then gxf5? 11.g5 is decisive. ] Negulescu-D.Vasiesiu, Bucharest 2001. ] 9...xd5 10.0-0 e6?! [ 8.e2 a popular reply allowing White to get [ 10...0-0 11.e3 d7 ] o n w i t h d e v e l o p i n g t h e k i n g s i d e h6 11.a4! b4 Something has gone wrong for This is the point of Black's early fianchetto. Black. He needed to challenge the centre The knight does not block the a1-h8 before this. 12.c3 diagonal and is heading for f5 to exert some [ 12.c4 is also good. ] central pressure. 9.a3 c6 10.d4 0-0 12...0-0 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 d5 15.e1 11.xc6 xc6 12.f3 c7 13.b5 Black's bishop on g7 is terribly placed, and he ( 13.0-0!? ) 13...a5 14.a4 a6 15.d4 d8 has nothing to show for his space 16.c1 ( 16.0-0 e5 17.b3 c7 18.e2 disadvantage. bxc3 16.bxc3 d7 17.h4 with equal chances) 16...g4 17.xg4 c6 18.g5 h6 19.f3 e7 20.g4 fb8? xg4 18.h3 d7 19.f4 ac8 20.0-0? [ 20...h7 ] White finally castles but it is too late. xh3! 21.f5! exf5 21.gxh3 xd4 The pin on the c-file decides [ 21...gxf5 22.xh6 g6 23.h5 ] the outcome of the game. 22.xd4 xd4 22.xh6 fxg4? 23.e3 d7 24.f5 c5 Black has a [ 22...b6 23.g5 f6 24.xg7 fxg5 material advantage so it makes sense to 25.h8+ f7 26.h7 ] a ve rt a p o ss ib le a t t a ck b y e xc h a n g in g 23.xg7 xg7 24.f6+ h6 25.g5 b6 queens. 25.ae1 gxf5 26.h1 xe3 26.xf7+ h7 27.h4+ 27.xe3 e6 28.f2 c4 29.b3 e4 1-0 30.g3+ f8 31.fg2 h5 32.h2 e7 0-1 M.Grbic-P.Benkovic, Kragujevac 2000. ] [ 8.d4 f6 9.a3 As usual the knight is 762 B06 developed with the intention of chasing the black queen. c6 10.b5 b8 11.c5 Kiik,Kalle 2449 0-0 ( 11...a6 12.bd4 is about equal.) Pedersen,Steffen 2453 12.e2 b6 13.a3?! The bishop looks ECC Panormo GRE (1) 23.09.2001 misplaced on the side of the board. ( Or [Gary Lane] 13.e3!? g4 14.g5 is roughly equal.) 13...d8 14.a4 b7 15.0-0 a6 16.bd4 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 xd4 17.xd4 c7 18.ad1 b5 19.c2 A trendy line. The idea is to fianchetto on the d5 20.f3 e5 21.b3 a5 22.c5 c6 kingside and later play ...e7-e5. It is usually 23.d3 e4! 24.xe4 xc3 25.bxc3 xe4 barely mentioned in books. 5.dxc5 xc5 gave Black strong pla y in V .Klyune r-A . 6.f3 Shchekachev, Duisburg 2000. ] [ 6.e3 c7 ( 6...a5!? ) 7.xa7! xa7 8...c6?! A natural move but on the evidence 8.d4 is a nice tactic. ] 6...g7 7.e3 c7 8.a3 This obvious of this game it will probably be thought of as a 773

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 mistake in future books. 9.b5 b8 [ 9...a5 10.f4 e5 ( 10...f8 11.c7 b8 12.b5 f5 13.xc6 bxc6 14.e6+ xe6 15.xb8 with a winning advantage) 11.d6! wins ] 10.d2 a6 11.f4 e5 12.d6+ e7 Black has to give up castling straight out of th e o p e nin g, which m e a ns it h as b ee n a disas ter f or Pede rsen . 13.xc8+ xc8 14.e3 e4 15.g5 f5 [ 15...f6 16.c2 b4 17.b3 bd5 ( 17...d3+ 18.xd3 exd3 19.xf7+ ) 18.d1 c6 19.c4 hd8 20.d4 and White is much better. ] 16.d5 Now that the white queen has entered the heart of Black's position it becomes clear that W hite has a tremendous attack. e5 17.c5+ e8 18.d1 c6 [ 18...h6 19.e6 f6 20.b6 wins ] 19.e6 xd5 20.xg7+ f7 21.xd5 1-0

h7 [ Black wants to get the queens off with 18. .. f6 the immediate 17...f6 loses to 18.xg6 xg3 19.xe7+ . White avoids this and clamps down on the possibility of ...c6-c5 by pressuring d5. ] 18.f3 ad8 19.ad1 f6?! After this Black gets into all kinds of trouble, but it's actually quite hard to find a good move. 20.c4 b6 21.a5 Threatening to win the exchange with c4-c5. de8 22.c3 h4 [ This is a rotten square for the queen, but there isn't anywhere else. 22...d6 loses to 23.c5 ] 23.e3 f6 24.f3 h5 25.h3 Threatening g2-g4, which causes Black to give up a pawn. e5 26.dxe5 fxe5 27.xe5 h4 28.c5 d7 29.xd7 xe3 30.xf8+ xf8 31.xe3 xc5 32.e8 1-0

764 763 Klovans,Janis Gurevich Cup Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine) [Nigel Davies]

B06

1970

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 f6 5.c4 bd7 6.b3 b6 7.f3 g4 8.g3 f5 9.f3 g4 10.g3 f5 11.f3 [ 11.f3 draws by repetition, which might be enough to put some players of f . But by avoiding the repetition White keeps the freer game. ] 11...bxd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.0-0 0-0 14.e1 [ Another game from this position went 14.h4 h5?! 15.g5 f6 16.d2 e6 17.fe1 d7 18.h3 ae8 19.e2 f7 20.ae1 g5? 21.xg5 fxg5 22.xg5 g6 23.xe6 c6 24.xf8 xf8 25.c3 h7 26.g3 h6 27.xd5 cxd5 28.e7 h4 29.c7 f6 30.xg7+ 1-0, Khachian M Barbu I, Bucharest 1993. Obviously Black can play better than this but in any case his position is not very attractive. W hite has more space and it's difficult for Black to free himself. ] 14...c6 15.g5 h6 16.d2 d6 17.e5

Kobalia,Mihail Welling,Gerard Gibtelecom Masters (1.5) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2654 2405 24.01.2006

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c4 e6 I made the point in my recent book on the Hippopotamus system of defence, that Bc4 systems were among the easier for Black to combat. The Bishop on c4 is vulnerable to a pawn attack from Black and White often has to lose time as a result. 5.b3 e7 6.0-0 b6 7.bd2 0-0 8.e1 c5 Why not? Black is not afraid of d4-d5 while the Bishop is still on c8. [ 8...b7 9.f1 d7 10.g3 c5 11.c3 c8 12.h3 h6 13.e3 c4 ( 13...d5 14.e5; 13...cxd4 14.cxd4 f6 15.c2 lo o k s a t o u c h b e t t e r f o r W h i t e i n b o t h cases. ) 14.c2 f5 15.exf5 exf5 16.f4 f6 17.c1 f8 18.h4 xf3 19.gxf3 d5 20.d2 A) 20...f4! promotes a very difficult position but one where Black has every chance to win thanks to his better pawn position: 21.e4 ( 21.e2 f7 22.e4 b5 ) 21...e6; B) 20...h5?! 21.g5! f7 22.e6 7f6 23.d2 White has organised his position 774

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c a r e f u l l y , b u t e v e n s o , a f t e r e8 it will be difficult to break in. ] 9.c3 [ Thus 9.d5 e5! is fine for Black, who will play ...h7-h6 and ...f7-f5 shortly. ] 9...bc6 10.f1 h6 I would like to do without this move if I could, thus [ 10...cxd4 11.cxd4 b7 12.g3 c8 came into consideration. Welling, in typical Hippo style, refuses to clarify the issue. ] 11.g3 a6 12.c2 cxd4 13.cxd4 c8 14.e3 c7 [ 14...a5 15.b3 f5! looks very interesting n o w, wi t h a c t ive p l a y f o r B la ck : 16.exf5 ( 16.d2 fxe4 17.xe4 d5 18.c2 ac6 19.c3 d6 20.d2 f4! 21.xf4 xf4 22.xe6 xf3 23.gxf3 xd4 ) 16...xf5 17.xf5 gxf5 18.f4 f6 19.d2 b7! The Hippo is an opening of good timing. Black is passive only initially (or at least, he should be. No, let me rephrase that, he HAS to be) and then he must choose an appropriate moment to break out. ] 15.d2 h7 16.ad1 a5 17.b3 f5 18.b1 d7 19.h4 d5? The real mistake. Black must keep the centre fluid to head off the Kingside attack: [ 19...fxe4 20.xe4 b7 21.h5 xe4 22.xe4 gxh5 23.d3 g8 ] [ 19...b7 20.h5 g5 21.exf5 exf5 22.e2 ac6 In either case, the game remains very unclear. ] 20.exf5! gxf5 21.h5 But now Black has no counterplay and must sit and watch. g6 22.xg7 xg7 23.h5 h8 24.f4 The dark squares are irreparably weakened. c6 25.e5 cc8 26.e3 g8 27.g3 f6 28.g4 h4 29.xh6 xg3 30.fxg3 Games like this give the Hippo a unjustifiably bad name, although it must be said that three rows of pawns is not for everyone. 1-0

765 Kosten,Anthony C Hague,Ben 4NCL 2006-07 (7) [John Watson]

B06 2534 2298 03.03.2007

When I was in the Flank Opening column, I always used to cite Webmaster Tony Kosten's games with 1 c4. Now I've moved just in time to catch his 1 e4 games! This 17-move win versus Tiger's Modern illustrates how important it is to play exact move orders when your position is cramped. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.f3 b5 6.d3 [ 6.e3 b7 7.d3 d7 is one of Tiger's main lines (such as there are any!). See the note to move 7. ] 6...d7 7.e3 c5!? [ 7...b7 is standard, when something similar to the game can happen after 8.0-0 c5 9.dxc5 xc5 10.xc5 dxc5 11.e5 , but the tradeoff of 0-0 for ...Bb7 allows Black to contest the central light squares, for example, b6! 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 h6! 14.c4 0-0 15.c1!? ad8 16.e2 f6! Stefansson-Hilla tefansson-Hilla tefansson-Hillarp-Persson, Gausdal 1996. Black had equalised and quickly gained a l a r g e a d v a n t a g e a f t e r 17.c3 fxe5 18.xe5!? f5 19.cxb5 c4+ 20.f2!? e3 21.a4? ( 21.c6 axb5 22.xd8 xd8 , but Black is distinctly better) 21...d4! ] 8.dxc5! This looks like the best way to exploit Black's omission of ...Bb7. xc5 9.xc5 dxc5?! [ Maybe it's not so bad to play 9...xc3+! here, since the bishop is about to be cut off on g7 anyway, and White will lack a darksquared bishop to exploit the weaknesses aro un d g6 . T h e n 10.bxc3 dxc5 11.e5 ( 11.c4!? ) 11...b7 12.e2 h6!? 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 0-0 looks sound enough. Anyway, it must be better than 9... dxc5. ] 10.e5 This basic structure tends to favour W hite, but the note to move 7 shows how Black can get his fair share of the play. The problem in this case is that without having played ...Bb7 already, he can't hold the light squares. b7 11.e4 xe4 [ 11...b6 12.xb7 ( simplest also 775

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 promising is 12.e2 ) 12...xb7 13.d5! xd5 14.xd5 0-0-0 ( 14...c8 15.a4! b4 16.0-0-0 h6 17.d2 and Black can't get developed ) 15.0-0-0 e6 ( 15...b7 16.g5! e6 17.c3 h6 18.ce4 )] 12.xe4 c7 Probably not best, but there's nothing really satisfactory because of Black's weak queenside pawns and lack of development. 13.d5 c8 14.0-0-0 h6 Th is lo s es , b ut Bla ck ca n h ard ly su rvive anyway. [ 14...c6 15.xc6+ xc6 16.d5 c4 17.hd1 c8 18.c5 is not pretty. ] 15.d6+! exd6 16.exd6 d7 Versus 17 d7+, but: 17.e5 1-0

766 Kotronias,V Rapport,R 41st TCh-GRE (6.1) [Tom Rendle]

B06 2581 2693 06.07.2013

1.e4 g6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 [ 3.e5! is the critical test of the North Sea defence and it certainly seems better than the variation Kotronias chose. See AdamsCarlsen (amongst other games) from the archives. ] 3...d5 4.e5 [ 4.exd5 doesn't promise any advantage: xd5 5.xd5 xd5 6.c4 d6 7.e3 g7 and Black had already equalised in Massoni, M (2385)-Rapport, R (2654) Calvi 2013 ] 4...e4 5.ce2 An important test of this line. White is threatening 6.f3 trapping the knight so Black's next move is forced [ 5.xe4 dxe4 6.e3 g7 7.c3 0-0 8.e2 c5! and Black's pressure on the centre is enough to compensate his doubled pawns. ] 5...f6 [ 5...h6? 6.h4 and f3 on the next move will win a the knight. ] 6.f3 [ 6.h4!? is still dangerous but it seems that Black is OK after fxe5 7.f3 d6 8.dxe5 f5 9.g4 g7 10.f4 c6 with a rather odd position. Chances seem about level although if W hite can find time to castle queenside his kingside space advantage

may give him the better position. ] 6...g5 7.xg5 [ 7.h4?! makes less sense here as after f7 the knight is well placed on f7 and White has over-extended himself. ] 7...fxg5 8.d2 e6 A very solid move from Rapport and one which suggest Black is doing OK in this line. [ 8...c5!? 9.xg5 c6 10.d2 ( 10.0-0-0! is more promising for W hite, for example g7 11.b1 0-0 12.f4! with Nf3 to come a n d a p l e a s a n t a d v a n t a g e f o r W h i t e) 10...cxd4 11.xd4 b6 and Black was fine in Berg, E (2456)-Paulsen, D (2431) Mainz 2001 ] 9.h3 [ 9.0-0-0 would seems to be a little more flexible here, for example e7 10.f4 0-0 ( 10...gxf4 11.xf4 c5 is probably a better way for Black to play with chances for both sides after 12.f3 0-0 13.h4 c6 ) 11.g3 and White is preparing a dangerous kingside attack with h4. ] 9...e7 10.f4 g4?! A rather odd choice from Rapport and one that quickly gets him into trouble [ 10...gxf4 \/I much pref er 11.hxf4 c5 12.0-0-0 c6 and Black has at least equalised. He also has the luxury of choosing to castle kingside into huge complications or going queenside f or a slightly quieter, more positional game. ] 11.f2 h5 12.h3 g3 [ 12...gxh3 13.xh3 c5 14.0-0-0 c6 15.g4! and White has a dangerous kingside initiative ] 13.xg3 c5 14.dxc5 xc5 15.b5+ c6 16.b4?! After this it's obvious that White won't be castling queenside! [ 16.d3 b6 17.0-0-0 was much stronger when Black has to demonstrate where his compensation for the pawn is. ] 16...b6 17.0-0 d7?! [ Black should've gone for 17...0-0 18.e2 e7 with reasonable compensation for the pawn, especially with ...Nf5 coming. ] 18.c4 h4 19.h2 0-0-0 20.c5 c7 21.d3?! [ 21.xc6! xc6 22.e2 and not only is White a pawn up but his attack with a4 and b5 is coming very quickly. ] 776

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21...xe5! This tactic brings Rapport back into the game 22.xe5?! [ 22.xd7+ xd7 23.c6! bxc6 24.ac1 and White has a very dangerous attack - for example b7?! ( 24...e7 25.xc6 b7 is a better try but White is clearly better after 26.b5 ) 25.c2 b8 26.c5+ c8 27.xe6 and White is winning ] 22...xb5 23.xg6 f6 24.xh8 e5!? A brave attacking decision from Black but objectively this doesn't really work [ better was 24...xf1 25.xf1 xh8 26.e2 h4 and Black's bind on the kingside give him reasonable compensation for a pawn. ] 25.f7 xf7 26.fxe5 xf1 27.xf1 g7 28.xh5 xe5+ 29.f4 f5 30.g3 h8 31.g2 d4 32.f3 b8 33.d3 [ 33.d5! d7 34.xc7 xc7 35.d3 an d wit h t he b ish o p exch a nge d of f t h e ending is a technical win for White. ] 33...e6 34.g1 a6 35.g4 d8 36.f2 e4 37.a4 g5 38.f1 e3+ 39.h2 e8 40.c6?! [ 40.f7! xa4 41.f6 e8 42.g3 and with the king on g3 surprisingly safe this should be winning for W hite, for example b5 43.d6+ a8 44.b6 g5 45.xb5 axb5 46.f3 and White's connected passed pawns will decide the game in his favour ] 40...xc6 41.f8+ xf8 42.xf8+ c7 43.e7+ b8 44.f8+ c7 45.c5 xc5 46.bxc5 c6 47.g3 d5 48.f3 g5 49.e2?! [ 49.f2! e7 50.e4 should still be good enough to win ] 49...a5 50.f3 f6 51.f4 c4 52.e4 e7? [ 52...d8 seems to hold the draw ] 53.e5+? [ 53.c6! bxc6 54.e5+ c5 55.f3 f6 56.g5 and White is winning ] 53...xc5 54.f3 b5 55.axb5 a4 56.xd4 a3 57.c2 a2 58.f5?? Somehow White miscalculates and throws away the draw as well [ 58.d3 xb5 59.c3 f6+ 60.b3 a1 61.xa1 xa1= ] 58...xb5 59.g5 c4 60.g6 f8 61.e4 [ or 61.f6 c3 62.f7 h6 63.a1 b2 ]

61...c3 62.a1 b2 63.d3 xa1 and W hite resigned. A bizarre end to the game and one I can only imagine that resulted from Kotronias (or more likely both players) being very short on time. 0-1

767 Kozlov,Viktor Mihail Inarkiev,Ernesto Autumn III Alushta (13) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2340 2545 2002

1.e4 g6 Another debacle coming up in the Hippopotamus system. White cannot seem to acknowledge to himself that the Black position is resilient and almost futuristic in its approach. 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 A quick...a6 seems to be an essential component of the Black idea. If White goes a2a4,he loosens himself and he cannot castle queenside anymore ( at least with a clear conscience!) 5.a4 b6! 6.d2 b7 7.f3 e6 He re we a re a g a i n a n d W h it e s it s t h e r e t h i n k i n g . . . ' W e l l , n o w w h a t ' ? 8.h3 There are others : [ 8.h4 h6 9.g4 This would certainly be interesting. ] [ 8.ge2 d7 9.g3 e7 10.g2 Meet ing f ire with f ire in a sense. Here , W hite seems well poised to meet any Black counterplay. ] 8...f6 Breaking the rules assuming Black is supposed to play ...Ne7 but Inarkiev has a small trap 9.f2 [ 9.h6 xe4! that's it by the way..... 10.fxe4 h4+-+ ] 9...0-0 10.d1 [ 10.h6 bd7 11.xg7 xg7 12.e2 e5 13.0-0 e7 Would be fine positionally for Black of course. ] 10...e7 11.g5 bd7 12.g4 e8 13.h6+ h8 14.g4?! Don't like it at all. Kozlov should make a mental readjustment and get his King out of the centre as quickly as he can. [ 14.e2 ] 14...c5! 15.dxc5 d5! Excellent play by Inarkiev and all because of the silly g2-g4. 16.exd5 exd5+ 17.e2 bxc5 A remarkable 777

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 turnaround. 18.0-0 d4 19.b1 d5 20.a3 f6 The Hippopotamus system provokes play not dissimilar to Fischerandom chess. You get thrown on your own resources very early on, ChessBase goes out of the window and the best player usually wins. Perhaps there is hope for our noble game after 0-1

15...xc3+ [ 15...a7! 16.0-0-0 b7 ] 16.xc3 b7 17.0-0-0 [ 17.f2 would keep the rook on the a-file for pressure on the isolated a-pawn. ] 17...fc8 18.d4 g7 19.hd1 e5 20.b4 c6 21.h3 a5 22.b3 cb8 [ 22...d7 23.f4 a4 24.a3 still favours White by a bit. ] 23.a3!? 768 B06 [ 23.xb8! xb8 24.f4 ] Kritz,Leonid 2596 23...b4 24.f4 ab8 [ 24...c4 25.xc4 xc4 26.d2! Zozulia,Anna 2347 with the idea Rda1. ] Open Ancona SUI (5) 06.12.2007 25.b3 a8 26.b2 fd7 27.fd5 xd5 [John Watson] 28.xd5 b7 29.da1 [ 29.xe7!? b6! 30.d5 bc4+ 31.a2 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 xa3 32.xa3 gives White nicely-placed 5.d2 d7 6.f3 b5 7.h4 h5 8.h3 c5 pieces for the exchange, in particular the 9.g5 cxd4 knight on d5. ] [ 9...b7 would transpose to Cubas-Leitao. ] 29...c6 30.e3 c5 31.c3 c8 32.d2 10.xd4 xd4 [ Hanging by a thread, but playable e6? [ 32...bb8 . Black has to sit around. ] nonetheless, is 10...gf6!? A) 11.xf6 xf6 12.d5 xg5 ( or 33.c4 d5? [ 33...bb8 34.xa5 d4 keeps the fight 12...xc3+ 13.bxc3 0-0 14.xa8 c7 ) going. ] 13.xa8 f6 14.d5 xh4+!? 15.xh4 e6 16.xh5! xh5 17.xd6 and White 34.d6 d8 35.xb7 xb7 36.exd5 has various positional problems but an xd5+ 37.c3 c5+ 38.b2 b4 39.c4 extra pawn, the latter of which is more d6 40.xa5 1-0 important; B) 11.a4!? b4 12.a2 ( maybe best is 12.d1!? b8 13.c4 0-0 14.a5 ) 769 B06 12...a5 Kukawski,M 2346 B1) 13.xf6 xf6 ( 13...xf6 14.e5! ) Petrosian,TL 2629 14.d5 xg5 15.xa8 f6 isn't so clear, given Black's bishop pair; Najdorf Mem Open A 2014 (1.9) 14.07.2014 B2) 13.c4 0-0 14.xf6 xf6 [Neil McDonald] ( 14...xf6? 15.xf7+ xf7 16.xf7 xf7 17.d5+ ) 15.e5 e8! 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 a6 (a computer move otherwise Black is The 'Tiger Modern'. Black expands quickly on lost) 16.0-0-0 ( 16.exf6?! exf6+ 17.e4 the queenside leading to a highly complex f5 18.d5 a7; 16.xf7!? xf7 fight. 5.f3 b5 6.d3 d7 7.e5 c5 17.xf7+ xf7 18.exf6 xf6 19.c3 A critical position. Black is putting a lot of e6! ) 16...h7! ( 16...dxe5? 17.b5! ) pressure on the white centre, but can he 17.exd6 xg5 18.xg5 exd6 succeed when his knight is still sitting on g8? and Black stands well enough. ] 8.e4 b8 9.e3 c4!? A move with a bad 11.xd4 gf6 12.a4 The normal idea in this reputation due to the Graf game mentioned l i n e , t o c r e a t e w e a k n e s s e s i n B l a c k ' s below. However it seems fully playable, which queenside structure. bxa4 13.xa4 0-0 is good news for Black if he wishes to deprive White of the chance to break open lines along 14.e2 c7 15.c3!? [ 15.c3! b8 16.b3 ] the d-file with d4xc5 or e5xd6. 778

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Gawain analyses 9...b4 , which remains a sharp and interesting line, in MekhitarianAhmadinia. ] 10.g5 This is the reason why Black's last move is supposed to be bad: White threatens to win at once with 11.e6. However, it might be better to play [ 10.0-0!? and maintain White's attacking options. ] 10...h6! Petrosian takes the sting out of 11. e6 by defending f7. Instead after the passive [ 10...f8?! White built up an attack with 11.f3 h6 12.0-0 in Graf, A (2642) Siebrecht, S (2376)/Heringsdorf 2000. ] [ What Black mustn't do is waste a move trying to force the knight away from g5. After 10...h6? White has three crushing responses: 11.xf7 ( Instead 11.e6 fxe6 12.xg6+ f8 13.0-0 followed by 14.f5 w o u l d b e f a t a l f o r t h e b l a c k k i n g .; Alternatively 11.e6 hxg5 12.exf7+! xf7 b e t t e r t h a n t a k i n g o n d 7 . 13.fxg5 and then 14.0-0, 15.Qf3 etc. is a winning attack for White.) 11...xf7 12.e6+ xe6 ( Suicidal, but very bad for Black is 12...f8 13.exd7 xd7 14.0-0 etc. ) 13.d5+ f6 14.e4+ f5 15.g4# ] 11.h4?! The critical test is [ 11.e6 f6 but Black seems fine e.g. 12.exf7+ ( Also fairly harmless are White's alte rna t ive s 12.c6+ f8 13.d5 c7 14.xf7 xf7 15.exf7 xf7 and; 12.xf7 xf7 13.exf7+ xf7 ) 12...f8!? Black declines to recapture straightaway on f7 as he sees he can pick up the pawn later on. Meanwhile he can use his knight on h6 more actively. 13.f3 f5 14.f2 b4 15.d5 h6 16.h3 e6 with equal chances. White should probably have gone for this line in the game. ] 11...b6 12.e6?! White keeps on pressing forwards but his position is getting weaker. [ Black looks solid on the light squares after 12.a3 d5 13.f3 f6 14.h3 f5 15.f2 h5 ] 12...xe6 13.xe6 fxe6 14.h5 b4 15.e2 d5 16.f2 g4! Black can ignore the attack on g6 in favour of activating his knights as his king will be safe on d7. 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.xh8+ xh8 19.xg6+ d7 20.f5 White's position is beginning to fall apart. He

would also be in trouble after [ 20.g3 a5 clearing the way for his rook 21.b3 df6 22.g1 g8 etc. ] 20...xf2 21.xf2 exf5 22.c3 a5 23.c2 bxc3? [ Simply 23...e6 is winning for Black when if 24.h1 f6 etc. ] 24.xf5+ e6 25.f7+ e7 26.bxc3 g5 27.b1?? Losing a piece. White might have held on with [ 27.c2 ] 27...xg6 28.xg6 f8+ A decisive zwischenzug, after which Black can recapture on g6 a piece up. 0-1

770 Kulicov,Oleg Anatolie Gelashvili,Tamaz 9th Open Dubai UAE (2) [John Watson]

B06 2403 2605 23.04.2007

This time things go better for Black. It may be that Black's 6th move is a good alternative to 6...Nd7. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 a6 5.f3 b5 6.d3 b7 Given '?!' by HillarpPersson, since it doesn't immediately support ...c5 as ...Nd7 does. On the other hand, he doesn't show any way to get an advantage against it. 7.0-0 [ (a) 7.e5 is critical: ] [ (b) 7.e2 may be best, according to Tiger, but d7 8.e5 c5 ( 8...h6 also led to equality in one game, and may be better) 9.g5 ( 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 cxd4 11.exd6 h6! , when Tiger says that 12 a4 i s ' t h e o n l y m o v e ' , a l t h o u g h 12.eg5!? b e a r s m e n t i o n) 9...cxd4 10.e6 f5! is a fantastic sacrifice that Hillarp-Person say that he's played a number of times, for example, 11.exd7+ ( 11.f7 a5 ) 11...xd7 12.d1 ( 12.xb5 axb5 13.xb5 c6 is unclear) 12...e5 13.fxe5 dxe5 14.a4 h6 15.f3 e4 with a doubleedged, crazy game in deFirmian-HillarpPersson, Copenhagen 1996. ] 7...d7 8.e5 Obviously not the only move, but possibly strongest. c5! [ 8...h6!? 9.e4 c6 10.d5!? ] 9.exd6 779

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 cxd4 11.exd6 gf6 12.dxe7 ( 12.xd4 0-0 13.dxe7 xe7 14.xf6+ xf6 t r a n s p o s e s) 12...xe7 13.xf6+ ( 13.xd4!? 0-0 14.xf6+ xf6 15.f2 with some counterplay for Black) 13...xf6 14.xd4 ( 14.e1 e4 15.g5 f5 16.d3 0-0 17.d2 ) 14...0-0 15.e1 b7 16.c3 and it's not clear that Black has full compensation, but then again he might. ] [ 9.e3 ] 9...cxd4 10.e2 [ 10.e4 gf6 11.xf6+ xf6 12.dxe7 xe7 13.e1 e4 14.e2 f5 15.a4 0-0! is an unclear gambit. ] 10...b6 11.dxe7 [ 11.a4! is more challenging. ] 11...xe7 Now all of Black's pieces control central squares. 12.f5?! White activates his pieces but is losing time. 0-0 13.f4?! c5! 14.fxg6 fxg6 15.d2 xd3!? [ 15...f5 would demonstrate Black's superiority. ] 16.xd3? [ 16.cxd3 d5 17.b3 ] 16...d5 17.e1 e3 18.xe3 dxe3 19.e2 [ 19.h1? xf3! 20.gxf3 f8 21.f1 g5! and ... g4 follows. ] 19...ae8 20.f1 f5 21.a3 a5 22.h1 d5! 23.ae1 c8 24.h3 c4 25.b1 [ 25.b3 d5! 26.xe3 xe3 27.xe3 xc2 with the bishop pair, passed pawn, and 7th rank. ] 25...b4 26.axb4 axb4 27.b3 b5 W hite is to tally t ie d up . 28.h2 xf1+ 29.xf1 e8 30.h2 d4 31.f1 xd3 32.cxd3 b2 33.e1 [ 33.xb2 xb2 with ...e2 and ...Bc3. ] 33...xb3 34.g4 e6 35.f1 b3 0-1

c a s t l e w i t h 8.f1?! h6 9.b3 0-0 10.xh6 xh6 11.e1 f4 12.cxd4 c6 Black has to activate his pieces bef ore pursuing the white king 13.e3 d8 14.h4 xd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.xe7 f8 17.e8 xc4 18.xc4 xc4+ 19.g1 b6 with a winning advantage, Sveshnikov,E-Sax, G/Bled 2000. ] 8...h6 [ 8...f6? allows 9.xf7+! with a clear advantage ] [ 8...dxe3 9.xf7+! f8 10.d8+ xf7 11.g5+ f6 12.xe4+ wins ] 9.cxd4 [ 9.b5 0-0 10.cxd4 ( 10.c7 dxe3 11.d3 c6 12.xa8 exf2+ 13.f1 b6 is much better for Black) 10...c6 11.h3 f5 12.e2 xe3 13.fxe3 b4 ( Perhaps 13...h6!? ) 14.c3 c2 15.a3 xe2+ 16.xe2 c6 17.ac1 d7 18.b4 ac8 19.e4 f5 20.g3 d7 21.e4 f5 22.g3 d7 1/2-1/2 Peredy,F-Flumbort,A/ Veszprem 2000. ] 9...0-0 10.0-0 g4 White is concerned about allowing ...Nf5 to put pressure on the d4 pawn and bishop on e3 so decides to exchange pieces 11.xh6?! I would be reluctant to give up the bishop because then Black will have good play but W hite has spotted a tactical opportunity. [ 11.b5 c6 12.e2 f5 Black has easily equalised 13.g5 ad8 14.c3 e6 15.d5 c8 16.a4 xf3 17.xf3 cd4 18.e4 h6 led to equal play in Chapman,MDepasquale,C/Mingara 2000. ] [ 11.g5 xd1 12.xe4 g4 13.f3 c8 14.g4 c6 15.ad1 b6 16.c2 b7 with a level game, Anderton, M-Ramaswamy, A/Edinburgh 2003. ] 11...xh6 12.e1 f5 13.xe7 Hupper has won a pawn but it is a hollow victory because now Black develops smoothly. c6 14.xb7 771 B06 [ Or 14.e1 xf3 15.gxf3 ad8 16.d5 e5 17.e2 f4 gives Black a winning attack. ] Kupper,Patrick 2285 Pelletier,Yannick 2544 14...ad8 15.e2 [ 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 xf3 17.gxf3 xd4 Swiss Team Championships (4.2) 20.05.2001 is double-edged ] [Gary Lane] 15...xf3 16.xf3 xd4 17.g4 [ 17.e2 f3+!? 18.xf3 xd1+ 19.xd1 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 a6 is not clear because White has enough 5.f3 g7 6.a3 cxd4 7.c4 e4+ 8.e3 material for the queen. ] [ It is not so good to give up the right to 780

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17...e4 18.xa7 Kupper is two pawns up but I would rather be Black who has plenty of tricks available due to his superior pieces. g7 19.b1 [ 19.b1?? xg4 ] 19...b5 20.a4 d4 A crazy looking position where the pieces are hanging loose around the board. 21.f3 xf2+ 22.xf2 [ 22.h1 d3 23.xb5? xa7 is better for Black ] 22...d2+ 23.g3 [ 23.g1 e3+ 24.h1 xa7 with the advantage. ] 23...e5+ 24.h3 xa7 25.xa7 The king on h3 looks rather sad and Black really should go for it. fd8 [ 25...g5! is also possible to add some control of the h4 square. For instance: 26.b4 f4 and White can give up. ] 26.f1 f5+ 27.g3 g5+ 28.h3 f5+ 29.g3 g5+ 30.h3 8d4 The threat of mate is difficult to resist. 31.b8+ g7 32.g3 h5 33.e1 f5+ 34.g4 xf3+ 35.g3 xg3+ [ 35...hxg4+ 36.h4 f6# ] 36.xg3 xg4+ 37.f3 d3+ 38.e2 e4+ 39.f1 f3+ 40.g2 xe1 41.xf3 a1 0-1

772 Lalic,Bogdan Turner,Matthew Congress, 199 [Paul Motwani]

B06

1998

W 5 8 : " P o we r - p a c k e d p u n c h e s f r o m B i g Bogdan Lalic!" 1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 This case of "f for forward" constitutes the aggressive Austrian Attack. d7?! [ The chosen move is more passive than the "normal" 4...f6 , and on his next move Black continues to play in an uncharacteristically timid way. ] 5.f3 c6 6.d3 e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.e2! Black must keep guessing about whether White intends to castle on the queenside or t h e k i n g s i d e . e7 9.f5 c5 10.c4! White directs pressure towards Black's frail point at f7. gxf5

[ 10...b5 can be answered strongly by 11.e3! ] 11.g5! e6 [ 11...0-0? loses immediately to 12.h5 ] 12.xf7!! This stunning sacrifice is designed to e xp o se B la ck' s kin g, a n d t o f o rc e t h e unhappy monarch out into the open. xf7 13.exf5 xf5 14.0-0 e8 [ 14...g6 walks into crushing lines like 15.xf5! xf5 16.h5+ f6 ( 16...g5 17.g4+ f6 18.xg5# ) 17.e4+ e7 18.g5+ xg5 19.xg5+ e8 20.h5+ d7 21.f7+ e7 22.d1+ ] 15.xf5+ g8 16.e3 h8 17.h5 e4 [ 17...f4 allows 18.xf4 exf4 19.xh7+! xh7 20.h5+ h6 21.d3+ , with a winning attack for White. ] 18.f1 White's army is now fully mobilised, whereas most of Black's pieces are practically dormant on the back rank, and unable to p r o t e c t t h e i r t r o u b l e d k i n g o n h 8 . e7 19.xe4 d7 20.xh7+!! Big Bogdan Lalic lands another power-packed punch on his d a ze d o p p o n e n t . xh7 21.h5+ g8 22.g5 xg5 Black could do little else against the threat of 23 Qh7, as is confirmed by the following variations. [ 22...xb2 23.f7 ] [ 22...f6 23.xf6 xf6 24.h7+ f8 25.xe6+ xe6 ( 25...xe6 26.h6+ ) 26.c5+ e8 27.g8+ f8 28.xf8# ] 23.xg5 f8 24.d1 Black resigned, far behind on material, and in view of 24...Rf7 25 Rxd7! Rxd7 26 Bxe6+. 1-0

773 Lautier,Joel Miles,Anthony J SKA Biel (3) [Nigel Davies]

B06

1996

Amongst the off-beat ideas tried by the late Tony Miles, the combination of a Modern and an Alekhine with 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 is one of the most bizarre. In this game it didn't turn out too well, but that doesn't mean it can't be a useful surprise weapon at club level. How many of us have to play Black against Joel Lautier? 1.e4 g6 2.d4 f6 3.e5 h5 781

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 4.e2 g7 5.f3 d5 6.h3 h5 This looks a bit odd to me, though that could also be said of Black's entire opening. [ 6...e6 transposes into Ferguson Hodgson in which both sides lost a tempo. ] [ To my way of thinking the 'normal' move in th is p o sit io n is 6...c6 which seems fairly indispensable in the long run anyway and leaves Black's options open. ] 7.0-0 c6 8.b3 a5 And this looks like a rook pawn move too far. Although the position is fairly stable at present there is a limit to the extent to which Black can break the rules. [ 8...f5 looks better, with a similar set-up to Pacey - Day. ] 9.c4 a6 10.c3 c7 11.cxd5 xd5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.g5 d7 14.d3 e6 15.f3 xg5 16.xg5 b6 The best chance in a difficult position. [ After 16...c6 there is 17.e6 ] [ or if 16...e6 there follows 17.b5+ d7 18.e6 fxe6 19.d3 ] 17.xd5 c6 18.c5 xc5 19.dxc5 Leaving White a pawn up for not very much. Miles puts up tough resistance but in the end this proves futile. g7 20.fe1 d8 21.c4 d5 22.b5+ c6 23.c4 d5 24.f1 d7 25.ad1 e6 26.h4 c6 27.c4+ d5 28.xd5 xd5 29.xe7 xe7 30.xd5 c8 31.c1 xe5 32.xb7 d8 33.f3 d2 34.c6 c7 35.d1 xd1+ 36.xd1 d6 37.e2 e7 38.c4 f5 39.f1 d8 40.e2 e8 41.e6 e7 42.g8 f8 43.d5 e7 44.d3 f4 45.c4 d6 46.e4 xh4 47.b5 d8 48.xg6 h4 49.e4 c7 50.a6 d8 51.b7 c7 52.f3 d8 53.a3 1-0

774 Lee Sang Hoon Gilbert,Jessie 1st International (5) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2098 17.02.2006

Played at the 1st Korean International Event, this is a wild game in the Modern Defence. W h i t e g e t s h is p i e c e s i n a t a n gle a t t h e beginning of the game but Black doesn't take advantage of this like she should and White

seems to get back into the game. However, his king is in the centre and falls into lots of mating threats which he somehow manages to escape. It ends with a two knights v rook and pawns endgame and W hite holds on to the draw. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f4 A very unusual line to play against the Modern that is not seen much in high-level chess but is occasionally brought out by grandmasters as a surprise weapon! d6 [ 3...c5!? 4.d5 d6 ] 4.f3 d7 Not one of the most popular moves here, but playable. 5.d3 c5 [ 5...h6 comes from the wilder shores of t h e M o d e r n : 6.0-0 0-0 7.e1 c5 Black is relying on this move for counterplay. 8.dxc5 ( 8.f5 ) 8...xc5 9.c3 g4 10.h1 f6 11.e3 xd3 12.cxd3 b6 13.h3 a6 14.d2 c8 15.fc1 d7 16.a4 fd8 17.b4 e8 18.b5 b7 19.h2 c7= Somlai, L-Horvath, J/Hungary 1994 ] 6.c3 b6N 7.a3 cxd4 8.c4 c5 9.b4 c7 10.cxd4 b5 11.b2? [ 11.a5 a6 ] 11...c3+ [ 11...xd4 12.xd4 c3+ 13.d2 xd4 and White doesn't really have enough compensation for the pawn. ] 12.d2 xd4 13.xb5 xd2+ 14.xd2 g7 15.d3 [ 15.c6 b8 16.a3 b7 17.xb7 xb7 ] 15...a5!? [ 15...b7 is also good for Black and pe rh ap s le ss risky t ha n giving W hit e a passed b-pawn that may become handy later in the game. ] 16.b5 c5 17.b1?! [ 17.e1 is White's best bet. b7 18.e5 ] 17...b7?! Missing a chance to get a clear advantage. [ 17...e6! 18.c2 f6 19.e1 xa2-+ ] 18.e1 c8 [ 18...f6 19.e5 dxe5 20.xe5 fe4+ ] 19.c4 [ 19.e5 dxe5 20.fxe5 h6 ] 19...xd3? [ 19...f6 20.b2 fxe4+ 21.xe4 xe4+ 22.d3 xb2 23.xb2 c5+ ] 20.xd3 f6 21.xa5 xe4+ 22.xe4 xe4 23.xe4 c3 Things are getting 782

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g7 7.d2 h6 8.e3 c6 9.0-0 d5 10.exd5 cxd5 11.d3 By straightforward means, White has established a edge, albeit in a very murky position. It becomes clear that Black doesn't really like his position. In that case, why did he play the Hippo in the first place?? f6 12.e5 d7 13.f3 c6 14.b4 d7 15.xg6! b6?? ( 15...xg6 16.b5 c8 17.bxc6 xc6 18.e2 ) 16.xh8 xh8 17.b5 xb5 18.ab1 xd4 19.f2 a6 20.a4 xf2+ 21.xf2 1-0 Ruiz Diez, J-Martin Juan, V/Aragon 2003 ] 5...g7 6.c3 e7 7.b3 This slow, nagging approach is the preferred method of most strong players when facing this confusing stuff. White doesn't press too hard and relies on a good, solid centre and modest development. His extra space and wider choice of plans will eve nt u a lly ru n B lack ou t o f co u nt e rpla y. Rodriguez does not think so. He believes in himself and his ability to keep the tension and will try to outplay Leskovar. [ 7.e3 0-0 8.d2 d5 9.d3 dxe4 10.xe4 f6 11.c2 b6 12.h6 b7 13.xg7 xg7 14.e5 d5 15.f3 ad8 16.f2 a6= Schaefer, G-Scheib, K/ Mehlingen 1999 ] [ 7.e1 0-0 8.g5 h6 9.h4 b6 10.bd2 b7 11.e2 a6 12.h3 g5 13.g3 g6 14.e3 f6 15.ad1 h5 16.h2 hf4 17.xf4 xf4 18.f1 f5 19.g3 g6 775 B06 20.exf5 exf5 21.e6+ h7 Duer, W-Kroell, J/Austria 2000 ] Leskovar,Mario Leopoldo 2245 Rodriguez Cespedes,Amador 2495 7...0-0 8.e1 b6 9.bd2 b7 10.f1 h6!? 1st Bautista Masters, Cipolleti (8) 2003 11.g3 c5 Finally Black plays an active move and now White has to show his hand. 12.h4 [Andrew Martin] [ I qu ite like 12.e3 followed by Qd2 and only then h2-h4! a2-a4 must also come 1.d4 d6 2.e4 d7!? It is perfectly possible into consideration. ] to start a game this way although not many do. 3.f3 g6 The Hanham Variation of the 12...c7 13.h5 g5 I guess that was the point ac8 P h i l i d o r i s a n o t h e r o p t i o n e . g . 3 . . . e 5 . of ...h7-h6 in the first place! 14.d3 R o d r i g u e z i n s i s t s o n o r i g i n a l i t y . 4.c4 15.c2 fd8 We have reached a genuinely Black must not overlook the threat of Bxf7+ unclear position, quite conforming to the style although some might. e6 So we will get a and the philosophy of the variation. There's Hippopotamus after the initial banter. 5.0-0 no mate on h7 so by taking on d4 at the right White has a very wide choice, both his pride moment, Black will always have counterplay. a n d h i s p o s s i b l e d o w n f a l l . L o v e r s o f Leskovar decides to take action. 16.xg5?! [ 16.a4 g4! 17.h2 cxd4 18.xg4 dxc3 aggression might prefer 5 Bg5, as featured in 19.b4 e5 ] the following miniature. I know I do. [ 16.d1 a6 17.e3 b5 ] [ 5.g5! Awkward for Black. e7 6.c3

exciting now - White has a material advantage but it's quite difficult for him to get out of being mated! 24.f5 gxf5+ 25.xf5 g8 26.g4? [ 26.b2 c5+ 27.e4 f5+ 28.d3 e5 ] 26...h6+ 27.g5 f6?? [ 27...xg5! 28.xg5 ( 28.b6 f6+ 29.h3 c5 30.g4 d7-+ ) 28...f6 29.h4 fxg5 30.b6 gxh4+ 31.xh4 d7 32.b7 c7-+ ] 28.b6 xg5 29.b7 e3+ 30.h3 a7 31.b8+ xb8 32.xb8+ f7 33.xg8 xg8 34.b3 e5 35.g4 c2 36.a4 c4+ 37.f5 f7 38.g3 xa4 39.bd2 d5 40.xe5+ fxe5 41.xe5 a8?! [ 41...a3-+ stopping White from taking the d-pawn and stopping the White knight from getting into the game. ] 42.f3 d8?! [ 42...a5-+ ] 43.g4 g6 [ 43...e8+ 44.xd5 e3 45.g1 f6 ] 44.h4 d7 45.e6 d8 46.e5 d7 47.e6 d8 48.e5 h6 49.h5+ g7 50.g5 f8 51.gxh6+ xh6 52.d4 d8 53.e6 d7 54.c5 d4 55.e4 [ 55.xd7 d3 56.f6 d2 57.g4+ xh5 58.e3= ] 55...d8 56.d3 xh5 57.e6 d6 58.xd4 ½-½

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16...hxg5 17.xg5 cxd4 I get the impression that Rodriguez knows his opponent very well and has been tempting him all along . It's a dangerous game to play but when it comes off th e po in t is th ere f or t h e ta king. W hite 's sacrifice is probably unsound. 18.e5 f8 [ 18...f8 ] 19.h6 c6 [ 19...xh6 20.xh6 dxe5 21.h5 f5 22.g3+ fg6 ] 20.f3 xh6 21.xh6? Too optimistic. White would have a better chance of getting something from the game after [ 21.xe7 dxc3! 22.bxc3 d7 23.exd6 c5+ 24.f1 f4 ] 21...dxc3! 22.b4 d5 23.f1 d4+ 24.e3 [ 24.e3 xe5 ] 24...h4-+ Black has won the battle for the initiative-his position was resilient enough to wi t h s t a n d a n i m m e d i a t e a s sa u l t . 25.xf8 xf8 26.e4 d5 27.e2 a6 28.f2 xf2+ 29.xf2 dxe5 30.a3 f5 31.g5 e7 32.e1 f6 33.h3 h8 34.f4 e4 35.g5 e5 There's no clear way to the advantage against this messy' three-rank' system and it's clear that White must be patient. Attempts to demolish the Black position often meet the fate that Leskovar had to suffer. The Hippo remains a good way to play all-out for the win against weaker opposition. It is very confusing. 0-1

Benko. White shuts down Black's queenside ambitions before they take shape! [ Milov, another Grandmaster who favours originality, tried 7.h3 in a recent game. This is a useful move, preparing Be3: c5 8.d5 ( 8.c3!? ) 8...b5 9.f4 Changing his mind? c7 10.c3 b7 11.a4 a6 12.e3 e6 Milov, V-Sakaev, K/Panormo 2002 ] 7...c5 8.d5 c7 9.a3! The Knight aims for c4, a dream square. b6 10.c3! a6 11.c4 b8 12.e5! More thematic play. White forces through a critical advance. dxe5 [ Black may lie back on the ropes, but there is no doubting White's superiority: 12...fe8 13.f4 b5 14.axb5 axb5 15.a5 d7 16.e1 b4 17.e4 dxe5 18.e3 ] 13.xe5 b7 [ 13...fxd5 14.c6 xc3 15.bxc3 leads to brief complications which favour White: ( 15.e1 is n o t a s g o o d : d6 16.xb8 3d5 ) 15...xd1 16.xd1 g4 17.f3 xc3 18.a3 ] 14.c6 xc6 15.dxc6 xd1 16.xd1 e6 17.e2 Naturally preventing ... Ne6-d4! bd8 18.e1 d5 19.c3 d6 20.f4!! Just when you thought Black was getting back into the game, this excellent move strikes him down. The problem is clear to see the c6 pawn is a winner. dxf4 [ 20...exf4 comes to the same. ] 21.xf4 xf4 22.gxf4 e6 [ 22...f6 23.ad1 c8 24.xd6 exd6 was perhaps more tenacious 25.d1 e7 776 B06 26.f5! gxf5 27.f4 f8 28.f2 e8 29.e3 d8 30.d5! xc6 31.xf5 c7 Lima,Darcy 2535 32.xf7 h4 33.f8+ e7 34.b8 ] Tristan,Leonardo 2225 American Continental (11) 16.08.2005 23.a5 b5 24.ad1 Forcing entry into Black's half of the board. The Bishop on g7 is [Andrew Martin] powerless. xd1 [ 24...fd8 25.xd6 xd6 26.c7 ] There is no obligation to use complicated or h6 26.d7 xf4 27.c7 a g g r e s s i v e m e t h o d s , a l t h o u g h t h a t i s a 25.xd1 predominant feature of modern chess. Chill If you just want a game of chess against the out with Darcy Lima who makes chess look an P i r c o r M o d e r n a n d n o t a t h e o r e t i c a l easy game, with barely a tactic in sight. 1.e4 discussion, you could do a lot worse than try d6 2.g3 Not so bad. f6 3.g2 g6 4.d4 the system that Lima does here. g7 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 This is a difficult 1-0 system for Black to handle because counterplay comes slowly, if at all. Benko was the one who used this system with success. Note that W hite delays Nc3 that is an interesting nuance. a6 7.a4 Still 'Ã la' 784

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 777 Limp,Eduardo Thelio Chemin,Vitorio IV Taca CC Brasilia BRA (5) [Aaron Summerscale]

B06 778 2480 Littlewood,Paul E 2309 Tiller,Bjorn 21.08.2000 Open Davis SUI (7) [Andrew Martin]

1.d4 If you are looking for an interesting of f b ea t way t o co m ba t t ho se a ggressive King's In d ia n /G rü n f e ld pla ye rs, t he n t h e f ollowing game may provide some of th e answers that you've been looking for. f6 2.f3 g6 3.c3 g7 4.c2 This is an interesting way to try and take King's Indian and Grünfeld players out of their books. White can hope to force Black into unfamiliar s u r r o u n d i n g s . d6 Black sticks to his King's Indian structure, but the resulting position is more like a Pirc defence. 5.e4 0-0 6.e2 e5 7.dxe5 Not the most energetic of continuations, but against a King's Indian player spoiling for a fight, a wise psychological choice. dxe5 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 b6 10.bd2 b7 11.f1 bd7 12.a4 The first indication that White is playing for the full point. Such queenside expansion is awkward for Black to meet. h6 [ 12...a5 is worth exploring, and may have been better, despite the weakening of b5. ] 13.a5 a6 14.axb6 cxb6 15.c4 It's always good to take aim at weaknesses, such as b6 and d6. h5 16.g3 f5 17.h4 An excellent riposte, which takes most of the sting out of Black's kingside counterplay. f6 18.exf5 gxf5 19.e3 Again highlighting the weaknesses left by Black's kingside pawn advances. e4 20.d1 f4 21.c4+ h8 22.g4 Black has lost control of the kingside light squares and W hite wins material by force. c6 23.xe4 xe4 24.d5 h7 25.xa8 xa8 26.xd7 Black could already resign with a clear conscience. fxg3 27.hxg3 f8 28.e3 c2 29.a4 e2 30.g6+ 1-0

B06 2396 2390 06.08.2004

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.d2 b5 6.f3 b7 7.d3 d7 8.a4 b4 9.e2 c5 If Black prefers an early ...a7-a6 to ...c7-c6 he gets to push ... c7-c5 in one go. The timing of this advance must be carefully considered, lest the Black King gets caught in the centre, as happens here. So 9...c5 is very risky, a lth o u gh it is f ully in kee p in g wit h Tiller's uncompromising style. [ I prefer 9...a5 10.g3 ( 10.c3 bxc3 11.bxc3 gf6 12.g3 0-0 13.h6 c5! is better timing.) 10...e6 11.0-0 e7 12.h6 0-0 13.fe1 c5 I reckon this is the right pawn formation for Black out of the opening. The pawn on e6 keeps a white knight out of f5 and Black can look to play ... d6-d5!, stabilising the centre. 14.c3 bxc3 15.bxc3 cxd4 ( 15...d5!? 16.ab1 c7 17.f4 c8 18.d6 e8 19.dxc5 dxe4 20.xe4 f5 ) 16.cxd4 c6 17.xg7 xg7 18.f4 b4 19.b1 e7 20.e5 xf3! 21.gxf3 d5 22.g4 ac8 23.g2 c4 Henson,J-Harper,B/Richmond CAN 2004 Black has excellent counterplay. ] 10.c3 bxc3 11.bxc3 c7 12.0-0 gf6 13.h6 We've seen time and time again that this is the correct way to play for W hite. As soon as the Black knight leaves g8,it's right to go Be3-h6. Summarising the merits of this idea: 1) W hite strips out the fianchettoed Bishop 2) The Black Kingside is weakened. 3) W hite has distinct attacking opportunities based on moves such as Ng3,Qg5, Nh4-f5,f4f5 etc. xe4 Tiller has absolutely no doubts about taking such pawns. He wants to see what will happen. [ 13...0-0 14.xg7 xg7 15.g3 e6 16.ab1 ab8 17.fe1 a5 was considerably safer, both in a practical and theoretical sense. ] 14.xe4 xh6 15.xh6 xe4 16.g5 d5 17.f4 c4 18.fe1 This is what happens. His King gets stuck in the middle, unable to escape. Over the board, White has all the fun. e5 19.dxe5 xe5 20.xg6! fxg6 21.f4 785

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 0-0-0 What else. 22.fxe5 dxe5 23.h4 d5 Black's plan is to play an eventual ...c6-c5 24.c4 b7 this is a position where all roads and the position of the queen on b6 does lead to Rome as far as White is concerned: not really help (it often gets hit by a later [ 24...h6 25.cxd5 hxg5 26.xg5 xd5 Na4). ] 27.f6! ] 8.a4 One of several ways to deal with the [ 24...a8 25.h3+ ( 25.e6 c6 ) threat to the b2 pawn. 25...d7 26.xe5 xh3 27.xc5+ b8 [ Other possibilities are: a) 8.b3 g4 9.a4 28.b1+! b7 29.xh3 ] a5+ 10.d2 c7 11.c3 e6 12.d3 f5 25.h3+ d7 26.ad1 e8 27.f7 13.0-0 c5 14.dxc5 xc5+ 15.xc5 xc5+ Nothing moves and the threat of Nd6 is killing. 16.f2 c6 17.h3 xf3 18.xf3 h4 Tiller is a really strong, unusual and creative 19.h2 0-0-0 which led to razor-sharp play player. It's nothing new: such players have to in Bauer - Chernin, Hungarian Ch., 1992 ] obey their nature and occasionally suffer a [ and b) 8.b1 g4 9.e2 f5 10.f2 e6 terrible reverse. Forgetting armchair 11.0-0 d7 12.b4 c7 13.a4 b6 psychology and returning to the opening, 9... 14.c5 xf3 15.xf3 c4 with a good a5 is satisfactory for Black. game for Black in Buchal - Chernin, San 1-0 B e rn a d i n o 1 9 9 2 . T h e s e t wo va r ia t io n s clearly illustrate the advantage of having the bishop on f8 it makes the later ... c6-c5 779 B06 very much easier. ] 8...a5+ 9.c3 g4 Luther,Thomas [ Gurevich slightly varies his treatment from Gurevich,Mikhail his game against Sepp from Brugge 1995. Cappelle la Grande (France) (3) 1998 O n t h a t o c c a s i o n h e p l a y e d 9...c7 [Nigel Davies] and obta ine d a good ga me a f te r 10.e2 g4 11.0-0 f5 12.f2 e6 13.b4 d7 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 14.c5 b6 15.b1 xf3 16.xf3 c4 h5 6.f3 h6 7.e3 b6 17.e2 b6 18.d3 a5 , initiating [ In Khachian - Minasian, Armenian Ch., counterplay on the queenside. Luther had Yerevan 1999 Black rejected this automatic no doubt studied this game and come up attack against the b2 pawn and instead with an improvement Gurevich in turn shows c h o s e t o d e v e l o p h i s g a m e w i t h 7...b6 little curiosity about what it might be. ] , introducing the possibility of developing his bis h op with . .. B a 6 a n d le n d in g gre a t e r 10.c5 f5 [ Or 10...c7 11.h3 f5 12.f2 xf3 support to a later ...c6-c5. The game 13.xf3 b6 14.b3 h4 15.d3 e6 16.0-0 continued 8.d3 f5 9.0-0 xd3 10.xd3 b7 17.e2 a5 18.d2 e7 19.f3 c8 e6 11.e2 e7 12.c4 f8 13.cxd5 cxd5 20.fc1 ( After 20.e1 Black defends the h14.ac1 d7 15.c2 a5 16.fc1 a6 pawn with d8 ) 20...a6 21.c4 c7 17.a3 f5 18.d2 g7 19.g3 xg3 22.b3 f8 23.c2 g7 24.e1 d8 20.hxg3 a4 21.e3 b5 22.c6 b7 25.c1 a4 26.bxa4 xa4 27.b1 dxc4 23.h4 hc8 24.xc8 xc8 25.xc8 28.xc4 d5 29.b3 1/2-1/2, Bologan V. xc8 26.xb5 xh4 27.gxh4 c4! Badea B., Romania 1999 Ch Romania ] 28.a5 ( 28.xc4 dxc4 followed by ...Nc7d5 would bring about a complete blockade.) 11.f2 e6 12.b3 b6 [ I suspect that either 12...c7 or even ] 28...c7 29.h2 d3 30.g1 c4 [ 12...d8 would be better. ] 31.c5 b5 32.f2 e2 33.g3 xb2 34.e1 xd4 35.b4 f2 36.f8+ h7 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 h4 15.d3 d7 37.xf7+ h8 38.f6+ h7 39.f7+ 16.0-0 e7 17.ab1 f8 18.d2 g7 with a draw by perpetual check. Minasian's 19.e2 a5 20.b4 c7 [ And not 20...xa2 21.a1 b2 22.xf5 treatment is very interesting. ] gxf5 23.d3 followed by 24.Rfb1. ] [ Black's other possibility is an immediate b5? 22.a4 Suddenly Black is in 7...g4 , which is actually a move I quite like. 21.f3 786

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 terrible trouble W hite threatens to come in down the a-file but when Black opposes rooks he can no longer defend h4. In view of this his last move looks like a serious mistake. a6 23.axb5 axb5 24.a1 b7 25.fc1 xa1 26.xa1 a8 27.xa8 xa8 28.xf5 gxf5 29.e1 W inning a pawn for nothing. h8 30.xh4 xh4 31.xh4 h6 32.g3+ f8 33.f3 b6 34.g5 h5 35.e1 a4 36.h2 e8 37.g3 e7 38.d2 e8 39.f3 g6+ 40.h2 h5 41.e1 h4 42.d3 e7 43.c1 f8 44.b3 e8 45.a5 d7 46.e3 c7 47.g3 xg3+ 48.xg3 xc3 49.h4 d7 50.h5 e8 51.xc6 f8 52.f3 g7 53.g4 fxg4+ 54.xg4 f5+ 55.g5 e4+ 56.h4 d2 57.g3 h6 58.d8 xh5 59.xe6 b3 60.f3 a1 61.c7 c2 62.e6 xd4+ 63.g3 c6 64.xd5 g6 65.h4 g7 66.h5 d4 67.e7 f7 68.g5 e6+ 69.xf5 g7+ 70.e5 e8 71.f5 g7 72.c7 1-0

though this plan may be better left on the drawing board) 7.f3 f6 8.e2 0-0 9.h3 c5 10.0-0 b8 11.e5 d7 12.exd6 exd6 13.a2 b5 14.axb5 xb5 15.e4 and White was better in Antunes - Davies, Portugal 1985 ] [ Black can transpose into a Pirc with 5...f6 6.h3 0-0 etc. ] 6.d2 b7 [ In the game the bishop would have been useful on its original diagonal, which suggest s it m ight be be tte r to de lay it s d e v e l o p m e n t w i t h 6...d7 and just set about preparing ...c7-c5. ] 7.h4 f6 8.f3 c5 9.d5 c7 [ 9...h5 is well worth considering. I usually like to encourage W hite to advance his pawns, but in this case my position starts to look very dodgy. ] 10.g4 h5 11.g5 fd7 12.f4 0-0 13.ge2 b5! It's now or never. Given time White would play Ne2-g3, Bf1-e2 and then sacrifice on h5. 14.axb5 b6 15.g3 e6 16.dxe6 fxe6 17.h3 e7 18.e2 d5 19.xh5?! Tempting but unsound. 780 B06 [ White should have played simply 19.exd5 exd5 20.0-0 after which d4 can be met by Manca,Federico 2393 21.d2 xe2 22.cxe2 axb5 23.xa8 Davies,Nigel R 2515 xa8 24.f5! etc. ] Open Saint Vincent ITA (2) 07.02.1999 19...gxh5 20.xh5 8d7 21.e5 f5! [Nigel Davies] Giving up the exchange to slow the pace of Against 4.Be3 I have played 4...a6 exclusively. W hite's attack. 22.xf5 exf5 23.g6 d4 The idea is that Black will expand on the 24.h7+ f8 25.g1 dxc3 26.g5 e4 queenside with ...b7-b5, ...Nb8-d7, and ...c5- 27.bxc3 c4 28.xa6 xa6 29.bxa6 xe3 c5 whilst leaving the king's knight at home to 30.h5 xe5 p re ve n t B e 3 - h 6 . Ma n y W h it e 's p re f e r t o 0-1 p r e ve n t t h is p la n wi t h 5 . a 4 , t h o u g h t h i s reduces W hite's options in that queenside B06 castling is unlikely. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 781 d6 4.e3 a6 5.a4 Martin del Campo,Roberto 2420 [ For 5.d2 see Szalanczy - Davies ] Hoang Canh,Huan 2363 1st WMSG Rapid Team rapid (8) 16.10.2008 5...b6 [ I've also played 5...c6 but I'm not sure [John Watson] that Black's position is very good after 6.d5 ( 6.f3 g4 7.e2 e5 equalises 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.f3 c o m f o r t a b l y .; In Haba - Davies, Polanica b5 6.e3 b7 7.d3 d7 This is the main Zdroj 1989 I obtained interesting counterplay l i n e a f t e r 4 f 4 . 8.a4 This move occurs in after 6.h3 e5 7.f3 exd4 8.xd4 f6 various places in Tiger's book, but I think not 9.g3 0-0 10.g2 d7 11.de2 b5!? etc. ) in this precise position. 6...a7!? (Hoping to support a later ... b7-b5 [ There is a note on 8.e5 in the Archives game Kosten-Hague. ] by using the square created by 4...a6!, 787

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8...b4 9.a2 a5 10.c3 [ Or 10.0-0 gf6 11.e5 g4 12.d2 , about equal. ] 10...gf6 11.d5?! An odd move that reveals the latent power of Black's pieces. [ 11.cxb4 xe4 12.0-0 was an alternative. ] 11...c6! 12.dxc6 xc6 13.cxb4 xe4 Now Black has achieved a 2-0 central majority. 14.b5 [ A c o m p le x l i n e g o e s 14.xe4 xe4 15.d3 f5!? 16.d4! axb4! 17.e6 a5 18.xg7+ f7 19.xf5 gxf5 , and apparently Black stands better, but it's not straightforward. ] 14...b7 15.c3 0-0 16.e2 g4 17.d2 c5 18.c2 c8 19.h3 f6 20.0-0 h5 21.f2 e5?! This creates a weakness on d5 a n d a c t iva t e s W h it e 's p ie ce s m o re t h a n Black's. Better [ 21...d5! with the idea ...d4-d3 then Black keeps his advantage. ] 22.fxe5 dxe5 23.ad1 c7 24.e3 e6 Black has a beautiful kingside pawn mass but no time to get it activated, for example, [ 24...f5? 25.xc5 xc5 26.b3+ h8 27.xc5 xc5 28.g5 , hitting e6 and f7. ] [ Probably best is 24...f4 ] 25.b3 hf4 26.b6 e7 27.xe6?! xe6? [ 27...fxe6! threatens ...Nxh3+ and White h a s t o a l l o w i t , f o r e x a m p l e , 28.h2 ( 28.d2 xh3+ 29.h1 xf3 30.gxf3 g5 or 30...Qb4) 28...e4! , with the idea 29.e1 d5 30.xd5 exd5 31.e2 d6+ ] 28.xa5 Now Black needs something concrete to counteract White's passed pawns, but White is solidly placed and stands much better. c4 29.e3 [ Or 29.d7 ] 29...fe8 30.d7 a8 31.fd1 h6 32.f2? [ 32.d2! e6 33.de4 threatens R1d6, among other things. ] 32...e4! 33.1d4 e6 34.7d6? b3? 1-0. This is a Rapids game, and I suspect the players were just blitzing off the moves as Black lost on time. At any rate, W hite now gets some advantage by 35 Nd2, whereas Black could have played

[ 34...xh3+! ] 1-0

782 Matsuura,Everaldo Scarella,Enrique Alejandro Mercosur Cup 4th (10) [Gary Lane]

B06 2467 2361 05.07.2001

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 5.f3 g7 6.a3 cxd4 7.b5 The knight on b5 threatens Nc7 and prepares to take back on d4 with the knight. a6 8.bxd4 W hite simply takes the pawn back and decides to transfer the battle from the opening to the middlegame because now both players carry on developing. [ 8.e3 A) 8...f6 is also possible: 9.xd4 h5 ( 9...0-0 10.xa7 e6 11.b5 leaves Black struggling to prove his edge in development is worth a pawn) 10.xa7 0-0 11.xa6 ( 11.xc8 axc8 12.e5 is good for W hite) 11...bxa6 12.xc8 fxc8 13.0-0 ab8 14.ab1 a5 15.a3 gave White the superior game although it was eventually drawn, Khaetsky,RMoiseenko,A/Alushta 2002.; B) 8...d7 The bishop attacks the knight. It is also useful to have moved the queen's bishop because it means a future Nxa7 will no longer have the get out clause of then taking on c8. 9.xd4 f6 10.a4 ( If 10.xa7 then c7 is an attempt to cut off the knight's retreat 11.a4 b6 12.b5 xb5 13.axb5 xa1 14.xa1 e4+ 15.e3 0-0 is double-edged; 10.xa7 0-0 11.xd5 xd5 12.d4 e5 13.e3 fd8 14.e2 xe3 15.fxe3 c6 16.0-0 c5 is about equal but Black needs to play accurately because of the pawn deficit) 10...0-0 11.e2 xb5 Carlsen decides to eliminate the Nxa7 factor once and for all. 12.axb5 c5 13.0-0 fd8 14.a3 White keeps an eye on the b3 square to stop Black from deploying a knight there f5 15.b1 White offers the exchange of queens hoping that the ending will be better for him due to the pressure on the afile. h5 16.e1 e6 17.xa7 f4 788

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.f1 with the better chances thanks to the extra material, Godena, M-Carlsen,M/ Claude Pecaut Mem, Taormina 2003. ] 8...f6 [ 8...c5 9.e3 the threat of Nb5 in various l i n e s g i v e s W h i t e a s l i g h t i n i t i a t i v e a6 ( 9...f6 10.b5 e6 11.xa7 re wa r d s W h it e wit h a p a wn) 10.e2 ( 10.b5! xd1+ 11.xd1 axb5 12.xc5 gives White the advantage) 10...f6 11.0-0 0-0 12.h3 b6 13.b3 xb3 14.axb3 c6 15.d4 c7 16.c4 b7 with roughly equal chances, Braun,V-Werner,D/Werfen Essen 2002. ] 9.b3 [ 9.b5+ A) 9...d7 Black is content to offer to exchange White's active piece A1) 10.xd7+ xd7 11.0-0 0-0 12.e2 the queen comes to e2 in order to co-ordinate the rooks and support the p r o s p e c t o f N e 5 d5 ( 12...c5 is worth considering) 13.c4 dc7 ( 13...f6!? ) 14.d1 f6 15.e3 e5 16.b5 e7 17.xa7 White picks up a pawn but Black is relying on rapid kingside pawn expansion to grab the in it ia t ive e4 18.e1 ( 18.d4 fe8 19.e1 e6 20.b5 xd4 21.xd4 f5 gives Black sufficient compensation f or t he p awn) 18...f5 19.b5 e6 20.ac1 b4 21.a3 c6 22.f4 g5 23.g3 gxf4 24.gxf4 f6 25.d5 g6+ 26.g2 h4 gave Black compensation for the pawn and he eventually won, Krupkova, P-Jirovsky,M/CZE 1999.; A2) 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 ad8 12.g5 g4 ( 12...h6!? offers equal chances) 13.xa6 ( 13.xe7 xf3 14.xf6 xg2 15.fe1 h3 16.f3 xf6 17.xf6 c7 is roughly equal) 13...bxa6 14.xe7 e4 Black looks to be trouble but he is banking on white's queen being misplaced 15.e3 fe8 16.a3 d6 17.xa6 the queen takes the doubled pawn but it was fairly useless anyway c4 18.b3 xe3 19.fxe3 xe3 20.ac1 xc3! 21.c6 c5+ 22.h1 xc1 23.xd8 xf1+ 24.xf1 xf3 25.gxf3 d5 0-1 Large,L-Berkvens,J/ Cappelle la Grande 2001.;

B) 9...d7 I think this blocks in Black's pieces which can lead to a passive p o sit io n . Fo r i n st a n ce : 10.0-0 c7 11.a4 0-0 12.g5 White has smoothly developed his pieces and is no probing for weaknesses. In contrast, Black is still waiting to deploy his pieces on the queenside f6 13.e1 d8 14.e2 e6 15.ad1 gave White e much better chances due to his active pieces, Malbran, G-Alonso,S/Escobar 2004. ] 9...0-0 10.xd5 xd5 It is too easy to say that the ending is equal because White can still mix things by taking on a6. However, I think Black should be content with such a tame reaction by White. 11.c4 b6 [ 11...ac7 is equal. ] 12.xa6 bxa6 13.0-0 d7 the doubled apawns might be a pain but at least Black has semi-open lines for his rooks such as the b-file 14.e1 e6 15.f4 fc8 16.ad1 a5 17.e2 a4 18.a3 White stops the advance of the bpawn but now the c4 square is inviting for the black knight now that b2-b3 is no longer a problem. a6 19.h4 a7 20.h5 c4 21.h6 Th e pa wn o n h6 m igh t he lp f u t ure tric k s associated with backrank mate but on the other hand Black might view it as a potential target in the long run. f8 22.c1 b7 23.e5 xe5 24.xe5 c5 [ I like 24...f6 to push back white's pieces: 25.ee1 e5 26.f3 g5 27.d2 f7 favours Black ] 25.xc5 xc5 26.g5 e8 27.d2 d7 28.f3 xd2 29.xd2 White would argue he has a passed c-pawn and the better position but this is equalled by the influential pair of bishops c6 30.f1 f5 31.f3 b5+ 32.e1 d6 33.f6 f4 34.g5 d6 35.f6 c6 both players are busy manoeuvring when one of them should be offering a draw 36.d4 xf3 37.gxf3 e5 38.e3 f7 39.d2 e6 40.d3 f8 41.g5 d5 42.c4+ e6 43.e3 f4 44.b6 xh6 At last the h-pawn falls and now is all downhill for White. 45.d8 f8 46.e4 c5 47.a5 h5 48.c3 d6 0-1

789

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 0-0 7.g5 An attempt at an B06 6.b3 improvement. White tries to prevent the setup Matulovic,Milan that was successfully used by Botvinnik in Botvinnik,Mikhail Belgrad 1970 previous games (.. .e6 and ...d5). But now ... e7-e5 gives Black good play. h6! This move [Alexander Volzhin] is very useful for Black as we'll see later. In the Modern Defence too White can choose 8.h4 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.bd2 c7 t h e Ho lm o v- li k e se t u p . T h e d e la y in t h e 11.c4 h5 That is why Black played 7...h6. development of Black's Knight on g8 allows Now White has to lose a tempo to protect the White to keep his Queen's Knight on b1 for a f4-square. 12.g3 f4! [ T h e n a t u r a l lo o ki n g 12...g4 fails to while and to put it on the d2-square. The 13.xe5! xe5 14.cxe5 f4 15.d2! f ollowing cla ssic game sh ows ho w Black with a huge edge for White. ] should react in this case. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 exf4 14.0-0-0?! A very risky 3.f3 d6 4.c4 f6 5.e2 c6 Here this 13.xf4 plan is the best. 5...Nc6 here is pointless as approach. White makes the same mistake as W h i t e a l w a y s h a s t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f in the game Medina - Botvinnik clearly underestimating the power of Black's darkstrengthening his d grip by c2-c3. [ 5...0-0 In my opinion it's slightly more squared Bishop. [ To castle short was much safer and White precise to begin with 5...c6 and to castle should prepare it by playing 14.e5 ] next move. 6.0-0 c6 7.b3 g4 8.bd2 a5 9.a4 d5 10.e5 fd7 11.h3 xf3 14...g4 15.e5 [ 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 d7 , intending ...b712.xf3 e6 The critical position for b5 and ...a7-a5 is very good for Black. It's evaluation of Black's plan. Practice proves imp orta nt th at W h it e can 't win a pa wn : he has good chances. The point is White's 17.d6 e5 18.xf4 fd8 Now the Knight B i s h o p o n b 3 h a s n o p r o s p e ct s a s i t ' s can't re treat in view of 19... Nd3+, an d restricted by Black pawn chain. 19.d2 fails to f8 winning a piece. ] A) 13.g5?! was played in Gipslis B o t v i n n i k , 1 9 6 3 a n d a f t e r b6! 15...d7 16.e4 ad8! [ It's not so good to grab the pawn: 16...xf3 White has an unpleasant position already. 17.gxf3 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5 The threat 14...c5 destroying W hite's xe5 20.d7 , and White has ample centre is very nasty. 14.a3 (protecting compensation. ] the Bishop) c5 15.c4 dxc4 16.xc4 cxd4 17.e7 c8 18.d6 c6 19.b3 b4 17.xf4 xf3 18.xf3 b5 19.e3 xe5 20.g5 It may seem White has created 20.g3 a5 21.a3 h7 22.g4 [ 22.f4 is worthy of consideration aiming for dangerous threats (Nxe6) and has counterplay on the K-side.. ] sufficient compensation for the pawn but 23.xe5 xe5 24.f3 g7 the following exchange sacrifice proves it's 22...h5 f6 The simplifications haven't just an illusion. xc4! 21.xc4 xe5 25.he1 22.xe5 xe5 23.f3 f8 24.d1 g7 h e l p e d W h i t e a l o t . A l r e a d y I c a n c l a i m 25.e4 e5 26.g4 White tries to prevent ... Black's position is won. His attack will create f7-f5 (after certain preparation) but after concrete threats very soon while W hite's is this move his K-side is very weak and it's barely off the ground. 26.c3 c5 27.xd8 Black who will attack there. h6 27.c1 xd8 28.g3 c4 29.c2 b4 By destroying the d8 28.c7 d5 29.f6+ xf6 30.xf6 p a wn sh e l t e r a ro u n d W h it e 's k in g B la c k d3 31.c4 e4 32.c2 g7 launches the decisive attack. 30.axb4 axb4 , and White resigned in view of ( 32...g7 31.cxb4 b6 [ Maybe 31...a7 is more accurate: 32.b1 33.b6 f3 ); a8 33.a3 xf2 34.e3 xh2 B) 13.c4 a6 14.g5 b6 15.a2 b4 and White is helpless. ] 16.e7 fe8 17.d6 xa2 18.xa2 b3 and Black's chances are preferable, 32.d1 xb4?! [ It was better to keep rooks on the board Matanovic - Botvinnik, Beograd 1969. ] 783

790

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 because Black's might be useful in attack: 32...e8! ] 33.xd8 xb2+ 34.d1 xd8 35.d5 f6 36.e2 b6 37.f4 c3 38.e4 d4 [ 38...g1! was even more precise: 39.f5 gxf5 40.xf5 e3+ 41.f1 xh2 with an easy win. ] 39.f5 gxf5 40.xf5 e3+ 41.f1 [ 41.d1 l e a d s t o m a t e a f t e r c3 Incidentally, the identical mating net occurred in Medina - Botvinnik. An amazing coincidence! ] 41...g1+ 42.e2 xh2+ 43.d1 g1+ 44.e2 e3+ 45.f1 xg3 46.h7+ f8 0-1

784 McDonald,Neil R McNab,Colin Anderson (Open) Hastings (England) [Nigel Davies]

B06

[ 8.c3 0-0 9.g3 c5 10.e3 g4 Allen - McNab, London 1994, with excellent coun terplay f or Black in b ot h cases. ] 8...f5 9.c3 0-0 10.b3 d7 11.g4 d6 12.f2 c5! Counterplay! McDonald tries to keep his grip on the position but his central bulwarks are eventually swept asunder.... 13.e3 b6 14.d5 b7 15.xb7 xb7 16.e2 cxd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.xd4 e5 19.fxe5 e8 20.0-0-0 g5+ 21.b1 xe5 22.f3 bc5 23.b4? This is a pretty horrible thing to do to your queenside. McDonald must have thought that his next move was strong. a4 24.c6 b5! 25.xd7 xc3+ 26.c2 xd1 27.xd1 e3 Threatening all sorts of nasties against White's loose pieces. 28.d2 ac8+ 29.c6 e6 0-1

1993

1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.f3 An interesting alternative to the habitual 5.e5. White wants to use his pawn on f4 to give him a strong grip on e5, and hopes that the open nature of the position will make Black's loss of time (...d7-d6-d5) more significant. [ A similar treatment was adopted in Plaskett McNab, Southend 1999 when White played 5.h3!? (this cuts out the possibility of a later ...Bg4 by Black) dxe4 6.xe4 g7 7.f3 f6 8.xf6+ xf6 ( 8...exf6!? is interesting, aiming f or a later ... f 6-f 5 and stopping White's knight from coming to e5.) 9.e3 0-0 10.c3 d7 11.e2 b6?! ( Black should play for ...c6-c5, say with 11...b6 ) 12.c4 and enjoyed a nice space advantage. ] 5...dxe4 6.xe4 g7 7.c4 [ 7.c3 f6 8.xf6+ xf6 9.c4 0-0 10.0-0 g4 11.e3 e6 was comfortable for Black in Komljenovic - Badea, Nereto 1998. In this example Black managed to develop his light-squared bishop on a good square. ] 7...h6 8.h3 [ Other possibilities are 8.e5 d7 9.0-0 0-0 10.c3 f6 11.e1 xe4 12.xe4 d6 13.f3 f5 14.e2 c5 Borriss - Hickl, Germany (Bundesliga) 1993 ]

785 Meijers,Viesturs Kengis,Edvins ch-LAT Riga LAT (6) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2486 2537 16.05.2005

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6! I think I can put a firm exclamation mark by this move now. 4..a6 is the system which best deals with the '150 attack'. Queenside counterplay is prepared without delay. I still have a soft spot for 4...c6 that is well playable too, but Black has to be very precise. 5.a4 Already W hite has been talked out of his automatic kingside attack. He will now have to ca st le sh o rt . f6 So Black isn't too worried anymore about the prospect of Qd2, Bh6 etc. 6.e2 [ Of course 6.d2 is still a force to be reckoned with. The following snippet shows h o w B l a c k m i g h t t a c k l e t h i s i d e a : 0-0 ( 6...g4 7.g5 h6 8.h4 leaves the Knight looking misplaced.) 7.f3 e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.xd8 xd8 10.c4 c6 11.0-0 h6 12.h3 e8 13.fd1 d4 14.xd4 exd4 15.d5 e6 ( 15...c6 16.b6 b8 is p la ya b le .) 16.b3 ( 16.xd4 xd4 17.xd4 c6 18.e7+ g7! leaves White looking at 19.xd8 xd8 20.xc6 bxc6 21.xa6 d2 as his best shot. No wonder 791

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 he didn't go in for this line!) 16...f8= Lautier, J-Tkachiev, V/ Bordeaux 2000 (20) ] 6...0-0 7.h3N [ 7.d2 g4 time-consuming. ( 7...c6! 8.f3 e5= ) 8.xg4 xg4 9.h3 d7 10.h6 xh6 11.xh6 c6 12.f3 f6 13.d2 b5 14.axb5 axb5 15.0-0 b4 16.d5 b8 17.b3 e6 18.e3 d5 19.exd5 exd5 20.xd5 xh3 21.e3 c8 Gaponenko, I-Socko, M/Plovdiv 2003 wasn't really satisfactory for Black, but I have indicated the point at which he can improve. ] [ 7.f3 is the straightforward way: b6 8.0-0 b7 9.d2 e8 10.f3 c6 11.e2 d7 12.h3 e6 13.c3 ad8 14.b4 h6 15.c1 e7 16.b3 h7 17.b5 At last White breaks the deadlock. b8 18.g3 c5 19.e5 dxe5 20.xb7 exd4 21.bxa6 dxe3 Black can be satisfied after 22.fxe3 d5 ] 7...e5 A move on the flank deserves a blow in the centre! 8.dxe5 [ 8.f3 exd4 9.xd4 e8 gives White the thorny problem of how to defend e4.10 Bf3 isn't ideal but may well be better than 10 f3 which doesn't mix at all with h2-h3. Meijeres does not wish to have to think about this and takes on e5, which cannot really worry Black. ] 8...dxe5 9.xd8 xd8 10.d1 xd1+ 11.xd1 c6 [ 11...e6 12.f3 c6 13.c1 d8 14.d1 looks very equal indeed and I guess if Black is playing for a win he has to try to find another role for his Bishop on c8 something which will lead to a more unbalanced position and not just trading on the d file. ] 12.f3 b5!? Quite unexpected. 13.axb5 [ In view of what follows, maybe 13.d3 b4 14.d5 would have shown more commonsense. ] 13...axb5 14.xb5 d4! [ Perhaps Meijers only thought about 14...a1+ 15.c1 h6 16.d2 d4 wh e n W h it e is d e f e n d in g h im se l f a f t e r 17.c4 or ( 17.d3 )] 15.e2? White has been completely thrown by the last move. He wants to maintain the integrity of his pawn structure but ends up in an awful tangle.

[ 15.c4 xf3 16.gxf3 a1+ 17.c1 h6 18.e2 h5 19.c3 f4 20.xf4 xf4 21.c2 xc1+ 22.xc1 xc1 23.xc1 xh3 ] [ 15.f1 Perhaps this is best, blocking the back-rank skewer. xf3 16.gxf3 a1+ 17.d2 xh3! 18.xh3 xf1 19.e2 a1= ] [ 15.d3 xf3 16.gxf3 a1+ 17.c1 h6 18.e2 h5 is similar to the first line. ] 15...a1+ 16.c1 xf3 17.xf3 h6 18.e2 a6! he obviously overlooked this move when taking on b5 for the second time. 19.c4 xc4 20.c2 xe2 21.xe2 xe4 Game over. 22.f4? [ 22.c4 xf2 23.f1 xc1+ ] 22...g3 23.e1 xf4 After 8 dxe5 I am sure that Meijers was expecting to shake hands at an early stage. 12...b5 introduced complications into a situation where it appeared that there were no complications to be found and W hite just cracked. As far as the opening goes, you can be sure that 4...a6! is the way to go for Black. 0-1

786 Mekhitarian,Krikor Sevag Ahmadinia,Ebrahim 11th WUCC Men (6) [Gawain Jones]

B06 2550 2436 08.09.2010

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.f3 b5 6.d3 d7 7.e5 c5 This is a critical line o f t h e s o c a l l e d T i g e r ' s M o d e r n . 8.e4 The computer's top suggestion. [ 8.exd6 is considered dubious by Tiger. exd6 ( 8...cxd4!? 9.d5 a7 is an interesting alternative.) 9.a4 b4 10.e4 c7 11.f5!? d5 12.eg5 e7 13.e2 f6 14.dxc5 0-0 15.fxg6 Gomez, J (2527)-Machin Rivera, M (2229) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 when I like xg6! 16.0-0 e8 17.f2 g4 18.g3 xc5+ ( 18...xg3 19.hxg3 f8 might be simplest. ) 19.h1 a7 and Black's activity must promise him the better chances. ] [ 8.g5 is given an exclamation mark by T i g e r a n d i s h i s p r i n c i p a l l i n e . h6 ( 8...cxd4!? is also considered. ) 792

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 9.f3 b8 10.e6 f6 A1) 11.dxc5 fxe6 12.cxd6 ( 12.a4!? might be a more critical test.) 12...exd6 13.0-0 0-0 14.ce4 xe4 15.xe4 f5 is given by Tiger.; A2) 11.c6+ f8 12.exf7 c4 13.e2? Videnova, I (2258)-Yordanova, S (2140) Dupnitsa 2010 and here Black missed the chance to play f5! when White must give up significant material to avoid his queen being trapped.; B) 9.e6 f6 10.dxc5 xe6!? R y b k a ' s s u g g e s t i o n . ( 10...dxc5 is t h e o n ly m o ve l o o ke d a t b y T ige r .) 11.xe6 fxe6 12.e2 f7 13.a4 b4 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 dxc5 16.c4 d6 17.g4?! But Black was already fine. xg4 18.f5 e5! Perhaps White o v e r l o o k e d t h i s . 19.fxe6+ g8 and Black had a pleasant position. Hi n d e r m a n n , F ( 2 3 0 3 ) - A h m a d i n i a , E (2436) Zuerich 2010. ] [ 8.e3 b7 9.0-0 h6 10.e6 fxe6 11.g5 xd4! A typical idea. 12.xd4 cxd4 13.xe6 b6 14.e4 f5 15.4g5 e3 16.xh7 e5! and Black had a great position. Comellas Blanchart, J (2142)A lm e id a Q u in t a n a , O (2 5 5 9 ) B a d a lo n a 2010. ] 8...b8 9.e3 These lines are extremely sharp and I believe they must be studied very carefully before either side can feel comfortable in the complications. [ 9.0-0 has been played more often. A) 9...cxd4 looks more accurate. 10.xd4 h6 11.a7 0-0 12.d1 b4 ( 12...b6+? is careless. 13.e3! c5 Zelcic, R (2538)-Fahrner, K (2302) Pula 2010 when 14.xe7 just looks winning.) 13.a4 b7! 14.xb7 c7 15.exd6 exd6 16.xa6 xb7 17.e3 f5 18.f2 bb8 gave Black active play for the pawn. Kovacevic, A (2543)-Hillarp Persson, T (2586) Budva 2009.; B) 9...b4 10.a4 c7 B1) 11.c3 h6 12.g5 bxc3 13.bxc3 0-0 14.e3 d8 15.f3 cxd4 16.cxd4 a5 17.f5!? was a typical crazy position for the line. gxf5 ( 17...xa4 18.fxg6 fxg6 19.exd6 e8 20.ae1 leaves White with dangerous play for the

piece. ) 18.xf5 xf5 19.xf5 f6 20.f2?! ( 20.f4 should be preferred.) 20...dxe5 21.dxe5 xa4 22.exf6 exf6 23.f3 f5 The dust has settled and Black should have a clear advantage thanks to his bishop pair and extra pawn even if he later lost. Matsenko, S (2453)-Warakomski, T (2495) Olomouc 2010.; B2) 11.dxc5 xc5 12.xc5 xc5+ 13.d4 xd4+ 14.xd4 d7 15.f3 h6 16.a3 is a slightly unpleasant endgame for Black. 0-0 17.d3 a5 18.axb4 axb4 19.a7 fd8 20.b3 f5 ( 20...dxe5 21.fxe5 f5 looks to equalise. ) 21.xf5 xf5 22.g4 h6 23.h3 dc8 24.f2 f5 25.g5 ( 25.exf6 exf6 26.g2 would keep White with a nagging advantage.) 25...f7 26.e6 d8 27.xe7 f8 28.d7 xe6 29.e3 d8 1/2-1/2 Balogh, C (2628)Almeida Quintana, O (2559) Pamplona 2010. ] 9...b4 The computer favours White slightly here but Black's results have been promising. The arrowhead d4, e5, f4 looks imposing but he has to watch out for an undermining thrust when Black's pieces would suddenly come to lif e . W h ite also ha s th e problem t hat it's d if f icu lt t o a t t a ck wit h o u t we a ke n in g h i s central control as both f4-f5 and e5-e6 weaken W hite's structure. Black also has decent counterplay on the queenside. 10.a4 [ 10.e2 has been more common. h6 ( Tiger prefers 10...c7 ) 11.h3 ( 11.dxc5! is the problem but perhaps g4 12.d4 dxc5 isn't so bad.) 11...0-0 12.0-0 c7 13.c3 bxc3 14.bxc3 b6 15.f2 b7 16.xb7 xb7 17.dxc5 dxc5 18.d3 c4 19.e4 Schlosser, P (2579)-Thiede, L ( 2 4 4 9 ) H a l l e 2 0 1 0 w h e n I ' d g o f o r e6 when White is only a touch better. ] 10...c7 11.c3 This looks sensible supporting the centre but appears to be a novelty. [ 11.g5 was played in the only previous game to reach this position. h6 12.dxc5 ( 12.e6 is T iger's su ggestion b u t f6 13.dxc5 xe4! looks very good for Black.; 12.c3 might be best but 0-0 looks fine for Black. ) 12...dxe5! 13.0-0 0-0 14.h1?! f6 15.f3 exf4 16.g1 f5 left Black 793

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with a fantastic position. Sadvakasov, D (2538) -Nyback, T (2445) Bled 2002. ] [ 11.dxc5 dxe5 12.fxe5 xe5 13.0-0 g4 14.f4 e5 is given by Tiger. ] 11...h6 12.0-0 b7 This requires Black to be accurate. [ 12...bxc3 13.bxc3 0-0 looks like an easy equalising method. ] 13.xb7 xb7?! [ 13...xb7 should have been preferred when Black is near equality although 14.dxc5 bxc3 15.bxc3 f5 16.d4 dxc5 17.xc5 xc5 18.xc5 0-0 is somewhat better for White thanks to his extra pawn. ] 14.h1? White misses his chance and now Black has the easier game. [ Instead White could have exploited Black's d e l a y i n c a s t l i n g wi t h 14.exd6! exd6 15.dxc5! dxc5 16.cxb4! cxb4 ( 16...xb4 17.xc5! xc5 18.c1 0-0 19.xc5 p i c k s u p t h e e x c h a n g e .; 16...0-0 is best although 17.xc5 f5 18.xd7 xd7 19.xd7 xe3 20.xf8 xf1 21.xf1 xf8 22.a3 xb2 23.a2 leaves W hite a clear pawn up in the ending. ) 17.c1 b8 18.c5 is catastropic for Black. ] 14...0-0 So Black has succeeded in exchanging light squared bishops and getting his king to safety. W hite's pawn structure looks impressive but it highlights the lack of that bishop and he has to be constantly on the look out for a timely exchange of pawns. [ 14...bxc3 15.bxc3 0-0 would be a more accurate move order, not allowing W hite play down the c file. ] 15.c1 f5 16.f2 d8 [ 16...h6!? could also be considered as 17.g3 isn't ideal, creating further light squared holes. ] 17.e2 [ 17.e6! might have caused Black some discomfort as he cannot keep the e6 square defended. fxe6 18.e2 bxc3 19.xe6+ h8 20.g5 xd4 21.f7+ ( 21.bxc3!? ) 21...g7 22.xd8 xd8 23.bxc3 xf2 24.xf2 f6 and White's extra exchange should mean something. ] 17...a5 18.b3 bxc3 19.e6 cxd4! A s t r o n g p i e c e s a c r i f i c e . 20.exd7?! Which should not have been accepted.

[ Instead 20.exf7+ h8 reaches a highly complicated position. I analysed one line which ends in a slightly better endgame for Black: ( 20...xf7 21.g4 e3 22.xe3 dxe3 23.xe3 is a complete mess but Black has the more vulnerable king.) 21.g4! b5! 22.xb5 axb5 23.gxf5 bxa4 24.xd4 axb3 25.axb3 b4 26.xc3 xf4 27.xg7+ xg7 28.fxg6 hxg6 29.g5 xf1+ 30.xf1 f8 ] 20...e5 21.e1 This just condemns White to passive defence. [ 21.g4 should have been tried to force the knigh t of f sid e bu t h6 22.h3 dxd7 is still more comfortable for Black. ] 21...bxd7 22.d3 f6 23.fe1 From here the game has a lot of errors. Presumably the sharp opening had lef t them both in time trouble. f7? This just blunders the important c3 pawn. [ Instead 23...c7 was clearly better for Black as that central pawn mass dominate the board. ] 24.xc3! e8?! [ 24...dxc3 25.b6 b5 26.xd8 d4 27.d1 c6 28.xc3 b8 29.fxe5 dxe5 30.xf6 xf6 is a little better for White but manageable. ] 25.cc1?! [ 25.c4! was stronger with ideas of rerouting the knight via b4 into d5 while the pressure on d4 slows any ...e4 ideas. ] 25...h5 [ 25...fe7 threatening ... e4 would have kept Black with adequate compensation. ] 26.a3?! This has the same idea as Rc4 but weakens the b3 square. [ 26.c4! ] 26...d5 [ 26...b5! is a better square as it cannot be h i t b y t h e W h i t e k n i g h t s . 27.b4 was evidently the reason Black declined this move but no w ( 27.c2 e4 looks rather d a n g e r o u s .) 27...e4! gives Black good play. ] 27.c2 b8 28.b4 b7 29.c4 a5 30.c6 c8 31.d5 [ 31.e6! is a touch more accurate. The knight isn't en-prise due to Qe8+ while h7? 32.xa5 is now terminal. ] 31...h7 32.b4 axb4 33.axb4 fc7 34.b5 794

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 W hite has now taken full control of the po sition b u t on e mo re su rp rise is lef t u s before the end of this game. e7 35.xd6? [ 35.xe7! xd5 36.xc7 a2 37.xc8 xf2 is hard to analyse in time trouble but 38.cc1 leaves White clearly better as the b pawn takes some stopping. ] 35...xc6 36.xc6 xc6 37.bxc6 xc6 38.d5 c7 39.fxe5 fxe5 40.b2?! And White starts to drop the other half point. Instead [ 40.h3 c4 41.b5 c1 42.xc1 xc1+ 43.g1 e4 44.c5 g5 should be a draw. ] 40...c2 41.d3?! The knight is more active here but also more vulnerable. [ 41.d1 is a very passive option but White should hold the draw. ] 41...d2 42.b3? And the final error. [ 42.f3 c3 43.xe5 xe5 44.xe5 xf3 45.gxf3 xf2 46.d5 looks like it should be a draw, although I could of course be mistaken. ] 42...c3! 43.xc3 dxc3 44.e3 c2 45.c1 xf2 46.g1 d2 A topsy-turvy game with chances missed by both sides but Black can be happy with his opening choice. 0-1

10.0-0-0?! A case of castling' into it'. White should be very careful about committing his king to the queenside too early. b5 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 h4! This time the blockade works, slowing down W hite's kingside play whilst preparing to take pot-shots at White's king. 13.e2 f5 14.f2 c5 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xc5 xc5 17.d4 b6 18.b1 b4 19.xf5 gxf5 20.f2 a4 21.xb6 xb6 Black is better in this endgame, and we get to see some very fancy technique by Chernin. 22.d4 a5 23.c4 bxc3 24.b3 b8 25.c1 c4 26.a1 d2 27.xc3 xf3 28.xf3 g8 29.f2 d7 30.a4 b5 31.c2 g3 32.b4 xb4 33.xa5 b7 34.a8 e3 35.a3 d4 36.a4 e4 The weak pawns start to drop. 37.d2 xf4 38.dxd4+ xd4 39.xd4+ c6 40.a2 b5 41.c4+ d5 42.xh4 xe5 43.a4 b8 44.c4 d5 45.c3 f4 46.d3+ c4 47.f3 e5 48.a5 g8 49.f2 a8 50.c2+ d4 51.d2+ e4 52.e2+ f5 53.b3 xa5 54.c4 a4+ 55.c3 d4 56.a2 d8 57.a4 f6 58.b4 c8+ 59.d3 g8 60.b2 e4+ 61.d4 d8+ 62.c3 e3 63.b5+ g6 64.b4 g5 65.e4 f5 66.e7 f6 67.h7 e2 68.h6+ f7 69.h7+ f8 0-1

787

788

Meszaros,A Chernin,Alexander Hungarian Team Ch [Nigel Davies]

B06

1992

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5 In a closed position Black can afford the luxury of playing long-term structural moves. He is trying to set-up a complete blockade of the kingside by controlling the f5 square the idea behind ...h7-h5 is to inhibit a later g2-g4 by White. 6.e2 White's most popular choices are 6.Be3 and 6.Nf3, as illustrated by the next three games. [ White has also played 6.d3 but then h6 7.e3 b6 8.a4 a5+ 9.c3 f5 10.c5 e6 11.b4 c7 12.xf5 xf5 13.f2 a5 also gave Black counterplay in Ahn - Hickl, Eupen 1994 ] 6...h6 7.f3 g4 8.e3 e6 9.d2 d7

Milov,Vadim Segal,Anna Israel [Alexander Volzhin]

B06 2410 2180 1993

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.c4 d6 5.f3 e6 6.ge2 The key position of this line. Now Black has a choice between 6... Nf6 and 6...b5. f6 7.g5 bd7 8.0-0 0-0 9.b3 a5 [ 9...e7 is the alternative to the text, but Bla ck h as a lso f a iled to e qu alis e he re : 10.ad1 h6 11.h4 e5 12.e3 e8 13.f4! exd4 14.xd4 xe4 15.xe7 xd4+ 16.xd4 xc3 17.xc3 xe7 18.xd6 The exchanges haven't made Black's defence easier. This endgame has occurred in two of GM Nunn's games: f8 An attempt at an improvement over However it doesn't help much: ( 18...g7 19.f5! gxf5 795

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.xf5 f8 21.f3 e6 22.g3+ h8 23.e4! with a huge edge, Nunn - Ehlvest, Skelleftea, 1989.) 19.d8! b6 20.a4! b7 ( 20...a5 21.fd1 b7 22.xa8 xa8 23.d8 b7 24.b8 g7 25.e4! is a ls o v e ry b a d f o r B la ck .) 21.d6! threatening f4-f5, with a clear advantage, Nunn - Fauland, Wien, 1991. ] [ I n m y o p i n i o n , 9...b5 is worthy of consideration. ] 10.h4 e5 11.ad1 exd4 12.xd4 e5 13.e2 b6!? Intending 14...Ba6, with ...c6-c5c4 to f ollow. But W hite finds excellent resources. 14.f4! a6 15.fxe5! The Queen sacrifice is forced but very strong. [ Otherwise White doesn't even have equality, for example: 15.d2? xf1 16.fxe5 dxe5 ] 15...xe2 Black has to accept the sacrifice. [ 15...dxe5 is bad in view of 16.xc6 xc3 17.e7+ h8 18.f2! xe4 19.bxc3 xf2 20.xf2 with a decisive advantage. ] 16.exf6 xf1 [ 16...xd1 17.fxg7 xg7 18.f6+ is no better for Black. ] 17.fxg7 xg7 18.xf1 Although Black has a material advantage he has difficult problems to solve. White dominates the dark squares ae8?! After this move the White initiative progresses unimpeded. [ 18...c5? 19.f6+ g8 20.a4 /\\ Nc6+- ] [ 18...e5 should be played, after 19.f6+ xf6 20.xf6 xf6 21.xc6 a position with very unusual balance of forces arises. In my opinion White is better, but the fight is still on. Black should try to play ... f7-f5 opening files for his rooks. g7 ] 19.f6+ g8 20.xc6 c5+ 21.d4 e5 22.d1 Despite the approximate material equality Black's position is totally lost. White can gradually strengthen his position while Black has no play in return. h6 23.h3 fe8 24.h1 h5 25.f1 c8 26.f3 f8 27.d5 xd5 28.xd5 c7 29.f5 h7 30.e3 d7 31.c3 h5 32.f6 The rest is just agony. Sooner or later White will win the f 7 - p a wn o b t a i n i n g a d e c i s i ve a t t a c k . b5 33.f1! Beginning the knight's transfer to the g5 square via d2 and f3. c7 34.d2 b4 35.xb4 xc2 36.c3 g5 37.b3 d3 38.f3 g8 39.xf7 g7 40.xh5 xe4

41.g4 e3 42.f8 h6 43.f5 c1+ 44.h2 Mate is unavoidable, so Black resigned. A very good example of how to play with three minor pieces against a queen. 1-0

789 Motylev,Alexander Chernyshov,Konstantin 56th ch-RUS Krasnoyarsk (1) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2630 2540 2003

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 a6!? I must admit a liking for this cheeky move which commits Black to nothing and at the same time offers W hite to reveal his hand. It's particularly i n t e r e s t i n g wh e n W h i t e t r i e s t o p l a y a n Austrian Attack e.g. 4 f4 b5!. Black sometimes dispenses with ...d7-d6 altogether in favour of rapid Queenside play. The extra tempo changes the game. As far as I know the inventive Norwiegian Grandmaster Einar Gausel was the f irst t o try this idea . 4.h4 White is provoked and plays a very menacing move indeed. Perhaps this is the only effective way to treat 3...a6 more or less with disdain! Meanwhile another recent game tends to suggest that if White DOESN'T act incisively, Black will obtain a reasonable position: [ 4.f3 d6 5.d3 d7 6.g5 h6 7.e3 c6 8.d2 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.0-0-0 b5 11.g4!? e7 12.h4 gf6 13.h2 b7 14.f3 0-0-0 15.f1 c5= This is not such a bad position, but the psychological pressure of playing White sometimes gets to you. Loidl must have been feeling down about the result of the opening ( White has nothing) and continues to play insipidly. Result: Black gradually takes over. 16.g3 fd7 17.f2 e6 18.e2 dc5 19.h5 xd1+ 20.xd1 f8 21.f1 c7 22.ce2 e7 23.b1 d7 24.c3 g5 25.xg5 xg5 26.ce2 b6 27.xb6 xb6 28.g1 d7 29.g2 c5 30.1e2 ce6 31.c1 c7 32.d2 b4 33.d1 a5 34.e1 a6 35.f2 d8 36.xd8 xd8 37.e3 e7 38.f1 f6 39.hxg6 fxg6 40.g2 b5 41.f1 c5 42.g2 ge6 43.f1 g5 44.f2 b7 45.b3 bc5 796

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 46.e3 f4 47.f2 xe2 48.xe2 a4 49.f1 a3 50.c4 h5 51.gxh5 gxh5 52.f5 ce6 53.g3 c5 54.h2 d4 55.xd4 cxd4 56.f1 h4 57.c4 h5 58.g2 f6 59.e6 f4 60.f2 h7 61.h3 g5 62.g2 h3 63.f1 xf3 64.xh3 d2 65.g2 b1 0-1 Loidl, FGanaus, H/Open, Vienna AUT 2003 ] 4...d5!? Black's opening play is very novel-on those grounds alone he deserves a better fate! Alas... I'm reminded of the strange line 1 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 3 Nc3 d5!? and if 4 Nxd5 then 4.. .c6 or 4...e6 or 4 cxd5 Nf6 5 Bc4 Nbd7.... The Modern Defence remains one of the last areas where original play can still flourish. 5.xd5 [ Presumably 5.exd5 would be met by f6 6.c4 b5 7.b3 b7 when Black has made excellent use of his extravagant third move. ] 5...c6 6.e3 xd4 7.xd4 xd4 8.h5 d7 9.f4 g7 [ 9...gf6 10.hxg6 fxg6 11.e5 d5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.f3 c5 14.d3 f8 15.e2 f5 16.e3 looks better for White. I just think that Chernyshov didn't want to surrender the h file so keeps the option open of ... hxg6 should White capture. ] 10.e5 b6 11.g4! He is trying to cramp all t h e l if e o u t o f B la ck' s ga m e . O n e wo u l d assume that Black could break up the pawn chain i.e. 11...g5, but it turns out to be not so easy: h6 [ 11...g5 12.f5 ( 12.f3! looks good gxf4 13.f5 xf5 14.gxf5 h6 15.d3 d5 16.g1 ) 12...xf5 13.gxf5 gxf4 14.xf4 d5 15.h6 f6! ] 12.g5 f5 13.d3 [ I prefer 13.h6! which seems to fit in perfectly with W hite's game plan. Black's position is indeed congested: f8 14.d3 xe3 15.xe3 d5 16.d2 One or other of the Black Bishops can be activated, but not both! ] 13...g3 14.h6 f8?! [ How is the position after 14...xe5 15.fxe5 xh1 16.e2 d7 17.e4 xe5 18.xh1 0-0 ? It's a mess, where one has to make a subjective decision. Many would have gone f or this-Black solves his proble ms wit h development and has two, good extra pawns.

Having started sharply, Chernyslov should have been more consistent. ] 15.h2 d5 16.f2! Now I start to like White. Those Kingside pawns give White a big advantage in space and a greater choice of middlegame plans. f5 17.xf5 xf5 18.xf5 gxf5 19.e6! Very good indeed! This sharp advance causes havoc! fxe6 [ 19...f6 20.d2! fxg5 21.fxg5 0-0-0 22.f3 doesn't really help Black. He still can't get his pieces out! ] 20.f3 e5 21.xe5 e6 Chernyshov tries his best, but a short phase of simple, effective developm en t now f ollows whe re Mo tyle v shows who is in charge-complete charge! 22.c4 e7 23.e3 g8 24.d1 g6 25.xg6 xg6 26.f3 d8 27.xd8+ xd8 28.d2+ c7 29.d4 A calm move, p la n n in g im p ro ve m e n t wit h B e 5 +, wh ic h emphasizes to Black how helpless he is. e7 30.c5 a5 31.a3 c8 32.b4 a4 33.e5 d8 34.e3 e7 35.d4 d8 36.d3 White improves at leisure. If nothing happens he will wander across to c4 with the King, play b4-b5 and win the a pawn. c7 37.xc7 xc7 38.d6 The King heads for the bright lights on d4 and e5. 1-0

790 Nachev,S Khismatullin,Denis Open Moscow RUS (5) [John Watson]

B06 2429 2599 31.01.2007

This game is a good demonstration of the power of Black's fianchettoed bishops. I've included just a fraction of the theory in the notes. In fact, some of these lines have been analysed rather deeply, which isn't quite the idea when one plays moves like ...g6 and ... a6! Such is the computer-driven theoretical world. 1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.f4 Hillarp-Persson calls this a 'very common move order'. By waiting a move for f4, White avoids the normal Pirc variation 4 f4 Nf6. b5 6.e2!? This move has been played remarka bly of ten. O ne idea is to oppos e bishops along the diagonal by Bf3, after which e5 can gain in strength. The main alternative, 797

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 also played in a number of games, is [ 6.f3 b7 (threatening ...b4) 7.d3 d7 8.e2 b4!? ( Tiger suggests this and appends considerable analysis. One of his games went 8...c5 9.dxc5 xc5 10.xc5! xc3+! 11.bxc3 dxc5 12.e5 with some advantage for White) 9.d1 gf6! 10.f2 ( 10.d2 c5 11.e5 d5 12.e6!? fxe6 13.g5 xd4!? 14.xh7 f8 15.xf8 xf8 16.xg6 c8 , and Tiger says that he's sa tis f ie d a s B lack. At any ra te it's exciting! ) 10...c5 11.c3 bxc3 12.bxc3 0-0 13.0-0 e8! (versus e5-e6) 14.ab1 c8 , again with a double-edged game, although I really prefer White this time. ] 6...b4!? Ponomariov's move. Perhaps better is [ 6...d7 7.f3 e6!? ( 7...e5! is Tiger's p r e f e r e n c e) 8.h3 e7 9.0-0 b7 with a solid position, A Sokolov-Bricard, Val d'Isere 2002. ] 7.d5!? A novelty! [ Tiger makes a case for 7.a4 ] [ 7.b1 b7 8.f3 f6 9.d3 bd7 10.d2 0-0= Galkin-Ponomariov, Laussane 2001. ] 7...a5 8.f2! [ 8.f3?? e6 traps the knight! ] 8...b7 9.f3 e6 [ 9...xd5 10.exd5 gives White space and a bind, although his pawns aren't terribly well coordinated with his bishops ] 10.e3 d7 11.e2 f5! Light squares! This blockades White's pawns (stopping f5), and contains a dynamic idea. 12.exf5 xf3 13.fxe6 b7 14.exd7+ xd7 White has an extra pawn, but Black's compensation should be obvious. He has two bishops, light square control and useful central files. 15.0-0 f6 16.c4 0-0! 17.g3 [ 17.d5 e4! 18.c2 e7! ] 17...ae8 18.f5?! Perhaps not objectively correct. Still, it is hard to counter Black's growing initiative. e4 19.d3?! [ 19.xe4 xe4 20.d5 gxf5 hits b2 and threatens to attack with ...f4. Black has clearly won the opening. ] 19...gxf5 20.d5 f7 21.f4 c5 White's position is on the verge of collapse. 22.ge2 a6!? A good move, although [ 22...xf2! 23.xf2 cxd4 prepares ...Be4 or ...Re4. ]

23.d5 xb2 24.ab1 e5 25.e3 c8!? [ 25...h8 with the idea ...Rg8 ] 26.c1 a4 27.b2 a3 Black's centralized minor pieces and the e- and g-files give him the advantage. The rest of the game is a little erratic, but Black's nice attack nets him the point 28.a1 e7 29.c2 d7 30.d3 xa1 31.xa1 fe8 32.df4 f6 33.ab1 e5 34.d3 g7 35.df4 f6! Clearing the e-file and contemplating ...Ng4. 36.f3 h8!? [ 36...g4 with the idea 37.g3? d4+! ] 37.g3 f7 [ 37...g4! But Black dominates anyway. ] 38.f1 e4 39.h3 g4 40.c1 e5 [ 40...g7 41.d2 b2! 42.c2? xe2 43.xe2 b1+ 44.c1 xe2 ] 41.b3 g6 42.g3 g8 43.f2 e5 44.g3 xc4 45.e1 xf4 46.xf4 d3 47.xd6 [ Also losing is 47.d2 xe1 48.xe1 f6 ] 47...xe1 48.h5 Looking toward Qe5+ xg2+ 49.h1 g6 50.e5+ g8 51.f4 g4 52.h5 xh5 53.xh5 g1+ 54.xg1 f3+ 0-1

791 Naiditsch,A Rapport,R 76th Tata Steel Masters (11.1) [Tom Rendle]

B06 2718 2691 26.01.2014

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f3 c6 5.e3 c7 In some ways it's refreshing to see Rapport playing such an interesting mix of openings in Elite events but against the top players in the world this is obviously a big risk. [ 5...f6 6.d2 0-0 looks risky but in Jonkman-Iordachescu it worked out well. You can find the game with analysis in the archives but I wonder if White should settle for a slight edge here with 7.h3 bd7 8.d3 e5 9.0-0 ] [ 5...d7 6.d2 b5 is a more standard way to play this line and I covered this in NegiGashimov ] 6.d2 d7 7.0-0-0 b5 8.e5!? d5?! I can only think that Rapport missed 798

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 something in the tactics after 8...dxe5 because having to play this move is a bit depressing. The bishop on g7 is now permanently blocked and W hite's kingside play is much stronger than anything Black can muster on the queenside. [ 8...dxe5! 9.dxe5 xe5 10.xb5! is the point but actually the position is not so clear here after e6! ( not 10...cxb5? 11.xb5 d7 12.a5 c4 13.c7+! with a winning position for White) 11.d5 xd5 12.xd5 c8! 13.a4 xf3 14.xf3 f6 and whilst White has maybe a slight advantage is certainly all to play for from here. ] 9.h4 a5 10.h5! b6 [ 10...b4 doesn't really help Black here as after 11.b1 xa2 12.xb4 b8 13.c3 Black's attack is going nowhere and White's advantage is obvious ] 11.hxg6 fxg6?! [ 11...hxg6 makes more sense but White is still much better after 12.xh8 xh8 13.b3 ] 12.a3 [ 12.b3 makes a lot of sense here to prevent an y .. .Nc4 ide as a n d b4 is well met by 13.e2 xa2?! 14.xb4 b8 15.c3 and White is even threatening Kd2 and Ra1 trapping the Black queen ] 12...b8 [ 12...c4 gives Black more chances for counterplay, e.g. 13.xc4 bxc4 14.b1 ( 14.g5!? might be more critical but still Black is just about OK after h5 ) 14...g4 15.a1 xf3 16.gxf3 e6 and Black's position is suddenly more solid than before ] 13.e4! b4?! [ 13...xd2+ 14.exd2 is unpleasant for Black because of the weaknesses on both sides of the board but it's a better chance than the game. ] 14.c5 c4 15.xc4 dxc4 16.a4 Naiditsch has held off Black's attack and is now basically winning as Rapport is no nearer to using his kingside pieces. c3?! [ 16...d8 was probably the only chance at this stage but White should still be winning after 17.g5 d5 18.f4 with a rather nasty threat of e6 ] 17.d3 cxb2+ 18.xb2 b3 19.c3! Naiditsch doesn't even allow a tiny bit of

counterplay d8 [ 19...f5 20.c4 h5 21.g5! h6 22.ce6 xe6 23.xe6 is game over ] 20.xh7 f5 21.c4 f8 22.g5 d5 23.xd5?! This wins easily but the game doe s carry o n a litt le lon ge r t han st ric tly necessary [ 23.ge6+ xe6 24.xe6+ f7 25.g5+! f8 26.d3 xh7 27.xh7+ f7 28.g5+ e8 ( or 28...f8 29.xg6 ) 29.xg6+ d7 30.xg7 and Black should resign immediately ] 23...cxd5 24.ce6+ xe6 25.xe6+ f7 26.xg7+ xe6 27.xg6+ f7 28.a6 White is two pawns up and still has the better position - there's no way back for Black. b7 29.a1 h2 30.g3 e6 31.a3 e7 32.xb3 c7 33.c2 1-0

792 Nanu,C Nevednichy,V 4th Limpedea Cup (4.3) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B06 2520 2553 23.05.2012

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.d2 b5 6.0-0-0 [ It's also possible to play 6.h4 immediately. It's unclear which move order is better and they are likely to simply transpose. However White does now have additional possibilities. A) I n t h i s p r e c i s e p o s i t i o n 6...f6 isn't common but we can't really see why. 7.f3 ( Houdini offers the interesting 7.h5!? xh5 8.a4 ) 7...h6 8.a4 b4 9.ce2 a5 10.g4 bd7 11.g3 and White's extra space must give him something. Naiditsch, A ( 2 6 4 1 ) - D l u g o s z, J ( 2 3 0 3 ) W a r s a w 2005.; B) 6...h6 7.0-0-0 B1) Against 7...b7 White can also try 8.f4!? ( While Emanuel Berg has ventured 8.h3 a couple of times. ); B2) 7...d7 8.f4! h5 9.f3 has worked out very well for White in two a ll G M e n co u n t e rs . W e ' ve le f t b o t h games in the n otes. gf6 ( 9...b7 10.g5 h6 11.e5 b6 12.d3 c8 13.hf1 d5 14.ce4 0-0 15.f5 xf5 799

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xf5 gxf5 17.g3 xe3 18.xe3 f4 19.h7+ h8 20.d3 dxe5 21.dxe5 f6 22.g8 f5 23.e6 e8 24.xf5 1-0 Ganguly, S (2627) -Svidler, P (2739) Ningbo 2011.) 10.d3 b6 11.f5 gxf5 12.exf5 c4 13.e1 xe3 14.xe3 h6 15.g5 b7 16.b1 g8 17.ce4 xe4 18.xe4 d5 19.f3 d6 20.de1 d7 21.e2 g4 22.b3 xg5 23.hxg5 c6 24.g6 af8 25.gxf7 xf7 26.e6 c7 27.xc6 1-0 Adams, M (2750)-Hodgson, J (2595) Southend 2001. ] 6...b7 [ We examined 6...d7 recently in Gopal, G (2572)-Smirin, I (2657) New Delhi 2012. ] 7.f3 d7 8.h4 h6 Normally people play with ...h5 but this is a critical alternative. Black doesn't cede the g5 square and thus it's not such a simple position for White to play. [ 8...c5 is a rare choice as it does nothing to prevent White's threat of h5. 9.dxc5 xc5 This position has been reached a couple of t im e s b u t f o r s o m e r e a so n n o o n e h a s played the logical 10.h5 which feels like it must be good for White. ] [ 8...gf6 is a little more common here than against the immediate h4 for some reason. A) 9.h6 was seen in a high rated encounter but didn't challenge Black xh6 10.xh6 e5 ( 10...b4 11.ce2 c5 als o loo k s p ossib le b u t 12.e5 dxe5 13.dxe5 d5 14.e6 is very messy.) 11.d5 e7 12.g4 b6 13.a3 fd7 14.ge2 c5 15.b1 0-0-0 16.c1 b8 17.b3 xb3 18.cxb3 f5 19.e3 fxe4 20.fxe4 hf8 Here a draw was agreed Maze, S (2518)-Svidler, P (2765) Paris 2006.; B) 9.g4 c5 ( 9...h5 10.g5 h7 11.d5 c5 12.dxc6 xc6 13.d4 xd4 14.xd4 resembles some sort of Dragadorf and (therefore?)looks rather suspicious. Spoelman, W (2424)-Koneru, H (2612) W i j k a a n Z e e 2 0 0 8 .) 10.h5 g8 W e don't trust this but already W hite's position is easier to play. 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.dxc5 xc5 Heinemann, T (2450)Watson, W (2535) Germany 1998 when, rather than 13.e5 13.g5 fd7 14.ge2 feels more comfortable for White. ] 9.h5 This looks rather logical but surprisingly

it's only been played a couple times. [ 9.g4 has been White's most common and was covered in the archives by Andrew Martin in Baki, P (2092) -Ianov, V (2381) Paks 2005 ] [ While 9.h3 has also been played a lot but doesn't make as much sense when Black still has control of g5. However White's plan is to drop the knight back to f2 when the lines aren't so different to 9. g4. e6 10.f2 e7 11.g4 d5!? 12.d3 c5! 13.xc5 xc5 14.dxc5 a5 with a very complex game. Gaponenko, I (2437) -Hillarp Persson, T (2548) Reykjavik 2006 ] [ 9.d5 was met with the odd looking h5!? which worked out pretty well for Black after 10.h3 c5 11.dxc6 xc6 12.d5 gf6 13.xf6+ xf6 14.g5 c8 with a roughly level middlegame. Koziak, V (2475)-Bezold, M (2455) Neuhausen 2004. ] [ One sample line we played out was 9.b1 gf6 10.h3 c8 11.f2 c5 12.e5 dxe5 13.dxc5 c7 14.fe4 when perhaps White has fractionally better chances but Black can't be unhappy either. ] 9...g5 10.ge2 [ 10.d5 was played earlier this year in the only other game to reach this position . However this is rather committal and following e5 11.g3 ( 11.f4 immediately is more critical although it's hard to believe that Black has too many issues after gxf4 12.xf4 c5 ) 11...f6 12.f4 eg4 13.d4 b4 14.a4 c5 15.dxc6 xc6 16.xb4 xe4 and Black had taken control and went on to win quickly. Nestorovic, L (2374)Chatalbashev, B (2570) Plovdiv 2012. ] 10...b6 This logical move looks best. [ Instead 10...b4 feels premature: 11.a4 a5 ( 11...b8 12.b3 also gives White an edge. ) 12.c4! c6 13.c2 and White has strong central control while it's tough for Black to generate counterplay. ] 11.g3 e6 Taking possession of f5. The position now resembles a Hippo structure. [ Again 11...b4 is too early. 12.b1 a5 13.f5 f6 14.d5 ] 12.a3 Nanu cuts out ...b4 once and for all but we feel this is probably inaccurate. [ With 12.d3 White has decent chances at retaining the advantage. e7 13.hf1 d7 800

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.b1 keeping Black under control followed by a plan involving Nce2 and d5. Oddly this position is almost zugzwang! Black has all his pieces on perfect squares and it's not easy to find him a move. Lashing out with f5 ( Perhaps 14...g8 is best although White could now exploit the weakening of the h6 pawn with 15.f4!? gxf4 16.xf4 ) 15.d5! fxe4 16.fxe4 looks very suspect. ] 12...e7 13.f2 Nanu waits. [ Breaking with 13.f4 is possible but gxf4 14.xf4 d7 followed by long castling looks fairly comfortable for Black. ] 13...f5 Risky. Nevednichy fights for the initiative but weakens his own position in the process. [ 13...d7 was the safe option when we like Blac k 's po s it ion . His p ie ces all o ccu p y good squares and there's a lot of dynamic potential with various pawn breaks. ] 14.f4 Nanu accepts the challenge and suddenly the position becomes very concrete. [ 14.exf5 exf5 15.f4 was the alternative but following g4 16.d3 d7 we again wouldn't be unhappy to be Black with his light square control. ] 14...0-0 We feel this is asking too much of Black's position but it's still not 100% clear and we can't really call it an error. [ However 14...gxf4 is probably better 15.xf4 ( 15.xf4 fxe4= is around level.) 15...fxe4 Probably Black's best ( Although h e c a n a l s o c o n s i d e r 15...0-0; and 15...e5!? ) 16.g4 g8 17.gxe4 xd4 ( 17...d7 18.xg7 xg7 19.f6+ f7 20.xd7 xd7 21.xh6 g4 is also co mplicate d bu t 22.e2 xg2 23.hf1+ f6 24.d5! seems to promise W hite the better chances.; 17...f5!? could be best with a messy position.) 18.f4 xe3+ 19.xe3 f5 20.f3 ( 20.xd6+ xd6 21.xe6+ f8 22.xh6+ g7 23.h8+ g8 and White can either draw with 24.Qh6+ or else play on with 24.d4 although it's not clear he's better here.) 20...g3 21.f6+ f8 22.xb7 xf6 23.h3 g7 24.d3 and the position is still very complicated. ] 15.d2 Another queen move from Nanu th re a t e n in g t o t a ke o n g5 b u t t a kin g t h e

pawns immediately should also be examined. [ 15.exf5 exf5 16.fxg5 ( 16.d3 g4 is another unclear position where White may have a small edge but it's certainly not clear. Again we wouldn't mind having the Black pieces with such good control over d5.) 16...f4! 17.gxh6 fxe3 18.xe3 f6 19.b1 and W hite has three pawns for the piece and a safer king but it's not enough for us to say he's definitely better. ] [ 15.fxg5!? is very interesting but looks to be asking too much of W hite's position. f4! This was Nevednichy's point. 16.xf4 hxg5 ( 16...e5?! 17.dxe5 hxg5 18.exd6 cxd6 19.xd6 xd6 20.xd6 xf2 21.c5! and the complications have worked out well f o r W h i t e .) 17.h6 xf4 18.e3 f8 19.h5 g6 20.xf4 gxf4 21.h3 f6 and Black must be at least fine. ] 15...g4 16.d5!? The most dynamic way of playing the position. [ It's possible for White to wait with s o m e t h i n g l i k e 16.b1 but it's not clear what his plan is. Black can even try d5!? ( 16...d7 is also possible when it's not clear how White makes progress without the d4-d5 break.) 17.e5 c4 and neither of us would feel happy as White. ] 16...exd5 Again Nevednichy goes for the riskier of the two options. Again this may not be an error but af ter t his we switc h f ro m preferring Black's practical chances to preferring White's. [ 16...fxe4! would have been a safer option. 17.dxe6 ( 17.xb6 cxb6 18.dxe6 d5 gives Black better chances with his bishop p a i r a n d h u g e c e n t r e .) 17...bd5 when an interesting line runs 18.h4 xe3 19.xe3 d5 20.xd5 xh4 21.e7 f7 22.xc7 xe7 23.xa8 xa8 24.e2 and Black can hardly be worse. ] 17.xb6 cxb6 18.xf5 [ 18.exf5 feels suspicious. Black could just transpose to the game while d4 19.ce2 xf5 20.xf5 xf5 transposes to 19...d4. ] 18...xf5 [ 18...xf5!? looks interesting but we think it's rather over-optimistic if W hite plays a c c u r a t e l y : 19.exf5 d4 20.e2! f8 21.e1! xf5 22.d1 g3 23.xg4 xh1 24.d3 and White regains the piece with the 801

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 advantage. ] 19.exf5 xf5 [ Again Black had an interesting option in the shape of 19...d4!? 20.e2 xf5 21.g3 f8 22.d3 with a complicated position. It feels White should have some advantage thanks to Black's ragged structure and loose king but Black can generate quite quick queenside counterplay, for example: d7 The threat is ...b5-b4 and ...Qa4 The game m i g h t c o n t i n u e ( T h e i m m e d i a t e 22...b4 is also interesting but White probably has s o m e a d v a n t a g e w i t h 23.f5! bxa3 24.bxa3 d7 25.xg7 xg7 26.h4 ) 23.h4 b4 24.axb4 ( 24.f5!? ) 24...a5 25.b5 a4 26.f5 a3 27.bxa3 xa3 28.xg4 h8 29.g6 and White's probably somewhat better but the position is extremely complicated. ] 20.d3 xc3? After a highly complex sequence where Black keeps going for the riskier but playable option he finally goes too far and plays a terrible move. [ With 20...f8 Black is still well in the game, e.g.: 21.de1 ( 21.b1 b4! 22.axb4 a5 looks promising for Black.) 21...f6!? B l a c k p r e p a r e s . . . b 4 . ( The immediate 21...b4 is also interesting: 22.axb4 a5 23.b5 a4 24.e6 a3 25.bxa3 xa3 26.b1 a4 when Black has a strong i n i t i a t i v e .) 22.hf1 b4 23.axb4 a5 and Black has strong counterplay. ] 21.xc3 xf4 22.g3 f3 23.d4 Black is currently two pawns up (with g3 enprise too) but his kingside is extremely loose and his structure is simply terrible. It's interesting to see how Nanu successfully picks up all Black's queenside while retaining the attack. g5+ [ 23...xg3 24.he1 is far too dangerous. ] 24.b1 c8?! Black's final error. We're not sure what Nevednichy was thinking, surely it was more logical to bring the rook on a8 into the game? [ 24...af8 is of course much better but White should still be winning, for example 25.he1 ( 25.xb6 e7 26.de1 is also strong.) 25...c8 26.g6 and White d o m i n a t e s b u t a t l e a s t f o l l o w i n g xg3 Black can try and get some counterplay with the g pawn. ]

25.xb6 [ 25.he1! Just looks to be winning immediately but the text isn't bad either. ] 25...e6 26.b7 [ 26.xd6! looks simple and very strong f7 27.g6 and all Black's pawns are dropping. ] 26...e8 27.h7+ f8 28.g6 g8 29.d7 [ 29.b7 could be more accurate ] 29...d8 [ 29...e6 was probably better but still 30.c8+ g7 31.xa6 xg3 32.xb5 favours White with his queenside pawns but Black can attempt something with ge3 ] 30.b7 xg3 31.xa6 e3 [ A s a f i n a l a t t e m p t w e t r i e d 31...d4 to complicate the issue but something like 32.a7 f6 33.he1 f3 34.xd4 f1 35.de4 is of course very good for White. We continued the line with xe1+ 36.xe1 d5 to try and get some counter-chances but 37.g1! f3 38.e3 g7 39.g1 is simply winning. ] 32.hf1+ g7 33.a7+ e7 34.d4+ e5 35.f5 e3 36.xg4 If you compare this position to that on move 24 we can see that three Black pawns have dropped while he still has a terrible structure, note the bishop is still blocked in behind his d5 pawn. W hite still does not yet have a material advantage but the position isn't dif f icult to convert. h8 37.ff1 g5 38.b4 e7 39.xb5 c7 40.a4 b8 41.f4 g7 42.f6 e7 43.xg7+ xg7 44.d4 a8 45.a4 aa7 46.b3 e5 47.b2 e6 48.df4 g5 49.f8 d4 50.d8 d5 51.d1 g4 52.d6 g8 53.a3 h4 54.g1 1-0

793 Negi,Parimarjan Gashimov,Vugar Schachbundesliga 2011-12 (8) [Tom Rendle]

B06 2631 2756 04.02.2012

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f3 d6 [ 4...d5 is Black's other setup and is covered in the archives. ] 5.e3 d7 6.d2 b5 7.d3 b7 [ 7...gf6 8.h3 c7 was looked at by Andrew Martin in the game Hossain, E802

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Rahman, Z/Dhaka 2005 ] [ 7...c7 8.0-0 b6 was tried in Lenderman, A (2525)-Adu, O (2276)/New York USA 2011. The idea is that the Bishop may still come out to g4 so White logically played h3 to prevent this A) 9.e5 looks very dangerous as well, for example g4 ( 9...dxe5 isn't good because the tactics are in White's favour after 10.xe5 xe5?! 11.dxe5 xe5?! 12.xb5! cxb5 13.d4 xd4 14.xb5+ and Black won't get enough for the Queen ) 10.exd6 exd6 11.g5 with a dangerous initiative for White; B) 9.h3 f6 10.h6 0-0 11.e5 fd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.fe1 dxe5 14.dxe5 e6 15.e4! and White had already built up a clear advantage and a dangerous attack on the Kingside ] 8.e2 Negi comes up with a very solid way of playing but my feeling is that is doesn't set Black that many problems. [ 8.0-0 is critical and now a6 9.a4 b4 10.e2 A) 10...a5 11.c3 bxc3 12.bxc3 gf6 13.ab1 c7 ( 13...c8 might be an improvement but still White is better after 14.h6 ) 14.e5! d5 and now White could've obtained a clear edge in Bjornsson, S (2287)-Danielsen, H (2473)/ Bolungarvik ISL 2009 with 15.exd6! exd6 16.c4 b4 17.c5! with Bf4 to come and if dxc5?! then 18.f4 b6 19.e3+ d8 20.fd1 is horrendous for Black; B) 10...c5 11.g3 ( 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.ad1 c7 13.c3! sets Black more serious problems in my opinion) 11...c7 12.c3 bxc3 13.bxc3 gf6 14.h6 0-0 was fine for Black in Kosintseva, T (2497)Milov, V (2669)/Moscow RUS 2009, although White went on to win. ] 8...gf6 [ 8...a6 9.g3 c5 10.c3 gf6 11.h3 0-0 as played in Seletsky, G (2310)-Kuzmin, G (2469)/Alushta 2008 also looks a solid way for Black to equalise. ] 9.c3 e5 Once Black has grabbed his fair share of space in the centre I think W hite should play dynamically because otherwise he risks being worse. In this game Gashimov is soon doing well. 10.h6

[ 10.0-0 0-0 11.dxe5 dxe5 ( 11...xe5?! 12.xe5 dxe5 13.f3 e7 14.a4 is a bit better for White as Black will have to work hard to make use of his Bishops) 12.h3 e7 13.g3 is very close to equal but it's Black that has to be more careful. White would like to play c4 and Rac1 and p u t p re ss u re o n B l a ck' s Q u e e n s i d e s o interesting is c5!? 14.b4 e6 15.a4 c7 16.b2 White avoids a pin from a rook on d8 and keeps a minimal edge. ] 10...0-0 11.xg7 xg7 Black has equalised comfortably enough and now Vugar goes about trying to unbalance the position. 12.g3 e8!? The idea of this move is to prepare a central push but I suspect that after this White sh o u ld b e a b le t o c la im so m e e d ge wit h accurate play. [ 12...c5! seems to be very comfortable for Black - for example 13.0-0 ( 13.d5?! c4 14.c2 a5 with Nc5 to come and Black's space advantage on the Queenside should give him the better chances.; 13.xb5 also doesn't look good after cxd4 14.cxd4 xe4! 15.xe4 xe4 16.b4 otherwise Q a 5 + i s a wkwa r d b8 17.a4 df6 18.0-0 exd4 19.xd4 b6 and White is under a lot of pressure )] 13.0-0 d5 A critical position has been reached and it's essential that W hite finds the right move, so I've examined a few alternatives here: 14.dxe5 [ 14.fe1! was the best continuation and now: A) 14...c5!? is an interesting pawn sacrifice although after 15.xb5 cxd4 16.cxd4 xe4 ( 16...dxe4 isn't as good b e c a u se o f 17.xd7! xd7 18.xe4 ) 17.xe4 dxe4 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe8 d3 20.a4 xe1 21.xe1 c8 Black's pawn on e4 and the weakness of the pawn on d4 gives Black some compensation but I still think W hite has the better chances af te r 22.c2! f5 23.b3; B) 14...exd4?! would be a typical mistake because of 15.e5! e4 16.xe4 dxe4 17.xe4 xe5 ( 17...dxc3? 18.xc3 g8 19.ad1 i s c r u s h i n g) 18.xd4 when White's control of the dark squares and well placed central knights give him a 803

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 clear edge; C) 14...dxe4 15.xe4! ( 15.xe4?! xe4 16.xe4 c5 and Black is doing well) 15...exd4 16.cxd4 g8 17.ac1 and Black hasn't quite equalised in my opinion due to the passivity of the lightsquared Bishop. ] [ 14.ad1 gives Black a pleasant choice between dxe4 ( and 14...exd4 15.xd4 dxe4 16.c2 c7 17.b3 when Black is a pawn up but I W hite does have a potentially dangerous attack brewing with Qg5 ) 15.xe4 xe4 16.xe4 exd4 17.xd4+ f6 18.b1 xd4 19.xd4 ad8 with an equal ending ] [ 14.xe5 dxe4 15.xd7 xd7 16.e2 c5! and the Bishop on b7 comes into the game and White has some defensive work to do to hold equality. ] [ 14.exd5?! doesn't actually lose a piece but Black is still much better after e4 15.e5 xe5 16.dxe5 xe5 17.dxc6 ( 17.c2 xd5 lea ve s B la ck a sa f e pa wn u p) 17...xc6 18.f4 e7 19.c2 d5 20.c1 e3 and Black is clearly on top ] 14...xe4 [ 14...dxe4 was also possible and now after 15.exf6+ xf6 16.xe4 xe4 17.xe4 xe4 18.ad1 e7 the position is level. ] 15.xe4 dxe4 16.xe4 xe5 17.d4? [ 17.d4 was necessary and now after c5 White has to be very careful A) 18.xc5 xg2! 19.de6+ ( 19.xg2?! d5+ 20.f3 xc5 leaves W hite's King ope n) 19...fxe6 20.xd8 axd8 21.xg2 d5 and Black has a slight edge in the endgame; B) 18.d6! i s b e s t a n d n o w f6 ( 18...c4 leads to a draw after 19.xe8+ xe8 20.f5+ gxf5 21.g5+ f8 22.h6+ g8 23.g5+ ) 19.xb7 c4! 20.d3 cxd4 21.b3! ab8 22.bxc4 bxc4 23.xc4 xb7 24.xd4 xd4 25.cxd4 d8 is very drawish indeed. ] 17...c5! This is the start of a forcing sequence of moves that leaves Black on top. The Bishop on b7 only enters the game briefly but it does a job weakening the White kingside 18.xc5 [ 18.xd8 was no better for example xf3+ 19.gxf3 axd8 20.fe1 ( 20.xc5?! xf3

would be asking for trouble on the Kingside) 20...e5 with an obvious advantage for Black ] 18...xf3 19.xd8 axd8 20.gxf3 d5 [ 20...xf3+ 21.g2 h4+ 22.g3 f5+ leads to the same thing as the game ] 21.b4 [ if 21.f4 then f3+ ( not 21...xc5 22.fxe5 cxe5 23.a4! when White should hold a draw in the rook and pawn ending.) 22.g2 h4+ 23.h3 f5 24.b4 d2 ] 21...xf3+ 22.g2 h4+ 23.g3 f5+ 24.f3 d2 With the Rook on the 7th rank Black must be doing well and combined with the vulnerability of his King Negi faced a difficult task to defend this position. Over the next few moves Gashimov expertly increased t h e p r e s s u r e . 25.a4! White has to play actively [ 25.a3?! g5 with h5 and Nh4+ ideas and White is in a lot of trouble ] 25...bxa4 26.fd1 c2 27.dc1 ce2 28.xa4 8e7 29.aa1 g5! closing the net on the King on f3 30.d3 h4+ 31.g3?! [ 31.g4 was relatively best but Black has a lot of interesting options here, i.e. h5+!? 32.xh5 7e4 when White is probably forced to sac. the exchange to avoid being m a t e d wit h Nf 3 a n d Rh 4 33.g1 f3 34.g4 e6 35.xg5+ xg5 36.xg5 and Black has reasonable winning chances ] 31...d7 32.d1 [ 32.c5 might've been a better try but still Black can double on the 7th rank or instead go directly for the King with d6 33.h3 f6 34.f1 f3+ 35.h2 h5! which must be close to winning ( 35...exf2+? is premature because after 36.xf2 xf2+ 37.g1 f3 38.e4 the pawn on a7 is dropping and W hite's Q ue enside p awn s a re go ing t o cause Black a real headache )] 32...c2 33.a5?? Negi makes a horrible blunder but his position was obviously rather unpleasant anyway. [ 33.a3 h5! 34.h3 d6 and Black has excellent winning chances - the position is never going to be easy for W hite with the King caught in a mating net on g3. ] 33...xc3 34.xg5+ g6 0-1

804

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 794 Nezhmetdinov,Rashid Ujtelky,Maximilian Chigorin mem (1) [Andrew Martin]

B06

1964

He re is an e xtra ord in ary ga me , in which Ujtelky goads one of the most feared attacking players with the Hippopotamus. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.c4 e6 It helps to have a bishop on c4. 5.f3 e7 6.h4 h6 Note the reaction. Black answers 7 h5 with g5. Whilst that might still be good for White, most players would not want to commit themselves this early. 7.f4 a6 8.e2 d7 [ here, he could certainly try 8...b5 9.d3 bc6 with ideas of ...Nb4, . .. Nxd3 and ... Bb7. Maybe I'm the wrong type of guy to play this slow stuff.... ] 9.a4 b6 10.d1 b7 Very pretty by White a n d w h e r e t o g o f r o m h e r e ? 11.f1!? He is b a f f l e d b y t h e la ck o f co n t a ct . f8 12.g1 c8 13.b3 d7 14.h3 d8 15.c4 c8 Black continues his m a n o e u ve rin g, a l t h o u gh i n t h is c a se a 6 needed to be defended. Ujtelky asks Nezhmetdinov "what is your idea?" 16.b3 f6 17.e1 f7 18.c1 c6 How should you classify a position like this? Black is keeping White at bay. I personally find Black's play too passive in this game. 19.d2 d5 20.a5 [ 20.exd5 cxd5 21.h5 g5 leaves nothing clear at all. ] 20...b5 21.f3 c7 22.d2 c8 23.a2 h7 24.b4 he8 25.d3 f8 26.f4 [ I think White missed a chance here: 26.e5 f5 27.g3 d7 28.b4 The threat of a kingside attack combined with White's ability to stop ...c6-c5 makes the Black position unattractive. For instance: f8 29.d2 g8 30.d6 xd6 31.exd6 xd6 32.fe5+ ] 26...xa5 27.e5 f5 28.d2 [ 28.e3 g8 29.c5 d7 30.xd7 xd7 31.c3 with the idea of Bc2 and g4, was to be considered. ] 28...b6 29.a1 h7? [ 29...d7 ] 30.a5 a7 31.xd8 xd8 32.d2 b7 33.a5 a8 34.c5 c8 35.c3 f8 The manoeuvres continue. He seems not to care one whit that he is the exchange down.

Having said that, White has to find the right way to break in. How about preparing g2-g4! 36.e1?! Time-trouble perhaps? [ 36.d3 ] 36...xe5 37.dxe5 xc5 38.d3 a7 39.c2 c5 Black is right back in the game. 40.b4 c6 41.a3 c4 42.c5 xe5 43.c1 h5 44.g3 ed7 45.xe6?? He just lost it psych ologically. Unable t o pierce the black pawn front, Nezhmetdinov goes haywire with an unsound piece sacrifice. And having provoked the mistake, Ujtelky's subsequent play is faultless. xe6 46.h6 df8 47.xf5 gxf5 48.e1 d7 49.xh5+ e7 50.xf5 White has left himself with no plan B. d6 51.h5 a5 52.e5+ c6 53.d1 c7 54.a1 b8 55.bxa5 b4! Su dd en ly it is W h it e who h a s so m e ve ry serious defending to do. 56.cxb4 [ 56.h6 b3 57.h7 xh7 58.g6+ e6 59.xe6+ xe6 60.xe6+ d6 61.f7 g5 62.g7 e4-+ ] 56...xb4 57.f3 ce6 58.a6 c5 59.e1 d4 60.f6+ fe6 61.a5 b6 62.h6 d6 63.h7 c3 64.a1 c2 65.g6 h8 66.a7 The contrast between the spread out White position and Black's perfectly centralised formation is extraordinary. b2 67.h6 e2+ 68.h2 c1 69.xc1 xc1 70.a5 c6 71.a6 e5+ 72.g3 b3 73.f4 [ 73.a8 xa8 74.xa8 xa8 75.h8 xh8 76.xh8 c6 77.f4 might have lasted longer, but the d pawn must win. ] 73...b2+ 74.h3 bc5 75.a8 W h ich Qu e e n sh a ll we t a ke f irst ? E it h e r capture wins quickly. 0-1

795 Nunn,John DM Shirov,Alexei Germany [Alexander Volzhin]

B06 2605 2690 1996

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.c4 d6 5.f3 e6 6.ge2 b5 7.b3 a5 8.a3 a6 Shirov believes in this setup and still employs it despite terrible losses against Judit Polgar and Anand. 9.0-0?! [ 9.d5 was played in the above mentioned 805

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 games. Nunn deviates probably being afraid of Shirov's preparation. However his choice unlikely will have many supporters as Black now has easy play. ] 9...d7 10.f4 e7 11.ad1 [ 11.e5!? was quite interesting as it would create some difficulties regarding Black's d e v e l o p m e n t : d5 (forced) and now 12.e3!? with a very complicated position. ( 12.d1?! as was recommended in some publications is strongly met by f6! 13.exf6 gxf6 and Black is fine. )] 11...e5 12.g5 [ 12.dxe5 would be answered by xe5! 13.e3 f6 with excellent prospects for Black. ] 12...gf6 13.d5?! A very dubious plan but I don't know what to recommend W hite. c5 14.a4 b4 15.b5 b6!? A very ambitious move which leads to wild complications. [ T h e s i m p l e 15...xb5 16.axb5 b6 was good enough: 17.d3! a4 18.c4 and Black is slightly better. The text might objectively be even stronger. ] 16.d3! c4! 17.xc4 xa4 18.a1! Probably Black had overlooked this strong move. [ Evidently he hoped f or 18.b1 c5! , and W hite has to give up his important dark-squared Bishop: 19.xf6 xf6 20.f3 0-0 21.a1 fc8! 22.c3 d8! intending ... Qb6 with a clear edge for Black. ] 18...xb2 19.b3 xc4 20.xc4 c8 21.d3 d8 22.c4! 0-0!? [ Black could have obtained material ad va n t a ge h e re b y 22...bxc3 23.exc3 xc3 24.xc3 xb5 25.xf6 xf6 26.fb1 d7 27.xa5 0-0 28.a7! but his piece s don't seem particularly comfortable. In any case White's activity yields him very good drawing chances. ] 23.a2! A good idea. White intends Rf1-a1 obtaining full compensation for the pawn. But B l a c k h a d s o m e t h i n g i n m i n d . . . xc4!! An unexpected blow! [ Variations like 23...xb5 24.cxb5 a8 25.fa1 would just demonstrate White's positional power. But now Black's pawns are going to be really strong. ] 24.xf6 [ 24.xc4 b6 would eventually lead to the

same thing. ] 24...xf6 25.xc4 b6 26.c7 xb5 27.xd6 g7 [ 27...d8!? was not bad either. ] 28.c1! [ The unprotected first rank leads to White's loss in the line 28.fa1?! b3! 29.xa5 b2! 30.xa6 b1+! ] 28...d8! 29.c6 [ 29.c5 b3 30.b2 a4 looks to be clearly in Black's favour since the queen exchange 31.xb5 xb5 32.a1 c8 is catastrophic for White. ] 29...b3! [ It wasn't too late to trip up: natural looking 29...a4? failed to 30.xa4 xc6 31.dxc6 xe2 32.c7 c8 33.xb4 and it's only White who has chances to win. ] 30.b2 d3!! [ But not 30...a4? which would fail to 31.c3! xc6 32.dxc6 and White is better. After the text W hite's pieces are uncoordinated, his back rank is still weak and 31... Rc8 is threatened. ] 31.cb1? Being short of time Nunn loses immediately. [ He had to try 31.xb3! and Black has to choose which piece to take. The following variations were given by Shirov: A) 31...xe2 i s i n f e r i o r : 32.f3 e7 ( 32...g5? 33.c7 f8 34.xe5+ f6 35.c7+ h8 36.h4 d1+ 37.h2 xf3 38.xh7+ xh7 39.c7+ g8 40.gxf3 ) 33.c7 b2 34.e1! e8 35.xa5 b5 and it's not clear if Black has realistic winning chances.; B) 31...xb3! Only this move is correct! 32.xa6 a4 33.g3! e7! 34.c7 ( 34.a7 d6 35.a5 b8 36.a6 b6 ) 34...d6 35.b7 d1+! 36.f1 d4! In this position Black should definitely win due to his a-pawn but it still requires a good technique. ] 31...c8 32.a4 [ 32.d6 a4-+ ] 32...c2! Now White can't avoid material losses. 33.xb3 xe2 The rest is easy to u n d e r st a n d . 34.f3 d3 35.d7 xe4 36.xf6 xf6 37.d6+ f5 38.f1 d3 39.d7+ f6 White resigned. Excellent game! Shirov considers it as one of his best 806

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe5 As English Grandmasters like to say, "queen and knight - they're all right!" Still, Epishin does very well to win this position. 19.b3 c5 20.f6 e8 21.d1 e7 796 B06 22.f4 White should simply exchange queens Okrajek,Alexander 2295 with an almost certain draw. b6 23.h1 g7 Epishin,Vladimir 2599 24.e1 g5 25.g3 f6 26.e4 f5 27.a4 8th Schloss Open (2) 23.03.2002 a5 28.f4?! b5 29.xa5 xf4 30.xf4 gxf4 31.a4 Superficially this looks good for White [Nigel Davies] because Black's kingside pawns are 'officially' Epishin's play in this game should be of great weak. But the combination of the knight on e5 interest to exponents of the Scandinavian. and pawn on f4 has a cramping effect. b8 W hen W hite tricks him out of his favourite 32.axb5 cxb5 33.a7 f6 34.g1 d8 Gruenfeld Defence, with 1.Nf3, he transposes 35.f1 b8 36.g1 h5 37.f2 h4 38.e2 i n t o a f o r m o f S c a n d i n a v i a n , e v i d e n t l y g8 39.d5 d8 40.e4 d4 41.d3 b4 believing that the moves Nf3 and ...g6 make 42.a6+ g5 43.a5 f6 44.a8 f3+! this position eminently playable for Black. 45.gxf3 f4 46.f8 d6 47.b8 c6 1.f3 g6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 48.h8 d4+ 49.f2 xf3 50.e2 d2 This transposition into a Scandinavian is a 51.g8 f5 52.h8 xc2 speciality of Epishin. Evidently he thinks that 0-1 with the W hite knight committed to f3 this position is fine for Black. 4.c3 d6 B06 [ Epishin has also tried 4...a5 , for example 797 5.d4 g7 6.c4 f6 7.0-0 0-0 8.e1 Pacey,Kevin g4 9.h3 ( 9.xe7 c6 10.e1 b4 Day,Lawrence A recovers the pawn with advantage.) 9...xf3 Int Open North Bay Int Open 1996 10.xf3 b4 11.b3 c6 12.e3 e6 [Nigel Davies] 13.ad1 ad8 14.e2 b5 15.g3 a5 16.h4 c6 17.xc6 xc6 18.c3 a5 One suspects that the unorthodox Lawrence 19.c2 c4 20.c1 c6 was about equal in Day has a much better idea about how to play Shchekachev - Epishin, Frankfurt 2000 ] these weird positions, and here he sensibly [ Another idea worth thinking about is 4...d8 develops his bishop to f5. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 f6 5.d4 g7 6.c4 h6!? intending to bring 3.e5 h5 4.e2 g7 5.f3 d5 6.c3 c6 the knight to f5. ] 7.h3 f5 8.bd2 h5 9.h2 c7 10.df1 5.c4 f6 6.d3 Was White worried that a d7 11.e3 h4 Day plays in the most two square advance of the d-pawn would turn interesting positional style, preventing White's it into a target? expansion on the kingside whilst pursuing his [ 6.d4 must be better after which Kharitonov - own development. Of course I'm not sure he Epishin, Wijk aan Zee 2000 continued g7 would have had such success playing Black 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 a6 9.e2 (Psakhis - against Lautier. 12.f3 e4 13.g5 f5 Epishin, Vlissingen 2000 was agreed drawn 14.f3 e6 He shuns the tacit offer of a draw at this point) b5 10.d3 c6 11.d1 e6 by repetition! 15.g4 e7 16.g5 e4 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 c4 14.e1 ad8 17.d2 xf3 18.xf3 f5 19.xe7 xe7 15.c3 d5 16.xd5 xd5 17.f4 d7 20.e3 c5 A lever in e style of the French 18.e2 fd8 19.e1 h6 20.a4 e6 Defence, which is the way that Black should 21.axb5 axb5 22.a6 b4 23.g3 bxc3 ultimately try to take the initiative. It's good 24.bxc3 1/2-1/2 ] to develop the pieces first though.... 21.xf5+ 6...g7 7.0-0 0-0 8.g5 c6 9.e1 g4 gxf5 22.g5+ f8 23.0-0 d8 24.f4 cxd4 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 bd7 12.e4 xe4 25.cxd4 b8! Of course. e knight is far better 13.xe4 e5 14.h4 ae8 15.d4 f6 on c6. Things get better and better for Black 16.dxe5 xg5 17.xg5 xe5 18.xe5 as White makes an ill-fated attempt to attack. achievements so far. 0-1

807

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.h2 c6 29.fxg3 e7 32.ad1 a4 35.xd5 xd4 38.h4 xg2+! 0-1

27.fd1 a5 28.g4 hxg3+ 30.g5 b6 31.d2 c8 33.g4 c4 34.gxf5 xf5 36.xd4 xd4 37.g2 g8 39.xg2 c6+ 40.f1 f3+

798

B06 Panchanathan,Magesh Chandran 2543 Illingworth,Max 2289 Sydney Int Open (9) 11.04.2010 [Gawain Jones] In this final game of the update I'll add various new Hippo games. It is a difficult opening to classify as it can arise from so many different openings. 1.f3 [ My own success on the black side started 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.c4!? ok I'll play a Hippo:) e6 6.a4 b6 7.d2 h6 8.f3 e7 9.ge2 d5 I quite like this move. The main problem with my opponent's position is that her light squared bishop doesn't have a good square to go to. 10.b3 bc6 11.h4?! and I fail to see the point of this (and the next). I imagined she would castle kingside herself as now there's no where safe for her king. Meanwhile I couldn't castle kingside anyway as h6 is en-prise so I'm going long. b7 12.g4 d7 13.exd5 exd5 14.f4 a5 15.0-0-0 0-0-0 16.ce2 c6 17.c3 h5 18.e2 b7 19.d3 hxg4 20.fxg4 xb3+ 21.cxb3 c6 22.f4 a5 23.b4 c4 24.f2 b8 25.he1 h6 26.f3 g5 27.hxg5 xg5 28.b1 c8 29.fxd5 xg4 30.xf7 h7 0-1 Dhar Barua, SJones, G Canberra 2010 was exactly what Black was hoping for from the hippo. ] 1...g6 2.d4 g7 3.e4 d6 4.c3 [ 4.c4 This move provokes e6 to block the bishop's path to f7. 5.e2 ( 5.b3 e7 6.0-0 d7 7.e1 b6 8.bd2 b7 9.f1 0-0 10.g3 c5 11.c3 cxd4 12.cxd4 c8 13.f4 e5 14.e3 exd4 15.xd4 e5 16.xe5 dxe5 17.c3 xd1 18.axd1 1/2-1/2 Speelman, J-Greet, A 4NCL 2010 was another very comfortable game for Black. ) 5...e7 6.f4 bc6!? A type of A c c e le ra t e d Hip p o ? ! ( 6...a6 would be

usual ) 7.c3 0-0 8.bd2 a6 9.0-0 b5 10.b3 b7 11.fe1 a5 12.c2 c5 13.dxc5 dxc5 14.ad1 b6 15.e3 c8 16.b4 ( 16.h4! might have made Black su f f e r I d o n't like to ca stle t o o e arly in these setups.) 16...cxb4 17.cxb4 c6 18.a3 a5 19.xb6 xb6 20.c7?! Missing Black's reply axb4! 21.xb6 bxa3 22.e5 a2 23.b3 fc8 24.d4 xd4 25.xd4 xe5 and the a2 pawn is too strong 0-1 Roos, D-Krasenkow, M Chalons en Champagne 2010. ] 4...a6 [ 4...d7 is another different move order. 5.c4 e6 6.e3 a6 7.a4 b6 8.d2 h6 9.0-0 b7 All computer programs prefer White here, but that can be safely ignored. Indeed the top suggestion of my computer here is 10.Ne1?!! followed by 11.Nf3. White is ahead in development and has more space but that's the nature of the opening and now White struggles to come up with a plan as Black doesn't have any obvious weaknesses. Meanwhile Black has lots of improving moves and can plan to expand on either flank. ( 9...e7 might be my preferred move order just so that if White plays as in the game then the bishop is better placed on c8. ) 10.d5!? e5 11.e1 gf6 12.f3 h5 The position now resembles a Kings Indian. 13.d3 c5 14.e2 c8 15.c3 xd3 16.xd3 d7 17.a5 b5 18.b4 h4 19.ac1 f6 20.g3 h3 21.h1 g5 gave Black decent chances on the kingside while White's trying to crash through on the other flank. Nyzhnyk, I-Ehlvest, J Reykjavik 2010. This is a sensible way of playing against a young well prepared opponent who'll be on his own immediately rather than having the safety belt of 20 moves of theory. ] 5.a4 A logical move but not when which s h o u l d w o r r y B l a c k b6 This is a more accurate move order than [ 5...d7 as after 6.c4 ( 6.a5!? c5 ) 6...e6 7.a5! Black can no longer develop his bishop on the long diagonal without experiencing some structural problems after White takes on b6. e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.e2 b5 10.axb6 cxb6 11.g3 b7 12.d3 b5 13.e3 e5 14.d2 exd4 15.xd4 e5 808

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xe5 dxe5 17.c5 e8 18.fd1 c8 19.b4 Satyapragyan, S-Gelashvili, T Dubai 2010. ] 6.c4 e6 7.h4 h6 8.e2 The first move deviating from Tiger's bible on the opening. He only investigates [ 8.f4 e7 9.d2 d7 10.0-0 etc. Leaving the king in the centre to attack on the kingside looks like a logical alternative. ] 8...e7 Usual [ 8...f6 is logical seeing as White has just left the pawn undefended. 9.g3 ( 9.e5 g4 has echoes of the note in the previous game where Black played an early Nc6-b4.) 9...b7 10.e2 c6 ] 9.e3 d7 10.g3 b7 11.d3 A typical hippopotamus has arisen and it's time to try and come up with a plan for Black. W hite has quite a good setup against any plans on the kingside so I would probably look at playing on the queenside. There's no need to rush, Black can wait to see how W hite intends to improve his position. f6 [ 11...c5 12.c3 c7 looks reasonable. ] [ 11...0-0? 12.d2 h7 13.h5 g5 14.xg5 hxg5 15.h6 is not recommended however ] 12.c3 d7 13.e2 0-0?! This move is extremely risky. [ I ' d p r e f e r 13...g4 14.d2 h5!? ( Playing in Kings Indian style with 14...e5 i s a l s o p o s s i b l e a l t h o u g h a f t e r 15.d5 Black should delay an immediate f5 as 16.exf5 gxf5 17.d4! is unpleasant.) 15.g5 c5 ] 14.h5 White has a ready made attack g4 [ Ideally Black would like to block up the kingside with 14...g5? but 15.xg5! hxg5 16.h6 h8 17.h7+! and you won't live for long. ] 15.d2 e5 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.c4 [ 17.hxg6 is also possible if you don't want to give Black the opportunity to block up the kingside, although as you'll see that also gives White a great attack. ] 17...g5 This doesn't work out but it's tough to o f f e r a n y b e t t e r s o l u t i o n s . 18.xg5! Of course! A knight is a small price to pay to open up Black's king. hxg5 19.xg5 h6 Otherwise 20.h6 was crushing. 20.d1 e8 21.f5! exf5 22.exf5 h7 23.f6 h8

All the moves thus far have been pretty much forced since W hite sacrificed his piece but now White misses a chance 24.h4 [ 24.c2+! e4 25.c1 f5 ( 25...g8 26.f4 is no better.) 26.f4 c8 27.e2! wit h a hu ge t hrea t of 2 8. Bg4 wh ile e6 28.xc7 c8 29.g4! and the knight's trapped as h6 30.xh6 xh6 31.g5+! xg5 32.h6! leaves the king running round like a headless chicken. ] [ 24.d3+! e4 25.e3 also looks good. ] 24...e4 [ 24...f5 seems forced 25.d5!? ( 25.d3 e4 26.xe4 xe4 27.xe4 xe4 28.xe4 ae8 and Black has survived to a roughly equal ending.; 25.e4 g8 26.xe5 xe5 27.xe5 ae8 28.e6! xe6 29.xe6 fxe6 30.d7+ g7 31.g4 is very messy but at least Black's survived to live on in the ending.) 25...g8 26.g4 and White's big attack is ongoing, one light might run xd5 27.xd5 e4 28.xe4 d7 29.d3! A highly surprising queen trade but n o w W h i t e w i n s b a c k a p i e c e . xd3 30.xd3 ae8+ 31.e3 e5 32.f4 xg2 33.xf5+ g8 34.f1 g5 35.g4 and White's bishop pair and two pawns look more relevant than the extra exchange. ] 25.d5! The pawn on f6 is doing a good job of stopping the h8 bishop from contributing to the game and now White offers an exchange to nullify the other bishop. d8 [ 25...xd5 26.xd5 followed by 27.Bxe4 is hopeless. ] [ 25...c6 26.d2 c5 27.xh6 ( Playing like the game is also possible 27.d5!? d8 28.xe4 xd5 29.xd5 d7 30.b3 ) 27...xh6 28.e3+ h7 29.g5 g8 ( 29...c8 30.d5 g8 31.f4+- ) 30.f5+ h6 31.f4+ h7 32.g4!+- ] 26.xe4 xd5 27.xd5 d7 28.e5 Not the most accurate way to finish off the game [ 28.b3! fe8 29.c2 g8 30.f1 is, with computer accuracy, the best way to develop the attack as Black's knight on h6 is dropping whilst he's helpless to stop the queen and two bishops and mountain of pawns delivering mate. ] [ 28.d4!? is a lso ra t h e r st ro n g. de8 29.e4+ xe4 30.xe4+ f5 31.xf5+ 809

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf5 32.d7 Is clearly better for White. The 1-0 Turner,M-D'Costa,L/Scarborough 2001. ] pawns muffle the extra piece in the corner 8.b5!? The latest try in this position looks that's still just a bystander. ] logical to take back the pawn with the knight. 28...g4? This allows forced mate [ 8.b3 e6 9.xd4 f6 ( 9...e7!? ) [ 28...fe8 was forced when Black can 10.f4 0-0? Black is oblivious to the danger continue to soldier on although 29.e4+ 11.xb8 xb8 12.c6 with a clear g8 30.e7 xa4 31.f3! The king needs a advantage, Frangi, M-Dijon,J/ICCF Email square a5 32.g6! and I would feel 2002. ] extremely uneasy trying to defend the black [ 8.0-0 h6 9.a4+ d7 10.xd4 0-0 side. ] 11.g5 f6 12.ad1 c7 13.fe1 29.e4+ g8 30.g6+ An entertaining hack with a slight edge, Hasanova,E-Galliamova, by White but Black didn't have any problems A/Varna 2002. ] before his premature castling and I think the [ 8.cxd4 f6 9.a4+ c6 10.b5 0-0 hippo is still an underrated opening. 11.e3 a6 12.c3 b8 ( 12...b5? 1-0 is met by 13.xb5 ) 13.d1 b5 14.e2 b7 1/2-1/2 Kernazhitsky,L-Pisk,P/Tanta 2000. ] 799 B06 8...a6!? [ 8...f6 9.bxd4 0-0 10.0-0 c7 11.e2 Pavasovic,Dusko 2591 a6 ( 11...g4!? is worth thinking about) Pikula,Dejan 2523 12.b3 e6 13.e1 c6 14.xc6 xc6 Karadjordje Topola (4) 07.05.2004 15.e5 when White has a space advantage, [Gary Lane] P e l i k i a n , J - M a t s u u r a , E / BrazilTeamChampionship 2001. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 [ If Blacks wants to appear in lots of 5.f3 g7 6.a3 cxd4 7.c4 d8 newspaper chess columns he should try P ik u la is r a t e d o ve r 2 5 0 0 so o n e h a s t o 8...dxc3 and then resign after 9.xf7+ ] re s p e c t h i s c h o ice t o re t re a t t h e qu e e n . 9.bxd4 f6 10.a4+ c6 Others: [ If 10...b5 Black does not win with a fork but [ 7...e4+ this is the main alternative 8.e3 will crash upon 11.xb5+ axb5 12.xa8 h6 ( not 8...dxe3? due to 9.xf7+ f8 winning ] 10.d8+ xf7 11.g5+ winning ) 9.cxd4 0-0 10.0-0 f5 ( 10...g4 11.g5 xd1 11.xc6 bxc6 [ 11...d7? fails after 12.fe5 winning. ] 12.xe4 g4 with equal chances, Anderton, M-Ramaswamy,A/Edinburgh 2003.) 11.e1 12.e5 The knight dominates by attacking c6 xe3 12.xe3 f4 13.e5 e6 14.g3 f6 and f7. Already White is on top. 0-0 13.xc6 15.d5 exd5 ( 15...d8 16.b3 gives White f5 [ 13...b8 14.0-0 b7 15.a4 d6 a slight initiative.) 16.xd5 c6 17.ae1 is probably Black's best chance but White e6 18.b5 xe5 19.xe5 xc4 20.xc4 still has an edge. ] ac8 21.b3 led to a level position in Ravi,T14.0-0 c8 15.f3 Shashikant,K/Chennai 2004. ] [ It is tempting to grab another pawn with [ 7...a5!? 8.xd4 f6 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 15.xa6 but White rightly realises that his e5 11.b4 c7 12.db5 e7 13.e3 b6 lack of development is a potential problem 14.d6! White's lead in development is c7 16.f4 ( 16.f4 h5!; 16.e1! ) enough to persuade him to seek an 16...e4 is sufficient compensation for the exchange of queens xd6 15.xd6 c6 pawns. ] 16.g5 a6 ( 16...d7 17.ad1 ab8? 18.xf6 xf6 19.e4 wins ) 17.ad1 b5 15...c7 16.e1 e4 17.xf7+! h8 [ Or 17...xf7 18.xf7 xf7 19.xe4 18.xf6 xf6 19.d5 d7 20.xf7+! and Black should resign. ] White jumps at the chance to play a tactical trick g7 21.b3 a7 22.c2 c7 18.e6 xe5 [ After 18...xe6 19.xe4 White is just two 23.e3 e7 24.e4 f5 25.c5 810

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pawns up. ] didn't give W hite enough f or t he pawn . 19.xc8 xc8 20.g4 Pavasovic plays his Lenderman, A (2443)-Zlotnikov, M (2314) trump card by undermining the defence of the Philadelphia 2008.) 8...exf6 9.h4 b6 knight. g8 21.f4 A nice touch because 10.e4 h6 and it's doubtful that Black has Black is obliged to defend e4 allowing White any problems at all. Ulibin, M (2500) -Belov, to improve his position before accepting more I (2430) Voskresensk 1990. ] material. 7...b6 [ 21.gxf5 gxf5 22.h1 ( 22.f1!? ) [ 7...b4 is Black's other main try: 8.d1 22...g3+ 23.hxg3 xe1+ 24.g2 ] ( 8.e2 lo oks a b it clu msy.) 8...b6 21...b5 22.e2 a4 23.gxf5 gxf5 24.h1 W h e n a g a i n ( 8...a5 has been tried a few 1-0 times by Uzbek GM Dzhumaev 9.a3!? gf6 10.d3 bxa3 11.xa3 d5 12.f2 dxe4 13.xe4 looked more pleasant for White. 800 B06 Negi, P (2149) -Dzhumaev, M (2498) Mumbai 2004.; 8...gf6 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 Perunovic,Mil 2582 b6 was seen in Mitkov, N (2483) Shanava,K 2586 Chatalbashev, B (2524) Bolzano 1999 when 16th Neckar Open (7.1) 08.04.2012 11.a3! looks strong, forcing some positional [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] c o n c e s s i o n o u t o f B l a c k .) 9.a3 looks tempting, although the only practical 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5 encounter we can find is h6 10.h4 bxa3 Again we see a strong GM try this topical 1/2-1/2 Van der Sterren, P-Nunn, J variation with the bishop hitting thin air! c6 Groningen 1974. It looks as though White is And as yet we haven't really covered this doing pretty well here though. ] response. 5.d2 d7 8.d3 [ Last time Gawain wrote 5...b5 [ If White is worried about the bishop coming A) The more aggressive 6.f4 has also out to g4 he could try 8.h3 . A fairly recent scored very well and is f airly likely to g a m e c o n t i n u e d b4 9.d1 c5!? transpose to the game: b4 ( 6...d7 Despite winning the game, Black's opening would just be a inversion of moves.; while choice isn't convincing. 10.c3 ( Again 10.a3 6...f6 7.d3 is seen in the archives.) is also an option.) 10...bxc3 ( 10...f6 7.d1 b6 8.c3 f6 9.f2 bxc3 11.xf6 xf6 12.dxc5 dxc5 13.xd8+ 10.bxc3 0-0 11.d3 c5 12.f3 a5?! xd8 14.e5 g7 15.cxb4 cxb4 16.e3 13.e5 dxe5 14.dxe5 was very good for gives White a definite something.) 11.xc3 White. Dreev, A (2645)-Yrjola, J (2435) cxd4 12.xd4 d7 13.a4 c8 14.db5 Yerevan 1996.; xb5?! 15.xb5+ f8 16.0-0 and White B) 6.f3 h6 7.f4 f6 8.d3 g4 9.h3 must have had a great position. Hossain, E xf3 10.gxf3 bd7 11.0-0-0 a5 (2531)-Bachmann Schiavo, A (2555) Dubai 12.b1 b6 13.he1 fd7 2009. ] when Black's pressure against the White centre was probably enough for rough 8...g4 [ 8...c4 looks too provocative - true Black equality but in the end he too went down in gets the bishop pair but he is delaying the Hess, R (2590)-Ehlvest, J (2591) development of all his pieces for too long. Philadelphia 2010. ] 9.xc4 bxc4 10.0-0 b6 11.e5 d5 [ 5...f6 would transpose to a position seen 12.a4 c7 13.c5 g4 Wang, P (2181)frequently in the archives. ] Koeller, O (2224) Auckland 2004 when the 6.f4 b5 7.f3 current board one f or the New Zealand [ 7.e5 is a principled approach, attempting to Olympiad team should have opened up the punish Black for failing to develop his g8 queenside with 14.b3 with a huge positional knight. However we don't think Black should advantage. ] be too scared. f6 8.exf6 ( 8.h4 fxe5 Perunovic continues to follow the 9.fxe5 dxe5 10.f3 a5 11.dxe5 xe5 9.0-0-0 811

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 computer's top line. Now the positions become very double-edged, as is typical of castling on opposite flanks. [ 9.e5 has been tried a couple of times here too but f6 again looks a good antidote. ] 9...b8 [ P r e v i o u s l y 9...f6 has also been tried: 10.f5 ( 10.h3 is Rybka's suggestion although xf3 11.gxf3 b8 12.f5 fd7 looks rather messy.) 10...b4 11.e2 gxf5 12.exf5 d7 ( Perhaps it was better to defend the b4 pawn with something like 12...fd5 although 13.h3 xf3 14.gxf3 looks risky with Black's king stuck in the centre. ) 13.g3 ( It looked possible to grab the pawn with 13.xb4 ) 13...h6 14.xf6 xf6 15.e4 d5 16.xf6+ xf6 17.xb4 xf5 18.xf5 xf5 19.he1 and only White had an initiative. Plaskett, J (2470)-Tkachiev, V (2455) London 1993. ] 10.e5 This is the most principled approach. Now ...f6 is too risky with a rook coming to e1 immediately. [ It was possible to prevent the knight jumping into c4 with 10.b3 but that leaves Black enough time to complete his kingside development with f6 ] 10...d5 [ 10...c4 is another approach but then W hite could open up the centre: 11.xc4 bxc4 12.exd6 xd6 13.e4 d5 14.he1 f6 15.h4 f7 16.e2! With an advantage. White's point is that h6 can be met with 17.e3 so that knight can't come to h6. ] 11.hf1 [ The only other time this position was reached W hite tried the immediate 11.f5 w o u l d l o o k s r a t h e r c r i t i c a l : gxf5 when instead of 12.df1 in Rojo Huerta, G (2355) -Iruzubieta Villaluenga, J (2410) O r o p e s a d e l M a r 1 9 9 6 ( 12.b3! keeping control over the c4 square looks to favour W hite.) 12...c4 looks to be ok for Black. ] 11...b4 [ 11...c4 12.xc4 bxc4 13.a4 looks easier for White as his control of the dark squares on the queenside prevents Black's counterplay. ] 12.e2?! This lets White's advantage slip. [ Instead 12.b1 was better, keeping the e2

square free when c4 13.e2 looks better for White. ] 12...c4 13.xc4 dxc4 14.d5 From a human perspective this move looks pretty forced as otherwise Black continues with ...Qd5 with control of the light squares. c3! 15.d4 [ Taking the pawn looks pretty scary: 15.bxc3 a5 16.d3 a3+ 17.d2 cxd5 White could try running with the king with 18.e3 but one would rather be playing Black. ] [ 15.d3 would prevent the game continuation but perhaps Black's alternative i s b e t t e r a n y w a y . a5?! ( 15...cxb2+ 16.b1 cxd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 h6 looks roughly level.) 16.dxc6! xa2 17.bxc3 b3 18.c7 is winning for White. The difference between this and the game is that c2 is now protected. ] 15...a5 [ 15...cxd5 16.xd5 cxb2+ 17.b1 transposes to the previous note. ] 16.c4 [ 16.b1 c5 17.c4 cxb2 transposes ] 16...c5 17.b1 [ 17.bxc3!? m i g h t b e p o s s i b l e b u t f6 looks to be in Black's favour. ] 17...cxb2 Black prevents White from manoeuvring his knight around to b3 via c1. 18.g3 [ At some point White should try breaking t h r o u g h i n t h e c e n t r e w i t h 18.d6!? Here the game might continue: e6 19.d5 h6 20.h4 exd6 21.exd6 f6 22.xf6 xf6 23.ed4 with a crazy position! One p o ssib le lin e co n t in u e s: ( or 23.f5!? ) 23...xd4 24.xd4 xd5 25.xd5 0-0 26.c6 a6 27.d1 b6 28.e7+ g7 29.e5+ h7 30.xg6 fxg6 31.e7+ g8 32.e6+ g7 33.e5+ with a draw. ] 18...h6 [ 18...c8!? is another interesting alternative but W hite is better after 19.d6 ( Again 19.f5!? looks dangerous.) 19...e6 20.d5 b5 21.xb5+ xb5 22.d2 ] 19.e4?! This looks to be an error. [ Again 19.d6!? loo ks da ngero us : e6 20.d5 exd6 21.d4! with a powerful initiative. ] [ While 19.f5! is perhaps strongest. A fairly 812

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 forcing line continues: b3 20.cxb3 b4 21.d2! xc4 22.xa5 c1+ 23.xc1 bxc1+ 24.xc1 xf5 25.xc5 with good winning chances in the ending. ] 19...f5 20.d6 e3 21.xc5 xc5 22.xc5 exd6 [ 22...xd1 also looks likely to draw after some crazy complications: 23.xd1 exd6 24.exd6 f6 25.e1+ f8 26.h3! c8 27.hxg4 xc5 28.d4 d5 29.e6+ f7 30.xg7 fxg5 31.e7+ f6 32.fxg5+ xg5 33.e6+ xg4 34.d7 f5 35.d8 hxd8 36.xd8 xd8 37.xh7= ] 23.fe1 dxc5 [ Now it's too late to take the exchange: 23...xd1? 24.exd6+ f8 25.e7+ g8 26.xd1 when the d6 pawn will net at least the exchange. ] [ 23...xc2!? is interesting but not very sound: 24.exd6+ xe1 25.xe1+ f8 26.e7+ g8 27.e5 and again the d p a wn is m o re im p o rt a n t t h a n t h e e xt r a exchange. ] 24.xe3 0-0 25.e7 fc8 26.h3 xf3 An interesting game. White could have kept the advantage with 12.Nb1 when Black's opening would have failed to equalise. ½-½

801 Polgar,Judit Shirov,Alexei Amsterdam [Alexander Volzhin]

B06 2635 2695 1995

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.c4 d6 5.f3 e6 6.ge2 b5 The main line. 7.b3 [ 7.d3 i s w e a k e r a s i t a l l o w s e5! with good prospects for Black, for example: 8.e3 f6 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.d1 bd7 11.c1 0-0 12.b3 c7 13.h3 a6! (intending ...c5-c4) 14.c5 xc5 15.xc5 d8 16.0-0 d7 17.e3 f8! Aiming for the d4 square. Black is already slightly better. 18.e2 e6 19.c3 b7 20.c2 c5 21.g3 xd1 22.xd1 d8 23.xd8+ xd8 24.f3 f6 25.e1 g5 1/2,Liss Kanstler, Rishon le Zion, 1994 ] 7...a5 8.a3 [ 8.a4?! is weaker because White's Knight is

driven back into a passive position. The game Geenen - Zilberman, Manila(ol), 1992 co nt in ue d : b4 9.d1 a6 10.e3 d5 11.exd5 cxd5 12.c4 e7 13.cxd5 xd5 14.c1 0-0 15.xd5 exd5 16.b3 e8 17.0-0 d7 18.e1 f6 19.b2 e4 20.f4 a7 21.fd3 ae7 , and Black is clearly better. ] 8...a6 9.d5! The correct approach: White counters flank activity by action in the centre. cxd5 [ 9...b4?! is insuf f icient : 10.dxe6! fxe6 11.d1 d5 12.f4 e7 13.h3 and Black's seemingly strong central pawns are in fact very good targets ] [ 9...exd5!? deserves certain attention. Black's ideas here are similar to those Nunn Shirov: 10.exd5 c5 11.0-0 ( 11.a4 is hardly good: b4 12.b5 xb5 13.axb5 f6 14.c4 0-0 15.0-0 bd7 intending ... Nb6, ...a4, with good prospects.) 11...f6 12.g5 h6 13.h4 g5 14.g3 0-0 15.a4 b4 16.b5 e8 17.c3 f5 18.h4 f4 19.h2 Now White's Bishop is out of play. d7 20.hxg5 hxg5 21.h5 f6 22.h3 e5 23.e6+ h8 24.xf6 xf6 25.fd1 b8 and Black is clearly better. ] 10.exd5 e5 Black has a nice pawn structure in the center and if he manages to complete his development he'll be better. So W hite should play very aggressively. 11.e4! c7?! After this seemingly natural move Black's position is barely defensible. [ O f c o u r s e , 11...f5? is bad in view of 12.g5 ] 12.c4! bxc4 [ 12...e7 is insufficient in view of 13.c5! ] [ and 12...d7 13.2c3 bxc4 14.a4 leads to the same position as in the game. ] 13.a4+ d7 [ 13...e7 14.2c3 ] 14.2c3 e7? Black wants to play ...Ngf6, completing development, but this move allows brilliant combination which leads to a forced win for White. [ Both 14...f5 15.g5 ] [ and 14...e7 15.f6+ xf6 16.xf6 are very bad for Black ] [ To avoid an immediate loss Black should try either 14...h6 15.b5 xb5 16.xb5 f5 17.d2 gf6 18.c6 ] 813

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ or 14...f8 15.c6 b8 16.a4! (intending 17 Nb5 Bxb5 18 axb5!), although in both lines White's advantage is beyond any doubt. ] 15.xd6!! After this blow Black's position crumbles to dust. xd6 [ 15...xd6? leads to a spectacular mate in the centre of the board: 16.e4+ xd5 ( 16...e7 17.d6+ ) 17.xf7+ xe4 18.c2+ d4 19.e3#! ] 16.e4 xd5 [ 16...b8 loses on the spot: 17.d6+ e8 18.xd7+ ] 17.g5+ df6 [ 17...f6 18.d1 xd1+ 19.xd1 ] 18.d1 b7 [ 18...e6 is no better: 19.d6! ( 19.d7+ f8 is not so clear.) 19...f5 20.d7+! f8 21.d6 winning material: xd7 ( 21...xf3 22.xf7#; 21...b1+ 22.d1 e7 23.xf6 ) 22.xa8+ e7 23.xd7 ] 19.d7+ xd7 20.xd7 h6? [ 20...b7 was more stubborn as White has to find a rather difficult solution: 21.a4! h6 22.b5! hxg5 23.a3+ d8 24.d6+ c8 25.c5 with a quick mate. ] 21.d1! [ In view of unavoidable mate after 21.d1 hxg5 22.d6+ d8 23.b5+ Black resigned. An excellent attack! ] 1-0

802 Raetsky,Alexander Sakaev,Konstantin St . Petersburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B06 2453 2649 1999

If Black plays the Modern defence without an early ...Ng8-f6, he has an additional possibility in the Fianchetto system. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.g3 c6!? This provocative move seems risky, but modern practice proves it to be viable. 5.d5 d4 6.b1 White has tried several different continuations here, but none of them promise anything special, for example: [ 6.e3 c5 7.d2 ( 7.dxc6 xc6 8.g2 f6 9.h3 0-0 10.ge2 is very similar to Djurhuus-Volzhin, considered elsewhere.)

7...d7 8.g2 b5 9.d1 b4 10.c4 bxc3 11.bxc3 b5 12.e2 a3! with excellent prospects for Black, as in SchneiderWedberg, Sweden 1976 ] [ 6.g2 c5 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.ge2 g4 9.d3 xe2 10.xe2 b8 11.0-0 c8 12.b1 f6 and Black's chances were by no means worse in SveshnikovAzmaiparashvili, USSR 1983. ] 6...c6 7.c3 b5 8.g2 cxd5 9.exd5 c7 Although this is already the fourth move of the Black Knight, W hite has no advantage in development at all. 10.e2 f6 11.0-0 0-0 12.c4 b5! Now we can conclude that Black has managed to solve his opening problems successfully. 13.cxb5 xb5 14.a4 c7 15.bc3 [ 15.d4? i s j u s t b a d : cxd5! 16.xd5 xd5 17.c6 c7 18.xd5 b7 19.xe7+ xe7 with a huge edge. ] 15...b7 16.b1 Preparing the advance of t h e b - p a wn . d7 17.b4 e6 18.dxe6?! A f t e r t h is i n a ccu ra cy B la ck o u t p la ys h i s opponent very convincingly, and I have failed to find a real improvement for White later in the game. [ 18.f4 i s b e t t e r : e5 ( 18...fxd5 19.cxd5 xd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.xd5 exd5 22.b5 is better for White.) 19.fe2 h5 20.b5 f5 21.a3 with a very complicated position. ] 18...xe6 19.xb7 xb7 20.f4 [ Too dangerous is 20.xd6?! fd8 21.e5 ac8 ] 20...d5! 21.f3 [ 21.cxd5 ad8 22.xf6+ xf6 23.g4 d4! and Black's threats are very dangerous. ] 21...ad8 22.d1 e4! 23.ce2 [ 23.cxd5? xf4 24.xf4 xd1+ 25.xd1 c3 ] 23...fe8 24.e3 xf4 25.xf4 d4! 26.b5 d5 27.b3 c4! 28.bd3 c5 29.3d2 d3 30.c1 c3 31.xd3 xd3 32.xd3 xd3 33.xd3 [ 33.xd3 e1+ 34.g2 xd3 35.xd3 a1 is also lost for White. ] 33...xa4 The rest needs no commentary. 34.d5 e4 35.d7 e7 36.d5 d8 37.c4 f6 38.b4 d4 39.c8+ g7

814

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 40.c6 d1+ 41.g2 e4+ 42.h3 d5! 0-1

803 Ramaswamy,Aarthie Georgiev,Kiril Gibtelecom Masters (3) [John Watson]

B06 2224 2661 25.01.2007

A Tiger System ...a6 potpourri. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 With the 4 Be3 lines (and associated 150 Attacks) having become so popular, this is arguably the main line of Tiger's Modern Complex. Black's plan is to continue with ...b5, ...Bb7, ...Nd7, and ...c5 in some order, but of course his position is flexible enough to adapt to various plans of W hite's. Flexibility, however, doesn't not guarantee success. 5.d2 'By far the most common', but he say that the most aggressive move is 5 f4, whereas 5 Nf3 is important and dangerous. b5 [ The other Tiger-ish order is 5...d7 6.h4! ( 6.f3 b5 ) 6...h5 , when 'the most important' 5 Qd2 line goes 7.h3 b5 8.g5 b7 9.0-0-0! , when gf6? 10.f3? ( The most instructive and typical move, so it's good to see in spite of Hillarp Persson's inaccurate move order. In a later rapid game, Berg f oun d 10.e5! dxe5 11.dxe5 xe5 12.xd8+ xd8 13.xd8+ xd8 14.f4 ) 10...0-0 11.f2 b4 12.e2 c5! 13.dxc5 a5 14.b1 dxc5 ( 14...xc5! is obvious, but good: 15.xc5 dxc5 with dangerous attacking chances and the better endgame if n e e d b e , b a s e d u p o n t h e b i s h o p p a i r) 15.g4!? ( 15.c1; 15.f4!? with ideas such as Bc4, Qg3, and some knight sacrifice or other ) 15...e5 16.f4 fd8 ( 16...exg4 17.fxg4 xg4 18.f3 xb2! 19.c4! is one possibility) 17.c1 c4 ( 17...hxg4! ) 18.gxh5 c3 19.hxg6 ( 19.b6! d2 20.e3 ) 19...cxb2 20.gxf7+ xf7 E Berg-Hillarp Persson, Umea 2003, and here instead of 21 Re1, Berg blundered by 21.ge6?? b3 ( 21...xe4! ) 22.cxb3 bxc1+ 23.xc1 xe4 0-1. ] 6.d3 d7 7.ce2!? As far as I know this is new, and it looks rather passive. White wants to shore up his centre with c3, so Black has to

take action against the centre by other means. [ The other Tiger games I have with this basic idea went 7.f3 b7 8.a4 b4 9.e2 c5 10.c3 gf6 A) 11.h6!? was speculative but interesting after bxc3 12.bxc3 xh6 ( 12...xe4! 13.b2!? xh6 14.xb7 ef6 ) 13.xh6 cxd4 14.cxd4 xe4 15.xe4 xe4 16.0-0 e6! 17.g3 ef6 ( 17...df6 ) 18.fe1 e7 19.ac1! f8 20.g5 h6 21.a5 e7 22.c6 0-0 23.xa6 xa6 24.xa6 b8 and White's a-pawn may give him a slight edge, P Ca rlsson -Hillarp Pe rsso n, S to c kh o lm 1999; B) 11.g3 h5 12.g5 d5?! 13.e5 e4 14.f4 bxc3 15.bxc3 cxd4 16.cxd4 ( 16.e6 ) 16...a5+ 17.e2 f5 18.xe7!? h4 19.xh4 f8 20.xf5 ( 20.c1! ) 20...gxf5 21.hb1 c8 22.xe4? dxe4 23.g5 d5 24.e6 c4+ 25.e1 xd4 0-1 Von Bahr-Hillarp Persson, Sweden 2003. ] 7...c5 8.c3 b7 9.g3 gf6 Pretty much standard stuff. I think that it is about equal. 10.h3 To what point? h5! 11.d5 c4!? [ 11...e5! is straightforward and good. ] 12.c2 c5 Threatening ...h4. 13.f3 c7 14.1e2 e5!? A daring and probably foolhardy move. [ 14...h4 15.f1 a5 is another thought. ] 15.b4 White stands perfectly well after this, but [ 15.dxe6! w i t h t h e i d e a fxe6 ( better 15...xe6 16.d4 , when d5 17.xe6 fxe6 18.e5! is good. ) 16.f4! would call Black's bluff, even after h4 17.e5! hxg3 18.xg6+ and exf6. ] 15...cxb3 16.axb3 0-0 17.h6 cd7 18.0-0 fe8 and now the rating-shock move... 19.f4?? , and resigns. A sad finish. Instead, [ 19.f5 h8 20.h4 with the idea f4 was a good plan, or ] [ 19.b4 , stop ...Nc5, although that wasn't an immediate threat due to Bxg7 and Nf5+! . ] 0-1

815

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 M/Sunningdale ENG 2008. ] B06 Roberts,Danny 2047 5.bxc3 f6 Black has a marvellous position Storey,Charles 2292 apart from the fact that his bishop is missing London Classic FIDE Open (6) 12.12.2009 from g7. But in Modern/ Dragon positions the bishop is such a vital piece its absence alone [Neil McDonald] can be enough to condemn an otherwise promising opening system. 6.d3?! 1.e4 g6 [ More energetic was 6.e5 e4 7.c4! [ A Sicilian move order is 1...c5 2.c3 g6 A challenging move as besides the 3.f3 g7 4.d4 ] immediate threat of 8.Qd5, Black's natural 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c5!? An opening favoured development with b7-b6 will often fail to by the inventive Canadian IM Lawrence Day. Qd5. xc5 4.dxc5 A) Or 8.f3 e6 9.xe6 dxe6 10.e2 [ Instead 4.f3 is perfectly reasonable and c6 11.f4 d5 12.e3 b6 13.0-0 a6 will almost certainly transpose to a Sicilian ( Why not 13...b7 immediately?) 14.fd1 Main lin e. Howe ver, no t e very playe r o f c4 15.d4 0-0 16.g5 b7 17.f3 c5 White will be happy about it- there are an 18.xc6 xe3+ 19.xe3 xc6 awful lot of 2.c3 or 3.Bb5 players out there Black look OK here but was outplayed in who would be horrified at being tricked into the endgame in Stripunsky, A-Day, L/ a Sicilian Mainline. ] Toronto 2000.; [ A positional approach is to seize space with B) 8.f3 c7 ( More counter attacking 4.d5!? for example d6 5.f3 f6 6.b5+ was 8...a5 9.0-0 c6 when 10.d5? Black's natural plan is to try to advance on fails to e6 ) 9.0-0 e6 10.e2 b6 the queenside with b7-b5 therefore W hite 11.d4 c6 12.b5 b8 13.f4 does his best to prevent it or at least make And White had the initiative in Sadvakasov, it less effective. d7 ( Or 6...bd7!? ) 7.a4 D-Dougherty, M/Philadelphia 2006. ] 0-0 8.h3 a6 9.0-0 c7 10.c4 a6 11.a5! b5 12.d3 xc3 13.bxc3 b5 6...a5 7.d2 xc5 8.f3 d6 9.b1 with a complex battle on the queenside in bd7 It's easy to see that Black has achieved a more secure development here than after Llanes Hurtado, M-Eljanov, P/Lugo 2006. ] 4...xc3+!? Storey decides to eliminate the the alternative 6.e5 given above. Roberts is white knight before it can do any damage. It is unable to find a plan to exploit his unopposed easy to sympathise with this decision when d a rk squ a re d b ish o p a n d so o n f a lls in t o trouble. 10.b5? He should simply castle. you see the problems Black has after c7 11.c4 c5 12.f4 d7 13.b1 c6 [ 4...a5 5.d2 xc5 6.d5! A) Black has a quick disaster after White's foray with his rook along the b-file has 6...d6?? 7.b4 d4 ( If 7...c6 8.b5! ) allowed his opponent to build up pressure 8.xd4 xd4 9.c7+ d7 10.xa8 against the e4 pawn. 14.0-0? [ White has little to show for the pawn after c6 11.0-0-0 f6 12.f3 xe4 14.e5 dxe5 15.xe5 ( Or 15.xe5 xg2 13.xd4 xd4 14.xd4 e5 15.b5+ 16.g1 e4 ) 15...xe5+ 16.xe5 xg2 e7 16.e1 f5 17.f3 c5 18.xc5 dxc5 17.g1 h3 ] 19.b3 1-0 Jones, G-Vincenzi, M/Pula [ But it wasn't too late to defend the e4 pawn CRO 2007.; indirectly with 14.b2 or directly with ] B) 6...a6 7.xa6 bxa6 8.b4 c6 [ 14.d2 ] 9.f3 d6 10.0-0 f6 Black can't c o m p l e t e h i s d e v e l o p m e n t w i t h o u t 14...fxe4 15.e1 e5 The black pawns now f5 17.d4 conceding a structural weakness. 11.c3 st o r m t h e c e n t r e . 16.h4 e6 12.e1 xd5 13.exd5 b7 14.e2 A despairing effort to complicate matters that 18.f3 0-0 0-0 15.xe7 xe7 16.xe7 xd5 leads to a quick defeat. exd4 17.xg7 xe7 18.xf8 xf8 19.d1 19.fxe4 fxe4 20.h6 d8! [ Not falling under an attack after 20...exd3? Black managed to draw this but it looked 21.e7! ] pretty horrible for Black in Trent, L-Turner, 804

816

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.g5 a5 22.f6 c3 23.e3 [ Also hopeless for W hite is 23.f1 24.bd1 e6 intending 25... Rae8. ] 23...xf6 24.xf6 f8 0-1

805 Rublevsky,S Kamsky,G 29th ECC Open 2013 (5.1) [Tom Rendle]

f7

B06 2695 2725 24.10.2013

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5 d7 [ after 4...h6 Rublevsky would probably have still retreated the bishop back to e3 here w h e n a f t e r 5.e3 f6 6.h3 ( 6.f3 is more usual) 6...bd7 7.g4!? White won a nice game in Vallejo Pons-Maiwald which I annotated last year. ] 5.f3 h6 6.e3 Rublevsky's idea is that by provoking ...h6 it's harder for Black to castle kingside as after Qd2 the pawn on h6 will be vulnerable. Kamsky switches from a Modern setup to a Hippopotamus by playing ...e6 and playing the knight on e7. e6 7.d2 a6 8.d3 b6 [ 8...e7 is very similar but now in Lastin, A (2632) -Milov, V (2574) Istanbul 2003 White choose to castle kingside rather than into an attack with ...b5 but after 9.0-0 b6 10.e2 ( 10.d5!? is perhaps more testing when Black should try c5 11.dxe6 fxe6 with only a slight edge for White) 10...b7 11.c4 f6 12.c2 c5 13.d5 exd5 14.exd5 0-0 15.h3 b5! Black had reached a satisfactory middlegame position. ] [ 8...b5 may seem more aggressive but it allows White the option of 9.a4 b4 10.e2 a5 11.c3 and I prefer White. ] 9.0-0-0 e7 10.he1 [ 10.h4! would be my choice here, trying to provoke a weakness on the kingside. Black h a s a c o u p l e o f o p t i o n s h e r e : b5! se e m s b e s t an d n o w ( 10...h5 11.g5! and the knight is basically on an outpost on g5 as Black never really wants to play ...f6 because it's so weakening to e6 and g6.) 11.f4 b7 12.b1 reaches a very tense middlegame position. Perhaps Black is OK here after b4 13.e2 a5 ]

10...b7 White is perfectly centralised but the qu e s t i o n is h o w t o im p r o ve t h e p o s i t i o n further? If given time then Black will counterattack with ...b5 and perhaps ...c5 as w e l l w i t h a g o o d g a m e . 11.d5!? Sergei decides it's time for action in the centre but Black seems to have a number of reasonable options here e5 I'm not sure I like this as much as 11...b5 - Kamsky gets very close to equalising but in quite a blocked position Rublevsky manages to out manoeuvre him and gain the upper hand. [ 11...b5! is risky because it allows White to open things up a little but Black should be OK after 12.dxe6 ( 12.a3 is probably an improvement but W hite has to be careful moving a pawn so near his king as Black can potentially use it as a lever to open up t h e qu e e n si d e wi t h . . . b 4 la t e r o n . exd5 13.exd5 b6 14.d4 0-0 15.xg7 xg7 and chances are finely balanced.) 12...fxe6 13.b1 c6 ] [ 11...c5 might also be playable here although perhaps W hite can reach a favourable middlegame with 12.xc5! bxc5 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.e5! d5 15.a4 c4 16.c5! and Black has to go on the defensive ] 12.g4 c5 13.e2 d7 14.g1 g8?! [ it's possible that 14...0-0-0! 15.b1 b8 wa s m o re a ccu ra t e . No w if W h it e t rie s 16.e1 Black is ready to respond with g5! and ...Ng6-f4 ] 15.e1! An excellent multi-purpose move. White is bringing the knight to d3 to exchange Black's strong knight on c5 whilst also getting ready to play f3 and solidifying his centre. f6 16.f3 e7 17.b1 b5 18.d3 xd3 19.cxd3!? An interesting decision, choosing to aim for pressure down the c-file [ 19.xd3 looks more natural though and I believe W hite should be better here as Black has no obvious place for his king. ] 19...c6 [ 19...h5! seems a better try here, resolving the situation on the kingside so Black can finally castle. After 20.g5 d7 21.c1 0-0 White is only a little better although he can increase the pressure on the c-f ile with 22.c2 and Rgc1 ] 20.dxc6 xc6 21.d4 exd4 After this White 817

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is definitely better with Black's isolated pawn on d6 an obvious target for White's pressure. [ 21...0-0?! is a tricky pawn sacrifice but it doesn't seem to work after 22.xh6 xh6 23.xh6 b4 24.g3! h7 ( 24...bxc3 25.h3 ) 25.h3 f6 26.c4+ h8 27.d5 an d W h it e is a p awn u p with a win nin g position. ] 22.xd4 d8 23.b6 b7 24.d2 xb6 25.xb6 d7 26.gd1 e7 27.a5! Very logical play from Rublevsky, bringing every possible piece to attack the pawn on d6. Kamsky is forced into passive defence but he just about manages to hold on a8 28.b4 e8 29.d5+ xd5 30.xd5 a5 31.e1?! This allows Black to bring the bishop to e5 in a couple of moves after which he should be holding the draw. [ 31.c5! keeps up the pressure. After b7 32.e3 b4 33.f4 Black is horribly passive. ] 31...c7 32.5d2 [ 32.xb5 fails to xd5! 33.xd7 e3 34.d3 g2 35.c3 f4 36.c6 c8 37.e3 and Black can force a draw with g2 38.d3 f4 39.e3 g2 ] 32...e5! 33.g3 xg3 34.hxg3 b4 White still has a slight edge now but with only one weakness to defend Black should be holding a draw here - but wait, this game is just getting started!! 35.c4 ad8 36.c2 a8 37.e5!? White might as well try the Bishop vs Knight ending. dxe5 38.xd7+ xd7 39.xd7+ xd7 40.xf7 g5 This ending should be a draw but the bishop is slightly the better piece in these endings with pawns on both sides because it covers long distances so much faster than the knight. 41.d3 b6 42.e4 a4 [ 42...d6! seems the right way to defend, e. g. 43.b3 a4 44.f7 a3 45.bxa3 bxa3 46.f5 a4 47.g6 c3 48.xh6 e4! 49.fxe4 xe4 50.g6 e5 and White cannot make progress here ] 43.b3 c3+ 44.xe5 e7 45.c4 xa2 46.f5 c3 47.g6 b1 48.f4 d2 49.d5! The bishop prevents the knight from getting back to e4 d6 50.f7 e7?! After this White seems to suddenly be winning [ 50...gxf4 was needed to get rid of the pawn on g5 51.gxf4 e7 was necessary and now after 52.f5 e4 53.c4 f6 54.xh6

xg4+ 55.g5 f6 Black is holding the draw still ] 51.f5 e4 52.c4 d6 [ 52...f6? now loses to 53.xh6 xg4+ 54.xg5 ] 53.f6+ f8 54.d5! e8 55.g2?! [ 55.e6! c7 56.c4 e8 57.d3 p u t s B l a c k i n t o z u g z w a n g s o n o w c7 58.xh6 is winning ] 55...d6 56.xh6?! This comes very close to winning but Kamsky manages to scramble a draw [ 56.d5! e8 57.e6 transposes to 55. Be6 ] 56...a4 57.bxa4 b3 58.d5 b2 59.a2 e4 60.b1 c3 61.c2 xa4 62.xg5 c3 63.f5 b1 64.xb1 xb1 A very unusual ending has been reached where White is very close to winning with the 3 pawns and the knight on b1 is a long way away but amazingly enough it seems there is no way for White to win here. 65.g5 d2 66.g6 f3 67.g4 g8 68.f4 d4 69.g5 e6+ 70.h6 g7! 71.g5 e6+ 72.h5 f4+ 73.h6 e6 74.h5 f4+ 75.g5 e6+ 76.f5 d4+ 77.e4 e6 78.e5 g5 79.d6 f8 80.d5 f3 81.e6 h4 82.g7+ g8 83.e7 g6+ 84.e6 h4 85.e7 g6+ 86.e8 e5 87.g5 g6 88.d7 e5+ 89.e6 g6 90.f5 h4+ 91.e5 g6+ 92.e6 f4+ 93.d6 h3 And finally White accepts there is no way to win 94.g6 f4 95.e5 xg6+ 96.f5 h4+ A fantastic fighting game from both players. ½-½

806 Rublevsky,Sergei D'Amore,Carlo Olympiad, 2000 [Paul Motwani]

B06

2000

2) W 26:"Russian in a rush to win!" S. Rublevsky-C.D'Amore, Istanbul Olympiad, Turkey 2000. Modern Defence, Code B06. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5 a6 5.f3 d7 6.a4 b6 7.c4 If White's other bishop were still on c1 instead of g5, then a big threat would be 8 Bxf7+ because of 8... 818

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Kxf7 9 Ng5+ Ke8 10 Ne6 or 9...Kf6 10 Nd5. However, even in the current game, things could happen to Black's f rail f -pawn... h6 8.h4 g5? Practically asking for trouble, and White is quick to dish it out! 9.xg5! hxg5 10.xf7+! xf7 [ 10...f8 11.xg5 ( or first 11.d5 is also horrible for Black. )] 11.xg5+ f6 If the king retreats, then 12 N e 6 w i n s B l a c k ' s q u e e n . 12.g4 With a multitude of threats including 13 Qf5 or 13 Nd5+. e5 13.d5+ g6 14.f4+ f6 15.dxe5+ dxe5 16.h7+! IM Carlo D'Amore resigned facing the unavoidable 17 Qg6. 1-0

807 San Marco,Jean Sokolov,Andrei ch Paris (1) [Gary Lane]

B06 2135 2540 1999

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 5.f3 g7 6.e2 [ 6.e3 transposes to the normal lines but does have the benef it of a sneaky trick against those who are careless. For example: cxd4 7.cxd4 h6 ( 7...f6 8.c3 a5 ) 8.c1! is the amazing move which wins a piece by targeting c8 and h6. I have seen a few games where Black has p r o m p t l y r e s i g n e d a f t e r j u s t 8 m o ve s . Perhaps even more remarkable are the four games played at international level, where White oblivious to the opportunity played 8 Nc3. ] 6...h6 [ 6...f6 is the standard move but the grandmaster chooses a different continuation. Black wishes to add pressure on to th e d 4 p a wn b y m an o eu vrin g t h e knight to f5 while keeping open the a1-h8 diagonal. ] 7.0-0 f5 8.a3 San Marco decides to fall ba c k o n a f a m ilia r p lan o f h a rassing t h e queen with Bc4. That ploy is more effective when a move has not already been wasted on playing Be2. 0-0 9.c4 c6 [ 9...d8 10.dxc5 c6 11.e2 ] 10.b3 d7 11.f4 cxd4 It seems that

White will be rewarded with decent play after the exchanges on d4. The only thing is that Black ha s se en f urth er. 12.cxd4 xd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.h6 c5! The accurate response to take away the pressure against f7. [ 14...g7 is also possible and after 15.xg7 xg7 16.ac1 White is struggling to justify his pawn sacrifice. ] 15.b4 d8 16.ac1 b6 17.b5 e4 18.h1 [ 18.ce1? looks tempting but leads to a red face after xf2+ 19.xf2 xb4 when the white queen has left the board. ] 18...b7 Black is clearly on top. His pair of bishops are exerting considerable pressure on the white position with the latest threat being checkmate in one. 19.f3 h4 20.cd1 a5 [ 20...xh6 21.xd4 releases the tension but Black still has the much brighter prospects. ] 21.d2 e6 22.g3 h5! 0-1

808 Sapozhnikov,R Nagle,S 2nd DC International 2014 (6) [Neil McDonald]

B06 2298 2412 28.06.2014

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.f3 d7 6.g4?! A natural pawn thrust, but here a poor decision. Black hasn't committed himself to Nf6, and so g4-g5 won't gain time by harassing the black knight. Therefore Black is able to use the pawn on g4 as a means to close lines on the kingside, which is undoubtedly in his favour. More flexible was [ 6.d2 for example b5 7.h4 h5 8.h3 when the white knight got to the strong g5 squa re in Ch ep a rino v-S aka ev- s ee t h e archives. ] 6...b5 7.h4?! He could still play [ 7.d2 ] 7...h5! Now White must either block the kingside or let his pawn front be broken up. 8.g5 A space advantage isn't a good thing if it blocks a player's initiative on the side of the board where he wants to attack. As a co n se qu e n ce o f h is p a wn m o ve s o n t h e 819

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 kingside, White no longer has the chance to play Ng5, putting his knight on a dominant square. Nor can he ever play Qd2 and Bh6 to exchange off Black's dark squared bishop as a prelude to an attack on his king. White has spent three moves putting his pawns on g5 and h4, but he'd be better off if they were still on g2 and h2. [ White would have got more play after 8.gxh5 xh5 9.d2 when at least there are open lines and he has stopped Black castling kingside. Still, Black has an active game after c5 ] 8...e6! The black knight will be comfortably deployed to e7. Black's hypermodern set up with a delayed Nf6 has worked brilliantly. 9.h3 White is unable to find a decent plan. The pawn structure suggests he should try to smash through Black's defences with an f4-f5 pawn advance. However, Black is ready to counterattack with c7-c5 once he completes his development, so W hite has no time to arrange the advance, and if he does achieve it his position is likely to fall to pieces before he can get at the well defended black king. In the game White embarks on a disastrous knight manoeuvre. [ I t wa s s t i ll b e s t t o d e ve lo p wi t h 9.d2 and 10.0-0-0. ] 9...e7 10.f2 b7 11.d3? Evidently this move is meant to hinder c7-c5, but as it can't be prevented in the long term White is wasting his energy and misplacing the knight trying to delay it. [ The right move was still 11.d2 ] 11...d5! Black is able to demolish White's centre with a couple of hammer blows. 12.f2 [ After 12.e5 c5 White is unable to stabilise the pawns on d4 and e5 as Nf5 is looming. ] [ Upon 12.exd5 f5 looks more precise t h a n t h e o b vi o u s r e c a p t u r e o n d 5 , f o r example 13.f2 ( Black has a big initiative after 13.e2 e7 14.dxe6 xe6 as d4, e3 and f3 are all hanging.) 13...e7 14.e2 xd4 etc. ] 12...c5! 13.exd5 [ If 13.dxc5 xc3+ ( 13...a5!? ) 14.bxc3 dxe4 15.fxe4 xe4 16.h3 0-0 wh e n t h e d e st r u c t i o n o f W h i t e ' s p a wn structure is of more significance than the exchange of Black's dark squared bishop.

White has no way to arrange an attack on the black king when his own monarch has no safe haven. ] 13...cxd4 14.dxe6 dxc3 15.exd7+ xd7 16.b3 d8 17.h3 c7 Positionally speaking White is lost. The black pieces are excellently placed to exploit the open lines in the centre and there is nowhere safe for the white king to hide. 18.0-0 0-0 19.e2 c6 20.ae1 White has managed to complete his development but his kingside is riddled with holes as a consequence of his rash pawn advances in the opening. d4 The pressure on f3 means that Black wins the bishop pair and a pawn. 21.xd4 g3+ 22.g2 xd4+ 23.h1 xh4 24.h2 fe8 25.g3 xg3+ 26.xg3 e3 Nagle puts his bishop on d2 in order to win control of the e-f ile. He also prepare a breakthrough involving Rxd3 and, after the recapture c2xd3, the pawn advance c3-c2. He is helped in this plan by the passive position of White's bishop on h3. 27.f4 d2 28.xe8+ xe8 Now White has to reckon with 29...Re3+ followed by 30... Rxd3 and after 31. cxd3 c2. 29.e5 e4 30.d7 xc2 Black can ignore the fork as the passed cpawn will cost White a piece. 31.f6+ f8 32.xe8 xe8 33.b4 f5 There's no way to stop the c-pawn. A triumph of hypermodern chess. 0-1

809 Schlosser,Philipp Seul,Georg Bundesliga 2007-8 (4) [John Watson]

B06 2579 2450 15.12.2007

Tiger's Modern is fun, but you have to know some exact move orders. Even then, a move like 6 e5 can be an uncomfortable surprise. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 a6 5.f3 d7 [ H i l l a r p - P e r s s o n ( T i g e r ) p r e f e r s 5...b5 , although generally players don't seem to notice the difference and the two moves transpose. ] 6.e5! [ Here Tiger likes 6.a4 wi t h t h e i d e a b6 7.c4! . 6 e5, as far as I know, is a new way 820

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to try to exploit Black's move order. ] 6...c5 The critical response, trying to decimate White's centre. Black might also consider [ (a) 6...h6 , when A) better 7.c4! 0-0 ( 7...c5 8.dxc5 xc5 9.0-0 ) 8.0-0 b6 9.b3 with the idea g4 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3; B) 7.h4!? c5 8.dxc5 xc5 9.h5 is easily met by f5 ] [ (b) 6...e6 is awfully passive: 7.d3 ( 7.h4!? h5 8.d3 ) 7...e7 8.0-0 b6 ( 8...d5 9.e2 c5 10.c3 ) 9.e4 d5 10.f2 c5 11.c3 c6 12.e3 ] 7.c4! Aiming at e6 and f7. [ Less effective is 7.dxc5 xc5 8.e3 f5 ] 7...cxd4 [ 7...b6? 8.xf7+! xf7 9.dxc5 d7? 10.g5+ e8 11.e6 a5 12.xg7+ f7 13.e6! ] [ 7...h6 8.dxc5 is the previous note ] [ 7...b5? 8.xf7+ xf7 9.g5+ e8 10.e6 a5 11.xg7+ f7 12.h5 gxh5 13.xh5+ g7 14.e6 ] 8.g5 White is nearly winning already. h6 [ 8...b6 9.xf7+ f8 10.xd4 f5 11.e3 c8 12.xg8 xg8 13.d5+ ] 9.xf7+! xf7 10.e6 a5 11.xg7+ f8 12.e6+ g8 13.xd4?! [ 13.xd4! gives a decisive advantage: dxe5? ( 13...f8 14.xf8 dxe5 15.fxe5 xf8 16.0-0 e6 17.e3 d8 18.h4; 13...b8 14.c4 xe6 15.xe6 c6 16.e3 ) 14.d5! xd5 15.xd5 (threatening Nxe7) h6 ( 15...d6 16.0-0 e4 17.ec7 b8 18.e3 ) 16.0-0 h7 17.xe7 e4 18.e3 ] 13...dxe5 14.b3 b4? Nevertheless, White is clearly on top after [ 14...b6 15.e2 ] 15.0-0 e4 To prevent the opening of the f-file, but this costs even more time. [ W h i t e i s c l e a r l y b e t t e r a f t e r 15...b6+ 16.h1 g7 17.e2 ] 16.e3 d6 17.xe4! xd1 18.axd1 f6 19.f2!? f5 20.c3 d6 21.d4 f7 22.c5 hc8 23.cd3 h5 24.h3 b5 25.e5+ e8 26.fe1 h4 [ 26...fe4 27.g4 hxg4 28.hxg4 xf2 29.xf2 with Bh4 to follow. ] 27.xg6! 1-0

810 Sebag,Marie Kosteniuk,Alexandra Eu Womens Ch (6.9) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2404 2469 26.03.2004

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e3 a6 5.f3 b5 6.a4 An immediate challenge to the black set-up which is only briefly mentioned in Hillarp-Persson's excellent recent book on the Modern. His comment: When White refrains from 5 Qd2 there is no reason to play ...Nd7 before ...b5 since after5 Nf3 b5 6 a4 b4 7 Ne2 the b4 pawn is not under threat and Black has time to play ... Nd7. b4 7.e2 [ 7.d5 must also be given close consideration with a5 8.d3 d7 ( 8...c6 9.f4 d7 10.0-0 e5 11.e2 gf6 12.d2 0-0 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.c3 ) 9.0-0 b7 looking reasonable for Black, who plans ....Ngf6. ] 7...b7 8.g3 d7 9.d2 c5! When Black plays with an early ...a7-a6 he or she must try t o g o . . . c 7 - c 5 wi t h o n e t h r u s t wh e r e v e r possible. 10.d3 gf6 11.h3 d5!? Pretty unusual. Black would normally castle. But I don't think that 11, . . ..d5 is a bad move at all and takes advantage of the lack of cover on e4. 12.e5 [ 12.exd5 xd5 13.h6 xh6 14.xh6 5f6! is excellent for black, who plans either ...Bxf3 or ...Qc7 ] 12...e4 13.xe4 dxe4 14.g5 cxd4 [ But here 14...h6! seems more accurate: 15.5xe4 cxd4 16.xd4 ( 16.xd4 xe5= ) 16...xe5 17.xb4 xe4 18.xe5 ( 18.xe4?? c6 ) 18...xe5 19.xe4 c7!= ] 15.e6! Leading to complications with a crowded centre. [ 15.xd4 xe5 16.xb4 d5 gives Black no difficulty. ] 15...f5 [ 15...c5!? ] 16.xb4 e5 17.f4? Losing her way [ 17.xd4 appears good for White: A) 17...xd4 18.xd4 d3+ ( 18...f3+ 19.xf3 xd4 20.xd4+- ) 19.cxd3 xd4 20.dxe4 c8 21.e2! f6 22.f7; B) 17...c6 18.xb7 xd4 19.0-0 ] 17...d5 18.xe5 xe5 19.f7 xg3 821

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.fxg3 [ 20.xh8?? is suicidal: xf2+! 21.xf2 e3+ 22.e1 xg2 23.f1 f3 24.xf3 xf3 Black's recently inherited massive centre does the trick. ] 20...f8 21.0-0-0 d3! The action will take plac e whilst th e W hite Kn igh t is re m ot e . 22.cxd3 exd3 23.he1 c8+ 24.b1 c4 25.b6 xf7!? A typically pugnacious solution from Kosteniuk who is always looking for active and aggressive moves. [ Yet 25...d2! may be even stronger: 26.e3 ( 26.e2 d3+ 27.a1 xa4# ) 26...f4 27.c3 e4+ 28.a1 xa4+ 29.a3 d4! 30.xd4 xd4 31.b3 a4+ 32.a3 e4 Naturally such a variation is dif f icult to calculate at the board.. ] 26.exf7+ xf7 27.e3 xa4 28.dxd3 a2+ 29.c1 c4+ Surprisingly there is no clear win here for Black, but Sebag's next move shows that she is uncomfortable under direct attack. 30.c3? [ 30.d2! was the only move: e4 31.c3 d5+ 32.e2 a1 33.b3 xb3 34.xb3 g1 35.d2 xg2+ ( 35...e5!? ) 36.e2 g1 37.e1= ] 30...f1+ 31.c2 e4+ 32.xe4 xg2+ 33.b3 xe4-+ 34.c7 a5 35.xe7+ xe7 36.c7+ f8 37.d8+ e8 [ 37...g7 38.d7+ h6 39.xa4 xa4+ 40.xa4 g5 41.xa5 f4-+ ] 38.xe8+ xe8 39.xa4 g5 40.b4 [ 40.b5 f4 41.gxf4 gxf4 42.c4 f7 43.d4 g6 44.e4 g5 45.f3 f5 46.h4 h5 47.b3 e5-+ ] 40...f4! [ 40...axb4 41.xb4 h5! 42.c4 f4 43.gxf4 g4 44.hxg4 h4!-+ ] 41.gxf4 gxf4 42.bxa5 d7 [ 42...f3?? 43.a6= ] 43.a6 c6 A tough and complex game all the way through. As far as 6 a4 goes, one cannot say that Black is troubled. 0-1

811 Shabalov,Alexander Burnett,Ronald CCA Vermont Open, Stratton Mountain [Andrew Martin]

B06 2590 2440 2003

If you have a taste for hair-raising grovelling then the Modern Defence is for you! 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5 Either this or 4 Be3 are considered most dangerous these days. By comparison the Austrian attack seems stately! I would say 4 Bg5 is a very risky, committal move-that's why it appeals to Shabalov. White knows that he has to try and take Black out directly in the opening or there will be major league weaknesses to look after. In the opening stages Black must focus on d4 and prepare queenside counterplay. I believe B u r n e t t c h o o s e s t h e b e s t p l a n . a6! Planning ...b7-b5,...Nd7,... Bb7....and the key strike...c7-c5! 5.d2 [ 5.f4 b5 6.e2 b7 7.f3 I classify this as pussyfooting around. d7 8.ge2 c5 9.d5 b6 10.d3 d7 11.0-0 f6 12.a4 b4 13.a5 bxc3 14.axb6 cxb2 Already Black has a fine game with considerable counterplay. His strongest trump is the pawn structure and the plan is to negotiate the early pressure and push the 'a' pawn. 15.a2 b5 16.c4 xb6 17.b1 d7 18.e5 c7 19.axb2 c8 20.e3 0-0! A p p e a ra n ce s a re ve ry d e ce p t ive h e re . 21.xe7 e8 22.exd6 xd6 23.xd6 xe3 24.b3 xb3 25.xb3 a5 26.e3 h5 27.e8+ h7 28.e5 a4 29.d6 b8 30.c3 a3 31.xg7 xg7 32.c6 b1+ 33.f2 b8 34.e3 f6 35.d7 xd7 36.xd7 a2 37.xa2 b3+ 38.f2 xd7 39.e2 f5 40.d2 0-1 Fekri,W -Jasim,A/ Golden Cleopatra, Cairo EGY 2003 A typical Modern win. Black soaks it up and then takes over the reins in the late middlegame. ] 5...b5 6.f4 d7 7.f3 c5 [ 7...b7 is playable too: 8.a4 b4 9.d5 xd5 10.exd5 gf6 11.xf6 xf6 12.xb4 xd5 13.b7 e6 14.c6+ e7 15.g3 b8 16.b3 b6 17.c4 c5 18.a5 b5 19.a4 c3 20.c4 cxd4 21.xd4 xd4 22.xd4 a8 Stevic,H-Smirin,I/4th IECC, Istanbul TUR 2003 Eventually drawn 822

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5.a3!? cxd4 6.b5 a6 7.xd4 xd4 8.xd4 is a solid, sensible and dull antidote. Black has a plus score from this position, but that has nothing to do with the objective assessment of the position - Black is generally the stronger and more ambitious player. My assessment is a tiny nibble for White. ] 5...g7 6.c4 Following a recommendation by Rozentalis. I am no longer convinced. [ T h e o l d l i n e i s 6.e3 cxd4 7.cxd4 wh e n B la ck m u st a vo id t h e o ld c la s s i c h6?? 8.c1! ] 6...d8 [ The Archives show a game where a very young Magnus Carlsen played 6...e4+ ] [ The line's originator later faced 6...d6 which offers White additional options. Still, Rozentalis' experience was no more pleasant than mine: 7.c3 cxd4 8.b5 b6 9.f4 a6 10.e2 d7 11.0-0 d8 12.e1 ( 12.c1!? ) 12...d3! 13.xd3 xb5 14.cxb5 c5 15.e3 f6 16.e5 0-0 17.b4 xd3 18.xd3 g4 19.d4 xd4 20.xd4 xf2! 21.d2 e5 0-1 Rozentalis Pruess, Cappelle la Grande 2007. ] 7.d5 The logical follow-up. [ 7.e3 is possible, as long as White has an answer to c6!? T h e o n l y t r y i s 8.d5 but I am not convinced. For example: xb2 9.bd2 xa1 10.xa1 d4 11.xd4 cxd4 12.xd4 f6 When Black castles White's compensation for the exchange will fade to an insufficient level. ] 7...e5! This strong novelty has not, as far as I can tell, been analysed in the Archives. It makes White's 6.c4 plan rather unattractive. 8.c3 e7 Black has ideas of ...Ne7-f5-d4 as well as a kingside avalanche with ...f7-f5. 9.g5 White has many other moves to try, but 812 B06 the trend is downward. I will not return to this position (at least not with White!). f6 10.e3 Shaw,John K a6 11.e2 Dreev,Alexey [ 11.d3 was later suggested, planning to EU-chT (Men) 15th 02.08.2005 take the knight on f5 before it gets to d4. 0-0 [John Shaw] 12.0-0 f5 Why not take the bishop pair? ( I was scared of 12...f5 but maybe after 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6!? 13.c2 h6 14.e1 White can step out of 5.f3 White has various other tries, most of the way of the pawn storm.) 13.xf5 xf5 which have been analysed in the Archives. I like the bishops, as it is tough to imagine [ 5.dxc5 ] the passed d-pawn rushing to glory. ] [ 5.e3 ] but everything clearly in order for Black at this juncture. ] 8.dxc5 xc5 9.e5 Shabalov understands that he is obligated to attack immediately. b7 10.0-0-0 f6 And Burnett will play his full part. Black hits before White mobilises the Kingside. A sacrifice on b5 beckons-how else to justify White's position. 11.h4 dxe5 12.f2 c7 13.fxe5 f5 14.g3 h6 15.xb5 There it is! axb5 16.xb5+ f8 17.g5 c8 [ It must have been very tempting to play 17...b3+ but I don't think it's working: 18.axb3 ( 18.b1 a5 ) 18...a1+ 19.d2 a5+ 20.e2 xb5+ 21.c4 xd1 22.cxb5 xh1 23.b6 ] 18.b4 f7 19.xc5 xg5 20.xc7 xc7 21.d8+ f7 22.xh8 xh8 23.e6+ xe6 24.xc7 xc7 A forced sequence sees the board wiped clean and an interesting asymmetrical endgame begins. If White could have his time again I am sure that he would prefer to have his pawn on b2. 25.c4+ e8 Closer to the Queenside. 26.d1 xg2 27.b5 a8 28.e6! Confining Black's King as well as pinning down the pawn on e7. [ 28.a4 b6 29.b3 c3 30.d3 a5 31.c4 f1 32.d4 e5 33.d6 xc4 A b rie f va ria t io n wh ich sho ws ju st h o w difficult it is to get the pawns rolling. ] 28...c3! The blockading idea which keeps Black in the game. 29.d3 b4 30.d4 d6 31.a4 f4 32.a5 c7 33.c4 c5 34.d1 b4 35.b6 xa5 36.bxc7 xc7 37.d5 A timely offer. After Bxd5 and ...e7-e6 only Black can be better. Fascinating chess, where Burnett gave as good as he got. ½-½

823

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11...f5 12.0-0 0-0 13.a3 d4 14.b4 f5 [ 8...f6 9.g3 ( 9.e5! was critical and I won't get too involved with the rest of the White has the better chances here I think, game as it is irrelevant and (from W hite's for example fd7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 a5 point of view) very ugly. 15.xd4 cxd4 12.h4 e6! 13.h3 and White's central 16.b5 d7!? space should give him the advantage but at [ The greedy move was 16...d3 planning least Black is holding on for now on the 17.xd3 e4 ] kingside. ) 9...c5 10.dxc5 dxc5 11.e5 d5 17.c1 Allowing a complete positional 12.e4 c7 13.e2 0-0 14.0-0 c6 collapse. 15.f2 d4?! ( 15...fc8! because if [ Maybe 17.d6 ] 16.xc5?! then xe5 17.fxe5 xc5 [ or 17.d6 but real improvements are and Black is at least equal; not 15...ac8?! needed much, much earlier. ] 16.xc5 xe5 17.xe5 xc5 18.xc5 17...xb5 18.cxb5 c7 19.c4 h8 xc5 19.d7 and Black drops the 20.e1 d6 21.a4 ae8 22.b3 xd5 exchange ) 16.xd4 cxd4 17.xd4 23.xd5 xd5 24.c5 d6 25.b3 e4 and Black didn't have enough for the pawn 26.g5 f6 27.h3 f4 28.g5 d3 29.d1 in Vovk, Y (2549)-Czebe, A (2480) e3 30.xd3 exf2+ 31.xf2 d4+ 32.xd4 Szombathely 2008 ] xd4+ 33.f1 xe1+ 34.xe1 xc5 9.c3 35.bxc5 f5 [ 9.dxc5!? dxc5 10.0-0 should be a little 0-1 better for W hite but Black can try the interesting h6! here when it's not obvious how W hite should continue. I'd be very 813 B06 t e m p t e d b y 11.f5!? gxf5 12.exf5 with Nf5-h5 coming but Black has Shomoev,A 2560 counterplay still after g4 ] Bocharov,D 2602 A definite error, White can make Vladimir Dvorkovich Mem 2014 (5.8) 22.01.14 9...bxc3?! much more use of the b-file than Black [Tom Rendle] [ instead 9...cxd4 10.cxd4 ( 10.exd4 f6 11.e2 bxc3 12.bxc3 c7 is a little 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.f3 awkward for White) 10...f6! is absolutely b5 6.d3 b7 This is Black's critical setup fine for Black, for example 11.e5 d5 against 4.f4 at the moment, it's not at all 12.0-0 0-0 13.e1 c6 14.h4 e6 obvious what White's best option is here, 7.e5 15.h3 b6 and Black's pressure on the and 7.0-0 are both covered in the archives centre is enough to compensate for and whilst I think the latter leads to a slight White's kingside initiative ] edge, neither is completely convincing so here we see Shoemoev take a slightly different 10.bxc3 cxd4 11.b1 c7 12.cxd4 [ 12.b3!? was also dangerous but Black approach. 7.a4 b4 8.e2 c5! seems to be holding on after d7! 13.g5 Putting immediate pressure on White's centre h6 14.cxd4 ( 14.xb7?! xb7 15.xb7 [ 8...d7 9.c3 a5 ( 9...c5! again is a better c5 16.xa6 xa6 17.b8+ d7 wa y t o h a n d l e t h e p o s it i o n wit h o n l y a 18.xh8 xh8 19.cxd4 b3 and Black is minimal W hite edge after 10.0-0 cxd4 the one pressing ) 14...b8 ] 11.cxd4 ) 10.0-0 e6 11.f5! exf5 12.exf5 gf6 13.g5 ( 13.f4! is better, for 12...d7 13.0-0 Opening up the queenside example 0-0 14.cxb4 axb4 15.b3 c5 ha s re a lly n o t h e lp e d B la ck a n d a lre a d y 16.fxg6 hxg6 17.xg6 cxd4 18.g5 e7 Bocharov is under a lot of pressure gf6 [ 13...h6 14.d2 0-0 15.c1! xc1 19.f5 and Black is really struggling here) 16.fxc1 a7 17.h3! leaves White in 13...0-0 14.fxg6 hxg6 15.e1 c5 16.h4 control of the queenside and Black's knight and now in Spraggett, K (2601)-Siebrecht, S on h6 very offside ] (2453) Haarlem 2008 Black could've obtained good play with bxc3 17.bxc3 14.g3?! [ 14.g5! was much more incisive - the c7 ] 824

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 threat of e5 is very difficult to deal with, for example A) 14...h6?! fails to 15.xf7! xf7 ( or 15...g8 16.e5! dxe5 17.fxe5 xe4 18.b3 and White again regains the piece with a winning position) 16.b3+ d5 17.exd5; B) 14...0-0 15.e5 dxe5 ( 15...c6 is perhaps a better try but White is clearly better after 16.xb7 xb7 17.exf6 xf6 18.f5 as the two pieces are more than enough for the rook and pawn and White still has an initiative) 16.fxe5 d5 17.b3 c6 18.e4! e6 19.h3 I suspect this final detail with 18.Be4 and 19.Qh3 was m i s s e d - B l a c k i s l o s t n o w a f t e r h6 20.xg6! fxg6 21.xe6+ h8 22.f7+ xf7 23.xf7 ] 14...0-0 15.e2 e5 [ 15...c6 16.d2 a7 17.h1 is also much better for White as Black can't really prevent 18.e5 ] 16.fxe5 dxe5 17.a3 fe8 [ 17...fb8 18.g5! leaves Black again struggling on f7 ] 18.fc1 Good enough but again White misses the strongest continuation [ 18.c4! and Black can't defend against the nice trick of 19.Bxf7+ for example exd4 ( or 18...f8 19.fc1 b8 20.xf8 xf8 21.xe5 xe5 22.dxe5 e8 23.d5 and Black is completely lost) 19.xf7+ xf7 20.a2+ ] 18...b8 19.b2 a7 20.c4 f8? A final mistake that costs Bocharov the game [ after 20...h6 Black is still fighting, although White is probably still winning has to find some accurate moves 21.b3 xc1 22.xf7+ g7 23.xe8 xa3 24.xd7 d6! 25.f5! a nice tough e8 26.dxe5 e7 27.h1 and White is winning although there is still some work to be done ] 21.xf8 xf8 22.dxe5 xe5 [ 22...xe5 is a marginal improvement but it's obviously lost after 23.xe5 ( 23.d5! is ever better ) 23...xe5 24.f2 ] 23.xe5 xe5 24.f2! I'm sure this was the move Black missed - suddenly he's losing a piece by force ea8 25.b6 g7 26.f1 xe4 27.xf7+ h6 28.f5+! [ Black resigned as he loses his queen or

gets mated after 28.f5+ g4 30.e2# ] 1-0

814 Slobodjan,Roman Azmaiparashvili,Zurab 8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (7) [John Watson]

g5

29.h4+

B06 2525 2632 09.04.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e3 a6 5.f4 As Tiger says, this is now a very common move order for White. But it's not directly in the Index of his book. b5 6.f3 b4 [ 6...b7! is Ramesh-Hillarp-Persson, Amsterdam 2000: 7.d3 d7 8.e2!? ( 8.0-0 ) 8...c5 ( Tiger likes 8...b4!? 9.d1 gf6 , to mix things up) 9.dxc5 xc5 ( 9...dxc5 10.e5! ) 10.xc5! ( 10.0-0 c8! ) 10...xc3+ ( 10...dxc5 11.e5 b6 12.e4! ) 11.bxc3 dxc5 12.e5 h6 13.0-0 b6 with unclear play, but satisfactory chances for Black. ] 7.e2 b7 8.g3 h5 This looks fine at first, but Black is behind in space and development, and he misjudges White's attack. [ 8...f6 is more natural. ] 9.f5! The rub. h4 10.fxg6! fxg6 [ 10...hxg3 11.gxf7+ xf7 12.g5+ e8 13.e6 c8 14.xg7+ f7 15.f5! is practically winning on the spot, since xe4 16.c4+! d5 17.g4! hits too many squares. ] 11.e2 e5 Best. A depressing line is [ 11...xe4 12.g5 f5 13.f4 with the idea Bd3. ] 12.dxe5 xe5! [ 12...dxe5 13.xd8+ xd8 14.a3 a5 15.g5 gives White active pieces to aim against Black's several weaknesses. ] 13.d2!? [ 13.xe5 dxe5 14.xd8+ xd8 15.a3 a5 16.g1! xe4 17.f3 xf3 18.gxf3 bxa3 19.0-0-0+! launches an effective attack for only a pawn. ] 13...c6 [ 13...xb2!? 14.b1 a3 15.f4 f6 16.g5 h a s t h e i d e a xe4?? 17.xe4 xe4 18.d4 ] 14.ed4 xd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.xd4 825

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f6? Black gives up a pawn and underestimates White's queenside pressure. Instead, he should try [ 16...f6 , and if 17.xb4 xe4 18.0-0-0 , 0-0 with the worse game, but at least even material. ] 17.xb4 0-0-0 18.0-0-0 [ 18.a3 ] 18...f4+ 19.b1 f6 20.a3! h3? [ 20...xe4 21.xa6 xa6 22.xa6+ b7 23.a3! is very strong, intending perhaps Rd3-b3. ] 21.xa6 hxg2 22.xb7+ xb7 23.hg1 h3?? White was much better but this loses material. 24.b3+ Either Rd4-a4 wins, or 24... Kc8 25 Qe6+ picks up the rook. 1-0

815 Smeets,Jan Siebrecht,Sebastian TCh-NED Netherlands NED (6.2) [Gawain Jones]

B06 2669 2421 12.02.2011

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 Another encounter featuring the Austrian A t t a c k a ga in s t T i ge r's M o d e rn . A h ig h l y complex line and one in which it's important to know your theory well on both sides of the board. 5.f3 d7 [ 5...b5 This is Tiger's preferred move order but is quite likely to come to the same thing. 6.d3 A) He doesn't like 6...b7 because of 7. a4 but instead a recent high rated e n c o u n t e r c o n t i n u e d 7.e5!? e6!? ( 7...d7 would transpose back into the mainline. ) 8.e4 xe4 ( The computer wants 8...d5 but this is starting to resemble a bad French for Black.) 9.xe4 e7 10.0-0 bc6 11.c3 0-0 12.e2 d7 13.e3 d5 14.d2 f5 15.exf6 xf6 16.xf6+ xf6 17.fe1 fe8 18.e4 Mchedlishvili, M (2630)Miroshnichenko, E (2684) Konya 2010 and White was slightly for preference but Black held on.; B) 6...b4 looks rather premature but was the choice of the top Moldovan GM. 7.e2 f6 8.a3 ( 8.e5 d5 9.e4 c6 10.a3

also looks to favour White.) 8...b7 9.g3 c5 10.axb4 cxd4 11.xd4 bd7 12.e2 h5 13.e5! h4 14.exf6 ( 14.e6!? is a p re t t y lit t le m o ve t h a t a ls o lo o k s interesting.) 14...xf6 15.f1 There can't be anything wrong with this move but now Black at least gets an initiative for the s a c r i f i c e d p i e c e . ( 15.gf5!? gxf5 16.xf5 would leave White a pawn up and with the attack himself.) 15...h3 16.g1 e5 17.gxh3 f8 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.b3 d5 20.g5 b6 21.f2 xf2+ 22.xf2 xb4 23.c5 xd3+ 24.cxd3 c8 25.b4 xh3 26.g3 h5 27.a5 and W hite was a piece for pawn up but somehow only drew. Andriasian, Z (2585)Bologan, V (2686) Belgorod 2010.; C) 6...d7 C1) 7.a4 was given as White's safest try for an advantage by Tiger. b4 8.e2 C1a) 8...a5 was his own choice: 9.0-0 a6 10.xa6 ( 10.b5 e6 11.c4 e7 is given in the book but the young Indian's choice might be more threatening.) 10...xa6 11.d3 a8 12.f5 ( Grabbing space with 12.c4!? looks interesting.) 12...c5 Narayanan, S (2210)-Hillarp Persson, T (2535) R e y k j a v i k 2 0 0 8 w h e n 13.f4! looks dangerous to deal with.; C1b) 8...c5 Criticised by Tiger who examines many other alternatives. 9.c3 bxc3 10.bxc3 c7 11.0-0 b7 12.h1 h6!? ( 12...c4 13.c2 gf6 14.e5 d5 gives Black good play on the light squares.) 13.e1 This is not best. cxd4! 14.exd4 ( 14.cxd4 c5 is the point although W hite can get d e c e n t c o m p e n s a t i o n wi t h 15.dxc5 xa1 16.a3 f6 17.cxd6 exd6 18.d2 ) 14...c5 15.c2 c8 16.d2 g4 17.g5 h6 18.h3 e5! and Black had taken over the initiative. Medvegy, Z (2556)-Thiede, L (2450) Trier 2010.; C2) 7.e5 b7 ( I l o o k e d a t 7...c5 in Mekhitarian, K (2550)-Ahmadinia, E (2436) Zuerich 2010 which can be found in the archives. ) C2a) 8.0-0 has been seen in a couple of recent en cou nte rs. c5 ( 8...e6 826

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.e4 b6 10.e2 e7 11.c3 d7 12.b3 b8 13.d2 xe4 14.xe4 0-0 15.ad1 fd8 16.b1 Berescu, A (2476)-Manolache, M (2544) Sarata Monteoru 2011 when c5 gives Black good play.) 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 cxd4 11.e6 Very tempting. ( 11.exd6 b6 when Tiger examines b o t h 1 2 . f 5 a n d 1 2 . N e 5 b u t 12.a4 may be critical) 11...fxe6 12.eg5 f8 13.xd4 xd4+ ( T i g e r r e c o m m e n d s 13...c8 wh i c h k e e p s t h e b ish o p b u t lo o k s rather passive and indeed is n o n s e n s i c a l i f f o l l o w i n g 14.e1 Black must take on d4. He could try e5 but 15.fxe5 xe5 16.df3 looks decidedly awkward.) 14.xd4 f6 15.a4 h6 16.f3 b8 ( 16...8d7 17.e1 f7 is perhaps a better path attempting to complete Black's development.) 17.axb5 axb5 18.e3 h7 19.h1 d5 20.d2 b6 21.e4 b7 22.d4 c7 23.d3 with continued pressure for the pawn. D'Amore, C (2505) -Mack, W (2282) Reykjavik 2011.; C2b) 8.e3 would transpose back to the game. ] 6.e3 [ The reason Tiger doesn't like this move order is that White can now play 6.a4 b6 ( However 6...e6 looks playable to me.) 7.c4 with a pleasant position. ] 6...b5 7.e5 b7 8.d3 c5 [ A n d r e w M a r t i n i n v e s t i g a t e s 8...h6 in Zufic, M (2370)-Nevednichy, V (2552) Bosnjaci 2005. 9.e2 b6 ( 9...e6 10.a4 b4 11.e4 f5 12.f2 h5 13.0-0 a5 14.h3 b6 15.eg5 and White was slightly for pref erence but Black's position was certainly playable until d5? when 16.xf5 simply won a piece as 17.Qb5+ is threatened. Smerdon, D (2526)-Fernandez, D (2371) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010.) 10.0-0-0 ( 10.a4 is seen in Zufic, M (2370) Nevednichy, V (2552) Bosnjaci 2005 looked at by Andrew Martin which worked out quite well. ) 10...d7 ( 10...e6 11.h4 b4 12.e4 f5 13.d2 xe4 14.xe4 d5 15.e1 h5 16.xf5 gxf5 17.xb4 was good for

White. Asis Gargatagli, H (2406)-Almeida Qu in ta na , O (25 41 ) Mo nt cad a i Re ixa c 2010. ) 11.hg1!? ( 11.h4!? must again come into consideration.) 11...d5 12.xd5 xd5 13.b1 0-0 14.c1 f5!? 15.h3 c6 16.d2 ab8 17.f1 dxe5 18.dxe5 fd8 19.e3 e4 with a complex middlegame, Haslinger, S (2529)-Muse, M (2448) Trier 2010. ] [ 8...e6 is the other possibility when Ni Hua chose 9.a4 b4 10.e4 xe4 I don't like this move at all as now White has good long term chances with the bishop pair. ( 10...e7 was McShane's choice and looks preferable: 11.exd6 f5 12.dxc7 xc7 when practical examples indicate Black has quite good compensation for the pawn. The most recent example continued: 13.d2 0-0 14.f2 d6 15.fg5 f6 16.xf6+ xf6 17.0-0 h6 18.f3 e4 19.xe4 xe4 20.e5 when the Aussie IM could h a ve t a k e n t h e c 2 p a w n a n d c e r t a i n l y wouldn't have been worse. Khenkin, I (2613)W o h l , A ( 2 4 1 7 ) B a d W i e s s e e 2 0 0 9 .) 11.xe4 d5 12.d3 a5 13.0-0 e7 14.c3 bxc3 15.bxc3 b8 16.e2 0-0 17.g4!? b6 18.ab1 and White's extra space gave him a clear advantage. Ni Hua (2667)-Tan Zhongyi (2464) Hefei 2010 ] 9.e4 xe4 [ 9...c8 is the alternative and was Nakamura's option although White stands well theoretically. 10.xb7 xb7 11.dxc5 dxe5 12.d5 xd5 13.xd5 c8 ( 13...0-0-0 was seen in Izoria, Z (2647) Inarkiev, E (2602) Kusadasi 2006 but here 14.0-0-0 gave White a big advantage, check Andrew Martin's comments in the archives.) 14.b6 xb6 15.cxb6 f6 16.fxe5 ( 16.0-0-0 was White's choice in Delchev, A (2648)-Nakamura, H (2701) Mulhouse 2009 annotated by John W atson but looks inaccurate.) 16...d5 17.d4 0-0 18.a4 xc2 19.0-0 This is given as a little better for White by Tiger and indeed the b6 pawn should give him better chances. However a recent encounter saw Black triumph: b8 20.axb5?! ( Supporting the b6 pawn with 20.a5 must be good for White.) 20...axb5 21.a5 xb6 22.xb5?! This throws away the advantage. ( 22.xb6 xb6 23.a8+ 827

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f8 24.d1 xb2 25.dd8 wins a piece and gives great winning chances.) 22...d7 23.xb8+ xb8 24.a1 c6 25.c3 h6 26.a8+ g7 27.e6+ f6 28.c8 b4 29.d8? e3+ 30.f1 f2+ 31.e1 c2+ 32.d1 c5 and Black finally had some winning chances and eventually exploited. Berzinsh, R (2427) -Townsend, M (2266) Daventry 2010. ] 10.xe4 h6 Continuing to follow Tiger's analysis. [ 10...c4?! takes pressure off White's centre pre m a tu re ly. 11.fg5 d5 12.e6! fxe6 13.xe6 b6 14.xg7+ f7 15.c5 and W hite had a fantastic position although somehow he failed to win. Zelcic, R (2554)-Muse, M (2446) Sibenik 2010. ] [ 10...cxd4 also looks wrong: 11.xd4 dxe5 12.fxe5 f8 has been reached twice re ce n t ly b u t I st ill like Ni Hu a 's 13.fg5 ( 13.c5 as played most recently in To, N (2413)-Mitchell, M (2266) Budapest 2010 also loo ks like a go od t ry.) 13...h6 Ni Hua (2568)-Stryjecki, M (2441) Athens 2001 and now 14.0-0 e6 15.xe6 fxe6 16.g5 d5 17.c4! bxc4 18.a4+ d7 19.xd7+ xd7 20.ad1 leaves Black in an unpleasant endgame. ] 11.dxc5 And this is the critical continuation. Anything which the theoretician Smeets plays twice should be taken very seriously. [ However 11.e2 has also been tried a few times recently, a novelty which Morozevich came up with in 2003. A) 11...cxd4 i s c r i t i c a l . 12.xd4 f5 13.0-0-0 xd4 ( 13...a5? 14.e6 fxe6 15.xd6+! exd6 16.xe6+ d8 17.xg7 saw a strong GM getting into severe difficulties very early. Ibarra Chami, L (2436)-Almeida Quintana, O (2593) Mexico City 2010.) 14.xd4 0-0 15.hd1 wa s s e e n i n M o r o z e v i c h , A ( 2 7 0 2 ) Chatalbashev, B (2534) Plovdiv 200 3 when I think Black had a reasonable game although I'd probably opt for White.; B) 11...0-0 12.dxc5 dxe5 13.fxe5 f5 14.f4 ( T h e i m m e d i a t e 14.0-0-0 looks strong) 14...c7 15.0-0-0 f6 16.g4 fxe5 17.gxf5 exf4 18.fxg6 xc5 19.gxh7+ and Black was in a lot of trouble. Chatalbashev, B (2602)-Buchal, S (2337)

Aix-les-Bains 2011. It's always interesting to see a player switch colours af ter a game and so this idea should be taken seriously. ] 11...g4 12.g1 [ 12.e2!? is a further option which has been essayed in a couple of recent Correspondence games. dxe5 13.0-0-0 c7 14.fxe5 gxe5 15.f4 ( 15.d5 xf3 16.gxf3 0-0-0!? 17.f4 c6 18.f3 b8 19.dd1 xd1+ 20.xd1 d8 21.xd8+ xd8 was also satisfactory for the second player. Hostinsky, J (2386)-Bjazevic, P (2202) ICCF email 2007.) 15...c6 16.xe5 ( The sacrificial 16.d6+ exd6 17.xd6 xc5 18.xd7 is completely fine for Black: xd7 19.xe5+ xe5 20.xe5 hd8 21.e4 c4 22.d1+ e8 23.d4+ e6 24.h4 f5 25.xh7 e7 26.g7 d6 27.b3 c8 28.d2 e4 29.f2 xd4 0-1 Klapiszewski, T (2243)-Antonone, R (2 2 5 3 ) I C CF e m a il 2 0 1 0 .) 16...xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.b1 0-0 19.h4 h5 1/2-1/2 Leone, F (2360) -Antonone, R (2225) ICCF email 2009. ] 12...dxe5 13.h3 h6 [ 13...gf6 is Tiger's suggested improvement. His line runs 14.xf6+ exf6 A) 15.d5 was played in a practical encounter in which the first player was victorious. c8 16.0-0-0 b8 17.fxe5 fxe5 18.h2 xd5 19.xd5 f6 20.hd1 e7 21.g4 h6? ( 21...hd8 is fine for Black. ) 22.h4! Oops. g6 has become a b i g w e a k n e s s . f7 23.d7+! xd7 24.xd7+ e6 25.xg7 and White converted his advantage. Ong, K (2304)Tikkanen, H (2354) Gothenburg 2006.; B) 15.d6!? also looks interesting.; C) 15.c6 f8 ] 14.c6 f6 15.xd8+ xd8? And this is the first new move but cannot be called a good novelty. [ Jan must believe in this variation for White as he had played it earlier this year against F r a n c e ' s t o p r a t e d p l a ye r . T h a t g a m e continued 15...xd8 16.c7 ( 16.xf6+ exf6 17.a4 looks promising, keeping control of the d7 square and thus it will be harder for Black to get his final rook into the game.) 16...c8 17.xf6+ exf6 18.b6 d7 828

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 19.g4 was played in the first game to reach this endgame and might be better. c6 20.a5 he8 21.0-0-0 f8 22.d8 d6 23.d1 xc7 24.xc7 xc7 in Cuijpers, F (2485)-Chernin, A (2572) Germany 2001. Here W hite could have improved with 25.1d7+ c6 ( 25...b8 26.xe8 xe8 27.fxe5 fxe5 28.g5 wins back the pawn and gives White great w i n n i n g c h a n c e s .) 26.d6+ b7 27.8d7+ c7 28.xc7+ xc7 29.xa6; B) 19.0-0-0+ c6 20.a5 f5 Now Black's pieces manage to coordinate. 21.d8?! ( Better looks to be 21.fxe5 fxe5 Krivec, J (2343)-Drummond, M (2236) Q u e e n s t o w n 2 0 0 9 a n d n o w 22.he1 sh o u ld be t h ro wn in t o p re ve nt B la ck advancing his passed pawn with rough equality. ) 21...h6! 22.hd1 xf4+ 23.b1 e4 24.d4+ xd4 25.1xd4 xc7 26.xc7 xc7 27.8d7+ b6 28.xe4 f5 29.ed4 he8 30.b4 e1+ 31.b2 e2 and the Dutch GM was in trouble. Smeets, J (2662)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2715) Wijk aan Zee 2011. ] 16.b6+! This is the problem. Black is unable to get his king to c7 and thus cannot connect his rooks while the c6 pawn is a huge thorn in his side. c8 17.xf6 exf6 18.0-0-0! Black is already lost as he cannot contest the d file. a5 [ 18...b8 19.a5 b4 20.c7 a8 21.fxe5 fxe5 22.d8+ b7 23.e1 leaves Black in a complete bind and he must just wait whilst all his pawns start dropping. f6 24.e4 wins. ] 19.d5 a6 20.xb5 f5 21.d1 One pawn has dropped and still Black cannot re l e a s e t h e s h a ck le s o n h i s p o si t i o n . e4 22.g1 h6 23.e2 g3!? A nice try but unfortunately his position is already hopeless. 24.d2 xe2 25.xe2 xf4 So material is back to parity but unfortunately that's the only positive in Black's position. His rook on a6 is completely cut out of the game while White's rooks dominate. 26.d7 f8 27.a4 f5 28.b7 h5 29.xa5 xa5 30.xa5 g5 31.b6 g4 32.hxg4 g8 33.a7 b8 34.c7+ xc7 35.xc7 xg4 36.f1 e3 37.a5 b4 38.b3 h4 39.xf7 f4+ 40.e1

An accurate display by Jan Smeets but the final theoretical word has not been spoken in this line. We need to see more examples of Tiger's suggestion of 13...Ngf6. 1-0

816 Spoelman,Wouter Hort,Vlastimil Essent Open Hoogeveen (1) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2205 2530 2002

1.e4 g6 After 1 ...g6 is Black's defensive setup can be interpreted in many different ways. For most players, that is the main attraction of the Modern. Here we see veteran Grandmaster Hort employing a 'rope a dope' strategy facing a series of routine developing moves from his opponent. White is invited to assume the initiative and run aground against the sturdy Black position. 2.d4 d6 3.e3 g7 4.c3 a6 5.a4 b6 6.d2 b7 7.c4 d7 8.f3 e6 9.0-0 [ 9.h4 gf6 10.d5 e5 ] [ 9.d5 e5 10.g4!? ] 9...h6! An extremely annoying move to face mainly because W hite feels he has to be going somewhere with his position, but when he starts to cast his eye around for a plan struggles to find anything concrete. Whichever central pawn he pushes liberates a Black Bishop. He would love to be able to move his Knight to e1 and plough through with f4-f5 but that takes ages. Of course Black's â Hippopotamusâ [] or â Frog â system attained full respectability in the Petrosian-Spassky World Championship Match in 1966 . There it wa s d e m o n st ra t e d t h a t W h it e h a d t o b e exceptionally patient and even cunning if he wanted to get any advantage. Most opponents aren't really up to it. 10.fe1 e7 11.ad1 f8! 12.d3 g8 I suppose if White does nothing Black will eventually come to ...e6-e5 and ... f7-f5 after due preparation. Spoelman eyes the King heading for h7 and tries to get his Kn igh t o ver to a id a K ingsid e a tta ck . 13.e2 f6 14.g3 e8! 15.b4 Not sure W hite wanted to play this one but Black was threatening ... Ng4 anyway. Alternatives are not inspiring : 829

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 15.b3 g4 16.h3 xe3 17.xe3 c5! material suffice it to say Black has rather 18.c3 h7 ] good results. ] [ 15.c3 c5! ] 5...b5 15...a5 16.a3 d8 17.c4 Looks fine, but [ 5...d7 6.0-0 b5 but ( It's possible to White weakens the square b4.Hort is on to c o n t i n u e w i t h 6...e6 but this must be a this small detail in a flash. d7 18.h4 c6 somewhat worse version as White has not 19.b1 b4 20.b3 e5 Finally some sign of co m m i t t e d t o a 4 . 7.g5 I never see the real activity f rom Black although with the point of this move as it simply allows Black Bishop on b1 buried it feels to me as though t o g a i n t i m e wi t h h is Hi p p o se t u p . e7 W hite has already been totally outplayed. 8.d2 h6 9.e3 b6 10.ad1 b7 11.h3 21.dxe5 dxe5 22.c1 e7 23.d2 h7 was a typical Hippo position. Following f6 24.ed1 a6 25.e2 dc5 Attacking both 12.e5 fd5 13.f4 xf4 14.xf4 0-0 b3 and e4. 26.c3 xb3 27.xd8 xc1 15.e4 g5 16.f6+ xf6 17.xf6 g6 28.8d7 e6 29.xc1 c6 30.7d3 b4-+ Black had comfortably equalised. Ginsburg, 31.3d2 xc4 32.b2 e8 33.c1 e6 G (2537)-Muse, M (2448) Berlin 2010. ) 34.a3 e7 35.d5 xd5 36.exd5 g4 A) Instead 7.e1 b7 8.f1 c5 9.g5 37.d6 cxd6 38.xd6 e4 39.h2 xh4 cxd4 10.xd4 gf6 looked like a fairly 40.xb6 d4 A remarkable little game which healthy Dragon position. Hellers, F (2598)should really have been concluded 15 moves Burwick, M (2229) Sweden 2011.; ago. White's initial advantage in space and B) 7.a4 b4 8.d5 a5 9.c3 time seemed to evaporate and he was left B1) 9...e6?! would be similar to the only with weaknesses. Spoelman was game but does allow W hite the doubtless baffled - where on earth had he interesting possibility of 10.g5! f6 gone wrong........? ( 10...gf6 11.xf6+ xf6 12.h6 0-1 leaves Black in difficulties to complete his development.) 11.f4 e7 12.h4 g5 13.xg5 fxg5 14.xg5 xg5 817 B06 15.xe6 h6 16.xc7+ d8 17.xa8 b7 when rook and four pawns are Stevic,Hrvoje 2611 about the same value as the three Nepomniachtchi,Ian 2729 pieces but Black's loose king ensures 12th ch-EUR Aix les Bains FRA (7) 28.03.2011 White very good winning chances, i.e. [Gawain Jones] 18.f3 xa8 19.d3 gf6 20.a6 e7 21.e5; I haven't looked at a pure Classical Variation B2) 9...c6 10.f4 bxc3 11.bxc3 e5 yet so decided to remedy that this month with 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.d3 c7 14.d2 a look at some interesting recent games. (I gf6 15.a3 f8 16.c1 a6 17.c4 e x a m i n e d 4 . . . a 6 l a s t ye a r b u t i t q u i c k l y xa3 18.xa3 c5 19.f4! If Black had became a Hippo). 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 enough time to castle he would have d6 4.f3 a6 The young Russian chooses equalised. exf4 20.e5!? ( 20.xf4 0-0 Tiger's Modern to create winning chances. I 21.c3 is also very good for W hite) like ...a6 from a strategic point of view but I 20...xe5 21.c3 fd7 22.f3 f6 get worried against f2-f4 setups as White can 23.xf4 b7 24.ae1 with strong play create a strong attack very quickly. However for the pawn but Black survived and against the Classical Variation this isn't an we n t o n t o win . B a ca lla o A l o n s o , Y issue. 5.e2 The most critical. (2 46 7)-A lm eida Q uint an a, O (25 24 ) [ I looked at 5.a4 in Panchanathan, M (2543)Ciego de Avila 2010.; Illingworth, M (2289) Parramatta 2010 when C) 7.d5! is suggested by Tiger trying to Black normally plays a hippopotamus setup exploit the hole on c6. ] with b6 ] This is probably White's only dangerous [ I can find six games in the archives with 6.a4 5.e3 so there's no need to expand on that try. 830

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 6.0-0 has been the most common and is Tiger's mainline. That continued b7 7.e1 d7 8.f1 c5 when he considered 9.a4 to be best: b4 10.d5 gf6 11.g5 0-0 12.xf6+ xf6 13.d5 h6 with equality. ] [ 6.a3 is hardly the most challenging response and allows Black easy development. One recent example continued b7 7.0-0 d7 8.e1 c5 9.f1 cxd4 10.xd4 gf6 11.f3 0-0 12.e3 c8 13.a4 b4 14.a2 Furman, L (2150) Hermansen, R (2219) Las Vegas 2010 when with d5! Black would have seized the initiative. ] 6...b4 7.d5 So far we have been following another recent game of Stevic's but here Black varies. a5 [ 7...b7 was played in the earlier game from last December but exchanging b and a pawns leaves Black with a vulnerable a6 pawn. However following 8.xb4 xe4 9.a5 f6 10.0-0 0-0 11.e3 c8 12.d2 b7 13.f3 e6 14.a3 e8 15.b3 bd7 16.c6 Stevic, H (2621)-Bukal, V (2390) Z a d a r 2 0 1 0 h a d B l a c k g o n e f o r xc6 17.xc6 b8 18.b4 bd7 Black would have been fine. ] [ 7...f6 has been played once but 8.xf6+ forces Black to worsen his structure with exf6 ( 8...xf6 9.h6 is again awkward.) 9.d2 a5 10.c3 bxc3 11.bxc3 0-0 12.0-0 f5 Wiemer, P (2089)-Pohl Kuemmel, J ( 2 1 6 2 ) B a y e r n 2 0 0 4 w h e n 13.e5!? would keep W hite's structural advantage although Black's position is still playable. ] 8.c3 Undermining Black's queenside before he can become fully coordinated looks very logical. [ 8.0-0 b7 9.e1 d7 10.c4 gf6 11.f4 0-0 12.c3 was seen in Dunne, A (2300)-Ashley, M (2500) Philadelphia 1998 wh e n i t wa s p r o b a b l y t h e r i gh t t im e t o e xc h a n ge o n d 5 xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.exd5 b6 15.b3 bxc3 16.bxc3 d7 wh e n B l a c k 's p l a y d o wn t h e b f il e a n d a g a i n s t t h e d 5 p a wn c o m p e n s a t e s f o r White's pressure down the e file. ] [ 8.g5 was the choice of an early computer program but doesn't make so much sense a s f o l l o w i n g h6 9.f4 ( 9.h4 would continue to prevent ...e6 but I can't

believe g5 10.g3 b7 11.d3 e6 12.e3 f6 can really be worse for Black who has great play.) 9...b7 10.d3 e6 11.e3 f6 12.d2 a6 13.c4 bxc3 14.xc3 xe2 15.xe2 h5 16.g3 c5! an d Bla ck a lre a d y h a d a ne a r d e c is ive advantage. Comp Gideon 2-Christiansen, L (2560) The Hague 1994. ] 8...e6 9.e3 e7 The first new move as far as I can see. I seem to recall that Nepomniachtchi was moving quickly here (I was playing a few boards away) indicating that h e wa s p r o b a b l y s t i l l i n h i s p r e p a r a t i o n although he's famed for always moving fast anyway. [ 9...b7 was played in the only previous e n c o u n t e r . 10.c2 f6 ( 10...e7 is likely to transpose to W hite's eleventh move alternative.) 11.e5 d5 ( 11...e4 12.d3 w o u l d f o r c e d5 which seems a co n ce ssio n .) 12.g4 h6 13.c4 e7 14.0-0 d7 15.f4 f5 16.ad1 g5 17.c1 dxe5 18.d5!? e7 19.d3 d4 20.xd4 exd4 21.dxe6 fxe6 22.g6+ d8 23.f4 with a strong initiative for the pawn. Fre ssine t, L (2 50 1)-Va isman , V (23 85 ) Cannes 2000. ] 10.0-0 b7 11.e5!? Stevic tries to exploit his space advantage immediately. [ 11.c2 is the alternative, playing in a quieter spirit when White could hope for a slight edge following d7 12.d2 b3!? ( 12...bxc3 13.bxc3 0-0 is probably safer but here White has a slight edge thanks to more space.) 13.b1 0-0 14.a3 c6 15.c4 b6 16.xb3 when Black has a structural disadvantage and so should try to complicate the issue with f5!? ] 11...dxe5 [ 11...bc6!? looks slightly odd but is worth investigating. ] 12.dxe5 [ 12.xe5 can also be played although I feel d7 13.f4 0-0 should be fine for Black who can generate counterplay with ...c5. ] 12...xd1 13.xd1 d5 [ 13...bxc3 is probably the critical test of White's 11.e5!? idea but White can drum up a strong initiative: 14.bxc3 d7 15.b5 ( 15.d4 xe5 16.b5 c8 17.a3 also gives White decent compensation for 831

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the pawn. ) 15...0-0-0 ( 15...c6 cedes the d6 square and thus cannot be recommended 16.f1 xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.c4 c7 19.d6+ xd6 20.xd6 f5 21.d1 and despite Black's extra pawn he will really have to suf f er as W hite's pieces act so much better on this board.) 16.a3 d5 17.xd5 exd5 ( 17...xd5?! 18.ab1! b6 19.g5 wins material.) 18.e6!? ( 18.e7 de8 19.xd7+ xd7 20.f6 xf6 21.exf6 is around level.) 18...fxe6 19.g5 de8 when White has sufficient play for the p a wn b u t n o m o r e , i . e . 20.f7 hg8 21.ab1 f8 22.xd7+ xd7 23.e5+ c8 24.xf8 gxf8 25.b5 f5 26.e1 c6 27.xa5 c7 when White has regained his pawn but Black has now coordinated his pieces while the rook on a5 is definitely misplaced. ] 14.b5+ [ The computer prefers gaining the outside passed pawn with 14.xd5 xd5 15.cxb4 axb4 16.a5 when it considers that the a pawn promises W hite a slight edge a l t h o u g h f o l l o w i n g a l i n e s u c h a s d7 17.f4 h6 18.a6 g5 19.g3 e7 20.h4 c5 Black has dynamic equality in my view. ] 14...c6 15.f1 [ 15.xd5 exd5 16.f1 d7 doesn't look at all threatening. ] 15...d7 [ Again 15...bxc3 should be considered 16.bxc3 ( Sacrificing the pawn looks best. Instead 16.xd5 cxd5 17.bxc3 d7 18.b5 a6 leaves Black with a structural edge which will endure into the ending.) 16...xc3 17.d3 d5 18.b3 c8 19.a3 and White has compensation for the pawn but probably nothing more. ] 16.c4 0-0 17.d6?! This is a major error. Stevic must have missed that Black's next was possible. [ 17.cxb4 axb4 18.a5 a6 is simply level. ] 17...bxc3! 18.bxc3 [ 18.xb7 fb8 would regain the piece with very good chances as the e5, c3 and a4 pawns are so vulnerable. ] 18...a6 19.xa6 xa6 20.c4 b8 21.d2 Black has definitely taken over the advantage as White is forced on the back foot to defend his pawn weaknesses. However this

looks very passive and I wonder whether [ 21.e3!? might have been a better try although W hite's structure does look very ugly after xe3 22.fxe3 c5 ] 21...c5 22.db1 xb1+ 23.xb1 a8 24.g3? [ 24.a1 looks passive but it was essential to defend the pawn. ] 24...f8!? [ 24...xa4 25.xa5!? was perhaps the idea axc3 ( 25...xa5?? 26.b8+ f8 27.h6 would be unfortunate.) 26.b2 c5 looks like a clear extra pawn but White has decent drawing chances. ] 25.d4 [ 25.a1 should still have been played but b3 26.e1 c5 is of course better for Black but still White should probably be able to hold on to the draw. ] 25...xa4 26.a1 db6! In principle Black should keep as many pawns on the board as possible to maximise his winning chances. 27.b3 [ 27.d6 c5 28.xc6 regains the pawn but b3 29.a2 xd2 30.xd2 a4 31.a2 a3 is probably winning for Black as the a pawn is so strong. ] 27...xc4 28.xa4 xe5 29.g2 b8! This is always a useful idea to remember. Nepomniachtchi cleverly f orces Stevic to capture on a5 with the knight when he will have problems getting out of the pin. 30.xa5 [ 30.d4 was a better practical chance although b2 31.c1 b1 32.f4 d3 is of course very good for Black. ] 30...a8 31.c4 c5 [ It was also possible to play 31...c5! 32.c3 g7 when White wouldn't be able to get out of the pin on the a file. ] 32.c3 d3 33.a1 xf2 34.xc6 xa1 35.xa1 g4 White has escaped the pin but only into a lost endgame. Nepomniachtchi made Stevic look rather weak in this game, a strong indication that Tiger's Modern is a good winning attempt at any level! 36.e5 xe5 37.xe5 f5 38.f3 f7 39.h4 e7 40.g4 d6 41.c3 h5 42.gxh5 gxh5 43.e1 e5 44.e3 d7 45.c3 e6 46.e1 e7 47.f3 f6 48.e3 d6 49.d3 d8 50.b4+ e6 51.e1 b6

832

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 52.e2 f4 0-1

818 Sukandar,Irine Kharisma Jones,Gawain C Queenstown Open (6) [Gawain Jones]

B06 2325 2653 20.01.2012

1.e4 g6 I have a few main defences to 1.e4: The Dragon - in its many different forms, a couple of Spanish's and occasional Caro Kanns but Irene seemed well booked up on all those lines. Having lost the previous game I really wanted to bounce back and so the Modern seemed a decent choice definitely risky but with good winning chances too. 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5!? I'd never seen this mo ve be f o re a nd so I wa s o n m y own . I t looked strange to me as the bishop is firing into open space but I now sunk into thought attempting to find a plan. h6 [ 4...f6 would transpose to a more theoretical position and one where I thought the bishop achieved more. I've actually played this way myself as White and think it 's quite a da ngero us lin e. T h is lin e is covered in depth and featured this month in Gashimov-Ivanchuk. ] [ 4...a6 has also featured quite heavily in the archives: A) while 5.f3 is a slower, more classical setup. Generally I'm not afraid of these positions when White can't play f4 but he may have a small edge. It certainly worked o u t ve ry we l l f o r h im in Fr o lya n o v, D (2525)-Azmaiparashvili, Z (2632) Dresden 2007, examined by John Watson.; B) 5.f4 looks scary but White has to be careful to prevent his centre collapsing. b5 6.f3 b7 7.d3 d7 B1) 8.e5! looks critical when perhaps Black should try fighting back at once with f6 ( as 8...c5 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 seems to favour White. ); B2) 8.a4 b4 9.e2 c5 10.c3 gf6 11.g3 a5 12.0-0 0-0 13.e2 bxc3 14.bxc3 e6 with a typical complex fight in which Black triumphed in Salem, A (2511) -Mchedlishvili, M (2629) Dubai

2011.; C) 5.d2 is a direct way of playing by White but allows Black good counterplay. b5 6.a4 ( 6.f4 was seen in the messy Shabalov, A (2590) -Burnett, R (2440) CCA Vermont Open, Stratton Mountain USA 2003 looked at by Andrew Martin in the archives.) 6...b4 7.ce2 d7!? 8.h4 ( Grabbing the pawn looks dubious 8.xb4 c5 9.c3 gf6 10.f3 0-0 gives Black a lead in development, while White's pieces are pretty tangled up and so full compensation for the pawn.) 8...gf6 9.g3 c5 10.c3 h6 11.e3 bxc3 12.bxc3 g4 and the top French GM had grabbed the bishop pair and was already f or p ref erence. S poe lm an, W (2 42 4)Bacrot, E (2700) Wijk aan Zee 2008. ] [ 4...c6!? looks interesting here, attempting to exploit White's early bishop move: 5.d5 ( 5.f3 g4 6.e3 is my computer's suggestion but hard to believe that this can remotely challenge Black.) 5...d4 6.b1!? c6 7.c3 b5 8.xb5 cxb5 9.b3 a6 10.d2 f6 11.gf3 0-0 12.0-0 d7 with a roughly level position, the bishop pair compensate for the slightly weakened structure. Rohl Montes, J (2401)-Krasenkow, M (2676) Mallorca 2004. ] [ 4...d7 prepares the ...c5 break. Following 5.f3 a6 we reach a position that could of course have been reached via a 4...a6 move order. 6.a4 resulted in a 16 move win for White in Rublevsky, S-D'Amore, C Istanbul Olympiad, Turkey 2000 but of course Black's play can be improved. Check Paul Motwani's comments in the archives. ( while I can't believe 6.d3 can be a serious test of Black's setup: Frolyanov, D (2567)-Graf, A (2621) Kavala 2008. Again you can check John Watson's comments. )] [ 4...c5 immediately has similarities to the game but with the subtle difference that the bishop on g5 is hanging in some lines, i.e. 5.dxc5 a5 6.d2 ( During the game I was a bit worried about 6.d2!? when following xc5 Black's a tempo up on a rather su s p e c t l in e in t h e H yp e r - A c c e l e ra t e d Dragon (or the Sniper as one author has co in e d it ). W it h t h e e xt r a t e m p o B la c k s h o u l d b e f i n e h o w e v e r .) 6...xc3!? 833

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Gaining a structural advantage but giving up the 'Dragon bishop' is always a bit dangerous. ( 6...xc5 7.d5 e6 8.0-0-0 d7 9.e3 c8 looked passive but n o t h i n g i n h e r e n t l y w r o n g wi t h B l a c k ' s position and he soon took over the initiative in Okhotnik, V (2451)-Beliavsky, A (2652) Hu n ga ry 2 0 0 3 .) 7.bxc3 ( I think I prefer 7.xc3 xc3+ 8.bxc3 dxc5 9.a4 d7 10.f3 c6 11.d2 d7 12.b5 c8 13.e2 f5 14.hb1 saw White successfully grind out the full point in a game between two strong Russians: Motylev, A (2649)Inarkiev, E (2595) Tomsk 2004.) 7...xc5 8.d3 d7 9.e2 gf6 10.0-0 0-0 11.e3 a5 12.f4 g4 13.d4 e5! and Black was fine. Kurnosov, I (2602)Ajrapetjan, Y (2490) Moscow 2009. ] [ Meanwhile 4...c6 would be a very sensible way of playing too but does commit Black to a setup he might not have been intending. This has actually been the most common but Black's results in games between Grandmasters has been terrible. One recent example continued: 5.d2 b5 6.f3 ( The more aggressive 6.f4 has also scored very well.) 6...h6 7.f4 f6 8.d3 g4 9.h3 xf3 10.gxf3 bd7 11.0-0-0 a5 12.b1 b6 13.he1 fd7 when Black's pre ssu re aga inst t he W hite cen tre wa s probably enough for rough equality but in the end he too went down in Hess, R (2590)Ehlvest, J (2591) Philadelphia 2010. ] 5.h4 [ On the final night Anthony Ker, who has won the New Zealand Championships more t h a n a n y o n e e l s e , s u g g e s t e d 5.e3 as an interesting alternative. White argues that the pawn on h6 could be a weakness and certainly following Qd2 it might be tricky to castle. ] 5...c5!? Possibly too ambitious. I tried to exploit the bishop on h4 being a little offside and transpose the position to a Dragon setup where I have a lot of experience. [ Instead 5...c6 was selected in a fairly recent game between two top 100 GMs and again makes a lot of sense. 6.d5 d4 7.d2 c5 8.d1 d7 ( 8...g5 9.g3 f6 10.f3 d7 would cut out Vallejo's choice in the game but here too White is probably a

lit tle be tt er as he ca n t ry to explo it th e weakening of the f5 square.) 9.c3 b5 10.f4! f6 11.d3 c7 12.f3 b5 13.0-0 and White had a good Benoni type position. Vallejo Pons, F (2707)-Korobov, A (2647) Aix-les-Bains 2011. ] 6.dxc5! The critical response. [ 6.f3 cxd4 7.xd4 c6 looks like a comfortable Dragon as the bishop is misplaced on h4. As it cannot come to d4 W hit e will lose f u rth er t ime moving th e attacked knight on d4. ] [ 6.d5!? is the other possible structure but here I hoped to exploit White's vulnerability along the a1-h8 diagonal. The computer suggests the committal xc3+ 7.bxc3 a5 8.d3 g5 9.g3 f6 with a highly complicated position. I think I'd take Black as it's not so easy to defend e4 and c3 adequately while also developing for White. ] 6...a5 [ 6...dxc5 7.xd8+ xd8 looked pretty u n p le a s a n t . N o t o n l y will W h it e ga in a d e v e l o p m e n t a d va n t a g e t h a n k s t o m y vulnerable king but he also has a positional advantage thanks to his light sq u a r e co n t ro l , i n p a r t i c u l a r d 5 . W e r e Black's pawn back on c6 he would have fewer holes and thus fewer problems. ] 7.b5+ Actually when I decided to go into this line I had forgotten that this check gives the White king the f1 square. Another long think and a feeling of dread, I didn't want to have to defend another passive position against a player rated over 300 points below, these Open tournaments can be very cruel! [ 7.d2 xc5 with a highly playable Dr a go n e s q u e p o s it i o n wit h t h e b is h o p misplaced on h4. ] 7...c6 [ 7...d7 was the other sensible way to d e f e n d a g a i n s t t h e c h e c k b u t 8.xd7+ xd7 9.cxd6 xc3+ ( Actually I had sort of looked at this line before .. .c5 and then I h o p e d t h a t 9...b4?! might be tricky to defend against. Black threatens both the b2 pawn and ... Bxc3+ followed by taking on e4 when the bishop on h4 hangs. However 10.ge2 xb2 11.0-0 keeps everything under control. Sure I can temporarily pick up a piece with xc3 but 12.b1 a3 13.b3 834

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 regains the piece and leaves White with a strong initiative.) 10.bxc3 xc3+ 11.f1 felt a little unpleasant to me, even if the computer tells me Black's more or less ok with c8 It seems unlikely that Black will have many winning chances though. ] 8.ge2 Sensibly giving back the pawn. [ 8.xc6+?! i s t o o g r e e d y bxc6 9.cxd6 xc3+ 10.bxc3 xc3+ 11.f1 a6+ 12.e2 d8 will likely regain the pawn with advantage. ] 8...dxc5 9.d5 This might be the start of W hite's problems. Irene is playing aggressively and hoping to completely refute my opening play, a strategy that almost paid off but is of course risky. [ 9.0-0 was safer when I thought White had a s ma ll ad van ta ge bu t B la ck's posit io n do e s n 't s ee m so b a d e it h e r. P e rh a p s I should have continued g5 10.g3 f6 11.f4 ( 11.c1!? is the computer's interesting offer.) 11...d7 followed by castling long with an extremely unclear position. ] [ 9.xc6+ bxc6 is of course also possible and important to assess to work out who it favours. Doubled isolated pawns are of course generally very weak and White can h o p e t o e x p l o it t h e m in t h e l o n g t e r m , perhaps by rerouting a knight round to c4. However that it's at all easy to achieve and Black has his trumps too. For starters the pawns aren't as weak as they look they would be much more vulnerable if they were o n a n o p e n f i le . T h e y a ls o p r o t e ct t h e important central squares of d4 and d5 - a typical weak spot in the Dragon. The exchange has also given Black counterplay down the b file and along the a8-f1 diagonal. A typical fight between static and dynamic p la y , I p re f e r t h e d yn a m is m o f B la ck' s position. ] 9...b6 [ I couldn't see a direct refutation of 9...d7 but I felt uneasy about it. I really didn't want to lose quickly and thought the game continuation was safer. The pawn on c5 is d e f e n d e d i n d i r e c t l y a s 10.xc5 a6 wins back material. However it's not totally clear even here as White has 11.b4 when xb4 12.xb4 xb4 13.xd7+ xd7

14.b1 looks better for White. ] 10.a4 I have to confess that I missed this move - a sign that my form wasn't there for much of Queenstown. Irene threatens a4-a5 forcing the queen away and thus winning the c5 pawn. 10.. .a5 is possible to defend but th en W h it e m ust b e b et te r t ha n ks t o h e r eternal control of the b5 square. Luckily I found the following strong idea. a6 11.a5?! It's harsh to give this move as dubious but in fact White seems to be in a lot of trouble once she has won the queen. [ 11.xc6+ would be similar to 9. Bxc6 although following bxc6 12.a5 is possible a n d se e m s crit ica l. O n e lin e co u ld ru n ( 12.d2 e6= should be fine for Black.) 12...cxd5 13.axb6 dxe4 14.a5!? f6 15.xf6 xf6 16.xe4 xb2 17.xc5 b8 18.a4 a3 19.c3 d7 20.d2 xa4 21.xa4 c5 22.b1 xb6 23.xa6 d8+ 24.e1 c5= and at the end of the complications we're left in a level ending. ] 11...axb5! The whole point. In return for the queen I'll pick up rook and bishop and an initiative. [ There was no time for cold feet 11...c7 12.a4! and there's no way to defend c5. The pins keep Black completely bound up. ] 12.axb6 xa1+ 13.d1 g5! It's important to play as actively as possible. Should White get time to castle then she'll have a clear a d va n t a ge . 14.g3 f6 15.xc5 xe4 16.xb5?! During the game I was really surprised by this move. [ I felt 16.e3 was much safer but still I quite liked my dynamic potential. I was planning something like f5 17.0-0 b4!? to keep the White knights from using c3 and therefore she would still have problems coordinating her pieces. ] 16...0-0 Now it was Irene's turn for a long think. She has a material advantage, queen and pawn for the rook and bishop, but ...Rd8 is a big threat. After the game I was very happy as my calculation around here was all sound. 17.c7!? Taking control of d8 but allowing a different tactic. [ 17.0-0 was of course the most logical and the move I needed something against when I sacrificed my queen. Here I was planning d2! ( T h e i m m e d i a t e 17...d8 835

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is also possible but 18.dc3 a5 19.xa5 xa5 20.xe4 allows White to play on.) 18.e1 d8 White is completely tied up. There's the threat of moving the knight when there's no defence of the d1 knight and it ca n't get o ut o f th e way a s e1 is undefended - one of the points behind ... Nd2. The other threat is somehow more hidden as it requires a retreating move: ... Ra5 actually traps the queen! During the game I thought the only defence to both t h r e a t s wa s 19.c7 d7 For a moment Black's pieces look uncoordinated but the t w o t h r e a t s s t i l l s t a n d . ( 19...a5? does still trap the queen but he gets two rooks for it with 20.xa5 xa5 21.xd8 ) A) Trying to run the queen with 20.f5 loses to f3+ 21.gxf3 ( 21.xf3 dxd1 wins everything.) 21...axd1 The other rook this time, and White loses at least a rook.; B) 20.g3 The knight gets out of the way leaving e2 for the queen and defending against back rank ideas as the knight can d r o p b a c k t o f 1 . d4! Followed by ... N4f3+ winning at least the exchange and a pawn. ] 17...xd1+! Now f2 isn't defended this tactic works. 18.xd1 xf2+ 19.e1 [ D u r i n g t h e g a m e I t h o u g h t 19.d2 was her last chance, so that there wouldn't be any back rank problems for White and so she could actually pick up the trapped knight. However xh1 20.c5 xb2 21.g1 f5 22.xh1 a8 is still much better for Black. Material is roughly balanced: queen versus rook, bishop and pawn but the bishop pair are very strong and the W hite king rather exposed. ] 19...xh1 20.c3 Irene plays sensibly and controls the d4 square. [ Playing the same way as in the previous va ria t io n wit h 20.c5 no longer wins the knight as g4 21.g1 a8 threatens ... Ra1+ 22.d2 xb2 and the knight still can't be taken as 23.xh1 a1 traps the queen. ] [ 20.f1 Slowly plodding the king into the corner doesn't manage to pick up the piece either as the rook quickly activates on the a file., i.e. g4 21.g1 a8 and Black's in

time. ] 20...d7 With rook, bishop and knight against queen Black should be winning but there are a couple of things Black has to be aware of. First of all, while White can't actually win the cornered knight it's not easy to bring it back into the game. Secondly W hite has some tricks utilising the advanced b6 pawn. 21.d5 e6 22.e4 [ 22.f3 was my fianceé Sue's suggestion and looks more accurate. White threatens Q f 1 b u t a g a i n a8 defends more than adequately. ] 22...a8 23.c1 a5!? I was very happy at finding this move. Black has ideas of ...Rf5 and ...Nf2 to bring the knight out. The rook also controls the d5 square and can now react to the Qxc6 ideas with ...Rb5. [ 23...a1 felt rather risky to me but the computer has no fear 24.d2 ( 24.xc6 only loses a pawn here after bxc6 25.b7 xc1+ 26.d2 g1 27.b8+ h7 ) 24...a5 would actually be very similar to the game. ] 24.d3 d5 25.g4 a1+ 26.d2 e6 27.f3 c8 Cutting out Qxc6 tricks once and for all. [ Initially I had planned 27...a5 but 28.c5 didn't seem so clear. ] 28.c1 a5 But now her knight has gone passive I can activate mine. 29.b3 Both rook and knight are actually trapped in corners but I was pleased I managed to calculate the final course of the game. [ White still doesn't have enough time to win t h e e n t o m b e d k n i g h t : 29.g3 c4+ and White lacks a good square for his king as I have lots of interesting forks available. 30.c2 ( 30.d1 g4! ) 30...f5+! 31.xf5 e3+ ] [ Objectively 29.g4 was best although here I would h ave the tricky b1 ( 29...c4+ 30.d3 xb2+ 31.c2 a3 32.e2 a4 33.xh1 a2+ would also be decisive.) 30.c2 c4! 31.d3 xg4! continuing to use the knight forks ] 29...d7 30.c2 c6 31.e3 [ 31.d3 f2 would allow the knight to escape. ] [ 31.f1 e4+ 32.b2 ( 32.d2 xb3+ ) 32...b1+ 33.a3 xc3 is also hopeless. ] 836

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.d6 xc2 20.b7 c6 21.0-0 f5 22.exf6 f7 23.ac1 c4 24.b3 xc1 25.xc1 d4 26.c8 1-0 Grischuk,ABacrot, E/FIDE GP, Dubai UAE (3.2) 2002 (26) ] [ 7...e6 8.exd6 ( 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 b7 10.a4 b4 11.e4 d5 12.c5 xc5 13.dxc5 a5 14.e3 0-0 15.d4 d7 16.h4 f6 17.h3 f5 18.xf5 exf5 19.d4 fxe5 20.fxe5 ae8 21.g3 e6 22.fe1 e7 23.c3 bxc3 24.bxc3 f4 25.g4 xe5 26.xe6+ xe6 27.xe5 g4 28.e7 f7 29.e8+ f8 30.e7 b8 31.f1 c6 32.g3 g5 33.g7+ f8 34.xf4+ 1-0 Ponomariov,R-Bareev,E/FIDE W Ch KO, Moscow RUS (5.4) 2001 (34)) 8...cxd6 9.d5 e5 10.a4 f5 11.g5 e4 12.e6 xc3+ 13.bxc3 b6 14.e2 gf6 15.axb5 b7 16.bxa6 xd5 17.d4 e7 18.e3 b2 19.b5 hb8 20.d4 xb5 21.c4 b4+ 22.c3 xc4 23.xc4 xc4 24.a4 d5 25.a7 e8 26.f2 d3 27.c4 xc4 28.a3+ e6 29.hb1 d6 30.xb5 xb5 1-0 Kosteniuk,A-Meshkov,Y/ Aeroflot Open, Moscow RUS 2002 (30) ] 8.e2 h6 9.a4! b4 10.e4 0-0 11.c3 The essence of the problem is the Black Kingside. The Bishop on g7 is very cramped. White has more space, better centralisation, ample pawn breaks and the option of e5-e6 whenever he wants to take it. In short, a 819 B06 rotten position for Black. Lobron struggles Svidler,Peter 2690 manfully to get his position together but he Lobron,Eric 2500 fights against the tide. bxc3 12.bxc3 c5 Ordix Open Mainz (4) 2002 13.0-0 c7 14.e6! f6 [ 14...fxe6 15.eg5 cxd4 ( 15...d5 [Andrew Martin] 16.xe6 xe6 17.xe6+ h8 is possibly best-still utterly uninspiring.; 15...xf3 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.f3 16.xf3 cxd4 17.xe6 xc3 18.b2 c6 b5 6.d3 d7 7.e5! b7 I believe it was 19.xf8 xf8 20.xa6+-; 15...fb8 Kotov who used to play like this with Black. I 16.xe6 c6 17.xg7 xg7 18.xe7+ am sure that he would have enjoyed a special f7 19.f5+- ) 16.xe6 xc3 17.b2 a5 pioneering feeling watching the opponent 18.xg7! xg7 and take your pick... ] grapple with new problems. In the Chessbase era one has to be more careful. Earlier in the 15.eg5 cxd4 16.exf7+ xf7 17.e6 update we saw a new interpretation of this xc3 18.b2 a5 19.fxd4 Keeping the system by Black. Lobron tries the older stuff pressure set to MAXIMUM. Naturally W hite could have taken the exchange : and gets wiped. [ 19.xf8 xf8 20.xd4 ] [ 7...c5 8.e3 b7 9.e4 c8 10.xb7 xb7 11.dxc5 dxe5 12.d5 xd5 19...fe8 20.xg7 xg7 21.e6+ g8 There can be no coming back from 13.xd5 c8 14.b6 xb6 15.cxb6 e4 22.f5+16.e5 xe5 17.fxe5 e6 18.c5 e7 here. g5 23.h4 h6 24.hxg5 hxg5 25.ae1

31...f2! It seems strange to put the knight enprise but the tactics work for me. 32.xf2 [ 32.b2 d1+ was the point and so Irene had no time to capture the rook. ] 32...e4+ 33.d2 [ 33.b2 b1+ 34.a3 xc3 is completely winning a nice point is that 35.e3 xb3+! 36.xb3 c4+ again picks up the queen. ] 33...xb3+ 34.e3 [ 34.xb3 a2+ 35.e3 xf2 36.xf2 xc3 leaves Black in a trivially winning endgame with his extra two pawns. ] 34...xc1 35.xe4 xc3 On the surface it looks like White has made progress. He has regained some material and is nominally only slightly down - rook, knight and two pawns for the queen. However the big issue is that the king on e4 is actually in very real danger. 36.a2 [ In the post-mortem we had a quick look at 36.d5 b u t B l a c k h a s a t l e a s t c6 followed by ...e7-e6+ and ...Rc6-c3 creating the same mating net. ] [ 36.e5 c5+ 37.d5 xe5 is no good either as 38.xe5 d3+ wins the queen. ] 36...e6! And Irene resigned as there's no way to prevent either ...f7-f5mate or ...Nb3-c5mate. A picturesque final position. 0-1

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e5 26.e3 h7 27.xg5 The difference between success and failure hangs on a very fine line in the Modern Defence. 1-0

820 Swiercz,Dariusz Bacrot,Etienne Schachbundesliga 2011-12 (13) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B06 2585 2705 18.03.2012

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5 This line is starting to become topical. a6 [ Previously both of us have covered 4...h6 when 5.e3 was looked at last month by Tom in Vallejo Pons, F (2716)-Maiwald, J (2459) Trier 2012 ( while 5.h4 as played against Gawain in Sukandar, I (2325)-Jones, G (2653) Queenstown 2012. )] 5.f4 Previously I wrote that this 'looks scary but W hite has to be careful to prevent his centre collapsing.' [ W h i l e G a w a i n a l s o l o o k e d a t 5.d2 and actually gave a game of Bacrot's. I've copied in the analysis from last time for completeness. b5 6.a4 ( 6.f4 was seen in the messy Shabalov, A (2590) -Burnett, R (2440) CCA Vermont Open, Stratton Mountain USA 2003 looked at by Andrew Martin in the archives.) 6...b4 7.ce2 d7!? 8.h4 ( Grabbing the pawn looks dubious 8.xb4 c5 9.c3 gf6 10.f3 0-0 gives Black a lead in development, while White's pieces are pretty tangled up and so full compensation for the pawn.) 8...gf6 9.g3 c5 10.c3 h6 11.e3 bxc3 12.bxc3 g4 and the top French GM had grabbed the bishop pair and was already for preference. Spoelman, W (2424)-Bacrot, E (2700) Wijk aan Zee 2008. ] [ while 5.f3 is a slower, more classical setup. Generally I'm not afraid of these positions when W hite can't play f4 but he may have a small edge. It certainly worked out very well for him in Frolyanov, D (2525) -Azmaiparashvili, Z (2632) Dresden 2007, examined by John Watson. ] 5...b5 The logical continuation for Black but he has tried a couple of other tries. [ 5...c6 putting immediate pressure on d4

i s b e t t e r t h a n i t l o o k s . 6.d5 ( 6.f3 is also possible but Black can force d5 with g4 when 7.d5 d4 8.d3 xf3 9.gxf3 c5 was roughly balanced in Naes, F (2337)Eriksson, J (2414) Klaksvik 2003.) 6...d4 7.d2 c5 8.d1!? preparing to force the knight backwards was seen in Hodgson, J (2595)-McShane, L (2490) Southend 2001. The computer recommends throwing in f6! 9.h4 before playing f5 with the idea that 10.c3 ( 10.exf5 xf5 11.f2 f6 i s e x t r e m e l y c o m f o r t a b l e f o r B l a c k .) 10...fxe4! 11.cxd4 cxd4 gives Black great compensation for the piece. The pawns dominate White's pieces and make it tricky for him to develop. ] [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 5...c5 is also possible: 6.dxc5 a5 7.d2 xc3!? Reaching a good version of a so called Sniper style position - Black regains his pawn on c5! ( It's also possible to play while keeping the bishop with 7...xc5 Normally this is scary because of Nd5 and Be3 ideas but here the f4 pawn gets in the way.) 8.xc3 xc3+ 9.bxc3 dxc5 10.f3 f6 11.d2!? e6?! Pavlov, M (2364)-Vajda, L (2541) Baile Tusnad 2005 when White should have tried exploiting Black's last with 12.b1 b5 13.c4! with an advantage. ] 6.f3 b7 [ 6...d7!? is an interesting move order, with the point 7.d3 ( 7.a4 is an attempt to exploit the loose rook b4 8.d5 c5?! At this point I feel Black really should start de ve lo p in g so m e p ie ce s, 9.c4 b7 Chatalbashev, B (2581)-Foisor, S (2359) Ascona 2007 10.e5! is starting to look very dangerous; 7.e5!? would be the most accurate if White is intent on reaching the same position as in the game. Here 7...Bb7 8.Bd3 would transpose so Andrew Martin tried f6 against Alexander Shabalov in Ga u sd a l 1 9 9 1 8.h4 h6 9.d3 0-0 10.e2 c5 when 11.e4 b8 12.0-0 lo o ks li k e a p l e a s a n t e d g e .) 7...c5! One game continued: 8.e5!? cxd4 9.e4 a5+ when White gambled with 10.f2?! which ultimately proved successful in Docx, S (2384)-Gryson, W (2145) Gent 2009 but p ro b a b ly sh o u ld n 't h a ve b e e n . ( Instead 10.ed2 looks safer with reasonable 838

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 compensation for the two pawns after dxe5 11.fxe5 xe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.0-0 )] 7.d3 d7 8.e5 Last time I gave this move an exclamation mark and it certainly gives Black problems c5 [ I suggested 8...f6 might be Black's best try A) R e l e a s i n g t h e t e n s i o n w i t h 9.exf6 doesn't look so threatening exf6 10.h4 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.f5!? g5 13.g3 b6 and Black has a respectable position, Rudolf, A (2207)-Zakar, D (1954) Balatonlelle 2005.; B) 9.e2!? is an intriguing sacrifice that could be critical: B1) 9...dxe5 10.fxe5 xf3 ( or 10...fxg5 11.xg5 ) 11.xf3 fxg5 12.c6 both look very dangerous too; B2) 9...fxg5 10.xg5 f8 Otherwise White can play 11.Nxh7 11.xb5+ axb5 12.xb5+ c6 13.xb7 with three pawns for the piece and what looks a promising position.; C) 9.h4 h6 10.e2 ( Of course 10.0-0 is a viable alternative.) 10...0-0 11.0-0-0 b4 12.e4 d5?! A horribly antipositional move ( 12...b6 looks more in the spirit of Black's opening.) 13.c5 xc5 14.dxc5 c6 15.d4 a5 Sermek, D (2517)-Thiede, L (2390) Bled 2000 and here W hite could have m a i n t a i n e d c o n t r o l w i t h 16.b1 with a clear advantage. ] 9.e4 xe4 Logical but as the course of the game proves Black is in need of improvements. [ Perhaps he could try 9...b8!? when White can force a slightly better queenless middlegame with 10.dxc5 ( 10.xb7 xb7 11.0-0 is also possible but at least Black won't get mated in the opening.) 10...xc5 11.xb7 xb7 12.d5 xd5 13.xd5 c8 14.0-0-0 but at least Black's still on the board. ] 10.xe4 And here Gawain wrote: '(This) se em s t o f a vo u r W h ite .' B lack ha s t o d o something or else W hite's extra space will give him a very pleasant game'. Perhaps Bacrot didn't read his ChessPublishing? a5+ [ 10...b6 is also possible although 11.dxc5 ( 11.xe7!? is interesting but it's hardly ne c e ss a ry.) 11...xc5 12.d5 is pretty

unpleasant. ] 11.c3 Sensibly blocking the check. [ A p r e v i o u s g a m e c o n t i n u e d 11.f2?! which is hardly necessary and hands Black some counterplay after cxd4 12.exd6 f5! W in a n t s, L (2 5 1 9 ) -H a u s ra t h , D (2 4 7 8 ) Belgium 2004 ] 11...cxd4 12.xd4 Recapturing the pawn turns out to be a novelty but in truth W hite has at least three options which grant him the better chances. [ 12.e6!? was played in a previous game t h a t g o t t h i s f a r fxe6 ( The computer suggests sacrificing the piece with 12...f5!? 13.exd7+ xd7 but the counter sacrifice 14.xd6!? exd6 15.b3 looks very dangerous.) 13.xd4 f8? A losing error. ( 13...b6 should have been played when Black gets to exchange queens after 14.xe6 e3+ 15.e2 xe2+ 16.xe2 although White still has some advantage.) 14.xe7! Kanep is sharp-eyed and doesn't miss the opportunity. xe7 ( 14...xe7? 15.c6+ ) 15.xd6+ d7 16.6f5! With the threat of 17.Nb3+. White regains the material with interest and an ongoing attack. Kanep, M (2452) -Mista, A (2510) Hallsberg 2004. ] [ 12.xd4 is also possible as dxe5 allows 13.xe7! exd4 ( 13...xe7? 14.d6+ f8 15.b3 is mating ) 14.b4 c7 15.d6+ d8 16.xf7+ c8 and White will pick up the exchange with what should be the better game although it is rather messy. ] 12...dxe5 [ Perhaps 12...c7 was the better of the two evils but 13.0-0-0 is obviously very pleasant for White ( White can even consider 13.xe7!? here too ) 13...dxe5 14.fxe5 xe5 15.c5 with a fantastic initiative. ] 13.d5 Initially I thought this a mistake but in fact this is still fine. [ However the simple 13.fxe5 would be very strong d8 ( 13...b6 14.e3 would leave Black grave problems unravelling.) 14.xe7! Again this shot turns out to be very strong. xe7 ( 14...xe7 15.0-0-0 with a decisive attack. ) 15.d6+ f8 16.b7 c7 17.xd8 xd8 18.0-0-0 e8 19.d6 and Black is completely tied up. ] 13...d8 14.0-0-0?! But this throws away a lot 839

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 of the advantage. [ 14.xe7! The piece sac we've already seen a few times in the notes would again have been very strong. xe7 15.xe5 xe5 ( 15...xe5 seems losing too, e.g: 16.c5+ e8 17.fxe5 a4 18.c6+ f8 19.0-0 h6 20.c7 a8 21.ad1 ) 16.fxe5 b6 ( 16...c7 looks losing, e.g. 17.d6 h6 18.f1! hf8 19.0-0-0 f5 20.xf5! gxf5 21.xf5+ e8 22.e6 e5 23.xd8+ xd8 24.xd8+ xd8 25.e7+ e8 26.exf8+ xf8 with a winning endgame. ) 17.0-0-0 and Black's position looks extremely precarious, for example: e6 18.d4 h6 19.b4+ e8 20.d6! xe5 21.e1 winning material. ] 14...gf6? And Black errs in turn. [ B a c r o t h a d t o f i n d 14...c7! when he seems to be holding on: A) 15.fxe5 xe5 ( The unnatural 15...xe5 lo o k s wo rs e 16.xe5 xe5 17.c5 xc5 18.xc5 and White will g a i n b a c k t h e p a w n w i t h a n e d g e .) 16.xd8+ xd8 17.xd8+ xd8 18.d1+ c8 19.c5 Again White will ga in b a c k t h e p a wn b u t wi t h a wo rs e structure than previously and so Black shouldn't have any problems.; B) 15.d6+!? xd6 16.xd6 exd6 17.xd8 xd8 18.xd6 c7 looks ok for Black; C) 15.he1 feels critical when the pressure on Black's position looks cru s h in g bu t t h e silico n b e ast cla im s equality with gf6 And here C1) Instead 16.xf6 looks simply to draw xf6 ( Not 16...xf6 17.xd8+ xd8 18.xd8+ xd8 19.eg5! with a p leasant position .) 17.fxe5 ( 17.xf6+ exf6 18.fxe5 xe5= ) 17...xe5 18.xf6+ exf6 19.xd8+ xd8 20.xd8+ xd8 21.xe5 fxe5 22.xe5 with a drawn endgame.; C2) 16.xf6+ looks the most testing to me xf6 17.fxe5 xe5 18.xd8+ xd8 19.xd8+ xd8 20.xe5 xe5 21.xe5 e8 22.e3 and White's two pieces look superior to the rook and pawn but the computer's not convinced. ] 15.xf6! xf6 [ 15...xf6 was also losing to the simple

16.xf6+ xf6 17.c6+ f8 18.fxe5 when Black has a dire position. ] 16.c6?! Pinning the knight to prevent Black from castling but an error. [ Here 16.fxe5! was simply winning A) 16...g7 17.e6 e5 ( 17...fxe6 18.d6+! f8 19.xe6 with forced mate ) 18.exf7+ xf7 19.c6+ f8 20.c5 g8 21.xd8+ xd8 22.d1 with an obvious overwhelming attack.; B) 16...xe5 17.xf6+ exf6 18.c5! and Black cannot get his king to safety or bring his queen back and so is simply lost. Perhaps Swiercz overlooked the f inal move. ] 16...b4 Bacrot attempts some counterplay and, at the same time, prevents White's threat of 17.Nc5 [ 16...b6 was also possible although the endgame after 17.xb6 xb6 18.xd8+ xd8 19.fxe5 g7 favours White as the bishop is passive and the f7 pawn rather vulnerable. ] [ Bacrot could also have tried sacrificing the piece with 16...xa2 although he shouldn't have enough compensation following 17.c5 0-0 18.xd7 exf4 19.d5 ] 17.fxe5 A move late. The tactics end up in White winning Black's queen but grants Black good drawing chances. [ 17.xd7 xd7 18.c5 c7 19.xd7+ xd7 20.xd7 xd7 21.fxe5 g7 22.cxb4 c8+ doesn't look like so much for White ] [ But 17.he1! increasing the pressure on Black's position looks very strong. Black's best is probably to sacrifice the knight with 0-0 although again Black doesn't have sufficient compensation following ( 17...g7 18.xe5; and 17...bxc3 18.fxe5! cxb2+ 19.b1 both look very good for W hite) 18.xd7 xd7 19.xd7 bxc3 20.xc3 exf4 21.c6 ] 17...xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.d6+ exd6 Giving up the queen is necessary. [ as 19...f8 20.b7 g7 ( or 20...b8 21.xd7 ) 21.xd8 xd8 22.d5! should be winning as Black has no way out o f t h e p i n . ( White should definitely avoid 22.xd7? when g5+ followed by a check on the light squares will pick up the rook. )] 840

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.he1 0-0 21.xe5 xe5 22.xa6 bxc3 So W hite has won material (queen for rook and knight) but Black has managed to get his king to safety and, with a strong knight on e5, can attempt some counterplay against W h i t e ' s s l i g h t l y l o o s e k i n g . 23.bxc3?! But this throws away most of W hite's advantage. [ Instead 23.b3! was much stronger. Not o n l y d o e s W h i t e n o w h a ve c o n n e c t e d passed pawns but his king is also much safer blocked by the enemy pawn. I imagine Swiercz was scared of the potential of the Black pawns but in fact Bacrot wouldn't be able to hold onto his d pawn as d5 24.b5 pins the pawn to the knight. ] 23...c8 24.xd6 xc3+ 25.b1 e3 26.c7 g7 27.a4 a8 28.a5?! After this the momentum switches to Black. [ 28.d5 would have maintained some chances but it's tricky to convert with such an open king ] 28...b3+ 29.c2 b5 30.a1 a6 31.d1 d5+ Bacrot is happy to draw. [ I n f a c t , h a d h e s t a r t e d w i t h 31...c6 W h i t e wo u l d h a ve b e e n f o r c e d o n t h e defensive, e.g. 32.d8 f6! 33.d4 c6 34.c4 bf5 when Black will pick up the a pawn and can then try pressing risk-free as 35.c3 ( 35.a6? f1+ wins t he roo k) 35...d5+ 36.e2 e5+ 37.d1 d6+ 38.c1 d4 is too dangerous. ] 32.e1 c6 33.b7 e5+ 34.f2 Here a draw was agreed as the a pawn is dropping when White won't be able to make any progress. White was almost winning from the opening and we stand by Gawain's previous statement that Black needs to come up with improvements to 8. ..c5 and perhaps even earlier. ½-½

821 Szalanczy,Emil Davies,Nigel R Liechtenstein [Nigel Davies]

B06

1993

5.Qd2 is the consistent approach with White hoping to exploit his lead in development

should Black proceed with the scheduled queenside advance. This tends to lead to razor sharp games, with Black often fulfilling his positional objectives but lagging behind in development. Not a line for the feint-hearted! 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 5.d2 d7 [ After the immediate 5...b5 6.a4 b4 7.d1 Black has to def end his b-pawn with a5 . By first playing 5...Nd7, Black prepares to defend it with a later ...Rb8. ] 6.f3 The trendy way to play it for White. [ After the old plan of 6.f3 b5 7.a4 b4 8.d1 Black gets a good game with ( 8.d5 c5 9.dxc5 dxc5 10.f4 a7 11.0-0-0 e6 12.e3 xb2+ 13.xb2 f6+ 14.b1 xf4 won a pawn for insufficient compensation in Roobol - Davies, Haarlem 2001 ) 8...b8 9.h3 ( 9.a5 c5 10.e2 c7 11.f2 gf6 12.c3 bxc3 13.bxc3 0-0 was also excellent for Black in Yilmaz Davies, Haifa 1989) 9...c5 10.a5 cxd4 11.xd4 gf6 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0 c7 as in Chandler - Davies, Hastings 1987-88 ] 6...b5 7.a4 b4 8.e2 [ 8.d5 can be met actively with gf6 ( 8...a5 is more cautious) 9.xb4 xe4 10.a5 a7 11.b4 b7 12.b5 a8 1/2-1/2 Barczay,L - Davies, Budapest 1987. White's moves look forcing but they are not making much of an impression. In the final position Black is better. ] 8...b8 9.g3 c5 10.d3 cxd4 11.xd4 c7 Getting a kind of Sicilian in which White's pieces are not marvellously placed. Black can play more solid ly th an I do in this game . 12.0-0 h5!? 13.fc1 h4 14.ge2 gf6 15.c3 b3 16.f3 d5!? 17.exd5 xd5 18.e1 e5 19.f2 0-0 Trapping the knight on d4. White gets a couple of pawns for it, but it was never going to be enough until I blunder. 20.xb3 xb3 21.xg6 7f6 22.b1 b7 23.xh4 xb2 24.g5 h7 25.c1 e6 26.d3 c8?? Letting White back into the game. I had completely missed the reply. 27.xa6! xa6 28.xb2 e4 29.fxe4 xc3 30.xc3 xc3 31.b5 a8 32.a5 xa1 33.xa1 xe4 34.f2 d5 35.f1 g5 36.e1 f3+! 37.gxf3 xf3 38.g3 h1+ 39.f2 c2+ 40.e3 e4# 0-1 841

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 822 Thimm,Torsten Berelowitsch,Alexander 19th Muensterland Open (1) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2540 2002

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 a6 5.e3 b5 6.a3 Meek. Black is immediately O K a f t e r a t im i d m o ve s u ch a s t h i s a n d Berelovich will show how dynamic his counterplay can become. Instead, White must continue developing rapidly :. [ 6.d3 d7 ( 6...b7 7.a4 b4 8.e2 f6 9.g3 h5 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5 g4 12.e6 f5 13.h4 e5 14.f4 d5 15.0-0 bc6 16.e4 xe6 17.d5 d6 18.hxf5 gxf5 19.xf5 f6 20.xg7+ xg7 21.xe5 xe5 22.e1 g7 23.f3 d8 24.xh5+ f8 25.f3+ f6 26.e3 xf3 27.xf3+ g7 28.g3+ f6 29.g6+ f5 30.g4+ f4 31.g7 e5 32.xe7 f3+ 33.g2 xh5 34.gxh5 g8+ 35.f1 g1+ 36.e2 xa1 37.f7+ g5 38.g7+ f4 39.f7+ e5 40.xc7 e4 41.e7+ f4 0-1 Shirov,A-Azmaiparashvili,Z/FIDE GP, Dubai UAE (3.2) 2002 (41)) 7.a4 b4 8.e2 gf6 9.d2 ( 9.c3 b7 10.g3 h5 11.g5 c5 12.0-0 cxd4 13.cxd4 a5 14.e1 0-0 15.d2 ab8 16.h3 e6 17.c1 fd8 18.b3 a8 19.c4 h4 20.xh4 d5 21.xb4 xb4 22.xb4 xb4 23.xb4 dxe4 24.a5 b8 25.xe4 xe4 26.xe4 xb2 27.b1 a2 28.c6 c2 29.xd7 xd7 30.f3 a2 31.b4 f8 32.b7 a1+ 33.h2 xa4 34.d8 d6+ 35.g3 f8 36.g5 b4 37.a7 b8 38.xa6 xd4 39.f6 b4 40.g2 d7 41.c3 b3 42.c6 e5 43.h4 f8 44.g4 e7 45.h5 gxh5 46.gxh5 a7 47.h6 b8 48.h7 h8 49.b4+ 1-0 Svidler,P-Piket,J/ Eurotel Trophy, Prague CZE (1.2) 2002 (49)) 9...b8 10.h6 xh6 11.xh6 b7 12.g3 c5 13.0-0 cxd4 14.xd4 b6 15.b3 c5 16.a5 c7 17.g7 e6 18.h6 g4 19.d2 e5 20.f4 c4 21.c1 d5 22.f5 c5 23.exd5 xd5 24.fxg6 hxg6 25.g5 xd3 26.xd5 a7+ 27.d4 de5 28.c3 d8 29.e4 f5 30.e2 xd4 31.cxd4 xd4+ 32.f2 e3 33.fd1 d3 34.f1 f4 35.xe3 fxe3 36.e2 f4 37.xa6

e4 38.c8+ f7 39.g4 e2 40.e1 g7 41.f3 e5 42.g3 h3+ 43.g2 f8 44.xe2 g5 45.e3 d5+ 46.e4 f2+ 47.xf2 xe4+ 48.xh3 g5 49.a6 d4 50.g2 d5+ 51.g1 1-0 Shirov,AAzmaiparashvili,Z/FIDE GP, Dubai UAE (3. 4) 2002 (51) ] 6...b7 7.d3 d7 8.d2 c5! The thematic counterstrike. 9.0-0 cxd4 10.xd4 gf6 B la ck h a s o b t a in e d a ve ry go o d S ic ilia n Dragon-type position with White's Bishop on Be3 misplaced. This game is such a good illustration of how: a) the stronger player can avoid early theoretical complications to obtain a sharp, interesting position b) How easy it is for White to stray into a poor position just by playing 'natural' moves. Against an early and very provocative ... a7-a6 from Black if White wants anything he must play very specifically indeed. 11.f3 0-0 12.ad1 c7 13.f2 e5 14.de2 c6 If nothing else Black will push on with ...Rab8,...a5,...b4 etc 15.g4? A sign of desperation-I don't think Thimm could see a plan so he lashed out. Naturally this is misguided. W hite's position is by no means lost-he has to make a mental readjustment though. Possibly just Kh1,Qh4 and Bh6 was called for ,hoping for f4-f5 at some stage. 15 g4 is silly and Berelovich is on it in a flash. d5! 16.g5 dxe4! 17.gxf6 xf3+ 18.xf3 exf3 19.fxg7 fd8 20.g3 f5 It's not the quantity of pieces that count, it's the quality. I daresay Berelovich saw this position before 15.. .d5 and went for it! The pawn on f3 is worth at least a piece and the other little babies are about to join the show 21.h6 e5 22.de1 f6 23.a4 h4 24.d2 f4-+ 25.f2 fxg3 26.hxg3 xg3+ 27.f1 h3+ 28.g1 d4 29.e4 xe4 30.xe4 [ 30.xe4 g4+ ] 30...xe4 31.xe4 g4+ 0-1

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B06 11...xb7 12.xb7 a6 13.f3! [ 13.f3?! as was played in Sinowjew Thipsay,Praveen Mahadeo 2505 Finkel, Budapest ,1993 is weaker in view of Koshy,Varugeese 2415 c5! and the Queen has no good squares India 1994 to retreat . 14.b4 xb7 15.bxa5 fc8!? [Alexander Volzhin] and Black has excellent compensation as all W hite's pawns are very weak. ( Simple 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 This move 15...xa5 was not bad either. )] o r d e r i s v e r y p o p u l a r n o w a d a y s . 4.c4 13...ad8 14.e2 The only move again. Preventing 4...d7-d5. [ 14.h3?! c5 15.b4?? d3+ 16.xd3 [ After both 4.f3 d5 ] xe5+-+ ] [ and 4.f4 d5 Black can transpose to the [ 14.e2? c5! 15.b4 d3+ 16.xd3 Caro Kann. ] xe5+-+ ] 4...d6 [ Black can try 4...d5?! nevertheless, but this 14...c5 15.0-0! An important improvement. [ 15.b4?! as was played before didn't help move is quite dubious: 5.exd5 b5 6.b3 b4 White: a4! 16.0-0 (the only move) b3 7.ce2 cxd5 8.d2! Immediately exploiting 17.b1 xc1! 18.bxc1 xe5 and despite the weakness of Black's Q-side pawns. being a pawn up White has to think about A) 8...a6 is hardly an improvement. It equalising as all his Q-side pawns are weak was played in Sorokin - Poley, Katowice, and Black's dark-squared Bishop is very 1992: 9.a3 bxa3 10.xa3 c7 11.a5 strong. ] e6 12.d2 d7 13.f3 e7 14.e5 16.axb3! This is the idea behind 0-0 a n d n o w t h e s i m p l e 15.0-0 15...b3 ( instead of the dubious 15.h4 gave White W h i t e ' s p r e v i o u s m o v e . T h e e x c h a n g e a huge positional advantage as the a7- sacrifice is the only way to get an edge. [ After 16.b1?! xa2 17.g5 d2 pawn is very weak. ); 18.xd2 xd2 Black's chances are by no B) 8...a5 9.a3! bxa3 10.xa3 e6 means worse, to say the least. ] 11.a4+ d7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.xa5 xa5 14.xa5 c6 15.c3 and White 16...xa1 17.d4 Now the forcing sequence had won a pawn for nothing, Dreev - B. i s o v e r a n d i t s t i m e t o e v a l u a t e i t ' s consequences. There is approximate material Schneider, EUCup, 1991. ] equality on the board but White's chances are 5.f3 f6?! A dubious move. clearly better. Black's Rooks have no files for [ 5...e6 is the normal continuation. ] 6.e5! Only by playing this active continuation penetration and the Bishop on g7 is also restricted. a6 can White hope for an advantage. [ 17...xe5? 18.c6+- ] [ 6.ge2?! e5 7.0-0 0-0 8.g5 bd7 18.f4 d7 19.h3 fd8?! This tactical and Black has at least equal chances. ] 6...dxe5 7.dxe5 d5 8.xd5 cxd5 9.xd5 mistake allows white to win the exchange 0-0 White has won a pawn but is slightly back. [ 19...b6 was better. White can play lagging in development. The evaluation of this 20.a1!? intending b4-b5, Ra6. ] p o s it io n h a s c h a n ge d m a n y t im e s b u t i s c8 21.e6! fxe6 22.b8! c u r r e n t l y i n W h i t e ' s f a v o u r . 10.xb7! 20.c6 Grabbing the second pawn is the best solution Definitely Black had overlooked this move but in his defence it's not easy to foresee the here. [ After 10.f4 c7! Black has good chances, Knight is able to skip such a long way off! for example: 11.e6 xc2 12.exf7+ h8 xb8 23.xb8 b7 24.e3! [ The queen swap makes Black's defence 13.e2 xb2 14.d1 c6! 15.h4! easier: 24.xb7?! xb7 25.f4 xb3 with a messy position. ] 26.c1 a5 27.d1 a4 and Black is by no 10...a5+ 11.c3 means hopeless. The tempting 28.d8+?! [ 11.d2? is bad in view of xe5+ 12.e2 f7 29.a8 leads to a forced draw after xb2 13.xa8 xa1+ and Black is much xc3! 30.bxc3 b1 ] better. ] 823

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24...xb3 25.xa7 f7 26.e1?! [ I would prefer 26.f3+ f6 27.e3 xb2 28.c4 with a huge edge. ] 26...e5 27.b6 f6 [ After 27...xb2 28.c4 it's very difficult to stop the c-pawn. ] 28.e2 d1+ 29.h2 b1 30.c7?! [ 30.e4!? was better: xb2 31.xb2 xb2 32.b4 with the c-pawn march to follow, W h i t e h a s a c l e a r a d va n t a g e . I t g o e s without saying that after a rook swap Black can't exchange queens as the bishop ending is hopeless. ] 30...d1? [ Black could have exploited White's inaccuracies by playing the simple 30...xb2! and White has only a tiny edge. ] 31.g3! Now the game is over. [ Black missed the text hoping for 31.xe5? h4! 32.f4+ e8! and White hardly has more than a perpetual: 33.xh4 xe2 34.a4+ d8 35.a8+ d7 36.a4+ d8 ] 31...h5 32.xe5 g5 [ 32...h4+ didn't help either: 33.f4 g5+ 34.e4 xe5 35.xe5 and White's King is in safety in the center of the board! ] 33.f3+ g8 34.h4 1-0

824 Tirard,Hugo Bauer,Christian TOP 16 GpA Vandoeuvre FRA (3) [Gawain Jones]

B06 2451 2607 28.03.2010

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 a6!? Minasian and Chernysov both play this very frequently and Bauer is also happy to give it a whirl sometimes. I see Australian IM Alex Wohl has started playing it too. Black's idea becomes very evident in this game he wants to delay d6 and concentrate on his queenside play. 4.e3 The most popular move trying to develop some sort of 150 Attack. W hite has tried numerous moves here [ 4.h4!? was looked at by Andy Martin in the archives d5 This is another reason to delay d6. A) 5.xd5 c6 6.e3 xd4 7.d3

( 7.xd4 xd4 8.h5 was played in Motylev-Chernyshov in the archives and I presume Tseshkovsky was happy to play this queenless middlegame.) 7...b5 ( 7...b4+!? is interesting with the idea that 8.c3 xc3+ 9.bxc3 xc3+ 10.d2 xa1 picks up the exchange.) 8.h5 d7 9.f3 d6 10.a4 b7 11.g4 gxh5 12.xh5 xb2 13.xb2 b4+ 14.f1 xb2 15.e5 was a completely crazy position and thus surely a success in Naiditsch, A-Tseshkovsky, V Mosco w 2005.; B) 5.e5 c5 Now the position resembles a Caro-Kann. 6.dxc5 d4 7.a4 a5+ 8.c3 dxc3 9.bxc3?! optimistic but this backfires ( 9.xc3 was necessary) 9...d7 10.b6 xc3+ 11.d2 ( 11.d2 xe5+ 12.e2 xa1 13.xa1 xa1 14.xa8 is simply a pawn up for Black.) 11...xa1 12.f4!? A good practical decision but Black should be completely winning. Cao SangBauer, C Dresden 2007. ] [ 4.f4 Is another critical try, with chances to transpose to an Austrian Attack. b5 ( 4...d6 would transpose to Tiger's Modern Austrian Attack. ) 5.f3 A) 5...b4 6.e2 b7 ( 6...d5!? looks fun ) 7.g3 h5 8.d3 h4 9.f1 e6 10.e2 was a strange hypermodern position. White has been playing sensibly in the centre while Black has pushed his wing pawns! However it's not so clear that B l a c k i s a c t u a l l y wo r se . S m i r n o v , P Chernyshov, K Moscow 2007.; B) 5...b7 6.d3 c6 7.e3 f6 8.e5 g4 9.d2 d6 10.h3 h6 11.0-0 0-0 12.e3 b4 and Black's unorthodox opening play had at least granted him some good squares for his knights while he can try to dismantle White's mammoth centre, Neiman, E-Bauer, C France 2007. ] [ 4.f3 d6 again would be a Classical Modern which I don't think should worry Black much. ] [ 4.a4 has been played quite often, cutting o u t t h e . . . b 5 i d e a s . d6 ( 4...b6 I don't believe in this move. As a rule of thumb, I'm happy to play Hippo structures once White has played Nf3 but if White can 844

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 play a swift f4-f5 then I think it's very risky. 5.f4 b7 6.f3 e6 7.d3 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.f5 and I would start to feel uneasy about White's position although Black's still doing ok and actually went on to win. Ivanov, AMoskvin, V Internet 2006.) 5.f3 ( 5.c4 c6 6.ge2 f6 7.g5 h6 8.h4 0-0 9.0-0 xe4! 10.xe4 d5 11.xd5 xd5 and Black had taken the upper hand Congiu, M-Bauer, C Vandoeuvre 2008.) 5...d7 6.e2 c5 ( Playing a Hippo setup with 6...b6 makes sense here as there's no f4 break.) 7.d5 gf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.a5 e8 10.f4 b5 11.axb6 xb6 12.a2 was a favourable version of a Benoni or Benko for White as he's traded his a pawn rather than his c. Black's position should be ok but after g4 13.d2 ge5 14.e3 he found his knight was in danger of being trapped and thus f6 was necessary when White had the easier game. Graf, C-Wohl, A Bad Wiessee 2009. ] [ 4.g4 is a strange looking move but was played in a high power game. That continued: b5 5.f3 b7 6.d3 d6 7.e3 d7 8.e5?! White's moves have been strange already but this coupled with 4.g4 really doesn't work c5 9.e6 A) Here 9...cxd4! would have been very strong 10.exf7+ ( 10.exd7+ xd7 and Black regains the piece.) 10...xf7 11.g5+ e8 12.e6 xh1! 13.xd8 xd8 14.xd4 xd4 15.xg6+ hxg6 16.xd4 e5 17.0-0-0 f3 and Black has consolidated his extra material.; B) 9...fxe6 10.g5 xd4 ( 10...xh1 11.xe6 c8 12.xg7+ f7 and I'm sceptical that White has anything like enough compensation for the rook.) 11.xe6 xc3+ 12.bxc3 c8 13.0-0 gf6 14.e2 d5 and apparently they agreed a draw although White looks totally lost to me. 1/2-1/2 Mamedyarov, SMinasian, A/Istanbul 2003. ] 4...b5 [ 4...d6 transposes to a normal position which will be examined in the next couple of games. Bauer has played this in the past but this time goes for a more tricky idea. That game continued 5.d2 b5 Tiger prefers playing 5... Nd7 first in his book 6.a4 b4

7.d1 a5 8.c3 f6 9.f3 bxc3 10.bxc3 0-0 11.d3 e5 deviating from Tiger's 11... c5 or 11...Nbd7. 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.c4 bd7 14.b2 e7 15.d3 d8 16.c2 b6 17.b5 h5 18.e2 e6 19.c5 g5 20.g4 h4+ 21.f2 f6 22.gxh5 xf3 23.g3 c4 gave Black good co m pe n sat io n f or t he p ie ce in a h igh ly un cle ar p o sit io n Ku rm a n n, O -B au e r, C Switzerland 2010. ] 5.d2 b7 6.d3 f6 7.h6 Sacrificing the e4 pawn is the most ambitious setup. [ 7.f3 would make sense to me. After 0-0 8.ge2 d6 The position feels a little like a Samisch Kings Indian. ] [ Generally White would prefer not to have to play 7.a3 and after d6 this is definitely a n o n c r i t i c a l li n e f o r B l a c k. I n f a c t , t h e position is the same as Dominguez PerezKramnik except with the bishop developed on g7 rather than knight on d7 which doesn't change the evaluation. ] 7...xh6 8.xh6 b4 So Black picks up the e4 pawn and W hite has to decide the best way to get compensation. 9.d5 [ 9.ce2 xe4 10.xe4 xe4 11.f3 is another way to play f or W hite with reasonable compensation as it'll take a while to develop Black's pieces and there's no way completely secure for his king. ( White can retrieve his pawn with 11.g7 f8 12.xh7 but the central pawn should be worth more than the respective h pawn. )] 9...xd5 10.exd5 xd5 11.h3! A very strong move. g2 is poisoned. e6 [ 11...xg2? cannot be recommended 12.g7! f8 13.g5 xh1 14.xh7 d5 15.xf8+ d7 16.xf7 and Black's position has collapsed. ] 12.g7?! It was important to keep the queen on h6 to control g5. [ 12.0-0 would keep White with good compensation as it's still not so easy to see how best to develop Black's forces. f6 13.c3 bxc3 14.bxc3 d6 15.fe1 d7 would probably be my pick with an intriguing battle in prospect. Black remains a pawn up but still can't quite complete his development so White has good chances to attack. ] [ 12.f4 immediately is also possible b7 845

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 12...e7 13.xd5 exd5+ 14.f1 lo o k s e x t r e m e ly d a n ge ro u s f o r B l a c k .) 13.xg6!? f6! 14.f4 xf4 15.xf4 c6 16.c3 is roughly level. ] 12...f8 13.f4 g5! Now we see why the queen should have stayed on h6. 14.xd5 xd5 15.0-0 c6 16.xh7?! This changes the position from a rough balance to a clear edge for Black. [ 16.c3 should have been preferred ] 16...xd4 17.xg6 This was presumably the reason White took on h7 but Black can safely ignore the bishop. xb2! [ O f c o u r s e n o t 17...fxg6? 18.ad1! winning the queen as d7's on. ] 18.h5 f6 so Black is still a pawn up. White's lost his centre and given open lines for Black to attack down on the kingside. It's clear that the last few moves have been a disaster for White. 19.e4 h8 20.e2 d5 21.e3 d4 22.d3 c5 Black grabs space in the centre. Look at the 'octopus' on d4! Meanwhile Bauer decides his king is safe on e8. 23.fd1 h4 24.a3 c4 25.f1 xc2 another pawn drops. W hite gets a couple checks but it's not threatening, the king can r u n t o g 7 . 26.c5 d8 27.ac1 b3 Three connected passed pawns is not a good omen for White... 28.g3 d4 29.c6+ f8 30.xa6 g7 31.b6 a8 32.xd4 xd4 33.b7 xa3 34.h3 a7 35.b5 b2 An interesting game and a success for Black although White had good compensation for the pawn before 12. Qg7?!. Nevertheless, I don't see a good way that White can exploit Black's unusual move order and it makes sense to try this as a way to confuse lower rated opponents. 0-1

825 Topalov,Veselin Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar XXIII Rapid Open rapid (5) [John Watson]

B06 2777 2742 02.08.2008

Another Pirc/Modern Defence at the very top levels! W ell, it's really a Modern, and Mamedyarov may well have kept it in that opening depending upon what Topalov did.

Still, we'll take what we can get. Topalov himself is one of the few top players to use the Pirc/Modern - See this month's game. And do you remember his classic game versus Kasparov in W ijk aan Zee 1999, one of the most brilliant of all time? If not, you should look it up! 1.d4 g6 2.f3 g7 3.e4 d6 4.c4 f6 This is a kind of hybrid Pirc/ Modern, although Black loses some opportunities without White's knight on c3 (it's easier for White to defend d4, for one thing). [ 4...c6 is a typical Modern defence option. ] [ and 4...c5 has done reasonably well over the years, with the idea 5.dxc5 ( 5.c3 ) 5...a5+ when 6.c3 xc5 . In an old game Minic-Timman, plat went 7.b3 e6 8.e3 c7 , and now 9.a3 gives White quite a de velo p me n t al lea d to com p e nsa t e f o r Black's central majority. ] 5.e2 This system used to be relatively more popular. In their old Modern Defence book, Keene and Botterill devoted 8 pages to the setup. I'll fold in some of the older theory. [ 5.c3 is a Pirc proper = 1..d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Bc4, etc. ] 5...0-0 Maybe Black should strike back more quickly: a) [ 5...c6 is interesting, with the idea ...Bg4: 6.e5!? ( 6.h3 d5!? 7.exd5 xd5 8.0-0 is double-edged; 6.c3 g4 7.e3 with the idea 0-0-0 may keep an edge, in part because xe4 8.xf7+ xf7 9.xe4 seems to favour White.) 6...dxe5 7.dxe5 g4 and Black is close to equality, in view of 8.b5 ( 8.f4 d4; 8.e6 xe6 9.xe6 fxe6 10.xe6 d4!? or 10...Qd7) 8...d7 9.f4 0-0 and .. .Ngxe5 is a theme, e.g., after 10.0-0?! ( A fairly random game went 10.c3 a6 11.c4 b5 12.b3 b4 13.a4 a5 14.0-0-0 e8 15.h3 b5 16.d2 xf2 17.xf2 xa4 18.c5 with ongoing complications, Vasiukov, E (2575) -Ribli, Z (2505)/W ijk aan Zee 1973) 10...gxe5 11.xe5 ( 11.xe5 d4 ) 11...xe5 12.xc6 xb2 13.xd7 xa1 with an edge. ] [ b) 5...c6 is a safe move, played more than others. Af ter 6.b3 0-0 7.0-0 ( 7.g5 was tried by Matulovic versus Botvinnik!)) 7...a5!? 8.c3 , White should have some advantage, but the whole game awaits. ] 846

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6.0-0 e5!? A rather cooperative move, which has scored 0-5 in my database in the games between at a 2400+ level. Was Mamedyarov already out of hisbook? [ 6...c6 is a standard idea against Bc4, to play either ...d5 or ...Ne4. W hite would probably respondby 7.b3 ] [ 6...g4 is also possible, with the idea 7.e5 ( 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 c6 but White probably has some edge with his bishop pair after 9.d1 e5 10.c3 ) 7...dxe5 8.dxe5 fd7 ( 8...d5 ) 9.e6 e5 10.exf7+ h8 11.xe5!? xe5 12.xe5 f5 13.d2 h6 14.c3 h7 15.g4 with attack, JansaGaprindashvili, Goteborg 1968. ] 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.d1 e7 9.b3 The simple idea is to play Ba3, provoke ...c5, and win the d5 square. Others: [ 9.g5 h6 10.e3 ] [ 9.c3 c6 10.a4 bd7 11.b3 is also dangerous. ] 9...c5!? 10.c3 c6 11.g5 d4 12.d3 [ White is also better after 12.xd4 cxd4 13.d5 d6 ( 13...d8?? 14.f3 ) 14.c3! xd5 15.xd5 ] 12...g4 13.d5 d6 14.xd4 cxd4 15.xf6 [ 15.f3 immediately may be just as good, because c8 16.c3 xd5 17.xd5 keeps Black tied down ] 15...xf6 16.f3 c8 17.c3 dxc3 [ Or 17...g7 18.cxd4 exd4 19.f4 with the idea e5. ] 18.xf6+ xf6 19.xc3 e6 20.d6 fd8 [ 20...ac8 21.b4 effectively gains a tempo for White. ] 21.ad1 ac8 22.xd8+! [ 22.b2!? xd6 23.xd6 c5 ( 23...c6 24.d2 ) 24.xe6 fxe6 25.d2 f4! is undoubtedly better f or W hite, but it's unlikely that he can win. ] 22...xd8 23.xd8+ xd8 24.xe6 b6+ 25.f1? After maintaining the advantage so smoothly, Topalov gets careless. [ 25.h1! xe6 26.c7! and White will win a pawn for free, with very good prospects. ] 25...xe6 26.a4 There's nothing much going on now and the players shook hands. [ now 26.c7 is met by a6+ ] ½-½

826 Torhola,Simo Ahlback,B corr. [Nigel Davies]

B06

1979

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d5 Ahlback has been one of the main pioneers of this line, having used it extensively in his correspondence games. But his treatment has tended to be a bit offbeat, as we shall see.... 4.exd5 [ After 4.e5 (trying to make Black's bishop on g7'bite on granite') Black gets strong counterplay with c5 , f or example 5.e3 ( 5.f3 c6 6.b5 g4 7.e3 a6 8.h3 xf3 9.xc6+ bxc6 10.xf3 was Laine Ahlback, corr. 1983 and now e6 intending ... Ne7 looks fine for Black.) 5...c6 6.f4 h6 7.f3 g4 8.e2 f5 9.f2 xf3 10.xf3 cxd4 11.e2 f6 12.g4 e3 13.xe3 dxe3 14.exf6 xf6 Varjonen - Ahlback, corr. 1976 ] [ 4.xd5 e6 ( 4...c6 5.e3 xd4 6.xd4 xd4 7.f3 g7 seems more solid to me) 5.e3 xd4 6.xd4 xd4 7.f3 g7 8.c4 was somewhat unpleasant for Black in Haila - Ahlback, corr 1994 - W hite is playing Bf4 next move and Black dare not play ...c7-c6 because of the weakness of d6. ] 4...a6 This amazing move was Ahlback's preference for years before he had a brief flirtation with the 'normal' 4... Nf6. [ Even more recently Ahlback has veered off t h e b e a t e n t r a c k a g a i n w i t h 4...d7 can also be played, the game Ekmark Ahlback, corr. 1988 reeling on with the moves 5.a4 gf6 6.c4 b5 (obvious when you think about it!) 7.cxb5 xd5 8.c3 7f6 9.f3 0-0 10.c4 g4 11.e2 d6 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 ad8 14.a4 b4 15.e3 e5 16.dxe5 xe5 17.b3 d3+ 18.f1 d7 19.xa7 7c5 20.c2 fe8 21.e2 xb2 22.xb2 xb2 23.d1 e5 24.f4 xf3 25.xd8 xd8 26.xc5 d1+ 27.e2 xh1 28.xf3 a1 29.d5 xa4 0-1, Ekmark R. - Ahlback B., corr. 1988 ] 5.e2 [ 5.c4 b5 6.b3 b7 7.f3 f6 8.0-0 847

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd5 9.e4 d7 10.e1 was also pleasant for W hite in, Hartung Nielsen Ahlback, Nordic Ch., Grenaa 1973 ] 5...b5 6.f3 [ Another amazingly random Ahlback game reeled on with 6.a4 b4 7.a2 a5 8.c3 a6 9.b5+ f8 10.cxb4 xd5 11.f3 axb4 12.0-0 f6 13.xa6 xa6 14.xb4 with Black a pawn down for very little in Marjamaki - Ahlback, corr. 1979 ] 6...b7 [ In an earlier game Ahlback played the eccentric 6...a7 7.a3 d7 8.f4 b6 9.ge2 b7 (Black has to work hard to get his pawn back here) 10.e5 played the horrible f6? ( 10...f6 11.f4 0-0 12.0-0 bxd5 seems more reasonable to me) 11.g3 xd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.0-0 (the weakness of e6 is fatal) c5 15.f4 xd4 16.f3 d7 17.ad1 c8 18.d5 f5 19.e6 f6 20.d8+ xd8 21.xd8+ f7 22.b8 (a hilarious way to win the exchange - putting it on a8 is met by Nc7) xe6 23.xa7 c4 24.b3 h6 25.xh8 1-0, Valve P. - Ahlback B., corr. 1967 ] 7.d6 This wins a pawn, but no doubt it was all part of Ahlback's cunning plan. The rest of the game is utterly incomprehensible. [ 7.ge2 looks like a good alternative ] 7...c6 8.dxc7 xc7 9.ge2 d8 10.d5 b8 11.f4 e5 12.dxe5 xe5 13.c4 xf3+ 14.gxf3 e5 15.0-0 bxc4 16.a4+ f8 17.b4+ g7 18.xe5+ xe5 19.xb7 xd5 20.c3 I would definitely prefer to have the knight on the kingside (g3). B u t t h i s i s c o r r e s p o n d e n c e c h e s s ! d2 21.ad1 g5+ 22.h1 xd1 23.xd1 f6 24.e4 h6 25.xc4 xf3+ 26.g1 e8 27.d4+ g8 28.d5 g4 29.c1 e5 30.e7+ f8 31.c6 d5 32.b4+ g7 33.xe5 xe5 34.c5 f3+ 35.h1 e4 36.c3+ g8 37.d1 a8 38.f6 g5+ 39.f3 e6 40.d7 f8 41.b4 1-0

827 Vachier Lagrave,M Iordachescu,V TCh-FRA Top 12 2014 (10.2) [Neil McDonald]

B06 2758 2594 02.06.2014

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f3 White waits for Black to commit himself to 4... d6 before putting his bishop on e3, as he wants to avoid [ 4.e3 d5 ] 4...d6 5.e3 b6 A speciality of the Moldovan Grandmaster. He plans to disrupt W hite's normal build up with 6.Qd2 and 7. 0-0-0 by attacking the b2 pawn. It can't have come as a surprise to Vachier Lagrave, who incidentally is number 10 in the Live Chess Ratings as I write this. Has the French Grandmaster prepared a sharp line against it? 6.c1!? In Akopian-Iordachescu, European Championship 2014, which Tom Rendle has analysed in the archives, White gambitted the b2 pawn with [ 6.d2 xb2 etc. Also possible is ] [ 6.b1 though Black has achieved his aim of stopping White from castling queenside. ] 6...f6 [ This isn't the first time Iordachescu has faced this position. In an earlier game he tried 6...g4 which is a natural reply that threatens 7...Bxf3 and 8....Bxd4. However, White has a couple of interesting replies, both of which are somewhat paradoxical: Instead A) 7.d2!? the queen goes to d2 after all, as xb2?! 8.b1 a3 9.xb7 is good for W hite. If Black declines the pawn, then W hite gets to castle queenside.; B) 7.d2! I guess this was Vachier Lagrave's idea. After B1) 7...xd4? Black ends up in an uncomfortable position as W hite can sacrifice a pawn for the initiative: 8.a4 b4 9.c3! xa4 10.xd4 f6 ( The natural riposte 10...e5? loses to 11.c4! exd4 12.b3 b5 13.xd6+ ) 11.c4 A sneaky point is that the natural developing move d7 loses the bishop after 12.h3 etc.; B2) 7...f6 8.h3 c8 the bishop is lost 848

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 after 8...Be6 7.d5, while retreating to d7 deprives the black knights of a useful square. 9.f3 Back again, and White has achieved the useful move 8.h3 'for free'.; C) 7.e2?! looks feeble, and Black was doing fine after c5 Ramaswamy, A (2299)Iordachescu, V (2633)/Port Erin 2004. ] 7.d3 0-0 8.0-0 bd7 9.a4 Here we see a good point of 6.Qc1 over 6.Rb1. Because the rook is still on a1, White is able to gain space with a4-a5. c7 [ Black could block White's queenside advance with 9...a5 but instead he prefers to prepare to counterattack in the centre with e7-e5. ] 10.a5 [ Instead 10.h3 e5 11.dxe5 xe5 12.xe5 dxe5 looks about equal, though Black has to be a bit careful. For example 13.a5 d8!? ( After the routine 13...e6 White has the surprising sequence 14.c5 fd8 15.e3 when the defence of a7 causes Black some problems. That would certainly have justified the 6.Qc1 move.) 14.g5 e8 when the white bishop isn't that great on g5. ] 10...g4?! Black decides to drive the bishop from e3 before advancing his e-pawn. Nonetheless I would prefer [ 10...e5 as in the note above, when 11.dxe5 xe5 12.xe5 dxe5 looks about equal. ] 11.g5 e5 12.d5 This advance wouldn't have been attractive for White if Black had kept his knight on f6 and played 10...e5 as after 11.d5 cxd5 12.exd5 he would be left with a fragile pawn on d5. In contrast here 12...cxd5? 13. Nxd5 would leave W hite with a knight on a strong outpost square. gf6 13.c4 a6 14.e1?! [ Instead 14.d2 is well answered by c5 attacking e4 and with ideas of Bg4. However, ] [ 14.d1 should be preferred for example cxd5 ( The white queen again emerges from hid in g ont o a goo d ce ntre square af te r 14...c5 15.e3! ) 15.xd5 and his control of d5 gives White a small edge. ] 14...b5! Iordachescu stages a well calculated break out bef ore W hite can increase th e pressure with moves like 15.Nd3 and 16.Rd1 etc. 15.dxc6

[ White could try to keep a hold on the d5 s q u a r e w i t h 15.axb6 xb6 16.a2 but after b7 17.dxc6 xc6 18.f3 d5 Black has broken out. ] 15...bxc4! [ A Grandmaster won't allow White to control the strategically vital d5 square after 15...xc6 16.d5 xd5 17.xd5 ] 16.cxd7 b7! [ As we shall see Black prefers to give up a pawn rather than make the natural recapture on d7 which hands over the d5 square after 16...xd7 17.xf6 xf6 18.d5 ] 17.xf6 xf6 18.a4 xd7 19.xc4 fc8 20.xc8+ xc8 Iordachescu has evaluated the position correctly. White won't be able to keep his extra pawn due to the weakness of a5 and Black's pressure on the queenside. 21.d3 c4 22.e3 d8 23.a1 g7 There is no need to hurry. White has no good way to hinder Black's plan of attacking a5 which is seen over the next three moves. 24.f3 c7 25.h1 d8 26.a7 Vachier Lagrave decides to force a draw by repetition. c8 [ B l a c k a g r e e s t o t h e d r a w a s 26...c8 27.d5 gives White the initiative again because of his control of d5. For example xc2 28.3b4 xb2 29.e3 when the black rook is in trouble as xa5? loses to 30.c6 ] 27.f2 d8 28.a7 c8 29.f2 d8 Perhaps this was not the most exciting game, but there were some interesting strategic mo m e n t s. B la ck h a d t o p la y wit h f la ir t o survive against his world class opponent. ½-½

828 Vajda,Levente Budnikov,Oleg World Junior Ch., (6) [Nigel Davies]

B06 2462 2331 23.09.1999

In this one W hite ra ther cooperat es wit h Black's plan of blockade by blocking in his queen's bishop with 5.f4. Black was doing OK until he took the b-pawn, probably going a bit too far in an already provocative opening. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 d5 4.e5 h5 5.f4 g7 6.f3 c6 7.e2 g4 8.e3 d7 849

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.d2 f5 10.f2 xf3 11.xf3 h5 Obtaining a position which is very much in the spirit of the Gurgenidze system. 12.g3 e6 13.e2 b6?! This pawn hunting expedition is not a bright idea, in my view. [ 13...b5 is more in the spirit of this structure when both sides have chances. ] 14.0-0 xb2 15.a4 b6 16.a5 c7 17.c4 dxc4 18.fc1 h6 19.xc4 0-0 20.c3 fd8 21.e2 White has massive pressure for his pawn and it is very difficult for Black to gain counterplay. In desperation he soon de c id e s t o give u p th e e xch a n ge t o f re e himself. e7 22.b5 b8 23.d6 f8 24.b1 xd6 25.exd6 xd6 26.xb7 g7 27.b2 d8 28.a3 f5 29.bb4 c8 30.a4 d6 31.b7 h4 32.a6 hxg3 33.hxg3 e7 34.b4 c5 35.dxc5 d3 36.b3 d8 37.c6 f5 38.c7 d6 39.g2 xa6 40.b8 d6 41.xc8 xc8 42.b8 1-0

no w B la ck t a ke s t h e a d va n t a ge . ( 7.f3 should be preferred when one line could run xe5 8.fxd4 a6 9.c3 c7 10.e2 xc5 11.0-0 h6 although Black looks to be doing fine.) 7...h6 8.d6+?! The logical continuation of the last move but White was getting carried away. f8 9.h4 g5 10.xc8 gxh4 11.xe7 gxe7 Fingerov, D (2405) -Rakhmangulov, A (2394) Odessa 2010 and Black was a piece to the good. ] [ 4.f3 can hardly be critical as again Black m u s t h a ve g a i n e d s o m e t h i n g w i t h t h e omission of ...c6. ] [ 4.xd5 looks illogical but has the stamp of approval of my Rybka. However following c6 5.c3 xd4 6.xd4 xd4 even though White can gain a temporary initiative I can h a r d l y b e l i e ve B l a c k s h o u l d h a v e a n y problems. 7.c4 ( or 7.f3 xc3+ 8.bxc3 f6 9.d3 bd7 10.a3 b6 11.0-0 a4 12.c4 d7 13.d4 e5 14.b3 c5 Kireev, V-Sakhabeev, R (2384) ICCF email 2009 and Black was fine.) 7...xc3+ 8.bxc3 829 B06 f6 9.f3 b6 10.a4 a6 11.d3 0-0 12.g5 e8 13.e2 fd7 14.f4 c5 Van Haastert,Edwin 2419 15.xa6 bxa6 Meurs, T (2201) -Haast, M Martens,Martin 2431 (2194) Amersfoort 2010 and Black TCh-NED Netherlands NED (6.5) 12.02.2011 eventually exploited W hite's crippled [Gawain Jones] queenside. ] 1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d5!? This hasn't 4...f6 [ 4...a6 is examined by Nigel Davies in b e e n lo o k e d a t o n C h e ssP u b lish in g t h i s Torhola, S-Ahlback B corr. 1979 - check millennium so I decided to take a look:) Whilst the archives. ] preparing for Kjetil Stokke I noticed he'd tried this a couple of times recently. On the surface 5.c4 [ 5.f3 giving back the pawn shouldn't I thought there would be an easy way for a trouble Black. A high rated recent encounter risk-free advantage for White but it is in fact continued xd5 6.xd5 xd5 7.c4 not so clear. Black sacrifices a pawn and with W hite hoping to have an improved W hite can cling onto it if he wishes but he Scandinavian. However the trade of knights must cede the bishop pair which gives Black has really favoured Black. The game d e c e n t l o n g - t e r m c o m p e n s a t i o n . 4.exd5 c o n t i n u e d : d6 8.e3 c6 9.d5?! This is by far the most common and natural. T h i s c e d e s t o o m a n y s q u a r e s . ( 9.e2 [ 4.e5 is also interesting but Black can claim should be preferred although Black is fine to have gained something as he can play ... after e5 10.dxe5 b4+ 11.d2 xd2+ c5 in one go. A recent game continued: c5 12.xd2 xe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.0-0-0 ( It seems to be Black could also get away 0-0 15.he1 e6= ) 9...e5 10.c5 xf3+ with 4...h6 followed by 5...f6.) 5.dxc5 d4 11.xf3 d7 12.0-0-0?! Holding onto the 6.b5 c6 ( 6...xe5 has been played in b2 pawn but now W hite's king is far too t h e p a s t b u t f o l l o w i n g 7.f3 g4 v u l n e r a b l e . ( 12.d1 xb2 13.e2 Baci, V (2206)-Vozovic, O (2356) Pardubice should be preferred but of course Black is 2006 W hite can grab the pawn with better. ) 12...a4! Hitting a2 and threatening 8.bxd4! ) 7.g5?! An interesting try but 850

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Bg4. 13.f4 xa2 14.b5+ c6 15.d4 xd4 16.xd4 0-0 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.xc6 b8 19.d5 a5 20.he1 b4 21.e5 a1+ 0-1 Brunello, S (2507)-Skytte, R (2386) Denmark 2009. ] [ 5.b5+ is the other main option. bd7 ( 5...d7 6.c4! is the typical idea when it's much harder to regain the pawn.) 6.f3 0-0 7.0-0 b6 8.e1 Areshchenko, A (2566)Rak hm an gu lo v, A (234 3) A lu sh ta 2 00 3 bxd5 9.xd5 xd5 10.h3 c6 resembles a typical Alekhine position but White is probably a little better. ] 5...bd7 [ 5...0-0 is seen in Yudasin, L-Vydeslaver, A Beer-Sheva (Israel) 1992. ] 6.g5 This is the only way to hold onto the pawn for the long term but the bishop pair looks to give Black enough play to hold rough equality. [ 6.b3 was Nigel's suggestion in the archives. That game continued: b6 7.f3 White tries to hold onto the pawn without co n c ed in g t h e b ish o p p a ir b u t B lack is probably ok. g4 ( 7...a5 8.a4 g4 9.g3 f5 10.f3 bxd5 11.xd5 xd5 12.0-0 Manso Gil, A (2332) -Sakhabeev, R (2413) ICCF email 2007 is very similar but I would p re f e r t o t h ro w in t h e a p a wn a d va n c e myself. ) 8.g3 f5 9.f3 g4 10.g3 f5 11.f3 W hite plays to win. bxd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.0-0 0-0 14.e1 c6 15.g5 h6 16.d2 Klovans Janis (LAT)Gurevich Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine) 1970 [ G M N i g e l D a vi e s ] wh e n B l a c k s h o u l d p ro b a b l y h a ve c o n t i n u e d wit h ( 16.xd5 hxg5 17.b3 g4 is pretty messy but the bis hop pa ir give B la ck decent co unt erchances. ) 16...f6 when White has the slightly easier position but Black's position is certainly not terrible. ] [ 6.f3 b6 7.b5+ ( 7.b3 would transpose to 6. Bb3 and should be preferred.) 7...d7 8.d6 c6 9.dxe7 xe7+ 10.e2 f5 11.h4 0-0-0 and Black's lead in development gave him a great position. Toufighi, H (2501) -Aleskerov, F (2289) Baku 2010. ] [ 6.ge2 b6 7.b5+ d7 8.d3 0-0 9.0-0 fxd5 10.xd5 xd5 11.e4 c6 12.f3 e8 and Black had comfortably

equa lised . Forsa a, E (2 2 99 )-St o kk e, K (2401) Fredrikstad 2010. ] [ 6.f3 is perhaps the most sensible looking move and promises White a small s o m e t h i n g . b6 7.b3 ( 7.b5+ d7 8.xd7+ xd7 9.0-0 fxd5 10.xd5 xd5 Iodo, A (2176) -Vozovic, O (2288) Chisinau 2005 when perhaps 11.b3 0-0 12.c4 f5 13.e1 is a touch better for White but can hardly be anything serious. ) A) 7...a5 has been the most common 8.a4 ( 8.a4!? is very interesting. bxd5 9.c4 b4 10.a3 a6 11.0-0 0-0 12.h3 d7 13.e1 c5 14.xc5 xc5 15.dxc5 and White had a definite edge. Gdanski, J (2512)-Nouro, M (2344) Myyrmanni 1999. ) 8...0-0 9.0-0 bxd5 10.xd5 xd5 11.h3 h6 ( 11...c6 12.e1 f5 looks acceptable.) 12.e1 e6 13.e5 b6 14.f3 a6 15.d2 d6 16.ad1 c6 17.c4! e7 18.f4 and White managed to slowly increase his advantage. David, A (2529)-Govciyan, P (2430) Paris 2007.; B) 7...0-0 8.0-0 a5 is likely to transpose to 7...a5.; C) 7...fxd5 8.e4 0-0 9.0-0 c6 10.e1 c7 11.c3 and White must have a small edge as the knight on b6 looks rather out of place. Rudolf , A (2293)Stavrianakis, I (2243) Szombathely 2010. ] 6...b6 Playing this immediately makes sense to me as the check is nothing to fear. [ 6...0-0 is also played frequently. 7.ge2 ( 7.f3 b6 8.b3 is similar to 6.Bb3 but a5 9.a4 g4 10.f4 f5 11.xf6 exf6 12.ge2 To, N (2413) -Brustkern, J (2256) Budapest 2010 and Black's compensation for the pawn wasn't as obvious as in the game. ) 7...b6 8.xf6 exf6 9.b3 a5 10.a4 c6 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.0-0 a6 13.d2 f5 and again Black had his decent long term compensation although W hite eventually utilised his rating advantage. Saric, I (2580)-Stokke, K (2399) Pula 2010. ] 7.xf6 xf6 8.b3 a5 9.a4 0-0 10.ge2 c6 Black accepts that he will have a pawn deficit for the foreseeable future but can now put pressure on the d4 pawn and take control of some light squares. 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.0-0 a6 [ For some explanations of the previous few 851

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 moves and a couple of alternatives check Campora, D-Rocha, S Santo Antonio (Portugal) 1999 which continued 12...c7 and Black held fairly comfortably - check the archives. ] 13.e1 [ 13.e4 looks like White's last chance to try and keep the advantage. g7 ( 13...xe2 regains the pawn but 14.xe2 xd4 15.c3 e5 16.ad1 ad8 17.f4 c7 18.xd8 xd8 19.f5 gives White an edge.) 14.c3 e5 ( 14...d7!? preparing c5 and opening the b file. 15.e1 b8 16.b1 c5! 17.dxc5 c7 l o o k s l i k e r e a s o n a b l e c o m p e n s a t i o n .) 15.c5 xe2 16.xe2 exd4 17.ad1 e8 18.g4 Zdebskaja, N (2284)-Vozovic, O (2328) Alushta 2003 and W hite has regained his pawn although following b8 19.cxd4 d5 the pressure down the b file and on the d4 pawn holds equality. ] 13...g7! Useful prophylaxis. Black can now break with ...c6-c5 without having to worry about Nc3-e4. [ 13...c4 has been more common when 14.b1 ( However the unplayed 14.e4! gives W hite the better chances as xb2 15.xf6+ exf6 16.d2 gives Black p r o b l e m s w i t h t h e k n i g h t o n b 2 . c4 17.c3 d6 18.xc6 and White has a definite edge.) 14...d6 has given Black decent counterplay. ] 14.c1 e6 15.e3 The first new move but it d o e s n ' t c h a n ge t h e e va l u a t i o n f r o m t h e general consensus of good compensation for the pawn. [ 15.f4 was played in the only previous game. b8 16.ad1 d5 17.f3 b4 18.e4 xe2 19.xe2 xd4 20.xd4 xd4 and Black had regained the pawn and even scored a big upset. Chatalbashev, B (2541)-Paleologu, V (2156) Lugano 2006. ] 15...a7 Martens continues his logical plan of putting pressure on the d4 pawn. [ However 15...d5! was actually strong here. 16.xd5 ( 16.xd5 exd5 is quite similar.; 16.g3 might be better but b6 is p le a s a n t .) 16...exd5! actually favours B la c k a s W h it e wi ll s t ru ggl e t o d e f e n d against a doubling of rooks on the e file followed by ...Qb6. ] 16.ad1 d7 17.e4 Now White has a

co n cr e t e t h r e a t b u t t h i s a l l o ws B l a c k t o liquidate and regain his pawn. [ Perhaps White could have waited with 17.h3 but it's not clear how White is to make any progress without playing Ne4 as all his pieces are tied up. ] 17...xe2 18.xe2 xd4 19.c3 xd1 20.xd1 c7 21.c5 Black has at least equalised with a strong square on d5 for the knight, long term pressure down the long diagonal and play down the b file. 3...d5 is interesting and I don't see a clear cut path for W hite to prove an edge. On the downside, Black must be happy to sit patiently and wait for White to play for a win himself in certain lines. ½-½

830 Vlad,Decebal Barkhagen,Jonas Mamaia [Nigel Davies]

B06

1991

White certainly has plenty of choice, but this is not necessarily a good thing as demonstrated in this game. Vlad seemed deeply insulted by his opponent's choice of opening and probably vowed to impale him with 4.c4 and 5. f4. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 f6 3.e5 h5 4.c4 Vlad attempts to impale Black with a broad pawn centre, much in the spirit of the Four Pawns Attack in the Alekhine Defence. But it turns out that the knight is far from useless on h5. d6 5.f4 [ 5.exd6 cxd6 6.c3 g7 7.f3 c6 8.h3 0-0 9.e3 e5 10.d5 e7 made the knight on h5 look quite useful in Heggheim - Resoy, corr 1989 ] 5...h6! 6.f3 dxe5 7.dxe5 c6 8.e3 xf4! A stake through the heart. White gets punished for his over-expansion and neglect of development. 9.xf4 d4 10.d1 xf4 11.c3 f5 12.c1 c6 13.f3 d4 14.g3 xe5+ 15.f2 d4+ 16.e3 e6 17.f3 xe3+ 18.xe3 0-0-0 19.d5 g4 20.d2 ed4 21.h3 e6 22.g2 f5+ 23.f2 xd5 24.cxd5 b4 25.c4 xd5 26.f1 b6 27.c5 d4 28.f3 c4

852

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 29.xc4 xc4 30.b3 e5 0-1

831 Vlassov,Nikolai Zemtsov,Igor Moscow open Moscow, Russia (8) [Andrew Martin]

B06 2492 2296 02.03.2005

1.e4 g6 2.h4!? An acquired taste. Vlassov evidently likes this idea of disturbing Black on the kingside and thinks that he will force a c o n c e s s i o n . h5 Black stops the advance of the h4-pawn, but W hite gets a pretty good square (g5) for his knight. To dislodge that knigh t Black would have to make f u rthe r weaknesses. Naturally there are other responses by Black. [ I like 2...d5 3.exd5 f6 with an excellent Scandinavian and there's also ] [ 2...f6 3.e5 d5 4.h5 g7 with a bizarre form of the Alekhine. ] 3.f3 c6 4.c3 d5 5.g5!? Original chess and a move which stops ...Bg4 - White should keep this knight alive! h6 6.d4 g7 7.e3 b6?!N Very risky - Black gives up the centre for the b2-pawn. But this is an overreaction typical of the belligerent player who has been surprised. Black wants to land the first blow! I think I prefer either of two other options: [ 7...dxe4 dissolving the centre and creating an outpost on f5 for the Knight. 8.cxe4 f5 9.c4 0-0 10.f3 xd4! 11.0-0-0 xe3+ 12.fxe3 b6 ] [ 7...0-0 straightforward and if 8.d2 then g4! 9.0-0-0 a5 10.b1 xe3 No way Black is worse. ] 8.exd5 xb2 9.ge4 f5 10.b1 a3 11.d2 [ 11.dxc6 xe3 12.fxe3 xc6 13.c4 f5 14.b3 a5 15.g5 is pretty unclear. ] 11...0-0 12.c4 a5 [ 12...b5! i s b e t t e r : 13.b3 b4 14.e2 ( It is tempting to lock the black queen on a3, but after 14.a4 d8 15.d1 xe3 16.fxe3 cxd5 Black is OK - too many white pieces are busy with the black queen and yet none of them is capable of taking it.) 14...d8 putting pressure on the centre Black has decent play. Vlassov. ]

13.0-0 cxd5? Poor. Black must play disruptively with [ 13...b5! 14.b3 b4 15.e2 cxd5 16.c5 d8 and if 17.xb4 a6! 18.b5 Black has xc5 19.xc5 a6 20.fe1 xe3 21.fxe3 e6 with excellent counterplay based on the two bishops and the open White King. ] 14.b5 c7 15.c5 d8 16.xd5 d7 17.g5 c7 18.b3 e6 19.xf5! As Vlassov remarks, W hite's considerable advantage in development enables him to make this sacrifice. In return he gets a longlasting initiative. gxf5 [ 19...exf5?? loses immediately after 20.d5 b8 21.f4+- ] 20.g3 h7?! Out of the frying pan into the fire! Black should avoid any movement of his King unless absolutely necessary. [ 20...f6 is less easy to break down: 21.h6 e8 ( 21...xh6 22.xh6 g4 23.g5+ h7 24.xh5+ h6 25.ce2 d7 26.d1 a5 ) 22.ce2 h7 23.f4 d8 24.xh5 xh4 25.xg7 xg7 26.d5 ] 21.xh5 h8 22.e1 b6 23.e2 a5 24.c3 An almost leisurely conduct of the attack, but in view of Black's retarded development White has no need to rush. d6 25.eg3 b5 Diagram The position is ripe for tactics: 26.e7! c6 [ After 26...xe7 27.xf5 Black has no defence against Qh6. ] 27.xf8 xf8 White has got the exchange back and continues his attack a pawn up B l a c k i s f i n i s h e d . 28.f4 This knight is heading towards e5. [ Vlassov mentions 28.g5! xc3 29.c1 xd4 30.xf5! exf5 31.xf7 g7 32.c6+- ] 28...d6 29.d3 a7 30.g5 b4 31.h5+ g8 32.e5 A sacrifice on f5 is threatened, forcing Black to make the undesirable capture on e5. xe5 33.dxe5 e7 34.h6 h7 [ 34...bxc3 35.h5 f6 36.xf6++- ] 35.cxb4 xb4 36.e3 f8 37.f4 c7 38.h5 All too easy. h8 39.g3 b4 40.h6 e1+ 41.h2 xe5 42.f4 Rather an original effort! The author's at te nt io n was d ra wn to t his gam e by t h e

853

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf6 White must be very careful indeed here. ] 9.xe5 f6 10.f2! Absolutely necessary. the King scurries to what he hopes will be 832 B06 safety. bd7 11.xd7 xd7 [ 11...xd7 12.e5 0-0 might be better, Vysochin,Spartak 2551 intending ...f7-f6. ] Moliboga,Vladimir 2322 4th I.Platonov Mem (4) 11.01.2006 12.e5! h5 13.e4 White suddenly has a degree of control he could have only dreamed [Andrew Martin] about five moves beforehand. Moliboga did 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 c6 not play energetically enough. 0-0 14.d6! Rare, but not as bad as its reputation I think. e8 15.g4+- f5 16.c5 fxg4 17.xd7 There are unanswered questions in the main xe5 18.e6+ h8 [ 18...xe6 19.xe6 gxh3 20.c4 h8 line after 5 Nf3. 5.h3 And so Vysochin hopes 21.xf8 xf8 22.xh3 ] to have his cake and eat it! With 5 h3 white c u t s o u t . . . B g 4 a n d p r e p a r e s t h e u su a l 19.xe5 xe5 20.e6 g5 21.g2 f6 Austrian stranglehold commencing with 6 Nf3 . 22.fxe5 xe6 23.c4 Short and very sharp. Black must react energetically or the Bishop The critical position arrives early and both sides are walking on a tightrope from move 6 on c8 will be move bound. e5! 6.dxe5 [ After 6.f3?! exd4 Black is in time. White onward. I would prefer Black after both 8... Bg4 and 8... Qg3 but maybe that's just me. cannot capture on d4 thanks to ...Qh4+ ] 6...h4+ 7.e2 dxe5 8.f3 e7 1-0 So he was improvising after all. One couldn't have expected this position before the game. B06 I don't like White's game, I have to say but 8... 833 Qe7 is not the right move. Instead, Black has Waddingham,Graham A two other options: Davies,Nigel R [ 8...g4 has been most common British Ch Southport ch70-BCF (10) 1983 A) 9.d6 d7 10.e3 ( 10.g3 xf3+ [Nigel Davies] 11.xf3 e7= ) 10...xf3+ 11.gxf3 gf6 12.d1 0-0-0 13.xa7 f8 ( 13...h5! ) In many ways the most difficult idea for Black 14.f2 xf4 ( 14...h5 ) 15.d2 h5 to meet is if White plays an early c2-c3, firmly 16.xf4 xf4+ Aveline, P-Wabant, P/ blocking my favourite diagonal. But here too France 2004; Black is not without counterplay and in this B) 9.hxg4 xh1 10.fxe5 d7 11.e6 g a m e W h i t e ' s i n d i v i d u a l p a t t e r n o f ( 11.d4 f8! 12.f2 e6 ) 11...fxe6 development left him with a very precarious 12.d6 0-0-0 13.e3 Lukov, V- position. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 Kaikamdzozov, J/ Pasardschik 1977, when [ A n o t h e r i d e a w o r t h n o t i n g i s 3...f6 again Black missed the best continuation: after which 4.d3 0-0 5.f4 can be met by xc3 14.bxc3 gf6; d5 6.e5 e4 7.d2 f5 8.exf6?! exf6 C) 9.e1 xf3+ 10.gxf3 e7 11.fxe5 etc. ] ( 11.e3 d7 12.d1 exf4 13.xf4 e5 4.d3 14.f2 f6 15.g2 h5 [ After 4.g5 I like f6 5.d2 c6 when Seps, M-Skripchenko, A/Plovdiv 2003 0-1 6.gf3 can be met by h6 7.h4 g5 8.g3 (32) ) 11...xe5 12.e3 d7 13.d2 h5 gaining the bishop pair in return for Itkis, B-Nanu, C/ Bucharest 1998 and now White's space. Barbero - Davies, Budapest f6! would have been accurate, with 1987 went 9.c4 e6 10.c2 e7 11.0-0-0 advantage to Black: 14.f2 0-0-0 ] xg3 12.hxg3 d7 13.he1 g4 14.h2 [ Whilst researching this game I have also h5 with chances for both sides. ] d i s c o v e r e d 8...g3! which also appears [ 4.f4 f6 5.e5 dxe5 6.fxe5 d5 7.f3 dangerous: 9.fxe5 b6! 10.g5 f6 11.exf6 0-0 8.c4 b6 9.b3 c5 10.dxc5 xd1+ excellent 'Chess Today' newspaper. 1-0

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.xd1 6d7 12.e6 xc5 13.exf7+ h8 14.c4 c6 15.e3 e6 was promising for Black in Fossan - Davies, Gausdal 1990 ] [ After 4.f3 f6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 I think that an interesting and underrated treatment is c5 after which 7.h3 ( 7.dxc5 dxc5 8.e1 ) 7...cxd4 8.cxd4 c6 9.c3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.e3 e7 was about equal in Lobron - Davies, Germany 1985. ] 4...c6 5.e2 This unusual development of the knight is rather innocuous and after the exchange on e5 he may even be fighting for equality. e5 6.dxe5 xe5 7.c2 f6 8.g5 h6 9.h4 g5 10.g3 h5 11.b3 f6!? 12.a3 f4 13.xf4 gxf4 14.d4 g5 15.d2 g4!? Preventing White from castling. [ 15...xg2 16.0-0-0 gives him a dangerous initiative. ] 16.f3 h4+ 17.d1 d7 18.c2 0-0-0 19.e2?! f5! 20.xf4 de8 21.ae1 h5 22.g3 d8 23.f2 b8 24.c4 fxe4 25.fxe4 g4 26.g2 g5 27.d2 a5!? Intending to undermine the h8-a1 diagonal with ...a4 and ...a3. 28.h3 f6 29.f3 c5 30.d4 a4 31.e6 h6 32.xd7 xd7 33.d3 c4 34.b3 a6 35.b1 hf8 36.f5 d5 37.b4 g6 38.xd5 c5 39.de7 xe7! The start of a picturesque co m b in a t io n wh ich wins m ost of W hit e 's pieces. 40.xe7 f2+ 41.xf2 xe4+ 42.d1 xh1+ 43.e2 e4+ 44.f1 h1+ 45.e2 e4+ 0-1

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B06 Williamson,Harvey 2469 Storey,Charles 2268 Sniper Challenge 29.03.2011 [Williamson, Harvey and Jones, Gawain] T h e r e h a s b e e n a h e a t e d d isc u ssi o n o n Cha rle y Sto re y's n ew bo ok 'T he Sn ipe r'. Harvey sent me the following correspondence challenge game with his notes, played in what I believe to be the critical test of the opening. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c5 HW: "These 1st 3 moves by Black are the moves that are the core of The Sniper Repertoire." I just want to point out that the position can also be

reached by 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 which I ' v e s t u d i e d m y s e l f . 4.dxc5 xc3+ I t ' s h a r d l y d e s ir a b le t o g ive u p t h e d a r k squared bishop but it appears to be Black's best chance. [ Instead 4...a5 is more common but 5.d2 xc5 6.d5! leaves Black having to play extremely accurately to survive. The only time I reached this position my opponent didn't last long. A) 6...a6 is perhaps best. A1) 7.xa6 bxa6 8.b4 c6 ( 8...c4 is better although 9.d3 xd3 10.cxd3 b8 11.c3 xc3+ 12.bxc3 leaves White for preference.) 9.f3 d6 10.0-0 f6 11.c3 is Neil's suggestion in the archives and looks very good for White.; A2) 7.f3 e6 8.c3 f8 9.xg7+ xg7 10.c3 leaves White with a small but pleasant edge.; B) 6...b6 7.b4 c6 8.b5 b7 9.f3 c6 10.c3 left White with a very comfortable edge. W ells, P (2513)Dougherty, M (2212) Hoogeveen 2005.; C) 6...d6? 7.b4 d4 ( 7...c6 8.b5! is the point.) 8.xd4 xd4 9.c7+ d7 10.xa8 That's a rook. If Black could win back the knight he would only be clearly worse but there's no way to manage it. c6 11.0-0-0 f6 12.f3 xe4 13.xd4! xd4 14.xd4 and now it's two pieces up! e5 15.b5+ e7 16.e1 f5 17.f3 c5 18.xc5 dxc5 19.b3 1-0 Jones, G (2518)-Vincenzi, M (2067) Pula 2007. ] 5.bxc3 a5 [ 5...f6 HW: "The Computers want to play this move but Bh6 seems to be a strong move." Last time this opening was featured on the site Neil looked at another game of the author's which continued A) 6.e5 is Harvey's suggestion and also s u g g e s t e d b y N e i l . e4 7.c4! with the threat of 8.Qd5. xc5 8.f3 A1) 8...c7 9.0-0 ( Harvey's idea of 9.h6!? loo ks playa ble h ere t oo .) 9...e6 10.e2 b6 11.d4 c6 12.b5 b8 13.f4 "And White had the initiative in Sadvakasov, D-Dougherty, M Philadelphia 2006." - Neil; 855

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A2) 8...a5 9.0-0 A2a) 9...c6 is Neil's suggestion so that 10.d5?! can be met with ( 10.h6 still looks powerful, e.g. xc3 11.d5 e6 12.fd1 and Black really struggles to develop and so White has gre a t c o mp e n sat io n f o r t h e p a wn . Black can try grabbing another pawn but xc2 13.h3! f5 14.g4! t o p r e v e n t B l a c k p l a yi n g . . . g 6 - g 5 t r a p p in g i n t h e b i s h o p o n h 6 . c2 15.ac1 b2 16.b1 c2 17.dc1 a4 18.b5 and White wins material. ) 10...e6; A2b) 9...xc3 10.d5 e6 11.d2 a3 12.h6! and Harvey evaluates this position as winning for White as Black can barely move.; B) I b e l i e v e t h e i m m e d i a t e 6.h6 was suggested by TopNotch on the forum.; C) 6.d3?! a5 7.d2 xc5 8.f3 d6 9.b1 bd7 and Black had the type of position he's aiming for. Roberts, D (2047)Storey, C (2292) London 2009. ] 6.d4 [ In my first game facing this line, also against Charlie, I played the sacrificial 6.d3 xc3+ 7.d2 xc5 8.b1 d6 9.b5 c7 10.a1 f6 11.c3 ( 11.h6 should probably still be played although White's compensation isn't as obvious as in the previous note.) 11...bd7 12.f4 0-0 13.e2 b6 14.0-0 any my compensation was drying up although I somehow managed to win. Jones, G (2453)-Storey, C (2217) Scarborough 2004. ] 6...f6 7.b4! I have considered this critical and the reason I haven't played this setup as Black myself. c7 [ 7...c6 HW: "In his book Storey only gives Nc6 here. He says attempting to enter a b6 gambit line here is recommended for black." Harvey gives the following: 8.xa5 xa5 9.d3 0-0 10.e2 ( 10.a3 maybe even better for white. b6 11.cxb6 c6 12.bxa7 xa7 13.c5+- ) 10...b6 11.cxb6 axb6 is the author's line. GJ - I would like to point out that Deep Rybka assesses this position as a clear extra pawn for White and I have to agree with it. Black has some

compensation due to White's pawn structure but the weak b6 pawn is also a problem while W hite 's bishop pair m ust als o b e f avourable. S uf f ice it to say I would b e extremely happy playing this position with White:) ] [ The problem is that 7...xb4 8.cxb4 xe4 regains the pawn but also repairs White's pawn structure and thus White's bishop pair gives him a very pleasant edge. ] 8.f3!? This only looks to have been played in correspondence chess. Harvey wants to keep e4 solidly defended, in preparation against Black's plan of ...b6 and ...Bb7. After examining the line this looks the most critical. [ In a more recent game I chose the more common 8.f3 c6 9.a4 e5 10.e3 ( 10.d4!? c6 11.e3 is also enough for an edge. ) 10...b6 Jones, G (2430)Gonzalez Arribas, V (2297) Calvia 2006 when I should have chosen 11.xe5 xe5 12.d4 xc5 13.xc5 bxc5 14.f3 d6 15.b1 when White's bishops promise him a sm all ed ge b ut B la ck's p osit io n is f ully playable. ] [ 8.d3 is another critical try: A) 8...c6 9.a4 ( 9.a3 allows the surprising shot xe4! although 10.e2 d5 11.f3 f6 12.h6 is still better for White. ) 9...e5 10.a3 c6 11.f3 b6 12.e3 and White holds onto his extra pawn with easy development.; B) 8...b6 9.cxb6 axb6 10.e3 a6 11.xb6 c6 12.d4 d6 was seen in Pashikian, A (2466) -Istratescu, A (2587) A n t a lya 2 0 0 4 wh e n 13.e5! looks very s t r o n g . B e l o w i s m y a n a l y s i s : c5 ( 13...xg2 14.exf6 xh1 15.0-0-0+and White's attack is too strong.; 13...dxe5 14.d8# ) 14.exf6 a4 ( 14...xb6 15.fxe7 xd3+ 16.cxd3 xd4 17.cxd4 is clearly better for W hite but Black has some drawing chances.) 15.b1! xd4 ( 15...xd3+ 16.xd3 xg2 17.d2 xh1 18.e1+- also leaves White with a decisive attack.) 16.b5 xb5 17.xb5 e4+ 18.d2 a6 19.a5 a4 20.fxe7 xa5 21.xa5 f1 22.e2 xg2 23.g1 d5 24.d8 and again Black is really suffering in the ending. ] 8...c6 9.a3 b6 HW: "Now Storey enters 856

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 his b6 line which is a common theme in the book." However Black has some alternatives: [ 9...d8 10.e3 e6 11.d3 h5 12.h4 f4 13.f2 0-0 14.e2 xe2 15.xe2 Keller, M (2210)-Hrvacic, P (1949) LSS email 2009 and Black had nothing to show for his pawn deficit. ] [ 9...0-0 10.e3 e5 11.d3 d5 12.cxd6 exd6 13.g5 h5 14.e2 e6 15.0-0 c4 16.c1 d5 17.f4 xf4 18.xf4 xf4 19.xf4 ac8 20.fe1 dxe4 21.xe4 and Black was really struggling in the ending. Ma n ae n k ov, V-Mon d ry, M (2 13 1 ) I CCF email 2009. ] [ 9...h5 10.b5 b8 11.e3 f4 12.f2 b6 13.e2 e6 14.cxb6 axb6 15.ab1 0-0 16.c4 b7 Van Leent, D (1873)-De Jesus, G (1700) Chessf riend.com 2005 again saw Black with virtually nothing for his pawn deficit. ] 10.cxb6 xb6 11.h6! HW: "White is behind in development but black will not castle. " b8 [ 11...g8 is the computer's top choice but after 12.g5 it it likely to transpose to the game. ] 12.e2 g8 13.g5 Black has a slight lead in development but his king is forced to remain in the centre while Harvey shows he can co mp le t e his d evelo pm en t wit ho u t ma n y issues. a6 14.d4! Sacrificing the extra pawn to bring all of White's pieces into the game when Black's king stuck in the centre gives him a big headache. xf1 15.xf1 xd4 16.cxd4 xd4 17.d1 e5 [ 17...b4+ 18.xb4 xb4 19.d2 d8 20.b1 xb1 21.xb1 c7 allows Black into an endgame level on material but the bishop is so much better than the knight that Black is close to lost. ] [ Black can also keep level material with 17...b6 but 18.e5 e6 19.f2 xe5 20.xa7 d8 21.h4 f5 22.d4! a n d I d o n ' t t h i n k B l a c k wi l l b e a b l e t o survive with his king in such a perilous position. ] 18.xa7 d8 19.e3 xh2 20.f2 h5?! HW "I was quite happy to see h5 here as in my analysis I had this as winning." [ Harvey considers 20...g5!? to be Black's best bet. HW: "I spent hours looking at this

move and it may lead to a draw." He gives the line 21.h1 e5 22.d4 xd4 HW : "I ran several test games here. The engines all prefer Bxd4. I thought this was the most drawish. I asked a couple of 2700 GM's and they both said Rxd4 looks best and that White is better but it maybe a draw. " Nevertheless, Black's opening can hardly be called a success. ] 21.c5 h4 22.h1 g3+ 23.g1 h8 24.f2 f4 25.a4! HW: "Here I thought I was winning for sure." h5! [ 25...h3 looks dangerous on the surface but White is in full control. Another game played o n t h e f o r u m c o n t i n u e d 26.h2 d6 ( 26...h5 27.c3 g5 28.a5 is given by Harvey when th e pa sse d a pawn is th e most important aspe ct of the position .) 27.c3 g5 28.b6 b8 29.e3 g3 30.a7 d8 31.b6 b8 was Williamson, H-TN which was aborted at this point but W hite appears to be easily winning with 32.a5 ] 26.c3 g5 27.a5?! HW "This looks good but we exchange down to an endgame that is very difficult for W hite to win. I moved too quickly, something a good correspondence player should never do." [ Instead Harvey prefers 27.e3 to which he gives two exclamation marks. HW : "I am c o n v i n c e d t h i s w i n s . B u t wi l l k e e p m y analysis private in case Charlie ever wants a rematch!" ] 27...xa5 28.xa5 xa5 29.b6 h5 30.xd8 xd8 White has won the exchange but lost his strong a pawn and so Black has decent drawing chances. However I believe White should probably be winning as he has so many pawns left. 31.a1 e6 32.a4 e7 Harvey writes that Black resigns here although I'm not sure if he did or simply overstepped the time limit. Nevertheless this game successfully illustrates the critical line against The Sniper and shows that against accurate play Black struggles to equalise. Of course that doesn't mean that the opening can't be tried as a surprise weapon, and the book might be very interesting unfortunately I don't have a copy myself. 1-0

857

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A2) 17.e6 hxg5 18.exd7 xd7=; B) 15...c4 16.e4 7b6 17.f5 Yu Shaoteng B1) 17...h6! when he may be better: Annaberdiev,Meilis 18.f3 ( 18.exd6 exd6 19.h3 ae8 5th ch-Asian (6) 20.f3 c8 ) 18...e3! 19.xe3 [Andrew Martin] ( 19.exd6 exd6 20.xe3 xe4 ) 19...xe4; 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 B2) 17...dxe5? The real culprit. Black 5.f4 A dangerous move which Black must must face the wind and play the meet very accurately indeed. I have given combative 18.fxg6 hxg6 19.g3 xc3 extensive game references in the text so that 20.g4 xe4 21.3xe4 xe4 22.h4 you may get a better picture. b5 6.d3 b7 fc8 23.h7+ f8 24.xe4 d5 7.f3 b4 25.h4 f4 26.g5 f6 27.dxe5 fxg5 [ 7...d7 8.0-0 c5 looks a better choice to 28.xg5 xe5 29.xf4+ 1-0 Belkhodja, me, as recommended by Hillarp Persson. S-Dussol, P/ Montpellier 1991 ] Then 9.dxc5 ( 9.h1 c4 10.e2 b4 [ 10...d7 11.0-0 c6 12.c4 bxc3 13.bxc3 11.a4 xe4 12.xc4 gf6 13.a3 a5 ) b6 14.c4 a5 15.c5 xf3 1/2-1/2 Popov, 9...xc5 10.xc5 ( 10.a3 xc3 11.bxc3 V-Kochyev, A/St Petersburg 1997 So the xe4 ) 10...dxc5 11.e5 b6 12.e4 xe4 real truth about this variation is yet to be 13.xe4 h6 14.c4 0-0 15.c1 ad8 told the evidence suggests though, that 16.e2 f6 was the game Stefansson-Hillerp White's position is easier to play. ] Persson Gausdal 1996 with Black starting 11.c4! bxc3 12.bxc3 d7 13.b1 5b6 to develop counterplay. ] 14.g3 d5 He is getting far too fancy. Black 8.e2 f6 9.e5 [ 9.g3 bd7 10.c3 bxc3 11.bxc3 0-0 should simply castle, take the medicine and 12.b1 b8 13.0-0 c5 14.a4 c7 15.h3 hope to swallow it! [ 14...0-0! 15.0-0 f6 ] c6 16.a3 c4 17.xb8 xb8 18.c2 e6 19.d2 f8 20.c1 b7 21.b1 d5 15.0-0 a5 16.e2 c8 17.f5! Quite right! 22.e5 e8 23.e1 g7= seems less Black is f idd ling around so much that h e deserves to be punished. This thematic break dangerous to Black. ] introduces all the White pieces into the attack. 9...d5 10.f2 [ 10.d2 is an obvious option: c5 11.c4 f8 [ 17...gxf5 18.g5! ( 18.xf5 exf5 19.xf5 bxc3 12.bxc3 cxd4 13.cxd4 0-0 14.0-0 a5 a6 20.d3 xd3 21.xd3 c4 22.g5 15.b1 a7 Svidler, P-Beliavsky, A/ is also very interesting.) 18...f8 19.b5+ Dortmund 1998 and now I wouldn't like to be ( 19.h5 g8 20.b5+ bd7 21.e3 ) in Black's shoes after 16.e1! ] 19...c6 20.h5 g8 21.d3 ] 10...e6N A novelty that does not fare especially well and which leads to a passive 18.b5+ c6 19.d3 c4 20.f6! h6 p o s i t i o n . I n p a r t i c u l a r , B l a c k n o w h a s 21.xc4 dxc4 And resigns before 22 Ne4 . To quote Keene and Botterill: 'the Modern is a problems effecting the break ...c7-c5. [ 10...d7 11.0-0 0-0 ( 11...c5 12.g5 fighting defence , based on counterattack' If dxe5 13.fxe5 h6 14.xf7 xf7 15.e3+ Black times his counterplay wrongly he can g7 16.xh6+ xh6 17.f7 g8 be crushed exactly what happened here. 18.d2+ g5 19.h4 f8 20.af1 xf7 1-0 21.xf7 cxd4 22.xd4 f4 23.hxg5+ xg5 24.xf4 1-0 Minasian, A-Stryjecki, M/ Cappelle la Grande 2003) 12.c4 bxc3 13.bxc3 c5 14.b1 c7 15.g5 A) Black can consider central action: 15...dxe5 16.fxe5 h6 A1) 17.e4 cxd4 ( 17...ab8 ) 18.cxd4 ab8 19.d2; 835

B06 2516 2421 12.10.2005

858

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 836 Yudasin,Leonid Vydeslaver,Alik Beersheeva Beer-Sheva (Israel) (1) [Nigel Davies]

B06 837

1992

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 f6 5.c4 [ 5.b5+ bd7 6.f3 0-0 7.h3 b6 8.0-0 bxd5 9.xd5 xd5 gets Black's pawn back, though even here I prefer White after 10.c3 d6 11.c4 b6 12.e1 Gofshtein Vydeslaver, Beer-Sheva 1991 ] 5...0-0?! After this Black struggles to regain his pawn. [ 5...bd7 is better, as in the next game. ] 6.ge2 bd7 7.b3 b6 8.f4 a5 9.a4 [ 9.a3 a4 10.a2 f5 11.0-0 d7 12.h3 is also possible after which Black weakened himself with h5 13.e1 fe8 14.e3 h7 15.e2 h6 in order to try and get his pawn back in Renner - Kunze,Bundesliga 1991 ] 9...f5 10.0-0 h6 [ Black also had a miserable time of it in Sorkin - Segal, Nethanya 1993: 10...d7 11.h3 ad8 12.f3 h5 13.e3 c8 14.ad1 d6 15.d3 xd3 16.xd3 f5 17.f4 h4 18.e2 with Black still not much closer to regaining the pawn. ] 11.e1 d7 12.h3 g5 The pawn minus and White's threat of g2-g4 gets Black to weaken his kingside. After that Yudashin is able to de ve lo p a f ierce a tt ack. 13.h5 xh5 14.xh5 g6 15.d1 ad8 16.f4! Prising open files after which Black's king is in trouble. gxf4 17.xf4 c6 18.dxc6 xd4+ 19.h1 xc6 With h6 hanging Black has to keep some threats going. But now he has trouble with the e7 pawn. 20.g4 h5 21.g3 c4 [ 21...fe8 22.e6! fxe6 23.xg6+ would have been an attractive finale ] 22.xe7 c8 23.ae1 g7 24.1e6! c5 25.e4 f5 26.d6 xd6 27.xg6 e4 28.xg7+ h8 29.xe4 xe4 30.g5 1-0

Zakhartsov,Viacheslav V Epishin,Vladimir 54th ch Elista RUS (1) [Nigel Davies]

B06 2484 2579 30.04.2001

Moving the d-pawn forward two squares is clearly more challenging than Okrajek's d2-d3. But even so it looks comfortable for Black. 1.f3 g6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.c3 [ Keeping open the option of a later c2-c4 does not seem to be much of a threat either. 5.e2 g7 6.0-0 0-0 7.c4 d6 8.c3 c6 intending ...Bg4 puts pressure on the d4 pawn. ] 5...d6 6.e5 g7 7.e2 0-0 8.f4 d5 9.xd5 xd5 10.0-0 c5 11.c4?! An unsound pa wn sacrif ice, but W hite is already experiencing some difficulties. [ 11.dxc5 xc5 12.d3 a5 looks more comfortable for Black, due to the fact that he has an extra central pawn. ] 11...xd4 12.xd4 cxd4 13.fe1 xe5 14.xe5 c6 15.ad1 f5 16.b3 fd8 17.f3 ac8 18.d2 g5 Making room for his bishop on g6 in case of g2-g4. 19.a4 f6 20.xc6 xc6 21.xd4 e5 22.e3 xd2 23.xd2 xc2 24.c3 f7 25.d1 h5 26.d2 c1+ 27.f2 g4 28.g3 f1 29.fxg4 xg4 30.d8 f5 31.d2 e4 32.a3 e6 33.e2 c6 34.h4 f4+ Sacrificing his extra pawn in order to drive W hite's king int o a net . 35.xh5 e8+ 36.h6 h4+ 37.g7 g4+ 38.h6 g6+ 39.h7 f7 40.f2 c6 41.d2 e4 42.d7+ e6 43.g7 xg2+ 44.g8 xh2 0-1

838 Zarnicki,Pablo McShane,Luke J IV Final, ICC INT [Andrew Martin]

B06 2535 2565 2003

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 e6!? Spassky liked all this stuff-he even used it in one of his W orld Championship Matches against Petrosian.....with decent results. Black's play is impossible to classify. It seems 859

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 heavily reliant on W hite overestimating his chances or launching a premature attack. Surely if White builds up slowly he must retain a slight edge? Or maybe 4 f4 is already too c o m m i t t a l ? ? 5.f3 e7 6.d3 b6 Flexibility above all. Black should not castle too early. 7.0-0 [ 7.e2! is more incisive from where I sit. W hite keeps the option open of castling queenside and he prepares e4-e5. Fischer's upcoming play is original but he gets a very passive game: a5?! 8.e5 a6 9.b5 xb5 10.xb5+ c6 11.d3 d5 12.a4 d7 13.b3 0-0 14.a3 e8 15.0-0 c7 16.g4 c5 17.c3 f8 18.h1 ec8 19.f5! White's play has been a model. c4 20.bxc4 dxc4 21.e4 d5 22.xd5 exd5 23.e6 f6 24.exf7+ xf7 25.e5 g7 26.g5 e4 27.fxg6 hxg6 28.g4 c7 29.e6+ h7 30.f4 1-0 Glod,P-Fischer,J/6th St Quentin Open, Elancourt FRA 2003 Compelling evidence that Black cannot simply potter around. ] 7...d7 8.f5 Zarnicki changes up a gear. It's a stron g m ove, pu tting t he qu est io n t o th e whole Black set-up. exf5 9.exf5 f6 10.g5 0-0 11.e4! Putting on the pressure. Black's move is forced. xe4 12.xe4 d5 13.xe7 xe7 14.xd5 b8 15.fxg6 hxg6 16.c3 If this is the best that Black can get then forget the whole thing! a6 17.e1 d6 18.b3 c6 19.c4 b5 20.d3 c8 21.e5 e6 22.c2 c5! McShane fights on valiantly. He must try to create some dark-squared pressure. The Bishop on g7 is the only piece t h a t W h i t e c a n n o t c o n t e s t . 23.dxc5 Zarnicki is very concerned about his structure, no doubt the legacy of incessant blitz chess at the Internet Chess Club. Keep the pawn structure tight and run the other guy's flag out as the saying goes. [ 23.f2 was interesting: cxd4 24.cxd4 fd8 25.e2! a6 ( 25...xd4 26.xd4 xd4 27.c6 ) 26.f3 bc8 27.a4 ] 23...xc5+ 24.f2 fc8 25.xg6 b4 White has to be a little careful now. 26.ab1 [ 26.xc5 xc5 27.f4 bxc3 28.bxc3 xc3 29.xe6 fxe6 30.ab1 gives an extra pawn but this ending is difficult to win. ] 26...bxc3 27.xc5 xc5 28.bxc3 xb1 29.xb1 xc3 30.e4 f6 31.d3 xa2

32.f4 a5 Whereas this ending gives no advantage in material and is a complete draw with even Black for choice! My guess is that both players were glad to end this scrappy game. Objectively, 4...e6 seems to me to be dubious-White just gets too much of the game wi t h ve r y l i t t l e p r e s s u r e b e i n g m o u n t e d against his big centre. I quite like 7 Qe2 but Zarnicki's 7 0-0 and 8 f5! seems good too. ½-½

839 Zhao Jun Liu Qingnan ch-CHN 2014 Xinghua CHN (7.5) [Tom Rendle]

B06 2608 2501 18.03.2014

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 a6 4.f4 b5 5.d3 b7 6.f3 d7 7.0-0 g7 8.e5 c5 [ 8...h6 I covered in some detail last year in Kanep-Iturrizaga. Black won that game but both sides could've handled the opening better, overall I suspect W hite is slightly better in that line. ] 9.e4 [ 9.exd6 cxd4 ( 9...exd6?! 10.e4 xe4 11.xe4 is an improved version of the game as Black can not ignore the threat on d6 now. White is clearly better after df6 12.e2 e7 13.dxc5 xe4 14.xe4 dxc5 15.e1 a7 16.a4! ) 10.e4! ( 10.e2?! was better for Black in Kulicov-Gelashvili in the archives and Black can maybe even improve on that game with c5! 11.dxe7 xe7 12.g3 0-0 and Black is already very comfortable ) A) 10...gf6! 11.dxe7 xe7 12.xf6+ xf6 13.e1 ( 13.e1!? e4 14.f5!? is worth considering if White doesn't wish to go in for the risky pawn grab) 13...e4 14.e2 f5 15.a4 0-0 is a very unclear gambit, as noted by John W atson in his annotations to the Kulicov-Gelashvili game. Critical is 16.axb5 axb5 17.xa8 xa8 18.xb5 h8 when I feel that, from a practical point of view at least, Black has enough compensation for the pawn.; B) 10...e6 11.a4 b6 12.axb5 axb5 13.xa8+ xa8 14.e2 h6 15.e5! and White had a slight advantage in Leon 860

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Hoyos, M (2528)-Machin Rivera, M (2359) San Sebastian Del Pepino 2014 ] 9...xe4 10.xe4 cxd4 11.exd6 e6?! The first new move comes from Liu Qingnan and although it works in this game I'm not convinced in it's overall soundness. [ 11...b6 is currently Black's most popular move but I think White is somewhat better h e r e , f o r e x a m p l e 12.a4 ( 12.e1!? ) 12...exd6 13.axb5 e7 14.bxa6 0-0 15.e1 and White was slightly better in Amanov, Z (2382)-Liu, E (2291) Los Angeles 2011 ] [ 11...gf6 is probably best and is covered in t h e n o t e s t o K u l i c o v- G e l a s h vi l i a n d Kanep-Iturrizaga. ] 12.e5 [ 12.a4 immediately looks good for White as well since Nh6 is now less effective A) 12...b6 is better but after 13.e5! gf6 ( 13...d3+?! 14.h1 dxc2 15.xc2 only helps White - a nice point is that after gf6 16.e3 the bishop cannot be taken due to xe3 17.xf6+ xf6 18.xd7 xd7 19.c7+ e8 20.c6+ f8 21.xa8+ g7 22.xa6 and White is easily winning) 14.xf6+ xf6 15.axb5 xe5 16.fxe5 xe5 17.d7+! e7 18.bxa6 and White has the better chances in this unusual middlegame although Black is still just about OK after f6!; B) 12...h6 13.xd4 f5 14.xf5 exf5 15.c3 and Black really doesn't have much for the pawn ( or 15.g5!? )] 12...h6 13.xd4 This allows Black to gain time against the queen and justifies Black's idea [ instead I pref er 13.a4! f5 14.e2 ( 14.g4!? could be strong as well, e.g. e3 15.xe3 dxe3 16.xd7 xd7 17.axb5 xb5 18.f3 0-0 19.xe3 xb2 20.c3 with a difficult position to assess. W hite's king is open but the pawn on d6 looks more of a strength than a weakness and W hite is constantly threatening f5. I'd rather be White! ) 14...xe5 15.fxe5 xe5 16.axb5 b6! A key move, gaining a tempo with the threat of 17...d3+ 17.d3 xd6 18.xa6 xa6 19.bxa6 0-0 20.b4! and White has a slight edge since the pawn can't be taken because of xb4? 21.a3 b8 22.xd6

xd6 23.f6+ g7 24.d7 winning an exchange and soon the game ] 13...f5 [ 13...g4!? is dangerous as well but perhaps White is a little better after 14.d3! b6+ 15.h1 gxe5 16.fxe5 xe5 17.f3 0-0 18.h6 xb2! 19.xf8 xf8 although all 3 results are definitely possible in this position. Whether White is better or not depends on if he can keep the pawn on d6 comfortably. ] 14.f2 xe5 15.fxe5 xe5 16.c3?! A very logical move from Zhao Jun, deciding to be extra safe against ...Bd4 but it's just less accurate than an immediate 16.Rd1 and the result is that the pawn on d6 becomes almost impossible to hold. [ 16.d1 0-0 17.g4! might looks risky but it's definitely the best line for W hite, for example after g7 18.d7 f5! 19.g5! c7 20.e7 it's anyone's game right now. Black h a s t o p l a y fd8 giving up the exchange, but of course he'll have excellent compensation ] 16...0-0 17.d1 c8 18.f4 [ W hite should probably try 18.d7 c4 ( 18...c7? 19.f4 xf4?! 20.xf4 leaves Black in lots of trouble since he can't take the pawn on d7 due to Nf6+ at the end ) 19.f3 although Black has no problems here after c7! and the pawn on d7 looks destined to fall at some point in the not too distant future ] 18...c4! 19.xe5 xe4 20.d4 e5 21.b6 d7 22.c5 c8 23.c7? [ 23.xc8+! xc8 24.d7 was White's best chance - in fact a draw is the most likely result after e1+! 25.f2! ( 25.xe1 xd7 26.xe5 d2 and Black's activity give him the better chances) 25...xd7 26.xd7 xa1 27.g4! h6 28.d8+ g7 29.g5 f5 30.c7 f6 31.d7+ g8 32.gxf6 xa2 and White has enough to draw the ending. ] 23...xd6?! This wins a pawn but gives White some chances to hold the rook and pawn ending [ 23...e2! was much stronger as the pawn on d6 is lost in any case and the rook is very strong as usual on the 7th rank. Black should be winning here ] 861

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.xd6 xc7 25.xc7 xc7 26.f1 b4 27.xa6 e2 28.f2 e1+ 29.f1 xf1+ 30.xf1 bxc3 31.bxc3 xc3 32.a5 e4 33.a4?! I don't know if the ending was holdable bef ore, but af ter this it's almost certainly lost - the rook is just very misplaced on a4, blocking his own pawn [ 33.g4! aiming to prevent ...f5 gives White some chances to hold the ending ] 33...f5 34.a7 c1+ 35.f2 c2+ 36.g3 g5 The pawns are clearly unstoppable now 37.h4 gxh4+ 38.h3 f8 39.a4 f2 40.b7 e3 41.b3 e2! [ 41...e2 42.e3 f1! and Black threatens 43...Rh1 as well as promoting the pawn ] 0-1

easily believe that Black can never survive such a position and there are many out there who do! One of the main points in showing this game is to demonstrate Black's resources, even when the W hite attack is as far advanced as this. e5 Taking on h5 is right out. 10.dxe5 [ 10.hxg6 fxg6 11.dxe5 is the first line w h i c h h a s t o b e c o n s i d e r e d : dxe5 ( 11...xe5 is almost certainly better: 12.c5!? e8 13.f4 g4 14.e2 xe2 15.gxe2 c4 ) 12.d6 b7 13.h3! ] 10...dxe5 11.g4 [ Whereas 11.hxg6 may transpose to the previous variation, there is also ] [ 11.d6! to consider: xh5 12.xc6 b8 13.xb5 It is very hard to see any compensation whatsoever for Black. ] 840 B06 11...c7 [ After 11...b4 12.a4 a5 13.b3 Zhigalko,Sergei 2490 White is dominating. The possession of the Berkes,Ferenc 2596 h and d files and the a2-g8 diagonal gives World Jr Ch - Boys U20 (8) 17.11.2005 him a huge advantage. ] [Andrew Martin] 12.hxg6 fxg6 [ 12...hxg6? 13.h6 is game over. ] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 c6 The older move. W hat is wrong with it and 13.g5 h5 14.xb5! Initiating an excellent why is 4...a6 preferred almost exclusively combination. [ 14.xb5 isn't a s good : cxb5 15.d5+ these days? Perhaps the answer lies after 5 h8 16.xa8 b6 17.xb6 xb6 18.d5 Qd2 b5 6 Nf3, although I remain to be (or else Bb7) g3 19.g2 xh1 20.xh1 convinced that Black's chances are in any a6 21.a3 b4 22.d6 bxa3 23.xa3 wa y in f e rio r t h e re . 5.d2 b5 6.0-0-0 b5 and Black has sufficient counterplay. ] Fearless or stupid? In my view this gives 14...cxb5 15.d5+ h8 16.xa8 b7 Black unnecessary chances. d7 7.h4 [ Stein - Bronstein, Moscow 1961 USSR ch 17.xa7 a8 18.xd7! [ 18.xb5 is also possible, but after c6! continued 7.b1 b6 8.d3 a5 9.h4 h5 19.xd7 xd7 20.b6 comes xa2 10.h3 b4 11.e2 xh3 ( 11...f6 12.f3 and not everyone would like to play the Fritz 0-0 13.h6 b3! 14.cxb3 a4 ) 12.xh3 e6 suggestion of 21.b4 now. ] 13.f3 f6 14.g5 c7 with a complicated [ 18.d5 o n l y l e a d s t o e q u a l i t y : c6 position. ] 19.e7 c7 20.d5 ] 7...gf6 Black's choice here is a question of taste. Both players seem to having a small, 18...xd7 19.b6 g3 20.h2? He had to u n wr it t e n c o n t e st a s t o wh o i s t h e m o s t make a choice for the Rook, but h2 seems like f e a r l e s s . N a t u r a l l y B l a c k h a s p l e n t y o f the worse square possible. [ Either 20.h4 c6 ( 20...f1 21.xg6 alternatives which delay ...Ng8-f8, including f8 22.f2! and the check on d2 is just a [ 7...a5 ] fatal waste of time) 21.f2 f1 22.e1! [ 7...b6 ] f8 23.f2! b4 24.xf1 bxc3 25.xc3 [ and of course 7...h5 I would choose any of xa2 26.b1 a7 27.b3 ] these moves before ...Nf6 ] [ or 20.h3 f1 21.f2 b4 22.b1 f7 8.f3 0-0 A continuation of the same risky and would have retained W hite's clear uncompromising strategy. Black's options advantage. ] were the same as before. 9.h5! White could 862

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20...f1! Suddenly Black has useful counterplay. 21.e2 xe3 22.xe3 b4 23.d2 c6? [ Fritz 9 suggests 23...c7! and if 24.b5 ( 24.b1 xa2; 24.d5 xa2! and maybe Black is suddenly better.) 24...a5 25.d6 xa2 26.d1 leads to very unclear play. I'm baffled as to why Berkes didn't play this way. ] 24.b1 [ 24.ce2! e6 25.b3 xb3 26.cxb3 is a simple variation which confirms the unevenness of this game. Perhaps the two players were getting short of time it certainly looks that way. ] 24...f8 25.d5 c4! 26.d1 c5 The game turns. White is going backwards. 27.d2 [ 27.e2 xa2 28.d7 c6 29.c7 e6 30.e1 b6 leaves the White position utterly stretched. ] 27...xa2 28.h3 d4 29.c3 bxc3 [ 29...b3! is also very strong. ] 30.bxc3 c4 31.d3 c5 32.e1 a6 33.d2 b8 34.f4 b6 35.a3 c5 0-1

[ 9.e6 is intimidating, but no more as long as Black defends correctly. fxe6 10.g5 f8 11.0-0 A) 11...f5! is a certain improvement. Black must get his Knight into the game and this is the right moment. For instance: 12.xf5 ( 12.f2 h6! 13.f3 xf3 14.xf3 xd4 15.c6+ f7; 12.e1 b4 13.a4 h6 14.h3 xe3 15.xe3 d7! ) 12...exf5 13.d5 c5! 14.dxc6 xc6 15.d5 xb2 16.b1 a3 17.d4 e5; B) 11...d7 12.f2 f5 13.e4 d5 14.d3 d6 15.e2 b6 16.c3 d7 17.e1 f6 18.c1 c8 19.b3 h6 20.f3 g4 21.c5 xf2 22.xf2 0-0 23.e5 d6 Melnikova,Y-Zielinska,M/ D r e s d e n 2 0 0 4 a n d n o w 24.g1 Timing is of critical importance in such a sh a p p o s i t i o n . H e r e B l a c k j u s t g o t i t wrong. ] 9...b6N A very logical novelty in that Black is trying to control the squares c4,d5 and f5 which have been left in the wake of the pawn on e5. I strongly prefer White's extra space and feel that it should give him a comfortable advantage. [ 9...e6 has been tried, 'a la' Azmaiparashvili. Black might be able to scrape his way to a 841 B06 playable game: 10.0-0-0 b6 11.hg1 f5 12.xf5 exf5 13.d5 c4 14.d4 Zufic,Miroslav 2370 dxe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.xe5 0-0 Nevednichy,Vladislav 2552 17.xg7 xg7 18.ge1 e8 19.xe8 XI Open A Bosnjaci CRO (2) 04.01.2005 xe8 20.xe8 xe8 21.b4 d8 22.g3 [Andrew Martin] d6?! ( 22...f6 23.d3 e7 24.d2 c6!= ) 23.b2 h6 24.b3 Antal,G-Vajda, 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 a6 L/Nagyka nizsa 2 003 It's OK f or Black I 5.f4 b5 6.f3 b7 7.d3 d7 Although suppose, just uninspiring. ] I've played Black's position myself I don't White begins the business of opening really believe it. White has strong attacking 10.a4 chances on the Kingside no matter how Black u p t h e p o s it io n f o r h is b e t t e r d e ve lo p e d juggles with the moves. Black must be alert in pieces. b4 11.e4 0-0 12.0-0 a5 13.fg5 defence and have very steady nerves if he d7 [ 13...f5 14.f2 d7 15.b5 c6 16.c4 wishes to play this line. 8.e5 h6 bxc3 17.xc3 xb5 18.axb5 e6 [ 8...e6 9.a4 b4 10.e4 b6 ( 10...xe4 another way.. I'm worried about the Bishop 11.xe4 d5 12.d3 c5 13.dxc5 c7 throttled on g7 but perhaps .... f7-f6 will 14.e2 ) 11.d2 a5 12.b5+ f8 liberate that piece . Nevertheless I am a bit 13.e2 e7 14.0-0 c6 15.xc6 xc6 surprised that Nevednichy didn't take the 16.c3 d7 17.fc1 bxc3 18.xc3 b4 chance to get his Knight off the edge. Black 19.b5 Morozevich,A-Azmaiparashvili,Z/ keeps the game very tense. ] Bugojno 1999 although Black managed an 14.b3 f6 15.f3 d5 16.d2 c6 17.g3 eventual draw. ] [ 17.ae1! fxe5 18.fxe5 f5 19.c4 dxe5 9.e2 863

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.dxe5 ad8 21.f2 leads to a very complex position. Although Black is still a little worse he is still well in the game after, say, h8 ] 17...dxe5 18.fxe5 f5?! [ 18...fxe5! 19.dxe5 ad8 20.c4 f7 21.ad1 e6 is a good way of organising Black's pieces. I an not sure that I like this idea of freezing the centre at all. Once again I am becoming worried about the fate of that Bishop on g7. ] 19.h1 b6 20.e1 e6 21.e2 f7 22.h4 h6 23.g3 g5 [ After 23...h7 24.h4 g5 It appears that B l a c k wi l l h a ve t o l o o s e n h i s k i n g s i d e anyway. The imme diate sa crif ice on f 5 doesn't seem too effective so White must settle for 25.f3 ( 25.xf5 exf5 26.xf5 g8 27.af1 c5 ) 25...c5 26.dxc5 xc5 27.ed4 with an edge due to his strong Knight. ] 24.h4 g4 25.h2 ad8 26.xg4 S o m e t h i n g l i k e t h i s h a d t o c o m e . fxg4 27.xg4 Now Black has to plan a defence. It must be said that the pawn on e6 hampers the rescue mission. So much for blocking the centre long ago. a6 [ 27...e7 28.f6 c5 ( 28...d5 29.af1 c6 30.f4 f5 31.xf5 exf5 32.g3 xc2 33.h5 ) 29.xh6 xh6 30.xh6 f5 31.g6 ] 28.g3! Heading for an ideal square. xd3 29.h5 g5 30.cxd3 e7 31.hxg5 xd4 [ 31...xd4 32.f4 hxg5 33.xg5 f5 34.xg7 xg7 35.e3+- ] 32.xf8+ xf8 33.xe6+ h7 34.f7+ h8 35.f1 h4+ 36.g1 d4+ 37.f2 a1+ 38.h2 xe5+ the fun will be shortlived. 39.f4 c5 40.f6+ h7 41.f7+ h8 42.f6 A game which confirms the Modern Defence as a masochist's paradise. Black has to put up with a lot of trench warfare, and then when his small window of opportunity comes he has to take it or get rubbed out. 1-0

842

B07

1 e4 d6 2 Nc3: Transpositions Independent Lines [John Watson] Reader Michael Ridge puts in a request: "On the 1 e4 ... ChessPub website, it would be interesting to see some coverage of a repertoire based on the line 1 e4 d6 2 Nc3!? a handy line if you play the Grand Prix Attack, and often used by Nigel Short among others, b u t r a re l y co ve re d in wo rk s o n t h e P irc / Modern, which I know technically begins after 2 d4, but the upshot is that this whole move order tends to fall through all the cracks. I have the Bangiev CD which recommends this, but it would be very interesting to see your take on this move order. Obviously I'm not asking for coverage of lines with an early ...c5 which is just a GPA by transposition, but instead what White should do if Black does not play ...c5 early on - when to transpose into an Austrian Attack or whatnot - anyway, your thoughts on this would both be very interesting and fill a sort of gap in the opening literature here, as far as I can see." [Back to jw:] I'm not sure that I can devote enough effort to single update game to fill a gap in theory, and my luck with Bangiev lines has been poor. But I notice that 2 Nc3, while not a mainstream move, has been played steadily, through the years. It's most prominent practitioner seems to be Nigel Short, but he uses it to aim f or other lines such as the Sicilian Grand Prix or a main line Austrian Attack of the Pirc. One of my bigger merged databases has 720 games with 2 Nc3 that are independent of the Pirc, Grand Prix, Closed Sicilian, and everything else represented by another ECO code. Let me try to help with some transpositional and independent lines, with the understanding that the play can head anywhere. I will stick mainly to 2500+ average ELO games to preserve my sanity. 1.e4 d6 2.c3 [ Short has also played 2.c4 f6 3.c3 , which is the equivalent of 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 Bc4. This position is represented by 325 games in one large database that I have. ShortC a m p o r a , M o s c o w 2 0 0 1 c o n t i n u e d c6 ( 3...g6 4.d4 g7 transposes to a normal 864

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Pirc line ) 4.b3 e5 5.f4!? g4!? ( 5...exf4 6.f3 h6!? ) 6.f3 exf4 7.d4 h5 8.0-0 e7 ( 8...g5 ) 9.h3 A) 9...xf3 10.xf3 g6 11.g4 ( or 11.xf4 ) 11...g3 12.xf7+; B) 9...e6 10.d5!? ( 10.xe6! fxe6 11.g5 xg5 12.xh5+ g6 13.g4 ) 10...cxd5 11.d4 f6 ( 11...g6 ) 12.xf4 0-0 13.exd5 ( 13.xd5 xd5 14.exd5 g6 15.f3 with two bishops and an advantage ) 13...d7 14.ce2 a6 15.c4 c5 16.c2 a5 17.g3! (as so often, the f5 square causes problems for Black) b6 18.df5 ae8 19.h2 ( 19.xe7+ xe7 20.d4! ) 19...xf5?! 20.xf5 fe4 21.f3?! ( 21.xg7! xg7 22.d4+ f6 23.xe4 and White is winning) 21...f6 22.ae1 e5 23.xe4! xe4 24.xd6 and W hite destroys black's centre while picking up a pawn. ] 2...f6 The Pirc move, which very often t ra n s p o s e s . T h e r e a re m a n y in t e r e st in g alternatives: [ a) A game in which Nigel Short experimented with 2 Nc3 went 2...e5 3.c4 ( I'd also look at 3.d4 exd4 4.xd4 c6 5.b5 with the idea d7 6.xc6 xc6 7.f3 , with the idea of developing simply, or perhaps continuing with the aggressive Bg5 and 0-0-0 ) 3...e6!? 4.b3 ( 4.xe6 fxe6 5.f3 c5! prevents d4 again, 5 d4 cxd4 6 Qxd4 Nc6 7 Qc4 is worthy of consideration) 4...c6 5.ge2 g6?! ( 5...f6 6.d4 xd4 7.xd4 exd4 8.xd4 e7 9.f4!? 0-0 10.0-0-0 is probably all right for black, but there's a little pressure on him) 6.d4! xb3 7.axb3 g7 8.d5 ( 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.d5 ce7!? ) 8...ce7 9.0-0 f6 ( 9...f5 10.d3! ) 10.d3 0-0 11.g3!? (usually a dubious move when the squares f5 and h5 are covered here W hite is anticipating a later ...f5) a6 ( for example, 11...d7 12.b4 f5 13.exf5 gxf5 14.h5 ) 12.b4 c6 13.g5! c8 ( 13...h6 14.xf6 xf6 15.fd1 cxd5 16.xd5 ) 14.dxc6 xc6 15.fd1 (W hite is in charge) h6 16.xf6 xf6 17.b5 axb5 18.xb5 c8 19.b3 b6 20.c4 h4 21.a2 xg3 22.hxg3 g7 23.g4! d8 24.a8 d7 25.g3 e7 26.b4 c8 27.xc8 xc8

28.c5 a6 29.cxd6 a4 30.c1 b6 31.b1 a2 32.g2 g8? (but things were bad anyway) 33.h1 c4 34.c3 b3 35.b1 b2 36.d2 c4 37.c1 1-0 Short-Wahls, Bundesliga 1991. ] [ b) 2...c5 opens plenty of options for White: 3.f4 transposes to a Sicilian Grand Prix Attack, but one in which Black has c o m m i t t e d t o . . . d 6 , wh e r e a s t h e m o s t frustrating and arguably best anti-Grand Prix lines delay ... d6 in favour of a setup with ... g6/...Bg7...e6/...Nge7 and, at the right time, ...d5. Instead, ( 3.f3 and 4 d4 is an Open Sicilian, except in the case of e5 when 4.c4 e7 is a playable variant of the Sicilian that goes 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 e5 4 Bc4 Be7; 3.g3 is a Closed Sicilian in which White has avoided 1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 e6, which is still considered a respectable defence )] [ c) 2...g6 can go anywhere. An interesting game with notes by Romanishin went 3.f4 ( there are quite a lot of games with 3.h4!? ) 3...g7 4.f3 c6?! 5.b5! f6 6.0-0 ( 6.e5?! dxe5 7.xe5 d7 8.xd7 xd7 9.0-0 0-0= ) 6...0-0 7.h1!? g4?! ( 7...d7 ) 8.xc6 bxc6 9.d3 c5 10.e1 d7 , and Romanishin suggests 11.f5! e6 ( 11...gxf5 12.h4 fxe4 13.dxe4 |^ ) 12.e5! dxe5 13.fxg6 hxg6 ( 13...fxg6 ) 14.g5 e8 A) 15.xf6 xf6 16.e4 e7 ( or 16...g7 17.fg5 f6 18.h4+- ) 17.xe5; B) 15.h4!? Romanishin-Nijboe omanishin-Nijboer, Groningen 1993. ] [ d) 2...c6 has been chosen by some strong players, for example, 3.f4 d5 A) 4.d3 dxe4 5.dxe4 xd1+ 6.xd1 f6 7.f2 may even be slightly better for White due his centre and excellent knight on f2. Since ...e5 tricks won't work while ... Ng4 ca n be m e t b y Nxg4 , W h it e ge t s smooth development: g6 ( 7...bd7 8.e5 d5 9.f3 ) 8.f3 g7 9.d3 ( 9.e3!? g4 10.xg4 xg4 11.0-0-0 ) 9...0-0 10.h3 fd7 11.c3 c5 12.c2 ( 12.e2!? b6 13.e3 ) 12...f5?! ( 12...b6 ) 13.e3 ba6 14.0-0-0 e6 15.exf5 gxf5 16.b1 d5 17.d4 e6 18.hg1 with much better placed pieces 865

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 an d t he th rea t o f g4 , W ah ls-Che rnin , Tastrup 1992.; B) 4.f3 g4 ( 4...dxe4 5.xe4 d7 6.d4 gf6 7.f2!? ) 5.h3 ( 5.e2 ) 5...xf3 6.xf3 e6 7.d3 b4 8.a3 a5 9.d2 ( 9.g3 ) 9...e7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.g4 d7 with a strangely balanced position, Reinderman-M Gurevich, Zwolle NED 1996. ] 3.f4 Here just about everything has been played, e.g., [ 3.d3 (75 games, but a horrendous record in master play) ] [ 3.h3 ] [ 3.b3 and the more natural-looking ] [ 3.ge2 ] [ and 3.g3 , for example, A) 3...g6 4.g2 g7 can become a Closed Sicilian after 5.f4 ( 5.d4 0-0 6.ge2 is a Pirc ) 5...0-0 6.f3 c5 7.d3 c6 8.0-0; B) 3...c6 4.g2 bd7 5.f4 e5 6.d3 exf4!? 7.xf4 e5!? 8.e2 e7 9.f3 g4 Waitzkin-Ehlvest, New York 1994. ] 3...g6 4.c4 This is kind of weird, almost a Pirc but not quite a normal one. More conventional would be [ 4.f3 g7 5.g3 0-0 6.g2 , and c5 is the most natural move, transposing to a Closed Sicilian. White has 'prevented' a Pirc, and gotten Black to play .. . Nf6 versus the Closed Sicilian, which is usually easier to play for White than against the systems with ...e6 or ...e5 and ...Nge7. ] 4...g7 5.e5!? fd7 [ 5...dxe5 6.fxe5 g4 7.d4 ( 7.e6!? f5! ) 7...c5!? ( 7...c6 8.f3 h6 9.d5! ) 8.e6 f5 9.d5 is obscure. Then the play seems to favour White, for example, 0-0 ( 9...xe6 10.dxe6 xc3+ 11.bxc3 xd1+ 12.xd1 f2+ 13.e2 xh1 14.f3 is hopeless) 10.f3 , and already 11 d6 is threatened, so a p l a u s i b l e a c t i v e l i n e w o u l d b e a5 11.d2!? b4 12.e2 xb2! 13.b1 xc2 14.d3 xc3! 15.xc3 xc3+ 16.f1 , when it's still hard not to prefer White. ] 6.f3 [ 6.d4!? b6 7.b3 ] 6...b6 7.b3 c5!? [ 7...0-0 8.d4 c6 9.0-0 g4 10.e3

isn't clear, but perhaps White gets a little something because of his centre. ] 8.d3 c6 9.exd6 0-0 [ 9...exd6 10.e2+ e7 11.xe7+ xe7 12.d2!? and 0-0-0 looks interesting, but fine for Black. ] 10.0-0 exd6 11.a4 g4 [ 11...a5! 12.a2 f5 13.e1 d7 ] 12.a5 d7 13.a6 bxa6 14.d5 [ 14.xa6 ] 14...b6 15.h3 xf3 [ 15...e6! ] 16.xf3 f6 17.g4 ae8 18.g5 d7 19.d5 b8 20.c3 e7 21.xe7+ xe7 22.xa6 b6 Short-A Sokolov, playchess. com INT 2004 and here 23.f5! gxf5 24.g2 looks to favour White because of his bishops and pawn structure.

843 Adams,Michael Reizniece,Dana 8th Gibtelecom Masters (1) [Gawain Jones]

B07 2694 2341 26.01.2010

I was impressed with Mickey Adams' play here in Gibraltar which he eventually went on to win in the playoffs. Normally he's known to grind down his opponents but here he reminded everyone he can play aggressively too! 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.h3 c6 5.g4!? We've had this position with bishops already developed on e3 and g7 in the archives but without them developed probably favours White. This is because the bishop may not h a ve t o go t o e 3 wh ile B la ck will a lm o s t certainly play Bg7. This line is very rare and has hardly ever been reached. There are actually two plans here for White he can play aggressively with long castles and attacking on the kingside or more sedately with Bg2, Nge2-Ng3 and 0-0 when it's an accelerated fianchetto position. h5 Black attacks back immediately but this move means that any future f4-f5 will be a lot stronger as g6 is now vulnerable. [ 5...b5 6.g2 A) 6...b4 7.ce2 g7 8.e3 ( I like 8.a3 while Black cannot defend with a5 and so has to make a concession.) 8...b7 866

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.d2 a5 10.g3 h5 11.g5 fd7 12.h4 c5 13.f4 c6 14.1e2 and in this unclear position they agreed to a draw in Rodriguez-Leitao, Santos 2006; B) 6...e5 7.e3 ( 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.xd8+ xd8 9.f3 bd7 10.e3 looks like an in t e re s t in g alt e rn a t ive wh e n f 7 m igh t prove vulnerable.) 7...g7?! ( 7...bd7 immediately was required) 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.xd8+ xd8 10.0-0-0+ c7 11.f4 e8 12.f3 1-0 Rogic, D-Skoberne, J/ Zadar CRO 2005 (31) ] [ 5...e5 has been played but fails tactically to 6.dxe5 ( Instead 6.ge2 was played in 1-0 S o l l e v e l d - P e l , H o o g e v e e n 2 0 0 2 ( 6 2 )) 6...dxe5 7.xd8+ xd8 8.f3 bd7 9.g5 e8 10.c4 and Black cannot hold on to the pawn. h6 ( 10...b4 11.xf7+ e7 12.c4 h6 13.f7 h7 14.xh6 xe4 15.0-0 Also puts Black in trouble) 11.xf7 h7 12.g5 ( 12.xh6 xh6 13.g5 Is probably a simpler path to the advantage ) 12...b5 Black has to try and conf use the issue 13.e6 b4 14.e2 xe4 15.xd7+ xd7 16.xe5 xg5 17.h4 f7 18.xd7 xd7 19.e3 White's better as Black's pawns are loose and his pieces don't connect well. ] [ 5...g7 6.g2 0-0 7.ge2 e5 8.e3 b5 9.a3 b7 10.0-0 bd7 11.d2 a6 12.g3 b6?! Missing a cute tactic 13.dxe5 c4 14.exf6! xd2 15.fxg7 xf1 ( 15...xg7 16.xd2 is also good for White. The three pieces are more effective than the queen generally and here d6 is a big weakness.) 16.gxf8+ xf8 17.xf1 Again I prefer the three pieces to the queen 1-0 Vitolinsh-Hoerstmann, Porz (50) ] 6.g5 fd7 7.f4! Mickey goes for it! It actually rem ind s me of a f ew of m y game s in th e G r a n d P ri x A t t a c k . W h it e m a y n o t m a t e immediately but it's useful taking the extra space in the centre and on the kingside while the h5 pawn looks a bit stupid for Black. g7 8.f3 b5 [ 8...0-0 is a bit risky. White doesn't have to attack on the kingside straight away but can first develop his pieces. 9.e3 followed by Qd2, Bd3, 0-0-0 and f5. ] 9.g2 Adams eyes up the long diagonal. The computer reckons the position is about level

but I think it's a lot easier to play for White, it's always nicer to attack the king and play with more space. [ 9.d3 is the alternative square with ideas of pressurising g6. ] 9...b4?! I don't like this move. It's hard to put pressure on e4 and this just forces White to put another piece on the kingside to increase the offensive. 10.e2 d5 The only way to target the e4 pawn but this allows W hite a strong attack. 11.f5! Black's in trouble [ 11.e5 is a calmer way of playing which would exploit d5 and gives W hite a promising advantage but f5 is the most dynamic. ] 11...f8 [ 11...dxe4 12.h4 b6 ( 12...f8 would transpose to the note to the next move ) 13.xe4 xf5 14.xf5 gxf5 15.xf5 d5 16.f1 has similarities to the game, White can be very happy here. ] [ 11...gxf5 is initially the computer's top suggestion but after 12.exf5 White holds an extremely pleasant position. White's knights can be placed on h4 and g3 and White can castle kingside safely when the h5 pawn is doomed and an f6 or g6 break is going to wipe out the Black king. ] 12.h4 dxe4 [ 12...gxf5 13.xf5 xf5 14.exf5 How can Black ever hope for an acceptable position? I don't see how he d e ve l o p s a l l h i s p i e c e s t o r e a s o n a b l e squares. ] 13.0-0 [ 13.fxg6 also gives White a clear advantage xg6 ( 13...f5 14.g3 e6 15.e3 doesn't really help, W hite's pieces have been restrained temporarily but h5 is going to drop when Black's position is likely to collapse. White can take time out to castle queenside first if he wants too.) 14.xg6 fxg6 15.xe4 0-0 16.d3 followed by Bd2 and 0-0-0 ] 13...gxf5 [ 13...a6 14.xe4 hardly helps Black xe2 15.xe2 xd4+ 16.g2 has picked up a pawn but Black's king cannot survive bd7 17.xc6 c8 18.f6+- ] 14.xf5 xf5 15.xf5 g6 [ 15...e6 16.f2 d5 17.e3 ] 867

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xe4 White is clearly better. Black's king is 6.f4 in trouble while White has the bishop pair and [ 6.g4 is also interesting but it doesn't seem a better pawn structure. d7 17.d3 e6 so clear after h5!? 7.g5 fd7 8.g2 c5! 18.f2 This is a disaster for Black. If that pawn and Black has a comfortable game ( 8...b5?! were back on b7 he'd have some hopes as 9.e5 a7 10.e6 fxe6 11.d3 f8 12.e4 then it would be easier to develop his f7 13.d5 and White was clearly on top in queenside and have somewhere where the Bauer, C (2637) -Fressinet, L (2698) Caen king could hope to be safe. Here, however, 2011 )] the position is already lost and against as 6...0-0 strong a player as Adams, he has no chance. [ 6...b5 doesn't seem to solve Black's e7 19.d2 a5 20.af1 opening difficulties either 7.e5 fd7 8.f3 [ White's spoilt for choice which target to go a7 ( 8...c6 9.d3 b7 10.ge2 c7 for 20.a3 would be another choice. ] 11.h4 b6 12.h5 8d7 13.hxg6 hxg6 20...f8 21.c3 a6 22.g3 h4 23.h5 14.xh8+ xh8 15.e6! was very strong in h8 24.g6 f5 25.g7 xg7 26.xg7+ d8 Hracek, Z (2610)-Konopka, M (2445 Black's king never managed to castle. 27.g2 P a rd u b i ce 1 9 9 8) 9.d3 b4 10.e4 c7 28.c4 d5 29.xd5 A very easy was pleasant for White in Goloshchapov, A victory for W hite and an interesting idea. I (2523)-Murshed, N (2435) Dhaka 2003 ] think 5...h5 was the route of Black's problems [ 6...e6 is Vigus' suggestion on the forum, which only helped White while the plan of 9... with the idea of playing Nb8-c6-e7, however b4 and 10...d5 to strive for counterplay really this looks a little slow and W hite's space backfired. advantage seems to guarantee a slight edge 1-0 after 7.f3!? c6 8.0-0-0 ] 7.f3 [ 7.f3 and a quick 0-0-0 is also possible ] 844 B07 7...b5 [ 7...e6 is probably safer but White has the Adams,Michael 2724 better chances still after 8.e5 ( 8.d3 c6 Zhukova,N 2426 9.0-0 is comfortable too) 8...d5 9.xd5 Gibraltar Open (1.3) 24.01.2012 exd5 10.d3 ( 10.d2!? ) 10...c6 11.c3 [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] dxe5 12.fxe5 f6 13.exf6 xf6 14.0-0 f5 Petrik, T (2487) -Tkachiev, V (2664) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 a6 Dresden 2008. ] 5.h3 this is Vigus' suggestion to meet [ 7...c6 looks odd but might be worth a Kramnik's hybrid setup of Nf6/a6 without Bg7 gamble, for example 8.e5 ( 8.d5 a7 and it certainly works well in this game! and Black can open things up with c6 or [ 5.d2 b5 6.f3 has been examined in the even Nb5!? ) 8...h5 9.f2 f6!? ] archives, including the key game Naiditsch, 8.e5 fd7 A-Kramnik, V ] [ 8...h5!? might've been worth a try, 5...g7 especially given the lack of counterplay [ 5...b5 6.e5! causes problems for Black, e. Zhukova got in the game g. fd7 ( 6...b4 7.exf6 bxc3 8.fxe7 xe7 A) 9.d3 b7 ( 9...g3 10.g1 ) 10.g4 9.bxc3 leaves White an (admittedly doubled) g3 11.g1 b4 12.xg3 bxc3 13.bxc3 pawn up ) 7.f3 b6 8.a4 Vigus ( 8.d3 c5 is unclear; g7 9.0-0-0 0-0 10.g3 wasn't so B) 9.f2 f6 10.exd6 ( 10.g4 xf4 convincing in Cornette, M (2573)-Fluvia 11.xf4 fxe5 with excellent chances for Poyatos, J (2442) Montcada i Reixac 2009) Black ) 10...xd6 11.a4! is probably better 8...b4 9.e4 f5 10.a5 d5 and now for W hite but at least Black can create 11.xd6+! ( Better than 11.c4 of Rojas some attacking chances here ] Keim, L (2453)-Peralta, F (2545) Badalona 2009 ) 11...cxd6 12.xd5 just seems to win 9.d3 b6 [ if 9...b7 then 10.e6! fxe6 11.g5 f6 a pawn ] 868

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.ce4 is awkward for Black although Bd5 keeps the position messy ] 10.e2 8d7?! this is just too slow and it gets ruthlessly punished [ perhaps 10...c6!? should be tried, although White retains good chances after 11.a3 b4 12.e4 d5 13.d2 bxa3 14.bxa3 ] 11.0-0-0 [ 11.0-0 of course this should also be good for White but Mickey can smell blood on the Kingside ] 11...e6 [ 11...b4 12.e4 d5 13.h4 c5 14.dxc5 dxe5 15.h5 exf4 16.f2 looks very strong for White ] 12.h4 b7 [ 12...h5 13.g4! hxg4 14.g5 and White's attack is crushing ] [ 12...b4 13.e4 f5 14.exf6 xf6 15.xf6+ xf6 16.h5 is clearly better for White ] 13.h5 b4 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 d5 Zhukova tries to block up the position, but in the absence of counterplay she can't expect the Kingside to remain closed for long 16.d3 c5 17.hxg6 hxg6 [ 17...fxg6 18.dxc5 a4 19.g5 ] 18.g4 [ 18.dxc5 is also winning but Adams is doing for the direct attack a4 19.c6 ] 18...e8 [ 18...c4 traps a piece but to no avail after 19.h2 e8 20.h7+ f8 21.f5! cxd3 22.h6 xh6+ 23.xh6+ e7 24.g5+ when White regains the piece and more ] 19.h2 cxd4 20.xd4 c7 [ 20...f8 covers h7 but simply f5 is crushing ] 21.f5! the att ack crashes through exf5 22.gxf5 xe5 23.xe5 xe5 [ 23...xe5 24.h8+! xh8 25.xh8# ] 24.fxg6 f6 25.df1! a typically accurate move from Adams, bringing another piece to the attack d7 26.f5 f8 27.xe5 xe5 28.h3 a5 29.e1 d6 30.hf1! setting up a pleasing finish [ 30.e6+ of course wins as well ] 30...a4 31.e6+ xe6 32.h7+ f8 33.xf6+ with mate to follow shortly. Overall an impressive perf ormance f rom Adams,

demonstrating that 5.h3 is not to be underestimated. Black players should examine options on moves 7 and 8 otherwise this line may quickly fall out of fashion... 1-0

845 Adamson,Robby Ivanov,A Reno [John Watson]

B07

2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 bd7 4.f4 e5 5.f3 Martin calls this the 'Pirc/ Philidor hybrid', also known as 'the LION' . Remarkably, I see 184 games with it in my TWIC database. The whole system doesn't inspire confidence in me, and yet no real solution has been found. exd4 [ 5...e7?! 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.fxe5 g4 8.f4 ] [ 5...c6 has been suggested by Lion advocates, but may not be that great: 6.dxe5 ( 6.c4!? ) 6...dxe5 7.fxe5 g4 8.f4? ( 8.e6! fxe6 9.g5 ) 8...c5 with unclear play. ] 6.xd4! And 116 of those games reached this point. [ A recent game Alberola Mulet-Llorente Zaro, La Ro d a 2 0 0 8 re in f o rce d th e id e a t h a t 6.xd4 is harmless after g6 7.e3 g7 8.d3 0-0 9.g4? d5! 10.e5 ( 10.g5 xe4 ) 10...c5! 11.exf6 xf6 12.e2 e8 13.f2 cxd4 14.xd4 xg4 and Black soon won. ] 6...c6 For some time this has been considered the main line, but there are options. [ 6...c5!? was given some attention in the Archives: 7.e5 ( 7.e3 g6 8.e5 e6 9.a4+ d7 10.b5 g4 11.xd7+ xd7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.d2 f5! PonomariovBeliavsky, Bled SLO 1999) 7...e6 8.c4 dxe5 9.fxe5 d7 10.e3 Cosma - Ianov, Bijeljina 2001 and Davies suggests b6 11.xb6 axb6 12.d1 d7 . ] 7.e3 It's a bad sign for Black that Christian Bauer chose this line as White, since Bauer plays the Lion. But there seem to be enough resources. d5 [ 7...e7 8.g4!? ( 8.0-0-0 ) 8...d5 ( 8...c5!? 9.d2 xg4 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.g1 xe3 12.xe3 b6 gives White a nice attack 869

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with a better game overall, but Black is a pawn up and White will have to take a little time to recover his pawn.) 9.g5 c5 10.d3 dxe4 11.xe4 xe4 12.xe4+ e7 13.xe7+ xe7 14.d4 ( 14.d4!? e8 15.f2 ) 14...xd4 15.xd4 c5 16.0-0-0 d8 17.f5! h6 18.h4 and White has a bind and some space, with a limited advantage, Shirov-Ftacnik, Senek SVK 1998. ] 8.exd5 c5 9.d3 [ A crazy line comes from 9.d2!? e7 10.d4 g4 ( 10...b6!? is safer and maybe better) 11.d1? ( 11.0-0-0! xe3! 12.e1 xd4 13.d1! xe1 14.xe1+ d8 15.e4 c5 16.dxc6 bxc6 17.xc6 b8 18.d5 gf6 19.xf7 g6 with nearequality ) 11...df6 12.h3? xe3 13.xe3 e4 14.d3 h4+ and Black won shortly, Cukuroglu-Gelashvili, Izmir TUR 2003. ] 9...e7 10.d4 xd5 [ 10...b6! is a gambit that promises equality: 11.dxc6 A) 11...bd5? 12.cxb7 ( 12.xd5 xd5 13.cxb7 xb7 14.e4+ e7 15.b5+ f8 16.xb7 xb7 17.0-0 and White has two extra pawns) 12...xb7 13.b5+ xb5 14.xb5+ d7 15.xd5 xd5 16.f2 0-0-0 17.a6+ with a winning advantage, Bauer, C -Strikovic, Calvia ESP 2005.; B) 11...0-0 12.0-0-0 bxc6 13.g1 c7 14.g3 d8?? ( 14...g4 15.e2 xe2 16.dxe2 ad8 17.d4 with some advantage ) 15.db5! xd3 16.xc7 xd1+ 17.xd1 xg1 18.xa8 xa8 19.xg1 1-0 J Polgar-Khalifman, ? 1993; C) 11...bxc6! C1) 12.e2! looks best, unpinning the e3 bishop, but Black is still okay: a6! 13.d2 fd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.xc6 ( 15.f5! ) 15...xe3 16.xe3+ xe3 17.xa6 xc2+ 18.d2 xa1 19.xa1 0-0; C2) 12.0-0-0 C2a) 12...a6! justifies Black's play: 13.d2 xf1 14.f5 ( 14.hxf1 c4! ) 14...c4 15.xe7 xe3 16.xe3 xe3 17.dxf1 xf1 18.xc6 xh2 19.xh2 0-0 20.h3 gives W hite something, but not

enough for the exchange; C2b) 12...0-0 13.g1 c7 14.g3 bd5 15.xd5 cxd5 16.b5 b6 17.xc5 xc5 18.d4 c6 19.c3 and W hite has a nice positional advantage, Sprenger-Galdunts, Cappelle la Grande FRA 2002. ] 11.xd5 cxd5 12.f5 f6 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.g4!? A little ambitious. [ 14.g3 and Bg2 is a good alternative. ] 14...xe3+?! [ Better is 14...e8 15.g5!? ( 15.xc5!? xc5 16.xd5 xf5 17.xf5 xf5 18.gxf5 e4 19.d5 c8 ) 15...xe3! 16.gxf6 xd3 17.xd3 xf6 gives Black a pawn and bishop pair for the exchange, and W hite's pawns are weak. That should be enough for equality, for example, 18.he1 d7 19.c3 g6 20.d4 d6 , winning another pawn. ] 15.xe3 b6 16.e7+ h8 17.xc8 axc8 18.g5 c6 19.d3 c4 [ 19...fe8 is slightly more flexible - the knight might go to a4. ] 20.d4 a4 21.a3 fe8 [ 21...b5 doesn't do enough: 22.he1 b4 23.b3 xa3+ 24.b1 b6 25.h4 a5 26.e7 ] 22.he1 c6 23.h4 White's pawn storm begins. g8 24.h5 b6 25.xe8+ xe8 26.xc4 dxc4 27.xb6! [ 27.xc4 is also possible, but the queen exchange is risk-free. ] 27...axb6 28.d6 h6 29.gxh6 gxh6 30.xh6 e4 31.xb6 xf4 32.xb7 h4 33.b5 No w W h i t e i s h o m e f r e e . g7 34.d2 f6 35.a4 c3+ 36.xc3 xa4 37.b4 a3+ 38.b2 h3 39.d5 e6 40.d3 xh5 41.c4 h4 42.b3 f5 43.c5 h1 44.c6 f4 45.c3 h8 46.b5 f8 47.b6 f3 48.b7 f2 49.c7 f1 50.c8+ 1-0

870

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 846 Afek,Yochanan Van der Wiel,John TH Open Dieren NED (3) [Carsten Hansen]

B07 2330 2531 20.07.2000

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 c6 5.d2 bd7 6.f4 a5 7.f3 b5 This is the natural way for Black to meet this set-up from White. However, the combination of the early ...Nbd7 and ...Qa5 doesn't seem to work so well. 8.d3 b4 9.e2 [ 9.d1 has also been tried successfully, e. g. d5 10.f2 dxe4 11.xe4 g7 ( 11...d5!? 12.c4 bxc3 13.xc3 b8 14.xd5 xd2+ 15.xd2 cxd5 is fully playable, and it seems to improve over 11...Bg7) 12.0-0 b6 Again it appears that 12...Nd5 is the correct way for Black to continue 13.a3 bxa3 14.xa3 All of a sudden it becomes clear that Black's position is anything but desirable b8 15.f5 ( Here 15.xf6+ xf6 16.xf6 xf6 17.b3 c7 18.xb8 xb8 19.c3 looks ve ry good f or W hit e) 15...xb2 16.xa7 b6 17.xf6 xf6 18.d6+! exd6 19.e3+ e6 20.xf7! and now it's all over xf7 21.xe6+ f8 22.xd6+ g8 23.c4+ d5 24.e6+ f8 25.fxg6 b7 26.c8+ e7 27.e1+ 1-0 Kogan,ARoa Alonso,S/Madrid ESP 2000 ] 9...a6 10.0-0 d5 11.e5 e4 12.e3 f5 [ 12...b6!? ] 13.a3 [ The more direct 13.exf6!? dxf6 14.e5 b6 15.xa6 xa6 16.a3 seems very unpleasant for Black ] 13...b7 14.axb4 xb4 15.c3 b6 16.b4 White wants to prevent Black from playing ... c5. The text move allows Black to put pressure on the W hite queen side with . ..a5, but it appears that Black has forgotten about two much more important things: development and king safety. a5 17.ab1 17 bxa5 Rxa5 is also playable, but simpler for Black to play against than the text. c7 18.c4 e6 An argument could also be made for 18...a4, which wastes some time, but more importantly keep the position closed. 19.bxa5 xa5 20.cxd5 exd5 21.xe4 fxe4 22.e6! Now White's attack become irresistible. b6 23.f5! d6

24.f6 a3 25.f7+ f8 26.h6+ e7 27.g5+ xe6 28.g4+ xf7 29.g5+ e8 30.e6 d7 31.xb6 c8 32.f6 e7 33.xg6 a1+ 34.f2 h4+ 1-0

847 Almasi,Zoltan Marin,Mihail 51st It Reggio Emilia ITA (2) [John Watson]

B07 2663 2556 28.12.2008

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 In this month's games, White scored 9 out of 10 points from this position! Pirc players, beware. g7 5.d2 h6 [ 5...c6 (Vigus calls this 'Plan B') 6.0-0-0 ( White has also played. 6.f3; 6.h6 and; 6.f4 ) 6...0-0 7.b1 b5 8.f3 ( 8.d3 b4 9.ce2 is a standard reorganization) 8...b4 9.ce2 a5 10.h4 h5 11.g4! bd7 ( 11...hxg4 12.xf6 exf6!? 13.h5 is very dangerous) 12.g3 hxg4 13.h5 a4? 14.h6 h8 15.e5 ( actually, 15.h7+ xh7 16.h2 wins immediately) 15...g7 (? ? a m isprin t ) 1 -0 A ro sh id ze-Drlje vic , Antalya TUR 2009. ] 6.h4 g5 7.g3 h5 This manoeuvre is the standard one: Black secures the two bishops, which he judges to be more important than the weakening of the kingside. That is pro b ab ly th e ca se , a lt h ou gh W h it e d o e s increase his lead in development. 8.0-0-0 [ Another game from this month went 8.c4 c6 9.ge2 xg3 10.hxg3 , which is better for White, for example, e5 ( 10...e6 ) 11.b5!? exd4 12.xd4 d7 13.de2 a6 14.xc6 bxc6 15.0-0-0 b8 16.f4 0-0 17.d4 e8 18.b3 a5 19.de1 gxf4 20.gxf4 and White stood well, Gomez G a rri d o -L in a r e s N a p o le s, M e rid a ME X 2008. ] 8...c6 [ There's no reason to open the h-file until forced to by 8...xg3 9.hxg3 , when c6?! 10.b5! a6 11.xc6+ bxc6 12.f4 gxf4 13.gxf4 g4 14.f3 gave White a lead in d e ve lo p m e n t a n d p o we r f u l ce n t re in C Balogh-Nyback, Budapest 2002. ] [ But 8...d7 is a reasonable alternative, 871

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 intending ...c5. ] 9.ge2 [ A last example from this month: 9.e3 d7 10.e2 xg3 11.hxg3 e5 12.dxe5 xe5 13.f4 g4 14.xg4 xg4 15.f3 xf3 16.gxf3 , and again, White has space and open lines, Alonso-Barrionuevo, Buenos Aires 2008. ] 9...d7 [ 9...e6 might run into d5. ] 10.f3 xg3 Before Bf2 can be played. 11.hxg3 e6 12.f4 Aggressive, planning e5. and perhaps a novelty. Vigus cites a game with [ 12.e3 f6 13.f4 e7!? , which clears c6 for a bishop and plans the occupation of d5 in the case of e5. The queen can go to g6. ] 12...f6 [ Now 12...e7 drops the g-pawn, although 13.fxg5 ( 13.d5!? ) 13...hxg5 14.xh8+ xh8 15.xg5 g6 isn't so terrible. ] 13.e5 dxe5 [ 13...g6? 14.exd6 cxd6 15.b5 ] 14.fxe5!? [ 14.dxe5 is logical, maintaining attack on g5 and clearing e3 for White's queen. The text allows Black to counterattack in the centre. ] 14...e7 15.e4 0-0-0 16.2c3 f5! [ or 16...f6 ] 17.exf6 xf6 18.xf6 xf6 19.e4 f5 White has a slightly better-looking position, but his g-pawns are almost as weak as Black's e-pawn, which might be liquidated anyway, freeing the bishop on d7. 20.c5 It may be best to keep this knight centralised for a while. d5 21.c4 d6 22.e3 e7 This is fine, but [ 22...e5! 23.d5 d4 also looks good enough. ] 23.g4 b8 24.e2 c8 25.d3!? [ The natural move is 25.f3 , when c6 ( or 25...b6 26.b3 b4!? ) 26.b3 a5!? is interesting. ] 25...b6 [ Or 25...c6 26.hd1 b6 ] 26.f3! g6 [ Not 26...bxc5?? 27.b3+ ] 27.b1 h4?! 28.e4 Now g3 is threatened, so Black tries to cover g6. e5 29.b3 [ On the less-than-obvious 29.dxe5 xe5

30.g3 , he8 31.gxh4 xd3 is adequate. ] 29...he8?! The position is extremely complex, and over the next few moves one feels that time trouble is a factor. 30.d5?! [ Missing 30.a5! , when Nc6+ can really be stopped unless Black tries d7 31.dxe5 ( or 31.hd1 ) 31...xe5 32.xd7! xa5 33.d5!? with a clear advantage. ( 33.c6 )] 30...xg4 31.c5 bxc5? [ Better 31...d7 32.a5 f5 ] 32.a5? [ 32.xc5 leaves White with a dominant position and strong attack. ] 32...f5 33.b3+ a8? [ 33...c8 followed by ...Nd4 gives Black a lot of play. The king gets in trouble in the corner. ] 34.d3 d4 35.b7 e2? 36.c3 a6 37.xc5 c4 There is no defence. 38.d6+ c6 39.d7 xb3 40.dxe8 xe8 41.xc4 xc4 42.xc6+ b8 43.axb3 1-0

848 Anand,Viswanathan Chernin,Alexander European Club Cup [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2770 2615 1999

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 5.f3 b5 6.g4 h6 [ Hungarian GM Alexander Chernin is one of leading experts in the Pirc. In fact, he had already played the black pieces before in this position in a game against Beliavsky in Reggio Emilia1995, which continued 6...g7 7.d2 h5 8.gxh5 A rather unusual approach. ( A more normal way is 8.g5 fd7 9.d3 b7 10.f4 b4 11.ce2 c5 12.f3 with mutual chances.) 8...xh5 9.ge2 d7 I think Black can be satisfied with the results of the opening. 10.g1 c7 11.g3 ( 11.d5 b4 12.dxc6 bxc3 13.cxd7+ xd7 14.xc3 b8 with tremendous compensation f or t he sacrif iced pawn .) 11...b7 12.0-0-0 a6 13.f4!? b4 14.xh5 ( 14.ce2 hf6 15.e5 g4 ) 14...xh5 15.e2 ( 15.b1 c5 16.d5 f6 ) 15...c5! ( 15...xh2 16.f5 ) 16.g3 h7 17.g2?! ( 17.f5 cxd4 18.xd4 e5 19.xb4 872

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xh2 ) 17...a5 18.b1 b6 19.f5 g5! 20.f2 ( 20.dxc5 a4! 21.cxd6 xb2 and it's difficult to parry ...Nc3.) 20...cxd4 21.f6!? ( 21.xd4 xd4 22.xd4 f6 ) 21...xf6 22.xd4 xd4 23.xd4 c5 with huge advantage to Black, although in the time-trouble scramble White managed to salvage a draw. ] 7.d2 g7 8.h4 h5 9.g5 fd7 10.ge2 b7 11.g3 0-0 12.f4 b4 13.d1 c5 14.d5 The moves of both sides are very natural and suggest themselves quite readily. b6 15.c4 bxc3 16.xc3 a6 17.xa6 xa6 18.e2 c8 19.f5 c7 [ The natural looking 19...e5 is bad in view of 20.xh5! gxh5 21.xh5 and Black's King is in trouble after A) 21...xc3+ 22.bxc3 xd5 trying to include the Queen in the defence 23.g6! ( 23.exd5 xf5 ) 23...f6 24.h6 and trouble follows with Rg1 and a quick mate.; B) The attempt to conjure up a counterattack also doesn't work: 21...b4 22.g6 fxg6 23.fxg6 c2+ 24.d2 c4+ 25.e2 and there are no more checks; C) 21...d7 The alternatives don't help Black either: 22.g1 g7 23.f6 exf6 24.gxf6 xf6 25.xg7+ xg7 26.g5+ h7 27.xf6 g4 28.h6+ g8 29.f2 ] 20.0-0 d7 It might look as if White is running out of ideas on how to continue the attack. But Vishy finds an excellent blow! 21.xh5! gxh5 22.xh5 b8 23.f2 e8 24.af1 e5?! Until this moment both sides have played very inventively and precisely. But this plan of transferring Knight to ...c4 qu i c k l y l e a d s t o t h e c o l l a p s e o f B l a c k ' s position. [ 24...a6! is much more to the point. Black's Queen becomes very active and the Knight is placed well on d7 for protecting the King. 25.g2 d3 ] 25.g2 c4 26.c1 d4+ 27.h1 Now it has become clear that Black's plan was wrong. The "active" Knight doesn't really attack anything while White is ready for the direct attack to roll over the Black King. g7 28.h6 xb2 Desperation, but I couldnâ []t find any real improvement:

[ 28...e5 This move doesn't help Black either in view of 29.e2! Now White wins by force: d7 30.xd4 cxd4 31.f6! e8 32.g6! with quick mate: h3+ 33.g1 fxg6 34.xg6+ xg6 35.xg6+ h8 36.h5+ g8 37.f7+ xf7 38.xf7+ h8 39.f8+ h7 40.h6+ g8 41.f8# ] 29.xb2 xb2 30.f3! Excellent! White doesnâ []t need to waste a tempo capturing that Knight. The text protects the h3-square and keeps open the possibility of both pawn advances (f5-f6 or g5-g6). Now the game is over. xc3 31.f6! e8 32.g6! Now all the white pieces (Queen and 2 Rooks) attack that lonely Black's King while all Black's pieces are far away... xf6 33.gxf7+ Mate in 2 is unavoidable, so Black resigned. Wonderful game! [ 33.gxf7+ xf7 34.g6# ] 1-0

849 Anand,Viswanathan Gurevich,Mikhail 9th Corsica Masters (KO) rapid (3.1) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2520 2699 04.11.05

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 It is rare indeed that someone is so bold to venture the Pirc against Anand. Perhaps Vishy was so surprised that he decided to deviate from the normal 3 Nf3. I don't know of any drawback to 3 f3 other then W hite must be prepared to play different types of position. If pushes, I would vote to 3...d5 now, but there are plenty of other moves. 3.f3 g6 Gurevich insists on the fianchetto. Now he has to be prepared to play a King's Indian. 4.e3 c6 5.d2 bd7 [ 5...b5 6.c3 led to a very unusual position in the following game, not necessarily bad for Black at a ll: ( 6.a4! is more critical, taking advantage of the Queen on d2: bxa4 7.c3 b7 8.d3 bd7 9.ge2 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.xa4 e5 12.fa1 exd4 13.xd4 c5 14.db5 d5 15.exd5 b6 16.xa7 fxd5 17.xc5 e8 18.d6 h4 19.f2 xa7 20.xa7 d4 Pascot, J-Prioul, J/Bretagne 2004 This could well be a promising route for W hite.) 6...g7 7.a3 bd7 8.c2 It's hard to believe in this time-consuming 873

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 manoeuvre. Of course, White is solid. c7 9.e2 b6 10.b3 a6 11.h4 h5= 1/2-1/2 Ivanova, Y-Kariakina, M/Dagomys 2004 ] 6.c4 [ 6.h3 g7 ( 6...e5 7.f2 is another Knight wheel, this time on the other flank! White gets nowhere again: g7 8.d5 cxd5 9.exd5 0-0 10.c4 h5 11.c3 f5 12.h3 e7= ) 7.e2 e5 8.dxe5 xe5 9.f2 0-0 10.a3 I just don't get these Knight moves to the edge. White can afford one of Nh3-f2 or Na3-God knows where, but not both! d5 11.0-0-0 e6 12.exd5 xd5 13.c5 d7 14.xf8 xf8 15.d3 c3 16.de1 xa2+ 17.b1 c3+ 18.c1 b6 19.f4 d8 20.f3 a2+ 21.b1 xb2 22.xe6 xa3 0-1 De Ruiter, T-Piket, M/Netherlands 1994 Very nice! ] 6...a6!? 7.a4 This is not quite a main line King's Indian. In the Byrne system of the Samisch Variation, Black would normally have played ...Bg7 at this point, not ...Nbd7. There a2-a4 would be answered by ....a6-a5! and ... Nb8-a6-b4! Gurevich can't do this now and this is what prompts Anand to play a2-a4 himself. [ 7.c3 c7 8.c1 g7 9.h3 0-0 10.f2 e5 11.d5 c5 12.g4 h5 13.h4 b6 14.e2 d7 15.b3 c8 16.g1 e8 17.d1 gave White his usual Benoni space advantage in Pfaffel, T-Szenetra, W / Finkenstein 1998, although anyone who has played these positions as Black will tell you that the a dvantage is not at a ll easy t o increase. ] 7...a5 8.c3 e5 9.d5 c5 10.a3 g7 [ The s tra nge 10...e7!? could well be an option now, intending counterplay after .... Nf6-h5. I don't see any clear way for white to g e t t h e e d g e : 11.h6 ( 11.ge2 0-0 12.g3 h5 ) 11...h5 12.g3 b6 ] 11.ge2 0-0 12.g4 xg4! This should be a brilliant idea, which Anand surely underestimated. For the piece Black gets several pawns, a displaced White King and a connected, advancing pawn chain. 13.fxg4 [ 13.xc5 xf3-+ ] 13...xg4 [ In a rapid game one makes rapid decisions. Yet 13...fxe4! may well have been the

better capture: 14.xe4 ( 14.c2 h4+ 15.d1 f2+ 16.xf2 xf2 17.c1 e4 ) 14...xe4 15.d3 h4+ 16.d1 xg4 17.g1 h4 ] 14.xc5 He takes his chance. h4+ 15.g3 dxc5 [ After 15...h6 16.g2 dxc5 17.d1 f4 18.e2 White is holding on. ] 16.g2 [ 16.b3 might be a useful zwischenzug: h6 17.d3 ab8 18.d1 The Rook on b3 looks more impressive than the Black rook on b8. ] 16...f5 The second wave of the Black attack commences. 17.exf5 e4?! [ Why not 17...gxf5 Black has threats: A) 18.d1 e4 Now he gets the move for free. 19.h3 g5 20.h5 xh5 ( 20...f4 21.e2 d6 22.h3 ) 21.xh5 e5; B) 18.b3 e3 19.f2 g4= 20.g2 ] 18.cxe4 ae8 19.fxg6 [ 19.e2 might have been clearer: xb2 20.b3 d4 21.dxc6 bxc6 22.fxg6 hxg6 23.xg4 xg4 24.d2 ] 19...f2 20.h3 xe4+? The last mistake. [ Black should prefer 20...xf1+ 21.xf1 xe4+ 22.d1 d4+ 23.c2 hxg6 although he is still worse. ] 21.xe4 A flawed game, but not without opening interest and of course a game between two great players. Are we hunting for crumbs when we consider blitz games in a theoretical column? The jury is still out on that one. 1-0

850 Aseev,Konstantin N Korotylev,Alexey Sankt Peterburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2545 2415 1994

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.bd2 e5 8.e1 This modification of Dolmatov's system is worthy of consideration. W hite intends to strengthen the d4 square by playing Nb3, and it's important he avoids playing 7 h3 (aimed against ...Bg4) which amounts to rather a 874

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 considerable weakening of the K-side. Russian GM Konstantin Aseev is the main adherent of this set-up. h5 [ 8...d7 was played in Aseev-Hickl, Munchen 1991. The game continued: 9.b3! exd4 10.cxd4 a5 11.g5 f6 12.h6 e8 13.a4 b4 14.f1 wh e n W h it e 's su p e rio r it y in t h e c e n t r e secured him the better chances. b6 15.h3 d7 16.bd2 g7 17.g5 c8 18.c4!? xc4 19.xc4 c6 20.c1 b8 21.f4 e6 22.f1 d8 23.c3 h6 24.d2 h7 25.ce3 d5 26.e5 b6 27.c3 c8 28.b3 e7 29.ec1 c7 30.h2! g5 31.g3 ec8 32.f4 f5 33.exf6 ( 33.f3 gxf4 34.xf4 was not bad either.) 33...xf6 34.f3 g4 35.hxg4 xg4 36.e5 with a huge advantage for White due to the exposed position of Black's King. ] 9.b3! h6 10.e3 f6 11.g3! g4 12.e2 fe8 13.d5 b8 14.a4 a5 15.fd2! An important gain: the exchange of lightsquared bishop's clearly favours White. xe2 16.xe2 b6 17.c1 d7 18.b4! White has a clear edge. Black lacks ideas as to how to organize counterplay on the K-side while White has achieved a lot on the Q-side. Now Black has an unpleasant choice: either to play 18... axb4 19 cxb4 which opens the c-file and gives White a dangerous passed a-pawn (after 20 a5) or to allow W hite to play bxa5 (after Nb3) that creates a tangible weakness on a5. e7 19.cb3 hf6 20.f3 h5 21.bxa5 bxa5 22.c4 Now White wins the a5-pawn and can easily parry Black's desperate attack. f5 23.f2 hf6 24.bxa5 h5 25.c6 f7 26.d2 g5 27.c4 f4 28.a5 g4 29.a6 h6 30.a7 h7 [ 30...fxg3 doesn't help Black either: 31.xg3 xd2 32.xd2 gxf3 33.g5+ intending Qf5, with a decisive advantage. ] 31.ab1 g8 32.f1 h4 33.b7 fxg3 34.hxg3 f4!? 35.xc7 h5 36.fxg4 xg4 37.h2 hxg3 38.xg4 gxf2+ 39.xf2 g8+ 40.f1 The time trouble is over, so Black resigned. [ After 40.f1 h2 41.f3 Black has no real threats. ] 1-0

851

B07 Bacrot,Etienne 2705 Bologan,Viktor 2658 1st ACP World Rapid Cup rapid (1.3) 06.01.07 [Jonathan Rowson]

1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 6.c4 e8 The highest level clash in this line for a while, and Black doesn't fare well. 7.g5 bd7 8.f3 d6 9.0-0-0 a6 10.a4! This seems right to methere is no need to grant Black the spacegaining ...b5. h6 11.h4 b6 [ 11...h5!? might be an improvement here. Given time Black could even continue with ... Nf8-g6 12.d5 f8? ( 12...b8!? ) 13.b6! is one to watch out for though. ] 12.d5 g5 13.xf6+ xf6 14.g3 xe4? This looks wrong in principle. If you are going to keep your king in the centre and lose a lot of time, the last thing you want to do is open the centre. [ 14...g4 looks better, but Black will have to deal with some sort of exchange sac 15.xe5 ( 15.xe5 xe5 16.xe5 xd1 17.xf7+ e7 18.xd1 hc8 19.f3 and W hite is better, with two clear pawns and some initiative for the exchange, but nonetheless this looks preferable for Black compared to the game.) 15...xd1 16.xd1 ( 16.xf7 e2! 17.xh8 xc4 18.e5 d7 19.exd6 xh8 20.dxc7 And White has a lot for the piece, but I imagine some players w o u l d p r e f e r B l a c k h e r e .) 16...f8 looks playable. ] 15.xe5 xe5 16.xe5 xf2 17.xf7 [ 17.xf7+ e7 18.hf1 xd1 19.g6+ is even stronger, because White can take the knight on d1 with check. ] 17...xd1 18.xh8 g4 19.h3 h5 20.g4 f2 21.f1 xg4 22.hxg4 xg4 23.f7 e7 24.xh6 d7 25.f7+ d6 26.f5+ xf5 27.xf5 g4 28.g5 1-0

875

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 852 Becker,Michael Van Liempt,Michael Dutch youth tournament [James Vigus]

B07

03.01.2009

PLAN C. Finally we come to Black's most radical reply to the 150 Attack: castling into it. After 4 Be3 Bg7 5 Qd2 0-0 W hite's critical move is 6 0-0-0, preventing ...e5 and ...c5 and preparing an attack with f2-f3 and an advance of the kingside pawns. This attacking setup for White, which deserves to be known as the Argentinean Attack in recognition o f the games o f Arge ntinea n players such as Pilnik and Rossetto in the mid 20th century, is formidable. However, I have explored some exciting resources for Black in the forthcoming book 'Dangerous W eapons: The Pirc and Modern'. W ithout giving too much away, it is astonishing how often Black's queenside attack overtakes the white onslaught on the kingside. Michael van Liempt kindly sent me the present game, which reminded me of an approach for Black that I have not considered in the 'Dangerous Weapons' book: van Liempt plays ...Re8 to preserve the bishop on g7. This loses a tempo and leaves Black a little cramped, but in the notes I think I have shown that White's path to an advantage is narrow - albeit quite certain. I'd also like to mention that I have learned a lot about the Argentinean Attack from discussions with Mark Nieuweboer (MNb on the ChessPublishing forum). No doubt he will find many improvements on the provisional analysis below! 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 [ Another peculiar (or just old-fashioned) move-order: instead 4.e3 g7 5.d2 0-0 allo ws W hit e t o preve nt 6 ... e5 with th e critical 6.0-0-0 , when c6 7.f3 e8?! would transpose to the note to White's 7th, below, and the correct 7... b5 is analysed in depth in 'Dangerous Weapons: The Pirc an d Mo de rn '. [n ot e f rom Jo hn W at so n : James pointed out to me that these games don't include the order 4 Be3 Bg7 5 Qd2 c6 6 Bh6 Bxh6 7 Qxh6 Qa5, when he thinks t h a t B l a c k h a s p r o b l e m s. H e sa ys ' ye t McNab and Nikolic still go into this, and are

they plannin g 8 Bd3 c5 9 d5 (the move White mysteriously never seems to play!) Nbd7 10 Nf3 c4 11 Bxc4 Qc5 and ...Qxf2+ with some sort of plan to draw the endgame? Maybe I'll go into this another time...'. ] 4...g7 5.e3 0-0 6.d2 e8?! [ I think Black should seize the opportunity to b r e a k w i t h 6...e5! There is something appealingly romantic about the move 6... Re8?!: it is as though Black were announcing that he has placed the bishop on g7 in order to checkmate the white king o n t h e qu e e n sid e , a n d t h a t t h e b is h o p must therefore be protected at all costs from being exchanged by Be3-h6. Perhaps not surprisingly I don't recommend that you incorporate it in your repertoire. White must play extremely precisely to exploit the move's slowness, however, so as an occasional weapon it has something to be said for it. It was once chosen by a world champion, and it succeeds spectacularly in the present game! ] 7.c4 [ White eyes up the f7-pawn, but this is White's first step in the wrong direction, as the bishop runs into Black's natural pawn advances. Let's venture into some territory th a t e st a blishe d t he o ry p a sse s o ve r in contemptuous silence: 7.0-0-0! A) 7...e5 8.d5! leaves Black's rook looking silly and prevents Black's key break with ...c6. The game J. Sanz-FPrada Rubin, Lugo 1957, continued thematically ( 8.dxe5 xe5 9.h4 a5!? would be a sort of maverick justification of Black's play) 8...bd7 9.g4 f8 10.h6 h8 11.h4 d7 12.ge2 b8 13.g3 b5 14.b1 a5 15.h5 b4 16.ce2 e7 17.f5! xf5 18.gxf5 b6 19.g3 c5 20.dxc6 xc6 21.b5 c5 22.a4 d5 23.h2 g7 24.xg7 xg7 25.fxg6 fxg6 26.f5+ gxf5 27.g1+ h8 28.xc5 and White soon won.; B) 7...c6 B1) 8.b1 b5 ( 8...a5 9.ge2 b5 10.c1 b4 11.3e2 bd7 12.g4 c5 13.g5 h5 14.dxc5 dxc5? 15.g3 c7 16.xh5 gxh5 17.f4 was clearly better for W hite in Pilnik, H-Sanz 876

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Aguado, J/Madrid 1951/EXT 2003 (33)) 9.ce2!? (a clever idea: ...Qa5 is prevented, while the other knight will develop on the kingside) bd7 10.h6 h8 11.h4 e5 12.h5 d5!? ( the solid 12...e7 is n o t so b a d f o r B l a c k) 13.hxg6 fxg6 14.h3 b6 15.g5 c4 16.e1 e7 and Black had managed to achieve a dynamic balance in Gipslis, A-Smyslov, V/Baku 1961/URSch (51); B2) 8.g4 b5 9.h6 h8 10.h4 a5 B2a) 11.h5 b4 12.b1 a6 ( 12...xa2?! 13.hxg6 fxg6 14.xb4 was played in J.Wieweg-P.Sundstrom, S t o c k h o l m 1 9 9 3 , w h e n a5 keeps Black in the game but just 15.a3 gives White a structural advantage ) 13.e2 ( 13.hxg6 hxg6? 14.xa6 xa6 was Masermann, HSchneider, H/corr 1963, when 15.h2 threatens Bf8! - a nasty trap which is basically the foundation of all Black's problems in the ...Re8, ...Bh8 line: it means that Black must recapture with the f-pawn, thus weakening the a2-g8 d i a g o n a l , a n d t h i s i s n e ve r r e a l l y s a t i s f a c t o r y) 13...c5 ( 13...bd7 is preferable, maintaining the Qa5's important influence on the fifth rank) 14.hxg6 ( 14.g5! ) 14...fxg6 ( this time Black might actually get away with 14...hxg6!? ) 15.a3? c6 favoured Black in Berkes, F (2230)Bali, J (2365)/Budapest 1998: W hite should be willing to sacrifice his a2pawn.; B2b) 11.b1 e6?! ( 11...b4 12.ce2 c5 13.g5!? is a common theme in this line, and slightly better for White, though the position remains v e r y c o m p l e x) 12.d5?! ( 12.g5! again looks good, though Black has some curious resources, e.g. fd7!? 13.d5 f6 14.d2 f7 15.h5 g5!? ) 12...cxd5 13.xd5 xd2 14.xd2 xd5 15.exd5 a6 16.e2 bd7 17.f4 b6 18.h5 ab8 19.h3 1/2-1/2 Belakovskaia, A (2385)-Everet, A (2290)/Bratto 199800; B3) 8.h6! h8 9.h4! is the most

direct: if White can manage to save two tempi by omitting Kb1 and g4, this is likely to speed up his attack considerably, e. g. B3a) 9...b5 10.h5 B3a1) 10...a5 is preferable in principle, keeping ...b4 as a 'threat' in reserve, but in this case the queen's lack of control of the fifth rank causes a problem, e.g. 11.hxg6 fxg6 12.e5!? ( 12.g5 e5 enables Black to stabilise his position slightly, but; 12.d3 e6 13.h3 or the immediate 12 Nh3 is f airly u n p l e a s a n t f o r B l a c k) 12...b4! 13.e4 ( 13.b1! d5 14.d3 dxe5 15.g5 threatens kingside mayhem ) 13...xa2? ( 13...xe4 14.fxe4 e6 15.a3 dxe5 16.xb4 xb4 17.axb4 a5!? is u n c l e a r) 14.xb4 d5 15.c4! a6 16.c3 a4 17.b3 b5 18.exd6 won for White in Sirotkin, V-Dubovik, Y/corr 1967/MegaCorr4/[SB 6/68 157] (39); B3a2) 10...b4 11.ce2 ( or 11.b1 e6 12.hxg6 fxg6 13.g5 bd7 14.e2 xa2 15.f4 f7 16.e5 dxe5 17.dxe5 b6 18.e6! e3+ 19.d2 xe6 , M. Askerov-G. C h u b e n k o , B a k u 2 0 0 0 , 20.h4 t h r e a t e n s N xg 6 w h y h a v e n ' t w e heard more of Askerov, who was only twelve years old when he p l a y e d t h i s g a m e ? !) 11...a5 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.b1 bd7 14.c1! (this snug defence rules out all possible counterplay against a2) a6 15.xa6 xa6 16.g4 b5 17.h2 e5?! 18.ge2 h7 19.e3 df8 20.d5 c5 21.g3 g7 22.dg1 e7 23.g5 d7 24.e2 c8 25.h4 c4 26.gh1 a5 27.h2 a4 28.xh7 xh7 29.xh7+ f8 30.f5 gxf5 31.exf5 f6 32.gxf6 xf6 33.g6 f7 34.g5 d8 35.xf6 xf6 36.xf6 xf6 37.h8+ e7 38.xa8 b3 39.xa4 1-0 was a game between two very strong Russian players, S. Solovyov-A.Potapov, Smolensk 2005. 877

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Unfortunately this is all very depressing for Black.; B3b) 9...a5!? is an attempt to improve, (i) exploiting the queen's influence on the 4th rank to discourage h4-h5 and (ii) keeping open the possibility of ... Be6 to attack a2 before the Nc3 trundles round to c1. W hite mu st n ow re act p re cise ly, b ut ca n certainly get a clear edge with 10 g4, which is why this whole ...Re8 is not adequate: B3b1) 10.h5?! xh5 11.ge2 d7 12.g4 g7 must give White some sort of compensation, but how exac tly does he pro ceed wit hou t being able to play hxg6?; B3b2) 10.ge2?! b5 11.g3 ( 11.g5 is better ) 11...b4 12.b1 B3b21) Black can counterattack a g a i n s t b 2 w i t h 12...c5! 13.e5 ( 13.dxc5 c6 14.cxd6 xa2 ) 13...fd7 14.e6 xa2 15.exd7 xd7 16.h5 c6; B3b22) 12...e5 13.h5 (W hite should take on e5 and develop his bishop to c4, with an edge) exd4 14.hxg6 fxg6 15.c4+?! e6 16.d3 bd7 17.xe6+ xe6 was good for Black in Rossetto, H-Rodriguez, R/ Buenos Aires 1959/MCD (44); B3b3) 10.g4 b5 transposes after 11 h5 or after 11 Kb1 to the note on 7 0-0-0 c6 8 g4 above.; B3b4) 10.b1! b5 11.g4! , and W hite has transpose to the edge offered by BelakovskaiaEveret' above. ] 7...c6 8.ge2 e5 9.0-0-0 [ It wasn't too late for White to change strategy, for instance with 9.d5! intending b5 10.b3 b4 11.a4 with a slight edge to White. ] 9...c7 10.h4 b5 11.b3 a5 12.a3? [ Now the pawns keep rolling. A better defensive setup was 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.a4 b4 14.b1 c5 15.c4 c6 with a balanced game. ] 12...b4 13.b1 White prefers to protect the a3-pawn with the knight rather than be left

with an isolated pawn there. a4 14.c4 [ 14.a2 b3! 15.cxb3 e6 is also hard for White to negotiate. ] 14...d5! 15.d3 [ 15.exd5 cxd5 16.b5 d7 maintains the initiative - Black would be very happy to give up the pawn on b4 to open the way to b2. ] 15...exd4 16.xd4 c5 17.xf6 xf6 18.b5 [ Or 18.exd5 d7 intending ...Rb8, targeting b2. ] 18...b6! A very elegant sacrifice. van Liempt must have been glad that he'd safeguarded his bishop with 6...Re8... 19.xe8 [ Fritz finds the defence 19.c4! d7 20.f4! . Even so, dxe4 21.d5 d8 22.xf6+ xf6 leaves Black a pawn up. ] 19...bxa3 20.xd5 e6! 21.xa8 a2 22.ec3 [ 22.d2 was White's last chance to prolong the game, though a1 23.e1 axb2 24.xa4 c4! should catch the king in the crossfire. ] 22...a1 23.d2 axb2 24.b5 d6+ 25.d5 xb5 0-1

853 Beliavsky,Alexander G Azmaiparashvili,Zurab Portoroz [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2710 2645 1997

1.f3 g6 2.e4 d6 3.d4 f6 4.d3 g7 5.0-0 0-0 6.e1 c6 7.c3 e5 8.h3 h5 9.e3 d5?! An interesting attempt from Black to solve all his problems immediately but unfortunately it meets with a very nice r e f u t a t i o n . 10.g5! This very strong move was an unpleasant surprise for Azmai who had already played this position and equalized easily after Now very interesting complications arise. [ 10.dxe5 xe5 11.xe5 xe5 12.exd5 xd5 13.e2 f4! 14.f3 xd1 15.xd1 ,Magem Badals - Azmaiparashvili, Pamplona 1996. ] 10...f6 11.exd5 fxg5 [ 11...xd5 12.a3 h8 13.e3 is clearly better for White. ] 878

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.dxc6 exd4 13.b3+ h8 14.cxb7 xb7 15.xb7 dxc3 16.xc3 xd3 17.ad1 f5 18.xc7 All these move s were forced. White has won a pawn but it may seem that open f-file gives Black sufficient compensation. However concrete variations prove that it's just a mirage. g4 [ The tempting 18...f4 doesn't help either in view of 19.e7! xh3+ 20.h2! and Black is in trouble: g4 ( The endgame after 20...f4+ 21.xf4 xf4 22.xg5 is very bad for Black.) 21.xg7 h5 22.dd7! g5+ 23.g1 gxf3 24.ge7! 25 and Black has no defence against Qe5 ] 19.hxg4 xg4 20.d7! Still all Beliavsky's homework! Only this move justifies W hite's combination begun on the 10th move, otherwise Black would play 20...Nf4 with a c r u s h i n g a t t a c k . xd7 21.xd7 ab8 22.a4 a5 23.g5! b5 [ 23...xb2 24.xb2 xb2 25.xh7 fb8 26.g4! g7 27.f6! is hopeless for Black. ] 24.e6 e8 25.b3 e5 26.ac5? A clear inaccuracy. [ The natural 26.c7 won a second pawn: f6 27.xh7+ xh7 28.xb5 h2+ 29.f1 and Black could easily resign. ] 26...f6 27.dd1 c3 28.e3 b4 29.f3 xc5 30.xc5 xc5 31.xf6 g7 32.f3 e7 33.d2 h5 34.fd3 h6 35.d4 e6 36.f3 g5 37.d6 g6 38.f2? After this inaccuracy the win becomes problematic. [ 38.h2! was correct, and if Black plays, as h e d i d i n t h e g a m e , h4 , White's King penetrates to the g4-square: 39.h3 h5 40.xg6 xg6 41.g4 a4 42.d6+ g7 43.bxa4 and White wins. ] 38...h4 39.6d5 gc6 40.xc5 xc5 41.e3 h5 42.d4 f5 43.c2 g4 44.e4 g5 45.c8 gxf3! Probably White missed this blow. After this exchange the passed h-pawn secures Black good drawing chances. 46.gxf3 [ White can't win the rook with 46.g8+ f6 47.f8+ g6 48.xf5 i n v i e w o f fxg2 49.f8 g7 and the pawn queens. ] 46...b5 47.f4+ f6 48.c6+ e7 49.f3 a4 50.c3 h3 51.g3 h5 52.h2 axb3?! Now it's Black's turn to be falter. Although this move doesn't throw away draw, Black must play very attentively now.

[ The correct 52...h4! led to an easy draw: 53.c4 axb3 54.axb3 d6 55.b4 d5 56.c5+ d6 57.f5 e6 and White can't make any progress. ] 53.xb3 h4 54.f3 e6 55.a4 f5 56.a5 g4?! An inaccuracy again. [ 56...h6 is better, when after 57.a3 a6 58.a4 g4 it's a clear draw. ] 57.f2 h6 58.f5 f6 59.f1 h4 60.f3 g4 61.g3+ f4 62.g1 e3 63.e1+ d2? Only this move is the decisive mistake. T h e f o l l o wi n g v a r i a t i o n s w e r e g i v e n b y Beliavsky: [ 63...f4? 64.a1 a6 65.f6+- ] [ 63...f2? 64.a1 xf5 65.a6 f8 66.a7 a8 67.a3! e2 68.xh3 d2 69.g4 c2 70.f5 b2 71.a6 b3 72.e6 b4 73.d6! b5 74.a1 b6 75.b1+ a6 76.c7 xa7+ 77.c6+- ] [ 63...d3! The only move! 64.f1 e2 65.f4 e3 66.a4 xf5 67.a6 f8 68.a7 a8 69.xh3 d3 70.g4 c3 71.f5 b3 72.a1 b4 73.e6 c5!! 74.d7 b6 75.b1+ c5 76.b7 h8!= ] 64.e5 d3 65.a6 xa6 66.xh3 Now Black is helpless. d4 67.e6 a8 68.g4 g8+ 69.f4 d5 70.a6 [ 70.e1 cutting Black's King off on the e-file is another winning method. ] 70...g1 71.f6 f1+ 72.g5 e5 73.g6 g1+ 74.f7 b1 75.g7 g1+ 76.f8 f5 77.f7 e1 78.g7 g1+ 79.h7 A very instructive Rook ending. 1-0

854 Beliavsky,Alexander G Bezold,Michael Portoroz [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2615 2485 1996

This game shows how precise Black's play should be in the opening. Any mistake even in a side line can quickly lead to disaster. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 a5 5.e5 e4 6.f3 xc3 7.d2 d5?! This continuation is known to be dubious. [ 7...f5 is the main line. ] 8.xc3 f5?! Again not the best move. [ 8...e4+?! is also not good as the Queen 879

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is clearly misplaced here: 9.f2 dxe5 10.fxe5 e6 11.f3 and White has a huge development advantage, Afek-Deketelare, Vlissingen 2000. ] [ 8...dxe5 does not solve the problems: 9.dxe5 f5 10.f3 e6 11.c4 e4+ 12.d1 with initiative ] [ 8...c5!? deserves attention, according to Alexander Beliavsky. ] 9.f3 dxe5 [ 9...e4+ is in White's favour: 10.d1 g4 11.d3 xf3+ 12.c1 d5 13.gxf3 xf3 14.f1 h5 15.b3 b6 16.d5 and Black is in trouble. ] 10.c4! A very strong and well calculated move. White launches a very strong attack. d8 [ 10...e4+ 11.d1 g4 was bad due to 12.b3 e6 13.xb7 xf3+ 14.c1 xd4 ( 14...xg2 15.c8+ e7 16.b4+ f6 17.d8+ f5 18.g5# ) 15.gxf3 xc4 16.c8+ e7 17.fxe5 ( 17.d1 ) 17...f6 18.b7+ d7 19.xa8 and White is winning. ] 11.b3 e6 12.xb7 e7? Black had obviously hoped to trap W hite's Queen but actually it cannot be done. [ 12...d7 was relatively better, although Black's position is no good anyway: 13.xe5 xe5 14.dxe5 e4 15.0-0-0! b8 16.xa7 a8 17.e3 d5 18.b3 xb3 19.xb3+- ] 13.xa8 b6 14.0-0-0 0-0 15.xe5! d6 16.he1! xe5 Here Black resigned. [ After 16...xe5 17.dxe5 d7 White has 18.e3! securing a huge material advantage. ] 1-0

[ 5...b5?! 6.e5! dxe5 ( or 6...fd7 7.exd6 exd6 8.d5 b4 9.dxc6 bxc3 10.cxd7+ xd7 11.b3 with a clear edge in SokolovZakharevich, Elista 1995) 7.dxe5 xd1+ 8.xd1 fd7 9.f4 g7 10.f3 f6 11.e6 f8 12.xb5! xe6 13.xa7 b7 14.c4 c7 15.f2 d5 16.xc6 xc6 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 xa2 19.b5 winning in Jansa-Schlosser, Muenster 1992 ] [ 5...g7?! 6.f4! 0-0 7.f3 bd7 8.e5 h5 9.e2 h8 10.g4 g7 11.g2 dxe5 12.fxe5 b6 13.h6 with a clear edge for White in Jansa-Hoi, Gausdal 1991. ] 6.f4 b5 7.f3 [ 7.e5?! is premature in view of the typical b4! 8.exf6 bxc3 9.bxc3 xf6 ] [ b u t t h e n a t u r a l 7.d3 is worthy of consideration. ] 7...b4 8.b1 b7 9.d2 c7 10.d3 g7 11.e2 c5 Black can be satisfied with the result of the opening all his pieces are well placed and ready to attack the W hite pawn centre. 12.c3 [ 12.0-0?! leads to a Sicilian-like position which is very good for Black: cxd4 13.xd4 0-0 ] 12...bxc3 13.bxc3 0-0 14.0-0 e6 15.g4 b6 16.ac1 fd7 17.f2 [ 17.f5!? is worthy of consideration. ] 17...ae8 18.g3 f5! A very instructive multipurpose move. Black prevents W hite from launching a Kingside attack with f4-f5, gets control of the important d5-square and opens the a8-h1 diagonal. 19.gxf5 exf5 20.exf5 [ 20.e5 doesn't help much: dxe5 21.dxe5 xe5! 22.fxe5 f4 23.xf4 g5 24.f5 gxf4 ] 20...d5 21.c4 [ 21.fe1 xe3 22.xe3 xe3 23.xe3 855 B07 cxd4 24.e6+ h8 is also insufficient. ] Berezjuk,Sergej 2354 21...7b6 22.dxc5? Losing by force. [ However, it's not easy to find a real Stohl,Igor 2600 improvement for W hite, for example: Presov 1999 22.fe1 xc4 23.xc4 a6 24.d2 xe3 [Alexander Volzhin] 25.xe3 cxd4 and Black is winning. ] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 22...xc4 23.xc4 a6 Now Black wins a 5.h3 This line is rather dangerous for Black piece and the game is over. 24.cxd6 xc4 and he has to play carefully to avoid problems. 25.xa7 xc3 26.h2 d5 27.fe1 xe1 bd7! In my opinion, the best. In other lines 28.xe1 b5 29.c5 d4 30.xd4 xd4 The rest of the game is a matter of technique. Black has serious problems: 880

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31.e4 xf5 32.d2 xd2+ 33.xd2 xd6 34.e6 d8 35.b3 c4 36.e5 f5 37.c5 xb3 38.axb3 d2+ 39.g1 d3 40.b4 xh3 0-1

856 Buckley,David Shaw,John K 4NCL/Div1/GUI1-BRI1 (5.116) [Jonathan Rowson]

B07 2232 2447 13.01.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 e5 Does this line really matter? I think so, simply because if White doesn't get any advantage from taking now, Black has a move order to give him a Hanham Philidor, which is at least very solid, and possibly perfectly good. Moreover, most W hite players face this line so rarely that when they do, they are inclined to take on e5 on the grounds that they shouldn't be in any danger and might conjure up an attack. It is precisely such players who should be careful, because W hite's initiative often runs out of steam, and you are lef t playing an equal position against somebody very happy to have the queens off. 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 6.c4 e8! As recommended in previous updates. It seems strange that Black can lose so many tempi and the right to castle and still be ok, but this might in fact be the case, and nobody has conclusively proven to the contrary. 7.f3 Already questionable. [ 7.f4 b4 looks comfortable for Black, but ] [ 7.ge2 intending f3 and g4 should be considered. ] 7...d6 8.g5 [ 8.e3 might be better here, because it can be useful to have Ng5 later, perhaps followed by f4. ] 8...bd7 9.0-0-0 a6 10.h4 h6 11.e3 Given that John was no doubt playing for a win, I wonder how we would have dealt with [ 11.xf6 xf6 12.f5 because now it is n o t e a s y t o k e e p t h e g a m e a l i v e f8!? ( 12...xf5 13.exf5 e7 is comfortable, but v e r y d r a w i s h a f t e r 14.d5+ xd5 15.xd5 ) 13.d5 xd5 14.xd5 f6 15.d2 and sooner or later Black will have to take the knight on f5. ]

11...g6 12.f3 Double-edged play by White. The knight on h4 is not at all sure of himself, but on the other hand Black is tied to the defence of h6. b5 13.b3 b7 14.d5 d8 15.g3 c6 16.xf6+ xf6 17.d2 e7 18.xd8+ xd8 19.d1 e7 20.b6 c8 21.c7 d7 22.g2 h7 23.e3 h5 24.h4 f6 25.e6 c5 26.d2 f8 27.xc8 xc7 28.h3 e7 29.e2 a7 30.c3 a5 So far, so equal, but you can already feel that at least psychologically Black is gaining the u p p e r h a n d . 31.a4?! As often happens in such positions, the f irst player to initiate events spoils his position. Even if W hite is fine after this, it is encouraging for the stronger player to see that the opponent is restless. bxa4 32.a1 a3 33.bxa3 xe3 34.xe3 b7 Just an open file, but enough to claim a small advantage, and note that this is 30 moves after the queens were exchanged! 35.a2 b1 36.d3 g1 37.g2 e6 Now Black also has the more effective minor piece. 38.b2 c5+ 39.c4 a4 40.b7+ d6 41.h3 f5 When you are grinding out an endgame win, it is important to spot the ma t e s in on e - yo u d on 't wa n t to le t yo u r opponent off so easily. [ 41...xg3 42.d7# ] 42.g7 b6+ 43.b3 xg3 44.xf5 xf3 45.xg6+ c5 46.a4 f2 47.e6 f4 48.h6 xh4 49.f7 c8 50.e6 xe4 51.xh5 d6 52.e7 e3 53.a7 b6 54.e7 e4 55.e8 xc3 56.e6 b5+ 57.b2 d4 An impressive display by John Shaw, showing why this seemingly submissive li n e i s a ct u a l ly q u i t e a go o d wi n n i n g t r y against weaker players. 0-1

857 Byrne,Robert E Gipslis,Aivars izt Sousse [Alexander Volzhin]

B07

1967

Now let's consider the Trompovski style Bg5 sortie. This system is very popular now and is used by ma n y to p gran d ma st e rs: Dree v, Almasi, Yakovich, Ulibin, Tiviakov etc. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 c6 5.d2 881

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b5 6.d3 g7 7.f4 White obtains a strong pawn centre, and his dark-squared Bishop is situated much more actively than in the 4.f4 attack. 0-0 8.f3 bd7 This move is out of fashion, but it's far from bad. 9.0-0 b6 10.ae1 b4 11.d1 c5 12.c3 bxc3 13.bxc3 cxd4 14.cxd4 b7 A clear inaccuracy. Black doesn't feel the danger. [ Later the game Byrne - Portisch was played, where Black improved with 14...d5! 15.e5 ( 15.xf6 exf6 ) 15...e4! 16.xe4 dxe4 17.xe4 and proved he had enough for the pawn: a6 18.f2 c4 19.b4 f6 20.h4 b8 21.c5 b6 22.c3 c8 23.a5 b7 24.e1 a8 25.g3 d5 26.xd8 fxd8 27.xd5 xd5 28.exf6 and a draw was agreed, as Black has sufficient compensation for the pawn due to his strong light-squared Bishop. ] 15.f5! White begins a direct attack. d5 [ 15...gxf5 is very risky, as White obtains a strong attack after 16.h4! ( The seemingly strong 16.h6 fxe4 17.g5 e8 18.xg7 xg7 19.h6 f5! is far from clear.) 16...fxe4 17.f5! ] 16.xf6! exf6 [ 16...xf6 17.e5 g7 is even worse for Black, after for example 18.e6!? ] 17.e5 c4 18.f4 c8 19.e6! e7 20.g4 g5 Forced, as there is no other defence against 21.ef with 22.fg to follow. 21.h4 h6 22.h5 fxe6 23.fxe6 d6 24.e3 e8 25.g6 xe6 26.f5 e4 27.xh6+ [ 27.hxg5 w a s e v e n s t r o n g e r : fxg5 28.xh6+ xh6 29.xh6 d7 30.e5 g7 31.f7+! xf7 32.xf7 winning at once. ] 27...xh6 28.xh6 d7 29.hxg5 g7 [ 29...fxg5 transposes to the line with 27.hg ] 30.f5! xh6 Now White has a technically won endgame due to his strong passed pawn, but [ 30...ce8 31.h3 is even worse for Black. ] 31.gxh6 c7 32.c1 c3 33.h2 f7 [ 33...c8 34.g6 ] 34.h4 h8 35.h7 c4 36.fe1 c8 37.g6+ g7 38.g3 h6 39.d3 c7 40.c2 b5 41.f2 1-0

858 Caruana,Fabiano Peralta,Fernando XXXII Open Badalona ESP (8) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2444 2546 09.07.2006

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 f6 4.g5 g7 5.d2 h6! Virtually Black's only good move in this position, for the attack with Bh6 is just too strong. It was Robert Byrne who played the important games with 4 Bg5 all the way back in the sixties and seventies now we see the system put to the test. 6.f4 g5 7.g3 h5 Hunting down the Bishop an absolute necessity before h2-h4 strikes him down. 8.0-0-0 d7 [ 8...e6 9.ge2 d7 10.f3! worked well for White in the following game: xg3 11.hxg3 b6 12.g4! Fixing the square h5. d7 13.g3 g8 14.e3 e7 15.b5 xb5 16.xb5+ c6 17.e2 0-0-0 18.b1 b8 19.c3 c8 20.h5 h8 21.g3 g7 22.h5 h8 23.g3= Tiviakov, S-Nyback, T Warsaw 2005 ] 9.e5 Pretty sharp. There are plenty of other moves: [ 9.ge2 e6 10.f4 leads to some of the original games. ] [ 9.e2 xg3 10.hxg3 c5 11.d5 Cannot be too dangerous for Black. I believe in that dark-squared Bishop! a5 12.f4 xc3 13.xc3 xc3 14.bxc3 f6 15.e1 f8 16.d3 g7 17.f3 g4 18.h4 d7 19.c4 e5! 20.dxe6 xe6 21.e5 dxe5 22.fxe5 d7 23.f5+ f8 24.hf1 b6 Mestel, A-Miles, A/Hastings 1974 ] [ 9.f4? has to be prefaced by Nge2: xf4 10.xf4 gxf4 11.xf4 xd4 12.c4 f6 13.b1 e5 14.e2 c6 15.f3 xf3 16.xf3 e6 17.hf1 a5 18.xd6 exd6 19.xf6 e5 20.h4 g8 21.g4 g6 22.f2 b6 23.a6 b8 Baekelant, RVerduyn, F/Belgium 2005 ] 9...xg3 10.hxg3 dxe5 11.dxe5 xe5 12.f4 That's the idea! White sacrifices a pawn to smash open the position. W hich is the weakest square in Black's position? Noticeably f7. Thus White should obtain good chances here. gxf4 13.gxf4 g7 14.f3 e6 [ 14...c6 15.e5 c7 16.c4 xe5 17.fxe5 e6? ( 17...xe5 was both brave 882

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and necessary.) 18.xe6 fxe6 19.de1 d8 20.e3 Bruzon Bautista, L-Cavatorta, F/Saint Vincent 2004 Naturally, White went on to win. ] 15.f5 f6 16.g4 Why does he need to bother with this? Black's King is ripe for the taking if he just opens the position. [ Thus 16.fxe6! was indicated, with a very dangerous attack: fxe6 17.b5! c6 18.e2 0-0 19.g3 b6 20.h5 g6 21.g4 d5 22.e5 ] 16...b6 17.g5 hxg5 18.xh8+ xh8 19.xg5 d7 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.ge4 e5 22.g2 Too little, too late. Black gets to castle long.... 0-0-0 23.f2 b8 24.c5 g5+ 25.b1 c8 Two Bishops and an extra p a wn is a p r e t t y s u b s t a n t ia l a d va n t a ge . 26.xd8 xd8 27.d3 xc3 The advantage increases. 28.bxc3 g5 29.e4 a4 30.d4 a5 31.b4 c5 B i g g e r a n d b i g g e r . 32.d6+ c7 9 e5 is dangerous. I'm not sure I see a clear way for Black. 0-1

7...bd7?! [ 7...e6! was surely better because now Cebalo gets to develop his Bishop to c4 in peace. ] 8.c4! [ 8.f3 also seems good. White gets to put serious pressure on Black's position due to the lag in his development. e8 9.b5 a6 10.xd6+ cxd6 11.d2! b5 12.a4 b7 13.f3 c6 14.b3 e7 15.a5 b8 16.e3 bxa4 17.c4 bd7 18.xd6 hb8 19.c4 e8 20.xf7 h6 21.d2 b4 22.xd7+ xd7 23.xe5+ d6 24.f4 c5 25.a2 xe4 26.fxe4 xe4 27.g3 f6 28.d1 e2 29.f2+ b4 30.c6+ 1-0 Nevostrujev,V-Zablotsky,S/ Stade 2003 ] 8...e8 9.f3 a6 At least he cut out the idea of Nb5. 10.ge2 b5 11.b3 h6 12.h4 b4? W ith a modest position one must play modestly. 12...b4 is a pawn move too far. Maybe [ 12...c5 was a better shot but White still seems to be better after say 13.xf6 xb3+ 14.axb3 gxf6 15.g3 e6 16.d5! ] 13.a4 b7 14.d2 c6 15.hd1 859 B07 White's edge grows. The problem is that Black Cebalo,Miso 2527 can do nothing and must wait for the action to Marzano,Carlo 2244 t a k e p l a c e . C e b a l o d e m o n s t r a t e s g o o d Open A Bratto ITA (2) 21.08.2004 technique in his subsequent build-up, never giving Black a snif f . b8 16.f2 b5 [Andrew Martin] 17.g3! g6 18.f1 a5 19.b6! b5 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 e5 Purely a 20.xd7 xd7 21.e3 e6 A bit too late. question of taste. Some might shy away from 22.xe6 fxe6 23.c4+- b5 24.xd6+ t h e q u e e n l e s s m i d d l e g a m e . 4.dxe5 cxd6 25.xd6 e7 26.xa6 The endgames W hy let him off by agreeing to a Philidor? are defensible but I recommend Black play ... That's not such a bad opening at all. dxe5 Be6 early wherever possible, if only to get some pieces out! The fate that will befall him 5.xd8+ xd8 6.g5 d6 7.0-0-0 [ 7.c4 e6 8.xe6 fxe6 9.0-0-0 e7 if he does not is graphically demonstrated 10.ge2 h6 11.h4 c6 12.g3 g5 here. Cebalo was allowed to dish out a lesson. is roughly the type of endgame that Black is 1-0 aiming for. W hilst the doubled pawns are potentially weak, they cover all the B07 important central squares and the Bishop on 860 d6 is a sturdy defender too. Time and again Cerveny,P 2292 I have seen White lose patience in such a Umanec,F 2244 position and go on to lose. 13.f3 a6 14.h4 13th Marienbad IM (6.1) 22.01.2014 b5 15.f2 g4 16.e3 gxf3 17.gxf3 h5 [Neil McDonald] 18.hg1 af8 19.df1 f4 20.a3 hg8 21.d1 a5 Hasan,M-Islam,A/Dhaka 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 bd7 4.f4 e5 BAN 2004 ] 5.f3 exd4 6.xd4 c6 7.e3 d5 8.exd5 883

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c5 9.d3 e7 10.d4 b6 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.e2 0-0!? This position is analysed in Neiksans-Vachier Lagrave in the archives by Gawain where he gives analysis to show that [ 12...a6 doesn't work for Black. ] 13.g1 c7! Black wants to pin the knight on d4 with Rd8, but [ 13...d8 14.xc6 is a disaster, so first of all he defends c6. The black queen also attacks the f4 pawn. ] [ G a w a i n e x a m i n e s 13...b4 14.xc6 xc3+ 15.bxc3 c7 and concludes Black has good compensation, but putting the queen on c7 straightaway looks a better way of playing it for Black. ] 14.g3?! The drawback to defending f4 with this move is that White becomes vulnerable down the long diagonal a8-h1 once Black p la ys B b 7 . I n s t e a d I t h in k W h it e sh o u l d develop with [ 14.0-0-0 for example I would prefer pinning d4 with A) After 14...bd5 15.g3!? looks good for White. ( whereas Black got counterplay after 15.xd5 cxd5 in Z.Erdelyi-E. Mensch, Budapest 2001. ); B) 14...d8!? 15.b1 b8 ( Not 15...xd4? you should only play a move like this if it wins something. Here after 16.xd4 c5 White escapes with 17.e5 so Black has given up his dark squared bishop for nothing.; 15...g6? 16.db5 ) 16.f3 d7 and Black keeps up his initiative with 17...Nfd5 or possibly even 17...g6 intending Bf5. ] 14...d8 15.0-0-0 b7 Now White has to worry about Bxd4 followed by c6-c5. 16.f5 b4! The bishop moves to safety, opens the wa y f o r c 6 - c 5 a n d i n t e n d s t o s m a s h u p W hite's queenside by taking on c3. 17.f3 xc3 18.bxc3 e7! Threatening not only 19...Qa3+ in combination with Nc4, which would be lethal to the white king, but also the tactic that occurs in the game. W hite can't deal with both. 19.a5 c5 20.a3 [ The double attack on d4 and h1 is decisive after 20.xb7 xb7 while ] [ 20.f5 xd1+ 21.xd1 e1 hardly helps White ] 20...c7

[ Also crushing is 20...c4 21.b3 xf3 22.xf3 xd1+ 23.xd1 e4 ] 21.f2 cxd4 22.xb7 xb7 23.xd4 e4 24.he1 c6 25.d3 c4 26.e7 e8 27.h4 b7 0-1

861 Collins,Sam Gormally,Daniel BCF-chT 1112 (4NCL) (2.16) [Sam Collins]

B07 2426 2520 13.11.2011

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.d3 g6 If Black wants to avoid the line in the game, the simplest in my view is 4...cxd4 5.cxd4 and then 5...g6. 5.dxc5 [ It is notable that, in his game with Weber, R o z e n t a l i s a c t u a l l y s t a r t e d w i t h 5.e5 , reaching the lines under consideration after 5...dxe5 6.dxe5. Praxis is limited with this 5. e5 move. An interesting recent example continued h5 6.f3 cxd4 7.cxd4 dxe5 8.dxe5 c6 9.0-0 g7!? . Not spending time on ... Ng7-e6, Black creates immediate play against the e5-pawn. 10.h3 0-0 11.g4 ( 11.e1 b4 12.e4 xd1 13.xd1 f5! gives Black adequate counterplay) 11...b4 12.e2 xd1 13.xd1 c2 A) 14.gxh5 launches into complications which seem to fizzle out to equality, for instance xa1 15.h6 h8 16.g5 c2 17.xe7 e8 18.d6 xh3 19.c1 f5 20.d1 xe5 21.xe5 ( 21.xe5 b4 ) 21...ad8 22.xc2 xc2 23.xc2 xd6; B) 14.a3 xa1 15.d2 f6 ( 15...d8! ) 16.exf6 xf6 17.c3 xc3 18.bxc3 e6 19.xa1 ac8 with a playable endgame for Black in V. I a k ym o v ( 2 4 8 3 ) - V . S k l i a r o v ( 2 2 0 6 ) , Alushta 2011 (1/2-1/2 in 69). ] 5...dxc5 [ If Black goes in for this line I think 5...d5 is a much more promising continuation. This was used a couple of times by Kjetil Lie though he lost both games I think he had no c o m p l a i n t s f r o m t h e o p e n i n g . 6.d2 ( 6.exd5 xd5 7.f3 xc5 left Black with a playable position, akin to those arising from the 2...g6 variation, in S. Agdestein 884

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (2571) - K.Lie (2472), Sandnes 2005 (1-0 in 40). ) 6...g7 7.gf3 0-0 8.0-0 bd7 9.exd5 xc5 10.c4 a6 11.b3 a4 12.d6 exd6 13.bd4 b5 14.b3 c5 15.c2 b7 and Black's activity full compensated for his slightly inferior structure in J.Shaw (2433) - K.Lie (2474), Mallorca 2004 (1-0 in 51). ] 6.e5 d5 [ 6...h5 is the most common move here, but White has no problems consolidating his e5-pawn. 7.h3 c6 8.f3 c7 9.e2 g7 10.a3 e6 11.0-0 g7 12.e1 0-0 13.b5 b8 14.a4 with a solid advantage for White in E. Rozentalis (2575) - U.Weber (2406), Bad Wiessee 2011 (1-0 in 60). ] [ 6...fd7 7.e6 is D.Pavasovic (2581) - A. Fauland (2427), Austrian TCh 2003 (1-0 in 32). Af ter fxe6 8.f3 c6 9.e2 g7 10.h4! Black had a rotten position. Readers can check Gary Lane's coverage of this game in the Archives. ] [ As pointed out by Gary Lane in his notes, 6...c4 drops a pawn for very little compensation after 7.a4+ ] [ 6...g4 7.b5+ c6 ( 7...d7 8.e6! wins on the spot.) 8.xd8+ xd8 9.xc6 bxc6 10.f3 f6 11.exf6 exf6 12.h3 e5 13.xe5 fxe5 14.e3 c7 15.d2 e6 16.0-0-0 c4 17.he1 d5 18.f3 and a draw was agreed in M.Ragger (2434) N.Stanec, N (2566), Gmunden 2005, but clearly the black pawn weaknesses are worth prodding. The two bishops don't count f or muc h in such a structu re, since th e white knight can blockade on e4 if necessary. ] 7.e4 e6 [ 7...c7 8.xd8+ xd8 9.f3 d7 was A.Jerez Perez (2416) - P.Kogan (2221), Arinsal 2011 (1/2-1/2 in 33), and now best would have been 10.a3 followed by Be3 and playing a rook to the d-file. ] 8.f3 [ 8.c4 leads to similar play. The attempt to complicate with h4 backfires: 9.e2 b4 10.f3 d8 11.c3 8c6 12.g5 a5 13.f6 g8 14.0-0 and White has a total b i n d . A f t e r d7 15.a3 a6 16.b5 ( 16.fd1 is also strong) 16...e7 17.fd1 xf6 18.exf6 h6 19.d6+ f8 20.e3

h8 ( 20...g5 21.xf7 wins ) 21.xb7 c7 22.xc5 xc5 23.xc5+ g8 24.d6 Black resigned in M. Pap (2507) - C. Sandipan (2656), Paleochora 2011. ] 8...c6 [ 8...g7 has been tried in a couple of games, but White has not responded with the logical 9.c4 b6 ( 9...a5+ 10.d2 b4 11.c3 is good for White) 10.e2 with a solid advantage. ] 9.c4 de7 10.xd8+ xd8 11.c3 d7 Black is really on the ropes here. 12.b5?? A t e r r i b l e m o ve , s q u a n d e r i n g m y wh o l e advantage. [ The path had already been shown by a c3Sicilian specialist 17 years ago: 12.g5 a6 13.0-0-0 g7 14.d2 h6 15.e3 dc6 16.hd1 d8 17.a4 c8 18.xd8+ xd8 19.b6 dc6 20.xc5 xe5 21.xe5 xe5 22.xc8 xc8 23.xb7 1-0 D.Sermek (2520) - S.Mali (2290), Bled 1994. ] 12...xb5 13.cxb5 a6! 14.bxa6 xa6 15.d3 a8 16.g5 g7 17.e4 [ 17.f4 0-0 18.e4 b6 doesn't look better for White. ] 17...xe5 18.xc5 d4 19.b5+ f8 20.b3 f6 21.c5 d4 Given his opening position, Danny is happy to repeat moves, though it was quite possible to play on here. 22.b3 f6 Move orders are highly important in this variation. After 5.dxc5, recapturing gives Black a prospectless position but 5... d5!? is interesting. Rozentalis' recent outing o f 5 . e 5 is a n a t t e m p t t o a vo id t h i s . . . d 5 defence, but 5...Nh5!? is a decent line. Of course, neither side needs to go in for this: W hite can keep his pawn on d4, while the simplest for Black is to chop on d4 before playing ...g6. ½-½

862 Conquest,Stuart Lahno,Kateryna Premier Hastings (7) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2545 2485 2004

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 c6 I never favoured this move against the Byrne 885

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Variation because it felt too much like sitting on a knife edge. We must admire the bravery of the young woman. Stuart Conquest is no slouch when it come to the attack! 5.d2 g7 6.f4 b5 7.d3 0-0!? And this is even more bold, possibly an attempt even at this very early stage to push Conquest towards his habitual time trouble. [ 7...b6 8.f3 g4 finds favour with me at least, staying flexible with the King as much as anything and creating concrete counterplay against d4. 9.e5! A) 9...xf3 10.gxf3 ( 10.exf6 exf6 ) 10...fd7 is much better.; B) 9...d5? 10.xd5 cxd5 11.exd6 f6 12.h4 xf3 13.gxf3 e6 14.f5! It's a pity W h it e f o llows t his mo ve u p incorrectly. gxf5 15.xf5 ( 15.g1! f7 16.c3 f8 17.e2 xd6 18.xb5 ) 15...xd6 16.d3 ( 16.g1! ) 16...a6 17.0-0-0 d7 18.hg1 f8 19.g3 b6 20.de1 0-0-0 21.b1 b7 22.f4 e5 23.dxe5 xe5 24.h4 d6 25.f5 c4 26.h5 d7 27.e8 c7 28.xc4 bxc4 29.d8 c5 30.xd5+ a7 31.g8? ( 31.e6! ) 31...xg8 32.xg8 d4 33.b3 cxb3 34.xb3 c6 35.e6 d7 36.g3 b7 37.d6 a4 38.c1 xb3 39.axb3 a1+ 40.d2 c3+ 41.d1 xf3+ 42.c1 e3+ 43.d1 e5 44.d3 g1+ 45.e2 xg3 46.hxg3 g2+ 47.d1 h5 48.c4 b6 49.b4 c6 50.e1 b2 51.b5+ axb5 52.cxb5+ xb5 53.f3 c4 54.f1 h2 55.xf6 xg3 56.f2 d4 57.d2+ c3 58.g2 e3 59.g8 f4+ 60.g2 e4+ 61.h2 d2 62.g2+ e1 63.g8 d5 64.g1 c5+ 65.h2 f1 66.g3 e5 67.h3 f2 68.g2+ f3 69.g1 h4 70.f1+ e2 71.g1 f2 72.g2+ f3 73.g1 g3+ 0-1 Zimmerman, YHoffmann, P/12th Donau Open, Aschach GER 2003 A typical Open Swiss game incorrect but interesting. ] 8.f3 g4 9.e5 b4 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 d5 12.exd6N Conquest must innovate! After 12 Bc4 there are two conflicting views: [ 12.c4 A) 12...d7!? 13.xd5 cxd5 14.exd6 f6 15.dxe7 ( 15.h4 exd6 16.xb4 c7 17.b3 a5+ 18.c3 ab8 19.c2 b6

20.b3 f5 21.0-0 fe8 22.ae1 trying to clamp down on Black's counterplay, might have been a sounder choice. ) 15...xe7 16.h4 ae8 17.f2 g5 18.g3 h5 19.h4 g4 20.fxg4 hxg4 21.f5 e4 22.d3 h6 23.xe4 xe4 24.f1 b6 25.g1 fe8 26.c1 c4 27.f2 e3+ 28.xe3 xe3 0-1 Aleksic, N-Chatalbashev, B/Cutro 2000; B) 12...a5 13.0-0-0 d7 14.f5 xf5 15.g3 e6 16.f4 dxe5 17.f5 d6 18.fxg6 hxg6 19.dg1 exd4 20.f5 e5 21.xg7 e3 22.xe3 dxe3 23.d3 xg7 24.xf7 h5 25.xg6+ 1-0 Dreev, A-Azmaiparashvili, Z/Moscow 1989. ] 12...xd6 13.f5 d7 14.h4 7f6 15.h5 xh5 16.0-0-0 e5!= Black has emerged from the opening in good shape. White's attack is strong but by no means decisive and Black is a pawn up after all. Practical chances are approximately equal. 17.dg1 h8 18.h6 g8 19.b1 A small time-out. [ It was probably worrying Conquest slightly that he couldn't see a win after, say 19.xg7+ xg7 20.fxg6 fxg6 21.xh5 gxh5 22.xg7 xg7 23.g5+ h8 24.dxe5 e7 25.xh5 f8 ] 19...df4 20.xf4 exf4 [ 20...xh6 le a d s t o e qu a lit y: 21.xg6+ xg6 22.xg6 xg6 23.fxg6 xd2 24.xh5 fxg6 25.xg6 g7!= So we must assume that around here Lahno started thinking of the win. ] 21.xg7+ xg7 22.fxg6 fxg6 23.c4 e7 24.e1 ae8 25.xe7 xe7 26.c1 a5 White is in the process of being outplayed! 27.d5 d8 28.d4+ f6 29.xf4 xd5 [ Can't see anything at all for White after 29...cxd5! ] 30.d4+ f6 31.c5 d6 [ 31...xf3 32.xa5 f8 33.xd5 xd5 34.c7 is difficult to win for Black in view of the open King. However, after c5 35.h1 h6 she could make a serious attempt. It looks like mutual time-trouble to me which a prompts a premature end to the game. ] 32.xa5 c5 33.xd5 ½-½

886

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 863 Dastan,B Laznicka,V 15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014 (2.52) [Neil McDonald]

B07 2416 2681 04.03.2014

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 bd7 4.f4 e5 5.f3 exd4 6.xd4 c6 7.e3 White has many options here, but this is probably the critical move. d5 8.exd5 [ Here 8.e5 tries for a slight edge in a quiet position. The game move leads to huge tactical complexity. ] 8...c5 9.d3 e7 10.d4 b6 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.0-0-0 a6!? This bishop move unleashes crazy complications, and only a player who has prepared thoroughly with a computer can be confident of finding his way thro ugh the m. In Adam son -Ivanov in th e archives 12...Ba6 is given as good for Black, indeed as gaining material by force, but in fact W hite can still keep some sort of objective advantage. 13.d2 [ White loses a piece after 13.xa6 xe3+ 14.b1 xd4 when the flamboyant 15.b5 fails to the cold blooded 0-0! ] 13...xf1 14.g1? It appears that White was sh o c k e d b y 1 2 . . . B a 6 a s h e qu ickly go e s astray. [ Firstly 14.hxf1 c4 threatening both the queen and the bishop on e3 is an immediate disaster for White. ] [ It seems that Black will emerge the exchange up after 14.f5 c4 for example 15.xe7 ( Or 15.xc5 xc5 16.d4 xd4 17.xd4 c5 18.xc4 xc4 19.d6+ f8 20.xc4 ) 15...xe3 16.xe3 xe3 17.dxf1 xf1 18.xc6 xh2 19.xh2 0-0 ] [ White's best move is 14.f2! 0-0 15.hxf1 ( After the convoluted line 15.xc6!? b7 16.a5 xg2 17.hxf1 ad8 18.xd8 xd8 19.xd8+ f8 20.dd1 xh2 It is by no means easy to prove that the two white rooks are superior to the black queen. Nonetheless this looks to me White's best c h a n c e f o r a d v a n t a g e .) 15...c7 Finally after A) 16.e6 here Black has the amazing reply b8!! ( rather than the miserable 16...fxe6? 17.xc5 ) 17.e2 ( Not

17.xc5 c4 when the threat of mate on b2 wins th e wh ite queen .) 17...xf2 18.xf8 c5 the white knight is trapped, and after White gives it up for a pawn or two with 19.e6 fxe6 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 h8 22.xe6 the position remains double edged.; B) 16.b1 ab8 Black has pressure on th e qu ee n sid e t o com p en sat e f o r t h e pawn. ] 14...c4 15.f2 [ If 15.e1 xg2 ] 15...b7 [ Even stronger was 15...xd4! 16.xd4 ( Black is also winning after 16.xd4 xg2 17.xc4 xh1 18.c5 e6 ) 16...b4 17.d1 c5 18.c3 a4 when White's rook on d4 has no safe moves. ] 16.a4 [ Black also wins 'on points' after 16.e1+ f8 17.d1 xb2 18.e6+ fxe6 19.xc5+ f7 20.xb2 xg2 ] 16...0-0-0 17.xf1 a6 18.d3 White can save his knight on a4 as [ 18.c3 a3! gives Black a mating attack. ] 18...xa4 19.c3 d2 20.d3 [ Hopeless is 20.xd2 xd4 ] 20...xd4 21.xd4 xd4 22.f5+ b7 23.c5 de4 Already two pieces down and with more material dropping, White gave up. A convincing win for Black, but you need to analyse 14.Bf2 in depth if you are considering playing this line for Black. 0-1

864 Degraeve,Jean Marc Kasparov,Sergey Open, 2002 Bethune [Paul Motwani]

B07

2002

Mr Mo's game G6.16: "Degraeve digs grave for 'the other' Kasparov!" 1.e4 e5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 f6 I took the liberty of changing the actual move-order, which was 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e5. 4.dxe5 Generally reckoned to be not dangerous, but France's big GM JeanMarc Degraeve notches up a quick White win in the current encounter. dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 6.g5 887

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 6.c4 e6 7.xe6 fxe6 8.f3 d6 9.e3 e7 poses Black no serious problems. ] 6...e6 7.f4 exf4 8.f3 [ 8.e5 h6 9.h4 g5 is an important resource for Black. ] 8...h6 9.xf4 bd7 10.0-0-0 c6 Simply assessed as being "equal" on page 137 of "Nunn's Chess Openings" (NCO), but there's clearly still a lot of fight left in this battle. 11.d4 c5 12.e2 e8 13.f3 c8?! [ I would prefer something more active like 13...g5 , for example. In the game itself, W hite is allowed to get things all his own way rather too easily. ] 14.e5! xd4 [ 14...g4?? loses on the spot to 15.xe6 ] 15.xd4 h7 Seemingly very passive, but the 'alternatives' were also unattractive. [ For instance, 15...g4 16.e4 c7? walks into 17.xg4 xg4 18.e6+ ] 16.e4 c7 17.d6 e7 18.hd1 hf8 19.g3 a5 20.h4 b6? A plausible-looking move, but Black has missed the forthcoming stunning tactic... 21.f5! d7 [ 21...xf5 22.e6+ c8 23.d8# ] 22.xg7 xd4 23.xd4 d8 24.f4 Black now resigned, being a pawn down in a hopeless position, especially with his f-pawn being so frail, and the h-pawn about to be hit by Rf6. 1-0

A) James says that 6...d5!? is possible'. Then a critical follow-up that seems good for W hite would be 7.xf6 ( 7.e5 e4 8.d3 xg5 9.fxg5 is unclear ) A1) 7...xf6 8.e5 ( even 8.d2!? dxe4 9.xe4 g7!? 10.c4 0-0 11.0-0 , although rather anti-positional, may favour W hite slightly because of his development and idea of Ne5) 8...g7 9.e2 ( 9.d2 0-0 10.0-0-0 ) 9...0-0 10.d2 g4 11.d1 e6 12.e3 xf3 13.xf3 d7 14.0-0 with a space advantage, but Black stands solidly.; A2) 7...exf6 8.exd5! cxd5 9.e2+! f8!? ( 9...e6 10.f5! gxf5 11.h4 0-0 12.0-0-0 ) 10.b5!? c6! 11.0-0-0 e7 12.g3 and Bg2 with pressure on d5 Black's king and g7 bishop are hard to coordinate.; B) 6...b5 Back to the Main Game: 7.d3 b6 8.e5 d5 9.exd6 f6 10.e2 0-0 11.xd5 cxd5 12.dxe7 e8 13.h4 c6 14.0-0 xe7 B1) a strange choice White may have underestimated Black's next. Better was 15.d2! B1a) 15...xd4 16.xd4 xd4+ 17.f2 xb2?? ( 17...a4 18.b3 a3 19.xg6! ) 18.a5! winning, because Black's queen is threatened with Rb1, but Qd8+ is also devastating.; B1b) 15...g4 16.c3 b4 17.ae1 ae8 18.xe7 xe7 19.h3 and a pawn is a pawn; 865 B07 B2) 15.d1?! b4! 16.e1 ( 16.c3 xd3 17.xd3 f5 18.d2 e4 Dobrov,Vladimir 2510 with compensation) 16...xe1+ 17.xe1 Nikolic,Predrag 2623 ( maybe 17.xe1 xd3 18.cxd3!? f5 10th EICC Budva MNE (10) 16.03.2009 19.b3 d8 20.b4 , but this isn't [John Watson] forced ) 17...xd3 18.e8+ f8 19.cxd3 b7 20.e3 c8 21.h3 d7 This game contains no less than three high22.c1 e8 23.d2 b4 With White's level wins for Black out of the 4 Bg5 system! weak pawns and Black's bishops, the But the good news ends there... I've given second player has at least equalised. serious notes to all three because somehow Black eventually won. ] Black needs to improve in these lines or return to the... h6/...g5 plan. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 5...c6 6.f4 b5 7.d3 0-0 [ Black got a poor opening but chalked up 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.d2 another victory after 7...b6 (Vigus gives [ In Dreev (2688)-T Petrosian (2623), Budva this '?!', correctly) 8.e5! MNE 2009, White played 5.f4 c6 6.f3 A) 8...d5 or bypassing Qd2 for the nonce. 888

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A1) or 9.xd5 cxd5 10.c3 ( 10.f3! ) 10...dxe5?! 11.fxe5 c6 12.e2 with advantage, as in a game quoted in Vigus; A2) 9.exd6 xc3 10.bxc3 f6 11.h4 exd6 12.f3 0-0 13.0-0 and White is clearly for choice; B) 8...b4 9.exf6 bxc3 10.e3! f8 11.fxe7? ( 11.bxc3! leaves Black a pawn down, and worse if he gets greedy by b2 12.d1 xa2 13.fxe7 g7 14.c4! ) 11...g7 12.bxc3 b2 Now Black has roughly equalized. 13.d1 xc3+ 14.f1 xd4 ( 14...xd4 15.f3 ) 15.xd4 ( 15.g3! looks better, e.g., h6 16.e2 c5 17.h4 ) 15...xd4 16.f3 ( 16.e2; 16.e2 ) 16...c3! 17.f5?! d7 18.h4 c5 19.e2? (White is falling apart) ( 19.f4 ) 19...e4 20.fxg6 hxg6 ( 20...g3+! 21.g1 h6 22.gxf7+ xf7 23.c4+ d5 ) 21.f4 xe7 ( 21...d5! ) 22.d4 d7 23.f3 d5 24.xe4 dxe4 25.e5 a5? ( 25...hd8 would have kept a large edge. As it goes, Black f in ally b rings ho me t he p oint wit h his bishop pair:) 26.xh8 xh8 27.f2 f5 28.e3 b6 29.g4 f6 30.gxf5 gxf5 31.c3 e5 32.df1 h5 33.f2 d8 34.d1 xh4 35.xf5+ xf5 36.xc6+ f6 37.xd8 h3+ 38.f2 e3+ 39.g2 e4+! 40.xh3 e2 41.d6+ g5 0-1 Godena, M (2537)-T Petrosian, T (2623)/ Budva MNE 2009. ] 8.f3 d5 9.e5 h5 10.e2 [ An alternative order for W hite is 10.h4 h6 11.e2 f6 12.0-0 ] 10...f6 [ 10...g4 11.0-0 d7 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 f6 14.h4 doesn't change things. ] 11.h4 h6 12.0-0 g7 [ 12...g4 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 fxe5 15.dxe5 d7 16.e3! with the centre still intact. ] 13.h3!? Rather unnecessary, since ... Bg4 wasn't a threat. [ 13.a4! is thematic, for example, bxa4 ( 13...b6 14.b4! ) 14.xa4 d7 15.c3 b6 16.aa1 with a grip. ] 13...d7 14.h2!? White threatens Ng4, and maintains control of his centre. Nevertheless, this complicates matters.

[ 14.exf6 exf6 15.e5! xe5 16.dxe5 e8 17.c3 leaves Black's pieces awkwardly-placed and was easier. ] 14...fxe5 15.g4 xf4 16.xf4 exf4 17.ae1 [ 17.xf4 f6 18.h6+ h8 19.e3 has the idea of Rae1 with pressure. ] 17...f6 18.h6+ h8 19.xf4 e6 20.g5 a6 21.g3 d7?! [ 21...b6 22.e5 ] 22.h4?! [ 22.xf8+! xf8 ( 22...xf8 23.e5 ) 23.f1 e8 24.h4 f6 , and among other moves, 25.g4! restricts Black's knights and leaves them no good squares. ] 22...xf1+ 23.xf1 e8 [ 23...b6! 24.e5 xe5 25.xe5 b8 still favours White, but there's no obvious way in. ] 24.f3 [ Or 24.e1! with the idea c8 25.h5! ] 24...c8 25.b4? [ 25.e5! xe5 26.xe5 with the idea h5. ] 25...a8 26.a3 [ 26.c7 ] 26...a5 27.h2 axb4 28.axb4 a1 This piece provides some counterplay. 29.e3!? [ 29.e5 ] 29...f8 30.f3 e8 31.f4 d1 [ 31...e1! ] 32.g4 [ 32.e5! e1 33.f4! ] 32...f8 33.g2 f6 [ 33...e8 ] 34.e3! xg5 35.xg5 e8 36.e3 g7 37.xe7 White is winning now, but tragedy strikes: a1 38.g5 a8 39.f6 e8 40.h5? The 40th move! [ 40.h2 wins. ] 40...xf6 41.gxf6 xh5 42.f7? f8 43.e2 [ White evidently missed 43.xe6? f4+ ] 43...f4+ 44.f3? [ 44.g3 xe2+ 45.xe2 xf7 46.e7 g7 47.g4 leaves a few chances because the knight on e5 will be so much better than the bishop. ] [ It seems early to resign, but if Black plays 44.f3 g5! followed by ...Kg7 or ...Bxf7, it won't be difficult to convert. ] 0-1 889

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 866 Dolmatov,Sergey Eingorn,Vereslav S USSR [Alexander Volzhin]

B07

1983

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 c6 The critical position of this line. Now W hite has to choose a plan. The inventor of this variation, GM Dolmatov, prefers 7 Re1 and 8 h3. His games provide White with a standard way of playing this line. 7.e1 [ 7.d5?! Although White wins a tempo this move is not consistent with the ideas behind his set-up because it opens the diagonal for Black's dark-squared bishop. b8 8.c4 g4 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 a6 11.c3 d7! All Black's minor pieces are very active. 12.e2 ac5 13.d2 a5 14.ab1 e6 15.d1 f5! , and Black seized the i n i t i a t i v e : 16.dxe6 e5 17.e2 f4! with an undisputable advantage for Black, Korchnoi - Sznapik, Luzern 1982. ] [ 7.b4 This move was introduced in early 90s and brought White many victories but it's no longer considered dangerous for Black: h5!? In my opinion, the best. Black intends 8...e5. ( 7...a6 is weaker, after 8.bd2 e5 9.a3 h5 10.b3 h8 11.d5 e7 12.c4 White has the better chances, SpeelmanCrouch, Hastings 1992.) 8.b5 ( 8.e3 e5 9.d5 e7 10.c4 f5 and Black's chances should be preferred.) 8...a5 9.e1 c5 10.bxc6 xc6 11.e3 e5 and Black's chances are by no means bad, as the game Kortchnoi-Azmaiparashvili, Madrid 1996 proved: 12.d5 ( 12.bd2 is strongly met by d5!? with good chances for Black: 13.dxe5 xe5 14.xe5 xe5 ) 12...a5 13.bd2 d7 14.b3 c8! 15.xa5 xa5 16.c4 f5 17.d2 c7 18.c1 fxe4 19.xe4 f6 20.b1 g4 21.h3 xf3 22.xf3 d7 23.g3 c5 and Black is already slightly better. ] 7...e5 8.h3 d7 [ 8...e8 was played in Dolmatov-Sturua, Moscow 1992: 9.bd2 d7 10.c2!? h6 11.f1 h7 12.g3 The position is very s im ila r t o a R u y L o p e z. W h it e 's sp a c e advantage secures him a lasting initiative.

g5 I don't like this move because the compromised pawn structure limits Black's p o s s i b i l i t i e s . H o we ve r i t ' s n o t e a s y t o recommend a real improvement for Black. 13.xg5 hxg5 14.e3 f6 15.d5 b8 16.f3 e7 17.e2 g7 18.g4!? A typical method of preventing counterplay on K-side which is also very common in the King's Indian. c6 19.c4 cxd5 20.cxd5 a5 21.a3 c8 22.b4 d8 23.d2 a5 24.d3 and White is clearly better. ] 9.e3 exd4 [ 9...a6 10.bd2 e8 11.d5 e7 12.c4 c5 13.dxc6 xc6 14.b1! A very instructive manoeuvre: the Knight aims for the d5square, a strong outpost in the centre of the board. c8 15.c3 a5 16.d2 h5 17.d5 f4 18.f1 xd5 19.cxd5 The poor position of the knight on a5 allows one to evaluate the position as strategically lost f or Black. b5 20.b4 b7 ( After 20...c4 21.xc4 bxc4 22.c1 White wins a pawn.) 21.a4! a8 22.axb5 axb5 23.d3 a4 24.xa4 bxa4 25.a6 c7 26.c4 a8 27.b6 b8 28.b5 a5!? Black couldn't find anything better than to give up this unfortunate Knight for nothing! But his position is lost anyway. 29.xa5 xb5 30.xb5 xb5 31.c2 a3 32.a1 and Black resigned, Dolmatov Gurevich, USSR 1982. ] [ 9...e8 was tried in Kuporosov-Sturua, Helsinki 1992: 10.bd2 h6 11.a3 h5 12.b4 f4 13.xf4 exf4 This pawn struct ure f avours W hite . 14.c4 e7 15.b3 e8 16.d3 d8 17.bd2 (Black was threatening to win a piece by 17.. .b5) h8 18.e2 a6 19.ae1 b5 20.d5 d7 21.b3 a5 22.c4 axb4 23.axb4 b5 24.a5 b8 25.d2 with a clear edge. ] 10.cxd4 b4 11.c3 xd3 12.xd3 Black has managed to exchange White's lightsquared Bishop, but the price is too high. W hite has a strong pawn centre, and the threat of e5 is very unpleasant for Black. e8 13.e5! f5 [ 13...h5? i s b a d i n v i e w o f 14.g4 and White wins a piece. ] 14.b5! dxe5 15.dxe5 d7 The only move again. [ 15...e4 16.xb7 b8 17.c6 890

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is hopeless. ] 16.d4! xe5 17.xb7 c5 18.f3 d7 19.ed1 f8 20.f4 ee8 21.d5! e4 22.h6!! An unexpected blow which leads to a decisive positional advantage. f5 23.xg7 xg7 [ 23...xg7 24.c3 ] 24.c3 ee8 25.d5+ e6 26.xf5! The simplest. W hite wins a pawn and liquidates to an endgame. gxf5 27.xd7 ad8 28.xg7+ xg7 29.xd8 xd8 30.d1 xd1+ 31.xd1 Straighforward technique. The endgame is easily won for White. f6 32.f1 e5 33.e2 f4+ 34.f3 d3 35.e3 f4 36.g3 d5+ 37.e2 f4 38.f3 fxg3 39.fxg3 d4 40.g4 h6 41.h4 e7 42.e3 e5 43.h5 c6 44.b4 Black is in zugzwang and is forced to retreat. The rest is easy. e6 45.e4 f6 46.f4 c8 47.f5 b6 48.xh6 d5+ 49.g3 xb4 50.h4 d5 51.g5+ g7 52.f5+ f7 53.g6+ f6 54.g7 f7 55.h6 g8 56.g5 h7 57.d6 Black resigned. 1-0

867 Dominguez Perez,Leinier Kramnik,Vladimir 19th Amber Rapid rapid (2) [Gawain Jones]

B07 2713 2790 14.03.2010

1.e4 d6 [ A n o t h e r r e c e n t g a m e s t a r t e d 1...g6 but soon transposed into the same position after 2.d4 g7 3.f3 I prefer developing the queen's knight first to keep options of f3 or f4. d6 4.c3 a6 5.e3 f6 6.d3 0-0 7.d2 g4!? ( Somehow I think 7...g4 is more in keeping with Black's normal play in these systems although ...Bg4 is not necessarily bad.) 8.h6 e8 9.xg7 xg7 10.f4 e5?! ( 10...c6 would have been a better move order) 11.dxe5?! ( Overlooking t h e s t r o n g 11.xe5! dxe5 12.dxe5 picking up a pawn) 11...dxe5 12.e3 ( 12.xe5? loses a piece to d6 ) 12...c6 13.0-0 xf3 14.xf3 d4 and Black was for preference and went on to convert. Yang Kaiqi-Li Chao2 Ningbo 2010. ] 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 a6 I noticed

Svidler hasn't approved of this in the past in his annotations and indeed it looks strange but a lot of strong players have attempted this se t up , ad m it t e dly m o stly in ra p id c he s s . Normally Black delays developing the knight in this setup so not to run into a quick Bh6 or quick e4-e5 break but Kramnik is happy to repeat the line which is a great commendation. 5.d2 [ 5.f3 b5 6.d2 bd7 7.d1 An unusual decision but then what can you expect from the erratic Russian? He evidently decided that Black's attack would be too swift on the queenside so he forgets a quick mating attack and plays in a slower style. ( 7.g4 b7 8.g5 h5 9.ge2 c5 10.g3 cxd4 11.xd4 e5 12.e3 f4! Resembled a Dragadorf, see my Dragon updates! Amonatov, F-Timofeev, A Tomsk 2008. It's not in W hite's interests to grab the pawn with 13.xf4 exf4 14.xf4 as h6! 15.h4 g7 16.0-0-0 e5 17.g4 c8! and W hite's discomf ort is not worth the pawn. ) 7...b7 8.h3 b6 I don't trust this m o ve . I 'd p re f e r k e e p i n g t h e kn i g h t t o su p p o rt t h e c7 -c5 b re a k. 9.e2 g7 10.h6 0-0 11.xg7 xg7 12.e3 b4 13.b1 e6 14.f2 e7 15.0-0 was balanced Morozevich, A-Grischuk, A Moscow 2007. ] [ 5.a4 There's an argument for this move as Tiger advocates a Hippo setup against an early a4 but Black has already developed his knight on f6 and so that isn't possible. g7 6.h3 ( 6.a5 is only effective once the b8 knight has gone to d7. Here Black can develop with . ..Nc6 and perhaps .. ..Bg4.; I a l s o m e n t i o n e d 6.d2 in my notes to Smeets-Kramnik.) 6...0-0 7.f3 c6 8.e2 e5 9.0-0 exd4 10.xd4 e8 11.f3 e5 12.e2 had definitely been a successful opening for Black even if the game later went wrong. Erenburg, SGrischuk, A Rishon Le Ziyyon 2006. ] [ 5.e2 was played in Smeets-Kramnik which I analysed a couple of months ago which was another opening disaster for White. ] 5...b5 6.d3 b7 7.a3 [ 7.f3 bd7 8.a4 b4 9.ce2 c5 10.c3 bxc3 11.bxc3 g7 12.a5 0-0 13.h3 c7 891

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.0-0 e5 15.d5 c4 16.c2 c5 17.fb1 c8 Black's position started looking like either a good Spanish or Kings Indian. It's educational to see how Grischuk won this very quickly. 18.f2 d7 19.c1 b5 20.d1 h5 21.b2 f5 22.a4 xa4 23.xa4 fxe4 24.c6 ad8 25.xc5 dxc5 26.fxe4 xc6 Oops! 0-1 Sprenger, JGrischuk, A Mainz 2007. ] 7...bd7 8.f3 e5 Slightly unusual. Normally Black plays the c5 break in these a6 Moderns. [ 8...g7 would be my choice, hoping to tra n s p os e t o a ve ry go o d Dra go n st yle position once I break with c7-c5. 9.0-0 c5 immediately looks possible but Black has to correctly analyse ( 9...0-0 is safer ) 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5 g4 12.e6 fxe6 13.g5 b6 which is messy but looks fine for Black. ] 9.0-0 It doesn't work well to allow Black to capture on d4 so I think White should fix the centre [ 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.0-0-0 would be somewhat risky but the only way to play for an a d v a n t a g e . ( 10.0-0 is a safe option but I see no real reason why Black shouldn't have comfortable equality. )] 9...exd4! 10.xd4 [ Perhaps 10.xd4 is more accurate but the Cu b a n wo u ld h a ve h a d t o se e t h a t g7 11.f3 i s p l a y a b l e a s a l t h o u g h c5 win s a p i e c e , W h it e ca n sa c ri f i ce wit h 12.dxb5! axb5 13.xb5 0-0 14.xd6 when White has three pawns for the piece and a temporary initiative which should be enough for rough equality. ] 10...g7 11.a4 Forcing Black's hand but Kramnik takes the advantage after a forced series of moves. It's not easy to come up with an alternative plan for White while Black can start atta cking e4 with . ..Re8 , c5-c4 an d perhaps win the dark squares with an eventual Nf6-g4xe3. b4 12.d5 c5! 13.xf6 xf6 14.xf6+ xf6 15.e5!? [ 15.b3 0-0 16.ad1 is a (boring!) alternative but Black's bishop pair give him any advantage going. ] 15...dxe5 16.xe5 0-0 17.f4 d6 So the opening stage has concluded and Black has the upper hand with the bishop pair and in particular play down the h8-a1

diagonal while White's f2-f4 only weakens his own king rather than having any aggressive potential. 18.e3 ae8 19.ad1 d5 [ 19...xe5 20.fxe5 xe5 looks like a clean extra pawn to me as W hite doesn't even have the pressure on f7 that he achieves in the game. ] 20.f2 xe5 21.fxe5 xe5 22.c4 e7 23.de1 d6 24.xe7 xe7 25.f6 Dominguez seeks solace in the endgame a pa wn d o wn , h o p in g t h a t h is m o re a c t ive pieces will allow him to hold the draw. xf6 26.xf6 a5 27.b6 e4 28.b5 d8 29.d3 xd3 30.cxd3 xd3 31.xc5 d1+ 32.f2 d2+ 33.f3 xb2 34.xa5 Th is p o sit io n is n o w a b o o k d ra w a s t h e queenside pawns are going to be exchanged leaving rook and 3 vs rook and 2. Kramnik t rie s b u t ca n 't q u it e ge t t h e f u ll p o i n t . A success for Black and yet more proof that any mechanical plan for W hite involving simply developing his knights and castling gives Black a very easy game. a2 35.a8+ g7 36.a5 g5 37.b8 a4 38.g4 h5 39.h3 h4 40.g2 f6 41.b5 a2+ 42.g1 b3 43.xb3 xa5 44.f3+ e6 45.g2 a2+ 46.g1 f6 47.f5 e2 48.f3 e4 49.g2 f4 50.e3+ d5 51.a3 b4 52.f3 b2+ 53.g1 b6 54.g2 e4 55.f2 c6 56.h2 e3 57.g2 e6 58.f3+ d2 59.f5 e2+ 60.g1 e3 61.g2 e6 62.d5+ e1 63.f5 e2+ 64.g1 e3 65.g2 e6 66.f1+ d2 67.f5 d3 68.d5+ e4 69.f5 d6 70.f2 e3 71.f3+ d4 72.f5 e4 73.f2 e5 74.f5+ e6 75.f3 d2+ 76.g1 d5 77.g2 f5 78.gxf5+ xf5 79.xf5 xf5 80.f3 e5 81.e3 f6 82.f2 e6 83.e2 f7 84.f3 f6 85.f2 g6 86.g2 g7 87.g1 f6 88.f2 ½-½

868 Dreev,Alexey Azmaiparashvili,Zurab Moskva Guam [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2520 2560 1989

Before this game theory considered the 4.Bg5 line as rather harmless, due to 8...Bg4. The 892

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f o l l o wi n g g a m e h a s s h o wn t h a t W h i t e ' s resources should not be underestimated. 1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5!? f6 5.f4 0-0 6.f3 c6 7.d2 b5 8.d3 g4 The most popular line. 9.e5! b4 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 d5 12.c4! [ It's premature to castle queenside immediately as Black obtains good counterplay after 12.0-0-0?! a5 13.c4 d7 , intending 14... N7b6 15. Bb3 Qb5 followed by a5-a4 ] 12...a5 13.0-0-0 Now White is ready for the breakthrough f5 d7 Preventing White's main idea. However... 14.f5! xf5 [ Later this position occurred in Yakovich B e i m , 1 9 9 3 . B l a c k p r e f e r r e d 14...dxe5 but White obtained a very strong attack after 15.fxg6 fxg6 ( 15...hxg6 16.h4 ) 16.h4! The game continued: e6 17.h5 b6 18.d3 d5 19.b1 xf3 20.hxg6 h5 21.h6 e4 22.xg7 xg7 and Black resigned as 23.f4 wins easily. ] 15.g3 e6 16.f4 dxe5 17.f5! d6 [ Of cause, 17...gxf5 i s s u i c i d e : 18.hg1 with Nh5 to f ollow, and Black has no defence against the threats on the g-file. ] 18.fxg6 hxg6 [ 18...fxg6 19.e4 d8 20.c5 with a large advantage ] 19.dg1! exd4?! Now White wins by force. [ 19...f5 is more stubborn, although White's attack is very strong after 20.h4!? ( or 20.h6!? with Nh5 to follow. )] 20.f5! e5 21.xg7 e3 [ 21...xg7 doesn't help Black: 22.h6 e5 23.g5 e4 ( 23...e3? 24.xg6+ ) 24.xd5 cxd5 25.e1 winning. ] 22.xe3 dxe3 23.d3 Now the g6-square becomes the main target. xg7 24.xf7! h5 25.xg6+ Black resigned, as he is mated in five. Brilliant attack! [ 25.xg6+ xf7 26.f1+ e8 27.xf8+ xf8 28.d8+ f7 29.g8# ] 1-0

869 Dreev,Alexey Beim,Valery Ordix Open Frankfurt GER (10) [Carsten Hansen]

B07 2680 2563 18.06.2000

1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.f4 h6 6.h4 bd7 7.d2 c5 8.d5 a6 9.f3 b5 [ 9...g5!? was tried out in Gofshtein-Chernin, Bastia 1998: 10.fxg5 hxg5 11.xg5 b5 12.a3 b4 13.axb4 cxb4 14.xf6 xf6 15.a4 ( 15.d1 makes somewhat more sense b6 16.d3 ) 15...xe4 16.xb4 f5 and now instead of 17.b6? b8 18.a4+ f8 19.c4 xb2! 20.xb2 c3+ 21.e2 xb2 22.a5 c8 23.e3 xc2 when it is all over. White should have played 17 c3 or 17 Bxa6, in both cases with somewhat better chances for W hite, although it is by no means clear. ] 10.e5 b4 11.a4 dxe5 [ The alternative for Black is to play 11...g8 but after 12.e2 g5 13.g3 gxf4 14.xf4 c7 15.e6 a5 16.exd7+ xd7 17.xd6 xa4 18.e5 White has a fairly clear advantage. ] 12.fxe5 g4 [ Or 12...g5!? 13.exf6 xf6 14.xg5 ( 14.a3 gxh4 15.axb4 cxb4 16.xb4 b8 17.d2 e5 with a good game for Black) 14...hxg5 15.xg5 h5 ( 15...a5!? ) 16.xf6 xf6 17.e2 xd5 18.h6 with a complicated struggle ahead. ] 13.e6 fxe6?! Once again 13...g5!? is a move that has to be considered for Black. After the text move, the end comes swiftly. 14.dxe6 de5 15.xd8+ xd8 16.0-0-0+ c7 17.xc5 By now it should be evident that the Black opening has failed: he is a pawn down, he is behind in development, his pieces are not working together, and finally his king is under attack... g5 18.g3 c6 19.b3 xf3 20.gxf3 e3 21.a5+ b6 22.c4+ xc4 23.xc4 c5 24.d5 1-0

893

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 21.xe2 is bad: xf4 22.c4+ d5 23.f1 B07 g5 24.b1 hxg6!? and Black's advantage Dreev,Alexey 2645 is obvious. ] Zakharevich,Igor 2485 Russia 1996 21...ec3+! [ 21...dc3+? 22.bxc3 bxc3 23.c4+ d5 [Alexander Volzhin] 24.xe2 ] A f t e r W h i t e ' s b ri l li a n t vic t o r y i n D r e e v - 22.bxc3 [ 22.a1? xd1 23.xd1 ( 23.xh6 Azmaiparashvili Black had to look f or an xf2-+ winning ) 23...g7 24.xh7 f5 improvement. The following game shows that 25.h1 a7-+ , parrying all the threats and Black has sufficient chances in this line. 1.d4 winning. ] d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.f4 0-0 6.d2 c6 7.d3 b5 8.f3 g4 9.e5 22...xf4?? A terrible mistake. [ After the correct 22...bxc3 23.c1 xf4 b4 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 d5 12.c4 a5 24.a3 ( After 24.gxh7+ h8 Black's King 13.0-0-0 f6! This is the novelty. 14.h4 h6 is safe ) 24...h6!? Black's advantage is 15.exf6 exf6 16.f2 d7 17.h4 7b6 beyond any doubt. ] 18.d3 a4!N Now White's Queen is very active [ Previously Zakharevich chose 18...e8?! 23.e1 ( Ulibin â (+) Zakharevich, Russia,1995), (compared to the previous line where it was on but failed to prove that this move is really a3). [ The spectacular 23.xh7? doesn't work: necessary here. White got the upper hand xd2 24.dh1 f5! and Black wins. ] after 19.b1! h8 20.dg1 a4 21.h5 g5 22.fxg5 xg5 23.f4 h6 24.a1 d7 23...e8 24.g1! bxc3 [ 24...xc3+? 25.a1 xd1 26.g7! g5 25.c4! bxc3 26.bxc3 a3 27.c4 e7 28.d5! 27.xd1 intending f4 and Qh5 with an and won soon. ] unstoppable attack. ] 19.h5!? White chooses the sharpest 25.a1 h6 26.e4 d7 27.g3 e3 continuation. The alternatives are: [ 19.b1!? h8 ( 19...dc3+?! 20.bxc3 28.h2 g7 29.xd5 cxd5 30.d3? Missing Black's reply. Both players were in bxc3 21.c1! ) 20.h5 g5 with unclear play ] [ 19.c4 ab6 and White hardly has time trouble already. [ 30.f2! was correct, and after the forced anything better than 20.d3 with a draw by b5 31.b1 e2 32.b7+ g8 33.xd6 repetition. ] xf2 34.d7+- White wins. ] 19...ac3! 20.hxg6?! In contrast with previous games, it is Black who is attacking! 30...b5 31.b1 [ 31.xc3?! ab8! 32.c7+ g8 33.c3 But by playing the extremely risky text, White g5!? 34.c2 e3! led to a very unclear wants to fight for the initiative at any cost. He game. ] had other possibilities. [ Of course, accepting the sacrifice is poor: 31...xd3! after this brilliant Queen sacrifice it 20.bxc3? bxc3 21.xc3 ( or 21.e1 b6 is White who has to save his skin! 32.cxd3 [ 32.b7+?! xg6 33.cxd3 xd4 34.b1 22.xc3 xf4+ winning ) 21...xf4 ( 34.h4 e4!-+ winning; 34.f2 e1+!!-+ and Black wins the Queen. ] winning ) 34...ab8 35.b3 ( 35.xb8 [ Probably, 20.g3!? was the best: xb8+ 36.c1 b2-+ winning ) 35...a4 A) 20...xa2+? 21.b1 ac3+ and despite white's huge material advantage, 22.a1!? xe2 ( 22...g5 23.bxc3 ) it's not so easy to find a good defence. ] 23.hxg6! xg3 24.xh6 and White's 32...ab8! An excellent move again. attack is very strong, or; [ The hasty 32...xd4? loses by force: B) 20...xd1 21.hxg6 xb2 22.xb2 33.f2! e2 34.b7+! g8 35.xh6! g7 23.f5! with fantastic compensation.; e1+ ( 35...c2+ 36.xd4+winning ) C) 20...xe2+ Other moves seems bad: 36.xe1 c2+ 37.b2+- winning ] 21.xe2 g5! 22.c4 h8 with mutual 33.xb8 chances. ] [ The natural looking 33.f4? even lost the 20...xe2+ 21.b1! The only move. 870

894

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 game! xb1+ 34.xb1 b8+ 35.a1 ( 35.c2 b2+ ) 35...xf4 36.xf4 c2 37.c1 b1+ and the pawn ending is easily won for Black ] [ 33.c2 clearly is not an improvement: xb1+ 34.xb1 xd4 35.b7+ xg6 36.b1 e2 and White is in trouble ] [ Besides the text, 33.a4 was good enough to draw: xb1+ 34.xb1 b8+ 35.a1 b2 36.h3 c2 37.d7+ xg6 38.e8+ g7 with a perpetual. ] 33...xb8 34.c2 xd4 35.f4 b2 36.a4 c2 37.d7+ xg6 38.g4+ f7 39.d7+ g6 40.g4+ f7 41.d7+ A very nice game despite the mutual mistakes. ½-½

871 Dvoirys,Semen I Tkachiev,Vladislav Aeroflot Open (8) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2594 2642 24.02.2004

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 c6 5.e3 bd7 6.d2 b5 7.ge2 b7 Black plays traditionally, delaying ...Bf8-g7 as long as possible. Dvoiris tries to show that this does not matter. 8.h6!?N [ 8.g4 is played more frequently. White usually waits for ...Bg7 before playing Bh6 because it is a simple gain of a tempo. ] 8...xh6 9.xh6 e5 Tkachiev adjusts the central pawn formation to suit. By any normal positional yardstick he should be at least e q u a l n o w . 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.c1 c5 12.d3 xd3+ 13.xd3= The only reason White could have any advantage at all here might lie in the exposed Black pawn structure. One could argue that the pawns on b5 and e5 are targets. Maybe Black also has a small problem with his King, although a quick 0-0-0 is possible. I personally feel that Black is fine and I would have expected either 13...Qe7! or 13...Nh5, intending ...Qf6. g8? Sorry, but this cannot be right. 14.e3 e7 15.0-0-0 a6 16.h4 f6 Is he going to castle short? 17.g4 I think not. d7 18.b1 0-0-0 19.g5 Standard play so far. W hite is nicely c e n t r a l is e d a n d i s p r e p a r i n g h 4 - h 5 wi t h

pressure on the h-file. There are possibilities of in vasio n wit h Qe 3-a 7 too which Blac k moves to stop. I should reiterate that statically Black is fine-if the pawn structure remains unchanged he has a better ending. W hite m u s t m a k e t h e c h a n g e . b8 20.f1 Just marking time. I'm not sure Dvoirys sees a way forward. c5 21.d2 Of course not the ending. c8 22.d3 b6 23.e2 e6!= Tkachiev has done enough to finally claim equality, despite his unusual coming and g o i n g wi t h . . . N f 6 - g 8 - f 6 . 24.c1 e7 Both players seem afraid to make any positive moves. Perhaps both expected an imminent draw. I prefer [ 24...h6! and Black has good play in all v a r i a t i o n s : 25.gxh6 ( 25.b3 xb3 26.cxb3 hxg5 27.hxg5 xh1 28.xh1 d4= ) 25...f6! 26.b3 ( 26.h5 g5 27.b3 xb3 28.cxb3 d4 29.a5 b7=; 26.a5 b7 27.e2 xd1 28.xd1 xh6 ) 26...xb3 27.cxb3 f8 28.h5 xh6 29.c3 b7 30.c1 d6 ] 25.e3 c5 [ 25...b7 ] 26.c3 c7 27.c2 c8 With 27....Nc4 available, retaining Rooks is an ambitious move. 28.f2 a5 29.f4 b4 [ 29...exf4 30.d3 he8 31.xf4 ] 30.f5 Suddenly White is much better. Black's initiative on the queenside has no real punch whereas the Kingside chances lie exclusively with W hite. In general, if the central pawn structure vis-Ã -vis the Bishops is in your favour, it's a good idea to trade down to an ending. d7 31.h3! h6 32.hd3 hxg5 33.hxg5 c6 34.f3 bxc3 35.xc3 c4 36.fxg6 fxg6 37.f3 b7 38.f7 The natural flow of the position leads to this penetrative move. c7 39.f6! hc8 40.xc7 xc7 41.xg6 a4 [ He could try to change things with 41...c3 42.b3 a4 but after 43.d3 axb3 44.xb3 b5 45.h3 there is no way for Black to get his major pieces in. ] 42.e2 c3 [ 42...e8 43.h6 followed by the promotion of the pawn was not attractive to Tkachiev. ] 43.b3 e8 44.d6 h5 45.xc7+ xc7 46.d3! No need for any heroics. As long as 895

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White can solidify the pawn on g5 will do the rest. d7 47.h1 xe2 48.xe2 g8 49.g1 f6 50.g6 xe4 51.g7 d6 52.c4 xc4 53.bxc4 Not that impressive by Black and ...Ng8 was particularly poor. A game of pawn structure in many ways. White understood more and that's why he won. 1-0

872 Efimenko,Z Skoberne,J 19th European Teams (9.7) [Tom Rendle]

B07 2657 2573 17.11.2013

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 5.d2 White has a lot of options here but it's good to see an old-fashioned 150 Attack approach against this setup. [ 5.h3!? with the idea of a quick g4 worked we l l i n S v i d le r - I va n c h u k a n n o t a t e d b y Jonathan Rowson in the archives. ] 5...c7 Skoberne chooses an unusual reply th a t h a s n 't be e n a n a lyse d o n Ch e ssP u b before. It's very flexible, basically waiting to see what setup White is going to adopt here. Obviously ...b5 will make a lot of sense if/ when W hite castles Queenside but it also keeps the option of a quick ...Nbd7 & ...e5 as well as ...Ng4 in some positions. Efimenko chooses a very straightforward response. 6.0-0-0 Already threatening a quick e5 [ 6.f4 looks tempting but after g4! 7.f3 xe3 8.xe3 g7 White has no obvious follow up and in the long run Black's two bishops are going to be very useful. ] [ of course White can play it safe here with 6.h3 g7 7.f3 bd7 8.a4 0-0 9.e2 but after e5! Black has pretty much equalised. ] [ 6.f3 bd7 7.d3 would transpose to K a s p a r o v - A z m a i p a r a s h vi l i c o ve r e d b y Andrew Martin back in 2003. ] 6...bd7 7.f3 b5 [ 7...g7 allows 8.e5!? ( 8.h6 is also logical with a slight edge after 0-0 9.xg7 xg7 10.h4 h5 11.g5 with the plan of f3 and a later g4) 8...dxe5 ( or 8...g4 9.exd6 exd6 10.h3! xe3 11.xe3+ f8 12.d3 and Black has lost

the right to castle with no obvious compensation) 9.dxe5 g4 10.e6! fxe6 11.g5 with an easier position for White to play although Black may still be OK after xe3 12.xe6 e5 13.xe3 xe3+ 14.fxe3 xc3 15.bxc3 f7 ] 8.e5! [ 8.d3?! is too slow here, for example g7 9.h6 0-0 10.xg7 xg7 11.h4 b4! 12.e2 c5 and Black's play in the centre and on the queenside is much further along than White's kingside attack. ] 8...b4! The only move to avoid a serious disadvantage 9.e2 [ 9.b5!? is very interesting here and it may be the best try for an edge cxb5 10.exf6 xf6 11.xb5+ d7 12.xb4 ( 12.xd7+?! xd7 13.xb4 g7 14.a5 0-0 gives Black a very dangerous looking initiative with two half-open files to use on the queenside) 12...b8 13.xd7+ xd7 14.c3! and Black should probably swap queens here and after xc3 15.bxc3 b6 I suppose with W hite's queenside pawns being so vulnerable his advantage is minimal at best ] 9...d5 10.f4 e6 [ 10...xe3! seems to equalise here, for example 11.xe3 dxe5 12.dxe5 e6 13.c4 ( 13.e2 g7 and White drops the pa wn o n e 5) 13...b6 and with the Black knight heading for d5 he is at least equal. ] 11.xd5 cxd5 12.h6! Now White has a definite advantage as after the bishops are exchanged Black has real problems on the dark squares. dxe5 13.xf8 [ 13.dxe5! is more accurate with a slight e d ge a f t e r c5 14.f4 xh6 15.xh6 d7 16.g7 0-0-0 17.d3 ] 13...xf8?! [ 13...xf8! looks strange as it drops a pawn with check but actually Black is completely fine after 14.xb4+ g7 15.dxe5 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 ] 14.dxe5 xe5?! This leads to a very unpleasant endgame for Black [ 14...a5 was better but I still like White after 15.b5! a6 16.xd7+ xd7 17.he1 ab8 18.b1 although Black can try for counterplay with a4!? ] 15.xe5 xe5 16.b5+ d7 17.he1! 896

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 0-0-0 [ 19...xb5?! drops a pawn to 20.xb5 a5 21.ee5 ( 21.b7! taking control of the 7th is probably even stronger )] 20.c5+ b8?! [ 20...b7 also loses a pawn but Black has reasonable drawing chances after 21.xd7 xd7 22.b5+ c6 23.xb4 fd8 as both his rooks and king are very active. ] 21.e4 xb5 22.xb5+ a8 23.bxb4 Now Black's king is stuck on a8 the ending should be lost. Efimenko quickly wraps up the game. d7 24.bd4 fd8 25.xd7 xd7 26.e3 b7 27.d3! A slightly premature resignation from Skokerbe here perhaps but there is no real defence to the simple plan of b3, c4, Kc2-c3 and the gradual advance of White's kingside pawns. 1-0

873 Ermenkov,Evgenij Abdulaziz,Mahmoud zt 3.1 Beirut LIB (8) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2454 2101 20.12.2004

LI ON T AME R 1.e4 d6 2.c3 f6 3.f4 I've often felt that this is an awkward moveorder for Pirc players to meet. One point might be that after 3... g6 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 g3!, W hite can force play back into a Closed Sicilian which Black might well not be prepared for. Attempts by Black to avoid ...c7-c5 can be rejected, since with simple moves e.g. Bg2, d3, 0-0, h3, Be3, Qd2 and an eventual f5, White obtains a strong attack. e5 4.f3 bd7 5.d4 But here we are back in that 'Pirc/Philidor hybrid ( or the LION' as it's known in Holland) and there's no pussyfooting around by White this time. Ermenkov goes straight for the most attacking line. e7?! I don't like this at all. If Black's going to ignore the threat to e5 he'd much better play 5...c6!. Possibly most reliable is the capture on d4: [ 5...exd4 6.xd4 ( 6.xd4 c6 idea ...d6d5,. ..Bc5.) 6...c5 7.d3 g4 8.f3 g6 ] [ 5...c6!? 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.fxe5 g4 8.e6 fxe6 9.g5 de5 10.xd8+ xd8 11.h3 h6 12.f4 hf7 13.0-0-0+ e8 14.xf7

xf7 and Black is surviving, according to Jerry Van Rekom and Leo Janssen in their innovative book, 'The Lion, a Black Weapon'. Unfortunately, Abdulaziz is a lion with no teeth. ] 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.fxe5 g4 8.f4! Substitute ...c6 for ...Be7 and this move isn't playable due to ... Qd8-b6! c6 9.h3 Too late now. g5 [ 9...b6 10.hxg4 xb2 11.d2+- ] [ 9...h6 10.d2! a5 11.0-0-0 b4 12.c4 xc3 13.xc3 xc3 14.bxc3 c5 15.hf1 leads to a curious position where W hite has two sets of doubled isolated pawns and yet he has a clear advantage thanks to his powerful dark-squared bishop. ] 10.hxg4 Ermenkov has decided that he can beat this guy without thinking and do you know what I think he's right! Against a stronger opponent it would be necessary to find [ 10.e6! fxe6 11.xg5 xg5 12.xg4 xf4 13.xf4 f8 14.h6 f6 15.h5+ g6 16.xg6+ hxg6 17.d1 ] 10...gxf4 11.d2 b6 12.c4 [ 12.0-0-0 e3 13.g5! f8 14.e2 g4 15.h4 xd2+ 16.xd2 xf3 17.gxf3 xg5 18.h5 h6 19.d4 g6 20.dh2 0-0-0 ] 12...c5 What a wimp. Of course Black must take on b2 and after [ 12...xb2 13.b1 a3 14.e6 fxe6 15.xe6 d6 16.xd6 xd6 the position is not that clear. ] 13.b3 xe5 14.xf4 c4 [ 14...f6 15.0-0-0 xg4 16.c7! is an incisive strike, meanwhile ] [ 14...xf3+ 15.gxf3 is a pawn up, no comp position for White. ] 15.xc4 xc4 16.0-0-0 e6 17.g5! If Black does nothing White's plan of Kb1,e5 a n d Ne 4 -f 6 o r d 6 + wi ll b e cru sh i n g. . f8 18.d4 e7 19.f5 e6 20.he1 Perhaps he could do nothing after all. White just funnels his pieces into ideal positions. g8 21.d5! Yes p lease . cxd5 22.exd5 xe1 23.xe1+ d8 The Lion is an opening which can be unexpectedly different and this after only a few moves. Nevertheless, results overwhelmingly favour White, and the trend

897

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 does not look set to change. 1-0

874 Farkas,Zsolt Hansen,Lars Henrik Bech ICCF Masterclass EM/M/197 [Andrew Martin]

B07 2053 20.06.2002

I am always on the lookout for correspondence games of interest. In a sense they are timeless. The following game features a novelty and also sheds some new light on Black's resources in the 150 attack, despite the final result. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 5.d2 b5 6.d3 bd7 7.f3 Results have been very good for White using this particular line. His game plan is ce rt ainly eas y to u nd ersta nd a ) Ra pid development. Quick castling. b) Be3-h6 as quickly as possible c) e4-e5 if possible d) a2a4 if possible e) the Knight transfer Nc3-e2-g3, followed by an all-out Kingside attack. Or some combination of these ideas. Black's response needs to be accurate. Briefly stated he should: a) Delay the development of the Bf8 to g7 for as long as possible in order to nullify the effect of Bh6. b) Play ...e7-e5 as soon as possible to erect central fortifications. c) Keep flexible with castling e5! 8.0-0 b7 9.a4 [ John Emms prefers a more patient approach: 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.h3!? c7 ( 10...e7 ) 11.e2 c5 12.g3 d8 13.c3 fd7 14.b4 a4?! ( Why not 14...xd3 15.cxd3 a5 16.a3 g7 with castles to come?) 15.b3 db6 16.c4 xd3 17.xd3 xc4 18.a3 c8 19.d2 e6 20.fc1 e7 21.xc4 xc4 22.xc4 b2 23.xc6 xc6 Emms, J-Konings, F/ Gent 2005 ] 9...a6 [ 9...b4 is interesting here: 10.a2 ( 10.e2 exd4 11.exd4 c5 ) 10...exd4 11.xd4 c5 12.xf6 xf6 13.c3 a5 14.fe1 g7 15.b5 0-0-0 16.e2 c7 17.a6 c6 18.b5 b7 19.a6 c6 20.b5 b7 1/2-1/2 Moldovan, D-Ghinda, M/Stara Zagora 1990 ] 10.ad1 b4N

[ Alternatives are worth investigation, particularly Ponomariov's approach: 10...e7 11.h6 exd4 12.xd4 b4 13.ce2 c5 14.f3 c7 ( 14...xe4 15.f4 ef6 16.fe1 Gelfand ) 15.f4 e5 16.xe5 dxe5 17.d5 xd5 18.exd5 c4 Gelfand-Ponomariov Biel 2000 ] [ 10...g7 11.axb5 cxb5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.xb5! axb5 14.xb5+- a6 15.xa6 xa6 16.xe5 c8 17.d4 xe5 18.xe5+ e6 19.b5+ d7 20.d5 c6 21.b4 e5 22.fd1 xd5 23.exd5 c7 24.f4 c5 25.e1+ d8 26.b7 d4 27.e4 a5 28.h4 f6 29.b4 a1+ 30.h2 e5 31.e3 c3 32.b6+ e8 33.c5 1-0 Kupreichik-Karasev Minsk 1976 ] 11.dxe5 I quote Junior Tay: dxe5 Previously, W h it e used t o t ra nsf e r th e Nc3 t o g3 (t o bolster the e4 pawn) before working on the Black Queenside. GM John Nunn has shown the virtues of such a plan in his clinical 1991 win over Gelfand in Munich. But now, Farkas comes up with a violent solution instead! 12.c4!!N [ Instead 12.e2 c5 13.g3 c7 Szabo, K-Resika, N/Paks 2001 is still a bit better for white. ] 12...bxc3 He wants to be shown. Black has two other possibilities: [ 12...h6 13.e2 e7 14.g3 g4 15.d3 xe3 It is not clear to me that this position is markedly better for W hite, despite what Deep Fritz says. ] [ 12...g7 13.e2 e7 14.d6 xd6 15.xd6 xe4 16.xf7+ e7 17.d3 ec5 ] 13.xc3 c7 [ 13...xe4?? 14.b3 f6 15.xd7+- ] 14.xf7+! BANG! Of course 14 Ng5 was good too. xf7 15.g5+ e8 [ 15...e7 16.c4 e8 17.f7+ d8 18.xf6+ e7 19.e6+ c8 20.f7 a5 21.xd7 xd7 22.c5 d2 23.xe7 xe7 24.c5+ d6 25.xb7+ xb7 26.xb7+Junior Tay ] 16.c4 Two pieces up but no moves left for Black. He has to offload some baggage. c5 17.xc5 xc5 18.xc5 e7 [ 18...h6 19.d6! d7 20.e6+ does not help at all. ] 898

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.d6 d7 20.b4 f8 21.fd1 b8 22.c5 a8 23.f3 xb2 24.xe5 A short, sharp, relevant and interesting game. 1-0

875 Fedorov,Alexei Bologan,Viktor Belfort [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2659 2620 1999

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 c5!? This move has had a certain rise in popularity over the last year and was played even at top level. Similar positions may also a rise f rom the Alapin Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Bd3 g6 etc. ) a n d t h e T o rre A t t a ck . 7.h3 The most common reply. [ 7.dxc5 dxc5 aiming for a minimal advantage deserves certain attention. The similar idea is normal in Torre Attack after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 Bg5 Bg7 4 Nbd2 0-0 5 c3 d6 6 e4 c5 7 dxc5! dxc5, but there W hite can put the bishop in an active position 8 Bc4! Nc6 9 Qe2 with chances of a serious opening advantage (see for example the game Speelman-Howell, Calcutta, 1996). Although this idea here looks rather harmless, Black has to play very attentively: 8.h3 c6 9.e2 c7 10.e5 d5 11.e1 e6 12.a4 ae8?! 13.a3 h8?! Black's play is pretentious and bad. 14.c4 b6 15.f4 d5 16.cd2 xf3 17.xf3 with a clear edge for W hite, Danielsen Kristiansen, Denmark, 1992. ] 7...cxd4 8.cxd4 c6 [ 8...bd7?! is less logical as the Knight doesn't create pressure against W hite's centre. 9.c3 e5 10.e3 and it's difficult to find a suitable plan for Black. The game Leko-Strikovic, Cacak 1996 continued: a6 11.a4! exd4 ( After 11...e8 12.d5 is very unpleasant.) 12.xd4 e8 13.c4! and Black has difficult problems to solve: xe4 ( Other moves are clearly insufficient: 13...c5? 14.e5!; or 13...b6?! 14.xf7+! xf7 15.b3+ winning a pawn for nothing.) 14.xg7 xg7 15.xe4 xe4 16.xf7! White wins the pawn back and destroys the

position of Black's King. The difference in the relative activity of all the pieces makes Black's position indefensible. f6 17.d5 b4 18.e1! b6 ( 18...e5 is no better: 19.c1! d7 20.c7 ) 19.c1! d7 20.c7 h8 21.xb7 d8 22.a5 c4 23.d5 xb2 24.c6! xc6 ( 24...f5 25.ee7 g5 26.f7 ) 25.xc6 f8 26.d7 h4 27.e6 and Black resigned. ] 9.c3 e5 10.d5 Now the position is typical of a King's Indian. [ 10.dxe5!? is also worthy of consideration. After dxe5 11.e3 There is some reason for White to hope for an opening advantage: he has an extra tempo in the symmetrical position and his bishops are more active than their Black counterparts (the Bishop on g7 is clearly misplaced). e6 ( 11...h5? 12.c4 d4 13.d5 e6 14.b3! and W hite has huge edge: d4 Bad, but wha t's b ett er? 15.xd4 exd4 16.ad1 h8 17.xd4 h4 18.f3 xe4 19.fe1 f5 20.g4 and White wins, Nun - Trapl, Namestovo 1987.) 12.b5 a5 13.xc6 bxc6 14.c2 h6 15.a4 d7 and White is clearly better due to his superior pawn structure, Smirin - Kempinski, Groningen 1996, for example: 16.d2 fc8 17.b3 c5 18.b2! b6 19.dc4 xc4 20.xc4 a6 21.ac1 ] 10...e7 The plans for both sides are obvious: W hite will attack on the Q-side, trying to exploit the open c-file while Black will try to create counterplay on the opposite side of the board. 11.e3 h5 12.c1 f4 13.b5 The moves of both players here are very natural. a6 14.c7 b8 15.a4 [ The tempting 15.a7?! is strongly met by t h e u n e x p e c t e d xh3! 16.gxh3 c8 17.b6 d7 and Black has a strong attack. ] 15...b5!? 16.axb5 axb5 17.b4 [ I would prefer 17.xf4!? exf4 18.d2 an d Black st ill ha s ce rt ain prob le ms t o solve. ] 17...d7 18.xf4 exf4 19.e2 b6 [ 19...b7 was safe and good. I can't see anything better for White than a draw after 20.xb5 xb5 21.xb5 b8 ] 20.e5 dxe5 21.xe5 d6? A gross mistake. [ Black had an excellent resource: 21...xd5! 899

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.xd7 ( 22.xd5 e6 is good for Black.) 22...xd7 23.xb5 d8 24.fd1 d6 and draw is the most likely outcome of the game. ] 22.c5! xd5?! Desperation. It's too late! 23.xd5 e8 24.xf4! The Rook on c5 is really great! White has everything protected! d4 25.g3 a8 26.f3 xf3 27.xf3 xb4 28.d1 1-0

876 Fedorov,Alexei Korotylev,Alexey St.Petersburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2500 2430 1994

Although I can't claim that such a quiet line gives White considerable opening advantage, the statistics of the ...g6 lines against c2-c3 can hardly satisfy Black. That's why he has begun to deviate from a normal Pirc with 3... g6, finding other ways. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.d3 e5 4.c3 d5! In my opinio n this is the best possibility. Black exploits the drawback of 3 Bd3 which is the lack of control over d5 and breaks in the center. [ 4...c6 5.f3 e7 6.d5! b8 7.c4 leads to a position from the old line 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Be7 4 d4 d6 5 d5 Nb8 6 Bd3 Nf6 7 c4 which is considered as good for White. One of the latest examples from top level: 0-0 8.c3 A) 8...c6 9.0-0 bd7 10.e3 a6 11.h3 cxd5 12.cxd5 b5 13.a4! b4 14.b1 a5 15.bd2 b7 16.c1 b6 17.b5 fd7 18.b3 b8 19.c4 xc4 20.xc4 c5 21.c2 ( 21.xc5 dxc5 22.c2 intending the manoeuvre Nd2-c4 is also very good for White.) 21...f5 22.xe5 dxe5 23.xc5 xc5 24.xc5 and White is winning, A. Ivanov-Negulescu, Washington 1998.; B) 8...bd7 9.c2! h5 10.h3! ( W h i t e c o u l d n ' t p l a y 10.xe5? immediately in view of xe5 11.xh5 g4 and the queen is trapped. After the text Nxe5 is a real threat. ) B1) 10...g6 is no better: 11.h6 g7 ( 11...e8 12.d2 ) 12.g4! and White

h a s a cle a r e d g e , f o r e xa m p le : h8 13.e2 f6 14.0-0-0 g8 15.d2 f5 16.gxf5 gxf5 17.exf5 xf5 ( 17...xf5 18.e4 ) 18.xf5 xf5 19.e4 and the open g-file and firm control over the important e4 square makes Black's position hardly defensible.; B2) 10...c6 11.xe5! xe5 12.xh5 xc4 13.0-0 e8 14.d1! f6 15.e2 b6 16.dxc6 bxc6 17.d3! (attacking the d6-pawn and threatening 18 e5) g6 18.xd6 xd6 19.xd6 and White won e a s i l y, S h i r o v - S p e e l m a n , L o n d o n 1991. ] 5.dxe5 xe4 [ 5...dxe4 is dubious as White has a nice way to obtain an edge: 6.b5+ d7 A) 7.e2 is weaker, as the position after xb5 8.xb5+ fd7 is not clear at all: 9.e3 ( 9.e6 fxe6 10.h3 c6 11.g5 e7 12.xe7 xe7 13.0-0 0-0 with mutual chances, Sharif-M.Gurevich, Marseille 1988.) 9...c6 10.d2 dxe5 11.xe4 d3 and Black is even slightly better, Jacobs-Andruet, London 1988.; B) 7.c4! g4 8.xf7+ xf7 9.e6+! xe6 10.xg4+ with a clear edge for W h it e. T h e ga me Do lm a t ov-K a ra s e v, USSR 1982 continued: f7 11.h5+ g6 12.d5+ g7 13.e2 c6 14.d4 g4 15.e6+ xe6 16.xe6 c5 17.0-0 f8 18.d2 d3 19.xe4 b6 20.g5 fe8 21.f6+ g8 22.h6 e7 23.ae1 ae8 24.g5 f5 25.g7+! and Black resigned. ] 6.f3 [ White could win a pawn here: 6.xe4 dxe4 7.a4+ d7 8.xe4 but Black's lightsquare domination gives him tremendous compensation: c6 9.g4 h5 10.h3 d7! ] 6...c6 7.bd2 c5 This position is very typical for the Ruy Lopez Open Variation: (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Nxe4 6 d4 b5 7 Bb3 d5 8 de Be6 9 Nbd2 Nc5 10 c3). The important difference is that Black's Q-side pawns are still in their initial positions. This clearly favours Black as in the Ruy Lopez the b5-pawn is a good target (White plays a2a4 in the right moment), and the weakness of the c5-square is also rather important 900

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 especially after a knight exchange on d4. 8.b5 [ 8.c2 is the alternative to the text. ] 8...d7 Threatening 9...Nxe5. [ 8...e7!? is also possible: 9.b3 xb3 10.axb3 0-0 11.h3 b8!? 12.d3 c5 13.c2 h6 14.f4 b6 15.0-0 c6 16.fe1 d8 17.h2?! ( 17.d2!? ) 17...a5! 18.a3 White's Rook is forced to occupy such a miserable position because of the inaccuracy on the previous move. c4 19.h7+ h8 20.b4 b3 21.f5 A) I would prefer 21...xf5! 22.xf5 e6 23.xe6 ( 23.c2 a5 ) 23...fxe6 and the endgame favours Black.; B) 21...d4?! 22.e4! e6 23.e2 d3 24.h5 f8 25.g4 xg4 26.hxg4 g8 and although Black has a strong passed pawn the position seems to be in White's favour, as Black's king is in danger, A. Fedorov-V.Fedorov, Moscow 1996: 27.g5!? g6 28.f3 hxg5 29.xg5 d7 30.d5 , threatening e5-e6. ] 9.e2 [ 9.0-0? blunders a pawn: xe5 10.xe5 xb5 ] 9...a6 10.xc6 xc6 11.d4 d7 12.0-0 e6 The critical position for the evaluation of this line. Although Black lags a bit in development, the absence of his important light-squared Bishop doesn't allow White to create real threats. 13.d1 [ 13.a4 was tried in Smirin-Chernin, Groningen 1993: c5 14.xe6 xe6 15.f4 d7 16.c4 f5 17.a3 d4 and Black's chances are by no means worse. ] 13...c5 14.xe6 xe6 15.c4 d4 16.e4 e7 17.a4 c7 18.f4 [ 18.f4 c6 19.b3 h5 intending ...h4-h3 is good for Black. ] 18...c6 19.d6+ A wise decision. Now the position becomes drawish. [ After 19.b3 0-0 I prefer Black. ] 19...xd6 20.exd6 a5! 21.a3 d7! The best place for the King. 22.b3 he8 23.d3 b6 24.b5 g6 25.f3 h5 26.b3 ab8 27.e1 f6 Neither player can seriously play for a win, so draw was agreed. ½-½

877 Finkel,Alexander Maryasin,Boris ChT Israel (4) [Gary Lane]

B07

1997

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 Black wishes to avoid the main lines. 3.d4 f6 4.d3 cxd4 5.cxd4 c6 6.e2!? A rarely played move but it is worth investigating. The so called 'normal' move is Nf3 which is fine but Black can play 6...Bg4 instantly and try to undermine the centre. With the text move 6...Bg4 is a waste of time as 7 f3 breaks the pin and helps White to achieve his desired pawn structure. White has the option of castling kingside with a space advantage or even adopting a set-up which is similar to the aggressive Samisch va r i a t i o n i n t h e K i n g ' s I n d i a n D e f e n c e . Basically, White's plan is Nc3, f3, Be3, Qd2, 0-0-0 and push the kingside pawns. The only drawback is the open c-file which gives Black counterplay. g6 [ 6...e5 7.d5 b8 8.bc3 e7 9.f3 ( 9.0-0 intending f4 is a reasonable alternative.) 9...0-0 10.e3 a6 11.a4 a5 12.d2 a6 13.0-0 d7 14.c1 dc5 15.c4 b6 16.d3 xd3 17.xd3 c5 18.c4 h8 19.ab1 d7 20.b3 f5 21.b5 f4 22.f2 g5 23.xd7 xd7 24.e2 d8 25.b5 e7 26.b4 axb4 27.xb4 c8 28.c4 g8 29.a5 bxa5 30.a4 g7 31.xc5 dxc5 32.xc5 xc5 33.xc5 g4 34.e2 gxf3 35.xf3 f6 36.d1 c7 37.a3 c2 38.c1 d2 39.h1 d8 40.d1 c2 41.c1 d2 42.d1 1/2-1/2 N. Praznik-R.Osterman,Bled 1999. ] 7.bc3 g7 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3!? e5 [ 9...d7 10.e3 a5 11.d2 Th ese m ove s are a lm o st a u to ma t ic f o r W hite. The bishops are employed in the centre and the queen lends support to give the option of playing Bh6 to deprive Black of a key defender. fc8 12.a3 a6 13.b4 Sax quickly demonstrates the hidden benefits of W hite's position. He can push Black back by advancing his pawns on the queenside and particularly in the centre. d8 14.ac1 e8 15.f4 b5 16.e5 d7 17.d5 cb8 A very passive position for black to cope with. 18.e6 fxe6 19.dxe6 901

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f6 20.f5 c6 21.fxg6 xg6 22.xg6 hxg6 23.f4 e8 ( 23...e5 24.cd5 c4 25.d3 ) 24.cd5 ab8 25.xf6+ exf6 26.xd6+e5 27.d5 d8 28.e7+ f8 29.xg6+ g8 30.e7+ f8 31.xe5 1-0 H.Sax-D.Baric, Bled 1995. ] [ 9...d7 10.e3 b4 11.c4 b6 12.b3 e6 13.d2 d7 14.g5 f6 15.xf6 xf6 16.f4 d5 17.a3 c6 A) 18.exd5! looks like a possible improvement: a5 ( 18...exd5 19.xd5 and Black has no convincing compensation for the pawn) 19.e4 f5 20.2g3 wins; B) 18.e5 h4 19.h2 a6 20.a2 ac8 21.g1 a7 22.f3 h6 23.fc1 c6 24.d1 fc8 25.f2 f8 26.g4 xc1 27.xc1 xc1 28.xc1 c8 29.e1 h5 30.f6+ g7 31.g3 h8 32.b1 c6 33.b3 h6 34.h4 h8 35.f2 e7 36.c2 c6 37.c5 d8 38.c1 d7 39.e1 g8 40.xg8 xg8 41.c3 g7 42.e1 b6 43.c2 h8 44.a4 a5 45.d3 g7 46.g4 hxg4 47.hxg4 b8 48.g2 d7 49.c5 c8 50.f5 exf5 51.gxf5 gxf5 52.e6 f6 53.g3 c6 54.h4+ g7 55.xf5 xe6 56.h7+ f6 57.xe6 b4 58.xf7+ g5 59.g7+ 1-0 E.Grosse Kloenne-M. Schmidt,Muenster 1994. ] 10.d5 d4!? A calculated gamble in the knowledge that if White exchanges on d4 it is not so easy to round up the pawn without compromising the position. [ If 10...e7 then W hite can try 11.e3 with a similar position to a King's Indian in that he can soften up the Black queenside with Rc1 and playing Nb5. It is worth noting that if Black ever gets around to organising f7-f5 then White puts up the barriers with f3 and will then if necessary take on e4 with the pawn. ] 11.xd4 exd4 12.e2 e8 13.f3 d7 14.h1!? There is no rush to try and capture the d-pawn so W hite avoids the pins associated with a future Qb6 by stepping into the corner of the board. [ 14.b3 c5 15.b2 b6 16.f2 a4 17.a3 c3 18.d2 and White is no nearer to claiming the d-pawn ]

14...a6 15.a4! c5 16.b4 xd3 17.xd3 h4 18.f4! [ 18.xd4? xh3! 19.gxh3 xh3+ 20.g1 g3+ 21.h1 xd4-+ 22.xd4 e5 and the threat of Rh5+ wins. ] [ 18.b2?! f5 gives Black excellent counter chances. ] 18...f5 19.ac1 g5?! This doesn't quite work which suggests Black should try to hang on with something like 19... Bd7 but it is already a difficult task. 20.xd6 fxe4 21.fxe4 d7 [ 21...xe4?! 22.xe4 xe4 23.g3 e8 24.c7 d3 25.h5 b2 26.e7 d2 27.d6+- ] [ 21...xe4?! 22.g3! e3 23.xe3 dxe3 24.xh4 gxh4 25.f3+- ] 22.c7 ad8 23.g3 This is logical but the game can be more quickly wrapped up: [ 23.f3! allows White to win in style. f8 ( 23...h8 24.f7 xe4 25.g3 g6 26.xd7+- ) 24.xd7! xf3 25.xd8++- f7 26.xf3+ g6 27.g3 xe4 28.d6+ h5 29.e1 and the threat of g4+ and Ng3+ is definitely the end for Black. ] 23...g4 24.f5! gxh3 25.e5 hxg2+ 26.xg2 g4 27.e6 Crushing. xe6 28.dxe6 xe6 29.f4! h6 [ 29...xf5 30.xf5 xf5 31.xf5 f8 32.xb7+- ] 30.d2 e8 31.h5 a2 32.xh6 e3 33.xe3 1-0

878 Finkel,Alexander Oratovsky,Michael Israel [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2415 2485 1994

I've received quite a few e-mails asking about the Czech Pirc and I have dedicated this up d a t e e xclusive ly t o t his line . T h is lin e reached the peak of its popularity in the early nineties, initially due to the efforts of players from what was formerly Czechoslovakia: J. Pribyl, M.Pribyl, K.Mokry and others. Black achieved very good results and at that time it became a significant part of Vladimir Kramnik's opening repertoire. Later its popularity decreased when W hite found a 902

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 rather unpleasant way to set problems for Black, but definitely the last word has not yet been said . 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4! The most dangerous line for Black. Now it's not good for Black to play 4... g6 in the spirit of the Classical Pirc, because the move ...c7-c6 is senseless here: as we already know, in the Austrian Attack Black should counter in the centre with c7-c5. [ 4.f3 is the main alternative to the text and a f t e r t h e u s u a l g4 the same position occurs as after the moves 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.e4 Nf6 4.Nc3. We'll consider this line next month. ] 4...a5 The key position of the Czech System. Now 5...Nxe4 is threatened, therefore White has a choice between three main lines: 5.e5, 5. Bd2 and 5. Bd3. We'll consider all of them in turn. 5.e5 [ 5.d2?! has also been tried, but this move looks wrong. In Kramnik-Taborov, Belgorod 1989 Black had no problems in the opening: e5 6.f3 bd7 7.d3 exd4 8.xd4 g6 9.b3 c7 10.0-0 g7 and in this complicated position (which is similar to a Classical Pirc) Black's chances are by no means worse. ] 5...e4 6.d3!? [ 6.f3 is a more common option. ] 6...xc3 7.d2 g6 This move doesn't look good since the Bishop on g7 will be restricted b y W h i t e ' s p a wn c h a i n , b u t B l a ck p l a n s something unusual. [ Many commentators recommended the Queen sacrifice: 7...xa2!? 8.xa2 xa2 9.f3 and this position was evaluated as unclear, but I believe that White is clearly be t t e r h e re a s it 's dif f icu lt f o r B la ck t o complete his development. ] [ 7...c5! is more solid in my opinion: 8.bxc3 d5 9.f3 g4 with mutual chances in a complicated position occurred in TimmanHodgson, Biel 1995. ] 8.bxc3! [ If 8.xc3?! xc3+ 9.bxc3 with equal chances in a complicated endgame. ] 8...dxe5 9.fxe5 [ If 9.dxe5 a6 intending ...Nc5 with very comfortable play for Black. ] 9...h6 This is the idea behind Black's previous move. Now wild complications occur.

10.xh6 Forced. xc3+ 11.e2 xa1 12.f3 Threatening 13.Qg7 Rf8 14.Qxf8+ Kxf8 15.Bh6+ xa2 13.g7 f8 14.h6 d7 The critical position. It has been tested in two games. 15.g5! An important novelty. [ 15.e1 as played in Suetin-Hodgson, London 1991 is less precise: b6 16.f2 b7 17.e6 fxe6 18.xh7 xf3+! ( 18...0-0-0?! 19.xf8 xf8 20.xe7 is clearly better for White.) 19.gxf3 0-0-0 20.xe7 d5 and in this complicated position Black's chances are at least not worse: 21.xe6 xd4+ 22.e3 h8 23.f4 ( 23.h4 f8 24.xg6 c5 is OK for Black) 23...d4+ 24.e3 h8 25.f4 d4+ and a draw was agreed. ] [ 15.xh7 is weak: by winning the exchange back White loses the initiative: b6 16.xf8 xf8 17.h6 a6 and White has nothing for the pawn. ] 15...b6 16.e6! This is the idea behind White's previous move. The alternatives are clearly worse: [ 16.xh7?! a6! 17.xa6 xa6+ 18.f2 c4! 19.d1 xc2+ 20.d2 f5+ intending 0-0-0 ] [ White also has another interesting p o s s i b i l i t y : 16.a1!? xa1 17.e6 but this fails to a2! ( But not 17...fxe6? in view of 18.xg6+ hxg6 19.xg6+ d8 20.xe6# ) 18.exd7+ xd7 19.xf8 a6! 20.xa8 xc2+ 21.f3 xd3+ 22.f2 xd4+ and White is in trouble. ] 16...a6! The only way. [ Unfortunately after 16...fxe6 17.xh7! Black's position is just hopeless, for example: f6 ( 17...a6 18.xg6+! d8 19.xe6+ c8 20.xf8 xc2+ 21.e3 xd3 22.xd3 xg2 23.f5 winning ) 18.g8+ f8 19.h7! ( 19.xf8? a6 winning ) 19...a6 20.xf6+ exf6 21.xf8+ d7 22.f7+ c8 23.xa6+ winning ] 17.exd7+ xd7 18.xa6 xa6+ 19.f2 c4! 20.e1! A complicated position has arisen: Black has a slight material advantage but White has the initiative. fe8?! [ 20...g8! 21.e5 ( Not 21.xf7 xf7+ 22.xf7 gf8 23.xf8 xf8 winning ) 21...ge8 with the idea of ...f7-f6 looks more p r e c i s e . W h i t e c o u l d c o n t i n u e 22.e4 with unclear play. ] 903

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.g1 f6 22.e6 b4! 23.e2 b5 looks necessary to me when Black's 24.e1 a5?! A slightly strange decision. position looks fine.) 11.d5! e7 12.0-0 [ Repeating moves with 24...b4 looks more h8 13.d2 and Whit's extra space to the point if Black has not seen a better gives him an advantage. Campora, D idea. ] (2503)-Alvarado, N (2318) Decameron [ The risky-looking 24...a5!? was also worthy 2003.; of consideration. ] A2) 6...h6 7.h4 g5 8.fxg5 hxg5 25.e3 b4 26.h4! Taking the chance to ( 8...dxe5 immediately is probably a improve his position. a5 27.c3 b1+ slight nuance as the bishop is worse 28.h2 f5 29.f7 d5?! placed on h4.) 9.xg5 dxe5 10.dxe5 Another inaccurate move which allows White xe5 11.xd8+ xd8 12.0-0-0+ bd7 to launch a very strong attack. with an interesting imbalance between [ 29...a4?! was also dubious due to 30.g7! W hite's kingside pawns and Black's d5 ( 30...f2 31.e4 winning; 30...g4 centre. It's easier for White to develop 31.d5 xh4+ 32.g1 xh6 33.e6+ his pieces but should Black succeed in d8 34.dxc6 winning ) 31.e6! and Black is getting his queenside out he'll stand well. defenceless: a3 32.f4! a2 33.d6 ] Shukh, N (2459)-Tseshkovsky, V (2564) [ Both 29...g4!? ] Irkutsk 2010.; [ and 29...h5!? were much better. ] B) 6.exd6 The calmer option. cxd6 7.f3 30.c4! O f c o u r s e ! h5 31.f4 xh4+ c6 8.d2 a5 9.e2 b6 10.h6 0-0 32.g1 g5? The last mistake. 11.xg7 xg7 12.d5 e5 13.d4 [ Black should have taken the e6 square bd7 14.0-0-0 and White had a definite under control by 32...g4! though White's edge as e7 is a long term weakness while attack looks quite strong after 33.d5 ] Black will miss his dark squared bishop. 33.c5+! A decisive blow. bxc5 34.e6+ Borgo, G (2414)-David, A (2587) Milan d8 35.dxc5! xf4 36.d3+ c7 37.d7+ 2010. ] Black resigned. 6.dxe5 g4 This is Vigus' suggestion. 1-0 [ 6...fd7 A) He prefers 7.e6! fxe6 8.d2! 0-0 ( 8...e5 looks stronger to me (GJ) 879 B07 transposing back into positions similar to the mainline.) 9.0-0-0 Watson "and not Gallagher,Joseph G 2501 only does Black have trouble unwinding, Karim,Ismael 2375 but White has multiple ideas like Bh6, Bc4 Gibraltar Masters (10.26) 03.02.2011 and h4-h5".; [Gawain Jones] B) 7.d5?! can be seen in Gashimov, V (2644)-Moran Llera, J (1976) Sanxenxo Joe was pleased with this game afterwards 2007 annotated by John. ] and told me he tried it as he's faced some problems in online blitz games on the Black 7.xd8+ xd8 8.0-0-0+!? And this is his side! 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 new idea. He's happy to sacrifice the pawn without harming Black's pawn structure (i.e. g7 5.e5 dxe5 [ John suggested that Black should he doesn't throw e5-e6 in). However he does investigate 5...fd7 but the text is the more manage a great lead in development and c o m m o n . A c o u p l e o f r e c e n t g a m e s Black has to be careful. Objectively I don't think it gives W hite an advantage but it's continued: A) Instead White can keep his centre with easier to have the White pieces. [ 8.d1+ d7 9.e6 fxe6 10.c4 ( Both 6.f4 although Black can generate 10.e2; and 10.f3 are looked at by John counterplay with Watson in the archives.) 10...e8 11.f3 A1) 6...0-0 has been the most popular c6 12.0-0 ge5 13.xe5 xe5 14.b5 7.f3 f6 8.exf6 exf6 9.h4 b6 c8 15.xd7 xd7 16.xe6 e5 17.f4 10.e2 c6?! ( 10...d5 904

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6 18.h6 d8 19.g7 f8 20.xd6+ 1/2-1/2 Magem Badals, J (2535) -Chernin, A (2645) New York 1998 was annotated by Alexander Volzhin - check the archives. ] 8...d7 [ Perhaps 8...d7 is the better way to block the c heck. Pla ying as in the game wit h 9.h3 gxe5 10.e2 ( 10.d5 m a y b e b e s t b u t i t c a n b e m e t b y c6! 11.xe7 f6 12.xc8 fxg5 13.d6 h6 14.b1 g4 and Black starts to take over the initiative although 15.f4! keeps the position in dynamic equality territory.) 10...h6 11.e3 c6 12.he1 e6 would allow Black t o s lo wly u n t a n gle a n d st a rt t o t ry a n d utilise his extra pawn. ] 9.h3 This appears to be the novelty. [ 9.e4 was played in a previous game and looks more logical. h6 10.h4 g5 11.e6 fxe6?! ( 11...gxh4! 12.exd7 xd7 was a better approach as 13.c5 e8 14.xd7 xf2 is probably good for Black.) 12.g3 b6 13.c4 c8 14.f3 c5 Kadlec, B (1905) -Sorsak, J (2060) Slovakia 1998 when W hite could have claimed a c l e a r a d v a n t a g e wi t h 15.xd7! xd7 ( 15...xd7 16.d1+ e8 17.xe6 wins material as both the g4 knight and Bd5 are threatened.) 16.d1! ge5 17.xe6 a n d W h i t e w i l l e n d u p wi t h a d e c i s i v e material advantage. ] 9...xe5 It's natural to bring the knight back into the f old but now W hite has a decent initiative compensating for the pawn. [ 9...xe5 might be better. Joe might have tried to continue as in the game with 10.e2 but h6! 11.f3 ( 11.xg4 hxg5 12.xd7 xd7 13.e4 f6 14.c5 e8! 15.xd7 d6 regains the knight with a clear advantage. This is the point of forcing ...c6 so the bishop won't be defended.) 11...c6 12.xg4 hxg5 13.xd7 xd7 14.e4 g4 15.hg5 f4+ 16.b1 xg5 17.xg5 h5! 18.xf7+ c7 19.he1 e5 and due to the knight being trapped on f7 W hite would have to try 20.xd7+ xd7 21.xe5+ d6 22.xg4 with a complex e n d g a m e b u t a s W h it e d o e s n ' t h a ve a passed pawn Black's rooks shouldn't be worse. ] 10.e2 f6

[ 10...h6 11.e3 c8 12.f4 ec6 looks very passive but Black is solid and W hite does have to prove something as otherwise Black will be able to convert his extra pawn. ] 11.e3 c8 12.f4 bc6 13.e4 e6?! Karim was evidently worried about a knight jumping into e6 but this is too slow and White now takes over the advantage. [ 13...b6 looks risky creating big holes on the light squares but 14.a6+ b8 looks fully playable for Black who can slowly continue with ...Rd 8, ...Bh6 f ollowed by pushin g W h it e 's p ie ce s b a ckwa rds a n d I'm s t ill sceptical White has complete compensation for the pawn. ] 14.c5 e8 15.d2 f8 16.hd1 Simple chess. The Anglo-Swiss GM puts his pieces on the best squares and doesn't allow Karim enough time to complete his d e v e l o p m e n t . xc5 17.xc5 d8? And this is the losing move. Karim overlooks a pretty tactic. [ The position was already awkward but p e r h a p s wit h 17...a6 Black can hold. The problem is Black's still extremely passive and White can choose whether to play very s l o w l y w i t h 18.b3 when it's not clear how B l a c k m a k e s p r o g r e s s a s ( 18.xg6!? is a cousin of the game continuation. hxg6 19.f4 b6 20.g1 g5 21.fxe5 xe5 22.d4 and White will be able to regain the pawn with the better ending.) 18...b6 19.a3 keeps him under the cosh. ] 18.h5! Getting the knight out of the way. gxh5 19.f4 [ 19.xh5!? is an interesting nuance but the text is good enough. ] 19...g6 20.xd7 xf4 21.f3 White has regained his piece and, although two pawns down, is clearly on top. Black can still not get that a8 rook out of the game while W hite's rooks and bishops completely dominate. He can ch oose when he want s t o rega in his pawns as Black's kingside is dropping. e5 [ 21...h8 is the computer's ultra-passive a p p r o a c h b u t n o w 22.e7 ( 22.f2!? is also interesting with ideas of Bh4xf6 or even Bg3 looking at Black's king.) 22...d5 23.xd8+ xd8 24.xd8 xd8 25.c4 and White wins the piece with a technically 905

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 12.xd7+ i s u n i m p r e s s i v e : cxd7! ( 12...fxd7 13.d4 g8 14.0-0 ) 13.g3 g7 14.0-0 0-0 It's a bog-standard position and Black is absolutely OK. ] 12...dxc5 13.0-0 xb5 14.axb5 xb5 15.e5 White needs to prosecute his attack before Black can play .. Bg7 and 0-0 it really is as simple as that. Azmai is well aware of the risk that he is taking but you should not play the Pirc if you do not want to tough out this type of position. d8 [ 15...d7 16.d5 ( Maybe 16.e6 fxe6 17.e3 is more dangerous.) 16...b6 17.b7 h6! 18.xa7 0-0 19.xa8 xa8 20.g3 is rather unclear but in principle Black is alright he has to play a few accurate moves though. ] 16.ed4! [ 16.e1 d5 17.xa7 h6 18.g3= ( 18.e6 fxe6 19.g3 b6 880 B07 is unconvincing. )] Ganguly,Surya Shekhar 2574 16...e4 17.xb5 [ I prefer 17.f4! cxd4 18.xe4 a5 Azmaiparashvili,Zurab 2679 19.fd1 White's simply better developed: It Pune IND (1) 03.09.2004 g7 20.xd4! White must keep Black's [Andrew Martin] Que en m ovin g to preven t ca st ling. d5 ( 20...b6 21.c6 c8 22.xa5 0-0 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 23.c4 ) 21.xd5 xd5 22.c6! ] 5.d2 b5 6.d3 bd7 I've already made the point countless times that Black should 17...xd2 18.xd2 xd2 19.fd1 [ There's also 19.xa7 g7 20.c7+ d8 delay ...Bg7 and ...0-0 as long as possible in 21.e6 With the Black King still exposed this variation, heading off the possibility of White has plenty of chances. ] White's outright Kingside attack. 7.a4 [ Here's what happens if White does not 19...xd1+ 20.xd1 e6 21.a1 d7! 22.c4 [ 22.xa7+ c6 23.c4 bxc3 24.xc3 g7 s wi t c h t a c k : 7.0-0-0 a5 8.b1 b4 25.f4 f8 26.e4 seems rather better for 9.ce2 g4 10.f4 g7 11.f3 xe3 White. ] 12.xe3 0-0 Amonatov,F-Torre,E/Bled 2002 Owning his da rk-square d Bishop , 22...bxc3 23.xa7+ c6 24.xc3 c4 Looks like a desperate attempt to get the Black stands well. ] 7...b4 8.ce2 a5 9.f3 c5!? As you can Bishop going. 25.xf7 b4 26.f4 c5 see, Azmai takes the idea of delaying ..Bg7 to 27.e4+ d4 28.g5+ d5 And now 29 b3 would keep White on the right track, steadily the logical extreme. [ If 9...g7 then 10.0-0 0-0 11.h6! b8 pro gre ssin g t owa rd s t h e win. I n s t e a d . . . . And resigns before 29...Bd2. 12.xg7 xg7 13.g3 White has the 29.g3?? usual edge although it may not amount to Confounding and annoying! mu ch as th e gam e p an s o u t. A t ta ckin g 0-1 possibilities of f4-f5 and Qg5 oblige Black to be very careful , but the position is defensible. ] 10.dxc5 xc5 11.b5+ d7 12.xc5 He is fighting to keep the Black King in the middle. winning endgame. ] 22.e7 c6 [ 22...f7 23.g3 e6 24.xf6 f8 25.e7 e8 26.xh5 is also disastrous. ] 23.xf6 T h a t ' s o n e b a c k . a5 24.xh7 And the other. h5 is also dropping when the two connected passed pawns win easily for White. b8 25.g3 e4 26.xh5 [ 26.h1 e2+ 27.d2 ed4 28.xh5 is an alternative to keep the bishop pair but the game is simple. ] 26...xh5 27.xh5 a7 28.e1 e6 29.f5 g8 30.g5 a6 31.h4 d4 32.f6 xf6 33.xf6 f3 34.xe4 xg3 35.b3 h3 36.b2 b5 37.e3 a4 38.h5 axb3 39.axb3 c5 40.g7 c4 41.h6 cxb3 42.xb3+ 1-0

906

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 9.d5 grabs space but Black gets sufficient B07 play after a5 10.0-0 c6! 11.dxc6 xc6 Gashimov,Vugar 2761 12.exd6 xd6 ] Ivanchuk,Vassily 2766 74th Tata Steel GMA (5) 19.01.2012 9...f6 10.exf6 exf6 11.h4 d5! Ivanchuk takes a very sensible approach, simply taking [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] his fair share of the centre and asking 1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.c3 f6 4.g5 g7 Gashimov to come up with a plan. 12.e1 [ 12.e5!? looks interesting but it will 5.e5 Gashimov clearly believes in this move probably just transpose to the note below as he has played it before but I have to say after e7 13.d3 ] that 5.Qd2 looks like a more testing approach 13.g4? Perhaps Vugar was fd7 Although dxe5 was long considered the 12...e7 m a i n l i n e t h i s m o ve h a s b e e n g a in i n g i n burdened by the expectation of an advantage popularity, and I'm not surprised as it's by no with White because this is far too ambitious. means easy to find an advantage for White With the centre still relatively open this just seems to be weakening. here [ 13.d3 was more reliable with balanced [ 5...dxe5 has been covered in Gallagherchances after f5 14.f2 c4 15.e1 c6 Karim and Gashimov-Moran Llera in the 16.f3 ] archives. ] 13...c4! 14.xc4 dxc4 15.g2 6.f4 [ 15.e2 xd4+ 16.f2 d6 17.b5 c6 [ since White gets nothing in the game 18.d4 d7 19.xc4+ f7 20.h3 b6 perhaps the way to try for an advantage is with a clear advantage to Black ] 6.exd6 cxd6 7.f3 c6 8.d2 Chucky goes for the most aggressive and as Gawain previously commented White 15...b5 had a slight advantage in Borgo, G (2414)- approach, opening up lines all over the board D a v i d , A ( 2 5 8 7 ) M i l a n 2 0 1 0 , a l t h o u g h for his more active pieces to exploit [ 15...f5 may also be good but White does at Black's position is very playable here. ] least get good compensation with the pawn 6...0-0 7.f3 b6 ...f6 is a more common sac. 16.e2! xd4+ 17.f2 d6 move-order 8.e2 18.fe1! ] [ 8.e2 is probably more critical but Black this doesn't turn out well but seems to be doing fine with accurate play, e. 16.xb5 otherwise Black is just very comfortable g. f6 9.h4 [ 16.e2 b8 ] A) 9...dxe5! 10.fxe5 ( 10.dxe5 fxe5 11.d1 e8 12.fxe5 e6 with chances 16...b8 17.c3 [ 17.xa7 b7 and the knight is trapped on f o r b o t h s i d e s) 10...h6 preventing a7 ] Queenside castling ( 10...g5!? ); [ 17.a3 xb2 18.xc4 b4 19.ge3 B) 9...c6 10.0-0-0 d5 11.b1 d5 and Black has an excellent position ] was better for White in De la Villa Garcia, 17...xb2 18.a4 J (2470)-Houska, M (2284) Lisbon 2001. ] [ 18.e3 f5 19.e1 d7 20.xe7 xe7 [ 8.d3 has also been played a few times i s b e t t e r f o r B l a c k a s 21.xf5 a3 but after f6 9.h4 fxe5 10.fxe5 dxe5 22.e7+ h8 leaves White's position in 11.dxe5 c6 12.e2 d4 Black has at tatters ] least equalised ] 18...b4 19.c5?! 8...c6 [ 19.c3 was better when Black can grab a [ there don't seem to be many problems for pawn with xg4 20.xg4 xa4 21.e3 Black after 8...dxe5 either 9.fxe5 ( 9.dxe5 d6 but at least here Black has a few f6 10.h4 c6 ) 9...f6 10.e3 fxe5 ( or problems to overcome with a misplaced rook 10...c6 11.exf6 exf6 ) 11.xe5 c6 and a weak pawn on c4 22.g2 ] 12.xc6 bxc6 when Black's active pieces 20.e2?! this quickly leads to a c o m p e n s a t e f o r h i s m a n g l e d p a w n 19...c3 Queen sacrifice but not a very successful one structure. ] [ 20.b3 b7 21.a3 xb3!? 22.cxb3 f5 9.0-0 881

907

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 admittedly looks terrible for White ] 20...c6 21.a3 e8! 22.xe8+ this appears to be more desperation than anything else [ 22.e3 xd4 23.ae1 a5 and Black is a pawn up with a better position to boot ] 22...xe8 23.axb4 xg4 24.f2 d8! this accurate move stops Gashimov f rom getting any serious counterplay and Ivanchuk quickly mops up. 25.b3 xb4 26.xa7 xc2 27.c1 b8 28.a2 b4 29.a4 d5 30.c5 f8 31.ca1 c2 32.d3 b5 33.c1 h3 34.a5 c4 35.1a4 c3 An excellent game from Ivanchuk, showing the Pirc can be a dangerous weapon even at the highest level. 0-1

882 Gashimov,Vugar Moran Llera,Jose Angel IV Open Sanxenxo ESP (1) [John Watson]

B07 2644 1976 16.06.2007

Okay, White was outrated by his opponent by almost 700 points, but who's counting? A very interesting opening. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.e5 dxe5 The standard response. [ Maybe 5...fd7 should be looked at more carefully. ] 6.dxe5 fd7 [ 6...g4 is given '!' by Vigus and may be best, but not really convincing to me. The lines with e6 for W hite seem like a worse version for Black of the similar King's Indian lines I used to play, because there is no d y n a m i c c o u n t e r p l a y : 7.xd8+ ( Compare the following line with 7 Nd5 c6?! in our game: 7.d5?! c6! 8.xe7 a5+ 9.c3 xe5+ 10.e2 d7! -Vigus ) 7...xd8 8.d1+ ( even 8.e2 xe5 9.0-0-0+ d7 10.f4 ec6 11.c4 gives a lot of compensation, and there are other ideas after; 8.0-0-0+ ) 8...d7 9.e6! fxe6 . This is a key position: A) 10.f3 and: A1) 10...xc3+ 11.bxc3 c6 12.c4 c8 13.d4; A2) 10...e5 11.xe5 xe5 12.c4 e8 , and White seems to have a

v a r i e t y o f g o o d m o v e s , e . g . , 13.0-0 ( 13.h4!? ) 13...c6 KarpatchevBerelovich, Smolensk 1992 and 14.e4! with the idea ( or 14.h6 ) 14...xb2 15.c5; A3) 10...c6 11.a4 ( or 11.e4 ) 11...b6 12.b5 b8?! 13.xd7 xd7 14.h3 ge5 15.d4 with a clear a d va n t a ge , B I va n o vic- Ho i, P lo vd i v 1983; B) Not as clear but still promising is 10.c4 xc3+ 11.bxc3 h6 ( 11...e8 12.h3! ) 12.c1 c8 13.e2 e5 14.b3 with superior activity and targets; C) 10.e2 (again, there are other moves that seem to keep some advantage, e.g., e5 C1) 11.f4 f7 12.f3 c6 C1a) 13.e4 d6 ( 13...xb2 14.c5 d6 15.0-0 c8 ); C1b) 13.0-0 d6 14.a3 e8 15.fe1 a6 16.f1 d8 17.e5 xe5 18.fxe5 f7 19.f4 c8 20.d3 f8 21.e2 h6 22.g3 f7 23.de1 g8 24.a4 f5 25.e4 b6 26.c3 d4 27.f2 f5 28.g2 d4 29.e4 fd8 30.ff1 f8 31.c3 dd8 32.d1 h6 33.h4 xd1 34.xd1 xh4 35.h1 f5 36.g4 h4 37.g3 f3+ 38.xf3 xf3 39.g2 f8 40.f2 f7 41.h2 e8 42.d3 g5 43.c4 b7 44.h3 f3 45.c1 h5 46.gxh5 h8 47.f2 xh5+ 48.g3 g4 49.d4 h3+ 50.f2 e4 51.e1 c5 52.e3 xe5 0-1 Bronznik, V (2405)-Held, P (2295)/Wuerttemberg 199800; C2) 11.f3 f7 ( 11...c8 12.xe5 xe5 13.xe7 c6 14.c5 and White is for choice) 12.0-0 ( 12.e3 ) 12...h6 13.e3 c6 14.e4 (Black has major p r o b l e m s n o w ) d6 15.c5 b6 16.xd7 xd7 17.c3 hf8 18.fe1 ( or 18.b5 a6 19.a4 b5 20.c2 ) 18...g5 19.c4 ( again, Black has real problems after 19.b5! a6 20.a4 b5 21.b3 ) 19...xf3! 20.gxf3 e5 21.e2 g6 22.c4?! f8 with the mighty f4 square and good counterplay, Asensio Lisan-Vidarte Morales, Barbera 1999. But obviously I don't like the looks 908

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 of this variation for Black. ] 7.d5?! This wins so effortlessly that it's easy to pass it over. But in fact, I think that there are two better moves: [ (a) 7.e6! looks quite strong: A) 7...xc3+ 8.bxc3 fxe6 9.c4 ( or 9.h6! ) 9...c6 10.e2 f6 11.d1; B) 7...fxe6 8.d2! ( two other moves are 8 Nf3 and 8.c4 c6 9.f3 0-0 10.e2 Mezcua Coronil-Fuentes Reyes, Aragon 2003 ) 8...0-0 ( 8...b6 9.xd8+ xd8 10.0-0-0+ d7 11.e4 ) 9.0-0-0 and not only does Black have trouble unwinding, but W hite has multiple ideas like Bh6, Bc4, and h4-h5. ] [ (b) 7.f4 has done well in a couple of games. I don't think it's much to brag about, but I'd rather be W hite: f6 (otherwise White may play Bh4) 8.exf6 exf6 9.h4 0-0 10.d5+ h8 11.0-0-0 favoured White in SisniegaKuninheam, Mexico 1980. ] 7...c6! [ 7...c6?! isn't like 6...Ng4 7 Nd5 c6! above: 8.xe7 a5+ 9.d2! xe5+ 10.e2 wit h t h e a d v a d n t a g e , K ivist o -G o rsko v, Finland 1990 ] 8.b5!? [ Or 8.e6 de5! 9.exf7+ xf7 10.f4 e5 ( 10...0-0!? 11.xc7 xb2 )] [ I s u p p o s e t h a t W h it e sh o u ld t r y 8.e2 , but it's not promising after 8...h6 or even d4 9.e4 c6! 10.xd4 xe5! ] 8...f6!? [ Good, but 8...h6! wins the e-pawn and puts the burden of proof on White, for example, 9.h4 ( 9.xc6 hxg5 10.a4 c6 ) 9...g5 10.g3 cxe5 11.xd7+ xd7 12.f3 c6! ] 9.exf6 exf6 10.f4 ce5 11.xe5 fxe5 12.e3 0-0 13.e2 c6 With his two bishops, Black stands better, but he needs to activate them. 14.c4+ h8 15.0-0 b6 [ 15...e4! 16.c3 h4 clears e5 for the knight. ] 16.b3 f6 [ 16...c5! 17.c4 d8 18.d6 e7 ] 17.c4 c7? 18.d6! xd6 19.xd6 h6 20.c3!? b5 21.f7+ h7 22.xe5 b4? This gives up the queenside. Better [ 22...a5! 23.a3 a4 24.a2 e4! 25.xe4 xe5 26.c3 f5 ]

23.a4 e4?! 24.xc6 d2 25.fe1 xb3 26.axb3 a5 27.c5 xb2 28.xa5 xa5 29.xa5 d4 30.d3 a6 31.c6 b6? 32.cxb4 xd3 33.xd3 h5 34.g3 g5 35.e7+ g8 36.e5 1-0

883 Godena,Michele Polgar,Judit 38th Olympiad (8) [David Vigorito]

B07 2517 2711 21.11.2008

Judit Polgar shows some rust as she takes too many liberties against her lower rated opponent. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 This move always seemed to passive to me. I understand that it keeps pieces on the board and is less theoretical than the main lines, but it seems to just give White an easy edge with simple play. 3.d4 f6 4.d3 c7 An unusual move. [ 4...g6 is well met by 5.dxc5 dxc5 6.e5 ] [ while 4...cxd4 5.cxd4 c6 is the normal continuation. ] 5.f3 g6 6.0-0 g7 7.e1 0-0 Black has a p a s s i v e P i r c - l i k e s e t u p . 8.f4 g4 A typical method for outplaying a weaker opponent is to create a minor piece imbalance, bu t W h it e will ha ve no com pla in ts a bo u t securing the bishop pair. Black does not even get any real pre ssure on W hite's centre . 9.bd2 cxd4 10.cxd4 c6 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 d7 13.e3 ac8 14.d2 b6 15.f1 b4 16.d3! White does not want Black's kn ight com in g in to b 4 an d c2 . e5 This is not good, but it is difficult to offer Black advice. White has everything - space, the centre, the bishop pair, and the initiative. [ O f c o u r s e n o t 16...xb2 17.eb1 trapping the queen. ] 17.a3 a5 18.b4 d8 19.d5 e7 Black has a bad King's Indian now. Without a light-squared bishop it will be d if f icult t o attack the kingside. Also ...f5 will weaken the l i g h t - s q u a r e s f u r t h e r . 20.b5! Another problem for Black - the queenside is weak. This move provokes Black into further weakening the light-squares. b6 21.a4 h6 [ If 21...f5 immediately, White has 22.g5 coming to e6. ] 909

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.b5!? [ White does not even want to allow 22.xa7 a8 23.b7 b8 24.a6 f5 with some counterplay. ] 22...f6 [ Black has been prevented from playing ... f5 f o r n o w , b u t t h e a l t e r n a t i v e 22...c7 23.ac1 will force Black to move the d7knight anyway. ] 23.d2 c7 24.ec1 b8 25.d1! I like such moves. By going back home, the queen is ready to help fight for the c-file. The control of the d1-h5 diagonal can be important too. h5 [ Black gives up the c-file, hoping that the f8rook will help her develop counterplay on the kingside. After 25...fc8 26.a6 xc1 27.xc1 xc1 28.xc1 Black is totally passive. ] 26.xc7 xc7 27.c1 b8 28.d7!? f4 [ 28...f5 29.exf5 is one point behind Qd1 B l a c k c a n n o t r e c a p t u r e wi t h t h e p a wn because the h5-knight hangs, while r e c a p t u r i n g w i t h ( or 29.e6+ h8 30.exf5 ) 29...xf5 runs into 30.xf5 xf5 31.g4 ] 29.f1?! This looks unnecessary, but it doesn't do any harm. b7 30.b5 f5 31.c4 a6? [ This just hangs the queenside. It was better to just defend the d-pawn with 31...d8 ] 32.c6 b8 [ If 32...xc6 33.xd6 followed by 34. Rxc6. ] 33.xb6 fxe4 [ This is just desperate, but 33...d8 34.c2 l e a v e s B l a c k a p a wn d o wn wi t h a b a d position. ] 34.d7 d8 35.xf8 xf8 36.g4 h5 37.d7 f6 38.d1 h7 39.xf4 exf4 40.e6! xe6 41.dxe6 xc6 42.xd6 e7 43.xa6 g5 44.a7 f6 45.b5 g6 46.b6 c6 47.c7 1-0

884 Goloshchapov,Alexander Lahno,Kateryna 73rd ch-UKR Kharkov UKR (1.1) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2577 2472 24.08.2004

FULL THROTTLE 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 g7 5.d2 c6 6.f3 b5 The Pirc move-order means That Black is more or less committed to delaying castling and playing with ...c6 and ...b5. Nevertheless, this is not such a bad approach there's a lot of hype around about Be3 and Qd2. 7.g4 h5! I think this is good, interrupting White's plan. 8.g5 [ 8.gxh5 xh5 9.ge2 d7 10.g2 b6 11.b3 a5 12.d1 c7 13.g3 a4 seems very reasonable for Black, who has considerable queenside counterplay. For instance: 14.f2 d7 15.ce2 d5 16.e5 f6 Zude,A-Espig,L/Plauen GER 2004 ] 8...fd7 9.f4! Very logical. White can't open the kingside anymore so he maximises his options in the centre. The defect is that it's yet another pawn move. [ After 9.h4 White's attack is blocked and he m u st f a c e qu e e n s id e co u n t e rp la y : b6 10.d3 0-0 11.f4 c4 12.xc4 bxc4 13.ge2 d5 14.e5 g4 15.g3 e6 16.b3 cxb3 17.cxb3 d7 18.a4 c7 19.0-0 fc8 White is merely defending against Black's impending ...c5 break. 20.fc1 f8 21.h1 a3 22.b2 a5 23.f2 f5 24.h2 b7 25.g1 c5! It could not be stopped for ever. 26.dxc5 xc5 27.d4 a4 28.xc5 xc5 29.gc1 xf2 30.xf2 axb3 31.axb3 xa1 0-1 Nitin,S-Sangma, R/ Chennai IND 2004 ] 9...b6 10.f3 0-0 [ Could Black have waited with any of 10...a5 ] [ 10...d5 ] [ 10...b4 11.d1 a5 It's the eternal dilemma when to castle. ] 11.d3 c7 12.a3 a5 13.e2 d5! The longer Black left the central counterstrike, the more menacing White's impending attack would have been. I think Lahno has timed her c h a l l e n g e we l l , b u t t h e s e p o s i t i o n s a r e uncommonly difficult to play. 14.e5 h3 Very tempting, but I prefer 910

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 14...g4! 15.h4 ( 15.0-0 c4 16.xc4 bxc4= ) 15...c4 16.xc4 bxc4 17.f5 c5 18.fxg6 cxd4 19.xd4 ( 19.gxf7+ xf7 20.xd4 c6 ) 19...xe5 20.gxf7+ xf7 21.g6 g7 22.0-0-0 xd4 23.xd4 e6 ( 23...xe2? 24.xd5+ ) 24.de1 ] 15.f5!? Going for it! [ 15.h4 c4 16.xc4 bxc4 17.f5 wa s a l e s s e x c i t i n g w a y, b u t p o s s i b l y equally effective. ] 15...g2 16.f2 xh1 17.xh1 c4 [ 17...gxf5 18.f4 c4 19.xc4 bxc4 20.xh5 d7 21.g1 obviously gives White a very dangerous attack. The Black Rooks are helpless at present and there seems little opportunity for them to show any strength. ] 18.xc4 dxc4 19.f4 d7 20.c3! I really like this move calm in the face of the storm. White recognises that he doesn't need to rush and instead extends his grip on the position. [ 20.fxg6 fxg6 21.e6 b7 22.xf8 xf8 releases the pressure prematurely. ] 20...b6 [ 20...gxf5 21.xh5 c5 22.c2! e6 23.f6+ h8 24.e1 cxd4 25.g2! shows the extent of Black's plight. She can't get her pieces working! ] 21.f6! W hat a pawn chain! h8 22.c2 Sacrifices on g6 loom. e6 Hoping to defend wi t h t h e Q u e e n a l o n g t h e s e c o n d r a n k . 23.xh5 [ It's not clear why White rejected either 23.xe6 fxe6 24.xg6+ g7 25.fxg7 xg7 26.xe6+ h7 27.xc6 ] [ or 23.xg6 fe8 24.xh8 xh8 25.g6 fxg6 26.xg6 h7 27.xh7+ xh7 28.g1 g8 29.g5++- both of which seem very convincing. ] 23...b4 24.f4 bxc3 25.bxc3 d5 26.h4 fb8 27.h5 xe3 28.xe3 c5 29.d5 The pawn chain has to be seen to be believed. exd5 30.xd5 d7 31.e7+ f8 32.hxg6 g7 33.f5 fxg6 34.xg7 Games like this make one realise just how difficult the Modern/Pirc Defence is to play. Certainly it is absolutely crucial in the Be3/ Qd2 variation for Black to delay castling until the last possible moment. 1-0

885 Granda Zuniga,Julio E Movsziszian,Karen XXI Open Benidorm ESP (9) [John Watson]

B07 2609 2536 03.05.2008

A question from Felix Eickenbusch: while preparing for a club match against a Pirc player I noticed your comments regarding Mr. Vigus Pirc Inquiry (Update April 07) and the game Svidler-Ivanchuk (11/06). You recommended 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4. Be3 c6 5.h3 Nbd7 6.g4!? as an improvement (alas I don't own his book). W hile crosschecking the position I noticed a recent high-level clash in this variation transposing from a queen pawn opening. I found the game very interesting, yet it struck me as odd that Movsziszian played b4 only on move 20. I'd be glad if I could learn more of this game on one of the following updates. [jw: Here's a stab at it. ] 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 5.h3 bd7 6.g4 Here's that g4 idea again, which appears in several orders. James Vigus has talked about this in this column. I think that Black needs to forget about the kingside for a while and move on the queenside. Here he does so in the most radical manner. b5!? Risky, and maybe even stemming f rom a misconception, although Black is a terrifically strong player. [ 6...a5 is safer then ...e5 can follow. The immediate 7.d2 ] [ 6...e5 is also interesting after 7.g5 h5 8.d2 , White may have a slight advantage, but he has to worry about Black's knight coming to f4 (sometimes with a pawn sacrifice), and that piece also assists against an f4 break. ] 7.g2 [ I wonder if Black's idea was 7.g5 b4 ? B u t t h e n 8.ce2 xe4? fails to 9.f3 , trapping the knight! ] 7...e5 8.d2 b7 9.g5 h5 10.ge2 e7 11.b3!? Odd-looking, but the point is clear in the note to Black's 12th. 0-0 12.h4 f5 Not terrible, but is this the wrong side of the board? [ 12...b4! 13.a4 exd4 14.xd4 c5! 15.b2 b6 , and I prefer Black, but it's double-edged. ] 911

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.exf5 gxf5 14.dxe5! xe5 15.f4 xf4 16.xf4 g6 17.e2 d5 [ 17...xf4 18.xf4 d5!? 19.0-0-0 ( 19.e6?! d6 20.xf8 e5+ ) 19...a3+ 20.b1 looks safe for White and therefore promising. ] 18.g3 d6 19.f4 Ugly, but after h5, the bishop can re-route via f2. e8 20.0-0 [ jw: There seems no reason to be shy: 20.h5 e7 ( 20...f8 21.0-0-0 e6 22.h3 ) 21.d4 ] 20...b4?! As Felix Eickenbusch indicates above, this doesn't work out very well. [ Let me try to improve. An interesting sample line might be 20...e7 21.ae1 ( 21.fe1 e3+ 22.xe3 xe3 23.h5 f8 24.f2 e7 25.d4 xe1+ 26.xe1; 21.d4 may be best: f7 22.d3 e7 23.h3 c8 24.ad1 ) 21...e3+ 22.xe3 xe3 23.f2 e7 24.d4 xe1 25.xe1 b4 26.e3 xf4 27.xf5 f8= ] 21.d4! d7 22.h5 e7 23.f3 c5 To prevent Nd4, but now Black has to cede his best bishop: 24.e5 xe5 25.fxe5 e6 26.g6!? I would say '!' for bravery, but it is unnecessary when W hite has such a fine position. hxg6 27.h4! xe5? Too greedy, and a real misjudgement. [ 27...f7 was a tough defensive move, intending 28.f6 gxh5 ] 28.ae1 g7 29.g5 Ouch. f8 30.e6! Total domination. White wins. ad8 31.h6 d4+ 32.h1 d7 33.f6+ g8 34.xg6+ h8 35.f6+ xf6 36.xf6+ h7 37.g7+ [ 37.g7+ xh6 38.f3 mates in a few. ] 1-0

[ 5...c5 would transpose into a Sicilian Defence. ] 6.xf7+ The only dangerous move, temporarily displacing Black's king at the cost of the two bishops. [ 6.xe4 d5 7.d3 dxe4 8.xe4 c5 9.0-0 0-0 10.c3 c6 11.h1 c7 was very comfortable for Black in Eisinger - Mohrlok, Bad Aibling 1965 ] 6...xf7 7.xe4 f8 [ Black can also put the rook on e8, though this leads to much the same sort of game. Herzog - Sorsensen, Danish Ch., Hinnerup 1979 continued 7...e8 8.c3 g8 9.0-0 c6 10.d4 e6 11.eg5 f6 12.e3 h6 13.e4 f7 with a solid game for Black. ] 8.0-0 g8 9.d4 Bringing about a position in which White has more space and a superior pawn structure. Black's bishops are not very useful at present. c6?! [ In Rivera - Black, Moscow (ol) 1994 Black played a better move with 9...e6 but White still had the more comfortable game after 10.c3 d7 11.e1 f6 12.eg5 e8 13.b3 e7 14.d2 etc. ] [ 9...d5 10.c5 b6 11.d3 gave White a n ice o u t p o st o n e 5 in Ro m e ro - Ro ja s , Spanish Ch., Torrevieja 1997 ] 10.c3 c7 11.e1 e6 12.eg5 e7 13.g3 d7 14.d2 f6 15.ae1 h5 16.h4 White has a very nice attacking game and comes within a whisker of victory. f6 17.g4 xg5 18.xg5 f6 19.f5 gxf5 20.gxf5 e5 21.h1 Not as decisive as it looks as Black has tricks based on getting her queen to d5. [ 21.dxe5 dxe5 22.g3 h8 23.xe5 looks strong. ] 886 B07 21...h8 22.e4 f7 23.xf6 xf6 24.xf6+ xf6 25.dxe5 dxe5 26.xe5 d7 Grigoryan,Meri 27.g5 Ornstein,Petra [ Missing a strong idea in 27.c4 followed by European Womens' Ch., (6) 27.04.2001 28.Bc3. ] [Nigel Davies] 27...f7 28.f6?! This pawn gets in the way of Grand Prix Attack meets the Pirc. White plays White's bishop. [ 28.e3 is much better, intending 29.Bd4. ] the same moves as he might in the 2.Nc3 and 29.h6 g4 30.g7+ g8 3.f4 line of the Sicilian, and asks Black if he 28...g8 can do better than transpose. The first big 31.fe1 h6 32.h5 c5! Spotting the idea question is about 5...Nxe4, as in this game. that White had missed. 33.h4 c6+ 34.h2 1.e4 d6 2.c3 f6 3.f4 g6 4.f3 g7 g2+ 35.h3 d7 36.xh6 d3+ 37.e3 dd2 38.g3+ xg3+ 39.xg3 xb2 5.c4 xe4 912

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 40.xc5 xa2 41.e5 g2+ 42.f4 f2+ 43.g5 g2+ 44.f4 ½-½

887 Hillarp Persson,Tiger Azmaiparashvili,Zurab Hotel Bali Stars, Benidorm (8) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2510 2690 2003

1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.f3 A noble attempt to force the game off the beaten track. Many Black players would allow the game to drift into a Samisch King's Indian but Azmaiparashvili has his own brand of chess. e5!? [ 3...g6 is the fianchetto treatment-quite playable as Black is willing to go into the aforementioned King's Indian. 4.e3 g7 5.d2 bd7 6.d3 ( 6.c4 ) 6...c6 7.a4 e5 8.c3 White insists on originality. 0-0 9.e2 e8 10.0-0 d5!= Rouzaud, P-Delgado Pico, L/Open Bali A, Benidorm ESP 2003 ] 4.d5 e7 5.e3 [ 5.d3 c6 6.c4 fd7 7.e2 g5 8.0-0 xc1 9.xc1 a5 10.bc3 1/2-1/2 Giorgadze, G-Malaniuk, V/Forli 1992 Shows how Black easily ditches his bad Bishop. ] 5...h5 Black prepares ..Bg5, activating his dark-squared Bishop. f 7-f 5 will be the liberating pawn break. [ 5...0-0 6.d3 c6 7.c4 An Old Indian now? Adams lashes out, quite against the spirit of that slow def ence . b5!? 8.c3 bxc4 9.xc4 b7 10.b3 c7 11.ge2 bd7 12.c1 fb8!? 13.dxc6 xc6 14.xf7+ f8 15.c4 xb2 16.d5 c5 17.0-0 ab8 18.a3 xd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.exd5 Gelfand, B-Adams, M/Tilburg 1996 ] 6.e2 [ 6.c4 a5 7.c3 a6 8.g3! is a typical Dreev method, cutting out counterplay long before it arrives. White keeps an active plan too with the later advance of his Kingside pawns. g6 ( 8...g5 9.f2 g6 10.h4 h6 11.h3 ) 9.d2 f5 10.exf5 gxf5 11.f4 0-0 12.h3 e8 13.e2 g6 14.0-0-0! f6 15.f2 g4 16.xg4 fxg4 17.fxe5 dxe5

18.h3 f3 19.xf3 gxf3 20.g4 d7 21.c2 g7 22.hf1 f8 23.e4 f6 24.d6 cxd6 25.d5 e6 26.xf3 c8 27.xe7+ xe7 28.d5+ e6 29.xd6 e8 30.f8+ 1-0 Dreev, A-Illescas Cordoba, M/Montpellier 2002 I like this impressive game greatly. ] 6...g5 7.f2 Taking on g5 or allowing an e xc h a n g e o f B is h o p s co m e s t o n o t h i n g . White's pawns give him a space advantage so he must keep the pieces on. g6 8.h4 h6 9.c4 It's a similar method to the one Dreev used. Black's pieces on the Kingside could turn out to be targets for the advancing White pawns. [ 9.g4 f4 10.g5 g7 11.bc3 h6 12.xf4 exf4 13.d4 e5 14.xe5 dxe5 15.gxh6 xh6 16.d2 xh4 17.0-0-0 d7 18.c4 a6 19.f2 xh1 20.xh1 f6 21.xa6 bxa6 22.d6 c6 23.a4 Grivas, E-Lagopatis, N/Serres 1990 ] 9...f5 10.bc3 0-0 11.exf5 gxf5 12.g1 h8 Obvious, but a move laced with cunning 13.g4?? And Hillarp Persson falls straight into the trap. White should delay this advance until he removes his King from the centre. Any of the following moves are quite reasonable: [ 13.c2 d7 14.g3 df6 15.c5 ] [ 13.a3!? ] [ 13.g3 ] 13...fxg4 14.fxg4 xf2! 15.g5 [ 15.xf2 is quite hopeless. xh4+ 16.g3 ( 16.g2 e3! 17.e1 xg4+ 18.h2 xg1+ 19.xg1 f4+ 20.g2 a6-+ ) 16...xg3 17.xg3 f4 ] [ 15.gxh5 xh4 16.g3 h2! 17.ge4 xb2-+ ] 15...h2 16.gxh6 xh4+ 17.d2 f5 But this is also a disaster zone. W hite has been obliterated on the strength of one small move. 18.c1 a6 There is no sanctuary for the White King so Black has all the time in the world to mobilize his pieces. White's virtually a piece down thanks to the dormant Rook on a1. 19.b3 b4 Honing in on d3 but this is li g h t wo rk f o r a n y d e c e n t p l a ye r . 20.b2 d3+ 21.a3 f2 Idea ...Qc5+ with mate to follow. 22.a4 a6 23.g5 b5 Enough is enough. Going back to the opening I am not totally convinced that Black is f ully OK if W hite follows the Dreev recipe. The space 913

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 advantage conferred by the White pawns must surely count for something! 0-1

888 Hou,Yifan Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar Gibraltar Open (10.1) [Tom Rendle]

B07 2605 2747 02.02.2012

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 An interesting choice by Mamedyarov, again we see the Modern employed to try and create winning chances as Black (he needed to win to have a chance of winning the tournament). Hou Yif an chooses a very saf e and solid line. 4.f3 [ 4.f4 is probably the critical continuation and has been thoroughly covered in the archives ] 4...g4 [ 4...a5 is Black's main alternative here and now sensible is 5.d2 A) 5...e5 was played in Llaneza Vega, M (2521)-Galego, L (2435)/Donostia ESP 2009 and Black held a quick draw after A1) H o w e v e r I t h i n k t h a t 6.dxe5 gi v e s m o re p ro b l e m s f o r B l a c k, f o r example dxe5 7.c4 e7 ( 7...c7 8.g5 is awkward for Black) 8.d5 d8 9.xe7 ( 9.xf6+ xf6 10.0-0 is also a little better for White) 9...xe7 10.0-0 and the two Bishops should give White some edge here; A2) 6.d5 d8 7.xf6+ xf6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.g5 d6 10.c4 f6 11.xd6 xd6 12.0-0-0 c7 13.e3 d7 where a draw was agreed.; B) 5...c7 6.c4 with some advantage for White ] 5.e2 [ 5.h3 h5 6.g4!? was looked at by Paul Motwani in the game Nyback-Puranen. ] 5...e6 [ 5...bd7 is Black's other main option and now after 6.0-0 e5 7.e3 e7 8.h3 h5 9.h4! g6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.a4 White had a small but definite edge in Kraai, J (2514)-Akobian, V (2610)/ICC INT 2011 ] 6.0-0 e7 Here White has tried a number of

moves 7.h3 [ 7.g5 0-0 8.h3 h5 9.e5 dxe5 A) 10.xe5!? xe2 11.xe2 would be more testing as taking the pawn is risky: xd4 ( 11...bd7 is very solid) 12.ad1 c5 13.fe1 and Black has trouble developing, meanwhile White can consider a rook swing with Rd3-g3.; B) 10.dxe5 d5 and Black was already very comfortable in Kalmachevskikh, V (2293)-Kabanov, N (2520)/KhantyMansiysk RUS 2011 ] [ 7.e3 0-0 8.h3 h5 A) 9.g4!? g6 10.h4 strikes me as a more dangerous way of playing as the pawn on e4 cannot be taken either way: xe4? ( 10...xe4? 11.xg6 xc3 12.xe7+ ) 11.g5; B) 9.a4 d5 10.e5 fd7 was fine for Black in Matuszewski, M (2317)-Biolek, R (2441)/Olomouc CZE 2010 ] [ 7.e5 dxe5 8.dxe5 d5 ( 8...xd1! 9.xd1 d5 is a safer way of playing and Black has basically equalised) 9.e4 ( 9.xd5?! gave no advantage after cxd5 10.c4 dxc4 11.a4+ c6 12.xc4 h5 wit h e qua l cha nce s in A rkhan gelsky, B (2 35 5)-Jan sa, V (24 94 )/G mu nd en A UT 2007 ) 9...0-0 10.c4 b6 11.e3 is slightly better for White ] 7...h5 8.e5 This tends to lead to positions where White has a very slight edge but it can often become quite drawish - although not in this game! [ 8.e3 0-0 transposes to the note after 7. Be3 ] 8...dxe5 9.xe5 xe2 10.xe2 bd7 11.c4 This allows Black to pretty much equalise but I suppose Hou was happy to let Mamedyarov takes risks here [ 11.f4 0-0 12.d3 might keep the smallest of edges but I doubt any Black players are going to be losing sleep over this sort of position! ] 11...xe5 12.dxe5 d7 This keeps the ga me in te re sting an d it 's su rprising h o w quickly the game bursts into life [ 12...xd1 13.xd1 d7 14.f4 0-0-0 is at least equal for Black and maybe Mamedyarov would've been better trying to grind this position out as Black - still, you'd 914

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 expect it to end in a draw from here ] 13.f4 a5 [ 13...0-0 was perhaps better in hindsight, certainly it avoids the complications that h a p p e n e d i n t h e g a m e . A f t e r 14.d4 Black still has to be careful as Qg4 is a little annoying. Still, it must be equal enough after c7 15.g4 h8! ] 14.a3! An excellent practical decision from Hou Yifan, showing she isn't just going to sit around and passively play for a draw. [ 14.d4 d8 15.e3 0-0 is about equal but Black can try pressing, perhaps with Rfe8, Nf8 and then doubling on the d-file. ] 14...xe5!? Accepting the pawn sacrifice must be critical [ 14...c7 would feel like admitting a small defeat ] 15.b4 c7 16.d4 f6 After this it feels like White has the easier game, if not an objective edge 17.ad1 a5 [ 17...c5! was probably a better way to do it, for example 18.xe5 xe5 19.d7+ f7 20.g3 and now the position probably looks scarier f or Black than it actually is cxb4 21.axb4 ab8 and Black seems to be holding on, White will have to play actively to demonstrate sufficient compensation for the pawn ] 18.e4 f7 19.g3 Perhaps this was a little slow as Black just about gets away grabbing the second pawn [ 19.c5 is the most solid option and now axb4 20.axb4 ad8 21.c1! and with Black rather cramped I like W hite's compensation for the pawn ] [ 19.c1!? is very dangerous, for example A) 19...axb4?! 20.d3 bxa3 21.xe5 and Black can't recapture the piece b e c a u s e o f fxe5 ( 21...a5 22.a1 and the piece is worth more than the 3 p a wn s h e r e) 22.xe5+ e8 23.d7 xd7 24.xd7 xd7 25.d1+ e8 26.xe6 and White should be winning here; B) 19...d6 20.c5 f3+ 21.xf3 xf4 22.d3 h6 23.h5+ e7 24.fe1 and White has a very strong attack ] 19...axb4 20.axb4 xb4 21.d4 c5 22.f4 [ 22.fe1 was also possible but I doubt W hite is bett er here. One possible lin e

l e a d i n g t o l i q u i d a t i o n w o u l d b e hd8 23.xe5 fxe5 24.f3+ g8 25.xe6 xd1 26.xd1 e7 27.xc5 xc5 and now the White should force a draw with 28.d7 f8 29.g3 f7 30.d8+ f8 31.d7 f7 32.d8+= ] 22...xd4+ 23.xd4 d7 24.xe6+! Hou Yifan wisely enters a balanced endgame [ 24.fd1 would keep up some pressure but I'm not convinced it's enough for two pawns after c5 25.f3 f5 although the position remains very tense ] 24...xe6 25.f5+ e7 26.xc7 he8 27.b1 a7 28.bd1 f8?! This move feels a little passive and White starts to get a small advantage after this [ 28...e5! is better as taking the knight is b a d f o r W h i t e a f t e r 29.xe5?! fxe5 30.d7+ f6 Black's active King ensures he has no problems ] 29.b1 f7 30.c5 e7 31.d6 d7 32.db4 h5 33.h4 h7 34.xh5 The position is a little more pleasant for Hou now and Mamedyarov has to be careful g8 35.h4 a8 36.b6 g5 37.hb4 a7 38.b8 a1+ 39.h2 d5 40.xb7 xf5?! [ 40...a2! was more accurate and now the game is likely to end in a draw, e.g. 41.d6 f3+ 42.g3 d4 and the nicest way to draw here is with 43.xg7+! xg7 44.b7+ g8 45.b8+ g7 46.b7+ with repetition, o f c o u r s e n o t h6?? 47.f4+ h5 48.h7# ] 41.d6 [ 41.e7! would cause more problems I think, it's not so easy to defend against Rbb7 doubling rooks on the 7th. Probably best is f2 42.h4 e1! 43.xe1 f3+ but after 44.h3! ( 44.g3 xe1 45.xf2 d3+ is drawn ) 44...xe1 45.g3 e2 46.b6 xg2 47.xc6 only White can play for a win here ] 41...a2 42.g4 Allowing a draw but I suspect Hou was happy enough with that at this stage [ 42.h4!? f3+ 43.h3 g1+ 44.g4 is a possible (if risky) winning attempt, and now d5 45.b2 d2 46.xa2 xa2 47.g3 and White has the better chances in the endgame but it still should end in a draw ] 915

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 42...f3 43.h4 h3+ 44.g1 a1+ 45.f2 a2+ 46.g1 A draw was probably the fair result and it ended an impressive Gibraltar performance from Hou Yifan (she tied for first in the tournament with Short). ½-½

Hedgehog position indeed! 20.e5 dxe5 21.xe5 fd8 22.xd7 xd7 23.f4 d4 24.e3 cd8 25.e2 4d6 26.xb6 xb6 27.bd1 bd6 Black's edge is enduring thanks to his better placed pieces and the pawn on b4,restraining W hite's queenside. Feeling the game slipping away and getting short of time, my impression is that Hunt 889 B07 becomes demoralised. 28.c1 a5 29.e2 xd1 30.xd1 c8 31.d3 a4 32.e2 Hunt,Adam d5 33.b3? Rahman,Ziaur [ 33.a3 bxa3 34.bxa3 c3 35.xc3 xc3 British Championship (5) 2003 36.a1 f6 was better with White retaining [Andrew Martin] chances of a draw. ] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 33...a3! 34.f3 g5 35.f2 f5 36.e1 f6 37.d4 f4 From now on, Black improves 5.f3 b6!?N Provocative! [ 5...g4 6.d2 bd7 7.h3 xf3 8.gxf3 his position at will and Hunt is unable to hold b5 9.0-0-0 a5 10.b1 b4 11.e2 g7 the game. 38.c4 e5 39.e2 d8 40.xf4 12.h6 xh6 13.xh6 b6 14.g7 g8 gxf4 41.g3 d2+ 42.e2 fxg3+ 43.xg3 15.h6 g5 16.e5 g6 17.xg6 hxg6 xe2 44.xe2 f4+ 45.f2 g5 46.d3 18.exf6 exf6 19.c1 0-0-0 20.b3 f5 c8 47.e1? White's Bishop stayed bad until 21.d2 f4 22.a6+ d7 23.he1 e8 the end! 5...Qb6 is a very provocative and 24.e2 f5 25.c3 h4 26.d3 xe1 interesting idea, although it is noteworthy that 27.xe1 bxc3 28.bxc3 xf2 0-1 Lukin,A- Rahman declined to repeat the move later on in the British Championship against Motwani. Skytte,R/ Aarhus 1997/ ] [ 5...bd7 6.a4 g7 7.e2 0-0 8.0-0 b6 0-1 9.e1 b7 10.h3 c7 11.a5 ad8 12.axb6 axb6 13.f1 b5 14.b4 a8 B07 15.d2 fd8 16.h6 xh6 17.xh6 e5 890 18.ad1 a3 19.e3 da8 20.h4 Ibragimov,Ildar 2590 Short,N-Beliavsky,A/Las Vegas 1999 ] Chekhov,Valery A 2520 6.b1?! Moscow 1998 [ 6.d2 xb2 ( 6...g4 7.a4 c7 [Alexander Volzhin] 8.g5 ) 7.b1 a3 8.d3 ( 8.e5 must be the critical test. )] This game shows very clearly the dangers [ 6.a3 must also be considered. ] Black may be faced with. He plays his queen 6...g7 7.h3 0-0 8.d2 c7 Whilst Black's out early and so must be very careful not to set-up seems perfectly normal, the Rook on find himself too far behind in development. b1 sticks out like a sore thumb. This becomes 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 a5 especially apparent should White play a2-a4, 5.d3 e5 6.f3 g4 7.e3! The best move which is quite normal in this type of position. in the position. Black has difficult problems to 9.h6 bd7 10.d3 b5 11.0-0 b7 solve here, and in my opinion, that's why this 12.xg7 xg7 13.fe1 b4 14.e2 c5! line is not played so often nowadays. exd4 Hunt has enacted the usual Bishop exchange [ In Shirov-Rivas, Manila 1992 Black on g7 but in doing so has lost valuable time. preferred 7...exf4 but failed to equalise: With his last move, Rahman constructs a very 8.xf4 b6 ( 8...xf3? is bad in view of favourable pawn structure and leaves the 9.xf3 b4 10.0-0-0! xd4 11.b5! White Bishop bad. Black's opening idea has and White wins; and immediate 8...b4?! been completely successful. 15.g3 cxd4 is also hardly good in view of the simple 16.xd4 b6 17.g5 e6 18.f3 h6 9.a3! ) 9.e2! xf3 10.gxf3 xb2 11.b1 19.d2 ac8 A very favourable Sicilian/ xa2 12.xb7 a5+ 13.d2 d8 916

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.a1! a5 15.d5! with a growing attack. ] 8.xd4 b4 9.e2! [ 9.xf6 gxf6 10.0-0 ( 10.d2?! xf3 11.gxf3 d7 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 and Black's chances should be preferred: White can't attack Black's weak pawns while the pawn on f4 is a real target, Kaminski-Ciemniak, Lubniewice 1993.) 10...xb2 11.e1 b6+ 12.h1 xf3 13.xf3 d7 In UlibinKramnik, Sochi 1990 White failed to prove he had enough for the pawn: 14.b1 c7 15.h4 h5 16.c4 h6 17.g3 c5 18.e2 0-0-0 19.xh5 f5! 20.exf5 e7 and Black seized the initiative. ] [ The tempting 9.a3 is also harmless in view of xd4! 10.xd4 xd1 11.xd1 bd7 with equal endgame. VoitsekhovskyRublevsky, Russia 1991. 12.f2 0-0-0 13.he1 b6 14.f3 g6 15.a4 a5 16.b3 d5 17.exd5 fxd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.e8+ c7 20.a1 g7 21.e7+ d7 22.xd7+ xd7 and here a draw was agreed. ] 9...xe4 Black has to accept this sacrifice, otherwise it's difficult to justify his previous play. 10.0-0! At the cost of only one pawn W hite has overwhelming development ad va nt a ge in a n o p e n p o sit io n. P ract ice proves Black's defence is very hard. d5 [ 10...xc3 is ba d sin ce af t e r 11.bxc3!? ( 11.xc3 is not bad either: b6+ 12.d4 d7 13.e1 e7 14.g4! with a growing attack. ) 11...a5 12.g5! Black's position is barely defensible. ] 11.xe4 dxe4 12.c3 e7 [ 12...xb2 was played in Glek-Pribyl, Germany 1991 (by the way, the move 9.Be2 was introduced in this game). White quickly obtained decisive advantage: A) 13.b1! xa2 14.xb7! i s g o o d a l t e r n a t i ve : exf3 ( 14...e7 15.d2 ) 15.xf3 xf3 16.e1+ d8 17.b6+ c8 18.c7#!; B) 13.e1! f5 ( 13...exf3 14.xf3+ e6 15.f5+- ->; 13...a3 14.g5 xe2 15.xe2+- -> ) 14.a4! /\\ 15.Ne5 Be2 16. Re2+- d7 15.g5 ( 15.h4! c5 16.xg4 xc3 17.xf5+- ) 15...c5 16.xg4 xc3 17.xc5 xc5+ 18.h1 f6 ( 18...fxg4 19.xe4++- ) 19.b3 0-0-0 20.ab1 d7 21.h3! e8

22.e6!+- a5 23.ec1! d5 24.xd5 xd5 25.xf5 g6 26.h3 b8 27.c5 de7 28.d7! d8 29.xb7+ a8 30.xc6 and Black resigned. ] 13.e5 xe2 14.xe2 c5 [ 14...f5 is bad: 15.h5+ g6 16.xg6 f7 17.xh8 ( 17.h3!? ) 17...hxg6 18.e2 c5+ 19.h1 d7 20.fd1 0-0-0 21.d4 xd4 22.xd4 and White is a clear exchange up for nothing, Kindermann, Dorfman, Debrecen 1990. ] 15.f2 d7 [ There were no better alternatives: 15...f6 16.h5+ g6 17.xg6 f7 18.f5 g8 19.f4 ] [ 15...c6 16.xc6 bxc6 17.f5 in both cases White had a big advantage. ] 16.xd7 xd7 The only move. [ 16...xd7 loses by force: 17.xe4+ e7 18.a4+ d7 19.fe1+ e7 20.xd7+ xd7 21.ad1+ e8 22.xc5 winning the Bishop. ] 17.b4! An excellent idea. Black intends to evacuate his King to Q-side and therefore White opens files there without any delay. f5 18.ad1+ c7 19.d5! e6 20.fd1 c8 21.e5 f7 22.bxc5 b8 23.b5+All White's pieces are in action while Black has half an army undeveloped. It is not a big surprise that Black is almost helpless here. a6 [ 23...c7 24.d7 c6 25.xc6 followed by Rf5 was absolutely hopeless for Black. ] 24.d7! [ 24.b6 c7 25.xc7+ followed by Rf5 was also good enough. ] 24...axb5 [ 24...c7? 25.d8+ c8 26.xc8+ xc8 27.e8+ c7 28.b6+ d7 29.b8+- ] 25.xf7 g6 26.d4 h5 27.d5 g8 28.c6! A very precise way to open the 7th rank. [ A f t e r t h e c a r e l e s s 28.dd7? xc5 29.xb7+ a8 White's win was too difficult, if possible at all. ] 28...bxc6 [ 28...xc6 was impossible due to 29.d8+ c8 30.e5+ ] 29.dd7 e8 30.e5+ In view of the quick mate Black resigned. 1-0

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B07 which is the elementary Qd2/Bh6 that is used in some variations of the 150 Attack). In two James Vigus Pirc Inquiry of our featured games from last month N,N Nakamura also included a4, perhaps [John Watson] unnecessarily, and in one case that may have James Vigus writes: I was very interested to been too many tempi to burn. Refer to that read your first Pirc update on ChessPublishing, column. I think the basic plan of foregoing Be3 w h i c h g a v e m e s e v e r a l n e w i d e a s ( w e in favour of g4/Bg2 is essentially unique and analysed Nakamura-Smirin slightly differently, prompted Elisabeth Vicary's question about it. a n d I m u s t c o n f e ss t h a t 7 B xa 6 ! ? in t h e Of course, a database search almost always Austrian Attack was new to me). I have so far finds some sort of predecessor game. [ Vigus mentions a third order used by GM only had a chance to glance at your March Vajda: 4.h3 g7 5.ge2!? , and, for update, but am glad that you bring the example, c6 ( In one game Vigus cites, important and little-known g4-line to attention. White got the advantage after 5...0-0 6.e3 However, although it might be buried in the c6 7.a4 a5 8.g4!; 5...b5!? has also been middle of my book [jw: 'The Pirc in Black and played, when after 6.e5 fd7 , he suggests W hite', my new Pirc Bible] and not easy to 7.e6! fxe6 8.f4 b6 9.xb5+ c6 10.e2 f in d via th e in de x, I h a ve in f a ct m ad e a d5! . I doubt t hat White has any special feature of the early g4--at the end of advantage in that case, but I like the the chapter on the 150 Attack. I dubbed it the unbalanced play that is created.) 6.a4 ( 6.g4 "Archbishop Attack" (for reasons explained in b5 7.g2 might be looked at, with the idea the introduction to the 150 Chapter), and b4 8.b1 0-0 9.a3 ) 6...a5?! analysed it mainly in the form 4 Be3 c6 5 h3 Another tempo loss a5 was not to be feared. Nbd7 6 g4/6 a4 intending g3, which seems to 7.e3 a6 8.g4 and White has a nice be by far the most dangerous. Perhaps it game, having played the normal g3-g4 in could even have warranted a small chapter to one jump. ] itself, but my view was that this move-order (inducing ...Nbd7 which is not necessarily 4...c6 [ Vigus doesn't like White's h3/g4 plan as helpful in a Fianchetto-type structure) makes m u c h a f t e r 4...g7 5.h3 0-0 6.g4 it part of the whole mo dern Be3 / h3/Qd 2 , when he suggests d5 7.e5 e4 8.xe4 complex. I hope you will find some more food dxe4 9.g2 c5! , improving upon a Vajda for thought in my coverage of this, and I'm game with 9...f6?!. This shows one of the looking forward to reading your notes more drawbacks to an early Be3 in conjunction thoroughly soon!' Thank you, James! It's great with g4: it doesn't cover e4 or d5. I think to get feedback from an author. I'll try to give that this and Vigus' points that follow below the reader a brief overview of what the book are spot on. ] says with regard to the Be3/h3/g4 setup, c o n c e n t ra t in g u p o n m o ve o rd e rs a n d o f 5.h3 bd7 6.a4!? We are reaching the main course skipping the details that are given to line in which Vigus thinks that the h3/g4 plan illustrate them. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 is effective. If true, that militates against 4... 4.e3 This is the move that is associated with c6. [ 6.g4! is a similar alternative that he also h3/g4 in James' Pirc book, which we'll now finds very bothersome. I think that is more d i s c u s s . I n t h e la st c o l u m n we f e a t u re d accurate, since ...b5-b4 doesn't achieve several games by Hikaru Nakamura, who I much. See my suggestion on move 8. If think should be given credit for his rather these lines are difficult for Black, it again different idea: he avoids the move Be3 for indicates a problem with 4...c6 and 5...Nbd7, some time in favour of a setup involving h3/g4/ instead of simply 4...Bg7. In the end Vigus Bg2 and/ in some cases Nge2. This could be prefers the latter move (in spite of other argued to 'save' a tempo with which to batten problems). I agree: ...c6 and ...Nbd7 at such down the centre, although naturally Be3 has an early stage seems to limit Black's many advantages for other reasons (one of 891

918

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( meets 12.g5 f8 13.xh7 xh7 14.xh7 with g5 and decent coun terpla y) 12...c5 13.a2 g4 ( 13...cxe4 14.xe4 xe4; 13...e6 14.xe6 xe6 15.0-0 g4 16.h4 f6; 13...a5 14.0-0 ) 14.g5 e6 15.xe6 xe6 16.xe6 xe6 17.0-0 maintains a pleasant edge for White; A2) 10...bd7 11.g5! ( 11.0-0-0 b5 12.xb5 cxb5 13.xb5 c5 14.d6+ e7 , Ulko, J (2486)-Chekhov, S (2227)/ Voronezh RUS 2007/ The W eek in Chess 658 (28), transposes to the note to Black's 10th, below, except that White has his pawn on h3 there) 11...f8 12.xh7 xh7 13.xh7 g5 14.h4 f4? ( n e c e s s a r y w a s 14...xg2 15.0-0-0 b5 16.b3 , but Black is unlikely to survive this) 15.g7 e7 16.e2 was winning for White in Fedorchuk, S (2592)-Zozulia, A (2352)/ Tarragona ESP 2006/The W eek in 892 B07 Chess 618 (43); B) 9.0-0-0 g4!? 10.e2 bd7 11.e3 Jansa,Vlastimil 2477 Cech, P (2420)-Sergeev, V (2434)/ Czech Hartoch,Robert G 2196 Rep CZE 2006/The W eek in Chess 594 World Senior Championship (2) 29.10.2008 b5 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 b6 is fairly [James Vigus] solid for Black. ] The name '150 Attack' reflects the contribution 8...bd7 [ Black can try to transpose to 'b' in the of English players, but the Czech previous note with 8...e7 , though then grandmaster Vlastimil Jansa was another of 9.f3!? bd7 10.h4 is one way for White to its successful pioneers in the late 1980s. This keep up his initiative. ] game shows that even in his veteran years he is still capable of treating the Pirc brutally. 9.f3 e7 10.h3 a6?! [ This is too slow. Black must bite the bullet: We're onto 'plan B' for Black. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 10...b5! 11.dxe5 ( White can't claim much of g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 f6 5.d2 c6 6.h6 an edge in a quiet continuation such as xh6 7.xh6 e5 11.d3 b7 12.he1 0-0-0 13.e3 b8 ) [ This is rather passive for Black, but may be 11...dxe5 ( 11...xe5 ) 12.xb5 cxb5 necessary. 7...a5 8.d3 c5 used to be 13.xb5 c5 14.d6+ e7 15.g5 f8 standard, but John Watson has pointed out 16.d2 (J.Seret-A.Mista, Cappelle la Grande b ig p r o b le m s f o r B la c k in t h e l in e 9.d5! 2004) b8! and now White's intended bd7 10.f3 ] 17.hd1 re su lts in a d ra w a f t e r xb2! 8.0-0-0 18.xb2 b4+ . Can anyone strengthen [ 8.f3 tends to transpose, but a few White's attack? ] i n d e p e n d e n t p a t h s a r e p o s s i b l e : e7 ( I think 8...bd7 is more precise, with a 11.c4!? [ Perhaps this was a prepared improvement likely transposition to our main game if o n t h e g a m e G . K a s p a r o v- T . R a d ja b o v , 9.dxe5!? Black should probably reply xe5 ) Mo sco w (ra pid) 20 02 , which co n tinu e d A) 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.c4 (this is a good 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.c4 b5 13.b3 a5?! move order for White) ( 13...c5 , to eliminate the bishop on b3, is A1) 10...b5!? 11.b3 bd7 12.a3! flexibility. ] 6...g7 Vigus discusses a variety of alternatives, none of which seem to fully equalise. 7.g4 e5 8.ge2 e7 [ I think 8...d5!? should be considered before W hite consolidates. It is a dynamic try, hoping to exploit the moves a4 and Be3, which again, failed to cover e4 or d5. A pla u s ib le lin e wou ld b e 9.exd5 xd5 10.xd5 cxd5 11.g2 e4 12.0-0 0-0 13.f4 f6 14.a5 h6 , when you suspect that W hite should have a slight pull, but his kingside weaknesses seem to get in the way and he may not get even that. ] 9.g2 White got a good game twice out of this position he has the plan of simply castling and preparing f4, for example, 0-0 10.0-0 b6 11.g3 b7 12.f4 e8 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.f5 with a stereotypical advantage, Y VisserB Pel, Leeuwarden 2004.

919

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a n i m p r o v e m e n t . A f t e r 14.d2 d7 15.hd1 0-0-0 16.e3 Black has some hopes of equalising. Jansa aims to cut out this . ..Nc5 defence.) 14.a4 b4 15.b1 a6 16.bd2 0-0-0 17.e3 , and Black's king didn't last very long ] 11...b5 12.b3 b7 [ 12...f8 13.h4 e7 14.g5 is not the answer to Black's problems, ] [ perhaps 12...a5 13.dxe5 xe5 (avoiding transposition to KasparovRadjabov with 13...dxe5) 14.a4 b4 15.b1 xf3 16.gxf3 e6 is what Black should have ventured to disturb the status quo. ] 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.g5 f8 15.xh7 xh7 16.xh7 g5+?! [ 16...a5 17.a4 b4 18.e2 g5+ 19.b1 xg2 is suggested by Lev Gutman as an improvement (in the magazine 'Rochade Europa', January 2009). This does provide c o u n t e r p l a y a g a i n s t t h e e 4 - p a wn , b u t 20.g7 xe4 21.he1 0-0-0 22.g3 h4 23.e4 gives White enormous compensation for the pawn. ] 17.b1 xg2 18.hg1 f3 19.xg6! The rook swings round to d-file, since recapturing on g6 would result in instant mate. 0-0-0 20.gd6 f6 [ 20...c5 was the last chance, though 21.h6 maintains White's grip. ] 21.h4 b4 22.xf6 xf6 23.xf6 bxc3 24.xd8+ xd8 25.bxc3 c5 26.f3 1-0

893 Jobava,Baadur Shanava,K 71st ch-GEO 2012 (1) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B07 2721 2589 13.05.2012

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 6.g5 [ Gawain looked at 6.f3 in 1/2-1/2 Vallejo Pons, F (2697)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2723) Sestao 2010. ] 6...d6 [ 6...e6 has been the most common but A) 7.0-0-0+ is by far the most common although it hasn't scored that well A1) 7...bd7

A1a) 8.g3!? c5 ( 8...c8 is normal and looks better.) 9.f4 e3+ 10.b1 c8 11.f3 g4 12.e2 exf4?! 13.xf4 xf4 14.gxf4 already gave White a clear advantage. S a n i k i d ze , T ( 2 5 3 0 ) - H a u s r a t h , D (2507) Muelheim 2011.; A1b) 8.f4 exf4 9.ge2 d6 10.xf4 h6 11.xf6+ gxf6 12.g3 e5 13.cd5 c6 14.e3 e7 and Black shouldn't have any worries and actually went on to win. His structure is compromised but so is White's and he will ha ve t o ma ke som e so rt o f concession to deprive Black of his bishop pair. Bajarani, U (2409)Sjugirov, S (2610) Chotowa 2010.; A2) 7...c8 8.f4 ( 8.f3 bd7 9.h4 h6 10.xf6 gxf6 11.h4 c6 12.e2 c5 was all very comfortable for the second player. Pap, M (2509)-Popovic, D (2564) Vrnjacka Banja 2010.; 8.g3 c5 9.xf6 gxf6 10.d2 Can, E (2500) -Kurmann, O (2452) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 d8 and White's best is probably t o g i v e u p t h e f 2 p a w n w i t h 11.h3 xd2 12.xd2 xf2 but Black obviously can't have any problems.) 8...exf4 9.ge2 ( T h e f o rc in g 9.e5 doesn't get White anywhere: h6 10.xf6 gxf6 11.exf6 d7 12.ge2 c5 13.d4 xf6 and Black had picked up a pawn. Kanovsky, D (2471)-Malaniuk, V (2573) Prague 2010) 9...bd7 ( 9...d6 is also f ine f or Black. 10.xf6 gxf6 11.d5 d7 12.exf4 c6 13.xe6 fxe6 14.c3 c7 and Black had a small advantage thanks to his superior structure. Dzhumaev, M (2495)Khismatullin, D (2657) Voronezh 2010.) 10.xf4!? ( Perhaps 10.xf4 is a better bid for an opening a d va n t a g e .) 10...g4 11.d4 c5 ( 11...f2 looks rather dangerous but Black seems to su rvive , i.e . 12.xe6 fxe6 13.c4 xh1 14.xe6 d6 15.xd6 cxd6 16.xd6 d8 17.e5 a5 18.d2 c7 19.d5+ c6 20.e7+ c7 21.d5+= with a draw) 12.cb5 b6 13.xe6 fxe6 14.c4 e8 15.hf1 a6 16.a3 e3+ 17.b1 920

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf4 18.xf4 ge5 with equality. Sutovsky, E (2657)-Akobian, V (2628) Wijk aan Zee 2010.; B) 7.f4!? might allow White some initiative although nothing too serious: exf4 8.f3 B1) 8...c8 9.0-0-0 b4 ( 9...bd7 10.xf4 has transposed to quite a common position where White's scored decently. One recent high rated encounter continued: h5 11.g3 c5 12.d4 g4 13.d3 b6 14.h3 xf4 15.gxf4 d7 16.e5 e7 17.e2 g6 18.g4 c6 19.hd1 xg4 20.hxg4 c7 21.f5 and White had drummed up a big advantage. Vysochin, S (2558) Khismatullin, D (2635) St Petersburg 2011. ) 10.xf6 gxf6 11.d5 xd5 12.xd5 d7 and White had good compensation for the pawn but the game never really left the draw zone. Shyam, S (2457)-Gagunashvili, M (2599) Dubai 2011.; B2) 8...h6 9.xf4 bd7 10.0-0-0 c6 11.d4 b4 ( 11...c5 12.e2 e8 13.f3 c8 14.e5 xd4 15.xd4 h7 16.e4 c7 17.d6 was already really unpleasant for Black in Degraeve, J (2588)-Kasparov, S (2475) Bethune 2 0 0 1 . T h e g a m e c o n c l u d e d e7 18.hd1 hf8 19.g3 a5 20.h4 b6 21.f5 d7 22.xg7 xd4 23.xd4 d8 24.f4 1-0 ) 12.e5! g4 13.xe6+ fxe6 14.e4 e7 15.e2 gxe5 16.c3 a5 17.c5 xc5 18.xe5 e4 19.he1 gave White a strong initiative. Gharamian, T (2517)-Eliet, N (2454) Charleroi 2007. ] [ 6...c6 is also seen regularly when Jobava tried 7.f4 in another recent game. ( Again it's possible to castle first but 7.0-0-0+ e8 8.f4 bd7 9.fxe5 g4 10.e6 fxe6 11.h3 e7 12.xe7 xe7 was certainly no better for White in Riff, J (2505)-Pelletier, Y (2611) Clichy 2010.) 7...exf4 ( 7...h6 is the computer's recommendation but 8.xf6+ gxf6 9.f5!? gives White decent long term chances.) 8.e5 h6 9.xf4 fd7 10.c4 e8 11.e6 fxe6 12.xe6 b6 13.xc8 xc8 14.0-0-0 b6 15.f3 and White had a very obvious chance with his huge lead in development.

Jobava, B (2678)-Lazic, M (2459) Milano 2011. ] [ 6...bd7 whilst relatively rare, has been the choice of a couple of GMs recently and looks very sensible. 7.0-0-0 c6 8.f3 ( 8.f4 here doesn't look so good and White quickly got into trouble: e7 9.f3 g4! 10.d2 f6 11.fxe5 fxg5 12.e6 c7 13.exd7 xd7 14.c4 f6 15.d1 ae8 16.e1 e7 and Black had coordinated his pieces and stood very well. Acs, P (2601)-Rogozenco, D (2522) Hamburg 2010.) 8...e8 ( 8...c7 9.c4 b4 10.he1 looks like White has s o m e t h i n g .) 9.c4 ( 9.h4 ) 9...e7 10.h4 g4 11.g3 f6 and Black's position looked fine and he went on to win Lund, E (2398)-Strikovic, A (2564) Ascona 2011. ] 7.0-0-0 bd7 8.f3 [ 8.c4 is played more frequently but Jobava h a s a d if f e re n t squ a re p l a n n e d f o r t h e bishop. ] 8...e8 getting out of the pins. [ 8...a6 preventing White's next is seen from time to time but 9.xf6+ gxf6 ( 9...xf6 10.xe5 is the point.) 10.d5 g8 11.h4 g4 12.f5 xe4 Sethuraman, S (2529)Neelotpal, D (2458) Mumbai 2011 13.d3 and White's knights totally dominate. ] 9.b5!? A rare idea but, although it worked well in this game, doesn't look as strong as [ 9.b5 which seems to give White a modest plus: A) It's also possible to defend the pawn with 9...e7 but the structure isn't so d i f f e r e n t . 10.d2 h6 11.h4 b6 ( 11...a6 12.xd6 cxd6 13.f3 b5 14.b3 gives White a definite plus with the bishop p a i r i n wh a t r e s e m b l e s s o m e s o r t o f Na jd orf . Be rescu , A (25 1 0)-B a de a, B (2489) Amara 2007.) 12.f3 e6 13.f2 fd7 14.b3 hc8 15.xd6 cxd6 16.b2 c5 17.b1 f5 18.exf5 xf5 19.c4 g5 20.c3 also looked very pleasant for White. Dvoirys, S (2590)-Spasov, V (2540) Biel 1993.; B) 9...xe4? 10.xd6! wins; C) 9...a6 10.xd6+ cxd6 11.d2 h6 ( 11...b5 12.a4 b7 13.f3 c6 14.b3 e7 15.a5 and Black was already in some tro uble . Ne vost ruje v, V (25 10)921

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Zablotsky, S (2410) Tomsk 2003.) 12.e3 b5 13.f3 c5 Timofeev, A (2658)-Hansen, L ( 2 5 6 5 ) S k a n d e r b o r g 2 0 0 5 14.c4 again promises White a small nibble. ] 9...f8? Jobava's opening experiment works as Shanava blunders straight away. [ In a previous game Black found the correct way of playing with 9...a6 when we presume J o b a v a p l a n n e d 10.xf6 ( Instead 10.xd7+ xd7 was totally fine for Black. Burreh, H (1985)-Schulz, W (2158) Bad S o o d e n 2 0 0 4 .) 10...axb5 ( 10...gxf6 11.xd7+ xd7 12.d5 picks up a pawn.) 11.xg7 g8 12.h6 Here Black has a wide variety of moves that look adequate, o n e s u c h l i n e b e i n g b4 ( 12...f6; 12...xg2; and 12...a5 all look playable too. ) 13.b5 xa2 14.b1 a6 15.h4 c5 16.f3 d7 and Black certainly seems to be fine. ] [ While 9...g4 was played in the other game to reach this position but 10.h4 a6 Schmitt, T-Hauke, C (2235) Zell 1993 11.xd7+ xd7 12.d5 f6 13.d2 again feels more pleasant for White. ] 10.xd7! xd7 [ Presumably Shanava missed that 10...xd7 allows 11.xe5! xe5 12.xf6 f4+ 13.b1 g4 14.f3 and Black is a clear pawn down. ] 11.b5 Shanava has saved his e pawn but loses a queenside one. f6 12.e3 e7 [ Rybka prefers giving the c pawn with 12...b6 but again White has a clear extra pawn after 13.xd6 cxd6 14.xd6 e7 15.hd1 ] 13.xd6! cxd6 14.c7 A nice tactic bagging the extra pawn. b6 15.xa8 d8 [ The computer toys with 15...b7!? 16.c7 xe4 but following 17.b5 c8 18.c3 we can't believe that Black has anything like enough play f or his piece f or pawn deficit. ] 16.d2 b7 17.c4 xa8 18.xd6 The o pen in g h as be en a big success f o r Jobava who's gone straight into an endgame a pawn up. Obviously Black must have some hopes of drawing but White executes the rest of the game flawlessly. c7 [ Perhaps Black's king should stay in touch with his kingside pawns although 18...e7

19.d1 followed by advancing the queenside pawns must be winning in the long term. ] 19.b5+ b8 20.d1 c6 21.c4! xb5 Shanava hopes to salvage half a point in the knight versus bishop position. [ Likewise 21...c8 22.c3 c7 23.f3 looks very grim. ] 22.cxb5 d8 [ 22...c8+ 23.b1 c7 24.c1 isn't so different. ] 23.c2 c7 24.a4 f8?! As the following endgame is completely lost Shanava should have tried keeping the rooks on for a while. 25.xd8 xd8 26.d3 e7 27.c4 d6 28.f4! g6 29.f5 h4 30.g4 f3 31.h3 g6?! And this hastens the end. [ We tried defending Black's position with 31...e1 but here too White wins with something like 32.d2 f3 33.b4+ d7 34.d5 g5 35.fxg6 hxg6 36.d6 g5 37.b8 c8 38.xa7 b7 39.xb6 xb6 40.e6 when there are too many pawns for the knight. ] 32.a5 bxa5 33.c5+ d7 34.d5 g5 35.xa7 xh3 36.b6 f4+ 37.c5 d3+ 38.c4 xb2+ 39.b5 A well played game from Jobava but objectively 9.Nb5 looks a better try for an opening advantage. 1-0

894 Jones,Gawain C B Reid,John 100th ch-GBR 2013 (1.1) [Smerdon, David]

B07 2643 2151 29.07.2013

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 This move can be a bit annoying for a 2.c3 player as the structures and idea s are ve ry dif f e rent to the usua l isolated queen's pawn positions of the opening. Still, it's certainly inferior to 2...Nf6 and 2...d5, and I'm sure far more players would play 2.c3 if they could be guaranteed to face 2...d6! 3.d4 f6 4.d3 g6 5.dxc5!? A common idea in many of the 2... d6 variations, but I've never been a big fan. In my opinion, White usually gets very pleasant positions with natural moves in this opening, though objectively Black is okay. [ 5.f3 g7 6.0-0 0-0 7.h3 has all been 922

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 seen before. White has to be a little better of course, but Black will probably hit with ... d5 soon to change the structure. Still, I always prefer to have the centre and extra space in these lines - and as a 2.c3 player, it's nice not to worry about losing my isolated pawn for a change! ] 5...dxc5 [ 5...d5!? is another line, which is more effective in the 4.f3 variation. ] 6.e5 h5 7.h3 c6 8.f3 c7 [ Black would have no reasons to complain after 8...g7 with ...Ne6, ...Bg7, ...0-0 and ... Qc7 to follow. ] [ E n d g a m e p l a y e r s m i g h t p r e f e r 8...f5 9.xf5 xd1+ 10.xd1 gxf5 when White might have a little something due to the better structure, but it's really not much. ] 9.0-0 d7? There's nothing concretely wrong with this, but Black starts to play aimlessly a n d G a wa in h a s e n o u gh t i m e t o u s e h i s development and space advantage to open things up. [ Again, 9...g7 was possible, because even after 10.h6 e6 11.xf8 xf8 the black king should be pretty comfortable on g7. ] 10.e2 h6 11.e6!? Always a nice move to play in these lines. [ Still, 11.a3 was probably an even s t r o n g e r i d e a , a s a6 12.c4 is very pleasant for White. Note that if ever Black plays ...Bg7 he drops his h5 knight to g4, while b5?? 13.d6+!+- is game over. ] 11...xe6 12.xg6 g7 Finally! 13.e4 0-0-0 14.a3 White is significantly better: he's just a couple of moves away from full mobility, and Black is rarely happy if he's forced to castle queenside in these lines. d5 15.b5 [ 15.xd5 xd5 16.b4! was extremely stro ng. If Bla ck d oesn't cap ture , W hit e follows with Be3 and the attack continues. But the pawn is taboo: cxb4 17.cxb4 xb4 18.e3 and Black is completely busted. However, over the next few moves Gawain d o e s n 't p la y e n e r ge t ic a lly a n d le t s h i s opponent back into the game. ] 15...b6 16.xd5 xd5 17.c4 [ 17.b4! again was close to winning. ] 17...d8 18.b4 e6 19.bxc5 a5

[ Both 19...xc5 20.b1+- ] [ and 19...xc5 20.b1 were no-go. ] 20.b1 g7 21.c2? Quite a strange move, throwing away White's advantage. I guess the idea is to trap the black queen, but there's a pretty obvious reply. [ 21.e4! was far more active. Perhaps Gawain was worried about his pawn, but xa2 22.f4 is absolutely huge. ] 21...d7? Throwing it back. [ 21...a6! 22.d2 xd2 23.xd2 axb5 24.cxb5 cd4 ] 22.d2 a6 23.b3 cd4 24.fxd4 xd4 25.xd4 xd4 Now White's pumping again. 26.fb1 c6 27.f4 e5 28.g3? This bishop turns out to be a hero, but actually this move is a mistake. [ 28.e3! g8 29.g3 xc5 30.e4 is still close to winning. ] 28...e4? [ 28...g8= hits g3, and after 29.h2 xc5 the rook also has eyes on g2, so Black's just won a pawn. W hite probably has enough co mp e nsat ion bu t o bviou sly t h is is n o t ideal! ] 29.c1 e3 30.xe3! Of course! xc5 [ 30...xe3? 31.xe3 and the h2-b8 diagonal rolls out the red carpet to White's queen. ] 31.f3 g6 32.b5 b6? 33.xc5+ bxc5 34.b2 1-0

895 Karpov,Anatoly Timman,Jan H Motreal [Alexander Volzhin]

B07

1979

I n p r e vi o u s g a m e s we h a ve c o n s i d e r e d different attacking lines for White. But many players don't like the wild complications that are unavoidable in those lines. I can recommend them the Fianchetto system. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g3 g7 [ 4...c5 is premature: 5.dxc5 a5 6.cxd6 xe4 7.d5! and Black is in trouble. ] 5.g2 0-0 6.ge2 e5 7.0-0 The critical position of the Fianchetto system. a6 8.e1 c6 9.h3 e8 10.g5! h6 923

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Black is not ready for active counterplay as the White pieces are better coordinated, for example: 10...b6 11.b1 exd4 12.xd4 c5 13.b4! cxe4 14.xe4! xe4 15.xe4 xd4 16.f6+ and white wins. ] 11.e3 c7 [ 11...exd4 is premature because of: 12.xd4 intending Qd2 and Rad1 with pressure on the d-file, and c5 fails to 13.e5! h7 14.exd6 xd6 15.b4! a6 16.b5 cxb5 17.xb5 with a big advantage, as it's difficult for Black to complete the development of his queenside. ] [ Probably best is wait and see tactics: 11...h7 (this move necessary anyway) . Now it's not easy for W hite to prove his advantage. For example, after the natural 12.d2 exd4 is possible, and Black is OK: 13.xd4 ( 13.xd4 c5 and now 14.e5 is i m p o s s i b l e) 13...c5 14.f3 d5! and the complications after 15.xc6 cxe4 16.xd8 ( 16.fxe4 bxc6 ) 16...xd2 17.xf7 xe3 18.xe3 d4 are dangerous for White. ] 12.d2 h7 13.ad1 d7 Both sides have completed their development. White's position is slightly better due to his space advantage, but the Black position is very solid, as he has no weaknesses. Karpov's play is very instructive. He begins kingside action. First of all he strengthens the e4 square with g4 and Ng3, preventing any counterplay in the centre. 14.g4! ad8 15.g3 c8 16.f4 b5 17.a3 b4?! This nervous move leads only to the creation of weaknesses. 18.axb4 xb4 19.ce2! Black intended a5, Ba6 etc with some chances. Karpov prevents any counterplay. exd4 [ After 19...a5 20.c3 White has an overwhelming advantage in the centre. ] 20.xd4 a5 21.c3 a6 Now Black intends Nc5 with pressure on the e4 square. 22.c2! An excellent move. White once more protects the e4-square and prevents Nc5. d7 [ 22...c5 23.b4 ] 23.f3! White intends the doubling of the major pieces on the d-file. e7 [ Now 23...c5 is also bad due to: 24.e5 ] 24.f2 e8 25.d3! b7 [ 25...b8 26.e5 ] 26.a1! Winning a pawn for nothing. White

has achieved a decisive advantage, although none of his pieces have crossed the middle of the board! c7 [ Of course, the pawn is taboo: 26...xb2? 27.eb1 trapping the Queen. ] 27.xa5 Straightforward technique. dd7 28.b4 e6 29.e3 c5 30.f5 d8 31.b5 h8 32.f2 c7 33.a4 b8 34.c4 a7 35.xa7 xa7 36.e5 dxe5 37.xe5 a2 38.xc5 Black has nothing to hope for, so he resigned. A real masterpiece of positional chess. 1-0

896 Kasparov,Garry Azmaiparashvili,Zurab Blitz Match, Crete blitz (1) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2830 2700 2003

Only a 5 mins/5secs game, but Kasparov is Kasparov! 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 5.d2 It's official- Kasparov plays and likes the 150 Attack! [ 5.f3 was an attempt to do without Qd2 from the same match. a5 I don't think White could have done without Qd2 for long if Black hadn't played ... Qd8-a5 . Kasparov sees a chance to exploit the exposed Black Queen. 6.d3 e5 7.0-0 g7 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.d2! c7 10.a4 0-0 11.c4 ( Just 11.h3! would have preserved a stable advantage. Here we see the small inaccuracies typical of rapid, even blitz chess ) 11...e6 12.e2 bd7 13.f3 fd8 14.f2 b6 15.fd1 f8 16.f1 c5!= Black took his chance well and has clawed his way back to equality. 17.xc5 xc5 18.g3 xc4 19.xc4 a5 Kasparov, GAzmaiparashvili, Z/Blitz Match, Crete GRE 2003. ] 5...bd7 6.f3 c7 [ 6...g7 is thought inaccurate because White can now play Bh6. I'm not convinced that Black's position is so bad: 7.h6 0-0 8.xg7 xg7 9.d3 e5 10.0-0 b6 11.a4 c7 12.fe1 b6 13.xb6 axb6 14.c3 e8 15.h3 e7 16.a4 h5 unclear, Lutz, C-Kasimdzhanov, R/Batumi 2001. ] 924

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7.d3 e5 8.0-0 g4!?N White's hopes of a swift attack are dashed instead he has to switch thinking mode to a more positional game where cramping Black's Queenside or piling up on the d file will have to do. Yes, I know this nabs the Bishop on e3 but it slows down Black's development. [ I prefer 8...g7 , a less time- consuming and very thematic move. In my view, White struggles to prove any advantage: 9.dxe5 xe5 10.xe5 dxe5 A) 11.h6 0-0 12.xg7 xg7=; B) 11.ad1 0-0 12.e2 b5! I think it's important to prevent Bc4. 13.d2 ( 13.c5 d8 14.h3 e6= ) 13...e6 14.fd1 fd8 15.h3 h5; C) 11.a4 e6 12.a5 0-0 13.a4 d7 14.b4 b5 15.c5 xc5 16.xc5 fd8 17.a3 d7 18.e3 f8 19.c3 c8 20.c5 h6 21.aa1 cd8 22.fd1 c4= Waitzkin, J-McNab, C/London 1998 ] 9.c4! g7!? [ 9...xe3 10.fxe3 looks like some sort of Trompowski where White will enjoy pressure against f7. Unclear But surely the whole point of ... Ng4 is negated if Azmai doesn't take the Bishop. ] 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.xe5 xe5 [ 11...dxe5 12.c5! ] 12.f4 d5 That was the point of his play. But I still feel very uncomfortable, maybe irrationally, with the black King hanging around in the centre, 13.xe5 xe5 14.f4 h5 15.h3 dxc4 16.hxg4 White could have centralised his Q u e e n b u t t h a t wo u ld a llo w B la ck t o solidify on e6. The text allows more attack and the possibility of f4-f5. [ 16.d4 e5! ( 16...f8 17.hxg4 xg4 18.xc4 0-0-0 19.e5 ) 17.fxe5 e6 18.f2 0-0 19.d1 fe8= ] 16...c5+ [ 16...xg4 17.d4 f8 18.f5 ] 17.f2 xg4 18.f5 e5 Black hastens to lock up the centre. He has two other decent defensive possibilities: [ 18...g8 19.g5 h5 20.af1 d8 21.h1 ] [ 18...h5 19.fxg6 fxg6 20.af1 f8 21.g5 xg5 22.xf8+ e7 23.xa8 Azmai faces a protracted defence before he will be able to realise his extra pawn and

when short of time, this is a most uncomfortable prospect. ] 19.e1 d8 20.d5!? The inevitable complications commence and Azmai just isn't up to holding on against Kasparov- he seems p s y c h e d o u t . O b j e c t i v e l y, I b e l i e v e t h e position to be OK for Black, but his King will have to run the gauntlet-. d6 [ 20...b5 21.b4 d6 22.c7+ d7 23.a6 c8 24.fxg6 hxg6 25.xf7 e6 ] 21.b4 0-0?? Who would think that castling could be such a ghastly blunder! [ 21...b5! transposing. ] 22.e3! c5 23.xb7 [ 23.xg4 was simpler: cxb4 ( 23...xe4 24.xe4 cxb4 25.fxg6 d1+ 26.h2 hxg6 27.xc4+- ) 24.xe5 b5 25.fxg6 fxg6 26.xf8+ xf8 27.f2+- ] 23...g3 24.e7 dd8 25.g5 h5 26.fxg6 fxg6 27.xg6+ h8 28.f5 e5 29.h6+ g8 30.ef1 xf5 31.exf5 d7 32.f6 Error-ridden, yes! Interesting, also yes! The way Azmai played provides another decent system for Black against this Be3, Nf3, Qd2 stuff. 1-0

897 Kazhgaleyev,Murtas Gallegos,Carlos ACP Blitz Prelim2 blitz (8) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2596 2452 13.04.2004

1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.a4! Some of you have written in asking for more games with the Czech System. To be quite honest recent results have been very bad for Black so I have deliberately maintained a distance. There are several awkward systems that Black has to counter. 4 f4 is the obvious one and here 4 a4! is another. Black's idea is reactive. He is waiting to see if W hite will commit to a particular plan and then he hits back appropriately. 4 a4! meets fire with fire. White makes a very useful move, commits no piece to a bad square and asks Black to show HIS plan. In our featured game, Gallegos goes back into a Philidor-like position and he is always slightly worse. e5 [ 4...a5 5.f3 g4 6.e2 e6 7.0-0 d5 925

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is a different interpretation. I feel that Black is mixing and matching. It will be important to play ...c6-c5 quite soon and then the move 4...a5 doesn't fit in at all. 8.e5 fd7 9.h3 h5 10.e3 a6 11.d2 b6 12.g4 g6 13.h4 b4 He's putting off ...c6-c5 for as long as possible but this isn't very convincing. 14.xg6 hxg6 15.g2 e7 16.f4 0-0-0 17.f3 c5 ( 17...h7 is an option: 18.d1 dh8 19.h1 f6 20.c3 a6 21.c2 Long-term, White has all the chances.) 18.b5 a6 19.dxc5 dxc5 20.c3 Reminiscent of Short's line against the Caro-Kann ( 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 Bf5 4 Nf3). Quite often there White gets the two Bishops and a position where all Black can do is sit and wait. Few are up to the onerous task. b8 21.d4 c6 22.b4 axb4 23.cxb4 b6 24.bxc5 xc5 25.d2 winning, Svendsen,B-Stava,J/Oslo NOR 2004, Black lacked counterplay throughout. ] 5.ge2 e7 6.g3 0-0 7.g2 e8 8.h3 c7 9.e3 bd7 10.0-0 Black will search for an object of attack and there is little to be found. He cannot expand with ...b7-b5 that has been stopped. He may attack e4 several times but White will always be able to defend that square comfortably. Meanwhile the threat o f a k in gs id e p a wn a d va n ce h a n gs o ve r Black's head. Black has no active plan. b6 11.b3 a5 12.g4! Making room for the Knight t o c o m e t o g 3 . f8 13.g3 bd7 The trouble with these fast games is that one n e v e r h a s t i m e t o d e ve l o p i d e a s . B l a c k needed some space to think his way through the difficulties but here he has been pressured to m ake 'a m ove'. 13 ...Nbd7 is p lanless. There were two other possibilities, but I still prefer White in each: [ 13...e6 14.g5 ( 14.d5! cxd5 15.exd5! c8 16.b5 d8 17.g5 fd7 18.e4 ) 14...exd4 15.xd4 fd7 16.ad1 d5 17.exd5 c5 18.f4 d6 19.h4 cxd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.xd5 xd5 22.xd5 e5 23.h5 ] [ 13...d5 Ma yb e t h e be st sho t . 14.dxe5 xe4 15.cxe4 dxe4 16.xe4 d5 17.d4 f4 18.f3 xg2 19.xg2 Black has some play here. ] 14.f4 exd4 [ 14...h6 15.f3 b6 16.g5 ]

[ 14...b6 15.g5 exd4 16.xd4 fd7 17.h5 Black has nothing to set against White's tremendous initiative. ] 15.xd4 b6? [ If 15...e6 16.g5 e8 17.f5 e7 18.f6 Black is being shunted off the board. ] [ 15...c5 16.xf6 gxf6 17.h5 e7 18.d4 d7 19.ae1 ] 16.g5+- xe4 17.cxe4 d5 18.f2 xf4 19.g4 d2 20.ad1 We may forgive White, it's a quickplay game. [ 20.d3! c5 21.xc5 bxc5 22.ad1 xc2 23.f4 f8 24.c1 xb3 25.xc5 xc5 26.xc5 d7 27.e2 ] 20...xc2 21.f4 Correctly playing for attack, given the time limit. c5 22.g4 xg4 23.xf7+ h8 24.hxg4 e6 25.e3 xb3 26.f5 e7 [ 26...xa4 27.g6 hxg6 28.xg6 leaves the Black King wide open. ] 27.xe7 xe3+ 28.h1 xe7 29.xe7 The middle game was rather poor but I do feel that White's opening play is worthy of close scrutiny. The moves a2-a4 and b2-b3! drain the dynamism from Black's position and then the Kingside pawn advance follows on naturally. An easy plan to remember and very effective too! The Czech System is currently under pressure. 1-0

898 Khenkin,Igor McNab,Colin Anderson Koszalin [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2550 2490 1997

We considered the Fianchetto system against the Pirc in the Karpov-Timman game. Now let's have a closer look at the line. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g3 g7 5.g2 0-0 6.ge2 e5 7.h3 This is the most precise move order. [ After 7.0-0 c6 White can't play 8.e3 because of g4 ] 7...c6!? [ The old move 7...c6 gives White the slightly bet ter ch ances. Fo r e xam ple th e gam e Aseev-Zakharevich, Elista 1994 continued: 8.a4 exd4 9.xd4 e8 10.0-0 a6 11.a5 926

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) The breakthrough in the centre looks premature: 11...c5 12.e1 d5 13.exd5 xe1+ 14.xe1 xd5 15.xd5 xd4 ( 15...cxd5 16.e3 is also better for White. ) 16.e7+ g7 17.a6! and White destroys Black's Queenside.; B) 11...b4 12.f4 a6 13.g4 h6 14.de2 c5 15.e3 c7 16.d2 d7 ( 16...c6 17.b3 xa5? 18.g5 hxg5 19.fxg5 h7 20.d5 winning ) 17.f2 c6 18.g3 ad8 19.fe1 First White strengthens the e 4 - s q u a r e a s i n K a r p o v- T i m m a n d7 and now the simple 20.a4 ( instead of t h e d u b i o u s 20.g5?! ) 20...de7 21.c3 xa4 22.xa4 c6 23.b4 secured White a huge edge. ] 8.e3 d7 9.0-0 exd4 10.xd4 e8 The critical position of this line. 11.e1 [ 11.de2 is less accurate as it allows b5! and in a complicated position Black has go o d c h a n c e s: 12.a3 ( 12.xb5 xe4 13.bc3 xc3 14.xc3 b8 15.b1 c8 16.h2 a5 17.d5 b4 18.c3 xd5 19.xd5 b5 20.d2 xh3! and Black won a pawn for nothing in Molvig-Sorensen, Copenhagen 1995.) 12...b8 13.c1 c8 14.h2 a5 with excellent prospects for Black: 15.g5 b4 16.axb4 axb4 17.xf6 xf6 18.d5 g7 19.g4 b5 20.g3 c5 21.b1 d8 22.d1 e5 23.xb4 h4 Prandstetter-Fritz, Berlin 1991. ] 11...c8 12.h2 e5!? A very ambitious plan which is also typical in similar positions in the King's Indian. 13.g4! White prevents th e Ro ok 's t ra nsf e r to h 5 wh ere it wou ld create serious threats for White's King, and is also ready to play f2-f4 next move. xg4!? A very interesting try, unfortunately it meets wit h a nic e re f u t a t io n . 14.hxg4 xg4+ 15.g1 xe3 16.xe3 xd4 17.xd4 b5 18.d2 xb2 The previous moves for both sides were forced. Black has collected three pawns for his piece, but by very energetic play W hite now proves his advantage. 19.c1! b6 20.d5 d8 21.e5!! The introduction to a brilliant combination. [ 21.xb6 axb6 is OK for Black as he will win the exchange back on the next move (22... Bxa1 or 22... Bh6) ] 21...xe5 22.h3! Now 23.Qh6 is threatened as well as 23. Nxb6. b5

[ 22...xa1 doesn't help either: 23.xa1 h5 24.f6+ f8 25.xh5! gxh5 26.h8+ e7 27.e3+ d7 28.h3+! c6 29.c3+ with a quick mate. ] 23.h6! xa1 [ 23...c6 24.xh7+ f8 25.f3! g7 26.xg6! d7 27.h3!! winning ] [ 23...g7 24.xh7+ f8 25.e1 c6 26.e7 e5 27.xe5 dxe5 28.xg6+! fxg6 29.f3+ f6 30.xg6 winning ] 24.c3!! Excellent! After the Rook sacrifice White plays a quiet move! [ 24.xh7+ is premature as Black has f8 25.c3 xd5! 26.xd5 g5+! with a perpetual. ] 24...xd5 [ 24...xc3 leads to a beautiful mate: 25.xc3! h5 26.xh5 gxh5 27.d5 f6 28.xf6+ f7 29.d5+ e7 30.g7#! ] 25.xd5 f6 26.xh7+ f8 27.h8+! Black resigned as he loses a Rook. An excellent game! 1-0

899 Kobalia,Mihail Burmakin,Vladimir Novgorod [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2537 2534 1999

This game proved once again that the line with 4.Bg5 is one of the most dangerous setups against the Pirc Defence. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.f4 c6 6.d2 b5 [ A n o t h e r p o s si b i li t y i s 6...0-0 7.d3 and now b6 is one of Black's best possibilities. The game Yakovich - Wang Pin, Beijing 1997 continued with 8.ge2 ( after 8.e5 d5 9.xd5 cxd5 10.c3 d7 11.e2 e8 12.a4 f6 13.exf6 exf6 14.h4 f5 Black had obtained a good position in the game Romanishin - G.Kuzmin, Tallinn 1979 since his Knight has the possibility of going to e4.) 8...e5 9.0-0-0 exd4 10.a4 c7 11.xd4 bd7 12.c3 b5 13.he1 b4 14.b1 a5 15.f3 c5 with good prospects for Black on the queenside. ] 7.d3 b6?! Black's position can tolerate 927

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 either b5 or Qb6, but combining both of them asks for trouble. It's important that after b5 the b2-pawn is not hanging. 8.e5! [ 8.f3 g4 is unclear. ] 8...d5 [ Bad is 8...dxe5? 9.fxe5 d5 10.xd5 cxd5 11.b4! and White wins a pawn (e7 or b5). ] 9.xd5 cxd5 10.c3 dxe5 11.fxe5 c6 12.e2 b4 13.e3! Preparing to castle. [ 13.h6 xh6 14.xh6 a6 15.xa6 xa6 16.g7 f8 17.xh7 bxc3 18.bxc3 b8 gives Black strong counterplay, as the penetration of Black's Rook to the 2nd rank is unavoidable. ] 13...bxc3 14.bxc3 a6 15.f4 e6 16.0-0 e7? The text move allows White to gain some tempi. [ 16...a5 was better but White has a very unpleasant initiative on the kingside after 17.xa6 xa6 18.d3! c4 ( or 18...0-0 19.g5 c4 20.f4 ) 19.f2 0-0 20.g5 ] 17.ab1 c6 18.xa6 xa6 19.d3 0-0 20.c5 c6 21.g5 c8 [ 21...ae8 was losing immediately. 22.b7 c8 23.f4 ] 22.f4 b6 [ 22...a5 was as bad: 23.b7 a7 24.xa7 xa7 25.e7 winning ] 23.e7 e8 24.xf8 xf8 25.d3!? [ An interesting idea: to transfer the Knight to the kingside although the direct 25.a4 c8 26.a5 d7 27.b7 xc5 28.dxc5 xc5+ 29.h1 was good enough as well. ] 25...c8 26.bc1 c7 [ 26...a4!? 27.f2 xc3 ( 27...xc3 28.f3 xa2 29.g4 ) 28.g4 e7 was more stubborn, according to Mikhail Kobalia. ] 27.f2! a4 28.g4 xa2 29.f6+ h8 30.f3 A decisive attack. Black's King will be ma t ed so o n . c4 31.h3 h5 32.xh5+ Black resigned. [ 32.xh5+ gxh5 33.g5 ] 1-0

900 Kobalia,Mihail Zakharevich,Igor Yekaterinburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2573 2523 1999

An exciting encounter in the Byrne variation by two leading experts. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.d2 c6 6.f4 0-0 7.f3 b5 8.d3 g4 [ T h e o l d m o v e 8...bd7 was played in Ulibin - Joksic, Padova, 1999. In this game W h it e h a s t rie d a ve ry in t e re st in g n e w approach: 9.e5! ( 9.0-0 was played in Birn Gipslis. Although White won this game, my comments prove Black had some possibilities to equalize.) 9...b4 10.e2 dxe5 ( 10...d5 is the alternative to the text, but it looks quite dubious: 11.exd6 f6 12.dxe7 xe7 13.h4 e3 -this attempt to obtain counterplay at the cost of a pawn is parried by 14.f2! and if xg2+ ,then 15.f1 , winning a piece.) 11.fxe5 d5 12.h6! b8 13.h4! White takes advantage of the fact he hasn't castled yet and begins a very dangerous kingside attack. f6 14.h5 g5 This move is losing by force, but I've failed to find a real improvement for Black. 15.xg7 xg7 16.e6 7b6 17.xg5! a6 ( The Knight is taboo: 17...fxg5 18.xg5+ h8 19.e5+ f6 20.xb8 w i t h a d e c i s i v e m a t e r i a l a d v a n t a g e .) 18.xa6 fxg5 19.xg5+ White has 2 extra pawns as well as a strong attack against Black's King. The rest needs no comment. h8 20.d3 f6 21.h6 g8 22.g7+! Ulibin converts his advantage into the full point very convincingly. xg7 23.hxg7+ xg7 24.xh7+ g8 25.0-0-0 bf8 26.g3 xe6 27.dh1 f6 28.7h6 d6 29.f5 d7 30.g4 f7 31.g5 g4 32.g6+ e8 33.g7+ d8 34.e6+ e8 35.h8 , and Black resigned. ] 9.e5 b4 10.e2 xf3 11.gxf3 d5 12.c4 a5 13.0-0-0 f6 14.exf6 exf6 15.h4 h6 16.g3!? Up to this move it's been well known theory. W hite's last move is a novelty, prepared especially for this game. [ Zakharevich is a well-known expert in this line and he had already played this position vs Dreev. In that game W hite pref erred 928

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.f2 ,but after d7 17.h4 7b6 18.d3 a4! Black had seized the initiative. ] 16...d7 17.h4 7b6 18.d3 a4! [ During his preparation White considered only 18...a4? This move is really bad here purely because the f4-pawn is protected! 19.h5 ac3 ( 19...g5 20.hg1 ) 20.hxg6! The position of W hite's Bishop made this mo ve p o s s ib le . xe2+ 21.xe2 xf4 22.xf4! This is the difference in comparison wit h t h e a b o ve -m e n t i o n e d g a m e . xf4+ 23.b1 and White obtains a decisive attack. ] 19.h5 g5! Black's excellent feel for the position enables him to find the drawbacks of White's novelty. Having his Bishop on the g3square, White can't exploit g-file effectively. 20.f5 a3 21.b3 With kings castled on opposite sides sharp mutual attacks are quite usual. But here both sides have rather limited attacking resources, because both kings are in safety behind their pawn chains. Now both sides begin to manoeuvre, trying improve the positions of their pieces. d7 22.f2 fe8 23.e4 a7 24.b1 a5 25.e1 ab8 26.a1 c8! 27.g1 a7 28.d3 Protecting the f5-pawn and threatening 29. B:d5 Q: d5 30.Nf4!, Ne6 to follow, so Black has to prevent this. h8! 29.g4 bc8 30.c4?! White has clearly overestimated his chances. [ White was afraid that after 30.c1 b5 he will have no active plan, but here Black also doesn't have many possibilities. In my opinion, this position is about equal. ] 30...bxc3 31.xc3 f4 32.b1 c7 Now it's clear that White is in an u n c o m f o r t a b l e s i t u a t i o n . Hi s f o r c e s a r e uncoordinated (the rook's position on g4 looks quite strange), and Black is threatening d6-d5 at the right moment followed by the penetration of the rook down e-file. But in playing his 30th move White hoped for 33.d5 cxd5 34.xf4 [ Other moves lose on the spot: 34.xd5 xd5 35.xd5 xe1! ] [ or 34.xd5 xe1 ] 34...gxf4 35.xd5 g7 36.c3 It may seem that at the cost of the exchange W hite has firmly seized the initiative and compelled Black to passively defend. But an unpleasant

s u r p r i s e a w a i t s h i m . b5! Excellent counterattacking resource. Black exploits the poor position of White's King. White definitely missed this blow. 37.b4 [ Unfortunately, 37.xf6 loses on the spot in view of xf6+ 38.xf6 g7! and White is hopeless: 39.d3 xf6+ 40.b1 c3+ 41.c2 xe4+ ] 37...a7! 38.d3 f2 39.d2 g8! the decisive move. W hit e ha s no thin g t o op po se t he pe n et rat ion of Bla ck's m ajo r pieces on the 7th rank. 40.c3 [ 40.xb5 d4+ ] 40...xc3 41.xc3 g2! The rest is just agony. 42.xf6+ g7 43.xg7+ xg7 44.f6+ h6 45.b1 c1! This nice blow is the logical result of Black's strategy. White resigned because of unavoidable mate: [ 45...c1 46.xc1 ( 46.xc1 xa2# ) 46...d4+ So we can conclude that 8...Bg4 is Black's best choice in the Byrne variation, wh e re B la ck c a n s u cce ssf u lly f igh t f o r initiative. ] 0-1

901 Kotronias,Vasilios Felgaer,Ruben 37th Olympiad (5) [Jonathan Rowson]

B07 2598 2580 25.05.2006

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 6.c4 e6 [ 6...e8 As I suggested last month, I think this is a better move here. Indeed, A z m a i p a r a s h vi l i d e s c r i b e s 6 . . . B e 6 a s 'passive' and I tend to agree with him. Once yo u ge t o ve r t h e e xci t e m e n t a b o u t t h e doubled e-pawns not being as bad as they look, there is not much to be said for Black's position. ] 7.xe6 fxe6 8.e3 d6 9.f3 e7 10.ge2 Nothing much wrong with this, but I prefer the approach covered last month. The problem is that the white's knights don't look bad, but familiarity with this structure tells you that they want to be on d3 and d2, and it will take them a while to get there now. [ 10.b1!? intending c3 and Nd2, and Nh3f2-d3 (Vescovi). ] 929

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10...a6 11.d1 h6 12.b3 c6 13.b2 [ 13.c3 keeping Black at bay, looks better. ] 13...b4! Hassling White before he can settle down and build up pressure on e5. 14.d2 hd8 15.c1 c6 16.a4 In general, I don't think this move should be played until Black has played a5 himself because otherwise it weakens b3(c3 will have to played) without gaining anything in return. [ 16.c3 a3 17.c2 xb2 18.xb2 d3 looks awkward, until you see 19.c5+ f7 20.ad1 ad8 21.xd3 xd3 22.c2 when white keeps control, and a pair of rooks on(useful for creating play on the queenside). ] 16...d7 17.c3 b5 18.b4 [ 18.c2 b4 seems to give sufficient counterplay. ] 18...a5 19.axb5 axb4 20.c2?! Understand ably not ceding the a-file, but in fact W hite should give the a-file in order to pin the knight when it goes to a5. [ 20.xa8 xa8 21.c2 a5 22.a1 looks like a serious advantage. ] 20...a5 21.cxb4 xb4 22.d3 d6 23.d2 c4 24.b4 Black has lots of moves now. a3+ 25.b2 [ 25.xa3 xa3 26.c6+ e8 27.xd8 a2+ 28.d3 c5+ 29.e3 xd8 30.b1 allows the game to continue, but it is hard t o b e l i e v e W h i t e i s r e a l l y b e t t e r wh e n Black's rook is so active. ] 25...c4+ 26.c2 a3+ ½-½

902 Kotronias,Vasilios Skembris,Spyridon ch-GRE Athens GRE (9) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2599 2446 12.12.2004

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 One might wonder at first glance why Black should ever wish to go into this ending. His King is stuck in the centre and W hite maintains the advantage of the first move. He also seems to have a free tempo with 6 Bc4 that will put Black even more at a disadvantage. There's no doubt about it, Black's position appears prospectless. But

that's not the full story. It all depends on style. If you are a tough defender, who is willing to wait for an opportunity or a player who wishes take the prospect of direct attack away from the opponent, then the solid Black position might well be for you. Or.....you are happy with a draw. Now this thing about drawing....At a lower level one might fling up one's hands in horror at the thought of just playing for a draw, but I assure you that to have the Black pieces against a strong, experienced adversary is no easy task. So it's not all black and white and who knows, the guy might overstretch. Black has won many games with this line when White did just that! 6.c4! He should do this o f c o u rs e . b4!? A new one on me. My first impression that it is more combative than the normal idea of just shoring up the centre. The following fragment is pretty representative of that approach: [ 6...e8 7.f3 d6 8.g5 e6 9.d2 bd7 10.0-0-0 h6 11.h4 e7 12.xe6 fxe6 The famous doubled central pawns, so common to this variation. W ell, they certainly co ver a lot of squares. 13.c4 b6 14.xb6 axb6 15.f3 b5 16.xb5 xa2 17.b1 a5 18.c4 ha8 19.c2 a4 20.b3 8a6 21.d3 Rublevsky I agitated over whether this was slightly or clearly better for White but that is not really the main issue. Black has very little counterplay. ] [ 6...e6 7.xe6 fxe6 leads to roughly the same sort of game. ] 7.d2 e7 I guess Black is hoping that playing his King to e7 in one move is a gain. 8.0-0-0 [ 8.f3 d6 9.h3 is relatively simple. Whether White can expect anything this way is o pe n to d ou bt : e6 10.b3 bd7 11.0-0-0 c6 12.h4! Interestingly, White does not take on e6 this time. A) 12...b4 13.f5+ xf5 ( 13...f8 14.xe6 fxe6 15.e3 e7 16.f3 hd8 17.a3 ) 14.exf5 c5 15.he1 xb3+ 16.axb3 leaves the Black King looking pretty exposed.; B) 12...g6 13.g3 xb3 14.axb3 c5 15.g5 c7 ( 15...ad8 ) 16.f4 h6 17.xf6+ xf6 18.hf1 exf4 19.gxf4 ad8 20.de1 g7 ( 20...d4; 930

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20...he8 ) 21.e5 he8 22.b4 e6 Cools,G-Thiry,J/ TCh-BEL 2003 ] 8...bd7N 9.f3 c6 10.d5+! The fate of this move will decide the overall assessment of 6...Bb4. A couple of pairs of pieces are going to be exchanged, which you would have thought might favour Black, but at the end of it all the Black central position loses its ' t igh t ' lo o k an d h is K ing is o p e n . xd5 11.exd5 xd2+ 12.xd2 cxd5 13.xd5 b6 14.b3 f6 15.he1 d8 So is this position equal or not? One thing is for sure White MUST attack because Black's King will be very well placed if too many pieces come off. 16.a4 a5 [ Frankly, I see nothing wrong for Black at all after 16...f5! just getting the pieces out. White can play f4 if he wants to: A) 17.f3 ac8 18.f4 g4 19.f3 xd1+ 20.xd1 xf3+ 21.gxf3 d6 22.fxe5+ fxe5 23.e2 c4 24.d1+ e7 25.d5 f6 26.a5=; B) 17.f4 g4 18.f3 xd1+ 19.xd1 xf3+ 20.gxf3 d8+ 21.c1 d7 22.fxe5 fxe5 23.d5 ( 23.f4 f6 ) 23...b6=; C) 17.a5 d5 18.f1 e6 19.xd5 xd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.e3 e6 22.d1 d8= ] 17.f4 g4 18.fxe5!? The best practical try to win as demonstrated by the game. Kotronias frightens Skembris with this move. [ 18.f3 leads nowhere, as the last note implies. Well, it leads to a draw. ] 18...xd1 19.exf6+ d7? Horrible. What on earth was going through his head? Aggressive play with the King was called for and Black holds his own: [ 19...xf6 20.e6+ g5! 21.xb6 ( 21.xd1 I'm guessing that this is why Skembris didn't play ...Kxf6. d7 22.e4+ h4 23.e2 f8 24.e5 e8! j u s t i n t i m e .) 21...g4 22.xb7 d7 23.e4+ f4 ] 20.e7+?! Mistake for mistake although at the board this move must have looked pretty good. [ Deep Fritz shows 20.fxg7! to be better: g4 ( 20...xc2 21.xc2 ac8+ 22.b1 g8 23.e6+ d6 24.xc8 xc8 25.e4+ e5 26.g5+ f6 27.xh7+ g6

28.f8+ xg7 29.e6++- ) 21.e4! c7 ( 21...f5 22.f6+ d6 23.g4 g6 24.g8 xg8 25.xg8 xa4 26.e6+ c7 27.xh7+- ) 22.f6 h5 23.g8 xg8 24.xg8 f8 25.e7+ d7 26.f7 xf7 27.xf7 h4 28.b3 ] 20...c6 21.fxg7! g4 22.h3 d5? [ Just bringing the bishop back into play was called for: 22...f5 23.f3 ( 23.g4 g6 ) 23...d6 24.xb7 d7 25.d4 e4 26.b5 f6= It is clear that Skembris has been really unsettled by White's unbalancing tactics. ] 23.e5! Cutting ...Bf5 out, an important gain for White. f6 [ 23...d7 24.c4!! g8 25.hxg4 gxg7 26.b5+ c7 27.xd7 xd7 28.g5+- ] 24.hxg4 e8 25.f3+Let's take stock: W hite has a magnificent Bishop and three extra pawns for an exchange. The g pawn will surely cost Black extra material. It's all over. h6 26.f5 g8 27.d4+ b6 28.xg8 xg8 29.f7 ac8 30.f5 c7 31.f6+ c5 32.xh6 b4 33.b6+ xa4 When you are totally lost, you can play in such a fashion. 34.b1 e8 35.c3 d7 36.d6 dd8 37.b3+ a3 38.c4# Summarizing, I think the endgame isn't too bad for Black overall, and that 6...Bb4 shows a new way to play it. One must be quite content with a draw though. 1-0

903 Landa,Konstantin Korotylev,Alexey Moscow [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2542 2440 1999

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 A very ambitious attempt to combine the advantages of Dolmatov's setup the protected d4 square) and Austrian attack (a strong pawn centre). f6 [ An attempt at immediate breakthrough in the centre with 4...e5?! is premature: 5.dxe5 h4+ 6.g3 e7 7.exd6 xe4+ 8.e2 xe2+ 9.xe2 cxd6 10.a3! e6 11.b5 d7 12.f5! gxf5 13.f4 f6 14.xd6 d5 15.0-0-0 e7 16.g2 xf4 17.xf4 931

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c6 18.xb7 and White is winning, Portisch-Suttles, Siegen 1970. ] 5.d3 0-0 6.f3 c5! Black has to attack White's centre without delay, otherwise White will complete his development and launch dangerous kingside attack with 0-0, Qe1, e5 etc. 7.dxc5 bd7! By this unexpected temporary pawn sacrifice Black manages to solve all his problems. [ 7...dxc5 This pawn structure (with a pawn o n f 4 ) n o r m a l l y f a vo u r s W h i t e . J u s t 2 examples to illustrate Black's difficulties: 8.0-0 ( 8.e5 d5 9.e4 c7 10.e2 f5 11.d3 b6 12.c4+ e6 13.0-0 c6 14.a3 b7 15.b5 d5 16.d6 e7 17.g5 d8 18.xb7 xb7 19.d1 c7 20.d7 e8 21.d1 c6 22.d6 xd6 23.exd6 d5 24.xe6 xe6 25.xd5 h8 26.xa8 1-0 Saidy - Sznapik, Lublin 1973. ) 8...c6 9.e5 d5 10.e4 b6 11.a3 c7 12.e3 a6 13.e2 d8 14.f2 d7 15.g5 h6 16.xf7 xf7 17.e6+ xe6 18.f5+ f7 19.fxg6+ g8 20.f7+ h8 21.xh6 g8 22.xg7+ xg7 23.e8+ g8 24.g7+ 1-0 Ree-van Baarle, Nederland 1972. ] 8.e2?! This move allows Black to seize the initiative. [ The alternatives are: 8.e3!? xc5 9.xc5 dxc5 10.a3 c7 11.e5 d5 12.g3 d8 13.e2 a6 14.0-0 g4 and Black's chances are by no means worse, BareevTodorcevic, Belgrade 1988. ] [ 8.cxd6 exd6 9.0-0 ( 9.e3?! e8 10.bd2 d5! 11.e2 xe3 12.xe3 f6 13.g3 f5 14.0-0-0 c8 with ample compensation, Komljenovic-Todorcevic, San Sebastian 1991.) 9...c5 10.c2 Other moves doesn't promise W hite any advantage as either: ( 10.e1 e8 11.c2 xd3 12.xd3 xe4 13.xe4 f5 14.e3 xe4 15.e2 e7 and the strong light s qu a r e d b is h o p s e c u re s B l a c k s li gh t l y better chances, Brustman - Segal, Manila 1992.; 10.e5 dxe5 11.xe5 g4 12.c4 xe5 13.fxe5 xd1 14.xd1 e6 15.a3 xe5 with an equal endgame, LodhiNorwood,Dhaka 1993.) 10...e8 11.bd2 d7!? 12.d4 c8 13.h1 e7 14.f5 fxe4 15.xe4 xe4 16.fxg6 hxg6 and Black has good prospects, Hodgson -

Norwood, 1989. ] 8...xc5 9.c2 b6! Black exploits the drawbacks of White's set-up very convincingly. 10.0-0 a6 11.c4 d5! Breaking White's center and taking the initiative into his hands. 12.exd5 xd5 13.d1 e6 The pin looks unpleasant, but really W hite can't derive benefit from it. 14.e5 Hoping to close the "monster" on g7! c7 15.a3 b4! 16.d2 xc2 17.xc2 ad8 18.b4 g5! Another break in the center, now with even more disastrous consequences for W hite. 19.d4 White can't hold the material balance: [ 19.g3 gxf4 20.gxf4 f6 21.g4 xf4 is hopeless. ] 19...gxf4 20.dc6 Giving up another pawn in hope of creating counterplay. xd1+ 21.xd1 xc4! 22.xc4 xe5 23.xe5 xe5 The slightly insecure position of Black's King doesn't compensate White for the loss of two pawns. 24.e1 [ After 24.c3 Black wins by force: e3+ 25.h1 e4! 26.d4 d8! 27.h3 f2+ 28.g1 xd4! 29.xd4 e1+ 30.h2 h1# ] 24...f5 25.d4 h6 26.e5 [ 26.c3 f6 is also bad for White. ] 26...b1+ 27.e1 f5 28.e5 f6 29.h4 [ White could win one pawn back but the endgame after 29.xc5 bxc5 30.xc5 d8 31.e1 xb2 32.xa7 d2 33.a8+ g7 is hopeless for him. ] 29...d8 Now the game is over. 30.xc5 bxc5! 31.c3 d1+ 32.f2 xh4+ 33.e2 h1 White resigned. 0-1

904 Landa,Konstantin Rudolf,Henrik ECC, Rethymnon (2) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2610 2315 2003

BRUTAL 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 5.d2 bd7 6.f3 e5!? We've seen all this sort of stuff before. Black delays ... Bg7 hoping that White will play Bh6 prematurely and tries to find constructive moves in the meantime. White in turn delays Bh6 until the right moment. 7.h3 g7 932

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ No-one famous seems to have tried the [ 5...xf3 is hardly to be recommended here, immediate 7...e7!? so I will suggest it. for example after 6.xf3 e5 7.e3 a5 Some analysis: 8.0-0-0 ( 8.a4 g7 9.d3 8.0-0-0 e7 9.g4 White was already clearly 0-0 10.0-0 exd4 11.xd4 e5 12.e2 better in Aabling Thomsen, J (2314)e6=; 8.d3 g7 9.h6 xh6 10.xh6 Krasenkow, M (2628) Copenhagen 2010 exd4 11.xd4 c5 12.0-0-0 e6 13.e3 and in fact he went on to beat his much 0-0-0 ) 8...g7 ( 8...b5!? 9.dxe5 dxe5 ) higher rated opponent. ] 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.g4 0-0 Not sure about all 6.d3 this but it's worth a look. ] [ 6.g4 g6 7.e2! looks like a very 8.h6 0-0 9.xg7 xg7 10.0-0-0 e8 tempting option here for White a5 ( 7...e6 [ As Black's Queen is so ineffectual in the 8.g5 fd7 9.h4 was better for White in game he could consider .. Qe7 now: Lahno, K (2557)-Reinderman, D (2581) Wijk 10...e7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 h5 13.dxe5 aan Zee 2012 so Black sacrificed a pawn dxe5 14.e2 f6 ] with d5!? 10.exd5 cxd5 11.xg6 hxg6 11.g4 b5 12.g5 h5 13.e2! This is why 12.xd5 c6 but he didn't have quite the 150 attack has such broad appeal. White enough compensation after 13.c3 a5 intends to root the defender out and go to 14.b5! xb5 15.c7+ d8 16.xb5 a6 work with the h pawn. Black's counterplay on 17.a3 xa3 18.bxa3 although the game the queenside is a long way off. b6 14.g3 eve n t u a lly e n d e d in a d ra w.; 7...d5 xg3 doesn't solve Black's problems after 8.e5 [ 14...f4 15.dxe5 dxe5 16.xe5 e4 9.e6! fxe6 10.e5 a5 11.xg6 is a disaster for Black. ] hxg6 12.e3 and White has an excellent 15.fxg3 exd4 16.xd4 c5? position. ) 8.d2 a6 ( 8...b6 [ 16...e5 17.e2 e6 had to be played ca n b e se e n in Nyba ck-P ura n e n in t h e and White's attack isn't so dangerous. The archives but in summary White is just doing threat to e4 is illusory. ] well in these positions!) 9.e3 b6 10.g5 17.g2 xe4 18.f4! Now its tough for h5 and now in Alonso Rosell, A (2529) Black. f6 and f7 creak and Black can't defend Romero Holmes, A (2508) San Agustin 2012 both. d5 19.hf1 b7 20.xc6! White would've been clearly better with the Very strong indeed. If the attack falters, White simple 11.0-0-0 ( instead after 11.a4 c7 wins all the endgames. e6 21.d4 ad8?? 12.c4?! e5! the position wasn't so clear )] He gave up. 6...e6 7.g4 g6 8.g5 [ 21...g8 22.fe1 is enduringly passive, [ 8.e2 doesn't lead to much here as after but it might be possible to defend. ] e7 9.d2 d5! Black has no problems ] 22.xe6+ After either capture on e6, White 8...fd7 takes on e4, winning. A sudden finish. [ 8...h5?! runs into 9.e2! and the knight 1-0 is in trouble on h5 ] 9.h4 d5 10.xg6 hxg6 11.g4?! [ 11.f4 was a better option - planning to 905 B07 meet b6 with 12.exd5! xd4 ( 12...cxd5?! 13.b5; 12...xb2?! 13.d2 Leko,Peter 2732 exd5 14.b1 a3 15.xb7 ) 13.e3 e5 Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 2764 14.dxe6 xe6 15.e2 followed by 0-0-0 FIDE GP Tashkent (2.4) 23.11.2012 and White has an excellent game. ] [Tom Rendle] 11...b6 Now Black is absolutely fine. 12.e2 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f3 g4 a6 13.c3 dxe4 14.xe4 c7 15.f3 b5! Mamedyarov brings his knight back to 5.h3 [ T h e q u i e t e r 5.e2 was played against the centre where it will do an excellent job on Mamedyarov earlier this year by Hou Yifan d6. 16.a4 d6 17.a5 b5 18.d3 d5 19.xd5 cxd5 White may have the two in a game I annotated in the archives. ] bishops here but the pawn on g5 has lef t 5...h5 933

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 behind some weak squares and that's enough compensation to ensure Black is in no danger here. 20.a6 b6 21.h4 c8 22.g3 e7 23.e2 f8 24.f4 c4 25.h5 [ 25.ab1!? was interesting and now d6 sh o u ld b e e n o u gh t o h o ld e qu a lit y ( not 25...b5 26.b3 a3 27.a1! and the knight is a little awkwardly placed on a3 and the pawn on c3 cannot be taken because after xc3?! then 28.hc1! xc1 29.xc1 and suddenly there's an embarrassing check on c8 to deal with )] 25...gxh5 26.xh5 g8 27.c1 [ 27.g3 xh1 28.xh1 xb2 29.h7+ f8 30.d3 and Black should take a draw with g8 ( 30...e8?! 31.b5! gives White a dangerous initiative) 31.h7+ f8 32.d3= ] 27...g6 28.g3 xh1 29.xh1 e5 Now it's Black that has slightly the better chances but Leko is up to the defensive task. 30.dxe5 cxe5 31.b5 c5 32.e3 e6 33.d1 c7 [ 33...xg5 leads to a drawn endgame after 34.xd5 xe3 35.fxe3 c5 36.xc5 xc5 37.f2 f8 38.b4 ] 34.d3?! [ 34.f4! was best and White is comfortable after xb5 35.fxe5 c7 36.f2 as the knight gets to g4 and the resulting position should be a draw. ] 34...e8! Suddenly White has to be very careful 35.f4 xg5! 36.f2 [ not 36.fxg5 g4 37.f3 xe3 and Black has good winning chances ] 36...xd3 37.xd3 e7 38.f3 Black has an extra pawn but White has enough activity to hold a draw with accurate play. f6 39.d4 f7 40.h1 xa6 41.a1 c5 42.xc5 bxc5 43.f5! g5 44.xa7 f8 45.b4 W hite is happy to swap pawns as this just brings a draw ending closer. c4 46.c5 Black cannot allow the knight to reach e6 so he must take on c5 and the rook and pawn ending is a simple draw. xc5 47.bxc5 c8 48.a6 f7 49.a7+ g8 50.a5 e8 51.a7 c8 52.a5 e8 53.a7 c8 54.a5 With such a passive king Black cannot play for a win so here the players agreed to a draw. ½-½

906 Levin,Felix Nolte,Christian Schachtuerken-Cup A (2) [Eric Prié]

B07 2486 2111 27.12.2009

1.f3 d6 2.d4 d7 3.e4! g6 4.c4! e5? [ 4...h6 5.e5 With the idea e5-e6 and then Qd3 attacking g6 is quite strong, much like ] [ 4...gf6 5.e5 which makes ] [ 4...e6 The only move, with the idea to play a Hippopotamus implying a double fianchetto - an idea that can now be t h w a r t e d b y 5.a4! Profiting from the inappropriate black move order and directed against the couple Nd7/Bc8. ( 5.e2 g7 6.e5 e7 7.0-0 El Debs, F (2480)-Rodriguez Vila, A (2521) Campinas 2010 1-0(53)) 5...a6 6.a5 With the idea of castling kingside and an easy course of action for White. b5? 7.axb6 cxb6 8.e2 b5 9.xb5 ] 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.g5 [ 6.xf7+!! xf7 7.g5+ A) 7...e7 8.d5 df6 ( 8...e8 9.e6+ d8 10.f7+ ) 9.xe5+ d7 10.e6#; B) 7...e8 8.e6 h4 9.c3! b4 ( 9...c6 ) 10.xc7+ f8 ( 10...f7 11.d5+; 10...d8 11.g5+ xg5 12.e6+ ) 11.0-0! b8 12.e6+ f7 13.g5+ g7 14.d5 h6 15.e6+ f7 ( 15...f6 16.g5+ xg5 17.xg5 xg5 18.f4+ ) 16.g5 g4 ( 16...b6 17.d8+ e8 18.xe5+ ) 17.c7+ g7 18.f3 xg5 19.e6+ ] 6...e7? [ 6...e7? 7.d5 ] [ 6...f6 7.e3 ] 7.f6! g8 [ 7...xf6 8.xf7+ xf7 9.xd8 ] 8.g5 1-0

934

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 relevant to learning opening theory. g6 7.0-0 g7 8.d2 0-0 9.a4 b6 10.a5 bxa5 Looshnikov,Nikolai 11.a4 b8 12.b3 cxd4 13.cxd4 b4 Gabrielian,Artur 14.xa5 xa5 15.xa5 e5 16.c4 exd4 14th Master Open (4) 17.xd6 h6 18.d2 xb3 19.c4 b6 [John Shaw] 20.e5 g4 21.f4 [ 21.xf7+ xf7 22.xc8 is messy but 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.d3 c7 promising for White ] A re la te d lin e t o th e syste m I sugge st e d 22.fxe5 xe5 23.f4 d3 against 2.Nf3 a6 3.c3. White is not committed 21...gxe5 to Nf3, Black is not committed to ...a7-a6. 24.g3 xc4 25.xc4 b4 26.d2 e8 27.d6 b2 28.c4 c2 29.e5 b7 5.g5 [ 5.f3 g6 6.0-0 g7 7.h3 is the closest 30.f3 d2 31.b4 d8 [ 31...xf3 was even simpler ] this variation has to a main line. For e x a m p l e , a n o t h e r G a b r i e l i a n g a m e 32.xd2 dxd2 33.xd2 xd2 34.b1 continued: 0-0 8.e1 fd7!? 9.g5 c6! xg2 35.a4 d5 36.e4 d4+ 37.f1 10.d5 ce5 11.xe7 xf3+ 12.gxf3 xe4 38.bb4 d3+ 39.e1 e2+ 40.d1 h6!? Testing a suggestion of Piket in his c3 Informant annotations to Kramnik - Piket, 0-1 Wijk aan Zee 2001, although Piket awarded it an!!. ( 12...e8 is also okay, as Inarkiev B07 has shown in one game) 13.xf8 xf8 908 Black has good compensation on the dark Lopez Martinez,Josep Manuel 2550 squares. 14.d2 ( 14.f1 e5 was Piket's Gurevich,Mikhail 2635 line ) 14...e5 15.c4 e7 16.xe5 8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (6) 08.04.2007 xe5 17.f1 ( 17.h4!? f4 18.g2 xh4 [John Watson] 19.h1 g5+ 20.f1 ) 17...b5 18.a4 b4 19.c2 b8 20.c4 g7 21.ac1 xh3+ James Vigus brought my attention to this 22.e2 d7 23.b5 c8 24.cxb4 a6 earlier game, which he thinks is theoretically 25.c4 xb4 26.b3 h5 27.d2 h4 28.g1 critical (and who am I to argue!). Indeed, f6 29.e3 g5 30.c2 a5 31.h1 h3 since he gives the general picture that Black 32.f1 e7 33.f4 d4 34.d3 g4 35.e2 is rather counter intuitively exposing himself h4 36.e5 h5 37.exd6 f5 38.d7 b8 t o d ire ct a t t a ck b y p la yi n g t h is lin e , a n y 39.g3 d8 40.f3 xd7 41.d6 f6 change of moves or move orders is extremely 42.e3 h4 43.fxg4 xg4 44.xh3! important. That is, Black has good counterplay xh3+ 45.xh3 xd6 46.d3 d4 on the queenside, and has survived thus far, 47.xd4 1/2-1/2 Khairullin - Gabrielian, but White's attack is presumably within a half Sochi 2005. Black had most of the fun, but tempo or so of succeeding! 1.e4 d6 2.d4 White defended well. ] f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 g7 5.d2 0-0 [ 5.h3 g6 is another move order. ] As Vigus points out, ...Bg7 and ...0-0 is a less [ 5.e2 is also logical. For example, g6 common combination of moves, even 'quite a 6.0-0 g7 7.f3 is a rock-solid way to start r a r e m o v e - e x c e p t a m o n g b e g i n n e r s the game ] a n d 2 6 0 0 p l a ye r s ! ' 6.f3 c6 7.h4 h5 5...bd7 I guess the first question is whether this is [ Black could pla y 5...g6 as taking on f6 n e c e s s a r y. B y a n a l o g y wi t h t h e D r a g o n looks an empty threat. This would keep the Variation of the Sicilian, where White's attack o p t io n o f a la t e r . . . Nf d 7 a s we ll a s t h e is slower than this (relative to Black's that is), obvious Nbd7. ] one would certainly think it desirable to stop 6.e2 A new move. Once again, Black's non- h5. That doesn't mean obligatory, and this forcing yet sound set-up has created a non- would have to be analysed in depth, but a theory position where both sides can just play random few lines might be: c h e s s . T h e r e s t o f t h e ga m e is t h u s n o t [ 7...e5 8.0-0-0 ( 8.g4 exd4 9.xd4 e6

907

B07 2500 2557 15.06.2010

935

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.h5 ) 8...a5 9.b1 e6 10.g4 exd4 11.xd4 b5 12.a3 ] [ 7...b5 8.ge2 ( 8.h5!? xh5 9.ge2 b4 10.d1 and g4 also looks very strong; 8.g4 h5!? ) 8...e5 ( 8...b4 9.d1 a5 10.h5 bd7 11.hxg6 fxg6 12.f4 b6 13.a3 ) 9.h5 ] 8.0-0-0 b5! Certainly natural. [ 8...a5 can be considered, to enforce ...e5, but 9.b1 ('threat' Nd5) e8 10.h6 looks dangerous, e.g., e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.g4 . But often these primitive attacks can be neutralized with the right move order. ] 9.h6 [ The positional method would be 9.d3 b4 10.ce2 , wh e n d ire ct a t t a ck b y a5 wouldn't do much after, for example, 11.b1 e6 12.a3 a6 13.f4 d7 14.c4 ] 9...b4 10.ce2 a5 11.b1 e6!? This allows White to close things up a bit on the queenside, although it can hardly be too bad. [ The other appealing move in this type of position is 11...c5! when White should react quickly, perhaps by 12.g4!? ] 12.c1 c5 [ 12...bd7 ] 13.ge2 [ Perhaps 13.d5 d7 14.g4 , when the queen is cut off from the kingside. ] 13...c4!? [ 13...c4 is met by 14.c3 bxc3 15.xc3 c8 (versus d5), and White can play positionally by 16.d5 ( or go for broke by 16.g4 )] 14.e5!? [ 14.xg7 xg7 15.g5! It's funny: the computer is rarely so untrustworthy as in these lines. But here it finds an odd move (sometimes played in the Dragon, but not in this kind of position) that continues the attack while cutting off all counterplay. ] 14...dxe5 15.dxe5 d5? 16.xg7 [ 16.g5! Again! I'm not so sure that I'd even be inclined to play this move, and yet it practically wins outright. Nf4 and e6 are immediate problems. e6 17.f4 xf1 18.xg7 xg7 19.xh5+ h7 20.xd5! and Nf6+ with h5 will be too strong, e.g., exd5 ( 20...c4 21.f6+ g7 22.h5 h8 23.e8+! ) 21.f6+ g7 22.h5 h8

23.hxg6 xh1 24.gxf7+ xf7 25.g8+ e7 26.e8# ] 16...xg7 17.g5 d8? [ 17...f6 ] 18.xd5? [ 18.g3 leaves Black no kingside defence. Perhaps White feared c3+ but 19.a1 xf1 ( 19...xa2 20.f5+ g8 21.xd8+ xd8 22.xe7+ h7 23.d3! ) 20.f5+ g8 21.xe7+ h7 22.dxf1 ( or 22.f5 xa2+ 23.xa2 xd1+ 24.c1 gxf5 25.bxc3 )] 18...xd5 19.f4 xa2+! These positions are obviously torture to play. Here [ 19...c4? 20.xh5+ f8 21.e6! is strangely killing gxh5 22.f5 f6 23.xh5 g7 24.xc4! c6 25.b3 c7 26.f7+ h8 27.d3 ] 20.xa2 d1+ 21.c1 b3! Suddenly it's Black who is attacking. 22.xh5+ h7 23.cxb3 c6 24.b4? [ 24.b5! xh1 25.xc6 d8 looks very s t r o n g f o r B l a c k , y e t 26.g3 holds: ( o r p e r h a p s 26.f4!? g8 27.e6 ) 26...e1 27.h5 dd1 28.hxg6+ fxg6 29.xe7+ h8= ] 24...xb4?? A tragic mistake, but forgivable, since it misses only one very subtle move. Obviously [ 24...xb4 threatens mate and forces 25.c4 xh1 , so Black must have feared 26.xf7 , but ( 26.xe7?? a1+; 26.g3 a4 ) 26...xc1+ 27.xc1 gxh5 wins, because 28.g5 a6! covers h6 and d3. Instead, ( 28...b6? loses to 29.e6 )] 25.f4 This gives White the advantage with h is p ie ce s ve rsu s t h e ro o k, p e rh a p s n o t enough to win. Eventually he does. xf4?! [ 25...f8 ] 26.xf4 xe5 27.h5 g7 28.hxg6 xg6 29.fd3 c4 30.f2 d4 31.e2 d2 32.e4 d1+ 33.c2 ad8 34.2c3 e1 35.g3 f4 36.h4 d3 37.xd3 cxd3+ 38.d2 g1 39.f5+ f6 40.e3 e6 41.cd1 d7 42.b4 h1 43.f2 h8 44.e4+ e7 45.c5 c7 46.xd3 d8 47.e2 dd7 48.a4 b7 49.c4 d4 50.e3 d5 51.b4 c7 52.c5 d1 53.d2 g1 54.g4 e1+ 55.f4 f6 56.de4+ g6 57.g5 d1 58.a3 d4 59.d3 g7 60.e3 d5 61.dc5 g6 936

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 62.a1 g7 63.f4 d8 64.f6 65.a6 f5 66.a5 g6 67.g4 68.e5+ g7 69.g6 e1+ 70.d2 71.fxe5 xg6 72.a1 f6 73.e3 74.exf6 xf6 75.a6 e5 76.d3 77.xe6 h7 78.f4+ e5 79.e3 80.a5+ d6 81.d3 c6 82.d4 83.e5 h7 84.c4+ b7 85.g5 86.d5 g7 87.e5 b6 88.c4 89.c5 h7 90.c6+ b7 91.e6 92.b5 h7 93.a5 g7 94.b5 95.e7+ a8 96.c6 a1+ 97.b4 98.c5 1-0

909 Macieja,Bartlomiej Azmaiparashvili,Zurab 1st ch-Europe (5) [Carsten Hansen]

g6 d1 xe5 f5 d5 g7 b6 a6 c7+ g7 g1 a2

B07 2538 2675 07.07.2000

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 c6 5.d2 b5 6.d3 bd7 7.f4 g7 With 7. ..Qa5 play will transpose to Beim-van der W iel that we have already examined. 8.f3 [ 8.e5 b4 9.exf6 bxc3 10.xc3 exf6 11.h4 b6 is fairly balanced. ] 8...b6!? A new move, several other things have been tried out, but apparently Azmaiparashvili didn't find these sufficient. 9.e5 b4 10.a4 a5 11.b3 d5 12.0-0 0-0 [ 12...f6 13.h4 0-0 14.a3 fxe5 15.fxe5 leaves White clearly better. He has better development and piece coordination. ] 13.a3 f6 14.h4 h6 15.axb4 xb4 Black decides, more or less forced, to sacrifice the exchange. Although this should be good for White, the positions that arise are r e m a r k a b l y d i f f i c u l t t o p l a y wi t h W h i t e . 16.xb4 xb4 17.e6 b8 18.b6 axb6 19.xa8 xe6 White is an exchange up, but the black position is quite solid, and the white p i e c e s l a c k c o o r d i n a t i o n . 20.e1?! This move looks logical, but in fact it's only making things worse. [ Correct is 20.e1!? , intending Bc4, after which the white pieces are beginning to find each other again. ]

20...f7 21.g5+? I'm sure this is the move W hite was counting on when he played 20 Re1?!. However, there is a big hole in his calculations. fxg5 22.fxg5 d7 Ooooops! Th is is t h e mo ve W h it e m isse d wh e n h e played 20 Re1. It's beautifully simple, but easy to miss. 23.f1+ [ 23.a4 xd3 24.f1+ g8 reaches the same position as the game. ] 23...g8 24.a4 xd3 25.gxh6 f4 26.e1 f7 27.f1 g8 28.e1 f5 29.xe7 d5 30.e4 f7 31.xd6 h3+ 32.gxh3 xd6 Black has a small, but clear advantage in the endgame, which he converts after some time. 33.h4 f5 34.f4 f6 35.c3 g5 36.hxg5+ xg5 37.f3 g6 38.a1 xh6 39.e1 b5 40.h3+ g7 41.e2 f7 42.g2+ h8 43.b2 f6 44.g3 d5 45.e3 g7 46.h3 h5 47.h2 f6 48.g1 g6 49.f2 xb3 50.xf6+ xf6 51.f2 d5 52.e5 f4 53.g3 e6 54.h5 g6 55.e5 c4 56.e3 c7 57.g4 e6+ 58.g3 f5 59.e5+ f6 60.e3 d5 61.f3+ g5 62.h2 h5 63.g3+ f4 64.g6 f5 65.h6 f6 66.h8 g8 67.g3 g5 68.f3 g6 69.f4 g7 70.xg8+ xg8 0-1

910 Magem Badals,Jordi Chernin,Alexander New York [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2535 2645 1998

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.e5!? dxe5 [ 5...fd7 is the main alternative to the text. Theory considers it dubious, but it's premature to draw definite conclusions as only a few games have been played. One example: 6.exd6 ( 6.f4 is also worthy of consideration.) 6...cxd6 7.d2 0-0 8.0-0-0 c6 9.h4! Sacrificing a pawn White wins some important tempi for a kingside attack. xd4?! ( 9...xd4 is better, although White has strong attack for the pawn after 10.h5 e6 11.h6 ) 10.h5 a5 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.xe7! g7 The sole defence against Q h 6 w i t h a q u i c k m a t e . ( 12...xc3 937

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.h6 ) 13.xf8 xf8 Black has no compensation for the exchange, the rest needs no comment. 14.c4 e6 15.xe6 xe6 16.ge2 cd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.h4 f5 19.a4 c5 20.g4 h6 21.f4 b5 22.e4 g3 23.d4 b4 24.e2 xe2+ 25.xe2 a5 26.b1 f8 27.f5 g5 28.d5 c8 29.f6 h6 30.h2 f8 31.h1 e8 32.xg5+ and Black resigned, Ivanovic - Borkowski, Pristina, 1976. ] 6.dxe5 g4! Absolutely the only move. The alternative is bad: [ 6...xd1+ Now White gets an important tempo for developing his rook, an obvious drawback of Black's move. 7.xd1 fd7 ( 7...g4 is even worse in view of 8.h3 xe5 9.d5 and White wins, as was pointed out by Ron Birnbaum.) 8.d5! xe5 9.f3 d6 10.xe7! xe7 11.xc7+ d8 12.xa8 b6 Now White's knight is in danger, but Black is still in trouble due to his pure lack of co-ordination. 13.c4 b7 14.e5! with a huge advantage. ] 7.xd8+ [ The "active" 7.d5 leads White nowhere in view of c6! 8.xe7 a5+! and Black is better, for example: 9.d2 xd2+ 10.xd2 e6 , threatening 11...h6 12.Bh4 g5, winning the brave knight. ] 7...xd8 8.d1+ [ 8.f3!? is worthy of considering: e6! ( After the immediate 8...xe5 9.xe5 xe5 10.0-0-0+ d7 11.c4 W hite's initiative looks very dangerous.) 9.h4 xe5 10.g5 d7 11.g3 bc6 12.b5 , and White has sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn, but hardly more, as the game Raaste-Parma, 1974 proved. ] 8...d7 9.e6 Besides the text, White has oth er po ssibilit ies, b ut no ne of th em are sufficient for achieving an opening advantage, and maybe not even equality: [ 9.d5 I don't think that this move particularly helps W hite. c6 10.b5 ( 10.f4 f6 11.e6 fxg5 12.exd7 e6 ) 10...gxe5 11.f4 h6 12.h4 g4! and White has to prove he has enough for the pawn. ] [ 9.f4 h6 10.h4 g5! 11.e6 ( 11.fxg5 is just bad for White: hxg5 12.xg5 xh2!

( t h r e a t e n i n g N f 3 + ) 13.h3 xe5 and White has little to prove for the pawn.) 11...fxe6 12.g3 e3 13.d2 f5 and here I prefer Black. ] 9...fxe6 10.c4 e8! [ The alternatives are clearly inferior: 10...c8 11.xe7 ] [ 10...e5 11.xe6 c8 12.b3 ] [ 10...xc3+ 11.bxc3 h6 12.xe6 xf2 13.xf2 hxg5 14.f3 In all lines White has dangerous initiative. ] 11.f3 c6 12.0-0 ge5 13.xe5 xe5 The outcome of the opening is good for Black. W hite definitely has compensation for the pawn, but it's only enough for maintaining the balance. 14.b5!? c8 15.xd7! [ 15.xa7 xc4 ] 15...xd7 [ The alternative is not bad either: 15...xd7 16.d1+ c6 17.xa7+ c5 18.xc8 xc4 and Black has everything in order. ] 16.xe6 e5 17.f4 d6 18.h6 Now White wins back the exchange, and the position becomes completely equal. d8 19.g7 f8 20.xd6+ [ 20.xd6+ cxd6 21.xf8 xf8 Neither side can realistically hope to win this endgame, so draw was agreed. Thus we can conclude that Black can successfully solve his opening problems in this line. ] ½-½

911 Magomedov,Magaram Nikolaidis,Ioannis Koszalin [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2604 2505 1999

This variation is fairly complicated and routine play can lead nowhere. Here White quickly finds himself without any good prospects. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 a5 5.d3 e5 6.f3 g4 T h e m a i n l i n e . 7.dxe5 This continuation promises nothing special for White. [ 7.e3! keeping tension in the centre is best. ] [ 7.d2 sacrificing a pawn is another attempt to deviate f rom theory, but this move is ha rd ly pro misin g. In K o tron ias-A d am s , 938

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Chalkidiki 1993 W hite failed to prove his initiative was worth a pawn: exd4 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ xf6 10.0-0 d7 11.e1 (intending 12.e4-e5) xf3 12.xf3 0-0-0 13.b4! /\\ b5 d5! 14.e5! ( 14.exd5 cxd5 ) 14...e6 15.f2 c5 16.bxc5 xc5 17.b1? ( 17.e1 f5 18.b1 ) 17...f6! After this strong move Black's advantage is beyond any doubt. 18.g3?! ( 18.f5 xe5 19.f4 e7; 18.exf6 xf6 /\\ Ne4 ) 18...fxe5 19.fxe5 g6 20.g5 df8 21.f4 f7! 22.h3 hf8 23.h2? ( 23.e1 /\\ 24.Bh6 R f 3 2 5 . g f 3) 23...b6! /\\ Bc7 24.h6?! c7!-+ and in a few moves White resigned. ] 7...dxe5 8.h3?! An inaccuracy which gives Black slightly the better chances. [ 8.fxe5 fd7 9.f4 is critical for the evaluation of this line: b4! The only move. ( The alternatives are clearly insufficient: 9...a3? 10.d2 xb2 11.b5 d8 12.d6+ f8 13.b1; 9...xf3 10.xf3 xe5 11.xe5 xe5 12.c4 e7 13.0-0-0 d7 14.xf7+ xf7 15.xf7+ xf7 16.xd7+ ) 10.0-0 A) in the case of 10...0-0 White had the i n t e r e s t i n g 11.d5!? which could have posed problems for Black: A1) the game Huzman - Taborov, USSR 1989 continued with 11...cxd5 12.exd5 e7 13.h3 h5 14.h1 g6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.c4 b6 ( 16...b5 17.d6 d8 18.c5; 16...a6 17.a3 ) 17.b3 ( 17.e2? a6! /\\ Nd5 ) 17...8d7 18.e2 ae8 19.f2 d8 20.ae1 c5 ( 20...c5 21.d2+- ) 21.g3 with a big advantage; A2) 11...c5+ 12.h1 d4 ( 12...cxd5 seems to be better) 13.e6! fxe6 14.c7 a4 15.e7+ h8 16.g5!+A v e r y n i c e b l o w ! h5 ( 16...xd1 17.xf8+ xf8 18.f7# ) 17.xf8+ xf8 18.f1 bd7 19.f7 f6 20.e5 and Black resigned, de Firmian-Miles, USA 1988.; B) 10...xc3!? 11.bxc3 0-0 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 xe5 14.g3 bd7 and Black had obtained comfortable play, DizdarevicWeil, Wiesbaden 1993. ] [ Another possibility is 8.0-0 A) 8...exf4 9.xf4 bd7 10.h3 ( 10.e1 is worth considering.) 10...xf3 11.xf3

e5 was very good for Black, Suetin - J. Pribyl, Debrecen 1987; B) 8...bd7 9.e1 xf3 10.xf3 0-0-0!? 11.f5 c5 with sufficient counterplay ] [ 8.f5 bd7 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 c5 looks also good for Black. ] 8...xf3 9.xf3 exf4 10.0-0 bd7 The weakness of the dark squares in white's position and the bad placement of the knight on c3 and bishop on d3 makes black's position even better. 11.xf4 [ In the case of 11.xf4 e5 12.e2 c5+ 13.h1 d4 Black placed his pieces very comfortably on central dark squares. ] 11...e5!? A solid move. [ 11...0-0-0!? was interesting. ] 12.e2 d6 13.f3?! It was better to exchange queens heading for a worse but tenable ending. h2+ 14.f2 c5+ [ 14...e5 15.f5 c5+ 16.e1 was what White was hoping for. ] 15.e3 xe3+ 16.xe3 e5 17.g1 c5 18.d4?! A bad move. The pin of the Knight is very unpleasant for white. [ A f t e r t h e c o r r e c t 18.xc5 xc5 White's position was not much fun but still defensible. ] 18...e5 19.b4 b6 20.f5? A blunder. White missed the following reply but Black's advantage is beyond doubt anyway. eg4! N o w t h e g a m e i s o ve r . 21.hxg4 xg4 22.e1 xd4+ 23.h1 g6 24.f4 e5-+ Rest of the game is just a matter of technique. Black has a healthy extra pawn as well as a huge positional advantage: his excellent knight on e5 dominates White's bad Bishop. 25.d1 0-0-0 26.b5 White tries to find some practical ch a n ce s b u t B la ck e a sil y p a rri e s a ll t h e threats. cxb5 27.a5 a6 28.a4 xa4 29.c3+ c6 30.f6 b8 31.xc6 bxc6 32.xc6 a5 33.b1 a7 34.c5+ b6 35.e7+ b8 36.a3 d7 37.c4 hd8 38.e2 d2 39.f3 g5 40.cxb5 8d6 41.g4 f2 42.bxa6+ a7 43.h3 [ 43.h3 h6! ] 43...d1+ 44.xd1 xd1+ 45.h2 f4+ 46.g3 f2+ 47.g2 d2! Looks suspicious, but Black's calculation is precise: White has no perpetual. 48.e7+ xa6 49.a3+ b5 50.b3+ c6 51.c4+ d6 52.b4+ e6 53.c4+ f6 54.c3+ g6 55.c6+ g7 939

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 56.e5 h5 White resigned. 0-1

912 Mahjoob,Morteza Azmaiparashvili,Zurab FIDE WCh KO Tripoli LBA (1.3) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2478 2679 20.06.2004

PIRC OR PHILIDOR? 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 e5!? Why not? The position with the qu e e n s o f f is n o t h in g sp e c ia l f o r W h it e . 4.ge2 He probably saw the Anand game below. e7 5.f3 [ After the sluggish 5.h3 Black achieves an excellent position by expanding quickly in th e c en t re : 0-0 6.e3 a6 7.a4 exd4 8.xd4 d5! The traditional freeing move in open games, which is what this has become. 9.exd5 xd5 10.xd5 xd5 11.f3 xf3 12.xf3 c6 13.c4 f5 14.c3 ad8= 1/2-1/2 Rakesh,R-Koshy,V/ Mumbai IND 2004 Oh, if playing Black was this easy all the time... ] 5...0-0 6.e3 exd4N A much-needed improvement on the fiasco below. [ 6...c5? 7.d5 h5 8.d2 g6 9.0-0-0 a5 10.g4 g7 11.g3 a6 12.h4 f6 A move which highlights how much quicker the White attack is. Anand wastes no time whatsoever. 13.g5 f5 14.f4! Opening up the game with the Black queenside looking on. b5 15.h5 b4 16.b1 fxe4 ( After 16...exf4 17.xf4 xa2 18.hxg6 hxg6 19.h2 f7 20.h7 it really is looking grim. ) 17.fxe5 d7 18.e6 e5 19.hxg6 g4 20.e2 f3 21.xf3 exf3 22.xh7 1-0 Anand,V-Azmaiparashvili,Z/Hotel Bali Stars, Benidorm ESP 2003 A game which perhaps points out why Azmaiparashvili never quite made it to the very top of world chess, He has the talent but can't quite rid himself of his opportunistic, rather shallow side. Of course anything even remotely halfbaked against Anand just gets murdered. ] 7.xd4 I Robot. [ I think Anand must have been intending 7.xd4 c6 8.d2 and White maybe has an edge although I am perfectly willing to accept that I am wrong about this. ]

7...d5! Absolutely thematic. 8.e5 fd7 [ 8...c5! seems good to me. Black is blasting open the game while the W hite King remains in the middle: 9.exf6 ( 9.de2 d4 10.exf6 xf6 11.d2 dxc3 12.xc3 xc3+ 13.xc3 h4+ 14.g3 b4 ) 9...xf6 10.f2 xd4 11.xd4 cxd4 12.xd4 e8+ 13.e2 c6 I wonder why he didn't play this way? ] 9.f4 b6 10.b3 He had to prevent . ..c7-c5. c6 11.d3 8d7 But ultimately, Black a gg re s sio n o n t h e qu e e n s id e ca n n o t b e c o n t a i n e d . 12.f3 a5 13.a4 b4! Well, I preferred the earlier stuff with 8...c5 but no w B lack h as a good po sit ion . I a m baffled why White didn't castle now. 14.f2? Sometimes I cannot understand what goes through a player's head at the board. Nor what has ha ppe ned to th e E LO system as th e cu rre n t rat in gs se e m inf la te d b e yo n d a ll recognition. White HAS to castle and just get on with this messy game: [ 14.0-0 h4 ( 14...xc3 15.bxc3 e7 16.h5 h6 ) 15.f2 h6 16.d4 c5 17.f5= ] 14...c4 Getting on the case before 0-0. 15.xc4 dxc4 16.d2 e7 17.0-0 Finally, but the two bishops are about to have a say. [ 17.xc4 f6 18.exf6 xf6 19.0-0 g4 20.g3 e6 is ugly for White. ] 17...f6! 18.xc4 fxe5 19.f5 f6 Black is just better thanks to the Bishops. He needs to dislodge the Nc4 before matters can proceed to a satisfactory conclusion. 20.g3 h5! 21.xe5 xe5 22.xe5 xf5 23.d3 Mission accomplished. White's best piece has been persuaded to go to an inferior square. But the alternatives were unappealing too-the Black bishop on f5 is very strong indeed. [ 23.g4 ae8! 24.xf5 ( 24.gxf5 xe5 25.d4 exf5 26.xf5 xf5 ) 24...xf5 25.gxf5 xe5 26.d4 xf5 ] [ 23.a2 xc2 24.xb4 axb4 25.xf8+ xf8 26.c5 e8 27.e1 xa4 ] [ 23.ac1 ae8 24.g4 xc3! 25.bxc3 xe5 26.d4 d5 ] 23...xd3 24.cxd3 f6 25.ad1 ad8 Fl a g d o wn . I s u p p o se W h i t e c a n p u t u p resistance after 26 Bb6 but 26...Rde8 just gives an ongoing advantage with no 940

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 cou nt erplay t o sp ea k of . All th e sa me , a slightly odd, premature finish, even though it was a rapid game. 0-1

913 Malakhov,Vladimir Khismatullin,Denis 63rd ch-RUS Moscow RUS (9) [Gawain Jones]

B07 2712 2659 20.12.2010

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 bd7 These lines of the Philidor are becoming really popular at GM level. [ Another couple of recent high rated encounters started with 3...e5 4.ge2 A) 4...c6!? The knight is usually posted on d7. Here Black puts more pressure on d4 but will find it harder to advance on the queenside while he also has to watch out for d4-d5. A1) 5.f3 has been the most common but Jobava chooses to outplay his opponent in a drier position.; A2) 5.d5 might be the critical test but Black seems to be hanging in there. e7 6.g5 c6 7.g3 ( 7.xf6 gxf6 8.g3 f5 9.h5 h6 is very messy but looks reasonable for Black. ) 7...g6 8.h5 A2a) 8...b6! keeps Black in the game. 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.xf6?! ( 10.c1 should be played but Black h a s d e c e n t c o u n t e r p l a y a f t e r f5 ) 10...xb2! 11.e2 g8 and Black has the better prospects.; A2b) 8...g4?! 9.xf6+ gxf6 10.xf6! xf6 11.xg4 and White had a clear extra pawn but Black held the draw. Motylev, A (2648) Savchenko, B (2577) Krasnoyarsk 2007.; A3) 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.xd8+ xd8!? ( 6...xd8 looks logical. White can try to k e e p t h e k n i g h t p a s s i ve wi t h 7.d5 xd5 8.exd5 but f5 9.c4 f7 looks reasonable for Black.) 7.g5 e6 8.0-0-0+ c8 9.xf6 gxf6 10.g3 c5 11.b5!? ( 11.f3 is much safer but Black doesn't have any major problems after d8 ) 11...xf2 12.xc6 bxc6 13.f5

c5 14.hf1 g8 15.g3 with some compensation for the pawn but W hite sh o u ld h a r d l y b e b e t t e r . J o b a v a , B (2707)-Pedzich, D (2418) W arsaw 2010.; B) 4...e7 5.f3 ( 5.g3 would likely transpose back to the game.) 5...0-0 6.e3 exd4 7.xd4 d5! 8.e5 B1) Andrew Martin's suggestion of 8...c5! in the archives continues to look p r o m i s i n g . 9.exf6 xf6 10.d2 ( 10.b3 d4 11.e4 dxe3 12.xd8 xd8 13.bxc5 d7 and Black's bishops compensate for the possible weakness of the e3 pawn.) 10...cxd4 11.xd4 e8+ 12.e2 Wang Shuo (2228) -Popovic, D (2471) playchess. com 2005 and here xd4 13.xd4 c6 gives Black a very promising position as 14.xd5? xd5 15.xd5 d4 picks up material.; B2) 8...fd7 9.f5 ( 9.f4 was looked at by Andrew previously in Mahjoob, M (2478) -Azmaiparashvili, Z (2679) Tripoli 2004. ) 9...b6 10.xe7+ xe7 11.xb6?! ( 11.d2! looks the most promising as xe5 12.0-0-0 c6 13.e1 d6 14.b1 a6 15.e4 d8 16.c5 gives White decent pressure for the pawn. ) 11...axb6 12.f4 c6 13.d3 Sengupta, D (2558)-Neelotpal, D (2486) New Delhi 2010 when f6! wins a pawn as 14.e2 fxe5 15.fxe5 d7 and the loose pawn drops. ] 4.g3 This move order hasn't been featured before on ChessPublishing but we soon return to chartered waters. [ 4.f4 is examined elsewhere in the update. ] 4...e5 5.ge2 This more flexible setup has become a popular way of facing the Philidor in recent times. c6 A slightly different move order than Svidler-Salgado but it soon t r a n s p o s e s . 6.a4 Preventing Black from grabbing space on the queenside. [ Instead Carlsen preferred 6.g2 but after b5 7.a3 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 a5 10.g4 a6 11.g3 b4 12.ce2 Carlsen, M (2710) -Radjabov, T (2746) Biel 2007, it's o b se rve d t h a t d5! would give Black good play. ] 6...e7 7.g2 b6 8.0-0 a6 9.h3 h5 941

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Khismatullin follows Salgado Lopez's play from the Olympiad which worked so well. 10.e3 b7 11.b4!? A new try. Generally W hite plays on the kingside in these structures but Malakhov decides to take Black on the queenside. [ I lo o ke d a t 11.c1 in Svidler, P (2731) Salgado Lopez, I (2595) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010. ] 11...0-0 12.b5 Consistent with the previous move but I don't believe this should scare Black. [ It's possible to wait with 12.b1 c7 13.b3 when both sides are somewhat at an en-passe. Black would be a little foolish to play a5 ( 13...fe8 should probably be p r e f e r r e d .) 14.b5 as the b5 outpost promises White decent play. fc8 15.ac1 cxb5 16.xb5 ( 16.axb5?! exd4 17.xd4 c5 and Black has many useful squares to p l a y w i t h .) 16...c4 17.ec3 xb3 18.cxb3 exd4 19.xd4 c5 20.b1 and White stays on top as fxe4 21.xe4 xe4 22.xe4 xe4 23.be1 d5 24.f3 xg3 25.xe7 xf1 26.xf1 leaves Black in an unpleasant ending. ] 12...cxb5 13.axb5 axb5 Black's structure looks ugly but it's not easy to regain the b5 pawn while Black has decent pressure on White's centre. 14.b1 [ 14.d5 blocking in the bishop looks tempting but b4 15.a2 c5 16.f3 a3 forces White backwards. ] 14...a5 Sensibly holding onto the pawn but I think Khismatullin could have seized the initiative. [ 14...b4! This forces White to play a c c u r a t e l y t o k e e p e q u a l i t y . 15.d5 ( 15.xb4?! d5! puts a lot of pressure on White's centre.) 15...xd5 16.exd5 g5 ( 16...e4!? 17.xb4 xd5 18.f4 b7 19.d5 picking up the e4 pawn looks more pleasant for W hite as the h5 pawn looks really out of place.) 17.d2!? ( 17.xb4 xe3 18.fxe3 g5 gives Black strong kingside pressure.; 17.d2 xe3 18.xe3 a4 also favours Black as White is no closer to regaining the pawn.) 17...xd2 ( 17...e4!? is also possible, liberating the bishop. ) 18.xd2 h4 19.dxe5 xe5 20.xb4 a6 21.fe1 xe2 22.xe2 hxg3

23.fxg3 b8= with an objectively equal position but I like Black with his huge e5 knight that cannot be shifted. ] [ I t ' s a l s o p o s s i b l e t o t h r o w i n 14...h4!? first so that the pawn won't be hanging later in the variation. 15.g4 b4 16.d5 xd5 17.exd5 a4 This looks the most straightforward. ( 17...a6 18.xb4 c7 19.e1 fc8 20.b2 and White has chances to take the upper hand.; 17...e4!? 18.xb4 xd5 19.c3 b7 20.d5 c7 21.xe4 fc8 22.c4 a6 23.d2 e5 24.b1 and White has developed a definite edge.) 18.dxe5 xe5 19.c3 a2 20.cxb4 e8 and in my mind Black has at least equality. ] 15.d5 A very sensible move but probably not very good. This is because Black can happily sit his bishop on a6 to keep his extra pawn and then utilise the c5 outpost for his knight. Then he can use the open a file and semi open c file with a decent position. White will struggle to come up with a challenging plan. [ 15.d2 is the computer's suggestion but following a6 16.d5 Black can ignore the threat to the rook. xd5 17.exd5 ( 17.xa5 bxa5 18.exd5 h4 gives Black good play on b o t h s i d e s o f t h e b o a r d .) 17...h4! and, if W hite can't take the rook then it's not clear what 15 Bd2 achieved. ] 15...c5 In the game Khismatullin declines to hold on to his e xtra p awn an d still h as a pleasant position. [ However 15...a6 looks promising after something like 16.d2 c7 17.b4 ( 17.f4 h4! doesn't get anywhere as 18.g4 exf4 19.xf4 gives Black another strong outpost for his knight.) 17...c8 18.fb1 c5 and it's not clear how either side advances. ] 16.c1 [ It was possible to play 16.xc5 bxc5 17.xb5 d7 18.c4= but this would acknowledge that White's opening has failed as he obviously has no advantage here. ] 16...a3!? Black takes the opportunity to activate his rook and creates threats along the third rank. 17.xc5 [ 17.1e2 would give Black the choice of repeating position with a5 or playing more actively with ( 17...a6 when White should probably stick rather than regaining material 942

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 equality with 18.xc5 bxc5 19.xb5 xb5 20.xb5 a8 as Black's queenside play promises him the better chances. )] [ 17.xb5 would allow the strong exchange sacrifice xe3! 18.fxe3 fxe4 with strong compensation after 19.e2 g5 20.xe4 xe4 21.d3 c5 22.d2 h4 as White's kingside is feeling really ropey. ] 17...xc3!? Black feels he's taken the upper hand and so keeps the position double edged. [ 17...bxc5 18.xb5 a8 19.xd6 xd5!= is simply level. ] 18.b4 c4 19.e2 h4 20.c3 Both sides start a long manoeuvring battle and don't really get anywhere but it's clear that Malakhov's new idea hasn't really paid off. c8 [ 20...d7!? 21.b3 b8 would keep hold of the b5 pawn but again it's not clear how he is to proceed. However it's obviously Black who's trying to do something. ] 21.d3 hxg3 Black decides to take the pawn as Malakhov was starting to threaten the f2-f4 break. 22.fxg3 a8 23.f2 c8 [ 23...d7 24.g4 c5 25.h4 c8 26.e3 would allow White to start making p ro gre s s o n t h e k in g sid e a lt h o u gh t h e computer actually prefers Black here and I don't believe he should have any problems. ] 24.d1 [ 24.a1 I think White should challenge on t h e a f i l e . a4 ( 24...d7 would allow 25.xa8 xa8 26.d3 e8 27.g4 d8 28.g5 h7 29.h4 and White has made definite progress.) 25.xb5 d7 26.e2 a8 and White has regained the pawn but Black's control of the a file keeps the position level. ] 24...d7 [ Again Black could, and probably should, have taken the chance to reroute his knight around to the c5 square. 24...d7 25.e3 c5 26.f5 d7 27.f2 g6 28.xe7+ xe7 29.bf1 g7 30.e3 f5 and Black has the better position. ] 25.e3 g6 26.f2 e8 This looks rather artificial and it's clear Black wasn't sure how t o c o n t i n u e . 27.bf1 g7 28.c2?! Allowing Black the second rank is foolhardy. a2! 29.d3 h5 30.f3 a8?! The key play will occur on the kingside and

Black had a couple of different ways to go about it. [ 30...c8! 31.e3 d7 would give White a headache how to defend the h3 pawn as 32.b1 xg2+! 33.xg2 xh3 34.d3 g4 gives Black a huge attack. ] [ 30...f5!? is also interesting. 31.exf5 gxf5 32.xf5 xf5 33.xf5 d7! 34.d3 g6 35.e4 xe4 36.xe4 xh3 and again Black has a very good position. ] 31.e3 b2?! Black keeps up his queenside play but again the kingside is vital. [ Black should have reactivated his bishop with 31...d7 keeping an eye on g4. ] 32.g4 a2 33.3f2! This blocks Black's play and suddenly he has to be careful to keep equality. xf2 [ 33...f5!? looks insane but looks to end in a draw a f t e r 34.xb2 xb2 35.exf5 xf5 36.xf5 gxf5 37.xf5 xg3 38.e6 g5 39.xe8 e2+ 40.f1 g3+ 41.g1= ] 34.xf2 a7 35.e3 h8 36.f1! Rerouting the bishop to d3 to stop Black's ... f5 break and suddenly Black has become very passive. f6 37.g2 d7 38.d3 a1 39.f3 f8 40.e2 c1 41.h4 [ 41.xb5!? xb5 42.xb5 f5 takes an eye off the kingside and allows Black to get s o m e a c t i vi t y a l t h o u g h t h e p o s i t i o n i s probably still level. 43.exf5 gxf5 44.d7 f7 45.xd6 xd6 46.xd6 fxg4 47.xf7+ xf7 48.e6+ g7 49.xg4+ h6 50.e6+ and the game will end in perpetual with both kings so vulnerable. ] 41...a1 Khismatullin fears his queen getting trapped but he needn't have worried. [ 41...a8 trying to get some counterc h a n c e s l o o k s a c c u r a t e a s 42.f1 can be met with xg4! ] 42.e3 h8 43.c2 This is the start of the wron g plan a s Ma lakhov f orgets that th e k i n g s i d e i s t h e m a i n b a t t l e g r o u n d . a6 44.a3 c8 45.xb5?! [ 45.e3 g5! 46.hxg5 fxg5 47.xd6 f4+ 48.gxf4 h3+ 49.h1 exf4 gives Black a strong KID style attack. ] 45...h3+? [ M i s s i n g t h e c h a n c e t o p l a y 45...g5! when White's king needs that knight back to keep it safe. 46.xd6 xd6 47.xd6 gxh4 48.gxh4 xc3 and Black is obviously doing 943

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 very well. ] 46.h2 d7 47.e3 The bishop on h3 is both out of play and also gets in the way of his own rook down the h file. g5 48.a2! gxh4 49.gxh4 f4 50.g3+ Now it's White's pieces which have coordinated well and it is Black's king which is extremely weak. g4 [ 50...g6 was probably Black's best when 51.a7 xh4! 52.e2! defending the g4 square. ( 52.xd7 xd7+ 53.g2 g4 54.xg4 xg4 55.g3 d1 56.xd6 xd6 57.xd6 f4 58.c4 e2+ looks like a draw to me.) 52...g4+ 53.xh4 xh4 54.xd7 xd7 55.xd6 and White has a clear advantage in the ending. ] 51.xg4+ xg4 52.f1?! And this is too slow and allows Black enough activity to hold the draw. [ Instead Malakhov should have played the immediate 52.a7! xd3 53.xe7+ g6 54.g3 d1 55.xd6 a8 56.f5 xb4 57.g7+ h5 58.cxb4 and White's extra pawn should be enough for the win. ] 52...f5! Now the game peters out to a draw. 53.a7 xh4+ 54.g1 f6 55.xd6 xd6 56.xd6 h3+ 57.xh3 [ 57.g2 f4+ and White should just repeat as 58.g3 h1 59.e7+ g6 60.b5 h3+ 61.f2 d3+ leaves Black the one trying for the full point. ] 57...xh3 58.e7+ f7 59.d8+ g6 60.exf5+ xf5 61.c4 c3 62.xb6 xc4 63.d6 c6 ½-½

[ 7...b4! is more ambitious, but equally effective: 8.ce2 a5 9.g4 b6 10.g3 h5 11.g5 fd7 12.h4 d5! The correct way to handle this particular central pawn structure. If W hite blocks the centre now, note the perfect position of the Bishop on f8, supporting ...e7-e6 and ...c6-c5! 13.d3 e6 14.b1 c7 15.1e2 a6 16.f4 c4 17.e2 xe3 18.xe3 xd3 19.cxd3 d6 20.ge2 b6 21.c1 d7 22.c2 b3 23.axb3 a4 24.b4 xb4 25.exd5 xd5 26.xd5 cxd5 27.e5 0-0 28.c7 d8 29.c6 e8 30.hc1 f8 31.c7 a3 32.xd8 exd8 33.b3 a2+ 34.a1 db8 35.1c3 b4 36.c2 e1 37.xa2 xh4 38.f4 f2 39.xa8 xa8+ 40.b2 e3 0 - 1 T o l n a i , T - C h e r n i n , A / A u s t r ia 1 9 9 4 Textbook play by Chernin. ] 8.d3 b7 9.g4 c7 10.ce2!?N White is lacking a clear target to attack and so he has to try to fond moves which gradually improve his position. This is not at all easy as Black is well placed to respond to anything. W hat to make of 10 Nce2? W ell, W hite sidesteps . ..b5-b4 which must be a plus and he prepares g4-g5 and Ng3 so my verdict is that this odd-looking move is not too bad. [ Kingside pawn advances are possible, but as I say, Black can cope: 10.g5 fd7 11.h4 g7 12.h5 g8 13.f4 b4 14.ce2 c5 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xb4 a5 17.a3 xe4 18.h2 c5 19.hxg6 hxg6= 1/2-1/2 Blasl, D-Testor, S/Austria 2000 ] [ 10.h4 0-0-0 ( 10...h5! 11.g5 fd7 ) 11.h5 g8 12.h3 g7 13.hxg6 hxg6 14.g5 e6 15.xb5 cxb5 16.xb5 d7 17.xa7+ 914 B07 b8 Canfell, G-De Groen, M/ Sydney 1996 although W hite went on to win this messy Matsuura,Everaldo 2462 position. ] Leitao,Rafael 2580 71st ch-BRA Sao Paulo BRA (3) 15.02.2005 10...e5 A White piece has dropped away from the centre and so Black advances there. [Andrew Martin] Logical. 11.g5 fd7 12.h3 a6 13.b1 [ 13.f4 c5! 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.g3 h6! 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 doesn't seem too bad for Black at all who 5.d2 b5 6.f3 bd7 Black delays ... Bf8-g7 is chipping away at the broad White pawn for as long as possible in order to dissuade front with all his might. ] White from playing Bh6.He may also castle queenside. The effectiveness of this flexible 13...0-0-0 14.c3 d5 15.f2 c5! As White s t r a t e g y h a s r a t h e r b l u n t e d W h i t e ' s loses this game on time almost without a fight , enthusiasm for systems involving Be3, Qd2 we m a y s u p p o s e t h a t t h i s p o s i t i o n w a s causing him some confusion. Black continues and f2-f3. 7.0-0-0 b6 944

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with his excellent play, obliging White to make with a d e c i s i o n . 16.c1 This is a very complex [ 8...c5 9.d5 bd7 (what else? Wouldn't position with a wide choice of moves. I give most players be happy with W hite here?) some alternatives to W hite's f inal choice 10.f3 without beginning to suggest which is best. A) At first my engine likes 10...c4 11.xc4 Let's agree that in all variations Black is very xe4 , but 12.0-0 xc3 13.g7 f8 much in the game. 14.bxc3 looks difficult for the second [ 16.h4 h5 ] player. Perhaps this can be tried, although [ 16.f4 exd4 17.cxd4 dxe4 18.xe4 White seems to keep the attack burning, e. c4 ] g., f6 15.g5 c7?! ( 15...c5 [ 16.g4 dxe4 17.fxe4 h5 18.gxh6 f5 ] 16.b3 h5! 17.h6 xc3 18.e4 ) [ 16.hf1 h6!? ] 16.b5+ d7 17.fe1! 0-0-0 18.xe7 16...g7! 17.h4 b8 18.h5 a8 xc3 19.xd7+ xd7 20.xf8+! d8 Quite a clever way to run down the other 21.xd8+ xd8 22.ae1 etc.; g u y ' s c l o c k . 19.h6 f8 20.g4 d6 B) 10...b5! (Vigus) 11.0-0! The Pirc Bishop finds alternative employment. ( Simply developing his cited game went 21.dxc5 11.xb5 b8 12.xd7+ xd7 [ Possibly White is a little better after with ample play) 11...c4 12.e2 b4 21.he1 he8 It's very hard to tell. ] 13.d1 xe4 ( 13...a6 14.d4! c5! 21...xc5 22.f6 e7 23.xd5 15.e3! ) 14.xc4 and White's safer king W h it e wa nt s so m e so rt o f cla rif ica t ion it is the most important factor. A forcing line seems. xd5 24.exd5 xd3 25.xd3 f o r B l a c k w o u l d b e b6 ( 14...b7 xd5 Flag down, but with the two Bishops 15.e3 0-0-0 16.a3! ) 15.d3 ( 15.b3!? and more compact pawns, Black has solved xd5 16.e1 ) 15...c5 16.e3 xd3 all his problems. I think games such as this 17.cxd3 xd5 ( 17...b7? 18.g7 f8 one and the Chernin example mentioned in 19.g5 0-0-0 20.xf7 ) 18.c4 the notes prove that Black's chances against with both the c- and e-files. Naturally Black Be3 and f2-f3 are perfectly OK. This is not the has all kinds of options here. I just feel Yugoslav Attack in the Dragon! that the whole line beginning with 7...Qa5 0-1 (and perhaps 6 Bh6!) is a bit depressing. ] 9.f3 b4 10.e2 b3+?! This merely strengthens White's centre in order to make a 915 B07 fairly neutral bishop exchange. [ Vigus cites D Pikula-D Velimirovic, Zlatibor Mirzoev,Azer 2551 2006: 10...a6 11.0-0 xd3 12.cxd3 Movsziszian,Karen 2534 bd7 13.g3 e6?! (But Black stands XVII Open La Pobla de Lillet ESP (4) 05.08.07 poorly in any case) 14.fe1 h5 15.g5 [John Watson] xg3 16.hxg3 ( 16.fxg3! ) 16...e7 17.e5 af8 18.h4 and Black is pretty much As usual, James Vigus Pirc book covers the busted. ] f o llo win g va ria t io n e xce lle n t ly. He re t h e course of the game with 8...b5?! confirms his 11.c3 a6 12.xa6 xa6 13.e5 [ Naturally, 13.0-0 can't be bad either. ] assessment, yet I think Black needs some help even when he plays a better move. 1.d4 13...d5?! [ B e t t e r b u t n o t i n s p i r i n g i s 13...dxe5 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 g7 14.xe5 ] A major decision! 5.d2 c6 6.h6 xh6 14.0-0 bxa2 15.c1 ac7 16.xa2 b5 7.xh6 a5 8.d3 [ Vigus is also worried about 8.d2 , when 17.e1 0-0-0!? 18.d2!? [ 18.xa7 xb2 19.c4 is also good. ] bd7 9.f3 0-0 and ...e5 looks reasonable 18...a6 19.d3 c5 20.ea1 c4 21.f4 b6 if not yet equal. ] White's game is overwhelming. 8...b5?! The dubious mark stems from Vigus, 22.a5 correctly. I wonder, however, about his line W hether what f ollows is accurate or not, 945

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6...b5 7.g4 b6 8.g5 h5!? You would think that 8...Nfd7 was better, having played ... Nb6. 9.d3 The immediate attempt to take advantage of the offside Knight fails : [ 9.f4 g7 10.e2 h6! 11.xh5 c4! A very important tactic which justifies ...Nh5. 12.c1 xe3 13.xe3 gxh5 14.f3 g4= ] 9...e6 10.ce2 e5 [ I once saw Beliavsky go 10...d5 in a similar position. If W hite blocks with e5 he takes 916 B07 elasticity out of his pawn chain and Black can build a queenside attack gaining from Molander,Riku 2290 the Bishop still on f8. For instance: 11.0-0-0 Lugovoi,Aleksei 2540 c4 12.xc4 bxc4 and Black has Troll Masters (8) 2003 immediate pressure. ] [Andrew Martin] 11.0-0-0 e7 12.f4?! I personally feel this move helps Black. He gets rid of his offside 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 [ 4...g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d2 a6 7.h6 g4 K n i g h t a n d t h e a b o u t - t o - b e B g 7 h a s a 8.e2 xf3 9.xf3 c6 10.e3 e5 splendid diagonal. W hite should play more 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.0-0-0 xd2+ 13.xd2 naturally with [ 12.g3 OK, I know this exchanges the fd8 14.hd1 xd2 15.xd2 d8 Knight too.... xg3 13.hxg3 g7 14.e2 16.xd8+ xd8 A prospectless position for White definitely has more of the play here. ] Black, but Van der W iel ekes out a draw. 17.d5 Jonkman,H-Van der Wiel, J/GMB, 12...exf4 13.xf4 xf4 14.xf4 g7 15.f3 g4 No way is Black worse now. Wijk aan Zee NED 2003. ] 16.e5 5.d2 [ 16.g2 xf3 17.xf3 xd4 ] [ 5.f3 bd7 6.g4 is a dangerous move order. White threatens, with g4-g5, to mess 16...0-0! 17.g2 Taking on d6 was poor: [ 17.exd6 e6! 18.g2 xf3 19.xf3 up the Black Knights. h6 7.d2 b5 8.ge2 xa2 20.c3 c4 21.xc4 bxc4 ] b6 9.b3 c7 10.g2 g7 11.h3 [ With 17.df1 xf3 18.xf3 ( 18.exd6 Laznicka,V-Guidarelli,L/Friendship A, e6 ) 18...dxe5 19.e1 e6 20.b1 Roznov CZE 2002. ] ( 20.xe5 xe5 21.xe5 xa2 ) 5...bd7 20...g4!-+ not much better. ] [ 5...b5 6.d3 bd7 7.f3 A) 7...e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.h3 b7 17...xf3 18.xf3 dxe5 19.xe5 xe5 ( 9...e7 10.a4 b4 11.e2 20.dxe5 xg5+ 21.b1 xe5 22.h4 Baron Rodriguez,J-Bustamante Montoni,R/ The tactics have misfired. White has to rely on Open, Pamplona ESP 2002) 10.0-0 g7 a caveman attack. He fails. c4 23.c3 e3! ac8 Regaining the initiative. 11.a4 a6 12.e2 Ramesh, R-Valdes,L/ 24.xc6 25.a6 f3 26.c2 b4 27.h5 bxc3 Budapest 2002.; B) 7...g7 8.h6 xh6 9.xh6 e5 28.hxg6 hxg6 29.b3 d2+ 30.c1 f4 e4+ I prefer the Modern move 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.0-0 Smerdon,D- 31.xg6 order with ...g6 before...Nf6 because I feel Timofeev,A/41st WJun, Goa IND 2002. ] that Black has better chances to tackle the 6.f3 [ 6.f3 c7 7.a4 g7 8.c4 Rather than Be3 and Bg5 systems. Games like this one 8 Bd3 and a'150' attack formation W hite show the other side of the coin the Pirc movedecides on a more aggressive but exposed order appears perfectly playable too. square for this Bishop, Langer, M-Burnett,R/ 0-1 Rotary Open, Lindsborg Kansas USA 2002. ] W hite never gives his opponent a chance: e8 23.h3 d5 24.c2 g8 25.e2 h6 26.b3 g5 27.d2 g6 28.bxc4 xc4 29.xc4 dxc4 30.f5+ b8 31.g3 b6 32.e4 a7 33.c5 g8 34.e4 db8 35.d7 b5 36.xb6 xb6 37.d5 The Pirc is ever-resilient, but this sort of thing makes a case for 4...c6. 1-0

946

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 917

B07 Morozevich,A 2731 Onischuk,V 2594 FIDE World Rapid 2014 rapid (10.12) 17.06.14 [Neil McDonald]

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 a6 5.f3 White has often tried to avoid, or at least delay, f2-f3 in this opening scheme. For example in the archives you can find [ 5.d2 b5 6.d3 ( Instead 6.f3 transposes back to the main game.) 6...b7 7.a3 in Dominguez-Kramnik while ] [ 5.e2 is Smeets-Kramnik and ] [ 5.h3 is Adams-Zhukova. ] 5...b5 6.d2 b7 In his game with Naiditsch in the archives Kramnik preferred [ 6...bd7 7.ge2 b6 ] 7.0-0-0 bd7 8.g4 Very direct play by Morozevich. He castles queenside as quickly as possible and uses his pawns aggressively on the kingside. Note that this approach is more effective for W hite in the Pirc rather than the Modern set up, as here there is a target on f6 for the g-pawn. b6 As will be seen, Onischuk has decided not to put up any barriers against White's kingside advance. He will let him play h5-h6 and chase Black's dark squared bishop off the a1-h8 diagonal. He hopes that by 'forgetting' about the kingside and focusing all his attention on counterplay in the centre he will solve his opening problems. It ends in failure as in a rapid play ga m e a ga ins t a n im a gin a t ive pla ye r like Morozevich it's hard not to go astray in the resulting tactics. Nonetheless Onischuk's idea is interesting. 9.g5 fd7 10.h4 c5 11.dxc5 The exchange on c5 ensures that Black won't have an open c-file for his rook. Besides, White wants to utilise the d-file. dxc5 12.h5 Having opened the a1-h8 diagonal and conceded the e5 square to a black knight with his previous move, Morozevich rushes to strike a t th e g7 squ are bef o re B lack ca n organise an attack with moves like Bg7, b5-b4, Qc7, Ne5 and Nc4 etc. g7 13.h6 e5 14.f4 c7 Black completes his plan of evacuating the kingside. He might have tried [ 14...d6!? which would have saved a tempo if W hite had continued as in the game. For example

A) White doesn't have anything for the exchange after 15.e5 xh1 16.exd6 b4; B) 15.d5 xd5 16.exd5 b6 17.xc5!? xd5! ( after 17...xc5 18.c3 there is a fork on c5 and h8.) 18.xd6 xd6 19.g2 0-0-0 20.e2 b4 with equality.; C) 15.a3!? b4 16.axb4 cxb4 17.d5 xd5 18.exd5 a5 19.b1 c5 with a slight advantage to White. ] 15.d5 [ After 15.a3 0-0 ( 15...b4 fails to 16.axb4 cxb4 17.d4 when Black loses his b4 pawn. ) 16.f3 e6 keeping the white knight out of d5, Black has sufficient chances. ] 15...xd5 16.exd5 d6 17.e2 [ Black has good counterplay after 17.g2 c7 ( But not 17...b6 18.xc5 xc5 19.c3 with a fork familiar from the notes above. ) 18.b1 b6 19.f2 0-0 20.e2 b4 etc. It is not at all easy for White to get at the black king despite the lack of defenders. His own pawns on g5 and h6 are blocking his attack. ] 17...c7 18.c3 b6 19.e4 True to his dynamic style, the Russian Super GM sacrifices a pawn to gain the two bishops and avenues of attack on the black king. xd5 20.xd6+ exd6 21.h3 0-0-0 22.f5 gxf5? Rather than damaging his pawn structure Black should have preferred [ 22...e4! for example 23.fxg6 fxg6 24.f4 hf8 25.e1 and White maintains pressure to compensate for the pawn, but not more as ( 25.xd6? fails to xd6 26.xd6 xd6 27.xd6 xf1+ )] 23.f4 [ The best way to maintain the attack was 23.a4! ] 23...he8 24.a3 b7 25.a5 a8 26.ad3 e4 [ Naiditsch misses the chance to use his cpawn actively with 26...c4 27.d4 e4 when if 28.d2 c3 29.bxc3? ( Equal is 29.xc3 xc3 30.bxc3 g8 ) 29...c5! suddenly gives Black the initiative- 30.xd5? a3+ 31.b1 a4 32.c1 xc3+ and mate follows on a2. ] 27.d2 c6 28.g3 c4 [ Black could have held on with 28...ae8 29.xd5 xd5 30.xd5+ xd5 31.xd5 947

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f4 32.f2 c6 33.d1 d5 34.d3 8e5 Alternatives: when his awesome pawns would give him [ In Kengis-Hausner, Luxembourg 1990 the b ette r of it af te r 35.xe4 ( 35.g1 B l a c k t r i e d 8...g6?! but failed to equalise: keeps it unclear. ) 35...dxe4 ] 9.bxc3 d5 10.e2 xd3 11.cxd3 c5 29.c3 12.c4! An interesting pawn sacrifice allows [ Stronger was 29.f2 ] W hite to obtain a huge development 29...f4 advantage and maintain the initiative. xd4 [ The last hope to save the game was 13.b1 dxe5 14.f3 d7 15.xe5 c7 29...d4! ] ( 15...c8!? deserves certain attention.) 30.xd5 fxg3 31.xc4 xc4 32.xg3 d8 16.e4! c6 17.xc6 xc6 18.c3 f6 33.d3! Black is temporarily a pawn up but 19.xb7 xe4+ 20.dxe4 h6 21.g3 f7 there is no good way to defend h7. Therefore 22.e2 hd8 23.d1 xd1 24.xd1 White will acquire a decisive passed pawn. and the endgame is very bad for Black. ] a4 34.xh7 c7 35.b1 g4 36.f5 [ 8...e6!? This interesting blockade idea is d7 37.f3 b6 worth considering: 9.xc3 ( 9.bxc3 d5! [ Losing at once, but hopeless is also and now 10.c4 is hardly good in view of 37...b8 38.f6 c7 39.h7 ] b4 with good chances for Black.) 9...d5! 38.xd6+ the rook on g4 will be lost. 10.xf5 exf5! ( 10...xf3 11.xf3 exf5 1-0 12.d5 ) 11.xd5 ( 11.e2!? /\\ Nf3= ) 11...cxd5 12.f3 c6 with balanced chances in a complicated endgame, Purgin918 B07 Mih. Tseitlin, USSR 1987. ] Motwani,Paul 2520 9.cxd3 d5 10.bxc3 dxe5 [ If Black doesn't exchange Queens (here or Adams,Michael 2640 on the next move) 10...e6 , then 11.e2 olm Moscow 1994 is very unpleasant, intending 12 Nf3, with c3[Alexander Volzhin] c4 to follow. ] [ 10...xf3 11.xf3 d7 12.e2 e6 Paul Motwani smashes one of the world's top 13.hb1 b8 14.a4 e7 15.a5 0-0 16.c4 players in typically brilliant style. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 and again the endgame is very nasty for f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 a5 5.e5 e4 6.f3 Black, Palac-Rausis, Bordeaux 1990. ] xc3 7.d2 f5 8.d3!? The only way to fight for an opening advantage. Alternatives 11.fxe5 xf3 12.xf3 e6 13.e2 d7 14.hb1! Now Black is compelled to weaken lead White nowhere: Relatively best. The [ 8.c4?! is no good in view of b4! 9.xc3 h i s p o s i t i o n . b6 alternatives are clearly insufficient: xc3 10.xc3 xc2 11.e6 d5 12.exf7+ [ 14...b5? 15.c4 a6 16.a4! , destroying xf7 and White has nothing for the pawn, Black's pawn structure on the Q-side ] Mueller-Oratovsky, Saanen 1994. ] [ and 14...0-0-0? is just a blunder in view of [ 8.xc3 is also harmless: d5 9.xd5 15.g5 ] cxd5 10.d3 xd3 11.cxd3 e6 Attacking Black's queenside which is This endgame looks similar to Motwani- 15.a4! Adams, but indeed there is an important weakened by its lack of defenders. e7 [ 15...a5 wasn't good due to 16.c4 e7 difference. White has no pressure on b-file 17.d5!? exd5 18.cxd5 cxd5 19.b5 here and thus has no active plan at all. with a huge advantage. ] Black's chances are by no means worse, to say the least. 12.e2 c6 13.0-0 b6 16.a5!? [ The routine 16.c4 was also better for White 14.g4 h5 15.h3 hxg4 16.hxg4 g5 17.g2 but Black could keep defence by d8 17.a5 gxf4 18.xf4 d8 19.af1 h7 20.b3 d7 c7 ] 21.b2 b4 22.4f3 c7 23.c1 xc1 24.xc1 h4 and Black is already clearly 16...b5 17.c4 a6 18.c1! A very strong move. Black has managed to prevent better, Yudasin-Kiselev, USSR 1989. ] 8...xd3 Not the best, in my opinion. penetration on the b-file, therefore W hite 948

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 switches to the c-file. The text prepares 19 cxb4, with 20 Rc7 to follow. 0-0 [ There were some alternatives: 18...d8!? 19.a2 /\\cb5,Rac2 ] [ 18...b4 19.ab1 b8 20.b2 intending 21. Rc1-b1, and it's not clear how Black can hold the pawn on b4 ] [ and another attempt to keep c-file closed: 18...b8 19.cxb5 axb5 fails to 20.a6! a7 21.e3 , and Black can't avoid 22 d4-d5. ] 19.cxb5 cxb5 20.c7 fd8 21.ac1 f8 I t wo u l d s e e m t h a t B l a c k h a s d e f e n d e d everything but a very annoying surprise awaits him. [ An attempt to obtain counterplay: 21...b4 fails to 22.b7 ab8 23.cc7 b3 24.c3 xb7 25.xb7 and Black's position is hopeless. ] 22.d5! exd5 23.e6! Such sacrificial play looks especially attractive in an ending. f6 The pawn cannot be taken but this move can hardly help solve the problems. [ 23...fxe6?! 24.d4 d6 ( 24...f7 25.c6 ) 25.xe6+ e7 26.xd8 xc7 27.g5+ e8 ( 27...d6? 28.f7++-; 27...f6? 28.xc7+ xd8 29.xg7+- ) 28.xc7 h6 29.h4 g5 30.xg5 hxg5 31.c6 following by Ke3-d4 with a huge advantage. ] 24.g5! h6 [ 24...d6 was impossible due to 25.exf7! xc7 26.xc7 d6 27.b4 followed by Ne6 checkmate! ] 25.xe7! Very energetic play! [ T h e s i m p l e 25.xf7 e8 26.f4 could have secured a big advantage. ] 25...hxg5 [ 25...xe7 was t oo b ad : 26.b4+! e8 27.c7! fxe6 ( 27...hxg5? 28.exf7# ) 28.e7+ f8 29.xe6+ g8 30.xg7+ h8 31.g6 g8 32.xd8 xd8 33.xa6+- and Black is helpless against the a-pawn march. ] 26.b4 This time- trouble move is enough for a win, but W h ite ha d mo re bea utif ul an d qu ic k e r wa y a s wa s p o i n t e d o u t b y P a u l Motwani: [ 26.cc7! e8 27.b4! xc7 28.exf7!! e8 ( 28...e8 29.d7+ d6 30.xd6# ) 29.xe8+ xf7 30.e7++- winning a piece and the game. ]

26...e8 [ 26...fxe6 27.cc7+- ] 27.xe8+ xe8 28.c7 fxe6 29.e7+ d8 30.xg7 e8 31.xg5 In spite of material equality Black's position is almost helpless. a7 [ 31...c8 32.d2 c7 33.h4 f6 34.c3+- ] 32.g6 [ 32.h4!? was more straightforward. ] 32...h7 33.xe6 xh2 34.f3 h4?! [ 34...c7 was more stubborn, White should h a v e p l a y e d 35.f6 with idea of Bd6 and marching the g-pawn. ] 35.e1 h1 36.g3+- d1? [ 36...b4 37.xa6+- ] 37.h4+ d7 38.e7+ c6 [ 38...d8 39.e1++- ] 39.xe8 b4 [ 39...xd3+ 40.e2 a3 41.e6+ b7 42.b6+ a7 43.f2+- ] 40.e2 Black resigned. Excellent play by Paul Motwani! 1-0

919 Motylev,Alexander Kasimdzhanov,Rustam Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (13) [John Watson]

B07 2676 2687 01.02.2009

White is on a roll with 4 Bg5 against the Pirc. Here two near-2700s battle it out. Black plays a reasonable system and nearly equalises. But it seem to me that his position is more difficult to play than White's. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.d2 [ 5.e5!? shouldn't achieve anything, as shown by fd7! 6.exd6 cxd6 7.f3 0-0 8.d2 f6 of Campora, Seville 2009. ] 5...h6 6.h4 g5 7.g3 h5 8.0-0-0 c6 Last month we saw 8...Nc6 and 8...Nxg3 9 hxg3 Nc6 10 Bb5! here. I like the modest text move better. One recent example with [ 8...c6 went 9.e3 xg3 10.hxg3 e6 (last time we saw 10...Bd7, which doesn't c h a n g e m u c h ) 11.f4 g4 12.h5! with a nice advantage, De Groote-Hickman, Caleta 2009. ] 9.ce2!? A strange-looking move that has 949

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 several good points. A simple one is that Black can't play mindlessly with 9... Qa5 followed by...b5, ...Be6 and the like. b6 A good, active move, pinning White's d-pawn and refusing to commit the queenside yet. [ 9...d7 is a natural alternative. ] [ So is 9...e6 , although 10.h4 g4 11.f4 is positionally attractive for White. ] 10.e5! [ The natural-looking 10.c3?! can be met by 10...Qa5, or even f5 11.f3 fxe4 12.fxe4 e6 ] 10...dxe5 [ White's point becomes clear after 10...xg3 11.xg3 dxe5 12.h5 ] [ 10...c5 m i g h t b e b e s t , s i n c e 11.exd6 ( 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.c3!? ) 11...exd6 holds together pretty well. ] 11.xe5 f6 12.h4! bd7?! [ 12...e4 has the tactical point 13.e3 xf2!? 14.xf2 xe5 , b ut t he n 15.f3 f6 16.hxg5 hxg5 17.xh8+ xh8 18.xg5 f6 19.h7 is strong, with ideas of Nxf6+ and Qg3. ] [ Maybe 12...g4 is best. ] 13.hxg5 e4 Black's point, but there's a special problem. 14.xg7! [ 14.f4 xe5 15.xe4 is also possible, for example, c4 16.b3 d6 17.f4 hxg5 18.xh8+ xh8 19.xg5 f6 20.g8+ d7 with the idea ...Kc7. This is complex, but one feels that Black's bishops don't compensate him for a pawn. ] 14...xd2 15.xd2 g8 16.gxh6 f8 17.h7 xh7 18.xh7 White is left with three pieces and a pawn for his queen, and the pieces turn out to be secure. a5 [ 18...f5 19.h1 f6 ( 19...xg7? 20.h8+ ) 20.f3 0-0-0 21.h6 h8 22.g3 safely keeps the material. ] 19.d5!? Tricky, but unnecessary. White can play [ 19.c3 , guarding the a-pawn, and if Black tries to win a pawn back by f5 20.d3 g5 , he does so at the cost of his position following 21.f4! xf4 22.e5 e3 23.f3 , e.g., f6 24.d1 and Black's queen is trapped. ] 19...xa2 [ 19...f5! seems a better try. White keeps a reduced advantage with 20.h4! ( 20.h5

has the idea 0-0-0 21.xf5 xg7 22.c3 ) 20...0-0-0 ( 20...xa2 21.b3! xg7 22.a4 xa4 23.bxa4 cxd5 24.d4 d7 25.b5 ) 21.c3 xa2 22.b3 . Obviously, White is less in control than he'd like to be in that case. ] 20.c3 a5 [ 20...a1+ 21.b1 f5 22.h5 with the idea g6?! 23.dxc6! bxc6 24.h3! a4 25.d4 intending Ra3. ] 21.f3 f5 22.h4 [ 22.h5!? g4 23.h4 xf3 24.gxf3 ] 22...d8 23.a4 b6 24.e5 [ Or 24.d4 c5 25.e3 White is simply winning in that case. As the game goes, White's pieces are much better-coordinated and he slowly converts his advantage: ] 24...f6 25.g3 g4 26.d4 d7 27.e2 xg3 28.fxg3 c5 29.e6 xe6 30.dxe6 xd2 31.xd2 xe6 32.xa7 d6+ 33.c1 xg3 34.f3 e1+ 35.d1 g3 36.f3 e1+ 37.d1 b6 38.b7 a5 39.b1 c4 40.c3 f8 41.b8+ g7 42.c8 b4 43.g4 h6 44.c6 g5 45.e2 h4 46.xc4 a5 47.e4 c5 48.e6 h3 49.a2 b4 50.e3+ h2 51.e4 d6 52.c4 g3 53.b3 d7 54.e6 c6 55.d5 c7 56.c4 d7 57.e2 f2 58.d1+ g3 59.e3 f2 60.c4 e5 61.a2 a4+ 62.b1 a5 63.d5 b5 64.d3 d8 65.c3 f3 66.xb5 b6 67.b3 c5 68.b2 b6 69.c3 c5 70.e2+ g2 71.b4 c6 72.d3 g3 73.b5 b7 74.b4 e7 75.d5 1-0

920 Muzychuk,Anna Zhorzholiani,Meri Maia Chiburdanidze Cup (1) [John Watson]

B07 2533 2135 05.06.2009

Once again this month the 4 Bg5 Pirc showed up in many games. After killer results in the last few months (see the updates), Black held his own overall this time. He did lose the game before you, however. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 The most dreaded move of 2009! c6 Other recent games: 950

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ a) 4...g7 5.d2 h6 6.h4 c6 7.f4 0-0 8.0-0-0 h7 9.e3 g4 10.d2 g5?! 11.fxg5 xd4?? ( 11...hxg5 12.g3 e6 ) 12.gxh6 e5 13.xd4 xd4 14.xd4 e5 15.f2 d7 16.g3 f5 17.h3 fxe4 18.c4+ 1-0 Fercec-Takac, Sibenik CRO 2009. ] [ b) 4...bd7 5.d2 c6 6.f4 c7 ( 6...h6 7.h4 b5 ) 7.e5 ( 7.f3 ) 7...d5 8.0-0-0 xc3 9.xc3 g7 10.f3 b6 with easy development and equality, Sun Fanghui-Zhang Jilin, Subic Bay PHI 2009. ] [ c) 4...h6 5.e3 c6 6.d2 b5 is a technique worth noting. I'll use an old game to illustrate: 7.d3 g4 8.f4 ( or 8.f3 ) 8...e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.g3 h5 11.f3 h4 12.xe5 xe5 13.xe5 f6 14.f4 h6 15.e2 xe5 16.fxe5 xd2+ 17.xd2 with a small advantage, J PolgarLobron, Munich 1991. ] 5.d2 [ Also just played: 5.f4 g7 6.d2 0-0 ( 6...h6 7.h4 h5 8.f3 xf4 9.xf4 g5 10.g3! f6 11.xg5 hxg5 12.0-0-0 gives White an edge) 7.f3 b5 8.d3 b7 9.e5 ( 9.0-0-0 ) 9...b4 10.e2 d5 11.0-0-0?! ( White stands better after 11.0-0 f6 12.h4 ) 11...f6 12.h4 h6! 13.c4 a5 14.g4 d7 15.g5 g7 16.gxf6 exf6 Strohhaeker-Heinl, Ditzingen GER 2009 the game is level. ] 5...g7!? The most committal line. [ One much-used sequence is 5...h6 6.f4 g5 7.g3 h5 8.0-0-0 ] [ 5...b5 is another normal move. ] 6.h6 [ 6.f4 0-0 7.d3 b5 8.f3 is Peng XiaominGallagher from the Archives. ] 6...xh6 7.xh6 bd7 [ B l a c k c a n a l s o p l a y 7...a5 8.0-0-0 , and 8...Be6 or b5 ] 8.0-0-0 a5 9.f3 b5?! [ 9...g4! 10.d2 ( 10.g7 f8 11.d2 df6 threatens ...Rg8) 10...b5 11.a3 0-0?! ( 11...b8 12.h3 gf6 13.e5 b4 is double-edged) 12.h3 gf6 13.e5 b4!? 14.axb4 a1+ 15.b1 d5 with some counterattac k, although W hite must b e better. ] 10.e5! White can't wait for ...b4, when after the knight moves, both e4 and a2 will be

hanging. dxe5 [ 10...b4!? 11.exf6 bxc3 12.g7 f8 13.fxe7 xe7 14.c4 cxb2+ 15.b1 f5 16.he1+ d8 obviously favours White, but there's a lot of play in the position. ] 11.dxe5 g4 12.f4? [ T h e o b v i o u s 12.g7! is actually better because of the idea f8 13.e6! fxe6 14.xh7 and g6 hangs. ] 12...b4 13.c4 dxe5?! [ The play is still unclear after 13...0-0 14.e6 b6 15.xg4 f5! ] 14.xe5 xe5 15.d5 f6?? [ Better 15...cxd5 16.xe5 0-0 17.xd5 b6 18.xe7 , but White is well on top. ] 16.xf6+! exf6 17.xf6 f8 18.g7 d7 [ 18...xc4 19.he1+ ] 19.he1 0-0-0 20.xe5 [ In view of 20.xe5 c7 21.xd7! ] 1-0

921 Naiditsch,Arkadij Kramnik,Vladimir Sparkassen GM (9) [Gawain Jones]

B07 2684 2790 24.07.2010

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 a6 Again Kramnik keeps faith with his weapon that worked well against Smeets and D o m i n g u e z P e r e z . 5.d2 b5 6.f3 Naiditsch's new try. [ 6.d3 was played in Dominguez PerezKramnik which I investigated in the archives. ] 6...bd7 [ 6...b7 Again Black has the choice between developing first knight or bishop. I wonder if Naiditsch would have continued with the same plan with 7.ge2 ( 7.h4 h5 8.h3 bd7 9.a4 c6 10.g5 g7 is a position in which W hite has scored reasonably well and probably critical.; 7.d3 bd7 transposes to the 7.f3 note of Do m in gu e z P e re z-K ra m n ik. 8.a4 b4 9.ce2 c5 ultimately saw the strong Russian outplay his opponent. Sprenger, J (2535)-Grischuk, A (2726) Mainz 2007, a game I covered in the notes to the previous Kramnik game.; 7.g4!?; and 7.a4 951

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 have also been tried.) 7...bd7 8.f4 with a similar position to the game but of course Black isn't obliged to play b6 ] 7.ge2 [ I lo o ke d a t 7.d1 Morozevich, A (2755)Grischuk, A (2715) Moscow 2007 and ] [ 7.g4 Amonatov, F (2625)-Timofeev, A (2664) Tomsk 2008 in Dominguez PerezKramnik. ] 7...b6 8.f4 A unique position has appeared which is rather unusual after such few moves in an elite tournament. g7 [ 8...b7 would prevent the German's plan although 9.a4 b4 10.d1 e5 ( 10...a5 11.d5 c6 12.dxc6 xc6 13.e5 fd7 14.e6 also seems to favour White.) 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.xd8+ xd8 13.d3 fd7 14.b3 and Black's a little worse. White can utilise the c4 square and fracture Black's pawn structure with c2-c3. ] 9.a4 b4 10.cd5 bxd5 11.xd5 xd5 12.exd5 An interesting position has arisen. At first glance the d5 pawn looks vulnerable but without any knights remaining on the board it's hard for Black to put any pressure on the pawn. Meanwhile the d pawn does a good job of preventing Black breaking out with either ... c7-c5 or ...e7-e5. Kramnik decides to sacrifice the b4 pawn for counterplay. 0-0! [ 12...b8 13.h6 xh6 ( 13...0-0 14.h4 looks very scary to me.) 14.xh6 b7 15.c4 is clearly better for White. ] [ 12...a5 13.b5+ ( again 13.h6 is an idea.) 13...d7 14.c4 bringing the prodigal son on d5 back into the camp when I think W hite has the slightly better chances. ] 13.xb4 [ Now Black has time to defend against the direct 13.h6 with xh6 14.xh6 e5 15.dxe5 e8 and Black's completely fine. ] [ 13.c4!? is a safer option. a5 ( 13...e6 14.0-0 gives White enough time to get his king to safety.) 14.h4!? would be much more to my liking than the game continuation as it's the first player who has the initiative although it's probably just a personal preference. ] 13...e6 14.c4 [ 14.dxe6 xe6 15.0-0-0 is possible although c5 gives Black great

compensation. ] 14...h4+ 15.d1!? Naiditsch decides to run with his king. [ 15.f2 g5 wins back the pawn. 16.dxe6 ( 16.0-0 exd5 17.h4 f5 is unclear but I have a feeling Black would feel more comfortable.) 16...xg2 17.exf7+ h8 18.f1 xf3 is another messy position but one in which Black's king looks the safer. ] [ 15.g3 h5 also forks one of the kingside pawns and the d5 pawn. ] 15...xd4?! This move was condemned by most of the commentators. [ 15...e8 was suggested by ChessVibes and indeed Black seems to have at least enough for the pawn, e.g. 16.d2 exd5 17.xd5 b8 18.c3 h5 19.c6 xe3! and Black's initiative is very dangerous. 20.xe3 xb2 21.e8+?! f8 22.xc8? g5! and White cannot prevent mate. ] [ 15...e5!? is a slightly unusual looking move but also looks to give Black decent compensation. ] 16.xa6 e5!? This is basically a piece sacrifice and a good practical try. We have to admire Kramnik playing such entertaining chess, even if it didn't fully work out for him. [ 16...xa6 17.xd4 xd4+ ( 17...d8 18.c1 and White's king seems safe enough. ) 18.xd4 e5 19.c3 c4 would leave Black in an awkward endgame as the passed a pawn will cause him severe problems. ] 17.xc8?! Naiditsch takes the bait and takes the extra move. However ChessBase doesn't like this move and instead suggests [ 17.b5! which looks very strong. Their line runs f6 ( I wonder if Kramnik intended s o m e t h i n g l i k e 17...b7 18.c3 xd5 19.cxd4 fb8 in order to keep the position a bit messier even if objectively this position should be very good for White.) 18.xd4 exd4 19.c6 h3 20.d2 ab8 21.c1 when White is almost winning thanks to his super strong a pawn and safe king position. ] 17...fxc8 18.c3 ab8 19.c4 c5 Kramnik becomes over-optimistic. [ The straightforward 19...xb2 was offered by many commentators when it seems that Black's play is worth the sacrificed piece. 952

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 The prin cipal line run s 20.cxd4 cb8! 21.c1 e4 22.c2 b1+ 23.c1 1b2 with a draw as offered by ChessBase. ] 20.c1! A very strong retreat. White defends the b2 pawn and will pick up the piece next move. I wonder if Kramnik overlooked this after all retreats are the easiest to miss in ches s a s we n aturally look at the piece s moving forward. e4 Kramnik is forced to go into randomiser mode but Naiditsch defends well. 21.cxd4 exf3 22.gxf3 e8 [ 22...b4 23.e2 and White's king will be able to run either kingside or queenside depending which way Black takes on d4. xd4+ ( 23...xd4+ 24.c2 c4+ 25.b1 and W hite has consolidated.; 23...cxd4 wo u l d k e e p t h e k i n g i n t h e c e n t r e b u t 24.e4 is very good for White.) 24.e1 bb8 25.f1 e8 26.d2 c4+ 27.f2 e5 28.g3 and White's king looks loose but I don't see anywhere to exploit it for Black and thus White has good chances to exploit his extra piece. ] 23.a3 [ 23.c2! Running to b1 looked the easiest. b4 24.c3 xd4 25.b1 would give White enough time to get secure. ] 23...b4 24.f1 xd4+ 25.c2 c4?! Following this White successfully consolidates his extra piece. [ 25...eb8 was the suggestion of ChessVibes, threatening to sacrifice on b2 although 26.a2 xa4 27.xa4 xa4+ 28.b1 c4 29.d1 a7 30.c2 and W hite still has to play accurately but objectively he's winning. ] 26.d1 f2+ 27.d2 e2 28.a2 xf3 29.e1 [ 29.c1! c3 30.xc3 b3 31.b1! e4+ 32.a1 would be the smoothest path. ] 29...b3+?! Kramnik's final mistake. [ 29...f5+ 30.c1 c3! would have at least complicated the issue a little. A) 31.xe2? cxd2+ 32.xd2 c4+ would suddenly turn the tables.; B) 31.xc3? f4+ 32.b1 e4+ 33.c1 ( 33.a1? would give away the whole point. d4! 34.c1 xe1 35.xe1 g4 ) 33...f4+ is drawn.; C) 31.bxc3?? b1#; D) 31.xe2! cxd2+ 32.xd2 c4+

33.c2 f4 34.b3 f1 35.xf1 xf1+ 36.b2 and White's queenside pawns should bring in the point but there's still some hard work to do. ] 30.b1 xe1 31.xe1 c3 32.xc3 e4 33.f1 xd5 34.a3 1-0

922 Nakamura,Hikaru Hickl,Joerg Mallorca Trophy final blitz (1.2) [John Watson]

B07 2571 2554 08.02.2004

1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.h3 f6 5.g4 c5 It's hard to believe that this typical Pirc/Sicilian solution isn't good. 6.dxc5 a5 7.g2 xc5 8.ge2 0-0 9.0-0 c6 10.e3 a5 11.f4! But now we've something that might have arisen from 1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 g4!?, also saving the tempo g4-g5. Of course, Black needn't cooperate in that case. e6 12.d5 xd5? Now Black loses space and the bishop pair. Threatening ...Bxd5 by means of [ 12...fc8 was more apropos, for example, 13.c4 d7 14.f5 xd5 15.cxd5 ( 15.exd5 ce5 16.b3 )] 13.exd5 b4 14.c4 d7 15.a3 a6 16.d4 Two bishops and space: "and wins... ?". Of course the game isn't perfect, but that's it for the opening. c7 17.c1 fe8 18.b4 d8 19.h1 c7 20.e1 b6 21.g1 b8 22.d3 d7 23.e2 h6 24.f1 bc8 25.g5 g7 26.h4 a4 27.h3 cd8 28.fe1 a5 29.b5 xb5 30.cxb5 d7 31.xe7 xe7 32.xe7 axb4 33.axb4 f8 34.f5 e5 35.fxg6 xg6 36.xb7 xb4 37.f3 f8 38.h5 h4 39.g4 e1 40.c7 g3 41.c2 e5 42.b6 b1 43.c8 xc8 44.xc8+ g7 45.g4 1-0

953

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 19...b6 20.e3 h6 21.d6+- ] B07 Narciso Dublan,Marc 2465 20.d6 f7 21.d7 The referee steps in, Garcia Castro,Pablo 2330 almost before a single punch has been thrown. Cerrado CEMAR A, Mondariz (6) 2002 Re7 looms large. W ell as you saw it wasn't 100% clear but who goes in for these dry [Andrew Martin] endgames where there is little chance of a win 1.d4 d6 2.e4 e5 Hmm. Quite rare. To go in if the opponent plays even half decently? for this line 1) You have to enjoy the Philidor 1-0 2) You cannot be unhappy in a slightly worse ending or 3) You have to be willing to sacrifice B07 a p a wn ra t h e r d u b io u sly. No wo n d e r it 's 924 unpopular. 3.dxe5 dxe5 Negi,Parimarjan 2597 [ 3...c6 4.exd6 xd6 Akshayraj,Kore 2400 is the aforementioned pawn sacrifice. Black 46th ch-IND National A (12) 29.12.2008 is a pawn down although this will not affect [John Watson] some maniacs. ] 4.xd8+ xd8 5.c4 f6 And here is the 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 slightly worse ending. Not lost by any means 5.xd8+ xd8 It's remarkable how well but most of us would prefer to be White. Black has done from this position over the [ 5...e6 Fu n n il y e n o u g h 6.xe6 fxe6 last year. In this month's batch, he scored 6.5 has also been played. I much prefer this out of 8 games! 6.c4 type of position when the White Knight has [ After 6.g5 In the recent game Petr, Mcommitted to c3. For instance 7.f3 d6 Sabol, Litomysl CZE 2008, Black decided 8.bd2 and with Nc4 and b3, Bb2 as plan that gaining the bishop pair was worth the e5 looks very weak. Summarising I think doubled pawns: c6 ( or 6...e6 ) 7.0-0-0+ Black's choice of move order isn't optimal if c7 8.f4!? h6 9.xf6 gxf6 10.fxe5 fxe5 he wants the ending. 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 11.f3 f6 12.h4!? e6 ( 12...c5; e5 would be a better choice. ] 12...g4 13.e2 g8 ) 13.d3 d7 6.f4!? Very aggressive. Another way : 14.hf1 g8 15.e2 c5 with some [ 6.c3 b4 7.d2 e7 8.ge2 bc6 edge ( or 15...c5 )] 9.a3 a5 10.0-0-0 e8 11.e3 xc3 6...e6 12.xc3 a6 13.d2 b5 14.d5 b7 [ 6...e8 is also doing well. Several leading 15.c5 xd5 16.xd5 c8 17.hd1 f7 players have decided to go this way. White 18.f3 he8 19.h3 g6 20.xc7 ed8 just doesn't have enough targets to play 21.d7+ xd7 22.xd7+ g8 23.d5 against, so his lead in development doesn't d8 24.e7+ 1-0 Saldanez,J-Domingo,J/ mean much. ] Jujuy 1999 ] 7.xe6 fxe6 8.f3 Computers all like White 6...d6 7.fxe5 xe5 8.f3 d7 9.c3 c6 here (doubled pawns), but if you just keep 10.e2 e7 11.f4 c5 making them play against good moves, they [ 11...xf4 I think 12.xf4 g6 13.g3 e8 tend to grow disillusioned. bd7 Not bad, but 14.d2 was the best shot for Black. White perhaps not the best. keeps his small edge but it really isn't easy [ 8...c5 is the usual move, reserving ....Nc6 to win these position where Black has such as a possibility. ] strong control over e5 ] [ 8...b4 9.d2 xc3!? 10.xc3 bd7 12.xe5 fxe5 13.h5 e6 14.e3! xc4 is a terribly conservative interpretation, 15.xc5 g8 16.0-0-0+ e8 17.d2 asserting that the knights can protect There's a simple problem of counterplay. g6 against any breakthrough that W hite can [ 17...d8 18.xd8+ xd8 19.xa7 ] mount. In Lenderman-Bonin, Mineola 2008, 18.hd1 e6 19.h3 Running him out of Black simply curled up and reacted normally useful moves. This one prepares Rd6 without to W hite's attempts with bishop-versusallowing ...Bg4 h8 knight. I'll include the whole game to 923

954

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 illustrate White's frustration: 11.h3 e8 12.f2 d6 13.d3 f7 14.0-0-0 e7 15.b4+ e8 16.d2 a5 17.c3 e7 18.hd1 hd8 19.b3 b6 20.b2 f6 21.c4 xd2 22.xd2 d7 23.a4 g5 24.e3 h8 25.b2 g6 26.a3+ e8 27.c4 c5 28.c2 d8 29.xd8+ xd8 30.c1 h5 31.g3 h8 32.d1 f7 33.f2 d7 34.h3 g4 35.fxg4 hxg4 36.f2 f6 37.c5 d7 38.d3 c6 39.cxb6 cxb6 40.d2 c5 41.c3 c6 42.e3 c7 43.b2 c6 44.d3 d7 45.f2 f6 46.a3 d6 47.d3 d7 48.c1 f7 49.h3 gxh3 50.xh3 d6 51.f2 e8 52.g4 d7 53.e3 f7 54.h3 b5 55.axb5 xb5 56.g5+ f6 57.f3 d6 58.d2 b7 59.c3 d6 60.b2 g6 61.g5 f7 62.a3 xg5 63.a4 f6 64.xa5 gxe4 65.xe4 xe4 66.b4 c3 67.b5 , drawn. ] 9.e3 c5 10.e2 [ A sample variation after 10.xc5 would be xc5 11.h3 e7 12.0-0-0 hd8 ( it would be more interesting to avoid exchanges, since the d-file is well-covered, for example, 12...a6 13.d2 b5 14.hd1 b4 15.e2 a5 ) 13.xd8 xd8 14.d1 g8!? with the idea ...g5-g4. ] 10...e7 11.h3 This knight does little on e2, f ro m wh e re it is cla ssically re stricte d b y Black's pawn on e5. a6 Really not necessary. If Black wants to play his plan from the game, it's a good time for [ 11...d4!? 12.hd1 , and ( 12.d1 hd8 13.c3 b6 ) 12...c5 looks a little risky, but White can't exploit the position of the bishop on d4. ] 12.f2 d4!? [ 12...xe3 13.xe3 hf8 exact orders don't seem to be very important here. ] 13.cd1 b5?! Weakening. [ 13...hf8 is fine. 14.c3 xe3 15.xe3 e8 and ...Nd6 is one possibility. ] 14.c3 xe3 15.xe3 c5 16.c4! b8 17.d3 fd7 18.b4!? [ Or 18.hc1! with advantage. ] 18...c6!? [ 18...cxb4 19.cxb5 axb5 20.xb4 c8 ] 19.bxc5 b4 20.f2 a5 21.d5+!? An enterprising sacrifice, to be applauded, but W hite is better to begin with and it's

unnecessary. exd5 22.cxd5 [ 22.exd5! hc8 ( 22...d4 23.ae1 ) 23.dxc6 xc6 24.he1 f6 25.ad1 a7 26.g3! and Nf2 can be a useful move. This is only mildly better for White, however. ] 22...d4 [ A simple solution is 22...hc8! with the idea 23.dxc6 ( 23.ac1 a6! ) 23...xc6 24.ac1 ac8 and Black has no problems. ] 23.c6 b6 24.xe5 Those 3 passed pawns lo o k d a n g e r o u s! B l a ck a c h i e ve s a g o o d blockade, however, and they never advance. I t ' s n o t cl e a r wh e t h e r W h it e c o u l d h a v e organised that, but in any case he drifts and finds himself in trouble: hf8 25.d3 [ 25.hc1 b5 26.c4 is a safe course. ] 25...d6 26.ac1 a4 27.c4!? b5 28.e3? [ T h i s w a s W h i t e ' s c h a n c e f o r 28.c7! , wit h ch a n ce s , e . g. , d7 ( 28...xc7 29.e5+ d7 30.e6+ d6 31.c6+ xd5 32.xc7 xe6 33.e1+ ) 29.e5 b6!? 30.c5! c3 31.d6 e4+ 32.e3 xc5 33.xc5+ followed by Rc1. ] 28...a3 29.d4? Wildly optimistic. [ 29.cc1 ] 29...xc4 30.xc4 b6+ 31.d4 [ 31.b5 xd5! 32.exd5 f5 ] 31...xd5! Probably White simply missed this whole idea. 32.exd5 f5 33.f4 e8 34.c4 e4+ 35.b3 xd5 36.e5 xf4 37.c1 c7 38.d7 d3+ 39.a4 b3+ 40.b5 bxa2 41.c5 d5 42.e1 b4+ 0-1

925 Neiksans,Arturs Vachier Lagrave,Maxime European Rapid Championship rapid (7) [Gawain Jones]

B07 2503 2703

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 bd7 Black in te nd s t o rea ch a t yp ica l P hilid o r position but without allowing the queen trade. 4.f4 And this is the critical test. e5 5.f3 The so called Lion. Unfortunately I don't have the recent book but have tried to give my thoughts. exd4 [ 5...c6 is an alternative but doesn't look to e qu a lise . A re ce n t co m p u t e r m a t c h u p 955

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 continued 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.fxe5 g4 8.e6! fxe6 9.g5 de5 10.xd8+ xd8 11.h3 h6 12.f4 hf7 13.xf7+ xf7 14.d1+ d7 15.c4 e8 16.0-0 c5+ 17.h1 b5 18.b3 f8 19.e5 e7 20.e4 and Black was rather passively placed. HIARCS-KALLISTO Leiden 2010. ] [ Similarly 5...e7 looks to favour White. 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.fxe5 g4 8.f4 c6 ( 8...c5 9.c4 0-0 10.e2 e8 11.0-0-0 gxe5 12.b3 and Black still hadn't managed to develop all his forces. Conquest, S (2460)-Hodgson, J (2545) London 1991.) 9.h3 and White was clearly better - see Ermenkov, E (2454)-Abdulaziz, M (2101) Beirut 2004 annotated by Andrew Martin. ] 6.xd4 [ 6.xd4 was also played against the young Frenchman in W arsaw. g6 7.e3 g7 8.d3 0-0 9.h3 c5 10.f3 e8 11.0-0-0 d7 12.g4 xd3+ 13.cxd3 c5! 14.de2 Andriasian, Z (2585)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2703) Warsaw 2010 and here I like the look of d5! 15.g5 d4 16.gxf6 xf6 and Black would have taken the upper hand. ] 6...c6 [ 6...e7? allows 7.e5! when Black's position is already rather awkward. dxe5 8.fxe5 c5 Makoli, P-Michalik, P (2455) P l o v d i v 2 0 1 0 9.a4! g8 10.e4 gives White a beautiful position. ] [ 6...c5 was looked at in Ponomariov, R (2616) -Beliavsky, A (2618) Bled 1999 by Nigel Davies. ] 7.c4 The most natural move putting pressure on f7 but allowing Black the following interesting pawn sacrifice. Stohl actually gave this a question mark. I think he was being a bit dramatic but Black certainly takes over the initiative. [ 7.d2 allows b6 which is a fairly solid response. A recent game continued 8.0-0-0 e7 9.h3 0-0 10.g4 e8 11.g2 f8 12.he1 xd4 13.xd4 and a draw was agreed 1/2-1/2 Eppinger, G (2212)-Klundt, K (2355) Nuremberg 2010 although I f eel W hite should have a little something still as Black is rather passive. ] [ 7.e3 has been the main try which has had some recent tests. d5 A) 8.e5 looks consistent but practice has

shown Black can get enough counterplay. g4 9.g1 b6 10.xb6 axb6 11.h3 h6 12.e2!? ( 12.g4 was Pete's choice a n d i n ve s t ig a t e d in W e l l s, P ( 2 4 7 6 ) Oratovsky, M (2481) Budapest 1999 by Nigel in the archives.) 12...b4+ ( 12...f6! looks sensible when 13.exf6 gxf6 14.g4 is unclear but Black can't be too unhappy. ) 13.c3 e7 14.ed4 c5 15.g4 g8 16.h2 f6 and Black had reasonable counter-chances. White erred here with 17.0-0-0?! and after xa2 18.b1 Cosma, E (2332)-Gara, A (2370) Bucharest 2010 Black should have played a4 to prevent 19.c4; B) 8.0-0-0!? looks logical to me, keeping flexible in the centre. c5 9.d3 e7 10.e5 g4 11.xc5 xc5 12.d4 h5 13.h3 h6 14.f2 f5 15.g3 d7 16.g1 0-0-0 17.g4 hxg4 18.hxg4 h6 19.f5 and White's extra space gave him a decent edge. Debray, C (2362) Vingerhoets, L (2057) Avoine 2010.; C) 8.exd5 This has been White's most common, grabbing the pawn. c5 9.d3 e7 10.d4 b6! This was John W atson's recommendation. Black gets good play for the pawn. ( The forced line 10...g4 11.f5! de5! 12.xe7 xd3+ 13.xd3 xe3 14.xc8 xc8 Moussard, J (2276)-Manouck, T (2330) Paris 2010 must be a little better for White as I d on 't belie ve Bla ck ca n h ave f ull compensation for the pawn.; 10...xd5 11.xd5 cxd5 12.f5 definitely gave White something Adamson, R-Ivanov, A Reno 2007 check John's analysis in the archives. ) 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.e2 C1) 12...a6! is given by John but W h i t e i s b e t t e r wi t h a c c u r a t e p l a y . 13.d2 fd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.xc6 ( 15.f5 "!" John xe3 16.xe7 xd2+ 17.xd2 xe7 18.xa6 hd8 19.ae1+ f8 20.c1 xf4 21.e4 leaves Black attempting to hold a rather unpleasant ending.) 15...xe3 16.xe3+ xe3 17.xa6 xc2+ and here John overlooks 18.e2 xa1 19.b7! 0-0 20.xa8 xa8 21.xa1 when Black will still have to work for the half point.; 956

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 C2) 12...0-0 13.g1 b4 14.xc6 xc3+ 15.bxc3 c7 gave Black good compensation but here White committed suicide wit h 16.0-0-0? xc6 17.f3 a4 18.xa8 c4! with a decisive attack Dukaczewski, P (2319) -Aharon, O (2199) Olomouc 2010. ] [ 7.e5 dxe5 8.fxe5 c5 is generally considered to be fine for Black. ] 7...d5 8.exd5 c5 9.d3 0-0 Natural but this allows White time to get his king to safety. [ 9...e7+! looks best to me forcing a concession out of White. 10.f1 ( 10.e2 b6 11.xe7+ xe7 and Black regains the pawn with a pleasant position.) 10...0-0 and, due to White's lack of king safety and slight problem with development he already struggles to equalise. 11.d2 b6 12.e1 c7 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 xc4 16.xc4 b6 17.b3 a6+ 18.c4 e6 forced White to sacrifice the exchange with 19.xe6 but Black was clearly better a n d wo n qu ic kly in Ra h m a n , Z (2 3 2 0 ) Murshed, N (2520) Dhaka 1995. ] 10.dxc6 bxc6 11.d2 e8+ 12.e2 After this it looks like Black should take the advantage. [ Therefore White should sidestep with his king. 12.f1! c7 ( 12...h6! preventing Ng5 should be played with decent c o m p e n s a t i o n .) 13.e1 ( 13.g5! ) 13...xe1+ 14.xe1 b6 15.e5 xc4 16.xc4 Shetty, R (2356)-Belkhodja, S (2506) Dubai 2002 and here e7 17.d1 e6 would have resulted in an interesting unbalanced position. Personally I'd pick Black as White will have to be very accurate to have any hopes of converting his extra pawn. ] 12...e4! Now White has problems. 13.0-0-0 [ 13.f1 Defends the f2 square but now W hite has problems with his king safety. xd2! 14.xd2 b6 15.c3 a6 16.xa6 xa6 17.c2 e7! Meszaros, A (2395) Sutorikhin, V (2335) Hungary 1994 and White had no defence to the pressure down the e file. ] [ 13.g5 has been tried a couple of times but xg5 14.fxg5 b6 is unpleasant to d e a l w i t h a s 15.0-0-0 e5 16.b3 ( 16.e4 is better but a6 17.xa6 xa6

18.a3 c4 leaves Black with a decisive attack. ) 16...xc4 17.xc4 a6 wins the stranded e2 knight. ] 13...e7 [ 13...f2! is critical and was played in the o n l y o t h e r g a m e I c a n f i n d . 14.xf7+!? tempting ( but perhaps White should try the simple 14.c3 when Black needs to find h6! 15.g3 xh1 16.h5 f6 17.xf7+ xf7 18.xf6 gxf6 19.xc5 g4 20.xh1 xf3 21.gxf3 d5 and Black's on top.) 14...h8 15.c4 e4 16.ed4 xd4 17.xd4 b6 18.c5 ( 18.xc6 c7 19.c5 xf7 20.xf2 xa2 ) 18...xd4 19.he1 e4 and Black had consolidated his material advantage. Zuse, K (2255)-Brix, G (1990) Hockenheim 1994. ] 14.hf1 xd2? Vachier Lagrave had used up all his energy in the Blitz tournament the day before and here he misses White's powerful counter. [ 14...b6 was best when Black has good compensation for the pawn. The game might continue 15.ed4 ( 15.g3 xc4 16.xc4 xd2 17.xd2 e6 and the bishop pair and queenside pressure looks quite pleasant for Black.) 15...xd4 16.xd4 c5 17.d3 f5 18.e2 b7 when White has to walk a tightrope to keep equality. 19.a6 d5 20.c4 d7 21.b5 g3 22.hxg3 xe2 23.xd7 xd7 24.b3 xg2 25.e5 and White survived Black's pressure and has perhaps a nibble here. ] 15.g5! Neiksans is up to the task. Impressive calculation here, especially seeing as it was a Rapid game. Black cannot su cc e ssf u lly d e f e n d b o t h f 7 a n d h 7 . f6 Black's best try. [ 15...e4 16.xf7+ h8 17.xe8 xg5 18.xd7 is hopeless. ] 16.xf7+?! This is very logical but actually offers Black a way out into a playable position. [ 16.xd2 was far better when Black has to take a time out to defend f7 and after f8 White can play 17.d4 with an extra pawn and pressure, a great position. ] 16...h8?! The Frenchman was obviously not all there for this game and after this he isn't given another chance. [ G i v i n g u p h i s q u e e n w i t h 16...xf7! was essential when the position is far from 957

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 clear. 17.xf7 xf1 18.h6+! ( 18.xf1 e3+ 19.b1 xf7 and I prefer Black's rook and two bishops to White's queen and couple of pawns.) 18...gxh6 19.c4+ g7 20.xc5 xe2 21.xf1 d7 leaves a very complex position. Perhaps White is a little better as Black's king is vulnerable but it's a true battle. ] 17.xe8 xf1 18.xc6 b7 [ 18...e3+ 19.b1 d2+ 20.xd2 xd2 21.xa8 xf4 22.f3 would also leave White with a clear extra two pawns. ] 19.xb7 xb7 20.xf1 xg2 21.d1 The dust has settled. White has a clear extra two pawns and Black must be careful with his king. Vachier Lagrave fights well but already his position is pretty hopeless. Obviously the following moves aren't perfect as it was just a rapid game. f8 22.e6 [ 22.g3! would keep both extra pawns. ] 22...e8 23.f5 xh2 24.b1 b6 [ Lagrave should have taken the opportunity to bring his queen back into the game with 24...e5 ] 25.2f4! Now Black's queen is extremely offside. c8 26.c3 b8 27.d2 g1+ 28.c2 e3 29.d6 e8 30.d1 f2+ 31.b1 xf4 32.xf4 With every exchange W hite gets nearer an easy technical win. Ho we ve r, t h e prob le m a s f a r a s Black is concerned is that W hite can generate an initiative much more easily. e2 33.g1 e4 34.a1 f6 35.c7! g8 36.a3 e8 37.f4 [ 37.xa7 is very easy. ] 37...f6 38.g5 e5 39.h1 e4 40.g1 e5 41.f4 e4 42.h4 e8 43.g5 g8 44.e6 e5 45.f1 e4 46.h4 f6 47.g5 f8 48.e6 b8 49.f2 a5 50.a7 h5 51.g5 b5 52.f2 e8 53.e6 a4? Now the knight drops. 54.f7 h6 55.c4 b8 56.xh5 e7 57.g4 e5 58.g2 d7 59.a2 e3 60.g3 b6 61.c3 An interesting tactical sequence just ou t o f t h e o pe n in g b u t o bje ct ive ly 7 .B c4 s h o u ld n 't c h a lle n ge B l a ck a n d s o W h it e should examine the alternatives. 1-0

926 Nepomniachtchi,Ian Yudin,Sergei Aeroflot Open (8) [James Vigus]

B07 2628 2562 24.02.2009

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.h3 [ 4.e3 c6 5.h3 is the more usual route to our point of departure. Here Black usually chooses between 5...b5?! (our previous ma in ga me ), 5 . .. B g7 (ou r cu rre n t m a in game), and 5...Nbd7. In the examples below, we will see repeatedly that Black is most successful at breaking the Archbishop's grip when he does not play ...Nbd7, which can get in the way of a central counterattack. Therefore after bd7 (intending to meet 6 f4 with 6...b5 7 a3 Nb6, securing the d5square for the knight on f6 in case W hite ploughs forward with e4-e5), the critical m o v e i s s u r e l y 6 g 4 ! ( n e x t g a m e ) 6.a4 ( 6.g4 ) 6...g7 7.g4 0-0 (Black should probably try 7...e5 possibly followed by a quick ...d5, as John W atson suggests in 'James Vigus Pirc Inquiry') 8.g2 a5 9.ge2 A) 9...d5 10.e5 ( 10.f3 dxe4 11.fxe4 e5 ) 10...e4; B) 9...c5 10.d5 e8 11.0-0 e5 12.f4 c4 13.c1 e6 14.a2 d8 15.d3 exd5 16.xd5 b6 17.e3 was very good for W hite in Ninov, N (2526) Spielmann, A (2324)/Nancy FRA 2009 ] 4...g7 5.e3 c6 White's peculiar moveo r d e r m e a n s t h a t B la c k s h o u ld h a v e n o qualms about 5... 0-0 here, since the plan of Qd2 and Bh6 is too slow in combination with h3 to be troubling, and 6 g4 invites a quick counterattack with 6...e5. 6.g4 [ 6 f4 remains critical here, and would be a good topic f or a future update. If W hite wants an Archbishop Attack, however, he probably does best with Nepomniachtchi's move-order, rather than the 6 a4 0-0 7 g4 of L-D.Nisipeanu-P. Svidler, Ukraine 2007, annotated by John Watson in the archive. 6.a4 ] 6...b5 [ G a gu n a sh vili's su gge st io n o f 6...b6!? has yet to be tested now 7 Qc1 is not a particular concession for W hite, and 958

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7.ge2!? xb2 8.g2 is a dangerous if unnecessary gambit. ] [ 6...a5 has been a very popular try in practice. It puts the onus on Black to strike back rapidly in the centre (otherwise the queen's excursion will have done nothing to hinder W hite's smooth development) and leads to sharp play: A) 7.d2 is designed to avoid the line 7 Bg2 d5!, and limited evidence suggests t h a t i t ' s p r o m i s i n g f o r W h i t e , e . g . h5 ( 7...e5 8.ge2 b5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.c5!? bd7 11.b4 d8 12.0-0-0 led to a storming attack for W hite in S. Williams-M.Gagunashvili, Hastings 2006, but a5!? (Gagunashvili) seems to give Black enough counterplay I feel that in principle W hite should maintain the c e n t r a l t e n s io n i n t h e s e p o s i t i o n s . . .; ...though he must at the same time be on the lookout for Black's thematic ...d5 break, e.g. 7...bd7 8.f4 b5!? 9.g2? (9 e5!) b4 10.ce2 d5 11.e5 e4 12.xe4 dxe4 13.g3 b6 14.b3 f6 15.1e2 0-0 16.xe4 d5 17.0-0 1/2-1/2 Efanov, N (2348)-Pavlovski, Y (2263)/ Kazan RUS 2008/The Week in Chess 714; 7...b5 8.g5 b4 9.gxf6 bxc3 10.fxg7 cxd2+ 11.xd2 xd2+ 12.xd2 g8 13.f4 W hite's spatial advantage gave him a nagging edge in the endgame, Sibilio, M (2330)-Satta, V (2230)/Italy 1998/EXT 2002 (41) ) 8.g5 fd7 9.g2 b5 10.ge2 b4 11.d1 b6 12.b3 b7 13.0-0 c5 14.b2 0-0 15.d3 with a slight edge owing to Black's offside que en in E. Mukha me to v-D. Ko njevic, Yugoslav Championship 1996; B) 7.g2 B1) 7...e6!? 8.ge2 c4 9.g5 g8 10.c1 d7 11.b3 c7 12.f3 h6 13.h4 hxg5 14.hxg5 xh1+ 15.xh1 e5 16.0-0-0 xb3 17.axb3 exd4 18.xd4 xd4 19.xd4 c5 was rather enterprising from Black in Leon Hoyos, M (2454)-Valdes, L (2401)/ Santo Domingo 20078 ext (79), but still a little way from full equality.; B2) 7...e5 8.ge2 ( releasing the t e n s i o n w i t h 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.d6 g i v e s W h i t e n o t h i n g , a n d a f t e r e6

10.a4? a6 11.d1 b4 12.d2 White must have been relieved that his draw offer was accepted in Jones, G (2549)-McNab, C (2450) / Coulsdon ENG 20 08/ The W e ek in Che ss 72 0) 8...bd7 9.0-0 could quickly turn into a good version of the Fianchetto Variation for White, who enjoys the 'extra' move g4, while Black's queen lacks purpose on a5. In Laine-Nippula, Black tried b6! 10.d3 ( perhaps 10.b3!? e6 11.g5 g8 12.d5 cxd5 13.exd5 f5 14.d2!? ) 10...e6 11.ad1 ( 11.b3 d5! ) 11...c4 12.d2 h5 13.g5 fd7 14.f4 0-0-0 15.b3 exd4 16.xd4 xd4+ 17.xd4 xe2 18.xe2 xa2 19.d2 a5 20.a1 c5 21.xa7 c7 22.d1 and a draw was agreed, though even in the final position White could look forward to an endgame with a promising future for the 'archbishop' on g2, Laine, P (2203)-Nippula, T (2224)/ Finland 200103; B3) 7...d5! 8.e5 e4 B3a) 9.xe4?! dxe4 10.d2 c5 11.dxc5 xe5 12.d4 xd4 13.xd4 0-0 14.b4? c6! - A.Ivanov; B3b) 9.d3 xc3 ( Black should exploit the light squares with 9...a6! 10.xe4 dxe4 11.xe4 e6 ) 10.d2 b5 11.xc3 d7 12.f4 was slightly better for White in Kudischewitsch, D (2384)-Chernomordik, P (2305)/Tel Aviv 2002; B3c) 9.ge2 h5!? 10.xe4 dxe4 11.gxh5 xh5 12.g3 xh3 13.xh3 xh3 14.gxe4 a6 15.f3 f5 16.0-0-0 0-0-0 was roughly balanced in Ivanov, A (2460) -Christiansen, L (2555)/USA 1989/Inf 48/[Ivanov, Alexa] (34) ] [ 6...h5 7.g5 fd7 is an attempt to play by analogy to the 4 Be3 c6 5 Qd2 Nbd7 6 f3 b5 line that Marin has recently analysed in depth in an article in ChessBase Magazine. One of his main lines is then 7 g4 Nb6 8 h4 h5 9 g5 Nfd7 10 f4 Bg7, reaching something very similar to our present line. However, there are two important differences: (i) White has 'saved' a tempo by missing out the possibly unhelpful move Qd2 (ii) the h4959

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 square is not occupied by a pawn, and so is f r e e f o r a wh i t e k n i gh t . T h i s m i gh t n o t necessarily be disastrous for Black, but these factors did prove important in the game: 8.f4 b5 ( 8...0-0 9.f3 c5 10.d2 cxd4 11.xd4 , Aleksandrov, A (2535)Poluljahov, A (2480)/St Petersburg 1996, wasn't too promising for Black either) 9.f3 (a sensible alternative to the 9 Bd3 of S. Rocha-M.Marin, Linares 1998, as given in TPIBAW) b6 10.b3 8d7 11.h4! b4 12.e2 c5 13.f5! b7 ( 13...cxd4 14.xd4 g8 is a better defence, but feels uncomfortable) 14.fxg6 xe4 15.gxf7+ xf7 16.g2 xg2 17.xg2 e6?! 18.0-0+ e7? 19.ef4 f8 20.dxc5 1-0 Ovetchkin, R (2515)-Abelian, A (2356)/Voronezh 20028 ext ] 7.g2 [ The sharp 7.e5 was P.Svidler-V. Ivanchuk, Spain 2006, annotated by Jonathan Rowson in the archive. W hite won that game convincingly, but the opening wasn't particularly clear. ] 7...b7 [ The only previous all-grandmaster encounter to reach this position meandered sedately on with 7...fd7!? 8.f3 b7 9.0-0 0-0 10.d2 e8 11.ad1 c7 12.e2 ( 12.h6 h8 13.g5!? , r e l e a s i n g t h e f - p a wn , m ig h t b e m o r e incisive ) 12...c5 13.g3 cxd4 14.xd4 a6 15.h6 h8 16.f4 c6 17.c3 ac8 and equality, Sulskis, S (2582)-Postny, E (2537)/Cappelle la Grande 20049 ext (49) ] 8.g5! [ Against quieter play, Black, having cunningly refrained from ... e7-e5, can build slowly up to the ...c6-c5 break, e.g. 8.d2 c7 9.a3 bd7 10.ge2 b6 11.b3 a6 12.0-0 (Callet, E-Gallego, E/Paris 1993) 0-0 13.f4 c5 with unclear play. ] 8...fd7 9.h4 e5 [ With a weakness on d6 and without any genuine pressure against d4, this break is double-edged for Black. He probably didn't fancy the alternatives, though: a) 9...h5?! does not, of course, reach the sort of kingside blockade favoured by Marin, since 10.gxh6 xh6 11.xh6 xh6 12.d2 h8 13.f3 leaves White with good central

play. ] [ b) 9...c5!? is the move Black would prefer to play with his bishop on b7, but 10.h5! ( 10.xb5 b6! ) 10...c6 11.f3 b4 12.e2 leaves the bishop on g7 with a h e a d a c h e , p e r h a p s b e s t a l l e vi a t e d b y g8!? ] 10.d5!? [ Continuing his policy of maximum spacegra b b in g. T h is is ce rt a in ly cr it ica l, b u t sometimes the Archbishop is most effective when W hite reins himself in slightly, and 10.f3 b6 11.b3 8d7 12.h5 would have asked Black what exactly he is proposing to do about that Pirc prelate on g7. ] 10...b4 [ 10...b6 11.dxc6 xc6 12.xb5 c4 is another way to sacrifice a pawn, but Yudin is probably right to jettison the sickly d6pawn rather than its healthy comrade on the b-file. ] 11.dxc6 xc6 12.b5 [ This is hard to resist, but classical principles would suggest occupying the square in front of a backward pawn rather than hurrying to capture the pawn itself: 12.d5! . This surely offers White some sort of edge, since attempts to break out with ... h6 or ...f5 will make the kingside un in h a b it a b le f o r t he b la ck kin g, wh ile White's own monarch could still choose to go to either side. ] 12...0-0 13.xd6 [ The point of Black's play is that White's lone-raiding knight lacks retreat squares, guaranteeing Black good counterplay after, say, 13.xd6 a6 14.f1!? ( or 14.e2 b6 ) 14...xf1 15.xf1 b6 ] [ 13.f3!? a6 ] 13...b6!? [ Yudin's plan is to induce White to castle, then offload a couple more pawns to get at the king. Less risky was 13...a6! 14.c7 ( 14.d1? axb5 15.xd7 xd7 16.xd7 fb8 is good for Black) 14...c8 15.d5 e8 : it looks strange to force the white knight to d5, but more importantly Black now has access to d4. One sample line goes 16.h3 d4 17.xd4 exd4 18.xd7 xd5! 19.xc8 e7 20.xa6 xe4 960

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.e2 , when the position has certainly not clarified! ] 14.0-0-0! [ White probably didn't think too much about p l a y i n g ' s a f e ' w i t h 14.xd8 fxd8 , when Black's position is quite harmonious and both ...Nc4 and ...Nd4 come into the reckoning. ] 14...d4 15.xb4 [ This time 15.xd8 fxd8 16.xd4 exd4 17.f4 ac8 was a more serious option for W hite, but a coming ... Na4 should give Black enough for the pawn. ] 15...c8 16.xd4 exd4 17.xd4 c7 18.c3? [ The natural defence, but it involves returning a pawn and allowing the black queen to become active. 18.b3 f4+ ( 18...fd8 19.e2 ) 19.e3 ( 19.e3 c7 invites a repetition, since 20.c3 c4 will be hard for White to negotiate) 19...e5 probably doesn't offer Black enough compensation objectively, but this would be quite a scary prospect for White. ] 18...xd4! 19.xd4 [ If 19.xd4 fd8 the white king will be dragged into the open. ] 19...f4+ 20.c2 xf2+ 21.d2 g3 22.b3? [ Giving up control of the d-file is disastrous. Instead 22.d6 g4 remains hard to fathom, but who wouldn't take Black? ] 22...fd8 Remarkably, White's kingside is so congested that he cannot avoid the loss of a p i e c e . T h i s d o e s i ll u st ra t e t h e p o t e n t i a l danger W hite faces with the 'maximalist' approach of the Archbishop: those advanced kingside pawns confer a space advantage, but also leave holes in their wake! 23.c4 e3 24.h3 xg1 25.b2 a6 26.h1 e3 27.xd8+ xd8 28.c1 xc4+ 29.bxc4 g3 30.a5 b8+ 31.a1 xg2 32.b1 xb1+ 33.xb1 f1+ 34.b2 e2+ 35.a3 d3+ 36.b2 d4+ 37.a3 xc4 38.b4 g7 39.e5 e3+ 40.a4 xa2 41.e6 b3+ 0-1

927 Nestorovic,Lazar Svetac,Nenad Spring Open Belgrade SRB (8) [John Watson]

B07 2207 2322 30.03.2009

A pleasant miniature, and no comf ort f or Black's cause. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 c6 5.d2 g7 6.0-0-0 c7 Aiming for ...e5. 7.d3 [ 7.f4 still looks annoying, for example, h6 ( 7...e5? 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.fxe5 fd7 10.d6! ) 8.h4 0-0 9.f3 , but maybe b5!? is better than in the previous game b e c a u s e o f 10.e5 b4! 11.exf6 bxc3 12.xc3 exf6 ] 7...e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.h6 0-0 10.h4! This position is still difficult for Black. xh6 [ Some sample analysis after 10...e6!? : 11.h5 ( 11.f3 ) 11...xh5 A) 12.xh5 gxh5 13.xg7 ( 13.g5?! f6 ) 13...xg7 14.g5+ h8 15.f6+=; B) 12.e2! f4 13.xg7 xg7 14.f3 f6 15.g3 h5 16.e2 f7 ( 16...f7 17.xh5 gxh5 18.f3 a6 19.h4 ) 17.xh5 gxh5 18.xh5 gives White some kingside chances. A typical crazy line goes a6 19.f4 ad8 20.xd8 xd8 21.f5 xa2 22.g4+ f8 ( 22...h8 23.xa2 xa2 24.xh7+! ) 23.h4 g8 24.h6 d7 25.f3 c5 26.xf6 b3+ 27.cxb3 xb3 28.g5+ h8 29.d2 d3 30.f8+ xf8 31.xb3 and White should win. ] 11.xh6 g4 [ 11...g4 (to prevent Nf3-g5) 12.f3 e6 13.h5 bd7 14.g4 c5 15.h3 b5 16.g5 ad8 ] 12.d2 f5? A terrible misjudgement, exposing his king. Perhaps [ 12...b6 13.h3 f6 is best, with White st i ll h a vi n g t h e a t t a ck f o ll o win g 14.g5 , with the idea h5. ] 13.c4+?! Not the best exploitation. Better is [ 13.f3 f6 14.exf5 gxf5 15.g5+ g7 16.xf5 , or, still better, ] [ 13.h5! f4 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.g3! ( 15.f3 ) 15...e6 16.gxf4 exf4 17.f3 and Rdg1. ] 13...g7 14.h5 f4 15.hxg6 hxg6 16.f3 d7? Missing the winning sacrifice. [ 16...e7! defends for a while, for example, 961

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.h4!? b5 18.b3 a5 19.dh1 f6 meet. On the other hand, f5 14.xe4!? 20.g5! d8 21.e2 a6 22.g3! a4 ( 14.h6 ) 14...xd2+ 15.xd2 fxg4 23.e6 ] 16.hxg4 xg4 isn't inspiring for White. ] 17.h7+! Whoops! A pretty shot that is easy 11...exf6 12.0-0 f5?! to miss. f6 [ 12...xc3! 13.xc3 ( 13.bxc3 e8 ) [ 17...xh7 18.g5+ h6 ( 18...h8 13...f5 intends ... fxg4 or in some cases ...f4. 19.h1+ g7 20.e6+; 18...g7 Black has an edge. ] 19.e6+ )] 13.xe4 fxe4 14.f3 exf3 18.d6+ It's mate next move! ½-½ 1-0 929 928 Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter Svidler,Peter Aerosvit Foros UKR (7) [John Watson]

B07 2693 2736 25.06.2007

Nyback,Tomi Puranen,Jukka Finnish Team Championship 2001 [Paul Motwani]

B07

2001

W44: "Fine finish in Finland!" 1.f3 d6 2.d4 The Wade Defence is named after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.h3 g7 g4 It's interesting that at the top levels players England's IM Robert Graham W ade, and don't seem as worried that ...Bg7 allows Bh6 although the current game is not one of the with an 'extra' tempo, as opposed to leaving better adverts for the system championed by the bishop on f8 for a while with, say, 4...c6. B o b W a d e , d o n ' t b e s u r p r i s e d i f t h e This leaves open the argument of whether 2... irrepressible man himself notches up some Nf6 is too committal! Awfully unlikely, but the cracking counter-attacking victories for us le a v in g it o n g8 f o r a wh ile give s u s t h e before 10 April 2002...when he'll be 81! 3.e4 Modern Defence, which has its own set of If we imagine replacing White's earlier d2-d4 with c2-c4, then a noteworthy possibility now advantages and disadvantages 5.e3 c6 [ 5...bd7 with an early ...e5 is a very would be 3 Qb3!? intending 3...Qc8 4 h3, different plan that yields a familiar setup after which 4...Bh5?? falls into the deadly trap after 6.g4 e5 7.g2 c6 8.a4 0-0 9.ge2 5 Qb5+ followed by 6 Qxh5. f6 4.c3 c6 [ 4...c6 5.e3 e6 6.h3 h5 7.d5 e5? . We looked at this without the moves . ..0-0 ( 7...exd5 is relatively best) 8.g4! g6 and Bg2 ha vin g b een playe d. I like th e tradeoff a bit for White, who has made ...d5 ( he's also in double trouble after 8...xf3+ 9.xf3 g6 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.e5! less likely. ] with the shattering Qxb7 coming) 9.d2! [ 5...0-0 transposes directly into analysis leaves Black facing the terrible threat of f4 from the Vigus inquiry in May. He thinks that then f5. ] 6.g4 d5 7.e5 e4 is satisfactory for Black in that case, and that 5...c6 makes Black 5.h3 h5 6.g4! Black's light-squared bishop is sent reeling f urt her backward s by this more vulnerable to the g4 attack. ] 6.a4 0-0 7.g4 This is another version of what particularly energetic case of g for "go for it"! Vigus calls the 'Archbishop Attack', named g6 7.e2 a5 and analysed by Vigus and Simon Bibby. a5 [ W44.1: 7...e6 transposes to the game I. Farago-V.Nevednichy, Bled 1992, where The attack on e4 facilitates Black's next: the continuation 8.h4! h6 9.h5 h7 10.g5 8.g2 d5! 9.e5 hxg5 11.xg5 was not pleasant for Black. ] [ White should consider 9.f3!? ] 8.d2 White quickly stops his opponent's 9...e4 10.ge2 f6 fleeting threat of capturing the e4-pawn, and [ 10...xc3! 11.xc3 f6 is more effective. ] now the bishop at d2 gives Black's queen 11.exf6 [ 11.xe4 dxe4 12.exf6 exf6 13.d2 cause for concern. b6 9.0-0-0 e6 10.h4! threatens Nxe4, which is not so easy to Echoing an idea from the earlier notes at 962

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 move seven. h5 11.g5 g8 [ 11...fd7 would have kept the knight a bit more in play. ] 12.d5! White aims to prise open the position in order to get at Black's king and exploit the seriously under-developed situation of that monarch's almost dormant pieces. e5 13.e3 c7 [ 13...c5 14.d2 is also horrible for Black, who then faces threats such as Nc4 and/or f2-f4. ] 14.d2! e7? This critically weakens the d6pawn, and W hite now acts very speedily to produce a fine finish to this game in Finland! 15.dxc6 bxc6 16.c4 c8 17.h3 a6 [ 17...d7 also loses instantly, to 18.xd7+ xd7 19.xe5 ] 18.xe5 dxe5 19.d7+ Black resigned, in view of 19...Qxd7 20 Rxd7 Kxd7 21 Qxa6. 1-0

17.c1 fc8 18.d2 xb2 19.ge2 e5 Maybe so, but this will be a rough ride.) 17...e5 18.ge2 c4 19.b3 a3+ 20.b2 xb5 Mola,P-Sarno,S/63rd ch-ITA, Arvier ITA 2003 ] 7...b5 8.f3 bd7 9.e5?! there were plenty of alternatives, all of which were better than the move chosen. [ 9.g4 ] [ 9.h6 ] [ 9.h4 ] [ 9.h3 ] 9...b4! The thematic response, either securing Black the d5 square or forcing open the b file. 10.exf6 bxc3 11.xc3 xf6 12.xc6 Almost suicidal, as Black quickly develops a massive attack along the open files. Parligras obviously did not like his position, resolved to take everything on offer and try to tough it out. [ What were his options? Few and far between. Perhaps 12.d3 is possible, but Black has the better game already. ] 930 B07 12...e6 13.c1 b8 14.h3 xa2+!! An idea which is spectacularly successful. Parligras,Mircea [ Of course 14...a5 would also have given Jobava,Baadur Black a big attack at zero risk. ] Antalya 2004 15.xa2 a5+ 16.b1 d5 With ...Rfc8 [Andrew Martin] coming, every Black piece joins in the attack. There now follows a breathtaking attacking White will not survive with his Kingside pieces game by Black, demonstrating the potential of mere onlookers. 17.d3 fc8 18.d2 xb2+ the Pirc. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 Certainly the most dynamic follow-up. [ 18...b4 enables White to grovel: 19.a3 4.e3 g7 5.d2 0-0 6.0-0-0 I believe that d8 20.a4 xc2 21.a2 xd4 22.a6 ] 6 0-0-0 is already too committal. White has plenty of good moves available e.g. Bd3,Nf3, 19.xb2 b8+ 20.b3 xd4+ 21.c3 b4!! even h2-h3,before castling. Why not wait to Intended all along and a wonderful, study-like see how the game develops? c6 7.b1 conception. Black rips the White King apart. If White sets up his Be3/g5, Qd2 battery it's 22.a6 [ 22.cxd4 a2+ 23.c1 xc6! ( 23...xb3 almost always best to play Bh6 as soon as isn't totally clear: 24.xb4 xb4 25.d2 one can. Otherwise what is the point? Black xd4+ 26.e1 b2 27.e2 b1+ 28.f2 has already made his own intentions clear with xh1 ) 24.xb8+ xb8 25.c3 c6 ..c7-c6 he wants to launch his b pawn forward, 26.f4 a5 White can't move very much-the so to hesitate with 7 Kb1 seems wrong. a pawn just walks. ] [ M i n d y o u , i f 7.h6 Black gets good counterplay anyway: b5 8.f3 ( 8.xg7 22...xa6 23.xa6 xb3+ 24.xb3 xa6 xg7 9.e5 dxe5 10.dxe5 xd2+ 11.xd2 25.cxd4 e2! 26.e1 xg2 27.f2 xf3+ g4 12.f4 f6= ) 8...a5 9.b1 xh6 28.c4 a5-+ 29.g1 a4 30.d3 a3 31.d2 10.xh6 e6 11.a3 bd7!? Very sharp, e5 32.dxe5 c6+ We see many such similar considering he could just have played 11... games in the Sicilian Dragon and King's Indian. b4 12.d5 cxd5 13.exd5 f5 14.g4 b4 Defeat is the price of hesitation by White, and 15.axb4 xb4 16.gxf5 ab8 17.b5 th a t is wh y t he se B lack op e nin gs a re s o ( Fritz argues that White survives after popular. Attacks such as this one come along 963

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 less often for Pirc/Modern fans, so when the [ 11...xf3+ 12.xf3 c4 13.e4 ] o p p o r t u n i t y a r i s e s i t H A S t o b e t a k e n . 12.a3 xf3+ 13.gxf3 Congratulations to Jobova on a wonderful [ 13.xf3 f8 14.e2 e5 ] performance. 13...d7 0-1 [ 13...e5 14.e3 ] 14.e3 b6?! A timid response when action is required. It also means that castling 931 B07 queenside is much more awkward because of Pavasovic,Dusko 2581 the weakness on the light squares. [ 14...0-0-0!? is the answer to connect the Fauland,Alexander 2427 rooks and protect the king. 15.b5 e5 Austrian Team Championship (8) 11.10.2003 16.xc6 bxc6 17.a3 ( 17.xa7+? b7 [Gary Lane] traps the unfortunate knight) 17...d5 and Black can fight on because it is not 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.d3 g6 obvious how White should proceed when his 5.dxc5!? This looks like a good idea but it is own king is badly placed. ] rarely played. 15.h5 gxh5 16.f4 c8 [ 5.f3 is considered the main line. ] [ The big difference now is that 16...0-0-0? 5...dxc5 6.e5 fd7?! A natural move to walks into 17.a6+ b8 18.b5 ] attack the advanced e-pawn but it is 17.b5 b8 18.0-0-0 Now that White has inaccurate. [ 6...c4 7.a4+ d7 8.xc4 White is a go t a ll h is p ie c e s in t o t h e a ct i o n h e c a n pawn up for nothing but complacency will smoothly step up a gear to accelerate the cost his dear g4 9.f4 c6 10.e4?? attack. d4 19.cxd4 The easiest way to fend a nightmare move f5 0-1 Huber, A-Gheng, off the attempt at counterplay. Others: [ 19.xd4!? cxd4 20.xh5+ f8+- ] J/Wuerttemberg 2000. ] [ 19.xd4? cxd4 20.b1 xf4 21.xa7 [ 6...d5 is the usual reply when play can c5 22.cxd4 c7 is still in favour of White continue 7.e4 c7 8.xd8+ xd8 but Black has active play. ] 9.e3 ( 9.a3 d7 10.f3 g7 11.e3 e6 12.0-0-0 gave White an edge in 19...cxd4+ 20.b1 dxe3 21.xh5+ f8 Firman,N-Kuzubov,Y/Alushta 2002.) 9...d7 22.xd7 xf4 23.f3 The grandmaster is 10.f3 f5 11.exf6 exf6 12.a3 f5 13.c2 happy to enter a superior ending. [ 23.f3!? is the top move which maintains the b5 14.0-0-0 White has a lead in a t t a c k i n g o p t i o n s . F o r e x a m p l e : e2 development which offers him more 24.e1+- h6 25.xh6 xh6 26.c3 attacking options a6 15.he1 the big threat when the extra piece ensures victory. ] is Bg5+ e6 16.b3 c4 17.g5! e7 18.xe6 cxb3 19.d4 1-0 Salai, L-Demeter, 23...xf3 24.xf3 exf2 25.f1 h6 26.c7 e3 27.b7 b8 P/Nove Zamky 1999. ] [ 27...xc7!? 28.xc7 f7 ] 7.e6! A nice positional idea which helps to create tactics later in the game because the 28.d3 xb7 29.xe6+ f7 [ Or 29...e8 30.xe3 d7 31.xf2+- ] black king will be vulnerable. This is because the doubled e-pawns are a hindrance to Black 30.xe3 d7 31.xf2+ e8 32.c3 [ 32.c3 d6 33.c8+ d7 34.xh8 xe6 developing fxe6 8.f3 c6 9.e2 g7 35.xh7+- ] 10.h4 This is the standard way of exploiting such positions. The fianchetto on the kingside 1-0 is hardly rock solid without the defence of the f-pawn and it is up to White to try and create further havoc. [ It will all en ds in te ars af te r 10.xe6?? when de5 11.b3 xd3+ 12.e2 g4 the position is massively in Black's favour. ] 10...de5 11.e4 d6 964

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 has some chances here but Granda Zuniga quickly quashes any counterplay. ac8 19.f5 Perez Candelario,Man c6 20.f6 d8 21.f4 exf6 22.d5 Granda Zuniga,J Creative play but Black has it under control XVIII Navalmoral Open (7.2) fxg5 23.xg5 f6! 24.h6 f7 25.h3 e5 [Tom Rendle] Now Black's play gets going and W hite's 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 position quickly falls apart 26.h1 h7 [ 26...g5! was even stronger ] I'm not a big fan of f3 this early on as it just signals your intent to Black who can choose a 27.f4 a5 28.e1 b8 [ 28...f3 wins another exchange - it seems setup accordingly. likely that at least one player was very short [ 4.e3 or ] of time around here. ] [ 4.g5 are both sensible alternatives for 29.g2 It's not clear if White resigned here or players wishing to be aggressive ] 4...c6 5.e3 b5 6.d2 g7 7.g4 lost on time - either way Black is winning. I don't really think this gives White anything 0-1 after Black's reply [ 7.h4!? might give Black more problems B07 although the position is still balanced after 933 bd7 8.h3 0-0 ( or 8...c7 9.g4 b4 Petronic,Jovan 2450 10.e2 c5!? ) 9.0-0-0 b6 ] Djuric,Stefan 2520 7...h5! 8.g5 fd7 9.a4?! This seems to give Jugoslavija 1998 Black a good game [Alexander Volzhin] [ 9.f4 is a better try and can be found in the archives in Goloshchapov-Lahno. Recently White sacrifices 2 pawns and the exchange in Saptarshi, R (2389)-Peralta, F (2602) ju s t t o s e c u re a b l o c k a d e o ve r t h e d a r k Barbera del Valles 2012 the game continued s q u a r e s . A t t h e c r i t i c a l m o m e n t b o t h b4 ( 9...b6 was chosen by Lahno) 10.d1 opponents blunder but it is W hite who errs c5! 11.c3 ( 11.f3 is perhaps an last... 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 i m p r o v e m e n t a n d n o w 0-0 12.a3 a5 5.e5 e4 6.f3 d5 7.d3 c5!? with an unclear middlegame) 11...b7 [ 7...xc3 doesn't fit with Black's previous 12.d3 0-0 13.d5 bxc3 14.bxc3 a6 move: 8.d2 e6 9.e2 and so on ] 15.f3 a5 and Black was already better ] [ 7...a6 8.ge2 b4 9.0-0! ( White can't 9...b4 10.ce2 c5 11.f4?! This doesn't fit at grab t he p awn : 9.xe4 dxe4 10.xe4 all in this position in view of f5! 11.exf6 f5 and Black wins [ 11.dxc5 was best and after xc5 12.d4 material: 12.f3 xc2+ 13.f2 0-0-0 0-0 13.xg7 xg7 14.xb4 b7 15.d2 E m m s - H o d g s o n , G r e a t B r i t a i n 1 9 8 9 .) c6 Black has good compensation for a 9...xd3 10.cxd3 xc3 11.bxc3 g6 12.a4 pawn but probably no more. ] h5 13.h3 h4 14.a3 f5 15.fb1 c7 11...b7 12.g2 c6 13.h3 and now 16.a5! ( I n s t e a d o f 16.e3 [ 13.d1 may be best but where will White which was played in Motwani-Summerscale, p u t t h e K in g n o w? A f t e r 0-0 Black is Edinburgh 1999: e6 17.a5 xa3 18.xa3 comfortably better. ] and White is only slightly better.) 16...e6 13...b6 14.dxc5 xc5 15.0-0 Black is 17.c5! as was pointed out by Paul Motwani, clearly better and wins rather easily from here. se cu re d W hit e a clea r e d ge du e t o h is a5! 16.b3 White won't have enough pressure on the b-file. ] compensation for the exchange but it was still [ 7...f5? is just bad for Black due to 8.g4! better than allowing the knight into c4 xc3 9.gxf5 e4+ 10.c3 ] [ 16.c1 c4 17.a5 c7 18.d4 xd4+ 8.ge2?! 19.xd4 xe4 leaves Black a clear pawn [ According to Jovan Petronic, White should up with a good position ] have tried 8.xe4 dxe4 ( 8...cxd4?! 9.xd5 16...xa1 17.xa1 0-0 18.f2 White still dxc3 10.xc3 xc3+ 11.bxc3 e6 932

B07 2568 2641 08.12.2012

965

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.e4 ) 9.xe4 cxd4 10.xd4 f5 ( 10...c6 11.e4 b4 12.d3 e6 13.a3 ) 11.f2 c6 12.f3 b4 13.d4 xc2! 14.0-0 d3 15.d1 c4 16.e3 with the better prospects ] [ In the case of 8.dxc5 xc3 9.d2 d4 10.e2 c6 11.bxc3 dxc3 12.xc3 xc5 White is probably also slightly better. ] 8...xc3 9.xc3 e6 10.d2 [ The alternative 10.dxc5 A) 10...d4? fails to 11.b5+! e7 ( 11...d7 12.xb7+-; 11...d8 12.d3 xc5 13.e3+-; 11...d7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.xb7 c8 14.b4 d8 15.e2 c6 16.a6 xg2 17.g1 h4+ 18.d2+- ) 12.d3 d7 ( 12...dxc3?? 13.d6# ) 13.xd7 dxc3 14.b4! xb4 15.b5+- and White is winning as xc5 does not save him due to 16.a3!! xa3 17.d1 f5 18.d8+ f7 19.e8+ g8 20.xe6# checkmate; B) 10...xc5 11.d2 was worthy of consideration and it may promise a slight edge for White. ] 10...cxd4 Ambitious play. [ 10...c4!? looked quite good. After A) 11.e2? w a s b a d d u e t o c6 12.d1 ( 12.e3? a3!!-+; 12.f2? b6 ) 12...b4! 13.xb4 ( 13.c3? xd4! 14.g4 c2+ 15.f1 f8!? 16.c1 d4!-+ ) 13...xb4! 14.d2 c6+ 15.e3 xd4! 16.xd4 d2+ 17.d3 ( 17.c5 b6+ 18.c6 a6 19.c3 c8+ 20.d6 b7 21.xd2 c6# ) 17...cxd3; B) 11.d1 a4 12.c3 Black could choose between a repetition of moves by ( 12.b3? cxb3 13.cxb3 xd4 ) 12...a5 ( or 12...c6!? 13.e2 b5 with complicated play )] 11.b5 b6 12.g3! g6 The only move to prevent 13. Nd6 Bd6 14. Qg7 [ 12...a6?! was suspicious: 13.d6+ xd6 14.xg7! f8 ( 14...xe5 15.fxe5 f8 16.0-0-0 d7 17.h6+- ) 15.exd6 xb2 16.0-0 with the initiative. ] 13.0-0 a6 14.d6+ xd6 15.exd6 xd6 16.c3! [ The attempt to exploit the weaknesses of d a r k s q u a r e s b y 16.h4 0-0 17.f6

could have been parried by b6 18.f5 d7 19.e7 c5 and so on. ] 16...dxc3 [ 16...c6 17.cxd4 0-0 was also worth considering. ] 17.xc3 0-0 [ It was impossible to neutralise the Bishop by 17...d4 b e c a u s e o f 18.ad1 c6 19.e4 d7 20.xc6 xc6 21.xd4 with the initiative. ] 18.d4! The only way to keep the Bishop active. [ 18.e5 e7 19.ac1 c6 was too good for Black. ] 18...d8!? [ If 18...c6 then the Bishop would be firmly p l a c e d o n f 6 : 19.f6 with permanent mating threats. ] 19.ac1! c6 20.xc6!! Excellent! itch would have been happy: White has sacrificed 2 pawns and the exchange for a blockade! bxc6 21.h4! In spite of Black's big material advantage the position is unclear as he is forced to continue a rather unpleasant defence. e7 22.c1! d7 23.h5 [ Of course White didn't sacrifice the exchange to get it back by 23.c5? ] 23...e8 24.f5! Very energetic play! exf5 25.xf5 b4? This inaccurate move leads to the real trouble. [ 25...f6!? was critical for the assessment of White's idea. ] 26.e5 f6 27.e6+ g7 [ Of course not 27...h8?? 28.xf6+! xf6 29.xf6# ] 28.c7+ [ 28.f4? allows Black to consolidate his army: e7 29.h6+ h8 30.e1 d7 31.c7 ae8-+ ] 28...f7?? A blunder which could have led to catastrophe. [ Black's task was not so easy: 28...h6?? 29.e3+! g5 30.c5+- ] [ 28...h8?? 29.c5 xb2 30.f1 g8 31.xg8 xg8 32.e7 f7 33.xf6 c1+ 34.f1+- ] [ 28...f7 was the only defence. White could have maintained the initiative by A) 29.xf6+ led to a repetition of moves after xf6 30.xf7 d4+ ( 30...xf7 31.xc6+ g7 32.xa8 d4+ ) 31.h1 966

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h4+ 32.g1 d4+=; B) 29.f4 e7 30.xf7 xf7 31.hxg6 hxg6 32.f1 g8 33.xf6 d7 34.g5! f8 35.f4! and Black is still suffering. ] 29.h6+?? A terrible mistake. Until this moment White had played brilliantly and could have been rewarded with the full point but now he gains nothing. [ White could have exploited the fact Black intersected the bishop rather than the rook by a retreat of the queen: 29.f4!! and now e7 i s n o d e f e n c e d u e t o ( 29...xe6 30.xf6+ xf6 31.xb4+- ) 30.xf6+! xf6 31.h6+ g8 32.xf6+- ] 29...g8 30.xf6 ae8-+ Now all Black's pieces are in play and his material advantage begins to tell. 31.h3 d2 32.xc6 e3+ 33.h1 xh6 34.f1 e6! 35.f3 xh3 36.gxh3 d2 37.f1 d3 38.g2 e2+ 39.f2 xf2+ 40.xf2 f5+ White resigned. A very interesting and exciting game. 0-1

934 Ponomariov,Ruslan Beliavsky,Alexander G ch-(team) Bled SLO (1) [Nigel Davies]

B07 2616 2618 08.11.1999

Whilst 6...c6 has been the standard choice for Black, he could have a good alternative in 6... Nc5. This was Belyavksy's outing with this defence, and he holds a draw against the brilliant Ponomariov. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 bd7 4.f4 e5 5.f3 exd4 6.xd4 c5!? [ B y n o m e a n s a s p o p u l a r a s 6...c6 , but Belyavksy's patronage is an interesting sign. ] 7.e3 [ The critical line may be 7.e5 after which e6 8.c4 dxe5 9.fxe5 d7 10.e3 was Cosma - Ianov, Bijeljina 2001 and now b6 ( in the game White had pressure after 10...c5 11.xc5 dxc5 12.d1 d7 13.b4 e7 14.xe7+ xe7 15.d5+ etc ) 11.xb6 axb6 12.d1 d7 looks OK for Black. ] 7...g6 8.e5 e6 9.a4+ d7 10.b5 g4 11.xd7+ xd7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.d2

f5! A nice blockading move after which Black has no further difficulties. [ After 13...c6 White would gain space on the kingside with 14.h3 h6 15.g4 etc. ] 14.h3 h6 15.0-0-0 c6 16.e2 f7 17.e3 c7 18.ed4 e8 19.xe6+ xe6 20.d4 g8 21.he1 dxe5 22.xe5 xe5 23.xe5 xe5 24.xe5+ c8 25.c4 c5 26.c2 d8 27.d3 ½-½

935 Ponomariov,Ruslan Felgaer,Ruben Young Masters (8) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2723 2607 10.02.2006

This is a very interesting game played between two young talents. It starts off as a Pirc Defence, but turns into a Benko-Style game where Felgaer sacrifices a pawn for play on the queenside. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.f3 F a vo u r e d b y m a n y v e r y s t r o n g p l a y e r s , amongst them Kasparov and Dreev. It is often used as a way to return to a Saemisch Variation of a King's Indian, preparing to meet g6 with c4. c5 4.d5 [ 4.c3 is also popular. c6 5.e3 e5 6.dxe5 xe5 7.f4 g6 8.b5+ d7 9.xd7+ xd7 10.g5 e7 11.e2 d5 12.xf6 xf6 13.xd5 xd5 14.exd5 d8 15.d2 xd5 16.0-0-0 g5 17.g3 xd2+ 18.xd2 xd2 19.xd2 d7 20.f4 e7 21.e3 f5+ 22.f3 e8 23.d1+ 1/2-1/2 Deviatkin - Solovjov, St Petersburg 2005 ] [ 4.dxc5 a5+ ] 4...e6 5.c4 b5!? 6.cxb5 exd5 7.exd5 e7 8.c4 bd7 9.e2 b6N A novelty, but a move which I would dub 'the most obvious in the position' As long as White cannot play a4a5 quickly Black's Knight is on the right square, pressurising d5. [ 9...e5 10.b3 a6 11.bc3 fd7 12.f4 h4+ 13.g3 f3+ 14.f2 d4 15.xd4 cxd4 16.e1+ f8 17.e4 e7 18.xd4 f5 19.b2 f6 20.xf6 xf6 21.d2 xb2 22.xb2 axb5 23.d3 b6+ 24.f1 d7 25.e7 xe7 26.xg7+ 1-0 Htun Htun Than-Moun Moun Latt/Yangon 1999 ] 967

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.b3 fd7 11.a4 f6 12.a2 e5 13.a3 a6 14.0-0 exc4 15.bxc4 [ 15.xc4 axb5 16.xb6 xb6 ] 15...axb5 16.xb5 xc4 17.c2 e5 18.f4 [ 18.g3 0-0 19.e4 ] 18...g6= 19.g3 0-0 With a sigh of relief no doubt. Black is fine now. 20.e4 f5 21.c4 xe4 22.xe4 e8 23.c4 d7 24.h1 e7 25.e2 c8 26.xe8+ xe8 27.b3 e7?! [ 27...e2 28.g1 e7 29.xd6 d4 would keep Black his edge. ] 28.d2 b6 29.e1 d7 30.a5 c4 31.b4 xd5 32.xc4 e7 33.d4 d5 34.b5 d6 35.b4 White is starting to get an edge, xf4 36.xe7 xd4? [ he should simply play 36...xe7 37.xd5 c8= and Black is fine. ] 37.xd5 c8 38.d7 b8? [ 38...c1 is the best Black's got. 39.b4 e5 40.a6+- ] 39.h4? Ponomariov doesn't take advantage of Felgaer's mistake and gives him time to move his rook to f8 to protect against the back-rank mates. [ 39.g5! attacks Felgaer's queen and also threatens the mate and both can not be protected. e5 40.d2+- is a clear win for White. ] 39...f8 40.g3 d2 [ 40...f6 ] 41.a6 Ponomariov's a-pawn is very powerful. b4?! Not a great move but Felgaer is in trouble whatever he plays. [ 41...g6 42.a7 b4 43.f1 ] 42.a7 [ 42.e8! b6 43.a7 xa7 44.xf8+ xf8 45.xa7+- ] 42...h5 [ 42...g6 ] 43.d1 c5 44.d6?! [ 44.b8 xb8 45.axb8+ xb8 46.f5+- ] 44...a8?? [ 44...xd6! 45.xd6 b7 and there are still chances for Felgaer. ] 45.c6 [ 45.c6 d8 46.a8+- ] 1-0

936 Rausis,Igors Davies,Nigel R 5th United Insurance (5) [Nigel Davies]

B07 2525 2464 23.02.2001

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.d3 e5 4.c3 d5 5.dxe5 xe4 6.d2 [ 6.xe4 dxe4 7.a4+ d7 8.xe4 c6 9.g4 h5 10.g3 h4 11.h3 d7 12.xd7+ xd7 gives Black more than enough for his pawn. ] 6...c5 7.b1 [ Rausis intended this as an improvement on his game against Khalifman from Eupen 1994. After 7.c2 c6 8.gf3 g4 9.0-0 e7 10.e1 d4 11.h3 h5 12.e4 d3 his bishop on c2 was 'en prise', the same line with the bishop on b1 would clearly favour White. ] 7...c6 8.gf3 g4 9.0-0 d7 10.e1 0-0-0!? With the bishop on b1 I felt justified in castling queenside, though this is not a plan for the faint of heart. [ Black has safer alternatives in 10...e7 and ] [ 10...d8 ] 11.b4 d4! The point. 12.cxd4 [ During the post mortem an assortment of ex-Soviets claimed that 12.b2 would be good for White. The following day Rausis came back to say that he wasn't so sure. Black would reply with d3 13.xd3 dxc3 14.xc3 xd3 15.e3 but then d5 looks reasonable. ] 12...e6 13.a4 xb4 14.e4 xf3 15.gxf3 [ The line 15.xf3!? xe1 16.e3!? is a lot of fun until Black finds c3 17.b1 xd4 18.xd4 exd4 etc. ] 15...f4 16.b3 d5 [ I was also tempted by 16...g5 but then 17.xc6 h3 18.xf4 gxf4 19.xb7+ b8 20.h1 xe1 21.b5 just happens to cover the threat of mate on f1. Back to the drawing board. ] 17.d2 [ After the game Rausis preferred 17.c5 but then Black has at least xc5 18.dxc5 c3 with light squares and an open d-file. ] 17...xd2 18.xd2 f5 19.exf6 gxf6 20.h1 968

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 21.d3 b6 22.a3 b8 With my opponent in desperate time-trouble I was trying to be ultra-sensible and make him think. I didn't want to allow forcing sequences which would buy him valuable clock time. 23.b3 d5 24.e3 hg8 25.c5 xc5 26.dxc5 f4 27.xh7 The final mistake. [ 27.e4 xd3 28.cxb6 axb6 29.xf4 e5 is good for Black but White could certainly play on. ] 27...fxe3 28.xg8 e2 0-1

937 Roberson,P Laznicka,V 4NCL 2013-14 (9.132) [Neil McDonald]

B07 2374 2686 03.05.2014

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 bd7 [ Black often plays the move order 3...e5 to avoid White's next move, so it is clearly a critical test of his set up. ] 4.f4 e5 5.f3 exd4 6.xd4 c6 7.d2 There are various other moves here for White w h i c h a r e a n a l y s e d i n t h e a r c h i v e s . d5 If Black plays slowly the threat of e4-e5 hangs over his head. Therefore he offers a pawn to activate his bishop on c5. [ In Neiksans-Vachier Lagrave in the archives Gawain Jones mentions 7...b6 as being a solid response, but he thinks that W hite might have something to build on in the endgame that is likely to arise after 8.0-0-0 etc. Very slight inferiority with few winning chances isn't a problem for some players, but here Laznicka is playing to win. ] 8.0-0-0 [ The immediate capture on d5 should lead to t h e s a m e p o sit io n in t h e ga m e a f t e r 8.exd5 c5 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0-0 ] 8...c5 9.d3 0-0 10.exd5 c7!? An interesting idea. Black plans to regain the pawn with Rd8 and Nb6, unless White plays d5xc6, when after b7xc6 the black pieces will have a lot of open lines. The white queen is awkwardly placed on d3, shutting in the bishop on f1 and a target of attack by Rd8 or, in some cases with Ba6, after say a7-a5. In fact s h e d o e s n ' t s e e m t o h a ve a t o t a lly s a f e

square anywhere on the board! Her other pieces are boxing her in, and she's too near the front line for comfort. There are also ideas of a Ng4 and Nf2 fork. After Black has ca p t u re d 1 0 . e xd 5 , I 'm le f t wit h a s im ila r feeling about the pawn on f4 as in the King's Gambit Falkbeer Variation: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3. exd5 e4- why on Earth is the white pawn on f4? In contrast, after the alternative line with 7. Be3 and 8.e5 the pawn on f4 is strategically justified. [ I n s t e a d a f t e r 10...cxd5 11.xd5 Black is struggling to show any compensation for the pawn. ] 11.g3 [ A t r i c k y a l t e r n a t i v e i s 11.g5!? Instead Black looks worse after A) 11...d6 attacking f4 and clearing the wa y f o r Nc5 . 12.e3 ( Black has typical compensation for the pawn after due to his activity after 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.f3 b8 ) 12...xf4 13.d6 xe3+ 14.xe3 a5 15.c4 b6 16.xf7+ xf7 17.xf7 xf7 18.he1 d7 19.g3 e8 20.xe8 xe8 21.e1 g8 Black has survived the first wave of White's attack and seems OK here. If 22.e7?! f5 is a dead end for White.; B) 11...d8 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.c4 ] 11...d8 12.g2 b6 13.he1 f8 An ambitious move. As we shall see Black intends to bring his rook via d5 into an attack on the white king and so wants his bishop out of the way. Solid play looks more or less equal for example [ 13...bxd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.e2 e6 16.e5 dd8 17.b1 ] 14.e3 bxd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.d4 f5 17.c4 b5 18.e5?! [ You would have to be a cool customer as W hite to play the variation 18.xf6 c5 19.e2 xc2+ ( Good for White is 19...gxf6 20.d4 ) 20.xc2 xc2 21.e5 a5 22.xc2 xa2 23.c3 though it looks at least OK for him. ] 18...a5 19.d4? [ It's too late f or 19.xf6 as Black has a winning attack after c5 20.e2 ( Or 20.b3 xc2 ) 20...xa2 21.d4 a1+ 22.d2 xb2 etc. ] [ It was best for White to bail out with 19.c3 969

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c5 20.xa5 xc4 21.d4 with equal chances. ] 19...b4 20.c3 g4 21.d3 [ Or 21.xf6 xa2 ( Also good for Black is t h e s i m p l e 21...gxf6 when both a2 and d1 a r e h a n g i n g .) 22.d3 ( White gets obliterated after 22.e5 xd1 23.xd1 xb2! 24.xb2 a3; while also insufficient is 22.xg7 c4 ) 22...gxf6 and Black has a huge attack. ] 21...xa2 22.h3 d7 [ B l a c k m i s s e d t h e n i c e m o v e 22...b6! when there is no good answer to 23...Bb4 next move. For example 23.hxg4 b4 24.b3 a1# ] 23.b3 d5? [ Instead 23...f5 keeps up Black's strong attack. ] 24.xd5 cxd5 25.xd5 e6 26.a5 a4 27.xa4? This game shows that if there are any complications you should never give up hope, no matter how bad the position and strong the opponent. [ White could have saved himself with the resource 27.xg7! xa5 ( Black finds he is t h e o n e b e i n g m a t e d a f t e r 27...xg7 28.g5! ) 28.xf8 xf8 29.xa5 xb3 30.g5+ h8 31.f6+ g8 with perpetual check. ] 27...xa4 28.e2 c8 The game is over as if the white queen moves to safety then b3 drops. 29.c7 d7 30.f5 xb3 0-1

12.f4 d7 13.a4 a6 14.d4 xd4 15.xd4 c6 16.a5 d7 17.xg7 xg7 18.d4+ g8 19.f2 b6 20.axb6 xb6 21.xb6 xb6 22.b3 c8 and Black's chances were better in Djurhuus-Volzhin, Bergen 2000. ] 7...c5 8.h3 [ White has also tried 8.d5 which leads to a Benoni-like position, but here it doesn't look good for White as his Knight is misplaced on e2. White's main plan is to break through in the centre of the board by playing e4-e5 and the Knight is much better placed on f3 for this purpose. Just one example: e8 9.a4 a6 10.e3 b8 11.d2 e5 12.b3 b5 13.ae1 d7 14.axb5 axb5 15.h1 b4 16.d1 g4 17.f4 e5 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.f3 e5 20.h6 b5 21.xg7 xg7 22.e3 c6 23.f2 a8 24.c4 bxc3 25.xc3 a6 26.f4 b4 27.d1 d3 28.f1 xf1 29.fxf1 a6 intending Qa8 and I definitely prefer Black here, Timoshenko-Minasjan, USSR 1991. ] 8...b8! Black should postpone the pawn exchange and play ...Rb8 and ...b6 first. Only then will Black take on d4 and complete his development by playing Bc8-b7. [ 8...cxd4 9.xd4 is much weaker as normal development of Black's Queenside is difficult now: c5 ( or 9...a6 10.e1 b6 11.a4 e5 12.de2 e6 13.b3 c7 14.e3 ac8 15.d2 fd8 16.a5 bd7 17.ec1 b8 18.d5 xd5 19.exd5 e8 20.g4 c7 21.a4 c5 22.c4 e7 23.b4 cd7 24.xc8 xc8 25.c4 e4 26.c5! 938 B07 wit h a h uge ed ge in Do rf ma n -Ap ic ella , Cann es 1 989 .) 10.e1 a6 11.a4 e5 Rodriguez Talavera,Juan Carlos 2425 12.b3 xb3 13.cxb3 e6 14.e3 d7 Gulko,Boris F 2615 15.h2 ad8 16.e2 e8 17.d5 f5 San Roque 1996 18.g5 f6 19.c1 f7 20.xf6 xf6 [Alexander Volzhin] 21.c7 d7 22.exf5 gxf5 23.xf6+ xf6 24.xd7 xd7 25.d2 and Black was in After considering the lines where Black plays trouble in Khenkin-Timman, Tilburg 1994. ] King's Indian type moves such as e5, we can conclude that W hite has a small but steady 9.a4 [ 9.dxc5 xc5 10.e3 b6 is fine for Black. advantage there. In my opinion the line we The game Luecke-Khalif man, Germany consider here is much more promising for 1998 continued: 11.g4 b7 12.g3 fd7 Black. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 13.d2 e5 14.b3 c8 15.b5 a6 4.ge2 f6 5.g3 0-0 6.g2 bd7 7.0-0 16.d4 c6 17.c3 c7 18.h6 xh6 [ 7.h3 c5 8.e3 cxd4 9.xd4 e5!? 19.xh6 e5 20.de2 e6 21.fd1 b5 10.0-0 c6 11.e3 This position may and Black got the upper hand. ] occur in the Sicilian Dragon as well. b8 970

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9...a6 So which move (9...a6 or 9...b6) to prefer is entirely up to you - both are perfectly playable. [ 9...b6!? is a good alternative to the text: 10.g5 a6 11.d2 e8 12.fe1 cxd4 13.xd4 b7 14.d5 e6 15.xf6+ xf6 with very pleasant play for Black. The game Aseev-Khalifman, Vilnius 1997 continued: 16.a3 d7 17.h6 h8 18.b4 e5 19.b3 a5 20.c4 xe4! 21.xe4 d5 22.xd5 xd5 23.h2 bc8 24.e2 g7 25.xg7 xg7 Black dominates the centre of the board while White's pieces occupy miserable positions. 26.aa1 b4 27.c3 d3 28.ed1 cd8 29.c1 e4 30.e3 f5 31.d2 e5 32.xd8 xd8 33.b3 f3+ 34.g2 d3 and White resigned. ] 10.dxc5 [ 10.a5!? is worthy of consideration. ] 10...xc5 11.e3 b6 12.g4 More or less forced if White wants to avoid playing the ugly f3. [ 12.d4 b7 13.f3 allows e5! 14.b3 xb3 15.cxb3 d5 with advantage to Black. ] 12...b7 13.g3 c8 14.d2?! This passive move allows Black to seize the initiative. [ 14.g5 should be preferred: fd7 15.f4 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.d4 with very complicated play. ] 14...b5! 15.axb5 axb5 16.h6 [ Now 16.g5?! doesn't work: b4 17.gxf6 bxc3 and Black is better ] [ and 16.xb5 cxe4 is also good for Black. ] 16...xh6 17.xh6 b4 18.d5 xd5 19.exd5 b3! 20.c3 [ 20.cxb3 xb3 is also bad for White as his b2-pawn is very weak. ] 20...a8 21.xa8 xa8 22.g5?! After White cuts off his Queen Black wins easily, as the tactics don't work for White. e8! As we'll see later it's important to protect the g7-square. 23.f4 a2 24.f5 xb2 25.f6 [ 25.fxg6 hxg6 26.h5 xc3 is hopeless for White ] 25...xc3! Now the game is over. 26.h2 [ 26.fxe7 e3+ winning ] 26...exf6 27.h5 [ 27.gxf6 xf6 winning ]

27...e5+ 28.h1 fxg5! threats, so he resigned. 0-1

939 Romero,A Insua Mellado,Jose Luis (open) Alicante (Spain) (5) [Nigel Davies]

White has no

B07

1997

This time round Black temporarily keeps his options open by castling short. 1.e4 d6 2.c3 f6 3.f4 g6 4.f3 g7 5.c4 0-0 6.b3 [ This time 6.0-0 is bad because of xe4 7.xf7+ ( White has to play 7.xe4 d5 8.d3 dxe4 9.xe4 ) 7...xf7 8.xe4 xf4 etc. ] 6...c6 [ 6...c6 7.d4 d5?! 8.e5 e8 9.0-0 g4 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 f5? 12.xd5! was winning for White in Kosten - Schlosser, European Team Ch., Haifa 1989 ] [ 6...c5 would transpose into a Sicilian Defence. ] 7.d3 g4 8.e3 d7 9.d2 xf3 10.gxf3 d4 11.0-0-0 xb3+ 12.cxb3 Breaking t he rules by capturing away from the centre. But this way makes it more difficult for Black to ob t a in co u nt e rp la y o n t h e qu e e ns id e . e6 13.h4 Sounding the charge. f5 14.h5 e8 15.e2 f8 16.hxg6 hxg6 17.d4 xd4 [ Avoiding the exchange of dark-square b i s h o p s w i t h 17...e5 is strongly met by 18.c3 intending 19.exf5. But now Black's king becomes that little bit weaker. ] 18.xd4 f6 19.e2 a5 20.b1 a4 21.b4 a3 22.b3 e7 23.d4 g7 24.c3 b6 25.d5 e5 26.fxe5 xe5 [ 26...dxe5 looks slightly more tenacious. Black probably overlooked the following sequence. ] 27.f4 f6 28.e5 dxe5 29.d6 c6 [ Or 29...xd6 30.g2 etc. ] 30.b5 c5 31.d5+ 1-0

971

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B07 38.hh2 xa5 39.hb2 a6 40.a1 xa2 41.xa2 c6 42.h6 f8 43.c1 e7 Romero Holmes,Alfonso 44.a3 xa3 45.xa3 a8 46.f3 xa3 Wortel,Marten 7th Sonnevanck (5) 05.12.1998 47.xa3 b7 48.d6 e8 49.d8 c7 50.a8 b6 51.h4 With the remarkable [Nigel Davies] threat to sac on g6. It isn't easy for Black to As 5...Nxe4 fails to equalise, Black has tried deal with this. c7 52.xg6 hxg6 53.h7 quieter moves. Here we see the stock in trade g7 54.xe8 xh7 55.xe6 b7 56.h4 Pirc move 5...c6. 1.e4 d6 2.c3 g6 3.f4 b2 57.f7+ h8 58.f8+ h7 59.h6+ g8 60.xg6+ h8 61.h6+ g8 62.h5 g7 4.f3 f6 5.c4 c6 6.b3 [ After 6.0-0 d5 , White would not be able to a2 63.g6+ h8 64.e8+ g7 65.e7+ g8 66.g6 maintain his duo of pawns on e4 and f4. ] 6...a6 And now Black sets about eliminating 1-0 the bishop. [ He has also played 6...0-0 7.d4 a6 B07 ( 7...a5 8.a4 b6 9.e5 e8 10.0-0 c7 941 11.exd6 exd6 12.h1 g4 13.h3 xf3 Rusev,Krasimir 2479 14.xf3 d5 15.f5 gave White a strong Paunovic,Dragan 2535 initiative in Romero - Todorcevic, Leon IV Festival Figueira da Foz POR (5) 01.11.07 1991 ) 8.0-0 c5 9.e5 g4 10.h3 cxd4 [John Watson] 11.xd4 h6 12.f2 c5 13.e3 e6 14.g4 h8 15.ad1 b6 16.d5 a6 This game features an important ending that 17.fe1 c8 18.h4 looked very is White's main (only?) way of sidestepping dangerous for Black in Surtees - Kosten, the newly-popula r Philid or Def en ce if h e British Ch., Plymouth 1989, but Black went enters into the Pirc Defence (with 3 Nc3). So on t o win b y virt u e o f b e in g a st ro n ge r far Black is doing fine: this month's batch player. ] finished 4 points to 2 for him, with a 200-point [ W i t h t h e b i s h o p o n b 3 a l r e a d y , 6...d5 performance rating edge for Black! Still, the no longer causes the breakup of White's e4/ f o l l o wi n g h i g h - l e ve l g a m e wa s n o t v e r y f4 pawn duo. On the other hand it does bring convincing, and I think Black overextended a b o u t a r e a s o n a b l e G u r g e n i d z e t y p e with ...a6/...b5. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 e5 po s it io n, t h e ga m e De ge n h a rd t - S e u l, 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 6.c4 Dortmund 1992 being OK for Black after Usually played White has also waited before 7.e5 g8 8.d4 h5 9.e3 h6 10.0-0 committing, as in: g4 11.d2 d7 12.e1 e6 13.d3 f5 [ 6.g5 e6 7.0-0-0+ bd7 8.f4 exf4 etc. ] 9.f3 c8 10.xf4 c6 with a comfortable 7.d4 c7 8.0-0 0-0 9.a4 b6 10.e1 d5 game, Gara-Srebrnic, Crete 2007. ] 11.e5 fe8 12.e3 White has a nice space 6...e8 There are two options here, one of advantage and it's difficult for Black to get which is fairly new: counterplay. Of course it isn't easy to break [ 6...e6 7.xe6 fxe6 has held up well in a do wn B la c k ' s d e f e n ce s a n d a p ro lo n ge d couple of recent games. ] manoeuvring game ensues. f5 13.e2 a6 [ 6...b4!? (to get the king to e7 quickly an 14.c3 e6 15.h3 e7 16.c2 c5 17.d2 interesting idea, although it probably doesn't xe2 18.xe2 c4 19.g4 h6 20.g2 f7 fully equalise) 7.f3 ( 7.f3!? xe4 8.xe5 21.g5 g7 22.h4 d7 23.h5 f7 24.h2 f8 is unclear; 7.d2!? ) 7...e7 8.ge2 c6 h8 25.f2 a6 26.ah1 ec7 27.g3 9.a3 d6 10.e3 b5 11.b3 e6 ag8 28.d1 e8 29.b3 With Black's 12.xe6 xe6 13.c1!? ( 13.0-0-0 ) pieces huddled on the kingside, White opens 13...bd7 14.d3 b6 15.b3 fd7 up a second front. b5 30.axb5 xb5 31.b4 16.e2 a5 17.a4 b4 18.b1 c5 19.d2?! b8 32.c1 c6 33.a2 a8 34.h4 a5 ( 19.c4 bxc3 20.xc3 c4 ) 19...c4 20.xc4 35.a4 b6 36.xc6 xc6 37.bxa5 b5 ( 20.bxc4 hc8 21.b2 ) 20...xc4 940

972

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.bxc4 hc8 22.b2 c5 23.hd1 b6 24.xc5 xc5 25.d3 xc4 26.xc4 xc4 Rendle, T -N Berry, Birmingham ENG 2007. Black is clearly better. ] 7.f3 a6!? [ I like 7...c6 , when Black stands solidly and covers key squares. ...a6/.. .b5 comes back to ha unt h im . 8.e3 b5 9.b3 bd7 and ...Bc5 or ...Nc5 follows. ] 8.e3 d6 9.ge2 bd7 10.c1 Good, but this idea takes time. Perhaps even better is [ 10.0-0-0 , for example, b5 11.b3 b7 12.g3 g6 13.b1 c5 14.h6! ] 10...b5 11.e2 b7 [ 11...c5 12.xc5 xc5 13.b4! e6 14.d3 d7 15.a4 d4!? , but White stands better. ] [ 11...c6 ] 12.a3 e7?! [ 12...c5 ] 13.b3 ac8 [ 13...c5 14.a5 ] [ 13...hb8 14.0-0 e8 15.a4! ] 14.a4! Now White has the advantage. Black has no plan. c6 15.0-0 hd8 16.b1 [ 16.fd1 ] 16...c7!? [ 16...e8 ] 17.c4 bxc4 18.xc4 a8 [ 18...b6 19.xb6 xb6 20.e2 still leaves Black with positional problems. ] 19.a5 db8 20.c3 c8 21.a4 e8 22.a3 d6 23.e2 b5 24.a2 c3!? 25.bxc3 [ 25.xc3 xb3 26.c4 b4 27.b3 with a clear advantage. ] 25...xb3 and the game was soon drawn. ½-½

e5, 8...Ng4 and 9...Qf6. Very neat equalisation. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 An unusual line which has its points. [ A n i n t e r e s t i n g e x a m p l e o f 4.e3 wa s t h e ga m e S ve sh n ikov - B e lia vs k y, Slovenian Team Ch 2001. Black played the approved c6 and there followed 5.h3 bd7 ( 5...g7 6.f3 0-0 would lead to normal lines which are thought to be OK for Black) 6.f4 a5 7.d3 c5 8.ge2 c4 (this eliminates the e4 pawn, but W hite is left with a huge lead in development) 9.xc4 xe4 10.0-0 df6 11.b5+ d7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.xe4 xe4 14.d3 f5 15.c4 g7 16.fc1 hc8 17.c3 xc3 18.xc3 d5 19.c5 with White standing better due to his queenside pawn majority ] 4...g7 5.d2 a6!? I also like this kind of treatment. Black wants to expand on the queenside with ...b7-b5 but leaves open the a8-h1 diagonal. 5... c6 would block it. White's next move is very aggressive, but Chernin tames it with his excellent 7th. 6.h6 xh6 7.xh6 e5! 8.0-0-0 g4! 9.g7 f6 Exch anging que ens to produce a n e qua l endgame. 10.xf6 xf6 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.h3 e6 13.f3 bd7 14.g5 e7 15.e2 ad8 16.hf1 h6 17.xe6 fxe6 18.d3 c5 19.g3 g5 20.b4 cd7 21.h4 dg8 22.h1 h7 23.hxg5 hxg5 24.xh7+ xh7 25.h3 hf6 26.d2 b5 27.f3 a5 28.a3 d8 29.e1 g8 30.d1 ½-½

942

I never quite figured out why the following system isn't tried more often by White. Here's an old game, but one which has relevance even today. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e2 g7 5.g4 After 5 g4 I always remember Donner losing to the Chinaman and Seirawan getting Black revenge against K o v a c e v i c . 0-0 Castling into it in a big way. Only very brave players should consider 5.. . 0-0, which plays right into White's hands. The

Salmensuu,Olli Chernin,Alexander European Club Cup, Crete (2) [Nigel Davies]

B07

24.09.2001

If you want to play the Pirc, find every one of Alexander Chernin's games with this defence and play through the lot. In this encounter he effectively defuses White's early Bh6 with 7...

943 Seirawan,Yasser Ganz,J Zuerich sim Zürich [Andrew Martin]

B07 2595 1988

973

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 plan of attack is crystal-clear: g4-g5 and then h4-h5 . W e pic k up play in one of Yasse r Seirawan's simultaneous games from the late 1980's. Interestingly, he's now on the other side of the board! [ Clearly there are better and more flexible moves for Black. To delay castling for as long as possible would be my considered advice: 5...a6 6.g5 d7 7.h4 c5! 8.d5 c4 9.h5 ( 9.xc4 c7 ) 9...ac5 10.h6 xc3+ 11.bxc3 f6 12.d4 a5 13.d2 0-0 14.f4 b5 15.f3 c7 16.0-0 e5! with the initiative in Katalymov-Tseitlin Daugavpils 1978 ] [ 5...c6 6.d5 b4 7.a3 a6 8.e3 0-0 9.h4 c5 10.xc5 dxc5 11.g5 e8 12.f4 d6 13.f3 f6 14.d2 b5 15.h2 1/2-1/2 Hjertenes, O-Mortensen, E/Haifa 1976/ ] [ 5...h6 6.e3 c6 7.h3 a5 8.d2 b5 9.e5 dxe5 10.dxe5 b4 11.exf6 bxc3 12.fxg7 cxd2+ 13.xd2 e5 14.c3 xc3+ 15.bxc3 g8 16.f3 xg7 17.e2 e5 18.0-0-0 e6 19.he1 e7= Zapolskis, A-Fridman, D/Liepaya 2004 A ga m e wh ic h t a k e s t h e i d e a o f d e la ye d castling to its logical conclusion. ] [ 5...fd7 6.e3 e5 This way looks a bit rigid. 7.d5 b6 8.d2 h6 9.0-0-0 a5 10.h4 a6 11.b1 xe2 12.gxe2 a6 13.h5 g5 14.g3 Charpentier, W-Georghiou, A/ Dubai 1986 ] 6.g5 [ As an alternative you may like to consider 6.h4!? White figures he can do without g5. c5 7.d5 e6 8.h5 exd5 9.hxg6 hxg6 ( 9...fxg6 10.g5! e8 11.xd5 e6 12.c4 d7 13.g4! looks terrific for White. ) 10.g5 a5 ( 10...dxe4! 11.xe4 a5+ 12.d2 b6 is a much better way f o r B l a c k .) 11.f1 e8 12.xf6 xf6 13.xd5 g7 14.d3 e6 15.f4 c6 16.c3 e7 17.xe7+ xe7 18.f5 gxf5 19.gxf5 c8 20.g3 f8 21.f4 e5 22.f6 e8 23.h8+ d7 24.fxe7+The right result in the right manner, but when all said and done I prefer the straightforward 6 g5. ] 6...fd7 7.h4 e8 8.h5 f8 Black often musters his pieces in this manner to guard against an early h4-h5 attack by White. The

minor pieces cover all the squares. However, the Bishop and Knight are tied to exclusively defensive duties and it is hard to view the Black position as anything other than passive. In the manner of a very strong player, Seirawan patiently builds the pressure. 9.e3 c6 10.d2 b5 11.a4! Forcing Black to clarify the pawn structure. b4 12.d1 a5 13.f4! The second wave of attack. e6? Absurdly passive. [ If Black is to make a fight of it he must try 13...e5 b u t e v e n t h e n 14.f2! retains White's advantage. ] 14.f2 f5 [ 14...bd7 15.0-0-0 a6 16.xa6 xa6 17.f3 b3 18.c4 leaves White with a massive sp ace a dvant age. Attem pts t o disrupt the position are easily rebuffed: b6 19.d3 xa4 20.c5 a8 21.xb3+- ] 15.gxf6 xf6 16.f3 a7 17.g4 e7 18.hxg6 hxg6 [ If 18...xg6 19.g5! f8 20.e5! gives a massive attack. ] 19.h6+ xh6 20.xh6 g7 21.h2 h7 22.0-0-0 d7 23.d5 c5 24.dxe6+- b6 25.xd6 xa4 26.e5 b7 27.c4 b6 28.d8 xd8 29.xd8+ f8 30.e7+ e6 31.xf8+ My simple conclusion is that 5... 0-0 is a mistake and gives W hite an automatic attacking position . In the evasive, elastic m a n n e r o f t h e P ir c, B l a ck m u st k e e p a l l options open for as long as possible. 1-0

944 Shabala,S Shtanko,D ch-Poltava Lubny UKR (1) [Gawain Jones]

B07 2346 2358 19.02.2011

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 bd7 4.f4 e5 5.dxe5!? This is a new move for the site. On the surface it doesn't look too challenging but I was impressed how quickly White created a ve ry d a n gero u s in it ia t ive . S pa ssk y o n c e played this way and so it should be respected. [ In January I investigated 5.f3 in Neiksans, A (2503)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2703) Warsaw 2010. ] 5...dxe5 6.fxe5 974

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.xd6!; 11...e8 12.d4 d7 13.hf1; [ 6.f3 doesn't make so much sense and 11...h6 however is fine for Black and a the following miniature is rather painful for sample line could run 12.xf6 gxf6 13.d4 the W hite side. c5!? ( 6...d6 is safer c5 14.hf1 g8 15.g3 h3 16.xf6 when Black has no problems.) 7.xe5 e7 17.f2 g5+ 18.b1 e3 19.f6 ( 7.fxe5 g4 8.g5 is necessary with a g5= ) 12.gxf3 h5 13.xd6!? complex game.) 7...e7! 8.d5? xd5 An interesting try but the computer frowns 9.xd5 c6 10.d3 xe5 11.fxe5 xe5 upon it. ( 13.c4 f6 14.e3 h3 12.d2 g4 13.c3 f4 0-1 El Haskouri, is, however, completely f ine f or Black.) A-Bissieres, M (2341) Marrakesh 2010. ] 13...xd6 14.d1+ e5?! ( 14...c7 6...xe5 7.xd8+ xd8 8.g5 was safer when 15.e7 b6 16.c4 f6 [ 8.f4 isn't at all challenging. d6 9.0-0-0 seems better for Black.) 15.e7 ( 15.d5!? e7 10.g3 Relange, E (2445)-Chomet, P is very interesting) 15...g5 ( 15...e8 ( 2 3 5 5 ) C h a m b e r y 1 9 9 4 w h e n eg4! 16.d6+ f6 17.f4 g6 18.e5+ xe5 favours Black. ] 19.fxe5+ e7 would again see Black [ 8.f3 is also logical and could actually surviving into a pleasant endgame.) 16.xg5 transpose af te r d6 ( Instead 8...fd7 g8 17.d8 g7? And this is the decisive 9.f4 d6 10.g3 c6 11.0-0-0 c7 mistake ( 17...h3 was necessary to defend 12.d4 f8 13.c4! f6 14.e6+ b6 the f1 square.) 18.f4+! xf4 19.f1+ 15.e2 g6 16.f2+ a5 17.a3 c5 18.b4+ and Black resigned in Spassky, B (2551)1-0 Ivanovic-Krecak, Z Yugoslavia 1967 E l i e t , N ( 2 4 0 1 ) F r a n c e 2 0 0 2 a s e5 again sh owed the dan gers Bla ck m igh t 20.c7+ e6 21.c4+ d7 22.xf7+ face. ) 9.g5 c6 ] e8 23.d6 wins back the invested 8...c6 The most logical reply, giving the king a material with interest. ] square to run to on c7 and controlling the d5 11...b4?! This move is the start of Black's square. [ 8...e7 9.d1+ d7 10.f3 fg4 problems. He had a couple of reasonable 11.xe7+ xe7 12.d5+ d8 13.h3 alternatives. [ 11...d7 was the choice of the high rated xf3+ 14.gxf3 e5 15.f2 c6 16.e3 French GM. 12.f5 xf5 13.exf5 eg4 e7 17.f4 g6 18.g3 was a little better 14.c4 h6 for W hite as his knight and e4 and f4 A) 15.xf6 gxf6 ( 15...xf6 is no longer pawns control a lot of squares while so good as White can snaffle the pawn. Black's knight was misplaced. Miljanic, B 16.xf7 ) 16.d4 with a drawish (2340)-Acimovic, S (2370) Belgrade 1988. ] endgame. ( 16.xf7!? f2 17.xd6 9.f3 xd6 18.e1 h7 19.e6+ d7 [ Again 9.0-0-0+ is likely to transpose c7 must be a little better for Black. ); 10.f3 fd7 ( Again 10...d6 B) 15.xd6!? would transpose to the game.) 11.e2 b4 B1) 15...xd6 16.f4+ c5 12.f4 f6 13.hf1 e8 14.g4 xc3 ( 16...e7?! 17.e1+ f8 18.d6+ 15.bxc3 h6 16.h4 e7 17.g5 hxg5 g8 19.e7 gives White a strong 18.hxg5 c5 19.gxf6 gxf6 20.xe5 fxe5 initiative.) 17.xf7 and White's bishops 21.g5 d7 22.f6 xe4 23.xe5+ b6 dominate.; 24.f4 xd1+ 25.xd1 1-0 Duran Vallverde, B2) 15...hxg5! 16.d2 e5 17.b3 J (2084)-Guevara Pijoan, J (2020) ICCF ae8 18.e2 fd7 19.he1 f6 20.h3 email 2008 saw Black fail to ever develop c5 21.e4 xe4 22.xe4 his queenside pieces and he paid the price. ] when Black had a good knight vs bishop 9...d6 10.0-0-0 c7 11.d4 scenario but couldn't manage the full [ 11.e2 was Spassky's choice and he won point. Sedina, E (2394)-Bauer, C surprisingly quickly: xf3 Not really what (2630) Switzerland 2006. ] Black wants to play but White's last actually [ 11...a6 is similar, I'm not sure who the h a d a h i d d e n t h r e a t . ( 11...e6? addition of ...a6 favours, it probably doesn't is good strategically but fails tactically to 975

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 make so much difference to the position. 12.f5 xf5 13.exf5 was already agreed drawn in Quillan, G (2325)-Shaw, J (2310) Isle of Man 1994. One game continued eg4 14.xf6?! I don't like this as White's only trump was the bishop pair. ( 14.c4 makes more sense with a roughly level position. ) 14...gxf6!? ( There was nothing wrong with the normal 14...xf6 ) 15.e4 f4+ 16.b1 e5 17.d3 e3 18.d2 h5 19.e1 g4 20.h3 h6 21.f1 and Black's odd last few moves had allowed White comfortable equality but nothing more. Boguszlavszkij, J (2279)-Csiszar, C (2390) Balatonlelle 2004. ] 12.f4! Suddenly this pin is awkward to deal with fd7? And surprisingly this is a losing mistake. [ 12...d6? of course also loses to 13.db5+ ] [ Therefore 12...e8 was forced but White still has an edge after 13.f3 d6 14.xd6! xd6 15.xe5 xe5 16.c4 g4 17.xf7 e7 18.xe5 xe5 19.b3 although Black has a good bind for the pawn and thus good drawing chances. ] 13.db5+! b6 [ 13...cxb5 14.d5+ wins back the piece with a fantastic position. ] [ 13...d8 14.xe5 cxb5 15.xg7 also picks up a couple of pawns. ] 14.e3+ c5 [ Perhaps 14...a5 should have been tried but the king looks like it's walking to its own execution and indeed 15.a3! xc3 16.b4+ xb4 17.axb4+ xb4 18.b2! is forced m a t e , e . g . b6 19.c3+ a5 20.a1+ a4+ 21.xa4+ xa4 22.e2 when there's no defence to Ra1 mate. ] 15.a4+ a5 16.xc5 cxb5 Black must have been feeling stunned at this point. White traded queens at the earliest opportunity but by move 16 his position is already resignable. 17.b3+ [ 17.xd7! is also very strong as xd7 ( 17...xd7 18.f4 picks up a piece while) 18.d3 sets up a mating net Black cannot escape from. ] 17...a6 18.a4 [ 18.d5 b6 19.xb5+ b7 20.hd1 also wins material. ]

18...b6 19.xb5+ b7 20.a5 c7 21.f4 f6 22.d5 White has a pawn plus and a strong initiative while Black has f ailed to develop most of his army. e8 23.hd1 e7 24.d4 b7 This loses but it was difficult to find anything playable. 25.xd7+! xd7 26.xe5+ fxe5 27.e6+ A one sided encounter. 5. dxe5 should not be a theoretical test of Black's opening but he must be aware of W hite's various ideas or else might go down very quickly. This is certainly an option I would consider in rapid forms of chess as Black is set with practical problems right from the start although, if he plays accurately, he has absolutely nothing to fear. 1-0

945 Short,Nigel D Campora,Daniel Hugo FIDE World Ch (1.2) [Nigel Davies]

B07

28.11.2001

Nigel Short has shown an increasing preference to play sensible non-theory. Here he comes up with an unusual but interesting second move, exploiting the fact that 1...d6 means that a later ...d6-d5 will lose a tempo. 2.Bc4 would not be good against the French! 1.e4 d6 2.c4 f6 [ In Porper - Eberlein, Badenweiler 1990 Black played 2...e6 but found himself with a cramped position after 3.e2 c6 4.c3 f6 5.b3 e7 6.f3 0-0 7.0-0 e5 (transposing into a kind of Italian game but with an extra move for White) 8.h3 d7 9.d4 f6 10.e3 e7 11.bd2 e8 12.d5 cb8 13.a4 f8 14.b4 etc. ] 3.c3 [ Short is aiming for a fairly blunt and aggressive set-up. In Balinas - Gligoric, Manila 1975 White adopted a much quieter set-up with 3.d3 keeping open the option of a later c2-c3. The game continued e6 4.b3 c5 5.c3 c6 6.f3 e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e1 b6 9.bd2 b7 10.f1 e8 11.g3 b5 12.c2 c8 13.h3 c7 14.d2 e5 with a complex struggle ahead. ] 3...c6 [ 3...g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 c6 976

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7.e3 e5 8.fxe5 g4 9.g5 e7 10.d5 unattended so Black immediately attacks it. 1-0, Shchennikov A. - Bespalov K.(2133), 6.e5 g4!? The sharpest continuation. Tula 1998 Ch Russia ] [ 6...d7 is a good alternative to the text. 4.b3 e5 5.f4 g4 6.f3 exf4 Entering a A) 7.xf7+?! xf7 8.e6+ e8! ( 8...g8 kind of King's Gambit in which several of 9.exd7 xd7 10.f3 h6 intending ... Kh7 Black's moves look slow. 7.d4 h5 8.0-0 is also playable, but the text is stronger.) e7 9.h3 e6 10.d5! The first in a series of 9.exd7+ xd7 Now White has to sacrifice sharp moves which take the initiative. cxd5 a central pawn. 10.e3 ( 10.d5 d4 11.d4! f6 12.xf4 0-0 13.exd5 d7 11.d1 f5 is clearly insufficient.) 14.ce2 This knight is headed for f5. Black's 10...xd4 11.xd4 xd4 In Zieher lack of space makes it dif ficult f or him to Chandler, Hamburg 1980 White couldn't obtain counterplay. a6 15.c4 c5 16.c2 prove he had enough for the pawn: a5 17.g3 b6 18.df5 ae8 19.h2 12.d2 xc3 13.xc3 f8 14.0-0-0 e5 xf5 20.xf5 fe4 21.f3 f6 22.ae1 15.f3 e6 16.h4 d7 17.h5 g5 18.h6 e5 23.xe4 xe4 24.xd6 d2 25.xd2 c6 19.d3 c4 20.xc4 xc4 xe1 26.xe1 xd6+ 27.g3 e5 28.b3 with a decisive advantage for Black.; With a sound extra pawn. Rather surprisingly, B) 7.e6? To o op timist ic. fxe6 8.f3 Short fails to convert. f5 29.xe5 xe5+ ( 8.xe6 de5 9.d5 xc4 10.xc4 30.f4 e8 31.d6 xf4+ 32.xf4 g6 xd4 and Black is winning.) 8...d5 9.b5 33.d4 f7 34.g3 e6 35.f4 d7 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.h4 ( 11.xe6 36.d2 h6 37.c5 e4+ 38.f3 e5 39.c2 c6 is also very bad for White.) 11...c6 g5 40.a3 f4 41.c3 e1 42.g4 e2 12.d3 e5 13.h5 e4 14.hxg6 hxg6 43.g3 fxg3 44.xg3 c2 45.b4 axb4 15.xh8+ xh8 and White resigned, 46.axb4 c4+ 47.h5 xb4 48.xh6 b6 Fedorowicz - Chandler, Brighton 1979.; 49.cxb6 xb6 50.xg5 b4 51.g4 b3 C) 7.f3 other moves are dubious: b6! 52.h4 xd6 53.e4 g3 54.h5 d7 8.b3 0-0 9.h3 a5! It's very important 55.e5 d6 56.e1 d7 57.h7 g2 to exchange W hite's active Bishop. 58.h6 g3 59.h8 g2 60.a1 e7 ( 9...dxe5 i s i n f e r i o r : 10.dxe5 d4 61.a7+ f6 62.g7 a2 63.h7 a8+ 11.xd4 xd4 12.f4 , Be3 to follow, and 64.g8 a7 65.b8 f7 66.b7+ xb7 White is slightly better.) 10.0-0 h6!? ½-½ 11.e4 xb3 12.axb3 f6 and Black's chances are by no means worse, Kveinys Speelman, Moscow 1994. ] 946 B07 [ So both 6...Nd7 and 6...Ng4 are suitable for Black. But Black should avoid the following Sigurjonsson,Gudmundur trick: the tempting 6...xd4? is bad in view Timman,Jan H of the queen sacrifice 7.exf6! xe2 8.fxg7 Wijk 1980 g8 9.gxe2 The critical position. Although [Alexander Volzhin] Black has a material advantage his position is hardly defensible. My database contains The Holmov system (Bc4) leads to a very a b o u t 4 0 ga m e s a n d t h e st a t ist ic s a r e i n t e r e s t i n g f i g h t wh e r e b o t h s i d e s h a v e horrible for Black: White has won almost all chances. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 t h e g a m e s ! ! J u s t a f e w e x a m p l e s : e5 4.c4 g7 5.e2 By developing his pieces ( 9...xg7 10.h6 g8 11.0-0-0 c6 in this way W hite intends an early e4-e5. 12.he1 c7 13.f4 g5 14.e4! Here Black can choose between two different an d W h ite win s: gxf4 15.xd6+ d8 lines: 5... c6 and 5... Nc6. Both are perfectly 16.xf7+ e8 17.d6+ xd6 18.xd6 playable. I personally prefer the latter. But this xg2 19.xf4 xf2 20.g5 f5 21.xe7+ position may also a rise f rom the Modern 1-0 Jahr - Kraus, Nuernberg 1990.; 9...c6 defence with an early ...c7-c6, for example: 1 10.h6 a5 11.0-0-0 b5 12.b3 b4 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 3 Nc3 c6 4 Bc4 d6 5 Nf3 Nf6. 13.e4 h5 14.g5 g4 15.f4 d5 c6!? White's last move left his d4-pawn 977

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xd5! cxd5 17.xd5 f5 18.ef6+ exf6 19.xf6+ f7 20.xg4 fxg4 21.he1 e6 22.d7+! 1-0 Vodicka - Djurkovic, Hradec Kralove 1992.) 10.h4 xg7 11.h6 g8 12.g5! d7 13.d5 f8 14.h5! g4 15.e7+ e8 16.f6+ xe7 17.xg4 xg4 18.hxg6 hxg6 19.f3 with a decisive advantage for White, Holmsten - Weiding, Santiago 1990. ] 7.b5 The only way to hold the central pawns. 0-0 8.xc6 bxc6 9.h3 h6 10.f3 c5! 11.dxc5 b7! This pawn sacrifice gives Black excellent compensation. His light-squared bishop is very strong now and pressure on the b-file and long diagonals give him a lasting i n i t i a t i v e . 12.d2 After this me White tried different improvements but none of them gave him the advantage: [ 12.f4 b8 13.0-0-0 a8!? 14.d4 d7 15.e6 c8 16.c6 f5 17.xf5 gxf5 18.exf7+ xf7 19.c4 e8 20.d3 xc6 21.xc6 xc6 and Black has a clear edge due to is strong bishop pair and massive pawn centre, Topakian - Van Wely, Arnhem 1988. ] [ 12.xh6?! A dubious move. A darksquared Bishop is very important here. xh6 13.0-0 b8!? 14.fd1 ( 14.exd6 cxd6 15.cxd6 xd6 16.fd1 b4 17.ab1 g7 with tremendous compensation. ) 14...g7 A) 15.exd6 exd6 16.cxd6 A1) 16...e8!? 17.d3 cxd6 18.ab1 f6 ( 18...a5!? ); A2) 16...cxd6; B) 15.e4 e8! 16.b4 ( 16.cxd6 exd6 ) 16...c6 17.c3 B1) 17...dxe5! is worthy of consideration: 18.d5 fe8 19.c4 ( 19.xe5 e6 20.xc7 xe5 21.xe5 xe5 22.xe8 xa1; 19.e3 e4!? 20.b5 xb5 21.xc7 c6 22.xe8 xa1 with a decisive a d v a n t a g e f o r B l a c k i n b o t h l i n e s .) 19...e6 20.c3 a6 with clear edge.; B2) 17...dxc5 18.b5 e6 19.e1 fd8 20.ab1 xf3 21.xf3 xe5 22.e3! and W hite equalised in Kveinys Gurevich, Bonn 1996. ] 12...f5 13.0-0-0 xf3 14.xf3 xe5 W hite decides to give back his extra pawn an d c o mp let e his d e ve lop m e nt . B u t n o w

strong Black's dark-squared Bishop and halfopened b-file give him excellent attacking chances. 15.h4 d7 16.h3 h5 17.he1?! This move wastes an important tempo. [ 17.g4 should be preferred: g7 18.gxh5 xh3 19.xh3 xc3 20.xc3 xh5 wit h ap p ro xim a t ely e qu a l ch a n c es in a complicated endgame. ] 17...g7 18.c6 White decides to sacrifice a pawn in order to play g2-g4 opening files on the K-side. [ Now 18.g4 is not good in view of h6 ] 18...xc6 19.g4 hxg4 20.xg4 ab8! Black's attack is more dangerous. The threat of sacrificing the rook on the b2-square is very nasty. 21.g1 [ 21.h5 xb2! 22.hxg6 fb8 23.gxf7+ f8 and White can't parry the threat of ] 21...d4 [ 21...xb2! was not bad either: 22.xb2 b8+ 23.c1 b7! ( Of course, not 23...xc3 24.xc3 xc3 25.xf5 ) 24.de1 b2+ 25.d1 d4 with a decisive attack: 26.xe7 ( 26.e3 f5 27.xg6 xc2+ 28.e1 b1+ ) 26...xc2+ 27.e1 b1+ 28.xb1 xb1+ 29.d1 f3+ 30.e2 xg1+ 31.e1 f3+ 32.e2 d4+ 33.e1 c2+ 34.e2 b5+ 35.f3 h5+ winning the Queen. ] 22.g3 [ 22.h5 xb2! 23.xb2 b8+ 24.c1 b7 25.df1 b2+ 26.d1 f5! 27.xg6 xc2+ 28.e1 b1+ mating. ] 22...b4 23.f4 xb2 24.xb2 b7+ 25.c1 f5! Mate is unavoidable, so White resigned. [ 25...f5 26.xg6 e2+ 27.xe2 b2# ] 0-1

947 Simacek,Pavel Videki,Sandor Paks Cup GM (3) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2439 2409 23.08.2004

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e2 g7 5.g4!? My attention has been drawn to this move recently whilst writing an article for Jeremy Silman's excellent website. You may 978

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 recall an old Olympiad game where Donner got slaughtered by a then unknown Chinaman. I think that 4 Be2 and 5 g4 is an ideal system for the club player, direct and easy to u n d e rs t a n d . . c5 ' This is the recommended procedure against 4 Be2 and 5 h4, so let us see whether 5...c5 works out as well here. W h i t e s h o u l d c e rt a i n l y b l o ck t h e c e n t r e immediately. A more fluid, Sicilian-type of game would certainly increase the likelihood that Black could expose g2-g4 as something of a luxury.' 6.g5 [ 6.d5 is clearly the only other possibility worth mentioning. There are few decent examples: h5!? ( 6...a6 7.g5 fd7 8.a4 b6 9.h4 White seems unperturbed by taking on so many pawn commitments. b4 10.d2 e5 11.f3 c4 12.c1 c5 13.a5 b5 14.axb6 xb6 15.a4 c7 16.e3 ed7 17.h5 Portisch, G-Horvath, G/ Hungary 1999 Black's position is congested.; 6...a6!? 7.g5 d7 8.h4 a5 9.d2 ) 7.g5 g8 ( 7...fd7 8.f4 a6 9.f3 b5 10.a3! intends 0-0, Nh4 and f4-f5! after which I think White is better.) 8.e3 e5 9.dxe6 xe6 10.d2 c6 11.b5 Todor, R-Steinermayr, T Aschach 1997 ] 6...fd7 7.d5 0-0 [ 7...a5 is possibly more appropriate , as Black seeks counterplay before presenting W hite with a target : 8.d2 h6 9.gxh6 xh6 10.f4 f6 ( 10...g7 11.f3 a6 12.h4 b6 is completely unclear.) 11.h4 g7 12.e5 dxe5 13.fxe5 h5 14.e6 c7 15.b5+! f8 16.ge2 ( 16.f3 g3+ 17.xg3 xg3 18.h3 f5 19.0-0-0 ) 16...fxe6 17.g5 c4 18.f1+ g8 19.d2 White has an obvious attack. In practice, he will win this position time after time after time. Katalymov-Movsziszian Bad Woerishoven 1996 ] 8.h4 e8 9.h5 a6 [ 9...e6 tries to make sense of the Rook on e8 but I think White can just play on route o n e a g a i n : 10.d3! e5 ( 10...b6 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.f4 exd5 13.0-0-0!? d4 14.b5 e5 15.g3; 10...exd5 11.xd5 c6 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.c3 ) 11.g3 ] 10.hxg6 hxg6 11.a4 b5?! Rather than get slaughtered in a mechanical manner, Videki tries to break loose. 11...b5 is inadequate.

[ 11...a5 is ' obvious, but again White seems to hold the advantage: 12.d2 b6 13.a3! e6 14.b3 c7 15.f3 e5 16.xe5 xe5 17.c4 d7 18.f4 g7 19.dxe6 fxe6 20.e3! b6 21.d3! ] 12.axb5 b6 13.h3 [ 13.f4! just seems very good for White indeed with the plan Qd3-g3-h4 in mind. If c4 14.bxa6 xa6 15.xa6 xa6 16.e3 e6 17.dxe6 xe6 18.d4 ] 13...e6 14.f4 exd5 15.cxd5 8d7 [ 15...xe4 16.xb6 xb6 17.d5 b7 was a much better defence. ] 16.d3 b7 17.bxa6 xd5 18.xd5 c4 19.h3 xa6 20.xa6 xa6 21.d2 b7 22.c3 e5 23.f4 xd5 24.exd5 Game over. An uneven example. I think we can formulate some definite ideas now: 1) 4 Be2 and 5 g4 leads to a very wild positions in most lines, posing novel problems for BOTH players. 2) Black should not castle short early, if at all! 3) White pushes his Kingside pawns forward to CRAMP Black, not necessarily to mate him. 1-0

948 Smallville Borg,I ICC 3 0 Internet Chess Club [John Watson]

B07 3304 3229 10.09.2005

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.a4 g6 5.h3 g7 6.g4 a5 7.g2 h5 8.g5 fd7 9.ge2 a6 10.0-0 0-0 11.f4 e5?! 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.f5 White has what he wants. Black's 11th move was a positional blunder of considerable proportions, even for a Blitz game. d8 14.e1? [ 14.e3! maintains a clear advantage. ] [ and 14.d2 is also good, since b6+ 15.h2 xb2 16.e3 leaves Black tied up. ] 14...b4 15.f2? [ 15.d1 ] 15...xc2 16.fxg6?! [ 16.a2 ] 16...fxg6 17.f7+ h7 18.f6? a stab in the dark hereafter the game degenerates, but the opening was reasonably successful for 979

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White. f8 [ 18...xf6! 19.gxf6 d7 ] 19.f3 d7 20.e8 d8 21.xd8 xd8 22.b1 xf6 23.gxf6 e1 24.h1 xh3 25.g5 e6 26.h4 d3 27.f7 g5 28.g3 h4 29.h2 g4 30.g2 xg2 31.xg2 g3 32.g1 df4+ 33.xf4 xf4+ 34.f3 g7 35.g4 xf7 36.xh4 g8 0-1

949 Smallville Scorpion83 ICC 3 1 Internet Chess Club [John Watson]

B07 3325 3092 09.10.2006

It took me some time to think about this h3/g4 stuff and understand its drawbacks, and they seem especially noteworthy in the order given in the following games. They are Blitz games between ICC-rated 2300+ players Nakamura an d A ko bia n. No t of to urn am en t qua lit y, naturally, but they offer a platform for some ideas about the h3/g4 plan. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.a4 Is this already optimistic, at least for the h3/g4 player? ...c6 contributes to central control, a4 doesn't. e5 In our other game Black played [ 4...g6 With 4...e5, Akobian prefers to challenge the centre immediately, entering into a Philidor Defence. ] 5.ge2 e7 [ Especially with the relatively unproductive move a4 in, I wonder if Black can't afford to wa ste a t em p o t o ch allen ge t h e cen t re 5...exd4 6.xd4 d5!? 7.e5 ( 7.e2 e7 8.e5 g4 w i t h t h e i d e a 9.e6 f6 is an improved version for Black) 7...g4 8.e6 ( 8.f4 b6! ) 8...f6! 9.exf7+ (what else?) ( maybe 9.d3 fxe6 10.e2 f7 11.f3! d6 12.g5+ g8! 13.xe6 e7= ) 9...xf7 10.e2 d6 ( or 10...b4 11.0-0 e8 ) 11.0-0 f8 with a reasonable game. ] 6.h3 0-0 7.g4 The Plan! Not only does White prepare to develop smoothly by Bg2 and 0-0, but g5 is always looming. So Black should move quickly. bd7 This is a crucial juncture. Here Black is too easy on W hite. I'm not a believer in 'counter-flank-advance-with-central-

thrust', but it depends upon the situation, and here we have h3/g4/a4 and the passive Nge2, which begs for play where Black is strongest. There are two ways to do this: [ (a) 7...d5!? is only moderately effective, because W hite can transf orm the pawn structure after A) 8.exd5 is unimpressive af ter exd4 ( or simply 8...xd5! 9.dxe5 a5 with the idea ...Rd8) 9.xd4 xd5 10.xd5 cxd5 --see below; B) 8.dxe5! xe4 9.xe4 dxe4 10.xd8 xd8 11.g2 d7!? 12.e6! fxe6 ( 12...c5 13.exf7+ xf7 14.0-0 ) 13.c3 b4 ( 13...f6 14.xe4 xe4 15.xe4 e5 16.e3 ) 14.d2 e3 15.xe3! b6 16.0-0 xc3 17.bxc3 e5 Black has play (...Nd5, ... Nc4), but I like the bishops. ] [ (b) Best is 7...exd4! A) 8.xd4?! d5 9.exd5 xd5 10.xd5 cxd5 11.f4 ( 11.g2 e6 and ...Nc6 or ...Bf6 ) 11...c6! 12.xd5 b4! and White has great difficulties defending; B) 8.xd4 d5! 9.e5 ( 9.g2 e8! 10.0-0 xe4 11.xe4 dxe4 ) 9...e4 ( 9...fd7 ) 10.xe4 dxe4 . This is not what White wants! Perhaps 7...exd4 casts the whole line into doubt. What's more, .... e5 and a timely ...d5 may be a good way to meet most of the h3/g4 systems! This needs to be investigated, of course. ] 8.g2 e8 [ This time 8...d5 isn't as powerful, but it should still yield balanced play, e.g., 9.exd5 xd5 10.xd5 cxd5 11.dxe5 ( 11.xd5 a5+ 12.c3 b4! is strong ) 11...xe5 ] 9.0-0 White calmly castles on his 'weakened' kingside. His pawn thrusts act defensively as well as aggressively. The natural advance [ 9.g5!? (why else g4?, you might ask) isn't clear after h5 10.f3 f4! ( 10...g6?! 11.xh5 gxh5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.g3 ) 11.xf4 ( 11.xf4 exf4 12.h4 intending f6!? 13.g6! hxg6 14.xf4 ) 11...exf4 12.xf4 ( 12.h4 f6!? ) 12...xg5 13.xd6 b6 ] 9...f8 10.f4 [ Now is a good time for 10.g5 h5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.f3 ] 10...exf4 980

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 10...exd4 11.xd4 c5 12.e1 and now what? ] 11.xf4 b6 [ Another game between Nakamura and A k o b i a n w e n t 11...c5 12.dxc5 xc5 13.g3 (arguably White's ideal setup once Black opens the e-file now g5 followed by N d 5 m u s t b e m e t ) e6 ( best may be 13...h6 , intending 14.g5 hxg5 15.xg5 e7 , although White remains better placed after 16.f3 e6 17.f5 ) 14.d4! ( great instincts White centralizes and looks over the whole board. Also not bad is 14.g5 fd7 15.d5 ) 14...a6?? 15.ad1? ( 15.g5 fd7 16.b4 wi n s a p i e c e) 15...b6? 16.e3 ( A g a i n m i s s i n g 16.g5! fd7 17.b4 ) 16...xb2 17.xf6!? gxf6 18.h5 d7 19.b1 xc2 20.xb7 g7 ( 20...ec8! 21.xd7 xc3 22.xf6+ h8 ) 21.xd7! xd7 22.d5 e6 ( 22...eb8 23.dxf6+ h8 24.xg7 b2 25.f2 b1+ 26.h2 b2 27.g3 b3+= with the idea 28.f3?? e2 ) 23.dxf6+ xf6 24.xf6+ h8 25.e5!? The game ends more or less irrationally. xf6 26.xd6 e6?? 27.xa8 c8 28.exf6 xa8 29.h6 a7+ 30.f1 a8 31.f2 a7+ 32.f3 a8+ 33.g3 e8 34.a5 c8 35.h4 g8 36.g7+ Black resigns 1-0 Smallville-SCORPION83/Internet Chess Club 2006 ] 12.a5 c7 13.g3 White has the centre and space for free. d8 14.f5 e8 15.e1 df6 16.e5 The details aren't that important [ 16.h4! threatens e5 and g5, and is also strong. ] 16...dxe5 17.dxe5 d5 18.xd5 cxd5 19.e6 c5+ 20.e3 d4 21.exf7+ xf7 22.h6+ Mate or some other disaster for Black follows. 1-0

said that he picked up a book on the opening and was int ereste d and wan te d to s ee if Smeets had a refutation. It certainly worked and Jan was in time trouble after a few moves. 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 a6 Bizarrely this move doesn't seem to have been covered on ChessPublishing before although this line is fully playable for Black. 5.e2 I don't like this move. I prefer to either defend the e4 pawn either directly or by preventing the b5 break. [ 5.a4 has been the most common choice by strong players here. g7 6.d2 ( 6.h3 Prophylaxis against any Ng4 ideas, White plays very classically. 0-0 7.f3 c6 8.e2 e5 9.0-0 exd4 10.xd4 e8 11.f3 e5 12.e2 ed7 13.d3 c5 was extremely comf ortable f or Black although W hite later caused an upset in Erenburg-Grischuk, Rishon Le Zion 2006 1-0 (41) ) 6...0-0 7.f3 c6 8.h3 e5 9.d5 e7 reached a Kings Indian type position except with White's pawn back on c2. This means that both White's queenside play is slower, there's no c5 break here, but also Bla ck' s kin gsid e p lay isn 't so e f f e c t ive 10.c4 d7 ( 10...h5 11.g4 is a typical idea taken from the 5.h3 KID) 11.a5 b5!? 12.xb5 axb5 13.b4 1/2-1/2 TimofeevTseshkovsky, Moscow 2004 (44) ] [ I always feel the Austrian Attack style play is the most dangerous for Black to deal with but of course this is very double edged as White has done nothing to help defend his e4 pawn. 5.f4!? ] [ 5.d2 is covered in Chapter 2 "Flexible Dragon Unleashed" and ] [ 5.f3 in Chapter 3 "Flexible Dragon Restrained" of Hillarp-Persson's excellent book Tiger's Modern ] 5...g7 6.d2 [ 6.h4!? was a typical move from the aggressive Lithuanian but it actually makes se n s e p o s it io n a ll y. h5 Now White has 950 B07 control over the g5 square which helps defend e4 too . ( 6...b5 7.e5; and 6...c6 Smeets,Jan 2657 7.h5 both look promising for White) 7.h3 Kramnik,Vladimir 2788 b5 8.g5 b4 Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (5) 21.01.2010 A) I prefer 9.d5! xd5 ( 9...b7 [Gawain Jones] 10.c4 ) 10.exd5 when White's doubled pawns control the centre and keep Black 1.e4 d6 What's this, Kramnik played d6? In passive.; the post mortem press conference Kramnik 981

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 9.a4 0-0 10.a3 a5 11.f3 c6 12.0-0 d7 1/2-1/2 Sulskis-Fluvia, Barcelona 2007 ] [ 6.a4 would transpose back into the previous note. ] 6...b5 7.h6 [ 7.e5 would be a much better version of the i d e a u s e d i n t h e g a m e b y W h i t e . g4 ( 7...dxe5 is also a possibility) 8.f3 ( 8.exd6 xe3=; 8.f4 dxe5 wins a pawn.) 8...xe3 9.fxe3 ( 9.xa8 c4 10.e2 dxe5 11.dxe5 c6 and White will have trouble escaping with his bishop.) 9...c6 10.exd6 exd6 ] 7...0-0 [ 7...xh6 8.xh6 b7 ( 8...b4 9.d5 xd5 10.exd5 b7 11.f3 would keep W hite with the advantage.) 9.f3 b4 10.d5 xd5 11.exd5 xd5 is also fine for Black. ] 8.e5? I'm not sure what Smeets missed when he played this, I know he used a lot of time to reach this position, maybe he couldn't adjust to the opening surprise. Black has already equalised comfortably and White lacks control of e4. Normally a move like 8.f3 would be normal but not with the bishop on e2. [ 8.xg7 xg7 9.f4 b4 10.e5 bxc3 11.exf6+ exf6 12.bxc3 d7 is also unpleasant for W hite, Black can either try Bb7, f6-f5 and Nf6-e4 or try with Nb6, Re8 and Bg4 ] [ 8.a3 is extremely passive but might be White's best try to hold equality b7 9.xg7 xg7 10.e3 e5= ( 10...bd7!?; 10...c5!? )] 8...dxe5 9.xg7 [ 9.dxe5 g4 10.f3 ( 10.xg4 xg4 11.xd8 xd8 12.xg7 xg7 ) 10...c6 is pretty sim ilar to t he game and again favours Black, both c2 and e5 are tough to hold in the future. ] 9...xg7 10.f3 [ 10.dxe5 xd2+ 11.xd2 g4 12.xg4 xg4 Is even better than the game as Black can now develop his knight to c6. ] 10...c6 11.dxe5 xd2+ 12.xd2 d8+ 13.e3 g4+ 14.xg4 xg4 So the position has simplified but Black can play for the win risk free. Black is slightly ahead in development and targets c2 and e5 before White can complete his development.

15.h3 f5 [ 15...e6 16.f3 d7 Black can expand on the queenside and put either his knight or bishop on d5. ] 16.g4 xc2 17.c1 so the bishop is trapped and thus Black has to give up his extra pawn but he still holds the advantage. b4 18.xc2 bxc3 19.f3 [ Regaining material equality with 19.xc3 allows d1 when it's extremely awkward for white to develop his kingside and so understandably Smeets decides he has better chances sacrificing the pawn. ] 19...cxb2 20.b1 d5 21.e6 [ White was worried that after 21.bxb2 e6 The e5 pawn will prove vulnerable but White s h o u l d b e a b l e t o h o l d h e r e ( 21...d7 22.e6 e5 might actually give better winning chances) 22.b7 ( 22.d2 d7 23.xd5 cxd5 24.b7 also gives very good drawing chances as Black is rather passive. ) 22...d7 23.xc6 xe5 24.xe5 ( 24.xe6 d3+ 25.e2 xf3 26.xe5 xh3 gives Black better winning tries.) 24...xe5+ 25.f3 should be holdable for W h it e b y p u t t in g p re ssu re o n f 7 b u t o f course not what you want as White after 25 moves, e sp ecially again st so me one a s strong as Kramnik. ] 21...c5 22.exf7 c6 23.bxb2 ad8 Both sides have successfully brought out all their pieces. The f7 pawn drops by force and thus White has a very difficult task to get the half point although in the game he collapses abruptly. Playing this short of time against K r a m n i k t h o u g h i s n o e a s y t a s k . 24.e4 xf7 25.c3 d4 26.e5+ e8 27.b6 b5 28.c2? [ 28.e3 5d6 29.xd6 xd6+ ( 29...exd6 30.c6 d7 31.d5+= ) 30.f4 gives White better drawing chances but of course it's still very tough. ] 28...5d6 29.c4 [ 29.xd6 exd6 30.c6 c8 31.d5 is n o lo n ge r p la ya b le f o r W h it e d u e t o xc6-+ ( In fact 31...d7 also wins )] 29...d3 30.e3 a3?! [ 30...3d4+ looks the most accurate 31.f3 ( 31.e5 d6-+ ) 31...4d6 when White is forced to trade due to Nd4+ 32.xd6 exd6 and the two connected passed pawns are 982

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 going to win the position easily enough. ] b7 19.b4 cxb4 20.axb4 d7 21.d2 31.b2? h7 22.xc6! xc6 23.d5 d7 ( 23...c3 [ 31.xc5 xa2 32.f3 dd2 33.g3 24.ac1 xd2 25.xd2 b5 26.c7 c8 challenges Black much more as after xf2 27.b3 is also very bad for Black.) 24.d4! 34.xa6 Smeets should have held. ] f5 25.xg7 xg7 26.d4 After the ex 31...c4 The pawn starts rolling! 32.e5 c3 change of dark-squared bishops White has 33.c2 d2 a d e c i s i v e p o s i t i o n a l a d v a n t a g e . f6 [ 33...d4! 34.c1 a4!!-+ wins at least a 27.a3! fxe4 28.e6 f7 29.xe4 g5 rook as there's no good defence to Nf3+ and 30.f3 g6 31.xf7+ xf7 32.xg5+! Re4 mate. ] hxg5 33.xg5 and Black resigned, 34.c1 xf2 35.d5 c2 36.b4 e3+ Ivanchuk - Bologan, Debrecen 1992. An 37.d5 d2+ 38.c6 c3+ 39.b7 d6+ excellent achievement by Vassily Ivanchuk! ] 40.a8 a5 Kramnik brings out a surprising 9.a3!? A novelty. new weapon and it looks tough for White to [ 9.e3 has been played before and Black find an advantage. managed to solve his opening problems: 0-1 h5 ( 9...d5!? deserves certain attention: 10.exd5 exd4 11.xh6 xd5 12.f4 f5 13.c4 d7 14.xf5 xf5 15.xc7 ac8 951 B07 16.h2 fd8 and Black has sufficient compensation for a pawn, Svirin -- Djachkov, Smirin,Ilia 2555 Russia, 1992.) 10.bd2 d7 ( 10...f4?! Bologan,Viktor 2555 11.xf4 exf4 was played in Dolmatov - G. Debrecen 1992 Kuzmin, USSR 1982. In the King's Indian [Alexander Volzhin] (with W hite's pawn on c4) this exchange normally is very good for Black (he can 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.d3 e5 4.c3 c6 even sacrifice the f4-pawn) as the Bishop on 5.f3 g6 6.0-0 g7 7.h3 0-0 8.e1 h6 g7 runs riot. But here matters are different. The main line. Black's prepares counterplay White's centre is firmly protected by the c3on the K-side. pawn, the prospects for the bishop on g7 are [ Earlier in this tournament Bologan tried still uncertain and White's superiority in the 8...a6?! b u t a f t e r t h e c o r r e c t 9.c2! centre secures him lasting initiative. Sooner failed to equalise. ( The idea behind Black's or later Black will be forced to play g6-g5 temporising move is to meet 9.bd2?! with after which White can create a battery on h5!; and 9.e3?! with d5! ) 9...h6 the b1-h7 diagonal (Bc2 and Qd3) 10.bd2 h7 11.f1 exd4 ( If Black plays threatening e4-e5 with dangerous threats 11...g5 immediately then 12.xg5 hxg5 against Black's King. So I strongly 13.d5! b8 14.h2 is very unpleasant. recommend Black to avoid this. 12.b4 e7 White is ready to launch a pawnstorm on the 13.a3 d7 14.f1 b5 15.d2 g5 16.e2 Q-side (c4, b4, c5 etc.) while Black's attempt a6 17.ad1 e8 18.3h2 d5 19.c1 at activity on the K-side with f5 is strongly f6 20.c2 c8 21.e5 d5 22.c4 b6 met by 15.exf5 gxf5 16.h5! ) 12.cxd4 23.c5! and White's advantage is beyond g5 13.1h2! Probably Black doubt. ) 11.a4 a6 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.f1 underestimated this move. Now W hite's e6 14.b4 b6 15.c4 f4 16.h2 f6 centre is firmlyprotected and Black has no 17.fd2 fd8 18.c2 d7 19.g3 g5 20.f3 compensation for the obvious drawbacks of g6 21.f2 h5 22.e3 ce7 and in this his position. xf3+ ( 13...f5 is strongly met complicated position Black has sufficient by 14.xg5! hxg5 15.b3+ h8 16.exf5 counterchances, Dolmatov - Tseshkovsky, xf5 17.e3 with a huge edge.) 14.xf3 USSR 1982. In my opinion, Tseshkovsky's b4 15.b3 c5 ( 15...d5 is bad in view of play in this game is a model example for 16.e5! ,threatening 17.a3, and after dxe4 Black players. ] W hite destroys Black's K-side by playing 17.xg6! ) 16.e3 b6 17.a3 c6 18.d5! 9...h5 10.e3 a6 11.h2 f6 12.f1! 983

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 An important prophylactic move: now ...Nf4 is pointless in view of g3. exd4?! Unnecessarily giving up the centre. [ 12...e8 was much better and Black certainly has his chances: 13.d5 ( 13.c2 g5 with ...Qg6, ...Nf4 to follow seems OK for Black. ) 13...b8 14.c4 e7 intending 15... f5 with very complicated play. ] 13.cxd4 e8 14.c2 g5 15.c4! Now W hite is ready to break through in the centre. g6?! After this inaccuracy White's initiative progresses without hindrance. [ B l a c k s h o u l d t r y 15...g4 although the complications after 16.e5 dxe5 17.fxe5! ( 17.dxe5 is weaker: e7 18.hxg4 xg4 19.e4 f5 20.d5+ h8 , and Black is fine. ) 17...gxh3 18.g3! b5!? 19.d2 xe5 20.dxe5 xe5 21.d4 xe1 22.xf6 xa1 23.xg7 xg7 24.c6! favor White. ] 16.d5 b4 17.d2 a5 [ 17...b5 is just a blunder in view of 18.a5! xe4 19.a3 and White wins a piece. ] 18.a3 a6 19.d3 f6 20.c2! f4 [ 20...g4 here also doesn't work: 21.d4 f4+ 22.xf4 xf4 23.hxg4 xg4 24.xg7 xg7 25.g3 with a decisive advantage for White. ] 21.d4 g6 22.xg7 xg7 23.e5!? [ 23.xa5 xb2 24.e5! is not bad either. ] 23...dxe5 24.xe5 d7 25.ae1 a4 26.d6! This breakthrough in the centre is a logical o u t c o m e o f W h i t e ' s s t r a t e g y . ed8 27.e7?! An inaccuracy which could cost W hite half a point. Now unnecessary complications arise. [ 27.h4! won easily: cxd6 28.xd6 c6 29.hxg5 and Black is helpless. ] 27...e6 28.1xe6 xe6 29.fe5 xd6! An unexpected defensive resource. 30.e3! Th e o n ly m o ve , b u t n o t a b a d o n e . B o t h opponents play with great inventiveness. f8 31.xd6 cxd6 32.xf7 ac5 33.f5 xf7 34.xe6 xe6 35.xe6 e5+? A timetrouble mistake. [ 35...f6 was obligatory and after 36.xf6 xf6 37.g3 b5 White has only a minimal advantage. Of course, a draw would be the most likely outcome of this exciting encounter. ] 36.g1! Definitely Black missed this nice move. xe6 37.xe6 g7 38.xd6

No w t h e win is e a sy. W hit e 's ad va n t a ge consists not only of an extra pawn but he also a much the more active rook. Black can't avoid the loss of a second pawn. c7 39.b6 c1+ 40.h2 c7 41.g3 c2 42.xb7+ g6 43.f3 h5 44.g3 f6 45.b4 g6 46.h4 g4+ 47.e3 f6 48.b6+ g7 49.b5 g6 50.b4 f6 51.xa4 xb2 52.f4+ e5 53.a4 b3+ 54.d2 a3 55.c2 e6 56.b2 d3 57.a5 d5 58.a4 f5 59.c3 xf2 60.a6 1-0

952

B07 Solovjova,Elizaveta 2324 Mammadova,Gulnar 2175 10th EICC w St . Petersburg RUS (6) 13.03.09 [John Watson] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 [ Black was too passive in Civric -Loncar, Budva MNE 2009: 4...h6 5.h4 g7 6.f4 c6 (slow) 7.f3 a6 (and slower! Black can't play these kind of luxury moves that are okay versus Classical and other deliberate systems) 8.d3 g4 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 b6 11.e2! ( 11.0-0-0 xd4 12.f2 b4 13.he1 is another method of attack, but unnecessary) 11...xb2? (too greedy of course, W h ite stood bett er regard less ) 12.0-0 b6 13.ab1 c7 14.e5 d5 15.c4 b6 16.f5 (this is already resignable) g5 17.f6 exf6 , and here 18 exf6 retained a very large advantage and won, but even more killing was 18.exd6! d8 ( 18...xd6 19.g3 wins the knight on b6) 19.e4+ f8 20.xb6 xb6 21.e7+ g8 22.e8+ f8 23.xf6 ] 5.d2 c6 6.f4 h6 7.h4 a5 I like this move, which actually develops something and supports ...e5. In comparison with the ...b5 plans, Black's risk is minor. 8.f3 g4 Development! 9.d1 [ W h i t e d o e s n ' t w a n t t o r i s k 9.0-0-0 , but that may be his best chance for ad va nt a ge . Up o n bd7 10.b1 xf3 11.gxf3 , Black can't pla y e5? due to 12.b5! xd2 13.xd6+ e7 14.xd2 xd6 15.dxe5+ , etc. ] 9...h5 984

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Here Black can continue the fight for e5 by 9...bd7! 10.e2 ( 10.e5 d5 11.xd5 xd5 12.e2 g5! breaks up the centre: 13.fxg5 dxe5 14.gxh6 xh6 15.b4 d6 16.xb7 b8 17.xa7 b4+ 18.c3 xb2 ) 10...xf3 11.xf3 e5 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.d5 0-0 ] [ S i m i l a r l y , 9...xf3 10.gxf3 bd7 looks quite playable. ] 10.xf6 xf6 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 a5 13.h3 [ 13.f5!? g5 14.h4 d7 is fairly solid. ] 13...xf3 14.xf3 e5?! Black apparently gets so absorbed in her plans that she misses White's next, although it isn't necessarily a fatal mistake: [ 14...d7 ] 15.d5! An old trick. [ The idea was 15.fxe5 g5 ] 15...d8 [ 15...xd2? 16.xf6+ g7 17.xd2 xf6 18.fxe5+ e7 19.exd6+ xd6 20.c4 e7 21.df2 f6 22.e5! d7 ( 22...f5 23.g4 ) 23.exf6+ xf6 24.e3+ d7 25.e6 and more pawns fall. ] 16.f6+ g7 17.xa5 xa5 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.dxe5 c7 20.d7 Well-timed, although perhaps Black can exploit the drawing possibilities of the opposite-coloured bishops. xd7 21.xd7 xe5 22.xb7!? [ 22.c4! b5 23.fxf7+ xf7 24.xf7+ h8 25.d3 xb2 26.e7 and e5 or Rg6 causes Black problems probably she's still within drawing range. ] 22...ab8 23.xb8 [ 23.fb3 xb7 24.xb7 b8! ] 23...xb8 24.b3 [ 24.c4 b7 25.b3 d4+ 26.f1 e7 ] 24...d4+ 25.f1 e8 26.d3 This should b e a f a i rly e a sy d r a w. c5? A positional mistake, ceding d5. Simply [ 26...h5 27.g3 e5 , among others, challenges White to make progress. ] 27.c4 e7 28.d5 h5 29.c3 e5 30.e2 heading for c4. f5?! [ 30...f6 31.d3 c7 32.c4 h6 , and see what happens. ] 31.exf5 xc3+ 32.d3 e5 33.c4 c7 34.fxg6 xg6 35.e4+ h6 36.f5 Black's pawns are too weak. The rest is fairly easy: g3 37.xc5

[ 37.f6+ g5 38.g6+ f4 39.c6 ] 37...xc5+ 38.xc5 h4 39.b4 g5 40.a4 f6 41.c6 e7 42.b5 d8 43.f5 c7 44.b7 b6 45.g4 e7 46.a6 f2 47.b7 e3 48.e2 1-0

953 Svidler,Peter Ivanchuk,Vassily TCh-ESP Final (1) [Jonathan Rowson]

B07 2750 2741 03.11.2006

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 This is the standard response to 4.Be3, and it generally works well when W hite plays too crudely(f3, g4, Qd2, Bh6) or too slowly(Nf3, Bd3). However, Svidler's next move suggests that Black should think twice about this moveorder, because White can also play the 'I'm going to push my pawns before developing' game. [ 4...g7 5.d2 c6 6.h6 has been covered in previous updates, and is generally considered somewhat better for White. ] 5.h3!? g7 This can't be wrong, but Black's problems seem to be easier to solve after 5... Nbd7. The basic problem with playing Bg7 early is that Black cannot easily meet e4-e5 with b5-b4 because when White takes on f6 he is hitting g7 with tempo. This is not a huge problem, but it does limit Black's options. [ 5...b5? 6.e5! fd7 7.exd6 exd6 8.d5! is good for White. ] [ 5...bd7 A) 6.g4 b5 7.g5 ( 7.a3 b6 ) 7...b4; B) 6.f4 b5 ( 6...e5 ) B1) 7.d3 e5 and now White always seems to play Qf3, but I don't understand what is wrong with the most n a t u r a l m o v e ( 7...b4 8.ce2 c5 should also be considered.) 8.f3 I don't see why White can't do this, and indeed White's position looks preferable to me.; B2) 7.a3 looks timid, but has been played by Bauer, Fressinet and Movsesian, which makes me think it is probably quite good. b6 ( 7...e5 8.f3 985

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is awkward for Black, for instance after e7 9.fxe5 dxe5 10.d5! when White was better in Fressinet-Marin Andorra 2004 ) 8.f3 ( 8.d5 b7 ) 8...a6 White was threatening d5, breaking up B l a c k ' s p a w n c h a i n . 9.d3 e6! This move looks quite important, because I have the impression that if Black just castles and plays Bg7 white's position is too easy to play, 0-0, Qe1-h4, f5, Bh6 etc. 10.0-0 c5 given by Chernin/ Alburt as okay for Black in Pirc Alert!; B3) 7.e5 b4 looks fine for Black, with Nd5 to come. ] 6.g4!? [ 6.f4 0-0 7.f3 b5 8.e5 ] 6...b5 7.e5! An unusual combination of moves- h3 and g4 as a preparation for e5. fd7 8.f4 b6 9.f3 8d7 [ 9...h5!? looks worth a try, but it does mean that Black can't castle any time soon, and one problem is that after 10.g1 hxg4 11.hxg4 White already threatens f5 due to the discovered attack of the rook on g1 on the bishop on g7. ] 10.d3 b4 11.e4 d5 12.d2 c5 13.fg5 b6 White wins this game quite convincingly, but it is possible that Black was ok at this stage. [ 13...h6!? is cheeky, but sometimes it is best just to draw your opponent's fire. 14.e6 ( 14.xf7 xf7 15.f3 7b6 16.dxc5 dxc5 17.xc5 c7 is highly double-edged and few human players would like to be Black here because W hite's attack is enduring, but objectively this might have been the best way to play.) 14...hxg5 15.xg5 0-0 is also not clear- it looks very risky for Black, but anybody playing the Pirc should be quite comfortable with that! ] 14.c4! bxc3 15.bxc3 a6 [ 15...0-0 16.b1 c6 17.b5 doesn't look much better. ] 16.b1 xd3 Probably not Ivanchuk's plan A, but perhaps the best practical chance. [ 16...a5 17.xa6 xa6 18.e6 gives W hite a big initiative and complete control. ] 17.xb6 5xb6 18.exd6 h6 19.xc5! xc5 20.dxc5 0-0 21.f3 c4 22.cxb6 hxg5 23.b7 ab8 24.c6 xa2 25.0-0

exd6 26.a1 e6 27.xa7 e5 29.xb8 xb8 30.c7 1-0

954 Svidler,Peter Salgado Lopez,Ivan 39th Olympiad Men (11.2) [Gawain Jones]

gxf4

28.a8

B07 2731 2595 03.10.2010

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 e5 Salgado writes that he plumped for the Philidor as he could only find one game of Peter Svidler's in the opening. 4.ge2 bd7 5.g3 e7 [ 5...c6 was featured in Carlsen, M (2710)Radjabov, T (2746) Biel 2007 in the archives. ] 6.g2 c6 7.a4 b6 8.0-0 a6 Black has to remain flexible to make sure W hite cannot close down the queenside. 9.h3 [ 9.d5 was tried in another recent game. b7 10.dxc6 xc6 11.d5 xd5 12.exd5 b7 13.c4 0-0 14.a5 c8!? ( 14...f5 also looks possible.) 15.b3 d8 16.a3 b8 17.axb6 xb6 18.c3 d4 19.c1 c7 ( 19...f5 taking control of the e4 square is the alternative when Black's position looks comfortable to me.) 20.e4 c5 Klauser, M (2362)-Pelletier, Y (2589) Biel 2010 when 21.xc5 dxc5 22.b4 cxb4 23.xb4 fd8 24.d2 a5 25.c3 gives White a clear advantage. ] 9...h5! This move has scored well. The idea is to simply prevent White's plan of g3-g4 and Ne2-g3. Salgado writes in NiC that he was shown the idea by his team member, Jordi Magem Badals. Black has to be careful that the h5 pawn doesn't prove vulnerable but it's tough to see how W hite should continue. 10.e3 [ 10.g5 is an alternative option, attempting to exploit the weakening of the g5 square. b7 A) 11.d5 c5!? ( 11...cxd5 would be somewhat similar to 9.d5. 12.exd5 0-0 13.c1 c8 14.b3 c7 with rough equality. The pawn on h5 is rather awkward but other than that Black should be content with his position.) 12.f4 g8 13.xe7 xe7 14.f5 g5!? 15.d3 986

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 gf6 16.d1 e7 17.c4 b5!? with complex play. Pereira Neto, W (2481)Janoszka, A (2223) Zuerich 2004; B) 11.d2 0-0 12.f4 e8 13.f3 b5 Black's counterplay is always linked to this move. 14.ae1 b6 15.h2 f8 16.b4 c7 17.g4 hxg4 18.hxg4 a5! and Black had strong queenside counterplay. Li, C (2596) -Pelletier, Y (2589) Khanty Mansiysk 2009. ] 10...b7 11.c1 This is a new move and Sa lga d o lik e s t h e ide a . S vid ler wa n t s t o relocate the knight to d3 where it controls the b4 and e5 squares. [ 11.f4 has been played previously. 0-0 12.dxe5 ( 12.d2 b5 13.d1 e8 14.c3 b6 15.b3 bxa4 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.xd8 xd8 18.bxa4 c4 left Black with a positional advantage thanks to the c4 knight. Payen, A (2356)-Kazhgaleyev, M (2626) Livry Gargan 2009.) 12...dxe5 13.f5 b5 14.axb5 axb5 15.xa8 xa8 16.g4 hxg4 17.hxg4 b4 18.b1 d8 19.g3 c5 20.xc5 xc5 21.f3 left Black with a great position due to the weakness of the e4 pawn and vulnerable king. White's kingside attack looks impressive but it's not able to get through. Negi, P (2529)-Magem Badals, J (2500) Sabadell 2008. ] 11...0-0 This looks somewhat odd with the pawn on h5 but there's no clear way to exploit it and the pawn continues to slow W hite's k i n g s i d e p a w n s t o r m . 12.d3 c7 Black has to be patient. [ 12...b5?! i s p r e m a t u r e . 13.d5! c7 14.axb5 axb5 15.b4 favours White as the b5 pawn will prove vulnerable- Salgado. ] 13.f4 And Salgado criticizes this move which he deems premature. [ He considers 13.d2 stronger, to prevent the .. .b6-b5 break. fe8 ( 13...b5?! 14.d5 b6 15.dxc6 xc6 16.axb5 c4 17.e2 xe3 18.xe3 axb5 19.b4 h4 20.g4 leaves White an edge thanks to his control of the d5 square and play against the b5 pawn. ) 14.fe1 ad8 15.b3 "and in this position it is difficult to make progress for eit her s ide , but du e to his slight sp ace advantage W hite should have an edge"Salgado. However I would say that White has to be accurate not to allow Black's

pieces out of their cage. h4!? looks to give Black reasonable play. 16.g4 ( 16.gxh4 looks ugly but is probably better.) 16...d5! gives Black good counterchances. 17.dxe5 xe4 18.xe4 dxe4 19.xe4 xe5 20.f4 d6 with rough equality. ] 13...b5 [ 13...c5 14.d5 c4 15.e1 exf4 16.gxf4 would favour White. ] 14.f2?! Svidler was worried about his e4 pawn but the move is rather illogical, transferring his knight from a strong central square to the rather passive one on f2. [ 14.d5! is Salgado's recommendation when his line continues: cxd5 15.exd5 A) 15...bxa4!? GJ 16.xa4 b6 17.b4 c4 18.xc4!? ( 18.f2 might be a better try for an edge.) 18...xc4 19.fxe5 dxe5 20.d6 xg2 21.dxe7 xf1 22.exf8+ xf8 23.xf1 isn't so clear. Normally the two pieces are better than rook and pawn but here W hite's king is also rather vulnerable.; B) 15...e4 16.b4 ( 16.xe4 xd5 17.f2 h4 18.g4 c5 gives Black strong qu ee nsid e play.) 16...bxa4 17.xe4 xe4 18.xe4 fe8! 19.xa4 h4 results in an odd looking position but I feel Black should have decent chances. 20.gxh4 f6! ( 20...xe4 21.xa6! ) 21.h7+ xh7 22.d4 a5 23.c6 ( 23.xf6 axb4 24.xh5+ g8 25.g5 c5+! and Black's mate is coming first. 26.f2 e1+ 27.g2 xd5+-+ ) 23...xd5 24.xh5+ g8 25.xd5 xc6 26.c4 xd5 27.xc7 e2= ] [ 14.g4?! was Svidler's suggestion after the game but hxg4 15.hxg4 exd4 16.xd4 c5! 17.xf6 xf6 looks easier for Black. ] 14...fe8 Salgado considered that he had reached a good position out of the opening and decided to offer a draw for the match situation. Evidently Svidler would have been happy taking the draw but his team orders were to play on. 15.g4 After this move White had just 20minutes lef t to make the time control. [ 15.axb5 axb5 16.xa8 xa8 17.e2 is a more solid option mooted by Salgado but c5 18.d5 a5 and I prefer Black. ] 15...hxg4 16.hxg4 b4 987

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 16...exd4 was the other option and also f a v o u r s B l a c k . 17.xd4 b4 ( 17...d5 is Salgado's mainline but 18.axb5 c5! 19.d3 d4 20.bxa6 xa6 21.xa6 dxe3 22.xe3 xa6 23.a1 c8 24.e5 xe5 25.fxe5 xg4 26.xg4 xg4 27.d5 is very messy.) 18.xb4 d5 19.b3 c5 20.a2 cxe4 21.cxe4 dxe4 22.c4 i s a n o t h e r S a l g a d o l i n e w h e n c5! m u s t b e b e t t e r f o r B la ck a s t h e r e 's n o good response to 23...Bd6. ] 17.e2 exd4 18.xd4 [ 18.xd4 looks more threatening. A) 18...f8!? GJ 19.g5 ( 19.f5 c5 tran s po se s .) 19...xe4! 20.xe4 c5 21.xd6 xd6 22.f5 f8 23.xb7 xb7 24.f3 xf3 25.xf3 ad8 and Black has a small but definite edge.; B) 18...c5 19.f5 f8 20.d3 g6 21.g3 B1) 21...d5 22.e5 xe5! 23.fxe5 xe5 24.d2 d6 B1a) 25.g5 e4! 26.g4 xg3 27.xg3 xg3 28.xe4 dxe4 29.h6+ ( 29.f6+ g7 30.xe8+ xe8 must favour Black, the bishop pair and two pawns are more than a match for the exchange.) 29...h8 30.e3 d5 and Black's a little better.; B1b) 25.h3 xb2 is highly unclear.; B2) 21...c4 22.d2 c5! 23.xb4 fxe4 24.gxe4 xe4 25.fe1 c8 is give n b y S a lga d o wh ich is h igh ly unclear but favours Black slightly. ] 18...c5 19.d3 White has to keep the e4 pawn under control. [ 19.d2 f8 ] 19...d5 [ 19...c4! was more accurate according to Salgado. 20.d4 d5! 21.e5 ad8! 22.d2 ( 22.exf6 c5! ) 22...e4 23.xe4 dxe4 and Black has a pleasant edge. ] 20.e5 e4 21.xe4 [ 21.g5!? is an interesting computer suggestion. Salgado gives the line ad8 ( 21...c4 GJ 22.d1 c5 23.xc5 dxc5 also looks good for Black as the knights dominate the board.) 22.g6 f5! 23.h3 c6! 24.xf5 f8 25.xd7 xg6+ 26.g4

c8 regaining the piece when White's king is very vulnerable. ] 21...dxe4 22.d1 [ T h e p a wn i s n ' t e d i b l e : 22.xe4 c4 23.h7+ ( 23.d4 c5-+ ) 23...h8 24.f5 c6-+ ] 22...ad8 23.c1 [ 23.e1 is a more active square and thus more desirable. However the problem lies in the fact that after b6 24.g3?! allows ( 24.g5!? GJ is better c4 25.g3 xb2 26.e2 looks acceptable for W hite.) 24...h4! 25.f2 xg3 26.xg3 c4 as pointed out by Salgado. The knight is jumping into f3 via d2 when Black has a clear advantage. ] 23...f6! Allowing Black's pieces to exit the ca g e wh ic h i s im p o se d b y t h e e 5 p a wn . However Black has to be accurate to prevent a kingside attack. [ 23...h4 24.g5 looks unclear to me. Perhaps Black is still better but the game continuation is more active. ] [ 23...g5!? is offered by Salgado as a very dangerous continuation for both sides. ] 24.e6 b6 25.f5 [ 25.g3 f8 Highlights one of the reasons behind 23...f6 as the e6 pawn drops. ] 25...d5 [ 25...c4?! looks like a sensible alternative but W hite will be able to generate a kingside attack. 26.f4 e5 ( 26...a5 is the only move considered by Salgado which looks like a waste of time to me.) 27.e1 c4 28.h4 c5 29.xc5 xc5+ 30.h1 d2 31.g6! and Black's in trouble. ] 26.f4 [ 26.f2 d6 27.d1 ( 27.xe4 fails to the aesthetic c3! 28.xc3 bxc3 29.xb7 h2+! Salgado 30.g2 f4! followed by c a p t u r i n g o n b 7 a n d b 2 .) 27...g5! Salgado is a very important idea when White has no good defence to 28...Qh7. ] 26...c4 27.xd5 xd5 28.f4 [ 28.e1 b3 29.f2 bxc2 30.xc2 d3 Salgado leaves Black with a strong initiative. The immediate threat is 31...Rxe3. ] 28...b6+ 29.h2? This allows an idea we have already seen. [ 29.e3 is probably White's best try but c5 988

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30.e1 b3 31.xc5 xc5+ 32.e3 xe3+ 33.xe3 bxc2 as given by Salgado leaves Black basically winning. ] [ 29.h1 g5! 30.e3 c7 threatens ...Kg7 and ... Rh8 while 31.xg5 fxg5 32.f6 g3! S a l g a d o i s e x t re m e l y st r o n g a s 33.e1 xg4 34.fxe7 ( 34.f7+ ) 34...xe7 35.f2 d8 36.ae1 xe6 and White doesn't have anything like enough compensation for the two pawns. ] 29...g5! Not only stopping White's attack but also preparing . ..Kg7 and ...Rh8+ which will prove decisive. 30.fxg6 Unpleasant but [ 30.a5 c5 31.e3 d6+ 32.g1 g3 33.f2 d6 ] [ or 30.g3 g7 are both winning. ] 30...xe6 31.g3 g5! 32.xg5 fxg5 White's king cannot survive he can simply not compete on the dark squares. 33.f5 d6+ 34.f2 e3+ 35.g1 xg2 36.xg2 e4+ 0-1

955 Taimanov,Mark E Mikeli,Leonard European Seniors, Saint Vincent (3) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2425 2002

1.f3 g6 2.d4 g7 3.e4 d6 4.c3 f6 5.bd2 c6 [ 5...0-0 6.e2 c6 7.0-0 e5 8.dxe5 xe5 9.xe5 dxe5 10.c2 h6! 11.d1 e7 12.c4 xc1 13.axc1 b6 14.d2 b7 15.f3 fd8 is perhaps the most efficient equalising method. ] 6.e2 Geller's Quiet System, an eminently satisfactory method of play which has been somewhat ignored in the modern rush. White develops sensibly, flexibly, takes the centre. It's a game. c7 7.b3 Prophylaxis against an early ...e5- in that event W hite might play Bc1-a3! 0-0 8.a4 a5 9.0-0 h6 10.e1 e8 11.f1 Typically unrushed-one can just imagine two old f riends easing out a f ew decent moves before popping on their slippers and retiring for the evening with a nice glass of stout. However... .. ..it's not really like that at all. Taimanov is waiting constructively. if Black goes active too soon he could find himself in trouble. There are signs on the

queenside ( the square b6) that problems could occur. Mikeli ignores those signs. e5?! 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.c4! d8 14.c2 e8 If this was forced, then Black's already in a bad way. Witness : [ 14...bd7 15.a3 f8 ( 15...e8 16.e7+- ) 16.xf8 xf8 17.ad1 e8 ( 17...g7 18.fxe5! ) 18.d2 ] 15.e3 d7 16.ed1 b6? 17.xd7! Oh..... xd7 18.xb6 b7 19.xd7 xd7 20.d1+- e7 21.d2 c7 22.c4 c5 23.b6 d8 24.xc5 And Mikeli is left scratching his head..... Lines with an early c2c3 are largely ignored these days in the rush to blow Black's brains out with some of the more aggressive ideas. I think fashion will change as we see more and more games where B lack copes successf ully with th e Austrian attack and the Be3,Qd2 stuff (you've seen some this month!) and that Geller's method will return to prominence. 1-0

956 Tal,Mihail Rivas Pastor,Manuel Barcelona [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2525 2520 1992

Here only White has to solve problems in the opening with careful play. Luckily for him Black decided to sacrif ice a piece f or an attack which happened to be illusory. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 a5 5.d2 e5! The best reaction. [ The alternative 5...b6 is weaker because of 6.f3 g4 A) in the case of 7.e5 d5 8.exd6 xc3 9.xc3 e6 10.h3 f5!? ( not 10...xf3?! 11.xf3 xd6 12.f5! 0-0 13.0-0-0 with a clear advantage, Liberzon-Hodgson, Palma de Mallorca 1989) 11.g4 e4 12.d3 d5 Black is more or less OK. The position is similar to some variations of the Centre Counter. The Bishop on d5 is in danger, but it's not easy to trap it! The game O'Connor - Hodgson, 1992 continued with 13.f1 xd6 14.e5 c7 15.d2 b5 16.a5 e7 17.g5 f6!? and after 18.g6+ hxg6 19.xg6 f7 989

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.xh8 h5 his chances already looked preferable; B) 7.a4! xf3 8.gxf3! c7 ( Of course, the pawn is taboo: 8...xd4?? 9.c3 and the Queen is trapped in the centre of the board!) 9.f5! g6 10.h3 bd7 11.e2 Practice proves White's considerable central advantage secures him the better chances: g7 ( 11...b5 12.c3 g7 13.f4 b4 14.d1 a5 15.e5 Rybak - J.Pribyl, Karvina 1989) 12.c4 c5 13.d5 a6 14.c3 0-0 15.0-0 with good prospects for a K-side attack, Kudrin-Terrie, Los Angeles 1991. ] 6.f3 [ Here are some alternatives: 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.fxe5 ( 7.f5? is weak in view of b4! 8.a3 xb2 9.f3 b6 10.xe5 bd7 11.c4 d4 12.d3 c5 13.f3 e5 14.xe5 Here in Bareev-Mokry ,Novi Sad 1990 draw was agreed although in my opinion after xe5 Black is clearly better.) 7...g4 8.e2 xe5 9.f3 xf3+ 10.gxf3 d8 11.e3 xd1+ 12.xd1 d7 13.g1 g6 14.f2 c5 15.f4 xe3+ 16.xe3 e7 17.d2 b6 18.gd1 e6= and Black has almost equalised, Dolezal - M.Pribyl, Praha CS-ch 1992 ] [ 6.d5 does not promise too much: d8 7.xf6+ xf6 A) 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.f3 g4!? ( 9...exd4?! 10.c4 ) 10.dxe5 g6 11.d3 d7 -6.Nf3; B) 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.f3 exf4 10.e5 h6 ( 10...g6 seems to be weaker due to 11.d3! xg2 12.g1 h3 13.xf4 g4 14.g3 h5 15.e2 with the initiative, Burovic - Kramnik, Leningrad 1991 ) 11.g3 g4 12.xf4 g6 13.g2 e4+ 14.e2 xe2+ 15.xe2 a6 16.ad1 c7 17.h3 xf3+ 18.xf3 e6 19.g4 e7 20.d2 h5 21.xe6 fxe6 22.hd1 d8 with equality, Brunner Mokry, Graz 1991. ] 6...exd4!? [ Here 6...g4 is also unsuccessful: 7.fxe5 dxe5 8.d5 d8 9.xf6+ xf6 10.dxe5 g6 11.d3 d7 12.c3 c5 13.d2 0-0 14.0-0-0 ae8 15.b1! xf3 16.gxf3 xe5 17.f4 xd3 18.f5! g4 19.cxd3 and White is clearly better, Ftacnik-Mokry,

1987. ] 7.xd4 b6 8.b3 a5! A good idea. Black tries either to push back the Knight or to provoke a weakening a2-a4. 9.b1 [ 9.a4?! is much weaker: a6 10.e2 b4 11.f3 e6 (threatening 12...Nxc2) 12.c1 d5 13.d3 ( 13.e5 f5 14.exf6 xc2+ 15.f1 xa1 ) 13...dxe4 14.xe4 xd3+ 15.cxd3 xe4 16.dxe4 0-0-0!-+ and Black has an overwhelming position, Belaska - M.Pribyl, Morava 1991 ] [ I n t h e c a s e o f 9.e2 a4 10.e3 Black has an interesting option: b4 11.a3 axb3!? 12.axb4 xa1+ 13.d2 g4 14.c4 bxc2 15.xc2 d5!? and Black has taken the initiative: 16.exd5 a6 17.c5 xc5 18.bxc5 0-0 19.d6 d5 with sharp play, Alvarez Ibarra - Rivas Pastor, Albacete 1989. ] 9...a4 10.c1 g6 [ 10...g4 does not solve the problems: 11.e2 xe2 12.xe2 e7 13.e3 a6 14.d3 with a definite advantage. ] 11.f3 g7 12.d3 0-0 13.1e2 [ 13.e3 a5 14.0-0 bd7 was good for Black. ] 13...g4 14.g3 [ The endgame after 14.f2 xf2+ 15.xf2 bd7 was roughly equal. ] 14...xe2 15.xe2 bd7 It is clear that Black's opening strategy has been successful he has comfortably developed all his pieces while White still has some problems castling. 16.f3 [ The careless 16.e3? would have been immediately punished by xe4! 17.xe4 ( 17.xb6 xg3 18.hxg3 xb6-+ ) 17...b4+-+ followed by ...Qe4. ] 16...c5 17.e3 fxe4? An interestinglooking sacrifice but as it turns out W hite soon has enough resources to extinguish Black's initiative. [ By playing 17...b4+ 18.d2 ( 18.c3? a3 ) 18...b6 Black could have forced a draw. ] 18.xe4 [ Of course not 18.xe4? b4+-+ ] 18...fe8 19.xc5 dxc5 [ After 19...xc5 20.c4 e3 21.b4! White's chances were much better but it was much more stubborn. ( 21.f1?! d5 22.b4 990

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c5 23.b5 a3!? )] 20.c4 [ 20.f3? c4 ] 20...a7 Intending to play ...b7-b5 followed by ...c5-c4. 21.b4?! Not the best decision. [ 21.f5! was the more precise way: b5 22.f4 c4 23.e4 e7 24.f3 and so on. ] 21...axb3 22.xb3 b5 23.c4 a5+ 24.f1?! [ 24.f2! should have been played. ] 24...ad8? This centralising move loosens the initiative. [ 24...xa2! was correct and it looks like it's already W hite who has to be careful: 25.xa2 xa2 26.cxb5 d2 27.c4 ( 27.bxc6 xd3 28.c7 d2 ) 27...c2 and here it looks reasonable to repeat the moves by A) th e at te mp t 28.bxc6? xc4 29.c7 fails to c2! and 30.b8? is losing: cxe2 31.c8 e1+ 32.f2 d4+ 33.g3 1e3+ 34.g4 ( 34.f2 d3+ 35.f1 d1# ) 34...h5+ 35.g5 g7! 36.c6 xb8-+ and there is no defence against ... Re6 followed by ...Bf6 checkmate.; B) 28.d3 d2 29.c4 ] 25.d1 b8 [ 25...e3 26.f2 ] 26.c2 bxc4 27.xc4 b2 28.c1 Everything is protected, now Black cannot prevent h4 and Rh3 bringing the last piece i n t o p l a y . b4 29.h4 e4 30.a3! An excellent defensive resource! b8 [ 30...xc4? was just a blunder: 31.d8+ f8 32.xb2+- ] [ while 30...xa3 31.h3 b4 32.d3 e8 33.h5+left Black with no hopes of surviving. ] 31.h3 e8 32.c3! Well-calculated! xc4 [ 32...xc3 33.xc3 ee2 did not work due to ( 33...xf4+ 34.f3+- ) 34.g3 ec2 35.d3+- ] 33.xb2 xf4+ 34.f3 [ 34.g1!? w a s a l s o n o t b a d : d4+ ( 34...d4 35.b1!? ) 35.h1 f2 36.c1 e6 37.f1+- keeping an extra rook. ] 34...xh4 35.e2 h1+ 36.f2 d4+ 37.xd4 xe2+ 38.xe2 cxd4 39.xd4+The position is winning for White though Black can organise some counterplay advancing his

kingside pawns. c5 40.c6 a1 41.c3 a2+ 42.f3 f5 43.a7 g7 44.b5 h5 45.g3 g5 46.xc5 f6 47.c3 g4+ 48.f4 f2+ 49.e3 g2 [ 49...f3+ 50.d4 xc3 51.xc3 f4 52.gxf4 f5 53.e3+- ] 50.d4 f4 51.c6+ g5 52.c5+ h6 53.gxf4 h4 The pawns lo ok dangerous but White finds a competent way of realising his extra piece using the awkward position of B la ck 's K i n g . 54.e5! h3 55.d6 h2 56.f5+ g6 57.c6+ f7 58.c7+ g8 [ 58...g6 59.g7+ h5 60.g5# ] [ 58...e8 59.h7+- ] 59.h6+! f8 [ In the case of 59...h8 White could set a mating net by 60.f6!! h1 61.f7+ h7 ( 61...g8 62.c8+ h7 63.h8# ) 62.g5++with checkmate on the next move. ] 60.f6 e8 61.f5! d8 Once again Black has no time for the pawn's promotion! Here the time trouble was over and he resigned because White can simply stop the h-pawn by Rh7. [ 61...h1 62.g7+ d8 ( 62...f8 63.c8# ) 63.e6+ e8 64.e7# ] [ 61...d8 62.h7+- ] 1-0

957 Taleb,Moussa Pavlov,Maxim Summer I Alushta UKR (11) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2456 2451 20.05.2004

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.d3 White cannot hope for much with this approach but it's a solid, unpretentious perfectly good way of meeting the Pirc. g6 4.c3 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.0-0 c6! I think this is a good enough way to equalize, especially with the White Bishop on d3. W hite can only dream of d4-d5 - that would not fit in at all with his set-up. 7.e1 [ 7.d5 b8 8.c4 c6= ] 7...e5 8.h3 d7 [ It seems that 8...e7 is also reasonable. If attacked the Knight will retreat to d8 and the point is that when the centre is blocked Black can turn his mind to advancing on the 991

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Kingside 9.a3 b6 10.c2 b7 11.b4 fe8 12.a4 a5 13.d5 Finally. b8 14.d2 c6 15.c4 a6 16.a3 axb4 17.xb4 xb4 18.xb4 h5 19.f1 c5 20.c3 c8 21.b1 d7 22.d2 a6 23.c3= Zaitsev,M-Balashov,Y/Germany 2003, Black is well placed after f8! ] 9.e3 [ 9.bd2 h5! 10.b3 a5 11.a4 e8 12.g5 c8 13.d2 is the same, quiet de ve lop m en t . Bla ck is f u lly e qua l: exd4 14.bxd4 e5 15.xe5 dxe5 16.b5 e6 17.f1 f6 18.c2 d7 19.a3 f8 20.c4 c5 21.xa5 f6 22.c1 xa5 23.b4 a8 24.bxc5 xc5 25.e3 b3 26.ab1 a5 27.c4 d7 28.c5 f7 29.c3 c4 30.c6 1/2-1/2 Kramnik,VTimman,J/W ijk aan Zee 1998 I daresay Timman was intending 30...b6! It's a rather boring position. ] 9...e8 10.bd2 h5 You will have noticed that ...Nf6-h5 crops up quite a lot in this line. Black would love to get a Knight established on f4 and use it as a bridgehead to aid his Kingside attack. Now that White has played h2-h3 the attack gains impetus by the threat of a sacrifice on that square. But... . W hite is fine and he has a dangerous resource which you will see employed later. [ ...Nh5 may be delayed: 10...h6 11.a3 h5 12.b4 f4 13.xf4 I had the same experience against Speelman once in a British Championship game. He took on f4 in a similar position and I thought "that can't be anything special" But he managed to follow up with e4-e5! and shut down my fianchettoed Bishop, later establishing a g r i p wh i c h c o u l d n o t b e s h a k e n o f f . I t follows: When White takes off the Knight on f4 he has to be able to follow up with e4-e5 otherwise the exchange makes no sense. exf4 14.c4 e7 15.b3 e8 16.d3 d8 17.bd2 h8 18.e2 a6 19.ae1 b5 20.d5 d7 21.b3 a5 22.c4 axb4 23.axb4 b5 24.a5 b8 25.d2 g8 26.e5 dxe5 27.d6 cxd6 28.xd6 c8 29.xe5 xc3 30.d5 h7 31.xf7 xf7 32.xg6+ h8 33.xd7 xe2 34.xe2 xe2 35.xf7 f3 36.h2 e4 37.f8 c8 0-1 Kuporosov,V-Sturua,Z/ Helsinki 1992 So it came to pass. White didn't play

e4-e5 and he lost! ] 11.a3 f4 12.xf4 exf4 13.c2 g5 14.e5! Note this move carefully. It's the same idea that Speelman used and virtually White's only winning try. All hinges on whether Black can liberate his Bg7. An added bonus in this case is that h7 hangs. h5 [ 14...dxe5 might be possible but in the end lea ve s Bla ck p layin g wit ho ut his Ro ok : 15.xh7+ h8 16.dxe5 xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.f3 f6 20.e4 c8 ( 20...b8 21.d1 e7 22.d3! a4 23.e1 d8 24.b1 ) 21.e1 ] 15.exd6 xe1+ 16.xe1 cxd6 17.h7+! f8 18.f5 Flicking in the check was unsettling and now the exchange of light squared Bishops will encourage the exposure o f t h e w e a k B l a c k p a w n s . g4 Getting desperate. 19.hxg4 hxg4 20.xd7 xd7 21.g5 e8 22.xe8+ xe8 23.f5 The position is now absolutely horrid for Black. g3 24.de4! gxf2+ 25.xf2 e7 26.f1 Calm [ 26.d5! was possibly more incisive: e5 ( 26...d8 27.h7+ g8 28.hf6+ xf6 29.xf6+ f8 30.xf4+- ) 27.c8+ e8 28.xb7 d3+ 29.f1+- ] 26...d5 27.h7+ g8 28.hf6+ xf6 29.xf6+ f8 30.xf4 e6 31.c4 An instructive game for many reasons with many interesting points to be studied. Black's idea of ...Nh5-f 4 is good but it cannot be played willy-nilly. The timing must be right. W hite's response of capturing on f4 is dependant on a subsequent e4-e5 for effectiveness. 1-0

958 Tiviakov,Sergei Pikov Imperia [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2635 2550 1993

Th is in stru ctive ga m e illu st ra t e s B lac k 's chances very nicely. Given the opposite sides' castling White plays too slowly... 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 a5 5.d3 e5 6.f3 bd7 7.e3 White intends to castle Qside but this aggressive plan is unlikely to be 992

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the best in the position. [ 7.0-0 is more popular and promises the better chances for White: e7 8.e3 A) 8...g4 9.d2 c7 ( 9...exd4 10.d5; 9...c7 10.h3 gf6 11.e2 0-0 12.g4 g6 13.e3 exf4 14.xf4 Mellado - B.Rodriguez, Las Palmas 1996 ); B) 8...0-0 9.e1 [/\\ Nd5] d8 ( Another possibility is 9...c7 10.e2 exd4 11.fxd4 c5 12.g3 e8 13.b4 xd3 14.cxd3 g4 15.df5 xe3 16.xe7+ xe7 17.xe3 with better chances for White, Dyce - Rufener, EUchJM U16 1995 ) B1) An interesting idea was seen in the game Thiel - M.Tseitlin, Krumbach 1991: 10.h3!? b6? 11.a3!? exf4 ( 11...exd4 12.xd4 e8 ) 12.e5! d8 ( 12...xe5 13.xe5 dxe5 14.b4+- ) 13.b4 b6 14.exf6 fxe3 15.xh7+! with a winning position for white; B2) 10.h1 e8 11.a3 exd4 12.b4!? ( 12.xd4!? ) 12...h5 ( 12...c7!? ) 13.xd4 f8 14.ce2 g4 15.g1 [ / \ \ R f 3 - h 3 ] g6 16.d2 with a big advantage, V.Ivanov - Chekhov, Moscow 1999 ] [ White's play in the game Brodsky G a s p a r ia n t s , K a t o wic e 1 9 9 2 d e s e r ve s attention: 7.e2!? e7 8.d2 c7 9.0-0 0-0 10.h1 exd4 11.xd4 c5 12.b3 xd3 13.cxd3 e8 14.ae1 f8 15.f3 e7 16.f5 h6 17.d4 d7 18.g3 with a huge advantage. ] 7...e7 8.d2 c7 9.0-0-0 0-0 10.e2?! A dubious move - W hite wastes time and loosens the pawn on e4. [ Something like 10.h3!? intending g2-g4 looked more to the point. ] 10...e8 11.h3 exd4 12.xd4 [ 12.exd4? w a s b a d a s a f t e r f8 W hite would have had problems with the pawn on e4. ] 12...c5!? A double-edge d move. Black weakens the d5 square but forces White to part with a strong Bishop. 13.xf6 xf6 14.c3 c4 15.c2 c5 16.g3 a5 17.b1 g6 [ 17...d7!? was also interesting with the idea of exchanging the def ender of the important squares d3 and e4 by ...Ba4. ]

18.xd6?! Underestimating the danger. [ White should have started K-side action by 18.f5! d7 19.h4 with unclear play. ] 18...e6 19.d2 a6! 20.a3 b6 21.a2 d7 22.d4 [ Perhaps White could have taken some active steps like 22.e5!? e7 23.f5!? - his position does not look so bad here. ] 22...a4 23.ge2 d8 24.e5 e7 25.hg1 Too slow but Black's attack was already very s t r o n g a n y w a y . b3! 26.e3 xd4 27.xd4 [ 27.xa4 xe2 28.xd8+ xd8 29.d1 e7 30.c2 did not work due to xb2+!-+ ] 27...xd4! Well calculated! 28.xa4 xa4 29.cxd4 b3 30.c1 c3-+ Completely destroying the Kin g's f ortif ications . 31.d5 cxb2 32.c8+ g7 33.b1 xa3 34.d6 a1+ 35.c2 b1+ White resigned as he will be checkmated in a few moves. Excellent play by Yury Piskov. 0-1

959 Tolnai,Tibor Bezold,Michael Balatonbereny [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2455 2490 1995

White plays carelessly in the opening and is punished very convincingly. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 a5 5.d3 The main continuation. e5 [ 5...g4?! is not good in view of 6.d2! and black's Bishop is clearly misplaced: e6 ( 6...d7 looks ugly, but this move seems to be the only one) 7.h3 h5 8.f2 d5 9.e5 fd7 10.h2! e7 11.f5! xf5 12.g4 xg4 13.hxg4 xg4 14.g2 h5 15.e2 and Black resigned, Khenkin-Schebler, Eupen 1993. ] 6.dxe5 [ 6.f3 is known to be the best move. ] 6...dxe5 7.f5 In a position with the open d-file and fixed e4/e5 pawns W hite's pawn e4 is weaker than Black's, on the other hand White has space and attacking chances on the Kingside, as the following examples illustrate. Therefore Black must seek active counterplay on the other flank as soon as possible. b5! 993

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Routine play with 7...bd7 8.f3 c5 allows W hite to f inish the developmen t comfortably: 9.d2! Now an attempt g4?! fails to 10.g5! and ( 10.e2 f2 11.f1 xd3+ 12.cxd3 ) A) 10...df6 is the only move: 11.d5 ( 11.c4!? ) 11...d8 12.xf6+ xf6 13.f3 with better chances for White; B) 10...f2? is bad due to 11.h5 g6 12.f3 xh1 ( 12...f6 13.d5! d8 14.e6+-; 12...0-0 13.f1 xd3+ 14.cxd3+- ) 13.fxg6 B1) 13...0-0 14.gxf7+ g7 ( 14...h8 15.f5 ) 15.e6+ h8 16.h6+-; B2) 13...f6 14.g7 g8 15.h5++-; B3) 13...f8 14.g7 c7 15.g8! and Black resigned in Arnason - J.Pribyl, Yurmala 1987. ] 8.f3 [ Let's take a brief look at the alternatives: 8.e2 b4 ( 8...a6 9.d2 b4 10.d1 xd3 11.cxd3 bd7 12.f3 c5 13.e3 xe3 14.xe3 0-0 15.d2 ad8 16.b3 b5 17.g4 a5 18.g5 e8 19.c1 Mo r t e n s e n - J a n s a , K e r t e m i n d e 1 9 9 1) 9.d1 b3+ 10.c3 b4 11.d2 bxc2 12.a3 a6! 13.f3 xd3 14.xd3 bd7 15.xc2 0-0 16.0-0 c5+ and here a draw was agreed in the game Brigljevic - J. Pribyl, Praha 1990 ] [ 8.e3?! bd7 9.f3 g4 10.g1 b4 11.h3 xc3+ 12.bxc3 xc3+ 13.f1 gf6 14.f2 0-0 Bures - J.Pribyl, TCH-ch Luhacovice 1993 ] [ 8.f3 bd7 A) 9.0-0 b4 10.b1 c5!? 11.xe5 cxe4 12.g4 ( 12.c4 d5 ) 12...xg4 13.xe4 c5+ 14.h1 a6 15.xc6+ xc6 16.e1+ e7 17.xg4 0-0 A1) 18.xe7? is taboo: fe8 19.e3 h5 20.d1 ( 20.xh5 xc2 21.c3 bxc3 22.bxc3 xc3!-+ ) 20...b7 21.g1 xe3 22.xe3 e8 23.f2 xc2-+ and Black is winning; A2) 18.d2 fe8 19.e4 b7 20.f4 f8 21.g5 xe1+ 22.xe1 e8 23.xe8 xe8 24.d1 h6 with exce llent co mpensatio n f or th e pawn thanks to the powerful Bishop on b7, M.Schlosser - Casagrande, AUT-ch 1995;

B) 9.e2!? b7 10.0-0 a6 11.d2 c7 12.a4 e7 13.d1 c5 14.axb5 axb5 15.f2 0-0 16.g4 with the initiative although Black is not without counterplay, Sveshnikov - Rashkovsky, Moscow rapid 1992 ] 8...bd7 [ In the game Lanka - Gervasi, Roma 1990 Black failed to solve his problems after 8...c5 9.d2 b6 10.ge2 bd7 11.g4 h6 12.g3 b7 13.h4 0-0-0 14.0-0-0 e8 15.g5 hxg5 16.hxg5 g8 17.g6 f6 18.b1 with a clear advantage. ] 9.d2 [ Black seems to be fine after 9.ge2 A) 9...b7!? 10.d2 c7 11.g4 c5 and here in the game A.Neverov-Kramnik, R u s s i a 1 9 9 0 W h i t e b l u n d e r e d 12.a4? ( 12.g5 ) 12...b4 13.d1 fxe4! 14.xe4 xe4 15.xe4 c5-+ with a decisive material advantage; B) 9...a6 10.0-0 c5 11.g5 b4 and Black's chances are preferable, PeinHodgson, Great Britain 1988. ] 9...c5 10.d5 [ S o m e t h i n g l i k e 10.g4!? h6 11.h4 was worthy of consideration. ] 10...d8 11.xf6+ gxf6! A good decision, now White's main idea - an attack with K-side pawns - looks pointless. On the other hand, Black's Rook has got the g-f ile... 12.e2? A careless move which leads to trouble. [ 12.h3!? was correct, when after xd3+ 13.cxd3 c5 14.f2 White had protected the d3-pawn and the position was unclear. ] 12...d4! Of course! 13.c3 xe4 14.b4 xf3 15.xf3 e4 16.xf6 exf3 17.xf3 [ 17.xh8? fxg2-+ was too good for Black. ] 17...g8 18.bxc5 xf5 The pair of Bishops are very powerful in this endgame. Black's task is even easier if we take into account the numerous pawn weaknesses in White's camp. 19.0-0-0 g6! [ 19...xc5 20.he1+ e6 21.g5 is what White was hoping for. ] 20.he1+ e6 21.h4 xc5 22.g3 [ White could have exchanged one of the B i s h o p s b y 22.d4 xd4 23.xd4 but two extra pawns would be good enough for Black after xg2-+ ] 22...g4! 23.c3 h6 24.f6 994

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ After 24.d4 xd4 25.cxd4 d7-+ Black also had reasonable winning chances. ] 24...a4 25.d4 xd4 26.xd4 xa2 27.h4 d7 28.b1 g2 29.xh6 e8-+ Black has an extra pawn and his King is much safer. White is helpless. 30.c1 [ 30.d1+ d5 intending Ree2 ] 30...a5 31.d4 a4 32.c5 a3! 33.d1+ c7 White resigned. [ 33...c7 34.xa3 a8 35.b2 a2-+ ] 0-1

960 Vaganian,Rafael A Ermenkov,Evgenij (ol) Thessaloniki [Alexander Volzhin]

B07

1984

Besides Dolmatov's setup (7 Re1 and 8 h3) White can also try 7 Bg5). The play here is very similar to that in a Torre attack and sometimes it can even transform to it, for example: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.e4 d6 6. c3 etc. 1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c3 f6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 c6 [ After 6...bd7 White can also play 7.g5 The game Tiviakov - Kasimdzhanov, Groningen 1999 continued: h6 8.h4 e5 9.bd2 b6 10.a4! a6 ( If 10...b7 then 11.a5 is very nasty.) 11.e1 b7 12.dxe5 ( 12.c2 maintaining the tension in the centre also deserved attention.) 12...dxe5 13.c2 e7 14.f1 a5 15.c4 c5 16.fd2 A) 16...e8 was better, although after 17.f3 c6 18.f2 White still maintains a s m a l l b u t l a s t i n g a d v a n t a g e : xa4 ( 18...xa4 19.b3 c5 20.xc5 bxc5 21.xa5 is the same to the text.) 19.b3 d7 20.xc5 bxc5 21.xa5; B) 16...fd8?! A tactical oversight. 17.f3?! W h it e c o u l d e xp l o i t B la c k' s m is t a k e : ( 17.f4! i s v e r y s t r o n g .) 17...c6?! ( 17...e6 with the idea ...Nf4 was better.) 18.f4! and Black is in trouble. ] 7.g5 d7?! This game was the first where 7 Bg5 was introduced and Black's reaction is far from the best. [ Later Black improved with 7...h6 8.h4 e5!

and as practice shows he has good chances to equalise here: 9.dxe5 A) 9...xe5 is also possible : 10.xe5 dxe5 11.a3 e8 12.f3 h5! ( 12...e6 i s w e a k e r : 13.f2 b6 14.c4 d7 15.e3 h7 16.f2 c6 17.d2 a6 18.f1 c8 19.ad1 b7 20.c2 c8 21.b4 b7 22.a4 a5 23.d5 xd5 24.xd5 xd5 25.xd5 with huge edge for W hite, Bischoff-Bilek, Budapest, 1985. ) 13.f2 e7 14.g3 h3 15.e1 fd8 16.c2 f6 17.e2 f8 18.c4 g7 19.ad1 e8 20.b4 e6 21.e3 c6 and in this complicated position Black has good chances, Popchev Azmaiparashvili, Albena 1983.; B) 9...dxe5 10.a3 e6 11.e1 g5!? 12.g3 h5 13.c4 g4 14.e2 f4 15.xf4 exf4 16.xd8 axd8 17.b5 d7 18.ad1 fd8 19.xd7 xd7 20.d1 e7 and Black is even slightly better, Dunnington - Guf eld, Hastings 1988. ] 8.a4! e8 9.a3! a6 [ 9...e5 is impossible in view of 10.b5 ] 10.d2 f6 11.h6 e5 12.xg7 xg7 13.b4 Black has no counterplay while White has lots of possibilities to improve his position. d8 14.a5! e7 15.fe1 f7 16.c4 d8 17.e3! c6 An important achievement for White: now the weakness of the b6-square wi l l c a u se B l a c k a l o t o f t r o u b l e . 18.h4 (threaten ing Nf 5 winning t he Queen ) f8 19.g3! An important multipurpose move. First of all, it's prophylactic: protecting the Knight on h4 W hite prevents any counterplay. In addition, W hite prepares f2-f4 in the right moment. [ The hasty 19.c4?! is premature in view of f5 20.b6 b8 21.g3 f4! and Black has improved his position a lot. ] 19...c7 20.c4 b8 21.b6 h3?! [ 21...e6 22.d5 cxd5 23.exd5 h3 24.c4 d7 25.e3 is equally bad for Black ] [ I n m y o p i n i o n , 21...d7 is obligatory, alt hou gh af te r 22.xc8 bxc8 23.f1! intending Ra1-d1, f2-f4, Bh3 etc. W hite's advantage is beyond any doubt. ] 22.d5 d7 23.e3! c5 24.c4 f8 25.ab1 d7 26.b6 e8 27.bxc5! dxc5 [ The endgame after 27...xc5 28.xc5 995

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 dxc5 29.f3 is hopeless for Black as his pawns on b7 and c5 are very weak. ] 28.f3 d6 29.d2 b5 This move is just a waste of time, but Black's position is very bad anyway. [ After 29...d7 White can switch to the Kside: 30.f4! xb6 31.axb6 c8 32.fxe5 fxe5 33.f1 with a decisive advantage. ] 30.c4 e8 31.b3 Black could easily resign here. bc8 32.f1 d7 33.xc8 xc8 34.ec1 d8 35.h3 f5 36.d2! xa5 37.exf5 gxf5 38.g5+ g6 39.e7+ f7 40.xd7 d8 41.b3 b6 42.e7 1-0

is always a bit annoying 8.a4 b4 9.d1 is slightly better for White) 7.d2 bd7 looks like Black's most solid option here and now ( 7...b5 8.d3 bd7 9.h3 a6 10.e2 e5 11.c3 d5 12.f2 led to some very original play in Ponkratov, P (2530)Dvoirys, S (2553)/Satka RUS 2008 although the position is definitely somewhat better for White ) 8.a4 a5 ( 8...h5 was perhaps a better option although I slightly prefer White after 9.h3 0-0 10.g5 a5 11.e2 although Black has reasonable chances.) 9.ge2 a6 10.c1! h5 11.b3 c7 12.a5 was very pleasant for White in the game Fries Nielsen, J (2411) -Bejtovic, J (2415)/Lund SWE 2011 ] 961 B07 6...bd7 [ 6...a6 doesn't seem to fit in very well here, Vallejo Pons,Francisco 2716 f or e xample 7.e5! fd7 ( after 7...dxe5 Maiwald,JU 2459 8.dxe5 xd1+ 9.xd1 fd7 10.f4 Schachbundesliga 2011-12 (11) 26.02.2012 and White has a space advantage as well as [Tom Rendle] a lead in development.) 8.e6! fxe6 9.d3 was already good for W hite in the game 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g5 Shutzman, J (2187)-Tseitlin, M (2472)/Tel Slightly unusual here, it's more typical to be Aviv ISR 2002 ] played against an early Nf6 (rather than Bg7). objectively I don't believe this is the T h i s i s m a i n l y b e c a u s e B l a c k h a s a n 7.g4!? best move but it certainly mixes things up abundance of choice here h6 [ 4...f6 transposes to mainlines is covered early - and given how quickly Vallejo wins it in the archives, including in last months was probably a good decision [ 7.f3 this should lead to a slight edge for game Gashimov-Ivanchuk ] White, a possible line would be 5.e3!? Aiming to show ...h6 is a weakness A) 7...0-0 8.e5! is again strong for White, [ 5.h4 was examined by Gawain last month e.g. h7 ( 8...e8 9.d2 g5 10.0-0-0 in the annotations to one of his own games and Black's Kingside is very ropey!) 9.e6 as Black against Sukandar ] again this pawn sacrifice is very 5...f6 dangerous fxe6 10.d3 and now Black is [ maybe given the problems Black can get in trouble as he can't play e8 because of into with the pawn on h6 the delaying the 11.b5; development of the knight and playing in a B) 7...c6 8.d3 e5 9.dxe5 xe5 Tiger Modern style could be Black's best 10.xe5 dxe5 11.d2! with a slight edge option. Play could continue 5...a6 6.d2 b5 for W hite due to the fact that Black still 7.d3 b7 8.a4 ( 8.ge2 d7 9.a4 b4 has problems getting castled. ] 10.d1 gf6 11.f3 c5 12.c3 bxc3 [ 7.d2 preventing 0-0 is another option ] 13.bxc3 c7 gave reasonable play and led An attack on the wing should be met t o a q u i c k w i n f o r B l a c k i n t h e g a m e 7...c5?! Gassanov, A (2319)-Krasenkow, M (2641)/ with counterplay in the centre - except here it Batumi GEO 2002) 8...b4 9.ce2 a5 10.f3 backfires! It's always dangerous to rely too much on general principles in very tactical with a slight edge for White ] positions.... 6.h3 [ 7...b6 is perhaps Black's best option, [ 6.f3 is played more often c6 ( 6...a6 playing a very flexible Hippo structure. If 7.d2 b5 is another way for Black to play White is going to get an advantage at all he but the fact that he can't castle anytime soon 996

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 should try the critical 8.e5 and now dxe5 9.dxe5 xe5 10.xd8+ xd8 11.0-0-0+ fd7! 12.f4 c6 13.h2 leaves White with good compensation for the pawn although chances are roughly balanced. ] [ 7...e5 is the most solid choice and I'm not sure if White can count on an edge here. Of course the position remains very tense after 8.g2 0-0 9.ge2 exd4 10.xd4 e7 11.e2 and White can castle Queenside and try and create a Kingside attack ] 8.e5! An excellent counterstrike in the centre already Black is in some trouble I think [ 8.f3 cxd4 9.xd4 a6 would be a comfortable Dragondorf type structure for Black ] 8...dxe5 [ 8...h7 is hardly much fun for Black after 9.exd6 exd6 10.d2 as White will quickly castle long and build up an attack ] 9.dxe5 xe5 [ after 9...h7 10.f4! Black's pieces are getting horribly hemmed in on the Kingside ] 10.xd8+ xd8 11.0-0-0+ d7 12.f4 [ 12.xc5 regaining the pawn immediately is also good for White ] 12...c6 13.xc5 With material equality restored Black faces an uphill task to defend here - the King is caught in the centre and White's pieces are all very active h5 14.g5 e8 15.ge2 c7 16.g2 e8?! this quickly runs into problems [ Black should probably try to run with the King and get the rooks connected as soon a s p o s s i b l e s o 16...c8 17.d2 f5 18.hd1 b8 although White still has control over the centre and a comfortable edge. ] 17.d2 c8 18.hd1 e6 19.b3! W hite's in no rush - this move takes a few more squares away from Black's pieces who must feel like they're being strangled! f8? This is far too passive [ 19...f5 was the best chance although W hite can keep up the pressure with 20.b1 e6 21.e3 b8 22.d5 ] 20.a4! White is simply planning to retreat the Bishop back to f2 and then play Nc5. Perhaps it's kinder that Maiwald blundered here as it's unlikely that he'd have saved the game at this stage. d8? 21.xd8+ xd8

22.xa7! A pawn drops and with it the last of Black's defences. The idea of Bg5 and dropping back to e3 af ter h6 looks like a reasonable one but objectively I think 7.g4 isn't White's best continuation - despite a big success in this game! [ 22.xa7 xa7 23.b6+ b8 24.xd8+ c8 25.xc8# ] 1-0

962 Vallejo Pons,Francisco Vachier Lagrave,Maxime TCh-ESP CECLUB Honor (2) [Gawain Jones]

B07 2697 2723 24.08.2010

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 e5!? 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 Over the past few months I've seen more and more of the top players happy to face this queenless middlegame. Here we see the famed theoretician Vachier Lagrave taking a break from his Najdorf and instead happy to defend this position. I quite like playing this way with Black. I don't believe he should have too many problems and if you're patient it's a good way to outplay weaker opponents as well as holding the half point against others. The main problem is that if White plays on autopilot he runs out of useful moves before Black an d t h e re f o re o f t e n st a rt s t o wo rs e n h is position out of inertia. 6.f3 [ 6.g5 e6 7.0-0-0+ ( 7.g3 c8 8.f4 b4 9.xf6 gxf6 10.0-0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 Manakova, M (2306) -Zablotsky, S (2553) Chalkis 2010 d8 is roughly level.) 7...c8 8.f3 ( 8.f4 exf4 9.xf4 bd7 10.h3 c5 11.d4 a5 12.f3 c6 13.e5 e7 14.c4 Sutovsky, E (2676)-Predojevic, B (2654) Kragujevac 2009 xc4 15.xc4 b5! looks strong as 16.xf7 f8 17.e5 xf7 18.exf6 xf6 is a little better for Black.) 8...bd7 9.h4 h6 10.xf6 gxf6 11.h4 c6 12.e2 c5 13.hf1 Pap, M (2509)Popovic, D (2564) Vrnjacka Banja 2010 g8 and I'd prefer Black. ] [ 6.c4 e8 ( Of course 6...e6 is also fine and 7.xe6 fxe6 8.f3 d6 9.ge2 e7 10.b3 c6 11.b2 a6 12.0-0-0 ad8 13.b1 g5 14.c1 hg8 997

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.g4 h5 16.h3 h4 17.3e2 d7 18.d3 gf8 19.hf1 f7 20.a3 df8 saw Black s lo wly t a k i n g t h e u p p e rh a n d . Co rr a le s Jimenez, F (2590)-Bachmann, A (2563) Netherlands 2010.) 7.f3 bd7?! ( 7...d6 would transpose to the game and is a better choice. ) 8.g5! This is extremely awkward to deal with. h6 ( 8...b4 9.xf7 b6 10.b3 f8 11.xe5 xe4 12.d3 a5 13.0-0 xc3 14.e1+ d8 15.g5+ f6 16.e5 was disastrous. 1-0 Dvoirys, S (2572) -Yudin, S (2511) Miass 2007.) 9.xf7 h7 10.b5 b4+ 11.d2 xd2+ 12.xd2 e7 13.xc7 b8 14.f4! b5 15.xb5 xb5 16.xb5 xf7 17.xd7 xd7 18.fxe5 Kosteniuk, A (2519)-Kurmann, O (2449) Lenzerheide 2010 and W hite's rook and three pawns are far stronger than bishop and knight. ] 6...d6 7.c4 e8 Very calm. Evidently Vachier Lagrave believes W hite can make nothing of his development initiative. [ In the archives we've tended to focus on 7...e6 when Black's happy to double his e pawns in return for control over the important d5 and f5 squares. ] 8.g5 bd7 9.0-0-0 a6 10.a4 [ The following note shows what Black is aiming for in this structure. 10.he1 h6 11.h4 b5 12.b3 b8 13.g3 h5 14.h4?! provoking Black into playing a move he wanted to anyway but obviously he was running out of plans. g6 15.d5 f8 16.f3 a5 17.a3 c5 18.f2 xb3+ 19.cxb3 e6 20.g4 xd5 21.exd5 f4 22.e3 g7 23.d2 h3 24.c2 be8 25.g2 h5 26.g5 hf8 27.b1 f6 a n d B la c k h a d c o m p l e t e l y t a k e n o ve r . Gerzhoy, L (2469)-Predojevic, B (2628) Netherlands 2010. ] 10...h6 11.h4 f8 [ 11...g6 12.d2 f8 13.b3 g7?! ( 13...b5 would still have been fine for Black as 14.axb5 axb5 15.xb5 a1+ 16.b1 g5 17.g3 xe4 18.xd6 cxd6 19.f3 xg3 20.hxg3 e7 is fine for Black.) 14.c4 b4 15.xe5! Evidently Black missed this trick. xc3 16.xd7 xb2+ 17.xb2 xd7 18.g3 was truly terrible for Black who didn't last long. c5 19.xc7 xb3 20.cxb3 e6 21.d6 hc8 22.c1

e8 23.b6 c8 24.f3 g5 25.d6 1-0 Berelowitsch, A (2566)-Strikovic, A (2557) Netherlands 2010. As Rowson has said in the archives, it's imperative to be very caref ul in the opening as Black as W h i t e h a s a d e f i n i t e i n i t i a t i ve , i f o n l y temporary if Black plays correctly. ] [ 11...b6 also looks reasonable. A recent top 100 clash continued: 12.b3 g4 13.xf6 gxf6 14.e2 d8 15.g3 h5 16.h3 d7 17.a5 c8 18.c3 c5! 19.d2 h4 20.f5 xf5 21.exf5 xd2 22.xd2 d6 Smeets, J (2642)-Navara, D (2692) Novi Sad 2009 and Black was winning a pawn and went on to convert. ] [ 11...h5!? was a suggestion of Rowson on ChessPublishing which as far as I can see s t i l l h a s n ' t b e e n t r i e d . 12.d5 b8 with ideas of ...Nf8-g6 is his line. ( 12...f8? 13.e7!; 12...hf6!? however, offering the knight exchange also looks playable. )] 12.d2 g5?! Gaining time on the bishop and blocking in the bishop but giving away the f5 square which proves costly. [ 12...g6 would transpose to the previous note and would probably be my suggestion. ] 13.g3 g7 [ 13...b4!? looks quite a clever move order although I still think White's better. 14.d5 ( 14.f3 gives Black the choice of transposing back to the game with 14...Kg7 or else xc3 15.bxc3 g7 16.h4 transposing to 15.h4.) 14...xd2+ 15.xd2 xe4 16.dd1 c6 17.e3 when White has enough initiative for the pawn but probably no more. ] 14.f3 b4 15.d5 [ 15.h4 xc3 16.bxc3 g4 17.hf1 f8 18.h2 ( 18.b3 h5 19.e1 c5 is fine for Black.) 18...b6 19.f2! b5 20.b3 b7 21.f1 fe8 22.e3 is also rather unpleasant for Black. ] 15...xd5 16.xd5 e8 17.h4! f6?! After this Black has some major problems and Vallejo Pons plays excellently to secure a decisive advantage. [ 17...f6 was a better defence. A sample line might continue: 18.hxg5 hxg5 19.a2 b5 20.c3 c5 21.a5 e3 ( 21...e6 also looks possible.) 22.c2 xd2 23.xd2 e6 and Black has soaked up most of the pressure although White's still better. ] 998

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.hxg5 hxg5 19.c3 e7 20.h5 c6 21.dh1! f8 [ 21...cxd5? fails to 22.h7+ g8 23.h8+ f7 24.1h7+ g6 25.xe8 xh7 26.xe7+ g6 27.exd5 ] 22.b3 c5 23.f1 e6 24.xe6 xe6 25.e1! Making room for the knight to jump into the f5 outpost. d6 26.g3 f7 27.f5 d7 28.c2 ad8 29.b4 a7 30.c4 e6 31.h8 Vallejo Pons has played a perfect game and Vachier Lagrave is under intense pressure. I imagine at this point he was really regretting 12...g5. b5 32.axb5 cxb5 [ The other recapture would be similar 32...axb5 33.g8 bxc4 34.hh8 f7 35.h6+ e7 36.b5! and White's attack crashes through. ] 33.g8 [ 33.c3! would also be winning as after bxc4 White can enter on the other side of the board with 34.a1 ] 33...bxc4 34.hh8 f7 35.h6 b6 36.xf7 xf7 37.c3 [ The calm 37.d2! would be winning as Black has no way to prevent Bd2-c1-a3 and b4-b5. ] 37...c8 [ 37...d3+ would win back the exchange. 38.xc4 d4+ 39.b3 g6 although 40.b8 xh8 41.xb6 is still winning for White as a6 drops when the b pawn will be too strong. ] 38.xf8+?? After a well played game Vallejo Pons blunders away the win. [ 38.c2 d8 39.d2 going back to 37.Bd2 would bring home the full point. ] 38...xf8 39.xf8+ xf8 40.xc4 e7 W hite has no way through so it's a simple draw. 41.b5 axb5+ 42.xb5 e3 43.c6 e6 44.g4 ½-½

963 Van Beers,Eddy Van Houtte,Thierry Belgian Interclubs, 2000/2001 [Paul Motwani]

B07

2000

G6.10: "A quiet endgame---NOT!" 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 e5 This position can of

course also be reached via alternative moveorders such as 1 e4 e5 2 Nc3 d6 3 d4 Nf6 which are particularly relevant to our "e4-e5" site, and so I felt that the current game was well-worth including here. 4.dxe5 Personally, I would not make this unforced capture as White, because I know that the forthcoming exchange of queens is certainly not dangerous for Black, whose king will quite happily remain a r o u n d t h e i m p o r t a n t c e n t r a l f i l e s . dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 6.f3 [ 6.g5 e6 followed by ...Nbd7 is also comfortable for Black. ] 6...d6 7.c4 e6! 8.xe6 fxe6 Black really doesn't mind having doubled epawns here, because they control important squares near the centre of the board, and into the bargain there's a partly-open f-file to be used. 9.e3 c6 10.0-0-0 e7 11.a3 Cl e a rl y, W h i t e wa s wo rr ie d a b o u t B la c k playing .. .Bb4, but the "down side" of a2-a3 is that the a3-pawn is now a target for Black to attack by means of a well-timed ...b5-b4 advance. a6 Preparing to play ...b5, while also stopping any Nb5 by White. 12.h3 h6 OK, we won't be seeing any black or white pieces moving to g4 or g5 in the near future! 13.he1 b5! Black's aggressive plans are already underway, but meanwhile W hite is looking rather lost for any truly constructive ideas. 14.d2 hb8 15.b3 d7 A prophylactic move, preventing a white piece from landing at c5. 16.g3 White hopes to stir up something with f2-f4-f5, but he doesn't get the chance to do it. b4 17.axb4 xb4 Now ...a5-a4 is a simple yet highly unpleasant threat to White. 18.a2 b7 [ White just set the obvious trap 18...xe4? 19.g5+ hxg5 20.xe4 but Thierry van Houtte is much too good to fall for that one! ] 19.d2 a5 Another prophylactic move, this time preventing Nd2-c4 with which W hite could have protected his exposed b2-pawn. 20.f4 ab8 21.fxe5 xe5 22.d4 g5 23.c3? Surprisingly, this loses by force! c5! [ 23...xb2? 24.d5+ exd5 25.xb2 is another little trap which Black naturally avoids. ] 24.f2 [ W hite also loses after 24.xe5 xe5 which leaves him in double trouble at b2 and 999

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g3. ] 24...xb2 25.b3 Trapping Black's b2-rook. Right...? 8xb3 ...Wrong! 26.xd6 [ 26.cxb3 xf2 is also hopeless for White. ] 26...xd6 27.d1+ c6 28.cxb3 xf2 0-1

964

B07 Van Kampen,R 2572 Cuijpers,F 2445 TCh-NED Meesterklasse 2012-13 (1.2) 15.9.12 [Tom Rendle]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.e3 f6 5.d2 c6 6.h6 [ The aggressive approach 6.f3 b5 7.g4 was examined by Andrew Martin in Goloshchapov, A-Lahno, K ] 6...xh6 7.xh6 a5 [ 7...e5 isn't particularly challenging to W hite's setup and is covered by James Vigus in Jansa, V-Hartoch, R ] 8.d3 c5! This is probably Black's best choice in this line [ 8...b5?! 9.f3 b4 10.e2 just seems to be much better for White, as analysed by John Watson in Mirzoev-Movsziszian ] 9.d5 bd7 10.f3 Here we have a key position for this line - Black has two ways of p l a y i n g h e r e c4 This effectively forces an ending that should be a little better for White, but as the game shows it's not so easy for White to create winning chances against this move. [ 10...b5 is a major alternative which leads to more complicated play A) 11.0-0 has been the usual response h e r e a n d n o w c4 is the only consistent continuation 12.e2 b4 13.d1 c5 ( 13...xe4 14.xc4 seems a little better for White ) A1) 14.e3 c3! ( 14...xe4 isn't best because of 15.xc4 df6 16.ad1 g8 and now in Smerdon, D (2513)-McNab, C (2438) Hinkley 2012 W hite could've obtained an excellent game with 17.d4! g5 18.b5+ d7 19.xd7+ xd7 20.f3 ) 15.bxc3 xc3 16.g5 g8! and Black had succeeding in reaching an unclear middlegame with

chances for both sides in Nguyen Anh Du n g (2 4 9 5 )-Z im m e r m a n , Y (2 3 4 0 ) Budapest 1998; A2) 14.g5! is critical and now the game Pert, N (2570)-McNab, C (2454) Reading 2011 continued e5 15.e3 a5 16.a3 b8 17.axb4 xb4 18.a2! b6 19.fa1 xb2 20.xa5 b1+ 21.f1 xa1 22.xa1 and White had good chances due to Black's problems on the Queenside. Black definitely needs to look for an improvement somewhere before this point but nothing immediately stands out to me so probably 10...c4 is just a better move; B) 11.e5!? looks like a dangerous new idea that certainly worked well against a Pirc/Modern expert in Munoz, L (2428)M c N a b , C ( 2 4 4 6 ) I s t a n b u l 2 0 1 2 dxe5 12.xb5 b8 ( Black doesn't get enough co m pe n sa t ion f o r th e e xch a n ge af t e r 12...xd5 13.c6 xc3 14.xa8 a4+ 15.d2 ) 13.xd7+ xd7 14.xe5 xb2 15.0-0 xc3 16.g7 g8 17.xf7+ d8 18.ae1 e8? ( 18...e8 was the only move to keep reasonable chances but after 19.c6+ xc6 20.dxc6 e8 21.e6 White still has a dangerous attack although d4 keeps Black in the game) 19.d6! b6 20.xd7 xd6?! 21.f8 xc2 22.e6+ c8 23.xc5 b8 24.e4 and Black resigned. ] 11.xc4 c5 12.d3 [ 12.b5 is similar to the game (although I don't really like the Bishop on b5 here) xf2+ 13.xf2 g4+ 14.e2 xh6 15.e5 a6 16.xd7+ xd7 17.exd6 exd6 18.d2 and a d ra w was a gree d in La ngro ck , H (2313)-Engelbert, C (2269) Hamburg 2002 ] 12...xf2+! Otherwise Black would just be a pawn down 13.xf2 g4+ 14.g3 xh6 Now we have a Queenless middlegame that must be assessed. W hite has a lead in development and a space advantage but B l a c k i s ve r y s o l i d s o t h i s s e e m s l i k e a sensible way to play as Black if you're happy w i t h a d r a w . 15.he1 0-0 16.e5!? This more has to be played sooner or later if White is going to try for the advantage c5 [ 16...dxe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5 f5! solves a lot of Black's problems (namely the 1000

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 wea kne ss of the pa wn on e7) altho ugh White can keep some slight advantage with 19.d1 I think ] 17.f1 [ 17.exd6!? was an interesting option and now exd6 ( 17...xd3?! 18.cxd3 f5+ 19.f2 exd6 20.e4 and Black has real problems getting developed) 18.d4 xd3 19.cxd3 and Black should probably exchange off into an almost equal ending with f5+! 20.xf5 xf5 21.e7 fe8! 22.xb7 ab8 23.xb8 xb8 24.b3 xd3 25.d1 f5 and White's winning chances are small. ] 17...g4 18.exd6 exd6 19.b5?! [ 19.d2! looks like a better option to me, aiming to put the pawn on d6 under pressure with Nde4. Play might continue ad8 20.b4 d7 21.h3 f5 22.c4 and Black definitely has to be careful, for example f6 can be met with 23.h2! planning g4 ] 19...a6! Now Black is very comfortable 20.bd4 Van Kampen attempts to keep some tension in the position but he only succeeds in getting slightly the worse of it [ 20.xd6 ad8 21.e4 xe4+ 22.xe4 xf3 23.xf3 xd5 is very equal! ] 20...fe8 21.f4 xf3 22.xf3 f6 23.h4 f7 Finally the knight returns to the centre and it's clear Black has no problems here. 24.b4 a4 25.e6?! [ 25.c4 would have kept the game about equal after e5 26.ac1 b6 ] 25...c3! 26.c4 e5 Now Black has a definite advantage 27.xe5 [ 27.b3 xe6 28.dxe6 f8 and the pawn on e6 is more of a weakness than a strength as it's easily blocked - on both sides! ] 27...dxe5+ 28.e3 xe6 29.dxe6 f8 30.h5! A good practical choice, keeping the position tense g5 [ 30...c8!? might've given better winning c h a n c e s - p r o b a b l y W h it e s h o u l d p l a y 31.d3 gxh5 32.h1 but after e2! 33.xe2 xc4 34.xh5 xc2+ 35.f3 e7 only Black can be playing for a win, although I suspect with best play the position should be drawn. ] 31.a4 d8 32.a3 d1+ 33.e2 b2 [ 33...e4!? 34.g4! is getting rather unclear ]

34.b3 f5?! After this White has no real problems [ 34...e7! 35.a1 d4 would've given Black the better endgame - although at least W hite still has that pawn on e6 for some chances of counterplay ] 35.a1 d4 36.f1! f4 37.c3 e4+ 38.d2 c4+ 39.xc4 xc4 40.d3 with the minor pieces exchanged the draw is pretty much i n e v i t a b l e c6 41.e4 e7 42.xe5 xe6+ 43.f5 A definite success for 10...c4 with a comfortable draw for the player rated over 100 lower than his opponent - with ...b5 looking under a cloud at the moment this move needs careful examination. ½-½

965 Vavra,P1 Popchev,Milko Open A Prague CZE (9) [James Vigus]

B07 2319 2444 16.01.2009

1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 Nowadays, the toughest decision a Pirc player has to make is how to respond to this flexible move, which can introduce the 150 Attack (usually involving h3 and Nf3), the Archbishop Attack (h3 and g4), or the Argentinean Attack (f3 intending g4, h4). Through some lively re cen t ga me s, let 's review Bla ck' s t hre e distinct responses: PLAN A: 4. ..c6, delaying ...Bg7 PLAN B: a combination of ...c6 and ... Bg7, delaying ... 0-0 PLAN C: the brave - or maverick - ...Bg7 and ...0-0, delaying ...c6. A is standard, B under pressure, and C deserves a revival despite the obvious risk involved. In all cases White is doing quite well theoretically, yet Black's results turn out to be quite good, reflecting the ever-resilient nature of t he P irc. c6 5.h3 This little move is the cause of Black's anxiety, and has emerged as more promising than 5 Qd2 Nbd7 intending ... e5, although many stron g pla yers like t o develop simply with 5 Nf3. b5?! The least promising way to interpret plan A for alternatives see the next couple of games. 6.e5 b4 [ 6...fd7 7.exd6 exd6 8.d5! is good for W h ite , e . g. ( 8.d2?! f6 9.d3 g7 1001

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.h6 0-0 11.xg7 xg7 12.f3 b4 13.e2 c5 14.dxc5 dxc5 15.g5 c7 16.d2 h6 17.h4 b7 18.0-0 bd7 was fine for Black in B.Golubovic (2403)-T. Petrosian(2623), Budva 2009, but) 8...b4 9.e4 ( 9.d4 is also strong, but there's no need to invite a mess with bxc3 10.xh8 cxb2 11.xb2 a5+ 12.d2 xd5 ) 9...c5 10.g5 f6 11.e2 f7 12.f4 a6 13.e3 xf1 14.xf1 A.Morozevich(2605)A.Chernin(2600), Moscow 1995 ] 7.exf6 bxc3 8.fxe7 xe7 9.b3? [ This is an odd decision, since White now has to contort himself to retrieve the c3pawn, and 9.bxc3 would have bolstered his centre nicely. Black can make a couple of a g g r e s s i v e b i s h o p m o v e s , e . g . h6 ( 9...g7 10.f3 0-0 11.d3 ) 10.e2! ( much better than 10.d2 0-0 11.d3 f5 ) 10...a6 , but now 11.d2 0-0 12.xa6 xa6 13.e2 xe3 14.xe3 f6 15.0-0 c7 is a continuation with too many exchanges to satisfy Black, who remains about half a pawn down. ] 9...h6 10.d3 [ 10.f3 intending Bd3 and Ne2 is more harmonious. ] 10...0-0 11.e2 [ If 11.xc3 , Black needn't hurry to retrieve the pawn with 11...Re8 and ...Bxc3, but can o p e n li n e s o n t h e qu e e n s id e , e . g . d7 12.0-0-0 g7 13.xc6 b6 ] 11...a6 12.xc3 g7 13.f4 c5! 14.xa6? [ Vavra faced a tricky choice. Instead 14.d5 e4 hits d4 ] [ but he might have tried 14.0-0-0! , when c8 15.c4!? gives him some hope of beating off the Black initiative. ] 14...cxd4! 15.d5 e6 16.c7 e4 17.c4?! [ The pin on the d4-pawn only has temporary effect. The alternatives are complex but none too appetising for W hite: a) 17.d3 xg2 18.xd4 xh1+ 19.e2 xd4 20.xh1 ( 20.xd4 c6 21.xh1 xd4+ 22.e3 ac8 ) 20...xc3 21.xa8 e8+ 22.d1 c8 corners White's knight. ] [ b) 17.d3 xg2 18.0-0-0 xa6 19.xa8 dxe3 20.xa6 xf2 21.f1! (otherwise 21...e2 prepares to transfer the queen to

t h e a 1 - h 8 d i a g o n a l ) o r g3 22.d5 ( p r e v e n t i n g . . . Q e 5 ) xa8 and Black's dominance continues. ] 17...xa6! [ Much clearer than transposing to line 'b' of the previous note with 17...xg2 18.0-0-0 dxe3 19.xa8 ] 18.xa8 c5? [ 18...d5! wins, e.g. 19.xa6 dxe3 20.0-0 ( 20.d3 exf2+ 21.xf2 d4+ 22.f1 h4 23.g3 f6+ 24.e2 xa1 ) 20...exf2+ 21.h1 xa1 ] 19.0-0 [ 19.0-0-0! dxe3 20.xe4 xe4 21.c7! saves White, since on xf2 22.he1 xd1 23.xd1 the advanced e3-pawn turns out to be very weak. ] 19...dxe3 20.xe4 exf2+ 21.xf2 xe4+ 22.e3 g3 23.c7 c8 24.b5 xc2 25.f2? [ White had to play 25.xd6 , but after xg2 Black will regain the exchange and keep an extra pawn in the bank. ] 25...c5 26.d4 c3+ 0-1

966 Vescovi,Giovanni P Felgaer,Ruben Festival Prefeitura (11) [Jonathan Rowson]

B07 2592 2591 19.11.2006

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 [ 3.f3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 6.c4 ( 6.e3!? ) 6...e6 ( 6...e8! ) 7.xe6 fxe6 is considered better for White, which makes sense when you conside r W hite's tenth move in the game that follows! ] 3...e5 This move order is a 'Philidor by stealth', and the following ending is not thought to give White an advantage, but is still not a position that many top GMs want to play. 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.xd8+ xd8 6.c4 e6 [ 6...e8! looks playable to me. Azmaiparashvilli has beaten several GMs from this position as Black, and although he has also lost a few, I am not sure he was really worse from the opening(if that's the right word!). Luke McShane has also played 1002

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 this way with Black, and seems to think that White's initiative can gradually be soaked up. This is the kind of line where temperament is more important than theory. With white you need to 'hurry slowly' and make something happen without forcing the issue, while with Black you need to be very careful and very patient for the next ten moves or so. 7.f3 d6 8.e3!? This was Julian Hodgson's choice, and looks most promising to me. There are many possibilities now but the line that comes to my mind is a6 9.a4 c6 10.0-0-0 when White still has a little initiative but can easily lose it with one sloppy move. ] 7.xe6 fxe6 8.f3 In the given structure, the basis of white's advantage is that he has pawn control of the central square e4, while black's pieces are tied down to the defence of e5, and sometimes has practical problems based on white playing f4. d6 9.e3 e7 10.b1!? This is the move that caught my attention. Vescovi willingly invests two tempi to p u t h is p ie c es o n t h e ir m o st e f f ect ive squares. The knight is heading to c4, the cpawn is freed to control d4 or advance to c4, and the time lost doesn't seem to matter much. c6 11.c3 ag8?! This looks like the wrong plan. There is no real 'minority attack' and white's king on e2 will be able to cover any weaknesses on the kingside. [ 11...b5 Makes more sense to me, or perhaps ] [ 11...d7 intending to exchange bishops on c5. ] 12.h3 h6 13.f2 g5 14.h3 h5?! More vague activity. [ 14...h5 looks better, perhaps with g4 to follow, or maybe with ...h4 followed by Nh5f4. ] 15.d2 f4 16.g1 a6 17.g3 h5 18.d3 f6 19.e2 Now White has control, although Black should still be ok if he doesn't make any f u rt h e r c o n c e ssio n s . d7 20.a4 b6 Too passive. Black should try [ 20...b5 and hope for the best. 21.axb5 axb5 22.a6 db8 23.a8 d7 24.xg8 xg8 25.a1 leaves white with an edge, but without a clear plan for increasing it. ] 21.c4 d8 22.b4! For those who enjoy this sort of game, it is worth cross-referencing with my game against Stephen Gordon from the

British Championship on Isle of Man 2005. That game started as a Trompovsky, but led to a very similar position to the one we have. b7 23.f2! I always like these moves that transparently create a threat (f4) that can't really be dealt with. h5 24.f4 e8 25.fxe5 e7 White has won a clear pawn, but his winning technique was impressively emphatic. 26.d2! h7 27.b3 f7 28.c4 gf8 29.e3 d8 30.b5 a5 31.c5 xc5 32.dxc5 xc5 33.xc5 bxc5 34.xc5 g8 35.gf1 g4 36.h4 gg7 37.f6 xf6 38.exf6 d7 39.d1 xd1 40.xd1 e5 41.d2 e6 42.e3 f7 43.d3 xf6 44.c4 f8 45.d5 1-0

967 Wells,Peter K Oratovsky,Michael 15th ECC Gp 6 (3) [Nigel Davies]

B07 2476 2481 13.10.1999

Th e a tt em p t t o tra nspo se int o a P hilid o r Defence with 3...Nbd7 (whilst avoiding various forcing lines by White) is one of the more interesting unexplored frontiers in chess. It has actually attracted quite a classy following, such as the strong Israeli IM Mikhail Oratovsky and even GM Alexander Belyavsky. This game features the critical line in which Black seems to be doing OK. If he does his homework on these positions, it seems like a very useful surprise line. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 bd7 4.f4 The critical line. [ 4.f3 e5 transposes into a Philidor after avoiding some nasty move-order surprises that await Black if he tries to get there via 1. e4 e5. ] 4...e5 5.f3 exd4 6.xd4 c6 Clearly announcing his intention to play 7... d5. 7.e3 Preparing to castle long like this has been White's main choice, but due to the dearth of practical experience it is by no means clear that this is the best. The alternatives are as follows, with Spragget's 7. Be2 looking like W hite's most interesting alternative move. [ a) 7.d3 d5 8.e5 c5 9.a4 g4 10.d1 b5 11.b3 b6 gave Black 1003

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 excellent counterplay in Skytte - Johnsen, Budapest 1999 ] [ b) 7.e5 dxe5 8.fxe5 c5 9.h4 ( 9.f4 e7 10.e2 d5 11.xd5 cxd5 12.e3 xe3 13.xe3 b4+ 14.c3 e4 was fine for Black in Mestrovic - Loncar, Pula 2002 ) 9...e7 10.f4 b4 11.c4 ( 11.d3 d5 is also fine for Black.) 11...e4 12.xe7+ xe7 13.a3 xc3+ 14.bxc3 b6 15.d3 d5 16.c1 dxc3 and Black was a pawn up in Jaenig - Bauer, Metz 2000 ] [ c) 7.d2 d5 8.e5 c5 9.d3 g4 10.d1 e7 11.e3 c5 12.e2 b6 left Black with the initiative in Andolo - El Taher, Cairo 2000 ] [ d) 7.f5 b6 8.e2 ( 8.xb6 axb6 9.d3 b5 10.e2 c5 11.g3 d5 12.exd5 xd3+ 13.cxd3 xd5 14.0-0 f6 15.d4 f7 left Black with a clear advantage in the endgame in Moreno Carretero - Bauer, Salou 2000) 8...e7 ( 8...c5 9.d2 cd7 10.b3 e5 11.f4 xd4 12.xd4 e7 was also fine for Black in Milov,L - Galdunts, Griesheim 2002) 9.0-0 d5 10.xb6 xb6 11.d3 dxe4 12.xe4 was Smirin Altounian, Los Angeles 2000, and now xe4 13.xe4 0-0 would have left him very comfortably placed. ] [ d) 7.h3 d5 8.exd5 c5 9.c4 0-0 10.e5 cxd5 11.d3 e8 12.e2 b6 gave Black the initiative in Kesseler - Bauer, Heiligenhaus 2001 ] [ e) 7.e2!? d5 8.exd5 c5 9.d3 cxd5 ( Black could also consider offering a pawn with 9...0-0!? ) 10.e3 0-0 11.0-0-0 e8 12.e5 e7 13.f3 xe5 14.fxe5 xe3+ 15.xe3 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.xd5 and W hite retained some pressure in the endgame in Spraggett - Calvo, Seville 2002 ] [ f) 7.c4 d5 8.exd5 c5 9.d3 0-0!? 10.dxc6 bxc6 11.d2 e8+ 12.f1 c7 gave Black some compensation in Shetty Belkhodja, Dubai 2002 ] 7...d5 8.e5 Once again there are alternatives for White: [ a) After 8.exd5 the Swedish player Rolf Bergstrom recently introduced the simple cxd5 and after ( previously Black had played 8...c5 9.d3 e7 10.d4 b6 with wild complications) 9.0-0-0 c5

10.d3 0-0 11.xd5 xd5 12.xc5 xc5 13.xd5 a5 obtained excellent counterplay in Van Hoolandt - Bergstrom, Helsinki 2001 ] [ b) 8.0-0-0 c5 9.d3 ( 9.d2 b4 10.exd5 xd5 11.c4 0-0 12.xd5 cxd5 13.a3 xc3 14.xc3 f6 was also fine for Black in Sveshnikov - Boric, Pula 2000) 9...e7 10.e5 g4 11.d4 f2 12.xf2 xf2 13.e2 c5 14.g4 h5 was not for the feint-hearted in Beider - Oratovsky, Ramat Aviv 2000 ] 8...g4 9.g1 [ 9.d2 xe3 10.xe3 b6 gave Black a nice two bishop game in Niknaddaf - Varga, Yerevan 2001 ] 9...b6 10.xb6 axb6 11.h3 h6 12.g4 b4 13.d4 c5 14.g2 a4 15.0-0 xc3 16.bxc3 c5 17.e3 xc3 18.f5 White clearly has a few chances for his pawn, due mainly to the poor position of the knight on h6. When Oratovsky repositions the beast W hite's attempts to gain compensation become more and more frantic. g8 19.e6 fxe6 20.fxe6 f6 21.g5 f8 22.ae1 xa2 23.e7 h8 24.d2 xc2 25.xc3 xc3 26.xd5! xd5 27.f7 Threatening all sorts of horrible things, but Black can return some of his booty to defuse the attack. e3 28.xh8 xe1 29.xe1 xe7? Was this really necessary? [ It seems to me that Black can play 29...d7 30.d1 e6 when his pawns are ready to roll. ] 30.b1 d5 31.e1+ e7 32.b1 c4 33.b4 e6 34.xb6 d5 35.f2 c8 36.b5 c6 37.e5+ d7 38.f7 b5 ½-½

968 Werle,Jan Nijboer,Friso Harmonie Groningen (5) [Andrew Martin]

B07 2430 2555 2002

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 The Byrne Variation, still a most dangerous attacking line. It is very direct and difficult to meet. c6 Nijboer chooses one of the main highways where Black delays ...Bg7 for a 1004

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 while in favour of Queenside counterplay. [ 4...g7 5.d2 h6 ( 5...c6 6.h6 xh6 7.xh6 b5 8.e5 b4 9.exf6 bxc3 10.bxc3 e6 11.g7 f8 12.xh7 d7 13.d3 xf6 14.h4 d5 15.xd8+ xd8 16.e2 a5 17.d2 a6 18.ab1 c7 19.h4 h8 20.g3 c5 21.e4 c4 22.a3 ab8 23.d3 xd3 24.cxd3 cxd4 25.xd4 f6 26.a4 d7 27.b5 a8 28.hb1 a7 29.b3 ha8 30.g4 e5 31.h5 xg4 32.f3 e5 33.f4 g4 34.f5 1-0 Chan,M-Chia Keng San/20th Cairnhill Open, Singapore SIN 2002 (34)) 6.h4 g5 7.g3 h5 8.0-0-0 ( 8.ge2 d7 9.0-0-0 c5 10.f3 xg3 11.hxg3 a5 12.b1 b6 13.d5 xd2 14.xd2 xd5 15.exd5 cxd4 16.xd4 h5 17.f4 g4 18.d3 gxf4 19.gxf4 xd4 20.b5+ d7 21.xd7+ xd7 22.xd4 ag8 23.h2 h4 24.a4 h5 25.b4 b6 26.a5 xd5 27.axb6 axb6 28.xh4 xg2 29.xb6 d1+ 30.a2 xc2 31.b7+ e6 32.h6+ f6 33.h7 f5 34.hxe7 xf4 35.b4+ g5 36.g7+ f5 37.g3 f2 38.b3 d5 39.c3 f4 40.b5 e4 41.g8 e3 42.g3+ f2 43.g8 f5 44.d8 c4+ 45.b3 d3+ 46.a2 cd4 47.b7 f4 48.f7 f3 49.f5 e2 50.df8 a4+ 51.b1 d1+ 52.c2 c4+ 53.b3 d3+ 54.a2 a4+ 55.b1 d1+ 56.c2 c4+ 57.b3 d3+ 1/2-1/2 Reinaldo Castineira, R-Narciso Dublan,M/ Cerrado CEMAR A, Mondariz ESP 2002 (57)) 8...d7 ( 8...c6 9.b5 d7 10.ge2 e6 11.e3 a6 12.xc6 xc6 13.h4 xg3 14.xg3 g8 15.h5 h8 16.e5 e7 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.he1 0-0-0 19.g4 b8 20.a3 a5 21.e2 b6 22.ed2 b7 23.b1 1/2-1/2 Balogh,CValdes,L/Budapest 2002 (23)) 9.e5 dxe5 10.dxe5 xg3 11.hxg3 xe5 12.f4 gxf4 13.gxf4 g7 14.c4 e6 15.f3 e7 16.f5 b6 17.b3 d7 18.a4 c5 19.fxe6 fxe6 20.e4 f5 21.a5 xe4 22.axb6 c6 23.d4 axb6 24.b1 xd4 25.xd4 0-0-0 26.d2 hg8 27.xh6 xg2 28.d1 e5 29.h4 f3 30.xd7 f8 31.e6 f1+ 32.d1+ 1-0 Aldea,L-Marin,L/ Bucharest 2002 (32) ] 5.d2 b5 6.d3 g7 [ 6...bd7 ]

7.f4 0-0 8.f3 g4 The idea of this move is simply to remove the Knight on f3, an essential component of the coming Kingside attack. In my view Black can obtain counterplay with 8...b4 but he has to be very quick there : [ 8...bd7 9.e5! b4 10.e2 d5 ( 10...dxe5 11.fxe5 d5 12.h6 ) 11.exd6 f6 12.dxe7 xe7 13.h4 e3 14.f2! ] [ 8...b4 9.e2 b6 10.f5! e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.g3 bd7 13.h4 c5 14.0-0-0 xd3+ 15.cxd3 b3 16.axb3 xb3 ] 9.0-0 b6 10.e2 bd7 11.h1 [ Apparently Black can claw his way to equality after 11.c3 for instance : d5 12.e5 e4 13.e3 xg5 14.xg5 f6 15.f3 fxe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.fxe5= The Bishop on g7 is shut down but by trading Rooks and playing .. .e6 and ... c5 Black stays in the game. ] 11...e6 [ 11...d5 Nunn and McNab give 12.xf6 xf6 13.e5 e4 14.e3 f6 15.c3 f5 16.h3 h6 17.g4 e6 18.xe4 dxe4 19.xe4 ( 19.exf6 exf6 20.xe4 ae8 21.c2 d5 ) 19...f5 ] 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 c5 This is the essence of Nijboer's plan. He has a tough, hedgehoglike structure in the centre and on the Kingside and tries to create some counterplay against d4. White must not sit back-Black's position has potential. 14.c3 ab8 15.af1 b4? A very serious mistake and a pity, because Nijboer devised a deep and interesting idea. Black has to play 15... c4! first and then matters are not clear : [ 15...c4 16.b1 ( 16.c2 a6 17.a3 d5= ) 16...b4 ] 16.e5! Had to come. White has to go for it tactically with Black's positional pressure increasing every move. bxc3 17.bxc3 d5 18.c4 b4 [ 18...b4 19.c2! 5b6 20.e7 ] 19.e7! cxd4 20.xd6 c5 Black can claim well-placed Knight but that Bishop on d6 outshines them both. Werle is rightly loathe to grab the exchange, preferring to increase his grip. 21.b1 a5 22.a3! bxd3 [ 22...xa3 23.xc5 ] 23.xa5 xb1+ 24.h2 c8 Black is still giving material away but a Queen is a Queen. 1005

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 W erle is ruthless in the mop-up 25.xd4+f8 26.c3 h6 27.xd3 e4 28.c2 xf4+ 29.g3 c1 30.g2 xg3 31.xg3 1xc4 32.e2 xg3+ 33.xg3 h5 34.e3 a5 35.g2 c2 36.e7 b2 37.f6 cc2 38.h6 xe2+ 39.f1 f2+ 40.e1 fe2+ 41.d1 Pirc players will know how lethal the Byrne Variation can be so they can draw some comfort from this game despite the final result. Nijboer's plan was very interesting and it was a shame that he didn't play 15.. .c4! after which it would have very much been 'game on' 1-0

1977, and White won in brilliant style: 7.g4! cxd4 8.xd4 dxe5 9.fxe5 g7 10.e6! xe6 ( 10...fxe6 11.0-0-0 was more stubborn but of course not much fun for Black. ) 11.xh8 xg5 12.0-0-0 a6 13.h4 e6 14.c4 b6 15.h3 h6 16.he1 dc5 17.d5 a7 18.g5 h5 19.c7+!! xc7 20.xe7+!! Excellent! Black resigned in view of mate in two: xe7 21.f6+ e8 22.d8# ] 7.dxe5 h5 8.c4 h6 9.e6! fxe6 10.d3 f7 11.f3 g7 12.0-0 White has developed his pieces in the most powerful way. It looks like Black is already in dead trouble. b6 [ 12...hxg5 was also losing, but survives for 969 B07 longer: 13.xg5 b6 14.xe6+ h7 15.f5 and the attack is irresistible. ] Yakovich,Yuri 2592 Gual,Antonio 2433 13.h4! [ Losing the g6 pawn means checkmate for Terrasa 1999 the Black King but there is no way to defend [Alexander Volzhin] the pawn: 13.h4 e5 14.d5 ( or 14.d5 e6 15.e4 ) 14...d6 15.f6+ so Black 1.e4 This game is another good example of resigned. ] how dangerous it is to use somebody else's id ea wit ho ut c aref ul an alysis, espe cially 1-0 against strong opponents. One of the leading experts in the P irc with 4. Bg5, GM Yury B07 Y a k o v i c h f o u n d a n a t u r a l a n d s t r o n g 970 Yakovich,Yuri 2565 improvement which posed serious problems Romero Garcia,Mariano 2285 for Black. d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 1999 We have already seen the excellent victory of Sevilla Ya k o vi c h o v e r G M B e im . O f co u r s e , h i s [Alexander Volzhin] opponent, the strong Spanish IM Gual, knew this game and prepared a relatively new idea. A passive approach has its drawbacks as well. If White secures his strong pawn centre and bd7 5.f4! [ As IM Gual explained after the game, completes development unimpeded then he during his preparation he studied the game has good chances to prove an advantage. Almasi - Beliavsky, 1997: 5.d2 h6 6.h4 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 c6 4.f4 a5 e5 6.f3 g4 7.e3 bd7 c5 7.dxc5 g5 8.g3 xc5 9.f3 g7 5.d3 10.b5+ d7 11.ge2 xb5 12.xb5 A solid but passive move. In the forthcoming h5! 13.bc3 xg3 14.hxg3 a5 struggle strong pawn centre and considerable 15.0-0-0 0-0-0! Draw agreed, and was space advantage secure W hite the better satisfied. However an unpleasant surprise chances. However this move has been Black's awaits him. The threat 6.e5 is obvious, but u s u a l c h o i ce i n r e c e n t g a m e s s i n c e t h e it's not clear how to react against it. ] complications after 7...exd4 or 7...exf4 are even worse for him. 8.0-0 e7 9.h3 xf3 5...c5 [ 9...exf4 as was played in Glek[ 5...h6 6.h4 h5 doesn't work, as after 7.f5! the weak g6-square is a target. ] Cseshko vsky, P hilade lph ia 1 990 is th e alternative to the text, but also insufficient 6.e5 dxe5 But the text move is hardly an for equality: 10.xf4 xf3 11.xf3 b6 improvement. 12.e2! White has firmly protected his pawn [ 6...h5 was played in Vasiukov - Pribyl, 1006

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c e n t r e a n d h a s a c l e a r e d g e . e5? A mistake based on miscalculation. ( 12...0-0 looks better but af ter 13.h1 it's not easy f or Black to f ind suf f icien t defence against 14 e5.) 13.xe5 dxe5 14.g3! and Black is in trouble. ] 10.xf3 0-0 11.e2! c5 [ 11...fe8 12.c3 b5 13.a3 c7 14.f2 a5 15.af1 b4 16.g3 f8 17.f5 , and White has good attacking chances on the K-side, Pektor-Adamek, Praha1992. ] 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.c3! d6 [ 13...exf4? 14.xf4 is bad for Black since the threat of 15 e5 is very nasty. ] 14.f5! b6 Black intends 15...c4 and 16...Bc5 exchanging his bad Bishop but White's next move prevents this plan. 15.e2! fd8 [ An interesting attempt to obtain c o u n t e r p l a y : 15...c4 16.xc4 xc4 17.xc4 ac8 18.b3 b4 fails to 19.d5! and White has healthy extra pawn. ] [ 15...ac8? 16.b5! fd8 17.d2 and White wins. ] 16.a3! A very good prophylactic move. White prepares 17 Bc4 which is not so good immediately in view of [ 16.c4 xc4 17.xc4 b4! ] 16...ac8 17.c4! xc4 18.xc4 a6?! Allowing W hite to exchange his Bishop for Black's Knight after which Black has nothing to challenge White's Knight on d5. [ 18...f8 19.g5 d4 20.e2 e8 is the only way to fight although after 21.e3 d7 22.ad1 xd1 23.xd1 White has a huge advantage, Yakovich-Mokry, Pardubice 1994. ] 19.g5! b5 20.e2 e7 21.xf6 xf6 22.d5+The difference in the strength of White's Knight and Black's Bishop allows us to evaluate this position as strategically won for W hite. d6 23.ad1 d8 24.a4! c4 25.g4 f8 26.axb5 axb5 27.h1 a8 28.c3 a7 29.g3! a2 30.f2 c8 31.b4 xd1 32.xd1 a8 33.b6 e8 [ 33...b8 34.d6+ g8 35.c6 a8 36.d5+- b7? 37.e7++- ] 34.c6 c8 35.a7 b8 36.c7 g8 37.d7 b4 38.c6 c8 39.d6! [ The hasty 39.e7+? could have thrown away W hite's advantage: xe7 40.xe7

d8 41.xd8+ xd8 42.xe5 b3! 43.c5 f6 ( 43...h5!? ) 44.xc4 d2 and so on. ] 39...bxc3 40.bxc3 a8 41.e7+ h8 [ In the case of 41...xe7 42.xe7 b8 W hite would have won easily b y 43.d5 b1+ 44.h2 f8 45.xe5 d3 46.f6+- ] 42.d5 g5 [ 42...h4 43.h2! ] 43.f6! gxf6 [ 43...xf6 is also hopeless: 44.xf6 gxf6 45.xf6+ g8 46.e7 and White wins. ] 44.c7 a1+ [ 44...b8 could have been parried by 45.xa8 b1+ 46.d1 ] 45.h2 f4+ [ 45...g8 46.d8 f4+ was not a mate as after 47.g3 xg3+ 48.g2 the Queen is under attack. ] 46.g3 xg3+ 47.g2 [ Of course not 47.xg3?? g8+ ] 47...a2+ 48.f3 Black resigned. 1-0

971 Yegiazarian,Arsen Marin,Mihail Bucharest [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2455 2545 1998

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.d3!? e5 4.c3 d5! 5.dxe5 xe4 6.f3 c6 7.bd2 c5 8.c2 g4! The Bishop transfer to g6 (via the h5-square) which is typical for the Ruy Lopez Open Variation is the best possibility here as well. 9.0-0 e7 10.e1 d7 [ 10...d4 is worthy of consideration: 11.h3 h5 12.e4 d3!? ( 12...dxc3 deserves serious attention) 13.xc5 dxc2 14.xd8+ xd8 15.xb7 d1 16.e3 xf3 17.gxf3 xe1+ 18.xe1 d7 and Black has excellent prospects, Rausis-Khalif man, Eupen 1994. ] 11.b4 [ 11.f1 is possible but after d4! Black is fine: 12.b4 ( 12.cxd4?! is we a k e r : xf3 13.gxf3 xd4 and Black's Knights dominate the center.) 12...e6 13.b5 cd8 14.b2 dxc3 15.xd7+ xd7 16.xc3 xf3 17.gxf3 a6 and in this complicated endgame Black's chances are by no means 1007

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 worse as the game Smirin-Dorfman, Tilburg 1993 proved. ] 11...e6 12.b3 a5! 13.b5 cd8 14.a4 c5 15.h3 h5 16.f5 [ An attempt to commence action on the Kside leads W hite nowhere: 16.g4 g6 17.f5 b6 18.c2 b7 19.h4 0-0-0 20.h5 in view of xf5 21.gxf5 c7 and Black can exploit the exposed position of White's King by playing 22... g6 or 22...f6, intending ... Qe8 winning h5-pawn. ] 16...g6 17.xg6 hxg6 18.a2 White intends to play 19 Rd2 Nc7 20 b6 so Black's reply is forced. b6 Now Black's plan is very simple: to put his knights on the c7 and e6-squares, then to put his king in a safe place by castling Q-side and finally to begin an attack on the K-side. The plan is very long, but I can't see how W hite can counter it. 19.e3 c7 20.g5 de6 21.xe7 xe7 22.bd2 0-0-0 Another additional possibility in comparison with the Ruy Lopez: having pawns on a6 and b5 Black would be unlikely to castle Q-side, at least I can remember only 2 games where such idea occurred (Reshevsky-Keres, 1948) and PanchenkoKharitonov, 1981) . 23.f1 f4! Putting the knight in a better position. 24.g3 ce6 25.d2 [ 25.e2!? trying to exchange one of the strong Knights was better. ] 25...d7 (threatening ...Nxg2) 26.c4 [ An attempt to transfer the Knight to the d6square 26.e4? fails to dxe4! 27.xd7 xd7 28.d2 hd8 with a material advantage for Black. ] 26...d4 27.e4 The only move. [ 27.e4 a l l o w s t h e s a c r i f i c e xg2! which gives Black a decisive attack: 28.d6+ ( 28.xg2? f4+ 29.g3 xh3+ 30.xf4 f5# ) 28...b8 29.xg2 f4+ 30.g3 xh3+ 31.xf4 xd6! and Black wins: 32.exd6 f5+ 33.g3 h3+ 34.g2 g4+ 35.f1 h1+ 36.e2 e4# ] 27...b7 28.g5 h4 29.xe6 fxe6 30.f3 e7 31.e2 g5 32.xf4 xf4 33.xf4 xf4 In spite of the exchanges Black's advantage has n ot dimin ished. He has a strong passed pawn in the centre and White's e5-pawn is very weak. 34.e2 d3 35.e4 g5 36.h4?! h6 37.f2 d2 38.e2 g5!

After this break Black wins easily 39.g3 gxh4 40.xh4 g5 The rest needs no comment. 41.f2 xe5 42.e4 h5 43.g2 e5 44.h4 f5 45.h1 d3 46.h4 f8 (threatening ... Qxf3) 47.h1 b8! 48.f1 [ After the queen exchange Black wins easily: 48.f1 xf1+ 49.xf1 e4 50.f4 d8 51.d1 e3 52.f3 d3 53.e2 c3 54.f5 c7 55.g4 d6 56.g5 c1 ] 48...d8 49.h1 xc4 White resigned. Now it's time to draw certain conclusions. The examined line is rather unpleasant for Black especially if develops his dark-squared Bishop on g7. So I recommend Black players to play the line with 4...d5 and if the Bishop is already on g7 as in the Modern Defence in my opinion Morozevich's plan with ...Nc6 is worth playing. In any case this line leads to very complicated positions with mutual chances and I hope that this material will help you to feel confident playing either colour. 0-1

972 Yu Yangyi Giri,A Reykjavik Open 2013 (6.1) [Tom Rendle]

B07 2688 2722 23.02.2013

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 g7 5.f3 c6 6.d2 b5 This position has appeared a few times on ChessPub but we've tended to concentrate on lines where White goes for an all out attack on the Black king with g4/h4/Bh6 etc. In this game we see two SuperGMs take a more positional approach 7.a4 [ 7.g4 I analysed in Perez CandelarioGranda Zuniga last year. ] 7...b4 8.d1 This is probably the best retreat as the knight will be well placed on f2. [ 8.ce2 is a more serious alternative and now a5 9.h6 xh6 ( 9...0-0 10.h4 looks dangerous as White is threatening h5) 10.xh6 c7 with an unclear middlegame ] [ 8.a2 looks rather odd but it did score rather a big upset in the following game a5 9.c3 bxc3 10.xc3 a6 ( 10...0-0 straight away is also absolutely fine for Black ) 11.h3 xh3 12.gxh3 0-0 1008

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and Black had a good position in Sequera Paolini, J (2396)-Iturrizaga, E (2646) Cappelle la Grande 2013 although later he misplayed it and lost. ] 8...a5 9.f2 [ 9.c3 is a major alternative here and now bxc3 ( 9...0-0!? is actually an idea here as it's not clear if White is better after 10.cxb4 axb4 11.xb4 fd7! and c5 is coming with good compensation) 10.bxc3 0-0 11.d3 bd7 12.e2 e5 13.0-0 d5 14.f2 a6 15.xa6 xa6 and this position was reached in a couple of games: Sagit, R (2367)-Jocys, D (2205) Pardubice 2012 and Vysochin, S (2482)-Poluljahov, A (2566) Swidnica 1999 but White was unable to find an edge in either. ] 9...bd7 [ 9...a6 makes less sense as White gets an easy slight edge after 10.xa6 ( 10.d3 may even be more accurate) 10...xa6 11.e2 d7?! ( 11...0-0 12.0-0 c5 is only a little better for White) 12.h6 xh6 13.xh6 e5 14.0-0 e7 15.c3 and White was very comfortable and went on to win in Kjartansson, G (2391)-McKenna, J (2147) Hastings 2009 ] 10.d3 0-0 11.e2 e5 Giri seeks immediate counterplay in the centre [ 11...c5 is Black's other way of playing the position but I think W hite can keep th e better chances with 12.c3 bxc3 13.bxc3 c7 14.b5! and the bishop on b5 is rather annoying for Black. ] 12.c3 d5! This is a key idea for Black in this line and it seems to fully equalise here 13.0-0 [ it's too early for 13.cxb4 axb4 14.xb4?! as Black gets quick play in the centre with dxe4 15.fxe4 exd4 16.xd4 c5! 17.xc5 xc5 18.xc5 g4! and despite being two pawns down Black is clearly better and White's dark squares are unenviable. ] 13...e8 14.h6 After this Black is doing fine but there isn't an obvious improvement. [ 14.cxb4 axb4 15.xb4 is critical but Black has great compensation after exd4 16.xd4 dxe4 17.fxe4 e5 ] 14...bxc3 15.bxc3 a6?! This is slight inaccurate and gives Yu Yangyi the chance for the initiative. [ 15...xh6 16.xh6 b8 was better.

There's little to be feared from the queen on h6 and in fact it's probably misplaced here. ] 16.xg7 xg7 17.xa6 xa6 18.g3?! White missed this early opportunity. [ 18.f4! was a chance for a definite advantage xe4 ( 18...exd4 19.e5 e4 20.xe4 dxe4 21.cxd4 and again White is d o i n g w e l l) 19.xe4 dxe4 20.fxe5 and White has the better pawn structure and more coordinated pieces. Black should try f5! but that leaves the king a little vulnerable and White can consider 21.e3 with ideas of g4!? ] 18...dxe4 19.fxe4 h6 Now the position is evenly balanced again although Black still has to be a bit more careful as his king isn't totally secure 20.ae1 b6 21.d1! A fine move which really puts the pressure on Giri and the talented young Dutchman isn't able to find the best continuation. exd4 [ 21...b1! seems to keep the balance as now Ne3 allows the exchange of rooks. White has the dangerous looking 22.f5+! gxf5 23.e3 xe1 24.xf5+ g8 but there doesn't seem to be more than a draw for W hite here, e.g. 25.xe1 h7 26.xh6+ g7 27.f5+ g8 A) 28.e3 is tricky but not decisive after e6 ( or 28...h8 29.g3 f6 ) 29.dxe5 hf8; B) 28.h6+ ] 22.cxd4 c5 23.f4! g5?! After this the f5 square is far too weak and Black is in trouble [ 23...cxd4 is best but Black is still under p re ssu re a f t e r 24.e5 g8 ( 24...xe5 25.xe5 xe5 26.xe5 e6 27.c5 b6 is also possible as Black should draw the ending with careful play.) 25.xf7+ h8 26.e6 although c5 keeps the game unclear ] 24.f5 be6 25.e5?! This is good but not crushing [ 25.d5! e5 26.f3 is even stronger as White can bring the knight to c3 to cover e4 before mounting a decisive kingside assault. Play might continue h8 27.f5 h7 28.h3 h5 29.d6 8e7 30.e3 and black's position is going to be broken by the arrival of a second knight to f5! ] 25...h8 26.h3 h7 [ 26...g4! looks odd but it was a better way to 1009

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 stay in the game. After 27.xh6+ h7 a1-h8 diagonal is blocked. 7.dxe5 ( 7.d5 28.h5 df6! 29.xf7 xd4+ 30.f2 should also be considered) 7...dxe5 8.xd8 xe5 31.xe5 xe5 White is still a lot xd8 9.g5 White should always be careful better but there is lots of work to do. ] before playing the lunge which loses control 27.f5 cxd4 28.xh6?! over a lot of key squares. fd7 10.b5 [ 28.d6 b8 29.f2! is hard to see but ( 10.d5= ) 10...a6 11.e3 b6 12.a3 Black's position is collapsing here, e.g. xe5 c6?! ( 12...c4! immediately favours Black) 30.xf7+ g7 31.xe5! xe5 32.xh6+ 13.xa7! c4 14.xc8 dxc8 15.b1 xf7 33.xh7+ e6 34.g4 ( 15.0-0-0! is a better way to hold the b2 with a decisive attack. Admittedly this is pawn. ) 15...xe3 16.fxe3 c5 17.h4 d8 much easier to see with lots of time and a 18.h3 h6 19.gxh6 xh6 20.e2 d6 computer which is why W hite should've shows the lower rated White player holding preferred the simpler 25.d5! ] a draw comfortably, and indeed he's just a 28...xh6 29.xh6 xe5 30.f2 d3 pawn up in the final position 1/2-1/2 Suddenly Black has counterplay and it's not so Andreev-Chatalbashev, Plovdiv 2010. ] easy. 31.h3 e6 32.g3 d5 33.h1?! 6.g5N A wasted move that points to time-trouble [ 6.dxc5 is Nakamura-Hickl annotated by [ 33.d1 d6 34.d2 and White still has John Watson in the archives. a5 7.g2 good chances. ] ( 7.d3 is interesting where the game 33...d2! 34.e3 f5 35.b3 g7 36.bb1 finished unexpectedly quickly after xe4?? And here the players agreed to a draw. I 8.b5+ and the knight drops 1-0 Rogicsuspect Black was short of time here as well Ljubicic, Rabac 2003) 7...xc5 8.ge2 as with more time Giri might've played on with These positions are equal but both sides f4! 37.h3 f6 with a clear advantage. Still, ha ve ch a n ce s a nd yo u sh o uld h ave a n he can consider himself lucky to have understanding of the Dragon to play Black. escaped with the draw! Despite that fact I 0-0 don't think the positional 7.a4 leads to any A) 9.e3 c7 10.0-0 c6 11.f4 d7 real edge for White. 12.e2 a6 13.cd5 d8 14.c4 e6 ½-½ 15.c3 c7= 1-0 Sambuev-Ignatiev, St Petersburg 2001 ( 15...xc3!? 16.bxc3 ce5 would require White to get an 973 B07 initiative quickly as c4 is dropping ); B) 9.0-0 c6 10.e3 a5 11.f4 e6 Yudin,Sergei 2573 B1) In a later game, admittedly another Ajrapetjan,Yuriy 2525 b l i t z g a m e , N a k a m u r a p l a y e d 12.g5 9th Aeroflot Open A (7) 15.02.2010 h5 13.d5 xd5 The game wasn't [Gawain Jones] perf ect but Nakamura shows a good illustration of W hite's ideal plan. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.h3 g7 ( 13...xb2! 14.b1 g7 15.xb7 fb8 I think this is more sensible than 4... c6 which 16.xe7+ xe7 17.xe7 c4 ) we saw last month as here Black can break 14.exd5 b8 15.a3 d7 16.b1 fc8 with c5 immediately. 5.g4 17.h2 d8 18.b3 a5 19.a4 c5 [ If White doesn't like what he sees here then 20.c4 d7 21.f3 e6 22.dxe6 fxe6 he can transpose back into the Classical 23.xh5 gxh5 24.xc5 xc5 25.g3 with 5.f3 ] h4 26.e4 c6 27.h5 d5 28.f6+ 5...c5 xf6 29.gxf6 h8 30.g1 dxc4 [ 5...0-0 was also played recently 6.g2 e5 31.g2 f8 32.bg1 1-0 NakamuraI'm not totally happy with this move. If we Navrotescu, playchess.com 2005; compare this to an early h3 line against the B2) 12.d5 xd5 ( 12...d8 13.d2 Kings Indian, it's currently considered better a5 14.d4 xd5 15.exd5 c4 to play a Benoni style system with c5 rather 16.d3 b6 17.ae1 in this type of than e5, as g4 is more usef ul when the 1010

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 position it's awkward to come up with a plan for Black 1-0 Rodriguez Vila-Iermito, Villa Martelli 2008) 13.exd5 b4 14.c4 d7 15.a3 a6 16.d4 c7 17.c1 fe8 18.b4 etc. is 1-0 Nakamura-Hickl, playchess.com 2004 is in the archives. ] [ 6.ge2 cxd4 7.xd4 amusingly I've already annotated this position in my game Nokes-Jones which started off as a Dragon which if you subscribe to all sections you'll be able to see. The game continued c6 8.e3 d7 ( 8...xd4 9.xd4 a5 10.b5+ f8 was one line I looked at, in which I favoured White, although it's not so clear. ) 9.g2 e5 10.0-0 c4 11.c1 wh e n I p l a y e d a n i n a c c u r a c y w i t h b6 It's curious that the computer favours Black but White's position should be fully playable. White has to make sure he doesn't push g5 too early, a mistake which Roger made in our game. ] 6...fd7 7.d5 a6 The problem for White here is that he's never going to mate Black on the kingside. The idea behind h3-g4 is more to grab space than to mate black, something Y u d i n r e a l i s e d t o o l a t e . 8.h4?! Maybe marking it as dubious might be unfair but this plan doesn't work well at all. There is a problem once g5 has been played, though, that it's harder to find good squares for his pieces. [ 8.ge2 0-0 9.g3 b8 feels easier to p la y f o r B la c k h o we ve r, h e h a s lo gica l queenside play. ] 8...a5 9.d2 b4 10.h3 Way too artificial [ 10.ge2 is necessary, even if the pawn is edible xb2 11.b1 a3 12.h5 e5 when there's no real compensation for the pawn. ] 10...0-0 [ Now Black can't take 10...xb2 11.xa6 bxa6 12.b1 a3 13.b5! ] 11.b1?! This loses the centre but already it's hard to suggest a solution. [ Perhaps White had to try and go for broke with 11.h5 ] 11...xc3 12.xc3 xe4+ 13.e3 h1! You ha ve to be ca ref ul you d on't get th e queen trapped but it highlights how badly W hite's pieces coordinate. 14.f3 b6 15.xe7? This loses on the spot but the

posit io n is b eyon d salva tion a nywa y g4 and White resigned as he can't hold onto the knight as 16.Re3 Rae8 increases the pressure. A well played game by Black and the game displays how White can go wrong if he's not careful. 0-1

974 Yudin,Sergei Smirnov,Pavel 4th Open A Moscow RUS (7) [John Watson]

B07 2519 2599 08.02.2008

The game provides an active recipe to a setup that is slightly irritating to meet. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.g3 f6 5.g2 0-0 6.ge2 e5 7.h3 c6 8.a4 The usual move. [ A game just weeks ago showed that the m o v e o r d e r 8.e3 may not be the most accurate: b5!? 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.c5 xd1+ ( 10...e8! ) 11.xd1 e8 12.c1!? fd7 ( 12...a5! a n d . . . N a 6) 13.e3 ( 13.d6 b6 ) 13...a6 14.b3 b4? 15.d2 b6 16.a5 f8 17.0-0 c4 18.xc4 bxc4 19.f4 ( 19.fd1 e6 20.f4 l o o k s s t r o n g) 19...a6 20.fxe5 b8 21.a4 c3!? 22.bxc3 b5 23.fd1 e6 24.f1 a5 25.d8?! xd8 26.xd8 g7 27.xa6 xa4 28.d3 ( 28.c8! ) 28...xh3 29.a8 xa2 30.xa7 xa7 31.xa7 e6 with approximate equality. White even went on to lose in Khayrullin, D (2382) -Varavin, V (2427)/Kazan RUS 2008. ] 8...a5 [ 8...bd7 9.0-0 ( 9.a5 d5!? 10.exd5 exd4 11.xd4 e8+ 12.e3 cxd5 13.0-0 c5!? ) 9...b6 is Philidor-like. Black would like to play ...Qc7/...a6/..Bb7 and ...b5. ] 9.e3 A standard position that is sometimes called the Martinowsky System (well, named thus by me, many years ago). Black's next introduces a primitive plan that has no easy answer. a6! 10.0-0 [ 10.d2 b4 11.0-0-0! threatens dxe5 and isn't as risky as it may look. ] 10...b4 11.f4 [ 11.d2 e7 12.ad1 e6 13.f4 fd8 gives central counterplay. ] 11...h5!? 1011

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 11...e6 ] 12.g4 [ 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.d5 cxd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.exd5 f5 16.d6 is messy, but I prefer W hite just b ecause of th e d-pawn (an d chance for a timely g4). ] 12...xf4 13.xf4 exf4 14.xf4 f5!? [ 14...e6 would be safe and sound. ] 15.exf5 [ 15.gxf5! gxf5 16.d2 fxe4?! ( 16...e6 17.ae1 ) 17.xe4 f5 18.c3 ] 15...gxf5 16.g5 e6 Okay, Black's isolated fpawn is blockaded, but his pieces are active. 17.d2 d7 18.fe1 ae8 19.e2!? d5! 20.g3 e4 21.ac1 d5 22.c3 [ 22.xe4 xe4! 23.xe4 fxe4 24.h2 e6! intends ...e3, even after 25 c4. ] 22...c5 23.dxc5? xf4 24.xf4 e5 25.f2 xg3 26.xg3 f4 27.f2 f3 28.f1 d5 [ 28...e5! ] 29.cd1 xa4 30.c4 dxc4 31.d4 d3 32.xe8 xe8 33.xd3 cxd3 34.xd3 e4 White's position is too loose. 35.c3 f5 36.h2 e5+ 37.h1 e2 38.c2 e4 39.c3 f7 40.e3 xe3 0-1

975 Zagrebelny,Sergey Morozevich,Alexander Novgorod [Alexander Volzhin]

B07 2480 2595 1997

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c3 f6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 c5 7.h3 c6!? This move leads to very complicated play which is more typical of a King's Indian. 8.d5 a5 9.c4 [ White has also tried 9.a3 b6 10.d2 e6 11.c4 e8?! ( I wo u l d p r e f e r 11...e5 with mutual chances.) 12.e1 d7 13.b1 e5 14.xe5 xe5 15.f4 , and White is clearly better, Yusupov-Speelman, Munchen 1992. ] 9...e5 10.a3 b6 11.b4 b7 12.a2? It's very difficult to explain this move. In my opinion it's just a ridiculous one. [ T h e n a t u ra l 12.c3 should definitely be preferred with very complicated play. The transfer of the light-squared Bishop to a4 via

the c2-square seems the most logical idea in this position. ] 12...h8 13.g5 e8 14.c3 g8 15.b5?! White plays without any plan. As we'll see later the Knight is clearly misplaced here. d7 16.d2 f5 17.exf5 [ 17.f3 is the alternative to the text but Black has very easy play here: f4 ( 17...h6!? is a possible move since the exchange of dark-squared Bishops is one of Black's ideas. ) 18.h4 h6 19.f2 g5 intending ... h5, ...Nh6 ... Rg8 and finally ...g5-g4 with strong attack. It's not clear how White can stop it. ] 17...gxf5 18.c2 [ The typical 18.f4? is impossible in view of e4 19.e2 a6 , and Black wins a piece. ] 18...f7 19.b3 d7 20.bxc5 xb5! 21.cxb5 dxc5 It took Black less then 10 moves to completely outplay his opponent. White has a weak pawn on d5, all his pieces are uncoordinated while Black has an advantage in the center, a strong passed cpawn and a fantastic place for his "bad" knight on d6. 22.f3 d6 23.a4 f6 24.d2 [ 24.xf6 xf6 25.d2 g8 seems very bad f or W hite, but in the game Black is just winning. ] 24...xd5 25.d1 b4 26.aa1 c4 27.e2 xc2 28.xc2 f4 Black has a clear extra pawn as well as positional advantage, so the outcome of the game is beyond any doubt. 29.e4 e3 30.db1 h5 31.e7 g8 32.g4!? Th e last cha n ce . h6 Black is precise until the very end. [ Grabbing the pawn gave White counterplay After 32...xh3? 33.a2 g3+ 34.h1 the position is not clear at all! ] 33.h4 ae8 34.g5 e6 35.a2 h6 36.h2 f8 37.d2 g7 38.f2 d7 39.e2 g7 40.c6 d6 0-1

1012

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 976 Zhigalko,S Onischuk,V VIII Governor's Cup (6.2) [Tom Rendle]

B07 2682 2563 20.11.2012

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.d2 h6 6.h4 0-0!? [ 6...g5 7.g3 is more usual and has been examined in Motylev-Kasimzhanov and A lm a s i-M a rin . I t se e m s l ike W h it e h a s some advantage here. ] 7.0-0-0 c6 Since Black has not played g5 things are relatively safe on the kingside but now White has some interesting options 8.f4 [ 8.xf6 is interesting but Black has two playable options here xf6!? ( 8...exf6 9.h4 f5 10.h5 fxe4 11.hxg6 fxg6 12.xe4 d5 and Black has the two Bishops and a solid centre although the weaknesses on the kingside might give White some edge) 9.h4 ( 9.xh6?! e5! is awkward for White) 9...h5 with a tough position to assess, possibly White is better after 10.f4 e5 11.f3 g4 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.d5! closing down the h8a1 diagonal for Black's bishop. ] [ 8.f3 is also worth investigating. Play might continue b5 9.d3 b4 ( 9...bd7?! 10.e5! and White can open up Black's position with e5-e6!) 10.e2 a5 11.b1 bd7 12.he1 with balanced chances ] 8...b5 [ 8...a6!? has been tried here 9.f3 c7 10.d3 b5 11.f5 g5 12.g3 b4 13.a4 ( 13.e2 may be a better place for the knight if Black has to play ...g4) 13...a6?! and now in Smirin, I (2675)-Viskic, P (2234) Raba c 2 004 W hite could've ob tain ed a large advantage with ( 13...g4 is probably best although White is better after 14.h4 ) 14.e5! e.g. fd5 15.f6? exf6 16.exd6 b5 17.c5 c8 18.xb5 cxb5 19.d3 and Black's position is pretty miserable ] [ 8...c7 led to interesting play in Chernyshov, K (2585)-Velikhanli, F (2322) Abu Dhabi 2004 9.f3 b5 10.e5 b4! 11.exf6 bxc3 12.xc3 exf6 13.d5 and here A) 13...c5?! was played in the game and W hite won after 14.xf6 xf6 15.xf6 d7 16.c3 ( 16.e7! was stronger)

16...b6 17.b5 b7 18.f5 xd5 19.d2 g7 20.he1 ab8 21.c4 b6? ( 21...f6 22.xd6 xd6 23.xd6 fe8 and Black has some slim drawing chances ) 22.f6+! h7 23.g5+ hxg5 24.xg5 h8 25.d3 xg2 26.xg2 xc4 27.h3+ 1-0; B) 13...f5 would've given Black reasonable chances, for example 14.f6 xf6 15.xf6 cxd5 16.h4 h5 and it's not clear how White progresses from here and Black will have time to complete development with good chances ] 9.d3 [ 9.e5!? must be critical but Black seems to be doing fine after A) 9...b4 is also interestin g 10.a4?! ( 10.exf6! bxc3 11.xc3 xf6 12.xf6 exf6 13.f3 should've been preferred when White has a slight edge) 10...d5 11.c4 a5 was better for Black in Ko ba lia, M (26 20 ) -K uzmin, G (25 27 ) Moscow 2002; B) 9...dxe5! 10.fxe5 ( or 10.dxe5 xd2+ 11.xd2 b4! ) 10...d5 11.xd5 xd5 12.xe7 xa2 with balanced chances ] 9...b4! 10.ce2 a5 11.b1 bd7 Black is absolutely fine here and moreover I th in k he h a s th e e a sie r p o sit io n to p la y. 12.f3 [ 12.a3 is the way my computer initially wants to play but most players are rightly wary of opening up lines in front of their king - for example here after c7! 13.axb4 ( or 13.xb4?! c5! when Black is definitely on top ) 13...a5 14.b5 ( 14.bxa5?! is far too gr e e d y. A f t e r xa5 Qa7 is coming with a st ro n g a t t a ck) 14...cxb5 15.f3 b7 Black has excellent chances ] 12...b8 13.a1 c5 14.e5 d5 15.dxc5 xc5 16.c4 b6 17.b3 e8 18.ed4 b7 19.e6 f5 20.hg1 ba4 21.e3? e4?! [ 21...xb3+! 22.cxb3 c5 is surprisingly strong, for example 23.d2 d5 24.b1 b6 and White is completely lost ] 22.d2 xb3+ 23.2xb3 d5 24.d2 bc8 [ 24...b6! was also very strong ] 25.g4 fxg4 [ 25...xb2 26.xb2 c3 27.f2 f3! 1013

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 was perhaps what both players had missed 28.e2 xb3+ 29.axb3 xd4+ 30.c1 a5! 31.xd4 a1+ wins the house! ] 26.xg4 c4 27.g1 ec8 [ 27...xb2! is again crushing ] 28.e1 f5 29.xe7 xb2! Finally the breakthrough comes 30.xb2 [ 30.d8 is White's best try but unfortunately i t f a i l s t o xd4! ( 30...xd8?! 31.xb2 isn't 100% clear) 31.xd4 c4 32.f2 xd8 ] 30...xc2+ 31.a1 8c3 32.xc2 xe3 33.c8+ h7 34.d1 xb3 A nice game from Onischuk and 6...0-0 deserves more practical tests. 0-1

977 Adams,Michael Bosboom Lanchava,Tea 4th Staunton Mem (6) [Andrew Martin]

B08 2732 2389 19.08.2006

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e3 c6 5.d2 b5 6.f3 f6 7.d3 0-0 I am not too f on d of th is p articular lin e f or B la ck. White's position is very flexible and he can adapt to any changes in the pawn structure that Black may bring about. One could say th a t L a n c ha va p la ys 't h e m a t ically' h e re , developing and then challenging W hite's centre with ...e7-e5, but she never really equalizes. Further evidence that this is the most dangerous system that Black has to face in the Pirc and why W hite's easy plan is so popular. 8.h3 bd7 9.0-0 c7 10.e2! Scorched earth on the queenside. W hite regroups his Knight and prepares a2-a4! e5 Black has to try this. 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.a4! If Black cannot reply to this move with ....b5b4, then the position is very passive. b7 13.g3 a6 14.c4 bxc4N [ 14...fd8 does not help: 15.cxb5 cxb5 16.axb5 axb5 17.xa8 xa8 18.xb5 xe4 19.xe4 xe4 20.d1 f5 21.g5 f6 22.d5+ h8 23.xe5 1-0 Zufic, MTrtanj, T/Umag 2005 ] 15.xc4 c5 16.c2 ac8 17.ac1 Adams is at his merciless best when he is ganging up on weaknesses. White's overall

plan in this line is Kingside attack, but there is no reason why he may not change tack if Black tries too hard to get active play d6 18.fd1 e7 19.h4 The attack begins with a traditional softening up of the King with h4-h5. [ 19.a5 fixing a6, was also possible. ] 19...g4 [ 19...h5 20.g5 ( 20.d2; 20.a5 All roads lead to Rome. )] 20.g5! f6 21.e2 b8 22.f1 h6 23.e3! A nuance which Lanchava may have overlooked. Exchanges favour White thanks to his better pawn structure. hxg5 [ 23...xe3 24.xe3 xe4 25.xh6 xf3 26.xf3 fd8 27.h5 ] [ 23...xg5 24.hxg5 xe3 25.xe3 h5 26.d5! Switching to positional mode. xd5 27.xd5 d7 28.cd1 ] 24.xg4 gxh4 25.e3 g7 26.g5 xg5 27.xg5 It is easy to miss assess this position, particularly for computer programs. White is manifestly better thanks to his d-file control and threats on f7. c7 28.d6 c8 29.h2 c6 30.cd1 h6 [ It appears that alternatives are not working: 30...f6 31.xf7 xf7 32.xf6! ( 32.xc6? xc6 33.d6 a5 ) 32...cxf6 33.d8+ g7 34.xf7 xf7 ( 34...xf7 35.xc8 d7 36.f3 b6 37.c7 e8 38.xh4 xb2 39.c6! ) 35.xc8 b7 36.xc5 ] [ 30...h3 31.xf7 xf7 32.d8+ f8 33.e8! ] [ 30...a5 31.xf7 xf7 32.d8+ f8 33.e8 ] 31.xf7! xf7 32.xc6 xc6 33.d6 This time Rd6 is crushing. b7 34.xf7+ 1-0

978 Akopian,Vl Chatalbashev,B Bronstein Mem Open A 2014 (6.14) [Tom Rendle]

B08 2682 2522 16.02.14

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 g7 5.d2 c6 6.h3 0-0 7.f3 e5!? An unusual choice from Chatalbashev, perhaps aiming to be relatively solid in this position [ 7...b5 is more popular and can be found in the archives in Papa-Mamedyarov but since 1014

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 that was back in 2003 it's worth checking out a m o r e r e c e n t g a m e : 8.a3 ( 8.d3 was preferred by Papa) 8...bd7 9.d1 ( 9.e5!? is critical as ever but Black should be fine after e8! 10.h4 b6 11.h5 g4 ) 9...b7 10.e5 and now in Lozano, R (2102)Zu lu aga, C (2 36 1) Bo go ta 2 0 13 I t hin k Black could've obtained a comfortable game with dxe5 11.dxe5 d5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.e6 e5! and Black is very active here ( 13...fxe6 14.g5 f6 15.xb5 is perhaps a little better for White )] [ 7...bd7 8.d3 e5 9.0-0 b5 is also a standard way for Black to play but I feel W hite should have some advantage here after 10.dxe5 ( instead after 10.h6 exd4 11.xd4 b4 12.ce2 c5 13.f3 e5 14.xe5 dxe5 Black was completely OK in Dvoirys, S (2538) -Finkel, A (2500) Jerusalem 2013) 10...dxe5 11.e2! a5 12.a4 b4 13.c3! and Black's queenside is starting to look rather vulnerable ] 8.0-0-0 [ 8.dxe5 doesn't win a pawn but White might keep a slight edge here after dxe5 9.xe5 A) or 9...xd2+!? 10.xd2 e8 11.f4 h5 12.c4 e6 13.xe6 xe6 14.0-0-0 xe5 15.fxe5 d7 ( 15...xe5 16.g4 g7 17.g5! a6 18.f6 e6 19.e5 is obviously much better for White) 16.g4! g7 17.f4 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.d7 and White's rook on d7 gives him a very comfortable endgame; B) 9...xe4 10.xe4 xd2+ 11.xd2 xe5 12.0-0-0 but Black is still solid enough after d7 ] 8...exd4 [ 8...a5?! has been played before here but i t d i d n ' t w o r k o u t s o w e l l a f t e r 9.b1 ( 9.g4!? is also very dangerous) 9...bd7 10.dxe5 A) 10...xe5! is more testing but I still like White's position after 11.d4 ( 11.xd6?! xf3 12.gxf3 e6 isn't clear at all) 11...c7 12.b3!; B) 10...dxe5 11.d5! xd2 12.e7+ h8 13.xd2 b6 14.xc8 axc8 and n ow in Zh ou , Y (248 1)-Lo rn ije , F (2216) Sunny Beach 2013 White could've kept a very comfortable advantage with t h e s i m p l e 15.e2 cd8 16.g4

and W hite is in complete control of the game. ] 9.xd4 e8 10.f4 Akopian chooses the most aggressive but Black seems to be just about OK here [ 10.b1 was worth considering as a pawn sacrifice after xe4 ( 10...bd7 11.e3 xe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.xd6 a5 14.d2! is slightly better for White) 11.xe4 xe4 12.xg7 xg7 13.h4! ( 13.xd6?! xd6 14.xd6 d7 and Black is even a little better here) 13...h5 14.g5 e8 15.c3+ g8 16.d3 and White has a lot of compensation for the pawn here, largely due to his big lead in development and strong knight on g5. ] 10...b5!? A risky move as White has a couple of aggressive options but is seems Black gets counterplay in all lines [ 10...e7 was safer and perhaps more accurate as I don't see an edge for W hite here, for example 11.e3 f8 12.g4 ( or 12.h4 bd7 ) 12...b5! 13.d3 bd7 14.g5 h5 15.h4 g7 and Black has the more dangerous attack ] 11.e5 This looks very dangerous but Chatalbashev shows Black is fine here with some great defence [ 11.c5! was the critical test of Black's last move a5 12.xd6 h5 13.g5! preventing ...b4 ( 13.d2 b4 14.b1 f6! 15.xb4 xa2 16.e5 d5 and Black has excellent play for just one pawn) 13...xc3 14.bxc3 d7 15.d3 xc3 16.e3 and I think White has some advantage with the two bishops, especially considering Black is missing his fianchettoed bishop on the kingside. Still W hite's queenside is vulnerable so it isn't completely clear! ] 11...h5! 12.h2 dxe5 13.xe5 d7 14.xg7 xg7 15.d3 a5! Black should be absolutely fine at this point 16.he1 xe1 [ 16...b4?! is tricky but inaccurate as after 17.e4 xa2 18.d6! a1+?! Black is much worse if he doesn't play this 19.d2 xb2 20.xc6 b8 21.b1 a3 22.a1 Black's queen is getting trapped and he's a piece down after b6 23.c4! b2 24.a2 e5 25.xb2 xc4+ 26.xc4 ] 17.xe1 c5 18.d6 xd3+ 19.cxd3 e6 20.e5?! 1015

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ W h it e s h ou ld set t le f o r t h e solid 20.a3 with rough equality here after b6 21.e4 e8 22.f4 d5 ] 20...b4! 21.xc6 g5+ 22.f4 h4! This wins an exchange but Akobian does a fantastic job of keeping up the pressure here 23.xe6 xe6 24.d5! [ 24.xb4?! xf4+ 25.xf4 xf4 and Black should eventually win the endgame ] 24...e1+ 25.c2 e2+ 26.b3 xd3+ 27.xb4 Amazingly there is no easy win for Black here and the queen and two knights are v e r y t h r e a t e n i n g a5+ 28.a4 g7?! The first mistake for Chatalbashev and his winning chances evaporate [ 28...e4+! 29.a3 g7 was the right way to do it as now checking on e5 would just exchange the queens. W hite should try 30.g4 but after a6! 31.f5! gxf5 32.gxf5 xf5 33.g3+ g5 34.c3+ f6 Black should be winning. Of course this was a lot easier for me to see with a computer! ] 29.e5+ h6 30.e3 f5?? A tragic blunder costs Black the draw as well [ 30...e4+! 31.xe4 c5+ 32.b5 xe4 is tough to assess but I would say that a draw is a fair result, e.g. 33.a4 d6+ 34.c5 e4+ 35.b5 d6+ 36.c5 ( 36.b6 is risky because of g5! 37.fxg5+ xg5 38.xa5 f4 and the kingside pawns are dropping for White ) 36...e4+= ] 31.xe6 a6 32.g4! [ Black is completely lost here, one nice finish would be 32.g4 g7 33.e7+ g8 34.e8+ g7 35.xf5+! gxf5 36.e7+ g8 37.g5+ A) or 37...f8 38.f6+ e8 ( 38...g8 39.e7# ) 39.e7#; B) 37...h8 38.f6+ g8 39.e7#; C) 37...f7 38.e5+ winning the queen ] 1-0

979 Anand,Viswanathan Chernin,Alexander Masters Rapid rapid (4.1) [Nigel Davies]

B08

31.10.2001

Some more theory on the'150 Attack', which is now appearing at top GM level. Although this game was a rapidplay encounter, it was well played by both sides and has some theoretical importance. Anand's 10.h3 looks relatively harmless but requires accurate defence by Black. 1.e4 g6 [ Chernin rarely plays this way, almost invariably choosing a standard Pirc Defence with 1...d6 2.d4 f6 etc. His choice of a 'Modern' on this occasion, was probably influenced by the time limit. ] 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 [ After 3...c6 4.c4 d6 (Short â (+) Klaver, Simultaneous Display, Glenvista 2001) Nigel Short demonstrated great maturity with the continuation 5.b3 ( In his youth he played 5.f3!? , in the great tradition of Lancastrian chess ) 5...f6 6.e2 e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.f4 h5 ( White's last move is quite difficult to meet, as if 8...0-0 there follows 9.fxe5 g4 10.e6 etc. ) 9.fxe5 xe5 10.f3 g4 11.xf7+ f8 12.b3 g7 13.c4 f8 14.xe5 h4+ 15.g3 xg3 16.h6+ xh6 17.xg4+ h5 18.0-0-0 g5+ 19.b1 xh1 20.xh1 b5 21.d4 c5 22.d6 d8 23.f6+ 1-0 Short N-Klaver C/ Glenvista Simul 2001 (23) ] 4.e3 a6 5.f3 [ Playing much more quietly than he did against me in Moscow 1987. That historic encounter went 5.h4 f6 6.f3 b5 7.d2 b7 8.0-0-0 h5 9.h3 bd7 10.b1 c8 11.e1 e5 12.d5 c6 13.dxc6 xc6 14.g5 c7 15.d2 xc3!? 16.xc3 xc3 17.bxc3 d5 with compensation for the exchange. ] 5...f6 6.d2 b5 7.h6 0-0 8.xg7 xg7 9.d3 c6 10.h3 [ Anand adopts a quiet treatment, hoping to e xp l o it t h e s l i gh t we a k n e s s o f B l a c k ' s queenside pawns. 10.e5 was played in the game Emms - Pein, given as a note within Kosakov - Chernin from the July update. ] 10...e5 11.d5 e7 12.0-0 b7 13.a4 c6 1016

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.dxc6 xc6 15.axb5 axb5 16.xa8 xa8 17.xb5 xb5 18.xb5 xe4 19.d3 c6 20.d1 b8 21.c4 W hite hopes to make something of this position because of the well-supported knight on b5 and pressure on the d-file. b6 22.b3 a6 23.e2 f6 24.fd4! A nice combination. But Chernin finds a way to bail out into a drawish rook endgame. exd4 25.f3 d5 26.fxe4 dxc4 27.xd4 b6 28.xc4 c6 29.xc6 xc6 30.xc6 xc6 31.b1 Getting his rook behind the passed pawn. But it isn't enough to win. e6 32.b4 xe4 33.b5 e7 34.f2 f7 35.b6 b7 36.e3 e6 37.d4 d6 38.h4 c6 39.c4 f5 40.b2 xb6 41.xb6+ xb6 42.d5 c7 43.e6 f4 44.e5 [ After 44.e5 c6 45.xf4 d5 46.g5 ( or 46.g4 h6 ) 46...e4 47.h6 f4 48.xh7 g4 49.xg6 xh4 Black will pick up the g-pawn. ] ½-½

ed8! 21.c5 f6 22.ee1 xc5 23.xc5 xb2 24.ab1 d4 and a draw was soon agreed. ] 13...f4! 14.c4 f6! Black already has the better chances. White's main problem is the bad position of his dark-squared Bishop. 15.d6 [ N o w W h i t e h a s n o t i m e f o r 15.dxc6? in view of g4! 16.cxb7 ad8! destroying White's Kingside. ] [ 15.xe5 6xd5 16.xd5 xe5 17.f3 f5 and Black's minor pieces are more active than their White counterparts. ] 15...g4! 16.e4 [ 16.h3 xf3 17.xf3 d8 intending a7-a5, b7-b5 etc. ] 16...xe4 17.xe4 d8! 18.f1 f6 19...Nh3 is a nasty threat. 19.e3 e4 20.e1 h3+ 21.h1 h6 22.e2 e6 23.gxh3 xf3+ 24.g2 xe2 25.xe2 f8 26.xe4 xd6 0-1

980

981

Asrian,Karen Kasimdzhanov,Rustam Yerevan [Alexander Volzhin]

B08 2575 2600 1999

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c3 f6 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 This line is also in fashion now. 7.e1 c7 8.f4 bd7 9.e5 h5 10.g5 Before this game this line was considered to be dangerous for Black but here he finds new resources. dxe5! 11.xe7 e8 12.d5 b6 [ The exchange sacrifice looks insufficient: 12...xe7 13.d6 d8 14.dxe7 xe7 15.e4 f8 16.c4 b6 17.b3 g7 18.g3 g4 19.h3 xf3 20.xf3 xg3 21.xg3 with a clear edge for White as in Popovic-Damljanovic, Jugoslavija 1992. ] 13.a3 [ 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.a3 as was played in Savon-Chernyshov, Podolsk 1992 seems more precise, but after e4! 15.c4 hf6 16.g5 e5 17.cxe4 g4! Black is OK: 18.xf6+ ( 18.e2?! ad8 19.c1 xe4 20.xe4 xe2 21.xe2 c4 is excellent for Black.) 18...xf6 19.d6 xg5 20.xe5

Benjamin,Joel Gufeld,Eduard National Open (6) [Nigel Davies]

B08

19.03.2000

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e3 0-0 6.d2 g4 7.g5 f6! [ This is much better than 7...h6 8.h4 g5 ( 8...c6 is possible) 9.g3 e5 10.dxe5 xe5 11.xe5 dxe5 12.xd8 xd8 13.d5 d7 14.h4 Glek - Heck, Bad Zwesten 1999 ] 8.h4 h6! [ 8...c6 9.d3 a6 ( 9...h6 can now be met by 10.e2 ) 10.0-0 c7 11.h3 h6 12.d5 was better for White in Reinderman Oosterom, Groningen 1998 ] 9.d1 [ G u f e l d p o i n t e d o u t t h a t 9.c4+ can be answered with d5 ] 9...g7 10.c4+ h8 11.e2 a6! Often a useful move for Black in the Pirc and Modern, it discourages queenside castling by White. 12.a4 c6 13.d1 h6 14.d5 [ White should play 14.h3 when the position is p ro b a b ly a b o u t e qu a l . N o w B l a c k i s 1017

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 already slightly better. ] able to achieve more than the slightly better 14...e5 15.xe5 fxe5 16.f3 g8! 17.0-0 side of a draw. 14.d3 c3 15.e1 e4 f6 18.d2 d7 19.b3 e8 20.a5 h6 16.xe4 xe4 17.xe4 f5 18.c4 xa1 21.f2 g5 22.e3 19.xa1 e8 20.e1 xe1+ 21.xe1 e7 [ White should try to stop Black's attack with 22.f1 d6 23.d3 c5 24.e2 b6 22.g4 . Now things start to get serious. ] 25.d2 f8 26.a6 c7 27.c4 d6 22...h5 23.e2 g6 24.h3 f4 25.xf4 28.a6 e7 29.g4 e4 30.a5 c7 gxf4 26.f2 f7 27.h2 f6 28.g1 h5 31.axb6 axb6 32.c4 e7 33.f4 f6 29.c4 g8 30.e1 fg7 31.f1 g5 34.c3 c6 35.f5 g5 36.a6 c7 32.d2 g6 33.g4 fxg3+ 34.xg3 h5 37.a1 g7 38.e1 a7 39.e3 d5 35.g2? 40.h4 h6 41.hxg5 hxg5 42.g3 [ W hite's last chance was to play 35.d3 and draw agreed in Diesen, M-Planinec, A/ but then xg3 36.xg3 g5 37.b3 f7 Hastings 1974. ] 38.xb7 f4 39.xf4 xf4+ is winning ] 14...e6 35...xg3 36.xg3 xg3 37.xg3 h4 [ The plan of preparing e5-e4 at once A neat finale. re b o u n ds a f t e r 14...c5 15.c4! e4?! 0-1 16.g5 e7 17.xf7+ f8 18.f4! ] 15.d1 e8 16.a5 e7! Onischuk offers the a7 pawn in order to infiltrate on c3 with his 982 B08 knight, after which his kingside pawns get Bernadskiy,V 2358 rolling. 17.xa7? [ White should have restrained the black Onischuk,Vladimir 2483 p a w n s w i t h 17.d3 c5 ( If 17...g5 Vasylyshyn Mem (7) 01.12.2009 18.xg5 xg5 19.f4! ) 18.fe1 [Neil McDonald] with a dynamic balance. ] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 c6 3.c3 d6 4.f3 g7 17...c3! 18.de1 e4 19.h2 d8 20.e3 5.h3 f6 6.e2 0-0 7.0-0 bd7 8.a4 d4 [ A p r o m i s i n g a l t e r n a t i v e w a s 20...d6 A standard move that restrains Black from intending f5-f4, or even Qd2 in some gaining space with 8...b5. e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 cases. ] 10.b3 White's play so far might seem u n o b t r u s i v e , b u t i t c o u l d g a i n h i m a 21.f4 g5 22.g3 f5 23.c4 xc4 stranglehold on the d file if his opponent is 24.bxc4 g7? [ More energetic was 24...f4 25.g4 e3 careless. For example, if allowed Ba3 26.fxe3 xe3+ 27.h1 e4 threatening a combined with the manoeuvre Nd2, Nc4 and killer check on g3. ] Nd6 and then Bc4 would place Black in a hopeless bind. Therefore an active response 25.h4 h6 [ The immediate 25...g4 was preferable. ] i s r e q u i r e d . c5!? Black prepares an exchange sacrifice than was introduced by 26.h1 h7 [ And here Black can keep up his attacking the famously wild tactician Albin Planinc. momentum with 26...e5 27.e3 g4 ] [ Instead he could divert the bishop from g o i n g t o a 3 w i t h 10...a5 11.d2 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.f4 g4?! This only leads to ( W h i t e s h o u l d i n v e s t i g a t e 11.d2!? ) perpetual check. [ Onischuk might have tried to eke out a win 11...c7 when Black gained counterplay in the endgame after 28...h8! 29.xg5 based on 12...Nh5 and 13... Nf4 in Chytilek, xg5 30.fxg5 g6 31.g3 e5 32.g2 R-Chatalbashev, B/Pardubice 1997. ] xa4 ] 11.a3 fxe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.xf8 xf8 An extra centre pawn and an 'Indian' 29.h4+ h6 30.xd8 g3 Now mate on h2 b i s h o p wi t h n o r i va l i s n o r m a l l y e n o u g h can't be prevented by direct means, but31.d7+ g8 compensation for the exchange. 14.e1 [ The black king can't escape the checks for [ In the following example Black got the example 31...g8 32.e8+ g7 33.e7+ exchange back straightaway, but he wasn't 1018

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h8 34.e8+ h7 35.f7+ h8 ( for if 35...g7?? 36.xf5+ g8 37.h3 and Black is lost. )] ½-½

983 Casper,Thomas Pavlovic,Milos 16th Monarch Assurance (9) [John Watson]

B08 2421 2541 30.09.2007

Is Black's 6th move underestimated? There doesn't seem much against it, and it's quite a mystery that the move hasn't been seen more often. It's amazing how top-level players have gone wrong early on as White. See also the note to move 7, where Black avoids a problem in a standard variation. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.c3 g7 4.f3 f6 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 c5!? This is rarely played, for what seem like obvious reasons, i.e., W hite gets a lead in development. Still, he has no obvious place for his pieces. This simple problem throws W h i t e c o m p l e t e l y o f f b a l a n c e . 7.dxc5 Natural, but maybe it doesn't lead to anything! [ 7.d5 is something that could have arisen by 1 d4 c5 (or 1...Nf6 2 Nf3 c5 3 d5 g6 4 Nc3) 2 d5 Nf6 3 Nc3 etc. W hite is held to stand somewhat better. There's a big difference, however: With those orders, White generally has the chance for a disrupting Bb5+, and indeed this is considered the best way to advantage. But here that move has been eliminated. ] 7...dxc5 8.xd8 Surely White should have some small edge, one might think, yet he has no entry squares. [ Maybe 8.e3 is better, since b6 A) Instead, 9.e5 g4 10.d5! xd5 ( 10...xe3?! 11.xa8 xf1 12.xb8 ) 11.xd5 c6! seems to equalise, for example, 12.g5 ( 12.b5 cxe5! ) 12...b7 ( 12...gxe5 13.fe1 is u n c le a r) 13.fe1 cxe5 14.xe7+ h8 15.xe5 xe5 16.f4 (Gligoric thinks that White has a small advantage, but I doubt it) c6!? ( 16...f6! 17.h4 ae8! is at least equal) 17.f3 a5 18.xb7 xb7 19.c3 f6?! ( 19...h6 20.h4 fd8 ) 20.h4 ad8 21.e2 d7

22.f5! with a powerful initiative, Gligoric, S (2560)-Quinteros, M (2545), Bled 1979; B) 9.c1!? is a try, intending moves like Bh6, Rd1, and e5. Black is probably okay a n d ye t n e e d s t o wo r k t o m a i n t a i n a balance b7 B1) 10.e5 d5 ( 10...g4 11.e6! ) 11.h6 c6 12.d1 xc3 13.bxc3 c7 14.xg7 xg7 15.f4 ad8; B2) 10.d1 c8 11.h6!? ( 11.d5 c6 12.e5 xd5 13.xc6 xc6 14.exd5 1/2-1/2 Zarnicki, P (2487)-Gulko, B ( 2 6 0 2 ) , C a l i 2 0 0 1 .) 11...xe4 12.xg7 xg7 13.xe4 xe4 14.e3 f5! 15.d2 - with the idea Ng5 - h6 16.ad1 c6= ] 8...xd8 9.e3 b6 10.ad1 c6 11.d5? Confusion. You might think that it's strange for a 2400+ player to blunder in this way, but no less that Robert Huebner and Pavel Blatny did the same. Even top players can react poorly to an unfamiliar situation. W hite should play simply [ 11.xd8+ xd8 12.d2!? ( 12.d1 b7 13.d2 hopes for a minor pull. But it's probably nothing.) 12...c6 13.h3 e8 14.d5 b7 15.c3 e6 16.f4 d8= Horvath, J (249 5)-Spee lman , J (26 45), Rotterdam 1988. Black went on to win. ] 11...xd5 Of course. Black wins material. [ 11...xe4?? 12.xe7+ was White's point. ] 12.exd5 [ 12.xd5 xd5 13.exd5 b4 ] 12...b4 13.c3?! But the two GM games didn't work out well either after [ 13.g5 f6 ( 13...xd5 14.xe7 e8 15.xd5 e6! also gives a big advantage to Black) ) 14.h4 ( 14.f4 xd5 15.d2 f7 16.b5 b7 and Black was simply pawn and position up in Blatny, P (2515)Ribli, Z (2590), Austria 1995) 14...xd5 15.fe1 b7 16.c3 f4 17.c4+ f8 18.g3 h6 , again with an extra pawn and much better position, Huebner, R (2560)Beim, V (2555), Frankfurt 1998. Amazing! ] 13...xd5 14.c4? Probably played in sheer disgust. a6! 15.c1 b4 16.a3 a2 A little early, yet White is quite lost. 0-1

1019

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 984 Cuartas,Jaime Alexander Cruz,F 34th Open Sitges ESP (6) [John Watson]

B08 2495 2416 27.07.2008

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.f3 g7 4.c3 f6 5.e2 c6 6.a4 b6!? Stopping a5, but at the c o s t o f t i m e . 7.0-0 a6!? Black plays in Philidor-Defence style, rendering a5 harmless due to ...b5, and preparing for . ..b5 himself, perhaps following ...Bb7. But as you might imagine, this is all rather slow, and castling first must be better. 8.e1 [ White should play e5 soon, if not immediately: 8.e5 dxe5 ( 8...d5 9.e4 ) 9.xe5 b7 ( 9...0-0 10.f3 b7 11.f4 ) 10.c4!? ( or 10.a5! b5 11.f3 ) 10...0-0 11.g5 bd7 12.e1 with a classical advantage in space and activity, although this may be playable for Black. ] 8...0-0 9.h3 [ Or 9.e5! ] 9...c7 [ 9...b7 is more accurate, because 10.e5 dxe5 11.xe5 bd7 doesn't land Black in the fix that he now gets into. ] 10.e5! dxe5 11.dxe5!? [ 11.xe5! would yield a bigger advantage than this. ] 11...d8 [ White can't help but like 11...fd7 12.e6! fxe6 13.c4 c5 , for example, 14.e3 ( or 14.g5 d6 15.g4 ) 14...bd7 15.d4! ] 12.d3 d5 [ Or 12...fd7?! 13.e6 fxe6 14.e2 f8 15.c4 ] 13.xd5 cxd5 14.f4 c6 15.d2 e6?! Quite a concession of dark squares. Black should probably try [ 15...e6 16.g5 c8 , although naturally White stands better. ] 16.h4! b7 17.h5 It's hard to believe that B l a c k wi l l s u r vi ve t h i s . d4!? 18.hxg6 A little cooperative. [ 18.e4! or ] [ 18.h6 h8 ( 18...f8 19.g5 d7 20.f4! has several ideas, including Nh2g4. ) 19.e4! are both very strong. ] 18...hxg6

[ 18...fxg6!? 19.c4 e8 ] 19.g5? An awful oversight. Among other moves, [ 19.e4 was good. ] 19...xe5! From being hopelessly cramped, Black suddenly has a pawn for the exchange, with two unopposed centre pawns, and for the time being, he has the bishoppair. 20.xe5 xe5 21.xd8 xd8 22.e4 f6!? [ S a v i n g t h e b i s h o p p a i r b y 22...c8!? is an idea otherwise ] [ 22...xe4 23.xe4 c8 should be considered. ] 23.xb7 xb7 24.a3! c6 25.f4 [ 25.f3 g7 26.b3 ] 25...e5 26.f3 e6?! [ Even 26...c8 27.xc6 xc6 is close to equal, since Black can play ...f5 and centralise his king. ] 27.d3 [ 27.b7 a5 28.f4!? ] 27...g7 28.c3 [ 28.b7! a5 29.b3 d6 30.f4 Qb7 is strong on the next move as well. The following moves aren't necessarily best, but neither side breaks the fundamental balance for a while. ] 28...d6 29.g3 h8 30.cxd4 exd4 31.c1 h5 32.c6 e5 33.cd1 [ 33.xb6?? e4 ] 33...e2 34.b3 b5 35.axb5 axb5 36.3d2 e7 37.g2 c5 38.a8 e6 39.d3 c8 40.b7 c3! 41.xb5? e4+ 42.g1?! [ But 42.f1 h1+ 43.e2 c2+ 44.1d2 c7 makes it hard for White to defend: 45.d1 g2 and ...Re7+. ] 42...c8? [ 42...e2! has killing threats. White's best is 43.h1 ( 43.b4 c2 44.f1 d2 wins ) 43...xf2 44.xc3 dxc3 45.d3 b2 and Black will soon pick up the b-pawn with ongoing threats. ] 43.a5! h8 44.f3 e6 45.d2! W hite is in control again. W hat follows is tragicomic, and doubtless due to time pressure. f5 46.f2 h3 47.g2 g5 48.b4? [ 48.f4 g4 49.b4 ] 48...h8? [ 48...e5! 49.f4 xf4! 50.gxf4 xd3 51.xd3 xd3 52.xg5+ with a perpetual. ] 1020

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 49.f2 S yr t la n o v, S co t la n d 1 9 9 5 ) I p re f e r t h e [ 49.f4! ] immediate 9.0-0-0 in order to meet 49...h3 50.g2 e6? 51.f4 b8 52.d2 ( Hebden played 9.h4 h5 10.0-0-0 a6 g4 53.f1 e8 54.f2 a f t e r wh ic h 11.e5 would be met by dxe5 [ 54.df3! wins. ] 12.dxe5 g4 ) 9...a6 10.e5 dxe5 54...e2 55.f3 e6 56.fxg5? xg5 11.dxe5 g4 12.xa6 bxa6 13.he1 57.f2 e3 58.xe3? xe3 59.g2 xf2 threatening 14 h3. ] 60.xf2 c4 61.a3? c2+ 62.f3 d3 [ 7...e5 8.xg7 xg7 9.dxe5 dxe5 63.a1+ g6 64.a6+ h7 65.b5? 10.xe5 e7 11.f4 d8 12.d3 e2+ 66.f4 f2+ 67.g4 d4+ 68.f3 le f t B la c k wi t h n o t h in g f o r t h e p a wn i n d2 69.h5+ g7 70.g5+ Godena - Manca, Saint Vincent 1999 ] 0-1 8.xg7 [ 8.0-0-0 bd7 9.xg7 xg7 10.e5 d5 11.exd6 exd6 12.xd5 cxd5 13.f4 xf3 985 B08 14.xf3 g5+ 15.b1 f6 was quite good for Black in Speelman - Piket J, Tilburg 1992 Degraeve,Jean Marc - the doubled d-pawns are not a problem for Ponomariov,Ruslan Black and his queen and knight make a Hastings (England) (3) 1998 good team. ] [Nigel Davies] 8...xg7 9.g5 h6 10.h3 c8 [ After 10...h5 (Hennigan - Krasenkov, 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c3 f6 Hastings 1994) White can get a tremendous 5.e3 0-0 6.d2 c6 A lot of the more solid a t t a c k w i t h 11.xf7! xf7 12.g4 breed of Pirc players have this move as their , so Ponomariov's move looks like the only stock response to a variety of White plans. I way to go. ] tend to try and leave this square for my knight o n b 8 - o r i f I w a n t t o e x p a n d o n t h e 11.f3 a5 12.e5 dxe5 13.xe5 bd7 queenside expand with ...a6 and ...b5. That 14.g4 xg4 [ 14...h5 15.h6+ g8 16.c4 is nasty. ] way my light squared bishop gets to attack e4 from b7, and I also get the chance to go for ... 15.hxg4 h8 16.f3 f6 17.c4 b5 18.b3 c7-c5 in one move (rather than ...c6-c7-c5). b7 19.0-0-0 c5 20.g5 After this the game 7.h6 Exchanging off the dark-squared heads towards a double-edge endgame. [ After 20.dxc5 Black plays b4 when 21.d5 bishop can be use as a prelude to either xd5 22.xd5 ad8 is good for him. ] mega-violence (castling long and charging up the right flank) or the more gentle approach of 20...hxg5 21.xg5 cxd4 22.xh8 xh8 Bd3, 0-0, Ne2 etc. g4 With storm clouds 23.xb5 xb5 24.xb5 h2 25.e1 f8 gathering around Black's king, I definitely 26.xd4 xg2 27.a4 f2 28.c6 xc6 prefer the look of development and play in the 29.xc6 xf3 [ 29...e6 30.e3 looks more passive. centre. Ponomariov, like every Russian schoolboy, [ 7...b5 looks slightly too laid back to me, decides to push his passed pawns. ] and in fact White developed strong pressure in Sadler - Szmetan, Buenos Aires 1985 30.xe7 f1+ 31.d2 g5 32.e1 f4 after 8.d3 g4 ( 8...bd7 allowed 9.e5 33.xa7 g4 34.b5 d5 35.e5 b6 e8 10.xg7 xg7 11.h6 in Gallagher - 36.b3 d7 37.e2 f5 38.a4 g3 39.c7 Stro wsky , L yons 199 3, in wh ich W hit e g4 40.g2 f7 41.e2 e5 42.d5 developed a massive attack after e8 12.h4 e4+ 43.f1 e6 44.c4 f4 45.e2 d4 f8 13.h5 f5 14.hxg6 fxg6 15.0-0-0 d5 46.xf4+ xf4+ 47.g2 f5 48.e3 g4 16.g5 xd3 17.xd3 f5 18.h3 h5 49.f3 xf3 50.xf3 e5+ 51.xg3 e4 19.g4 etc. ) 9.xg7 xg7 10.g5 e5 11.h3 52.a5 c6 53.a6 d4 54.f4 c3 55.e4 c8 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.a4 b4 14.e2 a5 xb3 56.d5 b4+ 57.d6 xa6 58.c5 xc5 15.f4!? bd7 16.0-0 e7 17.f2 ] [ After 7...a5 8.xg7 xg7 (Hebden - ½-½ 1021

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.ac1 Although Black has b4 and b3 under surveillance Fercec retains his advantage. Fercec,Nenad xd3 17.xd3 b3 Pseudo- penetration. Rukavina,Josip Nothing is attacked. 18.d2! b7 19.b3 Hotel Opatija GM Nov, Rijeka (7) e8 20.c4 c7 21.d5! A nice move. If [Andrew Martin] Black takes, the c file opens up. If he pushes, 1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.c3 g7 4.e3 c6 b5 becomes weak and the Black Knights lack scope. c5 22.f4 a6 23.d2 ab8 5.d2 b5 6.d3 d7 7.f3 gf6 8.h3 [ 8.h6 xh6 9.xh6 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 24.d1! b6 25.de3 It's a Benko or a 11.h3 e7 is very reasonable for Black as King's Indian gone wrong. It's well known that long as White can't sacrifice a piece on b5 Black should try to exchange the Knights in and mate the Black King while he remains in su c h p o s i t i o n s - F e r c e c e n s u r e s t h a t h e the centre. No such sacrifice works here. cannot exchange them all. Meanwhile e4-e5 Ongoing plans for Black include ...b4,...Nc5 or f4-f5 looms . d4 26.h1 e6 27.dxe6 xe6 28.f5 f4 29.f1 h5 30.f3 or ...Nh5 etc ] xc4 31.xc4 c7 32.f1 8...0-0 9.0-0 c7?! [ Better was 32.g4 g7 ( 32...f6 33.g5 [ After 9...e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.a4 b4 d7 34.xa5 cb7 35.g4! e5 12.e2 produces a typical position. White's 36.xe5 dxe5 37.b4! ) 33.xa5 ] Bishop on d3 isn't too great but he does h a v e s o m e c h a n c e s t o p r o b e B l a c k ' s 32...cb7 33.fxg6 hxg6 34.g4 [ 34.xa5 e5 35.e1 f6 36.a5 a d v a n c e d Q u e e n s i d e p a w n s . c5 must also be good for W hite although it's ( 12...e7; 12...a5 are clearly also clear that Fercec wanted to end the game possible. ) 13.c3 b7 ( 13...a5 14.g3 here and now. Possibly Rukavina was in b7 15.cxb4 axb4 16.fc1 b6 17.c4 time trou ble, which, with the new FIDE c6 18.b3 b7 19.g5 ) 14.cxb4 cxb4 time control is almost compulsory. ] 15.xb4 b8 16.a3 ( 16.xa7 xe4 17.xb8 xd3 18.xe5 xe2 19.c6 34...f6 35.e5 Yes, he is definitely trying to d5 20.d2 f6 21.xd5 xb8 22.fe1 put Black away. Rukavina now misses a shot . xc6 23.xe2 d4 is a complicated and d5? [ 35...xb3!! 36.xf6 b7+ 37.h2 e4 almost unfathomable variation of tactics. was a brilliant counterattack. W hite must No wonder Akopian avoided it!) 16...xe4 b a l e o u t wi t h a d r a w : 38.xf7+ h8 17.xe4 xe4 18.xa7 b7 19.e3 b8 39.f6+ g8 40.cc1 e2+ ] 20.c3 b3 21.e7 xc3 22.bxc3 b6 23.fd1 c4 24.c5 xc3 25.d7 b6 36.xa5 e4 37.xb7 g3+ 38.g2 26.b5 xa4 27.xb8 xb8 28.a7 b4 xf1 [ 38...xf1+ 39.xf1 xf1 40.xc5 xd2 29.d8+ f8 30.xe5 c7 31.b8 xb8 41.d7! leaves White material ahead. ] 32.xb8 c5 33.c1 e6 34.xc7 xc7 35.d7 e6 36.xf8 xf8 37.h2 g7 39.d6 xb3 40.xf7+ h8 41.f8+ h7 38.g3 h5 39.f4 d7 40.d8 f6 42.h6+ A typical Modern 'mess' which, when 41.e5 g8 42.xg8+ xg8 43.f6 f8 combined with a fast time limit gives great 44.h4 g8 45.f4 f8 46.f5 gxf5 47.xf5 entertainment but not very correct chess. As e7 48.g5 e6 49.xh5 f5 50.g3 f6 far as the opening is concerned I don't like 9... 51.g4+ 1-0 Akopian,V-Azmaiparashvili,Z/ Qc7 that much. 9...e5 is straightforward and gives more options Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (51) ] 10.a4 b4 11.e2 a5 12.c3 bxc3 13.xc3 1-0 B l a c k h a s t o b e c a r e f u l t h a t h i s c p a wn doesn't become exposed. He's a little bit worse simply due to development and the centre-basic chess. It's pretty clear that White has demonstrated that the Black queen isn't ideal on c7 . a6 14.fc1 b8 15.c2 c8 986

B08 2500 2390 2002

1022

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 987

B08

Forum Pirc Be3/h3 line N,N [John Watson] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.h3 [ 5.e3 may be more accurate, but it will transpose for our purposes after 0-0 6.h3 ] 5...0-0 6.e3 This attack has driven Black c ra zy f o r m a n y ye a rs n o w. Nige l Da vie s suggests an interesting solution: a6 7.a4 Certainly natural. If White allows ...b5, Black will be happy, regardless of whether he gets full equality thereby. c6 This is Davies' point (although I don't have his analysis in front of me): after d5, Black can now settle in on b4 in most cases, with activity. Otherwise, Black can think about ...e5. 8.e2 [ 8.d2 (harmless) and ] [ 8.d5 have been played here. Against the latter, I like 8...Nb4!, but Black has also played e5 with even results among strong players, ( even 8...a7!? has been tried )] 8...e5!? The problem with this is that now it's hard to avoid the standard Modern Defence/ King's Indian position in which W hite has pawns on e4/f3/g4 versus a Black knight on e7 (generally a poor square unless there are tactics). [ T h e r e f o r e I ' m i n t e r e s t e d i n 8...e8! (I'll give it a '!', to boost Black's spirits) a noncommittal move that holds out for ...e5 and ...Nd4, for example, A) 9.d5 b4 10.b1!? (with the idea c3, trapping Black's knight) ( 10.0-0 e6 ) A1) 10...fxd5!? 11.exd5 xb2 12.c3 ( 12.a3 xa3 13.xa3 e6 14.dxe6 xe6 ) 12...xa1 13.cxb4 e6 and probably Black's OK, but in practice I hate to play with the rook-and-twopawns versus two pieces in the middlegame; A2) 10...a5 11.c3 a6 12.bd2 e6 with equality.; B) 9.e5 d7 10.exd6 cxd6!? , when White has space, but Black has a central majority, for example, ( 10...exd6! 11.0-0 f6 is probably easier, when Black has nothing to fear) 11.0-0 f6 ( or 11...a5 12.e1 f6 ) 12.d5 b4 13.a5

f5 ( 13...e6 14.dxe6 xe6 may slightly favour White, but Black is active) 14.d4 d7 15.f3 c8 16.d2 c7 ( 16...c4!? ) 17.cb5 axb5 18.xb4 c4 and Black should be content.; C) 9.0-0! e5! C1) 10.dxe5 xe5 ( 10...dxe5 11.xd8 xd8 12.c4 e6 13.xe6 fxe6 is also possible, with control over d5 and prospects of ...Nd4) 11.xe5 xe5 12.d3 d7 13.fd1 c6 14.f3 e8 with approximate equality; C2) 10.d5 d4 11.d2 ( 11.xd4 exd4 12.xd4 xe4 13.xg7 xg7 14.xe4 xe4 with full equality) 11...c5 ( 11...d7 has ideas of ...b5 and may also be satisfactory) 12.dxc6 xe2+ 13.xe2 bxc6 14.ad1 d5= 15.exd5 cxd5 16.xd5! ( 16.g5 d4 17.e4 b7 ) 16...xd5 17.c4 b7 18.cxd5 C2a) hitting a4 and preparing to harass the d-pawn, as well as attack with the two bishops after ...f5. This is easier to play than 18...e4 19.d2 xd5 20.c4 xc4 21.xc4 c8 with near-equality. White's queenside majority is insuf f icient to win af ter 22.xc8 exc8 23.b4 ab8 24.b1! ( 24.d6 xb4 25.xa6 d4 ) 24...f5 ( 24...c4 ) 25.b5 axb5 26.axb5 b7 27.b6 f7; C2b) 18...d7! 19.d6 ac8 with active play and the two bishops for the pawn. 8...Re8 would be the m o ve I 'd p la y, if o n ly t o a vo id t h e mostly static structures that now arise: ] [ 8...e6 9.0-0 b6 and .. .Bb7 was played by Sturua. That's not my preference, but White can't bowl it over. ] 9.d5 [ 9.0-0 exd4 10.xd4 e8 and 10...Bd7 have both done well for Black, as has ] [ 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.xd8 xd8 ] 9...e7 [ 9...b4 is riskier now, but not necessarily bad that might be worth checking. ] 10.d2 Now ... c6 can be met by dxc6 and Nc4. Then the tradeoff ...a6 for a4 favours White because he wins the b6 square. [ 10.0-0 gives Black good play by either 1023

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h5 ( or 10...e8 with the idea ...f5 )] 10...e8 [ a) 10...d7 11.g4 f5 12.f3 f6 13.f2 is similar. ] [ b) 10...c6 was played in Mueller-Buhmann, L e i m e n 2 0 0 1 : 11.c4 ( 11.dxc6 looks okay for Black in the forcing line bxc6 12.c4 d5 13.exd5 fxd5 14.c5 xc3 15.xd8 xd8 16.xe7 e8 17.b6 b8 18.xc8 xe2 19.xe2 xb2 ) 11...cxd5 A) Rybka likes 12.b6! and you can see why after d7 13.exd5 f5 14.0-0 ( 14.g4 is looser but more ambitious: h4 15.0-0 e7 16.e3 h6 this may also be in W hite 's f a vou r, bu t it's not e asy t o bre ak th ro ugh o n the quee nside , an d Black can resort to .. .g5 and ...Ng6 if necessary ) 14...e7 . It's hard not to prefer W hite here, for example, a welltimed f4 break is possible on the other hand, Black is starting to get his pieces out and he may be able to keep his disadvantage to manageable proportions.; B) 12.exd5?! f5 13.b6 e7 Black has gained a tempo, although he is still slightly worse. 14.0-0 d7 15.a3!? ac8 16.e1 e8 ( 16...h5!? ) 17.a5 d7?! ( 17...h6 ) 18.e4 xb6?! 19.xb6 c7 20.a8?! ( 20.c3 with a positional advantage.) 20...c8 21.b6 c7 22.a8 1/2-1/2 ] 11.g4 f5 The only logical move. [ R y b k a g i v e s 11...c6?! 12.c4 cxd5 13.exd5 f5 14.b6 c7 15.d2 e4 16.d4 xd4 17.xd4 with a substantial advantage, and W hite has other paths to advantage. ] 12.f3 According to the Forum, this is a line that appears in some Dzindzihashvili work. It resembles the advantage that White gets in some of the 6 h3 King's Indian Defence lines in fact, I've been in this basic type of position many times with a pawn on c4, and I tend to like W hite, although it's never easy. In this position, W hite's centre is a little weaker without the pawn on c4, but the possibility of Nc4 might help him just as much (especially after ...c6 and dxc6). Here are a few ideas I've drummed up in analysis, all untested: f6 Aiming at h4 and g5 this keeps things interesting. W hite probably retains an edge

regardless. A few sample lines are [ a) 12...c6 13.c4 ] [ b) 12...f6 13.h4! ( 13.gxf5 gxf5 14.c4 h5 is c o m p l e x) 13...e8!? ( 13...fxg4 14.fxg4 d7 15.g1! ) 14.a5 ( 14.c4 fxe4 15.fxe4 h5 ) 14...fxg4 15.fxg4 h5 16.gxh5 xh5 17.c4 f4 18.h5 ( or 18.d2 - White has a positional edge in any case ) 18...xh5 19.xh5 gxh5 20.xh5 g6 21.h2 f4 22.d2! with the idea Qh1/Rag1, etc. ] [ c) 12...fxe4 A) 13.fxe4 xd5?? ( 13...c6! 14.f3 d4 15.0-0 ) 14.c4 h4+ 15.e2; B) 13.dxe4! f6 14.d2 ( or 14.0-0 xe4 15.fxe4 - look at the awful knight on e7 ) 14...xe4 15.xe4 with several ideas, including a5 and c4 and h4-h5. ] 13.f2 Stopping ideas of penetration on h4. Black isn't so badly off after [ 13.0-0 d7 14.g2 ( 14.d3 ) 14...h4 and ] [ 13.h4? fxg4 has the idea 14.fxg4? xd5! ] 13...g5 [ Black can also try 13...d7 14.h4 g7 , thinking about ...b5 in some lines and asking White what he's doing, for example, 15.h5 ( 15.c4 fxg4 16.fxg4 b5 ) 15...fxg4 16.fxg4 gxh5 ( 16...f6!? ) 17.gxh5 h6 18.a5 ( 18.g4 f6 19.xd7 xd7 . This looks playable for Black.) 18...f6 19.c4 with the idea Be3. These positions aren't theoretically much better for White, but they're easier for him to play. ] 14.d3 fxg4 15.hxg4 xd2+ 16.xd2 xf3 17.e2! [ 17.g5 g7 18.e2 f7 19.e3 h5 ] 17...f7 [ 17...xg4? 18.h6 ] 18.h4 f6 19.0-0 [ 19.0-0-0 ] 19...f8 20.f2 h6 21.g5 [ 21.af1 g5 22.xg5 hxg5 23.xf6 xf6 24.xg5+ g7 25.xf6 d7 with the idea ...Ng6-f4 or in some cases ...Ng8-f6 is tricky. On the other hand, it's a pawn for now. 26.xg7+ xg7 27.f3 g8 28.g2 f6 29.g3 g6 ] 21...h5 22.xf7 xf7 23.gxh6 f4 24.g5 d7 and I have to prefer White, but it's a game. When all is said and done, I think 1024

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 that Black should investigate 8...Re8, not only because it might be best, but because Black's position is much more flexible.

988 Getz,Nicolai Istratescu,Andrei 85th Masters (1) [Neil McDonald]

B08 2270 2624 28.12.2009

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f3 d6 5.c4 f6 6.b3 0-0 7.0-0 d5 Istratescu decides to place his pawns on light squares: a solid approach which however concedes a space advantage to his opponent. The alternative was to ease his game by exchanging on f3 and putting his pawns on dark squares, when W hite has a small but lingering plus after [ 7...g4 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 e5 10.e3 e7 11.a4 a5 12.ad1 a6 13.fe1 d7 ( Maybe 13...c7!? intending Ne6, which keeps the option of meeting W hite's next two moves with Nh5 as appropriate.) 14.g3 h8 15.f4 Kett, T-Alfred, N/Sunningdale ENG 2008. ] 8.exd5 [ Perhaps critical is 8.e5 e8 9.e2 a6!? a notable manoeuvre. The knight heads to e6 to thwart a white attempt to build up pressure on the kingside with Nf4 etc. 10.h3 ac7 11.f4 e6 12.xe6 xe6 13.e1 c7 14.f4 d7 15.d2 ae8 16.a5 W hite can't see any way to profit on the kingside, and so decides to probe until his opponent weakens himself. a8 17.ad1 b6 18.d2 a5 19.c3 a4 ( The plan begun with this move allows White a breakthrough. Simply 19...ae8 puts the onus back on W hite to find a way to improve his game. Under some circumstances f7-f6 would be a good counterattacking move for Black, but he would need to judge the resulting opening of lines carefully.) 20.c2 f5 21.e6! Before Black can consolidate with 21...Bxc2 and 22...Ne6. A) After 21...fxe6 22.e5 and then Bh6 if necessary to exchange bishops Black is weak on the dark squares. Meanwhile the black kingside is rather ragged after;

B) 21...xe6 22.xf5 gxf5 23.e5 c8 24.h6 ( Perhaps 24.h2!? ); C) 21...xe6 22.g5 a7 23.xc7 xc7 24.xe6 fxe6 25.xa4 and White had the edge due to his superior pawn structure in Nisipeanu, L-Sanduleac, V/ Calimanesti 1999. ] 8...xd5 [ Instead 8...cxd5 would free the c6 square for the black knight but Istratescu prefers an imbalanced pawn structure. ] 9.e1 [ Black would be very comfortable after 9.xd5 cxd5 10.h3 c6 ] 9...g4 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 xc3 12.bxc3 e6 [ Instead 12...d7 13.a3 would be highly awkward for Black. ] 13.a4 a6 [ One advantage of taking this route with the knight is that White can't encroach on the qu e e n sid e a s is t h e ca se a f t e r 13...d7 14.a5 a6 he has to deal with the threat of 15 a6. 15.f4 and the black pawn on b7 is very weak. ] 14.f4 In this type of position you would expect a much higher rated player to outwit his opponent as either colour. And indeed Getz doesn't find a convincing plan. In view of his bishop pair, the preparation of a centre breakthrough with c3-c4 and d4-d5 would make sense. For example [ 14.a3 e8 15.ad1 and then 16.c4 and 17.d5. ] 14...c8 15.e5?! [ He could still play 15.ad1 and 16.c4. ] 15...c7 16.ab1 b6 17.bd1 [ White is left with broken pawns and a p a s s i v e b i s h o p a f t e r 17.xc6 xe5 18.dxe5 d5 19.b7 c7 20.a6 xc3 ] 17...e8 18.c4 Finally White becomes active in the centre, but the exchange of bishops saps the strength of a breakthrough. xe5 19.xe5 f6 The knight has had an interesting journey from b8 to a6, c7, e8 and finally f6. 20.e3 g7 21.g4 Advancing 22. d 5 h a s lo st a ll i t s l u st re a s it wo u ld ju s t f urth er f ragm ent the white pawns. W hit e therefore makes a half hearted attacking gesture on the kingside which merely weakens his game. d6 22.c5? Getz thinks he has 1025

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f o u n d a wa y t o g e t r i d o f h i s p o t e n t i a l l y vulnerable pawns and activate his pieces. Unfortunately for him this is a miscalculation. [ He should wait with 22.c3 ] 22...bxc5 23.dxc5 xc5 24.c3 g5 25.xc6 xg4! 26.xc8 [ White drops the rook on d1 after 26.hxg4 xc6 27.xc6 xg4+ ] 26...f6+ 27.g2 xg2+ 28.xg2 xc8 No w I s t ra t e s c u m a ke s sh o rt wo rk o f t h e endgame. 29.d4 f8 30.g3 c3+ 31.f3 e7 32.b4 c7 33.f4 d7 34.e3 c5 35.c4 a5 36.b5 xa4 37.b3 c5 38.xa5 xb3 [ White will remain two pawns down after 38...xb3 39.cxb3 c3+ ] 0-1

989 Gochelashvili,David Tseshkovsky,Vitaly Doroshkevich mem (9) [James Vigus]

B08 2442 2504 01.06.2008

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.a4 This is the move you can expect to face most often after 6...c6, though I tried to show in TPIBAW that there are still good arguments for 7 h3. For one thing, it rules out Tseshkovsky's plan in the present game! a5 8.h3 Since almost all the following material is encouraging for Black, so White should consider omitting this move in favour of 8 Be3 immediately followed by 9 Nd2 (see TPIBAW for details). a6 9.e3 [ The obvious follow-up to h3, though not obligatory: a) 9.g5 h6 10.h4?! h5! 11.d2 g5! 12.xg5!? hxg5 13.xg5 f6 14.e5 h7 ( better is 14...dxe5 15.dxe5 d7 ) 15.xe7 xe7 16.xe7 dxe5 17.xf8 xf8 was a bit better for Black in E. Fatzer-V.Tseshkovsky, Davos 2008. ] [ b) John Watson recently annotated the game D.Khamrakulov-S. Iuldachev, Tashkent 2008. After 9.e1 b4 10.g5 d5 ( after 10...h6 White was presumably not going to play 11 Bh4 Nh5 as in line 'a'; whether after 11.e3 c7 12.d2 h7 the extra king move has helped Black or White is hard to say.) 11.exd5 cxd5 12.b5

f5 13.c1 c8 14.e2 h6 15.f4 I think Black could have equalised with e4 rather than the loosening 15... g5?!. ] 9...b4 [ Bla ck ca n also pla y slo wly, bu t 9...c7 10.d2 b4 11.cb1! e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.c3 a6 14.a3 e6 15.ac4 d7 16.f3 dc5 17.c2 f6 18.xa5! xa5 19.b4 c7 20.bxc5 left White with a typical nagging edge in B.Lengyel-Y.Zimmerman, Budapest 2008. ] 10.d2 e8!? Another good old 70s line. 10...Ne8 was first played by Benko back in 1971; and Tseshkovsky himself has been a leading exponent of the ...Na6-b4 plan for a good three decades. Black's knight on b4 is well-placed, nagging W hite's c2-pawn, but Black's dilemma is how to make inroads in the centre before White crawls forward with f2f4, Nc3-b1, c2-c3, etc. W hite is poised to reply to ...e7-e5 by exchanging and playing Nd2-c4, when b6 is vuln erable, so Blac k sometimes tries 10...d5 instead, and after 11 e5 Ne8 and ...f5. This, though, is really stodgy, and the immediate 10...Ne8!? (or sometimes 10...Nd7!?) is much more enterprising, going for a kind of Leningrad Dutch formation with ... f5. I think this is a good practical choice for Black, and incidentally ideal for anyone who, like me, dabbles with the Leningrad as Black. 11.c4 [ It may be that White already needs to seek an alternative: a) The timid 11.a2 xa2 12.xa2 f5 13.exf5 ( 13.f4 fxe4 14.xe4 f6 15.xf6+ xf6 16.a3 d5 17.g4 d7 18.b3 c7 19.f3 af8 20.d3 h6 wa s a n o t h e r s u c c e s sf u l c o u n t e ra t t a c k against the extended White centre, G.CuriA.Poluljahov, Buenos Aires 1998) 13...gxf5 ( 13...xf5 i s a l s o f i n e) 14.f3 c7 15.c4+ e6 of U.Boensch-M. Knezevic, Keszthely 1981, doesn't challenge Black. ] [ b) 11.f4 f5!? ( the more conventional 11...d5 12.e5 f6 is also playable) 12.e5 ( Black is okay after 12.c4+ d5 13.exd5 cxd5 14.b3 f6 , A.Aighasra-J.Smejkal, Bahrain 1990) 12...c7 13.h1 cd5 14.g1 h6 is typical strategy from Black, sniping at White's centre from the sides. In the following game this was sufficient to hold the balance: 15.c4 dxe5 16.dxe5 h8 1026

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.e2 e6 18.c3 a6 19.c2 d7 20.ad1 b5 21.b3 b7 22.f3 g8 23.e1 ad8 24.d3 bxa4 25.xa4 dc7 26.c4 e6 27.c3 c7 28.d4 ac5 29.xc5 xc5 30.xc6 e4 31.xe4 fxe4 32.e6 g7 33.c2 c8 34.xe4 xc4 35.fe1 d6 36.b3 b4 37.e3 b7 38.d3 a6 39.ed1 xe6 40.xe6 1/2-1/2 Oral,T (2543) -Strikovic,A (2563)/Ourense 2007/CBM 118 ext ] [ c ) I n T P I B A W I i n d e n t i f i e d 11.cb1 as critical. Let's take a closer look: A) 11...d5 12.c3 a6 13.a3 d6 14.exd5 cxd5 15.b5 c7 16.xd6 xd6 17.f3 looks like a tiny edge for White since the queenside pawn structure rules out Black's standard minority attack, N.Bojkovic-M.Petrovic, Cetinje 1992; B) 11...c5!? 12.b3 cxd4 13.xd4 d7 14.c3 a6 15.d2 c5 16.b5 is balanced, J.Szmetan-A. Giaccio, San Luis 1992; C) 11...f5!? is in keeping with Tseshkovsky's scheme: C1) 12.exf5 xf5 13.a3 d5 14.dc4 xe3 15.xe3 was typically tentative play by a white player confronting this line for the first time, J. Ivanov-A.Strikovic, Dos Hermanas 2004, and just retreating the bishop would have preserved Black's edge.; C2) 12.f3 h8 ( 12...c5!? ) 13.c3 a6 14.a3 f6 15.e1 c7 16.h4 e6 17.exf5 gxf5 18.h6 xh6 19.xh6 d5 20.c4 f6 21.h4 f4 22.e4 g6 23.xd5 cxd5 24.f2 f8 25.g4 g7 saw Black seize the initiative in fine style, R.Simic-V. Tseshkovsky, Cetinje 1993.; C3) 12.c3 a6 ( the critical 12...f4!? 13.cxb4 fxe3 14.b3+ h8 15.fxe3 xf1+ 16.xf1 axb4 17.xb4 , Z.Ilincic-A.Strikovic, Niksic 1996, c5!? is messy ) 13.f3 f6 14.e1 ( 14.g4?! h5?! 15.a3 c7 16.ac4 e6 17.b6 b8 18.c4 f4 19.f2 h7 was f ine f or Black in S.Beshukov-V. Tseshkovsky, Krasnodar 1997, but I'm not sure what was wrong with 14...e5) 14...c7 15.a3 h8 16.f2 fxe4 17.fxe4 e6 18.e3 g5 19.f1 d7

was another bout of obscure manoeuvring, V.Lukov-V.Tseshkovsky, Cappelle la Grande 1996 - but W hite enjoys a compact centre.; C4) 12.--; D) 11...-- ] 11...f5!? [ Tseshkovsky is presumably not so keen on Black's static pawn structure after 11...d5 12.exd5 cxd5 13.a3 d6 14.cb5 e6 15.f4 c4 16.xc4 ( 16.c3 xa3 17.xa3 preserves an unpretentious edge for White ) 16...dxc4 17.c3 d5 18.h2 , L.Vajda-M.Marin, Bucharest 1998. ] 12.d5 This is another reason why I previously felt that ...Nd7 is a better preparation for ...f5 than ...Ne8. But Tseshkovsky's admirably provocative play is changing my mind! [ 12.f3 f4 13.f2 d5 ] 12...a6 [ 12...fxe4!? is another provocative possibility. It appears risky to allow the invasion on b6, giving up either the a5-pawn or the bishop-pair, yet how can White take a d v a n t a g e ? 13.b6 ( 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.b6 c7 15.xa5 a6 ) 13...b8 14.xc8 xc8 15.g4 ( 15.dxc6 bxc6 ) 15...c7 16.e6+ h8 17.xe4 xd5 18.c1 probably gives White adequate compensation for the pawn, but not more. ] 13.a3?! [ 13.dxc6 bxc6 ( 13...xc6!? looks a little s u s p e c t a f t e r 14.d5! ) 14.e5! may be critical: it makes sense to try to prise the centre open while Black has a knight on e8 and a rook on a6. The continuation f4 15.c5 d5 still looks fine for Black, though ( whereas the over-enthusiastic 15...f3?! 16.xf3 xf3 17.xf3 dxc5 18.ad1 c7 19.e4 doesn't do much for Black's coordination. )] 13...f4! [ 13...a8 is reasonable, though of course Tseshkovsky doesn't want to invite a repetition; Black would be fine after 14.c4 e6 15.dxe6 e7 . ] 14.xa6 [ The young Russian master can't resist the bait, perhaps reckoning that he would come u n d e r a t t a c k a n ywa y in a l i n e s u c h a s 14.d4 a8 15.xg7 xg7 16.d2 e5 1027

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.c4 f3! 18.xf3 xf3 19.gxf3 xh3 . Black's advanced f-pawn is remarkably powerful! ] 14...bxa6! [ A wonderful idea, justified by the fact that white's king's knight has wandered ecc en tric ally away f ro m def en ce o f his monarch. The relatively routine 14...fxe3 15.c4 exf2+ 16.h1 h8 17.d2 b6 , though not ba d f or Black, wo uld have been something of a concession after such a belligerent start. ] 15.d4 e5! 16.dxe6 f3 17.xg7 [ White could conceivably cling on with 17.g3 , but Black has the plan of bringing his darksquared bishop to g2 and then sending his queen in afterwards, e.g. xe6 18.xg7 ( 18.h4 h3 ) 18...xg7 19.d2 xh3 20.fd1 g2 21.h6 h5 and White is struggling desperately to cover the entrysquare h3. ] 17...xg7 18.d2 [ The ugly 18.g3 would not have succeeded in the aim of keeping Black's knight out of f4. Apart from transposition to the previous note Black also has xe6 19.h4 f4! 20.c4 d7 21.e3 g2 with a continuing attack. ] 18...fxg2 19.xg2 xe6 20.f4! h4?! [ Consistently aggressive, though Black had a safe route to an advantageous ending with 20...xf4+! 21.xf4 g5+ 22.h2 xf4 23.f1 f5! 24.xg5 xg5 25.c4 xc2 26.xd6 e6 . ] 21.e2? [ Keeping Black's unopposed light-squared bishop shut out is paramount, and W hite had to counterattack to save himself: 21.f5! , e.g. g5 ( or 21...gxf5 22.f2! h6 23.exf5 ) 22.e3 d5!? ( 22...gxf5 23.f4! h5 24.af1 finally mobilises White's heavy artillery ) 23.g3 h6 ( 23...h5 24.h4 xe4 25.xe4 dxe4 26.fxg6 f5 27.gxh7+ xh7 28.h2 and the complications continue even after simplification. White stands better now, but not surprisingly in the game he was unable to get through such a minefield alive. )] 21...g5! Finally unleashing that slumbering monster on c8. 22.e3 [ 22.fxg5? xh3+ 23.g1 g4+

and the computer announces forced mate in 7! ] 22...xh3+ 23.g1 xf1 24.xf1 g4+ 25.h2 d5 Black has recouped the material with interest and a continuing attack, and it only remains to reactivate the knight on b4: 26.e5 c5! 27.c3 c6 28.c2 e7 29.f2 e4 30.f3 xf3 31.xf3 b8 32.b4 axb4 33.cxb4 c6 34.d3 xb4 35.xb4 cxb4 36.d4 c5 37.d1 b3 38.c6 b7 39.e6 xe6 The 'revolutionary 70s' generation is still going strong! 0-1

990 Guseinov,Gadir Dzhumaev,Marat III President's Cup (4) [John Watson]

B08 2625 2557 15.05.2008

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.a4 bd7 8.e3 e8 9.d2!? A standard manoeuvre, but in a slightly different position than it usually occurs. W hite's idea is twof o ld: to exploit the d 6 square after ... e5 happens or, if Black waits, to play f4. e5 10.c4 [ 10.d5! may not be better, but it's safer and yields a small advantage. Since Nc4 is becoming a serious threat, Black needs to take action, for example, A) 10...c5 11.a5 f8 12.c4 e8 13.f3 ( 13.b1!? int en ds b 4) 13...f5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.d2; B) 10...c5 11.b4 a6 12.xa6 bxa6 13.dxc6; C) 10...cxd5 11.exd5 b6 ( 11...c5 12.b4 a6 13.b1 c7 14.c4 with a limited advantage) 12.g5!? h6 13.xf6 xf6 14.a5 d7 15.a6 b6 16.b5 ] 10...exd4 11.xd4 e5! This seems to cede the centre without a fight, but it has dynamic potential. [ 11...xe4 12.xg7 xg7 13.xe4 xe4 14.xd6 followed by Bc4 is uncomfortable for Black. ] 12.e3 [ As usual, giving up White's dark-squared bish o p le a ds n o wh e re : 12.xe5 dxe5 1028

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.d6 e6 14.fd1 xc4! 15.xc4 b6 Ng4. It's a steady move I like it! bd7 8.d3 ( or 15...f8 ) 16.a3 f8 and Black is 0-0 9.0-0 e5 10.a3 e8 11.fd1 c7 slightly better. The f8 bishop can travel to 12.dxe5 d4 via c5. ] A) 12...xe5 leads to a steady, small 12...e7 13.e1 h5! 14.f4! edge for White. It's just easier to develop! [ White won't get much by playing slowly with 13.xe5 dxe5 ( 13...xe5 14.a4! 14.d2 h4 15.h3 h6 ] B l a c k h a s a p r o b l e m d e ve l o p i n g t h e 14...eg4 15.xg4 xg4 16.xg4 xg4 q u e e n s i d e .) 14.c4 e6 ( 14...b5 17.xg7!? h4!? 15.a2 a5 16.c5 ) 15.xe6 xe6 [ 17...xg7 18.h3 f6 19.d4 a6 16.d3; 20.ad1 ad8 is about equal. It seems as B) 12...dxe5 13.c4 b6 14.b3 e6 though this opening line is satisfactory for 15.d6 xd6 16.xd6 xb3 17.cxb3 Black. ] ad8 18.ad1 xd6 19.xd6 c8 18.h3 f2+ 19.h1 xg7 20.f1?! 20.d3 e6 21.d8+ e8 22.d3 e6 [ Perhaps White survives 20.e2!? xf4 23.f1 d6 24.xe5 h5 25.xd6 21.hxg4 hxg4 22.d2 h8+ 23.g1 h2+ xd6 26.c4 xc4 27.bxc4 xc3 24.f2 h4+ 25.e3! g3+ 26.d4 28.bxc3 f6 29.f3 a6 30.e2 d7 - hard to play over-the-board! ] 31.f4 f6 32.d3 f7 33.f5 c5 34.f4 20...e3 21.f3 xf3 22.gxf3?! g5 35.d6 e5+ 36.e2 xc4 37.xc5 [ 22.xf3 f6 23.e1 e6 24.g1 ae8 b6 38.d4 b5 39.c5 e5 40.e3 c6 25.fe3 d5!? 26.xd5 cxd5 27.e5 dxe5 41.d6 e8 42.e5 fxe5 43.e4 a5 28.fxe5 g5 with the idea ...Kg6 gives Black 44.xe5 f7 45.c5 c4+ 46.d5 h5 something to play around with. ] 47.a4 h4 48.d4 b2 49.axb5 axb5 22...e3 23.f2 d5! 24.g1 f6 25.d2 50.e4 c4 51.f3 b2 52.g4 d3 ad8 26.e1 d4 27.d1 c4 28.d3 c5 53.xg5 e1 54.f2 xg2 55.g4 29.g1 a5 30.f2 c4 31.dd1 c6 1-0 Horvath, C-Qendro, L/23rd Open, Bla c k n o w h a s a su bst a n t ia l a d va n t a ge . Bratto ITA 2003 ] White blunders, so that we don't get to see 7...bd7 whether it is truly decisive. 32.c3 b6 33.e5+? [ 7...g4 8.g1 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.h3 f5! 34.e4 d3! 35.d6+ xf4 36.xe8 e6 11.f3 h6 12.0-0 c7 13.a4 a5 xe8 37.b3 xe5 38.bxc4 c8 39.a5 14.ad1 bd7 15.e2 0-0 16.c4 fe8 bxa5 40.b1 xc4 41.b7 xc3 42.d1 17.xe6 xe6 18.c4! c2 43.xa7 f5 Luch, M-Dobrowolski, P/ Polish Extraleague, 0-1 Lubniewice POL 2003 The disappearance of the light-squared Bishops spells trouble for Bla ck, wh o h a s ced e d t h e d f ile, ha s a 991 B08 worse Bishop and is rather cramped. ] [ 7...g4 might well be the way to take Haskell,Robert advantage of White's seventh move. Black Donaldson,John W 2440 gets active! 8.g5 ( 8.f4 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 22nd NAO, Oklahoma (1) 2003 10.g3 d7 11.h3 h6 12.e2 gf6 [Andrew Martin] 13.0-0 h5 ) 8...f6 9.f4 e5 10.g3 e6 ( 10...h6 11.d1 exd4 12.xd4 e5 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 13.e2 ) 11.h3 h6 12.b4 c7 13.b5 5.e3 c6 6.d2 a5 Simply preventing Bh6 f7 14.0-0 0-0 15.bxc6 bxc6 16.dxe5 due to the reply 7 Bh6 Bxh6 8 Qxh6 Nxe4. It is dxe5 17.d4 c8 18.b3 d8 19.e2 a controversial placement for the Black Queen. d7 20.f3 f8 21.f2 b4 22.a4 b6 On the face of it a5 is a very active square, in 23.a3 f8 24.ac5 g7 25.a4 a5 no small measure dissuading W hite f rom 26.fb1 e8 27.xa5 xa5 28.e6+ castling long. But at the same time the Black xe6 29.xb6 c5+ 30.xc5 xc5 Queen may become exposed. 7.d3 31.b4 a5 32.f1 c5 33.b5 c4 [ 7.h3! plays tit for tat, preventing ...Bg4 or. .. 1029

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 34.xa5 xa5 35.xc4 c3 0 -1 V a n B u i t e n e n , H- S t u h l ik , M/ O p e n , Vienna AUT 2003 ] 8.h6 xh6 9.xh6 e5 Positionally a fine move but I think Donaldson is banking on a timid reaction. If Black is allowed time to sit and consolidate he's obviously going to be OK, so W hite should try and heat up the game while the Black King remains in the middle. 10.0-0 [ 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.0-0-0! is thus indicated and I think Black is worse: c5 ( 11...h5 12.g4 f4 13.g7 f8 14.g5 Brutal and effective. ) 12.d2 b5 13.hd1 ] 10...exd4 11.xd4 h5 12.xh5 xh5 13.f4 0-0 14.f5?! So far not so bad for Haskell but here he would have been well advised to be more patient. [ Just 14.ad1 maintains the edge. ] 14...e5 15.e2 f6 16.fxg6 fxg6 17.f4 d7 18.af1 g7 19.h3 White's got more or less everything he could have hoped for after 14 f5 he's placed his pieces as actively as they can be. The problem is that from here his position can only get worse while Black's game has potential for considerable improvement-a motif borrowed from Backgammon. All due to e5! a6 20.g4?! Not very attractive. Perhaps W hite thought that he was still better! h6! 21.d1 ad8 22.ff1 Into reverse! b5 23.f3 e6 24.b4 xf3+ 25.xf3 [ 25.xf3 d5 26.exd5 xd5 27.xd5 xd5 28.a3 f4 ] 25...h7 26.g2 xf1+ 27.xf1 g5! Slowly but surely for Black. His minor pieces are superior to their white counterparts and the King has a route into the centre. 28.e2 A move with a miserable look to it. W hite knows that he is being outplayed and lacks the tenacity to defend this poor position. But the grip on e5 allows Black to dictate the play irrespective: [ 28.g2 f6 29.e5+ xe5 30.e1+ d4 ] [ 28.f2 f6 29.e3 e5 30.h4 f7 31.e2 g5! ] [ 28.g2 f6 29.h4 f7 30.g3 g5 31.h5 e5 32.e2 e7 33.f1 c8 34.e1 c5 ] 28...xh3+ 29.h2 f4 30.f3 g5-+

[ 30...f6-+ ] 31.a3 g6 32.g3 e5 33.e2 f6 34.d4 d7 [ 34...c5 is also very effective but one can understand that Donaldson didn't want to pa rt wit h his won d e rf u l K nigh t . 35.xe6 xe6 36.bxc5 xf3 37.xf3 f8+ 38.e3 dxc5-+ ] 35.h1 h8 36.f5 xf5 37.exf5 d5 38.a4 bxa4 39.a1 h5! 40.gxh5 xf3 41.xf3 xh5 42.xa4 h3+ 43.g4 c3 44.xa6 c4+ 45.f3 xf5 A typical game from an o p e n t o u r n a m e n t wh e r e t h e lo we r -ra t e d player outplays himself! Objectively, Black's opening play can be challenged by 7 h3!. He then has it all to prove. 0-1

992 Hebden,Mark Sutovsky,Emil Monarch Assuarance Open (8) [Nigel Davies]

B08

13.11.1999

1.d4 f6 2.f3 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e4 d6 5.e3 0-0 6.d2 e5 Why should ck prepare this move if he can play it right away? One of the arguments in its favour is that Qd1-d2xd8 loses some time. 7.dxe5 This probably gives White nothing. [ Aggressive White players should therefore consider 7.0-0-0 exd4 ( 7...e7!? 8.h6 g4 9.d5 xh6 10.xh6 xf3 11.gxf3 h5 was already quite nice for Black in Breutigam, - W Watson, Bundesliga 19992000 ) 8.xd4 e8 9.f3 which transposes into a Philidor Defence (with 3...exd4). A sample game, Goritas - Ermenkov, Chania 1999 went on c6 10.de2?! - the first in a series of passive moves - e6 11.f4 e5 12.h4 c4 13.e2 xe2 14.xe2 c6 15.b1 b5 16.f2 c4 17.c1 a5 18.h5 b4 19.ce2 ab8 20.d2 xd2+ 21.xd2 b3 22.c3 bxa2+ 0-1. White's play was fairly horrible here. ] 7...dxe5 8.xd8 [ Or 8.0-0-0 e7 9.h3 ( 9.d5 xd5 10.xd5 d7 11.a5 b6 12.a4 f6 13.b5 b7 14.c6 xc6 15.xc6 e8 16.xe8 fxe8= Hebden - Carlier, French 1030

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Team Ch., Noyon 2001) 9...bd7 10.c4 b4 11.b3 c5 12.xc5 xc5 13.g5 c6 14.xe5 d5 15.g5 f6 16.g3 xc3 17.bxc3 xc3 Larsen - Penrose, Dundee 1967 ] 8...xd8 9.c4 c6 10.0-0 [ 10.h3 a5 11.d3 e6= Kindermann Reich, Germany 1999 ] 10...h6 11.h3 e8 12.fd1 [ 12.ad1 d4 13.xd4 exd4 14.e2 d6 15.d3 c5 16.e5 f5 17.f4 g5 was also fine for Black in Emms - Ftacnik, Bundesliga 1996-7 ] 12...d4 13.xd4 exd4 14.d5 e6 15.b3 d6!? Typical Sutovsky. Rather than settle for equality he drums up dynamic play an d e ven a f t e r t he e xch an ge o f qu ee n s. 16.xc7 xb3 17.cxb3 [ 17.xa8 xc2 18.d2 d3 19.c7 xe4 is horrible. ] 17...ac8 18.d5 c5 19.b4 Inviting Black's rook into the 7th rank is dangerous. [ 19.e1 xe4 20.f4 should draw - but Hebden was probably still hoping to show that Black doesn't have enough f or th e pawn. ] 19...c2 20.xd4 xb2 21.f3 e8 22.e5 e4 23.ac1 Hereabouts White seems to have missed something, maybe Black's 25th. [ In fact White's position looks a bit dodgy in a n y c a s e , i f 23.d4 t h e r e f o l l o w s g5 ( 23...xf2 24.f1 ) 24.xg5 hxg5 25.f6+ xf6 26.exf6 e6 with some problems for White. ( 26...ee2? 27.c1 xf2 28.c8+ h7 29.dd8 xg2+ 30.f1 bf2+ 31.e1 e2+ 32.d1 wins for White )] 23...xf2 24.d4 xe5 25.e1? xh3+ 26.h1 f2+ 27.g1 f6 28.xe5 fxe5 29.c4 f8 30.xe5 h5 31.e3 xa2 32.e7 a1+ 33.h2 [ 33.h2 h1+ 34.g3 h4+ is mate ] 0-1

993 Hossain,Enamul Rahman,Ziaur Dhaka [Andrew Martin]

B08

03.2005

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c3 c6 5.e3 b5 The elastic Modern Defence remains one of the best ways to play for a win as Black against weaker opposition. Not that Hossain is weak you understand, just that Rahman is an excellent, practical player who takes every opportunity. 6.d2 d7 7.d3 gf6 8.h3 [ 8.a4 b4 9.e2 a5 10.h6 xh6 11.xh6 e5 12.c3 bxc3 13.bxc3 g4 14.d2 0-0 15.g3 e8 16.0-0 f8 17.ab1 g7 18.h3 f6 19.fe1 c7 20.c4 e6 21.xe6 xe6 22.h4 g8 G a n gu l y, S -M i t o n , K / Ca l vi a E S P 2 0 0 4 shows Black defending toughly. ] [ For me the sternest test is offered by 8.h6! as it is in all cases early on when Black p e rm i t s t h is m o ve . T h e wh o l e p o i n t o f White's opening system is to try and get rid of Black's fianchettoed Bishop so that he has a choice in the middle game of either: a) Direct attack on the Black King b) Play in t h e c e n t r e wi t h a we l l - t i m e d e 4 - e 5 ! c ) Positional development based on Black's limited counterplay thanks to the weakness of his King. For instance: xh6 9.xh6 a5 ( 9...b4 10.e2 c5 11.e5! ) 10.0-0 b4 11.e2 e5 12.a3 In my opinion Black has yet to equalize in both cases. ] 8...c7 9.e2N A redeployment which is common enough. White hopes to reroute to g3 to 'soup up' a Kingside assault. But in this case Black has a tactical shot. [ 9.0-0 is also very common and a recent example continued 0-0 10.a4 b4 11.e2 c5 12.g3 b7= Black has no problems here. 13.c3 c4 14.b1 b3 15.d5 a6 16.h4 ae8 17.h5 e6 18.dxe6 xe6 19.f4 e5 20.d4 ee8 21.h6 d8 22.df5 gxf5 23.g5 xh5! Rodriguez Guerrero, E-Peralta, F/Seville ESP 2005 ] 9...c5! 10.e5? Rushing to take advantage of a possible Black weakness on the h1-a8 diagonal but this aggression rebounds in Hossain's face. 1031

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 10.c3 was the stable move, but after b7 11.g3 0-0 12.0-0 c4 13.c2 e6 White doesn't really have any advantage. He can play for attack on the Kingside and Black goes ..a5, ...b4 etc. Mutual chances. ] [ 10.xb5 xe4 is no answer for White at all. ] 10...c4! probably White missed this move. 11.exf6 xf6 12.c3 cxd3 13.xb5 [ 13.xd3 a6 is looking very nice for Black with those two Bishops so the text is essentially forced. ] 13...b6 14.c4 d5! 15.b3 [ 15.f4 does not solve White's problems as can be seen by 0-0! 16.c7 b8 17.xd5 xd5 18.xb8 b4! ] 15...f5 16.0-0 e4 With a huge initiative and a mighty light-squared Bishop to boot. 17.e1 [ 17.c1 c8 18.d1 0-0 19.xd3 xf2! maintains the Black advantage. It is very difficult to offer White any advice at all he really misses his light-squared Bishop. ] 17...c8 18.c1 0-0 19.c3 dxc4 20.bxc4 b7! 21.c5 [ 21.b1 a6 ] 21...fd8! [ 21...xh3! introduces a tactic which crops up in the game, but perhaps Rahman considered the text even stronger, which builds up pressure in the centre to breaking point as far as White is concerned. 22.gxh3 ( 22.b1 a8 23.gxh3 xc3 24.xc3 xf3 25.xd3 fd8 ) 22...xc3 23.xc3 xf3 24.xd3 xh3 ] 22.b1 a8 23.b4 xh3! Signalling more or less the end. Hossain's King is opened up. 24.gxh3 xc3 25.xc3 xf3 26.xd3 d5 Guess that was one of the points of ... Rfd8 27.a6 xh3 28.fb1 cd8 Joining up the pieces in this way avoids any tactical accidents. Strong players very rarely have any loose pieces lying around. 29.b8 xd4 30.c4 [ 30.f1 h5-+ ] 30...g5+! 31.xg5 g3+ 32.h1 f3+ Because 33 Kh2 Qxf2+ 34 Kh1 Qf3+ 35 Kh2 Qh5+ is the end of the road. An attractive game by Black. 0-1

994 Hulburd,George Kamberi,Sonny 22nd NAO, Oklahoma (2) [Andrew Martin]

B08 2275 2003

Coming up, in many ways a typical Modern. White sets out to dominate the game early, taking the centre, shun ting h is pie ces t o approved squares. Unruffled, Black defends calmly and slowly but surely takes over the ga m e , d isp l a yin g su p e r io r st ra t e g ic a n d tactical control. If you are good strategically and you're able to withstand the occasional vicious attack, the Modern might well be the opening for you. 1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.h3 A system popularised by Boris Spassky. W hite hopes to develop the Bishop on f1 to c4 in one go and just takes away the g4 square. All the same, 5 h3 is rather slow. 0-0 6.e3 a6! This move I like and it was recommended in the excellent 'Pirc Alert' by Alburt and Chernin. Black keeps all his options open and prepares to develop counterplay on the Queenside and against e4. 7.a4 [ 7.d3 ] [ 7.c4 ] 7...b6 8.d3 e6 9.0-0 b7 10.e1 [ 10.d2 is a little more pointed and I quite like 10..Re8 now, preserving the Bishop on g7. bd7 11.h6 e5 12.xg7 xg7 13.d5 c6 14.dxc6 xc6 15.e3 c7 16.d2 c5 17.f4 White has the edge d u e t o B la ck 's s li g h t ly we a ke n e d K i n g position. e7 18.c4 b5 19.fxe5 dxe5 20.b6 xd3 21.axb5 axb5 22.xa8 c5 23.c7 cxe4 24.7xb5 Larsen, BHodgson, J/New York 1990 (24) ] 10...bd7 11.d2 e8N Same idea-he doesn't want his Bishop exchanged. Of the alternatives 11... c5 has merit: [ 11...e5 12.d5 h8 13.g5 e8 14.a5 b5 15.a2 g8 16.c4 bxc4 17.xc4 f6 18.h4 f5 19.b4 h6 20.exf5 gxf5 21.g3 f7 22.c3 e7 23.ac1 g8 24.ed1 g6 25.h4 xh4 26.xh4 Kadimova, IMovsziszian, K/Berlin 1994 ] [ 11...c5 12.h6 cxd4 13.xd4 xh6 14.xh6 c8 ] 12.g5 c5! If this move is possible then 1032

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black's whole game plan can be justified-he will get a position resembling the Sicilian Dra gon with W hit e 's p ie ce s pe rh a ps n o t optimally posted. 13.e5? The overreaction B la ck wa s wa it in g f o r a n d a n a b so lu t e l y typical display of impatience by a playe r below master rank. Although both [ 13.h6 h8 ] [ 13.d5 c7 don't change things, either of the two white moves were better than the game. ] 13...cxd4 14.e4 xe5 [ Not 14...xe4 15.exf6 xf3 16.fxg7 f6 17.h6 d5 18.b4= ] [ but 14...dxe5 gives fantastic value for the exchange. 15.d6 xf3 16.xe8 xe8 17.gxf3 d5 ] 15.xd4 xe4 16.xe4 c7 Kamberi makes all the right decisions. Having tempted W hite and induced a blunder he p l a y s i t s a f e . 17.xb7 xb7 18.b4 White is reduced to hacking around, hoping to get back the missing pawn, but with 18...Rac8 Black shows that he is still in charge. ac8! 19.xd6 c4 20.f4 e5 21.f3 xf3 22.xf3 xb2 [ Or 22...e4 ] 23.a2 e4 24.d2 It's easy now, a mop-up job. f5 25.b1 xc2 26.b3 ec8 27.c1 d1 28.xc2 xc2 By no means a good game BUT.... instructive. The Modern is still an extremely efficient opening for outplaying we ak er o pp on en ts, le ad in g as it do es t o positions of considerable strategic and tactical complexity. Here, Hulbard lost track and simply blew a fuse! 0-1

alternative, preventing ...e5. ] 8...e5 This a well-known position. 9.e3 [ W hite more of ten plays 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.c4 ( 10.e3 e7 prepares ...Nc5 and perhaps ...Ne6 in conjunction with ...Nh5-f4 and ...Nd4.) 10...e7 , again with the idea ... Nc5 and possibly ...Be6 or ...Ne6, depending upon White's reply. ] 9...exd4 It seems a little odd to surrender the centre at this point. [ 9...c7 is the main line, especially because ... Qc7 has often been played before ...e5. ] [ And 9...e7 has its virtues, with the idea 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.d3 h5!? ] 10.xd4 e8 11.e1!? Losing no time. Perhaps Mamedyarov expected [ 11.d2 c5 ] [ or 11.d3 c5 ] 11...xe4 Black simplifies to near-equality. It's hard to find another plan because of Black's weak d-pawn, but [ 11...b6 is possible, intending 12.c4!? b7 13.d2 e5 ] 12.xg7 xg7 13.xe4 xe4 14.xd6 f6 15.xf6+ xf6 16.d3 f4!? [ F o r a l l p r a c t i c a l p u r p o s e s , 16...xe1+ 17.xe1 d7 and ...Re8 levels things. ] 17.c3 This cuts off a Black rook move to the queenside, and invites Black into the following complications: xh3 18.e5 Now the rook is trapped, but Black can sacrifice the exchange for a pawn and harm White's pawn structure. f5 19.g3 xd3 20.gxf4 f5 21.a5 a6?! No t a wf u l, b ut it 's n ot ne cessary t o t a k e another move. Either [ 21...c5 22.ad1 h5 or ] [ 21...c8 improves. ] 22.ad1 h5 23.d4 c5 24.c4 c8 25.b4 cxb4 26.cxb4 f8!? Black plays ambitiously 995 B08 and keeps the rooks on. He would have to Inarkiev,Ernesto 2684 defend following [ 26...xc4 27.xc4 e6 28.d6 d5 Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 2752 29.f5! ] FIDE GP Baku AZE (2) 22.04.2008 27.d4 f6 28.c1 e6 29.f3 b8 30.f2 [John Watson] h5 31.c7 d5 32.d7! f6? [ 32...c3! blockades the queenside. Then A rare Pirc from one of the world's elite. 1.e4 33.d8 xd8 34.xd8 f6 35.b8 d5 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 36.e3 b5 should draw. ] 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.a4 bd7 The central approach for 7...a5 and 8. ..Na6, see the 33.d8! xd8 34.xd8 d5 35.d3 [ 35.b8 xb4 36.xb7 d5 37.g3 Khamrakulov-Iuldachev game. 8.h3 will also win, if only because of the idea Nd7[ 8.f4 is probably the most important 1033

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c5. ] after 10.xe5 xe5 11.xe5 ( 11.dxe5 35...h4 36.f5!? Black resigned. White can win may also yield an edge) 11...b6 12.a4 with several techniques, either before or after a5 13.c5 d8 14.f3 White was very this move, a convincing one being comfortable and went on to win smoothly [ 36.b5 axb5 37.b8 and Rxb7, or ] in Kasimdzhanov, R -Valdes, L Benidorm [ 36.c5 , for example, xb4 37.xe6+ 2004 ] fxe6 38.d7+ ] 10.g5 1-0 [ 10.exd6 exd6 11.g5 promises little edge for White h6 ( 11...b6 may be a simpler way to equalise 12.d2 e8 and it's hard 996 B08 to see what's wrong with Black's position here ) 12.e3 d5 13.h3 f4 14.f1 e6 Iordachescu,V 2644 15.c1 h7 16.e2 e8 17.f4 xf4 Shanava,K 2586 18.xf4 xe1 19.xc7 xc1 20.xc1 f8 Nakhchivan Open 2012 (3.2) 30.04.2012 21.c3 e6 22.e1 e8 23.d3 d7 [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] 1/2-1/2 Vokarev, S (2517) -Chernyshov, K (2565) Pardubice 2008 ] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.e2 f6 10...dxe5 11.xe7 e8 12.d5 Here we have 5.c3 c6 6.0-0 0-0 7.e1 [ 7.a4 bd7 8.a5 Pridorozhni, A- reached something of a critical position f6 After careful examination of a few lines we Cheparinov, I Aix les Bains FRA 2011 and ] [ 7.h3 bd7 8.f4 Vallejo Pons, F- believe this is inaccurate [ 12...b6! and now Gashimov, V Reggio Emilia ITA 2011, have A) 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.a3 both been analysed before by Gawain on A1) 14...e4 is a bit risky as now 15.c4 the site. ] A1a) 15...xc3 16.bxc3 might be just 7...c7 about playable but those holes on the [ 7...bd7 kingside look nasty; A) 8.f4 b6 9.c1 e5 10.dxe5 xe5 A1b) 15...e3 16.h1! ( 16.fxe3 e5 ( 10...dxe5 11.e3 c7 ) 11.h3; is un clea r) 16...h6 17.fxe3 df6 B) 8.e5 e8 was analysed by Volzhin in 18.d4 is better for White; Lutz, C-Svidler, P Bad Homburg 1997 A1c) 15...hf6 16.g5 e5 ( 8...dxe5 9.dxe5 g4 10.e6 fxe6 11.h3 was all played in Asrian, K (2599)gf6 12.c4 d5 13.e4 was played in Gagunashvili, M (2486) Moscow 2002 the top level encounter Karpov, A (2780)and now 17.b3! would've left Black Shirov, A (2710) Linares 1995 and my struggling to hold onto e4; feeling is that the position is pretty equal A2) 14...df6! 15.d3 d5 16.e4 although White has the easier to position d8 and Gawain says this is a pretty to play as Black has many weaknesses reasonable Dragon position for Black that can be attacked )] here and it certainly looks fine.; [ 7...b5 8.e5 dxe5 9.xe5 fd7 10.xd7 B) 13.a3 doesn't seem to give an edge xd7 11.f3 b7 12.xb5 ( 12.f4 for White and was analysed by Volzhin in is also sensible if White wants to avoid any A s ri a n , K - K a si m d zh a n o v, R Y e r e v a n unnecessary complications with some edge, 1999 ] e.g. b4 13.e4 b6 14.c3 ) 12...b6 [ 12...f4 13.d6 is strong for White ] 13.xe7 cxb5 14.xd7 xf3 15.gxf3 and Black didn't have quite enough for the 13.a3 [ 13.d6 is an important alternative here sacrificed material in Dos Santos, R (2374) A) 13...b6 14.g5! ( 14.xf6 hxf6 -Fernandez Gramajo, G Mar del Plata 2007 ] 15.c4 c5 16.b3 e4 17.d2 e3 8.f4 bd7 9.e5 Definitely the critical move 18.xe3 xe3 19.fxe3 xd6 is fine for here as otherwise Black will play ...e5 with a Black ) 14...xe7 15.dxe7 hf6 16.c4 good game. h5 xe7 17.d6 c5 18.d3 and Black [ 9...dxe5?! seems to be inaccurate here as 1034

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h a s re a l p r o b l e m s u n ra ve l li n g h e r e interestingly the computers want to return the pawn with g7 19.xf7! and White keeps a slight edge; B) 13...a5 14.g5 ( 14.xf6 hxf6 15.d2 looks like a simpler way to get an edge ) 14...xe7 15.dxe7 h6?! ( 15...hf6 16.c4 xe7 17.d6 c5 transposes to the 13..Qb6 note above) 16.xf7! xf7 17.xh5 was good for White in Kulikov, O (2335)-Lukin, A (2435) Podolsk 1992 ] 13...f4 [ 13...e4 14.dxc6 bxc6 ( 14...exf3 is an ot he r po ssib le - b ut risky - way o f playing 15.cxd7 xd7 16.xf3 xc3 17.bxc3 c6! a tough move to see is playable without silicon help! 18.xh5 a5 forking the two Bishops and Black should hold a draw here) 15.d2 xc3 16.bxc3 f4 this may be a playable position for Black bu t I 'd b e very re lu cta n t t o give u p t h e fianchettoed Bishop like this - already White can consider ideas like 17.f3! f5 18.xe4 fxe4 19.d6 ] 14.d6 [ 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.e4 is also comfortable for White ] 14...xe2+ 15.xe2 d8 16.ad1 g7 The opening can definitely be considered a success for White but here he makes a slight mistake 17.h4?! an attacking move but perhaps Black can get sufficient counterplay with accurate play now [ 17.e4! b5 18.c4 and Black is struggling for counterplay - the pawn on d6 gives White an obvious edge ] 17...a5 [ 17...b5 18.e4 b6 is similar to the game - with a5, b4 coming Black is doing OK ] 18.e4 b5 19.b3 f5 [ 19...a4!? ] 20.g3 [ 20.c5 keeps the game in the balance, e. g. e4 21.g5 f6 22.xd7 xd7 23.c5 and the pawn on d6 should give White just enough play to avoid being worse here ] 20...a6?! Shanava misses his chance [ 20...e4! 21.d4 e5 and Black is getting active - suddenly Qxh4 is an annoying threat as well and White is struggling somewhat ]

21.b2 e4 22.d4 [ 22.xg7!? is a fascinating piece sac probably White has the better chances in the complications exf3 23.xf3 xg7 24.c3+ f6 25.xe8 xe8 26.d7 d8 27.xc6 a7 28.d6 and Black is under real pressure ] 22...b7 23.dxf5! Probably a very good practical decision leading to a forcing continuation [ 23.c4 is the computer's preference but now f6! 24.a1 f7 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.xb5 xa1 27.xa1 a6 and although White is a pawn up it's Black that has all the pressure ] 23...xb2 24.e7+ xe7 25.dxe7 xe7 26.xe4 And now Black errs in this difficult position f8?! [ 26...f8 was necessary 27.c4 ( 27.d6 xe2 28.xe2= ) 27...g7 28.d6 xe2 29.xe2 and White is still very active however two Bishops for the rook is a good swap so I would expect Black to hold here ] 27.c3 a3 28.f3 f7 Avoiding Nf6+ 29.g3 g7?! [ 29...e7 would've brought the Bishop back to help out in the defence although W hite can keep up the pressure in lots of ways 30.c7 ( 30.h5; 30.d6 )] 30.b4! Suddenly the Bishop is out of the game and Black is in trouble h8? [ 30...axb4 was a better try but after 31.cxb4 c5 32.xc5 f7 33.xb7 xb7 34.c3 the Bishop is still marooned on a3 and Black is facing an uphill task ] 31.d6 axb4 32.cxb4 c5 33.bxc5? I su sp e ct t im e -t ro u b le b e ca m e a n i s s u e around here as W hite makes the win much more tricky with this move [ 33.xc5! xb4 34.e7 is crushing as if c3 35.d4 and Black is caught in a mating net ] 33...c8 34.d3 xe4?! [ 34...xc5 35.xc5 xc5 36.d6 c7 37.e8 f7 is unpleasant for Black but I can see no way for White to breakthrough ] 35.xa3 b7 36.d6 g5?! Looking for some counterplay but in fact this just loses the position was already difficult though 37.h5! g4 38.h6 c7 39.c6! A critical opening choice from Iordachescu but it seems Black may be doing OK after 12...Qb6! 1035

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 39.c6 wins ] 1-0

xc6

40.b2+

997 Ivanchuk,V Kramnik,V FIDE Candidates (14.3) [Tom Rendle]

g8

41.xc6!

B08 2757 2810 01.04.2013

1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 Kramnik chooses the Pirc for this 'must-win' game. He's had great success with this in the past but normally against 2650 Grandmasters. Ivanchuk is somewhat more dangerous but also susceptible to time-trouble! 4.f3 g7 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 a6 [ 6...c6 is Black's main option and now W hite's most promising continuation appears to be 7.d5 ( 7.e3 g4 8.d2 should also be considered) 7...b8 8.h3 ( 8.e1 ) 8...c6 9.e1 ( 9.a4 wa s c o n s id e r e d i n R o ze n t a l is - E f i m o v, a n a l y s e d b y J o h n W a t s o n .) 9...a6 ( probably 9...bd7 offers Black a better chance of equalising.) 10.a4 a5 11.g5 bd7 12.d2 e8 13.ad1 b6 14.b3 and White had the more comfortable game in Socko, B (2617)-Bauer, C (2639) Graz 2013. ] 7.h3 [ 7.a4 b6 8.e1 e6 9.f1 b7 10.f4 bd7 11.d2 e8 12.h6 e7 13.h3 f8 14.xg7 xg7 and Black had few problems in Malakhov-Topalov examined by Watson for ChessPub. ] 7...c6!? Another provocative choice from Kramnik [ 7...b5 is the logical alternative and now A) 8.a3 feels too slow to me and Black should have no problems after b7 9.e5 ( or 9.d3 bd7 and Black will break with ...c5 and have the better game. ) 9...d5; B) 8.e5 B1) 8...fd7 9.e6 is a typical pawn structure but it probably doesn't offer more than adequate compensation after fxe6 10.g5 B1a) instead 10...b6?! B1a1) 11.g4! just looks strong

h e r e a s w e l l - f o r e x a m p l e c6 ( 11...f5!? 12.xf5 exf5 gives Black a pawn for the exchange but I don't fully believe in his c o m p e n s a t i o n a f t e r 13.e1! as Black still has some problems on the light-squares.) 12.xe6+ h8 13.e3 and White has control over the position; B1a2) 11.d3 f6 12.ce4 gave W hite the better chances in Pavlo vic, M (25 30) -Hunga ski, R (2488) Biel 2012; B1b) 10...f6 11.d3 c6! seems to be OK for Black.; B2) 8...e8 B2a) 9.a4! b4 10.d5 is the critical t e s t o f B l a c k ' s s e t u p . A f t e r c6 ( 10...a5 11.g5 f6 12.exf6 exf6 13.f4 is very unpleasant for Black) 11.e1 White has a good game as the knight can't easily be chased from d5 with e6 b e c a u s e o f 12.g5! f6 13.exf6 xf6 14.c4! a nice tactic that gives White a clear advantage.; B2b) 9.d3?! b7 10.e4 c6 11.exd6 cxd6 12.c3 c7 13.c2 d7 and Black had at least equalised and went on to win in Andrijevic, M (2357)-Sargissian, G (2693) Valjevo 2012 ] 8.g5 I really like this move from Vassily, avoiding the complications of 8.d5 in favour of a more positional bind. b5 [ 8...d5!? might be playable here but it's a rather atypical move for the variation. A) 9.xf6 exf6 10.exd5 ( 10.xd5? f5! 11.c3 xd4 and Black is comfortably better. ) 10...e7 11.c4 b5 12.b3 b7 and Black regains the pawn with roughly balanced chances; B) 9.exd5 xd5 10.xd5 xd5 11.c3 and White has a slight advantage - also it might be hard for Black to create winning chances after d8 12.b3 ] 9.a3 h6 [ 9...b7 10.c1! keeps a stable advantage for White. The point of this slightly strange square is that after e5 11.dxe5 xe5 12.xe5 dxe5 W h i t e c a n p la y 13.d1 with a good game and the queen is coming 1036

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to e3 in any case. ] 10.e3! Having provoked a small weakness on the kingside the bishop is best placed on e3 where it controls the centre and keeps an eye on h6. e5 [ Black could also have continued with 10...e6 when we have a kind of Hippo structure, although there the knights are normally placed on e7 and d7. White should be somewhat better after 11.d2 h7 12.d3 b7 13.a4! b4 14.e2 ] 11.dxe5 dxe5 [ 11...xe5 12.xe5 dxe5 13.c5 e8 14.a4 is obviously better for White and Black has little counterplay here. ] 12.c1 h7? A serious mistake which hands the initiative over to White. [ it was necessary to sacrifice a pawn with 12...d4! 13.xh6 c5 ( 13...b7 14.xg7 xg7 15.d1 c5 16.e3 doesn't feel like enough comp.) 14.xg7 xg7 and Black has reasonable compensation due to his control of the centre and the dark-squares in particular. ] 13.c5 e8 14.d1 d7 15.b4 c8 16.e3 White has an excellent position with more control of the centre and the queenside. Kramnik does his best to mix it up d8!? [ 16...b7 might've been the best option but W hite is still in control after 17.a4 ( or 17.d3!? )] 17.a4 bxa4 18.xa4 e6 19.c4 h5!? Not liking his position Kramnik seeks counterplay on the kingside but it's dealt with relatively easily. 20.c3 [ 20.d5 b8 21.c3! is also very strong. Black probably has to sacrifice the exchange with b5 22.a7 a8 23.xa8 xa8 followed by Nhf4 and Black at least has some counterplay. ] 20...hf4 21.d5 b5 22.b3 c6 23.a5 b7 24.g3! An excellent pawn sacrifice that kills Black's counterplay. xh3+ 25.g2 hg5 26.h1 g8 27.xg5 xg5 28.f3! Now e4 has been solidified White again has complete control of the position, albeit he's still a pawn down. xd5 Otherwise Ne7+ was c o m in g a n d B la c k's p o sit io n f a lls a p a rt . 29.xd5 c6 30.c4 c8 31.b3 h5 This doesn't turn out well but it's hard to suggest an alternative way for Black to obtain

c o u n t e r p l a y . 32.e3 e6 33.ha1 Ivanchuk regains the pawn and keeps all his po sit io n a l p lu sse s. h4 34.gxh4 d8 35.xa6 c8?! A further mistake after which the position is probably lost for Kramnik. [ 35...xa6 36.xa6 xh4 and Black is still f ighting although af te r 37.xe6! xe6 38.a8+ h7 39.a1! d8 40.c4 the ending is very difficult for Black and he has practically no winning chances. ] 36.h1 c7 37.xe6 xe6 38.b5! b7 [ 38...cxb5 39.xe6 fxe6 40.xe6+ f7 ( 40...h8 41.h5 ) 41.xg6 is also hopeless for Black ] 39.b6 c5 40.b1 White makes the time control and the pawn on b6 gives him an easily winning position. f8 41.d5 b8 42.ba1 d6 43.a8 xd5 44.xb8 xb8 45.exd5 d6 [ 45...xb6 loses to 46.a8 g7 47.xf8! xf8 48.xc5+ ] 46.a6 b7 47.f1 And here Kramnik resigned as the White king is simply walking to b5 and a6 and it's all over. The tragedy for Vladimir of course was that as it turned out a draw would've been enough to win the tournament as Carlsen lost a shock game as White against Svidler. I'm sure if Kramnik had known he only needed a draw we might've seen a different opening choice! 1-0

998

B08 Jakovenko,Dmitrij 2736 Svidler,Peter 2754 World Blitz Moscow RUS blitz (32) 18.11.2009 [Neil McDonald] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 Most players adopt the Classical Pirc as White in order to restrain the dynamism in the black se t u p , b u t S vid le r m a n a ge s t o c re a t e a disturbance on the queenside. f6 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 a6 Black intend s to adopt a Hippopotamus set up. This is far more dynamic than the lines that emerge after 6... Bg4 or 6...Nc6, where White gets a small edge with no hassle. 7.a4 b6 8.e1 e6 [ Black prevents any disruptive e5-e6 advance of the kind that might occur after 1037

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8...b7 9.e5 ] 9.f1 b7 So far play has followed MalakhovTopalov in the archives. There John Watson remarks that White 'probably wishes that he had his bishop on f1 in a more active position. ' Here Jakovenko aims to achieve that by putting his bishop on g2, but it just goes to show you have to be careful what you wish for. Once the bishop leaves the f1-a6 diagonal, Svidler is able to expand on the queenside with b6-b5. 10.g3?! [ Instead 10.f4 was played by Malakhov in the aforementioned game. This looks like the better treatment for W hite, as Black doesn't have many problems achievin g activity in the present game. ] 10...bd7 11.g2 c8 The queen sidesteps the pin that was looming after W hite's next move and defends the bishop on b7 against any surprises af ter e4-e5 . 12.g5 b5! A classic flanking move in the Pirc. 13.e5?! [ After 13.axb5 axb5 14.xa8 xa8 planning 15...b4 to undermine the defence o f e 4 . H e r e 15.b4! looks about equal. ( and not 15.e5? dxe5 16.dxe5 g4 when the e5 pawn drops with the better chances for Black. )] 13...dxe5 14.dxe5 d5 15.axb5? Of course this is a blitz game so we can't expect perfection. White's last chance to keep out of trouble was probably the modest [ 15.d2 to avoid any weaknesses on the queenside, though Black has a nice game after xc3 16.xc3 d5 intending 17... Qb7 ( or 16...c5!? )] 15...xc3 16.bxc3 axb5 17.xa8 xa8 18.f4 d5! 19.d4 b7 Now Svidler has a grip on the important d5 and c4 centre light squares. 20.xd5 xd5 21.f3 b6 22.e2 d8 23.h4 c4 24.g5 [ He should exchange with 24.xc4 xc4 when the black knight has been kept away from the d5 square. ] 24...xe2 25.xe2 d1+ 26.g2 d5 27.c4 [ White should try to tough it out with 27.d2 though Black can probe his weak queenside pawns after c5 etc. ] 27...bxc4 28.e4 c3 29.d8 b6?? Evidence that this is a blitz game. [ Instead 29...c1 keeps the advantage. ]

30.d4?? [ Did both players miss 30.xc7 here, or is the game score incorrect? ] 30...xd4 31.xd4 xe5 32.b5 d5 33.f4 c6 34.a7 g7 35.xc6 e3+ 36.f3 xc2 37.e4 f5+ 38.d3 e1+ A highly instructive battle as regards the opening/ early middlegame. 0-1

999 Jonkman,Harmen Iordachescu,Viorel 12th Monarch Assurance, Erin (1) [Andrew Martin]

B08 2420 2605 2003

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c3 c6 5.e3 f6 6.d2 0-0 If this move is possible, then the idea of the 150 attack is wholly undermined. 7.d3 [ 7.h4 seems more dangerous, as does 7 Bh6. Take a look at the following rout: b5 8.a3 g4 9.h5 xe3 10.xe3 a5 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.g5 e5 13.0-0-0 e8 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.h4 ( 15.h4 is also dangerous) 15...e6?! 16.f5! winning! d7 ( 16...gxf5? 17.exf5 f6 18.h8+!! xh8 19.h5+ g8 20.xe8+ wins ) 17.xg7 xg7 18.f4 exf4 19.h6+ f6 20.e5+ xe5 21.g5+ f5 22.c4 d5 23.xd5 1-0 Lastin, A-Yandemirov, V/ Novgorod 1999 I wonder quite what Iordachescu has prepared? ] 7...g4 [ 7...bd7 8.0-0 e5 9.h3 e8 10.dxe5 xe5 11.xe5 dxe5 12.a4 b6 13.fd1 e6 14.e2 c7 15.g3 ed8 Hunt, H- Fridman, D/12th Monarch Assurance, Port Erin IOM 2003 (37), seems a fairly straightforward approach in the style of the Classical Pirc. Fridman goes on to outplay Hunt. ] 8.g5 e5! 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.f3 c8 11.h4 h5! I think this is a very good two-way move, both defensive in that in holds up the h-pawn and offensive in that it prepares a possible pawn sacrif ice with ... Nf4, liberating the Bishop on g7. W ith 11 h4 W hite burns his boats. He's committed to castle long now and if the Bishop on e3 disappears, extra pawn or 1038

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 not, W hite is going to have some serious defending to do. 12.0-0-0 b5 13.e2 [ 13.g4 f4 14.xf4 exf4 15.xf4 sees the pawn sacrifice accepted and Black whipping up a strong attack: a5 16.d2 b4 17.e2 h6 18.h3 e6! No way was White going in for something like this. ] 13...f6! Jonkman was hoping for g4 but the veiled threat to b2 dissuades that move . 14.c4!? Bit of a body-swerve, this one! [ 14.h3 xh3 15.xh3 f4 16.xf4 exf4 17.c3 b4 18.xf4 e6 19.b1 bxc3 20.xc3 d7 ] 14...h6 15.h3 xh3 I don't immediately see why he gives up the Bishop maybe just to maintain momentum. Instead [ 15...d8!= was fine for Black. ] 16.xh3 d8 17.a5 [ 17.c3 d7 18.g4 e6 19.h2 f4 ] 17...d7 18.cxb5 f4! Black plays with energy! 19.xf4 [ If 19.h2 then b6 20.xf4 exf4 21.c3 cxb5 22.xb5 ac8 and Black has a tremendous initiative. ] 19...exf4 20.c3 c5 21.e2 One can see that W hite isn't really happy about the way the game has turned out. He's struggling to find a good square for the Bishop. Certainly with other moves Black gets enviably centralised: [ 21.c4 xd1+ 22.xd1 cxb5 23.xb5 ( 23.xb5 d4 ) 23...c8 24.b1 d4 ] [ 21.c2 xd1+ 22.xd1 cxb5 23.xb5 c8 24.h5 g5 25.c4 d8 ] 21...xd1+ 22.xd1 cxb5 23.xb5 d4! 24.h1 c8 25.b1 d2 Very strong. The presence of opposite-colour Bishops only enhances the Black initiative. 26.c4 a5 This pawn will arrive on a3 in a flash if it isn't halted. 27.a4 h5 T i d yi n g u p . 28.c2 But he was running out of decent moves. [ 28.f1 d8 29.c2 xa4 30.xd2 xd2 31.e1 xb2-+ ] 28...xc2+ 29.xc2 xa4+ 30.b3 xb2 31.xb2 b8+ 32.a3 xb2 33.c4 xg2 34.b1 c2 35.b8+ f8+ 36.b3 c1 37.d3 c7 38.c4 g7 39.c3 d6 I won't say that the 150 attack is burning out because as we have seen, White could have played either 7 h4 or 7 Bh6, both of which

seem better than 7 Bd3. But it's certainly not a ro u t e t o a win n in g a t t a c k a s h a s b e e n claimed by some. 0-1

1000 Karpov,Anatoly Carr,Neil L ARC Simul Westergate [Andrew Martin]

B08

1982

Coming up is a remarkable game which I am sure that you won't have seen before. The days of the eagerly-anticipated Grandmaster simul are waning thanks to the Internet, but back in 1982 and especially in England, they were one of the highlights of the calendar. The player of the White pieces was the then W orld Champion and household name, Anatoly Karpov. Neil Carr has drifted away from chess these days, but back then he was a n e xt r e m e l y t a l e n t e d yo u n g p l a y e r , a n England Junior International who went on to become World U12 boys champion and FIDE Master. Hardly the ideal simultaneous opponent! It was Leonard Barden who laid th e a n nu a l a m bu sh, wit h 2 0 o r 30 ha n d picked players ready to confront the Grandmaster. The poor guy usually didn't know what he was letting himself in for. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 g4 7.e3 c6 8.d2 e5 9.d5 e7 10.ad1 This is the Classical Variation of the Pirc, quite in Karpov's style. W hite contents himself with modest development and is getting ready to squeeze the Black position. The point of 10 Rad1 is to prevent 10...c6 which would free Black's game. White intends a purely positional plan involving ideas such as Ne1 (exchanging light-squared Bishops), a4-a5 and then Nb4, with pressure. b5!? One of the sharpest replies, which Karpov had problems against, as you will see. Black offers a pawn which when accepted, will allow him to damage W hite's kingside. 11.a3 [ 11.b4 is somewhat safer: a6 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 d7 14.e2 f5 15.f3 b6 16.a4 bxa4 17.a1 d7 18.a3 fxe4 19.fxe4 xf1+ 20.xf1 a5 21.b5 f8 22.e2 g5 1039

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.xa4 g6 24.xa5 f4 25.g4 xg4 26.hxg4 c4 27.b4 xa3 28.xa3 e2+ 29.h2 f6 30.g3 f3 31.g2 d4 32.d3 h6 33.c3 xe3 34.xe3 xb5 35.d3 1-0 Eschbach, D-Seelinger, L/ Germany 2003 ] 11...a5 12.xb5 [ A year later Karpov was still struggling: 12.b4 axb4 13.axb4 a3 14.g5 xc3 15.xf6 xf3 16.xf3 a3 17.xg7 xg7 18.a1 a8 19.xa3 xa3 20.e2 b2 21.d1 f5 22.exf5 xf5 23.c3 xd2 24.xd2 a8 25.xb5 a3 26.c2 e7 27.f4 exf4 28.c6 f5 29.f2 e3 30.c1 f6 31.g3 e5 32.f3 g5 33.gxf4+ gxf4 34.h4 xd5 35.xd5 xd5 36.xf4 c4 37.e1 xc3 38.e7 xb4 39.xh7 d5 40.e5 c6 41.d4 c4+ 0-1 Karpov, A-Azmaiparashvili, Z/Moscow 1983/ URS-ch ] 12...xf3 13.gxf3 h5! Intending ...f7-f5! 14.fe1N Clearly this is a critical position for the whole variation not exactly what you want as the simul giver, world champion or no world champion! The problem precisely is that Black is going to get the attack come what may. Carr is not interested in material he wants to first bamboozle Karpov and then checkmate him! I don't think Karpov could quite believe what was going on at this stage. Surely the young man would falter in the face of the Grandmasters active defence? [ 14.e2! tries to find the best way of organizing W hite's minor pieces. It is es s en t ial th a t W h it e pla ys B g5 ne xt : f5 15.g5 A) 15...f4 16.h1 h6 17.xe7 xe7 18.g1 h7 19.g2 g8 20.dg1 f6 Huber, A-Vodep, O/ Graz 2001 and now the cold-blooded 21.c6! ( 21.c3 g7 22.c6 ag8 23.h3 h4 24.c3 f6 25.xa5 xe4 26.fxe4 f3 27.h2 fxe2 28.xe2 f6 29.g4 h5 30.d1 g5 31.g3 f4 32.f3 h4 33.e1 xh2 34.xh2 g5 35.e3 g4 0-1 was the continuation of the game above. Huber, AVodep, O/Graz 2001) 21...a7 ( 21...af8 22.xa5+- ) 22.c4 g5 23.c3 f6 24.c5! dxc5 25.e2 brings the Black pressure to an end.; B) 15...h6 16.xh6 xh6 17.xh6 f4

18.h1 f7 19.g1 h8 20.g5 b8 21.a4 f6 22.xf4 exf4 23.xf4 h5 24.g5 h8 25.xh5 xh5 26.g1 g7 27.c4 f8 28.g3 h6 Petrosian, AMovsziszian, K/ Yerevan 1983 when 29.c5 h5 30.h4 would have seen White finally assume the initiative. ] [ 14.h1 f5 15.g5 ( 15.e1 f4 16.g1 h6 17.xf4 exf4 18.exf5 g5 19.d3 h8 20.f6 xf6 21.e4 f5 22.b5 f7 23.c3 e5 24.c4 f6 25.xf5 xf5 26.d4 h3 27.f1 h5 28.e2 a4 29.c6 Liberzon, V-Quinteros, M/Netanya 1983) 15...f6 16.g1 xg5 17.xg5 f4 18.h4 b8 19.a4 g7 20.b3 f6 21.d2 f8 22.d1 h6 23.e3 g5 24.d7 fg6 25.h3 f4 26.f1 fg6 27.xf5 h4 28.g3 exf5 Enders, P-Buchal, S/Binz 1 9 9 5 a n d n o w 29.xf5+ xf5 30.exf5 xf5 31.a6 xf3 32.xa5 looks rather better for White. We can safely reach the verdict that this variation is better for White, but that he must play with extreme care. Carr's tactics are impeccable for a simul he forces the great player on to the defensive at any cost. ] 14...f5 15.e2 f4 16.d2 g5 17.f1 f6 18.h3 h6 19.d7 I'm sure Karpov saw to here and may even have analysed it at home, coming to the conclusion that Black doesn't have enough. He might have been right, but he underestimated Carr's complete lack of nerve, added to which this position is not THAT easy to play for White. Basically Black must forget about material and throw in the kitchen sink. f8 20.xc7 c8 21.xa5 He takes everything! The next part of the plan is to run out with the King. f6 22.f1 g4 23.e2 [ 23.fxg4 is illogical, opening up the side of the board where Black is strongest: A) 23...xg4 24.d7 xh2+ ( 24...a8 25.c7 xh2+ 26.e2 f7 27.d3 h5 28.b7 d8 29.e6+ xe6 30.dxe6 h3+ 31.c4 c8+ 32.b3 xe6+ 33.d5+- ) 25.e2 b8 26.b1 f7 27.c7 h5+ 28.d3+-; B) 23...xh2! 24.f3 xg4!! Perhaps a double exclam is too much. Black has to rip open White's King. 25.fxg4 ( 25.d7 e3+ 26.g1 g2+ 27.h1 g5 1040

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28.xe3 fxe3 29.f1 f4-+ ) 25...f3 26.g5 f2 27.e3 g6-+ 28.a6 h4 ] 23...gxf3+ 24.d3 xh2 25.b6 g4 26.f1 b8 27.xd6 Not an everyday situation! xf2+ 28.xf2 xf2 29.a4 g2 30.c4 A well-travelled King. Unfortunately for Karpov, his monarch does not find safety on the queenside either! g6 31.d7 c8 32.b3 d6 33.h1 f2 This is the baby that is tying White down. He must spare defensive units to look after the pawn. 34.f1 b7 35.h3 xb5 36.axb5 xb5+! A lovely touch. 37.a2 [ 37.xb5 g3+-+ ] 37...a6+ 38.b1 xb2+! Superb play by Black all the way through. One could never recognize this game as from a simul. 0-1

1001 Khalifman,Alexander Adams,Michael World Team Ch (4) [Nigel Davies]

B08

1997

1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e3 0-0 6.d2 g4 7.g5! c6 [ The point behind White's last move is that 7...h6 can be met by 8.h3 h5 ( or 8...d7 9.f3 ) 9.xf7 xf7 10.g4 with a strong attack ] 8.d5 [ 8.h3 d7 9.0-0-0 was also pretty good for White in Emms - Johansen, Gausdal 1993. Khalifman's move could be even stronger. ] 8...b8 9.f3 d7 10.h4 h5 11.g4! Wow! Khalifman announces that he's in no mood to take prisoners. Black is in big trouble. c6 [ 11...hxg4 would have been answered by 12.e2 after which White wants to rip Black's king limb from limb with various combinations of castling long and h4-h5. ] 12.gxh5 xh5 13.0-0-0 a5 14.d4 xd4 15.xd4 b5 16.b1 b4 17.e2 Stopping t h e c o u n t e ra t t a c k i n i t s t ra c k s. No w i t ' s White's turn.... c8 18.d2 cxd5 19.f4 b3!? An ingenious attempt to complicate but Black never has nearly enough for his queen. 20.xa5 bxc2+ 21.c1 cxd1+ 22.xd1

xf4 23.exd5 f5 24.d2 h5 25.e3 c7 26.b5! White gets his attack in before Black can finish his development. The threat is 27.Be8!. f8 27.d4 f6 28.h7+ g7 29.xf6 exf6 30.h5 gxh5 31.xh5 1-0

1002 Khamrakulov,Dzhurabek Iuldachev,Saidali ch Tashkent UZB (4) [John Watson]

B08 2548 2501 27.04.2008

An interesting game in the traditional Classical Variation. 1.d4 f6 2.f3 d6 3.c3 g6 4.e4 g7 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.a4 a5 [ I ' l l l o o k a t 7...bd7 in MamedyarovInarkiev. ] 8.h3 a6 This ...Na6-b4 manoeuvre used to be a main line in the Pirc, and is still fully viable. 9.e1!? [ 9.e3 b4 is a well-known position in which W hite often plays Nd2 and f4. For example, a couple of recent games went 10.d2 e8?! ( 10...d5 11.e5!? e8 12.f4 c7 13.a2 xa2 14.xa2 f6 15.f3 with space and some advantage, Lyell-Parkanyi, Budapest 2008.) 11.c4 f5 12.d5! a6 13.a3 f4 14.xa6 bxa6 15.d4 Gochelashvili-Tseshkovsky, Maykop 2008 Black doesn't seem to have enough attack for the exchange. ] 9...b4 10.g5 Perhaps an innovation, this is a straightforward development that may intend to combine the ideas of Qd2/Bh6 and e5. Black reacts with a central counterattack, so we're not sure how W hite would have proceeded. [ 10.d2 resembles the last note: ] 10...d5 11.exd5 White opens the e-file to profit from his rook's position, but also to render Black's knight on b4 out of place. [ The obvious option is 11.e5 , when e4 12.e3 f5!? is worth looking at. ] 11...cxd5 [ 11...bxd5?! 12.xd5 xd5 13.d2 gives White space and central control. ] 12.b5!? f5 13.c1 c8 14.e2 [ Or 14.h4 d7 15.d2 . White has more 1041

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 space to work with. ] 14...h6 15.f4 g5 16.h2 e4?! [ The active 16...b6! has the idea 17.xe7 e4 threatening ...Bf6. ] 17.xe4!? [ 17.d1 with the idea c3 and Ne3 is less forcing, but also attractive. ] 17...dxe4 18.e5 xd4?! [ 18...d5? looks weak after 19.g4! h7 20.d7 e8 21.c5 ] [ But 18...xe5 and ...Qb6 might be best. ] 19.c3 c5 [ 19...d5 20.cd1 d3 21.xd3 exd3 22.xd3 favours White. ] 20.cxb4! xc1 21.g4! This creates space for W hite's king and ref utes Black's idea. In general the opening has been a smashing success for W hite. The rest is chaotic, but good for him. c2 22.gxf5 axb4 23.xe4 xb2 24.d7!? [ Best was 24.f6! exf6 25.d3 fd8 26.xf7! xd3 27.e6! ] 24...fd8 25.xe7 d4 26.g3 [ 26.e2! ] 26...d2? [ Losing. White still has the advantage after 26...e8 27.xe8+ xe8 28.xe8+ g7 29.g2! ] 27.e6! e8 [ White wins after 27...fxe6 28.xe6+ h7 29.e7+ g7 30.f6 g8 31.e4+! h8 32.d3 ] [ or 27...g7 28.g6! fxg6 29.f6 Now White finds a pretty combination that sacrifices 3 pieces ] 28.g6+! fxg6 29.f6+! xf6 30.c4+! [ 30.c4+ xc4 31.xe8+ g7 32.xg6+ f8 33.xf6+ e8 34.e6+ d8 35.xc4 ] 1-0

1003 Khamrakulov,Dzhurabek Karimov,I ch Tashkent UZB (6) [John Watson]

B08 2322 2317 16.05.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f3 f6 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.a4 c7 As far as I can tell, all of the games in Vigus' book with

a4 (without h3, which is never played in this game) either include ...a5 or ...Nbd7. There are just so many possible move orders, which is one of the appeals of the Pirc. Covering every line is impossible, but a serious Index of Variations which includes a careful listing of transpositions is a more important omission, and quite achievable. 8.e1 e5 9.g5 [ 9.c4 bd7 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.g5 h6 12.h4 is similar to the game, and indeed, White usually throws in Bc4 at some point in this line. For example, c5 13.c1 h5! 14.e3 e6 15.e2 e8 16.d2 ef4 17.f3 e6= Tarve, U-Etruk, Tallinn 1969. Placing a knight on f4 tends to equalise or bet te r in t he se lin es, bu t pa rt ic ularly if White has played h3, when it is hard to kick the knight with g3. ] 9...h6 10.h4 [ A provocative move was 10.dxe5!? hxg5 (it's natural to want to secure the bishop pair, but the pawn recapture may have been p r e f e r a b l e ) 11.exf6 xf6 , with the nice point 12.e5! dxe5 13.e4 g7 14.fxg5 ( 14.c4 d7 15.fxg5 would be irritating) 14...d7 15.a5!? ( both 15.c4 and; 15.d6! look nice for White, the latter proceeding xd6 16.xd6 b6 17.c4! ) 15...f6 16.c4 ( 16.d6 xd6 17.xd6 d5 isn't so bad this time) 16...xe4 17.xe4 f5 18.g3 ad8 19.e2 c8 20.c3 e7 21.e3 a6 22.a4 h7 23.e4 1/2-1/2 Cladouras-Werner, GERchT. A fair result once W hite missed his early chances. ] 10...h5 [ One of the few games arriving at this p o s i t i o n w e n t 10...e8 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.d2 d8 13.c1 bd7 14.c4 f8?! ( Trying to get to c5 or b4, but it doesn't hapen. Better was 14...c5 ) 15.e3 g7 16.ad1 e7 17.g3 ( 17.d2! and Black is tied up) 17...h7 18.h4 hf8 19.h1 g5 A) A n i c e t a c t i c : 20.hxg5! hxg5 ( 20...xg5 21.f3 is pretty bad for Black ) 21.d6! xd6 22.xd6!; B) 20.h5 f6? 21.f3 c5 22.e3 ( a g a i n , s i m p l y ( 22.d2! ) 22...xe3 23.fxe3!? c5 24.f1 cd7?? Uusi-Hazai, Tallinn 1981, and although 25. 1042

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Qf5 ultimately won material (the game was drawn), 25.xd7+! xd7 26.f5 would have won immediately, the only try g8 failing to 27.c4 ] 11.d2 [ 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.c4 would set up the normal formation. ] 11...f4 [ 11...g5! 12.dxe5 ( 12.g3? xg3 13.hxg3 g4 ) 12...dxe5 ( 12...gxh4?! 13.exd6 a5 14.e5! ) 13.g3 d8 14.e3 xg3 15.hxg3 e6 ] 12.ad1 xe2+ 13.xe2?! [ 13.xe2 g4 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.d8! is the computer suggestion. I'm not sure that it d oes muc h a f te r c8 16.e7 e8 17.a3 d7 , but it avoids what could happen next. ] 13...g4 [ Better 13...g5! 14.g3 g4 ] 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.e3!? a6 16.h3 e6 17.d3 f6 18.h2 g5 19.g3 fe8 20.e3 b6 21.f3? Losing material. [ 21.f1 is more natural. ] 21...ad8? [ 21...c5! 22.3d2 xb2 ] 22.b3 b4 23.3d2 xd2 24.xd2 d8 25.xd8+ xd8 26.e2 d4 Black has some initiative and the bishops, but his king is a little exposed and White is able to keep his disadvantage small. 27.d1 a1 28.f1 a2 29.f3 f8 30.f2 a6 31.d3 e7 32.fe3 d4 33.xd4 exd4 34.f5 xf5 35.exf5 c5 36.f1 b4!? 37.c3 dxc3?! 38.xc3 d3 39.e3 f7 40.e2 e5 41.f4 c6 42.fxg5 hxg5 43.e4 a5? 44.xc5 xb3 45.b6! Black's knight is almost trapped. c1+ 46.d2 a2 47.c5! b4 48.xb7 d5 49.e3 b4+ 50.d3 e7 And White converted his extra pawn: 51.d4 xe3 52.xe3 d7 53.d4 c6 54.d8+ d7 55.f7 c6 56.h6 a3 57.g4 b2+ 58.c4 d6 59.g3 a5 60.h4 gxh4 61.gxh4 e7 62.h5 f7 63.d5 a1 64.h6 b2 65.h7 g7 66.e6 xh7 67.xf6+ g7 68.d7 a3 69.f6+ g8 70.e5 f8 71.c6 b2 72.xa5 1-0

1004 Kizov,Atanas Ardelean,George Catalin 5th Open Sozina SCG (2) [Andrew Martin]

B08 2345 2447 19.02.2004

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c3 If White wants a modern Be3 system I think this is the best move-order. a6!? For instance, if W hite now plays 5 Be2!, he gets a good classical variation. 5.e3 But Kizov is feeling stubborn. [ 5.h3 b5 6.a3 I hardly think that this is the way to trouble Black. h3 and a3 - what is that?? d7 7.d3 c5 8.e3 cxd4 9.xd4 gf6 10.0-0? 0-0? Already Black's position is very satisfactory, Brajovic, R-Moldovan, D/Sozina SCG 2004. ] [ 5.a4 b6 6.c4 e6 7.g5 e7 8.d2 h6 9.e3 d7 10.0-0 b7 More and more strong players are going this way with Black. It really is tough to break the Black position down. And on the slightest mistake, Black is ready to react. The Hippo is a good Open Tournament weapon. 11.d5 e5 12.e1 f5 13.exf5 xf5 14.d3 ( 14.d3 0-0 15.e4 xe3 16.fxe3 xf1+ 17.xf1 c8= Yagupov, I-Shchekachev, A/Bela Crkva 1990 ) A) 14...f6 15.a5 ( 15.xf5 gxf5 16.f4 e4; 15.f3 e7 16.fe1 0-0 ) 15...b5=; B) 14...0-0? I don't understand this move at all. W hy not 14...Nf6 with an unclear s i t u a t i o n : 15.xf5! xf5 16.xh6 Postny, E-Inarkiev, E/Cappelle la Grande FRA 2004. ] 5...f6 6.d2 b5 7.d3 b7 8.h6 0-0 9.xg7 One of the main points behind White's opening idea. The fianchettoed Bishop is exchanged at the first opportunity and White is hoping to capitalise on the weakened King position. However, in this position Black has more than his fair share of counterplay. White hasn't castled yet, so Black's King can't be attacked immediately and the Bishop on b7 is rather good when we compare it with the' sophisticated pawn' on d3. There's also the immediate threat of ...b5-b4 to consider. xg7 10.e5! What else? It's hard to believe moves like a2-a3. dxe5 11.dxe5 fd7 12.e3 e6 1043

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Fixing that e-pawn. 13.e4 c6 14.0-0-0 change of plan which gave Black a good [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 14.h4 was also worth game in Carlier - D Gurevich, Cappelle la consideration: b4 ( 14...h5 15.0-0-0 e7 Grande 1995.) 8.e2 c6 9.d5 e5 16.d2 c5 17.xc6 xc6 18.hd1 b4 10.xe5 dxe5 11.0-0 e6 12.dxe6 xe6 19.e2 d5 ) 15.e2 h6 16.h5 g5 13.a4 c5! (14.Bxc5? Nxe4 14.axb5 c4!) 17.0-0-0 ] gave Black the initiative in Rowson - Smirin, 14...e7 15.h4 Thematic, after Bh6xg7. h5 MSO Masters, London 1999. ] 16.e2 As suggested, 16 Rd2 was a good [ 7.h3 b5 8.d3 b7 9.e5 d5 10.h6 move. b6 17.f4 c4 18.c3?? xc3 11.xg7 xg7 12.xc3 d7 A funny one. 13.0-0-0 b6 14.h4 dxe5 15.dxe5 a4 [ Stepping away with 18.e2 was indicated, 16.b4 xf3 17.gxf3 c5 18.f4 d4 but after ad8 Black has counterplay - the wa s f i n e f o r B l a c k i n E m m s - F t a c n i k , position is not clear. 19.d3 ( 19.he1 4NCL Birmingham2000 ] 6a5 20.g5 g8 21.d3 xe4 7...b5 8.d3 22.xe4 d5 23.g4 ) 19...6a5 20.xb7 [ 8.xg7 xg7 9.a3 b7 10.d3 c5 xb7 21.hd1 xb2!? 22.xh5+!? gxh5 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.e5 h5 was already very 23.xb2 xd3 24.xd3 b4+ 25.b3 awkward for White in Bunning - Hodgson, g4 ] Canada 1994 ] 18...b4!-+ I think Kizov missed this move 8...c6 This seems like the most solid move entirely perhaps it is the sheer directness of to me, hitting back at the central dark squares. the idea that makes it so dif ficult to see. [ Black has also played 8...b7 which was White is controlling the game, he feels good, ju st a b o u t O K f o r B la ck in K h a lif m a n his prospects are rosy, and then he suddenly Kanstler, Jerusalem 1997: 9.xg7 xg7 gets felled by a one-mover! The importance 10.e5 fd7 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 dxe5! of vigila nc e th rou gh ou t a nd t he sp ortin g ( 12...d5 13.g3 e6 14.h4 gave White mantra of 'Focus, Determination and much the better game in Hebden - Sutovsky, Concentration' should have been running Monarch Assurance Open, Port Erin 2000) through his head. 19.e1 xe4 20.xe4 13.0-0-0 b6 14.h4!? d5! 15.c3 d6 xa2+ 21.b1 b4 22.d4 ad8 16.xe5 f6 17.g4 c4 18.e4 xd2 0-1 19.xd6 exd6= ] 9.d5 After this Black gets pretty good counterplay. 1005 B08 [ A more critical and dangerous line seems to be 9.xg7 xg7 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5 Kozakov,Mikhail g4 12.0-0-0 with the game Emms - Pein, Chernin,Alexander Southend 1999 continuing b4 13.b1 Leonid Stein Memorial (3) 23.08.2000 ( 13.e4 gxe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.xb4 [Nigel Davies] looks interesting and double-edged too) 13...d5 14.f4 xf2 15.c4 c5 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 16.d5 b6 17.e1 e6 with a full5.e3 0-0 6.d2 a6 This would ably be my blooded struggle in prospect ] choice too, though I might have considered playing it on move 5. Black wants to expand 9...e5 10.xe5 dxe5 11.xg7 xg7 12.a4 b4 13.a2 a5 14.c3 e6 15.cxb4 on the queenside with ...b5. 7.h6 [ White prefers a huge mess to giving Black a [ I f W h i t e s t o p s . . . b 7 - b 5 w i t h 7.a4 simple edge after 15.dxe6 bxc3 16.xc3 , he loses the possibility of castling long. xe6 , though his judgement in so doing Gallagher - van Wely, Krumbach 1991 went was probably questionable. ] b6 ( 7...c6 is also possible) 8.h6 b7 9.d3 bd7 10.0-0 e6 11.xg7 xg7 15...exd5 16.bxa5 c5! 17.exd5 xd5 18.c3 xg2 19.0-0-0 xa5 20.h4 h5 12.fe1 c5 with good counterplay. ] f3 Black is clearly better here [ 7.d3 b5 ( 7...g4!? 8.0-0-0 e5 9.d5 21.hg1 xf3 10.gxf3 h5 was an interesting because of the weakness of White's king. He 1044

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 manages to draw by the skin of his teeth. [ 16...axb4?! is inferior, after 17.xb4! xa3 22.c2 a6 23.de1 g4 24.e4 c4 18.xc6 xc6 19.xb5 a2 20.c4 b2 25.g3 f4 26.xf4 exf4 27.f3 e8 21.xd6 Black lost a pawn, Vogt,L-Bernard, 28.d1 b7 29.xf4 xe4 30.xe4 xa4 C,Wildbad 1990. ] 31.c6 a1+ 32.c2 e2+ 33.d2 xd2+ 17.c5 e8 18.f2?! Black is better out of 34.xd2 f1 35.f3 e5 36.d5 f5 the opening so White should be careful. 37.xc4 xf3 38.xf3 xf3+ 39.e3 [ After 18.exd5 exd5 19.xd5 xd5 xh4 40.b4 f6 41.b5 e5 42.b6 f4+ Black is slightly better, for example 20.bxa5 43.d3 d6 44.e4 g2 45.f1 e3 e4 21.fxe4 c3 with unpleasant threats. ] 46.e2 g5 47.xh5 c6 48.f3 xb6 [ I n m y o p i n i o n , 18.xe7!? is the most 49.e5 c7 50.e4 b6 51.f6 g4 precise way to equality, xe7 19.exd5 52.g5 f3 53.f4 f2 54.d3 xd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.c5 c6 ½-½ with a balanced position. ] 18...axb4 19.axb4 d4 20.b1 a2 21.d3 d7 22.c1! a8 23.d3 xc5 1006 B08 [ 23...f5!? was possible, keeping a slight advantage. ] Kuczynski,Robert 2525 Chernin,Alexander 2600 24.xc5 [ The stupid looking 24.bxc5!? deserves Budapest zt-B (8) 1993 attention, as the b5-pawn may become a [Alexander Volzhin] target. ] 6... Bg4 is Black's most popular response to 24...c8 25.b3 [ 25.c3 d6 with the idea of Nc4 ] the Classical system. As the following game shows, it's not easy for W hite to prove his 25...b6 26.h1 d6 27.a5 ec8 28.c3 advantage. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 d7 29.cxd4 exd4 with the idea of Nc4-+ 4.f3 g7 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 g4 winning 30.c1 e6 31.a3 c3 32.b1 The main line. 7.e3 c6 8.d2 e5 9.d5 cc8 33.a3 c3 34.xc3? A strange move. e7 10.ad1 d7 [ 34.b1 is obligatory, although Black can [ 10...b5 This move brought Azmaiparashvili try c4!? 35.a3 ac8 keeping his a sensational win over Karpov, but White is advantage. ] able to improve on that game: 11.a3 a5 12.xb5! ( The above mentioned game 34...dxc3 35.f4 b7! Now White is lost. continued 12.b4 axb4 13.axb4 a3 36.xb5 [ 36.xb7 xa3-+ winning ] 14.g5 xc3 15.xf6 xf3 16.xf3 a3 36...xa5 37.c7 17.xg7 xg7 , with a comfortable game [ 37.bxa5 xa5 38.c7 b3!-+ winning ] for Black.) 12...xf3 ( 12...xe4 13.xe4 38.xe6 xe6 39.bxa5 c2 f5 14.eg5 f4 15.c5 dxc5 16.c4 ) 37...c8 13.gxf3 h5 14.h1 and in a game 40.d3 [ 40.c1 a2 with the idea of Bb2 ] Liberzon - Quinteros, Netanya,1983, Black Black wins piece at least, so White had failed to prove he had something for the 40...b2 resigned. pawn. ] 11.e1 b5 12.a3 a5 13.d3 b8 14.f3 0-1 c6!? [ The opponents had already had this position: 14...d8 15.b4 axb4 16.xb4!? xa3 17.a1 xa1 18.xa1 e8 19.a6 c8 20.c6 xc6 21.dxc6 b4 22.b5 d5! with mutua l cha nces was K uczyn ski,RChernin,A,Polanica Zdroj 1992. ] 15.dxc6 xc6 16.b4 d5! A natural and good move. 1045

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1007 Kulaots,Kaido Maki,Veijo Tch-FIN 2004-5 (6) [Andrew Martin]

B08 2593 2388 15.01.2005

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.e3 a6 Quite a common move in this position. Black anticipates the Kingside attack with Qd2 and Bh6 by preparing immediate queenside counterplay. 6.e2!? A rather unusual alternative to the normal 6 Qd2. White is clearly planning 0-0-0 and e4-e5 and if Black is contemplating ...b7-b5 at some point (as he surely will be), he has to watch out for sudden attacks by the White Queen, a stone's throw away from the f3 and e4 squares. Black is forced to solve new problems. 0-0 [ It looks like the idea of 6 Qe2 originated some time back: 6...g4 7.0-0-0 ( 7.g5! h6 8.d2! c6 9.h3 f6 10.0-0-0 ) 7...xe3 8.xe3 g4 A) 9.h3! xf3 10.xf3 c6 11.e2 ( 11.c4 e6 12.e2 b5 ) 11...e6 12.g3 f6 13.xf6 xf6 14.g2 is mildly better for White.; B) 9.e2 d7 10.e5 e6 11.g1 h5 ( 11...xe2 12.gxe2 e7= ) 12.f4 e7 13.f3 dxe5 14.dxe5 0-0-0 15.a7 c5 16.xc5 xc5= Lastin, A-Beliavsky, A/ Vrnjacka Banja 1999 Not an especially inspiring debut. But improvements for W hite are not hard to find as I have indicated, and perhaps Kulaots had formed the same impression ] [ Black should definitely consider the immediate 6...b5 ] 7.0-0-0 g4 Clearing timber off the back but t h is i s r a r e l y a c o m p le t e s o lu t i o n t o t h e problems of this position. [ 7...b5 must be critical and then: 8.e5 fd7 9.h4 seems the way to go, with play very m u r k y a f t e r b7 10.h5 b4 11.b1 I prefer White though, who seems ahead in the race. ] 8.h3! Simple play will do for an edge. White obtains the two Bishops and a nice centre. 'Very well' the Modern player may exclaim, but that is quite normal for this opening. 'Then I d o n ' t l i k e i t ' w o u l d b e m y r e p l y . xf3

9.xf3 c6 10.e5! d7 11.h4! W hite has h3 for the Queen as and when needed, so this attack appears very strong. dxe5 12.dxe5 c8 [ 12...e6 would have prevented what follows, but after 13.h5 cxe5 14.xb7 ( 14.g3!? e7 15.hxg6 fxg6 16.e4 is the singlemin de d ap proa ch .) 14...b8 15.xa6 Black is once again in an unenviable position, having jettisoned his entire queenside to distract White from his mating plan. ] 13.e6! de5 [ 13...fxe6 14.h3 de5 ( 14...f6 15.c4 ) 15.h5 g5 16.xg5 xf2 17.g3 f5 18.h6 is pretty horrible for Black. ] 14.exf7+ xf7 15.e4 White is not even material down for this commanding position. b5 16.g3 f5 17.g2 [ I quite like th e sim ple 17.xf5 xf5 ( 17...gxf5 18.g2 b4 19.d5 ) 18.h3! maintaining a big advantage at no risk. ] 17...b8 18.h5 e6 19.hxg6 hxg6 20.h3 f6 [ 20...xe4 21.xe4 e8 22.c5 d8 23.g5+- ] 21.f4+- Black gets dismembered from here on in. c4 22.xe6 e8 23.xf7+ xf7 24.xc6 xe3 25.d7 f5 26.d1 Against the specific move-order where Black plays 5...a6, 6 Qe2 seems rather good. 6..b5 must be critical perhaps future games will test this out. 1-0

1008 Lengyel,B Chapman,T FSIM June Budapest HUN (8) [James Vigus]

B08 2267 2263 14.06.2008

In my recent book 'The Pirc in Black and W hite' (hereafter TPIBAW ), I concentrate mainly on new material: this seemed to me the m o st u r ge n t t a sk , a n d a t t h e sa m e t i m e p r e ve n t e d t h e b o o k f r o m s we l l i n g t o a n impractical size. However, I have just read Kasparov's stimulating book 'The Openings Revolution of the 1970s', which has reminded me of the value of studying opening theory 1046

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 from the time before either I was born or the silicon onslaught had begun. Furthermore, a re a d e r o f m y b o o k, Mr K o h K a h H u a t o f Singapore, has pointed out an important improvement in what was practically the main lines of the Pirc during Karpov's reign as world champion. This, combined with a new game or two, has set me on the trail of new life in an old line. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 g4 Despite the popularity of 6...c6 (see the next game) and the rise of modern provocative approaches (6...a6!? is currently in vogue), this one-time standard choice retains a good reputation. All kinds of experiments are tried in reply, but perhaps White does well to stick to the antediluvian main line. 7.e3 c6 8.d2 e5 9.d5 In 'Pirc Alert', Alburt and Chernin comment: 'This move intends more b e l l i g e r e n c e t h a n 9 d xe 5 [ wh i c h i s n o w considered harmless - JV]. Yet how good can 9 d5 be? Transposition into a King's Indian structure is not beneficial to W hite, considering both that his knight blocks his cpawn, and that Black's light-square bishop s u d d e n ly e m e rge s in t h i s st ru ct u re a s a valuable piece. Moreover, it's necessary to take into account that Black can take action in the center by playing ...c7-c6.' In reply, let's try to understand why 9 d5 - Karpov's choice for many years - might be good. a) Black must usually lose a tempo retreating the Bg4, since an exchange of light-squared bishops will make Black's counterplay with ...f5 rather masochistic - the e6-square is a constant worry. b) This plus the fact that White has not played c4 means that White centralises much more rapidly than in a standard King's Indian. c) White can hinder ...c6 by placing a rook on d1. d) When Black plays ...f5, he will not be allowed to advance this pawn further to f4. Instead White, having manoeuvred with Nf3e1, employs one of two strategies: meeting ... f5 directly with f2-f4 to open the centre; or playing gxf5, when if Black recaptures with a piece, the e4-square falls into White's hands, and if Black recaptures with a pawn, White wi l l p u s h f 2 - f 4 , e x e r t i n g f u r t h e r c e n t r a l pressure. In either case the bishop on g7 often becomes a passenger. Does this mean that the position is grim for Black, in fact?

W ell, no, but I wa nted to point out som e logical reasons why this old-fashioned approach could still be a critical try against t h e P irc . I t m i gh t b e sig n i f i ca n t t h a t t h e veteran IM Bela Lengyel, Chernin's compatriot, remains faithful to this line for W hite, long after most players have switched to something more trendy. Lengyel's opponent in this game, Terence Chapman, might also be well p r e p a r e d , h a v i n g e n j o ye d t r a i n i n g f r o m Speelman a few years ago in preparation for an odds match with Kasparov! e7 10.ad1 d7 [ The notes below might encourage Black to take a fresh look at the alternatives here, some of which John Nunn analysed in depth in his excellent 1989 book 'The Complete Pirc'. Nevertheless I guess 10...Bd7 will still emerge as best; it is certainly more constructive than a waiting move such as 10...Kh8, since then 11 Ne1! 'threatens' the exchange of light-squared bishops. But alternatives include Donner's 10... Nc8!? i n t e n d i n g . . . c 6 . O r : a ) 10...b5?! h a s a n i n t e r e s t i n g h i s t o r y, b u t 11.xb5 xe4 12.xe4 f5 13.eg5 f4 14.c5 dxc5 15.c4 favours White - Nunn. ] [ b) 10...c8!? is, as a secondary choice to 10...Bd7, endorsed in Alburt and Chernin's 'Pirc Alert' (2001). The idea is to bring the Nf6 round to e5. However, 11.e1 d7 12.f4 exf4 13.xf4 e5 14.f3 d7 15.h1 (why not 15 Nxe5 immediately?) a6?! ( 15...xf3 16.xf3 f5 ) 16.xe5 dxe5 17.g5 f6 18.d6 cxd6 19.xd6 was good for White in J.Bielczyk-P.Petran, Czechoslovakia 1990. ] [ c) 10...d7?! 11.g5! xe2 12.xe2 h6 13.h3 h7 14.b3 f5 15.exf5 xf5 ( or 15...gxf5 16.f4 ) 16.f3 f6 17.g3 xe3 18.xe3 c6 19.c4 with a grip on e4 shows p r e c i s e l y wh a t s t r a t e g i c g o a l W h i t e i s pursuing in this line, J. Timman-Y.Seirawan, Las Palmas 1981. ] 11.e1 [ 11.h6!? is a quite-looking alternative that was presumably dropped when white players realised that 11... Ng4 wasn't such a wo r r y i n g p r o s p e c t . I t ' s a t f i r s t s i g h t su rp rising t ha t W h it e sh ou ld e xc ha nge Black's 'bad' bishop, but the idea, known 1047

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 from lines like the Breyer Variation of the Ruy Lopez, is to soften up the black kingside in readiness for the f4-break. A) A successful example of this strategy is 11...h5 12.xg7 xg7 13.g3 h3 14.fe1 g4?! ( 14...h6 15.h4 f6 16.f4 was just a fraction better for White in E.Haag-G. Botterill, Birmingham 1975) 15.h4! xe2 16.xe2 f6 17.c1 d7 18.f4 exf4 19.gxf4 c6 20.dxc6 g4+ 21.g2 xc6 22.c3 ad8 23.d3 d5 24.f2 h5 25.exd5 xd5 26.e4 f5 27.d6 1-0 Matulovic,M (2530)-Matera,S (2385)/ Birmingham 1975/ EXT 1999; B) Nunn likes Black's play in A.GroszpeterE . M e d n i s , B u d a p e s t 1 9 7 8 : 11...c8 12.xg7 xg7 13.e1 c5 14.f4 exf4 15.xf4 e7 , followed by ...Nb6, ...Bc8, ...Nd7 and ...Ne5. But I wonder whether 16.a4 might not throw an annoying spanner in the works.; C) 11...b5 ( t h e m o s t a c t i ve ) 12.xg7 xg7 13.d3 ( 13.a3 b8 14.b4 a5 15.a1 c6 16.dxc6 xc6 equalised in A. Dikmen-J.Noomen, correspondence 2002 ) 13...b8 14.e2 b6 15.g3 g4 (not ideal, but perhaps Black's last chance to play this before White plays h3, b u i ld in g u p wi t h K h 1 , Nh 2 a n d f 2 - f 4 ) 16.e2 xf3 17.xf3 fg8 18.g4 f5 19.exf5 h6 C1) W h i t e s h o u l d g o i n f o r 20.h5+! gxh5 21.g5+ , when Black may be struggling for compensation after either g6 ( or 21...h8 22.xh6 hxg4 23.f6 f5 24.g5 f7 25.xf5 af8 26.xg4 xf6 ) 22.xh5 c5 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.g5 xg4 25.xg4; C2) 20.h3 hxf5 21.e4 1/2-1/2, L. Barczay-R.Keene, Dortmund 1982.; D) 11...e8 (t h e m o st s o l i d ) 12.xg7 xg7 13.g3 f6 14.h4 f5 15.g2 fxe4 16.xe4 ef5 ( 16...f5 17.f3 d7 looks okay) 17.f4 e7 18.de1 ae8 19.d3 was a little better for White in A. Planinec-J.Donner, Amsterdam 1974; E) 11...-- ] 11...b5 [ Alexander Chernin's adoption of this dynamic move in the 1990s is the main

reason why this whole main-line Classical went out of fashion. However, the older move 11...g4 is probably at least as good, even if not quite suff icient f or equality: 12.xg4 xg4 13.f3 d7 14.f4 g4 ( 14...exf4 15.xf4 f5 16.f3 fxe4 17.xe4 g4 18.de1 d7 19.eg5 ae8 20.c4! c8 21.d4 xe1 22.xe1 e8 23.xe8+ xe8 24.h3 d7 25.de6 xe6 26.xe6 f7 27.b3 17 led to a fine positional win for White in E.Geller-M.Tal, Moscow 1975, though Black might be able to improve on move ) A) 15.b1 A1) 15...exf4 16.xf4 ( Stohl's 16.xf4 d7 17.d3 is also good for a nagging edge ) 16...d7 17.d4 xd4+ 18.xd4 f5 was successful for Black in A.Greenfeld-V.Anand, Lyon 1994, but 19.d3 ( Stohl likes Black after 19.e5 g5! 20.f2 dxe5 21.xe5 g6 ) 19...g5 ( more dynamic than 19...fxe4 20.xe4 f5 21.c3 , as Stohl notes) 20.f2 f4 21.e1 (rather than rushing with 21 e5?! Nf5) g6 22.b4 b5 23.e2 leaves Black's position a touch ragged; A2) 15...c6 A2a) 16.h3 d7 17.fxe5 dxe5 18.c5 A2a1) 18...cxd5!? 19.xd5 xd5 20.xf8 b6+ 21.h1 xf8 22.exd5 ( 22.xd5 c6 23.d3 d4 picks up the e4-pawn - Nunn) 22...b5 23.f3 e4 24.b3 f6! 25.d3! c4 26.c5 xb3 27.axb3 f5 28.xb7 e3 29.xe3 xd5 30.f3 xf3 31.gxf3 e8 32.c3 e3 33.g2 e2+ 34.g1 h6 35.d6 , draw agreed, was the exciting course of E.Torre-M. C h a n d l e r , L o n d o n 1 9 7 8 - e3+ 36.h1 f4 and ...Rh2+ regains Black's pawn.; A2a2) 18...e8 19.f2 (L.Gachon-J. Chabanon, French Championship 1989) f5 20.xa7 f8 21.b6 e8 gives Black good compensation, e.g. 22.h4 cxd5 23.exd5 e4; A2b) 16.fxe5 dxe5 17.c5 b6 ( not 17...cxd5? 18.g5 , V.Liberzon-M. 1048

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xg7 was agreed drawn in an unclear Chandler, Hastings 1980/1) 18.a3 c5 position, E. Geller-P.Thipsay, New Delhi 19.b4 (Nunn considered this good for 1987 ) 19...d6 20.c5 d7 ( 20...f4!? White, yet the present game 21.g3 g5 is a double-edged method of convincingly exhibits Black's forestalling Thipsay's plan, when Black's c o u n t e r a t t a c k i n g p o t e n t i a l ) cxb4 advanced pawns make up for the 20.xb4 d7 21.f3 h6 badness of the Pirc bishop) 21.e2 a6 A2b1) White could activate more 22.xd6! cxd6 23.exf5 gxf5 24.g4! quickly with 22.e2 h7 23.b5 fxg4 25.xf8+ xf8 26.xf8+ xf8 , but f5 24.exf5 ( or 24.d6 a5 27.xg4 xg4+ 28.hxg4 h6 29.e4 25.b7 e8 26.xe7 xe7 forced Black to suffer for a long time 27.xb6 ab8 ) 24...xf5! 25.d6 before gaining a draw, P.Thipsay-R. xd5 26.xf5 xf5 27.bd1 e4 Ravisekhar, Delhi 1987; gives Black dynamic play; B2) 17.c5! prevents the ...Nc8 A2b2) 22.fe1 h7 23.a3 c8 m a n o e u v r e j u s t s e e n , e . g . d7 24.b5 c4 25.d3 a4 18.g5!? (an imaginative rook manoeuvre!) B2a) 18...f6 19.h6 ( 19.e3 26.c4 f5 27.d2 a6 28.c7? keeps the queen better centralised, ( 28.d6 is still unclear, when and the d6-break could be fairly Adorjan might have been attracted promising ) 19...f7 20.d6!? cxd6 b y 2 8 . . . b 5 ! ? , t h o u g h c7 21.xd6 c7 22.a3 g7 23.h4 i s m o r e p r u d e n t) 28...b5 , S. Gligoric-H.Pfleger, Moscow 1977, ( t h e p i c t u r e s q u e 28...c8!? would not have amounted to much is also good) 29.d6 c6 30.c5 after fxe4! 24.xe4 f4; ( 30.cxb5 axb5 31.xb5 b6+ B2b) 18...ae8 19.exf5 xf5 32.h1 a6 ) 30...d4 31.bc1 20.de1 xc2 21.xe5 xf1+ g5 32.f3 xf3+ 33.xf3 fxe4 22.xf1 xe5 23.xe5 f5 24.f6 34.e3 xe3+ 35.xe3 h5 36.b3 and White retained a bit of pressure in h6 37.e1 d2 38.e2 e3 39.h3 M.Narciso-G.Loderbauer, email 2000; b4 40.b2 xa2 41.xe5 c2 B3) 17.-and from here Black has not 42.d4 f1+ 43.h2 h4 44.g3 found the going too easy, e.g.; c6 45.gxh4 e1 0-1, V.Liberzon-A. C) 15.-and now I think White achieves Adorjan, Amsterdam 1977. This fine more in the relatively obscure line 'b' than game is rather typical of Adorjan's the traditionally popular 'a': ] play during the 70's 'opening revolution' - he also came up with 12.a3 a5 13.d3 [ 13.b4 axb4 14.axb4 b8 intending ...Rd8 p le n t y o f id e a s in t h e G ru e n f e l d and ...c6 has proved sufficient for Black, as Defence!; I discuss in TPIBAW. A different and rather B) "White should be able to keep a very enterprising plan that I did not mention there slight edge by 15 Nf3", according to Nunn, is 15.f3 e8!? 16.g4 f5 17.g2 f6 and this makes sense, e.g. 15.f3 f5 18.h3 h5 19.g5 xe4!? 20.fxe4 f4 ( 15...exf4 16.xf4 f5 17.de1 xf3 with roughly balanced chances in B.Lengyel18.xf3 d7 19.e5 dxe5 20.xe5 c8 A.Cohen, Balatonberenyi 1992. ] 21.xg7 xg7 failed to equalise for Black in A . K arp ov-J. Nu nn , Ham b urg 1 98 2 , 13...b8 14.f3 c6 [ C h e r n i n ' s i n i t i a l t r y w a s 14...d8 though he did manage to draw) 16.fxe5 , but he was not satisfied with the dxe5 ( 16...fxe4 17.xe4 xf3 18.xf3 continuation 15.b4 axb4 16.xb4!? xa3 xf3 19.gxf3 xe5 doesn't look quite 17.a1 xa1 18.xa1 e8 ( or 18...c5 equal either ) 19.dxc6 xc6 20.a6! ) 19.a6 c8 B1) 17.h3 xf3 18.xf3 ( 18.gxf3!? ) 20.c6 xc6 21.dxc6 b4 22.b5 d5 18...c8! 19.df1 ( 19.exf5 gxf5 23.c5 e8 24.xb4 f8 , R.Kuczynski-A. 20.h6 d6 21.e1 h4 22.xg7 1049

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Chernin, Polanica Zdroj 1992, when 25.a5! dxe4 26.a7 c8 27.xc7 d8 28.xe5 maintains White's initiative. ] 15.dxc6 xc6 16.b4 d5 [ This move has perhaps been too much praised, and Black should look to alternative 'c': a) 16...axb4?! 17.xb4! xa3? 18.xc6 xc6 19.xb5 a2 20.c4 was grim for Black in L. Vogt-C.Bernard, Wildbad 1990 ] [ b) 16...a4 prevents the Nd3 from landing on b4, but also blocks Black's a-file counterplay, and 17.f2 d8 18.f4 exf4 19.xf4 b7 20.h6 b6 21.xg7 xg7 22.f4 gave White an attack, G. Garcia-L. Gofshtein, Ubeda 1997 ] [ c) 16...c8!? gains vital counterplay on the c-file. Detailed analysis would be needed to determine whether this is good enough, but one possible line is A) 17.bxa5 xa5 18.b4 xa3 19.xc6 ( 19.a1 xc3!? 20.xc3 xe4 21.d2 b7 22.xb5 d5 and ...Nf5 is a further r e a s o n f o r p l a c i n g t h e r o o k o n c 8) 19...xc6 20.xb5 a2 with equality, is a much improved version of Vogt-Bernard; B) 17.f2 axb4 18.axb4 a3 ( 18...d5 19.c5 d4 20.b1 b7 21.c3 is slightly better for W hite owing to the constant pressure on b5) 19.b1 a2 20.xd6 xd6 21.xd6 xc2 and Bla ck hold s, since 22.d3 xf2 23.xf2 e8 regains the exchange. [jw: A lone note here: 24.xc6 xc6 25.xb5 xb4 26.b2 looks pleasant for White] ] 17.c5 e8 18.f2?! [ This knight should be aiming for b4 or c5, an d W h it e ge ts a cle ar a dvan ta ge wit h 18.bxa5! dxe4 ( 18...d4 19.a2 d7 20.xe7 xe7 21.db4 is just a pleasant edge for W hite) 19.fxe4! (as Mr Kah Huat pointed out, this is much stronger than the messy 19 Nb4 that I discuss in TPIBAW ) xe4 20.xe4 xe4 21.b4! b7 appears only to have been played in one obscure Internet game (Mutz-Michaeljohn, 2003), but puts Black's whole ...d5 idea in que stion af te r 22.b6! . Now 23 Nc5 is a nasty threat, and -- ( 22...xd3 23.xd3 d5 24.e4! xa5 25.xa5 xb6+ 26.xb6 xb6 27.c6 c8 28.xb5

xc2 29.a4 leaves Black a grim defensive task in the endgame.; Instead 22...xg2 sm a cks o f de sp e ra t io n : 23.c5 xf1 24.xb7 xe2 25.d7 , etc.; 22...c6 23.c5 c8 24.xb5 f5 25.xc6 xc6 26.e4 xe4 27.xe4 may be the best B l a c k c a n d o , b u t t h e wh i t e r o o k s a r e powerfully posted )] [ In an old update on this site, Alexander Volzhin suggested that White should head for equality with 18.xe7 xe7 19.exd5 xd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.c5 c6 . ] 18...d4? [ Now a knight will get to b4 after all. Black should exchange first: 18...axb4 19.axb4?! ( I imagine Lengyel was planning to improve with 19.xb4 d4 20.b1 intending c3, but this isn't too scary) 19...d4 20.b1 a2 21.d3 d7 22.c1 a8 23.d3 xc5 24.xc5 c8 25.b3 b6 26.h1 d6 27.a5 ec8 28.c3 d7 29.cxd4 exd4 30.c1 e6 31.a3 c3 32.b1 cc8?! ( 32...c4! ) 33.a3 c3 34.xc3? dxc3 35.f4 b7! 36.xb5 xa5 37.c7 c8 38.xe6 xe6 39.bxa5 c2 40.d3 b2 0-1 was that stirring game R.Kuczynski-A. Chernin, Budapest 1993, that did so much to raise 11...b5's profile. ] 19.a2 d7 20.xe7 xe7 21.bxa5! Despite a couple of inaccuracies, a reasonably typical situation for this line has arisen. Black doesn't stand so badly, but unfortunately must keep a constant eye on that weak b5-pawn. f6 This piece might have been more active on c5. 22.b4 [ A small improvement over the previously played 22.b1 ea7 23.b4 d7 24.a6 c7 , R.Perez-W.Arencibia Rodriguez, Santa Clara 2005. ] 22...e8 23.a6 f8 24.g3 [ This looks rather vague. Instead 24.c3! is a timely way to open the game while Black is still scrambling to retrieve the pawn. ] 24...e6 25.d3 exa6? [ This extravagant sacrifice doesn't succeed, w h e r e a s d o u r d e f e n c e w i t h 25...xb4 26.axb4 exa6 27.c3 dxc3 28.xc3 need not have been so bad for Black. ] 26.xa6 xa6 27.a1 xa3 28.xa3 xa3 29.a5 d6 30.a1 g7 31.a7 c8 32.a6 b4 33.a8 d7 34.b8 e7 1050

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 18...dxe4 19.c4! d8!? ( 19...f8? 20.fxe6 e7 21.g5 with Rf7 to follow.) 20.xe6+ h8 21.e2 f8 22.f4 ] [ 18...xe4 19.xe4 dxe4 20.c4! d8 21.xe6+ h8 22.e2 with a clear advantage ] 1009 B08 Lutz,Christopher 2600 19.gxf5 dxe4 [ 19...gxf5 20.exd5 e8 21.d6! a5 Espig,Lutz 2440 22.d4 b6 23.d3 ] Bremen 1998 20.fxg6 hxg6? Black misses a nice but very [Alexander Volzhin] simple tactical blow, and loses on the spot. [ 20...e5 ] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 g4 7.e3 c6 8.d5 21.c4+ h7 22.xe4! Opening the third 23.f4! b6+ This move has recently become White's main rank for the Rook. xe4 Otherwise Black is mated: weapon. [ 23...e5 24.h3+ g7 25.h6+ h8 [ 8.d2 is the old main line. ] 26.f8# ] 8...xf3 9.xf3 e5 10.e2 c6 11.a4 a5 24.xb6 xb6 25.d3 e8 26.f3 12.a3 fc8 13.b3 c7 [ 13...ab8 is the main alternative to the text, A great performance by Lutz! bu t it se e m s t ha t th e re W hit e a ls o h a s 1-0 chances for an opening advantage: 14.d4! c5 ( 14...xd5?! is hardly good: 15.exd5 B08 f3+ 16.xf3 xd4 17.xd4 e5 18.dxe6 1010 fxe6 19.e4 e5 20.c3 c7 21.g4 f8 Lutz,Christopher 2590 22.f4 and the three minor pieces are much Svidler,Peter 2660 stronger here than Black's Queen, as in Bad Homburg 1997 Batakovs-Kuznetsov, 1991 .) 15.d2 a6 [Alexander Volzhin] 16.f3 ( The straightforward 16.f4 ed7 17.g4 is also worthy of consideration: e8 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.e2 f6 18.g5 c7 19.g4 d8 20.xd7 xd7 5.c3 0-0 6.0-0 c6 21.f5 with a strong attack in Panchenko[ Black can also play 6...bd7 Both moves Ehlvest, USSR 1984.) 16...ed7 17.b1 normally lead to the same position. ] e8 18.c1 d4!? 19.h1 g7 20.d2!? 7.e1 bd7 8.e5! c7 21.a3 f5 22.exf5 gxf5 23.a5 d8 [ After 8.h3 e5 it's difficult to prove White's 24.f4! f6 25.f3 with a clear edge for advantage. ] White in Yakovich-Zakharevich, Novgorod 8...e8 9.f4 dxe5 10.dxe5 c7 11.c1 1997. ] White intends to exchange the dark - squared 14.f3!? e6?! This natural move seems to be Bishops. the source of amazingly rapid problems for [ 11.d2?! i s w e a k e r , a s a f t e r e6! Black! It gives White the opportunity to launch 12.h6? i s s t r o n g l y m e t b y xe5! a sudden Kingside attack. winning a pawn for nothing. ] [ 14...ed7!? deserves serious attention. ] 11...b6 15.f4 ed7 16.dxe6 fxe6 17.g4! [ 11...e6 12.h6 a5 13.f1 ] An unexpected and very strong move. d5?! 12.h3 After this move Black's position crumbles into [ 12.h6?! is premature because after g4 ruins. Even worse was Black obtains counterplay. ] [ 17...f8?! 18.g5 e8 19.g4! e5 12...e6 20.e6+ h8 21.f5 ] [ 12...e6!? intending Bd5, deserved serious [ Probably 17...f8 is best although it's not attention. ] easy to defend Black's position. ] 13.h6 d4? This exchange takes too much 18.f5! White has a large advantage exf5 time. 35.xb5 d2 36.xe8 xe8 37.d3 d7 38.g2 e3 39.xe5+ f6 40.c5 1-0

1051

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Either 13...f5 14.exf6 exf6 with an edge for white ] [ or 13...d7 also with an edge for white should be preferred. ] 14.xd4 xd4 15.d3 with a clear advantage and planning Re4-h4 [ 15.xg7?! is premature: xg7 16.d3 h4! 17.e4 h6 with a balanced position. ] 15...d8 [ 15...h4? fails to 16.g5 ] [ The exchange sacrifice doesn't work: 15...xe5 16.e4 d6 17.xf8 xf8 18.h6+ g8 19.h4 winning ] [ 15...f5 is also insufficient: 16.exf6 exf6 17.xg7 xg7 18.e7+ f7 19.xf7+ xf7 20.h6 g8 21.e1 and Black is in trouble ] 16.e4 f5 Otherwise White will play Rh4, obtaining a strong attack. [ 16...f5 17.h4 e6 18.xg7 xh4 19.f6 g5 20.xg5 h5 21.g4+- winning ] 17.exf6 [ 17.h4? xe5 ] 17...exf6 18.xg7 xg7 19.h4?! White switches to kingside play, but central strategy is far better here. [ Th e na tu ra l 19.e3 should be preferred d7 ( 19...f7 20.e8 ) 20.e1 Now White controls the very important e-file A) 20...e8 21.e7+ g8 ( 21...xe7 22.xe7+ xe7 23.xe7+ g8 24.e4 f8 25.d6+- winning ) 22.c5 xe7 23.xe7 f8 24.e4 with a clear advantage; B) 20...f7 21.a4 ( 21.e7?! f8 ) 21...f8 ( 21...a5 22.e7 with a clear advantage ) 22.a5 ] 19...h5 This is forced. [ 19...c7 l o s t a t o n c e : 20.h6+ g8 21.xg6+- winning ] 20.e2 Intending Nf4 [ other possibilities also keep a slight a d v a n t a g e : 20.e3 f5 21.g3 h6 22.e1 with a small edge ] [ 20.e4 f5 21.e3 xd3 22.xd3 c7 with a small edge ] 20...d5? Wasting time again. [ 20...e6? is just a blunder: 21.f4 f7 22.xg6! xg6 23.e6+ winning the Queen ]

[ But 20...f5!? is worth considering. In my opinion, Black has good defensive resources here. For example: 21.f4 f6 22.g3 f7 23.d4 e6 24.c7+ e7 25.xe7+ xe7 26.f4 f7 and white is bett er b ut with accurat e d ef en ce B lac k should hold the position. ] 21.c4 With a clear advantage e7 [ 21...b4 Misplaces the knight, so a sudden attack is now possible: 22.xg6!? ( 22.d4 ) 22...xg6 23.f4+ f7 ( 23...g7 24.c3 with the idea of Qg3) 24.c3 c5 25.xh5 intending Re1, Qg3 ] 22.d4 c7 23.e3 c5?! This move creates new weaknesses (the d5-square),so it's bad. Black's problem is he has no good moves. [ 23...f5 24.xf5 xf5 25.g3 e5 26.xf5+ ( 26.d2!? with a large advantage ) 26...xf5 27.ad1 with a large advantage ] 24.e4 f5 25.f3 With the idea of Nf4 and Rae1 d6 26.e3 f5 [ 26...f5 27.f4 ] 27.e4 d6 28.e3 f5 29.xf5 xf5 30.g3 d7 [ 30...ae8 31.xf5+ gxf5 32.xe8 xe8 33.xh5+- winning ] [ 30...c8 31.ae1+- winning ] 31.e7+ f7 32.e4+- Black resigned. It may seem premature but the following variations prove Black is completely lost: [ 32.e4 f5 33.c3+ with the idea of Rf7 ] [ 32.e4 c6 33.xf7+ xf7 34.d1 f5 ( 34...f5 35.xc5 ) 35.d6+ g8 36.xc6 bxc6 37.xf5 gxf5 38.d6 and the rook ending is easily won. ] 1-0

1011 Malakhov,Vladimir Topalov,Veselin XXIII Rapid Open rapid (6) [John Watson]

B08 2689 2777 03.08.2008

Here's Topalov on the Black side of the Pirc. 1.f3 g6 2.e4 d6 3.d4 g7 4.c3 The game transposes to a Classical Pirc it would be fun to see Topalov's reaction to his own move 4 Bc4, featured in this month's column. f6 5.e2 0-0 1052

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5...a6 6.0-0 b5?! led to a recent disaster: 7.e5 fd7 8.e6! fxe6 9.g5 A) 9...b6? 10.g4 e5 ( 10...b4 11.ce4 ) 11.e6! f8 12.d5; B) But 9...f6 stays alive, though White gains the advantage in a number of ways, with 10.e1 c6! 11.f3! being the easiest.; C) 9...f8? Presumably missing the following trick. Equally bad is 10.xb5+! c6 ( 10...axb5 11.f3 threatens both Qxa8 and Qf7+ followed by Qxg7.) 11.f3 f6 12.xc6+ xc6 13.xc6+ d7 14.c4 ( Or 14.e4! ) 14...a5 15.ge4 g7 16.d3 and White was on top in Babaev-Movsziszian, Benasque 2008. ] 6.0-0 a6!? It's interesting to see this modern move. It takes White out of book earlier than the alternatives 6...c6, 6...Nc6, and 6...Bg4, all analysed at length over the years. 7.a4 b6 8.e1 b7 9.f1 White plays very solidly, although without much ambition. This line pops up from time to time. e6 10.f4 bd7 Black has reached his basic setup. White has more space and a small advantage. But it's not anything special, and he probably wishes that he had his bishop on f1 in a more active position. 11.d2 e8 [ a) Much more ambitious (too much so?) was 11...b5!? 12.axb5 axb5 13.xa8 xa8 14.xb5 xe4 15.xe4 xe4 16.xe4 xe4 17.xd7 a8 in Martz, W (2385) -Tisdall, J, Lone Pine 1975. W hite should stand somewhat better after 18 h3 or 18 h4 but 18.b5 b7 19.f1 xb2 gave Black compensation. ] [ b) 11...c8 12.ad1 e8 13.h6 h8!? 14.h3 e5 15.d5 g7 16.a5 d8 17.g5 e7 involved a great waste of time for Black, but he was still only slightly worse in Mancini, M (2280)-Chomet, P (2350), France 1994. ] 12.h6 [ 12.ad1 c8 13.h6 h8 ( 13...e5!? ) 14.h3 b8?! ( 14...c5 is a better try Black has to win some space.) 15.g5!? e7? 16.f4 ( 16.e5! ) 16...e8 17.f3 c8 18.g5 ( 18.h4 c6 19.e5 is another strong method.) 18...h5 19.d2 f6! 20.e3 f7 and although it's inferior, B l a c k ' s p o s it i o n i s s t il l qu i t e r e s i l ie n t , Jasnikowski, Z (2405) -Ivanov, M (2510)/

Berlin 1999. ] 12...e7 13.h3 f8 14.xg7 xg7 15.ad1 ad8 16.e5 h5 17.h2 f8 To make room, upon g4, for the knight on g7. 18.e3 g7 19.g4 f6 20.exd6 cxd6 21.d5?! Mobilizing Black's pawns for him. A small advantage was still there after [ 21.g2 ] [ or 21.f4 ] 21...e5 22.a2 f5 23.b4 Apparently this wa s W h it e's id ea wit h 2 1 d5 , bu t it 's n o t impressive. c8! 24.xa6 xc2 [ 24...fxg4 25.hxg4 ( 25.xg4 f5 ) 25...xc2 p re ve n t s t h e id e a o f 26.b4 due to xb2 threatening f2. ] 25.b4 c5 [ 25...xb2? 26.c3! ] 26.b5 f7 27.c6 c8 28.d3 c4 29.b3 e4 A funny manoeuvre. 30.d2!? [ 30.h6 is more aggressive, in view of xe1+ 31.xe1 f8 ( 31...fxg4 32.hxg4 f8 33.e3 ) 32.f3! ] 30...xe1+ 31.xe1 f8 32.b4 Now White gets holes all over his kingside. [ 32.f4! ] 32...e4 33.f4 e5 34.g5 h5!? [ A good follow-up to his provocation on the kingside is 34...e7! 35.h4 h6 36.gxh6 xh4 ] 35.d1?! [ 35.xh5! gxh5 36.e3 ] 35...e7 36.h4 xf4 37.xf4 d3 The activity of this knight in conjunction with his mobile centre pawns gives Black a powerful attack. 38.e3 xb4 39.xb6 d3 40.b5 c5 41.a5 e3 42.e1 [ 42.f1 f4 ] 42...f4 43.a6 e5 44.f3 [ 44.a7 exf2+ 45.xf2 d4+ ] 44...e4 45.e2 xa6! 46.h2 exf2+ 47.xf2 e3+ 48.f1 h3+ 0-1

1053

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.hd1 xd7 23.xd7 g1+ B08 ad8 24.d2 [ 24.d1 xb2+ 25.xb2 xd1 ] 1967 24...f2+! After this precise move the result of the game is beyond doubt. [ W hite had hoped for 24...xb2 25.e2 c3 26.d1 and the fight goes on. ] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.c4 c6 This is the most precise move 25.d3 [ 25.c1 leads to immediate mate after order. 6.b3 f1+! 26.d2 xb2 ] [ 6.a4 0-0 7.0-0 d5 8.d3 g4 9.e5 fd7 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 e6 Black is already 25...f1+ 26.e2 xf4 The rest needs no better. After the inevitable ...c6-c5 White's comment. Black has a material advantage as center will be in real danger. 12.e2 c5 well as a strong attack against White's King. 13.c3 c6 14.b4? This panic move loses 27.f3 e5 28.b7 a5 29.c6 xb2 on the spot, but it's difficult to recommend 30.e2 e5+ 31.f1 h5 32.c7 f4+ a n y r e a l i m p r o v e m e n t . ( 14.e3? 33.e2 d4 34.c8 e3+ 35.d1 c3 is equa lly bad : dxe5! 15.dxe5 xe5 36.xf8+ xf8 Mate is unavoidable, so White , winning the piece back; probably 14.g3 resigned. was relatively best, although Black has a 0-1 clear edge after b6 , for example: 15.b5 cxd4 16.cxd4 ac8 ) 14...cxb4 15.cxb4 B08 dxe5! 16.dxe5 xe5 17.g3 xd3 1013 and in a few moves W hite resigned, Motwani,Paul 2535 Shankar - Bologan, Calcutta 1999. This Carlier,Bruno 2415 game shows how important it is for modern TCh Belgium (3) 2003 players to know classic games. Botvinnik's [Andrew Martin] plan was executed successfully almost 40 years after it was introduced! ] 1.d4 g6 Two old friends of mine engage in a 6...0-0 7.e2 g4! A very logical plan. Black royal duel. I know that Bruno Carlier likes the exchanges his light-squared Bishop and then Mo de rn De f e n ce very m uch - h e loa th e s builds a pawn chain on the light squares (e6, preparation and is quite happy to improvise d5) , restricting W hite's Bishop on b3. 8.h3 freely at the board 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 xf3 9.xf3 e6 10.g5 h6 11.h4 bd7 4.e3 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.h3 An attempt to get 12.0-0-0?! Here the King is a good target. a superior version of the Classical Variation. [ 12.0-0 was better, with level chances. ] In particular, White hopes to be able to play 12...a5 13.e2 b5 14.f4 This move Bf1-c4 without losing a tempo on Be2. The w e a k e n s t h e e 4 - s q u a r e a n d B l a c k plan is a bit slow and Black if Black reacts i m m e d i a t e l y e xp l o i t s t h i s d r a wb a c k . b4! energetically he can obtain a decent game. 15.b1 d5 16.d2 c5! Opening the c-file What Black must not do is play sluggishly. c6 and a1-h8 diagonal. 17.xf6 7.a4 c7 [ 17.e5 h5 is very bad for White. ] [ 7...d5 is another popular move. Carlier 17...xf6 18.dxc5 does not want clarification just yet. ] [ 18.e5 h5 19.f3 c4 20.g4 xf4 8.a5 d5 21.xf4 cxb3 is bad for White as well. ] [ 8...e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.c4 allows White 18...dxe4 19.xe4 xe4 20.xe4 xc5 to achieve his aim. ] It has taken Black only 8 moves to prove 9.e5 e4 10.xe4 dxe4 11.g5 W hite's 12th move was mistaken. Black's [ After 11.d2 Black has to be careful: c5 position is strategically winning already. White 12.c3 has no defence against the march of the aA) I much prefer 12...d8 which doesn't pawn. Transferring Black's queen to f6 (via the allow White such an easy time: e7 -s qua re ) is a n ot h e r n a st y id e a . 21.d7 A1) 13.c1 c6 ( 13...cxd4 1012 Medina Garsia,Antonio Botvinnik,Mikhail Palma de Mallorca [Alexander Volzhin]

1054

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 maybe this is best of all, having dragged the White queen to c1. 14.cxd4 xc1+ 15.xc1 c6 16.b3 e6 ) 14.xe4 cxd4 15.cxd4 f5 16.g3 e6 17.b5 d5 18.0-0 ac8; A2) 13.xe4 cxd4 14.cxd4 xe5 15.c1 xc1+ 16.xc1 g7 17.c7 c6 18.a6 b8 19.c5 xd4 20.axb7 c2+ 21.e2 f5; B) 12...cxd4?! 13.cxd4 c6 14.c2 d8 15.c4 f8 16.b3 d7 17.a4 b5 18.axb6 b7 19.bxa7 xa7 20.0-0 c6 21.a5 b5 22.xa8 xa8 23.c4 d5 24.xd5 xd5 25.xd5 xd5 Rogic, D-Rukavina, J/Kastav 2002 when either 26 Ra1 or 26 Rc1 would be very good for White. ] 11...c5 12.c3 cxd4?!N Once again I feel that taking on d4 early makes life easier for White. If Black can delay the capture, he should: [ 12...c6! 13.a4 ( 13.xe4 cxd4 14.cxd4 xa5 15.c1 d8; 13.a6 bxa6 14.xe4 cxd4 15.cxd4 b8 16.d2 d8 ) 13...d7 14.a3 cxd4 15.cxd4 ad8 16.c3 c8 17.e2 f5 18.c4+ h8 19.f7+ xf7 20.xf7 e6 21.h4 d8 22.h5 g5 23.h6 f8 24.d2 xe5 25.dxe5 xc3 26.xc3 b5 27.d1 Schmittdiel, E-Nikolic, P/ Germany 1998 It felt as though Black was in there fighting all the way through in a Grünfeld-like position. ] 13.cxd4 c6 14.c2 The rub. White gets to d e ve lo p h is Q u e e n t o a m o re in f lu e n t ia l square, keeping an eye on e4 if nothing else. d8 15.c4 e6 16.b5 d7 17.xe4 But now it's ugly. Carlier must hope that his active pieces compensate for the missing pawn. I'm not sure I believe that they do. ac8 18.d6 b4 19.xc7 xc7 20.0-0 a6 21.xd7 cxd7 22.fc1 f8 23.e4 Motwani plays rationally, without risk, maintaining his extra pawn. e7 24.a4 c6 25.cc4 d5 26.g4 f8! [ 26...xa5 27.xa5 xa5 28.c7 f8 29.g5 e8 30.f4 leaves Black almost without a decent move. ] 27.g2 b5 28.g5 One of those advantages that is indisputable but very hard to convert. Black is defending very toughly and has a pawn blockade. Motwani moves to create an outside h pawn.

[ 28.c2 bd5 29.g5 xd4 30.xd4 xd4 31.xd4 xd4 32.c8+ d8 33.c7 ] 28...xg5 29.xg5 e7 30.xh7 xb2 31.g5 b5 32.h4 bd5 33.f3 xa5 34.xa5 xa5 35.c7+ d7 36.c8 d8 37.c7+ d7 38.c5 c6 39.c4 Strange the way this game slipped away from White without Motwani appearing to make a single mistake. d8 40.g3 a5 41.h5 gxh5 42.gxh5 d7 43.f4 b5 44.c5 b4 45.d5! Bef ore the queenside pawns became too strong. exd5 46.xd5+ e7 47.c5 d7 48.d5+ e7 49.c5 d7 50.d5+ The result of the opening was no advert for the Modern Defence although I have suggested improvements . I think I prefer to try and do without ...Qc7 if at all possible and play ...d6-d5 straight away. ½-½

1014 Motwani,Paul Rahman,Ziaur British Championship (7) [Andrew Martin]

B08

2003

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.e3 c6 5.f3 g7 One wonders what Motwani had to show against 5...Qb6? Certainly not 6 Rb1 as played by Adam Hunt you can stake your life on that. Perhaps 6 a3!? 6.a4 0-0 7.h3 bd7 [ 7...d5 8.e5 e4 9.xe4 dxe4 A) 10.g5 c5 11.c3 ( 11.dxc5 xe5 12.xd8 xd8 13.c3 f5 14.c4+ g7 15.f7 c6 16.h6+ f6 17.g5+ g7 18.xd8 xd8 19.xe7 e6 20.xe6 xe6 21.0-0-0 f4 22.d7 d3+ 23.c2 xf2 24.h4+ 1-0 Burovic,IMastrokoukos,G/Kavala 1990) 11...cxd4 ( 11...d5 12.dxc5 xe5 13.d4 xd4 14.cxd4 h6 15.xe4 f5 16.c3 f4 17.c1 xd4 18.d5 c6 19.xf4 g5 20.d3 f5 21.e3 ad8 22.d1 e4 23.xd4 xd4 24.f3 g6 25.b3 fd8 26.f2 Ilincic,Z-Chernin,A/Prague 1989) 12.cxd4 d5 13.c1 c6 14.c4 a5+ 15.c3 d7 16.0-0 ad8 17.xf7 xf7 18.e6 f6 19.exd7+ h8 20.b5 xd7 21.g4 fd6 22.xc6 bxc6 23.xc6 1055

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd4 24.xd6 xd6 Haba,P-Vadasz,L/ Kecskemet 1993; B) 10.g5 is a major alternative: ] 8.a5 Sluggish in appearance only. [ 8.d2 seems more pointed but Black works up counterplay after a5! ] 8...b8! In order to play ...b7-b5 and recapture on b6 with a pawn. 9.e2 b5 10.axb6 axb6 11.0-0 c7 12.d5 b7 13.d4 cxd5!= Attempting to improve on [ 13...c5?! allowing White a grip: 14.a7 a8 15.xc6 fxe4 16.xe4 xe4 17.c3 e6 18.xa8 xa8 19.b4 e5 20.a4 f5 21.c6 c5 22.b5 d7 23.f3 b7 24.a1 f6 25.a7 a8 26.xa8+ xa8 27.a4 c8 28.b5 c5 29.a7 b7 30.xb7 xb7 31.b4 d7 32.a7 f8 33.c6 xc6 34.dxc6 d8 35.c8 d5 36.xb6 e6 37.xd8 1-0 Motwani,PNorwood,D/London 1988 ] 14.db5 c6 15.a7 c7 16.exd5 [ 16.ab5 c6 would have been rather cowardly. Motwani shows courage. ] 16...c5 17.e1 a8 18.cb5 d7 19.c4 fe4 20.d4? With the clock relentlessly ticking away the tactics of the wily Bangladeshi Grandmaster pay of f. W hite should have gone for [ 20.b4! forcing the play: A) 20...a6 21.a3! e6 ( 21...xb4? 22.b1+- ) 22.dxe6 xe6 23.d4 xb4 24.xg7 xg7 25.f3; B) 20...xa1 21.bxc5!! bxc5 ( 21...c3 22.c6 ) 22.xa1 e5 23.d3 f5 24.xe4 fxe4 25.b1 ] 20...e5 21.dxe6 fxe6 22.f3!? Ugly, compounding the error of his last move. [ 22.f3 keeping his King more secure, had to be preferable. ] 22...xd4+ 23.xd4 [ 23.xd4 b3 ] 23...g5 24.db5 e5!? The game turns, and with the W hite Knights way offside, a sacrifice on h3 is inevitable. 25.a3? [ 25.xd6! i s c r i t i c a l , xh3+ 26.h2 ( 26.gxh3? xh3 27.xe5 f5-+ ) 26...xd6 27.xd6 f4 28.b4 with the better endgame ] [ 25.xd6!? xh3+ 26.gxh3 ( 26.f1? f4 27.xb7 xb7 28.b5 xa1 29.xa1 e7 threatening to come to h4, 30.g1

b3 31.d1 c5+ lightening strikes from a different angle! 32.h1 f2 and mates quickly. ) 26...xh3 27.xb7 and now Black should probably acquiesce to a draw by: g3+ 28.f1 h3+ 29.f2 h2+ 30.e3 f4+ ] 25...xh3+ 26.gxh3 [ 26.h2!? might be a better chance, f4 27.xd6 f5 28.f1 although White is clearly in trouble. ] 26...xh3 These positions cannot be defended when short of time. 27.f1 g3+ 28.g2 e6! [ 28...xf3 29.xf3 xf3 30.xf3 xe1+ is also good, as the white knights do little. ] 29.e2?! [ 29.ee3 f4 30.d2 hangs on. ] 29...f4?! [ 29...xf3 is strong. ] 30.e1!? [ 30.d2 ] 30...g5 31.d2 f6! 32.e3?! [ 32.c7 af8 33.ab5 was a better stab at defence. ] 32...af8 33.f1 e4 [ 33...h5! is also a killer, planning to capture on g2, then f3. ] 34.f2 exf3 35.xf3 xf3 36.xf3 e6 37.d1 Sometimes you have to take risks to win with Black. For that reason alone, Rahman deserves our admiration and respect. [ 37.d1 xf2+ 38.e1 g1# ] 0-1

1015 Munoz,Lisandro Grischuk,Alexander 40th Olympiad Open (1.1) [Tom Rendle]

B08 2428 2763 28.08.2012

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.e3 a6 6.d2 b5 7.h6 Although this looks like a dangerous setup I don't think it's that strong with a knight on f3 - Black always seems to have enough counterplay to keep the balance here. [ 7.d3 b7 8.h6 often leads to transpositions into 8...Bb7 ] 7...0-0 8.d3 [ 8.xg7 xg7 9.d3 c6 is quite a 1056

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 similar idea to the game and now A) 10.a4 g4! is a key idea behind ...Nc6 ( 10...b4 11.d5 is awkward for Black) 11.e5 ( 11.e2 e5 and Black can hardly be worse here ) A1) 11...g8?! lead to a swift defeat in Hebd en, M (250 6)-Collier, D (2 100 ) G u e r n s e y 2 0 1 1 a f t e r 12.e4 d7 13.f4 h6?! ( 13...b4 would've been a be t t e r c h o ice) 14.0-0 b4 15.d5 ab8?? ( 15...xf3 16.xf3 would only ha ve b ee n slight ly be tt er f or W hit e) 16.f6 and Black had to resign; A2) 11...dxe5 12.dxe5 d5 13.e4 db4 14.d5 xd5 ( 14...f5! 15.xf5 xd5= is a much safer choice for Black ) 15.xd5 xf3 16.gxf3 xe5 17.xa8?! ( 17.axb5! would have led to unclear play after c6 18.bxc6 e6 19.f4 exd5 20.fxe5 e8 but only White can b e b e t t e r h e r e I t h i n k a f t e r 21.f4 ) 17...xa8 18.c3 xf3 19.xf3 xf3+ 20.e2 d4+ and Black went on to grind out a win in the game Collutiis, D (2404)-Peralta, F (2524) Turin 2006; B) 10.h3 has been examined on ChessPublishing before in Anand-Chernin which continued e5 11.d5 e7 12.0-0 b7 13.a4 c6 and Black was doing fine. ] 8...c6 [ 8...b7?! seems less accurate to me here, e.g. 9.h4 ( 9.xg7 xg7 10.e5!? is also dangerous) 9...b4?! ( 9...xh6 10.xh6 g4 11.g5 d7 looks somewhat artificial but it may be just about OK for Black as he can meet 12.h5 with h6 13.d2 g5 still this position is hardly to be recommended) 10.d5! xd5 11.exd5 bd7?! 12.h5 and Black was already lost in Fressinet, L (2640) -Smirin, I (2659) Bastia 2006 ] 9.d5!? An interesting idea in a lot of positions but here it doesn't seem to give White any edge [ 9.h3 may be more testing but White does have to accept playing positions that would mo re n o rma lly a rise a f t e r 1. d 4 a f t e r e5 10.d5 e7 with chances for both sides in the correspondence game Nimtz, M (2634)Umansky, M (2654) ICCF COR 2004 ] [ 9.xg7 xg7 10.h3 e5 11.d5 e7

wo uld tran sp ose to t he A na nd -Che rn in game mentioned above ] 9...g4! 10.xg7 xg7 11.c3 xd5 [ 11...xf3! 12.gxf3 d7 is perhaps an easier way to equalise but probably Grischuk was seeking an even more unbalanced position. ] 12.exd5 xf3 [ 12...a7 is safer but White is still more comfortable after 13.d2 ] 13.gxf3 b8 14.h4! Suddenly Munoz has cr e a t e d a d a n g e r o u s a t t a c k a g a i n s t h i s illustrious opponent d7 [ 14...h5?! 15.f4 and White should be able to open up the Kingside to his advantage ] 15.h5 b6! Grischuk calculates correctly that White's attack is not enough to win and so he seeks counterplay 16.d2 h8 17.0-0-0 xd5 18.e4 c6 19.h3?! Although logical this seems to be the wrong plan [ 19.dg1! e6 20.b1 f6 21.g4 and the position is finely balanced - it's not clear how either side can really play for the win from here ] 19...e6 20.xd5 Not a move that White wanted to play I'm sure [ 20.dh1 f6 21.h4 e7 and Black is slowly pushing White back ] 20...cxd5 21.f4 e7 22.h2 g5?! This gives Munoz a few more chances than necessary [ 22...g5+ 23.b1 f5 and White is struggling to demonstrate any compensation for the pawn ] 23.h6+?! [ 23.f4! h6 24.g1 and suddenly it's not clear that White is at all worse ] 23...f8 24.b1 g8 25.f4 g4 26.g3?! This just loses a tempo after Black's next move [ 26.h5 wa s a b e t t e r t ry a s n o w f6 can be met with ( 26...c8! 27.g3 f5 and Black is still much better) 27.f5! exf5?! 28.xf5! ] 26...f6 27.c3 g6 28.g3 f5 No w B la ck h a s e ve ryt h in g u n de r c o n t ro l 29.c6 xh6 30.a3? A final mistake [ 30.f3 Would be a more stubborn choice although Black should eventually win after gxf3 31.xf3 e4 32.xe4 dxe4 33.xd6 e7 ] 1057

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30...xf4 31.xd6 g7 Black's King is safe and the W hite pawns are in danger of dropping off one at a time 32.xa6?! xd4 33.g1 b4! Initiating a forcing sequence which quickly ends the game 34.f3 g6 35.e2 xa6 36.xa6 g3 0-1

13...b3 14.h6 e5! Now White is struggling, psychologically I think. He would not have expected to see his bishop on b1 gumming up the works, with consequent problems for the Rook on a1 and the pawn a4. 15.0-0 a5 16.h2 e8 17.xg7 xg7 18.h1 exd4 19.xd4 [ 19.cxd4 xe4 ] 19...b6! After the exchange of queens Black 1016 B08 can play and play all day against the pawns on Papa,Severin 2397 e4 and a4. 20.e1 [ 20.d1 xd4 21.xd4 d5! 22.g4 ad8 Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 2662 23.xf6 xf6 helps not a jot. ] 5th YM Lausanne SUI (1.2) 16.09.2004 20...xd4 21.cxd4 b6 22.f3 c6 [Andrew Martin] One weakness is all a strong player often Here's a good example of Mamedyarov's style. needs to convert the game to victory. 23.e5 One positional mistake by W hite and the fd7 24.e4 dxe5 25.d6 Of course this is game is up! 1.d4 g6 2.e4 c6 Played more to desperation. e6 26.dxe5 xf3 27.gxf3 28.e4 d8 29.b7 d2 baffle White than with any great intention of xe5 p l a y i n g . . . d 7 - d 5 . 3.c3 g7 4.h3 The philosophy and strategy of the Modern At least White has been lured away from the carried out to perfection. White was invited to A u s t r i a n a t t a c k o r s o m e o f t h e b l u n t e r overreach or at least form a bad plan. He attacking system that he can play. As long as managed to do so with ease, after which you are happy playing ...c7-c6 you can use Black stepped in on the weaknesses and took this move order. d6 5.e3 f6 6.d2 0-0 him apart. 7.f3 b5 8.d3 bd7 Evidently Black is not 0-1 afraid of Bh6 etc, a la 150 caveman attack. 9.a4N B08 [ Of course he should play it and not be 1017 bluffed: 9.h6! e5 ( 9...xh6 10.xh6 b4 Parker,Jonathan 2509 11.e2 e5 12.0-0 e8 13.fe1 c5 Nijboer,Friso 2598 14.dxe5 xe5 15.xe5 dxe5 16.ad1 ) 3rd ACT Amsterdam NED (7) 21.07.2006 10.xg7 xg7 11.0-0-0 White can only [Andrew Martin] count on a small edge in these lines but it 's b e t t e r t h a n t h e ga m e ! T h e p re ci s e 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 problem with a2-a4 in the current position is 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.h3 bd7 8.a4 e5 that White can't castle long anymore and the 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.e3 e7 11.d3 pawn on a4 might well become weak. It At first glance a curious move, but clearly the looks like a normal 150 attack but it's not. most popular here, the White queen heads for White has played h2-h3 and that makes a the queenside, and vacates the d-file. h5 difference. Black has an extra tempo to hit 12.a5 f4 This leads to active counterplay for the centre with. ] Black. 13.c4 f6 Black supports the 9...b4 10.e2 c5! Here's where the tempo dangerous knight. comes in useful. White has no time now for [ 13...xe2+ is worse, 14.xe2 e8 Bh6 etc he must deal with the central 15.g3 f8 16.a6 bxa6 17.xc6 b7 situation. 11.c3 b7 12.g3 c4 13.b1? 18.a4 with a plus, Nowak, I-Sznapik, A/ [ With the greatest respect White should Poznan 1984. ] s e t t l e f o r 13.xc4 bxc3 14.bxc3 xe4 14.b4!? A novelty, grabbing space on the 15.xe4 xe4 16.e2 c7 17.0-0 queenside. and the game is balanced. Moreover, White [ 14.fd1 i s n o r m a l , e8 15.a4 doesn't get his light-squared bishop buried! ] ( 15.e1!? xe2+ 16.xe2 f8 17.f3 1058

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is nothing special, Juarez Flores, C-Sznapik, A/Dubai 1986) 15...f8?! the knight heads f o r e 6 t o e ye f 4 a n d d 4 , b u t t h e r e is a tactical problem: 16.xf4! xf4 17.d5! Ouch! cxd5 18.xe8 dxe4 Tregubov, PPoluljahov, A/Orel 1992, and now 19.a3! is best, exf3? 20.xf3 e4 21.xf7+ h8 22.c4 winning. ] 14...b8! The knight retreats, but the threat of ... Be6 is annoying. 15.xf4 xf4 16.b3 a6 17.fe1 c7 Black has the bishop pair, and his remaining knight heads for the important e6-square. 18.b5?! [ 18.c4 ] 18...e6 19.bxc6 bxc6 20.c4 d4! W ell calculated, now Black seizes the initiative . 21.xd4 exd4 22.xc6 xh3 Defending the a8-rook with gain of tempo. 23.d5 g5 24.f1 ac8 25.a4 e6 After the tactics we can easily see that White is worse, Black has the bishops and the c2p a w n i s w e a k . 26.ab1 e5 27.f4 Desperate. xf4 28.xf4 xf4 29.xd4 a6!? [ 29...xc2 30.xa7 h4 is more to the point. ] 30.d3 fd8 31.e3 e5 32.b6 c4 33.xc4 xc4 34.xa6 xc2 Material is equal, but the pawn structure tells the story. 35.f1 b5 36.af6 dd2! 37.6f2 xa5 38.xd2 xd2 39.f3 [ 39.xd2 xd2 is hopeless, the black king heads for e5, when the e4-pawn is lost. ] 39...d4+ 40.h1 c7 41.d1 d7 [ 41...xd1 42.xd1 should win. ] 42.e2 e7 43.e1 e5 44.c4 g3 45.e2 e5 Black combines threats of winning the e-pawn with menaces towards the w h i t e k i n g . 46.g1 c3 47.f2 g7 48.e2 d3 49.f4 d1+ 50.f2 d4+ 51.g3 d6 52.d2 c7 53.d5 f6 54.f2 I suppose that both players were short of time as the end of the game lacks consistency. c2+ 55.d2 c5+ 56.g3 e7 57.d4 a3+ 58.f3 g5+ 59.h3 c1 60.d7+ h6 61.d1 [ 61.g4! offers some chances. ] 61...c7 62.g4 c5 63.d3 c2 64.d2 c3 [ 64...xd2 65.e3+ g7 66.xd2 ] 65.d3 e5 66.e3+ g5 Now Black

threatens ...Rc4. 67.d2 xd2 68.xd2 xe4 69.d7 g6 70.c8 d5 71.e8+ g7 72.e7+ f7 73.e4 h5 74.gxh5 xh5+ 75.g2 f7 76.f5 c7 77.f3 c3+ 78.g4 d4+ 79.g3 e5+ 0-1

1018 Pazderski,Ziemowit Onischuk,Vladimir Najdorf Memorial Open (2) [John Watson]

B08 2197 2506 03.08.2008

1.d4 f6 2.f3 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0-0 6.e3 Vigus calls the 'Accelerated Classical'. White waits to develop his king's bishop, in part because it may come to c4 in one jump. c6 Here's one of Black's most reliable setups in the Classical. In this particular position, Vigus finds that 6...Nc6 and 6...a6 7 a4 Nc6 are practical solutions. 7.a4 Versus ...b5. bd7 [ Topalov once played 7...b6 here, and Vigus shows games with ] [ 7...a5 and ] [ 7...a6 ] 8.e2 This is recommended in 'Chess Openings for White, Explained'. Vigus calls it 'less critical', and indeed, the main line [ 8.a5 is more challenging. White's main idea is e5?! 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.d6! in t e n d i n g B c4 , wh i c h h a s wo n s e ve r a l games. So Black should look into 8...Qc7, as described in Vigus' book. ] 8...e5!? Now that the bishop has moved to e2, this should be okay. A safer option, however, is [ 8...c7 ] 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.d2 e7 11.c4 e8 12.d2 [ 'Chess Openings for White, Explained' gives 12.h4 c5 13.h5 e6 14.hxg6 hxg6 (here ( I t h i n k t h a t 14...fxg6! sh o u ld d e f i n it e l y b e c o n sid e re d , s in c e Bla ck's kn igh t ca n go t o f 4 a t t h e righ t moment, as well as to d4. Furthermore, ... fxg6 allows for 2nd-rank defence of Black's kingside. Black may even stand slightly better, for example, 15.d2 f4 16.0-0-0 e6 ) 15.d2 d4 16.h6 f6 17.0-0-0 1059

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 , when Vigus thinks that Black is all right after e6 ] 12...c5 13.0-0 e6 14.g4? A bizarre move, weakening key dark squares. Interest in the opening declines at this point, so we should glance at [ 14.ad1 d4 15.f3 e6 16.b3 and ] [ 14.h6 d4 15.xg7 xg7 , both about equal. ] 14...d4 15.f4 xe2+ 16.xe2 exf4 17.xf4 White has good development and an open line or two, but his e-pawn is weak, his kingside exposed, and there's no obvious way to make progress. e6 Threatening ...Qc5+. [ 17...h5 is also attractive. ] 18.d2 b4 19.e5 c7 20.ce4? d5 21.g3 xb2 22.c4 d4+ 23.f2 f4! 24.f3 xh3+ 25.xh3 xe4 and Black w e n t o n t o w i n e a s i l y . 26.d6 xe5 27.xb7 e4 28.c5 xg4+ 29.xg4 xg4 30.ab1 ab8 31.a6 bd8 32.fe1 f5 33.b4 d4 34.xc6 xf2+ 35.xf2 d2+ 36.f3 xc2 37.b4 a6 38.a5 g7 39.b6 a4 40.b4 c8 41.e3 c4 42.xa6 d5 43.a3 xa5 44.g3 g5+ 45.f3 c6+ 0-1

wit h h is ne xt) is a gra ve e rro r. In s te a d Ehlvest has shown how Black should proceed: ( 10...b7 11.h6 a6 12.xg7 xg7 13.d3 e5 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.e3 b5 with at least equality as Black has decent queenside play. Zainuddin, Y-Ehlvest, J ( 2 6 2 2 ) B a l i 2 0 0 0 .) 11.h6 h8? I b elieve th is to be qu ite an in struct ive mistake. The young Italian wants to keep his fianchettoed bishop (he is a Dragon player too after all!) but here this just kickstarts W hite's attack. Instead he should h a v e s i m p l y c o n t i n u e d p l a yi n g o n t h e queenside. 12.g5! f8 13.f4 Suddenly W hite has a very dangerous attack and I d o u b t D a n i e l e wa s h a p p y t h a t h e wa s obliged to play g7 I'll continue the game as the young Scot plays a very pretty attack. 14.xg7 xg7 15.e5 ( 15.f5 is also very strong. ) 15...d5 16.c4 xc3 17.xc3 f6 18.ae1!? I really like the concept behind this move and shows W hite wasn't overawed against his GM opponent. ( 18.f7 d8 19.exf6+ exf6 20.d5 is also very good for White but nothing like as creative.) 18...fxg5 19.d5!? g8 20.fxg5 c5? ( 20...b5 was necessary but White still has a huge attack for the invested piece.) 21.e6! And Black's pieces were completely 1019 B08 immobilised. d7 22.b5 f8 23.exd7 ( 23.f3! e5 24.xf8+ xf8 25.xe5 Pridorozhni,Aleksei 2542 would have forced an instant resignation.) Cheparinov,Ivan 2664 23...xf1+ 24.xf1 xd7 25.f3 h8 12th ch-EUR Aix les Bains FRA (2) 23.03.2011 26.c3+ g8 27.f3 h8 28.f7 xb5 [Gawain Jones] 29.axb5 d7 30.e1 e8 31.xe7 xe7 32.xe7 a6 33.d7 axb5 34.xd6 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 and W hite had an easily winning ending. 5.e2 Sreeves, C (2135) -Vocaturo, D (2564) Aix[ 5.h3 looks like a slightly more aggressive les-Bains 2011. ] version of the Classical and indeed has been called the Accelerated by Vigus. The 5...0-0 [ 5...g4 was also used in a recent all GM idea is simply to develop the bishop to e3 clash. 6.0-0 0-0 while leaving options open f or the light A) 7.e3 is the mainline and has been squared bishop. 0-0 6.e3 c6 7.a4 b6 examined in detail previously. c6 ( 7...bd7 has been the most common as A1) 8.d5 The mainline of the Classical far as I can see and makes sense once P i r c r o a d m a p . xf3 ( 8...b8 W hite has committed to h3 but Vocaturo is looked at in Rytshagov, M (2495) attempts a more double-edged position Chernin, A (2620) Yerevan 1996 against his much lower rated opponent.) [Alexander Volzhin]) 9.xf3 e5 8.e2 bd7 9.0-0 c7 10.d2 e8 10.e2 c6 11.a4 cxd5 ( 11...a5 This looks logical from my Dragon is seen in the archives in Lutz, C (2600)upbringing but I believe here (in conjunction 1060

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Espig, L (2440) Bremen 1998, examined by Alexander Volzhin.) 12.exd5 c8 13.d4 ed7 14.f4 e8 15.f3 xd4+ 16.xd4 ef6 17.fe1 e8 18.e3 c5 19.xc5 xc5 20.b5 an d W h it e e ven t ua lly co n ve rte d h is pressure. Petrov, M (2526)-Klinova, M (2303) Thessaloniki 2010.; A2) 8.d2 e5 A2a) 9.d5 is the old mainline reaching KID style positions: e7 A2a1) 10.e1!? is an unusual plan d7 ( 10...xe2 11.xe2 c6 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.d1 d5 14.c5 e8 15.d3 c7 looked fine for Black. Vokac, M (2390)-Jansa, V ( 2 4 8 5 ) P r a g u e 1 9 8 6 .) 11.f4 This is White's point. g4 12.xg4 xg4 13.fxe5 dxe5 14.h3 d7 when I would continue with 15.Nd3 as 15.h6 strikes me as rather odd, that bishop was hardly super strong. Martinez Duany, L (2510)-Bukal, V (2381) Sitges 2010; A2a2) 10.ad1 d7 ( T h e i n t e r e s t i n g 10...b5!? was investigated in the W orld Champion's defeat: Karpov, A-Carr, N A RC Sim u l W est erga te 19 8 2 .) 11.e1 b5 12.a3 a5 13.d3 wa s s e e n i n L e n g ye l , B ( 2 2 6 7 ) Chapman, T (2263) Budapest 2008 annotated by James Vigus.; A2b) 9.dxe5 This is considered ha rm les s b y Ja m es V igu s b ut h a s seen a fair bit of play recently but the verdict must still be that it is f airly t o o t h l e s s . dxe5 10.ad1 c8!? ( 10...a6 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 e7 13.fe1 b4 14.c1 fd8 15.a3 f8 16.e2 xd1 17.xd1 d8 18.xd8 xd8 19.c3 d4 20.d1 c6 and Black must have equalised although he eventually went down in Hernandez Carmenates, H (2543)Almeida Quintana, O (2541) Havana 2010.; 10...xd2 11.xd2 fd8 12.fd1 xd2 13.xd2 e8 14.b5 d6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.b3 was seen in an early encounter in the line in which the great Swedish defender held

the draw but the ending is rather unpleasant. Browne, W (2530) Andersson, U (2535) Hastings 1972.) 11.c1 d8 12.xd8+ xd8 ( 12...xd8 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 c6 15.d1 e6 16.d2 Petrov, M (2535)-Iturrizaga, E (2611) Cappelle la Grande 2011 also looks fine for Black h a d h e c o n t i n u e d w i t h c7 followed by ...Rd8. True White has the bishop pair but I don't think it's anything like enough here.) 13.d1 f8 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 d8 16.xd8 xd8 17.d2 xd2 18.xd2 d4 19.d1 f8 The first new move! ( Instead Karpov couldn't get anywhere against 19...c6 20.g3 f8 21.g2 b4 22.b1 xd2 23.xd2 f8 1/2-1/2 Karpov, A (2715)-Timman, J (2675) Amsterdam 1988. ) 20.f3 c5 21.f1 h5 22.e2 xe2 23.xe2 f4+ 24.xf4 exf4 and a draw was agreed within a few moves. Spasov, V (2599) Chatalbashev, B (2555) Kyustendil 2010.; B) 7.h3 doesn't seem to have been mentioned on ChessPublishing before but seems critical to me a s f ollowin g xf3 8.xf3 c6 9.e3 ( 9.e2!? ) 9...e5 ( 9...d7 is more flexible and should probably be preferred. ) B1) 10.dxe5 doesn't look very critical. dxe5 11.b5 e7 12.c3 d8!? 13.a3 ( Both players presumed that 13.xa7 c6 would be good for Black and it looks rather suspicious although it's Rybka's suggestion, believing the knight won't get trapped after 14.b3 ) 13...a5 14.c4?! b5 15.xe5 T h e id e a b e h in d t h e la st b u t t h is i s flawed. xe5 16.d4 e6 17.xf6 Ivanchuk, V (2704) -Hillarp Persson, T (2474) Malmo 2003 when xf6 18.e5 a6 19.xa8 xa8 gives Black a pleasant plus.; B2) 10.d5 e7 We have reached a KID style position but one in which Black has been forced to cede his light squared bishop and thus the ...f5 plan will lose impact. As any Kings Indian players 1061

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (2504) Maykop 2008. ] know, keep ing t he c8 bishop o n th e [ As has been noted in the archives, the board is important for the success of immediate 7...c7 allows White to annoy t h e i r k i n g s i d e a t t a c k . ( 10...d4!? the Black queen with is an interesting pawn sacrifice but White A) Instead in Michalczak, T (2332) m u s t h a v e s o m e e d g e a f t e r 11.xd4 Chatalbashev, B (2602) Reykjavik 2011 exd4 12.xd4 despite Black's play on White allowed Black's model play following the dark squares. ); 8.h3 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.e3 h5 C) 7.e1 c6 8.d5 xf3 9.xf3 e5 11.b1!? The queen reroutes to a2 to 10.e2 c6 11.a4 a5 12.a3 c7 13.f1 defend the bishop once it moves to c4 but ed7 14.e3 c5 and Black had it does look odd. f4 12.c4 comfortably equalised. W hite tried the A1) 12...e6 looks more logical and a g g r e s s i v e 15.e5 b u t f o ll o win g xd5 was Chatalbashev's choice last time 16.xd5 cxd5 17.xd5 xe5 18.h6 13.a2 a6 14.xe6 Rather obliging. fc8 19.f3 e6 White had nothing to ( 14.ad1 is probably better but Black show for the pawn. Guseinov, G (2591) must be completely fine.) 14...xe6 Abbasov, F (2537) Baku 2011. ] 15.c4 e7 16.fd1 b4 17.xb4 6.0-0 c6 Topalov's second is happy to follow xb4 18.d2 f5 19.g5 d4 the most common line. and Black had taken control and went on [ 6...a6 was the weapon used by the highest to win, Armanda, I (2323) -Chatalbashev, rated Italian against the Italian who for a B (2579) Zadar 2008.; long time was their number one. Neil A2) 12...e6!? The Bulgarian GM comments that this is much more dynamic wants to keep more pieces on the board. than the alternatives. 7.e1 ( 7.a4 b6 13.d1 a5 14.a2 a6 15.d2 ac5 playing in the spirit of a Hippo has been 16.ad1 b6 17.h4 h6 18.g3 h7 played by Topalov and Svidler in games one 19.g2 b8 20.h1 d7 21.hd1 can find in the archives, Black scored 2/2) e8 22.a1 White is obviously stumped 7...c6 8.f4 A very quiet approach. ( 8.d5 at how to continue. e7 23.ad1 f5 is the mainline, i.e. e5 9.xe5 dxe5 24.h1 f4 25.xc5 xc5 26.g4 d8 10.e3 e6 11.c5 e8 12.c4 b6 27.g5+ h8 28.xd8 xd8 29.f7 13.dxe6 xe6 14.xe6 xe6 15.e3 when f3+! 30.g3 f6 31.xe8 f4+ Zilberman, Y (2516) -Avrukh, B (2609) Tel 32.h3 xe8 would have been winning Aviv 1999 and White had a tiny nibble as the for Black.; Black queenside pawns aren't ideal.) 8...g4 B) 8.f4 intending to break with e4-e5. 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 d7 ( 10...e5 However Rozentalis, E (2581)-Tkachiev, V looks to equalise immediately but Caruana (2661) Crete 2007 saw Black holding quite wanted the position to have some e a s i l y - c h e c k t h e a r c h i ve s f o r J o h n imbalances.) 11.e3 c8 12.d2 a5 W atson's comments. A recent game 13.e2 c5 14.dxc5 ( 14.d5 is a better try continued: bd7 9.e5 h5!? ( 9...dxe5 f o r a n e d g e .) 14...xc5 15.ad1 b5 is examined in the aforementioned game.) 16.d4 xd4 17.xd4 c6 18.e3 b4 10.exd6 exd6 11.g5 d5 12.d2 e8 19.d5 e6 20.f4 a5 and Black had 13.fe1 f8 14.h6 xh6 15.xh6 f5 decent chances. Godena, M (2549)and Black had equalised comfortably but Caruana, F (2709) Reggio Emilia 2011. ] was unable to beat his lower rated 7.a4 White's most common gaining space on opponent. Lukjanenko, A (2375)-Lastin, A the qu een sid e. I looked at W hite's o the r (2643) Voronezh 2010. ] seventh moves in Vallejo Pons, F-Gashimov V Strangely this popular move doesn't Reggio Emilia 2011 in the preceding game. 8.a5 appear to have been covered previously but bd7 [ 7...a5 is an attempt to exploit White's move the positions are still similar. [ 8.e3 was examined in Guseinov, G order, check James Vigus' comments in (2625)-Dzhumaev, M (2557) Baku 2008 by Gochelashvili, D (2442)-Tseshkovsky, V 1062

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 John Watson. ] [ 8.h3 is the most common and has been looked at in detail in the archives. One recent game was a triumph for Black: e5 9.e3 ( 9.dxe5 was looked at by Neil in Bernadskiy, V (2358)-Onischuk, V (2483) Lviv 2009.) 9...e7 ( 9...exd4 is looked at in Inarkiev, E (2684) -Mamedyarov, S (2752) B a k u 2 0 0 8 b u t J o h n W a t s o n c ri t i ci se s opening the centre so early.) 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.d2 The first new move for the site. ( Instead Andrew Martin annotated the game Parker, J-Nijboer, F Amsterdam 2006 in which Black had an instructional victory after 11.d3 ) 11...c5 12.f3 This looks very clumsy. d8 13.c1 b6 14.d1 e6 15.b3 a6 and Black had won the opening battle. Georgiev, K (2422)-Petrov, M (2534) Bansko 2010. ] 8...c7 [ 8...e5 also looks playable and was the c h o ic e o f t h e t o p Ca n a d ia n G M . 9.dxe5 ( 9.e1 c7 would transpose to the game but Black could also consider trading on d4. ) 9...dxe5 10.d6 has been played most often and is the probably critical test of this move ord er. ( 10.c4 e7 11.b3 b8 12.a3 c5 13.d3 b6 14.a6 h5 15.fd1 df6 16.d6 xd6 17.xd6 e8 18.dd1 c7 19.b5 xb5 20.xb5 f4 21.b2 g4 and Black had survived the opening and was starting to take the up p e rh a n d. Ma rt in ez Du a n y, L (2 5 1 0 )Bluvshtein, M (2583) La Bordeta 2010.) 10...e8 11.c4 ( 11.a3 f8 12.b4 h5 13.d1 f4 14.f1 f6 15.e3 b8! I like this rerouting. 16.d2 a6 17.a2 c7 18.e1 e6 19.c3 b5 20.b2 d6 21.ad1? xe4 And the knight lands! Guliyev, N (2545)-Mamedyarov, S (2754) C a l a t r a v a 2 0 0 7 .) 11...f8 ( 11...e7 12.xe7 xe7 13.d1 gives White a small but stable advantage.) 12.d3 e7 13.g5 c5 14.g3 h5 15.xf7+ xf7 16.xf7 xg3 17.fxg3 e6 18.g5 c4 19.d1 and White's extra pawn promised him an edge. Brodsky, M (2500)-Grichak Alushta 1994. ] 9.e1 This plan is a little unusual but quite logical. White wants to drop the light squared bishop to f1 while leaving the c1 bishop at

home so it doesn't get in the way of play in the centre. [ A high rated encounter continued 9.e3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.h3 d8 12.b1 bringing the queen to a2 which defends the a5 pawn and also x rays towards the f 7 pawn. f8 13.a2 e6 14.a3 h6 15.fd1 8d7 16.d2 f8 17.b4 c5 18.b5 c4 19.b2 b6 20.axb6 axb6 21.f3 ( 21.a6! is a little better for White.) 21...xa1 22.xa1 c8 23.d5?! xd5 24.exd5 e4! 25.d2 d6 and Black was for preference Lutz, C (2610) -Topalov, V (2700) Frankfurt 1999. ] 9...e5 10.f1 [ 10.c4!? looks strange moving the bishop again but then the position resembles a Philidor to me. ] 10...e8 11.g3 As the bishop never actually makes it to g2 this looks a little odd. [ 11.d5 has also been played. cxd5 ( 11...a6 has actually been more common.) 12.xd5 xd5 13.exd5 Vasquez, R (2546)-Nyback, T (2554) Mallorca 2004 when f6 14.c4 d7 15.h3 b6 is roughly level. ] 11...b8 12.d5 I think this is probably necessary now. [ 12.g2 is logical and was played in the only previous encounter. The moves look to b e r a t h e r g a r b l e d t o m e b u t b5! looks promising. 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.b3 c5 an d B la ck alre a dy ha d a very p le a sa n t position in Tkachiev, V (2664) -Mamedyarov, S (2731) Almaty 2008. ] 12...a6 Preparing to capture on d5. [ 12...cxd5?! 13.b5! would have been awkward. ] 13.d2 Bringing the knight round to c4 targeting the hole just created on b6. cxd5 14.xd5 This makes sense to make way for c2-c4 after the exchange. [ However of course 14.exd5 is also possible w h e n t h e g a m e m i g h t c o n t i n u e b5 ( 14...h6!? 15.de4 h7 followed by ...f5 looks interesting.) 15.axb6 xb6 16.de4 xe4 17.xe4 f5 18.b4 e4 19.xa6 xa6 20.xa6 d7 with good play for the pawn. ] 14...xd5 15.exd5 b5 Cheparinov doesn't want to be squashed on the queenside. [ 15...f6!? isn't a very human move but 1063

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.c4 g4 17.f3 h3! looks playable. ] 16.axb6 xb6 17.c4 f5 So the position has settled somewhat and it's obvious that White is going to gain space on the queenside while Black generates counterplay on the kingside in typical Kings Indian style. 18.b4 e4 19.b1 d7 20.f3! White utilises the pin to bring his knight to a more active square. b7 [ 20...b7!? was an interesting possibility keeping the bishop on c8 to keep e6 under control. 21.d4 e5 looks easier for Black to me. ] 21.d4 bc8 [ I would have preferred to prevent the k n i g h t j u m p i n g i n t o e 6 w i t h 21...e5 However 22.f4 ( 22.e6? allows f3+ ) 22...bc8 23.c1 looks a little better for White. ] 22.f4 [ I think it was time to take the plunge with 22.e6! xe6 23.dxe6 e5 24.e2 e7 ( 24...xc4 25.g5! h6 26.c1 hxg5 27.xc4 favours White.) 25.c5 d5 26.f4! a n d I d o n ' t b e l i e ve B l a c k h a s e n o u g h compensation for the exchange. ] 22...e5 23.xe5 xe5 24.e6 xe6!? Cheparinov decides to sacrifice the exchange to get rid of the troublesome knight and open up the diagonals for the bishop pair. [ 24...d7 is possible but passive and 25.e3 feels like White should have a nibble. Ho we ve r it 's p o s sib le t o n o w p la y xe6 26.dxe6 xe6 and Black at least gets the e6 pawn immediately. ] 25.dxe6 e7 26.c5 d5 [ 26...xe6 27.cxd6 xd6 28.d2 is better for White. ] 27.xa6! A nice tactic that Cheparinov may have overlooked when he sacked the exchange. xa6 28.xd5 Black has two bishops for rook and two pawns, a decent material imbalance in general but the pawns are marching forwards and cannot be easily stopped. f6 [ 28...c3 29.d6! xd6 30.cxd6 and the pawns prove decisive. ] 29.b5 xc5 [ 29...d8 was the alternative but 30.c4 ( 30.xd8+!? xd8 31.bxa6 a5 32.c6 also looks interesting as the three pawns take some stopping but Black can create

c o u n t e r p l a y w i t h d4! 33.e7 f7 with a highly complex position.) 30...c8 31.ed1 xd1+ 32.xd1 xe6 33.b4 is very dangerous. ] 30.a8+ c8 31.b6 b7 32.xb7 [ Keeping queens on the board with 32.a2! was very strong, i.e. e7 33.ec1 f8 34.xc5 xc5 35.c4 c6 36.b5 d5 37.b7 xb7 38.xb7 xe6 39.xh7 xf2+ 40.h1 with a winning position. ] 32...xb7 33.ec1?! It's conventional wisdom that when you have rooks and pawns versus minor pieces then you should exchange a pair of rooks but here that is flawed as both rooks were needed to force the pawns through. [ 33.ed1! was correct. c8 34.d7 b8 35.c1 c8 36.a7 d4 37.d1 xb6 38.e7 e6 39.d8+! xd8 40.exd8+ xd8 41.a8 and I think Black's pawns are on the wrong colour to hold the draw as White's king will be able to penetrate on the dark squares. ] 33...d4 Cheparinov misses the chance to take the advantage. [ 33...xc1+ 34.xc1 d4 35.c7?! ( 35.b1 is better but still White will have to grovel for the draw.) 35...e3! 36.fxe3 ( 36.xb7 e2 ) 36...xe3+ 37.f1 a6+ 38.g2 xb6 and Black would have good winning chances. ] 34.xc5 xc5 35.c1 xb6 36.e7 f7 37.b1 A rather disappointing draw offer by Pridorozhni who could have played on risk free. However a very interesting game and proof that Black can always make the game double-edged in the Modern and Pirc, even against the Classical! ½-½

1020 Prie,Eric Legay,Axel Argeles op rapid (2.2) [Eric Prié]

B08 2480 2020 12.09.2010

1.d4 f6 2.f4 d6 3.f3 g6 4.c3!? g7 [ 4...f5!? must be critical in this peculiar o rd e r o f m o ve s t h e n . 5.e3! Like in the previous game. ( 5.h3!? g7 6.g4; 5.h4 d7 6.e4 g7 7.f3 0-0 8.d2 c6 1064

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 13...f8 14.d3 h6 ( 14...d7 15.xf7 9.d5 e5 10.xe5 dxe5 11.e3 e6= ) xf7 16.g5+ e8 17.xg6+ xg6 5...g7 6.d3 xd3 7.xd3 ] 18.xd7+ f8 19.f5+ ) 15.e4 f5 5.d2 c6 6.e4 With interesting control of the 16.he1 xe4 17.xe4 d8 18.d4 xd4 e5 square already, W hite now logically 19.xd4 With the idea... f6 20.xc6! fxg5 decides to go for the advance of his e-pawn. 21.e6 xe6 22.d7+ f8 23.xe7+ g8 b5 We again find some big names in this 24.xe6+ h7 25.d6 ] transposition into a Pirc, with a wide collection of some 150 games with the Qd2-Bf4 set-up in 14.xf7!! A little calculation and a good dose of intuition! xf7 15.g5+ e8 my database. [ 15...e7 16.d6+ ] [ 6...a5 7.h3! bd7 8.0-0-0 b5? This move does not go well with ...Qa5. 16.xe6 h6 [ 16...xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.d6 ] 9.e5! b4? 10.exf6 bxc3 11.xc3 f5 [ 16...f8 Was the most stubborn, covering ( 11...xc3 12.fxg7! ) 12.fxg7 xf4+ t h e k e y s q u a r e d 6 . 17.d3 e7 13.b1 g8 14.xc6 b8 15.b5! I had stopped here, and with already two Threatening Qc7. d8 ( 15...a6 16.a4 ) pawns, the black king having lost the right 16.d3! f5 ( 16...b6 17.c4 ) 17.c3 to castle and the black pieces all tangled up, xb5 18.c7+ 19.Qxc8+! leads to a nice I felt confident in the pursuit of the attack. checkmate 1-0 Stangl, M (2535) The following lines suggested by my engine Azmaiparashvili, Z (2625) Tilburg 1994. are ju st h ere t o pro ve m e righ t . 18.e4! Although this normally belongs to another Threatening Qd6. Not easy to work out section of ChessPublishing (but since some beforehand but not difficult to find over the themes may be related to the main game) I board. a7 19.c3 same remark as could not resist the temptation to give it in before: the queen opens the way for the full! ] rook and heads for the attacking square g3. [ 6...g4 7.e2 bd7 8.0-0-0 h6 9.e5 A) 19...h6 20.xh6 xh6 21.g3 b4 dxe5 10.xe5 Grigoriants, S (2506) -Vajda, 22.g5 bxa3 23.bxa3 h7 24.xg6+ L (2592) W-ch U20 Istanbul 2003 0-1(32) ] xg6 25.xg6+ f7 26.xh5! 7.a3 In order to keep the king's bishop for e2 Protects e5 while introducing an unusual in case of ...Bg4, but also to reinforce the idea and unstoppable motive with the attacking of e4-e5 without having to worry about Black's couple queen and knight. ( 26.g5 xe5 ...b5-b4. 27.he1 c5 ) [ 7.d3 g4 8.e5 h5 9.h6 xf3 A1) 26...b7 27.g7+ e7 28.h4+ 10.gxf3 dxe5 ] f6 ( 28...f8 29.h8+ e7 7...bd7 8.h3! White is ready. a6? 30.e8# ) 29.exf6+ xf6 30.he1+ f7 [ 8...0-0 9.e5 dxe5 10.dxe5 e8 11.0-0-0 31.d3 xg7 32.g3+ g6 33.e7+ c7 12.h6 ] xe7 34.xe7+ h6 35.f8+ h5 [ 8...c7 9.e5 ( 9.e2!? e5 10.h2 ) 36.h8+ h6 37.e5+ h4 38.g5#; 9...dxe5 10.xe5 ( 10.dxe5? h5 11.h2 A2) 26...e7 27.h4+! xe6 28.d6+ xe5 ) 10...xe5 11.xe5 b6 12.d3 xe5 0-0 13.0-0 ] A2a) 29.h6 f6 30.e1+ 9.e5 dxe5 Black had better give a pawn A2a1) 30...d6 31.f4+ d7 rather than play this... 32.d1+ e8 ( 32...d5 33.d6+ ) [ 9...h5 10.h2 c5 11.g4 ( 11.dxc5 xe5 33.h8+ f8 34.xf8+ xf8 12.xe5 xe5 13.xe5 dxe5 14.xd8+ 35.xf6+ f7 ( 35...e8 36.e1+ ) xd8 15.0-0-0+ e8 16.d5 a7 ) 36.d8+; 11...cxd4 12.xd4 b7 13.e3 xe5 A2a2) 30...d5 31.d1+ e5 14.xe5 xe5 15.gxh5 c8 16.xe5 ( 31...c5 32.d4+ b5 33.b4#; xh1 17.0-0-0 c7 18.g4 ] 31...e6 32.e4# ) 32.g3+ e6 [ 9...d5 10.xd5 cxd5 11.exd6 ] 33.d6+ f5 34.g4+ g5 10.dxe5 g8 11.0-0-0 b6 12.e4 h5 35.d2+; 13.eg5 e6 1065

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A2b) 29.d2 T h e s i m p l e s t . . . e6 30.e1+ e5 31.f4 f5 32.h6+ f7 33.h7+ f8 ( 33...f6 34.fxe5+ e6 35.d6#; 33...e6 34.g6+ ) 34.h8+ f7 35.d8; B) 19...xf2 20.e3; C) 19...a5 20.g3 g8 21.e3 c5 ( 21...b8 22.xa7 xa7 23.d6 b4 24.a4 ) 22.d6 b8 23.hd1 b4 24.xf8 xf8 ( 24...xf8 25.e6 ) 25.d8+ f7 26.e6+ xe6 27.xb8; D) 19...b7 20.d6 b4 21.d3 g8 22.xc6! xc6 ( 22...xc6 23.xc6 xc6 24.c4 db8 25.c5 f7 26.e6 f5 27.e7; 22...b5 23.xc8+ xc8 24.xg6+ e7 25.g5+ xe6 26.f5+ d5 27.e4+ ) 23.xg6+ xg6 ( 23...e7 24.d6# ) 24.xg6+ e7 25.g5+ f6 26.xf6+ d7 27.d1+ ] 17.xh6 xh6 18.d6 f7 [ 18...a7 19.d3 g8 There again I had stopped here confident in finding a way to break through the weak g6 point over the board. 20.xg6+! ( 20.f4 I had in mind also wins f8 21.d5 b7 22.f6+ f7 23.xg8 xg8 24.e4 ) 20...xg6 21.c7+ xc7 ( 21...d8 22.xg6 xc7 23.e6 e5 24.xh6 b8 25.he1 ) 22.xg6+ f7 23.e6 de5 24.g8+ e7 25.exf7 xf7 With two pawns and a rook (and what a rook!) against knight and bishop one can tranquilly assume this is already winning for White... 26.d3 f5 27.e1+ f6 28.f3 g5 29.f8+ f7 30.d6+ g7 31.xf5 xf5 32.d4+ ] [ 18...f5 19.c7+ f7 20.e6+ g7 21.xd7+ xd7 22.xd7+ h6 23.d2+ g7 24.xa8 I had seen this nonetheless. ] 19.g7+ d8 20.f6+ c7 21.xf7 1-0

1021 Rozentalis,Eduardas Efimov,Igor ETCC Crete GRE (2) [John Watson]

B08 2581 2446 29.10.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 A classical line. Vigus points out that Rozentalis likes to play

[ 6...g4 7.e3 c6 8.d2!? . Maybe Black was trying to sidestep that. It's ironic that Rozentalis himself has played 6...Bg4. ] 7.d5 b8 8.h3 To prevent ...Bg4. The other main move is [ 8.e1 ] 8...c6 Attacking the pawn chain. [ 8...e5 9.dxe6 xe6 is another known line. ] 9.a4 White's idea is to prevent ...b5 and prepare a5 in certain cases. So Black switches plans: a5 10.e3 a6 11.e1 [ A game Yuferov-Czerwonski, Lublin 1992 went 11.d4 b4 12.f3 ( 12.c4!? ) 12...c7 ( Vigus mentions 12...e5 ) 13.d2 d7 14.fd1 ad8 15.b3 , when Vigus recommends fe8= Some players might be more comf ortable with W hite here, just because they prefer space. ] 11...c7 12.d4 Perhaps trying to discourage ...e5. I don't think f4 is an effective notion. [ 12.d2 is natural. ] 12...b4 13.d2 e8 14.ad1 d7 15.f3!? ad8 16.g4!? Another space grab, but weakening. Easier was [ 16.f4 . I like White in these positions. ] 16...c8 17.g2 e6! 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.f4 e5! 20.f3 d5!? Now things develop tactically. If this move works, the Black's problems are solved. 21.xe5 dxe4 22.f2 bd5 Preventing Bb6, of course, but also ce n t ra lisin g. I t lo o ks e qu a l n o w. 23.xe4 xe4 24.xe4 xe3 This doesn't quite keeps the balance, because White emerges a pawn up. [ 24...xf4! 25.xf4 xd1 26.xd1 xe5 is equal. ] 25.xd8 xd8 26.xe3 xe5 27.fxe5 d4! [ 27...xe5? 28.xg6 is a cheapo, threatening Qf7+ as well as Rxe5. ] 28.d3 e6 [ 28...xe5?? 29.c4+ ] 29.b3 f8 30.f3?! White risks nothing by playing on via [ 30.e2 ] [ or 30.g3 , although it's hard to make progress. ] 30...a1+ 31.f1 [ 31.g2 xf3 32.xf3 xe5 ] 1066

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A very professional game. ½-½

31...d4+ 32.f2 ½-½

1022 Rozentalis,Eduardas Tkachiev,Vladislav ETCC Crete GRE (3) [John Watson]

B08 2581 2661 30.10.2007

An example of the confidence top players have these days as Black in cramped positions with the d-file half open. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f3 f6 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 This is one of several ways to treat the Classical. Black retains options of ...b5 and ...e5. 7.a4 [ 7.e1 ] [ and 7.h3 are the most common alternatives. ] 7...c7!? A funny order. Black usually stays flexible by playing ...Nbd7 first. The difference makes itself clear on the next move: 8.f4 With the queen still on d8, this isn't particularly threatening, but here e5 is an issue. bd7 9.e5!? Given an '!' in Vigus' book (he doesn't like Black's position). The main alternative is probably [ 9.d2 e5 10.h6 ] 9...dxe5 Unashamed of giving White space and pieces that are nicely centralised. [ Vigus quotes the game G Shahade-T Nyback, Bermuda 2002: 9...h5 10.g5 dxe5 11.xe7 e8 12.d5 f4 13.d6 a5 14.c4 b6 15.b3 fd5 , which doesn't l o o k b a d . G a l l a g h e r s u g g e s t s 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.c4 with advantage, but xd1 19.axd1 d7 20.fe1 f6 looks just fine for Black. ] 10.xe5 xe5 11.xe5 a5 12.c4 The classic space central advantage: Re1/ Qd2 etc. with advantage, right? g4 13.xg7 xg7 14.h3 f6 15.e2 [ 15.e1 b4 16.b3 d8 ] 15...b4! 16.b3 d7!? 17.e5 d6 18.fe1 fe8 A sort of "What can you do to me?" challenge. W e all know that W hite is better, but Black is happy with his restricted pawn structure. 19.a5 ad8 20.a4 c8 21.c3 xe5 22.xe5 d7 23.e3 b5 24.axb6 axb6 25.c4 e6 26.c3

1023 Rublevsky,Sergei Markowski,Tomasz Polanica Zdroj [Alexander Volzhin]

B08 2645 2540 1996

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.f3 d6 4.c3 f6 5.c4 0-0 A small inaccuracy which allows White to undertake action in the center. [ After 5...c6! White can try for central activity as well, but it's not so strong as after the text: 6.e5 ( 6.e2 d5! 7.exd5 cxd5 8.b5+ d7= ) 6...d5! 7.xd5 ( 7.xd5 cxd5 8.xd5? a5+-+; 7.exd6 xc3 8.bxc3 xd6= ) 7...cxd5 8.f4 ( 8.xd5 a5+ 9.c3 dxe5 10.dxe5 c6 with excellent compensation.) 8...g4! 9.exd6 e6! Black sacrificed a pawn temporarily but W hite is not able to hold both his d4 and d6-pawns. 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 c6 12.e2 xd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.0-0 0-0 15.c3 g7 16.c4 ( 16.ad1 b6 ) 16...e5 17.d2 ( 17.g3 xd6 18.xd5 xd5 19.cxd5 fd8 20.fd1 f5 is good for Black.) 17...xd6 18.cxd5 fd8 19.g5! f6 20.e3 xd5 21.xd5+ xd5 22.fd1 xd1+ 23.xd1 f5 24.d7 and the active position of White's Rook is sufficient for a draw, Rublevsky Minasian, Kazan 1997. ] 6.e2! c6 7.e5! White has managed to execute his opening plan in the most f avourable circumstances and Black has difficult problems to solve. However even here he should able to maintain the balance. d5 8.d2 dxe5!? 9.dxe5 xc3?! This move is a real mistake which allows White to seize the initiative. [ After Rublevsky - Markovsky this position was considered as insufficient for Black. However recently he found a good i m p r o v e m e n t : 9...g4!? In Rublevsky Khalifman, Russia 1999 the leading expert in this line has failed to prove any advantage: 10.h3 xf3 11.gxf3!? e6 12.f4 d7 13.h4 xc3 14.xc3 b6 15.b3 h5! and Black's chances are by no means 1067

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 worse. ] 10.xc3 b5 11.b3 a6 12.e6! After Black has given up the outpost in the center White's light-squared Bishop becomes really strong. xc3+ 13.bxc3 f6 14.h4! The e6-pawn se p a ra t es B la ck's p o sitio n a n d it m a ke s difficult for his pieces to help his King. c5 15.h5 g5 [ The attempt to win e6-pawn with 15...xb3 16.axb3 d6 fails to 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.d4 c5 19.g4 and White wins. ] 16.0-0 b6 [ 16...a5? fails to the unexpected 17.xg5! a n d W h i t e wi n s : fxg5 18.e5 xb3 19.xg5+ h8 20.h6! g8 21.e5+ ] 17.d4 a5 [ 17...xb3 18.axb3 c5 19.xb5! b8 20.xb6 axb6 21.f5 xe6 22.xe7+ f7 23.a7+- ] 18.f5 e8? After this passive move White's in i t ia t i v e p r o gr e s s e s wi t h o u t o b s t a c l e s . Black's hopes to win e6-pawn comfortably but White has many tactical resources. [ Black should try 18...a4!? 19.xe7+ h8 20.g6+ hxg6 21.hxg6 g4! and the matters are not so clear, for example 22.e7 e8 23.f7 b7 ] 19.a3! xb3 20.cxb3 c5 [ 20...c5 i s n o b e t t e r : 21.d4 xc3 22.fd1 intending Ra1-c1 with a huge advantage. ] 21.fe1 a6 22.h6! After this strong move W hite's advantage is decisive. Qh5 is the threat. xe6 Finally Black has managed to take the pawn but the price is too high: White wins 2 pawns on the Q-side. [ 22...xe6 loses on the spot in view of 23.g7 ] 23.xb5 f7 24.g7 f8 25.xc5 e5 26.b4 The rest is easy. d7 27.ad1 c8 28.e3 a4 29.d3 g6 30.f3 e4 31.xe4! c2 32.c4! 1-0

1024 Rytshagov,Mikhail Chernin,Alexander Erevan olm [Alexander Volzhin]

B08 2495 2620 1996

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 0-0 6.0-0 g4 7.e3 c6 8.d5 b8!? This move which was introduced by the Hungarian GM Alex Chernin, an expert in the Pirc, becomes more and more popular. I think this is because in the 8... Bxf3 line White has found ways to fight f or an opening edge. 9.e1!? White has a wide choice here. [ 9.a4 c6 10.a5 a6 11.d2 xe2 12.xe2 bd7 13.c4?! xe4! 14.xe4 cxd5 15.b6 dxe4 16.xa8 xa8 with a huge advantage for Black in Braga-Martin del Campo, Manila 1992. ] [ 9.d4 xe2 10.xe2 c5!? 11.f3 b6 12.ab1 a6 13.d2 g4 14.g5 e8 15.f4 e5 16.xe5 xe5 17.h4 c4! with good chances for Black in Chatalbashev-Popchev, Cacak 1991. ] [ 9.d2 c6 10.ad1 a5 11.a3 c8 12.b4 c7 ( 12...xa3? 13.a1 xb4 14.a4 winning ) 13.d4 bd7 14.fe1 a5 a n d B la ck ca n h o p e t o e xp lo it W h it e ' s weaknesses on the Q-side as in BlatnyChernin, Pardubice 1993. ] [ 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 c6 11.a4 a5 12.b1 bd7 13.g3 b6 14.g2 c7 15.a2 fe8 16.b3 fd7 17.c4 b8 18.d2 6d7 19.c3 a6 20.aa1 dc5 and Black's chances were by no means bad in Arbakov-Chernin, Bern 1995. ] 9...c6 10.d2 c7 11.ad1 bd7 12.h6 xf3 13.xf3 xh6 14.xh6 a6 Black is at least equal. 15.d2 fe8 16.dxc6 [ 16.e2 cxd5 17.exd5 b5 18.a3 b6 with a slight edge for Black ] 16...bxc6 17.b3 ed8 18.e2 f8 19.d3 e5! 20.c4 g7 21.e3 e6 22.d3?! [ 22.xe6 fxe6 should be preferred, with equal chances. ] 22...c5! 23.h3 A mistake again. [ 23.xd6 is better, and although after fxe4 24.xe4 xe4 25.xd8 xd2 26.xa8 xc4 27.bxc4 a5 Black's Queen is better than White's Rooks, in my opinion a draw is the most likely outcome of the game. ] 1068

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23...h5 Now White has no real attacking chances on the Kingside, whilst sooner or later Black will break through in the centre with d6-d5. 24.e2 a5 25.f3 d7 26.h3 ad8 27.e3 e8 28.c1 b8 29.e3 f6 30.ee1 bd8 31.e3 a7 32.g3 b6 33.a3 d5! This well calculated move lead s to a decisive ad van tage f o r Black. 34.exd5 cxd5 35.b5 e7 36.f1 [ The pawn is poisoned: 36.xe5 ce4 37.xe4 xe4 38.f4 xf2! The point. 39.h2 ( 39.f1 xb5+ ) 39...c7 40.de1 e4 and Black wins: 41.5xe4 xf4+ 42.xf4 xe1 ] 36...d4 37.b1 ce4 38.d3 c5 39.g3 c7 40.d2 d5 White lost on time, but his position is far from pleasant anyway. 0-1

1025 Schmaltz,Roland Krasenkow,Michal 21st Open Reykjavik ISL (8) [Andrew Martin]

B08 2527 2609 15.03.2004

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 Rather flexible. 4.f3 d6 Now White is invited to choose a plan. 5.h3 f6 6.a4 White plays for restraint. He'll probably play his Queen's Bishop to e3 but at least he has a choice with that piece.. a5!? An interesting move. Black feels it is very important to prevent a4-a5 which to a certain extent would cramp his queenside. 7.e2 [ 7.e3 0-0 8.d2 is a very straightforward way which I like for W hite. c7 9.e5 No need for heroics so soon. Simply 9 Bd3 is fine. dxe5 10.xe5 d5 11.xd5 cxd5 12.f4 b6 13.b3 c6 14.b5 xe5 15.dxe5 e6 16.0-0 d7 17.fe1 c6?! ( 17...xb5! 18.axb5 fc8 19.a2 b6 ) 18.d4 Cheparinov, N-Ljangov,P/Plovdiv BUL 2004. ] 7...0-0 8.0-0 Schmaltz is deliberately delaying the decision about where to place his Bishop on c1 - that is the main battleground of the opening in question. [ 8.e3 is again possible: c7 9.0-0 bd7 10.d2 e5 11.ad1 e8 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.d6 ( 13.c4 f8 14.d6! is surely

better timing: xd6 15.xd6 e6 16.e2 ad8 17.xd8 xd8 18.b6 a8 19.d1 ) 13...xd6 14.xd6 f8 15.dd1 b4 Valkov,V-Peev,P/Plovdiv BUL 2004, a colourless game, but encouraging for Black nevertheless. ] 8...a6 9.e1 You know White has to be always slightly better in a position such as this but it is very, very difficult to pin the advantage down. Black has less space but he can wriggle in typical Modern style and cloud t h e i s s u e o n v i r t u a l l y e v e r y m o v e . d5 Maybe this way he can get to develop his Bishop to f5. [ 9...c7 10.f4 d7 11.f1 b5 12.e5 fe8 13.axb5 cxb5 14.d5 b4 15.e4 f5 16.c4 bxc3 17.xc3 a6 18.d4 d7 19.d2 b4 20.h6 dxe5 21.xg7 xg7 22.xe5 f6 23.ae1 e8 24.g4 Dervishi,E-De Santis,A/Genova 2002 ] 10.exd5N Schmaltz sees a small advantage in occupying the b5 square and goes f or it. White also opens the e-file for his Rook. But I am unsure whether this is the correct decision because resolving the central pawn structure seems only to benefit Black! [ 10.e5 is more critical and I think White ga ins a n a dva n ta ge : e8 ( 10...e4?! 11.xe4 dxe4 12.g5 c5 13.c3 b6 14.c4 cxd4 15.cxd4 e6 16.xe4 d8 17.d6 Siklosi,Z-Varoscic,C/Kecskemet 1990 ) 11.f4 ac7 12.d2 f5 13.h4 ( 13.h6! is positionally correct and White will wend his way to c2-c4. e6 14.xg7 8xg7 15.d1 b6 16.b3 a6 17.c4 ) 13...e6 14.h5 xf4 15.xf4 gxh5 shows Black dragging the game downhill. White falters later. 16.g5 h6 17.h4 e6 18.f4 xg5 19.fxg5 h6 20.xh5 xg5 21.f2 f4+ 22.f3 g7 23.g6 xd4+ 24.f1 f4 Grechihin,V-Makhnev,V/Tula 2000 ] 10...cxd5 11.b5 c7 Quickly, before Bf4. 12.f4 e6 [ 12...xb5 13.xb5 ( 13.axb5 f5 14.d3 xd3 15.xd3 e6 16.e5 b6 17.c3 ) 13...f5 14.c3 e4 15.e2 c8 16.g5! ] 13.e5 d7 14.d3 h6 15.c3 c6 16.h2 d7 [ I expected 16...f4 now but maybe White 1069

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 can manoeuvre more easily than Black: 17.c2 xb5 18.axb5 d7 19.a4 fc8 20.e5 f5 21.c2 g5 22.g3 6h5 23.h4 f6 24.g4 ] 17.g3 f4 18.xf4 xf4 19.f1 g7 Gradual improvement. 20.c1 Reaching a position absolutely typical of this provocative defence. Black is without doubt a little worse but as remarked before, his game is sufficiently resilient to put up stubborn resistance. White uses oceans of time trying to increase his advantage, the game gets mes sy a pp ro ach in g th e time co nt ro l an d bingo! As Keene and Botterill remarked in the earlier classics on the Pirc/ Modern, the Black player of these systems has to be a very tough defender with a keen eye for active counterplay as and when necessary. h5 21.e3 e6 22.e5 hf6 He will not clarify the situation just yet. [ 22...xb5 23.xb5 hf6 24.xd7 xd7 25.e2 c8 26.ae1 sees White keeping a by now easy edge. ] 23.d3 xb5 24.axb5 xe5 25.dxe5 [ 25.xe5 b8 26.f4 b6 possibly did not look like enough. ] 25...d7 26.a4 b6 27.d2 f5! 28.exf6+ xf6= Well played Mr Krasenkow! Finally Black reaches equality and there's still enough in the game to give him some encouragement. 29.b4 [ 29.h4 g8! isn't especially effectual for White. ] 29...af8! 30.xa5? I have no idea what was go in g th ro ugh W hite 's m in d a t th is t im e . Possibly he wanted to get back to ICC to play some more 1 min games against 1800's. Possibly he found himself with even less time than that. Whatever, it is hard to explain [ 30.e2 was not tried, maintaining equality. ] 30...xf2 31.e3 d6 32.xe6 Maybe that was the idea but...... g3! 33.f1 [ 33.xd7+ h6 34.xd5 d8! 35.xb7 xd3-+ ] 33...xc3! 34.aa1 d4 35.h1 [ 35.e3 xf1+ ] 35...f6 36.e7+ f7 37.c5 f4 38.g1 e4 Having defended for so long, Black is not slow in showing his attacking skills. 39.xd5 d2 40.e2 e3 41.h1 xe2 42.xe2

xe2 43.d4+ h6 44.h4+ h5 What to think after a defeat such as this? One that got away? Was I outplayed? Where did I go wro ng? In re ality Sch maltz out pla ye d himself by pushing slightly too hard, a typical Modern scenario. 0-1

1026 Stellwagen,Daniel Bosboom,Manuel ch Hilversum NED (3) [John Watson]

B08 2600 2423 18.06.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.h3 g7 5.e3 0-0 6.f3 [ 6.g4 would be a e of 'Archangel Attack', as in Stellwagen-Bosboom as well as in our April column. ] 6...a6 7.a4 b6 8.e2 e6 9.0-0 b7 10.e5!? [ 10.d3 gives White a spatial edge. ] 10...fd7?! [ 10...dxe5 11.xe5 bd7 12.f4 ( 12.f3 xf3 13.xf3 e7= ) 12...e7 ( 12...c5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.d6!? ) 13.f3 with only a small advantage, if that ] 11.g5 e8 12.exd6 cxd6 13.d5!? Threatening Ne4 to win the d6 pawn. Still, any developing move like [ 13.d2 or ] [ 13.e1 was good. ] 13...c5 14.dxe6 xe6 15.e3 c6 16.d2 d8 17.ad1 d5!? [ 17...d7!? with the idea 18.xd6 dc5! 19.xc6 xc6 yields some compensation. ] 18.d4 d6 19.f3 d7 20.de2 f6 21.f4 This is a concession that Black's dpawn is not a serious target and the play is about equal. xf4 22.xf4 e7 23.e3 e6? This chucks away a clear pawn. [ 23...b4! 24.e5 e4!? 25.xg7 xg7 is unclear. ] 24.xe6 [ 24.c7! is an even better way to win the pawn: e8 25.xb6 c6 26.c5 ] 24...fxe6 25.c7 dc8?! [ 25...d7! 26.xb6 e5 at least gets the center pawns some mobility. ] 26.xb6 d7 27.d4 xd4 28.xd4 e5 29.e2 c7 30.e1 c8 31.b4! f7? 1070

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 32.xa6! f3+ 33.gxf3 xa6 34.f4 [ 14...c6 is also bad because of 15.xc6 Locking down on ...e5. It's pretty easy from bxc6 ( 15...xc6 16.xd8 axd8 17.xc7 n o w o n , a s B l a c k c a n ' t s i t a r o u n d wh i l e give s W h it e a n e xt ra pa wn) 16.ad1 W h i t e ' s t w o p a s s e d p a w n s d e c i d e . d7 , with a decisive advantage. ] 35.g2 f6 36.f3 ac6 37.d1 xc3+ 15.xe4 xe5 16.f3 g7 The only move. 38.bxc3 xc3+ 39.d3 xc2 40.a3 c6 [ Grabbing a pawn with 16...xb2 fails to 41.e3 e5 42.fxe5+ xe5 43.a5 g5 44.a6 17.ad1 threatening Nc5 ] h5 45.a7 a8 46.a5 c3+ 47.d2 [ and 16...c6 blunders a piece: 17.xe5 1-0 xe5 18.f4 c6 19.xd7 ] 17.ad1 c8 18.c4 e8 Again Black is ready to complete his development with Nc6 1027 B08 o r N d 7 , b u t a g a i n T a l d o e s n ' t a l l o w i t ! 19.eg5+!! hxg5 Loses immediately, but Tal,Mihail other moves are also hopeless: Petrosian,Tigran V [ 19...h8 20.f4 f5 21.xf5 gxf5 USSR 1974 22.d8! The rest is easy c6 23.xf7+ [Alexander Volzhin] h7 24.e7 xf3 ( 24...f6 25.7g5+ g6 26.xf8 xe7 27.g8+ f6 Finally we'll consider the Classical set up with 28.h7# ) 25.g5+ g6 26.xg7+ xg7 Nf3 and Be2. This system is Karpov's career 27.e6+ ] long favourite. The outstanding Soviet Grandmaster Efim Geller has also greatly 20.xg5+ g8 21.f4 d7 Too late... contributed to the theory of this line. 1.e4 g6 22.xd7! xd7 [ M a t e i s u n a v o i d a b l e a f t e r 22...xd7 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.e2 0-0 23.h4 ] 6.0-0 c6 Provocative. 7.d5 The only way to 23.xf7+ fight for the advantage. [ 7.h3 allows e5 8.dxe5 ( After 8.d5 e7 1-0 the position looks similar to a main line King's Indian, but with White's pawn on c2. B08 Now it's difficult for W hite to organise a 1028 Vallejo Pons,Francisco 2698 Queen-side attack, so by playing Nh5 (or Gashimov,Vugar 2733 Nd7) and f5 Black obtains good 53rd Masters (7) 04.01.2011 counterplay. ) 8...dxe5 with equality. ] 7...b8 8.e1 e5 9.dxe6 xe6 10.f4 [Gawain Jones] h6?! [ 10...c6 is better 11.h3 h6 12.d2 g5 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f3 d6 13.g3 ( According to Efim Geller, 13.h2 5.e2 f6 6.0-0 0-0 So via a different move is preferable, intending to meet d5 with order we have reached the most common 14.e5 e4 15.e3 keeping an opening position in the Classical. 7.h3 a d v a n t a g e .) 13...d5 14.exd5 xd5 [ 7.e1 has been looked at by Alexander Volzhin in the archives. ] 15.xd5 xd5 with equal chances in Geller[ 7.a4 is investigated in Pridorozhni, AKuzmin, USSR,1974. ] Cheparinov, I Aix-les-bains 2011, elsewhere 11.d4 d7 Now all Black's pieces are very in this update. ] passive. [ 7.f4 is quite similar to the game and was [ 11...d7 should be preferred, although K a r p o v' s c h o i c e . T h a t c o n t i n u e d bd7 White's advantage is undisputable. ] 8.e1 ( 8.h3 would transpose back.) 12.d2 h7 13.e5! Very logical: White has 8...b6!? ( 8...a5 is the most common a development advantage, so he opens the and is likely to follow the game.) 9.c1 e5 central f iles. Other moves allow Black to 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.e3 ( 11.xe5?! xe5 complete his development (Nc6), when White 12.xe5 xe4 now works well for Black as only has a small advantage. dxe5 14.xe5 13.xg7? xf2! wins for Black due to the e4 It's not easy to find a sufficient defence. 1071

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 11...e6 was a strong German GM's classic mating net 14.xf8 h3+ 15.h1 ch o ice b u t h e d id n 't m a n a ge t o qu it e g1+ 16.xg1 f2# ) 11...c7 12.d2 equalise: 12.c4 dxc4 13.xc4 b6 d8 13.d1 Stohl assesses this position as 14.d3 d5 15.g5 b6 16.d2 d7 a little better for W hite but to be honest I 17.e4 c6 18.fe1 fe8 19.a3 ac8 can't see why Black hadn't fully equalised. 20.ac1 c7?! 21.xd5! exd5 Karpov, A (2715)-Hansen, C (2635) Biel ( 21...xd5 22.e3 is t h e p ro b le m .) 1992. ] 22.f6 d4!? 23.xg7 xg7 24.xd4 [ 7.g5 is also seen quite commonly when and W hite had a clear extra pawn. Black has normally responded h6 Bindrich, F (2512)-Fridm an, D (2654 ) A) 8.f4 bd7 9.e1 c7 ( The line Caleta 2010.; with 9...e5 might be better now: 10.dxe5 B) 11...c7 12.xd5 ( Carlsen chose dxe5 11.xe5 xe4 12.xe4 xe5 12.c3 but again the Azeri Super GM and Black's possession of the g5 square equalised easily with xe5 13.xd5 means I don't think he should have any xf3+ 14.xf3 e5 15.h2 e6 significant problems. ) Carlsen, M (2714)-Mamedyarov, S (2752) A1) 10.e5! is critical dxe5 ( 10...h5!? M o s c o w 2 0 0 7 .) 12...xc2 13.fe1 11.exd6 exd6 12.e3 looks like a White has tried a few different moves at nib ble f or W hite .) 11.xe5 xe5 this point. xb2 14.a4 b6 15.e4 f5 12.xe5 and White must be a little 16.xb7 xa4 17.xe7 c3 18.c4 better.; ac8 19.a6 d5 20.h4 c2 21.g3 A2) 10.d2 g5 11.e3 g4 12.h4 h6 22.d4 and White was a little better: xe3 13.xe3 g4 14.h2 e5 15.d5 Radulski, J (2574)-Mista, A (2562) f6 and I already quite like Black's Warsaw 2010. ] position. Recuero Guerra, D (2407)[ 8.e3 is actually the most common but it Tkachiev, V (2661) Benidorm 2007.; hasn't been played so often by the stronger B) 8.e3 when a recent game continued players. It's illustrative to see how Azmai bd7 9.d2 g4! 10.ad1?! plays the Black side: c7 9.a4 b6 10.d2 I wouldn't give away the dark squared d8 11.c4 e6 12.f4 b7 13.ad1 b5! bishop for free personally. ( 10.f4 e5 f i n a l l y B l a c k b r e a k s o u t . 14.d3 11.g3 gf6 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.xe5 Alonso Arburu, J (2300)-Azmaiparashvili, Z xe4 14.xe4 xe5 is close to level.) ( 2 6 1 0 ) S a n S e b a s t i a n 1 9 9 2 w h e n b4 10...xe3 11.fxe3 b5 12.a3 a5 13.e1 15.e2 c5 is very pleasant for Black. ] f6 14.d2 e5 15.g3 e7 16.d5 b4 [ 8.a4 is looked at briefly in Pridorozhni, and Black already had a great position. A(2542)-Cheparinov, I(2664) Aix-les-bains Meseljyan, A (1834)-Kalashian, D (2449) 2011. ] Yerevan 2010. ] 7...bd7 8.f4 A new try for ChessPublishing 8...a5 Black prepares ...e7-e5. [ The Russian veteran recently tried the but played for the first time back in 1956. This immediate 8...c7 when 9.e5 makes sense when the queen is already on c7 must be critical e8 10.exd6 ( 10.g5!? as it threatens e4-e5 but here it doesn't make e6 11.e7 wins the exchange but Black has so much sense although it has been tried by very good compensation f ollowing xe5 Kramnik against no other than Kasparov. 12.xf8 xf3+ 13.xf3 xf8 ) 10...xd6 [ 8.e5 is of course quite critical and doesn't 11.e1 d8 12.d3 f6 13.e2 e8 appear to have been looked at on here 14.ad1 f5 15.e5 c8 16.d2 xd3 before. dxe5 ( 8...e8 is more common but 17.xd3 d8 18.e2 b5 and Black was maybe 9.f4 is a little better for White.) closing in on equality and even went on to 9.dxe5 d5 10.xd5 cxd5 11.f4 win. Klundt, K (2355)-Tseshkovsky, V (2564) ( 11.xd5 xe5! 12.xd8 xd8 13.xe5 Arco 2010. ] xe5 14.c3 e6 was easy equality. [ 8...e5 is perhaps the critical test of 8.Bf4 Radjabov, T (2751)-Mamedyarov, S (2731) but it seems White keeps a small edge after Elista 2008. ) 1072

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the f orced line: 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.xe5 xe4 11.xe4 xe5 12.xd8 xd8 13.g5 f8 14.ad1 f6 15.f4 f5 16.c5 b6 17.g4 xg4 18.hxg4 bxc5 Lerner, K (2530)-Kovalev, A (2505) Rostock 1989 gave White some winning chances in the ending, despite his pawn deficit. ] 9.d2 [ 9.d2 was Kramnik's choice. e5 10.dxe5 ( 10.h2 exd4 11.xd4 g4 12.xd6 xh2 13.xh2 xc3 14.bxc3 xc3 mu st h a ve b ee n f in e f or B la ck. G ha e m Maghami, E (2604) -Ajrapetjan, Y (2490) Moscow 2009.) 10...dxe5 11.h6 e8 12.xg7 xg7 13.a3 c7 14.h2 f8 15.g4 xg4 16.xg4 xg4 17.hxg4 e6 and Kaspy had taken the advantage although Kramnik held the draw. Kramnik, V (2775)-Kasparov, G (2775) Moscow 1996. ] 9...c7! This looks a little odd, moving the queen twice in a row but as the knight has moved away from f3 W hite can no longer break through with e4-e5. [ 9...e5 is probably premature although was Cha talbas hev's cho ice re cen tly. 10.c4 must be critical c7 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.e3 e8 13.a4 f5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.f4! e4 16.e1 and the Australian GM's position loo ked a bit rop ey. Rossit er, P (233 0)Rogers, I (2595) London 1993. ] 10.a4 [ 10.e3 was a GM's recent choice but he failed to get any advantage. b5 11.f4 b6 12.e1 b7 13.b4 a5 14.a3 axb4 15.axb4 xa1 16.xa1 a8 17.e1 a4 18.xa4 bxa4 19.d3 a3 and Black's a d va n c e d a p a wn g a ve h i m t h e b e t t e r chances. The draw agreed within a f ew moves concurs with that assessment as W hite outrated his opponent by over 300 points. Ghaem Maghami, E (2589)-Koshy, V (2281) Chennai 2010. ] [ 10.c4 can be met with b5! 11.d2 e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.e3 d8 and Black is better. ] 10...e5 11.e3?! Paco's new idea but perhaps he overlooked Gashimov's reply. [ 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.e3 d8 13.c1 f8 has been reached a couple of times but Black has absolutely no diff iculties and can continue with ...Nf8-e6 and ... Nf6-h5-f4

with a pleasant position. ] 11...g4! A cute tactic. 12.xg4 [ T h e c o m p u t e r p r e f e r s 12.d5 White's position looks rather ugly following xe3 13.fxe3 Although at least here it's harder for Black to break out. ] 12...exd4 13.xd4 [ 13.c4 is the alternative although dxe3 14.xd6 exf2+ 15.xf2 xd6 16.xd6 h5 definitely favours Black with his superior pawn structure and strong dark squared bishop. ] 13...xd4 14.c4 c5 15.a5 I think this is an error as W hite f inds he has problem s defending the a pawn. [ Therefore I'd prefer 15.e2 but Black still has an obvious edge due to his dark squared control, e.g. e8 16.e3 e5 17.xc8 axc8 18.fe1 b6 19.ab1 b4 ] 15...e5 16.xe5 dxe5 17.xc8 axc8 18.e2 b4!? forcing the pawn further forward. [ 18...fd8 is another possible continuation. One sample line runs 19.fd1 g7 20.c4 d4 21.b3 b5 22.axb6 xb6 23.xb6 axb6 and White will have to suffer in the ending. ] 19.a6 b5 20.a2 e7 21.c1 fd8 22.b3 b6 Black has a definite edge here as the a6 pawn is vulnerable while the bishop trumps the knight yet W hite still has good drawing chances. 23.fd1 g7 24.g4 [ The Spanish GM should probably have played 24.d2 so he could meet c5 with 25.c4 b4 26.f3 when I believe he should hold the draw. ] 24...c5! Gaining more space 25.d2 c4 26.f1 c5 27.g3 xd1 Gashimov trades i n t o a g o o d e n d g a m e . 28.xd1 xa6 29.xe5+ f6 30.xf6+ xf6 31.d5?! The rook is actually misplaced here as it doesn't help stop the march of the a pawn. [ Therefore 31.c3 should be preferred but obviously Black has great winning chances ] 31...e6 32.g4 a6?! Rather slow. [ There's no reason not to start the pawn marching immediately with 32...a5 33.g3 ( 33.e3 also allows c3! ) 33...c3! 34.bxc3 a4 when the a pawn gives great winning chances: 35.e2 a3 36.c1 d6 37.a2 1073

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c5 38.d1 f5 ] 33.d2 c3!? The same idea although Gashimov should have got his a pawn a little further up the board first. The next few moves see both players manoeuvring. 34.bxc3 b6 35.c4 bxc4 36.f1 [ 36.g2 a5 37.b5 d8 38.b1 might be the most accurate. ] 36...a5 37.b5 d8 38.e2 [ 38.b7! to meet a4 with 39.a7 ] 38...a4 39.b1 a8 40.a3 e7 41.xc4 a3 42.b6+ d7 43.b1 c6 44.c3 a2 45.a1 b5 46.e3? This is a big mistake as Black's king can now penetrate. [ Instead 46.b2! looks to be a draw as Black cannot make progress. ] 46...c5 47.d3 xe3 48.fxe3 f6 W h it e is in zu gzwan g a nd so mu st a llo w Black's king into the game. 49.h4 [ 49.d4 is correct strategically but unfortunately allows d8# ] 49...h5 50.gxh5 gxh5 51.c2 c4 52.b2 b8+ 53.c2 g8 54.xa2 g2+ 55.b1 xa2 56.xa2 xc3 57.b1 d2 0-1

1029 Vasiesiu,Dan Dinu,Dumitru Daniel Open Bucharest ROM (9) [Andrew Martin]

B08 2414 2308 26.09.2004

THE SIMPLE DISH IS OFF THE MENU 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e3 g4!? If life was so simple we would all be doing it! Black gives up the two bishops but in return obtains a measure of freedom with development. One cannot escape the feeling that after a quick...Bxf3 he is solidly worse. Among other unusual alternatives at this stage: [ 5...c6!? is provocative and interesting at the same time: 6.d5 b8 7.d2 c6 8.h6 xh6 9.xh6 b6! 10.b1 xf2+ 11.xf2 g4+ 12.g3 xh6 Ivanov,A-Zubov,A/chUKR, Simferopol UKR 2003 ] [ 5...c5 allows White a useful lead in development: 6.dxc5 a5 7.d3 dxc5 8.0-0 0-0 Joy,J-Graham,S/Oklahoma USA 2004 when either 9 Qe2 or 9 h3 maintain

White's edge. ] 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 c6 8.0-0-0 0-0? Far too casual. Black has to wait around in the middle and try to gain time to catch his breath. [ Any of 8...bd7 ] [ 8...a5 ] [ 8...e6 were superior. The game move makes Black a sitting duck. ] 9.g4 a5 10.b1 bd7 11.h4 These moves are hardly difficult to understand and Black is forced into ...h7-h5, a move he desperately doesn't want to make. Otherwise h5 , Qh 3 co me s et c. , et c. , with t he u su a l crushing attack.. h5 12.gxh5 xh5 [ After 12...xh5 White can choose between an aggressive and a positional approach: 13.g2 ( 13.xh5 xh5 14.g1 hf6 15.h3 ) 13...g4 14.h2 xe4 ( 14...h5 15.e2 a5 16.g3+- ) 15.h3!+I leave it to you to guess which was which. ] 13.g1 e5 14.d5 c5 15.g5 Rxh 5 is c o m in g. S u rp ri si n g i sn 't i t . a4 16.xa4 xa4 17.b3 b4 18.xh5! gxh5 19.c4 This is a combination which is slightly different to the norm in that White takes his time to get to the g file. No matter how Black wriggles though, he cannot contest this plan. b5 20.d2! c5 21.g1 f5 22.e3! [ 22.g2 f7 23.h6 fxe4 24.xg7 xf2! This was the point of pushing Black's queen to b4. ] 22...b4 23.g2 f7 24.h6 1-0

1030 Ye Jiangchuan Gulko,Boris F US-Summit Seattle USA (1) [Nigel Davies]

B08

14.03.2001

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e3 0-0 6.d2 d5 Probably the best of the odds and ends. [ 6...a6 looks a bit slow in this position with W hite obtaining a massive initiative after 7.0-0-0 g4 8.g5 c5 9.h3 f6 10.e5 cxd4 11.xd4 d7 12.h4 in Carlier Kerkho, Brussels 1995 ] 1074

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 6...bd7 is worth considering - after 7.h6 ( 7.0-0-0!? ) 7...e5 ( 7...c5 8.xg7 xg7 9.e5 e8 Dunnington - Crocker, London 1993 and now 10.0-0-0 looks unpleasant for Black; 7...c6 8.0-0-0 c7 9.h4 b5 10.h5 b4 11.hxg6 gave White a powerful attack in Damaso - Dias, Loures 1997) 8.xg7 xg7 9.0-0-0 e7 10.h4 h5 11.g5 b8 12.f4 c6 Black was OK in Castillo Larenas Najdorf, Dubrovnik Olympiad 1950. ] 7.exd5 xd5 [ Black can also play 7...bd7 but then 8.h6 b6 9.xg7 xg7 10.d3 bxd5 11.0-0 xc3 12.xc3 left White with an edge in Hebden - Dishman , Hastings 1990 ] 8.h6 f5 9.xg7 xg7 10.0-0-0 c6 11.h4 g4 12.f3 e6 13.e4 f6 14.g3 d7 15.c4 c7 16.g2 White is for choice on account of his space, but Black's position is very solid. Gulko's next move starts hunting down some squares in the centre. b5 17.f4 f7 18.cxb5 xb5 19.xb5 cxb5 20.b1 b6 21.b4 fe8 22.c3 ab8 23.d5 a5 24.d4 xd4 25.xd4 e5 Now Black is better - there are weak pawns on d5 and f3. So me ho w W h it e ma na ge s to scram ble a draw. 26.f1 ed8 27.h4 h6 28.dd1 b4 29.e4 g5 30.hxg5 hxg5 31.e6+ xe6 32.dxe6 xd1+ 33.xd1 xf3 34.d7 f8 35.d5 b6 36.c5 c6 37.a4 bxa3 38.bxa3 g7 39.b2 d4 40.e4 xe6 41.xa5 d4 42.d5 c4 43.c5 xc5 44.xc5 g6 45.a4 f5 46.c3 c6 47.c4 e5 48.b3 d6 49.a5 f5 50.a6 e5 51.g4 fxg4 52.d2 c7 53.e4 e7 54.c5 f5 55.d5 g3 56.xg5 g2 57.h3 ½-½

1031 Yemelin,V Iturrizaga,E Karpos Open 2013 (8.1) [Tom Rendle]

B08 2574 2650 15.03.2013

1.f3 g6 2.e4 g7 3.d4 d6 4.e2 f6 5.c3 0-0 6.0-0 We've reached the same position via a slightly odd move order as in Ivanchuk-Kramnik but now Black plays a more solid option rather than 6...a6 c6 7.a4

This is White's simplest approach, preventing Black from expanding with ...b5 [ 7.e1 was most recently looked at in the archives by myself and Gawain in Iordaschescu-Shanava. ] 7...c7 8.f4!? This makes a lot of sense after Black's last move. [ 8.h3 e5 has scored reasonably for Black ] [ 8.e3 is a more trendy way for White to play this position, doing without h3. One advantage of this is that after e5 ( 8...g4 isn't really so annoying here as after 9.g5 Black doesn't have an obvious follow-up and White remains slightly better.) 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.a5 White has a pleasant advantage. Harikrishna, P (2669)-Ivanchuk, V (2768) N i n g b o 2 0 1 1 c o n t i n u e d g4 11.c4 ( 11.b1!? might be the way to keep the better chances - the queen is actually quite well placed on a2.) 11...d8 12.e2 e7 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 bd7 15.b1 ( 15.g4!?; or 15.a4 look better) 15...b5 16.axb6 axb6 17.xa8 xa8 and Black had equalised. ] 8...bd7 9.e5 Otherwise Black will play ... e5 with gain of time. [ 9.h3 is possible here but after e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.e3 b6 Black is fine. ] 9...h5 [ 9...dxe5 is solid but it concedes a very sligh t advan ta ge af te r 10.xe5 xe5 11.xe5 a5 12.c4 see RozentalisTkachiev annotated by John Watson. ] 10.g5 f6 [ 10...dxe5 has long been considered Black's main continuation here but now 11.xe7 e8 12.d5! is dangerous for Black but perhaps with accurate play he is fine here: f6! ( 12...f4 13.d6 a5 14.c4 was better for White in Shahade, G (2454) Nyback, T (2448) Bermuda 2002) 13.a3 e4 14.dxc6 ( maybe White should settle for 14.d2 xc3 15.d6 a5 16.bxc3 although Black is actually getting quite a lot of counterplay after f4 ) 14...bxc6 15.d6 b6 16.d2 xb2 17.a3 f4! with a very complicated but roughly balanced position in Rozentalis, E (2592)Admiraal, M (2301) Wijk aan Zee 2012 ] 11.exd6 exd6 12.e3 [ 12.d2 has also been played but it 1075

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 probably isn't all that different from Be3. Now Sakelsek, T (2339)-Nyback, T (2497) Halkidiki 2003 continued d5 13.c1 f5 A) 14.e1 df6 ( 14...f4 is the move Black should like to play but after 15.a5 isn't not clear how he should follow up and h e h a s t o b e c a r e f u l o f N g 5 i d e a s .) 15.e5! seems to offer White chances for the advantage; B) 14.h6 xh6 15.xh6 f4 16.fe1 f6 with chances for both sides. ] 12...d5 Black has a solid enough position here but I can't help feeling that having played f6 he's probably a little worse here. [ 12...f5 13.d5! is one advantage of having the bishop on e3. After df6 14.c4 h8 15.d2 e4 ( or 15...f4 16.d4 c5 17.xf6 xf6 18.e4 xb2 19.ab1 and W hite has fantastic play for a pawn.) 16.xe4 fxe4 17.d4 and Black's position was a little shaky in Arizmendi Martinez, J (2510)-Narciso Dublan, M (2467) Mondariz 2002. Actually the position reminds me a lot of a L en in gra d Du t ch ! ( 17.g5 xb2 18.ab1 e5 19.xe4 is also better for White. )] 13.d2 f5 14.h6 hf6 [ 14...df6 15.e5 xh6 16.xh6 g7 is probably OK for Black. ] 15.xg7 [ 15.f4 might've been better here - for example d8 ( or 15...a5 16.h3 ) 16.g5 e8 17.h4!? ] 15...xg7 16.a2 The idea of this is to put the knight on e5 via c1 and d3 but I think it loses too much time after Black's reply. [ 16.a5 e4 17.e3 was better ] 16...e4 17.b4 a5 18.a3 b6 19.c1 b7 20.d3 c5! Now Black has taken over the initiative and the queen on a3 is out of the game. 21.de5 df6 22.ac1 ae8 23.c3 e7 24.cd1 g5! Maybe White isn't really worse here but it's hard to suggest a plan for Yemelin whilst Black's play is now relatively easy. 25.a1 h6 26.c1 Possibly this is a mistake in view of what of Black's next two moves. c8 27.g3 [ 27.a1 would take the sting out of cxd4 but it's pretty uninspiring. ] 27...cxd4! 28.cxd4 c2 29.b5 b3 [ 29...g4!? was worth considering. ]

30.d3 a2? This allows White a tactical shot which he misses although it's not at all easy to see. [ 30...b4 keeps the better chances ] 31.e3? [ 31.c6! is hard to spot as it self-pins the Bishop but Black doesn't have a good move h e re a n d t h e t h re a t is sim p ly Ra 3 xc6 ( 31...xc6 32.a3 xa3 33.bxa3 e6 34.b1 xa4 35.c1 is at least clearly better for White) 32.xc6 xc6 33.xc6 leaves White with an extra exchange ] 31...xb2 32.h4! Now the position gets very complicated and the players are probably short of time here as well f4 [ 32...g4 is again interesting here, for example 33.xg4 fxg4 34.e5 f8 ] 33.gxf4 g4 34.d2 d6 35.f5 f7 36.f4?! [ 36.b3! c2 37.f4 was the right way to do it and White may even be better here ] 36...xe5 37.dxe5? [ 37.e3 was necessary to keep the balance and the position is still unclear. Black can't take on d2 because of xd2? ( 37...c6 38.xc6 xe3 39.xe3 xc6 40.e7+ h8 41.xb7 c2 is about equal. Black is mo re a ctive b u t h is king is very o p e n .) 38.dxe5 h7 39.exf6 and White has regained the piece with a winning position ] 37...xe5 Now Iturrizaga has an extra pawn and a good position and he quickly converts f or t he win . 38.g3 xf5 39.b3 h5 40.d6 f6 41.xf6+ xf6 42.d4 f4 43.g3 e4 44.d1 e5 A complicated game but one that shows Black's chances are quite reasonable after 9...Nh5!? so I would prefer 8.Be3 for White. 0-1

1032 Zhigalko,Sergei Kupreichik,Viktor D 69th ch-BLR Minsk (4) [Andrew Martin]

B08 2290 2490 2003

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.h3 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 This system has moved out of the limelight recently as antidotes have been discovered. It's an attempt by White to 1076

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 get a better version of the Classical as he gets to develop his King's Bishop to the more active squares d3 or c4 rather than e2. Dangerous, must be respected but Black can cope, would be my assessment. c6 [ 6...a6 was the move recommended by Alburt and Chernin in their excellent 'Pirc Alert' book whose only real defect was the price. If you are feeling very rich you can buy it because the chess content is great! I think 6...a6 is the answer and have used it with s u c c e s s o n n u m e r o u s o c c a s i o n s . 7.a4 ( 7.c4 b5 8.b3 b7 9.e5 e8; 7.d3 b6 8.0-0 b7 ) 7...c6! ( 7...b6 is also good.) 8.d5 b8 9.e2 e6 10.0-0 exd5 11.exd5 bd7 12.d4 h6!? 13.d2 e8 14.c4 c5 15.f3 ce4 16.e1 xc3 17.xe8+ xe8 18.xc3 f5 19.g4 d7 20.a5 xg4 21.hxg4 b8 22.f3 g7 23.xg7 xg7 24.b3 b6 25.c6 1/2-1/2 Andersson,B-Couso,L/TchSWE 2002 ] 7.a4 b6N New to me an d has a 'Hedgehog' feel to it. Black invites White to overstretch. If White pussyfoots around then ...a6,...Bb7 and ...b6-b5! is the plan. 8.d2 b7 9.d3 a6 With White developing so directly Kupreichik figures there's no time for ...a6 etc. 10.h6 b4! 11.xg7 xg7 12.0-0 e8= But an unclear type of equality. Black will have to play either ..e5 or ...d5 sooner rather than later and how will the position be then? 13.c4 [ 13.fe1 ] [ 13.fd1 ] [ 13.ad1 ] 13...e5! 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.e2 h5! Well spotted. Black has a nice position now. 16.g3 e7! Usually the best square for Black's Queen in this and analogous Classical positions. the dark squares near the King are guarded, sacrifices against f7 prevented and the Knight b4 protected. An allround move! 17.d1 a5 18.e3 f6 19.c3 a6 20.g4 [ 20.h4 tries to catch Black flat-footed but a c c u r a t e d e f e n c e s a v e s t h e d a y : c8 21.xa6 xa6 22.hf5+ gxf5 23.xf5+ h8! ( 23...f8? 24.d2+- ) 24.e3 ( 24.xe7 xe2-+ ) 24...f8 ] [ Or 20.g5 f8 21.ad1 c5 22.g4

xg4 23.xg4 h6 which leads nowhere for White. ] 20...c5 The drawback of pushing Black's Knight from b4 is revealed-he finds an even stronger square. 21.gxe5 c7! The tactics favour Black who has an extra Room in active play. 22.xf7 xe4 23.d2 xc4-+ 24.3e5 e4 25.h6+ g8 26.g5 xe5 27.xf6 [ 27.xe5 fe4-+ ] 27...h5 28.g5 White was outplayed-it is as simple as that. Kupreichik's play from move 12 onwards was very instructive indeed. 0-1

1033 Aagaard,Jacob Nouro,Mikael 34th Rilton Cup (7) [Andrew Martin]

B09

03.01.2005

1.e4 We'll now see an example of a theoretical line where Black knows a lot, but not quite enough.... d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 I believe this to be the best choice for White against the Pirc move-order, although as with all sharp lines, one has to be willing to alter the assessment from time to time! g7 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ [ 6.dxc5 a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 g4! is still very reliable for Black. ] 6...d7 7.e5 g4 8.e6 fxe6 9.g5 xb5 10.xe6 xd4 11.xb5 a5+ 12.d2 f2+ 13.d1 e3+ 14.e2 xb5+ 15.xf2 g4+ 16.g3 a6!? Mentioned by Alburt and Chernin in ' Pirc Alert ' as a promising try for Black. The point is that it is r i s k y f o r W h i t e t o c a p t u r e o n g 4 : 17.b3 A sensible choice. White intends to complete development with Bb2 and Rae1, reinforcing the strong Knight on e6. [ 17.xg4 d7! 18.e1 c7 would be the main idea. To carry the pin theme to an extreme let us suppose that White continues to protect his knight! 19.e2 f7 20.f5 gxf5+ 21.xf5 You have to laugh! ag8! This has now become a disgusting position f o r W h it e wh ose K ing will u n d o ub t e d ly perish within a very short space of time. ] [ Instead 17.e1 h6 18.b3 f5+ 19.f2 1077

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h5 20.b2 g8 21.ad1 d7 22.c4 c6 gxf5 ) 11.e4 a5+ 12.d2 b6 23.a5 ae8 24.b4 cxb4 25.c5 h4-+ (N.Laursen-J.Kristiansen, Helsingor 2008) Alburt/Chernin ] 13.0-0-0 d4 14.e3 c5 with balanced 17...f6 play. ] [ 17...h6! looks like a better choice, when 8...d7!? the Knight has more options: 18.b2 f5+! [ My thanks again to Mr Kah Huat for pointing 19.f2 g8 With the King about to go to d7, out that this attractive idea is missing from the position looks satisfactory for Black. ] TPIBAW . There, I gave as the main line 18.e1 d7 19.b2! This would be my 8...h5 , when after a subsequent ...f6 problem with the Knight on f6. f7 20.g5+ Black has good equalising chances but not g7 21.xe7+!!N a particularly thrilling game. Chatalbashev's [ I m p r o v i n g d r a m a t i c a l l y o n 21.e6?! move blocks the queen's bishop and Nataf-Thorarinsson, Reykjavik 2004, appears vulnerable to a quick e5-e6, yet although that was also better for White ] by keeping pressure on the centre makes 21...xe7 22.e1+The pin on the long Black's breaks ...f6 and ...c5 potentially diagonal turns out to be the deciding factor. more effective. The theoretical verdict is d7 inevitab ly 'plu s equals', but the arisin g [ Alternative variations are short and easy to positions offer rich territory for outplaying u n d e r s t a n d : 22...xe1+ 23.xe1 he8 an opponent. ] 24.a1!+- ] 9.0-0 [ 22...d8 23.e6+ f7 24.xd8+ axd8 [ White faces a large and not particularly 25.xf6 xf6 26.d5+- ] easy choice: a) 9.a3 b6 10.e3 g4 23.xf6+ h6 and ...f6 is fine for Black. ] [ 23...xf6 24.c3+ f5 25.e5+! f6 [ b) 9.e2 f6 10.exf6 exf6 ( 10...xf6!? ) 26.e6+ f5 27.f6# ] 11.d5 e7 12.f4 b6 13.0-0 24.f7+ It's mate! An excellent novelty from was a bit better for W hite in M.W ahls-J. Aagaard. Manion, New York 1994 ] 1-0 [ c) 9.e2 is considered in the next game. ] [ d) 9.e4 is Khalifman and Soloviov's ambitious recommendation, but after b4! 1034 B09 (Black must strive for ...c5 at once, otherwise White will smother all counterplay Abergel,Thal 2528 with c2-c3) 10.c4 c5 11.c3 c6 Chatalbashev,Boris 2581 A) 12.b3 cxd4 13.cxd4 b6 Open Ancona SUI (7) 07.12.2007 A1) 14.0-0 is better than this [James Vigus] decentralisation, when -( 14...g4 15.eg5! is annoying,; so Black should 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 kick the bishop first - 14...a5 15.c2 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 c6 Here is another oldg4 when the knight will return to c6, fashioned line, a common reply to the pressurising d4 ); Au s tria n A t ta c k in th e 19 7 0 s. I nst e ad o f A2) 14.c3?! g4 15.e3 a5 16.0-0 aiming for ...c5, Black tries to contest the xb3 17.xb3 e6 18.d1 d5 centre with ...e5. This logical idea is beginning 19.d2 xe3 20.xe3 b6 21.f2 to regain popularity. 7.e5 Not as popular as ad8 22.e4 f5 23.h4 f6 the main line 7 0-0 e5, but Khalifman and favoured Black, E.Anka-L.Vadasz, Soloviov recommend it for White in 'Opening Kecskemet 1989; for White According to Anand 4' (2005). dxe5 B) 12.xf7+? xf7 13.e6 xf3! ( not 8.fxe5 13...f8? 14.exd7 xd7 15.xc5 ) [ 8.dxe5 is fairly common, but less critical, as B1) 14.xf3 f8 15.xc5 ( and I discuss in TPIBAW . A recent example: 15.f7+ h8 16.xc5 b6 also favour d5 9.xd5 xd5 10.e2 g4!? Black ) 15...xe6; ( rather than the solid 10...f5 11.xf5 1078

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B2) 14.exd7?! was played in J.Rigo-L. Vadasz, Budapest 1976, and now f5! 15.dxc8 xc8 16.xc5 e5 is clearly better for Black - Minic and Sindik; C) 12.e6 b6 13.exf7+ h8 14.b3 cxd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.cxd4 f5 ( better than 16...xd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.h6 g7 19.xg7+ xg7 20.0-0 ) 17.g3 e6 18.xf5 gxf5 19.0-0 d7 is balanced; D) An attraction of this line is that the most natural move, 12.0-0 , may actually get White into trouble, e.g. cxd4 13.cxd4 b6 14.b3 ( 14.e2?! g4 15.e3 d5 16.f2 f4 17.c4 c8! was A.Martin Gonzalez-A.Adorjan, Lanzarote 1977) 14...a5! ( 14...g4 15.eg5! covers d4 and attacks f7 at the same time, and e6 16.h3 xf3 17.xf3 d7 18.g5 gave White a persistent edge in W ang Zili-D.Gurevich, Luzern 1989 ) 15.c2 g4 and now a sample line, f a v o u r i n g B l a c k , i s ( an improvement on the 15...e6 given by Khalifman and Soloviov: 16.e1 c6 17.h4 and if xd4 18.eg5 White takes on e6 with the initiative) 16.h3 ( 16.c5 c6 ) 16...xf3 17.xf3 c6 18.e3 c4 19.f2 xb2 20.d2 c4 21.c3 c8!; E) 12.-Black's lead in development has tended count for a lot: ] [ e) Khalifman and Soloviov mention 'the standard' 9.e3 , but no examples appear on my database. Black continues with b4 and ...c5 as usual. ] 9...b6 [ Continuing in Alekhine Defence-style, but the f orcing play initiated by the centra l c o u n t e r a t t a c k 9...b4 10.c4 c5 has yet to be refuted: A) 11.dxc5 c7 ( 11...xe5 12.xd8 xd8 13.xe5 xe5 14.xf7+ g7 15.b3 d4+ 16.h1 f5 17.g5 is just a fraction better for White) 12.h1?! ( 12.e6 xc5+ 13.f2 e5 14.exf7+ xf7 is messy ) 12...xc5 13.b3 xe5 is very satisfactory for Black, S.Del Rio Angelis-M.Narciso Dublan, Burgos 2003; B) 11.e6?! b6 12.exf7+ h8; C) 11.g5 e6 12.xf7! xf7 13.xe6

h4! (threatening ...Nxe5!) 14.g3 h5 15.xh5 gxh5 16.g5 xc2 17.xf7+ h8 18.b1 xd4 19.e6 f6 20.e3 h6 21.ge4 xe4 22.xe4 xe6 23.xe6 xe6 24.xc5 xc5 25.xc5 b6 26.e3 1/2-1/2 Lebedev, V (2429)Bartsch , G (2 32 4)/ I CCF Em ail 20 03 / MegaCorr4 is a critical game which I have not analysed exhaustively, but my impression is that Black is okay.; D) 11.-- ] 10.e2! [ This is a bit more solid than the previously played 10.e3 , since the bishop come under threat here: A) 10...f6 11.exf6 exf6 12.d5! e7 ( 12...xd5 13.c4 ce7 14.c5 ) 13.c5! e8 14.e1 f8 15.e4 g7 16.d6 is grim for Black, R.Skrobek-L. Ftacnik, Polska - CSSR 1978; B) 10...g4 'may be better, but the whole idea looks dubious', wrote Nunn in 'The Complete Pirc' (1989); C) I prefer 10...b4! , making sure that this piece will reach d5 rather than getting pushed back as in the Ftacnik game. C1) 11.e4 f5 ( 11...c4?! 12.c1 ) 12.exf6 exf6 13.a3 4d5 14.xd5 xd5 15.f2 f5 16.d3 f4!? is unclear; C2) 11.e2 f5 12.c1 c5! gives Black promising counterplay, e.g. ( 12...f6 13.exf6 exf6 ) 13.dxc5 6d5 14.xd5 xd5 15.g5 h6 16.c4 c3! 17.xc3 hxg5; D) 10...-- ] 10...f6 11.exf6 exf6 12.c3 White has re a ct e d we ll t o t he o pe n in g su rpris e: n o explosion with ...Nb4 and ...c5 today. But the position seems a little frustrating for White: how does he actually improve his optically impressive pieces, or advance his central pawns without allowing the Black knights to c o m e f o r wa r d ? C h a t a l b a s h e v b e g i n s t o unravel, f irst protecting the light squares around his king. e6 13.b3 f7 14.d2 e8 15.b2 e7 [ 15...d5!? ] 16.fe1 f8! [ 16...e3+? 17.xe3 xe3 18.f4 would, if nothing else, be psychologically 1079

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bad: White presses at very little risk. ] 17.c4 h6 18.d1 ad8 19.a3 e3+ 20.h1 h6 21.c2 a5 22.d5 This is correct - otherwise W hite will never make serious headway - but Chatalbashev to ada pt be tt er th an A berge l t o th e sud de n change in the game's tempo. e5 23.xe5 fxe5 24.f1 [ 24.g1! ] 24...c6! The rook on d8 x-rays the d2-square. 25.dxc6 bxc6 26.f3 d7 [ Objectively better is 26...e6 , but the game's course certainly vindicates Chatalbashev's rerouting of the knight! ] 27.af1? [ White could chase the c6-pawn with 27.e4 since the spectacular f6?! 28.xf6 d2 29.c3 xe2 30.af1 g5 31.xf7 xe4 32.d3 works out in White's favour. ] 27...c5 28.h3 g5 29.g3 h6 30.h3 (White decides to settle for a draw, but gets more than he bargained for) xh3! 31.gxh3 xd3 [ If 31...xd3 , then 32.c1 is an annoying defence. ] 32.c3? The decisive mistake, presumably overlooking Black's next. [ 32.c3 e6 and Black has great coordination, but by no means a forced win. ] 32...d2! 33.c2 e6 34.d4? [ White must do something drastic in the face of the threat of ...Bxh3 (and not 34 Rf3 Ne1), but 34.d4 xh3 35.xd2 xf1 36.xc6 d7 was the correct way, when Black still has plenty of work to do. ] 34...xh3! 35.d1 xd4 36.xd2 e1 The point is that if White moves his queen, Black takes on d2, and White can't recapture owing to ...Bg2+ and ...Nf3+. White's defence in t h e ga m e o nly p rolo n gs his su f f e rin g. 37.xd4 xc2 38.xc2 f8 39.e3 f3 40.e2 c5 41.g1 g7 42.e1 h5 43.d5 e4 44.b4 axb4 45.axb4 cxb4 46.xb4 e3 47.d3 f5 This is what the Pirc is all about: gradually outmanoeuvring the opponent after a cagey start, and then pouncing on a tactical opportunity! And this is why the ubiquitous 'plus equals' is inadequate to describe the situation after a move like 8...Nd7!?... 0-1

1035 Alexander,Gregor Anand,Viswanathan Munchen München [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1991

1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 b6 One of the best moves after 6. Be3. Black prepares c7-c5 as well as d e v e l o p i n g h i s b i s h o p . 7.e5 Principal decision. g4 8.g1 c5 9.h3 h6 The play was logical and almost forced till this m o m e n t wh e r e w h i t e c h o o s e s t h e m o s t ambitious option. 10.d5 [ After 10.dxc5 bxc5 11.d3 c6 12.e4 d7 13.g4 b8 white's posit ion did not look very promising in Ioseliani - Zaichik, Tbilisi 1991 ] 10...b7 Black has some alternatives here: [ 10...f5 11.f2 d7 12.g4 d4 13.xd4 cxd4 14.xd4 dxe5 15.fxe5 xe5 16.e3 with mutual chances in Mikhalchishin - Kosten, Budapest 1989 ] [ 10...d7 11.h2 f5 12.b5 b7 13.g4 d4 (a typical manoeuvre) 14.xd4 cxd4 15.xd4 c7 16.xd7 xd7 with reasonable compensation for the pawn in Beliavsky - Speelman, Reykjavik 1988 ] 11.d2 f5 12.h2 dxe5 13.fxe5 e6 Destroying white's powerful looking pawn centre. 14.0-0-0 [ Other moves were much worse: 14.g4? h4 with a clear advantage ] [ or 14.d6? d7 and the pawn on e5 is in trouble. ] 14...exd5 15.xd5 c6 Black's chances are at least not worse here as he has all his minor pieces com f ortab ly develo ped an d whit e should be careful about his proud knight on d5 which is actually rather unstable. 16.c3 cd4! A good decision. By giving white an opportunity to create a powerful centre again black seriously weakens white's queenside p a wn st r u ct u re a n d ge t s go o d a t t a c k in g chances. 17.f6+ [ 17.cxd4? w a s b a d b e c a u s e o f xd5 18.b1 cxd4 19.xd4 h6 and White is in trouble. ] 17...xf6 18.cxd4 g7 19.d5 c4 Ignoring white's pawn centre black begins direct action against the white king. 20.e2 1080

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 20.f4!? deserved attention ] 20...c8 21.b1 [ 21.g4?! e7 22.d6 d5 was dangerous for white. ] 21...h6 22.f4 The only move. [ 22.c3 fails to e3 winning a central pawn for nothing. ] 22...xf4 23.xf4 xd5 24.h4 [ 24.g4 does not solve white's problems but maybe it was a lesser evil: g7 25.h6 e6 26.h4 c3 27.bxc3 ( 27.g5? was losing af ter c2+ 28.a1 cxd1+ 29.xd1 xg5-+ winning ) 27...e4+ 28.b2 c7 29.e3 c5 with a big advantage. ] 24...c3 25.bxc3 xc3 26.h5 [ 26.b2 does not help because of c7! ] 26...e3 27.g5?! [ 27.d2 was more stubborn ] 27...c7 28.xh7 b3+! White resigned because of mate in four. 0-1

1036 Anand,Viswanathan Gurevich,Mikhail Linares [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1991

For decades 8...Bxb5 was considered the only move. But in the mid 80s Jan Timman introduced 8...fxe6. Nowadays this is the main line. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.e5 g4 8.e6 fxe6 9.g5 xb5 10.xb5 [ The seemingly strong 10.xe6 leads only to a draw after the sudden queen sacrifice: xd4! 11.xd8 f2+ 12.d2 e3+ with a perpetual. This is the tactical justification of the whole line. ] 10...a5+ 11.c3 xb5 12.xe6 a6 13.xg7+ [ 13.xg4 was played in Beliavski - Timman, Belfort,1998, and Black reached comf ortable e quality af te r f6 14.d5 ( 14.dxc5? f7! is dangerous for White.) 14...d3 15.d1 xd1+ 16.xd1 h5 ] 13...f7 14.xg4 [ White was able to get a small advantage after 14.e6 f6 ( 14...xe6 15.xg4+

f7 16.e3! ) 15.g5+ g7 16.b3!? cxd4 17.e6+ f7 18.xd4 c5 19.f3 d5 20.xd5+ xd5 21.c4 db4 22.0-0 but it is extremely difficult to convert it to a full point in the game Hellers - Seirawan, Haninge 1990 black did not have many problems achieving a draw. ] 14...xg7 The critical position. In my opinion, Black has good chances. 15.e3 White has to sacrifice pawns, otherwise it's difficult to complete his development and castle. xb2 A principled decision! 16.0-0 xc3 17.ae1 W hite is ready to start a direct attack but black has enough resources to defend his king. hf8 Seems to be the only move as other continuations let white launch a very strong attack: [ 17...ae8? 18.f5 hf8 19.f6+ xf6 ( 19...exf6 20.d7+ g8 21.h6 ) 20.h6+! h8 21.xf6 xe1+ 22.f1 c3 23.e6 with Qf7-f8 mate next ] [ 17...cxd4? 18.d2 c7 19.f5+winning amongst others White has the threat of Bh6 with Qh4 and Re7 to follow. ] 18.f5 [ 18.h4!? was an interesting continuation with the idea of playing f4-f5 next. ] 18...xf5 19.h3? This move contains a lot of threats but white has missed the cool king retreat after which the game is almost over, as further simplification of the position is forced and black retains a big material advantage. [ It was time to force a draw with 19.h6+! xh6 ( 19...h8 w a s l o s i n g : 20.xf5 xe1+ 21.f1 c3 22.e6 xd4+ 23.h1 h4 24.f8 xf8 25.xf8+ g7 26.f7+ h6 27.e3++- winning ) 20.h4+ h5 21.f4+ g5 22.h4+ ( 22.h4?! was not in white's favour: xd4+ 23.xd4 cxd4 24.hxg5+ xg5 25.xe7 c5 26.xh7 e8 and Black is clearly better.) 22...h5 23.f4+ with repetition of moves ] 19...h8!! [ After 19...xf1+? 20.xf1 cxd4 21.h6+ h8 22.e6 the black king could be mated soon. ] 20.xf5 W h a t e l s e ? gxf5 21.h4 b4 22.f2 Unfortunately for white he cannot create serious threats because the black queen keeps a lot of important squares under 1081

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 control. [ 22.g5 was not better: xd4+ 23.xd4+ cxd4 24.xe7 b6 25.f6+ g8 26.g7+ f8 27.xh7 e8 28.xa7 d3! and the dpawn will queen soon. ] 22...d5 23.h5 f8 Everything is protected. 24.dxc5 dxc5 25.g3 [ 25.d1 f4 26.h6 g6 27.h4 g7 28.g5 b6-+ winning ] 25...f4 26.h4 e3-+ winning It's fine to have so m an y pa wn s t o co nt ro l so m an y squares. 27.f3 g8 28.h1 d2 29.g1 d6 [ A safe move but 29...xg2 was not bad either. 30.xg2 xg2 31.xg2 d1+ 32.g1 d5+ 33.g2 f3 34.b2+ e5 35.f6+ g8-+ winning ] 30.xb7 [ After 30.e4 black was winning by d5 31.xe7 xg2 32.f6+ g7+-+ ] 30...f5 31.e1 g3+ 32.xg3 fxg3 33.h3 a6 And white resigned as he has nothing to hope for in this position. 0-1

1037 Anisimov,Pavel Voinov,Alexandr 60th ch-RUS Higher League (8) [John Watson]

B09 2482 2428 11.09.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d4 c6!? It's not clear to me that Black can equalise even if there's away to do that, the resulting positions look full of life. 7 Qd4 seems a lot more promising than it's supposed to be! [ 7...0-0 hasn't worked out for Black in either theory or practice. Both 8.cxd6! and 8 Bd2 seem to give White a substantial edge, the former continuing xe4 9.xe4 xc3+ 10.bxc3! xc3+ 11.f2 xa1 12.dxe7 e8 13.c4 with more than enough for the exchange. ] [ Therefore Vigus and others recommend 7...dxc5 , which he calls 'almost certainly best'. I'm not sure what the verdict should be, but in my opinion Black has something to prove after A) Now for a long digression, which you

may want to skip: Vigus thinks that Black is okay after 8.b5+ xb5! 9.xf6 xf6 10.xb5 a6 11.e5 g7 12.e3 , in view of White's missing light-squared bishop. But Black's bishop is blocked off and his knight on a6 is a little funny, so maybe we should go a touch further: A1) Vigus also likes 12...d7 13.0-0-0+ c6 14.c3 f5 , but this is likely to lead to W hite's advantage after 15.h3! ( or 15.d5 he8 16.c4 ) 15...h5 ( 15...b4 16.g4 xc2 17.d2 h5 18.a3 hxg4 19.axb4 b3 20.b5+ b6 21.g5; 15...c7 16.g4 e6 17.g5 ) 16.d5 he8 17.c4 ( or 17.d2 b6 18.hd1 ); A2) 12...d7! Back to 12...Bd7: 13.c4 A2a) best seems 13...c6! 14.0-0-0 0-0 15.he1 b6 ( 15...f6 16.e6 f5 17.a3 ) 16.e2 h6 17.ed2 W hite has space, but he isn't going anywhere for a while; A2b) 13...0-0-0!? 14.g5 ( or 14.xa7+ ) 14...e8 15.xa7+ b8 16.b5 h6 17.f3 b4 18.e2 A l l t h is h a s t o b e t e s t e d . I f B l a c k stands worse, it's not by much. I think that 8 Qc4 is more important:; B) 8.c4! , which deserves a close look [ F o r r e a d e r s wh o m a y b e l o s t i n t h e variations, WE'RE FINALLY BACK TO 8 Qc4!:] 0-0 ( 8...c6?! 9.e5 h5 10.e3 0-0 11.0-0-0 ) B1) 9.b5 looks important. Black still has to solve the problem that his bishop will be cut off by e5: B1a) 9...xb5 10.xb5 a6 -look for improvements here?- 11.d3 c6 12.e5 seems to favour White, for example, h5 13.e3 g4 ( 13...b6? 14.e4 b7 15.g4 ) 14.e4 fd8 15.0-0 d4 16.ad1 , etc.; B1b) 9...c7 10.e5 a6 ( 10...fd7 11.e3 a6 12.e2 ) 11.b3 e6!? 12.c4 xc4 13.xc4 b5 14.e2; B2) Martin gives 9.d2 , which doesn't seem as good after e6 10.e2 ( jw: 10.b5 c7 11.g5 d7 12.b3 h6 13.e5 hxg5 14.exf6 exf6 15.0-0-0 c6 , about equal) 10...b6 ( jw: better is simply 10...c6 11.e5 d7= ) 11.0-0-0 1082

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c6 12.e5 d7 13.e3 "Thanks to the blocked-in Bishop on g7, I prefer White." - Martin agreed, but Black can improve, as seen.; B3) 9.e5!? There are two other choices: B3a) Black came up short after 9...g4 10.h3 h6 11.e3 a6 B3a1) 12.0-0-0! e6 ( 12...f5 13.f2 ) 13.b5 xb5 14.xb5 clearly favours White; B3a2) 12.b5!? xb5 13.xb5 b6 14.c6 b8 15.a3 b7 16.xb7 xb7 17.0-0-0 in Van Herwaarden, A-De Saegher, C (2203)/Dieren NED 2006/.; B3b) 9...h5 10.e3; B3c) 9...e6 10.b5 xb5 11.xb5! (For some reason, this isn't played or looked at ( Vigus correctly thinks that Martin's 11.xb5!? d5 12.a3 a6 13.c4 axb5 14.cxd5 xd5 15.xb5 is fine for Black then a6!? 16.e3 c7 17.e2 b6 is an easy solution) 11...d5 ( 11...fd7?! 12.g5; 11...g4?! 12.h3 h6 13.e3 ) 12.xd5 xd5 13.e3 b6 ( 13...a6 14.e2 b6 15.0-0-0 has to favor W h i t e s o m e w h a t) 14.0-0-0 e6 ( 14...xf3 15.gxf3 a6 16.c4 c6 17.c3 ) 15.e2 f6 (thematic, to free the bishop, and probably best, but it also leaves Black a little vulnerable) ( 15...c4 16.b3 cxb3 17.axb3 c8 18.b2 f6 19.c4 e4 20.exf6 xf6+ 21.d4 ) 16.c4 e4 17.hg1! -in order to bring a knight to g5 or d2 or e5 and not leave g2 hanging ( 17.d6!? ) 17...fxe5 ( 17...a6 18.exf6! xf6 19.a3 and Rd7 or Ng5; 17...e8 18.exf6 xf6 19.d2! and Bf3 ) 18.fxe5 h6 19.d6 ] 8.b5 0-0?! [ 8...xb5? 9.xf6! xf6 10.xb5 Milov, L-Henderikse, H/Haarlem NED 2004. ] [ 8...d7! l o o k s b e s t : 9.xc6= ( 9.a4 xa4 10.xa4 b4! 11.b3 e6! 12.0-0 xb3 13.axb3 dxc5 14.e5 g4 15.e1 is a forcing line that gets Black close to equality, although White may still have some pull after, for example, 0-0 16.h3 h6

17.g4! ) 9...xc6 10.cxd6 exd6 11.0-0 0-0 threatens ...Nxe4, and 12.e5 g4! 13.xd6 fd8 14.e7 b6+ 15.h1 f2+ 16.g1 e4+ arguably draws by force. ] 9.a4! xa4 10.xa4 dxc5 11.e5 d7 12.d5 Or 12 Be3 this is exactly what Black doesn't want. e6 13.c7!? [ 13.xc6 bxc6 14.e7+ h8 15.e3! is even better. Black is paralysed. ] 13...b8 14.e3 b6?! [ 14...b4 15.a3 b5 16.axb4 bxa4 17.xa4 ] 15.b5 d8 16.xc5 and wins. f8 17.xf8 xf8 18.a6 bxa6 19.xc6 c4 20.b3 e3 21.f2 xc2 22.ad1 xd1 23.xd1 b7 24.xb7 xb7 25.d8+ g7 26.d2 b4 27.e4 d5 28.d6 b4 29.g3 d4 30.d7 d2+ 31.f3 g5 32.f5 g4+ 33.xg4 e3+ 34.f3 f1 35.fxe6 1-0

1038 Bareev,Evgeny Ivkov,Borislav Roma [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1990

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 a6 7.d3?! This is dubious. When white plays the 6.Bd3 system 6. ..Na6 is one of the best replies after which white plays 7.0-0 but not 7. Be3. [ White has a lot of possibilities here: 7.e2 ] [ 7.e5 ] [ 7.h3 ] 7...c5 8.d5 c7 Surprisingly Black is already better! 9.a4 [ Usually white has already castled here but n o w h e d o e s n o t h a v e t i m e f o r 9.0-0 b e c a u s e a f t e r b5! black is taking the initiative. ] 9...e6 10.dxe6 xe6 [ The text seems logical although I prefer 10...fxe6! 11.0-0 b6 with d6-d5 to follow with a clear edge. ] 11.f5? Too ambitious. White has probably underestimated black's reply... or just missed it. [ After 11.0-0 e7 12.f2 white could obtain reasonable play although black is 1083

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 already slightly better. ] 11...xf5! Of course! 12.exf5 e8 13.d2 d5! 14.g5 c4 15.fxg6 hxg6 16.c1 [ After 16.f1 d4 17.xc4 dxc3+ 18.xc3 black could start a strong attack against the w h i t e k i n g b y b8! with b7-b5 to follow. ( the hasty 18...e4+? 19.b3 is fine for white. )] 16...cxd3 17.xd3 e6 18.a3 xg5 19.xg5 e4! An excellent decision. [ Other moves were not so effective: 19...h6 20.h4 e4 21.b1! xg5 22.hxg5 f2 does not work: 23.d4 xh1 24.xd5+and the black king is in dead trouble ] [ 19...d4!? 20.b5 g4 looks promising but white has 21.xf7! xf7 22.c4+ with Nc7 next and things are not so clear. ] 20.gxe4 dxe4 21.xe4 h4! 22.c3 e3! 23.f1 c8 During the last few moves all the black pieces have reached very active positions while the white pieces have been pushed back and now they cannot help the king to survive. 24.b1 xc3 25.c1 [ 25.xc3 was losing after cxc3 26.bxc3 xc3 27.b5 e4 with Rc4 to follow ] 25...e1 26.xe1 xe1 27.h3 f2 28.h6 Probably black was in time trouble so white tries his last chance which can of course be easily parried. xc2+ 29.a2 [ 29.a1 c1+-+ winning ] 29...xa4+ 30.b1 d1+ 31.a2 a4+ 32.b1 c2+ 33.a2 c3! Now the game is over. 34.h7+ f8 35.xc3 xc3 36.h8+ e7 37.e5+ Of course the pawn ending is lost for white. d7 38.d5+ c8 39.xf7 a4+ 40.b1 d1+ 41.a2 c6 T h e t i m e c o n t r o l h a s p a s s e d a n d wh i t e resigned. 0-1

Pretty direct. Black must be very accurate or h e w i l l b e b l o w n a w a y . b6 7.e2!? Lending impetus to e4-e5 but the Queen is oddly placed for the time being and perhaps Black can take advantage of this feature. Others: [ 7.c4?! xe4 8.xe4 d5 9.d3 dxe4 10.xe4 c6 11.e5 b7 12.f3 c7 with no problems, Sineux, S-Urtado, O/ Elancourt FRA 2004. ] [ 7.d2 In my opinion the most testing. W hite blocks nothing and prepares a supped-up Kingside attack. c5 8.0-0-0 cxd4 9.xd4 c6 10.xf6! xf6 11.h4 It is shocking how quickly W hite's attack develops and this without the aid of the dark-squared Bishop. Polgar wastes no time at all! g4 12.h5! In for a penny.... xh5 13.xh5 gxh5 14.d5 c8 15.xh5 A) 15...b4 16.e5 g7 ( 16...xc3 17.bxc3! xa2+ 18.b2 xc3 19.xc3! g7 20.d3+- ) 17.a3 c6 18.a6 b8 19.g5 h6 20.c4!; B) 15...g7 16.e5 e8 17.h3 h6 18.d3 b4 19.e4 e6 20.f5 xc3 Boy is he getting roughed up! Take a look at the alternatives: ( 20...xa2+ 21.xa2 a4 22.d4!! xa2 23.f6 a1+ 24.d2+-; 20...d5 21.f6+- ) 21.f6 b5 ( 21...a4 22.bxc3 xa2+ 23.b2 xe4 24.fxg7 xg7 25.d4! e3 26.g3+ h7 27.xa2 ) 22.g3 1-0 Polgar, J-Smirin, I/Istanbul 2000 I like this game a lot! ] 7...b7 [ An extended fianchetto may also expose t h e e a r l i e r Q u e e n m o v e e . g . 7...a6!? 8.d2 b7 9.e5 dxe5 10.dxe5 g4 11.d3 a6 12.0-0-0 b4 13.e1 xd3+ 14.xd3 c8 15.d2 1/2-1/2 Lanka, ZJaracz, P/Bad Wiessee 2002 ] 1039 B09 8.e5 d5!?N [ Sticking the Knight on g4 always seems to Bologan,Viktor 2665 me to be a bit too provocative. Often the Fridman,Daniel 2594 Knight gets driven to a lousy square on h6 ACP Blitz Prelim4 blitz (8) 15.04.2004 and Black just ends up passive. Maybe [Andrew Martin] Black can play these positions but why toil away if 8...Nd5 works? W hich naturally Some will sniff and say this is only blitz. I say brings us to Fridman's sensible innovation. these are damn good players and there's an With ... c7-c5 upcoming, White may well be interesting novelty coming up. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 over-extending already....maybe. 8...g4!? f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 1084

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.0-0-0 xe3! ( 9...xf3 10.xf3 xe3 11.xe3 c5 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.h4 Lanka, Z-Hoffmann, H/Leutersdorf 2001) 10.xe3 e6 11.h4 dxe5 12.dxe5 e7 13.h5 a6 1/2-1/2 Zawadzka, J-Lahno, K/ C h a l k i d i k i 2 0 0 1 w h e n 14.hxg6 fxg6 15.g5! would have been excellent for White. ] 9.xd5 xd5 10.0-0-0 e6 11.b1 d7 Black's play is based on the clear premise that c2-c4 will be' a pawn too far' for White and that ...c7-c5 will give adequate counterplay. I am not totally sure. 12.h4 c5 He has to play this move somewhere. The alternative [ 12...h5 seems rather passive. ] 13.exd6 c8 14.h5 White is definitely right in going for the throat. f6 15.hxg6 hxg6 16.dxc5 bxc5 17.c4 e4+ 18.a1 c6 19.g5 [ One can see why Bologan plays 19 Ng5 but it ap pears tha t 19.d7!! ties Black up long enough f or W hite to get his pieces into good positions: xf3 ( 19...c7 20.e5 d6 21.xd6 xd6 22.f2 b8 23.e1! c6 24.c3 xd7 25.xc6 xc6 26.xg7 xg7 27.d2; 19...c7?! 20.e5 xd7 21.xc5 ) 20.xf3 b6 21.xc6 xc6 22.d8 xd8 23.xd8+ f8 24.h3 Of course this was very difficult to see with little time. ] 19...f5 20.g4 Going right off the rails. [ Again 20.d7! ] 20...xg4 21.h7 f6 [ 21...xd6 22.xd6 xd6 23.c1 h6! ] 22.h8+?? xh8 23.h3 a6 24.xc5 a5 Mate in two follows, irrespective of 25 a3 or 25 Ba3 The question now arises as to whether 7 Qe2 is any good or not? My impression is that it is very dangerous, as is 7 Qd2 for that matter. The point is to play e4-e5, stifling the Bishop on g7 and then to get on wit h t he a t t a ck wit ho u t d e la y. Frid m a n 's novelty was natural enough but with a longer time limit I believe that he would have lost after he lashed out with ..c7-c5. But maybe Black's game was poor at that stage anyway. W h a t t o p l a y f o r B l a c k . . . h m m a d i f f i cu l t question? The Austrian attack with 6 Be3 is really looking good. 0-1

1040 Bracaglia,Carlo Korsunsky,Yuri Montecatini Terme (Italy) (1) [Nigel Davies]

B09

1999

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.e5 g4 8.xd7+ [ An interesting alternative to the popular 8.e6 ] [ and occasional 8.h3 ] 8...xd7 9.d5 dxe5 10.h3 e4 11.hxg4 exf3 12.xf3 a6 13.d2 b4 [ Black can also play 13...0-0-0 after which 14.0-0-0 f5 ( 14...c7 15.e1 f5 wa s a lso O K f o r B lack in W e st e rin e n Nijboer, Gausdal 1994) 15.gxf5 gxf5 16.e1 c7 17.h4 d6 18.he1 he8 19.g3 d7 20.e3 d4 21.ed3 was agreed drawn in Wahls - Kindermann, Germany (Bundesliga) 1998 ] 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 15.e1? [ I suspect that this was more a case of perspiration rather than deliberate preparation. White has previously played 15.e4 af t e r wh ich xd5!? 16.c4 f6 17.xf6 xf6 18.a5 a4 19.xd8+ xd8 20.xd8 xa2 21.a3 xc4+ 22.b1 xd8 23.xa7 e4+ 24.a2 d5+ 25.b1 gave Black the option of a draw in Relange - Chabanon, French Ch., 1994. ] 15...xc3 16.xc3 xa2+ 17.b1 xc3+ 18.xc3 d6 Black is a pawn up for nothing and polishes his opponent off efficiently. 19.g5 b8 20.g3 f6 21.gxf6 exf6 22.f3 de8 23.h6 f5 24.h1 e7 25.f3 he8 26.d3 e3 27.xf5 e1 28.d3 c4 29.d2 c3 30.bxc3 1e2 31.d4 2e4 32.g7 a4 33.c4 a3 34.b2 b4 0-1

1041 Chernov,Vadim Bargan,Sergei Kishnev (1) [Gary Lane]

B09 2388 2217 07.10.2001

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.d4!? A nice way to change the Grand Prix opening by trying to take advantage of Black's move1085

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 order. f6 Black aims to counterattack by trying to undermine the centre. [ 4...cxd4!? is the main line when play continues 5.xd4 f6 with equal chances. ] 5.dxc5 a5 6.cxd6 [ 6.d3 is more sedate and indication that White is not aware of the trap revealed in the main game xc5 7.f3 g7 8.e2 0-0 9.e3 a5 10.0-0 g4 11.h1 c6 led to equal chances in Messa,R-Smit,D/ Caorle 1981/ ] 6...xe4? I reckon a lot of people will think this is the obvious move to take advantage of the pin on the queen's knight but in fact it loses. [ 6...exd6 is possible when 7.d3 g7 8.b5+ is excellent for White. ] [ 6...c6 7.d3 g4 8.f3 0-0-0 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 exd6 11.0-0 d7 12.d5 whe n W hit e is a clea r p awn u p with a n initiative, Glek,I-Cerny,M/Prague 1985/ ] 7.d5! A surprising response but it is very effective. xd5 [ 7...c5 looks reasonable BUT 8.b5+! bd7 ( 8...cd7 9.xd7+ xd7 10.xa5 wins ) 9.xc5 1-0 Privara,I-Hlavaty,P/ Bratislava 1982/ ] 8.xd5 Things are now clearer and it looks pretty miserable for Black can do little constructively to prevent Nc7+. xd6 [ Or 8...a6 9.xa6 bxa6 10.dxe7 xe7 11.c7+ winning. ] 9.c7+ d8 10.xa8 c6 [ 10...b6 11.e3+- ] 11.c3 [ 11.c4 might be even better because soon it can threaten the d6 knight. g7 12.e3 e6 13.0-0-0 ] 11...g7 12.e3 e6 13.f3 d7 14.b6+ axb6 15.xb6 a8 16.d3 [ 16.a3 a4+- ] 16...c4 [ 16...xa2 wins a pawn but with less piece son the board White has a fairly easy task to win the game. 17.xa2 xa2 18.f2+- ] 17.xc4 xc4 18.f2 a6 19.hd1+ c8 20.e3 f6 [ Or 20...xa2 21.d4 h6 22.b4 with a clear advantage. ] 21.d4 e5 22.xc6 xc6 23.fxe5 fxe5

24.d2 e4 25.ad1 The big threat is mate in two provoking Black to further concessions. d3 26.xd3 exd3 27.xd3 Well, White is two pawns having returned the exchange. This is certainly good enough to win the game along with a little technique. e5 28.g3 a6 29.a3 f6+ 30.g2 e6 31.a4 c6 32.d5 e6 33.f3 f6+ 34.e4 c7 35.a5 e6+ 36.d3 f6 37.b4 f1 38.c4 e1 39.d4 e2 40.b5 xh2 41.b6 Black can look forward to Rc5. d8 42.a6 bxa6 43.b7+! xb7 44.xd8 h5 45.d7+ c8 46.g7 1-0

1042 Computer Ioseliani,Nana The Hague (Netherlands) (6) [Nigel Davies]

B09

1993

1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 0-0 9.e3 a5 10.h3 bd7 This looks like a good move. Black adopts a set-up in which 10.h3 is useless at best. 11.0-0 a6 12.d2 c7 13.a4 b6 [ 13...b6 followed by ...Bb7 seems more consistent to me. ] 14.e2 e6 15.f5 c4 16.fxg6 hxg6 17.a5 Now Black has to strengthen White's centre after which I don't like her position that much. xd3 18.cxd3 bd7 19.fc1 fc8 20.g5 d8 21.f1 e5 22.a4 xa5? [ Black had to bring the knight back with 22...ed7 . The text gives up material for not very much, an especially suicidal way to play against a machine. ] 23.b6 b5 24.xa8 xa8 25.a3 d8 26.c2 h6 27.b3 a4 28.h1 h5 29.h2 e8 30.c3 f6 31.d2 d7 32.b4 b5 33.a5 d5 34.xa6 c7 35.h1 c2 36.xb5 xd2 37.xf6 c8 38.c3 xc3 39.e8+ f8 40.xf7 e1+ 41.h2 1-0

1086

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1043 Dolmatov,Sergey Gipslis,Aivars USSR 39/173 [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1985

Finally we'll consider 6...Na6, which is the most popular response to 6.Bd3. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 [ It's too optimistic to play 7.e5 as black plays d7 with c5 to follow, and obtains strong counterplay. ] 7...c5 8.d5 [ 8.e5?! is premature again: d7 9.e3 cxd4 10.xd4 dxe5 11.fxe5 xe5! , and Black had won a pawn without any compensation in Vetemaa-Gipslis, Parnu, 1982. ] 8...b8 [ 8...g4 is a major alternative to the text. ] 9.e2 [ Later Dolmatov improved with 9.e5! dxe5?! ( 9...e8 is better, with mutual chances.) 10.xa6 bxa6 11.fxe5 g4 12.f4 xb2 13.h3 and Black was in trouble in DolmatovPfleger 1991, as h6 fails to 14.c1! ] 9...c7 10.a4 a6 11.a5 b5 12.axb6 xb6 13.a4 b8 14.c4 Now the pawn centre is very strong and White is ready to attack in the centre with e4-e5. Black has to do something immediately, or he will be smashed soon. Grandmaster Aivars Gipslis finds a brilliant rook sacrifice. e6! 15.e5 fe8 16.exd6 xd6 17.e5 exd5! [ Of course 17...b7 is insufficient: 18.xc5 exd5 19.xb7 xb7 20.cxd5 and White is a pawn up. ] 18.c6 h4 19.xb8 d4+ 20.h1 [ 20.e3 is bad: e8 21.xd4 ( 21.f3 xe3 22.xe3 xf4 23.e1 dxc4 is even worse for White) 21...xe2 22.xe2 cxd4 and Black's advantage is obvious. ] 20...e8 21.f3 [ 21.c2 dxc4 ] 21...dxc4 22.c6! White finds the only defence. Alternatives are far worse: [ 22.e2 b7 23.g3 xg3 24.hxg3 xe2 winning ] [ 22.c2 g4 23.g3 ( 23.c6 e2 24.xd6 f3 ) 23...xg3 24.hxg3 xb8

and Black has fantastic compensation for the exchange. ] 22...g4 23.xd4! The best move again. [ 23.g3 xg3 24.hxg3 cxd3 is bad for White. ] 23...cxd4 24.c6 cxd3 25.xd6 Now W hite needs only one move (Bd2) to complete his development and win. However a n u n p le a sa n t su r p rise a wa it s h im . f3!! 26.e3 [ Taking the Bishop is bad: 26.gxf3 e2 27.f5 h3 28.d8+ e8 with unavoidable m a t e a f t e r 29.xe8+ xe8 with Re2 to follow ] [ Probably 26.xd4 is best xg2+ 27.xg2 e2+ 28.f2! The only move, as ( 28.f2 l e a d s t o m a t e : g4+ 29.f1 h3+ 30.g1 e1+ ) 28...g4+ 29.h1 xf2 30.xf2 d1+ and Black should take the draw by perpetual: 31.g2 g4+ 32.f1 d1+ ] 26...dxe3 27.gxf3 [ 27.xd3 e4 28.e2 d5 and Black has a pawn and a strong initiative for the exchange. ] 27...d2 Now Black has only two pawns for the Rook, but it is White who has to save his skin! 28.c3 e2 29.xd2 exf1+ 30.xf1 d8 31.e3 d5 32.xd5 xd5 33.c1 h3 34.g1 a5 [ 34...d7 is stronger, keeping some winning chances because W hite's king is slightly exposed, although with accurate defence White should hold the position. ] 35.c3 d7 36.c8+! The transposition to the rook ending is the best way to draw here. xc8 37.xc8+ g7 38.a8 b5 39.b3! xb3 40.xa5 xf3 41.a4 f6 42.g2 d3 43.a5! An excellent game! Both players played very creatively. ½-½

1044 Dorenberg,Gaston Gurevich,Mikhail Gent [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1992

As we saw in the previous game, early activity with (5.e5) doesn't promise W hite much. 1087

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 That's why development with 5.Nf 3 is f ar more popular. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 This move is often played by such Pirc experts as Gurevich, Chernin, Seirawan,Timman and many others. [ 5...0-0 is the major alternative. ] 6.b5+ d7 7.e5 g4 8.e6 [ This spectacular move leads to interesting complications. 8.h3!? deserves attention as well: cxd4 9.xd4 A) 9...dxe5?! 10.d5! e4 11.g5 h6 12.xb7 xc3+ 13.bxc3 xb5 14.xa8 c6 15.xa7 0-0 ( 15...f5!? white is slightly better) 16.g4! d5 17.a3 d8 18.d4 a5 19.c5 white was much better in Sigurjonsson Vogt, Cienfuegos 1976; B) 9...xb5 10.xb5 a5+? ( 10...c6 11.e4 -9...Nh6 ) 11.c3! xc3+ 12.bxc3+- winning; C) 9...h6 and now white has several po ss ible c on tin ua tio ns, t he m a in o n e seems to be 10.g4!? restricting the black knight on h6 although both players have chances. ( 10.d2 xb5 11.xb5 c6 12.f2 dxe5 13.fxe5 a6 14.c3 f5 15.0-0-0 deserves attention, as was played in the game Sigurjonsson Westerinen, Geneva 1977; after 10.xd7+ xd7 11.g4 c6 12.e4 0-0 13.d2 dxe5 14.fxe5 e6 15.0-0-0 f5 16.exf6 xe4 17.xe4 exf6 an unclear endgame arose in the game Thorhallsson Gretarsson, Hafnarfirdi 1992 )] 8...xb5 [ 8...fxe6 is another possibility which we'll consider in other games. ] 9.exf7+ d7 10.g5 h5 11.f3 c6 12.d5 xc3+! The position is very unusual and calls for a concrete approach. [ After 12...d4 13.e4 black's pieces are uncoordinated while white's initiative is growing. ] 13.bxc3 a5! 14.d2 a4 15.dxc6+ bxc6!? [ Limiting white's active possibilities while 15...xc6 16.d3 xg2 17.g1 c6 18.xg6 led to an unclear position. ] 16.h3 h6 17.d1 c4 18.a4 a6 19.e1 xf7 Black has won the pawn and seems to be on top now but white is still fighting thanks

to his strong knight on e6. 20.e3 ae8 21.e6 h6 22.g4!? [ After 22.g7 f5 23.xf5 gxf5 White had little to hope for. ] 22...hxg4 23.hxg4 xg4 24.g3 f6 25.xg6 d5! Black hopes to swap the queens after Qh5. 26.g7 eg8 27.c4 An interestin g attempt to activate his other pieces but it does not have much effect. xc4 28.b1 a6 29.c4 Another pawn is given up but black has prepared something. h5+! [ After 29...xc4? 30.f5+ the black king could suddenly find itself under serious attack. ] 30.xh5 xg6 31.f5 g4 The queens have been swapped and the rest is a matter of te ch n iqu e b e ca u se as we ll a s b ein g t wo pawns down white has a lot of pawn w e a k n e s s e s . 32.f4 h2 33.b8!? Otherwise white is hopelessly lost. xd2+ 34.xd2 xf4 35.a8 d4+ 36.c2 xc4+ 37.d1 [ 37.b2 b4+ ] 37...d5!-+ Winning Now the outcome of the encounter is beyond doubt. 38.xa7+ c7 39.f6 White is very creative in finding a way to activate his rooks but unfortunately he loses t o o m a n y p a w n s . exf6 40.h1 xa4 41.h7+ e6 42.axc7 d3 43.ce7+ d5 44.h5+ f5 45.h6 e4 The pawn on d6 is safe so white resigned. [ 45...e4 46.d7 e6 ] 0-1

1045 Ehlvest,Jaan Anand,Viswanathan Reggio Emilia [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1988

Lets consider 6.Bd3 now. During the last decade this move has become White's main weapon in the Three Pawns Attack. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 c6 7.e5 [ The main alternative to the text seems to be 7.0-0 ] 7...dxe5 8.fxe5 [ 8.dxe5 will be considered in the game Marjanovic - Beliavsky. ] 1088

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8...d5 [ 8...h5!? deserves attention, the game Borocz - Beliavsky, Ajka 1997 continued with 9.e3 g4 10.e2 f6 with complicated play. ] 9.xd5 xd5 10.c3 e6 11.0-0 White's position looks promising now, he is going to begin direct action on the kingside. ad8 12.f4! [ The immediate 12.e1 could be met by f6!? ] 12...d7 13.e1 f5 14.xf5 xf5 15.g3 h6 16.ae1 Swapping off the light squared bishops has not make black's life easier. e6 17.a3 a5 18.g5! d7 [ T a k i n g t h e b i s h o p b y 18...hxg5? was absolutely impossible as after 19.xg5 followed by Qh4 the black king would be mated soon. ] 19.h4! h5 This weakening is forced. 20.b4 c4 21.c1 Now the N is going to g5 to push away the queen so as to play e5-e6 breaking up black's pawn structure. b6 [ After 21...g4 22.f2 with Ng5 next black would face the same problems. ] 22.g5 c6 23.e6!+The decisive breakthrough. fxe6 24.xf8+ xf8 [ 24...xf8 was more tenacious but after 25.xe6+ g8 26.xg7+- winning, black has nothing to hope for. ] 25.f2! Mate is unavoidable so black resigned. It's not so easy to find other such convincing losses by Anand. A good achievement by Jaan Ehlvest. 1-0

1046 Felgaer,Ruben Peralta,Fernando 84th ch-ARG La Plata ARG (1) [John Watson]

B09 2561 2545 11.05.2009

The variations with 6 Bd3 Na6 in the Austrian Attack continue to fascinate. White has spent years trying to break down Black's position but ultimately it seems as though the second player can hold his own. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 We've seen this repeatedly. Let me simply show two recent games. g4

[ A fresh example of 8...b8 went 9.a4 ( 9.f5 is the most popular move, and we've seen; 9.e5 in an earlier update) 9...b4 10.c4 e6! 11.dxe6 xe6 12.xe6 fxe6 13.f5! (W hite was slightly worse otherwise) exf5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.h4! g4! 16.xf5 xf5! ( 16...xh2 17.h6! ) 17.xf5 h4 18.h3 d4+ 19.h1 f2+ 20.xf2 xf2 21.e4 ( 21.d2 ) 21...xc2 ( 21...f5! 22.xd6 xc2 ) 22.g4+ h8 23.h6 LivshitsLerner, Israel 2009 and here d5 24.g5 g6 25.f1 is equal. ] 9.h1 b8 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 c7 12.a4 d7!? [ 12...a6 13.a5!? b5! 14.d2 c8 15.b3 d4 was about equal in SeirawanSpeelman, Rreykjavik 1990. ] 13.c4 a6 14.d3 c8 15.a5 b5 16.axb6 xb6 17.xa6 [ 17.b3 b5! ] 17...xa6 18.xa6 a8!? [ 18...xa6 19.xa6 f5! , destroying White's ce n t r e , is a t le a st e q u a l , f o r e xa m p l e , 20.exf5 xc3! 21.bxc3 ( 21.xc3 xd5 22.f3 gxf5 ) 21...xd5 22.fxg6 b1 23.f1 ( 23.gxh7+ xh7 24.f1 xf4! w i t h i n i t i a t i v e) 23...hxg6 ( 23...xf4 24.a8+ g7 25.g1 c4!? 26.h6+ xh6 27.xb1 hxg6 is interesting, although you have to think that White can retain an edge )] 19.xc8 fxc8 20.b1! [ 20.xa8 xa8 21.h2 f5! 22.exf5 gxf5 , and ...Bxc3 is hard to stop. ] 20...xc3!? [ 20...cb8 ] 21.xc3 a4! 22.b4 [ W h it e ca n ke e p so m e e d ge wit h 22.b4 cxb4 23.xc8+ xc8 24.d2 b3! 25.cxb3 xe4 26.b4 b6 , which isn't clear, although W hite has the more attractive game after 27.b5 f5 28.a5 xd5 29.g3! ( 29.b6?! xb6 30.xb6 xf4 with a likely draw. ) 29...e3 30.h2 e2+ 31.g1 ] ½-½

1089

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1047 Fierz,Martin Gurevich,Mikhail Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (2) [Nigel Davies]

B09 33.g5+ h8 34.xh5 4e5 35.h6 d7 0-1 25.02.2001

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 0-0 9.e3 a5 10.0-0 g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 c6 13.a3 [ The odd-looking 13.ab1 didn't achieve much either in Van der W eide, - Van der Sterren, Dutch Ch., Leeuwarden 2001: The game went e6 14.a3 d5 15.e5 d7 16.b4 d8 17.b5 a5 18.c4 dxc4 19.xc4 axb4 20.axb4 e7 21.fd1 fd8 22.e4 g5!? with excellent counterplay ] 13...d7 14.d2 d8!? When someone as strong as Gurevich plays this, take careful note. Black carefully moves his queen away from potential harassment by White's minor pieces. [ Zimmerman has been playing the more obvious 14...ac8 , Wong - Zimmerman, B u d a p e s t 2 0 0 0 go i n g o n 15.h1 a6 ( A month later the game Galyas Zimmerman, Budapest Spring Festival 2000 went 15...d8 16.g4 c5 17.f5 e5 18.g3 exd3 19.cxd3 b3 20.ad1 xd2 1/2-1/2 ) 16.f2 d8 17.ac1 b5 18.f5!? ce5 19.h4 e6 20.g5 f6 21.xf6 xf6 22.h6 g5 23.h5 g7 24.cd1 with a complex struggle ahead ] [ A n o t h e r a l t e r n a t i v e i s 14...d4 when Sameeh - Berelovich, Cairo 2000 went 15.f2 c5 16.d5 d8 17.c3 c6 18.xg7 xg7 and now 19.ad1 l o o k s r i g h t ( in the game he gave the e5 square away with 19.f5 )] 15.ae1 e6! Nice prophylaxis against a potential White attack. 16.h1 c8 17.f5 a6 18.g3 e5 19.f4 f6 20.xe5 xe5 21.e2 h5 22.e3 h4 23.g1 fe8 24.h6? Launching into a wild fling at his illustrious opponent. [ White should settle for a slight disadvantage with 24.fxe6 ] 24...exf5 25.f4 xd3 26.cxd3 fxe4 27.xh5 xh5 28.xh5 gxh5 29.dxe4 c4 30.f6 e6 31.f5 cxe4 32.ef1 e7

1048 Gharamian,Tigran Peralta,Fernando IV Open Calvia ESP (9) [John Watson]

B09 2557 2546 23.10.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 This certainly is popular among stronger players! Maybe the 6...Nc6 lines are just a bit too passive, whether satisfactory or not. [ 6...c6 7.0-0 e5 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.d5 b4 Vigus suggests that the alternative 9...Ne7 is soun d, b ut tha t W h ite ca n ac hie ve a p ro m isin g e n d in g, so 9 . . . Nb 4 t a k e s o n a d d e d s i g n i f i c a n c e . 10.e2 d6?! (a funny piece to take on blockading functions, it does allow Black to develop quickly, but neither ...c6 nor ...f5 is achieved. ( 10...e8 followed by ...Nd6 has been Black's usual strategic plan.) 11.h1 g4? ( 11...d7 , to cover b 5) 12.e3 ad8 It seems that ...c6 will be necessary at some point. ( but 12...c6 13.a3 a6 14.dxc6! ) 13.a3 a6 14.d2! xe2 15.xe2 c5 16.b5 ( 16.c4 is close to winning outright: e7 17.f3 e8 18.a5! b8 19.f2 ) 16...e7 17.c4 The rest is not relevant to the opening. cd7 18.xa7 e8 19.b3 d6 20.b5 f6 21.xd6 cxd6 22.g5 h6 23.h4 c8 24.c4 g5 25.f2 e8 26.b6 d7 27.d3 f6 28.f2 d8 29.xd8 xd8 30.f1 g7 31.e3 f6 32.af1 h5 33.b3 c7 34.a4 cf7 35.f5 h7 36.h3 h8 37.e3 xf5 38.xf5 g6 39.c5 hf8 40.b4 a8 41.h4 gxh4 42.f3 g7 43.xh5 xa4 44.g4+ h8 45.h5+ h7 46.xh7+ xh7 47.f5 1-0 Hammer-Narciso Dublan, Crete GRE 2007 ] 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 g4!? I'm still not sure if anyone knows what's truly best here! Here are the other two recent games (Black scored 2.5 points to 0.5 after 6...Na6) [ 8...b8 9.f5 a5 (threatening ...c4, and if B x c 4 ? , . . . Q c 5 + ) 10.fxg6 ( 10.h1 ) 10...fxg6!? (Black gets some room in which 1090

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to manoeuvre, and of course the f-file. His real goal is to get a knight to e5) 11.h1 g4!? (a strange mix of ideas: guarantee ... b5, then eliminate the attacker to ensure kingside safety. I don't know how good it is, but it works in this game) ( 11...g4 12.h3 e5 13.xe5 xf1+ 14.xf1 xe5 15.h6 d7 16.f3 ) 12.d2 d7 13.e2 b4 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 c4 (Black seems to be making more progress than White. In fact, he has achieved sufficient counterplay) 16.b1 e5 17.e2 a4 18.f4 c7 19.e2 xa2!? 20.c3 b5 21.a1 xc3 22.bxc3 b2 23.d2 d7 24.xa7 xc3 an d Bla c k win s. 25.d1 e5 26.e6 xf1+ 27.xf1 f6 28.f3 xc2 29.a3 c3 30.e1 b2 31.a1 c2 32.c1 c8 33.d2 f7 34.h6 e8 35.g4 xg4 36.hxg4 xc1+ 37.xc1 b2 0-1 Okkes, M-Pel, B, Hoogeveen NED 2007/ ] [ 8...c7 (abnormal: Black says goodbye to ...Nb4 ideas. Then again, he doesn't 'waste' time on ...Rb8) 9.e1 (thematic) ( 9.a4 b6 10.e1 e6 ) 9...b5!? A) 10.xb5! fxd5!? ( 10...xb5!? 11.xb5 d7!? ) 11.exd5 xc3 12.xc3 xb5 13.e3 c7 14.c4 e6; B) 10.xb5? c4! 11.xc7 xc7 12.e2 xe4 (suddenly Black has an extra centre pawn and powerful bishops) 13.h1 b7 14.f5 (desperation) xd5 15.h4 e6 16.g5 xg5 17.xg5 exf5 and wins. 18.ad1 e4 19.f3 fe8 20.f4 ad8 21.g3 xc2 22.xd6 xd6 23.xd6 b6 24.c7 xb2 25.c6 f8 26.h4 d4 27.h5 d3 28.e1 g4 29.hxg6 h5+ 30.h2 xh2+ 31.xh2 0-1 Van den Brande)-Cekro, E (2433) Belgium BEL 2007. ] 9.c4 c7 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 a6 12.a4 b6 13.d3 e6 14.dxe6 [ 14.f5!? is recommended by Khalifman. Blindly following the computer I get A) maybe Black does all right with 14...exf5 15.exf5 d7 ( 15...b5?! 16.axb5 axb5 17.xa8 xa8 18.xb5! cxd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.g4 is slightly better for White, according to Khalifman I'm following Vigus for this research. I think that's true, or even better than he says for White.) 16.g3! e5 This may

be playable for Black, but he does have to deal with Bg5 and if he strays, f6.; B) 14...gxf5 15.exf5 exd5 16.xd5 ( 16.xd5?! fxd5 17.xd5 d4+ 18.h1 xd5 19.c3 xc3 ) 16...cxd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 d4+ ( 18...e7!? ) 19.h1 f6 20.c3 e5 . At any rate, Peralta probably had something planned. ] 14...fxe6 15.d1 d5! A nice pawn sacrifice to activate Black's pieces and take advantage of his better development. 16.exd5 fxd5 [ Or 16...exd5 , although ... dxc4 isn't threatened just yet. ] 17.xd5 [ White gets only one more option by 17.xd5 exd5 18.xd5 ( 18.a5!? , but b5 19.xd5 d4+ ) 18...xd5 ( 18...d4+ 19.e3 isn't worth it) 19.xd5+ xd5 20.xd5 ad8 gives obvious compensation: 21.xd8 xd8 22.f2 d1 23.g3 f7 24.f3 f1+ 25.e2 h1 26.f3 f1+ etc. ] 17...exd5 18.xd5+ xd5 19.xd5+ xd5 20.xd5 This has transposed to the last note. ½-½

1049 Graf,Alexander Tischbierek,Raj ch-GER Koenigshofen GER (5) [John Watson]

B09 2610 2486 23.01.2007

A pretty game of some theoretical significance. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 This line has survived all attempts at refutation. The idea of ...c5 makes up for the knight's decentralization. 7.xa6!? "An exchange on a6 in unprofitable for White, because his lightsquared bishop plays an important part for an attack on the kingside." - Aleksei Lugovoi, in 'The Pirc Defence' In Nunn and McNabb's 'The Ultimate Pirc', 7 Bxa6 isn't even mentioned! For one thing, it's the second move by the strong bishop. bxa6 Black has two bishops and the b-f ile, while W hite's central weak square on e4 is on light squares! But chess isn't always logical (until you look back and adjust your logic!). 8.0-0! b7!? 1091

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ It may be better not to commit the bishop y e t . T h e o t h e r n a t u r a l m o v e i s 8...b8 , for example, 9.e5!? ( 9.e1 c6; 9.d3 a5 with the idea 10.b3 c5 ) 9...g4!? ( 9...d7 10.e1 c5 ) 10.h3 h6 11.g4 ( 11.d5 ) 11...b7 , which is hardly clear. One p o s s i b i l i t y i s 12.f5!? dxe5 ( 12...c5 looks playable; 12...gxf5? 13.g5 traps the knight! ) 13.dxe5 xd1 14.xd1 f6!? ] 9.e1! Could White already be better here? The problem is e5, good bishop or no. At some point the stereotyped attack via Qh4 and f5 has to be considered as well. c8! Black moves to secure the light squares so as to block White's activity, and he prepares the vital undermining move ...c5. [ a)A no th er light -squa re e xa mp le , 9...e6 10.e5 ( or 10.d2 d7 11.e5 d5 12.xd5 xd5 13.b3 f5 ) 10...d5 ( 10...d7!? 11.d2 e7 ) 11.d2 f5 Black's bishop on g7 is pretty awful, but he can aim for a break by ...c5. ] [ b) Or he can go directly for ...c5 by 9...c8!? , since 10.e5 d7 is unclear: 11.e6 fxe6 12.xe6+ h8 13.e3 ( 13.g5 xd4+ 14.e3 c5 15.h3 f6 ) 13...c5 with the idea 14.d5? xc3 15.bxc3 b6 ] 10.d2 [ 10.e5 d5 11.xd5 xd5 seems okay for the second player. ] 10...b8!? I'm not su re that Black can fully equalise, but it's hard for White to get through after [ 10...c5 11.d5 ( 11.e5 d7 12.d5 b6 13.h4 f6 ) 11...b8 with the idea 12.h4 g4 ] [ or 10...e6 11.e5 d7 with the idea 12.h4?! c5 ] 11.d1!? [ Or 11.e5 d5 12.e4 ] 11...a8?! Now the bishop cant get back to c8 and things go downhill. [ 11...c5 12.d5 a5 ] 12.b3 b7 13.e5 d7 [ 13...e4 14.d5! xd2 15.xd2 ] 14.h4 c5 15.d5 dxe5 16.f5! gxf5 17.g5!? Not bad, but safer was [ 17.h6! f6 18.xg7 xg7 19.h5! threatens the powerful Nh4-f5: ( 19.h3 f4 20.e4 c4 ) 19...f4 20.h4 b6 21.f3 etc. ]

17...h6 [ P e rh a p s b e st wa s 17...f6!? 18.xf5 b4!? 19.h3! ( 19.g3 g4 ) 19...d4+ ( 19...g4 ) 20.f1 g4 21.xh7! xh3 22.xf6+ xf6 23.gxh3 with a substantial edge. ] 18.xf5 f6 [ 18...e6 19.xf7! xf7 20.xf7 xf7 21.xh6! f6 22.dxe6+ xe6 23.g4+ e7 24.e4! ] [ 18...c4 19.ge4 b6+ 20.h1 g6 21.df1 ] 19.xf6! hxg5? [ But White has enough power to get through after 19...exf6 20.ge4 f5! 21.f6+ xf6 22.xf6 b6 23.xe5 fe8 ( 23...g6 24.f1 fe8 25.xf5 ) 24.xf5 g6 25.xg6+ fxg6 26.xh6 White's d-pawn is too much. ] 20.xg5 exf6 [ 20...c4 21.e4 cxb3 22.axb3 and Bh6 follows. ] 21.h6 1-0

1050 Greet,Andrew Chatalbashev,Boris Premier Hastings ENG (3) [James Vigus]

B09 2441 2581 30.12.2007

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 c6 7.e5 dxe5 8.fxe5 d7 9.e2 Played with the same idea as 9 Ne4 - to shore up the centre with c2-c3 - but with an extra-solid defence. This is unlikely to trouble Black's standard counterplay. b4 10.c4 [ Wherever this bishop runs it is liable to be hit again. I suppose 10.e4 is feasible, intending f5 ( or 10...c5 11.c3 c6 ) 11.d3 when Black's f-pawn would really like to move backwards to f6 - but this is rather artificial. ] 10...b6 11.b3 a5?! [ Very original play, with a scheme in mind to secure the d5-square for a Black knight. Despite its success in the game, though, this seems a somewhat static procedure, and I see nothing wrong with the obvious1092

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 looking 11...c5 12.-- , e.g. ( 12.d2 c6 13.dxc5 d7 14.e6 fxe6 15.xe6+ h8; 12.c3? c4!; or 12.dxc5 xd1+ 13.xd1 d7 14.e6 xc5 15.exf7+ h8 . Perhaps Chatalbashev feared that the simplifications in this last line might become drawish but Black with his bishoppair has excellent prospects. )] 12.a3 a6 [ Black would have some compensation after 12...a4 13.xf7+ xf7 14.axb4 g4 , but doesn't really need to do this. ] 13.e3?! [ It seems natural to prevent ...c5, but is this actually in White's interest now that Black has spent time manoeuvring his knights offside? 13.0-0 c5 14.a2 cxd4 15.exd4 looks a fairly pleasant edge for White. ] 13...a4 14.a2 d5 15.f2 b5 16.0-0 c6 17.d2 ac7 Now Black has consolidated, and although White can claim a slight plus, he has to take care not to let his bishop on a2 become exiled from the kingside action. 18.c3 g4 19.ae1 xf3 20.gxf3 f6 21.exf6 [ Better than 21.f4 d7 , when it's the turn of W h ite 's d ark-squa red bisho p t o f e e l claustrophobic. ] 21...exf6 22.c1! d7 23.g3 e6 24.d3 This well-placed piece covers several critical squares, not least tying Black's Ne6 down to defence of the hole on c5. Perhaps this knight gave Greet the dangerous impression of keeping his whole position intact... fe8 25.f4 There was no particular hurry for this committal push: W hite could tuck his king in the corner, and conside r doubling rooks on the e-file or bringing the queen to h3 via g2. It's less easy for Black to improve his position: he'd like to rejuvenate his bishop by bringing it to d6, but after ...Bf8, White's f4-f5 advance might be troublesome. h8 26.h4? But this (with the easily thwarted purpose of threatening f4-f5, by removing the g5-square from the black knight) is terribly over-optimistic: White makes no impression on his opponent's kingside and weakens only his own. h6 27.h5 g7 28.hxg6 g4! 29.g2 xg6 30.b1? [ It was necessary to get rid of the piece threatening to invade on e3, even though 30.xd5 cxd5 remains clearly in Black's

favour. ] 30...f5 31.h2 [ Hastening the end, but also nasty was 31.f3 g8 and 32...Nh4. ] 31...h5! 32.g3 xg3 33.xe8+ xe8 0-1

1051 Hernandez,Gilberto Khalifman,Alexander II Magistral (6) [Nigel Davies]

B09

22.05.2001

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.xd7+ Some big guns have wheeled this variation out, and it actually requires very accurate handling by Black. fxd7 8.d5 b5 9.e2 Protecting the e-pawn and vacating the d1 square for the knight. [ After 9.xb5 Black obtained adequate play with a5+ 10.c3 xc3+ 11.bxc3 xc3+ 12.d2 c4 13.e2 b6! ( 13...xe2+ 14.xe2 f6 15.d3 bd7 16.hb1 0-0 17.c4 ab8 18.a5 was better for White in Heymann - Lopatskaya, European Womens' Ch., W arsaw 2001) 14.a4 a5 15.xc4 xc4 16.c3 0-0 17.e2 d7 18.d2 cb6 19.g4 e6 20.dxe6 fxe6 in Rytshagov - Agrest, Stockholm 1997 ] 9...b4 10.d1 b6 11.0-0 0-0 12.f2 c8! 13.f5!? A suggested improvement on Shirov - Belyavsky, Linares 1997. [ I n t h a t g a m e S h i r o v p l a y e d 13.e1 after which Black should probably have played the immediate a6 ( in the game Black played 13...a5 14.b1 e6 15.c4 ! bxc3 16.bxc3 a6 17.dxe6 ! xe2 18.xe2 a4 and now 19.exf7+ xf7 20.c2 would have left White with a clear a d v a n t a g e .) 14.d1 c4 with counterplay. ] 13...a6 14.e1 8d7 15.g4 f6 16.h6+ xh6 Giving up the dark-squared bishop is a necessary evil. [ 16...h8 A) the tempting 17.xf7+ fails to convince after xf7 18.g5 ff8 19.h4 g8 20.fxg6 hxg6 21.xf6 xf6 22.h7+ f8 23.e6+ xe6 24.dxe6 c4! ( and not 1093

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24...d4+ 25.e3 xe3+ 26.h1 etc. ) 25.h6 xe6 etc.; B) 17.fxg6 followed by Qh4 is horrible for Black ] 17.xh6 fe8 18.fxg6 hxg6 19.g5 bd7 20.f4 c4 This seems to give Black just enough counterplay, but the experience of watching W hite's kingside build-up is definitely not for the feint-hearted. 21.h4 xc2 22.af1 xb2 23.h3 c3 24.g3 e5 25.h4 e3+ 26.h1 e2 27.g1 e3+ 28.h1 e2 29.g1 e3+ ½-½

1052 Ivanovic,Bozidar Gurevich,Mikhail Luzern [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1989

This game features one of white's sharpest weapons - the Three Pawns Attack. By playing e4,d4 and f4 W hite creates a very strong pawn centre and prepares a kingside attack. On the other hand this ambitious plan gives Black count ercha nces, as th e see mingly strong central pawns may become a target. That is why this line usually leads to very interesting encounters. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.e5 First we'll consider this direct attempt to push black's pieces back. fd7 [ The endgame after 5...dxe5 6.dxe5 xd1+ 7.xd1 g4 8.e1 is slightly better for White. ] 6.f3 c5 [ A direct and logical reaction but 6...0-0 also looks good, we consider this line in the game Skvortsov - Erymovsky, where big complications arose after 7.h4 c5 ] 7.exd6 0-0! Black is just continuing his development, not counting the pawns. 8.dxc5 [ I t ' s t o o r i s k y t o g r a b t h e p a w n 8.dxe7 xe7+ 9.e2 cxd4 10.b5?! ( 10.xd4 is probably better, but after e8 I prefer Black. ) 10...c6 11.0-0 a6 and Black was clearly better in Pfleger - Torre, Manila, 1974. ] [ In my opinion, 8.e3 is best: exd6 9.d2 c6 10.0-0-0 a5 11.f5 with mutual

chances, Sax - Sigurjonsson,1975. ] 8...a5!? An interesting attempt. [ After 8...xc5 9.c4 exd6 10.0-0 white was able to hide his king in a safe place although black is also fine here, as the weakness of the d6-pawn is co mp en sa t ed b y t he a ct ivity o f B la ck 's pieces. ] 9.e2 [ 9.e3!? was interesting. ] 9...xc3+ We also see this kind of concrete approach in the game Dorenberg - M.Gurevich. Of course the bishop on g7 is a very powerful piece but black achieves other pluses instead. [ If 9...xc5?! white could obtain a reasonable position by both 10.b5!? ( and 10.d3 )] 10.bxc3 xc3+ 11.d2 xc5 12.dxe7 e8 13.b1 c6 So white h as problems castling his king. One can hardly talk seriously about the dark square weaknesses in the black king's camp. 14.b3! The correct way to push the black queen back. [ After 14.b5? xe7 15.c3 b6 The white king was in real trouble. ] 14...xe7 15.c3 b6 16.b3 c7!? Black is trying to get more than a draw by repetition and he is absolutely correct, as his pieces are better developed and white has pawn weaknesses on the queenside. 17.0-0 c5 18.a3!? [ 18.e3 e4! was also in black's favour. ] 18...g4?! A strange move. [ T h e n a t u r a l 18...f5 was better, with a serious advantage. ] 19.h3 xf3 20.xf3 d8 21.c1 d4 22.f5! Well played! Now black should be careful with regard to his king. e2+ [ After 22...e2 23.g5 white would also obtain counterplay ] 23.xe2 xe2 24.h6! Still the same ideato utilise the dark square weaknesses, but Black's defensive resources are sufficient as Black's pieces are very active. e4 25.b2 [ 25.d3 deserved attention as after xd3 26.cxd3 xg2+ 27.xg2 g3+ black could hardly find more than perpetual check. ] 25...f6 26.b3+?! A dubious move which leaves the rook on a3 out of play for a while. [ C o r r e c t w a s 26.e3! when xg2+? does not work: 27.xg2 d2+ 28.f3+1094

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 winning ] 26...h8 27.b5?? Probably white was in serious time trouble which would explain his l a s t t w o m o v e s . xc2 28.h1 xg2 Black takes everything. 29.f4 f2 30.f3 xf3 31.xf3 d1+ 32.f1 f2+ [ 32...c6! was not bad either. ] 33.g2 Other retreats were also losing: [ 33.g1 xh3+ 34.h1 xf1+ 35.xf1 e4+ ] [ 33.h2 g4+ 34.g3 ( 34.g1 f2+; 34.h1 e4+ 35.g1 xf4 ) 34...d3+ 35.f3 f2+ 36.xg4 h5# ] 33...e4+ 34.g3 d3+ White resigned. 0-1

1053 Jovanovic,Zoran2 Bukal,Vladimir Jr 17th Open A Zadar CRO (6.4) [Gawain Jones]

B09 2527 2390 15.12.2010

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 Black's second most common try (after 5...0-0). It has been looked at in some detail in the archives but this is the first time I ' v e i n v e s t i g a t e d i t m y s e l f . 6.dxc5 This continues to be popular and is probably a critical test of 5...c5. [ 6.b5+ is the other critical continuation. d7 7.e5 ( 7.xd7+ is seen in Yudin, S (2531) -Tseshkovsky, V (2504) Dagomys 2008 looked at by John Watson. ) 7...g4 A) 8.xd7+ xd7 9.d5 ( 9.h3 Shirov, A (2719)-Markowski, T (2629) W a r s a w 2 0 0 9 i s l o o k e d a t b y N e i l .) 9...dxe5 10.h3 e4 11.xe4 f6 12.xf6+ xf6 13.0-0 0-0 ( 13...d6 is suggested as an improvement by Nigel Davies in the archives in Senff, MGurevich, M Pardubice 2000 but this is a l s o f i n e .) 14.e5 a4 ( 14...d6! and White won't be able to keep his knight on e5 so Black is doing well.) 15.c4 xd1 16.xd1 d8 17.d2 d7 18.c3 and W hite had a small edge but Black held the draw. Baklan, V (2602)-Hillarp Persson, T (2524) Reykjavik 2011.; B) 8.e6 xb5 ( 8...fxe6 is the alternative and been examined in various games in

the archives. ) 9.exf7+ B1) 9...f8 is rarer but was one of the e li t e 's ch o i ce in K a r ja k in , S (2 7 3 2 ) Mamedyarov, S(2760) Nice 2008. That c o n t i n u e d : 10.xb5 a5+ 11.c3 cxd4 ( 11...c6 is annotated by Nigel Davies in Korneev, O-Cebada, F Coria del Rio 2001 but is a weaker alternative.) 12.xd4 xf7 13.0-0 c5 14.xg4 ( 14.ce2 is Rybka's choice.) 14...xd4+ 15.h1 xc3 16.bxc3 f5 17.e2 d7 and Black's structural edge compensated for his slightly loose king.; B2) 9...d7 10.xb5 a5+ 11.c3 cxd4 12.xd4 B2a) 12...xd4 13.xd4 c6 14.c4 b4 Nabaty, T (2565)-Arun, K ( 2 2 9 4 ) N e w D e l h i 2 0 1 1 wh e n t h e f o r c e d l i n e s t a r t i n g ( 14...b6 h a s b e e n m o re co m m o n a l t h o u g h 15.e2 h5 16.h3 h6 17.d2 f5 18.0-0-0 g3 19.d3 xh1 20.xh1 lo o ks p ro m isin g t o m e .) 15.b3 looks good for W hite: b6 16.d2 hf8 ( 16...f2+ 17.d1 xg2 18.e1+- ) 17.e4 ac8 18.xb4 e3+ 19.xe3 xe3 20.f2 xc2 21.xd6! exd6 22.ad1 c6 23.f3 xf7 24.d2 and White has a decisive endgame advantage.; B2b) 12...h5 13.h3 ( 13.f3 is examined in the archives by Andrew Martin, see Wempe, J (2265)K o ro t yl e v, A ( 2 6 0 3 ) W ijk a a n Ze e 2005. ) 13...h6 ( 13...c6 has been more common and is probably a better try.) 14.e3 c6 Smith, A (2445)-Hillarp Persson, T ( 2 5 1 7 ) B o r u p 2 0 1 0 w h e n 15.d3! looks the most accurate when Black is struggling to hold. ] [ I n st e a d a G M clo se t o 2 6 0 0 t rie d 6.e5 and achieved some advantage after dxe5 ( Instead 6...fd7 is probably better and was seen in Kramnik, V (2754)-Grischuk, A (2710) W ijk aan Zee 2005 annotated by Andrew Martin.) 7.dxe5 xd1+ 8.xd1 g4 9.b5+ d7 10.e2 xb5+ 11.xb5 a6 12.h3 h6 13.g4 0-0 14.e3 and W hite's extra space promised him a cl e a r e d g e . Zu b a r e v, A ( 2 5 9 4 )- N e u , A 1095

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Anzere 2011. ] 6...a5 7.d4 This was extremely rare until a couple of years ago but has become very fashionable with many games annotated in the archives. [ 7.d3 has been played in the vast majority of games. ] 7...0-0 This is the sharpest option. [ 7...c6 has also been seen a fair bit recently. 8.b5 A) 8...dxc5 9.a4 xa4 10.xa4 has been featured twice in the archives with the consensus that W hite is doing well after both d7 Papp, G (2524)-Medic, M (2244) Pula 2009 [John Watson] ( and 10...d7 Ledger, A (2425)-Baker, C (2351) Staverton 2009 [John Watson]. ); B) 8...0-0 was criticised by John 9.a4 c7!? A new try against England's yo u n g e s t G M a n d wh a t lo o ks li k e a n i m p o r t a n t i m p r o v e m e n t . ( 9...xa4 was investigated in Anisimov, P (2482)Voinov, A (2428) Krasnoyarsk 2007 [John Watson] ) 10.e3 ( 10.cxd6 exd6 11.0-0 is an important alternative but Black still appears to have decent compensation.) 10...d7 11.0-0-0 a6 12.xc6 xc6 13.cxd6 Maybe this is a mistake. ( 13.b4 keeping the queenside closed could be better although I still believe Black had decent compensation.) 13...exd6 14.b4 fe8 15.b6 a5 16.b3 c8?! ( Black had to throw in 16...a4! 17.b4 c8 with good compensation for the pawn. ) 17.g5! f8 18.xd6 h6 when 19.d4! would keep the material advantage. ( 19.xf7!? Howell, D (2597)Mitchell, M (2195) Hastings 2009. ); C) 8...d7 This has been favoured by John in the past. 9.a4 ( He also looked at 9.xc6 but here Black gets good play.) 9...xa4 ( 9...d8 10.e5! g4 11.exd6 0-0 was looked at by John in Kapnisis, S (2464)-Gurevich, M (2618) Chalkida 2009 but here I believe White can improve with 12.f5! xf5 13.g5 with a highly complex position but one in which W hite has the better chances, i.e. h6 14.h3 ge5 15.xe5 xe5 16.xh6 g3+ 17.d2 exd6 18.xc6 bxc6 19.ad1 and White's king will find safety on the queenside)

10.xa4 b4 11.b3 e6 when White saw nothing better than the draw with 12.a4+ ( 12.0-0 xb3 13.axb3 dxc5 14.e5 g4 15.e1 is given by John in which he rightly says W hite maintains a pull.; 12.e2!? is the computer's choice and makes sense with the queens exchanged. W hite looks to have a pleasant position following xb3 13.cxb3 dxc5 14.d1 ) 12...d7 13.b3 e6 14.a4+ d7 15.b3 1/2-1/2 Leventic, I (2498)-Lazic, M (2502) Borovo 2010. ] [ 7...dxc5 is Black's final alternative but this is what W hite's hoping for with Qd4 and Watson believes White can get an edge with A) 8.b5+ is the alternative: A1) 8...d7 A1a) 9.xc5?! is very risky as a recent game proved: 0-0! 10.b4?! xe4! 11.xe4 xb5 12.b1 a6 ( Black could also win material instantly with 12...c8 13.xb5 xb5 14.d1 c4 15.a3 a2 ) 13.xb5 xb5 14.b2 fc8 15.xg7 xg7 16.d4 c4 17.c3 xd4! 18.cxd4 d3 19.c1 xe4 20.b5 b4 21.0-0 d8 22.c4 d5 was rather one sided. 0-1 Chan Wei Xuan, T (2338)Gagunashvili, M (2596) Manila 2010.; A1b) 9.xd7+ bxd7 10.d2 d8 and the line is left here by John. Let's go a little further: 11.0-0 g4 12.d5 ( 12.e2!? xc3 13.bxc3 0-0 looks risky but is probably viable.) 12...xd2 13.xd2 e6 14.e3 xe3 15.xe3 b6 16.e5 f6 and Black should hold without too much difficulty.; A2) 8...xb5 9.xf6 xf6 10.xb5 a6 11.e5 ( 11.0-0 d7 12.a4 c6 13.e5 g7 14.e3 0-0 15.c3 fc8 16.f2 was similar Eulering, G (2094)He n rich s, T (2 4 7 1) S o lin ge n 2 0 1 0 .) 11...g7 12.e3 looks easier to play for White with his better structure (that pawn on c5 is a real problem for Black) and I have scored well in this type of queenless middlegame arising from the Grand Prix Attack. However John gives analysis in the archives indicating that Black's position is playable.; 1096

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 8.c4 0-0 when Watson's main line co n t in u e s : 9.e5 e6 ( 9...g4 10.h3 h6 11.e3 a6 12.b5!? Hector is happy to repeat this but John mentions that 12.0-0-0 might be stronger. xb5 13.xb5 b6 14.g4 b7 15.f2 b4 16.hc1 fd8 17.a3 d5 18.xd5 xd5 Hector, J (2592)-Jahnel, G (2320) Nuremberg 2010 when the Swedish GM should have preferred 19.d1 preventing f6? as 20.exf6 exf6 21.xd5 ) B1) 10.a4 has been the choice of a couple of GMs recently. xa4 11.xa4 fd7 ( 11...e4 looks stronger but White still has an edge.) 12.e3 f6 13.xc5 xc5 14.xc5 c6 15.exf6 ( 15.b5 fxe5 16.xc6 bxc6 17.fxe5 was Savchenko, B (2642)-Selbes, T (2263) Konya 2010 when f5 18.0-0-0 d5 would give Black good hopes of holding the ending.) 15...xf6 16.c3 d5 17.e2 g7 18.g3 f5 19.e3 e5 20.0-0 e8 21.ae1 exf4 22.xf4 and Black had insufficient play for the pawn. He trie d xe2?! but 23.xe2 xf3 24.xf3 g5 Heberla, B (2532)Selbes, T (2263) Konya 2010 (yes the same tournament - Selbes evidently believes in this line for Black!) 25.f2! gxf4 26.xf4 xf4+ 27.gxf4 looks like a lost endgame.; B2) 10.exf6!? xc4 11.fxg7 d8 12.xc4 was played in a Correspondence game and on the surface I like the idea. Indeed it was good enough to convert the full point in Grabliauskas, V (2494) -Samraoui, M (2420) ICCF email 2004 Telechess.; B3) 10.b5 xb5 11.xb5 d5 12.xd5 xd5 13.e3 b6 14.0-0-0 e6 15.e2 ( 15.h4!? also looks interesting to me ) 15...f6 16.c4 e4 17.hg1 fxe5 18.fxe5 h6 19.d6 when White has a definite advantage. ] 8.cxd6 White continues with the most critical option. [ 8.d2 is a safer option and is also a decent attempt at an advantage. c6 9.c4 ( 9.f2 is examined by John but he overlooks b4! which is awkward to deal with. ) 9...xc5 ( 9...e6 10.b5 xb5

11.xb5 dxc5 12.xc6 bxc6 13.e5 is offered by Andrew Martin and gives White a very pleasant endgame.) 10.xc5 dxc5 11.e5 g4 ( 11...e8 Milov, L (2454)Gonzales, J (2403) Castelldefels 2004 is looked at by Andrew Martin in the archives.) 12.h3 h6 13.g4 f6 14.c4+ f7 15.exf6 exf6 16.0-0-0 and White's greater space and more active pieces gave him the better chances. Baklan, V (2638)-Altini, D (2260 ) Bratto 2010. ] 8...c6 [ 8...exd6 has been played a couple of times recently and is reasonable. 9.d2 e8 ( 9...c6 10.f2 b4 11.d3 g4 12.e2 xb2 13.b1 a3 14.b3 a5 15.h3 f6 16.0-0 e6 Kokolias, K (2238)Dimopoulos, N (1933) Agios Kirykos 2010 when there was nothing wrong with grabbing the b7 pawn with a clear edge.) 10.d3 ( T h e e n e r g e t i c 10.b5! d8 11.e5 loo ks strong.) 10...d8 11.f2 xe4 12.xe4 d5 13.e5 dxe4 14.c4 e6 15.xe6 xe6 and Black had taken the upper hand. Fieandt, J (2185)-Vainio, V (2214) Finland 2009. ] [ 8...xe4 is given as the critical line by John. It is exceedingly dangerous but probably the best theoretical try. 9.xe4 xc3+ 10.bxc3 xc3+ 11.f2 xa1 12.dxe7 e8 13.c4 "with excellent attacking chances in return for the exchange". In fact I believe Black will h a v e t o p l a y v e r y we l l t o a vo i d l o s i n g instantly. Therefore it's probably useful to extend the line a few moves. f6! Forced ( 13...c6? 14.xf7+! xf7 15.c4+ g7 16.b3 picks up the queen.) 14.a3 e6 15.xe6 ( 15.xb7 d7 16.d1 xc4 17.xd7 b6+ also leaves a draw odds on f a v o u r i t e .) 15...xe6 16.xe6 fxe6 17.e5 c6 18.xc6 bxc6 will probably end as a draw. ] 9.d2 Thus far has all been covered by John in the past when he wrote that he didn't see anything particularly good for Black here. Now we get a practical test and it seems John was correct. exd6 The time has come to start recapturing pawns. [ 9...d8 10.e5 e8 11.d5 xd2+ 12.xd2 exd6 13.b5 dxe5 14.xc6 bxc6 15.e7+ h8 16.xc6 is obviously very 1097

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 good for White. ] 10.d3 White's queen is a little misplaced on d2 while Black has a lead in development but he has lost his e7 pawn over a normal Dragon position and so must strike fast if he hopes to have any compensation for the pawn deficit. h5?! And this move doesn't really achieve anything. [ 10...b4 is offered by Rybka but its plan doesn't really get anywhere, i.e. 11.0-0 e6 12.g5 d7 13.e2 h6 14.f3 c5+ 15.h1 g4 16.a3 c6 17.d3 and White is successfully unravelling. ] [ Perhaps playing as in the game with 10...e8 11.0-0 a6 followed by ...b5 is Black's best but it's obvious that White has the better chances. ] 11.0-0 e8 12.h3 b5?! Rash and objectively this just loses a further pawn but Bukal was clutching at straws. 13.f2? And this justifies Black's previous. [ Had Jovanovic calculated correctly he would have seen that the pawn was edible: 13.xb5 c5+ ( 13...xe4 14.d5! was perhaps what W hite overlooked but now xd5 15.xd5 b7 16.c7 is awful. ) 14.e3 xe3+ 15.xe3 b7 16.d2 and Black has no compensation for either pawn sacrificed! ] 13...b4 14.e2 This keeps hold of the e4 pawn thanks to the knight fork on g3 but Black has at least managed to gain some space on the queenside. a5 Back to where it should h a v e b e e n a l l a l o n g ! 15.g3 h5?! This is the start of an ill-advised combination. [ Bukal should have been content with 15...a6 but it's obvious White is on top still as Black is still scrabbling f or anything resembling compensation. ] 16.d2 h4?! This was the point of the previous move but he missed something. 17.xh4 xe4 Ok perhaps I should also mark this as dubious but then what else? 18.xe4 d5 [ Considering White's riposte maybe 18...f5 should have been preferred but now White has a choice on how to reach a winning position. 19.ae1 This is simplest ( 19.xd6 d4 20.xd4 xd4 21.xe8 is also very good for W hite but in general when up material you don't want to create

any imbalances.) 19...fxe4 20.xe4 f5 21.xe8+ xe8 22.xf5 gxf5 23.e1 and W hite is two pawns up with an initiative. ] 19.f5! This must be what Black overlooked. Jovanovic leaves the knight to it's death but in re t u rn o p e n s u p B la ck' s ve ry vu ln e ra b le monarch. g5 [ 19...dxe4 20.fxg6 f6 21.ae1 and Black wouldn't last long. ] 20.f6! f8 21.g3 The human move. [ The computer is happy to give up the queen with 21.xg5!! c5 22.h7+ A) 22...h8 loses to 23.xf7+ xh7 24.g5+ h6 ( 24...h8 25.g6+ g8 26.f7+ ) 25.e6+ h7 26.xc5; B) 22...f8 23.xf7! xf2+ 24.xf2 and Black has no hope of defending the minor pieces assault. ] 21...dxe4 22.xg5 h7 23.ae1 Black's opening has obviously been a failure. He is two pawns down while he will get mated shortly. d5 24.xe4 [ 24.g6! is the computer's suggestion but if a h u m a n were t o p lay t h e m o ve in t h is position I think you should be able to reserve the right to search him! ] 24...xe4 25.f3 Not throwing anything away but [ 25.f4 d6 26.h6! was a more clinical finish. ] 25...c5+ 26.h1 [ 26.e3! ] 26...xg5 [ Black could have struggled on a little longer with 26...g8 but only into a lost endgame after 27.xe4 ( 27.xe4 is also very good for White. ) 27...xe4 28.xe4 ] 27.xe4+ g8 28.xc6 b8 29.f3 [ 29.e8+ f8 30.h7+ xh7 31.xf7++- ] 29...h5 30.c7 a8 31.g3+ f8 32.e1 h6 33.e5 A one sided encounter and pro o f t h a t 7 . Q d 4 is still a crit ica l wa y o f playing against 5...c5. I still don't see an entirely comfortable way to reach equality for the second player. 1-0

1098

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1054 Kapnisis,Spyridon Gurevich,Mikhail 24th ICT Acropolis (2) [John Watson]

B09 2464 2618 11.08.2009

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d4 White continues to try this move with success, this time at pretty high levels against a superb theoretician. c6 [ Here are excerpts from the previous updates of 7 Qd4, with new games to follow: a) 7...0-0 hasn't worked out for Black in either theory or practice. "More daring is A) 8.d2 c6 9.f2 xc5?! ( The white queen is a little awkwardly placed so Black would have done better to play 9...dxc5 . At least the game is more complicated after something like 10.e5 g4 11.h4 h6 . ) 10.xc5 dxc5 11.e5 d7?! ( 11...g4 was a better chance. Black's plan of opening the centre wh e n w a y b e h i n d i n d e v e l o p m e n t i s doomed to failure.) 12.0-0-0 f6 13.c4+ h8 14.exf6 exf6 15.e3 White has won the opening battle. a6 16.he1; B) 8.cxd6! and 8 Bd2 seem to give White a substantial edge, the former continuing xe4 ( the critical line I don't see anything particularly good for Black after 8...c6 9.d2 ) 9.xe4 xc3+ 'and now White should prefer 10.bxc3! xc3+ 11.f2 xa1 12.dxe7 e8 13.c4 with more than enough for the exchange.' ] [ b) 7...dxc5 8.c4! ( see my earlier update for close analysis of 8.b5+ ) 8...0-0 9.e5!? There are two other choices: ( I also look at 9.b5 ) 9...e6 ( 9...h5 10.e3 ) 10.b5 xb5 11.xb5! d5 ( 11...fd7?! 12.g5; 11...g4?! 12.h3 h6 13.e3 ) 12.xd5 xd5 13.e3 and White is better see earlier updates. ] 8.b5 d7 [ I also analysed 8...0-0?! 9.a4! xa4 10.xa4 in some depth, to White's advantage as well as ] [ 8...dxc5 9.a4! ] 9.a4 d8 [ 9...xa4 10.xa4 b4! 11.b3 e6! 12.0-0 xb3 13.axb3 dxc5 14.e5 g4

15.e1 is a forcing line that gets Black close to equality, although White may still have some pull after, for example, 0-0 16.h3 h6 17.g4! ] 10.e5 g4 [ 10...dxe5?! 11.fxe5 g4 has the drawback that the queen on a4 looks at the knight on g4, so 12.xc6 bxc6 13.f4 with a huge advantage. ] 11.exd6 [ 11.h3 a6 12.xc6 xc6 13.c4 xf3 14.gxf3 h6 15.a4+ d7 16.cxd6 exd6 17.d2 ( 17.xd7+ xd7 ) 17...b5 18.e4 0-0 19.0-0-0 f5 20.he1 fe8 21.d5 with the ideas and Nb6 and Bc3. W hite seems to stand better, but this is a complex position. ] 11...0-0 12.h3 a6 13.xc6 xc6 14.c4 Probably not best. [ 14.b3 and ] [ 14.a3 are more natural. ] 14...h6 15.e3 f5 16.f2 exd6 17.0-0-0 xf3!? [ 17...c8 also offers counterplay, not allowing the slightly bothersome attack on b7 that follows. ] 18.gxf3 c8 19.b4 a5 [ Strange to say, Rybka suggests getting rid o f B l a c k ' s m o n s t e r b i s h o p b y 19...xc3 w i t h t h e i d e a 20.xc3 ( 20.bxc3 a5 21.a3 ) 20...e8 and White has trouble activated his pieces. As usual, the machine is right. ] 20.b3 c6? Too optimistic. [ 20...d7 21.e4! ] [ 20...xc3! 21.xc3 e8 ] 21.xb7 c7 22.b3 a8 [ 22...d7 is better, but White has a nice advantage after, for example, 23.b5 ( or 23.d3 )] 23.b5! a4 24.xc7 [ 24.d5! ] 24...axb3 25.xa8 bxa2 26.d2 xb2 [ 26...xa8 27.c3 dxc5 28.xc5 h6 29.c2 xf4 30.a1 ] 27.b6 dxc5 28.a1!? [ 28.c4! intends Nd5 White is better in any case. ] 28...d8+ 29.e2 e8+ 30.d3 d8+ 31.c4 xa1 32.xa1 d2 33.xc5 [ Or 33.g1 xc2+ 34.b3 ] 1099

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 33...xc2+ 34.b4 g7 35.d7 d2 36.e5 c2? [ 36...h2 keeps the game going. ] 37.d3 h4 38.d4+ h6 39.e5 f5 40.b3 h2 41.xa2 and wins. xh3 42.c4 h5 43.a7 h6 44.d7 g5 45.f6+ g6 46.d5 xf3 47.g7+ h5 48.f6+ h4 49.f2+ g3 50.fxg5 xg5 51.g6 1-0

1055 Karjakin,Sergey Ivanchuk,Vassily 5th Kings Tournament (9) [Milos Pavlovic]

B09 2776 2776 20.06.2011

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 Perhaps the most important set up in the Austrian Attack, here we have many moves that Black can play. c7 My impression is that this move is a cause for the early defeat in this game. Alternatives are surely better: [ 8...b8 ] [ 8...g4 ] 9.a4 b6 10.e1 e6 11.dxe6 fxe6 12.e5! In my opinion White is already better here. fd5 [ R e l e v a n t i s : 12...h5 13.exd6 ( in my opinion even stronger is: 13.f5! exf5 14.g5 d7 15.exd6 xd6 16.e7 e6 17.g5 xe1 18.axe1 a6 19.xf8 White is much better) 13...xd6 14.e4 e7 15.eg5 b7 16.f5 gxf5 17.h4 e8 18.f4 d5 19.d6 h6 20.xe6 f6 ( 20...xe6 21.xf8 xf8 22.xh5 f4 ) 21.e1 g6?! ( 21...f7 ) 22.xf8 xf8 23.e6+ h8 24.xf5 e8 25.d7 d4+ 26.h1 g8 27.xb7 e3 28.h4 1-0 Jakubiec, A-Gazik, I Orlova 2011 - an entertaining game. ] 13.e4N Karjakin launches a new move, but it is so obvious that I wouldn't be surprised if he simply found it at the board. [ A much earlier example was less clear: 13.g5 dxe5 14.h4 h6 15.xg6 f6 ( Perhaps Ivanchuk was counting on an improvement like this: 15...a6 16.d1 exf4 17.ce4 e7 The position looks ok

for Black.) 16.h5 xc3 17.h7! e2+ 18.h1 e7 19.xf8 xf8 20.xe2 a6 21.d3 xd3 22.xd3 Van der Sterren, P Ermenkov, E Amsterdam 1988, W hite is winning. ] 13...dxe5 [ 13...e8 14.eg5 this is also better for White ] [ 13...xf4 14.xf4 xf4 15.xd6 e7 16.g3 h6 17.d2 xf1+ 18.xf1 xd2 19.f7 with a winning position for White, this is just one possible line. ] 14.fxe5 b7? [ 14...b4 ] 15.g5 d7 16.h4 The position plays itself. b4 17.ad1 c6? 18.f6+! xf6 19.xg6! White can even play such an intermediate move. hxg6 20.xf6 xf6 21.exf6 f8 22.g5 1-0

1056 Karjakin,Sergey Kramnik,Vladimir 19th Amber Rapid rapid (11) [Gawain Jones]

B09 2725 2790 25.03.2010

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 The Austrian Attack- White's most aggressive line against Black's Modern. g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 b8 An extremely theoretical position and one which Kramnik attempted twice in the Amber t o u r n a m e n t ( a l t h o u g h l o s t b o t h ) . 9.h3 The new Russian goes for a slower setup than Smeets. Delaying Qe1 means that Nb4 loses it's point as White can simply retreat the bishop. [ Six days previously the young Dutchman went for the most aggressive 9.e1 b4 10.h4 The position is similar to either a Grand Prix Attack against the Sicilian or the Four Pawns Attack against the Kings Indian (although with the c2 pawn still at home). In rapid chess I would much rather take White here as his play is much easier, to quote Fischer, 'sack, sack, mate!'. The computer prefers Black but underestimates White's attacking potential. A) 10...b5 1100

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d o u b t h e s h o u l d f e a r t h e a t t a c k .) A1) 11.a3 has been the most common 15...a6 ( 15...b5 16.e3! xe3 move, taking the threat of c4 seriously. 17.bxc3 ) 16.g1 when Black has at Lots of interesting games have occurred l e a s t a d r a w w i t h ( 16.d1 e2! but I'll just show one for the moment. is awkward to deal with. ) 16...b6+; xd3 12.cxd3 g4 13.f5 I feel like B2) 14...ce3 15.e1 h5?! W hite should have a good position at Now his knights run out of room 16.e2 this point but his kingside attack needs f5 17.h3 fxe4 18.hxg4 exd3 19.xe3 to work or he'll find he's burnt his b4 20.a3 c4 21.d2 a6 22.ee1 bridges. c8 14.h6 xf3 15.xf3 b4 xg4 23.xe7 and Black didn't really 16.axb4 cxb4 17.d1 c5+ 18.f2?! have very much for the piece in Smeets, ( 18.e3 was probably strongest when J-Kramnik, V Nice 2010. ] c2 would keep both sides with [ 9.e2 ] chances.; 18.h1 xh6 19.xh6 [ and 9.e5 has been looked at in the bc8 ) 18...xh6 19.xh6 d4 archives ] now White has some problems with the pin along the g1-a7 diagonal while the 9...c7 10.a4 a6 [ 10...b6 cutting out Karjakin's response, was queen on d4 holds W hite's attack in t rie d i n a p re vio u s ga m e 11.e1 a6 check. 20.f1 b3 21.h3 fc8 22.h1 ( S w a p p i n g b i s h o p s w i t h 11...a6 xb2 23.g4 Tempting but would be sensible but White stops Black's unfortunately this doesn't work. xg4 intentions 12.b5! ) 12.h4 b5 13.axb5 24.xh7+ f8 25.fxg6 g7 26.h4 axb5 14.e5 ( 14.f5 might be my choice with ( 26.xf7+ e8! and White has no way Black's knights so far from e5.) 14...fxd5 to guard against the back rank mate 15.f5 dxe5 16.g5 f6 17.ce4 d4+ 27.f1 f2+! ) 26...b2 27.xg4 b1 18.h2 ce8 19.fxg6 fxg6 20.a7 f5 28.xg7+ xg7 29.gxf7+ h6 ( 20...c4 21.xf6! xf6 22.xf6+ and White's attack had run out of steam is White's threat.) 21.xe7 h6 was Svatos, a n d h e d isc o ve re d h e wa s a qu e e n J-Oral, T Pardubice 1996 when instead of down. 0-1 Nunn, J-Van der Sterren, P A) 22.xg7+! w a s w i n n i n g , xg7 Ramsgate 1981.; ( 22...xg7 23.e6+ xe6 24.xh6+ A2) 11.f5 c4 12.a3 xd3 13.cxd3 f7 25.h7+ g7 26.xf6+ e8 cxd3 14.h6 b4 15.axb4 xb4 16.fxg6 27.xg7 etc. ) 23.xf6+ xf6 24.xh6 fxg6 ( 16...hxg6 is always really risky in d5 25.e4!+- and seeing as the Black this type of attack but possibly Black qu e e n is f o rce d a wa y f ro m t h e a 2 -g8 c o u l d g e t a w a y w i t h i t h e r e 17.g5 diagonal 26.Qh7+ and 27.Qh8+ will b6+ 18.h1 due to f5! exploiting decide.; the pin across the 4th rank and B) 22.xf6+ ] preventing a Rxf6 sacrifice.) 17.g5 xh6 18.xh6 b7 19.ad1 b6+ 11.a5 b5 [ 11...e6 didn't work out well for Black in an 20.h1 xb2 21.xd3 c7? e a r l i e r g a m e : 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.e3 was Sznapik, A-Van der W iel, J ( 13.e5!? ) 13...e7 14.a4 d7 ( 14...c4! A m s t e r d a m 1 9 8 4 w h e n 22.xh7! 15.xc4 xe4 looked like Black's best would have finished the game chance at equality.) 15.c3 h8 16.d2 e5 immediately.; 17.fxe5 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.xf8+ B) 10...c4 11.xc4 xc2 12.b1 g4 xf8 20.f1 g8 21.f4 e8 22.xe5+ 13.d3 b6+ 14.h1 xe5 23.f7 e8 24.xc7 xa4 25.f4 B1) 14...xc3! looks like an d7 26.f6+ g8 27.c4+ 1-0 Babaeva, i m p r o v e m e n t 15.xc2 ( 15.f5!? F-Foisor, C Istanbul 2000. ] should also be investigated but after f6 16.xg4 e3 17.xe3 xe3 12.axb6 xb6 [ 12...b5?! 13.a4! and Black regretted B l a c k h a s su cc e e d e d in t ra d i n g o f f not taking the pawn immediately. Jamieson, W hite's dark squared bishop and so I 1101

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 R-Hebert, J Luzern 1982 ] 13.a4 Karjakin plays solidly. If you want to go for mate then [ 13.e1 d7 14.h4 would be the way to go. In the only game I could f ind Black played b5 ( 14...b4 looks right to defend across the 4th rank.) 15.f5 ( 15.xb5 axb5 16.c3 ) 15...xd3 16.cxd3 b4 17.fxg6 fxg6 seemed to be ok for Black, the direct attack can be deflected. Llaneza Vega, PFoisor, C Benasque 2001 ] 13...b8 14.c4 e6 15.c2 exd5 16.exd5!? Another unusual looking recapture but Karjakin tries to stop Kramnik getting any activity. [ 16.cxd5 would look like a typical Benoni or Four Pawns Kings Indian but it would be easier for Black to get counterplay here with b5 ] 16...fxd5!? Kramnik wants activity at all costs! The knight on c7 looks terrible so Black needs to do something to activate it. [ However 16...a5! with the idea of Nc7-a6b4 equalises for Black. ] 17.cxd5 xd5 so Black has two pawns for the piece and central control, his pieces seem to connect better together. White should be better with his extra piece but he's required to play accurately for a few moves. In rapid chess Kramnik hopes to put Karjakin under enough pressure. 18.f2 b4 19.f5 f4 [ 19...e8!? immediately is also possible. ] 20.c2 e8 21.c3 b7 22.a4 [ 22.d1 is the computer's suggestion but it's logical to start trading material when we have more of it. ] 22...xc3 23.xf4! xb2 24.c1 b4 25.xb4 cxb4 26.fxg6 hxg6 This allows too much pressure on f7. [ 26...fxg6 was required. Black has gained another pawn for the piece but White has regained the initiative and after 27.b3+ d5 28.h6 Black's position is done for anyway. ] 27.g5 [ 27.e5! would be a smoother win. The knight is of course untouchable as Qxf7+ is coming and if Black moves his f7 pawn then g6 drops. Therefore e7 is forced but then 28.b3! dxe5 ( 28...d5 29.g5! is the difference between 27.Ng5 and 27. Ne5 ) 29.xf7+ xf7 30.xf7+ f8

31.xg6+ e7 32.f7+ d6 33.xb7+- ] 27...f5?! And this allows the killer blow when the game really is over [ 27...f6 28.xg6 e7 29.f3 is hardly pleasant though ] [ 27...e7 would be the best way to keep the game going. 28.b3 ( 28.xf7 e2 29.h6+ h8 30.d1 should result in a White win but Black has chances with his connected queenside pawns.) 28...d5 and there's no longer 29.Bg5 but 29.b6! is very good for White. ] 28.xf5! f6 [ 28...gxf5 29.xf5 is also hopeless. ] 29.e6+ g7 30.e2 d4+ 31.e3 e5 32.f7+ g8 33.xb7+ A good win for White and Kramnik got 0/2 with Black in these lines but his positions out of the opening have been ok and the theoretical viewpoint is still that Black holds his own. 1-0

1057 Karjakin,Sergey Mamedyarov,S 8th Tal Memorial (4.2) [Tom Rendle]

B09 2782 2753 17.06.2013

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.d3 [ 5.f3 0-0 ( 5...c5 6.b5+ has been seen many times in the archives, for example see Shirov-Markowski f rom 2009.) 6.d3 is a much more common move order ] 5...0-0 [ 5...c5?! can now be met by 6.dxc5 dxc5 7.e5! and the knight on f6 doesn't have any ideal squares to go to, e.g. g4 8.b5+! c6 9.xd8+ xd8 10.xc6 bxc6 11.f3 and W hite can play against Black's weak queenside. ] 6.f3 c5 Already very unusual and probably not best. [ 6...a6 is annotated plenty of times in the archives, notably Gawain takes a look at Karjakin -Kra mnik in a ra pid game f ro m 2010 ] [ 6...c6 is another major alternative. James Vigus examined this position a few years ago in Greet-Chatalbashev and Abergel1102

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Chatalbashev. 7.e5 dxe5 8.fxe5 h5 ( 8...d7 was preferred by Chatalbashev but White should be better after 9.e4! b4 10.c4 ) 9.e3 g4 10.e2 f6 11.exf6 exf6 12.0-0 ( 12.d2 e8 13.0-0-0 is more aggressive but perhaps black is just about OK af ter e7! ) 12...e8 13.d2 was slightly better for W hite in Mista, A (2565)-Markowski, T (2625) Warsaw 2011 ] 7.dxc5 bd7!? This pawn sacrifice is practically a novelty with just the one previous game from more than 25 years ago. The idea of this pawn sacrif ice seems to be to put quick pressure on White's centre but my first impression is that with accurate play Black doesn't have quite enough compensation. Still, it certainly has potential as a surprise weapon. [ 7...dxc5 is more usual but White seems to be very comfortable after 8.e5! e.g. d5 9.xd5 xd5 10.e2 f5 11.xf5 gxf5 12.0-0 a6 13.e3 and White had a pleasant edge in Le Quang Liem (2542)Mahjoob, M (2479) Cebu City 2007, especially with Black's bishop on g7 shut out of the game for the time being. ] 8.cxd6 exd6 9.0-0 e8 [ 9...c5 10.h1 e8 11.f5?! fxe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.xe4 xe4 A) 14.g5 was the only way to justify 11. f5 but Black is still fine after d4 ( or 14...xf5!? 15.xe4 xe4 with excellent compensation. ) 15.f3 xf5; B) 14.fxg6?! hxg6 15.g5 e7 and Black was already slightly better with the two bishops in Gladu, P-Schleifer, M (2310) Quebec 1997 ] 10.h3 [ 10.c4 at first looked dangerous - the idea is to play Ng5 to both hit f7 and defend e4 b u t B l a c k h a s c o n c re t e p l a y a f t e r c7! 11.d3 ( 11.e2 allows b6! 12.b3 xe4 13.xe4 f5 and Black regains the piece with a good game) 11...c5 12.b5! e7 13.xd6 fxe4 14.xe7 xe7 and Black has very reasonable co m p e n s a t io n f o r t h e sa crif ice d p a wn , especially as it's not clear how W hite should develop his queenside. ] 10...b5!? A tricky move from Mamedyarov but one that gives W hite a couple of ways to obtain the advantage

[ there may not be a good alternative though, for example W hite is doing well after the logical line 10...a6 11.a4 c5 12.e1 b6 13.a5 c6 ( 13...a7?! 14.e3 ) 14.d4 c7 15.b3! ] 11.xb5 [ 11.xb5 was possibly a more accurate way to capture the pawn xe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.g5! e7 ( or 13...b6+ 14.h2 e7 15.e1! xe1 16.xe1 e5 17.f1 h6 18.e4 and Black is still yet to demonstrate sufficient comp. for the pawn) 14.xd6 h6 15.f5! and White has a very dangerous looking attack ] 11...xe4 [ 11...b6+ 12.h2 c5! gives Black a lot of activity but it is for two pawns. Still, I prefer this to the game. ] 12.xe4 xe4 13.xd6 e7 14.xc8 [ 14.f5 at first looks dangerous but actually B l a c k g e t s g o o d c o u n t e r p l a y w i t h a6 15.f2 b6 16.g5 f6 17.fxg6 d8! with a very unclear position that may well burn out to a draw. For example 18.gxh7+ xh7 19.xf6 xf6 20.g5+! or White is simply dropping a piece g8 ( 20...xg5?! 21.h5+ h6 22.xf7 is promising for W h i t e a l t h o u g h s t i ll ve r y c o m p l ic a t e d) 21.g4 xd6 22.e6+ h8 23.h5+ g8 24.g4+ h8 25.h5+= A spectacular way to force the draw ] 14...xc8 15.e1 xe1+ 16.xe1 b6+ 17.h2 White may be two pawns up but it's far from easy here as he's almost certainly going to drop one of them in order to develop the queenside. c5 18.d3 xd3 19.xd3 e8 20.d2 xb2 21.e1 b8 [ 21...xe1?! 22.d8+ f8 23.xe1 is more awkward for Black ] 22.a4 Karjakin has done well to complete development and has an extra pawn to take into the ending but Black is active enough to have excellent drawing chances. [ 22.e7!? xa2 23.c4! gives White a strong initiative although Black can maybe defend with f8 24.c7 a6 25.d5 f6 26.xa7 c8 ] 22...f6 23.c4 h5 24.e3 a1 25.e1 b2 26.a5 d8 27.b4 d4 28.e4 a1 29.a6 h4 30.e1 d4 31.xd4 xd4 32.e8+ h7 33.c3 c4 34.a8 xc3 1103

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 35.xc3 xc3 36.xa7 g7 37.b7 a3 38.a7 The pawn on h4 clamps down on the kingside and prevents White from having any real winning chances f6 39.g1 e6 40.f2 f6 41.e2 f5 42.h7 e4 43.xh4 And a draw was agreed - excellent defence from Mamedyarov. ½-½

1058 Karjakin,Sergey Petrosian,Tigran L 2nd Sanjin Hotel Cup (1) [Andrew Martin]

B09 2645 2581 09.07.2005

1.e4 Here comes a rare win for Black in the Austrian Attack main line with 6 Bd3 Nc6. Most attention is focused on 5...c5 or on 6... Na6 these days. Perhaps one has to employ the element of surprise if this older line is to be used successfully. d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 c6 7.0-0 [ About 30 years ago Black started to get very good results with 7.e5 dxe5 8.fxe5 h5 This move is still satisfactory, but Black has to play with precision as you will see: 9.e3 g4 10.e2 f6 11.exf6 exf6 12.0-0 A) 12...f5! 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 f4 15.f2 g3 is correct and Black is not worse after either 16.xg3 ( or 16.e1 f5 17.d5+ h8 18.e4 e3! 19.xe3 fxe3 ) 16...fxg3; B) 12...d7 13.d5 e7 14.e5! fxe5 15.xf8+ xf8 16.xg4 f5?? 1-0 Smeets, J-Zakharevich, I/Moscow RUS 2005 Catastrophic. Black is losing a piece: ( 16...d6 17.e6+ h8 18.b5 d8 19.f3 is obviously better for White too. ) 17.xf5 xf5 18.g4+- ] 7...e5 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.d5 d4 10.xe5 The fantastically talented young man goes straight for the critical line. [ 10.e1 brought success in the following encounter, but as so often, Black played very poorly: A) 10...e8! i s c r i t i c a l : 11.e3 d6 12.e2 ( 12.f2 f5 ) 12...xf3+ 13.gxf3 ( 13.xf3 f5 14.c3 d7 ) 13...h3 14.f2 f5 15.h1 f4 16.d2 f6 17.g1 d7;

B) 10...xf3+? Far too compliant. 11.xf3! c6 ( 11...g4 12.f2 h5 13.e3 a6 14.d2 d6 15.af1 ) 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.e3 a5 14.a3 c5 15.c4 b8 16.g5 b6 17.h4 a6 18.xa6 xa6 19.af1 h5 20.e7 e8 21.d5 xb2 22.c7 c6 23.xe8 xe8 24.d3 b8 25.fd1 1-0 Konev, VKovalchuk, A/Kiev UKR 2005 ] 10...xd5 11.xd5 [ 11.xf7? xc3 ] 11...xe5 12.f4 c6 Securing the e5 square would appear to be very important. 13.d2 e6 14.h6!? Is this Karjakin's improvement over existing theory? If so, it comes a cropper. [ White can put Black to the test after 14.xe5 xe5 15.f6+ g7 16.c3 but I think he can survive: d6 17.ad1 ad8 A) 18.h1 d4! 19.xc7 xb2 20.b1 d4 21.xb7 c8 22.e7 xa2 23.xa7 xd3 24.cxd3 xd3 25.h5+ gxh5 26.f6+ g8 27.a5 h6 28.xa2 ( 28.g5+ hxg5 29.xg5+= ) 28...xe4=; B) 18.e2 b6+ 19.h1 xd1 20.h5+! gxh5 21.xe5+ f6 22.g3+ h8 23.xd1 xb2 24.xc7 g4! 25.xg4 hxg4 26.e7 g8 Now the chance s of an unprepared opponent knowing all this are infinitesimal, so I would say this line is worth an occasional outing, but don't make a habit of it! ] 14...xb2 15.ab1 d4+ 16.h1 xd5!? [ 16...e8 17.g5 d6 18.f4 ] 17.exd5 xd5 18.xf8 xf8 Black has a m p l e c o m p e n s a t i o n f o r t h e e xc h a n g e : 19.xg6?? The complicated position has thrown him completely. He is still trying for the knockout blow when the shift to a quieter approach was called for. Mind you, is White really better after either [ 19.xb7 b6 20.f4 c5 21.c4 e7 22.h6 d8 23.f4 e7= or ] [ 19.c4 a5 20.f4 b6 ] 19...hxg6 20.c3 a5 21.xb7 b6 6...Nc6 is still quite playable. 0-1

1104

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1059 Karjakin,Sergey Wang Hao FIDE GP Beijing (2.1) [Tom Rendle]

B09 2776 2752 05.07.2013

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.d3 Karjakin seems to favour this move order which makes it harder for Black to play an immediate ...c5. e5!? Wang Hao attempts to take advantage of White's move order to strike in the centre immediately [ last month we saw 5...0-0 6.f3 c5!? 7.dxc5 bd7 8.cxd6 exd6 9.0-0 e8 and Black had some compensation for the sacrif iced pawn, although probably no t enough for equality in KarjakinMamedyarov. ] [ 5...c6 6.f3 0-0 takes us back into more familiar territory ] 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.f3 [ I s u p p o s e W h i t e c o u l d p l a y 7.fxe5 but somehow it looks all wrong to me. After g4 8.b5+ ( 8.f3 xe5 and Black has equalised ) 8...c6 9.xd8+ xd8 10.e2 xe5 Black is completely fine. With the queens off his king is fine on c7 and the knight on e5 ensures Black has a reasonable game. ] 7...exf4 [ 7...fd7 8.0-0 ( 8.f5!? also looks better for White here ) 8...c6 9.d5 0-0 10.f5! A) 10...b6 was perhaps better although White is still doing well after 11.f6! h8 ( 11...xf6 12.xf6+ xf6 13.h6 wi n s a n e x c h a n g e a s e8? 14.g5 and Black can safely resign ) 12.c4; B) 10...e7?! 11.g5 f6 12.e3 b6?! ( 12...xd5 13.exd5 gxf5 14.xf5 b6 15.h4 is rather unpleasant for Black but at least he's still in the game) 13.xb6 axb6 14.c4+ h8 15.xd8 xd8 16.xe5! f8 17.f7+ g8 18.h6+ h8 19.ad1 and White had a winning position which he duly converted in Bok, B (2530)-Gofshtein, L (2480) Eilat 2012 ] [ 7...g4?! 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 leaves White with the two bishops on a board that's ready to open up. ] [ 7...c6 is tricky but unfortunately for Black i t r u n s i n t o 8.fxe5! g4 9.g5 d7

10.b5! which is actually surprisingly awkward for Black to deal with. W hite is clearly better after 0-0 11.d5 gxe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.0-0 e8 14.f6 d6 15.h1! ] 8.xf4 0-0 [ 8...g4 9.h3 h5!? is an interesting way to handle the position but White should be better after 10.h2 xf3 11.xf3 h4+ 12.f2 ( 12.g3?! xc3+ 13.bxc3 xh3 was less clear in Schepetkova, M (2189)Chekhov, S (2361) Voronezh 2010 and Black went on to win quickly. That said my computer still prefers W hite after 14.f1! e6 15.0-0-0 but this is a position for computers rather than humans!) 12...xf2+ 13.xf2 d4+ 14.f3 and White's two bishops are the most important feature of the position giving him a small but persistent advantage. ] 9.d2 [ 9.0-0 is also possible but it's less a g g r e s s i ve a n d B l a c k i s ve r y c l o s e t o e q u a l i s i n g n o w a f t e r c6 10.e1 ( 10.b5!? e8! gets W hite nowhere) 10...d4! ] 9...c6 10.0-0-0 e6 11.h3 The first new move which prevents Ng4-e5. [ 11.he1 d7 ( 11...b4! seems to equalise here) 12.b5 a6 13.xc6 bxc6 14.g5?! ( 14.h6! immediately was better with perhaps a small advantage for White a lt h o u g h t h e p o si t io n r e m a i n s d o u b le edged ) 14...b8 15.h6 b6 16.b3 c4! 17.bxc4 b4 18.xg7 a3+ 19.b1 fb8+?! ( 19...ab8+! 20.b5 xg7 was better f or Black) 20.b5 xg7 ( 20...xb5+ leads to a draw after 21.cxb5 xa2+ 22.a1 b3+ 23.b1 a2+ 24.a1 b3+ ) 21.d4+ f6 ( 21...g8! 22.d8+! f8 23.xf8+ xf8 24.e5 axb5 25.xc6 b6 26.cxb5 xb5+ 27.c1 c5 and Black can play for a win with no risk in the ending) 22.d3 e7 23.g5 axb5 24.xe6+ xe6 25.d7+ f7 26.cxb5 xb5+ 27.c1 xd7 28.xd7+ h6 29.xc7 c5 30.b2 b8+ 31.c1 a8 32.b2 and White was probably relieved to have held the draw in Cyborowski, L (2450)-Agrest, E (2532) Ohrid 2001 ] 1105

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11...d7 This seems solid, Black aims to put a knight on e5 anyway but somehow things quickly go wrong as Karjakin builds up a strong kingside attack [ 11...b4 is again worth considering here although it seems that now White can retain the better chances after 12.h6 xd3+ 13.cxd3 c5 ( 13...b5!? 14.b1! b4 15.a4 should be better for White) 14.b1 c7 15.xg7 xg7 16.e5 d5 17.e4 although I think Black should probably go for something like this as he should be able to get counterplay in this line. ] 12.g5 f6 [ 12...f6 was more solid although it does block the bishop on g7. Still, W hite's a d v a n t a g e i s o n l y s l i g h t a f t e r 13.f4 ( 13.h6 de5 14.xg7 xg7 15.h4 h5! is solid for Black ) 13...de5 14.e3 ] 13.h4 h5 If Black has to play this move it's clear something has gone wrong but otherwise White had h5 coming. 14.f4?! [ 14.b5! was a more precise move order, preventing ... Nce5 and now xg5 15.hxg5 e7 16.f4 transposes back to the game ] 14...xg5?! [ 14...ce5! was perhaps a better try for Wang Hao here but White keeps an initiative after 15.b1! xf3 16.gxf3 c6 17.g3 and White has f4 coming ] 15.hxg5 e7 16.b5! b6?! [ 16...c5 was a last chance to put up some fight and indeed it's not so simple for White here. 17.xc6! bxc6 18.xc7 is probably best but Black can put up stiff resistance now after b6 19.d6 e3+ 20.d2 c4 21.xe3 xe3 22.d2 fd8 and Black has pretty good drawing chances in the endgame. ] 17.xc6 bxc6 18.e5! Now Black is positionally busted as well as coming under a big kingside attack. c4 19.xc4 xc4 20.g4 Obvious and strong - Black's kingside collapses. ab8 [ 20...hxg4? 21.d7! wins on the spot ( not 21.h2?? xg5+ 22.b1 g7 and Black is back in the game )] 21.gxh5 b4 22.d4?! [ 22.a4! was a more accurate way to finish the game xa4 23.hxg6 fxg6 24.e5 and Black is getting mated ]

22...xb2+ 23.d2 fd8?! [ 23...bd8 was more stubborn although W h i t e s h o u l d b e w i n n i n g a f t e r 24.f6 xd4+ 25.xd4 c5! 26.f6 ( 26.xc4?! d8+ 27.d5 c6 and Black is only slightly worse ) 26...b6 27.hxg6 xf6 28.gxf6 fxg6 29.e5 there is still work to be done for White here ] 24.f6 xd4+ 25.xd4 b6 26.xc4 d8+ 27.c1 d4 28.e2 c5 29.b1 xg5+ 30.d2 Black has run out of checks and Karjakin is simply a piece up so W ang Hao resigns. 1-0

1060 Kasimdzhanov,Rustam Svidler,Peter WCh-FIDE San Luis ARG (2) [Andrew Martin]

B09 2670 2738 29.09.2005

I'm writing this only a day after this coming game was played. At the highest level, the Pirc is a rare anima l. Ap paren tly S vid le r intended 1...d6 as a complete surprise. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 Kasim launches a surprise of his own! This is one of White's more dangerous variations, planning Qd2, 0-0-0 and the usual kingside attack. b6 Black has other moves, but there is a soft spot on e4 and ...b7-b6 helps not only to support ...Bc8-b7 but also ... c7-c5. 7.d2 b7 8.e5 g4 9.0-0-0 c5! [ 9...dxe5 looks far too committal at this stage. Black is pushed into a passive position: 10.xe5! Surprising and ....good! xe3 11.xe3 d7 12.b5 f6 13.d5 d6 14.he1 ad8 15.c6 A) 15...xc6 16.dxc6 b4 17.xd8 ( 17.a3 xd1+ 18.xd1 g4!? ) 17...xd8 18.a3; B) 15...g4 16.xe7+ h8 17.f3 e5 18.fxe5 xe7 19.g3 a6 20.a4 b5 21.b3 b4 22.a4 fe8 23.d6 cxd6 24.exd6 h6+ 25.b1 xd6 26.xd6 xe1 27.xf7 f8 28.xe8 1-0 Stopa, JSzczep in ski, M/K osza lin PO L 20 05 A game worth seeing through to the end. ] 10.dxc5 bxc5 11.xc5 a5 Black forces White to think about HIS counterplay, before 1106

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 any kingside attack can even get underway. 12.a3 dxe5 13.d5!?N A novelty of sorts, where Black manages to defuse the bomb... just. [ It would have been interesting to see how Svidler would have responded to the c h a l l e n g i n g 13.h3! h6 ( 13...h6 14.xe5; 13...f6 14.xe7 ) 14.g5 exf4 15.xf7! xf7 16.hxg4 g5 17.b1 ( 17.e4 xd2+ 18.xd2 f3 19.gxf3 xf3 20.c4 xh1 21.xh1 c6 22.xf7+ xf7 23.xh7+ f6 24.b3 f4 25.h3 d8 26.d3 xd3 27.cxd3 g5 28.c5 xg4 29.b4 a6 30.a4 d6 31.xd6 exd6 1 / 2 - 1 / 2 I lle s ca s Co r d o b a , M- Ma ri n , M / Mo n d a r iz 2 0 0 2) 17...f3 18.f2 fxg2 19.xg2 xf2 20.xb7 c7 21.xa8 f6 22.d5+ g7 23.b3 xc3 24.bxc3 c6 25.c1 e5 ( 25...g3 ) 26.h3 h8 27.hd3 f8?? ( Lazy players might look only at the result of this game and assume the whole thing is better for W hite. But L a h n o s h o u l d h a v e p l a y e d 27...h5 with a very unclear position.) 28.d7 c8 29.h6 1-0 Charbonneau, P-Lahno, K/ Montreal 2004 ] 13...xd2+ Simplification over this and the coming moves does not give Black the desired equal position. 14.xd2 xd5 15.xd5 e3! 16.d2 c6 17.b5 fc8 18.xc6 [ 18.a6 c7 19.fxe5 xe5 20.xe5 xe5 21.g3 f6 doesn't look anything special for White. ] 18...xc6 19.xe5 xe5 20.fxe5 c4 21.xe7! An exchange sacrifice which gives Kasim good winning chances. xd2 22.xd2 b8 23.c1 Passive. [ 23.b3 was a winning try, cutting the Black Rook out of c4. ] 23...c4! 24.d6 Black starts with 24....Rbc8 25 c3 Rf4! and should have enough counterplay to claim at least equality. Overall, it's time for a handshake. ½-½

1061 Kindermann,Stefan Gurevich,Mikhail Haifa [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1989

The blocking move f7-f5 was introduced in this game and it became a popular method of defending against White's attack. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 0-0 9.e3 a5 10.0-0 c6 11.a3 g4 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 d7 14.d2 b6+ 15.h1 c5 16.ab1 xd3 17.cxd3 f5!? [ The less precise 17...e6 was played in the game Tolnai - M.Gurevich. ] 18.d5 [ 18.exf5 was played in the game Sax Seirawan, Skelleftea 1989 which continued with gxf5 ( 18...xf5!? deserves attention) 19.d5 b3 20.fe1 f7 21.c3 e6 22.b4 d8 23.xg7 xg7 24.ec1 a4 25.c4 and a draw was agreed although in my opinion white is slightly better here. ] 18...b3!? An ambitious decision. [ 18...d8 was safer. ] 19.c3 [ Black was fine after 19.exf5 xf5 20.e3 f7 ] 19...f7 20.xg7 xg7 21.e3 [ After 21.exf5 xf5 22.e3 f7 23.e4 af8 black would obtain a small advantage but this was probably the best option for white. ] 21...e6 22.c3 d5! Taking the initiative thanks to the fact that the white queen is badly placed on e3. 23.f3 [ 23.exd5 wa s n o t b e t t e r : exd5 24.d4 ( 24.e6 ? d8; 24.c5 d4 25.b5 xb5 26.xb5 d8-+ winning ) 24...e7 25.f2 ae8 with the advantage. ] 23...fxe4 24.dxe4 d4 25.e2 xf3 26.xf3 e5 27.fxe5?! [ 27.d1! was more accurate and white should be able to equalise without many problems. ] 27...xf3 28.gxf3 d3! 29.c3 [ 29.f4 does not solve all white's problems: xe5 30.d1 c8! 31.xd3 xf3 32.g2 g5! with the advantage ] 29...f8! 1107

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ After 29...xe5 30.f4 c4 31.b3 ! xa3 32.d1 d8 33.d5 the pawn on d3 could be successfully neutralised. ] 30.g2 xe5 31.f1 g5 32.f2?! Too slow. [ 32.h4!? deserved attention and after gxh4 33.f4 c4 34.h3! an unclear position could arise. ] [ 32.d5 also comes into consideration. ] 32...g6 33.f1 f4+ 34.g3 f6 35.h4 e5! [ After 35...h6 36.hxg5+ hxg5 37.f2 e5 38.e3 unclear-the white king is just in time to prevent penetration. ] 36.hxg5 g8 37.h4? A big mistake which loses the game. White has probably missed black's idea or just did not see what to do. [ Bu t he s till co u ld h o ld o n a f t e r 37.f2! xg5 38.e3 h5 A) bad was 39.d5? xd5+ 40.exd5 xd5 41.xd3 ( 41.h1 c4 ) 41...h4; B) 39.d1!! g3 40.b3!! with the idea of Nb2-d3! ( not 40.f2? g2+ 41.xd3 xf3+ 42.e2 g3 with a big advantage. )] 37...h6! White's king is cut off from the centre and cannot help the fight against the very strong d-pawn. 38.gxh6 g6 39.d1 xh6+ 40.g3 g6+ 41.h4 d4 White resigned as there is no good defence against d2 with the penetration of the black king to e2 or c2 next. The endgame was played brilliantly by Mikhail Gurevich. 0-1

1062 Klovans,Janis Volzhin,Alexander Graz [Alexander Volzhin]

B09 2465 2569 1999

The Veteran W orld Champion, Latvian GM Janis Klovans has played the Three Pawns attack against the Pirc throughout his long career. So my game with him was of especial interest to me. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 g4 9.e3 a5 10.0-0 c6 11.a3!? [ 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 is known to be the

main line. ] 11...d7 [ 11...0-0 deserves attention. ] 12.d2 xf3?! Premature. [ The natural 12...0-0 should be preferred. ] 13.xf3 0-0 14.e1! To tell the truth, I missed this strong move. W hite takes advantage of having not playing h2-h3 early, and prepares a quite unpleasant kingside attack (Qh4, Rh3). Now Black should be very careful. c5 15.h3 [ 15.b4? doesn't win a piece in view of xd3 16.cxd3 d8 and White has voluntarily weakened his queenside. ] 15...xd3 16.cxd3 f5!? A typical pawn advance for this type of position. 17.h4 h6 18.g4!? Starting a direct attack which looks strong. g5! A counterblow on the side where Black is being attacked! The aim is to eliminate the pawn on f4 thus gaining some important central squares for the black pieces. 19.h5! [ 19.fxg5 f4 A) 20.gxh6? is bad as both xc3 and ( 20...f6 21.g5 xg5+ 22.g3 xg3+! 23.hxg3 xh4 win. ); B) 20.f2 xg5 was fine for Black. ] 19...gxf4 20.xf4 b6+! The only move. It seems very risky as grabbing the b2-pawn takes two tempi and allows a very strong a t t a c k . F o r t u n a t e l y B la c k h a s su f f i c ie n t defensive resources. [ W h i t e h o p e d f o r 20...fxe4? 21.d5!! w i t h a d e c i s i v e a d v a n t a g e : f7 ( unfortunately 21...xf4 fails to 22.xe7+! h8 23.g6+ g8 24.xf4 ) 22.xh6 , and White's attack is unstoppable. ] 21.h1 xb2 22.g1 [ After 22.c1 fxe4 is also good. ] 22...fxe4! The only move again. [ It's not necessary to calculate variations to understand that ope ning the g-f ile wit h 22...xc3 23.gxf5 gives White a crushing attack. ] 23.d5? Both players were short of time and it was difficult for W hite to choose between two possible continuations of the attack. [ 23.g5! was the most dangerous option after which Black's task is not so easy: h8 ( 23...xc3?? 24.g6+ ) 24.d5 and now Black has to play ( 24.gxh6 xc3 ) 1108

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 24...d4 25.gxh6 e5 26.g5 g8 27.xe5+ xe5 28.g7+!! xg7 29.hxg7+ g8 30.h8+ f7 31.xa8; B) 24...exd3 25.f6!! e5 26.g6!! g4!? ( 26...e2 27.xh6+! xh6 28.g7#!! ) 27.xg4 ( 27.xg4?! xf4 28.xh6 e2! ) 27...xf6 28.xh6 winning xh6 29.g7+; C) 24...f2! with unclear play as other moves give W hite excellent chances to win the beauty prize: ] 23...d4 24.xh6? A clear mistake in time trouble which ends the game. [ 24.e3 was necessary and after the possible e5 ( 24...xd3? was wrong: 25.xh6 f3 26.g6 d4 27.xf3 exf3 28.g5 there is no defence against Nf6.) 25.xe5 dxe5 26.dxe4 ac8 27.xh6 e6 28.e3 d4 29.xg7 xg7 and Black has the initiative in the endgame. ] 24...exd3! Winning. With the very unpleasant Qe4 threat. 25.e1 [ After 25.xg7 e4+! ] 25...xh6 26.g6+ g7 27.xh6 xh6 28.xh6 White has found the only way to save the piece but now the Queens are swapped and the d-pawn decides. d2 29.d1 f2 30.g1 af8 31.c3 2f3 White resigned. Interesting and exciting game. 0-1

1063 Korneev,Oleg Cebada,F del Rio Open (2) [Nigel Davies]

B09

15.02.2001

One reader asked me about the advisability of 9...Kf 8 in this sharp line, rather than the habitual 9...Kd7. Maybe it is, but the only chance seems to be 10...Qb6. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.e5 g4 8.e6 xb5 9.exf7+ f8 [ The books devote most attention to 9...d7 ] 10.xb5 [ 10.g5? d7 11.dxc5 a5 12.cxd6 xc3+ 13.bxc3 xc3+ 14.d2 c5 left Black a piece up in Skibbe - Lauterbach, Bundesliga 1992 ]

10...a5+?! This seems to be poor for Black. [ The big question is whether or not 10...b6 is playable, with one intriguing game having continued 11.g5 ( 11.c4 is met by a6 12.dxc5 xc5 13.bd4 xc4 ) 11...xb5 12.xg4 c6 13.c3 cxd4 14.e6+ xf7 15.c7 a5 16.e6+ f8 17.xa8 dxc3 18.b4 d4 19.c8+ f7 20.c4+ d5 21.xc3 b5 22.d2 Blecha - Vacovska, Klatovy 1996 and now c8 looks like the right move. ] 11.c3 c6 [ 11...cxd4 12.xd4 xf7 13.xg4 xd4 14.d2 f5 15.f3 left Black with an inferior pawn structure and the worse king in Mansurov - Ader, Budapest 1993 ] 12.d5 d4 13.g5 Whilst this alone should be enough to discourage Black, White has two other promising continuations which leads me to believe that this position is just good for him: [ a) 13.d2 h6 14.0-0 hf5 15.g5 a6 16.e6+ xe6 17.dxe6 d4 18.g4 c4 19.ae1 was horrible for Black in Lekic Rajic, Pula 1990 ] [ b) 13.0-0 xf3+ 14.xf3 xc3 15.bxc3 f6 16.f5 gave White a tremendous attack in Teschner - Impris, Bundesliga 1993 ] 13...h6 14.ge4 f6 15.0-0 xf7 16.xf6 exf6 17.e4 a6 18.f5! This, and the subsequent exchange sacrifice gives White a tremendous attack. xf5 19.xf5! gxf5 20.h5+ e7 21.xf5 ae8 22.f4! Completely crushing. d8 23.xd6 b5 24.f7+ e7 25.e1+ xf7 26.h5+ g8 27.xe8+ 1-0

1064 Korneev,Oleg Zimmerman,Yuri Katowice [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1993

This spectacular game is very important for the whole line. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.e5 g4 8.e6 xb5 9.exf7+ d7 10.xb5 This natural move is far superior to 10.Ng5 as played in the previous game. a5+ 11.c3 1109

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 cxd4 12.xd4 xd4!? [ 12...h5 is another possibility but it does not promise full equality for black: 13.h3 c6 14.de2 h6 15.e3 A) or 15...f5 16.f2 ac8 ( 16...af8 17.0-0 xf7 18.a3 a6 19.e4 c8 20.d5 xb2 21.ab1 xe2 22.fe1 xc2 23.xf7 xa3 24.xg6 fd4 25.h1 c4 26.g5 c5 27.bc1 d5 28.xd4 xd4 29.xe7 with advantage in Hellers - van Wely, Philadelphia 1992) 17.0-0 and white had the better prospects because of the weak black king, in Stefansson - M. Gurevich, Tilburg 1994; B) 15...hf8 16.d3 f5 17.f2 xf7 18.0-0-0 ( 18.0-0 also looks reasonable.) 18...h4 19.b1 c8 20.e4 d8 21.he1 with advantage for White, as the game Beliavsky - Tal, Brussels 1988 has shown. ] 13.xd4 c6 14.c4 The best square for the queen. [ Other moves are: 14.e4 f5 15.d2 hf8 16.f3 ab8 17.e2 xf7 18.0-0-0 f6 19.b1 e4 and things were not so clear in Beliavsky - Carr, London 1985 ] [ 14.d1 f5 15.h3 e6+ 16.e2 xe2+ 17.xe2 h6 18.d2 hf8 19.g4 xf7 20.0-0-0 ac8 21.c3 b5 with a good game for black in Clausen - Hoi, Copenhagen 1986 ] 14...b6! This natural looking move hadn't been played before, but it's very strong. [ 14...hf8 has been played a couple of times: 15.d2 ac8 ( 15...f5 16.h3 f6 17.0-0-0 e6 18.d3 xf7 19.he1 ad8 20.b1 c8 21.g4 with a small advantage in Timman - Spassky, Tilburg 1981 ) 16.h3!? f6 ( 16...b4? 17.b3 with a large advantage and the idea of a3; 16...h6 17.0-0-0 xf7 18.he1 with the better chances) 17.0-0-0 a6 18.xa6 bxa6 19.he1 and White had achieved a better endgame in Beliavsky Kanstler, Azov 1991. ] 15.e2 h5 16.h3 h6 17.d2 f5 18.0-0-0 There is no other way to complete development. g3 19.d3 xh1 20.xh1 Bu t n o w t h e pa wn o n g6 is lo st so b la ck should play very precisely. af8! 21.e1 [ Of course 21.xg6!? is possible, but after

d4 , intending Qc4 or Qf6 Black is OK. ] 21...xf7 22.xg6 f6!? 23.g7 [ After 23.xe7+?! xe7 24.xf6 white wins a pawn but the rooks are swapped so the black king is saf e: h7! 25.g5 c5 26.xc5 dxc5 with a big advantage ] 23...d8 24.d5 e6 25.xe6 xe6 26.f5+! An excellent resource! xd5 [ The only move as after 26...d7? 27.c3 f8 28.f6 white would obtain an o v e r w h e l m i n g a d v a n t a g e a n d e8 is losing after 29.fxe7+- ] 27.f7+ c5?! [ It was probably a time scramble already and black did not have the time to calculate 27...e4!? but I do not see how black is losing here. Besides, it is probably white who should prove he has enough compensation for the sacrificed material. ] 28.e3+ d4 [ 28...b5? loses by force: 29.a4+ xa4 30.b3+ a5 31.c4 with a quick mate. ] 29.b4+! c6 30.xd4 White has won a piece back but now it's black's turn to activate his pieces. g8! [ Much weaker was 30...g8 31.c4+ d7 32.xa7 c8 33.e6+ c7 34.e4 with a big advantage. ] 31.xe7 [ Nothing would be achieved by 31.b5+?! xb5 32.xe7 h7 33.xd6 b6! ] 31...e8! 32.h4 [ Again 32.b5+? was bad: d5 33.f6 e1+ 34.b2 b4+-+ winning ] 32...g8 33.c3 e2 [ 33...xg2? lost the game after 34.c4+ d7 35.b5+! ] 34.g3 b5 The black king is safe now and it looks like black has solved all his problems. 35.b2 f3 36.e7! It is time for white to be careful as he is the exchange down. xf5 37.g4 hxg4 38.hxg4 xg4 39.xa7 The position is equal now and no one can play f o r a wi n a lt h o u gh b la c k h a s a sym b o li c advantage here. c8 40.e3 c4 41.f3+ b6 42.d4+ c7 43.c3 e6 44.a3 e4 45.h5 c4 46.a4! bxa4 47.a5+ b7 48.xa4 c6 49.xc6+ It is possible to swap the queens since the pawn on b5 has been exchanged. xc6 A draw was agreed. 1110

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A very spectacular and interesting game. ½-½

1065 Kramnik,Vladimir Grischuk,Alexander Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (11) [Andrew Martin]

B09 2754 2710 28.01.2005

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.e5 Wow! Most unexpected. What has Kramnik got to show in this discredited line or is just a one-off? fd7 7.exd6 cxd4!? 8 Evidently Grischuk has something new to show against Nb5 [ I r e m e m b e r s o m e w h e r e t h a t 7...0-0 was recommended here although 8.e3! gives a fair chance for advantage, particularly after one has been surprised. There follows exd6 9.d2 c6 10.0-0-0 a5 11.f5 which is messy: f6 12.fxg6 hxg6 13.h6 g4 14.xg7 xg7 15.dxc5 xf3 16.gxf3 dxc5 17.g5 ad8 18.d3 c4! 19.xa5 xa5= Dviorys-Kanstler USSR Ch Moscow 1991 ] 8.b5! 0-0 [ 8...a6 9.dxe7 xe7+ 10.e2 xe2+ 11.xe2 ] 9.c7 c5N There is nothing in 'The Complete Pirc' and ECO is non-existent on the matter so will have to rely on my good old trusty database. Kramnik has been working a lot with computers so we may assume he has analysed this stuff. Surely Black's play is very fishy here? [ 9...exd6 has been played before on the rare occasions anyone has been brave en o ugh to go t his wa y: 10.xa8 c6 ( 10...e8+ 11.e2 c6 12.0-0 c5 13.b5 g4 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 xa8 16.f5 e5 17.d5 b6 18.xd6 e4 19.a3 d8 20.fxg6 hxg6 21.f4 d5 22.b3 c5 23.d3 d6 24.xe5 xe5 25.ae1 Weber, A-Pleyer, R/ Passau 1997) 11.e2 c5 12.0-0 g4 ( 12...f5? 13.h1 h8 14.b1 e6 15.b3 d5 16.b2 xf3 17.xf3 e4 18.xe4 fxe4 19.e2 e8 20.f5 gxf5 21.xf5 xa8 22.bf1 d8 23.a3 h4 24.1f4 e7 25.f7 e6 26.xb7 g6 27.g4 1-0 Gonzalez

Custodio, R-Medina, J/Ceuta 1993) 13.h1 h5 A) 14.g5! is very good: xe2 ( 14...f5 15.d2 xa8 16.f3 e8 17.e1 ) 15.xe2 xa8 16.e1 d3 17.cxd3 b4 18.e3 cxd3 19.a3! xe1 20.axb4; B) 14.d2 xa8 15.b4 Schneider, VKlein, J/Germany 1998 Black gets a pawn for the exchange and control of the centre in most lines. You either like this type of play or you do not. ] 10.xa8 xd6 11.d3 c6 12.0-0 e6 13.g5 d5 14.f5 [ 14.b6!? axb6 ] 14...xa8 15.fxg6 hxg6 16.g4 We have roughly the same scene as before where Black has a p awn and centralise d pieces for the exchange. Kramnik tries to emphasize his advantage by switching to direct attack. By these means he will negate Black's centralization, or he hopes so.... xd3 17.cxd3 f6 18.f3 f7 19.h4!? [ Deep Fritz suggests 19.b3! with the point that after e5 20.d2 f5 White has 21.h4 planning Ng5. ] 19...e5 20.g3 d7 21.f4 g5 22.xg5 [ 22.xe5 gxh4 23.f2 d8 24.f4 e5 25.d2 was a serious alternative, but there Black has good chances after g6! ] 22...fxg5 23.f5 g6 [ Two other possibilities suggest themselves: 23...f6 24.ae1 ] [ 23...g6 24.xg5 f8 25.xg7 xg7 26.h4 Grischuk's move leads to a liquidation where White emerges with a slightly better Rook ending. ] 24.xg7 f7 25.xf7! xf7 26.e5 xd3 [ 26...d6 27.f1+ g8 28.xd6 exd6 29.f5 ] 27.d1 g8 28.xd3 xg7 29.xd4 e6 30.xe6+ xe6 31.b4 b6 32.a4 White has two advantages in the ending: a) More active Rook b) Possibility of establishing an outside passed pawn on the Kingside Set against this is Black's more active King which naturally Grischuk is relying on. My impression is that the ending is drawn, but that Black will have to suffer a bit. a5 33.b4 axb4 34.xb4 f5 35.xb6 e5 36.a4 e4 37.b3 a7 38.a3 a5! It was crucial to hold up the pawn. Now, in o rd er to win W hite h as t o 1111

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 create a second passed pawn. 39.h3 f4 40.f2 e4 41.g3 g4! The best try, lest white play h4 42.hxg4 [ After 42.h4 Black must pass with his King and it's not so easy to make progress: d4 43.e2 e4! 44.a1 d4 for instance 45.h5? e4 46.h6 h5 ] 42...d4 43.g5 d5 44.e3 e6 45.e4 f7 46.d3 [ What did Black have in mind against 46.f5 g7 47.g6? ] 46...g6 47.c4 xg5 48.b4 a6 49.a5 e4 50.c4 d6! What else? Black must pray. A forced sequence follows: 51.a6 e3 52.a7 e2 53.a8 e1 54.a5+ [ It's incredible that after 54.g8+ g6 55.d8+ Black holds with f6!! 56.a5+ g4! 57.xf6 xa5 58.f4+ h5= ] 54...g4 55.g8+ f3 Both Rooks hang and so W hite has no real trickery to pull. 56.f7+ g2 57.a2+ g1 58.a7+ f1 59.f7+ g1 60.a7+ f1 61.a1 d1 Black's rook is incredibly agile. 62.f7+ g1 63.a7+ f1 64.xd1 xd1 65.d4 a4+ 66.d3 b3+ 67.c3 d5+ The endgame play by both players was superb, demonstrating high-class. The opening...will not be repeated by either player. I am willing to wager a lot of money on that. ½-½

1066 Kramnik,Vladimir Morozevich,Alexander Melody (blindfold) [Andrew Martin]

B09

2005

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 A system which has given Black a lot of hassle over recent years. c6 7.d3 a6 8.a3 [ White can try to hit Black immediately: 8.e5 but pawns can't move backwards and Black get s his co un te rp lay right o n time : g4 9.g1 dxe5 10.fxe5 b4 11.h3 h6 12.c4 h8 13.e2 f6! 14.0-0-0 b5 15.b3 a5 Grischuk, A-Tseshkovsky, V/ Krasnoyarsk 2003 ] 8...c5 [ 8...g4 9.g1 e5?! isn't the right pawn

break. W hite holds the advantage after 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.h3 h6 12.fxe5 ( 12.xa6! bxa6 13.xd8 xd8 14.xe5 xe5 15.fxe5 is probably even stronger.) 12...e7 13.xa6 bxa6 14.d6 b7 15.b4 c7 16.c5 e8 17.h2 e6 18.0-0 Zehrfeldt, M-Brender, H/ Hockenheim 1994 But this is not bad for White of course. It follows that Black should be looking to play f or c5 rather than e5 against this particular White pawn formation and system. It's similar to the King's Indian: when the Bishop on c1 develops early, baring b2, aim for ...c5, otherwise go for ...e5. These little rules of thumb really help the average player to navigate through the fianchetto systems. ] 9.d5 b8 10.e2 c7 11.a4 a6 Now W hite has to make a decision about whether to inhibit ..b7-b5 or not. Long experience suggests he should hold this move up with a4 because it gives him a later target on a6. 12.a5 [ 12.0-0 b5 is perfectly OK for Black whose position springs immediately to life: 13.axb5 axb5 14.xb5 ( 14.e1 c4 15.e2 b4 16.d1 xe4 17.xc4 e6 ) 14...xb5 15.xb5 xe4 16.d3 f6 17.c4 g4 ] 12...b5 Black has to play this move or his p o s i t i o n m a k e s n o s e n s e . 13.axb6 And now W hite has his weakness on a6 to aim at.....maybe. I prefer Black's activity. xb6 14.a4 b4 A typical move. Black harries W hite by attacking e4 and monitoring b2. 15.d2 b8 16.0-0 e6! The second essential pawn break from Black, who plays this game in model fashion. If the e file opens up White's Queen is misplaced: 17.dxe6 [ 17.c4 exd5 18.exd5 ( 18.cxd5 e8 19.a5 fxd5! ) 18...e8 ] 17...xe6 18.f5 White has to press for the initiative or his pawns would simply become weak. gxf5! Enabling Black to use the d5 square and opening the a8-h1 diagonal for action. This type of move is a judgement call a n d i t i s ve ry in st ru c t i ve t o s e e t h e wa y Morozevitch juggle attack and defence in the ensuing play. 19.exf5 c7 20.f2 cd5! Centralization is used to beat off the coming Kingside attack. 21.h4 b4 22.g5 xd3 A key component in any direct White assault 1112

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 o n h 7 i s d e s t r o y e d . 23.cxd3 b4 And now it remains to break the pin on the K n i g h t f 6 . 24.d4 cxd4 25.d2 c4 Keeping active. 26.g5 b7 27.f2 e8 As White has no clear way to take advantage on the pin on f6, Black activates his last piece. 28.b3 [ 28.d2 b4 29.g3 h8 ] 28...b4 29.d2 a5 30.b2 d3 31.h3 h6! 32.h4 [ 32.xh6 xh6 33.xh6 g4-+ ] 32...b6 33.xd3 [ 33.dc4 d4-+ ] [ 33.bc4 d4 34.af1 g4 35.f6 xf2 36.xf2 xf6-+ ] 33...e3 34.f3 xd3 35.xf6 xf6 36.e1 e4 37.xe4 xe4 38.g4+ f8 39.xe4 d1+ 40.e1 c3 41.a8+ e7 Brilliant, counter attacking skills by Morozevich, considering the quality of the opposition. An important theoretical game for Pirc players too, where Black shows the way forward against 6 Be3. 0-1

1067 Lanka,Zigurds Sznapik,Aleksander (ol) Manila (ol) [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1992

L a t vi a n G M Zig u rd s L a n ka is o n e o f t h e foremost opening experts in modern chess. In the following game he played an important novelty on move 7! 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 b6 7.c4!? [ The move 7.e5 was considered earlier in the game Beliavsky - Anand. ] 7...b7 [ Black has a lot of possibilities: 7...xe4?! i s d u b i o u s : 8.xe4 d5 9.d3 dxe4 10.xe4 c6 11.e5 b7 12.f3 leads to a clear advantage for White. ] [ but 7...c5 ] [ or 7...e6 are quite playable. ] 8.e5 [ 8.f5!? was also interesting, then possible was A) after 8...xe4?! 9.fxg6 hxg6 10.xe4 d5 ( or 10...xe4 11.g5 ) 11.b3! dxe4

12.g5 white would achieve good attacking chances; B) 8...d5!? could lead to an unclear position after 9.exd5 xd5 ( 9...gxf5 ? 10.h4 ) 10.xd5 xd5 11.d3 c6 12.c3; C) 8...c5!? with very complicated play ] 8...g4 9.e2 c5 [ After 9...xe3 10.xe3 c5 11.d5 both black's bishops are passive. ] 10.0-0-0 [ 10.g1 also came into consideration, the text move is a more direct try. ] 10...xf3 Other continuations do not solve black's problems: [ 10...c6?! 11.g1! a5 ( 11...h6 ? 12.b1 ! xf4 13.e4 g5 14.xg5+winning ) 12.d5 with the advantage ] [ or 10...xe3 11.xe3 cxd4 ( 11...c6 12.d5 a5 13.d3 with the better game) 12.xd4 c7 13.d5! dxe5 14.db5! c8 15.fxe5 was also better for white ] 11.xf3 xe3 12.xe3 cxd4 [ After 12...c6?! 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.h4 white's attack was coming quickly. ] 13.xd4 c6 14.e4 a5 15.b3 [ If 15.a6 black could gain some tempi to begin his attack first by b5! ] 15...xb3+ 16.axb3 b5!? 17.b1 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 17.he1 deserved attention. ] 17...a5! 18.xb5 b8 19.c3 dxe5 20.f5! Trying to keep the bishop on g7 passive. gxf5! Of course black has quite a different plan. 21.xf5 e6 22.g5 h6 23.g3 b7 24.f3 fb8?? A terrible blunder which loses immediately. [ After the correct 24...ab8 the position was unclear. ] 25.d8+! A typical combination which ends the game. Black resigned. 1-0

1113

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1068 Ledger,Andrew Baker,Chris W 4NCL 2008-9 Staverton ENG (9) [John Watson]

B09 2425 2351 02.05.2009

1.d4 g6 Starting as a Modern... 2.e4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 ...into a Pirc, Austrian Attack. 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d4!? So far, this strange move seems to be doing rather well. The point is to guard the e-pawn and force Black, IF he wants to win the c-pawn, to end up with a pawn on c5, which is generally undesirable because e5 will follow. In a case like this, it's all in the specifics. I reported on this line in great detail in An is im ov-V oino v, Ru ssia n Ch 2 00 7 . c6 Here, are other answers to 7 Qd4. Since you might want to have all this analysis in one place, I'm going to simply paste in my lengthy analysis from the earlier game AnisimovVoinov, which can be found in the Archives. I'll combine this with Joe Gallagher's and James Vigus' analysis, with some new thoughts: [ a) First, there's 7...dxc5 , when Gallgher gives 8 Bb5+, but I think that 8 Qc4 may be even better: From my earlier update: A) Vigus thinks that Black is okay after 8.b5+ A1) 8...bd7 9.a4 xa4 10.xa4 a6 11.e5 g4 12.b3 was B.Certic-G. V u j a d i n o vi c , K l a d o vo 1 9 9 6 , a n d i s obviously in White's favour; A2) 8...xb5 '!' 9.xf6! xf6 10.xb5 a6 11.e5 g7 12.e3 was Vigus' and Gallagher's line, which I took further, as follows: ', in view of W hite's missing light-squared bishop. But Black's bishop is blocked off and his knight on a6 is a little funny, so maybe we should go a touch further:' A2a) V i g u s a l s o l i k e s 12...d7 13.0-0-0+ c6 14.c3 f5 , but this is likely to lead to W hite's advantage after 15.h3! ( or 15.d5 he8 16.c4 ) 15...h5 ( 15...b4 16.g4 xc2 17.d2 h5 18.a3 hxg4 19.axb4 b3 20.b5+ b6 21.g5; 15...c7 16.g4 e6 17.g5 ) 16.d5 he8 17.c4 ( or 17.d2 b6 18.hd1 );

A2b) 12...d7! Back to 12...Bd7: 13.c4 A2b1) b e s t s e e m s 13...c6! 14.0-0-0 0-0 15.he1 b6 ( 15...f6 16.e6 f5 17.a3 ) 16.e2 h6 17.ed2 White has space, but he isn't going anywhere for a while; A2b2) 13...0-0-0!? 14.g5 ( or 14.xa7+ ) 14...e8 15.xa7+ b8 16.b5 h6 17.f3 b4 18.e2 All this has to be tested. If Black stands worse, it's not by much. I think that 8 Qc4 is more important:; A3) 8...d7 , when White should probably follow Certic's suggestion of 9.xd7+ ( 9.xc5 looks risky after 0-0! ) 9...bxd7 10.d2 d8; B) 8.c4 0-0 ( 8...c6?! 9.e5 h5 10.e3 0-0 11.0-0-0 ) B1) 9.b5 looks important. Black still has to solve the problem that his bishop will be cut off by e5: B1a) 9...xb5 10.xb5 a6 -look for improvements here?- 11.d3 c6 12.e5 seems to favour White, for example, h5 13.e3 g4 ( 13...b6? 14.e4 b7 15.g4 ) 14.e4 fd8 15.0-0 d4 16.ad1 , etc.; B1b) 9...c7 10.e5 a6 ( 10...fd7 11.e3 a6 12.e2 ) 11.b3 e6!? 12.c4 xc4 13.xc4 b5 14.e2; B2) Martin gives 9.d2 , which doesn't seem as good after e6 10.e2 ( jw: 10.b5 c7 11.g5 d7 12.b3 h6 13.e5 hxg5 14.exf6 exf6 15.0-0-0 c6 , about equal) 10...b6 ( jw: better is simply 10...c6 11.e5 d7= ) 11.0-0-0 c6 12.e5 d7 13.e3 "Thanks to the blocked-in Bishop on g7, I prefer White." - Martin agreed, but Black can improve, as seen.; B3) 9.e5!? There are two other choices: B3a) Black came up short after 9...g4 10.h3 h6 11.e3 a6 B3a1) 12.0-0-0! e6 ( 12...f5 13.f2 ) 13.b5 xb5 14.xb5 clearly favours White; B3a2) 12.b5!? xb5 13.xb5 b6 14.c6 b8 15.a3 b7 16.xb7 xb7 17.0-0-0 in Van Herwaarden, A-De Saegher, C (2203)/Dieren NED 1114

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2006/.; B3b) 9...h5 10.e3; B3c) 9...e6 10.b5 xb5 11.xb5! (For some reason, this isn't played or looked at ( Vigus correctly thinks that Martin's 11.xb5!? d5 12.a3 a6 13.c4 axb5 14.cxd5 xd5 15.xb5 is fine for Black then a6!? 16.e3 c7 17.e2 b6 is an easy solution) 11...d5 ( 11...fd7?! 12.g5; 11...g4?! 12.h3 h6 13.e3 ) 12.xd5 xd5 13.e3 b6 ( 13...a6 14.e2 b6 15.0-0-0 has to favor W h i t e s o m e w h a t) 14.0-0-0 e6 ( 14...xf3 15.gxf3 a6 16.c4 c6 17.c3 ) 15.e2 f6 (thematic, to free the bishop, and probably best, but it also leaves Black a little vulnerable) ( 15...c4 16.b3 cxb3 17.axb3 c8 18.b2 f6 19.c4 e4 20.exf6 xf6+ 21.d4 ) 16.c4 e4 17.hg1! -in order to bring a knight to g5 or d2 or e5 and not leave g2 hanging ( 17.d6!? ) 17...fxe5 ( 17...a6 18.exf6! xf6 19.a3 and Rd7 or Ng5; 17...e8 18.exf6 xf6 19.d2! and Bf3 ) 18.fxe5 h6 19.d6 and White stands better. ] [ b) The other major line is 7...0-0 A) M o r e d a r i n g i s 8.cxd6 xe4 ( the critical line I don't see anything particularly good for Black after 8...c6 9.d2 ) 9.xe4 xc3+ , and now White should prefer 10.bxc3! ( Black has plenty of play after both 10.d2 xd2+ 11.xd2 c6; and 10.f2 f6 11.dxe7 e8 ) 10...xc3+ 11.f2 xa1 12.dxe7 e8 13.c4 with excellent attacking chances in return for the exchange.; B) 8.d2 c6 9.f2 xc5?! ( The white queen is a little awkwardly placed so Black would have done better to play 9...dxc5 . At least the game is more complicated after something like 10.e5 g4 11.h4 h6 . ) 10.xc5 dxc5 11.e5 d7?! ( 11...g4 was a better chance. Black's plan of opening the centre wh e n w a y b e h i n d i n d e v e l o p m e n t i s doomed to failure.) 12.0-0-0 f6 13.c4+ h8 14.exf6 exf6 15.e3 White has won the opening battle. a6 16.he1 h6

17.g3 b6 18.e6 cb8 19.d5 a7 20.xb6! xb6 21.xc5 c7 22.xb6 c6 23.xc8 xb6 24.e6 b4 25.xa6 a4 26.b5 xa2 27.c4 g5 28.b1 a7 29.xg5 xg5 30.fxg5 fxg5 31.ed6 g7 32.d8 xd8 33.xd8 a6 34.xa6 xa6 35.c2 f6 36.c3 1-0 Ninov-Peev, Ulcinj 1997 this 7. ..0-0 analysis come largely from Joe Gallagher. ] 8.b5 dxc5 [ The Ansimov game went 8...0-0?! 9.a4! xa4 10.xa4 dxc5 11.e5 d7 12.d5 Or 12 Be3 this is exactly what Black doesn't want. e6 13.c7!? ( 13.xc6 bxc6 14.e7+ h8 15.e3! is even better. Black is paralysed.) 13...b8 14.e3 b6?! ( 14...b4 15.a3 b5 16.axb4 bxa4 17.xa4 ) 15.b5 d8 16.xc5 AnisimovVoinov, Krasnoyarsk 2007. ] [ 8...xb5? 9.xf6! xf6 10.xb5 Milov-Henderikse, Haarlem 2004. ] [ 8...d7 '!' 'looks best:' 9.xc6= ( 9.a4 xa4 10.xa4 b4! 11.b3 e6! 12.0-0 xb3 13.axb3 dxc5 14.e5 g4 15.e1 is a forcing line that gets Black close to equality, although White may still have some pull after, for example, 0-0 16.h3 h6 17.g4! ) 9...xc6 10.cxd6 exd6 11.0-0 0-0 t h r e a t e n s . . . N xe 4 , a n d 12.e5 g4! 13.xd6 fd8 14.e7 b6+ 15.h1 f2+ 16.g1 e4+ arguably draws by force. ] 9.a4! xa4 10.xa4 d7 11.e3 b8?! [ 11...xc3+ 12.bxc3 0-0 13.0-0-0 ( 13.d2!? a5 14.xd7 xd7 15.xc5 fe8 ) 13...b8 14.c4 a6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.d3 with the idea Rhd1 and advantage. ] 12.e5 f6 13.0-0-0 fxe5 14.xc6?! [ 14.d5! threatens Nc7+ and is hard to meet, for example, h6 15.c7+ f8 16.e6+ f7 17.fg5+ xg5 18.xg5+ e8 19.xc6 bxc6 20.fxe5 and Black stands very poorly, especially since xe5? loses to 21.f4 ] 14...bxc6 15.fxe5 0-0 16.he1 xe5?! [ 16...b7 or ] [ 16...e8 is better, still favouring White, but not by so much as in the game. ] 17.xe5 xe5 18.xc5 xh2 19.xe7 g4 20.h1 bd8 1115

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 20...f4+ 21.b1 h5 22.xa7 ] 21.xa7 f5 22.b6 [ 22.e4! ] 22...f4+ 23.b1 d2 24.a4 e5 25.e4 [ 25.axh7! ] 25...xg2 26.a5 f4 27.e1 e2 28.xe2 xe2 29.f2 f5? [ 29...f6 ] 30.d3 f6 31.a6 1-0

1069 Lodhi,Mahmood Rahman,Ziaur 7th United Insurance (3) [Andrew Martin]

B09 2406 2493 09.05.2004

1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.e5 A blast from the past. Velimirovic liked this move and so should anyone who enjoys attacking chess. But is 6... Nfd7! 7 h4!? sound? e8!? That question will have to wait for another day! 6...Ne8 is very rare indeed and by comparison with 6.. ..Nfd7, the Black Knight exerts less pressure on the centre. On the plus side the Bishop on c8 remains free to go and ...f7-f6 is a possible retort. W hich of these factors is more significant? I would be looking very closely now at 7 h4 but Lodhi decides on a slower way. 7.e3 [ 7.h4! g4 was actually played in the game we are about to see. Black is very much relying on 7...Bg4 to bail him out. 8.e2 d7 9.g5 xe2 10.xe2 h6 11.xf7! xf7 12.e6 f8 13.exd7 xd7 14.e3 ( 14.h5! fearing nothing, is consistent: gxh5 15.xh5 f6 16.h4 ae8 17.g4 ) 14...f6 15.0-0-0 c6 16.d2 f5 Black seems to have got away with it. There seems plenty of light-squared counterplay available. 17.dg1 h5 18.b1 g4 19.g3 e6 ( 19...e5! grasping the nettle, was also good. ) 20.e1 c4 21.d1 e5 22.dxe5 dxe5 23.fxe5 xe5 24.h6 xc3 25.bxc3 f5 26.he1 b5+ 27.c1 xa2?? C a t a s t r o p h e ! ( 27...c5! is a c ru s h e r !) 28.d8+! xd8 29.xd8+ 1-0 Villanueva,MAlvarez Castillo,H/Tres de Febrero 2003 ] 7...c6

[ 7...c5!? 8.dxc5 c6 looks in the spirit of the Pirc: 9.exd6 ( 9.e2 a5 10.cxd6 exd6 11.d5 d8 12.0-0-0 e6 13.b5 b8 Lepeshkin-Gufeld USSR Ch 1966) 9...exd6 10.d2 a5 11.cxd6 xd6! 12.d3 d8 13.d1 b4 TimoschenkoKarasev USSR 1972 ] 8.a4 Setting the scene for a more placid game than is usually the case after 6 e5 but I can't help feeling that Rahman has succeeded with his opening idea. For me , White has changed his mind. He starts out hyper-aggressively with 6 e5 and goes into full reverse with 8 a4. The Pirc is all about hitting back and tempting W hite to over-extend. That's exactly what Lodhi has done. [ 8.e2 a5 9.h4! is much more appropriate. h5 ( 9...g4 10.d2 b5 11.0-0-0 d7 12.g5! looks good for White too.) 10.g5 f6 11.xh5 fxg5 12.xg6 gxf4 13.h5 f6 14.exf6 xf6 15.e4 fxe3 16.g5 ( 16.h7+! f8 17.xf6 exf6 18.h5 is a wipe-out.) 16...e2 ( 16...e5 17.dxe5 dxe5 18.d1 e7 19.f7+ xf7 20.d8+!; 16...e6 17.0-0-0 e2 18.de1 e7 19.xe2 e5 20.dxe5 dxe5 ) 17.f7+ xf7 18.xf7+ h8 19.g6 g8 20.h5 1-0 Van Popta, H-Van der Bilt,W/Groningen 1999 ] 8...c7 9.c4 ba6 10.0-0 b4= Painless equalization. Even the THREAT of Black counterplay reduced White to playing p a s s i v e l y . 11.e2 a5 12.fd1 h8 He is going to play... f7-f6 and dismantle that huge White centre. I wouldn't say this is a Pirc players dream position but it's certainly not to be sneezed at. Black has a nice game. [ 12...d5 13.b3 g4 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 f6 ] 13.b3 f6 14.h3 bd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.c4 He can't decide how to handle the position but his over-extended centre is the real problem. xe3 17.xe3 It remains for Black to activate the Bg7.This he accomplishes on his very next move. h6! 18.e6?! I am doubtful - the pawn may become isolated and weak. Lodhi should have settled for [ 18.exf6 xf6 19.g5 g7 20.e1 which is only slightly worse for him. The Bishop on g7 might become King but Black 1116

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 has to worry about the pawn on e7 before he can claim any true advantage. ] 18...d5 19.cxd5 cxd5 20.g3 a6! The life-support has been cut off to the poor p a w n o n e 6 21.e1 xe6 22.xe6 He probably felt this was his best shot. xe6 23.xe6 d7 24.ae1 c8! 25.xe7 xh3 26.f2 The only move. f8 27.xb7 g5! 28.f7 [ 28.xd5 gxf4 29.gxf4 d6 leaves the White King facing a firing squad. The Black attack is of course enhanced by the presence of opposite-coloured Bishops. ] 28...b4 29.e2 gxf4 30.gxf4 g8 31.ee7 g2+ Well, Rahman psyched Lodhi out of the attack. He plays a bit like Hodgson, confidently! Both are willing to try out risky lines which have potential. I would like to have seen Lodhi employing a much more aggres s ive a p pro a ch . h2 -h 4 so m ewh e re seems key, not pussyfooting around castling short. 0-1

1070 Marjanovic,S Alexander,Gregor Jugoslavija [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1992

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 c6 7.e5 dxe5 8.dxe5 d5 9.d2 [ No t h i n g wo u l d b e a c h i e ve d b y 9.xd5 xd5 10.e2 f5!? 11.xf5 gxf5 12.0-0 ad8 13.e3 f6 14.exf6 xf6 15.c3 h8 16.f2 e4 with good play for black in Wang Zili - R.Antonio, Sydney 1991 ] 9...cb4 10.e4 c6 11.e2?! This looks logical but black has a strong reply. [ 11.xd5?! was not better: cxd5 12.xb4 dxe4 13.xd8 xd8 14.d2 f8 ( 14...e3 is also good) 15.0-0-0 f5 16.de1 a5 17.c3 b5 with a strong initiative ] [ Probably 11.a3 was best: xc3 ( 11...a6 12.b4!? ) 12.xc3 d5 13.d2!? with mutual chances. ] 11...a6 An excellent resource! The knight is go i n g t o c 5 . 12.fd4?! Another inaccuracy which leads to real problems for white.

[ 12.c3 was the normal continuation but black's chances are already preferable. ] 12...f6 13.exf6 xf6 14.f3 e5! Opening the position. W hite has no time to complete his development without any material loss. 15.fxe5 g4 16.f4 [ 16.0-0? was impossible because of xe5 winning material ] 16...xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.d3?! Trying to make things more complicated for black but this actually leads to quite a different result. [ Of course 18.0-0 was possible but black is much better here ] 18...c5 19.b3+ h8 20.e6 xe6 21.xe6 xb2 22.b1 h4+! 23.g3 b4+ 24.c3 xc3+ 25.f2 ae8?! Simplifying the position but black parts with some of his advantage. [ 25...b2 was stronger. ] 26.d5?! Now it's all over. [ 26.xe8 was necessary: xe8 27.xb4 cxb4 28.xc3 bxc3 29.c1 c5 30.xc3 b6 with an extra pawn in the ending but white can still fight. ] 26...d4+-+ winning 27.g2 [ 27.xd4 d2+ 28.g1 cxd4-+ winning ] 27...d2 White resigned. 0-1

1071 Martinez Ramirez,E Narciso Dublan,M 37th Barbera del Valles Open 2014 (2.4) [Neil McDonald]

B09 2324 2523

The variation in this game has been studied e xh a u s t ive ly b y Jo h n W a t so n a n d M ilo s Pavlovic and Andrew Martin on ChessPub. You can find their comments in the archives. In particular check out John's analysis to the game Nakamura-Smirin (there are two versions). 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.e5 fd7 7.h4 c5 8.h5 cxd4 9.hxg6 dxc3 10.gxf7+ xf7 11.c4 e6! 12.g5 cxb2 13.xb2 a5+ 14.c3 xe5 15.h5 bc6 16.xe6 So far, so theory. Bur rather than the game move, my computer program suggests [ 16.0-0-0!? which certainly sets Black a lot 1117

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 o f p r a c t i c a l p r o b l e m s . F o r e xa m p l e h6 the only move as ( 16...xc4 loses at once to 17.xf7+ ) 17.fxe5 hxg5 18.exd6 W hite is a piece down but his attacking chances plus the strong passed pawn give h i m e n o u g h f o r d yn a m i c e q u a l i t y . e5 ( 18...g4 19.h7+ f8 20.b1 c5 21.d3 e5 22.df1 e6 23.g6 c4 24.a3! xd3+ 25.xd3 xa3 26.g6 f4 27.xf4+ exf4 28.f5+ e8 29.e6+ f8 30.h5 and White has a winning attack =with 31.Rf5+.) 19.h7+ f8 20.hf1 c5 21.b3 d7 22.c4! opening up the diagonal of the other bishop. f4 23.xf4+ gxf4 24.d4 f7 25.xg7+ xg7 26.d5+ e5 27.xc5 f6 28.c7 e6 29.c5 the position remains dynamically balanced going into the endgame. ] [ In contrast, 16.fxe5 is bad for White- see John's comments. ] 16...d3+! Instead John analyses [ 16...f3+ but that is not as convincing as the game move. ] 17.d2 xe6 18.xh7+ f8 19.xe6+ e7 20.xg7 xf4 21.g3 [ This should lose quickly, but 21.af1 g5 is no fun for White either as he is obliged to enter a lost endgame with 22.h4 xh4 23.xh4 xg7 24.hxf4 xg2+ ] 21...d5+ 22.c2 g2? [ The winning move was 22...d3! A) 23.af1 cb4+! Black has a forced win, but he has to do it all with check, or else his own king will be for the chop. 24.cxb4 ( Or 24.d2 g2+ ) 24...xb4+ 25.b1 xa2+ 26.c1 c8+ 27.d1 xf1+ 28.xf1 b3+ 29.e1 d3+ 30.d2 c2+ 31.e3 f2+ 32.f4 c4+ 33.g5 xg3+ 34.h6 e3+ 35.h5 h3+ 36.g6 g4+ 37.f5 xh7# and Black has had the ignominy of losing his queen and being mated on the same move.; B) 23.ac1 f2+ 24.b1 xb2+ and mate next move.; C) 23.xd3 f2+ and wins the queen. ] 23.ag1 g8 [ Black is out of danger with a clear edge after 23...e3+ 24.b1 d7 ] 24.b1? [ White is alive again after 24.c4! awakening

his bishop xc4+ 25.b1 b4 26.f6+!? xf6 ( Black loses his queen after 26...d7 27.f5+ c7 28.c1 ) 27.f1+ e7 28.xf7+ xf7 29.f5+ f6 30.xf7+ xf7 31.h6+ g7 32.xg8 xg8 33.d1 e3 34.xd6 and it's burnt out to an equal endgame. ] 24...gxg7 25.c2 e3 26.e2 e4+ 27.c1 e5 A crushing win for Black, but 16. 0-0-0 at least seems to make the line playable for White, even if objectively speaking he has no more than equal chances or even slightly worse chances. How many players would want to delve into these huge complications as Black? 0-1

1072 Mastrovasilis,Dimitrios Schmaltz,Roland Athens [Andrew Martin]

B09

2005

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 c6 7.0-0 e5 This game makes 7....e5 look dubious, but as we know this assessment can fluctuate from month to month, such is the sharp nature of this line. 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.d5 d4 10.xe5 xe4 11.xe4 [ Judit Polgar has been successful with 11.xe4 xe5 12.f4 xf4 13.xf4 f5 14.xf5 xf5 15.d4 and indeed this looks like a trouble-free route to a small edge for White. ] 11...xe5 12.c3 Kicking the Knight appears best at this stage. [ Instead 12.f4 allows xd5!= once recent example going 13.c4 e6 14.g5 e7 15.e1 f6 16.xh7 xh7 17.xe5 fxe5 18.xe5 f5-+ Ozerov, I-Zachos, I/Essen 2004 ] 12...f5 13.f3! Black is not able to take on d5 and thus his position starts to become unpleasant. c6 14.dxc6 bxc6 [ 14...b6+ 15.f2 xc6 is no real solution either: 16.f4! g7 ( 16...xf4 17.xf4 d8 18.c2 e6 19.f6+ g7 20.e5 ) 17.g4 h6 18.xh6 xh6 19.f6+ g7 20.e4 c5 21.e1 g5 22.b4 b6 1118

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.d5 d6 24.d1 f5 25.gxf5 xf5 26.e3 e5 27.xf5+ gxf5 28.d7+ g6 29.d3 Moiseev, V-Schoeneich, M/Berlin 1994 ] 15.g5 f6 An unwelcome weakening of the K i n g p o s i t i o n . 16.c4+ g7 17.f4! Stripping out the defenders very logical. xf4 [ 17...b6+ 18.h1 xb2 19.xe5 fxe5 20.g4! is a crusher. ] 18.xf4 b6+ 19.h1 d7 [ Not the tempting 19...e3 when 20.xf6 xf1 ( 20...f5 21.ae1 ) 21.h5+ gxh5 22.g5+ h8 23.e5++- finishes matters cleanly. ] 20.ae1 h5? By this stage Schmaltz looks as though he was demoralized. Black can put up a better fight with [ 20...b8 but there is no disputing White's ongoing advantage af ter 21.d2 d8 22.c5! ] 21.xf6! xf6 [ 21...xf6 22.e7+ f8 23.e5! c5 24.xf5! finishes Black off: xf5 ( 24...gxf5 25.xd7 e8 26.g3 g6 27.f7+ g8 28.e7+! f8 29.e5!+is a neat variation. ) 25.h7!+- ] 22.d6+ g5 23.d2+ f6 24.xd7 A game which is quite easy to understand, given a reasonable command of tactics and one which brings 7...e5 into question. 1-0

chess books like this any more. dxe5 8.fxe5 h5 Enabling the bishop on c8 to come immediately into the game. This is the great advantage o f 8...Nh5 o ver 8...Ng4 . 9.e3 g4 10.e2 The sole purpose of this move seems to be to allow White to play c2-c3, yet he never plays it here! [ Better seems 10.c4 with distinct chances of an advantage: A) 10...a5 11.e2 d7 ( 11...c5 12.dxc5 b8 13.0-0 xf3 14.xf3 xe5 15.d5 xh2+ 16.h1 c6 ) 12.e4 f5 13.c5 d5 14.0-0 c4 15.xc4 xc4 16.h3 xf3 17.xf3 d5 18.b3 e6 19.c4 c6 20.b4 b6 21.b5 e8 22.a6 d7 23.b4 f4 24.f2 f7 25.c6 a5 26.e2 af8 27.d1 h6 28.d5 f5 29.d4 g7 30.dxe6 e7 31.xf5 xf5 32.d7 xe6 33.xc7 xe5 34.d3 1 -0 S p re n ge r, J-S a lce d o T o rn e ro , P / Madrid 2002; B) 10...xf3 11.xf3 xd4 12.e4! b5 13.xd4 bxc4 14.0-0-0; C) 10...h8 11.d2 f6 12.exf6 xf6 13.0-0 xf3 14.xf3 e5 15.d5 d4 16.ff1 f5 17.f2 d6 18.b3 g5 19.e1 e7 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 f4 22.e2 af8 23.ae1 a5 24.c3 f6 Karpov, A-Nikolaevsky, Y/Leningrad 1971 and now 25.xe5 ] 10...f6N As mentioned earlier, this is one of the moves Black relies upon to enable counterplay. 1073 B09 [ Or 10...b4 11.c4 c5 12.c3 d5 13.d2 c8 14.b3 c4 15.c2 f6 16.h6 Michalczak,Thomas 2361 fxe5 17.xg7 xg7 18.xe5 xe2 Narciso Dublan,Marc 2525 19.xe2 hf4 20.e4 e3! Thirion, M7th ch-Euro Kusadasi TUR (11) 15.04.2006 Claesen, J/Belgium 1995 (24) ] [Andrew Martin] 11.exf6 xf6 12.c4+ d5 13.d2 xf3 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 14.gxf3 xf3 Already Black is doing very well 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 c6 7.e5 "The rationale indeed. 15.f4?! It is far too risky to leave the behind White's 7th move is clear: he wishes King in the middle. He had to castle: [ 15.0-0-0 e6 16.g5 d7 17.h4 f2 to gain space in the centre, limit the radius of 18.c3 Sometimes the decision a player th e b la ck K B a n d m inim ise th e po t e nt ia l makes baffles the spectator. This is one pressure against d4. In return this militant such moment. ] crossing of the 'fourth parallel' will involve White in certain heavy positional commitments 15...e6 16.xe6? Off track. [ 16.xd5 exd5 17.0-0-0 d6 18.hf1 - it will prove a difficult task to maintain his xf1 19.xf1 f8 still leaves Black a little advanced centre against the flanking blows ... b e t t e r , b u t a n yt h i n g w o u l d h a v e b e e n c5 and ...f6" From the Pirc Defence, Keene preferable to the game. ] and Botterill, Batsford 1973. They don't write 1119

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16...h4+ 17.f2 xf2 18.xf2 e4+-+ 10.xc5 dxc5 11.e5 e8N Apparently a 19.d1 xh1+ 20.d2 h6+ 21.f4 e4 n e w m o ve a n d o n e c a n we l l u n d e rs t a n d 6 . . N c 6 i s r a r e r t h a n a P e n n y B l a c k a t Black's desire to keep c7 under control. Grandmaster level and winning with it rarer [ After 11...d7 White works up a sizeable still. 7 0-0! is in my view the best reply, but 7 initiative: 12.0-0-0 f6 ( 12...d8 13.e3 e5 appears OK as long as W hite does not is better for White, who has more space and collapse, as he did here... ideas of Bb5 or Bc4: a6 14.c4 e6 0-1 15.d3! b6 16.e4 b7 17.d6 a5 18.hd1 ) 13.c4+ h8 14.exf6 exf6 15.e3 a6 16.he1 h6 17.g3 b6 18.e6 1074 B09 cb8 19.d5 a7 20.xb6 xb6 21.xc5 c7 22.xb6 c6 23.xc8 xb6 Milov,Leonid 2454 24.e6 b4 25.xa6 a4 26.b5+Gonzales,Jayson 2403 Ninov,N-Peev, P/Ulcinj 1997 ] I Fincas Mediterranea (4) 21.08.2004 12.e3 b6 13.0-0-0 This position is just more [Andrew Martin] comfortable for White. He can probe on the 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 light squares and operate on the d file. He 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d4!? A genuinely can use e4 as a transfer point. As long as the unusual move which I have never seen before bishop on g7 remains shut in Black has little and could come as a complete surprise to the to look forward to. c7 14.b5 e6 15.c4 unprepared. White seems to be forcing Black a6 16.c3 b8 17.d2 a5 18.e2 b7 to take on c5 with a pawn af ter which he 19.d5 fe8 20.b3 b5 21.hd1 c6 dominates the centre with a well-timed e4-e5!. 22.g4 [ I like the patient 22.c3! here, denying Black 0-0! the d4 square. Then White can launch his [ I'm analysing this for the first time so here Kingside pawn storm. ] goes: 7...c6 is obvious but White seems to be better after 8.b5! xb5 ( 8...0-0 22...f6 The critical moment of the game. Black 9.a4! xa4 10.xa4 dxc5 11.e5 d7 makes his bid for freedom. If he did not find a 12.e3! White has more space and simple chance to play ... f7-f6 his position would i d e a s o f B x c 6 f o l l o we d b y N e 4 a n d / o r remain horribly cramped. 23.f5 That was the po in t o f g2 -g4 . W it h h is p ie ce s in b et t e r 0-0-0. ) 9.xf6! xf6 10.xb5 is cute. ] [ 7...xc5 8.xc5 dxc5 9.e5 g4 10.d5 positions, White initiates tactics. gxf5 24.gxf5 d8 11.g5 h6 12.e3 White is much ed4 25.g1 xf5? [ 25...fxe5 26.c7 ec8 ( 26...f8 better here with clear pressure on the d file 27.xd4 xd4 28.xd4 cxd4 29.e6 f7 and against c5. ] 30.h5+- ) 27.h6 xf5 28.xg7 xg7 [ 7...dxc5 Maybe Black's best. 8.c4 0-0 29.e6 ] 9.e5 ( 9.d2!? e6 10.e2 b6 11.0-0-0 [ 25...h8! is best, after which I see nothing c6 12.e5 d7 13.e3 Thanks to the clear for White. ] blocked-in Bishop on g7,I prefer W hite.) 9...e6 10.b5 xb5 11.xb5 d5 12.a3 26.exf6 exf6 27.xf6+ h8 28.xe8 xe8 a6 13.c4 axb5 14.cxd5 xd5 15.xb5= 29.xc5+- e5 30.xe5 xe5 31.f1 The conclusion is rather unexpected ( for 5...c5 has scored very well for Black overall m e ) A f t e r 7 Q d 4 , W h i t e h a s ve r y g o o d and I know a lot of Austrian players who do not like to face it. Could 7 Qd4 be the answer? practical chances. ] I am not fully sure, but for one or two games 8.d2 c6 9.c4 xc5 [ 9...e6 10.d5 ( 10.b5! is the move I or as a surprise the ideas displayed in this would choose, aiming for a superior ending: game will serve as a good points-scoring xb5 11.xb5 dxc5 12.xc6 bxc6 weapon. 13.e5 ab8 14.b3 fc8 15.h3 c4 16.g4 1-0 d7 17.xd7 xd7 18.0-0-0 ) 10...xc5 11.xc5 dxc5 12.xf6+ xf6 13.0-0-0= ] 1120

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1075 Mortensen,Erling Nilsson,Nils Specht Politiken Cup (10) [Nigel Davies]

B09 1076 Nakamura,Hikaru Smirin,Ilia 24.07.2001 Foxwoods/Mashantucket (5) [John Watson]

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 0-0 9.e3 a5 10.0-0 g4 11.e1 A Mortensen speciality. White is trying to get his opponent to capture on f3 without playing h2-h3. The big idea is that he might want to put a rook on that square when he later tries to attack Black's king. [ 11.f2 is similarly motivated, Thipsay P l a s k e t t , D h a k a 1 9 9 7 c o n t i n u e d xf3 12.xf3 c6 13.h1 ac8 14.a3 h5 15.g3 d5?! (Plaskett had probably in t e n d e d t h e f o l l o wi n g q u e e n s a c, b u t probably overestimated his compensation) 16.exd5 xd5 17.e2 f5 18.g4 xg4 19.xg4 xe3 20.h3 xf1 21.xf1 fd8 22.e4 e6 23.c3 and White consolidated his queenside and went on to win ] 11...c6 12.d2 d7 13.b3 Reaching a position very similar to the Classical Dragon. c7 [ An earlier Mortensen game (Mortensen Yrjola, Espoo 1989) went 13...d8 14.h3?! ( If Black had repeated this I think that Mortensen would have improved with 14.h1 ) 14...b4 15.f2 b5 16.a3 xd3 17.cxd3 b8 with counterplay based on ... b5-b4 coming. ] 14.h1 b4 15.f5 e6? A horrible move that weakens the dark squares around his king. [ 15...xd3 16.cxd3 b5 is a better try, but it still looks quite good for White. ] [ (and not 15...b5? b e c a u s e o f 16.xb5 xb5 17.xb4 ) ] 16.h4 xd3 17.cxd3 c6 18.g5 e7 19.ae1 ae8 20.d4 h6 With White systematically building his attack Black can't just sit there. But he doesn't get anything for his pawn. 21.xh6 h7 22.xe7 xe7 23.xg7 xg7 24.g4 exf5 25.gxf5 h8 26.e2 d7 27.fxg6 xg6 28.g2+ g5 29.f5 f6 30.e6 h7 31.xg5+ fxg5 32.fxg5 1-0

B09 2613 2644 25.03.2005

Again, reader Elizabeth Vicary asks a great question, or rather, strikes a major theoretical blow to the whole wild Austrian Attack line that we just saw Shirov use against Smirin. We'll see this in the context of the high-profile game Nakamura-Smirin. In neither case did Black try the key move! Nor is it in Vigus book. Maybe we're missing something. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.e5 fd7 7.h4 c5 8.h5 cxd4 9.hxg6 dxc3 10.gxf7+ xf7 [ 10...h8?? 11.d3 ] 11.c4 I remember that Hikaru Nakamura's father played this position for many years as Black, so it's of particular interest to see what he comes up with. Creating fewer chances are: [ 11.g5? cxb2 12.xb2 a5+ 13.c3 xe5 ] [ and 11.e6?! cxb2 ( 11...f5!? ) 12.exf7+ f8 13.xb2 xb2 14.c4 a5+ 15.f1 f6 16.b1 c3 17.b3 f5 18.g5 c6 --Nunn and McNab. ] 11...f8 As in the Shirov game that we just saw. [ 11...e6! 12.g5 A) 12...xe5 13.h5 ( 13.fxe5 cxb2 14.h5 xg5 ) 13...h6 14.fxe5 hxg5 15.h7+ f8 16.h8+ xh8 17.xh8+ g7 18.xd8 c6 19.xd6 xe5 20.e2= is an old analysis by Nunn and McNab. Vigus continues ( 20.xe6? e7 ) 20...c7 ( or 20...d7 21.bxc3 h8= ) 21.bxc3 f7 22.d4 b6= , and 22...e5 is attractive. In general, this line looks okay for Black.; B) But more importantly, Elizabeth asks a very simple question: W hy not 12...cxb2 ? She points out that her Fritz loves this (so does mine), and that 'nobody mentions it o r p lays it'. Le t's ta ke a look at he r analysis (my notes indicated): B1) 13.h5?? xg5! 14.fxg5 ( jw: 14.xh7+ f8 15.xb2 xf4 ) 14...bxa1 15.xh7+ f8; 1121

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B2) jw: 13.xf7? bxa1 14.xd8 c3+; B3) 13.xb2 a5+ B3a) jw: better but still not good enough (I think) is 14.e2! B3a1) 14...d5!? 15.xf7 xf7 16.d3! i s u n c l e a r ( instead, 16.xh7!? has the idea 16...dxc4? 1 7 Q h 1 ! , b u t 1 6 . . . N f 8 ! o r b4!? 17.d3 f8 18.xg7+ xg7 looks advantageous ); B3a2) An interesting idea is 14...b6 15.d3 d5; B3a3) 14...c7!? 15.d3 f8 16.exd6 b6! 17.xf7 xb2 18.h6+ xh6 ( 18...h8 19.f7+ g8= ) 19.xh6 g7 20.h1 c6 , and it's hard to believe that White has enough.; B3b) 14.c3 xe5! 15.h5 bc6 B3b1) jw: T h e b e s t t r y i s 16.xe6 f3+ 17.gxf3 xc3+ 18.f2 xe6 19.xc3 xc3 20.xe6 c2+ ( 20...b2+ 21.g3 e7 22.ag1 is not at all clear) 21.g3 e7! ( 21...g6+ 22.xg6+ hxg6 23.h6 ) 22.ag1 f5 and Black is well on top; B3b2) 16.fxe5 xe5+ 17.d1 f2 18.xh7+ f8 , which is practically winning for Black. Maybe forced is 19.g6 a5 20.f1 xf1+ 21.xf1 f5 22.xf5+ exf5 . Vicary has really put the ball back into White's court this time!; C) 12...f8 is the main game again, but Black has two potential showstoppers. One is well-known, but the other may be even better: ] 12.g5 [ 12.xf7+ xf7 13.g5+ g8 14.h5 h6 15.f7+ h8 16.b3 a5 17.f7+ h7 18.g5+ is a draw. ] 12...e6 13.xf7 [ 13.h5 c7 came up short in two games, but who knows? ] 13...cxb2 [ The current theory of 13...xf7 seems at first to favour W hite after 14.h5+ g8 15.d3 h6 ( 15...cxb2 16.xb2 a5+ 17.c3 ) 16.h4! , to which Vigus appends

much analysis, but particularly his re c o m m e n d a t i o n bd7! 17.g4 e7 18.exd6 ( 18.xh6 dxe5 19.b3 f6 20.g3 e4 21.c4 e8 'with good ch a n ce s' , b u t 22.f5!? is double-edged) 18...f6 19.b3 b6 intending ...Bd7-e8... unclear'. That seems fair. ] 14.xb2 a5+ 15.f1 xf7 16.h5+ g8 17.d3 b4 18.b1 d7? [ Vigus analyses 18...xf4+? 19.e2 h6 20.bf1 g5 21.f7+ h8 22.c1 xe5+ 23.d1 c6 24.xf8+ xf8 25.xf8+ g7 26.xh6# ] [ and he suggests the last chance: 18...b6! 19.h3 ( jw: 19.f3!? d5 20.f5 ) 19...a6 20.f5 dxe5 21.fxe6 e7 ( 21...xd3+ 22.cxd3 e7 23.f3 ) 22.c4 h6 23.xe5 , although he concedes that White is clearly better. ] 19.c4 d2 20.xh7+ xh7 21.xh7+ f8 22.h4 1-0

1077 Nakamura,Hikaru Smirin,Ilia Foxwoods Open [Andrew Martin]

B09

2005

Pure entertainment now as two top Grandmasters get to grips with one of the sharpest variations of the Pirc. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.e5!? It's at times like these that I am very grateful to have my old copy of 'The Pirc Defence' by Botterill and Keene to hand. Nobody has analysed this variation as well before or since. The general opinion is that Black is doing very well indeed if he negotiates the initial complications. Let's see if either player has anything new to offer or whether Nakamura is simply willing to gamble big-time in an effort to enjoy the game of chess! If so, then he is a rare breed indeed among grandmasters. fd7 7.h4 As critical as can be. c5 8.h5 cxd4 9.hxg6 dxc3 10.gxf7+ xf7 11.c4 [ It's worthwhile checking out the alternatives t o s e e wh y N a k a m u r a p r e f e r s 1 1 B c 4 : 11.g5 cxb2 A) 12.c4 xe5! 13.h5 ( 13.fxe5 1122

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a5+ 14.d2 xe5+; 13.xf7 a5+ 14.d2 xc4! ) 13...a5+ 14.f1 d5 15.xb2 xf4+ 16.f3 dxc4 17.xh7+ f8-+; B) 12.xb2 a5+-+ ] [ 11.e6 cxb2!! 12.exf7+ f8 13.xb2 xb2 14.c4 ( 14.xh7 a5+ 15.f2 c5+ 16.g3 f6 ) 14...a5+ 15.f1 f6 16.b1 c3! 17.e2 g4! The capture on b2 followed by the check on a5 seems to break up the white offensive and give Black a tremendous counterattack. ] 11...f8 [ 11...e6! is given by Keene and Botterill as Black's best move because it avoids the drawing variation that I will demonstrate later. Then 12.g5 xe5 13.h5 A) 13...h6! is better for Black: 14.fxe5 hxg5 15.h7+ f8 16.h8+ xh8 17.xh8+ g7 18.xd8 c6 19.xd6 ( 19.e8 xe5 20.xe6 xe6 21.xa8 c4 22.bxc3 f1+ 23.d2 f2+ 24.e3 xg2 ) 19...xe5 20.xe6 e7 21.xc8 xc8 I am wondering what White had to show against this analysis. My guess is nothing-it was just bluff.; B) 13...cxb2 He does not know enough. Instead 14.xb2 e7 15.fxe5 f5 16.xh7+ f8 17.h8+ xh8 18.xh8+ g7 19.exd6+ f6 20.xf6+ xf6 21.xc8 1-0 Villanueva, M-Aloy, J/Banfield 2003 ] 12.g5 [ 12.xf7+ secures a draw: xf7 13.g5+ g8 14.h5 h6 15.f7+ h8 16.b3! a5 17.f7+ h7 18.g5+ h8 19.f7+ h7 20.g5+ h8 1/2-1/2 Nadyrhanov, STseshkovsky, V/Krasnodar 1999 ] 12...e6 13.xf7 [ 13.h5 c7! meets every threat. ] 13...cxb2?N A new move, which looks like it was made up, on the spur of the moment. The apparently risky 13...Kxf7! is however, best: [ 13...xf7 14.h5+ ( 14.f5 cxb2 15.fxe6+ xe6 16.h5+ e7 17.g5+ d7 18.xe6+ xe6 19.f7+ c8 20.xe6+ d7 21.c4+ c5 22.g4+ d7 23.xd7+ xd7 24.b1 xe5 25.xh7+ e6 26.d2 e4 27.c3 g8 28.xb2 xg2 29.bxb7 g3+ 30.f1 f2+

31.g1 xd2 32.he7+ d5 33.c4+ d4 34.xa7 g5 35.a3 h3+ 0-1 Berndt, SPolzin, R/Hamburg 199798) 14...g8 15.d3 h6! 16.b3 ( 16.g4 d7! 17.g5 e8 18.g6 dxe5 19.f5 cxb2 20.xb2 a5+ 21.e2 bd7! ) 16...c6 17.g4 d7 18.g5 e8 19.h3 h5 20.g6 h4 21.a3 dxe5 22.xf8 xf8 23.fxe5 g5 24.xh4 xh4+ 25.xh4 xe5 26.e4 d8 27.d1 xd1+ 28.xd1 b6 29.b4 xg6 30.xg6 xg6 31.c4 h5+ 32.c1 e8 33.d1 a5 34.bxa5 bxa5 35.c5 a4 36.c4 e7 37.c7+ d7 38.c4 d6 39.e1 c6 40.g4 e5 41.e2 d5 42.e3 f6 43.b4 c5 44.g4 e5 45.g6 h4 46.g4 e1 0-1 Schmitt, T-Gerigk, E/ Birkenfeld 1990 I can't find better ways for White to play, just a few bluffs. ] 14.xb2 a5+ [ 14...xf7 15.h5+ g8 16.0-0-0 d5 17.d3 h6 18.g4 f7 ( 18...a5 19.xh6 xa2 20.dh1+- ) 19.h3 ] 15.f1 xf7 16.h5+ g8 17.d3 White threatens Rh3-g3, a manoeuvre which isn't that easy to meet. Black cannot transfer his pieces from one side of the board to the other at speed. b4 [ 17...b6 Deep Fritz started off suggesting the cold-blooded 18.h3 a6 19.g3 xd3+ 20.cxd3 b5 but after 21.g4 d7 22.exd6 g6 23.xg7 xg7 24.e1 this seems only to lead to a better position for W hite. Perhaps ...Qa5 was tempting, too tempting. Black needs his Queen immediately for defence ] 18.b1 d7 [ 18...xf4+ was possibly Smirin's original intention but as he's only attacking with one piece it's unlikely to succeed. Thus 19.e2 h6 20.bf1 g5 21.f7+ h8 22.c1 is virtually game over. ] 19.c4! Closing down any hope of co u nt e ra t ta ck b y B la ck's Q u ee n a n d t h e Bishop on d7. d2 [ 19...d5 20.xh7+ xh7 21.xh7+ f7 22.f5 xc4+ 23.g1 c5+ 24.h2+- ] 20.xh7+ xh7 21.xh7+ f8? [ 21...f7 was a better chance: 22.h4! c6 23.exd6 d4 24.xd4 xd4 25.xb7 xc4+ 26.g1 c5+ 27.h2 xd6 28.h5+ g8 29.g4 Black fights on with 1123

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d8 ] 22.h4 Rg4 is next. Congratulations to Nakamura for his youthful fearlessness and his efforts to please the spectators. But what does this game say about 6 e5? Only that the move is very useful as an outright surprise, objectively it is still doubtful. 1-0

1078 Papp,Gabor Medic,Miljenko Open Pula CRO (4) [John Watson]

B09 2524 2244 30.06.2009

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d4 Once again this move, and again it meets with success. c6 [ 7...dxc5 8.c4 a6 9.e5 (the structure that White wants) e6 10.a4+ xa4 11.xa4 fd7 12.e3 b6 ( 12...c6 should probably be answered by 13 Ng5! or 1 3 0 - 0 - 0 . F o r B l a c k , 13.xc5 xc5 14.xc5 c8 might be okay after 15.a3 d5 16.f2 xf3 17.xf3 d4+ 18.e4 xc2 19.c1 f5+ 20.exf6 exf6 21.d3 f5+ 22.f3 d4+ 23.g3 d7 ) 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.h3 c8 15.g5! (White is already winning) xa2 16.b3 h6 17.f3 c4 18.b2 cxb3 19.cxb3 xb3 20.xb3 b5 21.c3 f6 22.e6 f8 23.d5 c6 24.b6 d8 25.c1 ac8 26.xc8 xc8 27.d3 f5 28.g4 xe6 29.gxf5 gxf5 30.xf5 f7 31.he1 a5+ 32.a2 xc1 33.xc1 c4 34.xe6+ xe6 35.d4 1-0 Sharapov-Koscielny, Lubawka POL 2009. ] 8.b5 dxc5 In Anisimov-Voinov in the Archives, I look at [ 8...0-0?! and ] [ 8...d7 ] 9.a4 xa4 10.xa4 d7 [ I previously analysed the game LedgerB a k e r , w h i c h w e n t 10...d7 11.e3 and W hite stood better. See the notes in these archived games to get the bigger story. ] 11.e5 g4 12.h3 h6 13.e3 f6 [ 13...b6 14.g4! keeps the knight on h6 out

of play, and 0-0-0 15.0-0-0 doesn't solve t h e p r o b l e m d u e t o f6 16.e6! e8 17.he1 ] 14.exf6 [ 14.d5! is also strong: 0-0-0 15.xc5 fxe5 16.xc6 xc6 17.xe7+ b8 18.xc6+ bxc6 19.fxe5 xe5 20.xe5 he8 21.0-0 xe5 22.f8 and wins. ] 14...exf6 15.xc5 0-0-0 16.0-0-0 b6 17.f2 f5 18.g4 fe7 19.e4 c7 20.g5 [ 20.f5! gxf5 21.g3+ e5 22.xf6! xf6 23.xd7 is faster. ] 20...fxg5 21.fxg5?! [ 21.exg5! ] 21...hf8 22.g3+ b7 23.fd2 d4 [ 23...f5! ] 24.d6 f7 25.xd7 xd7 26.c3 e2+ 27.b1 c8 28.c4 c6 29.e5 d5 30.f6 c5 31.d8 b5 32.b3 e7 33.b2 cxe5 34.xe5 xe5 35.xc8 xg5 36.f1 g2 37.a4+ a6 38.a3 h6 39.d5 c1 40.b4+ b7 41.h8 1-0

1079 Polgar,Judit Azmaiparashvili,Zurab II Amsterdam II [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1989

After some failed attempts to get an advantage with 6.Bb5, White has switched to 6.dc. In the following game White tries a very interesting and unusual idea. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 [ B y t h e w a y , 6.e2 cxd4 7.xd4 is a Sicilian Dragon! ] 6...a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 0-0 9.e3 a5 10.h3!? Preventing Bg4. e5 [ If 10...h5 then 11.f2 with 12. g4 next, and white would achieve good attacking prospects. ] 11.0-0-0!? A very sharp and interesting continuation. [ After 11.0-0 c6 black is OK. ] 11...bd7 [ 11...h5?! was proved to be dubious in the game 12.f5 g3 13.e1 xh1 14.g4! A) Probably 14...d5 was better, although after 15.xd5 xe1 16.xe1 c6 1124

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 16...d7? 17.c7+- winning; 16...g3 17.f6+- winning ) 17.f6 ( 17.xh1 d8 ) 17...h8 18.xh1 e6 19.g5 black's position was not much fun.; B) 14...gxf5?! 15.gxf5 d8 ( other moves d o n o t h e l p : 15...d7 16.h4 f6 17.g1+ h8 18.g5 d8 19.d5+winning; 15...f6 16.c4+ h8 17.h4+winning the idea is 18.Ng6) 16.c4 with the idea of Bg5 h8 17.g5 h6 ( 17...f6 18.xh7+- winning ) 18.h4 xg5 ( 18...f6 19.g1 with the idea of 20.Nf7 Rf7 21.Qf6 Rf6 22.Rg8) 19.xg5 f6 20.h6 d7 21.g1 e7 22.g4 and black resigned in the game S.Polgar Van Wely, Wijk aan Zee 1990 ] 12.g4 d5! The central breakthrough is a typical reaction to a wing attack. [ After 12...exf4 13.xf4 e5 14.xe5 dxe5 15.c4 white has achieved a superior position. ] 13.exd5 e4 14.xe4 xa2 [ 14...xe4 15.xe4 e8 ( 15...xa2 16.c3 ) 16.d4 is bad for black ] 15.c3 a1+ 16.d2 xb2 17.d4 b4?! [ It was better to push the white queen away first: 17...e8 18.g2 ( 18.f2 c5 19.xc5? xg4! ) 18...b4 19.b1 d6 and if 20.e5 then black can simply sacrifice an exchange by xe5! 21.fxe5 xe5 and white king cannot feel comfortable in the centre ] 18.b1 a5 [ 18...d6 19.e5 ] 19.a1 c7 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 19...d8 was probably better. ] 20.e5 Now the white knight is well placed on e5. d8 21.f3 e8 22.he1 All the white pieces are in action now. In my opinion, the position is still not so clear as black can find some tricks utilising the central placement of the white king. b6 23.a5! White is playing with all her pieces while black still cannot develop some of his. fd7 24.d6? [ This active move looks very logical but it helps black to develop the bishop on c8. Much stronger was 24.b5! a6 25.bb1 with advantage forcing weakening moves like f7-f6. ] 24...xe5 25.fxe5 e6 26.c5 The rook

finds an unusual way to penetrate to the 7th rank. g5+!? [ 26...d7 27.c7 ] 27.e3 d8 At the cost of some time black has defended against the rook's penetration but white has another active plan. 28.e4 d7 29.g5 b6 30.b5 d4? Probably under time pressure black puts his queen on the wrong square. [ After 30...c6! with the idea of meeting 31.f4 with a6 pushing the rook away from the defence of the e5-pawn white could find herself in trouble. ] 31.f4 xe5 A dangerous move to face especially in time trouble. Black is close to missing something. [ 31...h8 w a s s a f e r : 32.c3 xf4+ 33.xf4 b6 and the ending looks unclear. ] 32.f6! c4?? A terrible blunder which loses immediately. [ 32...f5? was also bad: 33.xe5 xe5 34.xe5+- winning ] [ but after 32...xd3! 33.cxd3 a4! 34.xb7 a5+ 35.e2 d5 black is fine as the white king cannot find a safe place. ] 33.xe5 xe5 34.f6+ xf6 35.xd4 xe1 36.xc4 ae8 37.d7 g5+ And black resigned as white has 38. Kc3 retaining an enormous material advantage. 1-0

1080 Polgar,Judit Hennigan,Michael London (England) (2) [Nigel Davies]

B09

1988

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 0-0 9.e3 a5 10.h3 h5!? The attempt at outright refutation. 11.f2 [ W h i t e p l a y e d 11.d2 g3 12.g1 in Trubitsyn - Avdeev, Russian Corres Ch., 1996, and is certainly worth a further look. The game reeled on with the moves c6 ( I like 12...f5!? here as well) 13.f2 h5 14.g4 f6 15.a3 e6 16.b4 d8 17.f5 d7 18.ad1 c8 19.e2 d5 20.g3 dxe4 21.xe4 d5 22.h6 b6+ 23.g2 d4 24.c4 b3 25.a2 xh6 26.cxd5 1125

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c1 27.xc1 xc1 28.xc1 xc1 29.fxg6 17...h8 18.c4 exf4 19.c3 e5; hxg6 30.d6 h6 31.c4 d8 32.e5 c6 A2) 15...h5 16.b5 ac8 17.xa7 33.xf7+ g7 34.xc6 bxc6 35.g5 xg5 b8 18.c6!; 36.xg5 xd6 37.e6+ xf7 38.xf8+ B) 11...d7 12.a4 a6 13.d2 b8 xf8 39.f2+ 1/2-1/2 ] 14.e2 with slow preparation for e4-e5 to 11...e5 follow. ] [ 11...f5!? is an interesting suggesting of 9...b8 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 c7 12.a4 a6 N u n n a n d M c N a b , p r e v e n t i n g g 4 a n d 13.a5 e6!?N attempting to expose White's king along the [ B e f o r e t h i s g a m e 13...b5 had been f-file. ] considered the main line, which is a little 12.f5 f4 13.xf4 exf4 14.d2 c6? a w k w a r d f o r B l a c k : 14.xb5! After this White gets a dangerous attack. Simple enough. W hite focuses on Black's [ B l a c k s h o u l d p l a y 14...b6+ 15.e2 backward e pawn. ( 14.e1 d4 15.f1 e8!? 16.fxg6 hxg6 17.d5 c5 c4 16.e3 cxd3 17.xd4 dxc2 18.f2 with very reasonable chances. ] c8 19.b6 d7 20.xc2 c4 21.d3 15.xf4 b6+ 16.e3 xb2 17.d5 b4 fc8 22.ae1 b4 23.e5 h5 24.e6 e8 18.xb4 xb4 19.ab1 a5 20.g4 b6 25.f5 xb2 26.fxg6 fxg6 27.e4 cc2 21.g5 e8 22.f6 Temporarily boxing in 28.f2 xf2= Groselj, P-Praznik, A/Bled Black's prize bishop whilst gaining time for the 1997; 14.d2 c8 15.b3 d4 16.f2 e6 final onslaught. f8 23.f4 d5 24.e5 c5+ 17.g1 exd5 18.exd5 b5 19.a4 xd5 25.g3 a6 26.h4 a3 27.bd1 ad8 20.c4 d4 21.cxd5 xb3 22.a2 xd2 28.h5 d7 29.hxg6 fxg6 30.xa6 xa6 23.fxd2 xa5 24.b1 b4 25.b6 c7 31.g4 e2 32.d2 f2+ 33.g2 e4 26.e2 xf4 27.e4 g3 28.g4 e5 1-0 1/2-1/2 Seirawan, Y-Speelman, J/Reykjavik 1990 ) 14...axb5 15.xb5 xe4 16.e2 f6 17.c4 h8 18.d2 g8 19.c3 xc3 1081 B09 20.xc3 f5 21.e3 a8 22.e1 f7 23.ea3 f6 24.a6 bxa6 25.xa6 xa6 Ponomariov,Ruslan 2723 26.xa6 g7 27.c3 f8 28.a7 Zvjaginsev,Vadim 2664 Mkrtchian, L-Socko, M/Mallorca 2004 A 7th Karpov Poikovsky RUS (8) 26.03.2006 passive position such as this could never [Andrew Martin] satisfy Zvjagintsev. He strives to create immediate activity. ] Two heavy hitters cancel each other out. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 14.dxe6 xe6 [ 14...fxe6!? must certainly be considered in 0-0 6.d3 a6!? A rare choice at this level. t h e f u t u r e : 15.e1 ( 15.e3 d7 ) 6..Na6 is probably Black's best choice in the 15...d7 16.d2 e7 17.g3 be8 Austrian Attack if he wants to play flat out for 18.e1 d4 ] a win, but the risks are high. The main danger i s t h a t W h i t e ' s k i n g s i d e a t t a c k c r a s h e s 15.d5 [ I'm not sure how Black equalizes or even through before Black's counterplay has fully comes close after 15.c4! Perhaps d4 developed. 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 g4 9.h1 16.f1 e7 17.d3 be8 with full [ 9.c4! is recommended in 'The Ultimate development at least. ] Pirc' with the following analysis: c7 10.h3 15...d4 16.f1 h5 xf3 11.xf3 [ 16...xd5 17.exd5 f6 18.d2 f5 A) 11...e6 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.d1! e7 must also have been at the f oref ront of 14.e5 dxe5 15.xb7 Black's mind. ] A1) 15...fd5! AM, seems like an improvement: 16.xd5 ( 16.xd5 xd5 17.h2 c6 18.d2 e8 19.a4 e7 17.xe7 xe7 18.fxe5 xe5 19.e4 20.xe7+ [ 20.b6 d5 ( 20...c8 21.xc8 xc8 ac8= ) 16...exd5! 17.xd5+ ( 17.xd5 22.f2 f5 ) 21.e5 ] h8 18.d1 exf4 19.c3 ae8 ) 1126

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20...xe7 21.b3 c7 22.e2 be8! 11.xb5 a5+ 12.d2 xd2+!? 23.xh5 gxh5 24.f5 A simple exchange that gets away from the [ 24.d1 xe4 25.xe4 xe4 26.xd6 main lines. xd6 27.xd6 d4 28.b6 d7 29.a3 [ Vigus doesn't discuss this move. He feels c3 30.xc5 xa5 probably gives enough that the sequence 12...f2+ 13.d1 e3+ counterplay to draw. ] 14.e2 xb5+ 15.xf2 g4+ 16.g3 24...e5+ 25.h1 f6 26.h6 is forced. In any case, it is certainly the [ 26.d5+ h8 27.f4 g8!= ] most important one, especially if the result 26...d4 27.d2 of 12...Qxd2+ is at least somewhat [ 27.f3 looks strong now, going for the favourable for W hite. The assessment of attack: e5 28.f4 g7 29.xe5 fxe5 the position after 16 Kg3 is difficult. Vigus 30.a1 h8 31.d1 It is surprising that gives a6 as his main line, leading to Ponomariov does not go for this e q u a l i t y w i t h b e s t p l a y ( and says that straightforward idea. ] 16...d7 is 'doing well on limited evidence', 27...xe4 28.c3 e3 29.xe4 xh6 although after 17.e1 h6 , I think that 30.xe8+ f7 31.e2 xd2 32.xd2 g7 White has prospects similar to and perhaps [ 32...xa5 is met by 33.xd6 xc3 b e t t e r t h a n 1 6 . . . N a 6 b y p l a y i n g 18.b3 34.d7+ f8 35.xb7 d3 36.a1 ] , since Black will find it extremely difficult 33.c4 xa5 34.xd6 b5 35.cxb5 axb5 to untangle. So 16...Na6 appears to me 36.c6 c3 Two Rooks are very good at the critical line. It goes:) 17.b3 ( 17.e1 ganging up on isolated pawns. So Black keeps h6 18.b3 t r a n s p o s e s) 17...h6 his pa wn s t o get h e r a n d ma in ta in s e qu a l ( 17...f6? 18.e1 d7 19.b2 chances. 37.f3 e1+ 38.h2 e5+ occurred a a game cited in the book) 18.b2 39.h1 e1+ My take on Black's opening g8 19.he1 f5+ ( 19...c6?! 20.e2 ) play is that it is rather dubious a variation for 20.f2 h5 21.ad1 d7 DeFirmiansurprise as much as anything else. If Black Chernin, Biel 1994. Now the knight on e6 wants to venture 13..e6 on a regular basis he and full activity of White's pieces is attractive, will have to find a good answer to 15 Bc4! a n d I f in d W h it e 's co m p e n sa t io n m o r e ½-½ convincing than Alburt and Chernin do (they think that Black stands better), particularly after the typically sneaky Fritz move 1082 B09 22.c3!? , intending Qh3 or in some cases doubling on the e-file. This is very messy, Radjabov,Teimour 2729 and probably the sort of position that Ivanchuk,Vassily 2750 Radjabov was heading for, assuming that Amber Blindfold (4) 20.03.2007 most of this was preparation. Play might [John Watson] continue c6 ( 22...c8 23.d4 d7 24.c4 e8 25.xf5!? gxf5 26.f7 ) This 2700+ battle is a Blindfold Rapid game. 23.h3 In the old days, it would have been unusual to A) 23...c7 24.g5 af8 ( 24...d5!? s u gge s t t h a t s u ch a co n t e st co u ld b e o f 25.e4 ae8 26.c4 f6 27.e2 c7 theoretical importance. And, in particular, that 28.e6+ b8 29.g1 is unclear Black the players would reveal any preparation, has no particularly impressive moves, but including the willingness to play a critical line. White will take some time to enforce a3 These days it's different, and Blindfold games and b4. ) 25.c4 and Black has a hard time are scattered throughout theoretical books. continuing without returning the pawn. I Here Ivanchuk shows his faith in what seems suspect that this line as a whole is to be an inferior ending. I've used the game as sufficient for Black, but no more, and he an excuse to talk about the theory of this very must be careful.; important line. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 B) 23...ae8 ] 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.e5 g4 8.e6 fxe6 9.g5 xb5 10.xe6 xd4 13.xd2 d7 14.ec7 a6! 1127

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 14...c6!? 15.xa8 xa8 16.h3 game: 9.xd4! c6 10.xf6! ( 16.xd4 xd4 17.c1 h5 ) 16...f2 Very unexpected and puts Black in serious 17.f1 e4 18.c3 leaves Black a little trouble. xf6 11.h4 g4 ( 11...h5 short of full equality. ] 12.d5 g7 13.f5 is still very fast for 15.xa8 axb5 16.a4 bxa4 17.b6+ White. ) 12.h5 One must not count the [ Or 17.h3 e3! ( 17...f6?! 18.c3 b5 cost. xh5 13.xh5 gxh5 14.d5 c8 19.cxd4 cxd4 20.b6+ c6 21.xa4 15.xh5 The computers all show bxa4 22.xa4; 17...f2 18.f1 e4 advantage for Black , but anyone who has 19.b6+ c6 20.xa4 d5 21.c3 ) defended these positions over the board 18.xe3 xe3 19.xa4 c4! 20.b4 a6 will know how hard or even impossible it 21.b6+ c6 22.xc4 xb4 23.xe3= ] is! g7 16.e5 e8 17.h3 h6 18.d3 17...c6 18.xa4 d7 19.c3 b4 19.e4 It's the slow-motion White [ 19.h3 e3 20.xe3 xe3 21.f1 f8 a t t a ck t h a t give s t h i s g a m e a u n i qu e 22.g3 e6 23.c3 ] quality. There is barely any defence on the 19...b6 20.d1! A very accurate move light squares. e6 20.f5 xc3 21.f6!! b5 without sight of the board. c4 21.c3 ( 21...a4 22.bxc3 xa2+ 23.b2 [ But here more precise seems 21.c1 g7 xe4 24.g3 g6 25.xg6 fxg6 22.a7! intending h3 and b3, when it's not 26.fxg7+-; 21...xa2+ 22.b1 xf3 clear that Black has enough for the 23.xf3+- ) 22.g3 1-0 Polgar, J-Smirin, I/ exchange. ] Istanbul 2000 A breathtaking display.; 21...g7 22.c1 B) 8...c6! 9.d5 b4 10.a3 [ 22.b3 xd2 23.xd2 h6! ] A move which does not help W hite a6 22...h5 23.0-0 11.e5 g4 12.g1 h6 13.exd6 ( 13.h3 [ 23.h3 h6 24.g3 ] xe5! ) 13...exd6 14.h3 f6 15.g4 g7 23...h4 24.e1 f6 25.h3 h6 26.f2 f5 16.f5 b5! 17.xb5 c7 18.c6 b8 27.g4 f8 28.xf6 xf6 29.b3 b6 19.f4 b7 20.xb7 xb7 21.c4 d7 30.c4!? d7?! 22.h2 b6 Hernandez, G-Movsziszian, [ Giving away a second exchange by K/Lorca 2004 Black has serious 30...d4! 31.b2 ( 31.b1= ) 31...xb3! counterplay. ] 32.xf6 exf6 is good for Black, as in most 8...b7?! I would be loathe to put the Bishop lines he gets three passed pawns. ] here looking at the brick wall on d5. 31.b2 f8 32.c3 White can play on. [ 8...a6 would be my choice and if 9.0-0-0 ½-½ b5 ] 9.0-0-0! This time Black does not get to take on d4 nor develop his knight to c6. Better 1083 B09 timing by White I would say. [ 9.c4 a6 10.h3 c7 11.a4 a6 12.0-0 Sadvakasov,Darmen 2612 is a game with a different pace to it. if Black Dzhumaev,Marat 2507 is allowed the chance to settle like this, he 5th ch-Asian (5) 10.10.2005 or she usually gets a reasonable position [Andrew Martin] and so it proves here. b5! 13.axb5 axb5 14.xb5 xb5 15.xb5 xe4 16.d3 SHORT AND NOT SO SWEET 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g3 Wolter, K-Kistella, R/Germany 2003 ] g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 Here is another cautionary tale which Black 9...a6 10.e5 g4 [ 10...d7 11.h4 dxe5 12.h5 once again would do well to ponder upon. The line with 6 sees Black unable to muster any effective Be3 is most definitely very dangerous and queenside counterplay. ] Black must time his counterplay exactly right. 11.h3! As in the earlier Polgar game, White b6 7.d2 c5 8.d5 does not stereotypically remove the dark[ 8.0-0-0 is a straightforward alternative. A) 8...cxd4 is logical in one sense, but s q u a r e d B i s h o p f r o m a t t a c k . I n s t e a d , look what happens to Smirin in this short attacking momentum is maintained. xe3 1128

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.xe3 c4 13.h4 b5 [ 13...h5 14.g4 hxg4 15.g5 is most unenviable for Black. ] 14.h5 White's attack is just too quick! b4 15.e4 c3 16.hxg6 fxg6 17.xh7!! It's fitting that the winning strike comes on the light squares. Black's fianchettoed bishop, usually the pride of the position, isn't relevant. b6 [ The alternatives are nasty, brutish and short. 17...cxb2+ 18.b1 xh7 19.fg5+ g8 20.h3+- ] [ 17...xh7 18.fg5+ g8 19.h3 h6 20.xh6 cxb2+ 21.b1 f7 22.xf7 xf7 23.g5+ e8 24.e6+- ] 18.d3 a5 19.f6+! exf6 [ 19...xf6 20.xg6+ g7 21.xg7# ] [ 19...xf6 20.exf6 cxb2+ 21.b1 xh7 22.g5+ g8 23.xg6+- ] 20.xg6 c7 21.d3 That must have been a lot of fun for W hite! A game which raises serious questions about Black's whole game plan after 6...b6 which frankly, looks very slow. 1-0

analysis over 30 years ago, the point being that if White captures the queen, Black plays 11...Bf2+ and draws by perpetual check. Thus has ended many a game. Sometimes, however, White tries to keep the play alive: 11.xb5 a5+ 12.c3 Last month we looked at [ 12.d2 from Radjabov-Ivanchuk, Amber Blindfold 2008. ] 12...f2+ 13.d2 e3+ 14.c2 a4+ 15.b1 e4+ This is played in nearly every game, and is the main line in James Vigus' book. One might be forgiven for thinking that [ 15...xd1 transposes, but it needn't do so if Black chooses to deviate: 16.xd1 ( or 16.ec7+ d7 17.xd1 ) A) 16...xc1 17.xc1 d7 18.ec7 a6 19.xa8 axb5 20.a4 is a 'tempo' ahead (Rd 1) o n t he m ain lin e ( also favourable looks 20.b6+ c6 21.d5 e6 22.h3 ); B) 16...d7! 17.ec7 , and now c6! 18.xa8 xa8 gives Black a pawn and compe nsat ion f or the e xcha nge. This seems an improvement when you consider what happens in the main line. ] 16.c2 xc2+ 17.xc2 d7 18.ec7 a6! 1084 B09 19.xa8 axb5 20.a4 xc1! Black improves Sadvakasov,Darmen 2643 upon [ 20...bxa4 21.xa4 c6? Lanc-Paehtz, Molner,Mackenzie 2382 Dresden 1988 , and now simply ( 21...xc1 National Chess Congress (5) 30.11.2008 22.xc1 c6 is the next note) 22.h3! [John Watson] would give W hite a clear advantage: f2 ( some funny geometry shows up with After looking at this game, I'm in doubt about 22...xc1? 23.hxg4 e3 24.d3! f2 the traditionally played move order of one of 25.e2 g3 26.f3 ) 23.f1 xc1 24.xf2 the main Austrian Attack lines. Fortunately for e3 25.e2 g1 26.g3 c4 27.xc4+ c5 the Pirc player, I think there's an earlier path 28.xe7! ( 28.a4 d5 29.b4 d6 30.d3 to equality that he should know about, and d7 31.b2? e5 32.b5+ c5 was about the game continuation is probably acceptable equal in Lanc-Paehtz, Dresden 1988 but if accurately played. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 even here, 31 Re6 preserves the 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 advantage ) 28...a6 ( 28...d5 29.c7+ ) 7.e5 g4 8.e6 This is all old hat. The options 29.b4 b5 30.ce4 ( 30.xc5+ dxc5 are 31.a7 ) 30...f2 31.e8 and wins ] [ 8.xd7+ and ] 21.xc1 White should try [ 8.h3 ] [ 21.hxc1! , after which Black has to be 8...fxe6 Considered best by most careful: commentators, at least if Black is willing to A) 21...bxa4 22.xa4 c6 ( 22...e3+ take a draw. Here 23.d3 xg2 24.g1! h4 25.a7 [ 8...xb5 9.exf7+ d7 is the other main c6 26.b4! ) 23.a7 d7!? 24.e1 e5 line, probably somewhat in White's favour. ] 25.h3 with some prospects; 9.g5 xb5 10.xe6 xd4! I remember B) 21...e3+ 22.d2 xg2 23.axb5 when this idea was first discovered in some 1129

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf4 24.b4 e6 ( 24...c4 ) 25.bxc5 dxc5 26.f1 g5 27.h4 h6 28.hxg5 hxg5 29.h1 d8 30.c2 ] 21...bxa4 22.xa4 c6 23.e1? [ 23.a7 is more challenging, with the idea b4-b5 then Black has to attack in the centre t o m a k e u p f o r h is m a t e ria l d e f ic it , f o r example, d7! 24.d2 e5! 25.h3 f2 26.f1 e4+ 27.c2 f8 28.b4 White may have some nominal edge based upon the idea of b5+, but it's insignificant. P l a y m ig h t g o cxb4 ( 28...exf4 29.b5+ xb5 30.b1+ ) 29.cxb4 exf4 30.c1!? d5 31.b2+ d6 32.c7 b6! 33.b5+ e5 34.xb7 c4+ 35.a2 h6 ] 23...a6 24.xe7 xa8 25.xh7 e8 26.d2? Now White's king gets in serious trouble: e3 27.h6 b5 28.a2 c4 29.xg6 c5 30.g5 f1+ 31.d1 c6 32.h4 d3 0-1

Consistent but bad. [ After 12...e8 13.h4 e6 14.g5 with initiative and the idea of 15.e5 de5 16. Nce4+- winning e5 15.ae1 white had obtained the initiative in the game Ruban Nogueiras, Santa Clara 1991 but it was a lesser evil for black. ] 13.h4 dxe4 14.g5 f5 [ 14...exd3?? lost immediately after 15.ce4+- winning ] [ 14...h6? was also bad because of 15.gxe4 xe4 16.xe4 h5 ( 16...e7 17.g5 !) 17.f6+ xf6 18.xf6 with an overwhelming advantage. ] 15.d6! An excellent blow, opening the f-file to destroy the only defender of the h7 square(the knight on f6) by any means. d4 [ 15...xd6? was losing: 16.cxe4 xe4 17.xf6 xg2+ 18.xg2 d5+ 19.e4 d2+ 20.f2+- mating ] 16.xf8 exd3 17.xd4 [ 17.f4!? b6 18.a4! with Bg7 next was also good. ( 18.xg7 xb2! )] 1085 B09 17...xd4 18.xg7 xg7 19.cxd3 xd3 20.fd1 g4 21.d2 Sax,Gyula [ 21.xd3 f2+ 22.g1 xd3 23.d1 d8 Nikolic,Predrag 24.xd3 e2+ 25.f2 xd3 26.xe2 (izt) Manila (izt) 1990 is better for white but Black can resist. ] [Alexander Volzhin] 21...c6 22.h3 ge5 23.f3 All piece 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 exchanges are in white's favour here. xf3?! [ Black had to keep his bishop with 23...f5 5.f3 0-0 6.e2 This move isn't very popular but of course white has real winning these days, but it's far from harmless. chances here. ] [ 6.d3 is considered to be the main line. Now the typical break c5 7.dxc5 a5 24.xd3+- Winning. Now black has nothing to hope for. fe5 25.e3 h5 is impossible in view of 8.cxd6 ] [ 25...d8 26.d1 ] 6...c5 7.dxc5 a5 8.0-0 xc5+ 9.h1 c6 Besides this move Black has other 26.d1 f8 27.b5 f6 28.d6 d8 29.e2 b8 30.c2 h4 31.a3 d8 32.cd2 b8 interesting possibilities. 33.b4 a6 34.d5 b5 35.e4 f5 36.c5 [ 9...b5 ] h6 37.e1 c4 38.e6 c8 39.xa6 [ 9...bd7 ] g5 40.g1 Time trouble was over and 10.d3 [ Black is OK after 10.d2 b6 11.c4 black resigned. 1-0 c7 12.d5 xd5 13.exd5 a5 ] 10...e5 I don't like this move. [ 10...g4 should be preferred and after 11.e1 a position from the line 6. Bd3 can be reached. Instead of losing a tempo with Qe2-e1, white has lost a tempo with the manoeuvre Be2-d3. ] 11.e1! The h4-square is a very good square for W hite's Queen. exf4 12.xf4 d5?! 1130

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1086 Seirawan,Yasser Peralta,Fernando Magistral Casino Barcelona (3) [Milos Pavlovic]

wins the rook. ] B09 2652 32.xb7 h8 33.xa7 2602 1-0 14.10.2011

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 b8 9.h1 g4 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 c7 12.a4 e6 [ 12...a6 13.a5 e6 14.dxe6 xe6 ( 14...fxe6 15.e3 e7 16.g1 d7 17.a4 This might be unpleasant for Black due to a subsequent e5, and if 17...e5 then 18.f5 gives White the advantage.) 15.d5 ( 15.f5 d4 16.f2 h5 17.g4 e7 18.d5 e5 19.g1 In my opinion this is a d v a n t a g e o u s f o r W h i t e .) 15...d4 ( 15...xd5 16.exd5 c7 17.c4 f5 18.c2 e8 19.d2 b6 20.axb6 xb6 21.b1 d4 With an unclear position.) 16.f1 h5 17.h2 c6 18.d2 e8 19.a4 e7 20.xe7+ xe7 21.b3 c7 The position is roughly equal, Ponomariov, R - Zvjaginsev, V/ Poikovsky 2006 ] 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.b5! It happened that your comm enta tor was lu cky enou gh to u se a similar motif on one occasion a long time ago, in a classical game that is. From now on things starts to look grim for Black. d5 [ 14...a6 15.xd6 xd6 16.e5 c6 17.exf6 xf6 leaves White with the bishop pair and better structure, but Black's position is playable. ] [ 14...xb5?! 15.axb5 leaves the a7-pawn exposed. ] 15.e5 e4!? [ 15...d7 ] 16.e3 g5?! 17.fxg5 xb5 18.axb5 xe5 19.xe4 dxe4 20.xf8+ xf8 21.c3 White has a clear advantage. d8 22.e2 [ 22.a4! wins e4 immediately. ] 22...b8 23.f1 d6 24.g1 White must defend against mate on h2. e5 25.h5! g7 [ 25...f8 26.xf8+ xf8 27.xh7+- ] 26.g4 [ 26.f6 wins even faster. ] 26...e5 27.h5 g7 28.xc5 g6 29.g4 h5 30.e2 xg5 31.xe4! e5 [ 31...xc5? 32.xe6+ h8 33.f6+

1087 Senff,Martin Gurevich,Mikhail Czech Open Pardubice CZE (2) [Nigel Davies]

B09

22.07.2000

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.e5 g4 8.xd7+ xd7 9.d5 dxe5 10.h3 e4 11.xe4 [ More popular and dangerous for Black than 11.hxg4 ] 11...f6 12.xf6+ [ The alternative is 12.e5 after which Black has been playing a4 ( the previous tries were 12...c7 and; 12...d8 ) 13.xf6+ exf6! ( it's a good idea to eject the knight from e5 - 13...xf6 14.0-0 d4+ 15.xd4 cxd4 16.d1 d7 17.xd4 xe5 18.fxe5 xe5 19.e4 f6 20.e3 was better for White in Bozinovic - Zimmerman, Budapest 2000 ) 14.f3 0-0 15.0-0 f5 16.c3 a6 and Black had excellent counterplay in Zelic Cs. Horvath, Split 2001 ] 12...xf6 13.0-0 d6! Probably the most accurate treatment, rather than routinely castle, Black first prevents W hite from establishing his knight on e5. [ 13...0-0 14.e3! (the critical move) xb2 ( The alternatives have left White with a s t r o n g i n i t i a t i ve , f o r e x a m p l e : 14...a6 15.e5 d6 16.g4 xb2 17.b1 g7 18.f5 Yusupov - Adams, Dortmund 1994; 14...c7 15.d2 c4 16.d4 d7 17.f5 Beliavsky A. - Tseshkovsky V., Yugoslavia 1996; 14...d8 15.c4 e6 16.e5 e7 17.d2 exd5 18.cxd5 c6 19.g4 d4 20.f5 xf5 21.ae1 Motylev - Itkis, Bucharest 1998) 15.b1 g7 16.xc5 d8 17.e5 ( 17.c4 c7 18.d4 xc4 19.xg7 xg7 20.xb7 xd5 21.xd5 xd5 22.xe7 c6 was equal in Acs Chernin, Hungarian Ch., Lillafured 1999) 17...c7 18.a3 c6! 19.f3 d4 20.e4 f5 21.b3 ac8 22.c1 d6 23.e2 xe5 24.xe5 c4 25.xe7 d7 26.e4 xa3 27.xa3 c5+ 28.e3 1131

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe3+ 29.xe3 xd5 left Black with a Black prepares ...c5 without blocking his c8 s l i g h t l y b e t t e r r o o k e n d g a m e i n L i s s - bishop, which may yet go to g4. 7.0-0 Chernin, Rishon le Zion 1994 ] [ 7.e5 d7 presents an entire set of 14.e3 problems of its own. Vigus talks about the [ 14.c4 d7 15.b3 b8 16.a4 a6 r a r e l y p l a y e d 8.e6!? fxe6 9.g5 17.g5 b6 18.c2 b4 19.e4 d4+ . Then some interesting lines are 20.h1 b5 gave Black excellent A) 9...b6 10.xh7! xh7 11.h5+ counterplay in V Mikhalevski - Kantsler, g8 12.xg6 ( 12.xg6 f6 13.h7+ Porath Memorial, Israel 1997 ] f8 14.g6 xg6! 15.xg6 e8 ) 14...d7 15.c4 12...f6 ( 12...f5 13.h7+ f8 14.g4 ) [ According to Nunn and McNab in 'The 13.h7+ f8 14.f5! exf5 15.h6 xg6 Ult im a t e P irc' (B a t sf o r d , 1 9 9 8 ) , 15.g5 16.xg6 xh6 17.xh6+ g8 18.g6+ Is 'good for White'. But this does not appear h8 19.0-0-0! g8 20.h6+ h7 to be the case after xg5 16.fxg5 b6 21.f8+ g8 22.xe7 with an ongoing attacking the d5 pawn. ] attack; 15...0-0! Correctly preparing central action. B) 9...f6 10.e2 b4 ( 10...c5 [ 15...b5 16.d2 bxc4 17.e4 a6 18.d6 11.xa6 cxd4 12.xe6 is known, and d8 19.f5 0-0 20.fxg6 hxg6 21.h1 fe8 now a5!? causes some problems after 22.f3 e5 23.f4 gave White a strong 13.c4 dxc3 14.b4 xb4 15.xg7+ d5! attack in Vaisser - Relange, Auxerre (French 16.e6 dxc4 17.xf8 g4! , Black has a Ch) 1996 ] lot of play for the exchange; Finally, 16.c2 e6 17.ad1 fe8 18.f2 g7 10...d7!? is unusual but may be best: 19.g5 exd5 20.xd5 c7 21.f5 11.c4 d5 12.b3 c5 ) 11.c4 d5 It looks as if White has the initiative, but this 12.b3 ( 12.d3 xd3+ 13.cxd3 ) proves to be an illusion. b6 22.fxg6 fxg6 12...d7 13.f3 with some compensation, 23.fd1 f6 24.d6 ad8 25.xd8 xd8 but c5! yields counterplay ] 26.e6 xd1+ 27.xd1 e7 28.xg7 [ For 7.xa6!? bxa6 8.0-0 , see Grafxg7 29.f3 e4 30.a3 Tischbierek, Koenigshofen GER 2007 in the [ Queen and knight make a potent Archives. ] combination, but if White went for 30.xe4 7...c5 8.d5 b8 9.e2 A major juncture: xe4 31.e1 he would still find himself in [ a) 9.e1 b4 eliminates the bishop and trouble after f6 -e5 and d4 etc. ] makes both ...e6 and ... b5 more effective. ] 30...a5 31.b3 e6 32.h4 e4 33.d8 [ b) 9.f5!? is more common, and has been f7 34.e3 xc4 35.xb6 a4 36.f4 hotly disputed. In an earlier update, we d5 37.c7 g5 38.e3 f6 39.a5 h5 looked at a5 (threatening ...c4, and if 40.b3 axb3 41.axb3 g4 42.hxg4 hxg4 B x c 4 ? , . . . Q c 5 + ) 10.fxg6 ( 10.h1 ) 43.e1 f5 44.f1 d1 45.g1 e5 10...fxg6!? (Black gets some room in which 46.f1 d5 47.f4 d4 48.f8 d2+ to manoeuvre, and of course the f-file. His 49.f2 g3+ real goal is to get a knight to e5) 11.h1 0-1 g4!? 12.d2 d7 13.e2 A) 13...xf3 14.xf3 xf3 15.xf3 ( 15.gxf3 f8 ) 15...e5 16.e2 c4 1088 B09 with good play; B) 13...b4?! 14.h3?! ( 14.c1 xf3 Shankland,Samuel L 2446 15.gxf3! bc8 16.b5! xb2 17.xb2 Ehlvest,Jaan 2606 xb2 18.ab1 g7 19.xa7 ) 14...xf3 Foxwoods Open (5) 10.04.2009 15.xf3 c4 Okkes-Pel, Hoogeveen NED [John Watson] 2007. Black stands actively enough and can claim at least equality with the more 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 dynamic chances. His outpost on e5 is 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 This is still the most particularly valuable. ] aggressive winning try, and also the riskiest. 1132

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ c) Another important move is 9.e5 , when dxe5 ( 9...e8 ) 10.xa6 e4! 11.e5 bxa6 12.c6 g4! 13.e1 d6 14.xb8 xb8 gives Black plenty of compensation for an exchange. ] 9...c7 [ Now 9...b4 10.c4 doesn't achieve anything. ] 10.a4 a6 11.a5 g4 [ One of the original games was 11...b5!? 12.axb6 xb6 13.a4 b8 14.c4 e6! 15.e5!? fe8 16.exd6 xd6 17.e5 exd5! 18.c6 h4 19.xb8 d4+ 20.h1 e8 with complications in Dolmatov-Gipslis, USSR 1985. Probably W hite has a small edge somewhere in all of this, but nothing drastic. ] 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 d7 Not the only move: [ a) 13...e6 14.c4!? ( 14.e3 exd5 15.exd5 d7; 14.dxe6 xe6 15.e3 h a s id e a s s u ch a s e 5 a n d f 5 a f t e r d4 16.f2 d7 17.d5 , White has a modest edge ) 14...exd5 15.exd5 d7!? 16.a4 with unclear complications, CherninSpeelman, Moscow 1990. ] [ b) We saw 13...b5 14.axb6 xb6 in the Archives: 15.d1 ( 15.a4 b7 16.e3 ) 15...d7 16.c3 e6 17.e3 exd5 18.exd5 b8 1/2-1/2 Nikolov-Spasov, B o r o v e c B U L 2 0 0 2 b u t 19.c4! f6 20.d1 e8 21.f5 surely favours White. ] 14.d1 White wants to cover d4 by c3 and then drift towards the kingside. e6 15.dxe6 [ 15.c3 exd5 16.exd5 f5!? has the idea ... Qe7-f7 and perhaps ...Nf6. ] 15...fxe6 16.g3 h8 [ 16...d5! is natural, expanding in the centre. It looks fully satisfactory after A) or 17.exd5 exd5 ( 17...xd5!? looks anti-positional but generates activity ) 18.c4! e7! 19.c3 d4+ 20.h2 d6 and the position is still unclear; B) 17.e5 c4 18.e2 b5 19.e3 g5! 20.c3 gxf4 21.xf4 e8 22.e3 g6 23.g4 bc8 , versus Nf6+, with equality. ] 17.c3 [ 17.e3 ] 17...e7 18.e3

[ 18.f5! ] 18...d5 19.e5!? c4 20.c2 b5 21.h2 bc8 22.d1 c5 [ 22...g5!? 23.g4 gxf4 24.xf4 f7 with the idea ...Rcf8 is unclear both sides have positive chances. ] 23.g4 b3!? 24.xb3 cxb3 25.a4 f7 26.d3 f5 27.xf5 xf5 28.b4 f7 29.xb3 c4 30.g3 a4 with approximate equality. 31.e3 xa5 32.c5 a4 33.e3 f8 34.xf8 xf8 35.g2 h5 36.c2 c8 37.f3 g8 38.b4?? [ 38.d4 xd4+ 39.xd4 b5! 40.xa4 bxa4 41.a3 c4 will draw. ] 38...xb4 [ 38...xc3! wins a pawn! This is easy to miss at the time control. W ith proper technique, Black should be able to translate the position into a win for Black. ] 39.xb4 ½-½

1089 Shirov,Alexei Armstrong,Robert J Scarborough CC Shirov simul (22) [Gawain Jones]

B09 2732 18.02.10

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.e5 Shirov goes for the most aggressive line possible true to his style and attempts (successfully as it turns out) to blow his weaker opponent off the board in this simultaneous game. fd7 7.h4 h5 [ 7...c5 has been investigated in the archives 8.h5 cxd4 A) 9.xd4 is playable if you don't want to sacrifice everything. dxe5 10.f2 e4 11.xe4 ( 11.g5!? ) 11...f6 12.xf6+ exf6 13.hxg6 e8+ 14.e3 hxg6 15.d3 b6 16.d2 b4+ 17.c1 f5= is a line given by John in the archives.; B) 9.hxg6 hxg6?! This is too s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d . ( Instead 9...dxc3 is e xa m i n e d e xt r e m e l y d e e p l y i n t h e a rc h ive s , i . e . 10.gxf7+ xf7 11.c4 where W hite has a great attack for the piece. The critical line runs e6 12.g5 xe5 13.h5 h6 14.fxe5 hxg5 15.h7+ f8 16.h8+ xh8 17.xh8+ g7 1133

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.xd8 c6 19.xd6 xe5 again given in the archives. 20.e2 would leave White with some compensation for the pawn but it's around level. However this is certainly a n a re a t h a t ca n b e e xa m in e d wit h a computer. ) 10.xd4 b6 ( 10...c6 11.f2 a5 12.h4 d8 13.d2 is also extremely dangerous for Black.) 11.d5! It turns out Black can't trade queens after all. c6 B1) 12.xb6 xd4 13.d5 xf3+ ( 13...c6 14.b5 ) 14.gxf3 d8 15.e3 also gives White a huge advantage.; B2) 12.a4 d8 13.f5 e6 ( 13...e8 14.h4+- ) 14.g5 f6 15.h4! gxf5 16.h7+ f7 17.exf6 a5+ 18.d2 xf6 19.g5+ e8 20.g6+ showed exactly what White was aiming for in Morris-Atzmon Simon, Sydney 2010. ] 8.g4!? And this seems to be a novelty. Shirov going for the kill! Previously White has tried the slower [ 8.d3 ] 8...hxg4 [ 8...dxe5 9.fxe5 ( the out and out attack with 9.gxh5 doesn't quite succeed. exd4 10.hxg6 dxc3 11.gxf7+ xf7 12.g5 cxb2 13.xb2 xb2 14.c4 e6 15.xe6 e8 16.0-0 e5!-+ ) 9...hxg4 10.g5 A) 10...xe5 might objectively be best but 11.dxe5 xe5 12.c4 xd1+ 13.xd1 and I prefer White's extra piece.; B) 10...c5 11.e6 ( 11.h5 cxd4 12.hxg6 xe5 13.gxf7+ xf7 14.c4 ) 11...cxd4 12.exf7+ xf7 13.c4 e5 14.xf7 xf7 15.e4 is extremely messy but the line looks promising for White.; C) 10...f6!? is the computer's s u g g e s t i o n 11.h5 looks to be breaking through ( 11.exf6 exf6 12.ge4 f5 and W hite's is the more exposed of the two kings.; 11.c4 h5 12.f1 f5 ) 11...xh5 12.xh5 gxh5 13.d3 f5 14.exf6 xf6 15.h7+ f8 16.c4 e6 17.ce4 ( 17.xh5!? ) 17...h6 18.xe6+ xe6 19.e3! h4+ 20.d2 h2+ 21.c3+- Of course there may be improvements but White's attack feels like it should be strong enough. ]

9.g5 b6 [ 9...dxe5 10.fxe5 would transpose to the previous note while ( 10.h5 is probably even stronger. )] [ 9...f6 again may be playable but I'd still be te m pt e d t o p la y 10.h5 e.g. xh5 11.xh5 gxh5 12.d3 f5 13.exf6 xf6 14.h7+ f8 15.c4 e6 16.xh5 ] 10.h5 Consistent [ Although 10.e6 also deserves consideration A) 10...fxe6 11.h5 ( 11.xg4!? ) 11...e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.xd8 xd8 14.h6 f6 15.fxe5 xe5 16.d3; B) 10...f6 11.f7 e8 12.xg4 xe6 13.h6+ xh6 14.xe6+ f7 15.g4 ] 10...gxh5? Now Shirov's attack breaks through [ 10...f6 was necessary 11.h6 fxg5 12.d5! A clever computer move f6 ( 12...h8 13.h7+ g7 14.e6 and Qd4 is a killer threat c5 15.xg4 ) 13.exf6 exf6 14.fxg5 f5 It appears that Black's ok with perfect play but it's very tricky to survive the opening. Therefore 7...c5 was probably a better try. ] 11.d3 Now there's no way to stop White's queen getting in f5 12.exf6 xf6 13.h7+ f8 14.xh5 e5 Everything is hopeless. [ 14...f5 15.h8+ xh8 16.xh8+ g7 17.xd8+- ] [ 14...c6 15.ce4+- ] 15.fxe5 dxe5 16.h7+ g8 17.g5 8d7 18.e4 e7 19.exf6+ xf6 20.xf6+ [ 20.g6+ is actually the quickest win g7 21.e8+ f8 22.xf8 with mate in 3. ] 20...xf6 21.h8+ A very direct way of playing and if Black's not prepared then this is almost impossible to stop but from a theory point of view Black's still alive. 1-0

1090 Shirov,Alexei Markowski,Tomasz 9th Amplico Life Rapid rapid (12) [Neil McDonald]

B09 2719 2629 20.12.2009

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.e5 g4 8.xd7+ xd7 9.h3!? 1134

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Previously on ChessPub we have examined the typical sequence 9.d5 dxe5 10.h3 when Black is able to keep White's centre to a moderate size with e4! ] 9...cxd4 [ Black has no choice, as after 9...h6 10.d5 White maintains his powerful pawn wedge. ] 10.xd4 c6 Despite being able to develop his queen's knight to its best square with gain of tempo, Black is still unable to shake off the bind that the pawn on e5 exerts on his centre. [ If instead 10...h6 then 11.g4! prevents t h e k n i g h t e m e r g i n g t o f 5 , f o r i f dxe5 12.xd7+ xd7 13.fxe5 and Black can't capture on e5 as he would drop the knight on h6. ] 11.e4 h6 [ Some years ago a fuss was made about 11...f5!? here, but after 12.e2 h6 13.e6! d8?! ( 13...xc3+!? 14.bxc3 c7 15.0-0 a n d W h it e wi ll p ro b a b ly co n t in u e B e 3 , keeping the bishop available to attack on either wing that Black decides to castle. If B la c k p la ys Ng 8 , t h e n N g5 i s a s t r o n g riposte, planning to invade on f7.) 14.d2 a6 15.d5! c8 16.d1 a5 17.0-0 c4 18.b3 xd2 19.xd2 b5 20.c4 bxc4 21.bxc4 0-0 ( If 21...xc4 22.c1 and W hite will breakthrough along the cfile bef ore Black can organise a decent defence, as the retreat Ng8 can be met as a l w a y s b y N g 5 t h r e a t e n i n g N f 7 , wh i l e k e e p i n g t h e k n i gh t o n h 6 a n d c a s t l i n g kingside wou ld lea ve the e7 pa wn as a target to a future Rc7. Instead in the game th e a t t a c k o n e 7 o ccu rs via t h e b -f ile .) 22.b1 xc4 23.b7 e4 ( If 23...e8 24.d7 and then e7 drops.) 24.xe7+ h8 25.g5 d4 26.e2? ( Here 26.c3 with t he th re at of 2 7. Nc6 , or 27 .Nxg6 + followed by 28.e7 or in some cases 28. Rxg7 is decisive. a5 ) 26...a5 27.xg6+ hxg6 28.e7 e8 29.b8 xb8 30.e8+ xe8 31.xe8+ g8 32.f7+ h7 33.g5+ h8 34.xg6 f6 35.f7+ g8 36.h6+ h8 37.f7+ g8 38.h6+ h8 39.xf5 c7 40.xd4 c5 41.d1 d5 42.e8+ h7 43.e4+ h8 44.h1 c3 45.e8+ h7 46.e6 f5 47.g5+ h6 48.xd6+ 1-0 Vasiliev, O-Hernandez, Y/Crete GRE 2007. ]

12.e3 dxe5 [ If 12...f5 13.f2 and the black knight will be pushed back by 14. g4, while if ] [ 12...0-0-0 13.0-0-0 f5 14.f2 also keeps Black under pressure. ] 13.fxe5 0-0-0! [ Castling kingside doesn't help much as Black was being squashed after 13...e6 14.0-0 f5 15.f4 0-0 16.d5 in Dymshits, G-Stroganov, A/St Petersburg 2005. ] 14.0-0 e6 15.ad1 f5 16.f4 xd1? [ Black is in too much of a hurry to simplifyperhaps this is an understandable weakness w h e n p l a y i n g S h i r o v ! I n s t e a d 16...f6! leaves him almost but not quite equal after A) Probably Black feared 17.g4 but then fxe5! 18.g5 ( Not 18.gxf5 gxf5 wh en B la ck ha s Qg6 + if h e n ee ds it .) 18...g8 and White has no good way to continue the attack.; B) 17.exf6 xe4 18.xe4 xf6 ( 18...exf6 19.g4 with ideas of Nd6+ if the black knight retreats. ) 19.c3 etc. ] 17.xd1 d8 18.xd8+ xd8 19.g4 b6+ [ After 19...h6 20.e3 both h6 and a7 are hanging, and b6 21.xb6 axb6 22.d5 costs Black a pawn. ] 20.g2 h6 21.d5 The black knight has been forced back into exile on h6, leaving the way clear for the white cavalry to conquer the centre. e6 22.c4+ c6 23.b4! Resignation may appear premature, but after [ 23.b4 a6 24.d4 d7 25.b6+ Black loses his queen. ] 1-0

1091 B09 Shirov,Alexei 2715 Smirin,Ilia 2654 1st ACP World Rapid Cup rapid (1.2) 05.01.07 [John Watson] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.e5 fd7 7.h4 c5 8.h5 cxd4 9.hxg6!? Sacrificing a piece for a controversial attack. I'll give a fairly superficial but I hope informative overview. [ The 'safe' line is 9.xd4 with the idea Qf2h 4 . I n t h e o ld d a ys, t h e se qu e n c e dxe5 1135

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.f2 e4! was considered a complete answer, with truckloads of analysis on the move 11 Ng5. . White can play more slowly by ( A prett y ga me f ollowe d 10...exf4 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.h4 f6 13.xf4 a5 14.b5! b4 15.a3!! xb2 16.e5 d8 17.d5 xe5+ 18.xe5 xd5 19.xg6! Vaisser-Palac, Cannes 2000) 11.xe4 f6 12.xf6+ exf6 13.hxg6 e8+ 14.e3 ( 14.e2!? fxg6 15.0-0 c6= ) 14...hxg6 15.d3 Banas, J-Kindermann, Trnava 1987 b6! 16.d2 b4+ 17.c1 f5= ] 9...dxc3 [ After 9...hxg6 10.xd4 , Black has tried just about everything, but as far as I can see White always gets the advantage. ] 10.gxf7+ xf7 11.c4 The key position, su d d e nly t he su b je ct of so m e h igh-le ve l contests. [ 11.e6 is another story, but the move is ultimately considered harmless. ] [ 11.g5 has also been played in numerous games. ] 11...f8 Smirin has tried this twice without success. [ I'm n ot su re wh y 11...e6 isn't the main m o ve , f o r e xa m p l e , 12.g5 ( 12.xe6 xe5! ) A) 12...xe5 looks best, for example, 13.h5 h6 ( 13...cxb2?! 14.xb2 a5+? 15.d1+- ) 14.fxe5 hxg5 15.h7+ f8 16.h8+ xh8 17.xh8+ g7 18.xd8 c6 19.xd6 xe5 20.e2 d7! 21.xg5 h8! 22.0-0-0 h2 . Research needed!; B) 12...f8 13.xf7 xf7 , and inspired by the computer, I like 14.b3! ( 14.h5+?! g8 15.f5 a5! Bochinski-Hoffmann, BLO 1 993 /9 4) 14...d5 15.h5+ g8 16.d3 h6 17.h3! ] 12.xf7+ [ I remember that Hikaru Nakamura's father played this position for many years, so it's of particular interest to see what he comes up with: 12.g5 e6 13.xf7 ( 13.h5 c7 c a m e u p s h o r t i n t wo g a m e s , b u t wh o knows? ) 13...cxb2 14.xb2 a5+! 15.f1 ( 15.e2 lo o ks b e st; 15.c3 ) 15...xf7 16.h5+ ( 16.xd6 ) 16...g8 17.d3 b4 ( 17...c6 18.h3! h6 19.g3 ) 18.b1 d7?! ( 18...b6! 19.exd6 xf4+ 20.e2

xb2 21.xh7+ g7 ) 19.c4! d2 20.xh7+ xh7 21.xh7+ f8 22.h4! 1-0 Nakamura-Smirin, Mashantucket 2005. e xd 6 f o llo ws. S m irin d o u b t le ss h a d a n improvement or two. ] 12...xf7 13.g5+ g8 [ 13...e8 14.h5+ d7 15.f7 h8 16.h6! ] 14.h5 dxe5? A blunder. [ a) 14...a5? loses to 15.f7+ h8 16.xh7! cxb2+ 17.f1 b5+ 18.c4 ] [ b) 14...h6! may hold: 15.f7+ h8 16.b3!? ( 16.b3 a5; 16.bxc3!? ) 16...c6 17.d5 a5! ] 15.f7+ h8 16.xh7? [ The obvious 16.b3 should win after e6! 17.xe6 xe6 18.xe6 c6 19.h3 g8 20.f5 ] 16...xh7 17.g6 [ 17.xh7+ xh7 18.f5 f8 ] 17...g8?? [ 17...g8 18.xh7+ xh7 19.e8+ g8= ] 18.xh7+ f8 [ 18...f7 19.fxe5 h8 20.xh8 xh8 21.xh8 ] 19.h8+?! [ 19.fxe5! d4 20.f1+ e8 21.xg7 e4+ 22.f2 ] 19...xh8 20.xh8+ f7 21.xd8 c6 22.h8 g7 23.e8? f7 24.h8 g7 25.e8 [ 25.h5! looks like it should win. Shirov doubtless f eared d4 , but ( 25...exf4 26.xf4 cxb2 27.b1 ) 26.f2 xc2 27.b1 ] ½-½

1092 Sideif Zade Gipslis,Aivars USSR [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1983

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 bd7 Also a possible move after 6.Be3. 7.d2 c5 8.0-0-0 g4 9.dxc5 [ 9.g1!? cxd4 10.xd4 deserves attention. The position is double-edged but white 1136

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 keeps his dark squared bishop in this line. ] 9...xe3 10.xe3 xc5 11.e5 This was the idea behind 9.dc but it does not look very inspiring. a5 12.b1 dxe5!? [ 12...e6!? 13.d4 dxe5 14.fxe5 fd8 was also good for black. ] 13.d5 b6 14.xe5 b7 15.c4 The queen is trapped but black gets enough m a t e r i a l f o r i t . xc3! 16.bxc3 xd5 The Queen sacrifice was forced, but strong. To assess this position is not easy. Black has only a Rook and Bishop for the Queen, but his dark-squared Bishop is very strong as is the knight on c5. Also White's King is exposed, so in a game situation in my opinion, Black's chances are preferable. 17.e5 ac8 18.h4 White plays for kingside activity. f6 19.c4 White tries to exchange black's active pieces, but loses control over the very important e4square. [ 19.f3 was possible although I prefer black after e5! ] 19...e6! 20.xd5 exd5! [ After 20...fxe5 21.b3 xf4 22.h5 white would obtain counterplay, also black's bishop and central pawns are not so good now. ] 21.f3 e4 Now Black's advantage is obvious. 22.h5 fe8 23.d3 xc3+ 24.b2 e4 25.hxg6 hxg6 26.a3 [ 26.d2!? deserved attention but black c o u l d c o n f i r m h i s a d v a n t a g e b y b4+! ( after 26...a4? 27.xg6! xa2+ 28.b3 there is no mate so black has to force a draw f or example by a5 29.h7 a4+ 30.b4 b2+ 31.a3 a2+= ) 27.b3 f5 with a clear advantage ] 26...f5 27.e5 xf4 Of course black should keep the bishop. 28.xg6 e4 Black's idea now is to play Rc5-b5 29.g4?! This sharp move just wastes a very important tempo. [ 29.h3 was obligatory creating counterplay on the kingside. ] 29...c5 30.c1 [ After 30.gxf5 b5+ is winning ] 30...fxg4!? [ A cool decision as white has no defence although 30...e2+!? was winning by force: 31.d1 ( 31.b1 b5+! ) 31...d4 32.xe2 xd3 33.cxd3 fxg4-+ winning ] 31.h4 e2+ 32.d2 h6+

White resigned. 0-1

1093 B09 Sjugirov,Sanan 2491 Mihajlovskij,Sergei 2466 FINEC GMA St . Petersburg RUS (9) 01.02.08 [John Watson] 5 a3 wins again! It seems to me that Black hasn't yet fully absorbed the difficulties it presents. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.a3 A silly yet meaningful move, typical of modern chess. 0-0 [ One idea is that the standard ...c5 line runs into 5...c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.b4 ] 6.f3 a6!? This is a standard idea after 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Bd3, as we have seen several times in this column.. . 7.e5 ...which leads to the thought that [ 7.xa6!? bxa6 8.0-0 , as in GrafTischbierek in the Archives, might be a good idea, entering the same line but with an extra a3 (for what that's worth!). The tempi are the same because in that game, White's bishop went to d3 before capturing on a6. ] 7...h5 [ 7...d7 is more natural, yet the move b4 may in fact help after ...c5/dxc5/...Nxc5. Furthermore, after ...c5 and ...Qb6, the move a3 means that ...Qxb2 can lose to Na4. ] 8.e3 c5 9.dxc5!? [ Either 9.e2 or ] [ 9.c4 leave open the question of exactly what Black is intending. I like White. ] 9...xc5 10.d2 f5 11.g1 c8!? A sacrificial idea that doesn't fully pan out, although it should have led to only a small disadvantage. In fact, you could argue that [ 11...c8 12.f2! leaves Black roughly the same disadvantage. ] 12.g4 e4 13.xe4 xe4 14.g5!? xc2 15.d1 xb2 [ 15...a5+ 16.b4 d5!? 17.gxh5 dxe5 has the idea ...Rxh2, restoring material equality. ] 16.xe4 xf4 17.xf4 a5+ 18.d2 xe5 19.xe5? White falters. The right move was [ 19.h6 c3 20.c1 with the idea Rc2. ] 1137

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ or 19.e3 ] 19...xe5+? Returning the favour, as they say. [ 19...xd2! 20.xd2 xe5+ 21.f2 xa1 gives Black 4 pawns for a piece, with the likelihood of picking up another. ] 20.e2 d5 21.c1 xh2 22.f3 W hite has consolidated the material. f4 23.c3 f6 24.c1 b6 25.e3 d6 26.f2 e5 27.h1 f6 28.c5 d7 29.c7 d8 30.g5 d4 31.xd7 xd7 32.d3 g7 33.gxf6+ xf6 34.d2 c7 35.g3 cc2 36.e4+ f5 37.f3 h5 38.d6+ e6 39.xb7 c3 40.xc3 dxc3 41.c1 c2 42.c5+ d6 43.d3 a2 44.e4 g5 45.f3 a5 46.a4 g4+ 47.e3 h4 48.f5 g3 49.h3 d5 50.d2 e4 51.f4+ e5 52.g6+ f6 53.xh4 xa4 54.g2 d4+ 55.e2 c4 56.e3 c5 57.xc2 xc2+ 58.xc2 e5 59.d2 a4 60.g2 d5 61.c3 e5 62.c4 f4 63.d4 1-0

1094 Skvortsov,O Erymovsky USSR [Alexander Volzhin]

B09

1989

Now let's look at 5...O-O. First we'll deal with the early kingside attack. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.e5 This sharp continuation is not very popular. fd7 7.h4 Starting an attack but it does not look very inspiring as the centre is unstable here and white has minimal development. c5 The logical reaction, meeting a wing attack with a central breakthrough. 8.h5 cxd4 9.hxg6 [ Sharp and very risky but 9.xd4 dxe5 10.f2 ( 10.g1 e4 with counterplay; 10.fxe5? xe5 11.xd8 xd8 with the advantage) 10...e6!? is fine for black: 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.g5 e8!? 13.d3 e7 14.h4 f8 15.fxe5 c6! 16.f4 xe5 17.0-0-0 d7 18.xe5 xe5 19.df1 f5 20.f3 xh4 21.xh4 f6 22.b4 c6 and Black was winning due to the extra pawn and the strong bishop pair in Viksni - D.Fridmans, Riga 1994. ]

9...dxc3 10.gxf7+ xf7 11.c4 f8 [ This is logical bu t 11...e6!? deserves serious attention. Possible then is: 12.g5 ( 12.xd6 is un clea r) 12...xe5 ( after 12...cxb2 13.xb2 a5+ 14.e2 d5 15.d3 f8 16.xf7 xf7 a position with mutual chances had arisen in the game W iniwarter - Hager, Austria (tt) 1994/95) 13.h5 h6 14.fxe5 hxg5 15.h7+ f8 16.h8+ xh8 17.xh8+ g7 18.xd8 c6 19.xd6 xe5 20.e2 d7 and black had the slightly better chances in the game Perecz - Nunn, Dortmund 1979 ] 12.g5 e6 13.xf7 xf7 14.h5+ g8 15.d3 [ 15.f5 did not work in the game Bochinski H o f f m a n n , G e r m a n y B L 2 1 9 9 3 / 9 4 a5 16.fxe6 cxb2+ 17.e2 bxc1+ 18.axc1 xe6 19.xe6+ h8 20.f7 xe5+ 21.d2 g5+ 22.e2 xg2+ 23.e3 xe6-+ with a decisive advantage ] 15...h6 16.h3 The rook is coming but black has enough defensive resources. dxe5 [ Other moves do not solve the problems: 16...d7? 17.g3 e8 18.xh6 d7 19.f5! and black is in trouble ] [ 16...b6?! 17.g3 cxb2 18.xb2 b4+ ( 18...xb2 19.xh6 xa1+ 20.e2 f7 21.xg7+ e8 22.f6+- winning ) 19.e2 xf4 20.xg7+ xg7 21.exd6+ with a very strong attack ] [ 16...c6 17.g3 A) after 17...dxe5 18.xg7+ xg7 19.fxe5 white has a decisive attack: cxb2 20.xh6+ h8 ( 20...g8 21.g4+ f7 22.g7+ e8 23.xf8+ d7 24.d6+ e8 25.g6# ) 21.b1+- winning; B) 17...cxb2 18.xb2 dxe5 19.0-0-0 f6 20.f1! and all the white pieces are in action now ] [ 16...cxb2? 17.xb2 a5+ 18.e2 c6 19.g3 dxe5 20.xh6 c7 21.h1+and white is winning ] 17.g3 e4! [ After 17...f6 18.fxe5 f7 19.xh6 c6 ( or 19...bd7 20.bxc3 xe5 ) 20.bxc3 xe5! ( 20...e7? 21.a3 f5 22.xf5 exf5 23.0-0-0+- winning ) 21.f4 ( 21.a3? xd3+ 22.cxd3 c7! ) 21...xd3+ 22.cxd3 d7 is very unclear ] 18.f5 f6? A terrible blunder. 1138

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Much stronger was 18...c7! gaining an 9.c4 e6?! important tempo, and securing a big [ Very rare! After a strong grandmaster has material advantage although very precise played such a move, one wonders "why play is still required after 19.h3 exd3 didn't I think of that?" - yet funnily enough, it 20.xh6 e5+!? 21.f1 e2+!? 22.g1 wo u ld b e h a rd t o st u mb le o n it wit h o u t cxb2 23.xg7 bxa1+ 24.xa1+ f7 ] considerable experience in this line. Let's try 19.xh6 cxb2 20.b1 exd3 21.xg7+ to reconstruct Black's reasoning. By playing xg7 8...Bg4 Black announces his willingness to [ 21...h8 22.g3+- winning ] part with the light-squared bishop in order to 22.xg7 xg7 23.g5+ Unfortunately for reduce W hite's control of e5 and his black his pieces are still undeveloped. f7 kingside attacking chances. In an ideal world, 24.f6 g6 25.cxd3 c6 26.xb2 Black would then like to play ...e6 and ... The position is winning for white as his queen exd5, ultimately leaving White with a 'bad' and rook will organise a direct attack against light-squared bishop. The difficulty is in the the black king very soon. d4 27.h6?! timing, however, as John Watson discussed [ 27.f2 was much more precise. ] recently in the game Wells-Spraggett. White 27...f5 28.h7+ xf6 29.g4 f4? can sometimes reply to ...e6 by capturing Now the game is over. and then blowing open the light squares with [ After the cool 29...fe7 black could offer f4-f5. But by ...e6 immediately, Black can tough resistance ] still recapture with the bishop. This is not a 30.h8+ e7 31.gxf5 serious loss of time, since W hite too has [ 31.c2 was also not bad. ] moved his bishop twice. And there is 31...xd3+ 32.d2 xb2 33.f6+ certainly something to be said for And black resigned. An interesting and very eliminating W hite's pride and joy on c4. exciting game. Unfortunately, though, White's knight on f3 1-0 proves at least equally adept at menacing the weakened light squares, and although Azmaiparashvili's move has surprise value, I 1095 B09 feel that So's energetic response casts some doubt on it. 9...c7 is standard, when So,Wesley 2577 10.h3 ( jw: A recent game went 10.a4 e6 Azmaiparashvili,Zurab 2615 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 e7?! 13.f5?! d7 1st Dragon Capital Vietnam Open (5) 29.08.08 14.dxe6 fxe6 15.g3 e5? 16.g5! [James Vigus] with advantage, Saric, I (2511)-Vujakovic, B (2381)/Sibenik CRO 2008.) 10...xf3 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 11.xf3 b8 12.a4 e6 ( 12...a6 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 g4 transposes to Game 36 in TPIBAW) 13.dxe6 [ This is currently much more popular than xe6!? (a provocative and unconventional 8...b8 , when 9 f5 has been scoring well. In re c a p t u r e , b u t i t wo r k s o u t q u i t e we l l ) D.Hartl-J.Rukavina, Trieste 2008, however, 14.e2 ( 14.d3 is more critical) 14...h8 the older main line was tested, and after 15.c3 e7 16.g3 a6 17.a5 d8!? 9.e5 e8 10.f5 c4 11.fxg6 cxd3 12.gxh7+ 18.d2 c6 19.b4 cxb4 20.cxb4 d5 h8 13.g5 the veteran Croatian IM fell 21.exd5 xb4 22.h1 fd8 produced a into a nast y tra p wit h f6?! ( 13...b6+ balanced game in B.Thorfinnsson-H. 14.h1 dxe5 is my recommendation Danielsen, Reykjavik 2008. ] TPIBAW ) 14.h5 dxe5? 15.-( But instead of finding 15.f3! , threatening 10.dxe6 [ In their repertoire book for White, 'Opening Nh4, e.g. f5 16.h4 f6 17.e4! b6+ for White According to Anand 4', Khalifman 18.h1 fxe4 19.xf6 xf6 20.g5; and Soloviov suggest that W hite keep in W hite returned the f avour with 15.f7+? "normal" positions here with 10.h3 xf7 16.xf7 d6 17.g6 e8 A) 10...xf3 11.xf3 c7; 18.xe8+ xe8 and Black went on to win. )] 1139

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) Yet Black can mix things with 10...exd5!? B1) 11.hxg4?! dxc4 12.g5 ( 12.d2 d7 13.g5 g4 14.xc4 d4+ 15.h1 f5 gives Black good counterpla y) 12...g4 seems fine for Black, who can break with ...f5; B2) 11.xd5 e6 12.xf6+ xf6 ( not 12...xf6? 13.xa6 bxa6 14.xd6 ) 13.e2 b6 followed by centralising the ro ok s, with su f f icie n t play. A f t e r ( or 13...e7 ) 14.e5 Black could react solidly with xc4 15.xc4 g7 .; C) 10...-- ] 10...xe6 11.xe6! [ 11.e2 allows xc4 12.xc4 b4 , when Black's knight gets into play. ] [ In W.Womacka-S.Sulskis, Catalan Bay 2004, White was a bit over-eager to saddle his opponent with queenside pawn we a k n e s s e s , a n d a f t e r 11.xa6 bxa6 12.f5?! gxf5 13.exf5 c4 14.e1 d7 15.g5 xf5 16.xd6 Black could have g a i n e d g o o d c o u n t e r p l a y w i t h fe8 , when the position is hard to judge. ] 11...fxe6 12.f5! [ After 12.e2 -- ( 12...c7?! 13.e5 fd5 14.e4 xf4 15.xf4 xf4 16.exd6 d5 17.xc5 xd6 18.xe6+ xe6 19.xe6 b4 20.xg7 xg7 21.b3 White eventually converted his extra pawn in H.Namyslo-O.Schmidt, Tuebingen 2007, but; 12...b6 13.e5 dxe5 14.xe5 ad8 would be a much more active treatment for Black. )] 12...exf5 [ 12...e7 is playable, refusing to let things o p e n u p , b u t 13.fxg6 hxg6 14.g5 lo o k s s o m e wh a t m o re c o m f o rt a b l e f o r White. ] 13.exf5 gxf5 14.h4 g4!? [ Black tries to blast his way out of trouble, and eventually succeeds. A more obvious approach was 14...d5 15.xf5 d4 16.b5 d7 , but in such an open position, White will probably enjoy a long-term edge after exchanging his knight for the bishop on g7. ] 15.xf5 xf5! 16.xf5 h4 17.h3 d4+ 18.h1 f2+ 19.xf2 xf2 20.e4 f5 21.xd6 e6 This forcing passage of play has left White with an extra pawn and Black

and exposed king - but matters are not quite so simple, since White is still playing without the rook in the corner. 22.c3 [ 22.f4! f8 23.h2 looks a reliable way to s e c u r e a c l e a r p l u s , s i n c e xb2?! u n l e a s h e s t h a t r o o k - 24.b1 d4 25.xb7 ] 22...xd6 23.b3+ [ And here White could have piled on the p r e s s u r e w i t h 23.cxd4! , e.g. cxd4 ( 23...xd4 24.b3+ c4 25.g3+ g7 26.h4 with a dangerous initiative) 24.e3 d8 25.g4+ h8 26.d1 . After the text, Azmaiparashvili's active defence holds the draw without any particular alarms. ] 23...h8 24.cxd4 cxd4 25.xb7 f8 26.g5 c5 27.e7 xe7 28.xe7 f5 29.d1 e6 30.e1 c5 31.xc5 xc5 32.e8+ g7 33.d8 c1+ 34.h2 d1 35.d7+ g6 36.xa7 d3 37.g3 b1 38.d7 xb2 ½-½

1096 So,Wesley Mahjoob,Morteza 6th ch-Asia Cebu City PHI (4) [John Watson]

B09 2516 2479 22.09.2007

White makes it look simple. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 c7?! It's generally risky to query a natural move at so early a stage of a complex opening, but this simply doesn't take into account the importance of stopping White's primitive attack by Qe1-h4, with f5 at some early stage. Although Vigus doesn't give any games with 9... Nc7, he makes it clear that the similar move [ 8...b8 (in the sense that ... b5 is supported) makes more sense, because the natural 9.e1 c a n b e m e t b y b4 , ridding W hite of his bishop on d3. That both cuts down the direct attack, but means that ...e6 will not be followed by Bc4 after dxe6 and ... fxe6. ] 9.e1! No longer! Now ...Nb4 isn't in the cards, so Black feels compelled to challenge the centre. Instead, e6 [ 9...b8 can be met by the simple 10.a4 1140

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 10.f5!? gxf5 11.h4 fxe4 ) 10...a6 11.a5 although as usual that isn't completely clear, for example, b5 ( 11...d7 12.h4 b5 13.d2 ) 12.axb6 xb6 13.h4 ( 13.d2! b5 14.c4 b8 15.d2 ) 13...d7 14.f5!? gxf5 15.exf5 b4 16.g3 and White retains attacking chances. ] 10.dxe6 fxe6?! [ 10...xe6 11.f5 d4 12.h4!? ] 11.e5! fd5 12.e4 xf4 What else? [ 12...dxe5 13.fxe5 b4 14.g5 xd3 15.cxd3 xd3 16.d1 is simply too strong. ] 13.xf4 xf4 14.xd6 d5 15.g3 f8 16.ae1 e7? Black had to keep an eye on the all-important e-pawn. [ After 16...d7 , W hite might try 17.h4! and h5 with a strong attack. ] 17.g5 xf1+ Or resigns. 18.xf1 f5 [ 18...d8 19.xh7! xh7 20.h4+ g8 21.xg6 ] 19.xf5 gxf5 20.xf5! [ N o n e t o o e a r l y , e . g . , 20.xf5 d8 ( 20...exf5 21.b3+ h8 22.gf7+ g8 23.h6+ h8 24.df7+ ) 21.gf7 d7 22.h6+ h8 23.f8+! ] 1-0

1097 Spraggett,Kevin Jakobsen,Ole XXV Andorra Open (2) [John Watson]

B09 2631 2379 01.07.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 b6 [ V i gu s m a k e s a go o d c a s e f o r 6...bd7 intending ...c5 ] 7.d2 b7 [ 7...c5 is under a cloud due to 8.0-0-0 with the idea ( 8.d5 ) 8...cxd4 9.xd4 c6 10.xf6! xf6 11.h4 ( 11.d5 g7 12.h4 e6 13.c3 also has it's points) 11...g4! 12.h5! xh5 13.xh5! gxh5 14.d5 , as in J Polgar-Smirin, Istanbul 2000. The whole 6...b6 line is very well-analysed by Vigus. ] 8.e5! g4 9.0-0-0 dxe5 [ 9...c5!? 10.dxc5 ( 10.h3!? xe3 11.xe3 seems funny, but also hard to meet! I like

White ) 10...bxc5 11.xc5 is an interesting pawn sacrifice after which Black doesn't seem to fully equalise, but it wouldn't be surprising if he came up with something. ] 10.xe5 xe3 11.xe3 d7 [ 11...e6 12.h4 h5 13.c4 e7 isn't really better after 14.hg1 and g4. ] 12.h4 [ 12.b5! of Stopa-Szczepinski, Polish League 2005 is quite strong. But 12 h4 isn't bad either. It looks like10...Nxe3 is a mistake. ] 12...xe5 13.dxe5 c8 14.h5 Yikes. Only 14 moves and it's pretty much over. e6 [ 14...d8 15.c4 ( or 15.xd8+ xd8 16.d3 ) 15...xd1+ 16.xd1 threatens e6. ] 15.hxg6 hxg6 16.d3 [ Or 16.g3 ] 16...fd8 17.g3 d4 18.h3! ad8 19.dh1 f5 [ 19...c5 20.h2! - It's always pleasing when W hite triples like this. The middle slot is normally the best one for the queen. ] 20.g5 [ 20.e2 h a s t h e i d e a 4d7 ( 20...a4 21.b3 ) 21.c4! xc4? ( 21...d5 22.d4 f7 23.h2! ) 22.xg6 ] 20...f7 21.h7 g8 22.g1 e4 [ 22...h8 23.xh8 xh8 24.g4! ] 23.xe4 fxe4 24.g4! f8 25.h3 h8 26.xh8+ xh8 27.e1 g7 28.a3 c6 29.b1 a6 30.f5! The final blow. Black's bishop is finally liberated but W hite breaks through. xe5 31.fxg6 f6 [ 31...g7 32.f5+ ] 32.h6+ g7 33.f1+ g8 34.g5 d6 35.d5! xd5 [ 35...xg6 36.xe7+ ] 36.f7 h8 37.xe7 h1+ 38.a2 h6 39.e8+ 1-0

1098 Steenbekkers,Franck Van der Zalm,Marn 15th HZ Open (6) [Milos Pavlovic]

B09 2223 2058 03.08.2011

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 g4 1141

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.h1 b8 10.a3 This 'small' move is not without venom, on the contrary, by preventing ...Nb4 W hite keeps the bishop on d3 and prepares the trademark plan here of Qe1-h4. c7 11.e1 b5 12.h4 c4 [ 12...xf3 13.xf3 a5 14.f5 c4 A) 15.e2! This is the correct plan here. b4 16.axb4 axb4 17.d1 a8 18.b1 b5 19.h3 d4 20.g5 h5 21.xc4 xc2 22.f2 ( 22.e5!? dxe5 23.xf6 xf6 24.e4 d4 25.fxg6 White is winning. ) 22...a5 23.e5! a1 24.f1 dxe5 25.d6 fc8 26.fxg6 d4 27.gxf7+ f8 28.dxe7+ xe7 29.f8+ xf8 30.e4 f5 31.f2 1-0 Korneev, O C h a t a l b a s h e v, B / P o r t o C a r r a s G R E 2005; B) 15.f1 b4 16.axb4 axb4 17.e2 a8 18.xa8 ( 18.b1 b5 19.h3 h5 It seems to me that the plan in this game with the knight on e2 is not as effective as in the previous example.) 18...xa8 19.d4 a1 Zarnicki, P -Kasimdzhanov, R/playchess.com INT 2004 This already looks good for black. ] 13.e2 xf3 14.xf3 e6 Black is looking here for reaction in the centre 15.dxe6 fxe6 16.h3 [ Serious alternative might be: 16.f5!? A) 16...gxf5 17.exf5 e5 18.g4! d5 ( 18...d7 19.g5 fe8 20.f6 c6 21.h5 xf6 22.gxf6 xf6 23.g5 W hite is winning, Sanal, V -Drljevic, L / Antalya 2009. ) 19.g5+-; B) 16...exf5 17.exf5 d7 ( Or: 17...gxf5 18.xf5 d7 19.f3 g4 20.f4 e5 21.h3 f5 22.xe5 dxe5 23.a4 a6 24.axb5 axb5 25.f3 With the initiative again. ) 18.fxg6 ( 18.a4 a6 19.axb5 axb5 20.fxg6 hxg6 21.a7 ) 18...hxg6 19.g5 h7 20.e3 be8 21.xf8+ xf8 22.g4 f7 23.xa7 ] 16...a5 [ In my opinion it is possible to offer a pawn in order to reach an endgame which can give good counterplay. 16...h5!? 17.xh5 xh4 18.xh4 gxh5 19.xh5 a5 20.a4 d5 ] 17.e5N At first glance this move looks strong but perhaps the alternatives might actually be better.

[ The predecessor went: 17.e3 b4 18.axb4 axb4 19.a4 ( 19.d1 d5 20.e5 h5 21.xh5 xh4 22.xh4 gxh5 23.c5 fc8 24.xh5 a8 25.b1 a4 With some compensation.) 19...h6 20.xc4 xe4 21.xd8 bxd8 22.d3 d5 23.e1 a8 24.b3 White keeps some edge in this endgame due to his better structure and a bishop pair, Gruenfeld, Y (2505)- Lobron, E (2440)/Randers 1982. ] [ Changing the structure was also possible: 17.a4!?N b4 18.d1 d5 19.e5 h5 20.xh5 xh4 21.xh4 gxh5 22.e3 e8 23.g3 f7 24.xh5 White is better here, for example: f8 25.h3 g7 26.g1 h5 27.e3 d7 28.d1 ] 17...h5 18.xh5 xh4 19.xh4 gxh5 20.exd6 e8 21.e4 [ 21.xh5 The only and best move, White must take the pawn. xd6 22.g4! b4 23.axb4 ( 23.a4 b5 24.axb4 axb4 25.e3 W ith interesting play as well.) 23...axb4 24.e2 b3 25.c3 e4 26.g2 xc3 27.xc3 xc3 28.bxc3 b2 29.xb2 xb2+ 30.g3 With some small chances to win in the endgame. ] 21...xd6 22.xd6 bd8 23.c3? A careless move, now the initiative goes to Black. Better was: [ 23.e3 xd6 24.c5 d5 25.xf8 xb2 26.f1 xf8 Black has some compensation for the exchange. ] 23...xd6 24.e3 f5 25.h3 d3 26.e1 b4 Black has obviously seized the initiative here. 27.axb4 axb4 28.g3 bxc3 29.bxc3 fd5 [ 29...h4! Black is much better. ] 30.d4 xg3 31.hxg3 xd4 32.cxd4 f7 33.e4 f6 34.g1 f5 35.e3 g4 36.xe6 xg3 37.f5 xd4 38.e3+ g4 39.f6 d8 40.f7 ½-½

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B09 16.e3 g3 17.f1 f5 18.f2 xh3+ 19.gxh3 xe4 20.e3 xd5 Only two pieces for the queen, but with bishops, open 1995 lines and weaknesses. Your guess is as good as mine as to what's really happening here. 21.h2 ae8 22.e1 e5 23.d2 g5 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 24.b5 c6 25.b3+ f7 26.fxg5 h8 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ c6 Scottish GM Colin 27.f1 xg5 28.xf8+ xf8 29.xg5 f2+ McNab used to play this move prior to his 30.g3 g2+ 31.h4 h6 32.e7 xd2 game aga inst W a tson. A couple of othe r 33.f7 d5 34.e8+ h7 35.d7 d4+ players, notably Reich and Beaumont, have 36.g3 e5+ 37.f2 f4+ 38.g1 d4+ 39.h2 f2+ 40.g3 g2+ 41.f4 f2+ carried the flag since then. 7.dxc5 Critical. [ After 7.d5 a6 8.xc6+ bxc6 9.dxc6 b6 42.g3 g2+ 43.f4 ½-½ Black recovers his pawn with a good game. ] 7...a5 8.0-0 0-0 9.cxd6 Adopting a 'show me' approach, though Black is also struggling 1100 B09 against other moves. [ W hite has a major alternative in 9.e1 Strugnell,C 2258 a f t e r w h i c h d7 ( 9...g4 10.a4 a6 Mortazavi,A 2353 11.d3 xc5+ 12.h1 d4 13.h3 xf3 2nd Kings Place Open 2014 rapid (6.5) 14.xf3 f6 15.e3 a5 16.g1 [Neil McDonald] wa s u n p l e a s a n t f o r B l a c k i n W a t s o n McNab C., London 1989) 10.xc6! xc5+ 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 11.e3 xc6 12.d5 xc2 13.h4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.xd7+ fxd7 14.g5 e8 15.ac1 gave White a strong 8.d5 0-0 A natural move that turns out well in attack in Wahls - Reich, Munich 1993 ] the present game after White's passive play. [ After 9.e2 a6 10.d3 xc5+ Nonetheless, I think it leads to a difficult game the position assumes characteristics of the 6. for Black if his opponent plays with sufficient dxc5 Qa5 line, and as White can prevent ... energy. Bg4 this is not a silly option. After 11.e3 [ The critical line runs 8...b5 9.xb5 ( For t h e ga m e Nij b o e r - K o h l e r , D u t c h C h . , 9.e2 see Hernandez-Khalifman in the A m s t e r d a m 1 9 9 4 c o n t i n u e d h5?! archives ) 9...a5+ 10.c3 xc3+ 11.bxc3 ( 11...a5 is better but this would also be xc3+ 12.d2 c4 13.e2 met by 12.h3 ) 12.h3 b5 13.f2 b4 A) 13...xc2!? looks risky as White can 14.e2 d7 15.e5! when the threat of Ng3 build up an attack on the black king, but it put Black's queen in trouble. ] isn't easy to prove White's advantage. 9...exd6 Black should leave his options open. A1) 14.e5 0-0 15.e6 ( Or 15.0-0 b6 ) [ The immediate 9...b6+ seems less good 15...f6 16.g5 fxe6 17.xe6+ h8 after 10.h1 exd6 ( 10...xe4 11.xe4 and Black was OK in Gunnarsson, J xb5 12.a4 b4 13.e1 exd6 14.c3 (2462)-Thorarinsson, P (2253)/Reykjavik b6 15.e3 c7 16.xd6 left Black with 2010.; inadequate compensation for the pawn in A2) 14.0-0 Plaskett - McNab, Stoke 1997.) 11.c4 g4 A2a) 14...b6 turned out well for 12.d5 c5 13.e2 e6 14.c3 Black in Andersson, F (2306)-Cramling, left Black a pawn down in Totsky - Bonoev, D (2395)/ Vesteras 2011, but a Moscow 1995 ] positional approach f or W hite with 10.d3 g4 11.d5 f5!? The position starts 15.a4 ( rather than the game getting very messy and chaotic. Frankly I continuation 15.ac1 xa2 ) 15...c4 have some difficulty in believing Black's play, 16.e3 then 17.Bc3 etc. looks but maybe he has something... 12.h3 fxe4 promising for him.; 13.xe4 c5+ 14.h1 f2+ 15.xf2 xf2 A2b) 14...0-0 1099 Stefansson,Hannes Kohler,A Open Leeuwarden (Netherlands) (9) [Nigel Davies]

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A2b1) 15.f5 f6 16.fxg6 ( B l a c k a l so s u r vi ve s a f t e r 16.e5 dxe5 17.xe5 bd7 ) 16...hxg6 17.g5 bd7 18.ac1 ( if 18.e3 e5 19.c3 d3 frustrates White's attack ) 18...xa2 19.e3 fb8 20.c3 b3 and Black resisted the attack in Ragger, M (2529)-Klenburg, M (2387)/ Oberwart 2007.; A2b2) 15.ac1 a4 ( After 15...xa2 16.a1 b2 17.fb1 g7 18.e5 White has a dangerous initiative as the black queen is awkwardly placed and it isn't obvious how Black develops his queenside as b6 loses to 19.xb6 ) 16.e5 xa2 only now, when the black queen can take on d5 if it is attacked by a white rook. She gets herself involved in the centre struggle and s lo ws d o wn W h it e 's in it i a t ive b y pinning the bishop on d2. ( I n s t e a d a f t e r 16...b6 17.f5 White built up an attack and won in Alsina Leal, D (2430) -Movsziszian, K ( 2 4 4 5 ) / S o l l e r 2 0 0 7 .) 17.e6 ( 17.fd1 ) 17...f6 18.exf7+ xf7 19.g5 xd5 20.cd1 c6 21.c3 f5 22.xf7 xf7 with balanced chances.; B) 13...b6 this is the solid alternative. 14.a4 a5 15.xc4 xc4 16.e2 B1) Here I like the computer suggestion 16...f5!? B1a) B l a c k l o o k s f i n e a f t e r 17.d3 fxe4+ ( or 17...xd2 ) 18.xc4 exf3 19.gxf3 d7 20.hb1 f8 21.b7 f5 when he has counterplay with Rh5 etc.; B1b) 17.exf5 b6! the sort of move that a computer has to show us. The knight voluntarily retreats as White has n o g o o d w a y t o d e f e n d d 5 18.fxg6 hxg6 19.c3 0-0 20.hd1 xf4; B2) 16...d7 17.d3 db6 18.c3 0-0 19.d2 xd2 20.xd2 f5 21.hb1 a6 22.b5 fa8 with some plus for White in Oleksienko, M (2608) -Aabling Thomsen, J (2375)/Reykjavik ISL 2013. S o m a yb e t ry 1 6 . . . f 5 ! ? in t h e n o t e s above. ]

9.0-0 a6 10.h1 White could play the immediate [ 10.f5 but if Black's best reply to the pawn advance is to put his queen on b6, it makes sense to tuck the king away on h1 and hope Black plays 10...Nc7 rather than encourage h i m t o p l a y b6 Here's a sample game: 11.h1 c7 12.e2 ( Or 12.e1 b5 ) 12...c4 and Black had counterplay in Savon, V (2570)-Hort, V (2610)/Petropolis 1973, but I'm still somewhat worried about Black's king after 13.e1 followed by 14.Qh4 rather than Savon's ( 13.g3 )] 10...c7 Instead Black could have activated his queen with [ 10...b6 and sought counterplay as in the Savon game above. ] 11.a4?! [ Much more promising is 11.f5! At first glance it looks odd to hand over the e5 square to the black pieces. However, the point is that W hite has a straightforward attack on the kingside in the style of the Sicilian Grand Prix Attack. He can put his queen on h4 and attack with Bh6 and Ng5. Just how effective this plan can be is shown by the following two miniatures: b5 12.e1 b4 13.e2 A) 13...f6 14.h4 gxf5 15.h6 ( This was only a blitz game, but more p r e c i s e w a s 15.g3 fxe4 16.g5 ) 15...fxe4 ( Black could survive with 15...xe4 ) 16.g5 cxd5 17.g3 e6 18.ad1 e8 19.xd5 exd5 20.xg7 xg7 21.h5+ xh5 22.xh5 1-0 Ovetchkin, R (2532)-Bykhovsky, A (2457)/playchess.com INT 2005.; B) 13...e5 14.h4 xf3 15.xf3 f6 16.g5 xg5 17.xg5 e8 18.g3 f6 19.af1 g7 20.fxg6 hxg6 21.f5+ g8 22.g3 xe4 23.h6 1-0 Korneev, O (2568)-Reina Luque, R/Seville 2002. ( Black will be mated after 23.h6 xg3+ 24.hxg3 gxf5 25.g5+ h8 26.f4 )] 11...a6 12.a5 White could still have tried [ 12.f5 but it soon becomes clear he has no intention of attacking on the kingside. ] 12...b5 13.e2 c4 14.e1 Too late, as Black can now dissolve the white centre. e6! 15.dxe6 fxe6 16.b4 c8 17.c3 xc3 18.bxc3 f6 19.g5 1144

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ White should have entered complications [ 11...f8 12.xf7+ ( 12.g5 e6 13.xf7 with 19.xb7 f7 20.xa6 xe4 cxb2 14.xb2 a5+ 15.f1! With 15.Ke2 when his valuable passed pawn off sets we would have the same position as in the the destruction of his centre. ] game but Kf1 here makes a big difference. 19...d7 20.d1 d5 21.e5 xf7 16.h5+ g8 17.d3 with a nice [ He had to return his queen to the defence quick win, see Nakamura, H (2613)-Smirin, I of the kingside with 21.b6 c6 22.e3 ] in the Archive, but as usual things are not 21...g4 22.g1 f5? Black should have that simple in chess.) 12...xf7 13.g5+ increased his control of the light squares with g8 14.h5 Probably Sutovsky was [ 22...h6 intending 23...Bxg5 ] counting on this line to make a quick forced 23.h3? White misses the chance to activate draw, see Shirov, A-Smirin, I /Odessa 2007 his position with in the Archive. ] [ 23.d6! xd6 24.exd6 xc3 25.b1 12.g5 Practically forced and best. when it is Black who has to play precisely to [ A n o t h e r t r y i s : 12.xd6 b6 hold the position. ] ( Also possible was: 12...cxb2 13.xb2 23...f8 the entrance of Black's bishop into a5+ 14.e2 c5-+ ) 13.xe6 xe5 the attack on White's king proves decisive. 14.xf7+ xf7 15.xb6 axb6 16.b1 24.a4 c5+ 25.f1 h2+ 26.e2 xg5! xa2 Black was better Rios, C -Castro Rojas, 27.fxg5 f7 28.e3 xe3 29.xe3 f8 O /El Bagre 2010 ] Threatening mate for a second time on f2. 12...cxb2 30.d2 f4+ A nice attacking finish by IM Ali [ 12...f8 13.xf7 xf7 14.h5+ g8 Mortazavi. 15.d3 This is one possible line that was 0-1 tested here. ] 13.xb2 a5+ Forcing the white king to go to the worse square e2. 14.e2 1101 B09 [ 14.f1 xf4+-+ ] Ivanchuk comes up with a new Sutovsky,Emil 2700 14...f8N Ivanchuk,Vassily 2768 idea. [ One example with lots of mistakes was: FIDE World Cup 2011 (3.2) 04.09.2011 14...d5 15.d3 f8 16.xf7 xf7 17.f1 [Milos Pavlovic] b4 18.c1 h6? ( A better defence was: 18...g8 19.h3 Again with the initiative, 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 for example: d7 With the idea ...Bb5 or ... 5.f3 0-0 6.e5 This line is a very rare guest Be8-g6 to block the b1-h7 diagonal. 20.d2 at grandmaster level and has been c5 21.b1 The position is unclear.) abandoned long time ago, probably with good 19.h3 Here White already has the initiative. reason. Black's chances to defend here are c6 20.g3 ( 20.a3! xa3 21.g6+ more then adequate. I must admit, though, xg6 22.xa3 White is winning.) 20...g8 that the position has some potential and it is 21.h5 e7 22.f5 ( 22.xh6 f7 23.e2 something that Black must be aware of. fd7 e7 24.d2 Here Black is probably lost.) 7.h4 c5 8.h5 cxd4 9.hxg6 dxc3 22...f7 23.xf7+ ( Here White missed a Probably best. chance to play inspirational chess: [ 9...hxg6 10.xd4 c6 11.f2 This might 23.xg7+!! xg7 24.f6 f7 25.g4+ h8 be a position that can promise W hite an 26.xh6 White is winning.) 23...xf7 24.f6 a t t a c k . O n e e xa m p le we n t l ik e t h is : e6 h8 25.xh6 xe5 26.g7 fg6 ( 11...dxe5 12.h4 f6 13.fxe5 h5 27.xg6+ xg6 28.xg6 xg6 29.xh8 14.g4+- ) 12.exd6 f6 13.d2 xd6 d7 Winiwarter, F (2240)-Hager, F /Austria 14.0-0-0 d8 15.c4 d7 16.f5 exf5 1995. ] 17.g5 b4 18.h4 h5 19.a3 b6 20.d6 Vakhidov, T) -Donguines, F/Manila 15.xf7 xf7 16.f5 This is too sharp. With the king on e2 this can't work. 2006. ] [ A more modest move gaining a pawn was 10.gxf7+ xf7 11.c4 e6! 1145

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 more to the point: 16.xd6 a4 17.d3 c6 The position is complicated 18.a3 xa3 19.xa3 d7 20.ab1 b6 21.xf8 xf8 22.xh7 g8 23.e3 This is only one possible line in which both sides have chances, it seems to me that the position remains in equilibrium. ] [ 16.h5 b4 ] 16...xe5 17.h5 e8 18.fxe6 xe6 19.xe6 b5+ 20.d3 xb2 Black is winning. 21.f5 b5+ 22.c4 b2+ 23.f3 c6 24.f7+ d8 25.xf8+ c7 Ivanchuk calculated well in this game, as although the computer gives better solutions for Black I think this was good enough as well. 26.xh7+ b6 27.xa8 d4+ 28.g4 xg2+ 29.h5 h2+ 30.g6 c2+ 31.h6 f4+ 32.g7 xe6+ 33.f6 xh7 34.xe6 g6+ 35.e7 g5+ 36.f8 f6+ 0-1

e6 16.f5 with the initiative in Reeh - Espig, Potsdam FRG-GDR 1988 ) 14.d2 A) after 14...b6 15.ab1 c5 16.c4!? b4 17.b3 d4 18.d1 a3 ( 18...dxb3? 19.xb3 xc3 20.xf7++winning ) 19.f5 b5 20.d5 white had the advantage in the game Lanc - Chabanon, Trnava 1990; B) 14...c5 15.ad1 b6 16.c1 and now in the game Kindermann Khalifman, Hamburg 1991 black should h a v e p l a y e d xd3 17.cxd3 f5 with counterplay. ] 13...d7 14.d2 b6+ 15.h1 c5 16.ab1 xd3 17.cxd3 e6?! [ The standard 17...f5 is better and will be considered in the game Kindermann - M. Gurevich. ] 18.f5!? It is not so easy to parry white's initiative on the kingside. exf5 [ 18...e5 does not solve the problems: 19.g3 d4 20.f6 h8 21.e3! xd3 1102 B09 22.xd3 xd3 23.g4 and it is hard to see any prospects for the bishop on h8. ] Tolnai,Tibor 19.exf5 d4 20.g3 xf5 Gurevich,Mikhail [ After 20...e5 21.g4 b3 22.f4 h8 Luzern 1989 23.xe5+ dxe5 24.f6 white had obtained [Alexander Volzhin] some advantage in the game Arnason Pergericht, Bela Crkva 1989. ] As we saw in the previous game, queenside S p e c t a c u l a r b u t f o r c e d . gxf5 castling is very interesting, but gives Black 21.xf5! serious counterchances. Probably that is why 22.d5 f4! Black defends very well. [ 22...c5? was losing immediately: 23.f6+ many White players prefer to castle kingside. h8 24.h4 xf6 25.xf6+ g8 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 26.c3+- winning ] 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 23.f6+ h8 24.h4 h6 25.xf4!? 0-0 9.e3 a5 10.0-0 g4 11.h3 [ Bad was 25.c3? b e c a u s e o f b5! [ 11.e1 has been played a couple of times 26.d5 f6 27.xf4 f5 with a big but without much success: c6 12.h1 advantage ( 27...f7 )] b4 ( or 12...xf3 13.xf3 ac8 14.a3 [ 25.xf4 could lead to a draw after d4 d5!? 15.e5 d4 16.exf6 xf6 17.e4 dxe3 26.e4 f5!? ( or 26...xd3 27.e1 d5 18.xf6+ exf6 19.xe3 b6 unclear but 28.xh6 dxe4 29.xg7+ xg7 with good play f or black in de Firmian 30.g5+= ) 27.xh6! xd3! ( 27...xh6? Chernin, Moscow GMA 1990) 13.d4 xd3 was losing after 28.xh6+ g8 29.g5 14.cxd3 d7 15.b3 d8 16.a4 g4 g7 30.xg7+ xg7 31.e6+ ) 28.e1 17.g1 f5 (a very typical move in this sort of fxe4 29.xg7+ xg7 30.g5+ f7 p o s i t i o n . ) 18.h3 f6 with enough 31.f5+ with perpetual check since the counterplay in R.Kuijf - Nijboer, W ijk aan black king cannot go to the e-file. ] Zee 1990 ] 11...xf3 12.xf3 c6 This critical position 25...d5?! An inaccuracy which lets white get a very comfortable position. has occurred hundreds of times. 13.a3 [ 25...b5! was correct, and after the [ 13.h1!? is ano the r possib ility: d7 possible 26.h4 f5 ( of course not ( 13...b4 is weaker: 14.a3 xd3 15.cxd3 1146

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26...xd3? 27.xh6 xb1+ 28.c1+ mating ) 27.xh6 xf6 28.g5+ g7 29.h6+ g8 30.xf6 h7 31.g5+ g6 32.h4 h7 black is more or less ok as the second pawn cannot be won: 33.g3+ g6 34.xd6 ad8! ] 26.c3 d4 27.xd4 e6 28.c3! with the idea of Re1. [ 28.e5!? was also interesting with the idea of advancing the d-pawn. ] 28...fe8 It's looks like black had no other defence here. [ 28...ad8 did not help: 29.e1 c8 ( or 29...a6 30.f5 xd3 31.e4; 29...d6 30.f5 xd3 31.e4 d1+ 32.h2 ) 30.e4! xf6 31.xf6+ g8 32.e3 fe8 33.g3+ f8 34.b4+ mating ] 29.xe8 xe8 White has won the exchange back and has a decisive advantage due to his extra pawn and the weakness of the Black king's position. 30.f1! With the idea of Rf3g3. [ It was still possible to lose after 30.e1?? xe1+ 31.xe1 xe1+ 32.h2 e5-+ winning ] 30...e7 31.f3 h7 32.g3 e5 [ 32...xc3 33.bxc3 e1+ 34.h2 xc3 was impossible: 35.f5+ h8 36.g4 e8 37.f4+- winning ] 33.xe5 xe5 34.g4 g5 35.f3! White should keep the queens on the board as the black king is exposed. e5 36.d4!+A decisive blow. e6 [ The pawn could not be taken: 36...xd4 37.f5+ h8 38.c8+ mating ] 37.d5 e1+ 38.h2 e5 39.d6! Simply winning as the d-pawn is always taboo. d7 40.g4 d8 41.c4! f6 42.e4+ h8 43.d7 h5 There were no other moves. 44.d5 Black resigned. 1-0

1103 Tzermiadianos,Andreas Anagnostopoulos,Dimitrios ch-GRE Athens (2) [Andrew Martin]

B09 2440 2435 2002

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 The Austrian Attack

has wa ned in popu larity against th e Pirc move-order largely due a) to the reliability of 6...Na6 and b) the advent of 4 Be3. Naturally the White set-up must still be treated with the utmost respect. 6...Na6 is unbalancing and very sharp. Black must develop counterplay quickly or the routine attacking plan of 0-0, Qe1-h4, f4-f5, Bh6 etc will wipe him out. 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 b8 [ The main alternative is 8...g4 In general I think the exchange on f3 is desirable for Black just to take away one of White's main attackers. The problem is that surrendering the light-squared Bishop early might leave Black's position seriously short of counterplay as the game progresses. Recent games have favoured White: A) 9.a3 c7 10.e1 xf3 11.xf3 e6 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.h4 d5 14.e5 d7 15.g4 c4 16.f1 f5 17.e2 h5 18.e3 e7 19.b3 c5 20.d4 e4 21.h3 xh3 22.xh3 c3 1/2-1/2 Pokorna,R-Zhukova,N/ Olympiad w, Bled SLO 2002 (22); B) 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 ( 10.xf3 b8 11.e2 c7 12.a4 a6 13.a5 b5 14.axb6 xb6 15.a2 b5 16.xb5 axb5 17.xb5 xe4 18.c6 f5 19.fa3 d4+ 20.h2 f2 21.a7 g3+ 22.h1 b8 23.2a6 f2 24.h2 g3+ 25.h1 f2 26.d1 b4 27.c3 g3+ 28.h2 e4 29.d2 c4 30.d7 b8 31.b7 e2 32.a8 xa8 33.xa8 xd2 34.a1 e2 35.c6 e1 36.xe1 xe1 37.xe7 e4 38.b5 c8 39.a6 g3+ 40.g1 a8 0-1 Shukurova,MDrljevic,L/ W Yg18, Heraklio GRE 2002 (40) ) 10...d7 11.d2 c7 12.ae1 a6 13.a4 b6 14.g3 b8 15.e5 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.exd6 exd6 18.f5 c4 19.e2 f6 20.f4 b6 21.fxg6 fxg6 22.g4 h8 23.e4 xe4 24.xe4 xd5 25.d2 xf1+ 26.xf1 xb2 27.e6 e5 28.f2 f6 29.e1 a6 30.g5 a1 31.xa1 xa1 32.a7 e5 33.f7 h6 34.xh6 e4 35.xg6 f6+ 36.xf6+ xf6 37.f4 g7 38.g4 g5 39.xg5 xg5 40.d7 b4 41.e6 c3 1/2-1/2 Sergeeva,M-Zhukova,N/Olympiad w, Bled SLO 2002 (41); C) 9.c4! The best move I think. White 1147

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 will try to put a stopper on ...b7-b5 and The Bishop on c4 inhibits ...e7-e6. Black c a n n o t e q u a l i s e : c7 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 e6 ( 11...d7 12.a4! a6 13.d2 b8 14.e2 h8 15.a5 e8 16.d3 c8 17.b3 a8 18.ae1 b5 19.axb6 xb6 20.e5 Arnason-Hoi Reykjavik 1988 ) 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.d1 Black achieved his pawn break but inherited a poor structure as a result. e7 14.e5 dxe5 15.xb7 h5 16.b5 ac8 17.xa7 b8 18.c6; D) 9.h1 b8 10.f5 c8 11.g5 c4 12.e2 b5 13.d4 xe2 14.xe2 d7 15.c6 b7 16.ae1 c5 17.e5 b4 18.xe7+ xe7 19.exf6 xf6 20.xc4 d8 21.xf6 xf6 22.fxg6 xg6 23.e4 xe4 24.xe4 h5 25.e3 h8 26.f4 1-0 Ahmed,E-Abdulaziz,M/ Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (26) ] [ 8...c7 9.e1 e6 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 g4 13.g5 d7 14.d1 c6 15.g3 c4 16.xg4 cxd3 17.cxd3 b6+ 18.h1 xb2 19.e4 d5 20.h4 d7 21.b1 e2 22.fe1 xd3 23.c5 a3 24.xd7 xf3 25.gxf3 xf3+ 26.g1 c3 27.b2 c8 28.f2 d3 29.f6+ 1-0 Berzina,I-Drljevic,L/W Yg18, Heraklio GRE 2002 (29) ] 9.e2 [ 9.h1 g4 10.h3 ( 10.c4 c7 11.a4 a6 12.a5 b5 13.xb5 axb5 14.xb5 xe4 15.d3 f6 16.c4 e6 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.e1 d7 19.e3 was a previous game between these two and now Nunn recommends b6 ) 10...xf3 11.xf3 c7 12.a4 a6 13.a5 b5 14.d2 c8 15.b3 d4 16.f2 e6 ] 9...c7 10.a4 b6 Agnos decides to play for ... b5 the slow way. Another recent game suggests that Black can also play 10...a6 straightaway: [ 10...a6 11.a5 g4 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 b5 14.axb6 xb6 15.d1 d7 16.c3 e6 Black achieved both his breaks. He has enough activity to compensate for his poor pawns. 17.e3 exd5 18.exd5 b8 1/2-1/2 Nikolov,M-Spasov,V/Baharov Mem, Borovec BUL 2002 (18) ] 11.b5 Seeing ..a6 and ...b5 coming up, W hite changes tack. a6 12.xc7 xc7

13.c4 Consequent, but perhaps White could play for the attack: [ 13.xa6 xa6 14.xa6 xe4 15.e2 f6 16.c4 fe8 17.f5 Otherwise ...e7-e6 and Black is very comfortable. gxf5 18.g5 d7 19.a3 Computer programs like Black but my instinct tells me that White has good chances. ] 13...e6 14.e5 e8 15.d2 White plays for cramp but the exchange of Knights has helped Agnos. Despite the imposing nature of the W hite centre his d pawn can become exposed. d8! 16.c3 exd5 17.cxd5 c7 See what I mean! 18.ad1 xd5 19.c4 xf4 20.e4 e6 21.exd6! [ 21.xd6 e7 22.fd1 b5 23.axb5 axb5 24.d5 b7 Black is a pawn up! ] 21...b7 22.d5 A rueful move. [ 22.g4 retains pieces but with accurate defence Black can beat W hite back: xc3 23.bxc3 f6! 24.d7 ( 24.d4 g5 25.xg5 xg5 ) 24...bd8 Everything is covered. ] 22...xd5 23.xd5 A truce but Black could consider taking on c3 and playing ...b6-b5 or even ...b6-b5 immediately maybe followed by .. Rb6. The d pawn was intimidating so........ draw. If W hite cannot put a stamp on both Black's pawn breaks i.e. ...b5 and e6, the line with 9 Qe2 isn't really sharp enough to give any problems. Agnos showed one way to defend-others are mentioned in the notes. Right now,6...Na6 looks fully playable. ½-½

1104 Van Kampen,R Rapport,R N1 Reykjavik Open 2014 (5.1) [Tom Rendle]

B09 2603 2681 07.03.2014

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.dxc5 a5 7.d4! White has had a lot of success with this recently so it's interesting to see what Rapport has in mind here [ 7.d3 for a long time was the main move but it's been surpassed by 7.Qd4 in recent years ] 7...0-0 8.d2 c6 9.c4 d8!? 1148

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 9...e6 10.b5 xb5 11.xb5 dxc5 12.e5 ( 12.g5?! d4 13.xe6 fxe6 and Black is at least equal) 12...d5 13.xc6 bxc6 14.e4 is better for White with no risk ] [ 9...xc5 was examined by Andrew Martin in Milov-Gonzalez but I think this is perhaps Black's best line: after 10.xc5 dxc5 11.e5 Black chose 11...Ne8 here and W hite obtained a pleasant edge but critical is h5! 12.0-0-0 d8 13.e2 h6 14.g3 b6 when I think White's advantage is very slight. The knight on h5 may be offside but it can easily return via g7 ] 10.0-0-0 e6 11.a4 [ 11.b5!? g4! is also very unclear, for example A) 12.e2! is probably enough for a slight edge, e.g. A1) 12...d4 is very risky as after 13.xd4 xd4 14.f5! f2 15.fxe6 xh1 and White has a number of dangerous ideas, for instance 16.cxd6 ( 16.h6!? ) 16...f2 17.d5! xd6 18.f4 e5 19.f6+ exf6 20.xd6 xf4+ 21.b1 xd6 22.exf7+ xf7 23.xf2 and White can park his bishop on d5 and will have the only realistic winning chances; A2) 12...dxc5 13.h3 f6 14.f2 b6 15.e5 d7 16.b1 with an advantage to White; B) 12.xb7 d7 13.cxd6 ] 11...g4 12.g1?! [ 12.e1! was best but the position is hard to assess after xc3! 13.bxc3 e3 14.d3 xf1 15.xf1 e8 but I think I prefer White as his king is actually fairly safe despite the wrecked pawn structure and he always has aggressive ideas on the kingside based on f5! ] 12...a6?! I don't really understand this move - I suppose it's preparing ...b5 but then why didn't Rapport play it later on when he had the chance? [ 12...dxc5! gives Black the type of game he wants here, e.g. A) or 13.c4 d7! 14.a3 d4 15.e5 ( 15.xc5?? drops a piece to c8 16.b4 a5 ) 15...b5! 16.xc5 xc2 17.b3 c8 18.xa7 b4 and Black has very decent

pla y f o r t he p a wn h e re ( or 18...a8 19.b7 b8 20.a7 a8 21.c5 c8= ); B) 13.e5 d4 14.xd4 xd4 15.xd4 cxd4 16.b5 f2 17.xd4 xa2 18.e1 ac8 with roughly level chances ] 13.h3 This leads to more crazy complications but overall I'd rather be Black at this stage [ 13.f5! seems more promising to me, for example gxf5 14.exf5 xf5 15.f4 d7 16.cxd6 exd6 17.h3 ge5 18.e3 and W hite has the better structure in an otherwise fairly level middlegame ] 13...f2 14.e1 dxc5 15.a3 d4 16.g5 d7 [ 16...b5! 17.b1 d7 and the position is a complete mess but I'd be very surprised if Black turned out to be worse here ] 17.d5 c6 18.xc5?! A brave decision f r o m V a n K a m p e n t o g r a b t h e p a wn b u t objectively it was a mistake [ better was 18.a5! d6 19.c7 d7 20.xc5 xe4 21.xe7+ h8 22.xe4 xc7 23.xc6 xc6 24.c3 and Black has enough for the pawn but probably no more here ] 18...xd5 19.xd5 c8?! With the queens off Black's pressure isn't quite enough anymore [ 19...c7! 20.c3 e6 21.c4 d7! and Black seems to have more than enough play for the pawn here ] 20.xd8 fxd8 21.c3 h6 22.f3 xh3 23.xd4 xd4 [ 23...xg1 must be critical. The knight on g1 is trapped but it's not so easy to win, for example 24.b3 f6! 25.e3 h4 26.d1 g3! 27.xd8+ xd8 28.xg1 xf4+ 29.c2 g7 and a draw seems the most likely result although White has slightly the better chances here ] 24.h1 f2 25.xh6 b5 26.a3 b6 27.c2 The dust has settled and White is up a pawn although there is still a lot of work to do d7 28.c1 [ 28.f5!? looks strong but perhaps White was worried by c7 with the threat of ...Rxd2 but still after 29.c1! ( 29.fxg6 is possible still but after xd2+ 30.xd2 f4+ 31.e2 xh6 32.gxf7+ xf7 33.xf2 d8 I think Black should hold the endgame) 1149

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 29...g7 30.fxg6 fxg6 31.e5 White has excellent winning chances ] 28...cd8 29.e5 e6?! [ 29...g7! 30.h2 g4 31.h3 f2 32.g3 d1 33.xd1 xd1 34.d3 g1 and Black's activity gives him very good chances to hold ] 30.f5! d1? [ 30...exf5 31.g5 g4! and Black is still in the game, although after 32.h3 f8 33.e6! c7 34.exf7+ cxf7 35.e6 White is a pawn up for nothing and should win eventually ] 31.g5! A shocking move that Rapport must've completely missed e3 [ t h e p o i n t i s t h a t 31...xe1? 32.f6 is mating ] 32.xe3 A slight mistake but I get the feeling that time trouble was a factor for both sides at this point [ 32.xd1! xd1 33.xe3 xf1 34.fxe6 is more easily winning ] 32...8d2+ 33.b3 b1 34.b4 g4 35.eh3 xh6 36.xh6! [ 36.xd2?! xf5 isn't 100% clear ] 36...dxb2+ 37.a5 g7 38.d3 e1 39.fxg6 fxg6 40.xg6+ f7 and I suspect Black resigned as the time control had been reached [ 40...f7 41.f6+ e8 ( 41...g7 42.h6+ g8 43.f8# ) 42.xe6+ f8 43.xa6 is completely hopeless for Black ] 1-0

1105 Vibbert,Sean Nagle,S 2nd DC International 2014 (8) [Neil McDonald]

B09 2316 2412 29.06.2014

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.e5 fd7 7.exd6 cxd4!? A very ambitious capture which obliges Black to sacrifice the exchange. Perhaps it is OK for him, but it isn't really necessary when he gets dynamic chances after the simple [ 7...0-0 For example 8.e3 ( for 8.dxe7 and; 8.dxc5 check out Ivanovic-Gurevich in t h e a r c h i v e s .) 8...exd6 9.d2 c6 10.0-0-0 a5 Black has a weak pawn on d6

and a hole on d5, but his pieces soon get to active squares. It's not all fun for White as the following examples demonstrate: A) After 11.b1 f6 12.c4 f5 W hite pan icked ab out his o ppo nen t's attacking build up and tried to simplify, only to f all into a tactical trap: 13.dxc5 dxc5 14.d5 xd5 15.xa5 ( Also disastrous for W hite are 15.xd5 b4 16.b3 c4 17.xc4 xc2+ and; 15.xd5 xc2+ 16.xc2?! b4+ ) 15...xc2+! A horrible surprise and the only move that wins. 16.c1 ( White has l o s t a p i e c e a f t e r 16.xc2 xe3+ 17.d3 xa5 ) 16...xa5 17.xd5 xd1 White could resign but he played on some moves: 18.xd1 fe8 19.e5 xe5 20.fxe5 xe5 21.f4 e7 22.f3 c6 23.g5 ee8 24.d7 e5 25.xb7 xf3 26.gxf3 e2 27.h4 f2 28.e3 xf3 29.xc5 c8 30.b4 a5 31.b2 e8 0-1 Zelic, M (2354)-Ribli, Z (2582)/ Pula 1999.; B) 11.a3 After this move White ended up in a nightmarish Sicilian Dragon scenario: f6 12.h3 e8 13.c4 b5!? An enterprising pawn sac. Black would be OK after the long forcing sequence ( 13...cxd4 14.xd4 e4 15.xe4 xe4 16.xc6 xd2+ 17.xd2 bxc6 b u t h e w a n t s m o r e .) 14.xb5 ( Black has a nice initiative for his pawns after 14.xb5 d7 for example 15.dxc5 ab8 16.xc6 xc6 when already White has to reckon with deadly moves like 17... Ne 4 a n d 1 7 . . . . R xb 2 wh e n if 1 8 . K x b 2 Ne4. ) 14...d5 15.f1 ( White has two bishops hanging after 15.xa5 xa5 ) 15...d8 16.e5 ( Or 16.dxc5 e4 keeping up the pressure for if 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 g3 19.c7 xe3 20.xa8 xh1 and Black is better.) 16...b7 17.c3 cxd4 18.xd4 xd4 19.xd4 d7 20.b4 b8 21.xd7 ( Now Black's initiative will be too strong. The last chance to muddy the waters was with a queen sacrifice: 21.b5 xe5 22.fxe5 c6 23.xc6 xb4 24.axb4 xe5 25.xd5 but Black's maintains an edge. ) 21...xd7 22.b5 c6 23.a4 d4 24.c5 ec8 25.xc6 xc6 26.d5 1150

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b7 0-1 Rogulj, B (2414) -Kuljasevic, D (2555)/Sibenik 2012. ( 26...b7 27.b5 xc2+ )] 8.b5! 0-0 9.c7 White wins the exchange, for which Black will have a pawn and a strong central grouping of pieces once he picks up the knight in the corner. exd6 [ Instead 9...c5 10.xa8 xd6 was played in Kramnik-Grischuk which is also in the archives. Andrew Martin assesses it as somewhat better for White. ] 10.xa8 c6 11.e2 c5 12.0-0 f5 I like this bishop development as it deters White from trying to win the d4 pawn due to the pressure on c2- see the next note. 13.e1 [ After 13.b5 b4! hitting c2 White is unable to conquer the d4 point, for example 14.f2 a6 15.f1 c6 ] 13...d3? The game ceases to be of theoretical interest as Black gives up the pawn that is cramping the white centre for no obvious reason. After [ 13...xa8 14.g4 c8! a strong move that gets the queen into the action 15.xf5 xf5 16.d3 e8 17.e1 e4 followed by reinforcing the knight on e4 with d6-d5 if necessary, and gaining space with h7-h5 etc. a hard struggle lies ahead. ] 14.xd3 xd3 15.xd3 xa8 16.c3 Now White is a whole exchange up and his pawns on c3 and f4 are restraining the black minor pieces. d5 17.e5 d8 18.e3 e4 [ Perhaps the best chance for Black is 18...xe5 19.fxe5 xe5 though his position is p ret ty m ise rable a f te r 20.d4 e8 21.xe5 xe5 22.e1 e4 23.d4 etc. ] 19.d4 xd4 20.cxd4 f6 21.d3 b6 22.c1 f8 23.d2 b7 24.c3 d7 25.a3 d6 26.f2 f5 27.e1 a4 28.e3 d7 29.f3 e8 [ After 29...xd4 30.d1 Black has only a couple of one move cheapos before Qxd5+ wins a piece: e8!? 31.g3 ( not 31.xd4 e1# ) 31...h3!? ( Upon 31...a4 Black loses a piece t o 32.xd5+ e6 33.e3 f7 34.xe6 xe6 35.xd6 ) 32.cd3 c5 33.b4 c6 34.xh3 and Black can resign. ] 30.xd5+ f7 31.f3 f8 32.f5 g5 33.b4 d7 34.h4 h6 35.hxg5 hxg5 36.ec1 e8 37.c7 xc7 38.xc7 e1+ 39.h2 d6+

40.h3 xc7 41.c3 e7 42.g4 f4 43.d5 e5 44.xe5 xe5 45.d6 d5 46.c8+ g7 47.d7 1-0

1106 Wells,Peter K Spraggett,Kevin 16th Monarch Assurance (7) [John Watson]

B09 2517 2585 28.09.2007

The main line Austrian attack continues to be debated between top players. I'd say that no theoretical verdict has been reached to this point. Unfortunately, in practice White seems to win a preponderance of games. 1.d4 g6 2.e4 d6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 f6 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 [ We saw the remarkable, illogical, and practically unheard of 7.xa6!? bxa6 8.0-0 in Graf, A -Tischbierek, R Koenigshofen 2007. I'm not sure how Black can equalise! Still, that can't be enough to scare Black off of 6...Na6 entirely. ] 7...c5 8.d5 g4!? [ Both this move and 8...b8 have been discussed at some length in this column. After the latter move, 9.f5 makes a strange impression, but White frees his c1 bishop and prepares Qe1-h4. In James Vigus' book, the move c7 ("!") is defended vigorously, and it's definitely nicer for a Pirc player not to have to give up his bishop by .. .Bg4xf3. But you might want to refer to his book for the complex details, because Black can get mated with one small misstep. ] 9.c4 Played against .. .e6. As Vigus points out, a big issue is whether the bishop will be hit by either ...b5 or ...d5 (after...e6) and have to move a third time. c7 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 e6 [ 11...a6 12.a4 b8!? ( 12...d7 ) 13.a5 b5 14.axb6 xb6 is the kind of position that has traditionally given Black enough activity to make up for his problems in the centre. Vigus doesn't find any clear way to advantage for White here either, but there are some bothersome continuations, and again, it seems that Black has to walk a tightrope in several lines. ] 1151

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 11...d7!? has the similar idea of ...a6/... Rb8/...b5, but is a little more flexible. ] 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.e3 b6 14.ad1 e7 15.f2 Up to here we have a sort of main line, and Wells' move is unusual but logical. First, it has the idea of Bh4, but in some cases the bishop will be less exposed on f2 than e3 (if.. N d 5 o c c u r s l a t e r , f o r e x a m p l e ) . d7 16.g4!? h8?! We've almost transposed to one of Vigus' main illustrative games with this line, Alsino Leal-Leitao, Sants 2006. There, however, W hite king's rook was on e1 and bishop on e3. That allows White's next move: [ The computer likes 16...xc3!? 17.bxc3 f6 and ...d5. Who knows? It's not easy to exploit Black's dark-square weaknesses, but I still like the bishops. ] 17.h4 f6 18.xf6+ xf6 [ 18...xf6 may not be ideal, but it gains a tempo and lessens the congestion. ] 19.b5! Wells is still working with known ideas, which have gained in strength due to the Bf2-h4 manoeuvre. xb5 20.xb5 f8 21.h4! g7 22.f3 d8 23.fd3!? An understandable continuation - who would waste time thinking about this move? Still [ 23.c4! would leave Black even more tied down. At any rate, W hite had to see the drawbacks of the following resource: ] 23...e5?! [ 23...d5 has to be the best try. ] 24.f5 h6?! Now White game is virtually winning. Black may have been counting upon [ 24...e6 , But White has the counter-trick 25.fxe6! f1+ 26.xf1 xh4 27.f7+ with Rdf3 and/or e7 to follow. ] [ 24...h8 25.f3 was also very depressing. ] 25.c4! h7 26.g4 g5 27.h5 b7 28.d5 c7 Black is just hoping for a miracle. 29.h4! f8 30.g3 g7 31.f2 e7 32.h1 d7 33.a4 f8 Surely [ 33...d8 was more consistent with the escape theme. ] 34.e2 c7 35.b3 a6 36.hxg5 xg5 37.h4 b5 38.axb5 axb5 39.hg4 h7 40.xg5! The time control move! Of course it's not too risky. hxg5 41.xg5 h8 42.g8+! xg8 43.xg8+ e7 44.g4 The pawns roll through. 1-0

1107 Wempe,Joost Korotylev,Alexey Corus C Wijk aan Zee NED (1) [Andrew Martin]

B09 2265 2603 15.01.2005

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f4 The Austrian Attack is much less common these days by comparison with the Nf3, Be3 at t a ck t h at we h a ve se e n so of t e n h e re . Nevertheless, Black cannot ignore this main theoretical highway and especially with the Pirc move-order, he must have something specific prepared. White's ' threat' , eventual or immediate, of e4-e5, is just too strong. f6 5.f3 c5 I guess this is the best move. A close second comes [ 5...0-0 6.d3 ( 6.e3! ) 6...a6 and the rest nowhere. ] 6.b5+ d7 7.e5 g4 8.e6 xb5 9.exf7+ d7 10.xb5 a5+ 11.c3 cxd4 12.xd4 All very common. h5 13.f3!? [ Rather than 13.h3 c6 14.de2 h6 15.e3 f5 16.f2 which is the alternative. ] 13...c6 Black gets his Knight out and covers b7. If he does not he gets caned: [ 13...xd4 14.xb7+ d8 ( 14...e6 15.e4+! e5 16.fxe5 xe5 17.0-0! ) 15.d2!! b6 16.xa8 xc3 17.bxc3 f2+ 18.d1+- ] 14.de2 f5 [ 14...af8 15.h3 ( 15.b1 xf7 16.h3 h6 17.b4 Bareev ) 15...f6 ( 15...h6 ) 16.0-0 c8 17.e3 xf7 18.ab1 d7 19.b4 xb4 20.e4 Bareev,EAzmaiparashvili,Z/Lvov 1990 ] 15.h3 h6 16.0-0N The novelty had to come, either when W hite's theory ran out or his dissatisfaction with the previously played moves spilled over. As long as Black can keep his grip on the light squares intact he can hold this position, despite the apparent vulnerability of his King. [ B e f o r e h a n d : 16.e4 h4? ( 16...b4! 17.0-0 xc2 18.b1 Dvoiris ) 17.d2 xf7 18.c3 xc3+ 19.2xc3 f5 20.0-0-0 fd4 21.xd6 exd6 22.xd4 af8 23.hd1 xd4 24.xb7+ e6 25.e4+ d7 26.xd4 c8 27.b5 c6 28.xd6 xd6 29.b7+ 1-0 Dvoirys, S1152

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Rukavina,J/Sibenik 1989 ] [ If 16.e3!? best seems xc2 17.0-0 xf7 18.ac1 f5 19.g3 e6 ] 16...xf7 17.e3 f5 That's why he took on f7 with the Queen. 18.f2 ac8 19.a4 b6 Very provocative and succeeds in encouraging W hite to sacrif ice a pawn. I believe Black could also play without touching the queenside: [ 19...hf8 20.a5 c7 21.a4 b8 22.d1 g5!? 23.fxg5 e5 with considerable counterplay. ] 20.a5?! [ Just 20.ad1 c7 21.fe1 was indicated, with perhaps a slight edge. ] 20...bxa5! 21.a4 b8 22.b3 hc8 White forgot that the Black King could still run back towards the kingside! 23.d5 e6 24.dc3 d5 Now Black starts to get he upper hand. His pieces are coordinating well and he has an extra pawn. 25.d1 e8! 26.g4? Poor. He opens up his King unnecessarily. White must just ignore the fact he's a pawn down, take note that he has to reinforce c2 and play normally. [ Thus 26.d2! is best I feel, and then b4 27.c5 xa4 28.xa4 f6 ] 26...hxg4 27.hxg4 fe7 28.g2 g5! [ 28...b4 was also good with ...g6-g5 in m i n d b u t j u s t d e l a y e d a l i t t l e : 29.xa7 ( 29.d2 g5! 30.f5 exf5 31.xa7 a8 32.d4 xd4 33.xd4 fxg4 34.xf7+ xf7 35.cb5 f6 ) 29...b7 30.d4 g5! 31.xg7 xg7 32.f5 exf5 33.gxf5 g4 34.f4 f6 ] 29.g3 [ 29.f5 b4! ] 29...gxf4 30.xf4 g6 31.f1 b4! A m o v e wh i c h t a k e s a l l t h e wi n d o u t o f W h it e ' s s a i ls . N o w h e wi l l re gr e t g2 -g 4 . 32.xb4 axb4 33.b5 d7 34.f2 e5-+ 35.c4 f8 36.e3 d4 37.d2 xf2+ 38.xf2 a6 12....h5 and the attendant variations seem to be holding up well. 0-1

1108 Yegiazarian,Arsen Minasian,Artashes ch Yerevan [Alexander Volzhin]

B09 2500 2600 1999

An excellent example of attacking, but also positionally sound chess. A textbook game both from the positional and tactical point of view. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 0-0 6.d3 c6 7.0-0 g4 [ 7...e5 is regarded as the main line. ] 8.e5 dxe5 [ In Nijboer - Gurevich, Wijk an Zee 1990, B la c k t rie d 8...d7 , but failed to equalize 9.e3 dxe5 10.dxe5 f6 11.exf6 exf6 12.h3 e8?! A blunder, but the position after ( 12...xf3 13.xf3 is difficult for Black. ) 13.hxg4 xe3 14.e4! Trapping the Rook. b6 15.d2 and White wins the exchange for nothing. ] 9.dxe5 d5 10.h3 xc3 11.bxc3 f5 12.e2 [ There are some alternatives to the text: 12.e3 d7 13.e2 fd8 14.ad1 xd3 15.cxd3 b5 16.c5 d5 17.d4 ab8 18.de1 e6 19.g5 and White has good prospects for a kingside attack, Balashov Pfleger, Hannover 1983. ] [ 12.a3 is also possible, but I prefer either the text or 12.Be3. h6?! Missing White's m a in t h re a t . T h is m o ve is b a d o n b o t h positional and tactical grounds in view of: ( Naturally 12...d7 should be preferred, with a good position for Black.) 13.xf5 gxf5 14.h4! Now the material losses are unavoidable. e6 15.h5 g7 16.ad1 e8 17.xf8 xf8 18.h1 c5 19.f3 c4 20.g4 e2 21.g1 and in a few moves Black resigned, S. Polgar - Rakic, Novi Sad 1990. ] 12...d5 13.e3 a5 14.xf5 gxf5 15.c4 White is clearly better. The weakness of his queenside pawns is of no importance here because Black has no real possibilities to exploit it, while White has good prospects over on the kingside with g2-g4 at the right moment. e6 16.ab1 ab8 17.fd1 h6 18.g4! fxg4 19.hxg4 a6 20.e4! White should not exchange Queens as he has good prospect s f or a kingside a ttac k. O f 1153

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 course, this is a move that requires careful calculation as White is sacrificing material. [ T h e e n d g a m e a f t e r 20.xa6 bxa6 doesn't promise White too much. ] 20...fd8 [ Accepting the sacrifice is the main alternative to the text: 20...xa2 Now White s h o u l d p l a y 21.a1! ( Itâ []s tempting to l a u n c h t h e d i r e c t a t t a c k w i t h 21.g5 but itâ []s not so good. Black has sufficient r e s o u r c e s t o d e f e n d h i s p o s i t i o n fd8 22.gxh6 xh6 23.f2! (opening the way for t h e R o o k s ) xd1 24.xd1 e7! A very important resource. 25.h1 f5 26.d4 a4! and I can't find a win for White! ) 21...b2 22.d3 Black's Queen is in danger now. fd8 23.d4! ( 23.d4 is we a k e r in vie w o f b6! and Black's Queen escapes.) 23...xd4 24.cxd4 b6 The only move. 25.db1 c6 26.xa7 and White wins his pawn back and is clearly better. ( T h e i m m e d i a t e 26.f5!? also deserves serious attention. )] 21.f5! exf5 22.gxf5 xd1+ 23.xd1 e8 [ Again It's bad to grab the pawn: 23...xa2 24.f6 f8 25.f2! with decisive threats, for example d8 26.g1+ h8 27.g5! and mate is unavoidable. ] 24.e6! This breakthrough in the center is the point of White's strategy. h8 [ To grab the pawn here is even worse than a few moves earlier 24...xa2 25.g4! h8 26.h5! and White's attack is unstoppable: xc2 ( or 26...g8 27.g5 e5 28.f4 with a winning attack) 27.c1 a4 28.xh6 and a quick mate follows. ] 25.d7 e2 26.d2 [ 26.c4 with aspirations to trap the Queen after Rd2 is not bad either a5 ( 26...e5 is an int eres ting a tte mp t to com plicat e matters, but unfortunately it's also insufficient: 27.xe5 e1+ 28.h2 e2+ 29.h3 f1+ 30.g4 e2+ 31.f3 h5+ 32.g5! and White wins. Brave King!) 27.f6! xf6 28.exf7 f8 29.f4 g7 30.c5 xc4 31.xf8 xf8 32.g4 ] 26...b5 27.h2 The rest is easy: all Whiteâ [ ] s p ie c e s t a k e p a rt in t h e a t t a ck o n t h e helpless Black's King. e5 28.xh6 xf3+ 29.xf3 xh6 30.xh6+ g7 31.h7+

xh7 32.h5+ g7 33.f6+ xf6 34.xb5 1-0

1109 Yudin,Sergei Tseshkovsky,Vitaly TCh-RUS Major League (3) [John Watson]

B09 2531 2504 05.04.2008

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 f6 5.f3 c5 6.b5+ d7 7.xd7+ bxd7 This is such a logical developing move that it sh o u l d n ' t b e a s b a d a s t h e o r y se e m s t o indicate. [ The main line is 7...fxd7 8.d5 b5! , which is highly unclear. ] 8.d5 0-0 [ It's hard to improve upon Black's play after 9 Q e2 in t he n ext n ot e, so let 's lo ok a t 8...b5!? 9.e5 dxe5 10.fxe5 g4 11.e6 - thus far Vigus - when de5! might be the wa y t o g o . . T h e n ( he gives 11...xc3+ 12.bxc3 fxe6 13.g5 , which is indeed promising for White ) A) 12.exf7+ xf7 13.0-0 0-0 14.xb5 b8 ( or 14...d6; 14...a6 15.c3 fe5 ); B) 12.g5! f5! 13.h3 b4 is a bit of a m e s s . P e r h a p s b e s t i s 14.b5 with the idea d6 yet f6 15.d6! ( 15.0-0 0-0 16.d6 exd6 17.xd6 e7 ) 15...0-0!? , leaves Black standing well enough with ideas of ...exd6 and ...Qb6. ] 9.0-0 [ Vigus gives Shirov-van Wely, Monaco (Blindfold 1998) as his main game: 9.e2! e6!? (this leaves Black's centre so weak that you wonder if it's not better to be cramped, e. g., ( 9...b8 10.a4 a6 11.0-0 c4!?; or 9...b6 10.0-0 c4+ 11.h1 ac8 . But frankly, it's hard to believe that White isn't somewhat better in such lines) 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.0-0 e7 12.d2 a6 13.a4 ae8 14.ae1 d8 15.g5 b6 and now ( 15...h6 16.f3 only weakens g6 perhaps then f7 17.h4 f8 would be possible, but it's not a nice picture.) 16.f5! would have kept a nice advantage ( 16.a5!? b4!? 17.d5 d4+ 18.e3 a4 19.c7 ) 16...exf5 ( 16...gxf5 17.exf5 c4+ 18.f2 ) 17.c4+ h8 18.exf5 . I really don't like 1154

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black in these lines, and I think White has several other ways to set up. ] 9...b5! 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 g4 12.e6 b4 This is given as unclear by Nunn. This game seems to resolve the issue. 13.exf7+ [ 13.g5 d4+ 14.h1 fxe6! 15.xe6 b8! ] 13...xf7 14.e4 b6 15.h3 e5 16.xe5 xf1+ 17.xf1 [ 17.xf1 xd5! ] 17...xe5 18.xc5 c8 19.d3 xd5 20.e2 d4 21.h6 f7+ 22.e1 c6 with the idea. That's really the effective end: 23.f4 xb2 24.d1 c8 25.a6 f5 26.d3 g7 27.xg7 xf4 28.d4 xc2 29.e3 c4 [ 29...e4! ] 30.xc4+ xc4 0-1

1110 Zaja,Ivan Beliavsky,Alexander G Slovenian Team Ch (4) [Nigel Davies]

B09

21.10.2001

Alexander Beliavsky is one of the latest GMs to join the ranks of Pirc players, quite possibly inspired by the example of his former countrymen, Chernin and Gurevich. In this game he shows that he's very well versed in the latest wrinkles with 12...Qa4 effectively neutralising this whole line. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.f4 g7 5.f3 c5 [ This has taken over as the accepted method of play for Black. But there's n o t h i n g w r o n g w i t h t h e o l d e r 5...0-0 as rising star Ponomariov demonstrated against Baklan this year: 6.d3 a6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 g4 ( the alternatives are 8...c7 and; 8...b8 ) 9.h1 c7 10.a4 a6 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 b6 13.b1 e6 14.b4 1/2-1/2 ] 6.b5+ [ F u r t h e r t o m y r e c e n t l o o k a t 6.dxc5 , the game Baklan - Chernin, European Ch 2001 continued a5 7.d3 xc5 8.e2 g4 9.e3 a5 10.0-0 c6 11.h1 0-0 12.e1 xf3 13.xf3 ac8 14.a3 d5 15.xd5 xd5 16.xa5 xa5 17.exd5

xb2 18.b1 xa3 19.xa7 c5 20.b5 1/2-1/2. Chernin's games in the Pirc are always worth studying. ] 6...d7 7.e5 g4 8.xd7+ [ 8.e6 fxe6 9.g5 xb5 10.xe6 xd4 11.xd8 1/2-1/2 Grosar A-Ribli Z/TCh-SLO 2001 (11) ] 8...xd7 9.d5 dxe5 10.h3 e4 11.xe4 f6 12.e5 [ Or 12.xf6+ xf6 13.0-0 0-0 ( 13...d6 ) 14.e3 xb2 1/2-1/2 Atlas V-Chernin, European Ch., 2001 ] 12...a4! A relatively new discovery which gives Black excellent play. 13.c3 [ The notes to Senff - Gurevich, given in the September update, show how harmless 13.xf6+ is. ] 13...a6 14.e2 [ 14.e3 bd7 was also fine for Black in Karpatchev - Shchekachev, Salzburg 2001 ] 14...0-0 15.e3 d8 16.d1 fd7 17.e4 xe2+ 18.xe2 a6 19.xd7 xd7 20.b3 c4! Setting White some problems by cutting off support to the d-pawn. Given the chance, W hite would have played c2-c4. 21.bxc4? Opening Pandora's box. [ I think that White should try to bail out with 21.d4 af t er wh ich cxb3 ( or 21...xd4 22.xd4 b4 23.xc4 ) 22.axb3 xd5 23.xg7 xd1 24.xd1 xg7 25.d7 looks fine. ] 21...c8 22.d2 b4! 23.xa7 xa2 Suddenly Black has a tremendous initiative. The immediate threat is 24...Nc3+. 24.e3 c3 25.a1 e6 26.d4 exd5 27.xg7 xg7 28.d3 e4 29.hb1 xd2 30.xd2 xc4 31.a7 xf4 32.e3 c4 33.d3 dc7 34.b2 c3+ 35.d2 g3 0-1

1111 Abergel,Thal Edouard,Romain 26th Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (6) [Gawain Jones]

B10 2538 2608

1.e4 c6 2.e2 If you play this system as White (and if you check in the archives you will see one of my games) you have to be happy to reach a non theoretical position early. 1155

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Thal Abergel is something of an expert on 2. Ne2 and I've added in all of his games that I could find. Edouard was obviously expecting it and comes up with a critical response. d5 [ 2...e5!? This is an odd move, imagine the move order 1.e4 e5 2.Ne2?! c6?! I remember coming to the conclusion that White should play a system with a kingside fianchetto with a typical Pirc style position emerging. You can see what I mean about W hite having to be happy to play a nontheoretical game. 3.d4 d6 4.bc3 f6 5.f4 ( 5.h3 followed by 6.g4; or 5.g3 would make more sense of White's setup.) 5...a5 6.d3 a6 7.a3 e7 8.b1 d8 9.b4 c7 10.f5 g6 11.g3 h5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.xd8+ xd8 14.d3 h4 15.ge2 gxf5 16.exf5 cd5 17.e4?! xe4 18.xe4 b6 had worked out quite well for Black in Abergel-Giffard, Malakoff Open 2009 and 18...Nf6 or 18...h3 to target the f5 pawn would have left Black with a clear advantage. ] 3.e5 d4 A critical try against White's setup which has not been examined on ChessPublishing yet [ 3...c5 4.d4 c6 5.c3 ( 5.dxc5 e6 6.d4 xc5 7.xc6 h4! 8.f3 bxc6 9.f4 b8 worked out well for Black in Abergel-Vallejo Pons, Paris 2008) 5...cxd4 6.cxd4 f5 ( 6...g4 was examined in ShortMchedlishvili which W hite won quickly.) 7.g3!? ( 7.bc3 is more usual but Abergel has played this a lot so obviously believes in W hite's position.) 7...xb1 ( 7...g6 8.c3 e6 9.e3 ge7 10.c1 f5 11.xf5 xf5 12.b5 c8 13.b3 d7 14.0-0 e7 15.a4 0-0 16.c5 xc5 17.xc5 a6 18.e2 Gave White a tiny advantage while Black has no real winning chances. 1-0 Abergel-Van Delft, Naujac sur Mer 2009 ) 8.xb1 A) 8...a5+ doesn't make much sense as Black can 't win a pawn . 9.d2 b6 ( 9...xa2 10.c3+- as Black can't get his queen back.) 10.c3 e6 11.a3 ge7 12.b4 I'd prefer delaying that as now Black has a beautiful potential outpost on c4. a6 13.e2 g6 14.0-0 h6 15.a4 c7 16.e1 b6 1/2-1/2 Abergel-Velicka, Vandoeuvre 2008;

B) 8...b6 9.e3 b4+ 10.d2 xd2+ 11.xd2 is another position where Black has almost equalised but White has more space and a risk free game to look forward to. e6 12.a3 f6 13.f4 g6 14.d3 h6 15.e2 fxe5 16.fxe5 e7 17.g4 xe3+ 18.xe3 h6 19.bg1 af8 20.h3 f7 21.f1 c8 22.xf7+ xf7 23.b4 a5 24.b5 b8 25.h4 and White had made def inite pro gress in Abe rgel, -K uehn , Germany 2009 ] [ 3...f5 4.g3 g6 5.h4 h6 ( 5...h5 has struck me as a more critical test.) 6.e6!? ( 6.h5 h7 7.e6 fxe6 8.d4 is given by Felgaer in his NIC article.) 6...fxe6 7.d4 f6 8.d3 f7 9.h5 c7 10.f4 was similar with Black in a complete bind in Abergel-Enault, Syre Memorial 2007. It's interesting, however, that computer's just c o n s i d e r B l a c k a p a wn u p d e s p i t e h i s problems developing on the kingside and I have a nagging feeling that these positions might be critical to the success of 2.Ne2 ] 4.b4 And this is the third time that I can find that Abergel has played this weird move. He hopes that the d4 pawn will prove to be a we a k n e s s . T h e p o s i t i o n s a r e d e f i n i t e l y interesting and there's a lot more life here than in some lines where everything has been discovered and analysed in depth for over 25 moves. [ 4.c3 c5 ( 4...d3 5.f4 f5 6.f3 d7 7.xd3 e6 is around equal as e5 will drop.) 5.b4!? Perhaps this is where White should play b4 if he has his heart set on it. c7 6.cxd4 cxd4 7.f4 g5 is a fun position! ] 4...f6N So we have a unique position after 4 moves! [ 4...a5 was played in the previous couple of games. 5.b2 d3 ( 5...axb4!? 6.xd4 e6 7.b2 d7 8.a3 I feel White should potentially be better here with the extra central pawn and use of the d6 square. However White still needs to wriggle to get his pieces out and the computer prefers Black slightly. I'd be hap py playing th e White side anyway.) 6.f4 dxc2 7.xc2 e6 ( 7...axb4 8.e6! looks strong) 8.b5 e7 9.c3 g6 10.h5 ( Abergel's improvement over 10.xg6 hxg6 11.e2 cxb5 12.xb5 c6 13.0-0 e7 14.a3 0-0 1156

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.fb1 d7 16.c3 b8 17.d4 a7 18.b5 a8 19.d4 a7 20.b5 1/2-1/2 Abergel-Gagunashvili, Cappelle la Grande 2007 but White didn't need to repeat and should investigate 19.Nd6!?) 10...d7 11.e2 dxe5 12.0-0 f5 13.h1 h4 14.bxc6 bxc6 15.f4 g4 16.xg4 xg4 17.e4! fxe4 18.xc6+ f7 19.xa8+1-0 Abergel-Housieaux, France 2009 ] 5.f4 Necessary, you can't give Black the centre. fxe5 6.fxe5 d5 7.b2 c5 8.bxc5 c6 9.d3 [ 9.c1 h6! 10.c4 xe5+ 11.e2 g4 These positions seem easier to play with Black. ] 9...xe5 10.c3 xc5 [ 10...dxc3 11.bxc3 xc5 12.e4 gives White at least adequate compensation for the pawn, Black is still a long way from successfully developing his pieces. You have to be a particular type of player to like having this sort of mess with White so early in the game (although generally I like chaos!). ] 11.cxd4 [ 11.xd4 xd4 ( 11...f6!? ) 12.cxd4 would be a better version of the game for White as it's easier to develop without that knight on e2. However with those doubled pawns I can't really see White claiming an advantage. ] 11...b6 12.c3 f6 13.a3 d5 14.c4 d8 This has been a definite opening success for Black, those d pawns are potentially weak but more importantly they block any coordination between White's pieces and give B l a c k a g r e a t o u t p o s t o n d 5 . 15.d2 and this move gives up the d pawn hoping to develop some pieces. xc3 16.xc3 [ 16.xc3 e5! ] 16...e6 17.e2 xd4 [ 17...b4! stops any of the counterplay that White manages in the game and gives Black almost a decisive advantage. ] 18.b1 c5 19.f1 f8 20.b5 d8 21.h5+ g6 22.xf8+ xf8 23.f3 a6 24.xc6+ bxc6 25.c3 White's position has improved somewhat, the knights have some good squares and Black's lack of development gives some counterplay. However of course B l a c k s t i l l h a s a c l e a r a d v a n t a g e . d4

26.e2 e5 27.e4 g4+ 28.f1 e6 [ 28...0-0-0! ] 29.c2 0-0-0? I'm not sure if the moves are correct for the rest of the game and I imagine that there was a relay error. However the opening was a disaster for White and 3... d4 seems like a big problem for W hite and will have to be solved. I would probably look for alternatives instead of 4.b4 30.b3? [ 30.xe5!= ] 30...xd3+ 31.f2 xb3 32.axb3 d3 33.e2 d4 [ 33...xb3-+ ] 34.ed2 h6 35.f3 e4+ 36.f2 c7 37.d1 e3+?? 38.f1?? d4 39.e1 f4 40.e2 c3 41.d1 c5 42.d5?? ½-½

1112 Aronian,Levon Carlsen,Magnus FIDE WCh KO Tripoli LBA (1.2) [Andrew Martin]

B10 2645 2552 20.06.2004

EQUAL 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 f6 5.c3 xd5 6.f3 xc3 7.bxc3 g6 I remember one game between Sokolov and Karpov a while back in a Candidates match which really seemed to emphasize all the good things about Black's position. Since then, I have tried to angle for this Grünfeld-like system in my own games, without really managing because of course,2 c4 doesn't crop up that often and I don't play 1 c4 c6. 8.d4 [ S o k o l o v w e n t 8.h4!? but Black always seemed to be too quick. ] 8...g7 9.d3 On c4, the Bishop would be vulnerable to a quick hit. 0-0 10.0-0 c6 11.e1 g4! Dead easy to understand. Black relies on speedy development and plans . . Rc8, putting pressure on White's c pawn. if White has to play c3-c4, then he loosens his central pawn position. [ N e v e r t h e l e s s , t h e s l o w e r 11...b6 is an option, with Grünf eld-like variety. 12.f4 b7 13.h4 d7 14.d2 fe8 15.ad1 ad8 16.h6 f6 17.f4 with pressure, Peng Xiaomin-Dreev, A/ Shanghai 2001. ] 1157

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.e4 e5!N Improving over either 12...Rc8 or 12...Qd7 or just showing a route to clear equality? It depends what you want I guess. As Black in a mini-match, all other things being equal, a draw with is verysatisfactory [ The alternatives: 12...c8 Would be my own choice. A) 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 e5 ( 14...a5! is far more straightforward: 15.g5 e8 16.c1 d7= ) 15.a3 e8 16.d5 a5 17.d6 xc3 18.d7 xa3 19.dxe8+ xe8 20.c1 xf3? Matamoros Franco, C-Ma r t in P e re z, J / Co ri a d e l Ri o E S P 2004; B) 13.g5 e8 14.b1 B1) 14...b6 creates white-squared weaknesses which a timely Ba6 might be able to exploit: 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 d7 17.d3 h6 18.h4 e6 19.b5 ( 19.a6! ) 19...g5 20.g3 Delchev, A-Vasquez, R/Linares 2003; B2) 14...d7 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 e6 17.d5 exd5 18.xe8+ xe8 19.xd5 c7 20.c4 d4 21.xb7 xf3+ 22.xf3 xc4 23.b3 xb3 24.axb3 d4 25.d1 b6 26.f6 e6 27.c3= Romero Holmes, A-Morovic Fernandez, I/ L e o n 1 9 9 5 Yo u wil l n o t e t h a t B la c k avoided mixing ... Bg4xf3 and ...b7-b6 in this example. ] [ 12...d7 13.b1 ac8 14.h3 xf3 15.xf3 ( 15.xf3 e6 16.h4 f5 17.d3 e5 18.b5 e4 19.h3 f7 20.a4 a5 21.b5 xa2 22.xa5 b5 1/2-1/2 Pelletier, Y-Dautov, R/ Bundesliga 2003) 15...a5 16.g4 e6 17.d5 h5 18.dxe6 xd1 19.exf7+ xf7 20.xd1 xc3 Summarisin g, the best alternative to Carlsen's new 12... e5 seems to be 12... Rc8. Black should decide how he wishes to handle the position probably ... b7-b6 is best coupled with ...Bc8-b7 and not ...Bc8-g4. ] 13.dxe5 xd1 14.xd1 xe5 15.b1 xc3 [ 15...ad8! also leads to the same sort of equality. ] 16.xb7 ad8 17.f1 Seeing as Rxd8 led to nothing whatsoever. d4! 18.g5 [ 18.xd4 xd4 19.f3 e6 20.e3 ( 20.xa7?? xe4 ) 20...a4 21.xa7 xa7 22.xa7 f5 23.c6 c8 24.b5 a8= ] 18...d7 19.xd7 Because after 19... Nxf3+

all the pieces are coming off. It seems that Carlsen's 12...e5 is a very good move, securing equality. A flurry of tactics results, but with care, Black holds easily ½-½

1113 Azmaiparashvili,Zurab Ortega,Lexy 11th Open Saint Vincent ITA (6) [Tony Kosten]

B10 2678 2452 13.02.2003

1.g3 d5 2.g2 c6 3.d3 f6 4.d2 g6 5.e4 g7 This position is also commonly reached from a Caro-Kann move-order (1 e4 c6 2 d3 d5 etc.) 6.e5!? Ambitious, [ 6.gf3 is the alternative, g4 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 0-0 9.0-0 bd7 Black has a solid set-up, but White's bishop pair give him an edge, Hennings,A-Boehnisch,M/Leipzig 1979. ] 6...g4 7.d4 c5!? A new move, hitting straight at the white centre. [ 7...h5 has been played, with the idea of playing a Gurgenidze-style position, 8.e2 ( 8.h3 h6 9.df3 c5 10.c3 cxd4 11.cxd4 c6 12.e2 Ejsing,E-Borbjerggaard,L/DEN 1995 ) 8...a6 (aiming for the blockading e6square) 9.c3 c7 10.f3 h6 11.h3 f5 12.h4 d7 13.xf5 xf5 14.f4 e6 15.d3 h6 with fair chances, Stein,L-Hort, V/ Sousse 1967. ] 8.h3 h6 9.dxc5! Better not to bother defending the centre, White prefers to aim for quick development. c7 10.b3!? [ 10.xd5!? xe5+ 11.e4 is also feasible. ] 10...xe5+ 11.e2 e6 12.f4!? White plays out-and-out for the initiative. [ 12.c3 f5 13.f4 is sounder. ] 12...xb2 13.0-0 f5 The black position seems pretty solid, how does W hite exploit his development advantage to assault it? 14.c3 Threatening to win the queen with Bc1. a3 15.e1 0-0 16.g4 h4?! I am not sure that the knight is particularly well-placed here, as there is no obvious escape route should it be attacked. [ 16...e7 17.ed4 bc6 may be better. ] 17.h1 h6 Black wants to play ...g5 and ... 1158

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Ng6 but this involves conceding kingside weaknesses - a necessary consequence of his previous move. 18.d6 e8 19.ed4 W hite has good play on the dark squares. a4 20.b1 c6? A pointless move, dropping a pawn and liberating the h1-bishop, [ after 20...d7 White still needs to justify his sacrifice. ] 21.xd5 Of course, the knight on c6 interferes with the black queen's defence of the rook on e8. d7 [ 21...xd4 22.xd4 attacks the black queen, xd1 23.bxd1 with advantage. ] 22.e4 f5?! This weakens the black structure. [ 22...e5 is sensible. ] 23.gxf5 exf5 24.d5+ h7 25.d3 xe1+ 26.xe1 e8?! Black has freed his position, but the white pieces are more powerf ully placed, almost all of them on central squares. 27.xe8 xe8 28.e2 Menacing the simple Qe6-g8 mate, against which it is not easy to find a defence. xd4 29.xd4 d7 30.e7 This leads to an excellent endgame for White, but it is a pity he missed the thematic combination [ 30.e6 d8 31.e7! a5 ( 31...xe7? 32.g8+ ) 32.xh4 which would prove that putting the knight on h4 was not a good idea! ] 30...xe7 31.xe7 g5 32.xb7 f7 33.d6 White prepares the c-pawn's route to stardom. g6 There is nothing better. [ 33...xa2 34.c6 d5 35.c4! e4 36.a6! and Black will have to give a piece to stop the pawn. ] 34.a4 f6?! 35.c6 d5 36.a8 1-0

prepared for a seasoned and tough NM. Our gam e was playe d at FICS (Free In terne t Chess Server). I added some material of my own to your research and I was feeling great. We started our game and he sure did play 1. c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 Nf6 and then I played 5.Qa4+ only to have him play 5... Nd7 ! My preparation for this was minimal and my preparation for 5...Bd7 went down the sewer. There was no mention of 5...Nd7 in your material, but this move will put the 5. Qa4+ out of commission, unless you know or someone else knows an antidote to this. I played the opening after 5...Nd7 in order to try and equalize. Black was never behind in development. I provide the game. JW: Here's the game with my notes. This is actually an opening that is out of my province in ChessPublishing (it's a Caro-Kann), but I will try to complete the circle. Naturally 5.Qa4+ is not out of commission, and my original notes applied to 5...Bd7 only - it's impossible to give an entire survey of every opening in each game. Anyway, out of the several approaches after 5...Nbd7, I like the one with Bc4 and d3 best. A lot of players have proceeded by g3 and Bg2, but for one thing that leaves d3 weak. The Bc4/d3 idea has occurred via several moves orders, as shown below. 1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 f6 5.a4+ bd7 6.c3 g6 7.e2 [ (a) W hite has done very well after 7.c4 g7 ( 7...a6 8.d3 g7 9.f3 0-0 --threatening ...b5-- 10.a3 transposes to lines below, and 1 0.Be3 has also bee n played ) A) I like 8.d3! , when 8...0-0 9.Nf3 transposes, and a6 can be answered by 9.f3 0-0 10.a3! --stopping ...Nc5 and answering ...b5 with Bxb5, since . ..Nb6 no 1114 B10 longer comes with tempo b6 11.0-0 b7 12.e1 e8 13.g5 ( 13.f4! Bladezi,I 2141 is also good) 13...b5 14.b3 b6 15.d6! Regnmanden 2239 e6 16.b4!? ( 16.f4! ) 16...h6 17.ge4 Team 45 45 League T26 (1) 20.03.2005 fd5 18.xd5 exd5 19.c5 xd6 [John Watson] 20.f4 with a small advantage, GoreskulMoskalets, Alushta 2004; From Jose Blades : I appreciate so much the B) 8.b3!? This has led to typical wins research and the input you provided in your but I feel that the move order is inaccurate. earlier update concerning the line 1.c4 c6 2.e4 B1) Here I think that Black should play d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 Nf6 5.Qa4+. I used 8...a6! , when the move ...b5 cannot be t h a t m a t e r ia l t o a r m m ys e l f a n d b e we l l 1159

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 answered by Bxb5 and the idea of Qa3 has been lost, e.g., 9.a4 ( 9.d6 e5! 10.dxe7 xe7 11.ge2 b5 ) 9...c5 10.d1 f5 11.d4 ce4 12.f3 c8 with great pressure; B2) 8...0-0!? 9.f3 B2a) 9...e8 10.0-0 d6 is a c o m mo n b lo ckad in g id e a, b u t W hite has more space and an extra pawn: 11.d3 b6 12.e4!? ( 12.e1 b7 13.g5 ) 12...f6 13.e1 a6 14.a4 f5 15.e3 d7 16.g3 d6 17.g5 with a clear advantage, Sudarikov-Kovalev, Tomsk 2003; B2b) 9...b6 10.d3 We're back to the n o r m a l p o s i t i o n . xc4 ( 10...g4 11.e5 f5 12.0-0 c8 13.e1 fd7 14.xd7 xd7 Jivkov-Rustemov, Dos Hermanas 2004 a n d a m o n g o t h e r m o v e s 15.g5! would give White a large advantage) 11.dxc4 e6 12.0-0 d6? ( 12...exd5 13.cxd5 d6 14.d1 with a clear advantage ) 13.b5 b8 14.d6 e8 15.f4 d7 16.c7!? ( 16.ad1! f6 17.c5 ) 16...xc7 17.dxc7 c8 18.d6 e8 19.c5 b6 20.cxb6 axb6 21.xb6 and White won with slightly more difficulty than should have happened: e5 22.fd1 g4 23.d5 f5 24.e3 c2 25.d2 c6 26.h3 xf3 27.xf3 e4 28.e3 xb2 29.b1? ( 29.xb2! xd6 30.c1 ac8 31.bc2 ) 29...c1 30.b8 xd2 31.xd2 g7 32.g3 h6 33.d8 f5? 1-0 Strohhaeker-Haller, Eppingen 2004 ] [ (b) 7.f3 g7 8.c4 0-0 9.d3 a6 10.a3! transposes to the variation given in 'a'. Here's an example: e8 11.f4 ( or 11.0-0 d6 12.g5 ) 11...df6 12.0-0 d6 13.fe1 e8 14.h3 b5 15.xb5 axb5 16.xa8 bxc4 17.xd6 xd6 1-0 Gagunashvili-Barnaure,Dubai 2004 ] [ (c)Amazingly, 7.g4 h6 8.g2 has been played fairly often. This does gain a tempo for the defence of d5 but is weakening and hasn't scored well. ] 7...g7 8.f3 0-0 9.d6! Otherwise ...Nb6 an d .. . Nb xd 5 gain s at le ast e qu ality a n d probably more, because White's pieces are

n o t we l l - p l a c e d f o r t h i s t yp i c a l i s o l a t e d queen's pawn structure. exd6 10.0-0 c5 11.a3 [ 11.h4 i s a n o t h e r o p t i o n t h e n f5 ( 11...fe4 12.xd8 xd8 13.b5!? ) 12.d4 ce4 13.h6 is roughly equal. ] 11...e8 12.d4 ce4 13.e3 [ 13.xe4 xe4 14.e3 would avoid ...Ng4 ideas ] 13...d7 [ 13...xc3! 14.bxc3 g4 ] 14.d2!? Again rather passive. Mor natural is [ 14.fe1 ] 14...c6 [ 14...xc3! 15.bxc3 g4 16.xg4 xg4 gives Black the two bishops. The rest of the game isn't relevant to the question. ] 15.dxe4 xe4 16.ad1 d5 17.fe1 a6 18.xe4 xe4 19.f3 e8 20.c1 b6 21.c3 f5 22.ed1 f8 23.f4 ad8 24.h4 b4 25.b3 a5 26.a3 e7 27.h5 a4 28.xb7 xd1 29.xd1 b5 30.c7 g5 31.h6 d7 32.e5 f8 33.f6 gxf4 34.g5+ h8 35.f6+ Game drawn by mutual agreement ½-½

1115 Cernousek,Lukas Mista,Aleksander GM Brno CZE (3) [Andrew Martin]

B10 2378 2443 04.07.2004

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.e5!? W e saw Sebag win with this crazy idea a couple of months ago and clearly the word has spread. If the Caro-Kann can be taken apart by these means it's time to give up chess. 4 Ne5 is such an UGLY move. d7 [ 4...f6 5.d4 g6 Utilises a similar plan to this game. 6.d3 g7 7.d2 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.df3 g4 10.xc6 bxc6 11.e1 e8 12.h3 f6 13.c3 with an edge, Hakki, I-Magerramov, E/Damascus 2003. ] 5.d4 g6!N [ C l e a r l y B l a c k c a n p l a y w i t h 5...e6 W h i t e i n i t i a t e s t a c t i c s w i t h 6.b5 but what has Black done wrong? Nothing! So after gf6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 0-0 naturally, Black is equal at least. 9.d2 1160

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe5 10.dxe5 d7= 11.b3 f6 12.exf6 xf6?! ( 12...xf6 13.f4 e4! 14.e3 e5 ) 13.g5 g6 14.xe7 xe7 15.f4 f6 16.ad1 Labib, I-Ezat, M/Tanta 2001 ] 6.c3 He sees no future in anything to do with Bb5 and so just gets a piece out. But the time lost with Nf3-e5 must count for something. g7 7.b5 Changing his mind!? gf6 8.f3 0-0!= Painless. 9.f4 [ 9.xd5?? xe5 10.xf6+ exf6 11.dxe5 a5+-+ ] 9...xe5 10.dxe5 e4! An extremely logical move, taking full advantage of the White King still stuck in the middle. Don't forget the ... Qa5+ trick! 11.0-0-0 [ 11.xe4 dxe4 12.c3 e6 13.d1 b6 14.a4 fd8 15.0-0= ] 11...xc3 12.xc3 f5= But not the dry equality that went before. Now I prefer Black's chances on the c file and in general against the White King. 13.d2 b6 14.a4 ac8 15.b3? xc2+!! I have no idea whether W hite thought he was safe, but this tremendous move shatters any illusions he may have had. The speed and force of Black's attack shows that time-wasting in chess can be punished by accurate, pointed development. 16.xc2 c8 17.g3 [ 17.b1 xc2 18.xc2 xc2+ 19.xc2 xf2+ 20.d2 xg2-+ Pawns are dropping quickly and there is no sanctuary for the poor White king. ] 17...h6 18.f4 xc2 19.xc2 e3+! 20.b1 [ 20.d2 xc2+ 21.xc2 xf4 22.xf4 xf4 23.e1 xh2 24.xd5 xg2+ 25.d2 c6+-+ ] 20...xc2 21.xc2 e4+ Crunching. Rather than see his pawns disappear, White decides to pack it in. Conclusion: Black should not fear 2 Nf3 and then 4 Ne5 in fact the 5...g6 that we saw in this game is a very good response. 0-1

1116 Cherniaev,Alexander Lalic,Bogdan League (Hackney-Wood Green1) (6) [Andrew Martin]

B10 2504 2547 08.01.03

This month's update is perhaps a walk on the 'old' side, but I am sure that you will not have seen this game before and it is a good illustration of Black's resources in the Panov. 1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.c3 cxd5 5.cxd5 xd5 6.f3 c6 7.b5 e6 8.0-0 e7 9.d4 0-0 10.e1 d6 [ 10...a6 11.xc6 bxc6 12.e5 seems to ensure White a permanent edge, exactly the type of advantage not to saddle oneself with when playing Karpov! b7 13.a4 c8 14.d3 a5 15.ac5 c7 16.d2 a8 17.c1 fd8 18.e5 xc5 19.xc5 Karpov, A-Dreev, A/Cap d'Agde 2000 What a baffling choice by Dreev. Naturally, he went on to lose. ] 11.a3 d8 12.e4 c7 13.d3N T h e p a r t in g o f t h e wa ys. I t se e m s m o r e appropriate to develop a new piece and there are several ways of so doing: [ 13.g5 f6 ( 13...d7 is less committal: 14.c1 b6 15.xc6 xc6 16.e5 xg5 17.xg5 e8 18.c4 a6 19.f3 ac8 20.ce5 b6 21.d2 b7 22.h3 xc1 23.xc1 c8 24.g4 xc1+ 25.xc1 c7 26.xc7 xc7 27.e1 a4 Pelle tie r, Y-Dree v, A/ Ca p d 'A gde 2 00 2 Dreev obviously learned his lesson.) 14.c1 b6 15.c4 a5 16.c3 f8 17.a2 h8 18.e4 ce7 19.e2 d7 20.xd5 xd5 21.h4 e7 22.e4 h6 23.e2 f5 1/2-1/2 Damljanovic, B-Fridman, D/ Santa Cruz de la Palma 2005 Solid enough by Black. ] [ 13.c2 e5 14.b3 xf3+ 15.xf3 d7 16.d3 h6 17.b4 a6 18.d2 c6 19.ac1 ac8 20.b1 b8 21.d3 b5 22.b3 xc1 23.xc1 c7 24.c5 c6 25.g3 f6 26.f4 d6 27.e5 xe5 28.dxe5 d7= Ortega, L-Khenkin, I Frascati 2005 ] 13...f6 14.c3 d7 15.g5 e8 Lalic contents himself with modest development, ...Rac8 should come next, with a d e q u a t e p l a y . 16.c2 Possibly a misplacement. Bb1 and Qd3 is the usual 1161

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 battery the other way around it looks ineffectual. [ 16.c1 ac8 17.b1 h6 18.xf6 xf6 19.d3 g6 20.d5 g7 ] 16...g6 17.e3 g4 18.e4 ac8 19.b4 e5 [ 19...xd4! looks like an opportunity missed: 20.xd4 ( 20.xc7 xf3+ 21.gxf3 xc7 22.fxg4 xd3 ) 20...xc2 21.xc2 xc2 22.xa7 c6 ] 20.dxe5 xe3 21.xe3 xe5 22.xe5 [ After 22.xc7 xf3+ 23.xf3 xc7 Black owns two powerful Bishops. ] 22...xe5 It turns out that Qc2 was an unsuccessful move. 23.a2 [ 23.d1 xd3 24.xd3 xe4 25.e3 h4 26.e2 c7 27.e1 f8 sees Black holding on. ] 23...xd3 24.xd3 xe4 25.e3 h4 26.ae1 [ 26.e2 c7 27.e1 f8 28.b2 f6 29.e2 f5 30.b2 f7 31.e5 d7 ] 26...a4! 27.g3 [ 27.xe7 xe7-+ ] 27...f6! [ Neat! After 27...f6 comes 28.xe7 c2 29.e8+ g7 Therefore Cherniaev graciously resigns. ] 0-1

1117 Collutiis,Duilio Miladinovic,Igor 2nd Chiuso GM (2) [Andrew Martin]

B10 2387 2630 12.09.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.d2 e5 4.gf3 d6 5.e2!? Possible I suppose, although if I were Black I would not feel threatened by this move. 5 g3 is the Kings Indian Attack which can be comfortably met in quite a few ways. [ I recommend 5.g3 f6 6.g2 0-0 7.0-0 e8 as simplest, planning maybe ... Nbd7-f8g6 or ...a5 and ...Ba6-c5. Black has plenty of choice. ] 5...e7 6.d4 White will justify this move by telling you that the pawn on c6 blocks Black's natural development and thus the e5 square is tender.. exd4 7.xd4 [ 7.e5 c7 8.b3 g6 9.g5 d7

10.xd4 g4! is utterly unconvincing for White. ] 7...0-0 8.exd5 xd5 9.2f3 [ 9.e4 f4 10.c4 xc1 11.xc1 f6 ( 11...f4! is better, preventing castling thanks to ..Qxd4. But the game move is good enough.) 12.g3 a6 13.0-0 c7 14.gf5 xf5?? ( 14...c5 wins! An amazing oversight. Perhaps the free wine kicked in early that day.) 15.xf5 Romieux, SOupindrin, N/Cappelle la Grande 1995 ] 9...f4! 10.xf4 xf4 Already Black's game is preferable. He has a strong dark-squared bishop and the W hite knights look a little uncomfortable. 11.c3 f6 12.g3 h6 13.0-0 c5 14.b5 d8 Black operates on the dark squares, utilising his extra control. The White Knights still look clumsy. 15.a4 d7! 16.c4 [ 16.h4 xh4 17.xh4 c6 18.d6 ab8 might have been better than the game as far as White is concerned. ] 16...c6 17.g4 a6 18.a3 e8 19.ae1 d7 20.d1 b5 21.c2 g6 22.e3 g7!? [ 22...ad8! is objectively stronger after which Black is perfectly centralised and ready to rumble. 22...Qg7 sets a concealed trap into which W hite falls hook, line and sinker. ] 23.b3?? [ 23.h4 ] [ 23.h3 ] 23...f6 White loses his Knight on f3. A brief game of poor quality overall. Black was never threatened and that sums up the KIA vs the Caro Kann for me. 0-1

1118 David,Alb Vishnu,P 5th Kolkata Open (7.9) [Tom Rendle]

B10 2607 2469 09.12.2012

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 f6 5.c3 xd5 6.f3 c6 7.b5 g6!? This move is relatively rare but it seems to be coming into fashion of late. Certainly Black seems to have an interesting idea in mind for this game... 1162

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 7...e6 is more usual and can be found in the archives in Cherniaev-Lalic, B. ] 8.b3 [ 8.a4 is the main alternative and now there have been several recent games with b6 9.xc6+ bxc6 10.xc6+ d7 11.e4 g7 12.d4 when Black looks to have good compensation for the pawn, for example c8 ( 12...0-0 13.0-0 c8 14.d1 f5 15.e2 d5 and Black was doing fine in Prizant, J (2524)-Sjugirov, S (2625) Tyumen 2012) 13.0-0 c6 14.e2 xf3 ( or 14...0-0 15.d1 d5 16.xd5 xd5= Artemiev, V (2459)-Maletin, P (2596) Tyumen 2012) 15.xf3 xd4 16.e3 b4 17.b7 ( 17.xb6 xc3 18.xa7 xb2 19.ab1 0-0 20.e2 a3 21.xb2 xa7 also led to an early draw in Szabo, K (2541) -Horvath, J (2539) Heviz 2012) 17...0-0 18.xa7 xb2 19.xb6 xc3 20.xb2 xb2 with a drawn ending in Andreikin, D (2688)-Eljanov, P (2690) Moscow 2012 ] 8...b6!? At first the computer hates this move and it's not until later that the idea becomes clear. If this is preparation from Vishnu it's very impressive indeed! Unfortunately White is probably doing well if he finds all the best moves here so perhaps Black should settle for the solid 8...e6 [ 8...e6 was played the only time this position had been reached before and now 9.0-0 ( 9.e5 de7 10.a4 g7 11.xc6 bxc6 12.xc6+ xc6 13.xc6+ d7 14.d6 c8 and Black had great compensation for a pawn in Swiercz, D (2595) -Kharitonov, A (2538) Paleochora 2012 ) 9...g7 10.xd5 ( or 10.d4 0-0 11.e3 ) 10...exd5 11.e1+ e6 12.d4 0-0 13.xc6 bxc6 14.f4 and perhaps White is minutely better ] 9.e5 [ 9.g5 e6 and Black has no problems ] 9...e6 10.xc6 bxc6 11.xc6+ d7 12.a4 So far we've been following all the top suggestions for White. It's not clear it makes much of a difference where the queen goes, a 4 s e e m s m o s t l o g i c a l a t a n y r a t e . c8 13.d4?! Very logical but probably not best because of Black's unexpectedly strong 14th move [ Instead 13.d4! is critical when Black has

a number of options xc6!? was perhaps Black's idea here (if this was still in preparation) and now ( 13...f6 14.b5 g7 15.0-0 0-0 16.xa7 and again Black is struggling to show enough compensation; 13...g8 14.b5 a5 and because Black can't castle it's hard to believe he has full compensation for a pawn.) 14.xh8 c4! 15.d3 xd3 16.e3 b8 and Black has a dangerous initiative for the exchange. Still, W h i t e i s p e r h a p s b e t t e r a f t e r 17.d1! for example e5 18.f4 xb2 19.xe5 f6 20.d4 xc3+ 21.xc3 xc3 22.d2 a3 23.c5 a5 24.xd3 xc5 25.d2 and Black is struggling to hold the endgame. ] 13...g7 14.d5 White must've felt relatively confident at this point so Black's next move probably came as a bit of a shock 0-0!! [ 14...f5 15.0-0 ( 15.g4 isn't completely clear af ter d3 16.xa7 0-0! 17.xd7 xd7 18.xd7 xc3 19.bxc3 xc3+ 20.d1 d8 although only White has wi n n in g ch a n ce s a f t e r 21.e3! xa1 22.d2 a6 23.c6 e5 24.b1 ) 15...0-0 16.f4 gives White a pleasant edge ] 15.dxe6 Amazingly this seems to only draw [ 15.0-0 would've kept chances for a slight edge with b6 16.e4 f5 17.f3 although Black is OK after d7 ] 15...c5 16.b5 [ 16.c4! possibly keeps a minimal edge but this position is so much of a mess that even my computer is struggling here - certainly over the board White has almost no chance to find the best moves. Anyway a possible line could be d3+ 17.e2 e5 18.d5 xc6 19.exf7+ xf7 20.xd8+ xd8 21.e3 d4+ 22.xd4 xd4 23.f3 an d B la ck st ill h a s so m e wo rk t o d o t o secure the draw ] 16...xe6 17.e3 [ 17.e2 is no better, in fact Black has the better chances after a6! 18.xa6 ( 18.d5 c7 is no better as the Bishop cannot retreat because of 19.a4 fd8 20.f3 a5+ 21.f1 xa4 ) 18...c5 19.b5 d3+ 20.f1 e5 21.c3 xc6 ] 17...xc3+ 18.bxc3 c7! Suddenly the position fizzles out to a draw 19.0-0 [ 19.f3 xc3+ 20.e2 b8! 21.b7 a6 1163

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and the best W hite has is to bail out to a w o r s e e n d g a m e h e r e w i t h 22.b3! ( 22.xa6? b2+ 23.f3 xb7 and Black has a winning attack) 22...xb3 23.axb3 xb7 24.xa6 fb8 25.b1 xb3 26.xb3 xb3 27.a7 and White should hold the draw ] [ 19.d7 doesn't help after xc3+ ( or 19...a6 20.d3 fd8 ) 20.e2 b8 21.d5 b2+ 22.f3 d8 and Black is at least going to regain the piece or get perpetual ] [ 19.e4 xc3+ 20.e2 d4+! 21.xd4 xd4 and White may even be struggling here 22.d3 ( 22.f3? b8 23.b7 a6! 24.b3 e5+ 25.f2 xb7!! 26.xb7 b8 and the best White can do is go into a c l e a r l y w o r s e e n d g a m e w i t h 27.xb8+ xb8 28.ae1 ) 22...b2+ 23.d2 e5 24.e3 and Black can take perpetual with b2+ ( or play on with 24...f5!? )] 19...xc6 20.xc6 xc6 21.xa7 a8 A short but fascinating game. ½-½

follows, this move order is worth considering. White has options here, including taking on c6, but if 4.c3 ( 4.dxc6 ) 4...cxd5 5.exd5 ( 5.e5!? ) 5...xd5 Black has managed to avoid Qa4+. ] 4.exd5 f6 [ 4...xd5 5.c3 d6 is playable, but will generally lead to an uncomplicated IQP position that will slightly favour White. ] 5.a4+!? bd7 [ Points off for 5...d7? 6.b5 ] [ A n d n o p o i n t s f o r 5...d7?! 6.b3 when Black's pieces are awkwardly placed. ] 6.c3 g6 7.f3 g7 8.c4 0-0 9.d3!? This is the main idea behind this system for White. As a result of the irregular move order, White can place the pawn on d3 instead of d4, which has the benefit of protecting the bishop on c4. [ 9.b3!? b6 10.d3 g4 is considered ok for Black. ] 9...a6 10.a3 [ 10.0-0? b5 11.xb5 b6 ] 10...b6 [ 10...b6 11.b3 And now the insertion of Qa3 a6 is thought to hurt Black, but it may 1119 B10 not be so clear. g4 ( 11...e6 12.dxe6 xc4 13.exf7+ xf7 14.dxc4 g4 Fernandez Garcia,Jose Luis 2470 looks a bit speculative.) 12.e3 bd7 Gomez Esteban,Juan Mario 2486 ( 12...c8!? ) 13.xb7 xf3 14.gxf3 b8 LXXI ch-ESP GpB (3) 24.11.2006 15.xa6 xb2 and I am not sure what is [Jonathan Rowson] happening, but personally I would rather be Black. ] 1.e4 c6 2.c4 This line is quite important, not [ 10...e8!? is also possible, though it looks merely as a sideline of the Caro-Kann, but a little passive. ] because White can reach it via the 1 c4 c6 2 e4 move-order, thus causing problems for 11.0-0 b7 12.e1 e8 13.g5 b5 14.b3 This natural move appears to be a Slav players who don't play the Caro-Kann. d5 c8!? [ 2...e5 3.f3 generally leads to some novelty. [ 14...b6 15.d6 e6 16.ge4 bd7 advantage for White. ] This was Dominguez's second attempt in [ 2...e6 3.d4 d5 looks a bit suspect for this position, so one assumes he must think Black, but has been ventured by serious it better than taking on e4, as he had players. White has many options now, but previously. But note that if he is going from my own preference would be 4.c3 b4 b6, back to d7, and white is going to play d6 5.e5 with a peculiar Winawer-type position anyway, it makes sense to keep the knight where I like the fact that white's doubled con d7 in the first place! 17.xf6+ xf6 pawns are not going to be as much of a 18.b4 Lead to some advantage for White problem as they are in the French, because in Harikrishna-Dominguez, Bermuda 2005, one of them will already be making contact but at this stage the position does not seem with the pawn on d5. ] totally clear. f8!? Now looks best 19.f4 3.cxd5 cxd5 h5 20.e5 f6 21.g3 xg3 22.xe6 [ 3...f6!? If Black is afraid of the line that 1164

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe6 23.xe6+ h8 24.hxg3 xd6 25.b3 b6!? And Black probably has enough compensation for the pawn. ] 15.d6 I don't see any way to refute 14...Rc8 but alternatives should be considered here: [ 15.ge4!? ] [ 15.e3!? ] 15...e6 16.ge4 This is now HarikrishaDominguez, with Black having Rc8 and the move! g4!? An odd-looking move, but it seemed to confuse White, who now loses the plot completely. [ 16...d5 looks more natural to me, when Black seems to be very comfortable. 17.g5 b6 ] 17.g5?! [ 17.d1!? rerouting the bishop, might be better. ge5 18.e2 c6 The idea behind Ng4? 19.e3 b4 20.b3 and things are only going to get more unclear, so I'll stop there. ] 17...b6 With a double threat of b4 and f5. 18.b4 f5?! tempting, but this should be bad. [ 18...xc3! 19.bxc3 xe4 relentlessly targeting f2, should work out well for Black, for instance after 20.xe4 xf2 21.e3 xd3 22.xb6 xb6 23.e3 c5 When Black has control. ] 19.h3? [ 19.e7! messes up Black's coordination and seems to be good for White. ] 19...ge5 20.e3 c6 21.d5 Desperation. exd5 22.ac1 xd3 23.a5 xc1 24.xc1 xc1+ 25.xc1 xc1+ 26.h2 fxe4 27.d2 c5 0-1

Nge7. ge7 5.c3 cxd4 6.cxd4 d5 7.exd5!? [ 7.c3 is more popular here. ] 7...xd5 8.0-0 d7 9.c3 e7 10.e1 0-0 11.a3 c8 My impression is that Black is fine here, but some players like to have IQPs, and some don't. The same can be said for playing against them. Indeed, Julian Hodgson once put it to me that he didn't like IQPs with either colour because he always felt he would get mated if he was Black, and lose the ending if he was White! 12.d3 e8 I am not too sure about this move, but it works out ok. [ 12...f6!? is also possible. ] 13.e4 xc3 [ 13...f6 14.c2 ( 14.b1 ) 14...g6 intending ...Bf8, Bg7, Ne7 and Bc6 is possible, but looks too time-consuming to be good. ] 14.bxc3 f6 [ 14...a5!? is also possible, but things seem to work out for Black in the game, and I can't trace an obvious improvement for White. ] 15.d3 g6 16.h6 c7 [ 16...a5 17.e5 is dangerous for Black. ] 17.c4 ed8 [ 17...e5 18.d5 ( 18.xc6! xc6 19.xe5 xe5 20.dxe5 xe5 21.d4 ce8 is p r o b a b ly o k f o r B la ck, b u t i s f a r t o o nerve-racking for a blitz game.) 18...d4 looks fine, but ] 18.ad1 a5 19.c5 c6 20.h4 xe4 21.xe4 d5 Now Black should be ok, but in a blitz game anything can happen. 22.f4 d8 23.d6 c4 24.g3 cxc5?? This one is hard to explain. I guess Radjabov just didn't realise the rook on e1 was 1120 B10 defended. [ 24...b5!? ] Grischuk,Alexander 2709 [ 24...b6!? ] Radjabov,Teimour 2728 World Blitz Rishon Le Zion ISR blitz (2) 7.9.06 25.dxc5 xd1 26.xc4 xe1+ 27.xe1 d1 28.f1 c1 29.a4 xc5 30.f3 g7 [Jonathan Rowson] 31.b5 xb5 32.axb5 a6 33.b6 a5 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 e6 4.d4 34.e5 a4 35.c4 e7 36.e5+ f6 I Strongly suspect there has been an error in 37.c3 f7 38.a5 c5 39.xb7 xb6 the recording of this game, and that the actual 40.d6+ g7 41.e8+ f7 42.xf6 d8 move order was 4.c3 Nge7 5.d4. Otherwise 43.e4 xh4 44.d6+ e7 45.c4 f7 Grishchuk is offering to play a strange Open 46.e5+ e8 47.c4 e7 48.b2 c5 Sicilian with his bishop on b5, and Radjabov 49.f1 h5 50.f4 d7 51.e5+ d6 is responding with the highly unlikely 4... 52.xg6 a3 53.c3 d5 54.e2 a2 1165

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 55.d3 f2 56.e7+ d6 58.e5 g3 59.e3 e1 61.d3 e1 62.c4 g3 64.e4 b4 65.c2+ b3 67.xe6 e1 68.d4 c3 70.d3 xa1 71.xa1+ b2 1-0

1121 Istratescu,A Houska,Jo Hastings Masters 2011-12 (2.2) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

57.g6 60.a1 63.e3+ 66.d4+ 69.c2 72.c2

d5 a5 c5 c4 b3

B10 2627 2415 29.12.2011

1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 f6 5.c3 xd5 6.f3 e6 [ 6...c6 is of course the other main way of playing these positions. ] 7.d4 e7 The solid choice. [ Gawain examined 7...b4 in Naiditsch, A (2687)-Nisipeanu, L (2681) W ijk aan Zee 2010. ] 8.d3 0-0 [ 8...c6 has been the more common move order but is likely to simply transpose. ] 9.0-0 f6 10.e1 c6 11.a3 The main move cutting out ...Nc6-b4 ideas. [ When annotating Naiditsch-Nisipeanu I looked at 11.g5 which continues to be q u i t e p o p u l a r : h6 ( It's also possible to simply develop with 11...d7 as in Sebag, M (2489) -Danielian, E (2454) Doha 2011. That continued 12.a3 c8 13.e2 e8 14.xf6 xf6 15.ad1 when Black broke out immediately with e5 16.dxe5 xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.e4 e8 19.f4 e6 20.d3 xc3 21.bxc3 a4 22.xh7+ f8 23.xe6 xe6 with decent positional co mp e ns a tio n f o r t h e p awn .) 12.f4 ( 12.h4 was also tried when Black was soon in trouble following b6 13.e5! xd4 14.a4 The knight on d4 is running out of squares while the c6 square looks appetising to the White knight. g5 15.g3 c5 16.b4 d6 17.ad1 b7 18.b5 c5 19.c6 and White had a beautiful position and went on to convert against his high rated opponent. Ter Sahakyan, S (2575)Sargissian, G (2676) Aix-les-Bains 2011.) 12...b4 didn't really work in Guseinov, G

(2591) -Mammadov, Z (2443) Baku 2011 as following ( I looked at 12...d6 in MamedovJobava, Rijeka 2010 which seemed respectable enough for Black, even if White had a small edge.) 13.b1 b6 14.a3 Black felt compelled to drop the knight back with c6 Here ( 14...bd5 would have been much more logical but 15.xd5 xd5 16.d3 f5 17.d2 feels more pleasant for White. ) 15.c2! would have been very strong as b7 16.e4 forces Black into g6 17.xh6 xd4 18.xd4 xd4 19.xf8 xf8 20.c3! with insufficient compensation for the exchange. ] 11...b6 12.c2 The old main line but recently this has been supplanted by 12.Bg5 [ 12.g5 has been slightly more common and is covered by JP W allace in the archives in both Hebden, M (2532)-Ciuksyte, D (2440) Liverpool 2006 and Yemelin, V (2516)-Galkin, A (2600) Tomsk 2006. ] [ 12.e3!? was David Howell's choice back in 2010 and resulted in an interesting game: b7 13.e2 d5 14.ad1 f6 15.e4 ce7 16.e5 g6 17.h5 xe5 18.dxe5 xe3 19.g5!? ( 19.xe3 h4 20.xh4 xh4 21.h3 xe4 22.xe4 ad8 23.xh7+ xh7 24.xh4+ g6 25.hd4 would have given W hite decent winning chances in the ending.) 19...h6 20.xf7 h4? ( 20...f4 was necessary but of course W hite's attack is very dangerous after 21.xh6+ ) 21.xg6 xf7 22.fxe3 g5 23.xg5 hxg5 24.g6+- and White had a beautiful position. Howell, D (2611)Swapnil, S (2409) Hastings 2010. ] 12...b7 I wonder if Jovanka forgot the theoretical equaliser here or instead prefers the logical text move. [ As pointed out by John Paul previously 12...a6! controlling the d3 square, is supposed to equalise. However perhaps matters aren't so clear. A) 13.g5 doesn't look to challenge Black. c8 14.d2 d5 15.xd5 xd5 16.e4 xg5 17.xg5 xd4 18.xh7+ h8 19.ad1 xd2 20.xd2 g6 ( 20...f6 21.xe6 xh7 22.xf8+ xf8 also looks fine to me.) 21.d7 e5 22.xa7 d3 23.a1 was rather p re m a t u r e ly a gr e e d d ra wn in G h a e m 1166

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Maghami, E (2583)-Antoniewski, R (2585) Germany 2011.; B) 13.f4 c8 And here ( Perhaps Black s h o u l d t r y 13...c4!? to cut out White's next. ) 14.d5! looks the critical way of playing ( Instead 14.c1 c4! of Timman, J (2635)-Karpov, A (2735) Wijk aan Zee 1998 was nothing special.) 14...exd5 15.f5 a8 16.a4 b7 17.ad1 was abruptly agreed drawn in Ramsdal, JNielsen, B Copenhagen 2010. White has dangerous pressure for the pawn and I quite fancy his chances. Perhaps this was what Istratescu was hoping for. ] 13.d3 g6 More or less forced to prevent the battery down the b1-h7 diagonal but now W h it e c a n s wit ch t o p l a yin g o n t h e d a r k squ a re s a n d pre p a rin g t h e d 4 -d 5 b re a k. 14.h6 e8 15.ad1 White has managed to gain a tempo compared to the 12.Bg5 lines as Bc1-h6 has happened in one go. Of course that doesn't necessarily promise him a big advantage but I think he at least has the more pleasant prospects. c8 16.b3 Eyeing the d5 square. I like how thus far White's play has all been very logical. a5 17.a2 d5?! And Black has been up to the task. Here though she f alters and is soon in a lot of trouble. [ 17...d5! was the right piece to blockade the pawn. We've added in sample lines to see how the game might proceed: A) 18.e4 f6! Of course in these positions Black is intent on exchanging off the minor pieces to lessen W hite's attacking force. 19.eg5 ( 19.xf6+ xf6 20.b4 c6 21.d5 exd5 22.xe8+ xe8 23.xd5 d8 is simply level.) 19...d5 Only now should Black block with the b i s h o p wh e n W h i t e d o e s n ' t h a ve t h e option to take with the knight. Here if White takes on d5 then Black has a very pleasant position and so he should try 20.xf7!? xf7 21.e5+ g8 22.xg6 with some attacking chances but it appears that Black can withsta nd th e attack, i.e. d6 23.e5 c7 24.g3+ h8 25.h4 g8 26.c1 b7 27.xd5 exd5 28.xc8 xc8 29.f4 c7 30.g5 g7= and Black's defensive wall holds strong.;

B) 18.h4?! here looks too optimistic and xc3 19.bxc3 d5! only now 20.b1 c4 and Black's control of the light squares would give her a great game. The a3 pawn is dropping by force and I don't really see White's attack breaking through any time soon.; C) 18.e5 f8 19.h3 xc3 20.bxc3 d5 21.xd5 xd5 22.d3 ( 22.xf8 xf8 23.g4 f5 24.e5 c4= and Black has succeeded in exchanging all the minor pieces and is definitely not worse. ) 22...c4 23.xf7!? xf7 24.xf8 xf8 25.xh7+ e8 26.g3 d8 and again I can't believe Black has an y pro blem s, his con t ro l o f th e ligh t squares is just too strong. ] 18.xd5 xd5 Now the problem for Black is that the bishop on a2 cannot be contested and so she'll always have to watch out. 19.h4! I really like this move. Istratescu wants to use the h pawn to crack open Black's kingside defensive shell. c7 [ 19...f8 20.g5 e7 21.d2!? keeping as many pieces on the board as possible f6 22.h5 gives White strong attacking chances. ] [ Taking the pawn is very risky as Black has a lot of loose pieces. 19...xh4?! 20.b4! A) 20...b7 21.xd5 xd5 22.e5 ( 22.xh4 h5 isn't so clear.) 22...d8 23.e4 d6 ( 23...f6 24.xb7 c7 25.e4 xe5 26.xe5 is very pleasant for W hite.) 24.xh4 xh4 25.xh4 f6 26.e3 g5 27.d5! with a great ending.; B) 20...c6 21.xd5 xd5 ( 21...exd5 22.xe8+ xe8 23.xh4 is a clear extra piece. ) 22.xh4 h5 23.e3 xh4 24.d5 and the strong d5 pawn and Black's cripplingly weak dark squares give White a fantastic position. ] [ 19...d6 immediately looks more logical but White still has the makings of a strong kingside attack starting with 20.h5 ] 20.c1 [ The text works well but White had a stronger possibility in the shape of 20.e5! when Black's position is already teetering: c6 gives White a pleasant choice between ( 20...xh4 21.f3! f6 22.c1 and White's attack is already decisive: d6 23.xc8 1167

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc8 24.xg6! hxg6 25.xe6 and White wins; 20...f8 21.xf8 xf8 22.h5 is very dangerous.) 21.xf7 as ( and 21.xg6!? ) 21...xf7? impossible due to 22.f3+ f6 23.xd5! ] 20...d6 21.h5 xc1 [ 21...f8 doesn't really help: 22.xf8 xf8 ( 22...xf8 23.xc8 xc8 24.e5 would also be very strong.) 23.xc8 xc8 24.e5 g7 25.f3 and it's obvious Black's position is creaking. ] [ 21...c6 might be Black's best, bringing the knight back into the game although W hite still has a strong attack after something like 22.g5 ] 22.xc1 f4?! After this Black has absolutely no chances and so we can call this the decisive mistake. [ 22...f8 23.b5! a8 24.xf8 xf8 followed by the calm 25.g3! leaves Black in an uncomfortable bind the knight on a5 is completely out of the game. ] [ 22...f6 23.e4 followed by 24.Ne5 would leave White with a clear advantage. ] 23.b5 a8 24.hxg6 hxg6 [ 24...xg6 25.b4 b7 26.d5 is not really any better than the game. ] 25.b4! This is the problem. Not only does Black have problems with her kingside but the knight is also running out of squares. a6 [ 25...b7 26.e5 wins material as d5 27.c6 d8 28.xd5 exd5 ( 28...xd5 29.xd5 exd5 30.c7 ) 29.xg6! wins ] 26.f1 b7 27.e5! d5 28.d3 f8 [ 28...f6 29.c6! and White's attack c ra s h e s t h ro u gh : d8 ( while giving the q u e e n w i t h 29...xe5 30.xd6 xd6 doesn't really allow Black to fight on as 31.xd5 exd5 32.f3 e8 33.f1 wi l l a ls o e n d u p wi n n i n g a l l o f B l a c k ' s queenside pawns.; 29...e7 30.xg6! ) 30.xe6! ] 29.g5?! Good enough but not the cleanest victory. [ Instead 29.c6 again wins on the spot. xh6 ( Both 29...e7 30.xg6 fxg6 31.xg6+ h8 32.xe6+-; and 29...d8 30.xe6 xh6 31.xf7+- allow White to crash through.) 30.xd6 xd6 31.xd5 exd5 32.xg6! and White has extra material with an ongoing attack. ]

29...e7? A final blunder [ 29...d8 was necessary although 30.f3 g7 31.c6! win s m a t e ria l a s xc6? 32.xf7+ h7 33.xg6+ g8 34.f7+ h8 ( 34...h7 35.b1+ ) 35.g6+ h7 36.b1! shortly mates. ] 30.f3 And Black cannot defend b7 and f7. A ve r y s m o o t h g a m e f r o m I s t r a t e s c u a n d perhaps White should revive some interest in the immediate 12.Bc2. 1-0

1122 Kotsur,Pavel Mahjoob,Morteza 2nd Saipa Cup (5) [Andrew Martin]

B10 2607 2461 16.09.2004

NIGHTMARE ON f 7 1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 f6 5.b5+ [ I mu ch p re f e r 5.c3 but this is purely a question of taste. With 5 Bb5+, White lures one of Black's pieces to an unfavourable square. ] 5...d7 If Black can turn 5...Bd7 into a useful move then his position starts to work. If not, then W hite is reinforcing c4 and Black will have a devil of a job to get his pawn back in favourable circumstances. [ 5...d7 6.b3?! 6 Compares unfavourably with Bc4 xb5 7.xb5+ d7 8.xd7+ bxd7 9.c3 b6 10.d4 fxd5 That was simple! Black has regained his pawn and stands better due to the isolani on d4 11.f3 c8 12.d2 e6 13.0-0 e7 14.ac1 0-0 15.e4 c4 16.c3 fd8 17.g3 b5 18.b3 d6 19.xd6 xd6 20.d2 Karsdorp, N-Voegerl, R/Miercurea Ciuc ROM 2004 Despite W hite's best attempts, Black has an ongoing small edge. ] 6.c4! g6 This is how Black organises his pieces. 7.c3 g7 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 a6 10.d3 c7 11.a4 c8 12.b3 The pawn on d5 isn't a match winner on its own, but it nails down e7 and is proving very difficult to regain. W ith Qb3, Kotsur shows an optimal deployment for White. Pressure on the e file follows and possibly occupation of e5. White i s m u c h b e t t e r . b6 13.e5! d6? 1168

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 His sense of danger betrays him. Black will be 16.ad1 , but then what? One sample line swept away now. is f8 17.c4 xb2 18.c1 b1 [ Not 13...b7 due to 14.d6!+- ] 19.e4 a1 20.e7+ h8 21.a3 [ But 13...g4 14.c6 d6 15.g3 e5 xd1 22.xd1; 16.f4 f3+ 17.g2 e5 held out some B) 9.f3 b6 10.b3 xc4 ( 10...g4 c h a n c e s f o r s u r v i va l , a l t h o u g h W h i t e 11.e5 f5 12.0-0 c8 13.e1 fd7 remains better. ] 14.xd7 xd7 Jivkov-Rustemov, Dos 14.f4 h5 15.e4! This is becoming most Hermanas 2004 and among other moves uncomfortable for Mahjoob. d8 16.xf7!! 15.g5! would give White a large A beautiful move and the very logical outcome advantage ) 11.dxc4 e6 12.0-0 d6? o f W h i t e ' s e n t i r e o p e n i n g s t r a t e g y. xf7 ( 12...exd5 13.cxd5 d6 14.d1 17.xc7 xc7 18.d6 exd6 19.g5 f4 with a clear advantage) 13.b5 b8 20.xf7+ h8 21.d5 Simplicity will do in a 14.d6 e8 15.f4 d7 16.c7!? win n in g po s it io n . W h it e clea rs f 7 f or h is ( 16.ad1! f6 17.c5 ) 16...xc7 17.dxc7 Knight. xd5 22.xd5 b7 23.xd6 c8 18.d6 e8 19.c5 b6 20.cxb6 [ 23.f7+ g8 24.h6+ h8 25.xd6 axb6 21.xb6 'and White won with also suff ices e.g. c6 26.xc6 xc6 slightly more difficulty than should have 27.f7+ g8 28.g5+- Kotsur wishes to h a p p e n e d ' . T h is c a n b e f o u n d i n t h e avoid even the slightest risk and who can ChessPub archives under B10. ] blame him! ] 7...g7 8.c4 0-0 9.d3 a6 10.a3 b6 23...c8 24.ac1 f5 25.c7 a6 26.xg7 [ Here's more from my previous update: " A real demolition job and a very good 10...b6 11.0-0 b7 12.e1 e8 13.g5 thematic advertisement for 5 Bb5+. Possibly ( 13.f4! is also good ) 13...b5 14.b3 Black should prefer 5...Nbd7. A) I just discovered a J Rowson update 1-0 with 14...c8 15.d6 ( 15.e3 looks good jw ) 15...e6 16.ge4 g4!? Fernandez Garcia-Gomez Estaban, Spain 2006; 1123 B10 B) 14...b6 15.d6! e6 16.b4!? ( 16.f4! ) 16...h6 17.ge4 fd5 Leon Hoyos,Manuel 2490 18.xd5 exd5 19.c5 xd6 20.f4 Burmakin,Vladimir 2615 with a small advantage, GoreskulX Open Salou ESP (5) 12.05.2008 Moskalets, Alushta 2004". ] [John Watson] [ A l s o f r o m t h e e a r l ie r u p d a t e : 10...e8 11.f4 ( or 11.0-0 d6 12.g5 ) 11...df6 1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.exd5 f6 12.0-0 d6 13.fe1 e8 14.h3 b5 5.a4+ This continues to give Black some 15.xb5 axb5 16.xa8 bxc4 17.xd6 difficulties. bd7 In a previous update (found xd6 1-0 Gagunashvili-Barnaure, Dubai under B10 in the Archives, with the order 1 c4 2004 ] c6 2 e4 d5) I used Serper-Hahn as a main 11.b3 g4 12.e3 fd7 13.d2 game to analyse [ Or 13.g5! , intending h6 14.ge4 f5 [ 5...d7 6.b3 , which at the time had an 15.h3 ] 87% winning percentage for White. ] 13...c7 14.0-0 f5 15.ce4 xc4 6.c3 g6 7.f3 [ This looks slightly better for White. In an 16.dxc4 e6 17.g3! exd5 18.xf5 gxf5 E n g l i s h O p e n i n g U p d a t e ( ! ) , I g a ve a n 19.cxd5 f4 20.ac1 d6 [ 20...b8 21.c5 ] analysis as follows: " 7.c4 g7 8.d3 0-0 A) [ A d d e d i n t h i s u p d a t e : ] 9.ge2 21.c4! xd5 22.fd1 White retains his is more flexible. Then b6 10.b3 xc4 pawn and should win. f5 23.xb7 [ Or 23.d6! ] 11.dxc4 e6 12.0-0 exd5 13.cxd5 e8 14.f4 (for example) doesn't seem to give 23...e5 24.d4 xc4 25.xg7 xg7 Black much compensation. He can try ( or 26.xc4 ab8 27.f3 xb2 28.xf4 e5 White gets either Rg4+ and Qf6+, or 14.e1 ) 14...xd5!? 15.xd5 xe2 29.e4 1169

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Qc3+, picking up the rook. 1-0

1124 Ljubojevic,Ljubomir Dzindzichashvili,Roman Tilburg (10) [Nigel Davies]

B10

1978

Black's simplest and most classical response to this line is to put his pawns on d5 and e5 and then back them up with simple development. W hite has tried a number of different ways to eke out an edge, though none of the m h ave enjoye d very not able success. In this game we see the simple approach, Ljubojevic adopting his 'Philidor Attack' formation. 1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.d2 e5 4.gf3 d6 5.e2 f6 [ Another interesting way for Black to play it is to put his knight on e7. Ljubojevic - Lobron, Indonesia 1983 continued 5...e7 6.0-0 0-0 7.e1 f5!? 8.c3 d7 9.f1 h8 10.g3 fxe4 11.dxe4 g6 12.g2 f6 with a double-edged struggle in prospect. ] 6.d4 Simple development is not going to trouble Black and may even leave him better. Ljubo decides to challenge the centre before his opponent can complete his development. xe4 7.dxe5 xd2 8.xd2 c7 9.0-0 0-0 10.c4 g4 11.g5 This leads to a very equal position but by now there is little else. [ 11.cxd5 xd5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.f4 c6 looks rather good for Black ] 11...xe2 12.xe2 h6 13.f3 dxc4 14.xc4 d7 15.e1 e7 16.b3 c5 17.a3 fe8 18.d2 d7 19.b3 ½-½

1125 Ljubojevic,Ljubomir Karpov,Anatoly Roquebrune Hastings [Nigel Davies]

B10

1992

Another Ljubojevic speciality is to put his queen on e2, creating immediate pressure against the e5 pawn. In this game it was good e n o u g h t o b e a t K a r p o v, wi t h L j u b o j e vi c

unsettling the former World Champion with 6. d4. 1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.d2 e5 4.gf3 d6 [ In the game Ljubojevic - Christiansen, Szirak 1987, White answered 4...d7 with 5.e2 and won a pawn after dxe4 6.xe4 e7 7.d2 gf6 8.c3 d5 9.xe5 xc3 10.xc3 xe5 11.xe5 , albeit for long-term positional compensation. ] 5.e2 [ White has also played the immediate 5.d4 with Lobron - Seirawan, Indonesia 1983 continuing exd4 6.exd5 cxd5 7.xd4 c6 8.2f3 f6 9.e2 0-0 with equality. Not ve r y t h r e a t e n i n g f o r B l a c k , t h o u g h h e shouldn't mind having an isolated pawn. ] 5...f6 Ignoring White's threats must surely be the critical line. [ After 5...e7 6.d4 ( 6.g3 f6 7.g2 0-0 8.0-0 dxe4 9.dxe4 bd7 10.c4 c7 11.b3 b5 12.a3 b4 13.b2 a5 14.a3 a6 wasn't much for White in Ljubojevic Bouaziz, Szirak 1987) 6...exd4 7.exd5 cxd5 8.xd4 c6 9.2b3 ( 9.2f3 d7 10.g5 xe2+ 11.xe2 ge7 12.0-0-0 d8 13.he1 f6 14.e3 b8 15.g3 e5 16.d2 was agreed drawn in Ljubojevic Karpov, Bilbao 1987) 9...f6 10.xe7+ xe7 11.d2 e8 12.0-0-0 g4 13.e1+ f8 14.xe8+ xe8 15.b5 d7 16.f3 with an endgame advantage in Ljubojevic Seirawan, Belgrade 1991 ] 6.d4 [ 6.g3 0-0 7.g2 e8 8.0-0 a5 9.a3 a4 was quite good for Black in Ljubojevic Karpov, Linares 1992 ] 6...dxe4 7.xe5 f5 8.h3 h5 9.g1 [ In his game against Seirawan from Cannes 1992, Timman later improved White's play with 9.dc4! e7 10.d2 bd7 11.0-0-0 b6 12.e3 e6 and now 13.c4! w o u l d h a v e b e e n s t r o n g a s xd4 loses the queen after 14.c3 c5 15.b4 ] 9...h4 10.g4 hxg3 11.xg3 I have no idea what was happening over the following moves. B u t n e e d le ss t o sa y, t h is k in d o f m e s s y position suits Ljubo much more than Karpov. h5 12.b3 f6 13.xb7 e7 14.e3 c8 15.b3 d5 16.g3 e3 17.dc4 xc2 18.xg7 f8 19.xe3 xe3 20.xe3 f5 21.xf5 xf5 22.g2 b4+ 23.d1 1170

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6 24.d3 h5+ 25.e2 h4 26.xc6 xc6 27.xc6+ e7 28.g4 fd8 29.e3 ab8 30.b3 f8 31.e2 With three pawns for the exchange it's finally clear that White is better. In the final stage he brings his pieces over to attack Black's king. h7 32.c1 b6 33.f3 e8 34.d7 d8 35.f5 h4 36.g1 e7 37.g4 h8 38.d3 f6 39.g2 e6 40.c4 ed6 41.f4 b6 [ And not 41...xd4 b e c a u s e o f 42.h6+ e8 43.b5+ 4d7 44.g8+ etc. ] 42.e5 f6 43.f3 e8 44.f1 e7 45.f4 xe5 46.xf7+ e8 47.dxe5 xe5 48.a8+ b8 49.d5 d6 50.f8+! d7 51.f5+ c6 52.f6 1-0

1126 Ljubojevic,Ljubomir Pfleger,H Manila [Nigel Davies]

B10

1975

Ljubojevic often puts his bishop on e2 in this line, not a very scary-looking move but it certainly has its points. W hite's early development is faster and should Black play ... dxe4 at some stage, the bishop is better on the f1-a6 diagonal. 1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.d2 g6 4.gf3 g7 5.e2 Ljubojevic has often posted the bishop on this modest e2 square, a kind of Philidor Attack. White is not trying to refute Black's opening but is rather angling for an interesting middlegame. e5 [ In a later game against Ljubojevic, Pfleger v a r i e d w i t h 5...dxe4 6.dxe4 f6 , but White retained the initiative after 7.0-0 0-0 8.a4 bd7 9.e5 d5 10.c4 7b6 11.d4 f5 12.h4 (Ljubojevic - Pfleger, Nuremberg 1978) ] 6.0-0 e7 7.b4! Reminiscent of Stein's play against Haag. 0-0 [ The immediate 7...a5 looks better, before White has his bishop on b2 and can answer with a2-a3. ] 8.b2 d7 9.e1 a5 10.a3 c7 11.f1 And once again there is the theme of pressure against e5. b6 12.d4! exd4 13.xd4 f6 14.e5 d8 15.exd5 exd5 16.c4 e7 17.h3 a7 18.c1 c5?!

Making a poor position a whole lot worse because of the weakness of the c5 pawn. W hen the pawn f alls Black is just losing. 19.bxc5 bxc5 20.b3 c6 21.c3 d6 22.e3 b8 23.xc5 e7 24.d2 a7 25.xe7 xe7 26.b2 xc5 27.xf6 xf6 28.xf6 e8 29.g5 f8 30.e1 d7 31.e4 xa3 32.e3 c1 33.d6 1-0

1127 B10 Lopez Martinez,Josep Manuel 2576 Fluvia Poyatos,Jordi 2504 ch-Catalunya (3.1) 21.05.2008 [John Watson] 1.e4 c6 2.c4 e5 Trying to avoid 2...d5 3 cxd5 exd5 4 c4 and the Panov (or even 4 cxd5 Nf6 5 Q a 4 + , a s a n a l y s e d t h i s m o n t h ) . 3.f3 c7!? This works in the game before us, but objectively is probably no better than the usual [ 3...f6 4.xe5 d6 5.f3 xe4 6.c3 xc3 7.dxc3 ] [ 3...a5 4.c3 f6 ( 4...b4 5.a4! can be f ound in Rahman-Abdulla in the A rch ive s (B 1 0 )) 5.e2 b4 . Martin comments 'It's amazing how popular this line is- Black loses all the games. In each and every variation, the Black Queen has no b u s i n e s s o n a 5 . ' ( But I point out in my update to Postny-L'Ami that after 5...d6! 6.0-0 e7 7.d4 0-0 'the queen actually serves the useful function of protecting e5! This is certainly best.') 6.c2 from PelletierSeger, Bundesliga 2002, and I agree with Martin that W hite already has the advantage. ] 4.d4 b4+ 5.d2 xd2+ 6.xd2 d6 This is the point of 3...Qc7. Black exchanges his dark-squared bishop and then sets up on dark squares. 7.g5!? Strange, but not bad. W hite has a specific positional strategy in mind. I think he is also better after simply [ a) 7.c3! f6 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 g4 10.ad1 bd7 ( 10...xf3 11.xf3 bd7 12.e2 with the idea f4 ) 11.h4!? ] [ b) White may also get a little something from 7.c5!? dxc5 8.dxe5 d7?! ( 8...e6 ) 9.g5 ] 7...f6 8.g3 h6 1171

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 8...e6 9.c5!? ( 9.c3 )] 9.c5! Breaking down black's pawn chain. 0-0 [ 9...dxc5 10.dxe5 fxe5 11.c3 e6 ( 11...0-0 12.c4+ h8 13.xe5 ) 12.xe5 appears to favour White. ] 10.cxd6 xd6 11.dxe5 fxe5 12.c4+ h8 13.c3 [ 13.0-0 d7 14.a4 leaves open the idea of Nbd2, even if that isn't vital maybe Nc4-d6 would be possible later. ] 13...d7 14.0-0 f4?! [ Better is 14...b5 15.b3 e7 ] 15.ad1 [ 15.g5! (back again!) threatens Qd8+ f6 16.xf6 xf6 ( 16...gxf6 17.d2 ) 17.ad1 with a comfortable advantage. W hite has won the opening battle, so I'll just give some broad notes. ] 15...f6!? 16.h3 versus ...Rg4 White will soon play Ne2. b5 [ 16...c5 17.xe5 xh3 looks okay at first, but 18.d3 xd3 19.xd3 leaves the bishop up in the air ] 17.d3 c5 18.c2 f7 19.b4 [ 19.e2 xf3!? 20.gxf3 e6 is a bit unclear due to White's weak pawns. ] 19...a6 20.a3 e6 21.fe1 g5!? [ 21...f8 ] 22.e2 c5 23.bxc5 xc5 24.xf4 exf4 25.h2 e5 26.d4?! [ 26.xe5 xe5 isn't so easy, but 27.h4! g4 28.h5! g5 29.g3 has the ideas gxf4 and Qh4. Then f8 30.h6 d7 31.gxf4 xf4 32.b3! will win ] 26...c4 27.h4 g8? [ 27...g4! 28.f5 d3! ] 28.f5 ed3 29.hxg5 xg5 30.xd3 xd3 31.xd3?! [ 31.h3! ] 31...xd3 32.f3?! c4 [ Black holds his own after 32...c8! ] 33.c1 c8 34.h6? xh6 35.xh6 e6 36.xc8+ xc8 37.f7+ g7 38.e5 f6 39.d3 g5 40.f2 h5 Now White has a tiny something, but it shouldn't be enough. 41.g3 fxg3+ 42.xg3 h4+ 43.f2 a5 44.f4+ g4 45.f5 xf5 46.exf5 xf5 47.f3 h3 48.b2 e6 49.g3 d5 50.d3 d4 51.f4 a4 52.xh3 c4 53.e2 d3 54.f4+ c3 55.g2 b2 56.f2 xa3 57.e2 b3 58.e6 a3

59.d2 a2 60.d4+ b2 61.c6 0-1

1128 Mamedov,Rau Turov,Maxim 6th Agzamov Memorial (6) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B10 2624 2658 11.03.2012

1.e4 c6 2.e2 d5 3.e5 d4 A couple of years ago Gawain looked at this line and declared this to be critical. On the basis of this game it looks like White still hasn't found a g o o d a n t i d o t e . 4.c3 A sensible try at undermining Black's centre but White's tried lots of different options. [ Gawain had a look at 4.b4 1/2-1/2 Abergel, T (2538)-Edouard, R (2608) Cappelle la Grande 2010. ] [ It's also possible to move the knight out of the way of course. The W omen's W orld Champ tried 4.f4 e6 ( 4...h6; and even 4...g5!? could be considered too.) 5.e2 c7 6.c3 c5 7.cxd4 c6! 8.dxc5 A) 8...d4! looks awkward to deal with. 9.c4 ( 9.e4 xc5 would prevent White from playing Nd3 as c2 is no longer defended and thus Black has great compensation.) 9...xe5+ 10.e2 xc5 and Black would have regained her pawn with the better chances.; B) 8...xc5 9.d3 d4 10.d1 Hou Yifan (2589)-Chiburdanidze, M (2514) Jermuk 2010 and here e7 would have given Black fabulous play for the pawn. White's a long way behind in development and the pawn on e5 rather vulnerable. ] [ Instead 4.g3 has been more common but t h i s a l l o w s B l a c k t o p l a y d5 Narciso Dublan reached this position after 5.f4 twice in 2010. In the latter he played the critical g5! ( Rather than 5...h6 6.c4 d7 7.d3 which gave White a playable KIA type structure. Fierro Baquero, M (2372)-Narciso Dublan, M (2540) La Massana 2010.) 6.d3 gxf4 7.xf4 h6 8.d2 xf4 9.xf4 d7 10.d2 xe5 11.b3 c5 12.e2 f6 wh e n W h i t e r e a l l y s h o u l d n ' t h a v e h a d enough f o r the pawn. Farran Martos, F (2287) -Narciso Dublan, M (2553) El Sauzal 1172

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2010. ] 4...c5 [ Gawain also examined 4...d3 5.f4 f5 6.f3 ( The second time we look at it 6.h4!?; and even 6.e6!? look interesting.) 6...d7 7.xd3 e6 is around equal as e5 will drop. ] 5.g3 [ 5.b4!? 'Perhaps this is where White should p la y b 4 if h e h a s h is h e a rt se t o n it . ' Gawain, has also had a couple of practical outings: d5 ( Surely better than 5...cxb4 6.xd4 e6 as seen in Grandelius, N (2542)Vidit, S (2492) Chennai 2011 when W hite could claim an advantage with his extra central pawn.; Gawain gave the sample line: 5...c7 6.cxd4 cxd4 7.f4 g5 'is a fun position!') 6.bxc5?! ( 6.cxd4 was necessary when cxd4 7.b3 xe5 8.b2 c6 9.b5 a5 10.a4 b6 11.xd4 is at least a complex position, although I don't think Blac k sh ou ld rea lly ha ve a ny con ce rn s here. ) 6...d3! 7.a4+ c6 8.g3 xe5+ 9.e4 f6 10.xe5 xe5 11.f4 g6 12.xd3 xf4 13.b5+ d7 14.0-0 xb5 15.xf4 e5 and Black had a fantastic position. Codenotti, M (2264)-Lemos, D (2553) Seville 2011. ] [ 5.f4 defending the e5 pawn also makes sense and has been seen since the last update. c6 ( 5...g5!? looks possible but at least W hite would get the mess she wanted. ) 6.g3 h6 ( 6...g5 here looks very dangerous with f7 rather vulnerable but perhaps White just has enough for a draw i. e. 7.c4 gxf4 8.xf7+! xf7 9.h5+ g7 10.g5+ f7 11.h5+ with a draw) 7.e2 g6 8.0-0 g7 9.d3 0-0 10.d2 f6 11.exf6 exf6 12.b3 Milliet, S (2367)Roumegous, M (2181) Belfort 2010 when f5 would have favoured Black. ] 5...d5 Again this queen sortie looks best, immediately exploiting W hite's weak pawn. 6.f4 [ 6.e2 is the other way to develop the pawn but looks rather unwieldy. c6 7.a3!? ( 7.f4 g5 just looks like a worse version of the game. ) 7...xe5 ( 7...f6!? is also possible.) 8.xe5 xe5 9.b5 d8! and Black has no problems ] 6...g5! Turov plays dynamically not allowing

White sufficient time to shore up his defence of the e5 pawn. 7.b3 Probably not the move that White wanted to play but the best way to reduce pressure on the e5 pawn. [ 7.d3 looks too slow: gxf4 8.xf4 h6 9.c4 e6 10.h5 c6 and White won't be able to hold onto his e5 pawn. ] 7...xb3 8.axb3 gxf4 9.e4 g7 [ Turov could also have defended the pawn with 9...b6 although White has decent co m p e n sa t ion f o llo win g 10.a3 c6 11.c4 b8 12.d3 ] 10.xc5 xe5 11.b5+ d7 [ 11...f8!? stepping away from the check and not self-pinning was also possible when Black seems to be a little better but Turov's choice also gives Black the better chances. ] 12.0-0 Continuing development is the most sensible course. [ Instead going after the pawn immediately with 12.a4 gf6 13.cxd4 looks rather d u b i o u s a f t e r b8 as White has such a disgusting structure. The computer thinks Black is only a little better but I can't imagine any human being happy with such a formation. ] 12...gf6 13.d3 c7 Thus far Turov has played very well but this isn't best. [ 13...b8! was much stronger the main point being that 14.xf4 a6 15.cxd4?! w o u l d a l l o w a7 breaking the pin and theref ore both the d4 pawn and bishop would be en-prise. ] 14.xf4 a6 15.cxd4 A structural concession but otherwise there wasn't really a good way to develop White's queenside. b6 16.h1 xd4 17.e2 It's important to push the bishop back before bringing the b1 knight out. [ 17.c3 allows a7! 18.e2 b5 and not only would Black have freed up his queenside but it's also very difficult to shift the bishop from d4. ] 17...a7 18.bc3! Mamedov correctly surmises that the bishop cannot be taken. 0-0 [ After 18...axb5?! 19.xb5 White regains the piece with an extra pawn. ] 19.d4 White seems to have successfully reclaimed equality after a series of accurate moves. axb5 And Turov decides to give up the pawn to free up his development. 1173

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 19...b6 was the chief alternative. Black has the better structure but a slightly vulnerable king which allows White enough play to keep the game balanced. A sample line continues: 20.c4 d8 21.a5 xc4 22.bxc4 xd4 23.h6 g4 24.xd4 xh6 25.d5 and, at the cost of a pawn, White's structure has improved an d with active pieces he has enough play. ] 20.xb5 b6 21.xa7 A slightly curious choice, voluntarily pinning himself. [ 21.xa7 xa7 22.xa7 d7 23.c3 fd5 and Black's blockade of the d5 square gives him adequate compensation for the pawn but at least here W hite could bring his knight back into the game. ] 21...g4 22.c3 c8 23.h3 [ 23.h6 was the alternative but after xa7 24.xf8 xf8 25.xa7 xa7 it's definitely Black pressing with the two pieces for rook and pawn. ] 23...xa7 [ 23...d7 was the alternative when I daresay Mamedov was planning on giving u p t h e e x c h a n g e . 24.xc8! ( 24.h6 would be very similar to 23.Bh6) 24...xa1 25.xe7+ h8 26.d5 g8 27.xg8 xg8 with a roughly level endgame. ] 24.xa7 xa7 25.hxg4 xg4 Black should have slightly the better of it but objectively t h i s e n d g a m e s h o u l d b e a d r a w 26.d5 Stopping the a7 knight getting into the game. c8 27.f4?! [ 27.g1 looks a better move order, not allowing Black's next. ] 27...e5! A strong decision. Again White gets caught up in a pin. 28.dxe6 fxe6 29.f3 [ 29.g1 ] 29...e5 30.g5 f2+ 31.h2 xf3 32.gxf3 d3 33.e4 g7 34.g3 xb2?! Carelessness from Turov - perhaps he was low on time. [ I n s t e a d w i t h 34...g6 he could have continued pressing for a long time. ] 35.f2! Oops! The knight's trapped on b2. Luckily W hite has so few pawns that it shouldn't matter. d6 36.c1 Surprisingly White makes no effort to win this endgame but it should be drawn anyway. bc4 37.bxc4 xc4 38.d3 g6 39.f4 ½-½

1129 Pelletier,Yannick Seger,Ruediger Bundesliga [Andrew Martin]

B10 2585 2405 2002

1.e4 c6 2.c4 It's that move again. Black goes for something different, possibly to avoid heavy theoretical preparation. e5 3.f3 a5!? I reckon this is a very high price to pay to prevent d4. Reasonable is [ 3...f6 4.xe5 d6 5.f3 xe4 6.c3 xc3 7.dxc3 ] [ and 3...f5!? is a manic idea of Jonny Hector 4.e2 fxe4 5.xe5 h4 6.c3 d6 7.g4 a6 8.xc8 xc8 9.g4 c5 10.0-0 Sher-Hector Vejle 1994 ] 4.c3 [ 4.e2 f6 5.0-0 xe4 ( 5...d6 6.c3 e7 7.d4 ) 6.e1 d6 7.d4 f6 8.d2 c7 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.xe5 ] 4...f6 5.e2 b4 It's amazing how popular this line is- Black loses all the games. In each and every variation, the Black Queen has no business on a5. [ 5...c5 6.0-0 d4 7.d3 d6 8.xd4 exd4 9.b1 0-0 10.f4 d5 11.e5 e8 12.d2 c7 13.b3 b6 14.c5 a6 15.xd4 b6 16.b4 b7 17.b1 b5 18.a4 a6 19.a1 e6 20.xe6 xe6 21.d4 d7 22.d3 f5 23.exf6 xf6 24.d6 fe8 25.a3 f7 26.c2 h6 27.h3 d7 28.fa1 f8 29.a2 ad8 30.axb5 axb5 31.f5 e6 32.a7 c8 33.c7 xc7 34.xc8 xc8 35.d2 e6 36.a6 g6 37.e5 f8 38.e3 fe8 39.a7 a8 40.a3 ac8 41.a6 f5 42.e7 1-0 Stocek, J-Jirka, J/ Friendship GM, Prerove CZE 2001 (42) ] 6.c2 0-0 [ 6...d6 7.0-0 g4 8.a4 b5 9.cxb5 cxb5 10.c3 xf3 11.xf3 0-0 12.e2 c6!? 13.a3 fc8 14.b1 xd2 15.b4 xb4 16.axb4 xb4 17.xb4 xb4 18.b1 a5 19.a3 c4 20.xb4 axb4 21.g3 g6 22.fd1 a2 23.xd6 g7 24.b6 cc2 25.xb5 xf2 26.1xb4 g5 27.xe5 g4 28.e2 fxe2 29.xe2 xe2 30.f1 e3 31.e7 g3 32.hxg3 xg3 33.bb7 g6 34.e5 g4 35.xf7 e3 36.g7+ f5 37.bf7+ e6 38.e7+ f5 39.xh7 xe5 40.h5+ f6 41.e8 e4 42.g3 1174

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e3 43.g2 e1 44.g4 e4 45.f5+ 1-0 Genkin, M-Goessling, G/13th Summer Open, Recklinghausen GER 2002 (45) ] 7.0-0 d5 Black's position stands or falls by this active move. If he played passively or quietly the Bishop and Queen would simply turn out to be targets, accelerating W hite's development. 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.xd5 xd5 10.exd5 d7 [ A very short future awaits after 10...xd5? 11.c4 a5 12.g5 g6 13.xf7+- ] 11.c4 c7 [ 11...d6 A fishy move , if I ever saw one. 12.d4 exd4 13.xd4 b6 14.d3 xd5 15.b5! ( 15.xh7+ h8 16.f5! is very strong.) 15...h8 16.xd6 xd6 17.e3 d8 18.ad1 d5 19.g5 f6 20.d2 g4 21.f3 ac8 22.b1 e7 23.e3 e6 24.fe1 c6 25.f2 g6 26.c1 d7 27.xc8 xc8 28.xe6 xe6 29.f5 c1+ 30.xc1 xf5 31.xa7 f4 32.d1 a5 33.e3 d5 34.c1 g5 35.a3 g7 36.h3 b5 37.c5 b3 38.d4 b6 39.c1 f4 40.c7+ g6 41.xb6 1-0 Jakovenko, D-Turov, M/chRUS, Krasnodar RUS 2002 (41) ] 12.d3 xc2 13.xc2 e8 The problem is that d pawn. It looks as though it's a matter of time before the pawn gets rounded up but there's development to think about and the pawn on e5 needs protection too. This variation is dubious for Black. 14.d4 e4 15.d2! d6 16.fe1 f6 17.e5 f5 [ I regard 17...xe5 18.dxe5 xe5 19.c3 xd5 20.xf6 gxf6 21.xe4 d2 22.ad1 as the best chance and try to grovel in an ending. ] 18.b3 g4 19.xg4 xg4 20.a3 a5 21.a4 e7 22.ac1 h6 23.c3 h5 24.h3 f5 25.ec1 f6 26.b3 The rub. b6 must be covered thus a Rook gets misplaced.. a6 27.b5 a7 28.e2 h4 29.b5 a4 30.b4 d7 31.c5 f4 [ 31...xc5 32.dxc5+- turns a small pawn into an adult. ] 32.xa7 xc1 33.b8 h7 34.d6 He never did get that pawn back,,,,,,,, g6 35.xf5 A nice finish. The pawn will promote or Black's Rook will disappear from view. I really think 3... Qa5 is poor. Perhaps best if Black must play 2...e5 is to return to the

calmer waters of the Old Indian. 1-0

1130 Peptan,Corina Danielian,Elina Olympiad w Bled (3) [Andrew Martin]

B10 2475 2385 2002

1.e4 c6 2.c4 A line recently brought into the spotlight by GM John Emms in his 'Repertoire with 1 e4' book. If I read his words correctly he thinks that whilst Black can equalize with care, it's not at all easy. The surprise value of 2 c4 is considerable and White has the option of returning to a favourable Panov in certain circumstances. Probably right. I'm guessing that most Caro players are less well prepared for 2 c4 than the other main lines. d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 f6 5.c3 xd5 6.f3 xc3 7.bxc3 g6 Black is angling for a favourable Grünfeld where the pawn on c3 will stick out like a sore thumb on the open c file. Whilst this is true, White has very good squares for his pieces. 8.c4 [ 8.d4! This is the best move for White- it has to be played and there's some flexibility with piece placement. g7 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 c6 11.e1 b6 ( Or 11...g4 12.e4 The Bishop on c1 can come to a3 or g5 and Qb3 can be considered, pressurising b7. All in all, W hite has the more promising position.) 12.g5 b7 13.b5 d5 14.b1 e6 15.d2 ac8 16.c4 d6 17.f4 d8 18.d5 Activity dominates structure in this example. exd5 19.cxd5 a5 20.ed1 c5 21.d6 c4 22.xc4 xc4 23.d7 xf3 24.gxf3 d4 25.xd4 xd4 26.xd4 f6 27.bd1 g5 28.c7 xf3 29.e1 c6 30.e8 c1+ 31.g2 c6+ 32.f3 c2+ 33.h3 1-0 Cherniaev, A-Hinks Edwards, T/4NCL, West Bromwich ENG 2002 (33) ] [ 8.a4+ Possible but this looks like a ' tricky' move to me. c6 9.e5 d7 10.xc6 ( 10.f4 xe5 11.xe5 f6 12.e3 c6 13.d4 g7 14.a3 c8 15.f3 d5 16.b5+ f7 17.0-0 e6 18.fc1 a6 19.f1 f5 20.ab1 d7 21.b6 c6 22.xc6 xc6 23.c5 b5 1175

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.d1 d5 25.d2 b8 26.a4 c4 27.axb5 xf1 28.xf1 xb5+ 29.e2 e5 30.d6 xe2+ 31.xe2 c8 32.dxe5 xc3 33.b2 f4 34.b7+ g8 35.b8+ f7 36.d2 e3 37.b7+ g8 38.e7 g5 39.e6 c3+ 40.c2 f6 41.e8+ g7 42.b4 h5 43.h3 g6 44.e7 g7 45.c5 c3+ 46.d2 xc5 47.g8+ xg8 48.e8+ g7 49.xh5 d5+ 50.c2 d4 51.g4 f7 52.c8 a5 53.c7+ e6 54.xa5 e7 55.f5 f7 56.h7+ f8 57.b3 e8 58.g6+ e7 59.g8 d2 60.c4 xg2 61.d3 b2 62.c4 f8 63.e4 g7 64.f5 b7 65.g4 f7 66.h5 e7 67.e6 f6 68.e4 e7 69.g6+ f8 70.h6+ g8 71.g4 d8 72.g6+ f8 73.d6+ e7 74.h6+ g8 75.g6+ f8 76.h5 d8 77.d6+ e7 78.h6+ g8 79.g6+ f8 80.e6 g7 81.g4 f8 82.g1 h8+ 83.g4 f8 84.b1 f7 85.h5 d8 86.e4 e7 87.d3 g8 88.d4 f6 89.e4 e7 90.e5 f6 91.e6 g7 92.h4 gxh4 93.g4+ f8 94.xf4 e7 95.b8+ g7 96.g4 f6 97.e5 f7 98.h5+ g7 99.e8 g6+ 100.f5 f6+ 101.g4 1/2-1/2 Kritz, L-Mueller, K/ 74th ch-GER, Saarbruecken GER 2002 (101) ) 10...xc6 11.b5 xb5 12.xb5+ d7 13.a4 c8 14.a3 a6 15.xd7+ xd7 16.e2 b6 17.hb1 c6 18.b3 g7 19.ab1 c7 20.d4 d8 21.f4 d5 22.d3 f6 23.g4 e6 24.b4 g7 25.e1 f6 26.e3 h5 27.h3 d8 28.b1 c7 29.e4 cd7 30.f8 c7 31.e2 c6 32.eb2 d8 33.g7 a5 34.b4 hxg4 35.hxg4 b5 36.axb5+ xb5 37.c4+ b7 38.a1 g5 39.h6 gxf4 40.xf4 e5 41.e3 exd4 42.xd4 f5 43.gxf5 xf5 44.ca4 d6 45.e4 b5 46.h1 d7 47.c4 g5 48.b1+ c8 49.e5 1/2-1/2 Kostenko, P-Schandorff, L/Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (49) ] 8...g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.a3 I like this development of the Bishop very much, particularly so when Black has no c pawn. We see now that it is not quite a Grünfeld. There Black would block this Bishop out with ...Nd7, ...c5! and ... Qc7 . However although it looks like Peptan has hit the nail on the head and t h a t e 7 i s we a k , B l a c k sh o u ld s t i l l h a ve

enough activit y to coun ter this plan . c6 11.e1 g4 12.d4 Finally. c8! Natural, but there was also [ 12...a5! As far as I can see this equalizes. Black can accept a Rook on the 7th: A) 13.b2 ac8 14.h3 ( 14.e2 fd8; 14.b3 ) 14...xf3 15.xf3 e5!; B) 13.xe7 xe7 14.xe7 xc3 15.c1 xf3 16.gxf3 xd4 ( 16...b4 17.e1 xe1+ 18.cxe1 xd4 19.xb7 ac8 20.b3 c5 ) 17.xd4 xd4 18.xb7 a5 Maybe Danielan didn't play this because she simply wanted to win. The drawback of the last variation must be that Black has no winning chances at all. ] 13.b3 a5 14.b2 h5 15.e3 e6 [ 15...h6! is a good move, embarrassing White's Rook. Black is better now: 16.e4 ( 16.d3? f5; 16.e1 fd8 17.h3 xf3 18.xf3 xf3 19.gxf3 f4 ) 16...fd8! ] 16.h3 Peptan had just enough time for this move. xf3 17.xf3 a5 18.e2 c7 19.c4 h4 Neglecting [ 19...fc8! 20.c1 h4 Oh boy, are those pawns hanging. ] 20.d1 d8 [ 20...fc8 21.d5 ] 21.c3 xb3 22.axb3 cd7 Despite the e a r l i e r i n a c c u ra c i e s D a n i e l a n h a s g o n e t h r o u gh wi t h h e r p la n . W h a t h a p p e n s i s shocking. 23.h2! Trappy . [ 23.d5 exd5 24.cxd5 g5 25.xg7 xg7 26.g3 f5 27.d3 e5 ] 23...xd4?? [ 23...a6 ] 24.xd4! xd4 25.e5! 8d6?? [ 25...e4 26.f6 8d7 ] 26.d3 h5 27.xh5 Objectively, Black's position was fine for the majority of this game. Thus the system with ...Nc3 and...g6 can be recommended for Black. Peptan's 8 Bc4 is inferior to 8 d4 though-that is the biggest test. 1-0

1176

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1131 Ponomariov,Ruslan Gelfand,Boris 4th Kings Tournament (9) [Tom Rendle]

B10 2733 2741 24.06.2010

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.exd5 f6 5.b5+ bd7 The main defence to Bb5+ (and almost certainly the best move) but not previously covered in ChessPublishing [ 5...d7 was looked at by Andrew Martin in t h e ga m e K o t su r, P -Ma h j o o b , M wh ic h continued 6.c4 g6 ( 6...b5 at least attempts to make some sense of the previous move but I still prefer White here, for example a sensible line seems to be 7.b3 a5 8.f3 a4 9.c2 b4 10.0-0 xd5 11.d4 and Black is rather behind in development) 7.c3 g7 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 a6 10.d3 c7 11.a4 c8 12.b3 and Black was a pawn down and struggling badly. ] 6.c3 [ 6.f3 a6 ( it's probably not best to capture the pawn straight away as W hite is very comf ortable af ter 6...xd5 7.c3 e6 8.xd5 exd5 9.0-0 e7 10.d4 with a small but secure edge for White in the game Narciso Dublan, M (2534)-Peralta, F Catalunya 2012) 7.a4 b5 8.b3 c5 9.c2 b7 10.0-0 xd5 11.d4 ce4 12.b3 h5 13.e5 e6 14.xh5 xh5 15.f3 d6 16.c3 f6 was all played in Rapport, R (2559)-Kreisl, R (2400) Plovdiv 2012 and Black didn't seem to have any problems so W hite tried 17.d5!? c4?! ( 17...xd5 looks at first risky but I don't see anything for W hite after 18.xd5 exd5 19.e1 e7 ) 18.xc4 bxc4 19.a4+ d8 20.dxe6 c5+ 21.h1 fxe6 22.g5 ( 22.b1!? planning b3 may cause Black m o r e p r o b l e m s) 22...e7 23.ac1 and White had some advantage ] 6...a6 [ 6...g6 7.d4 g7 A) 8.f3 0-0 9.d6 exd6 10.0-0 a6 11.d3 b5 12.a4 bxa4 13.xa4 ( 13.xa4!? b7 14.f4 may be slightly better for White) 13...b6 14.a2 b7 and Black had an active middlegame in Azarov, S (2583)-Gashimov, V (2658)

Moscow 2007; B) 8.d6 B1) 8...0-0!? looks like a reasonable p a wn s a c t o m e , f o r e xa m p l e 9.dxe7 xe7+ 10.ge2 a6 11.c4 b5 12.d5 and now it may be best to simply r e t r e a t t h e Q u e e n w i t h d8 ( instead after 12...e4 13.f3 e6 14.xf6+ xf6 15.d5 a7 16.0-0 b6 17.e4 d8 18.f4 Black was left struggling to prove sufficient play for the pawn in Reinderman, D (2565)-Khenkin, I (2634) Haarlem 2009) 13.xf6+ xf6 14.b3 b7 with good compensation for Black; B2) 8...exd6 9.e2+ e7 10.f4 f8 11.0-0-0 ( 11.f3!? is probably more accurate here, Black's position is certainly very unpleasant after xe2+ 12.xe2 a6 13.0-0 b6 14.fe1 e6 15.g5 ) 11...xe2 12.xe2 is definitely more pleasant for W hite b6 13.f3 e7 14.e1 e6 15.h3 d7 16.g5 d5 17.xd5 fxd5 18.d2 f5 19.e6 f6 20.e2 he8 21.he1 ac8+ 22.b1 c7 1/2-1/2 (22) Ghaem Maghami, E (2570) -Negi, P (2641) Moscow 2012 ] 7.e2 [ 7.a4 doesn't seem dangerous to me after b8 8.xd7+ xd7 9.b3 b5 10.f3 b4 11.d1 e6 12.e3 exd5 13.0-0 d6 14.d4 0-0 and Black had at least equalised in Miezis, N (2557) -Iordachescu, V (2644) Dubai 2012 ] [ 7.xd7+ also appears to be mostly harmless after xd7 8.f3 xd5 9.0-0 xc3 ( 9...b5!? ) 10.bxc3 e6 and Black was very solid in the game Berkovich, M (2397)Erenburg, S (2616) Israel 2011 ] 7...b5 [ 7...b6 also seems to be a reasonable enough way for Black to proceed although in Ghaem Maghami, E (2583)-Buhmann, R (2606) Hockenheim 2012 W hite got a pleasant IQP position after 8.f3 bxd5 ( 8...g6!? ) 9.0-0 e6 10.d4 e7 11.e5 0-0 12.f3 d7 13.g5 b8 14.e1 with a slight edge to White ] 8.d4 [ 8.f3 b7 9.0-0 b4 led to some 1177

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 interesting play in Rasik, V (2472)-Haba, P (2524) Karlovy Vary 2004 after 10.b3 b6 ( 10...bxc3 11.xb7 b8 12.c6! cxb2 13.xb2 xb2 14.fb1 b6 15.xb6 xb6 16.e5 xc6 17.dxc6! leaves Black in trouble as xe5?? allows 18.c7 d7 19.c1 c6 20.xc6 and the pawn cannot be stopped) 11.a4 d6 12.a3 xd5 ( 12...a5 may be a better option) 13.d4 e6 14.d2 and Black was under some pressure. ] 8...b4 [ 8...b7 9.f3 xd5 seems less accurate as now W hite has 10.a4! b4 11.xd5 xd5 and now in Jansa, V (2493)-Caletka, R (2357) Pardubice 2011 White would've kept the initiative with 12.f4! e6 13.c1 ] 9.a4 b7 [ I don't see anything wrong with 9...xd5 for example 10.f3 ( 10.f3 b7 11.0-0 e6 12.d2 d6 13.b3 0-0 14.a3 b8 15.axb4 xb4 16.xb4 xb4 17.xb4 xf3 18.d2 xe2 19.xe2 a5 20.fd1 f6 21.d2 d5 22.c3 c8 23.f3 c4 24.xd5 xd5 1/2-1/2 (24) Varga, Z (2473)-Rapport, R (2401) Budapest HUN 2009 ) 10...b7 11.e2 e6 12.0-0 d6 and Black was at least equal in Delgado, N (2554)-Dreev, A (2698) Calvia 2004 ] 10.f3 xd5 11.f4 e6 12.c1 e7 13.0-0 [ 13.c7!? looks dangerous but in fact there's no clear way to continue after c8 P e r h a p s W h i t e ' s b e s t o p t i o n i s 14.b6 xb6 15.xb6 b7 16.a4+ d7 17.a5 0-0 18.e5 e8 19.0-0 and Black is left with a solid position but still some problems to deal with before he can claim to have equalised ] 13...0-0 14.b3 Black should not have any serious problems here but it isn't easy to see how to continue, but there are plenty of safe ways to avoid this position if it's not your cup of tea, 6...g6 in particular looks worth investigating. a7 [ 14...c8! seems to be a clever way to equalise as White isn't better after grabbing t h e p a wn wi t h 15.xa6 xc1 16.xc1 ( 16.xc1 b6 17.xb6 xb6 18.d3 b7 must be very good compensation for a pawn ) 16...b6 17.xb6 ( 17.c7 a8 18.xb6 xf3 19.gxf3 xa6 and Black

has no problems) 17...xb6 18.e2 e4 a n d B la ck h a s su c h g o o d co n t ro l t h a t , despite behind a pawn behind, I still prefer his position ] 15.e5 a8 [ 15...xe5 16.dxe5 d7 17.d4 leaves Black rather cramped ] 16.f3 d8 definitely a sign that Gelfand isn't really sure what to do. Nevertheless Black has a very solid position and Ponomariov is unable to create real difficulties. 17.d3 a8 18.e2 a5 [ t h e c o m p u t e r m u c h p r e f e r s 18...d5 but I suspect Gelfand was (probably rightly) n o t wo rrie d t h a t m u ch a b o u t h a v in g t o concede the two Bishops ] 19.c6 xc6 20.xc6 d5 21.g3 7b6 White has the two Bishops on an open board but with e very exch ange the pawn on d 4 becomes a little more vulnerable. I suspect Black is just fairly comfortable here. 22.xb6 xb6 23.f4 This does seem a bit odd but I can't find what else White can do g6 [ 23...f6!? 24.f5 xd4+ 25.h1 e5 is at f irst suggested as playable by the engine Houdini but after a while it realises that White is dong very well after 26.f6 g6 27.d2 h8 28.f3! g8 29.f2 in any case no human player would deliberately go into this position as Black ] 24.f2?! After this White drifts into a worse middlegame [ 24.f5! was by the stage necessarily to keep the balance. A possible line would be exf5 25.xf5! gxf5 26.xf5 xd4+ 27.f2 a1+ 28.f1 xf1+ 29.xf1 and White regains the piece on b6 with a draw looking very likely ] 24...d5 25.f3 d7 26.b5 d6 27.g4?! [ 27.c2 c3 is better for Black in any case ] 27...b8 28.a4 f5 29.g5 c3? [ 29...xc6 30.xc6 xf4! leaves Black clearly better after 31.xd5 xg5+ 32.h1 exd5 33.xd5+ g7 34.xa5 f4 where the W hite king is rather open and Black has the much better structure. ] 30.e1 e4 31.e3 Black still seems to be some what bet ter here bu t p erha ps o the r considerations (time or tournament position) caused him to take a draw here. Overall I 1178

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 would recommend Nbd7 as a safe way to deal with 5.Bb5+ ½-½

1132 Postny,Evgeny L'Ami,Erwin 10th Essent Open (7) [John Watson]

B10 2609 2593 26.10.2006

Here is one of two games with 1 c4 c6 2 e4, an attempt to avoid the Slav Defence. This month I also give a game with the idea of Nf3 and g3. You can consult earlier ChessPub games for combinations of Nf3 and b3, but that won't appeal to everyone. 1.c4 c6 2.e4 The most promising way to avoid the Slav. At this point, Black generally tries one of two moves. e5!? Probably as good as [ 2...d5 , which has led to various answers: A) 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 is a Caro-Kann Panov, and here ( 4.cxd5 f6 5.c3 xd5 6.f3 can again lead into a Panov, or to a Gruenfeld via g6 7.d4 g7 ); B) 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.exd5 f6 5.a4+! This is the one that I've concentrated upon in the past and as you will see (in B10! see the next note), I haven't found any way for Black to equalise. See Serper-Hahn (and Bladez11 from the Email Bag). ] 3.f3 [After I annotated these games, I noticed that this position has already been treated in ChessPublishing under B10. Hence I've merged and commented upon some notes from early annotated games. Apologies, and excus es be low! ] a5!? This oddball move has been tried by some strong players, and again, it should be included in B10. Alas, I promised not to tread upon other contributors' territory. However, I already have 4 games in the B10 archives, so hopefully my colabourers won't be offended (or are tired of being offended) . Anyway, In my opinion, it is clearly more of an English Opening than a Ca r o - K a n n , a n d i s l i s t e d a s s u c h i n t h e ChessBase smaller key, which is where I got the idea. [ 3...f6 4 Nc3 is a note in Van der ElburgVan Beek. Here is an interesting tidbit: 4.xe5 d6 5.f3 xe4 6.c3 xc3

7.dxc3 is an exact transposition to the Petroff Def ence, in f act, a line that I've written about: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 c4 c6 6 Nc3 Nxc3 7 dxc3! ] 4.c3 [ Andrew Martin previously analysed 4.e2 f6 5.0-0 xe4 ( 5...d6 6.c3 e7 7.d4 , but this is what Black would doubtless enter into. It justifies .. .Qa5 by protecting the e-pawn.) 6.e1 d6 7.d4 f6 8.d2 c7 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.xe5 ] 4...f6 [ Z Rahman-A Abdulla, Dhaka 2001 saw 4...b4?! 5.a4! f6 6.a3 e7 7.b4 c7 8.d4 d6 9.b2 with a substantial advantage. ] 5.e2 b4? I agree with my cohorts that the queen is generally misplaced on a5, and [ 5...c5?! 6.0-0 d4 is eccentric at best: 7.d3 d6 8.xd4 exd4 9.b1 0-0 10.f4 d5 11.e5 e8 12.d2 with White for ch o ice , J S t o ce k-J Jirka , P re ro ve CZE 2001. ] [ But here Black has the solid alternative 5...d6 6.0-0 e7 7.d4 0-0 , when the queen actually serves the useful function of protecting e5! This is certainly best. ] 6.0-0 0-0 7.c2 [ 7.d4! is also attractive, for example, xc3 8.bxc3 xe4 ( 8...xc3 9.d2 a3 10.b1! threatens both Bb4 and dxe5.) 9.d3 ( 9.dxe5 xc3 10.d2! xe2+ 11.xe2 c5 12.d3 is also somewhat better for W hite) 9...xc3 10.e1! d5 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.xe5! ( 12.d2 e4 13.xc3 d8 ) 12...b5 13.d2 b4 14.a3 and wins. ] 7...d6 [ Previously 7...d5?! was played (twice!) and analysed by Andrew Martin, who rightly criticised it after the simple 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.xd5 xd5 10.exd5 d7 11.c4 of Pelletier, Y-Seger, R/Bundesliga 2002. ] 8.a3 xc3 9.dxc3 g4!? [ 9...e6 looks better. Black would be happy to accept 10.g5 bd7 11.xe6 fxe6 out of this miserable opening. ] 10.h4!? xe2? [ 10...e6! intending 11.d1 bd7! 12.xd6 c5 ] 11.xe2 c7 12.g5 1179

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Or 12.f5 ] 12...e8 13.ad1 [ 13.f5 was the point of Nh4, right? ] 13...f6 14.c1 c5?! 15.f5! c6 16.f4 e7 17.e3 [ 17.xe7+! xe7 18.f5 looks like the GM treatment. Then Rf3-h3 is a good prelude to Kh1, Rg1, and g4-g5, as in many games of the Old Masters. ] 17...c6 18.c2 c7 19.f5! f7 20.a4?! For the next 23 moves White didn't touch his g-pawn, and by that time the queens were off the board. The game was drawn. ½-½

[ 39.e2 looks better, preparing to bring a rook to d1. ] 39...e6 40.e2 f7 41.f1 b8! Suddenly Black is back in the game. The knight on c4 has to leave the a3 pawn to its fate. 42.d2 xa3 43.xc8 xc8 44.xa7 c6 45.c5 xc5 46.xc5 e5 47.d6 c2 48.g3 h7 49.a1 a2 50.h3 a7 51.g5 hxg5 52.f5+ h6 53.e1 f7 54.d3 c7+ 55.h3 e5 56.d4 c6 57.d3 e5 58.d4 c6 59.d3 b4 60.d4 c6 The final moves looked like a frenzied battle against the clock. ½-½

1133 Rahman,Ziaur Abdulla,A 5th United Insurance (3) [Nigel Davies]

1134 Richmond,Peter Lee,Graham D 4NCL England (9) [Nigel Davies]

B10 2447 2359 21.02.2001

1.c4 c6 2.e4 e5 3.f3 a5 4.c3 b4?! [ Black should probably abandon this move in favour of 4...f6 , but even so I think his p o si t io n i s f a r f ro m p le a sa n t a f t e r 5.a3 . A game Kharlov - Volkov, Russian Ch. 2000 went c5 6.e2 d6 7.0-0 c7 8.b1 g4 9.b4 b6 10.d3 xf3 11.xf3 bd7 12.e2 0-0 13.b2 with the better game for White. ] 5.a4! A new move. The idea of a3 followed by b4 sends Black's queen and bishop running for cover. f6 6.a3 e7 7.b4 c7 8.d4 d6 9.b2 bd7 10.d3 0-0 11.c1 d8 12.0-0 h5 13.e1 f4 14.f1 g6 15.g3 f6 16.g2 d7 17.b3 f8 18.c5 An extremely thematic breakthrough! White converts his space advantage into a virulent initiative. e8 19.cxd6 xd6 20.c5 [ 20.dxe5 xe5 21.d4 also looks very strong, threatening to land on either b5 or f5. ] 20...exd4 21.xd4 d7 22.c3 xc5 23.bxc5 f8 24.h4 b6 25.h5 bxc5 26.e3 e7 27.xc5 h6 28.e3 f6 29.d4 f7 30.g4 d7 31.f3 c5 32.b3 c4 33.d2 The pawn on c4 is dropping but Black refuses to lie down and die. ac8 34.f1 d6 35.g2 a6 36.xc4 a4 37.b4 d7 38.b2 c6 39.f2

B10

1999

1.e4 c6 2.e2 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4!? cxb4 5.d4 [ 5.b2 was tried in Sorensen - Hellstrom, Copenhagen 1998 but it doesn't make much sense to me. The bishop on b2 does nothing more than bite on it's own e5 pawn and Black was a pawn up for very little after c6 6.d4 e6 7.d2 d7 8.g3 b6 9.f3 c8 10.d3 g6 11.0-0 a5 12.e1 a4 13.b1 c7 14.e2 c4 etc. ] 5...c6 6.a3 e6 [ The continuation of Bertholee - Peelen, Amstelveen 1994 was totally chaotic: 6...f6!? 7.f4 fxe5 8.h5+ g6 9.xg6 f6 10.h4 xd4 11.xe5 xc2+ 12.d1 d7 ( 12...xa1 13.b5+ d7 14.xd7+ forces Black to give up his queen as xd7 15.h5# is mate ) 13.a2 a4 14.axb4 e3+ 15.e1 xf1 16.xa4 c7 17.f4 c2 18.a1 c8 19.a3 h6 20.xh6 e4+ 21.xf1 xe5 22.a2 e4 23.d2 when Black doesn't have enough for his piece but it's anybody's guess what was happening en route. ] 7.axb4 xb4+ 8.c3 e7 9.g3 [ Alternatively White can put his knight on f4, Rosito - Hernandez, Trelew 1995 continuing 9.f4 g6 10.d3 a6 11.0-0 f8 and now bringing the other knight into play 1180

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with 12.d2 looks like the best, with definite attacking chances for the pawn. ] 9...d7 10.h4 [ Both 10.g4!? and ] [ 10.d3!? look like interesting alternatives ] 10...f5 11.d3 a6 12.d2 h6 13.f3 f7 After allowing ... f7-f5 and the development of Black's king's knight, it doesn't look as if W hite has much compensation. But when Black gets careless, the position explodes in his face. 14.b3 c7 15.0-0 a5 16.b1 c4? 17.xc4 dxc4 18.d5! Suddenly giving W hite a very strong attack. exd5 19.e1 d8 20.xf5 xf5 21.xf5 g6 22.g4 b6 23.d4 c5 24.e6 c6 25.e7 Another pawn goes onto the bonfire. If you want to know what's happening here, leave Fritz on for a month or two. xe7 26.g5 f8 27.e6 c7 28.ae1 f7 29.h5 d7 30.hxg6 hxg6 31.h4 d8 32.h8+ e8 33.e5 d7 34.xg6 c8 35.xe7 xe7 36.g8+ f8 37.xf8+ xf8 38.e8+ d8 39.f7 1-0

1135 Sax,Gyula Martin,Andrew D Hastings [Nigel Davies]

B10

the knight to d7 might be better. [ Sax - Jakupovic, Sarajevo 1998 went 8...bd7 9.e1 h6 10.h4 ( 10.b3 m a y b e b e t t e r) 10...c5 11.f1 f8 12.e2 a5 13.d2 b6 14.ad1 a6 15.f3 e6 16.c3 g5 17.xg5 hxg5 18.f5 g6 with an excellent game for Black. ] 9.e1 a6 10.d4! dxe4?! [ Black sh ould pla y 10...xe4 11.xe4 dxe4 12.xe5 xe5 13.dxe5 with an edge for White, but a manageable one. ] 11.xe5 xe5 12.dxe5 xe5 13.xe4 f5 14.xf6+ xf6 15.xe5 xe5 16.c3 White's bishop pair gives him a clear edge, but Black defends very stubbornly. And in time-trouble things get turned around altogether. e8 17.e3 e6 18.h2 c7 19.b3 d5 20.e1 d7 21.d1 c8 22.xd5 cxd5 23.xd5 a4 24.d4 xh3 25.xa4 f1 26.h4 d8 27.e5 e8 28.h5?? [ 28.c5 leaves White much better, but now the tables get well and truly turned. ] 28...c6!! 29.xh7+ f8 30.c5+ xc5 31.g1 e1 32.h8+ e7 33.d4 h3+ [ W hite is mated after 33...h3+ 34.h2 h1+ 35.xh1 c6+ ] 0-1

1983

Gyula Sax has his own way of treating the 4... Bd6 and 5...Nf6 set-up, and that's to prevent Black from bringing his other bishop out to g4 (7.h3) and then put pressure on e5. It doesn't really set the world on fire but Black needs to respond accurately. 1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.d2 e5 4.gf3 d6 5.g3 f6 6.g2 0-0 7.h3!? [ There's been plenty of experience with the natural 7.0-0 but then e8 8.c3 ( 8.b3 g4 9.h3 h5 10.b2 bd7 11.e1 a5 12.a3 xf3 13.xf3 b5 was fine for Black in Ljubojevic - Karpov, Monaco 1993; or 8.e1 g4 9.h3 h5 10.f1 bd7 11.g4 g6 12.g3 dxe4 13.dxe4 c5 as in Ljubojevic - Seirawan, Rotterdam 1989) 8...g4 9.h3 h5 10.e1 bd7 11.c2 f8 12.f1 a5 Ljubojevic - Delemarre, Antwerp 1996 ] 7...e8 8.0-0 a5 Staking out space on the queenside, though the modest development of

1136 Sebag,Marie Xu Yuanyuan FRA-CHN Match (1) [Andrew Martin]

B10 2404 2381 07.02.2004

A REAL ODDITY 1.e4 c6 2.f3 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.e5!? Now I've seen everything. The initial impression is that this is nothing other t h a n a 'ch e a p o ' m o ve . B u t e ve n c h e a p o moves have to be dealt with. c6 Yes, that is what I would have done. Let's see how a very strong player reacts otherwise: [ 4...f6 5.d4 g6!? 6.d3 g7 7.d2 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.df3 g4 10.xc6 bxc6 11.e1 e8 12.h3 f6 13.c3 Black has failed to find an adequate response. White is solidly, slightly better. b6 14.e2 a5 15.e5 a6 16.xa6 xa6 17.f3 b7 18.e2 e6 19.h6 xh6 20.xf6 g7 1181

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.f4 xe5 1/2-1/2 Hakki, I-Magerramov, E/Damascus 2003 Out of respect W hite takes the draw. I would play on and stick the Kingside pawns up the board. ] 5.d4 f6 6.b5N Clearly this is the main idea, pressurizing c6. The point of Sebag's novelty is that she wants to play aggressively with c2-c4 in place of the c3 stuff shown below. [ 6.c3 A) 6...e6 7.g5 e7 8.d2 b6 9.b3 c7 10.b5 0-0 11.df3 d7 12.xd7 xd7 13.0-0 e4 14.xe7 xe7 15.d3 f5 16.fe1 a5 17.a4 c7 18.e5 c6 19.f3?! ( 19.xc6! bxc6 20.f3 was far better.) 19...xe5 20.dxe5 b6+ 21.d4= Haahr, M-Skov, P/Hillerod 1980; B) I suggest the straightforward 6...f5!? with 7.b3 ( 7.a4 b6 8.b5 c8=; 7.b5 b6 8.b3 e6 9.xc6+?! bxc6 10.xb6 axb6 11.xc6 xb1 12.xb1 xa2 ) 7...c8 8.g5 e4 9.f4 e6= Sometimes simplicity will do.; C) 6...g6 7.d3 g7 8.0-0 0-0 9.e1 d7 10.xd7 xd7 11.d2 e5 12.dxe5 xe5 13.b3 xd3 14.xd3 f5 15.d1 xd3 16.xd3 e6 17.e3 fc8 18.d4 a5 19.xg7 xg7 20.d4 a4 Labib, I-Molina, J/Bled 2002 ] 6...b6 [ Ok, why not 6...d7 . I just don't see how White goes forward: 7.xd7 ( 7.c3 e6 8.0-0 b4= ) 7...xd7 8.0-0 ( 8.c3 e6 9.0-0 d6 10.d2 c7 11.f3 0-0= ) 8...a6 9.a4 e6 10.g5 e4 11.e3 b5 12.b3 d6= White obtains the two Bishops in these lines but the Black position is rock-solid. ] 7.c4! This lever will give White an attack. A more or less forced sequence follows. dxc4 8.c3 e6 9.a4 d7 10.xd7 xd7 11.e3 d8 12.d5 Sebag is as ever, direct. d4 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.0-0-0 c5 15.xd7+ xd7 16.xc4 Black's position creaks after this simple capture. c7 [ 16...0-0!? 17.a4 c6 18.xc5 b5 19.b4?! ( 19.xd4! is very strong. bxc4 20.xd7 f5 21.hd1 c3 22.b4 cxb2+ 23.xb2 ) 19...a5 20.xd4 axb4 21.xd7 f5 ]

17.xd4 f4+ 18.b1 xd4 19.xe6+ e7 20.xe7+ What Sebag played cannot be called bad or even dubious. Indeed in a lot of lines White whips up quite a dangerous attack. And psychologically Black's guard might well be lowered by this ' ridiculous' looking move. B u t I h o p e I h a ve s h o wn t h a t B l a c k h a s nothing really to fear if he sticks to the basics of simple development. However, Black can expect nothing more than equality. 1-0

1137 B10 Serper,Grigory 2542 Han,Aloysius 2235 2005 US Chessmaster Championship (2) [John Watson] 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 [ 2...e5 is another story, with many games delivering mixed results. Personally I like White. ] 3.cxd5 cxd5 Remarkably, this has begun to look bad already. But Black probably doesn't achieve enough by gambitting: [ 3...f6 4.dxc6 xc6 5.c3 e5 6.f3 c5 7.e2 0-0 8.0-0 a6 9.d3 b5 10.a3 e7 11.g5 e6 12.c1 with an extra pawn and no special troubles, Topalov-Cruz Lopez Claret, Elgoibar 1992. ] 4.exd5 f6 [ 4...xd5 5.c3 e5+ 6.e2 has done very badly. Black has little to show for the loss of centre and development. ] 5.a4+ d7 6.b3 This position has scored an amazing 83% f or W hite with almost a 700-point performance difference. Black has several chances to avoid what follows. For example, c7 The most common move by far but I doubt that it's the best. Black could also try 6...Na6!?, while [ 6...b6 7.c3 is only somewhat better for White: a6 8.c4 ( or 8.xa6 xa6 9.d4 e6 10.ge2 ) 8...xb3 9.xb3 b4 10.d4 f5 11.f3 c2 12.c4 ] 7.c3 e6 Since White doesn't capture this pawn immediately and it soon becomes a weakness, it is worth thinking about making the gambit a real one by [ (a) 7...e5 , when Black has good activity 1182

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and mo bile p awns. That's proba bly no t enough for the pawn but is double-edged. 8.c4!? ( 8.f3! d6 9.d4 ) 8...d6 ( 8...c5 9.d6?! xd6 10.xf7+ e7 11.c4 c6 better simply 9.d3) 9.d3 a6 10.b5 xb5 11.xb5+ e7 12.xa6?! bxa6 13.e2 ab8 ] [ (b) The immediate 7...a6 8.d4! b6 9.c4 appears good for White. ] [ ( c ) F i n a l l y , 7...g6 is awfully slow, e.g., 8.c4 ( or 8.d4 g7 9.g3 h5 10.g2 0-0 11.ge2 with a nice advantage, LuettSachs, Hamburg 2001) 8...g7 9.d6!? ( 9.f3 0-0 10.d4 ) 9...xd6 10.xf7+ f8 11.c4 c6 12.b5 b4?! 13.f3 g4 14.g5 and Black stands poorly, KoellnKrooss, Eckernfoerde 2001 ] 8.c4 [ 8.f3 exd5 9.xd5 xd5 10.xd5 c6 is not so easy for White. ] 8...a6 [ 8...exd5 9.xd5 xd5 10.xd5 c6 11.f3 d6 12.0-0 0-0 13.d4 and Black had nothing for the pawn, Bjarnason-Voegeli, Basel 2001. ] 9.dxe6 Or even [ 9.d4 ] 9...fxe6 10.d4 b4 11.e2!? [ O k a y, b u t c o n se rva t ive . S u re l y 11.f3 (or 11.Nge2) c2+ 12.xc2 xc4 13.e3 intending an early Ne5 favours W hite, as does ] [ 11.ge2 c2+ 12.xc2 xc4 13.f4 ] 11...e7 12.f3 c6 13.0-0 White is a pa wn up an d h as th e b et t er p o sit io n . 0-0 14.h3 h5 15.d5 a5 16.d1 ad8 17.g5 f6 18.c1 b6 19.e3 [ Or 19.d2 ] 19...xb2?? [ 19...c5 was the best try. ] 20.d6 xd6 21.xd6 c8 22.c5 c6 23.b5 The line with 5.Qa4+ looks better all the time. Black has to think about deviating early on, probably with 6...Na6 or 6...Qb6. 1-0

1138 Short,Nigel D Sasikiran,Krishnan 34th Olympiad (3) [Nigel Davies]

B10

30.10.2000

1.e4 c6 2.e2 d5 3.e5 f5 The move that 2.Ne2 is designed against. W hite certainly seems to get something but it's not necessarily so bad. 4.g3 [ W hite has also played 4.d4 , but this looks as if it involves too much hopping around. Even the e5-e6 tricks associated with this idea look unconvincing and I think th a t B la ck ca n cold -b lo od e dly p la y g6 ( 4...h6!? is also interesting, Zakariasen Dahl, Copenhagen 1996 resulting in a superfast win forBlackafter 5.e2 c5 6.xf5 xf5 7.0-0 e6 8.d3 c6 9.f4 h5 10.f3? c4 11.c3 cxd3 12.xd3 c5+ 13.h1 h4 14.xd5? 0-0-0 15.g3 g4 0-1; 4...c8 5.xf5 xf5 6.d4 (Kranewitter Forster, Bundesliga 1999) looks a bit better for White because of his bishops, though once again it's not a huge advantage) 5.e6 d6 ( I also think that 5...fxe6 6.xe6 d6 7.xf8 xf8 looks fine for Black his lead in development compensates for the loss of the two bishops and castling rights.) 6.e2 a6 7.g3 c7 8.h3 xe6 9.xe6 fxe6 10.xe6 was played in Sorensen Pedersen, Copenhagen 1997 and now I suggest xe6+ 11.xe6 d7 12.c5+ ( 12.xf8+ xf8 13.d3 e5 ) 12...c7 13.d4 e5! 14.e6+ d7 15.xf8+ xf8 16.dxe5 xc2 with an excellent game. ] 4...e6 With White's knight on the more se n sib le g3 squ a re it 's p ro b a b ly wis e t o prevent these e5-e6 pawn sacs: [ 4...g6 can be met by 5.h4 A) 5...h5 has also been played after which a n h - p a w n h u n t w i t h 6.d4 ( 6.e6 was less convincing after fxe6 7.d4 f6 8.d3 f7 9.d2 d6 10.f3 bd7 11.e2 g4 12.0-0 g6 13.c3 e5 in B erczes - Ba nusz, B udap est 200 1) 6...e6 7.e2 looks interesting. Just off the top of my head, a possible line of play is e7 8.xh5 xh5 9.xh5 xh4 10.g4 xf2+ 11.xf2 g6 12.xg6! xh1 13.xe6+ e7 ( or 13...e7 14.xf7+ 1183

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d7 15.g5 ) 14.c8+ d8 15.xf7+ e7 16.g5+ etc.; B) 5...h6 6.h5 h7 7.e6 fxe6 8.d4 f6 9.d3 a6 10.xh7 xh7 11.d3 d6 12.g6+ d7 13.c3 d8 14.0-0 c8 (Getting 'castled' by hand, but Black's pieces are still awfully congested on the kingside) 15.e1 c7 16.ce2 d7 17.f4 e8 18.xe6 xe6 19.f5 g6 20.hxg6 g7 21.xe6 1-0, Rossetto L u c k i s , A rg e n t i n e Ch . , B u e n o s A i re s 1961 ] 5.d4 g6 6.c3 The game now proceeds at a totally different pace, with solid positional manoeuvres being the order of the day. White has more space, but it'sdif f icult to break through because of Black's control of f5. h5 7.d3 c8 8.h4 h6 9.d2 g7 10.0-0 c5 11.f3 c6 12.e3 g4 13.e2 cxd4 14.cxd4 0-0 15.c1 f5 16.xf5 xf5 17.c5 d7 18.g5 xe2 19.xe2 f6 [ It's no longer enough to be solid, Black has t o g e t s o m e c o u n t e r p l a y . 19...e6 would be met by 20.g4 , prising open files on the kingside. ] 20.exf6 xf6 [ 20...exf6 would be answered by 21.h3 , coming to f4 from where it would hit d5 and g6. ] 21.d3 d8 22.f4 g4 23.b3 fd6 24.f3 b6 25.c3 a5 26.c2 c4 27.e5 xe5 28.dxe5 xe3 29.xe3 6d7 30.f2 The storm clouds finally start gathering around Black's king and Short's youthf ul opponent has to defend brilliantly to survive. h7 31.g3 xh4 32.f5 g5 33.e6 c7 34.f6 f8 35.f7 h6 36.e3 d4 37.f3 d3 38.xd3 c4 39.d1 e4 40.e3 f4 41.e2 g4 42.de1 f6 43.e3 h4 44.a3 d4+ 45.h1 h3 46.gxh3 d5+ 47.h2 f3 48.xe7 h8 49.g2 xh3+ [ 49...xh3+ 50.xh3 g6+ 51.g3 d3+ 52.f2 d2+ 53.e2 f4+ 54.g1 c1+ 55.f2 f4+ is a draw by perpetual check ] ½-½

1139 B10 Smirin,Ilia 2641 Stellwagen,Daniel 2619 TOP 16 GpB Chalons en Champagne FRA (7) [John Watson] 1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.d2 g6 [ The other move order that is being played is 3...c7 4.g3 ( In an earlier update Black had no serious problems following 4.gf3 g4 5.h3 h5 6.g3 e6 7.g2 d7 8.0-0 gf6 9.e2 dxe4 10.dxe4 e5 TiviakovMchedlishvili, Dresden 2007) 4...f6 5.g2 g4 6.gf3 e6 (now there's no target on e5) 7.0-0 e7 of Shorokhov-Ovetchkin, Dagomys 2009, which continued A) 8.e2! 0-0 9.h3 is White's best setup, w i t h t h e i d e a xf3!? ( giving up the bishops, but Black doesn't have to strong central presence that he does in the game. 9...h5 may well be better, as in the Tiviakov game) 10.xf3 and he has some long-term prospects in the centre and on the kingside; B) 8.b3!? The bishop does nothing on b2. 0-0 9.b2 c5! (this seems to lose time, but it introduces the idea of ...d4, stifling White's bishop, and clears the way for ... Nc6) 10.h3 ( 10.e2 c6 11.h3 h5 ) 10...xf3 11.xf3 ( 11.xf3 d4 12.c4 b5 13.d2 c6 14.e2 may offer the chance for f4, and if ...e5, f5 with the idea Nf3 and g4-g5. This seems a little optimistic but Black's plan is as yet unclear ) 11...c6 12.exd5 (a sad concession Black gains easy equality because of his superior centre) xd5 ( Or 12...exd5 ) 13.xd5!? exd5 14.e1 d4 15.a3 d7 16.g4 f5 17.e2 ae8 18.e6+ xe6 19.xe6 B1) 19...g5 20.xe8 xe8 21.f3 ( 21.f4 e2 22.d1 d8 with the idea .. Ba5 ) 21...f6 22.e1 xe1+ 23.xe1 f7 only slightly improves upon the game, if that; B2) 19...f6 20.xe8 xe8 21.f1 f7 22.c4 e6 23.e1 b5 24.xe6 xe6 25.d2 d5 26.e2 g5 27.c1 h6 28.g4! fxg4 29.hxg4 e5 30.e4 d8 31.d2 e6 32.a5 f4+ Black can't make progress. ] 1184

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 4.g3 g7 5.g2 e5 6.gf3 e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e1 c7 This is a traditional Black setup the only problem is his lack of a direct plan. [ We saw 8...d4 9.a4 c5 10.c4 bc6 wit h ap p ro xim a t e e qu a lit y in S t rik o vicGagunashvili, Benidorm ESP 2007. ] [ 8...d7 9.exd5 cxd5 10.c4!? holds forth some promise. ] 9.a4 [ 9.e2 and ] [ 9.c3 are more conventional. ] [ Now 9.exd5 cxd5 10.c4 invites d8! ] 9...h6 10.b4!? [ 10.d4 i s R y b k a ' s s u g g e s t i o n , exd4 ( a good alternative is 10...f5!? 11.exd5 e4 12.d6! xd6 13.c4 d5 ) 11.b3 Then c5 ( 11...dxe4 12.f4 d8 13.xe4 f5 14.e1 d3 15.cxd3 is surprisingly sound, due to the ideas of xd3 16.c5 16 an d 1 5 . . . B xb 2 B xh 6) 12.exd5 xd5 13.fxd4 cxd4 14.xd5 yields a small advantage. ] 10...e6 11.b2 d7 12.d4 This is White's idea but Black reacts well and it doesn't lead to anything. dxe4 13.xe4 f5 14.c5 xc5 15.dxc5 ad8 16.c1 e4! 17.xg7 xg7 18.b2+ h7 19.d4 e5 [ (or 19...g8 20.ad1 a5 21.c3 axb4 22.cxb4 d5 ] 20.c3 d5 21.b5 f7 [ 21...c7 is equal. ] 22.ad1 g8?! [ 22...c7 ] 23.bxc6 c8? [ 23...b8 24.cxb7 fxb7 25.a3 e7 26.f3! with good prospects of attack ] [ 23...f6! 24.cxb7 ( 24.a3! keeps the advantage ) 24...xb7 25.a3 c8 ] 24.b5 White wins material. He consolidates, only after allowing too much counterplay: xc6 25.f4 e6 26.d4 e7 27.xc6 xc6 28.b4 f6 29.f1!? [ 29.d6 ] 29...g5 30.fxg5 hxg5 31.c4 f4! 32.xf7 xf7 33.d4 e3 34.gxf4 a2 35.d3+ e4 36.e2 xe2 37.xe2 gxf4 38.d6? [ 38.d4! g6 39.g2+ f5 40.g7 with the idea f3 ( 40...c6 41.f7 g6 42.xf6+ xf6 43.xf4+ ) 41.f7 ] 38...g6? [ 38...g4! 39.a5 a6 40.h3 41 forced, or

40 Kf1 f3 h3 f3 41.f1 fxe2+ 42.xe2 h6 43.xe3 c6 44.f4 g7 . Suddenly it's not clear if White can win. ] 39.g2+ f5 40.g7 g4 41.f7+ e5 42.e7+ f5 43.f7+ e5 44.d4! f2 45.h4 f3 46.h5 h3+ 47.f1 g5 48.g7 e6 49.xe4+ xe4 50.e7 e5 1-0

1140 Stein,Leonid Birbrager,Isaak Moscow [Nigel Davies]

B10

1966

The 2.d3 line of the Caro doesn't look very exciting, but it has appealed to some of the most daring attacking players of the 20th century. The big point is that it keeps the tension and denies Black the opportunity for the kind of clear and simple development that Caro players usually like. In this game we see Black play some natural moves but then get pounded by a series of hammer blows. Vintage Stein. 1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.dxe4 f6 5.gf3 g4 6.h3 h5 A llo win g a su d d e n a n d p o we rf u l ra id o n Black's position. [ H e h a d t o p l a y 6...xf3 7.xf3 e5 with a passive but solid position. ] 7.e5 d5 8.e6 f6 [ After 8...fxe6 the re f o llows 9.g4 g6 10.e5 with a powerful initiative. ] 9.g4 g6 10.d4 c7 11.c3 d5 At t a cking b o t h e6 a n d h1 , b u t St e in h a s prepared a stunning reply. 12.b3! xh1 [ E x c h a n g i n g q u e e n s w i t h 12...xb3 leaves Black's position cut in half by the pawn on e6 after 13.2xb3 . Black prefers to go down fighting. ] 13.xb7 d8 14.2f3 d3 15.f4! Playing f or mate xf1+ 16.d2 xf2+ 17.xd3 xe6 Eliminating the pawn on e6 any way he can. [ After 17...ba6 White wins with 18.xc6 ] 18.xe6+ e8 19.c8+ f7 20.fg5+ [ Black is mated after 20.fg5+ g6 ( or 20...fxg5 21.xg5+ ) 21.e8+ h6 22.h5# ] 1-0 1185

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1141 Stein,Leonid Haag,Ervin Tallinn [Nigel Davies]

B10

The knight on c7 defends the rook on e8. 1-0

1969

Stein's 8.b4 is a noteworthy idea which crops up a lot in the ...g6 lines. He probably got the idea after the 1968 Candidates play-off in which he first played c3 with a later b4 against Hort. Here we see it in a more refined form. 1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.d2 g6 4.g3 g7 5.g2 e5 6.gf3 e7 [ In the game Stein - Barcza, Caracas 1970, the Hungarian GM chose a more exotic d e v e l o p m e n t o f h i s k n i g h t wi t h 6...h6 , the game going 7.0-0 0-0 8.b4 f6 ( 8...a5 is better, though White will obtain dynamic play similar to the main game.) 9.b3 dxe4 10.dxe4 xd1 11.xd1 b6 12.f1 f7 13.e3 g4 14.g2 d7 15.h3 e6 ( 15...xf3+ wa s m a n d a t o ry) 16.bd4!! exd4 17.xd4 winning back the piece with an extra pawn. ] 7.0-0 0-0 8.b4!? Improving on a previous game. [ Against Hort, in the 1968 Candidates playoff, Stein first played 8.c3 and only after d7 went 9.b4 . The advantage of the text is that it leaves open the a1-h8 diagonal and saves the time spent on 8.c3. ] 8...a5 From a structural point of view this makes perfect sense, but the downside is that it leaves White with very active pieces. 9.bxa5 xa5 10.b2 c7 11.e2 d4 An attempt to ease the pressure against e5, but the d4 pawn can be effectively undermined. [ Defending it with 11...f6 would be strongly met by 12.d4! ] 12.c3 dxc3 13.xc3 a4 14.c4 b5 15.c2 e6 [ Keene recommended 15...f6 at this point, but W hite would then play 16.b2 a8 17.d4 with a powerful initiative. ] 16.cxe5 f6 17.c4 xc4 18.dxc4 xc4 19.d2 a4 20.b3 a6 21.fd1 Simple chess, taking the d-file. With Black's pieces spread all over the board he has little prospect of defence. c5 22.e2 c4 23.d4 b6 24.ab1 c7 25.b4 e8 26.xb5! xb5 27.xc4+ h8 28.f7 c7 29.d6

1142 Strikovic,Aleksa Gagunashvili,Merab XX Open Benidorm ESP (9) [John Watson]

B10 2563 2625 30.04.2007

Here's another way for Black to counter 2 d3. 1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.d2 g6!? 4.gf3 g7 5.g3 e5!? Giving White the centre pawns to attack, but it can't be too bad. 6.g2 e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e1 d4 [ 8...d7 9.exd5 cxd5 10.c4!? is a standard King's Indian Attack theme I like White. ] 9.a4 c5 10.c4 This should be more-or-less what W hite wants yet he's still only about equal. bc6 11.c3!? [ 11.f1 intending a knight move and f4 is normal, but W hite can also try to use the position of his rook by means of the manoeuvre ] [ 11.fd2 e6 12.b3 b6 13.f4 ] 11...e6 12.cxd4 [ 12.g5 xc4 13.dxc4 dxc3 14.bxc3 is unclear, because although White's pawns are a mess, he can put a piece on d5 and Black has nothing similar on d4. W hite's pieces are so badly-placed, however, that it's hard to believe in any advantage. ] 12...xc4!? Black gives up his good bishop with the idea that White's will remain passive and the resulting locked position favourable. I doubt that's true, but I also doubt that White has anything in the resulting positions. [ 12...xd4!? w i t h t h e i d e a 13.fxe5 ( 13.cxe5? b3 ) 13...f6!? 14.f3 xf3+ 15.xf3 c6 with some nice squares, maybe enough for a pawn. ] [ 12...cxd4 is obvious and adequate. ] 13.dxc4 cxd4 14.d2 a5 15.c5!? [ 15.b3 c7 16.ac1 might prepare this advance better. ] 15...b6 16.c1 b8 17.f1! bxc5 18.xc5 xb2 19.c1?! [ 19.b5! xb5 20.axb5 and Qa4 gives plenty of play. ] 19...b6 1186

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 19...b3! ] A) jw: 9.f4 is the usual move in these 20.b5 d6 21.c4 a8 22.c1 d8 French-like positions, and if Black tries to 23.c7 f6 24.g5?! p r e v e n t N h 5 w i t h g6 , White has [ 24.c5! b7 25.a3 with some sort of compensation due to the dark squares, for dynamic balance. ] example, 10.d2 ( 10.b5 d7 24...xf3 25.xe7 bb8 26.d7? 11.e2; 10.d3 f6! ) 10...c7 11.f3; [ White should head for opposite-coloured B) 9.g3 d7 ( 9...f6 10.d3 c7 ) bishops by 26.xd8 xd8 27.d3 xd3 10.h4?! ( Davies pre f ers 10.d3; or 28.xd3 ] 10.g4 White has reasonable 26...h6 27.f1 b2 28.g4 b3?! compensation.) 10...f5 ( 10...f6! ) 11.d3 [ 28...xg4! 29.xd8 f3! ] ( 11.h5 g6 12.f4 with compensation) 29.c5?! 11...a6 12.d2 ( 12.h5 ) 12...h6 [ 29.xb3! xb3 30.d6 g7 31.f4 13.f3 f7 P Richmond-G Lee, England was the best try. ] 1999, although White went on to win. ] 29...e6! 30.c8+ xc8 31.xc8+ f8 [ 8...f8 might be met by 9.f4 g6 10.b5 32.d6 g7 33.e8 h5 34.d1 d3 ge7 11.0-0 g7 12.a3 ] 35.xf8 xf8 36.xe5 d2! and wins. 9.g3 ge7 10.h5 0-0 11.g5! 37.xh5 gxh5 38.xh5 g7 39.xa5 d1 [ In her book, Houska says: ' 11.g4 g6 40.xd1 xd1+ 41.g2 d3 42.d8+ h7 12.d3 h4 and Black is a pawn up." ] 43.h4+ h6 44.f6 h5 45.f3 xf3+ 11...c7 46.xf3 d2 47.e5 c3 48.e3 d2 [ 11...h6 ] 49.e2 g6 50.f4 f5 51.h3 b4 52.h4 [ 11...b6 12.xg7! ] g4 53.d1 c3 54.e2 xg3 55.a5 12.xa5! xf4 56.a6 d4 57.xd2 xe5 58.e2 [ Or 12.xg7 xg7 13.f6+ g8 14.xa5 f4 59.d3 a7 60.h5 g5 61.e4 f6 xa5 15.g4+ g6 16.h5 with mate to 0-1 follow. ] 12...xa5 13.xg7! f5! [ 13...xg7 14.f6+ g8 15.g4+ g6 1143 B10 16.g5 xd4 17.d3 ] Surtees,Michael 2182 14.h5 g6 15.f6+ h8 [ Martin suggests 15...xf6 16.xf6 b5 Houska,Jovanka 2405 17.c1 b8 18.h4 b4 19.h3 ( or 19.h5 )] 95th ch-GBR Liverpool ENG (7.15) 04.08.2008 16.xh7! c7 [John Watson] [ 16...xh7 17.h5+ g7 18.h6+ f7 19.h7+ e8 20.xg6+ f7 21.e2 ] 1.e4 c6 2.e2 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4!? Houska gives this '?!' and comments that b4, 17.xf8 xf8 18.f6+ g8 19.g4! f4 'often seen in the French and the Sicilian, 20.d3 b5 21.g5 b4 22.h5 e7 23.g6 does not work well here at all. cxb4 5.d4 1-0 c6 6.a3 e6 [ a) 6...bxa3 7.c3 e6 8.f4 ge7 9.xa3 B10 g6 10.h5 d7 11.d3 xa3 12.xa3 1144 0-0 13.0-0 f6 14.exf6 gxf6 15.b1 f5 Taylor,Peter P was Surtees-Arkell, Bradford 2002 when Dearing,Eddie Martin on ChessBase.de likes 16.e1! ] Surrey Open Coventry 24.03.2008 [ b) 6...f6 was analysed in Richmond-Lee in [Dearing] the next note it was played in Bertholee Peelen, Amstelveen 1994, with 'chaotic' Annotations to this game are by Ed Dearing, results (Davies). ] with a couple of bracketed notes by me. 1.c4 7.axb4 xb4+ 8.c3 a5 c6!? 2.e4! Completely unexpected. I don't [ Martin quotes a game from years back, play the Caro-Kann with Black and Peter analysed in ChessPub: 8...e7 Taylor rarely plays 1.e4 with W hite. I had 1187

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 entirely forgotten that he had spent a lifetime defending the black side of the Caro-Kann d5 3.exd5?! [ 3.cxd5 is better as it prevents Black's next move. ] 3...f6! A cunning move order trick. [ 3...cxd5 4.cxd5 f6 5.a4+ is currently very popular and is considered problematic for Black. ] 4.c3 cxd5 5.cxd5 g6?! [ Of course 5...xd5 6.c4 e6 7.d4 c6 8.f3 e7 9.0-0 0-0 is the main line, but I wanted to avoid "simple" IQP positions. By leaving the pawn on d5 Black forces White to play a position with an unusual pawn structure which obstructs the natural development of White's pieces. ] 6.a4+!? bd7 Now Black reaches the same difficult line mentioned in the note to Black's third move, above. 7.c4 g7 8.f3 [ [ j w : I g a v e s o m e a n a l y s i s o n 8.ge2 in last month's column, and haven't found a way to equality yet, but that's based on very little analysis] ] 8...0-0 9.d3 a6 10.a3! [ 10.0-0 b5 11.xb5 b6-+ ] 10...b6! [ 10...b6 11.b3 ] 11.0-0 b7 12.e1 b5 [ 12...e8!? Black delays b6-b5 with a view to keeping the 4th rank closed to the queen. In the game the bishop is forced to retreat to b3, but this opens an avenue for the white Queen to reach the kingside via Qa3-b4-f4/ h4. Whether or not this promises White any advantage remains open to debate, but the by delaying b5 Black at least forces White to f i n d a n o t h e r p l a n . 13.g5 [jw: ( in my update, I give 13.f4 an '!'. But I don't suppose that it's that much different in character.) 13...f8 14.d6 ( jw: here 14.b4 should be looked at. It's a handy move in any case, with the idea of a4, and in many cases the queen will skip over to the kingside ) 14...e6 15.f4 c8 looks pretty solid. Black can even consider stirring up counterplay with on the Kingside with Rc8c5-f5. ] 13.b3 e8 14.g5 f8!N A strong novelty, which exploits the position of the white Queen on a3 (hence the reason for 12...b5). 15.d6

e6 16.b4 [jw: now this seems poorly timed. Ed gives the following analysis:] [ 16.f4 h5!? ( 16...c8!?; 16...h6; 16...b6!? )] [ 16.ge4 xe4 ( 16...g4 was the move I wanted to play, intending the eccentric 17.b4 ge5 threatening Nc6, b4 18.d4 g7 19.e3 h4 ) 17.xe4 xe4 18.dxe4 b6 19.e3 xd6 20.xb6 xa3 21.d4 c5 is perhaps a pinch better for White, but there isn't much in it. ] 16...h6! 17.ge4 d5 18.xd5 exd5 19.g3 xe1+ 20.xe1 c5 21.c2 xd6 22.b4?! An impulsive decision, driven by White's frustration at the sudden transformation in the position. In essence W hite was not able to step back from the position and take stock of the fact that he is now worse and has to switch to the defensive. This is made worse by the fact that White's position appeared to be so dominating, but in fact fell apart at the first hurdle. [ 22.d4 e6 23.e3 was better, although Black retains a very slight advantage due to the superior piece placement and activity. ] 22...e6 23.a3 White had intended From this point on Black's position seems to play itself. All of White's moves are natural and obvious, but Black's attack becomes irresistible with surprising speed. [ 23.b2 xb4 24.e5 of course missing the simple response g7-+ . Of course, had W hite sensed the danger and stopped to think at move 22 such an oversight would never have been made. ] 23...d4! 24.d1 g7 25.e3! e8 [ 25...f3+ 26.xf3 xa1 27.xa1 ] 26.c1 h5! 27.d2 h4 28.e2 xe2+ 29.xe2 d4 30.g5 [ 30.f4 xe2 ] 30...h3 31.f1 [ 31.gxh3 d5 32.f3 xe2 33.xe2 xg5+ 34.f2 xc1 ] 31...hxg2 32.xg2 xg2 33.xg2 d5+ 34.g1 [ 34.f3 e2+ 35.xe2 xg5+ 36.f2 xc1 ] 34...f3 35.h4 e2 36.d1 e5 37.f1 g5! 0-1

1188

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1145 Tiviakov,Sergei Mchedlishvili,Mikheil 8th ch-Euro T/B Qualification (1.1) [John Watson]

B10 2663 2609 15.04.2007

9.b2 b6!? Black seeks to develop his lightsquared bishop, but other moves are possible, [ 9...b6 10.e1 g4!? 11.e2 Quinteros,M-Moreda,L/Villa Ballester 1997, when c5 12.e1 is unclear. ] 10.d4!? White tries to explode the centre and 1.e4 c6 2.d3 I couldn't find any examples of exploit the temporary weakness along the this modest but perfectly playable line in the long diagonal, another option was [ 10.exd5 cxd5 11.e1 b7 12.c4 archives. d5 3.d2 c7!? A unique idea, with chances to both sides. ] waiting for 4 Ngf3. [ 3...e5 is normal, and recommended in 10...dxe4! [ 10...exd4 11.xd4 dxe4 12.e1 b7 Houska's book. ] was the main alternative, when 13.xe4 4.gf3 xe4 14.xe4 favours White, who is more [ 4.g3 e5! ] mobile, e.g. xe4 15.xe4 c5 16.e6! 4...g4 5.h3 h5 6.g3 fxe6? 17.xd6 xe4 18.xe6+ winning. ] [ 6.d4!? dxe4 7.xe4 d7! 8.g3 g6 resembles the main line with 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 11.xe5?! Objectively speaking, [ 11.g5 is stronger, c7 12.e1 b7 Nxe4 Bf5. ] 13.dxe4 which is fairly level. ] 6...e6 7.g2 d7 8.0-0 gf6 Black has 12.dxe5 g4 13.c4!? equalised smoothly. 9.e2 dxe4 10.dxe4 e5 11...xe5 W hite decides t hat his b est chance s are 11.g4 g6 12.h4 c5 offered by a queen sac, [ 12...0-0-0 or ] [ 13.f3 exf3 ( 13...xe5!? 14.xe5 xe5 [ 12...c5! are more pointed. ] 15.fxg4 d5 can be met by another queen 13.c3 a5 14.f5 0-0 15.b3 b6 16.g5 sac, 16.xe4! xd1 17.axd1 e7 xf5 17.gxf5 ad8 It's hard to know if 18.xf6+ with sufficient play) 14.xf3 c5+ anyone stands better here. 18.h1!? a4 15.h1 d5 leaves Black with a small 19.d2 c5 20.ad1?! plus. ] [ 20.c4! with the idea d3 21.f4! ] 20...d3 21.b1 fe8 22.c4 a7 23.e3 13...xd1 14.axd1 d7 [ 14...g4! 15.xe4 ( 15.xd6?! e3! ) f4 24.xf4 exf4 25.g4 d7 26.bd1 15...xe5! 16.xd8 axd8 leaves Black an e5 27.f3 h8 28.g2 e7 29.xd8 exchange ahead, although W hite has xd8 30.d1 f6 31.xd8+ some compensation. ] ½-½ 15.xd6 xe5 Black elects to return some material to clarify the situation, [ 15...e6 16.xe4 c7 17.b5! cxb5 1146 B10 18.xa8 is similar. ] Ubilava,Elizbar 2545 Rasch,Holger 2232 16.xe8 xe8 17.xe4 The smoke clears, X Anibal Open (1) 28.02.2003 and White has rook and two bishops against queen and knight, which is about level. c4! [Tony Kosten] The practical decision, Black returns his 1.f3 d5 2.g3 f6 3.g2 c6 4.d3 bd7 queen to simplify. 18.fe1 [ 18.bxc4? xe4 ] There have been several questions about the possibility of playing like this, instead of the 18...xb2 19.xh7+ xh7 20.xe8 xe8 The point of White's combination: the standard ...Bg4, or ...Bf5, and as White has 21.b1 22.bxc4 e4 a l r e a d y p l a y e d d 3 i t s e e m s e v e n m o r e kn ig h t is t r a p p e d . c4 r e a s o n a b l e . 5.0-0 e5 6.b3 d6 The better pawn structure outweighs the Black develops sensibly behind his centre. pawn. 23.c5?! [ 23.b4 ] 7.bd2 0-0 8.e4 So, now the position resembles Geller's Quiet System against the 23...b5 24.f1 a5 25.c3 c4 Black wins a Modern Defence, with colours reversed. e8 pawn back, but maintains the better structure. 1189

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.c1 xc5 27.e2 c4 28.d3 g6 29.e1 f5?! [ 29...a4 keeps White tied to his pawns. ] 30.f4 f6 31.e8 f7 32.e5 g6 33.e1 a4 34.e2 f6 35.h3 g5 36.fxg5+ xg5 37.e5? V e r y r i s k y . xa2 38.g4 f2 39.c5?! f3+ 40.c2 xh3 41.gxf5 b4 [ 41...f3 42.xc6 xf5 43.b3 also draws. ] ½-½

1147 Zygouris,Hristos Jones,Gawain C Gibraltar Masters (5.42) [Gawain Jones]

B10 2215 2593 29.01.2011

1.e4 c6 My opponent now sunk into a deep think for close to twenty minutes. Evidently he doesn't subscribe t o ChessPub and thu s didn't realise I don't just rely on the Dragon... 2.d3 And a rather wet response. It was now my turn to think as I tried to recall the theory in particular White's subsequent d3-d4 idea. d5 3.d2 e5 4.gf3 d6 5.g3 I was happy to see this move as now Black must have at least comfortable equality with his extra space. [ 5.e2 has been thought as critical but s h o u l d n ' t t r o u b l e B l a c k . f6! 6.d4 White tries to create awkward threats but it seems Black can parry them comfortably. ( 6.exd5?! wins a pawn but cxd5 7.xe5 0-0 is given by Pete Wells and indeed White already has some problems completing his development.) 6...exd4 This looks to be an improvement. ( 6...dxe4 examined in Ljubojevic, L-Karpov, A Hastings 1992 by Nigel Davies.) 7.exd5+ ( 7.e5? does not win a piece as 0-0! 8.exd6 e8 9.e5 g4 10.f4 f6 wins back the material with interest.) 7...e7 8.xd4 0-0! 9.f3 g4 10.b3 e8! 11.xb7 xd5 12.e2 bd7 and Black had fantastic play for the pawn. Poobalasingam, P (2165)Houska, J (2393) Brentwood 2008. ] [ 5.e2 would play in the spirit of an Old Indian and has been featured in a couple of archive games. ] [ 5.d4 has also been tried in a recent game exd4 6.exd5 cxd5 ( 6...f6! is offered by

Schandorff but both moves look comfortable.) 7.b5+ c6 8.0-0 a6 9.e2 ge7 10.b3 c7 11.h3 0-0 12.bxd4 e8 was roughly level and a draw was agreed in a few moves. Mainka, R (2484)Saltaev, M (2495) Dortmund 2010. ] 5...f6 6.g2 0-0 7.0-0 [ 7.h3!? was looked at by Nigel in Sax, GMartin, A Hastings 1983. ] 7...bd7 8.e1 e8 9.b3?! This is actually the second most common move but I think it's an error. If you compare the position to a Kings Indian Black would never play ...b6 allowing W hite to jumpstart his queenside attack. The same applies here. I can suffocate the bishop on b2 anyway with ...d5-d4 and the c3 square becomes a big weakness [ 9.c3 is most common when Lars S c h a n d o r f f o f f e r s c7 ( 9...dxe4 has been more common in the past and was Karpov's choice but Lars prefers to keep the tension.) 10.c2 a5 11.f1 dxe4 12.dxe4 c5 13.h4 g6N 14.g5 e7 ] 9...a5! 10.a4 This cedes the b4 square which makes White's position highly unpleasant. [ Therefore 10.a3 might be better although I'd still prefer Black dxe4 ( Continuing in a s i m i l a r v e i n t o t h e g a m e w i t h 10...d4 followed by ...b7-b5 also looks promising.) 11.dxe4 c7 12.c4 c5 13.b2 g4 14.e2 b5 15.cd2 and it was clear that it was only Black making progress. Ljubojevic, L (2605)-Portisch, L (2630) Bugojno 1978. ] 10...b4! Eyeing the c3 weakness which White's last created. 11.b2 d4 The main problem for W hite here is that c2-c3 isn't viable as I can always play ...Nc5 and thus it's not clear how W hite is to generate any c o u n t e r p l a y . 12.f1 This move really surprised me but Hristos wanted to unpin his knight and perhaps prepare generating some counterplay with f2-f4. [ 12.c1 is perhaps best, at least forcing Black to think about the c2-c3 break but after something like c5 13.a3 xa3 14.xa3 a6 15.c4 b4 16.c1 c7 and Black will continue with ....Bg4 and ... b5 with a much easier game. ] 12...b5 13.h3!? A move I didn't expect but it's quite interesting. This is probably a bad bishop - it's never quite so clear in King's 1190

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Indian structures, but without light squared bishops White has greater hopes of holding on the queenside. However there's no need to a l lo w t h e t r a d e . b8 Threatening ... bxa4 when there would be no way to recapture. 14.a2 bxa4! 15.bxa4 [ 15.xa4 b6 drops the exchange. ] 15...c5 16.h4 a6 Denying the trade. [ However 16...b6 17.xc8 xc8 is very good for Black as W hite won't be able to prevent the ...c4 break. ] 17.f5 c4! Crashing through. Now White's position collapses. 18.xc4 xc4 19.dxc4 g6 20.h6+ g7 21.g4 xe4 Regaining t h e p a wn . B la ck h a s a virt u a ll y d e cisive advantage and my opponent was slipping short of time. 22.f4 This is forced. White has to open up the position for his bishop pair and try to confuse the issue. f5 And I felt this was the safest way to avoid any complications. [ 22...c3 is another sensible try 23.c1 exf4 24.xf4 f5! offering the exchange leaves Black with a great position. ] 23.fxe5!? Offering the piece to confuse me. [ 23.xe5 was my main line of analysis when xe5 24.xd4 ( 24.fxe5 c3 25.xc3 dxc3 when the e5 pawn drops and Black must be winning due to White's weak pawns and uncoordinated pieces,) 24...c7! 25.xe5+ ( 25.fxe5 xc4 ) 25...xe5! 26.fxe5 d8 27.c1 d2! with a decisive attack. ] 23...c3 [ G r a b b i n g t h e m a t e r i a l w i t h 23...fxg4 24.xg4 dc5 is also winning but I didn't want to allow any complications particularly after my bad start in the tournament. ] 24.xc3 xc3 25.f6 xf6 26.exf6+ xf6 The dust has settled. Material is level but White has a vulnerable king, an offside rook on a2 and a terrible pawn structure. I converted without any difficulty. 27.g2 e3 28.a3 d6 29.b3 xb3 30.cxb3 d3 31.d5 xg3+ 32.h1 h3 33.f2 e5 34.f1 e3 35.g2 d4 36.f3 e1 0-1

1148 Arapovic,V Campora,Daniel Hugo Open Mendrisio (Switzerland) (5) [Nigel Davies]

B11

1988

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 e6 A number of strong players have tried this move, though it seems to me that W hite maintains has excellent attacking chances. A quick tour of the alternatives: [ a) 3...d4 4.c4 is the move that White dreams about when playing 3 Qf3. Not that it's so clear, but certainly White gets decent attacking chances even if Black defends the threat against his f7 pawn: e6 ( 4...f6 5.ce2 e5 6.d3 b4+ 7.c3 dxc3 8.bxc3 e7 9.g3 gave White good attacking chances in Pelikian J.(2395) - De Freitas J., Sao Bernardo 1999) 5.ce2 b5 6.b3 a6 7.h3 c5 8.d3 a5 9.c3 xb3 10.axb3 dxc3 11.bxc3 f6 12.0-0 e7 13.g3 0-0 14.e5 e8 and although Black eventually won this game, White's position looks quite promising at this point (Kudrjavcev A.(2404) - Timofeev V.(2280), Russian Ch., Briansk 1995) ] [ b) 3...e5!? is an attempt to play a kind of Danish Gambit in which Black hopes that the extra tempo (3 Qf3) will do White more harm than good. But this didn't turn out to be the case in Brynell S.(2488) - Hansen L. (2564), Copenhagen 1985 - af ter 4.exd5 f6 5.c4 e4?! 6.e2 cxd5 7.xd5! c5 ( 7...xd5 8.b5+ ) 8.xe4! Black found himself a second pawn down without adequate compensation ] [ c) 3...g6 has a similar idea to 3...e5, but with a kind of hypermodern twist. Black had some compensation after 4.exd5 g7 5.dxc6 xc6 6.b5 d7 7.ge2 a6 8.a4 b5 9.b3 e5 in Asmundsson I. (2359) - Torfason J.(2320), Icelandic Ch., Reykjavik 1974. But it doesn't look like enough to me. ] [ c) 3...f6 is also worth considering for Black, and may in fact be more precise than 3... e6 in that it avoids 4 d4 Nf6 5 Bg5. The game Smyslov V.(2485) - Flohr S., Budapest 1950 continued: 4.e5 fd7 5.g3 e6 6.f3 ( 6.d4 c5 7.f3 transposes into the 1191

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 note to W hite's fifth move below) 6...a6 7.e2 c5 8.0-0 c6 9.e1 d4 10.d1 f5 11.h3 b8 12.e2 c6 13.c3 c7 14.f4 d7 15.c2 brought about a funny kind of French in which both sides ha d chances. ] 4.d4 f6 5.g5!? This is really in the spirit of 3 Qf3 and probably much stronger than the more popular 5 e5. [ An example of how Black should play against this latter move was seen in Ardeleanu - Kharitonov, Berlin 1997: 5.e5 fd7 6.g3 c5 7.f3 cxd4 8.b5 c6 9.bxd4 c5 10.d3 b6 11.xc6 bxc6 12.0-0 xd3 13.cxd3 a6 when Black's position proved to be very solid. ] 5...e7 6.e5 fd7 7.xe7 [ 7.h4!? is worth a thought, with similar play to the Alekhine-Chatard Attack against the French. ] 7...xe7 8.g3 0-0 9.f4 c5 10.f3 cxd4 11.xd4 c6 12.0-0-0 f6?? Falling for a huge cheapo. [ 12...b6 should be playable. ] 13.xd5! f7 [ 13...exd5 14.f5 f7 15.h6+ is not the kind of thing that Black would want his friends to see, but the game continuation ain't too purty either. ] 14.c7 fxe5 15.xc6 bxc6 16.xa8 exf4 17.c3 f6 18.c4 b7 19.hf1 xa8 20.xf4 b8 21.g3 e8 22.a5 d5 23.xd5 cxd5 24.b4 c7 25.df1 d8 26.f7 e5 27.xa7 e6 28.h4 c8 29.d6 e4 30.e5 1-0

1149 Areshchenko,Alexander Lenderman,Alex Chigorin Memorial 20th (9) [Danny Gormally]

B11 2710 2614 04.11.2012

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.e2 xe4 6.xe4 d5 [ 6...d7 is playable. 7.c4 f6 8.e5! e6 9.e2 e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 d5 12.a4 f6 13.f3 d6 14.d4 1-0 Van der Wiel, J (2558)-Stanec, N (2479)/Austria 2000 ] 7.h4! Of course White is not interested in

the queen exchange, which would lead to total equality. e6+ [ 7...f5 gives White the opportunity to set up a neat trap : 8.c4! e4+? 9.xe4 xe4 10.xf7+ 1-0 Leventic, I (2499)Marjanovic, D (2101)/Osijek 2007 ] 8.e2 g4 9.g3! xg3 10.hxg3 Black has got what he wanted, the exchange of queens, but the half open h-file ensures an enduring initiative for White in the endgame. d7 11.g4!? [ There was nothing wrong either with the immediate 11.d4 ] 11...b6 [ 11...g6!? 12.d4 g7 13.h6 xh6 14.xh6 f8 15.0-0-0 f6 16.e5 leads to only a microscopic edge for White. ] [ another interesting idea was trying to gain some space and a foothold in the center with 11...e5!? 12.d4 exd4 13.xd4 e5 14.f3 c5 15.e3 0-0 16.f5 xe3 17.xe3 however leads to a nice edge for White- he can push with no risk whatsoever, and the pawns on the kingside produce a cramping effect on the Black position. ] 12.e5! g6 13.b3 g7 14.b2 d5 [ 14...d7 15.d4 is also not ensuring complete equality for Black. ] 15.0-0-0 g5?! I don't really understand the point of this move. Black cannot control the f4 square as White can always play g3, and this just seems to lead to more weaknesses in his o wn p o sit io n (t h e h 5 a n d f 5 sq u a r e s f o r example). That's the problem when you are slightly worse- there is a temptation to play inventively and actively, in a position where it is not warranted, which can accelerate your fate. 16.g3! Already White's advantage is obvious. f6 17.d3 b6 18.c4 c7 19.f3 b7 20.b4 d7 21.de1 White plans Re3, followed by either the simple Rd3 check, or doubling rooks with Rhe1. Black's forces are becoming quickly overwhelmed. [ as I always like to play in the center, I'm not sure I would have been able to resist playing 21.d4!? here. The Black king looks very uncomfortable on d7, especially as this isn't exactly a dull endgame. There's plenty of action still going on. ] 21...a5 22.c2 e6 23.e3 ad8?! 24.d4!? 1192

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ It's possible that 24.d4 was even stronger, especially as it forces the extremely ugly a8 25.g2 h6 26.f4 and Black is almost completely without moves, while White can continue to crank up the pressure. ] 24...f8 25.e4 c5 26.f3 e8 27.e1 a8 28.e2 f8 29.d3 d6 30.xh7 xd4 31.xd4 c5 32.c3 e5 33.e4 xe4 34.xe4 c6 35.e1 f7 36.xd8 xd8 37.h1 d6 38.c2 e6 39.d3 a8 40.d2 d8 41.e3 g8 42.f3 d8 43.a3 a8 44.h2 d8 45.b4! axb4 46.axb4 a8 47.b2 d6 48.bxc5 bxc5 49.b6 d7 50.b2 c7 51.b3 h8 52.c3 c6 53.a3 b7 54.a5 b6 55.a2 b7 56.e1 This endgame is torture for Black, as White can just manoeuvre around probing for weaknesses in the opponent's position. b6 57.f2 e8 58.a1 h8 59.a3 e8 60.a2 h8 61.a1 b7 62.e2 b6 63.f1 h1+ 64.g1 h8 65.g2 d8 66.e3 e8 67.h1 f7? Black crumbles, a normal outcome after already having to slog out a defence for many moves. [ the only way to put up any resistance was through 67...c6 68.h6 e6 when Black can still hope to defend. ] 68.b1+! maybe Black missed this decisive swit chb ack . c6 69.b5 a8 70.xc5+ d7 71.b5 d6 72.b3 a2+ 73.f1 a1+ 74.e2 a2+ 75.f1 a1+ 76.g2 a2+ 77.f2 c7 78.f1 a1+ 79.e1 b7 80.e2 c5 81.c3? A serious slip. [ 81.b5 c6 82.b4 d7 83.a5 Should have been winning easily. ] 81...a2+ [ With 81...e6! despite his two-pawn deficit, Black could have put a huge obstacle in the path of W hite's winning ambitions. 82.f2 ( 82.d2 d4+ 83.e3 f1 is certainly not good for White) 82...d4+ 83.xd4 exd4 84.c2 h1 85.d2 d6 and Black has very good holding chances. ] 82.d1? [ 82.e3! ] 82...a1+? [ 82...e6! ] 83.c1 a2 [ It is understandable that Black did not choose to defend the knight and bishop e n d ga m e t h a t wo u ld h a ve a ri se n a f t e r

83...xc1+ 84.xc1 xd3+ 85.d2 c5 86.f2 b3+ 87.c3 a5 88.c5 which looks as if it should be winning for White. ] 84.c2! now W hite is back on track. a1+ 85.e2 b3 86.f2 a3 [ 86...d4+ 87.xd4 exd4 88.f4! and the White king marches decisively to e4. ] 87.e3 c6 88.b2 d4+ 89.xd4 exd4 90.f4! a1 91.fxg5 fxg5 92.f3 e1 93.e2 d1 94.e4 c5 95.b2 e1+ 96.f5 e3 97.b5+ c6 98.d5 xd3 99.xg5 d1 100.g6 d3 101.g5 d2 102.g7 1-0

1150 Azarov,Sergei Akopian,Vladimir Aeroflot Open (2) [Andrew Martin]

B11 2581 2704 09.02.2006

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 [ 4.exd5!? is sometimes played but Black copes comfortably: cxd5 5.b5+ c6 6.h3 xf3! is even more reliable. Black loses no time and pre-empts any attack. 7.xf3 e6 8.0-0 f6 9.e1 e7 10.d3 0-0= White has two Bishops and two misplaced pieces. The Knight on c3 and the Bishop on b5 do not impress. The two factors balance to create an almost sterile equality. ] 4...h5! Although 4...Bxf3 is eminently playable, there is plenty of mileage left after the sharper 4..Bh5. 5.exd5 [ 5.d3 is absurdly timid. dxe4 6.xe4 d7 7.e2 gf6 8.0-0 xe4 9.dxe4 e5 10.d2 g6 11.c4 e7 ( 11...h4 ) 12.e2 0-0= 1/2-1/2 Zaitsev, VSundararajan, K/Pardubice CZE 2005 ] [ 5.e2 should be answered simply by e6 ] [ Meanwhile, after 5.d4 dxe4 6.xe4 xf3 7.xf3 xd4 8.d3 d7 9.c3 d5 10.f4 e5 Black is starting to get on top. ] 5...cxd5 6.b5+ [ After 6.g4 g6 7.d4 e6 8.e5 c6 9.h4 f6 a s h a r p s t r u g g l e e n s u e s : 10.h5 ( 10.xg6 hxg6 11.b5 b4 12.d3 ge7= ) 10...f7 11.xf7 xf7 12.e2 1193

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6 13.c3 ge7 14.f4 A) 14...a5! is more active, with the idea 15.h6 ( 15.f3 xd4 ) 15...g6 16.d3 e5; B) 14...c7 15.f3 ae8 16.e3 ( Possibly 16.g5 was a better choice.) 16...xf4 17.xf4 a5 18.e2 h6 19.0-0 hf8 20.g3 g8 21.f4 c7 22.g2 d8 23.d3 f7 24.ae1 d6 25.c1 d7 26.e2 c6 27.b3 e4 28.xe4 dxe4 29.xe4 f5 30.f3 fxg4 31.xg4 f5 32.f2 ef8 33.g2 8f6 34.e3 f7 35.c4 xh5 36.d1 e7 37.d5 exd5 38.d4 g6 39.e2 xg2+ 40.xg2 dxc4 41.bxc4 g6 42.e3 e6 43.c1 h7 44.f1 xc4 45.b2 h4 46.xb7 g4+ 47.h2 e2+ 48.h3 h4+ 49.g3 g4+ 50.f2 h2+ 51.e3 e2+ 0-1 Dekic, JRadlovacki, J/Sombor 2004 An interesting tussle all the way through. ] 6...c6 7.g4 g6 8.e5 c8 9.d4 [ After 9.h4 complications abound, but Black is OK if he knows his stuff: d4!? 10.h5 xc2 11.xc2 dxc3 A) 12.dxc3 d5! 13.f5! c7 ( 13...xh1+ 14.e2+- ) 14.f3 xf5 15.gxf5 a6 16.f4 c8 17.c4 f6; B) 12.bxc3 d5 13.f5 c7; C) 12.b3 e6 13.dxc3 d6 14.xc6 bxc6 15.e2 c5 16.f4 b6 17.xb6 xb6 18.a4 a5 19.b4 e7 20.h6 ] 9...e6 [ 9...f6? 10.xg6 hxg6 11.d3 f7 12.xd5! ] 10.e2 [ 10.h4 f6! 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d3 ( 12.d3 f5 13.gxf5 gxf5; 12.e3 b4 13.f1 xc3 14.bxc3 ge7 15.e2 a6 16.d3 a5= ) 12...f7 13.h5 gxh5 14.gxh5 ge7 15.e3 f5 ] 10...d6 [ It seems as though 10...b4! is the best m o v e , w i t h 11.h4 a5 ( 11...xc3+ 12.bxc3 a5 13.h3 ge7 14.h5 e4 15.h6 g6 16.d2 a3 17.c1 a5= ) 12.h3 ge7 13.h5 e4 ] 11.xc6+ [ 11.xg6 hxg6 12.xd5 f8! 13.xc6 xc6 14.e3 f6 15.h4 d5 16.xd5 exd5 17.c3 xh4 ]

11...bxc6 12.f4 e7 13.0-0-0 f6 [ 13...b8! 14.h4 ( 14.e3 b7 15.h4 h5 16.g3 xe5 17.xe5 f6 18.d6 hxg4 19.he1 f5 ) 14...h5 15.g5 ( 15.xg6 xg6 16.xd6 xd6 17.gxh5 f4 ) 15...f5 ] 14.xg6 hxg6 15.g3 xg3 16.fxg3 d6 17.d3 f7 18.e3 ce8 19.h4 c8 20.e1 White has emerged from the opening exerting pressure on e6 and Akopian does very well to create counterplay. b6 21.b3 d7 22.a6 c7 23.a4 e5! Excellent! Black marshalled his forces expertly. 24.dxe5 xe5 25.xe5 xe5 26.g5 e8 27.b1 e7 28.gxf6 gxf6 29.f1 a5 30.e2 g7 31.h5 b7 32.b2 b4 33.h6+ h7 34.d2 a4 35.f2 e4 36.d1 g4 37.g1 xh6 38.d3 g7 39.c5 e3 40.d3 c7 41.f4 g5 42.d3 e4 43.g2 b6 44.f1 f2 My conclusion is that Black holds his own in the complications that arise after 4...Bh5!? 0-1

1151 Balashov,Yuri S Smagin,Sergey Elista [Alexander Volzhin]

B11 2490 2545 1995

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 e6 6.d4 [ 6.d3 f6 would lead to one of the main lines, but W hite tries another interesting and dynamic continuation. ] 6...b6?! This continuation looks dubious. [ I would prefer 6...f6 7.d3 dxe4 ( or 7...e7 ) 8.xe4 bd7 with a very solid position. ] 7.d3! The pawn cannot be defended by natural means so White just ignores the threat, especially as he is well ahead in development. f6 8.0-0 xd4 9.exd5!? [ This position was familiar to Balashov. In an earlier game vs. Lechtynsky, Trnava 1988 he preferred 9.e3 b4 10.exd5 exd5 The only move, other recaptures are clearly worse: ( 10...cxd5 11.b5 a6 12.c4; 10...xd5 11.xd5 cxd5 12.c4 dxc4 13.e4 with a strong initiative in both 1194

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 cases. ) 11.fe1 e7 12.f4 f8 13.g3 bd7 ( 13...h5 14.g4 a6 15.xh5 xf4 16.xa6 bxa6 17.e2 winning the pawn back with an undisputable edge.) 14.xe7! xe7 and now White should have played 15.e1+ d8 16.d6 with more than enough compensation for the sacrificed material. ] 9...xd5 [ 9...cxd5 hardly deserves attention, after 10.e3 b4 11.b5 White's initiative progresses without obstacles. ] 10.d1 f6 11.g3 d7 12.xd5 cxd5 13.g5 White's initiative grows quickly. xb2? Underestimating the dangers. [ However the position was already not much fun. In my opinion, Black's best option was 13...d6 14.xf6 xg3 15.xg7 g8 16.c3 e5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xh7 g7 19.d3 going into a much worse ending a pawn down. ] 14.ab1 a3 15.xb7 d6 16.f4 xf4 17.xf4 a6 The sole defence against Bb5. 18.db1 Rd7 is threatened. d8 [ 18...xa2 19.d6 ] 19.xd7! Nevertheless! xd7 20.b8+ d8 21.xd8+ xd8 22.b8+ e7 23.xh8 W hite has won a piece but Black still has saving chances. c1+ [ 23...xa2 was less stubborn: 24.xg7 a5 25.d4 a4 26.c4 winning easily. ] 24.f1 xc2 25.xg7 xa2 26.xh7 a5 The Bishop cannot be used to stop the apawn, but W hite has another very effective resource. 27.g4! a4 28.g5 Technically the gpawn is not passed, but actually it is even more dangerous. d2 29.h4 a3 30.g6+ f6 31.h7+ d6 32.h5! The most precise way. a2 33.g7 a1 34.g8 Black has pair of Queens and the move but can do nothing. a7 35.d8+ c6 36.xf6 Very solid. [ Forced mate was also not bad: 36.he8+! c5 37.b5+ d4 38.xf6+ e5 39.h4+ c3 40.hb4+ c2 41.b3+ c1 42.b1# ] 36...e1 37.e2 xe2 38.xe2 d6 39.g4 d7 40.h4 Black resigned. 1-0

1152 Bartel,Mat Popov,Iv RUS Basel Master Open 2014 (6.2) [Tom Rendle]

B11 2650 2650 04.01.2014

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 e6 6.g3!? g6 [ 6...f6 7.exd5 ( 7.d3 bd7 8.e2 b4 9.e5 allowed Black a nice equalising trick with xe5! 10.xe5 d4 11.d2 dxc3 12.xc3 xc3+ 13.xc3 0-0 with complete equality in Torre, E (2557)A d i a n t o , U ( 2 6 0 7 ) B a l i 1 9 9 9; 7.e5 hasn't scored well here, however there are some interesting ideas for W hite, for example after fd7 White should consider 8.f4 c5 9.b3! c6 10.b2 with a position that resembles 2.f4 against French. I suppose Black should be OK here after g6 but White still has the flexibility of castling on either side of the board. ) A) 7...cxd5 is more accurate I think - the crit ical t est is 8.b5! but after e4! 9.c7 ( 9.f4 d6 equalises ) 9...c6 10.d3 d6 11.xd6+ xd6 12.xd8+ xd8 Black has no problems whatsoever; B) 7...exd5 8.d4 g6 9.e5+ not the most ambitious of options ( 9.g5! g7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.h4! is much more promising ) 9...e7 10.xe7+ xe7 11.h6 f8 12.xf8 xf8 13.d2 bd7 14.e1 g7 15.d3 ae8 and Black had slightly the better endgame chances in Berg, E (2527)-Perelshteyn, E (2442) Bermuda 2003 ] [ 6...d7 7.e2 ( again I think 7.exd5! exd5 8.d4 should be at least a little better for White ) 7...b8 8.xb8+ xb8 9.a3 ( 9.0-0 gf6 10.exd5 cxd5 11.d4 c8 is also equal as White should probably just play 12.a3 here) 9...gf6 10.exd5 cxd5 11.d4 c8 and Black equalised in Borosova, Z (2284)-Pavlovic, M (2531) Caleta 2012 ] 7.d4 d7?! Perhaps I'm a bit harsh in giving this move as dubious but I really like the positions White gets after swapping on d5. [ 7...dxe4 makes more sense given Black's setup here although W hite does have a number of interesting options A) 8.xe4 xd4 9.d3 d7 10.0-0 1195

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 gf6 11.xf6+ xf6 12.g5 d4 and White has some compensation for the two pawns with his two bishops and lead in development but probably not enough f o r a n o ve ra ll a d va n t a ge . ( 12...xb2?! is asking for trouble after 13.ab1 ); B) 8.f4 is a little better for White but Black is still very solid after d7! 9.xe4 gf6 10.xf6+ xf6 11.e5 g7 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0 b6; C) 8.g5 is tricky but Black shouldn't have serious problems after f6 ( 8...xd4?? loses to 9.d1 b6 10.e5! ) 9.xf6!? xf6 10.c7 d7 11.0-0-0 ( 11.xb7 b8 12.xc6 xb2 is at least OK for Black ) 11...b8 12.xe4 and now Black has a nice trick with h6+! 13.b1 f4 14.xf4 xf4 15.g3 c7 and Black is very close to equal here. ] 8.exd5! exd5 9.d3 g7 [ 9...e7+ 10.e3 h6!? is worth considering but W hite still has a definite e d g e a f t e r 11.0-0-0 ( 11.0-0 might be a simpler way f or a slight edge given th e complications of 11.0-0-0 xe3 12.ae1! 0-0-0 13.xe3 an d W h it e is b e t t e r) 11...xe3+ 12.fxe3 f5 ( 12...gf6 13.e4! dxe4 14.he1 is very comfortable for White ) 13.e4!! fxe4 14.xe4 and White is clearly better as grabbing the piece lands Black in trouble after dxe4 15.xe4 df6 ( 15...xe4 16.de1 xe1+ 17.xe1+ d8 18.d5! and despite the fact Black has more than enough material for the queen with his king caught in the centre W hite's attack is very, very dangerous.) 16.xf6+ xf6 17.hf1 g7 18.de1+ e7 19.xe7+! xe7 ( 19...xe7?? 20.c7+ ) 20.e1 xe1+ 21.xe1+ d7 22.b4 with an excellent ending for White ] 10.g5 [ 10.0-0 would be my preference at this point and now e7 11.g5! 0-0 12.h4 ( 12.ae1! is perhaps more accurate) 12...f6 13.d2 is better for White as Black has been forced to block his fianchettoed bishop. Of course he can play ...f5 but this weaken the g5 and e5 squares. ] 10...gf6 11.0-0-0!? I'm not convinced this is the right side to ca stle and if it is I thin k White should follow up with a quick h4, which

he didn't in the game. 0-0 12.f3 [ 12.h4! must be critical but Black is just about OK here after h6 13.e3 e8 14.b1 but Black still has to be careful here, f or exa mple b6 15.h5 xh5 16.h3 and with g4 coming White has a dangerous initiative. ] 12...b5! Suddenly Black's queenside play is further advanced and Bartel has to be careful 13.b1 b4 14.e2 c5?! [ 14...b6! is a definite improvement, preparing ...c5 or even ...a5-a4 and an eventual ...b3 break ] 15.b5! Bxd7 is a very awkward threat h6 16.h4 c7 [ 16...g5 avoids dropping a pawn but after 17.g3 b6 18.xd7 xd7 19.h4! White's has a strong kingside attack. ] 17.xd7 xd7 18.xd5 fe8 19.g3 c8 White may have won a pawn but it's not easy to see a good plan here whereas Black is still ready to attack on the queenside 20.f3?! After this the game fizzles out to an early draw [ 20.he1! keeps some edge, for example cxd4 A) 21.xd4? b6 22.d6 ( 22.xe8+?! xe8 23.f3 d8 and White is caught in a n a st y pin on t he d -f ile) 22...xe1 23.xe1 c4 24.d5 xb2! and suddenly Black is better; B) 21.f4!? also makes sense, aiming to play the knight on d3.; C) 21.b5! a5 22.c1 and by blockading on d3 with the knight I think White retains the better position ] 20...b6 21.e5 White gives back the pawn in order to alleviate the pressure on the h8-a1 diagonal but this leaves a very equal ending. xe5 22.dxe5 xe5 23.f4 f5 24.he1 xe1 25.xe1 d8 26.c1 d4 in fact black is a little better here so I'm slightl y surprised he agreed to a draw at this point. [ 26...d4 27.d3! xf3 28.gxf3 h4 29.xc5 xh3 30.f4 h5 and since White has the worse pawn structure he has to be accurate to hold the draw here, still 31.d3 a5 32.d1 should be good enough ] ½-½

1196

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B11 xd4 9.e3! [ The Nevednichy - Iordashvili game from last month's update featured the passive 9.c3 ] 1950 9...b4+ By throwing in the check Black hopes to gain time by developing his bishop 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 and force White's king to remain in the centre. 5.xf3 e6 6.d4 f6 7.d3 dxe4 8.xe4 The negative side of this plan is that a White rook comes to the d-file more quickly. 10.e2 xd4 9.e3 d8 10.0-0-0! [ New moves aren't necessarily any better d8 11.hd1!? [ In Soloviev - Petrosian, Moscow Ch. 1950 than the old ones. Boleslavsky's choice is W h i t e r e c o ve r e d h i s p a w n wi t h 11.g3 c e r t a i n l y s t r o n g e r t h a n 10.xf6+ xe4 12.xg7 f6 13.g4 but after c5 which gave W hite very little for his pawn 14.xe4 xe3 15.xe3 d7 was certainly after xf6 11.g3 d7 12.0-0 e5 no be t t er. B o lesla vsky's mo ve is m u c h in Belkhodja - Ibragimov, Cappelle la more ambitious, remaining a pawn down but Grande 2001. ] keeping the pressure. ] 10...bd7 11.c4 a5 12.d2 12.xe4 e7 13.f1 0-0 [ A n o t h e r i n t e r e s t i n g m o v e i s 12.d4!? 11...xe4 , with the simple idea of doubling rooks on 14.g3 a6 [ And not 14...d7 because of 15.c7 ] the d-file. A correspondence game, Fornari Contini, Italy 1982 went on 0-0-0? 13.g5 15.c3 a5 [ White also has strong pressure after e5 14.xd8+ xd8 15.xf7! xf3 15...c5 16.f4 fd8 17.b4 - his bishop 16.xe6+ c7 17.xd8 xd8 18.gxf3 b6 can land on d6 and Black's kingside looks 19.g1 g6 20.g5 g7 21.f4 c7 22.f5 rather barren. ] gxf5 23.f4+ 1-0 ] 12...b6 13.he1 xe4 14.xe4 f6 16.d3 c7 17.d4 f6 18.h4 g6 19.e3 b6 20.h6 fd8 21.g3 h8 22.h4 d7 15.xe6!! fxe6 16.xe6+ e7 [ White wins in every variation, thus 16...d7 23.c2 ad8 24.xd7 xd7 25.e1 c5 26.f4 e7 27.b3 d8 28.e4 e5 is met by 17.f5+- ] [ and 16...f7 loses to 17.xf6+! gxf6 29.f3!? b5 30.g3 d6 31.c1 g7 18.h5+ g8 19.g4+ f7 20.c4+ g6 32.g2 d7 33.g4! e8 34.h5!? gxh5?? [ Having been under pressure the whole 21.e4+ f7 22.a5!! c5 23.d7+ e7 g a m e , B l a c k f i n a l l y c r a c k s . 34...e7 24.b4 g5+ 25.f4 according to analysis would have been better. ] by Sokolsky. ] [ and not 34...f8? because of 35.xe5 fxe5 17.de1 d5 18.g5+- 0-0-0 19.xe7 36.h6++- ] xe7 20.xe7 hf8 21.g4+ b8 [ or 34...g5? b e c a u s e o f 35.h6+ g6 22.xg7 xf2 23.b3 g8 24.xh7 xg2 36.h3 ] 25.xb7+ a8 26.be7 c5 27.h4 a5 28.e8 d4 29.b1 d2 30.xd8+ xd8 35.h6+ g6 36.gxh5+ 1-0 31.e4 f6 32.h5 1-0 1153 Boleslavsky,Isaak Flohr,Salo USSR Ch Moscow (Russia) [Nigel Davies]

1154 Boleslavsky,Isaak Makogonov,Vladimir Andreevich USSR Ch Moscow (Russia) (14) [Nigel Davies]

B11

1940

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 e6 6.d4 f6 7.d3 dxe4 8.xe4

1155 Dominguez Perez,L Vachier Lagrave,M FIDE World Cup 2013 (3.2) [Tom Rendle]

B11 2757 2719 18.08.2013

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 f6 4.e5 e4 5.e2 A move that has scored very badly for White but I actually don't think the opening is 1197

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to be blame. The position quickly becomes very tense and it's important for both sides to be very accurate at this point. [ 5.h3 I described as 'overly cautious' earlier this year and Black was quickly doing fine in Lu Shanglei- Ding Liren, although W hite could've improved at a few points as you can see in the notes to that game. ] 5...b6 6.d4 e6! A solid move, waiting for the right moment to play ...c5 [ 6...c5 was premature in Svetushkin-Landa, annotated by Gawain in the archives. ] 7.fg1 White has tried a couple of alternatives at this crucial moment [ 7.g3?! isn't at all convincing and after the logical c5 8.g2 c6 9.0-0 cxd4 10.exd4 c5 11.c3 0-0 Black was alre ad y ve ry co m f o rt ab le in Dvo irys, S (2533)-Shimanov, A (2664) Yekaterinburg 2013 ] [ 7.g3 is tricky but again Black is fine after c5! 8.c3 ( or 8.d3 xg3 9.hxg3 cxd4 10.g5!? c6 11.xh7 d7! 12.f6+ gxf6 13.xh8 0-0-0 14.h5 fxe5 and Black's big pawn centre gave him more than enough compensation for the sacrificed exchange in Ponkratov, P (2589)-Shimanov, A (2597) KhantyMansiysk 2012; 8.xe4?! dxe4 9.d2 cxd4 10.xe4 a5+ wins a pawn) 8...c6 9.d3 xg3 10.hxg3 cxd4 11.cxd4 d7 12.e2 b4+ ( 12...c8! may be more accurate as it's not clear that preventing W hite from castling serves any purpose here. ) 13.f1 e7 and Black had definitely equalised in Almasi, Z (2707)-Cheremnova, T (2235) St Petersburg 2012. ] 7...f6 Basically forced as f3 was threatened. 8.f3 g5 9.exf6 [ 9.xg5? fxg5 leaves b2 weak and when Black hits the centre with ...c5 and ...Nc6 he's going to be much better. ] 9...gxf6 10.f4 f7 [ 10...e4 is less accurate after 11.g3! d7 12.h5+ ( 12.xe4?! dxe4 13.c3 f5 14.h5+ e7 15.h3 f6 16.h4 g8 and Black was well coordinated in Saric, I (2622)-Mchedlishvili, M (2639) Fujairah City 2012 ) 12...d8 13.c3 f5 14.xe4 dxe4 15.h3 and Black should be very wary of the knight coming into g5 ]

11.f3 g7?! After this Vachier Lagrave quickly finds himself under a lot of pressure [ 11...d7 was more flexible. If White now plays 12.g3 then perhaps Black can try e5!? ] [ 11...c5 preparing ...Nc6 was also very logical and probably the safest option. ] 12.g3 0-0 13.h5 e5! Maxime correctly decides he has to go for counterplay although White is still better here [ 13...h8 14.e2! and Black has problems already - White's plan of Qf2-g3 is awkward to deal with. ] 14.xg7 xg7 15.fxe5 fxe5 16.e2 [ 16.dxe5 c a n b e m e t b y xe5 and obviously the knight cannot be taken because of mate on f2. Still, White might be be tt er a f t e r 17.d2! as Black's king is still very open. ] 16...exd4 17.xd4+ Dominguez Perez chooses to enter a slightly better ending but p e rh a p s , u lt i m a t e l y, t h i s wa s t h e wro n g decision as Black draws without any real problems. [ 17.xd4! was more aggressive when Black has to be careful. For example c5 18.f3 c6 19.0-0 e6 20.d2 ae8 21.b3! and with the bishop coming to b2 White's initiative is clear. ] 17...xd4 18.xd4 c5! 19.b5 a6 20.0-0 d7 21.f2?! After this White's advantage evaporates [ 21.a4! was necessary in order to keep realistic winning chances - W hite is somewhat better after b4 22.a3! xc2 23.g3+ h8 24.c3 xb5 25.xb5 a6 26.xc2 axb5 27.xc5 bxa4 28.xd5 and the two rooks and bishop (once it gets to c3) actually make Black's defence in this endgame rather unpleasant - especially as the king on h8 is not out of danger yet. ] 21...xb5 22.xb5 d6 23.xf8 xf8 24.f1 b4 25.c3 c2 26.b1 d4! Now it's White who has to be a little careful 27.g3 e3 28.xe3 dxe3 29.e1 f2 30.e2 c4 31.xf2 exf2+ 32.xf2 xb2 33.e3 f6 34.e2 a4 35.d2 b6 36.d3 e5 The bishop may be better in endings with pawns on both sides of the board but Black's king is active and the position is drawn. 37.f3 c4+ 38.d2 d5 39.xd5 1198

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd5 40.e3 b5 41.g4 a5 42.a3 c5 43.d2 d5 44.e3 c5 45.g5 b4 46.cxb4+ axb4 47.axb4+ xb4 48.d2 c5 49.h4 d5 50.h5 e6 51.c3 f5 52.g6 hxg6 53.hxg6 xg6 54.xc4 ½-½

1156 B11 Dubov,Daniil 2614 Ding Liren 2742 TCh-TUR Super League 2014 (3.5) 20.08.2014 [Neil McDonald] 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 f6 6.e5!? Dubov seizes space on the kingside. As we shall see this means giving Black a freehand on the queenside, and in particular ascendancy over the important d4 square. On the other hand W hite's potential to gain the initiative with his two bishops shouldn't be underestimated. The usual moves are [ 6.e2 or ] [ 6.d3 ] 6...fd7 7.g3 [ Black has a comfortable Classical French style structure after 7.d4 b6 8.d3 e6 9.e3 c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.xc5 xc5 12.f4 c6 13.0-0-0 c8?? ( Instead 13...0-0 is perfectly OK for Black. The white queen is odd on d3.) 14.e4! winning the exchange for nothing. a5 ( Of course if 14...dxe4 15.xd7+ ) 15.d6+ e7 16.xc8+ xc8 17.a3+ 1-0 Grabarczyk, B (2472)-Kaunas, K (2318)/Warsaw 2005. ] [ I n s t e a d t h e g a m b i t w i t h 7.e6?! doesn't seem to achieve much for White e.g. fxe6 8.d4 e5!? 9.dxe5 xe5 10.g3 bd7 and Black can consolidate his extra pawn. ] 7...e6 8.e2 c5 9.0-0 [ Here's another French style structure in which a strong Grandmaster got a miserable position as White: 9.b5 c6 10.f4 g6 11.c3 a6 12.a3 White drops a pawn after ( 12.d6+ xd6 13.exd6 f6 ) 12...c4! an important move to give the black pieces access to the dark squares. 13.c2 c5 14.d3 cxd3 15.xd3 xd3+ 16.xd3 c5 17.e3 h4+ 18.d2 xe3+

19.xe3 0-0 20.ad1 fc8 21.c1 b5 22.b1 a5 23.g4 b4 24.cxb4 axb4 25.g5 ( There was more chance of counterplay with 25.f5 ) 25...ab8 26.c1 A) 26...a5! 27.hd1 ( Even worse for White is 27.b3 c3 28.e1 xf4 ) 27...b3 and Black has a strong attack.; B) 26...e7? 27.d4 f5 28.xf5 gxf5 29.xc8+ xc8 30.c1 b8 31.b3 g7 32.b2 h5 33.b1 h4 34.c2 h5 35.c1 h4 36.b2 h5 37.d2 h4 38.c2 g8 39.a4 bxa3+ 40.xa3 a8+ 41.b2 g7 42.b4 d4 43.xd4 1/2-1/2 Rozentalis, E (2595)-Moldobaev, E (2388)/Mallorca 2004. Black is still much better after xh3 ] 9...c6 10.f4 d4! Making full use of the centre square that White has abandoned. The knight heads to f5 to alleviate the pressure on g7, which allows Black to develop his bishop from f8 without allowing Qxg7. 11.d1 f5 12.f3 c4!? Ding Liren looks for counterplay on the queenside. It was also possible to meet W hite's kingside advance head on by arranging f7-f6 e.g. [ 12...e7!? 13.e2 0-0 14.d3 ( Or 14.c3 f6 ) 14...f6 with complications. ] 13.b3 c8?! [ Instead 13...b5!? strengthening his clump of pawns on the queenside looks at least equal for Black after 14.h1 ( not 14.xb5? b6+ ) 14...a6 15.e2 c5 ] 14.bxc4 xc4 15.e2 b6+ 16.h2 Black's position looks very active, but the white pieces can be brought to life with d2-d3 etc. when the bishop pair will finally wake up. Therefore Ding Liren decides to f orce an immediate crisis before White can strengthen his game. g5 [ Perhaps he should play 16...h5!? first. ] 17.c3 Instead White could build up kingside pressure with [ 17.d3! c8 18.g3 d4 19.h5 when the f7 point is very vulnerable. ] 17...h5! Now Black gains counterplay. 18.d4 g4 19.d3 d8 20.g3 xg3 21.xg3 f5 22.exf6 xf6 23.e1 [ Another way for White to pursue his attack was 23.c2 e4 24.xe4 dxe4 25.b1 b6 26.f5 ] 23...e4 24.xe4 dxe4 25.b3 c7 26.f5 1199

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6 27.f4 xf4 28.xf4 xc3? Black might have paid dearly for this greedy move. [ T h e p o s i t i o n i s u n c l e a r a f t e r 28...f8 29.e5 e7 30.xe6 ] 29.d5? White misses his big chance with [ 29.a4+! f7 ( Hopeless for Black is 29...e7 30.g5+ d6 31.f6! threatening mate when he has to give up a rook with c7 32.a5+ b8 33.xc3 ) 30.fxe6+ g7 31.f7+ h6 32.e7 d6+ 33.h1 gxh3 34.g3! Now the passed pawn costs Black a rook, after which White will win the endgame for example g6 35.e8 xe8 36.xg6+ xg6 37.xe8+ g5 38.e1 xg3 39.xe4 g2 40.a4 etc. ] 29...f8 30.e5 c7 31.d6 g3+ 32.h1? The decisive mistake of a hard fought game. It should be a draw after [ 32.xg3 xg3 33.dxc7 c3 34.xe6 xc7 35.e1 e7 36.xe4 f6 37.d4 etc. ] 32...c1+ 33.d1 c4! threatening mate on f1. 34.xg3 It is still mate on f1 after [ 34.xe6+ xe6 35.fxe6 f1# ] 34...xa1 35.g6+ d8 36.g5+ c8 37.d7+ xd7 38.g7+ c6 39.xa1 xf5 0-1

1157 Dvoirys,S Kabanov,N 72nd ch-Urals 2014 (8.5) [Tom Rendle]

B11 2560 2514 27.03.2014

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 f6 An unusual line against the Two Knights, but it's not so bad, and it can quickly lead to original play as we s e e i n t h is g a m e 4.e5 e4 5.d4 I considered this move in my notes to Lu Shan gle i-Ding Lire n, in t hat gam e W hit e played 5.h3 to prevent ...Bg4 but Dvoirys has an idea in mind against that plan! g4!? [ 5...xc3 6.bxc3 e6 is more usual, but then W hite has a slight edge with easy development ] [ 5...c5 looks a bit weird but it's worth considering in this position - there's no clear path to a safe edge for White - a plausible line is 6.b5+ ( Black has no real problems

after 6.d3 xc3 7.bxc3 c4 8.e2 c6 ) 6...c6 7.0-0 e6 8.xe4!? dxe4 9.g5 cxd4 ( 9...xd4?! 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.c3! xe5 12.d8+! xd8 13.xf7+ e7 14.xe5 leaves Black a pawn up but with a wrecked structure) 10.f4 d5 11.a4 e7 12.b3 a5 13.xe4 0-0 with balanced chances ] 6.e2!? A very tricky move, aiming to take advantage of the fact the knight on e4 has no retreat squares. Black needs to react quickly and I wonder if Kabanov underestimated White's idea. [ I actually quite like White's position after the strange 6.xe4 dxe4 7.h3 h5 8.g4 g6 ( 8...exf3 9.gxh5 e6 10.g1! is awkward for Black) 9.h4 as White will take the advantage of the two bishops and the pawn on d4 will be vulnerable ] 6...e6?! This actually loses a piece by force, although Black gets 3 pawns for it this normally isn't enough in the middlegame [ 6...c5! was critical, attacking d4 so that the kn i g h t h a s a r e t r e a t s q u a r e o n . . . c 5 i f n e c e s s a r y. T h e p o s i t i o n r e m a i n s v e r y complex here, for example 7.fg1 ( 7.c3 e6 8.fg1 cxd4 9.f3 d3! 10.xd3 c5 11.b5+ bd7 is fine for Black as the b i s h o p c a n n o t b e t a k e n 12.fxg4? a6 13.b4 d3+ ) A) Black can still sacrifice a piece if he wants, this time only for a pawn but more practical chances after 7...cxd4!? 8.f3 a5+ 9.c3 dxc3 10.bxc3 c6 11.fxg4 ( 11.fxe4 dxe4 12.b3 xe5 is very unclear) 11...e6 and White is very badly coordinated here so Black should have enough for the piece; B) 7...xe2 8.xe2 cxd4 9.xd4 e6 and Black has pretty much equalised ] 7.fg1! Unbelievably the knight is trapped on e4 b4+! The best chance - it's possible that Black always intended to give up the piece this way but somehow I'm not sure [ 7...h4?! only makes things worse after 8.g3 h5 9.d3 as f3 is still unstoppable ] 8.c3 xc3 9.bxc3 xc3+ 10.d2 xd4 [ 10...xa1 11.xa1 0-0 12.g3! should also be very pleasant for W hite as the bishop on g4 is badly placed as well. ] 11.b1 xe5?! 1200

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ if Black wanted to make this piece sacrifice b5 do not impress. The two factors balance v i a b l e I t h i n k h e h a d t o t r y 11...b6! to create an almost sterile equality.) 7.g4 when I still prefer White after 12.h3 f5 g6 8.e5 c8 9.h4 d4!? 10.h5 xc2 13.c1 d7 14.f3 0-0 15.g3 g6 11.xc2 dxc3 16.e2 but Black has 3 good central pawns A) 12.dxc3 d5! 13.f5! c7 for the piece and if they get going then the ( 13...xh1+ 14.e2+- ) 14.f3 xf5 position will be much less clear ] 15.gxf5 a6 16.f4 c8 17.c4 f6; 12.xb7 0-0 13.a4! f5 14.f3 c8 B) 12.bxc3 d5 13.f5 c7; 15.xa7 Suddenly it's only two pawns for the C) 12.b3 e6 13.dxc3 d6 14.xc6 piece d7 16.ed4 xd4 17.xd4 b8? bxc6 15.e2 c5 16.f4 b6 17.xb6 It looks like Black had been pinning all of his xb6 18.a4 a5 19.b4 e7 20.h6 ] h o p e s o n c o u n t e r p l a y wi t h . . . R b 1 + , b u t 4...xf3 5.xf3 e6 unfortunately White can just ignore the threat [ 5...f6 is perhaps a little more accurate, in [ 17...e5! 18.b4 c5 19.xa8 xa8 that 6 d4 becomes less attractive to White. 20.xa8 xa8 21.xc5 xa2 22.xf5 Usually that amounts to nothing more than exf5 and Black still has some slim drawing a transposition though: 6.d3 e6 7.a3 e7 chances as W hite has to find time to 8.g3 0-0 9.g2 fd7 10.0-0 f6 11.d1 develop his kingside ] a5 12.a4 a6 13.e2 ac5 14.h4 c7 18.a6! b1+ 15.e3 fd8 16.e5 e7 17.d4 a6 18.f4 [ 18...e8 19.0-0 is hopeless for Black ] c5 19.c3 ac8 20.f5 cxd4 21.xd4 c5 19.e2 b8 22.fxe6 xe5 23.exf7+ xf7 24.e3 [ or 19...d3+ 20.xd3 xh1 21.xc6 h8 xg3 25.xc5 xc5 26.f5 e5 27.e7+ 22.e7 b8 23.xd7 and Black can safely h8 28.ae1 xe2 29.xe2 d6 30.ef2 resign ] g6 31.f8+ xf8 32.xf8+ g7 33.d8 20.xb1 xa7 21.xc6 c5 22.xa7 c4 34.xd5 xb2 35.d7+ h6 xa4 23.c1 f6 24.c6 g4+ 25.f3 h5 36.xb7 xa4 37.a7 xc3 38.f6 c7 26.b4 Black has nothing at all for the piece 39.d7 c4 40.e5 c5 41.d7 c4 so he resigned. An interesting and original 42.e5 3b5 43.xa5 xh4 44.f3 h5 opening and maybe even the piece sacrifice 45.f1 d6 46.xh5+ xh5 47.d3 f5 was viable, but sloppy play from Black led to 48.f2 e6 49.b1 h6 50.e5 h4 a disappointedly one sided game. 51.xg6+ 1/2-1/2 Simeonidis, I-Kokolias, K 1-0 Acropolis Open, Athens GRE 2003 ] 6.g3 White could try 6 d4 now at least he has that option. Dvoryis heads straight for the two 1158 B11 Bishops but Black is very, very watertight. Dvoirys,Semen I 2555 f6N 7.g2 b4 8.0-0 [ The complications following 8.e5 fd7 Grischuk,Alexander 2730 9.g4 are interesting- it 's a rather 56th ch-RUS Krasnoyarsk (1) 2003 unconventional fork! However, Black once [Andrew Martin] again copes easily: ( After 9.d4 the game can take a 'French' turn: c5 10.a3 a5 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 A rather solid 11.b4 cxb4 12.b5 0-0 13.axb4 xb4+ move with a dash of poison for the uninitiated. 14.c3 b6! ) 9...f8 10.f4 ( 10.d4 c5 ) g4 4.h3 10...b6 ] [ 4.exd5!? is sometimes played but Black copes comfortably: cxd5 5.b5+ c6 6.h3 8...xc3 9.xc3 dxe4 10.d3!? Naturally he h5 Absolutely playable but perhaps could regain the pawn with 10 Re1, but that ( 6...xf3! is even more reliable. Black loses would involve the loss of the light-squared no time and pre-empts any attack. 7.xf3 Bishop and any hope of advantage would e6 8.0-0 f6 9.e1 e7 10.d3 0-0= disappear. exd3 11.d1 bd7 12.xd3 0-0 The 'height' of White's pressure. In White has two Bishops and two misplaced 13.g5 pieces. The Knight on c3 and the Bishop on reality, Dvoryis has adequate compensation 1201

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 but that's about it. There aren't really any 15.0-0-0 with unclear play) 14...c5! 15.h5 weaknesses to probe, it's tough to create them gxh5 16.xh5 xh5 17.gxh5 f5 ] and while Black is tied up, he has plenty of 11...hxg6 12.d3 moves. e7 [ 12.d3 f5! is fine for Black for example [ Both 13...b6 14.ad1 d5 ] A) 13.gxf5 gxf5 14.e2 xh4 15.g1 [ and 13...c7 14.ad1 fe8 demonstrate f6 16.g5 h7 and White was that Black is fine-maybe even better in the struggling to demonstrate compensation last line.. ] for the pawn in Idani, P (2417)-Chighladze, 14.ad1 b6 15.a5!= Tying down the I (2377) Esfahan 2011; Queen's Rook. c4 16.c3 B) 13.e2 is an interesting pawn sacrifice [ 16.xf6 xf6 17.b4 xb2 18.f3 c5 but I'm not convinced by W hite's ( 18...a5 19.xb7 e5 20.d7 ) 19.xb7 compensation after xh4 14.g1 f6 e5 20.d7 is a last point of interest. The 15.g5 ( 15.gxf5 gxf5 is a little better for two players don't seem especially interested Black ) 15...a5+ 16.d2 b6 17.gxf5 in complications so it is time for a gxf5 18.c3 and now in Kravtsiv, M (2582)handshake. ] L'Ami, A (2372) Roosendaal 2012 Black 16...b6 17.a5 The Two Kn ights variation got greedy with xb2?! which probably isn't theoretically crucial because W hite is isn't so bad but things went wrong after completely unable to create immediate ( instead 18...d6! simply leaves Black a pressure. But, if you like the two Bishops and p a w n u p a s 19.xg7 g4 you are reasonably patient, then it might work is very awkward for W hite to deal with) well. Black has no reason to fear an early d219.b1 xa2 20.a1 b2 21.b1 a3 d4, but with 5...Nf 6! in place of 5...e6 as 22.xb7 e4 23.f3 xd2 24.xd2 played here, he can cut that idea right out of e7? ( 24...b8! wa s b e t t e r) 25.e3 W hite's head. Perhaps it's wisest to do so. d8? ( 25...d6 was compulsory c4 although the position is still messy after ½-½ 26.xg7 ) 26.xg7 h1+ 27.f2 xb7 28.xe6 d8 29.xf5 c7 30.xd5+ and Black had to resign because of d6 1159 B11 31.g8+ f8 32.xf8+ e7 33.g8 with mate soon to follow; Fedorchuk,S 2661 C) 13.g5 is perhaps White's best but Li Wenliang 2424 Black is still comfortable after f6 14.e2 World Cities Team KO (1.11) 25.12.2012 and now b6! is best ( instead [Tom Rendle] 14...a5+?! 15.c3 d6 16.f3 c7 17.d2 a6?! 18.f4 and White was 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 h5!? clearly better in Llaneza Vega, M (2473)5.exd5 cxd5 6.b5+ c6 7.g4 g6 8.e5 Prie t o A ra n gu re n , A (2 2 1 9 ) Do n o s t ia c8 9.d4 e6 10.h4! Definitely the critical 2011 )] continuation [ 10.e2 was covered by Andrew Martin in 12...f7 13.xc6 [ 13.e3 was tried by Nakamura against Azarov-Akobian in the archives and as he Grischuk recently, but it was only a blitz says Black should be doing fine with b4! game and Black was better after b4 instead of Bd6 which was played in the A) better was 14.0-0-0 a5 ( 14...xc3!? game ] 15.xc3 e5 is also interesting) 15.e2 10...f6 11.xg6 a6 16.a4 b5 17.b3 with chances for [ 11.xc6+ makes less sense here as after both sides; bxc6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.d3 f7 B) 14.h5?! gxh5 15.gxh5 ge7 16.a3 White doesn't really have enough pieces to xc3+ 17.xc3 and now a5! create a serious attack - indeed in Tolentino, would've given Black the better chances R (2276)-Alavi, S (2493) Cebu City 2007 after ( instead 17...a5 led to equality Black was better after 14.d2 ( 14.e3! c5 1202

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 after 18.xa5 xa5 19.d3 ) 18.d3 a6 19.a4 b5 20.b3 xb3 21.xb3 c7 ] 13...xc6 [ 13...bxc6 probably isn't so bad here either although it's not clear what Black does next after 14.e3! ] 14.d2 [ 14.h5?! immediately gets nowhere after gxh5 15.gxh5 e7 16.d2 f5! 17.e2 b6 18.0-0-0 a6 19.xa6 xa6 and Black was a little better in Groselj, P (2106) -Zelcic, R (2503) Ljubljana 2001 although White did end up holding his higher rated opponent. ] 14...a5?! It's a little harsh to give this move a d u b i o u s b u t t h in gs d o g o d o wn h il l q u i t e quickly from here - still that's largely because of the forceful play from Fedorchuk! [ 14...d6 15.0-0-0 e7 16.b1 a6 17.de1 was slightly better for White in Kantans, T (2338) -Shimanov, A (2549) Warsaw 2011 ] [ 14...b6! may be best here 15.0-0-0 a6 16.f3 b5!? with balanced chances ] 15.h5! Now is the time for this pawn push gxh5 16.xh5 [ 16.gxh5? e7 and Black would be at least fine. ] 16...xh5 17.gxh5 e7 [ 17...f5 18.g3 is also unpleasant for Black to deal with ] 18.h6! This is the key point, Black cannot keep the kingside closed and suddenly the Black queen looks misplaced on a5. gxh6 [ 18...g8 19.0-0-0 is no better, for example f5 20.g1 h8 21.hxg7+ xg7 22.e2! and Black is in serious trouble ] 19.h7+ g7 20.xh6 f5 21.xg7 xg7 22.0-0-0! White completes development and threatens to win immediately on the kingside with Rg1. xc3 A good practical try considering the alternative [ 22...c8 23.g1 g8 and now White can p l a y a l m o s t a n y t h i n g - p e r h a p s 24.a3 is most accurate which underlines the fact that Black can move anywhere e.g. A) 24...c7 25.g6+ f8 ( 25...e7? 26.xg7+! wins ) 26.xf6+; B) 24...f8 25.h6 f7 26.g6+ e7 27.e2! with Nf4 coming and a crushing attack ]

23.bxc3 [ 23.g1! was more accurate with the nice p o i n t t h a t a f t e r g3 24.fxg3 xa2 White has 25.c3! a1+ 26.b1 ] 23...xc3 24.d3 a5 25.b3 White obviously has good winning chances in this endgame but the lack of pawns means it's not simple at all. b6 26.c4 f5 27.cxd5 exd5 28.h3 e7 29.d2 b4 30.d3 e8 31.a3 d6 32.a6 Not a serious mistake but somehow this feels like a strange square for the Queen [ 32.e2! was stronger, e.g. d8 33.e3 c6+ 34.d2 d6 35.e1 with the plan of Rh1 or Qg3, both of which should be good enough to win with the plan of Rh1 or Qg3, both of which should be enough to win ] 32...c7+ 33.d1?! [ 33.b2 would've prevented Black's next move ] 33...c4! 34.xc4 dxc4 35.f3 d7 36.h2 b5 Suddenly Black should be holding a draw 37.h5 f5 38.h6 c6 39.d5 d4 40.a6 xf3 41.e2 e5 42.d2 f4 43.c3 f3? Black was so close but here he throws away the draw [ 43...g4! covering the f6 square and now 44.xa7+ d6 45.f7 ( 45.a4!? f3! 46.f7 bxa4 47.xf3 xd5 ) 45...e3! 46.d4 xd5 is an easy draw ( or 46...c2+ )] 44.f6 a5 45.d4 d3 46.xf3 b4?! Now it's all over [ 46...c1 was more stubborn although 47.f7+ d6 48.f6+ d7 49.c6! should be winning ] 47.axb4 axb4 48.f7+ e8 49.b7 Both pawns will drop and White is left with a trivial ending. 1-0

1160 Ibragimov,I Dreev,Alexey 19th TCh-RUS 2012 (6) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B11 2539 2698 14.04.2012

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 e6 6.e2!? This modest bishop development was brought to our attention by Nigel Short and we've both tried it out 1203

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ourselves. White delays moving the d pawn as h e m a y w a n t t o g o d 4 i n o n e g o . c5 A very rare try but quite logical. Black cuts across White's plan of d4. [ 6...f6 would transpose to Short-L'Ami which Gawain has previously annotated. We've left those notes in and added in some recent games. 7.0-0 A) 7...c5!? was Fridman's choice, preventing White from playing d2-d4 (and wo u l d a c t u a l ly b e ve ry si m i l a r t o t h e game). 8.d3 ( 8.d1!? is an interesting idea but d4! looks adequate.; 8.f4!? was tried in a recent GM game: b6 9.e5 fd7 10.d4 0-0 11.a4 c7 12.g4 f5 13.g3 e7 14.b3 b5 15.b2 a6 with a draw agreed in Solak, D (2588)Berkes, F (2693) Neum 2011 but W hite must have an edge after 16.a4 ) A1) 8...0-0 was better but perhaps 9.g3 A1a) Instead in a blitz game from last y e a r , R i a z a n t s e v p l a y e d 9...d4 against Gawain A1a1) 10.f4 l o o k s b e t t e r bd7 ( 10...e8 is also possible) 11.d6 wins the exchange, although a5 12.xf8 xf8 gives Black good play.; A1a2) 10.g5 bd7 11.h1 b6 12.ab1 c5 when 13.f4?! wa s f a r t o o a m b it io u s. Jo n e s, G (2635) -Riazantsev, A (2710) Warsaw 2011.; A1b) 9...bd7 10.f4 is still a little more comfortable.; A2) 8...c7?! 9.exd5! A2a) 9...cxd5 is of course best from a s t r a t e g i c p o i n t o f v i e w b u t 10.f4 is strong. A2a1) 10...a5 11.d4! e7 ( 11...xd4 12.b5 xb2 13.c7++- ) 12.g3 0-0 13.c7 b6 14.a3 leaves the Black queen out of bounds.; A2a2) 10...c8 11.b5 0-0 12.c7 c6 13.xa8 d4 14.e3 xc2 15.d2 ( 15.c1 xa1 16.c7 b6 isn't clear.) 15...b4 ( 15...xa1 16.c1!+- ) 16.c1 xa1 17.c7 d7 18.d4! c8

19.xa1 xc7 20.xc7 xc7 21.c1 and White's clearly better with his extra exchange.; A2b) 9...exd5 10.f4 d6 11.g3! xf4 12.xg7 g8 13.xf6 wins a pawn.; A2c) 9...xd5 10.e4 d7 11.xc5 xc5 12.d4 d7 13.c4 e7 14.f4 b6 15.c3 0-0 16.ad1 and White had a definite advantage thanks to his bishop pair. Kovacevic, A (2574) Fridman, D (2650) Rijeka 2010.; B) 7...dxe4 8.xe4 B1) 8...e7 9.d3 0-0 10.g3 h8 Czebe, A (2480)-Turov, M (2624) Bhubaneswar 2010 11.e3 ( 11.xf6 xf6 12.f4 b6 13.ab1 is a tiny bit better for W hite.) 11...bd7 12.c4! taking over the d5 square when Black still struggles to equalise.; B2) 8...xe4 9.xe4 d7 10.d4 f6 11.d3 This position is important to the th e o re t ica l a sse ssm e n t o f th is lin e . W hite has the bishop pair and a little mo re spa ce b u t B la ck is ve ry s o lid . Schandorf f believes that in practical terms the position is level as White lacks a plan but nevertheless I feel Black still has to be more accurate. I've added in some recent games to illustrate some ideas. Generally it's possible for Black to prevent the d4-d5 break as long as he's accurate and so White should also consider using b4-b5, coupled with Bf3 to put further pressure on Black's position. B2a) 11...e7 is Black's other option. This is a slightly more passive location for the bishop but keeps full control of the d5 square. 12.c4 0-0 13.e3 B2a1) 13...d6 14.fd1 fd8 15.d2 ( 15.b4 a5 looks acceptable for Black although 16.bxa5 xa5 17.a4 is still a touch better for White. ) 15...d7 16.ad1 ad8 17.c2 c7 18.f3 a5 19.a3 h6 20.g3 c8 21.d3 f5 22.g2 cd8 23.3d2 xc2 24.xc2 h7 Souleidis, G (2410) -Argiroudis, S (2315) Peristeri 2010 when W hite should have taken Short's lead with 1204

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.d5!; B2a2) 13...c7 14.f3 fd8 15.b3 I don't think this is accurate as this impedes the important idea of b4-b5 utilising the f3 bishop. ( T h e r e f o r e I ' d p r e f e r 15.c3; Two strong GMs reached this position recently and there W hite tried 15.e2 but never really had any winning chances: d7 16.fd1 ad8 17.a3 e5 18.dxe5 xe5 19.xd7 xd7 20.e1 c5 21.xc5 xc5 22.b4 f8 23.e3 a6 24.d1 xd1+ 25.xd1 g6 26.b6 d6 27.f3 f4 28.b5 c1+ 29.h2 f4+ 30.g1 c1+ 31.h2 f4+ 32.g1 c1+ 33.h2 1/2-1/2 Azarov, S (2667)Matlakov, M (2632) Plovdiv 2012.) 15...d7 16.fd1 ad8 17.ac1 has been reached three times this year. However Black is very solid and is overprotecting the d5 square so it's hard to see how White should proceed. The highest rated encounter continued: b8 18.g3 f8 19.g2 g6 20.f4 d6 21.g5 e7 22.e3 e8 23.f4 d6 24.h6 f8 25.f4 d6 26.g5 e7 27.xe7 xe7 28.d5 cxd5 29.xd5 xd5 30.xd5 ( 30.cxd5 e5 is nothing special for White as the knight sits comfortably on d6. ) 30...f6 31.f3 e5 32.d1 g7 33.c5 e4 34.e2 e5 and Black was fine. Milos, G (2618)Rodshtein, M (2622) Bursa 2010.; B2b) 11...d6 B2b1) 12.f3 0-0 13.b4!? looks like quite a promising idea. ( 13.b3 was tried in another strong GM encounter. W hite got a tiny nibble out of the opening and tried grinding for a long, long time. b6 14.d1 xb3 15.axb3 a6 16.c3 ad8 17.f1 d7 18.g3 fd8 19.b4 h6 20.e1 b8 21.e2 d5 22.c4 f8 23.b3 and only White could try to win but Black is very solid. Andreikin, D (2705)-Roiz, M (2668) Saratov 2011.) 13...a6 14.a3

c7 15.b2 ad8 16.fe1 a5 17.bxa5 xa5 18.b3 d7 19.c4 fd8 when instead of rushing with 30. d5 W hite would have retained the better chances with 20.a4 ( 20.d5 cxd5 21.xf6 gxf6 22.cxd5 exd5 23.g4 c7 24.f5 gave White good compensation for the pawn but B l a ck h e l d t h e d r a w wi t h o u t t o o many problems. Ismagambetov, A (2492)-Benidze, D (2504) Zuerich 2010. ) 20...h6 21.c3 f5 22.e3 as the pressure down the b file and ideas of a5-a6 are awkward to cope with.; B2b2) 12.g5 h6 13.h4 g5!? Probably overambitious. ( 13...c7 looks fine to me.) 14.g3 c7 15.f3 e7 16.c4 ad8 17.ad1 a6 18.e3 f4 19.xf4 xf4 20.b3 d7 and White is somewhat better as Black's king was stuck in the centre. Piper, M (2304)Speelman, J (2525) Hinckley Island 2010; B2b3) 12.b4!? Gawain wrote about this move: "...has never been played but looks interesting to me again playing to open the b file looks like a good plan." He actually got the chance to try it out against the very strong Viorel Bologan: e7 13.b1 ( 13.b5 c5 14.dxc5 xc5 15.b2 0-0 16.g3 might be something for White but he has to be accurate as otherwise Black could exploit White's over-advanced b pawn.) 13...0-0 14.f3 fd8 15.b3 a5 16.bxa5 db8 17.d2 c7 18.fd1 h6 19.c4 d8 20.d5! exd5 21.cxd5 d6 22.g3 xd5 Jones, G (2624)Bologan, V (2656) Muelheim 2011 when 23.bc1! would have been v e r y s t r o n g : d7 24.e1! and as Bla ck cann ot take on a5 , W hite will pick up a pawn with decent chances; B2b4) 12.c4 0-0 ( 12...h6 13.e3 0-0 14.fd1 c7 15.ac1 fd8 16.f3 h2+ 17.h1 f4= ) 13.g5 h6N 14.h4 e5 15.ad1 e8= 1205

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is given by Schandorff when Black has equalised. ] [ 6...g6 tries to keep the position unbalanced but it appears to favour White. 7.d4 g7 8.e3 so far this is given in Schandorff's new Caro-Kann book and here he suggests White has good attacking chances. A recent game did nothing to disprove his words. A) 8...f6 was tried by Andreikin but wasn't very convincing: 9.0-0 ( 9.0-0-0 was also possible of course.) 9...0-0 10.a4 bd7 11.fd1 a5 12.f1 h8 13.c1!? White's last two moves make a strange impression but his idea is to play b4 followed by Ba3. e5 14.dxe5 xe5 15.e2 dxe4 16.xe4 xe4 17.xe4 And White's bishop pair on the open board grant him some advantage. It's notable that the 2700 playing Black later switched to try the White side of this system. Azarov, S (2648)-Andreikin, D (2705) Rogaska Slatina 2011.; B) 8...d7 9.exd5!? exd5 ( 9...cxd5 10.b5 is awkward to deal with.) 10.g4 f8 11.0-0-0 e6 12.h4 e7 13.h5 and Black already had a few problems as White's attack has made definite headway. Czebe, A (2480)-Lafuente, P (2587) Bhubaneswar 2010. ] 7.g3 And this looks the critical reply. [ Instead in the only other game to reach this position W hite tried 7.0-0 but looks too straightforward. Following d7 8.d3 e7 9.d1 0-0 10.e2 dxe4 11.dxe4 g6 Black certainly had no problems. Gabrielsen, S (2322)-Sulskis, S (2537) Barcelona 2007. ] [ The computer offers 7.b4 as a suggestion but we don't really see what White's gained after d4 ] [ while 7.g4?! can be met with f6! as 8.xg7?! g8 9.h6 xg2 is good for Black. ] 7...d4 A typical move for Black, taking control of d4 and defending g7. [ The dif f erence is that 7...f6? 8.e5! is very good for White. ] [ However 7...e7!? looks an interesting pawn sacrifice A) 8.a4 is also possible: A1) 8...d4 9.c3 f6 ( 9...a5 10.d1

f6 11.b4 d8 12.c5 gives White some edge.) 10.c5 0-0!? ( 10...c8 11.d4 a ga in m u st f a vo u r W h i t e .) 11.xb7 b6 12.d6 g6 13.d4 e5 14.0-0 must be better for White.; A2) 8...d7 9.xc5 xc5 10.xg7 g8 11.xh7 xe4 also gives Black some compensation for the pawn.; B) 8.xg7 g8 9.xh7 xg2 10.exd5 ( Both 10.h8+ g8 11.h4 d7; and 10.f3 xf2 11.h5 d7! simply look ve ry me ssy.) 10...cxd5 11.d1 d7 12.e3 g8 13.g4 b6 14.c3 d4 and it seems Black has good c o m p e n s a t i o n f o r t h e p a wn , d e s p i t e Rybka's scepticism. ] 8.exd5 exd5 9.0-0 e7 [ The computer prefers 9...d7 but 10.d1 is likely to simply transpose. ] 10.d1!? Preparing to force the bishop back. [ Perhaps W hite should try 10.g4 f6 11.d4 but Black is very solid, for example: d7 ( 11...h5!? 12.f4 d7 is also possible.) 12.e3 f8 13.d3 d7 14.f3 e6 15.e2 and Black is very solid but perhaps W hite can claim something small with the bishop pair. ] 10...d7 11.c3 e5 12.f4 f6 13.d4 White's managed to grab some space but at the cost of ceding a potential outpost on e4. The question is whether White can manage to utilise his bishop pair and create some kingside initiative. 0-0 [ We'd have been tempted to reroute the k n i g h t w i t h 13...f5 14.g4 d6 when Black doesn't look to have any problems, for example: 15.f2 0-0 16.d3 e8 17.d2 h4 18.g3 e7 19.ae1 f6 20.f3 f8 21.xe8 xe8 22.f5 d7 23.g5 e7 24.xf6 xf6 25.g4 e7 26.f2 e8 27.e2 d8 with a draw. ] 14.f2 [ White could have prevented Black's plan s e e n i n t h e p r e v i o u s n o t e w i t h 14.e3 but following e8 we doubt Black has any problems. ( while here too he could try 14...c5!? )] 14...c5!? Dreev's playing for the win. [ 14...f5 would likely transpose to 13... Nf5. ] 15.dxc5 xc5 16.d3 Now Dreev should 1206

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 have taken the upper hand. [ 16.d1 f5 17.f3 d4 is obviously fine for Black. ] [ While 16.f3 d4 also looks totally fine for B l a c k , e . g . 17.b4 a4 18.g4 f5 19.d3 e3 20.xe3 dxe3 21.ad1 b6 22.xf6+ xf6 and Black certainly has no problems. ] 16...c6 [ After 16...b6! White's position would have quickly turned unpleasant: 17.e3 ( or 17.d1 xd3 18.xd3 fe8 ) 17...d4! 18.xd4 xd4 19.cxd4 xd3 20.xd3 ad8 and Black will regain the pawn with a positional edge. ] 17.c2 d4 18.d1 e8 19.f3 Ibragimov decides to cover the e2 square. [ 19.b4 was critical: e2! 20.xh7+ xh7 21.bxc5 e7 22.g4 e8 gives Black a strong initiative for the pawn. ] 19...b6 [ 19...e7! 20.g4 ad8 would have started to be very unpleasant for White. ] 20.b4 Ibragimov wants to try and get some counterplay on the kingside. [ 20.h1 dxc3 21.bxc3 a5 looks a little unpleasant for White. ] 20...e6 21.d3?! dxc3?? To be honest we're very confused by the subsequent course o f t h e g a m e - p e r h a p s it wa sn 't n o t a t e d correctly. [ 21...g6! leaves Black with a clearly better position. ] 22.xh7+ f8 23.b5? [ 23.d7! is forced mate. We're not sure what both players missed! ] 23...cd4 As we don't know that the rest of the game is even correct we've decided to skip over it. White should still be winning but doesn't find the cleanest path. Despite the result 6...Bc5 looks an interesting way for Black to cut across W hite's plan and we're e x p e c t in g t o s e e m o r e p l a ye rs t r yin g i t , especially as it seems W hite's system is becoming more and more popular. 24.a3+ c5 25.d3 ac8 26.xc5 xc5 27.h8+ e7 28.e1+ e6 29.h5 d4+ 30.h1 g6 31.d5 d8 32.g5+ d7 33.xc5 xc5 34.xc5 xc5 35.ad1+ d4?! 36.e3 c7 37.xc3 b6 38.a4 e8

39.d3 d6 40.c4 b3 1-0

1161 Jones,Gawain C Long,Peter 39th Olympiad Men (1.12) [Gawain Jones]

B11 2576 2302 21.09.2010

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.d4 I decided to follow my recommendation from the last update in which I investigated Satyapragyan-Khamrakulov. f6 Obviously I was hoping to follow the previous game but I think this is the most sensible reaction. 5.e5 [ I thought about playing the strange looking 5.h3 xf3 6.gxf3!? but I was embarrassed what my team mates might say! However I think this is an interesting attempt, e.g. e6 7.g1 bd7 8.e3 when it's not completely straightforward to see how Black proceeds. Of course he should be ok but it's an unusual position and sets him problems he might not feel comfortable facing. ] 5...fd7 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 e6 8.f4 I confess I forgot the move I advocated at this point. [ I suggested 8.g3 b6 9.f4 last month as taking the pawn gives W hite good play: xd4 10.e3 b4 11.0-0-0 a5 12.b1 g6 13.f3 a6 14.g4 with good play for the pawn. ] 8...a6 [ The immediate 8...c5 is playable although Pe te r was wo rried ab ou t issu es o n b 5 . 9.dxc5 c6 ( 9...xc5 10.g3 g6 11.0-0-0 resembles some sort of Advanced Caro. ) 10.b5 xc5 11.g3 g6 12.0-0 0-0 13.xc6 bxc6 14.a4 e7 15.b3 is slightly easier for White to play. ] 9.e2 This is probably mistaken. [ I n i t i a l l y I w a n t e d t o p l a y 9.0-0-0 b u t w a s r a t h e r c o n c e r n e d a b o u t b5 as it's not clear where White should target. ] [ Perhaps 9.g3!? would be the most accurate, keeping e5 under control. If c5 10.dxc5 c6 11.0-0-0 g6 12.h4 h5 13.xd5! exd5 14.xd5 looks like good compensation. ] 9...c5 10.dxc5 c6 11.g3 xc5 1207

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Analysing the game afterwards I came to the conclusion that 11...g6! would have been strong as e5 is rather too exposed. I think I should have tried 12.0-0-0 g7 ( 12...xc5!? looks paradoxical but seems to f a v o u r B l a c k .) 13.a4 ( 13.xd5?! do es n't se em so e f f ective h ere a s exd5 14.xd5 e7 15.hd1 xc5 16.g5 e4! defuses White's play.) 13...0-0 14.h4 h5 15.b1 with a complex position. Black will win the e5 pawn but White can try to get play with the c2-c4 break. ] 12.0-0 [ I was still rather worried that after 12.0-0-0 his queenside attack would be faster than mine on the kingside. ] 12...d4 [ Again 12...g6 was sensible when 13.g5 e7 ( 13...c7 14.f6 favours W hite.) 14.h6 f8 when taking the repetition is probably White's strongest option although I would probably have had to deviate! ] 13.d1 Keeping the bishop pair is my only hope for an advantage. h5 Long starts a kingside attack of his own. During the game I thought this was a mistake but due to Black's 15th move note it looks like it actually holds together. 14.b4 Fighting back. f5 [ 14...d7 15.b1 c8 is rather unclear but I t h in k W h i t e h a s m o r e p r o b l e m s t h a n Black. ] 15.f3 d4? And this is a mistake. [ 15...g5! was suggested by David Howell and looks very strong. 16.h2 ( 16.bxc5 h4! 17.e3 gxf4 18.xf4 xc5 is rather promising.) 16...g4 17.hxg4 hxg4 18.xg4 ( 18.f4 g3 19.xg3 h6 gives Black great dynamic play.) 18...h4! During the game I'd missed this idea. 19.g8 xb4 and Black's on top. ] 16.e3 f5 17.d2 d7 18.xd5! I really like this piece sacrifice even if others m i g h t b e s c e p t i c a l . M y t h i n k i n g wa s a s follows: without those e6 and d5 pawns the d1 bishop races back into life and on an open board the bishop pair are very strong. W ith the pawn on h5 Black will struggle to find any safe haven for his king. Finally I thought it likely I'll at least win the b7 pawn back to make it three pawns for the piece and no major material deficit. exd5 19.xd5 e7

After this Black is really struggling. [ 19...b6! was best but White still has very good chances. I've added in my analysis from straight after the game. A) 20.e6!? is interesting, trying to exploit Black's open king immediately but with accurate defence Black is ok. fxe6 21.e1 e5 22.xe5+ xe5 23.xe5+ e7 24.xh5+ xh5 25.xh5+ g6 26.h8 xb4 27.h6 c6 with a messy position but it looks like the worst is over for Black.; B) 20.c3 is the most logical step defending the b4 pawn and allowing the d1 bishop into the game. B1) 20...e7 21.d3 b5 22.d2!? is very good comp ensation . ( 22.d4 b6= ); B2) 20...c6 and surprisingly White can trade queens here with 21.f3! xd5 22.xd5 and I would stand better as b7 is dropping when the three pawns and bishop pair are worth more than the extra piece.; C) 20.d3 was probably going to my try in the game as I hadn't realised I could trade queens. David Howell, Jovanka Houska and I analysed some lines straight after the game: xb4 ( 20...g6! 21.c3 0-0-0! is probably Black's best and thus W hite should try 20.c3.) 21.c4 ( 21.xf5 g6 22.c3 c4 23.g5 h6 24.xh6 xh6 25.xh6 c5 is very messy but I'd prefer to be White. ) 21...e7 C1) 22.e6 c5 ( 22...fxe6 23.b1 c5 24.xh5+! xh5 25.e2 starts to r e g a i n m a t e r i a l .) 23.exf7+ xf7 24.d6 and practically it's tough playing Black here.; C2) 22.b1 c5 23.c2 a5 24.f3 c6 25.fd1 with continuing compensation thanks to Black's king being stuck in the centre. He also has to deal with the threat of 26.Rxb7.; D) 20.-- ] 20.xb7 Now Black has insurmountable practical problems. I have three pawns for the piece, the bishop pair and Black is a long way f r o m c o m p l e t i n g h i s d e v e l o p m e n t . g6 21.e4 [ I also considered 21.e6 fxe6 22.g3 1208

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 but was a little worried that Black might find the f7 square useful for his king. Also I had only just got back to material parity and wa s n ' t k e e n o n s a c r i f i c i n g s o m e t h i n g immediately! ] 21...xf4 22.xf4 b8? And this is the losing move. [ 22...e7 had to be tried although 23.e1 f8 24.c3 e6 25.a4+ f8 26.e4 leaves White with the definite upper hand. ] 23.c3! Only now did Black realise that my bishop could develop down the d1-a4 diagonal. Both b3 and a4 are causes of major concern to him. b6 [ It's too late to develop. 23...e7 24.a4 0-0 25.ad1 b7 26.e6! fxe6 27.e4 would win the knight. ] 24.b3 c7 25.a4 Attempting to gain access to the a4-e8 diagonal. g5 26.f5 d7 27.e6! fxe6 28.e5 Forking the rooks. An unusual ending to an interesting game. Black solved his opening problems rather easily and if 8.Bf4 is to be repeated then I think 9.Qg3 is a much better try than 9.Be2 which could have left me in some difficulty. 1-0

1162 Kokholm,Daniel Hansen,Jens Martin 25th Politiken Cup (6) [Andrew Martin]

B11 2115 2003

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f4!? Very unusual indeed, although Van Geet, innovator from Holland has recommended this idea. As you will see, 3 f4 has achieved a certain popularity recently, with good results. Positionally, White tries to establish a bind on the e5 square and cramp Black as a result. Personally, I would be worried about the exposed pawn on f4 and the g1-a7 diagonal but it takes all sorts! dxe4 4.xe4 d7 Well, this is very logical. Black simply prepares ...Ngf6 and plays in the style of the Smyslov system. [ 4...e6 You will see that Black's treatment is similar to the main game here. What could be more natural than 4...e6, also apparently preparing ...Nf6. Yet Black soon slips into p a s s i v i t y . 5.f3 d7 6.g3 b6 7.b3!

Training the Bishop on e5. b7 8.g2 e7 9.b2 gf6 10.f2 Thematic. The Knight re-routes to d3, once more fixing e5. c7 11.0-0 c5 12.d3 0-0 13.e2 fe8 14.ae1 The remarkable thing is that Black has played a whole stack of natural moves and now stands strategically worse! White has a strong initiative. Even if Black d e f e n d s p e r f e c t l y W h i t e ca n a i m f o r a Kingside pawn advance- that is the overall plan now. As it happens, Black gets crushed by a tactic. d5 ( 14...ad8 15.de5 f8 16.d3 would not change things.) 15.de5 ab8 16.c4 b7 17.xf7! Overlooked, I am sure. xf3 18.xf3 xf7 19.xe6+ f8 20.e5 xe5 21.fxe5 d8 22.d5 e7 23.g4 f7?? ( 23...e8 Frightening to play, but the only move. 24.exf6 xe1+ 25.f2 e5 26.g8+ d7 27.d3+ c7 28.xg7+ e7 29.xe7+ xe7 30.fxe7 xe7 ) 24.e6 g8 25.xf7+ 1-0 Bentancor, F-Marcolino, D/II American Continental, Buenos Aires A 2003 I got the impression throughout that Black didn't like his position it was just not the Caro-Kann that he was used to, and he played weakly as a result. ] [ 4...f6! This seems like the way to me. Quick development, not worrying about pawn structure, an ambitious move aiming to take immediate advantage of White's selfi n f l i c t e d w e a k n e s s . 5.xf6+ ( 5.f2 would be systematic but it appears that Black is fine after f5 6.f3 e6 7.g3 b6 ) 5...exf6 6.d4?! Ugly. d6 7.d3 0-0 8.f3 A) I like 8...e8+ 9.e2 f5 10.xf5 ( 10.0-0 xd3 11.xd3 a6= ) 10...a5+ 11.c3 xf5 12.0-0 d7=; B) 8...a5 9.e2 a6 10.a3 f5 11.e3 c7 12.0-0 e6 13.f2 a4 14.c4 g6 15.c3 e8 16.fd1 f6 17.f1 h5 18.h4 h7 19.d2 g8 20.g3 d7 21.ad1 h7 22.g2 g8 23.d3 a6 24.c2 b5 25.c5 f8 26.d5 cxd5 27.d4 e6 28.a2 c6 29.b4 a7 30.h2 a6 31.d3 g7 32.xg7 xg7 33.e5 ae7 34.c3 f6 35.xc6 xc6 36.xd5 e2 37.f3 h6 38.h3 xb2 39.5d3 xf3 40.xf3 xc5 41.c3 e4 42.xe4 xe4 43.c5 ee2 1209

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 44.h1 ed2 45.c3 a2 46.c5 db2 47.c3 b3 48.xb3 axb3 49.d1 b2 50.b1 g7 51.g2 f7 52.f2 e6 0-1 Tiviakov, S-L'Ami, E/ch-NED Open, Dieren NED 2003 (52) ] 5.f3 gf6 6.f2 e6 7.g3 b6 8.e2 e7 9.g2 b7 10.b3 c5 11.b2 0-0 12.c4 [ Either 12.0-0 or ] [ 12.d3 were possible. ] 12...e8 13.0-0 [ I feel that 13.d3 is an improvement in the move order, with White obtaining his usual grip in the centre: f6 14.de5 c7 15.0-0 ] 13...f6 14.e5 xg2 15.xg2 c7 16.fd3 b7+ 17.f3 g6 18.af1 d8 19.g4 Crunch time and we will soon see whether White's overall idea is a success or a failure. Over the board I would certainly prefer to be White, going for glory on the Kingside, but there should be sufficient resources to persuade the careful player that the Black p o s i t i o n i s d e f e n s i b l e . g7 20.e1 A sign that W hite is a little unsure about where he goes from here. [ Direct is 20.f5 but Black can cope: exf5 21.gxf5 xe5 22.xe5 f6! 23.fxg6 fxg6 24.g1 e4 25.g2 c2! ] [ A further try is 20.g1 unpinning. Again, Black copes: d6 21.xd7 xd7 22.xg7 xg7 23.e5 dd8 24.e3 a6 ] 20...ef6 21.f2 Perhaps the true assessment of this position is 'dynamically equal' Both sides have trumps and if White tries too hard the position could well blow up in his face. I guess White has better chances of landing the Kingside attack if light-squared Bishops remain on the board- the question of his tender King wouldn't then be so important. fe8 22.g1 a6 23.h3 b5= 24.d3 b4 25.g5!? Revealing a naked desire to win the game. Both of the last moves have been inflexible. Blocking the Queenside has allowed White to launch a dangerous assault but maybe that was intentional- Black is trying t o p r o v o k e a c r i s i s . H e s u c c e e d s . h5 26.xh5 gxh5 27.e4! f5? The defence is not easy but 27...f5 is definitely poor. Black should concentrate on e5: [ 27...xe5 28.fxe5 c7 29.e3! e7 ( 29...xe5 30.xe5 xe5 31.f6+ )

30.xc5 ] [ 27...c7! Best, under the circumstances. 28.xd7 xd7 ( 28...xd7 29.xg7 xg7 30.xc5 d4+ 31.e3 a5 32.f2 xe3+ 33.xe3 e5 34.f5 d4 ) 29.xg7 xg7 30.f6 ] 28.d6 c7 29.xe8 xe8 30.xh5+e7 31.f3 [ 31.g6 involves an element of risk so it's understandable that W hite preserves his advantage safely. Even so, this move should win: xe5 32.gxh7+ xh7 33.e8+ f8 34.xe5 d7 35.xd7 xd7 36.e3 g6 37.f2 ] 31...xe5 32.xe5 d7 33.xg7 xg7 34.e3 f7 35.f2 d6 36.h4 d7 37.d1 d4 38.h5 The Kingside pawns give White a winning position. b2+ 39.d2 a1 40.e2 Sticking to the policy of caution. Again 40 g6 was a winner: [ 40.g6+ hxg6 41.hxg6+ f6 ( 41...g7 42.xe6 d4+ 43.f3+- ) 42.xc5 xg6 43.b6 d4+ 44.xd4 xd4 45.e3 d6 46.d4+- ] 40...d4 41.g2!? [ 41.xd4 ] 41...d6 42.h6 xd3 43.e5 d4 [ 43...g6! 44.e3 d2+ 45.g3 h5 gives excellent chances to save the game. ] 44.f3 xe5?! The error-strewn finish is a clear consequence of the new FIDE time control. [ 44...d3+ ] 45.xe5 d2 46.xc5 xa2 47.c7+ f8 48.xh7 a3 49.g6 xb3+ 50.e2 g3 51.h8+ e7 52.g7 f7 53.f8+ Nearly botched, but not quite. The variation with 3 f4 will certainly come as a shock. You can almost guarantee that the opponent won't have anything specifically prepared. So for the time being: a very strong surprise weapon for White. Black should not give up hope- an energetic and immediate response i.e. 4...Nf6, will provide a good game. 1-0

1210

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1163 Lu Shanglei Ding Liren 4th Hainan Danzhou GM (1.3) [Tom Rendle]

B11 2551 2707 20.05.2013

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 f6 An unusual but perfectly respectable way of meeting the two knights - it tends to lead to more interesting positions than the main 3...Bg4 so it's a good option when needing to play for a win as Black. 4.e5 e4 5.h3 Not a bad move as such but it seems overly cautious at this stage as I don't believe White should be afraid of an early ...Bg4. [ 5.e2 b6 6.d4 was covered by Gawain in his notes to Svetushkin-Landa, from the 2010 archives. ] [ 5.b1 also gets a mention in the notes to Svetushkin-Landa ] [ 5.d4 is another important alternative for White here that needs to be examined xc3 6.bxc3 A) 6...g4 makes less sense here, it just gives up the two bishops. 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 e6 A1) 9.b1 was my choice when I reached this position earlier this year and it may in fact be a more accurate w a y o f h a n d l i n g t h e p o s i t i o n c7 10.e2 ( 10.c4! is also very logical with a definite advantage ) 10...d7 11.0-0 A1a) 11...b5 preventing c4 was better alth ou gh W hite is st ill be tt er a f t e r 12.a4! bxa4 ( 12...a6 13.a1 ) 13.c4; A1b) 11...f6?! 12.g4 f5 13.h4! e7 14.h5+ f8 15.g3 and I was clearly better in Rendle, T (2374)-O'Donnell, C (1970) Bunratty 2013; A2) 9.h4!? h5 10.a4 e7 11.b1 c7 12.c4 and White was a little better in Vallejo P ons, F (2 693) -Kha irullin, I (2626) Plovdiv 2012; B) 6...e6 B1) 7.c4!? strikes me as a critical way of handling the position - White is a little better after e7 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 ( 10.h4!? is now interesting ); B2) 7.d3 is also sensible although it can lead to a blocked position after c5

8.0-0 c4 9.e2; B3) 7.e3 e7 8.d2!? is another option, bringing the queen to g4.; B4) 7.h4!? an ambitious try but perhaps B l a c k is O K a f t e r t h i s h6 ( 7...c5! seems very logical to me, after 8.h5 h6 9.d3 c6 Black is completely OK.) 8.h5 b6 9.d3 a6 10.0-0 c5 11.h2 xd3 12.cxd3 cxd4 13.cxd4 c6 with roughly level chances in Popov, I (2620)-Berkes, F (2688) Legnica 2013 ] 5...e6 6.e2 xc3 7.dxc3 c5 So a slightly unusual setup has been reached. White has a small lead in development but Black is very solid so Lu Shanglei has to pick a plan of attack - sadly he seems to get rather mixed up over the next few moves. 8.g5 [ 8.e3!? e7 9.f4 0-0 10.g3 se e m s t o m a ke s o m e s e n se g i ve n t h e opening. It may seem this manoeuvre has taken a long time but now W hite has re a so n ab le a t ta ckin g p ro sp ect s o n t h e kingside. Black should still be OK here though, perhaps after f6!? ] [ 8.c4! c6 9.c3 e7 10.c2 is another logical way to develop and here White has a slight advantage due to the extra space from the pawn on e5. ] 8...c7 9.g4?! This looks aggressive but I'm not really sure it's anything but a weakness here c6 10.c4?! [ 10.g2 h6 11.d2 e7 is only slightly better for Black ] 10...dxc4 11.g2 b5 Ding Liren can see that White is playing some rather odd moves and decides to try and hang on to the pawn on c4, at least for the time being. 12.a4 [ 12.0-0 h6 13.e3 a6 leaves White struggling for compensation. ] 12...b7! And then immediately he gives the pawn back under favourable circumstances, very instructive 13.axb5 d4 14.d1 [ 14.xd4 xg2 15.g1 cxd4 16.xg2 b8 and White is in all sorts of trouble with the b5 pawn about to drop a lack of coordination amongst his pieces, especially his rook on g2. ] 14...h6 15.d2 e4! The opening has been a disaster for White and Lu Shanglei does well to survive into the middlegame, although this is in part down to a couple of inaccuracies 1211

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 from Black. 16.0-0 b7 17.a3 d5?! [ I see no good reason Black can't simply t a k e n o w wi t h 17...xc2! 18.c3 d4 leaving Black a pawn up with a good position ] 18.e1 xg2 19.xg2 d8 Black may not have found the most accurate continuation earlier but W hite is still in a lot of trouble here, although it might not yet be actually lost. 20.f4 xb5 21.g3 d4 22.f5! In a bad position you might as well go for counterplay e4 23.f2 e7 24.f1 exf5 [ 24...xc2! 25.c3 d4 leaves Black clearly better ] 25.gxf5 xe5 26.f4 d5 27.e3 e4 White has fought hard and is close to getting back into the game but a final mistake here and his position collapses. 28.xc4? [ 28.c3! h4 ( 28...c6? 29.e2! and suddenly it's Black who's in trouble down the e-file.) 29.xc4 xg3 30.xg3 0-0 31.cxd4 xd4 32.b3 and Black has some material advantage with a rook and two pawns for knight and bishop but the position remains complicated and it's clear that Black has lost his earlier control. ] 28...h4 This wins at least an exchange and so White opts for a final desperate lunge but after 29.xg7? xf2+ 30.f1 d7 W hite is a rook down with no attack so he resigned. 0-1

Gawain from 2010. ] [ 6.g3!? is seen in Bartel-Popov in this month's update. ] 6...f6 7.0-0 b4?! Anand decides to develop his bishop aggressively but I think he must've underestimated White's plan here as this move quickly backfires. [ 7...bd7 is definitely a more solid option A) 8.d3 d6 A1) 9.d1 0-0 10.b1 is rather peculiar and Black was soon better after b6 ( 10...dxe4 11.dxe4 c7 is also better for Black) 11.d2 e5 12.e2 g6 13.a4 a5 14.b3 dxe4 15.dxe4 f4 with a definite edge to Black in Short, N (2682)-Lafuente, P (2555) Ekurhuleni 2011, although later things went wrong as Black blundered and lost.; A2) 9.d4 dxe4 10.xe4 xe4 11.xe4 f6 12.f3 0-0 13.d1 h6 14.c4 e7 15.b3 a5 16.b2 a3 17.c3 b4 18.b2 a3 19.c3 fd8 and Black chose to play for the win in Hunt, A (2458)-Jones, G (2635) London 2011 but the position was still very equal and the game eventually ended in a draw.; B) 8.d4 dxe4 9.xe4 xe4 10.xe4 f6 11.d3 e7 12.c4 ( 12.d1 0-0 13.a4 a5 14.c3 d5 15.g3 g6 16.d3 h4 17.g4 h5 18.e4 g5 and Black had successfully equalised in Andreikin, D (2723)-Rublevsky, S (2688) 1164 B11 Novosibirsk 2012) 12...0-0 13.e3 c7 14.f3 fd8 McShane,L 2684 B1) 15.ad1 is more accurate I believe Anand,V 2773 when W hite keeps a slight edge after 5th Classic GpA 2013 rapid (1.1) 11.12.2013 d7 ( 15...e5?! 16.f5! ) 16.c2 ad8 [Tom Rendle] 17.a3 although Black is very solid and shouldn't really have too many problems 1.e4 c6 2.f3 d5 3.c3 g4 4.h3 xf3 here.; 5.xf3 e6 6.e2 The Two Knights variation B2) 15.e2 d7 ( 15...e5!? 16.dxe5 might not be known as a fearsome attacking xe5 also looks fine for Black) 16.fd1 weapon against the Caro Kann but it can still ad8 17.a3 e5! 18.dxe5 xe5 be quite dangerous, as we will see the 19.xd7 xd7 and Black went on to opening works out well for McShane in this d ra w wit h o u t d if f icu lt y in A za ro v, S game. W e haven't covered 6.Be2 all that (2 6 6 7 ) - M a t la k o v, M ( 2 6 3 2 ) P l o v d i v much on this site in recent times so this game 2012 ] is a good reason to update some lines! [ 7...e7 8.d3 0-0 9.g3 gives White a [ 6.a3 has previously been played by Luke, pleasant slight edge, f or example bd7 s e e Mc S h a n e -Ha rikrisn a a n n o t a t e d b y 1212

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.h1 dxe4 11.dxe4 e5 ( 11...h8 is a slight improvement but White's chances are still pref erable af ter 12.d1 b8 13.f4! ) 12.h6 e8 13.ad1 c7 14.c1 and Black was rather passive, although still very solid in Valsecchi, A (2412)-Postny, E (2628) Trieste 2013 ( 14.e3 seems a more logical square for the bishop )] [ 7...d4 must also be playable but then after 8.b1 I quite like White's position as he can follow up with d3, Qg3 (or Qg4) followed by a quick f4. Since Black has blocked the centre with 7...d4 it will be difficult for him to obtain counterplay. ] 8.e5! fd7 9.g4 Now the bishop has little choic e but to retre at ba ck t o it's sta rtin g position f8 [ 9...xc3?! only makes matters worse after 10.bxc3 0-0 11.d4 e8 ( 11...h8 12.d3 is very unpleasant to deal with) 12.h6 g6 and White has a clear advantage. ] 10.d4 c5! Black needs counterplay in the centre so this move is more or less essential. 11.g5 b6 12.dxc5 xc5 13.e3 h5!? [ perhaps Black would've been better off playing the simple 13...a5 when White is on ly s ligh tly be tt er, f o r exam ple 14.g3 ( 14.b5!? was possibly what Anand was worried about but Black is still just about OK after xe5 15.g3 bc6 ) 14...a6 15.ad1 c6 and despite not being able to develop the bishop on f8 Black's position remains very solid. ] 14.g3 d4 [ 14...c8 15.b5! leaves Black in a lot of trouble ] 15.e4 h4 [ 15...d5 16.f3 is also better for White after h4 17.h2 xe5 18.f4 f5 19.d6! ] 16.f3 d5 17.c4 xe5 18.f4 [ 18.g5! is even stronger when play should continue f6 19.xb7 dxe3 20.e4 exf2+ 21.xf2 d4 22.d1 b6 23.xa8 f5! the only move that gives any real counterplay 24.c5! ( 24.c3? allows c5 ) 24...xc5 25.c3 and White is the exchange for the pawn up with the better chances. ] 18...f5 19.d3 h5 [ after 19...e5?! 20.xe5 xe5 21.g5!

c7 22.e4 Black is in a great deal of trouble ] 20.f6+! gxf6 21.xb7 White is definitely winning material here but things aren't clear just yet e5? After this Black is losing [ 21...e5! is less clear though with accurate p la y W h it e st ill co m e s o u t a h e a d , e . g . 22.e4! exf4 23.c8+ e7 24.xa8 c5 25.fe1+ d6 26.b7 and despite Black having two knights for a rook White has by far the better coordinated army and has a clear advantage. ] 22.xa8?! [ 22.c8+ e7 23.e4 wins without allowing Black any counterplay, for example g7 24.c5+ e8 25.c7! ( not 25.xa8?? f3+ winn in g th e qu ee n) 25...a6 26.c6+ f8 27.d6+ g8 28.xa8 and White is the exchange up with a great position ] 22...d6 23.c5?! This avoids the main complications and instead heads for an ending that should be better for White but it makes the position much trickier for White to play [ 23.h1! would've avoided the check on f3 and kept a basically winning position although Black can fight on here with 0-0 ] 23...f3+ 24.xf3 xf3 25.gxf3 xf4 26.b4 c6 27.b5 d7 28.fd1 e5 29.a3 f5 Black's central pawns give him reasonable counterplay but it's still White with the better winning chances 30.f1 c7 31.e2? [ 31.d3! was essential to prevent ...e4 although it's tough to break Black down after e7 32.e2 c6 ] 31...e4! 32.fxe4 fxe4 33.xc6?! [ probably W hite should settle for 33.c4 d3+ 34.xd3 exd3+ 35.xd3 when a draw is the most likely result but Black still has to be a bit careful because of W hite's 3-1 majority on the queenside. ] 33...d3+! 34.f1 [ 34.xd3 exd3+ 35.f3?! fails to e5 36.e1 d2! 37.d1 xc6 38.xd2 a5 and Black should win the endgame ] 34...xc6 35.g2 d5 Suddenly White's position is very difficult and very short of time it's almost impossible to defend. 36.g1 e5 37.ad1 g8+ 38.f1 xg1+ 39.xg1 f5 The computer isn't really sure what's going on h e re b u t I su sp e c t W h it e i s a l re a d y lo s t 1213

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 40.g2 d4 41.c6 f4 42.b5 exf4? 13.xf4 c8 14.e5 d5 15.xd5 [ or 42.a4 c7! 43.a5 c3 44.b5 d2! cxd5 16.0-0-0 is extremely strong.) 9.g5 45.b6 axb6 46.a6 e3 47.a7 e2 48.xd2 g8 10.h4 e7 11.h5 b6 12.h3 f8 xd2 49.a8 e1 and although both 13.e2 g6 14.f4 0-0-0 Smirin, I (2647)players get a new queen Black is completely Delchev, A (2625) Guingamp 2010 was winning ] rather unclear but many people wouldn't 42...c7 43.b1 d2 44.f1 d3 45.a4 e3 feel comfortable ceding so much space on 46.fxe3 fxe3 The pawns cannot be stopped the kingside. ] so W hite resigned. A real shame for Luke 6.a3 McShane has tried this slightly offbeat after such a promising start in this game. line before and it's gaining in popularity. 0-1 [ 6.g3 d7 7.g2 gf6 8.d4 dxe4 9.xe4 xe4 10.xe4 g6 ( 10...f6 wa s P o n o m a r i o v' s c h o i c e wh e n W h i t e 1165 B11 should react with 11.d3 ) 11.0-0 g7 is a little better for White with more space McShane,Luke J 2624 and the bishop pair but Black is very solid. In Harikrishna,Penteala 2646 a recent game the top Spaniard got ground Canadian Open (5) 14.07.2010 down. 12.d1 0-0 13.e2 e8 14.e3 [Gawain Jones] f6 15.c4 e7 16.d3 d7 17.ad1 a6 18.f3 e7 19.g2 ad8 20.3d2 h6 1.e4 c6 2.f3 d5 3.c3 g4 4.h3 xf3 21.h4 b4 22.a3 e7 23.b4 a8 24.f4 [ 4...h5 is also possible of course. The e8 25.e3 d6 26.xd6 xd6 27.h5 critical line continues: 5.exd5 cxd5 6.b5+ gxh5 28.d5! and White broke through for a c6 7.g4 g6 8.e5 c8 9.d4 e6 10.h4 concrete edge. Berelowitsch, A (2551)( 10.e2 was Pete Wells' suggestion in his Vallejo Pons, F (2696) Baden-Baden 2010. ] Caro Kann book.) 10...f6 11.xg6 hxg6 [ 6.e2!? was the quiet choice of Nigel Short 12.e3 b4 13.f1 ge7 14.e2 d6 seen above and will be looked at on 15.c3 e5 16.dxe5 fxe5 17.f3 0-0 18.g2 ChessPublishing within the next couple of d7 19.g3 with a very complicated months. ] position. Ibrayev, N (2390)-Sundararajan, K [ 6.d4 would actually transpose to the (2520) Bhubaneswar 2010. ] previous game. ] 5.xf3 e6 This is the preferred move order of [ 6.d3 has been played most often but is Pete W ells as an early ..Nf 6 encourages fairly likely to transpose. ] White to gain space with g2-g4. [ 5...f6 6.d3 ( 6.e2!? dxe4 7.xe4 6...d7 This is a very flexible approach. Black xe4 8.xe4 d5 9.g4 d7 10.0-0 waits for White to commit before developing f6 11.a4 e4 12.xe4 xe4 13.e1 the rest of his army. [ 6...f6 has ideas similar to the game but g6 14.d4 g7 15.f3 f6 16.c4 d8 here White can try the interesting 7.e2!? 17.e3 0-0 18.ad1 e6 19.g4 h6 20.h4 e7 8.d3 d7 9.g3 h5 10.h4 when the fe8 21.g2 d7 22.d5! e5 23.dxc6 position looks like a Kings Indian Attack xf3 24.xf3 bxc6 25.b3 Short, N (2684)where Black's queen is rather suspiciously L'Ami, E (2593) London 2009 saw W hite located. e5 11.g2 d4 A move Black has seamlessly exploiting the advantage of the to be very careful playing. He gains time on b is h o p p a ir a n d t h e n t h a t o f h i s b e t t e r the knight but he'll regret having closed the structure. I remember he won this game very centre and leaving himself with a weak d4 quickly. ) 6...e6 7.a3 ( 7.d2 bd7 8.g4 pawn and allowing White use of c4. 12.b1 g6 9.g3 g7 10.f4 with a promising g6 13.d2 0-0-0 14.0-0 g4 15.e1 attack is given by Wells.) 7...bd7 8.g4 g6 16.b4 g4 17.b3 e5 18.c3 dxc3 d6 ( 8...h6 9.g3 b8 10.f4 dxe4 19.xc3 d6 20.f3 h6 21.d1 g6 11.dxe4 e5 Wantiez, F (2315)-Fridman, D 22.e3 b8 23.d4 and White had a great ( 2 6 5 4 ) C a l e t a 2 0 1 0 w h e n 12.d2 position. Berelowitsch, A (2551)-Rustemov, is a slightly more accurate move order as 1214

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A (2532) Muelheim 2010. ] [ 6...g6 7.d4 g7 8.e3 f6 9.d3 dxe4 10.xe4 xe4 11.xe4 d7 12.c3 0-0 13.0-0 f6 Djukic, N (2495)-Solak, D (2547) Sarajevo 2010 was a tiny bit better for White with his bishop pair. ] 7.d3 [ I n a p r e v i o u s g a m e L u k e t r i e d 7.g3 but he didn't really get anywhere. g6 8.d3 g7 9.g2 e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e2 e8 12.g5 h6 13.d2 b5 14.d1 a5 saw Black start a decent queenside expansion. McShane, L (2615) -W ells, P (2489) Sunningdale 2010. ] 7...c5 8.g3 And this seems to be a novelty. [ In previous games W hite has tried 8.g3 One recent game continued: e7 9.g2 0-0 10.0-0 f5!? 11.e2 g6 12.a4 d4 13.c3 f6 14.c4 dxe4 15.dxe4 f4! 16.gxf4 a5 and Black had a strong initiative. Kotsur, P (2565)-Dreev, A (2653) Tashkent 2010. ] 8...f6! Harikrishna's simple approach seems to find equality easily. His idea is to simply offer the queen trade when White has nothing in a closed position. 9.h4 g6 [ 9...d4 is an alternative approach which would result in more complications. The game could continue: 10.d2 e7 11.f3 0-0 12.0-0-0 h6 13.b1 b5 with a typical battle between kings castled on opposite sides but perhaps it's easier for W hite's attack to progress after 14.h3 although it's very unclear. ] 10.g5 White would prefer to have the semiopen h file himself. [ 10.c7!? is the computer's suggestion to try and sow disharmony in Black's position although to a human such a move seems suspicious as we're afraid our queen will get trap pe d . Ho we ver t his m ove kee ps t h e queens on the board for a while and f6 11.f3 d4 12.d2 e7 13.0-0-0 e5 14.xe5 xe5 15.h5 would be a little better for White. ] [ 10.xg6 hxg6 doesn't promise White anything and 11.g3 f5! leaves Black very comfortably placed. ] 10...e7 [ 10...f6!? immediately is also possible when I guess Luke wanted to respond with

11.f4 when d4 12.d1 e7 13.e3 xe3+ 14.xe3 xg5 15.hxg5 would allow him a position with which he could try to squeeze Black for 100 moves his favourite! ] 11.g3 f6 12.h2 h6 Forcing the exchange of queens when Black has no worries. 13.xf6 xf6 14.f3 h5 15.e2 d6 16.f4 dxe4! 17.dxe4 e5 A useful mechanism to keep in mind. Black forces a concession out of White's position. 18.f5 [ 18.h3 f6 19.c3 c7 is also level. ] 18...f6 19.g2 g4 20.h1 c5 21.f3 e3 22.xe3 If anyone is better here then it's Bla ck a s W hite 's ligh t squ ared bish op is blocked in by his own pawns. A solid showing by Harikrishna and it looks like Luke will have to come up with a different idea to challenge Black's setup. ½-½

1166 McShane,Luke J Shengelia,Davit 17th TCh-Eur (6) [Neil McDonald]

B11 2615 2560 27.10.2009

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d5 3.c3 a6!? [ Th e a t t e m p t t o se ize sp a ce wit h 3...d4 asks too much of the unsupported black centre pawns after 4.e2 c5 5.c3 c6 6.cxd4 cxd4 7.a4! d3 8.f4 and the d3 pawn is doomed. ] 4.h3 Denying Black the chance to ease his game with the Bg4 and Bxf3 exchange. f6?! Shengelia decides to maintain a small pawn centre with the result that he has too many minor pieces and not enough squares for them- see the note to move nine. Therefore a radical change was required with [ 4...d4! 5.e2 c5 which clears c6 for his knight. W hite can try for advantage with 6.g3 ( whereas after 6.c3 c6 7.cxd4 cxd4 Black maintains his centre with a safe game as 8.a4?! fails to b5 etc. Note the value of 3...a6 here in confounding White's plan of attack against d4.) 6...c6 7.c4 e6 8.a4 d6 9.d3 ge7 10.0-0 g6 11.h5 0-0 12.h2 e5 but Black looked secure in Martin Fuentes, A-Paichadze, L/ Fermo ITA 2009. ] 1215

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 5.e5 e4 6.b1! McShane has no wish to unclutter the black position by exchanging knights. b6 It isn't often that Black threatens mate after only six moves. Shengelia wants to provoke 7.d4 so that his knight can stay on e4 unmolested by a pawn, but McShane is having none of it. 7.e2 h6 [ Black can't find a home for his bishop on g6 as if 7...f5 8.g4 g6 ( he should play 8...d7 but then after 9.d3 etc. when the k n i g h t o n b 8 h a s n o m o v e .) 9.e6! a standard type of retarding pawn sacrifice in this opening. fxe6 10.e5 Black's pawns are broken up and his bishop is left imprisoned on f8. ] 8.d3 g5 9.h2! Both white knights run away rather be exchanged off for the wandering black horse. e6 This is a pretty nice square for the knight, but Black's dilemma is that he has one piece too many to accommodate in his cramped quarters. If either his queen's bishop or his knight goes to d7, it leaves the other piece boxed in. Shengelia tries to solve the problem with an ambitious plan to get rid of White's strong e5 pawn, but then his king becomes a target. 10.c3 g5 11.g3 d4 With his last two moves Black has taken measures against W hite supporting his e5 pawn with d3-d4 or f2-f4. 12.g2 d7 [ Black might have cleared the c6 square for his knight and supported his d4 point with 12...c5 It looks risky to open the diagonal of the white bishop on g2, but at least after Nc6 and Bd7 etc. Black would be able to deploy his queenside pieces. ] 13.0-0 g7 14.f3 h5 The logical culmination of Black's plan to isolate the e5 pawn is to force its exchange for the g5 pawn. 15.xg5 xe5 Thus Black succeeds in freeing his game. The problem however is that his king has no where safe to castle. 16.a3 dxc3 [ Black remains uncomfortable after 16...xg5 17.xg5 c5 18.d2!? as if f5? 19.cxd4 xd4 20.c3 d6 21.ae1 f6 22.d4 and White has a strong initiative. ] 17.xe6 xe6 18.bxc3 d8 19.b1 a5 20.d4 d7 21.xb7 xc3? A bad blunder, but Black was already in deep trouble. 22.b2 a5 23.d5 cxd5 24.xg7 g8 25.b2

xg7 26.xg7 xa3 27.f4 c5+ 28.h2 d4 29.e1 c8 30.e5! c2 [ If 30...xe5 it's mate on g8 or h8. ] 31.xh5 f8 32.h8 1-0

1167 Melia,Salome Gilbert,Jessie WYg16 Heraklio (10) [Andrew Martin]

B11 2260 2110 2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.e2!? Previously regarded as no more than a joke, yet Melia finds a good way to bring the W hite position together and avoid existing theory. White will reinforce the centre with c2c3 and look for the best square for the King's Bishop. Gilbert is posed new problems at a very early stage. df6 6.c3 xe4 7.xe4 f6 8.c2 e6!? Perhaps [ 8...g4 is better, attending to the problem Bishop. Play might proceed 9.h3! ( 9.e2 e6 10.h3 xe2 11.xe2 d6= ) 9...h5 10.e2 g6 ( 10...e6 11.f4 g6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.d3 ) 11.b3 ] 9.f3 c7 10.g3! b6 11.g2 And White has an easy edge. In keeping with the tradition of such positions, she clamps down on e5. b7 12.0-0 d6 13.e1 0-0 14.g5 d7 15.ad1 h6 16.c1 c5 The crunch moment has arrived. Black breaks open the position and it's up to W hite to maintain her small advantage. 17.dxc5! xc5 [ 17...xc5 18.f4 c8 19.d2! d8 20.ed1 ] 18.b4 a6 [ 18...d7 19.g5! hxg5 20.xb7 xb7 21.xd6 c7 22.ed1 f6 23.xg5 ] 19.a3?! The only small blemish on an otherwise convincing game. White increases the advantage after [ 19.g5! hxg5 20.xb7 xb7 21.xd6 The horrible of f side Knight, Queenside pawn majority and exposed pawn on g5 mean that Black is suffering. ] 19...fd8 20.c4 ac8 21.d4 e7 [ Black gets tricky after 21...d5 but Gilbert had no time to work out the complications. A h u n t f o r B l a c k' s B is h o p b e gi n s : 22.a4 1216

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc4 23.d2 e2 24.e4 d3 25.4e3 xc1 26.xc1 xc1+ 27.f1 This final pos it io n is u nresolve d bu t W h it e ha s a Queen and Black does not. ] 22.f4 d6 23.xd6! xd6 24.xd6 xd6 25.g5+c7 26.h7+ f8 27.xe6! That's the lot. fxe6 28.xe6+ f7 29.xc7 xc7 30.xb7 xb7 31.f5+ 5 Qe2 could well be underestimated by your o p p o n e n t s - a m o re t h a n u se f u l s u rp ris e weapon. It looks silly, as if White is basing his play on a cheap trick but 2001 W orld U14 Girls Champion Salome Melia shows there's more to it than that! 1-0

1168 Motylev,A Riazantsev,A 15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014 (6.1) [Tom Rendle]

B11 2656 2689 08.03.2014

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 e6 6.d3 f6 7.d2 For a long time I haven't been that much of a fan of the Two Kn igh t s a ga inst t h e Ca ro , e ven th o ugh I played it quite a bit myself. It always seemed Black equalised quite comfortably but this setup with 6.d3 and 7.Bd2 is a bit more testing a s we 've s e e n b e f o re . d6 An unusual response from Riazantsev and I'm not sure it solves all of his problems here [ 7...b4 wasn't at all convincing in PappTomashevsky which I analysed last year ] [ 7...bd7! is probably Black's most solid option and I covered this in detail in my notes to the above game. ] 8.g4!? White follows up in typically aggressive fashion b4 I'm not sure what the point of trying to 'force' White to play g4 was - Black has just lost a tempo. [ 8...fd7 has some logic to it here as well, attempting to take the sting out of g5 ideas by pre-emptively moving the knight but I think White has a couple of ways to achieve an edge nevertheless A) 9.d4! changes the structure but given Black's last move it makes sense to play in t h e c e n t r e b6 10.d3! 0-0 ( 10...xb2? 11.b1 a3 12.b3 a6

13.e3! b5 14.exd5 leaves Black in big trouble ) 11.0-0-0 and White definitely has the better chances here; B) 9.h4 f6 10.xf6 xf6 11.e2 h5 12.g5 fd7 13.f4 f5?! ( 13...d4 14.d1 e5 15.f5 c5 is only slightly better for White ) 14.gxf6! gxf6 15.f3 a6 16.0-0-0 and White had a big space advantage in Kostenko, P (2490)-Roy, P (2194) Mumbai 2009 ] [ 8...b6 was more consistent but I still pref er W hite slightly after 9.0-0-0 d4 ( 9...bd7?! 10.g5 e5 11.e2 fd7 12.exd5 cxd5 13.f4! wins a pawn; or 9...fd7 10.h4! ) 10.e2 c5 11.g5 fd7 12.h4 and White's attack is definitely a bit f a st e r h e re , a lt h o u gh B la ck ca n c a s t l e queenside with c6 13.h3 0-0-0 14.f4 when White is only a little better ] 9.a3 a5 [ 9...xc3 is obviously a concession for Black and indeed White is very comfortable aftter 10.xc3 d4 11.d2 fd7 12.h4! ] 10.g5 fd7 11.d4! 0-0 12.0-0-0 The opening has gone very well for Motylev and Black rightly decides he needs to mix things up quickly but unfortunately he chooses the wrong move to do so e5?! [ 12...c5! was the critical line and now 13.exd5 ( 13.dxc5?! d4 14.e2 xd2+ 15.xd2 c6 is unclear) 13...cxd4 14.b1! xd2+ 15.xd2 exd5 16.xd5 c6 17.g2 c7 and Black's position is very respectable although I'd still rather be White after 18.b1 de5 19.he1 ] 13.dxe5 d4 14.e2 xd2+ 15.xd2 xg5 [ 15...c5 16.g3 c6 17.f4 and Black doesn't really have much for the pawn here ] 16.xd4 xe5?! After this Black has an up h ill ta sk t o de f e n d W hit e 's a tt a c k a n d Motylev expertly keeps up the pressure [ 16...xe5! was a much better chance. White should go for the better ending with 17.f5! an d no w a f t e r e7! ( 17...xf5 18.xf5 b5 19.f4 g6 20.g1! is very unpleasant for Black) 18.f4 c5! ( 18...g6 19.h4! and White's attack is far too strong) 19.xe5 xe5 20.fxe5 cxd4 21.c4! ( 21.xd4 c6 22.d7 ab8 and Black has excellent drawing chances here ) 21...c6 22.e6 fxe6 23.xe6+ h8 1217

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.d5 and Black will drop the d4 pawn Nonetheless White obviously has alternatives. soon enough and be faced with a tricky [ 4.d3 was the choice of another member of endgame to defend ] the English team. dxe4 This move strikes 17.f5 me as odd. Surely d2-d3 is a more useful [ 17.e3! was perhaps a little stronger, for m o ve t h a n . . . a 7 - a 6 in t h e f o rt h c o m i n g example f6 ( or 17...g6 18.f4 e7 19.e5 positions? 5.xe4 f5 6.e2 e6 7.g3 and White is dominating the whole board) e7 8.g2 f6 9.d2 0-0 10.h4 e8 18.f5! xe4?! 19.g5 e8 20.g1 g6 11.0-0-0 bd7 Howell, D (2612) 21.h6+ g7 22.e2 f3 23.f5+ g8 Morchiashvili, B (2345) Rijeka 2010 when 24.e7 with a crushing attack ] I ' d c o n t i n u e 12.f4 when White has good 17...f6 18.g2?! chances to drum up an attack on the [ 18.e3! transposes to the line above ] kingside. ] 18...g6 19.g5 e8?! [ 4.h3 was seen in the archives. A recent [ Black needed to develop with 19...bd7! game continued to follow with f6 5.e5 but W hite retains some advantage after e4 6.e2 ( 6.b1 was played in 20.g2 h8 21.f4 e6 22.d6 ] McShane-Shengelia in the archives.) 6...f5 20.f3 h8 21.g1 g8 Not a move that 7.d3 xc3 8.bxc3 e6 9.b1 c7 10.h4 Riazantsev would've relished playing, it's g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.0-0 d7 13.f4 clear White is winning now 22.d6 xg5 b8 14.d2 e7 and Black was fine. 23.xg5 e7 24.e5! A nice finish from Hussein, A (2373)-Pantsulaia, L (2586) Poti Motylev c7 2010. ] [ 24...xe5 25.xf7+ g7 26.xe5 f6 4...g4 5.h3 Immediately putting the question 27.d8! xe5 28.xg8 is completely to the Black bishop. hopeless for Black ] [ 5.g5!? was tried recently but I prefer the 25.e8 b5 26.f5! game continuation. However White still had [ 26.f5 gxf5 27.g2 h5 28.gxg8+ h7 a small edge after f6 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 29.e5! with Bd3 to follow - Black is dxe4 8.xe4!? ( 8.e3 would be the safe completely tied up here. ] option. ) 8...xe4 ( 8...xd4 is critical 1-0 although W hite has good compensation following 9.xf6 gxf6 10.c3 d5 11.d1 e6 12.e2 with a large lead in 1169 B11 development.) 9.xe4 d5 10.h4 e6 11.d3 h6 12.e3 d7 13.0-0 Murey,Jacob 2415 and White's bishop pair and slight lead in Postny,Evgeny 2648 developed promised him the better chances. TCh-NED 2009-10 (3) 05.02.2010 Mrva, M (2485)-Kreisl, R (2389) Rijeka [Gawain Jones] 2010. ] [ 5.d3 resulted in a rather embarrassing 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 a6!? This strange miniature. e6 6.e2 f6 7.g5 e7 8.0-0 looking move has been seen more and more 0-0 9.h3 h5 10.e5 fd7 11.xe7 xe7 since the Two Knights had its recent 12.e3? ( 12.g4 was necessary although renaissance. Black waits for White to commit it's obvious Black is doing quite well. ...a6 to a setup. I think another point is that Black will come in handy when Black breaks wit ... defends b5 so that exd5 isn't a problem when c6-c5. ) 12...xf3! 13.xf3 c5 14.e2 Black drops the bishop back to h5. and White resigned before seeing 14...c4. [ For example the line 3...g4 4.h3 h5 0-1 Paulet, I (2261)-Lupulescu, C (2593) 5.exd5 cxd5 6.b5+ c6 7.g4 g6 Eforie Nord 2010. ] 8.e5 is extremely complicated and I notice [ However 5.e3 worked much better. e6 most players choose to avoid this. ] 6.d3 f6 7.h3 h5 8.a3 g6 9.e5 fd7 4.d4 This move makes sense, especially 10.xg6 hxg6 11.0-0 c5 12.e2 cxd4 coupled with the game Satyapragyan13.xd4 c6 14.c4!? dxc4 15.c2 c8 Kha mra kulov see n e arlier in th e u pda te . 1218

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.ad1 e7 ( Defending the pawn with 16...b5 must be critical although White can complicate the position with 17.f4 e7 18.xg6! fxg6 19.xg6+ f8 20.xe6 with chaos.) 17.xc4 0-0 18.a2 c7 19.f4 xd4? Underestimating the pressure on e6. 20.xd4 c5?! 21.dxe6! fxe6 22.xe6 xe6 23.xe6+ f7 24.d7 xd7 25.xd7 d8 26.xb7 c5 27.xa6 h7 28.c4 saw Jan Werle's girlfriend making up for the previous note and defeating a GM. Paulet, I (2261)-Nanu, C (2515) Eforie Nord 2010. ] 5...h5 [ 5...xf3 was seen in Robson-Jobava in the archives. I wonder if 6.gxf3!? is completely out of the question, ugly as it may be. ] 6.g4!? Very aggressive play by Murey who follows the same style as the position without ... a6 and d4. [ Instead 6.e2 has been more common. e6 7.0-0 f6 ( 7...d7 8.f4 g6 9.d3 b4 10.exd5 exd5 11.xg6 hxg6 favoured White as Black's king safety will be a major issue. Yemelin, V (2578)-Doric, D (2477) Budva 2009.) 8.e5 xe2 9.xe2 e7 10.d1 0-0 11.a3 bd7 12.f4 e8 an d B la ck h a d equ a lised . S o u le id is, G (2429)-Gustafsson, J (2622) Emsdetten 2010. ] 6...g6 7.e5 xe4 8.xe4 [ 8.f3!? also looks quite promising. g6 ( 8...f6 9.xc6 xc6 10.fxe4 dxe4 11.d5 e5 12.e2 would reach a crazy position but one in which I quite like White.) 9.h4 f6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.d3 g5 12.g6+ d7 13.e2 e6 14.f7 e7 15.xg8 xg8 16.hxg5 fxg5 17.d2 left White with good compensation for the pawn as g5 is rather vulnerable and Black's king will take a few moves to find safety. Szelag, M (2478)Urban, K (2489) Legnica 2007. ] 8...dxe4 9.g2 d7 10.c4 The first new move. [ 10.d2 e6 11.e2 gf6 12.0-0-0 c7 13.xd7 xd7 14.xe4 f6 15.e3 d5 wa s a l r e a d y a g r e e d d r a w n i n W a l l , G (2305)-Speelman, J (2491) Sunningdale 2008. ] 10...gf6 [ I w o n d e r i f 10...b6 might be a better

defensive try, with the idea to go long with the Black monarch. 11.xb6 ( 11.e5?! f6 traps the knight.) 11...xb6 12.xe4 f6 13.g2 0-0-0 14.g5! still favours White. ] 11.g5 d5 12.xe4 So White has regained his pawn and now the argument centres over whether White's kingside pawn push will turn ou t t o b e a b e n ef it co n t rollin g im p ort a n t squares and dissuading Black from castling short or a weakness having ceded control over f4 and f5. In the game Murey does well to make it look like a positive against a very strong GM. e6 13.f3 [ 13.d2!? is also possible, with the idea b5 14.a5 b6 15.b3 d6 16.a5 b7 17.d3 with a slight advantage. ] 13...b5 14.e3 b4+ 15.c3 e7 Postny decides he doesn't want to give up two pieces for the rook and two pawns but this condemns him to an unpleasant defensive task which Murey exploits mercilessly. [ 15...xc3 16.bxc3 xc3+ 17.d2 xa1 18.c2 b2 19.b3 traps the bishop and leaves a position which is difficult to assess. On pure material count Black is slightly ahead but I think the bishop pair are likely to be very effective here and would definitely prefer to take the White pieces. ] 16.h4 Postny now has the issue that he doesn't really want to castle kingside with W hite's pieces ready to pounce and so he must play with his king in the centre. c8 17.g1 [ 17.a4!? is an interesting positional try. ] [ While if I were White I would be quite anxious to castle fairly quickly and so would probably play 17.d2 but maybe Murey was co n ce rne d t h a t B la ck wou ld b e a b le t o attack quickly. ] 17...7b6 18.g4! The knight eyes the e5 square. d6 Not a move Black wants to play as now White can continue to steamroll his pawns. [ However 18...c5 19.e5! is extremely awkward to deal with, e.g. 0-0 20.xh7+! xh7 21.xf7 when White has a huge attack. ] 19.h5 c7 20.e3 [ 20.h6 was an alternative way of playing although g6 21.f6+ xf6 22.xf6 f8 23.f3 d5 is solid enough for Black. ] 1219

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20...g6?! This is probably the losing mistake Lenderman but White had a slight edge after as W hite can now infiltrate Black's camp. 8.e2 g4 9.g3! ) 8.c4 d6 However the position is rather difficult to play. followed by swiftly castling on the kingside. The computer keeps wanting to castle ( not 8...e4+? 9.xe4 xe4 10.xf7+! kingside but I can assure you that's not a xf7 11.g5+ g6 12.xe4 )] good idea here. 21.h1! g8 22.g4 5...exf6 6.c4 g4?! In my view this is [ 22.hxg6 hxg6 23.h7 also looks very slightly premature as Black should concentrate strong. ] of first getting castled 22...gxh5 23.xh5 g7 24.f6+ xf6 [ 6...d6 7.0-0 ( 7.e2+ e7 8.xe7+ 25.xf6 f8 26.f4 e7? And this simply xe7 is at best minimally better for White loses. but realistically the game is already very [ 26...b7 was necessary so as to be able to drawish ) 7...0-0 8.d4 d7 9.b3 ( 9.e1 counter 27.e5 with d7 although White is e8 10.xe8+ xe8 11.d3 f8 12.d2 still clearly better following 28.f3 xe5 e6 13.e1 d7 Black has already 29.dxe5 b4 30.0-0-0 e7 31.g6! ] equalised - this is basically the setup with a 27.e5! Black is losing at least the exchange quick ...Re8, ...Nf8 and ...Be6 that I think he by force. g6 28.xe7+ xe7 29.f4!? should adopt, rather than the early ...Bg4?! [ 29.xg6 hxg6 30.h8+ d7 31.xc8 14.a4 d8 15.b3 b6 16.b4 xb4 xc8 32.f4 leaves White a clear exchange 17.xb4 g6 18.xe6 fxe6 19.a5 b5 up but perhaps Postny was dreaming of 20.c5 f8 21.b3 c7 22.a3 d5 holding this endgame. ] 23.b4 d6 24.b3 g6 25.c4 bxc4 29...f5 Black's rook has only temporary respite 26.xc4 e7 27.h3 f7 28.b1 f5 as it will have to sacrifice itself to stop the g 29.b5 cxb5 30.xb5 xb5 31.xb5 a6 pawn. 30.f3 d7 31.xh7 d5 32.f2 32.b7+ e7 33.b1 1/2-1/2 Stevic, H gg8 33.ah1 a5 34.1h6 cf8 35.h5 (2624)-Hansen, L (2574) Novi Sad 2009) A well played game by the senior Israeli GM 9...e8 10.e3 f8 11.c4 g4?! ( after and Black has to watch out for this direct 11...g6 Black has safely equalised and can approach. even consider aggressive play with ...Bc7 1-0 and ...Qd6 if he chooses) 12.h3 f5 13.c5! c7 14.d5 cxd5 15.xd5 e7?? A very strange blunder 16.xf5 1-0 Short, N 1170 B11 (2692) -Siemer, T (2046) Puhajarve 2012 ] Naiditsch,A 2706 7.0-0 e7 8.h3 h5 There's no reason to Ezat,M 2439 trade the bishop on f3 but now Black always N1 Reykjavik Open 2014 (3.1) 05.03.2014 has to be careful of g4!? ideas from Naiditsch 9.e1 0-0 10.d4 d6 11.g4! g6 12.h4 [Tom Rendle] Excellent timing from Naiditsch - he safely 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 grabs the two bishops and Black isn't in a I've always found this line somewhat tricky to position to punish his weakened kingside. face when I've played the two knights - Black O ve r a l l I ' d s a y t h e o p e n i n g h a s b e e n a 13.b3 c7 gets a very solid position and it somehow su c c e s s f o r W h i t e d7 feels difficult for White to make progress in a 14.xg6 hxg6 15.f3 fe8 16.d2 f8 Far from g4 turning out to be a lot of positions, so it's interesting to see how 17.h4! Naiditsch chooses to handle the position weakness it's even helping in a White attack. White can also consider Kg2 and Rh1 in a lot against a lower rated opponent. 5.xf6+ [ 5.e2 is the other key line and it was of positions if the h-file is going to open up. 18.e4 c5 Ezat wants come a n a l y s e d b y D a n n y G o r m a l l y i n e6 Nepomniachtchi-Andreikin and Areshchenko- counterplay but Naiditsch calmly defends the Lenderman. I feel Black's best chance of centre 19.c3! cxd4 20.cxd4 d7 21.ae1 equalising here is xe4 6.xe4 d5 The position is very easy for White right now 7.h4 f5 ( 7...e6+ was chosen by c7 22.h5! With all his pieces on their best 1220

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 squares White goes for the kill on the kingside xe4 23.xe4 f5?! Under a lot of pressure Ezat makes a small mistake that could almost cost him the game but things are about to take a twist... [ 23...g5 was best but White still enjoys a c l e a r a d v a n t a g e , f o r e x a m p l e 24.h6 ( 24.c2!? also looks very dangerous, eying up the h7 square) 24...c8 25.g2 gxh6 26.xf6 f8 27.f3 and Black is still suffering here ] 24.hxg6 fxe4 25.xf7+? A big mistake from Naiditsch and suddenly all three results are possible again [ 25.gxf7+! f8 26.h3 was the right way to do it, with the crushing threat of Qh8+ followed by Qxg7. Black must defend with e6! but after 27.h8+ xf7 28.xa8 g6 29.h8 f4 30.d1! White is simply a pawn up with a good position and should go on to win ] 25...f8 26.h3 e6 27.d5 [ 27.h8+ now only leads to a draw because after e7 28.xa8 f4 White can no longer defend g4 so Black gets a perpetual check, e.g. 29.xf4 xg4+ 30.g3 d1+ 31.h2 h5+ 32.g2 f3+ 33.g1 d1+ 34.g2 f3+= ] 27...f4 28.xf4 xf4 29.e6 a4! 30.h8+ e7 31.xg7+? Obviously frustrated Naiditsch decides not to allow a draw but it's a risky too far and suddenly he's in a lot of trouble [ White now has to settle for the draw with 31.xa8 d1+ 32.g2 f3+ 33.f1 d1+ 34.g2 f3+= ] 31...d6 32.b3 [ or 32.xb7 d1+ 33.g2 f3+ 34.f1 d2! 35.g1 ( 35.xa8?? allows h1+ 36.e2 e1# ) 35...e1 36.c6+ e5 37.c5 e3 38.xe3+ xe3 39.fxe3 f6 and despite having 5 pawns for the rook White is lost here ] 32...b4 33.f5?! [ 33.c8 was the last chance but Black should still win after xc8 34.f6+ c5! ( 34...xd5? 35.f5+ ) 35.xf4 e1+ 36.g2 d1! ] 33...e1+ 34.g2 e3! It's all over - White has a few checks but no more 35.f6+ c5 36.e7+ b6 37.f6+ a5 38.b4+ xb4

White is out of checks and suddenly he's just a rook down 0-1

1171 Nepomniachtchi,Ian Andreikin,Dmitry Moscow friendly m rap rapid (1) [Danny Gormally]

B11 2707 2723 05.11.2012

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d5 3.c3 dxe4 [ 3...g4 is the main alternative. ] 4.xe4 f6 5.e2! This keeps the tension in the center. [ 5.xf6+ exf6 Is kind of what Black wants, as then he can get easy development with ... Bd6 etc. ] 5...g4 [ 5...xe4 6.xe4 d5 7.h4! is seen in Areshch en ko , A (2 71 0) -L en de rma n, A (2614)/St Petersburg 2012. ] 6.h3 xf3 [ 6...h5! I think is superior, as this does not clarify the position so much. 7.g3 g6 8.e5 bd7 9.d4 could still lead to an edge for White, though. ] 7.xf6+ gxf6 8.xf3 e6 9.c3 d5?! As Black is likely to suffer in any case, he decides to sac a pawn to try and generate some play, but it is doubtful that he will gain enough comp for it. [ 9...d7 10.d4 d6 ( 10...f5 11.g4! ) 11.d3 gives White a very nice edge. ] 10.xf6 e4+ 11.d1 g8 12.d3?! [ 12.d4! d7 13.f4 g6 14.e3 0-0-0 15.g4! gives White a clear edge. ] 12...d5? far too tame. [ 12...a4+! would have justified his pawn sac. 13.e1 ( 13.b3? a5 is even better for Black. as ...Bg7 is coming) 13...d7 14.f3 d6 and as White hasn't sorted out his de ve lop men t yet , B la ck cle arly ha s action for the pawn. ] 13.h4! d7 14.c2 e7 15.e4! Effectively W hite is just winning now. Black has no compensation for the pawn and the t w o b i s h o p s w i l l e v e n t u a l l y r u l e . xe4 16.dxe4 c5 17.f3 e5 18.f4 g6 19.g4 0-0-0 20.e2 h4 21.b4 b6 22.a4 g2 23.f3 h4 24.f1 f5 25.a5 c7 26.e2 1221

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 de8 27.e5 a6 28.e3 ef8 29.g1 d8 30.g5 h8 31.ad1 g6 32.c4 e8 33.d6 f8 34.h4 c7 35.d2 g8 36.h5 g7 37.dg2 d8 38.b3 e7 39.g6 hxg6 40.xg6 xg6 41.xe6+ b8 42.hxg6 c5 43.xc5 xe6 44.g5 exg6 45.xf5 g8 46.f7 e6 47.f5 1-0

1172 Nevednichy,Vladislav Iordachescu,Viorel Victor Ciocaltea Mem (1) [Nigel Davies]

B11 2563 2578 04.03.2001

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 The two Knights variation had its heyday in the 1950s and 60s but may well deserve reviving. In this game White adopts an interesting gambit line which certainly offers plenty of chances. g4 4.h3 xf3 [ After 4...h5 White no doubt intended 5.d4 ( 5.exd5 cxd5 6.b5+ is the main line which has long since had its teeth drawn) 5...dxe4 6.xe4 xf3 7.xf3 xd4 with an extra tempo (Black hasn't played ... e6) compared to the game ] 5.xf3 [ 5.gxf3 has had a poor reputation since Tal got a bad game with the move in his 1960 match against Botvinnik. But in his book on the match Tal commented that after e6 6.d4 d7 it would have been much better to play 7.e3 followed by Qd2 and 0-0-0 rather than his mistaken 7 Bf4. In any case this deserves further tests as W hite has the bishop pair and a very strong centre. ] 5...e6 6.d4 dxe4 7.xe4 [ 7.xe4 is more common as the text involves a pawn sacrifice. Nevertheless it seems that W hite gets quite good compensation. ] 7...xd4 8.d3 f6 9.c3?! [ In my view White should aim to castle long and 9.e3 d8 ( 9...xb2 is the book 'recommendation' which takes the view that White has inadequate compensation for the pawns. Butafter 10.0-0 I would not want to touch Black's position with a very long barge pole - W hite has a massive lead in

d e ve l o p m e n t a n d p le n t y o f o p e n f i l e s) 10.0-0-0 seems much more to the point. The brilliant game Boleslavsky - Flohr, Moscow 1950 continued bd7 11.c4 a5 12.d2 b6 13.he1 xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.xe6!! with White going on to win brilliantly. ] 9...d8 10.0-0 bd7 11.f4 xe4 [ 11...c5 may be better as after 12.ad1 cxe4 13.xe4 b6 White does not have f 3 ava ilable as a ret rea t squ are f or his bishop. ] 12.xe4 b6 13.g3 f6 14.f3 A nice post for the bishop as it stops Black's knight coming to h5. e7 15.e3 a6 16.xg7 g8 17.h6 g6 18.h4 0-0-0 19.fd1 d5 20.xh7 [ 20.xd5 cxd5 21.xh7 would win a pawn without allowing opposite coloured bishops, but after dg8 Black has a massive attack along the g-file. ] 20...xe3 21.fxe3 f8 So White wins a pawn but it proves difficult to win the game. Black has enough initiative to persuade White to allow the major pieces to come off. 22.h1 b5 23.h5 g5 24.e4 h6 25.f3 f6 26.g3 c5 27.d4 h6 28.ad1 h4 29.g7 hh8 30.4d3 e7 31.f3 hg8 32.d4 d8 33.f4 xd3 34.xd3 f8 35.e4 f2 36.e3 f1+ 37.h2 d8 38.xd8+ xd8 39.e2 c7+ 40.g3 xe2+ 41.xe2 d7 42.h4 e7 43.g2 f5 44.f3 e5 45.d3 f6 46.exf5 exf5 47.g4 fxg4+ 48.xg4 b5 49.h5 ½-½

1173 Papp,Ga Tomashevsky,E 14th Euro Indiv 2013 (6.36) [Tom Rendle]

B11 2570 2719 10.05.2013

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 f6 6.d3 [ 6.e2 is a fashionable alternative and was last examined in the archives in the game Ibragimov-Dreev. ] 6...e6 7.d2 This is quite an aggressive setup for White within the two knights variation. The idea is to castle queenside and play a quick 1222

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g2-g4 and it's by no means easy for Black to face. b4 I'm not convinced by this move, perhaps Black is OK here but given that the line shouldn't be dangerous I don't think it's a wise choice. [ 7...bd7! is more solid and now White has a choice: A) 8.0-0-0 b4 ( 8...b5!? 9.g4 b4 10.e2 c5 11.g5 fd7 12.h4 e7 13.h3 and White's attack was slightly faster in Gunnarsson, J (2368)-Speelman, J (2623) Istanbul 2000; 8...b6 9.g4 h6!? is also worth checking although 10.g3 still gives W hite some chances for an edge. ) 9.a3 a5 10.g3 is awkward for Black although it might be OK after g6 11.e5 d4 12.e2 xd2+ 13.xd2 h5 14.h2 c7 15.f4 c5; B) 8.g4 B1) 8...b4 B1a) 9.0-0-0 d4 10.b1 xd2+ 11.xd2 c5 ( 11...c7! gains crucial control over the kingside dark squares and seems to equalise after 12.g5 e5 13.e2 fd7 14.h4 g6 ) 12.f4 ( 12.g3!? ) 12...fd7 13.e5 f6?! ( 13...f8 offered good chances for equality.) 14.xd4 fxe5 15.e3 and Black's doubled pawns gave W hite the advantage in Demchenko, A (2627)-Vidit, S (2546) Moscow 2013; B1b) 9.g5! g8 10.d4 a5 B1b1) 11.exd5! is critical here xc3 ( or 11...cxd5 12.a3 e7 13.0-0-0 xc3 14.xc3 b6 15.h4 and White has a definite initiative.) 12.bxc3 xd5 13.xd5 cxd5 14.c4!? opens the position up for the two bishops and offers a slight advantage to White; B1b2) 11.h4 e7 12.a3 dxe4 13.xe4 d5 14.h3 xc3 15.bxc3 e7 16.b1 b6 17.c4 f5 18.g2 c8 19.e2 g6 20.d3 1 / 2 -1 / 2 V a lle jo P o n s, F ( 2 7 0 7 ) Iordachescu, V (2626) Aix-les-Bains 2011; B2) 8...h6 is unconvincing here after 9.0-0-0 d6 10.h4 b6 11.g5 hxg5?! ( 11...e5 12.g2 hxg5 13.hxg5 xh1

14.xh1 fg4 at least gives Black some counterplay although White is still better after 15.h8+ f8 16.exd5 cxd5 17.d4! ) 12.hxg5 xh1 13.xh1 g4 14.e2 xf2 15.h8+ f8 16.f1 0-0-0 17.h4 c5?! 18.a4 a6 19.xc5 xc5 20.xf2 and White was a piece up a nd soon won in Saric, I (2609)-Zelcic, R (2538) Marija Bistrica 2011; B3) 8...d4 9.e2 b6 10.b1 ( 10.0-0-0! h6 11.h4 seems a much m o r e c r i t i c a l t e s t o f B l a c k ' s s e t u p) 10...h6 11.g3 g5!? ( 11...0-0-0 is about equal) 12.g2 h5 13.0-0 hxg4 14.hxg4 c5 was very unclear in Short, N (2698)-Motylev, A (2658) Poikovsky 2012 ] 8.a3 a5 [ 8...d6 is also an option but then why play 7...Bb4? W hite is a little better after 9.d4 dxe4 10.xe4 xe4 11.xe4 d7 12.0-0-0 ] 9.e5! d4 [ 9...fd7 10.g3 g6 11.h4!? is slightly unpleasant for Black ] 10.exf6 dxc3 11.bxc3! xf6 12.xf6 gxf6 13.b1 b6 So an early endgame has been reached and at first it seems fairly equal but I actually believe it's rather uncomfortable for Black - the bishop on a5 in particular is rather misplaced. The game rather bears this out as Papp wins in instructive style despite the rating gap of over 100 points. [ 13...b6 seems natural but after 14.e2 ( 14.a4!? ) 14...d7 15.0-0 0-0-0 16.b3 Black is still worse. ] 14.g3 d7 15.g2 c8 16.d1?! A rather odd move, perhaps aiming to put the king on b2. [ 16.e2 makes more sense here and now c5 17.d4 a4 18.c4 c3+ 19.xc3 xc3 comes close to equalising for Black but it's still tricky after 20.d3 a5 21.c3 as the bishop is rather out of the game on a5. ] [ 16.a4 also keeps an edge and prevents Black's plan of Nc5-a4 as ...Nc5 can now be met by Ra1. ] 16...c5 17.c4 xd2 18.xd2 e7 19.a4 hd8 20.a5 d7?! An inaccuracy from 1223

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Tomashevsky although understandably he wanted to keep his pawn structure intact but now White is able to press for the win with no risk. [ 20...bxa5 looks a little ugly but Black should hold a draw fairly comfortably after 21.he1 a4 22.c3 e5 23.f4 d6 ] 21.axb6 axb6 22.a1 c7 23.a6 dc8 24.ha1 f5 25.a8 d6 26.e3 xa8 27.xa8 b5 [ it was probably best to just sit tight with 27...f6 although White can slowly improve his position with c3 and d4. ] 28.cxb5 cxb5 29.d2 c5 30.f4 b4 31.f3 b5 32.g4! fxg4 [ 32...e5 33.e8! exf4 34.e7 is strong ] 33.hxg4 f5 34.gxf5 exf5 35.h8 c5 36.b8+ a5 37.a8+ b5 38.d5! The bishop comes into the game and rather overpowers the knight. Black still has good drawing chances but it's very tough to defend as th ere 's n o e nd in sight f o r B la ck. d7 39.e6 c5 40.c4+ [ 40.xf5?! f7 41.h3 xf4 and Black should draw without too much difficulty ] 40...b6 41.b8+ b7 42.d5?! [ 42.e6! c5 43.c8 c7 44.xb7+ xc8 45.xb4 would've won a pawn immediately although the ending is by no means trivial to win for White. ] 42...a7 43.f8 d6 44.f6 b5! 45.xf5 xc2+ 46.xc2 d4+ 47.b2 xf5 48.e4 d4 49.xh7 b6 Despite White's extra pawn Black is very close to drawing here 50.f5 c7 51.f6 d6 52.g8 d7 53.c4 d6 54.c1 f3 55.d1 d4?! [ 55...h2! draws immediately after 56.f7 e7 57.c2 g4 58.b3 e5 59.xb4 ( 59.d4 f3 60.d5 xf7 61.d6+ e8 62.xb4 d4 is a simple draw) 59...xd3+! 60.xd3 xf7 ] 56.d2 e6?? A tragic blunder from Tomashevsky just as he had the draw in hand. [ 56...f3+ is still good enough to draw, e.g. 57.e3 e5 58.e4 xc4 59.dxc4 e6= ] 57.f7 f8 58.d4 The pawn on b4 is now dropping and with it Black's remaining chances disappear. e7 59.c2 g6 60.b3 h4 61.xb4 f3 62.c5 g5 63.d5 h3 64.e6 g5 65.d5 h7

66.c6 f8 1-0

1174 Parligras,Mircea Svetushkin,Dmitry Spring Festival GM, ROM (12) [Andrew Martin]

B11 2495 2540 2003

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 How exactly does Black equalise against the Two Knights variation? That was the (unanswered) question at the forum recently. Theoretical manuals certainly don't think much of White's system- there you will find all manner of lines leading to equality or more. Over the board, it's not so simple. W hite's system is fully playable, complex, based on common sense development and deserves respect. The Two K n i g h t s va ri a t i o n s e e m s t o b e a d e c e n t practical weapon. 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 e6 A bit more flexible than 5.. .Nf6, although it does allow W hite's next move which I think was an original suggestion of Keres. 6.d4!? Two very recent games suggest that Black is doing well in other lines: [ 6.g3 d7 7.g2 gf6 8.d4!? He finds a reason for delaying d2-d3. dxe4 9.xe4 xe4 10.xe4 f6 11.e3 d5 12.e2 b4+!= A nice touch, forcing a further exchange. 13.d2 ( 13.c3 xc3 ) 13...xd2+ 14.xd2 0-0 15.0-0 b6 16.c4 e7 17.fd1 ad8 White cannot be better. His Bishop bites on granite and the d4 pawn hangs in the air. Time to think of d4d5 and the impending draw IF that move can be played . 18.c3 d7! 19.d2 fd8! 20.ad1 g6 21.b3 a5 22.e4 b4! Restraint complete. The rest of the game is a masterly display of technique. 23.e3 a4 24.h4 axb3 25.axb3 b5 26.h5 bxc4 27.bxc4 xc4 28.h6 d5 Very good Knight versus useless Bishop! 29.f3 b4 30.c2 f8 31.g2 xh6 32.xc6 e7 33.c4 g5 34.dc1 xd4 35.c7 4d7 36.7c5 d5 37.xd5 xd5 38.c7 f5 39.c3 d2 0-1 De la Riva Aguado, OPonomariov, R/Andorra 2003 The sort of game that gives the Two Knights Variation a bad name. White obtained only a nominal 1224

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 advantage out of the opening which quickly disappeared and he was then ruthlessly ground down. ] [ 6.d3 f6 7.d2 e7 8.g4 fd7 9.0-0-0 a6 10.g3 d4 11.e2 b6 12.g5 0-0-0 13.h4 dc5 14.h3 That's the ishop Black cannot oppose but the question remains whether this is useful piece or not. As the central pawn structure stands I much prefer the Black Knights. c7 15.b1 a4 16.b3 b5! 17.e5 d6 18.xg7 a3+ 19.c1 c5 20.c4 dxc3 21.xc3 ( 21.e3 White was probably relaying on this move b u t B l a c k h a s a c r u s h i n g r i p o s t e : a5 22.bxa4 b5!! 23.df1 xa4 24.xc3 a3+ 25.d2 b4 26.e2 xc3 ) 21...xc3 22.xc3 xf2 23.de1 b5 24.c4 e3+ 25.b2 e5+ 26.d4 xd4 27.xd4 xd4+ 28.c2 a3+ 0-1 Ragger, M-Lenic, L/11th Vasja Pirc Mem, Maribor SLO 2003 Note the Bishop on h3, observing. ] 6...f6 7.d3!? A known pawn sacrifice offering Blackmar-Diemer gambit-like compensation. Open lines and momentum are garnered for the minimal material risk. dxe4 8.xe4 xd4 [ Perhaps simply declining the pawn with 8...bd7 is safer, although White has two good Bishops and a definite pull. ] 9.e3 d8 10.0-0-0 It's dangerous. bd7 Svetushkin wants to retain as many options as possible. W ho knows, he may want to castle long! The alternative was simply [ 10...xe4 11.xe4 a5 12.b1 e7 although castling short is fraught with risk: 13.d2 ( 13.d4! This move I like. 0-0 14.g3 g6 15.c3 b4 16.f6 e8 17.h4 ) 13...c7 14.c3 0-0 ] 11.b1 xe4 12.xe4 c7 13.f4 c8 Odd-looking, until you see the exchange sacrifice on d7: [ 13...b6 14.xd7 Worrying, to say the least. xd7 15.e3 b4 16.xf7+ e7 17.d1+ c8 18.h5 g6 19.xg6 g7 20.d3 Maybe this isn't winning for White, but not even a strong Grandmaster could judge the eventual consequences of this position with any accuracy several moves before. ] 14.g4 e7 15.g5 e5? Counterplay at any

cost, although this is a very risky, not to say foolhardy procedure. I think Black should bite the bullet and castle e.g. [ 15...c5 16.h4 xe4 ( 16...0-0 17.h5 f5 18.gxf6 xf6 19.e3 f8 ) 17.xe4 0-0 18.h5 ] 16.f5! Ouch! exf4 17.xd7+ xd7 18.xd7 xd7 19.xf4 ae8 20.xf7-+ g6 21.a3 h6 22.gxh6 hf8 23.xg6 Too easy. A mop-up follows. f6 24.h7 b5 25.d1+ c7 26.d3 e6 27.h8 The jury has not received conclusive proof that the Two Knights variation is redundant. The pawn sacrifice displayed in this game se e m s p o si t ive l y vi b ra n t a n d we ll wo r t h playing. 1-0

1175 Petrosian,Tigran L Prohaszka,P2 13th EICC Plovdiv BUL (9.36) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B11 2643 2553 29.03.2012

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 a6 A sideline that's seen from time to time when Black wa n t s t o avo id t h e ma in lin e s o f t he T wo Knights. The main point can be seen after 4.d4 g4 5.h3 h5 Here White's usual treatment is to capture on d5 followed by Bb5+ which of course is impossible. However Petrosian (as Murey did in a previous update) highlights a flaw in Black's strategy. 6.g4 g6 7.e5 This looks critical. [ White has also tried 7.exd5 cxd5 8.e5 as was played in Vorobiov, E (2565)-Maletin, P (2621) St Petersburg 2010. This does a l l o w B l a c k c6 however. The game continued 9.h4 xe5 10.dxe5 h5 11.xd5 xd5 12.xd5 0-0-0 13.g2 ( 13.f4 e4 14.g1 hxg4 15.e6! looks a better try f o r a n e d g e .) 13...hxg4 14.d2 e6 15.b6+ c7?! ( 15...b8 looks safer to me. 16.0-0-0 c5 17.a5 xd1+ 18.xd1 xb6 19.xb6 e7 20.d7 c6 and Black should hold.) 16.a5 b8 17.0-0 c5 18.fd1 xd1+ 19.xd1 xb6 20.xb6 e7 21.d7 d5 22.c4?! ( With 22.xd5 exd5 23.h2 White could continue pressing without risk as the Black 1225

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 rook is condemned to passivity.) 22...c8! 23.d6 and a draw was agreed. ] 7...xe4 And again taking the pawn must be the acid test. [ In a high rated encounter Black declined the pawn with 7...e6 8.xg6 ( 8.exd5 cxd5 9.h4 looks quite promising.) 8...hxg6 9.g2 f6 10.e5 fd7 11.e2 c5 12.c4 dxc4 13.xb7 a7 14.g2 cxd4 15.xd4 Bologan, V (2678)-Berkes, F (2693) Paks 2011 that resulted in a messy position in which W hite probably has the better chance s alth ough B lack was ult imately successful. ] 8.xe4 [ Previously Gawain suggested tha t 8.f3 might be a promising alternative and we've seen another example since. g6 ( He gave 8...f6 9.xc6 xc6 10.fxe4 dxe4 11.d5 e5 12.e2 as reaching a crazy position but one in which I quite like White.) 9.h4 f6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.d3!? A new try. ( 11.d3 g5 12.g6+ d7 13.e2 e6 14.f7 e7 15.xg8 xg8 16.hxg5 fxg5 17.d2 left White with good compensation for the pawn as g5 is rather vulnerable and Black's king will take a few moves to f ind s af ety. Sze lag, M (247 8)-Urban, K (2489) Legnica 2007.) 11...g5 12.d2 f7 13.h5 e6 14.g6+ e7 Computers really like W hite here and he certainly has very good compensation for the pawn but the position is highly complex. In Veszpremi, A (2256)-Medvegy, Z (2531) Decs 2011 Black managed to untangle and eventually converted against his lower rated opponent. ] 8...dxe4 9.c3 The first new move and a very logical one at that. W hite supports the d4 pawn and prepares his next. [ 9.g2 Murey, J (2415)-Postny, E (2648) Netherlands 2010 is seen in the archives. ] 9...d7?! It's natural to wish to exchange off White's dominant knight but Black's position now becomes really lousy. [ Instead he should probably prefer 9...e6 although 10.b3 c8 11.g2 d7 and now either 12.xe4 ( or 12.f4 gf6 13.g3 ) 12...gf6 13.g2 look more comfortable for White. ] 10.b3 xe5 11.dxe5 b5

Black's alternatives don't really help. [ 11...d7 12.e6! xe6 ( 12...fxe6 13.g5 is very similar to th e game .) 13.c4 is already decisive. ] [ Likewise 11...c8 12.e6! is good for White. ] 12.e6! A thematic push in the Caro-Kann and very strong here. At the cost (of a temporary) p a wn W h i t e d e s t r o ys B l a c k ' s s t r u c t u r e , weakens his king and gives him grave problems with his development. [ The computer suggests another path with 12.a4 which also favours White. Its idea can b e se e n f o ll o win g e6 13.axb5 axb5 14.xb5! when Black cannot take either piece. Therefore White picks up a pawn and has the better chances although Black can fight on after e7 15.xa8 xa8 16.e2 d5 ] 12...fxe6 There's not much else Black can do. [ I'm sure Prohaszka would have liked to try 12...d5 but 13.g2 f5 ( 13...fxe6 14.c2 ) 14.xd5 cxd5 15.gxf5 h6 16.a4! bxa4 17.c4! is also pretty terrible for the second player. ] 13.a4 Opening up the queenside. [ The immediate 13.g5!? was also possible as d5 14.c4 looks very pleasant. ] 13...e5 As taking the pawn wasn't the top of the list of White's priorities this looks too slow. [ Again 13...d5 could have been met with 14.c4! ( This looks stronger than 14.xd5 although this does win a couple of pawns after exd5 15.axb5 cxb5 16.xb5+ f7 but Black would be relieved to have the queens off the board. )] [ We think Black should have taken the o p p o r t u n i t y t o d e ve l o p h i s kn i g h t wi t h 13...f6 although 14.axb5 axb5 15.xa8 xa8 16.xe6 is pretty grim. At least Black can try expelling the White queen with b7 17.g5 d7 when he still might manage to develop his kingside. ] 14.g5! A very strong move preventing the knight from developing and depriving Black of any useful moves. b8 A sad move to have to play but Black is completely tied down. [ 14...d5 15.c4 is a common theme. ] [ Whilst trying to develop his kingside with 14...g6 could be met with 15.axb5 axb5 16.xa8 xa8 17.e6 g7 18.g2 1226

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 when the knight and rook are still prevented from joining the action and White can start picking up pawns. ] 15.axb5 axb5 16.e3 d5 17.c4 d6 18.c5 d5 19.c2 c8 Defending the c6 pawn in case of Bg2xe4 but again it's clear Black has no useful moves. [ 19...h6 feels better, at least to attempt to develop his kingside one day but 20.g2 still looks horrible. ] 20.b4 This is Petrosian's first inaccuracy but doesn't do much to ease Black's torture. [ I t w a s b e t t e r t o s t a r t w i t h 20.e2! preven ting Black's n ext po ssibility a n d keeping Black in a complete bind. ] 20...g6?! [ This time Black had to try and escape with 20...h6 although we think White's still winning, for example: 21.d1 e6 22.g2 c4 23.b1 d8 24.c1 d3 25.xe4 xb1 26.xc6+ f7 27.xb1 and the connected passed pawns supported by the rook and bishops should win the game fairly easily. ] 21.h4 [ Again 21.e2 was strong ] 21...f7 22.h3 e6 Black's run out of good options. [ 22...b8 23.xe4 d5 24.xd5 cxd5 25.e6! leaves Black powerless to prevent the march of the c pawn. ] 23.a2 f3 24.xe6+ e7 25.d7+ No more annotations are really required. White's position is completely overwhelming and he can choose a the win at his leisure. f7 26.g1 g7 27.a7 b8 28.g4 f7 29.d6 h5 30.e6 [ 30.gxh6+ is apparently forced mate ] 30...e8 31.xe5+ h7 32.d4 g8 33.xe7+ xe7 34.xg8+ xg8 35.xb8 e6 36.e5 c4 37.h8+ f7 38.f6+ 1-0

1176 Reefschlaeger,Helmut Krajewski,Wolfgang Open Bad Woerishofen GER (4) [Nigel Davies]

B11

18.03.2001

One reader pointed out that there was 'no mention' of 2.Nc3 d5 3.f4 on the site. Resisting the temptation to deem it 'unmentionable', I checked my database and found some good players on the White side. It certainly looks better for W hite than the equivalent Sicilian line (1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.Nc3) because the pawn exerts more central control on c5. 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f4 dxe4 This has to be the best. [ 3...g6 4.d4 g7 5.e5 brought about a favourable Gurgenidze (Black's bishop is on g7 alre ady instea d of f 8 ) in McSh an e Thiruchelvam, 4NCL, Birmingham 2001. ] 4.xe4 f6 [ Another interesting possibility for Black is 4...d7 5.c4 ( Black also has very comfortable play after 5.f3 df6!? 6.f2 h6 7.g3 g6 ) 5...df6 6.f2 g6 when Horn - Tukmakov, Geneva1999 continued 7.c3 g7 8.d4 h6 9.f3 0-0 10.e5 d5 11.g4 f6 12.ed3 f7 13.f3 e5 with a fierce counterattack underway. ] 5.f2 5.Nf2 initiates an exotic set-up used by Hebden in the 2. f4 Sicilian. [ White's f-pawn is on the wrong square after 5.xf6+ exf6 ( or 5...gxf6 )] 5...e6 [ Lovric - Petrov, Croatia 1999 continued in interesting fashion with 5...a5!? 6.f3 d5 7.d3 f5 8.g3 a6 9.c3 f6 10.b4 b6 11.b2 0-0-0 intending ...e7-e5. ] [ For 5...c7 see Wall - Speelman. ] 6.f3 d6 7.g3 c7 8.g2 bd7 9.0-0 0-0 [ After 9...e5 10.fxe5 xe5 11.xe5 xe5 12.d4 d6 13.e1+ Black should have played e6 in Petraki - Kakogiannis, Korinthos Open 2000 ] 10.b3 b6 11.b2 b7 12.e2 c5 13.ae1 ac8 14.c4 a6 15.e5 xg2 16.xg2 b7+ 17.g1 fd8?? With a decent enough position, Black misses a shot. [ 17...cd8 is much better. ] 1227

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.xf7! 13...c5! Whereas White is deprived of the f4[ 18.xf7 xf7 19.xe6+ f8 20.xd6+ f 5 t h ru s t , B la ck h a s e a s ily a ch i e ve d t h e is the simple point. ] thematic c6-c5 advance. 14.dxc5 xc5 1-0 15.dg1 Continuing his plan, but the removal of the rook from the centre will allow Black to co un te ra tt ack st ro ngly o n mo ve 2 2 . c7! 1177 B11 Of course [ 15...0-0?? would be one of the all time Robson,Ray 2567 worst examples of 'castling into it', as 16.h5 Jobava,Baadur 2696 etc. would soon mow down the black king. World Cup Khanty Mansiysk RUS (1.2) Instead Jobava wrongfoots the white rooks [Neil McDonald] by castling queenside, where there are no open files for them to attack along. ] 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 a6!? 4.d4 Now W hite is deprived of Fischer's idea of 16.g6 hxg6 17.h5 0-0-0 18.hxg6 xh1 playing d2-d3 to maintain a pawn spearhead 19.xh1 fxg6 20.g1 g5 21.xg5 xg5+ o n e 4 . A s a r e s u l t h i s c e n t r e b e c o m e s 22.xg5 d4! Black takes over the initiative. inflexible, whether he exchanges on d5 or, as He achieves an important advantage, but is happy to draw as that means he wins the in the game, advances his pawn to e5. [ F o r e x a m p l e i f 4.exd5 cxd5 5.d4 match and proceeds to the next round of the d3 24.d1 dxc2 White's 2. Nc3 move gets in the way of c2- W o r l d C u p . 23.e4 c4, the natural way of putting pressure on d5. 25.e2 xe4 26.xe4 h8 27.g4 b8 In contrast 3... a6 is useful as it stops Bb5 28.xe6 a4 29.xc2 c5 30.g4 h1+ in response to Nc6, and also rules out any 31.d1 d3+ 32.b1 xf2! Black wins a p ie ce , b u t Ro b so n ca n t ry t o h o ld o n b y raid with Bf4 and Nb5. ] xc7 4...g4 Black carries out the logical idea of eliminating all the pawns. 33.xc7+ exchanging off this bishop and then putting all 34.xg7+ c6 35.g6+ c5 36.xa6 his centre pawns on light squares. 5.h3 xf3 xd1 37.c2 e3+ 38.d3 c4 39.e6 e1 6.xf3 e6 7.f4 f6! [ Here 39...xb2+ 40.e4 c4 should win [ Totally against the spirit of 3...a6 would be co m f o rt a b ly, b u t J o b a va h e a d s f o r t h e th e pa wn gra b 7...dxe4? 8.xe4 xd4 desired draw. ] Then White's lead in development becomes highly significant due to the open d-file, for 40.b3 e5+ 41.d2 f3+ 42.d3 e5+ example 9.c3 d5 10.d1 xa2 11.e5! 43.d2 f3+ 44.d3 e5+ in te nd ing 1 2. B xg7! Bxg7 1 3 .Nd6 +. d7 ½-½ 12.xd7 xd7 13.xf7+ e7 14.c5+ d8 ( or 14...c8 15.e8# ) 15.xe6+ 1178 B11 d7 16.c5+ and Black loses his queen. ] 8.e5 fd7 9.0-0-0 b5! Here we have a Romanov,Evgeny 2489 blocked centre of the kind that sometimes Pustov,Pavel 2411 a ris e s in t h e Mo d e rn De f e n ce . Fo r m a ll y Open Moscow RUS (9) 06.02.2006 speaking Black is at least three tempi behind [Andrew Martin] in development, but two of these developing moves- the bishop on f4 and the queen on f3- An interesting game in the Caro-Kann played get in the way of White's natural plan of an f4- a t t h e M o sc o w O p e n . R o m a n o v h a s t h e f5 breakthrough. 10.g4 Robson decides that pressure throughout, but is helped along by organising f4-f5 would be too laborious, and Pustov who blunders at the end. 1.e4 c6 so aims to strike at the g6 square. b6 11.h4 2.c3 This line is not as popular nowadays as 8d7 12.g5 e7 13.e2 it was in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when Keres [ Putting the bishop on e7 helps to keep lines and Fischer propelled 2 Nc3 forward. However, on the kingside blocked after 13.g6 hxg6 it is still played at all levels and grandmasters 14.h5 g5 ] like Felgaer are still willing to give it a try. d5 1228

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 By far the most popular and natural response. [ 2...g6!? is also tried occasionally, a typical example being 3.d4 d5 4.e5 g7 5.f4 h6 6.f3 f6 7.e3 g4 8.e2 e6 9.exf6 xf6 10.e5 xe2 11.xe2 f5 12.g4 xe3 13.xe3 0-0 14.e2 c5 15.0-0 h4 16.g5 xe5 17.dxe5 g4+ 18.h1 c6 19.f2 ac8 20.g1 1/2-1/2 Felgaer - Foisor, Pobla de Lillet 2002 ] 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 [ 4...h5 is also played but is nowhere near as popular as the game move: 5.d3 dxe4 6.xe4 d7 7.e2 gf6 8.0-0 xe4 9.dxe4 e5 10.d2 g6 11.c4 e7 12.e2 0-0 13.a4 c7 14.e1 a6 15.c3 b5 16.b3 c5 Zaitsev - Sundararajan, Pardubice 2005 ] 5.xf3 e6 [ 5...f6 is not quite as accurate: 6.exd5 cxd5 7.b5+ c6 8.0-0 e6 9.d4 e7 10.e2 0-0 11.c3 e4 12.d3 Ljubicic - Polak, Cvitanovic Memorial 2005 ] 6.d3 The most popular move, but a couple of other moves are also frequently played: [ 6.d4 dxe4 7.xe4 xd4 8.d3 d7 9.e3 d5 10.f4 e5 11.xe5 xe5 12.0-0-0 e7 13.he1 f6 14.b1 0-0-0 15.xf6 xf6 16.xf6 xf6 17.e2 d4 18.f1 c7 19.c3 b6 20.c2 xd1 21.xd1 d8 22.f1 f5 23.f4 g6 24.c4 e3 25.d3 e5 26.fxe5 e8 27.h4 h5 28.f3 xe5 29.g3 g5 30.hxg5 f4 31.h3 xg5 32.e4 f2 33.f3 h4 34.h1 e5 35.f1 g3 and White managed to hold Black to a draw. Felgaer Leitao, Mario Covas Rapid 2005 1/2-1/2 ] [ 6.g3 f6 7.g2 bd7 8.d3 c5 9.e2 dxe4 10.dxe4 e5 11.0-0 0-0 12.d1 b5 13.e3 g6 14.a4 a6 15.c3 e8 16.c2 f8 17.e3 c5 18.axb5 axb5 19.b4 d6 20.c2 e6 21.xa8 xa8 22.d1 g7 23.f3 g8 24.h2 e8 25.e2 a6 26.d3 d7 27.h4 dc5 28.f2 h5 29.f4 h6 30.f5 xe3 31.xe3 d8 32.f3 xd1 33.xd1 h7 34.g4 d8 35.g3 hxg4 and White managed to convert his advantage into a win during the endgame. Hertneck - Dautov, Bundesliga 2005 1-0 ] 6...d7

[ 6...f6 7.a3 e7 8.g3 bd7 ( 8...d4 9.e2 c5 10.g2 c6 etc ) 9.g2 0-0 10.0-0 d4 11.b1 c5 12.e2 e5 13.f4 b5 looks OK for Black. Perhaps he would prefer his Knight to be on c6. 14.d2 c8 15.f3 d6 16.a4 h5 17.e1 exf4 18.e5 b8 19.gxf4 bxa4 20.g5 e7 21.e4 g6 22.e1 g7 23.xa4 b6 24.a1 fd8 25.c4 h6 26.f3 f5 27.h2 d7 28.d2 f8 29.g1 e6 30.h4 xh4 31.xh4 xh4+ 32.h3 e8 33.g4 h5 34.g3 g5 35.g2 xh3 and the game was eventually drawn on move 78. Anisimov - Panchenko, Russia 2005 ] 7.a3 g6 8.e2 e7 9.g3 g7 10.g2 0-0 11.h4N [ 11.0-0 e8 12.h1 c7 13.d2 a5 14.f4 f5 15.e5 d4 16.a2 f8 17.f2 b6 18.ab1 ed8 19.c1 d5 20.xd5 cxd5 21.e2 dc8 22.xd4 f7 23.e3 c5 24.b4 axb4 25.axb4 xd4 De las Heras - Cativelli, Buenos Aires 2000 26.xd4 ] 11...h5 12.g5 f6 13.d2 f5 14.0-0 f6 15.exd5 exd5 16.ae1 e8 17.g5 d7 18.d2 [ 18.e6+ would keep White's edge. xe6 19.xe6 f7 20.fe1 ] 18...h7?! [ 18...d4 19.e2 fd5 ] 19.e2 eg8 20.f4 h6 21.h3 f7 22.f4 xe1 23.xe1 e8 24.d4 [ 24.xe8 xe8 25.c3= ] 24...xe1+ 25.xe1 e4 26.c3 f6 27.f1 e7 28.d1 g7 29.d3 h6 30.g2 [ 30.xh6 xh6 31.e1 is good for White. ] 30...xf4?! [ 30...g7 31.e2 f6 ] 31.xf4 f6 32.c4 dxc4 33.xc4 e4+ [ 33...d6 keeps Black nicely in the game. 34.e2 xe2 35.xe2 fe4 ] 34.f3 e7 35.d2 d6 36.a2 de8 37.a5 c7 38.e5 d8?? A major blunder by Pustov to let Romanov's bishop into f7. [ 38...xe5 39.dxe5 d7 and Black would be worse but not dead lost! ] 39.f7! cd5 40.xg6+ h8 41.xd5 1-0

1229

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1179 Satyapragyan,Swayangsu Khamrakulov,Dzhurabek 7th Malaysia Open (4) [Gawain Jones]

B11 2451 2485 03.09.2010

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 The Two Knights Variation has been quite popular recently and has been somewhat neglected on ChessPublishing so I decided that we should have a look. g4 4.d4!? Not seen before on the site. This move is quite unusual but must be investigated. dxe4 [ 4...e6 has been Black's most common response. 5.h3 A) 5...h5 has actually transposed to a position more often reached by the move ord e r 4 . h 3 a n d 5. d 4 . Nige l S h o rt h a s scored well from this position. 6.d3 f6 7.e5 fd7 8.g4 g6 9.xg6 hxg6 10.e2 c5 11.c3 c6 12.f1 b6 13.g2 e7 14.b1 and Postny remarks that Black has problems as the doubled g pawns means he has to be very careful preventing White's kingside attack. 0-0-0 ( 14...a5 15.e3 a4 16.f4 a6 17.h4 a3 18.b3 cxd4 19.cxd4 b4 20.d2 0-0-0 21.g5 xg5 22.hxg5 xh1 23.xh1 c6 24.d3 Short, N (2676)Khalif ma n, A (26 90) Merida 2 001 lef t W hite with a clear advantage which he smoothly converted.) 15.b4 cxd4 16.cxd4 b8 17.d2 c8 18.e1 a6 19.b3 a7 20.a4 c4 21.b5 Short, N (2706)Postny, E (2651) Kolkata 2009 and Black was being squeezed.; B) 5...xf3 6.xf3 dxe4 B1) Again the pawn sacrifice with 7.xe4!? is interesting and indeed has b e e n t h e m a i n c o n t i n u a t i o n . xd4 ( Declining the pawn is also possible. 7...d7 8.d3 gf6 9.c3 e7 10.0-0 xe4 11.xe4 f6 12.e2 0-0 13.g5 h6 14.xf6 xf6 15.ad1 d5 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 fd8 18.g3 g6 19.g2 h5 20.h4 g7 and Black held easily. 1/2-1/2 Shanava, K (2557)-Pantsulaia, L (2587) Tbilisi 2010 ) B1a) 8.c3 b6 9.d3 ( 9.g5!? looks an interesting try.) 9...d7

10.g3 gf6 11.0-0 xe4 12.xe4 f6 13.c2 d5 14.c4 b4 15.e3 c5 16.xg7 0-0-0 17.xc5 xc5 and I would prefer to be Black. Andreikin, D (2509)-Kamsky, G (2705) playchess.com 2007.; B1b) 8.d3 d7 9.e3 d5 B1b1) 10.d1 e5 11.f4 a5+ ( 11...f5!? might be even stronger.) 12.e2 g6 13.d6+ xd6 14.xd6 d8 is given as equal by Pete Wells.; B1b2) 10.0-0 e5 11.g3 xd3 12.cxd3 f6 13.g5 e7 14.xf6 xf6 15.c7 d7 16.d6+ e7 17.f5+ e8 18.d6+ e7 19.f5+ e8 1/2-1/2 Can, E (2464)Nielsen, P (2662) Dresden 2008; B2) 7.xe4 is of course also possible.; B3) 7.e3 f6 8.xe4 bd7 9.c3 xe4 10.xe4 f6 11.f3 d5 12.e2 1/2-1/2 Vorotnikov, V (2425)L a s t i n , A ( 2 6 5 9 ) M o sc o w 2 0 1 0 h a s actually been reached a couple of times recently, once by this move order and one by the mainline Caro-Kann with 4... Nd7. ] [ 4...f6 5.e5 e4 ( 5...fd7 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 e6 8.g3 b6 1-0 Lugo, B (2418)Eden, T/ Dos Hermanas 2004 when White could have tried 9.f4!? with a French style position. ) 6.d3 xc3 7.bxc3 e6 Georgiev, K (2480)-Burovic, I (2375) Torcy 1991 when I think the doubled c pawns promise White the slightly better game as they support his centre but of course Black is very solid. ] [ 4...g6 would transpose to a position more often reached by the move order 1.e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg4. A recent game continued: 5.e2 g7 6.e3 f6 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 0-0 9.d2 a6 Wiesinger, R (2252)-Bodiroga, P (2406) Schwarzach 2010 w h e n I ' d t r y 10.e5 d7 11.h4!? with decent chances on the kingside. ] 5.xe4 xf3 I guess this must be the critical response. Black wins the d4 pawn but at the cost of a lot of time. 6.xf3 xd4 7.e3! Sacrificing another pawn but gaining yet more time and more open lines for his pieces. In Mega2010 this position has been reached 13 1230

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 times and White has scored a very impressive 11.5/13. Certainly Black's position is perilous. xb2 8.c4 f6 [ 8...b4+ 9.d2 e6 10.b1 e7 is exceedingly dangerous for Black. True he has pocketed two extra pawns but he will struggle to develop his pieces. 11.e4 c7 Ertl, J-Schleischitz, J Austria 2002 and here White's strongest is 12.f4 a5+ 13.c3 b6 14.d1 d7 15.g5 d8 16.h3 threatening 17.Nxf7! when there isn't a satisfactory defence as e5 17.xd8+ xd8 18.0-0 leaves the whole of White's army fighting Black's unprotected king. ] 9.0-0 xc2? This actually loses instantly as a previous game has shown but Black already seems to be worse. [ 9...b4 was a Grandmaster's attempt here but he quickly fell into deep trouble. 10.xf6+ gxf6 11.g4 e6 12.ab1 e7 13.fd1 a6 14.xa6 bxa6 15.a4 c7 16.xa6 g7?! 17.b7 c8 18.c5 f8 1-0 Lugo, B (2418)-Li Shilong (2522) Dos Hermanas 2004 when 19.d6! leaves Black with no defence. ] [ 9...e5 was the path of the only Black win. 10.xf6+ xf6 11.g3 e5 Venevtsev, A (2148)-Ruchkin, I (2154) Lipetsk 2007 when I like the look of 12.ab1 b5 ( 12...b6 is saf er but 13.g4 d7 14.fd1 c5 15.xc5 xc5 16.d7+ f8 17.b7 e8 18.d7 looks incredibly dangerous.) 13.g5 f5 14.xb5! cxb5 15.xb5+ d7 16.d1 f6 17.xd7+ xd7 18.xd7 xd7 19.g4+ and White's queen looks better than the two rooks as Black's king is wandering alone. ] [ 9...bd7 has not been played but is the c o m p u t e r ' s t o p c h o i c e . H o we ve r a f t e r 10.ab1 xc2 11.xf6+ xf6 12.fc1 e4 13.g3 Black has an extra three pawns but b7 is dropping and he'll struggle to get his king to safety, e.g. g6? 14.xb7 g7 15.b8+ is immediately winning. ] 10.xf6+? [ 10.f5! threatening mate and a discovered check picking up the queen actually wins on the spot. d8 The only way to prevent both threats but now it's obvious White's attack w i l l b r e a k t h r o u g h . 11.fd1+ bd7 Ka yum o v, S (2 41 7 )-S a de ghi, M (21 9 7 )

Teheran 2005 when the easiest is 12.xf7! b6 ( 12...xe4 13.xd7+ c8 14.xe4 xe4 15.e6 wins at least a rook.) 13.f4 g6 14.e6 d5 15.ac1 and White's attack crashes through. ] 10...gxf6 White is still better despite his three pawn def icit as he h as d eveloped all his pieces while Black's king is stuck in the centre and has developed only his queen. 11.fc1 g6 12.ab1 d7 Unfortunately for Black it's not possible to defend the b7 pawn so his queenside collapses. [ 12...b6? 13.b5! wins at least the a8 rook. ] 13.xb7 e5 14.h3 g4 Black succeeds in trading queens but now the bishop pair and p a ss e d a p a wn a r e wo r t h f a r m o re t h a n Black's meaningless extra f pawn. 15.xg4 xg4 16.xa7 e5 17.e2 h6 18.c2 f5 19.a4 Here it comes. f4 20.f3 g7 21.f1 [ Staying on plan with 21.a5 is just winning. Black cannot prevent the pawn going all the way. ] 21...f5 22.a5 f7 23.c5 f6 24.a6 d8 25.c7 e6 26.xc6 d4? A final mistake but Black wasn't even material up anymore. 27.xf6! [ Black resigned as 27.xf6 xc2 28.b5+ d8 29.b6+ c8 30.c6+ b8 31.xc2 is of course totally lost. I would be surprised if this interesting idea doesn't catch on. ] 1-0

1180 Short,Nigel D L'Ami,Erwin 7th Staunton Memorial (9) [Gawain Jones]

B11 2684 2593 16.08.2009

I also played in this tournament and I was impressed how quickly White won this game. 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 g4 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 f6 [ 5...e6 is more common when White can continue with the same theme with 6.e2 A) 6...g6 tries to keep the position unbalanced but it appears to favour White. 7.d4 g7 8.e3 so far this is given in Schandorff's new Caro-Kann book and here he suggests W hite has good 1231

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 attacking chances. A recent game did n o t h i n g t o d i s p r o v e h i s w o r d s . d7 9.exd5!? exd5 ( 9...cxd5 10.b5 is awkward to deal with.) 10.g4 f8 11.0-0-0 e6 12.h4 e7 13.h5 and Black already had a few problems as White's attack has made definite headway. Cze b e , A (2 48 0 ) -L a f u e nt e , P (2 5 8 7 ) Bhubaneswar 2010.; B) 6...d7 is fairly likely to transpose. 7.0-0 ( 7.d4 dxe4 8.xe4 gf6 9.xf6+ xf6 10.b3 c7 11.0-0 e7 12.f3 0-0 13.c4 a5 14.a4 fd8 15.d1 e5 16.e3 exd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.xd4 d7 19.c2 c5 20.c3 b4 and Black had equalised. Kovacevic, A (2573)-Predojevic, B (2628) Pula 2010.) 7...gf6 8.d4 dxe4 9.xe4 e7 10.c3 0-0 11.d3 xe4 12.xe4 g6 13.f4 f6 14.e2 d5 15.d2 f6 16.g3 e8 17.f3 g7 18.h4 b6 19.ab1 Ho v h a n n i s ya n , R (2 5 2 2 )- P a i ki d ze , N (2376) Jermuk 2010, when, had Black played e5 it looks like he should equalise.; C) 6...f6 7.0-0 C1) 7...c5!? was Fridman's choice, preventing W hite from playing d2-d4. 8.d3 ( 8.d1!? is an interesting idea but d4! l o o k s a d e q u a t e .) 8...c7?! ( 8...0-0 was better but perhaps 9.g3 bd7 10.f4 is still a little more comfortable. ) 9.exd5! C1a) 9...cxd5 is of course best from a s t r a t e g i c p o i n t o f v i e w b u t 10.f4 is strong. C1a1) 10...a5 11.d4! e7 ( 11...xd4 12.b5 xb2 13.c7++- ) 12.g3 0-0 13.c7 b6 14.a3 leaves the Black queen out of bounds.; C1a2) 10...c8 11.b5 0-0 12.c7 c6 13.xa8 d4 14.e3 xc2 15.d2 ( 15.c1 xa1 16.c7 b6 isn't clear.) 15...b4 ( 15...xa1 16.c1!+- ) 16.c1 xa1 17.c7 d7 18.d4! c8 19.xa1 xc7 20.xc7 xc7 21.c1 and White's clearly better with his extra exchange.; C1b) 9...exd5 10.f4 d6 11.g3!

xf4 12.xg7 g8 13.xf6 wins a pawn.; C1c) 9...xd5 10.e4 d7 11.xc5 xc5 12.d4 d7 13.c4 e7 14.f4 b6 15.c3 0-0 16.ad1 and White had a definite advantage thanks to his bishop pair. Kovacevic, A (2574) Fridman, D (2650) Rijeka 2010.; C2) 7...dxe4 8.xe4 C2a) 8...e7 9.d3 0-0 10.g3 h8 Cze b e , A ( 2 4 8 0 ) -T u r o v, M (2 6 2 4 ) Bhubaneswar 2010 11.e3 ( 11.xf6 xf6 12.f4 b6 13.ab1 is a tiny bit better for White.) 11...bd7 12.c4! taking over the d5 square when Black still struggles to equalise.; C2b) 8...xe4 9.xe4 d7 10.d4 f6 11.d3 This position is important to the theoretical assessment of this line. White has the bishop pair and a little more space but Black is very solid. Schandorff believes that in practical terms the position is level as W hite lacks a plan but nevertheless I feel Black still has to be more accurate. I've added in some recent games to illustrate some ideas. Generally it's possible for Black to prevent the d4-d5 break as long as he's accurate and so White should also consider using b4b5, coupled with Bf 3 to put f urther pressure on Black's position. C2b1) 11...e7 is Black's other option. This is a slightly more passive location for the bishop but keeps full control of the d5 square. 12.c4 0-0 13.e3 C2b11) 13...d6 14.fd1 fd8 15.d2 ( 15.b4 a5 looks acceptable for Black although 16.bxa5 xa5 17.a4 is still a touch better for W hite.) 15...d7 16.ad1 ad8 17.c2 c7 18.f3 a5 19.a3 h6 20.g3 c8 21.d3 f5 22.g2 cd8 23.3d2 xc2 24.xc2 h7 Souleidis, G (2410)-Argiroudis, S (2315) Peristeri 2010 when White should have taken Short's lead with 25.d5!; C2b12) 13...c7 14.f3 fd8 1232

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.b3 I don't think this is accurate as this impedes the important idea of b4-b5 utilising the f3 bishop. ( T h e r e f o r e I ' d p r e f e r 15.c3 ) 15...d7 16.fd1 ad8 17.ac1 has been reached three times this year. However Black is very solid and is overprotecting the d5 s qu a r e so it ' s h a rd t o se e h o w White should proceed. The highest rated encounter continued: b8 18.g3 f8 19.g2 g6 20.f4 d6 21.g5 e7 22.e3 e8 23.f4 d6 24.h6 f8 25.f4 d6 26.g5 e7 27.xe7 xe7 28.d5 cxd5 29.xd5 xd5 30.xd5 ( 30.cxd5 e5 is nothing special for White as the knight sits c o m f o r t a b l y o n d 6 .) 30...f6 31.f3 e5 32.d1 g7 33.c5 e4 34.e2 e5 and Black was fine. Milos, G (2618)-Rodshtein, M (2622) Bursa 2010.; C2b2) 11...d6 C2b21) 12.f3 0-0 13.b4!? looks like quite a promising idea. a6 14.a3 c7 15.b2 ad8 16.fe1 a5 17.bxa5 xa5 18.b3 d7 19.c4 fd8 when instead of rushing with 30.d5 W h ite wou ld h a ve re t a in e d t h e better chances with 20.a4 ( 20.d5 cxd5 21.xf6 gxf6 22.cxd5 exd5 23.g4 c7 24.f5 gave White good compensation for the pawn but Black held the draw without too many problems. Ismagambetov, A (2492)-Benidze, D (2504) Zuerich 2010. ) 20...h6 21.c3 f5 22.e3 as the pressure down the b file and ideas of a5-a6 are awkward to cope with.; C2b22) 12.g5 h6 13.h4 g5!? Probably overambitious. ( 13...c7 looks fine to me.) 14.g3 c7 15.f3 e7 16.c4 ad8 17.ad1 a6 18.e3 f4 19.xf4 xf4 20.b3 d7 and White is somewhat better as Black's king was stuck in the centre. Piper, M (2304)-Speelman, J (2525)

Hinckley Island 2010; C2b23) 12.b4!? has never been played but looks interesting to me again playing to open the b file looks like a good plan.; C2b24) 12.c4 0-0 ( 12...h6 13.e3 0-0 14.fd1 c7 15.ac1 fd8 16.f3 h2+ 17.h1 f4= ) 13.g5 h6N 14.h4 e5 15.ad1 e8= is given by Schandorff when Black has equalised. ] 6.e2 dxe4 [ 6...e6 is likely to transpose to 5.. .e6 after 7.0-0 bd7 8.d4 ( 8.exd5 was attempted against Ivanchuk although cxd5 9.d4 e7 10.d3 0-0 11.a3 c8 12.d1 e8 13.f4 b6 14.e2 c4 15.c1 a6 allowed Black to equalise and indeed the Ukra in ia n we n t o n t o wi n i n A d e rit o , P (2352)-Ivanchuk, V (2787) Khanty Mansiysk 2007 ) 8...dxe4 9.xe4 xe4 10.xe4 ] 7.xe4 xe4 8.xe4 d5!? L'Ami doesn't f ee l like ab so rb in g pre ssure and t ries t o equalise immediately but this plan rather backfires. [ 8...e6 9.0-0 d7 10.d4 would again transpose to the critical position of the line. ] 9.g4 With queens off the board Black hopes not to have too many problems but the time taken to force the exchange takes its toll. d7 10.0-0 f6 11.a4 e4 12.xe4 xe4 13.e1 To be honest, when I saw this position during the game, I anticipated that Black should hold the draw without too many problems. However White does still have the bishop pair and the game continuation shows that Black has to be extremely careful. g6 [ 13...f6 allows an alternative pawn break with 14.b4!? 0-0-0 15.b5 cxb5 16.xb5 e6 17.b1 when Black still has slight problems. ] 14.d4 g7 15.f3 f6 [ 15...d6 16.f4 d7 17.d5 c5 18.g4+ f5 19.f3 isn't easy for Black either. ] 16.c4 d8 17.e3 0-0 18.ad1 White prepares to break in the centre as the bishop pair would obviously prefer an open board. e6 [ 18...d7 19.g4 is similar. ] 19.g4! Preparing to shunt the Black knight 1233

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 away from defending the important d5 square. h6 20.h4 fe8 [ 20...h5 is the computer's suggestion although W hite has a pleasant choice between A) and 21.gxh5!? xh5 ( 21...gxh5 is better although Black still has problems. ) 22.d5; B) 21.g5 g4 22.xg4 hxg4 23.g2 and the g4 pawn must drop. ] 21.g2 d7 22.d5! Nigel opens up the centre. e5 [ 22...exd5 23.cxd5 c5 was Black's last try, attempting to keep the centre closed although 24.f4 xb2 ( 24...e5 25.b3 is also clearly better.) 25.c7 c3 26.xe8+ xe8 27.d6 e1 28.xe1 xe1 29.xb7 f8 30.a6 is extremely unpleasant. ] 23.dxc6 xf3 24.xf3 bxc6 25.b3 I think Black is already lost amazingly and you have to ask where Black went wrong. White's advantage has been transferred from the bis hop pa ir int o B lack's we ak que ensid e pawns which Black cannot defend. a5 26.g5! The experienced English GM fixes the kingside to cut out any counterplay on that flank. hxg5 27.hxg5 a8 Ceding the d file looks illogical but White was able to take it whenever he wished with Be3-b6. 28.d7 f8 29.ed1 a4 30.c7 axb3 31.axb3 ec8 32.dd7 xc7 33.xc7 b8 34.xc6 xb3 35.c8 Black has succeeded in exchanging his weak queenside pawns but the c pawn is simply too strong. f5 [ 35...g7 is no better: 36.e4 d6 37.c5 b4+ 38.d4+ e5 39.cxd6 xd4+ 40.xe5 d2 41.c4 f8 42.f4 d1 43.d4 e1+ 44.d5 wins. ] 36.gxf6 f7 37.e4 b7 38.d4 g5 39.c5 b1 40.c6 c1 41.e3 A very easy looking win and proof that Black should take this line seriously. The critical position arises after ... e 6 a n d . . . . N x e 4 wh e n B l a c k i s c l o s e t o equality although care is required. 1-0

1181 Svetushkin,Dmitry Landa,Konstantin 11th EICC Men (8) [Gawain Jones]

B11 2554 2635 14.03.2010

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 f6!? Not yet covered on ChessPublishing. Black's main fight against the two knights has been with [ 3...g4 ] [ while 3...a6 has garnered some interested recently. ] [ 3...dxe4 trying to transpose into similar positions to the mainline is also possible but Black should be very careful with the knight alre a dy d e ve lop ed , e g. 4.xe4 f5?! 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.e5! is extremely unpleasant for Black ] 4.e5 e4 5.e2 White wants to keep his knights on in this variation as he attempts to prove the knight is misplaced on e4. [ 5.b1 was tried in the same tournament. b6 6.e2!? refusing to move the d pawn. g4 7.d3 c5 ( 7...g5! would seem to re f u t e W h i t e ' s p l a n a s 8.xg5 xb2 picks up the rook.) 8.bd2 e6 9.h3 h5 10.g3 cd7 11.g2 and by a strange series of moves the position resembled a Kings Indian Attack. Chudinovskikh-Lenic, Rijeka 2010. ] 5...b6 [ 5...g4 is Black's other logical try 6.d3 A) 6...c5 7.ed4 is a really bizarre position. Neither of the knights on d4 and c5 are on ideal positions. e6 8.h3 h5 ( 8...xf3 9.xf3 and White has at least solved the problem of the d4 knight.) 9.g4 g6 10.g2 is an interesting position!; B) 6...xf3 7.gxf3 c5 8.d4 e6 9.h3 c7 10.g5 ( 10.g1!? ) 10...h6 11.h4 g5 12.g3 e6 ( 12...h5 13.e6 xe6 14.xe6 fxe6 15.d3 is a typical Caro Kann pawn sacrifice motif which generally f a v o u r s W h i t e .) 13.f4 c5 was an extremely messy position but I feel W h i t e h a s t h e b e t t e r c h a n c e s wi t h a development advantage and the bishop pair but of course Black has his typical so l id p o sit io n : Ja n e v-Di m i t ro v, S o f i a 2010. ] 1234

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6.d4 c5 I wonder if Black should delay this as it helps W hite's pieces find good squares. 7.dxc5 xc5 8.ed4 c6 9.b5 With an edge to White according to Wells, and this gam e c on f irms th e assessme nt . d7 10.0-0 e6 [ Black can pick up a pawn with 10...xe5 b u t i t a p p e a r s t o o d a n g e r o u s . 11.xe5 xb5 12.e1 The knights are placed on perfect squares on e5 and d4. A sample line could run A) 12...e6 13.xb5 xb5 ( 13...xf2+ 14.h1 b6 15.xe4+- ) 14.c4!+followed by 15. Rxe4 due to the mate threat on d7.; B) 12...f6 13.c3 d7 14.b3 b6 15.xd7 xd7 16.a4+ c8 17.f4 e6 18.ac1 a6 19.d1 d8 20.c4 with a great attack. ] 11.e3 b4 12.c4! White plays dynamically t o o p e n u p t h e B la ck p o sit io n b e f o re h e completes his development. xb2 [ 12...a6 doesn't solve Black's problems. 13.cxd5 exd5 14.d3 A) 14...e7 15.xc6 bxc6 16.c2 0-0 17.a3 b7 18.xe4 dxe4 19.xe4 picks up a pawn as xb2? drops a piece. 20.fb1 e2 ( 20...c3 21.d2 c5 22.b4+- ) 21.b7 ad8 22.e1 a2 23.e6 xe6 24.xe6 fxe6 25.e5+-; B) 14...c5 ] 13.cxd5 c3? [ 13...exd5 is necessary but still favours White. 14.b1 ( 14.c1 is another alt ern at ive which lo oks st ron g, e g. c5 15.b3 xe3 16.fxe3 c3 17.d3 xb5 18.xb5 d8 19.xb7 xe5 20.c7 g4 21.xd7 xd7 22.c8+ d8 23.xg4 ) 14...xa2 15.e2 c5 16.xc5 xc5 17.c3 a5 18.xd5 0-0 19.c2 e6 20.fd1 gives White more than enough compensation for the pawn. ] 14.dxe6! Underestimate by Landa. This is an extremely strong queen sacrifice and White is already practically winning. xd1 [ 14...xe6 15.d3 d8 ( 15...xb5 16.fb1! ) 16.xc6+ bxc6 17.g5 d5 18.a6 doesn't help Black's cause either. ] 15.exd7+ d8 [ 15...xd7 16.axd1 c7 17.d2 b4 ( 17...a3 18.c2+- ) 18.c1 and White's

attack crashes through. With the pawn on d7, White has enough compensation for the material and coupled with still having a massive attack the game is practically over already. ] 16.axd1 [ 16.fxd1 might be more accurate so Black doesn't have the 17th move alternative. ] 16...xd4 17.xd4 c5 [ 17...xa2 was the best try but if White finds the accurate 18.c1! b4 19.fd1 h6 20.c6! then again Black could throw in the towel. ] 18.c4 xd4 [ 18...f8 19.c6+ bxc6 20.xc5 is another crushing variation. ] 19.xd4 c2 20.xf7 White has the bishop pair and two pawns for the piece which is enough compensation in itself. If Black doesn't take the d7 pawn then White can roll the central pawns down and pick up at least a couple of rooks (!) but as we see if he takes t h e d 7 p a wn t h e n t h e ki n g b e co m e s t o o exposed. xd7 21.c5+ [ 21.c1 a4 22.e6+ e7 23.c7+ d6 24.d7+ c6 25.h5!+- is an alternative route to success. ] 21...c6 22.e3 b5 23.b1+ a6 24.fc1 a4 25.c4 a3 26.c1 a5 27.d2 a3 28.c3 a5 29.c4+ b5 30.xb5+ xb5 31.a3+ b6 32.e3+ A strong attack by Svetushkin with an extremely strong queen sacrifice which seems to refute 6...c5 and so also puts a cloud under 5...Qb6. If Black wants to continue playing 3... Nf6 then 5...Bg4 should be investigated. 1-0

1182 Tate,Emory Vescovi,Giovanni P 34th World Open (3) [Andrew Martin]

B11 2384 2622 30.06.2006

Emory Tate. The stuff of legends. Here we see him getting stuffed. 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.c4 e6 6.e2 I personally prefer White here, who has good aggressive development and ideas of sacrifice on e6 or f7 against a careless opponent. Yet 1235

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 lo o k wh a t h a p p e n s a n d i t a ll st a r t s wi t h Black's next, very careful move. h6! 7.d4 gf6 8.g3 d6N Black plays catch-up chess! His position looks poor to begin with and gets better and better. White can't find a n y t h i n g t o l a t c h o n t o a n d t h e r e ve r s e happens to him! Discussing details it's a question of style whether you prefer ...Bd6 or ...Be7. The Bishop on d6 is certainly more active. [ Instead 8...e7 is perfectly solid: 9.0-0 0-0 10.d1 b6 11.d3 c7 12.c4 c5 13.dxc5 ( 13.e3 ) 13...a4 14.c2 ( 14.c6 bxc6 15.c2! ) 14...xc5 15.e5 a5 16.f4 b6 17.d2 with advantage, Reinaldo Castineira, R-Cano Sanchez, J/ Barcelona 2000. The strength of the enemy was eventually sapped. ] [ Or 8...b6 9.b3 bd5 10.0-0 e7 11.c3 0-0 12.e5 c5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.f3 d6 17.g4 xg4 18.xg4 f6 19.e3 b6 20.ad1 e5 21.e2 1/2-1/2 Praude, RMakka, I/Chalkidiki 2001 ] 9.d2!? Can't he find a better square for this Bishop? Or maybe Tate feints to castle long! [ I prefer 9.0-0 ] 9...0-0 10.0-0 Looks like White changed his mind hereabouts. [ 10.0-0-0 would be more in Tate's style and would certainly carry the fight to Black. Play is complex: b5 ( 10...c7 11.e4! xe4 12.xe4 c5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.h4 b5 ) 11.d3 ( 11.b3 c7 12.e4 xe4 13.xe4 a5 ) 11...b7 12.e5 c5 13.xd7 xd7 14.dxc5 xc5 15.c3 e7 ] 10...c7 11.fe1 b6 12.e5 [ The Knight on g3 is White's 'problem piece' so why not get rid of it? 12.e4! xe4 13.xe4 b7 14.d3 f6 15.h4 I believe White is better here. c5 ( 15...e7 16.ad1 c5 17.dxc5 xc5 18.g3 ) 16.xh6! ] 12...c5 13.c3 b7 14.f4 a6 15.f5 cxd4 16.xd7 xd7 17.fxe6 'So far, so good 'thinks Tate. I am going to ' mullah' him. e5! Excellent, reminding White about his second problem piece on c4. 18.exf7+ h8 19.b3 d3! 20.h5! xf7 21.f5 The White attack rages but is unwieldy. Nothing really works.

g5 [ 21...c6 could well have been considered: 22.g4 c5+ 23.h1 f6 ] 22.xd6 xd6 23.xg5 c5+ 24.h1 xg2+!! A shock to the system! 25.xg2 f2+ 26.g3? [ 26.h3 leads to a line which is not very funny for White, but he may miraculously be a b le t o su rvive : af8 27.d1 c8+!! 28.g4 8f3+ 29.xf3 xf3+ 30.h4 hxg5+ 31.h5 g6+ 32.xg6 g8+! 33.h5 f7+ 34.xg5 f6+ 35.h5 f5+ 36.xf5 xf5+ 37.h4 One can understand why Tate did not go fo t h is, b u t wh a t h e d o e s is m u c h , m u c h , worse. ] 26...af8 27.e6 c7+ It's mate in three more moves. Entertaining chess! 0-1

1183 Tkachiev,Vladislav Podgaets,Mikhail Vienna [Alexander Volzhin]

B11 2620 2460 1996

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 This system is attractive for players who do not like to play deeply analysed variations. Although theoretically it does not promise too much for White, the arising positions are complicated, and it's still not clear how Black can achieve equality without any trouble. g4 Black has tried a lot of moves here but this Bishop sortie is the main line. 4.h3 xf3 5.xf3 f6 6.d3 e6 One of the key positions of this quiet system. 7.g3!? A rare continuation. [ 7.d2 is considered to be the main line here. Recently I played an interesting game in this line with Black vs. A. Jakubiec at Opole 1998. The game continued: bd7 8.g4 g6 9.h4!? dxe4 10.dxe4 h5 11.g5 g4 12.e2! Intending 13.f3. c7 13.h3 ( 13.f3? g3+ ) 13...c5! 14.xg4 hxg4 15.xg4 0-0-0 16.f4 b6 17.e2 The only move otherwise Black's Knight b e c o m e s ve r y a c t i ve : ( 17.0-0-0 c4 w i t h p l e n t y o f t h r e a t s .) 17...xd2! This unexpected sacrifice gives Black a strong and lasting initiative. 18.xd2 d8 1236

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.h2 c4! The active position of all Black's pieces and the poor position of White's King is ample compensation for the exchange. 20.d1 d4 21.e2 e3 22.d3! ( 22.xd4 xd1 23.xd1 xd4+ 24.c1 xe4 25.f1 a5! and Black wins the important a2-pawn as 26.a3?? fails to e1+ mating. ) 22...g4 23.g2! The only move again. f2+ 24.d2 e3+ 25.e1 f2+ 26.d2 e3+ and in view of the repetition a draw was agreed. ] 7...a6 [ T h e a l t e r n a t i v e i s 7...bd7 8.e2 and now Black has tried a couple of moves: h5 ( 8...b4 9.e5 xe5 10.xe5 d4 11.a3 a5 12.f3 0-0 13.0-0 dxc3 14.bxc3 d5 15.d2 e8 16.a4 d7 17.fb1 ac8 18.b3 gave White a slight edge in the game Velikovic - Spiridonov, Pernik 1981; 8...b5 9.a3 b6 also does not solve Black's opening problems: 10.0-0 g6 11.f4 e7 12.f3 0-0 13.fe1 ac8 14.h4 h8 15.e2 d4 16.b1 c5 17.d2 c4 18.e5 e8 19.e4 g7 20.g5 d8 21.f4 f6 22.exf6 xf6 23.e5 cxd3 24.cxd3 with a clear advantage in Tkachiev A.Ledger, Isle of Man 1996) 9.0-0 h4 10.h2 e7 11.f4 d4 12.c7 c8 13.b1 f8 14.d2 g6 15.c4 was in White's favour in the game R.Ortega Hort, Polanica Zdroj 1967. ] 8.e2 dxe4 [ After 8...d4 9.b1 b4 ( or 9...d6 10.f4 e5 11.0-0 e7 12.a3 exf4 13.xg7 g8 14.h6 g6 15.h4 0-0-0 16.c4 with a clear advantage in Howell - Fontaine, Cappelle-la -Grande 1995.) 10.a3 c5 11.0-0 a6 12.f4 b5 13.c4! dxc3 14.bxc3 c6 15.c2 White had obt ained a tangible a d va n t a ge in t h e g a m e A ro n in - Flo h r , Moscow 1950. ] 9.dxe4 c5 10.f3 g6 Otherwise it's not so clear how Black can complete his development.. 11.g5 e7 12.d1 fd7 [ 12...b6? loses immediately due to 13.e5 cd7 14.xd7! ] 13.e3 White must keep the Bishop pair, as his light-squared Bishop on f3 needs a partner. h4 Black decides to gain some tempi by attacking the slightly cramped White Queen, but this actually makes things worse.

[ However the immediate 13...0-0 14.0-0 does not eliminate Black's problems. ] 14.f4 e5 15.h6 e7 16.g4 f6 17.0-0 e6 18.xe6 xe6 19.d3 White's play is sim p le a n d cle a r. 0-0-0 20.xa7 e7 This was probably what Black was hoping for: he moves the Queen from e6 to make b7-b6 effective and at the same time Bg5 is threatened. Unfortunately White has a strong and decisive blow. [ After 20...b6 21.a4 b7 The bishop e s c a p e s e a s i l y w i t h 22.xb6! xb6 ( 22...a8 23.xd7+! xd7 24.c5+ winning ) 23.c5+ winning the Queen. ] 21.d5! [ 21.e3 was not at all bad either. ] 21...e6 [ 21...cxd5 was impossible because of 22.c3+ winning ] 22.d2 e7 [ 22...cxd5 23.exd5 a6 24.c3+ winning ] 23.a5 Look at this! If I am not mistaken the Q u e e n wa s o n h 6 j u s t a m o v e a g o . d6 24.fd1 f5 25.b6+ xb6 26.xb6 Black resigned. [ 26.xb6 d7 27.a8+ b8 28.xd7 W inning. Thus we can conclude that the rare line 7.Qg3 deserves serious attention and further practical tests. ] 1-0

1184 Totsky,Leonid Burmakin,Vladimir (Open) Moscow (Russia) (4) [Nigel Davies]

B11

1995

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 dxe4 The most solid and 'Caro-Kanny' move. For the alternatives see Arapovic - Campora. 4.xe4 d7 5.d4 df6! [ M u c h m o r e p r e c i s e t h a n 5...gf6 because now White must worry about his dpawn. ] 6.c3 g4 Developing a piece whilst gaining time on the queen. [ Black can also play 6...xe4 7.xe4 f6 8.c2 g4 9.e2 e6 ( or 9...g6 10.f4 g7 11.c4 0-0 12.0-0 c7 13.e1 c5= Psakhis L.(2581) - Razuvaev Y.(2559), 1237

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Moscow 1981 Ch Moscow) 10.g3 d5 11.f3 h5 12.xh5 xh5 13.f4 d5 14.g3 g5 15.d2 e7 1/2-1/2 was Lutikov A. - Petrosian T., USSR Ch., Leningrad 1960 ] 7.g3 [ 7.f4 e6 8.f3 xf3 ( a fairly simple solution, but both 8...xe4 9.xg4 gf6; and 8...h5 look fine for Black) 9.xf3 xe4 10.xe4 f6 11.h4 and now e7 lo o k s f a i rl y e qu a l ( 11...d5!? 12.g3 e4+ 13.e3 d6 14.xe4 xe4 left White nominally better because of his bishops in Zankovich V. - Yermoshkin V. (2359), USSR Ch., Simferopol 1989 )] 7...e6 8.d3 h5 9.f3?! The start of a series of funny-looking moves which land White in hot water. [ Both 9.f3 and ] [ 9.e2 look better. ] 9...g6 10.e2 e7 11.0-0 d5 12.f4 h6! An effective way to develop the knight Black is bringing it to f 5. 13.h3 xf4 14.xf4 f5 15.g4? Lashing out in a dodgy looking position. White must have missed the reply. xd4! 16.e5 [ Probably trying to make it look deliberate of course 16.cxd4 xd4+ wins back the bishop on d3. ] 16...f5! 17.f2 [ If 17.ad1 then e3 ] 17...h4 18.xg7 g8 19.d4 e5! 20.xg6 xg6 21.e3 [ After 21.xe5 d5 threatens the bishop and f3. Black is better now and he soon tra n s po s e s in t o a n a d va nt a ge o us ro o k endgame. ] 21...d5 22.e4 f5 23.g5 fxe4 24.xh4 xg5! 25.xg5 d8 26.h1 xg5 27.xg5 xg5 28.fxe4 e7 29.f2 f8 30.xf8 xf8 31.g1 h5! Exchanging rooks would lead to a draw, but now W hite finds himself tied down to his e- and h- pawns. 32.g2 h4 33.e1 e7 34.e3 h5 35.e2 f4 36.e3 h4 37.e2 a5 38.b3 d6 39.e3 c5 40.e2 b5 41.e1 b4 Undermining the d4 square for later penetration by Black's king. 42.c1 b5 43.cxb4 axb4 44.c4 c5 45.c2 [ White is in zugzwang - if 45.h3 then f2 ] [ after 45.h3 f6 Black's rook is en route for

g3 ] [ and 45.g1 h3 gives White the unwelcome right to move once again ] 45...xe4 46.f3 f4+ 47.e3 h3 48.d2 g4 49.f3 g5 50.c2 b6 51.e2 c6 52.c2 d5 53.d2+ e6 54.c2 f5+ 55.g4 e4 56.c4 e3 57.c1 f2 58.g3 d5 59.d1+ 0-1

1185 Vasiesiu,Dan Vajda,Albert ch-ROM, ROM (3.2) [Andrew Martin]

B11 2430 2445 2003

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 a6!? It's official: Black can do anything after 3 Nf3. Something to break the endless chain of games with 3... Bg4. [ Or 3...h6!? Black can freak out on the other side too! 4.d4 dxe4 5.xe4 f5 6.c5 c7 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 b6 9.d3 d6 10.e2 f6 11.e1 bd7 12.fe5 0-0 13.f4 b5 14.b3 c5 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xc5 xc5 17.ad1 ad8= Kveinys, ASadler, M/Germany 2001 ] 4.h3 [ 4.d4 must be the logical move but even here proves t ou gh to d evelop a nyth in g tangible: g4 5.g5 f6 6.d3 dxe4 7.xe4 xe4 8.xe4 xf3 9.xf3 xd4 10.b3 e5+ 11.e2 b5 12.h4 d7 13.h3 Petrosian, S-Schwab, R/Open, Vienna AUT 2003 when I think the best for Black is h6 14.e3 ( 14.e3? h2-+ ) 14...d5 15.f3 xb3 16.axb3 e5 17.e4 e6 18.f4 f5 ] 4...e6 Two other moves have been played here to my knowledge: [ 4...d4 5.e2 c5 6.c3 c6 7.cxd4 cxd4 8.g3 g6 9.a3 g7 10.c4 f6 11.d3 0-0 12.0-0 b5 13.a2 d7 14.g5 b7 15.d2 c8 16.h4!? with some kingside cha nces, Va siesiu , D-Va jd a, A /T us na d 2000. ] [ 4...f6 5.e5 e4 6.e2 xc3 7.dxc3 e6 8.h4!? c5 9.h5 h6 10.g3 d7 11.g2 b5 12.e3 d7 13.f4 c7 14.a4 c6 15.0-0 e7 16.g4 g8 17.e1 0-0-0 1238

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.b4 b6 19.bxc5 xc5 20.d4 d7 21.b3 1/2-1/2 Van der Wiel, J-Speelman, J/ Leeuwarden 1997 As long as we remain unprejudiced and we recognise that moves such as 1 e4 a6!? are playable and have a right to exist, then it's easy to take the next step and say that 3... a6!? against the Two K n igh t s is a p e rf e c t ly re a so n a b le lin e . Stylistically, I don't like 4.. e6 very much because it blocks in the Bc8 but it will be difficult to break Black down. As usual, the best results f or W hite will come with patien ce an d a sound grasp of genera l principles. Take the centre, develop quickly and enquire what Black is doing. ] 5.d4 d7 6.d3 dxe4 7.xe4 gf6 8.xf6+ xf6 9.g5 It's a normal position with ... a7-a6 thrown in. Black must play ... c6c 5 b e f o r e l o n g t o l i v e n u p h i s g a m e . h6 10.d2 c5 So now we have a Rubenstein French with an extra tempo for W hite presumably the small move h3. This should not amount to much. 11.dxc5 xc5 12.e2 b5 13.e5 d5 14.g4 b7 [ 14...xg4 Black is absolutely not worse after A) 15.xg4 b7 16.0-0 h5 17.g3 d6 18.f4 h4 19.xg7 ( 19.g4 d4+ 20.h1 xb2 21.f5 ) 19...0-0-0; B) 15.hxg4 b7 16.f3 d6 I guess Vajda feels that he can use the g file but it doesn't turn out that way. ] 15.xf6+ gxf6 16.f3 d4 A temptation which should have been avoided. The Black Queen is very well placed on d5. I prefer [ 16...d6! and Black has no problems: 17.e4 g3+ 18.f1 ( 18.d1 d7 19.xb7 xb7 ) 18...d7 ] 17.0-0-0 f2? Black cannot seem to believe that he might be better and his play lacks confidence as a result. Simply [ 17...0-0-0 would keep the position very unclear. As played moving the Queen out of the centre has a catastrophic effect. ] 18.xb5+ axb5 19.xb5+ f8 20.xb7 xa2 21.b1 a7 I think Vajda saw to here and misjudged the position. He thought Black could move his King and double on the a file with an attack. 22.e4 e7 [ 22...g7 comes to much the same. White can simplify and enter an ending a clear

p a wn u p w i t h t h e b e t t e r K i n g t o b o o t . 23.g4+ h7 ( 23...f8 24.xh6+!+- ) 24.hf1 ha8 ( 24...d4 25.xd4 xd4 26.c3 b6 27.c2+- ) 25.e4+ f5 26.xa8 xf1 27.xf1 xa8 28.d1+- ] 23.hf1 g3 24.f4 xg2 25.c6 White put the boot in first. Also official. 1-0

1186 Vazquez,Guillermo Hamitevici,V 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (10.25) [Neil McDonald]

B11 2323 2467 12.08.2014

1.e4 c6 2.f3 d5 3.c3 a6 A useful move that prevents a future Bb5+ by White in the event of a pawn exchange on d5. On the other hand Black is falling behind in development so he has to play with care. [ The Tal-Botvinnik game mentioned in the note to 5...Bh5 began 3...g4 4.h3 xf3 5.gxf3 e6 6.d4 ] 4.d4 White builds a classical pawn centre and looks for an attack. g4 5.h3 h5 [ In my previous stint on this website back in 2009 I gave Robson-Jobava in which Black e q u a l i s e d o r m o re p re t t i l y e a s il y a f t e r 5...xf3 6.xf3 ( Gawain wondered if 6.gxf3 was worth a try. White strengthens his e4 point and might be able to use his centre pawn mass to advantage. It reminds me of how Tal 'insulted' Botvinnik in the third game of their match in 1960- see the note to 3... a6 above. Botvinnik's 5....e6 looks more useful than 3....a6. Not that time is necessarily a key factor here.) 6...e6 7.f4 f6 etc. Of course White might be able to make better use of his bishops. ] 6.g4 g6 7.e5 White tries to exploit his lead in development to the utmost. xe4?! [ To be preferred is 7...e6! which leads to the forcing line 8.exd5 cxd5 9.h4 f6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.d3 ( After 11.d3 f7 12.h5 gxh5 13.gxh5 e7 14.d2 bc6 15.0-0-0 f5 a draw was agree in Rade, M (2440)Doric, D (2495)/Bol CRO 2013.) 11...f7 It seems ugly for Black to give up his light squared bishop and have his king displaced t o f 7 t o gu a rd g6 . 1 1 m o ve s h a ve b e e n 1239

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 played, and all the black pieces save the bis h o p wh ic h h a s be e n exch a n ge d a re sitting on their starting squares. Only the black king is off the first rank. On the other hand, Black's pawns are compact and his pieces can be developed to good centre squa re s un im pe de d by W hite 's p awnscomfortable posts on c6, d6 and e7 await the black minor pieces. White's c-pawn is blocked, so no c2-c4 thrust is available. The white kingside pawns are advanced but as we know in the Caro-Kann Black tries to p r o ve t h e m a li a b il i t y r a t h e r a n a ss e t . 12.e2 d6 13.f4 e7 A) 14.f3 b6 15.c3 xf4 A1) White should have entered c o m p l i c a t i o n s w i t h 16.xf4 xb2 17.0-0 b6 ( Black's pieces get forked after 17...xh4? 18.fb1 a3 when White has a decisive attack after 19.g3 h8 20.xb7 ) 18.fe1 with compensation for the pawn due to his rooks attacking chances along the bfile and e-file.; A2) 16.xf4 g5 17.g3 bc6 18.h3 gxh4 19.xh4 g5 20.h5 xh5 21.gxh5 f5 22.g4 ce7 23.d2 c8 24.h6 ( White can't develop as 24.0-0-0 allows xd4 ) 24...h8 25.h5+ f8 26.h7 g7 27.f4 Better to submit to losing a pawn with ( 27.0-0-0 ) 27...xh7 28.f3 xb2 29.b1 xa2 30.fxg5 b5 31.gxf6+ xf6 A typical Caro-Kann disaster for White. He thought he was attacking and now he is two pawns down with uncoordinated pieces. 32.g2 a3 33.f2 d6 34.g5+ f7 35.f4 a3 36.e2 e8 37.c1 b2 38.f6 h4 39.e5 g6 40.xe6+ fe7 0-1 Kula ots, K (257 0)-P antsulaia, L (2557)/Konya 2012.; B) 14.h5 xf4 15.xf4 bc6 16.g5 gxh5 17.gxf6 gxf6 18.c3 g6 19.xg6+ xg6 20.e2 f7 Here a draw was agreed in Safarli, E (2660)-Mchedlishvili, M (2637)/Denizli TUR 2013. Black has a s m a l l i n i t i a t i v e a f t e r 21.xh5 g8 22.0-0-0 g6 23.xh8 ( And not 23.dh1? xd4! 24.cxd4 ac8+ 25.d1 b1+ 26.d2 c2+ 27.d3 c1+

and Black wins. ) 23...xh8 etc. ] 8.xe4 [ Gawain thinks 8.f3!? might be worth a puntsee his notes to Murey-Postny. ] 8...dxe4 9.c3 b6? This position was reached in Petrosian-Prohaszka in the archives. The simple [ 9...e6 was recommended, though White has the initiative after 10.b3 c8 11.g2 etc. The game move has the worthy aim of stopping White's Qb3 move. However, as we shall see the black queen is a target on b6 and is soon driven back. ] 10.g2 f6 After [ 10...e6 11.g5 stopping Black from playingNf6 and intending 12.Qg4 etc. is a nice initiative for White. ] 11.g5 fd7 12.c4! Sometimes the best a t t a c k i n g m o v e i s t o g o b a c k wa r d s . B y avoiding an exchange of knights on d7 White leaves his opponent with his other horse bu rie d o n b 8 . d8 13.g4 Black's ninth move has failed as the white queen has found a n o t h e r s p l e n d i d a t t a c k i n g s q u a r e . b5 14.d2 h5 15.e2 g6 16.xe4 g7 17.f4! If he is given time Black will consolidate. Therefore White needs to advance the f-pawn at once. e6 White would have a near decisive attack after [ 17...0-0 18.f5! gxf5?! 19.g3 e6 20.xh5 etc. ] 18.d6+ The immediate [ 18.f5 was also very strong for example exf5 ( Or 18...gxf5 19.g3 e7 20.xh5 g8 21.f4 with a decisive bind.) 19.d6+ f8 20.f4 followed by 21.0-0 and 22.Rae1. ] 18...e7 19.f5! Black has been unable to restrain the energy in W hite's set up. The o p e n i n g o f l i n e s o n t h e ki n g si d e wi ll b e decisive as the black pieces are badly disorganised. xd6 20.f4+ e7 21.f6+ xf6 22.gxf6+ xf6 23.0-0 Black has two extra pawns, but the pressure from the white bishop pair and the rook along the f-file is crushing. Black has a queen, two rooks and a kn ig h t o n t h e i r st a r t i n g s qu a r e s . A s l o w development is OK in some cases when the position is blocked, bit not when W hite has open lines of attack. h7 24.f2 d7 25.xc6 c8 26.d5 The defences around the black king start to crumble. exd5 Losing a 1240

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 piece, but the game wasn't to be held anyway. 27.ae1+ f8 28.d6+ g8 29.xd7 xd7 30.xf6 xh3 Black has three pawns for the piece and the white king has no shelter. But it doesn't matter. Black is in effect a rook down as well when it comes to the struggle in the centre, as the piece on h7 is shut out of the game. 31.e7 f8 32.f3 g4+ 33.g3 d1+ 34.h2 b1 35.e1 A pretty little touch to end the game. The black queen is d e f l e c t e d f r o m t h e d e f e n c e o f g 6 . xe1 36.xg6+ fxg6 37.xf8# 1-0

1187 Wall,Gavin Speelman,Jonathan S 4NCL Birmingham ENG (7) [Nigel Davies]

B11

17.03.2001

Jon Speelman often makes the supposedly dull Caro look like an attacking line. He meets White's unusual choice with his own offbeat moves, and when W hite tries to solve the small problems he ends up with big ones. A nice illustration of how to win with Black. 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f4 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.f2 c7 6.g3 e6 Causing trouble from the outset. [ A solid approach is 6...g6 7.b3 g7 8.b2 0-0 9.g2 b6 10.f3 b7 11.0-0 c5 12.e2 c6 13.fe1 ad8 with a more or less equal game in Plasman - Guliev, Essent Open, 2001. ] 7.f3 d5 8.c4? White should resist the temptation to attack this bishop just now. [ 8.g2 is the sensible move. ] 8...xf3 9.xf3 e6 10.b3 c5 11.b2 d8! Continuing in unstereotyped fashion. Black wants to plant his bishop on d4, and this possibility induces greater concessions. 12.d1 a6 13.d4? Suicide. [ White has to play 13.e2 ] 13...a5+ 14.c3 b4 15.xb4 xb4+ 16.d2 0-0-0 Simply threatening the pawn on d4. 17.d3 a5 18.e3 c3 The d4 pawn is falling after which more will surely follow. 0-1

1188 Zvjaginsev,Vadim Lenic,Luka Aeroflot Open A (4) [Gawain Jones]

B11 2660 2613 11.02.2011

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.e2!? Zvjaginsev is famous for going his own way and here we see it again. This move is very rare and he's the frst 2600+ to try it out. The immediate threat is to take on d5 and Qb5+ dxe4 [ 3...d4 must be the critical test but Black might regret his early expansion. 4.d1 A) 4...e5 also looks logical taking the centre. 5.g3 ( 5.f4!? would be some kind of weird King's Gambit! ) A1) 5...f6 6.d3 g4 7.f3 e6 8.h3 h6 9.g2 g5!? 10.f4 resembled some weird sort of Kings Indian reversed! gxf4 11.gxf4 g4?! ( 11...g4 12.f1 bd7 was a better method of playing.) 12.f5 h4+ Dvoirys, S (2590)-Csonka, A (2 22 5) O be rwart 19 99 a nd h ere th e straightforward 13.df2 xf2 14.xf2 xf2+ 15.xf2 c8 16.d2 and White has a slight edge.; A2) 5...c5 6.d3 f6 7.g2 c6 8.f3 g4 9.h3 h5 10.0-0 e7 11.g4 g6 12.h4 d7 13.f5 0-0 14.f4 exf4 15.xf4 with another King's Indian position in which W hite eventually triumphed Dvoirys, S (2569)-Grooten, H (2390) Hoogeveen 2003.; B) 4...c5 5.d3 ( An immediate 5.f4 c6 6.f3 looks sensible when the position lo o ks m ore like a stra n ge G ra n d P rix Attack than a Caro-Kann.) 5...c6 6.f4 e5 7.g3 d6 8.a3 f6 9.h3 b5 10.f2 and objectively Black must have at le a st e q u a lit y wit h a ll t h a t s p a c e b u t t h e r e 's d e f i n it e ro o m t o o u t p la y yo u r o p p o n e n t s, p a r t ic u la r ly if t h e y 're n o t comfortable in Kings Indian positions. Certic, B (2377)-Georgiev, K (2662) Bar 2008. ] [ W hile Black has scored best with 3...e6 sensibly keep ing his centre intact. Th e po sit ion re m in d s m e o f a so rt of K in gs Indian Attack and so I suppose must be playable. A) White could also return to fighting for 1241

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 th e ce n tre wit h 4.d4!? dxe4 5.xe4 ( 5.xe4!? xd4 6.f3 is also a po ss ibilit y f or t h e ta ctically in cline d .) 5...f6 6.h4 a5 7.d3 b5 8.d2 b4 9.e4 bd7 10.f3 b6 11.0-0 xe4 12.xe4 gave White a pleasant opening in Czebe, A (2472) -Gojani, G Baden 2000 but of course Black's play can be improved.; B) 4.g3 f6 5.g2 dxe4 6.xe4 xe4 7.xe4 d5 8.e2 xe4 9.xe4 d7 and Black had equalised and subsequently outplayed his lower rated opponent. Frick, C (2205) -Dumitrache, D (2500) Avoine 2001. ] 4.xe4 f5 [ 4...f6 has also been tried which seems sensible enough. ] 5.d3 e6 6.g4! And this wild lunge is the first new move but actually makes sense to me. Zvjaginsev gains space on the kingside and picks up the bishop pair. [ 6.d2 was played in the previous game between two strong players. That continued: d7 7.h4!? I feel that's the wrong pawn! gf6 8.g3 g4 9.f3 d6 10.f2 f5 11.xf5 exf5 12.0-0-0 0-0 with "dynamic equality" after a series of odd moves by White. Certic, B (2388)-Genov, P (2489) Bar 2007. ] 6...xe4 [ 6...g6 is the alternative but after 7.h4 ( 7.d2 is also a possibility) 7...h5 ( 7...h6 8.d2 f6 9.0-0-0 looks promising for W hite with a lot of space on the kingside and good attacking chances.) 8.g5 d7 9.d2 c7 10.0-0-0 0-0-0 11.f4 White can still try to use his extra space. ] 7.dxe4 a5+ 8.d2 a4 9.c4 After the queen exchange W hite must have a small edge due to the bishop pair but Black is solid as always. [ 9.b3 is the alternative when the game would probably continue: a3 10.f3 b2 11.c1 d7 ( 11...xa2 12.c3 a3 13.a1 c5 14.d4 b4+ 15.c3 xb3 16.d2 is very risky.) 12.g2 0-0-0 13.0-0 and I quite like W hite's chances. He has more space, a lead in development and the bishop pair. ] 9...xc4 10.xc4 f6 11.f3 I think we can

call White's opening idea a success. Perhaps Black should go back and examine his alternatives on move three. bd7 12.h3 [ 12.g5 h5 13.h3 h6 14.gxh6 g6 15.h7 xh7 16.g5 h8 shouldn't be anything for White. ] 12...h6 13.f2 e5 [ 13...a5 is also possible but after a series of natural moves like 14.0-0-0 e5 15.e2 c5 16.hf1 0-0 ( 16...g5? would fail here to 17.c3! ) 17.f4 g6 18.g5 hxg5 19.fxg5 d7 20.d3 White has a definite edge. ] 14.e2 g5 Lenic decides to take a stand on the kingside but this is a bit risky. 15.h4 g8 16.h3 [ 16.0-0-0 is also possible and would cut out the following possibility. ] 16...h7 Lenic defends passively. [ 16...gxh4 was an alternative 17.f4 e7 18.g2 ( 18.d3 xd3+ 19.cxd3 h5 20.g5 d7 21.f4 e5 looks ok for Black.) 18...0-0-0 19.xh6 is a little better for White. ] 17.0-0-0 [ 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.c3 g7 19.0-0-0 and Black is suffering although he's probably ok after d8 20.xd8+ xd8 21.f4 f8 22.h5 h8 ] 17...d8 18.hxg5 hxg5 19.f4!? [ 19.c3 would transpose to the previous note. ] 19...gxf4 [ Lenic evidently decided he didn't like the look of 19...f6 20.h5 xh5 when both captures give White a little nibble ] 20.xh7 g6 21.c3 xd1+ 22.xd1 d6 White appears to have an advantage here but there's probably not enough to win as Black's position is very solid and the knight is a useful defensive piece. 23.h5 f8 24.e5 c7 25.d2?! After this White definitely has nothing at all. [ 25.d2 b6 26.d3 e3 27.e4 e7 28.b4+ c5 29.a5 b6 30.c3 g6 31.h1 would keep Black under definite pressure. h8 is not advised as 32.xh8 xh8 33.e1 g6 34.c3 leaves Black extremely passive although it's possible that here too he can set up a fortress. ] 25...g6 26.d3 1242

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 26.c3 h8 27.xh8+ xh8 28.d3 g6 should be a draw but the game quickly peters out. ] 26...xe5 27.h7 g7 28.xf4 d7 29.xe5 Another interesting new idea by Zvjaginsev and it seems that W hite might have an advantage after 3...dxe4. Therefore Black players should probably examine the two alternatives. I wonder if we'll see more of this interesting offbeat plan. ½-½

approximately equal 27.af1 af8 28.f3 e8 29.g5 e7 30.f3 e8 31.d1 f6 32.exf6 xf6 33.g5 xf4 34.xf4 e7 35.h3 d8 36.f2 hf7 37.f3 g5 38.c2 g8 39.g3 c6 40.h4 gxh4+ 41.xh4 h8 42.g2 d8 43.f4 d6 44.e2 hf7 45.h2 g5 46.g6 e7 47.f2 h8 48.h5 h6 49.c2 df7 50.h4 d6 51.a5 e7 52.f1 d6 53.b3 cxb3 54.xb3 e7 55.c2 d6 56.d3 d7 57.b1 e7 58.f2 d6 59.c2 e7 60.f4 d6 61.f1 d7 62.a4+ d8 63.b5 e7 64.d3 d6 65.g3 c7 1189 B12 66.f4 h3+ 67.g3 hg5 68.f4 h3+ Adams,Michael 2715 69.e3 hg5 70.c4 dxc4 71.xc4 d6 Kolbus,Dietmar 2335 72.b1 c7 73.c1 d6 74.b1 c7 d6 76.f1 Finally, after many 98th ch Sheffield ENG (1.1) 24.07.2011 75.c1 moves W hite finds a way to make a small [Milos Pavlovic] breakthrough. h8 77.g2 b8 78.f4 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 79.f6+ d8 80.e4 xe4 81.xe4 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 8.0-0 c4 b6 82.a6 d7 83.g5 f8 84.g4 d6 This is an important crossroads, Black decides 85.d3 f2 86.g6 g2+ 87.f3 g5 to close the position, which is one of the 88.f4 g2 89.h1 At the very end of the oldest reactions in this line. He will obtain a game W hite has managed to get a winning slightly passive but solid set up. 9.h4 g6 position after only a few mistakes by Black in 10.a4N Mickey is known for his positional this long but instructive game. c6 90.e5 treatment with such "small" moves that take g3 91.b1 e3+ 92.f4 e2 93.f3 d2 94.g7 space and then slowly building up his position. [ A similar type of chess was seen in another 1-0 game: 10.b1 e7 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d2 a5 13.a3 a6 14.f4 b5 15.f3 d8 16.g4 B12 h6 17.g2 b6 18.bd1 d7 19.e2 1190 Adams,Michael 2723 We follow the old game Short, N -Burmakin, Monroy,Charles 2421 V /Moscow 1995, in which chances are Gibraltar Masters (1.2) 25.01.2011 about equal ] 10...d8 11.g3 e7 12.xg6 hxg6 13.f4 [Gawain Jones] b4 14.b1 ge7 15.c3 f5 16.f2 e7 17.d2 As we can now see that the a4 pawn 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 helps White to play on both sides, and this is The Short Variation continues to be the most a n i m p o r t a n t p o s i t i o n a l n u a n c e . g5! popular treatment against the Caro-Kann at Good p lay by Black - he is searching f o r elit e le ve l. d7 6.0-0 g6 7.c3 h6 counterplay before White gets his hands on White has a wide array of moves available to b3 before slowly building pressure on the him here. 8.f4 [ Jonathan Rowson examined taking the queenside. 18.g4 h6 19.fxg5 k n i g h t wi t h 8.xh6 in Bologan, V (2661) [ 19.b3 cxb3 20.fxg5 xg5 21.xb3 0-0 Dreev, A (2697) Poikovsky 2006 but Mickey 22.d3 c8 23.h3 b8 24.e1 d7 prefers to keep full control of the position. ] 25.a5 With another type of position that is [ Last year Adams tried 8.a4 in the British interesting, where chances are level. ] Championships. That game continued c8 19...xg5 20.g2 h4 21.e3 g5 22.f2 A slightly odd looking move, particularly as h4 23.e1 xf2 24.xf2 g5 25.f4 Black never managed to achieve the ...c5 xf4 26.xf4 e7 The position is 1243

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 break. 9.a5 a6 10.f4 e7 11.e1 0-0 12.b4! We will see more of this idea in the game. Black is already really cramped and s o m u s t p l a y f o r t h e . . . f 7 - f 6 b r e a k . f6 13.exf6 xf6 14.g5 f7 15.xh6 gxh6 16.d3 h5 17.bd2 f8 18.e5 g6 19.xg6 hxg6 20.e3 d6 21.e5 an d W hit e h ad co mp let e con t ro l o f t h e position while Black has vulnerable e6 and g6 pawns. Meanwhile the outpost on e5 is extremely useful. Adams, M (2706) Conquest, S (2523) Canterbury 2010. ] 8...e7 9.bd2 f5 [ 9...c5?! is t o o e a r ly. 10.c4! will favour White as he has much more control over the centre, e.g. 0-0 11.cxd5 exd5 12.b1!? c4 13.c3 b6 14.a4 a5 15.xh6 gxh6 16.d2 g7 17.e1 and Black's pieces, particularly knight on b6 don't coordinate well. ] [ 9...a5!? looks odd but would at least prevent Adams' next. ] 10.b4! I really like this move suffocating Black and preventing his typical counterplay with ... c5. Perhaps objectively W hite has no advantage but it is easier to play his side. a5 11.a3 0-0 12.b3 b6 Black must be fine here - at least Rybka claims equality and he has just played natural moves, but I would prefer W hite with his extra space. He can rearrange his forces before striking on the k i n g s id e wh il e B la c k s t r u gg le s t o f i n d a weakness to target. 13.h3 Adams, as always, is happy to slowly improve his position and force his opponent to come up with a good plan. h4 [ 13...c5 is not yet playable due to 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.xa5 ] [ while 13...axb4 14.axb4 c5 15.xa8 xa8 16.b5 b7 17.bxc5 bxc5 18.xd7 xd7 19.g4! is also unpleasant. ] 14.xh4 xh4 15.b5!? Mickey decides to change the structure - a dynamic decision. a4 [ 15...c5 16.dxc5 bxc5 17.a4 followed by 18.c4 puts pressure on Black's structure. ] [ P e r h a p s t h e i m m e d i a t e 15...c8 is strongest 16.bxc6 xc6 17.d2 e7 18.b5 c8 19.e2 and I'd still prefer White with his extra space whilst it's tough to generate counterplay f or the second player. ]

16.d2 c5 17.c4! This was the idea behind W h it e 's 1 5 t h . W h it e 's p ie ce s h a ve m o re control over the central squares and so this stand-off in the centre should favour him. cxd4 [ As the game progresses there's a strong argument for 17...e7 bringing that bishop back into the fold when Black's position looks ve ry solid . 18.f3 e4 19.e1 reaches an odd situation where it's hard to come up with useful moves for either side! ] 18.f3 c5 [ 18...d3 19.xd3 xd3 20.xd3 c5 21.e2 is also pleasant for White with the offside bishop on h4 and strong outpost for the white knight on c6. ] 19.xd4 c8 Sensible but now White has an edge. [ 19...dxc4 looks like it should equalise: 20.xc4 g5! 21.xg5 ( 21.c1!? might keep White with a small something.) 21...xg5 22.f4 g3 23.e1 xe1 24.fxe1 d3 25.ac1 xc4 26.xc4 fd8= ] 20.c1 [ I like the look of 20.g3 Playing against this bishop is an important theme in this game. e7 ( 20...dxc4!? is an interesting idea when I don't think W hite should take the p i e c e a n d i n s t e a d t r y 21.c6! xd1 22.fxd1 d8 23.xc4 with a definite advantage.) 21.cxd5 xd5 22.c6 fe8 23.xd5 exd5 24.ad1 and White will pick up a pawn. ] 20...dxc4 21.xc4 e4 22.e3 d5?! This is Black's first real mistake and W hite doesn't miss his chance. [ Monroy should have taken the opportunity to bring the bishop back into the game with 22...e7 when White's strongest looks to be the positional pawn sacrifice 23.c6 xc6 24.bxc6 xc6 25.b1 when Black will still have to suffer as White has good attacking chances on the kingside while also decent pressure on the queenside. ] 23.c6! xc6 [ 23...xc6 24.bxc6 xc4 25.xc4 c7 26.d6 would likewise be terrible for Black as the bishops dominate. ] [ P e r h a p s B l a c k s h o u l d t r y 23...xc4!? 24.xd8 fxd8 25.c2 xe2 26.xe2 1244

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d5 but White is a lot better, perhaps already winning. Curiously I would be much happier defending this position were the a4 pawn on a5 as here the queen vs rook and bishop endgame should be fairly simple as a4 will drop. ] 24.bxc6 xc6? But this just loses the misplaced bishop on h4 is the decisive factor. [ 24...e7 was necessary when White has a choice between playing positionally with 25. Qxd8 and 26.Bf3 or attacking with 25.g4!? g6 26.h6 e8 27.b5 with a great position. ] 25.d4 e7 26.b5! cc8 27.h5 and suddenly the bishop is trapped and so Monroy threw in the towel. A very well played game by Adams who kept full control. Perhaps we will see more of this b2-b4 idea. 1-0

xe2+! 17.xe2 xd4 18.ab1 e6 19.c1 b5! 20.b4 b6! 21.d1 hf4 a n d B la ck h a s a h u ge e d g e d u e t o t h e discoordination of White's pieces. ] 5...e5!? A new and very interesting continuation. [ 5...f6?! is weak as the French-like position after 6.e5 fd7 7.f4 e6 8.f3 clearly favours White (Black's dark-square Bishop is misplaced on g7). ] [ and 5...b6 which was good in AdamsLeko is now senseless in view of 6.d2 ] 6.dxe5 xe5 7.d2 e7 8.c2 W h i t e p r e p a r e s Q - s i d e c a s t l i n g . 0-0! A brave and correct decision. Now a very sharp position with opposite sides castling a rise s wh e re B la ck' s ch a n ce s a re b y n o means worse. [ 8...e6 intending to castle the same side as White was also possible but in the quiet position arisingafter 9.0-0-0 a5 10.a3 1191 B12 d7 11.e2 0-0-0 12.d4 White's chances are slightly better. ] Adams,Michael 2715 Seirawan,Yasser 2640 9.0-0-0 a5 [ The straightforward 9...b5!? is worthy of Bermuda 1999 consideration: 10.h4 b4! Sacrificing pawn, [Alexander Volzhin] Black wins some tempi and open files on the Q-side. 11.cxb4 a5 and at the cost of only 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 g6 4.c3 After 4 Nc3 one pawn Black obtains a dangerous Adams got absolutely nothing from the attack. ] opening in his game against Leko, so he deviates first. g7 5.e3 White has also tried 10.h4 b5 [ O f c o u r s e , 10...h5? can't stop White's other moves, but they are weaker: attack, moreover it only helps White to open [ 5.d3 e5 is good for Black ] files on the K-side after 11.g4! ] [ 5.f4 was rather popular, but after the 11.h5 d7?! Black plays too slowly. game Mitkov-Hebert, Cannes 1995 it is [ 11...b4!? is worthy of consideration. ] completely out of fashion: d7! (intending 6 . . . e 7 - e 5 ) 6.e5 ( 6.d3 e5 ) 6...f6! 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.e2 b4 14.d4 c5 [ 14...xd4 is weaker in view of 15.cxd4 a4 Undermining the pawn chain and W hite 16.d3 threatening Qe3-h6. ] can't strengthen the centre by his f-pawn in view of the bad position of his dark-square 15.xe5 xe5 16.f4?! The position is very bishop. 7.exf6 gxf6! 8.d3 0-0 9.e2 sh a r p a n d e ve n a sm a ll i n a cc u ra c y m a y e5! Seizing the initiative. 10.g5 ( Both become decisive. [ 16.exd5! should be played. In his notes in 10.xe5 xe5 11.dxe5 h5 or; 10.dxe5 Informant 74 Adams appends a question h5 are very good for Black.) 10...b6 mark to this move in view of xd5 17.b3 11.b3 h5 12.a3 exd4 13.xb6 axb6 c6 and according to Adams Black has a 14.cxd4 Black has a clear edge due to his c l e a r e d g e . H o we ve r I d i s a g r e e . L e t ' s more active pieces and better pawn c o n t i n u e t h i s l i n e : 18.d2! and in my structure but he can't dawdle, as White can opinion it is W hite who has decisive consolidate. c5! 15.c2 ( 15.dxc5 xb2 advantage! f5 The only move. ( 18...bxc3 16.c2 xa1 17.xa1 xa2 18.0-0 bxc5 loses on the spot in view of 19.h6 cxb2+ and White is helpless.) 15...e8 16.f2 1245

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.xb2 c4+ 21.c1 and mate is u n a v o i d a b l e .) 19.f4 f6 20.h2 and Black's position is hardly defensible. ] 16...a4! Now Black's attack is more dangerous. 17.b1 [ 17.exd5 is not good: f5 18.e4 b3! with a strong attack. ] 17...a5! [ The immediate 17...b3!? was an interesting alternative. ] 18.exd5 f5? After this move White is better again. [ T h e n a t u r a l 18...b3! gave Black a dangerous attack. Black can't delay this move any more! A) Acceptance of the sacrifice is very d a n g e r o u s : 19.axb3 axb3 20.xb3 ( 20.xb3? loses on the spot in view of f5+ 21.e4 fb8 ) 20...a2+ 21.c1 f5 22.d3 xd3+ 23.xd3 c4 and Black wins.; B) 19.c1 f5+ 20.e4 a3 Now White cannot avoid the opening of lines. 21.axb3 ( 21.bxa3 b2! and Black is winning) 21...axb2 22.xb2 fb8! (threatening 23... Rxb3!) B1) 23.c1 is insufficient in view of xe4 24.fxe4 g4! and White is in trouble, for example: 25.d3 ( 25.h3 a1+ 26.xa1 xa1+ 27.d2 a2+ 28.e1 f5! and all Black's pieces participate in the attack which is very strong even after a queen exchange.) 25...f2! and White can't play 26.xf2? in view of xc3+ 27.c2 a1#; B2) 23.d6! T h e o n l y m o v e . xb3 24.xb3 a1+ 25.c2 a2+ 26.xa2 xa2+ 27.c1 and Black can either take a draw by perpetual or to try playing for a win. ] 19.e4 The situation has changed completely. fb8 [ Now 19...b3 is not so strong as White's Queen has a good square to retreat: 20.f2! intending 21.Qh4. ] 20.cxb4! xb4 21.d6! xe4 22.fxe4 7c6 23.d5 b7 24.f2 c4 [ 24...g4 is also bad in view of 25.f6+! xf6 26.xf6 ] 25.d2 Preparing Qf6. Black could already resign here. f5 26.f6+ g7 27.h7+ xf6

28.h4+ In spite of his loss in this game Black ha d m an y go od po ssibilit ies an d we c a n co n c l u d e t h a t 3 . . . g 6 i s a ve r y so l i d a n d promising line for Black. 1-0

1192 Adhiban,Baskaran Burmakin,V 15th Sants Open 2013 (10.1) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2567 2565 01.09.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 h6 7.c3 d7 8.a3 h7 9.c2 c5 10.dxc5 c6?! [ 10...xc5! is the right way to play this position and now 11.cd4 a6! is what I recommend in my notes in the key game Ponomariov-Grischuk. Check that out in the archives for analysis and references for all the previous moves. ] 11.b4! xc2 [ 11...dxe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.b5+ d7 14.d4 gives White a dangerous attack, as I said in my notes to the above game. Black's best chance here is e7 but after 15.c6 ( 15.g4!? is also good) 15...bxc6 16.xc6 b6 17.e2 f6 18.e5! xe5 19.xd7+ xd7 20.xe5 Black's king is caught in the centre and the opposite coloured bishops only help White in his attack as he can play Bf4 or Be3-c5 and Back will have a tough job defending. ] 12.xc2 dxe5?! After this things go from bad to worse for Black - W hite's attack is simply too fast [ 12...a5! was a better try although White is still clearly better after 13.d4! axb4 ( 13...cxe5?! 14.f4! ) 14.xc6 bxc6 15.cxb4 xe5 16.b2 d7 17.a4 and Black is still struggling to develop here and W hite's queenside pawn majority is already looking ominous. ] 13.xe5 xe5 14.c4! White has a lot of good options here but this is perhaps the most direct - opening up the centre before Black gets a chance to get castled. [ 14.f4 c6 15.a4 preparing b5 was also strong ] 14...xc4 15.xc4 dxc4 16.d1! 1246

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 16.xc4?! d5! and Black escapes with only a slightly worse ending. ] 16...c7 17.b2 h5 18.xc4 Now that Black is tied to defending g7 Adhiban feels it's the right time to recapture the pawn. Burmakin desperately tries for counterplay but it's all a bit too little too late. h4 19.e5! c6?! [ 19...xe5? loses to 20.b5+ e7 21.xb7+ f6 22.xa8 ] [ 19...c8 was the only chance but White can simply double u p on the d-f ile wit h 20.d2 ( 20.h3 is safe as well) 20...h3 21.ad1 and it's hard to believe Black can survive for long here with such a passive position ] 20.b5! A decisive finish to a great game xc5 [ 20...c8 21.c6 is crushing ] 21.d3 e7 [ 21...e7 22.b6 f6 23.ac1! fxe5 24.c7 and Black can resign ] 22.d7+ f8 23.ac1 A fantastic miniature from Adhiban. 1-0

with a draw agreed by repetition in Erenburg, S (2629)-Akobian, V (2622) ICC INT 2012 ] [ 8.dxc5 xc5 ( 8...xc5 isn't as good here as White seems to have the better chances after 9.b3! c7 10.e3 d7 11.fd4! g6 12.f4 ) 9.b3 ( 9.c4!? e7! should be OK for Black, for example 10.b3 a7 11.cxd5 xd5 12.d3 g4! 13.e4 xf3 14.xf3 xe5 15.g3 g6 and it's not clear that White has enough for the pawn here) 9...e7 ( I'd prefer to keep the two bishops with 9...a7! ) 10.xc5 xc5 11.e3 c8 12.c4 0-0 13.g5?! Things quickly start to go wrong around here for White ( 13.c1 is about equal but I'd slightly prefer to be White because of the two bishops and then centre is ready to open up ) 13...h6 14.xe7 xe7 15.cxd5 exd5 16.xd5 fd8 17.c4 d3 18.b3?! ( 18.h4 was necessary although Black still has great compensation after e6 ) 18...f4 19.fe1? This just loses a piece xe2+ 20.xe2 d3 0-1 Pavlidis, A (2414)-Nikolaidis, I (2554) Chania 2011 ( 20...d3 21.b6 xf3! 22.gxf3 g5+ 23.h1 h3 is mating - 24.g1 xg1+! 1193 B12 25.xg1 c1+ 26.e1 xe1# )] Adhiban,Baskaran 2590 8...e7 9.dxc5 xc5 10.b3 Adhiban has Short,N 2683 responded in probably the most critical way Gibraltar Masters 2014 (10.7) 06.02.2014 and now Nigel goes wrong - perhaps trying to play too ambitiously early on as Black? c6?! [Tom Rendle] Things start to go downhill rather quickly for 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 Black here [ 10...d7! was the correct way to handle d7 6.0-0 a6 Black has an enormous variety the position and now White is struggling to of moves in this position but we've never seen even prove a slight advantage, one sensible 6...a6 before on ChessPub so this game is way f or t he game t o continu e would b e definitely worth a look, and even though it 11.e3 dxc4 12.xc4 c8 13.d3 xd3 doesn't work out well in this game I think it's 14.xd3 d5 and Black is going to have quite a reasonable option. The idea is to play enough time to play ...Be7 and ...0-0 with a a quick ...c5 and have the b5 square covered good game. ] to prevent Bb5 checks but this does lose some time so Black has to be very careful in 11.e3 xb3 12.xb3 d4?! [ 12...dxc4 was the lesser of two evils but I these lines! 7.bd2 c5 8.c4 imagine this was not the plan when Short [ 8.c3 h6 9.e1 e7 10.df3 c8 played 10...Nc6 as White has a comfortable 11.d3 b6 ( 11...xd3 12.xd3 f5 edge in the endgame after 13.xb7 a5 also seems to equalise here) 12.h3 cxd4 14.b6 xb6 15.xb6 c6 16.xc4 g4 13.cxd4 xd3 ( 13...e4!? ) 14.xd3 c6 17.b3! xf3 18.gxf3 xe5 19.a4+ e7 15.f4 e7 16.b1 0-0 Black is at least 20.g2 and White's two bishops and e q u a l h e r e 17.e3 c7 18.h2 fc8 queenside pawn majority give him the only 19.h5 f8 20.g4 h8 21.f4 g8 realistic winning chances ] 22.g4 h8 23.f4 g8 24.g4 1247

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.fd1 Black is already in a lot of trouble [ 13.ad1! is even more accurate because after c5 14.xd4 xd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.a4+ f8 White can now improve with ( 16...d7 is a sad necessity for Black here but this leaves White a solid pawn up after 17.xd7+ xd7 18.xd4+ c7 19.fd1 ) 17.c5! and the point is that the rook on f1 s t i l l d e f e n d s f 2 s o xf2+ 18.xf2 is pretty hopeless for Black ] 13...c5 14.xd4 xd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.a4+ f8 17.b4+ [ 17.c5 i s n o w l e s s c l e a r a f t e r xf2+ 18.xf2 c7 although White must still be clearly better after 19.b4! a5 ( not 19...xe5? 20.c6+ g8 21.cxb7 b8 22.xa6 and W hite is easily winning) 20.b6 xb6 21.cxb6 e7 22.ac1 hc8 23.f3! ab8 24.e3 ] 17...g8 18.c5 xf2+ 19.xf2 c7 [ 19...e7 was more stubborn as with the queens on Black still has some hope to defend, however after 20.f3 h5 21.d6! White should be confident of winning in the long run with such control of the centre ] 20.b6! e7 [ 20...xb6 21.cxb6 e4 22.f3 xf3 23.xf3 g6 24.d7 is hopeless for Black ] 21.f3 h5 22.xb7 b8 23.c6 The c-pawn is c l e a rly g o i n g t o d e c id e t h e g a m e h7 24.c7 xb7 25.xb7 c5+ 26.f1 h4 27.d8 g6 28.c8 A bit of a one-sided game in the end but I still think 6...a6 has some merit but it is definitely Black that has to be more careful in this line. 1-0

1194 Agdestein,Simen Ostenstad,Berge ch-NOR Royos (8) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2570 2440 2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 e7 A VERY popular line recently, with both sides hitting hard. 7.f4 [ 7.f4 h5! is fine for Black but he must tread a n a r r o w p a t h a n d b e wi l l i n g t o s t r i k e i m m e d i a t e l y a g a i n s t t h e wh i t e c e n t r e . ( 7...d7 8.g3 h6 9.e3 c5 10.ce2

h7 11.c3 c6 12.f5 This is what Black must avoid. White's centre is consolidated and he has a strong clamp on the position. cxd4 13.cxd4 b4+ 14.f2 b6 15.b3 e7 16.f4 g5 17.e2 d7 18.h4 xf4 19.xf4 exf5 20.g5 hxg5 21.hxg5 e7 22.d2 g6 23.d3 ac8 24.af1 a8 25.e1 a5 26.b1 xh1 27.xh1 f8 28.f1 c7 29.h1 b5 30.e2 a3 31.d3 b4 32.c3 xd3+ 33.xd3 c8 34.f2 b5 35.c1 e6 36.e2 xc1 37.xc1 e7 38.f4+ d7 39.xa3 xa3 40.xb5+ c7 41.c5+ 1-0 Kotenko, P-Kulakov, V/6th Open, Voronezh RUS 2002 (41); 7...c5 8.dxc5 ec6 9.e3 a6 10.d4 xc5 11.b5 d7 12.f1! h5 13.f5 h7 14.h3 a6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.f3 The Bishop is swamped . a5 17.a4 b8 18.b3 a6 19.ce2 c5 20.g3 xd4 21.xd4 c5 22.c3 hxg4 23.hxg4 b4 24.f2 exf5 25.gxf5 xf5 26.xf5 0-0 27.xb4 xb4 28.0-0-0 g6 29.h6+ g7 30.f6+ 1-0 Thipsay, B-Goldberg, J/ch-GBR, Torquay ENG 2002 (30) ) 8.f5 A) 8...h7 9.f4 xf5! 10.gxf5 h4+ 11.e2 xf5 This is a bit more like it. Now Black will have all the fun. 12.h3 c5 13.b5 ( White went down quickly in the following game: 13.e1 d8 14.f2 c6 15.d3 xd4 16.xf5 xf5 17.g2 g5 18.d3 c4 19.f2 c5 20.f1 g8 21.fd1 g4 22.xf5 exf5 23.e6 gxh3+ 24.xh3 d6 25.e7 d7 26.xd5 f4+ 27.h2 f3+ 28.f4 g2+ 0-1 Nataf, I-Dreev, A/Gp B, Cap d'Agde FRA 2002 (28) Just a superb game with pe rf e ct coo rd in a tio n a ll t he wa y f ro m Dreev. ) 13...c6 14.c3 d8 15.e3 a6 16.d6+ xd6 17.exd6 xd6 18.dxc5 e5 19.d3 ( 19.g1; 19.f2 ) 19...xd3+ 20.xd3 0-0-0 21.d1 ( 21.d1 d4 22.d2 dxc3 23.xc3 e4 24.g1 xd2+!! 25.xd2 d8+ 26.d3 e5 27.g3 f4+ 28.e3 c4+-+ ) 21...d4 22.cxd4 xd4+ 23.xd4 xd4 24.xd4 d8 25.xd8+ xd8 26.g2 xb2+ 27.f3 f6+ 28.e4 g6+ 29.f3 f5+ 30.g3 e5+ 31.f2 b2+ 32.f3 xa2 33.d1+ c8 34.d6 e5 35.h4 e4+ 36.g3 e2 1248

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe5+ 25.f2 h8 26.g3 d6 27.a4 37.d2 e3 38.a5 g4+ 39.h2 f4+ c4 28.b3 e3 29.c1 f5+ 30.f4 40.g1 f2+ 41.h2 xh4+ 42.h3+ d4 31.g3 a5 32.g2 c5 33.b1 f5 43.g2 g6 44.xg6 e4+ 45.h2 e8 34.f1 b4 35.c3+ xb3 36.cxd4 e5+ 46.g2 b2+ 0-1 Sutovsky, Eb2 37.c5 xb1 38.xa5 c2 39.a7 Nielsen, P/Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (46) b8 40.a5 d3 41.a6 bxa6 42.xa6 White was swept away.....; b1+ 0-1 Zambrana, O-Sasikiran, K/ B) 8...exf5 9.g5 a6 ( 9...h4 10.f4 c5 Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (42)) 8...c5 11.dxc5 d4 12.b5 ec6 13.d5 a6 9.e3 ec6 10.f4 xc2 11.xc2 cxd4 14.d6+ xd6 15.exd6 xc5 16.c7+ 12.0-0-0 dxc3 13.c4 cxb2+ 14.b1 b4 d7 17.b5 e8+ 18.f1 e4 19.f3 15.a4+ 4c6 16.a3 a5 17.xa5 xa5 c8 20.f4 e6 21.xe6 xe6 22.g2 18.b5+ bc6 19.xh5 a6 20.xc6+ b6 23.c4 e4 24.d3 e5 25.xe5 bxc6 21.d4 c4 22.a2 b8 23.h2 g6 xe5 26.he1 cc5 27.b4 xb4 24.f6+ d8 25.h5 gxh5 26.gxh5 xa3 28.eb1 d2+ 29.h1 xd6 30.xb7 27.h6 b4 28.h7 a4 29.g2 e7+ h3 31.b8+ c7 32.d8+ d7 30.b3 a3+ 31.c2 xf6 32.g8+ d7 33.b8+ c7 34.d8+ d7 35.b8+ 33.h1 a1 34.xa1 bxa1 35.xa1 c7 36.d8+ 1/2-1/2 Zaksaite, Sxh7 36.exf6 h2+ 37.b3 h3 38.b4 Tilenbaeva, J/Olympiad w, Bled SLO 2002 xf3 39.f8 d6 40.c5 e4+ 41.b6 (36) ) 10.f4 c7 11.h4 e6 12.ce2 b3+ 42.a7 d6 43.d4 b5+ h7 13.xe6 fxe6 14.f4 d7 15.xh5 0-1 Stevchev, V-Ivanov, I/Macedonian Open, g6 16.f3 g8 17.e3 f7 18.f2 c5 Struga MKD 2002 (43) ] 19.dxc5 c8 20.d4 c6 21.c3 g7 22.e3 a6 23.b4 c7 24.e1 g8 7...c5 8.h4 [ 8.dxc5 25.g3 e7 26.h2 h8 27.a4 b8 A) 8...ec6 9.h4 ( 9.g2 xc5 10.h4 28.b2 e8 29.g2 h7 30.xd5 exd5 c7 11.0-0 d7 12.fxd5 exd5 31.xd5 e6 32.b6+ d8 33.xa8 13.xd5 d8 14.g5 f6 15.exf6 gxf6 f4+ 34.xf4 d7 35.h2 h8 36.c6 f8 16.e1+ f7 17.f4 b6 18.f3 e8 37.c7+ c8 38.cxb8+ xb8 39.b6 19.xe8 xe8 20.e1+ e7 21.xg6 xf4 40.xd7+ xd7 41.xf4 f5+ hxg6 22.xf6 1-0 Bellaiche, A-Spielmann, 42.g3 d3+ 43.e3 f1 44.f2 g1+ A/IM It, Rosny sous Bois FRA 2002 (22)) 45.g2 c1 46.h2 c7 47.f2 c6 9...c7 10.g2 xe5+ 11.f1 xc5 48.ee2 d5 49.e6 xd4 50.cxd4 c7+ 12.h5 e4 13.f3 f5 14.ce2 0-0 15.g5 51.g2 e7 52.f7 e8 53.d7+ c4 d4 16.h3 a6 17.g3 c7 18.h3 54.d5 d3 55.f2 e3 56.d6 d3 d5 19.g6 d6 20.xf8 xf8 21.f4 57.f6 b5 58.a5 a8+ 59.g3 d5 e4 22.a3 a5 23.g2 d5 24.d2 d8 60.df7 xd6+ 61.g4 d4+ 62.h3 25.c1 e5 26.d3 xg2+ 27.xg2 e4 e4 63.f3+ c2 64.e7 e6+ 65.g2 28.xc5 xc5 29.c1 d5 30.c4 e3+ e4 66.f1 d1 67.g2 g4+ 68.g3 31.xe3 dxe3 32.b3 e2+ 33.xe2 d3 e6 69.f2 xe7 70.h1 e4+ 34.xb7 d4 35.b8+ f7 36.b7+ 71.g1 xh4 72.a3 g4+ 73.h1 e8 37.xe4+ fxe4 38.xe4+ f7 h4+ 74.g2 g4+ 75.g3 e4+ 39.xd3 d6 40.e4 b3 41.f5+ 76.g1 e1 77.f1+ e2 78.f2+ e1 g8 42.e1 d3+ 1-0 Milagrosa, A79.f1+ e2 80.f2+ e1 81.f1+ Antonio, R/ch-PHI, Makati PHI 2002 (42); 1/2-1/2 Kapnisis, S-Malakhatko, V/11th B) 8...d7 9.h4 xe5 10.g2 d4 Open, Kavala GRE 2002 (81) ] 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 7c6 13.h5 g6 [ 7.h4 h5 8.f3 ( 8.f4 d7 9.xg6 xg6 14.g3 xc5 15.f4 c4 16.f3 b6 10.g5 e7 11.gxh5 xh4 12.xh4 xh4 17.f1 0-0-0 18.g5 hf8 An odd move. 13.g4 g5 14.hxg6 xf2+ 15.xf2 xh1 After both 18... Ne3+ and 18...h6 Black is 16.g7 e7 17.g2 h7 18.d3 f5 better. ( 18...e3+ 19.xe3 dxe3 19.exf6+ xf6 20.xh7 xg4 21.g8 20.xc6 bxc6 21.e1 d2; 18...h6 ) xg8 22.xg8 xg8 23.f3 e5 24.dxe5 1249

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.g2 f5 20.gxf6 xf6 21.xc6 xc6 22.xc6+ bxc6 23.e4 f5 24.f3 e7 25.b3 b6 26.g3 f6 27.g4 c5 28.h5 df8 29.e2 d6 30.d2 d5 31.hxg6 hxg6 32.h4 f5 33.g1 e7 34.c3 e5 35.cxd4 exd4 36.b4 cxb4 37.xd4 c5 38.c1 8f7 1-0 Kovac, BLendero, P/ch-SLO, Dobrna SLO 2002 (38) ] 8...cxd4 9.b5 ec6 10.h5 e4 11.f3 xf3? If Black is going to sacrifice a piece I think he as a better way to do it: [ 11...a6 12.d6+ ( 12.fxe4 axb5 13.exd5 exd5 14.e2 ) 12...xd6 13.exd6 e5 14.h3 ( 14.g2 xf3 15.xf3 xd6 cannot be better.) 14...xf3 15.xf3 xd6 16.g2 e4 It is very difficult to call this sort of st uf f . W hit e's e xtra p iece ca nn o t b e d is c o u n t e d b u t B la ck h a s a n im p o sin g centre and there's a good square on e5 for a Knight. ] 12.xf3 xe5 13.f2 xg4 14.e2 f6 15.xe6! Exposing the problem-Black has too many open lines against his King. fxe6 [ 15...b4+ 16.c3 fxe6 17.xe6+ f8 18.cxb4 ] 16.xe6+ e7 17.f4! Looks like Ostenstad missed this move. f8 18.d6 Short and sour for Black- however, I hope I have shown that he does not need to give up hope. 1-0

1195 Alekseev,Evgeny Berkes,Ferenc TCh-HUN 2007-8 (11) [John Watson]

B12 2716 2606 18.05.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 d7 6.f3 e7 Perhaps Black is trying to avoid preparation. [ Late last year, 6...g6 led Berkes to a win versus the 4 Nd2 line. I'm not convinced that the opening was the reason, but at any rate his setup bears notice: 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 h5 9.a4 h6 10.a5 a6 11.c4 f5 12.g3 dxc4 13.xc4 0-0 14.e2 b5 15.axb6 xb6 16.xa6 d5 with full equality, Sikula, -Berkes, Budapest 2007. ] 7.e2 g6 8.0-0 f5 9.e1!? Preparing to

advance his kingside pawns. [ 9.f4 was a simple alternative. ] 9...c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.xc5 xc5 12.g4!? A typical modern advance it's a little loose, yet gains important space. e7 13.e3 d7!? 14.f4 e4 15.f3 h5 16.g5 g6 17.d2 f5 18.c4 Black's pieces look wellplaced, but his bishop is far from the queenside. 0-0 19.b3 b6 20.fd1 [ 20.f3 ] 20...c8 21.ac1 c7? [ A huge mistake that White fails to take a d v a n t a g e o f . B u t 21...c5 22.a3 isn't perfect either: d7 23.cxd5 xd5 24.xc5 xc5 25.xc5 bxc5 26.c4! ] 22.a3? [ 22.cxd5 xc1 23.xc1 xc1+ 24.f1! and Black is in trouble see a few moves hence. ] 22...fe8 23.f3 [ 23.cxd5! ] 23...g4 24.xg4 hxg4 25.cxd5! xc1 26.xc1 xc1+ 27.f1 White is winning. d1 28.d6 f5 29.d2 b1 30.a4 b5 [ 30...d8 31.c2 w i t h t h e i d e a a1 32.c7 ] 31.c2 a1 32.c6 g3 33.xd7 f8 34.g2 1-0

1196 Alekseev,Evgeny Iturrizaga Bonelli,Eduardo 39th Olympiad Men (2.2) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2691 2609 22.09.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 The most common response. Black fights back on the kingside, not allowing White so much space. However, the downside is that the g5 square is now a chronic weakness. [ 4...c8!? is an odd looking choice but also prevents White expanding on the kingside. Th e yo un g Ru ssia n co nt in ue d wit h 5.c4 as in the game and following e6 This is now playable as attempts to trap the bishop fail to ...Bxb1. 6.c3 h6 7.ge2 e7 8.g3 h7 9.a3 dxc4 10.xc4 d7 11.ce4 d5 12.0-0 c7 13.d2 7b6 14.b3 d8 15.c1 c8 16.g4 saw Black 1250

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6. ) 10.d2 b4 11.a3 b3 12.ge4 s t r u g g l i n g t o d e v e l o p . H e t r i e d ce7 d5 13.h3! b6 14.xc4 a5 but following 17.d6+ xd6 18.exd6 xd6 Svidler, P (2734)-Nakamura, H (2729) 19.fe1 f6 20.f4 xf4 21.xf4 Amsterdam 2010 and White had a very He had insufficient compensation for the pleasant edge. ] exchange and was eventually ground down. [ 6...e7 is also seen frequently. A recent Ne p o m n ia c ht ch i, I (2 7 0 6 )-S a sikira n , K ga m e c o n t in u e d : 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.d3 (2681) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010. ] White adopts the same plan as in the game. [ I covered 4...h6 last month. ] xd3 9.xd3 c6 ( 9...xh4 is of course a 5.c4 This is rather similar to 4.c4 but it's critical test but 10.b5+ d7 11.f3 e7 considered a slightly better version as the g5 12.xb7 is something for White as again square can create some problems. e6 6.c3 Black will struggle to find sanctuary for his d7 This is Black's usual response but, as king.; 9...h6 was seen in a previous we'll see in the game, White can now create a Balogh game but 10.xh6 xh6 11.f3 a6 small but definite edge. Therefore Black has 12.g3 c6 13.0-0 f8 14.a3 g6 15.ac1 tried alternatives here. g7 16.b4 h8 17.a4 c8 18.c5 [ 6...e7 has been the choice of the top Balogh, C (2617) -Paichadze, L (2392) Baku players recently and is Schandorff's choice. 2007 and W hite had a risk-free edge with A) Previously he was also successful with his queenside play while Black has yet to 7.g5 but Black seems to be doing well. complete his development.) 10.f3 h6 d7 ( Schandorff's line runs 7...dxc4 ( 10...c8 was seen in a high rated 8.xc4 d7 9.ge2 f6 10.exf6 gxf6 e n c o u n t e r . 11.g3 b4 12.d2 ge7 11.e3 b6 12.b3 ed5 13.g3 13.a3 xc3 14.xc3 f5 15.0-0 b6 xe3 14.fxe3 g4 15.d3 f5 16.e4 16.fd1 a6 17.g2 c7 18.d2 d7 when he recommends fxe4N 17.gxe4 19.a4 a5 20.db1 hc8 21.g5 h8 g7 18.c5 h6 19.xb7 xd4 22.d2 hc8 23.g5 h8 1/2-1/2 Short, 20.xd4 xd4 ) N (2674)-Anand, V (2786) W ijk aan Zee A1) 8.cxd5 makes sense as Black is 2005. ) 11.xh6! xh6 12.g3 f8 13.0-0 ob lige d t o t ry exd5 when ( 8...cxd5 g6 14.fc1 g7 15.a3 h8 16.a4 d7 9.b5! ) 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 17.b4 hc8 18.c5 xc5 19.dxc5 looks pleasant for White.; Balogh, C (2622) -Harutjunyan, G (2476) A2) 8.ge2 f6 9.exf6 gxf6 10.e3 Dubai 2010 and White eventually exploited dxc4 11.g3 b6 12.e2 g6 his queenside pawn majority. ] 13.xh5 xh5 14.xh5 f5 [ 6...dxc4 is the final option. This gives Black with a very messy position. Svidler, P the d5 outpost but cedes e4 and so he has (2734)-Nielsen, P (2700) Copenhagen to be careful a knight cannot drop into d6. 2010.; 7.xc4 e7 8.g3 ( 8.f3 is more normal.; B) 7.cxd5 can now be met by xd5!; 8.e2!? might also be possible.) 8...h6 C) 7.ge2 Svidler's more recent try. 9.ge2 g4 10.xh6 xh6 11.d3 d7 C1) Schandorff offers 7...d7 8.g3 12.f3 f5 13.e3 b6 14.b3 a5 15.a4 g6 9.g5 ( Perhaps 9.cxd5 cxd5 c8 16.d1 h8 17.f1 d5 18.xd5 10.d3 should be played with similar cxd5 19.c3 f8 Vocaturo, D (2581)-Kreisl, ideas to the game.) 9...b6 10.d2 R (2376) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 and Black dxc4 11.xc4 0-0-0 12.e3 xb2 shouldn't have any problems as White's king 13.0-0 b6 14.b3 bd5 15.xd5 is rather loose. ] xd5 16.f3 d7; C2) 7...dxc4 8.g3 g6 9.g5!? 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.d3 Exchanging off the light ( 9.xc4 d7 10.g5 b6 11.b3 squared bishops and allowing W hite easy d7 12.0-0 Schandorff as it's hard to development. [ 8.g5 was investigated in Gelashvili, T shif t the bishop f rom g5 .) 9...b6 (2 5 7 7 )-Sa le h , N (2 2 6 0 ) Du b a i 2 0 0 5 b y ( 9...d7?! 10.ge4! and Black has no An d re w Ma rt in b u t t h e t e xt lo o k s m o re way to prevent the knight jumping into 1251

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 challenging. ] 8...xd3 9.xd3 e7 10.f3 b8 The first deviation from the archives. [ Instead 10...c6 was looked at by J o n a t h a n R o ws o n . I ' l l l e a ve t h e g a m e without annotations. 11.0-0 e7 12.g5 a6 13.ac1 b6 14.e2 d7 15.f4 c4 16.b3 a3 17.fd1 c8 18.xe7 xe7 19.c5 c7 20.dc1 g6 21.g5 d7 22.xc6 bxc6 23.xg6 fxg6 24.xg6+ d8 25.xc6 1-0 Short, N (2677)-Johannessen, L (2559) Turin 2006. ] 11.g5 d7 12.0-0 bc6 This is a typical position for the variation. Black is fairly solid bu t W hit e h as th e e a sie r p la y a s h e ca n exploit the vulnerable g5 and f4 squares. Meanwhile there are no targets for Black and he must be content to try and slowly equalise. 13.fc1 This move is somewhat unusual as normally White plays on the kingside. [ 13.d1 is an odd route for the knight (normally it goes to f4 via e2) but in this precise position could be good. The idea is to meet f5 with ( 13...c8 14.e3 e7 15.ac1 leaves Black very passive.) 14.e3 xe3 15.fxe3 when the pressure down the f file will worry Black. ] [ 13.xe7!? is another intriguing idea Giving away the bishop looks strange but W hite ho pe s h is kn igh ts will do m in a te o n t h e kingside. xe7 ( 13...xe7 might actually be stronger so the knight can cover on f5.) 14.e2 c8 15.f4 b4 16.b3 c6 17.a3 c2 18.e3 c6 19.d3 and White has an edge. ] 13...f5 14.a4 b6 Understandably Black wanted to prevent the knight jumping into c5 but now he will have long term problems with the c6 square. [ Therefore I think 14...e7 was a safer bet when 15.c5 ( 15.a3!? holding off from the knight jump looks interesting.) 15...xc5 16.xc5 0-0 17.ac1 ac8 and Black should equalise within a few moves. ] 15.c3 The knight's task on a4 is done and so it returns. c8 16.e2 Opening up the c file for the White rooks, overprotecting d4 and looking at playing Nf4 when the h5 proves vulnerable. e7 17.xe7 xe7 [ 17...cxe7 18.f4 ( 18.c3!? ) 18...xc1+ 19.xc1 g6 and Black is very close to

equality but he still has to be careful with his dark square weaknesses on the kingside. ] 18.c3 0-0 19.ac1 b7 20.g5 ce7 21.f3 g6 22.g4! Exploiting Black's early ... h5. The computer doesn't think Black has any problems here but over the board it's not at all easy to keep his king safe. hxg4 23.xg4 xc3 24.xc3 c8 After this White's kingside play proves too difficult to stop. [ 24...h6 is the computer's idea so that both knights can come to the aid of his king. However following 25.h3 ef5 26.h5 e7 27.f4 gxh5 28.xh5 b4 29.f2 g7 30.b3 Black's position is highly unpleasant practically as his king is so vulnerable while his knights look really offside. xd4? 31.g3! is just one of the many threats he has to look out for. ] [ 24...g7 25.f4 and White will still succeed in breaking with h4-h5. ] 25.h5 xc3 26.bxc3 c6?! After this W hite's advantage becomes decisive but Black's position was already very difficult. [ Again 26...h6 should have been tried but W h i t e h a s t h e s t r o n g 27.hxg6! xg6 ( 27...xg4 28.gxf7+ f8 29.xe6+ xf7 30.d8+ leaves White with an easily winning ending.) 28.h3 g7 29.g3 f4 30.h4 g6 31.h5+ h8 32.h3 e7 33.f6 g7 34.a4 and Black can hardly move. ] 27.h3! A slightly unusual looking move but suddenly Black cannot parry both the threat of hxg6 and Qh7-f7 and the simple h6-h7. [ 27.hxg6 xg6 28.h3 gh4 blocks up the kingside and isn't so clear. ] 27...g7 [ 27...e8 28.f4 brings the pressure to boiling point. ] 28.h6 The simplest. White is now winning material. [ 28.f4! would also crash through. ] 28...h5 29.h7+ g7 30.xf7 xh7 31.g5+ h6 32.xe6 White's picked up a pawn and Black still has definite problems wi t h h i s k i n g . W h i t e ' s a l r e a d y wi n n i n g . A l e k s e e v d o e s n ' t f i n d t h e q u i c k e s t wi n , perhaps he was low on time, but Iturrizaga gets no chances. b5 33.e3+ [ 33.h4! wins immediately: b1+ 34.g2 1252

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 35.g5+ h7 36.f8+ g8 37.xg6 e4+ 38.h2+- ] 33...h7 34.g5 b1+ 35.h2 g8 36.2f4 xf4 37.xf4 h6 38.g5+ [ 38.f8! g4+ 39.g2 e4+ 40.g3 d3+ 41.f3 and White has mate in a few moves. ] 38...g8 39.h4 f5 40.h3 f7 41.f4 c8 42.f6 xc3 43.e6 c7+ 44.g2 h6 45.f4 f5 46.xd5 g7 47.e7 f7 48.e5 1-0

1197 Alekseev,Evgeny Khairullin,Ildar 64th ch-HL Taganrog RUS (8) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2673 2649 23.06.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.c3 e7 7.ge2 d7 8.g3 g6 9.a3N Recently we saw this position in another game: [ 9.g5 f6 10.exf6 gxf6 11.e3 f7 this is premature, Black can wait and decide what to do with his kin g later. ( 11...b6 12.d2 0-0-0 with sharp play to come.) 12.e2 dxc4 13.xh5 b6 14.f4 h6 15.xg6 xg6 16.h5 xe3 17.fxe3 d5 18.f3 h6 19.g4 McShane, L -Danielsen, H Reykjavik 2011, W hite has the better chances. ] 9...dxc4 10.xc4 f5 11.xf5 xf5 12.e2 g6 13.e3 This is an interesting purely positional type of chess where White has more space and Black's only idea is to place a knight on d5, but this doesn't entirely solve his problems. b6 14.b3 d7 15.c1 f5 16.a4 d5 17.xd5 exd5 18.a5 a6 White should have the better c h a n c e s in t h is p o si t io n b u t t o p ro ve a n advantage is not easy as Black is still very solid. 19.d2 [ 19.g5 e7 20.c3 this looks to me like a more precise attempt here xg5 21.hxg5 g6 22.b4 White has the initiative and now wrong is .. e7? due to.. 23.xe7+ xe7 24.b3 ab8 25.g4 White is much better ] 19...f6 20.b4 e7 [ B e t t e r w a s 20...xb4+ 21.xb4 e7

22.xe7+ xe7 23.d2 fxe5 24.dxe5 with an interesting endgame. I am not sure that White can claim an advantage here due to the blockade, but he has some small chances, for instance by putting a king on d4 then playing f4, g3, b4 and trying a later b5, but Black can probably hold. ] 21.xe7 xe7 22.exf6 gxf6 23.0-0 f7 24.fe1 d7 25.c3 ae8 26.e3 g6 White still preserves some initiative here but B l a c k m a n a g e s t o h o l d . 27.d3 xe3 28.xg6+ xg6 29.xe3 f7 30.d3 g4 31.g3 d7 32.g2 g4 33.h2 d7 34.e2 d6 35.e1 [ 35.f4 d7 36.f5 xf5 37.e7+ g6 38.xb7 e4 Black is ok now. ] 35...d7 36.g2 g8 37.e2 h8 38.d3 g4 39.b3 d7 40.d1 f5 41.e2 d7 42.e1 g8 43.e2 Without additional help (mainly consisting of the f 4-f 5 idea) White can't do much here. ½-½

1198 Alekseev,Evgeny Shimanov,Alexandr 64th ch-HL Taganrog RUS (4) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2673 2583 18.06.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.c3 e7 7.ge2 g4 8.g5N This is a new attempt, and I must say very logical one. Previously [ 8.f3 was played: f5 9.g3 g6 10.g5 b6 11.d2 d7 12.a3 ( I think a better option was 12.c1 f6 13.exf6 gxf6 14.f4 f7 15.e2 with unclear play) 12...f6 13.e3 b3 14.cxd5 xd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.c1 b6 17.e2 fxe5 18.dxe5 xe5 19.d4 c7 20.g5 f5 21.g4 hxg4 22.fxg4 e4 23.h3 e7 24.xg7 h7 25.e5 xe5 26.xe5 xh4+ Nepomniachtchi, I -Nakamura, H Wijk aan Zee 2011, when Black was much better. ] 8...b6 9.d2 d7 [ 9...dxc4 10.g3 a6 11.b3 b5 12.f3 f5 13.d5!? cxd5 14.a4 a5 15.xe7 xe7 16.xf5 exf5 17.xd5 d8 18.xa5 xa5+ 19.b4 d8 20.axb5 White has the better chances. ] 1253

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g7 17.xg7 xg7 18.d3 Fedorov, A (2609) -Mateuta, G (2507) Brasov 2011) 13...a6 with an unclear position in Edouard, R (2607)-Fridman, D (2653) Plovdiv 2012 ] 6...e6 7.b4 xf3 [ 7...a6 is examined by Gawain in the archives in Berkes-Zelcic ] [ 7...c7 has also been tried this year but w i t h o u t s u c c e s s 8.f4 ( 8.bd2!? deserves attention) 8...xf3 9.xf3 0-0-0? Queenside castling doesn't really make sense here ( 9...a5 10.a3! axb4 11.b5 d8 12.cxb4 xb4 13.c3 gives White a good position; 9...ge7 10.b5 g6 11.0-0 a5 and White only has a slight edge; 9...xe5? 10.b5+ e7 11.e2 and White is clearly doing very well) 10.g3 xe5 11.e2 f6 12.f4 c6 13.xe6+ d7 14.xd7+ xd7 15.d3 and White was simply a pawn up for nothing in Van Kampen, R (2563)-Krueger, A (2132) Hilversum 2012 ] 8.xf3 xe5 9.b5+ c6 Here we have an important position for the assessment of this line 10.0-0 [ 10.d2 doesn't seem to be the most accurate here as after f6 11.b3 e7 12.d4 d7 13.e2 0-0 14.0-0 a5 and Black had good play in Jones, G (2606)Lalic, S (2277) Sheffield 2011 ] [ 10.a4 is my computer's suggestion (looking to create the threat of b5 in some positions) and there might now follow e7 11.0-0 f6 12.f4 ge7 and it seems to 1199 B12 me that Black is doing absolutely fine ] Almasi,Zoltan 2713 10...f6 11.f4 e7 12.d2 This seems to Khenkin,Igor 2656 be W hite's most logical setup and indeed 40th Olympiad Open (8.5) 05.09.2012 Black now has to play well in order not to get squashed on the Queenside. 0-0 13.fe1 [Tom Rendle] [ 13.a3 d7 14.b3 f6 15.ad1 c8 16.d6 d8 17.fe1 de5 18.g3 g6 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.f3 g4 19.c4 ce7 20.cxd5 xd5 21.c4 ge7 5.dxc5 c6 6.c3 was agreed drawn in Baklan, V (2610)-David, [ 6.b5 remains White's most popular A (2599) Trieste 2012 but I must say I'm choice here and now a5+ ( 6...e6 7.b4 struggling to see why White isn't just much ge7 8.bd2 g6 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 g7 better after 22.f3 ] and here 11.e2 would've given White a comfortable game in Ivanchuk, V (2748)- 13...d7 14.b3 f6 15.d6 e8 16.ad1 Hansen, L (2565) Skanderborg 2005) 7.c3 c8! Black's pieces may be in a bit of a tangle e6 8.e3 ge7 9.a3 0-0-0 10.b4 xf3! here but his position is solid and there's no 11.gxf3 c7 12.xc6 xc6 13.f4 obvious plan for White. Still, he must have the ( 13.d4 a6 14.f4 f6 15.exf6 gxf6 16.xf6 better chances 17.a3 a6 18.xc6 bxc6

10.g3 f6 11.exf6 [ Another interesting option was: 11.f3 f5 ( 11...fxg5 12.fxg4 hxg4 13.c5 a5 14.h5 with Be2 to follow looks better for W hite.) 12.e3 g6 13.c1 fxe5 14.dxe5 a5 15.f4 f5 16.xf5 xf5 17.cxd5 exd5 18.d3 xd3 19.xd3 0-0-0 20.0-0 A sharp position is in f ront of us where White conserves the initiative. ] 11...gxf6 12.e3 f5 [ 12...0-0-0! this move simply had to be played. ] 13.xf5 xf5 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.c1 The situation has cleared up and White has the be tte r c han ces. f7 16.e2 d6 17.b5 b8 [ 17...ag8 18.xd6+ ( 18.f4 xf4 19.xf4 e7 20.0-0 a6 21.c3 d6 22.e3 f8 23.g3 g6 24.f3 f7 25.g2 with interesting play, probably chances are about equal.) 18...xd6 19.f4 e5 20.g3 due to the bishop pair and better king, and also the serious job Black has defending his center, it looks to me that White has the advantage. ] 18.f4 xf4 19.xf4 e7 20.0-0 ag8 21.fe1 [ 21.e3 w i t h t h e i d e a o f Q a 3 + a5 22.fe1 a6 23.d3 White is winning. ] 21...a6 22.c3 d6 23.f3! Black is quite lost. 1-0

1254

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.c4 f8! weeks ago, playing in a French style. 7.c3 [ 19...dxc4? 20.a5 is just what Almasi is c6 ( 7...xb2 8.b5! is rather awkward to after ] deal with ) 8.b5 c4 9.h4 g6 10.0-0 20.g3 g6 21.cxd5 b4 11.xc4!? xc3 12.bxc3 dxc4 13.d5 [ 21.g4! was perhaps a way for White to c7 14.dxc6 xc6 and the fireworks had k e e p t h e b e t t e r ch a n ce s. B la ck c a n o f died down and W hite had to be careful to course continue to sit tight but White can try keep equality ] h4 -h 5 la te r if h e wa n ts t o in cre a se t h e 7.xd4 e7 8.c4 pressure. ] [ 8.d2 was tried in Iordachescu21...exd5 22.d3 h5 23.xe8+ xe8 24.h4 K r i vo b o r o d o v, M o s co w 2 0 1 0 wh i c h I ' l l [ 24.f4! would be a more aggressive choice, analyse next month. ] keeping the knight out of e5, however it's 8...bc6 9.c3!? not without risk: h4 25.a5 d7 26.e1 [ 9.a4 is more common and was seen in e8 27.xe8+ xe8 28.g2 c8 the archives, most recently in Leko-Anand with chances for both sides although I don't last year but it seems like Black has think White's King is quite weak enough for successfully neutralised it. a6 ( Anand took Black to have full compensation f or the on c4 9...dxc4 but transposed back to the weaknesses on a6 and c6 ] game after 10.c3 a6 11.0-0-0 ) 10.c3 24...e5 After this Black is completely OK dxc4 11.0-0-0 a5 12.xa5 xa5 25.xe5 xe5 26.f3 g6 27.d3 g7 13.xf5 xf5 14.b6 c6 15.f4 c8 28.g2 e8 29.a5 c7 30.e3 xe3 16.xc4 Finally deviating but hardly a 31.xe3 d7 32.d3 c8 33.e2 startling novelty. ( 16.f3 e7 17.d2 g5 I suspect Almasi had been hoping he could 18.g3 gxf4 19.gxf4 h4 and Black had no play for a win by targeting a6 & c6 but this problems in Leko-Anand) 16...g5 17.g4 turns out to be far too risky h4 18.f5 xe5 19.b3 c5 20.xc5 [ f o r e x a m p l e 33.c2 e6 34.a4? xc5 21.fxe6 fxe6 22.xe6 e7 23.b3 White's only way of increasing the pressure d8 24.h3 1/2-1/2 Bologan-Le Quang Liem, e4+ Moscow 2010 ] A) 35.g1? e2 36.xc6 ( 36.xc6 9...xd4 d4 quickly leads to mate ) 36...d4 wins; [ 9...dxc4 It's not clear White has anything B) 35.f1 c3 and the threats force the better than to transpose back to 9.Qa4 Q u e e n t o r e t r e a t w i t h 36.d1 10.cb5!? ( 10.a4 would transpose back leaving Black with a clear advantage ] to 9.Qa4 ) 33...f8 34.e3 g7 35.f4 e6 36.e3 A) 10...xe5?! 11.xe6! d7 37.d3 c8 38.e2 f8 39.d3 A1) 11...xe6 12.d6+ xd6 An interesting game that shows 3..c5 against ( 12...d7 13.xf7++- ) 13.xd6 7c6 the advance is still playable at a high-level. is an interesting queen sacrif ice but ½-½ should hardly be enough.; A2) 11...xd1+ 12.xd1 and White wins material due to the mate threat on 1200 B12 c7 but it's still not so clear A2a) 12...fxe6 13.d6+ d8 Amonatov,Farrukh 2634 14.xf5+ ( 14.xc4+ d5 15.xe5 Shimanov,Alexandr 2535 b4+ 16.f1!? ) 14...c7 15.d4 Open A Moscow RUS (5) 03.02.2010 and Black's pieces lack coordination.; [Gawain Jones] A2b) 12...d3+ 13.xd3 xd3 14.ec7+ d7 15.xa8 d5! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 Black suddenly has big threats of his c5 6.e3 This line seems to be topical at the own and the knight on a8 is doomed moment. cxd4 so Black will have reasonable [ Hot off the press. Vallejo Pons tried 6...b6 compensation for the exchange. 16.a3 against Gashimov in Linares a couple of 1255

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e7 17.ac7 xc7 18.b3! 11...c6 12.0-0-0N [ 12.d1 was played in a high rated match A c omp ut er move tha t I can't t ake up although only Rapid and Blindfold game credit for but nevertheless seems to a n d W h i t e ' s g a m e d i d n ' t i m p r e s s . d3 promise White the better endgame.; 13.xd3 B) 10...d5 11.xf5 a5+ ( Of course A) 13...xd4 14.e4 xe5 15.0-0 not 11...exf5 12.xd5! ) 12.c3 xc3 gives W hite a pleasant initiative but it's 13.bxc3 exf5 ( Curiously 13...xc3+ not clear if this is enough for more than a sacrificing the piece is Rybka's top choice draw either. c5 14.d2 xe5 15.e3 c3 16.c1 b4 A1) 16.d4!? xd4 17.xc6+ e7 It's probably just a matter of taste which 18.d1 e5 ( 18...xd1+ 19.xd1 side you take here, Black has three pawns bxc6 20.e3 the Queen+ knight for the piece and active pieces and combo in action again.) 19.e4 bxc6 obviously no direct problems but W hite 20.xc6 ( 20.b4+ e8 21.b7 d8 does have an extra piece. ) 14.0-0 22.xc6+ e7 23.b7+= ) 20...d8 B1) 14...xc3 when Black has to watch 21.b7+=; out for both being mated and getting his A2) 16.b5 b6 17.d4 c8 q u e e n t r a p p e d . 15.b1! b8 18.xc4 e7 19.xe6 fxe6 20.xe6 ( 15...0-0-0 16.xf5+ b8 17.ab1 and the computer says this is equal too with a decisive attack.) 16.f3! b4 after c7 21.xh7 e5 22.xe5 xh7 17.xc6+ bxc6 18.xf5 although to the lay eye it appears that and all Black's problems are obviously White's attack is starting to slow. But of worth more than a pawn.; co u rs e it 's f o o l h a rd y t o p l a y in t h i s B2) 14...c5 Rather more human than manner as Black when you have t h e g r e e d y 15.f4 0-0 16.c2 reasonable alternatives.; ( 16.e6!? fxe6 17.xc4 xc3 B) 13...cxd3 14.xd3 ( 14.e3 b4 18.xe6+ h8 19.c1 d4 15.0-0 xc3 16.bxc3 d5 17.d4 0-0 gives W hite enough compensation to 18.fe1 b5 19.b3 fd8 0-1 Xie Junhold the draw but definitely no more than Ch i b u rd a n id ze , G ro n i n g e n 1 9 9 7 wa s that. ) 16...g6?! was Miroshnichenkoanother opening disaster.) 14...c5 Ruck, Panormo 2002 where White was 15.e4 xd4 ( 15...b4+!? could also be ultimately successful but ( 16...fe8! considered but there doesn't seem to be would have left Black firmly in the driving anything wrong with the game seat )] continuation.) 16.d6+ f8 17.xd4 10.xd4 dxc4 11.a4+ First move not xd4 18.xd4 a5+ 19.e2 mentioned on ChessPub. Instead B1) 19...g8 was played by Fritz back [ 11.xc4 c6 12.b5 e7= is given by in 2 0 0 0 , o b vi o u s ly u n im p re s s e d b y John W atson and practical tests seem to W hite's compensation and indeed it agree. There have been a few very quick doesn't seem to be anything for White. draws here with one of the longer ones 20.h4 h5 21.h3 xa2 The computer going: 13.0-0 0-0 14.xc6 bxc6 15.e2 greedy? Never! 22.f3 a6+ 23.e1 Personally this looks like a bad opening d8 choice for W hite as the bishop pair seem B1a) 24.xf7 might have been more relevant than the fractured pawns on W h it e ' s la st c h a n ce wit h t h e id e a the queenside. c5 16.c3 xd1 ( 16...d5 xd6? ( 24...h6 ) 25.xg7+ xg7 appeals to me when I'd assess it as better 26.exd6+ g8 27.e5 and Black for Black, just what is White supposed to be can't get out of the perpetuals h7 doing here?) 17.fxd1 fd8 18.f1 f8 28.xe6+=; 19.e1 e8 20.xd8+ xd8 21.d1 B1b) 24.a3 c6 25.f4 f6 26.xa7 xd1+ 22.xd1 d7 23.d2 c6 24.c3 h6 27.xb7 g6 28.e4 xd6 and W hite held the draw in Macieja29.xg6 c1+ 30.e2 d2+ 31.f3 Gelashvili, Ermioni 2006 ] 1256

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d3+ 0-1 De Vreugt-Comp Fritz SSS, Rotterdam 2000; B2) 19...e7 20.c1 hd8 21.h4+ f8 22.c4 B2a) After 22...d5! it's not clear whose king is weaker while Black also has the extra exchange 23.xh7 b5 24.h8+ e7 25.h4+ f6 26.g3 ( 26.exf6+ f7! ) 26...f8; B2b) 22...c5 23.xh7 b5 24.h8+ e7 25.h4+ f8 ( 25...f6 Anand would be fully within his rights p l a y i n g o n h e r e) 26.h8+ e7 27.h4+ 1/2-1/2 Topalov-Anand, Nice 2009 ] [ 12.f3 was tried by Psakhis but didn't catch on as af ter d7 13.xc6 xc6 14.xc6+ bxc6 0-1 Psakhis-Sergejev, ICC 2001. White is simply a pawn down, without a light squared bishop it's going to be very difficult to retrieve that c4 pawn. ] 12...c8 This is very passive and gives White the advantage without a fight. [ 12...d3 like Topalov-Anand would be my immediate pick 13.xd3 A) 13...xd4 14.e4 b6 15.xc6+ xc6 ( 15...bxc6!? ) 16.xc6+ bxc6 17.e4 here c4 is dropping so White can enjoy a risk free endgame.; B) 13...cxd3 14.xd3 g5+! ( 14...c5? 15.xc5! xd3 16.d1 This rook swing shows why Amonatov preferred his king on c1 compared to e1. f5 17.b5+- ) 15.b1 B1) The greedy 15...xg2 also seems fine 16.hd1 ( 16.d1 g6 17.g1 f5 18.b5 0-0-0! ) 16...e7 17.g3 xh2 18.xg7 is given as clear advantage Black by Rybka but playing with the king stuck in the centre isn't everyone's idea of fun.; B2) 15...e7 followed by castling kingside and I can't see any problems at all for Black, indeed the computer assesses it as clear edge Black. ] 13.g4 g6 [ 13...d3 isn't as strong as on the previous move 14.xd3 cxd3 15.xd3 e7 16.b1 0-0 17.f4 d8 18.hd1 ] 14.h4 h6 [ 14...d3!? it's interesting that now the

move is slightly stronger than last move as after 15.xd3 cxd3 16.xd3 ( 16.h5!? might be better) 16...e7 17.f4 0-0 18.b1 d8 19.hd1 xh4 and Black can hopefully grab the pawn on h4 although admittedly it's risky 20.g5 and I'd prefer White. Theoretically I think the main improvement was 12... Bd3 when White needs something to rejuvenate this line. ] 15.f4 Aggressive and I'd start feeling uncomfortable as Black here e7 16.f5! exf5 17.d5 The attack has come too fast for Black as he doesn't have time to castle. d8 [ 17...0-0? 18.xc6! ] 18.c5!? And so Black is destined never to castle. [ Alternatively 18.f4 is possible but that lets Black get his king to safety 0-0 19.xg6 fxg6 20.c3 leaves White with good compensation for the pawn. ] 18...a6! Black continues to defend well [ 18...fxg4 19.e6! opening up lines looks g r e a t f o r W h i t e fxe6 ( 19...xe6 20.xc4+- ) 20.xg4 b5 21.xb5 b8 22.a4 b7 23.a3 exd5 24.he1++- ] 19.xc4 [ 19.hg1!? is the slow computer suggestion ] [ 19.e6!? again appeals to me when Black is in a bit of trouble, e.g. b5 20.a3 fxe6 21.f4 f7 22.e3 Black's extra pawns just stop W hite's king being attacked and W hite must be winning in practice, some sa crif ice is going t o op en u p th e Blac k monarch. ] 19...xe5? Black cracks. That pawn was do in g a n im p ort a nt jo b st op p ing W hit e 's pieces getting in. [ 19...b6! was necessary when it seems that Black survives. 20.gxf5 xf5 21.d6 a5! exchanging queens is a major triumph for Black ] 20.c3? It's a tough position but [ 20.d4! is winning. The difference is that f6 21.he1 b6 22.xb6 xb6 23.a4+! mates. A tough nuance to find of course. ] 20...f6 21.he1 fxg4? [ 21...b6 again was necessary to trade off queens. ] 22.f1?! [ 22.d4! This is the right square for the 1257

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 queen! White threatens Bc4 now that c5 is defended while b6 again loses to 23.xb6 xb6 24.a4++- ] 22...b5?! [ 22...f5 is a better defence and I haven't found a killer blow. 23.xe5+ ( 23.d4 xc5+! 24.xc5 c8-+; 23.xf6+ xf6 24.xe5+ xe5 25.xe5+ e6 26.xg7 e4! 27.xh8+ f7 28.c3 b1+ 29.d2 d8+ 30.d4 e4= ) 23...fxe5 24.xe5+ e6 25.xg7 g8 26.c3 c8 27.e1 b6 28.xe6+ xe6 and Black has survived. ] 23.f4 [ 23.xe5+ fxe5 24.xe5+ f7 25.f4 f5 ( 25...f5 would transpose) 26.xg6 xe5 27.xe5+ ] 23...f5? The final inaccuracy in an impossible position. [ 23...e7 wa s n o w n e ce s sa r y 24.xe7 xc3+ 25.bxc3 when Black has three pawns for the piece and exchanged queens but of course White is still clearly better ] 24.xe5+ fxe5 25.xe5+ f7 26.g2 e8 27.d5+ e6 28.h5+ A fiery aggressive game by W hite but the theoretical verdict doesn't impress for W hite and I doubt any strong players will repeat this line. 1-0

Perhaps this line, which leads to bizarre complications, is worth learning properly. 9.b5+ d7 10.f4 hxg4 11.f5 xh4 12.f1 exf5 13.e6 fxe6 14.xe6 e7 15.e2 gf6 16.g5 f7 17.xd5 xe6 18.xe6+ xe6 19.c7+ f7 20.xa8 h2 21.0-0-0 c5 All or nothing for White a s yo u c a n s e e . W i t h o u t a c o n v i n c i n g tactical continuation in this position the Kingside pawns are going to touch down, Lapinskaite, S-Koneru, C/19th WJun Girls, Goa IND 2002. ] [ 6...d7 7.e3 ( 7.h4 h6 8.e3 c5 9.f4 cxd4 10.xd4 c5 11.f5 Brkic, A-Tomic, J/ Christmas Open, Zadar CRO 2002) 7...e7 8.f4 h6 9.h4 b6 10.b3 h7 11.a4 c7 12.d3 Helm, L-Rajadharshini, M/19th WJun Girls, Goa IND 2002. ] 7.f4 c5 8.g3 cxd4 9.b5 ec6 10.f5 An advance which will win a piece but Black holds a massive centre and obtains considerable compensation. c5 11.d6+! xd6 12.exd6 xd6 13.g2 f6 14.fxg6 hxg6 15.0-0 d7 16.f2 0-0-0 So, three pawns for a piece and the centre looks as though it is about to roll forward. The open hfile is not a significant factor yet. Only a very confident player should be willing to take White here but Anand shows the way. 17.c3! Open lines are indispensable in order to use his extra piece. The pawns take a while to get 1201 B12 going. dxc3 18.bxc3 b6 19.f1 d7 f5 He doesn't want to expose his Anand,Viswanathan 2750 20.h3 Karpov,Anatoly 2685 Knights to the prospect of exchange. Of the GMA, NED Wijk aan Zee (5) 2003 two alternatives, I quite like 22.. .Ne5! Black gets a nice solid Knight on c4, stabilizes his [Andrew Martin] King position and can go to work on the c3 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 pawn. [ 20...c4 21.b1 f5 22.e3 g3 g6 6.ge2 This has been a very popular 23.xc4 dxc4 24.a4 ] va ria t io n re c en t ly. Sim ply a n in t ere st in g [ 20...e5! 21.b1 ec4 22.e3 c7 ] position and a refreshing change from the dryer Caro-Kann fare that we are used to. 21.b1 f8 22.b3 ff7 He's clearly trying to make his King position as safe as possible. e7 c7 24.d3 a4 25.f4! [ 6...b4 7.f4 e7 8.a3 xc3+ 9.bxc3 23.c2 a5 10.d2 a4 Phoobalan, P-Pranjal, P/ The drawback to Black's play is highlighted. Karpov didn't fix a target in W hite's camp 41st WJun, Goa IND 2002. ] [ 6...c5 7.h4 ( 7.e3 c6 8.h4 h6 9.h5 quickly enough and now has to advance his h7 10.f4 Zigangirova, S-Koneru, C/19th centre at a most inopportune moment. e5 WJun Girls, Goa IND 2002) 7...cxd4 ( 7...h5 26.h2 f4 [ 26...fxg4 27.xf7 xf7 28.xd5 xd5 8.f4 h7 9.xh5 Kosmo, S-Eriksson, J/ 29.xd5 f6 ( 29...xc3 30.xf7 xb1 41st WJun, Goa IND 2002.) 8.xd4 h5!? 1258

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31.hxg4 c3 32.f2 The two bishops rule. ) 30.b3 gxh3 31.c4 ] 27.xd5 xd5 28.xd5 fe7 29.c4 d4 30.d2 c3 31.e1 b5 UnKarpov-like but the compensation is fading and he has to rely on desperation measures. 32.e4! xe4 33.xe4 g5 34.cxb5 xb5 35.e1 c3 36.b3 a5 [ After 36...e4 White returns his extra piece to obtain a winning endgame: 37.h4 e3 38.c2 a5 39.hxg5 a4 40.xf4 axb3 41.axb3 e2 42.xc7 xc7 43.g2 b7 44.f3+- ] 37.f1 a4 38.c2 The instant that Bishop emerges f rom h2 Black will be dead. b7 39.f5 a3 40.c2 c6 41.g1 c4 42.f2 e4 43.ec1 ec7 44.e1 1-0

[ 6.h3 e6 7.f3 g6 planning Nf5, Black's only problem is that he cannot put both p i e c e s o n f 5 a t t h e s a m e t i m e ! 8.c3 ( 8.xh6 gxh6 9.c3 c5 with the idea of ... Nc6 and the bishop pair is good compensation for the corrupted pawn s t r u c t u r e .) 8...f5 Smirin, I-Bareev, E/ Moscow 2002 again analysed by TK. ] [ 6.c4 g4! ] 6...e6 7.c4 dxc4 8.bd2 d3 9.xd3 cxd3 10.xh6 gxh6 11.0-0 Anand's meth od is interesting- he leaves Khenkin wondering how he will get the Bishop into meaningful play. The weakness of the pawn h6 seems more real than the pawn on d4, if that can be attacked at all. White has a decent advantage already. d7 Of course, Khenkin would love to park this Knight on d5 at the right moment. 12.d1 a6 13.e4 g8 14.e1 0-0-0 15.xd3 White doesn't know where he wants 1202 B12 the Queen yet thus [ 15.f4 g7 16.xd3 b6 was slightly Anand,Viswanathan 2755 inaccurate. ] Khenkin,Igor 2600 Bundesliga 2002 15...b6 16.e3 c4 [ 16...d5 17.f3! g7 ] [Andrew Martin] 17.f4 d5 18.f3 xf4 19.xf4 g7 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 20.f6 e7 21.xh6 g6 22.xh7 xf6 : T h i s q u i e t a p p r o a c h h a s g a i n e d s o m e 23.exf6 d5 24.h3 xf6 [ 24...dg8 25.g3 xf6 26.b3 f3 popularity on the back of Kasparov's win 27.g2 ] against Shirov from the celebrated Russia vs R e s t m a t c h . b6 5.c1 The Queen is 25.g3 e4 26.g2 xd4 27.xe4 xe4 There is the small matter of the h surprisingly well placed here, preparing c2-c4 28.d2 and defending b2. h6 A provocative move, pawn to take care of-that is the skilful point of Anand's play. It's not so easy for Black to but taking on h6 is not very tempting. draw this position. c5 [ 5...e6 [ 28...f5 29.ad1 d5 30.h4 d7 A) 6.d2 c5 ( 6...d7 7.gf3 c5 ) 31.g2 ] 7.gf3 c6; 29.g2 c4 30.ad1 b5 He tries for B) 6.c4! B1) 6...dxc4!? 7.d2 ( 7.xc4 e4 counterplay by creating a passed pawn on the 8.f3 d5 9.d3 a6= ) 7...d3 q u e e n s i d e . E n o u g h t o d r a w ? N o t s u r e ( 7...d8 8.xc4 e7 ) 8.xd3 cxd3 because by advancing in this manner Black is 9.a3 a6 looks good, Corral, C-Heyne, creating further weaknesses 31.h4 f5 32.f4 Idea Kf3 c3 33.bxc3 e3 34.d8+ b7 M/Nuremberg 2002; B2) 6...xb1 was considered in Gelfand, 35.8d7+ b6 36.1d6+ c5 37.d2 a5 [ 37...xc3 38.c7+ b4 39.xa7 ] B-Dreev, A/Moscow 2002; B3) 6...e7 7.c5 a5+ ( 7...c7 38.2d3 xd3 39.xd3 c4 40.f3 h5 8.c3 d7 9.e2 ) 8.d2 c7 9.c3 41.h3 d5 [ 41...f5 42.e3!+- ] d7 10.e2 Kasparov, G-Shirov, A/ Moscow 2002, analysed by Tony Kosten 42.g4 d2 43.a3 a2 44.h5 xa3 45.h6 The final phase features excellent calculation on this site. ] by Anand. a1 46.g2 d1 47.f5 exf5 6.f3 1259

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 48.h7 d8 49.xf5 xc3 50.xf7 b4 51.g5 b3 52.c7+ d2 53.b7 For now 4 Be3 followed by Qc1 is scoring very well. It seems an excellent choice- I'm guessing the average player won't have anything prepared atall! 1-0

1203 Andreikin,D Khenkin,I 41st GM Dortmund GER (5.4) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2727 2605 30.07.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.f3 A switch from the more usual 4.dxc5 and quickly the game finds itself in unchartered waters. cxd4 [ 4...g4 had previously been preferred by Khenkin in a game I annotated last year where he was Black against Almasi. In the notes to that game White should've come out of the opening with some advantage so here he tries something different, although as we'll see in his game with Naiditsch he also has plenty of experience with this move as well. ] 5.xd4!? This move looks a bit strange as the queen is something of a target, but Andreikin's idea is that he can relocate the queen to g3 where it gives Black problems on g7, making it harder for Khenkin to develop naturally. [ 5.xd4 will be seen in the next game, Naiditisch-Khenkin. ] 5...c6 6.f4 [ 6.h4 was also possible but less accurate a s i t a l l o w s B l a c k t o d e ve l o p w i t h f5! and now White's best chance for an edge is probably 7.d4 although Black is solid enough after g6 8.b5 ( 8.e6!? xd4 9.xd4 fxe6 10.c3 and White has some compensation for the sacrificed pawn but not more than enough after f6 ) 8...e6! 9.xd8+ xd8 10.xc6 ( Black can't be worse after 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.xc6 c8 12.b5 xc2 ) 10...bxc6 11.xc6+ d7 12.d4 c5 with excellent compensation for the pawn ] 6...e6 [ 6...g6! m a y b e a b e t t e r se t u p 7.c3!

is definitely the critical test and now ( 7.h4 would be dangerous if it weren't for the simple g7 8.b5 d7! when White has to cede the two bishops with 9.xc6 bxc6 10.0-0 h5! and Black can now safely develop ...Nh6 with a good game.) 7...h6 8.b5 ( 8.a4!? g7 9.b5 is slightly awkward for Black but the pawn sacrifice 0-0! 10.xc6 bxc6 11.xc6 b8 gives him excellent prospects with the two bishops and a lead in development. White will struggle to develop the bishop on c1 because of the pressure on the b2 pawn.) 8...a6 9.xc6+ bxc6 10.0-0 g7 gives Black a fully playable game ] [ 6...h6 is a little slow and White is able to build up a pleasant edge with 7.h4! e6 8.a3 ge7 9.d3 c7 10.c3 a6 and now in Sharapov, E (2468)-Jakubiec, A (2547) C r a c o w 2 0 1 1 11.h5! would've cramped Black's kingside plans and given a definite opening advantage to Sharapov. ] 7.d3 b4! Black rightly decides to remove the dangerous bishop on d3. [ 7...ge7 8.0-0 g6 9.xg6 hxg6 10.c4! a n d W h i t e o p e n s u p t h e c e n t r e wi t h a dangerous initiative. ] 8.0-0 xd3 9.cxd3 e7 10.c3 [ 10.g5!? causes Black more immediate problems f5 11.g4! is definitely worth investigating. I quite like White's position after h6 ( or 11...h6 12.xe6! fxe6 13.gxf5 exf5 14.c3 and it's Black's king that is in the more danger here.) 12.c3 d7 13.e3 ] 10...g6 11.g3 e7 12.e2 0-0 Black has managed to castle into safety and he should be at least equal here, although White has some chances for a kingside attack based on h4 Black's two bishops and the fact he can make use of the c-file keeps the game finely balanced. 13.f4 d7 14.e3 c8 15.a3 a5 [ 15...xf4! 16.xf4 a5 and I start to prefer Black here. After ...Qa6 Black can increase the pressure on d3 ] 16.fc1 xc1+ 17.xc1 b8 18.h4!? xe5?? A horrible miscalculation from Khenkin in a comfortable position [ 18...xf4 19.xf4 c8 and the game is heading for a draw, although Black is so 1260

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 solid that realistically he should be pressing ever so slightly for the win. ] 19.xe5 xe5 20.g6! f6 [ 20...xg3 21.xe7+ h8 22.fxg3 and White is simply a piece ahead ] 21.xf8 xf8 22.c7 c6 23.c8 e7 24.b4! Bc5 is now coming and Black can safely resign. axb4 25.axb4 xb4 26.h6 h8 27.xg7# In the end it turned into an easy win for Andreikin but I'm not convinced that his 5.Qxd4 will catch on 1-0

1204 Andriasian,Z Minasian,Art 6th Karen Asrian Mem (5.2) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2610 2505 20.06.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.c3 e7 7.ge2 dxc4 This is actually Black's most popular move here, although recently ...Nd7 has been fashionable. Vachier Lagrave has played this way many times as White with good results although it's important to note he lost his last game in this line. See Vachier Lagrave-Vituigov for all the latest on 7...Nd7 8.g3 g6 [ 8...b5 has scored fantastically well for Black A) 9.a4?! doesn't seem very promising here after b4 10.a2 ( 10.ce4 xe4 11.xe4 f5 12.xc4 xd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.0-0 d7 and White had insufficient play for the pawn and went on to lose a long game in Ashwin, J (2472)Sagar, S (2359) Varna 2013) 10...b3 ( 10...c5!? 11.xc4 bc6! also looks very promising for Black) 11.c3 c2 12.d2 d5 13.xc4 b4 14.d3 c5! and Black had more than equalised in Gomez Garrido, C (2524)-Burmakin, V (2579) Balaguer 2011; B) 9.g5 must be critical and now a5 ( 9...b6!? 10.e2 g6 hasn't been played but seems worthy of attention) 10.e2 g4 11.f3 f5 12.a4! b6 instead after B1) 13.d5! gives White a tremendous initiative

B1a) 13...xd5? allows 14.xf5 exf5 ( 14...xc3?! 15.d6+ xd6 16.xd6 d5 17.d1 and there's no d e f e n c e t o t h e t h r e a t o f R x d 5) 15.xd5 cxd5 16.xd5 wins; B1b) 13...g6 14.dxe6 fxe6 15.ge4 and White is doing well; B2) 13.a5?! b7 14.0-0 a6 15.f4?! b4 16.xh5 d3 17.f2 d7 Black was clearly better in Mogranzini, R (2489) -Burmakin , V (2 558) Padova 2012 ] 9.g5 [ 9.xc4 may lead to a slight edge for White as well after f5 ( 9...d7!? ) 10.g5 A) 10...e7 might be Black's best here but I still prefer White after 11.xf5 xf5 12.xe7 xe7 13.d3! ( instead in Antonio, R (2523)-Alsharhan, F (2125) Tagaytay City 2004 Black was fine after 13.b3 a5 14.a3 0-0 ) 13...xd3 14.xd3; B) 10...b6 11.xf5 xf5 12.d2 d7 13.0-0 and White had a pleasant advantage in Stukopin, A (2495) -Mirzoeva, E (2282) Moscow 2013 ] 9...b6 [ 9...c7 10.xc4 d7 led to a quick defeat for Black in Sax, G (2568)-Hermansson, E (2430) Saint Vincent 2005 11.c1 f5?! ( 11...b6 was better but this just shows the queen was misplaced on c7) 12.xf5 xf5 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 f6?! a bizarre move t h a t l o s e s q u i c k l y ( 14...b4 15.0-0 is clearly better for White but there is still a long way to go in the game) 15.g6+ e7 16.exf6+ gxf6 17.0-0! fxg5 18.d5+ fantastic play from Sax exd5 19.fe1+ e5 20.xe5+ xe5 ( 20...d7 21.e6+ d8 22.e8# ) 21.dxe5 d7 22.e6+ d6 23.e7+ xe7 24.e1+ d7 25.f7+ and Black resigned ] 10.xc4 [ 10.d2 is also possible and featured in an a l l 2 7 0 0 c l a sh a f t e r b4?! ( 10...d7 11.xc4 0-0-0 is how Black should handle this position, with at least equal chances.) 11.a3 b3 12.ge4 d5 13.h3! b6 14.xc4 and White was already much better in Svidler, P (2734)-Nakamura, H (2729) Amsterdam 2010 ] 1261

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10...xb2 [ 10...d7 is a more solid option but White can still get the initiative after 11.0-0 0-0-0 12.e1! xb2 ( 12...b8 is safer but then W h i t e h a s a s o l i d p l u s a f t e r 13.d2 ) 13.ge4 xe4 14.xe4 xe5 15.b1! xd4 16.b3 d7 17.a6! b6 18.xb7+ xb7 ( 18...xb7? 19.c3 ) 19.d6+ c7?! ( 19...d7 20.xb7 xb3 21.xb3 c4 would've given Black more hope of a draw. ) 20.xb7 xb3 21.xb3 and White went onto win in Perunovic, M (2578)-Solak, D (2588) Valjevo 2011 ] 11.ce4! [ 11.ge4?! d5 12.xd5 exd5 13.b1 a3 14.b3 a6 15.g3 d7 and Black was better in was not so good a f t e r P e r p in ya R o f e s, L ( 2 3 9 5 ) -T re p a t Herranz, J (2352) Sabadell 2011 ] 11...f5 12.0-0 b4 [ 12...xg3?! also leads to trouble after 13.b1! a3 14.fxg3 xe4 15.xf7!! f o r e x a m p l e xg3 ( 15...xf7 loses to ) 16.f2 b5 ( 16...d5? 17.c2 and White's attack is unstoppable; 16...xb1 17.xb1 is c rus hin g) 17.b3 g4? ( 17...xf2+ 18.xf2 bxc4 19.b7 and despite Black's material advantage White is clearly winning here as Black cannot hold back W hite's attack ) 18.e2 ] 13.e2 xg3 14.xg3 [ 14.fxg3 was also dangerous, for example b5 ( 14...xe4? 15.xe4 xc4 16.f4 wins. ) 15.d3 xd4+ 16.h2 d7 17.d6+ xd6 18.xg6 fxg6 19.exd6 c4 20.b2 e5 21.a4! and Black is in big tro u b le . His t wo e xt ra p a wn s co u n t f o r nothing here with his king trapped in the centre of the board. ] 14...b5 [ perhaps Minasian should've tried for i m m e d i a t e d e v e l o p m e n t w i t h 14...d7 but I still like W hite's position here, f or example 15.a3 a4 16.fd1 b5 17.d3 xd3 18.xd3 b6 19.f3 c4 20.xh5 and White has regained the pawn with the better position. ] 15.d3 xd3 16.xd3 c4! Other moves see Black in immediate trouble [ 16...d7 is logical but after 17.fc1! c8 18.e4 Black's position is falling apart. ]

[ 16...e7?! makes little sense here as after 17.e4 the knight is set to jump into the fantastic outpost on d6. ] 17.d1 d7 18.xh5 Andriasian has won back the pawn and now has an excellent position - still there's little to suggest that Black is about to get mated! a4?! [ 18...b6 was a much better way to handle the position although W hite retains the better chances after 19.c1 d5 20.g4 c4 21.fd1 with Nf4 to come. ] 19.f3! xd4? Minasian clearly miscalculates something here as now White is winning by force [ 19...c8 was a better try but White is clearly better after 20.fc1 A) 20...a6 21.d5 c5 ( 21...xe5 22.f6+! gxf6 23.xf6 wins ) 22.dxe6 xe6 23.e1 and White has a winning attack with Rad1 and Nf4 both big threats; B) 20...xh5 21.xh5 xd4 22.e1 and in the long run White's extra exchange should be enough to win ] 20.ad1! xe5 [ 20...b6 loses to 21.xd7! ( 21.xg7+ xg7 22.xd7 xd7 23.xf7+ c8 24.xg7 also wins ) 21...xd7 22.xf7+ c8 23.d1! a3 24.xg7 f8 25.d7+ b8 26.xe6 xf2+ 27.h1 c8 28.d8 and Black loses a huge amount of material ] 21.f6+ gxf6 22.xf6 g7? This allows mate but Black was lost in any case [ 22...b6 23.xh8 g6 24.g8 is hopeless for Black ] 23.e7# 1-0

1205 Antonsen,Mikkel Kortschnoj,Viktor Copenhagen [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2410 2645 1996

The sharp line 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4, was the winner of the November voting poll. It's one of my favourite lines, so I'm pleased to put together a round-up of the latest theory and ideas. I've tried to select the most interesting and instructive games which were played recently. By the way, this was quite a difficult task 1262

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 since the line has never been more popular and hundreds of games were played at the top level during the last two years. White's play may seem somewhat anti-positional but it fits well into one of the main principles of modern chess: White should fight for the initiative at any cost. Another explanation of the popularity of this variation is the fact Black is currently doing well in the Caro main lines with 3.Nc3 (l e t ' s s a y , i n S m ys lo v's 4 . . . N d 7 a n d t h e Classical 4...Bf5). The main experts in this line are A.Shirov, E. Sutovsky, I.Nataf (to name only a few) and among adherents of Black's position are GMs E.Bareev, A.Dreev, I. Khenkin and yours truly! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 The "tabia" of the line. Now it's Black turn to choose a defensive system. f6!? This old move is out of fashion nowadays but it's by no means bad. It f its in wit h the well known principle that a flank attack should be countered by action in the centre of the board. 7.f4 [ 7.h4 is the alternative to the text, and we'll consider it in the next game. ] 7...fxe5!? Looks risky but is by no means bad. [ 7...f7 is also playable: A) White achieves nothing by playing 8.exf6 gxf6 since Black has the advantage in the centre of the board, he can simply complete his development (. .. Nd7, ...Qe7, ...0-0-0) and prepare to play ... e6-e5 at the right moment: 9.e2 e7 10.d3 d7 11.f4 g7 12.e3 e5! and Black successfully solves his opening problems: 13.fxe5 ( 13.f5 is insufficient in view of h5! , destroying White's pawn chain; 13.0-0-0 e4 also looks good for Black. ) 13...fxe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.dxe5 A1) 15...xe5 as was played in Sveshnikov-Sorokin, Russia 1992, is weaker 16.0-0-0 f6 and here White could obtain a clear edge by playing 17.g5! ( in st ea d o f 17.c5?! e6! 18.e1 d7! 19.f2 xc5 20.xc5 0-0-0 21.d3 b8 22.hf1 g6 23.f5 d6 24.xd6+ xd6 with an equal endgame.) 17...g8 18.h4 and the pin is very unpleasant.; A2) 15...xe5! 16.0-0-0 f6! 17.g5 e4! and Black obtained strong

counterplay, Sveshnikov-Vyzmanavin, Helsinki 1992.; B) 8.e2!? fxe5 9.xe5 d7 10.e2 e7 with complicated play: 11.d3 g6 12.h4!? xd3 13.xd3 e5! By this break in the centre Black solves his opening problems: 14.g5 f7 15.0-0-0 d6 16.dxe5 xe5 17.e2 f3! 18.xf3?! ( Very interesting complications could arise after 18.e1!? xh1 19.xd5! and the position is a mess.) 18...xf3 19.e3 h6! Black holds the Knight on its o u t p o st a n d h is ch a n ce s a re a lr e a d y slightly better, Timman-Anand, Amsterdam 1992. ] 8.xg6 The alternatives are: [ 8.dxe5 f7 9.h3 is hardly promising s i n c e t h e e 5 - p a w n i s u n p r o t e c t e d d7 10.e2 c7! 11.g5 xe5 12.xe6 xe6 13.xe6 d6 and Black's chances are already slightly better, Kapengut-Bagirov, USSR 1981 ] [ 8.xe6 e7 9.xf8 is strongly met by the intermediate move A) 9...xf8 i s w e a k e r : 10.dxe5 d7 11.g2 xe5+ ( or 11...xe5 12.0-0 intending f4-f5.) 12.e3 and White is clearly better due to the unsafe position of Black's King, Vlassov-Shovunov, Russia 1998.; B) 9...exd4+! 10.e2 dxc3 and Black's chances are by no means bad: 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d3 f6! 13.xc3 ( 13.xg6+ d8 is very dangerous for White, for example: 14.bxc3 e8 15.e3 e4! with a growing initiative: 16.c4 d7! 17.cxd5 xf2! 18.g5 f6 19.xf6 gxf6 20.xf2 xe2+ 21.g1 e3+ 22.g2 d2+ and Black is winning.) 13...bd7 14.e3 ( 14.e3 is weaker: e4 15.d2 xd2 16.xd2 xe3+ 17.fxe3 h4 and the endgame favours Black due to White's pawn weaknesses and bad Bishop, Minasian-Karpman, Minsk 1990.) 14...e4 15.d4 0-0 16.0-0 h4 17.f3 g3! 18.hxg3 xg3+ and draw was agreed, Nunn-Andersson, London 1982. ] 8...hxg6 9.dxe5 d7 10.f4 The critical position for the evaluation of W hite's plan. Although Black's pawn structure on the K-side is exposed, in my opinion Black's chances are 1263

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b y n o m e a n s wo rs e . F irst o f a ll, B la ck' s K n igh t s a re n o t a t a ll in f e rio r t o W h it e 's Bishop's pair since both Bishops are restricted b y p a wn c h a i n s . A l so W h it e ca n 't r e a ll y exploit the weakness of g6-pawn since Black can firmly protect it by playing... Ne7 and after completing his development (...Qc7, ...0-0-0 to follow) Black can hope to obtain a comfortable blockade position. b4 [ 10...c5 is another playable possibility: 11.d3 e7 12.g3 c7 ( 12...a5 tryin g t o k ee p t h e B ish op , is n o t goo d : 13.0-0 c7 14.e1 with better prospects for White: 0-0-0 15.d2 df8 16.g2 f7 17.e2 a7 18.a3 c5 19.b4 xd3 20.cxd3 b8 21.c1 d8 22.a4 and Black's King is a good target, BauerH a u c h a r d , F r a n c e 1 9 9 8 .) 13.a4 Now W hite can't protect the e5-pawn c o n v e n i e n t l y : ( 13.e2 d4! ) 13...a5 14.d2 b5 15.xc5 xc5 16.g5 h6 17.e3 xd3+ 18.cxd3 c5 19.c1 c8 with a complicated position, Sax-Kortschnoj, Tilburg, 1989. ] 11.d3 e7 12.0-0 c7 13.e2 Sacrificing a pawn W hite tries to seize the initiative. [ Once W hite has tried 13.a3?! but after xc3 14.bxc3 0-0-0 15.g3 c5 16.f4 a4 17.e1 c5 Black has good prospects, Fiore-Arlandi, Formia 1995. ] 13...xe5 14.d4 d6 15.e1 xd3 16.xe6 b8?! After this move White has to sacrifice a pawn but he obtains good compensation for it. [ The Queen sacrifice 16...xf4!? 17.xc7+ xc7 is a very interesting alternative to the text. Black has 3 pieces for the Queen and if he manages to complete his development, his advantage will be beyond doubt. 18.d4 f8! ( 18...f7 is weaker: 19.xe7+ xe7 20.xg7+ d6 21.f6+ c5 22.e7+ b6 23.b4+ with perpetual.) 19.xg7 h3+ 20.h1 ( 20.g2? xf2+ 21.xh3 xh2# ) 20...xf2+ 21.g2 e4 22.f1 g8!? and Black is clearly better. ] 17.xd6 xd6 18.xd3 xh2+ 19.f1 d6 20.f3 d7 21.e3 [ Here White missed an interesting possibility to continue the attack: 21.b4! b6 22.c4! opening files on the Q-side. Around here

Black has to solve difficult problems. ] 21...ae8 22.ae1 c8 23.g5? The decisive mistake. According to Kortschnoj's notes in Chess Base Magazine White's position is already bad anyway. But in my opinion, White had at least 2 possibilities to maintain the balance: [ 23.f7! d4 A) 24.e5 d3! ( 24...d5?? 25.c5! ) 25.xg7 d2! 26.xe8 xe5!; B) or 24.xd4 xd4 25.xe7 h1+ 26.e2 xg4+ with decisive advantage for Black in both cases; C) 24.h3! An improvement over Kortschnoj's C1) After 24...eg8 25.f4! Black is in trouble: g5 ( 25...xh3? 26.xh3 and White wins a piece.) 26.xe7 gxf4 ( or 26...xf4 27.e6+ b8 28.d7 c1+ 29.g2 xb2 30.b3 ) 27.xg7! d8 28.xh8 xh8 29.c7+! xc7 30.xh8+ d8 31.xd8+ xd8 32.e2 and White wins.; C2) 24...d5 The only move. 25.e4! and Black has nothing better than d7 ( 25...hf8? is bad in view of 26.xf8 xe4 27.e6! with unavoidable mate.) 26.xd7+ xd7 27.xh8 xh8 28.xd4 with equal endgame ] [ 23.xg7! is not bad either: ef8 24.g3 xg3 25.xg3 and in this endgame White's chances are by no means worse. W hite's Knight easily escapes via the e6-square. ] 23...f6! 24.xf6 gxf6 25.xe7? A gross blunder. W hite hoped to get half a point against his strong opponent in the Rook ending but a nasty surprise awaits him... [ 25.e6 was better but due to his healthy extra pawn. Black should win this endgame without difficulties: h1+ 26.g2 xe1 27.xe1 d7 28.c5+ c7 , and so on. ] 25...h1+! White resigned. 0-1

1264

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and Black has reasonable compensation B12 here but whether or not it's worth a pawn 2714 is surely up for debate. ] 2527 07.10.2013 12...0-0 13.e1 c7 14.f4 axb4 15.cxb4 a3 16.xc6 xc6 The opening has been a complete success for Black against his higher 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 rated opponent. Of course he is still a pawn down but with control of the half open a-file 5.f3 g4 6.c3 e6 7.b4 ge7 [ 7...a6 is the major alternative, analysed by and a very solid structure Black shouldn't be Gawain in Berkes-Zelcic and also in my worse here. Areshchenko however begins to s l o w l y o u t p l a y h i s o p p o n e n t . 17.h1?! notes to Grischuk-Shimanov ] 8.bd2 a5!? An interesting idea from After this it's possible that Black even has the Bernadskiy, not trying to regain the pawn better chances [ 17.b5 a4 18.bxc6 xf4 19.cxb7 xb7 immediately but instead relying on constant 20.a4 a8 21.a5 should be about equal as pressure on the queenside as well as the White won't be able to hold onto c5 for long centre for his compensation. At least for a here. ] while it works well... [ 8...a6?! didn't turn out well for Black in 17...fa8 18.d2 8a4! 19.fb1 b6?! G r is c h u k -S h i m a n o v wh ic h I a n n o t a t e d This move is premature I think - there wasn't much White could've done so Black would've earlier this year, ] been better of playing more slowly 9.b5 g6 [ 19...d8! preparing Qa8 is much stronger [ 9...c7 10.h3 h5 was an interesting 20.g3 ( 20.b5 a5 and Nc4 is awkward to choice in Li Shilong (2547)-Alavi, S (2493) deal with ) 20...a8 21.e1 xa2 22.xa2 C e b u C i t y 2 0 0 7 b u t 11.0-0 0-0-0?! xa2 and Black can play for the win with was a step too far. White could've obtained little risk here ] a b i g a d v a n t a g e h e r e w i t h ( 11...g5!? [ 19...xf3!? immediately was also possible looks interesting here although W hite is with balanced chances after 20.gxf3 xe5 probably doing well after 12.a4! axb4 21.xe5 xe5 as White's kingside structure 13.cxb4 g7 14.b5 xa4 15.xa4 xe5 is completely ruined. ] 16.xe5 xe5 17.b1 and Black doesn't really have enough compensation here) 20.b5 a5 21.cxb6 [ 21.c6 b3 was the trick Black was hoping 12.a4! h6 13.e1 g5 14.xc6 xc6 for but even that isn't so clear after 15.b5 b8 16.c6! bxc6 17.d4 c5 ( 21...c4 22.e2 a5 setting a blockade 18.4b3 and White is winning a pawn with a might be Black's best option) 22.axb3 xa1 good position. ] 23.bxa4 xb1+ 24.h2 and White's 10.h3 queenside p awns actua lly give h im th e [ 10.0-0 makes no difference here as after better chances, despite being down a n g7 White has nothing better than 11.h3 exchange. ] xf3 12.xf3 transposing ] 22.e3 b7 23.d4 c4 10...xf3 11.xf3 g7 12.0-0 This seems 21...xb6 to be a little inaccurate so W hite players 24.e2 f8 25.b3 xb3 [ Black should just sit here with 25...a5! should probably examine the alternatives and now after 26.b6 xb3 27.axb3 xa1+ carefully for an opening advantage. 28.xa1 xb6 29.b5 c7 Black has a [ 12.a3 0-0 13.f4 f6! seems to give Black better version of the game and should have enough play ] little trouble holding ] [ 12.g5 looks best to me c7 ( 12...0-0?! 13.xc6 bxc6 14.a4 and Black is really 26.axb3 xa1+ 27.xa1 a3 28.d4 c5 struggling for compensation) 13.0-0 0-0 29.d3 xd4 30.xd4 xb5 31.c3 b8? 14.xe7 xe7 ( 14...xe7?! 15.xc6 bxc6 This prevents the main threat of Qc8+ but it 16.a3 and White remains a pawn to the allows White's queen to c6 where it supports good ) 15.e2 axb4 16.cxb4 a3 the b-pawns advance down the board. 1206 Areshchenko,A Bernadskiy,V Chigorin Memorial (3.2) [Tom Rendle]

1265

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 31...e8! covers all the important squares a n d i t ' s h a rd t o s e e h o w W h it e m a k e s progress as Black can setup a light-squared blockade, e.g. 32.c1 b5 33.c5 c6 34.b4 h5 and Black is holding the draw ] 32.c6! Areshchenko pounces on the mistake and now Black is in real trouble b5 [ t h e p o i n t i s t h a t 32...xb3? loses to 33.e8+ g7 34.c5 f o r e xa m p l e g5 35.f8+ g6 36.xa3 and White is simply a piece up with a winning endgame. ] 33.b6 d4! The only chance but it's not quite enough [ 33...a7 loses to 34.d6 xd6 ( 34...a8 35.a3 ) 35.exd6 c6 36.d7 f8 37.d8+ xd8 38.xd8 ] [ or 33...c3 34.c7 c8 35.xc3 ] 34.xb5 d3 35.xd3?! [ 35.b4! is slightly more accurate as after d2 36.d3 xb6 37.xd2 the pawn is one square closes to where it wants to be ] 35...xb6 36.g1 These endings are very tricky and I'm not sure if Black should be able to save this one but it's obviously going to be very difficult a5?! [ 36...b4 was a better chance keeping the q u e e n f r o m d 4 , f o r e x a m p l e 37.e3 ( 37.c4? e1+= ) 37...g7 38.g3 h5 39.h2 g8 and it's difficult for White to advance the b-pawn, probably he'll have to sacrifice the e-pawn at some point. ] 37.d4 e1+ 38.h2 g7 39.b4 e2 40.c5 e4 41.b5 Now White is easily winning h5 42.b6 h4 43.c3 b1 44.c5 e4 45.g3! hxg3+ 46.xg3 b1 47.h4 g1+ 48.f4 h2+ 49.e3 h3+ 50.d2 xh4 51.c3 e4 52.c7 e1+ 53.b3 b1+ 54.a4 a2+ 55.b5 b3+?! [ 55...d5+ was the last chance but White should still win eventually after 56.c5 f3 57.d6 e4 58.f4! f3 59.d8 b7 60.d3 and Black is running out of moves! g2 61.d7 g5 62.b7 and Black can resign ] 56.a6 a2+ 57.b7 xf2 58.c8 a2 59.b7 a6 60.d8 A nice win from Areshchenko but the opening wasn't very convincing so I'm sure we'll see more of 8... a5!? in the future 1-0

1207 Areshchenko,Alexander Jobava,Baadur Black Sea Countries (8) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2702 2734 17.09.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 xb2 [ 7...c6 is Black's main alternative and has been covered extensively in the archives, mo st re ce n t ly in K a rja kin-Frid m a n a n d Caruana-Postny. ] 8.b5!? So far this has only been covered in the notes on ChessPub - here we see it in a heavyweight main game! [ 8.b1 was considered 'more challenging' by Gawain in Christiansen-Seirawan. b4!? definitely an improvement over Seirawan's Qxc2 9.a3 xb1+ 10.xb1 c4 11.xb7 c6 12.c7?! ( 12.d2! would give Black m o re p ro b le m s h e re , f o r e xa m p l e xa3 13.hb1 although Black remains solid after d8 14.c7 a5 so this line could well be what Jobava was intending to go for against 8.Qb1 ) 12...ge7! 13.b5 d8 14.b7 a5 15.xa7 xa7 16.xa7 xc2 and if anything Black was slightly better in Pogonina, N (2449)-Cheremnova, T (2255) Sochi 2012 ] 8...c4 [ 8...xc2 9.c1 xc1+ 10.xc1 g6 is worth investigating if 8...c4 doesn't give Black enough play. ] 9.b1 xa2!? This seems to be a novelty, although it is known to the Hiarcs opening book. [ 9...xc2 is very similar to the game and wa s a n a lyse d in t h e n o t e s t o I n a rk ie vEljanov - still, my feeling from the game is t h a t W h it e i s d o i n g we ll a f t e r Q x a 2 s o perhaps Black players should check this analysis carefully. ] 10.c7+ d8 11.xa8 xc2 12.xb7! The Q ue en sa c. see ms to b e the c ritica l continuation here [ 12.a1?! b2 13.c1 b4+ seems to give Black enough play here, for example one line is 14.f1 xc1+ 15.xc1 f5 and with 3 connected passed pawns for the Rook Black has very good chances - the knight on a8 is doomed in the long run. ] 1266

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 12.g5+?! c8 13.a1 b4+ is a better version of the 12.Ra1 line for Black ] 12...xd1 13.xb8+ d7 14.xd1 e7 15.0-0 h6! [ 15...c6?! 16.b7+ e8 17.c7 leaves Black in trouble ] [ 15...f5? fails to 16.g5! f6?! 17.f7 g8 18.g4 xe3 19.fxe3 with a winning attack for White ] 16.d2 c6 17.b7+ e8 18.c3 e7 S o f a r t h e ga m e h a s b e e n f o ll o win g t h e excellent Hiarcs opening book but here it offers White a choice. 19.c7+ [ 19.d2! seems to be the more dangerous li n e , f o r e xa m p l e d8 20.h5 a3 21.xf7 xc3 22.f3 c8 23.c7+ b8 24.xc6 xa8 25.xe6 a3 26.xe7 xe7 27.xd5+ b8 and now the opening book ends but I think we can safely say that White has a very strong attack, and certainly in practical terms I think Black is almost lost. I've continued on the analysis a little bit here to show what I mean 28.b1+ c8 29.xc4 a3 30.d5 ( or 30.e6+!? c7 31.d5 ) 30...a4 31.b5 a2 32.c1+ b8 33.c6 and Black's King is caught in trouble on the Queenside. Bishop, Knight and two pawns vs a Queen is certainly an odd material balance but I think that activity of White's rook, the strength of his central pawns and Black's drafty King situation all point to a large advantage for White. Still, there are plenty of points to deviate for both sides so this analysis obviously requires a lot of checking but overall White does seem to have the better chances. ] 19...f8?! After this White obtains a clear edge [ 19...d8! is again the Hiarcs suggestion and the position is deeply unclear af ter 20.b2 a3 21.b5 a6 22.d2 a3 ( 22...d7?! seems to run into a dangerous attack after 23.xc4! dxc4 24.d5 exd5 25.g4+ d8 26.d1! c5 27.xd5+ e7 28.d7+ f8 29.e6! )] 20.d2! Suddenly White is threatening f4-f5 with a winning attack so Jobava's reply is forced. d8 21.f3 xd4 [ 21...g5 22.b2 a4 23.d1 a3 24.b1 e7 25.a6 is also deeply problematic for Black, and probably just

losing. ] 22.xd4 xd2 23.d1 a5 [ 23...c2 24.b8 e7 25.b5 is no improvement for Black ] 24.xa7 xc7 25.xc7 xc7 Black has just about survived but in truth the two pawns should not be enough to hold a draw here. 26.a1 e7 27.a7 b8 28.f1 d8 29.e2 b3 30.a8+ d7 31.a7 d8 32.e1 b1+ 33.d2 b5 34.e2?! The start of a mistaken plan that throws away Areshenko's winning chances. [ 34.a8+! e7 35.c1 followed by Bd1-a4 should be enough to win here. ] 34...b3 35.g4 d7 36.f4 g6 37.h3?! [ 37.e1! and Bd1 is still winning ] 37...h5 38.f3 c6 39.g4? It's only after this move that the winning chances have gone. [ 39.e1 and Black has to find the accurate b6! ( 39...d3 40.f2 ) 40.xb6 xb6 41.xf7 c5 and here 42.d1 and it's hard t o b e lie ve t h a t W h it e d o e sn 't h a ve t h e better winning chances in this position, although it has become rather messy. ] 39...hxg4 40.hxg4 d3 41.f2 b3 42.d4 d3 43.f2 b3 44.d4 d3 An important theoretical game for this line, but based on the analysis (and help from Hiarcs Book) 9... Qxc2 is probably a better way for Black to play - failing that 8...Bxc2 needs further investigation! ½-½

1208 Areshchenko,Alexander Shimanov,Alexandr 13th EICC Plovdiv BUL (8.25) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B12 2688 2591 28.03.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 d7 6.f3 g6 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 f5 9.a4 This hasn't been seen on ChessPub bef ore but it looks like a sensible way of playing - simply gaining some space on the Queenside and waiting to see how Black responds [ 9.e1 was looked at by Watson in Alekseev, E-Berkes, F ] [ 9.g4 h4 10.xh4 xh4 11.f4 1267

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is covered by Pavlovic in the game Beliavsky, A (2616)-Solak, D ] [ 9.c3 e7 is covered in Delchev, AS c h l o s s e r , P i n t h e a r c h i v e s ( whereas 9...c8 was examined by Gawain in the game Polgar, J-Iordachescu, V )] [ 9.d2 e7 10.g4 h4 11.xh4 xh4 has some similarities to the game and was looked at by Milos in the game Zhigalko, SJobava, B ] 9...e7 This is Black's most popular response although there are other options [ 9...a6 10.a5 c5 11.dxc5 xc5 12.c3 ( 12.c4!? looks interesting to me here, it's not easy for Black to equalise, for example dxc4 13.xc5 xc5 14.a4+! d7 15.xd7+ xd7 16.d1+ leaves White wit h a s lig h t l y m o re p le a sa n t p o s i t io n) 12...d7 13.bd2 c5 and Black was comfortable enough in Nijboer, F (2546)Turov, M (2630) Haarlem NED 2011 ] [ 9...c8 10.a5 a6 11.d2 c5 12.dxc5 xc5 13.xc5 xc5 14.b4 a7 15.b5 may well be a critical line and here I think B l a c k n e e d s a n im p ro ve m e n t o ve r t h e game Kosintseva, T (2513)-Stefanova, A (2523) Tbilisi GEO 2012 axb5?! ( 15...h5!? may be an interesting pawn sacrifice here, for example 16.bxa6 bxa6 17.xa6 b8 and Black has some pressure for the pawn although I would still favour W hite here) 16.xb5+ f8 and White had a definitely advantage due to the poor placement of the King on f8 ] 10.a5 0-0 [ 10...h5 A) 11.e1 xe2 12.xe2 h5!? ( 12...0-0 looks sensible here with balanced chances ) 13.d3 g6 14.d2 c8 15.ac1 b5 16.b4 xb4 17.xb4 h4 18.c3 c5 was played in Ambartsumova, K (2332)-Kharitonov, A (2552) Cappelle la Grande FRA 2011 and now White could've obtained a slight edge with 19.a6! c4 ( 19...cxd4?! 20.xb5 is awkward for B la c k t o d e a l wi t h a s a k n i gh t i s st il l coming into c5 ) 20.bc5; B) 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 g5 13.a6 b5 14.g4 xc1 was agreed drawn in Brenjo, S (2522)-Solak, D (2547) Bihac BIH 2010 although W hite must be a little better

here ] [ 10...h5 cuts across White's plan of g4 and s h o u l d b e c a r e f u l l y e x a m i n e d 11.f4 I like this way of playing more than 11. c4 which was played in the game Areshchenko, A (2664) -Solak, D (2577) Plovdiv BUL 2010 0-0 12.e1 an interesting idea but I'm not convinced White gets an edge here ( 12.c4! looks strong now as White has less reason to be afraid of h4, h3 ideas since Black has already castled) 12...h4 13.g4!? ( 13.c3 p l a y i n g i t s a f e w a s a l s o a p o s s i b i l i t y) 13...hxg3 14.hxg3 with a tense middlegame struggle to come in the game Kosintseva, T (2526)-Rudolf, A (2347) Porto Carras GRE 2011 ] 11.g4!? Definitely the critical line in this variation at the time of writing! [ 11.c4 is White's other main option here ] 11...h4 [ 11...h6?! 12.h3 leaves the knight sidelined on h6 ] 12.xh4 xh4 13.f4 Here Black has a crucial decision to make.. f5 [ 13...f6!? given that Black is struggling after ..f5 this needs serious consideration 14.e3 e7 ( 14...c8!? ) 15.exf6 xf6 16.d2 h6 17.f3 A) 17...e4 may be best and now 18.a6 ( 18.e5 h7 19.a6 f6 is unc lea r) 18...b6 19.e5 leaves White a little better although e8 keeps Black quite solid and there is a chance that W hite may later regret pushing so many pawns!; B) 17...xg4 fails to solve Black's problems after 18.xh4 xc2 19.xc2 xe3 20.d3 xf1 21.g6! d6 22.xf8 xf8 23.xf1 and the endgame is extremely unpleasant for Black; C) 17...h7?! gave White a clear advantage after 18.e5 e8 19.d3! and Black was struggling in Kosintseva, T (2534)-Chiburdanidze, M (2514) Jermuk ARM 2010 ] 14.g5 h6 15.gxh6 gxh6 This is an important position f or this line but Black is scorin g terribly and in part this is probably because White's position pretty much plays itself (bring all his pieces to the Kingside) whereas Black is struggling for counterplay. Overall I wouldn't r e c o m m e n d p l a y i n g t h i s w a y ! 16.f3 1268

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Actually a novelty but it's not clear it really differs much from earlier games [ 16.h1 h7 A) 17.e3 g8 18.d2 e7 19.g1 a6 20.f1 c5 21.f3 cxd4?! ( 21...h5 might be a better try for activity although W h i t e c a n w i n a p a w n w i t h 22.g5+! hxg5 23.xh5 cxd4 24.xd4 but Black at least can create some counterchances now with g7! 25.fxg5 g8 ) 22.xd4 and Black had a miserable position in Zherebukh, Y (2473)-Margvelashvili, G (2478) Lviv UKR 2008; B) 17.f3 g8 18.h3 e7 19.e3 c8 ( 19...b6 doesn't change anything as White s im p ly ign o re s t h e t h re a t wit h 20.d2 bxa5 21.f3 and Black is in trouble again on the Kingside) 20.d2 c5 21.c3 ( 21.f3! immediately gives White a definite edge as he shouldn't be worried about cxd4 22.xd4 as black will be tied down to defending e6) 21...cxd4 22.cxd4 a6 23.f3 f8 24.f2 e8 25.h4 xh4 26.xh4 g6 27.xg6 xg6 28.b3 c6 29.h5 g7 30.e2 e7?? Black misses the threat ( 30...g6 31.h5 g7 32.g3 was only slightly better for White ) 31.xh6+! g8 ( if 31...xh6 32.h3+ g6 33.h5# ) 32.h3 c7 33.h4 1-0 Volokitin, A (2684)-Nanu, C (2515) Plovdiv BUL 2008 ] 16...f7?! [ 16...h7 looking to transpose to the above note is probably more sensible but it hardly solves Black's problems: 17.h3 g8 18.h1 e7 19.e3 c8 has transposed to Volokitin, A-Nanu, C ] 17.h3 h7 Not as effective a defensive setup as a King on h7 and Rook on g7 in our opinion 18.e3 h8 19.h1 e7 20.a6! Very instructive, not content with just Kingside pressure Areshenko creates a weakness on the other side of the board as well b5 [ 20...b6 was perhaps a better try although W h i t e n o w h a s t h e o p t i o n o f 21.c4!? when White could easily take control of the cfile ] 21.a5 b6 The Queen ends up horribly stranded on here not able to help out later on when Black's King comes under attack [ 21...c7 \/was perhaps better so the

Queen is still in tough with the Kingside ] 22.b7 g8 23.e1 [ 23.f2! would cut out the plan of h5-h4 and Black has no counterplay here at all ] 23...h5! wisely taking any chance for activity 24.f2 h4 25.c3 g7 [ 25...h5!? looks interesting but fails to 26.xh5 xh5 27.xh4 h7?! ( 27...h7 28.d6 is already close to lost for Black) 28.e2 h6 29.xe7!! xh3 30.d8 xd8 31.g2! a beautiful rook sacrifice simply for W hite to gain control of the g-file. It's all over now after h4 32.g1! g4 33.h3+ g7 34.xg4+ fxg4 35.xg4+ f8 36.xe6 and despite an extra rook Black is totally helpless against various threats like Qf5+ followed by e6 ] 26.xh4 gh8 27.f6+ xf6?! Black has fought really hard to stay in the game but after this it quickly goes wrong [ 27...xf6! was more stubborn and after 28.xh7+ xh7 29.exf6+ xf6 30.f3 e4 31.xe4 fxe4 32.g3 c7 33.g1 h6 34.c5 White has an enduring advantage but Black is still solid ] 28.exf6+ xf6? The decisive error [ 28...xf6 29.xh7+ xh7 30.g3 h4 31.e3 c7! an only move but 32.c5 is still clearly better for White ] 29.xh7! xh7 30.g3 Suddenly White has co n t rol o f t h e g-lin e a n d it's a ll o ve r h8 31.g1 g8 32.h5! An instructive game from Areshenko and the ball is definitely in Black's court in this line. 1-0

1209 B12 Arizmendi Martinez,Julen Luis 2540 Gomez Esteban,Juan Mario 2486 LXXI ch-ESP GpB (1) 22.11.2006 [Jonathan Rowson] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 White's most dangerous move, favoured by heavyweight attackers including Sutovsky and Anand. e6 [ 4...b6 would probably be my own preference, even though it has been established that 5.d3 gives white a slight edge. I once saw a Capablanca game in the 1269

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Caro-Kann where he played Qb6 followed by Qa6, exchanged queens and won the ending, an d I 've be en t rying to make it happen ever since... ( 5.g4 d7 ) 5...xd3 6.xd3 e6 and now Black can play ...Qa6 and c5. At Elite GM level, white is better, but for everyone else it is just a position you have to play. ] 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 e7 Protecting the bishop on g6, so h4 can now be met with h5. 7.f4 h5!? This is out of favour due to the move played in the game, first devised by French GM Nataf. However, although Black is a little passive in what follows, I am not sure that he i s a c t u a l l y w o r s e . 8.f5!? exf5 9.g5 W hite's compensation is based on the influential f4 square, the entombed bishop on g6 and the prospect of attacking f5 or playing o n t h e q u e e n s i d e . a6! Heading to the important e6 square. 10.f4 c7 11.h4 e6 12.ce2 d7 13.g2 0-0-0 This has all been seen before. W hite's position is certainly easier to play, but I quite like the plan that Black came up with. 14.c3 [ 14.0-0!? looks more to the point and it might be useful to keep the third rank open for a rook lift, either by Rf3-b3 or a4 followed by Ra3-g3 etc. ] 14...b8 15.a4 c8 16.0-0 e7 17.g3?! This might be a mistake, because there is a lot to be said for reinforcing f4 with a knight. In fact, I suspect this is a turning point, and when I look at the position carefully I have the feeling that White should be better somehow. [ 17.xg6!? fxg6 18.f4 radically transforming the position, is worth considering, because black's extra pawn is not felt at all, and the c8 knight is a long way from having any bearing on the key strategic squares. xf4 19.xf4 e6 20.a5!? to prevent Nb6-a8-c7-e6 ( 20.d3 b6 21.b3 a8 22.c4 c7 23.c5 looks like an advantage to white.) 20...a6 but now Na7-b5-c7 is possible, so maybe it wasn't such a great idea! ] 17...a8 18.d3 xf4 19.xf4 f6! Now White's king feels every so slightly drafty. 20.h3 [ 20.e3!? fxe5 21.xe5 d6 looks better for Black ] 20...fxg5 21.hxg5 White has chosen the

wrong plan- the g5 is too weak, and when it falls everything else becomes vulnerable. df8 22.ae1 h4 23.e6 d8 24.xf5 xg5 25.e5 f6 26.d2 e7 Black is a pawn up with the safer king and should now be winning. 27.xe7 xe7 28.xf6 gxf6 29.f5 hg8 30.h2 a6 31.f4 e8 32.e3 xf5 33.xf5 g3 34.e2 g7 35.f4 g8 36.ee1 0-1

1210 Azarov,S Navara,D TCh-CZE Extraliga 2013-14 (6.1) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2616 2705 19.01.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 b6 4.c3 [ 4.a4 has become the standard move here but perhaps in light of e5 5.dxe5 a5! which I covered last year in Bauer-Ragger, Azarov decides to try a different approach with 4.c3, which has only been mentioned in the notes on ChessPub before. ] 4...e6 This is of course a very solid approach leaving us already in an original position after just 4 moves! [ 4...e5!? is obviously critical and now 5.e2 A) 5...e7!? is worthy of attention here, for example 6.exd5 ( or 6.dxe5 d7 7.f4 c5 8.d2 g6 good compensation for the pawn ) 6...cxd5 7.dxe5 bc6 8.f4 f5 9.f3 e7 and White still has some problems developing here; B) 5...exd4 6.exd5+ d8 7.cxd4 f6! ( 7...cxd5?! 8.c3 f6 9.g5 and I really like White's chances ) 8.c3 B1) 8...b4 is slightly less convincing although probably fine 9.d3 e8+ 10.ge2 cxd5 11.f4 ( 11.f2! keeps a slight edge) 11...d6 12.xd6 xd6 13.d2 c6 14.f2 e7 15.f4 e6 16.xd6+ xd6 and Black had safely equalised in A za r o v, S ( 2 6 3 6 ) - M a g h a l a s h v i l i , D (2502) Baku 2013; B2) 8...d6! 9.c2 e8+ 10.ge2 h6! 11.f2 cxd5 12.e3 c6 13.d2 d7 ( 13...e7!? preparing to castle manually on the kingside also seems 1270

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 reasonable here) 14.c1 c8 15.a4 1/2-1/2 Jakovenko, D (2724)-Motylev, A (2663) Poikovsky 2013 ] 5.e5?! This leads to a very pleasant French Defence for Black and makes little sense as far as I can see. Normally the pawn would be back on f2 and White could respond to ...c5 with Nf3 but here he has to 'waste' a move with f4, not something he really wants to do. [ 5.d3 looks much more sensible here waiting for the knight to come to f6 before playing e5 and now c5 ( 5...f6 6.e5 fd7 7.a4! gives White interesting play on the queenside ) 6.exd5 exd5 7.e2+ e7 8.dxc5 xc5 9.e3 c7 and Black should be completely OK although White can play against the isolated queen's pawn ] [ 5.h3 is a possible attempt to make sense of the position but Black should be fine here, e.g. f6 6.e5 fd7 7.b3 otherwise ...c5 is very annoying c5 8.xb6 xb6 9.a3 w i t h e q u a l i t y a s cxd4 can be met by 10.b5 ] 5...c5 6.f4 c6 7.f3 d7 [ 7...h6! looks logical and strong here, for example 8.d3 cxd4 9.cxd4 d7 10.c2 b4! and Black gains the two bishops and an excellent position ] 8.a3 [ 8.dxc5!? would be an interesting attempt to mix things up here, although Black keeps the better chances after xc5 9.e2 a5! 10.bd2 a4 ] 8...cxd4 9.cxd4 xa3 [ 9...b4+ 10.f2 h6! already looks just unpleasant for W hite, e.g. 11.c2 e7 ( 11...c8!? ) 12.d3 0-0 13.e1 f6! and White isn't really ready for the position to open up ] 10.bxa3 ge7 11.d2?! [ 11.d3 would've made more sense in hindsight, with the knight coming to c4 but Black is still slightly better after a5 12.e2 c8 ] 11...f5 12.b2 a5! 13.c3 c4 14.xc4 dxc4 15.d5?! This doesn't really work out for Avarov but W hite was clearly worse in any case [ 15.0-0 c6 16.ab1 d8 is a bit depressing for W hite as when the queen comes to d5 he will have zero counterplay ]

15...e3+ [ 15...exd5 is also very strong, for example 16.g4 e3+! 17.xe3 xe3 18.e2 c2! ( 18...xg4?! 19.h3 h6 20.e6! fxe6 21.xg7 f7 22.xh8 xh8 23.e5 and W hite should draw without too many problems ) 19.ac1 xa3 20.f5 h5 21.h3 b5 and White has some compensation but not nearly enough for two pawns ] 16.d1 [ 16.xe3 xe3 17.dxe6 was a better chance - Black is clearly better after fxe6 18.d2 xg2 19.hg1 xf4 20.xg7 but at least White is in the game here ] 16...exd5 17.e1 xd2+ [ 17...c5 is even stronger, with White's king ca u gh t in t h e ce n t re t h e re wa s n o re a l reason to exchange queens ] 18.xd2 h5! Black is a safe pawn up and so begins the slow process of improving the position and playing for the win. Navara's technique is more than up to the job. 19.d4 0-0-0 20.a4?! h6! The a-pawn is now doomed! 21.a5 a6 22.a4 xd4 23.xd4 xa5 24.c3 h8 25.b4 a6 26.a5 f5 27.e3 h4 28.g1 b8 29.g4 hxg3 30.hxg3 g6 31.g4! An excellent practical choice given the circumstances xg4? [ 31...e4 keeping control was safer ] 32.xg4 xg4 33.g3 h4 34.c5? White misses his last chance [ 34.f2! and suddenly things aren't so clear, e.g. e6 35.f5! xf5 36.xg7 h7 37.xh7 xh7 38.e3 and despite being 3 pawns to the good it's not clear to me how Black makes progress as W hite can just blockade on the dark squares ] 34...e6 35.d6+ c8 36.f5 xf5 37.xg7 e6 38.g8+ d7 39.a6 bxa6 40.a8 c6 0-1

1211 Baklan,Vladimir Lachmayer,Manfred 20th Open Böblingen (1) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2600 2003

Here's what happens when you try to cross swords with a Grandmaster in an unusual line. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 c6 3.c3 c7!? Will it be a 1271

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Philidor today, a Pirc or Modern? Perhaps a Caro-Kann? And who will choose? I have no problems with Black's move-order but the fatal flaw is that it's very passive. White can build up more or less as he or she pleases. So there might be some mileage in 3...Qc7 against a weaker player but against someone much stronger this opening line cannot be recommended. One must gamble to make a s t r o n g e r p l a y e r t r e m b l e p l a y wi l d , r i s k y a d v e n t u r o u s c h e s s - t h a t ' s t h e w a y ! . 4.f4 Baklan decides to try to annihilate Black. [ 4.a4 attempts insistent long-term pressure but now Black has more choice. e5 5.f3 g4 6.e2 f6 7.0-0 e7 8.e3 0-0 9.d2 xe2 10.xe2 a6 11.a5 b4 ( I like the modest 11...fe8 with chances of full equality.) 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.c4 d7 14.a4 a6 15.c3 ac5 16.xc5 xc5 17.ad1 xe3 18.xe3 b5 19 Savon, VLutikov, A/Dubna 76 It's only a small edge for White after 19 Nd6 ] 4...a6?! [ 4...g6 5.f3 g7 6.c4 e6 Yes, he has no other way to survive apart from to set up the Hippopotamus. The Queen on c7 is a bit ropey. 7.0-0 e7 8.e3 d7 9.d2 0-0 10.ae1 b5 11.d3 a6 12.f5 e5 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.h6 f6 15.fxg6 hxg6 16.e3 b6 17.f2 b8 18.c5 e6 19.h4 White has been given the run of the game and has notable positional achievements . The c5 square is a notable outpost and Black's King is loose. ] [ 4...f6 Provocative! 5.f3 ( 5.e5 d5 6.xd5 cxd5 7.d3 c6 8.c3! denies the Bishop on c8 a square and gives White the advantage.) 5...bd7 6.e5 g8 7.d3 b6 8.0-0 h6 9.e2 d5 10.g5 g4 11.f2 e6 12.h3 f5 13.g4 xd3 14.cxd3 0-0-0 15.e3 d7 16.a3 f6 Santos, MRosa, J/Sao Paulo 2000 It is all working out very well for Black. ] 5.f3 g4?! This I really do not like. Black refuses to recognise the limitations of his opening. Denied the Philidor set-up (4 f4!), he really has to be modest with moves such as [ 5...g6 ] [ 5...d7 ] [ 5...e6 avoiding an immediate clash of forces. ]

6.h3! xf3 7.xf3 d7 8.e5 White has a big advantage already. He has space and time on his side so he endeavours to open the game. 8 e5! is very strong. e6 9.d3 d5 Black finally gets the message, but he cannot p r e ve n t t h e f o ll o wi n g p a wn - b re a k . 10.f5! exf5 11.xf5 g6 12.xd7+ No time is wasted, the hallmark of good attacking play. xd7 13.0-0 h5? I don't know what he thinks he is doing. The following ideas represent a better survival chance but of course, White is much better: [ 13...h6 14.e6 xe6 15.g5! e7 16.ae1 f5 17.xf5 gxf5 18.xe7 xe7 19.xf5 ] [ 13...e6 best of all I think. 14.e2! e7 ( 14...0-0-0 15.xf7 ) 15.f4 f5 16.b3 0-0-0 ( 16...d7 17.d2 0-0-0 18.ae1 ) 17.xd5 e4 18.xe7+ xe7 19.c3+- ] 14.e6 T o o e a s y . . . . . . xe6 15.g5 Preventing 0-0-0 e7 16.ae1 f5 17.g3 d7 18.a4 Such a finish is child's play to Baklan. d8 19.c5 c8 20.xe7 There will be a further capture on e7 and a check on e5 followed by the removal men. Black's opening idea is suspect. Baklan had the energy necessary to prove it. 1-0

1212 Balogh,Csaba Bromberger,S TCh-AUT 1st Bundesliga 2012 (8.1) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B12 2665 2513 19.04.12

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 [ 4...h6 is of course the main alternative 5.g4 d7 6.h5 c5 ( 6...e6 7.c3 c5 8.f4 c6 9.f3 b6 10.h2 was an interesting approach examined by Gawain in NavaraShimanov. ) 7.dxc5 A) 7...c7 A1) 8.f4 e6 9.d2 xc5 10.b3 b6 11.f3 possibly an improvement over 11.Bd3 which was played in K u r n o s o v, I ( 2 5 2 3 ) - I o r d a c h e s c u , V (2583) Stockholm 2005 and Pavlovic a s s e s s e d a s b e t t e r f o r B l a c k . c6 12.d2 ge7 13.0-0-0 a5 14.xa5 xa5 15.e2 a6 16.d4 c6 1272

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.xc6 xc6 18.f3 b5 ( 18...c8!? ) 19.h2 xf1 20.hxf1 1/2-1/2 (20) Romanov, E (2501)-Riazantsev, A (2629) Chelyabinsk RUS 2007; A2) 8.c3 e6; B) 7...c6 8.xd5 xg4 9.c3 looks better for W hite and is annotated by Pavlovic in the blindfold game Vachier Lagrave, M-Grischuk, A; C) 7...c8 was tried in a recent game but it's not to be recommended, the problem is that the pawn on g4 shouldn't be taken as will be seen 8.e3! xg4? 9.xd5 d7 10.d2 e6 11.c3 e7 ( 11...xc5 12.xc5 xc5 13.0-0-0 and Black is already in serious trouble) 12.0-0-0 f5 13.f3 xe3 14.fxe3 c6 15.b5! the position is already lost for Black xc5 16.hg1 b4 17.d4 d7 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xe6! fxe6 20.xg7 xe5 21.d4 b8 22.e4 f8 23.a3 e7 24.xe7+! a forcing finish xe7 25.c5+ f7 26.d6+ g8 27.xe5 c7 28.g1+ h7 29.xe6 ad8 30.f5 1-0 (30) Rozum, I (2477) -Yevseev, D (2529) St Petersburg RUS 2012 ] 5.c4 e6 6.c3 e7 [ 6...d7 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 wa s c o ve re d in S h o rt -Jo h a n n e ss e n b y Rowson and it seems that Nigel was doing very well from the opening in that game. ] [ 6...e7 is probably the critical continuation and has featured extensively in the archives, most recently in Vachier Lagrave-Laznicka this year. ] 7.cxd5 [ 7.ge2 is a serious alternative here A) 7...h6 didn't work out well for Black in Svidler, P (2739)-Galkin, A (2598) Moscow 2011 after 8.g3 A1) 8...g6 9.xh5 f5 looks to be a much more sensible way to play although 10.f4 h7 11.g4 xh4 12.g5!? is still a very dangerous idea and was perhaps Svidler's intention. It is risky to take on g5 now as after xg5 13.h5 xf4 14.xf4 Black has problems down the h-file; A2) 8...xh4!? 9.xf5 ( 9.xh5!? f8 10.e2 ) 9...xf5 10.cxd5 exd5 11.g3 looks a little better for White to me;

A3) 8...g6 9.f4 f8 10.d2 g7 11.g5 a6 12.e2 d7 13.0-0 dxc4 14.xc4 xg5 15.hxg5 g8 16.ge4 xe4 17.xe4 and Black had a pretty miserable position.; B) 7...dxc4 8.g3 g6 ( if 8...g4 9.f3 xh4 10.xh4! xh4 11.ce4 and Black is in some trouble) 9.xc4 h6 ( 9...xh4 10.ge2 e7 11.f4 f5 12.xh5 and Black is worse as he still has problems developing) 10.ge2 ( 10.e2!? is worth investigating if the Nge2 doesn't offer a real advantage) 10...f5 11.g3 h7 12.g5 d7 13.d2 0-0 14.0-0-0 b5 15.d3 b4 16.e4 c5 with extremely do ub le -ed ge d p la y in Kryvo ru c hk o, Y (2676)-Dziuba, M (2590) Warsaw 2012 ] 7...cxd5 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 A typical position for this line c6 [ 9...xh4 seems to be dubious here after 10.b5+ d7 11.xb7 e7 12.f3 with a definite edge for White ] [ 9...h6 looks more interesting though and now 10.xh6 xh6 11.f3 a6 12.g3 c6 13.0-0 f8 14.a3 and perhaps now Black s h o u l d p l a y a5! before White gets a chance to go b4, with reasonable chances although the rook is somewhat oddly placed on h6. ( instead after 14...g6 15.ac1 g7 16.b4 White had a lot of pressure in Balogh, C (2617) -Paichadze, L (2392) Baku 2007 )] 10.f3 c8 11.0-0 [ 11.g3 was Nigel Short's choice against Anand a few years ago b4 12.d2 ge7 13.a3 xc3 14.xc3 f5 already Black has no problems 15.0-0 b6 16.fd1 a6 17.g2 c7 18.d2 d7 19.a4 a5 20.db1 hc8 21.g5 h8 22.d2 hc8 23.g5 h8 1/2-1/2 Short, N (2674)-Anand, V (2786) Wijk aan Zee 2005 ] 11...xh4?! [ 11...h6 given what happens in the game Black should examine this line carefully 12.xh6 xh6 13.g3 f8 14.fc1 g6 15.b5 d7 admittedly this position seems to be more comfortable for White but Black is very solid at least. 16.a4 g7 17.c5 xc5 18.xc5 hh8 19.ac1 a6 20.b6 c7 21.b3 and White was pressing in Becerra Rivero, J (2535)-Morovic Fernandez, I (2613) Havana 1999 ] 1273

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.b5! This looks to be a strong novelty [ 12.xh4 was seen previously but doesn't seem to be as strong xh4 13.b5 f8 14.xa7 ( 14.d6 c7 and Black is solid enough ) 14...xa7 15.a3+ e7 16.xa7 and now in Perunovic, M (2562)-Ruck, R (2534) Vogosca 2007 g4! with the simple idea of h4-h3 would've given Black a strong attack ] 12...e7 [ 12...f8 13.d6 c7 14.b4!? and White has a very strong initiative ] 13.g5 f6 [ 13...xg5? 14.d6+ f8 15.xg5 xg5 16.xc8 leaves White an exchange up ] 14.exf6 A critical moment gxf6 [ 14...xf6!? 15.g6+ ( 15.ae1!? also looks dangerous) 15...f8 16.fe1 and it's hard to recommend Black's position h e r e a l t h o u g h h e c a n f i g h t o n w i t h a6 17.c3 e8 so perhaps this is a better option than the game ] 15.f4 [ 15.d2 is the computer's preference but the game continuation certainly worked well. A possible line now would be f7 16.ae1 d7 17.h4!? f5 18.f3 and Black's position is full of holes ] 15...d7? An odd move and unsurprisingly a serious mistake [ 15...a6 w a s n e c e s s a r y 16.c3 d6 17.g6+ f8 and now White has a couple of interesting options although neither are 100% convincing 18.xd5!? ( 18.g3 xf4 19.xf4 c7 20.e3 f7 and Black looks t o b e o v e r t h e wo r st o f i t) 18...exd5 ( 18...b8?! 19.xb8 xd5 20.e5! fxe5 21.f4 is a very attractive line which shows how dangerous W hite's attack can be - if the position opens up Black's King will be easy prey.) 19.g5! fxg5 20.xd6+ ce7 21.f4 g4 22.ac1 xc1 23.xc1 h7! probably the best defensive try 24.e6 g7 25.c7 f8 26.e5+ f6 27.c7 g6 28.xb7 and White's attack is ongoing and there's little risk of losing here ] 16.fe1 b4 17.e2 a6 18.a3! f8 [ 18...axb5 19.axb4 e7 20.ae1 is also hopeless for Black ] 19.ae1! axb5 20.xe6 White's threats are overwhelming. A crushing victory and some

impressive preparation from Balogh. 1-0

1213 Bauer,Ch Ragger,M French Top 12 2013 (1.2) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2638 2666 30.05.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 b6 4.a4 e5 5.dxe5 a5! As far as I can tell this move is a novelty and a very sensible one, simply preventing White from shifting the black queen from b6. [ 5...dxe4 6.a5 c7 7.f4 gives White the b e t t e r ch a n ce s - se e Ne p o m n i a c h t c h i Jobava. ] [ 5...c5 6.a5 c7 A) 7.f4! seems a much more critical option for W hite - I think Black is s t r u g g l i n g h e r e , f o r e x a m p l e e7 ( 7...dxe4 8.d2 f5 9.b3 f8 10.h3 i s h a r d l y wh a t B l a c k w a n t s f r o m t h e opening ) 8.c3 b4 9.exd5 cxd5 ( 9...xd5 10.d2 and Black is just a pawn down ) 10.f3 0-0 11.d3 xc3+ 12.bxc3 xc3+ 13.d2 c5 14.b1 and White has the two bishops and a very promising position.; B) 7.exd5 xe5+ 8.e2 xe2+ 9.xe2 f6! 10.dxc6 xc6 11.c3 a6 12.d2 0-0 13.g3 e8+ 14.d1 e6 and Black has enough compensation for the pawn and went on to draw comfortably in Bauer, C (2631)-Rausis, I (2516) Fortde-France 2013 ] 6.d3?! Immediately Bauer goes wrong something that's very easy to do when faced with a novelty. Now Black gets very dangerous compensation for the pawn [ 6.exd5 seems to be the critical test of this line: c5 7.h3 xh3 8.gxh3 f2+ 9.e2 cxd5 10.xd5 c6 and Black clearly has a very dangerous initiative in return for the sacrificed two pawns. Unless a safe route can be found for White in this position then this line is looking dodgy. Perhaps W hite can try 11.a3 ge7 12.e4 g1 13.e3 xe3 14.xe3 here although Black can either take equality with xb2 ( or try for more with 14...b4!? 15.f2 h4+ 1274

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.g1 0-0 ) 15.b1 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 ] [ 6.e2 c5 ( 6...e7!? is interesting but White should be a little better after 7.d2! g6 8.exd5 cxd5 9.b5+ xb5 10.xb5+ c6 11.e2 gxe5 12.b3 with an isolated pawn to play against on d5) 7.h3 xh3 8.gxh3 e7 9.exd5 xd5 again gives Black more than enough compensation for the pawn - White's pieces are really struggling for coordination. ] 6...c5 7.f1?! After this Bauer quickly finds himself in trouble [ 7.h3 was seemingly necessary although after xh3 8.gxh3 e7 9.e2 0-0 Black has a very promising position with White's king caught in the centre. ] 7...dxe4 8.fxe4 e6 [ 8...e7 was also strong, for example 9.d2 0-0 10.c4 c7 11.f3 g6 and when the pawn on e5 drops in a few moves Black is going to be left with a clear advantage. ] 9.f3 d7 10.a3 c7 11.f4 e7 Ragger has a very simple plan of ganging up on the weak pawn on e5 and there's no a lot White can do about it. 12.c4 [ 12.g3 was perhaps a better try when after h6 13.g2 g5 14.d2 g6 the pawn on e5 is doomed but at least W hite's king is safer than in the game. ] 12...0-0 13.g3 g6 14.c3 ad8 15.e2 xc4 16.xc4 dxe5 17.e1 [ 17.h4 d6 18.xe5 xe5 19.h5 f4 20.f2 was perhaps a better try for White although his position remains precarious after d3 21.e2 c5 22.h6 g6 ] 17...e7 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.g3 Just in time, otherwise Rd6-f6 was coming with crushing effect. g5 21.f3 d6 [ Black could have won a pawn with 21...d2 22.e2 xb2! 23.g2 ( or 23.xb2 c1+ 24.g2 xb2+ ) 23...xe2+ 24.xe2 but either Ragger missed it or simply preferred to keep up the pressure and not swap rooks. ] 22.h4 e5 23.g2 f6 24.g4 f2?! This gives White a chance to struggle on [ 24...b5! was tough to meet, for example 25.axb5 cxb5 26.d5 ( 26.xb5?? f2+ 27.h3 h5! 28.d7 f3 and wins )

26...f2+ 27.h3 h8! and Black keeps a clear advantage and excellent attacking chances ( 27...h5 can now be met by 28.g5 and there's no ...Qe6+ for black )] 25.g5 c7 26.ef1?! Bauer misses his chance and after this it quickly goes downhill. [ 26.e5! g6 27.f5 xe1 ( 27...xg3?? 28.h5 and suddenly it's White who is winning ) 28.xe1 e7 29.f1 and despite being an exchange down White would have his best position for a while as it would be very tough for Black to make progress here as he can hardly move anything. ] 26...g6 27.xg6 hxg6 28.xf2 e7 29.f4 h7 30.e1 f6 31.e5 White's chances are tied to the strength of this e-pawn but the Black queen is simply too strong here. b5 32.d3 d8 33.f3 f5 34.axb5 cxb5 35.h5 gxh5 36.xf5+ h6 37.e2 b4 38.cxb4 xb4 39.e6 d2! After this White's resistance is finally broken 40.ff2 xe2 41.xe2 b5 42.f2 e5 White no longer has a rook behind his passed pawn and Ragger has simple enough job from here. 43.h3 g5! 44.f5 g4 45.f1 g5 46.b3 e3 47.e2 [ or 47.g2 xb3 48.e7 b7+ ] 47...f3+ 48.e1 xg3+! [ It was still possible to throw it all away with 48...xf5?? 49.e7 b1+ 50.f2 f5+ 51.g1 and White wins ] 49.d2 f4+ 50.e3 xf5 51.e7 d7+ The queen blockades on e8 and Black can simply push his kingside pawns. 0-1

1214 B12 Beliavsky,Alexander G 2616 Solak,Dragan 2622 27th ECC Rogaska Slatina SLO (7.14) 1.10.11 [Milos Pavlovic] 1.d4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 g6 6.0-0 e7 7.bd2 f5 8.b3 d7 9.g4!? An interesting attempt, in my previous updates I mainly focused on 9.Bd2 which is the main idea. Beliavsky obviously thinks that the immediate 9.g4 can give White pressure, and that is not without logic, as the position is f a r f r o m b e i n g s i m p l e f o r B l a c k . h4 1275

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 I am not sure if this the best move. Another idea that might be better is: [ 9...e7 A) 10.h4!? h5 ( 10...c5 11.c3 c6 12.g2 cxd4 13.cxd4 a5 W it h c o u n t e r p la y.) 11.xg6 xg6 12.gxh5; B) 10.e1 h5 ( 10...c5 11.c3 c6 12.e3 We have another complicated position. ) 11.gxh5 f5 12.f4 g6 13.g3 gxh5 14.xh5 h3 15.g2 f5 B la c k h a s co m p e n sa t io n h e re . 16.e1 xg2 17.xg2 g5 18.g4 0-0-0 19.f4 g6 20.xf5 xf5 21.d3 h3+ 22.f2 f6 23.e2 h6 24.f1 Draw agreed, although Black actually has very strong play after 24...Rdf8, say Bartel, M -Motylev, A Budva 2009 ] 10.xh4 xh4 11.f4 h5 12.g5 h3? It seems that this move is bad but an alternative is not easy to find. The entire position looks strange as the Black queen is somehow surrounded by White pieces. [ 12...f5 13.e3 I have no clue how to conduct play with such a queen. ] 13.f3 f5 14.f1 This was played in two ga m e s a n d it s n o t b a d b u t t h e re is e ve n stronger: [ 14.h3!N For computers such moves are always easy, but for humans they are far from obvious. xc2 Otherwise 15.Bd3 wins t h e q u e e n . 15.f1 h7 16.c3 g6 17.d3 f5 18.exf6 f7 19.xh7 xh7 20.f5 exf5 21.e2+ d8 22.a5 White is winning. ] 14...c5N This is surely better then alternatives but still Black is under pressure. [ Predecessor: 14...xc2 15.c3 f5 16.h3 We have a previous note now with reversed moves. xe5 17.dxe5 e4 18.d3 a4 19.xg6 fxg6 20.d3 f7 21.e3 b6 22.d4 c5 23.b3 a3 24.xc6 hc8 25.xc5 bxc5 26.b5 c4 27.ac1 a6 28.b7+ f8 29.b4 1-0 Smirin, I -Dziuba, M/ Moscow 2009 ] 15.c4 dxc4 16.xc4 cxd4 17.d2 e7 18.c1 0-0 19.d3 g4+ 20.g3 xd3 21.xd3 f5 22.xf5 exf5 23.c7 fd8 24.g6 b6 25.f1 Another possibility was: [ 25.gxf7+ xf7 26.xd4 c5 27.e3 xd4 28.xd4 h4 29.g2 ac8 30.xa7

White is better. ] 25...f8 26.gxf7 c5 27.xc5 bxc5 28.e6?! Much better was: [ 28.b3 xf7 29.bb7 e8 30.xc5 eb8 31.cb5 xb7 32.xb7 e6 33.e2 W hite still preserves some advantage in this endgame. ] 28...d6 29.xc5 xe6 30.xf5 b8 31.b3 h4 32.d3 f6 33.c5 xf7 34.e1 be8 35.f2 e4 36.f5 f4 37.d2 e5 [ 37...h3! With this unpleasant move Black could still keep the game alive and he might even be better now. ] 38.c7+ e7 39.c5 e5 ½-½

1215 Berkes,Ferenc Zelcic,Robert 17th Open A Zadar CRO (3.4) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2680 2539 13.12.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 5.f3 g4 In the archives many commentators have been of the opinion that this offers Black a good game but, seeing as many strong W hite players have allowed it, w e s h o u l d d e f i n i t e l y i n v e s t i g a t e . 6.c3 This has had a topical surge. [ 6.b5 has been the mainline in the past. ] 6...e6 [ 6...xf3 has been seen a few times but looks safely better for White. One example c o n t i n u e d : 7.xf3 xe5 8.b5+ c6 9.e3 f6 10.0-0 e6 Morawietz, D (2425)Zatonskih, A (2462) Germany 2008 when I'd go for 11.c4! a6 12.a4 e7 13.c3 when W hite would have had a pleasant advantage. ] [ White's last indirectly defended the e5 pawn, a f a ct B la ck d id n ' t re a l is e i n 6...xe5?? 7.xe5! xd1 8.b5+ d7 9.xd7+ d8 10.xd1 f6 11.f7+ xd7 12.xh8 1-0 Bady, G (2185)-La Rota, F (2286) Miami 2007. ] 7.b4 a6 The computer's top choice taking possession of the b5 square and threatening to take on e5 but there are of course alternatives. [ 7...ge7 8.bd2 And we're at a 1276

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c r o s s r o a d s . ( B a k l a n p r e f e r r e d 8.f4 but following g6 9.g3 h5! 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 g5 Black was fine Baklan, V (2 6 1 3 ) -W ill e m ze , T (2 3 9 4 ) G ro n in ge n 2010. ) A) 8...g6 is a sensible choice, simply putting more pressure on the e5 pawn. 9.b5 g7 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 0-0 12.f4 c7 13.e2 a5 14.b1 axb4 15.cxb4 d4 16.a4 ( Perhaps White should try 16.xc6 xc6 17.0-0 d5 18.b3 a4 19.d1 c6 20.b2 when Black still has to prove compensation for the pawn. ) 16...d5 17.d2 xe5 and Black was fine Lastin, A (2613)-Landa, K (2584) Tomsk 2006.; B) 8...a5 9.b5 c7 10.h3 h5 11.0-0 0-0-0 Li Shilong (2547) -Alavi Moghaddam, S (2493) Cebu City 2007 when 12.a4! would have given White a great game.; C) 8...c7 This was seen most recently. 9.a4!? ( 9.b5 looks logical.) 9...xf3 10.xf3 g6 Ponomariov, R (2737)Khenkin, I (2597) Dagomys 2010 when 11.b5! looks very strong as cxe5 12.b6+ d7 13.b5 c6 14.d4 ge7 15.f4 is highly unpleasant. ] [ 7...xf3 has been played most often in the past, immediately regaining the pawn but White keeps the advantage. 8.xf3 xe5 9.b5+ c6 10.0-0 f6 11.f4 e7 12.d2 0-0 13.fe1 a5 14.a3 axb4 15.axb4 d7 16.b3 xa1 17.xa1 and Black was struggling with her lack of space. Tokhirjanova, H (2137)Khamrakulova, I (2180) Tashkent 2009. ] 8.bd2 ge7? After this Black fails to regain his pawn. [ Three days later Zelcic improved with 8...xe5 which must be the critical test. This position reminds me of certain lines of the Universal System French Tarrasch. Black has two uncontested central pawns but White will try to make use of e5 and d4 for his knights while the queenside pawns often prove very useful. Meanwhile a well timed c3-c4 will disrupt Black's centre. A) 9.e2 xf3+ ( 9...c6 should be preferred when the position is extremely unclear. ) 10.xf3 f5 Kosintseva, T (2573) -Stefanova, A (2551) Moscow 2010

when 11.d4 g6 12.a4+ would have given White a fantastic position as d7? allows 13.b5!; B) 9.h3 should also be investigated. xf3+ 10.xf3 xf3 ( 10...h5 11.a4+ d7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.g4 g6 14.e5+ e8 15.c4 gives White a definite something.) 11.xf3 and I feel White should be a little better but he has to be careful to prevent Black's centre pawns motoring. g6 12.d3 g7 13.0-0 e7 ( 13...xc3 14.b5+ axb5 15.xc3 gives White strong compensation on the da rk squ a re s.) 14.g5 0-0 15.c2 with a complex position. I wonder if we'll see some practical tests of this position.; C) 9.a4+!? The strong Bosnian GM opts t o t r a d e q u e e n s i m m e d i a t e l y . d7 10.xd7+ xd7 11.b2 gf6 12.d4 e7 13.2b3 e5 14.h3 e6 15.xe6 fxe6 16.e2 f7 17.a4 and White successfully exploited his queenside pawn mass. Predojevic, B (2632) -Zelcic, R (2539) Zadar 2010. ] 9.a4! Threatening b4-b5 hitting both g4 and c6 while the pin defends the e5 pawn. xf3 As White now has enough time to establish control over his e5 pawn we should examine Black's alternatives. [ 9...c7 appears to be somewhat playable. 10.b5!? This is perhaps critical. ( 10.e2 is the most sensible response as g6?! 11.b5 cxe5 12.xe5 xe2 13.bxa6+ d8 14.xg6 hxg6 15.xe2 gives Black nothing like enough for the piece. ) A) 10...xf3?! allows a long line which looks very bad for Black to me. 11.xf3 xe5 12.bxa6+ 7c6 13.f4 xf3+ 14.gxf3 d7 ( 14...e5 should be preferred although 15.e3 e7 16.d1 leaves W hite on top.) 15.b1! xc5 16.xb7! xb7 17.axb7 xa4 18.b5 d7 19.xa4 d6 20.xc6+ xc6 21.xd6 xd6 22.d2 b8 23.b1 and this endgame looks lost to me although it's possible Black has some study like defence. On general principles the outside passed pawn in the king and pawn ending should decide.; B) 10...xe5 11.b1! xf3 12.xf3 d7 ( 12...xf3+ 13.gxf3 d8 1277

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 looks horrible) 13.bxa6 bxa6 14.b5 b7 15.xd7+ xd7 16.xd7+ xd7 17.e5+ e8 18.b7 f6 19.d3 and W hite has a definite advantage as Black struggles to complete his development. ] [ 9...h5 is a further option although 10.d4 c8 11.2b3 d7 12.a5 xa5 13.xa5 c6 14.xc6 xc6 15.d3 is a clear extra pawn. ] 10.xf3 b8 As Zelcic fails to win the e5 pawn this move doesn't achieve anything. However it's difficult to over a good alternative. [ Black could try 10...g6 but this is met by the powerful 11.d4! gxe5 12.f4! c4 13.xc6 d7 14.b5 bxc6 15.bxc6 c7 16.xc4 dxc4 17.e3 c8 18.b1 xc6 19.xc6+ xc6 20.b8+ e7 21.f2 and White's attack coupled with the passed c pawn will easily decide the game in his favour. ] 11.e2 g6 12.d4! The knight is extremely powerful on d4 completely dominating Black, while also getting out of the way allowing the e5 pawn further defence. g7 Zelcic decides the pawn wasn't edible but his position is already lost. [ Therefore he had to try 12...xe5 although 13.b5! A) 13...b8 14.bxa6+ bc6 15.f1! ( 15.b1 xa6 is the point behind shifting the king across to f1.) 15...g7 16.b1 0-0 17.xb7 and White's extra queenside pawns will prove decisive.; B) 13...xd4 14.cxd4 c7 15.bxa6+ c6 16.b1 g7 17.0-0 0-0 18.e3 bxa6 19.b6 and White has a clear and already virtually decisive advantage. ] 13.f4 0-0 14.0-0 White has consolidated his extra pawn and Black has absolutely nothing. A huge triumph for Berkes' opening idea. g5 Black's only possible pawn break but this doesn't cause W hite any problems. 15.g3 gxf4 16.gxf4 h8 17.h1 g8 18.d3 xd4 Ironing out White's pawn structure is hardly what Black wants but it's tough to offer any alternatives. 19.cxd4 f5 [ 19...c6 is perhaps a better try but 20.e3 d8 21.a3 f5 22.c2 h6 23.f2 followed by occupying the g file and finally advancing on the queenside will prove a

rather easy path to the full point. ] 20.xf5 exf5 21.d7! Winning another pawn should W hite wish and already Black could resign. e8 22.xe8 Berkes decides his position is good enough without grabbing another pawn. [ 22.xf5 and ] [ 22.xb7 are both a clear two pawns up. ] 22...axe8 23.a4 White's extra pawn on the queenside decides. h6 24.a3 g6 25.h3 f6 26.h5 fxe5 27.dxe5 f8 28.d1 g7 29.xd5 g4 30.d7+ g6 31.h3 xf4 32.hxh7 A rather one-sided game. It appears that Black has to take 5.Nf3 seriously as 6.c3 is an important new development. 1-0

1216 Bezgodov,Alexei Galkin,Alexander TCh Sochi RUS (1) [John Watson]

B12 2561 2590 02.05.2007

Black doesn't solve 4 Nd2 in this game, either. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 See my note to the Rublevsky-Morozevich game e6 5.b3 e7 Not bad, but g7 is a target and his knight still has to get out. Black should consider castling queenside. 6.d3 [ 6.e2 ] [ and 6.f3 d7 7.e2 are also interesting, because Black has to figure out a way to develop his kingside. I like White. ] 6...xd3 7.xd3 d7 8.f3 [ 8.g3 f8! ( 8...g6? 9.f3 c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.xc5 xc5 12.0-0 ) 9.e2 e7 is close to equal. ] 8...h5!? 9.h3 a6 [ 9...h6 should be the point of ...h5, but Black wants White to commit. ] 10.0-0 h6 11.d2 f5 [ 11...g5!? would be a typical French attacking/space-gaining move. ] 12.a5 c7?! Black walks onto the c-file. [ 12...b6 13.c4 g5! demonstrates that he has counterchances. ] 13.c4 b6?! [ 13...g5 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.fc1 b6 ] 14.b3 dxc4 15.xc4 Now White has space. c5 1278

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 15...h4? 16.d5! exd5 17.f4 is a surprising win because of the dua l threats e6 and Qxf5! ] 16.dxc5 xc5 17.ac1 b7 [ 17...0-0 18.xc5 xc5 19.e4 b5 20.g4! , etc. ] 18.xc5 xc5 19.b4! Good, although [ 19.b4 e7 20.c7 yields a nice edge. ] 19...c8 20.xc5 [ 20.b3! threatens Bxc5 and is more convincing. ] 20...xc5 21.a4+ [ 21.e2 xc1 22.xc1 0-0 23.c4 d8 isn't convincing Black is almost equal. ] 21...b5 22.c2 0-0 23.f4! Exploiting the weak h-pawn. d5 24.fc1 b5?! 25.h2 [ 25.g5! h4 26.c7 would make life hard for Black. ] 25...b6 26.c8 xc8 27.xc8+ d8 28.xd8+ [ 28.c1!? ] 28...xd8 29.e4 a5 30.a3 h4 31.c6 d4 32.xd4 ½-½

1217 Bologan,Viktor Antoniewski,R Schachbundesliga 2011-12 (10) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2656 2585 25.02.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 c5 7.c4 bc6 8.a3 dxc4 9.xc4 d5 10.g5 d7 11.c1 h6 12.e3 b5 13.a3 a6 14.dxc5 e7 15.c2 xe3 16.xe3 e4 17.a4 Up until here this is all covered in my joint update last month with Gawain in GopalL a z n i c k a w h i c h c o n t i n u e d 1 7 . a 3 b7 18.axb5 axb5 19.d2 [ 19.d4 we thought might be the critical m o ve in t h i s p o sit io n wh e n t h e c rit ica l position arises after 0-0-0 20.xc6 xd1 21.xe7+ d8 22.fxd1+ xe7 and the question here is does the Rook, knight and pawn outweigh Black's Queen. My feeling is that the passed pawn on c5 is strong and White has a lot of control here so he certainly shouldn't be worse, however Bologan has now played this line with both

colours so I would have to imagine he's examined this position and declined to play it. Perhaps he doesn't see a way for White to improve the position after for example 23.f3 c6 24.b4 a8 25.d6 f8 Black is indeed very solid here, ] 19...g6 20.b3 Finally a new move from Bologan, aiming to set Black some practical problems here. Antoniewski responds very accurately so I'm not sure this move really changes the assessment of this line from equal. [ 20.f3 d8 21.xc6+ xc6 22.f3 c7 was equal in Cheparinov, I (2671)-Bologan, V (2692)/Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2009 (as mentioned in last month's update). ] 20...d8! Other moves aren't sufficient for equality in my opinion [ 20...xe5 21.d4 ( 21.d4!? f6 22.fd1 also looks preferable for White) 21...0-0 22.c6 b6 23.c7 it's important the pawn is pushed as quickly as possible as now Black d o e s n ' t g e t t o p l a y a R o o k t o d 8 fc8 24.xb5 and now White is a fairly safe pawn up unless Black tries a5 but this isn't g o o d e n o u g h b e c a u s e o f ( 24...e4 is probably best but still White is doing well after 25.d4 ) 25.c4! xb5 26.d6 d7 27.xc8 xc8 28.b3 a8 29.c3! d7 30.a1 and the pawn on c7 gives White a winning advantage ] [ 20...0-0 is the most solid move and now 21.f3 c7 22.xc6 xc6 23.d4 c7 24.e2! is good for White as xe5?! fails to 25.c6 f6 26.d5! exd5 27.xe7+ h7 28.xd5 ] 21.e1 xe5 22.c3 [ 22.c6 is interesting but doesn't seem to give any advantage after c7 ( 22...xc6? 23.f3 d6 24.a5 would be rather embarrassing for Black) 23.a5 xa5 24.xa5 d3! 25.xd3 xd3 26.c2 b4 and Black has no problems ] 22...f6! [ 22...b8 is interesting but maybe White c a n m a k e i t t r i c k y w i t h 23.f4!? d3 24.xd3 f6! 25.b4 xd3 26.f2 0-0 27.g4 when Black has to be a bit careful. ] 23.c6 c7 24.a5 xa5 25.xa5 d3! This move always seems to solve Black's problems, I can't see any edge for White here 1279

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 at all 26.fe1 [ 26.c7 c8 27.xd3 xd3 28.c2 0-0 and the pawn on c7 is more of a weakness than a strength, with Black intending to play Nb4 and Na6 to win the pawn. ] 26...xe2 27.xe2 d3 The knight is so well placed here Black is doing fine 28.cc2 0-0 29.ed2 b4 30.xd8 [ 30.c7?! would just be a mistake here after xd2 31.xd2 c8 32.d7 f8 and White would be left struggling to draw ] 30...xd8 31.c5 c8 Black has the pawn on c6 well blockaded and Bologan wisely grabs the pawn on b5. The resulting ending is just a draw but Bologan decides to test his opponent's technique anyway but Antoniewski is well up to the task. 32.xb5 xc6 33.c5 a7 34.xc8+ xc8 35.b4 f8 36.b5 d4 37.ec4 e8 38.c6 c5 39.f1 f6 40.e2 h5 41.f3 d7 42.d3 g1 43.h3 h4 44.e4 g6 Black is content to sit here as there's no way for W hite to make any progress. 45.d3 b6 46.c3 f2 47.b3 d6 Antoniewski chooses to swap off a pair of knights but I think sitting passively was also good enough as well [ f o r e x a m p l e 47...c7 48.a4 b6+ 49.xb6 xb6 is drawn ] 48.xd6 xd6 49.c4 b6 50.d3 g5 51.c4 f5 52.b4 e5 53.d3+ d6 54.b2 f2 55.b4 e1+ 56.c4 f2 57.d3 b6 58.b4 e5 59.d3+ Black was made to work hard for the draw but to be honest he was never is serious difficulty. The ball is definitely in White's court in this line and I wonder if we'll see someone try 19. Nd4!? sometime soon? ½-½

White is the flexibility he has in developing his pieces- sometimes c4 happens, sometimes c3, so m e t i m e s N d 2 - b 3 , s o m e t i m e s N a 3 - c 2 , sometimes Nh4, sometimes Ne1, sometimes Be3, sometimes b3 and Bb2. Black also has a lot of flexibility, which means that the opening is hard to 'pin down' theoretically- lines can look similar but have important nuances. It will take me a while to fully get my bearings on all the lines, but this particular game, although a win for Black, reminded of why the line is so popular for White. d7 6.0-0 g6 7.c3 h6 8.xh6!? This simple approach doesn't work well here, but I am sure there is a way to make it look more promising for White. Moreover, Bologan has played this way before, so he must believe in this approach. gxh6 9.bd2 e7 [ 9...c5 10.c4!? probably worried Dreev. ] [ 9...f6 is more commonly seen, when White c a n c h o o s e b e t w e e n 10.b3 and ( 10.b3!? with the idea b6 11.exf6 )] 10.e1 [ 10.b4!? holds up c5 and completely changes the character of the position. Left undisturbed, White can continue with Nb3 and Qd2 and will have a pleasant position. ] 10...c5 11.b3 b6 12.dxc5 xc5 13.f3?! White should probably take the opportunity to get rid of the bishop pair. [ 13.xc5 xc5 14.d4 ( 14.f3 e4 ) 14...xd4 15.cxd4 c8 16.f3 c2 17.fc1! is an important detail that allows White to play this way. ] 13...f8! An excellent move that will probably find itself in books on opening play for years to come. The idea of rerouting a bishop from a3-c5 to h8-a1 like this is not new, but here it works particularly well. 14.a4 There is a reckless feel to Bologan's play in this game, 1218 B12 a n d a l t h o u g h t h i s m o v e i s n o t b a d , i n Bologan,Viktor 2661 c o n j u n c t i o n wi t h c 4 i t s e e m s t o m e r e l y Dreev,Alexey 2697 weaken white's position. [ 14.c4!? e4 15.bd2 d8 16.a4 7th Karpov Poikovsky RUS (7) 25.03.2006 looks more promising. ] [Jonathan Rowson] 14...a6 15.c4 e4! 16.a5 b4 17.bd2 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d8 18.cxd5 xd5 19.c2 g7 20.c4 I used to play this 'Short-system' about ten Perhaps only here does W hite actually go years ago, with good results, but I lost interest wrong. [ 20.a4 e7 21.c3 0-0 22.g4 in it when everybody else started playing it! looks more organised for White. ] One of the main attractions of this line for 1280

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20...0-0 21.fd1 c8 22.b3 [ 22.a4 was necessary. It is hard to imagine what Bologan missed in the game. ] 22...xe5! 23.fxe5 xe5 24.a4 e7 25.d2 g7 26.f3 [ 26.b6 xb3 27.xc8 xc8 28.g4 xd1 29.xh6 f6 30.xd1 c5 is not much better. ] 26...xf3 27.gxf3 fd8 28.e2 g5+ 29.f1 xd1+ 30.xd1 d8 31.c2 h5 32.g2 g6+ 33.xg6 hxg6 34.b4 d7 35.b6 c7 36.a8 c3 0-1

Karjakin, S (2723)-Bareev, E (2634) Moscow 2009.; A2) 9.cxd4 ge7 10.h4 f5 11.xf5 xf5 and Black's position is r e a s o n a b l y s o l i d . 12.c3 e7 ( 12...g6 was tried in Adams, M-Ragger, M Baden-Baden 2010 and also worked o u t w e l l f o r B l a c k : 13.b3 d7 14.ac1 e7 15.b5 c8 16.a4 0-0 17.c5 xc5 18.xc5 a6 19.e2 b8 20.fc1 xc5 21.xc5 c8 22.xc8+ xc8 and Black held without too much d i f f i c u l t y.) 13.a3 0-0 14.b4 c8 15.d2 a5 16.b5 b8 17.g4 White's only way to make progress here 1219 B12 is to advance on the kingside but of course this gives Black counter-chances. Bologan,Viktor 2687 g6 18.f4 f5 19.g5 b6 20.fc1 d7 Eljanov,Pavel 2704 21.h4 f7 22.h5 g6 23.h6 19th TCh-RUS 2012 (6) 14.04.2012 and of course W hite must have some [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] advantage with that bishop stuck on f7 but the Italian failed to break through. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 Caruana, F (2675)-Lenic, L (2592) Chur c5 6.0-0 c6 7.c3 g6 A new move for the SUI 2010.; site. Eljanov drops the bishop back so White B) 8...b6!? 9.b3 ( 9.d2 seems more doesn't have the option of recapturing on d4 critical. ) 9...h6 10.dxc5 xc5 11.xh6 with the knight. gxh6 12.b4 f8! A classic rerouting of the [ 7...cxd4 8.xd4 was examined by John bishop. 13.b5 e7 14.bd2 g7 15.c4 Watson in Sjugirov, S (2562)-Cheparinov, I 0-0 16.b3 fc8 and Black's bishop pair (2679) Budva 2009. ] do a good job. In the end Black won in 8.a3 Bologan leaves his bishop back on c1 Arakhamia-Grant, K (2451)-Eljanov, P and prepares to fight on the queenside with b4. (2761) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010. ] The position resembles an Advanced French. The bishop on g6 is of course superior to the 8...cxd4 [ 8...c4 would be Black's typical reaction in bishop on d7 but Black is 2 tempi down (...c6t h e F r e n c h b u t p e r h a p s h e r e 9.b3! c5 and ... Bf5-g6) and so he has to be careful is rather annoying. ( Instead a recent game White doesn't blow open the position. continued 9.e3 but this looks rather [ A previous game of Eljanov's continued with illogical. Following h6 10.xh6 gxh6 the more popular 8.e3 11.e1 b6 12.a2 e7 13.d2 0-0-0 A) 8...cxd4 is more popular. Black is Black must have had quite a comfortable perhaps a shade worse but very solid. position. Liu Qingnan (2483)-Paragua, M A1) 9.xd4!? actually seems to be (2521) Ho Chi Minh City 2012.) 9...cxb3 possible here and was tried by one of 10.xb3 b6 when keeping the queens on the top 10 in the world, admittedly only in with 11.a2 looks critical and maybe grants a b l i t z g a m e : ge7 ( 9...xe5 W hite something, i.e. a5 12.a4 b3 is quite critical when I imagine Karjakin's 13.b5+ d8 14.e2 c2 15.e1 idea was something like 10.f4 c6 and Black's position looks a little shaky. ] 11.f5 exf5 12.xf5 but f6 must be fine for Black.) 10.f4 f5 9.cxd4 ge7 10.b4 c8 The first new move. 11.xf5 xf5 12.d2 h5 13.f3 e7 Eljanov brings the knight round to b6 and into 14.d4 xd4 15.xd4 g6 16.b3 b6 c4. [ Instead another GM chose to stick the 17.fd1 and White had some edge: 1281

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 knight on f5 which seems to fit better with his previous ...Bg6. 10...f5 11.b2 e7 12.bd2 b6 preventing the plan Bologan used in the game. 13.a4 0-0 14.b5 b8 15.c3 ( 15.g4!? h4 16.xh4 xh4 17.f4 is messier but we feel White should h a v e t h e b e t t e r c h a n c e s .) 15...d8 ( B l a c k s h o u l d p r o b a b l y o p t f o r 15...a6 when a logical line could run 16.bxa6 xa6 17.fb1 a7 18.d7 ab8 19.c1 fd8 20.a4 a8 when Black has forced White back and looks to have rough equality.; 15...a5!? is also interesting but may just t r a n s p o s e .) 16.a5! b6 17.b4 and White's extra space granted him some advantage. Zhigalko, S (2680)-Lupulescu, C (2626) Aix-les-Bains 2011. ] 11.bd2 b6 12.b2 A very sensible development plan by Bologan but it's surprising how quickly the strong Russian GM gets into hot water. e7 13.e1 f6?! Eljanov strives for counterplay but it backfires. [ 13...0-0 might be better but Black is a bit passive after something like 14.d3 a6 15.c1 d7 16.b3 when White can do more with c5 than Black with c4. ] 14.h4! Suddenly Black's in trouble. fxe5 15.h5 e4?! And after this Eljanov is virtually lost. [ He had to try 15...f7 but 16.dxe5 0-0 17.c1 leaves Black's very passive. ] 16.dxe5 0-0 17.b3 The bishop may look nice and centralised on e4 but unfortunately he cannot hold onto all his material. c4 E l ja n o v d e c id e s t o s a c ri f i ce a p a wn b u t White's initiative doesn't dissipate. [ Dropping the bishop back with 17...f5 but 18.g4! g5 19.f4 and Black gets insufficient play f or t he p ie ce : ( B e t t e r t h a n 19.gxf5 xd2 20.f6 gxf6 21.exf6 xf6 with an extremely complicated position.) 19...xg4 20.xg4 xf4 21.xe6+ h8 22.xf4! xf4 23.g3 and the two bishops trump the rook and pawn. White even has the safer king now. ] [ Perhaps 17...h8 i s b e s t b u t 18.xe4 dxe4 19.d1 d5 20.h6 gxh6 21.g4 leaves White with a very strong initiative. Following e3 White has a variety of ways of p l a y i n g , e v e n 22.f3!? e2 23.xe6 is very strong. ]

18.xc4 dxc4 19.xc4 h8 20.d1 b6 21.xe6 A second pawn drops and Black doesn't really have any compensation for it, he even has to watch out f or W hite's two bishops raking down the a1-h8 and a2-g8 diagonals. ad8 22.h6! Bologan doesn't take any time out from his initiative and shows that, together with being two pawns up, W hite's attack is more dangerous. d4 23.hxg7+ xg7 24.e3 xe6 25.xe4 f4 26.e2 df8 27.d7 4f7 28.d6! A pretty finish and a well played game by Bologan although Eljanov obviously had a bad day. However White's opening deserves to be repeated. 1-0

1220 Bologan,Viktor Panarin,M 19th TCh-RUS 2012 (2) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B12 2687 2523 10.04.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 g6 7.c3 h6 [ 7...a6 was investigated in Ni Hua (2632)Minasian, A (2595) Moscow 2007 by John Watson. ] [ 7...e7 8.h4 is the point ] 8.xh6 And this must be the critical test of Black's setup. [ Instead Gawain looked at 8.f4 in Adams, M (2723)-Monroy, C (2421) Caleta 2011. ] [ 8.a3 has proven quite popular in computer and Correspondence games but fairly rare in 'otb' encounters. However Najer did try it out twice against Dreev in 2004 albeit only in blitz games. ] [ 8.bd2 is the other main move in the Hiarcs Opening Book. Ni Hua tried this fairly recently which continued: e7 9.e1 c5 10.df3 f5 11.d3 cxd4 12.cxd4 0-0 13.f4 c8 14.g3 ( 14.d2 is Hiarcs' recommendation.) 14...b6 15.g2 b8 16.xg6 fxg6 17.b3 d8 18.a4 c6 19.d1 a6 and Black's position looked completely respectable although W hite eventually exploited his extra 300 rating p o in t s. Ni Hu a (2 6 3 3 )-T o lo go n t e gin , S (2330) Guangzhou 2010. ] [ While Mickey Adams tried grabbing space 1282

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with 8.a4 c8 9.a5 a6 10.f4 e7 11.e1 0-0 12.b4 This game has similarities to Adams-Monroy in the archives. White's queenside expansion has prevented Black from getting counterplay there and so Black tried f6 but following 13.exf6 xf6 14.g5 f7 15.xh6 gxh6 16.d3 h5 17.bd2 f8 18.e5 g6 19.xg6 hxg6 20.e3 Black had a miserable position. Adams, M (2706)-Conquest, S (2523) Canterbury 2010. ] 8...gxh6 9.bd2 f6 [ In the archives Jonathan Rowson had a look at 9...e7 10.e1 ( 10.b4!? is JR's suggestion; while 10.b3 0-0 11.d2 g7 12.c1!? followed by 13.Nd3 looks interesting.) 10...c5 in Bologan, V (2661) -Dreev, A (2697) Poikovsky 2006. ] 10.b3 And everyone has so far played this way. [ However 10.b3!? also looks interesting. Following b6 11.exf6 d6 12.g3 White can try putting pressure on e6. Both sides will battle for the e5 square. ] 10...g7 11.exf6 xf6 12.fd2 Bologan's new try. Th e knight isn't on such a goo d circuit but W hite keeps the e1 square free, something Bologan exploits in the game. [ In the past White has always dropped the kn igh t b a c k t o e 1 , 12.e1 preparing to bring the knight back to d3 to keep an eye on e5. e5 Black breaks before White gets tim e to play f 4 , con dem ning Black t o a backward pawn on e6 for the rest of the game. ( 12...0-0 doesn't feel right as the g file was a big part of Black's counterplay. After 13.f4 e7 14.d3 b6 15.e5 xe5 16.dxe5 c5 17.g3 f5 18.d2 b5 19.f3 ab8 20.a3 a5 21.h4 e4 22.d3 xd3 23.xd3 White was definitely on top Inarkiev, E (2618)-Pantsulaia, L (2510) Saint Vincent 2005.; 12...0-0-0 13.d3 e5 14.g4 could be problematic ) A) 13.dxe5 has also been tried: xe5 14.g4 d6 15.d4 c5 ( Black was evidently scared that 15...0-0 would be met by 16.e6 but f7 17.xg7 xg7 doesn't look too bad for Black.) 16.f5 f6 17.xg7+ xg7 Inarkiev, E (2628)Anastasian, A (2580) Fuegen 2006 when maybe White's best would be to bring the

knigh t ba ck in to t he ga me wit h 18.f3 with something small.; B) 13.g4 This was how Bologan played last time . f5 14.dxe5 xe5 15.xf5 xf5 16.d4 f7 17.f4 0-0 18.d3 c4 19.f3 ae8 and Black's activity compensates for his slightly compromised structure. Bologan, V (2700)-Izoria, Z (2606) Saint Vincent 2005 ] 12...e5 [ 12...0-0-0 is probably better. Panarin was probably worried about 13.f4 hg8 14.g4 with a complex position: W hite can play against the e6 pawn and point at Black's doubled h pawns but in return Black has the bishop pair and some pressure down the g file. We had a look at h5!? giving up a pawn for the h6 square and deflecting the bishop but 15.xh5 h6 16.g3 f5 17.h1 feels to favour White. ] [ 12...0-0 13.f4 ] 13.g4 0-0-0 It makes sense to get the king to safety but now the knight cannot recapture on e5. [ Rybka recommends 13...d6 but A) 14.dxe5 doesn't look enough to promise an edge: xe5 15.f4 xg4 16.xg4 0-0 17.f5 h5 18.g5 ( or 18.h3 f7 19.f3 ae8= ) 18...f6 19.e3 when ae8 starts a long forcing line which works out alright for Black: 20.xa7 g5 21.d4 e3+ 22.h1 xd4 23.xd4 xf5 when Black looks to be doing fine.; B) 14.e1 0-0-0 15.dxe5 xe5 16.f3 g7 17.e6 f4 18.fd4 and White has taken the initiative. ] 14.dxe5 xe5 15.e1 f6 16.e6 Very logical but this isn't the most accurate. [ Instead 16.c5 looked promising: f5 17.xf5 xf5 18.e6 dg8 19.f3 g6 20.h3 Black will be obliged to trade queens when W hite can try utilising his passed f pawn. ] 16...f8 Panarin wants to control c5 to prevent the knight jump but he needn't have feared it. [ Instead 16...f7 l o o k e d s a f e r 17.c5 can safely be met with ( 17.f3 is White's b e s t , wh e n xf3 18.xf3 transposes to 17...Qxf3 in the game. ) 17...b8 ] 1283

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.f3 Bologan offers the exchange of queens. [ 17.e2 was a better way to exploit Black's previous b8 18.e7 keeps Black under pressure. ] 17...b8 [ 17...h5!? looks an interesting alternative when White should decline the pawn with 18.h3 ( as 18.xh5?! xf3 19.xf3 e5 leaves the rook on e6 looking very offside. )] [ The computer claims 17...xf3 18.xf3 c7 e qu a lise s b u t 19.ae1 feels more pleasant for White. ] 18.g3+ Bologan changes his mind about exchanging queens, a slightly strange decision. [ 18.ae1 is preferable when Black will soon have to swap queens. ] 18...a8 19.ae1 h5 20.h3 c5 21.e7? Around here the game becomes very sharp and both players commit errors. Bologan randomises but with correct play he is now in trouble. [ 21.xc5 was better but Black is definitely over the worst. ] 21...xb3? And Panarin errs in turn. [ Instead he needn't have feared White's a t t a c k a n d c o u l d h a v e c a l m l y p l a ye d . 21...d3! 22.a5 ( 22.1e6 h6!; and 22.1e2 f4 23.2e3 h6 both leave White in dire straits. ) A) 22...xe1 is very complicated after 23.xb7 ( 23.c7 b8 ) 23...e5! 24.e3 ( 24.xe5 xf2+! 25.xf2 d3+ is the point.) 24...b8 25.xe1 but Black probably has the upper hand.; B) 22...h4! was perhaps overlooked by both played but is extremely powerful. 23.c7 ( 23.e3 d4!-+ ) 23...xf2+ 24.h1 b6 and Black has fought off the attack with a decisive material advantage. ] 22.c7 b8 23.axb3?! Bologan is again over-optimistic. His play down the a file will come a tempo too late. [ Instead he should have recaptured with 23.xb3 when Black still has to show a route to equality, for example f6 24.7e6 d8 25.d6 f7 26.d4 f8 27.f3 e4!? 28.h1 and White still has the more pleasant prospects. ]

23...f6 24.a1 [ 24.d7 d8 25.e5 b6 also seems to favour Black. ] 24...d8! Defending against the threat of Rxa7+ and Qa5 mate. Now White is forced to exchange queens when his position is rather unpleasant as Black's bishop pair dominate. 25.xd8 bxd8 26.e6 hf8 Black definitely has the upper hand now but Panarin was evidently happy with the draw. 27.f3 d4 Black wants to force a draw with his higher rated opponent [ 27...b8 would have kept the pressure up on White. He may be able to draw but he'll have to work for it. ] 28.xd4 xd4 29.cxd4 xd4 30.ae1 b8 31.g3 fd8 [ 31...f3 was also a little better for Black but W hite should be able to hold reasonably comfortably with 32.6e3 ] 32.f4 f7 33.e7 xb3 34.xh7 d1 35.he7 a5 36.g4?! An odd choice. Both players were probably in time trouble at this point and again Bologan pushes his luck, [ 36.xd1 xd1+ 37.f2 was better when again the game should be drawn but it is now Black who has to be more careful. ] 36...hxg4 37.xg4 1d2 [ 37...1d4! was rather unpleasant for White. ] 38.e8 xe8 39.xe8+ c7 40.e2 xe2 Taking the draw. [ We're sure, had colours been reversed, B o l o g a n w o u l d h a v e p l a y e d 40...d4 and tried to grind down his opponent ] 41.xe2 d6 ½-½

1221 Bologan,Viktor Riazantsev,A 19th TCh-RUS 2012 (3) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B12 2687 2710 11.04.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.c3!? Most people castle automatically but this little pawn move has a decent pedigree with Caruana amongst the strong players recently essaying it. [ Instead 6.0-0 is played in almost all the 1284

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 games which has been examined many times in the archives, including Gopal, G (2566)-Laznicka, V (2704) Caleta 2012 which we analysed. ] [ w h i l e M i l o s h a d a l o o k a t 6.bd2 in Grischuk, A (2752)-Laznicka, V (2703) Porto Carras 2011. ] 6...d7 [ 6...h6 7.0-0 d7 has been seen in quite a lot of high rated encounters. A) Although the slightly odd knight jump 8.a3 has actually been the most common move. The knight will jump back t o c 2 a n d d i s s u a d e s t h e . . . c 5 b re a k , Black's main source of counterplay. c8 ( 8...c7 has been the overwhelming choice in Hiarcs Opening Book.; 8...h7 9.c2 f5 10.d3 e7 11.g4 h4 12.xh7 xh7 13.xh4 xh4 14.f4 White's extra space here should grant him s o m e s m a l l a d v a n t a g e . H o w e v e r f5? was definitely not helpful as 15.gxf5 exf5 16.h5+ f8 17.xf5+ g8 18.e3 wa s j u s t wi n n i n g . H r a c e k , Z ( 2 6 3 2 ) Kulovana, E (2362) Hustopece 2010.) 9.c2 c5 10.dxc5 xc2 11.xc2 xc5 12.d1 d7 13.a4 c6 Svidler, P (2723)- Nakamura, H (2699) Gjovik 2009 when 14.c4! looks very promising for W hite, e.g. b6 15.b3 d7 16.cxd5 xd5 17.d4 xe5 18.f4! c6 19.xc6 bxc6 20.e5 with very strong pressure for the pawn.; B) 8.bd2 would be in keeping with White's normal plans in this structure. B1) Caruana has had the White side of this position twice in the last couple of years. In the other game Black opted to drop back his bishop with 8...h7 9.b3 f5 10.d3 g6 ( Presumably he was worried that 10...e7 might be met with 11.g4 h4 12.xh7 xf3+ 13.xf3 xh7 when the rook looks slightly odd but Black's probably fine.) 11.e1 h5 12.g3 c5 13.b1 e7?! 14.xc5 xc5 15.dxc5 xb1 16.xb1 a5 Ca ru a n a , F ( 2 7 1 4 ) -M it o n , K (2 6 1 9 ) Mulhouse 2011 when giving back the pawn with 17.d3 xa2 18.g5 gives White a definite edge.; B2) 8...g5!? is an interesting way of

playing for Black. True his kingside is now a little vulnerable but at least he can develop his bishop to g7 and try pushing on the kingside. Iordachescu has played the W hite side twice this year. 9.e1 g7 10.f1 g6 11.h3 f5 ( In the second game Black d e vi a t e d wi t h 11...a6 12.d3 c8 Iordachescu, V (2644)-Evdokimov, A (2555) Dubai 2012. Here it looks the right time to try and block up the queenside with 13.b4 ) 12.d3 c7 13.a4 c5 Iordachescu, V (2651)-Vidit, S (251 3) Moscow 20 12 whe n t he ide a 14.b4!? looks quite tempting as grabbing a pawn with cxb4 15.cxb4 c3 16.a3 xb4 17.b3 xa4 18.b5 a5 19.xd7+ xd7 20.xb7+ looks very dangerous.; B3) 8...g6 9.b3 a5 10.a4 h5 11.h3 h4 12.h2 f6 13.e1 fxe5 14.dxe5 c5 15.xc5 xc5 16.f3 Caruana, F (2714)-Sasikiran, K (2676) New Delhi 2011 and Black was gradually ground down. ] [ 6...g6 7.0-0 f5 8.bd2 d7 9.g3 e7 10.g4! h6 11.e1 f6 12.f4 fxe5 13.fxe5 c5 14.g2 b6 15.b3 d8 16.a4 and White was better with his extra space while the knight looked offside on h6. Baklan, V (2627)-Podgaets, M (2465) Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 2009. ] [ 6...f6 was seen in Morovic Fernandez, I (2535)-Granda Zuniga, J (2550) Las Palmas 1991 and worked out well for Black after 7. Bf4 but 7.exf6 gxf6 8.h4 looks more promising. ] 7.0-0 Reaching the same position as in NegiBarbosa, seen elsewhere in this update. [ 7.h4 grabbing the bishop pair is the main alternative. g6 8.xg6 hxg6 9.d2 f5 10.f3 h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.g3 h8 13.0-0 e7 14.d3 c7 15.e2 c5 16.e3 And Black had the typical problem of wh e r e t o p l a c e h i s k i n g . H e t r i e d 0-0-0 17.a4 b8 but following 18.a5 White had the more attractive prospects. Morozevich, A (2747)-Asrian, K (2634) Fuegen 2006. ] 7...c5 Black's alternatives are all examined in Negi-Barbosa but this break feels critical. 8.dxc5 And again taking the pawn looks 1285

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 critical, gaining the d4 square for the White knight. [ 8.h4 is the main alternative but looks inferior. ] 8...xc5 [ 8...c6 is also played, delaying the recapture of the pawn but W hite now has good chances for an advantage. A) 9.b4 dxe5 ( Perhaps 9...a5 is a better plan.) 10.d4 xb1 11.xb1 e7 12.f4 d7 Benjamin, J (2540)Seirawan, Y (2615) Los Angeles 1991 13.b5 looks very unpleasant for Black.; B) 9.d4 xb1 10.xb1 xc5 11.b4 b6 12.f4 0-0 13.h1 e7 Bok, B (2 488)-Von Herman, U (2419 ) Dresden 2012 when my team mate could have increased the pressure with 14.xc6 bxc6 15.c4 and White's bishop pair and extra space give him a promising position. ] 9.d4 g6 [ 9...a6 was also tried in a recent GM game: 10.d2 d3 11.2b3 xe2 12.xe2 c6 13.e3 xd4 14.xd4 c8 15.fd1 d7 16.d2 c5 17.xc5 xc5 18.c4 0-0 19.b4 c7 20.cxd5 exd5 and White was a little better but Black held on. Bok, B (2513)-Lenderman, A (2581) Wijk aan Zee 2011. ] 10.c4 Bologan continues in the most forceful manner, opening up the centre before Black can get his king to safety. [ Of course such dynamic play isn't necessary and a high rated GM preferred 10.e3 c6 and only now 11.c4!? dxc4 12.xc6 bxc6 13.xc4 c7 14.f4 e7 15.c3 0-0 16.e2 fd8 17.fd1 with a small structural advantage. Baklan, V (2646)-Halldorsson, B (2240) Reykjavik 2010. ] 10...a6 [ 10...dxc4 11.xc4 a6 12.c3 would simply be a different route to the game. ] 11.c3 dxc4 12.xc4 f5 13.xf5 xf5 [ Exchanging queens doesn't look to be advisable but probably just about playable. 13...xd1 14.xd1 xf5 15.e3 c8 16.ac1 A) with 16...d7 Black looks to be able to

hold, for example 17.a4 c6 18.f4 might be a tad better for W hite. ( while the sharp 18.b3!? xe5 19.b6 d3 20.xc6 bxc6 21.a4 e4 22.f3 xb2 23.fxe4 xd1 24.xd1 is rather unclear. Generally we prefer the minor pieces but this situation isn't so clear. ); B) 16...e7? 17.b5! 0-0 ( 17...axb5 18.xb5+ f8 19.b4 would regain the piece ) 18.d6 xd6 19.exd6 d7 20.e2! e4 21.c7 with a beautiful position. Mamedov, N (2577)-Swapnil, S (2354) Sort 2008. ] 14.e3 e7 15.f3 0-0 16.ac1 [ White's main alternative would be to bring t h e o t h e r r o o k in t o t h e g a m e f irs t wit h 16.fd1 as was played last time this position was reached. A) 16...a5 17.ac1 b5 would transpose t o t h e g a m e ( while 17...fd8 is also playable. ); B) 16...c7 17.ac1 fd8?! ( 17...ad8 is the right rook, the point being that 18.b4 d7 19.d5 exd5 20.xd5 c2 and f 7 is de f end ed so 21.d2 xe5 is around level.) 18.b4 d7 ( or 18...d3 19.xd3 xd3 20.xd3 xd3 21.a4 d8 22.d1 when White would have a b i g a d v a n t a g e . B l a c k h a s t o t r y e8 to get out of the pin but 23.xd3 xa4 24.xb7 is a clear extra pawn.) 19.d5! exd5 20.xd5 xe5 21.d4 d6 22.xf5 and White's bishops dominated the board. 1-0 Mamedov, N (2580)Mammadov, Z (2443) Baku 2011. ] 16...b5 Of course this isn't forced but this compels W hite to show something. 17.fd1 a5 18.f1 [ Initially we got quite excited about 18.d5!? It seems as though Black holds on but still it was White's best try. exd5 19.xd5 A) 19...d3 would give White a pleasant c h o i c e b e t w e e n 20.xa8 ( and 20.xf7+!? ); B) 19...e4 20.xe4 xe4 21.xe4 xa2 This should be a little better for White but it might just drift towards a draw, e.g. 22.d7 ( 22.h4!? ) 22...e6 23.b7 fe8 24.f4 ad8 ] 18...ac8 19.d2 [ Again 19.d5!? is possible but now exd5 1286

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.xf5 xa2 21.c2 d4 22.xd4 e6 is fine for Black. ] 19...b4 20.d5 Now Bologan is compelled to play the knight jump. exd5 21.xf5 e6 22.a3 xc1 23.xc1 b6 24.d3 bxa3 25.bxa3 c5 The position has simplified. White can hope to exploit the bishop pair and two pawn islands against three but Black is rather active and we doubt he should really have any problems. 26.e1 The best way to play on. [ 26.e3 xe3 27.xe3 d4 is completely fine for Black. ] 26...b2 27.d1 d8 [ 27...c7 was also possible to hold onto both pawns and perhaps more accurate. ] 28.a4 a5 29.b1 [ 29.b5 was Bologan's last try for an a d v a n t a g e . xe5 ( 29...xb5 30.xb5 b6 31.g3 is at least a little awkward.) 30.xa5 b8 ( 30...h5 31.c1 d4 32.d2 e5 33.g3 d4 34.e3 and White holds together his kingside and can try to exploit his outside passed pawn.) 31.d2 And Black is at least under some pressure. However the following possible line indicates Black has enough to hold: b4 32.c1 d4 33.xb4 xb4 34.e1 d6 35.a5 a4 36.a6 d3 37.b1 a3 38.d1 c5 39.c1 f8 and Black will be able to trade a and d pawns for a draw. ] 29...xe5 30.xa5 a8 31.b4 g6 32.c2 xb4 33.xb4 a1 [ It was also possible for Black to advance his pawn with 33...d4!? but it won't change the result. ] 34.g3 d4 35.c7 f3+ 36.g2 e1+ Riazantsev takes the draw. [ 36...xa4 also boils down to a draw as long as W hite avoids 37.xa4 xa4 38.d8+ g7 39.xf3?? ( 39.xd5= ) 39...e4# ] 37.g1 f3+ 38.g2 e1+ 39.g1 f3+ 40.g2 A well played game by Riazantsev who, as always, looked very well prepared. W hite had the slightly better chances but Black held without too many problems. Perhaps next time White should try 18.Nd5. ½-½

1222 Brkic,A Zelcic,R 22nd TCh-CRO Cup 2013 (5.22) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2575 2543 25.05.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.c3 dxc4 A slightly unusual choice in what's currently a fashionable variation - I don't think this game will gain it any more followers for Black either! [ 6...e7 7.ge2 d7 8.g3 g6 9.cxd5 xd5 10.e2 a5! is currently Black's best li n e , se e l a s t m o n t h ' s i m p o r t a n t g a m e Vachier Lagrave - Vitiugov ] 7.xc4 e7 [ 7...b5 had previously been played against Brkic but this quickly led to trouble after 8.b3 h6 9.g5 b6 10.ge2 a6 11.0-0 e7 12.d2 ( 12.xe7 xe7 13.a4 is obviously a lot better for White as well ) 12...g8?! a bizarre undeveloping m o v e t h a t d e s e r v e s t o f a i l ( 12...xg5 13.xg5 0-0 14.f4 is also bad news for Black ) 13.d5! f6 14.e3 c5 15.xc5 xc5 16.d4 xb3 17.axb3 d8 18.fe1 h6 19.exf6 0-0 20.fxg7 f6 21.xc6! xc6 22.dxc6 xd2 23.c7 e5 24.e4 c6 25.xd2 xc7 26.xe5 a6 27.xa6 and White had won rather easily in Brkic, A (2575)-Zelic, B (2354) Bol na Bracu 2013 ] [ 7...e7 is probably a better fit with 6...dxc4 although White should be a little better after A) 8.e2 A1) 8...d7 9.f3 ( 9.xh5!? ) 9...h6 10.g5 is definitely easier for White to play as Black's king is lacking an obvious place to hide.; A2) 8...xh4 A2a) 9.f1! is definitely an improvement here, for example e7 ( 9...g6? 10.g3 e7 11.g4 tra ps t he b isho p) 10.xh5 xh5 11.xh5 f8 12.ge2 and White has a nice edge; A2b) 9.g3 g5 10.g4 g6 11.gxh5 f5 was dynamically equal in Ziatdinov, R (2406)-Lenderman, A (2549) Moscow 2011; B) 8.f3 g4 9.b3 b5 10.e2 xf3 11.xf3 xd4 12.0-0 xe5 13.xb5 1287

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f6 14.g3! gave White excellent play for the pawn in Short, N (2660) -Khotenashvili, B (2333) Baku 2008 although later Black managed to hold the draw. ] 8.ge2 d5 [ 8...b5 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 f5 was agreed drawn in Perunovic, M (2614)Ra d lo va c k i, J (2 4 0 8 ) V a lje vo 2 0 1 2 b u t 11.g5! e7 12.xe7 xe7 13.g3 seems to give W hite a pleasant edge as once the knight on f5 is removed the d6 square will look very inviting to the knight on c3! ] 9.g3 g6 10.e2!? A slightly strange move that works out well in the game [ 10.g5 a5 11.0-0! seems a safer way to an advantage to me, for example A) 11...xc3 12.bxc3 xc3 13.c1 a3 14.d5! exd5 15.xd5 gives White an extremely dangerous initiative, and of course the bishop cannot be taken here: cxd5?? ( 15...d3 16.e1! xd5 17.d1 d3 18.c3 a6 19.xd3 and Black is struggling here) 16.c8+ d7 17.xd5+ xc8 18.d8#; B) 11...b4 12.xd5! cxd5 13.f4 and f5 is coming with a strong attack ] 10...b4 At first this looks strong but in reality it leads to more problems for Black [ 10...c5! gives Black reasonable chances after 11.xd5 ( 11.dxc5 xc3 12.xd8+ xd8 13.bxc3 d7 and Black is at least equal here since c5 is dropping.) 11...xd5 12.f3 d7 13.d5 exd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.xd5 c6 ] 11.f1 c2 12.g5 f6? A plausible move but unfortunately for Zelcic it's tactically flawed [ 12...b6 13.c1 xb2 is a critical pawn grab but W hite seems to have more than enough compensation after 14.ge4! xe4 15.xe4 xd4 16.c3! c5 17.h3 t h r e a t e n i n g R b 1 b6 18.a4 a5 19.xc5! xc5 20.hc3 bc6 21.xc5 and White has the better chances although this is much preferable to the game continuation for Black. ] 13.exf6 gxf6 14.ge4?! This leads to a clear advantage but in fact moving the other knight was even better [ 14.ce4! is more accurate as after fxg5 15.xc2 g4 ( 15...gxh4 is not much better

16.d6+ xd6 17.xg6+ d7 18.e4 e7 19.c5+ c8 20.c4 and White has a winning attack) 16.d6+ xd6 17.xg6+ d7 White can now simply grab the pawn on h5 with 18.xh5 and White's a pawn up with a good position ] 14...fxg5 [ 14...xa1? 15.xf6 a5 16.xh8 is hopeless for Black ] 15.xc2 g4 16.d6+ xd6 17.xg6+ d7 18.e4 a6?! [ 18...e7 was a better defensive try although W hite is obviously clearly better after 19.g5 as the pawn on e6 will almost certainly drop at some point ] 19.d5! Smashing open the centre should lead to a quick win but Zelcic manages to keep the game going admirably cxd5 20.c1 c8 21.b5+ c6 [ 21...e7?? allows 22.g7# ] 22.g5?! [ 22.f6+ c7 23.xc6+ bxc6 24.xa6 was simpler - Black doesn't have much hope here, he's just a piece for a pawn down. ] 22...g8! 23.xg8 xg8 24.xc6 bxc6 25.xa6 e7! 26.e2 xg5 27.hxg5 xg5 so Black now has two pawns for the piece and at le ast so me cha nce o f ho ld in g a draw. W hite should still be winning here but it's actually surprisingly tricky to breakthrough here and if W hite was running low on time then it's obviously a lot tougher! 28.c1 [ 28.e3 e5 29.b4 d6 30.c8! leaves Black struggling g8 31.f5 g5 32.c2 c7 ( or 32...e4 33.f4 e5 34.d1 a6 35.a3 and Black is in a nasty zugzwang as e6? fails to 36.xh5 xh5 37.xg4+ f6 38.xh5 ) 33.g3 b6 34.c1! and Black is again struggling for moves ] 28...d6 29.b4 g7 30.g3 e5 31.h1 g5 32.c1 g7 33.d3 e4 34.c2 b7 35.a4 b6 36.e3 a6 37.b3 b6 38.a4 a6 39.b3 b6 40.h1 xb4 41.xh5 a5 42.h8 a4 43.d1 b2 44.xa4 xa2 45.d1 a3+ 46.f4 a2 47.e3 a3+ 48.f4 a2 49.e3 W hite must have been short of time as he could still have played on for a win with [ 49.h6+! c5 50.e3 a3+ 51.d2 a2+ 52.e1 a1 53.g6 although things 1288

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 are certainly a lot less clear than they were earlier. A great save from Zelcic! ] ½-½

1223 Carlsen,Magnus Doettling,Fabian VII Dos Hermanas Internet blitz (3.4) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2625 2542 25.03.06

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 I am fond of this move. Players with a good memory might prefer 3...Bf5, which has accumulated a vast body of theory in recent years. 4.f3 c6 5.c4!? This is about as radical as it gets in the Advance Caro. No stodgy, blocked positions here! g4 [ 5...e6 contradicts the basic idea of 3...c5, namely to keep the diagonal free for the c8 Bishop, but it is a solid move and cannot be criticized . 6.cxd5 White opens up anyway! exd5 7.b5 d7 8.0-0 cxd4 9.xd4 c5 10.b3 b6 11.c3 e6 12.a4 a5 13.e2 ge7 14.g5 0-0 15.xc6 bxc6 16.c1 c8 17.c5 Lastin, A-Zhang Zhong/Moscow 2001 ] [ 5...cxd4!? looks critical to me. 6.bd2 f5 7.b3 e6 8.cxd5 xd5 9.xd5 exd5 10.b5 a6 11.xc6+ bxc6 12.xd4 d7 ] 6.dxc5 [ 6.cxd5 xf3 ( 6...xd5 7.c3 ) 7.xf3 xd4 8.d1 xd5 9.b5+ d8 10.0-0 xe5 11.c3 e6 ( 11...f6; 11...c8 ) 12.b4 a6? ( 12...cxb4 13.e1 d6 14.f4! xf4 15.e4 ) 13.e1 c7 14.bxc5 xc5 15.e3 e5 16.f4 d6 17.e4 d5 18.xc5 xb5 19.g4 f6 20.xg7 e7 21.xe6 xe6 22.f5+ xf5 23.g5+ e4 24.xe4+ xe4 25.f6+ d5 26.d1+ d4 27.xf7+ c5 28.c7+ d5 29.xb7+ 1-0 Berescu, ASvetushkin, D/Bucharest 2005 ] 6...e6 Only a blitz game and so we cannot be to o ha rs h. Th ere ha ve be en o th er m ove s played: [ 6...dxc4!? 7.xd8+ xd8 8.xc4 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 10.e3 ge7 11.b5 a6 12.a4 d5 13.d2 xe3 14.fxe3 xc5 15.xc6+ bxc6 16.e2 Parligras, M-

Svetushkin, D/Agios Kirykos 2004 White has a minute edge. ] 7.cxd5 Carlsen continues with his policy of opening the game up but this does not turn out too well. All these pawn moves mean that he is falling behind in development! exd5 8.c3 xc5 9.xd5 xd5 10.xd5 0-0-0 I really like Black. The simple ideas of ...Bxf3 followed by ...Nxe5 or ..Nd4 and/or ...Nb4 make White's game unenviable. 11.c3 b4 12.e4 Desperate already. c2+ 13.e2 b6! [ De sp it e i n i t ia l a p p e a r a n ce s , 13...xa1 is not as good as it looks: 14.xc5 c2 15.e4 b8 ( 15...c7 16.d6 d7 17.d2 b4 18.b5 ) 16.d6 h5 17.d3 b4+ 18.c4 ] 14.d6+ [ 14.b1 d4+ ] 14...xd6 15.exd6 xa1 16.d1 f6 17.d3 d8-+ Even if White traps the Knight now his King is horribly exposed. 18.f4 [ 18.e3 xd6 19.e2 xe3 20.fxe3 b6 21.b3 xb3 22.axb3 xb3-+ ] 18...h5 19.e5 f6 20.g3 xg3 21.fxg3 xd6 22.e2 e6+ 23.d2 e3+ 24.d1 [ 24.e2 d4+ 25.d2 xb2 26.b1 b6 ] 24...c6 25.e1 c1+ 26.e2 xe1+ 27.xe1 e6 28.e2 c1 29.b3 g6 30.d1 e3 31.e2 h6 32.d4 d5 33.f2 a6 34.h4 d7 35.g4 f8 36.h5 c5 37.e3 xb3 38.xg6 hxg6 39.h6 g8 6 Naturally, importance of this game rests on W hite's uncommon opening choice and Black's response. Perhaps W hite should prefer cxd5 0-1

1224 Carlsen,Magnus Wang Hao 73rd Tata Steel (12) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2814 2731 29.01.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 This line used to be extremely topical. It has large similarities to the Short Variation but W hite remains flexible, able to play f2-f 4 before Nf3 if he wishes and dissuading the ... 1289

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c 6 - c 5 b r e a k . e6 5.d2 d7 6.gf3 As is typical of these systems there is now a big choice for Black in how to proceed. g6 [ Last time Carlsen had this position his opponent preferred. 6...f6 7.e2 A) 7...c7 has been more common: 8.f4 ( 8.0-0!? ) 8...fxe5 9.dxe5 e7 10.h4?! Typical Shirov, although I feel it is unsound. ( 10.d4 looks an interesting alternative although W hite doesn't have more than enough play for the pawn after g6 11.e3 xe5 12.2f3 d6 13.xf5 exf5 14.0-0 e7 15.c4 f4 16.d4 0-0 ) 10...g6 11.h2 0-0-0 12.g5 dxe5 13.g4 h6!? 14.gxf5 hxg5 15.fxg6 xh4 16.f3 b4 17.c3 dh8 18.cxb4? xh2 19.xh2 d3+ 20.e2 f4+ 21.e1 Shirov, A (2699) -Bologan, V (2666) Foros 2006 when the simple xh2 would have left Black with a decisive advantage.; B) 7...e7 8.0-0 c7 9.c4! A strong pawn sacrifice opening up the position. fxe5 10.dxe5 xe5 11.xe5 xe5 12.f3 d6 ( 12...xb2 looks very greedy. Maybe the best way to continue would be 13.d4 0-0-0 14.a4 a6 15.c5 with sacrifices on a6 looking very dangerous.) 13.b3 b6 14.ac1 g4 15.cxd5 exd5 16.fe1 xf3 17.xf3 0-0-0 18.xb6! axb6 19.xb6 h6? ( 19...c7 was forced but 20.g4+ d7 21.a6+ d8 22.xd7 xd7 23.b4 should also be a decisive attack.) 20.xe7! and White won quickly. Carlsen, M (2801)Bareev, E (2634) Moscow 2009. ] [ 6...e7 has been most common and is featured in two games in the archives. I daresay Magnus would have continued as in the game with A) 7.c3 was seen in a recent GM game. g6 8.h4 f5 9.xg6 fxg6!? An in te re st in g re cap tu re n ot a llowin g W hite the play he manages in the main game while perhaps finding counterplay down the f file. 10.d3 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.f3 c5 13.g4 ( Tazbur evidently didn't feel like retreating although 13.d2 g5 14.g4! looks a better try for an edge.) 13...xe3 14.fxe3 c4 15.c2 b5 16.e1 b4 17.cxb4 b8 18.a3 a5 19.b3 axb4

20.axb4 xb4 1/2-1/2 Tazbir, M (2523)Macieja, B (2651) Wattenscheid 2010.; B) 7.h4 Degraeve, J (2566) -Lalic, B (2518) Cannes (open) 2004 is looked at in the archives with some joint analysis by Bogdan Lalic and Andrew Martin.; C) 7.e2 A recent game continued: c5 8.0-0 c6 9.c4! cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 c5 12.b3 xd4 13.xd4 e4 14.f3 g6 15.cxd5 exd5 16.f4 and the structure obviously favoured White. Cao, S (2535)-Lan Zilun (2192) Kuala Lumpur 2010. ] [ 6...h6 is Black's option if he wishes to retain that light squared bishop. 7.e2 e7 8.c3 ( 8.0-0 seen in Shabalov, A (2608) Vallejo Pons, F (2678) Calvia 2004 looks more to the point - check the archives.) 8...h7 9.g4!? c5 10.0-0 c6 11.a3 a5 12.e1 b6 13.b3 a7 14.a4 e7 15.f4 0-0 White's pawn centre looks impressive but Black's pressure on the centre prevents White crashing through and gives Black enough time to create counterplay. 16.g2 ( 16.f5? cxd4 17.cxd4 dxe5! so White has to defend the bishop on e3 first.) 16...f6 17.h4 ac8 18.h2 b8 19.h3 cxd4 20.cxd4 d8 21.ac1 b6 22.b5 h5! And White's king suddenly felt extremely loose although capitulating with 23.xc6? bxc6 24.xc6 hxg4+ 25.g3 xe5! was surely not the answer. Kaplan, S (2422)-Roiz, M (2645) Biel 2010. ] [ 6...c7 7.h4 e7 8.e2 ( 8.f4 was Radjabov's choice and probably more critical. f6 9.d3!? xd3 10.cxd3 0-0-0 11.0-0 And here Ezat tried for counterplay with g5?! although 12.fxg5 fxe5 13.g4! left White with an edge. Radjabov, T (2748)Ezat, M (2472) Khanty Mansiysk 2009.) 8...c5 9.c3 cxd4 10.xf5 ( 10.cxd4 would be more logical but evidently White was worried about c2 ) 10...xf5 11.cxd4 b6 12.0-0 e7 13.b3 The knight is rather misplaced here ( 13.f3 looks like the more relevant square.) 13...a5 14.a4 0-0 15.b5 xe3 16.fxe3 xe5! 17.dxe5 xe3+ 18.h1 xe5 19.f2 and in this complex position the players agreed to a draw. 1/2-1/2 Varga, Z (2479)-Czebe, A (2480) Budapest 2010. ] 1290

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7.e2 e7 [ 7...h6 has been seen more frequently. This is more sensible if Black definitely wants to commit the knight to f5 but perhaps W ang Hao wanted to keep flexibility with t h e k n i gh t t o d ro p in t o e it h e r f 5 o r c6 . Mickey Adams continued with A) 8.xh6 is of course the critical test of this move order. gxh6 9.0-0 e7 10.b3 ( 10.c4 0-0 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.b3 b6 13.d3 ac8 was about balanced. Smirnov, P (2620)-Galkin, A (2598) chessassistantclub.com 2004.) 10...0-0 11.d2 g7 12.c3 f6 13.exf6+ ( 13.e3!? keeping the centre flexible looks an interesting alternative.) 13...xf6 14.d3 c7 15.ae1 ae8 16.e3 e5 17.dxe5 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.g3 looked respectable for Black whose bishops and activity compensate for the open king and doubled h pawns. Spraggett, K (2592) -Pogorelov, R (2442) Andorra 2005.; B) 8.c3 f5 9.f4 e7 10.b4!? W e've seen him play in this style elsewhere in this update. a5 11.a3 0-0 12.0-0 b6 13.b3 c7 14.c1 axb4 15.axb4 xa1 16.xa1 c5 17.a4 c4 18.bd2 b7 19.a1 b5 20.a7 and W hite had a definite edge although the solid Peruvian held the draw. Adams, M (2703)-Granda Zuniga, J (2610) Zafra 2009. ] 8.h4 The critical test of Black's move order. c5 [ 8...f5 is Black's other attempt which looks a little more reliable although I feel W hite should be better. 9.xf5 xf5 when White can choose to grab space with A) or 10.0-0 which is a safer option that looks a little better for White. e7 11.g4 g6 12.f4 b6 ( 12...c5 13.c4! cxd4 14.xd4 dxc4 15.xc4 c5 16.d6+! xd6 17.exd6 xd6 18.f5 exf5 19.xg7 xd1 20.xd1 g8 21.d4 e6 22.f6 and White's bishops dominate the board. Bennett, H (2169)-Starostits, A (2 4 4 1 ) I C C F e m a i l 2 0 0 6 . A p o we r f u l display by the Kiwi captain!) 13.b3 0-0 14.e2 a5 15.a4 And White's position is t h e e a s i e r t o p l a y a l t h o u g h a f t e r c5

16.dxc5 xc5 17.f5 exf5 18.xf5 c7 19.xg6 hxg6 20.xc5 xc5 21.xc5 xc5+ 22.f2 c7 23.d4 ae8 24.fe1 e6 25.e2 c6 26.c3 d8 27.e3 e6 28.d4 c4 Black held wit h o u t t o o m a ny d if f icu lt ie s. 1 / 2 -1 / 2 Vaclav, J (2500) -W ojtkowiak, R (2250) ICCF email 2008.; B) 10.g4!? g6 11.h4 f6 12.h5 f7 13.f4 b6 won a pawn as Black threatens both ...Qxb2 and ... f xe5 and ...Nxe5. K o rn e e v, O (2 5 8 3 )-P e ra lt a , F (2 5 3 1 ) Seville 2005. I believe 14.c4 is best with a h i g h l y c o m p l e x p o s i t i o n . fxe5 ( 14...xb2?! Taking the pawn is too risky. 15.b1 xa2 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.xb7 b8 18.xb8+ xb8 19.c1! d8 20.h6! gives White a great initiative for the pawn. ) 15.fxe5 c5 16.cxd5 exd5 17.a4 cxd4 18.xd4 c5 19.xc5 xc5 20.f3 is probably around level. ] 9.c3 c6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.f3 This position has been reached a few times with great results for W hite. Black's main problem is that he cannot get his king to safety on the kingside as the doubled g pawns are a big weakness and h4-h5 will break through in short order. W hite's position is solid and it's tough to come up with a plan for Black. A further problem for Black is that ... . f7-f6 is now no longer a viable plan as the g6 pawn will prove too weak. c8 This appears to be new although doesn't change a great deal. [ 11...e7 was played in the previous two games that reached this position but White was successful in both. 12.0-0 A) 12...a6 13.d2 ( 13.g3!? using the plan Carlsen adopts in the game looks sensible. ) 13...b5 14.a4 b4 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xc5 xc5 17.ac1 e7 18.c4! and White had taken control of the queenside. Movsesian, S (2629)-Iljin, A (2522) Izmir 2004.; B) 12...0-0 13.d3 b6 14.e2 fc8 15.h4! highlighting Black's kingside weaknesses. cxd4 16.cxd4 b4 17.b1 a6 18.d1 Svidler wants to mate and so declines the queen trade. c6 19.e1!? Even going as far as sacrificing a pawn. xh4 20.a3 a6 21.g3 e7 22.d3 1291

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f8 23.g4 b8 24.g2 bd7 25.h1 a n d W h it e 's kin gsi d e p la y e ve n t u a ll y netted him the point. Svidler, P (2735) Macieja, B (2613) Germany 2004. ] 12.0-0 a6 13.g3! Preparing h2-h4 which both takes control of the g5 square and threatens h4-h5 should Black choose to castle. e7 14.h4 b5 This doesn't get anywhere but how else should Black proceed? [ 14...0-0 strikes me as extremely risky. 15.g2 b6 16.b1 followed by Rh1 and h5 and I don't really see how Black can survive. ] 15.a4! Attacking on both flanks. b6 16.axb5 axb5 17.g2 c4 Taking the pressure off the centre is not generally what Black wants to do but he was running out of a plan. [ 17...b4 would be more challenging but 18.a4 is now very awkward to deal with. c4 19.b3! cxb3 20.fb1 and White has taken over the queenside. ] 18.g5 d8 19.g4! Carlsen thought Wang Hao probably missed this plan. Suddenly there is overwhelming pressure on the e6 pawn. xg5 And Wang Hao decides he cannot live with that pressure and so exchanges but now his dark squares are extremely vulnerable. [ A sample line to show the difficulties Black f a c e s g o e s : 19...b6 20.xf7! xf7 21.xe6+! xe6 22.g4+ f7 23.e6+ g8 24.exd7 f8 25.e6+ h7 26.h5 gxh5 27.xd5 g6 28.e4 and the threat of d4-d5 wins material. ] 20.xg5 c7 21.h1 b6 22.h5 Crashing through - there's no defence. gxh5 23.xh5 a4 24.xf7+! And a pretty finish. xf7 25.f3+ g8 [ 25...g6 26.f6 is likewise winning. h6 27.xh6+ gxh6 28.h1 and White has forced mate. ] 26.xh8+ xh8 27.h1+ g8 28.h5 f8 29.f6 And Wang Hao resigned as his po sition is c olla psing com plet e ly. A we ll played game by Carlsen and I think Black players will stop playing 8...c5. [ T h e c o m p u t e r p re f e rs 29.h7+ f7 30.h6 but the text is more human. d8 31.f6+ e8 32.h5+ f7 33.f4! wins as White threatens Bxd8 and picking

up the rook. ] 1-0

1225 Caro Kann Advance Variation Question From Reader [John Watson]

B12

Reader Guy W hitehouse: "I don't like the tactics in the Advanced Caro Kann after 4 Nc3 e6 5 g4. One of the alternatives given in Joe Gallagher's starting out books is 4...a6, but he gives nothing on the alternative itself, other than very impressive statistics for Black wins. Is this better than avoiding 3. ..Bf5 and going for 3...c5, or has 3 ...Bf5 and 4...a6 held up? 4...Qb6 and 4.. .h5 seem to have weaknesses to me." Great questions, and too difficult to give a confident answer to! If we knew that certain of these lines were bad, grandmasters would stop playing them. Let me give you my two cents: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 [ Versus 3...c5 , a line that I mention in my Mastering the Chess Openings Volume 1 is 4.dxc5 e6 (this is Jovanka Houska's recommendation I frankly don't like other m o ve s f o r B la ck a t a ll, a l t h o u gh t h a t ' s another issue) 5.g4 , which I think is quite promising, although very seldom played. Here are some ideas: h5 6.g3 h4 7.f4 ( 7.g4 h6 is the main line in Jovanka H o u s k a ' s b o o k I t h i n k 7 Q f 4 i s b e t t e r) 7...xc5 8.d3 b6 , and now instead of h e r a n a l y s i s w i t h 9 N h 3 , I l i k e 9.d2! Generally if White can truly secure e5 he'll stand better. One line might be c6 10.b3 h5!? (This doesn't work well, but it's the most challenging move) 11.f3! xf2+ ( 11...e7 12.0-0 ) 12.f1 c5 13.xc5 ( or 13.g4! ) 13...xc5 14.g4 g6 15.xg6 xe5 16.xf7+ xf7 17.xh5 f6 18.xh4 I thank Pete Tamburro for alerting me to issues about this line that have been raised. ] 4.c3 a6 I think Wells' brief comments in his book have convinced me that this is not a very good move. [ As it stands, I'd recommend learning 4...e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 f6 , the subject of several ChessPub games, including one 1292

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 from last month, Szoen-Dziuba. ] position but the problem is that after 12.e2 5.e3! Perfect! This move helps White in both c4 13.c2 Black is lacking counterplay and the g4 variations and in the line with Be2, Nf3, W h i t e i s go i n g t o p la y f 5 wh e n e v e r h e and 0-0 whereas ...a6 is only moderately wants. ] u s e f u l . I n p a r t i c u l a r , W h i t e h a s g a i n e d 12.a4+ Not the most accurate as now Black something after e6 6.g4 g6 7.ge2 can keep the queens on if he wants and play , when his h4 and f4 plans, always dangerous, for counterchances in the centre. have gained speed. The only real advantage ... [ 12.dxc5 xc5 13.b4 didn't work out so a6 has is that the handy move Bb5+ is well for White in Kotronias, V (2626)-David, prevented, but the overall trade-off is clearly A (2560) Plovdiv 2003 after e3! 14.d3 in White's favour. ( 14.b5!? f2+ 15.e2 xb5+ 16.xf2 d7 is also about equal.) 14...xc1 15.xc1 a6 and Black already had good chances. In 1226 B12 f a c t a f t e r 16.f5 e7 17.h2 Black is probably just better if he plays d7! ] Caruana,F 2781 [ 12.b3! seems best to me here as White L'Ami,E 2627 h a s a n o b v i o u s e d g e a f t e r c6 75th Tata Steel GpA (8.7) 20.01.2013 ( 12...xb3?! 13.axb3 c6 leads to a [Tom Rendle] miserable position for Black after 14.dxc5! xc5 15.b4 e7 16.b5 d7 17.e3 a6 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h6 5.g4 18.0-0 ) 13.dxc5 xc5 14.c2 d7 6.h5 e6 7.f4 c5 8.c3 b6 an d t h e kn igh t is h e a d ed t o t he s t ro n g Not an unusual move in itself but it's usually outpost on d4. ] played with the intention of transposing back into 8...Nc6 on the next move as in the note 12...c6 [ 12...d7 13.c2 0-0-0 gives Black better below. counterchances although even here I prefer [ 8...c6 9.f3 b6 can be found in the White after 14.b4! ] archives in Navara-Shimanov and another recent game continued 10.h2 0-0-0!? 13.c2 cxd4 14.cxd4 a5+?! After the Shimanov played Rc8 but this looks like a q u e e n e x c h a n g e B l a c k s t r u g g l e s f o r counterplay. reasonable alternative [ 14...c8! was better - at least White now A) 11.dxc5!? xc5 12.b4 f8 13.a4 has to think twice over playing f 5. Play could be the critical test of 11...0-0-0 and might continue with 15.f2 ge7 16.b3 f5! in fact I think W hite is doing well here 17.exf6 gxf6 and the position is very although it's not so clear after f6 ( or even unclear. ] 13...d4!? ); B) 11.e3 b8 12.b3 cxd4?! 15.xa5 xa5 16.e2 e7 17.b3 c8 Black's position looks solid enough ( 12...a5 was preferable with an unclear 18.d3 game after 13.a3 xa3 14.xa3 cxd4 but how can it be improved? White has a clear 15.xd4 xd4 16.xd4 xa3 17.bxa3 plan of preparing f5 and I see no sensible way e7 ) 13.xb6 axb6 14.cxd4 ge7 for Black to prevent it. ac6 19.d2 c7 15.f2 c8 16.g3 e7 17.c3 20.h4 c8?! [ The computer wants to try defending with and White was doing well and went on to 20...d8 and it's true that it's more stubborn win in Zhou, Y (2419)-Byron, A (2167) but after 21.f5 ec6 22.hf1 White is still Hastings 2013 ] comfortably on top and can continue with 9.f3 b5!? Black has been struggling in the Ng2-f4 to increase the pressure. ] mainline so this appears to be L'Ami's attempted improvement, although it's not a 21.f5! a5 22.af1 g8 23.h2 [ 23.fxe6 fxe6 24.g6 is also strong but novelty. Caruana is in no rush as Black can do little [ 9...c6 transposes to 8...Nc6 ] about fxe6. ] 10.xb5+ xb5 11.a3 b6 Erwin seeks activity which is [ 11...a6 is an alternative way to play the 23...f6?! 1293

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 understandable in such a passive position but it quickly backfires. [ 23...b4 was a better try although Black still has an unpleasant task ahead of him after 24.hf2 xd2 25.xd2 8e7 26.g2 ] 24.exf6 gxf6 25.e3 [ 25.fxe6! xg4 26.xf6 was even stronger the pawn on h6 is doomed and then White's passed h-pawn will take some stopping. ] 25...e5 26.xd5 f7 27.g6 xd4 28.e3?! [ 28.g5! fxg5 ( 28...hxg5 29.h6 is crushing) 29.xe5 wins an exchange ] 28...c6 29.e2 g7 30.f3 d7 31.d2 f7 32.fd1 gd8 33.f2 Fabiano has drifted a little bit over the last few moves but of course he is still clearly better e8 [ 33...d4 34.xd4 xd5 35.e3 xd2+ 36.xd2 xd2+ 37.xd2 b6 38.f3 should be winning for White as the Bishop on g7 is tied to defending the pawn on h6. ] 34.e1 d4 35.xd4 xd5 36.c3 xd2 37.xd2 b6 38.c1 d7 [ 38...a7 was more stubborn - it's suddenly hard to see how W hite can break through but he still retains good winning chances with 39.a4 ( 39.e3 c8! )] 39.e3 e8 40.e2 d6 41.d3 d7 42.c3 f8 43.e4 With the king on e4 it's easily winning again. b4 44.c2 d6+ 45.d5 b5 46.xh6! c3+ Black wins an exchange but it's too little too late. 47.xc3 xc3 48.e3 d4 49.xd4 [ 49.e4! followed by h6 wins immediately ] 49...exd4 50.xd4 c6 51.h6 d8+ 52.e4 d7 53.g5! [ and Black resigned as after 53.g5 h7 ( 53...fxg5 54.e5+ ) 54.e5+! ot he r m oves win as we ll b u t th is is t h e prettiest fxe5 ( or 54...c5 55.g6 xh6 56.g7 h4+ 57.f3 ) 55.g6 xh6 56.g7 h4+ 57.xe5 and White will get a new queen ] 1-0

1227 Caruana,F Tomashevsky,E FIDE GP Paris (10.1) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2779 2703 03.10.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 g6 7.bd2 h6 [ 7...e7 is an important alternative so I've a d d e d i n a co u p l e o f r e ce n t h ig h l e ve l games from this position 8.h4! seems to give Black real problems here A) 8...c5 9.c3 b6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.f3 f5 12.a4 a6 13.d1 c4?! This leaves Black without serious counterplay ( 13...e7 14.b4! c4 15.d2 is only a little better for White) 14.c2 c6 15.g3 f6?! 16.h4 g5 17.hxg5 fxe5 18.dxe5 b6 19.d4 c5 Black is p l a yi n g a l o t o f t r i c k y m o v e s b u t h i s position doesn't hold togethe r 20.xf5 exf5 21.f3! g6 22.xd5 0-0-0 23.f4 and Black resigned in Hansen, E (2577)Porper, E (2424) Edmonton 2013; B) 8...f5 9.xg6 hxg6 10.f3 was good for W hite in NepomniachtchiShengelia which I annotated earlier this year. ] 8.b3! This is currently the most testing of White's many options [ 8.c4!? also deserves attention e7 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.b3 0-0 ( 10...f5 can be met by 11.g4!? h4 12.xh4 xh4 13.f4 and White has the advantage here, e.g. f5 14.exf6 xf6 15.d3 xd3 16.xd3 b6 17.d2 and White's space advantage gives him the edge) 11.xh6 gxh6 12.d2 g7 ( 12...b6!? 13.xh6 a5 14.d2 a4 15.c1 e4 gives Black reasonable co m p e n sa t io n f o r t h e p a wn) 13.b5 and W hite had the better chances in Gabrielian, A (2544)-Kovalenko, I (2621) Samara 2013 although later Black outplayed his opponent for the win. ] [ 8.c3 f5 9.b3 a6 10.d3 c8 11.h3 c5 12.g5 e7 13.xe7 xe7 14.c1 0-0 and Black was very comfortable in Van K a m p e n , R (2 5 9 5 )- L in d g r e n , P ( 2 2 8 7 ) Helsingor 2013 and despite the rating gulf it was Black that should've been pressing for a win when the draw was agreed on move 1294

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31. ] 8...f5 9.a4 c8 [ 9...e7 was tried by Dreev in a recent rapid game but now 10.g4! h6 11.h3 g8 12.d3 c7 13.e3 xd3 14.xd3 h5 15.g5 g6 16.h4 f8 17.f4 left Black with a very cramped position in Grischuk, A (2779)-Dreev, A (2668) Khanty-Mansiysk 2013 ] 10.a5 h5!? Obviously this is a good way to stop White pushing the knight away with g4 but it does make it difficult for Tomashevsky to find a safe place for his king later on. [ 10...e7 A) instead 11.g4! is be tt er, e .g. h4 ( 11...h6 12.e1! and f4 is coming) 12.xh4 xh4 13.f4 f5 14.exf6 xf6 15.g5 e7 16.h5 and White has successfully pushed Black back and he sh o uld e n jo y t h e b e tt e r cha n ce s wit h pressure against e6 and the kingside in general.; B) 11.c4?! didn't lead to any advantage after dxc4 12.xc4 0-0 13.f4 h4 ( 13...h6 is also solid, simply asking what White's plan is and perhaps preparing ... Bh5 with ...Nh4 ideas later on) 14.xh4 xh4 15.d2 e7 16.fe1 b6 17.ec1 bxa5 and a draw was agreed in Parligras, M (2561)-Asrian, K (2630) Plovdiv 2008 ] 11.g3 [ 11.e1 c5! 12.dxc5 xc5 13.xc5 xc5 and Black's control of the centre gives him reasonable chances here ] 11...e7 12.f4 a6 I'm not sure about this move - a6 wasn't a threat and now it becomes dif f ic u lt f or B la ck t o b re ak o ut wit h .. . b 6 without dropping a pawn. [ 12...0-0 was critical and now A) 13.e1 c5! 14.dxc5 ( or 14.xh5 xh5 15.xh5 c4! winning back the pawn with a good position) 14...xc5 15.xc5 xc5 16.a6 b5 17.xh5 xh5 18.xh5 b4! with excellent compensation for the pawn - W hite's knight on e1 is stuck defending c2.; B) 13.c4 dxc4 14.xc4 b5! 15.axb6 axb6 16.e2 b5 17.d3 b6 gives Black a very solid position although W hite is possibly a tiny bit better after 18.e4 d5 19.d2 because of Black's

backward pawn on c6. Still, this looks like the right way for Black to play. ] 13.c4! Black won't be able to play ...Nb6-d5 so this move makes sense now. dxc4 14.xc4 0-0 15.e2 b5?! Tomashevsky decides to sacrifice a pawn for activity but it doesn't turn out to be enough compensation [ 15...e8 would've been better, waiting for W hite to find a plan. The game might continue 16.fd1 c7 17.ac1 f8 18.g5 cd8 when it's obvious that White is b e t t e r b u t it 's n o t cle a r h o w h e s h o u l d increase the pressure. Perhaps best is 19.d2!? planning to bring the queen over to the kingside to attack ] 16.axb6 xb6 17.xa6 c7 18.fd1 a7 19.h4! Caruana is in no rush here, he simply prevents any kingside counterplay with this move d5 20.d2 b6 21.c4 fa8 22.c3?! [ 22.f1! was more precise, the point it that White can recapture on a1 with the queen now after a2 23.c3 xa1 24.xa1 xa1?! 25.xa1 and White is simply a pawn up here ] 22...xa1 23.xa1 xa1+ 24.xa1 c5! Suddenly Black has a lot of pressure and Tomashevsky is close to getting enough play f or the pawn b ef ore a mistake co sts him dearly 25.b3 cxd4 26.fxd4 xc3 27.bxc3 c5? [ after 27...c7! it's not clear how White makes progress, for example 28.b5 b6 29.3d4 c5 30.d2 b8 31.f4 h6 32.b3 e7 and White is getting nowhere at all ] 28.xc5 xc5 29.xe6! I'm sure Tomashevsky missed this fxe6 30.xe6+ h8 [ 30...f8 a l s o l o s e s t o 31.e4! xh4 32.xh4 xe5 33.d8+ e8 34.d7 g5 35.c4 f7 36.xe8+ xe8 37.xe8+ xe8 38.f4 gxf4 39.gxf4 f7 40.f2 e6 41.g3 d6 42.h4 c5 43.f5 etc. ] 31.xf5 xf5 32.xh5+ h7 33.e8+ g8 34.e6 h7 35.e7 e5 36.f8 [ The ending is hopeless for Black after 36.f8 e1+ 37.h2 d5 38.f5+ g6 39.xd5 xf2+ 40.g2 e1 41.c4 xe7 42.f2 ] 1-0 1295

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1228 Caruana,F Vachier Lagrave,M 2nd Sinquefield Cup 2014 (2.2) [Neil McDonald]

B12 2801 2768 28.08.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 8.0-0 [ Tom Rendle analyses 8.dxc5 in the game Nakamura-Mamedyarov in the archives. After xc5 9.xc5 xc5 10.b5 in a recent game Black decided to give up t h e e x c h a n g e f o r a p a w n w i t h ge7?! 11.c7+ d7 12.xa8 xc2 13.xc2 xc2 14.b5 xa8 It's not much fun for him a n d h e wa s g ra d u a lly wo r n d o wn a f t e r 15.d4 g6 16.d2 a6 17.xc6+ xc6 18.xc6 bxc6 19.h4 in Iordachescu, V (2589)-Gagare, S (2421)/Abu Dhabi UAE 2014. ] 8...xb2 9.e1 cxd4 [ An important alternative is 9...c4 10.b1 xc2 A) 11.xb7 this is analysed by Tom in Zhigalko-Berkes who concludes that b4? ( Necessary is 11...b8 ) 12.xb4! xb4 13.d1! etc. is very strong for White.; B) 11.d1 xb1! is the only move for Black and has been tested in a recent game. ( Instead 11...d3 12.a4! c8 13.xb7 is crushing for White and Black actually resigned here in I.Smirin-v.Popov, St Petersburg 2010.) 12.xb1 xb1 13.a4 d3 14.xc6+ ( Gawain Jones mentioned 14.a5 d7 15.g5 h6 Black seems OK there as well.) 14...bxc6 15.a5 d7! Keeping the white queen out of c7. It would be difficult for Black to u n t a n g l e h i s p i e c e s a f t e r ( 15...xf1 16.c7! e7 17.xf1 ) 16.a6 c8 17.d2 e7 ( 17...xf1!? 18.a5!? e7 19.xa7+ e8 20.xf1 ) 18.a5! d8 19.xa7+ c7 B1) 20.g5!? h6 ( 20...e7? 21.xf7 hf8 22.d6 ) 21.e1; B2) 20.c1 e7 21.b6 hd8 22.a4 e8 23.c5 ( 23.xc7 d7 24.a5 cxc7 25.b8+ c8 26.b6 a8 ) 23...d7 24.a6 b8 25.h4 d8 Black has coordinated his pieces and held the draw in Rodshtein, M (2671)-

Kovalenko, I (2650)/Tromso NOR 2014. ] 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 b4 12.db5 a5 13.b1 xc2 14.c1!? [ Caruana's improvement on 14.b3 e7 15.d6+ f8 16.xb7 b6 17.d6 ( S e e t h e a r c h i v e s f o r 17.d1!? as in Caruana-Postny.) 17...a5 More than one game between 2600 players has ended in a draw by repetition with A) 18.f3 d3 19.c1 xc1 20.xc1 g6 21.xd5 exd5!? ( Looking to improve on 21...xe5 in Karjakin-Fridman in the archives.) 22.xd3 xe5 23.xd5 xf3+ 24.gxf3 b6 25.a4 Tom says in his notes to the Karjakin-Fridman game that this could awkward for Black. It was tested in 2014. Black succeeds in eliminating all the pawns but he still has t h e t e d i o u s t a sk o f d e f e n d in g a ro o k versus rook and knight endgame. Objectively he's OK, but is this what you want when you sit down to play a game of chess? g6 26.a5 d8 27.c8 xc8 28.xc8 g7 29.xa7 f6 30.c6 a8 31.f1 f8 32.e2 e8+ 33.d3 h4 34.a6 a8 35.a5 xf2 36.c4 g7 37.d5 g1 38.h3 f6 39.d6 e8 40.a7 xa7 41.xa7 e3 42.d4 e1 43.a4 h1 44.e2 h2 45.f4 g5 46.d5+ g7 47.h4 h3 48.g4 h6 49.f4 f5 50.g1 xh4 51.e6 g6 52.g2 h1 53.e7+ h5 54.xf5 h4 55.fxg5 f1+ 56.e5 hxg5 57.f5+ h3 58.xg5 a1 59.f4 a4+ 60.f3 a3+ 61.e3 h4 62.b5 c3 63.f4 a3 64.f5+ h3 65.b4 a8 66.f3 a3+ 67.e3 a8 68.b5 f8+ 69.f5 a8 70.b3 f8 71.e4+ g2 72.b2+ f1 73.d6 g1 74.e3 a8 75.f5 a3+ 76.f4 a8 77.f3 f8 78.e4 a8 79.e3 e8+ 80.d3 d8+ 81.e2 a8 82.b4 h2 83.h4+ g3 84.f5+ g2 85.g4+ h3 86.g3+ h2 87.g7 h3 88.e3 a3+ 89.e4 a4+ 90.d4 a8 91.f4 f8+ 92.f5 a8 93.g3+ h2 94.d3 a4+ 95.d4 a8 96.e6 g2 97.d2+ f1 98.b2 a4+ 99.f3 a3+ 100.e4 a4+ 101.d4 a8 102.f5 e1 103.b3 d2 104.d3+ c1 105.d4 h8 1296

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 106.d3 b1 107.h4 xh4 108.xh4 1/2-1/2 Hovhannisyan, R (2611)-Rozum, I (2505)/ Yerevan ARM 2014.; B) 18.a3 b4 19.b3 a5 20.a3 b4 21.b3 a5 1/2-1/2 the latest being Sjugirov, S (2658)-Shimanov, A (2625)/ Katowice POL 2014. ] 14...b2 15.g4! The computers are deeply unenthusiastic about 15.g4, which is why this was such a deadly piece of home preparation. Black players hadn't bothered looking too deeply at it, if at all. Instead Black defends OK after [ 15.d6+ f8 16.xf5 exf5 17.a4 xe1 18.xb2 d2 19.c2 g5 20.d1 e7 or ] [ 15.a4 xe1 16.xb2 a5 17.d6+ e7 18.c5 b6 19.xf5+ exf5 20.xd5 h6 ] 15...g6 16.f4 e4! [ Black also seems to hold on after 16...h6!? 17.f5 ( Transposing would be 17.d6+ f8 18.f5 exf5 19.gxf5 xf5 ) 17...exf5 18.d6+ f8 19.gxf5 xf5 20.xf5 c8 21.b5!? A) The position is full of crazy tricks. For e x a m p l e i f 21...xc3? White wins after 22.e6! xb5 ( 22...xe1 23.xc8# ) 23.xc3 b6+ 24.h1; B) 21...xf5 22.e6 f6 23.xf5 xc3 24.xc3 xc3 25.e7+ f7 26.e8+ hxe8 27.xe8+ f8 28.xc3 xc3 29.a4 d3 30.b3 e7 31.xd5 xd5 32.xd5 b5 and it's burnt out to a drawn endgame. ] 17.f2! The point of 15.g4 was just to harass Black's bishop. It was to gain time to open up t h e f 2 s qu a r e f o r W h it e 's ro o k t o c re a t e threats of trapping the black queen. h6? Taken by surprise and confused by all the possibilities, Black blunders at once. [ N e c e s s a r y i s 17...b4! after which the complications seem to go forever. Here are some samples lines all of which seem OK f or Black/unclear. 18.f5 ( Very messy is 18.f1 b6 19.xe4 dxe4 20.f5 exf5 21.c7+ xc7 22.xc7; another bizarre position is reached after 18.d1 f8 19.a3 e7 20.xe4 dxe4 21.f1 d8 22.a4 b6+ 23.h1 e3 Black is two pawns up but how do you measure that against his

backward development?) 18...exf5 19.f1 b6 20.xe4 dxe4 21.c7+ xc7 22.xc7 a6 23.e6 fxe6 24.a1 f6 25.xg7 xg4 26.xg4 0-0-0 27.e5 d6 28.c2+ b8 29.xd6+ xd6 30.e2 hd8 31.xh7 f4 and after the slugfest Black's strong pawns balance the bishop. ] [ 17...b6?? l o s e s m a t e r i a l t o 18.a4 xf2+ 19.xf2 xa2 20.c7+ f8 21.b4+ e7 22.xa8 ] 18.d3 b4 [ The point of White's play is that 18...b6 fails to 19.xe4 dxe4 20.cc2 xf2+?! ( Or 20...xc2 21.d6+ f8 22.xc2 xg4 23.xe4 note how beautifully White's pieces are coordinated. It seemed like Black must have a way out, but it's not the case.) 21.xf2 when the black queen is trapped. ] 19.b1 c5 20.xe4 dxe4?! [ Th e b e st wa y t o f ight o n wa s 20...xe1 21.xc5 xf2+ 22.xf2 0-0 23.h3 b6 24.a6 Black isn't doing badly material wise, but his queenside is frozen, his rooks have lit tle sco pe an d h is kn ight is ou t of th e game. ] 21.xa5 threatening to win the black queen with a knight check. 0-0 22.e2 e3 23.ff1 fc8 [ W h i t e k e e p s t h e p i e c e a f t e r 23...a6 24.c3 ] 24.e1 d5 25.b2 f6 26.g3 fxe5 27.fxe5 f8 28.xf8+ xf8 29.xe3 f7 30.c3 1-0

1229 Caruana,Fabiano Arutinian,David 11th EICC Men (8) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2680 2576 14.03.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.c4 bc6 9.a4 I looked at this recently in the notes to Amonatov-Shimanov but Caruana comes up with an interesting idea that must be investigated. a6 10.c3 [ 10.d2!? doesn't so logical as it fails to put pressure on the centre but leaves the c file 1297

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 free for the white rook. I wonder if Kosteniuk failed to remember her theory or just wanted to get her high rated opponent out of his c o m f o r t z o n e f o r t h e b l i t z g a m e . c8 ( 10...d7!? ) 11.cxd5 xd5 12.xf5?! ( 12.xc6 xc6 13.c1! xe3 14.xc6 xg2+ 15.f1 bxc6 16.xc6+ d7 17.a8+ d8 18.xd8+ xd8 19.xg2 would be a little awkward for Black as the a pawn is vulnerable.) 12...exf5 13.f3 ( 13.0-0 xe3 14.fxe3 xd2 is the problem.) 13...xe3 14.fxe3 b4+ 15.f2 0-0 was a definite successful opening for Black. Kosteniuk, A-Bareev, E Moscow 2009. ] [ 10.cxd5 b5 is the idea behind 9...a6. ] 10...dxc4 11.0-0-0 a5 Black's main move, attempting to simplify immediately but there are options. [ 11...c8 looks a little passive but has been giving Black quite good results recently and looks like a good alternative if you want to keep some pieces on the board. A) 12.xc6 xc6 13.b6 e7 14.f4 0-0 15.g4 d3 16.xd3 cxd3 h a s b e e n re a ch e d a co u p le o f t im e s, neither really troubling Black's defence. 17.a3 ( 17.b1 b4 18.h3 c6 19.xc6 bxc6 20.a3 ab8 21.a7 b7 22.axb4 xa7 23.xd3 xb4 and Black had taken the upper hand, Sebag, MMkrtchian, L Nanjing 2009.; 17.xd3? b4 followed by 18...Nd5 is definitely better for the second player.) 17...a5 18.b1 a6 19.b5 b4! 20.xa5 ( 20.axb4 axb4 21.e4? c2# would be embarrassing.) 20...d5 21.xd3 xf4 22.d4 g6 and Black had absolutely no problems. Yemelin, V-Deviatkin, A St Petersburg 2009.; B) 12.xf5 xf5 13.b6 B1) 13...b4 14.d8+ ( Both 14.f4 Predojevic, B-Harikrishna, P Sarajevo 2009.; and 14.f3 Svidler, P-Belov, V Dagomys 2009 have also been tried but I think the check is the most promising.) 14...xd8 15.xd8 xd8 16.a3 e7 ( 16...a5 is a better square although. 17.f3 fd4 18.xc6+ xc6 19.d1 0-0 20.xc4 would be the start of a thankless bid for the half point for Black,

even if I believe it should be possible.) 17.f3 fd4 18.xc6+ xc6 19.d1 Caruana, F-Cossin, S Rogaska Slatina 2009, in which the young Italian converted his material advantage.; B2) 13...e7 14.f4 0-0 15.xc4 d8 16.a4 ( 16.c5!? could be the best try to keep an advantage although after xb6 17.xb6 d8 Black should e v e n t u a l l y u n t a n g l e .) 16...a5 ( 16...ce7 looks more sensible, in order to jump into the d5 square.) 17.xc8 ( 17.c3! ) 17...xc8+ 18.b1 xb6 19.xb6 and Black still had to suffer for the eventual half point. Petrosian, TLenderman, A Las Vegas 2009. ] [ 11...d3 12.xd3 cxd3 13.xd3 a5 14.xa5 xa5 15.f4 h5 16.hd1 d8 given as equal by Pete W ells but W hite seems to still have something. The problem for black is that it's not so easy to develop his h8 rook while his queenside pawns may become potential targets. 17.f2 ( 17.h4 ec6 18.xc6 xd3 19.xd3 xc6 20.a3 h6 was already agreed drawn in Inarkiev, E-Ivanchuk, V Kusadasi 2006.) 17...ac6 18.xc6 xd3 19.xd3 xc6 20.a3 h4 21.e4 h6 22.c5 xc5 23.xc5 g6 24.g3 hxg3 25.hxg3 And White had a clear edge due to the rook out of the game on g6. Lastin managed to win very quickly from this position: d8 26.a4 f6 27.exf6 gxf6 28.e3 f5 29.a5 e7 30.d2 d6 31.b4 c6 32.d3 f7 33.e3 d8 34.c3 b5 35.b3 c6 36.xb7 xb4 37.c3 1-0 Lastin, A-Zontakh, A Dagomys 2009. ] 12.xa5 xa5 13.xf5 xf5 14.b6 c6 15.f4 c8 16.g4 A different move order but we reach the same position which I looked at in Bologan-Le Quang Liem in the notes to Amonatov, F-Shimanov, A. h4 17.xc4 g5 and this is the most forceful move, transposing back into my notes from last time. [ There's no need to waste a tempo with 17...e7 18.b3 g5 when White had an edge following 19.f5 xe5 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.d4 hf3 Kosteniuk, A-Ushenina, A Nalchik 2008 when the most precise ap p e a rs t o b e 22.xe5 xe5 23.he1 when Black is still somewhat struggling. ] 18.f5 xe5 19.b3 c5 20.a4+ 1298

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 And this is the novelty! [ Instead we saw 20.xc5 xc5 21.fxe6 fxe6 22.xe6 e7 23.b3 d8 24.h3 1/2-1/2 Bologan, V-Le Quang Liem Moscow 2010 which didn't threaten Black at all. ] 20...e7 [ Of course not 20...f8?? 21.xc5+ xc5 22.d8+ g7 23.f6+ ] 21.f6+! Caruana has seen a trick, temporarily winning a piece for two pawns although I think, h a d B l a c k p l a y e d a c cu r a t e l y, t h e re wa s n o t h i n g t o f e a r . xf6 22.e4+ g7 23.xc5 c4 [ I wonder what Caruana had prepared against 23...xc5+! ? Perhaps he judged 24.xc5 c8 25.b1 ( 25.b4 b6 ) 25...xc5 26.h3 to be better for White but honestly I don't see it. Black's knights and e pawn are a tough team to stop and it's still going to take a while to create a passed pawn of his own. ] 24.a7 b6 25.xa6 [ 25.d7 c7 ( 25...e3+!? ) 26.b8 xd7 27.xd7 xb8 is at least a better version of 23...Rxc5 for White, although I don't think B l a c k s h o u l d h a ve a n y p r o b l e m s h e r e either. ] 25...e3+? This is the first major slip by the Georgian GM. [ 25...e5+ would have kept Black alive 26.b1 a8 27.b8 xg4 28.b5 xa6 29.xa6 xb8 although here at least White has succeeded in getting one of the queenside pawns and thus it'll be easier for him to create a passed pawn to challenge Black's e pawn. ] 26.b1 xd1 27.xd1 h5 [ W hite now responds to 27...a8 with 28.d7 retaining the two bishops for the rook. ] 28.xb6 f3 29.h3 [ 29.gxh5! looks more accurate to me, when I believe White is winning, for example xh5 30.c7 xh2 31.b4 g4 32.b5 e3 33.c1 followed by b6-b7 and queen! ] 29...hxg4 30.hxg4 c4 Now at least Black manages some counterplay although the two connected passed pawns couple with the bishop pair are still extremely strong. 31.b5 xg4 32.a4 h2 33.a5 e5 [ 33...g1 was the last chance. Arutinian

should have remembered the general principle that when you have two rooks vs o n e a n d a p i e c e ( o r t wo ) i t ' s b e t t e r t o exchange rooks as they step on their own t o e s s o m e w h a t . I d o n ' t b e l i e ve t h i s i s enough to hold the draw but it would at least give White more practical problems. ] 34.c3 d4 35.a5 f4 [ 35...gh4 w i t h t h e i d e a 36.c7 h1 again exchanging a pair of rooks should be tried but it seems like the a pawn must be the decisive factor. ] 36.c7 g4 37.a6 So a comfortable win for White in the end but I still believe in Black's position and think 23...Rxc5+! was the most accurate way of dealing with White's new idea. 1-0

1230 B12 Caruana,Fabiano 2712 Eljanov,Pavel 2683 27th ECC Rogaska Slatina SLO (7.3) 01.10.11 [Milos Pavlovic] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 d7 6.f3 c5 In earlier games we saw 6...a6 but here Black simply doesn't care about the Bb5 possibility and simply goes for direct play. 7.dxc5 xc5 8.xc5 xc5 9.d4 e7 10.b5+ d7 11.g5 g6N Black decides to keep his bishop which is a logical choice. [ P r e d e c e s s o r : 11...0-0 12.xf5 exf5 13.xe7 xe7 14.xd7 xd7 15.0-0 fd8 16.d4 ac8 17.ac1 c4 18.xa7 a4 19.b6 xa2 20.a1 And now with either 20...Raa8 or 20...Rda8 it is questionable if White has anything. xa1 21.xa1 c8 22.c3 c6 23.b4 White has some advantage here. g6 24.a7 c7 25.a5 h6 26.d6! Now White's advantage is undisputed. xd6 27.exd6 d7 28.xd5 g7 29.c4 f6 30.c5 e6 31.d2 b6 32.b4 bxc5 33.bxc5 a7 34.f4 d7 35.f2 a8 36.e3 e8+ 37.d4 c6 38.c4 a8 39.b2 a1 40.b6+ d7 41.b7+ White won in Antal, T -Magyar, O Hungary 2011 ] 12.d2 a6 13.xe7 xe7 14.xd7+ xd7 15.h4 h5 A very interesting position that 1299

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a l re a d y a p p e a r e d i n so m e o f m y e a r li e r updates, notably in the line 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 Qb6, as I said then and I think the same thing now, the bishop is not worse than the knight, one may draw some similarities with the French, but the bishop is usually placed on d7 there. I would call this one equal. 16.c3 b5 17.g5 a5 18.a3 c8 19.0-0 0-0 20.fe1 c4 We can see typical ideas for both sides here: W hite is trying to make a breakthrough with g4 while Black is heading for ...b4. 21.e3 b4 22.axb4 axb4 23.g4 bxc3 24.bxc3 d8! This is an important de f e n sive as pe ct f or B lack h ere . 25.gxh5 xg5+ 26.hxg5 xh5 27.f3 fc8 28.e2 b8 29.f2 g6 30.g3 c7 31.d4 bc8 Although it looks equal, Black can freely move his pieces while W hite has problems finding active moves. 32.a3 c5 33.b3 h7 34.e2 5c7 35.d4 a7 36.f4 a1 37.b2 c1 38.e2 c4+ 39.g3 e1 Slowly Black is outplaying White because his pieces are more active while White had to s t a n d s t i l l . 40.d2 a4 41.d4 a2 42.h4+ g8 43.f2 b1 44.g3 a3 45.f2 b2 46.g3 c2 47.b4 a1 48.h4 e1 49.f2 d1 50.d4 h1 51.g3 h5 52.f4? The move that loses the game, further weakening the White squares is just what Black wanted. Instead, the last chance was 52.Rg4 [ For instance: 52.g4 f5 53.d4 xg4 54.fxg4 hh2 55.xc2 xc2 56.g6 fxg6 57.f4 Game is drawn. ] 52...f5 53.f3 h2 54.b4 h7 55.a4 g6 56.b4 h5 0-1

1231 Caruana,Fabiano Iturrizaga Bonelli,Eduardo 11th Aeroflot Open A (3) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2736 2649 09.02.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.d2 bc6 9.2f3 This is a very topical line in the Caro right now and Black has a few options here g4 [ 9...e4 10.0-0 g6 11.xc6 bxc6

12.g5 is covered by Milos Pavlovic in Caruana, F (2714)-Laznicka, V (2681)/New Delhi IND 2011 ] [ 9...a6 is a sensible waiting move, covering th e b 5 squ a re a n d kee p in g t he Bla ck 's options open 10.0-0 c8 ( 10...g4 11.c3 d7 12.c1 d8 13.h3 h5 14.a3 a5 15.d2 xe2 16.xe2 was slightly better for W hite in Svidler, P (2738)-Kamsky, G (2723)/Sochi RUS 2008) 11.c3 e4 12.c1 d7 13.d2 xd4 and now 14.xd4 followed by f3, f4 looks very comfortable for White ( after 14.cxd4 c6 15.g5 b4 16.d1 g6 chances were balanced in Najer, E (2663)-Kacheishvili, G (2587)/ Wheeling USA 2010 )] 10.0-0 xf3 [ 10...g6 11.h3 ( 11.c4! looks to be more critical, for example dxc4 12.a4 g7 13.xc6 xc6 14.xc4 xf3 15.xf3 with some edge for W hite because after xe5 16.a4+! d7 17.xd7+ xd7 18.xb7 b8 19.c6 White's two Bishops and Queenside pawn majority gives him a definite advantage) 11...xf3 12.xf3 g7 13.f4 with a roughly equal position was looked at by Milos in Karjakin, S (2763)-Le Quang, L (2714)/Beijing CHN 2011 ] 11.xf3 c7 [ 11...f5 has been seen before on this site 12.f4 e7 13.d3 h4 14.xh4 xh4 15.g4 and White was doing well in Volokitin, A (2671)-Ruck, R (2558)/Budva M N E 2 0 0 9 , c o ve r e d b y W a t s o n i n t h e archives. ] 12.c1 d8 13.c4!? A novelty from Fabiano which aims to set Black some new problems in this line. It's always difficult to face novelties o ve r - t h e - b o a r d b u t I b e l i e v e t h a t B l a c k shouldn't have serious difficulties here. [ 13.c3 was previously examined by Milos in the game Giri -W ojtaszek which overall seemed fine for Black ] 13...d4! Almost certainly the best move [ 13...f5 was also possible but after 14.f4 dxc4 15.a4 e7 16.xc4 White is very active and should have the better chances ] 14.f4 [ 14.g5?! is tricky but probably not good after h6! 15.xe7 xe7 16.d3 is quite an interesting position, careless play 1300

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 could land Black in hot water for example 0-0? ( 16...g5! instead is strong for Black as he wins a pawn af te r 17.c2 f4 ) 17.e1 b4 18.b1 and the plan of a3, Qe4 is difficult to meet ] 14...h6 15.h3 g5!? This looks like a very logical way of playing, and if Black can get away with this then White will need to search for other options in this line [ 15...g6 might be possible but White chances are preferable after 16.g3 e7 17.d3 0-0 18.e1 ] 16.h2 g7 17.d3 g6 18.e2 gxe5?! A risky decision [ 18...0-0! might've been a more circumspect choice and now 19.fe1 ( 19.xg6 fxg6 20.fd1 b6 and Black's passed pawn and half -open f -file compensate f or his bad p a w n s t r u c t u r e) 19...b4 looks solid enough for Black ] 19.h1 [ 19.fe1! was also critical, and in my opinion probably stronger xf3+ ( 19...f6 20.g6+ is awkward) 20.xf3 e7 21.c5 0-0 is very unclear, White can try 22.e4 ( 22.a3! might be the best way to cause Black problems e.g. a5 23.c2 and it's rather unpleasant for Black who has to sit a n d w a i t f o r W h i t e t o d o s o m e t h i n g) 22...fe8 23.h7+ f8 but there's no obvious breakthrough for W hite here - I guess it's easier for him to play though ] 19...f6 [ 19...0-0 20.ce1 f6 21.xe5 fxe5 22.e4 is very unpleasant for Black. White has a blockade in the centre and can probe on both sides of the board (a3, b4 on the Queenside and h4 ideas on the Kingside). ] 20.xe5 xe5! [ if instead 20...fxe5 then 21.h5+ d7 22.f7+ c8 23.xe6+ b8 24.c5 and White has regained the pawn with an excellent position ] 21.ce1 e7 22.xe5 fxe5 23.g6+ d7 The dust has cleared a little and Black remains a pawn up but in practical terms only W hite can be better. The Bishop on g7 is terrible - still, with the centre blocked Black should hold with accurate play I think. 24.c1 c8 25.fd1 c7 26.d3 f8 27.e4 b5? I must say I don't understand this move at all -

where is t he Black king going af ter this ? Perhaps Iturrizaga missed White's reply. [ 27...c8! was much more logical - Black seems to be holding comfortably enough after 28.b3 c5 29.f3 b8 30.e4 ff7 as I don't really see how White improves his position here ] 28.b3! b8 29.c2 b4 30.a3 c5 31.h5! Black's position is creaking.... d6 32.g6 a5 33.axb4 xb4?! [ 33...axb4 might've been a better try but Black is still much worse after 34.f3 ] 34.xb4 axb4 35.b3 a7 36.d2 [ 36.f5! e7 37.xe6 xe6 38.xg7 also looks very strong for W hite but perhaps Caruana didn't like the pawn on d4 suddenly being unblockaded ] 36...c7 [ 36...f8 was unpleasant but necessary, although White is clearly better after 37.f5 c7 38.xe6 ] 37.c5+! xc5 [ 37...xc5? 38.xe6 and the King will be swiftly mated ] 38.c2 b5 39.c6+ xc6 40.xc6 xc6 41.xe6+ Sometimes a Rook + Bishop would have chances to create a blockade but here the Bishop on g7 has no good outpost and it's instead blocked in by the pawns, the b4 pawn is dropping and the W hite Queen is far too strong. Caruana wraps the game up with the minimum of drama. b5 42.c4+ b6 43.xb4+ c6 44.c4+ d6 45.d3 e7 46.f3 e4 47.fxe4 c7 48.g1 c3 49.a6+ e5 50.g6 c7 51.f5+ d6 52.d5+ e7 53.e5 d7 54.c5+ f7 55.c4+ f8 56.e6 e7 57.c8+ e8 58.d7 e7 59.d8+ e8 60.d6+ An excellent game from the young Italian, who is rapidly rising up the rankings - still, I'm not convinced his novelty is enough to give White an edge in this line although I'm sure we'll see more games in this line in the months t o come. 1-0

1301

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 leads to perpetual ] B12 2714 46.gxh4 gxh4 47.g2? [ 47.f1 only move. ] 2681 26.06.2011 47...f7? This move loses all the advantage. [ Much better and probably winning was 47...d7! 48.xc5 xa4 ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 48.f2 g5 49.xh4 c6 50.b5 a8 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.d2 bc6 51.d3 f5 52.g3 f6 53.f4 g6 9.2f3 e4 10.0-0 g6 11.xc6 bxc6 54.g3 xe4+ 55.xe4 fxe4 56.c4 c6 12.g5 e7 13.xe4 dxe4 14.d4 d5 57.g4 xa4 58.xe4+ f6 59.f4+ 15.h5N White is trying something new in this ½-½ game. xe5 [ 15...xe5 16.xg6 xd4 17.xf7+ xf7 B12 18.xd4 f6 19.xf6 gxf6 20.ae1 ab8 1233 21.b3 f5 22.f3 exf3 23.xf3 White has Caruana,Fabiano 2598 some initiative in this rook endgame. ] Motylev,Alexander 2644 16.ad1 Aeroflot Open (3) 16.02.2008 [ 16.fd1 0-0 17.c3 b5 18.a4 b8 [David Vigorito] 19.ab1 f6 20.c5 d8 21.xd8+ xd8 Black is ok. ] Another game in the Short variation. The 16...0-0 17.c3 b5 18.a4 b8 young Caruana plays the sharp 6.Be3 only to Black is passive at the moment but his pieces follow with the passive 8.c3. Black vigorously are in play and he has an extra pawn, which seizes the initiative. After White misses his is something to count on. 19.h1 The wrong chance to f ight back, Black's centre rolls idea, much better was: through White's position. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 [ 19.b3 f6 20.c5 and White has 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 compensation due to the bishop pair, but a White's sharpest way of meeting 5...c5. White long game is ahead of us. ] relies on piece play and may break with c4. 19...f6 20.d4 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.c3 This is not very [ 20.f4 this logical move simply doesn't testing. work: c4! with good play for Black ] [ 8.c4 is considered White's most critical 20...c8 Black could have played even choice. It looks like Black is surviving after stronger: bc6 9.a4 a6! when 10.cxd5 b5! ] [ 20...c5! 21.xc5 c8 22.a3 c4 [ 8.g5 is another critical try ] 23.h3 xd4 24.xd4 xb2 8...bc6 9.f4 g5!? with advantage. ] [ Motylev tries to take advantage of White's 21.e3 c5 22.c3 b7 23.e2 g6 24.f3 s l o w p l a y . 9...xd4 followed by . ..Nc6 xc3 25.bxc3 ab8 26.fxe4 c7 27.b5 should be enough to equalize. Exchanging a d8 Black has achieved the better play with a piece helps Black, because he has less strong hold on the dark squares. 28.d3 e5 space. ] 29.g3 bc8 30.dd1 xd1 31.xd1 d8 10.fxg5 g7 Black will win the e5-pawn with 32.d3 f6 33.h3 d6 34.xd6 xd6 a double-edged middlegame. 11.d2 xe5 35.e3 a5 The endgame is favourable for 12.b5+ 5c6 13.0-0 0-0 14.xf5?! Black at the moment. 36.e2 g6 37.e1 This hands over the initiative to Black. Instead g7 38.e2 h5 39.g3 h6 40.g2 g7 [ 14.2f3 e4 15.d2 e5 16.xc6 bxc6 41.f2 f8 42.e3 g5 43.e2 g6 17.e2 is unclear. Black has a big centre, Black has steadily improved his position while but his kingside is a little weak and White W hite can 't do mu ch except wa it . 44.g2 has reasonable piece play. ] d6 45.f2 h4 It was also possible was to 14...xf5 15.c5 xg5! go for ...g4 ideas. [ 15...e8 16.h5 walks into an annoying [ 45...d7 46.xc5 xa4 47.f8 pin and gives White pressure against f7. ] 1232 Caruana,Fabiano Laznicka,Viktor AAI GM New Delhi IND (5) [Milos Pavlovic]

1302

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.f3 h6 17.g4? [ White wants to fight for the initiative, but this overlooks Black's reply. White should just take with 17.xf8 xf8 although Black has good play. ] 17...g6! 18.h1 [ 18.h3 h5 does not help. After White defends g4 Black can just move his rook, remaining a pawn up. ] 18...xg4 19.g1 h5 [ 19...f4 also looks good. ] 20.xf8 xf8 With two p awns for the exchange and good dark-squared control, Black has an excellent game. 21.d3 e3?! This adventure could have backfired. [ 21...ce7 was worth considering. From here Black supports the f5-knight and may head to g6, shielding the g-file while eyeing f4. ] 22.e2 g4 23.g3 h8 24.g2?! [ White misses a chance to fight back here with 24.ag1 f5 25.h3 threatens Nh2! and after ( not 25.xe6 f2+ 26.g2 xd3 ) 25...ge5 26.xg7 xf3+ 27.xf3 xf3 28.1g3 the tables are turning in White's favour. ] 24...f5 Now Black has a nice grip. 25.e2 h6 26.e1 e5 The Black pawns soon sweep away all in their path. 27.d1 f6 28.g1 e7 [ Also strong is 28...e4 29.d4 xd4 30.xg4 ( 30.cxd4 xd4 ) 30...h4! ] 29.d2 e3 30.f3 xd1 31.xd1 e4 32.b3 f4 33.g4 f3 34.c5 e5 35.h4 f2 36.f1 e3 0-1

V-Ivanchuk, V annotated by Gawain in the archives ] 12...a5 Postny seems well prepared and responds with the most combative line. [ 12...xc3 is described by Gawain in his annotations to Karjakin-Tukhaev as 'sensible' but I agree with him that White is somewhat better after 13.xc3 a6 14.b1 a3 15.xb7 ] 13.b1 xc2 14.b3 e7 15.d6+ [ 15.d4 worked out well for White in Tukhaev, A (2546) -Mirzoeva, E (2251) Samara 2012 but I'm sure Black's play can be improved upon: xc3 16.xc3 e4 17.b5+ f8 18.d2 xe5 19.fc1 A) 19...h6! leaves White having to demonstrate sufficient compensation 20.f4 may be best and now possible would be f6 21.c7 g8 22.xb7 c8 23.xc8+ xc8 24.xf5 exf5 ( 24...xf5? 25.d3 f6 26.b8 wins the knight on c8) 25.xd5 d6 26.d7 xb5 27.xb5 a1+ 28.f2 xa2+ 29.f3 g6 and it is White who has to be more careful in order to hold the draw; B) 19...a6 20.c7 g8 21.b4 c6? ( 21...h6 was necessary ) 22.7xc6! B1) 22...bxc6 23.xc6 f6 24.e7+ xe7 ( 24...f8?? 25.xf5+ g8 26.e7+ f8 27.xd5+ ) 25.xe7 axb5 26.b7 leaves Black struggling for a draw; B2) 22...h6 23.c8+ h7 24.xa8 xa8 25.f1 with a clear edge to White ] 15...f8 16.xb7 b6 17.d1!? A novelty that seems to cause Black some practical problems over the board although it may not lead to a real edge for White. 1234 B12 [ 17.d6 a5 18.f3!? was tried by Karjakin with success against Fridman which Caruana,Fabiano 2770 I cover in the next game of this month's Postny,Evgeny 2651 update. ( 18.b7 b6= )] 40th TCh-GRE 2012 (2.2) 01.07.2012 17...c1 18.a4 [Tom Rendle] [ after 18.d6 a5 I can't see anything better for W hite than trying to repeat with 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 19.b7 b6 ( 19...c6!? 20.xa5 xa5 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 8.0-0 xb2 21.b5 c6 22.c5 e7 is possible for 9.e1 cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 b4 B l a c k b u t i t s e e m s v e r y r i s k y t o m e) 12.db5! This seems to be the critical test in 20.d6 ] this line at the moment. [ 12.b1 doesn't seem as dangerous and for 18...c7 [ 18...d4 deserves careful attention in this all the goings on here check out Gashimov, 1303

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 position, if Black is doing OK here then there should be nothing to fear from 17.Bd1 A) 19.b4!? f4 20.a5 xe5 ( 20...d3 21.c5 xf1 22.xf1 is rather unclear as Black is going to drop the Bishop on d4 at some point) 21.d2 b6 22.xb6 axb6 23.xb6 c8 a n d B l a c k s e e m s so lid e n o u gh h e re . White will have to work hard to avoid just being a pawn down once Black gets his rooks connected.; B) 19.d6! appears to be critical and now f4 20.g3 ( 20.b7!?; 20.a5!? ) 20...xe5 21.b4 and Black is struggling to get untangled. The position remains messy but easier for White to play. ] 19.d6 [ 19.xb6 axb6 20.d6 leads to the same thing ] 19...g6 20.b4 g8 [ 20...a5 doesn't really help as now White can play 21.f4 with the strong threat of Rb7 ] 21.xb6 axb6 22.c3! [ 22.xb6 let's the pressure off Black earlier than I believe is necessary xb6 23.xb6 h6 and Black has basically equalised ] 22...d8 23.a4 h5 24.fc1 h7 Postny has finally managed to connect his rooks but now Caruana keeps up the pressure b y i n v a d i n g o n t h e 7 t h . 25.c7 f5! giving the pawn back solves most of Black's problems [ 25...f8? 26.c2 would leave Black in serious trouble, e.g. f5 27.xf5 exf5 28.a4 g8 29.h4 With a winning position for W hite - Black simply can't move anything ] 26.xf5?! The wrong way to regain the pawn and now Black is completely fine. [ 26.xf7! keeps a bit more tension in the position although Black is still OK after xf7 27.xf7 g5 28.cc7 hc8! although W hite remains better after 29.h4! h6 30.c2 ] 26...xf5 27.xf7 c8! 28.xc8 xc8 29.h3 c1+ 30.h2 c8 The position has simplified and it's just equal. Black has a strong passed pawn on d5 but his King is too vulnerable to create any real chances. 31.b3?!

[ 31.h4 was a better option allowing White the option to sacrifice a rook for perpetual in some lines, i.e. g6 32.e7 c4 33.xg7+ xg7 34.f6+ h7 35.e7+ g8 36.d8+ g7 37.e7+ h6 38.f8+ h7 39.e7+ ] 31...g6 [ 31...g6! would've given Black chances to win after 32.f8 ( 32.e7?? e4! 33.xe6+ h7 and Qf4+ will win) 32...xf8 33.xf8 f4+ 34.g1 d2 ( 34...xe5?! 35.e8+ g5 36.d8+ f6 37.xb6= ) 35.d6 h7 and White has an unpleasant defensive task ahead of him to draw from here ] 32.f4 c5 33.d2 f8 34.d4 e4 35.f3 g6 36.h4 e7 37.f2 g5 38.g3 e3 39.b4 c8 40.f4 Even here Black could play on with [ 40.f4 e1 as he's hardly risking much in doing so. 41.a4 may create enough counterplay though so White is probably not in any real danger ] ½-½

1235 Christiansen,Larry Mark Seirawan,Yasser ch-USA GpB Saint Louis USA (2) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2586 2636 16.04.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 Black's plan of immediately targeting White's centre is probably the most principled and continues to be highly popular. 6.e3 b6 7.c3 xb2 Yasser grabs the material but previously I've found this very risky. [ I annotated 7...c6 in my March update in Motylev, A (2687)-Alsina Leal, D (2531) Moscow 2011 which is a safer option. I've investigated recent updates in this variation. A) That game continued 8.0-0 but Black drew reasonably easily. xb2 9.e1 c4 10.b1 xc2 11.xb7 b8 ( 11...b4 was Alsina Leal's choice) 12.xb8+ xb8 13.a1 b4 14.b1 xc3 15.xb8+ d7 16.c1 ( Last time I wrote 16.f1 with a very sharp position. My computer declares the position as 0.00 but I wouldn't be surprised if W hite had a strong 1304

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 sacrifice opening up Black's king as he has no short term method of extracting h i s k i n g s i d e p i e c e s .; 16.d1!? is also interesting.) 16...c7 ( 16...xc1+ 17.xc1 a5!? is the computer's suggestion but 18.g5 g6 19.h4 h5 20.a3 leaves Black under unpleasant pressure. ) 17.a8 b7 18.f8 xc1+ 19.xc1 g6 20.a3 ( 20.g5!? is probably critical when xd4 21.xf7+ c6 22.xe6 xe5 23.d8+ c5 24.a3+! and White's attack looks decisive: b5 25.b7+ a6 26.c5 f6 27.a4! leaves Black's naked king in trouble. ) 20...f6 21.f4 h5 22.b8+! a6 23.exf6 gxf6 With a highly complex position. Black's protected extra pawn will be decisive should he be able to complete his development but he still has to be careful with his vulnerable king. Balogh, C (2601)-Michalik, P (2471) Aix-les-Bains 2011.; B) 8.b5!? has also been seen a couple times this year but I can hardly believe that it should trouble Black. B1) 8...c4 9.0-0 ( I commented that the 9.h4 g6 10.0-0 b4 11.xc4!? xc3 12.bxc3 dxc4 13.d5 c7 14.dxc6 xc6 of Gashimov, V-Vallejo Pons, F Linares 2010 "and the complications have resulted in a roughly level position".) 9...a6 ( 9...0-0-0!? wa s V a l e ry P o p o v's c h o i c e a g a in s t Alexa nd er Mo tylev b u t lo o ks a litt le risky. ) 10.xc6+ xc6 11.h4 Zhigalko, A (2571)-Lupulescu, C (2626) Aix-les-Bains 2011 when I don't think Bla c k s h o u ld a llo w h is p a wn s t o b e d o u b l e d a n d s o e7 looks respectable.; B2) 8...g4!? 9.dxc5 xc5 10.xc5 xc5 11.d4 xd4 12.xd4 ( 12.xc6+!? bxc6 13.xd4 might be White's best try for an edge. c5 14.b3 c4 15.d4 e7 16.f3 f5 17.b4! and White's knight on d4 and play on the queenside grants him a small a d v a n t a g e .) 12...ge7 13.f3 h5 14.0-0-0 c8 15.he1 0-0 16.xc6 xc6 17.cb5 g6 18.xc6 xc6 19.c3 b6 20.d4 c8 and somehow

Black managed to grind out the victory in t h is le ve l e n d ga m e . Ne ve d n ic h y, V (2534)-Dreev, A (2697) Aix-les-Bains 2011.; C) 8.a4!? Defending the pawn and gaining time o n t he quee n. Followin g a5+ 9.c3 c4 10.0-0 b5 11.c5 xc5 12.dxc5 ge7 13.b4 was played, deviating from Jakovenko, D-Eljanov, P Dagomys 2010. In fact I suggested this move in my annotations to Ni Hua - Ionov, S from last year, maybe Inarkiev reads ChessPublishing?! ( That game continued with 13.d4 ) 13...d8 ( I offered 13...a3 14.c1 xc1 15.fxc1 0-0 as marginally better for W hite but Black is extremely solid. The same could be said of the game continuation.) 14.a4 a6 15.d4 xd4 16.xd4 c6 17.d2 0-0 18.a2 c7 19.fa1 ad8 20.e3 f6 21.f4 g5!? Over-ambitious in my eyes although it was good enough to get the draw. ( 21...fxe5 22.xe5 xe5 23.fxe5 e4 24.g3 is a little better for White.) 22.axb5 axb5 and already a draw was agreed in Inarkiev, E (2674)-Dreev, A (2697) Olginka 2011. The critical line looks to be 23.g3 when g6 24.g4! ( 24.fxg5 fxe5 25.a6!? xd4 26.cxd4 f7 27.dxe5 d4 is very messy. Those c and d pawns look very formidable.) 24...f5 25.e2 g4 26.a6 favours White with his queenside control. The position actually re m i n d s m e o f K a m sk y- R a g g e r s e e n elsewhere in the update in which Black was squeezed to death. ] 8.b1! At the moment this has become more challenging than 8.Nb5 xc2? This is the one capture I failed to look at in my notes to Inarkiev-Eljanov last year but I think there's a very good reason. [ The main move 8...xb1+ was recently d e a lt a b lo w b y K a rja kin . 9.xb1 c4 10.xb7 c6 11.b5! An improvement over Inarkiev's 11.Kd2. Karjakin, S (2747) Eljanov, P (2761) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010. ] [ 8...b4!? is still an unplayed idea that looks interesting. ] 9.b5+! d7 [ 9...c6 10.c1 xc1+ 11.xc1 0-0-0 12.dxc5 and Black can hardly have anything 1305

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 like enough compensation for the queen with just a rook and one pawn. ] 10.c1 a6 Again the queen sacrifice is unconvincing so Seirawan is forced to sacrif ice a co uple o f pawns to ret urn his queen into the game. 11.xb7 b8 12.xa6 b2 13.b5 Pinning the d7 knight and highlighting the weakness of the Black king. [ White had an even stronger move with 13.a4! b7 ( 13...xa2 14.dxc5 e7 15.c6 and Black is forced to part with a piece to prevent the march of the c pawn.) 14.xb7 xb7 15.dxc5 c7 16.b5 already looks resignable. White has an extra pawn, a huge lead in development and in fact Black cannot avoid dropping the exchange. ] 13...c4 14.0-0 So material is level but White has completed his development while Black's king is still stuck in the centre for the f o r e se e a b le f u t u r e . T h is a ll o ws W h it e a decisive initiative. a3 Black has to try and reduce the pressure on his position. [ Developing with 14...e7 fails to 15.a4! xb5 ( 15...d8 16.b1! wins, i.e. xb1 17.xb1 xc3 18.xd7+ xd7 19.b8+ c8 20.xc8+ e7 21.d2 a1+ 22.e1 when Black cannot escape: f6 23.b4+ f7 24.xd7+ etc. )] 15.a4! Of course White declines the queen trade. e7 [ 15...b2 fails to 16.g4! g6 ( 16...xg4 17.b1+- ) 17.b1! xb1 18.xb1 xb1+ 19.xb1 xb1+ 20.g2+- ] [ 15...e7 looks pathetic and allows White various wins but the most clinical appears to be 16.g5! f6 17.exf6 gxf6 18.e5! d8 19.b5 g7 20.d6+ f8 21.xd7+ xd7 22.xf5 exf5 23.f4+- ] 16.b5 Another piece joins the attack. b2 [ 16...xa2 17.d6+ f8 ( 17...xd6 18.xd7+ ) 18.xf5 exf5 19.a1+- ] 17.d2! Precise play by Christiansen. It's not just Black's king that is in trouble his queen is still very short on squares. e4 18.c3 e2 [ 18...xa2 19.d6+ f8 20.a1 e2 21.fe1 is no better. ] 19.fe1 xf3 20.xe2 xe2 21.d6+ xd6 22.xd6 b7 23.c6 [ 23.b4 is actually a faster mate but either way White is of course completely winning.

A complete demolition of the American veteran and proof that 8...Qxc2? is hardly the remedy to Black's problems in this line. ] 1-0

1236 David,Alberto Khenkin,Igor Geneve [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2315 2575 1996

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 5.b5 e6 6.e3 ge7 7.c3 d7 8.xc6 xc6 9.f4!? g5! The only way to obtain c o u n t e r p l a y . 10.f3 White comple tes his development hoping to exploit black's weaknesses on the K-side. This move was thought to be a refutation of the whole line, but the novelty introduced by GM Igor Khenkin, the leading expert in this line, made White to forget this move once and for all. [ After this game White switched to 10.fxg5!? xe5 ( 10...h6 deserves certain attention. In Schroe der-Arkell, Hastin gs 199 9 Blac k obtained good prospects after 11.f3 hxg5 12.xg5 e7 13.e3 h4+ 14.d2 c7 15.e2 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.a3 g5 18.xg5 xg5+ 19.c2 g6+ 20.d2 c8 This line needs further practical tests.) 11.f3 xf3+ 12.xf3 g7 13.0-0 0-0 14.d2 b5 The critical position for the evaluation of this line. For the sacrificed pawn Black obtained a strong pawn centre and bishop pair. The question is whether this is worth a pawn. Here are some examples: A) 15.f2 was played in Lutz-Kacheishvili, Pula 1997. Black easily obtained good play: e5 16.g3 d4 17.cxd4 exd4 18.f4 d5! 19.f3 ( 19.a4 c6 20.d6 fe8 21.af1 d3 22.xf7 d4+ 23.h1 e2 is extremely dangerous for White.) 19...xf3 20.xf3 fe8 21.a4!? e2 22.e5 xe5 23.xe5 d3 24.f3 e8 and despite being an exchange up White has to fight for draw.; B) 15.fd1 c6 16.h3 e5 17.f3 c8! 18.xc8 axc8 19.f2 cd8 20.g3 fe8 21.e1 d4! 22.xe5 xf3 23.xg7 xg7 24.gxf3 dxc3 25.bxc3 1306

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe1+ 26.xe1 d5 27.e7 xc5! 28.xb7 xc3 and Black managed to drew, Nisipeanu-Svetushkin, Bucuresti 1998. Although in these two games Black managed to solve his problems this line seems rather promising for W hite and I think W hite can imp ro ve som ewhe re . Unfortunately a lack of practical examples doesn't allow us to draw a final conclusion a b o u t t h i s l i n e . U n d o u b t e d l y we c a n expect new games here. ] 10...gxf4 11.xf4 xc5 12.bd2 b6 13.b3 f2+ 14.e2 Black has to win the pawn back but White is threatening to seize theinitiative on the K-side (Rf1, Ng5 etc) so Black should try to create threats against W hite's King first. a5! 15.xa5 b5+ 16.d2 d4!! A very nice move: Black doesn't recapture the Knight and just plays a "quiet" move. [ GM Khenkin has already played this position vs. Glek, W erfen 1990 where he has f aile d to equa lise a f t er th e na tu ra l 16...xa5 17.a4 d7 18.f1 c5 19.g5 g8 a n d n o w t h e n a t u r a l 20.h5 s e c u re d W h it e b e t t e r ch a n ce s . ( 20.f3 as was played in the game allowed strong counterplay after d4! )] 17.b4 The only move. The alternatives loose quickly: [ 17.b3 dxc3+ 18.bxc3 d8+ 19.bd4 xd4 20.cxd4 xd4+ 21.xd4 xd4+ 22.e1 xf4 with a decisive attack ] [ 17.xd4 xd4 18.c2 xc3 19.bxc3 d8 20.e1 d3+ 21.c1 xa5 with a clear edge for Black. ] 17...dxc3+ 18.c2? This move loses by force. [ 18.xc3! should be played although it's much easier to recommend such a move in h o m e a n a ly s is ra t h e r t h a n t o p la y it i n tournament game! Black has a very strong attack here as well but W hite's defensive resources should not be underestimated. d8 19.b1 ( 19.d2! deserves attention. Here I have failed to find clear win for Black although his position looks very promising. Just a few variations: d4+ 20.c2 c7+ 21.b3 xa1 22.xa1 d3+ 23.c3 b6 24.a4 xc3+ 25.xc3 xa4+ 26.b2 xc3+ 27.xc3 bxa5 28.bxa5 g8

wit h sligh t ly b et t e r cha n ces f or B la c k .) 19...d4+ 20.b3 xa1 21.xa1 d3+ 22.c2 f2+ 23.d2 xg2 24.xb7 xf3 25.d6+ e7 26.xb5 c8+ 27.c3 ( 27.c3 a6 ) 27...e2! and Black wins on the spot since W hite can't parry threat of 28...Rxc3. ] 18...d8 19.c1 a4+ 20.b3 xb4 Now White is defenceless. 21.f1 xb3+ 22.axb3 e4+ 23.xc3 c8+ 24.b2 White resigned in view of quick mate: [ 24.b2 c2+ 25.a3 c5+ A brilliant performance from GM Igor Khenkin! ] 0-1

1237 Davies,Nigel R Speelman,Jonathan S Redbus KO Southend ENG (2.2) [Nigel Davies]

B12

03.04.1999

1.e4 c6 2.e2 d5 3.e5 c5 4.d4 c6 5.c3 cxd4 6.cxd4 f5 7.bc3 I didn't know it at the time, but this is a new move. [ The conventional treatment is with 7.g3 g6 8.c3 e6 but this does not seem to be very effective Van den Doel - Magem Badals, Mondariz 2000 continued 9.b5!? ( Neither 9.e3 ge7 10.e2 f5 11.xf5 xf5 12.b3 a6 13.0-0 e7 14.ac1 a5 (Couso - Vernersson, Swedish Ch., Ronneby 1998) nor; 9.h4 h5 10.e3 e7 11.e2 xh4 12.xh5 xh5 13.xh5 h6 14.g3 g5 15.f4 e7 16.f3 b6 17.d2 0-0-0 18.f2 f5 (Braga - Brond, Mar del Plata 1976) seems to bother Black too much. ) 9...ge7 10.g5 c8 11.0-0 h6 12.h4 a6 13.xc6+ xc6 14.f4 d7 15.xe7 xe7 and now White finally got in his highly sought after 16.f5 , but even this proved ineffective after exf5 17.f3 0-0 18.xd5 d8 19.xd7 xd7 20.d5 c5+ 21.h1 b6 when Black had good counterplay. ] 7...e6 8.a3 a6 9.e3 f6 10.h3 h5 Speelman decides to stop g2-g4 but in doing so has to accept permanent kingside weakness. [ Taking the pawn with 10...fxe5 11.dxe5 xe5 looks downright bad after 12.d4 1307

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 intending g2-g4. ] 11.exf6 xf6 12.g3 d6 13.g2 c8 14.0-0 a5 15.f4 c4 16.c1 xf4 17.xf4 g5!? Sensing his growing positional inferiority, Speelman decides to invite complica tions. P robably this wa s a goo d practical decision, though Black's position soon teeters on the brink. 18.fe2 g8 19.b3 a5 20.d1 b6 21.b4 c4 22.a4 c6 23.c1 f7 24.c5 c7 25.e1 b6 26.d3 d6 27.c3 e4!? Inviting the following exchange sac, which certainly looks close to winning for White. If anyone finds a win for me I'd quite like to know aboutit! 28.xc4 dxc4 29.e5+ g7 30.g4 hxg4 31.xe4 xe4 32.g3 h7 33.h5+ f8 34.hxg4 e7 Heading for the hills.... 35.f3 gf8 36.e3 d8 37.d5 c7 38.c6+ xc6 39.dxc6 c7 40.c3 e5 41.xc4 d3 42.c3 e4 43.g7+ xc6 44.c1+ b5 45.g3 By now I knew I'd fluffed it. I had to win this game to stay in the tournament, so I tried for a few more moves. a4 46.xg5 f4 47.xf4 xf4 48.c6 xg4 [ After 48...xg4 W hite must play 49.c3 and he's certainly not better. ] ½-½

1238 Degraeve,Jean Marc Lalic,Bogdan (open) Cannes (5) [Lalic, Bogdan]

B12 2566 2518 11.02.2004

Bogd en L alic kindly se nt m e a f ile of his games recently, among which I found the f o l lo wi n g t o p ica l Ca ro -K a n n . L a li c is a n extre me ly st ron g p la yer wh en provo ke d , although all too often he is willing to settle for a short draw. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 e6 5.d2 d7 6.gf3 [ The viability o f 6.f4 hinges on whether White can support his centre. The further c5 7.gf3 b6 8.e2 h6 9.h3 xb2 10.c4 c2 11.c1 c3! 12.f2 f5 ( 12...c8! ) 13.f1 xe3 14.xe3 cxd4 15.xc2 d3 16.e3 xc1 17.hxc1 Morozevich, ABareev, E/ Sochi 2004 led to obscure complications. ]

6...e7 7.h4 c5 I would classify 7...c5 an obvious move, yet other ideas have been at least as common: [ 7...g6 8.e2 c5 9.c3 c6 10.xg6 hxg6 Black is fine here. 11.a3 a5 12.0-0 e7 13.f4 cxd4 14.cxd4 b6 15.f3 a4 16.b1 0-0 17.e1 a5 18.g5 xg5 19.fxg5 xe5 20.h4 b3 21.f4 c2 Flu vi a P o ya t o s, J -P e re z d e M ig u e l, A / Barcelona 2005 ] [ 7...c7 I like this less as Black does not need to commit his queen just yet. 8.e2 ( Why not 8.xf5 xf5 9.d3 xe3 10.fxe3 c5 11.c3 with a good version of the Stonewall.) 8...c5 9.c3 cxd4 10.cxd4 c2 11.c1 c8 12.0-0 g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.c4 dxc4 15.xc2 e7 16.ac1 b5 17.h3 b6 18.g4 d5 19.a3 d7 20.f3 0-0 21.d2 c7 Widjajanti, LRoos, C/Luzern 1982 I like Black's qu ee nside p awn m ajority a nd po we rf u l Knight. ] 8.c3 cxd4? [ L a l i c p r e f e r s 8...b6 and gives the following analysis: 9.b3 ( 9.b3 a5!? ) 9...xb3! ( 9...c4? 10.xc4! dxc4 11.xc4 xb3 12.d6+ d8 13.axb3 c7 14.xf7 g8 15.xf5 xf5 16.g5 ) A) 10.xb3?! c4! 11.d2 b5 12.a4 bxa4 13.xa4 ( 13.xf5 xf5 14.xa4 f6 15.exf6 gxf6 ) 13...c2 14.a1 b6; B) 10.axb3 cxd4 11.xd4 ( 11.cxd4?! h6 ) 11...g5!? 12.xf5 xf5 13.xa7 xa7 14.xa7 xe5 15.b5+ e7 ] 9.cxd4 b6 10.b3 xb3 11.xb3! e4!? Trying to deflect white from an easy advantage, Instead: [ 11...h6? 12.c1 ] [ 11...0-0-0 12.c1+ b8 13.xf5 xf5 14.d2 ] 12.f3 [ 12.b5?! c a n b e a n s w e r e d b y c6 13.c1 e7 ] [ Meanwhile 12.c1!? is worth consideration. ] 12...f5! 13.xf5 xf5 14.c1 d8 15.a5 [ 15.b5?! a6= ] [ 15.f2!? ] 1308

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 go ...c5. e6 5.b3!? d7 6.f3 g6 [ 6...g4 I think I prefer Schlosser's move to t h i s o n e , wh i c h l e a d s t o a ve r y m u r k y situation: 7.h3 h5 8.e2 f6 9.exf6 gxf6 10.f4 g7 11.0-0 e7 12.h4 f7 13.d2 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.d6 e5 I'm worried about Black's King in the centre. Several short variations will demonstrate the King's vulnerability. 16.dxe5 fxe5 17.a5 b6 18.g4 0-0-0 ( 18...c5 19.xd7+ xd7 20.c4!; 18...h6 19.c3 d4 20.a3 f4 ) 19.b3 ( 19.e7! Here W hite could have played more i n c i s i v e l y : de8 20.c4! ) 19...h4?! 20.g5 xg4 21.xg4 c5 22.xc5 Zhigalko, S-Novitzkij, D/Minsk 2003 Black scrambled a draw somehow. At this stage his position is lost. ] 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 f5 9.c3 e7 10.g4 h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 f5 Black is clearly studiously avoiding .. .c6-c5. He reasons that the Knight on b3 makes no contribution as long as he stays away from that move. The emphasis of the game stays on the Kingsidegood strategy! 13.exf6 xf6 14.d3 xd3 15.xd3 g6 16.d2 e7 17.ae1 0-0 18.h1 ae8 19.f5 [ 19.e2 The plan of doubling on the e file is n e a t l y p a r r i e d : f7! To answer g5 with Bxg5! 20.fe1 h4= ] 19...gxf5 20.gxf5 e5 21.dxe5 xe5 22.h3 h8 23.d4 Back from the edge but White's King is open too. g8 24.e6 f7 25.f4 c5 26.g1 [ 26.e3 The attempt to attack Black's centre rebounds: b6 27.d1 d8 28.e6 ( White should prefer the restrained 28.b3 if h e g o e s i n f o r t h i s l i n e .) 28...d4! Freeing up b7 for the Black Queen and reminding W hite that he has his own 1239 B12 problems with the King. 29.g5 b7+ Delchev,Aleksander 2575 30.g2 xg2+ 31.xg2 xg5 32.xd8 Schlosser,Philipp 2525 f6+ 33.h3 xd8 ] National I Besancon (6) 2003 26...b6! eyeing b7 again. 27.g3 Shielding [Andrew Martin] the King and giving the option of Kg1 as and 28.hxg3 d4! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2!? w h e n n e c e s s a r y . xg3 A s t r a n g e m o v e , a t l e a s t t o m y e y e . A s 29.cxd4 f3 30.xe8+ xe8 31.g2 e4 Tarrasch remarked 'A Black Knight on b6 is Delchev overstretched in what was probably a almost always badly placed'. The same might slightly better position around move 18. Thus apply to White! Anyway, White has an idea. Nd2 and Nb3 is interesting and certainly worth He wants to make it unattractive for Black to a look. Doubtless it will come as a complete

15...b8 [ 15...b4+?! fails to nullify White's a d v a n t a g e : 16.d2 xd2+ ( 16...xa5 17.xa5+ b6 18.b4 ) 17.xd2 b8 18.g4 ( 18.b5 a6 ) 18...g6 19.h4 h5 20.g5 b6 21.e2 Black must play very precisely in the given position. ] 16.a3! e7 17.b5? [ Degraeve misses his opportunity: 17.a6! bxa6 18.c6+ c7 ( 18...e8? 19.xb8 xb8 20.c8++- ) 19.xe7+ b7 20.xf5 exf5 21.f2 f8! 22.c5 f4! 23.d2 ( 23.xf4? e6! ) 23...d8 And as we see time and time again, oppo rtun itie s do not com e around very often against the strongest players. ] 17...b6! [ 17...a6? 18.xa6!+- ] 18.0-0 a6 19.e2 d7 20.b4 hc8 21.xc8 xc8! [ 21...xc8?! 22.b3 ] [ 21...xc8?! 22.c1+ d7 23.b3 ] 22.c1 [ 22.xb7?! c3! 23.c1 c4 24.c5+? ( 24.xc4 dxc4 25.c5+ xc5 26.dxc5 c2 ) 24...xc5 25.bxc5 d3 ] 22...xc1+ 23.xc1 c7= 24.f2 b1 25.e3 a2 Rather tragically, White loses on time in a drawn position but the value of this game lies a study of Black's opening approach. I am indebted to Bogdan for supplying most of the analysis here he is an excellent analyst as you can see. I also feel that he would make a very fine coach for strong players (say over 2000 ELO). Bogdan can be reached at [email protected]. 0-1

1309

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 su rp ris e t o th e a ve ra ge o pp o n e n t t o o . 4 15.b1 b6 Nd2!? joins 4 Be3!? as a 21st century [ You'd think that 15...f5 would give Black interpretation of the Advance variation. the advantage, but 16.e2! c5 17.g3 0-1 xg3 18.fxg3 actually favours White, who has pressure down the f-file, and Black will have trouble castling. Furthermore, g4 and h5 are coming. ] 1240 B12 Della Morte,German 2345 16.b3 f5 17.e2 c5 18.dxc5! [ Promising but not as convincing is 18.g3 Lafuente,Pablo 2454 xg3 ( 18...xg5 19.hxg5 xd4 20.g6! ) LNA Copa Puma (5) 09.09.2007 19.fxg3 cxd4 20.xd4 c8 21.hf1 [John Watson] , for example, c5 22.xc5 xc5 23.g4 h7 24.h5 ( 24.c4!? , counting upon the 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 m a t e o n d 8 . T h e r e m i g h t f o l l o w c8 g6 6.ge2 e7 This move was played by 25.cxd5 xd5 26.f3 a6 27.df1 c7 the late Tony Miles. You have to wonder 28.b2 and Black is tied down, but I'm not whether we'll be seeing much more of it. I sure that Black can't hang on) 24...d7! don't think that Black's game was so bad in 25.fe1 b5 26.d4 a5 27.b2 b4 the early going, however. 7.f4 . Again, White must prove that he can get [ 7.e3 is the main option, recommended by through. ] Rowson, who continues d7 8.d2 h5 9.f4 hxg4 10.xg6 fxg6 11.e2! f8 18...xc5 19.c4! Tying the knight to defence 12.0-0-0 Nataf, I-Andersson, F/Stockholm of d5. [ 19.g3 xg3 20.fxg3 should favour 2000. But there are many options along the W hite as well, but then it's very hard to way. ] make inroads, because d5 is permanently 7...g5?! defended. ] [ 7...d7 prevents h4 due to the simple This is too desperate a move capture by the bishop, so White's plan has 19...xg5?! been interrupted. Then 8.e3 is natural, Black feels that he has to get his remaining and ( 8.h5!? would be the ambitious way rook out. [ Still, 19...h8 20.c3 e7 21.xe7 to proceed, simply hitting g7, and if f8 9.h4 xe7 22.cxd5 exd5 23.b5! leaves Black can actually be played, )] in trouble ] 8.d3 xf4 9.xf4 d7 [ Often 9...b6 is played in a position like 20.hxg5 e7 21.cxd5 xd5 22.c1 xf2 this, to force White into some concession to 23.c3 Breaking the blockade on d5. b4 [ 23...fe3 24.e4! f4 25.c7+! d8 defend his b-pawn. Here, for example, Rb1 ( 25...xc7 26.d6+ e8 27.h8# ) would forfeit castling queenside, and b3 26.d7+! xd7 27.b5+ c7 28.c5+ would cast it into doubt. White might reply d7 29.d6+ c8 30.h8# ] 10.xg6 hxg6 11.d2 because xb2 12.b1 a3 13.xb7 is a good trade-off for 24.b5 Now it's easy, with the exchange and attack. b6 25.a4 a5 26.b5 d5 White. ] 10.h4 Not to trap a bishop, as h4-h5 so often 27.a3+ d7 28.c5 a4 29.hc1 a5 do es , bu t to s ta ke o ut m ore sp ace ! xd3 30.bxa4 a8 31.b3 d8 32.a5 a6 33.xd5+ exd5 34.xd5+ 11.xd3 h5 12.gxh5 [ 12.g5 e7 lets a knight into f5, although in 1-0 this crazy line a beautiful knight and White's horrendous bishop do not necessarily lead to an advantage, or even equality! See the game itself. The whole variation is a tribute to the power of extra space. ] 12...xh5 13.0-0-0 e7 14.g5 a5 1310

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1241 Dominguez Perez,Leinier Laznicka,Viktor 47th Capablanca Mem Elite (1) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B12 2725 2693 04.05.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.d2 bc6 9.2f3 g4 10.0-0 xf3 11.xf3 c7 12.c4 The first new move on ChessPublishing [ 12.c1 d8 13.c4 Tom covered previously on this site in Caruana, FIturrizaga, E ( and 13.c3 was looked at by Pavlovic in Giri, A-Wojtaszek, R and Black was doing OK in both encounters. )] 12...dxc4 [ 12...0-0-0!? is an interesting reaction, although I believe W hite should be better after 13.cxd5! xd5 and now 14.b3! ( instead 14.c2 was played in Narayanan, S (2381)-Fedoseev, V (2318) Kirishi 2009 and after xe3 15.fxe3 d5 Black was very comfortable and eventually won a long game. ) 14...b8 15.ac1 xe3 16.xe3 and White should have the better chances here with the more active pieces and safer King. ] [ 12...d8 is a safe alternative although White keeps an edge after 13.a4 dxc4 14.xc4 a6 15.e2 and Black will still take a few moves to get organised ] 13.xc4 f5 [ 13...g6?! is an interesting idea, but it seems it's not worth trying to win a pawn h e r e a s i t t a k e s t o o m u c h t i m e : 14.b5 gxe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.a4 c8 17.ac1 d6 18.g3 xb2 19.xc6+ bxc6 20.xc6 xc6 21.xc6+ e7 22.xa7 and White has won the pawn back and has all the winning chances - grabbing on a2 would already lose for Black after xa2? 23.b7+ f6 24.d1! and Black's King is in deep trouble ] 14.e2 A novelty. [ 14.f4 was played by Grischuk in a rapid game d8 15.d3 and he was on top after A) 15...h6! is worth looking at here, for example 16.c2 g5 17.d2 ( 17.xf5 exf5 18.d2 c8 isn't clear at all) 17...h4 18.xh4 d7! 19.e4 xd2 20.xc6+ bxc6 21.xc6+ d7 22.xd7+

xd7 23.f3 g4 and Black has a lot of activity as compensation for the pawn; B) 15...c5 16.c1; C) 15...g6 is a solid option but White is comfortable after 16.c1 g7 17.e2 0-0 18.fd1; D) 15...e7 16.c2 fd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.e3 d7 and after 19.f4! White would h a v e a n o b v i o u s a d v a n t a g e ( 19.e4 xe5 20.xc7 xc7 21.ac1 c6 22.xa7 0-0 and Black has chances to hold although W hite was still better in Grischuk, A (2752)-Evdokimov, A (2569) Apatity 2011 )] 14...xe3 [ 14...e7 15.f4 maybe was the idea of 14. Qe2 - the Bishop is committed to e7 ] 15.xe3 e7 16.d3 0-0 17.e4 Dominguez has managed to keep some edge from the opening but Black is very solid here so it takes a lot to make anything of this kind of advantage. fd8 18.ac1 g6 A sensible choice, blunting the Bishop on the b1-h7 diagonal [ 18...a5 19.a3 a4?! could get Black into trouble, e.g. 20.c3 d7 21.e2 ad8 22.c4 a6 23.c2 and White wins a pawn ] 19.c2 An inaccuracy [ 19.c3! was the correct was to proceed and no w if a5 20.xc6 bxc6 21.d4! xa2 22.xc6 d7 23.b4 and White has a pleasant position although how to breakthrough is again not clear. ] 19...a5! 20.xc6 bxc6 21.xc6 [ 21.d4? now fails to a4 ] 21...ac8?! Just as Laznicka was about to equalise a mistake creeps in and the position again becomes difficult [ 21...ab8! 22.c1 xa2 23.c7 e8 and Black is holding pretty easily here ] 22.xc8 xc8 23.a3 c2 24.b4 a4 25.e4 [ 25.d2 was another way to cause p r o b l e m s . P l a y m i g h t c o n t i n u e a5 and now the direct approach comes very close to working with 26.e4! axb4 27.h6 but it seems Black hold a draw after the line a8! 28.f6+ xf6 29.exf6 f8 30.xf8+ xf8 31.axb4 b2 32.a1 e8 33.g3 xb4 34.a8+ d7 35.f8 e5 36.xf7+ 1311

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e6 37.xh7 ( 37.f8 h5 38.g2 b7= ) 37...xf6 with a theoretical draw. ] 25...c3 26.b7 [ 26.a8+ g7 27.b7 looks dangerous but in fact Black is fine after d8 28.d4 c7! 29.f3 a5 and a draw will surely follow soon ] 26...f8?! [ 26...d8! equalises straight away, there's no way for White to make progress, e.g. A) 27.d2!? c2 ( 27...xa3 28.g3 a1 is also fine) 28.e4 c7 29.a8 c8 30.b7 c7 31.a8 c8; B) 27.d4 b6; C) 27.b8 d3! 28.g5 c6 29.h4 c7 and only Black can be better all of a sudden ] 27.d4! White seizes the opportunity to get the knight to c6 xa3 28.c6 g5 29.g3 c3?! [ 29...a6 seems to hold on here, e.g. 30.d7 b6 31.b5 c3 32.h4 A) 32...xg3+ is less clear after 33.h2 f3 34.g2 f5 35.xa7 xa7 36.xa7 f4 ( 36...xh4? 37.c6 wins as Black's pieces are horribly placed to deal with the b-pawn ) 37.d1! xe5 38.d4 g5 39.b6; B) 32...g7!! 33.hxg5 xb5 34.d8 xc6 35.f6+ g8 36.d1 c1= ] 30.xa7 e7 31.b5 c5 32.c8! [ 32.b6?! b4 33.c8 b3 34.c6 g7 and the pawn drops ] 32...d4 33.d6 xd6 34.exd6 xd6 35.b1 White definitely has chances now although objectively Black should still hold d3 36.a8+ e7 37.a7+ [ 37.a1!? was a dangerous idea ] 37...e8?! [ 37...f6 was necessary 38.a1 e5 39.b6 l o o k s s c a r y b u t a f t e r b3 Black has everything covered ] 38.a1 b3?? An unfortunate blunder in a tricky position [ 38...a3 39.h8+ e7 40.c1 a7 41.b6 d7 and Black is still solid although the advanced pawn gives W hite excellent chances after 42.b2 ] 39.d1 xb5 40.h8+ This line is a little unpleasant for Black - it should be very solid but Black doesn't get any winning chances

and it seems White certainly has an easier position to play. [ 40.h8+ e7 41.d8# ] 1-0

1242 Efimenko,Zahar Gyimesi,Zoltan Bundesliga 2008-9 (12) [John Watson]

B12 2680 2592 28.02.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c4 This is an o l d v a r i a t i o n t h a t wa s n e v e r t h o u g h t t o achieve much until similar variations involving c4 began to work for White. Now the move is receiving more attention at the top levels. e6 [ 4...xb1 5.xb1 a5+ 6.d2 xa2 7.f3 gives White way too much for the pawn, e.g., e6 ( 7...dxc4 8.c1 ) 8.a1 xb2 9.b1 a2 10.xb7 ] [ What is probably the most common order after 4 c4 goes 4...dxc4 5.xc4 e6 6.c3 d7 7.ge2 b6 8.b3 e7 , for example, 9.0-0 ( 9.f4 is the game) 9...ed5 ( 9...d7 is less committal.) 10.g3 g6 11.ce4 e7 12.h4!? h5 13.f3 c7 Van der Wiel-Van der Sterren, Lyon 1990 and here 14.g5 gave White some advantage, whereas 14 a4 was a good option. ] 5.c3 e7 [ 5...dxc4 will often transpose to the previous note. ] 6.ge2 d7 7.f4 This knight goes to g3 more often than not, but the text has always been around. One idea is that it prepares g4 and h4. dxc4 Black has delayed this capture unt il t he kn ight we nt t o f 4 in st ead o f g3 . 8.xc4 b6 9.b3 ed5 This is not necessarily best. Two other moves: [ a) The recent game Van den Doel-Van den Ouden, Leiden 2009 went 9...g6 10.g4! xf4 11.gxf5 fd5 12.fxe6 fxe6 13.g4 d7 14.0-0 0-0-0 15.a4 , when White has t h e b is h o p p a i r a n d sp a c e a d va n t a g e , probably outweighing Black's outpost on d5. ] [ b) 9...d7 is the other main move, refusing to commit a knight to d5 until he sees more of What White's doing. Then an instructive 1312

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 top-level game is 10.0-0 h6 11.e3 h7 12.c1 ed5 13.cxd5 xd5 ( 13...exd5 14.d3 ) 14.xd5 exd5 15.d2!? ( 15.c2 , i n t e n d i n g f 4 - f 5) 15...e7 16.c3 ( 16.c2 ) 16...f5 ( 16...0-0 ) 17.c2 h5?! 18.xf5 xf5 19.b3 d7 20.f4 f5 ( v e r s u s f 5 ) 21.g3 ( 21.e6!? ) 21...f7 22.b4 xb4 23.xb4 ae8 24.ff3 e6 25.g5 g6 26.a3 b6 27.h3! (now g4 is always lurking) h4 28.h2 e7 29.a4 a5 30.b3 c7 31.c3 c8 32.c2 e7 33.g4! hxg3+ 34.cxg3 h8 ( 34...g8 35.xf5+! ) 35.xg6!+xg6 36.xf5+ and wins, Morozevich (2742)-Sasikiran, Moscow 2001. ] 10.cxd5 cxd5 [ 10...xd5 11.xd5 exd5 ( 11...cxd5 12.a4+ ) 12.0-0 e7 13.c2 , with an eye towards f4-f5. ] 11.g4! e4 12.f3 h4+ 13.e2 [ 13.f1 is also interesting. ] 13...g6 14.e3 White has a space advantage and bishop pair that will combine to win mo st en dings. Thu s he wo uld like t o exchange pieces and protect his king's safety. [ Or 14.d2 e7 15.c1 ] 14...0-0-0? [ But White's greater territory grants him the advantage after the better 14...e7 15.c1 g5 ( 15...0-0 16.c7; 15...d8?! 16.f2 h6 17.d2 g5 18.e3 ) 16.e1 xe1+ 17.hxe1 xf4 18.xf4 d7 19.c5 ] 15.c1+ d7 [ Still worse is 15...b8 16.xg6 hxg6 17.g5 c8 18.xh4 xc1 19.axc1 xh4 20.h3 ] 16.xg6 hxg6 17.g5 h3 18.xd8 g2+ 19.e3 White's king is perfectly safe here, and he's the exchange ahead. Black fights to make things difficult, but this game was far too easy for White, and an auspicious sign for 4 c4. Probably we'll be seeing more of it. xd8 20.d2 h3 21.ag1 e7 22.g2 g5+ 23.e2 xg2+ 24.xg2 h3 25.gg1 e7 26.f2 f4 27.g5 d7 28.g4 d2 29.g2 h5 30.h4 h8 31.d1 a5 32.c1 b5 33.h3 b6 34.a4 a6 35.c6 b8 36.d1 a8 37.g2 d8 38.b3 bxa4 39.bxa4 b8 40.xa6 b2+ 41.f1 b4 42.e2 b1+ 43.f2 b2 44.e3 b3+ 45.d2 b2+ 46.d1 b4

47.a7 b6 48.b7 xa4 49.xd7+ xd7 50.b5+ 1-0

1243 Efimenko,Zahar Riazantsev,Alexander Aeroflot Open (9) [John Watson]

B12 2616 2629 22.02.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 A f t e r a f e w s u cce ssf u l ye a rs, B la c k h a s developed ways to combat this move, but it is still unresolved and nearly always leads to original and dynamically unbalanced positions. b6 5.c1 e6 6.d2 c5 7.b3!? Trying to release the pressure on the queenside, but it loses important tempi. The natural and normal course is for W hite to shore up his centre (and his space advantage) by [ 7.gf3 ( o r 7 c 3 f i r s t ) c6 8.c3 , for example, c8 ( 8...h6!? 9.h3 e7 ) 9.e2 h6 ( 9...cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 c5 12.xc5 xc5 13.b3 leaves White with the better minor pieces) 10.h3 cxd4 11.xd4 xd4 12.xd4 c5 13.xc5 xc5 14.b3 b6 15.g4 g6 16.h4 e4 17.h3! ( 17.f3 xg4 )] 7...c4 8.d2 f6! Played before White can consolidate. 9.gf3 [ 9.f4? loses a pawn af ter c6 10.c3 ( 10.gf3? b4; 10.exf6 xf6 11.c3 g4 ) 10...fxe5 11.fxe5 xe5 ] 9...c7 [ Bla ck m a y h a ve b e e n a f ra id o f 9...c6 10.xc4 dxc4 11.d5 , but c5 12.xc5 xc5 13.dxc6 xc6 is fine. On the other hand, so is 9...Qc7. ] 10.c3 c6 This is effectively a French D e f e n c e A d v a n c e V a r i a t i o n . 11.b3!? Trying to mix it up. [ 11.e2!? fxe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.dxe5 xe5 14.f3 yields some compensation for a pawn. ] 11...fxe5 Black begins a forcing sequence: 12.dxe5 xe5 [ HiArcs suggests 12...h6! , intending ...Nf7, and if 13.xh6 gxh6 14.bxc4 , g7! 15.cxd5 exd5 follows, with terrifically active 1313

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bishops. ] notes to the Berkes game. The downside is 13.xe5 xe5 14.bxc4 c5 15.f3 xe3 that it leaves c3 unprotected but the point is 16.fxe3 that after g7 White can sacrifice the pawn [ 16.xe5 xc1 17.xc1 f6 18.cxd5 with 13.0-0! xc3 ( 13...f6 14.g5 exd5 19.b5+ e7 20.0-0 a6 looks about is now better for White, the bishop is much equal. ] more actively placed on d3.) 14.b5+ axb5 16...d6 Maybe 15.xc3 f6 16.b2 and White's dark[ 16...e4 17.cxd5 0-0-0!? ] square control gives him excellent 17.cxd5 xd5!? compensation for the pawn. If you're happy [ Avoiding 17...exd5 18.b5+ d7 to play this position (and I would be) then 12. ( 18...f7?! 19.0-0 f6 20.g5+ g6 Bd3 is a more accurate way to play the 21.xf5 xf5 22.f7 ) 19.xd7+ xd7 position. ] 20.0-0 f6 21.a3 ] 12...g7 13.0-0 e7 18.a3 c8! 19.xa7 f6 Black has just [ 13...f6! seems to equalise to me - the enough pressure to hold, as the rest of the knight is threatening to come to e4 after game shows. 20.c4 c5! 21.xc5 xc5 which Black will have no problems. For this 22.d4 e5! 23.xf5 exf5 24.d3 f4 reason I pref er Gawain's 12.Bd3 14.g5 25.f1 xe3+ 26.d2 e4+ 27.xe4 xe4 doesn't help here because Black can simply 28.d3 e3+ 29.d4 0-0 30.xf4 xf4+ play h6 15.h4?! g5 16.g3 e4 31.xe3 and Black is slightly better ] ½-½ 14.g5 This isn't very testing and Lupulescu easily equalises. [ 14.f4 was worth considering here as well. 1244 B12 Black would like to play e5 but now 15.g5 is a little awkward for Black as d5 is Fedorchuk,S 2660 vulnerable. After f6 16.xf6 ( 16.d2!? 0-0 Lupulescu,C 2634 17.h4! is a more ambitious way to play and 14th Euro Indiv 2013 (8.4) 13.05.2013 again I prefer W hite's chances although [Tom Rendle] the position remains complex.) 16...e4 17.f4 0-0 18.xe7 xe7 19.e3 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 Black has some compensation for the pawn 5.f3 g4 6.c3 e6 7.b4 a6 8.bd2 xe5! but he's probably still a little worse. ] This position has been considered critical here on ChessPublishing for some time but this is 14...0-0 15.ad1 [ 15.f6 xf6 16.xf6 f5 17.e5 the first time it's featured in a main game. is just equal. It's very possible the game 9.h3! This seems to me to be White's most could even end with a repetition here after testing move here. I cover 9.Be2 and 9. Qa4+ b8 18.f6 ( 18.xb8 fxb8 19.a3 b6 in my notes to Grischuk-Shimanov from earlier can hardly be worse for Black) 18...d8 this year. xf3+ 10.xf3 xf3 19.e5 b8 ] [ 10...h5 11.a4+ d7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.g4 g6 14.e5+ e8 15.c4 15...c7 [ 15...a5 16.a3 axb4 17.axb4 h6 was given as slightly better for W hite by is absolutely fine for Black as well. ] Gawain in his notes to Berkes-Zelcic and I Fedorchuk realises he must put some a g r e e . B l a c k s h o u l d t r y ( 15.e3!? 16.c4! is also worth investigating, planning a quick pressure on Black's centre or risk being worse. Black get's a passed pawn but now White 0-0-0 ) 15...e7 but White's chances are still d4 preferable after 16.xg6 hxg6 17.a3! a5 at le ast h as a plan of ho lding up B lack's centre and putting pressure on his queenside. 18.b2 ] 11.xf3 g6! It makes a lot of sense for Black 17.f6 c6 18.a3 fe8 19.fe1 e5 20.d3 to fianchetto here the bishop wouldn't be Threatening to bring the bishop to e4 a5?! [ 20...xf6! 21.xf6 d8 was needed to doing a lot on e7. 12.e2 keep equality. After 22.xd8 ( 22.f3 f5! [ 12.d3! was Gawain's suggestion in his 1314

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.b5 a5 is less clear but still balanced.) 22...axd8 23.f3 g7 the position is very drawish. ] 21.b5 d8 22.xg7? After this it's definitely Black who is pressing for the win. [ 22.e4 was a real chance for Fedorchuk to get the advantage. The main point is that if Black grabs the pawn with xc5 then ( 22...xf6 23.xf6 e6 24.f3 g7 25.d5 e7 26.g3 is also better for W hite. Black can't capture on c5 without dropping e5 (and probably d4 as well) and in the meantime W hite can increase the kingside pressure with h4-h5.) 23.d5! causes real problems. Bxd8 is the threat and after xf6 24.xf6 xa3 25.xe5 xe5 26.xe5 the bishop on d5 is an absolute monster piece and Black's extra pawn will drop off at any moment. Still Black's passed a-pawn means he has some chances to hold on. ] 22...xg7 23.d5 c8 24.f1 f8 25.c6?! [ 25.f4! was necessary here although Black remains better after f6 26.c6 ( 26.d6+ xd6 27.cxd6 c5! ) 26...bxc6 27.f3 g7 28.xd4 e6 29.d2 exf4 but it's still better than the game for White. ] 25...bxc6 26.c5+ e7 27.f4 [ 27.a4 was perhaps a better chance but Black is obviously clearly better after b7 28.a3 d6! and White doesn't have nearly enough comp. for the pawn. ] 27...f6 28.fxe5 fxe5 29.d3 b7! 30.a7 cxb5 31.cxb5 c5 32.xc7 cxc7 With the queens off the board Black is simply a pawn up and Lupulescu shows excellent technique to bring home the full point. 33.c4 a4 34.f1 cd7 35.b1 d3 36.b3 e4! The pawns are far to strong for White to have any chance of saving the game here. 37.b6 b7 38.eb1 e6 39.e1 e7 40.f2 bxb6 41.xb6 xb6 42.e3 c4+ 43.d4 d6 44.g4 b5+ A fine win for B la ck in a c ri t ica l va ria t io n o f t h e 3 . . . c 5 Advance but perhaps we'll get to see some practical tests of 12.Bd3 in the future? 0-1

1245 Fedorov,Alexei Asrian,Karen Sankt Peterburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2600 2515 1997

In the Advanced Variation White has a wide choice on the 4th move. But currently only two lines are really popular. The first is the very sharp approach 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4, the other is the positional line 4. Nf3 with Be2 and 0-0 to follow. This line is a favourite of Nigel Short and brought him many excellent vic t o rie s (e ve n i n t h e c a n d id a t e s m a t c h against Karpov!). 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 After the text 7. h4 is a real threat as 7...h5 will be strongly met by 8 Nf4. [ The premature 6.h4 leads White nowhere after h5 ] 6...e7 [ 6...c5 7.h4 is another possible line. It leads to wild complications after cxd4 8.xd4 h5 9.b5+ d7 10.f4! hxg4 11.f5! xh4! 12.f1! Officially theory considers this position as unclear, but I believe W hite is better here. It is of note that major Caro Kann experts (including Karpov and Anand) always avoid this position with Black. ] 7.f4 [ Here 7.h4 is premature again: h5 8.f4 hxg4 The bishop on g6 is protected - that's the idea behind 6...Ne7 9.xg6 xg6 10.h5 c5 11.xg4 cxd4 ] 7...c5 8.h4 cxd4 9.b5 ec6 10.h5 e4 11.f3 The Bishop is trapped but Black takes all White's central pawns in return. xf3 12.xf3 xe5 13.g3 bc6 The knight on b5 is in trouble now so W hite has to do something. 14.d3 f6 15.f4 This Knight manoeuvre slightly loosens Black's position. f7 [ 15...d7!? was played in the game Kotronios - Adianto, Buenos Aires 1997. After 16.c3 b6 White had to play 17.d3 ( instead of 17.cxd4?! xd4 18.xd4 b4+ 19.f2 and now Black could fix his a d v a n t a g e b y xd4+ 20.e3 xb2+ 21.e2 a3 ) 17...dxc3 18.xe5+ fxe5 19.xc3 with unclear and double-edged play where Black's chances were not worse. But no doubt W hite's play could be 1315

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 improved. ] 16.c3 [ 16.g5!? deserved attention, according to Alexey Fedorov. ] 16...dxc3 17.bxc3 d4 [ Chess Informant 71 gives the following line: 17...a6!? 18.d4 xd4 19.cxd4 c6 20.e3 b4+ 21.f2 with mutual chances, according to Fedorov. However I disagree, as there is no real compensation for the piece. Besides White will play g4-g5 at the right moment with a dangerous attack. ] 18.g5 dxc3 19.e3! fxg5 [ 19...f5 20.e2! was in White's favour ] [ as was 19...a6 20.g6+!? g8 21.h3 and the Black King is in trouble. ] 20.xe6! d5 [ After 20...xe6? 21.h3+ f7 22.0-0+ e8 23.ad1 Black's position could hardly be defended. ] 21.xg5+ g8 22.h4? [ Mi s s i n g t h e b e a u t i f u l 22.h3!! e8 ( 22...d8 w a s s i m i l a r : 23.0-0! xb5 24.e6 df7 25.c7; 22...xh1+ 23.e2 ) 23.0-0! and Black's position is hopeless: xb5 24.e6+ xe6 25.xe6 f7 26.xf8! xf8 27.c7 winning ] 22...e7?! [ 22...b4! 23.a3 a5 was unclear. ] 23.c7 d6 24.g4 [ 24.f4!? deserved attention: a5 25.b5 f6 26.e4 with the better chances. ] 24...f8 25.g2? When there e such terrible complications on the board it is not a big surprise that the assessment of the position changes so frequently. [ Correct was 25.e4! and after A) 25...xf1+ wa s n o t b e t t e r : 26.xf1 d3+ 27.f2! ( 27.g2 e2+ 28.f2 xg4 29.xg4 xe3 30.c4+ f8 ) 27...xg4+ 28.xg4 is winning; B) 25...f3+ 26.xf3 xf3 27.c4+ f8 28.xd6 xe3+ 29.f2 xd6 30.xe3 xc7 31.f1+ White would obtain a decisive advantage. ] 25...b4! Now it looks like it is White who is in trouble, but the terrible position of the Black King on g8 allows W hite to keep the better chances. 26.xb4?! [ 26.d1!? deserves attention though it looks very dangerous after ed3+ ( or 26...xc7

27.e6 ed3+ 28.e2 xg3 29.xg3 f7 30.xd3 xd3 31.xd3 ) 27.e2 c2 28.g1 c1 ( 28...xg3 29.xg3 c1 30.xc1 ) 29.xc1 ( 29.xc1? f2+ 30.xf2 xf2 31.xf2 xc7 ) 29...xc1+ 30.xc1 xg3 31.xg3 and White has excellent prospects. ] 26...d3+? A lot of pieces are hanging and it is ve r y d if f i c u l t t o f i n d t h e co rr e ct p a t h , especially in time trouble. Calculating the lines Black should not forget that his King is in danger. [ Correct was 26...f3+! and after 27.xf3 ( 27.f2 was also u nclear despite the fact that Black could get a big material ad van t a ge af t e r xb4 28.xf3 b2+ 29.g1 xa1+ 30.h2 xa2+ 31.h3 and now he is forced to give some material back with xf3 leading to a situation which is difficult to assess.) 27...xf3 28.xf3 xb4 ( 28...xg5? 29.d5+ f8 30.c5! winning ) 29.d5+ f8 30.ge6+ f7 31.d4+ it's difficult to say what result both sides are playing for. ] 27.e2 xb4 [ Of course, the Queen could not be taken: 27...xg3? 28.d5+ f7 29.xf7+ f8 30.ce6# ] 28.xd6 xd6 29.h3 [ 29.a3!? would clarify the situation in White's favour: h6 30.axb4 hxg5 31.d5+ h7 32.e6 with a decisive advantage. ] 29...f6 30.e8 c2!? 31.d1? [ 31.g1! was correct, placing the Rook opposite the King: xe3 32.xf6+ gxf6 33.e4+ f8 34.xe3 with a technical win. ] 31...xe3 32.xf6+ gxf6 33.xd6 c2! 34.d7!? It is evident both players are in terrible time trouble, but they are playing very creatively, and posing interesting problems for each other. [ After 34.d8+ g7 35.e6+ h6 36.d2 xd8+ 37.xd8 Black is better and has some chances to promote one of his pawns. ] 34...fxg5 [ N o t i m e t o p r o m o t e ! A f t e r 34...c1? 35.e6+ f8 36.f7+ g8 ( 36...e8?? 37.d7+ d8 38.e6# ) 37.xb7+ White takes everything. ] 1316

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 35.e6+ f8 36.c7 Although Black has a lot of extra pawns his Rook is very passive. It looks like White has no losing chances . g2 37.d2 f4 38.b3 [ 38.g4!? deserved attention. ] 38...xh5 39.xb7 g4?! [ If Black has to give up this pawn, it was probably better to dislodge the Rook from the 7th rank by 39...a5 ] [ or 39...a6 ] 40.xa7 g3? The last move before the time control and a bad mistake which puts Black's pieces in a terrible situation. [ 40...g3 with the idea of h7-h5 was good enough to avoid the problems. ] 41.d5 h6 42.xc2 g2 A sad necessity as there were no other moves! 43.xg2 f4 44.e4 W here are the black pawns? g8 Finally the Rook enters the game but it's too late. 45.a4? [ White could win this crazy battle by swapping the Rooks with 45.a8+! g7 46.xg8+ xg8 47.a4 and White is just in time: f8 48.a5 e6 49.a6 c7 50.a7 e7 51.b3 d6 52.b4 and sooner or later Black will find himself in zugzwang. The following position will arise soon: White: Kb7, Bg2, Pa7 Black: Kd8, Nc7, Ph2, and White wins by playing Bc6 ] 45...g3 Now Black's task is to give up the Knight for the pawn. 46.a5 e6 47.a6 a3 48.d5 c5 49.c4 [ White had probably missed that he was not w i n n i n g a f t e r 49.a8+ e7 50.a7 because of d7! 51.h8 xa7 52.h7+ d6 53.xa7 xd5= ] 49...xa6! 50.xa6 h5 The rest is easy as the White pieces are on bad squares. 51.b2 a5 52.b3 h4 53.b4 a2 54.b5 h3 55.h7 h2 56.b6 g8 57.h3 g7 58.c4 d2 59.c5 g6 60.b4 g5 61.c3 f2 62.d5 g4 63.h8 g3 64.d3 f5 65.h1 a5 66.g8+ h4 67.h8+ g3 68.g8+ h4 69.c6 a6 A fantastic game. Maybe one of the most interesting ones I've ever seen. [ A draw was agreed. Black can even avoid the ending R+B against Rook easily, by sacrificing a Rook at the appropriate time: 69...a6 70.d5 d6 71.h8+ g3

72.d4 xd5+ 73.xd5 g2 ] ½-½

1246 Fedorov,Alexei Dreev,Alexey Aeroflot Open (3) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2575 2690 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 c5 Without a doubt the move that Black wants to make. The tactical complications are immense. 7.h4 [ 7.e3 has become popular. White takes a step in the direction of castling long and develops rather than flinging his Kingside pawns forward. Here too, knowledge of the latest games is of the utmost importance: c6 8.dxc5 A) 8...xe5 9.d4 ( 9.f4! a6 10.e2 f6 11.0-0-0 e7 12.g2 exg4 13.fxd5 exd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.xg4 0-0 16.xd5 ) 9...d7 10.b4 e7 11.a3 gf6 12.g5 e4 13.xe4 xe4 14.f3 g6 15.c6 bxc6 16.xc6 c7 17.xe7 xe7 18.c1 c3+ 19.f2 a5 20.b5 hc8 21.d4 xa3 22.xg7 e5 Mot ylev, A-Mit on , K/ Be rmu da 2 00 3 A position of remarkable imbalance. I think I would prefer to be Black, whose Rooks are already in the game.; B) 8...h5!? 9.d4 a6 10.g5 ge7 11.a4 xe5 12.f4 The cue for a quite crazy game: e4 13.fxe5 xh1 14.b6 a7 15.c3 c6 16.xc6 bxc6 17.d3 e7 18.h4 f5 19.gxf6 gxf6 20.a4 f5 21.0-0-0 f3 22.xc6+ f7 23.xf5 exf5 24.g1 g4 25.e6+ g6 26.d7 a8 27.a4 d4 28.xd4 e4 29.e5+ h7 30.xe4 fxe4 31.xg4 hxg4 32.xg4 c7 33.b4 c6 34.d4 g8 35.xe4 g6 36.c2 cxe6 37.xe6 xe6 38.d3 g8 ( 38...xh4 39.a4 g6 40.b5 axb5 41.axb5 f7 42.c6 e8 43.c4 d8 44.d5 e1 45.b6 g3 46.c4 d1 47.e4 xd4+ 48.xd4 f2+ 49.d5 xb6= ) 39.c4 f7 40.d5 h6 41.a4 e8 42.b5 axb5 43.axb5 d7 44.c6+ c8 45.b6 d8 46.c5 h5+ 47.d6 h6+ 48.c5 1317

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h5+ 49.d6 xb6 50.xb6 xh4 1/2-1/2 Svidler, P-Macieja, B/Bermuda 2003 (50) ] 7...h5 8.f4 h7 9.xh5 cxd4 10.b5 [ The older 10.xd4 leads to nothing after c6 11.b5 ge7! 12.h6 a6 ] 10...c6 11.xd4 ge7!N It would be very surprising for me if White's idea were to work. He has lashed forward with his pawns and moved nothing but his Knights! By concentrating on the basics i.e. quick development, with this sensible novelty Dreev solves his opening problems. 12.g5 a5+ 13.c3 xd4 14.xd4 c6 15.f4 b6 16.b3 One can understand the reluctance to castle in this position-the Bishop on h7 is very intimidating indeed. However the move is just about playable, although very risky: [ 16.0-0-0 b4! ( 16...c8 17.d2 a5 18.a3 g6 19.h3 xh5 20.gxh5 xh5; 16...a5 17.a3 xa3 18.xg7+ f8 19.h3! xg7 20.f6+ g8 ) 17.xg7+ xg7 18.xb4 xb4 19.cxb4 c8+ 20.d2 c2+ 21.e3 xe5 ] 16...d4 17.g2 dxc3 18.0-0 c2 Getting the draw offer in before either player really understood what was going on. The final position is a mess although I believe Black's c pawn to be a potential winner. The opening appears to demonstrate that 6...c5 is still a strong move, albeit connected to long theoretical variations where exact knowledge is crucial. ½-½

B l a c k is o n l y t o o wil li n g t o s a c ri f i c e t h e incidental h pawn to increase his central pressure. 9.xh5 c6 10.dxc5 I think the main reason I don't like this line for White has to do with th e p awn struct ure. W h en th e smoke clears,. Black usually holds all the trumps in that area. It's almost as if White has no Plan B if the attack breaks down, he has nothing left to call on. [ 10.e3 cxd4 11.xd4 xc2! 12.xc2 xd4 13.a4+ c6 Compare the pawns and you see what I mean! 14.0-0-0 b6 15.f4 A) 15...g6! is strong: 16.f6+ ( 16.g3 e3+-+ ) 16...xf6 17.exf6 b4; B) 15...0-0-0 16.h3 g6 17.g3 b4 18.xb4 xb4 19.d3 xc3 20.bxc3 h6 21.e2 c7 22.f1 g8 23.d2 g5 24.fxg5 xe5 Nielsen, M-Nielsen, B/ Copenhagen DEN 2004 ] 10...xc5 11.g2 [ Two heavyweights duel after 11.b5 c7 12.xc6+ ( 12.xg7+ f8 13.h5 d4! ) 12...xc6 13.f3 f8 14.g3 e7 15.h5 d4= The fight seems to be evenly balanced. ] [ 11.xg7+ Not many take on g7 but perhaps it is possible: f8 12.h5 b6 13.h2 xe5 14.e2 Naturally Black holds a strong initiative. ] 11...g6 12.g5 [ This time I think it's unwise to take on h7: 12.xg7+ f8 13.h5 xg7 14.hxg6 xh1+ 15.xh1 h4 ] 12...e7N White's position is fragmented and he faces threats such as ... Qb6 so he's trying 1247 B12 to keep his game alive with tactics. Gyimesi's Fedorov,Alexei 2620 novelty is cool, hanging g7 as usual, but he's Gyimesi,Zoltan 2618 gaining a lot of time if W hite goes in and TCh-CRO Rabat CRO (6) 10.09.2004 takes the pawn (which of course he doesn't). It may be that Black has more than one good [Andrew Martin] move: [ 12...c7!? I think I pre fer to retain the 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 option of . ..Qb6 in one move, but it must be g6 6.ge2 Although the Advance Variation s a i d t h a t 1 2 . . . Q c 7 l o o k s g o o d ! 13.0-0 has increased massively in popularity, the ( 13.xg7+ f8 14.h5 xe5+ 15.e2 very sharp line with 5 g4 and 6 Nge2 hasn't d4! ) 13...xh5 14.gxh5 ge7 15.e1 followed. Black has a number of interesting 0-0-0 16.e2 a6 17.ac1 d4 and very satisfactory responses, one of which Bae, T-Hermansson, E/Aarhus 2003 ] we see here. In my view, Black must start with 6...c5! c5! Quite right! A vigorous reaction in 13.f4 [ 13.xg7+ f8 14.xe7+ gxe7 15.h5 the centre is indicated. 7.h4 h5 8.f4 h7 1318

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xh5 16.gxh5 b6 ] [ a) 5...e6 is a tempo-down French Defence 13...xh5 14.gxh5 b6 15.d3! for Black, but with Ne2 thrown in, which is The only move to hold the position together, not the ideal extra move. Nevertheless, it's covering e3. c8 a tempo: 6.d2!? cxd4 7.cxd4 h6 8.f3 [ Maybe 15...xb2 was playable, not so f5 9.a3 b6 10.g4 fe7 11.f4 much grabbing a pawn as downgrading (Davies: 'It's starting to look very good for White's pawn structure still further: 16.b1 White the d4 pawn is not a problem and he a3 17.xb7 ( 17.b3 is better, but White has lots of space on the kingside. Black still ends up with structural problems: a5 manages to generate some temporary piece 18.xe7 gxe7 19.xb7 c8 20.h3 ) activity but this doesn't amount to anything 17...b4 18.h3 c8 ] real.') a5 12.b1 b3 13.e3 d7 16.f1? I don't unde rstand this move from a 14.d3 c8 15.c2 a5 16.f1 c4 2600 player. W hat was going through his 17.c1 b5 18.g2 c7 19.d3 d7 head? It's pretty obvious that White has to try 20.b3 a5 21.d2 b6 22.h5! [ 16.xe7 gxe7 17.0-0-0 and this posit and W hite stood considerably better in ion is uncomfortable but you can play..... 16 Kasparov-Kaiumov, Tbilisi 1976. ] Kf1 is obviously going to lead to immediate [ b) 5...cxd4 6.cxd4 f5 clears c3 for a problems. ] knight. Then 7.bc3 e6 8.a3 a6 9.e3 f6 16...xh5 10.h3 h5 ( Davies: 'Taking the pawn with [ 16...xb2 17.b1 xe5! 18.fxe5 xc3 10...fxe5 11.dxe5 xe5 looks downright 19.xc3 xc3 20.xb7 f6! 21.exf6 gxf6 bad after 12.d4 intending g2-g4.') 11.exf6 22.f4 xc2 23.xa7 c5 ] xf6 12.g3 d6 13.g2 c8 14.0-0 a5 17.a3 xg5 18.hxg5 xh1+ 19.xh1 ge7 15.f4 c4 16.c1 favoured White in 20.b4 d4 He has no wish to face the Davies-Speelman, Southend ENG 1999. ] endgame after 21 Qxd4 Nxd4 22 Rd1 Rxc3.5 6.b3 A rather strange move which is g4 and 6 Nge2 is a variation for the committed. e f f e c t i v e i n t h i s g a m e . H o u s k a ' s b o o k It's very sharp and very well analysed so you analyses three moves, but not this, nor 6 h3: ha ve to k n ow a lo t . B la ck ha s n um e ro u s [ a) On the Forum, 'Mettwurst Lothar' reports interesting ideas in response. Finally, you a game he played: 6.h3 xe2 7.xe2 e6 have no plan B if the attack breaks down 8.0-0 b6 ( 'Doubled Pawns' suggests that maybe that's part of the attraction anyway! after 8...cxd4 9.cxd4 b6 10.e3 h6!? ) 0-1 9.dxc5 xc5 10.b4 f8 , and his opponent suggested the simple 11.e3 c7 12.f4 ] [ b) After 6.e3 (which may be the best 1248 B12 move) , Houska's recommendation is c7 ( instead of 6...b6 7.d2 ) 7.b3!? ( 7.h3 Felgaer,Ruben 2556 and; 7.d2 both look better. White's space Houska,Jovanka 2384 ma y b eco m e a re a l a sse t) 7...0-0-0!? Gibtelecom Masters (1) 23.01.2007 (Houska: 'I don't really think that Black [John Watson] should exchange pawns on d4 since this seems to free up White's development - in 1.e4 c6 2.e2 d5 3.e5 c5 p a rt icu la r h e ca n p la y t h e kn igh t t o c 3 [ 3...f5 4.g3 e6 ( or 4...g6 instead of the more passive square d2') , when a different type of idea is 5.d4 e6 ( 7...c4!? ) 8.d2 ( 8.f3 f5 9.g3 g6 6.h4 h5 7.e2!? ) 5.d4 g6!? 6.c3 h5 10.b5 is equal ) 8...b8 7.d3 c8 8.h4 in the Archives is the A) here Houska doesn't consider the game Short-Sisikirian, Olympiad 2000 not natural 9.h3! which is the most logical, for very clear but I'd prefer to be White. ] example, f5?! ( 9...xe2 10.xe2 e6 4.d4 This could also have come from the 11.0-0 ge7 12.f3 f5 13.ac1 ordinary Advance Variation via 3 e5 c5 4 Ne2. Black should be OK) 10.dxc5 xe5 [ For 4.b4!? , see Surtees-Houska ] 11.d4 g6 12.f4 with a nice 4...c6 5.c3 g4 1319

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 advantage; B) 9.g3?! h5! 10.h3 c8 11.b5 h4 12.e2 h6 (Houska: 'the knight is heading to f5 where it will put pressure on the d4-pawn') , and I think that W hite s h o u l d t r y 13.xc6 xc6 ( 13...c4 14.b5 xc6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.f4 ) 14.dxc5 f5 15.d4 xd4 16.cxd4 g6! 17.f1 ( 17.0-0-0!? ) 17...f5 18.g1 and the extra pawn and space seem to outweigh Black's bishops and better king. ] [ c) Houska analyses 6.f3 as follows: ' d7 A) 7.e6 xe6 8.dxc5 f6 9.b4 ( ' 9.d4 d7 10.b4 e5 11.xc6 xc6 looks good for Black.) 9...g6 10.f4 g7 11.d4 0-0 12.xc6 bxc6 (Black has the simple plan of retreating his minor pieces to make way for the pawn pushes ... e7-e5 and ...f7-f5) 13.e5 h6 14.d3 d7 15.d4 f6 16.0-0 f7 17.a4 e5 18.f2 f5! Black reached a superb position in Barendregt-Botvinnik, Amsterdam 1966. '; B) 7.a3 ] [ d) She also gives 6.dxc5 xe5 7.d4 f6 8.f4 e6 9.b5+ f7 10.d3 f5 11.xe5+ fxe5 12.xe5 xc5 13.0-0 f6 'and Black does not have any problems. Bla ck 's k ing is un der n o th rea t an d his minor pieces are excellently located.' ] 6...xe2 [ 6...d7 is mentioned in the forum, with the f o l l o w - u p l i n e 7.e6?! ( White should try 7.dxc5 xe5 8.d4 , which is unclear; 7.f3 f5 ) 7...xe6 8.dxc5 d4 ( alas, 8...f5 9.d4 g6 threatens ...e5) 9.a4 d3 10.d4 d5 11.xd3 xg2 12.g1 d5 13.b4 ( or 13.e3 , in view of e5 14.b5 )] [ Another forum line from 'Matemax' is 6...c4 7.xb7 d7 8.e6!? fxe6 9.f4 , when another member (sorry about the lack of names the reader can check all this on the Forum) suggested e5 10.xe5 xe5 11.dxe5 e6 'with ...Bc5 coming'. This is double-edged, but probably fine for Black, since ...Rb8 and ...Rxb2 is also a good idea. ] 7.xe2 d7 8.e3 e6 9.0-0 [ 9.dxc5!? ] 9...ge7 10.d2 f5 11.f3 e7 12.g4!?

Risky White wants an extra centre pawn. [ 12.ad1 ] 12...xe3 13.fxe3 c4!? [ 13...0-0 with the idea ...f6 is the safe route. ] 14.c2 f6 15.exf6 gxf6 16.h1 [ 16.e4! g8 17.d2 ] 16...0-0-0 17.b3 cxb3 [ 17...a5 18.d2 ] 18.axb3 c7 [ 18...b8 ] 19.b4!? [ 19.c4 ] 19...xb4 20.a4 c6 21.fb1 d6! 22.b5 g8 23.g5 h6! 24.gxh6 [ 24.xc6 xc6 25.gxf6 xf6 26.xa7 xc3 and White has some play for the pawn, but nothing concrete. ] 24...h8!? [ 24...f8! ] 25.xc6! xc6 26.xa7 xh6 27.g1 xc3?? [ 27...h8 ] 28.a8+ d7 29.gb1 d6 30.xb7 c1+ 31.xc1 xc1+ 32.g1 xh2+ 33.xh2 c2+ 34.g3 g6+ 35.f2 f5+ 36.e1 1-0

1249 Fier,Alexandr Hilario T Ducarmon,Q 5th ENCI Limburg Open (6) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2560 2347 13.06.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 This month two interesting games appeared in this line and I will analyse them both separately. 8.d2 bc6 9.2f3 e4 10.0-0 g6 This is a starting point. Black develops and at the same time puts pressure on the e5 pawn 11.xc6 [ Relevant for this game is also: 11.b5 xf3 ( 11...c7 is Iordachescu, V-Krivoborodov,E/ Moscow 2010 in the PGN Archive.) 12.xf3 d7 13.h5 gxe5 A) 14.ae1 g6 15.h3 g7 16.f4 g4! not an easy move to see, but it is found by computers, ( 16...c4 17.xe6 fxe6 18.xe6+ f7 19.f6+ winning ) 1320

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.xe6 fxe6 18.xg4 0-0 19.c3 with equal chances; B) 14.f4 a6 15.fxe5 axb5 16.xb5 xe5 17.xe5 xb5 18.d4 d7 19.h5 c8 20.h1 h6 21.ad1 h7 22.e2 d6 draw agreed in Almasi, Z Landa, K Reggio Emilia 2010. ] 11...bxc6 12.g5 e7 13.xe4 dxe4 14.d4 d5 15.c3N A new attempt, but although the outcome of the game is favorable f o r W h it e B la ck a ct ua lly d id n 't ha ve a n y problems in the opening. [ Previously 15.f4 was played: exf3 16.xf3 xd4 17.xd4 0-0-0 18.xa7 xe5 19.e2 d5 ( perhaps it was better to challenge White: 19...d2 20.ae1 b7 21.f2 f6 with unclear play) 20.a4 c7 21.a5 it was also possible to refrain from pushing the pawn further: ( 21.f2 a8 22.b3 d2 23.d1 b7 24.e3 d5 25.e2 c5 26.f2 xe3+ 27.xe3 f6 28.fd1 it looks to me like a slight edge for White ) 21...a8 22.b6+ b7 23.c4 d2 24.f2 c5 25.d1 xd1+ 26.xd1 d8 27.xc5 xa5 28.b4 xc5 ( 28...b6 29.xb6 a1 30.f1 xb6 with equal chances ) 29.bxc5 c6 30.b2 xc5 31.e2 g5 32.f2 d4 Almasi, Z Berkes, F Szeged 2009, Black has enough compensation to hold a draw. ] 15...0-0 16.f4 exf3 17.xf3 xe5 18.d4 g5 19.xc6 ac8 20.a4 c5 21.c3 fd8 Black could have played two other good moves here: [ 21...b8 22.b3 b4! A nice motif! 23.cxb4 xd4+ 24.h1 xa1 25.xa1 e3 In my opinion Black is perfectly ok here, pe rh ap s with som e ch an ce s to gain a n advantage. ] [ 21...e5 22.e2 ( 22.xc5 xf3+ 23.xf3 xc5+ 24.h1 fd8 No problems for Black here again.) 22...xd4+ 23.cxd4 e3+ 24.f2 c6 Black is fine. ] 22.ad1 xd4+ 23.cxd4 c7 24.h1 h4 25.e4 f5 26.a5 e7 27.b1 cd7 28.a4 After an interesting sequence of moves we come to this position which is ok for Black, and perhaps even more than that. f6 An inaccuracy that changes things: now the passive bishop on b1 will suddenly play his role

[ 28...h6 a simple move like this guarantees Black a good game. ] 29.d5! Black surely missed this small tactical nuance. xd5 30.xd5 exd5 31.g3 g6 32.xf5 xb2 33.xa7 It is still drawish but this time it is Black who has to f ind good moves, something which he fails to do. e2 34.f2 e7 35.d4 d6 36.e2 e7 37.e6 c7 38.e3 d4 39.e2 g6 40.d3 c8 41.g2 f8 42.e7 c6+ 43.e4 d6 44.b7 e6 45.e7 d6? This move loses a pawn and the game, much better was 45...Qf6 and the game is still on. 46.xg7+! xg7 47.g4+ g6 48.xc8 a3 49.c2 e5 50.c7+ f6 51.d8+ g7 52.g5+ g6 53.d5 e3 54.h4 e2+ 55.h3 f1+ 56.g2 f6 57.a4 h5 58.a5 e5 59.xd4 g8 60.d5+ g7 61.d4 g8 62.d5+ h7 63.g2 1-0

1250 Firman,Nazar Eljanov,Pavel Bundesliga 2009-10 (13) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2571 2717 21.03.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 In these next few games I investigate Black's options without an immediate ...c5 break. These were quite hard to group together as Black has so many dif f erent setups. The specific move order is less important in these variations than the more forcing games we've seen earlier in this update. Instead, both players simply try and situate their pieces on the strongest squares. d7 This seems like the most flexible move, we're not yet sure whether the knight on g8 is better placed on h6 or e7. 6.bd2 This doesn't appear to have been seen on ChessPublishing before but these days has become the most common move at the elite level and is very similar to the 4.Nd2 lines and often transposes. g6 The bishop generally either retreats to g6 or all the way back to h7. The positions with . .. h6 are seen in Volokitin-Rodshtein where we can see various plans which emerge in a different Black setup. I'll try to highlight a couple of differences. First of all, as we see in 1321

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 and the knights are hardly worse than the 7...Ne7 note, the bishop isn't completely the bishops in such a blocked position. safe here, Black has to watch out for Nh4 27.f2 xd1 28.xd1 e7 29.d3 d5 t ra d in g it o f f . T h is is d e f in it e ly t h e m o st 30.d2 e7 31.g4 bc7 32.g3 f5!? flexible move however, Black hasn't Black plays for more but this really gives committed his knight to either h6 or e7, whilst White any advantage going. 33.exf6 xf6 now ...f6 is a definite idea (it would generally 34.f5 e5 35.e3 h8 36.e4 h5 we a k e n g 6 f a r t o o m u c h i f we t r i e d it i n 37.e1 hxg4 38.xe5 xe5 39.xe5 conjunction with the ...h6, ...Bh7 setups). g5 40.xc7 xc7 41.g2 f6 42.d2 Finally, Rodshtein's ...g5!? is no longer on the d5 43.xd5 cxd5 44.xd5 b2+ cards with the bishop on g6. 7.0-0 h6 45.g3 xb4 46.h4 xa5 47.xg4 [ 7...e7 would be the other square on 1 / 2 -1 / 2 L o b zh a n id ze , D -L a f u e n t e , P which to develop the knight but again we Deizisau 2010.; have to offset the pros and cons. On the B) 8.h4!? Gaining the bishop pair but I positive side: the knight is more centrally don't believe Black should be too worried. located and will be able to go to either f5 or This move is hardly forced and other lines c6, or even c8, simply to allow the f8 bishop are likely to transpose to types of position to develop. The last also highlights another examined in the notes to Vachier Lagraveproblem behind ...Ne7 the bishop on f8 is Mchedlishvili. c5 This looks most logical to temporarily stuck behind the knight and so m e a s t h e k n i g h t h a s j u s t va c a t e d i t development will be a bit slower. The knight central control. ( 8...f5 9.xg6 hxg6 has also blocked in Black's queen allowing: 10.f3 h4 11.g3 xf3+ 12.xf3 e7 A) 8.b3 would be normal, which saw 13.e1 g5 14.g2 xc1 15.xc1 0-0 another game recently. c8!? The same 16.b3 b6 17.h4! Gave White some plan that has been investigated quite often advantage as he finally has a plan, i.e. in the archives but with the bishop still on opening up the h file although White was f5 and pawn on h6. The change ensures later outplayed. Mekhitarian, K - Granda that W hite should constantly be on the Zuniga, J La Roda Albacete 2010.) 9.c3 look out for Black breaking out with ...f6!? c6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.f3 e7 ( 8...f5 played here or later, is again W e have an Advanced French with c8 looked at in Shirov-Mchedlishvili.) 9.a4 bishop and b1 knight exchanged. This e7 10.a5 a6 11.e3 a7 12.c4 dxc4 should favour Black as that's the "bad 13.bd2! A stronger square for the knight bishop" although now ...f6 is also harder than b3 has emerged. 0-0 14.xc4 b5 t o a ch i e ve a s e 6 a n d g6 will b e c o m e And Black's position is still extremely solid vulnerable. Black also has to watch out although there is no real potential in the and delay castling making sure White can't position anymore and he must simply sit. open up his king with h4-h5. 12.e3 c8 However, it appears that Black can get 13.d2 a5! Swapping queens means away with this super slow plan of ...Ne7-c8B l a c k wi l l n o t h a v e t o wo r r y a b o u t a a7 as the position is so closed and both kingside initiative. 14.a3 cxd4 15.cxd4 sides struggle for openings. Remember xd2 16.xd2 f6 17.f4 g5! 18.exf6 that in these lines the priority is to stop xf6 19.b3 gxf4 20.xf4 e5 your opponent getting any play patience is and Black had at least equalised. the necessary virtue. I leave the rest of the Brandenburg, D-Lenic, L Sarajevo 2010. ] ga me t o s ho w h ow dif f icu lt it is t o d o anything for either side. 15.d2 c7 8.b3 This is rather rare in this exact position. [ 8.b3 would be the automatic move, 16.b4 So Black can no longer ever break discouraging Black breaking with ...c5 and with ...c5 while ...f6 doesn't look attractive allowing the bishop to develop. Let's have a as e6 will become too weak. ad8 17.b2 l o o k a t s o m e r e c e n t g a m e s . c8 fe8 18.ad1 f8 19.e1 e4 20.d3 ( All lines where Black plays an early 8...f5 g6 21.c5 d5 22.b6 h4 23.xd5 are investigated in Shirov-Mchedlishvili.) xd5 24.c4 dd8 25.f4 xc5! 26.dxc5 1322

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.d2 ( 9.xh6!? is perhaps also playable but the dark squares and open g file should grant Black sufficient counterplay for the wrecked pawn structure. ) 9...e7 A) 10.c3 0-0!? Black still doesn't worry about taking on h6 as he judges that it will be too difficult for White to attack without that bishop anyway. 11.c1 c5 12.d3 f5 13.f4 b6 14.a4 fd8 Both sides have successfully developed their pieces and now White had to come up with a plan . 15.c4!? A useful rule of thumb is that this move is much more likely to work before Black has completed his development and so here it shouldn't threaten Black. A1) 15...xd4!? looks interesting if Black wants to keep more material on, f o r e x a m p l e 16.xd4 cxd4 17.a5 xb2 18.xd8 xd8 19.cxd5 d3!? ( 19...exd5 looks ok for Black; while 19...f5! is the most accurate.) 20.xd3 c5 21.c4 xd3 22.xd3 xd3 23.xd3 xe5 is a little better for White.; A2) 15...c6 16.xc6 bxc6 17.a5 e8 18.cxd5 exd5 19.dxc5 xc5 20.ac1 b8 21.d3? ( 21.b3 gives W hite a small edge.) 21...d4! 22.xd4 xd4 23.c7 Priyadharshan, K - D r e e v , A D e l h i 2 0 1 0 w h e n xd3 24.xd3 xb2 25.xc6 c5 26.b1 e6 27.d6 xf2+! would have given Black a great position.; B) 10.a4 White's typical plan with the knight on b3 but here it fails to trouble Black at all. 0-0 11.a5 f5 12.a6 b6 13.e1 c5 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.a5 e8 16.b5 b8 17.c4 xb5! destroying the bind that White has just taken 7 moves to try and create. 18.cxb5 b8 19.bd2 Azarov, S -Motylev, A Moscow 2010, when xb5 would have given Black the better chances. ] [ 8.c4 would have transposed back into Helstroffer-Grooten in the archives. ] [ 8.e1!? played twice by Gritsenko recently looks interesting to me. A) The following day, Black tried to i m p r o v e w i t h 8...c5 9.c3 cxd4?! I think this is wrong as this takes pressure

off White's centre. 10.cxd4 f5 11.df3 b6 I wonder if there's a stronger move for Black here as this provokes W hite's best. 12.a4 ( 12.a4! immediately is the most precise.) 12...b4 13.d1 b6 14.a4 A1) Maybe 14...b4!? is best, to at least s l o w W h i t e ' s a 4 - a 5 wh e n f o l l o wi n g 15.c2 e7 the knight is worse placed on c2 than e1 as it wants to jump to d3f4. ( 15...h5!? ); A2) 14...e7 15.a5 c7 16.d3 h4?! 17.xh4 xh4 18.f4 ( 18.d2! followed by 19.Rc1 is rather unpleasant for Black.) 18...e4 19.f3 ( 19.d2! ) 19...c2 20.d2 was somewhat better for White as Black struggled for counterplay. Gritsenko, A Zontakh, A Dagomys 2010.; B) 8...f5 9.df3! This is the idea, re ro u t in g t h e kn ig h t s a l t h o u gh B la c k played accurately and defused any a d v a n t a g e . c5 10.c3 e7 11.d3 ( 11.g4!? ) 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 0-0 13.f4 b6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.g4 h4 16.xh4 xh4 17.e3 Gritsenko, A -Maletin, P Dagomys 2010. ] 8...b4!? I like the look of this move, i m m e d i a t e l y e xp l o i t i n g t h e we a k n e s s e s White's last created. Black's bishop is going to end up on c7 to put some more pressure on e5. [ 8...e7 has also been played and is of course reasonable too. 9.c4 0-0 A) 10.b2 f6 ( 10...f5 resulted in a quick Black victory 11.g3 f6 12.g2 I have to confess I don't understand this or W hite's last! fxe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.dxe5 c5 15.f3 b6 and Black already had a pleasant initiative and White failed to survive for long: 16.c1 h6 17.g5? xf2 18.c5 xc5 19.xe6 xf1 20.xf1 e4+ 21.f3 g4 22.h3? e3 23.xc5 xf1 0-1 Blot, DPlantet, M Elancourt 2007.) 11.exf6 xf6 12.e5 xe5 13.dxe5 e7 14.f3 f5 15.g4 This is extremely aggressive once the f file has already been opened although otherwise Black is extremely satisfactorily placed. h4 16.xh4 xh4 17.f4 e4 18.cxd5 cxd5 19.d4 1323

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Cioara, A -Burmakin, V Porto San Giorgio 2 0 0 4 w h e n I l i k e t h e l o o k o f g5! When White's king is in trouble.; B) 10.e1 c8 11.f1 f5 12.d3 b6 13.c5 c7 14.g3 xg3 15.hxg3 b6 16.b4 a5 17.a3 a8 18.xg6 fxg6!? 19.g5 d8 20.xe7 xe7 21.d3 fb8 1/2-1/2 Himanshu, S - Sundararajan, K (2520) Mumbai 2010 never gave Black any real problems. ] 9.b2 0-0 10.a3 a5 11.c4 f6 Now we see the idea behind Black's deployment. The knight will be able to return to the fray via f7 if necessary. Black puts pressure on White's centre and opens up the position to get some squares for his pieces. 12.cxd5 The first new move of the game. [ A previous game proceeded 12.b4 c7 13.b3 h5 Increasing the pressure on e5. 14.fd2 g6 15.f3 h5 16.exf6 White tries for the win xf3! not allowing White control over the important e5 square. 17.xf3 xf6 18.e2 dxc4 19.xc4 b6 20.e2 a4 21.c2 xb2 22.xb2 ad8 and Black was very happy with how his opening had progressed. The e6 pawn is no weaker than the one on d4 whilst his pieces have found active homes. Lutz, C Schlosser, P Germany 1997. ] 12...exd5!? Elijanov changes the pawn structure for greater winning chances. [ 12...cxd5 looks equal to me. ] 13.b4 Now Black takes the upper hand. [ It was necessary to strive for the initiative w i t h t h e r i s k y l o o k i n g 13.e6!? b8 when White has to play very dynamically to ensure that the e6 pawn doesn't just drop. A line might run: 14.h4 e8 15.xg6 hxg6 16.d3 xe6 17.e1 ( 17.c2!? ) 17...e8 18.xe6 xe6 when 19.c4!? is aesthetically pleasing but I'd prefer Black after c7 20.d2 d7 ] 13...c7 14.b5 fxe5 15.dxe5 c5 [ The simple 15...e7 also looks to favour Black. 16.bxc6 bxc6 17.c1 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.xc6 ae8 would leave White needing to play accurately to hold the draw. ] 16.e1 e8 17.f1 f8 Around here Black starts to lose the plot for a few moves. [ 17...g4 18.b3= ]

[ 17...c4! is the first time that Black should have played this pawn push, we'll see it over the next few moves too. Black has to be careful ceding the d4 outpost but now the knight can jump to c5 and thence to either d3 or e6. Perhaps White's best is 18.xc4!? dxc4 19.xc4+ h8 20.e6 c5 but I doubt that objectively W hite should have enough for the piece. ] 18.g3 d7 [ 18...c4!? again looks promising. ] 19.h4 f7 20.c2 a5 [ 20...c4 looks even more tempting now that it also hits the b5 pawn. ] 21.f4?! [ G e t t i n g o u t o f t h e p i n w i t h 21.ed1 would give W hite good chances, e.g. g6 ( 21...xd2 22.xd2 ac8 23.f4 and White starts to take over the initiative.) 22.xg6 xg6 23.xc5 b6 24.b4 g4 25.d4 xe5 26.xe5 xe5 27.c4 with a small edge for White. ] 21...e6 [ 21...c4! At the risk of sounding like a broken record but now this move is even more logical as White might have problems down the a7-g1 diagonal. ] 22.df3?! Far too aggressive [ Although 22.ed1 now allows Black a decent game with d8! 23.e4 xh4 24.gxh4 f7 25.d6 xf4 with very good compensation for the exchange. ] 22...xe1 23.xe1 ac8 24.g5 c4 25.xe6 xe6 [ 25...xe6 26.f5 c5 looks a logical regrouping to me, so many outposts for that knight! ] 26.d4 g6 [ 26...d7?! 27.f5 xb5 would pick up another pawn but no human would choose to allow W hite to increase his initiative in this way. ] 27.d1 ed8 [ 27...d7 to sit the knight on e6 would be my pick. ] 28.c3?! White should have taken a time out to restore some material parity with [ 28.xa7! as there's no way to trap the bishop, i.e. b6 29.f3! a8 30.d4 ] 28...b6 29.d2 e7! The queen isn't a good blockader and so she leaves her post and 1324

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 allows knight to do its job. 30.h3 e6 31.f3 f5! Elijanov has successfully coordinated his pieces and can now go about exploiting his material advantage. 32.xf5 gxf5 33.h4 f8 34.g4?! Rash. White should have just sat still and waited to see how Black's to get his rooks into the game. fxg4 35.f5 h6! Presumably this is the move which Firman missed. Now it's Black who takes over the initiative, which coupled with the extra material, means the position is r e s i g n a b l e . 36.g2 g5 37.e1 e4 This flexible setup with ...Bg6 and ...Nh6 is looking promising for Black and the onus is on W hite to find a way to increase the pressure on Black's solid setup. 0-1

1251 Firman,Nazar Makarov,Vladimir Tch-UKR Alushta UKR (2) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2494 2172 16.04.2006

LIGHTNING STRIKE It is truly amazing how many completely new and original ideas are coming out of the Advance Caro. Why, 3 e5 has almost taken over as the main line these days, more commonly played than even 3 Nc3! Take a look at White's fifth move here. I have never seen it before. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.g5!? A very sharp continuation throwing Black completely on his own resources. 5...Qb6 looks very tempting, d o e s n ' t i t ? b6 Of course if Black doesn't play this move, he has problems organising good squares for all his pieces now that he cannot play the immediate 5..e6. 6.d3!?N This is the point. White sacrifices a Rook to trap the Queen on a1 a very interesting idea. [ By contrast 6.b3? is rather pathetic: e6 7.c3 c5 8.f3 c6 9.d3 g4 10.e3 cxd4 11.cxd4 b4+ 12.f1 h6 13.a3 e7 14.c3 c8 15.a4 d8 16.b4 f5 17.e2 f6 18.c5 xe3+ 19.fxe3 xc5 20.dxc5 xe5 Elser, C-Banik, A/ Ruhrgebiet 2004 ] 6...xd3 7.xd3 xb2 8.e6! It had to be. What amazes me is that white has the time to play as he does but I suppose a pawn on e6

really fouls Black up. fxe6 [ Black could take immediately, with similar play: 8...xa1 9.b3 fxe6 10.f3 b5 ( 10...d7 11.0-0 0-0-0 12.bd2 xf1+ 13.xf1 h6 14.a3 a6 15.e3; 10...b6 11.0-0 f6 12.bd2 xf1+ 13.xf1! bd7 14.a4! ) 11.0-0 a5 12.c3 xf1+ 13.xf1 d7 14.e2 gf6 15.f4 ] 9.f3 d7 10.0-0 xa1 11.b3 e5?! He is obviously very rattled who wouldn't be? [ Black's future may depend on either of 11...b5 12.bd2 xf1+ 13.xf1 gf6 14.f4 h7 15.a4 a6 16.c3 ] [ 11...0-0-0 12.bd2 xf1+ 13.xf1 gf6 14.a3 a6 15.a5 e4 16.f4 e5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5 d7 19.b6 ] 12.c3 xf1+ 13.xf1 e4 [ 13...exd4 14.xb7 b8 15.xc6 dxc3 16.e5 leads to mate in a few moves: gf6 17.xf6 d8 18.g5 h6 19.xh6 e6 20.xe6+ e7 21.f7# ] 14.e5 xe5 15.xb7 A strange and remarkable little game. 1-0

1252 Galdunts,Sergey Schulz 7th BayEM Bad Wiessee (1) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2495 2265 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 Play remains as wild and as woolly as ever after this fascinating move. Both players must know the theory backwards or risk a humiliating defeat. f6 Many ideas have been tried but 6...f6 and 6...c5 remain the most popular. It is appealing to attack the White centre immediately. [ Here's a recent game for you where 6...c5 works beautifully: 6...c5 7.e3 c6 8.dxc5 xe5 9.d4 A) The state of play after other moves: 9...f6 10.f4 ( 10.b5+ ed7 11.e2 Timman ) 10...exg4 11.b5+ e7 12.e2; B) 9...c6 10.b5 c8 11.e2 h5!? 12.0-0-0 hxg4; C) 9...d7!? Nullifies Bb5, steps out of the way of f4 and counterattacks c5 - very 1325

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 sensible. 10.f4 xc5 11.e2 gf6 12.g2 0-0 13.0-0-0 b4 14.f5 exf5 15.gxf5? After this howler White gets crushed. Like it or not he had to try ( 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5 a5 17.xf5 f6 18.b3 ae8 19.f3 but then xg4 looks very good for Black.) 15...h5 16.f3 xf3 17.xf3 xc3 18.bxc3 e5 19.g2 a5 20.b3 xa2 21.dg1 g6 22.d4 c4 23.fxg6 fxg6 24.d1 e4 25.h3 0-1 Granara Barreto, S-Labollita, M/1st Chesspangenberg Open, Buenos Aires 2003 (25) ] 7.f4 f7 [ 7...fxe5 8.xe6 e7 9.xf8 exd4+ 10.e2 dxc3 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d3 f6 13.xc3 bd7 14.e3 e4 15.d4 was the old game Nunn-Andersson London 1982. I think I prefer the Bishops. ] 8.e2 d7! An improvement on [ 8...fxe5 9.xe5 d7 10.e2 e7 11.d3 g6 12.h4 Timman-Anand Amsterdam 1992 ] 9.exf6 xf6 10.g5 A typical jab in this line. White disrupts the position before Black can get his act together. xd4 11.xe6 xe6 12.xe6+ e7N The block with the Bishop seems reasonable as long as Black can eject the White Queen sooner rather than later. But 12...Ne7 has been scoring well too: [ 12...e7 13.e3 e5 14.g4 ( 14.h3 xe6 15.xe6 g6 16.0-0-0 c5 17.f5 f7 18.h4 d6 19.h5 f4 20.xh7 ce6 21.g6+ e7 22.h6 e5 23.hxg7 xg7 24.he1 g2 25.g5+ f6 26.xf6+ xf6 27.g1 gf4 28.de1 ae8 Vlassov, N-Vyzmanavin, A/Novgorod 1995) 14...f5 15.a4 b5 16.xb5 f3 17.g1 cxb5 18.xb5 f5 19.c7+ d8 20.xa8 xe3 21.g3 b4+ 22.c3 h1+ 23.e2 xa1 24.xe3 xb2+ 25.f1 f8 26.e2 c1+ 0-1 Zozulia, A-Wieczorek, R/ Krakow 1999 ] 13.e3 e5 14.g4 White does not want the Queens off with his compromised pawn s t r u c t u r e . c5!= There is good reason to think that Black has equalised. He is gradually neutralising W hite's attacking potential by exchanges and he retains the better pawn structure. All hinges on whether Galdunts can work up compensating light-squared pressure

b y a c t i v e l y m o b i l i zi n g t h e B i s h o p o n f 1 15.0-0-0 [ 15.e2 xe3 16.xe3 e7 ] 15...xe3+ 16.fxe3 e7? Sometimes you just have to be bold and here Black has to take on e3, not so much to win a pawn as to stop White levering open the position. I think that with accurate defence, Black should hold: [ 16...xe3+ 17.b1 0-0-0 18.h3 h5 19.g2 ( 19.h4 e7 20.de1 g6! 21.xe3 xh4 22.e7 g6! 23.xg7 f4 24.f5 hf8= ) 19...e7 20.he1 c5 ] 17.e4! Now I start to believe in the Bf1. d4 18.e2 c5 19.f4 0-0-0 20.e6 Passive play by Black hasn't brought any benefit. White is starting to crawl all over the position. de8 21.h3 b8 22.hf1 [ 22.g3! was very strong, exchanging Black's only active piece: c6 ( 22...xg3 23.hxg3 g6 24.xg7 e7 25.h5 de5 26.f5 ) 23.xg7 ] 22...f8 23.f4 fg6 [ After 23...xe4 Black gets pushed around: 24.de1 c6 25.g2 b5 26.h5 g8 27.f7+- ] 24.d3 c7 25.g3 xg3 26.hxg3 b6 27.f7 hg8 28.e6 c8 [ 28...c6 29.d5 ce7 30.h1 xd5 31.exd5 ] 29.d5 d6 30.d7 Schulz is demoralized. I wouldn't resign at this point although the situation of the clocks is unknown to me. Certainly Black is worse after 30...Nxe4 31 Bxg8 Rxg8 but he can struggle on. S u m m a r i si n g t h e o p e n i n g s k i r m i s h e s i s easier: Black has a good position after 9... Nd7 and the idea can be recommended. You are obliged to play with courage. 1-0

1253 Gashimov,Vugar Grischuk,Alexander Sportaccord WMG Rapid rapid (6) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2757 2752 11.12.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 c5 7.a3 ec6 8.c4 cxd4 Same players, same line! Not even a month ago I commented on their encounter from Tal 1326

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Memorial, and here we have another game, although this time with a rapid time control, although still theoretically important. 9.b5 a6 10.g5 d7 11.bxd4 e4 12.c1 h6 13.e3 e7 14.cxd5 xd5 15.d2!?N Gashimov deviates first, this is obviously his improvement over the above mentioned game, that you can find in my November update. b4 This move is made against White's main threat, e.g. [ 15...0-0 16.xh6! gxh6 17.xh6 Black is practically lost. ] 16.d3 0-0 17.a3 e7 18.d1! A nice idea, transferring the bishop to c2 is possible now that he has won a tempo with a3. d8 19.c2 g6 20.e2 g7 21.fd1 White could go directly on the attack: [ 21.h4!? xd4 22.xd4 A) 22...xh4 23.g4 e7 24.e2 c6 25.g3 h7 26.h5 e8 ( 26...xe5 27.f4+- ) 27.f4 f8 28.f6+ xf6 29.exf6; B) 22...c6 23.xc6 xc6 24.fd1 e8 25.h5 xd1+ 26.xd1 g5 27.f4 d8 28.fxg5 xg5 29.xg5 xd1+ 30.xd1 hxg5 31.h2 h8 32.g4 h6 33.d6 ] 21...xd4 22.xd4 [ 22.xd4 c6 23.xc6 bxc6 24.g4 a5 25.h4 h5 26.f4 e8 27.a4 White has some kind of pressure but Black's position is solid, albeit a bit passive. ] 22...b5 23.d3 e8 24.c3 [ 24.d2 c6 25.b6 d7 26.f4 c8 27.c4 d8 28.f2 xc4! 29.xc4 e7 Black has good play here. ] 24...c6 25.e3 d7 26.d2 ad8 27.e4 [ 27.e2 f8 28.b4 White enjoys the easier play but the position is not easy to handle for either side, if Black could transfer his knight to e7, aiming for the f5 or d5 squares, he would seize the initiative. ] 27...xe4! 28.xe4 c5 29.h4 h5 Now Black is even slightly better, his piece coordination is better. 30.f3 d4 31.xd4 xd4 32.f6+ g8 33.e2 8d5 34.f4 d8 35.xd8+ xd8 36.f3 f8 37.g3 White managed to hold the equilibrium here. xd1+ 38.xd1 xd1+ 39.xd1 d4 40.f2 e7 41.e3 f5+ 42.f2 d4

43.e3 f5+ 44.e4 ½-½

1254 Gashimov,Vugar Grischuk,Alexander 18th European Teams (6.3) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2757 2752 08.11.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 c5 7.a3 Recently this move started to gain popularity . [ 7.c4 bc6 8.a3 a6 9.dxc5 d4 I analysed this move in one of my previous updates, in the game Leko-Roiz. ] [ 7.dxc5 ec6 8.g5 e7 9.xe7 xe7 10.c4 dxc4 11.a3 c3 12.bxc3 d7 13.b5 0-0 14.d6 xc5 15.b5 g4 16.xc6 bxc6 17.h3 h5 18.g4 g6 19.d4 b7 20.ad1 c5 21.a4 xd6 22.xd6 f5 ( 22...b7 23.f4 ab8 Black is fine here.) 23.d7 e8 24.fd1 fxg4 25.xg4 f7 26.xf7 xf7 27.g5 f5 28.f4 e8 29.xf5 xf5 30.d7 f8 31.e7 h6 32.xe6 xe6 33.xe6 xf4 34.a6 f3 35.xa7 xh3 36.e6 e3 37.e7 f8 38.f7+ g8 39.e7 f8 1/2-1/2 Shirov, A -Anand, V Leon 2011 ] 7...ec6 8.c4 cxd4 9.b5 a6 10.g5 d7 11.bxd4 e4 12.c1 h6 13.e3 [ 13.h4 e7 14.xe7 xe7 15.d2 bc6 16.4b3 c7 17.xe4 dxe4 18.d6 b6 19.fd1 0-0 20.c5 c7 21.d6 Agreed drawn, Svidler-Anand/Tal Memorial 2011. W hile I was writing this game had just finished and so I added it as an important contribution to the theory of this line. Black had no problems whatsoever. ] 13...e7 14.cxd5 xd5 15.c4 0-0 16.e2 Another possibility might be: [ 16.xd5 xd5 17.xc6 xc6 18.xd5 exd5 19.a3 ( 19.b6 d8 20.c5 e8 21.d6 e7 22.fd1 ad8 23.xd5 xe5! 24.xe5 xd6 25.xe8+ xe8 26.f1= ) 19...fe8 20.fd1 ad8 21.c2 f8 22.b6 d7 I consider such a position equal. ] 16...d8 17.fd1 xc4 18.xc4 e8 19.b3 d7 20.a3 f8 Grischuk is delaying 1327

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 t a k i n g o n d 4 a s lo n g a s p o ss ib le , a n d i t Ivanchuk severe problems to complete his seems that W hite can't do much about it. development. 21.xc6 Releasing the tension, alternatives [ 17.c4 is my computer's top choice. dxc4 might be interesting but the position is still 18.xc4 g5 ( 18...g6 is a more human very solid for Black. move. 19.d2 e8 20.d7 e7 21.ed1 [ 21.h3 a5 22.c2 ac6 23.d2 d5 f4! and Black will slowly unravel.) 19.d2 24.e4 xd4 25.xd4 d7 ] e8 20.g3 e7 ( 20...h6?! 21.d7 e7 21...xc6 22.xd7 xd7 23.d1 c8 22.e6! is very strong.) 21.f4 gxf4 22.gxf4 24.c1 d7 25.d1 c8 26.c1 h6 and White still has good compensation Game drawn, which is a normal outcome in for the pawn but Black's position is this position. probably defendable. ] ½-½ 17...e7 18.c3 a6 I don't really like this move as the bishop is very strong on d7. [ Perhaps 18...h5 is best to bring the rook 1255 B12 back into the game via h6. Of course White still has good compensation but this will Gashimov,Vugar 2733 probably be a future battleground in the Ivanchuk,Vassily 2764 variation. ] 53rd Masters (6) 03.01.2011 [ 18...c8 must be the critical test of White's [Gawain Jones] new idea. 19.xc8+ xc8 20.d1 A) 20...e7 21.f4! ( 21.c4 g6 22.cxd5 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 23.e1 c8 24.g3 c5 25.c6 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 Another test of d8 is probably a draw as it won't be easy this theoretical line which a few months ago to keep White's imposing centre.) 21...g6 looked to be in such good shape for Black. 22.c4 dxc4 23.xc4 and, despite the 8.0-0 xb2 9.e1 cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 simplifications, Black has severe problems 11.xd4 b4 12.b1 with Rd7 coming next move.; [ Karjakin tried 12.db5 and won quickly but B) 20...e7 21.xd5 d8 22.c4 f6 I thought Black should have been able to 23.f4! fxe5 24.fxe5 and as the c8 knight equalise. Karjakin, S (2747)-Tukhaev, A cannot move Black has big problems. ] (2550) Wroclaw 2010. ] 12...xc3 13.xb2 xe1 14.xe1 b6 19.d7 g6 20.c7 White's threat of e5-e6 is I have previously looked at this position in the very difficult to deal with. b5 [ 20...g7 21.e6! hf8 22.exf7 would give notes to Ni Hua-Ionov and Karjakin-Tukhaev. I White a decisive advantage. ] have to confess that I believed Black to be [ 20...g8 is the computer's suggestion but holding on here. However Gashimov comes following 21.g3 it's not clear how Black up with a dangerous new idea which should proceed. ] c h a l l e n g e s t h i s v a r i a t i o n . 15.b5+ ChessVibes gives 17.Rb3 as the novelty but to 21.e6! f6 I bet Ivanchuk really hated playing be honest I cannot find any examples of this the move as White will now always have great compensation due to that passed e pawn move. [ Motylev, A (2705)-Belov, V (2619) Dagomys while Black's king will struggle to find safety. [ 21...fxe6 is of course the alternative but the 2010 continued 15.h4 and Black held the problem is that after 22.xe6 h5 23.f4 draw. ] Black is completely paralysed. ] 15...f8 16.xf5 exf5 So White has a pawn This rook manoeuvre is familiar. deficit but a strong lead in development and 22.e3! b e t t e r s t r u c t u r e . H o w e v e r h e m u s t d o Gashimov brings his second rook onto the something quickly or Black will be able to play seventh rank. b8 [ 22...b4 would prevent the following rook lift ...g6, ...Ne7 and ...Kg7 and he won't have any but the queenside pawns are vulnerable. A p r o b l e m s a t a l l . 17.b3! This looks like a sample line could continue: 23.b3 a5 strong new idea. Gashimov wants to play the 24.a3 bxa3 25.xa3 f4 26.f1 h5 27.b3 rook onto the seventh rank where it will cause 1328

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Vacating b6 for the knight. 13.g3 g6 14.e2 b6 15.0-0 c4 16.xc4 when dxc4! is roughly equal ] [ 8...e7 Although the exchange of darksquared bishops should favour W hite in principle, it's hard to prove it: 9.xe7 xe7 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 a6 12.ge2 Hoffman, A-Nivala, T/Dos Hermanas 2003 and now c8 leaves the game looking pretty level to me. ] 9.a3N he wants to take full advantage of the exposed Black queen. Is there any need for a novelty here? Not if the following evidence is anything to go by: [ 9.b5 b4 10.xd7+ xd7 11.ge2 A) 11...c8 12.0-0 f6 13.f4 e7 14.a3 xc3 15.xc3 g6 16.g3 fxe5 Possibly this is where it all starts to go downhill. ( Why not 16...c4! planning to double rooks and with pressure on d4.) 17.dxe5 c4 18.b4 a6 19.b5 b6 20.xd5 d4 21.e3 a4 22.b3 e4 23.fd1+ e7 24.f3 f4 25.fxe4 e2+ 26.h2 xe4 27.xf5+ exf5 28.d5 1-0 Kobylka, P-Michalek, M/Brno 1987; B) 11...e7 12.0-0 c6 13.g3 xc3 14.bxc3 xc3?! ( 14...g6 was more c a u t i o u s a n d w i t h o u t d o u b t b e t t e r .) 15.xf5 exf5 16.b1 e8 17.xb7 b8 1256 B12 18.c7 1-0 Epstein, E-Frenklakh, J/ Chandler 1997 ] Gelashvili,Tamaz 2577 [ 9.ge2 f6 ( 9...c8 ) 10.exf6 gxf6 Saleh,Nabil 2260 ( 10...gxf6!? leads to an interesting position 7th Open Dubai UAE (1) 04.04.2005 which should not be worse for Black: 11.f4 [Andrew Martin] b6 12.d2 e7 ) 11.g3 g6 12.d3 f7 13.0-0 d6 14.ce2 0-0-0 15.d2 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 b6 16.a4 df8 17.a5 d8 18.a6 b6 A move which to a certain extent lives in the 19.g5 b8 20.c3 a8 21.b5 b8 shadow of 4 Nc3 and 5 g4, although games 22.e4 dxe4 23.xe4+ xe4 24.xd8 like the following may well propel 4 h4 back xd8 25.c2 f6 26.c7 d7 27.xd6 into the forefront of fashion. In my view, 3...c5 d5 28.g3 h6 29.fc1 g6 30.e5 is less hassle for Black to learn and probably 1-0 Mokry, K-Shaw, T/Thessaloniki 1984 more reliable. h5 5.c4 e6 6.c3 d7 Excellent results for White, and in double[ Possibly 6...dxc4 is superior and then the quick time too, although as I've shown, usual plan of controlling d5 with moves such Black had improvements in all the games. ] as ...Nd7-b6 and ...Ne7-d5 come into the 9...a6 10.b4 b6 11.c1 e7 12.e2 g6 frame. ] 7.cxd5! Now that the Knight cannot come to He's aiming to transfer a Knight to f5 , and c6 a capture on d5 is well-timed. cxd5 8.g5 su rprisin gly, it 's no t at all e a sy t o f in d a really good alternative: a5 There are two decent alternatives: [ 12...c8 13.xh5 ( 13.f3 f6 14.exf6 [ 8...b6 9.d2 c8 10.c1 e7 11.a3 gxf6 15.f4 ) 13...xg5 14.hxg5 g6 15.g4 c6 12.ge2 ( 12.f3 g4 ) 12...b3 g5 28.a4 and White has complete control. ] [ Perhaps 22...f4! was the last chance, with the idea 23.a3 ( 23.ec3!? f5 24.f1 b8 25.3c6 g7 26.xa6 f6 looks playable for Black.) 23...f5 24.xb5 g7! 25.d7 f6 and Black has succeeded in completing his development although of course White is still on top. ] 23.a7 b6 24.c3 h5?! After this Black has no chances. [ 24...d4 25.cc7 ( 25.a3 looks like a c l e a n e r r o u t e t o v i c t o r y .) 25...g7 would allow the h8 rook back into the game when White would still have a lot of work to do after 26.xb5 axb5 27.xe7+ h6 ] 25.c8! And that h8 rook is now trapped forever. h7 26.cc7 f4? And this loses instantly. [ 26...b8 wa s f o rc e d b u t 27.xa6 b4 28.cb7 xb7 29.xb7 will win easily. ] 27.a8! Not a good game by the Ukrainian genius but proof that Black needs to play accurately in this line. I think 18...h5 is a better try for Black who may be able to hold onto the draw. Further tests required! 1-0

1329

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xg4 16.xg4 xh5 17.xh5 gxh5 18.f4 e7 19.f3 ] [ 12...xg5 13.hxg5 g6 14.h3 ] [ 12...f6 13.xh5+ d8 14.a4! ] 13.h3! The Knight certainly belongs on f4. xg5 14.hxg5 e7 15.a4 d8 16.f4 h4 17.g3 White has superior chances for several reasons: 1) He has two Rooks already in th e ga me 2 ) His pa wns give him more space. 3) He has excellent squares for his knights on f4 and c5 4) Black is passive e4 18.f3 f5? I guess Saleh wasn't too fond of his position. Instead [ 18...f5 19.xh4 xh4 20.gxh4 ] [ 18...h7 19.gxh4 f5 20.c5 xc5 21.xc5 were probably both too grim for him to contemplate at any length. ] 19.fxe4 xg3 20.g1 xg5 21.h3! e3 22.c3 xe4 23.d3 [ After 23.f2 xe2+ 24.xe2 xe2 25.xe2 Black has three pawns, but how does he prevent White from penetrating on the c file? ] 23...xd3 24.xd3 b5 [ 24...f6 is an attempt to get the pawns rolling but Black is suf f ering due to the inactivity of his Rooks. Thus 25.exf6 gxf6 26.c7 is still much better for White. ] 25.c5 xc5 26.xc5 The flag drops. Perhaps Black isn't totally lost here but his position remains unenviable after, say, 26... Kd7 27 Kf 2 f ollowed by Rgc1 and a King march into the centre. Black cannot do anything! My overall view is that 4 h4 is on a par with 4 Nc3 in terms of objective strength. With a bit of study, both should furnish decent practical results. 1-0

1257 Gelfand,Boris Dreev,Alexey vs. ROW Moscow RUS (6) [Tony Kosten]

B12 2710 2676 10.09.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 b6 5.c1 e6 6.c4 xb1 Preparation, no doubt, Shirov 'came a cropper' against Kasparov with [ 6...e7?! 7.c5 when White's space advantage proved decisive. ]

7.xb1 b4+ 8.d2 xd2+ The point, Black has managed to exchange two pieces which gives his remaining knights more room to manoeuvre . 9.xd2 dxc4 10.xc4 c5!? Black goes all-out to destroy the white centre, but [ 10...e7 followed by .. .Nd7, and eventually ...Nb6-d5, is also feasible, with a solid position. ] 11.d5! Well played! White allows his king to be displaced, but opens the a2-g8 diagonal for his bishop, whose relative value increases somewhat. exd5 12.xd5 b4+ Black had clearly been counting on this move. 13.e2 h6 14.f3 c6 15.a3 b6 16.hc1 0-0 17.f1 Bringing the king back to safety is a useful reflex. fe8 18.e4 A quick loo k at the position reveals that the displacement of the white king has had only a temporary effect - a couple of tempi has brought it back to safety - whereas the placement of the black knight on h6 (which was necessary to defend the f7-pawn) has more lasting consequences. d8?! To o pa ssive . 19.d5 c8 20.b4 a6+ 21.b5 g6 Black aims for the exchange of queens, but the ending is no more pleasant for him than the middlegame. [ 21...xa3?? loses, 22.a1 b2 23.a4 and there is no sensible defence against Rab1. ] 22.xg6 hxg6 23.b6 axb6 24.xb6 Hitting b7 and g6 at the same time, Black now tries to activate his pieces, but the harm is already done. f5 25.xb7 [ 25.b5! is better, White can take the cpawn first, and then return for the b-pawn. ] 25...b8 26.cb1 xb7 27.xb7 a8 28.1b3 d4 29.xd4 cxd4 30.f3 Not only is W hite a pawn up, but he has a ro o k o n t h e se ve n t h a n d st ill e n jo ys t h e initiative. f8 [ 30...xe5 31.fxf7 xa3 32.xg7+ f8 might offe r some drawing chances because of the d-pawn, but should still be a win for White. ] 31.d7 a5 32.xd4 xe5 33.fd3 fe8 34.g3 e1+ 35.g2 a1 36.d8?! W hite decides to play the single rook endgame, relying on his outside passed pawn, but keeping both on should be simpler. xd8 37.xd8+ h7 38.a8 g5 39.g4 c1 1330

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 40.f3 To win White will prepare the march of the queen on h4 is rather short on his king to the queenside to help the a-pawn squares ) 10.h4 h5! 11.gxh5 xh5 queen, and hope that he doesn't lose too 12.xh5 g6 13.xg6 xg6 14.g4 many kingside pawns in the process. c4 B1) 14...h4! 15.xh4 xh4 41.h3 g6 42.e8 c3+ 43.e3 c2 was better and W hite will struggle to 44.b3 a2 45.e3 f5 46.f3 f6 47.d4 make use of his extra pawn, e.g. 16.e2 h2 48.c4 xh3 49.a4 fxg4? This move 0-0-0 17.h1 h6 18.f4 ( or 18.g1 allows White to defend the g-pawn, f8! 19.g4 fg6 ) 18...g6 19.b3 [ 49...h4 50.a5 fxg4 51.fxg4 xg4+ dg8 and Black's activity should be 52.b5 e4 53.a6 g4 54.a7 e8 55.c6 enough for the pawn; a8 draws easily. ] B2) 14...g8?! 15.h1 h6 16.f3 50.fxg4 h4 51.g3 e5 52.a5 f4 xc1 17.axc1 and Black didn't have 53.g1 f3 54.a6 f2 55.a1 xg4+ quite enough for the pawn in Smirin, I 56.d3 Of course, the king returns to stop the (2654)-Kacheishvili, G (2575) Las Vegas g-pawns. g3+ 57.d2 f3 58.a7 f8 2010 ] 59.a8 xa8 60.xa8 g4 61.f8+ g2 9.b3! c4 62.e3 g3 63.f4 g5+ 64.g4 h2 [ 9...cxd4 also leads to a better position for 65.h8+ g2 66.h3 White after 10.b5+ c6 11.bxd4 fxd4 1-0 12.xd4 c8 13.a4 d7 14.e3 but it's possible that this is a safer option for Black than the game as White's edge is 1258 B12 minimal here and Black can safely castle soon. ] Giri,A 2737 Svetushkin,D 2614 10.bd2 c6 11.g4 h4 [ or 11...h6 12.h3 and White will open up TCh-ESP CECLUB Honor 2013 (2.2) 09.09.13 the queenside with b3 and meet ...b5 with [Tom Rendle] a4. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 12.xh4 xh4 13.f4 f6 [ m y c o m p u t e r w a n t s t o p l a y 13...h5 e7 6.c3 g6 So far this move has only but to a human eye it looks incredibly risky appeared in the notes to other games with 6... 14.g5 the queen is trapped but the computer h6 and 6...Nd7 appearing in several games. shows that it can normally escape via c2, e. 7.0-0 f5 8.bd2 g. b5 15.f3 ( 15.f2 h3 16.f1 [ 8.a3!? has been playing in a high level may be a more accurate approach for game, albeit 'only' in blitz d7 9.c2 c7 White ) 15...g4+ 16.g3 f5 17.f1 c2 10.ce1!? h6 11.d3 h7 12.a4 c5 18.e1 a4 and Black is at least OK ] 13.a5 g5?! ( 13...c4 14.f4 e7 f7 15.h1 Giri shows fantastic is fairly equal.) 14.dxc5 xc5 15.d4 14.f5! and White was slightly better in Rublevsky, understanding and calculation to see that S ( 2 6 9 5 ) - G r i s c h u k , A ( 2 7 7 9 ) K h a n t y - Black is now forced into retreat. The threat is 16.f3 M a n s i y s k 2 0 1 3 ( 15.g4! g7 16.e3 simply 16.Nf3 Qxg4 17. Ng5! fxe5 d8 17.dxe5 e7 18.d4! It's a big risk was even stronger )] pushing kingside pawns forward so early on 8...c5 [ 8...d7 is probably a more reliable choice but the opening has worked out well for White and Giri continues to keep up the pressure at this point A) 9.e1 is always a safe option in these d7 [ 18...xe5?? loses to 19.fxe6 g8 position, planning Nd3 and here play might 20.a4+ ] continue e7 10.d3 0-0 11.f4 c8 w i t h r o u g h l y b a l a n c e d c h a n c e s ( or 19.b3 [ 19.f6!? also sets Black problems: gxf6 11...c5!? 12.f3 c8 ); 20.exf6 d6 21.b3! and it's unclear what B) 9.g4 e7 ( 9...h4!? is a little risky as Black is going to do with his king. ] after 10.xh4 xh4 11.f4 h5 12.g5 1331

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19...0-0 [ Black should probably try grabbing a pawn with 19...xe5 as if you're going to be under pressure you might as well be up on material! 20.fxe6 xe6 21.f4 c6 22.xe6 xe6 23.g3 and while Black's king is caught in the centre still there's no immediate threat so it's possible for Black to survive here, although obviously it will take superb defence! ] 20.bxc4 [ 20.f6 looks logical and strong to me here, for example c5 21.xc6 xc6 22.bxc4 dxc4+ 23.f3 b6 24.fxg7 fd8 ( 24...xg7? 25.b1 and black is in serious trouble ) 25.e1! and Black is under severe pressure here ] 20...xe5 [ 20...dxc4 21.f6 is likely to transpose to 20. f6 ] 21.fxe6 xe6 22.xe6 xf1+ 23.xf1 xe6 24.g2 xg4?! Up until now Svetushkin has been defending admirably but finally he cracks and finds him self in a ending which must be close to lost [ 24...h8! was a better chance - after 25.xd5 ( 25.xd5 is probably best but now xg4! was probably missed by Black - the knight can't be taken because of the weak back rank so W hite has to go for 26.e3 c6 27.b5 with only a slight edge for White ) 25...g6 White's king is very open so Black has real compensation for the pawn ] 25.xd5+ h8 26.xg4 xg4 27.b1 f8 28.xb7 d6 [ 28...c5 offers slightly more counterplay but White keeps good winning chances after 29.g2! e3+ 30.h3 ] 29.xa7 f1+ 30.g2 f2+ 31.h3 h5 32.a8+ h7 33.e4+ g6 34.a7+ g8 35.h4! The king escapes the mating net and now Black is pretty much busted f8?! [ 35...c5 was the last chance but after 36.a6 f6 37.xg6 g7 38.d3 it's hard to believe Black will be able to stop all of White's extra pawns in the long run ] 36.h3 e5 37.g5 f1 38.f4 xc4 39.xd6+ xd6 40.xg6 f3 41.d7! c4 42.xh5

[ 42.xh5 xc3 43.f6 and Black is getting mated ] 1-0

1259 Giri,A Topalov,V FIDE GP Beijing (10.2) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2734 2767 15.07.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 g6 6.0-0 h6 An unusual choice from Topalov but given how quickly it goes wrong I'm not sure we'll be seeing much more of it. [ 6...e7 is the usual line and it can be seen in b o t h B e li a vsk y- S o l a k a n d Zh ig a l k o Jobava in the archives. ] 7.c3 [ 7.bd2 e7 8.b3 0-0 9.h3 d7 ( 9...f5 10.g4 h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 is a tough position for Black to play even if i t m a y b e O K i n p r i n c i p l e .) 10.g4!? was an interesting setup in Zhang Pengxiang (2622)-Asrian, K (2635) Taiyuan 2006 but Black was able to get an acceptable position after h8 11.e3 g8 12.e1 f6! 13.f4 c5 and Black had enough pressure on the centre to maintain an even game. ] [ 7.g5 e7 8.xe7 xe7 isn't dangerous at all and resulted in a quick draw the only time it was played: 9.bd2 0-0 10.c4 d7 ( 10...a5!? followed by ...Na6 is a more ambitious setup for Black but the position is still pretty equal.) 11.cxd5 exd5 12.b3 ab8 13.fe1 f6! 14.d3 xd3 15.xd3 fxe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.xe5 f6 18.f3 f7 19.e2 be8 20.ae1 1/2-1/2 Edouard, R (2508)-Granda Zuniga, J (2599) La Massana 2008 ] [ 7.xh6 is also logical straightaway gxh6 8.c4!? now looks to be the most testing of White's options but Black seems to be OK here after dxc4 9.xc4 d7 10.c3 c7 with ...0-0-0 and Nb6-d5 coming for Black. ] 7...e7 [ 7...d7 would take us back into more mainline territory and is analysed in both Adams-Monroy and Bologan-Dreev. ] 8.xh6 gxh6 9.g3 Although Topalov has 1332

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 been playing the unusual moves the actual novelty for the game goes to Giri for this move, but it doesn't really seem to improve much on what went before. Despite what I said earlier it seems Black is d oing OK here and th e opening is not really to blame for the disaster that is to follow. [ 9.d2 seems very sensible to me and may actually be a better try for the advantage b6 10.b3 ( 10.b4?! a5! solves all of Black's problems; 10.a4! a5 11.a3 may be the way to play this position as White as now c5?! 12.dxc5 xc5 13.b5 is clearly better for White) 10...c5 11.xh6 c6 12.f4 ( 12.dxc5 seems critical here and now xc5 13.f4 0-0 14.b4 e7 15.b5 a5 16.d4 and the question is does Black have enough compensation for the pawn. I suspect the answer is probably yes, after something like ac8 ) 12...f6! 13.exf6 0-0 14.e3 xf6 and Black had more than enough compensation for the pawn and went on to win in Sjugirov, S (2562)-Riazantsev, A (2634) Moscow 2009 ] 9...0-0 [ 9...b6 is still possible here and now m a y b e G i r i ' s i d e a w a s t o p l a y 10.c1 leaving the d2 square free for his b1 knight. Still, Black seems to be absolutely fine after d7 11.bd2 0-0 with ...f6 or ...c5 to come. ] 10.bd2 a5 11.e1 c5! After this Black seems to get the kind of position he wants from the opening before it all goes wrong. 12.h4 cxd4 [ 12...f6 was a better option given what happens. Chances are roughly balanced after 13.h5 f7 14.exf6 xf6 15.dxc5 d7 16.d3 a4! and Black's central control a n d t wo b i s h o p s g i v e h i m r e a s o n a b l e compensation for the pawn. ] 13.h5 e4 14.cxd4 c6 15.f3 f5? [ 15...xf3 was necessary here although perhaps W hite is a little better after 16.dxf3 b6 17.d2 but at least Black c a n s t il l g a in co u n t e r p l a y h e r e wi t h f6! and actually it seems that he should not really be worse here, for example 18.exf6 xf6 19.d1 ( 19.xh6?! xd4 and Black has taken control of the centre) 19...g7 with balanced chances. ]

16.g4 xd4? This just loses a piece and Topalov doesn't really get any compensation. [ 16...b4! avoids the piece loss as now 17.gxf5 ( 17.a3! is White's best option with a clear advantage after xd2 18.xd2 e4 19.e2 g5 20.d1 xd2 21.xd2 fc8 22.f3 b1 23.b3 and although Black is still at level material the bishop on b1 is r u n n i n g p e r i l o u s l y s h o r t o n s q u a r e s .) 17...g5+ regains the piece and White is only slightly better after 18.g2 xd2 19.a3 xd1 20.xd1 xe1 21.fxe1 h8 ] 17.gxf5 h8?! Things go from bad to worse for Topalov - allowing the pawn to f6 brings a swift end to the game. [ 17...xf5 18.g4 d4 19.df3 xf3+ 20.xf3 is of course winning for White but Black can at least fight on here, perhaps with h8 21.d3 c8 ] 18.f6 b4 19.g2 g8 20.df3 c6 21.d3 b6 22.h1 c5 23.c1 Black is simply a knight down with a bad position . A n o dd ga me f rom Top alov bu t actually the opening doesn't look too bad! 1-0

1260 Giri,Anish Wojtaszek,Radoslaw 18th European Teams (6.6) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2714 2705 08.11.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.d2 bc6 9.2f3 g4 10.0-0 xf3 11.xf3 We have already seen this line in my previous u p d a t e s, o n ly n o w B l a c k co m e s u p wi t h a n o t h e r i d e a . c7 12.c1 d8 An interesting setup for Black. 13.c3 g6 14.a4 e7 15.c4 0-0 Another solid approach was: [ 15...dxc4 16.xc4 b8 17.e4 0-0 18.g3 gxe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.f4 d6 21.fd1 c6 22.d3 g6 23.h6 fe8 24.b5 f8 The position looks ok for Black. ] 16.cxd5 xd5 17.xa7 c8 18.a4 gxe5 19.b4 Better was: [ 19.fd1 xd1+ 20.xd1 xf3+ 21.xf3 e5 22.e2 ] 1333

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19...g4! 20.b5 xe3 21.fxe3 c5 seems to have been played in some 22.xc5 xc5 23.bxc6 xc6 Rook and Correspondence games but the text has pawn for two minor pieces is a reasonable been played almost always when the players t r a d e h e r e . 24.b4 g6 25.h4 c1! have reached this position 'otb'. ] B l a c k i s e x c h a n g i n g a p a i r o f r o o k s t o 10...d7 11.c1 h6 12.e3 b5 13.a3 diminish White's potential attack down the f [ A s G a w a i n w r o t e p r e v i o u s l y 13.d6+ line. 26.e5 c5 27.f4 xf1+ 28.xf1 didn't get White anywhere in Cheparinov, I e7 29.c4 (2671) -Bologan, V (2692) Khanty-Mansiysk [ 29.a4 c5 ] 2009. ] 29...c5 30.b3 c7 31.f3 xf4 32.exf4 13...a6 14.dxc5 e7 This seems to be g7 Black has achieved an endgame which is Black's most reliable line. ok. 33.f2 h6 34.e3 f6 35.e4 e7 [ The Hiarcs Opening book gives the line 36.d4 c1 37.g4 f1 38.e3 c1 14...xe3 15.xd7+ ( 15.fxe3!? 39.d4 f1 40.e3 c1 41.d2 c5 could also be looked at) 15...xd7 16.fxe3 42.g5 hxg5 43.hxg5 f6 No need, at least e4 17.d2 g6 18.f3 e7 which is not yet. 44.d3 a5 45.e3 c5 46.d3 perhaps a little better for White after 19.c2 a5 47.e4 c5 48.gxf6+ xf6 49.e5 but xe5! 20.xa8 xa8 21.b4 a5 c7 50.c4 g5 Black simply wants to isn't clear at all. ] simplify, even at the cost of a pawn. 51.fxg5+ [ 14...e4 is also given in the xg5 52.xe6 f6 53.d5 e7 54.g6+ a f o r e m e n t io n e d b o o k wh ic h c o n t i n u e s d8 55.e5 e7 56.f5 c1 57.a4 a1 15.c2 xe3 16.xe3 c7 ( 16...e7 58.c2 d8 59.d6 c8 60.c4 b8 17.a4 b7 18.d3 xd3 19.xd3 0-0 61.c5 a7 62.b4 h1 63.d3 h4 seems a little more pleasant for White but 64.f5 f4 65.d7 h4 66.b5 h5 is rather typical of the variation.) 17.e1 67.e3 b6 68.c4 a7 69.d5 h6 d8 18.d2 h7 19.f4 d4 20.f2 a5 70.b5 g6 71.c5 h6 72.f4 f6 21.a3 adopting the same plan as the game. 73.d3 f5+ 74.d4 b6 75.e5 a5 e7 22.c3 c7 23.b4 xe2+ 24.xe2 76.c4+ b4 77.d6 h5 After a long d4 25.f5 0-0 26.f3 e4 27.fxe6 struggle Black got what he wanted - a draw. when White has consolidated his extra pawn ½-½ and definitely stands better. ] [ 14...d8?! a l l o w e d t h e s h o t 15.xb5! G a w a i n w r o t e p r e v i o u s l y t h a t xe3 1261 B12 ( 15...axb5 16.xb5 and the pressure on the a4-e8 diagonal coupled with the three Gopal,G 2566 connected passed pawns gives White very Laznicka,Viktor 2704 good chances.) 16.fxe3 xd1 Ramesh, R Gibraltar Open (5.3) 28.01.2012 (2473)-Prakash, G (2341) Kolkata 2008 [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] when my relay goes haywire but 17.fxd1 axb5 18.xb5 c8 19.d4 e4 20.a4! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 would have been very good for White as the e7 6.0-0 c5 This line continues to be three pawns are so strong. ] popular with the elite with Carlsen and Anand xe3 16.xe3 e4 17.a3 having joined Grischuk happy to play the 15.c2 black side in the past 12 months. 7.c4 bc6 And only this move looks like the novelty. Gopal takes control of b4 and prepares to 8.a3 [ Gawain checked out 8.dxc5 in Motylev, A defend his c5 pawn. [ 17.a4 happened previously when Gawain (2677)-Maletin, P (2584) Olginka 2011. ] wrote b7 18.axb5 axb5 8...dxc4 A) 19.d4! looks like an improvement [ While 8...a6 is seen in Leko, P (2717)-Roiz, w h e n c r i t i c a l i s 0-0-0 ( 19...xd4 M (2669) Ningbo 2011 by Milos Pavlovic. ] 20.xd4 0-0 21.b4 ) 20.xc6 xd1 9.xc4 d5 10.g5 21.xe7+ d8! 22.fxd1+ xe7 [ 10.e3!? deserves further attention and 1334

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 when White has rook, knight and pawn for the queen and what feels like a slight edge.; B) 19.d2 didn't get White anywhere either: g6 20.f3 d8 21.xc6+ xc6 22.f3 c7 23.fd1 0-0= Cheparinov, I (2671)-Bologan, V (2692) Khanty Mansiysk 2009; C) 19.b3 b8 ( 19...0-0 20.xb5 xb5 21.xb5 xf3 22.gxf3 xe5 is evaluated as = by the computer but the connected passed pawns looks scary to me. ) 20.c3 c7 21.d4 b4 22.c4 1/2-1/2 Motylev, A (2704)-Riazantsev, A (2674) Poikovsky 2010. Evidently Ria z a n t s e v h a s c h e ck e d 1 9 . Nd 4 a n d decided Black can hold. ] 17...c7 A logical response targeting the vulnerable e5 pawn. 18.d3!? As ...Qc7 is the computer's top suggestion I think it's fairly safe to assume we're still in Gopal's preparation. [ 18.d2 h7 ( 18...d8 19.f4 h7 20.e1 and White has successfully defended the e5 pawn and so should stand better. ) 19.f4 ( 19.f3!? might also be interesting. ) 19...g5 is extremely messy. ] [ 18.b4 cementing the c5 pawn looks the most logical but with correct play it shouldn't ch a lle nge B lack u n du ly. 0-0! 19.d2 Otherwise it's not clear how W hite makes a n y p r o g r e s s . fd8 20.e1 ( 20.f4? falls foul of xe5! 21.fxe5 g5 regaining the piece with interest.) 20...d3 21.f4 xe2 22.xe2 a5 looks fine for Black. It's not really possible to hold on to the extra pawn as 23.b1? axb4 24.axb4 a2 leaves White in a lot of trouble. ] 18...xd3 After this move White appears to have an edge. [ I n s t e a d t h e b r a v e l o o k i n g 18...0-0-0 is critical: A) Here the queen sacrifice fails to convince: 19.xe4 xd1 20.fxd1 xe5 21.c6 d6 looks fine for Black as ( 21...d8 22.d7 xd7 23.cxd7+ xd7 24.xc7+ xc7 isn't so clear.) 22.xe5?! ( 22.g3 is better but f5 23.xe5 xe5 is certainly not worse for Black.) 22...xe5 23.d7 xh2+ 24.h1 f4 is very good for Black.;

B) 19.c3 xe5 ( 19...b8!? ) 20.xe5 xe5 21.a4 with an interesting position. Black may well win a pawn but his king is a little draughty. ] [ 18...d8 also seems to be an improvement on the game and is a safer choice. 19.xe4 ( 19.c3 is very passive and xe5 20.xe5 xe5 is a much better version of the 18... 0-0-0 line as Black's king will be far more secure. ) 19...xd1 A) 20.fxd1 gives Black the added option of xe5 ( 20...0-0 21.xc6 would just transpose ) 21.xe5 xe5 22.b7 ( 22.c6+ f8 is also quite unclear.) 22...xc5 seems to draw: ( 22...0-0 23.c6 is another hard to assess position, the computer reliably informs me it's completely equal after d8 ) 23.c6+ e7 24.d7+ f8 25.d8+ e7 26.d7+ ( 26.xh8 xe3 would instead favour Black. ) 26...f8=; B) 20.xc6+ xc6 21.fxd1 0-0 22.b4 d8 seems roughly balanced. It seems White has to play slowly as 23.d4 e4 24.c6 f8 ( 24...g5!? ) 25.f3 e8 26.d2 g5 looks like Black's starting to get the upper hand. ] 19.xd3 xe5 20.xe5 xe5 21.g4 Ambitious. White wants to continue pushing his pawn. [ 21.b4 consolidating the passed pawn, looks logical and seems to favour White. ] 21...f4 22.e2 [ 22.c6!? immediately was also possible as xg4 ( although 22...d8 23.e2 does just transpose) 23.d7+ f8 24.c7 wins ] 22...d8 23.c6 h5! The game starts to become extremely sharp. [ 23...d2 24.c7! 0-0 25.g3 xe2 26.gxf4 c8 27.fd1 would give White a big advantage with that monster pawn on c7. ] [ 23...c7 24.e5 looks comfortable for White as the c6 pawn is definitely more of a strength than a liability. ] 24.e3?! I think this is the wrong route for the knight. [ 24.e5 would have been better. Perhaps Gopal was concerned about d6 but 25.f3 looks quite good for White ] 24...d6 1335

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ I prefer 24...h4! here, when White will have to co nced e som ething on the kingside . 25.fd1 d6 A) 26.g3 hxg3 27.fxg3 ( 27.hxg3? e4 ) 27...e5 and Black has full compensation for the pawn.; B) 26.f1 e7 is very messy but I think Black is probably fine. ] 25.g3 e4 26.fd1 Gopal completes his development. [ However it looks much stronger to throw in 26.c7! c8 first. Now 27.fd1 leaves Black with some issues: A) 27...xc7 28.d6! Not an easy move to spot but this move grants White a clear advantage, i.e. h4 29.dc6 hxg3 30.fxg3 xh2! 31.xh2 ( 31.xh2 xg3+ 32.xg3 xc6 33.xc6 xc6 is a ppro xim ately equal.) 31...xe3+ 32.f2 xf2+ 33.xf2 b6+ 34.f3 b8 35.c8+ and White has very good chances in the ending.; B) 27...xc7 28.d2! xc1 29.xc1 d7 30.c5 c6 31.a7+ c7 32.xa6 and White has a big advantage thanks to Black's exposed king. ] 26...h4 27.c2 White has to exchange queens to dissolve Black's initiative. xc2 28.xc2 The endgame definitely favours White with his big c6 pawn but with accurate defence Black should hold. e7 29.cd2 f5 30.e1 [ 30.b4 is the computer's choice but it doesn't seem that White actually has a way t o m a k e a n y p ro gr e ss, f o r e xa m p le : g5 31.g2 g4 32.g1 hxg3 33.hxg3 h3 34.g2 hh8 35.d3 when I don't see any constructive plan. ( Not 35.h1? xh1 36.xh1 e5 when only Black can win. )] 30...f6 Having said that Black is certainly now fine. 31.c1 h3 A bit committal perhaps but it doesn't change the evaluation from roughly balanced. 32.f1 e5 33.xd8?! White should really keep both rooks on the board as it is now Black who takes over. xd8 34.c2 c7 35.f4 g5?! Laznicka is no longer happy with th e draw and starts t o press. [ H o w e v e r t h e s i m p l e 35...e7 was the better option when following 36.e2 d6 37.d1 b6 it's White who has to

think about how to make a draw. ] 36.fxg5+ xg5 37.e2 f6 38.d1 b6 39.f2 xf2?! As this is move 39 there's a good chance this move was made in bad time trouble but it was a very bad decision. [ Instead looks like it will probably be a draw following 39...e7 40.xh3 h8 41.f3 xh3 42.c7 xc7 43.g2 h8 44.xc7+ d6 45.a7= ] 40.xf2 c8 41.f3 e5? And we think this one might be the decisive error. [ 41...e7! was the right route 42.g4 ( 42.c7 d7 43.g4 fxg4+ 44.xg4 g8+ 45.xh3 c8 would transpose.) 42...fxg4+ 43.xg4 g8+! cutting off the king. 44.xh3 d8 45.g2 ( 45.c7+ c8 46.c6 e5 also seems ok for Black.) 45...h8+ 46.g4 g8+ 47.f3 h8 and it's not clear how W hite makes headway here, despite his extra pawn, for example: 48.c2 c7 49.g4 g8+ 50.f4 h8 51.g5 g8+ 52.f6 h8 53.xe6 a5= and here Black will play ...b5-b4-b3 with a drawn rook and pawn endgame. ] 42.g4 d6 [ 42...fxg4+ also loses as the Black king can't get in front of the pawn. 43.xg4 d4 44.c7+- ] 43.g5! Now the two passed pawns are too much for Black. c7 [ 43...e5 44.c7! tying down the rook wins trivially. ] 44.f4 h8 45.g6 h4+ [ 45...g8 46.g5 f4 was a possible bid for counter-chances but 47.e2 snuffs them out instantly. ] 46.g5 g4+ 47.f6 f4 48.g7 e5 49.c5 f3 50.xe5 f4+ 51.g5 f2 52.g8 f1 53.e7+ b6 54.d8+ c5 55.e5+ xc6 56.e6+ c5 57.d6+ 17.a3 is an interesting new try but theoretically Black should be fine. I'm sure this line will continue to be the battle field of the elite GMs. 1-0

1336

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B12 Poor, opening the game at the wrong moment. [ Definitely preferable was 11...c5 12.dxc5 ( 12.fxg4! hxg4 13.xg4 xg4 14.xg4 cxd4 15.xd4 xe5 16.e2 ) 12...c6 04.2005 wi t h c o m p l i c a t i o n s : 13.fxg4?! ( 13.g3 cxe5 14.fxg4 hxg4 15.xg4 xg4 16.xg4 xc5! 17.xc5 a5+ 18.c3 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 xc5 19.d4= ) 13...hxg4 14.g3 e4! As we have seen, a new line with a great deal 15.0-0 cxe5 ] of potential. W hite saf eguards his space g6 13.g5 c7 14.0-0 advantage as his first priority and then may 12.xf3 Now Gormally is able to whip up a quick attack develop freely. e6 5.d2 e7 [ 5...g6!? was an interesting piece of on the f file, in a way most uncharacteristic of prophylaxis in a recent top-level encounter: the Caro-Kann. f5 15.d3 g3 16.xg6! 6.h4 f6 7.h5 f7 8.gf3 d7 9.d3 h6 xf1 [ He had to try and batten down the hatches 10.e2 g4 11.f4 fxe5 12.dxe5 c5 after 16...fxg6 17.d3! g8 18.fe1 f5 13.g5 xd3+ 14.cxd3 h6 15.xf7 but 19.c4! gives White the ongoing better xf7 16.g4 d7 17.f3 0-0-0 18.e3 game. ] b8 19.c1 c8 20.0-0 Shirov, A-Dreev, A/Tallinn 2004 Perhaps White is still a little 17.xf7+! Easy chess! xf7 18.xf1 e7 19.f6! A nice clearance sacrifice, enabling all better. ] the White pieces to enter the attack. xf6 6.b3 [ 19...xf6 20.g5+ g6 21.e1!! ae8 [ 6.c3 g6 7.f4 is a radically different 22.c5!+shows the same winning approach, somehow typical of the mechanism as the game. d8 23.exf6 xf6 aggressive, exuberant Nakamura. However, 24.d3+ h6 25.cxe6 d7 26.e3 whether it is more dangerous to Black than g6 27.f1 ] t h e m o v e i n t h i s g a m e i s d o u b t f u l : h5 8.gf3 f5 9.f2 c7 10.b4 a5 11.a3 20.g5+ e7 21.exf6+ xf6 22.e1 d6 The kitchen sink attacks e6. g4 d7 12.e2 e7 13.0-0 b5 14.a4 axb4 23.c5 Not exactly a normal weekend 15.axb5 0-0 16.b3 a3! Nakamura, H- 24.f7+ Ch a n d le r, M / P o r t E r in 2 0 0 4 B l a c k h a s tournament game, where the stronger players expect to dispatch weaker opposition with the good counterplay. ] minimum of fuss and delay. Gormally 6...d7 [ 6...g6 makes room for the Knight to come produced a real crowd-pleaser! to f5 and as such, is logical. 7.f3 f5 1-0 8.g5 e7 9.xe7 xe7 10.d3 h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.0-0 d7= Maybe one B12 could say that 6..Nd7 attempts to keep more 1263 lif e in the game, but against a rampant Gorovykh,Eduard 2410 Gormally who has just qualif ied f or th e Akesson,Ralf 2454 Grandmaster title, this might not have been 39th Rilton Cup (7) 03.01.2010 such a good idea. ] [Neil McDonald] 7.e2 h6 8.f3 g5 [ 8...e4!? or ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 The Fantasy Variation[ 8...h7 look better to me. I think Black the only third move response to the Caroshould be preparing ...Nf5 without delay with Kann which neither advances nor allows the the White Bishop on e3, not lashing out on exchange of the e4 pawn. One consequence the Kingside. ] is t h a t t h e b la ck b ish o p is d e n ie d t h e f 5 9.h4! Getting to grips with Black's pawn chain square. e6! A good response as White is as quickly as possible and quite correctly denied his natural plan of gaining space in emphasizing his lead in development as he this 'French style' pawn configuration. 4.c3 does so. g4 10.h2 h5 11.f3 gxf3? [ Compared with the French Defence, where 1262 Gormally,Daniel Watson,PR Blackpool [Andrew Martin]

1337

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White can seize space after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5, or similarly with 3. Nd2 Nf6 4.e5, here the white centre would be over extended after 4.e5 c5 5.c3 c6 6.f4 b6 combined with c5xd4 and Nge7 [or Nh6] and then Nf5, when Black has too much pressure on the white centre. ] 4...b6!? [ The natural way to put pressure on the white centre was with 4...b4 For example 5.f4 ( A gambit approach succeeded in the following gamelet: 5.a3 xc3+ 6.bxc3 dxe4 7.e2 exf3 8.xf3 f6 9.e3 bd7 10.g5 0-0 11.d3 Here White has compensation for the pawn in the shape of the semi-open f-file and his bishop pair. The game ended abruptly d5?? Did Black think the white queen was on e3? 1-0 Caspi, I-Genov, P/Groningen NED 2009.) 5...f6 6.d3 The pressure on e4 forces the white queen to lend a hand to keep her centre intact. b6 7.e3 a6 8.xa6 xa6 9.ge2 0-0 10.a3 e7 11.d3 b8 12.d1 c8 13.0-0 a5 14.fe1 d8 15.e3 a7 16.h1 h6 17.g1 h7 18.g4 White kept the balance in the centre and won by starting a direct attack on the kingside: h8 19.f2 dd7 20.h4 d8 21.h2 db7 22.g5 h5 23.g6 fxg6 24.xg6 f8 25.g2 bd7 26.dg1 g6 27.xg6 xg6 28.xg6 f6 29.g3 f8 30.xf6 xf6 31.e5 xe5 32.xe5+ g8 33.f4 f7 34.ce2 ae7 35.g2 d7 36.xh5 dxe4 37.g6 g7 38.f2 e8 39.ef4 f6 40.e5 e3+ 41.xe3 1-0 Steadman, M-Nijman, B/ Auckland NZL 2010. W ith his alternative move 4.. .b6 Akesson doesn't make the white queen go to d3- perhaps he believes that the white q u e e n i s we l l p l a c e d o n e 3 , a s i n t h e Steadman game, and so doesn't want to drive it there. But more importantly, b y avoiding any early pressure on c3, he is cajoling W hite into the ambitious plan of castling queenside. ] 5.f4 f6 6.h3 e7 7.d2 a6 Black carries out his mini-plan of exchanging off his 'bad' bishop for White's 'good' bishop. 8.0-0-0 Gorovykh takes the 'bait' offered to him by Black's refusal to put pressure on his centre. But as we shall see, the white king will

become a target on the queenside. [ The safe alternative was 8.xa6 xa6 9.0-0 with fairly equal chances. ] 8...xf1 9.hxf1 b5! No time is lost in beginning counterplay. 10.d3 Defending e4 against a possible 10...b4 followed by 11... dxe4, but I would prefer the closing of the centre as a prelude to the preparation of an f4f5 pawn advance with [ 10.e5 fd7 11.g5!? etc. ] [ If instead 10.exd5 cxd5!? ( Or 10...b4!? ) 11.xb5 a6 and Black has activity of the kind seen in the game. ] 10...a5 11.b1 a4 12.g4 fd7 13.exd5 cxd5! Akesson has two rooks and a knight on their starting squares and his king is uncastled, whe rea s h is op pon en t h as all h is pie ce s developed. But White has problems opening lines for his pieces as the centre is blocked and the natural line clearing advance f4-f5 is difficult to arrange. From this we can conclude that the natural pawn recapture [ 13...exd5? would be a serious mistake, as it presents the white rooks with the open efile. It is far better for Black to gambit the b5 pawn so that his own heavy pieces have the b-file. ] 14.xb5 0-0 15.c4 dxc4 16.xc4 b6 17.d3 [ Despite the exchange of queens Black has a st ro n g in it ia t ive a f t e r 17.c7 d5 18.xd8 xd8 when he can continue with moves like Nc6 and then Rab8 or Ra5, or maybe a4-a3. ] 17...d5 Now Akesson's build up on the queenside gains strength with every move, whereas W hite is unable to generate any a ct ivit y o n t h e ki n g si d e . 18.c3 c6 19.xd5 xd5 20.e4 b5 21.d3 b6 22.g1 b4 23.d2 e5! A splendid move that vacates g6 for the black queen. 24.xe5 g6+ 25.a1 c2+ 26.b1 b4+ 27.a1 e6? Good enough to win a piece and the game, but for the first time Akesson fails to use his pawns to their maximum value. [ Instead 27...a3! would win very quickly. For example 28.b3 fc8 29.c1 c2 30.xc2 ( 30.d1 xa2# ) 30...xc2+ 31.b1 e3+ 32.a1 xf1 and Black has won a rook. ] 28.d5 xe5 29.a3 a6 30.d6 c5? 1338

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Black should still win comfortably after 30...f6 31.f4 c5 attacking the a3 pawn. 32.f3 ab8 33.b1 xb2! 34.xb2 b8 35.d7 xg1+ etc. ] 31.d5 b3+ We'll pass over the rest of the game lightly, as no doubt in time trouble Black throws away both a win and a draw. A tragedy after his brilliant play up to move 26. 32.a2 f6 33.xe5 xe5 34.f4 f6 35.g5 d8 36.e2 a5 37.f5 fd8 38.d5 d2 39.c1 e4 40.d7 xg5 41.d4 f8 42.c8 b6 43.c6 [ Black has a lost endgame after say 43.c6 g6 44.d8 xd8 45.xa8 f6 46.xa4 ] 1-0

1264 Greet,Andrew Arkell,Keith C British Championship, Somerset [Paul Motwani]

B12

2000

B11: "A bit of Arkell sparkle" A.Greet-K.C. Arkell, British Championship, Somerset 2000. Advance Caro-Kann, Code B12. I have been thoroughly enjoying playing through hundreds of action-packed games from the Smith & W illiamson British Chess Championship, concluding August 12 in Somerset. Since the very strong field of competitors includes a galaxy of titled masters, there have been numerous fascinating clashes between them. Still, a real favourite of mine is the encounter Andrew Greet versus GM Keith Arkell from round two, when the 39-year-old grandmaster produced a bit of Arkell sparkle to defeat an opponent 18 years younger in just 18 moves. White gets a fright in the Caro-Kann Defence, but my notes to the moves include some alternative ideas from two recent personal games at the Staffordshire Millennium Congress. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 Keith Arkell also likes the French Defence, 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5, and he favours 3...dxe4 against 3 Nd2 or 3 Nc3. However, the latter move is more often answered in practice by the pin 3...Bb4, known as the "French W inawer", which is also the title of an excellent new Everyman book by GM Neil McDonald. He elucidates the subtleties of the W inawer Variation using

many illustrative well-annotated games, plus very u sef ul explanatio ns an d sum marie s respectively at the start and finish of each chapter. 3.e5 c5 [ 3...f5 is much more common, but Keith loves to push the c-pawn, and after all "C" is his middle initial! ] 4.dxc5 c6 [ B11.1: Deviating from the game P. MotwaniK . A rke ll o n Ju l y 6 a t t h e S t a f f o r d s h ir e Millennium Congress, where the different continuation was 4...e6 5.f3 xc5 6.a3!? b6 7.d2 a5 8.c3 9 Menacing Na4 d7 9.d3 e7 10.0-0 h6 11 Black was understandably afraid of Qg5 11.f4 a4 12.b1 c6 13.g3 g6 14.b4 axb3 15.cxb3! Renewing the threat of b4 xa3 16.a1 xb3 17.d2 18 Threatening Rfb1 b6 18.b1! and White soon won Black's pinned a3-bishop. ] 5.b5 [ B11.2: I chose 5.f3 in the rapid encounter P. Motwani-J.Bourne at the Staffordshire Millennium Blitz Tournament on July 15, and t h e g a m e c o n t i n u e d e6 ( 5...g4 merits attention too) 6.a3!? xc5 7.b4 b6 8.b5 a5 ( 8...xe5? 9.xe5 f6 10.f4 wins for White) 9.d3 e7 10.0-0 d7 ( 10...0-0? allows the "Greek gift" sacrifice 11.xh7+! intending xh7 12.g5+ g8 13.h5 with a winning attack for White) 11.e2 c8 12.bd2 c7 13.a4 g6 14.g3 c4? 15.xc4! dxc4 16.a3 Preventing Black from legally castling, and leaving him with no proper answer to W h it e 's t h re a t s o f B d 6 o r Ne 4 -d 6 + c5 17.xc5 xc5 18.e4 after which the forthcoming fork Nd6+ was quickly fatal for Black. ] 5...e6 6.e3 [ B11.3: 6.b4 a5 7.c3 d7 8.xc6 xc6 9.f3 axb4 10.cxb4 b6 was OK for Black in the game P.San Segundo-I.Khenkin, Zaragoza 1995. ] [ 6.g4!? is also interesting ] 6...ge7 7.c3 d7 8.xc6 xc6 9.f4 g5 10.fxg5 h6!? [ This bold move is not mentioned in "Batsford's Modern Chess Openings" or in "Nunn's Chess Openings", which both focus on 10...xe5 ] 1339

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.gxh6 12.d4 f6 ) 12...f6 13.xf6 gxf6 [ Another possibility is 11.f3 c7!? ] 14.d4 e5 and Black isn't worse.; 11...xh6 In return for two sacrificed pawns, B2) 11...gf6 White got the better Bla ck no w ha s a ve ry d a nge ro u s le ad in chances in Predojevic, B (2632)-Zelcic, development and open lines for attacking on R (2539) Zadar 2010 ] the kingside. 12.e2 h4+! 13.f1 8.bd2 a6?! This seems too slow and after [ 13.g3? e4 or ] Grischuk's next move Shimanov struggles to [ 13.f2? xe3 wins material for Black, regain the pawn and ] [ 8...c7 9.a4 ( 9.b5 a6 seems to be [ 13.f2 g5 is also highly unpleasant for OK for Black ) White. ] A) 9...xf3 10.xf3 g6 was seen in 13...xe3 14.xe3 xe5!! 15.a3 Ponomariov-Khenkin but Gawain point out [ B l a c k wa s i n t e n d i n g 15.xe5 b5+ that White is just clearly better here with 16.e2 h5! 17.e3 f5+ 18.g1 e1# ] 11.b5! a5 ( or 11...cxe5 12.b6+ d7 15...g4 16.d2 xh2+ 17.e2 g4+ 13.b5 c6 14.d4 ) 12.xa5 xa5 18.e1 13.e3; [ 18.d3 e4# is another way for White to B) 9...g6 seems like an improvement to exit. ] me a n d h e re K le in , D (2 4 4 7 )-B u rg, T 18...f3+! White resigned in view of 19 gxf3 (2471) Haarlem 2012 continued Qg3+ 20 Qf2 Qxf2+ (or 20...Qe5+) 21 Kxf2 B1) 10.e2 strikes me as much more Rxh1. sensible with an unclear position after 0-1 xf3 11.xf3 g7 12.0-0 0-0 ( 12...xe5? 13.b5 wins a piece) 13.f4 and Black can now regain the pawn but I 1265 B12 still think White has a nice position due to the queenside space advantage he Grischuk,A 2764 enjoys.; Shimanov,A 2640 B2) 10.b5?! xf3 11.xf3 xe5 Aeroflot Open Rapid Final rapid (1.1) 16.2.13 12.b6+ d7 13.b5 xf3+ 14.gxf3 [Tom Rendle] c6 and Black had a slight advantage and went on to grind out a win ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 9.a4! xf3 10.xf3 g6 5.f3 g4 6.c3 e6 7.b4 ge7 [ 10...b8 transposes to the previously [ 7...a6 8.bd2 xe5 is critical, as was men tione d Berke s-Zelcic which can b e pointed out by Gawain in his notes to found in the archives but Black was also Berkes-Zelcic (see the note to Black's 10th) struggling in that game. ] A) 9.e2 was tried out in the final of the women's world blitz championship xf3+ 11.d3 g7 12.f4 0-0 13.0-0 The game ( 9...c6 looks like a better way to handle may be 'only' a rapid game but it's a serious Be2 and now White's edge is minimal after one and the opening has been a complete 10.0-0 f6 11.h3 h5 12.b2 e7 success for Grischuk. Black has little, if any 13.a3 0-0 14.c4 although White's dark- compensation for the sacrificed pawn and so s q u a r e d b i s h o p g i v e h e r t h e b e t t e r tries to complicate things with little success. f6 chances. ) 10.xf3 f5 11.0-0 What else? [ after 13...h6 14.h4! ] and W hite has a good position in [ and 13...d4 14.c4 and White keeps a firm Kosintseva, T (2573)-Stefanova, A (2551) grip on the centre. ] M o s c o w 2 0 1 0 ( 11.d4!? is possibly 14.exf6 xf6 15.h6 e8 stronger ); [ Maybe the exchange sacrifice with B) 9.a4+ d7 10.xd7+ xd7 11.b2 15...xc3 is a better try. At least after and now after 16.xf8 xf8 Black has some chances and B1) but 11...e7! offers good chances a clear plan of advancing the e-pawn. Still, to at least equalise, e.g. 12.c4 ( or 1340

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 after 17.ad1 White is obviously a lot better as xb4 is met by 18.b1 a5 19.a3 xc5 20.xb7 ] 16.b3 f5 17.xf5 gxf5 [ 17...exf5? 18.ad1 e7 19.f4 and Black can hardly move. White can win the d5 pawn with Bd6 at his leisure. ] 18.ad1 e7 19.fe1 f7 20.c4 [ 20.g5 looks simpler to me, simply swapping another piece off. ] 20...d4?! [ 20...dxc4 21.xc4 e5! should be tried as Black still has excellent chances to hold the e n d g a m e a f t e r 22.xf7+?! ( 22.c1! keeps a clear edge but this is still preferable t o t h e g a m e f o r B l a c k .) 22...xf7 as e4 is annoying for White and b4 is weak ] 21.b5 a5 22.d3 c7 23.g5! Grischuk looks to finish the game off with a direct attack xg5 24.xg5 xc5 [ 24...g7 keeps the game alive but White is easily winning after 25.h4 ] 25.f6 Now there is no defence - the knight on a5 is hardly contributing to Black's defence. c7 26.e5 f7 27.xd4 ac8 28.e3 xc4 29.g3+ f8 30.g7+ Black resigns before he can get mated. A straightforward win for Grischuk that shows the danger of playing this pawn sacrifice line. If you get your theory mixed up then you may simply end up a pawn down! 1-0

1266 Grischuk,Alexander Anand,Viswanathan CCM5 Rapid Match rapid (8) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2720 2788 14.08.2005

A game between these two players will always be a special event. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 b6 5.c1 Again this strangelooking queen move, but when you think about it there's no other reasonable way to protect b2. e6 6.c4 dxc4 The main continuation. [ Kasparov - Jobava (Rethymnon 2003) went 6...xb1 7.xb1 b4+ and here Garry successfully tested 8.d1!? ( instead of 8.d2 that was played by Gelfand against Dreev in Moscow - Gelfand won as well

though )] 7.d2!? [ Shirov - Anand, Monte Carlo 2005 continued 7.xc4 e7 8.e2 d8 9.0-0 d7 10.g3 g6 11.c3 f5 12.g5 b6 13.xf5 xf5 14.d1 h6 15.h4 with White holding an edge. ] 7...a5 Anand sees that it is important to prevent Nxc4. 8.xc4 e7 9.e2 d7 10.0-0 d5 11.g3 g6 12.h4 h6 13.h5 h7 14.a3 d8 A retreat which both steps out of the way of an imminent b2-b4 and prepares ...Qh4! 15.f3 e7 16.d1 c8 Again a very logical move. Black prepares ... c6-c5! . My impression is that Anand has equalized. 17.d3 [ The prudent options were 17.d2 ] [ or 17.b4 ] 17...c5! 18.dxc5 [ 18.xh7? cxd4 ] 18...xc5 19.xh7!? Playing with fire! [ After 19.xc5 play becomes very complex indeed: xc5 20.xh7 b3 21.b1 xa1 22.d2 c7 23.d3 0-0 ( 23...c2 24.c1 0-0 25.xc2 xe5 26.c4 ) 24.xa1 xe5 25.f3 f4 White should be a little better here. ] 19...xe3 20.b1 f4 21.e2 [ 21.e4 xg3 22.fxg3 b6+ 23.h1 e3 24.d6 c7 25.d3 g4 ] 21...xe5! [ By 21...xe5 Black could force 22.e4= where he is unable to retain the extra pawn in view of bishop's hanging position. ] 22.xf4 xf3+ 23.f1 Sources indicate that the post mortem seemed to suggest that Black was lost at this point. However, analysis by Maxim Notkin plus computer in the excellent 'Chess Today' demonstrates otherwise: [ 23.gxf3? g5+ ] [ 23.h1 h4+ 24.h3 g5 25.f5 f6!? ( 25...exf5 26.xd5 xh3 27.e5+! f8 28.xf5! g5+ 29.g1 d8 30.ae1 and the Rh8 is out of play Notkin )] 23...h2+ [ If 23...h4 24.xd5 h2+ ( 24...d4 threatening with Qh1 is parried by 25.f4 ) 25.g1 g4 26.d2 A) 26...exd5?! 27.f5! d8 28.e1+ f8 29.g6 h2+ 30.f1 f6 ( 30...h1+? 31.e2 e8+ 32.f3+- ) 1341

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31.xd5! and White is better; B) 26...c5 27.e4! xd5 28.xd5 xf2+ 29.h1 h4+ 30.g1 with perpetual; C) 26...h2+ 27.f1 h1+ 28.e2 xg2 29.g1 xg1 30.xg1 xh7 31.xg4 exd5 32.xd5 and the clumsy position of the black rook makes the extra pawn invalid ] [ Once again Black could restrain his a m b i t i o n b y 23...g5 24.e4 wit h e qu a liza tio n. All va ria t io n s a re b y Notkin. ] 24.e1!? [ 24.g1 f3+ ] 24...e7 [ Perhaps the strongest continuation is 24...c4! but such a move is very tough to find: 25.e4 ( 25.xd5 exd5 26.d2 h4 27.e2+ f8 28.c2 b6 ) 25...a5+ 26.b4 xb4! 27.axb4 e5 28.e2 xe4 ] 25.e4! [ Anand couldn't really hope f or 25.xd5 exd5+ 26.d2 g5+ 27.e1 c7! winning because this line is too transparent. ] 25...f6?! [ After 25...xh7 26.ac1! xc1 27.xc1 t h e K n i g h t o n h 2 wi l l n o t e m e r g e : g5 28.c8+ d7 29.f8! e7 ( 29...xf4 30.xf7+ e8 31.xf4 xf4 32.xf4; or 29...xf4 30.xf4 xf4 31.xf7+ d6 32.xf4 ) 30.b8 d6 31.d3! ( less good is 31.xh7 xf4 ) 31...c7 32.h4! and the rook is untouchable ] 26.a4+ f8 27.ac1 a8? Possibly Anand was disappointed at the way the game was going how else to explain this rather dejectedlooking withdrawal. [ Instead 27...xc1 was forced, again with complications, possibly leading to a draw: 28.xc1 xh7 29.c8+ e8 A) 30.d3 e5 ( 30...f6 31.f4 f7 32.g6 ) 31.c5 g5 32.xb7 g4 33.xe8+ xe8 34.xg4 c6 35.b4+ g7 36.d6; B) 30.e2 e5 31.xa7 g4; C) 30.g6+! fxg6 31.hxg6 h8 32.f4+ g8 33.b8 f8 34.f4+ f6 35.d6+= ]

28.b1! hg4 29.b4! Despite being a pawn down, White's superior rook-power gives him a big advantage with the queens off . xb4+ 30.axb4 e5 31.d5 xh5 32.c7 g6 33.e3! Ruthlessly exchanging off all Black's active pieces. xe3 [ 33...gf6 34.a2 h7 35.xb7 a6 36.c4 ] 34.fxe3 g7 35.dd7 hf8 36.a2 ac8 37.xb7 c1+ 38.d2 f1 [ 38...g1 39.xf7+ xf7 40.xf7+ h8 41.d5 ] 39.xa7 g3 40.d5 f2+ 41.c3 f1 42.d3 d2+ 43.e4 f2 44.b5 h5 45.xf7+! After the smoke clears, the b pawn promotes. 1-0

1267 Grischuk,Alexander Ehlvest,Jaan FIDE WCh New Delhi [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2606 2627 2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 c5 7.h4 h5 8.f4 c6 9.xg6 fxg6 10.e2 cxd4 This move has a bad reputation, but Black has something in mind... 11.xd4 Now the e6-pawn is hanging but Black finds a very unusual way to protect it! d7!? An attempted improvement over [ 11...xd4 12.xd4 d7 13.d3 e7 14.g5 hxg4 15.0-0-0 f5 16.xg4 wi t h a h u ge e d g e f o r W h i t e , Ma n n i o n Campbell, Largs 1998. ] 12.h3 b6 13.c3? After this humble move, Black's opening idea is justified. [ The position of Black's King is very unsafe, therefore the Knight sacrif ice - 13.xe6! suggests itself. I analyzed this line quite a while and I can't see a good way for Black to defend: A) 13...xe6 14.gxh5+ xe5 ( 14...e7 15.g5+ e8 16.xd5 a5+ 17.xa5 xa5 18.hxg6 - despite the Queen exchange W hite has a decisive attack.) 15.c3! d8 ( 15...d4 16.e2+ d6 17.f4+ c5 18.cxd4+ with a quick mate; 15...f6 16.e2+ e4 17.f3 win n i n g t h e p i e ce b a ck , a ga in wit h a 1342

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 decisive advantage; 15...d6 16.f4+ e5 17.g4 and Black's cause is hopeless. ) 16.f4+ xf4 17.g4+ e5 18.g3+ e4 19.xg6+ e5 20.e6+ f4 21.f5#; B) 13...b4+ 14.f1 xe6 15.gxh5+ xe5 ( 15...e7 16.xd5 winning on the spot. ) 16.f3 d6 17.f4+ c5 18.e3+ d4 19.c3 xb2 20.cxd4+ b5 21.g2 and Black's position is barely defensible. Maybe it's possible to find improvements in these lines, but anyway I guess it's rather unlikely that anybody will want to repeat Black's opening experiment. ] 13...xd4 14.cxd4 hxg4 15.xg4 e7 16.0-0 f5 Black has a comfortable blockade, and he is ready to exploit White'sweaknesses on the K-side. 17.xg6 Now very interesting c o m p l i c a t i o n s a r i s e o n t h e b o a r d . xh4 18.f7+ e7 19.g5 ae8 Threatening 20... Rh8-f8. 20.ac1! T h e o n l y m o ve . hf8 21.xe6+ xe6 22.c7+ xc7 23.xe6 xg5 White has won the Queen but he has paid a huge price for it. His only hope is the u n s a f e p o s i t io n o f B l a ck's K in g . 24.d6+ The only move. [ 24.xd5 is inferior: f3+ 25.g2 d8 26.c5+ b8 - Black's King is safe again and his chances are clearly better. ] 24...c8 25.e6 f3+ 26.g2 xd4 27.f4! e7 Many commentators criticized this move suggesting [ 27...d8 as the winning one. But in my opinion this statement is not true: 28.c1+ c6 29.b4! ( 29.xc6+ bxc6 30.xc6+ b8 and Black is winning - this is the line I've seen in many periodicals.) 29...c7 30.d7+ b8 31.b5 e7 32.xd5 ( 32.bxc6? is bad: xd7 33.cxd7 d6 34.d1 e7 35.xd5 c7 36.f5 f6 and Black is winning.) 32...a5 The only m o ve , o t h e rwise B la c k lo se s m a t e ria l : ( 32...d8? 33.xc7! xc7 34.e7; 32...d8? 33.g5! ) 33.xc7! xc7 34.e7 e8 35.d8+ c8 36.xa5 xe7 37.d2 and again a draw is the most likely outcome. ] 28.c1+ c6 29.xc6+! Now the draw is inevitable. bxc6 30.xc6+ b8 31.b5+ c7 32.a5+ b8

[ Attempting to play for a win is dangerous for Black: 32...d6 33.a6+ c5 34.xa7+ c4 35.c7+ ] 33.b5+ c7 34.a5+ b8 Black's Kin g can't escape from the perpetual, and so a draw was agreed. An exciting encounter! ½-½

1268 Grischuk,Alexander Karpov,Anatoly 2nd ACP World Rapid Cup rapid (1.1) [John Watson]

B12 2711 2655 5.1.08

I guess even a Rapid Game between Grischuk and Karpov in the Advance Caro-Kann must have theoretical interest. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 I have had a good deal of enthusiasm for this move, which puts the bishop where it likely belongs before co m m i t t e d t h e o t h e r p a wn s a n d p i e c e s . However, Black has found ideas against it of late, and I would assess it as no better nor worse than most variations. e6 5.d2 d7 6.c3 [ For what it's worth, White won in the only two similar games I could dig up, apart from the notes to moves 8 and 10. 6.f4 h5 7.e2 h4 8.gf3 e7 9.0-0 g4 10.h3 f5 11.f2 xf3 12.xf3 g6 13.d3 (White stands well now, but there were all sorts of options for both sides) e7 14.b3 f8 15.c4 g7 16.a3 a5 17.d2 a4 18.fb1 axb3 19.cxd5 cxd5 20.xb3 b6 21.e2 a4 22.ab1 c4 23.xb7 xa3 24.c1 c4 25.xf5 gxf5 26.e1 a3 27.cb1 a2 28.h2 ( 28.xe7 xe7 29.xh4 xh4 30.g3+ wins on the spot) 28...a8 29.a1 a3 30.c3 h6 31.c7 xc7 32.xc7 b5 33.xa8 xc7 34.c8 b5 35.e8 f8 36.xh4 xh4 37.xh4 xd4 38.g4 fxg4 39.hxg4 b4 40.g2 d2 41.f3 c2 42.xd2 1-0 Oleksienko, M (2587)-Truskavetsky, A (2398)/Kharkov UKR 2007 ] 6...e7 [ 6...b6 7.b4 "!" was discussed on ChessPub by Rowson, notably in the game Vachier-Lagrave, M-Bologan, V, Corus B 2007. ] 1343

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7.f4 h5 8.e2 h4 [ 8...g6 9.gf3 f5 10.f2 c5 11.0-0 e7?! 12.c4! dxc4 13.xc4 0-0 14.c1?! ( 14.d5! ) 14...c8? 15.dxc5 ( 15.d5! ) 15...xc5 16.d4? xd4 17.xd4?? d3 18.e3 xc1 19.xc1 xd1 20.xd1 c5+ 21.h1 fd8 22.xd8+ xd8 23.f3 d3 24.h3 h4 0-1 Gabrielsen, T (2262)Hole, O (2290)/Oslo NOR 2004 ] 9.gf3 g4 10.0-0?! Why commit when there's no threat? Better to spend the tempo on [ 10.h3 ] [ 10.f2!? g6 11.g1 xe2 12.xe2 c5 13.0-0 cxd4 14.cxd4 e7 15.f3 f5 16.d3 e7 17.ac1 a5 was about equal in Gajewski, G (2445)-Paterek, M (2277)/ Jarnoltowek POL 2003 (47) ] 10...f5 11.f2 e7 [ Better 11...h3 12.g3 e7 ] 12.h3! h5 13.d3! E q u a l i s i n g . g6 14.e2 a6 15.c4!? dxc4 16.xc4 f8 17.ac1 h6 18.a4 [ 18.g5!? ] 18...a5 19.b1 g8 20.e3 b6! 21.b3 d7 22.cd1 h5 [ 22...xe3! 23.xe3 d5 ] 23.g4 [ 23.xf5 exf5 24.d3 ] 23...h8 24.e3 d5 25.xd5 xd5 26.e4 d7 27.d3 g6 28.d2 h6 29.c4 d8 30.fe1 b4 31.e2 c7 32.e3 xe3 33.xe3 xe4 34.xe4 h5 35.f3 g6 36.g4 d8 37.f3 e7 38.c3 d5 39.f3 d8 40.xd5 xd5 and Black ground out a win, not in the position yet. 41.f1 f5 42.f3 f8 43.e2 e8 44.c1 d7 45.c2 e8 46.c1 d7 47.c2 h5 48.fc3 f5 49.c4 g5 50.fxg5 xg5 51.f3 g8 52.e1 e8 53.b4 axb4 54.xb4 g3+ 55.f2 d8 56.b2 d7 57.e1 d3 58.a5 a3 59.c5 xd4 60.xb7 a2+ 61.f1 f4+ 62.g1 a1 63.xc6 xe1+ 64.h2 ff1 65.xe6+ f8 66.g4 f2# 0-1

1269 Grischuk,Alexander Karpov,Anatoly SuperGM Linares ESP (7) [Nigel Davies]

B12 2663 2679 03.03.2001

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 Having seen Kasparov - Karpov, Grischuk decides to vary from the quiet treatment he adopted in his round 3 game against Leko: [ 4.c3 e6 5.e3 b6 6.b3 d7 7.d2 f6 8.f4 g5 9.gf3 gxf4 10.xf4 h6 11.xh6 xh6 12.exf6 xf6 13.e2 g8 14.xb6 axb6 15.0-0 e4 16.xe4 xe4 17.e1 f5 18.f3 e3 19.f2 f5 20.e2 e7 21.d3 c5 22.xf5 xf5 23.f3 h5 1/2-1/2 Grischuk, A-Leko, P/ Linares ESP 2001 (23) ] 4...b6 Karpov in turn decides to avoid the dangers of 4...e6 5 g4, instead adopting a much quieter treatment. He was probably hoping to outplay his young opponent in a quiet middlegame rather than indulge in any kind of theoretical battle. 5.f3 e6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 g4 8.a4 c7 9.b3 b5!? 10.b2 d7 11.c4 bxc4 12.bxc4 dxc4 13.g5!? Enterprising, but not necessarily the best. [ Simply 13.xc4 d5 14.d2 would maintain a nice edge for White. ] 13...xe2 14.xe2 b6 [ Shipov thought that 14...f5 would solve Black's problems but what can he do after 15.d1 apart from transpose back into the game with b6 16.xc4 ] 15.xc4 f5 16.d1 e7 17.f3 xc4 18.xc4 d7 19.g4!? What it is to be young. W ith Karpov on his way to an equal game, Grischuk sharpens the struggle. In doing so he sets a nasty trap which Karpov either overlooked or underestimated. h4 20.xh4 xh4 21.g5 h6? Black should play simply [ 21...d5 a f t e r w h i c h 22.xd5 cxd5 23.b1 0-0 followed by ...f6 would equalise. ] 22.d5! Diabolical. The bishop on h4 is hanging, meanwhile White wants to take on c6. hxg5 23.xc6 c8 24.xd7+ xd7 25.d6 The passed pawn isn't Black's biggest problem. His real difficulties stem from the fact that the bishop on h4 is out of play. f6 1344

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.e3 a5 27.ab1 b8 28.b6 game for W hite, who shows how to [ Perhaps 28.d4 would have been better, conduct this endgame with the bishop pair keeping the d6 pawn alive. ] - the position strongly resembles the dxc4 28...fxe5 29.dc1 e4 30.c7+ xd6 Classical Slav mainline. e8 28.b4 d7 31.xg7 hc8 32.d1+ 29.b5 b4 30.d2 xc5 31.xc5 a6 [ White can win the exchange with 32.c7+ 32.b6 c6 33.c3 Svidler, P xc7 33.d1+ e5 34.xc7 but after b2 Azmaiparashvili, Z /Beer Sheva. Black Black assumes the initiative and will win at simply gave too much in this game, which least another pawn. ] White eventually won - see the Archive.; 32...e5 33.e3 f6 B) 12.0-0 0-0 13.f4 c7 14.d4 [ After 33...c2 Black would actually be xd4 15.cxd4 c6 16.e3 b6 17.c3 bette r. He do esn't ne ed t o wo rry abou t ac8 18.fc1 g6 19.d2 b4 20.h4 34.f7 as after b5 35.d4+ d5 c2 21.xc2 xc2 22.h5 f5 23.c1 W hite does not have a useful discovered xe3 24.xe3 xb2 25.a4 h6 check. ] V a ch ie r L a g ra ve , M - S ve t u s h k i n , D / 34.dd7 d8 35.xg5+ xg5 36.df7+ Mulhouse 2011 W hite has some e5 37.xg5+ d4 38.a7 b1+ 39.g2 compensation due to his control of the cb2 40.axa5 f8?? A blunder in timefile, and the game ended in draw. ] trouble. 11...e7 12.b4 d7 [ 40...d5 would draw. ] [ 12...c7 13.c5 xe5 14.d4 a6 41.a4+ d3 42.g3+ d2 43.xe4 xa2 15.xf5 exf5 16.xd5 bd7 17.d4 0-0 44.xe6 a4 45.d6+ c2 46.dd3 af4 18.0-0 fe8 19.fe1 e6 I don't think that 47.df3 xf3 48.xf3 h8 49.f4 d3 this is part icula rly da ngero us f or Blac k 50.h4 despite the fact that White enjoys the bishop 1-0 pair, as Black's position looks solid enough. ] [ 12...e4 13.g5 g6 14.f4 This certainly helps White. ] 1270 B12 [ 12...g4 13.c5 d7 14.d6 xf3 15.xf3 f6 16.c4 ] Grischuk,Alexander 2752 Laznicka,Viktor 2703 13.g5 f6 [ 13...f8 14.0-0 h6 15.h4 g4 16.e1 18th European Teams (2.1) 04.11.2011 a6 17.d2 White has an initiative. ] [Milos Pavlovic] 14.exf6 xf6 15.b5 d8 16.0-0 Grischuk 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 didn't get any advantage from the opening but e7 6.bd2 An important move order - it he has a playable position. [ 16.h4 e4 This is ok for Black. ] seems that Grischuk (who also plays this line with Black) thinks that 6.0-0 c5 is ok so he 16...f7 17.h4 0-0 18.c4 dxc4 19.xc4 gives preference to this move. c5 7.dxc5 d6 20.b3 White gives up a pawn in order ec6 8.b3 xc5 9.xc5 a5+ 10.c3 to keep the bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal. xb5 21.e2 White has compensation and xc5 11.e3!?N A new idea from Grishuk. Laznicka didn't manage to overcome certain [ 11.b3 e7 A) 12.g5 c7 13.d4 xd4 14.cxd4 problems. c7 22.d4 g6 23.ac1 ae8 There is serious pressure on the c6 15.c1 0-0 Better was: ( 15...a5+ 24.e5 16.d2 b6 17.e3 xb3 18.axb3 Black position. cd5 25.xf6?! [ 25.fe1 b4 26.xe6 xh4 27.xd5 d7 19.h4 h6 20.f3 ac8 21.f2 a6 f7 28.b2 xe6 29.xe6+ h8 30.g3 The B lack position is solid enou gh t o White is better. ] secure equal chances.) 16.e3 a5+ 17.c3 b4 18.0-0 ac8 19.fc1 xb3 25...xf6 [ 25...xf6 26.g3 f7 27.fe1 b4 20.axb3 b8 21.c5 h6 22.f3 fd8 W hite still has a good game but it is not 23.f2 f8 24.g4 g6 25.h4 h5 clear how to improve his position. ] 26.g5 dc8 27.e3 This is a model 1345

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.xf6 xf6 27.xe6 f7 28.g5 [ 28.xd5 xe6 29.fe1 f8 30.xb7 xa2 31.xe8+ xe8 32.e4 f7 33.a1 d6 34.h4 a6 the position is drawish . ] 28...f4 29.xf7 e2+ 30.h1 xc1 31.xc1 xf7 32.g3 f8 33.xf7 xf7 34.g2 e6 Still not losing, but there is always the danger of faulty calculation in pawn endgames, and that is exactly what happened here. [ 34...e2 This gives an easy draw. ] 35.e1+ d7 36.xe8 xe8 37.f3 d7 38.e4 d6 39.f4 h5? A crucial mistake. [ 39...g6 40.g4 e6 41.h3 h6 42.d4 d6 The f-pawn is not dangerous, for instance: 43.f5 gxf5 44.gxf5 h5 45.e4 e7 46.e5 a6 and it is Black who is winning now! ] 40.f5! Obviously missed in calculation. e7 41.g6 f8 42.xh5 And White is in time to cover the queenside. Black resigned. 1-0

c7 28.c4 d4 29.xd4 d8 30.e3 xd2 31.xd2 d4 32.e3 f3+ 33.xf3 xf3 34.e1 c6 35.xh4 xa4 36.e1 b3 Draw agreed, Svidler, P -Berkes, F/Rogaska Slatina 2011 ] 17...f6! This is a key idea, just as in the Svidler-Berkes game. 18.exf6 xf6 19.f2 g6 20.h5 h6 21.e2 g6 The position looks very solid for Black and I don't see how White can seriously improve. 22.b3 c7 23.e1 e5 24.d1 ½-½

1272 Gubajdullin,Alexey Kornev,Alexei Open Vladimir RUS (5) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2442 2574 22.08.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 A move which appears still to be in good shape and in a sense it's the most aggressive and logical move too! Black wastes no time assaulting 1271 B12 White's pawn chain and gives his opponent Grischuk,Alexander 2757 little time to settle. I often feel that W hite Ragger,Markus 2655 needs a few moves to establish his game plan 27th ECC Rogaska Slatina SLO (3.1) 27.09.11 in all these 'advance' variations, so why give h i m t h a t t i m e ? 4.dxc5 c6 5.f4 [Milos Pavlovic] Common, but not especially effective in my 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 view. For starters, the Bishop is vulnerable to 5.b3 d7 6.f3 a6 It seems that this line the ...Nge7-g6 hit. e6 6.d2 is gaining popularity among players of the [ O n e c o u l d d u b 6.f3 xc5 7.d3 a m o r e n a t u r a l w a y t o p r o c e e d . ge7 Black pieces. The idea is, of course, to go ... ( There are only unanswered questions after c5 without allowing Bb5+ 7.e2 c5 8.dxc5 xc5 Giving up on the bishop pair, but on the 7...b6! 8.0-0 xb2 9.bd2 ge7 other hand Black develops quickly. 9.xc5 Evidently Zelcic regards this as too risky.) xc5 10.d4 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.a4 8.0-0 g6 9.g3 0-0 10.bd2 f5 11.exf6 Blocking b5 which would give Black much xf6 12.xg6 xg6 13.c4 If this is White's best shot then Black is hardly sweating. e7 more space. c8 13.e3 d7 14.f4 e4 14.b3 f7 15.ac1 f6 16.fe1 a5 Black has the e4 square under firm control. 15.c3 c6 16.xc6 xc6 17.a5N 17.d6 d8 18.a3 h6 19.f1 d4 20.g3 e5= Nijboer, F-Zelcic, R/EuTCh, A logical attempt but Black finds good Plovdiv BUL 2003 ] counterplay. [ Another important recent game played in 6...ge7 As stated. Black's idea is perfectly t h is l in e is : 17.d4 f6! 18.d2 c5 good. [ Of course 6...xc5 must be considered too. 19.a3 White's rook is a bit misplaced and that gives Black enough time to get serious It seems OK as well: 7.b3 co u nt e r c ha n ce s. fxe5 20.xe5 d7 A) 7...ge7 8.c3 b6 9.h5 g6 10.g3 a5! 11.a4 d4 12.d1 e7 21.d4 e5!? 22.fxe5 g6 23.xf8+ xf8 24.f1 e6 25.e3 h5 26.b3 h4 27.h3 13.xd4? A terrible move, allowing Black 1346

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 t o g e t o n t o t h e a t t a c k . ( 13.b5! ) 13...xd4 14.cxd4 d7 15.b5 b4+ 16.d2 xb5 17.axb5 a4 18.f3 xb5 19.d5 a3 20.dxe6 a2 21.exf7+ f8 0-1 Lee, G-Lyell, M/Edinburgh 2003; B) 7...b6 8.d3 ge7 9.f3 g6 10.g3 f6! For all the world this looks like a French. 11.e2 gxe5 12.xe5 fxe5 13.h5+ f8 14.xe5 xe5 15.xe5 f6= Petrov, M-J akubiec, A/Aarhus 2003 Now White got ambitious by checking on d6 and was instantly worse. He should have been practical and exchanged queens, after which a quick handshake is likely. ] 7.gf3 g6 8.g3 xc5 9.h4 If there is a drawback to the position of the Knight on g6 then it will be exposed by h2-h4. So that he is not disrupted by the further advance of the pesky h pawn, Black should attack in the centre immediately. f6! 10.b3 b6 11.b5 0-0 12.exf6 xf6 I just don't see why Black has any problems at all in these positions. He has good , active play for all his pieces and the prospect of attack on the f file. It's a bad Advance French for W hite. Note the strong Black Bishop on b6 and the exposed White p a wn o n b 2 . W h i t e n o r m a l l y s t r i v e s f o r something like c3, Nbd4 but he's already lost control over e5 so a Knight on d4 would just get pushed away! 13.d2 xb2 Why not? 14.xc6 bxc6 15.h5 e7 16.e5 a3 17.h6 This is clearly the best chance. White must try to strike on the dark squares before the Black Queen returns to the defence. g6 18.c4 a4 19.h4 dxc4 20.f4 White only has 'optically' decent continuations. The Black Queen seems to be able to get in on the act whatever happens: [ 20.d6 f7 21.c1 a6 22.c5 b5 23.xa6 xa6 24.hxc4 d8!-+ ] [ 20.c3 a6 21.d6 f7 22.xe7 xe7 23.e5 f8 24.f3 b5 25.xc4 g5 This is a particularly striking example of what can happen to White should the Queen return. ] 20...xf4 21.xf4 d5! 22.g4 b4+ 23.bd2 c3! 24.e4 c2+ 25.fd2 a3 B la ck a llo ws n o re sp it e f o r W h it e a t a ll . 26.b3 d7 27.c1 [ 27.h4 f8 28.f6+ xf6 29.xf6 a5+

30.f1 d2-+ ] 27...xa2 It's amazing how little play White r e a l l y h a s . 28.g3 f8 29.a1 f4!-+ 30.bd2 a4 31.d3 h4 32.f6+ xf6 33.xf6 h1+ 34.f1 xf2+ 35.xf2 f4+ A very dynamic performance by Korneev. If this is the best that White has, he may as well abandon 5 Bf4. 0-1

1273 Haslinger,Stewart Marusenko,Petr Premier Hastings ENG (8) [John Watson]

B12 2502 2304 04.01.2008

A miniature. I've suggested some improvements for Black, although you can see that 4...e6 isn't a complete solution. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c4 e6 This looks safer than 4...Nc6 5 Nf3 cxd4, but may transpose (see the next note) . 5.cxd5 [ It's important to point out that 5.f3 (!) c6 is Muzychuk-Ushenina, so if Black wants to deviate, he needs to find another order ( perhaps 5...cxd4 6.xd4 b6!? )] 5...exd5 6.c3 c6 [ 6...c4!? releases the pressure on White's centre, but gives Black some time to develop. White should have something after 7.f3 b4 8.e2 e7 9.0-0 f5 10.a3 intending a5 11.b4! cxb3 12.xb3 ] 7.b5 a6 [ Here the reorganisation by 7...cxd4 8.xd4 e6 9.f3 ge7 looks reasonable, with ideas of ...a6 and ...Ng6. I still like White, but not by much. ] 8.xc6+ bxc6 9.ge2 [ 9.f3 g4 ] 9...h6? A good move in the French advance variation, when Black has good development, b u t n o t h e r e . 10.xh6! gxh6 11.0-0 Already Black's position is extremely difficult. cxd4? The last chance to limit his disadvantage by, for example, [ 11...e6 12.f4 cxd4 13.xd4 b8 ] 12.xd4 c7 Now it's over. [ But 12...d7 13.e1! threatens e6, which Black can't prevent. ( or 13.e6 xe6 14.xc6 )] 1347

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.c1 e6 14.h5 d7 15.a4 16.xc6 a7 17.xe6 [ Because of 17.xe6 fxe6 18.f7+ 19.xe6+ ] 1-0

g8

trouble in Mathe - Groszpeter, Kecskemet 1987 ] e7 [ d) 5...xc3 6.xc3 dxe4 7.d5 ( White can also play in gambit style with 7.e2 exf3 8.xf3 ) 7...f6 8.dxe6 xd1+ 9.xd1 xe6 10.xf6 gxf6 11.fxe4 with a drawish endgame in Brenke Groszpeter, Lippstadt 1991 ] 1274 B12 [ e) 5...d7 6.d3 e7 7.f4!? c5 8.e5 Hector,Jonny c6 9.b5 xd2+ 10.xd2 0-0 11.f3 Danielsen,Henrik f6 brought about a sharp struggle in Watson, Jonsson Mem Open (9) 01.11.2001 W - Stangl, Bundesliga, Germany 1998 ] [Nigel Davies] [ f) 5...f6 6.e5 fd7 7.f4 b6 8.g4 0-0 9.f3 f5 10.exf6 xf6 11.h4 c5 12.dxc5 If W hite wants a 'romantic' line against the xc5 13.0-0-0 c6 14.d3 d4 15.e5 Caro, then the so-called 'Fantasy Variation' f5 16.h3 xc3 17.xc3 e3+ 18.xe3 should certainly be considered. It has enjoyed xe3 left White with a clear advantage in the patronage of such neo-romantics as the the endgame in Hoffmann - Negele, Lugano great Bronstein plus Sweden's Jonny Hector. 1999 ] White's idea is to maintain the due of pawns on e4 and d4, arguing that Black's passive 1... 6.d3 [ 6.ge2 a6 7.g3 e7 8.g2 c5 9.a3 c6 will mean that he can't exploit this. In this xc3 10.xc3 0-0 11.0-0 dxe4 12.e1 game Hector tries 5.Bd2, simply unpinning his exf3 13.xf3 bc6 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.f4 knight on c3. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6 c7 left Black a pawn up in Kamsky - Dreev, 4.c3 b4 5.d2 Borzhomi 1988 ] [ White's most common alternatives are 6...e7 5.d3 and ] [ 6...dxe4 7.xe4 xd2+ 8.xd2 xd4 [ 5.f4 ] 9.0-0-0 gives White a huge lead in 5...b6 Black has tried a number of development for his pawn. The text is safe alternatives: and solid. ] [ a) 5...dxe4 6.xe4 e7 7.c3 ( 7.e2 is a ls o in t e re st in g, p re p a rin g t o ca st l e 7.ge2 0-0 8.0-0 c5 9.exd5 exd5 10.g3 11.e2 f5 Black is at least equal queenside ) 7...f6 8.c2 b6 c4 xf5 wa s S a n d k a m p - A n d ru e t , B u n d e sliga , because of his extra space. 12.xf5 Germany 1987 and now 9.0-0-0 would have 13.a3 xc3 14.xc3 c6 15.a4 a6 16.d2 e8 17.fe1 d6 18.b3 b5 been White's most natural move. ] [ b) 5...f5 6.e2 e7 7.0-0-0 f6 8.exf5 19.axb5 axb5 20.bxc4 xa1 21.xa1 bxc4 h6 23.a6 c7 24.a1 g5 exf5 9.xe7+ xe7 10.e1+ f7 11.h3 22.f1 h6 12.f4 bd7 13.h4 gave White the An ambitious move which gains space. The b e t t e r e n d g a m e i n C h r i s t - R o e p e r , weakening of Black's kingside is not serious here. 25.h4?! Bargteheide 1989 ] [ 25.g3 intending 26.Kf2 looks more solid. [ c) 5...e7 (Black's main alternative to The text just weakens the g3 square. ] capturing on e4) 6.a3 ( 6.e2 0-0 7.0-0-0 26.hxg5 hxg5 27.e1 xe1 b5 8.h4 a5 9.h3 a6 10.f2 d6 25...f6 11.h5 d7 12.e5 c7 13.h6 g6 14.g5 28.xe1 f7 29.d1 f4 30.f2 g4 was double-edged in David - Magem Badals, With the thr eat of 31...g3+. Hector bails out French Team Ch., 1999) 6...xc3 ( 6...a5 into an endgame in which his bishop pair is also possible) 7.xc3 b6 8.e2 0-0 helps him draw a pawn down. 31.g3 xf3+ 9.g3?! ( Convoluted and slow. Either 9.d2; 32.xf3 gxf3 33.xf3 xc2 34.e3 e7 or 9.g3 looks more to the point) 9...c5 35.f4 f5 36.g2 e6 37.f3 c8 10.exd5 exd5 11.g2 f5 12.f2 c6 38.b4 e8 39.c5 d7 40.e3 c6 13.d3 e8 and White was in serious 41.d2 f5 42.c3 h3 43.b4 f1 1348

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 44.c3 d3 45.b4 d6 46.xd6 Ensuring a . Because Black's bishop is on the same colour as his pawns, he is unable to drive White's king from a blockading position. xd6 47.c3 f5 48.b4 d7 49.c3 c6 50.b4 e6 51.d1 h3 52.f3 f1 53.c3 d3 54.b4 f5 55.g2 e4 56.h3 d6 57.c3 e6 58.b4 f3 59.c3 g4 ½-½

1275 Hector,Jonny Fridman,Daniel Politiken Cup (5.2) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2568 2659 02.08.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 This is an interesting line that White suddenly started investigating in order to confront an opening like the CaroKann which has a very solid background. b6 This modern approach was recently played in some games. The usual preference is 3..e6 or 3...dxe4 even 3...g6. 4.c3 dxe4 5.fxe4 It is also interesting to play in gambit style with [ 5.c4 f6 6.b3 exf3 ( 6...f5 7.fxe4 xe4 8.f3 With a similar type of play.) 7.xf3 e6 8.0-0 e7 9.h1 0-0 10.g5 ( 10.e1 With the usual Qg3 to follow was als o p o s s ib le .) 10...d8 11.e1 h6 12.h4 d5 13.xe7 xe7 14.g3 xc3 15.bxc3 c5 16.fe1 d7 17.d5 b6 18.e5 g5 19.dxe6 xe6 20.xg5 hxg5 21.xe6 fxe6 22.a4 f2 23.d3 xc2 24.xc5 xc3 25.xb7 a5 Draw agreed Timofeev, A - Maletin, P /Irkutsk RUS 2010. Not a perfect game, but an interesting idea. ] 5...e5 6.f3 exd4 7.xd4 f6 8.e5 g4 9.e6 xe6 10.c4 xc4 11.xg4 d7 [ 11...a6!?N One of the key computer choices, humans prefer to go to the centre, of course, but here the idea is to have one more square for the king. A) 12.e4+ d7! This is the difference, now its not obvious what White should do. A1) 13.de2 xe2 ( 13...e6 14.e3 c5 15.0-0-0+ c8 16.d4 White has the initiative.) 14.f5+ e8 15.e5+ e7 16.xg7 d7 17.xe2 b4 18.g4+ e8 Black is fine again.;

A2) 13.f5+ e6 14.xe6 e8 Black is better.; B) 12.d2 c5 13.0-0-0 e6 14.g3 0-0-0 15.e3 With some compensation. ] 12.e4+ d8N [ Previously Black played 12...e7 13.f5 c5 14.g5 e6 15.xg7+ d8 And now in the game Polivanov, A -Yevseev, D Voronezh 2011 after 16.xe7+ xe7 17.0-0 c7 18.ad1 White would have a winning attack. ] 13.g5+ f6 14.0-0-0 fxg5 15.f3 Even better was: [ 15.e6+ xe6 16.xe6 c7 17.d3 d6 18.hd1 e8 19.f7 f8 20.xg7 e7 21.xh7 With a winning position for White. ] 15...c7 [ 15...c5 16.e5 e6 17.xd7+ xd7 18.d1 e8 19.xd7 e7 20.xb7 White has an attack. ] 16.xc4 c5 17.d3 f6? [ 17...d6 18.d4 ae8 19.cb5+ cxb5 20.xb5+ c6 21.xd6 e3+ 22.xe3 xe3 23.xb7 f8 White is better but the game can be played on. ] 18.d4! Now after this move Black can't de f e n d an y m ore . e5 19.he1 xh2 20.e6+ b6 21.d4+ a6 22.c4+ b6 23.a4+ a5 24.ac5 b5 25.b3+ b6 26.d4+ a6 27.bc5+ xc5 28.xc5+ b6 29.d3+ c7 30.e7+ c8 31.c5 xg2 32.d6 1-0

1276 Hector,Jonny Khenkin,Igor Bundesliga 2008-9 (9) [John Watson]

B12 2551 2647 14.12.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c4 We've seen this before. In my opinion, the similar [ 4.f3 c6 5.c4! has more effect, or at the very least avoids some sidelines see the Archives for some analysis of that order. ] 4...cxd4 [ 4...c6 5.f3! transposes to 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 c4. ] [ 4...e6 5.cxd5 ( 5.f3 ) 5...exd5 6.c3 1349

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c6 7.b5 is covered in two games in the Archives. ] 5.f3! [ I think that 5.xd4 e6 6.cxd5 could be met by c6 . Then the only serious try for advantage is ( 6...exd5 7.c3 e6 8.f3 c6 9.b5 favours White, as indicated by Wells ) 7.b5 , when xd5 8.xd5 exd5 leaves Black with free play and at least equality. ] 5...g4! An enterprising move that appears to equalise, as opposed to the complex [ 5...c6 6.xd4 ] 6.xd4!? This works out poorly after Black gambits a pawn. Maybe it even deserves a '?!'. [ White's best chance for advantage is probably 6.cxd5! xd5 7.c3 xf3!? ( 7...a5 may be best, when 8.b5+ c6 9.xc6+ bxc6 10.xd4 xf3 11.gxf3 e6 12.e3 makes it a little awkward for Black to develop his pieces, although this may not be much ) 8.xd5 xd1 9.c7+ d8 10.xa8 and White seems to have the advantage, even though there's always the chance that the knight on a8 will be trapped. A sample line: c2! A) 11.f4 e6 12.c1 d3 13.a3 ( 13.h4 c6 14.h3 b4+ ) 13...c6; B) 11.b4!?; C) 11.d2! c6 ( 11...e6 12.c1 e4 13.a5+ b6 14.xb6! ) 12.c1 e4 ( 12...d3 13.h4! e6 14.h3 xe5 15.f4 ) 13.e6! fxe6 14.b4 , etc ] 6...xf3 7.gxf3 c6! 8.xd5 e6! 9.e4?! [ But 9.xd8+ xd8 10.f4 h6! with the idea ...Nf5 must be fine for Black. ] 9...b4+ [ Or 9...d4! ] 10.d2 xd2+ 11.xd2 a5 12.0-0-0 0-0-0! [ 12...xe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.e4 ] 13.f4 Protecting the more important pawn. xa2 14.g1 [ 14.d3 ge7 15.b1 improves, but I still like Black. ] 14...d4! 15.b1? xb1+ 16.xb1 xf4 17.c3 ge7 18.xg7 xe5 19.d3 h6 20.e4 xf2 Black is two pawns up and wins comfortably. 21.b5 7c6 [ 21...xc4 ]

22.c5 a6 23.d6+ c7 24.xc6 25.e4 f4 26.d6+ c7 27.c3 28.b4 b6 29.a4 bxc5 30.xa6 31.b2 b8 32.g1 c4 33.f1 34.a5 e4 35.c1+ d8 36.d1+ 37.b1 d8 38.g1 f8 39.c5 40.a7 f3 41.c1 d2+ 42.a1 43.a8+ e7 44.a7+ f6 0-1

xc6 d7 cxb4 e5 e8 e2 d5

1277 B12 Heimann,Andreas 2485 Lenic,Luka 2641 27th ECC Rogaska Slatina SLO (5.13) 29.9.11 [Milos Pavlovic] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 Probably the critical move here, and it may be a reason why some players started to use the 4.Nd2-b3 line and then later on Nf3. 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.d2 bc6 9.2f3 e4 10.0-0 xf3 11.xf3 g6 In some previous updates I mainly focused on some other ideas but this one also looks solid. 12.c4 Another idea might be: [ 12.f4 g7 13.d3 0-0 14.e2 c8 15.a3 b6 16.c3 a5 17.fe1 a6 18.e3 c7 19.ad1 c4 20.g5 fe8 21.h4 b6 22.h5 f5 23.g4 ( 23.c1 This modest retreat is sufficient for some small pressure but the position remains complex. g3 24.c2 xh5 25.g4 ) 23...g3 24.c2 e4 25.xe4 dxe4 26.xe4 xb2 27.d7 c6 28.xc6 xc6 29.xb7 xc3 30.g2 d3 31.e3 gxh5 32.d2 h6 33.e4 c4 34.d6 xg4+ 35.f1 c5 36.xe8 xb7 37.f6 f8 38.h3 c5 39.f3 g6 40.xh5 d7 41.h4 xf6 42.xf6+ g7 43.a4 g5 44.f4 f5 45.g2 e7 46.e4 xf4 Black won in Zherebukh, Y -Yevseev, D/Lviv 2009 ] 12...g7 13.c5N [ Predecessor: 13.cxd5 xd5 14.c5 f8 15.c1 c8 16.xf8 d4 17.d1 xe2+ 18.xe2 xf8 19.ac1 g7 With equal cha nces b ut actu ally it is W hite who is struggling to find adequate or active moves. 20.h4 b6 21.g3 h6 22.a3 c5 23.c2 hc8 24.fc1 a5 25.d2 xc2 26.xc2 1350

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c5 27.c1 xc2 28.xc2 e7 29.c3 c6 30.b3 d8 31.a4 d1+ 32.g2 e2 Topalov is pressing but Kamsky is re s o u rc e f u l a n d m a n a g e s t o e q u a l ize . 33.e3 d1 34.d2 b4 35.c4 c2 36.d2 b1 37.f4 e1+ 38.h2 xb3 39.f6+ g8 40.d8+ h7 41.f6 g8 42.d8+ h7 game drawn, Kamsky, G Topalov, V Sofia 2009 ] 13...dxc4 14.a4 c8 15.xc4 [ 15.fd1 a5 Black is fine. ] [ 15.ac1 Black has two interesting possibilities to consider: A) 15...a6 16.fd1 d5 ( 16...a5 17.xc4 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.b4 c7 20.e4 g7 21.b5+- ) 17.xc4 f8 18.e3 g7 19.e4 0-0 20.c4 ce7 An interesting fight is ahead of us.; B) 15...0-0 16.fd1 c7 17.d6 b6 18.xc4 fd8 19.b4 a6 With a solid position for Black, as although the bishop on d6 looks scary at the moment Black does have pressure on e5. ] 15...a6 16.b3 a5 17.xa5 xa5 Black is now fine. 18.a3 xb3 19.axb3 d5 20.fe1 h6 21.e4 d7 22.h4 c1+ 23.xc1 xc1 24.e1 Black achieved everything what he wanted and the initiative is f i r m l y o n h i s s id e . g5 25.d4 e7 Another way to play this endgame is: [ 25...c8 26.d3 b5 27.g3 e8 28.c5 a5 Black is still slightly better. ] 26.xe7 xe7 27.d3 c8 28.f1 b5 29.e2 a5 30.d2 h5 31.h4 c6 32.c1 b6 33.d3 d5 34.d1 c8 35.d2 Chances are now about equal, Black failed to find a path to increase his advantage. d8 36.e2 f6 37.exf6+ xf6 38.e4 e7 39.e1 c6 40.c2 e5 41.e3 d4+ 42.xd4 xd4 43.g3 e4 44.c3 b4 45.c6+ g7 46.c7+ f6 47.c6+ f7 48.c7+ e6 49.c5 d3 50.xa5 xb3 ½-½

1278 Helstroffer,Arnaud Grooten,Herman 10th Open Bad Zwesten GER (5) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2281 2350 05.01.2006

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 g6 This is how an old friend of mine from the Netherlands, Hermann Grooten, tackles this variation. Black makes a prophylactic retreat, keeping all options open an d p e rha p s p re pa ring . .. Nh 6-f 5 . 7.bd2 h6 8.c4 e7 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.b3 0-0 [ 10...f5 is not strictly necessary and should only be played if Black fears Bxh6. A s we s h a l l s e e , t h a t e xc h a n g e i s n o t dangerous. Thus A) 11.d2 0-0 ( 11...c8 12.a5 b6 13.c3 0-0 14.c1 b8 15.d3 h5 16.f4 xf3 17.xf3 b5 18.a3 Baklan, V-Khenkin, I/Hoogeveen 2004 and now g5= ) 12.c1 b8 13.a5 e8 14.c7 b6 15.d2 d8 16.c3 a5 17.a4 a6 18.g4 h4 19.xh4 xh4 20.f4 e4 21.g5 h6 22.gxh6 g6 23.d3 xd3 24.xd3 e7 25.h7+ Baklan, VRiazantsev, A/bereg.ru Int 2003 (25); B) 11.g4 h4 12.xh4 xh4 13.f4 f5 14.exf6 xf6 15.g5 e7 16.g4 starts to look a bit better for White. ] 11.d2 Modest f6 Time for Black to start thinking about pawn breaks and having been denied ...c6-c5, ...f7-f6 is the only one left! A typical way to get counterplay in this variation. 12.a5 [ 12.exf6 xf6 13.a5 e7 14.d2 fc8 15.c3 f7= Volokitin, A-Pogorelov, R/ Istanbul 2003 ] 12...b6 13.exf6 xf6 14.b4 f7 15.c1 a5 [ I quite like 15...f5 16.c3 h4 17.xh4 xh4 18.g4 e7 19.e2 e8 20.f4 f6= 21.g3?! xg4 22.xg4 f6 ] 16.d6 f5 17.c7 f8 18.c6 a4 19.c1 c8 [ 19...a3 20.b3 e8 was worth consideration: 21.xb6? ( 21.f4 h5 ) 21...h5! Black has some pressure against d4. ] 20.c3 b7 21.g4 h4 [ 21...xd4! 22.xd4 a3! is a very strong 1351

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 continuation, taking full advantage of the lack of coordination among the W hite pieces: 23.bxa3 ( 23.b4 c8 24.e3 xc7 25.xe6 d6 26.d3 xc1! 27.xc1 xd3 28.c8+ f8 29.xd3 xe6 ) 23...c8 Instead, Grooten takes a safe route to the advantage. ] 22.g3 [ 22.xh4 xh4 23.f4 was my first thought and I believe this to be better than the game from White's point of view. ] 22...xf3+ 23.xf3 [ 23.xf3 e4 24.e3 a3! This prod causes W hite problems in all variations. 25.b4 c8 26.d2 c2 27.xc2 xc2 28.d3 c8 The position is a jumble, but it is easier for Black to unravel than White. ] 23...b5 24.g2 b6 25.e2 b4 26.c7 a3! The W hite Bishops have no effect on the game. 27.b3 af8 28.d2 b8? So far so good for Black evidently the congested position has taken its toll on the clock. If I recall Grooten always was fond of his own time-pressure. Instead [ 28...d8 29.c8 b5 maintains a Black advantage, but the game continues. ] 29.fc1 d8 30.c8 e7?? [ 30...d7 31.8c6 b5 32.xe6 ] [ 30...a6 31.f4 c7 32.xf8+ xf8 33.xg6 hxg6 34.f4 ] 31.xb8+however White is subject to the same time shortage.... xf2 32.g3 2f7 33.e3 h6 34.h4 [ 34.8c6+- ] 34...xc8 35.xc8+ h7 36.f4 f6 37.e2? [ 37.xg6 I cannot really say too much about the new international time schedule other than it promotes exciting error-strewn chess. Returning to theory 6...Bg6 looks like a good response to the Short system, albeit a n i d e a wh i c h c r e a t e s a c o m p l i c a t e d , congested game. ] 0-1

1279 Holmsten,Aleksei Minasian,Artashes Open Ubeda [Nigel Davies]

B12

2000

3.e5 makes Caro players very nervous, at least part of the problem being psychological. The Caro is often chosen for being a nice solid defence that dulls W hite's attacking ambitions Black certain doesn't want to go into the wild complications following 3...Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5.g4. In Grischuk - Karpov Black tried to avoid this with 4...Qb6, which gave him a reasonable game when White defended the epawn with 5.Nf3. But W hite can play something far more dangerous by offering the e5 pawn as bait... 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 b6 5.d3!? Offering a pawn for fast development, which is how Kotronias suggested White play it on his book on the 3. e5 Caro. [ For 5.f3 see Grischuk - Karpov. ] 5...xd4 6.f3 [ 6.xf5 xe5+ recovers the bishop with interest. ] 6...g4 7.h3 h5 [ I t ' s n o t q u i t e c l e a r t h a t 7...xg2 is unplayable, though most Black players will avoid such lines because of the danger that it will lead to a forced loss. My analysis continues 8.g1 ( 8.h2 g6 9.h4 g1+ ) 8...xh3 9.f1 xc2 ( 9...h5 10.g5 xc2 11.xc2 xf3 12.g2 traps Black's queen) 10.e2 ( 10.xc2!? is also very interesting) 10...g6 ( 10...c8 11.xc2 e6 leaves Black with four pawns for the piece, but he would have greatdifficulties in finishing his d e ve lo p m e n t) 11.g5 c8 12.e6 f6 with a position that should be fed to Fritz on a very fast computer. ] 8.0-0 xd3 9.cxd3 d7 An interesting new move, developing the queenside and putting pressure on e5. [ After 9...e6 W h i t e c a n p l a y 10.b3 , with threats against Black's queenside and some ideas of Ne2-f4. ] [ In Borge - K Berg, Espergaerde 1992, Black tried to get his queen back to the queenside with 9...f5 , but after 10.e1 c8 11.e6 1352

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 fxe6 12.d4 White obtained a very strong be able to equalise in this line. ] attack. ] 9...c7! This seems good enough for Black to 10.b3?! Playing according to the equalise but there are other options. prescription following 9...e6, but this position [ 9...d7 cuts down the strength of Na3 is different. id e a s b u t i t s e e m s l e s s a cc u r a t e a f t e r [ White should bolster the e-pawn with 10.d4 10.d1 g6 and after e6 play 11.e2 .This threatens to A) 11.e3 xc5 12.b5 b6 13.xd4?! trap Black's queen and keeps open the xd4 14.xd4 and now possibility of a minority attack on the A1) instead 14...0-0-0 15.c3 xd4 queenside with b2-b4. ] 16.xd4 xb5 ( 16...xd4? 17.c6+ 10...b8 11.e3 xe5 12.xe5 xe5 b8 18.f3 and Black must play d5 13.xa7 c8 14.ac1 f6 15.xb7 c7 to stop the mate leaving White winning 16.a6 e6 17.b5 d7 18.d4 d6 after 19.xd5 c5 20.b4! xc6 19.xc6? 21.xc6+ c7 although there is still [ After taking this pawn, White gets into a some work to do here.) 17.xb5 xd4 terrible tangle, so he should probably opt for 18.xd4 was equal in Salgado Lopez, I 19.c5 ] (2626)-Piorun, K (2514) Chennai 2011; [ Similar problems arise after 19.xc6 xc6 A2) 14...d8! is best 15.c3 ( 15.f3 20.xc6 xc6 21.xc6 d7 etc. ] xd4 16.xd4 xb5 17.xd8+ e7! 19...0-0 20.b4 18.cxb5 xd8 19.c3 xe5 [ White's pieces can't get out quick enough. is clearly better for Black) 15...a6! After 20.d4 there is a8 . ] 16.a4 b5 17.xa6 xd4 18.xb5 20...e5 21.b5 d4 22.c5 a8 23.b6 d5 xe2+ 19.f1 e7 20.d6+ f8 24.xe5 xe5 25.c6 xc6 26.bxc6 fc8 21.xf5 exf5 22.xd8+ xd8 23.xe2 27.fe1 f6 28.g3 g5 29.c4 xc6 30.a4 g8 and Black has the better chances in ac8 31.xd4 xc4 32.dxc4 xd4 this strange endgame.; 33.cxd5 c2 B) 11.c3! xc5 12.b5 b6 13.a4 0-1 gives White slightly the better chances ] [ 9...g6 deserves attention as well 10.xb7 must be critical and now 1280 B12 A) 10...c8 11.d1 c7 12.a6 c8 was tried in Karjakin, S (2763) -Grischuk, Hovhannisyan,R 2607 A (2752) Beijing 2011 and here 13.a3! Jakovenko,D 2731 e7 ( 13...cxe5?! 14.xe5 xe5 15.b4 14th Euro Indiv 2013 (11.26) 16.05.2013 is miserable for Black) 14.b4 would've left [Tom Rendle] White with a comfortable advantage; B) 10...c8 11.xc8+ xc8 12.bd2 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 xc5 13.b3 d3! 14.d1 b6 15.e1 e7 6.0-0 c5 7.c4 bc6 8.dxc5 and W hite was a little better in Shirov[ 8.a3 is White's main alternative. Black Yevseev and he went on to win quickly I've has to be very caref ul in this line but is left the game in with light comments. 0-0 probably doing OK. See Gopal-Laznicka and 16.d2 a5 17.c5 c7 18.c3 fd8 Bologan-Antoniewski from the archives for 19.h3 h5 20.bd4 xd4?! ( 20...xe5! the most recent analysis. ] 21.xe5 xd4 ) 21.xd4 d2 22.e3 8...d4 9.b3!? This is another attempt to try White is now clearly better xe5 23.xe5! for the advantage in this tricky line but here xe5 24.xf5 exf5 25.xe5 xc5 Jakovenko calmly demonstrates that Black 26.c3 cd5 27.a4 e8?! ( 27...h4 ) shouldn't have any real difficulties. 28.xh5 d3 29.f1 1-0 Shirov, A (2709)[ 9.d3 is examined in Motylev-Maletin in Yevseev, D (2536) Jurmala 2013 ] which White obtained some advantage and wo n a n i n s t r u c t i v e g a m e , h o w e v e r a s 10.d1 [ 10.a3 a6 11.a4!? is an interesting try Gawain points out in his notes Black should 1353

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 that worked well in Shomoev, A (2566)Maletin, P (2570) Barnaul 2011 ( 11.c2 d8 12.d1 transposes back to the main game. ) 11...0-0-0 ( 11...d8! is a more critical test of W hite's play 12.b4 g6 and Black seems to be doing fine - although the position is complicated and there are interesting possibilities for both sides.) 12.b4 xe5?! ( 12...d3 is best but I still prefer W h i t e a f t e r 13.d1 xe5 14.b5! with a strong initiative) 13.xe5 xe5 14.f3 g6? and now 15.xb7+! wins immediately after ( instead 15.g3? e4 was much less clear in the game.) 15...xb7 16.c6+ c7 ( 16...a7 17.b5+ b6 18.f4! win s t h e qu e e n a s f6 allows 19.a5+ xc6 20.c7# ) 17.xa6 b8 18.a7+ xc6 19.b5+ d6 20.xb8+ ] 10...d8 11.a3 a6 Obviously the knight can't be allowed into b5 and d6. 12.c2 xc2 This is Black's only good move in this position but it seems to be sufficient to equalise. [ 12...g6 is less good after 13.cxd4 xc5 14.xf5 ( or 14.xc6!? xd1+ 15.xd1 xc6 16.c3 ) 14...xd1+ 15.xd1 exf5 16.c2 and Black struggles to regain his pawn. ] 13.xc2 g6 14.a3 xc5 [ 14...gxe5?! 15.b4 xf3+ 16.xf3 e7 17.b2 is at least a little better for White, with the two bishops he can looks to und erm ine Black's ce ntre and po ssibly expand further on the queenside. ] 15.b4 a7 16.b2 gxe5 17.xe5 [ 17.c5 is perhaps slightly more accurate but the position is still finely balanced after xf3+ 18.xf3 b8 19.xc6+! bxc6 20.g3 e5 21.e2 0-0 22.xa6 ] 17...xe5 18.f3 0-0 White hasn't managed to obtain any advantage from the opening and indeed Jakovenko can now start pressing for the advantage. 19.c5 b8 20.g3 c7 [ 20...d7! makes White work a little harder to regain the pawn. It's still going to drop but this may gain a tempo for Black compared to the game. ] 21.xc6 xc6 22.xd4 d5 Now the position is just equal although since the pawn structure is asymmetrical there is still plenty of play left in the position. 23.e3 fd8 24.a4 h5!? Jakovenko signals he's not

ready to agree to a draw just yet 25.b3 e5 26.xd5 exd5 27.e1 Not very ambitious from Hovhannisyan [ 27.b5! makes more sense giving White ch a n ces f o r a p asse d p a wn o f h is o wn although the position is still level after axb5 28.axb5 f6 29.d1 f3 30.d3 e4 ] 27...d4 28.g5 f6 29.xf6 xf6 30.d3 h4! 31.e4 h3 With this 'alien' in White's camp it's clear that Black is the only one with realistic winning chances but some accurate play from Hovhannisyan quickly neutralises th e p o sit io n . 32.h4 g6 33.xh3 e6 34.h4 e1+ 35.g2 xb4 36.c2! e1 [ 36...d3 just leads to a draw after 37.xb4 dxc2 38.c4 d4 ( 38...d2 39.f3 ) 39.xc2 xa4 40.b2 c4 41.xb7 xc5 ] 37.c6 bxc6 38.xc6 e5 39.e4 f5 40.f4 d5+ 41.xd5 xd5 ½-½

1281 Howell,David Kjartansson,G Hastings Masters 2011-12 (7.6) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2633 2326 03.01.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.c3 e7 7.g5 d7 Rarely played but nevertheless interesting. 8.cxd5 [ 8.ge2 f6 9.exf6 gxf6 10.e3 dxc4 11.g3 b6 12.e2 g6 13.xh5 xh5 14.xh5 f5 ( 14...ed5 15.g4 d7 16.f4 b4 17.0-0 xc3 18.bxc3 0-0-0 ) 15.f4 ( 15.g4 ) 15...d7 16.g6 g8 17.h5 0-0-0 18.f3 Svidler, P -Nielsen, P Copenhagen 2010. W ith an unclear position. ] 8...exd5 Usually in this line Black recaptures towards the center, but here it was forced like t h i s d u e t o 9 . N b 5 . 9.d3 f6 10.exf6 In my opinion at this point White has a better option: [ 10.xf5 xf5 A) 11.d3 e7 12.exf6 ( 12.f4 fxe5 13.dxe5 c5! 14.c2 e6 ) 12...gxf6 13.f4 b6 14.ge2 d7 15.0-0 f5 16.d1 0-0-0; B) 11.c2!? e7 ( 11...xd4 12.g6+ e7 13.exf6+ gxf6 14.f1 e8 1354

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.e1+ e6 16.f5 f7 17.f4 e8 18.xd5+ cxd5 19.xd5 d8 20.h3 ) 12.f4!? fxe5 13.dxe5 g6 14.g5 g7 15.f4 0-0 16.f3 e8 17.d4 f5 18.xf5 xf5 19.0-0-0 ] 10...gxf6 11.f4 b6 12.xf5 [ 12.ge2 d7 13.0-0 xd3 14.xd3 f5 Transposes to a note above. ] 12...xf5 13.ge2 d7 14.d3 0-0-0 Already I consider this to be better for Black: control of squares, better king and better structure. 15.b3 g8 16.g3 a3 17.d2 h7 18.ae1 ge8 19.c2 d7 20.b1 de7 21.d2 d6! Doesn't allow Nf4 22.b2 a5!? Also possible was transferring a knight via a8 to c7 and looking for Ne6 or Nb5 to put pressure on the d4 pawn. 23.c1 [ 23.c1 In my opinion White should have tried to change at least one rook to ease his position. ] 23...a4 Ambitious, better was 23...Kb8 24.hd1 [ 24.b5! b8 ( 24...xe2 25.xd6++- ) 25.f4 And all of a sudden the position is again unclear, W hite managed to pull himself out of passivity. ] 24...axb3 25.axb3 d7 26.f4 b4 27.a1 The position is unclear, Black pushed the ap a w n o n l y t o g i ve W h i t e t h e a - f i l e . g6 28.a7 c8 29.c1 g4?? In a chaotic position where both sides have chances, but where White surely improved his position in the last couple of moves, Black makes a serious error. 30.a4! xa4+ 31.xa4 d6 32.xd6? White returns the favor. [ 32.f3 h3 33.g4! T h e p o i n t . e3 34.xd6 xd1+ 35.xd1 g2+ 36.a3 e1 37.d3+- ] 32...xd6 Black has stabilised his position and again has the initiative. 33.d2 b8 34.c2 b5! This strong knight outpost gives B la c k n ic e p l a y. 35.b4 e1 36.xb5 Understandable, to get rid of the powerful knight, but giving up the exchange doesn't help. cxb5 37.c3 d7 38.f3 c8 39.xc8+ xc8 40.d3 e4 41.xh5 b4 42.xb4 xd4 43.c2 d2 44.g6 d4 45.c1 d3 46.xd2 xc2+ 47.e3 e2+ 48.f4 d2 49.g8+ a7 0-1

1282 Hracek,Zbynek Markovic,Miroslav TCh Herceg Novi YUG (5) [Nigel Davies]

B12

18.05.2001

1.e4 c6 2.d4 a6 The knight heads for the newly vacated c7 square. Obviously this plan is not intended to rip White limb from limb, but it has the benefit of avoiding theory whilst b e i n g b o t h s o l i d a n d p r o vo c a t i ve . 3.c3 White chooses to block his c-pawn but keep the option of a later f-pawn advance. [ Tony Miles also faced 3.f3 a couple of times, which keeps the option of advancing White's c-pawn: A) 3...g6 4.c4 d6 5.c3 g7 6.e2 c7 7.0-0 h6 ( 7...f5!? ) 8.d5 0-0 9.f4 was played in Gufeld - Miles, Beijing 1996 and now f6 would have been more flexible and resilient than Miles' 9...f5; B) 3...c7 4.c4 d6 5.c3 g6 6.h3 g7 7.e3 f5 8.d2 fxe4 9.xe4 f6 10.g3 0-0 11.e2 b5 12.b3 bxc4 13.bxc4 d7 1/2-1/2, Andersson U.(2623) - Miles A.(2588), Biel 1996 It ] [ 3.c3 was played in Mott - Larsen, Ringsted 1993 with the great Dane indulging in some extravagant manoeuvres with c7 4.d3 d5 ( 4...d6 is an alternative approach) 5.e5 g6 6.e2 h5 7.e3 e6?! 8.d2 h6 9.f3 g7 10.c2 f5 etc.. Whilst this may not be totally unplayable for Black it does not look very pleasant. ] 3...c7 4.f3 In such uncharted territory it's difficult to say what the best line is. White has tried several other moves in this position: [ 4.d3 g6 5.ce2 g7 6.c3 d6 7.f4 d5 8.e5 h5 9.f3 was played in Velimirovic Markovic, Yugoslav Ch. , Hercig Novi 2001, and now h6 looks solid enough ] [ The continuation of Geenen - Gutman, Brussels (OHRA) 1987 was quite interesting: 4.f4 f6 5.d3 d6 6.ge2 d7!? 7.g5 h6 8.h4 g5 9.g3 e5 10.d2 f6 11.c4 b5 12.b3 a5 13.a4 b4 14.d1 exd4 15.xd4 e5 with quite a good game for Black who has established his knight on e5. If you like 'chess from another planet', 2... Na6 could be the move for you! ] [ Last but not least there is the blunt 4.f4 1355

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with which White emerged triumphant in the game Kuijf - Hodgson, European Team Ch., Groningen 1981. It's actually worth giving the score in full, if only for entertainment value: g6 5.f3 d5 6.e5 h5 7.h3 h6 8.e3 f5 ( in keeping with the 'spirit' of this line, I suggest 8...a5 ) 9.e2 e4 10.g4 hxg4 11.hxg4 xg4!? 12.xh8 xe3 13.d2 xc2+ 14.f2 xa1 15.g5 d7 16.h7 e6 17.xe4 dxe4 18.f5 0-0-0 19.fxe6 xe6 20.xf8 xf8 21.xf8 xa2 22.b4 e3+ 23.g3 b1 24.xe7 g1+ 25.f4 f2+ 26.f3 1-0. But maybe Black has some improvements.... ] 4...g6 5.e2 I'm not quite sure if this is now becoming a Pirc. [ Another example is Vuckovic - Markovic, Sabac 1998, which went on 5.d3 g7 6.0-0 d6 7.h3 e5 ( 7...f6 should be quite playable ) 8.g5 e7 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.d2 h6 11.e3 e6 12.ad1 and now Black m a d e t h e m i s t a k e o f p l a y i n g d4? a f t e r wh ic h 13.xd4 exd4 14.c4 b5 15.e2 xh3 16.xb5! put him in trouble ] 5...g7 6.0-0 d6 7.h3 [ 7.a4 e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.xd8+ xd8 10.b3 f6 11.a3 h6 12.fd1+ e8 lef t W hite with very little in Dunne - De Bruycker, Berlin 1980 ] 7...e5?! I'm slightly suspicious of this move. Because of the need to protect his e-pawn, Bla c k e it h e r p u t h is kin g's kn igh t o n t h e passive e7 square or first give up the centre with ...exd4. [ 7...f6 is quite possible and would transpose into a Pirc ] 8.e3 exd4 9.xd4 f6 10.d2 0-0 11.h6 e8 12.xg7 xg7 13.f3 e5 14.ad1 The pressure against d6 is quite unpleasant. Black doesn't manage to solve his problems. fe8 15.fe1 e6 16.ce2 g5 17.f4 e7 18.h4 xf3+ T h i s , f o l lo we d b y h is n e xt m o ve , s im p l y doesn't work. It's difficult to give good advice in this kind of position - except possibly to improve the opening. 19.xf3 g4 20.xe5 xd1 21.xc6 bxc6 22.xd1 One pawn more with the better position. g8 23.h5 xe4 24.e1 f5 25.h6 f6 26.h3 c7 27.g5 d5 28.e3 f8 29.e7 f4

30.xh7 1-0

1283 Hulshof,Peter L'Ami,Erwin Essent op Hoogeveen (1) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2202 2470 10.10.2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.g4?! White lays down the gauntlet. 4 g4 has been known since the days of Bronstein and Tal but never accorded a great deal of respect. Morozevich brought the line back from the grave with a recent excellent win but he is one on his own . I m it a to rs b e wa re ! 4 .. . B d7 is recommended by some learned commentators but L'Ami plays a sharper move, designed to loosen W hite's Kingside. e4! 5.f3 g6 6.h4 h5 7.e2 White has to work hard to prove that f2-f3 is a useful move. [ H e c t o r t r i e d 7.c3 once but Black was simply better after playing the most natural moves e.g. ... c5, ...Nc6, ...Qb6 etc e6 8.g5 c5 9.ce2 c6 10.c3 b6 11.h3 cxd4 12.xd4 c5 13.xc6 bxc6 14.e2 a5 15.f4 e7 16.h3 b8 17.xg6 xg6 18.f4 A) 18...e7! was superior, intending ...g7g6, stabilising. Black notes that the immediate attack does not work: 19.f5? ( 19.b3 g6 ) 19...exf5 20.e6 fxe6 21.xe6 c7; B) 18...b5 Respe ctf ul. 19.c2 xh4 20.f1 f3+ 21.d1 b6 Hector, JDanielsen, H/Copenhagen 1997 ] [ There are two other possibilities for White. The outright attack with 7.e6 forces Black to play an excellent move e.g. d6! ] [ Finally 7.d3 xd3 8.xd3 e6 ( 8...hxg4? 9.e6! ) 9.g5 e7 is mentioned in ECO. Deep Fritz thinks the position equal but most humans and certainly anyone who plays the Caro with regularity will like the f5 square. ] 7...e6 8.f4 [ 8.g5 e7! 9.d2 f5 is much the same story I'm afraid. This time Black occupies the key square. In view of this manoeuvre, it looks like 4 g4 is rather dubious. 10.b3 1356

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d7 11.f4 c5 12.c3?? c4 13.d2 e3-+ Michaelides, N-Genis, N/Le Grand Bornand 2003 (22) ] 8...hxg4 9.xg6 fxg6 10.d3 Hulshof is keen to show his attacking f lair but he is unlikely to put the boot in with just the Queen alone. Although Black's King is the first to move now, watch how White gets caught on th e re b o u n d ! d7! G r e a t m o ve ! 11.xg6 gxf3 12.h3? Rash. White could have been more rational, settling for [ 12.g3 c5 13.dxc5 c6 but I still like Black very much. ] 12...xh4+ 13.f1 xh3+! It's very surprising how quickly the Black pieces join the party af ter this. Mind you, the Queen sacrifice was by no means forced. Just [ 13...c7! was very good too. But hey, how often do you get the chance to do something like this? The opportunity has to be taken. ] 14.xh3 xh3 15.f7+ [ 15.g1 e7 A) 16.g4 h8 17.d2 a6 18.xf3 f5 19.c3 e7 20.g5 xg5 21.xg5 ( 21.xg5 h3 ) 21...h4; B) 16.f7 a6 17.c3 g5 18.b3 h6 19.a3 e8 20.d2 g4-+ ] 15...e7! 16.xg8 a6!? But this is really crazy letting White back in to the game, if he has the nerve to find the right defence. Of course Black should play [ 16...h1+! and take on c1. It's clear that White is more tied up: 17.f2 xc1 18.c3 ( 18.xf3 c5 19.dxc5 g5 20.c3 xc5 21.xg5 g1 ) 18...g5 19.xf3 c5 20.dxc5 e1 21.h8 xc5 22.g7+ e7 23.f2 c1 ] 17.xg7?? Panic. One can just feel White's confusion. The computer indicates that White should take on a8 and then a narrow path leads to a draw: [ 17.xa8 h4 18.g1 f2+ 19.g2 h2+ 20.xh2 f1 21.xb7+ c7 22.e3 e1! 23.b3 g3+ 24.h1 f3+ 25.g1= ] 17...h1+ 18.f2 xc1 It's gone now of course. Black gets the last variation with interest. 19.h6 d1 20.h7 f8 21.c3 f5 22.a4 c5 23.c4 b4 24.c3 d3+ 25.e3 cxd4+ 26.xd4 f4+ 27.e3 d4# A satisfying mate. I don't think Hulshof will be

trying 4 g4 in too much of a hurry again. 0-1

1284 Inarkiev,Ernesto Arutinian,David TCh-TUR 2011 (13) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2679 2564 09.07.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 This is the first time that I have covered this line in one of my updates, although I have tried it myself on a number of occasions. 4.f3 cxd4 5.xd4 e6 6.d2!? An interesting idea. c6 7.xc6 bxc6 8.d3 Playing more in the spirit of an Open Sicilian, which proved to be dangerous, and not only in this game. e7 9.f3 g6 10.h4 A logical follow up. [ 10.0-0 e7 11.c4 0-0 12.c2 c5 13.h4 xh4 14.cxd5 b7 15.dxe6 xf3 16.exf7+ xf7 17.xg6 hxg6 18.gxf3 d5 19.e4 xe4 20.fxe4 e8 21.f4 g5 22.g2 gxf4 23.xf4 Bologan, V-Khenkin, Sibenik 2010. After interesting tactical play White kept up the pressure in the endgame. ] 10...e7 11.h5 h6 12.0-0 c5 13.c4 d7 14.e2 c6 15.b3 c7 [ 15...a5 16.d1 d4 17.f4 c7 18.d2 White has the better prospects. ] 16.a3 dxc4 17.bxc4 f5 18.xf5 exf5 19.e6 White has seized the initiative. d6 20.h4 0-0 21.xf5 ae8 22.b2 xe6 [ 22...h2+ 23.h1 f4 24.xg7 b8 25.c3 ] 23.g4 Black is facing an almost impossible task to defend here. g6 [ 23...e5 24.xg7+- ] 24.xh6+ h7 25.ae1 f5 26.g5 d7 27.e3 e4 28.h3 f4 29.hxg6+ xg6 [ 29...xg6 30.f5+ g8 31.xg6+ mates. ] 1-0

1357

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1285 Inarkiev,Ernesto Eljanov,Pavel FIDE GP Astrakhan RUS (7) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2669 2751 17.05.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6!? This has recently become all the rage at the top level and indeed must be the critical response. 7.c3 xb2!? The more common 7...Nc6 will be investigated in the next game. 8.b1!? White's recent try for an advantage. [ The critical looking 8.b5 seems to have been neutralised c4 ( 8...xc2 is rare but lo o k s l ik e a go o d a t t e m p t t o m e : 9.c1 xc1+ 10.xc1 g6 11.c7+ d7 12.xa8 c4 13.h4 c6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.0-0 b4 appeared very promising for Black. The knight drops in the corner leaving Black with a material advantage. Hansen, S-Berkes, F Heraklio 2007.; 8...a6 doesn't seem in the right spirit of this line. Black shouldn't mind sacrificing the rook on a 8 i n r e t u r n f o r c l o s i n g d o wn W h i t e ' s bishops and an extremely strong c pawn. 9.dxc5 xc2 10.d6+ xd6 11.b5+ f8 12.xc2 xc2 13.cxd6 is given as unclear by Palo but I feel the d6 pawn must give White a clear advantage. Black will struggle to develop his kingside pieces and W hite has a dangerous initiative. ) A) 9.c7+ A1) 9...d8 10.xa8 xc2 11.c1 b4+ 12.d2 xd2+ 13.xd2 xd4?! ( 13...c3 must be better but still White h a s t h e u p p e r h a n d a f t e r 14.b3 ) 14.0-0 xe5 15.xc4+- Wang HaoRouhani, F Taby 2007.; A2) 9...d7 d7 appears a better square than d8 as a) it doesn't get in the way of a forthcoming ...Rxa8 recapturing the knight. b) Once W hite plays Qc1, the king is better on d7 stopping any Qg5+ ideas. 10.xa8 was rather prematurely agreed drawn in Vallejo Pons, F-Magem Badals, J Linares 1998. The game might have continued: xc2 11.c1 a3 12.0-0 c6 with a perfectly respectable position for Black, White needs to play very accurately to prevent being clearly

worse.; B) 9.b1 xc2 10.xc2 xc2 11.b2 a n d h e re P a l o s t a t e s sim p ly: ( B la c k ) "loses precious material". W ell lets look further a4 ( 11...g6 12.c7+ d8 13.xa8 c8 also looks playable. Interestingly, 14.h4 c6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.0-0 b8 17.fb1 actually transposes to a note from 10.Rb1!? in the following game. ) 12.c7+ d7 13.xa8 c8 These positions are extremely interesting. Co m p u t e r s f a vo u r W h i t e a n d i n d e e d initially t he y st at e th at h e is win ning. However this is because of the so called 'horizon effect'. To a human we understand the knight on a8 is almost certainly dropping, even if it takes a while. With that knight taken off the board Black is winning as the c pawn and powerful bishops will prove too strong. 14.d1 a3 ( F i n a l l y d e v i a t i n g f r o m 14...c6 which was played in Qin Kanying-Karpov, A Beijing 1998 in which the former World Champion ultimately converted.) 15.b1 c6 16.g5 h6 B1) 17.h5 e8! looks ok for Black. ( Instead 17...g6 18.d1 b5 19.h4 b7 20.h5 favours White. ); B2) 17.c2 a6 18.d2 b8 19.b6 axb6 20.xh7 c7 and Black had more or less equalised on material and thus must be better as he still has the trump of the passed c pawn and well placed pieces. Huschenbeth, N-Lenic, L Chur 2010 ] 8...xb1+ [ 8...b6 9.dxc5 xc5 was already agreed drawn in Palac, M-Vallejo Pons, F Heraklio 2007 but it appears White would have been doing well had he continued with 10.b5+ d8 ( 10...c6 11.a4 picks up material.) 11.a4 a5+ 12.d2 c7 13.xc5 xc5 14.d3 when White's initiative looks rather dangerous. ] [ 8...xc3+ 9.d2 xa1 10.xa1 c6 11.0-0 c4 12.b2 0-0-0 is unclear. Black has rook, piece and pawn for the queen so material is roughly balanced although I'd probably favour White as he can attempt to create an initiative on the queenside with Rb1, Nh4xf5, c3 and Bd1-a4. Brandenburg, 1358

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 D-Van Delft, M Hilversum 2008. ] [ 8...b4!? is a suggestion of Lukacs's trying to provoke 9.a3 before swapping queens. H o w e v e r p e r h a p s 9.0-0! is a good response. ] 9.xb1 c4 [ Trying to hold onto the pawn with 9...b6 allows W hit e a strong initiative . 10.dxc5 bxc5 ( 10...xc5 11.xc5 bxc5 12.b5 is pretty horrible. ) A) 11.b7 d4 ( 11...a6 12.a4 d7 13.xd7 xd7 14.b6+ c6 15.xa8 e7 is suggested as an improvement by Wells, and indeed I like Black's position.) 12.xd4 cxd4 13.xd4 d7 14.b5 0-0-0 15.xa7 was very messy in Baklan, V-Rasmussen, K Plovdiv 2008.; B) 11.b5! looks unpleasant to me, i.e. d8 ( 11...a6 12.d6+ xd6 13.b5+! f8 14.exd6 d4 15.d2 b8 16.e5+- ) 12.d6 xd6 13.exd6 d7 14.b7 and White retains the initiative although Black's probably still doing ok. ] 10.xb7 c6 I would be more comfortable playing Black here. W hite has a temporary initiative with his development advantage but the pawn chain f rom f 7-c4 keeps W hite's minor pieces under wraps. 11.d2 [ Perhaps 11.b5 is the most worrying move to deal with A) 11...b8 12.xb8+ xb8 13.d2 a6 14.a7 ( 14.d6+!? ) 14...b4+ ( 14...d7 15.b1 c7 16.g5 h6? 17.g4! g6 Bologan, V-Palo, D Samba C u p 2 0 0 3 , w h e n 18.h4 gives White a clear advantage. ) 15.c3 A1) 15...e7 16.c8 c6 ( 16...h6!? looks like a possible nuance over Lukacs' analysis so that Black can retain his bishop.) 17.xe7 gxe7 18.h4 d7 19.g4 e4 20.f3 g6 21.xg6 hxg6 22.h4 is given as slight edge White by Lukacs.; A2) 15...a5 16.h4 e7 17.xf5 xf5 18.b1 0-0 19.b7 and White had succeeded in dominating the board. Gaal, E-Sonnberger, R Zalakaros 2010.; B) 11...d8 B1) 12.xa7 is analysed in depth by Lukacs xa7 13.xa7 xc2 14.d2

g6 ( 14...a4 15.b1 e7 16.b4 d7 17.b8 h6 18.d1 is awkward f o r B l a c k a s t h a t a p a wn i s q u i c k .) 15.c3 e7 16.h4 ( 16.d1 ec6 17.a4 d7 is ok for Black.) 16...ec6 17.xg6 when b4+! GJ ( Lukacs only considers 17...hxg6 18.xc6 xc6 19.b1 xh2 20.b6 d8 21.d1 a3 22.a4+ f8 23.b8 e7 24.g3 when White has the better of it with his passed a pawn and bishop pair.) 18.c2 hxg6 looks better for Black to me.; B2) 12.c7 xc2 ( 12...b8! 13.d6+ xd6 14.exd6 b1+ 15.d1 xc2 16.e2 is rather unclear.) 13.d6+ xd6 14.exd6 f6?? Lastin, A-Korobkov, P Maykop 2008 when simply ( 14...f6 15.e7+ f8 16.e5 and White dominates the position.; 14...b8 15.0-0 b6 looks like Black's best, which is, aga in, ve ry messy.) 15.d7+ e7 16.c8 wins a rook. ] 11...b4 12.b1 a5 13.g4!? An interesting move but following this it's White struggling for equality. [ White's last chance for an advantage seems to be 13.h4 although I don't think Black should have any major worries after g6 ( 13...e4!? )] 13...xg4 14.xf7 [ 14.g5 xe2 15.xf7 h5! 16.xh8 ge7 Strangely, for this line, White picks up the rook on h8 rather than a8. However, here too, Black is doing very well as the knight can't get escape. ] 14...xf3 15.xf3 ge7 A strange way of exchanging pawns. Now I'd say Black definitely has the upper hand as the bishop pair are blocked in, the d4 pawn is vulnerable and the pin on the a5-e1 diagonal is annoying. 16.g1 g8 17.h3?! [ Perhaps 17.f4 was a better try, keeping d4 under control but Black is better after the simple b8 ] 17...f5! 18.g4 [ 18.xh7 cxd4 clearly favours Black, e.g. 19.xd4 xd4 20.gxg7 xg7 21.xg7 f8 22.h7 g8 23.h3 b5 and Black picks up material. ] 18...cxd4 19.xd4 xd4 20.c1 xc3 21.xc3 e7 But now Black is a clear pawn 1359

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 up with a great position which Elijanov, with his 2750 technique, exploits effortlessly. 22.f4 g6 23.h3 g7 24.d2 f7 [ 24...b8 is a little more accurate, to prevent White getting any counterplay on the b file. ] 25.b1 d8 26.c3 c6 27.e3 h5 28.e2 f8 29.g3 e7 30.gg1 d4+! Gaining the d5 outpost for the knight. 31.cxd4 d5+ 32.d2 xf4 [ 32...c3+ looks even easier to me, followed by picking up f4 and d4 pawns. ] 33.xc4 xd4+ 34.c3 d8 Black still has his pawn plus, while W hite's king is also vulnerable, the game is basically over. 35.b4 g7 36.gd1 c8 37.b3 b7+ 38.a5 c5+ 39.a6 f7 40.d6 xe5 41.bd1 e2 42.d7 xh2 43.xa7 b2 44.xf7+ xf7 45.b6 g5 46.c5 h4 47.b4 d5+ 48.c5 h3 49.xd5 exd5 50.xd5 e2 0-1

1286 Inarkiev,Ernesto Riazantsev,Alexander TCh-RUS Premier (10) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2674 2679 22.04.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 c5 Black's second most common move here which surprisingly doesn't appear to have been covered on ChessPub before. A few top level games have been played in this variation this month. 7.a3!? An odd looking move but White is preparing c2-c4 opening up the position to exploit his lead in development while Na3-b5 or recapturing on c4 and into d6 is also in the air. [ 7.c4 is examined next in Motylev, A (2677)Maletin, P (2584) Olginka 2011. ] 7...ec6 Considering Riazantsev is happy to repeat this four days later against the same opponent, it's safe to assume that he's done a f a i r a m o u n t o f wo rk a n d is h a p p y wit h Black's position. Nevertheless, there are alternatives. [ 7...a6 was Erenburg's choice but he criticised it in his ChessBase annotations and in fact later switched to the White side. 8.c4 ( H e m e n t i o n s t h a t 8.dxc5!?

also comes into consideration. I'm offering the line ec6 9.e3 d7 10.c4 e4 11.cxd5 xd5 12.c2 and it's not so clear how Black regains the pawn.) 8...cxd4 9.cxd5! A) 9...xd5 10.c4 c8 is marked as un clea r alth ou gh ( 10...d3?! 11.d6+! d7 12.xf5 dxe2 13.xe2 is awful. ) 11.xd4 e4 12.f3 g6 13.f4 c5 14.e3 b5 15.b3! xd1 16.fxd1 a7 17.xa7 xa7 18.e3 leaves White with a clear advantage with more space while Black has vulnerable dark squares.; B) 9...d3 Another move which Erenburg dislikes. 10.xd3 xd3 11.xd3 xd5 Black's position is solid but he's a fair way behind in development while W hite can drum up a kingside attack utilising the e5 pawn. 12.e4! e7 13.g4 f8 14.c4 h5 Gofshtein, L (2519)-Erenburg, S (2494) Tel Aviv 2002 when 15.e4 gives White a safe advantage. ] [ 7...bc6 looks the most natural to me but m i g h t b e a n e r r o r a s f o l l o w i n g 8.dxc5 it's not easy for Black to win back the pawn. I think this is actually the reason that some p l a y e r s p r e f e r 7 . N a 3 o ve r 7 . c 4 ( 8.c4!? transposes to lines seen elsewhere in the update. ) 8...a6 ( 8...g6 9.e3 a6 10.c4 is very strong, ie. gxe5 11.xe5 xe5 12.cxd5 exd5 13.c2 e7 14.d4 with a strong positional edge.) 9.c4 ( 9.c3!? is another interesting try. e4 10.g5 g6 11.f4 f5 12.b4 a5 13.b5 axb4 14.cxb4 xb4 15.d6+ xd6 16.cxd6 must favour White. ) 9...g4?! ( 9...d4! is necessary.) 10.a4 a5 11.xa5 xa5 12.d2 ac6 13.fe1 d8 14.b4 Inarkiev, E (2597)Kachar, V (2342) Moscow 2006 and Black had nothing to show for the pawn deficit. ] 8.c4 Inarkiev now chooses to play the break with c2-c4 once Black's been obliged to move his knight from e7. [ 8.g5 is the other attempt. A) 8...b6 9.c4! gives Black a few problems due to his lack of development but with accurate play I think he equalises. xd4! With a surplus knight on b8 it makes sense to exchange off this one. 10.xd4 cxd4 11.cxd5 exd5 12.g4 ( 12.b5 c6 13.b3 h6 14.h4 c5 1360

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.xd5 0-0 sees Black complete his development and reach comfortable equality. ) 12...xg4 13.xg4 e6 ( 13...c6!? looks risky but is the critical test of White's opening try.) 14.xd4 c6 15.a4 c5 16.b5 0-0 17.c7 xe5 18.f4 d4 19.xd4 xd4 20.xa8 e2+ 21.h1 xf4 22.c7 and White e v e n t u a l l y g r o u n d d o wn h i s m a t e r i a l advantage. Tseitlin, M (2530)-Podgaets, M (2460) Biel 1997.; B) 8...e7 Ivanchuk's choice in a recent rapid game. 9.xe7 xe7 10.c4! 0-0 ( 10...e4 Keeping the structure intact looks stronger) 11.cxd5 exd5 12.dxc5 xc5 ( 12...e4! is b e t t e r b u t 13.c1 d7 14.d4 dxe5 15.f3 g6 16.ab5 is favourable for White.) 13.b5 d7 14.c1 b4 15.fd4 g6 16.f4 and W hite's f a vourable st ructure an d better coordinated pieces gave him a ple as an t ed ge . Ga shimo v, V (27 33 ) Ivanchuk, V (2764) Warsaw 2010 ] 8...cxd4 9.b5 [ Four days later Inarkiev tried to improve with 9.cxd5 xa3! ( 9...xd5 10.b5 d7 11.fxd4 would leave White with a comfortable advantage. ) A) 10.dxc6 certainly gives White no advantage: xc6 11.b3 ( 11.bxa3 d3 regains the material with the better structure. ) A1) Erenburg prefers 11...b4! 12.a3 and only now ( 12.b5 c5 and Black cannot be worse. It will still take him a while to regain the d4 pawn allowing Black sufficient time to castle and reach a comfortable position.) 12...d3! 13.d1 dxe2 14.xd8+ xd8 15.g5 d3 16.a4 b5 17.xb5 d1+ 18.e1 0-0! 19.c1 xc1 20.xc1 xe1 21.xe2 a5 and Black's rook, bishop and k night clea rly o utweigh W h ite's queen and pawn.; A2) 11...d3 A2a) 12.xd3 xd3 ( 12...xd3 13.d1= ) 13.xb7 0-0 14.xc6 e4 and Black's bishop pair and activity counterbalance the extra pawn.; A2b) 12.d1 b6 13.xb6 axb6 14.xd3 0-0-0 15.e2 xd1+

16.xd1 d8 17.b3 a5! 18.g5 xb2 19.xd8 xa1 20.xb6 and Black had a small advantage in the endgame but the game ended in a draw. Erenburg, S (2490) -Miton, K (2560) Goa 2002; B) 10.xd4! An interesting temporary piece sacrifice although still not enough for a n a d v a n t a g e xd4 11.xd4 0-0! ( 11...e7 12.b5+ d7 13.d6 f8 14.f4 gives White fantastic compensation for the piece. Just look at that d6 pawn dominating the position.) 12.bxa3 c6 13.c5 xd5 14.xd5 exd5 with a level endgame in which Black was again successful. Inarkiev, E (2674) -Riazantsev, A (2679) Olginka 2011. ] 9...a6 A novelty. Riazantsev forces the b5 knight back to cut out any Nd6 ideas. [ The only previous game continued with 9...dxc4 When Black achieved a quick draw although White still kept the better chances. 10.fxd4 xd4 11.xd4 d3 12.e3 d7 13.xd3 cxd3 14.c1 a6 15.xd3 c5 16.fd1 0-0 17.e2 e7 1/2-1/2 Pedersen, J (2413) -Schandorff, L (2545) Greve 2002. Interestingly Rybka awards W hite a clear advantage in this position thanks to the d6 square and indeed 18.b5 xe3 19.xe3 b6 20.a3 ad8 21.d6 sees Black have to grovel a while. ] 10.bxd4 e4 11.f4 [ 11.g5 xd4 12.xd4 c6 13.e3 g6 14.cxd5 xd5 15.f3 b5 doesn't trouble Black. ] [ 11.b3 dxc4 12.xc4 ( 12.xb7?? a7-+ ) 12...d5= also looks comfortable for Black. ] 11...e7 To be honest I can't see a reason why W hite should be better in this position. T ru e h e h a s a lit t le m o re sp a c e b u t it i s difficult to generate any attacking chances and Black has straightforward development. Evidently both players agreed as in their game played a few days later White deviated earlier (and again failed to get anything at all). 12.cxd5 xd5 13.d3?! A logical move eyeing up Black's kingside in preparation for a kingside offensive once Black has castled. However Riazantsev finds a strong riposte. [ 13.c1 is the computer's suggestion 1361

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 although xd4 14.xd4 c6 15.xc6 xc6 16.d1 a5 sees Black solve all his problems. ] 13...g5! Black is alert to the possibility of gaining the initiative himself. 14.g3 [ 14.e3 defends d4 but g4 15.e1 xe5 gives White insufficient play for the pawn. ] 14...g4 15.xc6 xc6 16.e1 h5 Inarkiev has been forced to exchange a pair of knights (a success for Black as the b8 knight wasn't doing anything) and he's also been forced to retreat his knight to the passive e1 square. Meanwhile Black has gra b b e d s p a c e o n t h e k in gs id e a n d ca n always castle long. 17.f4 Keeping the e5 pawn but allowing Black to open up the g file towards White's king. [ 17.f4 is hardly inspiring either. g5 18.xg5 xg5 19.f4 gxf3 20.xf3 e3+ 21.f2 xf3 22.xf3 xf3 23.xf3 xe5 leaves Black a clear pawn up in the endgame. ] 17...gxf3 18.xf3 h4 19.f2 White has to control the g1-a7 diagonal. [ 19.f4 b6+ 20.h1 h3! leaves Black with a decisive initiative. The d5 bishop totally dominates the board. ] 19...h3 [ 19...g8! was very strong with ideas of ... Nxe 5 a g a i n s t m o s t m o ve s wh il e 20.e1 b4 leaves the White rook out of squares on t h e e f i l e . 21.e3 c5 22.e1 xf2+ 23.xf2 b6+ 24.f1 h3 25.g3 0-0-0! a n d a ga in B la c k is le f t wit h a d e ci sive attack. ] 20.e1 [ It's easy to dismiss 20.g3 after seeing xf3 21.xf3 xe5 forking Queen and Knight but in fact this was probably White's best. Of course his position is hardly palatable but 22.xb7 xd3 23.c6+ f8 24.ad1 h5 25.xd3 xd3 26.xa8+ restores material equality although g7 leaves Black with a great advantage with his more active pieces and much safer king (watch out for ...Rd5!). ] 20...b4! White's misery continues: he has no good square for his rook. 21.e2 [ The fact that 21.e4 is strongest highlights the fact that the bishop on d5 is the strongest piece on the board. xe4 22.xe4 g8 is of course simply an extra exchange. ]

21...g8 22.g3 b6+ 23.h1 0-0-0! Black had possibilities to immediately win material but instead takes the time to make his king safe and bring the final piece into the attack. W hite's position is completely hopeless. 24.c2 hxg2+ 25.xg2 xf3+ 26.xf3 b8 There's no defence to the family fork threatened. 27.e4 [ 27.f2 d4+ 28.xd4 xd4 29.e4 f5!-+ and Black crashes through. ] 27...d4+ 28.xd4 xd4 29.e4 xg3+! 30.hxg3 xe5 31.d1 g8 32.g1 f5 33.d3 c5 It appears Riazantsev has completely neutralised 7.Na3. 0-1

1287 Iordachescu,V Swapnil,SD 5th Kolkata Open (8.3) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2619 2438 10.12.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 [ 7...xb2 was analysed a few months ago in Areshchenko-Jobava and it seems Black still has some problems to solve in this line after both 8.b5 ( and 8.b1 )] 8.b5 [ 8.0-0 is also critical and has been seen a n u m b e r o f t im e s i n t h e a rc h i ve s . M o s t recently in Caruana -Postny I f elt Blac k should be doing OK although he certainly has to be very well prepared! ] 8...c4 [ 8...h6 is analysed in Maze-Ni Hua in the archives which continued 9.dxc5 ( 9.0-0 strikes me as more critical though - f or example g6 planning Nf5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.d4 xd4 12.xd4 c7 13.c5!? and Black has problems castling) 9...xc5 10.d4 after which Black was doing fine ] [ 8...g4!? is also worthy of attention - best is 9.dxc5 xc5 10.xc5 xc5 11.d4! which led to a slight advantage for White in Nevednichy, V (2534)-Dreev, A (2697) Aixl e s - B a i n s 2 0 1 1 a f t e r xd4 12.xd4 ( 12.xc6+ is possibly stronger as now after bxc6 13.xd4 e7 14.h3 h5 15.g4 White has g6 16.a4! with a pleasant 1362

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bind on the queenside.) 12...ge7 13.f3 h5 ] 9.h4!? [ 9.0-0 a6 10.xc6+ xc6 was reasonable for Black in Naiditsch-Laznicka, which can be found in the archives. ] 9...ge7 [ 9...g6 10.0-0 b4 11.xc4!? has been analysed in the notes before in the ga m e G a s h i m o v- V a ll e j o P o n s a n d t h e resulting position is rather unclear (see Gawain's notes to Christiansen-Seirawan) ( 11.xc6+ doesn't seem to lead to any edge after xc6 12.e2 e7 13.c3 a5 14.b4 d8! )] 10.a4 White aims to gain space on the queenside and if Black doesn't react then he should obtain excellent chances a6! [ for example 10...g6?! 11.a5 c7 12.a6 b6 13.0-0 and White already has a clear advantage and can consider f4, g4 and f5 ] 11.a5 c7 12.b3!? A very imaginative piece sacrifice but unfortunately it's probably not best [ 12.a4! was better and now play might continue h6 13.0-0 h7 14.f4 ( 14.e2 is a safer option; 14.b3!? needs examining a t l e a s t it m i gh t p u t B l a c k o f f c a st l i n g queenside!) 14...f5 15.xf5 xf5 16.g4!? h7 17.f5 and White has a dangerous initiative although after 0-0-0 the position is very unclear ] [ 12.xc6+ bxc6! 13.0-0 h6 gives Black good chances ] 12...cxb3 13.cxb3 axb5! This seems best although Black can also decline the piece [ 13...e4!? 14.xe4 ( 14.f3!? f5 15.xf5 xf5 and it's hard to see how White can continue to try to sac the piece) 14...dxe4 15.xc6+ xc6 16.0-0 e7 and if anything Black is a little bit better ] 14.xb5 b8 15.d6+ d7 16.0-0 [ 16.xf7 g8 17.0-0 h6! leaves White struggling as two pawns just isn't enough for the piece here ] 16...g6 17.f4?! [ 17.c1 was possibly best although now f5 18.hxf5 xf5 19.xf5 exf5 20.d3 e6! and Black's king holds the position together ] 17...f5?! A sensible move but not best

[ 17...xa5 was even stronger, for example 18.xa5 xa5 19.f5 xf5 20.dxf5 exf5 21.f3 c7 22.xd5+ c8 23.xf5 c6 and it's hard to believe in White's compensation here ] 18.hxf5 exf5 19.c4?! Desperately trying to mix things up and it works! [ 19.b5 xa5 20.xa5 xa5 21.d3 keeps up some pressure, especially since the Bishop on g6 is barely contributing. ] 19...e6? [ 19...dxc4! grabbing a 2nd piece was obvious and strong - White gets some play in the centre but it's not nearly enough - for example 20.bxc4 ( or 20.d5 xe5 21.fxe5 xe5 22.d4 c7 23.bxc4 c5 a n d W h i t e i s r u n n i n g o u t o f i n i t i a t i v e) 20...a7! 21.f2 xa5 22.c5 e7 23.c6+ bxc6 24.d5 c5 25.dxc6+ e7 a n d t h e b e s t W h i t e h a s n o w i s 26.xa5 xa5 27.d7+ f8 28.c7 g8! 29.c8+ xc8 30.xc8+ f8 and Black is easily winning ] 20.b6 Now White has a dangerous initiative for the piece and Black has to be very careful b4 [ not 20...xa5 21.xa5 xa5 22.b4 c6 23.xd5! and White is close to winning. The k n i g h t c a n n o t b e t a k e n a s a f t e r xd5? 24.b3+ e4 25.e1 mate is unavoidable ] 21.xa8?! It seems a shame to swap of this strong knight as now White loses a lot of his attack [ 21.d2!? also keeps up the pressure ] [ 21.xd5! was worth a serious look for example xd5 ( 21...d8?! 22.b6 is good for W hite) 22.d3 e6 23.d5+ e7 24.b5! and White will regain one of the pieces with a fierce attack ] 21...xa8 22.d2 e7 23.a6 bxa6 24.e2 b8?! Very odd [ 24...a5 25.fc1 b8 and Black has reasonable chances although the bishop on g6 is still out of the game. ] 25.b4 b7 26.fb1 b5 Unfortunately for Black this fails to relieve the pressure 27.xb5! axb5 28.c1 f6 29.a7 d8 30.cc7 d7? [ 30...f8 was forced although the position is pretty unpleasant for Black after 31.ab7 1363

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e8 32.b6+ c6 33.bxc6+ xc6 proved enough f or W hite.) 14...exd5 34.xc6+ d7 35.b6 ] 15.xc6 bxc6 16.c2 f5 17.d4 31.xd7! Black must've missed this nice tactic would have been highly unpleasant for xd7 32.a6+ f7 33.e6+ e8 34.exd7+ Black.; xd7 35.b6 f7 36.xb5 White is now a C) 8...a6 9.c4 bc6 10.0-0 xd4 clear exchange up and with a passed pawn it 11.xd4 c6 12.f4 d4 13.fd1 c5 should be a fairly easy win and Iordachescu's 14.f3 b6 ( 14...g5!? 15.xg5 xg5 technique doesn't let him down. c7 37.f2 16.xg5 g8 17.f6 d3 would give d6 38.g3 e6 39.e3 c6 40.a5 b7 Black decent compensation for the pawn.) 41.b5 d7 42.b6 c6 43.b7 b8 44.c5+ 15.xc6+ xc6 16.xd4 xa3 17.bxa3 xb7 45.xd5 c7 46.a5+ c6 47.c5+ 0-0 18.e3 1/2-1/2 Manik, Mb7 48.c1 c6 49.b4 c7 50.f8 g6 Krivoborodov, E Sarajevo 2010. ] 51.e7 b6 52.xf6 c7 53.d8+ 8...bc6 9.2f3 e4 Although 12.b3 was very interesting from [ Black hasn't quite found a clear way to Iordaschescu I feel Black should be doing OK e q u a l i t y w i t h 9...g4 10.0-0 c8 in these 8.Bb5 lines - the problem is there's a A useful waiting move putting pressure on lot of theory to remember in this line as well the c file, trying to dissuade c4. ( 10...xf3 as 8.0-0! was seen in the archives in Volokitin-Ruck 1-0 but Black failed to ever equalise.) 11.c1 and White follows suit. A) 11...a6 12.c4! kept White with an 1288 B12 enduring initiative. xd4 13.xd4 xf3 14.xf3 f5 15.f4 xe3 16.fxe3! c5 Iordachescu,Viorel 2629 17.cxd5 0-0 ( 17...exd5 18.g4 c7 Krivoborodov,Egor 2471 19.xc5 is the problem and so Black Open A Moscow RUS (2) 31.01.2010 cannot recapture on d5 but that is really [Gawain Jones] akin to resigning.) 18.h1!? ( 18.d6 b6 gives Black some counterplay so perhaps; 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 18.c3!? is t h e s t r o n g e s t) 18...a7 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.d2 ( 18...exd5 has to be played but White has White's main alternative to 8.c4 which we saw a huge advantage, for example 19.b4 e7 in the last game. 20.xc8 xc8 21.xd5 ) 19.xc8 xc8 [ 8.g5 is the other critical option but Black 20.g4 c5 21.dxe6+Baklan, Vreached solid equality with the simple d7 Lenderman, A Reykjavik 2010.; ( 8...a5+ is Pete W ells suggestion.; B) 11...xf3 12.xf3 f5 ( 12...g6 13.c4 w h i l e J o h n W a t s o n l i k e s 8...b6 g7 14.cxd5 xd5 15.c5 f8 16.b5 in the archives.) 9.xe7 xe7 10.xf5 xc5 17.xc5 0-0 18.xc6 xc6 exf5 11.0-0 c6 12.b5 a6 13.xc6 bxc6 19.xc6 bxc6 20.c1! kept White with 14.d3 0-0 Bachmann, A-Margvelashvili, G some advantage even if Black managed to Brownsville 2010. ] hold a draw. Note that Black had to play [ while the interesting 8.a3!? was also tried g7 due to the threat of 21.Qh6. in a recent game Cheparinov, I-Bareev, E/Moscow 2010.) A) 8...bc6 9.ab5 was evidently the 13.f4 e7 14.d3 0-0 ( 14...h4 idea when xe5 10.f4 gives White a 15.xh4 xh4 16.g4 g6 17.c4 dangerous initiative.; is more or less the same as Volokitin-Ruck. B) 8...g6 worked out too slow 9.c4 a6 The rooks on c1 and c8 don't seem to 10.0-0 d7 11.c1!? xe5 12.b3 d7 change much and thus W hite still has 13.fd1 5c6 when ( 13...c8 some advantage.) 15.xf5 exf5 16.d3 looks stronger but W hite still has a d7 17.c3 h6 18.fe1 fd8 19.b4 a6 dangerous initiative.) 14.cxd5 ( Instead 20.a4 f8 21.b5 axb5 22.axb5 e7 14.f3 was played in Dominguez Perez, Land White had a definite advantage with Bareev, E Moscow 2009 which also 1364

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the d4 outpost for his knight and more space whilst Black's pawn structure has been compromised. Motylev, A-Evdokimov, A/Dagomys 2010. ] [ 9...a6!? seems like the newest wrinkle in the position. 10.0-0 A) 10...g4 11.c1 ( 11.c4!? looks interesting, again trying to open up the position before Black has completed his development. dxc4 12.c1 xd4 13.xd4 xe2 14.xe2 b5 15.b3 and White has decent compensation for the sacrificed pawn.) 11...xd4 12.xd4 ( 12.xd4 looks more logical to me.) 12...xf3 13.xf3 f5 14.b6 xe3 15.xe3 b5 16.c4! bxc4 17.xc4 e7 18.c6 and White had perhaps a very small advantage but Black went on to win t h e ga m e . Je n sso n , E -L e n d e rm a n , A Rekjavik 2010.; B) 10...c8 11.c3 e4 12.c1 d7 ( 12...h6 13.b3 with hindsight I don't think this move achieves very much and merely gets the queen hit around. d7 14.fd1 a5 15.a3 c4 16.b3 a5 17.a3 ec6!? 18.b4 xd4 19.xd4 c4 and Black had taken the upper hand Gharamian, T-Rombaldoni, D Cappelle la Grande 2010.) 13.d2 xd4 14.cxd4 This gives Black absolutely no problems. ( 14.xd4 must be right, keeping the outpost for the knight.) 14...c6 15.g5 b4 16.d1 g6 17.h4 h6 18.h5 Najer, E-Kacheishvili, G Wheeling 2010 when the straightforward f5 would leave Black with a perfectly reasonable position. ] 10.0-0 g6 delaying the capture on f3. [ 10...xf3 would transpose back into Volokitin-Ruck in the archives. ] [ whilst 10...c8 here must also come into c o n s i d e r a t i o n , a l t h o u g h 11.g5!? is probably awkward. ] 11.b5 [ 11.g5!? looks interesting now, not giving Black the option of taking on f3 although after gxe5 White should take on e4 12.xe4 ( 12.f4 is met by the very strong c5! ) 12...dxe4 13.c3 with an interesting position but Black looks to be ok. ] 11...c7

[ 11...xf3 would cut out White's next and a l l o we d B l a c k a n e a s y d r a w f o l l o wi n g 12.xf3 d7 13.h5 gxe5 14.f4 a6 15.fxe5 axb5 16.xb5 xe5 17.xe5 xb5 18.d4 d7 19.h5 c8 20.h1 h6 21.ad1 h7 22.e2 d6 1/2-1/2 Almasi, Z-Landa, K Reggio Emilia 2010. White's pieces are nicely coordinated but he is a pawn down and it's not clear how he manages to break into Black's position. ] 12.g5! White sacrifices a pawn to open up the centre before Black has had the chance to castle. gxe5 13.f4 d7 14.xe4 [ 14.f5!? will probably simply transpose after e5 15.xe4 dxe4 ] 14...dxe4 15.f5 e5 [ 15...exf5 16.xc6 bxc6 17.xf5 would give White promising compensation for the pawn. ] 16.xc6 bxc6 17.e6! a whole knight goes on the fire to open up the Black king. fxe6 18.h5+ g6 [ 18...d8? can't really be considered for Black and indeed the sample line 19.fxe6 b6 20.ad1+ c8 21.xb6 xb6+ 22.h1 b7 23.f7+ a6 24.e2+ b5 25.c4 b6 26.e7 shows that White can win back his material without much effort with a great position. ] 19.fxg6 0-0-0 20.f7 The moves since 16. Ne6 have been pretty much forced and we've been left in a position where Black has a whole extra piece. However his king is rather vulnerable and his pawn structure has been completely destroyed, just look at his Irish pawn centre on the e file! Meanwhile the g6 pawn is exceedingly dangerous and will take back some material. a5 [ T h e s t r a n g e l o o k i n g 20...b8 is the computer's suggestion as it wants to grab the b2 pawn too but that would hardly be the first consideration of a human. 21.g7 ( 21.gxh7!? ) 21...xg7 22.xg7 xb2 23.d1 and Black is more likely to be concerned about his king's safety rather than his extra two pawns. ] 21.g7 c5! Ambitious [ However it 's e asy t o see tha t 21...xg7 22.xg7 must favour White. Black's extra pawn is not at all relevant (take your pick of the ones on the e file) while Black's king is 1365

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 rather vulnerable and White's pieces active. He'll be able to start taking pot-shots at Black's pawns. ] 22.gxh8 xe3+ 23.h1 xh8 So the material balance has changed again to rook vs two pieces and a pawn. Therefore Black has a clear material advantage. Un f o r t u n a t e l y , f o r h i m , h i s p i e ce s d o n ' t connect at all well, in fact his wall of pawns on the e file mean that it's impossible for the queen to f ulfil any tasks on the kingside. White must play actively though or he'll just end with a material deficit. 24.d1 d8 25.b4! b6 [ The idea is that 25...xb4 allows 26.fxd7 xd7 27.e8+ now that the queen is not covering the d8 square. ] 26.g4 [ 26.h3! would have been more precise, the point being that now d4 can be met by 27.c3! winning material. ] 26...f8? And this loses Black's extra material and thus the game. [ 26...d4 should have been tried when it's still anyone's game after 27.xe4 b5! trying to cover up the holes. ] 27.xf8! Black must have missed this hit which picks up a knight and pawn for free. Black fights on valiantly but it should just be all over. xf8 28.xe6+ b7 29.e7+ c7 30.xf8 There goes the rook. Black is left the exchange down with the continual problems of a weak king and fractured pawn structure. d4 31.e1 e3 32.c3 b6 33.f5 e7 34.e4 c7 35.a4 a6 36.c4 b7 37.a5 a7 38.f1 d6 39.f7+ a8 40.f8+ xf8 41.xf8+ b7 42.f7+ c8 43.f1 d7 44.g4 c5 45.bxc5 c6 46.g2 xc5 47.f3 b5 48.e2 xa5 49.b1 e4 50.b7 h6 51.h4 d6 52.g5 hxg5 53.hxg5 e5 54.c4 a4 55.g6 Currently it looks like 8.Nd2 is White's best try for an advantage in the Short variation mainline with 9...a6 an interesting new wrinkle to try and hold equality for Black. 1-0

1289 Ivanchuk,Vassily Jobava,Baadur 39th Olympiad Men (7.1) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2754 2710 28.09.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 Ivanchuk is yet another player who chooses the Fantasy against Jobava! b6 4.a3!? And this move is the fruit of Ivanchuk's labours. Presumably he came up with the move whilst preparing for Nepomniachtchi earlier this year, a game I a n n o t a t e d in t h e a r ch ive s . H e r e we s e e Ivanchuk switching colours. a3 looks unusual in this exact position but it's a typical move in the Fantasy, allowing the knight to develop to c3 without any ...Bb4 problems. The pawn makes much more sense on a3 than a4 were Jobava to continue with 4...e6 and thus [ 4.c3 has been played the most frequently in recent months. A) 4...e6 is the more solid option. 5.a3 f6 ( 5...d7 6.e3 d6 7.f2!? e7 8.ge2 Bellia, F (2376)-Svetushkin, D ( 2 5 6 0 ) R e t h y m n o 2 0 1 0 w h e n xb2!? seem s p layable n ow as the e2 kn igh t covers the b5 square and thus the queen looks to escape.; 5...dxe4?! 6.fxe4 e5 was a really strange mix of plans. 7.f3 exd4 8.xd4 d7 9.e3 gf6 10.d2 c5 Gergacz, A (2429)-Hera, I (2585) O b e r w a r t 2 0 1 0 w h e n 11.b4 cxe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.d3 looks very strong as Black is dropping material.) 6.e5 fd7 7.f4 c5 8.f3 has transposed to a French position in which W hite has played the rather unusual but not necessarily bad 8. a3.; B) 4...dxe4 B1) 5.xe4 f5 6.c3 d7 7.d3 g6 ( W e lo oke d a t 7...e5; and 7...xe4 previously.) 8.e2 e6 9.e3 c7 10.h3 gf6 11.f4 b6 Gjuran, D (2351)-Lenic, L (2602) Ljubljana 2010 when 12.0-0-0 looks very promising.; B2) 5.c4!? f6 Last time I looked at ... e5 and ...exf 3. 6.b3!? ( 6.fxe4 e5 is Black's idea.) 6...exf3 7.xf3 e6 8.0-0 e7 9.h1 0-0 10.g5 d8 11.e1 h6 12.h4 d5 13.xe7 xe7 14.g3 xc3 15.bxc3 c5 1366

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.fe1 d7 17.d5 b6 18.e5 g5 19.dxe6 xe6 20.xg5 hxg5 21.xe6 fxe6 22.a4 f2 23.d3 xc2 24.xc5 xc3 25.xb7 a5 1/2-1/2 Timofeev, A (2690)-Maletin, P (2617) Irkutsk 2010 saw Black hold quite comfortably.; B3) 5.fxe4 e5 6.dxe5 c5 7.c4!? I didn't look at this interesting piece sacrifice before. It looks like a good bit of home analysis. xg1 8.f3 B3a) 8...f6 is the computer's suggestion but this looks extremely dangero us. On e sa mple line : 9.f4 d4 ( 9...xb2? 10.b1 a3 11.b5! xf3 12.c7+ d8 13.gxf3+- ) 10.b3 fxe5 11.g5 f6 12.xf6 f2+ 13.xf2 xf2+ 14.xf2 f8 15.e3 xf6 sees Black surviving into a NQE but White is still a little better.; B3b) 8...e6 9.xe6 fxe6 10.g5 ( 10.e2! looks strong regaining the bishop as c5 11.f1 e7 12.f7+ d7 13.g5 xb2 14.d1+ i s a d e c i s i v e a t t a c k .) 10...f2+ trading into a slightly worse middlegame. ( 10...h6 is evaluated by the computer as better for Black but you'd have to be brave.) 11.xf2 xf2+ 12.xf2 d7 and White was a little better: Christiansen, L (2585)Benjamin, J (2556) ICC 2010. ] [ Since Ivanchuk defused Nepomniachtchi's opening we haven't seen much of 4.a4 e6 ( I assessed 4...a5 as being slightly better for White due to the b5 outpost The game Xie, G (2478)-Erdene, G (2330) KhantyMansiysk 2010 agreed with my view following: 5.exd5 cxd5 6.c3 e6 7.d3 f6 8.ge2 e7 9.b5 0-0 10.f4 a6 11.c3 with the easier position.; 4...dxe4 5.a5 c7 6.fxe4 e5 7.f3 g4 8.c4 f6 9.0-0 d6? was a mistake I have already c o m m e n t e d o n i n t h e a rch ive s . 10.dxe5 xe5 Bernardi, R (2212)-Salvador, R (2498) Porto San Giorgio 2010 and here W hite missed the shot. 11.xf7+! ) 5.a5 ( 5.c3 was the aforementioned Nepomniachtchi, I (2695)-Ivanchuk, V (2741) Havana 2010.) 5...c7 I suggested 5...Qd8 as being stronger as that would threaten the

immediate ...dxe4. 6.c3 c5 7.exd5 exd5 8.dxc5 White's last have been rather uninspiring. xc5 9.e2 f6 10.f4 e7 11.b4 d6 12.xd6 xd6 13.d4 0-0 14.e2 c6 15.0-0 and White had almost equalised. Tzouganakis, P (2095)-Bensdorp, M (2301) Paleochora 2010. ] 4...e5 must be critical and is Deep Rybka's top suggestion. There is no longer an a4-a5 idea to force the queen off the long diagonal. 5.exd5 [ 5.e2!? is the computer's choice but looks rather odd. ] 5...f6?! This doesn't pay off so I think it's in this position that we should investigate the alternative. [ 5...cxd5 looks sensible when I wonder what Iva n ch u k h a d p la n ne d . T h e co m p u t e rs rather like Black's position. 6.c3 ( 6.e2 c6 7.c3 f6 8.f4 d6 9.fxe5 fxe5 10.dxe5 xe5 11.f3 g4 looks rather suspicious for W hite.) 6...exd4 7.b5 ( 7.e2+ d8! looks good for Black.) 7...a6 8.xd4 ( 8.xd4 e6+ ) 8...f6 9.d3 c6 10.ge2 leaves a complex position but I would prefer to be Black thanks to White's f3. ] 6.dxe5 c5?! Brave but this doesn't seem sound. [ 6...xd5 was preferable although now 7.d2! e3 8.c4 xc4 9.xc4 c5 10.e2 seems to favour White. ] 7.exf6 f2+ 8.e2 0-0 9.d2 e8+ [ 9...xg1 is a better bet although White still stands better. 10.d1 d4 11.fxg7 xg7 12.c3 and White should slowly be able to unravel and then exploit his extra material. ] 10.d1 e1+?! This leaves White with too much f or the queen but it's tough to give Black any suggestions. [ 10...d7 11.fxg7 xg1 12.d3 and White has threats of his own. ] 11.xe1 xe1 12.xe1 An extremely unusual position has arisen. Ivanchuk's pieces are all back on their starting squares but Black has lost all his kingside pieces for the White queen. He simply has to be accurate developing his pieces and should coordinate the extra material. f5 13.e2 [ 13.fxg7 is the computer's top choice but a human wants to develop some pieces, he 1367

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 has enough extra material already. ] 13...d7 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.d1 A slight joke by the Ukranian but probably the best move. Who said White actually wants to move pieces from his back rank? e8+ 16.e2 xf6 17.bc3 c8 18.a4! This looks like a beginner's move but the bishops are well placed on c1 and d1 so the easiest way to develop the rook is via a3 or a4. a5 19.f1 [ Th e im me d ia t e 19.a3! would be more accurate. ] 19...a6 20.f2 h5 21.a3 h4 22.g3 h3 23.g4! Grabbing some more squares. White's pieces have coordinated in a strange way and there are no targets for Black to hit. Thus White should be winning. d8 24.f4 d7 25.b3 [ There's no reason not to grab the pawn with 25.xh3 ] 25...d4 26.fe2 e8 27.e4 xa4 Jobava takes the bait but now his queen is offside. However once you're objectively lost y o u h a v e t o t r y t h e r i s k y m o v e s . 28.d2 a1?! But now the queen won't be able to escape. [ 28...c5 should have been tried, even if W h i t e i s w i n n i n g a f t e r 29.a3 c6 30.xa5 ] 29.c3! e5 30.a3 b1 31.d2 c1 with the queen totally out of the equation White can simply ignore it. 32.xa5 [ O f c o u r s e n o t 32.xc1?? xf3# which would have been a disaster. ] 32...g6 [ 32...c4 probably should have been tried as 33.xa6?? e3 would again turn the tables. ] [ White should play 32...c4 33.b3 e3 34.xa6 when Black has nothing. ] 33.xa6 f4 34.a8! Deflecting the rook and thus picking up the queen and so Jobava threw in the towel. A very interesting game and I wonder if 4.a3 will become the mainline although I'm not sure of W hite's prospects after the simple 5...cxd5. 1-0

1290 Ivanisevic,Ivan Peralta,Fe 40th Olympiad Open (9.7) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2645 2606 06.09.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 b6 4.a4 e5 5.dxe5 c5 An unusual move but maybe it's not so bad [ is more usual and now 5...dxe4 6.a5 ( 6.d2!? is worthy of attention - perhaps Black best is a5 and then 7.c3 xe5 8.fxe4 d7 9.gf3 h5 10.e2 with balanced chances) 6...c7 7.f4 has been covered by Gawain in the archives - see Nepomniachtichi-Jobava for details ] 6.a5! [ 6.h3? xh3 7.gxh3 dxe4! and Black is doing well ] 6...c7 [ 6...f2+?! 7.e2 is known to be a bit better for White for example d4 8.xd4 xd4 9.f4 dxe4 10.d2 f5 11.g4!? and Black is under some pressure ] 7.exd5 [ 7.f4! gives White a comfortable edge, for example dxe4 8.d2 ( or 8.c3 )] 7...xe5+ 8.e2 xe2+ 9.xe2 f6 [ 9...cxd5 seems fine for Black, e.g. 10.bc3 e7 11.b5 a6 12.f4 0-0 and White's edge is minimal ] 10.d2 [ 10.dxc6 xc6 11.g5 0-0 and Black has reasonable compensation for the pawn ] 10...xd5 The opening has been a success for Black, there's no reason he should be worse here. I'll include the rest of the game with light notes. 11.e4 e7 12.d2 0-0 13.0-0-0 d7 14.2g3 [ 14.f4! keeps balanced chances ] 14...e5 15.e2 b5 16.he1 g6 17.f1 df4 18.e2 xe2+ 19.xe2 f5 20.g3 e6 21.d3 d6 [ 21...h4!? ] 22.e4 ac8 23.h5 fd8 [ 23...xh2 24.g3 f5 25.d3 d5 26.b4 is a little awkward for Black ] 24.c3 f8 25.xd8 xd8 26.xc6 Seemingly winning a pawn but Black has enough play to keep the balance b4! 27.d2 c8 28.a4 c5 29.f4 A slight inaccuracy 1368

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a f t e r wh ic h P e ra lt a st a r t s t o b u ild so m e pressure [ 29.g3! xa5 30.b3 was more accurate ] 29...xf4 30.xf4 b3! 31.c3 xa5 32.e4 f5 33.c7?! Another slight mistake but the position was already a bit difficult [ 33.d4 c5 34.d8+ f7 35.e8+ f6 36.b1 b6 37.d6 e7 38.c6 d5 and Black has a pleasant edge ] 33...fxe4 34.xa5 exf3 35.gxf3 d6 36.h4 c4 37.c6 g6 38.d8 f4+ 39.d1 h5 40.f6 f7 41.d4 a6 42.f2 g5 Creating a passed pawn on the edge of the board 43.e4 f6 44.b6?! [ 44.c6 seems a better defensive try ] 44...gxh4 45.d8+ e6 46.xh4 d5 47.e2? A bid for activity but after the b-pawn drops it's just lost for W hite c1 48.h7 xb2 49.d3 f7 50.d4 xf3 51.d3 d1 52.xa6 a3 53.c4+ f8 54.d3 e7! 55.d2 b2 56.d3 b3 57.xe7+ xe7 58.b1 f6 59.e3 e5 60.f3 e6 61.g3 f5 A nice grind from Peralta. 0-1

1291 B12 Jakovenko,Dmitrij 2716 Lenic,Luka 2641 27th ECC Rogaska Slatina SLO (3.6) 27.09.11 [Milos Pavlovic] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 d7 6.f3 a6 7.e2 c5 8.dxc5 xc5 9.0-0 e7 10.xc5 xc5 11.d4 Here we have the same position as in Grishuk Ragger and Svidler-Berkes, and so I decided to include this game as well as it seems to me that things are heating up here and the debate is obviously important. e4 As we saw 11..0-0 was played before, still this game is interesting for other aspects of the position. 12.f4 White abandons the f4 plan and heads for a different pawn structure, as we will see. b5 13.d2 0-0 14.h4! h6 15.h5 c8 16.c3 The difference is obvious but Black's position is s t ill lo o k in g h e a lt h y h e re a s we ll . c6 17.ac1 d7 18.e3 b6 19.fd1 fe8 20.f3 h7 21.g4 b8! Black is putting pressure on e5 and thus forcing W hite to exchange the strong knight on d4. 22.xc6

xc6 23.h2 Perhaps here move like 23.Kh1 with an idea of Rg1 and g5 was also possible with unclear consequences. b6 24.d4 b4 25.c4 ec8 26.f2 d8 27.g1 b6 28.b3 h4+ 29.g3 e7 30.c1 a5 31.f4 dxc4 32.xc4 Black accepted the draw offer although his chances are ok here af ter a possible 32... Nxc4 33.bxc4 a4. In any case Black's position withstood a serious challenge. ½-½

1292 Jones,Gawain C Hera,Imre Jr XXI Festival Open A (6) [John Watson]

B12 2554 2557 26.08.2009

1.e4 c6 2.e2 d5 3.e5 c5 [ Several annotators think that 3...f5 4.g3 g6 is playable, even though this is what White's 2 Nf3 and 3 e5 aims to discourage: ( 4...e6 was played this month in ZarafatHauerherm, LGA Premium Cup 2009 White s h o u l d s i m p l y p l a y 5.d4 with a space advantage ) 5.h4 ( 5.e2!? is a waiting/ developing move. The point is to force Black to play a move while discouraging ...h5. Then e6 6.h4 h5! 7.xh5 xh5 8.xh5 g6 recovers the h-pawn.) 5...h6?! ( 5...h5! 6.d4 e6 7.c3 is equal ) 6.h5 h7 7.e6!? (a standard theme, but it's hard to prevent both ...e5 and ...c5 ( 7.d4 e6 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 a5+ 10.c3 a6 11.f3 is more typical of the Caro-Kann) 7...fxe6 ( 7...d6 8.exf7+ xf7 9.d4 e5 10.d3 is hard to assess) 8.d4 f6 9.d3 bd7! 10.f4 c7 11.xh7 xh7 12.e2 d6 ( 12...c5! ) 13.0-0 b6?! (slow, and away from the centre) 14.b3 0-0-0 15.a4 bd7 16.a3 c5 17.f2!? ( 17.c3 ) 17...g4? ( 17...c7 ) 18.dxc5! c6 19.e2 gf6 20.b4 With a huge attack. h8 21.b5 c7 22.xe6 b8 23.c6 b6+ 24.h1 bxc6 25.bxc6 c5 26.xc5 xc5 27.a3 d6 28.fb1+ c7 29.b7+ xc6 30.c8# 1-0 Lodes-Dreiseitel, Nuernberg 2009. Not a great game, but several typical themes arose. ] 4.d4 c6 5.c3 cxd4 6.cxd4 f5 7.bc3 [ 7.g3 g6 8.c3 ] 1369

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7...e6 All natural so far. 8.e3 [ 8.g3 g6 9.b5!? might be more interesting. ] 8...b6 [ 8...b4?! 9.g3! c2+ 10.d2 xa1? 11.a4+ e7 12.b4+ wins. ] 9.d2 [ 9.a4 ] 9...c8 [ 9...b4 10.g3 c2+ 11.d1 xa1 12.xf5 wit h t h e id e a exf5? ( 12...b3 13.axb3 xb3+ 14.c2 xc2+ 15.xc2 exf5 16.b5+ d8 17.xd5 wi t h a n o b s c u r e p o s i t i o n .) 13.xd5 , virtually winning. ] 10.f4 f6 11.d3 [ 11.b5 b4!? 12.xc6+ ( now that b4 and b2 are protected, 12.d3 xd3 13.xd3 can be tried, which is unclear following fxe5! 14.xe6 e4!? 15.c2 f6! 16.0-0! ) 12...xc6 13.c1 a6 14.f3!? with the ideas g4 and Kf2, again unclear. ] 11...xd3 12.xd3 [ 12.xd3? fxe5 13.xe6 b4! ] 12...fxe5 13.xe5 f6 A very French-like position has arisen: Black's pieces and rooks will be active, while White has space. 14.0-0 b4!? [ 14...d6 looks better, and fully equal. ] 15.a3 [ 15.ac1 ] 15...xc3 16.xc3 0-0 17.f3 a5 18.e1 c4 19.b4 a6 20.a4 xe3 Exchanging a good piece for a bad one. [ 20...d6 21.f4 e7 is about equal. ] 21.xe3 d6 22.d3 fe8 23.fc1 c4 24.b5 d7 25.c5 [ 25.a5 ] 25...b6 26.xc4 dxc4 27.e4 d5 28.c1?! [ 28.e1 ] 28...d8 [ 28...e5! ] 29.c3 c8 30.h1 f6 31.d2 e8 32.e3 d6 33.g4 f7 34.e4 g5 35.e3 f7 36.e4 g5 37.e3 f7 Probably the right result given the way the opening developed. ½-½

1293 Jones,Gawain C Speelman,Jonathan S 4NCL 2007-8 Wakefield Park ENG (7) [David Vigorito]

B12 2562 2491 1.3.08

In the risky 3...c5 variation, W hite plays a p a wn s a c r i f i c e . W h i l e W h i t e g e t s s o m e compensation, things never look dangerous for Black and he gradually neutralizes White's pressure. Black still has some chances when a blunder gives W hite an immediate draw. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 This variation was recommended by Houska in Play the Caro K a n n . it is r is ky b u t u n r e f u t e d , a n d i t i s certainly less to learn than all of the lines after 3...Bf5. 4.f3 [ 4.dxc5 is more popular, and can be found in many games in the archives. ] 4...c6 5.c4 cxd4 6.xd4 e6 [ 6...dxc4?! 7.xc6 xd1+ 8.xd1 bxc6 9.xc4 looks pleasant for White, Muzychuk, A (2469)-Ushenina, A (2486)/Ljubljana SLO 2007. This is in the archives. ] 7.xc6 [ 7.c3 is more critical, when after Houska's b4 Watson suggests 8.xc6 bxc6 9.a4 His notes can be found in the MuzychukUshenina game. ] 7...bxc6 8.d3 This is a pawn sacrifice, whether by accident or design. dxc4 9.xc4 a5+ [ Instead 9...xd1+?! 10.xd1 is similar to Muzychuk-Ushenina, with Black having committed to ...e6. ] 10.c3 xe5+ 11.e3 c5 This is the most testing. W hite has a sizeable lead in development, so Black grabs the chance to develop with tempo. 12.a4 [ 12.0-0 xe3 13.f3 b8 14.fxe3 h6! is effective. The Black queen stands very well on e5. ] 12...e7 13.a5 White acquiesces to an exch a n ge o f que e n s in o rd e r t o lim it h is investment to a pawn. d4 14.xe5 xe5 15.0-0-0 d5 Black uses his main positional trump - the d5-square. 16.c5 xc3 [ With Rhe1 coming, Black understandably ke e p s h i s k n ig h t f o r d e f e n c e . 16...xc3 17.bxc3 xc3 18.d3 f6 19.hd1 e7 was a greedy alternative. Black is up two 1370

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pawns, but it will be very difficult to develop. ] 17.bxc3 xc3 18.d4 [ 18.d3 d5 19.g3 g6 20.d1 f6 21.f3 is an active alternative. ] 18...d5 19.e1 f6 Black is happy to give back a pawn to get organized. This is the nice thing about being up two whole pawns - often yo u ca n " bu y" you r wa y o u t b y ret u rn in g material. 20.xd5 cxd5 21.xd5 f7 22.d6 e5 Now Black is up a pretty good pawn. W hite plays as actively as possible. The opposite coloured bishops will help White if he can get the initiative or simplify. 23.c6 d8 24.d1 e6 25.c7+ g6 26.xd8 xd8 27.xa7 xa2 the elimination of the apawns increases W hite's drawing chances, but Black plays with zero risks now too. 28.h4 h5 29.g3 e6 30.e3 g4 31.c2 f3 32.c5 f5 33.b6 [ 33.xg7? c8 ] 33...d6 34.c5 d5 35.c3 g6 36.e3 d8 37.f7 d5? [ oops! with 37...c8+ Black could play on. ] 38.xf6+! ½-½

many strong GMs have employed it - the sadly missed Karen Asrian being the highest r a t e d p r a c t i t i o n e r . 5.e2 I'd actually examined this move a little before the tournament and I came to the conclusion that this was the best way to counter it. [ 5.c3 to prevent the ...c6-c5 idea has be e n t he mo st com m on re spo n se bu t I wanted to keep options of c2-c4 open. ] [ I also considered that 5.a4 might be interesting when Black is obliged to play a5 and then 6.e2 and it's unclear whether the a pawns favour White or Black. ] 5...h6 Creating a square for the bishop now that White's g2-g4 idea is no longer playable. [ 5...d7 was actually the only move I investigated before the tournament. I was then going to follow Kurnosov with 6.c4 e6?! ( I think 6...dxc4 is necessary but then 7.d2 a5 8.c3 b5 9.a4 gives White good play f or the pawn.) 7.c5! c7 Kurnosov, I (2593)-Braun, A (2529) Plovdiv 2008 when the most accurate looks to be 8.bc3 as he can parry b6 9.b4 a5 with 10.a4! ] [ 5...h5 is probably not so different to the game continuation after 6.c4!? dxc4 7.d2 d3 8.e6 ] 1294 B12 [ 5...e6 feels like a concession as A) 6.f4 d7 7.g4 would actually pick Jones,Gawain C 2593 up the bishop although Black would be Stokke,Kjetil 2413 able to drum up decent compensation with Gibraltar Masters (10.22) 03.02.2011 xg4 ( 7...e4 8.f3 xf3 9.xf3 xd4 [Gawain Jones] is also interesting.) 8.xg4 xd4 9.e2 xe5 10.xe5 xe5 11.d3 Th is wa s p la ye d in th e la st ro u n d o f t h e with an interesting battle in prospect.; Tradewise Gibraltar Masters. The tournament B) 6.g3 will pick up the bishop pair. e7 did not go well for me, having messed up the 7.c3 d7 8.d2 h6 9.xf5 xf5 first round and thrown away half a point and Ca rd oso Ga rcia , S (18 29 )-Avella n, G then blundered a piece in a great position in (1837)/LSS email 2009 when 10.f3 c5 the second and so I never really got going. 11.g4 e7 12.a3 looks like a typical However I was very happy with this one:) 1.e4 French position but W hite is probably a c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 b6!? little better. ] In the past couple of months I have looked at [ 5...a6 has also been tried a couple of the main tries 4...h5 and 4...h6 and elsewhere times but this looks to be going too far. in the update I continue to investigate the 6.g3 d7 7.c3!? ( Again I'd be tempted highly topical 4...h5. Here Black tries to play a by 7.c4 ) 7...e6 8.b4! and Black was in useful move without committing to either h danger of being squashed. Larino Nieto, D pawn move while leaving the possibility of the (2404)-Mateo, R (2448) Madrid 2007. ] bishop retreat to ...d7 so it won't get trapped. However it's not certain that the queen is well 6.c4!? This appears to be a novelty but strikes placed on b6. This move is pretty rare yet m e a s v e r y l o g i c a l . T h e q u e e n i s n ' t 1371

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 particularly useful on b6 in the c4 lines and in fact he is now obliged to capture on c4 as W hite threatens c4-c5 gaining time on the Black queen and starting to squash Black. [ 6.g3 was played in the previous game which is a calmer way to proceed but Black d o e s n ' t h a ve a n y m a j o r p ro b le m s . h7 7.c3 ( 7.e6!? doesn't seem so challenging here and following f6 8.exf7+ xf7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 a6 11.xa6 xa6 Black had comfortably equalised. Pokazanjev, N (2405)-Pavlov, O (2281) Novokuznetsk 2008) 7...e6 8.e2 e7 9.0-0 Now h4 looks rather out of place f5 10.xf5 xf5 11.g4 h7 12.h5 e7 13.e1 0-0 14.a3 a5 15.a4 c7 16.e3 d7 17.g3 h4 18.h3 e7 1/2-1/2 Kroes, F (2085)-Fernandez, J (2012) LSS email 2009 was quite a comfortable draw for Black. ] 6...dxc4 During the game I thought this was probably necessary but perhaps Black can still get away with [ 6...e6 when I feel White should be better b u t i t ' s n o t s o c l e a r . 7.c5 ( 7.d2 doesn't work so well as d7 8.c5? allows xc5! ) 7...d8 8.f4 b6 forces White to give awa y co n tro l b ut st ill sho u ld ha ve something after 9.cxb6 axb6 10.e3 d7 11.c3 e7 12.g4 h7 13.h5 when I'd prefer White with his extra space. ] 7.d2 d3 Holding onto the pawn but allowing a typical sacrifice for this variation. [ I expected 7...a5 but 8.c3 b5 9.a4! is very good for White. Black has to watch out for Nxb5 and Qf3 ideas. ] 8.e6! Of course. At the cost of a pawn Black's light squares are chronically exposed, he'll suffer to develop his f8 bishop and his king is vulnerable. f6 [ 8...fxe6 9.f4 is likely to transpose. ] 9.f4 [ Of course 9.exf7+ is possible but I was happy to keep offering the pawn to cause Black to suffer. ] 9...xd4 I think this may well be his critical mistake of the game as Black simply loses too much time and allows me complete control on the light squares. [ Therefore 9...xf1 should be played. Of course W hite has great compensation. I

wasn't yet sure how to recapture 10.xf1 ( 10.xf1 a6 11.e3 0-0-0 12.exf7 xd4 13.f3 is really messy.) 10...xd4 11.g3 fxe6 12.e2 e5 13.g6 g8 14.xc4 results in another messy position. Black has an extra couple of pawns but e5 will probably drop and Black still has some problems to complete his development. ] 10.xd3 [ 10.xd3 cxd3 11.exf7+ xf7 12.b3+ d5 13.xd3 d7 14.xb7 d8 15.h3 favours White but I didn't want to allow him to develop. ] 10...cxd3 11.h3! This was my favourite move of the game. It looks like a beginner's move, developing the rook via h3, but this picks up the d3 pawn while preventing any counterplay Black could whip up with ....Nf6g4. fxe6 12.xd3 b6 [ 12...xh4?! would give Black an extra t h r e e p a wn s b u t a f t e r 13.d8+! f7 ( 13...xd8 14.f3+ ) 14.b3 b6 15.f3 h5 16.f4 Black can hardly move and is dropping material. ] [ Possibly 12...e5+ was best but 13.e3 d5 14.d3 xg2 15.b3 bd7 16.xb7 b8 17.xa7 would only leave White with a one pawn deficit while Black still has grave problems with his kingside. ] 13.c4 c7 14.g3 A curious position. Black has an extra couple of moves and, should he have time to get his king to safety he'd be standing well but I found an idea. bd7 [ 14...e5 15.h3 e6 is probably Black's best, offering one pawn back to try and get that f8 bishop into the game. 16.e3 ( 16.f4!? ) 16...bd7 17.xe6 b4+ 18.f1 c5 19.xc5 xc5 20.f3 and White has a great initiative for the pawn. e4 can be met by 21.d7! ] 15.f4 e5 16.h3! I was pleased with this idea exf4? And this loses. [ Again 16...e6 was necessary. 17.xe6 c5 18.xe5 xd3+ 19.xd3 should win the exchange but White's attack will surely prove decisive. ] 17.xd7! [ 17.xd7+ is surely good enough to but I didn't want to allow him to limp on with f7 ] 17...b8 [ 17...xd7 18.h5+ d8 19.0-0-0 1372

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a n d W h it e win s b a c k t h e m a t e ria l wit h interest. ] [ 17...xd7 18.xd7+ xd7 19.h5+ d8 20.e5 xe5 21.0-0-0+ also wins immediately. ] 18.d3 xd7 19.xd7+ f7 20.f5+ e8 21.0-0-0 And with forced mate in two Black resigned. A game I was very happy with and made me want to play chess again! 1-0

1295 Kaminski,Marcin Timoscenko,Gennadij (ol) Yerevan [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2525 2530 1996

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 5.b5 e6 6.e3 This natural move is one of White's main weapons. [ W h i t e h a s a l s o t r i e d 6.b4?! White succeeded in the first few games but Black quickly find a good way: A) 6...h4?! which was played in Minasian-Khenkin, Minsk 1990 is quite dubious: 7.c3 e4+ 8.e2 xg2 9.g3 (threatening 10.Bf1 trapping the Queen) h3 10.g5! f5 11.f3 (Bf1 is threatening again) g2 12.d2! ( 12.f1 b2 ) 12...h6 13.e3! with a huge edge for White due to the ugly position of Black's queen. ( Hasty 13.f1 is not good: xh1 14.xh1 hxg5 is OK for Black. ); B) 6...d7! 7.xc6 xc6 8.f3 a5! Now White can't hold his extra pawn. 9.c3 axb4 10.cxb4 b6 11.0-0 bxc5 12.bxc5 xc5 13.d4 e7 14.e3 xd4 15.xd4 0-0 and Black has a very co m f ort a ble po sit io n , B o rge -Han se n , Espergarde 1992. ] 6...ge7 7.c3 The only attempt to fight for an opening advantage. [ 7.f3 is harmless: f5! 8.d4 ( 8.b4 which was played in Svidler-Khalifman, St. Petersburg 1996 didn't yield W hite any advantage: d7 9.xc6 xc6 10.c3 a5 11.0-0 axb4 12.cxb4 b6 13.d4 xd4 14.xd4 bxc5 15.bxc5 a4 16.d2 e7 17.e3 and here draw was agreed as Black has ample compensation for the pawn, for

example: a5 18.c3 c4 ) 8...fxd4 9.xd4 Blatny-Hansen, Baguio City 1987, a n d n o w t h e sim p l e a5+! ( instead of 9...a5 10.c3 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.xc6 bxc6 13.b4 with a healthy extra pawn for White. ) 10.c3 xb5! 11.xb5 xd4 12.bxd4 ( 12.fxd4 xc5 13.c7+? d7 14.xa8 xd4 is bad for White as the K n i g h t o n a 8 i s t r a p p e d .) 12...xc5 secured Black good chances. ] 7...d7 (threatening 8...Nxe5) 8.xc6 [ In Xie Jun-Lalic, Erevan 1996 White ignored the above mentioned threat and played 8.f3 xe5 9.xe5 xb5 10.a3 but after d7 11.b3 c6! 12.xd7 xd7 Black had everything in order. The game c o n t i n u e d : 13.0-0-0?! A very dubious decision. ( 13.0-0 was more safe.) 13...e7 14.h4 0-0 15.h5 b6 16.h6 g6 17.cxb6 axb6 18.c2 c5 19.c4 d4 20.b1 e5! and Black was clearly better. ] 8...xc6 9.f3 [ The immediate 9.d4?! is weaker since after xd4 10.cxd4 b6 11.cxb6 ( 11.b4? a5 is just bad for W hite.) 11...xb6 in comparison with the game KaminskiT im o sh c h e n ko B la ck ju st h a s a n e xt r a tempo. Now Black's initiative progresses without hindrance. 12.b3 ( 12.d2 b8 13.b3 b4 14.c3 c8 15.ge2 a5 16.c1 b5 and White can't avoid gross material losses.) 12...b4+ 13.f1 c8 and White's position is truly miserable: 14.f4 ( 14.f3? fails to the nice b5+ 15.g1 e2! trapping the Queen.) 14...0-0 15.f3 f6 16.a3 c3 17.a2 fxe5 18.fxe5 f4!? ( The simple 18...xd4 was not bad either.) 19.xc3 xc3 20.d2 ( 20.b4 is bad as well: b5+ 21.e1 e3+ 22.f2 exf3+ 23.gxf3 xd4 and Black wins.) 20...xb3 21.b2 b5+ 22.f2 cxf3+ and White resigned, Vajda-Svetushkin, Bucharest 1998. ] [ 9.f4 will be considered in the next game. ] 9...c7 10.d4 White has firml y protected his extra pawn and that's why for decades this position was thought to be insufficient for Black. But matters are not so clear as this game proves. [ In Krakops-Khalifman, Ubeda 1997 White preferred to give up the extra pawn: 10.0-0 1373

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 but this move didn't yield him even equality: xe5 11.xe5 xe5 12.d4 f5 ( The sharp and more ambitious c o n t i n u a t i o n 12...c7 13.g4 xc5! 14.xc5 xc5 15.xg7 0-0-0 was worthy of consideration.) 13.e2 f6! 14.a3 e7 15.f4 0-0 and Black's chances are already slightly better, for example he can prepare .. . e6-e5 at the right moment (...Ra8-e8, ... Be7d8-c7 etc.) while White has run of ideas. ] 10...xd4 11.cxd4 b6! 12.cxb6 xb6 13.b3 a6! The critical position. Obviously Bla ck has treme ndo us com pen sat ion f o r sa c rif ic e d pa wn : h e h a s a stro n g pa ir o f b is h o p s , o p e n f ile s o n t h e Q -sid e a n d a considera ble development ad vantage a s White needs many tempi to evacuate his king from the centre of the board. 14.c3 e7 15.c2 b8! [ 15...0-0 is less precise as it allows 16.e2 intending K-side castling. ] 16.b1 b4! Preventing 17 Qe2 again. 17.a3 a4 18.c1 The only move since [ 18.b3?! is insufficient in view of xc3+ 19.xc3 0-0 intending 20...Rfc8 with an overwhelming advantage for Black. ] 18...xc3+ 19.bxc3 0-0 Now has become clear that the outcome of the opening fight is unfavourable for W hite. At the cost of only one pawn Black has obtained a very strong attack since W hite can't evacuate his King from the centre of the board. 20.d2 c4 21.b4 xb4 22.cxb4 After this move Black's initiative grows rapidly, but the other recapture: [ 22.axb4 is hardly a big improvement in view of a2+ 23.e3 c8 24.e1 c2! 25.a1 c4 and Black's attack is very strong as well. ] 22...a2+ 23.e3 f6! By opening the f-file Bla ck la un che s the d irect a tta ck against W hite's "centralised" King. 24.exf6 xf6 25.c8+ f8 26.c3 [ 26.xe6+ h8 is also very bad for White. ] 26...e5! The decisive breakthrough in the centre of the board. 27.dxe5 [ O f c o u r s e W h i t e c a n ' t p l a y 27.xe5? in view of xf2+ ] 27...d4+! 28.xd4 b5! 29.e1 [ 29.d2 b3+ ]

29...b3+ 30.d2 a2+ 31.e3 xa3+ 32.d2 a2+ 33.e3 b3+ 34.d2 a2+ 35.e3 b3+ 36.d2 c8! The decisive move. Now White can't parry the threat of 37... Rc2 by normal means so he tries his last chance. 37.c1!? a2+ 38.e3 xc1! 39.d8+ f7 40.e6+! An interesting try but Black h a s calcu lat e d t he va ria tio ns ve ry precisely. xe6+! [ 40...g6?? 41.g5# ] [ 40...xe6?? 41.g8+ ] 41.d2 (threatening 42.Ng5) c8! 42.g5+ [ 42.d5+ wouldn't help White either in view of f8 43.xb5 c3+ 44.e2 c4+ and after the queen swap the endgame is hopeless for White. ] 42...g6 43.d6+ h5 The rest is easy. 44.g4+ xg4 45.xc1 xg5+ 46.f4 g1+ 47.b2 xh2+ 48.a3 g3+ White resigned. A very instructive game for an understanding Black's resources in this line. 0-1

1296 Kamsky,Gata Ragger,Markus Aeroflot Open A (8) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2730 2615 15.02.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 d7 6.e2!? Kamsky is known for going his own way early on and already the American tries a very rare try which I predict will now become much more popular. [ 6.f3 is much more common and seen again in the following game in depth. A recent game of Kamsky's with the other colour continued: e7 7.e2 h6 ( 7...g6; and 7...c8 are both covered in Polgar-JIordachescu, V Aix-les-Bains 2011 next. ) A) 8.0-0 h7 has been covered twice on ChessPublishing previously ( I'm guessing K a m sky wa s i n t e n d i n g t o p la y 8...g5!? as another f amous practitioner of the White side essayed recently. 9.d2 a5 10.a4 g7 11.e1 This knight sortie doesn't make so much sense to me as once the knight arrives at d3 ... c6-c5 comes with added power. 0-0 12.d3 b6 13.c3 c5! 14.e1 Zaw Win Lay (2382)1374

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Short, N (2676) Pattaya 2011 when c4 15.c1 f6 16.f4 gxf4 17.exf6 xf6 18.xf4 g6 leaves Black with the i n i t i a t i v e .) 9.d2 Lastin, A (2622) Timman JH (2565) Baku 2008 [John Watson] ( and 9.c3 Zhigalko, S (2540) Mchedlishvili, M (2609) Dresden 2007 [John Watson] ); B) 8.c3 A slightly odd move order as the young American refuses to castle. h7 9.h4 a6 Preparing ...c5. 10.f4 c8 11.h5 c5 12.xc5 xc5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.d4 c8 15.a4+?! Very negative play. White's advantage in these positions is his extra space which he can use to try and drum up an attack. Therefore swapping off queens is highly illogical. Evidently White was hoping to get nearer to a draw. d7 16.xd7+ xd7 17.d2 c6 18.xc6 xc6 19.e3 e7 20.d3 xd3 21.xd3 hc8 22.h3 e8 23.d4 b5 24.a3 a5 25.g3 f8 26.f4 c5 27.xc5+ xc5 and Black ground out the victory. Naroditsky, D (2438)Kamsky, G (2733) Saint Louis 2011 ] 6...f6 Attempting to exploit the fact White's knight isn't controlling e5. [ 6...a6 was played in the only other game I could find that reached this position. 7.g3 g6 8.e2 c5 9.c3 c8 10.h5 I'm not sure about this move. ( 10.dxc5!? is the most energetic when xe5 11.f4 d7 12.c6! xc6 13.d4 c8 14.f5 gives W hite good compensation for the pawn.; 10.h4!?; and 10.0-0 are also fine of course. ) 10...e7 11.0-0 xh5 12.xh5 g6?! This simply provokes White to break wit h f 2 -f 4 -f 5 . 13.f4! e7 14.f5 exf5 15.xf5 0-0 16.h6! and White's attack swiftly crashed through. Kominek, APerschke, L Poland 1996. ] [ 6...c5?! would be premature 7.dxc5 A) 7...xe5 8.ed4 and the threats of Bb5+ and Nxf5 gives White a clear edge. g6 ( 8...a6 9.xf5 exf5 10.e2 e7 11.f4 c6 12.0-0-0 ) 9.b5+ d7 10.0-0 gf6 11.e2 c7 12.xe6! with a dangerous initiative.; B) 7...xc5 8.ed4 is again very pleasant for White.; C) 7...xc5 ]

[ Playing as in the mainlines with 6...e7 is of course perfectly logical and I expect to see some encounters in this position presently. Perhaps W hite might continue with something like 7.e3 g6 8.f4 ] 7.g3 g6 [ 7...fxe5 doesn't win material: 8.dxe5 xe5 9.e2 f6 10.xf5 xf5 11.f4 c4 12.d4 f6 13.xe6+ and White regains the pawn with an edge. ] 8.f4 h6 9.d3 xd3 Ragger chooses to close the kingside but White now has a small and safe edge with his space advantage. [ 9...fxe5 would be a more ambitious choice. 10.fxe5 ( 10.dxe5!? b6 11.xg6+ hxg6 12.e2 is very messy.) 10...h4 11.xh6 xh6 12.xg6+ hxg6 ( 12...xg6 13.0-0 feels a little better for White.) 13.g4 0-0-0! when 14.xe6 is rather asking for it but could be playable. e3+ 15.d1 h4! ( 15...f2 16.g4 xg2 17.e2 and I'd prefer White. His king doesn't look t o o vu ln e r a b le wh il e h e h a s t h e b e t t e r s t r u c t u r e .) 16.xg6 xd4+ 17.xd4 xd4+ 18.c1 xe5 and Black has a strong initiative for the exchange. ] 10.xd3 f5 11.d2 e7 12.a5 c8 13.b4 With the centre closed Kamsky aims to take control over the queenside, in particular preventing Black's typical ...c6-c5 break. I believe Black's position is still ok but White's space edge gives him the easier game. [ 13.c4!? either here or on the previous few moves was the alternative break but Kamsky wants to keep everything under control. ] 13...f7 Around here the Austrian starts to err. It's true that the king defends e6 here but it prevents the knight jumping back into the game via ...f7 and so 13...0-0 was probably a little more accurate. [ In fact I believe he should have started with 13...b6 to prevent the next note when 14.b3 f7!? would transpose to 14...b6! ( 14...c5 is critical when crazy complications result following 15.c4! b5!? but White has very good compensation for the piece after 16.cxd5 c4 17.f3 cxb3 18.c1! d8 19.h5+ f8 20.dxe6 )] 14.b3 [ 14.c4!? would oblige Ragger to exchange on c4 as b6 ( 14...dxc4 15.xc4 b6 1375

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.c1 d7 looks respectable.) 15.cxd5! is strong. ] 14...b6 Eyeing the c4 square but condemning himself to a passive position for the rest of the game. [ 14...b6! preparing the ...c6-c5 break was more energetic when Black should be able to keep equality although perhaps 15.c4 a6! 16.c1 is still a little more pleasant for White. ] 15.f1 c4 16.e3 b5?! After this White can generate play down the a file while Black lacks any useful plan. [ I believe he should still have played for the ...c6-c5 break with 16...xe3 17.xe3 b6 although the lack of the knights helps White as it will still take Black some time before he can break with ...c6-c5. Meanwhile White can try various plans, a4-a5, playing for c2c4 or even expanding on the kingside with g2-g4. ] 17.0-0 f8 18.c5 xc5 White's position keeps improving. [ 18...a5 looks better but there are some concrete problems with Black's position. 19.xc4!? l o o k s c r i t i c a l ( 19.a3 xc5 is a m u c h b e t t e r ve rsio n o f t h e ga m e .) 19...dxc4 ( 19...bxc4 20.e2 axb4 21.xb4 favours White as he can try to utilise his passed pawn.) 20.f3 d8 ( 20...xc5 21.dxc5 ) 21.xe6! xe6 22.xc6+ f7 23.d5 and White has a great initiative for the piece. ] 19.bxc5 e7 20.a4! hb8 Trying to keep everything under control. [ 20...b2?! wins a pawn but allows White a strong attack once you've seen W hite's 22nd. 21.e2 xa4 22.c4! ab8 ( 22...a6 23.cxd5 cxd5 24.h5+ leaves White with ve ry g o o d c o m p e n sa t i o n .; 22...dxc4 23.h5+ g8 24.xc4 ) 23.cxb5 cxb5 24.fb1 e8 25.h5+ e7 26.g5+ f7 27.c6! is very good for W hite as xc6? 28.h5+ e7 ( 28...f8 29.xa4! ) 29.b4+ d7 30.g5! and White infiltrates. ] [ 20...a6 is safer but White still has a nibble with 21.xc4 dxc4 22.f3 d7 23.h5+ e7 24.c3 ] 21.axb5 xe3 [ 21...cxb5 looked more logical but the

pressure down the a file really hurts. 22.a6 b7 23.fa1 g8 24.xc4 ( 24.a5!? ) 24...bxc4 25.a3 looks pretty miserable. ] 22.xe3 xb5 23.h3 In the following moves Kamsky craftily reroutes his pieces heaping more pressure on Black's position. Players are generally very bad at playing positions wi t h o u t a p la n wh e r e t h e y a r e f o r c e d t o remain passive and the young Austrian soon blunders. b7 24.a4 g8 25.h2 e7 26.fa1 b1 27.1a3 Of course keeping more pieces on the board is favourable for White. The pressure down the a file keeps the rook very pa ssive . e8 28.e2 f7? A blunder. Markus overlooks the back rank threats. [ 28...f8 was better but White can continue t o p r e s s w i t h 29.h5 h6 30.f3 with ideas of trebling on the a file or eventually breaking with c2-c4. Perhaps it's possible for Black to hold but he will have to suffer for the rest of the game. ] 29.h5+ g6 [ 29...g8 30.xa7! xa7 31.e8# was the big problem. ] 30.xh7 h8 This loses a further pawn but otherwise he was a pawn down and very passively placed. 31.xh8 xh8 32.xa7 g6 33.g3 e7 34.xb7 xb7 35.a2 Preventing Black from creating counterplay on the second rank. e8 36.f2 c8 37.e2 a7 38.b2 Exchanging rooks would make the win much harder to achieve but Kamsky's technique is perfect. d7 39.e1 c7 40.b3 d7 41.h4 e8 42.g4 1-0

1297 Karjakin,Sergey Eljanov,Pavel 39th Olympiad Men (8.1) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2747 2761 29.09.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 [ 7.c4 is White's other critical test and I'm sure I'll get round to looking at it. ] [ 7.0-0!? A c u r i o u s m o v e o r d e r . c6 ( 7...xb2 8.c4 is evidently the idea but I can't find any games with this having been 1376

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 played in practice.) 8.c3 ok now we've transposed back into a position usually reached by a 7.Nc3 move order. xb2 A) 9.e1 cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 b4 12.b1 xc3 ( I thought that 12...xc3 was probably more accurate as the rook looks better placed on b4 than b2. ) 13.xb4 xe1 14.xe1 b6 15.b5+ f8 16.xf5 exf5 "must have favoured White a little, his initiative is worth more than a pawn" Indeed after 17.d1 e7 18.c4 a6 19.a4 b5 20.cxb5 axb5 21.xb5! g5 22.b3 White's advantage had developed further although Black still held the draw. Mekhitarian, K (2499)-Turov, M (2624) Eforie Nord 2010; B) 9.b5 c4 10.c7+ d7 11.xa8 xc2 12.e1 b4 13.d2 ge7 ( I thought 13...c3! looked very good for Black. ) 14.xb4 ( 14.b6+ axb6 15.xb4 xb4 16.c1 e4 Kosteniuk, A (2524)-Paikidze, N (2376) Moscow 2010 saw Black in complete control and she successfully converted against her high rated opponent.) 14...xb4 ( 14...xb4 was looked at in the notes to Ni HuaIonov. ) 15.c1 g6 16.a3 a5 17.b2 a6 18.a4 xa8 19.a3 e8 20.a5 c8 Kosintseva, T (2573) -Paikidze, N (2376) Moscow 2010 and again I'd much prefer Black with a very solid position, two pawns for the exchange and a potentially dangerous passed pawn. ] 7...xb2 8.b1 [ 8.b5 c4 is the other critical line but Black seems to be holding up. ] 8...xb1+ 9.xb1 c4 10.xb7 c6 11.b5 As I stated before "Perhaps 11.Nb5 is the most worrying to deal with". Evidently Karjakin agrees. I recall this game was all over very quickly suggesting some hot preparation from the newly converted Russian. [ 11.d1 has also been tried a couple of times since my last update. Evidently the idea is to prevent 11...Bb4 from pinning the c3 knight. A) 11...ge7 12.h4 ( 12.d2!? is n't c om ple te ly ridicu lou s no w B la ck cannot play ...Bb4.) 12...0-0-0 13.b1 g6 14.g4 g8 15.f4 e7 16.xg6 hxg6 17.f3 b4 18.e2 a3 19.c3

ge7 20.h4 c7 21.c1 xc1 22.xc1 h7 and despite Black's unconvincing play he had equalised. Mekhitarian, K (2511)Van Delft, M (2364) Dieren 2010; B) 11...b8 12.xb8+ xb8 13.h4 g6 14.a4 e7 15.xg6 hxg6 16.d2 f5 17.g4 c6 18.c3 f6 19.xf5 exf5 20.f4 e7 21.h3 d7 22.b1 b8 and Black held without drama. Quesada Perez, Y (2582)-Khairullin, I (2617) Havana 2010. ] [ 11.d2 b4 was played in Eljanov's previous game in the archives. ] 11...d8 12.c7 b8 I thought this best. [ Alternatively 12...xc2 13.d6+ xd6 14.exd6 b8 15.0-0 ( 15.c1! might be a s t r o n g i d e a t h o u g h .) 15...b6 is very messy. ] 13.d6+ xd6 14.exd6 b1+ 15.d1 xc2 Up to this point we are following my notes from Inarkiev-Eljanov in which I said the position was rather unclear. 16.d2 xd1 17.xd1 The computer initially gives Black a clear advantage but then the evaluation starts to go up. The position is very complex. Black is a pawn up with a good structure. However most of his pieces are rather passively placed and it will take a while for him to get coordinated. Meanwhile the c7 rook and d6 pawn are threatening and Black has to take care. As we see in the game, another threat is simply to take the a7 pawn and then rush the a pawn down the board which isn't so easy to stop. The more I look at the more I like White and I think this was good preparation by Karjakin as it is so easy not to follow a line in which the computer (initially) likes the opponent. b6 [ 17...b2+ is the initial plan of the computer but looks very dangerous. 18.c3 xa2 A) 19.b1 also looks promising. a6 ( 19...a3+ 20.c2 a6 21.f4 b6 22.xa7 xb1 23.xb1 leaves Black with problems bringing his final pieces into t h e g a m e , e . g . : f6 24.e7+ f8 25.e5 h6 26.d2 g8 27.a5 h7 28.f3! and Black is totally tied up.) 20.b8 ( 20.f4!? ) 20...xd6 21.e5 is very similar to 19.Ne5; B) 19.e5 a3+ B1) 20.c2 a2+ 21.b1 ( 21.c3= ) 1377

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21...a6 and the White king gets in the way.; B2) 20.d2! B2a) 20...f6 21.b1! is very strong. b3 ( 21...fxe5 22.b8 b3 23.a8 h6 Black has to stop Bg5. 24.cc8+- ) 22.xb3 cxb3 23.d3 and the position is rather unpleasant for Black as he cannot develop his pieces properly: f7 24.d7+ f8 ( 24...d8? 25.xa7 e7 26.c5 ) 25.c3 d8 26.xb3 e7 27.b4 and the d7 pawn will decide.; B2b) 20...a6 21.b1 xd6 ( 21...b6 22.xb6 axb6 23.c8 f6 24.f7 xf7 25.xd8 is also very unpleasant as Black will be unable to get that rook out.) 22.b8 b6 23.a8 e7 24.axa7 ec6 ( 24...f5 25.c8 d6 26.xd8+ xd8 27.a8+ e7 28.xh8 f6 29.xh7!? fxe5 30.dxe5 e4+ 31.c2 b3 32.xg7+ and I imagine White's extra pawn should be decisive but here at lea st B la ck ha s co un ter cha nces.) 25.xc6 xc6 26.e7+ f8 27.ed7 c8 28.f4 and White continues to have an unpleasant bind on the position. ] 18.f4! f6 Black will have to play this move sooner or later. 19.e7+ f8 20.xa7 e4+ 21.c2 f6 And this seems necessary to take control over the e5 square. [ 21...xd6? 22.b1! wins material. ] 22.h4 Preventing ...g5 pushing that bishop away from the h2-b8 diagonal. xf2 [ 22...h6!? is an interesting idea but probably doesn't save Black. He renews the threat of ...g7-g5 but 23.h5 g8 trying to get that rook into the game. 24.b1 xb1 25.xb1 h7 26.a8 looks losing as Black will have to invest a piece for the d6 pawn. ] 23.b1 xb1 24.xb1 e4 25.a4 This position is completely lost as Black is unable to stop both a and d pawns. Meanwhile the rook on h8 is unable to compete in the game. g8 26.a5 c6 27.a6 [ 27.d7! is spotted by the computer, the idea being e7? can be met by 28.d8+ xd8 29.a8+ ] 27...b8 28.a7 c6 29.d7! Karjakin sees

it the second time. d8 30.c2 e7 31.a6 e5 32.c1 d6 33.a3+ c6 34.a8 A strong display of preparation by Karjakin who puts a big hole in Black's attempted pawn grab on b2. Currently I can't see any good improvements for Black so perhaps he will have to go back to 7...Nc6. 1-0

1298 Karjakin,Sergey Fridman,Daniel 40th GM Dortmund GER (5) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2779 2655 17.07.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 8.0-0 xb2 9.e1 cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 b4 12.db5 a5 13.b1 xc2 14.b3 e7 15.d6+ f8 16.xb7 b6 17.d6 [ 17.d1!? and earlier deviations are covered in the previous game, CaruanaPostny ] 17...a5 18.f3!? A new move which gives Black yet another headache in an already troublesome line. The W orld's elite may be happy to play this way but I can't imagine that many other players will be queuing up to play this position, especially as White can choose between complications and forcing a draw. d3 [ 18...h6 is an interesting waiting move. Essentially Black is saying that eventually h6 will turn out to be useful and he asks W h i t e w h a t h i s p l a n i s . . . 19.a1 seems sensible to get out of the pin and now ( 19.e3!? b6 20.f4 looks interesting but maybe Black can get away with g5! ) A) 19...b6 20.e2 ( 20.a4!? g8 21.xb6 axb6 22.c3 a4 23.h5 g6 24.c7 a7 25.d1 a5 26.xa7 xa7 27.e2 and the weaknesses in the Black kingside give W hite good long term compensation) 20...g8 21.d4 d2 22.6xf5 xf5 23.xf5 exf5 24.b5 and Black is under some pressure but is probably not far off equalising.; B) 19...g6 20.e2 ( 20.h4!? gaining space on the Kingside) 20...f5 ( 20...g8!? ) 21.c1 d2 22.xf5 xf5 1378

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.d4 g6 24.d1 g5 25.b2 b6 26.c6 and Black is still very passive, p ro b a b ly b e st i s g8 27.h4! xh4 28.b4 e4 ( 28...g5 29.g4 wins ) 29.xe4 dxe4 30.c2 and I prefer White's chances ] 19.c1 xc1 [ 19...g6?! lands Black in hot water after 20.a3! xf1 21.d1 d3 ( 21...xc3 22.xc3 xc3 23.xc3 c4 24.b3! and despite having two Rooks for the Queen Black is in trouble. The knight on d6 is an awesome piece and Black is badly discoordinated.) 22.xa5 and the threat of Qc7 gives White at least a clear advantage in all lines. ] 20.xc1 The Queens are off the board but Black still has some problems to solve g6?! A mistake which gives White a very pleasant edge - these positions are clearly very tricky to play over the board for Black. [ 20...f5 21.b7 leaves Black in struggling to move ] [ 20...g6! may be Black's best although White has a lot of options here, albeit none of them are clearly better for White. 21.b7 ( 21.h4!? may be a way to increase the pressure although after h5 Black appears to be solid enough to hold; 21.a4!? ) 21...d3 planning Ba6 seems to be holding for Black although I'm sure W hite can keep playing here with something like 22.a4 a6 23.b3 and Nc5 is coming ] 21.xd5! xe5 [ 21...exd5 is no better after 22.xd3 xe5 23.xd5 xf3+ 24.gxf3 d8 ( 24...b6 25.a4! is awkward for Black) 25.c8! and it seems likely that a7 will drop before Black manages to get organised although it's not clear of W hite is actually winning yet here. ] 22.f4 xf3+ 23.gxf3 g6?! [ 23...d2! Was probably a better way to defend and now 24.c7! ( 24.xd3 xc1 25.xc1 e7 26.e4 hd8 and Black shouldn't lose.) 24...xf4 25.xf7+ g8 26.xf4 g6 27.b7 h6 and although W hite must be better here Black has succeeded in simplifying things enough to make a draw the most likely result. ] 24.b7 b6

[ 24...a6 seems sensible but White does not have to capture on g6 straight away, instead 25.c6! keeps up the pressure ( 25.c8+! xc8 26.xc8 is also very strong, Black has nothing better than h5 27.xg6+ fxg6 28.d6 with a truly miserable position h6 29.f7 h7 30.g5 h6 31.xe6+ e8 32.xg7+ d8 33.e6+ c8 34.g7 and the ending looks winning for White )] 25.c8+! xc8 26.xc8 With more pieces off the board the absence of the Rook on h8 is even more telling. Black is probably just lost here. d4 27.b8 e5 28.a8 xf4 29.xa7+ e7 30.xh8 Black may have the two Bishops but the pawn on a2 is going to take some stopping. d7 31.b5 e5 32.a4 c6 33.c3 c2 [ 33...xc3?! 34.c8+ wins ] 34.a5 g6 35.e4 b5 36.a8 h6 37.g2 f5 38.d2 d6 39.a6 f4 40.c4 h5 [ The knight clearly can't be taken as after 40...xc4 41.a7 and the pawn will promote ] 41.a7 a6 42.a5! c7 43.c8 xa7 44.xc7+ b6 45.xg7 xa5 46.h7 A beautifully controlled game from Karjakin. 1-0

1299 Karjakin,Sergey Le Quang,Liem Sportaccord WMG Rapid rapid (1) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2763 2714 09.12.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.d2 bc6 9.2f3 g4 10.0-0 I commented this line in my previous updates, this time we will see a rare choice here: g6!? an interesting move that I only saw once before, it looks logical though. [ 10...xf3 11.xf3 f5 was played in Volokitin, A-Ruck, R/Budva 2009, see the PGN Archive. ] 11.h3 Previosly was played: [ 11.b5 f5 12.f4 xf3 13.xf3 a6 14.a3 g7 15.e1 0-0 0-1 (54) Jakoven ko, D (273 6)-B are ev, E (26 34 ) Moscow RUS 2009, Already it is obvious that something went wrong for White here. 1379

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black is much better. ] 11...xf3 12.xf3 g7 13.f4 c7 14.e1 0-0 15.f1 An interesting position - in my opinion chances are equal, W hite has the b is h o p p a ir b u t B la ck h a s a h a rm o n io u s development and no weaknesses. ac8 [ 15...d4 Is an ambitious move, the idea is ... Nd5 16.xd4 ad8 17.c3 ( 17.b5 xd1 18.xc7 xa1 19.xa1 a6 ) 17...f5 18.e4 d5 19.a4 fxd4 20.cxd4 b6 21.b3 fd8 22.xb6 axb6 23.e3 xd4 24.c4 5d7 This looks like an equal endgame. ] [ 15...c8 16.c3 b6 17.d3 d7 18.e2 a6 With unclear consequences. ] 16.c3 a5 17.d3 c4 18.e2 a6 I am not sure that this was the best method of p l a yi n g f o r B l a c k a s t h e k n i gh t o n e 7 i s somehow a spectator. White now executes a typical plan in such a position and Black can't actually do much about it. 19.h4! h6 20.ac1 b5 21.b1 b6 22.h5 As I said Black got into a bad position because he didn't find any good squares for his knights. d7 23.d2 h7 24.d4 White is much better and its not e a s y t o f in d go o d m o ve s f o r B la ck . c5 25.hxg6+ xg6 26.g3 e4 27.xe4 dxe4 28.xe4 Simply collecting a pawn for zero compensation. fd8 29.f4 c4 30.a3 d7 31.f2 e7 32.ce1 d3 33.h4 f5 34.xf5 exf5 35.d4 xd4 36.xd4 c2 37.d7 Its winning now. c4 38.e6 xf4 39.e7 g4 40.f2 f4 41.a7 e4 42.e8 xe8 43.xe8 1-0

1300 Karjakin,Sergey Mamedyarov,S Vugar Gashimov Mem 2014 (4.3) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2772 2760 23.04.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.c3 A very unusual move, aiming for much quieter and less theoretical position than in the mainline - although fireworks can still occur, as we shall see! [ 6.e3 is covered many times in the archives and again this month in the critical game Nakamura-Mamedyarov. Shakhriyar

clearly felt the opening was OK for him there and so is happy to repeat the opening the very next day! ] 6...c6 7.0-0 cxd4 8.xd4 [ 8.cxd4 ge7 is fine for Black, for example 9.h3 ( 9.c3 c8 10.e3 e7 is equal ) 9...c8! 10.g5 e7 11.xe7 8xe7 12.c3 0-0 13.d2 e4! and Black already had the easier game in Andriasian, Z (2612)-Ni Hua (2692) Ohrid 2009 ] 8...xd4 [ 8...ge7 9.xf5 xf5 10.d3! e7 ( or 10...g6 11.e2 c7 12.e1 g7 13.f4! 0-0 14.a3 and White has the easier game ) 11.e2 gives White a slight advantage - see Sjugirov-Cheparinov from 2009 in the archives. ] 9.cxd4 e7 10.c3 c6 [ 10...h6 is a sensible alternative if Black is seriously worried about g4 but it's possible W hite is a little better here af ter 11.b3 d7 12.e3 c6 13.fc1 e7 14.a4! 0-0 15.c5 xc5 16.xc5 b6 ( 16...ac8 17.ac1 is minimally worse for Black) 17.c3 a5 18.b4 ac8 19.b5 b7 20.ac1 and now Black felt he had to sacrifice a pawn with c4! 21.xc4 dxc4 22.xc4 e4 23.f3 d5 24.xc8 xc8 25.xc8+ xc8 26.a3 c2 27.d2 xd2 28.xd2 a5 29.f2 a4 30.g4 h7 and a draw was agreed in Adams, M (2722)Laznicka, V (2683) Istanbul 2012 ] 11.g4 g6 12.f4 f5 [ worse is 12...d7?! 13.f5! exf5 14.h4 fxg4 ( 14...h5 15.gxh5 h7 16.f3 is somewhat better for White although less clear. ) 15.xg4 d8?! 16.h5 h4 ( 16...e4 17.xe4 dxe4 18.b3! and White has a winning attack) 17.g2 e4+ 18.xe4 dxe4 and now 19.f4! wo uld've be e n winn ing in K oste n iu k, A (2489)-Soumya, S (2271) Istanbul 2012, e.g. ( 19.f4 was still good in the game but it gave Black a small chance) 19...d8 20.d5 xe5?! 21.a4+ e7 22.xe4 xd5 23.g5+ d6 24.d1 and Black is getting crushed ] 13.exf6 [ 13.d3 is worth investigating for White here as well but with accurate play Black sh o u ld e qu a l is e a f t e r c8 ( 13...b4! 1380

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 straight away also makes a lot of sense) 14.gxf5 xf5 15.xf5 exf5 16.e3 b4 17.e2 0-0 18.h1 d7 Black has equalised comfortably at this stage 19.a4 a5 20.g1 b6 21.c3 f7 22.g3 xd4?? ( 22...g6 is still equal) 23.xd4 c4 24.e6! oooops! Black clearly missed this intermezzo c7 25.xg7+ 1-0 Kosteniuk, A (2527)-Guseva, M (2371) Khanty-Mansiysk 2014 ] 13...xf6 14.f5! exf5 15.e3 A new idea but not one that radically changes the assessment of the line [ 15.xd5 xd4+ 16.e3 xd1 17.axd1 0-0-0! 18.gxf5 f7 seems to pretty much equalise for Black - for example 19.c4 ( or 19.f3 d6 20.f6 gxf6 21.xf6 xa2 22.a1 c4 23.fc1 df8! 24.xc4 xf6 25.xc6 bxc6 26.xc6+ b7 27.c3 b8 and a draw can safely be agreed) 19...d6 20.f6 gxf6 21.xf6 hf8 22.b3 g8 23.b6+ axb6 24.dxd6 xf6 25.xf6 xc4 26.bxc4 e5 and Black easily held the draw in Zhigalko, S (2660) -Gagunashvili, M (2592) Legnica 2013 ] 15...d6 Mamedyarov chooses the best line so perhaps he was still in preparation as well? [ 15...e6 may also be playable as well. A critical line s eems to b e 16.g5 e7 17.gxf5 xf5 18.xe7 xe7 19.a4+ d8 ( 19...c6?! 20.h5+ d7 21.ae1 and W hite has a big initiative) 20.ae1 and W hite has very dangerous play for a pawn ] 16.xd5 h4 17.f4 d8 18.xd6 [ 18.gxf5 g e t s n o w h e r e a g a i n s t f7! 19.xd6 xd6 20.c7+ d8 21.e6+ xe6 22.fxe6 xe6 and Black certainly isn't worse here ] 18...xd6 19.c7+ d8 20.b5 fxg4! [ 20...d7 21.d5 e5 22.gxf5 f7 23.d6 is still unclear but the pawn on d6 is potentially very strong ] 21.xd6 This allows a draw but White wasn't better in any case [ 21.b3 keeps the game alive but White has to be at least as careful as Black after e8! A) 22.ae1?! c2! 23.f7 ( 23.xc2?? h6 wins ) 23...d7 24.f4 h6 and Black is clearly better;

B) 22.f2 xd4 23.xd4 g3 24.hxg3 xd4 is equal ] 21...g3 22.hxg3 xg3+ 23.h1 h3+ 24.g1 g3+ 25.h1 h3+ 26.g1 g3+ A well played game by both players but the ball is in W hite's court in terms of demonstrating an edge in this line. 6.Be3 remains more critical ½-½

1301 Karjakin,Sergey Short,Nigel D Rapid Match Kiev UKR rapid (5) [John Watson]

B12 2727 2655 05.05.2008

The previous W orld Champion contender squares off with the new on in the Caro-Kann. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.f3 [ 4.c4 c6 5.f3 cxd4 6.xd4 is the other move order. For deviations, see the Archives games. ] 4...cxd4 5.xd4 e6 Solid. Other moves are shaky: [ 5...c6 6.c4 transposes to the last note. Then Black should avoid xe5?! ( 6...dxc4 7.xc6 xd1+ 8.xd1 bxc6 9.xc4 is co ve re d in t h e A rc h ive s : Mu zyc h u k Ushenina, SLO Team Ch 2007) 7.cxd5 f6 ( 7...xd5 8.c3 and Bb5+ ) 8.c3 a6 9.a4+ d7 10.b3 b5 11.f4 , etc. ] 6.c4 see the other Karajakin-Short game for [ 6.d3 ] 6...c5 Perhaps a novelty. [ 6...c6 7.c3 ( 7.xc6 bxc6 8.d3 ( ' T h i s i s a p a w n s a c r i f i c e , wh e t h e r b y accident or design.' - David Vigorito in this column) dxc4 9.xc4 a5+ 10.c3 xe5+ 11.e3 c5 12.a4 e7 13.a5 d4 14.xe5 xe5 15.0-0-0 d5 and Black had the better of it in G JonesSpeelman, Wokefield Park 2008 - see the Archives. ) 7...b4 is Houska's solution, to which I gave the suggestion (with analysis) 8.xc6 bxc6 9.a4 xc3+ 10.bxc3 in the Muzychuk-Ushenina game mentioned above ] 7.c3 e7 8.e3 xd4!? [ 8...0-0? blunders a pawn to 9.xe6 fxe6 ( 9...xe6? 10.xc5 wins the d-pawn as 1381

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 well! ) 10.xc5 ] [ 8...b6 9.d2 (with the idea Na4) d7 is possible, and perhaps best, at least to keep the play complex. ] 9.xd4 0-0 10.cxd5 exd5 11.b5 [ 11.e2 bc6 12.0-0 xd4 13.xd4 e6 and ...Nc6 minimizes Black's disadvantage. ] 11...d7 [ The difference between Be2 and Bb5 can b e s e e n a f t e r 11...bc6 12.0-0 xd4 13.xd4 e6 14.ad1 ( 14.fe1 may be more accurate ) A) 14...a6 15.a4 ( 15.d3 c6 16.f4 has ideas of attacking on the kingside and at some point f4-f5, but Black has counterplay) 15...b5 16.b3 with the idea c6 17.c5 xe5 18.xd5 and White is obviously better.; B) 14...c6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.a4 ( 16.f4!? )] 12.e2!? This allows Black to achieve equality, or very close to it. [ 12.0-0 bc6 ( 12...xb5 13.xb5 bc6 14.d6 d7 15.f4 ) 13.xc6 bxc6 14.c5 leaves White with some advantage. ] 12...bc6 13.0-0 e6 14.b5 a6 [ 14...xd4 15.xd4 b6 is a simpler course. ] 15.d6 xd4 16.xd4 c6 17.e3 d4 18.g3 f6! 19.exf6? [ 19.f4 fxe5 20.fxe5 xf1+ 21.xf1 a5 hit s t h e e 5 p a wn, a lt h ou gh t h is is ve ry complicated. ] 19...xf6 20.h5 Presumably versus ... Rg6. Black must have equality if White has to play this way. h6?! [ 20...f8! threatens double attack by ...Rh6 and exposes the weakness of the knight on d6. Then W hite should try 21.e4 h6 22.g4 d5 , although Black is still very active and has the advantage. ] 21.fe1 d7 22.xe6! xe6 23.f7+ h8 24.xe6 xe6 25.xb7 e7!? [ 25...e2! will pick up the b-pawn, since 26.b3 d3 is risky. ] 26.d6 d8 27.c4 d3 28.e3 b4 [ 28...xe3 is also possible, but White can play 29.xe3 ( or 29.fxe3 ) 29...g6 30.f1 and Black hasn't much for a pawn. ] 29.b3 h6 30.h3 a5?! This turns out poorly, but the position is already bad for Black.

31.d1 c3 32.b6 f6 33.xa5 xa5 34.xa5 d4 35.d2 e8 36.h2 d6+ 37.f4 d8 38.a4 d4 39.a5 d5 40.b4 b5 41.c3 a6 42.d2 b5 43.a1 d6 44.c1 d7 45.c3 b5 46.c5 e8 47.b5 f8 48.c3 f5 49.b6 b5 50.a3 d8 51.a1 h5 52.a2 h4 53.b2 a6 54.e1 g8 55.xh4 d7 56.e1 f7 57.d2 e7 58.b3 d7 59.b7 1-0

1302 Karjakin,Sergey Short,Nigel D Rapid Match Kiev UKR rapid (1) [John Watson]

B12 2727 2655 03.05.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.f3 A modern favourite, often played in conjunction with the move c4. cxd4 5.xd4 e6 6.d3 In their 5th game Karajakin would switch to 6 c4. c6 7.xc6 bxc6 8.0-0 This looks very much like a Sicilian Taimanov with the early f re e in g m o ve , e xce p t wi t h W h i t e h a v in g committed to e5 and Black not having had the opportunity for ...Nf6. e7 9.c4 This doesn't lead to much. [ 9.d2 g6 10.f3 is another reasonable way to set up. ] [ And 9.e3 g6 10.h5 c7 11.f4 ] [ or even 9.h5 are worthy of consideration. ] 9...g6 [ 9...f5 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.c3 threatens Bxf5, and there's no ideal way to respond. ] 10.e2 e7!? [ 10...c5 would be more active. Black might even be able to challenge the centre directly, e.g., 11.h1!? 0-0 12.f4 f6! ] 11.f4 0-0 12.d2 a5 [ Alternatively, Black could develop quickly by 12...b6+ 13.h1 a6 14.f3 ] 13.f3 a6!? 14.e3 a4 Grabbing some space, but it's not clear what Black's overall plan is. 15.ac1 b8 16.c2 d8 This threatens to free Black's position with ... c5. For some reason, White fails to respond. 17.fc1?! [ 17.cxd5! xd3 18.xd3 cxd5 ( 18...xd5 19.e4 c5 20.d2! leaves Black with his 1382

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 weak c-pawn and bad bishop) 19.d4! gives White an obvious superiority on the queenside. ( 19.fc1 is also good )] 17...c5! 18.h4! A nice counterattack based upon the weakness of c5. [ 18.cxd5?! xd3 19.xd3 exd5 gives Black potentially mobile centre pawns, because 20.xc5 xc5+ 21.xc5 xf4 ( 21...xb2 is safely equal) 22.d2 e6 23.5c2 b6+ 24.h1 ab8 should favours Black, if only because of his beautifully-placed knight. ] 18...f8 [ 18...d4 19.d2 xh4 20.f5!? is unclear after exf5 21.xh4 xh4 22.g5 g6 23.xd8 f4 24.f3 xd3 25.xd3 xd8 26.xf5 e7 with a pawn for the exchange and a superior structure. ] [ But not 18...xh4?? 19.xh4 xh4 20.h5 ] 19.cxd5 xd3 20.xd3 xd5!? [ 20...exd5 21.xc5 xc5+ 22.xc5 xb2 23.5c2 b6+ 24.h2 isn't clear, because Black's knight can't go to e6 without getting hit by f5. ] 21.e4 d7?! [ More active and better is 21...b5 22.h5 ad8 ] 22.h5 [ 22.g5! f8 23.f3 has the idea Ne4. ] 22...a7 [ 22...b5 ] 23.d2! a6 24.f3 f6 Black needs to do something, although this is clearly weakening. 25.exf6 xf6 26.h6!? gxh6 27.xc5?! [ 27.c4 looks better, when White owns the key central squares, and at some point Ne5 might be strong. ] 27...xc5+ 28.xc5 xc5?! [ 28...b6! 29.e3!? ( 29.f2 xb2 30.c8+ f7 ) 29...xc5 30.xc5 ( 30.xc5 h5! is a computer suggestion) 30...d5 31.c8+ g7 32.xb6 xb6 33.c4 and g3 gives White a position edge, but it's not the end of the world. ] 29.xc5 b6 30.f2! g4 [ 30...xb2 31.g3+ f8 32.c8+ e8 33.c4! has the idea Qa3+, among others. Suddenly Black's position is too airy. ] 31.d4 d6 32.c8+ f7 33.h8?! [ 33.c3! ]

33...f6 34.f3? Now everything gets out of control. Presumably the opponents are in time trouble (it's a Rapid game!). Better simply g6? [ 34...xf4 and there are no mates, so the computer's 35.f8+ g6 36.c4! e3+ 37.h2 a7 is the best Black can do. ] 35.f8? [ 35.e5+! f5 36.g4+! ( or 36.f8 ) 36...e4 37.c4+ , etc. ] 35...xf4! 36.g8+ There's nothing better. h5?? So close and yet so far. Time trouble, obviously. Instead, [ 36...xg8 37.xg8+ h5 ( or 37...f5 38.f7+ g4 39.g8+ ) 38.e8+ g4 39.g8+ draws. ] 37.xf6! A horrible finish for Black. [ 37.xf6 xf6 38.g4# , and otherwise Black is a piece down with mate to follow shortly. This is a fascinating, hard-fought game but we need more time on the clock for a match like this to be satisfying. ] 1-0

1303 Karjakin,Sergey So,Wesley FIDE World Cup 2011 (2.4) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2788 2658 02.09.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 I decided to a make a small survey inside this main game as there are some interesting theoretical points, I simply wanted to avoid analysing the whole game, and instead point out the main issues. c5 [ 5...d7 6.0-0 e7 7.bd2 g6 8.b3 f5 9.d2 I must stress that this is a key move here and I think Black has problems in this line unless Solak's idea revives it, but it is a bit too early to say. e7 ( I will add an interesting additional game here connected with this line. 9...c8 10.c3 e7 11.g4 h6 12.e1! f6 13.exf6 xf6 14.f4 h4 15.g2 e7 16.e1 0-0 17.f1 e4 18.xe4! dxe4 19.c4 d6 20.xe6+ h8 21.g5 f5 22.g4 g6 23.e1 W hite has tremendous compensation for the sacrificed exchange. c5 24.d5 c4 25.d4 c5 26.e3 b6 27.exf5 gxf5 1383

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28.xf5 c7 29.xe4 White is better, Almasi, Z -Anastasian, A /Plovdiv 2008) 10.g4 h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 f5 13.exf6 A) 13...xf6!? Novelty 14.g5 f7 15.a5 b6 ( 15...b8 16.b4 ) 16.d3 And now Black has two paths: A1) Interesting was: 16...h5 17.xb7! c8 18.e2 xe2 19.xe2 xb7 20.h5+ g6 21.xh4 d6 22.h3 f5 23.ae1 ( Or: 23.a3 f7 24.ae1 ab8 25.b3 h6 26.f2 Again we have a position that is not easy to evaluate, especially from a practical point of view.) 23...0-0 I am really not sure if Black is worse here or not, despite being a pawn down his compensation is obvious.; A2) 16...f5 17.xf5 exf5 18.e1 ( 18.xb7 xb7 19.h5+ g6 20.xh4 0-0 21.ae1 c4 22.c3 d6 23.e5 e4 Black has obvious compensation; 18.e2+ d8 19.e1 xe1 20.axe1 c8 21.e5 c7 22.c4 d7 23.a3 f8 W h i t e i s m u c h b e t t e r . 24.c5 ) 18...xe1 19.xe1+ d8 20.e5 c8 21.ae1 c7 22.e3 ( 22.c4! after this Black doesn't have an easy task to defend.) 22...b6 23.xc6+ xc6 24.xg7 e8 25.xe8+ xe8 26.b7 e3+ 27.g2 ( 27.f2! xd4 28.h3 e4 29.xa8 White keeps the better chances. ) 27...e2+ 28.f2 e4+ 29.f1 h1+ 30.e2 e4+ 31.d1 xd4+ 32.e1 e4+ 33.e2 h1+ 34.d2 f3 35.c3 xf4+ 36.c2 b8 37.xd5+ c7 38.f7+ c6 39.e8+ b7 40.d7+ c7 41.xf5 d6 42.d5+ a6 43.d3+ c4 44.xc4+ xc4 45.e7 d8 46.b3 d2+ 47.c1 xa2 48.bxc4 xh2 1/2-1/2 Bartel, M Solak, D /Kavala 2011; B) 13...xf6 14.g5 e7 15.g4 In my previous surveys I said that this is a key problem for Black here, and it remains so. f8 I don't know if Turov specifically targeted this position or it was just desperate measures in a practical game b u t a f t e r . . . 16.e2 d7 17.ae1?! ( 17.f5! 1. e4 players should usually not miss such obvious moves! exf5 18.c5

d8 19.xf5 xf5 20.xf5 Black's position is hopeless.) 17...0-0-0 18.xe6 xe6 19.xe6 e4! Suddenly it is Black who is playing 20.xd7+ xd7 21.c3 de8 22.e3 d6 23.d2 f5 24.f3 e4 25.g2 he8 26.d2 xe1 27.xe1 xe1 28.xe1 b1 29.a3 e6 30.f3 f5 31.h3 b6 32.c1 c5 In Huschenbeth, N Turov, M /Haarlem 2011 White managed to lose this endgame which comes as no surprise in a practical game, the bishop pair and the passive white pieces are of big importance here. ] 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.d2 bc6 9.2f3 e4 10.0-0 xf3 In one of my previous surveys I analysed 10...Ng6. 11.xf3 g6 Obviously White abandons the idea of defending the e5-pawn and concentrates on opening the position for his bishops. 12.c4 dxc4 13.xc4 c7 14.b3 This move is connected with a sharp idea that we will see in a few moves. Previously White played more conservatively: [ 14.b5 e7 15.a4 0-0 16.xc6 bxc6 17.e4 ab8 18.d4 fd8 19.c3 d5! This square is crucial and secures good play for Black. 20.h4 h6 21.ae1 bd8 22.h5 f8 23.h2 c5 ( 23...d7 24.g4 c5 25.f3 g5 Black managed to regroup in a good way. ) 24.c1 b6 25.g4 e7 ( 25...h7 Also this was more cautious.) 26.f6+!? gxf6 27.g4+ g6 28.exf6 ( 28.hxg6 f5 29.gxf7+ xf7 30.h5+ g7 Black is not worse.) 28...c5 29.e5 d4 30.xd4 xd4 31.f3 h4 32.xc6 xh5 33.c3 g4 34.g3 g6 35.h2 xf6 36.gxh4 f4+ 37.g3 xg3 0-1 Navara, D Laznicka, V/Novy Bor 2011 ] 14...e7 15.ac1 0-0 16.d3 Of course returning to the h1-a8 diagonal is an important issue here. fd8N [ Important is: 16...b8 A) Probably the key move here is: 17.g3 A1) 17...d8 18.e4 ( Interesting was: 18.fd1 gxe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.e4 xd1+ 21.xd1 f6 22.b4 g6 23.b5 Obviously W hite 's b ish op p air more than compensates the loss of a pawn.) 18...gxe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.xb7 xe4 21.xc6 xc6 22.xc6 a5 1384

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.fc1 f8 24.f1 e8 25.e2 a4 And Black is very close to making a draw, which he eventually did. 26.b6 db8 27.xb8+ xb8 28.d4 f6 29.c4 e5 30.c3 a3 31.b3 d7 32.d3 e6 33.f3 f5 34.a4 d8+ 35.c2 c8 36.d3 d8+ 37.c2 c8 38.d3 d8+ 39.c2 1/2-1/2 Motylev, A Drozdovskij, Y / Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2011; A2) 17...gxe5!? 18.xe5 xe5 19.e4 c6 20.fd1 c7 21.a4 h6 22.a5 a6 23.b6 e5 24.xb7 xe4 25.xc6 f5 26.b6 White has some small chances to play on.; B) 17.fd1 Not a precise move order. gxe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.h3 xd3 20.xd3 d8 21.xd8+ xd8 22.b5 c7 23.d7 h2+ 24.f1 d6 25.a4 h6 26.c4 White's compensation is obvious but his chances to win this are rather small, Navara, D (2722)-Laznicka, V (2681)/Novy Bor 2011. ] 17.fd1 f8 [ 17...b8 Now after 18.g3 the position transposes to a game in the previous note. ] 18.g3 d7 19.e4 xd1+ 20.xd1 c8 21.g2 What I find remarkable in this line is that the white pawn is simply doomed on e5 but still White has strong pressure that is not easy to shake off, such positions you don't see often in openings. Some similarities are t h e B e n k o o r C a t a l a n . a5 22.a4 Now White's advantage increases. b6 23.d7 c4 24.xc4 xc4 25.d4 c5 26.xg6! hxg6 27.xc5 bxc5 28.b3 b6 29.xa7 White has got a technically winning position. c4 30.bxc4 xc4 31.a4 f6 32.exf6 gxf6 33.a5 e5 34.a6 a5 35.h4 c6 36.b7 g5 37.f5 f8 38.f7+ 1-0

1304 Karjakin,Sergey Tukhaev,Adam 5th Open Wroclaw POL (2.3) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2747 2550 18.10.2010

Again we see Karjakin destroying the 5...c5 line against the Short Variation. Reading his

annotations in New in Chess on his game against Eljanov, I saw he studied the positions with Alexander Motylev, Kasparov's former coach Yury Dokhoian and the two s t r o n g K o s i n t s e va s i s t e r s s o i t ' s h a r d l y su r p r i si n g h e ' s c o m e u p wi t h s o m e n e w important ideas. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 [ 6...cxd4 is Schandorff's recommendation and arguably the mainline. ] 7.c3 c6 [ 7...xb2 was examined in Karjakin-Eljanov last month which caused Black some problems. ] 8.0-0 xb2 9.e1 Alexander Finkel wrote a Survey on the 6.. .Qb 6 line in the Ne w in Chess Yearbook 96. He considered this line to be critical but failed to find an edge for White. However this was written bef ore Karjakin picked up a sledge hammer to Black's opening. [ I looked at 9.b5 in Ni Hua (2667)-Ionov, S (2548) Dagomys 2010 earlier this year which worked out well for Black. ] 9...cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 b4 12.db5!? And this is a novelty. [ I looked at 12.b1 last time which allows Black to hold without too much difficulty. xc3 13.xb2 xe1 14.xe1 b6 15.h4 A) Finkel also offers 15...h6 but 16.b5+ ( 16.a4 e7 17.a5 0-0 18.axb6 axb6 19.xb6 fc8= and it's slightly easier for Black but should just be level.) 16...f8 17.c6 ( 17.xf5! GJ exf5 18.c4! dxc4 19.xc4 d8 20.b3 e7 21.c2 looks rather awkward for Black.) 17...c8 18.xd5 e7 19.f3 and again Finkel states a slight edge but g5! 20.g4 h7 21.h5 g7 leaves Black with nothing to fear.; B) 15...h5 Motylev, A (2705)-Belov, V (2619) Dagomys 2010 when Finkel suggests 16.b5+!? f8 17.c6 c8 18.xd5 e7 19.f3 c5 20.g3 and he offers the suggestion of a slight edge but I'm not convinced Black should have any problems and indeed after g6 21.b5 c8 22.b7 g7 23.e2 e7 I'd prefer Black. ] 12...xc3 A sensible attempt considering that Black has been surprised in the opening but 1385

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 now White is left with an edge. [ Theory moves quickly these days and a la t e r g a m e ( p l a ye d j u s t 5 d a ys b e f o r e writing) continued: 12...a5 The position looks dangerous for Black but on the face of it Black is holding equality. A) I wonder if 13.a4!? is to be tried in future although it appears Black is ok: xe1 14.xb2 a5 15.c4 ( 15.d6+ e7 16.xf5+ exf5 17.ad1 d8 and W hite probably has enough for the pawn but no more than that.) 15...e7 16.d6+ d7 17.ad1 c2 18.c1 g6 19.d3 xd3 20.xd3 c7=; B) 13.b1 xc2 B1) 14.c1 b2 15.d6+ ( 15.a4 xe1 16.xb2 a5 17.d6+ e7 18.c5 b6 19.xf5+ exf5 20.xd5 h6= ) 15...f8 16.xf5 exf5 17.a4 xe1 18.xb2 d2 19.c7 e8 20.d3 e7 21.c8+ e8=; B2) 14.b3 e7 15.d6+ ( 15.d4 xc3 16.xc3 e4 17.b5+ f8 18.d2 xe5 leaves White with an initiative but surely not enough for the three pawns.) 15...f8 16.xb7 b6 17.d6 ( 17.d1 c1 doesn't get W hite anywhere.) 17...a5 18.b7 ( 18.a3 b4 19.b3 a5 would be another draw.) 18...b6 19.d6 a5 20.b7 b6 1/2-1/2 Smirnov, P (2518)Maletin, P (2636) Belgorod 2010. ] 13.xc3 a6 [ 13...xc2 looks far too risky. 14.c1 b2 15.b5 f8 16.c7 h6 17.xb7 xe5 18.d2 f6 19.xa7 is strong for White as the a pawn will prove fast. ] [ 13...c8 14.b5 f8 15.d6 c6 ( 15...xc2 16.a5! ) 16.xf5 exf5 17.f3 c3 18.xd5 xe1 19.fxe1 c7 20.e6 leaves Black in an unpleasant endgame. ] 14.b1 a3 [ 14...xc2 15.xb7 h6 16.d1 d3 17.a4+ f8 18.xd5! is extremely strong as xd5 19.b4+ g8 20.b8+ wins the queen. ] 15.xb7 e7 16.b5+! a6 prevented the knight from hopping in to d6 but still didn't allow Black to castle. f8 [ 16...axb5? 17.xb5 a4 18.c7+ f8 19.xa8 xa8 20.b4 is hopeless. ]

17.d3 [ 17.d7 not allowing the rook to c8 is preferred by the computer which really like W h i t e ' s p o s i t i o n . xc2?! wouldn't help matte rs a s 18.d2 f5 19.b1! forces xb1 ( 19...d3 20.b4+- ) 20.fxb1 g6 21.1b3 c5 22.xe6! fxe6 23.c3+traps the Black queen. ] 17...c8 18.e2 [ 18.b1!? is given the approval of Rybka, aiming to simply pick up the a6 pawn. c5 ( 18...a4 19.e3 xd3 20.cxd3 f5 21.a7! ) 19.xa6 with a definite advantage but at least Black will get his king to safety. ] 18...xd3 19.cxd3 g6 20.d2 g7 21.fb1 he8 So the dust has settled on the position and both sides have completed their development. It's easy to see that White has won the opening battle as his rooks on the b file both dominate the queenside and are in a position to strike at Black's king. Black's position appears very solid but the holes on the dark squares are a huge problem but it's still amazing how swiftly Karjakin takes the full point. 22.h4! g8 Attempting to control the vital f6 square. [ 22...h5? 23.g5! leaves the dark squares far too vulnerable. ] [ 22...c6 23.g5 is also highly unpleasant. A sample line could continue: g8 24.f4 a5 25.d7 c1+ 26.xc1 xc1+ 27.h2 c6 28.c7! c3 29.h5 and Black drops material. ] [ 22...h6 23.f4 ( 23.d4!? ) 23...xd3 24.f6+ g8 25.1b3! xe2 26.f3+doesn't help Black either. ] 23.h5 e7 24.g3 Karjakin plays slowly. [ Instead 24.h6+! deflecting the knight looks v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g . xh6?! ( 24...h8 25.1b3 c5 26.f4 ec7 27.xc7 xc7 28.c3 d7 29.xc8 xc8 30.xf7; 24...f8 looks necessary but 25.7b3 a4 26.g3 leaves Black in an unpleasant bind.) 25.1b3 c5 26.d4 c2 27.xc2 xc2 28.xe7 xe2 29.bb7! f8 30.g4! g5 31.f3 leaves White clearly better as he can react to xa2 with 32.f4! ] 24...ec7 This is sensible but it fails to challenge W hite's plan of putt ing f urthe r pressure on f7. 1386

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 24...xb7 was better when 25.xb7 a4 26.g2 c6 27.b2 c7 28.b8 c8 29.b7 is still better for White but Black has drawing chances. ] 25.g2 e7 26.xc7 xc7 27.f4 Blac k ha s su ccessf ully got W hite of f th e seventh rank but the rook can now infiltrate along the h file. b8 28.c1 e7 29.d4 b2?! This loses immediately but the position was already highly unpleasant. [ 29...b7 is a better bet but I don't think Black will survive for long after 30.h1 ] 30.c8! And Tukhaev resigned as he has no good defence to the threat of Nd4-c6, h6+ and Qf6 mate. An energetic game by Karjakin but it appears that 12...Ba5 still holds equality. I expect to see a few more GM encounters in this topical variation. 1-0

1305 Kasparov,Garry Kaiumov,Dmitry D Tbilisi (Georgia) [Nigel Davies]

B12

Black has to beat a hasty retreat. d7 20.b3 a5 21.d2 b6 22.h5! The knight is just great here. Black can't do anything with his kingside he has to defend the g7 pawn and has had all his pawn moves ruled out (...f6, ... g6 and ...h5 are all impossible) b5 23.b4 xd3 24.xd3 ac6 25.c5 a6 26.e3 b6 27.d6 g6 28.xf8 xf8 29.hc1 The decision, predictably enough, comes on the open c-file. xa3 30.c3 e7 31.bc1 d7 32.b4 ge7 33.f6! Finishing the game with a few fireworks. d8 [ 33...gxf6 34.exf6 g6 35.b5 is hopeless ] 34.b5 a5 35.xc8 xc8 36.xc8! [ 36.xc8 xc8 37.a3+ wins Black's queen (for starters) ] 1-0

1306 Kasparov,Garry Karpov,Anatoly SuperGM Linares ESP (5) [Nigel Davies]

B12 2849 2679 28.02.2001

1976

1.e4 c6 2.e2 d5 3.e5 c5 4.d4 c6 5.c3 e6 Some of the books give this move, quoting an old Bronstein - Petrosian game that Black happened to win. 6.d2 cxd4 [ The aforementioned Bronstein - Petrosian game (USSR Ch., Leningrad 1960) went 6...ge7 7.f3 cxd4 8.exd4 ( The start of a dubious plan. White should play 8.cxd4 after which f5 transposes back into the game) 8...g6 9.xc6 bxc6 10.d3 c7 11.e2 f6! 12.exf6 gxf6 13.d4 f7 14.f4 c5 15.h5 cxd4 16.xg6+ hxg6 17.xh8 dxc3 18.h7+ g7 19.e3 cxb2 20.d1 a6 21.f5 exf5 22.h3 c2 23.f3 c4 0-1 ] 7.cxd4 h6 8.f3 f5 9.a3 b6 10.g4 fe7 11.f4 It's starting to look very good for White the d4 pawn is not a problem and he ha s lo ts o f sp ace on t he kin gsid e. B la ck manages to generate some temporary piece activity but this doesn't amount to anything real. a5 12.b1 b3 13.e3 d7 14.d3 c8 15.c2 a5 16.f1 c4 17.c1 b5 18.g2 c7 19.d3 Threatening 20.b3.

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 e7 7.f4 c5 8.dxc5 d7 [ This game may well persuade Black to r e t u r n t o t h e m o r e p o p u l a r 8...ec6 unless Shipov's suggestion on move 10 saves the day for Black. ] 9.h4 xe5 10.g2 h5 A fairly passive treatment by Karpov could he do better? [ Sergei Shipov subsequently suggested the sharp 10...d4!? 11.ce2 ( 11.h5 dxc3 ) 11...7c6 a f t e r wh i c h 12.h5 ( 12.xc6+ xc6 13.h5 e4 is good for Black) 12...xc2 13.xc2 d3 with good counterplay. ] 11.e2 7c6 12.xg6 xg6 13.g5! Kasparov unleashes his home cooking, the text improving Shirov - Karpov, Monaco 2000. [ In that game W hite had played 13.xd5 but had nothing special after xc5 14.g5 ge7 ] 13...e7 14.gxh5 f8 [ K a s p a r o v p o i n t e d o u t t h a t 14...ge5 is met by 15.f4 after which c4 16.0-0-0 a5 i s a n s w e r e d b y 17.xd5 exd5 18.xd5 etc. ] [ On the other hand Kasparov suggested that 1387

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 either 14...xh4 15.xh4 xh4 16.xd5 0-0 17.xc6 bxc6 18.d1 or even ] [ 14...xg5 15.hxg5 d4 16.d3 f4 17.xd4 xg2+ 18.f1 xg5 19.e2 might be better. But in both these lines Black loses material and seems to be struggling to create enough counterplay. ] 15.b5 [ After the game the two players discussed 15.f4 f6 16.h6 , which involves the sacrifice of a piece to take pot-shots at Black's king. Karpov f elt thataf ter f7 it wasn't clear whether White had enough. ] 15...d7 16.h6! xc5 [ White develops a winning attack after either 16...gxh6 17.d6+ f8 18.h5 or ] [ 16...g6 17.xe7 ( and not 17.d6+ f8 18.0-0-0 xc5 when suddenly White's erra nt k nigh t is se ve re ly e mb arra sse d) 17...xe7 18.0-0-0 0-0 19.h5 g5 20.f4 according to Kasparov. ] 17.f4 [ Probably more precise than 17.hxg7 g8 18.xe7 xe7 19.xd5 exd5 20.c7+ d7 21.xe7+ xe7 22.xa8 xg7! wh ich wou ld h a ve give n Bla ck d rawin g chances according to Kasparov. The knight o n a 8 w i l l b e l o s t a n y w a y . ( 22...xa8 23.h5 )] 17...f8 [ Black might have tried to give up the e x c h a n g e wi t h 17...a5+ 18.c3 0-0-0 , a l l o w i n g 19.hxg7 hg8 20.c7 in order to eliminate the dangerous pawn on g7 after a4 21.xd8 xd8 22.d1 xg7 . In the final position Black would certainly h a ve c o u n t e r p l a y o n t h e d a rk s qu a r e s though White should still be better with best play, due largely to the fact that he still has his passed h-pawn. ] 18.hxg7+ xg7 19.0-0-0 f8 [ Black's last chance was probably 19...a5 20.a3 ag8 21.d2 d8 22.c3+ f6 when he's still very much on the board. ] 20.b1 a6 21.c7 c8 22.xd5 exd5 23.xd5 xc7 24.xc7 xc7 25.f5 d7 26.c3 f6 27.g1 d8 28.g4 e8 29.h5 f8 30.xc5 xc5 31.h5+ 1-0

1307 Kasparov,Garry Shirov,Alexei vs. ROW Moscow RUS (4) [Tony Kosten]

B12 2838 2697 09.09.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 b6 This tries to exploit the downside of White's 4th move, the b-pawn is no longer defended, [ 4...e6 is solid, see Smirin-Dreev. ] 5.c1 More logical than [ 5.b3 which weakens the dark squares, e6 6.d3 e7 7.f3 xd3 8.xd3 f5 9.0-0 e7 10.bd2 d7 11.a4 White has more space, but Black has a good, solid position, Njie, M-Mansoor, M/Dubai 1986. ] 5...e6 Actually a novelty, although such a sensible move could hardly be a surprise! [ 5...d7 was played in the original game in this line: 6.d2 e6 7.e2 c5 8.g3 c7 9.g2 cxd4 10.xd4 xe5 White has sacrificed a pawn to open the e-file, play is unclear, Nguyen Hoang-Barron, V/ Lingen 1995. ] [ 5...h6!? was preferred by Bareev later in the match, see his game against Smirin. ] 6.c4 White gains space on the queenside, will the white queen prove useful on the c-line, or misplaced? e7?! This allows White to 'lockin' the f8-bishop, for the pragmatic [ 6...xb1 7.xb1 b4+ see Gelfand, BDreev, A. ] 7.c5 So, White had no intention of opening the c-file. a5+ 8.d2 c7 9.c3 d7 10.e2 White prefers to develop this before the knight as now g4 may be possible, embarrassing the f 5-bishop. h6 11.b4 I think W hite is better, his central and queenside space advantage is large, and with all the pieces on the board Black will have a hard time finding squares for his minor pieces. g5?! [ 11...f6 Avoided the loss of a pawn, but 12.f4 keeps Black stuck behind his lines. ] 12.g4! g6 13.h4 Curiously, the odd queen and bishop battery proves useful, as W hite will now win a kingside pawn. g7 [ 13...gxh4 14.xh4 g8!? is too ugly to contemplate (except for a computer, perhaps!) ] 14.hxg5 hxg5 15.xh8+ xh8 16.xg5 1388

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 W h i t e t a k e s h i s p a wn b u t k e e p s a l l h i s a d v a n t a g e s . a5 Black has a neat tactical operation planned, but his opponent is no mean tactician himself ! 17.b5! No doubt Shirov hoped for [ 17.a3?! xe5! regaining his pawn, as 18.f4 ( 18.dxe5? xe5 19.d2 h2 20.f1 d4 regains the bit with advantage.) 18...axb4 19.axb4 xa1 20.xa1 d3+ 21.xd3 xf4 gives Black real play. ] 17...xc5!? Probably the best practical chance, [ 17...xe5? 18.f4 just wins, as there is no way to deflect the queen from her defence of f4. ] 18.f6! Very clever, [ 18.dxc5? xe5 19.d2 h2 20.f1 d4 is again fine for Black, but ] [ 18.xe7 xe7 19.dxc5 xc5 20.f3 d4 21.d1 probably also favours White, although it is very messy. ] 18...xf6 19.exf6 White has avoided problems along the a1-h8 diagonal, but still wins a piece. g8 20.dxc5 d4 21.f3! Returning the piece to maintain a positional advantage, this is far simpler than [ 21.d1!? h2 22.f1 xf6 when Black ha s t wo p awn s a n d lo t s o f p la y f o r t h e piece. ] 21...dxc3 22.xc3 f4 23.g5 Now it is the knight's turn to be locked out of the game. d8 24.bxc6 bxc6 25.d1 Of course, White is happy to exchange pieces as any endgame will be an easy win for him. xd1+ 26.xd1 e4+ 27.f1 h5 28.b3 f4 29.b7 Threatening mate on c8, and the c6-pawn. c4+ [ 29...d8 30.xc6 is also hopeless. ] 30.e1 [ 30.g2 g4+ 31.h1 h3+ 32.h2 is perhaps even stronger. ] [ After 30.e1 e4+ 31.e2 Black must exchange queens by b4+ but on 32.xb4 axb4 33.e5 he is effectively a piece down the g8-knight is worth a pawn. ] 1-0

1308 Kindermann,Stefan Dautov,Rustem Bad Homburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2570 2595 1997

Now we consider a sharp line involving the move Qg4. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 [ 4...c6 5.b5 e6 6.g4!? A) 6...d7 deserves serious attention. 7.xc6 xc6 8.f3 h5! 9.f4!? xc5 10.0-0 ( 10.e3!? b6 11.xc5 xc5 12.c3 with complicated play.) 10...h6 11.bd2 f5 12.b3 b6 13.bd4 xd4 14.xd4 xd4! 15.xd4 b6! and Black equalised in Yudasin-Spraggett, Calgary 1996.; B) 6...a5+ 7.c3 h5 8.xc6+! ( O t h e r m o ve s a r e h a r m l e s s : 8.a4?! xa4 9.xa4 d7; 8.f4 xc5 9.f3 ge7 10.0-0 g6 11.g5 d7 12.d3 e7 13.e3 d4! 14.xd4 cxe5 and Black is even slightly better, Mark Tseitlin-Khenkin, Israel 1996.) 8...bxc6 9.a4 c7!? ( 9...xc5 10.e3 c4 (the only move) 11.xc4 dxc4 12.e4 , intending an exchange of dark-squared Bishops (Be3-c5) at the right moment, with a clear edge for W hite.) 10.e3 b8 11.0-0-0 h6 12.f4 ( 12.xh6? xh6 13.d4 a5 is fine for Black.) 12...f5 13.f2 a5 14.ge2 b4 15.a3 a7 wi t h ve r y c o m p l i c a t e d p l a y a l t h o u g h W h it e 's ch a n ce s lo o k b e t t e r, S m i rin Khenkin, Ischia 1996. ] 5.g4 The idea behind this move is to prevent normal development of Black's K-side. h5!? A natural move but the weakening of the Kside is an obvious drawback. 6.b5+ [ White has also tried 6.g3 , but this move didn't yield him any advantage: h4! 7.f4 ( 7.g4 h6 8.xh6 xh6 9.f3 d7 10.b5 g6 11.h3 a6 12.d3 h6 13.0-0 xc5 14.bd2 d7 15.b3 xd3 16.cxd3 a4 and in this complicated position Black's chances are by no means bad, Khalifman-Kachiani Gersinska, Bad W ie sse e 1 99 7 .) 7...xc5 8.d3 b6 9.h3 b4+ 10.xb4 xb4+ 11.c3 e7 12.d2 b6 13.f4 a6 14.xa6 xa6 1389

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.f3 h6 16.e3 f5 17.f2 c5 18.e2 e4 and Black is even slightly bette r, Kh enkin -Iord achescu, G erman y 1997. ] 6...d7 7.xd7+ xd7 [ 7...xd7 was also possible, with level chances after 8.e2 xc5 9.f3 c6 10.0-0 ge7 11.bd2 f5 ] 8.e2 xc5 9.f3 e7 [ After the game GM Dautov pointed out he could have obtained a good position by playing 9...a5+!? for example: 10.c3 a6! 11.xa6 bxa6 12.bd2 e7 13.b3 b6 and it's not clear how White can hold the e5pawn. 14.f4 g6 15.g3 c7 ] 10.0-0 c7 11.c3 a6 12.e1 c8 13.g5 g6 14.bd2 0-0 Both sides have completed development and in my opinion the position is equal. Of course the pawn on h5 looks ugly but I can't see how White can exploit this. 15.b3 a7 (threatening 16... Bb8) 16.e3! xe3 [ 16...b8?! 17.d4 is good for White. ] 17.xe3 d8 18.bd4 e7 19.g3 h4! [ 19...ce8 allows 20.h4! f6 21.exf6 xf6 22.g5 e5 23.b3 and White has a certain advantage due to the weakness of the h5pawn. ] 20.h1 ce8? Missing White's reply. [ Black should play 20...hxg3! first: 21.hxg3 ce8 (preparing 22...f6) 22.d3 ( 22.g2 f6 23.exf6 xf6 24.ad1 e5 is fine for Black. ) 22...c5 23.c2 e4 intending 24...f6 with good chances for Black. ] 21.gxh4! An unexpected and very strong move. By opening the g-file White obtains a very strong attack over Black's King. xh4 22.g1 xf3 23.xf3 f6 24.h4! fxe5 [ 24...xe5? is bad in view of 25.f4 c4 26.h3 and White's attack is unstoppable. ] 25.g6 f6 26.xf8 xf8 27.g3 Black hasn't sufficient compensation for the exchange but the position is still very complicated. f7 28.ag1 f4 29.xf4 exf4 30.g6 e5 31.d6 f6 32.f3 e4 33.g2 e7 34.f2 f7 35.g5 g6 36.d8 e6 37.c8 e7 38.h4 d7 39.e5! e3+ 40.e2 h5 41.d3 f6 42.ee8 g7 43.cd8! xd8 44.xd8 f5 45.xd5 e6 46.d8 xh4 47.e2 White has played this part of the game well

and the arising endgame should be easily won. f5 48.b8 d6 49.d3 g5 50.c4?! [ 50.a4! was more precise: d5 51.a5 c6 ( 51...e5 52.b4 e6 53.c4 f5 54.xb7 d4 55.b5! and White wins.) 52.g8 f7 53.g7 e5+ 54.e2 winning easily. ] 50...f5! 51.e8+ [ 51.xb7? d4! and the position is not clear at all. W hite can't grab the Knight: 52.xd4? e2 53.b8 f7 54.b7+ f6 55.b6+ f5 and the pawn queens. ] 51...f7 52.e4?? Missing the win. [ 52.e5 f6 53.d5 e6 54.a4 h4 55.e2 f5 56.a5 g3+ 57.d3 f5 58.b4 h4 59.e2 f5 60.d8 e5 61.b5 d4+ 62.d3 xf3 63.c5 a n d W h it e win s a s wa s p o i n t e d o u t b y Rustem Dautov. ] 52...h4 53.e2 f5 54...Ng3 is threatened now so White can't avoid repetition of moves. 54.d3 h4 55.e2 f5 56.d3 h4 After considering these games we can conclude this line is rather promising for White. In my opinion Black's task is easier when he avoids playing early Nc6 (like in KindermannDautov). ½-½

1309 Kosteniuk,Alexandra Kacheishvili,Giorgi North American Open (4) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2507 2575 28.12.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c4 I said I'd have a look at this at some point. This is perhaps the most direct attempt. White is happy to sacrifice a pawn to open up the centre and try to exploit his lead in development. xb2 This must be critical and has been played in all the recent games. [ 7...dxc4?! used to be tried frequently but I really don't trust it. It seems unnatural to let W hite ge t even mo re time to crea te a n initiative. 8.bd2 b4 ( 8...d3 9.dxc5 xb2 10.xd3 cxd3 11.a4+ c6 12.b1 c3 13.b5 ge7 14.0-0 a5 15.xb7 b8 16.xb8+ xb8 17.xb8+ d7 18.fb1 has been reached in a couple 1390

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 of Corr. games and is completely winning for W hite. The most recent encounter being Braakhuis, W (2312)-Epiney, F (2308) IECG em a il 2 0 0 3 .) 9.0-0 c3 10.bxc3 xc3 11.c1 a5 12.dxc5 c6 13.c4 xa2 14.d6+ xd6 15.cxd6 and White already had a decisive advantage. Welzenheimer, R (2433)-Dos Santos, J (1789) ICCF email 2007. ] 8.0-0!? An interesting idea but it seems likely to transpose. [ 8.bd2 is usual. A) 8...c6 is the alternative but now 9.cxd5 looks more threatening. exd5 ( 9...cxd4? 10.c4 c2 Charbonneau, P (2513)-Kaufman, L (2413) ICC 2010 when t h e m o s t a c c u r a t e w o u l d b e 11.xc2 xc2 12.dxc6 dxe3 13.cxb7 b8 14.c1 a4 15.b6 b4+ 16.f1 d7 17.c8+ xc8 18.bxc8+ xc8 19.xc8 a n d W h i t e h a s a c l e a r e x t r a p i e c e .) 10.dxc5 f6 Mink, C-Jordaan, W IECG email 2004 when 11.0-0! would be strong as fxe5 12.a4 and White has a dangerous attack.; B) 8...e7 9.0-0 will transpose to the game. ] 8...e7 It's important to strengthen the centre and be able to recapture on d5 with the knight. [ L u k a c s o f f e r s 8...c6 with no further comments. The line might continue 9.cxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 with an extremely complicated position. However on principle I'd prefer to defend the d5 square. ] [ The rook is poisoned: 8...xa1?! 9.b3! d7 10.c3 dxc4 11.xc4 xf1+ 12.xf1 b8 13.b5 and White's huge lead in development gives him a fantastic position. ] 9.bd2 bc6 10.b3 [ 10.cxd5?! has also been played a couple of times but allowing Black's knight such a strong outpost is foolish. xd5 11.c4 c2 12.c1 xd1 13.fxd1 0-0-0 14.dxc5 xe3 15.xd8+ xd8 16.xe3 g6 17.b5 c7 18.xc6 bxc6 and Black's bishop pair gave him an obvious advantage. Bagirov, V (2493) -Magem Badals, J (2557) Metz 1999 ] 10...dxc4 [ 10...0-0-0 was Macieja's choice with similar aspects to the game. However Black will

always have to worry about his king. 11.xc5 dxc4 12.xc4 d5 13.d3 a3 14.c1 h6 15.xd5 exd5 16.c5 xc5 17.xc5 Volokitin, A (2572) -Macieja, B (2634) Istanbul 2003 and White's queenside play gives him the better chances in my opinion. ] 11.xc4 d8! This appears very strong. The idea is to simply put the knight on d5 and complete his development. With a supported knight on d5 I find it hard to believe Black can be worse. [ 11...g6 is the other option but putting the knight on d5 is more reliable. A recent GM encounter continued: 12.b5 a6 13.xc6+ bxc6 14.dxc5 e7 ( 14...d8 15.bd4 xc5 16.xf5! xd1 17.xg7+ f8 18.xe6+ fxe6 19.xc5+ g7 20.axd1 favours W hite as Black's king is very exposed.; 14...e4!? with the idea of putting the bishop on d5 controlling the position is t h e b e s t t r y wi t h a h i g h l y c o m p l i c a t e d position. ) 15.fd4 e4 16.e1! threatening to trap the queen with Bc1. d8 Nijboer, F (2567)-Landa, K (2655) Hilversum 2010 and here White had the difficult to spot 17.d1! renewing the threat of Bc1 ( 17.c1 xa1 18.xa1 xd4 isn't so clear.) 17...d5 18.a5 when the only way to keep the Black queen is to play xb3 19.axb3 xd4 but White has a clear extra exchange after 20.xd4 xb3 21.xa6 ] 12.xc5 d5 13.d3 The first new move of the game. [ In the two previous encounters from last year W hite tried 13.g5 but the exchange sacrifice xc5! results in a good position for Black. 14.xd8 c3 15.b3 xb3 16.axb3 b4 17.g5?! ( 17.c7 is better so that White can meet b5 with 18.d6 bxc4 19.bxc4 with a dynamic equality, two pieces for rook and pawn.) 17...b5! The point. The bishop is trapped on c4. 18.a6 d7 19.d5 exd5 20.xc6 and in both games Black has captured the rook (and gone on to win) but in fact bxc4! is far stronger: 21.d4 ( 21.a6 e2+ 22.h1 cxb3 and the b pawn proves too strong. ) 21...d3 22.bxc4 e2+ 23.xe2 xc6 24.cxd5+ b7! and Black wins material. ] 1391

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13...a3 Time to take stock. The material count is level and Black should be happy with his knight on d5 controlling the board. Black has the better long term structure with pressure on d4 and White needs to use her slight lead in development or else will suffer. 14.c1 This move lacks any meaningful plan and now White is definitely worse. [ 14.d2 is better although b4! ( 14...e7 15.fb1 and White still has some initiative.) 15.xb4 xb4 16.fc1 xd2 17.xd2 0-0 and Black still has an edge. ] 14...e7 15.d2 0-0 Black has completed his development and stands very well. As the game proves White has severe difficulties in def ending her d4 pawn while she has no targets to attack herself. 16.h3 preventing ... Bg4 but e4! 17.b3 [ 17.fe1 would keep her structure intact but after b6 White cannot defend d4 as moving the d3 knight allows ...Nxe5. 18.b3 xd4! 19.xd4 xd4 20.c2 xd3 21.f4 c5 22.xe4 c3 and Black has a clear extra pawn as 23.xb7?! a5! and White's clumsy pieces fail to defend each other. ] 17...xf3 18.gxf3 b6 [ 18...d7 was also strong with the idea of putting more pressure on the d4 pawn, i.e. after 19.f4 fd8 20.e2 g6 when eventually d4 will drop. ] 19.c3 d7 20.f4 fd8 [ 20...h8!? was more circumspect, cutting out White's next option. ] 21.cd1? A bad error by the former Women's World Champion. I presume you missed the knight could get out in the game. [ 21.xe6 should have been tried. I daresay both sides thought Black was doing well after fxe6 22.xe6+ f8 23.xd7 ( 23.c2!? g6 24.xd7 xd7 would at l e a s t k e e p t h e q u e e n s o n t h e b o a r d .) 23...xc3 24.xc3 xd7 when Black's min or p ie c e s co nt ro l a lo t o f im p o rt a n t squares. However W hite does have rook and two pawns and she'd be able to continue battling. ] [ 21.fd1 wo u ld a l s o a ll o w xe5! as 22.dxe5 xd1+ 23.xd1 xd1+! wins. ] 21...xe5! A neat trick exploiting the undef ended W hite queen. 22.c1 b4 23.xb4 xf3+! 24.g2 h4+ 25.g3

f5+ and the knight gets out leaving Black t wo p a wn s u p a n d wi t h a go o d p o s it io n . 26.g4 h6+ 27.h5 xb4 28.xe6 W hite has to try to complicate it but it's all over. fxe6 29.xh6 xd4! 30.xe6+ h8 31.xd4 xd4 32.g1 f8 33.f4 d5 34.g5 h6 35.g6 hxg5 36.xg5 xf4+ 37.f7 d6 A well played game by Kacheishvili and Black is healthy in this 7.c4 variation. 0-1

1310 Kotronias,Vasilios Sundararajan,Kidambi British Championship (5) [Andrew Martin]

B12

2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 Having written extensively on this variat ion , K otron ias f e els o bliged t o defend his ideas. c5 7.e3 cxd4 8.xd4 b4 A very sharp line. Black will almost certainly win material, either on c3 or e5, but the absence of the dark-squared bishop is a high price to pay. 9.d2 d7 10.a3 a5 11.b1!?N A necessary improvement on the following high-level game: [ 11.b5 xc3 12.xd7+ xd7 13.bxc3 c8 14.0-0 xc3 15.fb1 b6 16.xc3 xc3 17.a4 e7 18.a5 c8 19.axb6 axb6 20.a8 f6 21.b8 e8 22.b5 xc2 23.b7+ d8 24.a1 e7 25.b8 d7 Shirov, A-Grischuk, A/Dubai 2002 If Shirov can't batter Black into submission, who can? ] 11...xc3 12.bxc3 a6 Kidambi is very afraid of Bb5+ and so cuts that move out. Prospective black players should examine [ 12...xe5 13.xb7 xa3 14.b5+ f8 ] [ 12...b6 13.b5 xa3 ] 13.xb7 xa3 14.g2!? xe5 15.0-0 f6 16.g5 0-0 One can understand his reluctance to hang around in the centre but it may well have been possible to take the g pawn: [ 16...exg4 A) 17.h3 e5 18.f4 fd7 19.e1 h6 ( 19...f6 20.xe6 ); B) 17.fb1 1392

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B1) 17...d6 18.f4! e5 ( 18...c5? 19.b8++- ) 19.1b6 d8 20.c6; B2) 17...0-0! 18.h3 e5 19.xf6 gxf6 20.h6 fe8 This is the critical line, and just seems to be good for Black. ] 17.xf6 gxf6 18.h4! Absolutely necessary. White throws caution to the winds in an all-out assault against the Black King. xg4 19.h3 e5 [ 19...f5!? looks ugly, but defends everything. ] 20.h5! xh5 21.h6 f3+?! White was threatening Nxe6, but [ 21...g4 22.xg4 xg4 23.h4 h8 is possible, i.e. 24.h1 xc3!? 25.xg4 d2 with strong threats. ] 22.xf3 xf3 23.xe6! Now threatening Bf5. e4 24.xf6 g6 25.xd5 Regaining a n o t h e r p a wn . ac8 In this critical position Black shows courage in playing for the win but at the same time a lack of judgement. I think he could have forced W hite to take a perpetual after [ 25...ab8! 26.xf7+! ( 26.a7 c5 27.d7 b6; 26.fb1 xb7 27.xb7 c1+ 28.g2 xc2 ) 26...xf7 27.g5+ g6 28.d5+ f7 29.g5+= ] 26.c4! h3 27.e1 xc4? Clearly the intention but I am sure that Kidambi underestimated White's 31st move. [ 27...g4+ 28.f1 h3+ draws, once again. ] 28.xc4 g4+ 29.h2 xc4 30.c3! d5 31.be7! The problem is simple: White threatens Re8 and mate on h8. That was tough to assess five moves ago. Endings with the queens off are lost thanks to the c pawn b u t wh a t c h o i ce d o e s B la ck h a ve ? h5+ 32.g3 f5 33.h4! [ 33.g1 h3+ 34.f4+ g6 35.g3 f1 would be less sure-footed. ] 33...xh4+? [ 33...g6+ had to be tried, for better or worse. ] 34.xh4+White's massive King and the c pawn ensure victory. e6 35.g1+ h8 36.c7 f5 37.g5 g6 38.gc5 g7 39.c8 xc8 40.xc8 d3 41.g5 h6+ 42.f4 g6 43.c4 f6 44.c6+ e7 45.e5 d7? 46.d6+ 1-0

1311 Kovacevic,A Lupulescu,C Karpos Open 2013 (5.8) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2563 2614 12.03.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h6 5.g4 d7 [ 5...e4 A) 6.f3 is the main move and after h7 has been seen in the archives along with 7.d3 ( 7.e6!? ); B) 6.h3!? is an interesting idea that got a practical test in Istratescu, A (2636)-Bauer, C (2672) Belfort 2012 e6 7.d2 ( 7.c3 is more testing, for example h7 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 and White a space advantage although Black can counterattack in the centre with ...c5 later on. ) 7...h7 8.b3 d7 9.h5 a n d n o w I t h in k B l a ck ca n o b t a in t h e better chances with an immediate strike in the centre: ( 9.e3 wa s b e t t e r) 9...c5! 10.dxc5 xe5 11.f3 xf3+ 12.xf3 d7 ] 6.c4 [ 6.h5! is currently critical and may be W hite's best option here - see CaruanaL'Ami from earlier this year. ] 6...c8 [ 6...e6 is a solid option for Black: 7.c3 c5 A) 8.f3 c6 9.f4 c8 10.dxc5 xc5 11.cxd5 exd5 12.xd5?! ( better was 12.xd5 b4 13.b3 xg4 14.b5+ with chances for both sides.) 12...xg4 was good for Black in Stukopin, A (2460)Matlakov, M (2625) Moscow 2012; B) 8.cxd5 exd5 9.dxc5?! ( 9.e3 is much better, the position is complex but I slightly prefer White after cxd4 10.xd4 e6 11.f3 c6 12.f4 ) 9...xc5 10.g2 e7 11.h3 bc6 12.f4 e6 13.g3 d7 and Black was doing well in the rapid game Nepomniachtchi, I (2730)Grischuk, A (2752) Apatity 2011 ] 7.f3 h5 8.g5 [ 8.c3!? has been tried before in a game from a couple of years ago which continued hxg4 ( 8...e6 doesn't really fit with Qc8) 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.xd5 c6 11.c3 ( 11.e3!? e6 12.xg4 just looks unclear 1393

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to me - White is a pawn up with a slightly ridiculous position and Black has a nice outpost on d5.) 11...e6 12.g5 and now I think e7 gives Black a good game ( instead after 12...e7 13.g2 gxf3?! 14.xf3 d8 15.d2 xg5?! 16.xg5 e7 17.0-0-0 White had a dangerous attack and quickly won xg2 18.xg2 bc6 19.d5 exd5 20.e6 fxe6 21.xe6 c8 22.b5 d7 23.ec7 d8 24.xd5+ xd5 25.xd5+ e7 26.e1+ f8 27.e8# 1-0 Matikozian, A (2476)Kudryavtsev, V (2115) Los Angeles 2011 )] 8...f5 [ 8...e6! 9.c3 e7 seems more accurate to me as it doesn't allow White any obvious play. ] 9.c3 e6 White's pawn structure may look odd here but with energetic play he should have good chances. 10.e3?! This is too slow. [ 10.cxd5 cxd5 ( or 10...exd5 11.ge2 a n d W h i t e h a s a p la n o f N g3 a n d B d 3 fighting for the key f5 square.) 11.b5!? c6 12.d6+ xd6 13.exd6 with a rather odd position. The pawn on d6 is actually rather hard to win and that means the knight on g8 is temporarily trapped on g8. I like White's chances after d8 14.f4 b6 15.c1! although the position is hard to assess Black still has too many problems getting developed. ] [ 10.ge2 is also a reasonable option, bringing the knight to g3 or even f4. ] 10...b4 11.b3 xc3+ 12.bxc3 e7 13.a4 This gains space on the queenside but otherwise it's not really doing much Lupulescu wrestles the initiative with his next move. c5! 14.a5?! White doesn't react to the change of pace and soon he's in trouble [ 14.f2 was better, moving the king to a safer square and getting ready to connect the rooks. ] 14...bc6 15.b5 cxd4 16.cxd4 0-0 17.c5 White tries to close down the centre and the qu e e n s id e b u t it 's a lr e a d y t o o l a t e . . . b6! An excellent move, opening up the queenside it's clear White isn't even close to ready with all of his kingside pieces still on their starting squares. 18.a6?! [ 18.cxb6 axb6 19.xb6 was a better

cha nce , a lth ough a f te r xe5! 20.c5 ( 20.dxe5? c3+ p ic ks u p t h e r o o k) 20...5c6 Black is still much better. ] 18...b8 19.c1 d7 20.cxb6 xb6 21.a4 fb8 Black brings his final piece into the game and it's clear White is just lost here. 22.d1 b2 23.e2?! 8b3 and White resigned before things could get any worse! [ W h i t e l o s e s m a t e r i a l a f t e r 23...8b3 for example if 24.f2 b4 25.a1 c2 26.f1 f5 27.d2 d3 28.d1 xd4 ] 0-1

1312 B12 Kramnik,Vladimir Leko,Peter World Championship Match (14) 18.10.2004 [A.Martin, Golubev, Shipov, Crowther, Greengar] Here comes a game which has been analysed extensively in the world chess press. I have tried to compile the best of those notes and added some thoughts of my own. 1.e4 c6 In the final game perhaps he should have fallen back on 1...e5. 2.d4 d5 3.e5 [ In the twelfth game Kramnik didn't really get anywhere using the main line: 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 c7 13.0-0-0 gf6 14.e4 0-0-0 15.g3 xe4 16.xe4 d6 17.b1 he8 18.h7!? A finesse encouraging Black to misplace his pieces? It doesn't trouble Leko. g8 19.c4 c5 20.d5!? f6 21.c2 exd5 22.cxd5 d7 23.c3 de8 24.xf6 gxf6 25.d3 f5 26.d2 b5 27.he1 b8 28.c3 xe1 29.xe1 c4 30.f3 f4 31.g4 c7 32.d4 xg4 33.e4 xh5 34.d4 g6 1/2-1/2 Kramnik, V-Leko, P/ Brissago SUI 2004 A quite bizarre draw offer from Leko and possibly the ultimate turning point of the match. Of course Black is better: 35.f5 ( 35.c2 xe4+ 36.xe4 a6 37.f5 g2 ) 35...d8 36.f3 h5 37.h1 a6 Failure to play on in this final position cost Leko everything. ] 3...f5 4.h4 h6 5.g4 d7 6.d2 c5 7.dxc5 e6 [ Shipov suggested 7...c6! here, with the 1394

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 idea 8.f4 a5 9.c3 xc5 10.b3 b6 and Black is excellently placed. Only nerves can explain Leko's inability to play this move. ] 8.b3 xc5 [ 8...c7 9.f4 h5 10.g5 a4! was a possible alternative, not quite as committal as giving up the dark-squared Bishop. ] 9.xc5 a5+ 10.c3 xc5 11.f3 e7 12.d3 bc6 13.e3 a5 14.d2 g6? [ 14...d4!? 15.cxd4 b4 was proposed by Garry Kasparov during the Playchess live c o ve r a ge , p re p a rin g t h e d 5 squ a r e f o r occupation. ] [ Mark Crowther mentions also 14...0-0-0 ] 15.d4 xd4? [ It seems, that 15...c7 Nikolai Vlassov's idea is interesting and hardly mentioned elsewhere. ] 16.cxd4 xd2+? [ Perhaps retaining queens with 16...b6 should have been preferred and later Leko would agree. ] 17.xd2 f4? [ V l a s s o v p r o p o s e d 17...e7! and was supported by Shipov who continues with 18.ac1 a6! followed by 18...Nc6, 19... Ke7 ] 18.ac1 h5? [ 18...xd3 could have allowed Black to save the game, as Leko told SportExpresscorrespond ent Vasilyev. But Shipov then gives 19.xd3 b5+ 20.e3 d7 21.h5! ac8 22.h4 xc1 23.xc1 c8 24.xc8 xc8 25.f4! d7 26.f5 , claiming that White should win. I (AM) feel that this is a correct assessment. W hite's Knight can be transferred to f4 after which Black will be under appalling pressure. I think Leko did not choose this line at the board due to the total lack of Black counterplay he is sitting and waiting to die. ] 19.hg1 c6 [ 19...h3 20.g2 f4 21.g3 c8 22.xc8+ xc8 23.c2 ] [ 19...c8 20.xc8+ xc8 21.gxh5 xh5 22.c1 d7 23.e3 are both prospectless for Black. ] 20.gxh5 xh5 [ 20...a5 21.xg7 xh5 22.g4 c8

23.e3 ] 21.b4 a6 22.a4 d8? The most critical position of the game. [ 22...xa4 23.c7 b5! (Vlassov) is also given by Shipov, and by Kasparov. The latter say: "Taking on a4 was the last chance to make a draw, I do not know for what else he might have hoped". ] [ Shipov also considers 22...e7 23.b5 axb5 24.axb5 d7 25.c7 b6 as possible alternative ] 23.g5 e8 24.b5 f4? [ Relatively better, according to Shipov, was 24...axb5 25.xb5 . Sergey, however, confesses that the continuation f4 26.e3 f6 27.f7+ xf7 28.xg7 g2+ 29.xg2 fxe5 30.dxe5 e8 is unhappy for Black. ] 25.b6 And Kramnik was now very happy with a completely dominating game. The starting threat is Rc7. xd3 26.xd3 c8 27.xc8+ xc8 28.c1+ c6 29.xf7 xh4 30.d6+ d8 31.g1 Black blocked one file but he cannot block them all. h3+ 32.e2 a3 33.xg7 xa4 34.f4 a2+ 35.f3 a3+ 36.g4! Once Kramnik latched on to this idea of getting the King in (not too tricky), poor Leko had no comeback. d3 37.f5 xd4+ 38.g5 exf5 39.f6 g4 40.c7 h4 41.f7+ It's mate in two after 41...Ke8. Under extreme pressure Leko reacted too passively. 1-0

1313 Kryvoruchko,Yuriy Battaglini,Gabriel 26th Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (5) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2598 2411

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.a3 An interesting try which was tried first of all by the ever inventive Sveshnikov back in 1999. It se e m s ra t h e r d a n ge ro u s f o r B la ck a n d I thought it was about time we had a look at it. The idea is simply to threaten b4 holding onto that extra pawn. a5 Battaglini stops b4 but the question is whether the insertion of a3 and a5 favours W hite or Black. Alternatively Black has tried: [ 5...c6 has been the most common 1395

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 response 6.f3 A) 6...c7 is too slow A1) It wasn't really necessary to defend e5 7.c3 A1a) 7...xe5 8.f4 d3+ ( 8...xf3+ 9.xf3 xc5 10.b5 leaves Black in trouble) 9.xd3 xf4 10.b5+ d7 11.xd7+ xd7 12.e2 also looks great for White, he has a strong initiative wit h centra l control and chances against Black's misplaced king; A1b) 7...xc5 8.b4 e7 9.b5 d8 10.f4 when I prefer White.; A2) 7.e3!?; A3) 7.f4 xc5 8.b4 f8 leaving the e7 square free for the knight although ( 8...e7 9.bd2 h6 might be ok for Black ) 9.d3 ge7 10.0-0 g6 11.g3 a6 12.e1 e7 13.h4! and Black still hadn't solved her opening problems in Arakhamia-Ch evannes, 4NCL 2010; B) 6...xc5 B1) 7.d3 delaying b4 for a move has also been played but it's not clear that it really has independent significance B1a) 7...c7!? might be an interesting attempt to exploit White's move order as 8.b4 d4 ( 8...xe5? 9.bxc5 xf3+ 10.gxf3 e5+ 11.e3 xa1 12.d4 a2 13.c1+- followed by 14. Nc3 traps the queen) 9.xd4 xe5+ 10.e3 xd4 has picked up a pawn although after 11.0-0 f5 12.xf5 xf5 13.c4 White has some compensation at least the opposite coloured bishops should favour his attack.; B1b) 7...f6 8.b4 b6 would transpose to 7.b4 Bb6 8.Bd3 f6; B1c) 7...ge7 8.b4 b6 B1c1) A ra kh m i a -G ra n t t rie d 9.0-0 recently and she gained the advantage out of the opening although later went on to lose. g6 ( 9...0-0 is very dangerous here 10.b5 a5 11.xh7+! xh7 12.g5+ g6 13.g4 f5 14.g3 f4 15.g4 with a great attack and in practice Black isn't going to survive.)

10.e1 0-0 ( 10...f6! would exploit White's delay of Bb2.) 11.b2 d7 12.bd2 ce7 13.c4 dxc4 14.xc4 Arakhamia GrantNikolaidis, Caleta 2010; B1c2) 9.b2 g6 ( 9...0-0 lo o k s p l a ya b l e . U n d e r s t a n d a b l y Black doesn't want to allow the Greek Gift but looks like he can hold on. 10.xh7+? xh7 11.g5+ g6 12.g4 f5 13.g3 f4 14.g4 favours Black compared to the previous line as now White can't play Bxf4. e8 15.b5 a5 16.xe6+ f7 17.g5+ g8 and Black's winning. ) 10.0-0 B1c21) 10...0-0 11.bd2 f5 was Landa-Kalinitschew, Germany 2 0 0 7 w h e n i n s t e a d o f 12.b3 ( I w o u l d p r e f e r 12.exf6 gxf6 13.c4 f4 14.c2 giving White the easier game. ); B1c22) 10...f4 11.c4 0-0 12.c3 e7 13.d2 ( 13.c5 c7 14.b5 also looks good for White. ) 13...xd3 14.xd3 dxc4 15.xc4 c7 16.g4 d7 17.e4 Suddenly White's attack is unstoppable. c6 18.ac1 b8 19.xc6! bxc6 20.f6+ h8 21.xh7 f5 22.f6 h6 23.h3 d8 24.c1 gxf6 25.xh6 e8 26.exf6 xf6 27.g5+ 1-0 Smirnov-Kharitonov, Moscow 2007; B2) 7.b4 B2a) 7...e7 was played in the aforementioned Sveshnikov game but looks wrong to me, e7 is better for the g8 knight. B2a1) 8.d3 f6 9.b2 h6 10.0-0 0-0 11.c4 is given by Lukacs but I ' m n o t c o n v i n c e d , e . g . fxe5 12.xe5 a5 is rather unclear ( 12...xe5 13.xe5 dxc4 14.xc4 xd1 15.xd1 a5 16.b5 c5 17.g3 f5 18.a2 gives White a nibble. ) 13.b5 xe5 14.xe5 c5 gives Black good counterplay on the kingside, in particular against the f2 square. Note that after 15.a2 g5! 1396

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 gives Black a good game rather than transposing into the previous note with 15...dxc4.; B2a2) 8.b5 a5 9.d3 d7 10.0-0 c4 11.xc4 dxc4 12.c3 a6 13.d4 h6 14.xh6 gxh6 15.h5 0-0 16.ad1 c7 17.fe1 h8 18.e4 e8 19.d6 d8 20.a4 xd6 21.exd6 xd6 22.xh6 e7 23.xe6 g8 24.e3 fxe6 25.xe6 1-0 Sveshnikov-Petrov, Nova Gorica 19 99 was a very su ccessf ul f irst outing; B2b) 7...b6 B2b1) 8.b2 is likely to be similar. The only slight misgiving I have with this is that I feel the light squared bishop definitely belongs on d3 looking towards Black's king while it's not clear whether the other bishop wants to sit on b2 or on the c1-h6 diagonal. f6 9.c4 ( 9.d3 would transpose to 8.Bd3) 9...fxe5 10.cxd5 ( 10.c5 c7 11.b5 b8 12.xe5 f6 13.d3 bd7 is unclear but evidently playable for Black. ) 10...exd5 11.xe5 f6 This position looks very good for Bla c k a s f 2 is su ch a vu lne ra b le square. 12.d3?! Would have made matters worse in Shomoev-Kornev, St Petersburg 2006 had Black f o l l o w e d u p w i t h e7 13.e2 d4-+; B2b2) 8.b5 looks too commital to me b8 ( 8...a5 might be possible too.) 9.d3 d7 10.0-0 e7 11.f4 ( 11.a4 g6 12.e1 c7 13.a5 c5 14.b2 is given by Dautov) 11...g6 12.g3 c5 13.bd2 xd3 14.cxd3 a6 when Black had started to take the upper hand in Glek-Dautov, Bundesliga 2005; B2b3) 8.d3 B2b31) 8...ge7 9.0-0 g6 B2b311) 10.b2 0-0 ( 10...f4 11.c4 Lukacs ) 11.c4 dxc4 12.xc4 c7 ( 12...d7 13.bd2 ) 13.e2 d8 14.bd2 Lukacs;

B2b312) 10.e1 f6 11.xg6+ hxg6 12.b2 h5 ( Lukacs gives 12...fxe5! 13.b5 e4! 14.bxc6 exf3 15.cxb7 xb7 16.xf3 e7 17.g4 0-0 18.d4 xd4 19.xd4 f6 ) 13.d3 f7 14.bd2 c7 15.exf6 gxf6 16.c4 MovsesianYevseev, Moscow 2006 ( 16.g4! h7 17.b5 a5 18.g5 Lukacs ); B2b32) 8...f6 was played recently 9.b2 fxe5 10.xe5 ( 10.0-0!? e5 is dropping and this would stop Black's Qg5 ideas ) 10...xe5 B2b321) 11.h5+! i s t h e s h a r p e s t o p t i o n f7 12.xg7 f6 ( 12...e7 13.0-0 gives W hite a great attack and he can always regain his material. ) 13.b5+ d7 14.xd7+ xd7 15.xh8 f6! 16.xf6 xf6 is really messy. One sample line could run 17.c3 xf2+ 18.d1 b2 19.f1 0-0-0 20.xf7 xa1 21.xe6+ b8 22.c1 a2 0.00 is still not at all clear although the computer says it's; B2b322) 11.xe5 g5 12.g3 f6 13.b5+ I don't like this. I'd prefer to keep that d3 bishop. d7 14.xd7+ xd7 15.d2= 1/2-1/2 Goodger-Nikolaidis, Caleta 2010 (51) ] [ 5...xc5 6.g4 a typical move exploiting t h e v u l n e r a b l e g 7 s q u a r e ( although the simple 6.f3 was played by Cornette a g a i n s t A s t e n g o G e n e ve 2 0 0 8 a n d h e reached a comf ortable position after a5 7.d3 b6 8.c3 e7 9.h4!? a6 10.b5 d7 11.e2 xb5 12.xb5 bc6 13.h5 h6 14.c3 c7 15.b1 a4 16.h4 0-0 17.xa4 xa4 18.xa4 ) A) 6...f8 7.d3 c6 8.f3 ge7 9.b4 g6 10.g3 c7 11.b2 d4 12.0-0 gxe5 13.xd4 b8 14.xc6 xc6 15.g5 h6 16.h5 d7 17.d2 e7 18.c4 d5 19.e5 1-0 Vovsha-Arkell, Pawtucket 2008; B) 6...g6 7.d3 c6 8.f3 c7 9.f4?! 1397

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 9.g3 ) 9...d7?! ( Why not 9...b6 ? forking b2 and f2) 10.0-0 h5 11.g3 0-0-0 12.c3 h4 13.xh4 g5 14.xg5 ge7 15.b4 d4 16.b5 b6 17.xd4 xd4 18.f3 1-0 Ivanchuk-Akopian, Warsaw 2003; C) 6...f8 7.f3 c6 8.d3 f6 9.b4 b6 10.b2 f5 11.g3 h6 12.bd2 1-0 Asrian-Sulskis, Plovdiv 2008; D) 6...e7 This is definitely critical. White has great results if Black tries to defend the pawn. 7.b4 and here I think Black s h o u l d p l a y t h e n e w ( 7.xg7 g6 looks like a draw 8.d3 f8 9.f6 e7 10.g7= ) D1) Instead everyone has played 7...b6 but the most recent game was a quick white win: 8.f3 f8 9.d3 h6 10.h4 ( 10.0-0 ) 10...a5 11.b2 axb4 12.axb4 xa1 13.xa1 bc6 14.0-0 f5 15.a3 ce7 16.h5 g6 17.hxg6 fxg6 18.b5 h7 19.d6 rather early to resign but Black's position is rather lousy. 1-0 Zhigalko-Ringoir, Enschede 2009; D2) 7...h5! 8.xg7 g8 9.h6 d4 10.a2 xe5 when White's position lo o k s a m e s s , h e h a s s t i l l f a i l e d t o develop anything and Black seems to have all the trumps. ] 6.e3 h6 7.f3 [ 7.c3 d7 8.b5 f5 9.d4 compared to Van der Weide-Bitalzadeh in the archives but with a3 and a5 so that Black can no longer play a6 is interesting although maybe Black can just play e7 when c5 might still encounter problems. ] 7...f5 Battaglini's improvement over the last time he had this position [ 7...c7 gives White another opportunity to exploit the vulnerability of the b5 square 8.c3 xc5 9.b5 e7 10.xc5 xc5 11.d6+ ( 11.d4! looks even stronger) 11...f8 12.d3 c6 13.e2 g4 14.xf7 xf7 15.g5+ g8 16.xg4 xe5 17.f4 xd3+ 18.cxd3 f8 19.xf8+ xf8 20.d2 e7 21.ac1 h6 22.f3 d6 23.d4 1/2-1/2 VargaBattaglini, Kecskemet 2009 ] [ 7...d7 8.xh6 gxh6 9.c4 dxc4 10.xc4 xc5 11.e2 is a better version of

Sutovsky-Dautov in the archives ] 8.f4 [ 8.g5! strikes me as strongest. John W atson annotated Luther-Dittmar in the archives, again without a3 and a5 played when he suggested 7...Qa5+ as Houska recommends in her book. Of course now that isn't playable while, as Luther showed, f6 is terrible for Black 9.exf6 gxf6 10.e5 h5 when the strongest is ( 10...g7 11.f3 e7 12.b5+ d7 13.h6 g8 14.d3 is a line given by Watson as great for White and of course I agree.) 11.e2 ( 11.g6 h7 12.xf8 xf8 13.f4 )] 8...xc5 9.d3 Allowing the following critical pawn grab or else W hite has a comfortable a d va n t a g e . b6 10.0-0 xb2 11.bd2 So at the cost of a pawn W hite has a great lead in development and Black has to be careful with his queen. c3 The following options show some of Black's potential pitfalls. [ 11...d4 12.xd4 A) 12...xd4 13.f3 d7 14.g3 i s r a t h e r a w k w a r d f o r B l a c k a s 0-0? drops material to 15.b3 a4 ( 15...c3 16.xh7+ ) 16.h6 g6 17.xc5 xc5 18.g5; B) 12...xd4 13.c3!? ( 13.b1 xa3 14.b5+ d7 15.c4! dxc4 16.xd4 xb5 17.xb5 is about equal, Black's b and c pawns are going to drop while Black develops his final pieces.) 13...xc3 ( 13...a7!? ) 14.b1 xa3 ( 14...a2 15.c1+- Oops! ) 15.c2 d4 16.c4 c5 17.d6+ Gives White very good compensation fo the three pawns. That kn igh t is e xt re m e l y st ro n g o n d 6 a n d Black's extra pawns will start dropping soon. The computer originally thinks this position is equal but then the evaluation starts rising... ] [ 11...xa3 is really too greedy 12.xf5 exf5 13.e6! ( 13.c4!? also looks strong as the c h e c k o n a 4 f o r c e s 0-0 14.cxd5 when White's central pawns look ominous.) 13...fxe6 14.e5 b4 15.c3 e7 16.a4+ d7 17.xa3 ] [ 11...c6 12.b3 e7 13.c1 c3 14.d2 b2 15.e1 d4 16.e4+Bye bye queen. ] 12.b3 1398

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 12.a2 is an interesting attempt to trap Black's queen. Nb1 is the threat so Black h a s t o m a k e r o o m f o r t h e r e t r e a t . a4 ( 12...e7 13.c4! ) 13.c4! A) 13...d4 14.xd4 ( 14.d2 xf3+ 15.xf3 d4 16.d6+ xd6 17.exd6 ) 14...dxc4 15.b5 a5 16.xc4; B) 13...dxc4 14.xf5 exf5 ( 14...a5!? ) 15.d2 xa3 16.xa3 xa3 17.e6! keeps W hite with the advantage. xe6?! 18.a1 ] 12...b6 [ 12...e7 looks like a more secure square for that bishop, controlling more key squares, such as g5, while also putting pressure on the a3 pawn. ] 13.xf5 exf5 14.xd5 0-0 So White has recovered his pawn but Black's also got his king to safety. Both sides pawn structures have been somewhat compromised, White's queenside pawns and Black's kingside respectively. Chances are balanced. 15.bd4 c6 [ 15...d8 16.b5 xa1 17.xd8+ xd8 18.xa1 c6 19.d6 gives White more activity but objectively it's equal. ] 16.b5!? Kryvoruchko is bored with level material and sacrifices a pawn back for an enduring initiative. xc2 17.d6 e6 and Battaglini offers the pawn back [ 17...a4!? is Rybka's suggestion which gives Black's queen a square on b3. 18.ab1? xf2+! ] 18.b5 c5 [ 18...d4! is the easiest equaliser 19.xb6 e2+ 20.h1 xf4 when Black has absolutely no problems. ] 19.b2! Now Black's pieces are rather awkwardly situated. d4 [ 19...c7 20.xb7 ( 20.fc1 b6 21.xb6 xb6 22.ab1 perhaps still gives Black some issues to coordinate his pieces. ) 20...xe5 21.xe5 ( 21.ac1 c4! ) 21...xd6 22.fc1 xe5 23.xc5 xa1= ] 20.e3! Now Black drops material xf3+ 21.gxf3 d5 22.xb6 xf3 23.fc1 d5 24.f1 g2+ 25.e2 xh2 26.d4 h5+ 27.d2 h6+ 28.f4 Black's compensation has dried up. He's picked up three pawns for the pieces but the bishop and knight bind

down Black's position so White has a clear a d v a n t a g e . e4 29.f1 a6 30.xe4 I'd have kept that strong knight for longer. fxe4 31.ab1 c8 32.bc1 f8?! 33.c5 c8 34.xe4 ac6 35.h1 g6 36.xg6 xg6 37.d6 xc1 38.xc1 h5 39.e3 b5 40.f5 g3+ 41.e4 5.a3 looks like an interesting try for the advantage. I think Black's best is 5... Nc6 while 5.. .Bxc5 has terrible results but together with ...h5! seems playable too. The course of the game leaves Black with some problems. 1-0

1314 Kurnosov,Igor Galkin,Alexander ch-HL Ulan Ude RUS (10) [John Watson]

B12 2669 2608 12.09.2009

This month's batch featured four more games with the popular 4 Nd2 versus 3... B5, all won by White. It has been quite successful at the top levels over the past year or so. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 [ 4...h6 is a legitimate move. In the following complex game, nothing was clear until near the very end: 5.b3 e6 6.e2 d7 7.f4 e7 8.e2 c7 9.0-0 c5 10.c3 c6 11.h5 g6 12.g4 e4 13.f3 c2?! ( 13...gxh5 14.fxe4 dxe4 15.xh5 cxd4 16.cxd4 b6 and ...0-0-0 puts pressure on White's centre.) 14.xc2 gxh5 15.xh5 b6 16.f2? ( 16.e3 ) 16...c4 17.d2 cxe5! (I wonder if Kamsky missed something this simple? Now Black is right in the game again) 18.b3 ( 18.dxe5 c5 ) 18...c6?! ( 18...d3 19.e3 a6! ) 19.e2 d3 ( 19...cxb3!? with the idea 20.dxe5 b2 21.xb2 b6+ 22.g2 xb2 ) 20.bxc4 dxc4 21.a4 0-0-0?! ( 21...g8 22.d1 d5! 23.g3 h5! ) 22.d1 e5! 23.xc4! xc4 24.xd3 xd3 25.xd3 c5 26.e3 ( 26.d1 is probably better ) 26...b3 27.b1 exd4 28.cxd4 xd4 29.g2 c6 30.eb3 b6 31.e3 g8 32.c3 b7 33.b5 g6?! ( 33...d4! ) 34.f5 d7 35.f6 e7 36.e4 d7 ( 36...g7! ) 37.b3 a6 38.f6 e7 39.d5 b7 40.h4 e6 1399

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 41.h5 g7 (too late) 42.f4 e2+? 43.f1 d7 44.d3 a2 45.b4+ xb4 46.xd7 c6 47.fxf7 d4 48.c7 1-0 Kamsky, G (2692)-Khotenashvili, B (2438)/Baku AZE 2009. ] 5.b3 This innocuous-looking idea is key to many lines. It's not so easy for Black to play ... c5, and in the meantime White can develop and defend his centre. c5!? Giving up the bishop pair to develop freely. But Black's darksquared bishop is valuable and he will have to move quickly to weaken and break up White's centre, as in this game. [ Two games continued 5...d7 6.f3 e7 7.e2 . Black has tried various courses here, as illustrated by A) 7...g4!? 8.0-0 f5 is extremely natural, although the knight on d7 might be better-placed on c6 (af ter ...c5). Still, White is a long ways from advancing on th e kin gs id e : 9.c3 e7 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 g5!? ( 11...0-0 ) 12.g4 xc1 13.xc1 h6 14.e2 0-0 15.d3 c5! 16.dxc5 c7 17.b4 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.c2 fc8 20.d3 b6! 21.a6 ( 21.xh7+ h8 22.c4 bxc5 23.b5 g6 24.xg6 fxg6 25.xg6 g7 26.xe6 is unclear) 21...c7 22.ae1 f6 23.c4 bxc5 24.cxd5 exd5 25.a4 d6 26.bxc5 xc5 27.d3 c6 28.f4 d7 (Black has an extra pawn, but it's hard to coordinate, and the knight on h6 isn't contributing, so Black tries to bring it back to the centre) 29.e3 h8! 30.fe1 g8 31.e8 xe8 32.xe8 c7?? ( 32...d6! 33.d4 e7 34.xe7 xe7 35.xd5 g6 ) 33.h4 (winning on the spot!) c1+ ( 33...h6 34.xg8+! ) 34.h2 g6 35.f6# 1-0 Wen Yang (2538)-Yu Ruiyuan (2306)/ Lishui CHN 2009.; B) 7...c8 8.0-0 e7 9.e3 0-0 (a typical position) 10.a4 a6!? 11.a5!? a7! 12.fd2 g6 13.c4 c8 14.c5 b5 (Black has sufficient counterplay) 15.f4 f6 16.f3 e8 17.f2 d8 ( or 17...e4 ) 18.g3 ( 18.c1 ) 18...f5 19.h4 e4 20.g2 h6 21.d3 xd3 22.xd3 h5 23.af1 f5 24.d2 f7 (neither side has much to do White tries to sc are u p s o me kingsid e p lay: ) 25.e3 df8? ( 25...f8 ) 26.h3! xh3 ( 26...g6

27.g2 h7 ) 27.e2 g5 ( 27...f6!? 28.exf6 xf6 ) 28.h2 xg3+ 29.g2 h3 30.h2 g3+ 31.h1! (now the queen is trapped) gxf4 32.g2 g5 ( 32...g7 33.xg3 fxg3 ) 33.xf4 h7 34.ff2 h8 35.xg5 hxg5+ 36.g1 g7 37.h2 fh8 (It's not so easy for White to get through perhaps Black still had chances to prevent a breakthrough, but in practice it's almost impossible to defend such a position) 38.f1 g6 39.e3 h4 40.f2 h3 41.g2 3h7 42.xh7 xh7 43.h2 f8 44.c1 d8 45.d2 h5 46.e2 h8 47.f3 h7 48.e3 e7 49.c1 c7 50.d2 d8 51.h1 e8? ( 51...g8 ) 52.xg5 xg5 53.f4+ 1-0 Erdogdu, M (2467)Pantsulaia, L (2600)/ Baku AZE 2009. ] 6.dxc5 xc5 7.xc5 a5+ 8.c3 xc5 9.e3!? [ 9.f3 and ] [ 9.a4+ are less cooperative. ] 9...c7 10.f4 c6 11.f3 f6!? The right idea, but maybe Black should develop first, e. g., [ 11...h6 12.e2 e4!? ( 12...0-0 ) 13.0-0 f5 14.f2 f6 15.d2 fxe5 16.xe4 dxe4 17.b3 e7 ( 17...0-0!? 18.xe6+ h8 ) 18.fxe5 e3 19.e1 0-0-0 with complications. ] 12.d3 [ 12.b5 ge7 13.0-0 ] 12...h6 13.exf6 gxf6 14.d4 xd4 15.xd4 xd3?! [ 15...0-0 ] 16.xd3 f7?! [ 16...0-0 17.f1 f5 18.0-0-0 ] 17.f3! f5 18.0-0-0 h5 19.g3 b5 20.b1 a5 21.h3 b4 22.g4 [ 22.c1 ] 22...xd4 23.cxd4 ac8 [ 23...hxg4 24.hxg4 ac8 ] 24.c1 [ 24.f5! ] 24...b6 25.d3 xc1+ [ 25...c4!? ] 26.xc1 hxg4 27.hxg4 g8? 28.h7+ g7 29.h8! Black's king won't survive. f5 [ 29...g8 30.h5+ g7 31.g5 ] 30.c8 xg4 31.f8+ g6 32.g8+ f6

1400

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 33.f8+ e7 34.f7+ 1-0

1315 Kurnosov,Igor Gorkavij,V Moscow Open A 2012 (1) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B12 2648 2378 28.01.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 d7 6.f3 a6 [ 6...c5 as Pavlovic points out in GrischukRagger most people these days play ...a6 to cut out Bb5+ but the immediate c5 seems to b e h o ld i n g u p ve ry we l l 7.dxc5 xc5 8.xc5 xc5 9.d4 e7 and whilst White has a lot of choice here Black seems to be comfortable in all lines. A) 10.xf5 xf5 11.b5+ d7 12.0-0 0-0 13.e1 c7 is fine for Black ( or 13...c5 to prevent Bd3 ); B) 10.b5+ d7 11.g5 ( 11.0-0 0-0 12.f4 a6 13.e2 with equality) 11...g6 12.d2 ( 12.h4 h6 13.xe7 xe7 14.xd7+ xd7 15.g4 c7 worked well for Black in Bartel, M (2658)Turov, M (2645) Basel 2012 especially when White tried to sacrifice a pawn with 16.0-0?! but after xe5 17.fe1 h5! 18.xg6 xe1+ 19.xe1 fxg6 20.xe6 d7 Black had a clear advantage and went on to win; 12.0-0 a6 13.xd7+ xd7 14.xe7 xe7= ) B1) 12...0-0!? is an interesting option and there's no obvious edge for White here either after 13.b4 e8 14.d6 ( 14.a4 c5 15.a3 d7=; 14.h4!? ) 14...f5 15.xd7 xd6 16.xd8 exd8 17.xe6 fxe6 18.exd6 e5 19.f3 xd6 comfortable equality for Black; B2) 12...a6 is very solid, e. g. 13.xe7 xe7 14.xd7+ xd7 15.h4 ( 15.0-0 0-0 16.f4?! e4 and the strong Bishop on e4 gives Black the edge) 15...h5 ( 15...h6 16.h5 e4 17.0-0 0-0 also seems very sensible) 16.c3 b5 and Black had equalised and even went on to win in Caruana, F (2712)-Eljanov, P (2683) Rogaska Slatina 2011 which is

also covered in the archives. ] 7.e2 [ 7.e3 hasn't been mentioned on ChessPub before so I've included some relevant games here c8 8.c3 c5 9.dxc5 xc5 this looks like the critical line ( 9...xc5 10.fd4 g6 11.e2 h6?! 12.h4! and Black was already in difficulties in the ga m e J a k o ve n ko , D ( 2 7 2 5 )- E l ja n o v, P (2751) Odessa 2010 which White went on to win ) 10.xc5 xc5 11.e2 e7 12.h4 h6 13.xf5 xf5 14.xc5 xc5 was comfortable f or Black in Navara, D (2722)-Grischuk, A (2746) Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 and after 15.d3?! d4! 16.a4+?! b5 Black was close to winning already ] 7...c5 8.dxc5 xc5 [ 8...xc5 is also possible but I'm not convinced it equalised, for example 9.e3 ( 9.0-0 also looks fine to me) 9...a4 10.0-0!? xb2 11.d4 c4 12.xc4 dxc4 13.xc4 e7 14.c5 ( 14.bd4 probably keeps an edge) 14...c8 15.a4+ d7 16.a3 xc2 17.ac1 e4 18.fd1 d5 19.fd2 c7?! ( 19...f5 looks like a necessary move, although Black's position remains unpleasant) 20.e4 c8? 21.xf8 xf8 22.bc5 suddenly Black's position has fallen apart e7 23.g3! b6 24.xa6 c6 25.xc6 xc6 26.d6+ xd6 27.exd6 b7 28.d7+ xd7 29.d6 1-0 Almasi, Z (2707)-Parligras, M (2650) Porto Carras 2011. ] 9.xc5 xc5 10.d4 this looks like the critical test of Black's setup [ 10.0-0 e7 11.h4 is also possible e4 12.f3 g6 13.e3 c8 14.c3 and the po sition wa s level in Almasi, Z (2726)-Grischuk, A (2746) Ningbo 2011 ] 10...e7 11.0-0 c8 the first new move for ChessPub [ 11...0-0 was previously looked at in Grischuk-Ragger in the archives ] [ 11...e4 is covered in Jakovenko, D (2716) -Len ic, L (2 641) Rogaska Sla tina 201 1 [Milos Pavlovic] ] 12.a4 g6 in previous games Black has had more success with castling earlier and then deploying the Bishop on the more active e4 square after White plays f4 and perhaps that would've been a better option 13.c3 0-0 1401

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.e3 a strange position has been reached where it's not easy for either side to make progress. Kurnosov patiently outplays his opponent f5 [ 14...c7 15.f4 e4 ] [ 14...f6 is too weakening after 15.b4! fxe5 16.bxc5 exd4 17.cxd4 and White has a pleasant edge with the two Bishops and a far better pawn structure ] 15.xf5 xf5 16.d4 c7?! another natural move but the Queen isn't really doing anything here [ 16...g5! seems to set White more problems. With Bh3 and Be4 ideas in the air it's not clear how White should attempt to m a k e p r o g r e s s 17.a3!? maybe a good place to start, defending b3 and freeing the Q u e e n o n d 1 . ( 17.f4 g6 ) 17...h3 18.f3 f5 might not be very ambitious but probably this wait-and-see approach was a better alternative ] 17.a5 d7 18.f4 now White has a pleasant position. Perhaps Black should sit as his bid for activity backfires f6?! [ 18...c5 leaves it up to White to force the issue - an interesting line would be 19.b4 e4 20.g4!? g6 21.f5 xc3 22.xc3 xc3 23.fxg6 fxg6 and the extra piece should be enough for the advantage but at least Black has good practical chances in this position ] 19.exf6 xf6 20.d2 the Bishop on d4 now looks like an excellent piece and Black has dark-squared weaknesses scattered all over the board. Even so it should be possible to put up tough defence here ce8?! I suppose Black was trying to prepare ...e5 but he's never given the chance to play it [ 20...e4 21.e3 d6! followed by Nc4 looks sensible - perhaps Black could attempt a blockade on the light-squares although admittedly the defensive task is unlikely to be pleasant ] 21.e3 d7 22.b4 now White has control on all sides of the board f6 [ 22...e5 the bid for counterplay fails here to 23.fxe5 xe5 24.g3! when there's no comfortable way to deal with the pin ] 23.ac1 e4 24.c4! having placed all of his pieces on their optimum squares Igor p re p a re s t o o p e n u p t h e Q u e e n sid e e7

25.c5 [ 25.b5 was also strong b4 26.b6 ] 25...c8 26.e5 d7 27.d4 this keeps total control but it seems like an immediate breakthrough was already possible with c6 [ 27.c6! xc6 28.xc6 xc6 29.c1 and to have any chance Black must try d4! 30.xd4 d7 but now 31.e5 is very strong for White ] 27...f6 28.c3 e4 29.b3 f7 30.c1 fd8?! [ 30...d7?! 31.b5+- ] [ 30...e7! looks like the only defence as n o w c 6 i s n ' t t o t a l l y c l e a r a f t e r 31.c6 ( 31.b5!? may be very strong though xc5 32.b4 d4! ) 31...xc6 32.xc6 bxc6 33.xa6 c5! 34.bxc5 xc5 35.xc5 ( 35.b7 a8 36.f1 ) 35...xc5 36.g3 a8! and Black is still just about holding on ] 31.c6! The breakthrough comes and now Black's position falls apart xc6 32.xc6 bxc6 33.xa6 a8 34.f1 b7 35.a3 c5 a desperate bid for counterplay 36.bxc5 b1 otherwise simply a6 is going to win 37.xg7 c1 38.a1 xc5 [ 38...xf4 39.h8 g5 40.a3 and White can combine pushing the passed pawns with a mating attack if he so wishes ] 39.a6 e7 40.e5 c5 41.b4 f7 42.c1 d3 [ 42...xa6 43.b6 a7 44.xa7+ xa7 45.a1 pins and wins ] 43.xe7+ [ 43.b7 is possibly stronger but there was no reason to get involved in complications at this late stage ] 43...xe7 44.c7+ d8 45.xd3 xd3 46.a7 e4 47.f5 exf5 48.xh7 d4 49.xd4 c8 50.b6+ e8 51.c7 a8 52.h4 Black certainly won't be able to stop the hpawn as well as the one on a7 1-0

1402

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1316 Lastin,Alexander Timman,Jan H III President's Cup (8) [John Watson]

B12 1317 2622 Laznicka,V 2565 Mammadov,Z 19.05.2008 Czech Open A 2013 (2.1) [Tom Rendle]

The Advance Variation with 4 Nd2 is still giving Black troubles. In this game W hite comes out on top in the opening and stays there. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 e7 6.f3 h6 7.e2 d7 8.0-0 h7 9.d2 g6 10.c4 This is the key break. dxc4 11.a5!? [ Simply 11.xc4! establishes one of the types of position that often arises from 4 Nd2. White's space advantage may give him a small edge. ] 11...b8 [ In neither of the games this month did Black play 11...b5 12.xc6 ( 12.a4 c3! ) 12...c7 13.b4 b6 , which seems a sensible continuation, and fully equal. ] 12.xc4 Black's pieces are poorly placed and f ro m n o w o n W h it e sh o u ld st a n d b e t t e r . Timman exchanges the knight, but at the cost of giving White more space: h4 [ 12...b6 is seen in this month's game Mamedov-Jobava. ] 13.xh4 xh4 14.f4 b6 15.xb6 axb6 16.e3 e4 17.d3 As so often, exchanges help the side with more space (contrary to the very poor rule that you of ten hear). Thus White's 15th and 17th moves. xd3 18.xd3 e7 19.f5 exf5 20.d5!? [ A nice move, although 20.xf5! is obvious and good, with a large positional advantage, for example, g6 21.f2 g7 22.af1 0-0 23.b3 b5 ] 20...cxd5 21.xf5 d4 22.xd4 d7 23.f4 g5 24.f3 g7 25.h4 c6 26.g4 h5 27.g3 d8 28.xg5 d4 29.c1 e6 30.f3 Still in charge, but [ 30.a3! is a cute win. ] [ or 30.f6! xf6 31.xf6 f8 32.a3 ] 30...0-0 31.f6 xf6 32.exf6 g4 33.xh5 d8? 34.e5 d7 35.d5 xd5 36.xg4+ f8 37.c8 1-0

B12 2684 2437 20.07.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 h6 7.bd2 e7 8.c3 c7 [ 8...c5?! I annotated last month but it didn't t u r n o u t we l l f o r B l a c k i n M o r o z e v i c h Mamedyarov after 9.dxc5 xc5 10.d4 h7 11.2b3 ] [ 8...h7 is Black's major alternative and I cover it extensively in the notes to Morozevich-Mamedyarov. ] 9.e1 [ 9.h4 is interesting but it didn't really get W hite anywhere after h7 10.f4 c5! see Svidler-Nakamura in the archives. ] [ 9.b3 g5 ( 9...0-0-0 is perhaps more flexible but in all likelihood Black will be playing ...g5 in the near future.) 10.e1 0-0-0 11.d3 ( 11.e3 is perhaps more a c c u r a t e a s n o w g6? allows 12.g4 and the bishop is trapped) 11...g6 12.e3 f6! 13.exf6 d6 14.h3 xf6 and Black had the more promising attack in Caruana, F (2727)-Rombaldoni, D (2533) Perugia 2011, although later White's class told and he went on to win. ] 9...g5 10.f1! Mammadov has launched a dangerous looking attack against White's king but from now on we get a positional masterclass from Laznicka in how to play against this setup. 0-0-0 11.g3 g6 12.d3 [ 12.a4! looks stronger to me here, simply planning to gain space on the queenside and force Black into weakening his position. ] 12...xd3 13.xd3 g6?! It's harsh to call t h is m o ve d u b i o u s b u t g ive n t h e l a c k o f counterplay Mammadov gets in the game this has to be seen as a missed opportunity. [ 13...g4! 14.h4 c5 was essential, and Black has enough counterplay for a roughly level game, for example or 15.e2 ( 15.b4 cxb4 16.cxb4 c4! 17.d1 c6 and W hite's centre is under tremendous pressure ) 15...cxd4 16.cxd4 c6 17.d2 e7 18.g3 xh4 19.gxh4 b8 and Black 1403

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 should not be worse here ] 14.h3! e7 15.d2 dg8 16.h5! The knight on h5 is an important blockader of Black's attack and it also keeps an eye on the potentially weak f6 square. gf8 17.g4 [ 17.h2 seems to me a more classical approach. With a knight on g4 it will be very hard indeed for Black to break with ...f6 and if he tries it straight away then White can gain a clear advantage with f6 18.exf6 xf6 19.xf6 xf6 20.g4 g7 21.c4! preparing to open up the centre. ] 17...f6 Black decides he needs counterplay but the drawback of this move is that the e6 pawn is always going to be left backward and vulnerable. Still, it was probably better than sitting and waiting for White to attack on the q u e e n s i d e . 18.b3?! This gives Black a chance to equalise [ 18.c4! immediately would've left Black in some trouble, for example fxe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.xe5 d6 21.e2 dxc4 22.xc4 and White has a clear advantage - Black's knight on f8 is stuck defending the pawn on e6. ] 18...fxe5 19.xe5 f6 20.xf6 xf6 21.c4! h7 22.g3 d7? Up until now Black had been fighting hard but this move allows a very strong piece sacrifice. [ 22...g6! would've actually kept chances about equal, for example 23.xg6 xg6 24.xe6 xd4 25.ae1 xe6 26.xe6 d7! and Black's centre is still holding his position together nicely. ] 23.xc6! bxc6 24.xe6 d8! This is Black's best chance but already things are looking tough. [ 24...b7? fails to 25.d6 c8 26.cxd5 ] 25.cxd5 [ 25.xc6+ b7 26.cxd5 was a simpler way to play and with 4 pawns and an attack for the piece White must be doing well here. ] 25...cxd5 26.c1+?! This actually allows Black back into the game although only if he continually finds the best move [ 26.a4! was much stronger, the idea is simply that Black has no good moves and it's useful later to be able to shift a knight f ro m b 6 . B la c k b est a p p e ars t o b e b8 27.e5 g7 although it's clear White is much better after 28.b4! ]

26...b7 27.d6 b6 28.c6+ b8 29.b4 g7? After some stubborn defence Mammadov finally cracks [ 29...b7! was the only move to stay in the game and now after 30.d6+ a8 31.e5 xc6 32.cxc6 h7 33.xh6 f7 the game could go either way. ] 30.a4! Now Black is lost as there's no good defence to 31.a5 c7 31.d6 d7 32.a5 xc6 33.xc6 c8 34.e5 f8 35.xh6 e7 36.xc7+ xc7 37.ce6 c8 38.b4 A rook and 3 pawns proves far too much for two minor pieces and Laznicka easily finishes the game. f4 39.hf6 h8 40.g2 h7 41.f5 e7 42.f8+ c7 43.b5! d2 44.e8 d7 45.b6 axb6?! 46.8xe7+! xe7 47.xe7+ xe7 48.a6 A nice finish to a highly instructive game from Laznicka. 1-0

1318 Laznicka,Viktor Akopian,Vladimir Aeroflot Open (9) [John Watson]

B12 2593 2700 22.02.2007

An interesting line versus 3...c5 receives a new test. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 For a while this was threatening to achieve equal status with 3...Bf 5, but in th e pas t couple of years the latter move has taken over again. 4.c4 Here's one of the latest tries for White, Simply trying to pressure the centre and exploit the fact that Black has taken two moves to play ...c5. [ Nevertheless, the traditional line 4 dxc5 is still doing pretty well for White, for example, the plan in the game Ivanchuk-L B Hansen, Skandeborg 2005 still needs a convincing answer: 4.dxc5 c6 (considered best by m o s t c o m m e n t a t o r s a n d p l a ye rs ) 5.f3 g4!? 6.b5 e6 7.b4! ge7 8.bd2! ] 4...e6 [ 4...cxd4 5.f3 c6 transposes to 4... Nc6: ] [ Khenkin has done well with 4...c6 5.f3! ( For 5.cxd5? xd5 , see TopalovicMikhalchishin in the archives) 5...g4 6.cxd5 xd5 ( 6...xf3 7.xf3 xd4 8.d1 xd5 9.b5+ or 9 Qa4+ is 1404

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 interesting ) 7.c3 xf3 A) a n o t h e r K h e n k in g a m e we n t 8.gxf3 xd4 9.e3! xd1+!? ( 9...xe5!? was the try for refutation, although it's risky ) 10.xd1 e6 11.b5!? ( 11.b5! c8 12.d6+ xd6 13.exd6 wins a pawn for White, although Black's good knights versus the doubled f-pawns provide some counterplay) 11...c8 12.e2 a6 13.xc6+ xc6 14.d2 e7 15.hd1 c7 ( HiArcs suggests 15...f5 16.d7 b5 , but most humans wouldn't wa n t t o a llo w W h it e t o d o u b le o n t h e seventh. ) 16.e4 f6 17.f4?! ( This time the computer move is convincing: 17.d6! xd6 18.exd6 d7 19.xc5 ) 17...f5 18.f6+?! ( 18.d6+ ) 18...f7 and Black stood better, CorviKhenkin, Frascati 2005; B) 8.xd5! xd1 9.c7+ d8 10.xa8 h5 . It looks as though White can get the knight out with advantage, but Khenkin is n 't a f ra id : 11.d5!? ( 11.f4!? xd4 12.c1 e6 ) 11...b4 12.e3! B1) 12...b6! seems to be the best try: 13.c4 c2+ 14.d2 xe3?! ( better if not f ully equal is 14...xa1 15.xa1 c8 16.b5 h6 ) 15.xe3 h6 16.h3 f5+ 17.d2 d4 18.b4 ( 18.f4!? ) 18...e6 19.d6 c6 20.f4 g5 21.b5 xb4 22.a4? ( 22.fxg5! h6 23.a3 d5 24.g4 g6 25.h4 hxg5 26.hxg5 wi t h a c o n vin c i n g b i n d .) 22...gxf4 23.a5 g8 24.g4?? fxg3 25.axb6 h6+ 26.c3 d5+ 27.b2 axb6 28.c6 g2 29.xd5 gxh1 30.xh1 f4 31.a7 xe5+ 32.b3 g3+ 33.a2 g1 0-1 Edouard, RKhenkin, I/Andorra 2006/CBM 113 ext; B2) 12...c2+ 13.d2 xa1 14.xc5 f6 ( 14...g6 15.xa7 c2 16.b5 15 or here Bd3) 15.e6 f5 16.xa7 f6 17.d3 g6 18.xa1 h6+ 19.e1 xd5 Vedder, H-Khenkin, I/ Almemlo 2 0 0 6 , a n d n o w 20.b5! was winning, because Black can't do anything about f 3 a n d Rd 1 , e . g. , b4 21.f3 f4 22.d1+ d6 23.c1 c6 24.xc6 bxc6 25.xc6 and mate follows. ] 5.dxc5!? [ I think that 5.cxd5! is correct:

A) 5...xd5 6.c3 xd4 7.xd4 cxd4 8.b5 a6 ( 8...b4+ 9.d2 xd2+ 10.xd2 a6 11.f3 ) 9.f3 is not clear but most players would rather be White; B) 5...exd5 6.c3 c6 7.b5 ( 7.f3!? g4 8.b5 cxd4 9.xd4 xf3 10.gxf3 is messy White has good development in return for his structural problems.) 7...a6 ( 7...cxd4 8.xd4 ge7 9.f3 e6 10.0-0 a6 11.xc6+ xc6 12.f4 again leaves White better-developed, and ready for e7 13.g3! ) 8.xc6+ bxc6 9.ge2 cxd4 10.xd4 e6 11.0-0 c5 12.d3 with White for choice, for example, e7 13.g5 h6 14.xe7 xe7 15.f4 ] 5...c6 6.f3 xc5 This is beginning to resemble a French Defence, W hite having brought Black's bishop to c5 in one move, and Black having, lost the tempo ... c6-c5. 7.c3 ge7 8.a3?! Slow. 0-0 9.f4 Also slow [ 9.a4! b6 10.xb6 xb6 11.b4 ] 9...b6!? One of several moves. Black should have no problems here. [ 9...f6!? is a French Defence solution, establishing a central majority: 10.exf6 xf6 11.g5 f8 unclear. ] 10.c2!? g6 11.g3 d4! [ Or 11...f6 12.exf6 xf6 ] 12.xd4 xd4 13.cxd5 [ 13.0-0-0!? xe5 14.cxd5 xc3! 15.xc3 exd5 with ...Bf5 and ...Rc8 ensures Black some advantage. ] 13...exd5 14.d3 xe5 After this Black has a winning game, but ultimately stumbles and has to settle for a draw. The opening, however, was very poor for White. Instead, 5 cxd5! is the move, apparently not so easy to meet. 15.0-0 xg3 16.hxg3 e6 17.ad1 a5 18.xg6 hxg6 19.d4 ac8 20.fd1 c4 21.d2 xd4 22.xd4 d8 23.d2 d7 24.d1 b6 25.e2 c5 26.c1 d6 27.c8+ d8 28.xd8+ xd8 29.e5 c8 30.f4 d7 31.e2 b5 32.f4 d7 33.e2 f6 34.b8+ h7 35.d4 g5 36.f3 g4 37.f2 f7 38.f4 gxf3 39.gxf3 e7 40.f5+ g6 41.f4 g7 42.e3 c7 43.f4 d7 44.e2 a5 45.g4 e8 46.f3 e7 47.c3 e4 48.g3 g8 49.f3 d4 50.xd4 d5 51.c8+ g7 52.d7+ h6 53.g5+ fxg5 54.h3+ g7 55.d7+ h6 1405

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 56.h3+ g7 57.d7+ f7 58.fxg5 d3+ 59.h4 e4+ 60.g3 d3+ 61.h4 e3 62.g4 g1+ 63.h3 h1+ 64.g3 g1+ 65.h3 e3+ ½-½

1319 Leko,Peter Anand,Viswanathan Rapid Match Miskolc HUN rapid (8) [John Watson]

B12 2751 2783 07.06.09

The Short Variation scored terrifically well at the top this month, although Black held in this game. I've included several ot her recen t examples. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 [ Molner-Finegold, Wheeling USA 2009 went 3...c5 4.dxc5 e6 A) one idea is 5.d3 with the idea xc5 ( or 5...c6 6.f3 xc5 7.e2 ) 6.g4; B) 5.g4 h5 6.f4 ( 6.g3 h4 7.g4 ) 6...xc5 B1) After 7.d3 b6 , and there might follow 8.c3!? B1a) H o u s k a g i v e s 8...d7 , when W hite can try a line like 9.d2!? ( 9.b4 e7 10.f3 b5 11.xb5+ xb5 12.g3 ) 9...b5! 10.xb5+ xb5 11.c4 , for example, b6 12.cxd5 exd5 13.e2 f6 14.0-0 d7 15.f3 e7 16.exf6 0-0 17.b4 d6 18.g5 xf6 19.e3 xb4 20.fd4; B1b) 8...g5 9.d2 ( Simply 9.xg5 looks interesting - after xf2+ 10.f1 I don't see a follow-up for Black and W hite is threatening Qg7.) 9...c6 10.e2 h6 11.f3 Nunn-Breder, Bundesliga 2000-1; B2) 7.f3 c6 ( 7...b6! 8.g5?! f6! ) 8.d3 b4 9.0-0 d7 10.e3 xd3 11.cxd3 e7 12.g3 g6 13.g5 h4 1/2-1/2 ] 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 Other recent games: [ a) 5...h6 6.bd2 e7 7.f1!? c5 8.g3 cxd4 ( or 8...h7 ) 9.xd4 h7 10.f4!? ec6 11.c3 xd4 12.cxd4 b4+ ( 12...b6 ) 13.f2 ( 13.d2 c6 14.a3 e7 15.c3 b6 is at least equal for Black ) 13...0-0 14.f1 c6 15.g1?!

( 15.e3 ) 15...b6 16.e3 e7 ( 16...a5! looks artificial, but threatens ...Qxb2 and wins a pawn, since 17 b3 Bc3 picks up the dpawn. White should try 17.f5 xb2 18.f2 c3 19.f3 , but it's not enough compensation) 17.h1!? ( now 17.d2 is possible) 17...ac8 ( 17...xb2! ) 18.f5!? Sutovsky- Rodshtein, Israel 2009 and here xe5! is simple and good. White doubtless intended 19.f6 gxf6 20.xh6 , but ( 20.h5 d7 ) 20...c6! 21.xf8 xf8 followed by capture on d4 decimates White's centre. ] [ b) 5...d7 6.0-0 g6 ( 6...e7 is a common alternative that we have seen before ) 7.bd2 h6 8.b3 (this manoeuvre hasn't generally been so successful in the Short Variation. 4 Nd2 is more interesting. Here it works out: e7 ( 8...f5 is in the notes to Vachier LagraveDittmar in the Archives) 9.e1 0-0 ( 9...f5 ) 10.d3 c8 11.c3 b6 12.f4 c5 ( 12...f5! ) 13.xg6 hxg6 14.g4!? (finally hampering Black's knight on h6) c4 15.d2 g5 16.f3 b5 17.g2 b4 18.h3 b8 19.f3 with a complex position that's hard to assess, Ganguly-R Antonio, Subic Bay PHI 2009. ] [ c) 5...e7 6.c3 h6 7.0-0 d7 8.a3!? (yet another plan Nc2 can defend the critical d4, and the knight can travel further to e3 to attack in the centre and perhaps support a kingside attack) h7 9.g3!? ( 9.c2 ) 9...c7 10.e1 0-0-0 11.f1 b8 12.d2 c8 ( 12...g5!? ) 13.b4 b5!? 14.c2 db6 15.e3 a4 and it seems that Black has equalised, although he went on to lose, Baklan-Tishin, Alushta UKR 2009. ] 6.e3 [ T h e o l d l i n e wa s 6.0-0 c6 7.c3 it actually won a game this month as well: g4 8.bd2 ge7 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 cxd4 11.cxd4 b6 12.b3 g6 13.a3 a5 14.h4 e7 15.g3 f5 16.h5 f8 17.g2 g5 18.hxg6 hxg6 19.e3 d7 20.b4! axb4 21.axb4 xa1 22.xa1 Arakhamia, Barnaure, Edinburgh 2009. White's space and centre squash Black's counterplay. ] 6...cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.c4 [ 8.c3 was a little slow in the Archives game Caruana-Motylev, Moscow RUS 2008, guest 1406

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 annotated by David Vigorito. ] 8...bc6 9.a4 dxc4 [ 9...a6 is examined in Leko-Cheparinov, Elista 2008 in the Archives. The key tactical idea is to answer 10 cxd5 by 10...b5!. It actually transposed back to our game. ] 10.c3 a6 11.0-0-0 a5 [ R e c e n t l y B l a c k t u r n e d t o 11...c8 , although I'm not sure why, because 12.xf5 xf5 13.b6 is a little awkward: b4 14.f4 ( 14.d8+ xd8 15.xd8 xd8 16.a3 e7 17.f3 fd4 18.xc6+ xc6 Caruana-Cossin, Rogaska Slatina SL O 2009 and simply 19.f4 looks to keep some advantage, in part because it prevents ... Bg5+ ) 14...xc3 15.bxc3 0-0 16.f3 fe7 17.g3?! ( 17.xc4! ) 17...a7 18.d7 d5 19.xc8 xc8 20.xd5 PredojevicHarikrishna, Sarajevo BIH 2009 and here instead of 20...Nb6 21 Bxb7, exd5 21.c7 e7 22.d6 fe8 23.xe7 xe7 24.xd5 f6 should be fine. ] 12.xa5 xa5 13.xf5 xf5 14.b6 c6 15.f4 c8 16.f3 [ 16.d2 e7 17.f3 transposes, as in Leko-Cheparinov, Elista 2008. ] 16...e7 17.d2 g5 18.g3 gxf4 19.gxf4 h4! As I gave in my notes to LekoCheparinov Black should equalise. 20.e4 g8 21.b1?! g4 22.f1 g6! From now on the play goes smoothly and neither side is ever winning: 23.f5 gxe5 24.fxe6 fxe6 25.xh7 d7 26.e3 b5 27.c2 ce5 28.e4 d3 29.xd3 cxd3 30.f2 g2 31.xd3 xd2 32.xd2 f6 33.c1 d8 34.e5 d5 35.c6 h5 36.e1 f7 37.f4 d5 38.g3 f6 39.a3 f5 40.e5+ xe5 41.xe5 a5 42.c2 ½-½

Rodshtein. ] 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.c4 This is the main move and probably best, but there are some interesting ideas that haven't drawn attention: [ a) We saw the harmless 8.c3 in CaruanaMotylev, Aeroflot 2008 in the Archives. ] [ b) 8.g5 wastes time, but causes Black some worries because now Nxf5 can't be answered by ... Nxf5, and because Bb5+ is a huge threat (the pinned knight on e7 can't support c6). The best response seems to be b6! , when play might go 9.c3 bc6! ( 9...xb2? 10.cb5 ) 10.e3!? (back again!), and White will give up the epawn for activity in the line c7 ( 10...xd4 11.xd4 d8 and ...Nc6 looks satisf actory.) 11.0-0 xe5 ( 11...xe5 12.g4! g6 13.f4 5c6 14.cb5 d7 15.f5! exf5 16.f4 ) 12.d2 ] [ c) Simply 8.c3 has a similar sacrificial idea: bc6 9.0-0 xe5? ( but 9...xd4 10.xd4!? c6 11.a4 a6! should be all right ) 10.g4 g6 11.f4 ] 8...bc6 9.a4 [ Again, this seems right. The direct 9.c3 allows xd4 10.xd4 dxc4 11.xc4 c6 12.b5 e7= ] 9...a6 Dave Vigorito gives this an '!' in the A rch ive s. I t 's ra t h e r slo w, b u t B la c k wil l prevent White pieces from coming to b5 and ready an eventual ...b5 himself . The key tactical idea is to answer 10 cxd5 by 10... b5!. Black has also played 9...dxc4 and [ 9...d7 , f o r e x a m p l e , 10.b5 g6 11.1c3 b4 12.g4 e4 13.f3 xf3 14.xf3 gxe5 15.cxd5 xc3+ 16.f2 d4 17.c7+ e7 18.a3+ d6 19.xc3 exf3 20.xa8 xa8 21.xd4 g5 22.a3 1-0 Pilgaard, K -Dongart, D Denmark 1995. ] 1320 B12 10.c3 [ 10.a3 is slightly depressing for Black, Leko,Peter 2747 because W hite has the only chances Cheparinov,Ivan 2696 following a5+! ( 10...dxc4?! leaves Black FIDE Grand Prix (3) 16.12.2008 worse after 11.xc4 b5!? 12.xb5 axb5 [John Watson] 13.xb5 b8 14.a6 ) 11.xa5 xa5 , for example, 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 A) 12.cxd5 exd5 ( 12...xd5! ) 13.0-0 c5 ac6 14.ad1 xd4 15.xd4 c6 [ This is the most radical move. The 16.b6 favours White slightly, and e6?! a l t e r n a t i v e 5...d7 is seen in Smirin1407

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.f4! xa3 18.bxa3 g6 19.f3 e7 20.c1 was clearly in his favour in Gallagher-Krueger, Bern 1995.; B) 12.d2!? xc4 13.xc4 dxc4 14.xc4 d5 15.xf5 exf5 16.c1 d7! isn't worth much; C) 12.0-0 dxc4 13.xc4 xc4 14.xc4 e4! 15.ac1 d5 16.e2 ( 16.d3 c8 17.xc8+ xc8 18.c1 d7 19.a3! and f4 follows with some pull e7 20.f4 g6 21.f2 g7 22.e2 h6 23.b4 ) 16...c8 17.xc8+ xc8 1/2-1/2 SvidlerAnand, Tilburg 1998. ( 17...xc8 18.c1 d7 19.a3 e7 20.f4 g6 is close to equal )] 10...dxc4 11.0-0-0 [ 11.d1 has also been played, to little effect d3 12.xd3 cxd3 13.xd3 a5 can follow. ] 11...a5 [ Now 11...d3 12.xd3 cxd3 13.xd3 a5 14.xa5 xa5 isn't quite as clear, because W hite can double rooks quickly: 15.f4 d8 16.hd1 A) 16...ac6 17.a3 xd4 18.xd4 c6 19.b6 ( 19.e4!? xd4 20.xd4 xd4 21.xd4 e7 22.d2; 19.e3 xd3 20.xd3 e7 21.e4 ) 19...xd3 20.xd3 e7 21.e4 N Davies-K Mueller, Chessfriend.com 2003. Black has a little trouble developing, because ...0-0 allows Rd7. The game continued g5!? ( 21...h6 ) 22.fxg5 xe5 23.c3 c6 24.c5 wi t h c o n t r o l o f t h e d a r k s qu a re s a n d some queenside pressure. White went on to win.; B) 16...h5! 17.h4!? ( 17.f3 xd3 18.xd3 f5 19.f2 and Ne4 keeps an edge, but W hite was probably happy to draw ) 17...ec6 18.xc6 xd3 19.xd3 xc6 20.a3 h6 1/2-1/2 InarkievIvanchuk, Kusadasi 2006. White still has th e c ha n ce s, b ut .. . f 6 will like ly ke e p things within bounds. ] 12.xa5 xa5 13.xf5 xf5 14.b6 c6 [ 14...b4 15.e4 ( 15.f4 c8 16.e4 0-0 17.d7 c6 ) 15...c6 16.f4 c8 17.g4 h4 18.b1 Dushin-Vetter, ICCF email 2007 White went on to win, but at this point g6 19.hf1 f8! heading for d7 would have been almost equal. ]

15.f4 c8 16.d2 [ T h e r a d i c a l a l t e r n a t i v e 16.g4 can be answered by either knight move: A) 16...h4 17.xc4 leaves the knight far afield, but its advantage is that Black can d e v e l o p h i s k i n g ' s b i s h o p , e . g . , b4 18.b3 ( 18.e2 xc3 19.bxc3 e7 20.b2 d5 ) 18...a5 19.f2 g2 with the idea 20.f5 f4; B) 16...fe7 17.xc4 g6 18.hf1 h5 19.g5 b4 with sufficient counterplay ] 16...e7!? A little strange-looking, but it prepares Black's next. [ 16...b4 is natural. Perhaps Black felt that Leko would play as in the game with 17.f3 intending to double rooks, when 0-0 allows ( 17...g5!? ) 18.d7 ] 17.f3!? Quite a decision! White stays a pawn down for a while in order to maximally activate his bishops and achieve a doubling of rooks. The threat is Rhd1 and Rd7. [ Still, the immediate 17.hd1 g5 18.g3 gxf4 19.gxf4 seems a better try. ] 17...g5! Utilising 16.. .Be7. Black will counter dfile play with his own on the g-file. 18.g3 gxf4 19.gxf4 b4!? [ Or 19...h4 20.e4 g6! 21.e2 f8 22.hd1 g8 ] 20.b1 g8 21.hd1 d3! 22.xb7 b8 23.c6+ f8 24.a7 c8 25.e4 xf4 26.a4 c3?! This isn't necessary Black wants to pressure the e-pawn, but [ 26...c7 27.b6 ( 27.f2 d3! ) 27...c8 is much easier, holding on to the pawn for a while. The next few moves clarify matters. ] 27.xc3 g6 28.e2 g7 29.f1 c5 30.xc5 xc5 31.xf5 exf5 32.xf5 e8 33.ef2 e7 34.c2 cxe5 35.b4! Now Black has to cope with an outside passed pawn, and his own pawns are weak. This proves too m uch t o hand le, a lthough it's certainly not clear that he's lost at this point. xf5 36.xf5 e6 37.a4 e7 38.f2 f5 39.b3 f6 40.b5 axb5 41.axb5 e3 42.d2 e6 43.a4 f4 44.b6 c6 45.c5 e3+ 46.a4 f3 47.b7 g5 48.b5 b8 49.d8! A nice trick to finish things. e1 50.xb8 f2 51.f8 f1+ 52.xf1 xf1 53.a4! [ 53.a4 a1+ ( 53...f8 54.e6+; 53...f4+ 54.b3 f3+ 55.c2 f2+ 1408

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 56.c3 f3+ 57.d4 54.b4 b1+ 55.b3 ] 1-0

1321 Leko,Peter Roiz,Michael 8th World Teams (5) [Milos Pavlovic]

f4+

58.e4+ ) d5 30.d4 1-0

B12 2717 2669 21.07.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 c5 7.c4 bc6 8.a3 a6 9.dxc5 d4 10.a4 g6 11.d1 xc5 [ Relevant: 11...d3 12.e3 e7 13.c2 0-0 14.xd3 xd3 15.ce1 cxe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.xd3 xd3 18.a3 c8 19.xd3 b6 20.b4 bxc5 21.xc5 xc5 22.bxc5 a7 23.d6 c7 24.xa6 xc5 25.a8 xa8 26.xc5 c8 27.b4 Ob vio us ly be in g a p a wn o wn in su ch a position is not to be recommended for Black. It is a one way street, despite the fact that Black actually managed to save half a point in Zhigalko, S-Bologan, V Olginka 2011 ] 12.b4 a7 13.c5 0-0 14.c4 e4 15.e3 d3N Another idea has been seen: [ 15...b5 16.cxb6 xb6 17.xb6 xb6 18.xd4 xb4 19.xb4 xb4 20.f3 d5 21.a3 c6 22.xc6 xc6 23.f4 d5 24.a4 After a more or less forced sequence of moves we have arrived in an endgame where White's chances are preferable due to the strong bishop pair and the two pawns remaining on the queenside, Iordachesku-Lalith, B /Dubai 2009 ] 16.e1 d5 With this move Black is forcing matters to win a pawn. Another idea is: [ 16...gxe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xd3 f6 19.xe5 xe5 20.ac1 c6 21.c2 ad8 22.f1 b8 23.g3 The position is balanced. ] 17.d6 gxe5 18.xe4 xe4 19.xd3 xd3 20.xd3 xb4 21.c2 Here Black has a pawn more, but the bishop pair, b-file and the passive bishop on a7 fully compensate that. h4 22.g3 h5 23.ab1 ab8 24.e2 e5 25.d7 After this Black is in a very difficult situation. fd8 26.xd8+ xd8 27.xb7 b8 28.xa6 b4 29.a4

1322 Lenic,Luka Solak,Dragan 18th European Teams (5.12) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2634 2629 07.11.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.c3 e7 7.g5 dxc4 8.xc4 d7 9.ge2 f6 10.exf6 gxf6 11.f4 [ 11.e3 b6 12.b3 This is a more common position but in this game W hite decides to keep his bishop on the h2-b8 diagonal instead. ] 11...b6 12.b3 ed5 13.0-0 d6 Alternatives were far from clear [ 13...d7 14.g3 g8 15.xd5 ( 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5 exd5 17.f4 0-0-0 Brings the same thing.; 15.f4 xf4 16.xf4 g4 17.g3 0-0-0 ) 15...xd5 16.xd5 exd5 17.f4 0-0-0 18.a4 a6 Much better was: ( 18...e4! 19.ac1 d6 20.xh5 f7 21.c3 xh5 22.xc6+ bxc6 23.xc6+ b8 24.xd6+ xd6 25.xd6+ a8= ) 19.ac1 h6 20.c5 ( 20.c3 it was better to go for this move.) 20...e8 ( 20...xf4 21.xf4 h3 22.g3 f5 23.gxh3 f4 24.h2 df8 ) 21.fc1? xg3! 22.fxg3 e3+ ( 22...xf4! 23.gxf4 e3+ 24.h1 e4-+ ) 23.h1 xg3 24.xc6+ b8 25.xa6 bxa6 26.xa6 g8?? ( 26...xh4+ 27.g1 xf4 28.b6+ a8= ) 27.b6+ a8 28.a6+ b8 29.b6+ a8 30.a5+ b8 31.b4+ a8 32.a4+ b8 33.b5+ a8 34.xd5+ b8 35.b5+ a8 36.a4+ b8 37.b4+ a8 38.a5+ b8 39.c7+ a8 40.c6+ b8 41.d6+ a8 42.a6+ b8 43.b6+ a8 44.a5+ b8 45.b4+ a8 46.c5 Finally, after so many checks to gain time on the clock, White delivers the 'coup de grace'. xh4+ 47.g1 1-0 Berg, E -Akesson, R / Vaxjo 2008 ] [ 13...g8 14.g3 g4 15.d2 f7 We have another example of a very sharp position, where both sides have chances. ] 14.xd6 xd6 15.g3 g6 It seems that 1409

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White has the initiative: [ 15...g4 16.c2 0-0-0 17.ce4 f4 18.a4 b8 19.a5 d7 20.a6 b4 21.c3 xa6 22.xa6 bxa6 23.a1 ] 16.ce4 xe4 17.xe4 f4 18.e1 This is already an unpleasant position. 0-0-0 19.g3 dg8 20.h1 c7 21.f3 b8 Allowing the next move, but W hite has the advantage anyway. [ 21...d7 22.e2 b8 23.ae1 This is too easy for White. ] 22.c5! e5 23.xd5 cxd5 24.ac1 g7 25.h2 e8 26.a4 White's position plays itself. g4 27.xg4 hxg4 28.a5 c4 29.d7+ a8 30.xf6 ef8 31.dxe5 Practically speaking its all over now. xb2 32.c2 d3 33.e3 xe5 34.xe5 xf6 35.xd5 b6 36.g5 bxa5 37.xg4 a6 38.a4 b7 39.c5 b6 40.g5 c8 41.h5 c5 42.f4 b5 43.a1 a4? Blundering a rook 44.b1+ a5 45.xc5# 1-0

1323 Lindberg,Bengt Celander,Jesper 2000 Stockholm [Paul Motwani]

[ Alternatively, White could have won material with 9.xf7 xf7 10.xf7+ xf7 11.e5 ] 9...d5 10.h5 xg5 11.xg5 d7 Hoping to exchange the queens via ...Qg4, but White has other plans 12.d3! f5 [ White was intending 12...h6 13.xh6 ( or 13.f5 )] [ or 12...g6 13.h6 followed by Bf6 ] 13.exf6 xf6 14.h4 f7 [ 14...e7 loses to 15.xh7+! ] [ and 14...g4 does not help either, in view of the capture 15.xf6 followed by 16 Qxh7 check or mate depending on how Black first recaptures at f6! ] 15.xf6 gxf6 16.xf6! e7 17.c4+ [ White's other routes to victory include 17.g6+ or ] [ 17.xh7+ ] 17...h8 18.xf8+ Black resigned because of 18...Qxf8 19 Qxd4+ Qg7 20 Qd8+, and mate on White's next move. 1-0

B12

2000

1324 Liu,Qingnan Vidit,S Asian Continental 2012 (8.8) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B12 2483 2528 12.05.2012

2) W 15: The game B.Lindberg-J.Celander played on 13 June 2000 in a tournament at 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.a3!? S t o c k h o l m , S w e d e n , w a s a C a r o K a n n A move Nigel Short has tried on a number of Defence 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 featuring the so- occasions d7 [ 5...c5 is a very logical alternative 6.c4 dxc4 c a l l e d " F a n t a s y V a r i a t i o n " 3.f3!? and the continuation was dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 7.xc4 c6 8.e3 cxd4 9.xd4 5.f3 A) 9...ge7 looks worth of attention if [ Not 5.dxe5?? h4+ ] Nxd4 isn't to your taste; 5...exd4?! B) 9...xd4 i s c r i t i c a l 10.xd4 a6 11.c3 ( 11.0-0 e7 and I see no way [ Already an r because White's next move for White to make use his temporary lead not only establishes a dangerous lead in development, but also generates serious in development) 11...e7 12.f4 ( 12.e3 c7 and Black is fine) 12...c6 13.e3 pressure towards Black's f7-pawn which e7 ( 13...c7 14.e2 g5! looks a much should have been shielded by the t h e o r e t i c a l r e c o m m e n d a t i o n o f 5...e6 mo re co m ba t ive a nd tricky resp on s e) intending 6.xe5? ( or 6.dxe5 xd1+ 14.0-0 0-0 15.e2 xd1 16.axd1 fd8 17.b6 xd1 18.xd1 and White 7.xd1 d7 with good play but White should prefer; 6.c3 ) 6...h4+ ] definitely had the better chances in Reefat, 6.c4 e7 7.0-0 S (2458)-Rasmussen, A (2253) Gausdal 2001; [ Not 7.e5?? a5+ ] 7...f6 8.g5 0-0 9.e5 C) 9...a5+?! 10.c3 xe5 11.0-0 1410

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 led to a quick miniature which was examined by Andrew Martin in Rausis, ISalem, A ] [ 5...e7 6.bd2 d7 7.h4 was tried by Nigel against Karpov in Dos Hermanas in 1997 and there followed c5 8.c3 a6 9.xf5 xf5 10.f3 c8 11.d3 cxd4 12.xf5! exf5 13.xd4 ( 13.xd4! c5 14.e3 e6 15.a4+ may lead to a small advantage to W hite after d7 16.xd7+ xd7 17.g3 ) 13...g6 14.0-0 c5 15.e3 g7 16.f3 0-0 and Karpov had pretty much equalised and went on to win. ] 6.e2 [ 6.bd2 h6 7.e2 e7 8.f1 g6 9.c3 c5 10.g3 c6 11.0-0 e7 12.e3 0-0 ( 12...c4 looks a reasonable way to play to me, clamping down on the Queenside although Black must be careful to avoid a quick Nd2, f4, f5 by White) 13.d3 cxd4 14.cxd4 b6 15.xg6 fxg6 16.d2 e8 was about equal in Short, N (2660) -Adams, M (2680) Groningen 1997 ] 6...e7 7.0-0 [ 7.bd2 worked well for in a recent game c8 ( 7...c5!? deserves attention) 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 g6 10.d3 0-0 11.f4 c5 12.xg6 hxg6 13.c3 already looks very pleasant for W hite and he went on to win in P o p o vi c , D (2 5 6 1 ) - P i k u la , D ( 2 5 2 5 ) Vrnjacka Banja 2012 ] 7...c5 [ 7...g6 8.c3 this seems a bit cautious to me but I'm su re Nigel und erstands this position much better than I do! ( 8.bd2 looks more to the point and now f5 9.c4 dxc4 10.xc4 b6 11.g5! is perhaps an improvement over 11.Na5 which has been seen in a couple of games d5 12.e3 d7 13.xf5 xf5 14.d3 xd3 15.xd3 and perhaps White can make something out of his space advantage here, although it has to be said Black is incredibly solid.) 8...c5 9.e1 c8 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 f5 12.bd2 e7 it seems Black has equalised here which perhaps led Nigel to try 13.g4!? h4 14.xh4 xh4 15.f3 e7 but I slightly prefer Black here in Short, N (2698) -Laznicka, V (2703) Porto Carras 2011 ] 8.dxc5

[ 8.b4! is an interesting line offered up by Hiarc's opening book, the idea seems to be that after cxd4 9.xd4 it's now not possible to take the pawn on e5 because of xe5?! 10.g4! g6 11.f4 d7 12.f5 and White wins a piece ] 8...c6 [ 8...xc5 9.b4 d7 10.bd2 planning c4 ( 10.b2 isn't as accurate because after c8 White has to waste time defending c2 and still has some way to go before getting c4 in ) 10...c6 ( 10...c7 11.c4 ) 11.b2 e7 12.c4 is slightly better for White ] 9.b4 a5! This seems to be the best move here [ 9...dxe5?! quickly leads to trouble after 10.xe5 xe5 11.g4! e4 12.f3 g6 13.f4 c6 14.f5 f6 15.fxg6 xa1 16.gxf7+ d7 17.e3! preventing Qd4+ and White has more than enough compensation for the exchange ] 10.b5?! Given the improvement for Black on move 11 I don't like this move at all [ Instead 10.d4 was seen in the top level g a m e S vi d l e r , P ( 2 7 3 4 ) - S o , W ( 2 6 7 4 ) Amsterdam 2010 and there followed axb4 11.xf5 exf5 12.b2 ( 12.xd5 dxe5 ) 12...xc5 13.axb4 xa1 14.xa1 xb4 15.c3 b6 16.b5+ c6 with balanced chances. Given that I don't really like 10. b5 White players may choose to search for an edge either here or more likely with 8.b4 ] 10...cxe5 11.d4 A critical position for this line - unfortunately (for White players that is) I believe Black is doing well here [ 11.xe5 xe5 12.b2 g6 doesn't cause Black any problems ] 11...xc5?! Not bad but not the best move. [ 11...f6! is the computer's suggested improvement for Black and it seems to be a good one, for example 12.c6 ( 12.xf5 xf5 13.c6 bxc6 14.bxc6 xc6 and I don't really believe in W hite's compensation here) 12...bxc6 13.f4!? c4 14.xc4 g4! 15.d2 c5 16.b2 dxc4 and Black is clearly better - White's knight on b1 will struggle to get involved. ] [ 11...g6?! 12.c6 bxc6 13.bxc6 b8 14.b5 A) 14...c7 is surely more sensible here although White can has a lot of dangerous 1411

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 op tio ns h e re in clu din g 15.f4 ( and 15.a4!? ) 15...d6 16.c3; B) 14...c8? 15.f4 c4? 16.f5 exf5? 17.c7+ d7 18.e1+ Gutman, L (2450)Schuster, B Kassel 1994 is presumably the reason why players keep repeating this line as White although obviously Black's play can be drastically improved. ] 12.xf5 exf5 13.xd5 c7 [ 13...0-0 14.b2 ( 14.c3 e8 15.a4 is perhaps preferable but it's hardly a scary line for Black to face, e.g. c7 16.b2 f8 and Black has no problems) 14...c7 15.d2 fe8 16.f3 b6 was a little better for Black in Heberla, B (2426)-Czarnota, P (2307) Trzebinia 2002 ] 14.b2 0-0-0!? 15.d2 he8 16.b3 f6 17.xe5 After this Black always seems to have the better chances but perhaps it was already difficult [ 17.f3 eg4 18.xf6 xf6 19.d3 e4 20.ad1 b8! this move underlines the fact that White has no plan whereas Black can improve his position at his leisure, perhaps with ...f6 and ...g5!? ] [ 17.d3 is the move White would like to play but unfortunately it's strongly met by eg4! 18.g3 xf2 19.xf2 g4 20.af1 b8! a lovely calm move 21.g2 xf2 22.xf2 xf2 23.xf2 e7 and Black's pieces are by far the better coordinated giving him a clear edge ] 17...xe5 18.d3 g4 [ 18...xf2+! was also strong here 19.h1 ( 19.xf2? xa1+; 19.xf2?? e3# ) 19...b8 20.xf7 g6 21.f3 c3 ] 19.f3 xf2+ 20.h1 c5 21.xf7 f8?! A definite inaccuracy which eases W hite's position a little [ 21...g6! 22.h3 e5 23.xe5 xe5 would've been very unpleasant to deal with. Black is very solid and the opposite coloured Bishops definitely work in Black's favour here - the simple plan of Bc5-d6 looks dangerous for starters. ] 22.xg7 d7 23.b2 e3 24.ae1 f2+ Vidit grabs an exchange but White managed to get just about enough activity to cause problems 25.xf2 xf2 26.e5 d5 27.e6 d6 28.e5 d5 29.e6 d4 30.b3 b8 31.a4 Black must still be better here but it's

less clear than it was and he chooses to accept a draw. 5.a3 is an interesting line but the way the game went was definitely not in White's favour so I'd recommend looking at 8. b4 or choosing a different line! ½-½

1325 Llobel Cortell,Enrique Karpov,Anatoly Rapid Exhibition g/10 rapid (1.2) [Nigel Davies]

B12

14.06.2001

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 a6 The ultimate deterrent? This is something like a high class waiting move with which Black keeps open the option of retreating his bishop t o c 8 a n d r e m o ve s o n e o f t h e p o t e n t i a l dangers of a later ...c6-c5 by protecting the b5 square. 5.d3 xd3 6.xd3 e6 7.ge2 [ 7.f3 c5 8.dxc5 xc5 9.0-0 d7 10.a4 a7 11.c4 e7 12.g5 dxc4 13.xc4 c8 14.e4 c6 was also fine for Black in Gachon - Roos D., French Ch., 1998 ] 7...c5 8.dxc5 c6 9.g3 ge7 10.g5 f5 11.xd8 xg3 12.hxg3 xd8 13.f4 xc5 Black is v ery comfortable here. If this game had been played under normal tournament conditions I suspect that Karpov would have won. 14.0-0-0 e7 15.g4 h6 16.h3 c8 17.dh1 hf8 18.h5 a7 19.g5 hxg5 20.xg5 g6 21.g3 b5 22.a3 h8 23.gh3 xh3 24.xh3 b4 25.axb4 xb4 26.d1 d4 Initiating action that results in a draw by repetition. With more time on the clock, Karpov might have tried to first improve his position. 27.e4 xc2 28.d6 c7 29.h7 e3+ 30.e1 f8 31.h8+ e7 32.h7 ½-½

1412

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1326 Luther,Thomas Dittmar,Peter 25th Liechtenstein Open (2) [John Watson]

B12 2586 2344 12.05.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 Most players still pref er 3... Bf 5 here, but Jovanka Ho uska proposes using 3...c5 in her terrific CaroKann repertoire book. I'm a little suspicious of the move, but the proof is in concrete v a r i a t i o n s . 4.dxc5 e6 5.e3 h6 According to Houska this is Dautov's idea. 6.f3 f5 7.g5! A very challenging move th a t m a y we ll yie ld so me a d va n t a ge . f6? This is a huge mistake, close to '??'. [ Houska's recommended line is 7...a5+! , played by Dautov and Balabaev: A) Houska analyses 8.c3 , but it doesn't look very good after xc5 9.d3 d4 10.xf5 dxc3 11.b4 xb4 12.e4 , and now d7!; B) T h e m a i n o p t i o n w o u l d b e 8.d2 , which she doesn't mention. There might follow xc5 ( 8...c7 9.d3 xc5 10.c3!? d4 11.xd4 xd4 12.f4 with the ideas of Qg4 and perhaps Nb5) 9.d3 c6 10.0-0 . None of this is clear, but I'd probably give White a small edge.; C) 8.c3 xc5 9.d3 h6 10.c1 ( She rightly says that this is more logical than 10.d2 , giving the latter move a detailed analysis and illustrative game) 10...e7 11.h4!? ( White looks better after 11.0-0 c6 12.e2 a5 13.bd2 c7 14.b3 Of course, it's nothing disastrous, and you can certainly play the position as Black, expecting the better player to win) 11...h5 C1) 12.0-0 c6 ( 12...xh4?? 13.xh4 xh4 14.a4+ ) 13.b4 ( 13.xf5 exf5 14.a3 e6 is a fairly standard position. Even without Black's pawn on h6, this looks playable for him.) 13...b6 14.b5 a5 15.a3! is worth a look; C2) Houska's cited game continued 12.xf5 exf5 13.bd2 c7 14.b3 c6 15.f4 e6; C3) 12.g5!? An interesting juncture. Alternatives: b6 ( 12...0-0!? 13.e2 )

13.c2 c6 14.bd2 . Perhaps it's partially a matter of taste, but I prefer W hite in this kind of position. The epawn is very hard to target effectively, for example, c7 15.0-0-0! xe5?? 16.xe5 xe5 17.de1 , etc. ] 8.exf6 gxf6 9.e5! This is close to a refutation. h5?! [ The best chance is 9...g7 , although W h it e is in cha rge a f t e r 10.f3! e7 11.b5+ d7 12.h6 g8 13.d3 a6 14.a4 ] 10.g6 [ or 10.e2! ] 10...h7 11.xf8 xf8 12.d2 c7 13.d3 [ Or 13.c3! , to render ... Qe5+ harmless and stop a f uture ...e5, although W hite stands better after 13 Bd3 as well. e5+ ] 13...e5? [ 13...e5+! was the best try, if only because 14.e2? allows xb2 ] 14.c3 f7 15.xf5 xf5 16.xd5 c6 17.e3 White is two pawns up with no problems. Black's exposed king makes it even worse. e6 18.0-0 f5 19.f4 e4 20.c3 Compare the minor pieces. d8 21.e1 h4 22.d1 xd1 23.xd1 h3 24.g3 g8 25.f2 d7 26.d2 xd2 27.xd2 f7 28.a4 d7 29.d6+ e8 30.f2 xd6 31.cxd6 d7 32.g4 fxg4 33.f5 f7 34.g3 xd6 35.xg4 e5+ 36.xe5+ xe5 37.a5 g8 38.g5 f7 39.g4+ d4 40.f4 h5 41.c3+ d3 42.f2+ c2 43.xe4 xb2 44.f6 b3 45.d6 1-0

1327 B12 Ma,Qun 2447 Ni Hua 2662 1st ch-CHN Rapid Men Prelim rapid (6.6) [Milos Pavlovic] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 8.0-0 xb2 9.b5 This game shows that such an attempt doesn't give White much. c4 10.c7+ d7 11.xa8 xc2 12.e1 b4 13.d2 c3 14.g5N A similar idea, which was also unsuccessful has been seen: 1413

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 14.e3 ge7 15.b5 xa8 16.e2 g6 17.d1 a6 18.d3 c2 19.e2 a3 20.ae1 b4 21.xg6 hxg6 22.g5 xa2 23.f3 f5 And Black reached a winning position in Himanshu, S -Thejkumar, M /Jalgaon 2010 ] 14...h6 15.a3 a5 16.e3 ge7 17.g4 xa8 Despite being an exchange down it is clear even with just one glance that it is Black who is dominating the board. 18.a4 e4 19.c1 c8 20.g5 f5 21.h4 c2 22.d2 xf3 23.xf3 cxd4 24.g4 xd2 25.xd2 c3 26.f4 c4 0-1

1328 Macieja,Bartlomiej Postny,Evgeny It Maalot-Tarshiha ISR (7) [John Watson]

B12 2617 2627 13.01.2008

Since the 6...f6 is one of the most significant disincentive to 4Nc3/5g4 for White, this is a potentially important game between highlyrated GMs. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 f6 7.f4 fxe5 8.xe6 e7 9.xf8 exd4+ 10.e2 [ Ma rt in give s 10.e2 xf8 11.xe7+ xe7 12.e2 e4 13.g1 c5 ] 10...dxc3 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d3 f6 13.xc3 In the archives (Wegerle-Yevseev), Martin says 'Here White switches to a quieter mode, hoping to get developed in peace and utilise the power of the two Bishops as the game wears on.' [ This is probably no better than 13.xg6+!? d8 14.bxc3 , but Black needs to be careful, for example, e4? ( 14...bd7! ) 15.d3! xc3+ ( 15...g3+ 16.d1 xh1 17.g5 xf2+ 18.d2 ) 16.f1 e4 ( 16...d7?? 17.g5 f6 18.e1 ) 17.f3 f6 18.xf6+ xf6 19.f4 with a large advantage. ] 13...bd7! [ 13...xg4 can be met b y 14.g3 e5 ( 14...f6 15.xg6+ f7 16.g2 with the ideas Be3/Bd3/0-0-0 ) 15.e3 ] [ , and 13...e4 by 14.b3 ] 14.e3 [ 14.a3!? is a strange idea that only a c o m p u t e r c o u ld su gge st . Ma yb e B l a c k

should just capture: xa3 15.bxa3 0-0-0 ] 14...e4! [ 14...0-0-0?! 15.0-0-0 e4 16.a5! wa s Ch oisy, M-G ut sko , A / B a la t on lelle 2003. ] [ 14...c5 15.d3 d4 16.xg6+ f8 ] 15.b3?! From now on, White has to struggle against Black's superior centre and h-file. [ 15.d4 0-0-0 16.0-0-0 is about equal. ] 15...b5 [ 15...0-0-0 should be acceptable. The bishops don't mean much, although 16.0-0-0!? has the idea xf2 ( 16...df8 ) 17.a6! bxa6 18.xf2 ] 16.0-0-0 dc5 [ Or 16...0-0! would put direct pressure on f2. ] 17.a3 a5 18.xb5? Apparently miscalculated. [ 18.d4! preserves the bishop pair and s h o u l d l i m i t B l a c k ' s a d v a n t a g e : e6! ( 18...b4 19.e3 e6 20.b6 0-0 21.f3 d6 22.d3 ) 19.xe7+ xe7 20.e3 g5 21.f3 h3!? ( 21...d6! ) 22.fxe4 xe3 23.exd5 xe2 24.dxe6 xe6 25.d3= ] 18...cxb5 19.xd5 b4 20.xc5 xc5 21.f3 It's hard to believe that this is what White wanted when he sacrificed a piece. f8 22.d1 f6 23.e1 e6 24.xe6 xe6 25.e5 d8 26.e2 f7 27.xa5 c7 Hitting a5 and h2. 28.f3+ g8 29.a8 xa8?! [ 29...xh2 30.xd8+ xd8 would cement Black's advantage. ] 30.xa8+ f7 31.f3+ e7 32.e4 c5 33.h4!? [ 33.b7+ is an option, just to see where Black goes. ] 33...g5!? 34.hxg5 xg5+ 35.d1 c5 36.f3?! [ Black is obviously better after 36.e2 g5! , but f3 is too loosening. ] 36...f6 37.d2 f2+ 38.d1 g1+ [ 38...g5! , f o r e xa m p l e , 39.f5+ e7 40.h7+ d6 41.d3+ d4 ] 39.d2 h2+ 40.e3 g1+ 41.d2 f2+ 42.d1 c5 [ 42...d4+ 43.xd4+ xd4 should also do, but risks too much simplification ] 43.c1 [ 43.d2 g5 ] 1414

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 43...g6 44.d2 d6+ 45.e3 g5!? 46.c3? [ 46.c4 ] 46...bxc3 47.bxc3 b6+ The rest is straightforward, if arduous. 48.d2 b2+ 49.d1 a1+ 50.d2 xa2+ 51.c1 a3+ 52.c2 d6 53.c4 f4 54.c3 h4 55.b3 g3 56.a4 d1+ 57.b5 b3+ 58.a6 xf3 59.e1+ xg4 60.g1+ g2 61.d1+ e2 62.g1+ f5 63.c5+ e5 64.f2 e6+ 65.b5 e8+ 66.b6 d8+ 67.b7 e7+ 68.c6 g5 69.c5 g4 70.b6 d8+ 71.b7 e7+ 72.b6 e3 73.c2+ d3 74.h2 b3+ 75.a5 c3+ 76.b5 d3+ 77.a5 d8+ 78.b5 b8+ 79.c4 g8+ 80.b5 g3 81.c2+ g5 82.c6 g2 83.c7 d5+ 84.a6 g1 85.c8 a1+ 86.b6 aa5# 0-1

Adams-Seirawan, Bermuda 1999.) 7...bd7 8.0-0 d6 9.g5 f8 10.e3 e7 11.xe6 xe6 12.d2 d8 13.f3 c7 14.b3 b6 15.ad1! The introduction to a very nice combination. exd4 Black has to accept the pawn sacrifice, otherwise White is clearly better due to his strong pawn centre and bishop pair. 16.cxd4 xd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.xd4 xd4 19.e5 d5 20.e6! f4 The only move. 21.exf7+ xf7 22.h5 f4 ( 22...e3+ 23.h1 f6 24.f5 0-0 25.c4 d5 26.xd5 cxd5 27.xd5 and it's very difficult to unpin.) 23.xf4! e3+ 24.h1 xf4 25.f1 c7 26.g6! White wins the exchange back and obtains a decisive attack against Black's King. White had already foreseen this blow when he began the combination 10 moves earlier! hxg6 27.xh8+ e7 28.h4+ f8 29.h8+ e7 30.e1+ f6 ( 30...d6 is no better in view of 31.e8 ) 31.h4+ g5 1329 B12 32.e4! g4 33.e6+ g5 34.e5+ f4 35.e4+ g5 36.xg4+ and Black resigned, Maiorov,Oleg 2335 Smagin-Summerscale, Nimes 1991. ] Gutov,Andrei [ 5...g4 in my opinion is the best and we'll Yalta 1995 consider this move in the next game. ] [Alexander Volzhin] 6.c4! Developing pieces and creating 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 dxe4!? 4.fxe4 e5 concrete threats. The development advantage This is the idea behind Black's previous move, and open f -f ile secures W hite a decisive o t h e r w i s e W h i t e h a s a n o v e r w h e l m i n g attack. The f 7-square is the main target. Another mistake which loses on the advantage in the centre. This line has quite a b4+? dubious reputation since Black has suffered sp ot , b u t Bla ck' s d ef en ce was ve ry ha rd m a n y q u i c k l o s s e s . N e ve r t h e l e s s i n m y anyway: [ 6...e7 7.0-0 o p i n i o n i t 's p e rf e c t ly p l a ya b l e f o r B l a c k A) 7...f6 8.g5 0-0 (provided he knows the theory, of course!). A1) The tempting 9.e5 d5 10.h5 5.f3 which is recommended in many books in [ Of course, 5.dxe5 is bad in view of h4+ ] m y o p i n i o n i s n o t s o s t r o n g : xg5 5...exd4? This is an instructive mistake after 11.xg5 e8! ( 11...c7? is weak in which W hite's initiative grows rapidly. This view of 12.f6! and Black's King is in move has been considered insufficient since danger, for example: gxf6 13.exf6 h8 the end of the 19th century, nevertheless in 14.d3 ) 12.d3 ( Now the similar idea my database I have found hundreds of recent doesn't work: 12.xd5 cxd5 13.f6? games where Black committed this mistake! gxf6 14.exf6 e3+ and Black defends Black has two superior possibilities: successfully.) 12...f5! (this is the idea [ 5...e6!? 6.c3 ( 6.xe5 h4+ ) 6...f6 behind Black's previous move), an d 7.d3 ( 7.xe5!? deserves attention as Black is OK.; well: xe4 8.f3 e7 9.d3 g5 A2) 9.xf7! xf7 10.xf7+ xf7 11.e5 10.bd2 d7 11.0-0 0-0 12.c2 h6 g8 12.exf6 xf6 13.d2 and Black 13.h1 xf3 14.xf3 d6 15.d2 a5 has no compensation for the exchange, 16.c1! h5 17.f4 xf4 18.xf4 Teihman-Mizes, 1910: e6 14.e4 and White has small but steady advantage, 1415

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e7 15.h5 d7 16.g5 a5 17.h4 with a huge edge for White.; B) 7...d6 8.g5! h6 9.xf7+ d8 10.b3 f6 11.f4 c5 12.e5 and Black resigned in Smagin-Peregudov, St.Petersburg 1994. Of course he could play on for a while, but he/^s position is hopeless, for example: xe5 ( 12...xg5 13.xg5+ c7 14.f4 ) 13.e4 a5 14.h5 and Black can't avoid gross material losses: f5 ( 14...d7 15.bd2 c7 16.g5+ ) 15.xh6 xe4 16.xg7 and White wins ] [ 6...e6 is also insufficient: 7.xe6 fxe6 8.0-0 A) 8...e7 was played in an old game Tartakover-Psepurka,1929, where White o b t a i n e d a d e c i s i ve a d v a n t a g e a f t e r 9.xd4 d7 10.h5+ d8 11.e3 c5 ( or 11...f6 12.f7 a6 13.xe6+ c8 14.c3 and White is winning, Meszaros-Astengo, Ticino 1994.) 12.d1 cxd4 13.xd4 d6 14.e5; B) 8...c5 9.g5! d3+ ( 9...e7 10.f7 xf7 11.xf7 xf7 12.h5+; 9...f6 10.e5 d5 11.xe6 e7 12.g4 d7 13.xg7+ d8 14.e6 ) 10.h1 dxc2 11.xc2 and White wins, SkripchenkoTsiganova, Elista 1998 ] [ 6...e7 7.0-0 g4 8.xd4 c5 9.c3 ( 9.e3! is even stronger: xd4 10.xd4 f6 11.e5 d5 12.xd5 cxd5 13.c3 e6 14.cb5 with a huge edge.) 9...xd4+ 10.cxd4 xf3 11.gxf3 d7 12.e3 b6 13.b3 f6 14.c3 and White is clearly better due to his advantage in the centre a n d s t r o n g B i s h o p p a i r , M a ro c zy- L e e , London 1899. ] 7.c3! dxc3 8.xf7+! A typical blow. xf7?! [ 8...e7 is more stubborn although after 9.b3! cxb2+ 10.xb4+ xf7 11.xb2 at the cost of only one pawn W hite has crushing attack. ] 9.xd8 cxb2+ 10.e2 e7 [ 10...bxa1 11.g5+ g6 12.e8+ and in V.Ivanov-Bataev, St Petersburg 1999 Black resigned in view of quick mate after h6 13.e6+ ] 11.e5+ f6 12.f1+ 1-0

1330 Mamedov,Nidjat Jobava,Baadur III President's Cup (6) [John Watson]

B12 2577 2658 17.05.2008

Black wins this Nd2 system, although he has nothing special out of the opening. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 e7 7.bd2 Now we've transposed to the 4 Nd2 line. h6 8.b3 h7 9.d2 g6 10.c4 dxc4 11.a5 b8 12.xc4 b6 12...Nh4 is featured in Lastin-Timman. 13.a5!? [ White can use his space advantage to retain some edge af ter 13.xb6! axb6 ( 13...xb6 14.a4 e7 15.b3 0-0 ) 14.b3 e7 15.fc1 0-0 16.a4 ] 13...h4!? 14.b4 It's not clear what this does. [ A natural sequence would be 14.c1 e4! 15.xh4 xh4 16.f3 f5 17.b3 d5 18.f4 with an edge, but it's not much. ] 14...xf3+ 15.xf3 d5 16.b3 e7 Black has no problems here. Now the players avoid confrontation for a while. 17.ac1 0-0 18.a3 d7!? 19.fd1 fd8 20.b2 e8 21.e1 f8 22.e4!? This leaves White with only his bad bishop, perhaps not a good idea. xe4 23.xe4 e7 24.e1 d7 [ The reorganisation 24...f5 25.f3 d7 26.f2 e7 leaves Black with the better minor pieces. ] 25.f3 f5 26.f2 d5 27.c3 [ 27.g4 e7 28.c4 ] 27...d7 28.g3 c8 29.g2 b6!? 30.b3 [ 30.xc6!? h8 31.a4 b5 and the threat of ...Ne7 encourages 32.axb5 xb5 33.d5 exd5 34.f4 ] 30...b7 31.c4 b5 32.e1 a5 33.g4 a4 34.gxf5 exf5 35.f4 axb3 36.xf5 [ 36.xb3!? d7 threatens ...g5, leaving White tied up after 37.c2 g6 38.f2 e7 39.h4 d5 ] 36...d7 37.f4 b2!? 38.b1 c5!? Perhaps a stab in time trouble. It comes out okay. 39.bxc5 [ 39.a4!? xb4 40.xb4 cxb4 41.d3 will keep the material, although it's only moderately worse for Black following c3 42.e4 b3 43.xb2 a3 44.b1 c1 45.g4 b2 ] 1416

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 39...bxc5 40.d5 b6 41.d6 cb8 42.c3?! [ 4...d6 To allow White the chance to lever [ 42.d5 g5 43.c4 ] the game open at an early stage is far too 42...b3 43.h1? g5! White is in trouble risky. But I guess it takes a bit of experience because of Black's penetration into his to recognise this. ] position. He tries to escape into an ending, 5.f3 g4 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 dxe4 8.xe4 but rema ins worse and e ventually loses. f6 44.f6 g7 45.e6 xf6! 46.exd7 xc3 [ 8...xd4 is a classic case of 'pawn 47.xb2 xc4 48.xb8+ g7 49.d8 grabbing' in the opening. Black is unlikely to xd8 50.xd8 f6 51.h8 e6 52.xh6+ survive White's easy, flowing development f6 53.g2 d4 54.h8 xd6 55.a8 c6 and the subsequent attack. One simple line 56.f2 c4 57.e2 c3 58.d1 c2+ 59.c1 might go: 9.0-0 f6 10.e3 d5 c3 60.a4 xf3 61.a5 f1+ 62.xc2 f2+ ( 10...a4 11.b3 a3 12.c5 0-0-0 63.b3 xh2 64.a6 h7 65.e8+ d5 13.a4 e6 14.xa7 ) 11.fd1 ] 66.f8 e5 67.e8+ f4 68.e1 f5 9.xf6+ exf6 69.a1 a7 70.f1+ e4 71.e1+ d3 [ 9...gxf6 10.c3 e6 11.d2 d6 12.0-0-0 72.d1+ e3 73.e1+ f2 leaves White with the better pawn structure 0-1 and two bishops. I'm sorry if you cannot make anything of these trumps-what can I do? ] 1331 B12 10.0-0 xd4 11.e3! Can he survive the Manik,Mikulas 2510 next ten moves? Possibly, but it will take both Herbold,Manfred 2140 accuracy and optimism. a4?! [ 11...b4 12.fe1 e6 was a much better Czech Christmas (7) 31.12.2004 stab at defence. Black's Queen is perhaps [Andrew Martin] more flexibly posted. I have tried a few ideas for White but in each case, Black is holding: We have an open mind on this site. Players 13.ad1 ( 13.e4 d6 14.ad1 d8 have complete freedom to express 15.xa7 0-0 16.f5 g5; 13.a6!? themselves as long as they don't mind me might be best: d8 14.a3 xb2 15.ab1 analysing the games afterwards. Here Black c3 16.xb7 ) 13...e7 14.c1 0-0-0 kicks off with the rare 'De Bruycker' defence, 15.a3 a5 16.b4 c7 ] named after the Belgian amateur who specialized in putting his Knight on the edge 12.b3 a3 13.ad1 e6 14.c4 e7 of the board. I can't be too damning as I 15.fe1 An ideal attacking formation for White. myself used this line to draw with GM Thomas The Knight on e6 is going to be pinned and 16.c5! Cute and Ernst on one celebrated occasion. What did I t h e n r e m o v e d . g6 learn from that game? Only that Black can crushing! xc5 17.xf6 g8 18.xe6 play this line, but he MUST keep the position I cannot really recommend this opening for c l o s e d f o r a wh i l e . T h e Q u e e n ' s K n i g h t Black if one has hungry mouths to feed. 1 e4 usually ends up on c7, which isn't a very good c6 2 d4 Na6 is for fun only! square that's the main problem. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 1-0 a6!? 3.c3 [ Hebden once recommended 3.xa6! a5+ B12 4.c3 xa6 5.ge2 to me, claiming that 1332 Mareco,S 2585 Black was way behind in development and that he would be run over by White's f pawn. Molina,Rob 2424 23.03.2014 The more I looked at this position, the more II Copa Cidade de Vitoria (6.2) I liked it for White, so De Bruycker's defence [Tom Rendle] had to go...... ] 3...c7 4.d3 d5?! I don't like this move at 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.g5 Much less popular than 5.c4, this hasn't been all. Black should keep it closed with seen on ChessPublishing in the last couple of [ 4...g6! or even ] 1417

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 years. The one downside is that is leaves b2 unprotected and so it's no surprise that 5... Qb6 has been seen in basically every game from this position. [ 5.c4 has been seen many times in the archives, particularly with Maxime Vachier Lagrave as White. ] 5...b6 6.d3 xd3 7.xd3 e6 [ 7...xb2 8.e6! is very dangerous for Black see Firman-Makarov in the archives and I've a d d e d s o m e m o r e a n a l y s i s h e r e . f6! seems critical to me, and now ( 8...xa1 is too risky - for example after 9.b3 b5 10.f3 f6 11.0-0 Black will lose his queen a n d b e f a c e d wit h a ra t h e r u n p le a sa n t m i d d l e g a m e) 9.d2 ( 9.e3 a6! and I don't see W hite's plan) 9...xa1 10.b3 xd4 11.xb7 e5+ 12.e2 xe6 13.xa8 c8 and Black will come out a pawn ahead and I'm not sure W hite has enough. Perhaps Black can take on b2 after all? I'd be interested to see this line again! ] 8.d2 a6 Molina goes for the most solid option but not necessarily the best one [ 8...c5 hasn't been played much but it might be Black's best bet for equality here, for example 9.c4 c6 ( 9...xb2!? 10.b1 xd4 looks risky but I don't see much for White here after 11.xd4 cxd4 12.cxd5 f6! 13.f4 exd5 14.xb7 d7 15.exf6 gxf6 ) 10.gf3 ge7 11.0-0 ( 11.dxc5 xc5 12.0-0 is more testing but I still think Black should be OK after g6 13.fe1 e7 ) 11...cxd4 12.cxd5 b4 13.b3 bxd5 and Black was at least equal in Eames, R (2241)-Thorfinnsson, B (2402) London 2011 ] 9.c4 [ 9.g3!? is worth considering here, giving Black something to think about on g7, but p ro b a b ly B l a ck ca n ge t a wa y wit h h6! 10.xh6 xh6 ] 9...b4 10.b3 d7 11.e2 c5?! This is a little premature, opening things up before finishing development [ 11...e7 12.0-0 g6 13.f3 a3! looks very solid for Black, although perhaps White has a slight edge after 14.fd1! ] 12.0-0 e7 13.f3?! [ 13.xe7 xe7 14.e3! leaves Black's

king awkwardly caught in a centre that's just about to open up. Black should try xd2 15.xd2 dxc4 but I still like White's chances with t he p awn sa crif ice 16.g5+ f8 17.fd1! ] 13...dxc4 14.bxc4 cxd4?! The plan of castling queenside leads to nothing but trouble [ 14...c6! was best when White has no clear breakthrough. I think the best White has is 15.a3 a5 16.f4 preparing d5 but now Black can play since 0-0-0 and things aren't as clear as before 17.d5? exd5 18.xd5 dxe5 19.xc5 xf3+ 20.gxf3 g6 is good for Black ] 15.exd4 0-0-0?! [ 15...0-0? drops a piece to 16.c2 c5 17.xb4 xd3 18.xa6 bxa6 19.xe7 ] [ 15...f6 is relatively best, but White is much better after 16.e3 since Black's king won't find safety anytime soon ] 16.ab1 c5 17.e4 he8 18.b5 White has a free attack against the Black king and Molina doesn't have any counterplay b6?! [ 18...b6 is slightly more stubborn but White is in complete control after 19.xe7 xe7 20.f4 f8 21.c6 de8 22.fd4 ] 19.e3 [ 19.fb1 is stronger - I think White should j u s t b e w i n n i n g h e r e f o r e x a m p l e c5 20.f4 f6 21.exf6 gxf6 22.xf6 and Black's position collapses ] 19...b8 20.fb1 c8 21.c2 d5 22.d2 a3 23.5b2 a6 24.c1 a5 25.d2 a3 26.b4! There's no way White is interested in a repetition of moves a8 [ 26...xb4?! 27.xb4 and Black's queen is trapped ] 27.a4 e7 28.b2! c7 29.a5 Black drops a piece as the bishop is pinned to b7 1-0

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1333 Mastrovasilis,Dimitrios Conquest,Stuart TCh-FRA Top 16 (8) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2573 2522 04.05.2006

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 As the theory of 3.. Bf5 expands in all directions, so the practical player will turn increasingly to 3...c5. There's less to learn and Black gets a pretty active game. 4.dxc5 c6 5.b5 [ 5.f3 is answered by g4! and already Black has a fine position. ] 5...e6 6.e3 ge7 Black must be prepared to sacrifice a pawn in this line, but we will see that he enjoys an active game in return. Most un-Caro-Kann like I hear you say. Not necessarily. The Caro-Kann has many sides. 7.c3 d7 [ So that 7...f5 is met by 8.d4 ] 8.xc6 xc6 9.f3 f5 10.d4 a5 Necessary, in order to dissuade b2-b4. 11.a4 [ 11.b4 axb4 12.cxb4 b6! breaks up the White pawn chain with great effect. ] 11...xd4 12.xd4 [ 12.cxd4 b6! is again thematic, emphasizing the power of the two Bishops and the static nature of the W hite pawn chain. ] 12...e7 13.0-0 0-0 14.bd2 Black's counterplay in this position comes from the pawn breaks ...b7-b6 and/ or f7-f6. It will be a long time before W hite can consolidate his extra pawn so that is no real concern for the time being. Timing is of the essence it seems sensible for Black to get his rooks into position before opening up the ga m e , h e n c e t h is is wh a t Co n qu e s t n o w strives to do. [ 14.e3 tries to stymie Black: d7 15.b3 fc8 16.bd2 e8 17.h3 d7 Long-winded in appearance, but W hite's position has little potential. 18.b4 ( 18.d3 xc5; 18.d4 xc5 19.fe1 c7 ) 18...xa4 19.d4 d7 20.fb1 d8 21.bxa5 xc5 22.xb7 c8 23.ab1 cxa5 24.h2 a3 25.e2 c5 26.f4 3a7 27.xa7 xa7 28.c4 a4 29.c3 b4 30.d1 b8 31.g3 d4 32.f4 xc3 33.xc3 c6 34.c1 h6 35.d3 b2 36.c2 xc2 37.xc2 b4 38.g3 a3+

39.f3 d4 40.d1 xf3 41.xf3 c3 42.h4 d3 43.a8+ h7 44.e4+ g6 45.e3 xc4 46.a7 g7 47.d7 e4 48.h5 e3+ 49.g4 gxh5+ 50.xh5 xf4 0-1 Movsesian, S-Zelcic, R/Neum 2005 ] 14...c7 15.fe1N [ Or 15.a3 d7 16.b3 Skripchenko, AK o n o n e n k o , T / H a l l e 2 0 0 0 ( 2 9 ) ab8! 17.a2 fc8 18.d3 b6! ( 18...xc5 19.g5 g6 20.xc5 xc5 21.h3 ) 19.cxb6 xb6 20.bd4 c4 21.xc4 xc4 22.fa1 f6 I think the quoted examples demonstrate just how difficult it is to nail Black in this variation. W hite tried and failed on both occasions. I'm not saying Black is better, but he certainly enjoys a nice, free game. ] 15...d7 16.b3 fc8! 17.e3 ab8! 18.f4 h6 There is a bit of tidying up to be done before the inevitable ...b7-b6! 19.h4 d8 20.g3 b6! The aforementioned pawn break and with the activation of the entire Black position. 21.cxb6 [ I suppose that White was reluctant to give back his pawn, but he could have c o n s i d e r e d 21.c6 xc6 22.bd4 with some sort of grip on d4. However, after e8 23.b3 c5 24.g4 xd4 25.cxd4 c7 26.g5 hxg5 27.hxg5 c2 chances are mutual. ] 21...xb6 22.fd4 e8 The weaknesses in White's position make themselves felt. White has problems anchoring his Knights and on the queenside files. 23.f3 cb8 24.xa5 xb2 25.h2 f5 [ 25...d8! was also very strong. I daresay Conquest was short of time as usual. ] 26.exf6 xf6 27.d6 8b6 28.c7 e5 [ 28...xa4 ] 29.b5 e6 30.c4 e4 31.cxd5 h3+ 32.g1 exf3 A model demonstration by Black and a good reason to choose 3..c5 over 3... Bf5 at this present time. 0-1

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B12 21.h4 h5 22.d2 [ 22.gxh5 xh5 23.g3 g6 24.h5 h7 2578 25.h6 b4 26.d2 It seems to me that the 2662 dark squ ares on th e kin g sid e are very 23.07.2011 vulnerable. W hite has an unpleasant initiative. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 22...c6 23.g3 hxg4 24.h5 h7 25.fxg4 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 Ni Hua obviously Another slow move, the French GM simply believes strongly in this set up for Black as he didn't exploit all his chances in this game. [ 25.h6 gxf3 ( 25...e7 26.h5 g6 won two games in a short period of time. 27.hxg7 h7 28.f6+ xg7 29.fxg4 8.b5 h6N Black is maintaining the Again with a dangerous attack; 25...g6 pressure in the centre as long as possible, 26.fxg4 e7 27.g2 h4 28.hxg7 xg4 previously Black made a different choice. 29.h6 h7 30.h1 e4+ 31.f1 d3+ [ Relevant is 8...c4 9.h4 g6 10.0-0 b4 32.e1 xg7 33.xg7+ xg7 34.h5+ 11.xc4 xc3 12.bxc3 dxc4 13.d5 c7 g8 35.f6+ g7 With a possible 14.dxc6 xc6 15.f3 e7 16.d4 d5 perpetual.) 26.hxg7 xg7 27.g5+ g6 17.g5 c6 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xd5 cxd5 28.h5+ g8 29.e3 White is winning. ] when Black had a good game in Gashimov, 25...e7 26.f4 b4 27.g5 bxc3 28.bxc3 V-Vallejo Pons, F Linares 2010 ] At this particular moment it seems that [ Another interesting possibility is: 8...g4 ab8 9.dxc5 xc5 10.xc5 xc5 11.d4 xd4 Black is faster with his play on the queenside. 12.xd4 ge7 13.f3 h5 14.0-0-0 c8 29.h6 gxh6 30.gxh6 h8 31.e2 g8 15.he1 0-0 16.xc6 xc6 17.cb5 g6 S o B l a c k h a s t u r n e d t h e t a b l e s a n d i s 18.xc6 xc6 19.c3 b6 20.d4 c8 practically winning now. 32.h2 g5 33.e3 21.e3 a6 22.a3 a4 23.d2 xf4 34.xf4 g4 35.f2 bg8 36.h3 At this point we have an equal endgame - it e7 37.f3 e4 38.h7 xh7 m a y a p p e a r t h a t t h e k n i g h t o n d 4 i s 0-1 dominating the board, but this is not the case. The bishop on g6 is strong and it is B12 not easy for W hite to make any progress, 1335 Nevednichy, V-Dreev, A Aix-les-Bains FRA McShane,Luke J 2615 2011 ] Dreev,Alexey 2695 9.dxc5 18th North Sea Cup (9) 2003 [ 9.a4 a6 ( 9...g4 10.a5 c7 11.a6 [Andrew Martin] xe3 12.fxe3 e7 13.axb7 xb7 14.a6 c8 15.0-0 0-0 Black has counterplay.) 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6! This is the first 10.a5 c7 11.xc6+ xc6 12.a4 e4 time that I have given such a short draw as a 13.xh6 gxh6 14.0-0 g8 15.g3 main game but the notes justify the game's We have reached a really unusual position inclusion. The Fantasy variation is relatively at an early stage of the opening, in which uncommon, so it is very interesting to see both sides have chances. ] Luke McShane willing to employ this line 9...xc5 10.d4 xd4 11.xd4 c7 against such strong opposition. His choice 12.xc6+ xc6 13.0-0 g6 14.c1 f5 would indicate the following: 1) He believes 15.e2 a5 16.c3 0-0 The position is that the line is perfectly playable. There might unbalanced as the presence of opposite- be a tendency to think 3 f3 dubious. 2) 3 f3 colored bishops gives chances to both sides. sets unusual problems, steering the game T h e q u e s t i o n i s : w h o i s f a s t e r ? 17.e1 into untheoretical channels. Dreev's reply is I don't like this move, it is a waste of time. entirely in character. He plays a reliable move [ 17.f3 b5 18.g4 e7 19.g3 Trying to go and keeps things solid. for h4 or f4-f5 is much more to the point. ] [ 3...e5!? was a recent bizarre choice: 17...fc8 18.f3 b5 19.f2 b7 20.g4 e7 4.exd5! ( I presume that 4.dxe5 h4+ 5.g3 1334 Maze,Sebastien Ni Hua Biel MTO Open (6) [Milos Pavlovic]

1420

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h5 was Black's intention when there is no do u b t t h at W h it e is p o se d an a wkwa rd problem. Not many would like 6 Qd4 here so Teraladze tries to find a simpler way.) 4...exd4 5.xd4 cxd5 6.c3 f6 7.g5 e7 8.d3 c6 9.f2 0-0 10.ge2 b6 11.b5 b4 12.0-0 a6 13.a4 c5 14.e3 xb5 15.axb5 e8 Tereladze, SMeskhi, T/BCSA Open, Batumi GEO 2003 Black's opening idea has been successful. He will gain the centre and has a saf er King position. A surprise! ] 4.c3 b4 [ Speelman is very close friends with McS ha ne a nd th is m ay a cco un t f o r th e following abbreviation. 4...b6!? is playable f o r t h e l o n g e r h a u l t h o u gh , wi t h B l a c k angling to slow the game down aiming for French-type positions. 4...b6!? 5.e3 a6 6.xa6 xa6 7.d3 c7 8.0-0-0 c8 9.ge2 a6 10.f4 ( 10.xa6 xa6 11.h4 ) 10...f6 11.xa6 xa6 12.e5 d7 13.ce2 c7 14.c3 e7 15.g4 0-0 16.h5 1/2-1/2 Mc ne, L-Speelman, J/1st Masters, Malmo SW E 2003 After 16...c5, Black is absolutely fine. The thing is that 4... b6 is rather negative in many ways Black is committed to simplification on a6 and this may not suit everyone. Nevertheless, as an idea, it is well worth consideration. ] 5.f4 White is lo oking for the most efficient squares for his pieces. First though, he must deal with Black's threat of ...dxe4 and ...Qh4+ f6 [ 5...e7! may be better still: 6.ge2 0-0 7.a3 a5 8.d3 d7 ( 8...g6 9.d2 ) 9.0-0-0 ( 9.d6 f6 10.e5 e8 11.b4 xb4 12.axb4 b6= ) 9...b5 10.h4 b4 11.axb4 xb4 12.a2 c5 ( 12...a5 ) 13.b1 b6 It just seems to me that Black h a s s o l ve d h i s o p e n i n g p r o b l e m s ve r y efficiently. 14.dxc5 xc5 15.e3 a5 16.h5 b7 17.g3 f6 18.e5 d4 19.xd4 d5 20.xd5 xd5 21.h6 g5 22.xg5 fxg5 23.xg5+ f7 24.h5 a3 25.f4+ e7 26.h4+ d7 27.d4 ab8 28.b3 xb3 29.a4+ c6 30.xa3 d4+ 0-1 Beshukov, S-Adianto, U/MTO, Biel SUI 2003 A rather one-sided game and a serious question posed to White. ] 6.d3 b6 Like Speelman, Dreev will use the

a6 square to dampen White's enthusiasm, but maybe his timing is even better. He waited for Qd3. 7.ge2 a6 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0-0 Very much in keeping with the uncompromising nature of this line but of course castling long gives Black many c h a n c e s , a s we h a ve a l r e a d y s e e n . e7 10.g4 c5 11.exd5 xd5 12.xd5 A copout, but after 12...exd5! 13 dxc5 Bxc5 14 Qd2 Nc6! 15 Qxd5 Qxd5 16 Rxd5 Nb4 Black has ample chances. Conclusion: Black will not encounter the Fantasy variation too often but he has to have a coping mechanism ready. I recommend 3...e6 and then 5..Ne7 as played by Adianto in the notes. White is more or less committed to castling long and then a quick .. . c6-c5 opens up the game and not necessarily in White's favour. ½-½

1336 Mekhitarian,Krikor Sevag Molina,Roberto Junio Brito ch-BRA Rio de Janeiro BRA (8) [John Watson]

B12 2428 2322 19.12.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 f6 7.h4 [ As opposed to 7.f4 , as in this month's Macieja-Postny. ] 7...fxe5 The most challenging continuation. [ We saw 7...d7 in Nakamura-Bareev, Bastia FRA 2007 in the November column (note to the main game). ] 8.h5 f7 9.dxe5 d7 10.f4 As I say in Nakamura-Bareev from the November Update, the basic imbalance is obvious: White has a huge mass of pawns and space, but Black has a m o b i l e c e n t r e . b6 11.d4 c5 In the Archives we find 11...Bc5?! of SaxLauber, Gyula: [ 11...c5 12.a4 a5+ 13.c3 xd4 14.xd4 c5 15.d1 with the point b5?! 16.xc5 xc5 17.b4 c7 18.bxc5 xc5 19.d4 ( or 19.h3 )] 12.f3 e7 13.f2 [ Sax recommends 13.g5!? g8 14.b5 c6 15.c4! . Volzhin: 'in my opinion, this line looks very logical and requires practical tests.' ] 1421

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13...c6 14.g3 0-0-0 15.b3!? To develop the c1 bishop. [ 15.a3 was played in Sax-Razuvaev, Maribor1996, with equal chances. ] 15...h6 16.h4? White should get his pieces out. e7 17.g6 xg6 18.hxg6 hf8 19.g2 dxe5! [ Or 19...cxe5 20.fxe5 xe5 ] 20.fxe5 xe5 21.e2 xg6 Now Black is winning, but things go wrong: 22.d2 c7+ 23.h3 h4 24.d3 e5? [ 24...c4 wins a piece. ] [ 24...f2 threatening ...Qe7 also wins. ] 25.b5 e7 26.e2 [ 26.xa7+ b8 27.e2 xa7 28.xe5 f2 29.g5 f5 ] 26...g6 [ 26...f2! 27.g5 f7 ] 27.af1 a6 28.c3 f6 [ 28...f2! 29.g5 f4! when 30.xf2 h4+ 31.g3 d6+ 32.f4 xf4 33.xe6+! xe6 34.h3 xh3+ 35.xh3 hxg5 is strong but doesn't mate! ] 29.e1 h4 30.e2 g5? [ 30...f2! again ] 31.e1 f4+? 32.xf4 xf4 33.g3 f7? 34.e1 d7 35.a4 e8 36.e5 Disaster. c6 37.c4 d7 38.cxd5+ exd5 39.xe8 1-0

obvious enough moves which turn out to be novelties! [ In the above mentioned game Black chose t h e c a r e l e s s 15...g6?! 16.e5 xe5 17.f6+ h8 18.dxe5 fd8 19.g5 g8 20.xg8 xg8 21.f4 e8 22.exd5 cxd5 23.f5! exf5 24.xf5! and White obtained a dangerous attack. ] [ The text indirectly protects the e6-square and prepares...f7-f6 which is not so good immediately in viewof 15...f6 16.df4 ] 16.c3 Threatening 17.Bh6 again as it doesn't work immediately: [ 16.h6 gxh6 17.xh6 xd4+ ] 16...f6! Parrying all the threats. Now Black is ready to protect the g7-square by playing ... Rf7 if necessary. The theoretical battle is over. Now it's a question of ensuring that W hite gains no compensation for the pawn. 17.ab1 g6 18.g3 ad8 19.fd1 fe8 20.f2 e5! 21.exd5 xd5 22.b4 xb4 23.xb4 df8 24.c2 e6 25.c4 d7 26.d5 ef4 27.d6 c5 The rest needs no commentary. Black already has a healthy extra pawn and af ter the tran sf er of t he Kn ight to t he d 4 square he will easily win the pawn on d6 as well. 28.b3 h4 29.e4 f5 30.a4 xa4 31.b1 e2+ White resigned. 0-1

1337 Mitkov,Nikola Dreev,Alexey European Club Cup [Alexander Volzhin]

1338 Morozevich,A Mamedyarov,S 8th Tal Memorial (2.1) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2532 2676 2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6 4.e3?! This line has a dubious reputation. [ 4.c3 was played in Wall-Hodgson ] 4...b6! Now White is practically forced to sacrifice his b2-pawn. 5.d2 xb2 6.d3 a3 7.e2 b6 8.0-0 a6 9.b3 xd3 10.xd3 a6 11.d2 a3 12.g3 d7 13.c1 e7 14.d3 0-0 We already know this position from the game Mitkov-Khenkin, Bolzano 1999 and I evaluated it as being better for Black. Surprisingly Mitkov repeats t h e l i n e a g a i n . 15.h5 The only active possibility for W hite. Now 16.Bh6 is t h r e a t e n e d . c4! One for the collection of

B12 2760 2753 14.06.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.c3 h6 7.0-0 d7 8.bd2 Morozevich goes for the most popular line here. [ 8.a3!? is an interesting alternative which I analysed in Ponomariov-Grischuk last year. ] 8...c5?! A risky option for Black and not one I'd recommend. Other moves are analysed by John Watson in Svidler-Nakamura amongst which 8...Qc7 is Black's most solid. [ 8...h7 deserves some attention here 9.b3! and now Black must choose where to place his knight on e7: A) 9...c8 10.a4 a5 11.e3 ( 11.e1! 1422

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is a standard manoeuvre and is definitely more promising, for example e7 12.d3 0-0 13.g4 h8 14.xh7 xh7 15.d3 and White has the potential for a dangerous kingside attack.) 11...e7 12.c5 xc5 13.dxc5 e7 14.b4 0-0 15.d3 e4! and Black had at least equalised in Negi, P (2657)-Yevseev, D (2545) St Petersburg 2012; B) 9...g6 10.e3 e7 11.d3 0-0 12.b1! a very clever idea, pinning the knight on g6 and leaving the bishop on d3 a retreat square once Black gets in ...c5. c7 13.c1 c5 14.e2 fc8 15.e1 b5 16.f4 c4 with the queenside closed Black's counterplay doesn't arrive in time and White is able to build up a crushing at t a ck o n t h e o t he r sid e o f th e bo a rd ( 16...cxd4 17.xd4 c5 18.ef3 is still better for White) 17.c2 b6 18.g4 gf8 19.g2 f6 20.g3 b4 21.h5 xc2 22.xc2 g6 23.exf6 xf6 24.g3 bxc3 25.bxc3 ab8 26.f2 d8 27.f5! exf5 28.xh6 fxg4 29.af1 g7 30.xg7 xg7 31.d2 e7 32.e3 e6 33.xg4 c6 34.g5 cb6 35.f5+ f7 36.gh6+ e8 37.g7# 1-0 (37) Van Kampen, R (2574)-Ledger, A (2402) Staverton 2013; C) 9...f5 makes most sense to me and now 10.d3 ( 10.c4!? dxc4 11.xc4 a5 12.a4 b4 and Black is extremely solid) 10...g6 ( 10...e7 11.g4! h4 12.xh7 xh7 13.xh4 xh4 14.e3 is a little better for White) 11.e1 h5 ( 11...a5! was a saf er way to equalise) 12.g3 ( 12.c2! allows the knight to come to d3 where it helps control c5 and it can also jump into f4 giving W hite the better chances. ) 12...c5 with balanced chances in Caruana, F (271 4)-Miton, K (2619 ) Mulhouse 2011 ] 9.dxc5! xc5 [ 9...c6?! allows 10.d4! g6 11.b4 cxe5 12.f4 c6 13.2f3 and White has a dangerous initiative ] 10.d4 h7 [ 10...g6 is very similar and featured in the W o rld Co m pu t e r Ch a mp io n sh ip s a f e w years ago 11.2b3 d7 ( 11...c6! may be more accurate, as in the game.)

12.f4 f5 13.d3 xd4 14.cxd4 ( 14.xd4 xd3 15.xd3 c5 16.f5!? is also very dangerous) 14...xd3 15.xd3 g6 16.d2 b6 17.a5 d7 18.ac1 e7 19.g4! c8 20.xc8+ xc8 21.b3 a6 22.h1 h5 23.f5! and White had a clear advantage and went on to win in RYBKATHE BARON Amsterdam 2007 ] 11.2b3 c6 12.e3 xb3 [ 12...xe5? would be a big mistake due to 13.xc5 xc5 14.xe6! fxe6 15.xc5 and W hite has regained the pawn with a large advantage - his two bishops dominate the position and Black's king is caught in the open. ] 13.axb3 xe5 Mamedyarov correctly decides it's time to grab the pawn as otherwise he's going to be under some pressure without co u n t e r p la y. S t ill, W h it e h a s d a n ge ro u s co m p e n sa t io n h e re a n d B la ck h a s t o b e careful. [ 13...c7?! 14.xc6 bxc6 15.b4! e7 ( or 15...xe5 16.a6 d6 17.g3 f6 18.xc6 e7 19.xd6! xd6 20.b5+ d8 21.c5 c7 22.c4 and White has a winning attack) 16.d4 a5 17.bxa5 0-0 ( 17...xa5 18.b4 xa1 19.xa1 0-0 20.a7 d8 21.b7 e8 22.a7 and with Black completely tied up W hite should win without much difficulty here) 18.b4 leaves White a safe pawn up ] 14.b5+ d7 15.h5?! A very logical idea from Morozevich but it allows Black to escape in to a slightly worse ending [ 15.g4! was more dangerous - Nxe6 is a difficult move to prevent, for example A) 15...e7 16.fe1; B) 15...g8 may be best but it's a rather depressing move to have to play. White k e e p s a s t r o n g i n i t i a t i v e a f t e r 16.c4 ( 16.f5!? is also very tricky) 16...a6 17.a4 c8 18.cxd5 b5 19.xe6! fxe6 20.dxe6 e7! Black's only move 21.exd7 xd7 22.h4+ e8 23.fe1 and it seems hard to believe that Black is going to survive for long here.; C) 15...f6 16.c4! e4 ( 16...dxc4? 17.fd1 is crushing) 17.f3 g6 18.cxd5 and Black is in serious trouble ] 15...g6 16.e5 b8! It's time to get the queens off! 1423

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 16...b6?! allows the pretty 17.xa7! xa7 18.b8+ d8 ( 18...e7 19.xd7 xd7 20.f3 d8 21.e5+ e8 22.xa7 is winning for White) 19.xa7 and White regains the pawn with a fantastic position ] 17.xb8+ xb8 18.xa7 d6 19.b4 e7 Although Mamedyarov has survived the worst o f i t h e ' s s t i l l wo r s e a n d h a s t o d e f e n d accurately to hold the draw from here. 20.f4?! The start of an interesting plan but one that costs White most of his advantage [ 20.fa1 hc8 21.e2! planning Nb5 or Nb3-a 5 an d Black is st ill under a lot o f pressure ] 20...e4! 21.f5 e5 22.f6+ gxf6 23.f5+ xf5 24.xf5 f8 25.f1 e6 W hite obviously has good play for his sacrificed pawn but this is a lot more comfortable for Black than it was a few moves ago. 26.c6 d4 27.d2 [ 27.cxd4 xd4 28.xd4 exd4 29.xb7 hd8! is completely equal ] 27...hd8 28.xh6 dxc3 29.bxc3 dc8 30.xb7+ xb7 31.xb7 xc3 32.b1 f5 The ending should be a draw now although arguably it's Morozevich who now has to be the more careful 33.b5 f4 [ 33...c5+!? 34.f1 c2 35.b6 e4 is very tough to assess but White is probably OK after 36.c8 f2+ 37.e1 xg2 38.b5! ] 34.b6 f6 35.e4 c8 36.h4! h8 37.g5+ xg5 38.hxg5+ xg5 The opposite coloured bishops means this is always going to be a draw now, especially with the passed b-pawn so advanced 39.b5 f5 40.d5 f6 41.b7 e4 42.c6 b8 43.a5 d8 44.d5 g8 45.f1 h8 46.d7 h1+ 47.e2 h2 48.f1 h1+ 49.e2 h2 Morozevich will be feeling he missed a chance in this game and I think Black should stick to either 8...Qc7 or 8...Bh7 in this line. ½-½

1339 Morozevich,A Topalov,V Makedonia Palace GP (9.5) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2760 2793 01.06.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.c3 d7 7.0-0 c5 8.h4 When I looked at this with Gawain last year we didn't think this was very promising and here Topalov shows us why. [ 8.dxc5! is more critical and is examined in Bologan-Riazantsev. ] [ another option is 8.e3 c6 9.bd2 cxd4 ( k e e p i n g t h e t e n s i o n w i t h 9...e7 is better, with roughly equal chances after 10.dxc5 xc5 11.d4 xd4! 12.cxd4 b6 13.b3 a5 14.a4 b4 ) 10.cxd4 ( 10.xd4!? g6 11.f4 is more promising for White ) 10...e7 11.a3 0-0 12.b4 a6 and Black had no problems in Cheparinov, I (2673)-Bulmaga, I (2370) Golden Sands 2012 although White did later go on to win. ] 8...e4 9.d2 The only consistent move [ 9.f3? xb1 10.xb1 c6 leaves White's knight on h4 badly out of the game and B l a c k wi n s a p a wn a f t e r 11.g3 cxd4 12.cxd4 xd4! ] 9...c6 10.g3 e7 11.f3 This is the new idea from Morozevich but it doesn't radically change the assessment of the line which is that Black seems to be at least comfortable and perhaps already has slightly the better chances. [ 11.xe4 dxe4 12.g2 A) 12...cxd4 13.cxd4 b6 14.e3 ( 14.b5! 0-0 15.xc6 bxc6 16.e1 should be a little better for White) 14...0-0 15.g4 d5 led to dynamic equality in Ra sm u sse n , A (2 4 6 8 )-Ra sm uss e n , K (2505) Silkeborg 2008; B) 12...b6!? B1) 13.d5 cxe5 14.f4 exd5?! ( 14...g5! 15.h5 g8 would've given Black a good game) 15.xd5 d6 16.f4 0-0 17.xe7+ xe7 18.d5 fe8 19.xe4 and White's two bishops gave him a slight edge in Moskovic, D (2307)-Feher, A (2224) Budapest 2009; B2) 13.dxc5 xc5 14.b4 d3 15.xd3 exd3 16.xd3 xe5 17.e4 1424

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f6 18.e3 c6 19.xc6+ xc6 left Black with a slight edge going into the endgame in Socko, B (2646)Drozdovskij, Y (2624) Tromso 2010 and W hite had to grovel for a draw for the next 40+ moves. ] 11...g6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.b3 cxd4 This leads to a very comfortable middlegame for Black but Topalov did have some other interesting possibilities. [ 13...b6 14.g2 ( 14.e3? c4 and Black wins the b2 pawn) 14...0-0-0 15.f4 b8 and chances are still roughly balanced ] [ 13...g5!? was also worth considering ] 14.cxd4 b6 15.f4 [ 15.e3 c4 16.xc4 ( 16.c1 b5! and I prefer Black) 16...dxc4 17.d2 b5 18.e4 0-0 and Black has a slight edge based on White's backward pawn on d4. ] 15...c4 16.g2 b6 17.f3 0-0-0!? Not a bad move but it's not at all clear that this is the right place for the king. [ 17...a5! was definitely worth considering, f o r e x a m p l e 18.a4 c8 19.e3 b4 ( 19...0-0 is also promising; 19...xb2?! seems to be inaccurate as White is OK after 20.c2 c4 21.xc4 dxc4 22.xc4 ) 20.c1 c6 and White is struggling somewhat ] 18.e3 xe3+?! This releases the tension somewhat prematurely [ it was better to slowly improve the position with 18...b8! and perhaps ...g5 at a later point. ] 19.xe3 b8 20.a4 a6 [ 20...b4! would've preventing White from gaining space with a5. ] 21.a5 b4?! Suddenly the queen is ominously short of squares 22.d3! c8? A big mistake from Topalov giving White the chance of a substantial advantage [ 22...a7! was necessary - giving the queen a n e s c a p e r o u t a f t e r 23.c5 ( 23.h4 also keeps an edge - Black is struggling for active moves here and always has to watch out for Nc5.) 23...xc5 24.a4 b5 although White remains slightly better after 25.c3 d7 26.xc5 ] 23.d2? Not only does this miss the opportunity but it drops the important pawn on

a5 and ultimately White doesn't get enough compensation. [ 23.c5! leaves the queen trapped with Ra4 coming next move. xc5 24.a4 xa5 ( or 24...b5 25.d2 ) 25.xb4 xb4 26.a4 c6 and White's queen should be stronger than the rook, knight and pawn although there is lots of work still to be done to win from here. ] 23...xa5 24.f3 b6 25.a4 b4! The knight is doing an excellent job on a5 preventing Rb3. Black is simply a pawn up and quietly goes about doubling rooks on the c-file. 26.h4 c7 27.h1 hc8 28.d1 e7 29.b3 h8 30.g5 d8 31.f1 c6! Having successfully stopped a queenside attack the knight now turns it's attention to the more aggressive b4 square. 32.g4 b4 33.d2 a7 34.ff2 c6!? This successfully tempts Morozevich into a dangerous looking piece sacrifice that doesn't seem to quite work [ 34...xg5 35.fxg5 hc8 would've avoided the tactics of the game but admittedly this posit ion isn't so ea sy to win due t o th e weakness of f7. ] 35.xf7 xf7 36.xe6 c7 37.xd5 e7 38.e4 Suddenly White has a dangerous pawn centre in return for the sacrificed piece but it seems Black has enough play on the kingside to still be winning here f5 39.xf5 [ 39.d3 at first seems a better try but Black is winning after the counter sacrifice xh4! 40.gxh4 xh4+ 41.f1 c1+ 42.e2 f5 and Black has a winning attack, for example 43.xf5 gxf5 44.d1 c7 ] 39...gxf5 40.d5 c3 41.d6 xb3 42.fe2? xg3+! A nice finish - all of a sudden White is getting mated 43.xg3 g1+ 44.f3 [ or 44.g2 e3+ 45.h2 xh4# ] 44...b6! There is no good defence to ...Qg4 0-1

1425

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B12 B l a c k 's we a k n e s s e s wi t h o u t d e la y . cxd4 12.xg6!? True to his style Morozevich grabs the first opportunity to mix things up. Now 2000 vast complications arise. [ Before this game W hite had tried 12.d3 but he can hardly can be satisfied with it: xe5 13.xg6 xg6 14.xg6+ d7 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 15.gxh5 e7 16.d3 ( After 16.f7?! g6 6.ge2 c5 7.h4 h5 8.f4 c6!? (the Bishop is misplaced here) f5 17.0-0 B l a c k a l l o ws W h it e t o d e s t ro y h is p a wn b4 18.g5 af8 19.g6 e7 20.g4 structure on the K-side, but in return creates xg5 21.hxg5 d6 and Black is doing well, pressure on W hite's centre. 9.xg6 fxg6 Shirov-Khenkin, Germany 2000. The game 10.e2! c o n t i n u e d : 22.ae1 e7! 23.f4 xg6 [ In the game Timman-Seirawan, Hilversum 24.hxg6 f5 25.g2 hf8 26.g3 c7 1990 where 8... Nc6 was introduced, White 27.f2 e5! 28.fxe5 xe5 29.xf8 xg5+ played thetempting 10.d3? but it lead him 30.f4 xg4+ 31.xg4 xg6+ and Black nowhere: cxd4 11.b5 ( 11.xg6+ has excellent winning chances.) 16...c6 is e ve n wo rs e , d7 and now 12.b5? 17.g1 d8?! I don't like this comeback. is impossible in view of xe5 ) 11...hxg4! ( B l a c k s h o u l d p l a y a c t i v e l y : 17...b4+ 12.xg6+ d7 13.xg4 b6! and Black 18.f1 af8! 19.xg7+ c8 had seized the initiative. The game wit h t re me n d o us com p e nsa t ion f or t h e continued: 14.c3 ( 14.f4? a6 15.a3 h6 sacrificed pawn. First of all, what can White with a huge edge for Black.) 14...dxc3 do against the simple e-pawn march? (...e615.xc3 h6! 16.xh6! xb2 17.d2!? e5-e4). ) 18.g5 e7 19.e2 xg5 An attempt to complicate. ( 17.b1 xc3+ 20.hxg5?! ( 20.xg5 f6 21.0-0-0 18.d2 xe5+ 19.e2 b6 is hopeless for is worth consi dering - I would prefer to White. ) 17...xa1+ 18.e2 and now Black play White here since the pressure on the gmissed a beautiful win: d4! 19.g2 d3+ file is very unpleasant.) 20...c7 21.0-0-0 20.e3 c5+ 21.e4! b2 22.xg7+ af8 22.g2 f4+ 23.b1 e5 and in thi s e7 23.b1 ( 23.xd3 ad8 with a quick very complicated position Black's chances mate. ) 23...xd2 24.xb7+ c6 25.xe7 are by no means worse, Leitao -Khenkin , xh4+ 26.f3 xf2# (pointed out by New York 2000. ] Yasser Seirawan) ] 13.e2 The critical position for [ Other moves are also insufficient, for 12...b4+ evaluating Morozevich's idea. hxg4!? example: 10.gxh5? cxd4 11.b5 xh5 ] [ 13...c7!? is the alternative to the text: [ or 10.e3? cxd4 11.xd4 h6! 12.gxh5 14.c3!? ( 14.f4 is not good: f7! 15.d3 f5 with a huge edge for black. ] ge7 16.xh8 xf4 and Black is 10...b6!? An idea of German GM Igor winning. ) 14...c5 15.xh8 xe5+ Khehkin. Black steps up the pressure on 16.d2 dxc3+ 17.bxc3 f4+ and Black at White's centre. least has perpetual: 18.c2 a4+ 19.d2 [ 10...hxg4 11.f4 is very dangerous for f4+ ] Black ] [ and 10...ge7 is also not too hot 11.f4 14.a3! The only move. [ T h e c a r e l e s s 14.xh8 gives Black a cxd4 12.h3! ( 12.xe6?! d7 13.xf8 tremendous attack: xe5 15.d2 f6 xf8 is OK for Black.) 12...xe5 13.e2 16.xb4 e4! (threatening 17.. .d3) and I 7c6 14.xe6 a5+ 15.f1 hxg4 c a n ' t s e e a d e c e n t d e f e n c e : 17.e1 16.xg4 d6 17.g2 a6 18.d1 xg4 ( 17.h2 b5+ 18.e1 xb4+; 17.e1 19.xg4 e5 20.xd4 c4 21.xc4! b5+ ) 17...f3 - in all lines Black is dxc4 22.e3! d7 23.g5 and Black st ill winning. ] has lots of work to do in order to hold the 14...h5! 15.axb4 ge7 16.xe7 xe5+ endgame, Timman-Karpov, Jakarta 1993. ] 11.f4! Consistently played: White attacks 17.d2 xe7 1340 Morozevich,Alexander Bareev,Evgeny Sarajevo [Alexander Volzhin]

1426

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 17...xb4+ i s i n f e r i o r : 18.c3 dxc3+ 19.bxc3 xe7 ( 19...f4+ 20.c2 xf2+ 21.d2 xd2+ 22.xd2 xe7 23.g1 Although Black has loads of pawns for the sacrificed piece, he can hardly hold the po sition sinc e W hite 's Bish op s a re t o o strong. ) 20.xg4 with a huge edge for White. ] 18.b5 b4! [ The hasty 18...d3? doesn't work: 19.bxc6 xf2+ 20.c3 c5+ 21.xd3 and White is winning: c4+ 22.d2 d4+ 23.d3 f2+ 24.c3 c5+ ( or 24...c8 25.b3 ) 25.b3 and White's King escapes. ] 19.d3?! After this move Black lands a strong initiative. [ 19.xg4 is worthy of considering: c5 20.c3! ( 20.g6 allows perpetual after xc2 21.xc2 b4+ 22.d3 xb5+ 23.d2 b4+ ) 20...dxc3+ 21.bxc3 xf2+ 22.e2 e3+ 23.d1 xc3 24.xb4+ xb4 25.a3 e4 26.xb4+ xb4 27.h5 and W hite h as some winning chances, alth o ugh a d ra w se em s t he m o st like ly outcome of the game. ] 19...f8 20.xg4 xd3 21.cxd3 xf2+ 22.d1 xb5 Finally Black obtains obvious compensation for the sacrificed piece. All his major pieces are very active and White's King is exposed. But the unsafe position of his own King gives White sufficient counterchances. 23.a3 [ 23.xd4 b3# ] 23...c6 24.d2 [ 24.xg7+ a lso le a d s t o a d ra w: d6 25.d2 b5 26.h2!? xh2 27.b4+! c6 28.xe5 h1+ 29.e1 xb2 30.xe6+ c7 and White has nothing better than perpetual. ] 24...ee2 25.xe2 xe2 26.xe2 e5 27.g1 e4 28.dxe4 dxe4 29.xg7+ f8 30.ag3 The draw was agreed in view of [ 30.ag3 b5+ 31.e1 e3 32.g8+ with perpet ual since Black's King can't cross the 5th rank. By the way, if you find a lot of mistakes in my comments to this gam e please don't be quick to judge me! - I have trouble understanding Morozevich's play:))) ] ½-½

1341 Morozevich,Alexander Bologan,Viktor Russian Team Championship [Andrew Martin]

B12

2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 A variation which could have been tailor made for Morozevitch. W hite heads f or unu sual and aggressive positions. e6 4.c3 b4 5.f4 Morozevitch tried 5 Ne2 before but the text seems more natural. e7 6.d3 b6 [ 6...d7 7.0-0-0 0-0 8.ge2 b6 9.a3 d6 10.e5 c7 11.g5 d7 12.f4 b5 13.g3 f6 was the course of McShaneMinasian from the recent European Team Championship. The sort of position reached is n o t d issim ila r t o t h is ga m e - wh o e ve r attacks fastest will win! ] 7.ge2 a6N [ 7...a5 8.0-0-0 a6 9.e3 d7 10.h4 0-0 11.a3 xc3 12.xc3 c5 is again very similar to our current game. One would think that Black is OK here but the has yet to includ e h is ma jor p ieces in an y a tta ck . Meanwhile W hite ploughs on regardless. 13.d6 c8 14.b1 e8 15.xe7 xe7 16.exd5 exd5 17.f4 c4 18.g3 f6 19.h3 a8 20.he1 d6 21.e5 c8 22.xc8 Morozevich, A-Vallejo Pons, F/ Monte Carlo 2004 White has more control of the position and therefore stands better. ] 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0-0 c5 10.a3 xc3 11.xc3 xe2! 12.xe2 c4! White now has to think about the pro spect of a queen side pawn storm coming his way and with the pawn position blocked, the Bishops cannot show their strength. It's a really difficult position to assess properly-unclear is not a cop-out on this occasion! 13.h4 b5 [ 13...bc6 14.h5 b5 15.h6 g6 16.g4 c8 17.e3 b6 18.g5 ( Perhaps 18.he1 b4 19.axb4 xb4 20.exd5 xd5 21.e5 is an improvement for W hite but it's still ra zo r-sh arp .) 18...f6 was Nataf- Motylev European Teams 2003 and Black went on to win. What did Moro have in mind? ] 14.e1 bc6 15.h5 d7 16.g4 f6 17.f1 ad8 [ However 17...xd4! is very satisfactory: 18.xd4 ( 18.exd5 e5 19.e3 xd5 1427

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.xd4 exd4 21.xd4 c6 ) 18...e5 19.d1 exf4= ] 18.h3 dxe4 19.fxe4 xd4! Necessary, but brave all the same. 20.g5 f5 [ I t w a s w o r t h c o n s i d e r i n g 20...b4!? a n d B l a c k i s o n t h e o f f e n s i v e : 21.gxf6 ( 21.axb4 a4 ) 21...bxa3 22.fxe7 xe7 ] 21.b1 c6 22.h6 fxe4 23.c3 e3? Giving Morozevit ch a chance to show his fearsome attacking ability. Objectively, Black is in go o d s h a p e h e re if h e ce m e n t s h i s position with [ 23...df5! 24.xd8 xd8 A) 25.hxg7 e3 26.e1 d5 27.e5 xf4 28.xf4 d6 ( 28...e2 ); B) 25.xf5 xf5 26.hxg7 e3 ] 24.xd4!! xh1+ 25.a2 xh3 26.xd8 gxh6 [ 26...f5 27.e5! h5 ( 27...xd8 28.xe6+ f8 29.hxg7+ xg7 30.xh3+- ) 28.xe6+ f7 29.xf7+ xf7 30.g6+!!+- ] 27.gxh6 g4 28.h8+! Mate follows ! You should not play the Fantasy Variation if you are afraid of risk. My feeling is that Black can cope with White's unusual idea but it is not at all easy as we have just witnessed! Bologan had several chances in this game to be betterhe just failed to take them! 1-0

1342 Morozevich,Alexander Ivanchuk,Vassily 36th Chess Olympiad Men (4) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2758 2705 18.10.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f4 Yet another new twist in the never ending fountain of ideas from the Advance Variation. Typical Morozevich-he tries something unusual! I'm not sure that 4 f4 is that great, but it poses complex over the board problems! e6 5.f3 c5 6.e3 [ 6.c3 b6 seems very respectable for Black. ] 6...cxd4 [ In preceding games, Black has tried 6...c6 and 6...Qb6. Here Ivanchuk takes on d4

before W hite has the chance to reinforce with c2-c3. ] 7.xd4 e7 8.b5+ d7 9.0-0 a6 10.e2 g5!? Ivanchuk is up for the fight! He knows that White can gradually increase his space ad va n t a ge le f t u n h in d e re d a n d s o B la c k MUST disrupt the game here and now. 11.g4!? [ After 11.fxg5 g7 12.c3 xe5 Black seems OK, but the position is very sharp indeed.. ] 11...gxf4 12.gxf5 xf5!? He has decided that he will not let Morozevich dominate the game under any circumstances even if it means sacrificing a piece. Great play! [ 12...fxe3 13.fxe6 fxe6 14.xe6 b6! 15.xf8 xf8 16.h5+ d8 17.xf8+ xf8 seems very good for Black, but not quite as entertaining! ] 13.xf5 fxe3 14.c3! Morozevich is also not ready to submit to [ 14.g3 h4 ] [ or 14.d6+ xd6 15.exd6 b6 16.c3 e5! ] 14...g8+ 15.h1 g5 16.f3?! But this is, probably, too much! [ It was better to retreat the knight, for example 16.g3 0-0-0 ( 16...c5 17.xd5! exd5 18.xd5 e7 19.xf7+-; 16...g7! 17.ge4!? xe5 ) 17.xf7 h6 18.d3! g7 19.xg7 xg7 20.h5 ] 16...xe5 17.e2? [ Black is significantly better already, but it would have been better for W hite to preserve the knight and not to suffer for nothing: 17.g3 ] 17...xf5 18.xd5 h3 19.xb7 a7 20.f3 h6 Black has an extra pawn on e3, and in exchange W hite has a bad position. 21.e4 e7! No dark-squared bishop and so the King is quite safe on e7! All the same a very creative move! 22.e1! An excellent chance! f5?! [ Certainly, not 22...xf3? 23.b4+ d7 24.ad1+ c7 ( 24...c8? 25.d6+ c7 26.e8+! xe8 27.d6+ and White mates ) 25.a5+ with perpetual check. ] [ But 22...b7! looks very strong, preventing Qb4+: 23.c3 ( or 23.a5 xf3 ) 23...xf3! 24.c5+ ( or 24.f6+ e8 25.xf3 xf3+ 26.xf3 e7 ) 24...d8! 1428

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.ad1+ d2 26.d6+ c8 27.c6+ b8 28.c5 g2+! 29.xg2 xg2 30.xg2 e2!-+ ] 23.b4+ f7 24.d4 xf3! [ Alternatively, 24...f4 25.d6+! f6 26.xf4 ag7 27.xf5! exf5 28.xe3 xf3 29.c3+ with a draw by perpetual check. ] 25.f6+ e8 26.xe6+ f8 27.f6+?? With head-spinning complications doubtless provoking time shortage, it is understandable that White goes wrong. Betterwas [ 27.c8+! g7 28.c3+ and White gets o u t o f t h e m e ss : g6 29.c6+ h5 30.f6+ h4 31.xf3 xf3+ 32.xf3 Black loses one of his pawns. g6 33.xf5 g5 34.d5 e6 35.e1 ] 27...f7 28.d6+ g7 29.g1+ h8!-+ 30.f6 Hats off t o the two players for providing us with a fantastic battle. What price 4 f4!? 0-1

1343 Morozevich,Alexander Zontakh,Andrey Keres Memorial Rapid rapid (7) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2675 2505 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.g4!? Morozevich has no fear! d7 Keeping the position nice and tight. 4...Bd7 has to be Black's best move. Complications follow [ 4...e4 5.f3 g6 6.e6 fxe6 7.d3 but White has ample compensation. Black has difficulty unravelling. ] 5.c4 e6?! In a rapid game and having been surprised, we can forgive Zontakh this inaccuracy. It is better to strike at once with [ 5...h5! disrupting the flow of White's game. NCO gives 6.gxh5 f5 7.c3 e6 8.ge2 g4 9.b3 I analyse further for you now: b6 A) 10.f4 xb3 11.axb3 a6 A1) 12.cxd5 b4 13.dxe6 ( 13.a4! exd5 14.e2 xe2 15.xe2 h6 16.e3 f5 ) 13...c2+ 14.d2 xa1 15.exf7+ xf7 16.c4+ e8 17.g6 xh5 18.xg8 These are the headspinning complications that Morozevich

favours but I believe that after d8-+ Black comes out on top.; A2) 12.d2 b4 13.c1 xh5 14.xh5 ( 14.g2 ) 14...xh5; B) 10.xb6 axb6 11.f4 e7 ] 6.c3 h5 7.g5! e7 Zontakh hurries to stop that g pawn. Other ideas would be viable if g5g6! wasn't available: [ 7...dxc4 8.xc4 ( 8.g6!? ) 8...e7 ] [ 7...h4 8.f3 ( 8.g6! Very strong! fxg6 9.g4 e7 10.f3 ) 8...e7 9.b3 c8 ] 8.f3 dxc4 9.xc4 g6? A odd sort of move but he seems preoccupied with stopping that g-pawn. For me, it seems a priority to get a Knight to d5 hence: [ 9...c8! 10.e4 ( 10.b3 d7 11.e3 b6 ) 10...f5 with ...Nd7-b6-d5 on the horizon. ] 10.d3! e7 11.xg6 fxg6 12.h4 One slip and the focus trains on g6. xg5 13.xg6 h6 14.g1 A strong move but Morozevich proves he is human after all, missing [ 14.f3! xg6 15.xh5 f7 16.g1+- ] 14...xc1 15.xc1 a6 16.f3 xg6 17.xh5 e7 18.xg6+ d8 19.g5 Crushing! Are we in for a revival of 4 g4? 1-0

1344 Motylev,Alexander Alsina Leal,Daniel Aeroflot Open A (4) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2687 2531 11.02.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 [ 7.c4 is looked at in the subsequent game. ] 7...c6 8.0-0 xb2 9.e1 [ 9.b5 used to be the mainline and I featured it in Ni Hua (2667)-Ionov, S (2548) Da g o m ys 2 0 1 0 . A co u p l e m o r e r e c e n t games continued: c4 A) 10.b1 xc2 ( I also examined 10...xa2 which seems the sounder choice. ) 11.xc2 xc2 12.b2 a4 For some reason I failed to look at this logical move last time, only investigating 12...Rd8!? and 12...Bg6. ( The computer is 1429

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 not impressed by 12...d8!? 13.xc2 a6 14.c3 b5 but I wrote "when Black has two pawns for the piece and seems to have decent compensation as the pawns block W hite's pieces from getting in to the position."; 12...g6 13.c7+ d7 14.xa8 c8 15.h4 b8 16.xg6 hxg6 17.fb1 d8 18.b6 axb6 19.xb6 "must be somewhat better for White but I wouldn't be unhappy to play with Black here.") 13.c7+ d7 14.xa8 b5 15.d1 a3 16.b1 xd1 17.xb5 xf3 18.gxf3 ge7 19.b7+ d8 20.fb1 c3 21.1b3 b2 22.g5 f6 23.e3! e8 24.b8+ xb8 25.xb8+ f7 26.xh8 fxe5 27.dxe5 and White has picked up material and managed to convert. Hofstetter, H (2397)-Andersen, L (2102) ICCF email 2009.; B) 10.c7+ d7 11.xa8 xc2 B1) 12.e1 b4 13.d2 ge7 ( I reckoned 13...c3! was very good for B l a c k a n d I s t a n d b y t h a t o p i n i o n .) 14.xb4 ( 14.b6+ axb6 15.xb4 xb4 16.c1 e4 was already very good for Black in Kosteniuk, A (2524)P a i k i d z e , N ( 2 3 7 6 ) M o s c o w 2 0 1 0 .) 14...xb4 ( Last time I looked at 14...xb4 which is completely fine for Black. ) 15.c1 g6 16.a3 a5 17.b2 Kosintseva, T (2573)-Paikidze, N ( 2 3 7 6 ) M o s c o w 2 0 1 0 w h e n b5 wo u l d d e f i n i t e l y f a vo u r t h e s e c o n d player.; B2) 12.c1 a3! 13.d1?! A new move but this too is very good for Black. d3 14.e1 ge7 15.a4 xa8 16.g5 xc1 17.xc1 xc1 18.exc1 b8 19.xc6+ xc6 20.e1 g6 21.d1 b5 22.f3 b4 23.f2 a5 24.e3 a4 and Black's pawns were too strong. 0-1 Deslandes, P (2282) L in t c h e vs ki, D (2 5 3 2 ) W a r sa w P O L 2010. ] 9...c4 [ A big dent was put in 9...cxd4 in Gashimov, V (2733)-Ivanchuk, V (2764) Reggio Emilia 2011 which I annotated last month. ] 10.b1 xc2 11.xb7 [ 11.d1 d3? ( Last year I analysed 11...xb1 12.xb1 xb1 13.a4 d3

14.a5 d7 15.g5 h6 "is rather unclear. The bishop on d3 seem to keep the Black king adequately covered." Of course f u rth e r p ra ct ica l t est s a re requ ire d b u t currently I'd be quite attracted to this mess:) ) 12.a4! And Black cannot defend a g a i n s t b o t h t h r e a t s o f R xb 7 a n d R d 1 trapping the Black queen. c8 13.xb7! 1-0 Smirin, I (2657)-Popov, V (2559) St Petersburg 2010 and Black resigned as 14. Nb5 is too strong a threat. A catastrophe for such a strong player to lose in 13 moves but these positions are very sharp. ( 13.d1 b4 14.xd3 xd3 15.a3 a5 16.d2 is also very good for W hite but the text is stronger. )] 11...b4 Deviating from my previous analysis. [ I briefly offered the line 11...b8 A) 12.xb8+ xb8 13.a1 as in the game is more challenging, when Black is f o r c e d i n t o b4 14.b1 xc3 ( 14...xc3?! 15.xc3 xc3 16.xb8+ d7 17.b7+ c6 18.xf7; 14...a5 15.d1 d3 16.a4+ d7 17.c1 xc3 18.xc3 b1+ 19.xb1 xb1 20.a3 and White will regain the a5 pawn with an advantage as Black struggles to get his king to safety.) 15.xb8+ d7 16.f1 with a very sharp position. My computer declares the position as 0.00 but I wouldn't be surprised if W hite had a strong sacrifice opening up Black's king as he has no short term method of extracting his kingside pieces.; B) 12.d1 xb7 13.xc2 xc2 when Black is doing very well. ] 12.xb4! This exchange sacrifice looks forced. [ 12.d2 xc3 13.xc3 xa2 and White has insufficient compensation for the couple of pawns. ] 12...xb4 13.a1 Threatening to trap Black's queen with 14.Ne1 so the next is more or less forced. xa2! [ 13...g4 14.e1 g6 15.d1! also wins material back due to the threat of 16.Qa4+ ] 14.xa2 a4! Alsina Leal brings his queen back into the game to give his king some safety. Obviously he was still in preparation. [ Taking the piece proves too risky. 14...xe2 1430

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.c3 c2 A) 16.b5 e7 17.c7+ d7 18.a3! ( 18.xa8 xa8 doesn't look like enough co m pe n sa t io n f o r t h e co up le p awn s.) 18...xc7 19.xe7+ c6 20.d6+ b7 21.d7+ b6 looks like a probable draw.; B) 16.b1! xc3 ( 16...e7 17.b7 gives White a strong initiative.) 17.xc3 xb1 18.b4 f5 19.b7 d8 20.g5 and White has a clear edge. ] 15.c3 [ 15.b2 e7 16.d1 d7 17.c3 0-0 would be rather balanced. White's pieces control some useful squares but Black's rook an d c o u p le of p a sse d p awn s p ro m ise s equality. ] 15...xa1 16.xa1 e7 17.c1 b8?! I don't think it's necessary to offer the a pawn for free. [ Instead after 17...c6 I think Black has the better chances, i.e. 18.d1 0-0 19.a4 b4 Perhaps White can hold the draw as it's not easy to push through the pawns but he'll have to suffer. ] 18.d1 I'm not sure why the pawn was declined. [ However the position is probably still roughly balanced following 18.xa7 c6 19.c7 b4 20.a3 0-0 21.d1 b6 when a draw by repetition is a logical finish. 22.a4 b5 23.c3 b6= ] 18...0-0 [ Again 18...c6 19.a4 d7 looks more comfortable for Black. ] 19.a3 [ It was still possible to grab the pawn with 19.xa7 However now Black has the better chances as he can either exchange rooks or take control of the position. Once a pair of rooks get exchanged Black will be clearly better as it will be easier to start advancing the c pawn. As a rule of thumb, the side with two pieces for the rook (or even the exchange and a couple of pawns) should strive to keep the other pair of rooks on the board. c6 20.c7 fc8 21.d7 a8 and Black would have taken over the initiative. ] 19...b7 20.a4 a6 21.h3 Motylev has failed to get anything out of the opening and has no

winning tries so of f ers his lower rated opponent the draw. Black must have th e slightly better chances but it's unclear how either side makes realistic progress. It looks like the ball is back in W hite's court in this fascinating variation. ½-½

1345 Motylev,Alexander Maletin,Pavel TCh-RUS Premier (4) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2677 2584 15.04.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 c5 7.c4 [ I an no ta te d 7.a3 in Inarkiev, E (2674)Riazantsev, A (2679) Olginka 2011 also this month. ] 7...bc6 [ 7...dxc4 used to be played a fair bit but has fallen out of fashion. It may be playable but W h it e h a s a ny win nin g cha n ce s go in g. 8.a3 ( T h e i m m e d i a t e 8.dxc5 is also possible. d7 9.a3 c6 10.g5 b8 11.xc4 xc5 Atlas, V (2457)Sherwin, J (2355) Switzerland 1999 12.d6+ xd6 13.exd6 and White's bishop pair and advanced d pawn promise him a clear advantage.) 8...ec6 ( 8...bc6 transpo ses to 8.Na3 .) 9.dxc5 xd1 10.xd1 xc5 11.xc4 d7 Bologan has actually had this position with both colours, m a n a g i n g t h e m a x i m u m 1 . 5 / 2 . 12.b3 ( 12.f4 b6 13.ac1 xc4 14.xc4 b6 15.b5 c8 Bologan, V (2585)-Adianto, U (2485) Manila 1992 16.d4 xd4 17.xd4 0-0 18.xc6 xc6 19.xc6 bxc6 20.a4 is very unpleasant to hold.) 12...e4 13.d6+ xd6 14.exd6 0-0 15.a3 fd8 16.ac1 d5 17.d2 a5 18.c4 b4 19.d2 dc8 20.cd1 b6 21.e3 b7 Volokitin, A (2660)-Bologan, V (2666) Foros 2006 and Black managed to hold on. ] [ 7...ec6 no longer makes logical sense as the battle for d5 is important with White's queenside knight still on b1. 8.cxd5 xd5 9.c3 d7 10.d5 must favour White. ] 8.dxc5 Grabbing the pawn. Black should be able to recapture the pawn but White hopes to 1431

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 use the slight lead in development gained to find useful squares for his pieces. [ 8.a3 is similar to Inarkiev-Riazantsev but here Black's been able to develop the b knight instead of ...Nec6. I noted in that game that the critical test was probably 8. dxc5. However this is a mainline and was Motylev's choice on the previous two occasions when Black has two main paths. A) 8...a6!? has also been seen from time to time. A1) 9.cxd5 doesn't strike me as logical. Surely Black has just gained the move ... a6 for free over 8...dxc4? xd5 10.g5 ( 10.c4 xd4 11.xd4 cxd4 12.xd4 c8 13.e3 xe3 14.xe3 c5 15.c3 d6 16.d4 c5 17.c3 1/2-1/2 Brandenburg, D (2515)Prohaszka, P (2536) Groningen 2010 saw Black draw very easily.) 10...d7 ( 10...f6!? is perhaps the most dynamic.) 11.dxc5 h6 12.h4 f4 13.xd7+ xd7 14.fd1+ c7 15.f1 g4 16.g3 xf3! 17.gxf3 g5 and with e5 dropping Black's favourable structure gave him the better chances. Almasi, Z (2707)-Ponomariov, R (2749) KhantyMansiysk 2010; A2) 9.dxc5 d4 is similar to the game but the knight looks misplaced on a3. 10.a4 can be the only way to justify this course and might be enough for a nibble. g6 A2a) Holding onto the extra pawn with 11.b4 wasn't enough for an advantage: e7 12.d1 0-0 13.b2 d3 ( 13...e8!? l o o k s i n t e r e s t i n g .) 14.xd3 xd3 15.b3 a5 16.xd3 b8 17.c2 axb4 18.xb4 cxe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.e3 c6 and Black's position was respectable as W h it e's stru ct ure was ho rrible . Volokitin, A (2661)-Ponomariov, R (2749) Baile Herculane 2010; A2b) 11.d1 xc5 ( 11...d3 a p p e a rs p re m a t u re . 12.e3 e7 13.c2 0-0 14.xd3 xd3 15.ce1 cxe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.xd3 xd3 18.a3 c8 19.xd3 b6 Zhigalko, S (2680)-Bologan, V (2671) Olginka 2011 when giving back the

pawn with 20.ad1! xc5 21.xc5 xc5 22.xc5 bxc5 23.d7 gives White good winning chances in the endgame.) 12.b4 xb4 13.xd4 a5 14.xa5 xa5 15.xf5 exf5 16.c2 c3 17.b1 f4 18.d3 xe5 1/2-1/2 Motylev, A (2687)-Zhou Weiqi (2573) Moscow 2011 was Motylev's previous encounter in the variation. Black has an extra pawn but White the bishop pair and the initiative. Following 19.d5 c3 ( 19...c7 20.d2 b6 21.xa5 bxa5 22.b7 also gives W hite the better chances.) 20.b2 xb2 21.xb2 c6 22.xb7 White would regain the pawn and so must have some kind of edge. Theref ore accept ing the draw wa s rather premature.; B) 8...dxc4 This is the most common making sure he gets the d5 outpost for his knight and is the quickest way to develop the kingside. 9.xc4 d5 has done quite well for Black but maybe W hite can still cla im so m e t h in g h e re . 10.g5 d7 11.c1 h6 12.e3 b5 13.a3 ( 13.d6+ didn't get White anywhere. xd6 14.exd6 c4 15.a4 a6 16.axb5 axb5 17.b3 xd6 18.bxc4 bxc4 19.xc4 0-0 gave Black any advantage going with the superior structure. Cheparinov, I (2671) -Bologan, V (2692) Khanty Mansiysk 2009.) 13...a6 14.dxc5 White has managed to cement his extra pawn but the knight on a3 is rather misplaced while Black's knights on c6 and d5 are on good locations. White also has to watch out to make sure he doesn't drop the e5 pawn. B1) 14...d8?! allowed the shot 15.xb5! xe3 ( 15...axb5 16.xb5 and the pressure on the a4-e8 diagonal coupled with the three connected passed pawns gives W hite very good chances. ) 16.fxe3 xd1 Ramesh, R (2473)-Prakash, G (2341) Kolkata 2008 when my relay goes haywire but 17.fxd1 axb5 18.xb5 c8 19.d4 e4 20.a4! would have been very good for W hite as the three pawns are so strong.; B2) 14...e7 15.c2 xe3 1432

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 15...e4!? ) 16.xe3 e4 17.a4 b7 18.axb5 axb5 B2a) 19.b3 b8 ( 19...0-0 20.xb5 xb5 21.xb5 xf3 22.gxf3 xe5 is evalutated as = by the computer but the connected passed pawns looks scary to me.) 20.c3 c7 21.d4 b4 22.c4 1/2-1/2 Motylev, A (2704)Riazantsev, A (2674) Poikovsky 2010 evidently Riazantsev has checked 19. Nd4 and decided Black can hold.; B2b) 19.d2 didn't get White anywhere either: g6 20.f3 d8 21.xc6+ xc6 22.f3 c7 23.fd1 0-0= Cheparinov, I (2671)-Bologan, V (2692) Khanty Mansiysk 2009; B2c) 19.d4! looks like an im p ro ve m e n t wh e n crit ica l i s 0-0-0 ( 19...xd4 20.xd4 0-0 21.b4 ) 20.xc6 xd1 21.xe7+ d8! 22.fxd1+ xe7 when White has rook, knight and pawn for the queen and what feels like a slight edge. ] 8...d4 9.d3 [ 9.e1 was the top Frenchman's choice. admittedly only in rapid chess. g6 10.a3 a5 11.d3 xd3 12.xd3 xc5 is a better version of the game for Black. Vachier Lagrave, M (2703)-Ponomariov, R (2744) Warsaw 2010. ] [ 9.a4 used to be White's attempt at an advantage but it now appears to have been neutralised. g6 10.d1 ( 10.b4 a5! 11.b5 Hamdouchi, H (2555)-Karpov, A (2725) Cap d'Agde 1 998 whe n I can 't see anythin g wrong with snaffling the e pawn with cxe5 when Black has a good position.) 10...xc5 11.b4 xb4 A) 12.g4!? is the computer's suggestion but such a move feels unnatural. xb1 ( 12...xg4? 13.xd4! is t h e p o i n t .; However sacrificing the piece with 12...0-0!? 13.gxf5 exf5 isn't out of the question. Black will have at least two pawns for the piece with W hite's structure shattered and his king vulnerable.) 13.xb1 ( 13.xd4 a5= ) 13...c3 ( 13...a5 14.xa5 xa5 15.xb7 and White has an edge.) 14.xb7 c8 15.b5 0-0 with a very messy position. W ere the g pawn back on g2

White would have a pleasant advantage but here he has to watch out for his king's safety.; B) 12.xd4 a5 13.xa5 xa5 14.xf5 exf5 15.b2 c7 and Black was completely fine. Brkic, A (2564)-Berkes, F (2680) Zadar 2010. ] 9...xd3 10.xd3 g6 11.e4 xc5 12.bd2 c7?! As Van Delft and Ris observe in ChessVibes Openings this move is an error. Black cannot win the e5 pawn so this is the wrong square for the queen. [ Karpov played 12...0-0 13.b3 b6 14.h4 h6 15.h5 ge7 16.e1 ( 16.xc5 xc5 17.b3 might have been Motylev's idea when W hite can claim a very slight edge with pressure on d4 but Black can strif e f o r counterplay with ...b5 and his position is f ully re aso nab le .) 16...b4 ( 16...f5 17.d3 e7 18.g4 h4 is rather messy.) 17.d3 a6 18.d2 ( 18.xb4 xb4 19.xd4 xc4 20.b3 d5 21.g4! xe5 22.xh6 would have given Gelfand a slight edge. ) 18...xc4 19.fc1 d5 20.xd5 xd5 21.xc6 xd2 22.c2 g5 23.xd4 ac8 and Black was slightly for preference. Gelfand, B (2703)-Karpov, A (2693) Cannes 2002. ] 13.b3 e7 And they also criticise this move but it's the logical follow up of the previous. [ 13...cxe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.xc5 xc5 16.b4 c7 17.f4 f6 18.xd4 is highly unpleasant. ] [ 13...b6!? is their suggestion but the extra tempo must be rather useful for White and 14.h4! looks pleasant for White. ] 14.e1 d8 15.d2 0-0 16.h4! The natural advance and the reason that Be7 was criticised. Black's next is now obligatory to s t o p t h e k n i g h t b e i n g f o r c e d t o h 8 . h5 Forced but now that pawn is very vulnerable while g2-g4 is going to leave Black's kingside in shatters. 17.ad1 a6 [ 17...d7 18.c1 b4 19.b3 fd8 20.xb4 xb4 21.e2 is also rather unpleasant for Black as he lacks any counterplay while W hite can increase his pressure on the kingside. ] 18.c1! This is an important nuance in this line and was perhaps underestimated by Maletin. Instead of trying to win the d4 pawn, 1433

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 gxf8 12.fd2 h7 13.f4 g6 14.d3 0-0 was about even in Ni Hua (2632) Iordachescu, V (2563)/Moscow RUS 2007 which is in the archives. ] [ 8...h7 is the most common, when both sides will still have decisions to make. ] 9.a4!? [ An interesting idea, grabbing space on the q u e e n s i d e . A n o t h e r i d e a i s 9.e1 which prepares not only a kingside advance, but also a possible deployment to the d3square. From d3 the knight will control c5 and may hop to f4 and h5 to bother Black's kingside. ] 9...e7 10.a5 a6 This stops the nuisance pawn, but Black will have a lot of trouble getting in ...c5. 11.e3 c7 12.fd2 [ W h it e wa nt s t o play c4 . Again , 12.e1 is possible. ] 12...a7 13.f4 0-0 14.c4 [ 14.g4 h7 15.f5 c5 is double edged. Before attacking, W hite wants to prevent 1346 B12 co un te rp lay a nd co nsolid at e h is s pa c e advantage. ] Motylev,Alexander 2644 Rodshtein,Maxim 2614 14...h7 [ 14...dxc4 15.xc4 is also unpleasant. Aeroflot Open (8) 21.02.2008 White's minor pieces are all tremendous and [David Vigorito] he can play anywhere on the board. ] The Short system can be very dangerous in 15.c5 Suddenly the board is very "small" - the the hands of a strong strategist. Here White main theatre of action will be on the kingside employs an interesting idea, marching his a- only. With all 32 pieces still on the board, this pawn up the board. Black is soon very short will clearly favour the side with the space of space and W hite strangles him on the advantage. b5 This knight looks nice, but it kingside. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 is a long way from the kingside and d4 is e6 5.e2 The Short system may not be too hardly weak. 16.g4 f6 [ Instead 16...f5 would force White to make scary theoretically, but the positions that arise a decision regarding the pawn structure. are very rich and the games are often quite 17.h3 f7 intending ...Raf8 is solid. ] interesting. d7 6.0-0 e7 17.f3 fxe5 18.fxe5 Now that Black has [ 6...g6 is also common, as is ] clarified the pawn structure, it is easier for [ 6...h6 avoiding any Nh4 ideas. ] White to decide how to build up his position. 7.bd2 19.d3! Exchanging light-squared [ 7.h4 is the main argument against f7 B l a c k ' s m o v e o r d e r . g6 ( 7...e4 bishops helps W hite, because the squares is more interesting, hoping to leave the h4- around Black's king will be a bit squishy. af8 knight out on a limb. After 8.d2 f5 20.xh7+ xh7 21.d3+ g6 22.g2 d8 White in fact, often chooses to play 9.hf3 ) 23.bd2 g7 24.b4 h8 25.f2 hf8 8.d2 c5 9.c3 c6 10.xg6 hxg6 26.af1 c7 27.g3 e8 28.h4 h5? The possibility of W hite playing h5 at some 11.f3 looks a little better for White. ] 7...h6 Now we are back into standard point was too much for Black, and he cracks. 29.gxh5 gxh5 30.g5 Black is busted. he methods. 8.b3 c8?! This looks a bit odd. [ 8...c8 9.d2 e4 10.b4 g6 11.xf8 just does not have enough room to defend. I Motylev uses the d3 outpost for his knight to cement the e5 pawn in place before breaking through on the kingside. Surprisingly Black appears powerless and must sit and wait for h i s d e m i s e . b5 19.cxb5 axb5 20.d3 The knight is on a perfect square and White can now prepare to break through with g2-g4. d5 21.c1 c8 22.g4! hxg4 [ Perhaps 22...d8 was better although 23.gxh5 xh4 24.xh4 xh4 25.g2!? h7 26.e4 e7 27.g4 f8 28.g5 d7 29.e4+ g8 30.h6 g6 31.h7+! will mate in short order. ] 23.xg4 h8 24.h1 Simple play, White's attack plays itself. b7 25.g1 f8 26.h5+ g8 27.g5 e7 28.h7+ f8 29.xe6+ [ 29.xf7 also wins immediately. ] 29...e8 30.xg7+ d7 31.e6+ d6 32.exf7 ce5 33.xg6+ 1-0

1434

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 think Black lost this game because he had [ (b) 6...xe5?! 7.cxd5 develops White's trouble keeping the tension (17...fxe5, for pieces efficiently after f6 ( 7...xd5?! example). f5 31.xe7 xe7 32.g5 8.c3 a5 9.f4 ) 8.c3 a6 9.a4+ d7 xg5+ Desperation. 33.hxg5 xg5+ 34.h2 10.b3 ] h4+ 35.g1 xf2 36.xf2 b5 37.f3 7.xc6 xd1+ 8.xd1 bxc6 9.xc4 g6 f4 38.g5 c1+ 39.h2 f8 40.f7+ [ 9...f5 10.c3 e6 11.e2 leaves White 1-0 wit h go o d d e ve lo p m e n t a n d t h e b e t t e r structure. He can transform that after ] 10.c3 h6 [ 10...g7 11.f4 h6 12.e2 transposes. ] 1347 B12 Muzychuk,Anna 2469 11.e2 g7 12.f4 g5!? 13.g3!? [ 13.fxg5 g4 14.e6! fxe6 15.f4 0-0 Ushenina,Anna 2486 16.hf1 is a little better for White, as is ] 17th TCh-SLO w (4) 01.12.2007 [ 13.h3 f5 14.f2 ] [John Watson] 13...gxf4 14.gxf4 f6! [ 14...f5 15.e4 leaves it difficult for Black 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c4!? to activate his pieces, and the move Nc5 To me, this popular move is very odd-looking, can be very effective. ] leaving d4 undefended and still not developing a piece. But the move does pressure d5, and 15.e6 [ 15.g1 f5 16.e6 transposes. ] I haven't seen a fully satisfactory solution for 15...f5 16.g1?! Black yet. c6 5.f3 [ 16.e3 b8 17.b3 looks more accurate, [ For 5.cxd5? xd5 , see Topalovicwith the advantage. ] Mikhalchishin in the archives ] 16...h6! 17.e3! White would gladly trade 5...cxd4 18.ab1 [ Two games by Khenkin in the Archives off Black's best piece on f5. b8 show W hite getting an ad vantage af te r d6! 19.b3 b4! 20.f3?! Black has 5...g4 6.cxd5 . Peter Wells agrees with cleverly activated his pieces with threats, so this in his recent Caro-Kann book, giving 5... White needs to react precisely. One idea was [ 20.a4! xf4! ( 20...xe6 21.a3 b8 Bg4 a '?!'. ] 22.xa7 c8 23.f3 ) 21.xc6+ f8 [ For 5...e6 , see the Haslinger game with 4... 22.g4 c4! 23.d5 xe3 24.xc4 xc4 e6. ] 25.xc4 a6 26.b3 with unclear 6.xd4 dxc4 This may look like a mistake, prospects. ] but the alternatives aren't too thrilling, which may indicate that 5...e6 (or 4...e6) is better 20...f5? [ Missing the chance to return and conquer f4 than either 4.. .cxd4 or 4...Nc6 5 Nf3 cxd4. by 20...f5! 21.e2 ( 21.xa7 xf4+ Maybe. 22.g2 b7 23.c5 d4 ) 21...xe3 [ (a) 6...e6 7.c3 b4 is Houska's solution, 22.xe3 a6 ] to avoid . But then she doesn't consider c5 22.d5! xb2 23.xc5 ( 7...c5 8.xc6 bxc6 9.g4 , where the 21.bd1 queen move which merits her "!") 8.xc6 Of a sudden White is winning. f8 [ 23...xh2 24.b5! ] bxc6 9.a4! ( 9.g4 d4 10.a3 f8 11.e2 c5 ) 9...xc3+ ( What else? 9...b6 24.e2 [ 24.b3! threatens Rxd6! and wins quickly 10.e3 d4 11.xd4 xd4 12.xb4 after b7 25.d4 g8 26.xg8+ xg8 xe5+ 13.e2 leaves Black behind in 27.d5 ] development with a weak c-pawn and darkIt really doesn't matter what Black square issues) 10.bxc3 . This position may 24...a6 g7 be playable, but White's two bishops always doe s. Th e re st is simp le : 25.d4 s e e m t o g i v e h i m t h e b e t t e r o f i t , f o r 26.b1 d2 27.b8+ c8 28.c4! b7+ example, d7 ( 10...e7 11.d3 c7 29.e3 b2 30.b3 [ 30.xf5 f6 31.d1 will lead to a mating 12.f4 0-0 13.a3 ) 11.d3 e7 12.0-0 attack. ] g6 13.f4 ] 1435

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30...c2 31.d3 xh2 32.xb7 h3+ 33.e2 h6 34.b8 [ Or 34.xe7+ xe7 35.b8+ c8 36.xc8+ e7 37.c7+ ] 34...xe6+ 35.f3 c6 36.xf5 f7 37.xg7+ xg7 38.d4+ f7 39.xh8 d6 40.e6+ g6 1-0

1348 Nagel,Herbert Cuno,Thomas [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2210

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 c5 This has been Black's main reply throughout the decades (6...Ne7 which is very popular now, was discovered only a few years ago). The appreciation of this move has changed many times - brilliant wins and severe losses have alternated with each other. But the line is alive, and only last year was enriched with many interesting ideas. 7.h4! This straightforward move is the best in this position. Now Black has to decide how to save the Bishop. [ 7.e3 is the alte rnative to the text but Black's task is not so difficult. The latest example on GM level: d7!? ( 7...c6 is also playable.) 8.h4 cxd4 9.xd4 h5 10.f4 hxg4 11.xg4 h6 12.g1 h5! (preventing Q-side castling) 13.e2 xe2 14.cxe2 a5+! 15.d2 a6! Black is outplaying his strong opponent very c o n v i n c i n g l y . 16.h5 0-0-0 17.a3 Otherwise White can't castle, but this move is a serious weakening. b8 18.0-0-0 c8 19.b1 b6 and undoubtedly I prefer Black, Fedorov-Adianto, Istanbul 2000. ] 7...cxd4 This line was popular in the eighties, but I believe after this game it will struggle to find new adherents. [ A f t e r t h e i m m e d i a t e 7...h5 8.f4 is possible (although this line is perfectly playable for Black - we'll consider it later) -therefore Black exchanges on d4 first. ] [ 7...h6 is the third possibility, which we'll consider in the next game. ] 8.xd4 h5 Now 9.Nf4 is impossible. 9.f4! [ At first White successfully used to try

9.b5+ d7 10.g5 e7 11.f4 but after several failures Black found a simple way to get a comfortable game hxg4 12.xg4 xg5 13.fxg5 h5! with excellent p r o s p e c t s : 14.h3 ( or 14.g3 e7 15.ce2 xe2 16.xe2 g6 17.b5 c7 18.xd7+ xd7! and Black is clearly better, S a rie go -A m . Ro d rigu e z, B a ya m o 1 9 8 2) 14...e7 15.d2 ( 15.ce2?! intending to castle Q-side is not good in view of xe2 16.xe2 a5+ 17.c3 c6 , with clear edge for Black.) 15...c8 16.ae1 b6! 17.b3 a6 18.xd7+ xd7 19.c1 ( T h e e n d g a m e a f t e r 19.e3 xe3+ 20.xe3 f5 21.d3 c4! also favours Black. ) 19...c4! with huge edge for Black, Hort-Seirawan, Bad Kissingen 1981. ] 9...hxg4 [ Black has also tried 9...d7 but has failed t o e q u a l i ze : 10.f5 exf5 11.gxf5 xf5 12.xf5 xf5 13.xd5 c6 14.b5! ge7 15.e4 e6 ( Or 15...xe4+ 16.xe4 f5 17.g5 e7 18.0-0-0! and Black st ill ha s dif f icult ies to solve) 16.g5 0-0-0 17.xc6 bxc6 18.0-0!? and White is better, Grasso-Behl, 1995. ] 10.b5+ d7 11.f5! The most consistent and dangerous continuation. [ The humble 11.xg4 h6 12.g2 b6!? is OK for Black. ] 11...xh4 [ 11...xf5 as was played in Sax-Vadasz, Hu n g a r y 1 9 8 5 is we a k : 12.xf5 exf5 13.xd5 c7 14.f4 e7 and now White s h o u l d p l a y 15.d2 0-0-0 16.e6! and Black is in trouble: e5 17.d7+ b8 18.b5! and Black can't avoid gross material losses: 7g6 ( 18...f3+? 19.e2 winning on the spot.) 19.xc7 f3+ 20.e2 xd2 21.a6+ a8 22.c7! fxe6 ( 22...e7 23.h5! ) 23.xd8 bxa6 24.g5 f3 25.c6+ b8 26.xf3 gxf3+ 27.xf3 and White is winning ] 12.f1! The only move but it's a strong one! exf5 [ The tempting 12...h2 can be refuted by force: 13.xd7+! xd7 The only way ( 13...xd7 14.fxg6 ) 14.xg4 exf5 15.xf5 xf5 16.xf5+ c6 The exposed position of Black's King makes his defence very difficult. 17.g5 e7 18.xe7 1436

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 18...xe7 is hardly an improvement: 19.0-0-0 d8 20.d3 with a decisive attack, for example: g5+ 21.b1 g6 22.b5+ c7 23.xd5! xd5 24.xd5+ d8 25.a5+ b6 ( 25...e8 26.c7 ) 26.c3 and White wins.; B) 18...xe7 19.f4 h8 20.a4+ c7 21.0-0-0 h6+ 22.b1 and Black's position is barely defensible, Moore-Mills, USA 1984. ] [ But 12...h5!? looks very interesting. In my database I've been able to find only one g a m e i n t h i s l i n e : 13.fxg6 xe5+ ( 13...h4+ is worth considering.) 14.ce2 h4+ 15.d2 h6+ 16.f4 The position is very complicated but I believe W hite is better: h2+ 17.de2 f6 18.h1 f2 19.g1 xg1 20.xg1 h6 21.d4 c5 22.fxe6 xe6 23.xe6 xg1 24.c7+ d8 25.xa8 and White is winning, Brinck Claussen -Rasmussen, Denmark 2000. Of course, it's premature to draw any conclusions based on this sole game, so this line co uld do with som e m ore pract ica l tests. ] 13.e6! The most precise move again. [ After 13.f4 a6! Black is OK ] 13...fxe6 14.xe6 e7 15.e2 The critical position of this line. W hite sacrifices 3(!) pawns but obtains a dangerous initiative. First of all Black needs to parry the threats of 16. Nc7 and 16.Nd5. f7 Probably the only move. The alternatives are insufficient. [ 15...h2 16.c7+! ( 16.xh2 xe6+ looks fine for Black.) 16...d8 17.xe7+ xe7 18.f4! xc2 19.xa8 h4+ ( 19...gf6 20.f2 ) 20.d1 xb2 21.c7 and White is winning (although precise play is still required!), Nagel-Wouters, 1988. ] [ 15...c8 leads to disastrous consequences as well: 16.xd5! ( 16.g5 h2! is n o t s o c le a r.) 16...xc2 17.dc7+! and White wins: f7 ( 17...xc7 18.xc7+ d8 19.g5 xg5 20.e6+ ) 18.d8+ xd8 ( 18...f6 19.d5# ) 19.e6# ] 16.xd7 xd7 17.g5+ f6 18.e3 b4 19.0-0-0 xc3 20.bxc3 e8 21.d2 xe3 Forced. 22.xe3 e7 23.d2 All these moves were forced (at least I can't see where it's possible to deviate) and now Black has a wide but unpleasant choice: a3+

[ 23...f7 24.xf7 xf7 25.xf5+ xf5 26.f1+ ] [ 23...h5 24.de1 a3+ 25.b1 xg5 26.d4+ f7 27.xd5+ winning on the spot in both lines ] [ In his notes in Chess Informant Nagel r e c o m m e n d e d 23...e5 24.de1 h2 evaluating the position as unclear. However I d i s a g r e e : 25.d3! b8 26.e6! and I can't see any sufficient defence. ] 24.b1 e7 25.de1 Threatening 26.Re6 f7 26.f4! a6 [ 26...c5 is n o b e t t e r : 27.xe7! xe7 ( 27...b6+ 28.a1 xe7 29.xf5 f6 30.e1+ ) 28.e5+ d7 29.xf5+ and White wins. ] 27.f3! The rest needs no comments. gxf3 28.xh4+ g5 29.h8+ g6 30.h1 g8 31.e7 Black resigned. 1-0

1349 Naiditsch,A Khenkin,I 41st GM Dortmund GER (9.2) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2710 2605 04.08.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.f3 cxd4 5.xd4 c6 [ 5...e6 is Black's major alternative here and it's covered in the archives by John Watson in two games of Karjakin-Short from their 2008 rapidplay match. Khenkin has also had this position before but he ran into trouble after 6.d2 c6 7.2f3 ge7 8.d3 g6 9.xc6 bxc6 10.0-0 e7 11.c4 0-0 12.c2 c5 13.h4! xh4 14.cxd5 b7?! ( Black is only a little worse after 14...exd5 15.xh4 xh4 16.xc5 ) 15.dxe6 xf3 16.exf7+ xf7 A) 17.e6!? f4 ( or 17...f6 18.gxf3 xf3 19.xg6 hxg6 20.e4 f8 21.e3 when the pawn on e6 gives W hite excellent winning chances, despite his vulnerable kingside.) 18.e7 xe7 19.xf4 xf4 20.c4+ f7 21.gxf3 is also better f o r W h it e a l t h o u gh B la c k h a s d e c e n t drawing chances after xd3 22.xd3 d8; B) 17.xg6 hxg6 18.gxf3 d5 19.e4 1437

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xe4 20.fxe4 and White eventually won the endgame in Bologan, V (2690)Khenkin, I (2614) Sibenik 2010 ] 6.c4 e6 [ 6...dxc4 leads to an ending after 7.xc6! xd1+ 8.xd1 bxc6 9.xc4 f5 10.c3 and Black is minimally worse without too m a n y wi n n in g ch a n ce s b e c a u se o f h i s worse queenside pawn structure. ] 7.c3 c5 [ 7...ge7?! 8.db5 xe5 leads to trouble after 9.a4! 7c6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.f4 ( 11.xd5! d6 12.e3 0-0 13.0-0-0 was perhaps the most accurate line f or White ) 11...f6?! ( 11...d7 is now very tricky as Black gets some compensation for the pawn after 12.xd5 c8 13.d1 a6! 14.xe5 xe5 15.e4 f6 ) 12.xd5! f7 13.0-0-0 and White was at least clearly better and went on to win quickly in Bruzon Batista, L (2668)-Yermolinsky, A (2530) Toluca 2011 a5 14.b3 e6 15.xe5 xe5 16.f4 c8+ 17.bc3 d7 18.f5 xc3+ 19.xc3 xc3+ 20.xc3 xf5 21.c4+ g6 22.g4 e4 23.hg1 e5 24.e2 ] 8.xc6 bxc6 9.cxd5 [ 9.d3 doesn't cause any real problems for Black and Khenkin shows the easy way to equalise here is e7 10.0-0 g6 11.a4 e7 12.f4 a6 ( 12...0-0 is also f ine) 13.e3 dxc4 14.e4 0-0 15.xd8 fxd8 16.fd1 d5! 17.xd5 cxd5 and Black's strong centre gave him excellent compensation in Balogh, C (2664)-Khenkin, I (2655) Eppingen 2013 and in fact Khenkin goes on to win. ] [ 9.g4 looks tempting but Black seems to be OK here after A) 9...e7 might even be possible as well - for example 10.xg7 g6 11.e2 f8 12.f6 e7 13.f3 ( 13.g7 f8= ) 13...xe5 and Black has regained the pawn with a reasonable game.; B) 9...f8 ] 9...cxd5 [ 9...exd5! might be more accurate here, and I actually don't see any edge for White here. F o r e x a m p l e 10.d3 e7 ( 10...h6!? 11.xh6 gxh6 12.d2 b8 13.xh6 e6 14.0-0 g8 gave Black good compensation

in A re s h c h e n k o , A (2 6 4 4 )- P a vlo vi c , M (2521) Catalan Bay 2007) 11.0-0 b8 12.e1 0-0 and Black has a good game ] 10.b4! A fine move from Naiditsch, taking advantage of the check that is now available on a4 now that Black has recaptures with the c-pawn. [ 10.d3 is less effective: e7 11.0-0 g6 12.a4 e7 13.xg6 hxg6 if anything I already prefer Black 14.e3 a6 15.e1 0-0 ( 15...a5! prevents Nc5 and keeps slightly the better chances) 16.c5 c8 17.c1 c4 18.a4 a6 19.b3 b5 20.c5 a3 21.c2 fc8 22.c1 a5 23.a3 1/2-1/2 Nisipeanu, L (2667) -Khenkin, I (2601) Ortisei 2013 ] [ 10.g4!? e7! 11.xg7 g8 12.xh7 d7 and we've reached a strange position. Black is really active here and with ... Qb6 coming I think he has full compensation for the two pawns. ] 10...b6 11.b5 Simple and strong c7 [ 11...h4! would've offered better chances, a im in g t o swa p t h e qu e e n s i n t o o n ly a slightly worse ending after 12.d6+ e7 13.d2 d4! 14.b2 xd2+ 15.xd2 h6 ] 12.b2 [ 12.f4 a6 13.xc7+ xc7 14.c1 b7 15.a3 is also better for White with the two b i s h o p s a n d g o o d c h a n c e s t o we a k e n Black's kingside with Qg4 ] 12...e7 13.d3 a6 14.xc7+ xc7 15.0-0 d7 16.g4 0-0 [ 16...g6 17.h4! is difficult to deal with ] 17.fc1 d8 18.a4! With this move Naiditsch takes control of the queenside as well. Black's bishop on d7 is now stuck, at least for the time being, and it's difficult to come up with an active plan for Black. g6 19.c5 b8 20.d4 c8?! [ 20...e7 keeps Black's position together, at least for a few more moves, but W hite can now increase the pressure with 21.b5! axb5 22.axb5 xa1+ 23.xa1 with excellent winning chances for White. It's n o t ju s t t h e p a s se d p a wn b u t a l s o t h e possibility of a kingside attack with h4, h5. ] 21.a5 Adding to the pressure on a6 [ 21.xd5!? is also strong as A) 21...xa4! 22.d6 ( not 22.xa4?! 1438

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 exd5 23.e6 f6 ) 22...b5 23.e4 f4! 24.d2 d5 25.xd5 exd5 26.xd5 and White has a clear extra pawn.; B) 21...exd5? loses to 22.e6! e5 23.exd7 c7 24.xe5 xe5 25.xe5 xd7 26.c1 ] 21...b7 22.g3 h6 23.b5! axb5 24.axb5 xa5 25.xa5 Ra7 is threatening so Black's next move is practically forced but already White should be winning here a8 26.a6 c8 27.h4! b8 28.b6 c6?! [ 28...d8! is Black's last hope but White is still in to ta l co nt ro l af te r 29.h5 e7 30.c5 ] 29.a7 e8 30.a6 d7 31.h5! f8 32.a3 c8 33.a7 xb6? This allows a nice finish but Khenkin was already in a lot of trouble [ 33...b7 34.d6 c8 35.c5! xc5 36.xc5 xc5 37.xb7 and White's b-pawn will easily decide the game in his favour. ] 34.xf7! xf7 [ 34...xd4 35.xf8# ] 35.f4+ e8 36.xf8+ d7 37.b5+! A lovely finish. [ 37.b5+ xb5 38.d6+ e8 39.e7# ] 1-0

equalise: [ a) 7...b6 8.c3! has the idea of Na4 and Nxc5, while xb2 9.b5 A) 9...c8 10.dxc5 or ( 10.c4 ); B) 9...0-0-0 10.dxc5 xc2 11.e1! with excellent attacking chances for a mere pawn. ] [ b) 7...g4 8.c4!? ( 8.dxc5 ) 8...dxc4 9.c3 gives White some initiative based upon his sup erior de velop men t a nd th e lin e xf3 10.xf3 cxd4 11.xc6+ bxc6 12.xd4 , when Black's weak queenside pawns and undeveloped kingside are problems. ] 8.xd4 xd4 9.xd4 e7 10.c4 [ 10.g4 g6 11.f4 c6 12.c3 h5 13.gxh5 h4! 14.d2 xh5 clearly favoured Black in Vajda, A (2400)-Perevertkin, V (2325), Eforie Nord 1998. ] 10...dxc4 [ 10...c6 11.cxd5 ( 11.f3 h4 ) 11...xd5 12.f3 e4! 13.xe4 xe4 14.c3 yields a double-edged equality. ] 11.xc4 [ 11.a4+ c6 12.d1 d3! ] 11...c6 12.b5 [ 12.c3 has been played in several games, for example, c5 ( 12...xd1 13.xd1 c5 14.d2 0-0-0 with complex play, Fe iste n au er, F-Hod gso n, J, G ro ninge n 1350 B12 1981. ) 13.d2 0-0 14.b3 b6 15.e2 h4 16.h1 ad8 with some initiative for Naiditsch,Arkadij 2697 Black, Baklan, V (2595)-Izoria, Z (2590), Anand,Viswanathan 2788 Solsones 2004. ] 14th WCh-Rapid Prelim rapid (3) 31.07.2009 12...e7 13.c3? Not the most precise [John Watson] timing. Better to force the play by [ 13.xc6+ bxc6 14.a4 0-0 15.d1 c7 A top-level game illustrates that even in an 16.a3 with compensation for the bishops Advance Variation with a certain amount of in the form of queenside pressure. ] simplification, plenty of play remains. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 13...0-0 14.xc6 bxc6 15.a4 c5! 16.e3 b8! A simple double attack on both e5 and 6.0-0 [ As you can see in the Archives, White very b2. 17.d7 e8 18.d5 Trying to stir o f t e n p l a y s 6.e3 , so as to meet 6...Nc6 something up, but after Black's simple reply 19.ad1 exd5 with 7 dxc5. Instead, Black has played cxd4 he's even worse off. f8 7.xd4 e7 8.c4 bc6 on a number of 20.xf5 d4 21.c1 xe5 22.xe5 xe5 23.fe1 f6 For Anand, this has become a occasions. ] 6...c6 7.e3 A mix of systems, which has matter of technique, but in Rapid chess he its own merits but is generally considered makes a few inaccuracies before bringing the harmless. Far more popular at this point is to point home. I'll just list the moves: 24.f1 f7 25.b4 xe1+ 26.xe1 cxb4 27.xd4 e6 switch into the famous Short Variation with 28.c4 a5 29.e3 d6 30.d2 a4 31.c2 [ 7.c3 ] 7...cxd4 Other moves don't appear to d5 32.d4+ c6 33.d2 c5 34.g4 1439

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b8 35.xg7 b3+ 36.axb3 axb3+ 37.b1 worse here. ] d8 38.a5 d3 39.g3 xg3 40.fxg3 24.h6 h7 b5 41.d2 f5 42.h6 d6 43.b2 c4 [ 24...g8 25.f5 xf5 26.6xf5 xh6 44.c1 e5 45.d2 d4 46.e3+ d5 27.xf7 g7 28.7f5 White has the 47.h6 c4 48.e3 h5 49.b6 c3+ initiative, and it is an unpleasant fact that 50.c1 d4 51.c7 d3 52.d6 e2 Black will lose the d5-pawn. ] 0-1 25.d2? Missing a win. [ 25.xf8! xf8 26.f3 with two annoying threats: Ne5 and Ng5 g8 27.f4 h6 28.g5 g7 29.e6+ Winning on the 1351 B12 spot ] Naiditsch,Arkadij 2706 Laznicka,Viktor 2681 25...g7 26.b6 c7 27.e1 d8 28.h6 TCh-SRB Premier Men (4.3) 30.08.2011 c6 29.xg7 xg7 30.f5 f8 Black has managed to 'lock' the white rock on b6 and [Milos Pavlovic] has thus secured equal chances. 31.f1 b4 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 32.e3 d7 33.g4 g6 34.e5 xe5 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 8.b5 35.dxe5 xc3 36.bxc3 xc2 37.e6 e7 In a previous update I analysed this line in 38.f8+ c7 39.f7 xb6 40.xe7 a4 more depth but this game, played in the just 41.h7 c5 42.xb7 [ 42.d7! In a game of many mistakes and finished Serbian league, drew my attention. c4 missed chances this was another one that 9.0-0 a6 10.xc6+ xc6 11.h4 e7 could give White the full point. White simply 12.g4N Naiditsch improves on his own game. blocks the d-pawn and goes with the king to [ Previously: 12.g5 g6 13.f4 d7 14.g4 take on h3, but of course in such positions h6 15.xe7 xe7 16.xg6 fxg6 17.f3 during a game you look to take as many 0-0-0 18.g2 ( It was possible to try to open pawns as possible, and you don't want to the position on the queenside: 18.b3 cxb3 see them rolling down the board. For 19.axb3 b8 20.e2 c8 21.c3 b5 example: c6 43.h2 b5 44.d8 a5 22.fb1 h5 23.g5 A complicated position ( 44...b4 45.cxb4+ xb4 46.e7 c3 has arisen.) 18...h5 19.gxh5 gxh5 20.f3 47.xd5+- ) 45.e7 b4 46.c8+- ] g5 21.fxg5 xg5 22.h1 e7 23.af1 dg8 24.g3 xg3 25.xg3 b4 26.g6 42...d4 43.cxd4+ xd4 44.h2 d3 xc3 27.bxc3 b8 28.f7 c6 29.b1 45.b4 e8 46.b2 a4 47.b8 e3?? [ 47...c3 This natural move leads to a draw. a8 30.g2 c8 31.h3 c7 32.f8+ 48.d8+ e2 49.c8 c2 50.e7 d2 a7 33.d6 f7 34.xc6 bxc6 35.g2 51.d8+ e1 52.c8 d2= ] f4 36.a4 a5 37.f1 e4 38.g3 b6 White missed his chance to win the 39.f4 e3+ 40.f3 e4 41.f6 e3+ 48.c8? D r a w a g r e e d , N a i d i t s c h , A - A d l a , D / pawn on c4 and thus the game [ 48.b4!+- ] Mulhouse 2011 ] 49.d8+ e3 50.c8 d3 12...g6 13.f4 f5 14.exf6 gxf6 15.f5 48...d3 Played fast which shows that W hite came 51.d8+ ½-½ prepared for such tactics. f7 [ 15...exf5 16.xf5 xf5 17.gxf5 f7 18.f4 0-0-0 To me this looks better than 1352 B12 Black's play in the game. ] 16.fxe6 xe6 17.f3 g8 18.h3 h5 Naiditsch,Arkadij 2700 Probably counting on such ideas.. 19.ae1 Leko,Peter 2730 hxg4 20.xf6 gxh3+ 21.h1 xf6 22.xf6 40th GM Dortmund GER (9) 22.07.2012 c8 23.ef1 g7 If I remember well I noticed [Tom Rendle] that Laznicka was already short of time here. [ 23...h5!? 24.f5 c6 25.d6+ d7 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 26.xb7 g7 It seems that Black is not e7 6.0-0 c5 7.c4 bc6 8.a3 a6 9.dxc5 1440

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d4 10.a4 g6 11.d1 d3 [ 11...xc5 12.b4 a7 13.c5 0-0 14.c4 was covered by Pavlovic in the game LekoRoiz and he considered Black to be s o m e w h a t w o r s e a f t e r . . . B e 4 d3 immediately is worth investigating if Black wants to continue playing 11...Bxc5, for example play may continue 15.g5! c7 ( 15...d7 16.xd3 xd3 17.b2 ) 16.xd3 xd3 17.xd3 a5! 18.a3 ( 18.b5 b4 19.b6 xb6 20.cxb6 xc4 and Black is not worse) 18...axb4 19.axb4 xc5 20.xa8 xa8 21.xa8+ f8 And the position is very difficult to assess. The two rooks have the potential to be very strong but at the moment Black is doing fine. ] 12.b4 A new move. [ 12.e3 had previously been seen and now A) 12...e7 13.c2 0-0 14.xd3 xd3 15.ce1 cxe5?! ( 15...e8 was a better option although White retains the be tte r chan ces in th e e nding tha t aris es a f te r 16.xd3 cxe5 17.xe8 xf3+ 18.gxf3 fxe8 19.f4 ) 16.xe5 xe5 17.xd3 xd3 18.a3 c8 19.xd3 and Black went on to hold a draw in Zhigalko, S (2680)-Bologan, V (2671) Olginka 2011, although it's hardly a position I would want to aim for from the opening.; B) 12...d7 B1) 13.xd3! xd3 14.e1 seems to lead to an edge for White here, f o r e x a m p l e gxe5 15.d2! e7 16.ad1 d8 17.b3 ( 17.xd3!? ) 17...0-0 18.xd3; B2) 13.b4 e7 ( 13...d8! may give W hite more problems here) 14.e1 gxe5 15.b5 d4 16.xd4 xd4 17.bxa6+ c6? ( 17...d7 18.xd7+ xd7 19.xd3 xd3 20.xd3 bxa6 a n d B l a c k s e e m s t o b e d o i n g f i n e) 18.b5 e5 19.f3 b8 20.a7 c8 and now in the game Edouard, R (2602)Riazantsev, A (2679) Mulhouse 2011 21.d6+! xd6 22.cxd6 would've left White with a clear edge as the Bishop is immune from capture because of dxe2 23.d7+ ] 12...e7! This seems to be the critical

response, Leko decides to accept he is going a pawn down and concentrates on getting active play [ 12...d7 is a reasonable alternative, breaking the pin on the knight but af ter 13.b2 d8 14.f1 Black is left struggling somewhat ] [ 12...a5?! looks interesting but upon closer examination W hite is probably just better after 13.b5! e7 14.b3 0-0 15.xd3 xd3 16.xd3 ] 13.xd3 xd3 14.b3 cxe5 [ 14...gxe5! is likely to transpose back to t h e g a m e b u t i t d o e s c u t o u t 15.e1?? as this now loses to d4 ] 15.xe5 [ 15.e1 may be a better option, it seems to me that W hite keeps the better chances after f6 16.b1 0-0 17.xd3 xd3 18.xd3 ] 15...xe5 16.b2 c7 17.xe5 xe5 18.xd3 0-0 So the dust has settled from the opening and White is a pawn up but it doesn't seem to present Black with any real problems. Leko carries out a simple and effective plan of keeping active on the Queenside and Na i d i t s c h is u n a b l e t o d e m o n s t r a t e a n y advantage for White. 19.c2 a5! 20.e1 b2 21.a3 fd8 [ 21...axb4 22.axb4 xa1 23.xa1 d8 24.e2 c3 and I don't see anything better for W hite than to take a draw with 25.a3 b2 26.a1 ( 26.h3 h6 27.h2 f6 and I don't see how W hite can make progress ) 26...c3 ] 22.e4 axb4 23.ab1 f6 24.axb4 a2 25.f1 [ 25.e2 c3 26.e1 xe2 27.xe2 d4 and Black regains the pawn although it's probably worth White trying 28.c6! bxc6 29.b5 cxb5 30.cxb5 although Black is OK after d2 31.f3 a5 ] 25...d2 With two rooks on the 7th Black is just in time to hold equality 26.e3 xf2 27.xb7 f4! Leko has spotted a forced draw and calculated it accurately 28.xe7 [ 28.xf2 xf2+ 29.h1 e2! 30.h3 a n d B l a c k c a n f o r c e a d r a w w i t h xe3 ( 30...f8!? would be an ambitious attempt to play for the win and possibly a dangerous one, White has to play 31.f1 f5 32.a1 1441

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b2 and the game continues) 31.xe7 e1+ 32.xe1 xe1+ 33.h2 e5+ 34.g3 e2+ is also perpetual check ] 28...xg2+ 29.xg2 xg2+ 30.xg2 g4+ White has an extra two rooks but no way of escaping the checks 31.h1 e4+ 32.g1 g4+ 33.f2 f4+ 34.e2 e4+ 35.d2 d4+ 36.e2 e4+ 37.d2 d4+ 38.e2 An instructive game and an important one for the variation. This line may not be so much fun for Black to play but Leko has shown that it's a very solid option. Still, I prefer White's chances after 12. Be3 ½-½

1353 Najer,E Khairullin,I 21st TCh-RUS 2014 (7.1) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2655 2650 13.04.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.f3 g4 5.c4 cxd4 6.cxd5 This starts of a forcing sequence of moves but on the evidence of this game it doesn't lead to any advantage for White. xd5 7.c3 xf3 8.xd5 xd1 9.c7+ [ 9.e6?! is less accurate because of g4! 10.c7+ d8 11.xa8 xe6 and Black at least OK in Trent-Houska (see archives). ] 9...d7! [ 9...d8 seems to leave White with some advantage, for example 10.xa8 a4?! ( 10...c2 11.d2 is only slightly worse for Black ) 11.e6! fxe6 12.f4 already White is clearly better e5 13.xe5 c6 14.c7+?! ( 14.g3! keeps control) 14...d7 15.b3 b4? This just leaves Black a whole piece down ( 15...e5! was better when suddenly things aren't so clear, e.g. 16.bxa4 b4+ 17.d1 f6 and Black regains the piece with OK chances) 16.bxa4 c2+ 17.d2 xa1 18.b5+ 1-0 (18) Zhou, Y (2348)Brown, T (2064) Treforest WLS 2010 ] 10.xa8 c2 11.d2 c6 [ 11...e6?! allows White the extra option of 12.c1 d3 13.c7! getting the knight back into the game with a slight advantage ] 12.c1 d3 [ worse is 12...e4?! 13.e6+! xe6 14.f3

d5 15.c7+ d6 16.xd5 xd5 17.c4+ d6 18.xf7 and White is clearly better ] 13.h4 Najer correctly decides he must win the d3 pawn as quickly as possible but this allows time for Black to setup a very solid position in the centre. e6 14.h3 ge7 15.xd3 xd3 16.xd3+ d5 Black is the exchange down but the knight on a8 is trapped so White must play very energetically to keep the balance. 17.b4! b5 18.a4 bxa4 [ not 18...a6?? 19.b6+ and White is winning ] 19.b5 [ 19.f4 just leads to a draw after cxb4 20.c7+ e8 21.c8+ d7 22.c7+ e8 ( not 22...d8? 23.xb4 xb4+ 24.d1 f8 25.c4 and Black is is trouble) 23.c8+ d7 24.c7+ ] [ 19.e2 is worth investigating but Black should be absolutely fine here I think, for example xb4 20.xb4 xa8 21.d2 b8 22.a3 xe5 23.xa4 b7 and it's hard to see this endgame not ending in a draw. ] 19...xe5 20.c7+ d8 [ 20...e8?! is less accurate as after 21.xd5 ( 21.c8+ d7 was actually agreed draw between these two players 4 years ago - so they have history in this line! Najer, E (2665)-Khairullin, I (2605) Mo scow 2 01 0) 21...exd5 22.xa7 c5 23.c7 d8 24.a5 c4 25.xc5+ xa5 26.xd5+ e7 27.b6 a3 28.d3 b8 29.xa3 xb6 30.xa5 Black had a tricky ending to hold in Zhou, Y (2439)-Chapman, T (2292) Caleta 2013 and ultimately he was unsuccessful. ] 21.xd5+ exd5 22.xa7 c4 23.b6! Really excellent play from both sides, basically playing a perfect game up to this point - but given they've played the first 20 moves all before we can be sure this is still prepared. xb6 24.a5 c8 25.xb6 b4+ 26.d1 a3! Sacrificing the rook on h8 but the a-pawn secures the draw for Black [ 26...e8?! 27.xa4 e4 28.g3 and Black has a slightly worse endgame to defend ] 27.a8+ b7 28.xh8 c3! 29.a5 f6 30.f8 a2 31.xf7+ b8 32.f8+ b7 33.f7+ b8 1442

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ or 33...c8 34.c7+ b8 35.c1 b2 9.h5 f7 10.f4 36.c2 xc1 37.c3 a3 with an equal [ 10.exf6 is interesting but after gxf6 11.f3 endgame ] e5 I'm starting to like Black's position - he 34.f8+ b7 Basically a perfect game but has the centre and W hite will do well to Khairullin would be the happier of the two hold equality here. ] players. If Black knows his stuff then there 10...b6 11.b4 seems to be nothing to fear in this line. [ 11.cxb6 axb6 12.g4 looks like a crazy way ½-½ to play but perhaps it's not so silly here. The idea is to prevent ..Nf5 c5 13.b5 cxd4 14.ce2 with a mess! ] 1354 B12 11...a5 12.e3 axb4 [ 12...f5! This move has been possible Najer,E 2637 (and not bad) for a few moves but now Black Michalik,P 2511 rea lly sh ould just p lay it 13.f2 fxe5 TCh-CZE Extraliga 2011-12 (10.1) 21.04.2012 14.fxe5 e7 and Black is doing absolutely [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] fine, e. g. 15.g4 ( 15.f3 0-0 ) 15...h6 16.e2 0-0 17.h3 h4 ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c4 e6 5.c3 e7 6.a3 A sensible waiting move that we 13.axb4 xa1 14.xa1 It's hard to see how these exchanges can be helping Black bxc5 haven't covered before. [ 6.ge2 d7 7.f4 was covered by 15.bxc5 g5!? Black takes drastic measures to ensure activity Watson in Efimenko, Z-Gyimesi, Z ] [ 15...f5 was still an option but now 16.f2 6...d7 e7 17.f3 c7 18.g4! h6 19.h3 [ 6...dxc4 7.xc4 d7 8.ge2 takes us and Black is struggling a little for back into more mainline territory, ] counterplay ] 7.c5 [ 7.e3 b6! looks to be very sensible now 16.hxg6 xg6 17.f3 g7 18.e2 0-0 White has come out of the opening ( 7...dxc4 8.xc4 b6 9.b3 ed5 19.a7 10.ge2 xe3 11.fxe3 g5 12.f4 e7 with an advantage but where to go from here? 13.0-0 0-0 14.f3 and White had a nice B l a c k i s v e r y s o l i d . I w o u l d n ' t r e a l l y edge in Fogarasi, T (2425) -Ganaus, H recommend the position for Black though, (2315) Graz 2004) 8.d2 b3 9.ge2 plenty of defensive work still to do and little 20.f2 b6 10.c1 c2 and Black has chance of winning to hope for. f5 f7 21.a6 b8 22.a8 f8 23.g4 comfortably equalised ] Very aggressive but perhaps 7...g6 8.h4!? [ 23.0-0 would've been a better option. For [ 8.f4 is interesting but it doesn't strike me as example e8 24.exf6 xf6 25.d1 g7 v e r y s t r o n g f5! 9.f3 h5 10.e2 26.e5 xe5 27.dxe5 and White is still and Black has a couple of pleasant options better and has a safe king as well. ] here e7 ( 10...f6 11.g3 b6 12.b4 a5 13.b1 axb4 14.axb4 bxc5 15.bxc5 a5 23...e7 24.exf6 xf6 25.e5 [ 25.a2 d7 and it's not at all clear how 16.d2 c7 was unclear in Popov, I (2595)White makes progress ] Jobava, B (2643) Moscow 2008) 11.0-0?! ( 11.b4 b6 and I still prefer Black) 11...xf3 25...c7 26.e3 d7 27.a4 g7 28.h3 12.xf3 xd4! won a pawn in Luther, T af ter this Black seems to be perf ectly ok although it already seems like Michalik had (2586)-Hera, I (2477) Triesen LIE 2007 ] things under control 8...f6 [ 28.0-0 xe5 29.fxe5 xf1+ 30.xf1 [ 8...h6 9.h5 h7 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 is again more pleasant for White but there and W hite had a big space advantage in a r e n o o b vi o u s we a k n e s s e s t o a t t a c k . Shilin, D (2351)-Kovalchuk, A (2178) Maybe he could try rerouting the c3 knight Donetsk 2011 ] (a2-b4 or e2-f4)!? ] [ 8...h5 9.f3 with an edge would be more 28...f6 29.d2 e4 30.xe4 xe4 to White's liking ] 1443

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31.a3 xe5 giving up the Bishop pair but it's was after - there's a dangerous initiative safe enough after g6 14.xc6 bxc6 15.c4 [ 31...b8 also looks solid ] but perhaps Black can play this position, e.g. 32.fxe5 g6 33.h6 b8 34.b3 xb3 ( 15.d3!? ) 15...e7 16.c1 h5 35.xb3 d8 36.d1 h4 37.e3 h1+ and Black is still solid ] 38.d2 a1 12.0-0 e4 [ 38...f3! is an accurate move that leads to [ 12...g4 13.e1 g6 14.d2 ( 14.xc6! an easy draw 39.d3 e4 40.e2 f3 bxc6 15.d2 is a little better for White) 41.b8+ f8 42.xf3 xf3 43.c7 g2+ 14...h6 15.b4 b6 16.xc6 bxc6 17.a4 44.d3 f1+ 45.d2 g2+= ] g8 18.a5 c7 19.d4 xf3 20.xf3 39.b8+ f8 40.b4 a2+ 41.e1 a1+ h7 21.h4 hc8 22.h5 f8 23.c4 ab8 An interesting game but not one that I expect 24.ab1 g8 25.c5 e7 26.d1 f5 to over-trouble Black players from a 27.b3 and a draw was agreed in Haslinger, theoretical perspective. S (2544)-L'Ami, E (2598) Hilversum 2009 ½-½ but there's no doubt that White is better here, even if it will be tough to break through. A plan involving a later g4 makes sense here ] 1355 B12 13.e1 b4 Mamedyarov plays the first Nakamura,Hi 2772 completely new move of the game and it's an Mamedyarov,S 2760 interesting decision - he's going for the pawn Vugar Gashimov Mem 2014 (3.1) 22.04.2014 on b2. Objectively I think this is correct but Black has to be very precise if he wants to [Tom Rendle] play this way as one mistake can lead to 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 disaster. [ 13...h6 had previously been played and c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 8.dxc5!? now 14.c3 b6 15.b3 d8 16.d3 xd3 The first surprise comes from Hikaru - this 17.xd3 g5 18.ad1 g7 19.h4 g4 move has hardly been explored at all, strange and now in Zhigalko, S (2621)-Berkes, F considering how often the position after 7... (2647) Martuni 2009 White could've kept a Nc6 is reached at a high level. slight edge with 20.xc6! xc6 21.d4 [ 8.0-0 xb2 9.e1 is the critical mainline xd4 22.cxd4 and White's better pawn which I covered in Caruana-Postny in 2012. structure gives him a definite edge going into Black seems to be OK in this line (with top the major piece endgame. ] level preparation at any rate) so Nakamura decides to test Mamedyarov's over-the- 14.a3 xb2 [ 14...b6 15.b4 is a little more comfortable board skills instead. ] for White ] 8...xc5 [ 8...xb2? is now just a mistake as after 15.b1 xa3 16.xb7 xf3 17.xf3 h6 [ 17...b8! was apparently Mamedyarov's 9.b5 0-0-0 10.fd4 xd4 11.xd4 intention but he rejected the line in the end xc2 12.d6+ xd6 13.cxd6 xd1+ b e c a u s e o f 18.xb8+ xb8 19.c4 g6 14.xd1 b8 15.g4 g6 16.c1 20.cxd5 xd5 21.c4 and now he forgot White clearly has far too much for just one that e7 was playable as the knight is still pawn - Black is so undeveloped that I'd go defended after ( 21...c5 should be at least as far as saying it's strategically lost OK as well, most likely the game will end in already. ] a draw after 22.xd5 xd5 23.xd5 exd5 9.xc5 xc5 10.b5 f8 11.bd4 ge7 24.a1 a6 25.d4 e7 ) 22.d8+?! [ 11...b4+ has yet to be played and I ( 22.d2 g7 23.f4 f8 and White wonder what Nakamura had planned at this should have almost enough for the pawn but point 12.c3!? ( 12.d2 xd2+ 13.xd2 Black certainly is no worse here. ) 22...g7 ] ge7 looks equal and unexciting) 12...xb2 13.0-0 sacrifices a couple at least one pawn 18.d2 g5?! Much too risky and Nakamura but I get the feeling that this is what White gladly pounces on the mistake. 1444

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 18...a5 19.c3 b8 should still be playable for Black, although White can keep u p t h e p r e s s u r e wi t h 20.xb8+ xb8 21.b1 bc6 22.b7 ] 19.h4! g4?! [ 19...a4 looks weird but maybe Black can s u r v i v e h e r e , e . g . 20.hxg5 ( 20.e3! keeps the tension but it's not clear White is m u c h b e t t e r h e r e) 20...hxg5 21.c4 ( 21.xg5 xc2 ) 21...dxc4 22.xg5 c3! 23.xc3 f4 24.f3 h6 25.f1 and Black can force a draw here with f4 26.g1 h6 27.f1 f4 ] 20.d4 a5 [ 20...xd4 21.xd4 f5 22.d2! leave's Black in serious trouble, for example c5 23.xg4 d4 24.xd4 xd4 25.h5 h7 26.d1 f5 27.g6! g7 28.xf5 exf5 29.xd5 and White should win the ending ] 21.c3! Of course Nakamura wants the queens on the board xd4 22.xd4 f5 23.d2 d4 Mamedyarov finds a way to complicate but unfortunately White's attack is just too strong at this point [ 23...g3 also fails to 24.d3! c5 25.f1 g8 26.xf5 exf5 27.d3! gxf2+ 28.xf2 and it's only a matter of time before White wins here ] 24.xg4 xc3 25.e2 xh4?! A final mistake but the game was already pretty much over [ 25...d3 26.e4 c8 27.eb1! ( 27.xf5 c4! 28.e3 exf5 and Black can fight on for a few more moves) 27...d2 28.xf5 exf5 29.xf5 c4 30.xf7+! xf7 31.xc8+ g7 32.g4+ h7 33.e6 is hopeless for Black ] [ 25...e7 26.h5 g8 leaves Black still just about in the game but after 27.eb1 e8 28.xa7 White has regained the pawn with an ongoing strong attack - and Black can barely move! ] 26.h5! h7 27.e4! This finishes the game c8 28.xh7 xe1+ 29.h2 xe5+ 30.g3 c7 31.b8+ e7 32.xf7+ d6 33.f8+ d5 A well controlled attacking display from Nakamura but I'm not sure it's enough to change the assessment of this line - Black is still OK with accurate play. 1-0

1356 Nakamura,Hikaru Bareev,Evgeny Corsica Masters rapid (3.2) [John Watson]

B12 2648 2653 30.10.2007

For a while the system with 3 e5, 4 Nc3, and 5 g4 seemed to be playing itself out, and that may still be the case. But it's back again and has won several games for White recently. Jonathan Rowson provided an extremely thorough update for the readers recently, and there are also 28 thoroughly annotated games in the archives. This is only a rapid game, but important for both players and perhaps of theoretical importance, too. In the notes I'll give the other Nakamura-Bareev game from a few weeks ago (this main game is from the Corsica Masters, just won by Nakamura). Obviously there's no way to summarize even the outlines of the theory associated with 5 g4, so I'll just hit a couple of points as we go along. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 c5 Rowson says, "this has b e e n B l a ck ' s m a i n r e p l y t h r o u g h o u t t h e decades (6...Ne7 which is very popular now, was discovered only a few years ago). The appreciation of this move has changed many times - brilliant wins and severe losses have alternated with each other. But the line is alive, and only last year was enriched with many interesting ideas." Other moves (which have also been exhaustively analysed) are [ 6...e7 (which can e followed by all kinds of crazy lines beginning with 7 Nf4 and 7 f4) ] [ 6...e7 is featured in the other game with this variation, Della Morte-LaFuente. ] [ The other Nakamura-Bareev, game from Bastia FRA 2007 saw 6...f6!? 7.h4! d7 ( Rowson thinks that the critical line is 7...fxe5 8.h5 f7 9.dxe5 d7 10.f4 White has a huge mass of pawns and space, but Black has a mobile centre.) 8.f4 ( 8.f4 f7 9.exf6 gxf6!? ) 8...f7 9.e3 h5?! As in the other recent game, we see that giving up a key light-square outpost isn't that important, this time because a knight there can be challenged by another knight. 10.g5 e7 ( 10...b6 11.d2 0-0-0 ) 11.exf6 gxf6 12.g3 c7 13.f3 f5 1445

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Stopping f5 but imprisoning his own bishop. And eventually the e5 square and e6 weakness could be harmful. 14.0-0-0 g6 15.b1 c8 16.ce2 d6 17.c1 e4 18.c4 The queenside is the only place to open lines. Notice that White first stabilizes the kingside so that there can be no counterplay in that sector. 0-0-0 19.cxd5 exd5!? ( 19...cxd5 20.h2! b8 21.c2 b6 22.b3 isn't disastrous for Black, but he hasn't a decent plan.) 20.d3 g7 21.h3 df8 22.a1 ( 22.e5 is good, but in a Rapid games you might not want to give your opponent the opportunity for easy e x c h a n g e s .) 22...b8 23.hf1 a8 24.e5 xe5 25.fxe5 f7 26.f4 ( 26.e2 , to put his piece on f4, would have increased White's advantage to the breaking point. ) 26...xg3 27.xg3 e7 28.fe1 e6 The queen is a poor blockader, in this case not so much that it can be driven away as that it can't be used elsewhere. 29.c1 a6 30.c3 c8 31.ec1 f8 32.f1 fc7 33.e3? b4? ( 33...f4! ) 34.3c2? ( 34.b3 ) 34...f4! White should have prevented this freeing move until he was set to attack with all of his pieces. Here it also wins material! 35.xf4 c5?? A lot can go wrong in a Rapid game. ( 35...xc2 36.a3 f8 37.axb4 cf7 ) 36.h3 xc2 37.xc2 Bec aus e of W hite 's pa sse d p awns an d bishops, the win is fairly easy: g6 38.c1 cxd4 39.xc8 xc1+ 40.xc1 c2 41.g1 xc8 42.g6 f8 43.e6 d3 44.e7 xe7 45.g7 g8 46.d4 f7 47.a3 xh4 48.e3 b8 49.f4+ ] 7.h4 [ 7.e3 was for a time the only move played, bu t t h e o lde r 7 h 4 is still o f in t ere st . A C h e s s P u b g a m e w i t h 7 B e 3 w e n t c6 8.dxc5 h5!? 9.d4 a6 10.g5 ge7 11.a4 xe5 12.f4 e4 13.fxe5 xh1 14.b6 a7 with an unholy mess, eventually drawn in Svidler-Macieja, Bermuda 2003. ] 7...h5 [ Here's some older theory, summarized by Rowson, from the archives: 7...cxd4 8.xd4 h5 Now 9.Nf4 is impossible. 9.f4! ( 9.b5+ d7 10.f4! transposes. ) A) B l a c k h a s a l s o t r i e d 9...d7

but has failed to equalize: 10.f5 exf5 11.gxf5 xf5 12.xf5 xf5 13.xd5 c6 14.b5! ge7 15.e4 e6 ( Or 15...xe4+ 16.xe4 f5 17.g5 e7 18.0-0-0! and Black still has difficulties to solve ) 16.g5 0-0-0 17.xc6 bxc6 18.0-0!? and White is better, Grasso-Behl, 1995.; B) 9...hxg4 10.b5+ d7 11.f5! xh4! 12.f1! Officially theory considers this position as unclear, but I believe White is better here. It is of note that major CaroK a n n e xp e r t s ( i n c l u d i n g K a r p o v a n d Anand) always avoid this position with Black. [Rowson]. ] 8.f4 h7 There are games in which Black allows this bishop to be captured, but giving up the h-pawn is held to give Black plenty of compensation: he breaks up White's centre and has active pieces, especially when you consider the off side knight on h5. 9.xh5 c6 [ 9...cxd4 10.b5 ( 10.xd4!? ) 10...c6 11.xd4 ge7 I suspect that all of these favour White somewhat. Black has a lot of nice squares, but he is also under pressure to justify his sacrifice. ] 10.dxc5 Rowson: 'I think the main reason I don't like this line for White has to do with the pawn structure. W hen the smoke clears, . Black usually holds all the trumps in that area. It's almost as if W hite has no Plan B if the attack breaks down, he has nothing left to call on.' Nakamura tries to prove him wrong. xc5 11.b5 [ Rowson mentions 11.xg7+ f8 12.h5 b6 13.h2 xe5 14.e2 as a possibility, when Black has an initiative for the pawn, but it is a pawn! ] 11...d4? Black gives away crucial squares. [ Rowson gives 11...c7 12.xc6+ ( maybe 12.0-0!? ) 12...xc6 13.f3 f8 14.g3 e7 15.h5 d4= This approach looks safe and sound for Black. ] 12.xc6+ bxc6 13.f3 d7 14.e4 b4+ [ 14...d5!? 15.d6+ xd6 16.xd5 b4+ 17.c3 cxd5 18.cxb4 looks to favour the first player. ] 15.d2 xe4 16.xe4 [ 16.xg7+! is stronger (it's a Rapids game). ] 1446

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16...xd2+ 17.xd2 f8 18.ad1 b8 xh6 and Black has comfortably blockaded 19.c1 c5 20.h3! White stands much the position. ] better. The rest of the game is for [ 7.f4 was played in the game Degraeveentertainment purposes: e7 21.f4 c6 Epishin, Koszalin 1999: d7 8.e3 g5! 22.e2 d5 23.xd5 xd5 24.c4 d8 9.xg6 hxg6 10.d2 xe3 11.xe3 a5 25.e4 b4 26.b3 b8 27.f4 a5 28.c6 12.0-0-0 b5 13.b1 and here Black could c8 29.b7 a4 30.f5!? exf5 31.gxf5 c7 get a good game by playing b4 ( instead of 32.xc7 xc7 33.h5 axb3 34.axb3 e7 13...b6?! ) 14.e2 e7 15.h4 c5 35.e1 h6 36.c2 e8 37.d3 g6 16.dxc5 c6 17.f4 xc5 and in this 38.e4 d3 39.xd3 gxf5+ 40.f4 xh5 French-like position, Black's chances are by 41.ee3 c7 42.h3 xh3 43.xh3 e7 no means bad. ] 44.xf5 d7 45.e4 d4+ 46.f5 d1 7...d7 8.d2 h5 9.f4 hxg4 10.xg6 47.f3 d2 48.e4 d4+ 49.e3 d8 fxg6 The critical position of the line. 11.e2! 50.e4 d4+ 51.f5 d1 52.e3 d8 [ 11.d3 is not bad either: f8 12.0-0-0 53.h3 d1 54.g3 d2 55.g8 f2+ h4 13.e2! h6 14.c4 f5? ( 14...d7 56.e4 d2 57.c8 b2 58.b8 d2 is better, the position arising after 15.cxd5 59.b5 d4+ 60.e3 h4 61.d3 h3+ cxd5 16.g5 xg5 17.xg5 e7 62.c2 h2+ 63.c3 h3+ 64.b2 d7 18.xg6+ d7 is unclear.) 15.f4 f7 65.xc5 h5 66.b4 h3 67.b5 f3 68.b6 ( 15...g5? 16.xe6 ) 16.b1 d7 17.cxd5 e8 cxd5 18.g2 h8 19.e2 and Black's 1-0 position is difficult, Minasian-Miles, Moscow 1989. W hite now brilliantly executes the final attack h6 20.h3!? gxh3 21.xg6+! 1357 B12 xg6 22.f4+ f7 23.h5+ g8 24.xe6 e8 25.dg1! The decisive blow. Nataf,Igor Alexandre 2504 f8 26.xh3 f7 27.f5 c8 28.xh8+ Andersson,Fredrik 2064 xh8 29.xg7 xg7 30.h6 c1+ Stockholm 2000 31.xc1 and Black resigned. ] [Alexander Volzhin] 11...f8 12.0-0-0 h4 13.f4 d7 14.d3 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 c5?! [ 14...f7 is more stubborn although the g6 6.ge2 e7 GM Tony Miles is the main p o s i t i o n a f t e r 15.h3 h6 16.hxg4 adherent of this line at the top level. This is very unpleasant for Black. ] move looks strange because the Knight on g8 n o w h a s n o g o o d s qu a re , b u t B la ck h a s 15.xg6 xg6 16.xg6+ d8 17.dxc5 something in mind. He plans to play 7...Nd7 c8 18.b1 xc5 Desperation but Black's e7 and then to undermine White's pawn chain by p o s it io n i s lo st a n ywa y. 19.g5+ playing...h7-h5. After ...h7-h5 White's usual 20.xh4 xh4 21.f4 h6 22.h3 e7 reply is Nf4 destroying Black's pawn structure 23.hxg4 g5 24.a4 b6 25.f4 h4 26.f5 on the K-side, but then it's not so dangerous 1-0 for Black since he can protect his g6-pawn by playing ...Nf8. But in my opinion, this plan B12 looks pretentious and White can obtain better 1358 Nataf,Igor Alexandre 2481 chances (of course, that is, if he plays Atalik,Suat 2593 a c c u r a t e l y ! ) 7.e3 The most logical continuation. White prepares to castle on the Capelle la Grande 1999 Q-side, and then take action on the K-side (f2- [Alexander Volzhin] f4-f5). The alternatives are: [ 7.g2 d7 8.0-0?! as was played in van T h e lin e 4 . Nc3 e 6 5 . g4 in t h e A d va n c e d der W iel-Miles, Ter Apel 198 7, le adin g Variation is one of the most dangerous White White nowhere: h5! 9.f4 hxg4 10.xg6 weapons against the Caro Kann. The games fxg6 11.xg4 f8 12.e2 h6 13.xh6 Fedorov - Asrian and Sutovsky - Podgaets 1447

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 confirm this statement. But the Turkish GM Suat Atalik recently introduced a very important improvement for Black. His novelty led to further discussion, even at the very top level. So let's see the game. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 e7 7.f4 c5 8.h4 cxd4 9.b5 ec6 10.h5 e4 11.f3 a6!? This is the novelty. [ 11...xf3 has been played before, but Black could hardly be satisf ied with his results with it. ] 12.d6+ xd6 13.exd6 e5 [ Black shouldn't spend time taking the pawn on d6: 13...xd6?! as after 14.g2!? f5 15.0-0 0-0 16.fxe4 dxe4 17.c3! W hite has excellent chances to demolish black's strong pawn centre: d3 18.b3 d2 19.xd2 xd2 20.xe6!? ( 20.xe6+ followed by Rf2 and gf5 is also good enough ) 20...a5 21.d1 with a huge advantage. ] 14.fxe4! [ After 14.h3?! f5! 15.fxe4 fxe4 black's central pawn mass looks very attractive and solid the position is far from clear. ] 14...dxe4 Taking the pawn, not the Knight! [ 14...exf4?! seems to be in White's favour: 15.exd5 a5+ 16.f2 xd5 17.g2 xd6 18.e1+ f8 19.f3 followed by Bf4 and Black is in trouble: the pair of Bishops are very strong plus the Black King has not castled so the Rook on h8 cannot be developed. ] 15.e2 e3! Still no time to take the pawn. [ Black must not let White develop his p i e c e s c o m f o r t a b l y s o 15...xd6?! w a s d u b i o u s : 16.g3 and now e3 is impossible: 17.xe3 e4 18.f5 winning ] 16.g3 [ White should be careful, the logical 16.g2? was bad because of the unexpected f6! 17.f1? h4+! ] 16...a5+ [ Now 16...f6? was dubious: 17.e4 f4 18.g2 winning ] 17.c3 dxc3 18.b4! The only move to avoid material loss, but nevertheless a strong one! xb4 The Knight is looking for a good square sin c e th e re is a n o t he r o n e wa it ing t o b e developed on c6.

[ 18...xb4 was not much better: 19.xe3 c2+ 20.d2 xg4 21.f2 and developing the light-squared Bishop next will secure White's advantage. ] 19.xe3 d5 20.f2 [ It looks like White had a better move here: the Bishop could surprisingly go back to c1 20.c1! 0-0 ( 20...c6 21.d7+ xd7 22.g2 d4 23.0-0 with a clear advantage ) 21.g2 followed by castling, with a clear advantage. ] 20...f4 21.c2 0-0 [ 21...c6?! was not better as after 22.c1 b4 White can simply take the pawn: ( 22...d4 23.xd4 exd4 24.e4+ e6 25.c4 ) 23.xc3 bd3+ 24.xd3 xd3+ 25.f1 b5 26.a4 winning ] 22.c1 [ 22.h6!? g6 23.e4 was more straightforward. ] 22...c6 23.xc3 b4 24.a3? [ The threat Rac8 could be prevented by 24.f5! and Black has little to do: b6 ( 24...fd5 25.d2 ) 25.h6!? bd3+ 26.xd3 xd3+ 27.f1 with a decisive advantage. ] 24...ac8 25.axb4 xc3 26.bxa5 xc1+ 27.d2 fc8 28.d3 xh1 29.xh1 xd3 [ 29...c6? 30.e4 ] 30.xd3 c6 The d-pawn is lost so White has no winning chances left and should play accurately now. 31.e4 xd6 32.xe5 d2 33.c5 f6+ 34.e6 e2+ 35.d6 f7 36.b6 g5 37.hxg6+ xg6 38.f2 f5 Draw agreed. So the new idea 11. ..a6!? looks interesting but this game shows that Black has not yet solved the opening problems. ½-½

1359 Nataf,Igor Alexandre Solozhenkin,Evgeniy France [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2481 2545 1999

In this game we'll see the attempt of French G M I go r- A le xa n d e r Na t a f t o im p r o v e o n W hite's play in the previous game. And he was successful... but it was only good enough 1448

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 for perpetual check . 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 e7 7.f4 c5 8.h4 cxd4 9.b5 ec6 10.h5 e4 11.f3 a6 12.d6+ xd6 13.exd6 g5 14.h3 h6 15.fxe4 dxe4 16.g2 f5 17.0-0 0-0 18.gxf5!? exf5 19.xe4!? A new try which does not bring any advantage. [ The attempt to change the move order does not work: 19.xg5?! hxg5 20.xe4 xd6! 21.g2 g4 and 22.xf5 is bad: gxh3 23.g4+ h8 24.xf8+ xf8 25.f1 g7 keeping a material advantage, according to Evgeny Solozhenkin. ] 19...fxe4 20.xg5 xf1+ [ 20...hxg5? was a serious inaccuracy after which Black could find himself in trouble: 21.xf8+ ( 21.g4!? ) 21...xf8 22.g4 with a strong attack. ] 21.xf1 hxg5 22.f5 [ 22.c4+ was weaker: h8 23.f7 e5 24.e6 bc6 25.h6+ g8 26.xg5 d7 and Black keeps control, according to Nataf. ] 22...d7 23.g6+ g7 24.e8+ f8 [ 24...h7 i s j u s t b a d : 25.xe4+ h6 26.e6+ xh5 27.f1 e5 ( 27...e5 does not help : 28.f7+ h4 29.h7+ g3 30.f2 e3 31.h2+ f3 32.h1 winning ) 28.f5 with a decisive attack: bd7 29.f4+ h4 30.f7 winning ] 25.g6+ g7 26.e8+ And a draw was agreed. ½-½

immediate ...Bh7. ( 6.h3!? ) A) 6...h7 7.e6 d6!? This has been Black's interesting attempt at fighting back. The most recent high rated battle continued: ( 7...fxe6 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 provides very good compensation for the pawn as Black really struggles to develop his kingside.) 8.exf7+ xf7 9.f4 f6 10.h3 e6+ 11.f1 e4 12.h2 ( 12.g2 looks sounder when h5 13.f3 g8 14.g5 f5 15.e3 g6 16.bd2 is messy but probably a touch better for White. ) 12...h5 13.c3 hxg4 14.xg4 f5 15.xe4 dxe4 16.xf5 xf5 17.h3 d7 18.g5+ e8 with a very messy position. Kurnosov, I (2593)-Vallejo Pons, F (2684) Plovdiv 2008.; B) 6...g6!? 7.h5 h7 8.e6 d6 9.exf7+ xf7 10.d3 ( 10.f4 would transpose to the previous note.) 10...xd3 11.xd3 d7 12.f4! f6 13.e2 e5 Schneider, I (2515)-Sabol, M (2371) Pardubice 2010 when White's most convincing continuation looks to be 14.g5! hxg5 15.xg5! xg5 16.g6+ xg6 17.hxg6+ xg6 18.xh8 with an edge. ] [ 5...h7 6.e6! is the idea, sacrificing a pawn to impede Black's development and weaken his king. ] 6.h5 White grabs further space on the kingside. The following moves could be played in a diff erent move order but it will reach roughly the same position. e6 7.c3 c5 8.f4 c6 9.f3 b6 The game now resembles a French Defence except W hite has already 1360 B12 pushed his g and h pawns. On the one hand Navara,David 2708 that leaves him with further space but Black Shimanov,Alexandr 2516 hopes to show he is rather over-exposed. Open LTU Rapid Final (4) 28.11.2010 10.h2!? An interesting way to defend the b2 square and activate the rook. It makes sense [Gawain Jones] to leave the king for the moment. [ However 10.f2 has been played more 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h6 often. White is trying to find safety on g2 or [ 4...h5 is the other method of dealing with g3. A couple of recent games continued: f6 White's idea to trap the bishop and I'm likely ( 10...0-0-0!? has been the most common in to look at this within the next couple of the past. 11.g3 b8 12.a3 c4 13.bd2 months. ] a5 14.h4 e7 15.b1 c8 16.c2 5.g4 d7 This may look illogical after Black xh4+ 17.xh4 e7 18.f3 g6 has just played ...h6 but he wants to keep an Maiwald, J (2488) -Pezerovic, E (2447) eye on the e6 square. Black hopes to prove Germany 1999 with a typically complex that White is rather over-extended. French position but probably a fairly good [ 5...e4 6.f3 is a slight nuance on the 1449

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 one for Black as the king feels loose on g3.) 11.g2 ( 11.g3 0-0-0 12.h2 fxe5 13.fxe5 c7 14.h3 g6 15.hxg6 e8 16.h4 ge7 and White's king's sortie hadn't really helped. Black's attack has developed much faster. Heimann, A (2464)Lafuente, P (2550) Basel 2010.) 11...0-0-0 12.b3 cxd4 13.cxd4 fxe5 14.fxe5 ( 14.dxe5!? ) 14...g6 15.hxg6 ge7 16.c3 xg6 17.a4 c7 18.e3 e8 19.c1 g7 20.f2 b8 21.c5 f7 was another complex position but I feel Black is at least equal. Berbatov, K (2471)Turov, M (2624) Eforie Nord 2010. These examples show the perils of bringing the king forward too early. ] 10...c8 [ 10...f6 11.e3 0-0-0 12.a3 fxe5 was seen in Berbatov, K (2455)-Aroshidze, L (2548) Balaguer 2010 but here I think he should have taken away from the centre with 13.dxe5 keeping more control of the kingside and preparing b4. ] [ Again 10...0-0-0 is possible of course but here I like the hitherto unplayed 11.dxc5!? xc5 12.b4 e7 ( 12...e3 13.a4! a5 14.b5 ce7 15.d4 ) 13.a4 f6 14.a5 c7 15.a3 fxe5 16.b5 b8 17.a6 b6 18.fxe5 when White has a lot more space although he has to be careful not to allow a sacrifice when he'll find himself overextended. ] 11.e3 cxd4 12.cxd4 a5 [ 12...b4+ should of course be met with 13.f2 with the king running to g3. ] 13.c2 An intriguing way to challenge for the c file and quite in keeping with the French style position we have. e7 [ 13...xc2 was played in an old game in this l i n e . T h a t c o n t i n u e d : 14.xc2 e7 15.bd2 b5 16.f2 d7 17.b4 ac6 18.a3 xf1 19.xf1 c8 20.b1 b5 21.b3 b6 22.c5+ and White had reached exactly the position he was aiming for. Ekstroem, R (2420)-Costa, J (2425) Switzerland 1993 ] 14.bd2 f5! Black is in danger of being squash ed so f ights back. 15.exf6 gxf6 16.ac1 Natural. White has taken control of the c file and his position looks quite promising but Black has good counter-

chances on the g file while if the position opens then White's king might find itself wide open. [ Perhaps Navara should have thrown in 16.a3 so that g8 can be met by 17.xc8+ xc8 18.b4 c6 19.b3 xg4 20.c5 g8 21.f5! with decent compensation. ] 16...xc2 The game is only rapid and so both players continue playing rather superficial moves. [ However 16...g8!? targeting the g4 pawn looked strong. The game might proceed 17.xc8+ ( 17.h3 c4! 18.xc4 dxc4 opens lines for Black's pieces and a strong outpost on d5.) 17...xc8 ( 17...xc8 18.g5 fxg5 19.fxg5 xb2 20.d3 a3 21.c2 e7 22.e5 looks like strong compensation for the pawn with control of the board. An interesting line continues ac6 23.dc4! dxc4 24.xc4 b4+ 25.d2 xd4 26.xb4 xc2+ 27.xc2 and W hite has a continued initiative into the endgame.) 18.g5!? fxg5 19.fxg5 ac6 ( 19...hxg5 allows 20.h6! xh6 21.e5 and suddenly Black's king is very exposed.) 20.g6 f5 21.f2 xb2 22.e5 fxd4 23.d3 b6 24.g4 with a very messy position but the g6 pawn promises W hite very good compensation for the couple of sacrificed pawns. ] 17.xc2 ac6 This move looks like Black had run out of a plan. [ Again 17...g8! m a d e s e n s e . 18.h3 ( 18.g5 isn't so effective anymore as the queen is no longer on the d1-h5 diagonal. hxg5 19.fxg5 fxg5 20.xg5 ac6 ) 18...c4! 19.xc4 dxc4 20.f2 d5 21.e1 and again the position is highly complex but his control of the centre looks to favour Black. ] 18.f2 bringing the king to a slightly more secure square but more importantly defending the e3 bishop and thus preventing an ...e5 break. f5 [ 18...g8 19.h3 is now comfortable for White as Black doesn't have ...Nc4 ideas. ] 19.h3 g7 [ 19...fxg4 20.xg4 g8 21.h3 f5 22.xf5 exf5 ends up with a structure similar to the game. ] 20.gxf5! xf5 21.xf5 exf5 22.b3 1450

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 An interesting structure has arisen. The two knights generally outweigh the bishop pair h e r e a s t h e f ig h t f o r t h e e 4 , e 5 squ a re s dominate proceedings. If either player manages to place his knight there then he will have a great position. Unfortunately for Black his knight is a long way from that important spot. White's king is somewhat safer and his pieces seem to combine more effectively. b4 23.b1 b5 Trying to fight back on the light squares but White has it all under control. [ 23...0-0 24.c5 e8 25.c3 would leave White in charge. ] 24.c5 b6 [ 24...c8 25.e5 0-0 26.a3 c6 27.c2 leaves White with an obvious edge with his strong knights. If Black exchanges knights then the e3 bishop gets back into the game. ] 25.a4 c6 26.g1 f6 [ 26...bxc5 27.xg7 c4 28.e5 d3+ 29.xd3 cxd3 30.xd3 leaves White clearly better but was perhaps Black's best try. He cannot retrieve the pawn as xa4?! 31.c3! allows White uncontested onto the dark squares. ] 27.xd7 xd7 28.g6 e7 [ 28...f8 29.b3! wins a pawn. ] 29.d2 c6 30.e5 [ 30.b4! forcing the knight away from the e5 s q u a r e wa s ve r y s t r o n g b u t t h e g a m e continuation is good enough. ] 30...c8 [ 30...e6 31.xc6+ xc6 32.xf5 xd4+ 33.e3! and Black's king won't survive for long. ] 31.g1 White had an array of strong candidate moves. [ 31.d3 was the strongest when Black can't stop Qa3+ ] [ 31.xc6+ transposing to the previous note was also good. ] 31...xd4? This final mistake loses instantly. [ Black had to try 31...xe5 but White is still winning following 32.dxe5 h4+ 33.g2 c2 34.d4 e4+ 35.xe4 dxe4 36.b4+ Black has succeeded in exchanging queens but the relative activity of the pieces will decide here. ] 32.xf6! xf6 33.g6+ e7 34.b4+ An interesting game. From a theoretical point

of view Black seemed fine out of the opening (and had he played ...Rg8 at some point he might even had the upper hand. However, not that many people feel comfortable in constricted positions and the position resembles a French rather than a Caro-Kann which will not appeal to all. 1-0

1361 Negi,P Lauber,A Bundesliga 2012-13 (12) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2657 2465 17.03.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 c8 Black has many options at this point but it's the first time we've seen this early retreat of the knight to c8 in this position. 6...c5 is heavily featured in the archives along with 6...h6 and 6...Bg6. [ 6...d7 7.bd2 c8 is a more normal time for the knight to retreat to c8 with a key game for this position Karjakin, S (2776)To pa lov, V (2 7 75 ) Mon a co 20 1 1 whic h continued 8.e1 c5 9.d3 g6 ( perhaps the right way for Black to play is 9...xd3 10.xd3 cxd4 11.b3 b6 although I think White still has slightly the better chances after 12.a4 a5 13.g4 ) 10.c3 e7 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d3 c4 13.f4 b5 14.g4 and White had a good position. ] 7.bd2 [ 7.b3 seems to me another sensible approach here, simply preparing c4. For example e7 8.c4 0-0 9.c3 d7 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 and White had a safe and stable edge in Oparin, G (2487)Burmakin, V (2592) Sochi 2012 ] 7...e7 8.e1 In general I really like this move which aims to play Bd3 and then if the bishops are swapped the knight can come to d3 where it controls the key squares of e5 and c5, as well as looking towards the kingside with ideas of Nf4-h5. [ 8.c4 also led to a small advantage for W hite after 0-0 ( 8...b6!? ) 9.b3 c7 10.d3 g6 11.xg6 fxg6 12.e1 a6 and now in Nakamura, H (2769)-L'Ami, E 1451

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (26 27) W ijk aan Ze e 2 013 pe rha ps th e American GM should've continued wit h 13.d3 with some advantage. ] 8...c5 9.dxc5 [ 9.d3!? is an option straight away and indeed it could be more accurate as xd3 ( 9...g6 is probably best) 10.xd3 cxd4 is hardly a problem because White simply regains the pawn with 11.g4 ] 9...xc5 10.d3 e7 11.b3 b6 12.g5 xd3 [ 12...g6 is Black's other option when W hite should probably wait for Black to castle before taking on g6. Probably 13.a4 is a good place to start. ] 13.xd3 c7 14.a4 a6 [ 14...a5 is also possible but Black didn't want to give away a square on b5. ] 15.a5 a7 16.e2 bc6 17.e3 xe3 [ 17...d4!? would change the structure of the game - of course it gives away some squares but I think Black retails balanced chances after 18.g5 g6 19.fe1 0-0 ] 18.xe3 0-0 19.c3 ad8 The opening has been satisfactory for both sides. Black can hardly be much worse here and has a very solid positio n but W hite d oes have more chances for an initiative, particularly on the kingside. 20.c5 b8 21.f4 White prepares for a kingside attack. [ 21.a4!? appeals to me with the idea of swinging the rook over to the kingside but probably Black is OK after c8 22.e3 f5 23.e2 c7 ] 21...d7 22.g4!? g6 23.ae1 f5?! Un d e r s t a n d a b l y B la c k wa n t s t o h a l t t h e advance of White's kingside pawns but after this he is definitely worse as the pawn on e6 is an issue. [ it was better to seek counterplay in the centre with 23...d4! 24.xd4 ( or 24.cxd4 c8 25.c1 ge7 26.a3 xd4! 27.xd4 xd4 28.xe7 xd3= ) 24...c8 25.xc6 xd3 26.e7+ xe7 27.xe7 a7+ 28.h1 a8! and Black has the nasty threat of b5+. This combined with a rook on d3 and control of the d-file is plenty of counterplay for a pawn. It could even end in r e p e t i t i o n s t r a i g h t a wa y wi t h 29.g1 a7+ ( 29...d2!? 30.f2 a7 31.ef1 xb2 32.f5 i s u n c l e a r) 30.h1 a8

31.g1 a7+ ] 24.exf6 xf6 25.g5 [ 25.d4! would've kept the advantage without allowing Black's tactic on the next move ] 25...f5?! [ 25...xf4! is a very tricky move but a necessary one in order to keep the balance. I can find no advantage f or W hite af ter 26.gxf6 xd3 27.e3 xe1 28.xe6+ f7 29.xe1 ( or 29.fxg7 c7 30.xe1 f4 and Black will be able to take a perpetual check.) 29...d8 30.fxg7 d7 31.xd7 xd7 32.e2 xg7+ 33.f2 f8 ] 26.xe6 Now White has an extra pawn and Black is lacking obvious compensation. df7 27.d6?! [ 27.e3! would've kept better control and White should be winning after f8 28.bc5 c7 29.b4 ] 27...xd6 28.xd6 f8?! [ 28...xf4! 29.xf4 xf4 30.xf4 xf4 31.xd5 a4 and despite White's extra pawn the most likely result is still a draw as the pawns on a5, b2 and g5 are all vulnerable. ] 29.xc6 This is probably good enough to win but it was not the most precise [ 29.bc5! leaves Black in a miserable position - still a pawn down, unable to take on f4 because of the fork on e6 and if xa5 then 30.d8+! e7 31.d7+ f8 32.e6+ e8 33.d8+ e7 34.e1 is e a sily win n in g f o r W h it e , Rg8 is t h e biggest threat. ] 29...bxc6 30.d4 e8 31.xf5 xf5 32.b4 d7 33.g2 d6 34.g3 White's extra pawn is now secure and with a6 dropping in the near future Negi makes the win look easy f r o m h e r e . f8 35.c5 e6 36.xa6 xg5 37.g4 g6 38.c5 f7 39.e1 h6+ 40.f3 f7 41.e8 f5?! This brings the game to a swift end but Black was completely lost in any case. [ 41...c7 was more stubborn but still White wins with 42.a8 g5 43.a7+ b8 44.xf7 xf7 45.f5 etc. ] 42.a6 a7 43.d8+ c7 44.e6+ b6 45.b8+! A nice finish - the pawn cannot be

1452

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 taken because of Nc5 1-0

1362 Negi,Parimarjan Barbosa,Oliver Asian Continental 2012 (8.1) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B12 2640 2550 12.05.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 e7 7.c3 Played in numerous Correspondence games and the main move in Hiarcs Opening Book but not the most usual in normal games. [ Instead White has tried grabbing the bishop pair with 7.h4 ] [ while 7.b3!? is seen in Socko, B (2629)Wojtaszek, R (2637) Opole 2007 looked at by John Watson. ] [ and 7.bd2 has been looked at numerous times in the archives. ] 7...a6 Barbosa again allows White to try and pick up the bishop pair but Negi isn't interested. [ The immediate 7...c5 was seen in BologanRiazantsev which we have also examined this month. ] [ 7...c8 would be similar to the game but Black hasn't yet committed to .. .a6. C a r u a n a t r i e d 8.bd2 e7 9.e1 White plays in a similar style to the game. g6 10.d3 The move Negi should have played! c5 11.f4 cxd4 12.xg6 hxg6 13.cxd4 b6 14.f3 a6 15.g3 a7 16.h4 and White had a comfortable position and converted without any problems. Caruana, F (2767)-Genov, P (2463) Arvier 2012. ] [ 7...h6 would transpose to 6...h6 7.0-0 Nd7 seen in the notes to the Bologan-Riazantsev game. ] [ 7...c7 really provokes White into picking up the bishop pair with 8.h4 g6 9.d2 Here W hite has scored very well. In one high rated encounter Black tried to generate counterplay with f6 but following 10.exf6 gxf6 11.g4 f5 12.h3 f6 Inarkiev, E (2674) -Jaracz, P (2565) Aix-les-Bains 2011, White would have had a big advantage with 13.e2 f7 14.df3 when Black simply has far too many weaknesses. ]

[ 7...g4 has also been seen from time to tim e . A ga m e f ro m th is yea r co nt in u e d 8.bd2 c8 9.e1 xe2 10.xe2 e7 11.d3 h5 12.f3 f5 13.b3 e7 14.d1 g5 with a complex position. Ni Hua (2673)-Le Quang Long (2351) Ho Chi Minh City 2012. ] 8.bd2 [ 8.e1 was also tried earlier this year and worked well: c5 Black should probably play d i f f e r e n t l y h e r e t h o u g h ( perhaps with 8...c8 now that White doesn't have any Ne1 ideas.) 9.dxc5 c6 10.d4 xb1 11.xb1 xc5 12.xc6 bxc6 13.d3 g6 14.g4 c7 15.f4 f8 16.h4 h5 17.g3 g8 18.c4 and White was clearly on top. Eggleston, D (2367)-Grant, A (2186) Hastings 2012. ] [ 8.h4 has also been tried here and makes sense as c3 looks more useful than ...a6. A r e c e n t g a m e c o n t i n u e d g6 ( P e r h a p s B l a c k s h o u l d t r y 8...c5 here now that White can no longer play Nd4 ideas. 9.d2 cxd4 10.cxd4 c8 11.xf5 xf5 12.f3 b6 looks playable for Black, even if it's tough for him to find counterplay.) 9.d2 f5 10.xg6 hxg6 11.f3 e7 Dochev, D (2426) Emmanouilidis, K (1985) Heraklion 2011 wh e n I 'd b e t e m p t e d b y 12.g4!? h4 13.xh4 xh4 14.e3 when White must be a little better. ] 8...c8 Barbosa continues to play non committal moves on the queenside. [ 8...h6 transposes to a position that's been seen in quite a few high rated encounters. A) 9.e1 c5 10.df3 ( 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 cxd4 12.cxd4 c6 13.g4 g5 and Black was fine. Fressinet, L (2654)-Bareev, E (2653) Ajaccio 2007.) 10...c6 A1) 11.a3 c4 is a typical theme borrowed from the Advanced French. 12.c2 e7 13.e3 h7 14.d2 0-0 15.f4 h8 16.e1 f6 17.g4 fxe5 ( 17...f5 18.e2 g5!? is an interesting alternative which looks fairly r e a s o n a b l e .) 18.fxe5 dxe5! An enterprising piece sacrifice 19.dxe5 xe5 20.xf8+ xf8 21.e2 c5 with strong compensation for the piece 1453

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 which eventually got Black the full point. Khairullin, I (2544)-Bologan, V (2666) Sochi 2006.; A2) 11.d3 xd3 12.xd3 c8 13.e3 cxd4 14.cxd4 b4 15.fe1 g6 Fressinet, L (2654) -Karpov, A (2670) Ajaccio 2007 16.xb4 xb4 17.d3 e7 18.d2 h5 19.ac1 and White is definitely better - again Black has zero counterplay.; B) 9.b3 c8 10.h4 h7 11.f4 c5 12.h5 f5 13.xf5 xf5 14.e3 g6 ( Rybka prefers 14...c4 15.c1 b6 16.d2 e7 claiming Black to have a small advantage but I'm not sure where his play is coming from while White can slowly build to attack on the kingside.) 15.e2 h5 16.dxc5 xc5 17.d4 e4 18.a4 h4 19.a5 h3 20.g3 g2 21.f2 e4 22.xg2 hxg2 23.xg2 c5 24.d3 d7 25.f3 xd4 26.xd4 and White's bishop pair and full control of the position mattered more than the extra exchange. The Russian went on to beat t h e re i g n i n g ( i f h e d i d b e a t G e l f a n d ) World Champion. Morozevich, A (2707)Anand, V (2788) San Luis 2005. ] [ However it's not so clear what Black should play as 8...c5 9.dxc5 c6 10.d4 looks rather unpleasant. ] 9.e1!? As Black has played the opening so slowly Negi decides to threaten to advance on the kingside and utilise the d3 square. [ 9.b4 looks an interesting option and reminds us of Adams-Monroy seen in the archives. I imagine Black should fight back immediately with a5 when White is unable to keep up the bind. ] 9...g6 Scared of the advancing pawns Black drops back his bishop but now W hite has a route to a definite advantage. [ Critical looks to be 9...c5 fighting back in t h e c e n t r e 10.g4 ( 10.d3 e7! do es n 't f e e l in t he righ t sp irit a lt h ou gh p e r h a p s W h i t e c a n p l a y t h i s wa y w i t h 11.df3 ) 10...g6 11.f4 This looks dangerous for Black but perhaps it's playable, for example: A) 11...cxd4 12.f5!? ( 12.cxd4 e7 is c o m p l e x .) 12...dxc3 13.fxg6 hxg6 14.bxc3 xe5 is messy but White's piece

feels superior to Black's pawns.; B) 11...b6 Tactically defending the bishop 12.b3 ( 12.f5?! exf5 13.gxf5 xf5 14.xf5 g6+! 15.g4 h5 is the point but even this isn't entirely clear. ) 12...e7 13.e3 c4 14.d2 f5 15.b3 and White has some advantage. ] 10.d3 We think this is the wrong piece. [ Inst ead wit h 10.d3 White would reach similar positions to the game but with the knight much more actively placed on f4. e7 ( Black can try and keep the bishop with 10...h6 11.f4 f5 but he's wasted a lot of time. ) 11.f4 0-0 12.xg6 hxg6 13.d3 Although the computer says White is only a little better the position looks really unpleasant as White can generate a quick attack on the kingside. c5 ( 13...a7 14.b4! a5 15.a3 prevents Black from generating any queenside counterplay.) 14.g4 a7 15.f3 c6 16.h4! and I'm not sure how Black gets any counterplay, for example cxd4 17.cxd4 b4 18.e2 c8 19.a3 c2 20.b1 b6 21.d2 and White has a big advantage. ] 10...c5 It's about time Black gets some play on the queenside. It's a rather strange position as W hite would probably prefer to have his knight on f3 and Black his knight back on e7! 11.g4 b6 [ Bringing the knight back into the centre with 11...e7!? preparing to jump to either f5 or c6. ] 12.df3 cxd4 [ It was also possible to keep the centre fluid with 12...e7 but 13.xg6 xg6 14.d3 isn't so different. Black can try playing with ...c4 but that looks rather dubious. ] 13.cxd4 e7 14.xg6 White needs to bring the e1 knight back into the fold and the only way to proceed is to exchange bishops. xg6 After this Black's position is very unpleasant. The computer doesn't have much fear but it's difficult to see where Black's king will ever be safe, while he struggles to create counterplay. [ 14...hxg6 was the alternative and would at least give Black play down the h file. The game could continue 15.f4 c8 16.d3 f5 17.g4 h4 18.xh4 xh4 19.e3 b8 and Black seems ok. ] 15.d3 b8 Yet another knight move, 1454

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bringing the knight round to put pressure on d4. [ 15...e7 16.h4 h5 17.g3 followed by Bg5 and White is comfortably better. ] 16.e3 c6 17.ac1 e7 18.c3 c8 19.fc1 White has coordinated his pieces and is ready to start advancing on both sides of t h e b o a r d . h6 Barbosa can do nothing but wait. [ 19...0-0?! 20.h4! is suicidal. ] 20.h4 h5 21.g3 d8 [ 21...0-0 is better than a couple of moves ago but still very dangerous. One sample line could go: 22.g5 a7 23.c5 xc5 24.xc5 xc5 25.xc5 e7 26.f3 g6 27.f6 d8 28.g4! ec6 ( or 28...hxg4 29.h5 f5 30.xd8 xd8 31.hxg6 fxg6 32.xe6 regaining the pawn with a marvellous position.) 29.f4 hxg4 30.h5! and White crashes through. ] 22.g5 d7 23.f3 xg5?! Barbosa must have known he was leaving himself with a dismal position totally devoid of counterplay but maybe he hoped White wouldn't be able to break through. [ His last chance was 23...f6 This looks very lo o s e n in g b u t a t le a st h e 'll h a ve so m e squares now: 24.exf6 gxf6 25.h3 f7 ( 25...e5 26.dxe5 d4 27.xd4! xd4 28.c4 gxe5 29.xc6+! xc6 30.xd4 and W hite's a clear pawn up.) 26.hf4 xf4 27.xf4 cg8 28.g3 g4 29.h1 d6 and Black's pieces at least look coordinated. ] 24.xg5 c7 [ It was probably better to bring the knight back (with yet another knight move!) with 24...ge7 although 25.d1 f5 26.f4 is very good for White as fxd4? 27.xd4 wins ] 25.b4 ge7 26.xe7 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 26.c5 looked more accurate as c8 ( or 26...d8 27.xb7 xb7 28.xc6 ) 27.xe7 xe7 ( again 27...xe7 28.xb7 ) 28.f4 and White's pressure looks decisive. ] 26...xe7 27.g3 g6 28.a4 d8 [ 28...d7 is the computer's final hope but this leaves White with plenty of options, one of which is 29.xc6!? bxc6 30.xc6 0-0 31.xa6 when the connected passed pawns

should prove decisive. ] 29.f4 c8 30.c5 e7 [ 30...b8 31.xa6 is hardly better ] 31.b5 axb5 32.axb5 a7 33.e4! 0-0 Unfortunately for Black he is now forced to castle but White's attack will obviously win. 34.f6+ g7 35.g5 xc3 36.xh5+ h7 37.f6+ g7 38.xc3 h8 39.h5 xb5 40.h6+ xh6 41.c8 1-0

1363 Negi,Parimarjan Rodshtein,M 40th Olympiad Open (6.10) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2664 2642 03.09.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.0-0!? [ 8.d2 is still the mainline and has been covered many times in the archives ] 8...bc6 9.b5 A move which is very much coming into fashion - Black players quickly need to come up with a line here as White is currently scoring very well. c8 [ 9...a6 Is Black's most normal response but White got an edge against this in the game Shirov-Laznicka which I annotated for this site last month. 10.xc6+ A) 10...bxc6 seems preferable to me but W h it e st ill h a s t h e int e re st in g c h o ic e between 11.c4 and ( 11.d2 which are covered in the notes to Shirov-Laznicka ); B) 10...xc6 11.xf5 exf5 12.c3 with a slight edge to White ] [ 9...c7 I haven't mentioned before but I don 't be lieve it's t he an swer to Blac k's p r o b l e m s , f o r e x a m p l e 10.c4!? a6 11.xc6+ bxc6 12.a4 and Black is under some uncomfortable pressure ] [ 9...d7 was tried in Szalanczy, E (2325)Gasik, A (2220) Vienna 2011 and there followed 10.d2 ( 10.c4!? ) 10...a6 11.xc6 xc6 ( 11...bxc6 12.b4!? c7 13.2b3! xe5 14.d2 and Black has real problems developing here) 12.xf5 exf5 13.f3 g6 14.e1 and White had a clear advantage ] [ 9...g6!? was my suggestion in the Sutovsky-Laznicka game and is deserving 1455

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 of practical tests. ] 10.xc6+ [ 10.d2!? is possible if it turns out bxc6 is fine for Black on the next move ] 10...xc6?! [ 10...bxc6 seems odd when paired with Rc8 but I can't find anything for advantage for White here so it deserves serious attention A) 11.c4!? dxc4! ( 11...g6 is unclear after 12.a4 d7 13.c1 c5 14.b5 f5 15.xa7 xa7 16.xa7 b8 17.b5 ) 12.xf5 xf5 13.d2 d3 and Black has no problems here; B) 11.b3 c7 seems to give enough counterplay for Black after 12.f4 g6 13.f2 f5; C) 11.d2 g6 12.c4 d7 is OK for Black ] 11.xf5 exf5 I have to say I'm surprised so m a n y p l a y e r s a r e wi l l i n g t o g o i n t o t h i s structure for Black - it seems very unpleasant and without any real counterplay White can play for the win without too much risk here. 12.c3 e7 13.d2 0-0 [ 13...xe5! Was probably a better option and n ow af te r 14.d4! ( 14.a4+ d7 15.xd7+ xd7 16.xa7 he8 Black shouldn't have any serious problems holding the draw) 14...f6 15.e1 c6 16.b3 0-0 17.e2 d6 ( 17...d7 18.xa7!; 17...f7 18.e6 g6 19.ad1 is uncomfortable for Black but maybe OK) 18.e6+ h8 19.xf5 c7 20.h5 White is only slightly better ] 14.f3 d7 15.e1 It's probably fair to say that although Black is only a bit worse here he has to be by far the more careful. White has no weaknesses and can enjoy slowly improving his position. fd8 16.d3 g6?! Rodshtein is attempting to stay solid but the weakness to the Kingside proves crucial later on [ Instead Black should sit tight with 16...e6 17.ad1 d7 and wait to see if White can come up with a plan. ] 17.ad1 b6 18.h4! c5?! After this Black position is really unpleasant 19.g5 e7 20.h5 e6 21.hxg6 fxg6 22.a3 White is in no rush - the weaknesses in Black's Kingside aren't going anywhere [ 22.e3! Seems rather more to the point -

White is clearly better with a simple plan of Qf4-h4 ] 22...c7 [ 22...xg5! 23.xg5 e7 24.f4 a5 is definitely a much better version of the game for Black, although White is still on top after 25.e6 d6 26.h3 ] 23.e3 c5?! An very odd move because it allows White to push the pawn to e6 which is clearly in his favour 24.g5 e7 25.e6 xe3 26.xe3 Here Black has no counterplay and the pawn on e6 effectively cuts his position in half - it's hard to see how play can survive. f6 27.f7! e8 28.xd5 ce7 29.d6 [ 29.d6! f8 30.e2 keeps absolute control ] 29...a5 30.e5?! This gives Black a chance to stay in the game [ 30.d8! xd8 31.xd8 g7 32.b4 c4 33.d4 should be easily winning ] 30...b7 31.d7 g7 32.dd1 d8?! [ 32...h8 was Black's only chance, although W hite is a lot better after 33.d5 d8 34.b8! as xe6 35.xd8 xd8 36.xe6 xb8 37.d1 followed by Rd7 should be winning for White ] 33.d4! A nice move from Negi that Black had probably overlooked h8 [ 33...xe6 loses to 34.f6+! xf6 35.xf6 xe1+ 36.xe1 xe1+ 37.h2 f7 38.b4 and a Queenside passed pawn will quickly decide the game in White's favour ] 34.f6 f8 35.xd8! xf6 36.d4 g7 37.c4 fe8 38.d6 h5 39.d4 g5 40.e5 g6 41.e3 g4 42.c4 h4 43.b4 c8?! [ 43...h3! at least keeps Black fighting but after 44.g3 White should be winning easily enough ] 44.dd5 An odd game that certainly contained mistakes from both sides but it is another win for 8.0-0 and 9.Bb5 so Black players should make sure they're well prepared for this line as I'm sure we'll be seeing more of it. 1-0

1456

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1364 Nepomniachtchi,I Andreikin,D 66th ch-RUS 2013 (2.1) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2702 2706 06.10.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 Andreikin used this successfully in the recent World Cup - see last month's game SvidlerA n d r e i k i n . 5.a3 White hasn't been getting anywhere with the mainlines recently so it's interesting to see Nepomniachtchi go f or something we haven't seen before on this site. The idea is obviously to prepare b4 and by delaying Nf3 White doesn't allow ... Bg4 e6 [ 5...xe5 actually seems like Black's best r e s p o n s e h e r e t o m e 6.b4 ( 6.f3 is also worth a look with chances about even after xf3+ 7.xf3 e6 8.b4 f6 9.c3 d7 ) 6...g6! 7.b5+ A) 7...c6 is a safe option if you don't want to off er the d-pawn 8.b2 f6 9.xf6 ( 9.c4!? might cause Black more difficulties here although he should still be OK with e6 ) 9...exf6 10.c3 e6 11.ge2 h6 12.d4 c8 13.f3 0-0 14.xc6 bxc6 15.0-0 and the position wa s f in e ly b a la n ce d in Zh e re b u k h , Y (2629)-Burg, T (2471) Haarlem 2012; B) 7...d7 B1) 8.xd5 B1a) 8...g7!? seems to be close to e q u a l i s i n g a f t e r 9.xd7+ xd7 10.xd7+ xd7 11.a2 ( or 11.c3 e5 12.e2 a5 13.a2 ) 11...a5 12.c3 e5 with reasonable compensation for Black; B1b) 8...xb5 9.xe5 f6 10.c3 c6 11.ge2?! ( 11.f3! g7 12.b2 should be a little better for W hite although Black obviously has some compensation for the pawn with the two bishops) 11...g7 12.0-0 0-0 13.b2 e4 14.f4 d2 15.xd2 and a draw was agreed in Predojevic, B (2641)-Asrian, K (2621) Moscow 2008; B2) 8.e2 g7 9.b2 xb5 10.xb5+ d7 11.xd7+ xd7 12.e2 f6! 13.d2 b6 14.d1 bxc5 ( 14...c6! was more accurate and Black has at

least equalised here) 15.xe5! xe5 16.gf3 g7 17.e4 e6 18.xc5+ e7 and chances were level in Najer, E (2637)-Landa, K (2639) Bochum 2012 ] 6.f3 [ a n i m m e d i a t e 6.b4?! gives Black the upperhand after a5 7.b5 xe5 ] 6...xc5 7.b4 b6 [ 7...e7 doesn't make a lot of sense here as B la ck rea lly wa nt s e7 f or o ne o f his knights 8.b5 a5 9.d3 d7 10.0-0 and White has a very comfortable position whereas Black still has many problems to solve. ] 8.b2 ge7 [ 8...f6!? looks a little risky to me but probably it's not too bad: 9.d3 ( 9.b5!? d7 10.e2 might be White's best although t h e e d g e i s o n l y m i n i m a l a f t e r xe5 11.xe5 fxe5 12.h5+ f8 13.xe5 f6 as despite losing the right to castle Black is still very solid here) 9...fxe5 10.b5 d4 11.xd4 exd4 12.h5+ f8 13.0-0 f6 and White has enough play for the sacrificed pawn but no more. ] 9.d3 g6 10.0-0 [ 10.g3! to prevent ...Nf4 is worthy of attention here 0-0 11.0-0 d4 ( 11...d7 12.bd2 c8 13.c4! is better for White) 12.e2 c7 13.xg6 fxg6! ( 13...hxg6 14.d1 and Black has no counterplay) 14.bd2 g5 15.e4 a6 16.xd4 g4!? The start of a forcing line that leads to an unpleasant ending for Black but he was already a pawn down so it's difficult to find an improvement 17.xg4 xd4 18.xd4 xd4 19.xd4 xe5 20.2b3 xd4 21.xd4 e5 22.b3 h3 23.fe1 ac8 24.a2 fd8 and Black obviously had some activity for the pawn in Huschenbeth, N (2502) -Buhmann, R (2579) Bonn 2011 but eventually White was able to grind out the win on move 72. ] 10...0-0 [ 10...f4 is tricky but White retains the better chances here with 11.c4! A) 11...0-0 is critical, perhaps White is a little better after 12.c3 a6 13.c1 dxc4 14.xc4 c7 15.xd8 ( or 15.e4!? ) 15...xd8 16.e4; B) 11...xd3 12.xd3 dxc4 13.xc4 1457

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 0-0 14.c3 e7 15.ad1 d5 16.g4! and W hite has excellent kingside prospects in Istratescu, A (2654) -Grachev, B (2688) Basel 2013 ( 16.xd5 exd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 e6 leads to a typical end ing whe re the two bishop s would expect to hold fairly easily, despite White's extra pawn. )] 11.e1 a5 12.b5 ce7 [ 12...b8 led to a quick draw in the following game but it doesn't look best: 13.c4 d7 and now in Fercec, N (2492)Bodiroga, P (2405) Senj 2008 W hite co uld've ob ta in e d a go o d po sit io n wit h 14.cxd5 exd5 15.xg6 hxg6 16.c3! ( 16.xd5?! c5 gives Black good compensation for the pawn )] 13.a4 c5?! I'm not sure about this move and the subsequent plan of ...b6 and ...Bb7, it leads to a position where Black lacks any real counterplay as White just blockades on d4. [ 13...f6! is much more challenging here, for example 14.exf6 ( 14.bd2 fxe5 15.xe5 f5 is solid enough for Black) 14...gxf6 15.c4 e5! 16.cxd5 xd5 17.g3 e6 and Black has enough control of the centre to compensate for his slightly weakened kingside. ] 14.bd2 b6 15.f1 c7 16.b3 b6 17.e1 b4?! The idea is to play ...Bc3 and swap of dark-squared bishops but after [ 17...b7 18.d2 d4! gives Black more chance for activity, e.g. 19.fxd4 fd8 20.xc5 xc5 21.b3 c7 and Black has a solid position and the bishop on b7 actually gives him reasonable chances. ] 18.c3! The bishop simply has to retreat c5 [ obviously not 18...xc3? 19.c1 ] 19.c1?! [ 19.h4! was more to the point. Black's position is already miserable, for example h6 20.xc5 bxc5 21.c2 d8 22.h5 f8 23.d3 b7 24.ad1 with a clear edge to White and possibilities of g4-g5. ] 19...b7 20.bd4 ae8 Black is solid here but it's tough to find a plan. Meanwhile White slowly prepares g3 and h4. 21.c2 f4 22.f1 f5 23.c1 g6 24.d3 c8 25.g3 h6 Andreikin can do nothing at all active at this point 26.h4! Finally the move comes d8 27.h5 ge7

[ 27...h8 28.c6 d7 29.fd4 is rather depressing for Black ] 28.b3! Suddenly the knight on f5 is trapped and there's no def ence to the coming g4 xg3 [ 28...g6 loses to 29.g4 g7 30.xh6 and Black's kingside quickly collapses ] 29.xc5 xh5 30.h2 bxc5 31.xh5 Two pawns isn't nearly enough for the piece and White's attack is too strong in any case c4 32.f1 f5 33.a3 d4 Desperation 34.g2 d3 35.d2 e7 36.g4 c4 and d3 are dropping so Black resigns. 5.a3 is well worth some more games I think! 1-0

1365 Nepomniachtchi,I Shengelia,D 14th Euro Indiv 2013 (8.22) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2710 2546 13.05.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 d7 7.bd2 g6 [ 7...h6 is Black's most popular move here, guarding against Nh4 ideas (it's also an option a move earlier) and is analysed plenty of times in the archives, most recently by John Watson in Svidler-Nakamura. ] [ 7...c5!? is another option here but Watson shows that White is slightly better here in the game Vachier Lagrave-Dittmar from the archives. ] 8.h4!? This move has been analysed before in Gawain's notes to Firman-Eljanov back in 2010. It seems to me that White is better after this exchange so Black should probably prefer an earlier ...h6. f5 [ 8...b6 is another option for Black but it doesn't change the overall structure of the position 9.xg6 ( 9.c3! is more flexible) 9...hxg6 10.f3 f5 11.c3 e7 12.b1 a6 13.b4 c7 14.a4 and White had a slight edge in Sepp, O (2448)-Campora, D (2537) Dresden 2008 ] [ 8...c5 is a critical alternative but again W hite seems to have the better chances here 9.c3 c6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.f3 A) 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 e7 13.a3 a5 14.g3 ( 14.b5! keeps a nice bind on the 1458

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 queenside, e.g. a7 15.d3 0-0 16.d2 c6 17.c1 b6 18.c3! and Black is struggling for counterplay - now would be a good time for White to play for g3 & h4.) 14...0-0 15.h4 b6 16.b3 fc8 17.g2 a7 18.d3 and White was ready to start a k ings id e a t ta ck in S m irin , I (26 5 8 )Abbasov, F (2543) Nakhchivan 2011; B) 11...e7 12.e3 c8 This may be Black's best way to handle the position but it still seems like W hite has a choice of ways to keep an edge. 13.g3!? ( 13.d2 isn't so accurate here as Gawain points out a5 14.a3 cxd4 15.cxd4 xd2 16.xd2 f6! and Black was doing fine in Brandenburg, D (2503)-Lenic, L (2592) Sarajevo 2010; 13.a3!? c4 14.b1 feels like some sort of edge for White as it's risky for Black to castle kingside into any g3, h4 attack.) 13...a6 14.g2 b5?! ( 14...b6 was safer although it's not clear what Black's plan is after 15.d2 ) 15.a4! b6 16.axb5 axb5 17.h4 b4 18.g5 b3 19.h1 cxd4 20.cxd4 and White's kingside initiative was definitely worth more than any counterplay Black had on the queenside in Mamedov, N (2583)Harutjunyan, G (2468) Dubai 2011 although Black did manage to hold a draw in that game. ] 9.xg6 hxg6 10.f3 e7 [ 10...h4 has also been tried here but doesn't really solve Black's problems after 11.g3! xf3+ 12.xf3 e7 13.h4! preventing Black f rom playing ...Bg5 c5 14.c4! dxc4 15.xb7 b8 and here in Macieja, B (2605) -Heberla, B (2525) Plovdiv 2012 A) i n s t e a d a f t e r 16.a6?! b6 ( 16...g5!? ) 17.xc4 cxd4 Black was at least equal 18.a4; B) 16.e4 would've left White with a definite advantage, e.g. cxd4 17.xd4 0-0 18.xc4 xe5 19.e2 and White's two bishops combined with queenside majority give him excellent prospects. ] 11.g3 A very normal move for this type of position, W hite controls the h4 square p r e v e n t i n g B l a c k f r o m p l a yi n g N h 4 a n d relieving some of the pressure. [ 11.c3 is also logical here as Nh4 is

certainly not an immediate problem f8 ( 11...h4?! 12.xh4 xh4 13.e3 is very comfortable for W hite; 11...c5! is more testing) 12.a4 h7 13.g4!? h4 14.xh4 xh4 15.f4 e7 16.a5 and White had control of both sides of the board and went on to win in Korneev, O (2577)-Rocha, S (2404) Matosinhos 2012 ] 11...b6 12.c3 c5 13.a4 a6 14.a5! Ian forces Black to decide the best place for his queen and it's by no means clear [ 14.g2 was slightly less accurate in Zubov, A (2574)-Grinev, V (2361) Cracow 2010 cxd4 15.a5 a7 16.cxd4 b8! 17.h4 c6 and Black was close to equal although I'd still rather be White here as in practice it's always unclear what Black is going to do with his king. Perhaps ...0-0 is playable but then Black will have to accurately defend against the oncoming attack. ] 14...a7?! Given how the game turns out with the pin on the knight on d7 this seems to be the wrong option [ 14...c6 was better, preventing Qa4, however White still has the better position after 15.d2! f8 16.b4 c4 ( 16...cxb4?! 17.cxb4 and the queen is a big target on the c-file. ) 17.h4 and Black has unpleasant, if solid, position to defend. ] 15.a4! cxd4 [ 15...d8 isn't much better 16.d2 0-0 17.g4 h4 ( 17...h6 18.h3 leaves the knight very misplaced on h6 and it's hard for Black to even engineer a ...f6 break here. ) 18.xh4 xh4 19.g5 cxd4 20.cxd4 f6 21.exf6 gxf6 22.ae1! fxg5 23.g4 and White is in control ] 16.cxd4 c8?! [ 16...d8 was probably Black's best although White is still clearly better: 17.d2 ( 17.g4! h4 18.xh4 xh4 19.a3 may be even stronger as the rook is either coming to c3 or h3 and causing Black all s o r t s o f p r o b l e m s !) 17...0-0 18.g4 transposes to the previous line ] 17.d2 c6 Shengelia is a move away from castling into relative safety but Ian gives him no t ime to d o so ! 18.fc1 b8 19.b4! xd4?! This allows a nice tactic that ultimately proves decisive. [ 19...0-0 was perhaps the lesser evil for 1459

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black but White remains in complete control after 20.b5! axb5 21.xb5 cc8 22.ab1 ] 20.xd4 xd4 21.xa6! xa6 [ or 21...bxa6 22.xc6 0-0 23.e3! xe5 24.b6 and with b5 coming White's a-pawn is going to prove decisive. ] 22.xc6 0-0 [ 22...bxc6? 23.xc6+ d8 24.c1! ] 23.c2 White is the exchange up he has a clear plan to create a passed pawn. xe5 24.ca2?! Good enough to win if not the simplest way of achieving it. [ 24.ac1 was more logical and White should be easily winning, for example d4 25.d7 xb4 ( or 25...xb4 26.xb4 xb4 27.c8 xc8 28.xc8+ h7 29.xf7 ) 26.xe7 xc2 27.xc2 and White's extra piece guarantees victory here, especially with the b7 pawn about to drop. ] 24...d4 25.b5 c5 26.c4 e4 27.a6 T h e p a s s e d a - p a wn e n su r e s t h a t W h i t e doesn't have too much work to do here. bxa6 28.bxa6 c5 29.b4 xb4 30.xb4 b8 31.xb8+! A simple but elegant finish xb8 32.a7 a8 33.b2 A very comfortable win for Nepomniachtchi. 1-0

work out too well ] [ whilst I also analysed 4...dxe4 5.a5 c7 6.fxe4 e5 7.f3 exd4 ( 7...g4 8.c4 f6 9.0-0 bd7 the new move, last time 9... Bd6? was played. 10.g5 d6 11.bd2 0-0 12.e1 h6 13.xf6 xf6 14.h4 ae8 15.c3 and both sides should have been happy with how the opening progressed. Kanovsky, D-Polak, T Ostrava 2010 ) 8.c4 g4 and this is the new. Previously we saw 8...Be6. 9.0-0 ( 9.xd4!? would prepare a knight jump into either e5 or g5. ) 9...f6 10.e5 d5 11.a3 c5 ( It looks like the pawn was edible, i.e. 11...xa5 12.h3 e6 13.xd4 c5 ) 12.xd5 cxd5 13.b5 d7 14.d6+ xd6 15.exd6 c6 16.e1+ e6 17.f4 0-0 18.xd4 and White had a definite advantage. Muzychuk, A-Arabidze, M Tbilisi GEO 2010. ] [ 4...a5!? cements the queen in place on b6 but gives up an outpost on b5 5.exd5 cxd5 6.c3 f6 7.b5 f5 8.f4 a6 9.c3 e6 10.e2 e7 11.g3 g6 12.h4 h6 13.h5 h7 14.d3 and I'd feel more comfortable on the White side although Black only has one weakness. Doros, R-Szabo, G Bucharest 2010. ] 5.c3 Logical, cementing the centre but Nepomniachtchi can't keep it for long. 1366 B12 [ 5.a5 d8 would be the same as the 3...e6 line except White has had the extra tempi to Nepomniachtchi,Ian 2695 put his pawn on a5. However I don't think Ivanchuk,Vassily 2741 this benefits White as now the pawn is very 45th Capablanca Mem Elite (5) 14.06.2010 loose and after a subsequent ...Bb4 the [Gawain Jones] pawn is likely to be lost. A) 6.e3 dxe4 ( 6...b4+!? ) 7.d2 exf3 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 Nepomniachti keeps 8.gxf3 f6 9.c4 is a line borrowed faith with the Fantasy Variation which brought from Wells book except with the a5 pawn. him great success in the Aeroflot tournament It lo oks an int eresting p awn sa crif ic e earlier this year. b6 And Ivanchuk follows although objectively Black should be fine.; Jo b a va in p la yin g t h is rece n t t e st o f t h e B) 6.c3 b4; opening. 4.a4 e6!? This is the new try and C) 6.e2!? looks like the best follow up looks quite clever to me. The Ukranian is when it's foolhardy to win the e4 pawn. basically transposing back into the 3...e6 C1) 6...dxe4 7.fxe4 h4+ 8.g3 xe4 variation but with the moves a4 and ...Qb6 9.f3 b4+ 10.c3 e7 11.0-0 f6 thrown in. It seems to me that there are more 12.c4 h6 ( 12...0-0 would drop the positions in which Black's move is useful queen 13.c3 f5 14.e5 h3 rather than White's as a2-a4 is not a typical 15.xf6 xf6 16.g4 ) 13.c3 h7 theme in the French which is the opening the 14.d3 g6 15.e3 and I'd definitely position now resembles. prefer White as his space and [ 4...e5 was played by Jobava which didn't 1460

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and White still has some problems getting development advantage coupled with his king to safety.) 10.dxc5 xc5 11.d4 the strange location of Black's queen gives White decent compensation. ] must promise him an edge.; [ 7.e2+ e6 8.b5+ is a strange C2) 6...c5 7.exd5 xd5 ( 7...exd5 deployment but is probably around level. ] has certain similarities to the game but pe rh a p s h e re W h it e ca n u se t h e c3 7...d7 [ 7...c6 is also possible of course. ] square for his knight. However I don't th in k t h e po sit ion sh ou ld te st B la ck 8.e2+ [ 8.e2!? looks interesting. I don't think the unduly. ) 8.c3 xd4 9.xd4 cxd4 o f f e r e d p a w n s h o u l d b e t a k e n f6 10.b5 a6 is perhaps a little better for ( 8...xb5 9.axb5 xb5 10.a3 b6 W h it e b u t t h e p a wn o n f 3 slo ws h is 11.f4 f6 12.e2+ e7 13.dxc5 xc5 initiative. ] 14.b5 would force Black to be accurate.) 5...c5 9.f4 e7 10.dxc5 xc5 ( 10...xc5 [ 5...f6 wouldn't combine too well with the 11.b4 d6 12.0-0 and White has at least queen on b6. Here W hite should clamp solved the problem with his king although to Black down with 6.e5 fd7 7.a5 d8 tell you the truth I think I'd still prefer to be 8.b4! f6 otherwise Black will fail to generate Black. ) 11.b4 f2+ 12.f1 xb5+ 13.axb5 any play at all 9.f4 fxe5 10.dxe5 ( 10.fxe5 0-0 14.g3 is rather unclear. ] is desirably p ositionally a nd I think th e position after h4+ 11.e2 favours him 8...e7 9.dxc5 xc5 10.b3 This doesn't despite the strange location of his king.) work out well as White never gets time to play 10...c5 11.h3! cxb4 12.g5 e7 Ba3. [ 10.e3 c7 11.h3 f6 12.f4 d8 13.cxb4 xb4+ 14.d2 e7 15.c3 c5 followed by castling and again I'd prefer 16.b5 with an extremely strong initiative for Ivanchuk's position. The problem continues the pawn. ] to be that pawn on f3 which weakens the 6.exd5 Not a move I would like to play as it g1-a7 diagonal and thus W hite's king is doesn't link up well with 3. f3. Now that pawn never very secure. ] simply takes away the logical square from the [ It could be that exploiting the pin and g1 knight and creates holes in White's camp. simply developing with 10.h3 is White's [ 6.a5 d8 7.exd5 ( 7.e5 c6 targets both best. ] a5 and d4 8.b5 d7 9.xc6 xc6 with a comf ortable position) 7...xd5 10...a6 11.xd7+ xd7 12.h3 0-0-0! l o o k s l i k e a r e a l l y w e i r d f o r m o f a c 3 This wrestles the initiative from White. [ 12...c8 is another perfectly legitimate plan Sicilian but not one that should really worry when the game might continue Black with that pawn on f3. ] A) 13.e3 Again linking b3 and Be3 spells [ 6.e5 c6 looks like a bad form of an trouble for W hite. c7 14.0-0 gf6 Advanced French however. ] 15.d4 ( 15.f4 b6+ 16.f2 c5 6...exd5 7.b5+ followed by ...Ne6 promises Black the [ 7.a5 would make sense now that Black better game.) 15...c5! 16.xf6 gxf6 can't recapture on d5 with the queen but White has succeeded in damaging Black's a ga in I c a n ' t s a y it p r o m i se s W h it e a n p a wn st ru ct u re b u t t h e k n ig h t will s i t advantage . c7 ( 7...d8 8.b5+ d7 strongly on e6. Meanwhile W hite has a 9.e2+ e7 10.dxc5 temporarily winning a p r o b l e m a c t i va t i n g h i s p i e c e s a s h i s pawn but White is starting to fall behind in queenside knight is tied down to the c3 d e v e l o p m e n t .) 8.e2 f6 9.a3!? pawn.; ( 9.g4!? looks terrible but at least would B) 13.a3 b6 14.f4 xb3 make some use out of f3.) 9...xa5 ( 9...a6 ( 14...df6!? ) 15.0-0 would be preferable is probably a more sensible option when it's than the game continuation for White as at White who's struggling to maintain material least here he retains the initiative, albeit parity. 10.f4 d6 11.xd6 xd6 12.dxc5 at the cost of a pawn. ] xc5 13.d4 e7 14.c2 0-0 1461

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.e3 An admission the plan with b2-b3 has failed. [ 13.b4 i s c o r r e c t c4 ( 13...c7!? ) 14.xc4+ dxc4 The d3 square is a big hole in White's camp but he can target c4 quickly enough to keep equality. 15.0-0 gf6 16.a3 d5 17.g5 he8 18.xc4 xc3 is simply level. ] [ 13.a3 b6 does not of course win a piece as White's queen gets pinned at the end. ] 13...c7 14.0-0 gf6 [ 14...d6!? would cut out the following note. ] 15.h1 [ 15.f4 d6 16.xd6 xd6 is an improved version of the game as now White can challenge on the dark squares with 17.f2 followed by 18.b4 although Ivanchuk would still have had the upper hand. ] 15...he8 16.d1 d6 17.g1 So White has been f orced to go extremely passive indeed the knight on h3 is the only piece off the back rank. Now it's time for Ivanchuk to c o m e u p wi t h a p l a n . c5!? This move surprised me but Ivanchuk wants to trade bishops in order to weaken the dark squares in White's camp further, in particular the c3 pawn and e3 square. [ 17...h6 with the idea of starting a kingside pawn storm would have interested me too. ] 18.a2 [ 18.b4 xg1 19.xg1 e3 is very unpleasant. White may be forced to jettison that c3 pawn in order to develop his knight. ] 18...b8 19.d2 h6 Taking away a square from that knight on h3 a well as preparing a kingside attack. 20.d4 c8 21.f2 xd4 22.xd4 e5 23.d2 e6 24.e1 ce8 25.de2 g5! There we go! White's still tied d o wn t o t h e d e f e n ce o f t h a t c3 p a wn s o Ivanchuk decides to open up the other flank. 26.d3 g4 27.xe5 xe5 28.xe5 xe5 29.xe5 xe5 So White has succeeded in swapping material but this just further highlights the problems with his b1 knight. 30.a5 [ 30.fxg4? i s i m p o s s i b l e d u e t o xg4! 31.g1 f4 32.g3 e4+ 33.g2 xb1+ ]

30...h5 [ 30...gxf3 31.gxf3 e3 is the most accurate way to turn the screw. ] 31.g3 gxf3 32.xf3 e1+ White's king is simply too vulnerable. 33.g2 g4 34.f4+ [ 34.h3 a l s o l o s e s e5 35.f4 a8 36.a3 ( 36.d2 d3 drop the knight 37.g5 f6-+ ) 36...xc3 and the passed d pawn wins the game. ] 34...a8 35.d2 e2+ 36.g1 xh2+ [ 36...h4! with computer precision would have been the most accurate finish with the idea: 37.gxh4 e3 38.f2 g4+ 39.h1 d1+ picking up the knight. ] [ 36...e3 immediately would be too rushed and allow W hite back into the game 37.f2= ] 37.f1 f5 Ivanchuk successfully converts his e x t r a p a w n . 38.e1 h4 39.f1 b2 40.gxh4 xc3+ 41.d2 d4 42.h5 d3 43.f1 a1+ 44.g2 xa5 45.h6 d5+ 46.g3 g8 47.f3 e6 48.f1 xh6 49.d4 e2+ 50.g3 e1+ 51.f2 f4+ 52.f3 e5 53.d2 f5 54.g4 e2+ So it's back to the drawing board for Nepomniachtchi and a nice idea by the creative Ukrainian. The theory on this line is starting to grow! 0-1

1367 Nepomniachtchi,Ian Jobava,Baadur 11th EICC Men (9) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2656 2695 15.03.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 The Fantasy Variation. Theory has never really held this line in high regard but a lot of strong players have started p l a yi n g i t r e c e n t l y. b6 This move was played 5 times in the European Championships, including twice in round 8. Black's idea is to play ...e5 and ...Bc5 and so White's replies try to deal with this threat. 4.a4 An odd looking move but it's easy to explain. White has problems on the g1-b6 diagonal in the other variations and so Ian wants to shift the queen immediately. [ 4.c3 dxe4 ( 4...e6 would transpose to 3... e6 and 4....Qb6 in the notes to Zvjaginsev1462

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Grigoriants seen elsewhere in this update. ) A) 5.fxe4 Is the logical recapture but allows Black to strike back with e5! A1) 6.dxe5 also looks playable: c5 ( 6...e6 7.f3 d7 8.d4 e7 followed by .. .Ng6 regaining the pawn shouldn't be anything to worry about for Black. ) 7.f3!? A1a) 7...f2+ would be consistent with t h e p r e v i o u s m o v e . 8.e2 e6 ( 8...a5 9.g5! ) 9.d3 a5 10.a4 a7 11.e3 is somewhat better for White as it's not so easy to reclaim the pawn.; A1b) 7...e6 8.d3 ( 8.d2! both deals with the ...Bf2+ and also threatens 9.Na4 e7 9.a4 c7 10.c3 d7 11.e3 looks clearly better for W hite as his pieces have s t a r t e d t o f i n d g o o d s q u a r e s .) 8...e3?! 9.a4 ( The simple 9.xe3 xe3+ 10.e2 is also just a pawn for White. ) 9...a5+ 10.b4 xa4 11.xe3 xb4+ 12.d2 a4 13.b1 and White has a big advantage with a lead in development and the bishop pair while his e pawns are quite useful at stopping Black's knight on g8 getting o u t . B o s io c i c - P r e d o j e vi c , P l o vd i v 2008.; A2) 6.f3 exd4 7.xd4 xd4 ( 7...d7!? ) 8.xd4 An interesting position has arisen. Black has a better structure but White's lead in development gives him at least adequate compensation. c5 9.f5 g6 ( T h e r e i s a n a r g u m e n t f o r 9...xf5 repairing White's structure but at least slo wing h is in it ia tive . 10.exf5 f6 11.g5 bd7 12.0-0-0 0-0= Black still has a slightly better structure which compensates for the bishop pair.) 10.e3 xe3 11.xe3 e6 12.c4 ( 12.c4 d7 13.xe6 fxe6 14.c4 ) 12...xc4! 13.xc4 d7 14.0-0 e5 15.b3 d8 Benjamin, J-Kacheishvili, G ICC 2009 and Black's knight on e5 gives him the better chances in my opinion.; B) 5.c4 is an interesting pawn sacrifice, in the spirit of the Fantasy! e5 ( 5...exf3 6.xf3 e6 7.0-0 f6 gives White decent

compensation for the pawn.) 6.dxe5 ( 6.e2 xd4 7.fxe4 b4 8.d2 f6 9.f3 d6 10.a3 xc3 11.xc3 wi t h c o m p e n s a t i o n , I o r d a c h e s c u , V Mchedlishvili, M/Vlissingen 2004) 6...c5?! This is logical but tactically it doesn't work out. ( 6...d7 7.e6 fxe6 8.e2 is very messy ) 7.xe4! B1) 7...xg1 8.d6+ f8 9.d2! and W hite will regain the piece with interest, i.e. e7 10.f1! ( 10.xf7 d5 11.xh8 g8 isn't so clear.) 10...c5 11.f4+- now Black's queen can't infiltrate, White's queen is at liberty to move and the mate threat wins too much material.; B2) 7...b4+ 8.d2 e7 9.e2 ( 9.c3 b6 10.e4! xg1 11.e2 regains the piece with by far the better chances. ) 9...0-0 gave Black decent compensation for the pawn due to White's f2-f3. Deviatkin, A-Magalashvili, D Kavala 2008.; C) 5.xe4 C1) 5...f6 6.c3 f5 ( 6...xe4 7.fxe4 e5 8.c4 exd4 9.h5! gives White a good attack.) 7.d3 g6 8.e2 e6 9.h3 bd7 when White has more space but Black is very solid. Timofeev beat his Grandmaster opponent very q u i c k l y f r o m h e r e : 10.e3 xe4 I don't like this move improving White's s t r u c t u r e . 11.fxe4 e5 12.0-0 e7 13.h1 0-0 14.dxe5 c5 15.f4 fe8 16.e6! A good time to give back the pawn fxe6 Black has to compromise his structure as ( 16...xe6 17.g5 ee8 18.e5 f8 19.xg6 hxg6 20.b4 e7 21.xf7!+- wins ) 17.c4 h8 18.g5 e5 19.f7! exf4 20.xg6 hxg6 21.xf4 White's attack is breaking through. e5 22.e1!!+- The only move but a winning one. f2 23.xf2 g8 24.f4 ( 24.d2 keeping control of b2 is more accurate.) 24...xb2 25.f1 g4 26.g3 h6 ( 26...f6 wa s n e c e s s a r y) 27.d6 1 - 0 T i m o f e e v- G a g u n a s h vi l i , B u d v a 2009.; C2) 5...f5 6.c3 d7 7.d3 e5 ( 7...xe4 Again I don't like this move strengthening White's centre. 8.fxe4 e5 1463

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.f3 exd4 10.cxd4 b4+ 11.d2 gf6 12.e5 d5 13.0-0 gave White a pleasant advantage. Skripchenko, APurtseladze, M Rijeka 2010) 8.e2 exd4 9.cxd4 b4+ 10.d2 e7 11.0-0 0-0 seemed around balanced Timofeev, A-Jobava, B Rijeka 2010. White still has good central control with his e4 knight but Black is solid and has potential to e x p l o it W h it e ' s b a d p a wn st ru c t u r e (which in fact occurred in the game). ] [ 4.c3 e5!? An unusual position, all four p a w n s o n t h e c e n t r a l s q u a r e s ! 5.b3?! ( 5.e2 picks up a pawn but gives Black great compensation after dxe4 6.xe4 e6 7.xe5 d7 8.g3 c5; 5.dxe5 c5 gives White problems on the dark squares.) 5...dxe4 6.xb6 axb6 7.fxe4 f6 8.d3 e6 9.a3 bd7 10.f3 and Black had nothing to worry about in Facchetti-Sulashvili, Milan 2008. ] 4...e5 Jobava's intended improvement over the previous round games. Theory moves quickly these days! [ 4...dxe4 was played twice in the previous round. 5.a5 ( 5.fxe4 e5 and White cannot play f3-f4 as he does in the game.) 5...c7 6.fxe4 e5 7.f3 at this point the games deviated: A) 7...g4 8.c4 ( 8.c3 retaining the centre looks promising.) 8...f6 9.0-0 d6? Caspi-Ruck, Rijeka 2010 and here White missed the chance to play 10.dxe5 xe5 11.xf7+! xf7 12.xe5 xd1 13.xf7 xf7 14.xd1 with a comfortable advantage.; B) 7...exd4 8.c4 ( 8.xd4 is the other option, trying to exploit the fact that ... Nc6 isn't playable. I like Black's sound structure but White has pressure on f7 and also on the queenside.) 8...e6 ( 8...b4+ 9.c3 dxc3 10.xc3 gives great play for the pawn. ) 9.xe6 fxe6 10.xd4 f6 11.0-0 c5 12.xf6! xd4+ ( 12...gxf6 13.h5++- ) 13.xd4 gxf6 14.xf6 f8 15.xe6+ e7 16.c8+ d8 17.e6+ e7 18.c8+ d8 19.e6+ Nabaty, TErdos, V Rijeka 2010. ( If White wants to h e c a n p l a y o n wi t h o u t a n y r e a l r i s k 19.xd8+ xd8 20.d2 )] 5.dxe5 dxe4

[ 5...c5 is not so effective now as 6.a5 f2+?! 7.e2 and Black can't keep the queens on and keep the bishop. ] 6.a5 c7 [ I wondered if 6...c5 were stronger, trying to upset White's developmental plans but I like 7.a4! An unusual situation where developing the rook first is actually the strongest move. exf3 8.xf3 e6 9.c3 and W hite is ahead in development and controls a lot of squares. ] 7.f4! The e4 pawn will prove vulnerable and, while Black wins the a5 pawn for it, this takes time and his pieces lose harmony. I think White already has the better chances. h6 8.c3 b4 9.d2 e3 [ 9...xc3 10.xc3 0-0 11.d4 f5 ( 11...d8 12.xe4 f5 13.e2 is the computer's suggestion but I find it hard to believe Black has sufficient compensation for the pawn.) 12.h3 e6 13.g4!? d8 14.e3 and White's grabbed a lot of space on the kingside while the knight is trapped out on the rim on h6. ] 10.xe3 0-0 [ 10...xa5 11.f3 0-0 12.d3 gives White good attacking chances on the kingside. ] 11.f3 d8 12.d3 a6 13.e2 xa5 14.0-0 So material is level but White's pieces are far better coordinated while his play on the kingside, headed by the e5 pawn gives h im gre a t ch a n ce s. b4 15.e4 f5 16.h1 b6 17.xb6 xb6 18.g5 c5 19.ae1 Black's in a lot of trouble. He still hasn't got the h6 knight into play whilst he has t o wa t ch o u t f o r W h i t e 's kin gs id e a t t a c k breaking through. g6 [ 19...xe4 might be necessary but it takes a b r a ve m a n t o a l l o w t h e f p a wn t o r o l l . 20.cxe4 g6 21.c4 b6 22.e6 and White's attack is crashing through. ] 20.xb7 xc2?! [ 20...ab8 21.e4 is just a pawn for White but the game is even worse. ] 21.d5! The black queen has nowhere to go so Black has to give up the exchange. xd5 22.xd5 d3 [ 22...b8 23.xf7! xf7 24.e6+- ] 23.f3 [ 23.d2 would have been a more accurate finish as e8 24.f5 xf5 25.xf5 xf5 1464

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.e4 xg5 ( 26...g4 27.xh7+ h8 28.xc2 is also resignable.) 27.xg5 xe1 28.d2+- ] 23...e8 24.e6 xe1 25.xe1 fxe6 [ 25...h8 survives a little longer but the position is already resignable. 26.d1 fxe6 27.c6 d8 28.e4+- ] 26.xe6! h8 27.h3 xe6 28.xe6 b5 29.f5 e8 30.f6 f8 31.f7 A well played aggressive game by the young Russian and B la ck h a s t o f in d a go o d a n t id o t e t o t h e Fantasy, in particular in this topical 3...Qb6 line. 1-0

1368 Nepomniachtchi,Ian Nakamura,Hikaru 73rd Tata Steel (11) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2733 2751 28.01.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 This line continues to be highly topical at the top. e6 6.c3 e7 This is critical. [ Another game from the Tata Steel continued 6...d7 7.ge2 ( I covered 7.cxd5 last month which I believe to be the critical test of this variation. Luke wasn't expecting the Caro-Kann and actually got his move order wrong.) 7...dxc4! 8.g3 b6!? Keeping the extra pawn appears to b e a n o v e l t y . 9.e2 ( 9.xf5 would probably be my choice with decent compensation for the pawn after exf5 10.g3 g6 11.g2 ) 9...g6 10.g5 e7 ( 10...f6!? 11.exf6 gxf6 12.e3 would also be very messy but e7 13.xh5 xh5 14.xh5 ed5 looks better for Black.) 11.ge4 f6 12.f4 d5 13.g3 b6 14.0-0?! Objectively dubious. ( Luke should have kept t h e d e f i c i t t o o n e p a w n w i t h 14.d2 although Black is probably better.) 14...xc3 15.xc3 xb2 16.xc4!? Sacrificing the piece and randomizing! ( Instead 16.e1 b4 17.c1 a3 leaves Black in control with a clear edge.) 16...xc3 17.c1 b2 18.xe6 d8 19.d5 fxe5 20.e1 f6 21.e2 a3 22.xe5 xe5 23.xe5 f8 24.e1 Thus far both players have carried out their plans very accurately W hite has

generated a decent initiative and Black d e f e n d e d w e l l b u t h e r e h e e r r s . d6? This gives back the extra piece. ( 24...h6! and Black would have retained his large advantage although of course the position is still hardly clear.) 25.xg8! xg8 26.e6 xd5 27.xg6 h6 ( 27...h7 28.g5 he8! would keep the game roughly balanced, Black's extra pawn countered by his slightly vulnerable king.) 28.xh6 gxh6 29.e3 d7 30.xh6 Both sides were in desperate time trouble at this point but the Englishman had the easier position to play and won fairly quickly. g7 31.g3 d4 32.e6+ f7 33.e2 g7 34.f1 g6 35.d1 f6 36.e3 b6 37.d4 e7 38.d3+ g7 39.f4 e6 40.f5 f7 1-0 McShane, L (2664)-So, W (2673) Wijk aan Zee 2011. ] 7.ge2 g4!? Nakamura's new try. Showing his game on ChessVibes he says he believes it's an idea of Karpov's and so can't be such a bad move! The move makes a lot of sense. At the cost of a tempo Black wants to provoke a weakness. [ Last month I looked at 7...d7 ] [ and 7...dxc4 ] 8.f3 The critical test of Black's idea. With the knight blocked W hite will find it difficult to complete his development. f5 9.g3 g6 Nakamura mentions that a positive aspect of forcing f3 is that W hite can no longer play Be2 targeting h5 and so would have to lose another tempo to play f3-f4. 10.g5 b6 11.d2 d7 We've actually reached a position very similar to one in which I analysed last month after 7.. .Nd7 8.Ng3 Bg6 9.Bg5 Qb6 10.Qd2. Here White has the extra f2-f3 and the move but the American hopes that White's long term weakness down the a7g1 diagonal and e3 square in particular will cause him problems. 12.a3 This doesn't work very well. [ 12.c5!? looks interesting to me but shouldn't cause Black too many worries. c7 and White will have to be careful to prevent both ... b6 and ...f6 breaks. ] [ N a k a m u r a s a y s h e l o o k e d a t 12.c1 in the post mortem and maybe this will be played in future games. His line continues dxc4 13.xc4 d8 14.f2 f6 15.e3 1465

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( Here however he overlooks the strong 15.ge4! when xe4 16.xe4 xe5 17.dxe5 fxg5 18.xb6 axb6 19.d6+ gives White a definite advantage.) 15...d5 when Black will continue with Be7 and 0-0 when he is doing fine. ] 12...f6 13.e3 b3 Nakamura mentions that in h is p re vio u s ga m e h i s qu e e n ra n in t o problems on b3 due to Rh1-h3 with a lot of pressure across the third rank. Of course here that's impossible due to the pawn on f3, another positive aspect of Black's ...Bg4 idea. 14.cxd5 xd5 15.xd5 xd5! I like this move putting pressure on White's centre and leaving the queenside a safe haven for the Black king. [ 15...cxd5 16.c1 fxe5 17.c3 a4 18.dxe5 xe5 19.c7 Is a line given by Nakamura when he says "And I'm sure the computer could find a resource that makes B l a c k ' s p o s i t i o n wi n n i n g a s a p a w n i s winning to a computer" And indeed d6! looks strong but the position here really is messy and it would be foolish to allow such a fighter as Nepomniachtchi to reach this position. ] 16.c1 b6 Nepomniachtchi thought for close to forty minutes here, probably realising that his position has become very difficult. His centre is collapsing while once Black castles queenside he will have by far the safer king. 17.e2 [ 17.exf6 gxf6 18.d3 xd3 19.xd3 0-0-0 20.e2 is given as a sensible alternative by Nakamura but Black is definitely on top after d7! followed ...Nd5 and ...Bd6. ] 17...fxe5 18.dxe5 xe5! [ H i k a r u ' s i n i t i a l i d e a w a s 18...xd2+ 19.xd2 0-0-0 20.f4 f5 but he thought that White should be a small bit better here and couldn't see a reason not to take the pawn. ] 19.d4 c7 20.g5 f5 [ 20...f7 was his original idea but he o v e r l o o k e d 21.xg7 g8 ( The straightforward 21...xg7 22.xg7 0-0-0 gives Black a fantastic position.) 22.e5! However Black still has an edge after xg5 23.xc7 b5 ] 21.g4 Nakamura considered this move

n e ce ssa ry b u t W h it e ' s p o si t io n is p re t t y terrible now. [ 21.g3 e7 22.xg7 0-0-0! is very good f o r B l a c k h o we v e r a s W h i t e h a s h u g e problems with his king. ] [ Perhaps White should try something like 21.d1 but e7 22.xg7 0-0-0 again gives Black a great initiative. ] 21...hxg4 22.fxg4 e4 23.h3 e7 24.xg7?! It appears that the Russian overlooked Nakamura's reply. [ Nakamura considered 24.e3 to be the only way to continue for White d5 25.h5 0-0-0 26.c3 "with a complete mess". However the computer really likes Black which is hardly surprising with such an open k i n g . T h e g a m e m i g h t c o n t i n u e c4 27.xc4 xc4 28.e2 ( 28.xg7? d3! ) 28...a5+ 29.b4 a6 30.xg7 h7 31.h6 d3 32.e4 xh3 33.xc4 7xh6 34.xh6 xh6 and Black is a clear pawn up. Of course this is only a sample line but it's clear that White's opening has failed. ] 24...h7! And the White queen has no good retreat square. 25.e5 [ 25.xb6? can be met by xh4+! 26.xh4 xg7 ] [ 25.g8+ d7 26.xb6 keeps the queen but xg8 27.xc7 xc7 is completely winning as both g and h pawns are likely to drop. 28.g5 f5 29.h1 xg5-+ ] 25...xe5 26.xe5 xh4+ 27.g3 [ Nakamura thought 27.g3 was a better bet although xg3+ ( 27...f6 28.c3 xh3 29.xh3 g6 is also very good for Black.) 28.xg3 g6 followed by ...Nd5 should be winning. ] 27...d7 28.d4?! Not picked up on by Nakamura but this is probably the losing move. [ 28.e2!? would unpin the knight and hit the e4 bishop although f3+! 29.xf3 xe5+ is very good for Black. ] [ 28.f4 would at least keep White's pieces defending themselves although of course Black is a clear pawn up. ] 28...f3! and W hite loses material. 29.g5 g4 30.g6 h6 31.xh4 xh4 32.c3 f3 This move is criticised as Black now has to defend against some counterplay but it's still hopeless for White. 1466

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 32...h5 is probably a little more accurate. ] 33.xf3 xd4 34.h3 e5! The most accurate finish. [ Nakamura was concerned that following 34...e7 35.e3 is a bit awkward as White is threatening both to take on e6 and Nf5+ forking king and rook. The computer still c a l m l y s t a t e s B la c k i s wi n n i n g b u t i t ' s unnecessary to allow it. ] 35.f6 d3+ 36.e2 f4+ 37.e3 e5! Everything is defended and W hite is completely lost. 38.f7 d3+ 39.e4 xg3 40.d7+ d8 41.f5 xg6 42.g7 b8 43.b4 b5 44.xg6 g5 0-1

1369 B12 Nepomniachtchi,Ian 2729 Wells,Peter K 2487 12th ch-EUR Aix les Bains FRA (4) 25.03.2011 [Gawain Jones] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h6 [ 4...c7!? is another of those interesting waiting moves, like 4...Qb6. The idea is that any move W hite tries limits his options. 5.c4!? e6 6.c3 dxc4 7.xc4 h6 8.g4 I don't like this, it seems too loose. ( 8.ge2 e7 9.g3 would be my preference.) 8...h7 9.f4 d7 10.ge2 e7 11.g3 0-0-0 12.0-0 This, coupled with the previous pawn advances makes a strange impression. h5! 13.ce4 xe4 14.xe4 b6 15.b3 hxg4 16.g5 xh4 17.xf7 bd5! and Black had a fantastic position. Po k a zan je v, N (24 2 3 )-Dre e v, A (2 6 9 7 ) Olginka 2011. ] [ Recently I've examined a few games with the most common 4...h5 ] [ And even a game of my own with 4...b6!? ] 5.g4 e4 I'm actually surprised how little this critical looking move has been played. [ Another top GM recently tried 5...d7 6.h5 ( 6.d2 was of course played in the decisive W orld Championship match Kramnik, VLeko, P Brissago 2004 and can be examined in the archives. ) A) 6...c5!? is interesting 7.c3 ( 7.dxc5

should probably be preferred) 7...c6 when A1) 8.h3 has been played in both recent games when a5 looks critical. ( 8...e6 9.e2 b6 10.f1 0-0-0 11.g2 f6 12.f4 g5 13.hxg6 fxe5 14.dxe5 ge7 was messy but White's king feels the more vulnerable. Magem B a d a l s , J ( 2 5 7 3 ) -P e r a l t a , F ( 2 6 0 3 ) Barcelona 2011.) 9.d2?! This fails. ( Instead 9.f3!? cxd4 10.0-0 dxc3 11.xc3 e6 12.e1 is an interesting pawn sacrifice although I'm not completely convinced.; While 9.f1!? would keep material equality although Black could try to grab the initiative with f6! ) 9...cxd4 10.b3 a4 and White re m a in e d a p a wn d o wn . He t rie d t o randomize with 11.g5 but ( 11.cxd4 xe5! i s t h e p r o b l e m .) 11...xh3 12.xh3 dxc3 13.e6 fxe6 14.e2 Zolotukhin, V (2338)-Popov, V (2565) O l g i n k a 2 0 1 1 cxb2 15.xb2 hxg5 le a ve s W h it e a n a wf u l lo t o f p a wn s down.; A2) 8.f4 can be met with cxd4 9.cxd4 b6 This was surprisingly played all the way back in the 1960s in Voitkevics, PDarznieks, A Riga 1962. The problem is that White cannot keep all his pawns. He tried 10.c3 b u t f o l l o w i n g xd4 11.e2 c5 12.d2 d4 13.d1 T h e s i m p l e e6 leaves White with insufficient play for the pawn.; B) 6...e6 7.c4?! Over-ambitious ( Instead I'd prefer 7.c3 which I examined in Navara, D (2708)-Shimanov, A (2516) Vilnius 2010.) 7...c5! 8.dxc5 xc5 9.c3 e7 10.f3 b6 11.e2 bc6 12.g2 a5! 13.b3 dxc4 14.bxc4 b4 15.d2 c8 and White's kingside expansion looked notably out of place while c4 was dropping. Yu Yangyi (2652) -Ni Hua (2646) Xinghua Jiangsu 2011. ] 6.f3 [ 6.h3!? still strikes me as interesting. ] 6...h7 7.d3 Pete actually guessed that Ian would play this simple developing move rather than the risky pawn sacrifice. [ 7.e6!? has been considered critical in the past and I have previously investigated 1467

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 some possible variations. ] 7...xd3 8.xd3 e6 This position has been reached a fair few times previously but I can't see any games with a GM on either side. White has more space but has to be careful as it's hard to find a safe haven for his king and might feel over-extended. Black has got rid of his troublesome bishop and has a super solid position but he has less space, as is typical of the Advanced Caro-Kann. Chances are probably roughly balanced. 9.h5 c5 10.c3 c6 11.a3 Preventing the knight jumping into b4 although he probably could have started with 11.Ne2 a5 [ My R yb k a l ike s 11...c4 but any human wouldn't want to relinquish pressure on the centre so easily. 12.c2 f6 13.f4 ge7 14.e3 f5 15.g5 g6 is extremely complicated and understandably not really what Pete had in mind. ] 12.d2 cxd4 13.cxd4 a6!? A typical plan in the Caro-Kann. Black exchanges queens to reduce White's aggressive chances and can then at temp t t o ta rge t W h ite 's a dva nce d s t r u c t u r e . 14.xa6 bxa6 15.e2 Black's queenside structure has been slightly compromised but he can now generate counterplay down the b file. b8 16.f4 I think this is an error as it strengthens Pete's forthcoming ...f5! break. [ 16.b3! is better, when perhaps White can cla im a s m a ll so m e th in g wit h h is e xt ra space. ] 16...ge7 17.f3 f5! Wells wrote the excellent Grandmaster Secrets: The CaroKann and understands these positions very well. Here it's important not to allow White all his own way on the kingside and this classic break allows Black comfortable equality. 18.g5 [ 18.exf6 is the alternative although I find it hard to believe that Black has any serious problems. He can generate play either down the g file or with ...Bg7 and an eventual ...e6e5. ] 18...d7 [ 18...g6!? might also be playable but I prefer to leave the kingside alone and continue with the very logical plan that Pete adopts in the game. ] 19.f2 a5 [ 19...a5!? followed by ...Nc4 and then ...

a5-a4 was possible. White could try to cut across that plan with 20.b4 c4 21.c3 with a roughly balanced position. ] 20.e1 This allows Black to take over the initiative. [ 20.c3 prevents ...a4 but following c8 -b6 and either .. .a5-a4 or jumping into c4 can hardly be troublesome. ] 20...b3! Highlighting the flaw in White's previo u s mo ve. T he ro ok ca nn ot no w b e shifted. 21.a2 c8 22.e3 e7 [ Keeping the kingside intact and continuing wit h B la ck' s qu e en side p la n o f 22...b6 was probably better when 23.c1 b5 24.ed3 a4 sees Black taking complete control of the queenside. ] 23.c1 xe3!? A very interesting exchange sacrifice. Black gains a pawn and a strong initiative while White's pieces, in particular the rook on a2, are uncoordinated. [ However there was nothing wrong with the simple 23...b7 followed by ...Nb6-c4 and ... a5-a4 when Black appears to have a pleasant position to me. ] 24.xe3 hxg5 25.ed3 b6 26.b3 Logical play. Nepomniachtchi temporarily takes control of the c4 square and brings his locked out rook back into the game. [ However ignoring the check with 26.e2 was probably more accurate, even if a4!? 27.fxg5 xg5+ 28.f2 e7 leaves Black with good compensation for the exchange. ] 26...a4 27.g2? But this logical move puts the rook on the wrong square. [ T h e o d d l o o k i n g 27.f2! should be preferred so that f4 is under control after g4 28.c5+ xc5 29.dxc5 d4+ 30.d3 d5 when 31.b4 would result in dynamic equality. ] 27...g4 28.gh2 [ 28.c5+ no longer works: xc5 29.dxc5 d4+ 30.d3 d5 and White cannot keep all his pawns. ] 28...b8! 29.h6 gxh6 30.c5+ Nepomniach tchi tries to get some play of his own but allowing Black the d5 outpost is very risky. [ 30.bxa4 f8 leaves White in a pretty unpleasant position. ] 30...xc5 31.dxc5 d4+ 32.f2 [ 32.d2 d5 33.xh6 axb3 34.h7+ ce7 is clearly better for Black with three 1468

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 passed pawns and pressure on f4, while White fails to find any counterplay. ] 32...d5 33.b4 xf4 [ O p e n i n g u p t h e b f i l e w i t h 33...a5! should have been considered but I presume by n ow P et e wa s in his le ge nd ary tim e trouble. ] 34.xh6 xe5 35.g3 d5 36.e2 f3 37.d1 [ 37.f4!? was another try. Black's connected passed four pawns look very formidable but White can hope to generate counterplay with his own passed pawn and mating threats with the two rooks, i.e. xf4 38.xf4 f8 39.b5 e5+ 40.g3 d3 41.c6!? However the sample line g5 42.d6+ c8 43.xd3 e4+ 44.g2 f4 45.e1 f3+ 46.f1 g3+ 47.f2 h5! 48.xe5 g3+ 49.f1 g2+ 50.f2 f4 51.xf3 d3+ 52.xg2 xf3 sees Black win material. ] 37...e3? An unfortunate error after such strong play. [ 37...a5! 38.bxa5 a8 ( 38...b3 39.a6 c7 40.h8 is a very risky way of playing, especially short on time!) 39.xd4 xd4 40.xd4 xa5 41.c4 b5 leaves Black with the only winning chances. ] 38.h7+ c6 39.xd4+ d5 [ 39...xd4 40.xd4 d5 41.xa7 and Black's pawns start dropping. ] 40.xf3+ xd1 41.d7+ e4 I think this is the more accurate king move even if computers condemn it as a losing move. [ 41...c4 is the alternative, going after the a3 pawn but after 42.e5+ b3 43.xd1 xa3 44.d3+! a2 ( 44...xb4?? 45.c6+ c4 46.xb8 xd3 47.c6 a3 48.a6! and White wins.) 45.c6 It looks like the c pawn should prove decisive. ] 42.g5+ e5 43.xd1 f6 44.h7+ g6 45.d7 a5 46.f8+? Very careless. Nepomniachtchi apparently played this quite quickly, just trying to show off. [ Instead the natural 46.bxa5 looks like the correct winning path, even though it's tough for a human to calculate: b3+ 47.f4 f3+ 48.e5 e3+ 49.d6 g3 50.e7! g2 ( 50...xh7 51.f6+ h6 52.a6 g2 53.g7+and White's pawns win the game. ) 51.f8!!+- ]

46...xf8 47.b5 It looks like the c and b pawns cannot be stopped and are ahead in the race but Pete found a cute defence. f4+! 48.xg4 f5! This is what he must have overlooked. The rook prevents the pawns rolling inexorably onward and holds the draw. 49.b6 xc5 50.xf4 b5 51.b7 f6 52.e4 e5 53.b8 e6 54.b7 d7 55.a8 c7 56.b8+ xb8 57.xa5 e8 58.xa4 b6 59.b4+ a6 60.a4 An interesting game and, together with 5... Bd7, it looks like 4...h6 is a perfectly respectable defence. ½-½

1370 Nevednichy,V Lupulescu,C ch-ROU 2014 Targu Mures ROU (10.2) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2552 2660 3.5.14

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.g5 b6 6.d3 xd4!? A very rare choice - this pawn is usually considered too risky to grab, but perhaps Lupulescu has examined all the line s with h is com p ut er an d com e t o t h e conclusion that Black is OK after all? [ much more popular is 6...xd3 7.xd3 see Mareco-Molina which I annotated last month. ] 7.f3 g4 [ even 7...xb2 might be just about playable - critical is 8.xf5 ( 8.bd2!? is safer when after xd3 9.cxd3 e6 10.b1 xa2 11.xb7 White has decent compensation but whether or not it's enough for two pawns is debatable.) 8...xa1 9.e6! looks very dangerous but after h6 10.exf7+ xf7 11.c8?! a6! 12.h3 and now in Kislinsky, A (2495)-Krutul, P (1854) Warsaw 2006 ( 12.xb7?? b8 and White can resign ) 12...e6! would've left White still ne ed ing t o sho w suf f icie n t pla y f o r t h e sacrificed material. ] 8.0-0 xd3 9.xd3 [ 9.cxd3 doesn't give White enough play after e6 10.b3 b4! 11.c2 d7 12.c3 e7 when Black is still a pawn up and very solid. ] 9...d7 [ 9...e6 is solid but White has reasonable 1469

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 compensation after 10.bd2 d7 11.c4 e7 12.fe1 ] 10.c4! Nevednichy corrects decides he must do something, else he'll just be a pawn down xc4 [ 10...c5!? is a try for an edge but after 11.a3 e6 12.bd2 White has plenty of play - f or example d7 13.a5 e7 14.c7 b8 15.fd1 and Black is struggling to activate his pieces ] 11.xc4 dxc4 12.e6! fxe6 13.bd2 h6?! This allows White a small edge going into the endgame, although it doesn't amount to too much [ more accurate was 13...e5! 14.fe1 gf6 15.xe5 ( 15.xc4?! e4 16.fd2 c5 l e a v e s W h i t e s t r u g g l i n g f o r e q u a l i t y) 15...xe5 16.xe5 c3 17.bxc3 0-0-0 and Black shouldn't be worse here ] 14.xc4 f7 15.fe1 e5 16.cxe5 dxe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5 d8 19.ae1 d7 Black is still a pawn up but he's so passive that he has to be a little careful. Still, there are few pieces left on the board at this stage and without a big mistake from either side the game is heading for a draw. 20.h2 g6 21.1e3 h7 22.e6 f7 23.6e4 e8 24.e6 f7 25.6e4 a6 Black decides he's not quite ready to accept a draw by 3-fold repetition, although it's hard to see how he's going to play for the win here! 26.h3 g8 27.e6?! This allows Black to escape from his bind and even get slightly the better chances [ better was 27.f3! f7 28.b3 when I see no way f or Black to make progress - f or example d2 29.a4 d7 30.e6 d6 31.6e4 d7 32.e6 and a draw can safely be agreed ] 27...f7! 28.xg6+ h7 29.ee6 xf2 30.h6 d3+ [ 30...xh6 31.xh6+ g7 32.xh5 xb2 but suddenly all 3 results are possible. Black is a p awn up an d so o n t o b e t wo b ut if White's pawns are faster then he may be better here, f or example 33.he5 f7 34.h5 xa2 ( or 34...b5 35.g4 xe5 36.xe5 d5 37.e3 ) 35.g4 a5! 36.e1 a1 37.xa1 xe6 38.f1 and with Black's king cut off from the W hite pawns things are starting to look very risky for him. ] 31.h2 d5 32.g3 f7 33.xf8 xf8

34.g5 f7 35.xd5 cxd5 36.e5 g7+ 37.f3 f7+ 38.e3 Now White wants to play on - although the ending must still be drawn! h6 39.e6+ g7 40.e5 h6 41.xd5 g7 42.f3 f7+ 43.g3 g7+ 44.h3 g6 45.d7 b6 46.b3 e6 47.g3 g6 48.f3 b4 49.e7 f6 50.h7 g6 51.e7 f6 52.h7 Finally both players decide (correctly) the position is equal, and a draw is finally agreed! ½-½

1371 Ni Hua Ionov,Sergey 17th TCh-RUS Premier (8) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2667 2548 09.04.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6!? 7.c3 c6 8.0-0!? White sacrifices the pawn and the positions are somewhat similar to 7... Qxb2 8.Nb5 in the previous game. [ Simplifying with 8.dxc5 xc5 9.xc5 xc5 doesn't worry Black much, even if after 10.b5 h e m u st p l a y f8 for example, 11.bd4 ge7 ( 11...b4+ 12.d2 xd2+ 13.xd2 ge7 looks completely equal to me.) 12.0-0 e4 13.e1 h6 14.c3 b6 15.b3 c8 16.xc6 xc6 17.d3 xf3!? ( 17...xd3 18.xd3 g6 would have been another path to equality.) 18.xf3 c7 19.g3 g6 20.h4 h5 21.f4 g7 22.f6+ g8 23.e3 e7 24.f4 and White had succeeded in getting a lit tle somethin g although this was still not enough to win. Zhigalko, S-Turov, M Tashkent 2010. ] [ Elijanov's played 7...Nc6 the first time he reached this position and his high ranked opponent responded with 8.a4 a5+ 9.c3 c4 10.0-0 ( 10.h4 e4 11.0-0 b5 12.c5 xc5 13.dxc5 ge7 looks perfectly respectable.) 10...b5 11.c5 xc5 12.dxc5 ge7 13.d4 ( 13.b4!? looks interesting when a3 14.c1 xc1 15.fxc1 0-0 is marginally better for White but Black is extremely solid.) 13...a6 14.f4 e4 15.d2 0-0 16.f3?! ( 16.b4 looked necessary to avoid Black's imminent queenside play crashing through.) 1470

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16...xf3 17.xf3 b4! and Black had taken the upper hand and ultimately converted. Jakovenko, D-Eljanov, P Dagomys 2010. ] [ 8.b5 was played in another high ranked encounter where again Black reached a perf e ct ly p la ya ble p osit io n f o llowin g c4 9.h4 g6 10.0-0 b4 11.xc4!? xc3 12.bxc3 dxc4 13.d5 c7 14.dxc6 xc6 and the complications have resulted in a roughly level position. Gashimov, V-Vallejo Pons, F Linares 2010. ] 8...xb2 9.b5 Definitely the most critical position in the 6...Qb6 line. [ 9.e1 has also been tried. A) 9...0-0-0 is playing with fire as the queen is so short on squares although it seems like it cannot be trapped. 10.b1 xc2 A1) 11.d1 d3 ( 11...xb1!? looks like it's asking for too much to me but could also be possible. ) 12.e2=; A2) 11.b5 A2a) 11...ge7 seems to be good for Black as there's no way to trap the Black monarch: 12.a4 d3 13.b5 c4 14.a4!? g4 15.b2 xf3!? 16.c2 e4!! 17.xd3 ( 17.xe4 a3-+ ) 17...xd3 18.e2 f5 s h o u l d g i ve B l a c k e n o u g h f o r t h e queen in the shape of two minor piece a n d t wo p a w n s a n d s o m e d e c e n t outposts.; A2b) 11...g4 12.g5 h6 13.c1 b2 14.xc6 bxc6 15.a4 b4 16.xc5 xe1 17.fxe1 gave White a small but definite advantage. Kamsky, G-Morozevich, A Nice 2009.; B) 9...c4!? looks like an interesting option to me. 10.b1 xc2 11.d1 ( 11.xb7 b8 12.d1 xb7 13.xc2 xc2 ) 11...xb1 12.xb1 xb1 13.a4 d3 14.a5 d7 15.g5 h6 is rather unclear. The bishop on d3 seem to keep the Black king adequately covered.; C) 9...cxd4 10.xd4 ( 10.xd4 b4 11.xf5 xc3 12.d6+ f8 and Black's solidly placed and has an extra pawn. ) C1) 10...b4 looks ok for Black when the most logical line ends in repetition. 11.b1 xc2 12.xb4 xb4 13.b5+ c6 14.a4 d3 ( 14...b2

15.xd5+- ) 15.b5= with a draw.; C2) 10...xd4 11.xd4 b4 12.b1 xc3 ( 12...xc3 13.xb4 xe1 14.xe1 b6 15.b5+ f8 16.xf5 exf5 must have favoured White a little, his initiative is worth more than a pawn, although the well prepared Dutch GM held the draw. Svidler, P-Stellwagen, D A m st e rd a m 2 0 0 9 .) 13.xb2 xe1 14.xe1 b6 The rook looks worse placed on b2 than on b4 in the previous line. The game continued: 15.h4 h5 16.a4 e7 17.a5 g6 ( 17...0-0= ) 18.b5+ f8 19.a1 bxa5 20.xa5 wa s a lit t le b et t e r f or W h it e b u t t h e solid Russian held the draw. Motylev, ABelov, V Dagomys 2010 ] [ 9.b1 doesn't make so much sense anymore as Black can simply play xb1 10.axb1 0-0-0 defending the b7 pawn. ] 9...c4! This is a strong idea, sacrificing the a8 rook for a couple of pawns, including a very powerful c pawn whilst Black hopes that the kn igh t wo n 't b e a b le t o e sca p e f ro m t h e corner. [ 9...c8?! is too slow. 10.c4! Opening up the position in order to exploit the advantage in development. dxc4 11.xc4 b4 12.c1 cxd4 Klauser, M-Lehmann, A Graechen 2009. Here the straightf orward 13.fxd4 would leave Black in all kinds of trouble as the queen is almost trapped and the king is extremely exposed, for instance: A) 13...a6 14.d2 c5 ( 14...b2 15.c3+- ) 15.xe6+-; B) 13...xe5 14.b3 xc1 ( 14...c6 15.d2 g4 16.xb4 xd1 17.xf8 xf8 18.fxd1+- ) 15.xc1 and Black has n o g o o d wa y t o s t o p 1 6 . Q c8 + a s c5 16.xf5 xc1 17.xc1 exf5 18.c8+ is equally hopeless. ] 10.c7+ [ 10.b1!? is interesting but Black's position seems solid enough. A) 10...xc2 turns into a piece sacrifice 11.xc2 xc2 12.b2 d8!? ( 12...g6 13.c7+ d7 14.xa8 c8 15.h4 b8 16.xg6 hxg6 17.fb1 d8 18.b6 axb6 19.xb6 must be somewhat better for White but I wouldn't be unhappy to play with Black 1471

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 here. ) 13.xc2 a6 14.c3 b5 when Black has two pawns for the piece and seems to have decent compensation as the pawns block White's pieces from getting in to the position.; B) 10...xa2 11.c7+ d8 12.a1 ( 12.xa8 xc2 13.a1 xd1 14.xa2 xe2 15.xe2 c8 looks extremely comfortable for Black. The knight is dropping in the corner and look at those queenside pawns! ) B1) The interesting point behind 10.Rb1 and then 12.Ra1, sacrificing the a2 pawn is that 12...b2 allows 13.xa8 xc2 14.c1 and Black no longer has ...Ba3 as in the following note.; B2) 12...xc2 13.e1 ( 13.d2!? ) 13...xa1 14.xe6+ fxe6 15.xa1 looks scary for Black. White plans Ng5 and Bg4.; B3) 12...xc2 13.xa8 xd1 14.fxd1 c8 looks completely adequate for Black. The knight is dropping in th e corner, when the three connected passed pawns are a huge asset. White should probably sacrifice a piece back im m e d ia t e ly, p e rh a p s wit h 15.xc4!? dxc4 16.d5 exd5 17.xa7 xa7 18.xa7 ] 10...d7 11.xa8 xc2 12.d2 [ 12.c1 A) Instead 12...xc1?! 13.axc1 g6 14.h4 b5?! ( 14...c8 would keep W hite's advantage to manageable proportions.) 15.xg6 hxg6 16.a4 b4 17.xc4! dxc4 18.xc4 ge7 19.fc1 b3 Palecha, A-Shkuran, D Kiev 2000 left W h i t e wi t h wh a t s h o u l d h a ve b e e n a decisive advantage following 20.d2!; B) 12...a3! 13.e1 is the computer's suggestion but looks highly artificial, one p o s s i b l e l i n e r u n s : ( 13.xb2 xb2 looks very dangerous for White.) 13...g6 14.d1 ge7 15.d3! Otherwise Black is s i m p l y b e t t e r cxd3 16.b1 xa2 17.xb7+ c8 18.c7+ b8 19.a4 xa8 20.xc6 xc6 21.xc6+ b8 seems to be a draw. ] [ 12.e1 b4 13.d2 ( 13.c1 a3 would transpose to 12.Qc1) 13...ge7 ( 13...c3! looks very good for Black to me.)

14.xb4 xb4 15.g5 ( 15.d2 threatening 16.Rab1! c3 16.f4 g6 17.b5+ bc6 18.xc6+ bxc6 19.h4 c2 is unclear but perhaps dynamic equality?) 15...xa8 16.xf7 ec6 and despite the fact the game was merely rapid, the opening had definitely been a huge success for the erratic Russian. Karjakin, S-Morozevich, A Nice 2009. ] 12...b4 [ 12...c3 was a young American GM's choice which also gives Black good chances. A) Instead 13.e1 was played in a recent encounter b4!? 14.g5 h6 15.g4 g6 16.f4 c2 17.f2 c3 18.f5 xd4 19.fxg6 Molner, M-Lenderman, A Wheeling 2010 when Black blundered with 19...c1Q? but xe2+ 20.g2 ( 20.xe2 c1 21.xb2 xe3+ 22.f2 xf2+ 23.xf2 xa1 24.xa1 hxg6 leaves Black an army of pawns ahead.) 20...hxg6! would have been winning for Black.; B) 13.ab1!? seems critical to me. xb1 ( 13...xb1 14.xc3 xa2 15.b5 ) 14.xb2 cxb2 15.xb1 c8 16.xb2 b8 17.b6 axb6 18.xb6 b4! seems more or less level. ] 13.ab1 Starting a long forcing line. [ 13.c1 a3 again simply transposes to 12. Qc1. ] 13...xb1 14.xb1 xd2 15.xb7+ c8 16.xf7?! This leaves Black with a clear advantage. [ 16.c7+ is White's best which seems to force a drawn endgame. b8 17.xd2 ge7 ( 17...xa8 18.xc6 is simply an extra piece.) 18.g5! e8 ( 18...xd4!? is a possibility to go for more.) 19.h5 g6 20.f3 xa8 21.xe7 xe7 22.xc4 is completely equal. ] 16...xe3 [ The calm 16...a5! would leave Black in g o o d s h a p e . 17.xg7 ( 17.g5 h6 18.xg7 f5 19.f7 fxd4 ) 17...ge7 when W hite's extra piece on a8 will drop whenever Black chooses while the passed c pawn is the most relevant aspect of the position. ] 17.c7+ [ 17.f8+ b7 18.fxe3 h6! Preventing 19. 1472

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Ng5 19.f2 b8 and again the passed c pawn promises Black a great game, despite the problems with developing his kingside. ] 17...b8 18.xc6 c1 19.c7 [ 19.xc4 looks tempting but e7! 20.xe6 dxc4 21.xe7 xa8 when the piece and passed c pawn are more important than White's pawns. ] 19...b7 The following moves are logical and best, White desperately tries to keep equality. 20.c5 a3 21.a5 b4 22.b5+ xc7 23.xb4 f5 24.g5 e7 25.g4 c6 26.a4 h6 27.gxf5 hxg5 28.xc4! Ni Hua doesn't miss the chance to get rid of that important c pawn. This piece sacrifice succeeds in keeping the position balanced. [ Obviously not 28.fxe6 xd4 when Black's connected passed pawns leave him with a winning game. ] 28...dxc4 29.xc4 b6 30.fxe6 Black is still in the ascendancy but Ionov plays safely to hold the draw. h4 [ 30...e7 followed by ...Rh6 and Black can carry on playing without much risk. ] 31.g2 a5 32.a4 e7 33.g3 f4 34.g2 h4 35.g3 h6 36.f3 h4 An interesting game and it looks like Black has absolutely no problems in the ... Qb6 line at the moment. The ball's in White's court! ½-½

Now both sides play against the other's pawn chain in textbook fashion for a while. g6 14.d3 [ 14.f5 exf5 15.xf5 0-0 16.g4! also secures an advantage. ] 14...0-0 15.h1?! [ 15.f5 is natural and good. White is goofing around and Black is able to get his own advance going. ] 15...e7 16.xh7+ xh7 17.f3 c5 18.g4 b6!? 19.c3 cxd4 20.c2+! [ 20.cxd4 a5 21.a4 c4 ties White down on the queenside. ] 20...d3! [ 20...h8 21.bxd4 ] 21.xd3+ g8 22.ae1 [ 22.f5 c4! with the idea 23.fd4 xe5 ] 22...a6!? [ Now 22...c4 23.fd4 prepares f5, ] 23.b1 [ 23.xa6!? bxa6 24.fd4 c6 25.xc6 xc6 gives Black enough queenside play to compensate for the unreachable a-pawns. ] 23...f5 Black decides that f5 is getting too serious. A risky alternative is [ 23...g6 24.fd4 , when White might try to reorganize by Re3/Qe1/f5 or h4-h5 but that takes time. ] 24.g1 Basic attacking ideas take charge for both sides, but their implementation is subtle. [ 24.gxf5 xf5 25.fd4 leads to the problem in the next note. ] 1372 B12 24...c5?! [ The normal and instructive response would Ni Hua 2632 be 24...fxg4! 25.xg4 , and Black should Iordachescu,Viorel 2563 hea d f o r e4 b y c5! ( Oddly enough, the Aeroflot Open (7) 20.02.2007 outpost isn't worth anything after 25...f5 [John Watson] 26.fd4 followed by exchange on f5. Then c5 27.xf5 xf5 28.eg1! gains a kind 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 o f t e m p o o n t h e g a m e : f7 29.g6 d7 6.0-0 e7 7.bd2 h6 8.b3 c8 w i t h t h e i d e a d3 30.xf7+! xf7 9.d2! e4!? It's hard to prevent White from 31.xg7+ e8 32.g8+ d7 33.1g7+ exchanging his bishop by Bb4, because c6 34.xc8+ b6 35.cc7 etc. ) 26.eg1 [ 9...g6 10.e1 almost forces the f5 27.bd4 ( 27.fd4 e4 ) 27...d3! weakening h5 ] ( 27...e4 28.xf5! f2+ 29.g2 exf5 10.b4 g6 30.xg7+ xg7 31.xf2+ h7 32.d4 ) [ Black can exchange his bishop for White's 28.xd3 xd3 29.4g2 ( 29.xf5 f2+ knight, as so often happens in the Short 30.g2 xg4 31.e7+ f7 32.xc8 System, by 10...xf3 11.xf3 , but he still xc8 ) 29...xf4 30.xf5 xg2 31.e7+ will have to suffer under a serious space h7 32.xc8 e3 33.d4 xc8 34.xe6 disadvantage on the kingside. ] g5 35.d4 with some advantage, probably 11.xf8 gxf8 12.fd2 h7 13.f4!? 1473

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 not enough to win. ] 25.xc5 xc5 26.g5 c4? [ Better 26...hxg5 27.xg5 g6 , but this is obviously not going to be easy. ] 27.gxh6 g6 28.d4 f7 29.e3 h8 30.h3 cc8 31.h7 e8 32.h6 d7 33.h4 cf8 34.h5 1-0

1373 Ni Hua Minasian,Artashes Aeroflot Open (9) [John Watson]

B12 2632 2595 22.02.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 g6 A common finesse, clearing f5 for a knight and waiting for White to commit. Sometimes Black may play ...f6, and then if attacked the bishop can slip back to f7. 7.c3 a6 Another semi-waiting move. Now after ...c5, b5 will be covered. [ Jonathan previously analysed the game Bologan-Dreev, Poikovsky 20 06 in this column, which went 7...h6 8.xh6!? gxh6 9.bd2 e7 10.e1 ( 10.b4!? - JR ) 10...c5 11.b3 b6 12.dxc5 xc5 13.f3?! ( 13.xc5 xc5 14.d4 xd4 15.cxd4 c8 16.f3 c2 17.fc1! -JR ) 13...f8! intending ...Bf8 with an excellent game. But the suggested improvements indicate that this may not be a complete solution. ] 8.bd2 h6 9.b3 [ 9.b4 with the idea is a standard plan that probably leaves White somewhat better. In this line, space rules! ] 9...f5 10.g3!? Objectively nothing special, yet it introduces a strategy that ultimately triumphs. c5 [ 10...e7 ] [ or 10...h6 intending ...c5 might make White's 10th less effective. ] 11.g5! e7 12.h4!? Again, a space grab. [ 12.xe7 xe7 13.xc5 xc5 14.dxc5 xc5 is nothing special. ] 12...c4 13.bd2 h6! [ 13...0-0 would eliminate the option of ... 0-0-0. ] 14.xe7 xe7 The computer isn't thrilled with

W hite's position here, but look how things develop. 15.e1! b5! Absolutely. White's queenside is all the better target with the powerful bishop on h7. 16.a3 b6 17.g2 d7 18.e3 [ 18.f4 gets in the way of White's pawns after h7 ] 18...a5 19.h5! h7 20.f3 0-0?! Black can safely go queenside, for example, [ 20...a4 21.d2 0-0-0 , when White can still pursue f4-f5 but it's unlikely to succeed. ] 21.d2 h8 22.h4! b4 23.f4 Now it's a traditional pawn-chain race, with Black ahead in time, but W hite has the king as a target. bxc3 24.bxc3 ab8 25.d1 a4!? This extends Black's defences a bit, because the queen can no longer be counted upon to defend f5. [ 25...d3! would put the bishop in front of a potential pawn on f5. ] 26.g4 [ 26.f5!? exf5 ( 26...xf5 27.hxf5 exf5 28.xd5! ) 27.xa4 xa4 28.hxf5 xf5 29.xf5 d7! 30.g4 b3 and Black's attack is as effective as White's. ] 26...b2 [ Again, better looks 26...d3 ] 27.f5 xd1 28.axd1 Now f6 is a problem. f6 29.f2!? Things get wild as Black penetrates from the side while White attacks. Let's watch the action for a few moves. b3 30.g5! xf5! [ 30...fxg5 31.fxe6! ] [ 30...hxg5 31.g6+ xg6 32.hxg6 g8 33.h2+ h6 34.g4 ] 31.g6 xh4 32.xh4 xc3 [ The natural 32...g8 ultimately seems to fall short, e. g., 33.exf6 gxf6 34.g4! xc3 35.xh6 g7 ( 35...f5!? 36.g5 ) 36.xg8 xg8 37.e1! xa3 38.xe6+ h8 39.d2 g3+! 40.g2 xg2+ 41.xg2 h6! 42.xd5 c3 43.f2! , although this still isn't clear. ] 33.exf6 gxf6 34.xf6 xf6 35.xf6+ g7 36.f4 g8?! This seems to lose. [ 36...xa3!? 37.f1 xg6!? 38.hxg6 xg6+ 39.g4 yields plenty of material, but defending is not easy. ] 37.g4 xa3 38.xh6 h3 [ 38...a2?? 39.b1! ] 39.g5?! Time control, as always. 1474

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ White can force his way through by 39.xg8! xh5 ( 39...xg8?? 40.h6+; 39...xg8 40.f1 b3 41.f2! , threatening h6, and White wins.) 40.g4 f5 41.b1! xg8 42.b8+ f8 43.xe6+ h8 44.h3+ g8 45.h7+ ] 39...d3? [ A few extra seconds would have revealed 39...c7! 40.f6+ g7 41.g5 c7= ] 40.xd3 cxd3 41.g2 [ 0r 41.g4 xd4+ 42.f1 a1+ 43.g2 b2+ 44.h3 , and a cute line is h7 45.d8+ g8 46.h6 d2 47.f6+! xf6 48.xf6 ] 41...f8 [ 41...xd4 42.f7+ xf7 43.h6+ ] [ 41...d2 42.xd2 a4 43.c1 a3 44.xg8 a2 45.e7 xe7 46.h6 and Black is faced with Qc8+, but b7 fails to 47.f4 ] 42.g4 h7 43.e5 A wild battle. 1-0

1374 Nimzowitsch,Aaron Capablanca,Jose Raul New York [Alexander Volzhin]

B12

1927

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d3 xd3 5.xd3 e6 6.c3 b6 7.ge2 c5 [ 7...a6 is another good possibility. ] 8.dxc5 xc5 9.0-0 e7 10.a4 c6 11.xc5 xc5 12.e3 c7 13.f4 f5 14.c3 c6 Black has successfully completed his development. It's important that he keeps possibility to castle either K-side or Q-side depending on W hite's play. 15.ad1 g6!? A provocative move which contains positional trap. [ Of course, Capablanca could play 15...h5 immediately, keeping his knight in a strong position. ] 16.g4? White takes the opportunity to drive away Black's knight from the important f5s q u a r e , b u t t h i s m o ve i s a g r o s s e r r o r . Probably W hite underestimated the consequences of Black's 17th move. [ White should prefer 16.f2 h5 , with level position. ] 16...xe3 17.xe3 h5! 18.g5 Now Black

h a s a n u n d i sp u t e d a d va n t a ge : h e f irm l y controls the important f5-square and White's f4-pawn is weak. [ But 18.h3 is even worse as after the h-file opens W hite's king can hardly feel safe: hxg4 19.hxg4 0-0-0 and after doubling rooks on the h-file Black obtains a very strong attack. ] 18...0-0! 19.d4 b6 20.f2 fc8 21.a3 c7 22.d3 a5 23.e2 e8 24.g2 c6 25.ed2 White has no counterplay and has to temporize. ec8 26.e2 e7 27.ed2 c4 28.h3 g7 29.f2 a5 30.e2 f5! 31.xf5+ Now the weakness of the f4-pawn becomes tangible. [ 31.ed2 is the alternative to the text, but it's no better in view of xd4 32.xd4 xd4 33.cxd4 b5 and White is helpless against the penetration of Black's rook to his back rank with a decisive attack. ] 31...gxf5 32.f3 [ The pawn is taboo: 32.xh5 h8 33.f3 h4 winning the f4-pawn with a growing attack. ] 32...g6 33.ed2 e4! 34.d4 c4! 35.f2 b5 36.g3 cxd4 37.cxd4 c4 A picturesque position! White is completely paralysed and only has king moves! The rest is easy. 38.g2 b5 39.g1 b4 40.axb4 axb4 41.g2 c1 42.g3 h1 43.d3 e1 44.f3 d1 45.b3 c1 46.e3 f1 W hite re signe d. A great a chieveme nt b y Capablanca and real masterpiece of positional chess. 0-1

1375 Nunn,John DM Arkell,Keith C Lloyds Bank London (England) [Nigel Davies]

B12

1990

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 a6 4.c3 c7 5.e2 Patent John Nunn. [ 5.d3 has been more popular, but there is no evidence that it is any more effective: g6 A) 6.d2 h5 7.f1 h6 8.e3 g4 9.f3 xe3 10.fxe3 ( 10.xe3 ) 10...f5 11.g5 e6 12.e4 dxe4 13.xe4 e7 was nothing special in Van Der W iel J. 1475

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (2544) - Kavalek L.(2527), Wijk aan Zee 1982; B) 6.h3 h5 7.f3 h6 8.bd2 f5 9.e2 d7 with Black having a solid game in Shabalov A. (2566) - Balandin A. (2353), Chicago 1997 ] 5...g6 6.g3 h6 7.d2 g4 8.f3 d7 9.f4 e6 [ Black is finding it difficult to stem the flow of W hite pawns - 9...f5 is met by 10.xf5 xf5 11.g4 ] 10.f3 g7 11.h3 hf5 12.xf5 xf5 13.g4 e4 14.g1 f5 15.g5 e6 16.b3 d7 17.e3 e7 18.xe4 fxe4 19.0-0-0 0-0-0 20.c4 b8 21.c5 White is much better here and there's not much for Black to do after this but sit. On this occasion he manages to draw by the skin of his teeth but in practice this type of position will produce miserable results. dg8 22.a4 h5 23.b4 hxg4 24.hxg4 a6 25.c2 e8 26.d2 h7 27.h2 gh8 28.gh1 f8 29.f2 g7 30.a4 c7 31.h3 xh3 32.xh3 xh3 33.xh3 h7 34.f1 e7 35.f5 exf5 36.gxf5 gxf5 37.xf5 h4 38.d2 a7 39.g4 h8 40.d7 d8 41.f5 g7 42.e2 a5 43.bxa5 a6 44.d7 f8 45.g4 h8 46.f5 h2+ 47.f2 h1 48.g1 h4 49.e6 b4 50.f2 h6 51.e3 h4 52.a6 xa6 53.f2 g5 54.e3 h4 55.f2 ½-½

5.g4 The second time that Nunn has played this move and far more enterprising than the materialistic attempts to hold the pawn on c5. h5 6.f4 xc5 7.d3 b6 8.c3!? [ Varying from Nunn - Khenkin, Birmingham 2000 in which he played 8.h3 but had only nebulous compensation for his pawn after c6 9.0-0 d4 10.g5 c7 11.f3 xe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.d2 ge7 ] 8...g5 9.d2 This involves White in some in t e re st ing ga m b it pla y, b u t th e re wa s a greedy alternative. [ Simply 9.xg5 looks interesting - after xf2+ 10.f1 I don't see a follow-up for Black and White is threatening Qg7. ] 9...c6 10.e2 h6 11.f3 g4 12.d4 xd4 13.cxd4 xd4 14.0-0 xe5 15.d1 By comparis on with the Khenking game, Black is now two pawns up. But this time he h a s f a r m o re se rio u s we a k n e sse s in h i s position. d7 16.e1 f6 17.c3 0-0-0 18.e3 h4 [ And not 18...d4 19.e4 followed by Bg5. ] 19.c1 b8 20.d2 g7 21.b5 Already threatening to sacrifice on c6. a6 22.f4+ a8 23.xc6 xc6 [ 23...bxc6 24.a5 etc. ] 24.c7+ a7 25.a5 g3 26.hxg3 [ 26.xa6 doesn't work after gxf2+ 27.xf2 d4+ etc. ] 26...hxg3 27.xg3 d4 28.xa6 b6 [ According to Fritz 5, 28...a4 is met by 29.c5+ b6 30.e7+ d7 31.b3 a5 32.b4 a8 33.e5 de8 34.d6 1376 B12 with various convoluted lines to f ollow. Speaking as a humanoid, I'd certainly want Nunn,John DM 2578 to get those queens off in this position. Breder,Dennis 2383 Black certainly isn't worse in the endgame. ] Bundesliga 2000-1 (10) 10.03.2001 29.xb6+ xb6 30.c7+ a7 31.xd8 [Nigel Davies] xd8 32.b4 d7 33.e5 c8 34.f3 g8 35.f2 f6 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 [ I prefer 35...e7 ] [ Given the problems Black has been having in the 3...f5 line, many Caro players have 36.g4 h8 37.g5 e8 38.e2 d6 39.e3 h4 40.a3 b5 41.xb5 xb5 42.d3 been switching to this alternative treatment. ] d6 43.e5 4.dxc5 e6 [ Black almost always plays this, which is ½-½ certainly the most direct attempt to regain the pawn. But it should be remembered that this is not Black's only move, both 4...c6 and ] [ 4...h6!? deserve consideration. ] 1476

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1377 Nunn,John DM Nikolac,Juraj Bundesliga 1984/85 [Nigel Davies]

B12 1378 Olszewski,Michal Macieja,Bartlomiej 1984 Najdorf Memorial A (6) [John Watson]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 a6?! "What is the idea?" asked Vassilios Kotronias in 'Beating the Caro-Kann'. Er ... well ... er ... Black kind of develops his knight and hopes to blockade the kingside with ....h5, ...g6 and . ..Nh6 etc. I suppose. 4.c3 Nunn's favourite move, which certainly seems to give Black some problems. White wants to do some clever tricks with his knights. [ Kotronias suggested 4.d2 , presumably trying to save the tempo expended on 4 c3, but then f5 threatens 5 ...Nb4. ( he wanted to meet 4...c7 with 5.d3; and 4...g6 could be answered by 5.e2 )] 4...f5 [ For 4...g6 see Nunn - Arkell ] 5.e2 e6 6.f4! The advantage of putting the knight on this square is that once Black's bishop is on g6 he will find it difficult to move h i s h - p a wn . A n d wi t h B l a c k ' s p i e c e s s o passively placed he cannot distract White from h i s c o m i n g g 2 - g 4 p l a n wi t h a n y k i n d o f counterattack. [ 6.g3 g6 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 is far less incisive (Neu kirch - Bindrich, Schwerin 1969) ] 6...e7 7.d2 c7 8.g4! g6 9.h4 f6 An unfortunate necessity. 10.xg6 hxg6 11.f3 d7 12.g1 0-0-0 13.d3 c5 14.f4 cxd4 15.cxd4 c6 This bolt for freedom gives Black some temporary activity. He obviously didn't want to stay tied to the gpawn. 16.xg6 b4+ 17.f1 df8 18.h5 fxe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.xe5 d6 21.e2 xe5 22.xe5 b5+ 23.g2 xb2 24.gf1 a3 25.f4 e7 26.ac1 With Black's fun at an end, it's White's turn. The rest is not for younger viewers. d8 27.f5 d6 28.fxe6 xe5 29.dxe5 b8 30.e7 dg8 31.f7 c8 32.g5 d4 33.fd1 1-0

B12 2458 2606 07.08.2008

I wouldn't call the many new 4 Nd2 Advance V a r i a t i o n s e x c e p t i o n a l l y e xc i t i n g i n t h e opening, but generally the pieces stay on the board, which promises a full-fledged midd le ga me . Th at see ms t o be wha t th e strong players using 4 Nd2 are after. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 d7 6.f3 e7 [ 6...c7 seems a little committal after simply 7 Bd3. Fedorov, A (2560)-Yevseev, D (2510), Minsk 2008 continued 7.f4 e7 8.e2 h6 9.h3 , and now 9...Ng6 10 Bg3 Be7 is natural and equal but Black gambled with g5!? 10.g3 ( 10.d2!? ) 10...g6 11.0-0 g7 12.c1 0-0 and had a decent game, probably better f or W hite due to space and the slight kingside weaknesses. ] 7.e2 c8 8.a4 [ This is a bit sharper than 8.0-0 A) 8...e7 9.a4 a5! 10.d2 0-0 11.c1 ( 11.c4 ) 11...e4!? 12.e1 c5 13.b5? (odd) ( 13.dxc5 xc5 14.xc5 xc5 15.c4 d4 16.g5 f5 17.f3 is messy ) 13...xf3 14.gxf3 b6?! ( 14...a7! 15.xa5 b6 16.c3 xb5 17.axb5 g5! and W hite has trouble defending both sides of the board) 15.c6 b8 16.c4 with a double-edged game, Perunovic, M (2589)-Jojua, D (2488), Kavala 2008; B) 8...cb6 9.e1!? ( or 9.g5 e7 10.xe7 xe7 11.d2 with a slight edge White gets rid of his bad bishop) 9...e7 10.d3 g6 11.xg6?! (Why open lines? ( 11.f4 is consistent) 11...hxg6 12.d3 c4 13.e2 b6 14.c3 a5 15.d1 b5! 16.g3? a4 17.d2 xd2 ( or 17...a3 18.b3 xd2 19.xd2 0-0-0 ) 18.xd2 c5 19.h4 c8 ( 19...c4 ) 20.e3 cxd4 21.xd4 b8!? 22.e3 c6 23.c5 xc5 24.xc5 0-0 Palac, M (2587)-Topalov, V (2777) Villarrobledo 2008. . Here my copy of the game from TW IC reads '0-1', which probably isn't accurate, but Black def initely has the advantage. ] 1477

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8...e7 [ 8...a5 may be the most important reply. Then W hite has discouraged Black from castling queenside and, more importantly, can occupy b5 if Black plays the freeing move ...c5. Still, Black's position is solid and he doesn't stand much worse. ] 9.a5 0-0 10.0-0 c5 11.c4 dxc4 12.xc4 g4?! Somewhere thing s go badly wrong for Black (who already stands worse), and this move looks to be the culprit. [ 12...a6! intends ...b5 and covers b5 in some lines. ... Qc7 and perhaps ...cxd4 will u s u a l l y f o l l o w. T h e n W h i t e h a s 13.e2 ( 13.f4?! b5! 14.axb6 cxb6 with the idea 15.xa6 c4 favours Black, for example, in the line 16.bd2 d3 17.e1 d5 18.g3 xa6! 19.xa6 c3 ) 13...c7 14.d2 d8 ( 14...cxd4 15.bxd4 g4 16.fc1 d8 17.e4 ) 15.ac1 with pressure. ] 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 cxd4 15.f4 As it stands, this gives W hite a convincing advantage, while [ 15.e4! is surprisingly strong, for example, b8 16.d3 g6 17.h6 e8 18.ad1 c7 19.xd4! ] 15...c5 [ I n t h e e n d , 15...g5!? isn't much better: 16.xg5 xg5 17.xb7 xe5 18.xa8 xc4 19.xd4 ] 16.xc5 xc5 17.b4! This wins big-time material and the game is over. xb4 [ 17...e7 18.xb7 traps the rook because e7 is no longer available for the knight. ] 18.xb7 g5 19.g3 e7 [ 19...e7 20.xb4 ] 20.xa8 b6 21.c6 c8 22.axb6! xc6 23.bxa7 c8 24.a8 xa8 25.xa8+ g7 26.f4 b7 27.aa1 d2 28.f5 c6 29.fxe6 xc4 30.exf7 b4 31.a4 f8 32.e1 1-0

1379 Peregudov,Nickolai Savon,Vladimir A St.Petersburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2470 2435 1994

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 5.f3 g4! In my opinion this line is the best. 6.c4 d7 7.0-0 gf6 Forced as 9.Bxf7+ w a s t h r e a t e n e d . 8.c3 d6 9.b3 Before this game this line was considered as insufficient for Black since "Black can't protect b7 o r f 7 p a wn" (as I 've re a d in a c e rt a in opening book). After this game this evaluation should be reconsidered. [ Last month I played this line with Black, and in Trygstad-Volzhin, Bergen 2000. W hite preferred the quiet 9.e3 0-0 10.bd2 but Black obtained a very good game after b5 11.d3 c7 12.e1 h5! Transferring the Bishop to the g6-square where it occupies an ideal position: here it defends the king and creates pressure against the e4pawn. 13.h4 g6 14.dxe5 xe5 15.xe5 xe5 Black has a very comfortable edge due to the weakness of W hite's e4-pawn. 16.f3 d7 17.d4 xd4+?! ( 17...d6!? intending 18...c6-c5 is worthy of consideration) 18.cxd4 b6 19.ad1! c5 20.e5! xd3 21.xd3 cxd4 22.xd4! and White held the endgame. ] 9...0-0! 10.xb7 Otherwise White's previous move is senseless. exd4 11.cxd4 b6 The critical position for assessment of Black's idea. 12.b3 [ 12.d3 is strongly met by the unexpected xf3 13.xf3 f4! and Black wins the pawn back obtaining the better chances: 14.xf4 ( or 14.c3 xd4+ 15.h1 xc1 16.xc1 g4 and Black is better.) 14...xd4+ 15.h1 xd3 and White's position is horrible. ] 12...xe4 13.xc6? Over-optimistic and bad. After this move White loses by force. [ 13.c3! should be played and in the c o m p l e x e n d g a m e a r i s i n g a f t e r xc3 14.bxc3 d7 15.xd7 xd7 chances are approximately equal, for example: 16.g5 f6 17.f4 xf4 18.xf4 ae8 ] 13...xf3 14.xf3 [ 14.gxf3 is also bad in view of h4 15.c2 1478

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ac8 16.e2 xc1 17.fxe4 xh2+ and White's position is lost. ] 14...h4 15.g3 g4! 16.f4 [ 16.e3 fails to xg3! 17.hxg3 ac8 18.xd6 xc1+ 19.g2 h5! with a decisive attack. ] 16...xf4 17.xe4 ae8 18.xf7+ W hite had been banking on this move but Black's calculation is more precise. [ 18.xf4 cannot help White either: e1+ 19.g2 e2+ 20.h3 ( 20.f2 xf2+ 21.xf2 xc1 ) 20...h5+ 21.g2 e2+ 22.f1 xh2 and quick mate is unavoidable. ] 18...h8 19.xe8 e3+! The very nice finish to an excellent game. White resigned in view of mate in 2. [ 19...e3+ 20.xe3 d1+ 21.g2 f1# ] 0-1

T h e kn i gh t ' s j o u rn e y t o t h e qu e e n s i d e m e a n s it isn 't o b st r u ct in g B la ck 's ligh t squ a re d b is h o p o r a t a rg e t f o r a wh it e kingside pawn advance. Nonetheless, its ab se n ce is f e lt o n th e o t h e r win g a f t e r 10.g4! as in Polgar-Prohaszka. ] 8.0-0 f5 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 g6 Black constructs his light squared barrier on the kingside and also prepares Bh6 which is useful in some cases. 11.e1 Here are some interesting alternatives. They seem to indicate that Black has good chances: [ 11.d2 h5 12.a4 White makes a beeline for a queenside attack, so Black very sensibly avoids castling there. h6 ( Here 12...f6!? in the style of our main game looks interesting.) 13.a5 xd2 14.xd2 e7 15.fc1 Rublevsky, S (2688)-Deviatkin, A ( 2 5 7 0 ) / I r k u t s k 2 0 1 0 , a n d n o w 0-0 looks best with balanced play. ] [ 11.f4 h5 12.e1 Putting the bishop on f4 1380 B12 and the rook on e1 makes Black's counterattacking pawn thrust f7-f6, which Perunovic,Mil 2602 proves effective in the main game, Ding Liren 2742 unattractive here. h6 again we see the 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (7.4) 09.08.2014 plan of exchanging dark squared bishops. It [Neil McDonald] not only reduces White's initiative but as we shall see in this game it gives Black's queen 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 the chance to utilise the dark squares for an White avoids the standard attack of her own. 13.xh6 xh6 14.c4? [ 4.f3 as he wants to rush his knight to b3 an attempt to break through immediately to deter Black from playing a quick c6-c5 t h a t t u r n s o u t p o o r l y . ( Maybe 14.a4 advance. ] and 15.a5 is the best approach for White.) 4...e6 5.b3 d7 6.f3 e7 7.e2 14...dxc4 15.d2 b6 16.e4 f5 In this variation Black's basic opening problem 17.g4?! The consistent move to get the is ho w t o ge t t h e knight o n e 7 t o a go o d kn i g h t t o d 6 , b u t t h e wh i t e k i n g i s l e f t square without it getting in the way of the vulnerable. hxg4 18.hxg4 h4 19.d6+ b i s h o p o n f 5 . g4!? Ding Liren chooses a f8 20.h1 g5 21.a4 g7 ( Black would simple solution to the congestion in his camp: also have a decisive attack after 21...f5 he will exchange his bishop for the white 22.xb7 d5 etc. ) 22.a3 f5! 23.xb7 knight. A lot of players would be aghast at xh1+! 24.xh1 h8+ 25.g2 d5 such a decision, but the Chinese SuperGM is 26.e4 f4+ 0-1 Sulskis, S (2572)-Jobava, going to negate the value of White's bishop B (2695)/Rijeka 2010. ( White will be mated pair by building a solid light square pawn after 26...f4+ 27.xf4 xf4 28.gxf5 structure on the kingside. Black has tried h2+ )] various other methods of uncluttering his [ 11.a4 It makes sense to get the queenside position which you can find in the archives. pawns rolling straightaway. Also Black's Bh6 The knight on e7 can go to f5, g6 or even b6, idea is less attractive as White hasn't spent for example a tempo moving his bishop from c1. On the [ 7...g6 8.0-0 f5 ] other hand, with White's attention focused [ 7...h6 8.0-0 h7 then 9...Ng6 ] on the queenside Black can look for [ 7...c8 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 cb6 1479

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 counteraction in the centre. h5 12.a5 Svetushkin, D (2543) -Rombaldoni, D (2498)/ Ravenna 2011 and now f6!? in the style of the main game looks like good counterplay e. g. 13.f4 g7 ] 11...h5 12.e2 [ Instead 12.f4 would transpose to the Sulskis game in the notes to 11.Re1 above. ] 12...f6!? The most ambitious move. More solid was [ 12...h6 ] 13.exf6? Helping his opponent . This exchange brings Black's queen into the fray an d clea rs t he way f or h is kin g to castle queenside. W hite should have tested the complications after [ 13.c4!? or ] [ 13.f4 with balanced chances. ] 13...xf6 14.c4 0-0-0 It is evident that Black now has an attractive attacking position. It is no surprise that W hite quickly collapsed. 15.cxd5 exd5 16.f4?! b4 17.d2 d6 Black has found a neat way to get control of the b8-h2 diagonal. 18.c1? Perhaps the best way to try to stem the tide of Black's attack was [ 18.c1 c7 19.g5 d6 20.f4 putting up a barrier along the key diagonal de8 21.d3 etc. ] 18...hf8 19.f1 [ Or 19.c3 e3! 20.fxe3 f2+ 21.h1 g3 and mate follows on h2. ] 19...xd4 20.xd4 xd4 21.e3 It's not a good sign when you'd be delighted t o e x c h a n g e q u e e n s a p a w n d o w n . e5 22.g3 b8 23.h4 de8 24.d3 e6 Nicely done. Black threatens an invasion on h3 or 25...Bxg3 to persuade White to move his rook to e1, which sets up the tactic on move 26. 25.e1 f6 26.a4 Losing at once, but [ 26.d2 e5 would only be misery. ] 26...xe3! An appropriately energetic finish to Black's dynamic strategy. Taking back on e3 with the rook drops a lot of material, while White is mated by a sequence of checks upon [ 26...xe3 27.fxe3 f2+ 28.h1 f3+ 29.h2 xg3+ 30.h1 h2# ] 0-1

1381 Perunovic,Mil Dreev,A 15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014 (11.16) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2617 2679 14.03.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 c5!? 6.dxc5 xc5 7.b5+ [ 7.xc5 has been seen in 3 games on ChessPub before - the point is that Black is v e r y s o l i d a f t e r a5+ 8.c3 xc5 Black is very solid so Perunovic opts for a different approach ] 7...c6 8.a4!? Defending the bishop on b5 so Black now has to react to the threat of Nxc5 f8 [ 8...b6 would seem to lead to a similar position as after 7.Nxc5 but perhaps here they are preferable for White 9.xc5 xc5 10.c3 and Black's position is a bit awkward here. 10... Nge7 is the move he wants to play but then 11.Be3 traps the queen, so perhaps best is a6 11.e3 e7 12.xc6+ bxc6 with a slight edge for White ] 9.a5 Very direct play from White a6! 10.a4 c7 11.e2! An interesting decision to offer the pawn here - Black is slightly worse if he doesn't go for it, so Dreev decides it's worth the risk - but Black has to be very accurate after this as White gets an early initiative. [ 11.f3 safely defends the pawn on e5 and may even be a little better for W hite, for example ge7 12.0-0 g4 13.e3 g6 14.b6! and Black is under some pressure here ] 11...xe5 12.bd4 c8 13.0-0 c5?! A slight mistake that doesn't look like it should lead to much, but energetic play from Perunovic sets Black real problems after this [ 13...g6 was more solid when after 14.e1 c7 15.xc6 bxc6 16.d4 d7 17.e2! d6 18.xa6 e7 White is only slightly better ] 14.e3 Now Nxf5 and Nxc6 are both big threats, so Black's next move is practically forced d6 15.b4! White is happy to sacrifice a pawn for more open lines and a bigger initiative, but Dreev wisely declines the offer xd4 [ 15...xb4?! only leads to more trouble after 16.xc6+! bxc6 17.xf5 exf5 18.d4 f6 1480

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.c3 a3 20.g3 and White regains one of the sacrif ice d pawn s wit h a m assive position - e.g. 0-0 21.xf5 d7 22.xg7 ( 22.f4!? e7 23.d4 is probably even stronger ) 22...e7 23.h6 and it's clear Black is in trouble ] 16.xd4 ge7 17.xf5 xf5 18.c5 Now Black's king is caught in the centre and Dreev has to be very careful c7 19.c4! Opening up more lines dxc4 20.g4 e5?! It's very difficult to see how Black should defend but this seems to be the tipping point after which White is winning with best play [ 20...h5! 21.xc4 fe7 is the best chance when Black can hope to hang on - at least for a while 22.h4! ( 22.b5 axb5 23.xb5 0-0 is no longer so clear) 22...f5 ( or 22...d5 23.b5! axb5 24.xb5 with a clear advantage for White) 23.h3 f4 24.ad1 still leaves Black in a lot of trouble ] 21.fe1 f6 22.xc4 fe7 23.b5! There is no way to defend on the queenside axb5 24.xb5 f5 [ 24...0-0 25.xb7 b8! was a more stu bb orn t ry, b ut af te r 26.xc6! xb7 27.xb7 White should win easily enough the pawn on a5 will be supported all the way to a8. ] 25.ec1 0-0 26.xb7 xa5 27.xe7 A flawless performance from Perunovic 1-0

also looks very dangerous) 8...b6 9.cxd4 and White regains the pawn with excellent prospects; B) 7...dxc3?! 8.xf7+! e7 ( 8...xf7? loses in pretty fashion after 9.xd8 cxb2+ 10.d1 bxa1 11.g5+ g6 12.e8+ h6 13.e6+ d2 14.xd2+ g5 15.xg5# ) 9.b3! cxb2+ 10.xb4+ xf7 11.xb2 and Black is in a lot of trouble White has far too strong an attack and the extra pawn isn't going to help Black much since his king is wide open. ] 7.0-0 a5?! A new try for Black but not one that improves his chances at all - somehow I doubt this was preparation from Lajthajm. [ 7...f6 is probably Black's best here but White is still better after 8.g5 0-0 A) 9.e5!? d5 10.h5 xg5 11.xg5 d7 12.d3?! gave White a dangerous att ack in L in db erg-Ce la nd er f ro m th e archives in 2000, but Black can actually d e f e n d O K f r o m h e r e w i t h ( 12.c3! and White should have enough play here but Black is still in the game) 12...h6 13.xh6 g4! 14.xg4 xg4 15.f4 d7 and Black is even slightly better; B) 9.xf7! xf7 10.xf7+ xf7 11.e5 ] 8.e5! Now the knight on g8 has no good squares - it's hard to recommend this position f or Black an d P eru novic quickly p uts his opponent to the sword. d7 9.bd2 h6 [ Black could try 9...f6 but after 10.b3! b6 11.exf6 gxf6 12.e1 the Black king 1382 B12 is caught out in no man's land in the centre of the board - White has almost a winning Perunovic,Mil 2631 attack already. ] Lajthajm,B 2539 8th ch-SRB 2014 (10.5) 16.04.2014 10.e4 [ 10.e6 fxe6 11.b3! was even stronger, [Tom Rendle] for example b6 12.fxd4 A) 12...e5? loses to 13.h5+ d8 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 dxe4 14.e3 ( 14.d2! with the threat of Ba5 is [ 3...b6 4.a4 e5 5.dxe5 a5! is currently even more accurate) 14...exd4 15.xd4! the line that looks safest for Black here, and f6 16.e6+ xe6 17.xb6+ axb6 I covered it last year in Bauer-Ragger. ] 18.xf6 g4 19.d6+! xd6 20.g5+ 4.fxe4 e5 5.f3 exd4?! This has been c8 21.xg7 e8 22.xh6 and Black considered dubious (on ChessPub at least) doesn't have enough for the queen; for almost 20 years! Here we get to see an B) 12...f6 13.xh6 gxh6 14.e2! 0-0 instructive example of why. 15.h1 and White will regain the pawn [ 5...g4 is critical, see Pruess-Fridman. ] with a massive advantage ] 6.c4 e7 10...xe5?! [ worse is 6...b4+?! 7.c3 [ 10...f5 gives Black at least some hope A) 7...a5 8.b4 ( 8.g5!? h6 9.0-0 1481

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 but if White finds 11.xf7+! xf7 12.xd4 weakened h5 11.b4 b6 12.a4 h6 then Black's king is caught in a big attack. 13.d2 f5 ( 13...a6! ) 14.f3 ( 14.b5! The best chance is xe5 13.xf5 xf5 d7 15.c4 looks more promising for White 14.xf5+ e6 15.f1 hf8 and Black is here ) 14...g5 15.b5 gxf4 16.bxc6 bxc6 surviving, for the time being at least. ] 17.a5 xa5 18.a4 b6 19.xc6+ f8 11.d2 xf3+ 12.xf3 f5 13.d3! 20.a4 c8! 21.a3+ g7 22.xf4 xc3 O f c o u r s e P e r u n o vi c h a s n o i n t e r e s t i n 23.fc1 xc1+ 24.xc1 h6 25.h4 g6 swapping queens - Black has to hope for a 26.g5 d7 27.b4 d8 28.f4 d7 blunder from White at this point but instead ( 28...d4 is perhaps a little better for Black his opponent finishes the game in ruthless but the position is still complicated) 29.b4 fashion. g6 d8 1/2-1/2 Bruzon Batista, L (2698)-Hillarp [ 13...e5 14.ae1 is hopeless for Black ] Persson, T (2529) Barcelona ESP 2013 ] 14.xh6 xh6 15.xf7+ d8 16.xd4+ 5.xd4 This position has now transposed to c7 17.ad1 There's no defence to Qe5+ the line 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 c6 d8 18.e5+ Perunovic ends the game with [ I don't really like 5...e6 and after 6.d2!? a long forcing line but with Black having no c6 7.xc6 bxc6 8.d3 alternatives it's fairly easy to calculate. b6 A) 8...g5!? is critical but probably this is 19.c5+ c7 too risky for Black, e.g. 9.f3 ( 9.0-0!? [ or 19...a6 20.d6 h4 21.c4+ b5 xe5 10.f3 c7 11.c4! also offers 22.xb5# ] reasonable compensation) 9...xg2 20.a5+ b6 21.e5+ b7 22.d6+ a6 10.g1 h3 11.g3 h5 12.g5 h3 23.c4+ b5 24.xb5+ b6 25.c4+ b7 13.e3! when the best Black can hope for 26.f7+ A fine game from Perunovic and one is a draw by repetition, but I suspect White that underlines why Black shouldn't go for 5... is heading for a big advantage instead; exd4. B) 8...e7 9.f3 g6 10.h4! 1-0 W hite had a dangerous initiative in Inarkiev-Arutinian, annotated by Pavlovic in the archives. ] 1383 B12 6.c4 e6 [ 6...dxc4 7.xc6 xd1+ 8.xd1 bxc6 Perunovic,Mil 2617 is a slightly unpleasant ending for Black Riazantsev,A 2689 after either 9.xc4 ( or 9.d2!? )] 15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014 (8.10) 11.03.2014 7.c3 c5 [Tom Rendle] [ 7...b4 is a major alternative but I like White's chances after 8.xc6 bxc6 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.e2!? A) 9.g4 isn't as good after d4! 10.a3 3...c5 is p roving to b e quite tricky so it's f8 11.e2 ( or 11.e4 a5+ 12.b4 useful to investigate White's other options on xe5 ) 11...c5 12.g3 c7 13.f4 b7 move 4. It's also important to note that this and Black was slightly better in Vishnu, P position is more usually reached via 2.Ne2 (2470)-Sobh, A (2177) Dubai 2013, see Short-Mchedlishvili from the archives for although White did go on to win.; an example of this. Obviously White can also B) 9.a4! xc3+ 10.bxc3 c7 11.e2 play 4.Nf3 instead of taking on c5, but that d7 12.0-0 ( 12.f4 should be a little better allows Black the option of pinning the knight for W hite and is best if you're worried with ...Bg4. cxd4 about 12...Qxe5 ) [ 4...c6 is the normal move and is covered B1) 12...xe5 looks critical but I think plenty of times in the archives, but I'll add W hite's idea here was 13.a3! e7 this recent game as well as it features some ( 13...xe2?? 14.b4 d8 15.f8+ interesting play 5.c3 g6 6.f4 e6 7.b5 e8 16.xg7 is winning for W hite) d7 8.xc6 xc6 9.dxc5 xc5 10.0-0 14.b4 g6 15.fe1 with more than Black is already comfortable but has to be enough compensation for the pawn as careful since his kingside is already 1482

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black will have enormous difficult getting his king to safety; B2) 12...e7 13.a3 c5 14.a6 dxc4 and now in Inarkiev, E (2597)-Kharitonov, A (2535) Moscow 2006, White could've obtained a pleasant edge with 15.fd1! 0-0 16.d6 xd6 17.exd6 d5 18.ac1 followed by winning the pawn back with a good position ] 8.xc6 bxc6 9.cxd5 [ 9.g4 is an important alternative A) 9...f8 looks less good to me as after 10.d3 e7 11.0-0 g6 12.e1 ( 12.g3 is a lso se n sib l e) 12...h4 13.xh4 xh4 and now I think A1) 14.d2 g6 ( 14...a6 15.a4 e7 isn't so clear although White must still be better) 15.a4 e7 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.ac1 f6 18.exf6 gxf6 19.c7 e5 20.b5 g8 21.e3 ( 21.e2! ) 21...b8? ( 21...d6! 22.xh7 g7 and Black can fight on) 22.b3 g6 23.e2! a8 24.h5 Black must lose the exchange as if the rook moves then W hite has Bh6+ d7 25.xg6 xa4 26.h6+ 1-0 Najer, E (2653)-Yevseev, D (2580) Sochi 2006; A2) 14.a4! gives White a nice position; B) 9...f8 has been played as Black by Keith Ark ell seve ral time s with mixe d results 10.d3 e7 11.0-0 g6 12.h5 ( 12.f4 c5+ 13.h1 0-0 14.a4 e7 15.e3 d4 16.d2 c5 17.e4 b8 18.b3 b7 19.xb7 xb7 and Black had at least equalised in Hunt, A (2458)-Arkell, K (2418) London 2011) 12...e7 13.f4 ( 13.d1!? is worth investigating here, for example 0-0 14.e3 b8 15.cxd5 exd5 16.b3 with a tense middlegame ahead) 13...c5+ 14.h1 h4 I'm not sure this is best ( 14...0-0 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.d2 and my computer assesses the position as equal but I'd rather be White here because of possible kingside aggression.) 15.e2 0-0 16.a4 d4 17.e3 xe3 18.xe3 d8 19.b3 e7 20.ad1 and White had a pleasant slight edge and went on to win in Trent, L (2442)-Arkell, K (2431) Hinckley Island 2011 ] 9...cxd5?! In my notes last year to Naiditsch-

Khenkin I suggested that 9...exd5 was the co rre ct re cap t u re a nd my o pin ion h as n 't changed. I wonder if Riazantsev was caught out of his preparation with this strange 4.Ne2 m o v e o r d e r ? 10.b4! b6 11.b5 Perunovic has reached the same good position Naiditsch achieved against Khenkin and now Black makes a slight mistake and is soon in deep trouble f6?! [ 11...h4! offers the best chances here but after 12.f3!? ( or 12.d6+ e7 13.d2 d4 14.b2 xd2+ 15.xd2 ) 12...f6 ( 12...xb4+?! 13.d2 e4+ 14.xe4 dxe4 15.d6+ f8 16.b5! is very unpleasant for Black) 13.a3! Black is still very much on the defensive ] 12.d6+ e7 13.b2 [ 13.f4 strikes me as a little more accurate as it helps defend the knight on d6 after 13... Bc7 ] 13...c7 14.g4 f8 [ or 14...g6 15.exf6+ xf6 16.h4 f8 17.b5 ] 15.xc8 f5 16.d4 xc8 17.a6! b8 18.c1 e7 19.0-0 Riazantsev has managed to survive, at least for the time being, but it's clear that White is a lot better here. f7 20.a4 b6 21.b5 b8 22.a3 b6 23.d3? A careless move from Perunovic, the queen becomes a target on this square [ 23.d2! covers g5 so that Black can't start a counterattack with ...Qg5 ] 23...g6 24.d6 g5! Suddenly Black is back in the game 25.f3 [ after 25.xb8 xb8 26.h3 f4 27.f3 g6! White may be the exchange up but B l a c k h a s a lo t o f p re ss u r e - p r o b a b l y enough for a draw with best play ] 25...hd8?! There's no reason to leave the rook en prise for longer than necessary [ 25...bd8 was better ] 26.c6 e7 27.c2 a8 28.fc1 d7 29.a3 g6?! Going for counterplay again but this time it's not enough 30.c8 [ 30.a5! was simpler given the complications that soon arise ] 30...d8 31.a5?! This gives Black a possible way back into the game but it's not quite enough [ 31.b7! should be comfortably winning, for example xd6 32.exd6 d8 33.c7+! g8 1483

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 34.a5 and Black has no more tricks ] 31...axc8 [ 31...xf2+! was an excellent practical chance and now 32.f1 is the only move to win ( 32.xf2? axc8! 33.xc8 xc8 34.xc8 d2+ 35.f1 d1+ 36.f2 d2+ and Black has a perpetual as bringing the king up th e boa rd ge ts mat ed af te r 37.f3?? h4+ 38.g3 xg2+ 39.f4 f2+ 40.g5 f3+ 41.f4 g5#; 32.xf2 dxc8 33.cf1 g8 is only a little better for White ) 32...e3 33.c7+ g8 34.xe6+ h8 35.xd5 f4+ 36.f3 xe5 37.d1 and W hite is much better here in a crazy position ] 32.axb6?! [ 32.xc8! xc8 33.xc8 d2 34.c1! wins ] 32...f4?! [ 32...xc2! now should hold the draw 33.xa7+ ( 33.xc2 axb6 34.g3 g4 and Black should hold the draw) 33...g8 34.xc2 h4 35.g3 g4! 36.c1 f3+ 37.g2 h4+ 38.f1 h3+ 39.e1 f3+ 40.e2 g4 and Black has enough for a perpetual here ] 33.g3 e2+? [ 33...xc2 34.xc2 axb6 was still the best chance although Black is under a lot of pressure after 35.f1! ] 34.g2 xc1 35.xc8 xc8 36.b7! Now White is winning and Perunovic gives no more chances e8 37.xa7 g6 38.b8 xb8 39.xb8 d3 40.e8+ h6 41.xe6+ h5 42.e7 e1+ 43.f1 c1 44.f7+ h6 45.xf5 d1 46.e6 f3+ 47.g2 e1+ 48.h3 f3 49.f4+ g5 50.f6+ [ 50.f6+ h5 51.g4# ] 1-0

1384 Perunovic,N Jovanovic,S M TCh-SRB 1st League (11) [John Watson]

B12 2572 2293 12.09.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.f3 A commonsense approach. W hite plays a French Defence variation a tempo up

(because of .. .c6-c5). The variatio n isn't considered dangerous, but the extra tempo makes it worthwhile. c6 6.d3 xc5 7.0-0 ge7 8.f4 b6 [ Houska's main line is 8...g6 9.g3 0-0 10.bd2 f5 11.exf6 xf6 , and here I think White should play A) Houska gives 12.xg6?! xg6 13.c4 e7= , versus cxd5 and Nb3 ( but here 13...d8! is another effective way to meet that idea. ); B) 12.c4 B1) 12...b4 13.cxd5 exd5 ( 13...xd3 14.e4 ) 14.b1 e6 15.b3 e7 16.e1; B2) 12...f4 13.cxd5 exd5 14.xf4 xf4 15.xh7+ xh7 16.c2+ f5 17.xc5 ] 9.c3 g6 10.g3 [ 10.a4! a5 11.xc5 xc5 12.g3 looks to be in White's favour. ] 10...a6 [ 10...xb2!? ] 11.a4 a7 12.xc5 xc5 13.c3 Now W hite has both space and the bishop pair he's in control from here on out. d7 14.d2 [ Or 14.h4 h6 15.h5 ge7 16.f4! ] 14...a5 15.h4 h6 16.fe1 0-0-0 17.ab1 a4 18.b4 b6 19.c2 ge7 20.b5 a5 21.xa4 b8 22.f4 c8 23.b4 White, a clear pawn up, threatens Be3. 1-0

1385 Polgar,Judit Iordachescu,Viorel 12th ch-EUR Aix les Bains FRA (10) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2686 2626 01.04.11

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 This knight manoeuvre has become very topical. White's idea is to dissuade ...c6c5 and slow Black's queenside counterplay before developing his kingside. d7 [ Last year I looked at 5...c5 but this forces Black to cede the bishop pair after 6.dxc5 xc5 A) A recent miniature between two GMs continued 7.b5+ c6 8.e2 ge7?? 1484

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 O ve rl o o k in g t h e id e a b e h i n d W h it e ' s previous. ( 8...b6 w a s n e c e s s a r y) 9.xc5 a5+ 10.c3 1-0 Rublevsky, S (26 78 )-Lint che vski, D (25 39 ) Olginka 2011.; B) 7.xc5 a5+ 8.c3 xc5 when following 9.a4+ and Black failed to equalise in Vachier Lagrave, M (2718)Mchedlishvili, M (2613) Muelheim 2010. However Mchedlishvili has since done a survey in NiC Yearbook 95 in which he thinks Black is doing satisfactorily. ] 6.f3 g6 Making way for the knight to jump to f5. [ 6...e7 is the most common and has been se en in a f ew re ce n t e nco un t ers. 7.e2 c8 A typical knight retreat, opening up the e7 square for the Black bishop and thus he's able to complete his kingside development. This is an important position for the variation and is examined in Lars Schandorff's Caro Kann book. ( Actually I had this position myself and opted for the unusual 7...a6!? which is probably a little premature. 8.0-0 c8 9.e3 e7 10.fd2 0-0 11.f4 g6 12.c3 c7 13.e1 c5 14.h4 The point of the previous move but probably over-ambitious. c4 15.h5 c2 Nicolai had overlooked this square was available for my bishop. 16.c1 b6 17.b3 a5 18.f3 b5 19.d2 e4 20.g5 xg5 21.fxg5 a3 and I had good queenside counterplay but still had to be careful to stop his kingside initiative. Getz, N (2333)-Jones, G (2578) Fagernes 2011. ) A) 8.0-0 e7 ( 8...cb6 was Wojtaszek's previous try which I looked at in the notes last time I covered this variation.) 9.a4 0-0 10.e3 c7 ( 10...f6 is Schandorff's suggestion 11.a5 c7 12.exf6 xf6!? with a complex position.) 11.fd2 c5 when the experienced Russian continued with the dynamic 12.c4!? cb6 13.a5 xc4 14.xc4 dxc4 15.xc4 cxd4 ( 15...fd8 would be more circumspect) 16.xd4 fd8 17.fc1 c5?! ( 17...b8? doesn't work either 18.b6! xc1+ 19.xc1 xd4 20.xd4 axb6 21.c8+ f8 22.xb6 is very good for White.; 17...f6! 18.d6 b8 19.xf5 exf5 20.f4 d5 and Black would be

fine. ) 18.d6! xb3 19.xc7 xd4 ( 19...xd6!? 20.xd6 xd6 21.exd6 xa1 22.xb7 also leaves White with very good winning chances.) 20.xe7 c2 21.c1 and White had a great position. Rublevsky, S (2678)-Wojtaszek, R (2726) Warsaw 2010.; B) 8.a4 e7 9.a5 a6! I think this is an important idea. Not only does Black prevent the a pawn advancing any further but also prepares ...Nc8-a7 and thence either to ...c6 or ...b5 when Black's pieces s t a r t t o c o o r d i n a t e . ( Instead 9...0-0 wa s p l a y e d i n O l s z e w s k i , M ( 2 4 5 8 ) Macieja, B (2606) Warsaw 2008 examined by John Watson in the archives.) 10.0-0 0-0 11.c4 a7 ( The immediate 11...dxc4 is offered by Schandorff but the game continuation is very similar.) 12.h3 dxc4 13.xc4 c5!? ( 13...b5 followed by ... Nc7, ... b7-b5 is Schandorff's treatment.) 14.e2 c6 15.d1 c7 16.f4 b4 17.dxc5 Following the exchanges Black stands well as he can start targeting the a5 and e5 pawns. ( 17.ac1 a2 18.a1 b4 is just equal.; 17.d2!? c6 18.c3 is a n i n t e r e s t i n g i d e a , p r e p a r i n g t h e advance d4-d5 looks a little better for White. ) 17...xc5 18.xc5 ( K e e p i n g m a t e r i a l o n w i t h 18.bd4 should probably be preferred.) 18...xc5 19.h4 I presume Kurnosov believed he was gaining the bishop pair but in fact the tactics favour Black. c2 20.dc1 d8 21.g3 e7 B1) 22.f3 d3 ( 22...g6!? ) 23.xd3 xd3 24.xd3 xd3=; B2) 22.g4?! c8 23.b3 g6 and White's pieces lacked coordination. Kurnosov, I (2662)-Rodshtein, M (2625) Moscow 2011. ] 7.e2 Rublevsky is the main practitioner of the White side of this variation and has very g o o d r e s u l t s . h6 And this is normal, the knight gets ready to jump into f5 [ Again I don't believe 7...c5 good enough to equalise. 8.dxc5 xc5 9.xc5 xc5 10.e3 c8 11.c4 dxc4 12.xd8+ xd8 13.xc4 and White's bishop pair gave him a definite edge. Rublevsky, S (2699)-Bareev, E (2655) Cala Mayor 2008. ] 1485

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.d3 cxd4 14.cxd4 c8 15.ac1 [ 7...e7 normally transposes but following and W hite had the easier game as Black 8.0-0 h5!? was an interesting try, gaining has to watch out for a swift attack. space on the kingside. 9.e1 h4 10.d3 Rublevsky, S (2678)-Panarin, M (2526) h6 11.f4 f5 12.h5 g6 13.g7+ f8 Olginka 2011. ] 14.xf5 xf5 15.c3 c5 and Black's [ 8...c8!? is an alternative move order but position looked respectable enough to me. reaso nable like ly t o tra nspose to othe r Kurnosov, I (2669)-Epishin, V (2590) St lines covered. ] Petersburg 2009. ] [ 7...a5 should probably be met by 8.a4 9.c3 [ 9.d2 has been the mainline, with ideas to which I feel favours W hite as ...c5 is now control the a5 square preparing for a4-a5. harder to achieve with the gaping hole on A) As in the game, 9...c8 can also be b5. ( Instead 8.e3 a4 9.c1 b4+ played. It's useful to check out a couple of 10.f1 a3 11.b3 e7 12.h4 f5 13.d2 Rublevsky's games: 10.c1 e7 xd2 14.xd2 h5 15.g5 h6! 16.xh5 A1) In an earlier game he had tried hxg5 17.g4 gxh4 gave White insufficient 11.g4 compensation for the pawn. Andriasian, Z A1a) 11...h4 12.xh4 xh4 13.f4 (2564)-Dreev, A (2688) Budva 2009. )] f5 Is similar to a position examined 8.0-0 with rooks back on a1 and a8, bishop [ In Pacher, M (2399)-Berczes, D (2535) on c1 but c3 played. This version looks Cappelle la Grande 2011, White chose to to favour White as he can break with delay castling with 8.f4 so that he could 14.c4 as was played in Lahno, K meet f5 with 9.g4!? e7!? Hoping to (2479) -Anastasian, A (2560) Yerevan later exploit W hite's kingside expansion. 2008. ( 14.b4!?; and 14.exf6 ( 9...h4 must of course be a decent also look like decent alternatives. ); alternative.) 10.h4 h6 ( Claiming the f5 A1b) 11...h6 12.h3 0-0 13.d3 square back with 10...h5 is more critical.) h8 14.e2 g8 15.g2 c5 11.h5 e4 12.d3 c5 and Black's play in 16.xg6 fxg6 Rublevsky, S (2695) the centre gave him a reasonable position. ] Asrian, K (2630) Dagomys 2008 when 8...f5 We've reached a position that is also 17.xc5 xc5 18.dxc5 xc5 19.c4 commonly reached from the mainline Short would have given White the edge.; Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5. A2) 11.a5!? It's interesting that Be2 Ne7 6.0-0 Bg6 7.Nbd2 Nf5 8.Nb3 Nd7). Rublevsky declined to play the thematic [ 8...e7 is the other main option for Black g2-g4 this time and instead provokes a here when White has tried two main paths. we a k n e s s i n B l a c k ' s q u e e n s i d e . b6 9.xh6!? is the most principled. White gives 12.d2 0-0 13.c4 h5 14.e1 dxc4 up the bishop pair but in return hopes to 15.xc4 b5 16.e2 b6 17.a5 d7 exploit Black's compromised structure. It's 18.h3 xf3 19.xf3 c4 20.c3 d8 notable that Rublevsky has been happy to 21.e2 a5 22.cd1 b6 23.e4 a4 r e p e a t t h e W h i t e s i d e h e r e . ( 9.a4!? 24.c5! xc5 25.dxc5 xc5 26.xf5 h a s b e e n t h e c h o i c e o f A r e s c h e n k o .) exf5 Rublevsky, S (2678)-Hovhannisyan, 9...gxh6 10.d2 0-0!? With c2 hanging the R (2560) Aix-les-Bains 2011 when the pawn doesn't need immediate defending. most clinical finish would have been ( 10...h5 11.c3 c7 12.c1 0-0-0 13.d3 27.e6! as fxe6 28.xe6+ h8 dg8 14.f4 h4 15.e3 b8 16.a4 d8 29.xg7+! xg7 30.d7+ h8 31.h6 17.a5 a6 18.c4! e4 19.cxd5 exd5 mates; 20.fc1 a7 21.d3 and White's play on B) 9...h5 prevents White's typical g2-g4 the queenside had made much more but 10.c1 c8 11.c4 dxc4 12.xc4 progress than Black's kingside initiative. e7 13.a5 b6 14.c5 xc5 15.dxc5 Rublevsky, S (2645)-Lastin, A (2583) Kazan xd1 16.fxd1 d7 17.f1 saw White 2005. ) 11.c3 g7 12.c1! Rerouting the with a definite edge. Rublevsky, S knight around to the useful f4 square. c5 1486

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 16.f3 g4+ 17.h1 e4 18.d3 (2687)-Morozevich, A (2730) Sochi 2006.; when the bishop on h4 is a major headache C) 9...e7 10.g4 h4 11.xh4 xh4 for Black. He would have to try the tactical 12.f4 e4 ( Rublevsky, S-Jobava, B g3! with a highly complicated position. Khanty-Mansiysk 2005 continued 12...f6 Black's pieces look rather precarious but it 13.f5 f7 when John van der Wiel may be playable.) 14.d3 xd3 15.xd3 r e c o m m e n d s 14.exf6! xf6 15.fxe6 and White should have had a slight edge as xe6 16.c5 e7 17.xe6 xe6 he can p ut pressure o n e 6. De lc hev, A 18.g5 e4 19.g4 followed by 20.Rf5 (2583)-Schlosser, P (2534) France 2003. ] with the initiative.) 13.f3 xf3 14.xf3 Polgar's innovation over a previous and White's extra space on the kingside 10.f4 and a tta ck in g p ot ent ia l gives him th e game by the Moldovan GM. [ That game continued with the aggressive better chances. I've left the rest of the 10.g4 e7 ( 10...h4 is the alternative game in to illustrate how White might go when I presume W hite was planning about winning this position. e7 15.f5 0-0 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 which looks rather 16.ae1 c5 17.c3 c4 18.c1 g5 dangerous. The computer informs me that 19.xg5 xg5 20.e2 exf5 21.xf5 h5 13.g5 is completely fine for Black but I e7 22.f4 b6 23.h5 e6 24.g5 would feel rather uneasy with my queen g6 25.h4 ae8 26.f5 f6 27.e6 e7 trapped on the side of the board on h4.) 28.f4 e8 29.g5 fxg5 30.xg5 xf5 11.h4 c5 31.xf5 c6 32.g5 d6 33.e5 e8 A) 12.xc5 is the computer's choice: 34.h5 g6 35.g4 e7 36.h4 h8 xc5 13.dxc5 xc5 ( 13...c6 14.xg6 37.g5 1-0 Rublevsky, S (2678)-Vuckovic, hxg6 15.b4 xe5 is very messy. White B (2626) Aix-les-Bains 2011. ] has the bishop pair and probably some [ 9.e1!? was looked at by John Watson in edge although the pawn on g4 is looking Alekseev, E (2716)-Berkes, F (2606) really out of place.) 14.e3 c6! 15.f3 Budapest 2008. ] ( 15.xc5 xc5 gives Black great [ 9.a4!? has also been played a couple of co m p e n sa t io n .) 15...h5 16.g5 c7 times recently, albeit without great results. ] and it seems to me that Black has great 9...c8 Black does not yet want to commit to ... compensation for the exchange as e5 is Be7 so as to lessen the power of g2-g4. dropping and W hite's king rather [ Ceding the bishop pair with 9...h5 10.h3 vulnerable.; xf3 cannot be good enough to equalise B) 12.xg6 hxg6 13.f4 c6 14.e3 an d f o llowin g 11.xf3 c5 12.g4 g6 cxd4 15.cxd4 b6 16.d2 b4 17.f3 13.xc5 xc5 14.dxc5 xc5 15.e2 0-0 c4 18.c1 and already a draw was 16.d3 White had a definite edge. agreed. Kurnosov, I (2674)-Iordachescu, V Ch ep a rino v, I (26 6 0)-Fo rsaa , E (2 30 1 ) (2621) Rijeka 2010. ] Caleta 2010. ] [ 10.d2 was tried by another strong [ Against 9...e7 10.g4 must be critical aggressive GM. This looks slightly when h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 f5 misplaced in conjunction with c2-c3 but it is the impo rta nt po sit io n a nd ha s b ee n leaves open the f4 square for our b3 knight. debated in a few strong encounters. 13.exf6 e7 11.c1 c5 12.d3 h5 ( 12...cxd4 ( 13.e3!? e7 14.c4 was an aggressive 13.cxd4 h5 might be more accurate, when bid but not totally convincing. b6 15.a5 the computer offers the odd looking dxc4 16.xb7 d7 17.a5 fxg4 18.xc4 14.de1 to keep control of the d4 pawn.) xc4 19.xc4 f5 20.d3 g6 21.c2 13.dxc5 xf3 14.xf3 xc5 15.xc5 f7 22.e4 xe4 23.xe4 d5 xc5 16.e2 e7 17.d3 c6 18.g4 and a draw was agreed but only Black can g6 19.ae1 and White's pieces had b e b e t t e r wi t h W h i t e ' s t e rr ib le b is h o p . coordinated well. Nisipeanu, L (2661) Erenburg, S (2582)-Sakaev, K (2668) Popov, V (2585) Rijeka 2010. ] K h a n t y M a n s i y s k 2 0 0 5 .) 13...xf6 The logical continuation of Black's ( Lukacs gives 13...xf6 14.d2! h5 15.g5 10...c5 1487

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 previous couple of moves but now White can claim an edge. [ 10...e7 is of course a reasonable a l t e r n a t i v e . N o w 11.c1 ( 11.g4!? doesn't seem so logical if W hite cannot continue with f2-f4 but still playable. h4; 11.a4 gaining space on the queenside would be normal.) 11...c5 12.d3 is no longer logical as the knight cannot jump into f4. W h i t e c o u l d a r g u e t h a t f o l l o w i n g c4 13.de1 White has tempted Black into fixing the centre but I don't think Black should have too many problems as White has used so many tempi with his knight. ] 11.dxc5 [ 11.c4!? is another possibility but Polgar's play gives White a dynamic advantage. ] 11...xc5 [ 11...xc5 would keep the bishop pair but 12.xc5 xc5 13.a4+ f8 14.ad1 is rather awkward. ] 12.xc5 xc5 13.b5+ d7 14.g5 c7 [ 14...e7 would be another way of dealing with the threat when the computer offers the interesting idea 15.xd7+!? xd7 16.xe7 xe7 ( 16...xe7? 17.a4+ ) 17.b3 when White's safer king and superior knight vs bishop offers her the better chances. ] 15.c4! Dynamic play. Polgar needs to act fast bef ore Iordachescu can bring his king to safety. a6 16.cxd5! Ignoring the piece in order to keep the initiative and a dangerous attack. axb5 17.c1 b8 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.b3 f8?! After this Black's position is hopeless. [ 19...f7 20.xb5 c6 21.xc6 ( 21.g4!? ) 21...bxc6 22.xc6 xe5 23.xe5+ xe5 24.b7+ f8 25.d1 e8 26.d2! h5 27.c3 b5 28.xb5!? xb5 29.d8+ e8 30.a4 and Black has traded queens but still not solved all his problems. ] [ 19...c4 looks odd but does parry the th re a t t o e 6 a n d m igh t b e B la ck's b e st although W hit e keep s f ant astic play. A s a m p l e l i n e m i g h t g o 20.xb5 xc1 21.xc1 h6 22.d2 ( 22.d1 c7 23.c1 b8= ) 22...e7 23.b4 c6 24.d6 when the bishop on d6 provides enough compensation for the piece for two pawns. a7 25.h4!? f7 26.xc6!? bxc6

27.xc6 b6 28.c8+ d8 29.c4 is an interesting position where White has just three pawns for the piece but it's still not easy to see how Black is to complete his development and in the meantime White can start pushing his queenside pawns. ] [ 19...f7 20.xc8+ xc8 21.c1 b8 22.g4! e7 23.b4 d5 24.d6! would leave Black virtually paralysed. White threatens 25. Qxb8+ and 26.Rc8+ so g8 is f orced but now 25.d4! leaves White clearly on top. ] 20.xb5+ f7 21.xc8 xc8 22.c1 b8 23.g4! Removing Black's sole well placed piece. h6 [ 23...e7 would be more logical but now 24.xe7 xe7 25.c5+ ( 25.b6 d7 26.c7 looks decisive but in fact the weird d8! 27.xb7+ xb6 28.xb8+ c8 give s B la ck s o m e ch a n ce s t o h o l d t h e ending although still very good for White.) 25...f7 ( 25...e8 26.b6 ) 26.g5+ g8 A) 27.xe6!? f7 ( 27...xe6 28.c8+ xc8 29.xc8+ f8 30.e6+- ) 28.xf8 xf8 29.xf8+ xf8 30.c8+ e8 31.c7 is another great endgame for White.; B) 27.e7 xe5 28.c8 f6 ( 28...f4 29.h3 f6 ) 29.b4 threatens 30.Nxe6 so f5 is forced but 30.f3! leaves White on top, Black has to give the piece to prevent g4-g5 and Ne5. ] 24.b4! Preparing to take the seventh rank. g8 [ 24...g8 would prevent the queen swooping into e7 but 25.b6! e4 26.c7+ g6 27.h4+! xg5 28.e3+ xh4 29.g3+ g5 30.h4+ g6 31.f4 sets up a mating net. ] 25.xh6 gxh6 26.e7 A highly picturesque position. Black is a piece for two pawns up but his rook on h8 has no future while the knight on f8 isn't brilliantly placed. White has a simple plan of taking the 7th rank, picking up the b7 pawn and pushing the queenside pawns. I ord ach escu disco vers t ha t e ve n without queens he is powerless to prevent White's idea. e8 [ 26...f7 27.c7 e8 28.f6 is equally hopeless. ] 1488

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27.xb7 a4 [ 27...d3 28.h3 g6 29.c8 and with so much pressure on the seventh and eighth ranks Black won't last long. ] 28.b4! Defending the kingside and getting the passed pawn nearer home. e8 [ Of course the pawn is invulnerable. 28...xa2? 29.c7+- ] 29.e7 [ Rerouting the knight to the f6 outpost with 29.d2!? d7 30.e4 is also very strong but the game continuation is more forcing. ] 29...d7 The queen exchange doesn't lessen Black's woes. [ 29...c6 30.f6 also leaves White with a decisive attack. ] 30.c7 xe7 31.xe7 c6 32.d4 d5 33.b5 The chief problem for Black is that despite the exchanges he still cannot develop that h8 rook and so cannot stop the connected passed pawns. g6 34.c7 xe5 35.f4!? Judit continues to play tactically choosing the most aggressive moves, even in this endgame with f ew pieces lef t on the board. [ There was nothing wrong with the simple 35.b6 e.g. f7 36.c8+ g7 37.xe6+! Deflecting the bishop. f6 ( 37...xe6 38.xh8 xh8 39.b7+- ) 38.xh8 xh8 39.c5+- and the extra pawns decide. ] 35...f7 36.f5 exf5 37.xf5 Reminding B l a c k t h a t t h e re a re st il l m a t in g t h r e a t s around. e6 38.b6 xf5 39.gxf5 g7 40.b7 b8 41.a4 f6 42.a5 d6 43.a6 xf5 44.a7 g8+ 45.f2 xb7 46.xb7 a8 Black has managed to stop the pawns but only to find himself in a trivially lost rook and pawn ending. 47.e3 e5 48.xh7 c8 49.d3 d5 50.xh6 c5 51.a6 a8 52.h4 b5 53.a1 b6 54.e4 A highly entertaining game with the top woman of all time playing at her absolute best. The 4.Nd2 lines are still causing Black some problems. 1-0

1386 Polgar,Judit Prohaszka,Peter 39th TCh-GRE (7.1) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2699 2547 08.07.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 d7 6.f3 e7 7.e2 c8 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 [ Relevant: 9.a4 0-0 10.e3 ( A new example in this line is: 10.a5 a6 11.e3 a7 12.fd2 g6 13.f4 b5 14.g4 f6 15.f5 f7 16.f3 c7 17.c4 a7 18.cxd5 cxd5 19.exf6 xf6 20.e5 Draw agreed, Alvarez Pedraza, A -Oms Pallisse, J Balaguer ESP 2011, the position i s c o m p l i c a t e d .) 10...c7 11.fd2 Usually this is the preferred idea, W hite w a n t s t o p l a y c 4 c5 12.c4 cb6! Using the fact that White didn't push a5 in time . O n th e o the r ha nd, by pla yin g a 5 White does allow some other ideas. 13.a5 xc4 14.xc4 dxc4 15.xc4 cxd4 ( 15...ad8 16.c1 b8 17.f3 cxd4 18.xd4 b5 19.axb6 axb6 With unclear p l a y, t h is i s j u s t o n e p o s si b l e id e a f o r improvement.) 16.xd4 fd8 17.fc1 c5 18.d6! Only now with this move White s e i ze d t h e i n i t i a t i ve i n R u b l e vs k y , S Wojtaszek, R Warsaw 2010 ] 9...cb6 10.g4!N A real improvement in the sense that the plan that White wants can only be achieved like this. In a previous example White failed to find the right way to execute the plan: [ 10.d3 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d3 c4 13.e2 b6 14.c3 a5 15.d1 b5 16.g3 a4 17.d2 xd2 18.xd2 c5 19.h4 c8 Black's play was simply too strong, Palac, M-Topalov, V Villarrobledo 2008. ] 10...g6 11.d3 xd3 12.cxd3!? A very interesting idea that is known from some other lines in the Caro-Kann. White is simply countin g on t he f act that t he only co un t erpla y f o r B la ck is .. .c5 , an d s o b y anticipating this W hite will take once and follow with another d3-d4 to establish her centre again. c5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.xc5 xc5 15.b3 cd7 16.d4 0-0 17.a3 e8 18.c1 c8 19.d2 Such positions are simply lost for Black, a bishop pair with open 1489

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 dia go n a ls a n d t h e cen t re is to o m u ch t o handle. b8 20.e2 xc1 21.xc1 d7 22.c3 c6 23.b5 c8 24.g3 a6 25.xc6 bxc6 26.xg7+! A nice combination, switching from one side to the other. xg7 27.g5+ h8 28.e7 1-0

1387 Ponomariov,R Wang Hao FIDE GP Paris (10.4) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2756 2736 03.10.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.c3 d7 7.0-0 h6 8.a3 Ponomariov has played this before, notably in his game against Grischuk which I annotated last year. [ 8.bd2 is covered in MorozevichMamedyarov ] 8...a6!? Wang Hao delays ...c5 for the time being to see what setup White is going for [ 8...h7 was Grischuk's choice although he was slightly worse after 9.c2 c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.cd4 c6 ( 11...a6 is my suggested improvement )] 9.c2 h7 A key moment - since Black hasn't played ...c5 White has a large number of option in this position but none of them seem to offer an obvious advantage 10.fe1 [ 10.b4 doesn't really prevent ...c5 as Black s a f e ly go f o r a5 11.b5 ( 11.a3 b6! wi t h t h e p o s i t i o n a l t h r e a t o f . . . N a 4 i s slightly awkward for W hite to deal with) 11...c5 with equality ] [ 10.ce1 c5 11.d3 is very similar to the game except that after xd3 12.xd3 f5 White can't challenge the knight with Ne3 so Black is very comfortable here. ] 10...c5! Obviously Wang Hao wants to get this move in before the knight reaches d3. 11.d3 xd3 [ 11...g6!? is a slightly odd computer suggestion but it maybe that Black is doing just fine here - for example 12.g3 ( or 12.f4 c4 13.e2 h4 and Black has a good grip on key light squares) 12...c8 13.b3 ( 13.f4 c4 14.e2 e7 ) 13...b5 with a very tense middlegame ahead chances are about equal, although Black must be very careful not to

get over run by a sudden f4-f5. ] 12.xd3 c8 13.g3?! I'm not convinced by Ponomariov's play over the next few moves and he's fortunate not to end up worse [ 13.xc5 xc5 14.dxc5 xc5 15.e3 c8 16.d4 makes more sense to me when Black still has to be accurate in order to hold equality. Perhaps the safest option is g6 ( 16...g6!? is more combative 17.f4 c5 this looks risky but seems to hold together, e.g. 18.f5 exf5 19.a4+ c6! 20.xf5 0-0 ) 17.f4 g7 18.e2 0-0 but White is definitely a tiny bit better here ] 13...c7 14.e3 h5!? A useful move which is both threatening and at the same time restraining on White's kingside ambitions of f4/ g4. 15.a3 c6 16.f4 cxd4 17.cxd4 b6 Black has a solid centre and if comfortable on all areas of the board - the opening has been a def inite succe ss f o r W an g Hao . 18.e2 a5 [ 18...h4! was more aggressive and Black seems to be slightly better here after 19.d3 e7 20.f4 hxg3 21.hxg3 f5! A key move which blocks White's kingside attack 22.exf6 xf6 and with ...Ne4 coming Black has the better chances ] 19.b4 c4 20.g2 b8 21.g5 c6 22.e3 xe3 This might be a little inaccurate as White can now make use of the f-file and more important play Nf4 without having to worry about his d-pawn. [ 22...e7! was better and after 23.xc4 ( 23.xe7?! xe7 and now Black has control of the c4 outpost) 23...dxc4 24.e3 c7 25.c2 b5 26.f4 d7 and with Black's queen coming to the key d5 square he shouldn't be worse ] 23.fxe3 e7 24.xe7 xe7 25.c1 [ 25.f4 would've caused more problems, f o r e xa m p l e h4 ( 25...g6 26.d3 f5 27.d2 0-0 28.c5 is definitely more comfortable for White) 26.g4 and Black has to watch out for Nh5 ] 25...xc1 26.xc1 0-0 27.c5 d8! [ 27...xc5?! 28.bxc5 leaves Black with a backward pawn on b7 ] 28.f4 g6 29.c1 White has control of the cf ile b ut Bla ck has enou gh act ivity on th e kingside to easily hold equality f5 30.f2 g5 31.g1 b6!? 32.c3 1490

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 32.xb6? leads to big trouble after c8 ] 14.e1 with a slightly preferable game for 32...e7 33.c1 White, although Black is very solid.; [ 33.h4! was more solid and Black can't B) 10.e3 0-0 11.xf5 xf5 12.e3 really make progress after g4 34.c7 d7 13.d2 f6 and Black had no f5 35.c3 as there's no easy way to get problems in Vovk, A (2504)-Meduna, E the rook on f8 into the game as f6? allows (2392) Pardubice 2007 ] 36.c7! fxe5 37.xe5 e7 38.c1 ] 8.a3!? 33...h4 34.f3 hxg3 35.hxg3 f5 [ For 8.bd2 see the notes to Bologan[ 35...f6! would've put Ponomariov onto the Riazantsev ] defensive, e.g. 36.c7 ( not 36.exf6?! xf6 8...h7 and ...g5 will win a piece; 36.xe6?! f5+ [ 8...c7 as mentioned before this move is 37.f4 fxe5 38.dxe5 g5 ) 36...fxe5 most common in Hiarc's opening book - the 37.dxe5 f5 38.g1 b5 and only Black idea is to castle Queenside and after 9.c2 can play for a win here ] 0-0-0 10.a4 I would probably rather play 36.e1 a5 37.b5 The game now fizzles out W hite as it seems easier to open the to a draw e7 38.c3 a4 39.g4 h6 Queenside to me, however the position is a 40.c2 g7 41.c1 h4 42.g2 e7 very unusual one and it definitely needs 43.g1 h8 44.h1 g5 45.g1 e7 some practical tests. ] 46.h1 g5 47.g1 Move orders are very 9.c2 c5 10.dxc5 tricky in these Advance Caro lines but I really [ 10.c4!? was tried in an earlier game this like W ang Hao's 8...a6 waiting for a better year and now moment to play ...c5 A) 10...dxc4 11.e3 looks interesting, for ½-½ example if Black tries to hang on to the pawn he can land in some difficulties.. ( 11.a3!? d5 12.xc4 e7 13.d3 1388 B12 xd3 14.xd3 0-0 and Black is at least equal ) 11...b5 12.a4 a6 13.d5 exd5 Ponomariov,Ruslan 2734 14.xd5 and White has a dangerous Grischuk,Alexander 2763 initiative in return for the pawn; 40th Olympiad Open (8.1) 05.09.2012 B) 10...a6 this seems to be a very [Tom Rendle] sensible response 11.e3?! ( 11.cxd5 xd5 12.e3 seems more testing to me) 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 11...cxd4 12.xd4 xe5 13.cxd5 xd5 e7 6.c3 14.xd5 xd5 and White had no real [ 6.0-0 has been examined many times in compensation for the pawn in Sychev, K the archives ] (2362)-Lintchevski, D (2575) Moscow [ 6.bd2 was covered by Milos Pavlovic in 2012 ] Grischuk-Laznicka ] 10...xc5 6...h6 [ 10...c6?! doesn't seem as good after [ 6...d7 is Black's most popular response 11.b4 dxe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.b5+ to 6.c3 and I examined it with Gawain in d7 14.d4 and White has built up a Bologan-Riazantsev ] dangerous initiative for very little in return ] 7.0-0 d7 c6 Logical but it seems to give [ 7...h7 has some independent value here, 11.cd4 f o r e x a m p l e 8.a3 f5!? ( 8...d7 White some sort of edge [ 11...a6! would be my preference and now would transpose back to our main game) 12.e3 b8 followed by Ng6 to add 9.c2 e7 pressure to e5 and Black should have a A) 10.d3!? is a possible improvement for playable game ( 12...g5!? is my computer's White, for example 0-0 11.e3 ( 11.g4!? suggestion but it feels a bit loose to me )] h4 12.xh7+ xh7 13.xh4 xh4 14.f4 also looks like a dangerous idea) 12.e3 e7 13.c4 [ 13.xc6! seems more challenging, for 11...xe3 12.xh7+ xh7 13.xe3 d7 1491

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 example bxc6 14.d4 c7 15.b4 b7 ( 15...d7 16.a4 c5 17.c6! is awkward for Black - one idea being d8? 18.xe6! fxe6 19.xe6 and Black's King is caught in the centre of a dangerous attack) 16.a4 d8 17.f4 and White has pleasant control over the board ] 13...0-0 14.xc6 bxc6 15.d4 [ 15.c1! was a more critical try for an edge, e.g. c8 16.b4 d7 17.cxd5 cxd5 18.a4 and it's Black that has to be more ca ref u l f or t he mo m en t b e cau se o f t h e weakness on a7. If Black can survive he has good long term prospects due to the protected passed pawn on d5 but there is plenty of work to be done before that. ] 15...c8 Black has now pretty much equalised 16.c1 a5 17.cxd5 xd5 [ 17...cxd5 seems more logical but probably Grischuk didn't want to give W hite a Queenside majority and also the option of Nb5 ] 18.f3 e4 19.xe4 xe4 20.c2 xc2 21.xc2 fd8 An ending has been reached where only W hite can try to win but at this level I suspect Black was fairly confident of holding a draw. Still, it'd be interesting to see what would happen if say Carlsen had White here! 22.g3 d5 23.fc1 g5 24.f5 This just liquidates to a draw endgame. [ 24.c3 followed by Kg2 and b3 would keep a little tension in the position but at some stage White has to find a winning plan and there doesn't seem to be anything obvious to me! ] 24...exf5 25.xc5 xe5 26.xe7 xe7 27.xc6 xc6 28.xc6 e2 As ever activity in rook and pawn endings is crucial 29.a6 xb2 30.xa5 g7 31.a4 a2 32.g2 g4 33.xf5 An interesting game but it does seem to me that White had the chance to be better at a couple of moments so I expect to see more tests of the quiet 6.c3 ½-½

1389 Popov,Iv RUS Arutinian,D IsBank TCh-TUR 2013 (4.2) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2632 2543 02.07.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h6 5.g4 e4 6.f3 h7 7.e6 d6! This is the critical test of the variation and it's appeared in the notes to a few games but this is the first time it's appeared in a main game. [ 7...f6 is also interesting but 8.f4 b6 9.c3! led to an instructive win for White in Vachier Lagrave-Ding Liren, which I annotated earlier this year. ] 8.exf7+ xf7 9.f4! Clamping down on e5 f6 10.f3 xg4 11.h5!? The first new move for the site, although not quite a novelty this sets Black some interesting new problems. Still, with accurate play I think Black should be fine here. [ 11.h3 I considered in my notes to the V a c h i e r L a g r a v e g a m e w h e n a f t e r h5 12.e5+ g8 13.xg4 hxg4 14.xg4 xc2 15.c8 g6 chances are level. Black can force a draw after 16.c3 with g3+ 17.d2 d3+ 18.e1 g3+ and 19.e2 runs into d3+ 20.d2 a6 with a very dangerous attack as taking the rook leads to m a t e a f t e r 21.xa8?? f2+! 22.xd3 b4# ] 11...f5 [ 11...f6 was played the first time this line occurred and it seems a reasonable option although perhaps White is a little better after 12.e5+ g8 A) 13.h3 was less effective in Abhishek, K (2265)-Ankit, R (2407) New Delhi 2013 after some accurate play Black was soon doing well: e6 14.b3 f5 15.a3 d8 16.xf8 xf8 17.g6 d6! 18.e2 ( or 18.xh8 xh8 19.xf5 exf5 20.f3 bd7 and Black is taking over the centre) 18...bd7 19.d2 e8 and White was left struggling for compensation.; B) 13.c3 e6 14.e2 bd7 15.g1 and White's bind on e5 as well as g6 give him excellent compensation for the sacrificed pawn ] [ 11...e6 is perhaps Black's most flexible o p t i o n h e r e b u t W h i t e st i ll h a s d e c e n t 1492

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 compensation after 12.g1 f6 ( 12...f5 13.h4 f6 14.d3 is a little uncomfortable for Black) 13.c3 bd7 14.e5+ g8 15.e2 and we've transposed back to the variation with 11... Nf6 and 13.Nc3 with balanced chances. ( 15.d3 c5! gives Black important counterplay in the centre )] 12.c3 e6+ 13.e5+ xe5?! This works o u t b a d l y f o r A r u t i n i a n wh o n e ve r q u i t e manages to get coordinated. [ 13...g8! was better with similar positions to the ones discussed above after 14.e2 d7 15.g1 although here I slightly prefer White as Black should probably now take on e5 with gxe5 16.fxe5 maybe Black is still OK here though, after f7! with e6 to follow h i s p o s i t i o n r e m a i n s ve r y s o l i d a n d o f course Black is still a pawn up here! ] 14.fxe5 g5 [ 14...g8 15.e3 d7 16.d3 doesn't look good for Black. W hite has a simple plan of swapping bishops, castling queenside and then attacking down the open g-file. ] 15.hxg6+ xg6 16.e3 e8 17.g1 f7?! [ 17...h7 would've at least prevented Bd3 but W hite is still much better here after 18.h3! xh3 19.h5+ d7 20.xh3+ e6 21.0-0-0 ] 18.d3 xd3 [ or 18...e6 19.f1 b4 20.xf5 xc3+ 21.bxc3 exf5 22.d3 and White regains the pawn with a massive position. ] 19.xd3 g8 20.0-0-0 xg1 21.xg1 a6 22.f1 b4?! [ 22...g8 was more stubborn. White is clearly better after 23.e2 c7 24.f4 d7 but it's not so easy for White to break through here, although 25.g1 f7 26.g6! leaves Black rather tied up. ] 23.d1 g6 24.a3 a6 25.f3 d7?! Black's position was already bad but this allows a decisive breakthrough [ 25...g7? loses to 26.g1 f7 27.g4 f8 28.g2! ] [ 25...g8 hangs on for the time being although W hite should be winning af ter 26.h5+ d8 27.e2 ] 26.xd5! c7 [ 26...cxd5 loses to 27.xd5+ c7 28.e6!

e8 29.f4+ b6 30.f3 and Black is facing massive material losses. ] 27.f4 f5 28.g2 A fantastic attacking game f rom Popov that shows just how d a n ge r o u s t h i s p a wn s a cr i f ic e is . B l a c k players should not despair though as 11...Nf6 and 13...Kg8 seem like clear improvements over the game. 1-0

1390 B12 Popov,Iv RUS 2652 Pantsulaia,L 2595 2nd Hyderabad GM Open 2013 (11.2) 03.12.13 [Tom Rendle] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 b6!? This move has only been see once before on t h i s si t e in J o n e s - S t o k k e , a n n o t a t e d b y Gawain and now we see what I believe to be a novelty in reply f rom Popov. The game certainly achieves originality rather quickly! 5.h5!? This move may be new but it's also quite logical as it prevents Black from playing ...h5 at a later stage and halting W hite's kingside aggression. Black obviously has a lot of possible replies so I'll take a look at a few of them. [ 5.e2 h6 6.c4!? was the line chosen by Gawain in the above game. ] 5...a6 [ 5...h6 is a safe option and after 6.g4!? h7 we se e a st a n d a rd pa wn sa crif ic e wit h ( 6...d7 7.c4! should be a little better for White ) 7.e6! fxe6 8.d3 and now in Grandelius, N (2566)-Tari, A (2263) Reykjavik 2013 White got an edge after f6 ( 8...c5! is more critical when after 9.xh7 xh7 10.d3 f6 11.f3 cxd4 12.g6+ d8 13.0-0 c6 Black should be doing at least OK ) 9.xh7 xh7 10.d3 bd7 11.g6+ d8 12.f3 c8 13.c3 with excellent compensation for the pawn ] [ 5...h6 is the computer's choice but it looks a little strange to me. It's hard to prove an edge for W hite but one sensible idea is 6.e2 planning to come to g3 and now f6! 7.exf6 gxf6!? 8.g3 d7 reaches a very unclear middlegame - but with Black having a decent mass of central 1493

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pawns I think he should be OK here and he has a plan of ...Na6 and ...0-0-0. ] [ 5...c5 straight away is also an important option but it seems a little premature as after 6.dxc5 xc5 7.c3 e6 8.e3 b4 W hite has the strong pawn sacrifice 9.a3! xb2 ( 9...a5? 10.g4! e4 11.f3 d4 12.xd4 c6 13.b4 is already winning for White ) 10.b5 d7 11.f3 stopping Black from castling. W ith Nfd4 coming W hite's initiative is very dangerous already. ] 6.g4 [ 6.a3 might look slow but it's hard to find a good move for Black here, for example h6 7.c3 e6 8.g4 h7 9.f3 e7 10.b4 and White has a lot of control over the board - although obviously if the position ever opens up the pawn moves may turn out to be weaknesses. ] 6...d7 7.c3 e6?! This move obviously isn't terrible but I do think Pantsulaia misses an opportunity with this move. [ 7...h6! is annoying for White to deal with. T h e m o v e s e n s i b l e m o v e h e r e i s 8.f3 but I like Black's chances after f6! 9.xh6 gxh6 10.xa6 xa6 11.exf6 exf6 12.d2 0-0-0 13.0-0-0 f5! ] 8.a4 [ maybe White should simply develop with 8.f3 and then aim for a quick a4-a5. He may be a little better after c5 ( 8...0-0-0?! 9.a4 b4 10.a5! xa5 11.d2 and White has excellent play for the pawn as Black's king is about to be in real danger.) 9.a4! c4 10.g2 0-0-0 11.0-0 but honestly this position is very difficult to assess! ] 8...c7 9.xa6 a5+! 10.c3 xa6 11.c5 xc5 12.dxc5 b5 13.b3! [ 13.d4?! b6! at least equalises for Black after 14.b4 ( or 14.cxb6?! c5 15.b7 b8 and Black is better) 14...bxc5 15.xc5 xc5 16.bxc5 b8 ] 13...h6 Finally the position has stabilised and White has a very slight advantage here. It's opposite colour bishops and W hite's darksquared bishop definitely has more potential and that more than makes up for his slight weakened pawn structure. 14.e3 e7 15.f3 0-0? This is asking too much from Black's position as Popov shows that his kingside attack is far more potent than

anything Black can muster on the queenside. [ 15...0-0-0 16.xb5 cxb5 17.d4 is definitely better for W hite but it will be tough to break from Black's position here as he has such good control of the light squares. ] 16.c2! Keeping the queens on the for coming attack b6 [ 16...h8 is perhaps a better defensive try but W hite is still clearly better after 17.g5 f5 18.gxh6 gxh6 19.d4 c4 20.xf5 exf5 21.d4 h7 22.b3! b5 23.0-0-0 ] 17.g5 f5 The only move to offer up any defence but already Black is in a lot of trouble [ 17...hxg5 fails to 18.xg5 ( 18.h6 should also win) 18...f6 ( or 18...f5?! 19.h6 gxh6 20.f6 fe8 21.0-0-0 and Black is getting mated or losing huge amounts of material.) 19.h6! fxg5 20.hxg7 f5 21.d4 a6 22.xf5 xf5 23.h8+ xg7 24.xa8 ] 18.gxh6 xe3 [ 18...gxh6 loses to 19.xh6! xh6 20.g1+ h8 21.d2 f5 22.d4 ] 19.fxe3 xc5 20.d4! Popov is in no rush here, he simply prevents any counterplay as he knows that there is no possible defence for B l a c k o n t h e k i n g s i d e gxh6 21.f1! another very accurate move preparing to bring the rook to f6. It's all over now g7 22.0-0-0 e7 23.f6 h8 24.df1! ag8 25.f2 e8 [ 25...f8 allows 26.g1+ h7 27.c2# ] 26.xe6+! xe6 [ 26...fxe6 27.g1+ i s m a t e i n 4 : h7 28.c2+ g6 29.fxg6 g5 30.6xg5+ g6 31.xg6# ] 27.xe6 fxe6 28.g1+ After a strange start to the game Popov wins in impressive fashion but I don't think 5.h5 is White's most testing move again st 4 ...Qb 6 so prob ably W hit e players should stick to 5.Ne2. 1-0

1494

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1391 Pruess,David Fridman,Daniel Copper State Int B (9) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2361 2654 09.06.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 When I did my survey of the Fantasy Variation, this was the only Black response that I didn't cover. This was primarily due to the lack of recent high rated games in the line coupled with the fact that I think this is an extremely risky method of countering the opening. Of course the line is critical if Black gets a good position from this then the Fantasy Variation is busted, bur White's play against f7 looks to give him a great game. 5.f3 g4 [ 5...e6 doesn't equalise. 6.c3 f6 7.d3 bd7 8.0-0 d6 A) Pete Wells gives 9.h1 0-0 10.e3 c5 11.d5 xd5 12.exd5 ( 12.e2! GJ win s a piece f o r a co up le p awns.) 12...e4 13.a3 in his Caro Kann book.; B) 9.g5 e7 10.xe6 xe6 11.f3 ( 11.d2!? is mo re f le xib le) 11...0-0 12.g5 g4?! ( 12...c7 13.h1 is roughly balanced) 13.xg4 xg4 14.h3 h6 15.h4 gf6 16.d2 favours White with his bishop pair. Doros, R-Paval, G Baile Olanesti 2010. ] [ 5...exd4?! has a reputation as being extremely risky 6.c4 A) 6...e7 7.0-0 f6 8.g5 0-0 9.xf7 xf7 10.xf7+ xf7 11.e5 g8 12.exf6 xf6 13.d2 d5 14.e2 was reached twice by Khademi in a recent tournament. This rather begs the question why the second player followed the first game for so long. W hite has extra material and I can't see anywhere near enough compensation. A1) 14...d7 15.e4 e5 16.f4 a6 17.xe5 xe5 18.f3 d5 19.ae1 b5? White already had a clear advantage but this allowed a kill with 20.f6+! ( Instead 20.a3 was played and White won eventually. Khademi, MK h o d a s h e n a s , M M a s h h a d 2 0 1 0 .) 20...gxf6 21.xf6 followed by Re7 is mating.; A2) 14...e6 15.e4 ( 15.f3

is the most accurate, threatening 16.Bg5 h6 16.e1 f7 17.e5 ) 15...d7 16.xf6+ xf6 17.f4 e8 18.e5?! ( 18.ae1 ) 18...c4 19.h6 f7? ( 19...xc2 20.xg7 d5 21.g5 e5 22.g3 e3 23.g5= and Black would have stumbled upon a draw.) 20.g5 h5 21.ae1 xc2 22.xe8+ xe8 23.e7 1-0 Khademi, M-Rahmani, A Mashhad 2010.; B) 6...c5?! also resulted in a quick White victory. 7.0-0 e6? ( 7...f6 looks to be forced but the position is hardly a p p e t i s i n g .) 8.xe6 fxe6 9.g5 and W hite's advantage was already decisive. h6 10.xe6 e7 11.h5+ g6 12.e5 f7 13.c7+ d7 14.d5+ d6 15.e5 c6 16.exd6 xd6 17.xd6+ xd6 18.xa8 xa8 19.a3 e8 20.f4 xf4 21.xf4 1-0 Filev, GKrustev, V Sofia 2010.; C) 6...e6 7.xe6 fxe6 8.0-0 White has a strong initiative down the f file and a definite advantage. A recent game proved White's attacking potential. e7?! ( 8...f6 looks to be Black's best but I'm far from convinced that his position is playable after 9.e5 e4 10.xd4 c5 11.c3 ) 9.xd4 d6 10.f4 e5 11.h5+ g6 12.xg6+ hxg6 13.xe5 f6 14.xf6 gxf6 when White had both the p a wn a n d t h e i n it i a t ive . Ca st a ld o , F Ljubisavljevic, Z Turin 2010. ] 6.c4 d7 7.0-0 gf6 8.g5 deviating from the archives but I'm not sure this is an improvement. [ 8.c3 which was analysed by Rowson and Volzhin in the archives and is probably White's strongest. The line continued: d6 A) 9.g5 c7 ( 9...0-0 10.bd2 c7 11.e1 h5 12.h1 ae8 13.h4 g6 14.ae1 Pickersgill, A-Lock, G Hastings 2009. ) 10.h3 h5 11.bd2 h6 12.e3 0-0-0 13.b3 hf8 14.ae1 g6 15.f2 h5 16.a4 exd4 17.cxd4 g3 18.e5 and White started to take over. Dvirnyy, DVezzosi, P Torino 2010.; B) 9.e1 0-0 10.bd2 c7 11.h4 h5? A blunder ( 11...h6 should have been played with an unclear position.) 12.dxe5 xe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.xf6 1495

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf6 15.xh5 Arribas Lopez, A-Aranaz Murillo, A Malaga 2010. and W hite had picked up material.; C) 9.b3 A strange twin of the game continuation in which Black plays ...Qb6 also hitting the two pawns. 0-0 10.xb7 exd4 11.cxd4 b6 12.b3 ( 12.d3 xf3 13.xf3 f4! was Black's strong idea. ) 12...xe4 13.xc6? ( 13.c3 GJ xc3 14.bxc3 looks a little better for White. ) 13...xf3 14.xf3 c8 (GJ) when Black had a great initiative. ] [ 8.e3 didn't impress exd4 9.xd4 c5 10.c3 e7 11.bd2 0-0 ( 11...0-0-0!? ) 12.c2 xf3 13.gxf3 e5 14.h1 ad8 15.b3 b6 16.e2 g6 17.g1 h5 a n d B la c k wa s b e t t e r . M u n g u n t u u l , B Dzagnidze, N Nalchik 2010 ] 8...xf3 [ 8...e7 9.xf6?! Why give up the bishop? ( 9.c3 looks stronger, e4 is hardly en prise xe4? 10.xf7+! xf7 11.xe5+ e8 12.xg4 xg5 13.h5+ g6 14.xg6 is terrible.) 9...xf6 10.c3 0-0 11.bd2 exd4 12.cxd4 xd4+ 13.h1 xb2 14.b1 f6 15.xb7 c8 and White has no compensation for the sacrificed pawn ( 15...b6? 16.xf7 xf7?! 17.xf7+ xf7 18.e5+ g8? 19.b3+ was a disastrous se rie s of mo ve s. Hash em i, S -Ta rini, G Kemer 2009. )] [ 8...b6! exploits White's last hitting both b2 and d4. A) 9.bd2!? exd4 10.e5 d5 may be seen if the line becomes more popular. ( 10...xe5? 11.e1! ); B) 9.xf6 gxf6 10.xf7+!? when instead of t he we t d8? Le Borgne, P-Guillot, M Hennebont 2006 Black really should take the piece and force W hite to prove s o m e t h i n g . ( 10...xf7 11.g5+ e8 12.xg4 fxg5 White has some compensation but it's doubtful whether it's really enough. )] 9.xf3 b6 10.d2 xd4+ [ 10...h6 A) The less dramatic 11.xf6 xd4+ ( 11...xf6 12.b3 f a vo u rs W h it e .) 12.h1 xf6 13.ad1 gives White decent compensation for the pawn.; B) 11.h3 hxg5 12.xh8 xd4+

13.h1 xd2 14.ad1 xc2 15.xf7+ xf7 16.xd7+ g6 17.h3 xe4 is a long forced line. ( 17...xd7 18.f5+ h6 19.h3+= and the players retire early to the bar!) 18.e6 was exceedingly co m p l e x. N a rm o n t a s, M - S t a r o s t i t s , I Lithuania 2007. ] 11.h1 b5 12.b3 e7 [ Only a computer would want to grab the pawn 12...xb2 Black now has two extra pawns but is a long way behind in d e v e l o p m e n t . 13.f5 e7 14.f3 and W hite's initiative looks rather dangerous. ] 13.ad1 b6 [ 13...xb2 is looking even riskier but maybe now Black needs to grab the material. Again W hite would continue with 14.f5 0-0 15.f3 with good practical chances. ] 14.f5 d8? Underestimating White's attack. It was better to keep the option of castling queenside open. [ 14...c7 15.f3 0-0-0 although White has a choice between recapturing the pawn or 16.a4 both with better chances. ] 15.f3 g6?! It wasn't Fridman's day but the position was already difficult. [ 15...c7 fails to 16.xf6 xf6 17.xf7+! xf7 18.g5+ e8 19.e6 b7 20.xg7+ f7 21.xd8 xd8 22.h5+but that would at least force White to show some accuracy. ] [ You know you're in trouble when the computer's top suggestion is the extremely ugly 15...f8 when Black is unlikely to survive for long following 16.xe5 ] 16.xe5! The queen is untouchable. f8 [ 16...0-0 is really castling into it and allows 17.xg6! hxg6 18.xg6+ h8 19.h6+ g8 20.d3! with mate shortly. ] [ 16...gxf5 17.xf7+ f8 18.h6# was of course the point. ] 17.f4 xe5 18.xe5 xd1 19.xd1 Black doesn't even have a pawn for his rotten position and by now was just trying to get the game out of miniature territory. g8 20.xe7 xe7 21.d6 g8 22.d7+ f8 23.xf7! xf7 24.f1+ g7 25.xe7+ h6 26.f3 A disaster for Fridman. The 3...dxe4, 4...e5 line is rather risky for Black in practice even if objectively his position should be ok. 8.Bg5 is 1496

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 an interesting idea but I think 8...Qb6! would have been a strong riposte. However I still don't see how Black is to equalise after 8.c3. 1-0

1392 Radjabov,T Ding Liren 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (8.1) [Neil McDonald]

B12 2724 2742 10.08.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5!? Black takes the chance to attack d4 as quickly as possible rather than develop a knight with [ 5...d7 or ] [ 5...e7 ] 6.e3! An aggressive reply that forces Black to tread carefully. cxd4 This variation has been under a cloud lately but Ding Liren's eighth move might revitalise it. [ The alternative was 6...b6 which is well analysed in the archives. ] 7.xd4 e7 8.0-0 a6!? Ding Liren is willing to spend a tempo to stop the white bishop going to b5. At first glance this seems reckless, as White can surely use his lead in development to inflict a structural weakness on Black. But as we shall see, the Chinese Grandmaster has everything worked out. Black has a hard life after [ 8...bc6 9.b5 as you can check out in the archives. ] 9.c4! The obvious riposte to Black's slow pawn move. The centre is opened up while the black queenside is sleeping and the black king is still at least two moves away from castling. bc6! The black horse springs to the centre now that it can no longer be harassed by Bb5. [ The only other game in this line was hardly a n a d v e r t i s e m e n t f o r 8 . . . a 6 : 9...dxc4? Black has pushed his luck already and can't afford another non-developing move. 10.a3 ( It might be more precise to go to c4 via d2 with 10.d2 -see the next note.) 10...bc6 ( Black could make the best of a bad job with 10...b5 11.f3 d7 12.xa8 xa8 with some compensation for the exchange. In that case W hite would have

done better to have the knight on d2 rather than a3. ) 11.xc4 d5 12.xf5 exf5 13.f3 ( E v e n s t r o n g e r w a s 13.b3 hitting b7 and with the deadly pin 14. Rad1 in mind. ) 13...xe3 14.xe3 xe5 15.e2 xf3+ 16.xf3 Black has no time to mobilise his bishop and castle. f4 17.f5 c5 18.ae1+ f8 19.c3 Hitting both c5 and g7. Black could resign. d4 20.xd4 c8 21.f3 g5 22.d5 h6 23.f5 c6 24.e5 1-0 Atlas, V (2470)-Renzi, N/ Yerevan 199697 ] 10.cxd5 I imagine Ding Liren must have checked all the lines carefully with a computer to convince himself Black is OK. It looks scary but he is just in time to be equal in all scenarios e.g. [ 10.xf5 xf5 11.cxd5 xe3 12.fxe3 xd5 13.xd5 exd5 14.c3 d8 15.f3 xe5 16.xd5 d7 and Black is ready to develop his bishop with no problems. ] [ 10.xc6 xc6 11.cxd5 xd5 12.xd5 exd5 13.d1 d8 14.f3 xe5 15.xd5 d7! notice how the black rook is again the hero. It def e nds the secon d rank, af te r which Black is again ready to develop his kingside with equality. ] 10...xd5 11.xc6 bxc6 12.a4 Bla ck' s po sit io n lo o ks crit ica l du e t o h is weaknesses along the c-file, but the powerful knight on d5 saves him. d7 13.d1 b7! As with 8...a6, here Black is more interested in safeguarding his queenside than developing his pieces. He breaks the pin on the d-file so as not to have to struggle with a positionally worse game after [ 13...e7 14.c3 0-0 15.g4!? ( this looks even better than 15.xd5 exd5 16.ac1 ) 15...g6 16.xd5 exd5 17.ac1 fc8 18.f4 when the weakness on c6 is cumbersome and W hite's kingside pawns are mobile. ] 14.f3 [ Here 14.c3 fails for White after xe3 15.fxe3 c5! ] 14...e7 15.xd5 exd5 16.d2 0-0 17.b3 Threatening 18.Na5. White is hoping to stabilise the position on the queenside so that he can exploit the weak c6 pawn and the dark square holes in Black's position on c5 a n d d 4 i n t h e s t yl e o f t h e f a m o u s g a m e 1497

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 R u b i n s t e i n - S a l w e , L o d z 1 9 0 8 . c2! Technique has moved on in the last hundred years. Ding Liren knows he mustn't allow W hite a queenside bind. 18.dc1 xb3 19.axb3 fc8 20.c5 h6! Black is willing to go down a pawn temporarily as he sees it will burn out to a draw. Instead White might have a small edge after [ 20...xc5 21.xc5 ] 21.xe7 xe7 22.xc6 xe5 23.xc8+ xc8 24.xa6 b8 25.d3 [ Black has many ways to equalise after 25.c1 f o r e xa m p l e g6 26.c8+ xc8 27.xc8+ h7 28.g3 xb2 ] 25...xb2 26.b1 e5 27.g3 d6 28.d1 d4 29.xd4 xd4 30.xd4 xb3 Not the most exciting game, but it was very tense in the opening and features a much needed improvement for Black. ½-½

1393 Rausis,Igors Salem,Abdulrahman Open, Sharjah (2) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2495 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.a3!? The Advance Caro never ceases to amaze me. In a system thought rather limited, at least until roughly ten years ago, all manner of new ideas are emerging. It seems that W hite is trying to f ind the best possible way of preparing c2-c4! c5 6.c4 How can we scribe th is m ove ? I s it ju st so m e th ing un u su a l, guaranteed to bemuse a weaker opponent? Is it a well-thought out tactical shot? I am not s u r e - a l l I k n o w i s t h a t i t w o r k s ! dxc4 Black doesn't have an easy choice. In each line it proves difficult to develop the Kingside pieces: [ 6...c6 This may be OK. 7.cxd5 exd5 8.c3 c4!? A wedge in White's position. 9.e2 a5 10.e3 b3 11.a2 O f c o u rs e t h is is p re c is e ly t h e t yp e o f position that a lower rated player would find difficult to judge. One needs confidence to play in this manner with Black. There's a danger that the Knight on b3 will be evicted and a Kingside pawn storm will follow. ]

[ 6...cxd4 just seems bad: 7.xd4 xb1 8.xb1 dxc4 9.a4+! d7 10.f3 a6 11.xc4 ] 7.xc4 c6 8.e3 cxd4 9.xd4 a5+ 10.c3 xe5N Having played the check, it is consistent to take on e5, but Rausis must have been very, very happy at this point. White is fully developed after his next move and ready to begin the assault on the centralised Black King.. [ 10...0-0-0?! was tried in the following, brief clash. It is far too encouraging. 11.0-0 xe5 12.xc6 bxc6 13.a6+ c7 14.f3 I just don 't think t hat Black can def en d anymore and, sure enough, Videki finds an attractive f inish : a5 15.b5+ cxb5 16.b7+ d6 17.b4 1-0 Videki, S-Zoister, S/Aschach 1999 Just look at that Black Kingside!! ] 11.0-0 d8 12.xc6! bxc6 13.a4 d6? [ 13...c7 14.xa7 xa7 15.xa7 d6 16.a4 f6 17.a5 was a much better chance for Black. He's no doubt worse with the a pawn and the backward pawn on c6 but it's a gam e . As p la ye d S alem just do es n't believe in his position anymore. ] 14.xc6+ f8 15.g3 The 'threat' is easily repelled. e7 16.a6 g6 17.fe1 And now Black's position is just horrid. h4 [ 17...f6 18.ad1 ] 18.e2 [ 18.f4! 7 Fritz f3+ ( 18...f6 19.gxh4 xh4 20.f1 d7 21.c6 g4+ 22.h1+- ) 19.f2 f6 20.xf3 ] 18...h3 19.f4 So how about 5 a3!?and 6 c4. At least you know about it now..... 1-0

1394 Robson,Ray Khairullin,Ildar Aeroflot Open (7) [John Watson]

B12 2455 2574 23.02.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c4 cxd4 This may require reassessment. [ 4...c6 5.f3 is Vyoshin-Rozum. ] 5.f3!? I thought that this was the most promising move, but the game seems to show that Black gets plenty of play. You'll have to 1498

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 check the notes to see if White can improve. [ 5.xd4! is given in Wells and needs serious analysis: e6 6.cxd5 . Now he gives 6... exd5 7 Nc3 Be6 8 Nf4 but as I analysed in an earlier column, Black can deviate from that with c6 . Then I give 7 Bb5 Qxd5, when Black has free play and no problems, b u t n o w I ' d r e c o m m e n d 7.a4 xd5 ( 7...exd5 8.b5 d7 9.f3 a6 10.xc6 bxc6 11.0-0 makes Black's development slightly awkward, since trying to get both kingside pieces out by c5 12.bd2 e7 allows White to shoot for the dark squares after 13.b3 b6 14.e3 0-0 15.xb6 xb6 16.ac1 . Naturally, Black has options to look into) 8.f3 b4+ 9.c3 with the idea e4+!? 10.d1 ( 10.e2?? xc3+ 11.bxc3 xa4 ) 10...f5 11.b5! . Again, this line is hardly clear and both sides can deviate. ] 5...g4 6.cxd5 xd5 7.c3 xf3 [ Another game this month finds Black within range of equalising, but still with problems: 7...d7 8.b5 c6 9.xd4 xf3 ( 9...xd4 10.xd4 c8 11.xd7+ xd7 12.0-0 e6 13.e3 with better development and some extra space, although this seems a manageable edge from Black's point of view ) 10.xd7+ xd7 11.gxf3 e6 12.e3 ( or 12.f4 ) 12...ge7 13.a4!? ( this doesn't seem as good as 13.f4 a6 14.d3; or 13.0-0 a6 14.fd1+; or 13.0-0-0+ c7 14.xc6 xc6 15.b5+ c8 16.b1! a6 17.c3 with the idea xe5 18.a4 ) 13...f5 14.0-0-0+ ( 14.c1 ) 14...c7 15.f4 a6 16.xc6?! xc6 17.d2 xe3 18.fxe3 c5 19.e1 hd8 20.c2 b4 21.g1 g6 22.a3 xc3 23.xc3+ b6 1/2-1/2 Leniart, A -Khairullin, Budva MNE 2009. ] 8.xd5 xd1 9.c7+ d7 Probably an improvement over [ 9...d8 10.xa8 c2! In the January update (Hector-Khenkin), I recommended 6 cxd5 and at this point continued 11.d2! ( 11.b4!? ) 11...c6 ( 11...e6 12.c1 e4 13.a5+ b6 14.xb6! ) 12.c1 e4 ( 12...d3 13.h4! e6 14.h3 xe5 15.f4 ) 13.e6! fxe6 14.b4 , etc ] 10.xa8 c2 11.e6+? It's important to hold on to this pawn as long as possible. Better is

[ 11.d2 c6 12.c1 A) 12...d3! looks best. It can be met by the cleve r 13.h4! , with the idea Rh3 and Bxd3, e.g., e6 ( 13...xe5 14.h3 e6 15.f4 ) 14.h3 ge7! 15.xd3 xd3 16.xd3+ d5 17.b4 b5 18.a4!? bxa4 19.e2 with an obscure position, since xb4 20.xb4 xa8 21.d2 xe5 22.d4 c6 23.xa4 is not yet clear.; B) 12...e4 13.e6+! (this time it works) xe6 ( 13...fxe6 14.b4 ) 14.f3 g6 15.a6! with a clear edge. ] 11...xe6 12.f4 [ 12.c7+ d7 13.b5 c6 gives Black two p a wn s a n d a mo b ile ce n tre f o r t h e exchange. ] [ 12.c4+ isn't much better: d7 13.c7? ( 13.xf7 c6 ) 13...xc7 14.f4+ e5! 15.xe5+ c8 16.c1 ( 16.xd4 c6 17.c3 g6 ) 16...c6 ] 12...c6 13.d2 g6 14.b5 d7 W hite simply stands much worse, and will even have trouble getting his knight out. [ 14...f5!? 15.g3 ( 15.xc6 bxc6 16.b8 e5! 17.xa7 f6 with a strong attack ) 15...e5 must also favour Black. ] 15.e5 [ 15.a3 f6 16.hd1 d5! ] 15...f6 16.ac1 e6 17.c7 [ 17.a3 d6! and the knight on a8 falls. ] 17...b4+ Beginning a forced and winning sequence. 18.e2 d3+ 19.f3 h5+ 20.g3 e4+ 21.h4 e2 22.f3 e7+ 23.h5 f6+ [ 23...f6! ] 24.xf6 gxf6 25.a6 d2 26.xc6 xb5 27.c7+ d6 28.d1 xa6 29.c3 e5 30.xd2+ e6 0-1

1395 Rublevsky,Sergei Laznicka,Viktor TCh-SRB Premier Men (6.4) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2684 2681 01.09.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 This move can have independent meaning although it may often transpose to the normal 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 line. e6 5.b3 c5 6.dxc5 1499

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc5 7.xc5 a5+ 8.c3 xc5 9.e3 c7 10.f4 I am not so sure that giving up the bishop pair can equalize here. e7 11.f3 bc6 [ 11...d7 12.d4 a6 13.e2 e4 14.0-0 g6 15.c1 f5 16.f2 h5 17.xf5 ( 17.c4! White should simply ignore this and play his main idea, which would give him the advantage.) 17...gxf5 ( 17...xf5 18.c4 White is undisputedly better.) 18.xh5 b5 19.e2 f6 20.g3 e7 21.exf6+ xf6 22.b3 ag8 23.d4 f7 24.a4 bxa4 25.bxa4 The situation is not clear now, for a pawn Black has serious counterplay. b7 26.f2 xg3! 27.hxg3 g6! 28.ff1 h7 29.f2 h2 30.g1 b8 31.e5 b2 32.xe6 d3? ( 32...g7! 33.e7+ g6 And draw by repetition.) 33.h1! winning, Kosintseva, N -Khurtsilava, I/Tbilisi 2011. ] 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0 e4 14.d2 g6 15.b3 White finds another outpost to control the c5 and d4 squares. fd8 16.f3 a5 17.e2 ec6 18.fd1 I am not so sure that Rublevsky should play this move, Rad1 or Rf e 1 was mo re to t he point . S om ewh ere be t we e n m ove s 1 8 a n d 2 1 W hit e sho u ld organize better in order to get an advantage. c4 19.f2 b5 20.d4 xd4 21.xd4 a5 22.ac1 a4 23.a3 a5 24.f2 a6 25.e1 [ 25.h4 h6 26.h5 h7 27.e2 b8 28.d3 b3 29.xh7+ xh7 30.c2 c6 31.e2 c4 32.f5 This was another way to play but wa s p r o b a b l y n o t g o o d e n o u g h f o r a n advantage either. ] 25...b3 26.cd1 c6 27.g4 While watching the game live I was under the impression that White was better throughout, b u t B l a c k m a n a g e d t o e q u a l i z e . xd4 28.xd4 c4 29.ed1 f8! 30.e3 [ 30.e2 f5 This would give us the same type of position as in the game. ] 30...f5! It seems that this saves Black just in time. 31.g5 [ 31.exf6 xf6 32.g2 h6 With approximate equality. ] 31...b8 32.e2 f8 33.xc4 bxc4 Simply ignoring the rook on c4 ends White's chances to play for a win. 34.4d2 b5 35.f1 b7 36.ff2 g8 37.d4 f8 38.f1 g8 39.e1 f8 40.d1 g8

41.c1 f8 42.f3 g8 43.h3 f8 ½-½

1396 Rublevsky,Sergei Morozevich,Alexander TCh Sochi RUS (2) [John Watson]

B12 2680 2762 03.05.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 Another one of those irritating little 4th moves that White has been fooling around with a lot recently. The idea is to go to b3 and discourage ...c5. White has also played 4 Nf3, 4 g4, 4 h4, 4 Be3, 4 c4, 4 c3 and 4 Ne2! And maybe others? e6 5.b3 d7 6.f3 [ 6.e2 e7 7.g3 g6 8.d3 c5! 9.dxc5 c6 is solid for Black. ] 6...c7 [ 6...g6 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 f5 9.c3!? e7 10.g4 h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 f5! 13.exf6 xf6 14.d3 xd3 15.xd3 g6 was Delchev-Schlosser, Besancon FRA 2003 Martin seemed to think Black was okay. Still, 16.e1 e7 17.g5 g7 18.h3 looks better for White, e.g., f8 19.c5 f7? ( 19...0-0-0 20.xe6 xe6 21.xe6 d7 22.d2 ) 20.f5! gxf5 21.f4 with a bind on the position. ] [ 6...e7 is logical. Then similar to the game was 7.e2 g4?! 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 c5 10.c3!? ( 10.xc5 xc5 11.dxc5 c6 12.e3 xe5 13.e2 wi t h a n e d g e) 10...c6 11.0-0 e7 12.e2 0-0 13.f4 cxd4 14.cxd4 b6 15.h1 f6 16.f3 f7 17.e3 with a nice space advantage. RausisHole, Gausdal NOR 2007. ] 7.d3 g4?! [ 7...xd3 8.xd3 e7 9.0-0 g6 White has a simple space advantage, but Black stands solidly. ] 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 Now White has two good bishops and need only get his pieces out to claim an advantage. Thus: c5!? 10.dxc5 xc5?! [ 10...xe5+ 11.e3 gf6 12.0-0-0 is dangerous for Black, although his two centre pawns may compensate some for his lack of development. ] [ 10...xc5 11.b5+ d7 12.0-0 a6 1500

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.xd7+ xd7 is a bit slow but again Black 13.exd5 exd5 14.g2 has no weaknesses. ] [ One of the g experts in this line, French GM 11.xc5 xc5 12.b5+ d7 13.0-0 Igor Nataf, introduced a very interesting idea [ 13.xd7+ xd7 14.g3 is also a little - 14.h6!? Nataf-Volzhin, Stockholm 2000. I awkward f or Black, whose strategy has s u f f e r e d a t e r r i b l e d e f e a t a f t e r g6?! obviously gone awry. ] ( L a t e r B l a c k i m p r o v e d w i t h 14...d7!? 13...e7 14.g5 Ma l a kh o v-G a l ki n , L a u sa n n e 2 0 0 0 a n d [ 14.a3 ] quickly succeeded : 15.e6 fxe6 16.xe6 14...f5 15.c4 h6 16.cxd5?! e7 17.e2 de5! 18.hxg7 xg7 [ Although it's not obvious, a very strong 19.xg7+ xg7 20.h6 e7 21.h5 move is 16.f4! a6 ( 16...dxc4 17.fd1 ) g8! 22.a3 b4 23.h3 g6! 24.a4 d3 17.xd7+ xd7 18.ad1! d8? 19.cxd5 25.cxd3 xh6! and White resigned. There is exd5 20.d2! threatening Ba5 is a typical all sorts of scope for future investigation F r i t z i d e a , wi t h a l a r g e a d v a n t a g e f o r and undoubtedly we'll see more of this line White. ] in the near future.) 15.g2 b4+ 16.d2! 16...d4 17.d3 xb5 18.dxe6? xd2+ 17.xd2 0-0 18.xd5 d7 19.0-0 [ 18.e3! a6 19.f4 gives White a lot of dxe5 20.g5! Black's position is very compensation. ] difficult in view of the poor position of his 18...hxg5 19.exf7+ f8 20.e6 c5 King. c4 21.f4 d6 22.f6! xf6 21.xb5 xe6 It turns out that Black is a 23.xf6+ h8 24.d7 and White is piece up for what will be 2 pawns, and he has winning. ] attacking chances of his own. 22.fd1 a6 14...b4+ 23.a4 h4 24.a3+ xf7 25.ac1 e7 [ In the game Svetushkin-Sargissian, 26.b3 b4 27.f3+ g8 28.e1 f7 Yerevan 2000 Black pref erred 14...xe5 29.d5 e8 and after 15.xd5 bc6 16.h6 d6 [ Or 29...f4 ] 17.f4 0-0-0 obtained good play: 18.e2 30.c3 b5 31.d6 f4 32.ce3 xe3 e6 19.b6+ c7 20.xb5 g5 21.h2 33.fxe3 h5 34.f1 f6 35.e4 e8 d6 22.0-0-0 xa2 23.hf1 he8 36.c7 xe4 24.xe5 xe5 25.d5+ b8 26.xf7 e7 0-1 27.f5 d3! A decisive combination. 28.xe5 b4 29.c3 ( 29.xb4 d2+ 30.xd2 a1# ) 29...a1+ 30.d2 xb2+ 31.xd3 1397 B12 xe5+ 32.e4 xg2+ 33.xe5 g3+ 34.f5 f3+ 35.xg5 g8+ and White Salmensuu,Olli 2458 resigned. This idea needs further practical Volzhin,Alexander 2556 tests. ] Gausdal 2000 15.f1 xe5 16.xd5 d6 17.h6 g6 [Alexander Volzhin] 18.xd4 0-0 Still well-known theory! Up to 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 now we are following the game Sutovskyg6 6.ge2 e7 We took a look at this line Christiansen. 19.g5?! A novelty but of rather last year when this defence was at the height dubious merits. [ 19.b6 as was played in the above of its popularity. Since then many interesting mentioned game is better. ] games have been played, and the line has p r o v e d i t s v i a b i l i t y. 7.f4 c5 8.h4 19...bd7! Preparing 20...f6. [ My opponent had studied Sutovsky's This move used to be played automatically comments from Chess Informant-75 and but early in 2000 Shirov discovered that was ready with a prepared improvement: [ 8.dxc5!? is a very interesting alternative 19...bc6 20.b6 c8 21.f6+! and it quickly became very fashionable. Much better than Sutovsky's ( 21.h3?! f5 We'll consider it in the next game. ] 22.gxf6 g4 with a strong attack for Black.) 8...cxd4 9.b5 ec6 10.h5 e4 11.f3 a6 21...h8 22.h3 and Black has nothing T h e " t a b i a " o f t h i s li n e . 12.fxe4 axb5 1501

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b e t t e r t h a n c7 when the arising with 11.d3!; 8...d7 is a solid alternative) complicated endgame favours White due to 9.xd2 dxc4 10.xc4 was perhaps a little th e ve ry p o o r p o sit io n o f B la ck's K in g: better for White in Gelfand-Dreev which you 23.xc7 xc7 24.b3!? ] can find analysed by Tony in the archives. ] 20.h3 f6! Now White's position quickly 8...dxc4 9.f3 c o l la p s e s . 21.f4 White was hoping for this [ 9.xc4?! is less accurate as now Black move, but the refutation is not too difficult. gets good play with c5! e.g. 10.dxc5 xc5 c7! 22.gxf6 The alternatives are no better: 11.e2 ( 11.xc5 xc5 12.d3! [ 22.e6 c6 23.g2 fxg5+ 24.g1 was perhaps better but it's W hite that is ( 24.xf8 xf8+ 25.g1 c5 ) 24...f3 trying to equalise here.) 11...c6 12.f3 25.xg5 ( 25.h3 a4 26.xf3 xf3+ ge7 13.b4 xe3 14.xe3 g6! 27.xf3 xd4 28.xd4 c5 ) 25...g3 and Black was already better in Dembo, Y 26.f2 f3+ 27.f1 c4+ 28.e2 xe2+ (2431)-L'Ami, E (2610) Liverpool 2008 ] 29.xe2 xg5 ] 9...e7! This is probably Black's best move [ 22.d5+ h8 23.e6 fxg5+ 24.xf8 here although he still remains under pressure. xf8+ 25.e2 xc2+ 26.d2 d3 [ 9...d7 was tried in a key game for the line 27.hf1 ( 27.xd3 f2+ 28.xf2 xd3 ) between Kasparov and Jobava in 2003 but 27...e8+ 28.e6 7c5 29.d4+ e5 after 10.a3 e7 ( 10...a5! was probably - in all these lines Black easily wins. ] better here although after 11.xc4 c7 22...xf6 23.g2 12.b4 b6 13.d3 e7 14.e2 d5 [ Or 23.e6 h5+ 24.f4 c6 25.g2 15.hc1 White still has the better chances xf4 26.xf4 c4+ 27.xc4+ xc4 although at least Black can get some winning the piece. ] counterplay here with f6! ) 11.xc4 c7 23...c6+ 24.d5 ae8! Now major material 12.e2 b6 13.d3 d5 14.d2 los se s can no t be avoide d 25.d1 c5 White was already doing well ] 26.d2 d8 27.c4 bxc4 White resigned. [ 9...d8 didn't solve Black's problems in 0-1 Goloshchapov, A (2566)-Ernst, S (2521) Hoogeveen 2004 10.xc4! a5 11.d3 e7 12.b4 b6 13.e2 d7 14.hd1 1398 B12 d5 15.d2 and White was ready to return to safety with Kf1 with a good position. ] Sanchez,Joseph 2533 Burmakin,V 2558 10.a3 a5 11.xc4 c7 12.e2 f5?! [ 12...d7 is instead critical when Black 15th Padova Open 2012 (9.1) 23.12.2012 obtains reasonable play with 13.d3 d5 [Tom Rendle] 14.d1 f6! ] White chooses an interesting way of 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 b6 13.f4 playing here but it's probably not best 5.c1 e6 6.c4!? xb1 [ Instead 13.d1! was better not worrying [ 6...e7?! didn't work out well for Black in about xe3 14.xe3 0-0 as after 15.f1 Kasparov-Shirov in the archives. ] d8 16.e4 White has a very comfortable [ 6...dxc4 7.d2 a5 was covered by position and excellent attacking chances on Andrew Martin in Grischuk-Anand and I think the kingside. ] White should have some edge after 8.xc4 ( although 8.e2 is also interesting, aiming 13...d7 14.d3 f8 15.g4 e7 16.g5!? to recapture on c4 with the knight after Nc3 )] This is White's idea - getting a knight to d6 7.xb1 b4+ 8.d1 This interesting position looks very dangerous however Black misses hasn't featured in a main game on ChessPub the chance to obtain good counterplay here d7?! before. [ 16...d5! was best and now 17.e4 g6 [ 8.d2 xd2+ ( 8...c5!? strikes me as an is OK for Black 18.g3 ( 18.d6+?! xd6! interesting option here with unclear play 19.exd6 gxf4+ 20.f3 xd3 21.c4 after 9.cxd5 exd5 10.f3 c6 although I 3f4 and the three pieces look more than think White probably has the better chances 1502

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 enough for the Queen here) 18...0-0-0 ( 18...0-0!? might also be possible) 19.d6+ b8 and Black has compensation for the strong knight on d6 as W hite has weaknesses on all sides of the board. ] 17.e4 Now White has a very comfortable position. fg6 [ or 17...c7 18.e3 d5 19.h4! ] 18.d6+ f8 19.e3 b6 20.h4! c8 [ 20...h5 21.c2 is awkward for Black as hxg4? 22.h5 traps the knight ] 21.h5 ge7 22.h6 xd6 [ 22...g6 feels more solid but White is still much better after 23.e4! xd4 24.d1 xe3 25.fxe3! and despite being a pawn up Black's position is miserable ] 23.hxg7+ xg7 24.h6+ g8 25.g7! [ 25.exd6 allows Black to defend with xd6 26.g7! xd4 27.xh8 xh8 28.g5+ g6 and White has to settle for a slight advantage with 29.bd1 ] 25...e4? [ 25...b5! is a good try but after 26.h6 ( 26.xh8 xd4 is m u ch le ss cle a r) 26...xd4+ 27.f1! The only move to win a p p a r e n t l y a c c o r d i n g t o H o u d i n i . df5 28.xf5 xf5 29.gxf5 d4 30.h2 d3+ 31.g2 xf5 32.f6 and White wins the exchange and probably the game. ] 26.xh8 Now it should be game over xd4 27.h6 g3+ 28.fxg3 xg4+ 29.d2 f5 30.xh7+ f8 31.xf5? This is obviously good enough but it makes the win a bit trickier [ 31.f6 is crushing, Black might as well resign rather than try e7 32.h8+ g8 ( or 32...g8 33.h7 ) 33.xg8+ xg8 34.h8 ] 31...exf5 32.g7+? Another poor move probably caused by time-trouble [ 32.bf1 should be an easy win but I guess White's king does look a little exposed here ] 32...xg7 33.h8+ g8 34.xg8+ xg8 35.bf1 The endgame is not trivial but it should be a win and indeed Sanchez does convert but not without a few scares. d8+ 36.c2 e3 37.xf5 d2+ 38.c3 g2 [ 38...d5 was more stubborn ] 39.f3 f2 40.h5 c5 41.g5+! f8 42.c4 e7 43.d5 g1 44.g7 d2+ 45.c4 b5+ 46.xb5 xb2+ 47.c4 e6 48.fxf7 c2+ 49.b3 g2 50.e7+ d5

51.d7+?! [ 51.e6 is surely an easier path to victory ] 51...xe5 52.de7+ d6 53.d7+ e6 54.a4 d4 55.ge7+ f6 56.xa7 xg3 [ 56...c4 was a better try although maybe 57.f7+ g6 58.ab7 c3 59.fc7 is enough to win ] 57.e2! c4 58.c7 c3 59.c4 e5 60.c6+ f5 61.c5 g4+ 62.b3 e4 63.xe4 xe4 64.a4 d4 65.c4 d5 66.a5 1-0

1399 Sax,Gyula Arlandi,Ennio Mitropa Cup, 1999 [Paul Motwani]

B12

1999

W 60: "GM Gyula Sax plays great attacks!" 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 b6 [ 4...e6 is more common, but recently White has been scoring rather well with the highly a g g r e s s i v e l i n e 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 , normally followed soon by Nf4 or h4. ] 5.d3!? xd3 [ 5...xd4 6.f3! gives White a considerable lead in development for one sacrificed pawn, and 6.. . g4 7.h3 xg2 (the queen should really retreat to h5) leads us to Reader's Challenge Puzzle W60P1: How should White continue now? Look out... here comes the answer, right now! 8.g1! ( not 8.h2? be ca use af te r 8. . . g6 W h i t e h a s n o f o l l o w - u p w i t h 9.h4?? on account of 9... g1+ ) 8...xh3 9.f1! h5 10.g5 ] 6.xd3 e6 7.ge2 a6 8.h3 d7 9.0-0 c5 10.e3! e7 [ 10...cxd4 11.xd4! xe5 can be answered simply and powerfully by 12.db5 , for example. ] 11.dxc5 c6 Black is anxious to stop b2-b4, but after White's next move the advance can no longer be prevented. 12.a3! cxe5 13.b4 c4 14.f4 The motto "f for forward" frightens its foes! c6 15.ad1 f6 [ 15...g6 16.f5! gxf5 17.f4 is horrible for Black's harassed queen. ] 16.f5 e5 [ 16...g4 17.fxe6 fxe6 ( 17...xh3 allows 1503

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.exf7+ ) 18.xf6! xh3 19.xf8+ xf8 chances. ) 16.f2 g5! An important 20.gxh3 should win easily for White. ] resource: by undermining W hite's pawn 17.g5 d4 18.xf6 dxc3 chain Black obtains excellent play. 17.hxg6 [ Perhaps Black should have tried 18...gxf6 xg6 18.g3 c6 Now all Black's minor , but 19.g4 still looks very nice for White. ] pieces occupy good squares. 19.0-0 e7 19.xg7!! xg7 20.f6 xf6 and Black is better, van der Wiel-Timman, [ 20...h6 21.d7+ f8 22.xb7 Amsterdam 1987. ] leads to pretty possibilities such as 22... e8 11...c5?! This move allows the exchange of ( or 22...b8 23.xb8+! xb8 24.d8# ) this Bishop after which White dominates on 23.xc6 xe2 24.fe1 xc2 ( 24...h5 dark squares. The alternatives are: wo u l d k e e p B la c k a l i ve a l i t t l e l o n g e r) [ 11...0-0-0 which was played in Marjanovic25.xe8+! xe8 26.xe5+ f8 27.d8# ] Campora, Nis 1985: 12.a3!? (preparing 13. 21.xf6 d8 b4, 14.Be3 etc.) c5 13.f3 e7 14.b4! [ 21...xe2 22.d7+ f8 23.xf7# Sacrificing the pawn W hite opens files on is a quick way for Black to exit. ] the Q-side and launches a dangerous 22.xd8+ xd8 23.e3 e6 24.xe5 0-0 attack. cxb4 15.axb4 c6 ( 15...xb4 25.f3 d8 26.xc3 This leaves Black two 16.d2 is hardly better for Black.) 16.a4 pawns down with his king hopelessly exposed. xb4+ 17.d2 e4+ ( 17...e7 a2 27.h3 b1+ 28.h2 d1 29.g3 e1 is relatively better although after 18.b5 30.f6 a1 31.b5 White has good attacking chances.) 18.f2 [ Black can only hope for 31.f5 h1+ and Black's Queen is clearly misplaced in 32.g3 e1+ 33.g4 e4+ 34.g3?? the centre of the board ] f4# ] [ 11...c5!? deserves serious attention: 31...e3 32.f5! Black resigned, in view of 12.f3 e7 13.f2 ( GM Gyula Sax 32... Qxc3 33 Nh6+ Kf8 34 Qxf7. recommends 13.g5!? g8 14.b5 c6 1-0 15.c4! - in my opinion, this line looks very logical and requires practical tests.) 13...c6 14.g3 0-0-0 15.a3 e7! (intending 16... 1400 B12 g5) 16.g5 f8!? (intending ...Ne7-f5) and in t h i s c o m p l i c a t e d p o s i t i o n wi t h m u t u a l Sax,Gyula 2545 chances, a draw was agreed, Sax-Razuvaev, Lauber,Arnd 2360 Maribor1996 ] Gyula 1997 12.a4 a5+ 13.c3 xd4 [Alexander Volzhin] [ 13...e7 is hardly better in view of 14.f5! with a strong initiative: f8 (the only move) 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 15.h6!? gxh6 16.b4 c7 17.e2 g6 6.ge2 f6 7.h4! In my opinion, the best and it's not easy to find a suitable move for move. fxe5 8.h5 f7 Black. ] [ 8...exd4? is a gross blunder in view of 14.xd4 c5 15.d1 a6 An attempted 9.hxg6 dxc3 10.xh7! and White wins. ] 9.dxe5 d7 10.f4 White has managed to improvement but Black's position is already obtain a flexible pawn phalanx in the centre of very difficult anyway. [ 15...0-0-0 was played in van der Wielthe board and a considerable space Messa, Graz 1981 but it leads to disastrous advantage. However the position is not at all c o n s e q u e n c e s a f t e r 16.e3! clear, since White lags behind in development Now the obvious 17.Nc5 is threatened and after his many pawn moves. b6 11.d4! it's not easy to find a defence. The only way to fight for an opening A) 16...d4 is strongly met by 17.b4! cxb4 advantage. 18.cxb4 xb4+ ( 18...d5 19.xd4 [ The humble 11.g2 leads White nowhere: xh1 20.c1+ ) 19.d2 f8 20.g2 0-0-0 12.b3 e7 13.a4 c7 14.e3 c5 with decisive threats.; 15.c4! d4! ( 15...dxc4?! is risky in view of B) 16...e7 17.xc5 xc5 18.b4 a3 16.c1! and White obtains attacking 1504

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.xc5 xc3+ 20.f2 Black's Queen is trapped. b2+ 21.g1 c6 22.h2 a3 23.h3 b2 24.b3 and Black resigned ] [ 15...b5 is also not good in view of 16.xc5 xc5 17.b4 c7 18.bxc5 xc5 19.d4! and Black is in trouble, for example: c6 20.b4 a6 21.a3 ] 16.e3! Threatening 17.Nc5. d4 [ 16...c7 17.b4 c4 was relatively better although White has a huge positional edge due to his domination over the dark squares. ] 17.d2 d8 [ 17...dxc3 is no better 18.xc3 and Black can't prevent 19.Ne4, with 20.Nd6 to follow. ] 18.cxd4 cxd4 19.b4! An introduction to a brilliant combination. b5 Otherwise Black just loses the d4 pawn for nothing. 20.c5 xc5 21.xc5 d5 It may seem that Black wins a piece, but W hite has foreseen everything. 22.xd4!! xh1 23.0-0-0! d5 24.g2! The final blow. [ Black resigned in view of 24.g2 xd4 25.c6+ d7 26.xd7+ d8 27.c6+ c7 28.xa8 and the situation is hopeless. ] 1-0

1401 Sebag,Marie Chiburdanidze,Maia FIDE WCh Women KO (2.2) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2398 2502 25.05.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 a5!?N It's getting harder and harder to find novelties these days. We have to widen our binoculars and look to the edge of the board. I wonder whether she planned this in advance or just 'played' it, more as a psychological trick than anything else. Hmm, what is the point? I don't s e e it ju s t ye t a p a r t f ro m s o m e n o t io n a l queenside pressure sometime in the future. It has to be said that the Knight on c3 is less than impressive right now. 5.e3 [ 5.g4 d7 would be one small variation, followed by ..e6 and a general queenside charge. ] 5...a4 This is just funny. Black is actually trying

to justify the last move. 6.a3 Scared, huh! b6 7.b1 a5 It's becoming obvious that Chiburdanidze is trying to win this game on reputation. She knows that Sebag is a bit of a h a cke r so m a ke s t h e ga m e a s va gu e a s possible giving White nothing to really chew on. Without a concrete attacking plan, Sebag might use up oceans of time and eventually falter. There, on top of the wonderful annotations you even get psychology thrown in. Strictly the armchair kind. 8.g4 Couldn't r e s i s t i t . d7 Don't mind if I do. 9.g2 Couldn't see any better square. e6 BLOCK 10.ge2 c5 11.0-0 c6 I don't think this is turning out badly for Black at all. She will an swe r f 2 -f 4 wit h . .. h 7 -h 5 , wit h o n go in g counterplay. As I said, the Nc3 isn't ideal. 12.f4 These Route One players know no other way. h5! 13.h3 hxg4 14.hxg4 cxd4 Detonating the centre makes sense, lest f4-f5 b e c o m e s t o o m u c h o f a w o r r y . 15.xd4 xd4 16.xd4 c5 We can sum up the results of the opening: W hite has failed to dent the Black position. More than that SHE is the one now under pressure. If Black could somehow switch flanks with the Queen the White King could end up in serious trouble. 17.e2 e7 [ 17...h6 18.f3 c8 19.f2 enables White to connect Rooks and reduce the disadvantage. ] 18.f2 c6 19.b4 [ 19.c3 g5! is Black's slashing idea. Sebag attempts to prevent her centre from being dismantled but ends up weakening herself still further. ] 19...xf2+ 20.xf2 b6 21.c4 Around here White had to start playing for complications with her position getting worse by the move. Perhaps she just had to allow ...g7-g5: [ 21.f1 g5! 22.c4! dxc4 23.b5 e7 ( 23...a7! 24.c3 d8 ) 24.c3 gxf4 25.xf4 ] 21...dxc4 22.c3?! [ 22.b5 ] 22...d4! 23.e4 b5 24.c1 c6 Once the White Knight is eliminated Black can look forward to a glorious future. 25.xc4 [ 25.d6+ xd6 26.xd6 d8 27.xc6+ bxc6 28.c5 xc5 29.bxc5 h3 White's pawns are ready to drop off. ] 1505

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25...xe4! 26.xe4 xa3-+ 27.c5 xb4 28.c7 d8 29.f3 c4 With numerous threats. 30.d3 e1+ 31.f1 e3 32.e4 h2! 33.xh2 [ 33.xa4+ f8 34.cc2 xf1 35.a3+ g8 36.xh2 e3# ] 33...xf1+ A move is a move and there can be n o re f u t a tio n o f a m o ve like 4. . . a5 ! ? , Sebag was put right on her mettle and failed to find an adequate counter. The plan seems to be to stake out some queenside space and keep the diagonal open as long as possible for the Bishop to retreat to d7. It's a genuinely interesting new move. 0-1

6.d2 ge7! ( 6...xc5 is inferior since after 7.b3 b6 8.g4! White seizes the initiative.) 7.gf3 g6 8.g3 xc5 9.b3 b6 10.d3 0-0 Black has successfully com ple ted his develo pme nt an d in t his French-like position his chances are by no me a n s b a d . 11.xg6 fxg6! 12.0-0 d7 13.c3 c8 14.d2 h6 15.fd4 and here in Smirin-Zelcic, Dresden 1998 a draw was agreed. ] 5...a5+?! This old move was convincingly refuted in this game so Black has switched to [ 5...e6 which is nowadays the main line. ] 6.c3 e6 7.e3 ge7 8.f3 f5 9.a3! I think this move is the refutation of this line. At least I can't say where Black could improve his play. xe3 10.fxe3 c7 11.e4! dxe4 1402 B12 12.xe4 xc5 Forced. 13.xc5 a5+ xb5 15.d6! By playing natural Shabalov,Alexander 2535 14.b4 Arkell,Keith C 2455 moves White has reached a completely won London 1991 position. a5 [ 15...e7 didn't help either in view of [Alexander Volzhin] 16.d1 d5 17.d4! c6 18.c4 xd6 19.exd6 f6 20.e5 with an overwhelming 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5!? This line is not advantage for White: d7 21.exd7 xd7 as well investigated as the main lines arising 22.xb7 c6 23.a5 xg2 24.g1 after 3...Bf5 and it's good way to avoid such and White is winning. ] mountains of theory. 4.dxc5 [ and 15...b6? loses on the spot in view of [ 4.c3 is harmless, for example: c6 5.e3 16.c4 ] cxd4 6.cxd4 f5 7.c3 e6 and the position is similar to the French but 16.f2! e7 [ 16...axb4 17.axb4 xa1 18.xa1 xb4 Black has an active light-squared Bishop. ] 19.a8 e7 20.d7+ ] 4...c6 [ 4...e6 is another possibility but normally 17.hd1 d5 18.c4! By opening files on the Q-side White has brought his rooks into the they both lead to the same position. ] 5.b5 Practice proves this move is the only attack. xc4 19.ac1 a2+ [ 19...f4 was more stubborn, but Black's wa y t o f igh t f or op e nin g a dva nt a ge . T h e p o s i t i o n i s b a d a n y w a y : 20.g1! alternatives are: ( Th e im me d ia t e 20.a6 clearly doesn't [ 5.f3 allows g4! and Black has good work: e3+! 21.f1 bxa6 22.c6+? d7 play. The game Spassky-Kotov, USSR, 23.xa8+ e7 24.xh8 b5+ ) 20...axb4 1955 continued: 6.b5 a5+ 7.c3 e6 21.h1! After this move Black is helpless: 8.e3 ge7 9.d2 c7 10.e2 a6 he has no defence against 22 Na6. bxa3 11.0-0 g6 12.a4 xf3 13.xf3 cxe5 22.a6 (threatening 23 Nc7) bxa6 23.c7! 14.b6 d8 15.b4 xf3+ 16.xf3 d6 with quick mate. ] 17.g3 0-0 18.ad1 c6 19.c4 c7 20.cxd5 exd5 21.c3 xb6 22.cxb6 fe8 20.g3 axb4 [ 20...xa3 is no better in view of 21.a6 23.d3 e5 24.xe5 xe5 25.fd1 xb6 bxa6 22.c7 xb4 23.e7+! ] 26.xd5 exd5 27.xd5 xd5 28.xd5 xb4 29.d8+ f8 30.c7 a8 31.h4 21.a6 bxa6 22.c7! 1-0 b5 and Black easily won this endgame. ] [ 5.f4!? has got certain popularity, but recently Black found the correct way: e6 1506

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B12 d6 21.f4 0-0 22.h1 c2 White's attack is going nowhere and his own king is badly exposed. 23.f2 a4 24.f5 b5 25.e3 d4 14.06.1999 26.cxd4 d5+ 27.g1 xd4 28.xg7 e5 29.h5 c2 30.d2 e4 31.ee2 d4 0-1 Black plays much better here than in Sax Arlandi. He exchanges his light-square bishop, B12 erects a wall of pawns and then beats back a 1404 desperate looking attack. Music to the ears of Shabalov,Alexander 2608 those pipe-smoking Caro players. 1.e4 c6 Vallejo Pons,Francisco 2678 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 b6 5.d3 xd3 36th Olympiad (9) 24.10.2004 6.xd3 e6 7.ge2 e7 [Andrew Martin] [ F o r t h e d u b i o u s 7...a6?! see Sax Arlandi. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3!? e6 8.0-0 d7 9.f4 An interesting attempt to 5.d2 d7 6.gf3 put pressure on Black's kingside, but the dark [ Against 6 f4 Anand demonstrates effortless side is that it neglects the centre. equality: 6.f4 c5 7.gf3 b6 8.c1 e7 [ The main line is 9.a4 c5 ( Black has also 9.e2 c6 10.c3 cxd4 11.xd4 xd4 done OK with 9...c8 10.a5 a6 11.h3 12.xd4 c5 13.b3 xd4 14.xd4 0-0 c5 12.e3 c6 13.f4 xd4 14.xd4 15.0-0 c5 16.h1 1/2-1/2 Kasimdzhanov, cxd4 15.xd4 c4 as in Pirrot - Doettling, R-Anand, V/Hyderabad 2002 White's play is Bad Woerishofen 2001) 10.a5 ( 10.dxc5 slo w, a n d so a ct in g qu ickly a ga in s t d 4 xc5 11.h3 c6 12.e1 d7 13.g3 seems fine for Black. ] g6 14.a5 a6 15.g5 g7 16.f6 xf6 6...e7 7.e2 White's plan is to develop his 17.exf6 xf6 18.xd5 exd5 19.c3+ f8 pieces quietly, castle and then begin action in 20.xd5 d4 left White with inadequate the centre with c2-c4. Note the omission of c2compensation for the piece in Kapnisis - c3, one reinforcement that White is trying to I z o r i a , W o r l d J u n i o r C h . , A t h e n s 2 0 0 1) do without because it costs him a tempo. h6 10...a6 11.b4!? ( The most dangerous Against Nh4 presumably. Many moves have move. 11.dxc5 xc5 12.f3 c6 13.f4 been tried here let us examine them now: d7 14.g3 d4 won a piece in Salmensuu [ 7...g6 I presume this is the move that - Abdulla World Junior Ch, Calicut 1998; and Vellejo Pons is trying to improve upon. 11.h3 c6 12.e3 cxd4 13.xd4 xd4 position. Nevertheless it's a good idea: 8.0-0 14.xd4 c6 was also fine for Black in, f5 9.c4 ( 9.g5!? b6 10.b3 h6 Berg, E - Sargissian, W orld Junior Ch., 11.d2 a5 12.a4 h5 13.c3 e7 14.h3 Athens 2001) 11...c4 12.h3 b5 13.d1 xf3 15.xf3 0-0 16.e2 f6 17.exf6 xf6 0-0-0 14.c3 h5 15.g5 f6 16.d2 g5 18.c2 e5 19.dxe5 xe5 20.h2 d6 and Black had taken the initiative in, Ranola 21.h1 af8 Cabrera, A- Carrasco Adianto, Manila2001 ] Martinez, J/Mallorca 2003 Unclear, although [ 9.b4 a5 10.bxa5 xa5 11.d2 a7 I personally prefer Black, who has 12.ab1 b6 13.a4 c4 14.e1 h5 15.f4 marshalled his pieces splendidly.) 9...xe3 f5 was also super-solid in Trygstad 10.fxe3 e7 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.b3 b6 Johansen, Norwegian Ch., Kristiansund 13.b5 d8 14.a4 a6 15.xd7+ xd7 2001. ] 16.ac1 Smirnov, P-Mchedlishvili, M/ 9...c5! 10.a4 b4 11.xc5 xc5 Istanbul 2003 and now d3 looks very le for 12.dxc5 xc5 13.h5 c8! 14.c3 c4! Black. W hat to play then for W hite? 7... 15.h3 e4! 16.e3 xe5 17.xa7 f5 Bg6 prepares ...Nf5 and confronts the White Black is doing well here, and Shabalov's Bishop on e3 which is the lynchpin of the attempt to shoot his way out of trouble centre. ] misfires. 18.g4 g6 19.ae1 c6 20.b6 [ 7...c5 A little to o early perhaps. With White 1403 Shabalov,Alexander Kacheishvili,Giorgi CCA ChessWise Int (6) [Nigel Davies]

1507

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 developing so rapidly Black has to be careful when and how he opens the position. 8.dxc5 c6 9.b5 g4 10.c4 d4 11.xc6 bxc6 12.xd4 xc5 Doehn, R-Nazarenus, M/ Kassel 2000 when 13.xc5 xc5 14.0-0 is just very nice f or W hite with an extra pawn. ] 8.0-0 h7 I guess preparing ...Nf5 again. 9.b3 So that's why Shablaov gives the Bishop a retreat square. c8 10.d2 g6 And why in turn Vellejo pref ers to put his K n i g h t o n g 6 . 11.c4 So this is e break on which the W hite opening system stands or falls. Play takes place in the centre and White will try to sideline the Bishop on h7. dxc4 12.xc4 e7 13.a5 b6 14.d2 0-0 15.e1 c5 It' s slightly easier to develop the W h it e Q u e e n a n d t h e K n ig h t o n g 6 i sn ' t teaming up very well with the Bishop on h7. It is ve r y i n t e re st i n g t o se e h o w S h a b a lo v develops an advantage out of these small positional features. 16.c1 c7 17.dxc5 xc5 18.bd4 [ After 18.e2 Black should be able to e q u a l i z e w i t h s i m p l e e xc h a n g e s : xb3 19.xb3 c8 20.xc7 xc7 21.c1 b7 22.c4 c5 23.a3 e7 ] 18...h4 19.e3 d7 [ 19...f5 20.xf5 xf5 21.d4 d7 22.b4 e4 23.b5 is a bit uncomfortable for Black. ] 20.xh4 xh4 21.b4 e4 22.g3 g5 23.f4 e7 24.b5 c7 [ After 24...d5 25.a3 it's easier to see ideas for White. ] 25.c6! A very strong outpost for the Knight, emphasizing that the Bishop on h7 is way out of play. xd1 26.exd1 f6 27.xe7+ xe7 28.d7 He sticks with the theme of leaving Black with his lousy Bishop. xd7 29.xd7 f5 Back f rom the dead? 30.d4 fxe5 31.xe5 f6 32.xf6 xf6 33.c7 W hite's advantage persists and is now growing extremely serious. a5 34.b5 e4 35.c6! b1 [ 35...xc6 36.xc6 g5 37.fxg5 hxg5 38.xb6+- ] 36.b7 [ 36.a3! was also very good: f7 37.c8+ f8 38.d7! f5 ( 38...xc8 39.xe6+ f8 40.xc8 e7 41.f2 d3 42.a6

d6 43.e3 f1 44.d4+- ) 39.c6+- ] 36...xa2 37.xb6 e5 38.fxe5 e6 39.a6 c4 40.xa5 xe5 41.a8+ h7 42.b6+It's a pawn as they say. b5 43.f3 e1+ 44.g2 f1 45.e4+ g6 46.a7+ A thematic positional struggle which would have been very instructive for both players. The way Shabalov sidelined the Bishop on h7 was impressive. Back at the opening, 7...Bg6! to be followed by ...Nf5 seems Black's best procedure. 1-0

1405 Shirov,Alexei Anand,Viswanathan 24th Leon Masters rapid (5) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2709 2817 05.06.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.g5!? Another encounter between Shirov and Anand in the Caro-Kann and again Anand came better prepared. What we have in front of us is an interesting line that relies on a highly tactical idea. b6 6.d3 xd3 7.xd3 a6 Anand simply avoids a theoretical battle starting with the sharp 7... Qxb2, while at the same time forcing White to move his queen and thus not allowing c4. Only one move, but multifunctional! [ Relevant is 7...e6 8.d2 a6 9.c4 d7 10.e2 Of course this is a more aggressive set up, White has more space compared to our main game, e7 11.f4 dxc4 12.xc4 b6 13.c1 ( 13.b3 was also possible) 13...xc4 14.xc4 g6 15.0-0 xg5 16.hxg5 e7 17.b3 b8 18.d3 b6 19.a3 a6 20.c5 c7 21.e4 Shirov, A -Roiz, M Lublin 2011, White has pressure but Black managed to escape. ] 8.f3 [ 8.xa6 xa6 9.e6 f6 10.f4 h6 11.d2 f5 12.df3 g6 13.0-0-0 g7 14.e1 d8 15.h3 c7 16.xc7+ xc7 Black has a good endgame. ] 8...e6 9.e2 c5 10.c3 c6 11.d2 ge7 12.b3 cxd4 13.cxd4 f5 14.0-0 e7N [ Earlier 14...b6 was played, 15.fd1 e7 16.xe7 cxe7 17.g3 g6 18.ac1 0-0 19.c3 1/2-1/2 Pavlovic, M -Trepat Herranz, 1508

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 J /La Massana 2010. The W hite player is not me, but instead a talented youngster from my country! ] 15.xe7 cxe7 16.g3 b6 Taking control of an important square while keeping the queen on the very good square on a6. 17.f4 g6 18.h3?! 0-0 19.f4 e2 Black is slightly better here due to the better position of his knights. 20.fd1 ac8 [ 20...xb2!? ] 21.d2 g4 The endgame is simply better for Black. 22.xg4 hxg4 23.g5 a5 24.f3 c4 25.f2 fc8 26.fxg4 h6 27.ad1 a4 28.a1 xg4+ 29.f3 h6 30.f4 ef5 31.f3 b5 32.e1? f6! Now Black is much better, almost winning. 33.exf6 [ 33.f3 f8 ] 33...e5+ 34.xe5 e3 35.b1? e8+ [ 35...hg4+ is also strong, 36.f4 f8 winning. ] 36.f4 c6! 37.g5 e4 [ 37...h7! ] 38.xh6 g4? [ 38...g4+ 39.g5 xf6 leads to a quick mate. ] 39.f2? [ 39.f7+ xf7 40.h7 seems less clear. ] 39...f5+ 40.xf5 gxf5 41.h5 c7! Another victory for Anand 0-1

E -Cuartas, J Salou 2009, with an unclear position. ] 7.cxd5 exd5 8.dxc5 xc5 9.g2N I am not sure if Shirov was aware of 6... c5, b u t wh a t f o l lo ws i s n o t s o m e t h i n g t o b e repeated! [ Previously in a correspondence game the following idea was played: 9.xd5 b6 10.g2 c6 11.f3 b4 12.b1 g6 ( Better was 12...0-0-0; 12...c6 also looks rather strong and Black is already better.) 13.h4 xg4 ( 13...c2 ) 14.xg4 xg4 15.b5+ f8 16.f4 e7 17.f3 e6 Precerutti, J -Smilovici, E IECG email 2005/ Corr 2008, even here Black is more than fine. ] 9...e7 10.h3 b6 11.e2 0-0 Black is already better. 12.f3 d4 13.e4 b5 14.d2 bc6 15.a3 g6 16.b4 e7 17.b2 fd8 Probably Shirov's worst game, White is completely lost. 0-1

1407 Shirov,Alexei Anand,Viswanathan (amber) Bar SCG [Andrew Martin]

B12

03.2005

Here comes a rapid play game of considerable theoretical interest between two 1406 B12 chess giants 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 Shirov,Alexei 2709 4.e3 I'm undecided how to punctuate this Anand,Viswanathan 2817 m o ve , ve e ri n g re c e n t l y b e t we e n ! ? a n d ! . 24th Leon Masters rapid (3) 04.06.2011 White's idea is Qc1 and c2-c4, posing Black [Milos Pavlovic] new problems. b6 5.c1 e6 6.c4 dxc4!N [ Shirov already had experience with this 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.g4 position from the other side of the board: In my opinion this line never offered much to 6...e7 With hindsight perhaps it is wrong to W hite but Shirov is known for liking really allow White to block the position and gain sharp choices. d7 an advantage in space. 7.c5! a5+ 8.d2 [ 4...e4 5.f3 g6 6.h4 h5 7.e6 d6 c7 9.c3 d7 10.e2 h6 11.b4 g5 This has been known to be ok for Black but 12.g4 g6 13.h4 Kasparov, G-Shirov, A/ Anand seems to have an even better idea. ] Moscow 2002 A game fully annotated here. ] 5.c4 e6 6.c3 c5! Anand realizes the [ 6...xb1 7.xb1 b4+ is another way for potential here for Black Black, but White isn't too inconvenienced by [ Another possible idea, 6...e7 7.f3 h5 moving his King so early. 8.d1 dxc4 8.gxh5 xh5 9.g5 b6 10.c5 c7 9.xc4 d7 10.f3 c7 11.e2 e7 11.c1 f5 12.h4 b6 13.cxb6 axb6 12.a3 a5 13.d1 b6 14.d3 bd5 14.h3 b7 15.0-0 a6 was seen in Berg, 15.c2 h6 16.f1 b6 17.bc1 1509

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Shabalov, A-Figler, I/Philadelphia 2004 ] 7.xc4 e7 Aiming to control rather than occupy the d5 square in the traditional CaroKann way. Of course Black has to be very c a re f u l t h a t W h it e d o e sn 't d o m in a t e t h e position by sticking a Knight on e4 e.g. Ne2-g3, Nc3 etc that would be the drawback of an early capture on c4. [ 7...xb1!? has been played here too. Again White has to move his King: 8.xb1 b4+ 9.e2 d8 10.f3 e7 11.a3 a5 12.b4 b6 13.d3 d5 14.d2 White's maybe a bit better, but Black has obvious trumps. h6 15.h4 e7 16.e1 a5 17.f1 axb4 18.axb4 d7 19.d1 0-0 20.e2 fe8 21.c2 f8 22.d3 Meszaros, T-Eperjesi, L/Budapest 2003 Black is coping comfortably with his slight lack of space and has the a file and a target on d4 to work with. Perhaps 7..Bxb1 is not so bad. ] 8.e2 As stated White would love to park this Knight on e4. d8 [ 8...d7 9.d5 ] 9.0-0 [ 9.g3 g6 10.c3 d7 11.0-0 f5 comes to roughly the same. Black is fighting successfully against W hite's idea. If now 12.ge4 then e7 is OK. ] 9...d7 10.g3 g6 11.c3 f5 12.g5 b6 Black has found an effective plan against the new White system. 13.xf5 xf5 14.d1 h6 15.h4 b4 16.e2 g5 17.g3 h5 A good way of working up counterplay. 18.h4 He has to try and halt the Black attack. [ 18.xg5 h4! 19.xh4 xb2 20.ac1 a3 leaves the White position pretty loose. Deep Fritz now gives 21.d5 as virtually the o n l y m o v e , wi t h b4! 22.dxc6 bxc6 23.d2 xh4! 24.xd7+ f8 25.h3 xc1 ] [ Meanwhile 18.f4 gxf4 19.xf4 e7 20.d2 0-0-0 will be messy, but with one open file already against the W hite King I personally prefer Black. ] 18...gxh4 19.xh4 h6 20.f4 xe5!? This is indeed a hot pawn to grab, but it's the move which gives Black the most winning chances. [ He could have played it much more safely with 20...g4 but then Black has some longterm concerns about the ultimate fate of his

h pawn. ] 21.a3 b6 22.a4 a5 23.dxe5 xa4 24.c5 [ I wonder about 24.f6 here, which looks very d angero us. My compu ter bu ddy is su gg e s t in g t h a t 0-0 is the only move for Black. To the human eye this looks pretty risky. ] 24...f8 25.f2 a5 26.b4 b6 27.d4 c2 28.a2 [ Speelman mentions 28.c4 e7! 29.xe7 xe7 30.a2 f5 31.h4+ e8 32.ad2 e4! in the Independant newspaper column, after which Black's Bishop parks on d5, blocking the attack. ] 28...b3 29.ad2 d5 30.f5 c7 31.f6 h6 Clearly White still has considerable pressure but now the rapid play element rears its ugly head. 32.g3?? [ Instead 32.fxe6 fxe6 33.h4 leaves everything to play for, with perhaps White for choice. ] 32...xf6 Anand's novelty 6...dxc4 can hardly be classified as a new idea. Rather a new move in a new variation. It leads to a hard fight and a satisfactory position for Black. Recommended. 0-1

1408 Shirov,Alexei Anand,Viswanathan Advanced Chess (2.2) [Nigel Davies]

B12

10.06.2001

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 a6 5.ce2 With Black playing so slowly White also feels he can indulge in long-term strategic manoeuvres. [ An altogether different treatment is 5.g4 which was tried in Borge - Pedersen, Danish Ch 1991. The game went on d7 6.d3 e6 7.e3 c5 8.dxc5 and now c7 looks like the simplest solution, going for an immediate recovery of the pawn ] 5...e6 6.g3 g6 7.h4 h6 8.1e2 e7 9.f4 c5 10.xg6 xg6 11.d3 cxd4 12.xg6 fxg6 13.g4 d7 14.xg6+ f7 15.xf7+ xf7 This endgame is better for Black he has the better bishop and White has 1510

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 yet to recover the pawn on d4. 16.d2 c6 17.f4 h5 18.0-0-0 c5 19.f5 exf5 20.xf5 xe5 21.g5 c6 22.c3 Typical of Shirov's dynamic style he wants to activate his pieces and doesn't count the cost in pawns. Anand in t u rn d o e s n 't t ry t o gra b t h e m a t e ria l b u t instead aims for a small but clear advantage in a simpler position. g6 23.cxd4 hf8 24.e3 xd4 25.xd5 ae8 26.hf1 e5 27.f4+ xf4+! 28.xf4 xf4 29.xf4 e4 30.g3 c4+ 31.b1 d4 32.c1 d5 33.a3 f5 It now becomes clear that White is in serious trouble. He finds it impossible to protect his kingside pawns. 34.a2 g6 35.c4 g4 36.e4 d7 37.c4 h3 38.e4 e7 39.c4 e6 40.c5 d4 41.a4 e2 42.b8 e4 43.a3 e3+ 44.b4 xg3 45.c7 xh4 46.xb7 g5 47.a5 e6 48.b6 xb6 49.xb6 g4 50.b4 h4 51.b5 axb5 0-1

1409 Shirov,Alexei Andreikin,Dmitry TCh-RUS Dagomys RUS (2) [John Watson]

B12 2740 2580 03.04.2008

Shirov keeps pounding away at this variation of the Caro-Kann and keeps racking up points. As usual, this one involves a creative attack on Black's king. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 b6 This has been a popular line against the Advance, which doesn't seem to be a good sign for Black. On the other hand, it doesn't involve as much theory as other v a r i a t i o n s . 5.f3 Nothing fancy, White just develops. e6 6.e2 d7 7.0-0 e7 8.b3 White want s to free his c1 bishop to move, but this also anchors a knight on a4 and helps to support c4. g6 There have been a lot of different moves here. Some samples of play: [ a) 8...c5 The classic game - Shirov-Hracek, Ostrava m 1998 went [Shirov's CBM notes] A) 9.b5 c6 10.e3?! ( 10.f4! ) 10...g4 11.dxc5 xc5 12.xc5 xc5 13.d6+ f8 14.b4? d7 and White's position is falling apart, Nanu, C (2412)Dumitrache, D (2506)/Bucharest 2002.; B) 9.a4 [assessments here are, I think,

from Chess Base] c7 10.xc5 xc5 11.dxc5 xc5 ( 11...c6?! 12.e3 g4 13.b5 xf3 14.xf3 xe5 15.c4 V . P o p o v- B u r m a k i n , R U S C u p K a z a n 2001 ) 12.d4 a6 ( 12...g6 13.e3 ) B1) 13.e3 is more natural, but worse, I think: c7 ( 13...c3 14.d3 g6 15.f4 , but this one strikes me as less clear after simply c6 ) 14.f4 c3!?; B2) 13.b2 but I (jw) like White Black isn't even developed, and W hite can play on either side of the board especially with c4.; C) 9.dxc5 xc5 10.d4 C1) 10...g6 11.e3 c6 12.d2 d8 13.b5 ( 13.f4!? ) 13...c8 14.a4 d7?! 15.c4 ( 15.f4! -strange that an attacking variation uses the queenside so much. ) 15...dxc4 16.fd1 dxe5 17.c3 Zhang Pengxiang-Dumitrache, Trignac 2002, with a mess!; C2) 10...a6 11.e3 d8 12.g4?! g6 13.f4 e4! 14.a4 h5! 15.f5! hxg4 16.fxe6! ( 16.fxg6 xg6 17.xg4 h4 ) 16...g3!? ( 16...f5! ) 17.exf7+ xf7 18.h3! ( 18.hxg3? xg3 ) 18...g2? ( 18...xh3 19.g4; 18...f2! 19.xf2 gxf2+ 20.xf2 c6 ) 19.xf7! xf7 20.g4!+- ] [ 8...a6 9.e3 ( 9.a4 c7 10.c4 is like our game, and led to another Shirov victo ry af ter t his o pen in g sequen ce : b5 11.c3 bxc4 12.bxc4 dxc4 13.xc4 d5 14.d2 7b6 15.b3 xc3 16.xc3 Shirov, A-Hracek, Z/Ostrava 1998.; 9.a3? a5 10.a4 b5 ) 9...g4 10.h4 xe2 11.xe2 g6 12.f3 e7 13.g3 restricting the g6 knight's possibilities. c5 14.c3 cxd4 15.cxd4 b8 A typical French type of position has arisen where Black has exchanged his passive bishop. But White eventually won in Asrian, K (2611)Portisch, L (2525)/ W arsaw 2005. These notes are by Lukacs with a few comments by me. ] [ 8...g4 was VERY popular, not quite so much today. Chess Base Magazine has these notes: 9.a4 c7 10.c4 If Black allows W hite to maintain the space advantage, he will be pushed to the wall. d8 ( 10...c5?! helps the better developed 1511

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 white pieces. 11.c3 c6 12.b5 f5 13.dxc5 xf3 14.xf3 xc5 15.a4 e7 16.cxd5 xd5 17.b2 Atatabo-J.Santos, Manila olm 1992; 10...g6 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 b5 13.c3 bxc4 14.bxc4 e7 15.g3 0-0 16.h4 fb8 17.h5 It is time to gain a big space advantage on both flanks! gf8 18.h6 g6 19.c5! Sutovsky-Magem Badals, Elista ol (Men) 1998; 10...dxc4!? - Van den Doel-P.Nielsen, North Sea Cup 2001 ) 11.h4 ( 11.g5 xe2 12.xe2 dxc4 13.bxc4 - Van den Doel-P. Nielsen, North Se a Cup 20 01 CBM 8 5; 11.c5 again comes into consideration. g6 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 e7 14.g4 0-0 15.f4 wi t h a h u g e s p a c e a d va n t a g e o n b o t h flanks. ) 11...xe2 12.xe2 b6?! 13.xb6 xb6 14.e3 GrischukSargissian, Moscow 2002. ] 9.a4 d8 10.c4! f5 11.g4!? Space is the name of the game in this line! [ 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.g5 e7 13.xe7 xe7 14.c1 was natural and good, but not as ambitious. ] 11...h4 12.xh4 xh4 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.f4 d8 15.g3 c8 16.f4 e4 17.f5 exf5 18.gxf5 g5 19.f3!? b5! 20.xe4 e3+? This simply doesn't work probably Black was afraid to capture with the d-pawn because of a potential d5. [ 20...dxe4 21.e6!? , but this is very speculative. ( 21.b2 )] 21.f2 xe4 22.c1! xc1 23.xc1 bxa4 24.c8+ Somehow he always ends up giving away material and chasing the king. The rest is self-explanatory, but entertainingly geometrical: e7 25.f6+ gxf6 26.exf6+ xf6 27.c5+ d8 28.c7+ e8 29.b8+ d7 30.xa7+ e8 31.b8+ d7 32.b5+ d8 33.b6+ d7 34.xf6 e3+ 35.g2 e2+ 36.h3 h5+ 37.h4 e7 38.c6+ d8 39.d6# 1-0

1410 Shirov,Alexei Bareev,Evgeny Montecatini Terme [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2746 2702 2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 e7 7.f4 c5 8.dxc5!? This simple move contains more than a drop of poison. White doesn't give up on the idea of Bishop-hunting (8.h4), he just delays it for a move. ec6 [ 8...bc6 is the alternative to the text (sometimes both moves leads to the same positions): 9.h4 xe5 A) 10.g2!? (threatening 11.h5) deserves serious attention: h5 11.e2 xg4 ( 11...7c6 is transformation to ShirovKarpov and Kasparov-Karpov.) 12.b5 d7 13.d6+ d8 14.c4 with a growing initiative.; B) 10.b5+ 7c6 11.e2 a6! an d B la ck su cce ssf ully so lve s a ll h is opening problems: 12.a4 ( 12.xc6+ xc6 13.e3 d4 14.0-0-0 f6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.g5 e5 17.xe5 xe5 18.e4 c6 19.c3 f6 20.d2 d8 21.cxd4 xd4 22.f3 xc5! and Black has wo n a p a w n f o r n o t h i n g , S a x - P o l a k , Budapest 2000.) 12...xc5 13.h5 e4 14.xe4 dxe4 15.xc6+ xc6 16.xe4 d4 17.e2 e5!? and Black has little to worry about, Apicella-Fontaine, France 2000. ] 9.h4 c7!? [ In the first game where the move 8.dxc5 was introduced, Shirov-Karpov, Monaco 2000 Black preferred 9...xe5 but White obtained dangerous initiative: 10.g2 h5 11.e2 bc6 12.xg6 xg6 13.xd5?! ( Just a few days ago Kasparov improved with 13.g5! e7 14.gxh5! and won very convincingly over his long time arch rival: f8 15.b5! d7 16.h6! xc5 17.f4 f8 18.hxg7+ xg7 19.0-0-0 f8 20.b1 a6 21.c7! c8 22.xd5! exd5 23.xd5 xc7 24.xc7 xc7 25.f5 Black has 3 pieces for the Queen, but poor coordination of his forces and the exposed position of his K ing m akes h is po sitio n indefensible. d7 26.c3 f6 27.g1 d8 1512

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28.g4 e8 29.h5 f8 30.xc5 xc5 31.h5+ and Black resigned, KasparovKarpov, Linares 2001.) 13...xc5 14.g5 ge7 and in complications Black managed to maintain the balance. ] 10.g2 [ The hasty 10.h5 i s n o t g o o d : xe5+ 11.e3 ( 11.e2 e4 12.h3 h6! ) 11...e4 and if 12.f3 then xc2! ] 10...xe5+ 11.ce2 [ T h e l a t e s t d e v e l o p m e n t i s 11.f1!? Shirov-Bareev, FIDE WCh New Delhi 2000. d4?! ( I n m y o p i n i o n , 11...xc5!? is worth considering: 12.h5 e4 13.f3 f5! Here this idea is much more to the point than in Svidler-Dreev, and it's dangerous for W hite to take the piece: 14.fxe4 fxe4 with dangerous threats on f-file.) 12.h5 xc2 13.xc2 dxc3 14.d3 d4 15.e3 c4 16.xc3 xc3 17.bxc3 The endgame is very bad for Black. a6 18.b1 0-0-0 19.xc6 bxc6 20.e5! and White's advantage is decisive. ] 11...a6! An important novelty. [ In the first game where 9... Qc7 was introduced (Svidler-Dreev, Russia 2000) B l a c k p r e f e r r e d 11...xc5 The game continued: 12.h5 e4 13.f3 A) 13...d7 is interesting: 14.fxe4 dxe4 15.g3 ( 15.c3 f6 16.fe2! d e s e r v e s s e r i o u s a t t e n t i o n . d8 is not good in view of 17.f4 ) 15...f6 16.c3 A1) Black could obtain excellent p r o s p e c t s b y p l a y i n g 16...d5! f o r e xa m p le : 17.fe2 The only move. ( 17.f1 i s b a d i n v i e w o f xc3! and White has problems, for example: 18.b3 d4! 19.xc3 b4! 20.xb4 c2+ ) 17...f5 18.f1 0-0-0 19.c2 e7! (pointed out by P. Svidler); A2) 16...d8?! A2a) 17.c2 is bad in view of d5! a n d W h i t e i s i n t r o u b l e : 18.xe4 ( 18.xe4 xf4 19.xf4 xf4 20.xc5 e3+ ) 18...xc3 19.xe5 d1#; A2b) 17.e2! e3 18.f3! 0-0 19.e4 b6 20.h6! Now Black's position collapses. g6 21.d3! xd3 22.xf6! fd8 23.f3! f8 24.xe5

xe5 25.e2 3d7 26.g5! d3+ 27.xd3 xd3 28.e2 and Black resigned, Smirnov-Volzhin, Russia 2000.; B) 13...f5?! Here this move is not terribly good. 14.fxe4 fxe4 15.xe6! Forced but strong. W hite sacrifices the piece back but destroys Black's strong pawn centre. xe6 16.f4 e5 17.xd5 B1) 17...d7 i s n o b e t t e r : 18.e6+! e7 ( 18...xe6 19.xe6 ) 19.xe4 and Black has nothing for the pawn: c5 20.xe5 xe5 21.f5 and if 0-0 then 22.e3 c4 23.xc5 xc5 24.e6+ h8 25.g6+ hxg6 26.hxg6#; B2) 17...xd5 18.xd5 0-0 19.d2 f2+ 20.d1 a6 21.h6! with a big edge for White. ] 12.h5 e4 13.f3 0-0-0! It's obvious that this version of sacrifice is much better than mine in the game vs Smirnov. It's essential that the Kn ight o n a 6 d o e sn 't o b stru ct t h e d -f ile . 14.d2 [ 14.fxe4 is bad: dxe4 15.d2 e3 winning the piece back, with a decisive advantage. ] 14...xc5 15.c1 g5! 16.h3 d4?! Black goes astray. [ 16...h6! forcing White to take the Bishop immediately was very strong: 17.fxe4 dxe4 18.e3 ( 18.c3 d4 and ...f7-f5 on the n e x t m o v e .) 18...f5 with tremendous compensation for the sacrificed piece. ] 17.fxe4 xe2 18.xe2 dxe4 19.xg5 g3 20.f1 xg4 21.xd8 xd8 22.e1 f5+ 23.f2 e3 24.h3 exf2 25.e2 [ 25.e4 xe4 26.xe4 f5 and the strong pawn on f2 gives Black good chances. ] 25...c7 26.f3 g5?! [ 26...xh5 w a s b e t t e r : 27.xf2 xe2+ 28.xe2 d5 and Black's chances are by no means bad. ] 27.xf7 d5 28.xe6+ b8 29.xd5 xd5 30.e8+ d8 31.e4 g1+?! After this mistake White is clearly better. [ 31...d5 should be played: 32.xd5 xd5 33.xh7 g5 34.e2 e5+ 35.d2 e3+ 36.d3 b6! and White has to play 37.d2 e3+ 38.d3 b6 with a draw by repetition. ] 32.e2 f1+ 33.axf1 h2+ 34.1f2 1513

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xh5+ 35.2f3 h2+ 36.f2 h5+ 37.f3 anything else. 0-0-0 e5+ 38.f1 xb2 39.e2! b1+ 40.g2 [ I am not sure why Black does not capture: a6 41.h3 a7 42.e5 d6 43.g5 11...gxe5 12.xe5 xe5 [ 43.e3 won e asily: g8 44.b3 g3+ A) 13.f4 d7 14.g4 g6 15.f5 45.h4 xf3 46.fxb7+ a8 47.xb1 maybe Bologan saw only this, but.... d6! but the text is good enough as well. ] 16.xd6 ( 16.fxg6 xh2 17.f3 g3+ 43...b8 44.d5 f8 45.a4 xc2 46.d8! 18.f1 e5-+ ) 16...xd6 17.fxg6 g3+ The rest is just agony. c1 47.dxf8 h6+ 18.f1 f8+ 19.f3 e5 20.g1 h3+ 48.g3 g5+ 49.g4 e3+ 50.g2 d2+ 21.f2 h2+! 51.f2 d5+ 52.g1 Black resigned. A1) 22.e3 xf3+! 23.xf3 c4+ Despite t his loss Black's posit ion seem s 24.d3 ( 24.d4 e5+ 25.c5 b6+ perfectly playable (we have seen several 26.xc6 d6! with ...Rc8 mate to moments in the game where Black could follow. ) 24...xb2+; have improved his play). Therefore I have to A2) 22.f1 hxg6; conclude that the line is still very much alive, B) 13.g4 g6 14.h5 f7 15.b3 b4+! and f or sure we can expect excit ing ne w a n ua n ce de sign e d t o we ake n t he d 3 games in this variation in the near future. square. 16.c3 d6 ] 1-0 12.g5 dxe5 OK, he captures now, in a safer way than before. 13.g4 h6? [ Analysis with Deep Fritz convinces me that 1411 B12 Black can get away with 13...e4 14.f3 ( 14.0-0 e7 15.g3 h6 16.gxe4 dxe4 Shirov,Alexei 2699 17.e1 h5 18.g5 c5 ) 14...xh4!! Bologan,Viktor 2666 15.f1 e7 16.xe5 xg5 17.d4 h5 Aerosvit GM Foros UKR (7) 24.06.2006 A violent battle for the initiative follows the [Andrew Martin] text move. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 14.gxf5 hxg5 15.fxg6 xh4 16.f3 b4! The main point of this move is to delay or 17.c3 dh8 [ 17...xh2! is also possible, leading to dissuade ...c6-c5 for as long as possible. e6 18.xh2 d3+ 19.e2 xb2 20.h1 5.d2 d7 6.e2 f6 Bologan nibbles at the ( 20.b3 e5+ 21.f1 xh2 22.cxb4 White centre. h3+ 23.g2 d3+ 24.xd3 xd3 ) [ 6...c5 is answered calmly with 7.c3 ] 20...xc3 21.b3 f4-+ Again Bologan 7.gf3 c7 8.f4 fxe5 9.dxe5!?N shuns unclear complications in favour of As usual in such positions, White uses the e5 joining up his pieces. Grandmasterly pawn as a wedge behind which he can start a in t u i t i o n p l u s a p r o p e r r e s p e c t f o r t h e kingside attack. It's spicier mix than normal opponent works wonders! ] thanks to the mobile black centre. Surprisingly, 18.cxb4 xh2 19.xh2 d3+ 20.e2 f4+ Bologan never gets around to playing ...c6-c5! [ Previous history: 9.xe5 d6 10.df3 21.e1 e5+ 22.e2 xe2+ 23.xe2 gf6 11.0-0 0-0 12.g3 ae8 ( 12...c5 xh2 24.f3 It's the same ending as before, 13.c3 ae8 also appears reasonable.) but this time in a better guise for White h5 [ 24...h1+ 25.f1 xg6 26.xg5 e5 13.e1 e4 14.xd7 xd7 15.xd6 27.e6 d7 28.c5+ c7 29.d1 f4 xd6 16.d3 b4 ( 16...c5 17.c3 cxd4 30.d3 g6 31.d2 sees white gradually 18.cxd4 g4 ) 17.b1 c5 18.a3 b6 consolidating the best he can hope for. ] 19.xe4 dxe4 20.dxc5 xc5 21.d4 xc2 22.bc1 d3 23.ed1 e5 25.e5 h1+ 26.f1 d8 27.f7+ e7 28.xg5 f6 29.f3 d3+ 30.e2 xb2 Rublevsky, S-Bologan, V/Sochi 2005 ] 9...e7 10.h4 g6 11.h2!? A rather The computers say better for W hite, but in u n i q u e p o s i t i o n f o r t h e B i s h o p i n t h i s view of White's scattered and weak pawns I variation! White tempts Black to take on e5, would say Black holds an edge. Somehow, an invitation declined more on reputation than S h i r o v h a s t o j o i n u p t h e d o t s . 31.d2! 1514

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A good start. Black's Knight is shunted on to a hard shoulder. a4 32.f3 e5 33.g3 [ 33.g2 achieves nothing: h6 34.f3 xg6 35.c1 h6 ] 33...g1+ 34.h2 g4 35.a3 xg6 36.f3 e7 37.d3 h6+ 38.g3 d6 39.f1 b2 40.e2 h1 41.g2 h4 42.e3 g6 43.g4 b5 44.a2 White is still battling manfully to co-ordinate his pieces. It is a terribly difficult job. a4 Bologan avoids any exchange whatsoever. 45.c2 b6 46.c1 d7 47.g3 h8 48.d3 g5 49.e1 e6 50.c1 d6 51.e1 e6 P e rh a p s e q u il ib r iu m h a s b e e n r e a c h e d . 52.c2 No! Shirov wants to play! I would like t o h a ve s e e n t h e clo cks a t t h is p o in t . a6 53.d3 h4 54.c1 d6 55.e1 [ Suddenly 55.e3! is looking dangerous, now that the f 5 square is available: h8 ( 55...f4 56.f5+ c7 57.e7! ) 56.f5+ c7 57.c2 ( 57.e7 d6= ) 57...e8 58.g4 e4 Black probably survives now: 59.fxe4 e5+ 60.xg5 xd3 61.exd5 e5 ] 55...e6 56.a4 e4!? [ 56...bxa4 57.a1 b6 58.c2 h8 59.xa4 xa4 60.xa4 a8 61.f2 ] 57.axb5 axb5 58.e2 [ 58.fxe4 xg4+ 59.xg4 e5+ 60.xg5 xd3 61.e3 xb4-+ ] 58...f6 59.fxe4 xe4+ 60.g2 d6 61.a1 h8 62.a6 c3 63.d3 e8 64.a7 e2 65.f3 d4+ 66.f2 f8+ 67.e3 e6 68.h6 d4+ 69.d2 e5 70.e7 d6 71.a7 e5 72.g4+ d6 73.h6 An undulating and exciting game. ½-½

1412 Shirov,Alexei Eljanov,Pavel Tal Memorial (8) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2735 2742 13.11.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 d7 This has been somewhat neglected on ChessPublishing but is played just as much as 6...cxd4. [ 6...b6 has encountered some problems in recent months, just check out my updates,

and so Eljanov tried a different path. ] 7.0-0 [ 7.bd2 c4 was examined in Svidler, P (2727)-Topalov, V (2791) Nanjing 2008 by John Watson. ] [ The immediate 7.c4 is a further option that looks qu ite the mat ic a nd is like ly t o b e investigated soon, particularly if Eljanov keeps faith with this line. ] 7...e7 Black has alternatives at this point but this is the most common and natural looking move. 8.c4 dxc4 The right pawn to take. [ 8...cxd4?! is very suspicious as it allows the knight nearer the d6 square. 9.xd4 A) 9...g6 10.b5! is extremely unpleasant. xe5 11.a4 7c6 12.cxd5 exd5 13.1c3 e7 ( 13...a6 14.xd5! a n d t h e t a c t i c s w o r k o u t f o r W h i t e .) 14.xd5 0-0 15.ad1 leaves White with a huge advantage.; B) 9...xb1 10.xb1 xe5 ( 10...a6 11.f4 is already obviously very good for W h i t e w i t h h i s l e a d i n d e ve l o p m e n t , g r e a t e r s p a c e a n d b i s h o p p a i r . dxc4 12.xc4 c8 De la Riva Aguado, O (2470)-Torrecillas Martinez, A (2345 ) B a r ce lo n a 1 9 9 6 a n d a l re a d y 13.xe6! fxe6 14.xe6 c6 15.b3 is decisive.) 11.a4+ d7 12.f3 c8 13.cxd5 cb6 14.b3 e5 15.e6! b8 16.bc1 fxe6 17.dxe6 f6 18.b5+ e7 19.xb6 axb6 20.xb6 and Black could not parry the attack. The game finished e8 21.fd1 a6 22.d7+ f6 23.f7+ 1-0 Almasi, Z (2646)-Berkes, F (2597) Hungary 2006. ] 9.a3 And this makes sense. White will retrieve the pawn but also gain time against Black's vulnerable d6 square. c3 The pawn is going to drop anyway so Black tries to create some discord in White's ranks. [ 9...d3?! was tried in a recent game but after 10.xc4 xc4 11.xc4 cxd4 12.xd4! Black already has some serious problems completing his development and he failed to survive to move 20. Lakunza Plazaola, A (2093)-Bello Castano, D (1911) Donostia 2010. ] [ 9...d5 has also been tried but White has a choice here how to keep the advantage. 10.xc4 ( 10.g5 e7 11.xe7 xe7 1515

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.xc4 0-0 13.d6 g4 14.dxc5 f4 15.h3 h5 16.d2 xe2+ 17.xe2 xc5 18.ac1 b6 19.fd1 gave White an obvious edge thanks to his dominating d6 knight . G rin ev, V (23 47)-Ma rusenko, P (2320) Kiev 2009.) 10...b5 11.g5 b8 ( 11...f6 12.exf6 gxf6 13.e3 fxg5 14.xf5 exf5 15.xb5 gives White far too large an initiative for the piece.) 12.e3 h6 13.h4 xe3 14.fxe3 a6 15.a4 ga v e W h it e a p l e a s a n t a d va n t a g e . I t ' s illuminating to see how Haslinger converts the full point. b4 16.d2 g5 17.g3 a7 18.c4 e7 19.d5 0-0 20.xf5! exf5 21.d3 b6 22.xf5 g7 23.d6 d8 24.d3 h8 25.xb6 xb6 26.e6 1-0 Haslinger, S (2506)-Strating, S (2335) Hoogeveen 2008 was a pretty game by the English GM. ] [ 9...c6?! doesn't challenge White in the least and 10.xc4 cxd4 11.xd4 already left W hite with a clear advantage. Black cannot grab the e5 pawn: dxe5? 12.xe5 xe5 13.b5+ d7 14.xf5 exf5 15.e1 1-0 Hunt, H (2352)-Crichton, M (2035) West Bromwich 2006. ] [ 9...cxd4?! is again too straightforward 10.xd4 ( 10.xc4!? ) 10...xe5 11.xc4 5c6 Klima, L (2446)-Mlynek, P (2254) Pardubice 2005 when already White would have had a decisive advantage with 12.xe6! xd1 13.c7+ d8 14.axd1+ xc7 15.f4+ c8 16.d6+ d7 17.xf7+ e8 18.d6+ d7 19.xb7++- ] 10.b5 Shirov keeps his structure intact and recentralises his knight. [ 10.g5!? is the trickier option. White's idea is to block the e7 knight so that Nb5-d6 becomes a major threat. A) 10...cxb2?! i s t o o g r e e d y 11.b5! and there's no good way to combat the m a t e t h r e a t . xe5 12.dxe5 bxa1 13.xa1 b6 14.d6+ d7 15.h4 c6 16.hxf5 exf5 17.b1 b4 Nisipeanu, L (2575) -Poetsch, K (2205) Bad W iessee 1998 when W hite's most a c c u r a t e f i n i s h l o o k s t o b e 18.b5+ ( 18.d1!? ) 18...c7 19.xb4! a6 ( 19...cxb4 20.c1+ ) 20.b3 axb5 21.xb5 c6 22.xb7+ xb7 23.xb7

xb7 24.b1+ a7 25.xf5 with a crushing advantage.; B) 10...f6 11.exf6 gxf6 ( 11...cxb2 12.c4 xf6 13.xb2 c6 14.b3 b6 15.b5 a6 16.xc6+ xc6 17.ac1 e4 18.e5 d5 19.xd5 xd5 20.dxc5 xa2 left Black somewhat better. Pott, B (1978)-Jordaan, W (1834) LSS email 2008.) 12.c1 At the cost of the sacrificed pawn Black has a rather vulnerable king. It's notable that Nisipeanu f i r st d e f e n d e d t h i s p o s i t io n a s B l a c k before moving to the White side in a later game. d5 13.h4 g6 14.f3 B1) 14...cxb2 was played the first time this position was reached but W hite co u l d h a ve ge n e ra t e d a d a n ge ro u s i n i t i a t i v e . 15.xb2 7b6 16.c1 ( 16.dxc5 xc5 17.c1 c8 18.b5 a6 19.d4 and I'd prefer White's activity to Black's extra pawn.) 16...c8 17.e1 f7 18.g4 f5 19.dxc5 xh4 Del Rio Angelis, S (2325)-Nisipeanu, L (2 5 0 0 ) S io f o k 1 9 96 a n d h e re W h it e blundered but instead should have tried 20.xh8 xc5 21.xc5 xc5 22.a1 with continued pressure. The bishop isn't edible: fxg4 23.g7+ e8 24.g8+ e7 25.xe6+ d8 26.d4 and W hite's attack will break through: c6 27.xb6+ xb6 28.d1+ c7 29.e5+ c8 30.h8+ c7 31.b5#; B2) 14...cxd4 was played in a high rated Correspondence game. 15.xd5 exd5 B2a) 16.e1+ e5 17.xg6 hxg6 18.f4 xa3 ( 18...b6! might be even stronger 19.fxe5 0-0-0 with dangerous play.) 19.bxa3 0-0 20.xd4 c4 21.xc3 b6+ 22.e3 xe3 23.xe3 xe3+ 24.xe3 fe8 gives Black the better chances in the endgame.; B2b) 16.bxc3 dxc3 17.xg6 hxg6 18.xd5 e5 19.xb7 e7 20.e1 f7 21.c2 b8 22.xa7 d5 and at the cost of a couple of pawns Black had taken over the initiative. T o r o S o l i s d e O va n d o , G ( 2 6 1 1 ) Krajnc, L (2414) ICCF email 2006.; B3) 14...7b6 Kamsky's recent deviation. 15.dxc5 xc5 16.bxc3 f7 1516

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.c4 ( 17.b3!? ) 17...b4 18.e3 e7 19.xg6 hxg6 20.e2 ad8 Kosteniuk, A (2523)-Kamsky, G (2693) Caleta 2010 and White's initiative had disappeared leaving Black with a structural edge. ] [ 10.bxc3 tends not to be played as d5 will allow Black to gain time in order to develop. ] 10...d5 11.xc3 xc3 Eljanov chooses to capture the knight but with this he accepts that he'll be slightly worse due to White's lead in development. [ 11...xe3 was Kamsky's choice and has been seen in quite a lot of Correspondence games. 12.fxe3 A) 12...cxd4?! Again this move looks to give White the advantage. 13.xd4! g6 14.a4 ( 14.b3! was seen in a Correspondence game from last year and looks like a nuance. c5 15.ad1 0-0 16.xe6 This of course was the idea b e h in d p l a c in g t h e q u e e n o n b 3 . fxe6 17.xe6+ h8 18.xf8+ xf8 19.xd7 Rogos, J (2255)-Morley, P (2211) ICCF email 2009 and White was a clear pawn up although Black managed to hold the draw. ) 14...a6 15.ad1 b5?! ( 15...c5 is a s af e r o ption .) 16.dxb5! axb5 17.f4! b6 18.xb5 a7 Bartel, M (2594)-Rodshtein, M (2650) Moscow 2009 and here White should switch back to the queenside with 19.c4! c5 20.a4 xe3+ 21.h1 d8 22.c3 b7 Forced as moving the bishop away will allow Nc5. 23.xd7 xd7 24.xe3 0-0 25.xd7 xd7 26.c3 would have left Blac k wit h a ho rrible t ask t o h old t h e endgame a pawn down. Those connected passed pawns are going to be extremely strong.; B) 12...e7 This looks like the 'tabiya' of this variation. Black has the bishop pair but is still behind in development and so the question is whether White can make anything of that, his extra space and play down the f file. B1) 13.e4 is forcing but looks like equality following cxd4 14.exf5 dxc3 15.fxe6 fxe6 16.bxc3 0-0 17.c4 h8 Dimov, I (2469) -Yotov, Y ICCF email

2009.; B2) 13.d5!? is perhaps the most critical. White's structure is hugely compromised but in return he gets open lines for his pieces. exd5 14.xd5 0-0 15.xb7 ( 15.d3 xd3 16.xd3 b6 17.e4 b8 18.fd1 c8 19.d2 e6= Pessoa, F (24 12)-Sch oen, A (2476 ) ICCF email 2008.) 15...b8 16.xa7 a8 17.b7 b8 18.c6 xb2 19.ad1 White is a pawn up but that pawn will never really count for anything. The question is whether the e5 pawn can be used effectively to control important squares. e6 20.f2 b6 21.e4 b4 22.c2 b8 23.d5 xd5 24.xd5 b2 25.c3 b6 26.d2 ( 26.xb2 xd5 27.c1 b4 Schmidt, T (2597)-Schoen, A (2476) I CCF e m a il 2 0 0 8 a n d W h it e 's e xt r a pawn is useless.) 26...xd2 27.xd2 c4 Mercadal Benejam, J (2448)-Krajnc, L (2508) ICCF email 2008 when perhaps W h i t e s h o u l d t r y 28.e6!? although White's advantage certainly isn't huge following fxe6 29.d4 f6 30.e4 c8 31.d4 xd4 32.g4! e8 33.xd4; B3) 13.b5 0-0 14.d6 g6 15.dxc5 xc5 16.d4 b6 17.ac1 e4 18.xe4 xd4 19.xd4 xe4= Enescu, C (2297)-Schneider, W (2532) ICCF email 2008 didn't really get White anywhere.; B4) 13.b3 This hasn't got anywhere s i n c e K a m s k y c a m e u p w i t h 0-0! 14.xb7 ( 14.ad1 b6 15.d5 xb3 16.axb3 exd5 17.xd5 d8 already favoured Black. Jaederholm, B (2 4 6 1 ) -Ke t e lh o e hn , B (2 37 4 ) I CCF email 2008.) 14...b8 15.xa7 cxd4 16.exd4 a8 17.b7 b8 18.a7 xb2!? Playing for a win. 19.b5 b6 20.a4 g4 21.h1 b4 Morozevich, A (2788) -Kamsky, G (2723) Moscow 2008 and Black had a strong initiative for the pawn. ] 12.bxc3 e7 13.dxc5 And this move appears to be a novelty. On the face of it this looks rather illogical, ceding his centre but opening up the d file and temporarily winning 1517

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a pawn. [ 13.d3 was previously played but cxd4 14.cxd4 xd3 15.xd3 b6 16.e4 d5 17.g4 g6 should be fine for Black with his strong knight. ] [ 13.d5!? doesn't look to have ever been played but could also be a try for the advantage. Black is obliged to take exd5 14.xd5 when White gains further time thanks to his pressure on b7. b6 ( 14...0-0 15.xb7 a5 16.c4 ab8 17.a6 xa6 18.xa6 gives Black insufficient compensation for the pawn.) 15.fd1 d8 ( 15...0-0 16.d3 e6 17.e4 ) 16.g5 looks to give White a promising advantage. ] 13...xc5?! On the previous move I said that W hite temporarily won a pawn and that is because this move is terribly risky. [ Therefore Black should have preferred 13...0-0 as the c5 pawn isn't running away. I p r e s u m e S h i r o v ' s i d e a w a s 14.c6 to compromise Black's structure too. bxc6 15.d4! xe5 ( 15...c7 16.xf5 exf5 17.f4 gives White a safe small edge.) 16.f4 g6 17.a4 c5 18.xf5 exf5 19.g3 and W hite's bishop pair give him a slight edge, despite Black's extra pawn. ] 14.a4! Shirov starts up a barrage of threats and already Black is suffering. xe3 15.ad1! Black isn't given enough time to get his king to safety. [ 15.fxe3? 0-0 16.ad1 c5! would have allowed Black to get out of his difficulties. ] 15...a6 Preventing Bb5. [ 15...b6 16.xd7 xd7 17.b5 0-0-0 18.xd7+ xd7 19.d4 and White's queen outranks Black's rook and bishop and Black would have a very unpleasant task to hold on. ] 16.fxe3 b5 17.f4!? Shirov decides to utilise the semi open f file. [ 17.b4 keeping the king stuck in the centre was an alternative approach. b6 ( 17...e7 18.d6 0-0 19.d4 b8 20.c4 gives White an obvious edge as Black is so passive. ) 18.d4 xe5 19.a4 is rather awkward for Black as he cannot get his king to safety. ] 17...c7 Eljanov chooses to get out of the pin. [ 17...0-0 18.c4! keeps Black under wraps. bxc4 19.xc4 e7 20.c7 fd8 21.d6

and Black would be left with difficulties as he struggles to get out of all the pins. ] 18.g4!? Typical Shirov! Whenever he has the chance he goes for the king. [ 18.d6 0-0 19.d4 g6 20.h4 is an alternate, slightly more positional path. ] 18...g6 19.h4 h5 Preventing White's pawns from advancing any further. [ 19...h6 20.h5 h7 21.g5! f5 22.e4 h7 23.d6 is too dangerous for Black to contemplate. ] 20.d6 Keeping up the pressure and defending the e5 pawn. [ White could win material with 20.gxh5 xh5 ( 20...xh5 21.g5! ) 21.g5 but Black's position is f ully playable f ollowing xe5 22.xh5 xf4 23.xf4 xh5 with the better structure compensating for the slight material deficiency. ] 20...hxg4 21.d4 c5 Guarding against the threat of Nxe6. [ T h e c o m p u t e r w i s h e s t o p l a y 21...0-0 but to the mortal eye that strikes me as castling into the jaws of death. A sample line might continue: 22.xg4 c5 23.h5 d3 24.d1 ( 24.h6 f5! looks to survive) 24...c4 25.h6 f5 26.f3 ac8 27.b3! e4 28.d7 g5 29.h2 b6 30.1d4 and Black has simply too many weaknesses. ] 22.xg4 Again threatening the e6 pawn while B l a c k i s le f t in t h e sa m e d i l e m m a . I f h e castles kingside he will almost certainly be mated but the king is hardly safe stuck in the centre either. e7?! [ 22...0-0 was forced although unpleasant. 23.h5 e4 24.h6 g6 25.f3 ( 25.g5 h7 26.f6 g8 just about survives.) 25...xf3 26.xf3 e7 27.g5 and the storm clouds have gathered around the Black monarch. ] 23.f3! The bishop joins in the fun. Black no longer has a defence. xh4 24.c6+ f8 25.xg6 11...Nxc3 doesn't look to equalise so I think he should refocus his attention on 11... Nxe3. 1-0

1518

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1413 Shirov,Alexei Erenburg,Sergey Gibraltar Masters (5) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2713 2551 29.01.2005

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 The main point of this currently popular move appears to be to reduce the power of ...c6-c5. It is still an open question as to whether White achieves his aim. e6 5.d2 d7 6.e2 Keep ing the option open of c2-c4 in on e move. b6 7.b3 f6 [ In Gelfand - Kacheishvili, Rethymnon 2003 Black achieved equality after 7...a5 8.a4 e7 9.f3 g6 10.0-0 f5 11.c4 xe3 12.fxe3 e7 13.cxd5 exd5 ] [ but Shirov improved on White's play as follows: 7...e7 8.f4 g6 9.f2 h5 10.f3 f5 11.0-0 e7 12.g3 f8 13.h3 d8 14.g2 g8 15.c3 with White's slight edge, Shirov - Johannessen, Drammen 2005 ] 8.f3 e7 9.0-0 g6 10.c4 White has completed development and starts active operations. a5 [ Of the alternatives 10...dxc4 allows White to open the position by force: 11.d5! c5! 12.dxe6! ( 12.xc4 exd5 13.xd5 d8 ) 12...xe6 13.xc5 xc5 14.xc5 c6 15.xf8 xf8 16.exf6 ] [ But 10...f5 11.d2 a5 was a better chance: 12.exf6 gxf6 13.c5 c7 14.d3 a4 15.c1 e5 and whether White has an advantage is arguable. ] 11.c5! Shirov is looking for the most effective way to open the position. He has castled and Black's king is in the middle, so this makes perfect sense. [ Blocking with 11.c5 d8 12.exf6 gxf6 13.e1 is less effective. For starters, Black can play e5! ] 11...xc5 12.dxc5 xb2!? Challenging. [ But 12...c7 13.d4 f5 14.exf6 xd4 15.xd4! gives Black serious problems anyway he may as well take the pawn and pray. ] 13.d4 [ Black is a bit worse after 13.d4 : c2 14.exf6 gxf6 ( 14...xd1 15.fxd1 gxf6 16.xf6 g8 17.cxd5 exd5 18.e1 g7

19.xg7 xg7 20.d4 ) 15.xf6 xd1 16.axd1 g8 Typically, Shirov angles away from the exchange of queens towards a position which offers direct attack. ] 13...f5 [ 13...f7 14.g4 f5 15.e2 a3 was perhaps more stable. ] 14.exf6 gxf6 15.xe6 xe3 [ 15...e5 is extremely risky: 16.cxd5! xe3 17.fxe3 xc5 18.xc5 xe3+ 19.h1 xc5 20.dxc6! bxc6 21.f3 0-0 22.c1 Black may hav e moved his King from the firing line but his pawns are split and weak. Ironically, he ends up positionally worse! ] 16.fxe3 e5 17.cxd5 cxd5 [ Or 17...xc5 18.xc5 xe3+ 19.h1 xc5 20.dxc6 bxc6 21.xf6 ] 18.b3! [ After 18.xd5 xd5 19.c7+ f7 20.xd5 xc5 21.xf6+ g7 22.f3 he8 Black can hope to survive thanks to his activity. ] 18...e7 [ After 18...xe6 19.xb7 is just crushing for W hite: d8 ( 19...c8 20.b5+ d8 21.xd5++-; 19...c8 20.b5+ d8 21.xf6!+- ) 20.b5+ d7 21.c6! xe3+ 22.h1 xb7 23.cxb7+ f7 24.b8 White is the exchange up. ] 19.g4! f7 20.ad1 a4 [ Relatively better is 20...e4 21.xb7 ab8 22.d7 b2 23.f4 d8 24.c6 c3 when Black is still on the board. But being p u t u n d e r p re s su re lik e t h i s b y s u c h a strong player is never easy. ] 21.xb7 e4 22.f4 hg8 [ Objectively best was 22...hb8 but even there 23.d7 b2 24.e6+ f8 25.xd5 is massively better for White. ] 23.d7 [ Avoiding 23.e6+?? xe6 ] 23...xg4 24.xg4 xc5 25.xd5! f5 [ 25...xd5 26.d7+ e7 27.xd5+ xd5 28.xd5+- ] 26.h3 g8 27.h1 f8 28.f4 e7 29.d2 c6 30.c2 e4 31.c4 a3 32.g3+ h8 33.xc5! g8 [ 33...xc5 34.e6 ] 34.e1 xg2+ 35.xg2 xc5 36.a1+ g7 37.c1 f8 38.c7 Just goes to show

1519

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 that against Shirov it's a good idea to castle! 1-0

1414 Shirov,Alexei Laznicka,Viktor Shirov-Laznicka m (5) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2706 2683 07.08.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.0-0 Not White's most popular move and in fact a new move in this position for ChessPublishing. Having failed to breakthrough with Nd2 Shirov decides to give this line a whirl. [ 8.d2 Is the main move and in fact Laznicka has extensive experience defending this line as Black recently, including twice against Shirov in this match! bc6 9.2f3 g4 10.0-0! xf3 11.xf3 c7 A) 12.c4 dxc4 13.xc4 f5 14.f4 ( 14.e2 xe3 15.xe3 e7 was probably ok for Black although White did go on to win in Dominguez PerezLaznicka, annotated jointly by me and G a wa i n i n t h e a r c h i ve s .) 14...e7 ( 14...d8 15.d3 h6!? was what I recommended in my annotations to the Dominguez game and I still think this is Black's best option here) 15.d3 0-0 16.e2 fd8 17.ac1 a5 18.a3 cd4 19.xd4 xd4 20.g3 d5 ( 20...ad8! seems slightly more accurate although I suppose White is still better after 21.xf5 exf5 22.c2 g6 23.c7! ) 21.xf5 exf5 22.fd1 xd1+ 23.xd1 xd1+ 24.xd1 f8 was unpleasant for Black but ultimately he went on to hold the draw in Shirov, A (2706)-Laznicka, V (2683) Novy Bor 2012; B) 12.c1 d8 13.c3 ( 13.c4 d4 14.f4 I examined earlier this year in CaruanaIturrizaga) 13...g6 14.d4 e7 15.e1 0-0 16.d3 c8 17.g3 xd4 18.cxd4 xc1 19.xc1 xc1 20.xc1 b8 a n d B la c k h e ld t h e d ra w co m f o rt a b l y enough in an earlier game from the ShirovLaznicka match. ] 8...bc6 The only move that makes sense

here. 9.b5 [ 9.c4 doesn't seem to quite work here as in the game Seyb, D (2254) -Schneider, I (2519) Bad Wiessee 2010 Black was doing well after xd4 10.xd4 dxc4 11.a4+ c6 12.d1 d3 13.xd3 cxd3 14.c3?! ( 14.xd3 was necessary although White wa s alm ost certa inly con ce rne d b y c5 although things are not clear after 15.xc5 xd3 16.c3 as Black cannot castle Kingside and White has obvious compensation for the exchange.) 14...d5 and White is struggling to regain the pawn ] 9...a6 I'm not sure I like Black's position after this move so I've suggested an alternative approach [ 9...g6!? seems to me to be a reasonable waiting move and now 10.c4!? ( 10.f4 a6 ) 10...a6 11.cxd5 axb5 ( 11...xd5 also seems sensible to me) 12.dxc6 bxc6 and Black is very solidly placed. ] 10.xc6+ xc6?! A novelty but it doesn't seem to me to be as good as the other recapture. [ 10...bxc6 11.c4 ( 11.d2!? c5 12.xf5 xf5 13.c4 is an interesting approach although Black is fine after d4 14.f4 e7 15.e4 0-0 ) 11...dxc4 12.a4 d3! ( 12...d7 13.a3 c3 14.bxc3 d5 15.xf5 exf5 16.c4 e7 17.fd1 0-0 18.b6 xb6 19.xb6 e6 20.c7 and White had a pleasant edge in Khalifman, A (2649)-Laznicka, V (2702) Plovdiv 2012) 13.d1 c8 ( 13...d7 14.a3 c5?! 15.db5 d5 was played in Muzychuk, A (2545)-Danielian, E (2517) Shenzhen 2011 and now W hite could've obtained a clear edge with 16.c7+! xc7 17.xd7+ xd7 18.xc4 d5 19.xd3; 13...d5!? should be investigated here - a possible line is 14.b3 cxb3! 15.c3 c4 16.axb3 xa4 17.xa4 b5 18.c3 c8 and Black seems to be doing OK although the position re mains a wkward f or him .) 14.a3 d5 15.xc4 xc4 16.xc4 c5 17.e2 b6 was a little better for White in Olszewski, M (2539)-Salvador, R (2502) A r v i e r 2 0 1 2 a n d b o w b e s t i s 18.d2 keeping the Bishop and looking to exploit the weakness of c5 in the long run. ] 11.xf5 exf5 12.c3 1520

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 12.f4 seems to be a safe road to a slight edge. B la ck ca n try d4 13.f2 b6 but after 14.c1 White is ready to play Nd2 with a good position. ( 14.d2!? xb2 15.b1 xa2 16.xb7 )] 12...e7 13.d2 xe5 Understandably Laznicka decides that if he's going to be a bit worse he might as well have a pawn for his troubles - still, we all know how dangerous Shirov can be with an initiative! [ Black can avoid grabbing the pawn with 13...0-0 but has to accept a slightly worse position, e.g. 14.f3 d7 15.d3 fd8 16.ad1 ] 14.d4 f6 15.e1 c6 16.f1! f4 Black decides to give the pawn back in order to relieve some of the pressure [ 16...0-0 17.e3 f4 18.f5 and Black rather cramped and White is preparing Qg4. The pawn on f4 is unlikely to be holdable in the long run. ] 17.g4 0-0 18.xf4 d6 19.f3 [ 19.f5! was more accurate as Black can no longer play Qa5 to defend the pawn and after e5 20.c5 e8 21.f4 White has a definite edge. ] 19...a5 20.e3 xd4 21.cxd4 ad8 22.g3 fe8 Laznicka has actually come out of the opening as well as he can have hoped but the White knight is rather well placed on e3 and so Shirov retains a minimal advantage. 23.a3 f8 24.g2 xe1+ 25.xe1 d2 26.b4 [ 26.b3! xd4 27.f4 looks more challenging ] 26...xd4 27.f4 c4 Objectively Black must be doing fine here but the Bishop on f8 is not a great piece so Laznicka has to be careful. 28.d1 d4 29.xb7 d3 30.g2?! After this it's suddenly Black who is better but I suspect both players were running short on time around here. [ 30.b6 keeps the game finely balanced ] 30...b3 31.e3 xa3 32.c7 d4 33.f5 e4 34.g2 b3 35.d7 xd1?? A tragic blunder for Laznicka who had fought hard for an edge in this game after a difficult opening. [ 35...e5 36.xd3 xb4 and Black has the only winning chances although in all likelihood the game will end in a draw ]

36.d5+ h8 37.f7! Black had assumed the rook would be captured on e4 but now the only way to avoid mate is to forfeit both the rook and the Bishop with ...Re8. 1-0

1415 Shirov,Alexei Mchedlishvili,Mikheil Bundesliga 2009-10 (12) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2730 2613 20.03.2010

In this game I look at lines in which Black plays an early ...Nf5. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 [ 5...d7 6.0-0 g6 7.bd2 h6 8.b3 f5 A) 9.c3 h5 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 c5 12.g4 g6 13.xc5 xc5 14.dxc5 xc5 and White was a little better. Cheparinov, I-Forsaa, E Caleta 2010.; B) 9.e1 doesn't work out too well here e7 10.f4 h5 11.g3 b6 12.a4 a5 13.c3 c5 14.f3 cxd4 ( 14...c4!? 15.d2 f6 looks pleasant for Black.) 15.cxd4 b8 wasn't anything to worry about. Huschenbeth, N-Schwalfenberg, J Heidelberg 2010.; C) 9.g4!? would be somewhat similar to the game.; D) 9.d2 e7 10.g4 ( 10.c3 0-0 11.g4 h4 12.xh4 xh4 13.f4 f6 14.exf6 xf6 15.c5 e7 16.e3 h6 1/2-1/2 Bokros, A-Prohaszka, P Szentgotthard 2010 was the most recent attempt with a g4 lunge which worked out adequately for Black. ) D1) 10...h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 D1a) 12...f6 was played in a recent computer match 13.h3 and here we can see one of those mysterious computer moves! ( 13.f5 seems far more to t he p oint, f or instanc e f7 14.g5! xg5 15.g4! exf5 16.xg5 fxg5 17.xf5 with a comfortable a d va n t a ge .) 13...0-0 14.b4 e8 15.d3 a5 16.xg6 hxg6 17.c3 a4 18.d2 a3 19.b3 c5= REDQUEENALMOND Leiden 2010.; D1b) 12...f5 13.d3 e7 14.gxf5 1521

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf5 15.xf5 exf5 16.h5+ g6 17.h6 f7 18.a3 f8 19.b4 e6 20.xe7 xe7 Manik, M-Vuckovic, B Sarajevo 2010 and Black's knight on e6 grants him a comfortable game.; D2) 10...h6 11.h3 0-0 12.e3 h8 13.e1 f6 14.exf6 xf6 15.f4 e7 16.d3 d6 17.e5 xe5 18.dxe5 c7 19.c4 and White's space advantage promised him a good game. Berkes, F-Lauber, A Trier 2010. ] 6.0-0 g6 [ 6...h6 was seen in Vallejo Pons quick victory against reigning World Champ Anand in the archives. ] 7.bd2 f5 [ 7...d7 would transpose to 7...Ne7 in Firman-Elijanov. ] 8.g4!? Immediately expelling the knight. It s e e m s r i s k y t o m o ve a p a wn i n f r o n t o f White's king but the position is rather blocked and so squares are of the essence. This position is rather rare but this is the second time Shirov has tried this approach so he must believe in White's position. h6 [ 8...h4 doesn't appear to have been played 9.xh4 xh4 10.f4 looks critical to me when h5 11.g5 is important to the viability of the line. According to my computer engine, Black is a little better but Black's queen is rather short on squares. I'd prefer to be on the White side here. ] [ 8...e7 9.h4 A) 9...h5?! didn't work out too well for Black. 10.gxh5 h7 11.df3 f5 12.g2 c5 13.g5 b6 ( 13...f6 is given by Lukacs as unclear although I t h in k W h it e is d o in g we ll a f t e r 14.exf6 gxf6 15.f4! g8 16.g6 xh5 17.f4 ) 14.c4! cxd4?! ( 14...xd4 was best but 15.xd4 cxd4 16.cxd5 d7 17.f4 is very good for White.) 15.cxd5 d7 16.f4 e7 17.a4! with a decisive ad va nt a ge . B ologa n, V -Dizd are vic, E Sarajevo 2005.; B) 9...c5 10.c3 ec6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.f3 d7 13.f4 e7 resulted in an interesting position. White has more space but Black is extremely solid and g2-g4 may prove a weakness. Lahno, K-Jobava, B Wijk aan Zee 2006. ]

9.h3 g8 So Black has taken four moves to return the knight to its starting square! However he hopes that h3-g4 will prove to be a significant weakness in Shirov's position. 10.e1!? The knight gets out of the way of the f pawn and relocates to g2 keeping the king safe. h5 11.g2 hxg4 12.hxg4 e7 Mchedlishivil's novelty. [ 12...c5 w a s p l a y e d b y S o l a k . 13.c3 ( 13.f4? looks an interesting pawn sacrifice but unfortunately it fails tactically to cxd4 14.f5 d3! when White's king proves too weak.; 13.b3!? looks possible to me.) 13...c6 ( 13...cxd4 would make sense to me, not allowing Shirov to recapture with the knight on d4 but perhaps he was c o n c e r n e d t h a t a f t e r 14.cxd4 c6 W hite can defend the d4 pawn with 15.b3 ) 14.f3 cxd4 15.xd4 c5 16.b4 I don't like this move. ( Instead 16.e3 would be my choice.) 16...b6 ( 16...xd4 picks up a p awn b u t lea ves W h ite wit h decent compensation 17.cxd4 b6 18.e3 xb4 19.f4 ge7 ) 17.a4 xe5 18.f4 c6 19.f5 was typical Shirov craziness but Black mu st h ave be e n do in g ve ry well. Shirov, A-Solak, D. Novi Sad 2009. ] 13.f4 d7 A very passive approach which allows W hite enough time to develop his piece s and consolid ate h is ad vanta ge in development. [ 13...c5 must be the critical test of White's setup. I imagine Shirov would have been very happy playing such complicated positions, trusting that his opponents will err. However it's hard to b elie ve t hat Blac k should be in any real trouble with such an open king. The game could progress. 14.c3 cxd4 15.cxd4 bc6 16.f5!? exf5 17.b3 b6 18.e3 0-0-0 When Black's king has managed relative safety. ] 14.b3 f5 Stopping any f5 breaks by White but now Black has less space and will have to suffer. 15.g5 f7 Mchedlishvili slowly re gr o u p s h is p ie ce s so h e ca n co n t in u e d e v e l o p m e n t . 16.e3 g6 17.a4! and Shirov takes squares on the queenside too. c7 18.a5 e7 19.c4 True to form, Shirov won't allow manoeuvring to go on for too long. dxc4 20.xc4 h4 [ 20...0-0-0 is strongest when Black still 1522

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 seems to be ok as he can achieve good c5 7.h4 h6 8.f4! True to his style, Shirov counterplay on the h file, for instance. 21.a6 chooses the most aggressive continuation. b6 22.c1 h3 23.c2 dh8! 24.xe6? The alternatives are: xe6 25.xc6 xc6 26.xc6+ d8 [ 8.f4?! here is senseless: after the simple 27.xe6 h4! and Black's initiative has h7 White's centre is in danger ] suddenly arrived. ] [ and also 8.h5 h7 is inferior to the text 21.e1 xg2 22.xg2 c5?! since in future, the f-pawn march f2- f4-f5 [ Understandably Black didn't want to suffer will be without a tempo gain. ] following 22...0-0-0 23.c5 xc5 24.dxc5 [ 8.e3 is the old (but not bad!) main line: but the game continuation is unpleasant for A) 8...c6? is insufficient as the game Black. ] Timman-Karpov, Belfort 1988 has proved: 23.dxc5 c6+ 24.g3! White's king is 9.dxc5! xe5 10.f4! completely safe on g3 and in fact it's now A1) 10...d4 was relatively better Black's king which is vulnerable. Meanwhile although in the endgame arising after Black has to defend the backward e6 pawn 11.b5+ e7 12.xg6+ fxg6 13.f4! and his pieces are very passively placed. ( 13.xd4?? xd4 14.xd4 f3+ ) xc5 25.xc5 xc5 26.xc5 xc5 13...dxc3 14.xe5 cxb2 15.xd8+ 27.c1 e7 28.d1! Black's been left with a xd8 16.xb2 White's advantage is couple of clear weaknesses: an exposed king beyond doubt.; and a horribly passive bishop on f7. A2) 10...a6 11.g2 f6 12.e2! Mchedlishvili puts up a good fight but you fxg4 13.d4 e4 and now the natural can't afford to give Shirov such an advantage. 14.xe4! w i n s e a s i l y : ( Instead of f8 29.d6! Black cannot prevent White 14.xe4? ) 14...dxe4 15.xe4 a5+ g a i n i n g m a t e r i a l i n t h e e n d g a m e . d8 ( 15...f5 16.xb7 xd4 17.c6+; 30.xe7+ xe7 31.b5 c8 32.fd1 xc1 15...c6 16.0-0-0 f6 17.xf6 xf6 33.xc1 d8 34.d1+ c8 35.d7+ c7 18.xc6+! winning on the spot in both 36.d6 Goodbye e6. The rest of the game cases. ) 16.b4! xb4+ 17.c3 c4 requires no comment. d8 37.xe6 g6 18.xb7 d8 19.f1 a4 20.xa6 38.xd8 xd8 39.f2 b6 40.e3 e7 and Black's position is resignable.; 41.axb6 axb6 42.c8 d8 43.a6 f7 B) 8...b6 9.f4!? ( 9.d2 c6! 44.d4 e7 45.c4 e8 46.d3 e6 10.0-0-0!? h5!= 11.dxc5 xc5 12.xc5 47.a6 g6 48.c8+ e7 49.d5 a4 xc5 13.f4 ge7 14.xg6 xg6 50.e6 These lines with an early g4 look and B la ck's ch ances a re be tt er sinc e interesting. White should be careful that his White's centre is in danger, A. Sokolovking doesn't become too exposed. Likewise K a r p o v , L i n a r e s 1 9 8 7 .) 9...c6 Black should try and open up the position as ( 9...xb2? is insufficient: 10.f5! exf5 f a s t a s p o s s ib le o r e lse h e will su f f e r i n 11.b1 a3 12.xd5 with many passivity. threats. ) 10.f5 h7 11.d2 0-0-0 1-0 12.0-0-0 c4 13.f4 and in this very complicated position White's chances are better, Timman-Seirawan, 1990. ] 1416 B12 8...e7 [ After 8...c6 9.g2! intending 10.f5 is Shirov,Alexei 2734 strong, and it's very dangerous for Black to Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter 2584 grab a pawn: cxd4 ( 9...e7 or 10.0-0 cxd4 FIDE WCh Las Vegas 1999 11.xd4 c5 12.e3 xd4 13.xd4 [Alexander Volzhin] xc2 14.d2! xd4+ 15.xd4 xh4 16.b5! and Black's position can hardly be In a hugely exciting game, one of the main defended ) 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 xc2 favourites in Las Vegas is eliminated by the 12.f5! and White's attack is very strong ] greatest surprise of the event. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 The pawn sacrifice is a logical followd5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 9.g2! 1523

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 up. [ 9.h5? h4+ 10.d2 h7 is clearly in Black's favour. ] 9...xh4+ 10.f1 For a sacrificed pawn, W hite has ob tained a huge developmen t advantage (especially taking into consideration the fact Black will need one more move to return the Bishop). Black has to solve some extremely difficult tasks. e7 [ After 10...cxd4 White's initiative progresses without obstacles: 11.xd4 c6 12.f5 xd4 13.xd4 h7 14.b5! ( 14.f6 as was played in the first game with 8. f4, Vlassov-Guliev, Moscow 1994 is weaker: xf6! 15.exf6 xf6+ 16.xf6 xf6 and Black is better.) 14...e7 15.a4 f8 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.h3! with decisive threats, for example: c5 18.f3+ e7 19.e3 b6 20.d6 g6 21.xc5 xc5 22.xb7 c4+ 23.xc4 dxc4 24.d6 and Black is paralyzed. ] 11.f5! h7 The only move. [ 11...exf5 12.xd5 fxg4 13.ef4 W hite's lead in development and active centralized pieces cause Black a lot o f problems. ] 12.f4 d7 Now Black is ready to complete his development (...Nc6 and ... 0-0-0), theref ore W hite must undertake resolute action. 13.h5 Seemingly str aightforward and logical, this move indeed leads to tremendous tactical complications. However I t h i n k t h a t W h it e h a d a m o r e c o n vi n c i n g course: [ 13.cxd5! exd5 14.xd5 g5 W h a t e l s e ? ( 14...c6? is bad in view of 15.xf7+! ) 15.f3 c6 ( 15...xf4 16.xf4 c6 17.e6 fxe6 18.fxe6 with decisive threats. ) 16.e6 fxe6 17.xe6 and Black's position is very difficult: f6 ( 17...xd4 18.xd4 xc1 19.xc1 cxd4 20.xb7 ) 18.xg5 xd5 ( 18...hxg5 19.e1 ) 19.xc5 with decisive threats. ] 13...f8 Absolutely the only move, the alternatives loose immediately: [ 13...f8? 14.fxe6 xe6 ( 14...fxe6 15.f3+ ) 15.xd5 a6+ 16.g2 and 17.Qf3 is decisive ] [ 13...g6 14.g7+ f8 15.fxe6 fxe6 16.xe6+! xe6 17.xd5 a6+ 18.g2 and Black's position is truly miserable. ]

14.dxc5 c6 The only move again. 15.b5 xc5! Black can't allow 16.Nd6+, so he has to take either the c5 or e5- pawn. [ 15...xe5?! i s i n f e r i o r : 16.e2 xg4 17.f4! with a decisive attack: e5 18.xe5 xf5+ 19.f4+ d8 20.d4 g6 ( 20...d7 21.h3 ) 21.xd5 xc5 22.d1 and I don't believe Black is able to parry the attack. ] 16.c4! Consistent and logical. [ 16.xg7+?! f8 17.h5 is bad. In such a sharp position, the g7-pawn is not worth 2 tempi! xe5 18.e2 xg4! 19.xg4 xb5+ 20.e1 b4+ and Black wins. ] 16...xe5 17.e2! [ 17.f4? fails to xc4! 18.c7+ xc7! 19.xc7 e3+ ] 17...xc4 18.xd5! Shirov is famous for his ability to find such surprising tactical re s o u rc e s . xb5 19.xc4 b6 20.fxe6 A very natural move, but now that Black can castle, his Bishop on h7 is active again. [ Therefore 20.xg7+!? f8 21.h5 comes into consideration. I believe that W hite holds a very strong initiative, f or example: exf5 22.e5 d4 23.d5 g6 24.f4! a n d W h i t e i s w i n n i n g : f6 25.xg6+ fxg6 26.g5! g7 27.gxh6 f6 28.g5! ] 20...0-0-0 21.exf7 e7 The position has changed considerably, and White's hopes now lie with the strong passed pawn . 22.e6+ b8! 23.f4+ a8 24.xb6 axb6 25.e5 A n a t u ra l a n d se e m in gly de cisive m o ve , which unfortunately fails to a clever tactical resource. But a forced win is nowhere to be s e e n , e v e n a f t e r h o m e a n a l y s i s . hf8! 26.e2?! White overestimates his chances and miscalculates -- this move costs him the game and (who knows!) probably the World Title... [ It was time to bail out with 26.xg7 d3+! 27.xd3 xf7+ 28.f5 xf5 29.gxf5 xf5+ 30.e1 dd5! 31.f6 fe5+ 32.f1 f5+ with perpetual. ] 26...d5! 27.hf1 [ 27.hd1 doesn't help either in view of xf7! 28.xd5 ( 28.xd5 f2+ 29.e1 e8 is even worse for White.) 28...xd5 29.xd5 e7 and Black is winning. ] 27...e3 28.b5 xf1 29.xf1 g6 30.f4 1524

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6 31.xd6 xd6 32.c4 b5! 33.b3 [ 33.xb5 xf7 34.xf7 xf7 35.xg7 xa2 is equally hopeless. ] 33...d3+ 34.e3 g5 35.f2 c4 The f7-pawn is lost, and with it White's last hopes. 36.xc4 bxc4 37.e4 d7 38.f6 fxf7 39.xh6 fe7+ 40.f5 d5+ 41.g6 e2 White resigned. An exciting game! 0-1

1417 Shirov,Alexei Solak,Dragan 18th European Teams (2.7) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2705 2629 04.11.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 g6 7.b3 A rare choice but an interesting one. f5 8.c4 h5 Solak has already experienced this line: [ 8...d7 9.b2 I can't be 100% sure but Shirov probably intended 9.Nc3 as in the game. f6 10.bd2 fxe5 11.dxe5 c5 12.a3 a5 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.b5 0-0 Spraggett, K -Solak, D/Vrsac 2008, and Black was very much ok. ] 9.c3 e7 10.d3! This is the key here, White prepares a strong setup. d7 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.g3 b8 13.e2 c6 14.f4 The white pieces are all ok and it is not easy for Black to find a plan. b6 15.b2 0-0-0 16.a3 b8 17.b4 c8 18.c1 a6 19.h3! The idea of g4 at some point might prove d i f f i c u l t f o r B l a c k t o c o p e w i t h . h7 Giving a pawn to untangle but we will see that this doesn't help much. 20.xh5 g5 21.f6 xf6 22.exf6 d8 [ 22...d6 23.xh7 xh7 24.xg5 h6 25.h4 xf6 26.c5 d8 27.c1 The black compensation is not very much, if there is any at all. ] 23.b5 axb5 24.xb5 It is crucial to get the e5 square. a7 25.xc8+ xc8 26.a4 g6 27.e5 xb5? [ 27...xh3 28.d7+ c7 29.c1+ d8 30.e5 xc1 31.xc1 With a winning endgame. ] 28.axb5 xh3 29.b6 xg3 30.fxg3 xg3+ 31.f2 h3 32.a4 h2+ 33.e1 xb2

Playing to mate. 34.a7# 1-0

1418 Shirov,Alexei Yermolinsky,Alex Wijk aan Zee [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2726 2597 1999

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 c5 7.h4 h5 Currently the main line. 8.f4 h7?! Black keeps his strong Bishop and sacrifices a pawn, hoping to obtain a development advantage and exploit the weakness of W hite's centre. This is a very interesting idea but unfortunately it doesn't work... [ 8...c6! is better and we'll consider this move in the next games. ] 9.xh5 cxd4 [ 9...c6 is another possibility but White's chances are also better here: A) 10.e3 cxd4 11.xd4 xc2 12.xc2 xd4 13.a4+ c6 14.0-0-0 ( 14.b5!? is worth considering) 14...g6 15.g3 xh4 16.b5 h6+ 17.b1 xh1 18.xc6+ bxc6 19.xc6+ f8 20.xh1 f4! and Black is clearly better, MurawskiJasnikowski, Zakopane 2000; B) 10.b5 ge7 11.dxc5 d4 12.xc6+ xc6 13.e2 a5+ 14.c3 0-0-0! 15.g5 d7 16.b4 b5 17.cxd4 xe5 with tremendous compensation for the sacrificed pawn, Kotronias-Danielsen, Reykjavik 1994.; C) 10.dxc5! The alternatives are weaker: xe5 11.b5+ c6 12.d4 f6 13.e3 ge7 14.0-0-0 e5 15.a4 Black's pawn centre seems to be impressive, but he has big problems completing his development, a n d m e a n wh i l e h i s K i n g i s s t u c k t h e centre. g8 (16.Nd5 had to be stopped) 16.f4 d7 17.fxe5 fxe5 18.xd5! Now Black's position quickly collapses. xd5 19.c4 xg4 20.cxd5 xa4 21.xa4 xh5 22.g5 0-0-0 23.dxc6 with a huge edge in the endgame, BorgeDanielsen, Copenhagen 1994. ] 10.b5! Only by playing this move, can White hope for an opening advantage. 1525

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 10.xd4 is not so good: c6 ( 10...xc2? is weak: 11.g5 b6 12.b5+ c6 13.xb6 axb6 14.c1 g6 15.xd5 exd5 16.xc6!+- winning on the spot.) 11.b5 ge7 12.h6! g8! An important im p r o v e m e n t b y H u n g a r i a n G M G a b o r Kallai. ( 12...d7 is bad: 13.f4 0-0-0 14.xg7 xg7 15.xg7 g6 16.xc6 xc6 17.d4 and Black has nothing to show for those 2 pawns, van der Wiel-Iclicki, Bruxelles 1985.) 13.0-0-0 a6 14.xc6+ xc6 15.f4 a5! and Black gets a dangerous-looking attack over White's King. I've found two games in my database, and in b o t h o n e s W h it e f a i le d t o wa rd o f f t h e threats: 16.b1 ( or 16.he1 b4 17.a3 c8! 18.axb4 a1+ 19.d2 xb2 with a ferocious attack for Black: 20.e3 xc2+ 21.e1 xc3 22.f6+ gxf6 23.xf8 xf8 24.exf6 xe3+ 25.fxe3 d7 and Black has an extra piece for nothing, Chapman-Rogers, Australia 1999.) 16...b4 17.c1 c8 18.a3 xc2! 19.xc2 xc3! 20.bxc3 xc3! 21.c1 b3+ 22.a1 xc2 23.b2 xb2+ 24.xb2 g6 and Black is winning, David-Kallai, France 1996. ] 10...c6 11.xd4 xd4?! [ 11...xe5 deserves attention and although after 12.f4 c6 13.b5 c8 14.e2 W hite has a development advantage and good attacking chances, the position is not clear at all. I believe this is the only real possibility for Black to get a playable position in this line. ] 12.xd4 e7 13.a4+ c6 14.g5 a5+?! The Queen exchange here is equal to resignation. [ 14...b6 was relatively better although after 15.0-0-0 xf2 16.h3! c8 17.c3! White is doing well ] 15.xa5 xa5 16.f4!? [ 16.0-0-0 was simple and good. ] 16...c8 [ Black could take the pawn back: 16...xc2 but after 17.b5+ c6 18.c1 b4+ 19.e2 e4 20.hd1 he can hardly hold the material balance. ] 17.b5+! c6 18.0-0-0 a6 19.d3! [ After 19.xc6+ xc6 Black has s ome compensation for the pawn due to his strong

light-squared Bishop. ] 19...xd3 20.xd3 b4 Black had hoped for this move but Shirov has foreseen further . 21.b3! xc2+?! Opening the c-file leads to terrible consequences. [ 21...c4 was relatively better although after 22.h2 b5 23.a3 c6 24.d3 Black has nothing for the pawn, and with precise play White will wrap things up without too much bother ] 22.b1 g2 23.c1 d4 Losing on the spot. [ 23...d7 was more stubborn. However White has a direct way to win 24.a3! xg4 25.axb4 xh5 26.b5! a5 27.bc3! d6 ( or 27...f6 28.c7+ e8 29.xb7 e7 30.cc7 d8 31.xg7 , winning.) 28.exd6 f6 29.c7+ xd6 30.xb7! (threatening 31. Rc6) d4 31.c6+ d5 32.d7+ e4 33.b6! fxg5 34.b7 h8 35.c8 and the bpawn queens. ] 24.a3 Black resigned. [ After 24.a3 d5 25.xb7 mate is unavoidable. ] 1-0

1419 Short,Nigel D Gulko,Boris F Horgen (Switzerland) (11) [Nigel Davies]

B12

1995

1.e4 c6 2.e2 d5 3.e5 c5 4.d4 c6 5.c3 f5 [ A n i n t e r e s t i n g a l t e r n a t i v e i s 5...g4!? which argues that 6.f3 is a concession by White. In Barendregt - Botvinnik, Amsterdam 1966 Black went on to obtain an excellent game after d7 7.e6 xe6 8.dxc5 f6 9.b4 g6 10.f4 g7 11.d4 0-0 12.xc6 bxc6 13.e5 h6 14.d3 d7 15.d4 f6 16.0-0 f7 17.a4 e5 18.f2 f5 though surprisingly the former W orld Champion lost this game. ] [ 5...h5?! was played in Pedersen Borbjerggaard, Aarhus 1996, but to me it looks far too extravagant. The game reeled on with themoves 6.a3 ( and 6.d2 ) 6...f5 7.dxc5 e6 8.b4 a5 9.d4 axb4 10.xc6 ( 10.b5!? ) 10...bxc6 11.cxb4 e7 12.d3 b8 13.b2 a n d n o w B l a c k ' s g5?! 1526

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 was a desperate-looking move in what is probably a lost position. ] 6.dxc5 This is the move that got Black to start taking on d4 before playing ...Bf5. [ The old line was 6.g3 g6 when Filip gave the line ( 6...xb1 7.xb1 e6 8.a3 c4 9.h4 c7 10.h5 gave White a useful space advantage in Bronstein - Simagin, Moscow Ch., 1961; and 6...d7 (Rossetto - Filip, Capablanca Memorial, Havana 1967) should probably be met by 7.e3 b6 8.d2 ) 7.h4 ( 7.dxc5 e6 8.e3 xe5 9.f4 c6 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 f6 was better for Black in Rossetto - Bronstein, Amsterdam Zonal, 1964) 7...h6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 cxd4 11.cxd4 b6 12.c3 e6 13.e3 with equality. ] 6...e6 [ Short - Speelman, British Ch., Chester 1979, varied at this point with 6...xe5 7.d4 d7 8.e2 e6 ( 8...g6!? Botterill ) 9.b4 f6 10.0-0 e7 11.e3 0-0 12.d2 c7 13.f4 g6 14.e1 ( The immediate 14.f5 might be better, with Brustkern - Bourne, St. Helier 1999 continuing: exf5 15.xf5 xf5 16.xf5 e4?! 17.xe4 dxe4 18.c4 f6 19.b3 ae8 20.af1 with strong pressure on the f-file.) 14...b6 15.4b3 a4 16.c1 fe8 17.f2 xb3 ( And here Botterill suggested 17...d7 rather than making W hite's queenside pawns more compact) 18.axb3 ab8 19.cxb6 axb6 20.d4 d7 21.b5 d6 22.g3 e7 23.f3 c5! 24.c2 e4 with a complex position in which both sides have chances ] 7.b4 a5?! The fact that White can ignore this move, makes it look like a loss of time. [ 7...xe5 is probably better, even though Black's bishop is unable to come back to d7. Barendregt - Barcza, Hamburg 1965 went 8.d4 e7 9.f4 f6 and now 10.b5+ l o o k s r i g h t ( r a t h e r t h a n 10.xe5 fxe5 11.b5+ f7 12.f3 g6 with a good game for Black )] [ Black can also interpose 7...xb1 8.xb1 before playing xe5 but then 9.d4 a6 10.a4+ d7 11.e2 e7 12.f4 looked nice for White in Rossi - Arlandi , Asti 1997 ] 8.d4 axb4 9.cxb4 c7 [ And not 9...xb4 10.b5+ ]

10.b5 xb1 11.xb1 xe5+ 12.e3 c7 13.0-0 e7 14.xc6+ bxc6 15.b5 It's now quite clear that Black's opening has backfired. The action is starting whilst Black's king is uncastled. cxb5 16.xb5 c6 17.d4 c8 18.b3 f6 19.b5+ f8 [ 19...d7 20.c6 is also deeply unpleasant ] 20.c6 e4 21.xe7 xe7 22.b2 d8 [ B l a c k d o e s n ' t h a v e t i m e f o r 22...f6 b e c a u s e o f 23.c6 d8 24.c5+ e8 25.b7 ] [ and 22...f6 loses to 23.f3 xc5 ( 23...g5 24.xg5 fxg5 25.xg7+ ) 24.b4 etc. ] 23.xg7 xa2 24.fc1 g8 25.e5 f6 26.h5 g7 27.c6 d6 28.c7 a8 29.f4+ e5 30.xe5+! fxe5 31.h6+ 1-0

1420 Short,Nigel D Johannessen,Leif Erlend 37th Olympiad (7) [Jonathan Rowson]

B12 2677 2559 28.05.2006

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 This is generally considered the most solid move, but it is worth noting that Leko and Ivanchuk have both recently showed a preference for h6. [ 4...h6 5.g4 A) 5...e4 6.f3 h7 has been ventured by various GMs- the point is that after 7.e6 d6! ( 7...fxe6!? is not out of the question. ) 8.exf7+ xf7 Black is ready to force through e5. I am not sure of the theoretical status of this line, but I can't see any game that directly refutes Black's play. Let me know if I've missed something.; B) 5...d7 Now White has various moves, but most players would follow Kramnik's e x a m p l e w i t h 6.d2 which he used to defeat Leko in the decisive final round of their match. However, the general verdict is that Leko was ok out of the opening in that game, and Black also has noteworthy alte rn at ives e .g. e6 ( 6...c5 7.dxc5 Now Black can play Nc6 and Qc7, but Kramnik-Leko went e6 8.b3 xc5 9.xc5 a5+ 10.c3 xc5 11.f3 1527

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and White had a small edge.) 7.b3 a5!? as ventured by Ivanchuk against Kurnosov in Turkey earlier this year. 8.a4 a6 9.e3 c7 10.f3 h5! left Black comfortably placed and Ivanchuk went on to win. ] 5.c4 e6 6.c3 [ 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.c3 is worth considering, but the position is probably quite different now that the knight on b8 can go straight to c6. ] 6...d7 An important moment. Black can also take on c4 or play Ne7(in order to take back on d5 with a piece. [ 6...e7 7.cxd5 xd5 ] [ 6...dxc4 is a slight concession, because Black should probably try to make W hite move the bishop on f1 before taking on c4. Even so, Black forces a structure that is generally quite desirable for him. ] [ 6...e7!? was Hungarian GM Gymesi's choice, and he didn't seem to have any major problems against Akopian after 7.g3 h6 8.g5 dxc4 9.xc4 d7 ] 7.cxd5 cxd5 Nigel seems to think that this structure is quite dangerous for Black. The he art o f th e m at te r is th at af te r t he ligh t squared bishops are exchanged, Black's king is unlikely to feel safe, because h5 will need defending with g6 at some point, and then there are always sacrifices to deal with on g6 and e6, which is indeed what happened in the game. 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 e7 10.f3 c6 11.0-0 e7 12.g5 Although Black looks quite solid, I think White is clearly better here, due his extra space and the fact that Black can't easily castle. a6 13.ac1 b6 14.e2 d7 15.f4 c4 16.b3 a3 17.fd1 c8 18.xe7 xe7 19.c5 c7 20.dc1 g6 21.g5 d7 22.xc6 bxc6 23.xg6 fxg6 24.xg6+ d8 25.xc6 1-0

1421 Short,Nigel D Mchedlishvili,Mikheil 4th Kolkata Open (10) [John Watson]

B12 2706 2613 10.09.2009

1.e4 c6 2.e2 Short tries this move again. For now Black has yet to find a fully convincing way to handle it. d5 3.e5 c5 4.d4 c6 5.c3 cxd4 [ 5...g4 equalised in Felgaer-Houka, Gibtelecom 2007, analysed last month. But W hite has a number of promising ideas outlined there. ] 6.cxd4 g4 [ Last month we had a game and notes with 6...f5 7.bc3 e6 Following my notes: A) the Archives contain the interesting game Davies-Speelman, Southend ENG 1999: 8.a3 a6 9.e3 f6 10.h3 h5 ( Davies: 'Taking the pawn with 10...fxe5 11.dxe5 xe5 looks downright bad after 12.d4 intending g2-g4.') 11.exf6 xf6 12.g3 d6 13.g2 c8 14.0-0 a5 15.f4 c4 16.c1 and White stood better.; B) I mentioned that 8.g3 g6 9.b5!? might be interesting.; C) 8.e3 b6 ( 8...b4?! 9.g3! c2+ 10.d2 xa1? 11.a4+ e7 12.b4+ wins. ) 9.d2 ( 9.a4 ) C1) 9...b4 10.g3 c2+ 11.d1 xa1 12.xf5 wi t h t h e i d e a exf5? ( 12...b3 13.axb3 xb3+ 14.c2 xc2+ 15.xc2 exf5 16.b5+ d8 17.xd5 with an obscure position.) 13.xd5 , virtually winning.; C2) 9...c8 10.f4 f6 C2a) 11.b5 b4!? 12.xc6+ ( now that b4 and b2 are protected, 12.d3 xd3 13.xd3 can be tried, w h i c h i s u n c l e a r f o l l o w i n g fxe5! 14.xe6 e4!? 15.c2 f6! 16.0-0! ) 12...xc6 13.c1 a6 14.f3!? wi t h t h e i d e a s g 4 a n d K f 2 , a g a i n unclear.; C2b) 11.d3 xd3 12.xd3 ( 12.xd3? fxe5 13.xe6 b4! ) 12...fxe5 13.xe5 f6 Jones, G (2554)-Hera, I (2557)/Porto San Giorgio ITA 2009. As I said there, a 1528

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 French-like position has arisen: Black's pieces and rooks will be active, while W hite has space. The game was ultimately drawn. ] 7.bc3 e6 8.e3 Short likes getting these s o l id , d i f f i c u lt - t o - a ss a il p o s i t i o n s i n t h e Advance Caro-Kann. He maintains space and keep his d4 square well protected. ge7 9.f3 [ 9.h3 h5 10.g4 g6 11.f4 may also favour White slightly, but it's not much. ] 9...f5 10.g4 g6 11.f4 a6 [ 11...b6 12.d2 0-0-0 is sound. ] 12.c1 h5 13.g2 hxg4 14.fxg4 h7 15.0-0!? g6 16.fxd5! h4!? [ Fun play arises from 16...exd5 17.xd5! ( 17.xd5 g8 (f7 requires protection) 18.f3 d7= ) 17...c8 ( 17...e7 18.b3! ) 18.b3 a5 19.a4+ c6 ( 19...b5 20.xa5! xa5 21.xc8+ d7 22.fc1 ) 20.f2 and Black is tied up. ] 17.h1 exd5 18.xd5 g6 19.xc6! bxc6 20.f6+ gxf6 21.xc6+ e7 22.exf6+ d6 23.a4 [ 23.c1! is also killing. ] 23...c7 24.c1 d6 25.xa8+ b8 26.e8+ 1-0

1422 Sjugirov,Sanan Carlsen,Magnus 39th Olympiad Men (10.16) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2627 2826 01.10.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 A highly topical position. b4+ But what's this? This move has never been covered on ChessPublishing and has only been played 48 times as far as I can see. The idea is to bring the bishop round to c7 to put pressure on W h it e 's c e n t re b u t it lo se s a lo t o f t im e . However a few titled players have attempted i t r e c e n t l y . 6.bd2 This has been played slightly le ss t han 6.c3 b ut a ppe ars more logical to me as Nbd2 is a move White nearly always plays anyway. After all we don't want to force Black into the plan he wants to play anyway. [ 6.c3 has also scored quite well however. a5 7.0-0 ( 7.e3 d7 8.bd2 c7

9.f1 g6 10.g3 f6 11.f4 h6 12.d2 f7 is the type of thing Black is aiming for: Majumdar, C (2057) -Turov, M (2624) Bhubaneswar 2010.) 7...d7 8.e1 h6 9.bd2 e7 10.f1 g6 ( An earlier Zhigalko game continued: 10...c7 11.g3 h7 12.h5 0-0 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 g6 15.e3 and Black was in deep trouble as 16.Nxg7 is threatened. Black has to play f5 but 16.exf6 xf6 17.xe6+ h7 18.h3 xh5 19.xh5 left White a pawn up with a good position. Zhigalko, S (2568) -Predojevic, B (2651) Plovdiv 2008.) 11.h4 h7 12.g3 b6 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 g6 15.b4 a5 16.b5 c5 17.a3 c8 18.ac1 f8 19.e3 g7 20.f3 f8 21.e3 cxd4 22.f4 f5 23.gxf5+ exf5 24.g3 h7 25.xf5! g5 26.h4! was a very pretty finish. 1-0 Zhigalko, S (2668)-Korobkov, P (2482) Moscow 2010. ] 6...d7 7.0-0 a5 This position has been reached in quite a lot of high rated encounters but there hasn't been a consensus as to how W hite should continue. 8.b3 This move appears the most logical to me. [ 8.c4 c7 9.b3 h6 10.a3 f6 11.e1 f7 12.f1 e8 13.g3 g6 14.f1 g8 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.d2 f7 gave Black decent pressure on White's centre. Nijboer, F (2638) -Bologan, V (2658) Wijk aan Zee 2007. ] [ 8.c3 has been tried here too but I like Sjugirov's plan. ] 8...c7 9.e1 And this move appears to be t h e n o ve l t y b u t f a ir l y s e n s ib l e . S j u gi r o v prepares to gain space on the kingside with g4 and f4 while the knight can also come to d3 to slow Black's queenside counterplay. The straightforward 10.Bd3 is also an idea. I recall glancing at the position around here and already Carlsen didn't seem very happy with his position. [ 9.g5 has been played in all the other games to reach this position. f6 10.h4 ( 10.exf6 was played in a recent encounter but hardly looks threatening and indeed gxf6 11.e1 0-0 12.d3 g4 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 e5! 15.e3 e4 16.e2 h6 had given Black the better of it. Parligras, M (2574)-Nikolaidis, I (2493) Chalkis 2010.) 10...e7 ( Sergey Kasparov later deviated 1529

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with 10...e7 with the idea 11.e1 0-0-0!? with a very complex battle in prospect. 12.a4 g5 13.exf6 gxf6 14.xg5 dg8 15.c1 g7 with strong kingside pressure for the pawn . V ysoc hin , S (25 43)-Kasparo v, S (2476) Lipetsk 2009.) 11.exf6 gxf6 12.e1 0-0 ( 12...f7 13.c4 g6 14.g3 e8 15.d3 xd3 16.xd3 c8 17.e2 b6 18.c5 xg3 19.hxg3 also favoured White: Matlakov, M (2484)-Kasparov, S (2486) Peterhof 2008.) 13.d3 xd3 14.cxd3! An unusual looking recapture but now Black will not be able to take full control of the centre. Black actually has a big problem here as he cannot defend the e6 pawn while e5 15.dxe5 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.g4+ h8 18.xe5! fxe5 19.e6 was a very quick White victory. 1-0 Movsesian, S (2723) -Willemze, T (2398) Kallithea 2008. ] 9...f6 Thanks to Sjugirov's dynamic response this seems to be a mistake although if Black isn't going to fight back in the centre it's hard to see what he should do. [ 9...c5 is hardly better: 10.xc5 ( 10.b5!? also looks good.) 10...xc5 11.dxc5 xe5 12.f3 f6 13.c3 c7 14.d4 e7 15.a4+ f8 16.e3 and White dominates the board. ] [ 9...e7 is safer although White should be better as Black is rather passive. 10.d3 b6 11.g4 g6 12.f4 0-0 13.e3 c5 14.c3 and Black struggles for counterplay. ] 10.h5+! g6 11.e2 Having forced g6 White now has a very promising position. Not only is the f5 bishop short on squares but Black will also have some problems on the dark squares. g5 [ 11...fxe5 12.g4 picks up the piece but Black has a least some compensation but White should still be better here, e.g. e7 ( 12...e4 13.g2! e7 14.gxf5 gxf5 15.h5+ d8 16.h1 gf6 gives Black at least some practical chances.) 13.gxf5 xf5 14.dxe5 xe5 15.d4 and objectively W hite should be better but Black has definite compensation. ] [ 11...h5 12.f4 and Black has long term problems on the dark squares. ] 12.d3! And now Carlsen will have problems on the light squares instead. g6 [ 12...xd3 13.xd3 is unpleasant as Black

is unable to play f5? 14.h5+ ] 13.exf6 xf6 14.g4 h6 [ 14...f4 15.xg6+ hxg6 16.xf4 gxf4 17.d3 h4 18.f3 e7 19.ae1 is no better. ] [ Perhaps sacrificing the pawn with 14...f7!? is Black's best hope although 15.xg5 gf6 16.h4 0-0-0 17.c5! And White is doing very well, e.g. df8 18.xf6 xf6 19.xf6 xf6 20.xd7 xd7 21.xg6 hxg6 22.f3 g5 23.h3 and Black has very little to show for his pawn deficit. ] 15.f4! Perfect play by Sjugirov has put Carlsen under intense pressure. Trading on d3 is now forced when the e1 knight jumps back into the game. xd3 16.xd3 0-0-0 17.d2 g6 18.fxg5 gf6? This is just a blunder but Black was already clearly worse as he couldn't afford dropping a pawn. [ 18...hxg5 was best. 19.h3 but here Black cannot keep hold of the g5 pawn or even keep the queens on board. gf6 20.xg5 dg8 ( 20...f7 21.e5! ) 21.xg6 xg6 22.f3 e5 23.dxe5 xe5 24.xe5 xe5 25.c3 leaves White simply a pawn up but at least here Black has some chances to hold on. ] 19.xf6! xh2+ [ 19...xf6 20.xe6+ b8 21.e5! is of course totally hopeless. ] 20.h1 xf6 21.xe6+ b8 22.gxf6 c7 23.e5 xc2 24.f7 hf8 25.b4 It's not often you see Carlsen destroyed in such a manner and Sjugirov shows good preparation with a new idea against this rare sideline. 1-0

1423 Sjugirov,Sanan Cheparinov,Ivan 10th EICC Budva MNE (2) [John Watson]

B12 2562 2679 07.03.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.c3 [ 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.c3 bc6 9.f4 is the note to White's 9th. ] 6...c6 7.0-0 cxd4 8.xd4 This is a book line, but it's generally better to play Nxd4 1530

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 when you haven't already played c3. ge7 This appears to be a sound way to approach the position. [ 8...xe5? 9.b5+ d7 10.xf5 exf5 11.xd5 is bad. ] [ 8...xd4 is the main option. ] 9.xf5!? I don't trust this. Now White must attend to e5, and in doing so he will likely end up with a bad bishop. [ But 9.b5 a6 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.a4 d3! 12.d1 b5 looks dynamically equal, e.g., 13.b3 g6 14.a4 c4 15.b7 c8 16.xc6+ xc6 17.xc6 c8 18.d4 xe5 19.a3 ] [ 9.f4 was the game Caruana-Motylev, Aeroflot 2008 from the Archives, which went g5!? ( 9...xd4 10.cxd4 c6= ) 10.fxg5 g7 with messy play. ] 9...xf5 10.d3 The only way to stay active. [ 10.f4?! g5 ] [ 10.f4 c5+ 11.h1 0-0 ] 10...e7!? [ 10...g6! targets the e-pawn. The game is b a l a n c e d a f t e r 11.e2 g7 12.xf5 ( 12.f4 0-0 has ideas of ...g5 or ...Qh4) 12...exf5 ( 12...gxf5 13.f4 0-0 14.e3 f6 15.exf6 xf6 16.d2 d4! is roughly equal) 13.f4 0-0 and ...f6 follows in most cases. ] 11.e2 [ a) 11.xf5 exf5 12.e1 0-0 13.d3 g6 ] [ b) White's best try for advantage is probably 11.e1 0-0 ( 11...d4!? 12.a3 dxc3 13.xc3 0-0!? 14.f3 and White is somewhat better, Ivanchuk-Anand, Linares 1999. ) 12.d2 d4 13.f3 dxc3 14.bxc3 Black should have sufficient counterplay, however. ] 11...g6!? [ 11...c7! 12.xf5 exf5 13.f4 d8 ] 12.d2 h5 13.f3 h4 14.xh4 xh4 15.f4 e7 16.e3 c7 17.h1 d8 18.ad1 f8 19.f2 White has a simple grip on the position, and plans a surprise. g7 20.f5!? Really unnecessary. It takes a computer to find the right defence, however, so this may be a decent practical decision. Slower moves leave White a small but certain edge. exf5 21.xf5 The point. gxf5 22.xf5 h7 This is probably fine, but [ B l a c k m i g h t h a v e r i s k e d 22...xe5! , when there may follow 23.de1 ( 23.d4

f6 24.de1 g4; 23.f4 f6 transposes, and not d6? 24.xd5 ) 23...f6 24.f4 d6 25.g5 fxg5 26.xg5+ h7! ( 26...g6? 27.f6 h6 28.ee6 ) 27.f6!? g7 28.f5+ g8 29.xe5 xe5 30.e6+ h7 31.f5+= ] 23.xd5! h8! [ 23...xd5? 24.xf7+ h8 25.e8+ ] 24.fd1 xd5 25.xd5 b8?! [ 25...h4 ] 26.d7 c8 27.e6 f6? This is the first real mistake of the game by either player, and it's a bad one. [ 27...fxe6 28.xe6 g8= ] 28.h3 [ Or 28.b4 ] 28...b6 29.f4 Black is stuck. e8 30.d5 e5 31.xa7 c6? [ But 31...g6 32.e3! achieves 3 passed pawns on the queenside. ] 32.c4 g7? [ 32...xd5 33.cxd5 d6 34.a8+ g7 35.xe5 fxe5 36.d8 is simple enough. ] 33.h6 1-0

1424 Smirin,I Pantsulaia,L Baku Open 2013 (8.4) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2663 2596 26.09.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 e7 7.bd2 g6 A new move for this site. 7...h6 has been seen plenty of times before as well as 7... c5 and 7...Bg6. I'm a bit suspicious of this move as it blocks the bishops retreat but Pantsulaia's idea is to play a quick ...f6 and put pressure on W hite's centre 8.b3 f6 [ 8...g4 has also been played but it led to trouble after 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 f6 11.h5 fxe5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.e1 d7 and now in Svidler, P (2741)-Jobava, B (2696) Novi Sad 2009 W hite missed the chance f or a clear a dvanta ge wit h 14.f4 c4 15.g4 b6+ 16.h1 ] 9.e1! According to my database White has now scored 3/3 with this move which threatens to trap the bishop with g4 h5 1531

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 9...fxe5!? is an interesting piece sacrifice but I suspect Black doesn't get quite enough for here and Smirin would've been ready with an improvement 10.g4 e4 11.gxf5 exf5 12.f4 ( 12.f3! gives Black more problems here - W hite is doing well after d6 13.fxe4 fxe4 14.g2 ) 12...d6 13.e3 df8 14.c5 c7 and Black's two pawns and solid pa wn centre gave him reasonable compensation f or the pawn although W hite still went on to win eventually in Ni Hua (2607)-Gelashvili, T (2576) Turin 2006 ] 10.f4 h4 11.c3 [ 11.e3 b6 ( 11...c7! seems to give Blac k go od ch a nce s h ere , f or exa mp le 12.d3 0-0-0 13.a4 b8 14.a5 h3 15.g3 a6 with an unclear position but I don't see why Black's chances should be worse here) 12.a4 a5 13.g4 e7 14.d3 xg4 15.xg4 f5 16.e2 a6 and White was slightly better in W ang Hao (2733)Shengelia, D (2526) Rogaska Slatina 2011 although Black's position remains quite solid it's hard for him to attack anywhere ] 11...b6 12.c2 0-0-0 13.e3 e7 14.c4 c7?! This doesn't make a lot of sense here Smirin quickly gets a good position [ 14...e4! was necessary here and White's advantage is only small after 15.c5 c7 16.d2 as Black can get counterplay with h3 17.g3 h7 and the fact that he has kept his light-squared bishop will give him long term chances on the kingside. ] 15.cxd5 [ 15.xf5 xf5 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.d2 is also strong - Black's only move here is b6 but after 18.c1 c4 19.xc4! dxc4 20.e2 Black is under a big attack ] 15...xd5 [ 15...cxd5? n o w l o s e s t o 16.d2 b8 17.c1 c6 18.xf5 exf5 19.a5 and Black is getting crushed both in the centre and the queenside ] 16.xd5 exd5 17.g4! White swaps off Black's best minor piece and ensures he's the only one with an attack xg4 [ 17...g6 18.xf5 gxf5 19.c2 h5 20.e2 h8 21.d2 is also rather unpleasant for Black ] 18.xg4 b8 19.d2

[ 19.e6 b6 20.f5 is also strong but it's tough for Black to stop this so Smirin decides there's no real rush ] 19...b6 20.a5 f7 21.c5 e8?! [ 21...f5 offers slightly better chances to survive but Black still lacks any counterplay after 22.e2 e8 23.xb6 axb6 24.d3 and White can simply advance with b4, a4a5. ] 22.e6 h5 23.d7+ c7 24.h3 e2 25.xf8 hxf8 26.f5 With a protected passed pawn on e6 W hite is strategically winning now and Smirin wraps the rest of the ga m e u p wi t h o u t t o o m u ch d if f ic u lt y h8 27.f2 b5 28.d2 b8 29.a4 a6 30.g4 h3?! Desperation but it allows White to pick up both g7 and f6 [ 30...hg8 was more stubborn but Black is obviously lost after 31.xh4 ] 31.xg7 hxg2 32.xf6 c4 33.f4+ a8 34.e7 The pawns are unstoppable! h7 35.e1 a5 36.fe2 b6 37.g3 a5 38.b3 xb3 39.g6 1-0

1425 Smirin,Ilia Bareev,Evgeny vs. ROW Moscow RUS (6) [Tony Kosten]

B12 2676 2726 10.09.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 b6 5.c1 h6!? The knight plans to come to g4, or f5. [ 5...e6 was preferred in the two analysed games Kasparov, G-Shirov, A, and Gelfand, B-Dreev, A. ] 6.h3 e6 7.f3 g6 The knight needs the f5square. 8.c3 [ 8.g4!? must have been tempting, keeping the knight offside, ] [ 8.xh6 gxh6 is always possible, but White figures that his bishop is worth more than the offside knight. ] 8...f5 9.f4 c5 10.g4 The point of White's play, driving the knight back. e7 Naturally, this knight could have come here in one go! 11.dxc5 xc5 12.bd2 White will play in style typical of an Advance French, placing a knight on d4 and attacking on the kingside, 1532

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 where he has more space. h5 13.gxh5!? An interesting decision, I think I would prefer to keep pawn control over f5 myself, by [ 13.g1 ] 13...xh5 14.d4 a6 15.2b3 c7 16.e3 d7 17.d3 White's pieces are nicely centralised, but it is not so easy for him to bring his king to safety, and the e5-pawn n e e d s d e f e n d i n g . g5! Very strong, Black wants to keep White from castling long, [ 17...g6 is a sound alternative, but 18.0-0-0 xd3 19.xd3! sacs the e-pawn for an initiative along the central files. ] 18.xg5 [ 18.h2 h6 allows Black to castle queenside while keeping the white king in the centre. ] 18...xe5 19.xe5 xe5 20.e2 xe2 21.xe2 c4 Black is well on top, he has the better pawn structure (2 islands versus 3) and more central pawns. 22.ab1 c8 23.h4 e5 24.f3 c6 25.bd2 xd2 26.xd2 f5 27.h5 The e5-pawn is untouchable as long as t h e w h i t e k i n g i s o n t h e s a m e f i l e . h6 28.bg1 xd2 29.xd2 f6 30.h4 d6 31.f3 f7 The big centre allows Black to bring his king to the strong square on e6, and meanwhile he can pressurise the isolated hpawn. 32.g6 f5 33.g4 c4!? 34.xc4 dxc4 35.e2 g7 36.d2?! [ 36.h6 first is slightly better. ] 36...b5?! [ 36...xh5 seems simpler, menacing to check on f4/g3. ] 37.h6 f5 38.h7 [ 38.e4 xh6 39.xh6 xh6 40.c5 is a better chance, a5 41.b7 regaining the pawn, although Black is still better. ] 38...d6 39.f3 g6 40.g1+ f7 41.h1 g7 42.g1+ xh7 43.e4 xe4 44.xe4 Black has won his pawn, but this way his king is slightly offside. g8? [ 44...d8 45.f5 d2 is probably drawing as the black king is so far away from his pawns, but is Black's best chance. ] 45.h1+ [ 45.xg8! xg8 46.d5 draws easily, W hite will play a4 and exploit his more advanced king, f7 47.a4 bxa4 ( 47...e7 48.a5 d7 49.c5 c7 50.d5 is also level) 48.xc4 e6 49.c5 f5

50.c4 f4 51.b6 and White threatens to advance his c-pawn, equal. ] 45...g6 46.d1!? This is a rapid game, of course, so both players make mistakes in time trouble. [ 46.g1+! f7 47.xg8! goes into the same drawn endgame. ] 46...a8 47.d6 g5 48.b6?! Better [ 48.d5 when White's extra activity is sufficient to hold the balance. ] 48...a7 [ 48...d8! immediately is best. ] 49.e6?! [ 49.d6! keeps control of the d-file, and should draw. ] 49...d7! Activity is almost everything in rook and pawn endgames! 50.e3 [ 50.xa6 d2 51.e3 xb2 turns the ta b le s, a s h e re it is B la ck wh o is m o s t active. ] 50...a5 51.b6 d5 52.f3 a4 53.e4 d2! 54.xb5 e2+ 55.d5 f4 56.e6 xf3 57.xf6 e4 White can resign, the e-pawn is t o o s t r o n g . 58.e5 e3 59.d4 d2+ 60.xc4 e2 61.f5+ e4 62.f8 d5 0-1

1426 Smirin,Ilia Dreev,Alexey vs. ROW Moscow RUS (10) [Tony Kosten]

B12 2676 2676 11.09.2002

W as it Tartakower who said that 'the worst bishop is stronger than the best knight'? 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 This move was played a lot by Rausis some years ago, White seeks to deter ...c5. e6 Less aggressive than [ 4...b6 which was played in the three other Russia-ROW games in this line. ] 5.d2 [ 5.f3 e7 6.bd2 is similar, Kristensen, B-Larsen, B/ch-DEN, Taastrup DEN 1998. ] 5...d7 6.c3 f6 As Black cannot attack with ... c5 so easily, he turns to striking the white centre head-on. [ 6...b6 is now too late: 7.b4! and White has a nice queenside clamp, f6 8.b3!? fxe5 9.dxe5 c7 10.f4 h6 11.f3 e7 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0 with a small plus, 1533

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Zvjaginsev, V-Dautov, R/Essen GER 2002. ] [ 6...e7 is the main alternative, 7.f4 f6 8.gf3 ( 8.e2 g6 9.f2 c5 10.gf3 fxe5?! 11.dxe5 c6 12.g5 with an awkward threat to e6, Rausis, I-Izeta Txabarri, F/Las Palmas 1995) 8...fxe5 9.xe5 xe5 10.fxe5 g6 11.h5?! ( 11.e2 ) 11...b6 12.b4 e7 13.d1?! to cover c2, and menace g4, 0-0! 14.g4?! f4! 15.xf4 g6 16.h3 xf4 with a significant advantage, Zaichik, G-Tal, M/Tbilisi 1986. ] 7.f4 b6!? Now this novelty makes more sense, for tactical reasons. [ 7...h6 8.gf3 e7 9.h3 fxe5 10.fxe5 0-0 is perhaps too slow, Golubev, M-Vajda, A/ Bucharest ROM 2001, the white centre is still going strong. ] [ 7...g5!? immediately, is wild, 8.gf3 gxf4 9.xf4 h6 Black is well on his way to destro ying t he wh ite ce ntre, Belot ti, B Khenkin, I/Bratto ITA 2002. ] 8.b3 [ 8.b4? fxe5 9.fxe5 xe5 is the point W hite's seventh move left e3 without defence. ] 8...g5!? Hitting the e-pawn at its base is very Nimzovitchian! 9.gf3 [ 9.exf6 gxf4 10.f7+ xf7 11.xf4 is fairly easy for Black, e.g. xb3 12.xb3 e8 13.f3 g7 planning e5. One thing to notice in similar positions is that Black can make good use of the e4-square now that the white f-pawn is no longer on f2. ] 9...gxf4 10.xf4 h6 11.xh6 xh6 12.exf6 Otherwise Black could capture on e5 a n d t h e n p l a y . . . N f 7 . xf6 13.e5 Neit her sid e wishe s to ca pture t he o the r queen as recapturing with the a-pawn would o p e n t h e a - f i l e . g8 14.df3 hg4 15.xg4 xg4 16.h3 f6 17.xb6 axb6 18.e5?! [ 18.g4! e4 19.e2 is level. ] 18...h5! Now g2 is a permanent target. 19.a3 e7 20.0-0-0 g3 21.d3!? e4!? [ 21...xg2 22.xf5 exf5 23.hf1 e6 24.d3 g5 is also possible. ] 22.xe4 dxe4! [ 22...xe4 23.hf1 threatens Rf7+. ] 23.h4 You might be forgiven for thinking that W hite has a good knight and Black a bad

bishop, but the white rooks have nothing to do and g2 is lost. xg2 24.c4 ag8 25.de1 8g3 26.hf1 h2 27.e3 g6 28.g1 xg1 29.xg1 f6 30.f1+ f5 31.f4 Everyth ing is def end ed, bu t W hite is to o passive. b5 32.f1 h3 33.d2 e5 34.f2 exd4 35.cxd4 b3 36.e3 [ 36.e1 e6 is no better, White has no sensible moves. ] 36...xb2+ 37.e1 xf2 38.xf2 e6 39.e2 b6 40.d2 c5 The two extra pawns win easily. 41.c3 f7 42.c2 f5 43.d2 f4 0-1

1427 Smirin,Ilia Rodshtein,Maxim 34th ch-ISR Haifa ISR (9) [John Watson]

B12 2649 2609 11.12.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 [ For 5...c5 , see this month's game LekoCheparinov. ] 6.0-0 e7 [ The surprisingly quick win by Peter Svidler over Hikaru Nakamura in the Aker Rapids in Gjovik 2009 went 6...h6 (the main line in W e l l s ' b o o k ) 7.c3 e7 8.a3!? (normally this knight goes to d2, or example, ( 8.bd2 a6 9.b3 c8 10.h4 h7 11.f4 c5 12.h5!? of Morozeevich-Anand, S a n L u i s 2 0 0 5) 8...c8 9.c2 c5 ( 9...h7 ) 10.dxc5 xc2?! ( 10...xc5 11.e3 with some advantage) 11.xc2 xc5 12.d1 ( or 12.d4! ) 12...d7 13.a4 c6 14.e3 ( 14.c4 ) 14...a6?! ( 14...c5! ) 15.c4! dxc4 16.xc4 b4? 17.b3 c2?? 18.xd7! xd7 19.d1 e7 20.c1 b4 21.xc2 xb3 22.xc8+ d7 23.axb3 xc8 24.d2 and White was a piece ahead. ] 7.bd2 h6 8.b3 h7 9.a4 White doesn't have an obvious plan, so he grabs space. f5 10.d3 g6 11.a5 a6 12.h3 c5 With this move Black equalises. The rest is mostly balanced, with a few mistakes towards the end. 13.c4 dxc4 14.xc4 cxd4 15.bxd4 xd4 16.xd4 c8 17.d1 c7 18.f4 1534

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b8 19.d3 c6 20.a4 xd3 21.xd3 e7 22.d4 0-0 23.c4? a8?! [ 23...b4! ] 24.a4 ac8 25.xc6 bxc6 26.c4 a8 27.g3 h8 28.b3 fd8?! [ 28...ab8 ] 29.b6 c5 30.c1 [ 30.xa6! ] 30...db8 31.xa6 xa6 32.xa6 xb2 33.a8+ b8 34.a6 b2 35.a8+ b8 36.a6 b2 ½-½

1428 Smirnov,Pavel Prizant,Jaroslav Russia [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2426 2377 2000

W e considered the 3... c5 Variation in the Advanced Caro-Kann several months ago, but it's necessary to look at it again since some important games have been played with it recently. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 The latest development. In my previous update I told you that Black can begin with either 4...Nc6 or 4...e6 since both moves lead to the same positions. But recently Black has been trying to omit an early ...Nc6 completely. The main adherent of this line at GM level is the German Rustem Dautov. 5.e3 h6!? 6.c3 f5 7.d4 d7! An important novelty. [ P r e v i o u s l y B l a c k h a d p l a y e d 7...xd4 8.cxd4 b6 As we already know this is a typical pawn sacrifice. But in this particular position it's not so good: A) The complications after 9.b4?! a5! 10.b5+ d7 11.a4 xb5 12.xb5+ d7! a r e g o o d f o r B l a c k : 13.xd7+ ( 13.xb6?! is too risky: c6 14.b5 xd4 15.c6 a7 16.xa7 xa7 and White can't even hold the balance as in Peng X i a o m i n - K h e n k i n , G e n e v a 1 9 9 7 .) 13...xd7 14.e2 axb4 15.cxb6 c6 16.d2 e7 17.0-0 hb8 18.f4 xb6 19.b3 ba6 and Black was slightly better in Arakhamia-Kachiani, Groningen 1997.; B) 9.b5+! S i m p l e a n d b e s t . d7 10.xd7+ xd7 11.cxb6 axb6 12.e2

b4+ 13.bc3 c6 14.0-0 0-0 15.d3 and Black had nothing for the pawn in Nisipeanu-Kachiani, Bad Wiessee 1997. ] 8.f3 c6 9.d2!? [ 9.d3 is not good in view of the typical fxd4 10.cxd4 b6! ] 9...f6! [ White is well prepared for the typical pawn sa c rif ice . . . b 6 : 9...fxd4 10.cxd4 b6 11.b4! ] [ or 9...cxd4 10.cxd4 b6 11.cxb6 xb6 12.c3 and in both cases Black hardly has enough for the pawn. ] 10.exf6 [ In the first game with this line, Nijboer-Glek, Groningen 1997 White tried 10.b4 but after a5! 11.exf6 gxf6 12.b5 cxd4 13.cxd4 e5! Black obtained excellent counterplay. The game continued: 14.c3 ( 14.dxe5 xc5 is very dangerous for White for example: 15.xd5?! b6 with a strong attack. ) 14...e4! 15.g4 e7 16.g1 xg4 17.f4 f5! 18.h3 h5 19.b6 g7 20.b5+ f7 21.ge2 g8 22.0-0-0 f6 23.hg1 g6 24.b1 a4!? 25.e3 a5 26.xa4 xe2 27.xe2 xg1 28.xg1 xd4 with a huge edge for Black. ] [ 10.d3 is no good either: fxd4 11.cxd4 fxe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.dxe5 xc5 14.0-0 h4 15.e2 0-0 and Black was clearly better since his dark-squared Bishop was very strong in Bryzgalin-Prizant, Neftekamsk 2000. ] 10...gxf6 11.b5 e7! 12.0-0?! After this inaccuracy Black obtains a clear edge. [ 12.b4 should be played, and after 0-0-0 13.0-0 g8 a very complicated position arises where both sides have chances, but personally I would prefer to play Black. ] 12...e5 13.e1?! Losing by force. [ Of course, 13.e3 xe3 14.xe3 xc5 is clearly better for Black since he has a strong pawn centre and the Bishop pair, but this line was relatively best for White. ] 13...0-0-0! 14.b4 g7 15.e3 d4! A decisive central breakthrough. 16.cxd4 e4! Winning a piece. 17.e2 exf3 18.xf3 h4! T h i s p r e c i s e m o v e d e s t r o ys a l l W h i t e ' s counterchances. The rest is easy. 19.e2 xb4 20.c3 xf3+ 21.xf3 c6 22.e4 c2 23.f5+ d7 24.xf6 xe4 1535

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White resigned. 0-1

1429 Socko,Bartosz Wojtaszek,Radoslaw 64th ch-POL Opole POL (13) [John Watson]

B12 2629 2637 22.02.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 Although 4 Be3 is still popular, Short's original setup with Nf3, Be2, 0-0, and c3 (sometimes with an early Be3) is the favourite again in I n f o r m a n t . e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 e7 But practically everyone throws in an early ... h6, indicating that they are seriously concerned about Nh4. 7.b3!? This move can se rve a m u lt ip le p u rp ose : W h it e m a y b e contemplating c4 and/or Ba3. In this game, he simply wants to prepare Be3 (or Bg5) without losing time to ...Qb6. [ 7.c3 has the virtue of being noncommittal, in some cases preparing Nbd2 and b4. ] 7...c5 8.c3 Now the structure is defined. c6 9.e3 c8 10.a3!? Now, very much as in the French Defence, White expands on the side of the board on which his opponent is theoretically strongest. cxd4 11.cxd4 e7 12.d3 One characteristic of the Short Variation is that White's command of space is his ticket to victory, and he often plays moves that are superficially anti-positional. Here he tries to trade of his good bishop and retain his bad one. This was planned well in advance, with the sole purpose of simplification. g4 Black duly avoids the exchange! 13.bd2 h5! [ 13...0-0?! allows 14.b1! , when there is no particularly convenient defence to the hpawn, for example, h6 15.b4 , preventing ... Na5 and eliminating the potential idea of .. Bh5-g6. This is precisely what happens in the game. ] 14.b4! 0-0 15.b1 h6?! [ But it needn't have. Black has simply 15...g6 , when 16.xg6 fxg6! leaves Black in possession of the f-file and, more importantly, the prospect of ...g5. ] 16.h3 f5! [ A radical decision. The alternative 16...xf3

17.xf3 leaves Black without much play on ot h e r wing, alt h ou gh so m e p lay o n t h e queenside with ...Nb6, ..a6, ...Qd7, and ... Na7 is worth considering. ] 17.exf6 xf6?! [ But now 17...xf6 had to be preferred, to cover e5. Black probably thought that he co u ld ge t rid o f a k n igh t t h e r e in s h o r t order. ] 18.b5 a5 19.e5 xe5 Along with it's aggressive reach, the knight was even preventing ...Nc4. 20.dxe5 f8 21.g6 e2! [ 21...xg6 22.xg6 hits e6 and threatens Bxh6 (or Bxa7). ] 22.e1 d4? This loses tactically. Also unsatisfactory is [ 22...xb5 23.xb5 d4 24.xh6! gxh6 25.e2 ] [ Correct was 22...c4! 23.h5!? ( 23.a4 d4 24.xc4 xc4 25.c1 ) 23...c5 ( 23...d4? 24.xh6! ) 24.g6 ( 24.xc4 xc4 25.xc5 xc5 26.g6 e7= ) 24...e7 25.a4 b3 26.xc4 dxc4 27.ad1 with better play Black has weaknesses and the c-pawn can't advance too far (yet). This isn't yet decisive, however. ] 23.xh6! d3? [ But 23...gxh6 24.xe2 leaves Black a full pawn down. ] 24.xe2! Black must have miscalculated this the following combinational pattern should be memorised: dxe2 25.h7+ h8 26.xg7+ xg7 27.g6+ h8 28.g8! The point: an old theme. f7 [ 28...xg8 29.h6# ] 29.xf7 [ Normally 29.xf7 would suffice, but xd2! co vers h 6 a n d t hre at e n t o p ro m ot e , s o 30.h5+ g7 31.g6+ h8 32.h5+ with a draw would be forced. ] 29...d3 [ 29...xg8 30.xe7 leaves White two pawns up, and Black's king is still exposed. ] 30.xe7 xg8 [ 30...xd2?? 31.h7# ] 31.h4+ g7 [ 31...h7 32.f6+ g7 33.e1 ] 32.g4+ h8 33.f4 b3 A last stab. 34.xb3 [ Not 34.h6+? h7 35.xh7+? xh7 with the idea 36.xb3 d8 ] 1536

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 34...d1+ 35.h2 g6 36.c1 e1 37.f8+ A strategically interesting game with a nice tactical resolution. 1-0

1430 Sprenger,Wendelin Pranjal,P 41st WJun, Goa (9) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2170 2055 2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 Evidently a very popular line at Junior World Championship level. 4 Nc3 retains a c o n s id e r a b le f o llo win g a m o n g a t t a c kin g players although Black is more than holding his/her own. e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 h5!? Fire with fire! Surprisingly, this move isn't even mentioned in both Nunn's Chess openings and the Batsford book by GM Kotronias 'Beating the Caro Kann' [ 6...d7 7.h4 ( 7.e3 e7 8.f4 h6 9.h4 b6 10.b3 h7 11.a4 c7 12.d3 xd3 13.xd3 c8 14.f4 cb6 15.xb6 xb6 16.f5 b4+ 17.xb4 xb4+ 18.d2 xd2+ 19.xd2 0-0-0 20.af1 df8 21.g5 h5 22.g6 fxg6 23.fxe6 b6 24.e7 e8 25.f7 d7 26.g5 hg8 27.e1 e6 28.ef1 c8 29.f8 xe7 30.xe7 xe7 31.1f7+ e6 32.xb7 e7 33.xe7+ xe7 1-0 Helm, LRajadharshini, M/19th WJun Girls, Goa IND 2002 (33) ) 7...h6 8.e3 c5 9.f4 cxd4 10.xd4 c5 11.f5 xd4 12.xd4 exf5 13.xd5 e7 14.xe7 xe7 15.0-0-0 xe5 16.b5+ c6 17.he1 0-0 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xh6 f6 20.xf6 gxf6 21.xf8 xf8 22.gxf5 xf5 23.d6 e6 24.xc6 f5 25.c7 g7 26.xe6 1-0 Brkic, A-Tomic, J/Christmas Open, Zadar CRO 2002 (26) ] [ 6...e7 7.f4 c5 8.e3 d7 9.h4 cxd4 10.xd4 c6 11.f3 xc2 12.d2 xd4 13.xd4 h6 14.c1 c5 15.d2 h7 16.b5 e7 17.cxd5 exd5 18.e6 0-0 19.xd7 xh4+ 20.f1 g5 21.d4 xf4 22.xf4 fxe6 23.xe6+ h8 0-1 Helm, LMilliet, S/19th W Jun Girls, Goa IND 2002 (23) ] [ 6...c5 7.h4 ( 7.e3 c6 8.h4 h6 9.h5 h7 10.f4 cxd4 11.xd4 b4 12.db5

a6 13.d6+ xd6 14.exd6 xd6 15.d2 f6 16.g1 d4 17.0-0-0 b4 18.xd4 0-0-0 19.e2 a4 20.c3 xa2 21.b3 e4 22.a1 xa1+ 23.xa1 xd1+ 24.xd1 d8+ 25.c1 f6 26.g2 b4 27.xe4 xe4 28.d4 d6 29.g5 e5 30.gxh6 gxh6 31.g8+ d7 32.g7+ e8 33.fxe5 fxe5 34.e2 xc2 35.xe5 e6 36.c3 xe2 37.xb4 xb3 38.xb7 e6 39.d2 c6+ 40.b2 f7 41.e3 f8 42.b6 xb6+ 43.xb6 xh5 44.e3 g7 45.xh6+ xh6 46.a2 a5 47.b2 g5 48.a2 f4 49.b2 e4 50.a2 d4 51.b2 c4 52.a2 d1 53.b2 a4 54.a2 c3 55.b1 b3 56.a1 a3 57.b1 c2+ 58.a1 a2 1/2-1/2 Zigangirova, S-Koneru, C/19th WJun Girls, Goa IND 2002 (58)) 7...h5 ( 7...cxd4 8.xd4 h5 9.b5+ d7 10.f4 hxg4 11.f5 xh4 12.f1 exf5 13.e6 fxe6 14.xe6 e7 15.e2 gf6 16.g5 f7 17.xd5 xe6 18.xe6+ xe6 19.c7+ f7 20.xa8 h2 21.0-0-0 c5 22.c4+ e7 23.fe1+ ce4 24.c7 f7 25.d5+ xd5 26.xd5 f7 27.d2+ g6 28.xh2 xg5 29.d3 f3 30.hh1 xe1 31.xe1 g5 32.e5 g6 33.a5 g3 34.f1 g4 35.g2 b6 36.d5 e3 37.d2 xg2 38.xg2 g4 39.d1 f3 40.g1 c5 41.f1+ g4 0-1 Lapinskaite, S-Koneru, C/ 19th W Jun Girls, Goa IND 2002 (41) ) 8.f4 h7 9.xh5 c6 10.dxc5 xc5 11.b5 c7 12.0-0 0-0-0 13.g5 e7 14.xc6 xc6 15.e2 a6 16.fe1 xg5 17.hxg5 e7 18.a4 g6 19.f4 h4 20.g2 h7 21.f4 dh8 22.g2 d4+ 23.g3 0-1 Kosmo, SEriksson, J/41st WJun, Goa IND 2002 (23) ] [ 6...h6 7.h4 b4 8.h5 e4 9.h3 c5 10.a3 xc3+ 11.xc3 c4 12.g3 h7 13.g2 d7 14.a4 c8 15.f4 e7 16.f3 b6 17.a5 b4 18.f1 c6 19.f2 b6 20.axb6 xb6 21.e2 b4 22.d1 f6 23.e3 0-0 24.g3 fd8 25.c1 fxe5 26.dxe5 c5 27.d4 c7 28.f5 b8 29.b1 a2+ 30.d1 xc3+ 31.xc3 e4 32.xe4 dxe4 33.xb6 axb6 34.h3 f7 35.f6 b5 36.e2 b4 37.d4 d8 38.e3 fd7 39.d1 gxf6 40.g5 f5 41.xf5 exf5 42.gxf6 f7 43.c3 bxc3 44.bxc3 g8 45.b1 c7 46.b6 e8 1537

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 47.f4 e6 48.b8 d7 49.xf5 xd4 50.cxd4 e3 51.b7+ 1-0 Macak, S-Pranjal, P/41st WJun, Goa IND 2002 (51) ] [ 6...b4 7.f4 e7 8.a3 xc3+ 9.bxc3 a5 10.d2 a4 11.xg6 hxg6 12.b1 b5 13.b3 xb3 14.cxb3 d7 15.a4 bxa4 16.xa4 0-0 17.d3 fb8 18.b4 a5 19.xa5 xa5 20.bxa5 c5 21.e2 c6 22.b1 c4 23.xb8+ dxb8 24.c2 xa5 25.c1 bc6 26.a4 b3 27.a3 ca5 28.d1 b7 29.c2 f5 30.g5 a1+ 31.b2 b3 32.xb3 cxb3 33.b4 f7 34.xb3 e8 35.a4 d8 36.b5 d7 37.f8 f7 38.h4 d8 39.xg7 f7 40.f6 f4 41.f3 c7 42.c5 d7 43.b6 e8 44.c7 f8 45.d7 g8 46.xe6 h7 47.d7 g8 48.e6 h7 49.e7 d8 50.e8 f7 51.xf7# 1-0 Phoobalan, PPranjal, P/ 41st WJun, Goa IND 2002 (51) ] 7.f4 If there is a drawback to 6...h5 then this must be the move. White strikes at g6 and h5, obliging Black to continue in the same razor-sharp vein. h4 8.xg6 fxg6 9.d3 I suppose most players would shirk away from the Black position instinctively-that's why this line is so rare. But Pranjal proves that there are resources still to be played out. I have f ound one ot her game wit h this line : e7 10.e2 [ 10.e3 hxg4 11.e2 d7 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.dg1 f5 14.xg4 h7 15.hg1 xh2 16.xg6 xe3 ( How bad is this for Black after 16...e8 17.d1 c5 ) 17.fxe3 xe2 ( Or again 17...e8 18.xh2 xh2 19.f1 c5 ) 18.xe2 e8 19.f4 h6 20.xh6 gxh6 21.g6 c5 22.xe6 c4 23.f5 b8 24.xf8 xf8 25.xh6 c7 26.h8 a6 27.e4 dxe4 28.d2 d8 29.e3 b5 30.xe4 a5 31.d5 b4 32.h6 d7 33.c6+ b7 34.xd7 xd7 35.xc4 h7 36.d6 b3 37.axb3 h1 38.d7 a4 39.xa4 1-0 Wei, M-Yu, M/Sydney 2002 ] 10...hxg4 11.f4 d7! 12.g1 c5 There are vulnerable points in both positions to consider. To me, Black's King looks the safer of the two. It appears that 6...h5 throws up a whole new set of problems. 13.c4 [ 13.c3 cxd4 14.cxd4 bc6 15.xg4 xh2 ] 13...bc6 14.cxd5 xd5!! 15.xg6 xh2 16.xg4 cxd4 The remarkable consequence

of 14. .Nxd5. Black sacrifices the Rook and obtains enviable central counterplay. 17.f4 W hite is running scared. The Rook can be taken but the path is narrow: [ 17.xh8 xe5 18.b5+ c7 19.g3 ( 19.g2 b4+ 20.d2 f3+! ) 19...b4+! I am truly not sure what is going on! 20.f1 xh8 21.xh2 xh2 22.xg7+ b6 ] 17...b4+ 18.e2 h5! Now Black has the counterplay free of charge. 19.c4?? xg6 6...h5 might well be an important new idea, or at least a move which has to receive more attention than before. An antidote is not in print. In the short term, if you were willing to risk it, 6...h5 could win quite a few games for you. 0-1

1431 Suetin,Alexey S Miles,Anthony J Cappelle la Grande (France) (4) [Nigel Davies]

B12

1997

1.e4 c6 2.d4 a6 3.c4 This is the kind of move Botvinnik would have recommended. W hite sets up a broad pawn chain and will have space however Black plays it. d6 [ "Fritz 5" - Efimov, Toscolano 1997 showed that 2... Na6 can be pretty good against c o m p u t e r s . T h e g a m e w e n t o n 3...c7 4.b3 ( 4.f4 g6 5.c3 g7 6.f3 d6 7.e2 f6 8.0-0 h6 9.c2 f7 10.b4 0-0 11.fd1 e8 12.c5 indicated that Black had carried his provocation a bit too far in Meyer - Zwick, Germany 1992) 4...g6 5.f3 g7 6.c3 d6 7.e3 f6 8.h3 0-0 9.d3 e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.d1 d7 12.0-0 e6 13.c2 e7 14.a4 a5 with a good game for Black (who nevertheless fell victim to the beast). ] [ In the game Rowson - Russell, Scottish Ch 1995, White adopted a policy of megalomaniacal pawn advances, no doubt relying on the fact that Black's position is not really built for activity. That game wenton 3...g6 4.c3 g7 5.f4 d6 6.f3 g4 7.e3 e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.xd8+ xd8 10.xe5 b4 11.c1 xe5 12.fxe5 with Black's dark square weaknesses being 1538

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a bigger problem than the lost pawn. ] 4.c3 g6 5.e3 g7 6.d2 e5 7.ge2 e7 8.0-0-0 f5 I can't help thinking that this might be asking a bit much of the position. But Miles probably reasoned that he didn't mind taking a few risks against the ex-Soviet veteran. 9.exf5 gxf5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.f4 e4 12.d4 [ A younger man might have tried to exploit Black's slow development with 12.g4!? fxg4 13.h3 . Now Black manages to complete his development and his space starts to mean something. ] 12...f6 13.h3 d7 14.f2 b6 15.e2 c7 16.b1 0-0-0 17.d2 c5 18.c2 e6 19.hd1 f7 20.a3 xd2 21.xd2 d8 22.f1 fe8 23.xd8+ xd8 24.d2+ c8 25.e2 g6 26.d1 f8 27.e2 d6 28.g4 g8 29.b3 g7 30.c2 a6 31.ab5 b4+ 32.b1 xb5 33.xb5 d8 34.d2 a6 35.c3 f8 36.a3 d3 The f4 pawn drops and it's goodnight Vienna. 37.c2 xf4 38.e3 d3 39.gxf5 xf5 40.g3 d6 41.g7 d7 42.g8+ b7 43.d5+ a7 44.h4 b4 45.d2 d3 46.xd3 exd3 47.b2 e7 48.f2 e4 49.e1 xe1 50.xe1 g3 0-1

1432 Sulskis,Sarunas Dimitrov,Radoslav 6th Gibtelecom Masters (1) [John Watson]

B12 2553 2341 22.01.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 e6 5.d2 c5 6.dxc5 c6 [ Apparently better is 6...d4! 7.f4 c6 8.b3 ( The best try may be 8.d3!? xd3 9.cxd3 xc5 10.c1 , looking for Nc4/e4 at s o m e p o in t) 8...xc5!? 9.f3 ( 9.xc5 a5+ 10.d2 xc5 puts pressure on c2.) 9...b4+ 10.d2 b6! 11.xb4 xb4+ 12.d2 xd2+ 13.xd2 0-0-0 with equality ] 7.gf3 d4 8.g5 A better sequence than in the last note - at least Black has to lose time or weaken himself. f6 [ A simple line is 8...d5 9.c4 xc5 10.0-0 e7 ]

9.exf6 gxf6 10.h4 xc5 11.d3 xd3 12.cxd3 d5 13.0-0 0-0-0 Walking into the c-file attack, but Black is already a little short of moves. 14.e1 e7 15.c1 e5 16.g3 b4? Very odd. Black exposes himself to attack and, as it turns out, tactics. Better [ 16...h6! ] 17.xe5! [ 17.a4 xd2 18.xd2 b8 19.b4! is also strong, with threats of b5, Ne4, Rc5 and the like. ] 17...fxe5 18.xe5 White has way more than enough for his piece because Black's king is stuck. d7 19.e4 [ 19.c4! with ideas of Rb5 and Qa4 is even stronger. There are just too many pieces around the king. ] 19...h6? [ 19...b6! with the idea ...Kb7 holds on for a while. W hite has choices such as 20.b5 b7 21.xc6 xc6 22.xb4 intending Rc4. ] 20.a4 f7 21.xb4 [ 21.f6 ] 21...fxe5 22.xe5 hf8 23.h3 f5 24.d6+ [ 24.xc6+! bxc6 25.c5 threatens two mates! ] 24...xd6 25.xd6 f7 26.b8+ 1-0

1433 Sulskis,Sarunas Postny,Evgeny 38th Olympiad (3) [John Watson]

B12 2572 2674 15.11.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 This flexible move continues to trouble Black. On the most elementary level, it works against ...c5. e6 [ A simple response to 4...b6 is 5.b3 e6 6.d3 xd3 7.xd3 , for example, d7 ( 7...a6!? ) 8.e2 e7 9.0-0 with extra space. Of course, Black has several reasonable options. ] 5.d2 White doesn't commit to f4 or Nf3 until he sees what's happening. d7 [ A couple of other recent games went 5...e7 6.e2 ( 6.gf3 is the next note.) 1539

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6...d7 tempts White into 7.f4 '!?' ( 7.gf3 is solid and gives White a modest edge ) A) 7...g6 8.gf3 c5 9.c3 ( 9.0-0 with the idea c4 is more in the usual spirit of this line) 9...b6 10.b4!? cxb4 11.c4! d8 12.0-0 dxc4 13.xc4 a6 ( 13...b6! 14.b5+ c6 ) 14.d5!? exd5 15.b3 f5 16.f2 c5?! ( 16...c5 looks all right Shirov's whole approach is typically s p e c u l a t i v e) 17.e2 xf2+ 18.xf2 e7!? 19.g4! e4?? ( 19...h6 20.f5 h7 ) 20.xe4 dxe4 21.g5 And wins. 0-0 22.xe4 g6 23.xf7 xf7 24.xf7+ xf7 25.e6+ g8 26.d1 h4 27.xd7 c8 28.f5 h3 29.d1 e5 30.e7 1-0 Shirov-Vila Gazquez, Benidorm ESP 2008.; B) 7...b6 8.b3 e4 9.f3 f5 10.f2 h5 and having made his lightsquared bishop valuable and secured his knight on f5 against threats, Black should be okay. But Atlas-Ezat, Dresden 2008 c o n t i n u e d ' 11.0-0 xf3 ( 11...e7 12.fd2 g6 ) 12.xf3 g6 13.c1 h6 ( 13...b5 ) 14.d2 d8?! 15.c4 g5!? 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.d3! with a nice advantage, especially since it's difficult to counter the simple threat of Bxd5. ] 6.e2 [ Also from last month's batch, a test of the ma in lin e : A n ice re ce n t e xam p le we n t 6.gf3 b6 7.b3 h6 8.e2 e7 9.0-0 g4 A good idea, to swap off the bishop, but it consumes time. An interesting choice was ( 9...g5 ) 10.c4 g6 11.c1 h5 12.d2 xf3 13.xf3 d8?! ( 13...dxc4 14.xc4 d5 leaves White with a space advantage and some dark squares to target in return for Black's outpost on d5) 14.a5 ( or 14.g5 ) 14...b6 15.cxd5 cxd5 ( 15...xd5 ) 16.a4 h6 '?' '(further weakening the dark squares while displacing his rook and thus losing more time this is a difficult move to understand)' 17.xh6 xh6 18.c3 f5 19.fc1 d8 20.c8 ( 20.c7 is also strong, in view of xd4 21.a3! xe5 22.xb7 ) 20...xd4? (but White is winning already) 21.1c7 b5 22.a3 e2+ 23.xe2 xe2 24.c1 a6 25.xd8+ xd8 26.e3 (with the ideas Qxh6 and Qg5+) xa5 27.g5+ f6 28.exf6

e8 29.xh6 1-0 Robson-Borda, Boca Raton 2008. Again, space trumps other factors. ] 6...c7 [ 6...e7 is the preceding note. ] 7.gf3 [ 7.c4! has the idea f6 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.gf3 (intending Nh4) h6?! 10.c1 b6 11.0-0 when xb2 12.h4! is good for White. ] 7...e7 [ Or 7...f6 8.exf6 gxf6 ] 8.0-0 h6 9.c1! This subtle move prepares c4, but forces Black to commit to a move that might prove a slight loss of time. Alternatively, [ 9.c4 dxc4 10.xc4 d5 11.d3 xd3 12.xd3 gains a tempo for Black over the game. ] 9...h7 It's not easy to find a useful move, since Black's pieces are well-placed. [ 9...0-0-0 might be playable, in spite of running into the c-file, for example, 10.c4 b8 11.b3 f6 ] 10.c4 dxc4 11.xc4 d5 12.d3 xd3 13.xd3 e7 [ This is one of those positions in which Black suffers from a space disadvantage, probably not a fatal problem, but he's a little uncomfortable. The option of trading his good knight for W hite's bad bishop might lead to 13...xe3?! 14.fxe3 e7 15.fd2 with the idea Ne4. ] 14.d2 0-0 15.fe1 fd8 16.e4!? White actually manages to drum up an attack from this primitive move. h8 17.h4!? An odd attacking idea which confuses Black. [ 17.g4 c5 18.g3 has ideas such as Qe4 and in some cases Bxh6 ] 17...5b6 [ An active alternative is 17...b5! 18.a5 c5! ] 18.f3 xc4 19.xc4 f8?? [ 19...g8 20.g4 ( 20.h5 f8 ) 20...f8 h a s t h e id e a 21.xh6? ( 21.h3 ) 21...f5! 22.exf6 xf6 23.xe6+ f7! ] 20.h5 Suddenly Black is lost in the face of Bxh6 and Qxf7. h7 [ 20...xh4 21.xh4 22 and Bxh6 ] 21.g4 g5 [ 21...xh4 22.xg7+! xg7 23.xh6+ h7 24.d2+ g8 25.g4+ h7 26.xh4+ ] 1540

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.xg5 xg5 23.xg5 a5 24.c3 a4 25.g3 1-0

1434 Sutovsky,Emil Christiansen,Larry Mark Essen [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2612 2581 1999

Discussion of the merits of 11. ..a6!? continues. White still has not found anything special after Anand's 13. ..g5!?, so a leading expert in this line Emil Sutovsky tries another possibility... 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 e7 7.f4 c5 8.h4 cxd4 9.b5 ec6 10.h5 e4 11.f3 a6 And now W hite came up with 12.fxe4 Although White won this game, this novelty doesn't look very promising. By the way, I would like to say the following thing. Many players during their opening preparation study only games with a positive result, (for example, if somebody plays the Caro Kann with Black, he studies only Black's wins). In my opinion, this is a serious mistake. Sometimes lost games contain very interesting opening ideas, and the outcome of the game may depend on a la t e r m is t a k e . S o m y a d vice t o yo u is : NEVER ignore lost games. axb5 13.exd5 exd5 Of course, Black's pawns look ugly, but other factors are more important. W hite's pawns are weak as well, and his King can't feel safe on the kingside (Pawns can't move backwards!) or on the queenside due to the open a-file. Besides one of Black's "ugly" pawns is an extra pawn, and W hite needs some tempi to win it back. 14.g2 [ Of course if 14.xb5?? a5+ ] [ 14.e2 does not look very promising: b4+ 15.f2 0-0 16.xb5 e8 ( 16...a5 17.e2 d7 18.e6 de5 ) 17.xd5 xe5 with unclear play, according to Emil Sutovsky. ] 14...b4+ 15.f1 [ 15.c3? dxc3 16.0-0 was bad for White, for example: c5+ 17.h2 0-0 18.bxc3 h4+ 19.h3 xe5 winning ] 15...xe5 16.xd5 d6?! [ It was better to develop the Knight with

16...bc6 protecting both the Bishop and the pawn on d4 (by the way, the Knight doesn't move till the very end of the game!). I definitely prefer Black here, as he has very strong Knights in the centre and white's King is e xp o s e d . I t 's im p o rt a n t t h a t W h it e ' s attempt to win a piece by 17.e2 0-0 18.xb4 could be strongly met by f6+! 19.g1 xb4 with a big advantage. ] 17.h6 g6 18.xd4 0-0 19.b6?! White's attempt to reach an endgame is very logical not only because he has a pair of Bishops, but also because his King is too exposed but this was probably not the best decision at this precise moment. [ 19.g5!? deserved attention as it secures a very strong position for the Knight: bc6 20.b6 c8 21.f6+ ( weaker is 21.h3?! f5! 22.gxf6 g4 23.g1 f5 24.e3 xd5 25.xg4 a4 and White's King has problems. ) 21...h8 22.f2 and Black's development advantage does not look too important, since he has to take care of his King, for example: b4 23.e4 c4+ 24.g2 g4 ( 24...c5 25.f1 ) 25.f3 e5 26.f1 with a clear advantage. ] 19...xb6 20.xb6 a6 21.e3 xg4 22.g1 h2? A clear mistake. [ The natural 22...c6 was in Black's favour: 23.d1 c7!? 24.d7 ( or 24.d5 e5 ) 24...d8 25.f3 ge5 with advantage. ] 23.c5 d8 24.xb7 After Black's mistake W hite has managed to win the pawn back, and now he is clearly better due to the Bishop pair and the dis-coordination of Black's forces. Black's King is also in a bad position. e5!? 25.e1 a7 [ 25...xa2 was losing after 26.g1 a6 ( 26...h2+ 27.g2 g4 28.h1 f5 29.d1 xd1 30.xd1 winning ) 27.e7! b8 ( 27...h2+ 28.g2 d2+ 29.h3 winning ) 28.xa6 xa6 29.d7 winning a piece. ] 26.f3 h2+ [ 26...c7!? was more stubborn: 27.g1!? ( 27.b4 was also not bad: h2+ 28.xh2 xh2 29.d5 d7 30.d4 d6 31.xc7 xc7 32.c6 f8 33.e3 d6 White is much better) 27...g3 28.d5 ( 28.xg4 xe1 29.xe1 xc2 with counterplay) 28...cd7 29.d1 f5 30.b6 f8 31.e2 1541

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with a big advantage for White. ] 27.xh2 xh2 28.d5 White pieces are very powerful. a4 [ 28...xa2 29.e7 c8 30.f6+ h8 31.b7 winning ] [ 28...a6 was probably more tenacious but White was also winning after 29.e7 e8 30.e2 e6 31.f6+ xf6 32.xf6 xe2 33.xe2 b4 34.b5 and Black is hopelessly lost. ] 29.e7 c8 30.f6 d6 31.b6 f8 32.xa4 bxa4 33.d1 f4 34.g7 e8 35.d4 g5 36.xa4 Black resigned. Currently one can draw the following conclusion: Black is doing well in this line. But when I asked GM Emil Sutovsky if this line is dead for White, he just smiled and said: "W e shall see...". So there is no doubt that great battles in this line still lie ahead. 1-0

1435 Sutovsky,Emil Dautov,Rustem Essen [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2597 2602 2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.e3 h6 6.f3!? This move seems to be superior to 6.c3. d7 Dautov's improvement. [ Previously he had tried 6...f5 but failed to equalise: 7.g5 a5+ ( 7...c7 is even weaker: 8.d3 h6 9.d2 xc5 10.0-0 c6 11.c3! g6 12.b5 d8 13.g4! h4 14.xh4 xh4 15.c7+ e7 16.xa8 and Black was lost in PrasadPrakash, Mumbai 2000) 8.c3 xc5 9.d3 and W hite had a small but clear edge in Lutz-Dautov, Germany 1997. ] 7.xh6! An important novelty. [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 7.c4 was tried in Kindermann-Dautov, Germany 1999, but after f5! Black's chances were by no means worse. The game continued: 8.cxd5 xe3 9.fxe3 xc5 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.c4 0-0! 12.0-0 ( It's too risky for White to grab the pawn: 12.xe6+ h8 13.xd7 xd7 14.0-0 xe3+ 15.h1 b5; or 12.b3 b6 13.xe6+ xe6 14.xe6+ h8 15.b3 d5 in both lines White is in real

danger. ) 12...b6 13.b3 d5 14.xd5 xe3+ 15.h1 exd5 16.b3 b6 17.xb6 axb6?! ( The natural 17...xb6 looks better, for example: 18.c3 e6 19.g5 xf1+ 20.xf1 e8 21.xe6 xe6 22.xd5 d4! and Black's Bishop is cle a rly su p e rio r t o W h i t e 's K n i gh t , b u t W hite should hold the draw by accurate defence. ) 18.c3 d4 19.d5 g4 with an equal endgame. ] 7...gxh6 8.c4! Now this break is much more to the point. dxc4 9.xc4 xc5 10.e2! [ After a Queen swap Black has no problems at all: 10.xd8+ xd8 11.c3 g7 12.0-0-0+ e7 with comfortable equality. ] 10...a6 11.b4?! This move seems to be too ambitious. [ The natural 11.0-0 is worth considering, for example: b5 12.d1 c7 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 b7 15.c3 g7 16.e4 and White retains some pressure. ] 11...d7 12.a3 a5! Immediately exploiting the weakening of W hite's Q-side. 13.c3! A brave and correct decision. White fights for the initiative at any cost. [ Af t e r th e p rim it ive 13.b5 Black has a comfortable blockade on the dark squares. ] 13...axb4 14.e4 xa3 15.d1! e7 16.0-0 0-0 17.b5! c7 18.c1?! [ I can't explain why White didn't play the logical 18.xd7! xd7 19.f6+ xf6 20.exf6 with good attacking chances, although Black's defensive resources should not be underestimated. ] 18...b8 19.g3 c5 20.fe1 d8 21.c4 I don't like W hite's play over the past few moves. It seems that White has wasted many tempi, and his initiative now is hardly worth two pawns. b6 22.f4 b7 23.h5 f8? [ 23...xf3! was the simplest way to parry the attack: 24.gxf3 g5 25.g4 h8 26.f4 g8! and Black is winning. ] 24.d4! f5? Black loses confidence. After this second mistake in a row his position is ruined. [ 24...d3 was also bad in view of 25.xd3 xd3 26.f6+ h8 27.f5! Now Qg4 is threatened and the Knight cannot be taken in view of mate on h7 ] [ 24...c8! (protecting the f5-square) was the only move, and the fight is still ahead! ] 1542

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.xc5! bxc5 [ 25...xd4 doesn't help Black either: 26.xd4 bxc5 27.d7 h8 28.f7 and Black is hopelessly lost, for example: a7 29.f6 g7 30.e8! ] 26.xe6! Definitely Black has reason to regret not exchanging this Knight! The rest is just time trouble agony. e4 27.f6+ h8 28.xe4 fxe4 29.f6+ g8 30.c4 c3 31.xd8+ Black resigned. In this game White managed to pose Black certain problems but a lack of practical material doesn't allow us to draw any final conclusions about the strength of W hite's plan. Definitely this line is worth further investigation. 1-0

1436 Sutovsky,Emil Podgaets,Mikhail Koszalin (Poland) [Alexander Volzhin]

B12

1998

Another spectacular game in this line was created by one of the leading experts in this line, the young and highly talented GM Emil S u t o v s k y , a n d K a r p o v' s s e c o n d M i k h a i l Podgaets, who has undoubtedly spent hundreds of hours analyzing the Caro Kann wit h h is " p u p il " . I ' ve sp e n t se ve ra l d a ys analyzing this game. I enjoyed this very much, as I saw hundreds of marvellous variations. Of course I can't mention all of them here, so I have tried to choose the very essential ones. Let's see them now. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 e7 7.f4 c5 8.h4 cxd4 9.b5 ec6 10.h5 e4 11.f3 xf3 12.xf3 xe5 13.g3 bc6 14.d3 f6 15.f4 f7 16.c3 dxc3 17.bxc3 c8 An attempt to improve on Black's previous play. 18.h3 Preparing g4g5. [ The immediate 18.g5!? deserves attention as well. ] 18...a5 Now Black's idea is clear: to protect the weak e6-square with a Knight on d8, and then try to exploit White's weaknesses on the queenside. W hite needs to play very energetically to refute this plan. 19.g5! d8 [ 19...f5 would be strongly met by 20.xe6!

and after xb5 ( 20...xe6 21.xf5+! ) 21.xf5 Black is in danger. ] 20.xe6!? White must sacrifice as quiet continuations lead him nowhere, for example: [ 20.a4 a6 21.g6+ e8 22.xe6 xe6 23.xe6 c4! Suddenly the Rook becomes very active. 24.xd5 g4 25.e3 axb5 with excellent chances for Black. ] 20...xe6 21.xe6+ xe6 22.h3+ f5? A big mistake in very complicated position. Now White chances are preferable because the Black King is too exposed. [ 22...f7! was correct and after 23.xc8 xb5 it is White who should play carefully so as not to find himself in trouble: 24.e3 ( 24.g6+ hxg6 25.hxg6+ xg6 26.xh8 xh8 is good for Black) 24...d3 25.f2 and Black has probably got nothing better t h a n a r e p e t i t i o n o f m o v e s b y c2+ ( 25...e7 26.g6+! ) 26.f1 d3+ 27.f2= ] 23.d4+ e7 24.0-0 [ 24.d2!? ] 24...xc3? [ 24...g6? was bad because of 25.e1 ] [ but 24...d8!? is worth considering. 25.xf5 d6 26.e6+ ( 26.b1!? ) 26...d7! and I can't see a decisive continuation for White. ] 25.e3 Having calculate d plenty of difficult variations, White misses a simple way to win a piece and the game: However I don't want to give a question mark to the text move because it gives us the chance to see what happens next. [ 25.xc3 xc3 26.e1 and Black is hopelessly lost, for example: f7 ( 26...d3 27.b2 d6 28.xf5+ ) 27.xe5 c5 28.xd5 c8 29.f4 d3 30.e5 ] 25...c4 [ Other moves were not better: 25...c4? 26.ae1 d8 27.e6+ d7 28.xf5 winning ] [ 25...d8? 26.ac1 d3 27.cd1 with a decisive attack. ] 26.ac1 [ The hasty 26.xf5+?! allows the Black K i n g t o e s c a p e : d8 27.ad1 c5! 28.xd5+ c7 and Black is OK: 29.h1 xe3 30.xe3 b8!? and now ( a d r a w c o u l d b e f o r c e d b y 30...e4 1543

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31.e6 h4+ 32.g2 b2+ 33.f2 h2+ 34.xh2 xf2+ 35.g2 f3+ 36.h3 g1+ 37.h2 f3+ ) 31.xe5 leads to a p o si t i o n wi t h a n e xt ra p a wn f o r B l a c k : ( 31.fd1 hc8 32.g3 e4 ) 31...xe5 32.xc4 e4+ 33.g1 xc4 with a large advantage ] 26...a3 27.g3 d7 28.g6! White is playing excellently now he opens an important diagonal to disturb the Black King. Notice that White wisely avoids the tempting capture on f5 many times. [ 28.xf5+?! d8 29.xg7 d6 w i t h a s l i g h t e d g e f o r B l a c k ( 29...xg7 30.b6+ )] 28...hxg6 29.ce1 a6! The only move in a very dangerous situation. Black's King can be checked now in many different ways but White is continuing to increase the pressure. [ O f c o u r s e n o t 29...d8? 30.g5+ winning ] 30.hxg6 [ 30.g2!? deserved attention but it looks like Black is able to survive after A) but not 30...d8? 31.g5+ f6 32.xf6+ gxf6 33.xd5+ d6 A1) 34.hxg6? a3! 35.e6+ d7 36.xb7+ c7 ( 36...c7 37.f8+ winning ) 37.g7 g3+ ( 37...xb7 38.gxh8 g3+ 39.h1 ) 38.g2 xg2+ 39.xg2 c2+ 40.f2 xf2+ 41.xf2 g8; A2) 34.e6! d7 35.xf6 xh5 36.xg6 h8 37.xf5+ c7 38.b5+ b8 39.xd6 with chances to win.; B) 30...f6! 31.g5+ ( 31.xg6 d8 ) 31...d7 (now this square is available for the King) 32.xf6 gxf6 33.xd5+ d6 34.hxg6 xd4! 35.xd4 g8 with Rg6 next. ] 30...d8? I regard this move as the decisive mistake. [ Looking at the board it is hard to believe that the Black King can survive but after 30...f6! (gaining the very important d7 s q u a r e f o r t h e K i n g ) 31.e5+ ( other attempts do not promise much: 31.b8 d7; 31.g5+ d7 32.e6 d6 ) 31...d8 32.g5 b4! 33.xf6+ xf6 34.xd5+ d6! it seems like White has no win here: ( 34...d6 35.e6+ d7

36.xb7+ c7 37.b5+ c6 38.xf5 winning ) 35.e6+ d7 36.xb7+ c7 37.xc7+ xc7 38.xc7 xe1 39.xe1 xc7 40.e7+ d6 41.xg7 h6= with a draw soon . ] 31.g5+ f6 32.e6 Now White is winning material. xd4 Other defensive attempts don't help Black either, for example: [ 32...c5!? 33.xa6 xd4+ 34.f2 ( 34.g2 c2+ ) 34...xf2+ 35.xf2 f4 ( 35...bxa6 36.xf6+ ) 36.b3 c2+ 37.xc2 h2+ 38.f3 xc2 39.xf6+ d7 40.xa7 gxf6 41.a8 and the g-pawn queens ] [ 32...a4? loses immediately: 33.b8+ c8 34.d6+ xd6 35.xd6+ d7 36.e6+ e8 37.xg7+ xg7 38.e1+ e4 39.e6+ f8 40.xc8# ] 33.xf6+ [ 33.xa6 g4 ( 33...d7 34.xf6 gxf6 35.xf6 ) 34.xg4 fxg4 35.axf6 was probably quicker. ] 33...d7 34.xa6 g4 35.xg4 fxg4 36.xg7 xg7 37.f7+ c8 38.e6 g8 39.ee7 d4+ 40.g2 Black resign ed as the g-pawn will cost him too dearly. A very interesting and exciting game although it seems that Black could obtain a good position from the opening. 1-0

1437 Sveshnikov,Evgeny Gagunashvili,Merab 5th Open Dubai (8) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2550 2580 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h6 Very provocative and the positions that are reached cannot be described as 'comfortable' for either player. 4...h5 is reliable but Black wa n t s a f igh t - it 's a s s im p l e a s t h a t . 5.g4 Sveshnikov takes up the challenge. White can play more simply with [ 5.d3 xd3 6.xd3 e6 7.h5 when he holds a slight edge in space, but the game has yet to be played. ] 5...h7 I cannot believe that Gagunashvili was unaware of White's next move so what is his new idea? Much safer and fully respectable is 1544

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5...d7! when however White responds, due to his loosening pawn advances, he cannot prevent Black obtaining serious counterplay: 6.h5 ( 6.e3 c5 7.c3 c6 8.a3 a5 9.b3 e6 10.h5; 6.c3 c5 7.g2 e6 8.e2 b5 9.a3 xe2 10.xe2 cxd4 11.cxd4 xa3 12.bxa3 c6 was one of the Tal-Botvinnik games.; 6.c4 e6 7.c3 c5!? 8.dxc5 xc5 9.cxd5 exd5 ) 6...c5 7.c3 e6 8.f4 b6 9.f3 c6 10.h3 0-0-0 11.0-0 b8 12.a3 cxd4 ] [ There's no need to go all the way back, althou gh this too is sa f er t han 5. ..Bh7 . Perhaps White has the better of things after 5...c8 6.c3 b6 7.h3 e6 8.ge2 c5 9.0-0 c6 10.e3! ] 6.e6! Still crazy after all these years. d6 This is the wonder move. Black's King gets shunted early but he's relying on a quick .. . e7-e5 to bail him out. Let's cast our eye over [ 6...fxe6 7.d3! xd3 8.xd3 d6 9.f4 d7 10.f3 0-0-0 11.e5 and agree that it will be tough to get the Black pieces out. ] 7.exf7+ xf7 8.c3 Sveshnikov turns his mind to how best to deal with Black's upcoming counterplay. It's not easy. [ 8.f3 seems most natural but I think Black can answer that one with d7 9.d3 e5 ] 8...e5 9.f3+!? f6 10.g5 hxg5?! I don't like this move at all. Gagunashvili opens the Kingside unnecessarily increasing the risk to his King. The jury is still out on [ 10...exd4 11.gxf6 dxc3 12.fxg7+ xg7 13.xc3+ d4 14.d2 d7 ( 14...e4 15.h3 d7 16.e2 c5 17.g3+ h7 18.g2 e8 19.xe4+ xe4 20.d3 f6 ) 15.f3 e8+ ] [ 10...e4 11.f4 xf4 12.xf4 h5 13.e3 d7 14.e2 Both lines seem reasonable for Black so could this rehabilitate 5...Bh7? ] 11.hxg5 e4?? Black has been thrown by t h e c r a z y t a c t i c s. V e t e ra n G r a n d m a st e r Sveshnikov is not fazed-given the opportunity he goes straight for the jugular. [ 11...exd4 12.gxf6 dxc3 13.fxg7+ xg7 14.xc3+ g8 is possible as last time although this is more risky for Black with the extra open Kingside file. ] [ 11...e4 is also possible but once again the

opening of the h file seems only to favour White. ] 12.xe4! dxe4 13.b3+ d5 14.xh8+At this stage Black crawls into the corner... exd4 One rarely feels like resigning at move fourteen. 15.e2 d7 16.xd4 e5 17.xb7 b4+ 18.c3 xh8 19.xd7+ g6 20.xc6 The courage of the convicted. xc3+ 21.d1! f5 22.xf5+ 5...Bh7 has always b e e n r e g a r d a s i n f e r io r b u t t h e o p e n in g skirmishes in this game suggest otherwise. Ho we ve r, t h e p o s it io n re m a in s h e ll is h l y difficult to play and despite his massive rating, Gagunashvili simply wasn't up to the job. 1-0

1438 Svidler,P Andreikin,D FIDE World Cup 2013 (5.2) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2746 2716 24.08.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 5.f3 g4 6.c3 e6 7.e3 [ 7.b4 I covered in Fedorchuk-Lupulescu earlier this year but it wasn't at all convincing for White so here we see Svidler try a different approach. ] [ 7.b5 has scored very badly for White and with good reason as after xf3! 8.xf3 xc5 Black already has a solid position with excellent prospects. A) 9.g3 ge7 10.0-0 0-0 11.d3 g6 12.f4?! ( 12.xg6 was a sad necessity here but Black already better after fxg6! ) 12...b6 ( 12...xf4! 13.xf4 c7 14.e1?! f6 already wins at least a pawn) 13.b3 d4 14.e1 xf2+ 15.xf2 xf2+ 16.xf2 xf4 17.c2 ac8 18.d2 b4! 19.cxb4 xc2 0-1 Pomaro, A (2284)-Swiercz, D (2492) Fermo 2009; B) 9.0-0 ge7 10.f4 g6 11.g3 g5! and White was struggling in Minasian, A (2571)-Asrian, K (2601) Yerevan 2003 ] 7...ge7 [ 7...xf3 was tried by Andreikin in one of the rapidplay tiebreaks but it seems less convincing to me 8.xf3 ge7 9.b5 a6 10.a4 a5 11.d1 ( 11.c2 b5 a n d a d ra w wa s a gr e e d i n Zh i ga lk o , S 1545

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (2667)-Khenkin, I (2648) Baku 2012 but it seems to me that White should be a little better here after 12.b4 xe5 13.d1! which f orces d7 and now after 14.d2 White's two bishops and lead in development should count for something.) 11...f5 now Black is absolutely fine 12.b4 xe3 13.fxe3 c7 14.d4 e7 ( 14...g5!? was also possible, trying to round up the e5 pawn quickly. 15.d2 h5! and now Nf3 can be met by ...g4 and Black is ready to play ... Bg7. ) 15.d2 0-0 16.xc6 xc6 17.0-0 a5 18.f3 axb4 19.cxb4 a3 and Black had easily enough activity for the pawn and went on to hold the draw. ] 8.bd2 g6 A new approach from Andreikin and a tricky one to meet. Svidler is unable to find the most accurate response and as a result Black gets an easy draw. [ 8...c7 is too slow here as Black struggles f o r c o m p e n s a t i o n a f t e r 9.a4! xf3 10.xf3 f5 11.d4 e7 12.d3 fxd4 13.cxd4 and White was just a pawn up in Van Kampen, R (2422)-Willemze, T (2405) Haarlem 2010 ] [ 8...g6 also fails to convince after 9.a4 xf3 10.xf3 c7 11.b5 ( 11.d3 may even be more accurate here as gxe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.0-0 is very unpleasant f o r B l a c k - e s p e c i a l l y a s e7? loses immediately to the pleasing 14.f4 h5 15.a6! ) 11...e7 12.0-0 0-0 13.xc6 bxc6 14.d4 with a slight edge to W hite in Volokitin, A (2661)-Berczes, D (2520) Trier 2010 ] [ 8...f5!? should be considered as it's not at all obvious to me that White is better here. Perhaps the critical test is 9.d4 e7 10.h3 h5! 11.b5 b u t e v e n h e r e c7 looks OK for Black here so long as 12.g4 c a n b e m e t wi t h fxd4 13.cxd4 g6 an d W hit e's kin gsid e wea kn e ss will b e vulnerable to either ...h5 or more likely a quick ...0-0 and ...f6 from Black. ] 9.f4?! [ 9.a4! was the real test and now xf3 10.xf3 g7 looks like it should be OK for Black against simple moves, for example 11.f4 ( 11.0-0-0!? however is very dangerous, giving back the pawn. The idea is 0-0 12.h4! xe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.h5

with a kingside attack. Things aren't c o m p l e t e l y c l e a r a d m i t t e d l y a f t e r f5 15.d2 but with g4 coming I would rather be W h i t e h e r e .) 11...c7 is basically equalising. ] 9...f5 10.b4 g5!? A tricky move but one that seems to give Black just enough play. [ 10...g7 was also possible and after 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 h4! 13.d4! 0-0 Black is only a little worse although the position remains very complicated. ] 11.xg5 xg5 12.xg5 xd1 13.xd1 a5! A critical move, bringing the rook on a8 into the game. Despite having two extra pawns White has no advantage here. 14.d3 h4 15.g3 [ 15.0-0?! axb4 16.cxb4 g8! and suddenly is Black better ] 15...g6 16.f4 axb4 17.cxb4 e7 [ an immediate 17...xb4 18.b5+ c6 is also just equal ] 18.b5 xg5 19.fxg5 0-0 20.xc6 and a draw was agreed. An impressively comfortable hold from Andreikin. ½-½

1439 Svidler,P Laznicka,V 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (7.2) [Neil McDonald]

B12 2751 2676 09.08.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 Having developed his bishop outside the pawn chain, Black completes his 'Slav' centre. 5.e2 e7!? A subtle development. It might be said that Black's problem piece in the Caro-Kann Advance is the knight on g8. This is only to be e xp e ct e d wh e n 3 . e 5 h a s t a k e n a wa y i t s natural post on f6. If the knight stays on e7 it is in the way of the bishop on f8. After the regrouping h7-h6, Bh7 and Ng6, the bishop on h7 is obstructed. Meanwhile Bg6 and Nf5 leaves the knight vulnerable to being kicked back by a future g2-g4 when W hite seizes space. Besides, Bg6 can probably be answered by Nh4 and Nxg6, when W hite gains the bishop pair. For this reason Laznicka wants his horse on the queenside, not the kingside. 6.bd2 Svidler anticipates 1546

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black's plan and so brings his knight to b3 as quickly as possible to exploit the opening of lines after Black's next move. [ More natural was 6.0-0 as for example in Ponomariov-Ding Liren- see the archives. ] 6...c5 [ If instead 6...d7 we transpose to games in the archives after 7.b3 and ( 7.0-0 )] 7.dxc5 ec6 8.b3 d7!? [ In a game with Grischuk a couple of years earlier Laznicka had exploited a tactical trick to get his pawn back straightaway: 8...xc5 9.xc5 a5+ 10.c3 xc5 Nonetheless W hite's two bishops are surely worth something. You can find analysis to this game and the similar SvidlerAzmaiparashvili, both wins for W hite, in the archives. The present game was played in a Russia-China match at the Olympiad in 2014. Perhaps as part of his preparation Svidler had discussed this line with his team mate Grischuk? ] 9.0-0 g4!? Black moves his bishop out of the range of a Nd4 move and undermines the defence of White's e5 pawn. [ Again the capture on c5 gives White a nice e d g e a f t e r 9...xc5 10.xc5 xc5 11.d4 ] [ Meanwhile 9...xc5 10.fd4 is awkward for Black- note that if he exchanges knights on d4 he has to watch out for a disruptive Bb5+. ] 10.fd4 It makes sense to do something sharp rather than wait for the e5 pawn to drop. Black would be very comfortable after [ 10.e3 xf3 11.xf3 dxe5 ( Maybe 11...cxe5!? so that the c5 pawn is vulnerable to frontal attack by Rc8 or Qc7 in t h e f u t u r e .) 12.e2 e7 13.c3 0-0 with equality in Naiditsch, A (2706)-Miton, K (2603)/Trzcianka POL 2014. ] 10...xe2 11.xe2 xd4 [ W hite has the initiative after 11...dxe5 12.f4 ] 12.xd4 xc5 13.e3 Laznicka has won the theoretical battle as all the evidence seems to show that Black is doing fine. For example [ 13.c3 h4 ( Simply 13...0-0 then 14.... Qe7 with idea of f7-f6 might also have been O K f o r B l a c k .) 14.f4 f5 15.e3?! ( He had to open some lines for his bishop

with 15.exf6 xf6 16.e3 ) 15...e7 16.h3 0-0 17.h2 xd4 18.cxd4 ac8 19.ac1 b8! Note this retreating manoeuvre with the knight which is typical of this pawn structure. The horse is rerouted to the active c6 squ a re . 20.c2 xc2 21.xc2 c6 22.c1 b4 and Black was probing for the initiative in Gabrielian, A (2545)-Matlakov, M (2665)/Yekaterinburg RUS 2013. ] [ 13.b3 removing the knight from the centre doesn't bode well for W hite's prospective kingside attack. e7 14.e1 c8 15.c3 0-0 16.g4 h8 17.f4 b6 18.e3 a6 19.d4 c5 20.h4 a4 21.xc5 xc5 22.e3 xd4 23.cxd4 c2! the black queen heads for the kingside to thwart White's attack. 24.g3 g6 25.f4 h5 A) Perhaps White does best to force a draw after 26.g5 e2 ( Black can keep the tension with 26...h6 ) 27.xg7 xg7 28.f6+ etc.; B) 26.e1 h6 27.g4 c2 Black's queenside activity proves decisive as W hite has no strong blow on the kingside. 28.g3 g8 29.b3 xa2 30.c1 a5 31.c7 b5 32.f4 At last White is ready to conquer f7, but Grischuk demonstrates it is the white king who is in the most danger. a1+ 33.h2 d1 34.e3 ( After 34.f3 the exchange of queens leaves White in trouble on the q u e e n s i d e .) 34...h1+ 35.g3 g1 36.f3 f5 37.h5 g5 38.xf5 h4# 0-1 Ru b le vsky, S (2 6 8 6 )-G risc h u k , A (2752)/Apatity 2011. ] 13...0-0 [ Of course not 13...xe5? 14.xe6 fxe6 15.xc5 when Black is facing ruin. ] 14.f4 c7 Not only preparing counterplay along the c-file but also putting more pressure on the e5 pawn to deter any f4-f5 breakthrough by White. 15.ac1 ac8 16.b3 It soon becomes clear that Svidler can't find a good plan. A rook lift to h3 looks the best way to keep the dynamism in White's set up, for example [ 16.f3 xd4 ( Black looks comfortable after 16...g6 17.c3 a6 18.h3 fe8 ) 17.xd4 c4?! ( Black is still perfectly OK after 17...c5 18.c3 e7 ) 18.e3! 1547

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xa2?! 19.f5! and White has a strong attack. ] [ 16.c3!? a6 ( O r a t o n c e 16...fe8!? ) 17.f3 g6 ( Tra n sp osin g is 17...fe8 18.h3 g6 ) 18.h3 fe8 19.d1 f8 20.f3 and White has some activity. ] 16...a6 17.c3 fe8! Not only clearing the f8 square for his bishop but also introducing the idea of f7-f6 to deter White from a kingside attack with Rf3 etc. 18.f2 [ The black pieces are becoming dangerously mobile after 18.f3 f6 19.exf6 xf6 20.h1 e4 ] 18...b5 19.h1 g6 White has run out of good ideas, but there is no particular reason why he should lose. 20.h4? Having stabilised the centre by deterring f7-f6, Svidler decides it is time to nibble away at the black kingside with h4-h5. However, after Black's reply the pawn advance is shown to have merely weakened the white kingside f8! Clearing the way for the knight manoeuvre Nc5 and Ne4. 21.f3 c5 22.d4 e4 Here the knight eyes the weaknesses on both c3 and g3. 23.h2 a5 24.c4? This leads to disaster along the c-file. Instead [ 24.b4 looks horrible at first glance (and admittedly at a second and third glance as well) as it leaves White with little control of the light squares. On the other hand his pieces and pawns would be well entrenched on the dark squares. ] 24...bxc4 25.bxc4 a3 Forcing the white rook to c2 and so allowing the black queen to instigate a pin on the c4 pawn. 26.c2 a4 27.d3 c7 28.b1 ec8 All the heavy black pieces are harmoniously deployed and exerting fatal pressure along the c-file. Svidler must now lose a pawn. He had an off day to be outplayed so simply with the white pieces. 29.b3 xb3 30.axb3 dxc4 31.a1 b4 32.bxc4 xc4 33.xc4 xc4 34.xa6 It seems like Svidler has escaped to equality, but Black's next move underlines the fragility of W hite's kingside pawns structure. d2! 35.a8+ White can't defend both his bishop and the f4 pawn after [ 35.xd2 xd2 ] 35...g7 36.f2 xf4?! [ Mo re p r e c i se wa s 36...xf3+ 37.gxf3 d2 ]

37.g3?! [ The pin on his bishop makes things awkward for Black after 37.a4! xf3+ 38.g3! c4 39.gxf3 h6 40.g2 ] 37...f5 38.e3 xf3 39.gxf3 e1+ 40.g2 xh4 41.c5 The last gasp. White t h r e a t e n s m a t e w i t h 4 2 . B f 8 + e t c . h5 There are no more tricks so two pawns down White resigned. [ Not of course 41...xe5? 42.d4 ] 0-1

1440 Svidler,Peter Anand,Viswanathan vs. ROW Moscow RUS (5) [Tony Kosten]

B12 2690 2755 09.09.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 Short's favourite. Previously, [ 4.c3 had been considered on this site in alarming detail. ] 4...e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 This move, an old suggestion of Kasparov, came to the fore after White won the third game in the GelfandKarpov match, 1995. cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.c4 bc6 9.a4 a6 [ 9...dxc4 10.a3 a5+ 11.xa5 xa5 12.ab5 led to an edge for White in the aforementioned Gelfand, B-Karpov, An/ Sanghi Nagar (m/3) 1995. ] 10.cxd5 An improvement over [ 10.a3 a5+ 11.xa5 xa5 12.0-0?! better ( 12.cxd5 exd5 13.0-0 Gallagher, JKrueger, K/Bern 1995) 12...dxc4 13.xc4 was level in a previous Svidler, P-Anand, V game, Tilburg 1998. ] 10...xd5!? Anand's novelty, but there are two reasonable alternatives: [ 10...b5!? 11.d1 xd4 12.xd4 xd5 which seems very comfortable for Black, Trygstad, K-Solozhenkin, E/Gausdal NOR 2001, and ] [ 10...xd5!? 11.xc6 d7 (this pin is the p o in t o f B la ck' s p re vio u s m o ve ) 12.c3 xe3 13.fxe3 bxc6 14.f3 c8 Bologan, V-Bareev, E/Ekaterinburg RUS 2002, also level, as if now 15.xa6!? c5 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 then 0-0 g i v e s B l a c k g o o d c h a n c e s ( 17...xe3!? 1548

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.d1 c7 19.d6 forces 0-0 20.xh7+ xh7 21.d3+ which might favour White. )] 11.c3!? a5 [ 11...xe5!? 12.f3 c8 13.0-0 is unpleasant to def end, especially in a rapid game, but may be playable. ] 12.xf5 xf5 13.xa5 xa5 14.b6 c6 15.f4 e7 16.0-0-0 White has a small, but clear advantage, based on his strong bishop pair. g5 17.g3 gxf4 18.gxf4 d8 19.f2 h4 20.g1 An ugly square, but to preserve any chances at all, White must keep both his bishops on the board. g8 21.f3 c8 22.b1 a5?! The dubious sign is for the aggre ssive plan be hind th e m ove, wh ich seems to lead nowhere quickly. 23.e4 c4 24.b3 This is the problem, the knight has no good square to go to. a3+? Time to admit his mistake, and play [ 24...a5 and see if White can do anything wit h t h e t wo e xt r a m o ve s h e h a s b e e n handed. ] 25.b2 b5 26.a4! Driving the knight to a 'non-square', which will cost Black the game. c7 27.c1 'Pin and win'! e7?! [ 27...e7 might be the best chance, connecting the two rooks. ] 28.f6+ This is strong, although White did have other fine possibilities, such as [ 28.b6 d7 29.hd1+ d5 30.c3 which is crushing. ] 28...xf6 29.exf6 d7 30.xb7 b8 31.c6+ d6 32.a7 bd8 33.b6 White is already a pawn up, and this wins at least an exchange as well. 1-0

this game closely. ] 6.bd2 There are other options, as we have frequently encountered here: [ 6.a3!? d7 7.0-0 g6 8.bd2 a5 9.c4 a4 10.e1 h6 11.b3 axb3 12.xb3 b6 13.a2 c8 14.c5 The slow taking of space is the game plan behind Short's idea, as a prelude to eventual attack. c7 15.a4 Short, N-Seirawan, Y/Amsterdam 1996 ] [ 6.h4!? Very rare, but takes advantage of the omission of ...h7-h6 g6 7.d2 f5 8.xg6 hxg6 9.b3 d7 10.c3 a6 11.g4 h4 12.g1 g5 13.e3 g6 14.d2 xh2 15.0-0-0 c5 ( 15...e7 16.h1 ) 16.xg5 e7 17.xe7 xe7 18.e3 cxd4 Becerra Rivero, J-Fridman, D/Dos H e r m a n a s 2 0 0 4 w h e n 19.cxd4 h4 20.df1 c8+ ( 20...h6 21.xh6 xh6 22.f4 ) 21.b1 h6 22.g5 starts to look good for W hite. W ithout doubt 6 Nh4 is worth examining further. ] 6...c5 7.dxc5 ec6 8.b3 xc5!?N [ 8...d7 9.0-0 xc5 10.xc5 xc5 11.d4 0-0 12.e3 d7 13.xf5 exf5 Svidler, P-Belov, V/Moscow 2003 W hen 14.f4 is much better for White. ] 9.xc5 a5+ 10.c3 xc5 11.b3! e7 12.g5 c7 13.d4! xd4 The only move in view of the threat of Nb5. [ Instead 13...xe5 14.xf5 exf5 15.xd5 is less than impressive for Black. ] 14.cxd4 c6 15.c1 0-0 16.e3 [ 16.0-0? b6! 17.xb6 axb6 ] 16...a5+ 17.c3 b4 18.0-0 ac8 19.fc1 xb3 20.axb3 White holds a small enduring edge, typical of this line. His first task is to suppress any Black counterplay. b8 1441 B12 [ Which is why Black had to get on the case with 20...f6! immediately, which was his Svidler,Peter 2740 best choice: 21.g4 ( 21.exf6 gxf6! 22.b5 Azmaiparashvili,Zurab 2658 f7! 23.xc6 xc6 24.xc6 bxc6 World Team Ch (3) 03.11.2005 25.xc6 b8 26.c7+ g6 27.xa7 xb3 [Andrew Martin] 28.a2 b1 29.a6 f7= ) 21...e4 22.b5 fxe5 23.xc6 xc6 24.xc6 bxc6 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 25.dxe5 a6= ] Short's solid system remains popular. In SanLuis Morozevich beat Anand in this line, and 21.c5 h6 22.f3 fd8 23.f2 f8 24.g4 Svidler plays it regularly, perhaps influenced g6 25.h4! Gaining space. h5 26.g5 dc8 27.e3 e8 28.b4 d7 29.b5 b4 by Short. e7 30.d2 xc5 31.xc5 a6 [ 5...d7 or even ] [ After 31...b6 32.c1 the knight on b4 [ 5...h6 look preferable, when one examines 1549

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 7.b3 c5 8.c3 c6 9.e3 c8 10.a3!? is Socko (2629)-Wojtaszek, (2637), Opole POL 2007, from an earlier update. ] [ 7.h4 tries to win the bishop pair (hence 6...h6 as an option). Apart from 7...Bg6, there's e4 8.d2 f5 9.hf3!? ] 7...h6 [ 7...c5!? h a s g o t t e n h i t h a rd b y 8.c4! , for example, c6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.dxc5! xc5 11.b3 xb3 12.xb3 d7 13.d1 e6 14.d4! was Vachier Lagrave(2696)Dittmar, Caleta 2009, which I annotated previously. ( 14.e3 is another good move, since d4? loses a pawn to 15.b5 )] 8.c3 [ The other main idea is 8.b3 , which I've analysed extensively in previous updates, for example, h7 (the most common move) ( among others from the Archives: 8...c8 9.d2! with the idea Bb4 was Ni Hua (2632)Iordachescu, V (2563), Moscow 2007) 9.d2 ( 9.a4 f5 10.d3 g6 11.a5 a6 12.h3 c5 equalised in Smirin(2649)-Rodshtein, Haif a I SR 200 8) 9...g6 10.c4 dxc4 11.a5 b8 12.xc4 b6 Mamedov (2577)-Jobava (2658), Baku AZE 2008, and W hite can use his space advantage to retain some edge after 13.xb6! axb6 ( 13...xb6 14.a4 e7 15.b3 0-0 ) 14.b3 e7 15.fc1 0-0 16.a4 ] 8...c7 This is rare, waiting for White to commit. [ 8...c5 is the most common move here, and ] 1442 B12 [ 8...h7 has done well. ] [ 8...a6 has been played by Anand, Karpov, Svidler,Peter 2739 and Bareev, but is slow. ] Nakamura,Hikaru 2710 City of Culture GM (3) 09.07.2009 9.h4 I know of only 2 games: [ a) 9.b3 g6!? (weird two normal moves [John Watson] are ( 9...0-0-0 and; 9...g5 10.h3 g7 ) 10.e3 ( 10.h4 ) 10...g7 11.c1 0-0-0 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 12.e1 f6! 13.exf6 ( 13.f4 ) 13...xf6 The Short System took a hiatus, but for the with at least equality, Szalanczy, E (2369) last 5 years or so it has again become the Prohaszka, P (2344), Hungary 2006. ] first choice of Advance Variation advocates. [ b) 9.b4!? g6 ( how does White answer Apart from annotations, I'll indicate variations 9...a5 ? Maybe 10.a3 axb4 11.cxb4 g6 that you can find f rom games used in my 12.b3 , versus ...Bxb4 and ... Nf4, but e7 earlier columns. d7 6.0-0 e7 should be equal) 10.b3 ( 10.e1 f4 [ 6...g6 7.bd2 h6 and the flexible ] 11.g4 ) 10...f6!? 11.e1 e7?! ( 11...h5! [ 6...h6 are common alternatives. ] 12.f4 0-0-0 ) 12.exf6 gxf6 13.h5+ d8 7.bd2 cannot return home. ] 32.b6 c6 33.c3 f8 I don't really like Black's play in this ending, which has been passive from the outset. Finally, he's threatening to play ... f7-f6, but White's pieces are now in such good positions that he can cope comfortably. 34.b4! f6 35.exf6 gxf6 36.f4 hxg4 37.fxg4 e5 Overlooking S vi d le r' s t a c t ic a l id e a . 38.xd5+ e6 39.c5! xd4 [ 39...exf4 40.d5+ d7 41.dxc6+ bxc6 42.f3+- ] 40.c4+ d6 41.e3 b5+ 42.b2 [ 42.xb5 axb5 43.c7 b8 44.c5+ e6 45.e7+ d5 46.h5 also gives White a winning position. ] 42...e4 43.h5 f3? [ 43...h8 44.h6 ] 44.h6? [ White could have won a piece after 44.xb5 axb5 45.c3! threatening Bc5. ] 44...e4 45.a2 h8 46.c1 e7 47.e1 f3 48.c5+ d6? [ 48...d8 ] 49.g5! fxg5 50.xe5+ d7 51.e6 f5 [ 51...e4 52.d4+- ] 52.f6 xh6 [ 52...e4 53.e6+ ] 53.f7+ d8 54.xf5+- h2+ 55.c1 e4 56.f8+ d7 57.b3 c6 58.a4+ d5 59.d8+ e6 60.e8+ Svidler made 5..Ne7 look inferior! 1-0

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.d3 with a clear advantage, De la Riva Aguado(2525)-Roos, France 2007. ] 9...h7 10.f4 Versus g5, e.g., [ 10.b4 g5! 11.hf3 a5 ] 10...c5 [ Or 10...0-0-0 ] 11.df3 c6 12.e3 e7 13.d3 cxd4 14.cxd4 xd3 15.xd3 b4 16.b1 c2 [ 16...0-0 17.f5 ( 17.a3? c2 18.c1 ac8 19.e1 xa1 20.xc7 xc7 21.xa1 xh4 ) 17...xh4 18.xh4 c2 isn't clear ] 17.a3? xb1?! Mutual blindness: [ 17...b3! 18.f2 ( 18.axb4 xe3+ 19.h1 xf4 ) 18...c2 19.d2! d3 with a modest but definite edge. ] 18.axb1 c6 [ 18...c2 is possibly better: 19.f2 0-0 20.f5 h7 21.g4 ac8 22.g2! c6 23.f4 fc8 ] 19.f5 f8 20.g4 h5 21.g5 exf5 22.xf5 e6 This piece is a powerful blockader, and Black's good pieces just about make up for W hite's extra command of space. 23.bc1 d8 [ 23...a5!? ] [ 23...c8 ] 24.b4 I'd rather be White, but making progress won't be easy. ½-½

h4 21.d7 a6 22.f2 White surely has enough pressure here to compensate a pawn. ] 19.xc8+ xc8 20.d1 e7 21.f4 Now c4 is a threat.. g5 22.fxg5 h6 23.c4 hxg5 Black allows White to form a strong pawn chain in the centre hoping that he will be able to bloakade it. Another possibility is [ 23...d4 24.gxh6 xh6 25.xd4 e6 26.d7 a5 27.d6 g6 28.d7 xe5 29.xb6 e2 30.a4 f4 Black is a pawn down but due to the simplified position there are some chances to make a draw ] 24.cxd5 g6 25.f1 At first this looks strange, why play such a move when White can go 25.Re1, but the point is in the following idea: [ 25.e1 h4! Suddenly Black has activated his pieces and reached an equilibrium in this endgame - the coordination of the knight and rook is now very good. ] 25...f4 26.d6 g7 27.e1 The Black rook is a bit out of play but the position is still far from decided... f8 28.d3 e6 29.f5 White has a definite initiative d4 30.g4 e8? This is a clear mistake, but alternatives can only help Black prolong the game but not to change the overall evaluation that White is better. [ 30...c6 31.c1 xe5 32.d7 xg4 33.c8 e5 34.xh8 xd7 35.a8 a5 1443 B12 36.d8 c5 37.d6 This is better for White ] Svidler,Peter 2739 [ 30...e6 31.g3 fxg3 32.hxg3 c5 Postny,Evgeny 2618 33.g2 This also looks better for White ] 8th World Teams (8) 25.07.2011 31.f2 [Milos Pavlovic] [ 31.c1! This wins on the spot! e6 32.c7 g6 33.e7 ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 8.0-0 xb2 31...c2 32.c1 e3 33.f3 b5 34.c7 9.e1 cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 b4 Even after missing a win a few moves ago 12.b1 xc3 13.xb2 xe1 14.xe1 b6 White is still winning now. c4 35.c6 d8 15.b5+ f8 16.xf5 exf5 17.b3 e7 36.e6 xd6 37.d7 18.c3 c8N And this is a novelty, by 1-0 exchanging another piece Black is trying to minimize the pressure. [ Relevant: 18...a6 19.d7 g6 20.c7 b5 21.e6 f6 22.e3 b8 23.a7 b6 24.c3 h5 25.c8 h7 26.cc7 f4 27.a8 1-0 Gashimov, V -Ivanchuk, V / Reggio Emilia 2011 ] [ Also possible is: 18...h5 19.c7 h6 20.f4 1551

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1444 Svidler,Peter Shirov,Alexei EuTCh Plovdiv (2) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2720 2735 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 This is starting to look dangerous. W hite halts...c5 for the time being, preparing Qc1 and c4. b6 5.c1 h6?! A poor-looking move based on ...Ng4 at the right moment to make it work. This won't be Top of the Pops for very long. [ 5...e6 6.c4 e7 ( 6...xb1 7.xb1 b4+ 8.d1 Who would believe that this is Kasparov! dxc4 9.f3 d7 10.a3 e7 11.xc4 c7 12.e2 b6 13.d3 d5 14.d2 h5 15.b4 h6 16.e1 c8 17.f1 d7 18.b3 c7 19.g5 a6 20.e4 Kasparov, G-Jobava, B/ ECC, Rethymnon GRE 2003 (52). White has an excellent position, achieved by unorthodox means. His pieces are strongly positioned, restraining any Black counterplay, and he has the chances to break through on either flank. Control of this kind is all that a Grandmaster can ask for.) 7.c5 c7 8.c3 d7 9.e2 f6 10.f4 e4 ( 10...0-0-0 ) 11.exf6 xf6 12.f3 f5 13.0-0 g4 14.d2 xf3 15.xf3 h5 16.e2 g6 17.c2 ( 17.c3 g7 18.b4 f6 19.ad1 g7 20.c1 0-0-0 ) 17...g7 18.d3 0-0 19.ae1 f6 20.g3 fe8 21.b4 b6 22.c1 e4 23.b3 bxc5 24.dxc5 xd2 25.xd2 ad8 26.a5 d4 27.g2 h7 28.d3 e5 29.f5 e4 30.fxg6+ xg6 31.d1 f8 ( 31...b5 32.h3 f8 was better timing by Black) 32.xe4 xf1+ 33.xf1 dxe4 34.xe4+ g5 35.xc6 f8 36.c1+ f6 37.xd4 e5 38.f1+ g5 39.f3+ xf3 40.xf3 e3+ 41.f2 c3 42.g2 d4 43.e2 h4 44.e7+ f6 45.gxh4+ 1-0 Shirov, A-Genov, P/ EuTCh, Plovdiv BUL 2003 Less convincing this time perhaps this is the way for Black. ] 6.f3 e6 7.bd2 c5 8.b3!? d7 [ Shirov rejects 8...c4 and rightly so I think. Blocking the position is prospectless at this stage. W hite can always prise open the queenside with b2-b3 and he has a definite advantage in space on the other flank. This

lack of dynamism could never suit Shirov: 9.bd2 c6 10.c3 g4 11.f4 h5 12.e2 It's the type of edge that can only grow. ] 9.dxc5 xc5 10.fd4 g4 [ If 10...xb3 11.axb3 c5 12.b5+ ( 12.c3! g6 13.b4 xd4 14.xd4 c7 15.b5+ f8 16.0-0 ) 12...f8 13.d2! g4 ( 13...xd4 14.b4+ )] 11.b5+! Svidler does not duck the complications. He is quite happy to proceed with the Black King stuck in the centre. d8 12.0-0 xe3 Alternatives seem very good for White: [ 12...xe5 13.xf5 xb5 ( 13...exf5 14.d1 xb5 15.xd5+ ed7 16.xc5 ) 14.xc5 exf5 15.xf8 xf8 16.g5+ ] [ 12...xb3 13.axb3 xe3 14.xe3 c5 15.g5+ c7 16.xf5 ] 13.xe3 g6 14.fd1 c7 15.c4 Pretty disgusting for Black isn't it. I would have thought it in Shirov's interest to keep the position as closed as possible, but he continues to open things up! dxc4?! [ 15...xb3 16.axb3 c5 ( 16...b8 17.cxd5 ) 17.b4! xb4 ( 17...xd4 18.xd4 ad8 19.c1 b8 20.b3 ) 18.cxd5 exd5 19.ac1+ b8 20.b3 ] 16.xc4 c8 17.d2 b8 18.b5 a6 19.e2 a4 20.c4 xc4 [ 20...c7 21.ac1 c5 22.d6 ] 21.xc4 xb2 22.xe6!! A brilliant idea, Shirov-like! Svidler has seen a long way! xe3 23.d8+ a7 24.fxe3 fxe6 25.xe6 The threat is Rf1. [ 25.xe6 The main line goes: d3 26.a4! (idea Ra2-f2) b5 27.a5! g6 28.d5 g7 29.d7+ Otherwise Black is helpless. A very impressive f inish indee d. As f ar as th e opening goes Black never seemed to get it together. ] 1-0

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B12 16.f1 c6!? [ 16...xf1+ 17.xf1 c6 18.d2 2727 is only somewhat worse for White, although 2791 he lacks an effective plan Ne1-d3 could 20.12.2008 follow for defensive purposes. ] 17.c3? A pawn is a pawn White should play 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 one of two moves: [ a) 17.xc4 dxc4 18.c1 Instead of modern ideas such as 4 Be3 and 4 A) 18...f6 19.exf6 xf6 20.e2 d5 Nd2, White play a 'Short System'. Today they 21.d2 b4 ( 21...e7 22.a5! ) 22.xb4 do so without an early c3, so as to play c4 in cxb4 23.ab2; one jump. e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 d7 7.bd2 B) 18...b4 19.ab2 d5 20.e2 e7 c4 A strange-looking plan that has had some 21.c3 with a defensible game. ] success. Black abandons his pressure on d4 [ b) 17.d1 e7 18.fd2!? c3 19.g4 in order to pursue expansion on the queenside. g6 with a definite advantage for Black, but Af ter all, dxc5 and Nd4 is one of W hite's again, no obvious plan. ] major themes in this variation. Topalov also foils the standard White queenside attacking 17...xc3 18.a5 e7 19.axb6 axb6 20.d1 plan with c4, and prepares a general advance. c4 21.c1 b4 Black has to do some 8.a4 It's not easy to see what White is doing: if work to consolidate, but eventually he does he's going to play on the queenside, then b3 so. 22.a7 c2 23.xc2 xc2 24.d2 will be necessary, in which case the move a4 a3 25.a1 c4 26.b7 b8! 27.a8 0-0! is more likely to create weaknesses than 28.axb8 xd2 29.xc8 [ 29.xd2 xc1+ ] otherwise. Probably the intent was simply to stop ... b5. In any event, the advance of the a- 29...xf3+ 30.gxf3 xc8 31.e2 d8 32.f4 pawn in conjunction with b3 backfires. White g6 33.g2 f8 34.f3 a8 35.e3? c a n a l s o p l a y o n t h e k i n g s i d e f i r s t , f o r But W hite was a pawn down with too many weaknesses anyway. a3+ 36.d2 h4 example, [ White gives up (rather early) in view of lines [ 8.0-0 e7 9.c3 c6 10.b3 b5 11.a4 a6 like 36...h4 37.xb6 xf2 38.b8+ g7 12.g5 c8 13.h4 g6 14.g4 d3 39.b1 f3 40.c2 h3 41.h1 e3 15.e1 e7 16.xe7 xe7 17.e3 0-0 42.d1 f3 ] 18.f4 g6 19.xg6 hxg6 20.h4 e8 21.f3 with real attacking chances, Hrabusa, 0-1 M -Vranova, Stare Mesto 2008. ] [ A higher-level example went 8.c3 b5 9.0-0 B12 h6 10.e1 g6 11.g4 f6 12.exf6 gxf6 1446 13.g2 b6 14.b3 f7 15.a4 d6 Szoen,Dariusz 2491 16.axb5 xb5 17.c1 c7 18.bxc4 dxc4 Dziuba,Marcin 2556 19.b2 d6 20.f3 b8 21.a2 b5 65th ch-POL Lublin POL (8) 04.03.2008 22.a5 d7 23.f4 f7 24.fb1 d5 [David Vigorito] 25.xc4 and White was finally cashing in, Alekseev - David, Kallithea 2008. ] In the sharp 4.Nc3/5.g4 line of the Caro, 8...h6 9.b3?! Obviously Svidler knows that Black plays the unusual 6...f6. White strays this will create weaknesses, but he must have from the usual path on move 11, which does thought he could liquidate them. Better is not leads to disaster, although it gives not [ 9.c3 e7 10.b3 cxb3 11.xb3 c6 advantage. After a back and forth struggle 12.0-0= ] typical for the variation, Black wins a 9...cxb3 10.xb3 complicated game. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 [ 10.cxb3 b4 is no fun. Now the c2 pawn is f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 f6!? a target. ] This move is much less common than 6...c5 or 10...c8 11.a2 c7 12.d3 xd3 6. ..Ne7, but may be rather disconcerting to 13.xd3 e7 14.0-0 c4! 15.b1 b6 those playing W hite. Both sides may get 1445 Svidler,Peter Topalov,Veselin Pearl Spring (9) [John Watson]

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 att ac king c han ce s, a nd t his m et ho d wa s recently endorsed in W ells' Grandmaster Secret" The Caro Kann. 7.h4 [ 7.f4 fxe5 8.xe6 e7 9.xf8 exd4+ 10.e2 dxc3 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d3 f6 13.xc3 bd7! was Macieja, B (2617)Postny, E (2627)/Maalot-Tarshiha ISR 2008 and can be found in the archives. ] 7...fxe5 8.dxe5 [ White can also throw in 8.h5 because as John points out exd4? loses to 9.hxg6 dxc3 10.xh7 ] 8...d7 9.f4 b6 10.h5 f7 The position is very tense. W hite has a lot of space on the kingside and the f7-bisop is passive for now, but Black has a strong centre. 11.d3?! [ Better is the straightforward 11.d4 c5 ( 11...c5?! 12.a4! ) 12.f3 e7 13.f2 0-0-0 ( 13...c6 14.g3 0-0-0 15.b3!? was Mekhitarian, K (2428)-Molina, R (2322)/ Rio de Janeiro BRA 2007, and is in the archives ) 14.a3 c6 15.g3 e7 16.g5 c4! gave Black good play in Macieja-Dziuba, M Lublin 2008. ] 11...c5 [ Black could play the immediate 11...0-0-0 as well, be cause if W h ite d evelo ps th e c1-bishop taking on b2 may be reasonable b7 is protected by the king. After 12.e3 xb2 13.b1 a3 the black queen prevents any tricky Qa6 ideas by White. ] 12.d2 e7 13.0-0-0 c6 14.g3 W hite removes his queen from a possible tempo-gaining ...c4. 0-0-0 15.g2 e7 16.b1 The position is very double-edged, but I prefer Black. he has space in the centre and the possibility of advancing with ...d4 or ...c4, and a thematic ...g5 break is always in the air. On the other hand, White's f5 break does not look so threatening. d4 This is very committal, but not necessarily bad. [ 16...g5 17.hxg6 xg6? fails to 18.f5 when the d5-square will fall into W hite's hands. ] [ 16...b8 17.f5 is also annoying. ] [ but 16...a6 is interesting. ] 17.e4 c4 Black has given White some squares for his pieces in order to develop som e p res sure o n W hit e's king pos ition . 18.c1 c5 19.xc5 xc5 20.e4 [ White could also get on with it with 20.f5 ]

20...c3 21.b3 e8?! This looks completely silly at first, but there is an idea behind it. It may have been better to start with 21...Qa5 t h o u g h , k e e p i n g e 6 u n d e r c o n t r o l . 22.f5 The race is on. a5 23.he1 [ After 23.fxe6 b4 24.a3 c6 25.a4 b4 W hite has to worry about ... Bxa4 ideas. This looks scary, but White has resources too, for example 26.g5 xa4 27.xd8 xd8 28.xc3! and White takes over the initiative. ] 23...b4?! This is tempting, but it should not work. 24.a3 c6 25.f4 [ Better was 25.fxe6 xa3 26.xc6! xc6 ( 26...xc1 27.d7+ xd7 28.exd7+ xd7 29.xc1 a3 30.xc3 ) 27.xd4 xc1 28.xc6 bxc6 29.xd8+ xd8 30.xc1 and Black is out of steam. ] 25...b6 26.f6 [ 26.fxe6! White's refusal to play this costs him the game. the pawn itself is not so dangerous in itself, but it opens the part of the board that White wants to play on. ] 26...gxf6 27.exf6 e5 With the d4-pawn well pro te ct ed , Black is re ad y to f igh t f o r th e initiative again. 28.f3 f7 The bishop has a new target. 29.a2? [ 29.xc6 was essential. After bxc6 30.f5+ b7 31.a1 the position is still complicated. T h e e 5 - p a w n i s l o o s e , a n d ( 31.xe5 xb3! ) 31...xb3 32.cxb3 xb3 can be met by 33.b1! ] 29...a5 Now detonation on b3 is coming. White has no good defence. 30.xc3 xb3! 31.cxb3 xb3+ 32.a1 dxc3 33.f5+ b8 34.xd8+ xd8 35.b1 c2 0-1

1447 Tagnon,Nicole Pert,Richard G 12th Monarch Assurance, Erin (2) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2070 2380 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 3...c5 adds a new dimension to the standard stodgy Caro-Kann fare. Quite often Black will be asked to give up a pawn and more often than not it's the lightsquared Bishop which forms the basis of the compensation. 4.dxc5 c6 5.b5 1554

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5.f3 g4 is fine for Black, as Keith Arkell has demonstrated many times. ] 5...e6 6.e3 ge7 7.f3 [ 7.c3 d7 8.xc6 A) 8...xc6!? 9.f4 g5 10.fxg5 xe5 11.f3 xf3+ 12.xf3 g7 13.0-0 0-0 14.d2 b5 15.fe1 e5 16.c4 e4 17.f5 c6 18.ad1 c8 19.f2 e6 20.b3?! ( 20.cxd5! xd5 21.d4 looks much more testing to me.) 20...dxc4 21.d4 xd4 22.xd4 ad8 23.ed1 xd4 24.xd4 e7 25.d6 with advantage because of the weak black dark squares, Kotronias, V-Pert, R/12th Monarch Assurance, Port Erin IOM 2003 (64).; B) 8...xc6 S e e m s b e s t . 9.d4 f5 10.f3 xd4 11.xd4 ( 11.cxd4 b6 12.cxb6 xb6 gives Black good compensation with the two Bishops and open queenside lines.) 11...a5 12.b4 a6 13.e3 b6 14.cxb6 axb6 Perhaps the compensation is increased with W hite's inability to castle. 15.d4 d7 16.d2 e7 17.f4 0-0 18.f2 f6 19.2f3 a3 20.hb1 g5!? 21.b3 a6 22.g1 gxf4 23.xf4 c4 24.d2 c7 25.g4+ h8 26.xe6 xe6 27.xe6 fxe5 and as White cannot capture the d5pawn, chances are balanced, Theoocharides, C-Zelcic, R/EuTCh, Plovdiv BUL 2003 (43). Interesting play which very much sugge sts tha t 3...c5 should be preferred to 3...Bf5 right now. ] 7...d7 8.0-0 Tagnon plays insipidly. If Black is allowed to regain his pawn without a fight he cannot have any problems thanks to his strong, fireproof centre. xe5! 9.xe5 xb5 10.h5 g6 11.c4 White is trying to open up the game but this is all rather ambitious. Perhaps simply [ 11.e1 and the game tends towards equality: xe5 12.xe5 f6 ( 12...e7!? 13.c3 f6 14.g3 0-0 15.a3 d3 16.ad1 g6 ) 13.xf6 gxf6 14.c3 c6 15.ad1 e7 16.b4 g8= ] 11...xc4 12.xc4 dxc4 13.a3 d5! I think Nicole missed the strength of this move. 14.xd5 exd5 15.b5 d7 16.xa7 e5 17.fd1 Complications set in and White is battling against the tide. Black is

better coordinated and the idea of Ne5-d3 is very unpleasant for Tagnon: [ 17.b5 d3 18.b3 xc5 19.bxc4 dxc4 20.xc5 xc5 21.fc1 a5 22.ab1 c6 23.d4+ d5 24.f3 d3 ] [ 17.d4 d3 18.fd1 xa7 19.c6+ xc6 20.xa7 b6 ] 17...xa7! Pert sees his way through the complications and onward to the end of the game. Without a clear way forward, Tagnon blows out. 18.xd5+ [ 18.c6+ xc6 19.xa7 xa7 20.xd5+ c6 21.d8 g6 22.c1 ( 22.ad1 g7 23.8d6+ c7 24.d7+ b6 25.xf7 xb2 26.dd7 b8 27.xh7 c3-+ ) 22...b5 23.b3 c5 24.a4 c6 25.c8 h6! 26.xc4+ bxc4 27.xh8 cxb3-+ ] 18...e6 19.xe5+ xe5 20.c6 a8 21.cxb7 b8 22.d1 xb7 23.d8 e6 24.d4 d7 We've seen many recent games where Black is having to fight all sorts of new ideas after 3 e5 Bf5. Why not give 3..c5 a go? The learning involved appears minimal by comparison and Black obtains active play. 0-1

1448 Topalov,Veselin Anand,Viswanathan Linares [Alexander Volzhin]

B12 2700 2781 1999

Atalik's idea did not escape Vishy Anand's attention. Anand found a little but important improvement. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 e7 7.f4 c5 8.h4 cxd4 9.b5 ec6 10.h5 e4 11.f3 a6 12.d6+ xd6 13.exd6 g5! This is Anand's improvement. In the previous game all Black's problems were based on the fact that the White pieces could be comfortably and strongly placed on very good central squares like e4 or f5. Now Black tries t o re t a i n a n d f o r t if y h i s p a wn m a s s in a different way. 14.h3 [ O f c o u r s e n o t 14.hxg6? xg6 and the Bishop is alive. ] 14...h6 15.fxe4 dxe4 16.g2 f5 17.0-0 0-0 Probably the critical position for an assessmen t of Black's idea. It looks lik e 1555

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 W hite has only one way to destroy Black's pawn centre - by giving a piece back. The question is whether White will be able to find t h e a p p r o p r i a t e p l a c e a n d t i m e . 18.c3? Logical: White is trying to undermine Black's pawn centre, and he also gets the possibility of a Queen sortie to b3, but it was not easy to foresee that this greatly helps Black's development. xd6 19.gxf5 [ In case of 19.e3 d7 20.xd4 xd4 21.xd4 xd4+ 22.cxd4 b6 it is White who has problems in this endgame due to his very bad minor pieces but nevertheless this was probably the best option. ] 19...exf5 20.b3+ [ 20.e3 d7 21.cxd4 b6 22.b3+ d5 was fine for Black. ] 20...h8 Both sides have few pieces developed but Black can play Nd7 and R to the centre, while White has no good squares to place his pieces on, so White's next move is logical. 21.xe4 [ Both 21.xb7 d7 22.b3 de5 ] [ and 21.cxd4 xd4 22.c3 bc6 were in Black's favour. ] 21...fxe4 22.xf8+ xf8 23.e6! It would seem that White's position is not so bad Bg5 followed by Rf1 is threatened and the Black queenside pieces are still at home, b u t A n a n d f i n d s a n e xc e l l e n t i d e a . d7! Excellent! By giving up the Knight Black gains a lot of time which lets him develop a very strong initiative. [ 23...e3? would not stop White's development: 24.xe3 dxe3? ( 24...d7 ) 25.f1 winning ] 24.xd7 d8 25.g4 [ After 25.xb7 d6 26.g2 e3! 27.cxd4 g4 it is hard to believe that the White King can survive. ] 25...e3 It becomes clear now that Black has enough attacking resources (Ne5 etc) Besides, the whit e pieces are lo cked awa y on th e queenside and cannot get into play quickly. 26.b3 [ The direct attempt 26.cxd4 did not save White: xd4 27.e2 f5 28.xe3 ( 28.xe3 g4+ 29.h2 e5+ 30.h1 g3 31.f1 e6! winning ) 28...g4+ 29.h2 e5 30.b6 f3+ 31.h1 d5! and the Black King will hide from checks on

the queenside, according to Anand. ] 26...e5 27.e4 f6 28.g2 e2! 29.xg5! [ Other continuations were losing by force: 29.xe2 d3 30.f2 c6+ 31.g3 e6 32.g1 g4+ 33.h2 xh5+ 34.g2 g4 with d2 next ] [ or 29.d2 f8! (with the idea of Qf1!) 30.xd4 d8! 31.e3 xd2 winning ] 29...hxg5 30.cxd4 c6! In the ending Black keeps the pawn on e2 which will cost White dearly. 31.d5 xd5 32.xd5 xd5 33.e1 d2 34.f2 xa2 35.xe2?! [ More stubborn was 35.e3 trying to swap the rooks in a different way: f7 36.xe2 xe2+ 37.xe2 g7 38.f3 h6 39.g4 a5 should be winning for Black. ] 35...d3+ 36.e3 xe2+ 37.xe2 g4! A very important intermezzo which allows Black to gain a tempo. [ 37...f4+?? wa s n o t wi n n i n g : 38.xf4 gxf4 39.f3= ] 38.g5 c1+ 39.e3 xb3 40.h6 a5 41.f4 d4 42.xg4 a4 43.h5 c6! A brilliant victory by Vishy Anand. It's White's turn now to find something in this line. [ W h i t e r e s i g n e d b e c a u s e o f 43...c6 44.g6 e5+ 45.f6 a3 and White is just one tempo short. ] 0-1

1449 Topalovic,Zlatko Mikhalchishin,Adrian GM, Varazdin (3) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2510 2520 2003

I honestly thought that the Advance Caro was limited in terms of variety. Once White pushes on with 3 e5, the blocked centre lends itself to a certain style of game. The last few years have proved me all wrong. Just look at what White plays here! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c4!? Never seen this one before! Not sure we're going to see much of it again. Maybe his hand slipped. c6 Keep developing- why not? [ 4...dxc4!? 5.d5 b5 is a fitting, although unlikely response: A) 6.b3! a5+ ( 6...d7 7.f3 b6 8.bxc4 bxc4 9.c3 g4 10.xc4 xc4 1556

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.a4+ d7 12.xc4 xf3 13.gxf3 ) 7.d2 c7 8.f4 f5 9.bxc4 b4 10.f3; B) 6.a4 b7 7.axb5 xd5 ] 5.cxd5 xd5 6.c3 Clearly the idea some sort of crazy gambit. Is he trying to scare the old guy or what? Or are there other moves afoot? Judge for yourself. xd4 7.e3 b4! He decides to keep the booty. [ 7...xd1+ 8.xd1 g4 9.f3 d7 10.xc5= ] 8.a3 a5 9.b5! e6 [ After 9...d7 10.xc5 xe5 11.f3! White's development speeds up but even here Black is OK after c7! ] 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.a4 White's idea has worked in the sense that he now has obvious compensation for the pawn. Easy development is available and he has pressure on the weakened Black pawns. b6 [ In all honesty I think he should just take the Queens off e.g. 11...xa4 12.xa4 e7 13.xc5 ( 13.xc5 d5 14.d4 xc5 15.xc5 f4 ) 13...a6 Simple enough equality. ] 12.b4 a6 Black's point was to loosen White's queenside pawn structure. 13.xa6 xa6 14.bxc5 [ The Bishop capture looks better: 14.xc5 xc5 15.bxc5 d3! ( 15...e7 16.e4 d5 17.f3 d7 ) 16.0-0-0 0-0-0 17.f3 h6 ] 14...e7 15.e4 d5 16.d4 e7 17.d6+ xd6 Exchanging Bishops earlier would not have permitted this capture but Topalovic has made the judgement that the pawn on d6 will be very, very strong. 18.exd6 f6 19.b1 d7 20.d2 ab8 21.f3 e5 22.e3 g5 Giving White some rope. 23.xg5!? [ 23.hd1 h6 24.h3 c4= ] 23...e4 24.xf6 xf6 25.e5+ e6 26.xc6 bc8 27.b4 c4N As you will see below this is the first new move of the game! And so strong is this move that White felt compelled to resign In fact, Black is just going to wipe up the pawns with ...Rxc5. It looks very strange indeed. That's all one can say...... [ 27...b5 28.hc1 e5 29.a4 xa4 30.a1 a5 31.xa4 axb4 32.xb4 d5 33.b7 hf8 34.e1 f4 35.e7+ d4

36.d7 d3+ 37.d1 a8 38.c6 xf2 39.c7 b2+ 40.e1 d3+ 41.d1 f1+ 42.e2 f2+ 43.d1 1/2-1/2 Bro chet, PMiton, K/Cannes 2000 Going back to the opening idea, which is all we can really concern ourselves with, it seems that 4 c4!? leads to an unclear situation, but that Black can achieve easy equality if he wishes. ] 0-1

1450 Trent,Lawrence Houska,Jovanka 96th ch-GBR Torquay ENG (11) [John Watson]

B12 2471 2392 07.08.2009

Jovanka Houska knows her Caro-Kann (her book is still the best on the opening) , so it's interesting to see how she responds to the latest in the c4 lines. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.f3 g4!? [ 4...c6 5.c4 cxd4 6.xd4 ( 6.cxd5 xd5 7.c3 d8 ) 6...e6 is the recommendation in Houska's book. She analyses the muchtested 7.c3 b4 8.xc6 bxc6 9.a4 b8 and concludes that Black comes out okay. Perhaps she just felt like being less predictable, or maybe the game EdouardHouska, La Roch sur Yon 2007 was somewhat discouraging, even though Black stood fine throughout the opening: 10.a3 xc3+ 11.bxc3 c7 12.f4 d7 13.d3 c5 14.c2 dxc4 15.xc4 e7 16.0-0 0-0 17.e3 f5 ( 17...a5 ) 18.f2 fd8?! ( 18...a5 ) 19.fb1 a5 20.g4 e7 21.h4 a4 22.e4 c6 23.e3 f8? ( 23...a4 ) 24.f5! exf5 25.xe7+ xe7 26.gxf5 xb1+ 27.xb1 a4 28.f6+ f8 29.xc5+ g8 30.f1 g6 31.e6 1-0. ] 5.c4 cxd4 A familiar picture for ChessPub readers, sometimes arising via 4 c4 cxd4 5 Nf3 Bg4. 6.cxd5 [ We previously saw 6.xd4 xf3 7.gxf3 c6 8.xd5 e6! in Hector-Khenkin, Tegernsee GER 2008 . W hite played 9. Q e 4 ? ! , b u t ( 8...c7 is another way to handle it, for example, 9.f4 e6 10.e4 0-0-0 with compensation, Najer-Fridman, Rapids Netanya 2009) 9.xd8+ xd8 10.f4 h6! with the idea ...Nf5 is also at least okay 1557

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 for Black. ] 6...xd5 7.c3 xf3 There are two options, which I have dealt with before: [ a) After 7...a5 8.b5+ c6 9.xc6+ bxc6 10.xd4 xf3 11.gxf3 e6 , I suggested 12.e3 , which keeps White ahead in development and able to exploit some dark squares his advantage is small, however. ] [ b) 7...d7 8.b5 c6 9.xd4! yields a small advantage, for example, xf3 ( 9...xd4 10.xd7+ xd7 11.xd4 e6 12.0-0 ) 10.xd7+ xd7 11.gxf3 e6 12.e3 ( or 12.f4 ) 12...ge7 Leniart Khairullin, Budva MNE 2009 and here I suggested 13.f4 ( or 13.0-0 a6 14.fd1+; or 13.0-0-0+ c7 14.xc6 xc6 15.b5+ c8 16.b1! a6 17.c3 with the idea xe5 18.a4 ) 13...a6 14.d3 ] 8.xd5 xd1 9.e6? [ In a previous update we saw RobsonKhairullin, Moscow 2009: 9.c7+ d7 10.xa8 c2 11.e6+? ( I suggested 11.d2 c6 12.c1 with the idea d3 13.h4 and Rh3 ) 11...xe6 12.f4 ( 12.c4+ d7 13.xf7 f6 spoils White's lead in d e ve lo p m e n t .) 12...c6 13.d2 g6 and Black stood clearly better. ] 9...g4! Not an obvious move. [ White appears to come out on top following 9...fxe6 10.c7+ d7 11.xa8 c2 12.d2 ( 12.f4 c6 13.b5 isn't clear.) 12...c6 13.b4 ( 13.c1? d3 14.h4 e5! 15.h3 e4 ) 13...f6 ( 13...d3 14.b5 d4 15.b6 a6 16.c3 ) 14.b5 e5 15.c1 ( 15.f4 g6 16.b8 e5 17.xa7 d5 ) 15...d3 16.f4 f7 17.b6 a6 18.e2! e5 19.d1 xd1 20.c7+ ] 10.c7+ [ 10.exf7+ xf7 doesn't help Whites cause. ] 10...d8 11.xa8 xe6 12.f4 [ Or 12.d2 f6 13.a5+ ( 13.c1 c6 14.b4 d5 15.b5 e5 ) 13...c8 14.c7 d7 15.b5 c6 16.c1 b8 17.c7+ a8 ] 12...c6 13.b5 f6? [ After 13...f6! , Black has two pawns for the exchange and a strong centre, while White needs to get his knight out. Play might go 14.d1 ( 14.0-0-0? d5 15.xc6 bxc6

16.xd4 c8; 14.g3 e4 15.c7+ c8 ) 14...d5!? 15.g3 f6! ( 15...c8 16.c1! ) 16.xc6 bxc6 17.xd4 c8 18.d3 f7 ] 14.0-0-0 d5?! [ 14...xa2 15.c7+! c8? 16.xc6 bxc6 17.xd4 d5 18.a4! with the idea b7 19.b4+ xa8 20.b8# ] [ 14...d7 is best, with the idea ...e5, but 15.xc6 xc6 16.xd4+ e8 17.b8 e5 18.c4! may preserve a small edge, since this time Black has only a pawn f or the exchange. ] 15.c7! xa2 [ 15...xg2 16.xc6 bxc6 17.xd4+ c8 18.hd1 ] 16.xc6 e5 17.d5! xc7 18.xa2 exf4 19.xd4 e7 [ 19...g5 is too slow due to 20.hd1 ] 20.hd1 c6 21.d7+ b6 22.d5 c5 23.d3 [ 23.xg7! xf2 24.f3 would be very strong. White is probably winning anyway. ] 23...a5 24.xc6 [ 24.xg7! b4 25.d1 ] 24...xc6 25.xg7 xf2 Now White's advantage has diminished and Black can fight f o r a d r a w . 26.c3+ c5 27.f7 g8 28.c2 b6 29.xh7 d5 30.d1 e3 31.h4 e4 32.h5 f5 33.e1 c5 34.f1 d8 35.e2 e8+ 36.d3 e1?! [ 36...g5! ] 37.h8 h1 38.h6 d1+ 39.c4 [ 39.d2 ] 39...g6 40.e2?! e3 41.c2 h1 [ 41...c5 42.c3 e3 43.d3 ] 42.d5 xh6 43.xh6+ xh6 44.e4 g5 45.c8 g6 46.g3 f5+ 47.f3 d4 [ 47...f6 48.gxf4 d4 49.c6+ e7 50.b3 ] 48.xf4 f7 49.b3 e6 50.e8+ f7 51.d8 f2 52.d5 e6 53.e5+ d6 54.xf5 c6 55.g4 d4 56.g5 b5 57.g6 b2 58.e4 b6 59.d3 a4 60.bxa4 bxa4 61.c2 a3 62.b3 c6 63.f7 1-0

1558

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1451 Vachier Lagrave,M Akobian,V World Cities Team GpE (3.5) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2711 2622 24.12.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h6 5.g4 d7 Probably Black's most reliable move in this position. [ 5...e4 6.f3 h7 was examined by Gawain in Nepomniachtchi, I-Wells, P ] 6.h5 This seems like the critical choice to me [ 6.d2 c5 7.dxc5 A) 7...c7! looks like an excellent move which calls into question 6.Nd2 8.e6 ( 8.f4 e6 and Black has no problems) 8...xe6 9.b3 f6 10.e2 c6 11.h3 d7 12.c3 0-0-0 and Black was at least slightly better in Zeng, C (2435)-Ding Liren (2660) Taizhou 2012; B) 7...e6 8.b3 was seen in KramnikLeko which is analysed by Andrew Martin. ] 6...e6 [ 6...c5 7.dxc5 c6 8.xd5 gave White good chances for the advantage in Vachier Lagrave-Grischuk which is covered by Milos Pavlovic. ] 7.f3!? An unusual move that I'm not sure will catch on, despite the result in this game. [ 7.c3 still seems to be White's best option here but I guess Maxime wanted to surprise his opponent. c5 8.f4 c6 9.f3 b6 10.h2 c8 11.e3 cxd4 12.cxd4 b4+ ( instead 12...a5 13.c2 e7 14.bd2 can be seen in Navara-Shimanov, annotated by Gawain in the archives.) 13.f2 a5 14.b3 ( 14.g1!? ) 14...e7 15.g1 0-0 16.g2 c7 17.f5 exf5 18.g5! A) 18...f4! 19.xf4 h3! 20.g3 ( 20.f2 may be a safer option but I still prefer Black after e6 ) 20...xf1 21.gxh6 f5 22.xg7+ xg7 23.hxg7 xg7 24.xf1 e6 25.d3 g8 and Black is doing very well; B) 18...h7?! 19.d3 fc8 20.h2 B1) 20...hxg5 should have been preferred although White obviously has a d a n g e r o u s a t t a c k a f t e r 21.xg5+ ( 21.a3!? ) 21...g8 22.h3; B2) 20...b5?! This quickly leads to

trouble 21.xb5 xb5 22.gxh6 gxh6 23.a3 ( 23.xh6! was also possible straight away) 23...c3 24.xh6! xa1 this leads to immediate defeat but Black was already in serious difficulties ( 24...b6 was relatively best but after 25.g5+! xh6 26.xf7+ h7 27.g1 g8 28.xc3 xc3 29.xg8 xg8 30.d6 e7 31.g5 White is crashing through anyway) 25.g5+ xh6 ( 25...g8 26.e4+ wins ) 26.d2 Despite being a Rook and Bishop up Black is getting mated. ] [ 7.f4 is likely to transpose after c5 8.c3 ] 7...c5! 8.c3 b6 9.e2 [ 9.a3 cxd4 10.cxd4 b4+ 11.d2 a6 12.d3 c6 13.c2 xd2+ 14.xd2 xb2!? ( 14...ge7 15.b4 feels a little better for W hite) 15.e2 b6 16.ab1 c7 17.g5 ge7?! ( 17...a5 was better and after 18.gxh6 xh6 19.hg1 b5! Black has a good game) 18.gxh6 gxh6 19.e3 and White had excellent compensation for a pawn in Kozel, R (2415)Makarov, V (2272) Illichevsk 2006 ] 9...c6 10.0-0 f6!? This may be thematic but it is possibly a mistake to further weaken g6 here [ I prefer 10...c8 11.a3 ( 11.d2!? m i g h t b e a b e t t e r o p t i o n a s wi t h o u t a weakness on b3 Black will have to find an alternative way of playing. .. perhaps cxd4 12.cxd4 ge7 13.c3 g6!? with unclear play after 14.b5! xe5 15.xe5 xb5 16.xb5+ xb5 17.f4 h7 18.hxg6 xg6 19.xg6 fxg6 20.e1 e7 ) 11...c4 12.bd2 a5 13.b1 e7 14.h1 g6 ] 11.h4 ge7 12.a3?! An interesting idea but I'm not completely convinced [ 12.dxc5 seems to leave White somewhat better af ter xc5 13.exf6 gxf6 14.e3 d6 15.a3 although of course the position is still messy. ] 12...cxd4 13.exf6 gxf6 14.b5! This is the idea behind 12.Na3 but I think with accurate play Akobian must be doing fine here g8 15.cxd4 0-0-0 [ 15...a5! was stronger when it is White who has to be the more careful - for example 16.c3 f5 17.h1 fxg4 18.xg4 0-0-0 and in the long-run White's king is 1559

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 going to be the more exposed. ] 16.e3 a6 17.a4! b8 [ 17...e8 was also possible although then perhaps White can continue with 18.c2!? threatening to trap the queen with a5! ] [ 17...axb5 18.axb5 Black can't keep the extra piece - e.g. a5 19.c1+ b8?! 20.f4+ and Black is in all sorts of trouble ] 18.a5 xg4+ [ 18...xa5 leads to huge complications but probably W hite is somewhat better after 19.f4+ e5 ( o f c o u r s e n o t 19...a8 20.c7 ) 20.dxe5 xb5 21.exf6+ a8 22.fxe7 xe7 23.g6 xe2 24.xe2 f8 25.ad1 ] 19.xg4 xb5 20.d2 White has come through the complications the exchange for a pawn up although the position is hardly clear with the g-file completely open. e5 21.xd7 [ 21.e2!? b4 ( 21...b3 22.a3 ) 22.xb4 xb4 23.g6 xg6 24.hxg6 f5 25.h5 g7 and Black is hanging on very well ] 21...xd7 22.fc1 c8 23.g6 [ 23.xh6 looks tempting but Black gets plenty of counterplay with xh6 24.xh6 e2! ] 23...b4 24.d1 d6 25.dxe5 fxe5 26.g4 White is slowly getting control over the position and must be close to winning here d8 [ 26...d4 27.xd4 exd4 was an interesting option although White does now have the i n c r e d i b l e 28.c6!! followed by Rb6 as xc6? 29.e5 should be easily winning for White ] 27.xh6! White grabs the h-pawn and now has a clear path to victory if he can avoid Black's tricks [ 27.xc6!? gives White good chances in the e n d g a m e a f t e r bxc6 28.xe5 c4 29.xc4 xc4 30.xc4 ( 30.e6!? ) 30...dxc4 31.xh6 ] 27...e4 28.e3 d4?! Finally Akobian cracks [ 28...xa5 29.h6 b6 30.e1 isn't completely clear but the h-pawn should be enough for White to win ] 29.xe5 [ 29.xd4! was even stronger after exd4 30.h6! d7 31.xd7 xd7 32.g2!

with an easy win ] 29...e2+ 30.g2 xc1 31.xc1 xa5 32.h6 e8 [ 32...d4 was the only chance but after 33.f7! dxe3 34.xd8 xd8 35.h7 xb2 36.f4+! White is easily winning anyway ] 33.h7 a8 34.f7! A nice finish to an interesting battle. [ 34.f7 xf7 allows mate with 35.c8+ xc8 36.xc8# ] 1-0

1452 Vachier Lagrave,M Ding Liren Alekhine Mem (2) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2722 2707 22.04.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h6 5.g4 e4 [ 5...d7 has been seen more often recently b u t V a ch ie r-L a gra ve h a s b e e n s c o rin g heavily in this position as W hite, beating Grischuk and Akobian. ] 6.f3 h7 7.e6! f6!? A novelty but clearly a move that both players had analysed beforehand [ 7...d6! has been considered as critical before in the notes in ChessPublishing and given the result of this game it may still be the best option for Black here. 8.exf7+ xf7 9.f4! otherwise Black will play ...e5 with a good game f6 A) 10.f3!? xg4 11.h3 h5 A1) 12.e5+! is surely more critical. Chances are balanced after g8! e.g. 13.xg4 hxg4 14.xg4 xc2 15.c8 ( 15.e6+ h7= ) 15...g6 16.c3 g3+ 17.d2 and Black must now take t h e d ra w wit h d3+ 18.e1 g3+ 19.d2 d3+; A2) 12.c3 a6 13.e2 f5 14.a3 g8 was fine for Black in Andreev, E (2499)-Chytilek, R (2397) Czech Republic 2012; B) 10.h3 B1) 10...c5 B1a) 11.g5 led to a complete mess in Muzychuk, A (2606)-Sutovsky, E (2687) Amsterdam 2012 af te r hxg5 1560

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.hxg5 e4 13.c8 ( 13.g4!? ) 13...c6 14.xb7 e6 15.e2 b8 16.xc6 xc6 and Black had excellent compensation for the pawn.; B1b) 11.f3! should be a little better f o r W h ite a f t e r c6 12.g5 hxg5 13.hxg5 e4 14.g4 although the position is incredibly complicated. Black can even consider the exchange sacrifice f5!? 15.xh8 xg4 with reasonable compensation; B2) 10...e6+ 11.f1 e4 12.g2 h5 ( 12...g8!? 13.f5 f7 14.d2 feels a little better for White as Black still has to unravel his kingside.) 13.f3 hxg4 14.e5+ e8 15.xg4 ( 15.xg4 f5 ) 15...xg4+ 16.xg4 d6 17.c3 ( 17.h5+! d8 18.g6 xg6 19.xg6 leaves White with a slight advantage based on Nd2-f3 and t h e n t h e k n i g h t c o m e s t o e 5 o r g 5) 17...e4+ 18.f3 f5 and Black had no problems in Soffer, R (2506)-Grachev, B (2672) St Petersburg 2012 ] [ 7...fxe6 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 i s c o n s i d e r e d t o g i ve W h i t e e xc e l l e n t compensation for the pawn, for example e5 ( 9...d6 10.f4! and White has an excellent bind on the centre.) 10.dxe5 e6 11.e2 e7 12.f4 d7 13.e3 and White was doing well in Shomoev, A (2580)-Schulz, H (2135) Biel 2009 ] 8.f4 b6!? Ding Liren goes into a critical line but evidently Maxime is extremely well prepared in this line [ 8...fxe6 9.d3 again gives White more than enough compensation. ] 9.c3! xb2 10.d2 b6 [ 10...xc2? looks like a nice trick but actually it simply loses after 11.xc2! xa1 12.g2 followed by Nge2/Nh3 and the queen is trapped on a1. ] 11.ge2 a6?! Possibly Black can do better than this but the position is already very difficult to play. [ 11...g5!? is probably better. Although this returns the extra pawn it would at least open up the kingside with interesting play after 12.exf7+ xf7 13.hxg5 hxg5 14.xg5 bd7 ] 12.b1 a7 13.a4! b5 14.c5

Once the knight la nd s in th is square th e position starts to look very unpleasant for Black, it's just very difficult for Ding Liren to develop here. g8 15.e5 fxe6 16.f4 Black is now two pawns up but the bishop on f8 and rook on h8 are virtual spectators. bd7 17.xd7 xd7 18.g6 xe5 19.dxe5 h7 20.h5! Entombing the rook on h7. Houdini actually prefers Black in this position but it's actually possible that in practice he's just lost here. Certainly the way the game goes Vachier Lagrave allows Black no counterplay and wins relatively easily. c5 21.f4 f7 22.f3 0-0-0 23.e2 c4 24.a4! Ma xime sta rt s t h e jo b o f op e n in g up t h e queenside, something that's likely to prove decisive with his "material advantage". c7 [ 24...d4+ 25.c1 c5 doesn't help at all as after 26.axb5 axb5 27.c3! Qa5 is coming and the pawn on b5 will drop anyway. ] 25.axb5 axb5 26.xb5 d4+ 27.e1 a8 28.b1?! [ 28.f1! was stronger - there's no need to be worried about the check on a1 as after a1+ ( 28...xg6 29.hxg6 h8 30.g2 and Rhb1 is coming with a decisive attack.) 29.g2 xh1 30.xh1 xg6 31.hxg6 h8 32.a3 and Black will soon be mated. ] 28...a2 29.c3 d2+ 30.f2 c2 31.e3 xe3+ 32.xe3 xc3+ So Black has survived at least the initial attack but in some ways nothing has changed, he's still playing a rook and bishop down. 33.d4 c2 34.he1 c6 35.b8?! [ 35.xf8! wins but evidently Maxime didn't want to allow the rook into the game with h8 but actually 36.b8 keeps complete control. ] 35...xg6 36.hxg6 h8 37.eb1 d2+ 38.e3 a2 39.8b6+ c7 40.d4 and here Black resigned - still two pawns up but hopelessly lost. An instructive game from Vachier Lagrave that again shows the dangers of this line for Black. 7...Qd6 remains critical. [ After 40.d4 the game might finish d8 ( 40...xe2 41.c5 quickly leads to mate) 41.f5 exf5 42.b8+ d7 43.1b7+ c6 44.b6+ c7 45.8b7+ d8 46.xd5 e6+ 47.xe6 xe2 48.c6 and now Black has to lose at least a rook and obviously the 1561

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 game. ] 1-0

1453 Vachier Lagrave,M L'Ami,E Reykjavik Open 2013 (4.2) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2715 2622 21.02.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.c3 e7 7.ge2 d7 8.g3 g6 9.cxd5 cxd5 [ Vachier Lagrave won a smooth game against Laznicka after 9...xd5 10.e2 b4 11.d2 b6 12.xd5 cxd5 13.xb4 xb4+ 14.d2 xd2+ 15.xd2 which is analysed by Milos in the archives. ] 10.g5! Preventing an immediate ...Nc6 at the expense of weakening the b2-pawn. [ 10.e2 c6 11.e3 c8 12.f1 a6 13.f4 b6 14.f2 c4 was better for Black in Tan, M(2400) -L'Ami, E (2611) Vlissingen 2011 but it was never likely that Maxime would allow Erwin to repeat this line. 15.b3 a3 16.f5 exf5 17.xh5 b4 18.c1 xh5 19.xh5 g6 20.e2 h6 21.h3 xc1 22.xc1 xa2 23.xa3 xc3 24.h5 g5 25.d3 e4 ] 10...b6 11.b5 c6 12.0-0 A key position f o r t h e a s s e s sm e n t o f t h e lin e . A t f irst I thought Black should be doing fine here but it seems he has the more difficult problems to solve here: c8 [ 12...e7 13.xe7 xe7 A) 14.xc6 bxc6 15.f4 is again very dangerous, e.g. xb2 16.c1 and with f5 coming W hite has the better chances ( 16.f5!? can also be played immediately ); B) 14.ge2 ac8 15.d2 db8 16.ad1 and White had an obvious advantage in Villing, D (2234)-Huth, A (2064) Hassloch 2006 ] [ 12...a6 is critical but can White just sacrifice a pawn here? I've done a lot of work with Houdini and it seems Black has some real problems here... 13.xc6 bxc6 ( 13...xc6? quickly leads to trouble after 14.c1 b6 15.f4! ) 14.f4!? White can play other moves but this is by far the scariest. xb2 Black cannot stop f5 so he might as

well grab a pawn and hope to hang on! A) 15.f5 looks very dangerous but I there doesn't seem to be a definite advantage h e r e a f t e r xf5 16.xf5 xc3! ( 16...exf5?! 17.a4 b7 18.xf5 and White is clearly on top) 17.c1 b4 18.b1 a5 19.b7 ( 19.g3!? ) 19...exf5 20.c2 c5! 21.xf5 xd4+ 22.h1 0-0 23.xd7 b5! 24.e7 ( 24.f4 b4 and Black has enough counterplay to force a draw) 24...g6 25.f3 xe5 26.xf8 xf8 27.xf7 xf1+ 28.xf1 xf7 29.e2 e7 and the ending should end in a draw.; B) 15.c1! B1) 15...b4 16.f5! exf5 17.a4 xa2 18.f2! a3 19.xf5 xf5 20.xf5 e7 21.f3 b4 22.b3 a5 ( 22...xa4 23.b8+ ) 23.xc6 and White has a decisive initiative; B2) 15...a3 16.f5 exf5 17.a4! b7 18.b1 a7 19.b3 ( 19.xf5 also keeps a strong initiative) 19...f4 20.e2 e7 21.xe7 xe7 22.xf4 and White has easily more than enough compensation for a pawn here. ] 13.c1 a6 14.xc6 xc6 15.ce2 [ 15.d2 may keep a slight edge but Maxime clearly wants to sacrifice the b-pawn and b4 gives Black a reasonable game. ] 15...xb2 A very risky decision - perhaps this is playable but Black is walking a thin line after this. [ 15...f6! seems like a possible improvement here but it needs to be checked very carefully - especially if you're planning on playing it against Vachier Lagrave! A) 16.e3 fxe5 17.dxe5 xb2 18.f4 f7 ( 18...f7 19.xd5! is very dangerous and probably just good for White ) 19.b1 xe5 ( 19...c2 20.xb7 xd1 21.xd1 xe5 22.ge2 and White keeps an enduring initiative for the pawn and overall slightly the better chances. ) 20.xb7 d6 21.e1 and W hite has a strong attack f or the pawn.; B) 16.exf6 gxf6 17.e3 xb2 18.xc6 bxc6 19.f4 f7 ] 16.xc6 bxc6 17.f4 c2?! After this Erwin quickly gets a very difficult position 1562

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 17...h7! 18.xh5 ( 18.gxh5 xa2 see ms t o b e OK f o r Black) 18...xd4 19.xe6 xe5 This position looks incredibly scary for Black but it seems that White has no more than a draw here (or a tiny advantage in an endgame). A) 20.c7+ xc7 21.e1+ e5 22.f4 d6 23.xe5 0-0 24.xg7 xg7 25.g5+ g6 26.h5+ ( 26.f5+ g8 27.h5 h2+ 28.f1 f4 29.xf4 xf4 30.e7+ g7 31.hxg6 fxg6 32.xc6 ) 26...g8 27.f6+ g7=; B) 20.d8 f6 21.xf7 xh5 22.xe5 xg3 23.fxg3 d6 24.f7 xe5 ( 24...g8 is also possible if a little passive. ) 25.e7+ f8 26.xe5 e4 27.e7 g8 and Black should hold a draw without too many problems. ] 18.f3 Of course White isn't interested in swapping queens. e4 [ 18...f6 no longer helps as now Maxime has 19.exf6 gxf6 20.e3! e4 ( 20...e5 21.c1 fxg5 22.hxg5! xc1+ 23.xc1 exf4 24.xc6 d3 25.e6+ d8 26.f5 and despite having a rook and two bishops for a queen Black is just lost as the queen dominates here.; 20...fxg5 21.xe6+ d8 22.xg6 h6 23.f5 is crushing) 21.c1 b2 22.xe4 dxe4 23.xc6 fxg5 24.xe6+ f7 25.hxg5 and Black's position is hopeless ] [ 18...b4 is perhaps Black's best chance but W hite is still doing well after 19.xg6 xg6 20.b3 a5 21.a4 ] 19.xe4 xe4 [ 19...dxe4 20.h3 c4 ( 20...e7 21.xe6! ) 21.e3 is also very unpleasant for Black. ] 20.h3 f5 L'Ami manages to exchange queens but the endgame is just lost as he is too far behind in development. [ 20...e7 is no better though after 21.xe6! xg5 22.xg5 g4 23.e3 0-0 24.d3 g6 25.e6 with a winning attack ] 21.xf5 exf5 22.c1 f6 23.g6?! Not the most accurate but good enough [ 23.xc6 is even more crushing, for example fxg5 24.c8+ f7 25.e6+ e7 26.hxg5! b6 27.c6 with Ng6+ to come Black can safely resign. ] 23...g8 24.e6 fxg5 25.xc6 Black resigns

perhaps a little early but it should be fairly straightforward for White to win after [ 25.xc6 d8 26.exd7 xd7 27.e5+ d8 28.hxg5 e7 29.xa6 c7 30.a7+ d6 31.f4 A crushing win for Vachier Lagrave and Black players really need to st u d y t h i s l i n e c a re f u l l y. I f yo u ' r e we l l prepared the line should be playable with 15...f6 or 17...Bh7 ] 1-0

1454 Vachier Lagrave,M Shabalov,A FIDE World Cup 2013 (1.1) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2719 2546 11.08.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 g6 7.a4!? The first unusual move of the gam e, gaining space on th e queenside and waiting to see what setup Black adopts. [ 7.c3 Has been featured on this site a few times, most recently last year in BologanPanarin ] [ 7.bd2 is another popular option but it d o e s m e a n B l a c k c a n p l a y h6 without having to worry about an immediate Bxh6. 8.b3 ( 8.c4 was rather unconvincing in the archive game Helstroffer-Grooten from 2006. ) A) 8...f5 is a very solid option and it leads to a very typical position for this line after 9.d2 e7 10.g4 h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 f5! 13.exf6 xf6 ( 13...xf6 was worth considering as well, unless White has something quick (which isn't at all obvious) then Black is fine here after playing ...Ne4) 14.g5 f7 15.a5! b6 ( 15...0-0-0?! 16.xc6! bxc6 17.a6+ b8 18.g4 wins back the piece with an excellent position for W hite) 16.d3 and White was slightly better because of the poor placement of the bishop on h4 in Khalifman, A (2614) -Sjugirov, S (2654) Legnica 2013; B) 8...e7 9.xh6 gxh6 10.d2 0-0 11.xh6 ( 11.c3 h5 12.c1! with Nd3 would be my preference, with a pleasant edge to White.) 11...xc2 12.ad1 h8 1563

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 g8 15.e1 and W hite had a slight initiative on the kingside and went on to win in Robson, R (2628) -Boor, C (2309) Arlington 2013 but I think Black would've had reasonable counterplay if he'd now played c5! 16.h3 g7; C) 8...f6?! strikes me as a bit risky and White took full advantage after 9.c4! f7 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.exf6 gxf6 12.e1 b4 13.d2 xd2 14.xd2 0-0 15.b5 e5?! ( 15...d6 was necessary but White is o b v i o u s l y m u c h b e t t e r a f t e r 16.xd7 xd7 17.c5 f7 18.xe6 e4 19.xe4 xe4 20.xf8 xf3 21.gxf3 xf8 22.h1 ) 16.xd7 xd7 17.dxe5 fxe5 18.xe5 d6 19.xf7 xf7 20.d4 and White was simply a pawn up and won easily in Naiditsch, A (2710)Kallai, G (2473) Haguenau 2013 ] 7...h6 [ 7...e7! is perhaps the best approach for Black here, ignoring White's space grab on th e qu ee n sid e . 8.a5 f5 9.c4 dxc4 ( 9...e7 is also solid) 10.xc4 b6 11.axb6 ( 11.c3! is more flexible - with the idea of meeting bxa5 with 12.e2! and I prefer W h i t e h e r e) 11...xb6 12.d3 e7 13.c3 0-0 14.g4 h4 15.xh4 xd3 16.xd3 xh4 17.e4 e7 and Black was OK in Karjakin, S (2785)-Sjugirov, S (2635) Moscow 2012 ] 8.a5 a6 9.f4 An improvement for Vachier Lagrave over one of his previous games. This time he develops the bishop before playing Nd2 so it doesn't get blocked in by the knight. [ 9.c4!? worked well for White in Kryvoruchko, Y (2668)-Houska, J (2417) D u b a i 2 0 1 3 xb1 ( 9...f5 is a better option for Black who gets a playable game after 10.c3 e7 11.b3 h5! 12.d1 c7 with a solid enough position, if a slight lack of space.) 10.g5 e7 11.xh6 e4 12.xg7 g8 13.h6 and Black didn't really have enough compensation for the pawn. ] [ 9.bd2 had previously been tried by M a x i m e b u t B l a c k e q u a l i s e d a f t e r e7 10.c4 0-0 11.b3 f5 12.f4 dxc4 13.xc4 and now in Vachier Lagrave, M (2718) -Doettling, F (2587) Haguenau 2013, Black could've kept the game evenly

balanced with h5! ] 9...e7 10.c4 f5 11.h3 Probably not necessary just yet but White wants to give the bishop on f4 an extra retreat square and it's always useful to support a potential future g4 push. 0-0 12.c3 h4 [ 12...dxc4 13.xc4 h6 is another solid way for Black to continue but it's tough to see a plan f or Black here whereas W hite can continue with 14.e2 and perhaps Bh2 and Nf4 ] 13.xh4 xh4 14.e3 dxc4 15.xc4 It's worth pointing out that without a pawn on a5 Black would be at least equal with the simple plan of ... Nb6-d5. c5! The only option for Black to avoid a passively worse position. 16.f4 cxd4 17.xd4 c8 18.fd1 b8 After this White keeps a slight advantage into the endgame [ 18...c5!? seemed to solve Black's problems here but it's not so clear 19.f5! ( 19.xc5 xc5 20.xd8 xc4 21.d7 b8 and Black is holding b7 and his two bishops compensate for White's rook on the 7th rank. ) 19...xf5 20.f4 g5! 21.f3 d7 with a very messy position, possibly W hite's chances are preferable after 22.xb7 xc4 23.xd7 c8 24.ad1 ] 19.e2 xd4 20.xd4 c6 21.b6! White's control of the d-file gives Shabalov real problems here f6 [ 21...g3! was better and after 22.f1 c2! and suddenly White's hold on the d-file is b r o k e n , a l t h o u gh W h it e i s b e t t e r a f t e r 23.d1 f5 24.f3! ] 22.exf6 xf6 23.d7 f7 24.ad1 Shabalov is now forced into a very defensive position and Vachier Lagrave expertly increases the pressure e8 25.xf7 xf7 26.f3 e7?! 27.d6?! [ 27.xc6! bxc6 28.d8 a7 29.xf6 gxf6 30.d6 wins a pawn ] 27...e8 28.g4 f7 29.f3 e8 30.f1 h6 31.e1 f7 32.g4 xc3+ 33.bxc3 e5 34.f5 d7 35.e6 e7 36.d6 d7 37.g6 d3?! [ it was better to continue to defend with 37...f8! although White still retains winning chances after 38.f6! xg6 39.xd7 gxf6 40.c8 ] 38.e2 xc3 39.d2 I assume Black lost on 1564

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 time here which is understandable as he'd 13...b4! 14.c1 xc3 15.xc3 been under a lot of pressure. It's also ( 15.bxc3?! a3 ) 15...xc3+ 16.bxc3 possible that he missed 39...Nd4 here which is xe5 and Black has regained the pawn the only move to stay in the game. with a good game. ] [ 39.d2 d4! keeps Black's hopes of 12...e7 13.ce4 salvaging a draw alive and after ( 39...a3? [ 13.a4!? might be a better option if it turns loses the rook to 40.c4+ f8 41.c5+ ) out Black can grab a pawn in the mainline. 40.xc3 xe2+ 41.d2 f4 42.g3 c6 Play might continue xc3 14.xc3 c7 Black is well enough coordinated that it's 15.b3 xh4 16.a5 with some initiative for difficult to see how White can win here. ] the pawn. ( 16.b4!? )] 1-0 13...c7 14.g5 xg5 [ 14...b6!? is a computer suggestion aimed at grabbing a pawn and although it looks 1455 B12 very dangerous to me maybe it's a good o p t i o n , f o r e x a m p l e 15.a4 ( 15.c1 Vachier Lagrave,M 2722 holds onto the pawn but Black should be a Vitiugov,N 2712 little better after b4; or 15.f3 xb2 Alekhine Mem (8) 30.04.2013 16.a4 b4 and Black's simply a pawn up) [Tom Rendle] 15...xb2 16.5e4 a3! 17.c2 7b6 and W hite doesn't have enough for the 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 pawn. ] e6 6.c3 e7 7.ge2 d7 8.g3 g6 9.cxd5 xd5 10.e2 a5! A novelty - up 15.xg5 f6! 16.exf6 gxf6 17.d2 f4 until now this had all been seen in Vachier Vitiugov must've been happy with how the Lagrave-Laznicka from last year. White (and opening has turned out. Black has at least Va c h ie r-L a gra ve in p a rticu la r) h a s b e e n e q u a l i s e d h e r e a n d h a s g o o d a t t a c k i n g b6 scoring well in this 4.h4 line recently so could ch a nce s o n th e kin gsid e . 18.e1 this be the move to revive Black's fortunes? 19.b3 e5 20.xf4 exf4 21.e4 xd4 Black wins a pawn but Maxime should still be 11.d2 [ 11.0-0 xc3 12.bxc3 xc3 13.e3 o k h e r e a s t h e B i s h o p o n f 3 k e e p s h i s a t f i r s t s e e m s l i k e a d a n g e r o u s p a w n kingside very solid. 22.f3 xe4 23.xe4 24.f3?! An inaccurate move that sacrifice but Black can force the queens off b8 with c2! 14.e1 ( 14.c1 a3 ) definitely hands the advantage to Black. [ 24.ad1! keeps level chances after xd1 14...xe1 15.axe1 and White clearly ( 24...hd8? 25.xd4 xd4 26.f3 doesn't have enough for the pawn. ] and Black drops the h-pawn.) 25.xd1 11...0-0-0 12.0-0 and now the knight can get to e5 because [ 12.xh5?! is too greedy here and Black d7?! is met by 26.f7 ] has at least a couple of good options here: A) 12...xe5!? 13.dxe5 xc3 14.bxc3 24...c4! Now the knight can always come to xh5 15.xh5 g6 16.e2 h6 the strong outpost on e5. 25.c3 hd8 [ 25...d6 was perhaps more accurate ] is very dangerous indeed. W hite has to find 17.f4 xf4 18.xf4 xc3+ ( or 26.ad1 xd1?! [ 26...d2! 27.xh5 d7 keeps a firm grip 18...xd1+ 19.xd1 xa2 ) 19.f2 xd1 on the game and Black has the strong threat 20.axd1 with rough equality although of ...f3 for example 28.b4 f3 29.xd2 perhaps Black has to be the more careful ( 29.g3 d3; 29.xf3?? drops a rook to here.; xf3+; 29.gxf3?? loses to g8+ 30.g4 B) 12...e7! is probably Black's best xf3+ ) 29...xd2 30.xf3 d4 31.xd4 White's extra pawn is counterbalanced by 2xd4 with good winning chances for Black ] Black's excellent coordination and lead in development, for example 13.g3 ( 13.a3 27.xd1 e5 28.xd8+ xd8 29.xh5 i s b e t t e r w i t h d y n a m i c e q u a l i t y i f a White has regained the pawn and the game slightly easier position for Black to play.) seems to be heading for a draw but Vitiugov 1565

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 manages to squeeze out a win... h8 30.d2 9.c3 bc6 10.b5 c7 11.0-0 g6 c8 31.d1? An odd move, giving away the 12.e1 a6 13.a4 d7N h-pawn unnecessarily. [ P r e v i o u s l y : 13...f5 14.xc6!N [ 31.e2! is still equal ] ( Beforehand White preferred: 14.f3 h6 31...xh4 32.d6 g5 33.e6+ c7 15.f4 e7 16.e2 0-0 17.c3 c5 34.e7+ d7 35.h7 d6 36.b4 e5 18.c1 fd8 19.b3 a7 Bhat, V -Zivanic, 37.d3+ d5! 38.e2 White can't afford to M/Menorca 1996/Juniors, and Black has swap queens a pawn down with his king so far surely a good game.) 14...bxc6 15.xd5! from the centre. e5 39.a4 a6 40.e1 d3 exd5 16.xd5 This is probably what 41.e2 c2 42.f1 f3 43.a1 d2 44.b5 Va ch ie r La gra ve h ad in h is m in d wh e n c5 45.a3 fxg2 46.xg2 d3 47.xb7 entering this line. c8 ( 16...e7 17.xc6+ xf2+ 48.h1 g3 White gets mated or f8 18.xa8 xg5 19.ad1 ) 17.g4 loses the queen. A rare defeat for Vachier( 17.e6 f6 18.f4 d6 19.xd6 xd6 Lagrave in an Advance Caro and new hope 20.c5 0-0 21.ad1 b7 ) 17...e7 for Black players in this dangerous line. ( 17...e7 18.gxf5 0-0 19.f3 xg5 0-1 20.ad1 h8 21.c3 h6 22.fxg6 fxg6 23.e2 W hite has the better chances.) 18.c4 h6 19.f4 h5 20.ad1 b7 21.e6 1456 B12 And White wins. ] Vachier Lagrave,Maxime 2722 14.d2 h6 15.e3 At a first look the position Bauer,Christian 2637 doesn't look dangerous for Black due to the 86th ch-FRA Caen FRA (8) 22.08.2011 closed nature of the position, but actually there are many hidden ideas that makes his [Milos Pavlovic] task of developing his pieces more difficult. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c8 [ A n a t u r a l l o o k i n g m o v e l i k e : 15...b5 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.g5 a5+ doesn't seem to work: 16.cxb5! axb5 [ A n o t h e r p o s s i b l e r e a c t i o n i s : 8...d7 17.xb5 h7 ( 17...e4 18.a4 g5 19.f3 9.xe7 xe7 10.xf5 exf5 11.d2 c6 g6 20.ec1! g7 21.c4 0-0 22.cxd5 12.f3 0-0 13.0-0 ad8 ( 13...a6 14.c4 xd5 23.xc6 xc6 24.xd5 exd5 ad8 15.b3 White managed to put his 25.xc6 W hite wins.) 18.a4 g5 19.ec1! bishop on the best diagonal.) 14.e1 with c4 next and no defence to the pin on ( 14.b5! It was necessary to play this at c6. ] once. ) 14...fe8 ( 14...a6 Now it was [ 15...h7 Perhaps another waiting move possible to prevent Bb5) 15.d2 c5 like this was possible: 16.ac1! Anticipating ( Again here. 15...a6 16.d3 g6 17.e2 certain ideas, for example: f5 17.xf5 f8 18.ae1 g7 19.c3 e6 20.c2 c7 xf5 18.b6 e7 19.e2 White has the 21.f4 de8 22.b3 xe5 23.xd5 initiative. ] 6e7 24.d2 xf3+ 25.xf3 Chances are equal. ) 16.b5 c7 17.ad1 b6 16.xc6 bxc6 17.e2! Black is in similar 18.xc6 bxc6 19.c3 g6 20.h4 f8 21.h5 trouble here. b8 18.c3 b4 19.xc6 Playing knight versus bishop here allowed xc6 20.xc6+ d8 21.c3 a5 22.b4 White to play for an advantage. c5 22.e2 c7 23.f4 b6 Somehow Christian Bauer a6 23.b3 c6 24.f4 g7 25.h4 d7 finds a way to escape an early defeat. [ 23...e7 24.a4 f5 25.f2 b6 26.b4 de7 27.bxc5 xc5 28.d4 xd4 26.xb6+ xb6 27.f2 h5 28.ac1 29.cxd4 f6 30.c2 fxe5 31.dxe5 xe5 White is clear pawn up. ] 32.xd5 c7 33.g3 g7 34.hxg6 hxg6 35.a4 1/2-1/2 Nijboer, F -Postny, E / 24.d4 a7! Probably the only way. 25.a4 S a b a d e ll 2 0 0 8 , B la c k h a s m a n a ge d t o e7 26.b3 [ 26.f2 hc8 27.ac1 b5 28.xb5 change queens and to eliminate the pawns axb5 29.f3 xe3+ 30.xe3 a8 31.d4 in t h e c e n t e r a n d t h u s r e a c h a n e q u a l xa2 32.e2 xe2+ 33.xe2 White keeps endgame. ] 1566

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 some advantage here. ] 26...c2! 27.xb6 xb6 28.ac1 xb3 29.axb3 c8 30.f2 b5 31.c4 dxc4 32.bxc4 a3 33.b5 xc4 Draw agreed, but o v e r a ll t h e W h it e i d e a lo o ks ve r y g o o d , despite the fact that Black managed to escape a loss. ½-½

1457 Vachier Lagrave,Maxime Bologan,Viktor Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (6) [Jonathan Rowson]

B12 2573 2658 19.01.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.e3 e6 [ 4...b6 5.c1 e6 6.c4 seemed to be better for W hite in Kasparov's games against Jobava and Shirov in 2002 and 2003 respectively. ] 5.d2 d7 If Black wants to play Qb6 this is probably the time to do it. [ 5...b6 6.b3 ( 6.c1!? c5 7.b3; 6.d3!? ) 6...a5 7.a4 a6 looks slightly troublesome for White. ] 6.c3 b6 7.b4! A noteworthy approach. This move is by no means new, but I think it forces Black to play to play quite creatively in response. f6 [ I am not sure why Bologan decided to d e v i a t e f r o m 7...a5 8.a4 a7 which worked out well for him in NajerBolgan Moscow 2003. ] 8.b3 e7 [ 8...fxe5 9.dxe5 c7 10.f4 h6 is worth considering. The good news for Black is that his next few moves are likely to be easy- Be7, 0-0 and c5. That said, I just n o t i c e d t h a t t h i s i s Z va g in s e v- Da u t o v, Julian Borowski 2002, where White seemed to be better. ] 9.e2 g6 I am surprised by Bologan's timidity. [ 9...fxe5 10.dxe5 c7 11.f4 g5! lo ok s c orrec t t o m e 12.d4 leaves the position very tense, but I don't think Black is worse. ] 10.f3 f7?! 11.c5! Wrestling control of the crucial e5 square. c7 12.xd7 xd7 13.h4 h5 14.0-0 f5 15.f4 White now has

a clear advantage. In addition to the extra space, White has 'the levers of the tension' on e5, in that he can consider exf6: on every move, but Black is unlikely to be able to take on e5 for a long time. e7 Vachier Lagrave has won the opening battle, and plays the rest of the game well. 16.d3 g6 17.b1 f7 18.e1 a5 19.b5 c5 20.dxc5 xc5 21.c4 ad8 22.e2 e7 23.bd1 xd3 24.xd3 c8 25.e3 xe3 26.exf6 gxf6 27.xe3 xc4 28.g5+ fxg5 29.f3+ e8 30.xe6 d7 31.hxg5 d8 32.e5 g8 33.c3 xg5 34.b8+ c8 35.xc4 dxc4 36.f4 xb5 37.xc4 bd5 38.f4 d6 39.e5 xe5 40.xe5 b6 41.xh5 c7 42.g4 1-0

1458 Vachier Lagrave,Maxime Dittmar,Peter 7th Gibtelecom Masters (5) [John Watson]

B12 2696 2382 31.01.2009

The Short Variation has had various refinements, but at the highest levels, both sides seem willing to go into it, so apparently nothing is resolved yet. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 e7 [ The semi-waiting move 6...g6 justifies itself after 7.bd2 h6 8.b3 ( 8.c4 ) 8...f5 9.d2 e7 10.g4!? h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 f5! ( 12...e4 is more natural, but 13.f3 xf3 14.xf3 and f5 leaves Black some problems) 13.b4 ( 13.g5 h6 14.gxh6 e7! 15.a5 0-0-0 16.c4 is unclear.) 13...e7 14.xe7?! ( 14.d2! keeps Black from untangling immediately) 14...xe7 15.g5 h6! 16.h4 hxg5 17.hxg5 f7 ( 17...0-0-0 ) 18.g2 c5 19.c3 h4 20.e1 ah8 21.g3 and the game was roughly balanced in Chuprov-Bareev, Moscow 2009. ] 7.bd2 c5!? [ Kamsky chose the more cautious route in h i s W i j k a a n Z e e A 2 0 0 9 c o n t e s t wi t h D o m i n g u e z P e r e z : 7...h6 8.e1 ( A typical piece setup is 8.b3 c7 9.a4 a5 10.d2 , contemplating action with c4, but reserving the right to play on the kingside ) 8...c8 9.f1 It's hard to see 1567

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White achieving anything on the kingside by this means. Queenside play could be in it ia t e d b y ( 9.c4 . Regardless, this is the sort of position in which there will likely be lengthy manoeuvring.) 9...g6 ( Or 9...c5 ) 10.e3 f5 11.d3 xe3 12.fxe3!? ( 12.xe3 ) 12...xd3 13.xd3 c5 14.f1 e7 15.d2?! (something goes wrong h e r e a b o u t s ) 0-0 16.c3 b6 17.c2 , and here I think Black should have grabbed the initiative by f6! with a nice advantage. ] 8.c4! c6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.dxc5! xc5 [ 10...xc5 11.b3 b6 12.bd4! secures an edge. ( 12.g5 c7 13.xd5 e6 )] 11.b3 xb3 12.xb3 d7 13.d1 e6 14.d4! White has a standard advantage, which indicates that Black should be careful about too early a ...c5 break. [ 14.e3 is another good move, since d4? loses a pawn to 15.b5 ] 14...c5! 15.xc6!? [ 15.e3! is more ambitious. ] 15...bxc6 16.e3 [ 16.f4 0-0 17.ac1 is another way to work on the queenside. ] 16...xe3 17.xe3 0-0 18.ac1 fb8!? [ 18...f6 19.exf6 xf6 both defends c6 and gives Black some manoeuvring room. ] 19.b3 a5 [ Slightly passive. An alternative defence was 19...b6 20.c5 f5 ] 20.c5 a4?! [ It's not necessary to alter the pawn structure. Another move was 20...c8 ] 21.b4 a3 22.d4 c7?! [ But 22...c8 is depressing. ] 23.b5! xe5 24.xc6 Now the b-pawn is unopposed. c8 25.cd1 ab8 26.b5 f6 27.d6! h5 28.h3 g5 29.xa3 There was no preventing this. g4 30.g3 h4 31.f4 xf4 32.xf4 gxh3 33.gxh3 xh3 34.xh4 e6 35.a4 b6 36.a5 bxc6 37.bxc6 xc6 38.a4 c8 39.a3 h6 40.b1 1-0

1459 Vachier Lagrave,Maxime Grischuk,Alexander Sportaccord WMG Blindfold rapid (1) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2710 2752

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h6 Another way of handling 4.h4 5.g4 d7 6.h5 [ 6.d2 Kramnik's idea from the match with Leko. c5 7.dxc5 c6 8.f4 e6 9.b3 xc5 10.xc5 a5+ 11.c3 xc5 12.f3 h5! 13.gxh5 ge7 A) 14.h3! xh5 15.e2 The idea is to put a bishop on e3 when W hite would h a ve g o o d c h a n c e s . d4!? ( 15...f5 16.g4 h6 17.xf5 exf5 18.e3 ) 16.cxd4 b6 17.g4 h8 18.f2 d5 19.g3; B) 14.d3 d4! 15.g5? dxc3 T h is is a l re a d y lo st f o r W h it e . 16.e4 cxb2 17.xb2 e3+ 18.e2 xf4 19.d6+ f8 20.h3 f5 21.xf5 exf5 22.c1 e6 23.f2 xf2+ 24.xf2 xh5 25.xb7 f4 0-1 Pavlovic, M -Iotov, V Richardson 2011, not me, but a talented compatriot who can surely play m u ch b e t t e r t h a n we ju s t s a w in t h i s game! ] 6...c5 [ 6...e6 7.f4 c5 8.c3 b6 9.f3 c6 10.h2 This is considered best play here for White. c8 11.e3 cxd4 12.cxd4 a5 13.c2 e7 14.bd2 f5 15.exf6 gxf6 16.ac1 xc2 17.xc2 ac6 18.f2 f5 19.h3 g7 20.gxf5 xf5 21.xf5 exf5 22.b3 b4 23.b1 b5 24.c5 b6 25.a4 c6 26.g1 f6 27.xd7 xd7 28.g6 e7 29.d2 c6 30.e5 c8 31.g1 xd4 32.xf6 xf6 33.g6+ e7 34.b4+ 1-0 (34) Navara, D (2708)Shimanov, A (2516) Vilnius LTU 2010 ] 7.dxc5 c6 It is possible that an alternative is stronger here: [ 7...c7 8.f4 e6 9.d2 xc5 10.b3 b6 11.d3 c6 12.f3 f6 Already Black has seized the initiative in the opening. ( Also strong was: 12...a5 13.c3 f6 14.e2 xg4 15.g3 a4 16.bd4 xd4 17.cxd4 b4 18.a3 xd3+ 19.xd3 b6 ) 13.e2 e4 ( 13...a5 14.exf6 xf4 15.fxg7 g8 16.g5 xg7 17.h4 1568

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6 Black is on top.) 14.xe4 dxe4 15.xe4 a5 16.0-0 b4 17.bd4 Kurnosov, I -Iordachescu, V Stockholm 2005 ] 8.xd5 xg4 [ 8...e6 9.e4 xc5 10.f3 b6 11.e2 ge7 12.bd2 I am not sure but to me this looks unclear, W hite is a pawn up but he h a s a p ro b le m wit h h is kin g a n d B la c k enjoys much better development. ] 9.c3 e6 10.g2! f5 11.b5 c7 12.e3 0-0-0 13.xc6 bxc6 14.f3 On the other hand this looks better for White he managed to develop and keep an extra pawn. e7 15.d4 h7 16.0-0-0 d5 17.xd5 xd5 18.f4 xc5 19.d2 g8 20.hd1 White is winning. e7 21.f1 d8 22.f5 [ 22.g1!+- ] 22...g5 23.xg5 hxg5 24.a6+ b7 25.xb7+ xb7 26.xe6! fxe6 27.xd8+xf5 28.1d7+ a6 29.c3 xe5 30.xg7 g4 31.d2 b1 32.h6 h5 33.xg4 xh6 34.b8 a5 35.b3 h2+ 36.c1 1-0

14.dxe5 d4 15.g5 e7 Again we have re a c h e d a c o m p l i c a t e d p o s i t i o n wi t h chances for both sides.) 13...b6 14.f2 c4 Black is fine, Tan, M-L'Ami, E Vlissingen NED 2011 ] 10.e2 b4 [ 10...e7 11.xd5 cxd5 12.xh5 xh5 13.xh5 g6 14.f4 xh4 15.xh4 xh4 16.g3 e7 17.e3 b6 18.d3 b8 19.f1 c6 20.g2 a6 21.d2 Despite the fact that Black is indeed solid here, he lacks any real play while W hite has action on the queenside with b4 and a4, or he can try to use the h-file. ] 11.d2 b6 12.xd5! Real positional play, in which we will see how the better structure plays its role in chess. cxd5 13.xb4 xb4+ 14.d2 xd2+ 15.xd2 c8 16.ac1 xc1 17.xc1 d8 Black is forced to play like this due to the weakness on h5. 18.a4 f6 19.f4 f5 20.a5 b8 21.b4 e8 Black has managed to return his bishop into the fray, but his weaker structure is still there. 22.b5 g6 23.h1! h7 24.f2 c7 25.b1 Avo iding a roo k exchan ge is no rm al an d strong. b6 26.axb6 axb6 27.a1 White's advantage is undisputed as he can 1460 B12 play on both sides, the lack of center and Vachier Lagrave,Maxime 2710 space for Black is obvious here. c8 28.h3 Laznicka,Viktor 2703 e7 29.g5 b7 30.f3 d7 31.c1 g7 Donostia KO GpA (4) 02.01.2012 32.c3 e7 33.c1! Going with the king to b4. g7 34.b2 e7 35.a3 g7 36.b4 [Milos Pavlovic] e7 37.d1! g7 38.g3 e7 39.xe6! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 xe6 40.xg6 d7 41.xh5 f8 42.f6 This is gaining popularity again . h5 5.c4 e6 h7 43.h6 f8 44.f3 c7 45.h5 d8 6.c3 e7 7.ge2 d7 8.g3 g6 W hite has sacrificed a piece but Black still 9.cxd5 xd5 The alternative proved to be has chances to find a way out and reach a draw. 46.f6 e8 47.h6 h7 48.h5+ e7 solid although the position remains complex: 49.g4 fxg4 Better was: [ 9...cxd5 [ 49...d7 50.g6 ( 50.g5 xf6 51.exf6+ A) 10.g5 b6 11.d2 c6 12.d1 f8 52.g6 h8 53.h7 is a nice idea, but c8 13.e2 a5 14.0-0 b4 15.c1 looks drawish.) 50...fxg4 51.xg4 xg4 Also possible is: ( 15.f4 With very sharp 52.xg4 xh6 53.f5 h1 54.g7+ e8 play. ) 15...0-0 16.d1 c6 17.a3 Black has chances to hold. ] It appears that White has the easier play 50.f5 g3 51.f3 xf5 52.xf5 xh6 due to the weakness on h5.; B) 10.e2 Probably best here is the 53.xd5 e6 54.c3 g6 Probably the last following: c6 11.e3 c8 It was also mistake, better was [ 54...h3 55.c4 g2 56.xg2 h4 57.f6 possible to go for simplifications: xd4+ 58.c3 d1 It is not clear if White ( 11...dxe5 12.dxe5 d4 13.d2 dxc3 can make any progress here. ] 14.xc3 c5 And Black has good play.) 12.f1 a6 13.f4 ( 13.xh5 dxe5 55.g2 g4 56.d5 f4 57.f3 g2 58.d6+ 1569

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e6 59.xg4 e2+ 60.d3 While this nice game is not perfect it is surely very instructive. 1-0

1461 Vachier Lagrave,Maxime Mchedlishvili,Mikheil Bundesliga 2009-10 (9) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2718 2613 07.02.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 This line continues to give Black some problems. White's idea is so simple, he just wants to force Black to create concessions in order to play the thematic c6-c5 break. White has scored 6.5/8 in the last 5 TWIC updates from this position and I have given the new games in the notes. e6 5.b3 Black has adopted a few diff erent plans here which shows the best solution to 4.Nd2 has not yet b e e n f o u n d . c5 This time Mchedlishvili tries the immediate break. [ 5...e7 6.f3 c8 we haven't seen this immediately before although it's likely to t r a n s p o s e . 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 0-0 Black is very solid and we can hardly say that 4.Nd2 refutes the Caro Kann, but White just wants to make it slightly unpleasant for him to free up his position. The positions are very complex and involve both sides trying to find perfect squares for their pieces before the position opens up. 9.d2 d7 10.c1 The other plan is to play 10.a4 and a 5 t o i n c r e a s e t h e p r e s s u r e . cb6 So White's knight on b3 means c5 is harder to achieve while Black's knight on b6 is doing the same job to prevent White's c4. 11.a5 c7 12.e1 defending a5 so the bishop can move to a more active square. ae8 13.f4 g4 14.d2 b8 15.h3 h5 16.b4 White decides to start taking space. d8 17.g4 g6 18.g3 f5!? White was slowly pushing Black back so Black lashes out 19.e1 ( 19.exf6 i s c r i t i c a l c7 20.xc7 xc7 21.fxg7 xg7 is very messy. Rybka claims a clear edge for White, due to the extra pawn but Kamsky was evidently afraid of Black's potential central pressure with the break e5. However this is definitely critical to try for an

advantage.) 19...c8 20.c4 still seems a little better f or W hite but the young GM elect held against his high rated opponent. Kamsky-Lenderman, Caleta 2010 (54) ] [ 5...d7 6.f3 A) 6...h6 hasn't been covered before 7.e2 c7 8.0-0 e7 9.d2 aga in W hite ad op ts a simila r plan . g5 A more aggressive plan than one we're used to but probably a little premature. 10.e1 0-0-0 ( Maybe Black should have taken the time to play 10...c5 now that W hite is no longer defending the e5 pawn. ) 11.a4 g7 12.b4 1-0 KislikBodiroga, Prague 2010 (30); B) 6...e7 7.e2 c8 ( 7...h6 8.0-0 h7 9.a4 Finally deviating from c3 played in Zhigalko-Mchedlishvili in the archives, but I probably prefer Zhigalko's plan c7 10.a5 a6 11.c4 dxc4 12.bd2 d5 13.xc4 e7= 1-0 Sengupta-Turov, New Delhi 2010 (56) was roughly balanced, the knight on d5 should mean Black has no problems even though he later went on to lose.; 7...g4 This makes sense to make way for the knight to come to f 5. 8.0-0 f5 9.e1 xe2 10.xe2 h5 11.c3 e7 12.g3 c7 13.f3 c5 14.g5 xg5 15.xg5 c4 16.d2 b5= 1-0 L op e z Mart in ez-Za rem b a , Ca le t a 2010(32) Black has the start of a good queenside offensive, the only downside being unable to castle kingside but that's fairly normal in these French-Caro p o s it io n s .) 8.0-0 ( 8.a4 is OlszewskiMacieja in the archives and given as a sharper option) 8...cb6 9.c3 e7 10.a5 c7 11.b4 completely ruling out t h e c5 p a wn b re a k f6 12.f4 fxe5 13.xe5 d6 14.g4! 0-0-0 15.e1 ( 15.xf5 exf5 16.e1 f6 17.d3 g6 18.a4 is another option when White's attack looks like it might become quite strong. ) 15...hf8 16.xd7 xd7 17.xd6 xd6 18.e3 f6 19.e2 h5 20.b3 g5 21.c5 1-0 Socko-Wojtaszek, W arsaw 2010 (61) Reached a wild position with both sides attacking but as White hasn't moved any pawns in front of his king yet, You feel his attack should be faster. ] 1570

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5...a5 was another new try but seems dubious as now even if Black succeeds in playing c5 he'll relinquish control over b5. 6.a4 a6 7.c3 e7 8.f3 g4 9.h3 h5 10.e2 xf3 11.xf3 c5 12.xc5 ( 12.0-0!? ) 12...xc5 13.dxc5 c6 14.e3 xe5 15.e2 e7 16.0-0 ( 16.b5+ d7 17.c4 0-0 18.cxd5 xc5 19.dxe6 xe6 20.0-0 would give W hite a tiny edge.) 16...0-0 17.b4 These positions are hard to ju d ge . O n t h e o n e h a n d b la c k h a s t h e central pawns and a solid pawn chain but White's bishop pair shouldn't be underestimated and the queenside pawns can turn out extremely strong. 1-0 Antal-Gao Lu, South Padre Island 2009 (44) ] 6.dxc5 xc5 7.xc5 a5+ 8.c3 xc5 9.a4+ John offers this in the archives as an interesting possibility and it works very well here. [ Another very recent game ran 9.f3 d7 10.d4 e7 11.f4 g6 12.h4 h5 13.e2 c6 put annoying pressure on e5 and after 14.a4 0-0 15.xc6 bxc6 16.h3 a5 17.d1 b6 18.b3 a4 19.b4 c5 0-1 Motylev-Bareev, Moscow 2010 (43) Black's queenside pressure proved more valuable than White's kingside intentions in an extremely complex game. ] 9...d7 10.b5 c7 [ 10...c8 is an interesting nuance so that the rook is defended on a8 11.f3 a6 12.e2 e7 and Black has almost equalised although I would still prefer to have the White position with more space but it's only subjective. ] 11.f3 e7 12.0-0 a6 [ 12...c6 targeting e5 and preparing to castle is also possible when W hite can either try 13.d4 ( or 13.b3 0-0 14.a3 fc8 15.d6 b6 16.d4 c5 17.xc5 xc5 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xf5 exf5 20.ac1 ) 13...0-0 ( 13...xd4 14.cxd4 gives W hit e a com f o rt able ad van ta ge .) 14.xf5 ( 14.xc6 b6 15.a5 bxc6 ) 14...exf5 15.e1 looks easier for White to play, he will probably regain the f5 pawn in exchange for the e5 one and then should have the better of it. ] 13.g5 g6 14.d4 gxe5 15.xf5 exf5 16.fe1 These have all been logical moves

but also top suggestions of Rybka so I wonder if we're still in the Frenchman's preparation at this point. W hite's pressure is going to win b a c k a t l e a s t t h e j e t t i s o n e d p a w n . f6? This move loses to a very pretty tactic. [ Instead 16...0-0 had to be played when Black's position is still playable 17.xd7 xd7 ( 17...xd7 18.e7 b5 19.d4 ae8 20.xd5 xe7 21.xe7 e8 22.d6 f6 23.xc7 xd5 and Black almost has his draw but he'll still have to suffer a little) 18.xd7 xd7 19.e7 ad8 20.d1 White will regain the pawn and be able to play the endgame with two results possible. The bishop tends to be better than the knight in t hese open positions wit h pawns on both sides of the board while White's queenside majority can be turned int o a p asse d p awn while Black's h ave been compromised so there's no hope for him ever to win. ] 17.xe5+!! xe5 But now White has a clear two bishops for the rook, while Black's king is still vulnerable and he has a horrible pawn structure. Mchedlishvili doesn't survive long. [ 17...fxe5 18.a3! must be what the G e o r g ia n h a d m i ss e d wh e n t h e q u e e n enters the position to decisive effect. Look a t t h e p o w e r o f t h e t w o b i s h o p s . f7 19.e7+ g6 20.xd7+- ] 18.xd7+ e7 19.f4 e4 20.f3 xa4 21.xa4 hd8 22.e1+ f7 23.c7 dc8 24.b6 Black throws in the towel as his rooks are totally tied up and he doesn't want to suffer as his loose pawns drop off. A very p re t t y t a c t ic b y V a ch ie r L a gr a ve a n d a n important theoretical discussion. Black tried to solve his problems with the early 5...c5 but never reached equality and W hite's ide a seems to reliably play for two results. I think Black's best chances are to stay in the blocked position with a move such as 5...Nd7 but I'm sure we'll see many more games in this topical line. 1-0

1571

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1462 Vallejo Pons,Francisco Anand,Viswanathan XXI Magistral Rapid Semi-Final rapid (3) [John Watson]

B12 1463 2684 Vallejo Pons,Francisco 2803 Karpov,Anatoly City of Culture GM (7) [John Watson]

It's unusual to see Anand go down to defeat so easily. His opening is suspect and then he never scares up counterplay. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 h6 7.bd2 d7 8.b3 c8!? A strange way to get the king's bishop out. [ In an earlier update, I showed the game Ni Hua-Iordachescu, Moscow 2007, which went 8...c8 9.d2! with the idea Bb4 and excha nging dark-squa re bishops. e4!? ( 9...g6 10.e1 almost forces the weakening h5 ) 10.b4 g6 11.xf8 gxf8 12.fd2 h7 13.f4!? with a pawn chain attack that should net W hite some advantage. ] 9.a4 e7 [ A plausible alternative is 9...cb6 10.a5 c4 , when 11.d3 threatens Bxf5 and Re1, but xd3? 12.cxd3 wins a piece. ] [ 9...c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.fd4 intending xb3!? 12.b5+ e7 13.cxb3 ] 10.a5 0-0 11.e3 a6!? [ Or 11...f6 , before f4 is possible. then 12.d3 fxe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.dxe5 still favours White. ] 12.e1 f6 13.f4 fxe5 14.fxe5 g5 15.d2 xe3+ 16.xe3 e7 17.d3 b6? [ 17...g6 18.dc5! ] [ 17...e8 18.g4 e4 19.xf8+ xf8 20.f1 e8 21.bc5 ] 18.g4! xd3 The alternatives are not attractive: [ 18...h7 19.f4 ] [ 18...g6 19.f4 f7 20.d3 ] 19.xd3 xf1+ 20.xf1 c5 [ 20...bxa5 21.g5 ] 21.dxc5 bxa5 22.g5 c6 23.gxh6 h4 24.hxg7 dxe5 25.xa5 d4 26.xd4 xd4 27.f8+ After the exchange of rooks comes Bxa6. 1-0

B12

14.07.2009

A fascinating opening: every time that we think we've seen all the logical 4th and 5th moves by White, a new sequence attracts our attention: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.g4 What's this? I can only find two games with this by players rated above 2200! But it makes perfect sense, and the trade-off from the 4 Nc3 e6 5 g4 line is hard to assess. In the first place, White preserves the options of c3 and c4. [ We've seen many games with 5.b3 d7 ( less often, 5...e7 and; 5...e7 ) 6.f3 ] 5...g6 6.e2 [ After 6.h4 , I think that 6...h6 is more interesting than h5 7.g5 , but a couple of games have gone that way. Black should be fine because of the straightforward plan c5 8.c3 ( 8.b3!? ) 8...c6 ] 6...c5 [ Another recent game saw Black get a nice positional edge after 6...b6 7.c3 c5 8.b3 c6 9.dxc5 xc5 10.xc5 xc5 11.e3 a5 12.d4 ge7 13.g2 xd4 14.xd4 h5 15.h3 hxg4 16.hxg4 xh1+ 17.xh1 c6 18.xc6 bxc6 19.d2 0-0-0 20.b4 a6 21.f3 h8 , but White found a cle ve r wa y t o e n t a n g le : 22.d4 h3 23.g2 h2 24.c5! (threatening perpetual and getting the queens off) b6 25.f8+ d8 26.xd8+ xd8 27.f1 d3+ 28.g1 h4 29.f3 f6 30.e1 d7 31.f2 fxe5 32.xe5 and White went on to draw, Dmitriev, I (2455)-Sapis, W (2435), Polanica Zdroj 1994. ] 7.h4 h5 8.f4 h7 9.xh5 It's funny how often this pawn grab idea is too greedy. Even Rybka thinks that Black has enough compensation, and a bit extra. cxd4 [ 9...c6 10.b5?! ( 10.dxc5 ) 10...ge7 11.c3 of C Walton-Widrascu, Durham 2002, should have been met by cxd4 12.cxd4 b6! ith a substantial advantage. ] 10.b3 c6 11.xd4 ge7 12.c3 xe5 13.g5 5c6 [ 13...c7 looks solid. White has active 1572

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 moves, and apparently enough for a pawn, but I don't see anything too scary: A) 14.f4 7c6 15.b5 0-0-0; B) maybe 14.a4+! is best, because it disc oura ges ...0 -0-0 : 7c6 15.0-0-0 d7!? 16.e1! ( 16.b5 b8 17.d4!? c7 , etc; 16.h3 c5 17.b5 b8 18.f4 is unclear, probably at least equal after xf4+ 19.xf4 d8 ) 16...a6 a n d h e r e ' s a n i c e m e s s : ( 16...c8 17.f5!? ) 17.f5 xf5 18.gxf5 xh5 19.fxe6 fxe6 20.g4 xg5 21.xe6+ e7 22.g8+ f8 23.hxg5 0-0-0; C) 14.b5+ 7c6 15.e2 a6 16.xc6+ xc6 ] 14.b5 [ 14.a4 is a logical option, when a5 15.b5 xa4 16.xa4 e5!? ( 16...a6 may be better, with the idea 17.xe7 xe7 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xc6+ d6 with compensation in the form of bishops and centre.) 17.xe7 exd4 18.xc6+ bxc6 19.xf8 xf8 20.cxd4 is hard to evaluate. ] 14...c8 15.e2! d6 16.h3!? [ 16.0-0-0! isn't so easy to meet. White intends simply Rhe1, and a6 ( 16...g6 17.f4 ) 17.xe7 ( or 17.f4!? d7 18.xc6 xc6 19.f5 ) 17...xe7 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xa6 isn't clear, but a pawn is a pawn. ] 16...a6 [ 16...e5 17.xe7 xe7 18.e3 f6 19.0-0-0! ] 17.xc6+!? [ 17.xe7 xe7 18.xc6+ bxc6 19.xa6 d7 20.0-0-0 g6 21.f4 e4 is unclear. ] 17...xc6 18.d1! xd4 19.xd4 b1!? A bit strange. Black might have tried [ 19...e4 20.e3 h2 with dynamic equality but the best move was probably ] [ 19...c6 ] 20.d1! xh5 [ 20...xa2? 21.a4+ and 22 Qxa2. ] [ 20...g6 21.f4 e4 22.e3! ] 21.gxh5 f5 22.e3 h2?! [ 22...d7! gives Black some compensation for the exchange because of his bishop pair and White's weak pawns. Still, White is for choice. ] 23.f3! e4 24.exe4 T h e p o i n t . dxe4

25.xe4 c7 26.d1 c5 27.d2 c6 28.d3 Threatening Qd8+. e7 29.c1 b5 30.a3 a5 31.b1 [ 31.xe7! xe7 32.d4 f8 33.h6! gxh6 34.f6 b4 35.axb4 axb4 36.d8+ xd8 37.xd8+ g7 38.d4+ and the two passed pawns should eventually win. ] 31...b4 32.cxb4 axb4 33.axb4 f5?! 34.xe7 xe7 35.d1 b7 36.b5 c7 37.d2 b8 38.g5+ f8 39.h6 g8 40.hxg7?! Soon it becomes a slog. [ 40.b6! e5 41.d8+ ( 41.f3 and Rg1 or Rd7. )] [ Or 40.d6! b7 41.f3! ] 40...c4 41.d8+?! [ 41.e3! ] 41...xd8 42.xd8+ xg7 43.d7+ f6 44.c6 a4 45.c3+ g6 46.d3 h5 47.b6 c6 48.d4 b5 49.b4 e5 50.c5 f1+ 51.c1 d3+ 52.a2 f4 53.c5 xh4 54.xe5 c2+ 55.a3 xf2 56.e7+ g3 57.b7 a7+ 58.b3 f3 59.c7 1-0

1464 Van der Weide,Karel Bitalzadeh,Ali ch-NED Haaksbergen NED (3) [John Watson]

B12 2462 2437 14.09.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 Still very popular if nothing else, there's less to learn in this line compared with 3...Bf5. 4.dxc5 e6 This is the f a vo u r i t e o f m a n y l o n g - t i m e C a r o - K a n n players. 5.e3 h6 6.c3 d7 7.b5 f5 8.d4 a6 9.xd7+ xd7 10.f3 xd4 11.cxd4 b6 12.c6!? A logical positional move which may be new, leaving the b-file closed and White's d4/e5 structure hard to attack. [ Houska's main line goes 12.cxb6 xb6 13.b3 xb3 14.axb3 'with good compensation for the pawn (two bishops, weak pawns)'. It would be useful to see B l a c k ' s m o ve h e r e I n s u c h a p o s i t i o n , knights may be as strong as bishops. In any case, the position is interesting enough to be played for a win by either side. ] 12...xc6 13.0-0 g5!? Maybe this is asking too much of the position. In the French 1573

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Defence, ...g5 is played when there are more pieces on board and pressure on d4. [ 13...e7 is more natural. ] 14.c3 h5 15.e1 Preparing to advance the f-pawn. g4 16.d3 h4 [ 16...c8 17.f4 h6 18.e1 e7 19.f5 with advantage. ] 17.c1 [ R y b k a l i k e s 17.b3 b8 18.e2 with the idea Rac1 and/or f4. White's knights look definitely better than Black's bishops in that case. ] 17...h6 18.c2 a5 19.h1 [ Other moves are 19.g3 g5 ( 19...h3? 20.f4 ) 20.f4 gxf3 21.xf3 e3+ 22.g2 with an edge. ] [ and 19.f4!? g3 20.hxg3 xg3 21.f3 g4 22.h3 ] 19...h7!? 20.f4 gxf3 21.xf3 d7 22.f4 xf4 23.xf4 xf4 24.xf4 b5 25.e2 b4 26.f2 [ 26.c5! with a clear advantage. ] 26...a4 27.h4 g8 [ 27...b5 28.f4 c4 ] 28.h2 g4 29.f4 b5? 30.xg4 hxg4 31.g3 c4 [ 31...d3 32.d2 f5 33.f4 and apart from the better minor piece, White's h-pawn is a long-term threat. ] 32.c1 f5?! [ But 32...g7 33.b3 axb3 34.axb3 b5 35.h5 is not attractive. ] 33.exf6 f7 34.b3 axb3 35.axb3 b5 36.f2 e5 37.dxe5 e6 38.a2 xe5 39.xb4 d4 40.xg4 d3 41.f5+ e6 42.d5 d6 [ 42...d2 43.f4+ d7 44.d5+ ] 43.g5 d7 44.f3! xd5 45.xd3+ e4 46.xd7 xd7 47.g6 d6 48.g4 f4 49.g5 g4 50.g7 xh4 51.f7 d7 52.g8 d8+ 53.f8 xf8+ 54.xf8 xg5 55.e7 1-0

1465 Van der Weide,Karel Meduna,Eduard Open Prague CZE (7) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2490 2435 19.01.2005

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 b4!? Meduna is a real expert in finding nooks and crannies in the CaroKann, an opening which he has specialized in since the beginning of time. 6...Bb4 is prepares the straightforward development plan ...Ne7 and ...c6-c5., 7.e3 Let us review the other moves: [ 7.f4 e7 8.h4 h6 9.h5 e4 10.f3 h7 11.d3 d7 12.d2 c7 13.xh7 xh7 14.ce2 xd2+ 15.xd2 c5= ] [ 7.h4 h6 ( 7...e4!? 8.h3 h5 9.g3 hxg4 10.xg4 e7 ) 8.g2 d7 9.h5 h7 10.e3 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.f4 c5 As Van Der Wiede had a previous unhappy exp erien ce in th is lin e ( which Med un a undoubtedly knew about ) we must expect an improvement soon. ] 7...e7 8.h4 h5 9.f4 c5 10.xg6 xg6 11.gxh5 xh4 12.g4 cxd4 13.xh4 xc3+ 14.bxc3 dxe3 15.xg7!?N Here it is and what a sharp move too! But with d7 open for the Black King to run away I'm not sure I believe it. White stakes all on the h pawn. [ 15.0-0-0 g5 16.h3 exf2 17.c4 d4 18.xd4 a5 19.xg5 c6 20.d2 xa2 21.xf2 d8 22.d3 a1+ 23.d2 xe5 24.xe5 xe5 25.c3 e7 26.e2 d7 27.h6 dg8 28.e1 c5 29.a1 f5 Van der Weide, K-Fridman, D/Ghent 2003 was the forerunner. ] 15...exf2+ [ 15...xh4! seems to lead only to a draw, b u t m a y we ll b e b e st : 16.xh8+ d7 17.0-0-0 ( 17.f6 xh5 18.fxe3 c6 ) 17...xf2 18.b5+ c7 19.f8 e2 20.d6+ c8 21.f8+ c7= ] 16.e2 f8 Meduna is afraid of the h pawn and he chooses the safest way to get his queenside pieces out to try to stop that pawn. [ Presumably 16...xh4 17.xh8+ d7 18.b1 ( 18.h6 e4+ 19.xf2 xc2+ 20.e2 xc3 21.d1 ) 18...b6 19.b4 looked far too risky because Black plays 1574

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 without his queenside. It's tough to take these decisions over the board. g5 ] 17.h3 c6 18.h6 d7 19.h7 e7 [ 19...b8 20.h5 e8 21.xf2 h8 22.b1 b6 23.b5 ] 20.b1 b6 21.xf2 g6 22.b5+! The position has clarified to W hite's a d va n t a g e . H is K in g is s a f e a n d h e h a s retained the h pawn. Black's rooks are inactive as yet. Almost game over. c7 23.g1 e7 24.e1 h8 [ T h e a t t e m p t t o g o a ct i ve wit h 24...a3 is thwarted by 25.d2 ] 25.e2 b7 26.f6 xf6 [ 26...a3 27.d2 ac8 28.g8!+- ] 27.exf6 g6 28.d3 e5 29.g7 d7 30.hg3 xf6 31.h8! xh8 32.xf7+ c6 33.xf6 d7 34.e3 A very sharp struggle with an interesting novelty thrown in. The disadvantage from White's point of view must be that 6...Bb4 is only going to crop up once in a blue moon. And after seeing this game, any Black player that ventures 6..Bb4 against you is bound to have an improvement himself! 1-0

1466 Vazquez,Guillermo Shankland,S 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (6.21) [Neil McDonald]

B12 2323 2624 08.08.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.h4 h5 5.g5 White's bishop move interferes with Black's development by stopping 5....e6. On the other hand the b2 pawn becomes a target. The outcome of the game does nothing to challenge the verdict that [ 5.c4 is the best try for White. ] 5...b6 6.d3 White offers a gambit, but it is none too convincing. xd4!? Calling White's bluff. Most players are content with the solid line [ 6...xd3 7.xd3 e6 but as Steinitz once said, a centre pawn is worth a little trouble. ( Incidentally, as Tom Rendle points out in his notes to Mareco-Molina, Black could also consider 7...xb2 as after 8.e6 f6! etc. there doesn't seem any convincing

continuation for White. )] 7.f3 [ After 7.xf5 xe5+ Black regains the piece with two extra pawns. ] 7...g4 The only way to hold onto the bishop on f5. 8.0-0 xd3 9.xd3 e6!? Tom also analyses Nevednichy-Lupulescu which went [ 9...d7 10.c4 ( I would personally prefer to keep the tension with 10.bd2 e6 11.c4 White has more chance of a breakthrough along the c-file after c4xd5 with Black's knight committed to d7, whereas in the main game Shankland has the option of Nc6 to block the open file.) 10...xc4 11.xc4 dxc4 12.e6 fxe6 13.bd2 when White had some compensation for his three (!) pawns in the endgame. ] 10.bd2 e7!? There are several good points about the immediate bishop development. First of all, the bishop often ends up buried on f8 for a long time once B la ck h a s p la ye d Ne 7 . S o it is u s e f u l t o e xch a n g e i t o f f st r a igh t a wa y. S e c o n d ly , leaving the black queen on g4 (rather than p la yi n g 1 0 . . . Q a 4 a s in t h e n o t e s b e l o w) o b l i g e s W h i t e t o wo r r y a b o u t h i s f l i m s y kingside structure once Bxg5 is played. And thirdly, delaying Nd7 means that the black knight can block the c-file in the future with Nc6. Of course these considerations would be worthless if W hite had a way to exploit Black's backward development- both of his knights and rooks are still on their starting squares after ten moves! However, there doesn't seem a way through for White as the c2-c4 thrust doesn't prove very effective. [ White gets more initiative for the pawn upon 10...a4 11.c4 e7 ( Or 11...d7 12.fe1 ) 12.d4 a6 and now A) 13.cxd5? c5 14.c4 White is obliged to exchange queens or else d4 drops f or if ( 14.c3 xd5 ) 14...xc4 15.xc4 xd5 16.fd1 e4 17.a5 b8 18.ac1 xg5 19.hxg5 g6 20.g3 e7 and Black consolidated his extra pawn in Gallant, A (2124) -Burmakin, V (2581)/Sautron FRA 2013.; B) 13.fc1!? d8 14.2b3 gives White continuing pressure for the pawn. ] 11.c4 White achieves nothing after [ 11.h2 a4 or ] 1575

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 11.b3 b6 ] 21.xe6 ) 21.xe6 Wang Yu-Makka, I/ 11...xg5 12.xg5 19th W Jun Girls, Goa IND 2002 Very [ Play would transpose after 12.b3!? b6 impressive play by W hite has led to a big ( but not 12...xd2 13.xb7! when White is advantage. ] back in the game. ) 13.xg5 e7 ] [ 5...e6 6.g4 g6 7.ge2 f6 Might this 12...e7 13.b3 b6 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.ac1 approach be possible too? Te value of 4...a6 bc6 16.f4 White can't exploit the c-file. For is less obvious to me in this position but example after Black gets away with it. 8.f4 f7 9.d3 [ 16.b5 c8 17.c3 0-0 18.fc1 xe5 d7 10.f4 c7 11.b4 g5 12.exf6 gxf4 19.xc8 xc8 he is left two pawns down. ] 13.xf4 b6 14.g5 xd4 15.e2 xb4+ 16...c8 17.d3 f5 18.df3 0-0 16.xb4 xb4+ 17.f2 e5 18.c3 e4 Shankland completes his development leaving 19.g2 f5 20.h4 gxf6! 21.gxf6 xf6 his opponent with no compensation for the 22.b1 c5 23.d2 exf4 24.xf4 0-0-0 pawn. The white kingside is full of holes which 25.h3+ b8 26.d4 xh4+ 27.f3 e4 he will exploit in neat tactical style. 19.h2 28.hg1 h5+ 0-1 Sukhareva, Og3 20.d1 xe5! A decisive combination, Khusnutdinova, L/ch-RUS w 1st League, whereas White can fight on after Serpukhov RUS 2003 Quite a game! ] [ 20...e3 21.f3 ] 6.f3 21.xc8 [ 6.e2 g6 7.f3 h6 ] [ Similar is 21.fxe5 e3+ ] [ 6.d3 xd3 7.xd3 e6 8.f3 e7 21...xc8 22.fxe5 e3+ Leaving White with 9.e2 d7 10.b3 is the way that White is the grim choice of losing his king or queen: supposed to play, aiming for c2-c4 at some [ 22...e3+ 23.h1 ( Or 23.f2 c1 ) point, but now 10...Nf5! seems quite OK for 23...g3# ] Black. ] 0-1 6...e6 7.d3 e7 [ 7...xd3 8.xd3 e7 9.g5 b6 10.0-0-0 d7 also seems quite reasonable 1467 B12 for Black. I guess Bologan wanted to avoid any easy moves for his opponent so that's Vlassov,Nikolai 2450 why he chooses this non-committal move. ] Bologan,Viktor 2630 Edda Rapid, Reykjavic rapid (6) 2003 8.0-0 d7 9.e2 c5! Black is the first to break, seeing c2-c4 coming up. 10.dxc5 [Andrew Martin] [ 10.c3 xd3 11.xd3 f5= ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 a6!? 10...g4 11.fd4 xe5 12.b4 [ After 12.f3 xd3 Black is not unduly Confusing, experimental or ..... just a useful pressured: 13.xd3 ( 13.cxd3 f5 14.g3 move which may or may not come in handy g6 15.a4+ d7 16.xd7+ xd7 and forces White to think for himself. It was 17.fd1 h4 18.ge2 e5 ) 13...f5 14.b3 Speelman who originally played 4...a6!?. That c7 ] s h o u ld s u r p r i se n o - o n e . 5.e3 h5!?N Staking a claim to some Kingside space and 12...xd3 13.cxd3 e5 14.b3 d4 15.d2 The opening has gone very well for preventing g2-g4.The difference between this d5!= line and 4 Nc3 h5?! is that White has already Black who owns two good Bishops and has a committed his bishop to e3, thus a subsequent n ice ly ce n t ra lise d Q u e e n a s we ll a s t wo strong central pawns. W hite's Queenside ...Nf5 will gain valuable time for Black. [ 5...c7 6.d3! xd3 7.cxd3 e6 8.c1 pawn majority could cause problems later but Speelman suggested that this might be the Vlassov first has to turn his mind to defending be s t pro c e du re , d issua d in g . . . c6 -c5 . f5 his light squares. 16.f4 f6 Bold and confident, 9.h3 h6 10.f4 f7 11.b3 b5 12.h4 Bologan allows Vlassov to open the f file. g6 13.a3 e7 14.a4 g7 15.axb5 cxb5 Nevertheless, I believe that [ 16...e4! was superior, after which Black 16.xb5 axb5 17.xb5+ d7 18.c7 d8 gets his desired light-squared pressure. 19.d2 c8 20.c6 0-0 ( 20...e7 1576

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.dxe4 xe4 18.g3 d5 19.b1 h4 ] practical example. 10.c4 ( or 10.f4 a6 17.fxe5 fxe5 18.a5 h4 19.h3! Stopping 11.d3 xd4 12.xd4 f5 13.f2 c8 that h pawn is top priority. To allow ...h3 and with ...Bc5 coming Black is absolutely would be rather risky: fine ) 10...a6 11.xc6+ ( or 11.a4 dxc4 [ 19.c4 h3! 20.d6+ d7 21.f2 hxg2 12.xc6 xd1! 13.xd1 xc6 14.xc6+ 22.xg2 f3 23.f2 c8 24.xc8 xc8 ] bxc6 15.d2 c3! 16.bxc3 c2! 17.e1 19...f5 20.g5 d7 21.c4 c6 22.f2 e7 is very equ a l) 11...xc6 12.a4 Respectful. With more time and the chance to ( 12.cxd5 xd5 13.xc6 xc6= ) 12...d7 take a long, cool look I am sure that Vlassov ( 12...d3!? was an interesting option at this would have played point, and probably White should sacrifice [ 22.d6+! which leads to a White and exchange here but after 13.cxd5 xf1 a d v a n t a g e : d7 23.f2 g6 24.c4 14.dxc6 b5! 15.xb5 axb5 16.xb5 xc5 25.bxc5 xc5 26.c1 ] d1+ 17.f1 xf1+ 18.xf1 bxc6 22...d8 23.f1 Black is at least equal.) 13.cxd5 xe5 [ 23.d6+ xd6 24.cxd6 xd6 is excellent 14.c3 xa4 15.xa4 d6 ( 15...exd5! va lu e f o r a n e xch a n ge . T h e s qu a re d 5 16.b6 d8 looks more comfortable for beckons the Knight and the Bc6 is a giant. ] Black ) 16.dxe6 0-0 17.ad1 ae8 18.f5 23...b5 24.d6+ xf5 19.xd6 xe6 20.xe6 xe6 21.b3 [ He should stick to his guns and play d7 and Black went on to hold an easy 24.c1! ] d ra w i n G ri sch u k, A (2 7 8 6 )- S u m e t s , A 24...xd6 25.cxd6 xd6 26.c1 c6 (2598) Rhodes 2013 ] [ 26...xd3 27.d1 e4 28.xe7 ( 28.b5 10.d2!? axb5 29.b3 c6 30.f7+ d7 31.xh4 [ 10.xc6+ was played in Negi-Rodstein but d5 ) 28...xe7 29.c8+ d8 30.c3 now Black should've recaptured with ...bxc6 c6 ] with a reasonable game. ] 27.f3 g6 28.xh4 Speed chess may 10...a6 get bums on seats but the quality of the game [ 10...g6 is again playable but now I think r e a l l y s u f f e r s . T wo p o i n t s s t a n d o u t : 1 ) White will have some advantage after 11.c4! Vlassov didn't get any advantage against 4... a6 12.a4 f5 13.xf5 xf5 14.b3! a6 and then Bologan's novelty, 5.. .h5!?. The d7 15.fd1 ] i d e a i s v e r y p l a y a b l e . 2 ) 1 6 . . . e 4 w a s a 11.xc6+ bxc6 12.e2 signif icant improvement f or Black on the [ 12.b4!? would be a more positional game. approach, aiming for a bind on the dark 0-1 squares with Nd2-b3 ] 12...c5!? Vachier Lagrave decides to sacrifice a pawn to take control of the centre. 1468 B12 [ 12...a5 keeps the pawn but allows White to g a i n a s l i g h t a d v a n t a g e a f t e r 13.2b3 Volokitin,And 2682 ( 13.g4!? g6 14.f4 may be even stronger, Vachier Lagrave,M 2742 for example d7 15.f5! exf5 16.e6! fxe6 19th European Teams (3.1) 10.11.2013 17.g5 h6 18.xe7 xe7 19.xe6 [Tom Rendle] with a very strong attack ) 13...g6 14.a4 ] [ 12...g6 is perhaps a more accurate way 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 to sacrifice the pawn, keeping the bishop c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.0-0 bc6 and otherwise reaching a similar position to 9.b5 This line has been scoring well for the game after 13.xa6 f5 14.xf5 xf5 White so it's interesting to see how Vachier with ...c5 coming. Still, I prefer White after Lagrave handles the Black side here. c8 15.c3 ] [ for 9...a6 see Shirov-Laznicka in the 13.xf5 xf5 14.xa6 e7 15.b5+! f8 archives. ] [ 15...d7 makes some sense here as if [ 9...g6! has been my suggestion in W hite captures on d7 then Black has previous updates and we finally have a 1577

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e x c e l l e n t c o m p e n s a t i o n f o r t h e p a wn , however af ter 16.a4! Black is struggling a little bit and after h5 17.h3! White is definitely better ] 16.b3?! [ 16.e2! is a possible improvement when an aggressive option for Black would be g5!? threatening to trap the bishop with ...d4 an d no w af te r 17.f3 g4 18.d2 h5 Black has some potential for an attack on the kingside although I'm not sure it's quite enough for the pawn after 19.a4 ] 16...c7! Now Black seems to be completely ok 17.a5 [ 17.a4 makes sense but after xe3 18.fxe3 g6 19.a5 xe5 20.f3 g7 Black shouldn't have too many problems stopping the a-pawn with ...Bd6 and ...Rc7 coming ] 17...xa5 [ 17...c6 actually looks very dangerous here, preparing ...d4 18.d2 d4 19.g5 xg5 20.xg5 h5! and Black has full compensation for the pawn ] 18.xa5 c4 [ 18...f6! 19.exf6 xf6 20.c3 f7 is also completely OK for Black ] 19.c3 f6! 20.g4 This is a slightly odd choice from Volokitin and suddenly it's Black that is pressing here. [ 20.exf6 xf6 21.d2 is still evenly balanced ] 20...xe3 21.fxe3 f7 22.ac1 a8 [ 22...h5!? is very awkward for White to deal with, e.g. 23.g5 f5 24.h4 c5 and White is really tied down here and the knight on a5 is still offside. ] 23.c6 xa2 24.a1 ha8 25.xa2 xa2 26.xe7 xe7 27.exf6+ gxf6 28.f2 White has lost his extra pawn but at least he did manage to exchange off his bad knight. The ending is definitely more pleasant for Vachier Lagrave with the more active king and rook and central pawns but Volokitin holds it with some accurate defence. a1+ 29.g2 e1 30.f3 f7 31.b3! c1 32.bxc4 dxc4 33.g5 fxg5 34.e4+ g6 35.d4 g4 36.xc4 h5 37.d4 g5 38.e4 h4 39.f8 g3 40.hxg3 hxg3 41.e5 g4 42.g8+ f3 43.xe6 g2 44.e5 g1 45.xg1 xg1 The pawn is far enough advanced that Black

cannot hope to win here 46.f7 c1 47.e6 xc3 48.e7 c7 49.f8 xe7 50.xe7 This pawn sacrifice with 12...c5 looks playable for Black and with the additional option of 9...Bg6 also looking OK the sting seems to have been taken out of this line (8. 0-0, 9.Bb5) somewhat. ½-½

1469 Volokitin,Andrei Rodshtein,Maxim 9th Aeroflot Open A (4) [Gawain Jones]

B12 2692 2622 12.02.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 e7 6.0-0 h6 7.bd2 d7 I don't think it particularly matters which move is played first but we have now reached the basic position. 8.b3 g5!? An aggressive setup which hasn't been analysed on ChessPub before. From what I can find, it appears that this was first played in 2002. Black grabs space but he has to be caref ul that it's not too weakening. White has tried many different responses. [ David Vigorito didn't think much of Ro d sh t e in 's 8...c8 in the archives 9.a4 e7 10.a5 a6 11.e1 ( 11.e3 was played in Motylev-Rodhstein in the archives and Vallejo Pons-Anand would also transpose after 0-0 ) 11...c5 12.c3 a7 13.g4 h7 14.f4 c6 15.e3 c4 16.d2 xa5 17.f5 b6 18.g2 0-0-0 19.a4 c6 20.b3 cxb3 21.xb3 gave W hite good comp ensat ion f or th e pawn. Black's struggling for counterplay against White's queenside attack. Bologan, V-Drazic, S Rijeka 2010. ] [ 8...h7 Mamedov-Jobava is looked at by John W atson and wa s Rodh stein's las t attempt in this position in Smirin-Rodshtein. ] [ 8...c8 has also been examined. ] 9.h4 This looks sensible, trying to provoke a concession in Black's camp. [ 9.e1 has been White's most usual response, preparing to fight back with 10.f4 A) 9...g7 is given as dubious by Bartel and seems a bit premature to me as it's not obvious that the bishop belongs on g7. A1) 10.d3 was played in a recent 1578

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 game 0-0 very risky. I'd prefer castling long once I've played .. .g5. 11.f4 f6 12.exf6 xf6 13.fxg5 hxg5 14.e3 h7 and here targeting the e6 pawn with 15.g4 would leave White with a ple a s a nt e d ge . ( 15.dc5 Cubas, J Kropff, R Asuncion 2010. ); A2) 10.f4 b6? ( 10...c7 11.d3 0-0-0 12.a4 is given by Bartel.) 11.a4 f6? ( 11...a5 12.f2 Bartel ) 12.a5 c7 13.h5+ d8 14.g4!? g6 15.xg6 xg6 16.d3 gxf4 17.exf6 xf6 18.xf4 xf4 19.xf4 e5 20.g3 left W hite with an almost decisive advantage. Bartel, M - Bologan, V Budva 2009.; B) 9...g8 looks too early to me 10.a4 g4 11.d3 g6?! 12.xg4! The pawn is now edible h4 13.xf5 xg2+ 14.h1 exf5 15.h5 and Black was in trouble. Groszpeter, A -Soln, P Ljubljana 2005; C) 9...c5 A typical plan. When White moves his knight away from controlling the centre it makes sense to make this break. C1) 10.dxc5 c6 was played in a previous game by the young Israeli GM. The position reminds me of a Universal System French Tarrasch. Black has the centre and better long term prospects but he has no where completely comfortable for his king and White will try t o c ra ck o p e n B la ck's st ru ct u re . 11.d3 xd3 12.xd3 dxe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.f4 c4 15.h5 f6! 16.fxg5 hxg5 17.xg5 xg5 18.xg5 g8 and Black had taken the upper hand Olszewski, M-Rodshtein, M Puerto Madryn 2009.; C2) 10.c3 g6 ( 10...c6!? ) 11.xc5 xc5 12.dxc5 c6 13.d3 ( 13.e3!? ) 13...xd3 14.xd3 xe5 15.b5+ c6 16.d4 looked scary for Black but after g8 17.f4 d7 18.f2 0-0-0 Black's position looked fine and indeed a draw was agreed just a couple moves later. 19.e3 f5 20.ae1 g6 21.h1 g7 22.e2 h8 23.f2 1/2-1/2 Timoshenko, G-Sulskis, S Tallinn 2007.; C3) 10.xc5 Has been White's most comm on bid f or an advant age . xc5

11.dxc5 c6 12.d3 C3a) 12...e4 has been Black's normal response. C3a1) 13.f3 xc5+ 14.h1 f5!? ( 14...xd3 15.xd3 e7 looks solid for Black.) 15.xf5 exf5 16.d3 b6 17.f4 g4 18.d2 h5 19.b4 h4 20.c3 h3 and Black had ta ke n o ve r th e initia tive . 1 /2 -1 / 2 Ka rja kin , S-Nisip e a n u, L Kh a n t y Mansiysk 2007.; C3a2) 13.e2 xc5 14.xe4 dxe4 15.xe4 d4 This seems fine for Black, as a couple of recent tests have proved. 16.f3 0-0-0 17.e3 xe5 18.f6 d5 19.xc5 xc5 20.d3 xd3 21.cxd3 f5 22.ac1+ b8 23.e7 The newest wrinkle. ( 23.xf5 exf5 24.fd1 d5 and Black was better if anyone. Vachier Lagrave, M-Cheparinov, I Cap d'Agde 2008.) 23...c8 24.d4 f4 ( 24...hd8= ) 25.g3 f3 26.fe1 a6 27.c5 he8 28.d6+ a7 29.ec1 cd8 30.e5 d3 31.c7 xd4 32.xb7+ xb7 33.c7+ a8 34.c6+ a7 1/2-1/2 Kosintseva, N -Huzman, A Moscow 2009.; C3b) 12...xc5?! The American blitzer doesn't mind his pawn structure being d i sm a n t le d b u t I ca n 't e n d o rs e i t . 13.xf5 exf5 14.d3 b6 15.e3 d4 16.d2 d7 ( 16...d5!?; 16...f4 17.h5 e7 18.e6! ) 17.a4 a6 18.b4 d8 19.f3 g4 20.f4 c8 21.ac1 c6 22.f3 and Peter converted his positional advantage. Svidler, P (2739)Nakamura, H (2710) Amsterdam 2009 ] [ 9.a4 g7 10.a5 0-0 11.e3 h7 12.a6 b6 13.c4 f5 14.d2 Airapetian, GKa sp a ro v, S Lip et sk 20 0 9 an d h ere I 'd prefer dxc4 15.xc4 g4 16.e1 xd4! picking up material. ] [ 9.d2 A) 9...g7 A1) 10.a5!? b8 11.c4 b6 12.b3 0-0 13.c1 dxc4 ( 13...c5 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.a5 e8 16.cxd5 xd5 17.c4 g4 Movsesian ) 14.xc4 e4 1579

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.h4 g4 16.e1 d5 17.c3 c5 18.xg4 cxd4 19.g3 xe5 20.h3 was extremely unclear Movsesian, SGrigoriants, S Plovdiv 2008.; A2) 10.c4 f6 11.cxd5 cxd5 ( 11...xd5!? the knight on d5 is worth a compromised pawn structure.) 12.exf6 xf6 13.c3 0-0 14.d3 g7 15.xf5 xf5 16.e2 f6 17.b5 f7?! ( 17...g4! would have kept White's advantage to manageable proportions) 18.xb7 Li, C-Bagheri, A Beijing 2008.; B) 9...a5!? I don't trust this move. Throwing in a4 and a5 doesn't help if Black's going to play c6-c5 as then b5 is a very useful outpost. Meanwhile 0-0-0 is now out of the equation. 10.a4 g7 11.e1 c5 12.b5 c6 13.xc5 xc5 14.dxc5 xe5 15.c3 g7 Satyapragyan, S-Pantsulaia, L Calicut 2007.; C) 9...g6 10.e1 f4 11.f3 ( 11.xf4 gxf4 12.d2 g5 13.f3 g6 14.xf4 xc2= is satisfactory for Black.) 11...g8 12.c1 e7 13.g4?! Too rash h7 14.xf4 gxf4 15.xf4 g5 16.g3 h4 17.h3 h5 18.g2 hxg4 19.xg4 e7 ( 19...xc2! would favour Black. W h i t e c a n n o t wi n a p i e c e a s 20.xh4 g5 21.f3 h8 22.g2 xb3 23.axb3 xh4 looks strong for Black.) 20.xh7 xg4 21.f4 and White had consolidated the extra pawn. Chuprov, D-Slugin, A Tomsk 2009 ] [ 9.h3 g7 ( 9...g6!? looks logical to me) 10.h2 c7 11.f4 gxf4 12.xf4 0-0-0 13.h5 g6 and Black had comfortably completed his development. Sokolov, AFeller, S Metz 2010. ] 9...g6! I like this move. Instead [ 9...g4 10.e1 h5 11.g5 must favour White with the f4 square for his knight. ] 10.h5 White decides it's too dangerous to take the pawn. [ 10.hxg5 hxg5 ( 10...g4!? also looks like decent compensation.) 11.xg5 e7 12.d2 f6! 13.exf6 xf6 and White will have to suffer for his extra pawn. ] 10...e7 [ 10...f4!? ] 11.h2 c5! Now the knight has moved away

from the centre it makes sense to open with . .. c5. 12.c3 c6 13.g4 h7 [ 13...e4 ] 14.f4 This move doesn't work out well for White as Black can always castle long and W hite ends up with a weakened king. However, a ltern ative ly I'm not sure wha t W hite's plan is whilst it's easy for Black to continue his development. gxf4 [ 14...c4!? 15.fxg5! hxg5 ( 15...cxb3 16.g6 g8 17.gxf7+ xf7 18.xf7 xf7 19.xe6+ looks extremely dangerous, White has at least a draw.) 16.f3 g8 17.d2 dxe5!? looks rather interesting but the game continuation is stronger. ] 15.xf4?! After this Black has very good chances. [ 15.f3 was necessary but I still think Black has good chances following c4 16.xf4 e7 17.d2 g7 but White still has rough equality. ] 15...b6 16.h1 cxd4 17.cxd4 a5 18.d2 [ 18.a4 b4 is highly unpleasant for White so instead he gives up the pawn. ] 18...a4 19.c1 xb2 Now Black has a clear extra p awn with absolutely no problems . 20.e2 e7 21.c3 c2 22.e1 g5 23.f2 h4 24.g3 g5 25.f3 e3 Black's subsequent moves give up most of his advantage. [ 25...e4 looks simplest, with a clear a d v a n t a g e t o B l a c k . 26.g1 xf3+ 27.gxf3 e4 etc. ] 26.g2 f5 27.d1 b6 28.g1 xg1 29.xg1 c4 30.e2 0-0-0 31.g4 g5 32.e1 e7 33.f6 g8? This is a big mistake, simply blundering away a pawn. [ 33...b8 and Black is still better with his extra pawn. ] 34.xh7 xh7 35.c2 f5 [ 35...g7 36.a5 d7 37.d2 d8 38.xa4 is the problem. White regains his lost pawn and Black has to be careful about his king safety. However this would have been better than the game. ] 36.xf5 exf5 37.d1 [ 37.g4! would have left Black with problems as fxg4?! 38.xg4+ c7 39.f5 h8 40.b4 leaves White with a decisive advantage. ] 37...b5 38.c2 g7 39.b1?! This gives 1580

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black sufficient counterplay to hold the draw. [ 39.xf5+ c7 40.b4 would have been highly unpleasant. ] 39...e3 40.xb5 e7 41.c5+ b7 42.xa4 xg2 43.b5+ 8...g5!? is an interesting idea which has been holding up quite well for Black but he has to be careful l e s t W h i t e c a n s u c c e s s f u l l y e xp l o i t t h e weaknesses it creates in Black's camp. ½-½

1470 Volokitin,Andrei Ruck,Robert 10th EICC Budva MNE (2) [John Watson]

B12 2671 2558 07.03.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 Another Nxd4 position that has become common in the Advance Variation. e7 If Black plays ...cxd4 before W hite commits to c3, W hite has a tempo to do something more useful, either c4, or develop a piece: 8.d2!? [ I previously analysed 8.c4 bc6 9.a4 ( 9.c3 xd4 10.xd4 dxc4 11.xc4 c6 12.b5 e7= ) 9...a6! in the game LekoChaparinov, when I think Svidler's 10.a3! favours W hite slightly , for example, ( 10.cxd5 b5! ) 10...a5+ ( 10...dxc4?! 11.xc4 b5!? [but it's bad anyway] 12.xb5 axb5 13.xb5 b8 14.a6 ) 11.xa5 xa5 12.0-0 dxc4 13.xc4 xc4 14.xc4 Svidler-Anand, Tilburg 1998. ] [ 8.c3 transposes to this month's game Sjugirov-Cheparinov. ] 8...bc6 9.2f3 g4 Clearing f5 it's a little hard to get reorganized otherwise. [ 9...e4 10.0-0 xf3 is equivalent. ] 10.0-0 xf3 [ 10...f5 11.xf5 xf5 12.d4 ( 12.c4!? ) 12...g6 13.c4! appears strong, since xe5 14.cxd5 xd5 15.a4+ d7 16.f3 e4 fails to 17.b5 ] 11.xf3 f5 12.f4 e7 13.d3 h4 14.xh4 xh4 15.g4 g6 16.c4 dxc4 17.xc4 h5 18.f3 0-0 19.ad1 a5? [ 19...c7 20.e4 g7 keeps White's disadvantage down. The text neglects the 7th rank. ( but not 20...e7? 21.xe6 )]

20.e4 Indirectly attacking h4. Suddenly White is winning. fe8 [ Now 20...g7? allows 21.d7 ] [ , and 20...ad8 21.xe6! is not what Black wants. ] 21.d2! d8 22.c1 [ Or 22.e3! e7 23.f4! g5 24.e4 ] 22...e7 23.f4! g5 24.e3 [ 24.e4 g4 ] 24...b4 [ 24...g4 25.g3 ] 25.d3 g4 26.h6 1-0

1471 Vysochin,Spartak Rozum,Ivan 81st ch-StP St . Petersburg RUS (8) [John Watson]

B12 2526 2451 24.02.09

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c4 c6 5.f3 g4!? I can't see this quite equalising for Black, but it needs further tests, as they say. 6.cxd5 xd5 [ 6...xf3 7.xf3 xd4 8.d1 xd5 9.b5+ d8 10.0-0 'with good compensation' - Wells ] 7.c3 xf3 8.gxf3? It's simply too much for White to allow his centre to be destroyed. [ White has to go into 8.xd5 xd1 9.c7+ A) another game this month went disastrously for Black: 9...d8 10.xa8 h5 11.d5 b4 12.e3 b6 13.c4!? c2+ 14.d2 xa1 15.xa1 , when White is better (one idea is a4-a5) the game ended abruptly: f6? 16.e6 e8? 17.b4 1-0 Mamedov-Helbig, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 2009, since Black's pieces can hardly move. ( 17.a6! h6 18.f4! is even stronger ); B) 9...d7 10.xa8 h5 B1) White has two other plausible moves: 11.dxc5 wi t h t h e i d e a c8 12.b4! b8 13.b5 d4?! 14.d3 xa8 15.e3 and along with White's passed pawn coming to c6, Black's king will fall under attack; B2) 11.d2!? e6! ( 11...cxd4 12.c1; 11...xd4 12.c1 e6 13.e3 ) 12.dxc5 c8 13.b4 b8 14.f3!? xa8 1581

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.0-0-0 with unclear compensation.; B3) 11.d5! Well's move looks clearest. B3a) 11...xe5? 12.f4 f6 ( 12...g6 13.b8! ) 13.c1 b6 14.b4!; B3b) 11...b4 12.e3! b6 13.b5+ ( 13.c4!? , as given by Wells, and ended in a slaughter after) 13...c8 14.a4! intending a5 looks even better, e.g., c2+ 15.d2 xa1 16.xa1 g5 17.a5 , virtually winning. ] 8...xd4 9.e3 xe5 10.b3 0-0-0! [ 10...b8 11.0-0-0 f6 12.f4 isn't so clear. ] 11.xf7 What else? But Black still has a pawn and a great square d4 to exploit. e6?! [ Black has an obvious advantage with simple development: 11...h6! 12.c4 ( 12.h3+ b8 13.c4 f5 ) 12...f5 13.xc5 xc5 14.xc5 e6 ( or 14...h4 15.e2 g6 )] [ 11...b8 is also good. ] 12.h3 d4?! [ Black still has 12...b8 13.xe6 xe6 14.xe6 d4 ] 13.0-0-0 h6 14.xd4! cxd4 15.xe6+ xe6 16.xe6+ b8 17.e4 The play is roughly equal now and the game ends quickly. e7 18.d3 hf8 19.hd1 f5 20.g3 ½-½

no compensation for sacrificed exchange, Wall-B.Lalic, Kilkenny 1998. ] 4...b4 Continuing play in vein of the French Winawer variation. 5.f4 [ White has also tried 5.d3 but practice proved this move is rather harmless. The game Dutreeuw-Illescas Cordoba, Elista 1998 continued: b6 6.e3 f6 7.e5 fd7 8.f4 c5 9.f3 c6 10.a3 cxd4 11.xd4 xd4 12.xd4 c5 The position is very typical for the French. 13.d3 a5 14.b5 0-0 15.h3 f5 16.e3 a6 17.e2 h8 18.f3 g5 19.g3 gxf4 20.gxf4 xb5 21.xb5 g8 22.0-0-0 xe3+ 23.xe3 c5 and Black's chances are by no means bad. ] 5...f6 6.d3 b6 7.ge2 a6 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0-0 e7 [ 9...b5!? immediately is worthy of consideration, but sooner or later the Bishop will h ave to ret re a t f rom t he b 4 squa re anyway. ] 10.g4! b5! An interesting race is brewing on opposite sides of the board. [ It's very dangerous to grab the pawn: 10...dxe4 11.fxe4 xg4 12.f3 f6 13.g1 and White's attack grows rapidly. ] 11.g3 b4 12.ce2 [ The alternatives are insufficient: 12.xa6?? loses on the spot in view of bxc3 13.b7 b6 ] [ 12.a4?! The Knight is misplaced here. 1472 B12 a5 13.xa6 ( 13.b3? b5! is bad for White ) 13...xa6 14.b3 c5 and Black is Wall,Tim 2270 clearly better. ] Hodgson,Julian M 2555 13.b3?! An instructive mistake. (ch) Great Britain 1990 12...c4 White voluntary creates a target for a pawn [Alexander Volzhin] attack. This move contradicts a well-known 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6!? This line is also principle to avoid pawn moves on the flank where the opponent attacks. Now Black's playable for Black. 4.c3 [ After 4.e3 the typical b6 is good again: attack is more dangerous and grows rapidly as 5.d2 xb2 6.d3 a3 This position has his pawns on the K-side are in ideal positions occurred in 2 games and in both W hite for defence. [ I w o u l d p r e f e r 13.b1 a5 14.h4 failed to prove he has enough for the pawn: with mutual chances. ] 7.e2 ( or 7.e2 b6 8.0-0 a6 9.b3 xd3 10.xd3 a6 11.d2 a3 12.g3 13...b5 14.g5 fd7 15.h4 a5 16.h5 a4 d7 13.c1 e7 14.d3 0-0 with a clear Black's attack is already creating concrete a d v a n t a g e f o r B l a c k , M i t k o v- K h e n k i n , threats and White's is barely off the ground. Bolzano 1999.) 7...f6 8.b3 b4+ 9.f2 17.h3 axb3 18.axb3 c5! A very good move. dxe4 10.fxe4 e5! 11.h3 c3 12.f3 xa1 Although Black managed to open the a-file he 13.xa1 fd7 14.dxe5 0-0 and White has has no real threats on it and it's necessary to 1582

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 open central files activating all his pieces. 19.exd5 [ 19.g6 is no better in view of cxd4 20.gxf7+ xf7 21.xd4 e5! and Black wins material. ] 19...cxd4? Black begins an interesting combination which unfortunately could be refuted. [ 19...exd5 l o o k s m u c h b e t t e r : 20.f5 ( 20.g6 f6 21.gxf7+ h8 and Black's King is in safety while Black's threats soon will become decisive.) 20...e8 21.eg3 ( 21.g6? l o s e s a p i e c e a f t e r f8 , for example: 22.gxf7+ xf7 23.e5 cxd4 24.f4 xe5 25.d6+ g8 and White has little to prove for his lost material.) 21...f8 22.f2 a5 23.d2 c4! and Black has decisive attack. ] 20.xd4 e5!? 21.gf5 c5 22.xe5 e8 23.f4? Missing his chance. [ After 23.c7! Black would have been regretting his 19th move: c8 24.f4 a6 25.d2 and Black has no real threats while the active position of White's pieces (and 2 extra pawns!) will decide the game soon. ] 23...xe5 24.xb5 a5 25.h6+? Desperation. White has lost his confidence. [ 25.f1! should be played, and Black still has to prove he has enough for 2 pawns. ] 25...gxh6 26.gxh6 g6! White resigned as 27... Be3 is decisive. 0-1

So White finds a more productive use for the Queen, attacking c3 and g6. f6 13.xg6+ [ 13.xc3 must be seriously considered , although it is very tempting to take on g6. Here W hite switches to a quieter mode, hoping to get developed in peace and utilise the power of the two Bishops as the game wears on. bd7 ( In view of what happens, perhaps 13...xg4!? should be properly examined. A messy position is reached where White has two Bishops: 14.g3 f6 15.xg6+ f7 16.xf7+ xf7 17.e3 bd7 ) 14.e3 0-0-0 15.0-0-0 e4 16.a5! To me it seems like this is the best way for White - he has to be a little better despite the strong centralized black knight and the half-open h-file. However, this is not an advanta ge which will be e asy to pin down because Black has so much counterplay and the pawn on g4 gives the White position a rather 'fractured' look. a6 17.he1 df8 18.f3 ec5 19.f2 e6 20.xa6 ( 20.g3! was better, with White f o r cho ice .) 20...xf3! 21.xb7+ xb7 22.a7+ c8 23.a8+ b8 24.g3 xg3 25.hxg3 g5+ 26.b1 xg4 27.a7 c7 Choisy, M-Gutsko, A/Balatonlelle 2003 ] 13...f8 14.bxc3 bd7 15.e3N Although a novelty, 15 Be3 is an obvious move, just anchoring the Bishop. [ 15.f5 has also been played, although not with any obvious effect: g8 16.b1 e8 17.e3 e5 18.b4 f8 19.g5 f7 1473 B12 20.g6 e4! 21.xe4 xe4 22.xe4 dxe4 Kurnosov, I-Yevseev, D/Alushta 2002 Wegerle,Joerg 2382 White clung on to draw but he is worse in Yevseev,Denis 2580 the current situation. ] 20th Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (5) 2.3.04 15...e4 16.b1 The pawn on b7 is easily [Andrew Martin] covered more than that as Black takes an 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 impressive central square for his Knight. e5 g6 6.ge2 f6 It is clear that 6. ..f6 is a very 17.f5+ g8 18.d4 c4 This is the way good try against White's sharp opening choice. to play with two Knights against two Bishops. Black is happy to confront W hite head on, Take the centre if you can and establish the attacking the centre immediately. 7.f4 fxe5 Knight on the same coloured squares. White can eliminate one strong Knight, but not both. 8.xe6 e7 9.xf8 exd4+ 10.e2 [ After 10.e2 simply xf8 leaves the 19.g5 ed2 20.b4? [ 20.c5!! had to be played, but it is a Knight on c3 embarrassed and the pawn on resou rce which is e asy t o miss. xc5?? c2 dropping: 11.xe7+ xe7 12.e2 e4! ( 20...e4! is best: 21.xe4 xe4 22.d4 13.g1 c5 14.b4 b6 ] b6 Black has a structural edge, but at least 10...dxc3 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d3 1583

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White doesn't lose immediately!) 21.e6+ h7 22.xb7+- ] 20...e8 21.e3 xe3 22.fxe3 xe3 Of course, now White's position is a disaster. 23.f2 xc3 24.d4 a8 25.f1 6...f6 is a good practical try. White must know everything and he should certainly choose 13 Qxc3 over 13 Qxg6. 0-1

W LS 2008, and W hite stood better because, instead of the game's 9... Bb6 10 Bxc4 with some advantage, the seemingly natural e7 , to cover d6, leaves Black cramped after, e.g., 10.xc4 d7 11.e3 0-0-0 12.e2 h6 13.d6+! xd6 14.exd6 f5 15.hd1; B) 6...cxd4 7.xd4 , but here instead of 7...Bb4 from her book, she played c5 ( 7...b6 8.xc6 bxc6 9.d3 is nice for White ) 8.xc6 bxc6 9.cxd5 ( In her book, 1474 B12 H o u s k a p r e f e r s t h e i m m e d i a t e 9.g4 and pref ers W hit e's gam e) 9...cxd5 Wells,Peter K 2526 10.g4 e7?! (but 10...Kf8 is depressing) Marusenko,Petr 2327 11.xg7 g8 12.xh7 and Black has 5th Sth Wales Int (6) 08.07.2008 some compensation, but two pawns is a [John Watson] lot. This resembles the ... Qc7 gambit in the main line French W inawer variation. Black is still struggling versus White's simple Thegamewent b8 line here, which for some reason wasn't taken B1) 13.h4 b6 14.c2 c6 15.a4 seriously for the last hundred years or so. ( or 15.a3 with ideas of Na4, Rh3 and of W h it e s c o r e s 5 - 1 i n t h i s m o n t h ' s b a t c h , course h4-h5-h6) 15...b4+ 16.d2 including higher-rated games. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 , and White can return one pawn in the d5 3.e5 c5 4.c4 This is the new weapon. interest of simplification.; Check out previous updates for some B2) 13.c2 c6 background. Peter W ells has written about B2a) 14.b5!? xb5 15.xb5 a5+ this line in his book Chess Explained: The 16.c3 xg2 17.d2! xe5 18.0-0-0 C a r o - K a n n . e6 Black hasn't found a probably favours W hite, but it's straightforward way to equality. Here are two messy; recent games: B2b) A relatively forcing line is 14.e2 [ 4...cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.xd4 dxc4 xg2 ( 14...d4 15.h7 xg2 ( 6...e6 ) 7.xc6 xd1+ 8.xd1 bxc6 16.f1 ) 15.e4! ( 15.a4?! d4! 9.xc4 e6 ( 9...f5 10.c3 e6 11.e3!? 16.xc6+ d7 17.c2 h4 ) e7 12.e2 d5 13.xd5 exd5 14.b3 15...dxe4 16.xc5 d5! 17.c3 d7 15.ac1 with a comfortable advantage, wi t h t h e i d e a d4! 18.c7 b7 Haslinger, S (2511)-Lalic, S (2344), ( 18...a8 19.e3 ) 19.xb7 xb7 Liverpool 2008) 10.e2 e7 11.c3 d5 20.d1 and Be3 this is somewhat 12.e4 e7 13.e3 f6 14.exf6 ( 14.d4! better for W hite, but Black might be with a large advantage) 14...gxf6 15.c5 able to hold a position with oppositea5 16.hc1 a6 17.b3 f7 18.xa6 c o l o u r e d b i s h o p s a f t e r , s a y , f3+ xa6 19.xe7 xe7 20.c5 and White 21.xf3 exf3 22.e3 c8; has a clear positional advantage, Lintchevski, B2c) 14.f4?! This gives Black good D (2506)-Grishchenko, S (2405), Minsk counterplay. Others g4! 15.g3?! 2008. ] ( probably better is 15.g3 , although 5.cxd5 White has to deal with xf4! 16.gxf4 [ After 5.f3 c6 6.c3 , Caro-Kann d4 17.c1 h4 ) 15...gb4 specialist Jovanka Houska played with her 16.b5!? ( 16.b1 a5 ) 16...4xb5 own suggestion in Haslinger, S (2511) 17.xb5 xb5 18.0-0 d4 19.d2 Houska, J (2405), Liverpool 2008: a5 with an unclear position. ] A) 6...dxc4 7.dxc5 ( 7.g5!? ) 7...xd1+ 8.xd1 xc5 9.e4 was Haslinger, S 5...exd5 6.c3 c6 7.b5 cxd4 8.xd4 (2511) -Marusenko, P (2327), Trefforst e6 9.f3 ge7 10.d1 A prophylactic 1584

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 move directed against ...a6 and in some cases ... Nf5. Now White can develop without having to surrender his king's bishop. f5 11.0-0 c5!? Aggressive, but perhaps ...Be7 was better, in view of White's next. 12.g5! d7?! [ 12...e7 13.xe7 fxe7 14.d2 0-0 15.ad1 looks a little better for White, but certainly playable. ] 13.c1 h6 14.a4! b6 15.d2 0-0 16.b4 fc8 17.e1?! [ 17.xb6! axb6 18.a3 is more natural, with advantage. ] 17...d8! 18.c5!? a5 [ Black equalises after 18...xc5 19.xc5 b6 20.xe6 fxe6 ] 19.e2? The play is declining a bit. [ 19.xc6 xc6 20.b4 is correct. ] 19...a6!? [ Not bad, but the computer, I think rightly, likes 19...h4! 20.xh4 xh4 and White's pieces are misplaced ...Nd4 is the not-soobvious threat. ] 20.xc6 xc6 21.b4 c7 22.ec2 c8 23.h3 [ 23.d3 ] 23...b6 [ Again, 23...h4 is possible. ] 24.d4 This doesn't work out. [ 24.d4 ] 24...c4 25.b2!? Tricky. xb4?! White gets a break, since [ 25...xd4! 26.xd4 ( 26.xc4 xc2 ) 26...xc2 27.xc2 xe5 leaves Black with not only an extra pawn, but better position. ] 26.a3!? b5 [ 26...b3! is strong, with the idea 27.xc7 xc7 28.xc7 xf3 ] 27.d3 g5? I'm sure that both players were struggling with the time control. After holding the advantage for so long, Black blunders. [ 27...a5 ] 28.b4! e7?? [ But 28...xd4 29.xd4 c5 30.xe6 fxe6 31.xa6 xe5 32.xc5 ] 29.xa6 b8 There's no defence. 30.xc8 xc8 31.xb8 b7 32.a4 e8 33.a6 c6 34.c7 b1 35.xb1 1-0

1475 Wiersma,Eelke Grooten,Herman ch-NED semi-finals (1.2) [Nigel Davies]

B12

11.02.2001

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 a6 5.e3 c5 Playing this straight away looks very interesting. [ In previous games Black had prepared this with 5...c7 , f or example 6.ge2 e6 7.g3 ( 7.f4 h6 8.h5 g6 9.e2 h5 10.0-0-0 d7 11.h4 b4 gave Black good counterplay in Nataf - Roos D, French Ch 1997 ) 7...e7 8.xf5 xf5 9.d3 xe3 10.fxe3 c5 11.g4 c6 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 and Black had a good game in Timman Speelman, Reykjavik World Cup 1991 ] 6.dxc5 e6 7.f3 d7 8.b4 Hanging on to his ill-gotten gains, but now Black develops powerful counterplay against the weakened queenside. g4 9.d4 xf3 10.gxf3 e7 11.f4 b6!? 12.cxb6 f5 13.d2 xb4 [ 13...xb6 may be stronge r, leaving White to worry about his b-pawn and other weaknesses. Capturing on b4 looks very strong, but White now manages to keep his b-p a wn a live wh ilst st a rt in g u p t ro u b le elsewhere. ] 14.b1 c5 15.xc5 xc5 16.d3 h4 17.e2 b8 18.b7 0-0 19.b4 f6 20.e3 a5 21.d4 xd3?! [ 21...xb7 lo o k s b e t t e r a s a f t e r 22.f5 Black still has time for xd3 ] 22.xd3 fxe5 23.xe5 d7? Overlooking the reply? [ 23...h8 still looks promising for Black as 24.xe6 is answered by e8 ] 24.f5 xf5 25.b1 d6 26.xd6 xd6 27.b6 Suddenly White goes material up in the endgame and Black only draws by the skin of his teeth. Nimzovitch was right - passed pawns are criminals and they should be kept under lock and key. xb7 28.a4 fc8 29.xe6 xc2+ 30.d2 c4 31.b6 c5 32.xc4 xe6 33.xa5 b4 34.c6 e4+ 35.f3 g5+ 36.g2 g4+ 37.f1 e4 38.xd5 h4 39.d4 f4 40.a4 f8 41.d8+ f7 42.e5+ e7 43.d7+ e6 44.d3 xd7 45.xf4 c5 46.a5 c6 47.h5 e6 48.e2 b5 49.e3 xa5 1585

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 50.e4 53.e5 56.g8 59.xh5 62.xe6 ½-½

g6 51.f6 c5+ 52.d4 e6+ g5 54.f4 e6+ 55.g4 h6 h5+ 57.h4 b5 58.e7 g5+ c4 60.g4 d3 61.f5 e2 xf2 63.f5

1476 Zhao Jun Ding,Liren TCh-CHN 2012 (9) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2583 2660 13.07.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.bd2!? An odd move that has not been covered on ChessPublishing before. I would think this is one of the annoying things for players playing the Black side of a Caro-Kann White has so many reasonable moves at their disposal that your best bet often is just to be familiar with a few different setups as Black. c5! This seems a very logical way of playing, simply attacking the centre and getting pieces out as normal. [ 5...d7 is the most sensible alternative and now A) 6.e2 g6 7.b3 a6 ( 7...e7 8.0-0 f5 9.d2 e7 10.g4! gave White dangerous play in Mamedov, N (2607)-Le Roux, J (2491) Cappelle la Grande 2009 h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 f5 13.d3 e7 and now White could've obtained a slight edge with 14.gxf5 xf5 15.xf5 exf5 16.h5+ g6 17.h6 ) 8.0-0 c8 9.d2 was played in Areshchenko, A (2664)-Iotov, V (2588) Plovdiv 2010 and White had the better chances after h6?! ( 9...c5 seems to be a stronger move instead and now) 10.a5 ( 10.a5!? was also good ); B) 6.c4 doesn't seem to be the most challenging here h6 7.e2 g6 8.0-0 e7 9.b3 dxc4 10.xc4 f5 was comfortable for Black in Fries Nielsen, J (2448)-Rasmussen, K (2423) Horsens 2003; C) 6.b3 e7 7.c3 g4 8.h3 h5 9.e3?! I don't really like this move, it seems to take the waiting game too far. ( 9.e2 would instead take us back into a

more normal middlegame with a typical edge for White.) 9...f5 10.d3 xe3 11.fxe3 f6 12.exf6 gxf6 13.g4 f7 14.e2 c7 15.0-0-0 0-0-0 and with the two Bishops Black was at least equal in Hess, R (2635)-Akobian, V (2625) Saint Louis 2012 ] 6.dxc5 xc5 7.b3 b6 8.b5+ This check doesn't lead to any advantage but the alternatives are hardly more promising [ 8.fd4 e7 ( 8...h4!? ) 9.h4 h6 10.g4 This seems a bit over-aggressive to me e4 11.f3 h7 12.f4 e4 13.h2 and now in Minasian, A (2584)-Arutinian, D (2451) Yerevan 2004 Black played ...a6 to keep W hite's minor pieces out of b5 but bc6! was more accurate as A) 14.b5? 0-0 gets White nowhere ( 14...a6!? ); B) 14.b5?! 0-0 15.d6 g1! 16.d2 b6 and the knight on d6 is not enough to co m p e n s a t e f o r W h it e 's t o t a l la c k o f development. ] [ 8.a4!? a6 9.a5 a7 10.bd4 g6 and Black is fine ] 8...d7 [ 8...c6 also seems reasonable for Black although it's only been seen in one game 9.fd4 ( 9.bd4 may be more accurate as it doesn't allow Black's next move) 9...h4 10.0-0 ge7 11.e3 0-0 12.g3 h3 and Black had equalised in Mamedov, N (2614) -Benito Vicente, J (2022) Benasque 2009 although later the rating difference told and White won. ] 9.fd4 e7! The first new move and it seems to solve Black's problems relatively comfortably. [ 9...g6 10.h4!? led to unclear play in Ponkratov, P (2592)-Maletin, P (2621) St Petersburg 2010 after h5! 11.g5 e7 12.0-0 a6 13.a4 c7 ( 13...c8!? ) 14.c3 and here Black took a risky pawn with xe5 and although the position is just unclear it's a t ricky o n e t o p la y a s B la ck . ( 14...f5! would have been a more circumspect choice, with balanced chances. )] 10.g5!? Zhao Jun chooses the most testing option here [ or 10.xf5 xf5 11.0-0 0-0 and here it is W hite who has to think about holding 1586

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 equality. ] 10...g6 11.e2 c7 There is nothing wrong with this move but it does allow White to hold the balance [ 11...a6! would put more pressure on Zhao Jun and already I prefer Black after 12.d3 ( or 12.a4 0-0 ) 12...xd4! 13.xd4 b6 hitting d4 and b2 14.b3 ( 14.xe7 xe7 15.e3! may be White's best here planning to sacrifice a pawn for compensation after xd3 16.cxd3 b4+ 17.e2 xb2+ 18.f3 and it's Black's King who is in the more danger. ) 14...c6 ] 12.xe7 xe7 13.xd7 xd7 Ding Liren has the two Bishops but his King is caught in the centre so chances are about equal here 14.a4 a5 [ 14...a6! keeping the knight out of b5 15.a5 a7 seems slightly preferable here ] 15.c3 hc8 16.b5 c4 17.3d4 [ White could also have forced the rook back immediately with 17.d2 c6 ( 17...h4 seems rather risky to me as after 18.g3 h6 the rook is oddly placed on h6. ) 18.0-0= ] 17...f8 18.0-0 g8 [ 18...xd4!? 19.cxd4 c2 wins a pawn but things aren't so clear after 20.f3 xb2 21.fc1 and with the knight coming in to d6 a t a n y t i m e a n d id e a s o f h 4 - h 5 o n t h e Kingside Black's edge is minimal at best. ] 19.d1 cc8 20.e1 c5 21.e3 e7 22.b3 a6 23.ae1 b6 24.d1 h6 Both sides seem happy with a draw here and it's hard to disagree with them. Black can't really play to win without giving up the Bishop on c5 for a knight and that would leave his dark-squares vulnerable. White's only way to play for the win would be a kingside attack but that looks rather speculative with Black being so solid here. 25.e2 h4 26.h3 f4 27.f3 g4 28.h3 h4 29.g3 h7 30.g4 d8 Overall 5.Nbd2 seems a solid way to avoid theory, but sensible Black plays simply leads to roughly balanced chances. ½-½

1477 Zhigalko,S Berkes,F IsBank TCh-TUR 2013 (1.1) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2661 2687 29.06.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 c5 6.e3 b6 7.c3 c6 8.0-0 xb2 9.e1 c4 [ 9...cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 b4 is Black's major alternative but this has looked rather shaky recently after 12.db5! which I annotated in Caruana-Postny and Karjakin-Fridman. ] 10.b1 xc2 11.xb7 b8 [ 11...b4 used to be Black's defence here but recently it seems White has found some improvements that suggest this is in fact a mistake 12.xb4! xb4 13.d1! ( 13.a1 xa2! seems to be OK for Black, see Motylev-Alsina Leal) 13...d3 14.a4+ f8 15.a1 now Rd1 is threatened, trapping Black's queen g4 16.b2 b8 17.b1 A) 17...g5 i s n o b e t t e r 18.e1 g6 19.a3 a5 20.c2 f5?! ( 20...f5 was the only chance but Black is still in a lot of trouble after 21.xf5 xf5 22.xa5 g7 23.xb4 h6 and White's two pieces are clearly worth more than the r o o k h e r e .) 21.xa5 c6 22.xb8+ xb8 23.b4+ g7 24.xb8 h6 25.b5 e7 26.b7 e8 27.d6 d8 28.d2! g6 29.f3 1-0 Sebag, M (2512)Romanko, M (2417) Gaziantep 2012; B) 17...xf3 18.c2 e2?! ( Black should try 18...xc2! 19.xc2 xc2 20.xb8+ e7 21.gxf3 but with Black's kingside undeveloped and tied down White could easily still be winning here. ) 19.xd3 xd3 20.a3 xb1 21.axb4 g6 22.a3 b7 23.b5+ e7 24.f4 h6 25.h4 h7 26.a6 f5 27.c1 f6 28.a3 fxe5 29.c8+ f7 30.xd5 1-0 Karjakin, S (2772)-Laznicka, V (2701) Poikovsky 2011 ] 12.xb8+ xb8 13.a1 b4 14.b1 xc3 15.xb8+ d7 So far the game is following Gawain's analysis from the notes to MotylevAlsina Leal where he now recommended 16. Qf1 with good attacking chances. 16.d1!? White is happy to exchange queens here as 1587

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 his initiative will continue so long as Black is unable to develop his knight on g8. [ 16.c1 c7 ( 16...xc1+ 17.xc1 c7 18.e8 g4 initially looked good for Black in Nemeth, M (2450)-Medvegy, Z (2552) Zalakaros 2013 but Black was unable to develop and slowly got outplayed. It's hard to find a clear improvement for Black so I've left the rest of the moves in... maybe you can find a better way for Black to handle the position! 19.a3 xf3 20.gxf3 xd4 21.d6+ c6 22.b8 b6 23.f4 b5 24.f1 h6 25.e1 a5 26.d2 b5 27.c1 h5 28.b2 h6 29.a3 g6 30.d1 g2 31.a4+ a5 32.b4+ a6 33.d7 xf2 34.a4 xa2+ 35.a3 xa3+ 36.xa3 a5 37.xg8 g6 38.e8 d4 39.xf7 d3 40.xg6 c5+ 41.b2 d4+ 42.b1 b4 43.d8 and Black resigned ) 17.a8 b7 18.f8 xc1+ 19.xc1 g6 20.a3 f6 21.f4 h5 22.b8+ a6 23.exf6 gxf6 24.e3 h6 25.f1 a5 26.h4 f7 27.f4 f5 28.f3 c7 29.f8 h7 and Black finally managed to extricate his rook from f5 although White had good compensation for the pawn and Balogh, C (2601)-Michalik, P (2471) Aix-lesBa in s 2 0 1 1 e n d e d in a d ra w 3 0 m o ve s later. ] [ 16.f1 xa2 17.c1 c7 18.xc3 ( 18.b5 a1 19.xa1 xa1 and Black is a t le a s t O K) 18...xb8 19.b4+ c7 and White now has a perpetual but probably no more 20.c5+ d7 21.b5+ c7 22.c5+= ] 16...h6! This seems to be a very sensible precaution for Black, preventing any tricky ideas with Ng5. It seems that both players are very well prepared and that Black is probably surviving here. [ 16...xa2 17.g5!? needs careful attention ( 17.c1 transposes to the line above with 16.Qf1) 17...g6 18.xf7! xf7 19.b7+ c6 ( 19...e8 20.f1! and White has a very strong attack, possibly a winning one.) 20.xf7 h6 21.xh6 gxh6 22.f1 is assessed by my computer as equal but with Qg4 coming it's clear to me that Black has to be very accurate to maintain equality. This isn't a position I would want to go into as Black. ]

17.b7+ d8 18.g4?! This seems to be too ambitious and suddenly it's Berkes with the better chances. [ 18.xc2 xc2 19.xf7 e7 20.xg7 leaves W hite a pawn up but Black is now well coordinated and his protected passed pawn on c4 should be adequate compensation. ] 18...xd1+ 19.xd1 xg4 20.g2 e7 21.a4? This looks very dangerous but actually after this move Zhigalko is in real danger of losing. [ 21.g5!? hxg5 22.xg4 e8 23.h5 g6 24.d1 c8 25.xa7 c6 is a little better f o r B la ck a s W h it e ' s ce n t re is in s o m e danger of collapsing. Still it's probably a d r a w a f t e r 26.a8+ d7 27.a6 c8 28.a4 b2 29.f3 c3 30.xg5 c2 31.a7+ c7 32.a8 with the nasty threat of Rd8 b7 33.a6 c7 34.a8 ] 21...g6 22.xa7 f8?! [ 22...h5! is a possible improvement and now White would have a tough time holding on, for example 23.g1 c8 24.f1 b8 25.xf7 h4 26.xg7 f5 and although White is a pawn up Black is winning here d4 is dropping and Black's central connected passed pawns should make the win fairly straightforward ] 23.g1 b2 24.g3 f5 25.h4 h5 26.f3 Black is still better here but it's tough to make progress and Zhigalko manages to hold the draw. c3 27.e1 c8 28.c2 b8 29.d7 xc2 30.xc2 With a blockade on c2 the draw is nearly achieved c8?! [ 30...a3! was a better winning try, now White's best is 31.g5 f6 32.e3! but after e7 33.exf6 gxf6 34.f3 c6 35.e2 c8 Black has excellent winning chances ] 31.a7 b8 32.d7 c8 33.a7 b8 34.d7 c8 35.a7 ½-½

1588

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1478 B12 Zhigalko,S 2661 Bernadskiy,V 2565 Bronstein Mem Open A 2014 (3.2) 13.02.2014 [Tom Rendle] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 5.f3 g4 6.c3 e6 7.e3 a6 Not quite a new move but we haven't analysed it yet on ChessPub so now is a good time to start! [ 7...ge7 is the main move but I suggested in my notes to Svidler-Andreikin that would cou ld get t he be tt er cha nce s he re wit h 8.bd2 g6 9.a4! ( 9.f4 didn't lead to any edge for Svidler in the game )] 8.bd2! I think it's a good decision to not try to hold onto the pawn [ 8.d4?! allowed Black good play after xf3 9.xf3 A) 9...b6! 10.b4 ( 10.cxb6?! xd4 11.cxd4 xb6 and Black wins the pawn back with a good game) 10...bxc5 11.bxc5 a5 12.d2 xc5 and Black has at least equalised; B) 9...g5 and if fact White chose to go into an equal endgame by giving the pawn back with 10.e3 ( 10.d1! xe5 11.d2 feels a little better for White to me ) 10...xe3+ 11.xe3 xe5 12.f4 d7 13.b4 g6 with an equal game in Bok, B (2488) -Braun, A (2560) Muelheim 2011, although White did eventually go on to win Black had in fact been pressing before that. ] 8...xe5 9.e2 [ 9.b4 is possibly enough for a slight edge, for example xf3+ ( 9...f6! could be more accurate, e.g. 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 xf3+ 12.xf3 e7 13.d3 d7! and White's edge is very small) 10.gxf3!? ( 10.xf3 is a safe slight plus) 10...h5 11.a4+ d7 12.b5 e7 13.b1 f6 14.c6 bxc6 15.bxa6 and the pawn on a6 gave White the better chances in Mamedov, N (2601)-Shimanov, A (2606) Konya 2012 ] 9...xf3+ 10.xf3 f6 11.d4?! Black shows this move isn't enough for an edge, White should consider either of the two moves below instead [ 11.h3 f5 ( 11...xf3 12.xf3 e7 seems more consistent to me) 12.e5 d7

13.a4 c2 14.xd7+?! ( 14.xc2! xe5 15.0-0 is much more promising with a quick f4 to follow and the two bishops I'd def init ely ra ther b e W hit e) 14...xd7 15.xd7 xd7 16.c4 dxc4 17.xc4 c6 led to a quick draw in Korneev, O (2637)Goganov, A (2581) Khanty-Mansiysk 2013 ] [ 11.a4+ d7 12.d4!? is worth investigating here. Ne5 is threatened so Black should go in for xf3 13.xf3 e7 but after 14.0-0 0-0 15.b4 White has the two bishops and can open the game up with c4. This seems a safe way to play for a win without too much risk for White ] 11...e7! 12.xf6 [ or 12.0-0 0-0 13.b4 e4 and Black has easily enough play for equality here ] 12...xf3 [ of course not 12...xf6?? 13.a4+ d7 14.xg4 ] 13.xg7 [ 13.xe7 leads to an equal endgame after xe2 14.xd8 xd1 15.b6 c2 and the opposite coloured bishops without queens on the board means it's just an easy draw ] 13...xe2 14.xe2 g8 15.e5 xc5 [ not 15...xg2? 16.g3 and the rook is trapped ] 16.g3 White is hoping that his better pawn st ru ct u r e will give h i m a slig h t e d ge b u t B e r n a d s k i y p l a ys ve r y a c t i ve l y a n d t h i s enables him to secure a comfortable draw g5! 17.d1 f5 18.0-0 g4! Black is threatening ...Re4 so W hite is forced to go i n t o a n e q u a l e n d g a m e 19.d4 xd4 20.cxd4 [ 20.xd4?! xd4 21.cxd4 c8 and Black gets control of the only open file and can press for the win without risk ] 20...c8 21.d3?! [ 21.f3! keeps the smallest of edges for White as he can challenge on the c-file g8 22.c1 d7 23.e3 but Black should draw easily enough with xc1 24.xc1 c8 ] 21...h5 22.c3 and the players agreed to a draw. [ Black was outrated by 100 points otherwise he could consider playing on with 22.c3 xc3 23.bxc3 h4! and White has to be a

1589

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 little careful ] ½-½

1479 Zhigalko,S Laznicka,V 29th ECC Open 2013 (3.5) [Tom Rendle]

B12 2683 2666 22.10.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 c6 5.f3 g4 6.c3 e6 7.e3 [ 7.b4 is White's other option but after ge7 8.bd2 a5! Black had good chances in Areshchenko-Bernadskiy which I covered last month ] 7...ge7 8.b5 [ 8.bd2 was tried by Peter Svidler at the W orld cup but he was unable to get any a d va n t a g e a f t e r g6!? 9.f4 ( 9.a4! wa s m y s ugge st e d im p ro ve m en t in t h e notes ) 9...f5 10.b4 g5! see SvidlerAndreikin in the archives. ] 8...xf3?! I'm not convinced with this line at all - Bla ck ma y rega in th e p awn quickly b u t White seems to retain the better chances in all lines now [ 8...c7! seems the critical test and now 9.d4 ( 9.bd2!? f5 10.d4 e7 11.0-0 0-0 looks fully playable for Black, despite still being a pawn down all of his pieces are well placed and I don't see a good plan for White. ) 9...0-0-0!? ambitious but probably objectively dubious ( 9...a6 10.a4 g6 11.0-0 e7 and Black has pretty much equalised ) A) 10.0-0! was better and I like White chances here for example b8 ( or 10...xf3 11.xf3 xe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.xf7 ) 11.b4 xf3 12.xf3 xe5 13.e2! 5c6 14.xc6 xc6 15.f4! and White's control over the queenside as well as the centre give him the better chances; B) 10.xc6?! xc6 11.bd2 f6! 12.e2 fxe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.xe5 xc5 15.xc7+ xc7 and Black had the better chances in the endgame in Suarez Uriel, A (2245)-Koziak, V (2511) La Roda 2012 ] 9.xf3 a6 10.a4 a5 11.c2! xe5 [ 11...b5 was agreed drawn in Zhigalko-

Khenkin but after 12.b4 xe5 13.d1 d7 I like W hite position after 14.d2! ( or 14.0-0!? ) 14...7g6 15.f4 c6 16.0-0 as White has the space advantage and the position is set to open up for the two bishops. ] 12.g3! Not only does this hit the knight on e5 but it's also keeps an eye on g7, thereby making it slightly more awkward for Black to develop on the kingside c4 [ 12...5g6?! would cover g7 but now 13.h4! is strong ] 13.b4 d8 14.0-0 xe3 15.fxe3! Normally this recapture would be considered a little weakening but here it's clear that the advantage of opening the f-file for the rook on f1 outweighs this consideration. Black is really under pressure already c6 And after this things go from bad to worse [ 15...f5 was perhaps a more solid way to play, preventing e4 but even now W hite must be better after 16.a4+ f7 17.d2 and Black must be careful to stop the knight g e t t i n g t o e 5 e a s i l y s o b8 18.h4 but White is obviously doing well here ] 16.e4! g6?! Now Black is losing a pawn [ 16...a5 was necessary for some counterplay 17.b5 e7 18.f2! f6 19.d2 and W hite still has a very strong initiative but Black can still hope to defend after c8 as c5 is still weak ] 17.exd5 exd5 [ or 17...xd5 18.c7! ] 18.a3 e7 [ 18...g7?! 19.ae1+ e7 20.a4+ f8 21.f4 is pretty hopeless for Black ] 19.ad1 0-0 20.b3 Black has managed to get castled but it comes at the cost of the d5 pawn. Zhigalko wins the game without too much difficulty b8 21.e3 c7 22.xd5 ae8 23.c4! Black has no strong discovered attacks with the bishop on e7 so White simply brings the knight to the centre where it eyes the juicy d6 square g7 24.f3 f5 25.xc6 [ 25.fe1 is simple and strong, bringing the rook to the open file. ] 25...bxc6 26.d6 d8 27.f4 a7 28.h1 f6 29.c4 d7 30.de1 White prepares to bring the rook to e6 e7 31.a4 d8 32.h3?! [ 32.g4! wi n s a n o t h e r p a w n a s fxg4?! 1590

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 drops a piece to 33.e6! xe6 34.xe6 e7 35.xe7+ xe7 36.f7+ ] 32...e5? Laznicka has been defending the best that he can but finally he blunders and allows a nice finish 33.xe5! xe5 34.d4 xd6 [ 34...e7 loses to 35.e1 f6 36.h4+! e6 ( 36...g5 37.h6# ) 37.xe5+ ] 35.xe5+ f6 36.d1 f7 37.d8 e6?! [ 37...e7 keeps the game going a little longer but the ending is fairly hopeless for Black after 38.xe7+ xe7 39.a8 ] 38.f8+ [ 38.f8+ xf8 39.h8+! f7 40.xh7+ wins the queen on a7 ] 1-0

1480 Zhigalko,Sergei Andreikin,Dmitry Young Stars of the World (3) [Andrew Martin]

B12 2462 2495 16.05.2005

The Advance Variation of the Caro-Kann has undergone a remarkable transformation in the last 20 years. New ideas abound and Black's task of equalization has never been more problematic. I've indicated that I feel that 3... c5 is the best shot. There's much less to learn than after 3....Bf5 and the play is less complex. Games like the following only reinforce this observation. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 d7 6.0-0 h6 7.bd2 e7 8.b3N White must play this opening line with patience he cannot rush matters. He is simply saying to Black that the extra space afforded to him by the pawn on e5 really does count and he can gradually work on this as the game progresses. Black can and must try to free himself with pawn breaks such as ...c6c5 and ..f7-f6. Now to 8 Nb3, a simple enough idea to understand. White is trying to grip the c5 square. Others: [ 8.b3 c5 9.b2 I think the Bishop is better placed on e3 in such positions, influencing c5. White wants to play c2-c4 though. c6 10.c4 e7 11.cxd5 exd5 12.e1 0-0 13.f1 e6 14.d3 cxd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.xd4 c5 17.c2 c8 18.d3 g6 19.xc5 xc5 20.d2 h4 21.ad1

fd8= Sakaev, K-Bareev, E/Elista 1998 (22) ] [ 8.e1 Again the idea is a quick c4. c5 9.c4 c6 10.b3 dxc4 11.xc4 e7 12.e3 Najer, E-Tenikashvili, G/Moscow 2000 Now g4 seems equal. ] [ 8.h3!? is odd, but in the long run White hopes to make this move count. Funnily e n o u gh , t h e sa m e m o ve o c c u r s in o u r featured game. For the time being Black is prevented from using g4, which if we consider the last line, might be significant . g5 9.e1 g6 10.f1 f5 11.d3 e7 12.g4 g7 13.xg6 fxg6 14.d3 f7 15.g2 c5 16.e3 a5 17.dxc5 xc5 18.xc5 xc5 19.1d2 e8 20.d4 Hamdouchi, H-Bricard, E/Toulouse 1996 ] [ 8.a4 White can apparently spread play out all over the board! g6 9.e1 f4 10.f1 g5 11.b3 g6 12.a5 g4 13.fd2 h5 14.c4 f6 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.exf6 f7?! ( 16...xf6= ) 17.a6 ( 17.b5! xf6 18.a6 ) 17...b6 18.b1 d6 19.c3 c8 20.g5 h4 21.b5 b8 22.d3 h5 23.xf5 exf5 24.d2 f4 25.e7+ xe7 26.fxe7 Krasnov, S-Izmukhambetov, S/ Moscow 1996 W ho would believe such a range of ideas is possible in what, let's face it , looks like a blocked position. ] 8...h7 9.h3 a6 [ 9...c7 is a logical preparation for either ... f7-f6 or .. .c6-c5. ] 10.c3 c8 11.a4 To f ix b6. c5 So this is crunch moment number one. if Black can time his pawn breaks well he will secure a good game easily. Let us see how the first one works out. 12.xc5 xc5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.e3 c8 15.a5 c6 16.b6 d7 17.b4! An important move, again working on the c5 square and cramping Black for room. Note that the Bishop on h7 is only controlling an em pty diagonal. b8 18.d2 e7 19.d1 0-0 20.a4 Whereas White's lightsquared Bishop comes into the game with effect. c6 21.fe1 a8 22.d4 c8 23.xc6 bxc6 24.b3 e8 25.c5 The computers are only showing a small edge t o W h it e , b u t I t h in k it 's m o re t h a n t h a t . Basically, the Bishop on h7 is completely out of play and for me that represents the triumph of White's opening plan. d8 26.d4 f6 1591

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Crunch moment number two. It's crucial to keep the Black centre under control. 27.d6! a7 [ 27...fxe5 28.xe5 c5 29.b3! points out that Black cannot cover c5 and e5 simultaneously. ] 28.b3 f5 29.c4! And this is what can happen to Black when he gets it wrong. White t h r e a t e n s t o in c r e a s e h i s co n t r o l o f t h e position with Rac1 and cxd5. dxc4 30.c5 f4 Rather desperate, but Black was running out of counterplay. He pins his hopes on the c pawn. [ 30...g5 31.d4 ] 31.xf4 c3 32.c4 c2 33.e4 Which is easily contained and removed. c5 34.xc2 c6 35.xc5!+- xe4 36.xa7 xg2 37.ac1 d5 38.c5 xh3 39.xd5 exd5 40.ed1 f5 Black limps to the finishing line. 41.xd5 e6 42.h2 g5 43.c4 g6 44.dd4 h5 45.c3 h4 46.b5 axb5 47.a6 b4 48.xb4 d2 49.a7 xc3 50.a8+ h7 51.xh4+ A convincing game by White wh o se lo n g-t e rm p re p a ra t io n f o r c4 wa s excellent, as well as his containment of any Black counterplay. 1-0

1481 Zhigalko,Sergei Jobava,Baadur Lake Sevan GM (1.1) [Milos Pavlovic]

B12 2689 2713 22.07.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 e6 5.e2 g6 6.0-0 e7 7.bd2 f5 8.b3 d7 9.d2 e7 10.g4 h4 11.xh4 xh4 12.f4 h6N Jobava is trying to improve on Black's not very good results recently in this set up. [ 12...e4 13.f3 xf3 14.xf3 e7 15.f5 0-0 16.ae1 c5 17.c3 c4 18.c1 g5 19.xg5 xg5 20.e2 exf5 21.xf5 e7 22.f4 White is strategically winning, Rublevsky, S -Vuckovic, B /Aix les Bains 2011 ] [ 12...f5 13.exf6 xf6 14.g5 e7 15.g4 f5 16.e1 0-0 17.xe6! This is a line that questioned the whole ...Nf5 setup. xe6 18.xe6+ h8 19.g4 b6 20.f1 c4

21.c1 d6 22.c5 g6 23.d7 f5 24.e5 e8 25.b3 White has the better chances Caruana, F-Fernandez Romero, E / Caleta 2011 ] 13.f5 h7 14.d3 0-0 15.f3 [ 15.f6 xd3 16.cxd3 a5 17.a4 b6 18.g2 g5 A strange type of position, it is not patent how to evaluate this so usually in such cases its fair to put 'unclear'. ] 15...c5 16.xc5 xc5 17.dxc5 In my opinion Jobava's idea is probably not good enough to resurrect this line although he managed to make a draw here. f6 I suppose this was his idea: to make lots of exchanges a n d t o h o l d t h e e n d g a m e . 18.fxe6 Also possible here was: [ 18.f4 exf5 ( 18...fxe5 19.xe5 e7 20.b4 a5 21.a3 White has the better chances. ) 19.gxf5 fxe5 20.xe5 Again I don't see any compensation for Black. ] 18...fxe5 19.xf8+ [ 19.xh7+ xh7 20.b3 e8 21.ad1 xe6 22.c1 g6 23.xb7 xg4+ 24.h1 d4 25.f3 c8 Black has counterplay here. ] 19...xf8 20.xf8+ xf8 21.xh7+ Better was: [ 21.f1 xf1+ ( 21...f6 22.b4 xd3 23.cxd3 e8 24.xh6 xe6 25.e3 a6 26.g5 d8 27.f5 White surely has the better chances all the way) 22.xf1 xd3+ 23.cxd3 f8 24.b4 e8 Such positions are not easy to play with a pawn less, on the other hand a direct win is not obvious, if there is any at all. ] 21...xh7 22.e1 [ 22.f1 xf1+ 23.xf1 g6 This is now something else, Black is close to equality. ] 22...e7 23.f2 g6 24.d1 d4 25.c3 xc5 26.b4 b6 27.cxd4 f4 28.e1 xg4+ 29.f1 f4 30.g2 xd4 31.xd4 xd4 32.xe5 d8 33.c5 d2+ 34.f3 f6 35.c7 xe6 36.xb7 xa2 37.xg7 xh2 ½-½

1592

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 32.a4 f4 ( 32...xe5 33.xe5 xe5 B12 34.a5 ) 33.a5 xa5 34.xa5 xe2 2540 35.xe2 c2 should draw. ] 2609 13.04.2007 32...c2 33.f3 xe5 [ 33...xe5 34.xg5 xg4+ 35.xg4 xg5 ] B l a c k d o e s b e t t e r v e r s u s 4 N d 2 i n t h e ½-½ theoretical sense in this example. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.d2 e6 5.b3 d7 B12 6.f3 e7 7.e2 h6 8.0-0 h7 9.c3 1483 White's plan doesn't lead to much. Another Zvjaginsev,Vadim 2643 idea was Grigoriants,Sergey 2562 [ 9.e3 f5 10.c4!? ] 11th EICC Men (9) 15.03.2010 9...g6 10.e1 e7 11.d3 0-0 12.f4 [Gawain Jones] [ 12.g3!? c8 13.f4 might be a better order. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6 This is Black's 12...c8 most common reply and was suggested by [ 12...h4! 13.g3 f5 14.g4 h4 P e t e W e l l s i n h i s C a r o - K a n n b o o k . T h e makes it hard for White to get anywhere on positions tend to look like a French where the kingside. ] neither f3 nor c6 are ideal. 4.c3 Black has 13.e3 tried a huge array of moves here. b4 [ 13.f5!? exf5 14.xf5 ] [ 4...f6 Black shows he's happy to play a 13...b6 14.d2 French 5.g5 ( 5.e5 fd7 6.f4 c5 [ 14.dc5 ] would be a direct transposition to a 14...d7 15.b4!? An interesting try, although Cla ss ic a l Fr e n ch .) 5...e7 6.ge2? Black can open the queenside anyway. b6 A blunder xe4! 7.xe4 xg5 8.xg5 [ Possible is 15...a5 16.a3 a8 17.b3 xg5 and Black was simply a pawn up. axb4 18.axb4 xa1 19.xa1 b6 20.a7 Petrosian, D-Grigoryan, Yerevan 2010 ] c8 ] [ 4...b5!? is a really odd looking move that [ Again, 15...h4! stops any kingside attack didn't work out too well but maybe isn't so first. ] bad. 5.a3 b4 6.axb4 xb4 16.c1 c5?! Too loosening. A) 7.e2!? would keep the pawn as dxe4 [ 16...h4 ] 8.fxe4 xc3+ ( 8...h4+ 9.g3 xe4 17.bxc5 bxc5 18.c4! dxc4 19.xc4 h4 10.f3 xc3+ 11.bxc3 t ra n s p o s e s .) A little late, because W hite has gotten 9.bxc3 h4+ 10.g3 xe4 11.f3 queenside play. 20.xc5 xc5 21.dxc5 gives W hite great compensation for the f5 22.f2 pawn. In particular W hite's play on the [ Or 22.xd8 fxd8 23.c6! xc6 24.xa7 kingside is very dangerous.; a6 25.b6 ] B) 7.e3 dxe4 8.fxe4 h4+ 9.g3 xe4 22...xc5 23.xd8 fxd8 24.fd1 xd1+? 10.d2! d5 ( 10...xh1! 11.g2 xh2 [ 24...xf2+ 25.xf2 d4 ] 12.xc6+ xc6 13.xh2 is messy. Black 25.xd1 g5 26.fxg5 hxg5 27.d7 g6 has rook, bishop and pawn for the queen 28.g4?! and so the game is roughly balanced.) [ Probably best is 28.xc5! xc5 29.xa7 11.g2 d8 12.f3 e7 13.e5 d4 30.f1 ] gave W hite good compensation for the 28...h4! 29.xc5 xc5 30.f2 pawn in a very messy position in Saric[ 30.xa7 b1! 31.f2 ( 31.a4 ) 31...g6! Sarbok, Rijeka 2010. ] transposes. ] [ 4...b6 was covered by Neil recently ] 30...b1! 31.xa7!? [ 4...b6!? 5.a3 f6 6.e5 fd7 7.ce2 [ 31.d6! preserves White's advantage. ] c5 8.c3 c6 9.f4 resembled a Classical 31...g6 32.d2 French. cxd4 10.cxd4 g6 11.f3 g7 1482 Zhigalko,Sergei Mchedlishvili,Mikheil 8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (10) [John Watson]

1593

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.h4 h5 13.g5 e7 14.g3 b8! and Black was solid while W hite was in danger of over-extending himself. Handke, F-Schwalfenberg, J Emsdetten 2010. ] 5.d2 [ 5.d3 e7 6.f4 d7 7.a3 a5 8.0-0-0 0-0 9.e3 b6 10.d2 a5 11.b1 b5 12.d6 White was anxious to avoid b4 but this doesn't stop Black's initiative. dxe4 13.fxe4 f6 14.xe7 xe7 15.d3 e5! 16.dxe5 g4! and Black had taken the upper hand Navara-Grigoria nts, Rijeka 2010. ] [ 5.f4 The only move considered in Wells' book and indeed it's impossible to cover all these options. e7 ( 5...f6 6.d3 b6 7.ge2 a6 8.e3 bd7 9.0-0-0 c8 10.h3 c4 11.b1 0-0 12.g4 c5 was very complex in Singh, G-Lenic, L New D e l h i 2 0 1 0 .) 6.d2 ( 6.d3 b6! is given by W ells) 6...0-0 7.ge2 d7 8.a3 a5 9.d6 Again I'm not happy about this move, ceding the dark squared bishop. A) 9...dxe4! 10.fxe4 b6 11.xe7 xe7 12.d3 ( 12.b4 c4 13.d3 b2 a n d B la c k ' s p i e c e s s u r vive , c re a t i n g problems for White.) 12...a4 13.0-0-0 xc3 14.xc3 e5!; B) 9...b6 10.xe7 xe7 11.g3 d7 ( 11...c5!? 12.dxc5 a4 13.b4 f6 14.ge2 c7 15.b1 xc3 16.xc3 e5 gives Black reasonable compensation for the pawn.) 12.exd5?! I don't like this move either exd5+ 13.e2 c7 14.0-0 h4 15.f4 f6 seemed like a great French Exchange for Black. PancevskiShimanov, Rijeka 2010. ] 5...b6 [ 5...f6 6.e5 fd7 7.ce2 ( 7.f4!? ) 7...xd2+ ( 7...e7 could be sensible as it's not so clear where W hite's bishop should go. ) 8.xd2 b6 9.f4 a6 10.f3 c5 11.c3 c6 12.g4 Nabaty-Gyimesi, Rijeka 2010 again felt more like a French than a Caro. ] 6.ce2!? An interesting novelty. White hopes to show Black needs his dark squared bishop. [ 6.h3 was played in the same tournament around a week before. e5!? 7.e2 ( 7.dxe5 xh3 8.gxh3 h4+ 9.e2 might be playable but I doubt having the king on e2 wo u ld a p p e a l t o m a n y p l a ye rs ( e xc e p t

p e rh a p s K in g 's G a m b it p r a ct it i o n e rs ) !) 7...xd2+ 8.xd2 dxe4 9.fxe4 exd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 reached an unusual position. If Black's pawn were back on b7 I think I'd favour Black but as it is White's play on the light squares and lead in develo pme nt promise him t he bet te r chances. Timofeev-Hera, Rijeka 2010. ] 6...xd2+ [ I think there's a case for keeping the dark squared bishops on the board so that White can't coordinate his pieces quite so fast. 6...d6 7.e5 c7 8.f4 c5 9.f3 e7 ( 9...c6 10.c3 ge7 11.g3 favours White with more space. )] [ 6...e7!? ] 7.xd2 An interesting position has been reached. I feel Black shouldn't really have any problems but for the moment White has more space and a slight lead in development. White also has a simple plan of attacking on the kingside while Black's play isn't so straightforward. a6 [ Instead 7...e7 keeps the option to d e ve l o p t h e b i sh o p t o e i t h e r a 6 o r b 7 . 8.0-0-0 0-0 ( 8...d7 9.f4 and Black can't challenge on a6 anymore.) 9.h4 c5 10.h5 h6 11.g4 b7 12.g5! and White's attack breaks through first. ] [ 7...f6 8.e5 fd7 9.0-0-0 c5 10.f4 c6 11.f3 would be a traditional French style position except without dark squared bishops and Black cannot use the b6 square for his queen, both of which help W hite's attacking chances. ] 8.0-0-0 e7 9.h4 d7 10.h5 h6 11.e5 W hite has grabbed space on the kingside while Black's counterplay isn't so easy to achieve. c5 12.f4 c7 13.f3 xe2 14.xe2 c4 Black starts his counterplay but White's way ahead. 15.h4 b5 16.g4!? [ 16.g4 would be more natural but Zvjaginsev wants to put pressure on e6 as well as achieve the f4-f5 break. ] 16...b8 17.f5 f8 [ 17...exf5 18.xf5 xf5 19.xf5 0-0 20.g4 and it's clear that White will strike first. ] 18.fxe6 xe6 19.xe6 fxe6 20.df1 b4 21.g6 xg6 22.hxg6 a5 [ 22...c3 wouldn't help either. White has the 1594

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 simple plan of trebling on the f f ile and piece on e5 and helps W hite's attack infiltrating which Black cannot stop. 23.f2 although Black has good counterchances on cxb2+ 24.b1 b7 25.h3 while if Black the queenside. The game was eventually tries d8 W hite has the cute 26.xh6! drawn in 46 moves. ] like in the game. ] 3.e5 23.f4 b7 24.xh6! A beautiful move to [ 3.d3 is an extremely quiet option. I don't finish off the game. xh6 And Black resigned mind trading queens in this manner in a [ 24...xh6 25.f8+ d7 26.d6+ c8 Grand Prix Attack but I think the pawn being 27.f8++- ] on c6 constitutes an important difference to [ 24...gxh6 25.f6+- ] the position. Black has good control over d5 [ 24...g8 is objectively the best move but and b5 and it will be much harder for White Grigoriants had given up. The game might t o ge t a n y p la y o n t h e qu e e n sid e . dxe4 have proceeded: 25.f7+ xf7 26.gxf7+ 4.dxe4 xd1+ 5.xd1 f6 6.c3 e5! f8 27.xe6 d8 28.c3 when White's 7.f3 bd7 ( 7...exf4 8.xf4 e6 going to be a pawn up in the ending after also looks to favour Black. W hite has no Re8+. 6. Nce2!? looks like an interesting compensation for the weaker pawn structure opening try and I think Black should retain and misplaced king.) 8.d3 d6 ( 8...exf4 the bishops with 6...Be7 or 6...Bd6 with Now this move doesn't make so much sense decent chances. ] as the bishop has been trapped in on c8 1-0 although Black had nothing to worry about after 9.xf4 c5 10.h3 e6 11.g5 0-0-0 12.xe6 xe6 13.e3 c5 14.d2 1484 B12 xe3+ 15.xe3 he8 even if somehow he went on to lose in 1-0 Tiller-Soraas, Zvjaginsev,Vadim 2642 Tromsoe 2008) 9.f5 g6 10.g5 h6 11.h4 Khairullin,Ildar 2605 g8 12.e1 h5 13.fxg6 fxg6 9th Aeroflot Open A (8) 16.02.2010 ( 13...xg6!? ) 14.f2 f4 15.f1 [Gawain Jones] and Black had some advantage although White held the draw in Tiller-Erdos, Davos 1.e4 c6 2.f4!? An extremely rare move at 2007. Tiller seems to be the highest rated Grandmaster level but Zvjaginsev is known for player who has tried 2.f4 on more than one his weird openings, think 2.Na3 vs the Sicilian occasion. ] and I guess he wanted to surprise his young [ 3.c3 This move is interesting and might opponent. I'm sceptical of this move but I be my choice here transposing back into suppose one could argue that it's a good the archives (via 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.f4) 3... version of 1.e4 c5 2.f4?! d5 3.e5 as Black will dxe4 is dealt in the archives while g6 4.f3 probably play c5 at some point here. However A) 4...g7 would be a greater challenge it feels very committal to me. d5 to W hite's setup I think. 5.d3 ( 5.e5 [ 2...e5 was an odd way to react in Venclh6! ) 5...xc3+ ( 5...a6!? ) 6.bxc3 Mirkovic, Belgrade 2009 as 2...c6 cannot be dxe4 7.dxe4 xd1+ 8.xd1 f6 9.d3= the best response to the King's Gambit should be around level but an interesting a lt h o u gh we re a ch a n in t e re st in g n o n im b a la n ce . I 'd p ro b a b ly p re f e r W h it e theoretical position after two moves! The slightly with the bishop pair and the e4 and game proceeded 3.d4 trying to exploit the f4 pawns have grabbed some space in the f a c t t h a t B la ck c a n n o t p l a y . . . Nc 6 exd4 centre which compensate for the doubled 4.xd4 d5 5.exd5?! I'm not very happy c pawns.; about taking that pawn immediately and B) 4...g4 5.h3 xf3 6.xf3 e6 7.d3 instead would prefer 5.Nc3 cxd5 6.f3 f6 g7 8.d2 e7 9.g4 d7 10.g2 b6 7.e5 e7 ( 7...d6 is a more relevant 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 White has more space square ) 8.b5+ bd7 9.c3 0-0 10.xd7 but Black is very solid. 1-0 Wippermannxd7 11.e3 c6 12.0-0-0 a5 13.b1 Schmaltz, Dresden 2002. ] favoured W hite as the knight is a strong 1595

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 0-0-0 12.e1 h3?! 13.xd5 ( 13.a4! 3...f5 This move makes sense to try and get would a lso have be en very st rong f o r a good French position. Other options have White as Black's last was weak as xg2 been tried. allows 14.e6!+- ) 13...e6 14.g2 xg2 [ 3...c5 15.xg2 f5 16.e4 didn't give Black A) 4.e2 c6 5.c3 trying to stop Black ade qua te com pen sat ion f o r t he pawn being able to play ...Bg4. f5 ( 5...g5!? Short-Rausis, Port Erin ] lo o k s in t e re st in g, t ryin g t o d ism a n t le [ 3...g6 This doesn't strike me as a logical White's centre.) 6.f3 e6 7.0-0 h6 plan as the bishop is hitting granite on e5. 8.d3 e7 ( Black's main problem in this 4.d4 f5 5.f3 e6 6.e3 h5 7.bd2 position seems to stem from the fact that b6 8.c1 g4 Black's opening play has the f5 square is needed by both bishop be e n very d e ba t a b le . 9.c4 ( 9.g5!? ) a n d k n i g h t a n d t h e r e f o r e 8...g4= 9...d7 10.g5 e7 11.h3 f5 looks like a good equaliser. I wouldn't be 1-0 Ehlvest-Barus, Bali 1999 ] worried about playing the Black side here [ 3...h5!? I quite like this move. Black waits as Black will always have counterplay, before developing his bishop as he'd like to includin g t he f 5 square) 9.h3 f6 put it on g4. 4.e2 b6 Black starts to get offering a strong piece sacrifice, although carried away with strange opening moves! I don't know if it was intentional. 10.g4 ( 4...h4 5.d4 h6 looks comfortable for e x t re m e l y a m b i t io u s ! ( 10.exf6 gxf6 Black. ) 5.d4 g6 ( 5...h4 again followed by 11.h4 is a safer option.) 10...g6 Nh6-f5, preferably after Bg4xf3 looks good 11.exf6 gxf6 12.f5 xf5 13.gxf5 xf5 for Black.) 6.c3 h6 7.d2 g4 8.xg4?! White succeeded in winning a piece for W hite had to finally allow Black's plan of two pawns but in return his king has been trading off that light squared bishop for a opened up and looks rather dangerous. knight as this gives Black a strong kingside 14.h4 xh3 15.f3 and here g8+ bind. hxg4! 9.f1 e6 10.h3 f5! 11.xg4 ( Instead 15...g4 was played in c5 12.dxc5 xc5 13.e2 f2+ 14.d1 Rodriguez Vila-Burgos Sao Paulo 2004 c6 gave Black fantastic compensation for where W hite eventually f ought of f the the pawn and he went on to win in Tong attack and won.) 16.h1 ( 16.h2 g4 Yuanming-Magem Badals, Beijing 1998 ] 17.g3 d6-+ ) 16...g4 17.g3 f5 18.xg4 ( 18.g2 d6-+ ) 18...fxg4 4.f3 [ 4.c3 was tried in an earlier high rated 19.g2 h5 would have given Black a clash but Zvjaginsev has an idea to support decisive attack.; his centre with a pawn on c3. e6 5.f3 B) 4.d3!? Nigel continues goes to his own A) 5...e7 6.d4 ( 6.d3 h6 ) 6...h6= way c6 ( Again 4...g5 looks an ( 6...c5 is slightly too early 7.dxc5 xc5 interesting counterattack. There aren't 8.a4 c7 9.xc5 xc5 10.c3 e7 ); many openings where you could get such B) 5...c5 6.d4 c6=; a strange position after 4 moves!) 5.g3 f6 C) 5...d4!? 6.e2 d3 7.ed4 dxc2 T h i s m o v e d o e s n ' t wo r k o u t t o o we l l 8.xc2 d3 9.cd4 xf1 10.xf1 c5 ( 5...h6 6.g2 g4 7.d2 I imagine 11.b3 b6 12.g5 d5 13.e2 h6 was Nigel's plan. W hite tries to delay 14.f3 was very messy but feels easier for developing the knight on g1 until Black Black to play although White later went on has decided where to put his c8 bishop.) to win in Savchenko-Krivoborodov, 6.g2! h6 ( Black isn't actually picking Dagomys 2004 ] u p a p a w n a s 6...fxe5 7.fxe5 xe5 8.h5+ f7 9.xd5 xd5 10.xd5 4...e6 5.c3 [ 5.d4 This has actually transposed to gives White a comfortable advantage. The Morozevich-Ivanchuk in the archives which e 7 p a wn i s i s o l a t e d a n d c 5 i s a l s o a continued potential weakness.) 7.f3 e6 8.0-0 A) 5...d7 was played recently and d7 9.c3 fxe5?! ( 9...g4 would keep worked out well for Black after 6.h3 c5 equality for Black) 10.xe5 xe5 11.fxe5 1596

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7.c4 e4 8.cxd5 xd5 9.c3?! ( 9.e3 to hold onto the d4 pawn looks better although Black still has the better chances after b6 ) 9...xf3 10.xf3 cxd4 11.e4 h6 12.d2 f5 13.d3 e7 14.0-0 0-0 Matnadze-Burmakin, Palma 2009; B) 5...c5 6.e3 ( 6.c3 would transpose to th e ga m e .) 6...cxd4 7.xd4 e7 8.b5+ d7 9.0-0 a6 10.e2 g5 11.g4 gxf4 12.gxf5 xf5 13.xf5 fxe3 with chaos! ] [ 5.g3 is a White option is he wants to steer clear from any typical positions. However this doesn't work out too well in AkopianShevelev, Las Vegas 1993 after h5 6.h3 e4 7.g2 e7 8.d3 xf3 9.xf3 f5 10.0-0 b6+ 11.h2 c5 ( 11...d7 ) 12.c3 e3 13.b3 d7 14.a3 xc1 15.fxc1 g5 16.e2 gxf4 17.gxf4 0-0-0 18.f3 dg8 19.g1 c5 20.xg8+ xg8 21.xh5 h4 22.g4 xa3 23.c4 c5 24.cxd5 xd5 25.f2 f5 26.xa7 xd3 27.d1 c2+ 28.h1 g3+ 29.g1 e2+ 0-1 which was all rather one way traffic. ] 5...c5 6.d4 A normal sort of position has been reached which feels like a French Advanced where Black has spent two tempi to get the bishop out "through" the e6 pawn. Seeing as this is the major worry for Black in the French I think Khairullin can be very happy here. This position has actually been reached quite often via an Advanced Caro move order but not by any particularly strong White players. As an early f4 player against the Sicilian you'd think I'd be happy with this position but I find that if f5 isn't playable then the pawn on f4 really restricts the c1 bishop. c6 7.e3 b6 8.c1 [ 8.b3 c4 9.xb6 axb6 has more similarity with the Queen's Gambit but of course only Black could be better here with play on the a file and the easy b5-b4 plan to weaken White's strong pawn chain. ] 8...cxd4 Simplifying and showing that Black has no worries at all here. However he could also try to keep the tension with [ 8...h6 9.e2 cxd4 10.xd4 c5 no w th e po in t o f Nh 6 is reve a le d , f 5 is defended and so White's already got to be

careful. 11.d2 0-0 12.0-0 e4 13.a3 xd4 14.xd4 xd4 15.cxd4 f5 ] 9.xd4 xd4 10.xd4 c5 11.xc5 xc5 12.b4 Zvjaginsev tries to get some counterplay by gaining space on the queenside. [ 12.a3 a6 13.d2 h6 also favours Black but should be holdable. This isn't exactly an advert for the system however. ] 12...b6 13.a4 a6 [ 13...e7 14.b5+ c6 15.xc6+ xc6 if White could get his knight to d4 then he'd be doing well although the c3 pawn is too weak for this plan to be viable. 16.0-0 0-0 ( 16...b6+!? 17.h1 c8 ) 17.e3 fc8 ] 14.a5 c7 [ 14...a7! to stop White being able to castle looks strong 15.b5 ( 15.d2 f6 16.d4 fxe5 17.fxe5 e7 18.xa7 xa7 19.d2 g6 20.f3 0-0 is great for Black, the e5 pawn is going to drop off.) 15...f6 16.b6 b8 17.exf6 xf6 ] 15.d2 e7 [ 15...g5! opening up another front would leave White in trouble. ] 16.e2 c8 17.b3 White gives Khairullin a pawn to develop his pieces. Alternatively [ 17.a3 c6 18.b2 g5! would give Black a big initiative. ] 17...xc3+ 18.xc3 xc3 19.c5 c6 20.xb7 xb4 21.d6+ e7 [ 21...d7! is more accurate so the king is now nearer the queenside as 22.xf7 c2+ 23.d2 xa1 24.xc3 c8+ 25.b2 c2+ 26.xa1 xe2 should be winning for Black. ] 22.xf5+ exf5 23.0-0 So White finally castles and manages to hold despite the pawn deficit. c5 [ 23...b3 i s n ' t e n o u g h 24.ab1 xb1 25.xb1 b8 26.c1 d7 27.f2= ] [ 23...c2 looks like the best winning try but this should be holdable too after 24.fb1 xe2 25.xb4 c8 26.ab1 cc2 27.b7+ e8 28.a7 ( 28.b8+ d7 29.1b7+ c6 and Black's king escapes.) 28...xg2+ 29.f1 cf2+ 30.e1 b2 31.xb2 xb2 32.xa6 ] 24.fb1 [ 24.fc1 xc1+ 25.xc1= should be an 1597

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 easy draw as the a pawns are going to be traded off. ] 24...b8 25.xa6 White forces a few pieces to be exchanged. xa6 26.xb8 xb8 27.a6 xa6 28.xa6 c7 [ 28...g6 is a more accurate move order so t h a t a f t e r 29.f2 Black can reply c2+ 30.f3 c3+ 31.f2 c4 32.f3 d4 ] 29.f2 g6 30.h4 h5 It'd be better if Black didn't have to play this move so that the king could potentially enter via h5. Now it should just be a draw. 31.g3 c2+ 32.e3 c3+ 33.f2 d4 34.d6 [ 34.a4 would be drawn immediately as d3 35.a7+ e6 36.a6+ d5 37.a5+ e4?? 38.e6!+would be a surprising reverse. ] 34...d3 35.g2 d1 36.f2 d3 37.e3 e1+ 38.f2 d1 39.e3 e1+ 2.f4 doesn't really look like a challenge against the Caro but maybe with 3.Nc3 White can at least hope for something while after 3.e5 I have to be honest and prefer Black. ½-½

tend to favour the better-prepared player. ] 4.c3 [ 4.e3 dxe4 5.d2 is a dubious gambit th a t I use d t o en jo y p layin g u n til I wa s crushed by another Kharitinov in no uncertain terms. exf3 6.gxf3 f6 7.c4 otherwise Nd5 is awkward to meet. bd7 8.d3 c5! 9.0-0 b5! left me with nothing but regret for my pawn in Rowson-Kharitinov France, 1994. ] 4...b4 Now we have a French Winawer with f3 and c6 included- moves that neither side really wants to have! 5.a3!? Novel, but not yet a novelty. Normal is [ 5.d3!? but theoretically this does not pose any problems for Black. ] 5...xc3+ 6.bxc3 dxe4 [ 6...b6 is a more solid approach, favoured recently by Illescas, but I doubt this would put anybody off playing this line for White. ] 7.e2!? A very noteworthy novelty- typical of Zvjaginsev. There is a line of the French that goes 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3 5.bc de 6.f3!? and although Black is fine there, it would seem highly odd to play 6...c6? in that position. Therefore, there is reason to believe that 1485 B12 White might have good compensation here. exf3 8.xf3 f6 9.e3! The star conceptZvjaginsev,Vadim bishop goes to d3, queen to g5, and Black Kharitonov,Alexandr struggles to hold his dark squares. bd7 59th ch-RUS 1st League Tomsk RUS (4) [ 9...d5!? 10.f2! b5 ( 10...xc3 11.d3 [Jonathan Rowson] looks too dangerous for Black.) 11.g3 with initiative. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 This awkward-looking move is designed to thwart one of the main 10.d3 b6 11.0-0 b7 [ 11...h6!? ] aims of the Caro-Kann player- to develop the bishop on c8! However, this achievement 12.g5 g8 13.a4! Probing the queenside, comes at the price of time lost and natural and giving the bishop the option of going to s q u a r e t a k e n f r o m t h e k n i g h t o n g 1 . e6 a3. c5 14.e5 h6 15.g3 xe5 16.dxe5 The move that most seasoned Caro-Kann d7 [ 16...e4 17.f3 ( 17.f4 f5 might be players choose, but not the only one. survivable.) 17...d6 18.b5+ f8 19.c6 [ 3...dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 is tempting, but White xc6 20.xc6 f5 21.g4! and the Black i s p r o b a b l y b e t t e r a f t e r 5.f3 e6 position collapses. ] ( 5...exd4 6.c4 is dangerous, and feels like [ 16...d5 17.h7 ] quite a good king's gambit for White.) 6.c3 It is always pleasant to capture a f6 7.xe5 xe4 8.f3 And White 17.xh6 r e t a i n s s o m e s p a c e a d v a n t a g e a n d pawn with the first move of a piece, and after this, the rest is carnage. c7 18.xf7! 0-0-0 prospects for play down the f-file. ] [ 3...g6 4.c3 g7 5.e3 b6 6.d2 19.h7 h8 20.xg7 c6 21.g5 de8 ( 6.a4!? ) 6...xb2 7.b1 a3 8.exd5 22.d1 f8 23.g8 b8 24.f6 h6 f6 is generally considered to be ok for 25.g5 h3 26.xb7+ xb7 27.gxh3 Black, but the positions are very rich, and 1-0 1598

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Belgorod 1989. ] 27...h6 Played to free the bishop from the defence of g5. 28.e3 c3 29.a3 ee7 30.a6+ h5!? This puts the king a bit offside, [ 30...f6 ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 31.c6 d4!? Black decides to head straight 5.c3 c6 6.f3 After this logical move play for a drawn rook and pawn ending, but other l e a d s i n s e m i - f o r c e d s t yl e t o a d r a wi s h bishop moves were also feasible. 32.xd3 33.xd7 xd7 34.fxe3 d3 endgame, and it is because of this that I xe3 The active point. 35.f2 always preferred Botvinnik's move [ 35.a6 xe3 36.xa7 xf3+ 37.g2 b3 [ 6.g5 ] stops the white pawns, and threatens to 6...g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 advance the black ones, thus forcing e6 38.xf7 with equality. ] [ 9...b6 is riskier, but sometimes tried. ] 36.f6 b3 37.xf7 h4 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 12.c6+ 35...xa3 By checking here, and keeping an eye on the 38.xa7 b2+ 39.g1 [ 39.g1 xb4 40.a2 h3 draws easily black rook, W hite obliges the black king to as the white king is too passive to help the move, pawns. ] [ 12.xb5+?! allows d7 ] ½-½ 12...e7 13.xb5 d7 14.xd5+ xd5 If [ 14...exd5? then Fischer gives 15.b4+ e8 16.d4 as clearly better for White, as B13 the black king is so exposed on an open 1487 file. ] Amin,B 2654 15.xd5 exd5 16.0-0 e6 17.e1+ f5 Salem,AR 2564 18.d1 d8 19.e3 d7 20.ac1 ch-Arab Open 2013 (5.1) 12.12.2013 White has a slight development advantage, [Tom Rendle] pressure on the isolated a and d-pawns, and a potential queenside passed pawn, but the 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 opposite side of the spectrum is that the white 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 7.a3 This used to be kingside pawns are shattered, and the black considered the mainline but these days 7.Be2 king may prove to be actively placed. e7 is seen at least as often. Most recently it was 21.d4! The rook heads for the a-file to tie covered in the archives by me and Gawain in Black down to its defence. g5! There was a Durarbeyli-Pantsuluaia d7 8.e2 passing threat of Rf4+. 22.a4 f6 23.b4 [ 8.xf6 was covered a long time ago in [ 23.b3 is the main alternative, d4 24.c5+ Topalov-Leko but it's worth updating this line. ( 24.a5+ i s s i m i l a r g6 25.d2 e8 I don't think White should be better against 26.f1 e5 Black has no problems, accurate play. B o e s c h , J - B r u n e a u , L / H y e r e s 1 9 9 2) A) 8...exf6 doesn't look too bad here 24...g6 25.d2 e8 26.f1 e6 either 9.c5 ( 9.e2! d8 10.c5 Reinderman, D-Khenkin, I/Antwerp 1993, is probably a more accurate move order) when 27.ca5 might be best. ] 9...g5 10.b5 g7 11.ge2 0-0 12.h4 23...d4 Black thereby defends a7. 24.a5+ ae8 13.d2 h6 14.0-0-0 f5 15.d3 g6 25.d2 e8 26.f1 All the same and W hite was slightly better in a moves as in the previous note. d3!? complicated position in Bacrot, E (2709) [ 26...e5 is also a possibility. ] Michiels, B (2462) Antwerp 2009; 27.d1 The first new move, taking aim at the B) 8...gxf6 9.c5 ( 9.f3 g8 10.b4 h6 d-pawn. 11.c5 f5 12.b5 a5 13.g3 e6+ [ 27.a6 e6 28.xe6 fxe6 29.c6 14.e2 c4 and Black was already better led to a draw in Arkhipov, S-Filipenko, A/ in Karthikeyan, M (2435)-Sengupta, D 1486 Adams,Michael Dreev,Alexey Corus Wijk aan Zee NED (4) [Tony Kosten]

B13 2742 2683 16.01.2002

1599

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (2548) Golden Sands 2013) 9...g4 ( 9...h5!? looks interesting as well here, e. g. 10.b4 h6 11.e2 g8 with decent play for Black) 10.ge2 e5 11.dxe5 0-0-0! 12.f3 e6 ( 12...f5! is a bit more active ) 13.exf6 xc5 and Black had more than enough compensation for the pawn in Dancevski, O (2400)-Menkinoski, R (2298) Skopje 2011 ] 8...0-0-0 [ 8...d8! seems a safer way to play the position to me 9.xf6 ( 9.c5 allows e4! after which Black has no real problems) 9...exf6 10.c5 g6 11.f3 g5 ( 11...f5 12.ge2 g7 with equal chances would be more typical for this line) 12.g3 f5 13.ge2 f4!? ( 13...g7 keeps the position level) 14.gxf4 g4 15.g2 g7 16.b5 0-0 17.d6 e7 ( 17...b6! puts White's centre un d er mo re p re ssu re) 18.g3 c8 19.xc8 xc8 20.d3 and Black didn't have quite enough compensation for the pawn although he later went on to win a topsy-turvy encounter in Howell, D (2616)Sandipan, C (2641) Remagen 2011 ] 9.c5! e4 Otherwise Bxf6 is coming with some edge to White 10.f3! [ 10.e3 g5 11.b5 f5 12.f4 g7 ( 12...g4! 13.ge2 b8 and I think Black's chances are preferable here) 13.f3 f7 14.e2 h6 was very unclear in Cherniaev, A (2446)-Ansell, S (2427) Barcelo Hotel, Hinkley Island 2011 ] 10...g4 [ 10...xg5 11.xg5 h6 12.f3 ( 12.xe6 xe6 13.a4 f6 14.d1 is also better for W hite who has the simple plan of 0-0 followed by attacking on the queenside!) 12...g5 13.b4 g4 14.b5! gxf3 15.bxc6 xc6 16.xf3 f5 17.0-0 I think White is better here but it's very unclear g8 18.e1 e6 19.c1 h5 20.a2 h4 21.c3 f6?! 22.b4! b5 23.e2 e8 24.c6! xb4 25.axb4 e4?! ( 25...bxc6 is a better chance but Black is probably still losing after 26.a4 b8 27.a1! f7 28.xc6 but at least he can fight on here with c8 ) 26.f3 now it's all over f5 27.a4 h3 28.xa7 xg2+ 29.h1 1-0 Adams, M (2707)-Nikolaidis, I (2525) Asnieres sur Seine 2006 ]

[ 10...f6 might be worth a look for Black here, with only a small edge to White after 11.e3 g5!? 12.c1 ] 11.e3 xf3 12.xf3 e5! [ 12...f5 looks solid but White keeps a good po sit ion wit h 13.c1! e6 14.0-0 e7 15.b4! ] 13.xe4 [ 13.dxe5 must be critical here and after xc3 14.bxc3 xe5 15.0-0 c6 16.d4 f6 17.e1 xf3+ 18.xf3 xc5 Black is close to equalising, however with the open b-file W hite has some attacking chances on the queenside. ] [ 13.e2 f5! is fine for Black ] 13...exd4 14.xd5 dxe3 15.fxe3?! [ 15.xe3 xd1+ 16.xd1 xc5 is only equal but it's a better option than the game! ] 15...e6 [ 15...f5!? 16.f3 e5 is very dangerous although White seems to be just about OK here after 17.e4! ] 16.f3 e5 17.h3 g4 [ 17...xh3 18.gxh3 d3+! 19.xd3 xd5 20.c4 xc5 21.xf7 e7 and Black's extra activity easily compensate him for the pawn here and with the opposite coloured bishops the game should end in a draw here ] 18.f3 f5 19.0-0-0 xc5 20.b1 b8 21.he1 e5 22.g3 xg3 23.hxg3 f2?! [ 23...d6 24.f4 he8 and it is Black who should be pressing for the win here although W hite is OK after 25.h5! g6 26.xg4 fxg4 27.f6 h8 28.xg4 xg3 29.xd8+ xd8 30.f1 ] 24.d2 e4 25.xe4 fxe4 26.c2 c8 27.c3 c6 [ 27...c7 is solid and it just looks like the game is heading for a draw ] 28.d7 xa3! 29.f1 [ 29.bxa3?! hc8 ] 29...f8 30.f4 d6 31.xe4 f2+ [ 31...g8! is slightly passive but should hold the draw without diff iculty, f or example 32.b3 xg3 33.d5 c5 34.ee7 c8 35.e4 b5+ 36.a3 e5! and neither side can really make progress here ] 32.d3 a6 33.e8+ a7 34.e4 Suddenly Salem is under a little pressure and 1600

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 sadly for him he blunders with f1? [ 34...f5 35.g4 b5 36.xd6 d5+ 37.e4 dxd6 38.xg7 h6 39.ee7 b6 and Black should hold the draw. ] 35.e2! [ 35.xd6? d1+ regains the piece ] 35...f8 36.e6 Now the bishop on d6 is lost and with it the game c2+ 37.d3 xb2 38.xd6 a5 39.ee7 a6 40.e4 1-0

1488 Barle,Janez Fridman,Daniel 11th EICC Men (1) [Gawain Jones]

B13 2415 2650 06.03.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.c5 White tries to exploit the knight on c6 to gain space immediately but I fear this isn't very sound. The alternatives are White's main tries. [ 6.f3 A) 6...e6!? an interesting sideline 7.cxd5 xd5 8.e2 e6 9.0-0 e7 10.e5 0-0 11.g5 e4 12.xc6 xc6 13.xe7 xe7 14.f3 xc3 15.bxc3 ac8 16.e1 fd8 ( 16...a3! ) 17.a4 d5 18.e3 c6 19.b1 and the result is given as a black win in Gdanski-Sargissian, Rijeka 2010 but perhaps it was a draw? Nevertheless, only Black can be better here with play against c3 and a4.; B) 6...g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 B1) 8...e6? I think this was a case of forgetting move order by the American GM elect 9.xb7 db4 10.e5! c2+? This doesn't work, however ( 10...xe5 11.b5+ ec6 12.xc6+ xc6 13.xc6+ e7 14.d5+i s a l s o p r e t t y h o p e l e s s f o r B l a c k .) 11.d2 xd4+ 12.xc2 f5+ 13.d3 xf2+ 14.b1 and Black had run out of checks (and pieces!) in 1-0 BryzgalinLenderman, Dos Hermanas ICC 2010.; B2) 8...xf3 9.gxf3 b6!? Black's attempt at avoiding the drawn ending. ( 9...e6 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 d7 14.xd5+ xd5 15.xd5 exd5

A n o t h e r re ce n t t e st in t h is lin e a n d another draw, Gaponenko-Purtseladze, Rijeka 2010. ) 10.e3 e6 11.0-0-0 e7 B2a) 12.f4 c8?! ( 12...0-0 Black needs to get his king to safety.) 13.f5! 0-0 14.fxe6 a5 15.exf7+ xf7 16.c2 and Black had no real compensation for the pawn. Hess, Ezat, Bursa 2010.; B2b) 12.d5 exd5 13.xd5 A rather premature draw was agreed in Skoberne-Belov, Rijeka 2010. W e're still in theory here of course. ] [ 6.g5 A) 6...e6 7.cxd5 ( 7.c5 If White wants to play a setup with c5 this looks like a better time to attempt it. Plans to dismantle the pawn chain with b6 aren't as effective as the knight will be loose on c6. Black has already played e6 so the break e5 also lacks force. e7 8.b5 0-0 9.ge2 e4 10.xe7 xe7 11.0-0 f5?! this just cedes a big weakness on e5 and a backward pawn. 12.f3 xc3 13.xc3 f4 14.d2 g6 15.d3 h4 16.ae1 Vasquez Schroeder-Romero Araya, Santiago 2010.) 7...exd5 8.f3 e7 9.b5 h6 ( 9...g4= is given by Wells.) 10.h4 0-0 11.h3 e4 12.xe7 xe7 13.0-0= Zumsande-Khenkin, Dresden 2010.; B) 6...dxc4 7.xc4 h6 An interesting move that has recently come to the attention of the top players after W ang Yue used it to defeat Bareev in 2008, and seems to have defused this line rather. I don't think it's coincidence that that it's Rybka's top suggestion! White has tried all the bishop moves here. B1) 8.e3 e6 9.f3 B1a) 9...e7 has also been played but I'd prefer to control e5. Black has already played ...h6 so he doesn't have to worry about the Bg5 pin so I don 't se e a rea so n not t o pla y th e bishop to d6 immediately. 10.0-0 0-0 B1a1) 11.e5 B1a11) 11...c7 12.f4 d8 ( 12...xe5?! 13.fxe5 xc4 14.exf6 xf6 15.xf6 gxf6 16.xh6+- ) 13.d3 d7 14.g4 1601

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 starts to give W hite a decent initiative.; B1a12) 11...b6!? could be the way to go.; B1a13) 11...xe5 I don't like this m o v e i m p r o vi n g W h i t e ' s p a w n structure. 12.dxe5 d7 and here 13.f4 ( Instead 13.f4 was played in Ghaem Maghami-Wu Shaobin, Kolkata 2009.) 13...c5 14.xc5 xc5 15.b5 d7 16.d6 c6 17.e2 b6 18.h1 would give W hite a cle ar ed ge wit h the d 6 knight.; B1a2) 11.c1 b6 12.a3 b7 13.e2 d6 14.fd1 e7 15.e5 fd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.d2 h4= Bareev-W ang Yue, Amsterdam 2008.; B1b) 9...d6 Black has the simple plan of ...0-0, ...b6, ...Bb7 and ...Ne7 and so far White hasn't been able to challenge it. 10.0-0 0-0 B1b1) 11.h3 This move doesn't seem very relevant somehow in the fight for the d5 square. b6 12.c1 b7 13.e2 c8 14.fd1 b4 15.e5 bd5 16.d3 xe3 17.xe3 e7 18.b1 fd8 19.a3 d5 20.xd5 xd5 and Black had coordinated his pieces perfectly and already had the upper hand. FriedelBareev, Las Vegas 2009; B1b2) 11.e2 b6 12.ad1 e7 13.e5 b7 14.d3 ( 14.c1 c8 15.b3 1/2-1/2 Brkic-Zelcic, Zadar 2009 wasn't very promising for White either. ) 14...c8 15.fd1 f5 16.f4? Naiditisch blunders in a similar f ashion to in the previous game xc4-+ Naiditsch-Bareev, Moscow 2009; B1b3) 11.e1 b6 12.e2 b7 13.ad1 e7 14.e5 c8 15.b3 ( 15.c1 is rather artificial and hard t o b e lie ve t h a t it s e t s B la c k a n y p r o b le m s a n d i n d e e d a f t e r ed5 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.g4 f5 19.f3 xe5! 20.xe5 d7 we had a classic case of good knight vs bad bishop which, coupled

with the c file, gave Black a great game. Butnorius-Grachev, Rijeka 2010. ) 15...ed5 16.d3 e7 17.d2 fd8 and Black had a c h i e ve d h i s o b j e c t i ve a n d h a d absolutely nothing to fear. PetrosianProhaszka, Rijeka 2010.; B2) 8.f4 e6 ( Black could attempt 8...xd4 but it's unnecessary to give White the initiative.) 9.f3 d6 10.e5 ( 10.e3?! Radjabov-Anand, Nice 2009. Surely this can't be correct as now White is simply a tempo down on the 8.Be3 lines. Admittedly, tempi aren't so important here but still.) 10...0-0 11.e2 b6 12.a3 b7 13.d1 e8 ( A ca se co u ld b e m ad e f o r 13...a5 14.a2 d5 15.xd5 exd5= ) 14.0-0 f8 15.fe1 d5 16.xd5 exd5 17.a2 a5 18.b1 c8 ( 18...c4 19.c2 g6 seems to be fine for Black too as 20.h4 c8 forces White off the long diagonal.) 19.g3 c4 20.h4 g5 21.c2 g6 22.f4 xe1+ 23.xe1 f6 24.c1 d7 25.xh6 xh6 26.xh6 e8 27.xe8+ xe8 28.f5 d7 29.g4 xf5 30.gxf5 xd4 31.fxg6 and Black successfully held in Aronian-Wang Yue. Linares 2009.; B3) 8.xf6 exf6 9.f3 d6 10.0-0 0-0 11.h3 f5 12.d3 d7 13.xf5 xf5 14.b3 a5 15.a4 fc8 16.b5 c4 17.fc1 a6 18.xd6 xd6 19.b4 d5 was very comfortable for Black and after 20.c5 xc5 21.xc5 e6 22.d5 d7 23.d1 c8 24.b4 c4 25.b3 a4 Black had taken the upper hand and went on to win in Ivanchuk-Aronian, Nice 2009.; B4) 8.h4 e6 ( It looks like the pawn is e d i b l e h e r e 8...xd4 9.xd4 xd4 10.0-0-0 e5 11.f3 xf3 12.xf6 gxf6 13.b5+ e7 14.d5+ d8 15.gxf3 d6 16.d2 e6 17.hd1 c5 18.b6+ e7 19.xa8 xa8 20.d7 xa2 21.g4 d4 22.f4 worked out well for the highly prepared Dutchman and he really could have played on in Aronian-Stellwagen, W ijk aan Zee 2009. ) 9.f3 e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.c1 b6 12.a3 b7 13.a2 d5 14.xd5 1602

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xh4 15.e4 f6 didn't give White a n yt h i n g a t a l l e i t h e r . Na id it sc h - L e Quang Liem, Moscow 2010. ] 6...e5! Opening up the centre and showing the c5 pawn is over-extended. 7.dxe5 g4! A temporary pawn sacrifice but it's White who has to be very careful not to lose material. 8.xd5 [ Perhaps forcing the knight away from attacking f2 is safer although Black will remain on top after 8.h3 gxe5 9.xd5 ( 9.xd5 e6 10.c3 xc5 gives Black a h u g e l e a d i n d e ve l o p m e n t .) 9...e6 10.xd8+ xd8 and White can't hold onto his extra pawn, when Black's lead in d e ve lo p m e n t will a wa rd h im t h e b e t t e r c h a n c e s , f o r e x a m p l e , 11.e3 b4 ( 11...e7!? ) 12.b5+ ec6 13.c1 a6 14.e2 e5 15.f1 ed3 when c5 (or b2) will drop ] 8...e6 9.xd8+ xd8 10.g5 [ 10.h3 A) 10...d4!? 11.hxg4 ( 11.b5+ xb5 12.xb5 xe5 13.c7+ d7 14.xe6 xe6 15.e3 xc5 and Black is still more active.; 11.d3 xe5 ) 11...c2+ 12.e2 xa1 13.g5 d7 14.f3 c2 15.g3 a6 16.c6 bxc6 when Black should be better with the extra exchange but it's a bit messy.; B) 10...gxe5 would transpose to the previous note but Black has the additional possibility of ] 10...xc5!? Very tempting but [ t h e s i m p l e 10...d7 is simple and comfortable for Black. 11.f3 xc5 12.e4 b4+ 13.d2 ( 13.c3 0-0! ) 13...xd2+ 14.fxd2 0-0 ] 11.xd8 xf2+ 12.d1 [ 12.e2! would be more accurate, so that Nf2 doesn't come with check. The game might continue. A) 12...c4+ 13.d2 e3+ 14.e1 and Black doesn't have more than perpetual. ( 14.c2? b4+-+ ); B) B l a c k ' s b e s t m i g h t b e 12...xd8 li k e t h e g a m e b u t t h i s i s d e f i n i t e l y a better version for White.; C) 12...d4+ 13.d2 xd8 C1) 14.f3 e3+ 15.d3 f5+ 16.c4 ( 16.e4 xe4+ 17.xe4 c2

and Black wins back at least the exchange. ) 16...xf3 17.gxf3 xe5+ Black gets a couple of pawns for the exchange and has the advantage with the bishop pair and better coordinated pieces.; C2) 14.d1 e1+ 15.xe1 ( 15.d3 c6 16.f3 a5 e5 is dropping when Black has decent compensation for the exchange. ) 15...c2+ 16.d2 xa1 17.e2 e7 ( 17...xe5? 18.f3 and the knight can't escape out of the corner as xf3+ 19.xf3 xa2 20.c3 b3+ 21.e3 and the bishop is trapped on a2. ) 18.xg4 d8+ 19.c1 xg4 20.f3 is more comfortable for White as it's still tricky to get the knight out of the corner. ] 12...xd8 13.f3 [ Again 13.h3 should be considered gxe5 14.f3 xf3 15.e2! ( 15.gxf3 c7 White has a nominal material advantage but Black's bishop pair, coupled with his big lead in development offer him the better chances. ) 15...b6 16.xf3 d4+ 17.g3 h5!? 18.d3 h4+ 19.h2 c7+ 20.g1 h5 and Black still has good compensation for the exchange but whether it's enough for an advantage is unclear. ] 13...b6 14.b5 This gives up White's material advantage and leaves him clearly worse. [ B e t t e r w o u l d h a v e b e e n 14.e2 w h e n i t ' s s t i l l n o t s o c l e a r . f2 ( 14...e7!? ) 15.g1 g4 16.d5 h3 17.h1 g1+ 18.d1 xf3 19.h3! e6 20.xb6 fxe5 21.a4 ] 14...f2+ 15.e2 xh1 16.xh1 d4+ 17.d3 [ 17.xd4 xd4 picks up the e5 pawn as 18.d1 drops the exchange to g4+-+ ] 17...xb5 [ 17...xf3 18.gxf3 e7 is also very strong for Black. ] 18.xb5 e7 The dust has settled and we're left with equal material but Black's bishop pair gives him a clear advantage while e5 may still drop off. 19.bd4 d8 20.b3 g5 21.h3 h5 [ 21...f5+ 22.c3 ( 22.e3 h5-+ ) 22...g6 is an alternative method to probe. ] 1603

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.e4 d5+ 23.f5 xd4 24.xd4 xg2 25.h2 xh3+ 26.xh3 xd4 27.xh5 The advantage has been transformed from the bishop pair to an extra pawn and Fridman shows his 2650 technique in converting. [ 27.xg5 h4! ] 27...d2 28.h8 g4 29.b8? White can't let th e g p awn t h ro ugh . No w t h e p o sit io n is hopeless. [ 29.xg4 xa2 30.b8 b6 31.f5 f2+ 32.e4 e6 still gives Black great winning chances though. ] 29...g3 30.xb7+ f8 31.b8+ g7 32.b4 f2+ 33.g5 g2 34.g4 xa2 35.f5+ [ 35.h4+ h6 36.h3 e2 37.h2 ( 37.xg2 xg2 38.xg2 g5 is an easily winning king and pawn ending.) 37...xe5 38.xg2?! h5+ 39.g1 g5-+ ] 35...f8 36.g3 e7 37.g4 b2 38.f5 d7 39.g5 a5 40.g4 f2+ 41.e4 e6 42.g8 e2+ 43.d3 b2 44.c3 f2 45.d4 f5 46.e3 b2 47.d4 d2+ 48.e3 a2 49.d4 a4 50.bxa4 xa4+ 51.e3 g4 52.xg4 xg4 53.f2 f5 An aggressive game by Fridman who always held the initiative. I don't think we'll see many repeats of 6.c5 [ Black doesn't allow the final trick. 53...h3?! 54.g1 g3?? ( 54...h4! 55.xg2 g4 56.f2 f4 57.e2 xe5 58.e3 f5 59.f3 f6 would still be winning. ) 55.e6= ] 0-1

1489 Bhend,Edwin Ciric,Dragoljub M Zurich Zürich (Switzerland) [Nigel Davies]

B13

1990

Does 6.Bg5 threaten to capture on f6? Probably not, at least when Black is able to recapture with the g-pawn. But after 6...g6 it is interesting. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 f6 6.g5 g6 Adopting an other familiar plan of development, but now it becomes far more reasonable for White to capture on f6, due to the resulting weakness of Black's d-pawn. There are several other

alternatives to be considered: [ a) 6...c7 7.e2 ( 7.d2 g4 8.b3 e6 9.h4 d6 10.g3 0-0-0 11.gf3 xg3 12.hxg3 e5 13.dxe5 xe5 14.xe5 xe5+ 15.f1 was fine for Black in Kh a lilb eili - Flo h r, USS R Ch . , Ye re va n 1955 ) 7...g4 8.f3 h5 9.h3 g6 ( 9...e6 10.f4 g6 11.b5 would transpose) 10.b5 e6 11.f4 0-0-0 12.0-0 d6 13.g3 f5 14.g2 h3 15.e1 xg2 16.xg2 h6 17.e3 e7 18.d2 f5 19.c4 led to double-edged play in Emeljanov - Chaika, Yalta 1996 ] [ b) 6...h6 7.h4 e6 8.f3 e7 9.bd2 0-0 10.0-0 e8 11.xe7 xe7 12.e1 gave White the freer game in Mosionzhik Rootare, Riga 1968 ] [ c) 6...b6 7.c2 h6 8.f4 g5 9.g3 h5 10.d2 xg3 11.hxg3 g7 12.f4 g4 13.gf3 gxf4 14.gxf4 xf3 15.xf3 left White with the better pawn structure in Penttinen - Kotilainen, Kuopio 1992 ] [ d) 6...d6 7.d2 g6 was Kurajica - Kupka, K a p f e n b e r g 1 9 7 0 a n d n o w j u s t 8.gf3 w a s p r o b a b l y b e s t ( in the game White played the artificial 8.e2 )] [ e) 6...e5 7.dxe5 xe5 8.b5+ c6 9.xf6 xf6 10.xd5 won a pawn for very little in Stuber - Weidinger, Mehlingen 1992 ] 7.xf6! exf6 8.f3 Well played. White positions his pieces so that they put pressure on d5. e6 9.e2 d6 10.d2 0-0 11.f1 b6 12.b1 e7 13.e3 g7 [ In my opin ion B lack should pla y 13...f5 . Now White comes up with a highly creative plan. ] 14.g4! Not only preventing ...f6-f5, but laying the foundations for a kingside attack. h8 15.g3 c7 16.g1 f4 17.f1 ad8 18.e1 a6 19.h4 b5 20.a3 b8 21.ef5+ xf5 22.gxf5 xg3 23.xg3 d6 24.g4 b7 25.g2 a5 26.h5 g5 27.h6+! xh6 28.f4! g8 29.fxg5+ fxg5 [ After 29...xg5 there follows 30.h4+ g7 ( 30...h5 31.xh5+ xh5 32.h1# ) 31.xg5+ etc. ] 30.h5+! g7 [ And not 30...xh5 31.h1# ] 31.xg5+ f8 32.xg8+ xg8 33.xh7 b4 34.axb4 axb4 35.h2 f6 36.e5 bxc3 37.bxc3 g5+ 38.g3 d2+ 39.e2 xc3 1604

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 40.e8+ xe8 41.b5+ xb5 d7 43.a3 h6 44.a4 c6 b6 46.c8+ b5 47.c5+ a6 b5 49.c6+ b6 50.c8+ b5 a6 52.h3 f6 53.c8+ a5 a6 55.d8+ 1-0

1490 Bologan,Viktor Velicka,Petr Ambassador Open (5) [Neil McDonald]

42.xc3 45.a6+ 48.xd5 51.c5+ 54.a8+

B13 2585 2465 29.12.1999

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.f3 g4 An interesting way to avoid the mainline is [ 6...a6!? for example 7.g5 e6 8.e2 g6 9.xf6 exf6 10.0-0 g7 11.c5 f5 12.d2 f6 13.fd1 f4 with unclear play in BrynellSpeelman, Solingen 1998. ] 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 12.c6+! [ More accurate than the immediate 12.xb5+ d7 13.xd7+ xd7 as W hite wants to force an endgame in which the black king is on the worse square e7. ] 12...e7 13.xb5 d7 14.xd5+ xd5 15.g5+!? [ For 15.xd5 see David-Velicka ] 15...f6 16.xd5 exd5 17.e3 e6 18.0-0-0 b4 19.b1 [ A dangerous alternative is 19.a3!? hc8+ ( H e r e A a g a a r d m e n t i o n s 19...a5 when he regards 20.b4 in reply as being a 'berserk' move, and being from the land of the Vikings he would probably know a thing or two about that! However b6 21.he1 looks good for White, for if xe3+ 22.xe3+ d6 23.de1 when the fact that the moves b2-b4 and Ba5 have been thrown in favours White as the black king is denied the useful c5 square.) 20.b1 c5 21.he1 xe3 ( not 21...d6 22.f4+ c6 23.e6+ ) 22.xe3+ d6 23.de1 c4! A) Black also held the balance after 24.e7 h4 25.1e6+ c5 26.xg7 xh2 27.xf6 xf2 28.xh7 b8! 29.c7+ d4 30.c2 xc2 31.xc2 a5

32.a6 c8+ 33.d2 ( 33.b3? e3 34.xa5 d4 ) 33...b8 34.c2 c8+ 35.d2 and a draw was agreed in BekikovDreev, Moscow 1992.; B) 24.e6+ c5 25.a6 f4 26.c1+ A critical position in the endgame! b5! This appears to be OK for Black. 27.ac6 c4! 28.1xc4 dxc4 29.c7 e8 30.xa7 e2 31.b7+ c6 32.b4 c5 33.b7 xf2 34.a4 xh2 35.a5 h1+ 36.a2 e1 37.xg7 b5 38.xh7 xa5 and a draw was agreed after 10 more moves in W ahls-Brunner, Biel 1994. ] [ White can also try for direct pressure on d5 with 19.d3 which was Karpov's choice in his epic 99[!] move battle against Kramnik at Linares in 1993. This went hd8 20.a3 ac8+ 21.b1 c5 22.e1 d6! B e t t e r t h a n ( 22...f7 as Black keeps his king involved in the central struggle.) 23.g1 ( In Informator Kramnik suggests either 23.h4!? or; 23.f4+ c6 24.e6+ b7 25.e3 d4 26.f4 e8 with equal chances. ) 23...g6 24.gd1 e6 25.e1 xe3 26.dxe3+? ( Either 26.fxe3!? or; 26.exe3+!? f7 27.d4 are given as equal by Kramnik. The game move leads to the worse position.) 26...f5! Black's active king is now the dominant f eature of the position. 27.e7 f4! 28.1e3 a5 29.h3 h5 30.7e6 g5 31.a6 d4 32.f4+! ( 32.xa5+? h4 ) 32...f5 33.xa5+ xf4 34.d3 e4 and in the ensuing struggle Black missed several good winning chances before a draw was agreed. ] 19...hd8 20.d3 d7 21.c1 a5! This fine move prevents Black being tied down to the a pawn after White's projected Rc6 and Ra6. 22.c6+ f5 23.b6 e7 24.b5 e6 25.a4 b4 26.c5 xc5 27.xc5 e5! While White strives to create a passed pawn, Black begins to utilise his own assetst h e a c t i ve k i n g a n d t h e p o t e n t i a l o f h i s kingside pawns. If W hite loses control then the passed d pawn will also become dangerous. This is exactly what happens in the game. 28.a2 h5 29.a3 g5 30.b4 axb4+ 31.xb4 g4 32.a5 [ Bologan wants to beat his much lower rated opponent, but his winning attempt is 1605

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 highly risky. Instead equal is 32.fxg4 hxg4 33.h3 etc. ] 32...f5 33.a3 d4 34.c6 b7+ 35.b6 c7 36.a6 c2! The counterattack will prove deadly. 37.a5 xf2 38.fxg4 hxg4 39.h3 gxh3 40.xh3 a2+ 41.b5 f4 42.h4 e5 43.hh6 b2+ 44.c6 xb6+ 45.xb6 f3 46.h2 e4 47.a7 d4 48.h7 d3 49.e7+ d4 50.d7+ c4 51.c7+ d4 52.d7+ e3 53.e7+ d2 54.f7 e2 55.e7+ d1 56.f7 d2 57.b7 xa7+ 58.xa7 c2 59.c7+ b1 60.d7 f2 61.xd2 f1 62.d6 c2 63.b7 c3 64.e6 c4 White resigned. The last couple of moves as given in ChessBase are distinctly odd, as White could win the rook with [ 64...f7+ ] 0-1

1491 Caro Kann Panov Attack Questions From Reader [John Watson]

B13

From Guy Whitehouse. He writes: In his book starting out with the Caro-Kann Joe Gallagher gives a sideline: 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6. I thought this might be a useful try against players of my own level (ecf 93). Gallagher goes on to give a line 6 Bg5 Be6 7 a3 Qd7 8 Bxf6 gxf6 9 c5 Bg4 10 f3 Bf5 and says it is unclear. To be honest neither sides play seems ideal. Does white need a3? Does black need ...Bg4 if he has played ...Be6, wouldn't a developing move be better? I like this idea of 6...Be6 for black but could you tell me how to improve on this analysis? If White goes down the main line: 6 Nf3 Bg4 7 cxd5 Nxd5, Gallagher gives a long line after 8 Qb3 but suggests that 8 Be2 might be an improvement 8...e6 9 00 Be7 10 h3 Bh5 11 Qb3. I was wondering what current thinking on all this was, and whether you would advise me to steer clear of this whole line and just play the normal 5...e6 and 6... Bb4 line, or whether there really is something for Black in the 5... Nc6 line." There are several good questions here, all ones that I have struggled with, particularly in teaching. Let me try to answer by appending comments to specific moves. I'll

say something about my own experiences in these lines. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 Okay, this is the basic Panov Attack main position. c6 [ 5...e6 6.f3 b4 is the line that Guy refers to, and of course 6...Be7 is quite playable. If you look at current theory, Black seems to be doing well enough. You have to be willing to take one isolated pawn positions in the main lines. One interesting idea to research is 7.cxd5 [This is by far the most common move] ( 7.d3 dxc4 8.xc4 is one of those isolated pawn positions that in fact comes from the Nimzo-Indian Defence as well. I think that it is one of the easier cases to defend, but you should study it concretely. I like to play for ...a6 and ... b5 rather than ...b6, because the former stakes out more light squares, and the move ...b4 can be inconvenient for White even if he plays a3.) 7...xd5 8.c2 ( 8.d2 c6 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 e7! can give White irritating problems because of ...Ndb4 and ... Nxd4, for example, 11.a3 f6 or 11 Qe2!?, when 11...Ndb4!? 12 Be4 b6!? is interesting . There's a fair amount of theory on all this.) 8...c6 9.d3 a5!? 10.a3 xc3 11.bxc3 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.b5+ , and now I think that e7!? is underrated, with the idea 14.0-0 e5! 15.a4 b6! 16.a3+ c5 ] [ I ' v e n e v e r l i k e d o r b e l i e v e d i n 5...g6 , and always won against it, so I'll let you investigate on your own! ] 6.g5 [ 6.f3 g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.e2 ( 8.b3 is the long line leading to the famous endgame xf3 9.gxf3 e6 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 , which is f in e f or Bla ck, b ut sho uld b e studied. Houska recommends 9...Nb6, but in this column you'll see that I am sceptical) 8...e6 9.0-0 e7 ( 9...b4 could be played h e r e a s we l l. T h is st r u c t u r e a n d p i e c e placement remind me of a Alapin Sicilian (2 c3) ) 10.h3 h5 11.b3 . It seems that Black has an easy solution here with b6 , for example, 12.xd5 ( 12.xb6 axb6 doesn't present any problems that I can see. ) 12...xb3 13.axb3 exd5 . Maybe White can try for some pressure by 14.g4 g6 15.b5 with the idea Ne5, but 1606

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 simply f6 looks fine, because Black's king o r d e r wi t h 5...f5 6.b3 d7 7.f3 can safely settle on d7, and even the when it seems that e6 is best. ( Instead exchange of Black's bishop on g6 won't 7...a6 8.bd2 e6 9.h3 h6 10.e2 f6 mean much, (assuming that it can even be 11.e5 xe5 12.xe5 e7 13.c4 0-0 enforced), because a knight is as good as a 14.c5 Morozevich, A (2678) -Anand, V bishop in this structure. In fact, there's an (2753) Monte Carlo 2003 slightly favoured immediate issue of how to proceed, f or White. ) 8.b5 d6 9.e5 c7 10.c4 example, 16.h4?! ( 16.e3 d7! dxc4 11.g3 0-0-0! 12.xc6 bxc6 with the idea 17.fc1 a6 18.f1?! b4! ) 13.xg7 e7 14.c3 g6 ( 14...hg8! 16...d7 17.e3 ( 17.xg6 hxg6 18.g2 is also strong.) 15.xg6 hxg6 16.e5 a6 19.xc6+ bxc6 20.e1 hb8 hg8 17.f6 c5 18.0-0-0? cxd4 with advantage) 17...a6 18.e2 f7!? ( or 19.xd4 e7 0-1 Pap, G (2503)-Boros, D 18...c2 19.fc1 b4 20.f5 xf5 (2485) Budapest 2009.; 21.gxf5 hc8= )] B) 5...f6 6.d3 would transpose to 5... 6...e6 Leko played this several times. Nf6. ] [ 6...a5 7.xf6 exf6 is a fascinating line. 4...c6 5.c3 c7!? With the intention of As White I once tried 8.a3 dxc4 9.xc4 depriving the dark squared bishop a good d6! 10.e2+ f8! and the two bishops square on which to develop. led the game to a sorry end. ] [ 5...f6 is still the main move and has seen 7.a3 This is probably the main move, and can quite a few recent tests. be justified by So the point of a3 is to support A) 6.f4 g4 7.b3 has been the c5 and b4, but also to wait a move and not let mainline of the Exchange Variation and Black have the pleasure of pinning W hite's analysed quite deeply on ChessPublishing. knight on f3. I've just added some recent games which [ 7.xf6 gxf6 8.f3 d7 9.c5 g4!? seem to confirm that Black has nothing to with pressure on the d-pawn ( or 9...g8 )] fear. c8 ( 7...d7 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 7...d7 8.xf6 gxf6 9.c5 g4 This gets out xf3 10.xf3 d6 11.e5 c7 12.xd6 of the way of the e-pawn and tries to win a xd6 13.0-0 0-0 14.fe1 tempo or f orce a weakness. 10.f3 f5 1/2-1/2 Predojevic, B (2639)-Zelcic, R . Now one game went 11.b5 e5 12.ge2 (2547) Rijeka 2010 was straightforward 0-0-0 13.0-0 with very unclear play. So it's up considering Black was outrated by almost to you, but if you play 5...Nc6 6 Nf3, there 100 points. ) 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 isn't anything better than 6...Bg4, so you'd A1) 9...h5 this concept is given an better be ready to play that over-over-overexclamation mark by Wells. 10.0-0 e7 analysed endgame. Otherwise, give 5...e6 a 11.fe1 ( 11.e5 xe5 12.xe5 0-0 try. is given as equal by W ells.) 11...a6 12.e5 xe5 13.xe5 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.c4 0-0 16.ac1 d7 17.c5 1492 B13 c6 18.d3 a5 19.c3 b6 20.cxb6 xb6 21.c2 d7 Heberla, B (2516)Conquest,Stuart 2523 Macieja, B (2624) W arsaw 2010 and Houska,Jovanka 2433 Black had equalised and actually went 97th ch Canterbury ENG (11) 06.08.2010 on to win.; [Gawain Jones] A2) 9...e7 10.f1!? Very creative but nonetheless I can't really recommend it. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 h5 11.e1 a6 12.c2 b5 13.b4?! I d e c i d e d we s h o u l d h a v e a l o o k a t t h e and this just gives away further targets. Exchange Variation as a few strong players g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.d3 a5 16.a3 have been trying it out recently. axb4 17.axb4 b7 18.b3 0-0 19.h4 [ 4.f4 c6 5.c3 is a move order which e4 20.fd2 a3 21.b1 fa8 deprives Black of his ...Qc7 plan. Howell, D (2616)-So, W (2674) Biel 2010 A) Anand tried to exploit White's move 1607

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and Black had the easier game.; B) 6.h3 g6 7.f3 I think it makes sense to play ...Qc7 once White has committed his k n igh t t o f 3 a s t h e n it 's h a rd e r t o challenge the h2-b8 diagonal. ( 7.f4 g7 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 f5 10.xf5 gxf5 11.bd2 e4 12.e1 e6 13.f1 e7 14.e5 g6 15.h2 Ulibin, M (2540)Ri a z a n t s e v, A ( 2 6 8 2 ) B i e l 2 0 1 0 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.dxe5 b6 and I prefer Black. ) 7...c7 B1) 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 ( 9.e3 f5 10.a3 xd3 11.xd3 0-0 12.ac1 fc8 13.e2 a6 14.c4 Dimakiling, O (2441)-Le Quang Liem (2689) Olongapo City 2010 and the young Vietnamese GM was starting to take the upper hand. ) 9...0-0 10.a3 a6 11.c2 e8 12.g5 b5?! I don't like this move as it j u s t g i v e s W h i t e a t a r g e t . ( Again 12...f5 should be considered.) 13.a4 bxa4 14.xa4 a5 15.e3 e6 16.h4 was a little better for White. Efimenko, Z (2640)-Landa, K (2635) Dagomys 2010.; B2) 8.bd2 f5 9.b3 xd3 10.xd3 g7 11.0-0 0-0 12.e1 has been reached in two games of Ukraine's top players but both games ended in a draw. e6 ( 12...e4 13.g5 xg5 14.xg5 h6 15.h4 e6 16.g3 d8 17.e2 a5 18.ae1 xb3 19.axb3 b6 20.c2 a5 21.e5 d8 22.e3 Ivanchuk, V (2748)-Kovchan, A (2595) Da gom ys 2 01 0 a n d W hit e sta rte d a kingside initiative although Black held with accurate defence.) 13.a4 fe8 14.g3 e4 15.f4 d8 16.h4 h6 17.g2 g5 18.hxg5 hxg5 19.e3 f5 s a w B l a c k st a rt in g t o t a ke o ve r t h e in it ia tive . P on o m a riov, R (27 3 4 )-L e Quang Liem (2681) Dortmund 2010 ] 6.h3 Preventing Black's plan of ...Bg4. [ 6.e2 g4 looks to be fine for Black. 7.f3 h5 ( 7...d7 8.f4 e5 9.dxe5 xe5 10.0-0 d6 11.d4 e7 is given as unclear by W ells and looks promising for Black to me.) 8.f4 f6 9.xh5 xh5 10.0-0 e6 11.f4 g6 12.e3 d6 13.f3 f5 14.d2 0-0 15.ac1 was reached in two games of Jurcik recently although he lost

both with the W hite pieces. Jurcik, M (2510)-Papaioannou, I (2630) Rijeka 2010. ] 6...g6 [ 6...f6 7.e2 d7 ( 7...e5 is annotated b y V igo rit o in t h e g a m e K ri vo b o ro d o v Jobava and looks like Black's best against W hite's setup.) 8.0-0 g6 9.f4 c8 10.d2 g7 11.e1 f5 12.b5 a6 13.xc6+ xc6 14.g4!? e6 was perhaps a little better for White but I don't have any more moves of Neve dn ich y, V (2 592 ) Svetushkin, D (2560) Vrnjacka Banja 2010. ] 7.e2 This looks like the most sensible setup, immediately trying to prove Black's queen vulnerable and retake the f4 square. h6!? A d i re c t a t t e m p t t o p re ve n t B f 4 b u t t h i s doesn't work out very well. [ 7...f5 has been the most common try to justify Black's setup. 8.xf5 gxf5 A) 9.g4!? An interesting aggressive try opening up the h file. fxg4 10.hxg4 e6 11.f4 d6 12.xd6 xd6 13.d3 f6 14.g5 e4 15.d2 xg5 16.f4 e4 17.xe4 dxe4 18.xe4 0-0-0 19.xh7 f5 20.h1 xh7 21.xh7 e7 22.0-0-0 ( Instead 22.h5 was agreed drawn in Bischoff, K (2533)-Dautov, R (2631) Essen 2001. ) 22...d5 23.h6 a6 24.d2 and W hite has chances to convert his extra pawn.; B) 9.d3 e6 10.g4!? This might be a slight nuance over the previous note. fxg4 ( 10...ge7 11.a3 a6 12.f4 seems slightly better for White.) 11.hxg4 f6 12.f3 e4 13.d2 d6 14.b3 0-0-0 15.f4 e7 16.0-0-0 c4 Velickovic, S (2410)-Bodiroga, P (2435) S o m b o r 2 0 0 8 17.d2 xd2 18.xd2 with the advantage.; C) 9.f4 d7 ( 9...b6 10.b3 e6 11.a3 xb3 12.axb3 was agreed drawn in Maiorov, O (2469)-Panarin, M (2486) Krasnodar 2005 although White retains a slight advantage thanks to his pressure on the a file and potential g4 and c4 breaks.) 10.d2 e6 11.f3 d6 12.0-0 f6 13.e5 c7 14.d3 xf4 15.exf4 0-0-0 16.e1 hg8 17.e2 b8 18.a4 g5 19.e5 dg8 1/2-1/2 Degraeve, J ( 2 5 4 4 ) - M e d ve g y , Z ( 2 5 5 6 ) G e r m a n y 2008. ] 1608

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 7...g7 8.f4 e5 9.dxe5 xe5 ( 9...xe5 10.b5+ d7 Braun, C-Sundararajan, K Maastricht 2009 11.xd7+ xd7 12.0-0 again slightly favours White thanks to play against Black's isolated pawn.) 10.xe5 xe5 11.d2 ge7 12.f3 f6 13.a4 ( Instead 13.0-0?! allowed xh3! Asmundsson, I (2359)-Plumanns, D (2199) Panormo 2001.) 13...0-0 14.f4 xf4 15.xf4 leaves White with the advantage as he can play against Black's isolated pawn. ] 8.0-0 xc1 [ 8...f5 was played in the only other game to reach this position but wasn't fully convincing. 9.xf5 gxf5 10.xh6 xh6 11.c1 d6 12.c4!? ( 12.a3 a6 13.e1 g8 14.f4 also looks very promising.) 12...dxc4 13.xc4 f4 14.d2 d8 15.f3 b4 16.b5+ f8 17.xb7 d5 18.c3 g8 19.xd5 xd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.ac1 Delgado Ramirez, N (2557)Labollita, M (2452) Santa Clara 2004 left W hite a pawn up and with the better structure. ] 9.xc1 Black now has a problem to develop her kingside. White has no weaknesses in his camp and can pile up his pieces on the e file and utilise the e5 square. Meanwhile Black really struggles to find a good plan. f6 [ Perhaps 9...f8!? could be considered as a way to slowly coordinate Black's pieces although I believe W hite still has a pleasant position. ] 10.h6 g8 11.g3 d8 12.e1 [ 12.d2 e6 13.e2 to prevent the knight jumping into f4 d7 14.f3 would be the quickest way to stick a knight into e5 but W hite can af ford to be quite slow in his manoeuvering. ] 12...e6 13.e5 d7 [ Black should probably try and cause some disruption in White's position with 13...b6 14.c1 ( 14.b3 xd4! is messy. ) 14...f8 15.d2 g7 would at least let Black connect her rooks. ] 14.d2 0-0-0 15.ae1 [ 15.f3 b8 16.a4 would also have been very pleasant for White as then Black would have to def end against threats on both flanks. ] 15...b8 16.f3 c6 17.c2 a6 18.5e3!

Making space for the knight. h8 19.e5 W h it e h a s a wo n d e rf u l p o si t io n wi t h f u l l control of the position whilst not allowing Black any counterplay. I'm sure if the Exchange Variation reached this position by force then a) We'd all play this as White and b) No one would play the Caro-Kann any longer. e8 20.b1 Retaining pressure on Black's position. 21.Nxg6 is a threat and thus Black forces White's pieces backwards. [ It was possible to win material with 20.xg6! but perhaps Stuart didn't want to complicate matters after hxg6 21.xh8 a4 although 22.xd8+ xd8 23.xa4 must leave White firmly on top with the two rooks and pawn for the queen. ] 20...g8 21.h4 g5 Aggression although the light squares and f5 in particular are now extremely vulnerable. 22.g4 f6 23.d1 f4?! I presume Jovanka just missed White's response. [ 23...h5 would be better although White is still clearly better after 24.f5 ] 24.f3! H i t t i n g b o t h e 7 a n d g 5 . e6 Retreating but this doesn't save the pawn either. [ It was necessary to try 24...e6 although 25.xg5 h6 26.f3 e4 27.e2! doesn't leave Black with any compensation for the pawn. ] 25.f5 g4 What else? 26.xg4 [ 26.hxg4 h5 27.xe6 fxe6 28.g5 xg4 29.xe6 b6 30.xd8 xe3 31.xe3 xd8 32.f3 also leaves White with a decisive advantage. ] 26...xg4 27.hxg4 g8 28.h4 [ 28.e5 looks more logical but by this point White's a pawn up and continues to exert pressure on Black's camp. ] 28...f4 29.hf5 d7 30.f3 g5 31.e5 g6 32.c1 [ 32.b3! wi n s a n o t h e r p a wn a s g5 33.xe7 b1+ 34.h2 xf3+ 35.gxf3 f8 36.b6 is a decisive attack. ] 32...g5? The position was difficult already but this just loses. 33.xe7! xf3+ 34.gxf3 xe7 35.xe7 h5 36.xh5 [ 36.gxh5 was perhaps stronger but at any rate Black is three pawns down now and could be forgiven for resigning. Houska bravely fights on, presumably because it 1609

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 was the last round of the Championship but the result is never in doubt. ] 36...f5 37.f4+ a7 38.c7 c6 39.g7 e6 40.xg8 xg8 41.g7 e6 42.e5 h6 43.f4 e6 44.g3 e1+ 45.g2 fxg4 46.fxg4 b1 47.g5 b5 48.f5 f1+ 49.h2 d3 50.xd5 xb2 51.g2 c2 52.a3 b5 53.c5+ a8 54.c8+ a7 55.c5+ a8 56.d5 d3 57.f8+ a7 58.f3 c2 59.e3+ a8 60.d4 d7 61.f6 h7 62.g6 h3+ 63.g1 h6 64.f7 a7 65.g7 c1+ 66.h2 h6 67.g8 e6+ 68.g2 1-0

1493 David,P Velicka,Petr Czech Extraleague 1998-9 (1) [Neil McDonald]

B13 2435 2449 31.10.1998

19.d3 c7 20.b3 e7 21.b5 d8 22.e1 f5 The black king is poised to make a meal of White's kingside pawns should the bishop ever move from e3, so after a repetition White tries another method. 23.d1 e6 24.e1 f5 25.c1 xc1+ 26.xc1 d7 27.a5 g5! Black is able to meet the threat to a7 in an active way. 28.c2 f4 29.h3! [ Here 29.xa7 xa7 30.xa7 xh2 looks risky for White. ] 29...xe3 30.fxe3 Now White's pawns will prove just as fragile as Black's. g5 31.b4 h5 32.d3 e5 33.a6 b7 34.a3 f6 35.a5 f5 Black's active king and mobile kingside pawns balance White's queenside majority. 36.a6 f4 37.g6 f5 38.d6 e5 39.g6 f5 40.d6 e5 ½-½

1494 B13 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 f6 Dolzhikova,Kateryna 2129 5.c3 xd5 6.f3 c6 7.d4 g4 8.b3 Gutsko,Anastasiya 2258 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ ch-UKR Women (3) 06.05.2004 xb5 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 d7 [Andrew Martin] 14.xd5+ xd5 15.xd5 [ The zwischenzug 15.g5+ is analysed in TYPICALTRICKS 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Bologan-Velicka. Here after the immediate cxd5 4.d3 Lost a bit of sting over the years? exchange of queens Black succeeds in Too simplistic? No way! 4 Bd3 remains as holding the endgame with a precise mixture d a n g e r o u s a s e ve r a n d B l a c k m u s t p a y o f p a t i e n t d e f e n c e a n d t h r e a t e n e d respect to W hite's only outwardly simple counterplay. ] development. c6 5.c3 g6 A pretty effective 15...exd5 16.e3 method. Black's move not only prepares the [ Another interesting example is 16.f4 d7 obvious ... Bg7 but also supports a possible ... Black decides his king will be best placed on Bf5. 6.h3 h6!? In order to recapture on f5 c6, though it is eventually driven back over with the Knight. 7.f3 [ 7.a3!? is an eccentri c way to bring the to e6. 17.0-0-0 c6 18.d3 d6! 19.e3 Queen's Knight out. This is no way to give ( If 19.xd6 xd6 20.hd1 hc8+ 21.b1 c5 defends. ) 19...e5 This is an Black any problems, although it's not a mistake: g7 8.f4 f6 9.d2 f7 10.e2 excellent diagonal for the bishop. 20.b1 e5! Ploughing through in the centre hd8 21.c1+ d6 22.f4 f6 23.c5 e6 24.b4 d7 25.c2 b8 26.d2 e7 highlights the poor position of the Na3. 27.f5+ xf5 28.cxd5+ xd5 29.xd5+ 11.e3 0-0 12.c2 e6 Roos, L-Khenkin, I/ e6 30.d4 f5! As usual the key to France 1999 Quite clearly, Black is fine. ] [ 7.g4!? is another amazing move. I would defending the position is the active use of the kingside pawns. 31.a4 g5 32.f3 h5 never have thought of this one but he just 33.h3 a6 34.c4 d5 35.d3 and a draw wants to cover f5. g7 8.e3 f6 9.d2 f7 10.f4 e5! The plan of ... .f6 and .. .e5 was agreed in Onischuk-Khenkin, Polanica Zdroj 1999. ] seems doubly effective now that White has b e e n f o rce d t o we a ke n h im se lf . 11.fxe5 16...e6 17.0-0-0 b4 18.b1 hc8 1610

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 fxe5 12.dxe5 fxe5 13.a3 0-0 14.0-0-0 e6 15.b1 d4 16.cxd4 xd3 17.xd3 d5 18.e2 b4 19.d2 xa2+ 20.c1 ac8+ 21.c3 a1+ 22.ab1 a2 0-1 Asmundsson, I-Jelling, E/Rethymnon 2003, a wipe-out! ] 7...f5 8.0-0 By contrast to the weird games above, W hite's play has been a model of correctness. She just hopes for a small edge based around more effective development. xd3 [ Black has sometimes refrained from the capture: 8...c7! 9.a3 A) 9...a6 10.c2 xd3 11.xd3 f5 12.e1 g7?! ( 12...e6!= ) 13.g4 d6 14.e3 Khotenashvili, B-Gounina, V/ Oropesa del Mar 2000; B) 9...0-0-0 10.c2 xd3 11.xd3 f5 12.a4 e6 13.g5 e7 14.xe7 xe7 15.fe1 h6 16.e3 1/2-1/2 De los Santos Honrubia, M-Powell, A/Mureck 1998 White has the shade of an advantage. ] 9.xd3 f5 10.f4 g7 11.bd2 0-0 12.fe1 Very standard play in this variation. White piles up on the e file (restraining ... f6 and... e5) , eventually hoping to mount a Kingside attack. Black can play for a minority attack on the Queenside. a5 [ I prefer 12...e6 13.e2 c8 ] 13.e5 c8 14.e2 a6 15.ae1 This is why a lot of players like these positions as White it doesn't take Einstein to shunt the pieces onto these standard squares. From this base, maybe White will think about advancing his Kingside pawns. e8 16.g4 Here they come. d6 17.g3 b5? Black has been lulled into a f a ls e s en se o f securit y. Sh e o bvio usly doesn't think that there's a great deal going on. Yet this was the moment when Black had to exercise some imagination and find [ 17...g5! which is more than a saving grace because it gives a good deal of counterplay: 18.e3 ( 18.xg5 f6 19.b4 fxg5 20.bxa5 xa5 ) 18...f6 19.d3 e5 ] 18.xg6!+White's position had to have s o m e p o i n t . B l a c k i s s u d d e n l y l o s t . e4 19.xe4 dxe4 20.h4 c4 21.xe4 e6 22.f5 Further resistance is futile. f6 23.b3 b6 24.d6 d5 25.xc8 xc8 26.e5 xe5 27.xe5 xc3 28.c5 Black's defensive system is fine but falling

asleep during the game isn't recommended. 1-0

1495 Durarbeyli,Vasif Pantsulaia,Levan GEO-AZE Friendship 2012 (3) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B13 2579 2581 09.06.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 One of the most topical lines in the Panov. 7.e2 White's main point is that he threatens 8.Bf3, hence Black's next. a5 8.f3 An aggressive way of playing this system. [ Gawain had a look at 8.c5 in Robson, R (2562)-Berkes, F (2670) Paks 2010. ] 8...dxc4 9.0-0 d8 10.e1 [ 10.c1 has been played but with an a b y s m a l r e c o r d , 0 / 4 ! xd4 ( 10...h6 11.d2 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.b4 Rogers, I (2595)-Dreev, A (2570) Biel 1993 left White with some compensation although we ' r e s c e p t i c a l wh e t h e r t h e r e ' s r e a l l y enough for the two pawns.) 11.xd4 xd4 12.b4 d8 13.e3 is given as clear advantage to W hite by Ftacnik but clearly Adianto disagreed and indeed following d7 14.xa7 g6 15.b5 g7 16.xc4 Ramesh, R (2415)-Adianto, U (2610) Sakthi 1996 d5 leaves Black slightly better. ] 10...d5?! This looks like a new move although it was recommended by Neil in the archives. However we already quite like White now. [ 10...a6!? is interesting. A game from this year continued A) P e r h a p s W h i t e s h o u l d t r y 11.c1!? when the game could continue b5 12.a4 h6 ( 12...b6 13.e3 i s c o m p l e x .) 13.d2 b4 14.b1 xd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.xb4 xd1 17.xa5 and White will regain his pawn deficit while Black develops his kingside and so he has some advantage.; B) 11.a4 h6 12.xf6 gxf6 13.f1 f5 14.e4 g8 15.c1 d5 16.h4 f4 17.f3 xf3 18.xf3 xe4 19.xe4 f5 20.f4 g4 and Black was on top. Haast, A (2290)-Turov, M (2645) W ijk aan Zee 1611

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2012. ] [ 10...h6 is Black's other main defence. 11.xf6 gxf6 12.f1!? preparing an interesting exchange sacrif ice . ( 12.e4 is a no t he r po ssible way o f p la yin g th is position. ) 12...g7 13.xe6 fxe6 14.xc4 d6? was seen in Kalod, R (2453)-Palkovi, J (2451) CZE 1998 annotated by Neil McDonald in the archives and Black was in a lot of trouble after 15.e4 ] [ 10...b5 has also been seen: 11.c1 b4 12.xf6 bxc3 13.d5! xd5 14.xc3 c5 15.f4 e6 Stocek, J (2555)-Zurek, M (2451) Czechia 2003 when White's strong initiative would have paid off had he played 16.g5 d7 17.h5 d8 18.g4 b6 19.e4 and Black's pieces are really tangled and he'll suffer horribly. ] 11.e4 Black has an extra pawn but it will still take him a while to develop his kingside while c4 is loose. [ 11.a4!? is also possible but the text is far more logical. ] 11...h6 This doesn't work out well but Black's alternatives don't look to equalise either. [ 11...b6 12.xc4 h6 13.d2 transposes to the 12...Qb6 note. ] [ 11...b4 12.d2! looks strong, e.g. xb2 13.b1 a3 ( 13...xa2 14.c1 c3 15.xc3 also gives White a strong attack.) 14.xc4 c3 15.xc3 xc4 16.xb7 d5 ( 16...e6 17.fg5 e7 18.h5 ) 17.e2 e6 18.b2 xa2 ( 18...a5 19.c3 e7 20.xd5 xd5 21.c1 0-0 22.c7 and White wins material.) 19.c3 c4 20.xd5 xd5 21.b5 d6 22.c1 e7 23.d5! and White's attack is decisive. ] [ Perhaps Black's best is 11...g4 but after 12.xc4 b6 13.f1 xd4 14.xd4! xd1 15.axd1 White has a huge attack. xd4 16.d6+ d7 17.xf7 e8 18.d6+ d7 19.b5 etc. ] 12.d2 c7 [ Initially we thought 12...b6 gave Black better chances than the game although 13.xc4 is still p re t ty h orrible : e3?! ( 13...c7 i s b e t t e r b u t 14.c1 is very comfortable.) 14.xe3 xc4 15.d5 b5 16.c5! and Black's in trouble e6 ( 16...xd5 17.d6+! ) 17.xf8 xf8 18.dxc6! xd1 19.axd1 xc6 20.e5

c7 21.xc4 and the rook and two knights outgun the queen and pawn. ] 13.xc4 e3 There's nothing better. [ 13...c3 is a similar theme and again White's doing very well after 14.xc3 xc4 15.a4 e6 16.b4 with yet another decisive attack, not surprising considering how far behind Black is in development. ] 14.xe3? Durarbayli throws away most of his advantage. [ Instead 14.fxe3! looks very strong: xc4 15.c1 d5 16.c5 when Black's best is to give up a pawn with e5 17.xe5 b6 although ( 17...xe5 18.a6! ) 18.e4 xa2 19.xc6 is almost winning for White. ] 14...xc4 15.c1!? Once you see the plan White employs in this game it's very tempting but it isn't necessarily best. [ I n s t e a d w i t h 15.c1 White would have r e t a i n e d t h e b e t t e r c h a n c e s , e . g . : d5 16.c3 e6 17.e5 e7 18.g4 0-0 19.xh6 f6 and White has picked up a pawn but at least Black's completed his development and has decent chances to hold the half point. ] 15...d5 16.f4 b6 17.d6+ The Black king is forced to march but it's not the end of t h e w o r l d . d7 18.c4 a6 19.e3? But this move is very peculiar as now Black has the better chances. [ Instead White could have maintained the initiative with 19.fe5+ e8 ( 19...xe5 20.xe5+ e8 is also possible but White must have some advantage as it will take Black so long to complete his de ve lo pm en t .) 20.e3 and White is still better, e.g. xd4 21.xd5 xd5 22.d1! e6 23.c1 c5 24.b4 d6 25.g4 h7 26.c8+ and White has a strong attack. ] 19...xf3 20.gxf3 xd4 21.g2 c6 [ With 21...e8! immediately Black would be better. He has an extra pawn and his king is no longer definitely weaker than White's. ] 22.d1 e8 23.g3 e6 After having such a dodgy position Pantsulaia is evidently happy to take the draw. [ He did have some good alternatives, two a m o n g s t t h e m b e i n g : 23...e6 24.c1 a6 ] [ and 23...h5!? ] 1612

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.b3 d4 [ 24...c5 was a possible way to continue but the position is very complicated. The game might continue 25.a3 d3 26.ed1 e5 27.b3 e4 28.g1 e7 29.f5 and White has retaken the initiative. ] 25.d1 e6 26.b3 d4 ½-½

14.d2 0-0 15.ad1 fe8 16.fe1 with a very small edge, if that. ] 7.f3 In a previous update, we saw [ 7.e2 , which seems a little inconsistent with Nf3, but asks the question of where Black's light-squared bishop is going. Black played normally with e5 8.dxe5 xe5 9.f4 d6 and had no problems, Krivoborodov-Jobava, Moscow RUS 2008. ] 7...g6 As given by Houska. 1496 B13 [ 7...e6 is the alternative. ] Ehlvest,Jaan 2595 8.0-0 A lot of natural moves follow. g7 [ 8...f5 is given in Houska, with ideas Popov,Ivan 2541 similar to the game. Instead of 9 Bxf5, the Open A Moscow RUS (8) 07.02.2009 main line is 9.e1 xd3 ( 9...g7? 10.xf5 [John Watson] gxf5 11.h4! ) 10.xd3 g7 11.g5 0-0 12.bd2 ac8 13.e5 e6 14.e3 xe5 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 15.dxe5 d7 16.e7 fe8 17.d6 ] 5.c3 c7 6.h3!? The idea of this move is not to allow 6 Nf3 Bg4. In this way the knight can 9.e1 0-0 10.g5 e8 11.bd2 f5 be developed more aggressively than it would The subsequent pawn structure has quite a have been on e2. But of course this takes a re sp ecta ble re pu ta tion f or B la ck. 12.xf5 gxf5 13.xf6 xf6 14.f1 White tries to do tempo. [ 6.e2 g4 ( the other main line is 6...e6 something on the kingside. [ 14.b3 e6 15.c5 has the idea of Qd2, 7.f4 d6 8.xd6 xd6 9.0-0 f6 and at some point Nd3 will probably follow, , w h e n I l i k e 10.d2 0-0 11.c2 increasing W hite's control over the dark This prepares f4/Nf3-e5, when the attack squares. This probably isn't anything special, follows pretty naturally ) but looks somewhat easier for White to play A) 7.a3 e6 8.b5 d7 9.f4 c8; than Black. ] B) 7.f3 d7! 8.0-0 e5 ( 8...f6 9.e1 ) 9.b4!? a6 10.dxe5 xe5 11.c2 f6 14...e6 15.g3 h8 16.h5 e7 17.h1 [ 17.d2 g8 18.g3 d6 19.e5!? 12.g5 0-0-0!?; tries to keep some pressure on, but xe5 C) 7.0-0 This is considered about equal 20.dxe5 e7! l o o k s o k a y ( 20...xe5? by most books and commentators, but 21.xe5 xe5 22.e1 c7 23.d4+ e5 W hite has various ways to keep things 24.xe5 c4 wins the exchange, but after interesting, for example, 25.d2 , Black's dark squares are a mess C1) 7...e6 8.f3!? h5 9.f4 d6 and he has multiple weaknesses )] ( 9...b6 10.b4 ) 10.xd6 xd6 17...g8 This puts a stop to direct attacks and 11.a3 a6 12.d2; C2) 7...xe2 8.xe2 e6 9.e1 f6 levels the play. 18.e5?! [ 18.d2 g6 19.f4 g7 20.d3 c8= ] 10.g5 e7 11.d2 0-0 , and again, W hite has nothing to brag about, but 18...xe5 19.xe5 d6 20.e1 e7 [ Black can try for a little edge by 20...g6! there's plenty of play left. ] 21.d2 ag8 22.g3 f4!? or 22...Qd8. ] 6...f6 [ 6...e5 is natural. Play might go 7.dxe5 21.g3 Black could even play on with ...Rg6-h6. xe5 ( 7...ge7 8.f4!? ) 8.b5+ d7 ½-½ ( 8...c6 9.f3 f6 10.0-0 e7 11.a4 0-0 12.f4 gives White a few prospects, probably not too frightening, of exploiting the IQP ) 9.xd7+ xd7 10.f3 xf3+ 11.xf3 , and a typical line would be e6+ 12.e3 ( 12.d1!? ) 12...f6 13.0-0 d6 1613

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1497 B13 Eric Grubbs On The Caro Kan Gambit In Exchange Variation Analysis 25.11.2008 [John Watson] A question from reader Erik Grubbs: I was playing a blitz game against a friend. W e normally pound out the first 10 moves without thinking. But, he changed and I made an accidental gambit. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3!? Here it is - weird but interesting. f6 [ E r ic f e e l s t h a t a f t e r 5...xd4 6.f3 , White gets play. He is more interested in an analysis of the game, but let me add a few moves and see what might happen. Lacking early pawn breaks, White is highly dependent upon piece play to justify his gambit, which requires the quickest possible development. Some possible continuations: A) Eric suggests 6...c6 , when the best approach may be 7.g5 ( or 7.f4 a6 8.e2 f6 9.0-0-0 e6; 7.0-0 e6 8.f4 a6 ) 7...f6 8.e2 e6 9.xf6 , e.g., xf6!? 10.xd5 xb2 11.0-0 , with the idea Nc7+ or Rfb1 with pressure. After d6 , that's not clear, of course but it's worth thinking about; B) A trap is 6...g4?? 7.xd4 xd1 8.b5+ winning a piece.; C) 6...xf3+ 7.xf3 e6 8.g3 . Now a good trick to know, which arises is several openings such as the English Defence (1 c4 b6), goes ( 8.0-0 f6 9.g3 a6 10.g5 e7 11.ae1 0-0 12.h4 g6 13.e3 e8 ) 8...d6 ( 8...a6! is safer, e.g., 9.0-0 f6 10.e1 with some compensation, since Black has to develop his king's bishop.) 9.xg7 f6 10.h6! . Now Black can't take anything, although he survives after C1) 10...e7 11.xf6 xf6 12.f4 d7 ( 12...a6 13.a4! ) 13.b5 e5 14.g3 xb5 15.xb5+ f8 16.0-0-0 e7 17.he1; C2) 10...e5+! 11.xe5 xe5 12.d2 e7 13.0-0-0 and White may have a small edge, but Black needn't worry too much. ] 6.ge2 g4 This ...Bg4-h5-g6 is a standard

idea in the Exchange French Defence versus Nge2, and you see it in some other openings such as Alekhine's Defence. Here Black plays ...Bg4 in order to get his bishop out before playing ...e6. [ Eric wonders about 6...b4 Then 7.f4 (with the idea 8 Nb5) ( 7.b5+ d7 8.f4 xb5 9.xb5 c8! ) 7...a6 8.0-0 xd3 9.xd3 e6 leaves White with a nice lead in development, but Black has a solid game. ] 7.f3 h5 8.g5 g6 9.0-0 e6 10.f4! jw: Forthright and best, with the idea f5. I like White's game. d7 [ 10...xd3 11.xd3 b4 12.b5+ d7 13.f5 c8 14.fxe6 xb5 Eric: Fritz gives +/ = after this move but it is a very complex battle from here on out. ] 11.f5 [ Eric: 11.xf6 this move seems slightly inaccurate gxf6 12.f5 h5 13.e1 xe2 14.fxe6 fxe6 15.xe2 Eric: Fritz gives a +/= but I would MUCH rather have a position like the one from my main line. ] 11...exf5 12.xf6 gxf6 13.f4 Eric: It seems to me that white has a very pleasant edge at this point. taking the pawn looks very risky at best and queenside castling seems to b e t h e o n l y s a f e o p t i o n . T h e b la c k l ig h t colored bishop looks very sad on g6 and the d and f pawns are very weak. This does not look like the type of position that most people that would play ...Bg4 (which is the only move played b y pe op le t ha t ha ve d ecline d th e gambit so far) are looking for. jw: I agree! Eric' analysis stops here. Acceptance of the pawn is really the critical continuation.

1498 Frey,Walter Habermann,Arno corr ch18 French Guyana [Nigel Davies]

B13

1981

If there is a refutation of the Gundaram, then it surely lies in the sharp 5.. .b6. In the main line White obtains passed pawns on b5 and c6 which effectively trap Black's knight on b8. But in return Black gets a massive centre and a huge lead in development. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c5 1614

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ In view of Black's reply there may be an argument f or a delayed Gundaram with 5.c3 c6 6.c5 ] 5...b6 6.b4 a5 [ After 6...e6 White has time to secure his queenside pawn chain with 7.b2 a5 8.a3 etc. ] 7.b5 bxc5 8.dxc5 e6!? Keeping open the possibility of a later ...Qf6, which would hit White's rook on a1. On the other hand White is given an additional defensive possibility in Nh3. [ The natural move is 8...e5 after which 9.c6 c5 gives Black good compensation for his cornered knight on b8. Play might continue A) A n o t h e r p o s s i b i l i t y i s 10.c2 after which the normal move would be b6 ( 10...e4 and; 10...d6 are also possible. ); B) 10.c3 b6 ( Black can also just d e v e l o p w i t h 10...0-0 ) 11.c2 0-0 12.a4 b4+ 13.d2 d4 14.b2 ( 14.d1 e4 ) 14...e4 was good for Black in Sireta - Dextreit, corr 1983 as after 15.0-0-0 Black could have played xd2+ 16.xd2 xd2 17.xd2 xc6 18.bxc6 b6 with material parity and a strong attack ] 9.c6 e4 10.e3?? Overlooking Black's deadly reply. [ W h i t e s h o u ld co n si d e r 10.b2 c5 11.h3 , taking advantage of the fact that 8...e6 prohibits ...Bxh3. ] 10...b4+ 11.d2 [ W hite is losing a piece as after 11.e2 there follows xc6! 12.bxc6 a6+ 13.f3 f6+ 14.g4 f5+ 15.h4 e7+ and mate ] 11...d4 12.f4 g5 13.f3 d5 14.c4 xc4 15.xe4 gxf4 16.c7 xd2+ 0-1

1499 Friedel,Joshua E Wang Hao World Cup Khanty Mansiysk RUS (1.1) [Neil McDonald]

B13 2551 2708

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 7.a3

[ The alternative to 7.f3 ] 7...g6!? It is rather annoying for players of White if Black can get away with making this natural move, despite all the pressure on the d5 and f6 squares. 8.xf6 exf6 9.c5 g7 10.b5 0-0 11.ge2 f5 12.d3 [ This seems more accurate than 12.0-0? f6 13.xc6 There's little choice, as otherwise d4 will drop. bxc6 14.f4 c8! A fine regrouping of the bishop. Positionally speaking White is already in deep trouble, as if he just waits then Ba6 followed by the doubling of the black rooks along the e-file will increase the pressure on the knight on e2 that has to stay guarding the d4 pawn. 15.d3 a5 16.b4 a6 17.b5 cxb5 18.xb5 a4! not letting White consolidate with 19.a4. 19.ab1 c6 20.ec3 ab8 21.b4 b7 22.e1 f6 23.h1 g7 24.b1 ( Nobody enjoys having all his pie ces h amstru ng by a pin, bu t 24.eb1 fb8 25.1b2 might have held on, when Black would have to try to manoeuvre on the e-file as after d8 the pressure is off the d4 pawn, so W hite can escape with 26.b1 a5 27.d6! ) 24...fb8 25.a7 xb4 26.xc6 xb1 27.xb1 b3 28.xb3 axb3 29.d1 b5! The Peruvian farmer and GM makes expert use of his bishop pair in the endgame. W ith the game move he clears the way for his other bishop to infiltrate on the queenside via d8. 30.e5 d8 31.b2 a5 32.c6 f8 33.a4 a6 34.d7+ e7 35.c5 c4 36.g3 b6 37.g2 d6 38.f3 xc6 39.e3 xc5 40.dxc5 xc5 41.a5 d4+ 42.d2 b5 0-1 Friedel, JGranda Zuniga, J/Sao Paulo BRA 2009. ] 12...f4! Poor Friedel: he loses to one Super G M , p l a ys a n i m p r o ve m e n t , a n d is t h e n trumped by an even better improvement for Black. [ After 12...f6 White isn't obliged to capture o n c 6 . I n s t e a d 13.d1 supports d4 and p r e p a r e s t o a n swe r f4 with 14.f3! blocking the f-pawn in its tracks and putting the white queen on an active square where she attacks both the d5 and the f4 pawns. White has the better chances, though it's not quite as great for him as the following game might suggest: g5 15.h3 e7 16.d3 g6? Black panics about a possible 1615

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 attack with 17. h4 and simply gives away the d5 pawn. 17.xd5 d8 18.xg6 fxg6 19.dc3 h5 20.d3 f3 21.gxf3 b5 22.xg6 f7 23.c2 f6 24.e4 f5 25.g1 ae8 26.d3 xh3 27.e3 g6 28.xg5 xf3 29.b3+ 1-0 Solodovnichenko, Y-Bacallao Alonso, Y/ Sitges ESP 2009. ] 13.d1 [ Black's bi shop pair and the open b-file give him more than enough compensation for the p a wn a f t e r 13.xc6 bxc6 14.xf4 f5 15.d2 h6 16.0-0 b8 17.g3 b3 18.d1 ab8 ] 13...g4! A concrete approach to the position: Wang Hao gives up the bishop pair as he has c a l c u l a t e d a wa y t o b r e a k u p t h e w h i t e kingside. 14.h3 xe2 15.xe2 f3! 16.gxf3 [ The point of Black's play is that 16.xf3?? allows a5+ winning a lot of material: 17.c3 xd4 18.d3 xb5 19.xb5?! xc3+ etc. ] 16...e8 17.xc6 bxc6 18.d2 The kingside has become inhospitable for the white king, but he won't find much joy on the queenside either. h4 19.h2 ab8 20.c2 xe2+! 21.xe2 xd4 White has no counterplay at all so it is no wonder that his position on the queenside collapses before the onslaught of the 'Indian' bishop. 22.b3 xc5 23.e5 d8 24.g2 xa3 25.a1 d6 26.c3 b6 27.h4 f8! The bishop s to the kingside in order to keep on hounding the white queen. 28.e3 c5 29.h5 h6! 30.f4 [ If 30.xh6 xb3+ 31.d2 b2+ 32.e3 e5+ 33.d3 c4+ 34.c2 b2+ with a quick mate. ] 30...xf4! 31.c3 c4 [ The black attack is irresistible, for example 31...c4 32.hxg6 ( Or 32.bxc4 d4 33.a3 c6 34.gg1 e4+ 35.d3 b2+ and W hite loses the queen) 32...cxb3+ 33.b2 fxg6 34.a3 ( If 34.f3 h6! ) 34...d6! and there's no good way to prevent 35...Be5. ] 0-1

1500 Glodeanu,Ion Fuhrmann,Max VII Banc Post & Ciuc Premium B (6) [Andrew Martin]

B13 2276 25.08.04

SHORT SHRIFT 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.f3 g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xc3!? [ A n d t h e r e I w a s t h i n k i n g t h a t 8...xf3 was the only move here. ] 9.bxc3 c7 10.e2 A move which works out very well but I don't think it's the most incisive. I f o u n d o n e a n d o n l y o n e e xa m p l e f r o m recent master play: [ 10.g5 A) 10...e6! 11.f4 ( 11.b1 b8 12.d3 h6 13.e4 e7= ) 11...d7 12.e4 e7 13.b1 b6 14.b5 0-0 15.a4 fc8 16.0-0=; B) 10...d8 11.c4 e6 12.0-0 d6 13.h3 f5 14.b5+ f8 15.e2 h6 16.f3 c6 17.b2 a5 18.a4 e7 19.c4 b5 20.cxb5 c2 21.b6 axb6 22.b5 d7 23.xd7+ xd7 24.d5 hg8 Dorofeev, A-Savenko, S/Kharkov UKR 2004 ] [ Perhaps 10.b1 is most dangerous: xf3 11.gxf3 b8 12.d5 e5 13.f4 d7 14.e3 b6 15.b5 ] 10...e6 [ 10...e5! sharpens the game and not unfavourably for Black: 11.xe5 ( 11.dxe5 xe5 12.b5+ c6 13.0-0 xf3 14.e1+ e7 15.gxf3 0-0 ) 11...xe5 12.dxe5 xe2 13.xe2 xe5+ ] 11.f4! d7 12.b1 b6 13.a4 e7 [ Even here 13...c8 leaves the game messy with Black still on the board. ] 14.e5! xe5 15.b5 Very brief, but questions remained unanswered. 8...Nxc3 seems playable 1-0

1616

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1501 Guliev,Logman Wang Yue Nakhchivan Open (7) [Gawain Jones]

B13 2468 2734 29.04.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.f3 g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 This line was presumably played to draw with White but it's notable that Wang Yue was happy to outplay his lower rated GM opponent here and so it can hardly be completely dead. [ Last year I examined 9...b6?! which is Black's attempt at avoiding the endgame but gives W hite the better chances. Potkin, V (2626)-Wang Hao (2724) Ningbo 2010. ] 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 d7 [ 13...c8!? was the interesting idea of a pupil of mine in New Zealand but probably doesn't change the evaluation from roughly level. ] [ 13...xc3 doesn't have a good reputation s in c e F is c h e r 's f a m o u s vic t o ry b u t i t ' s recently seen a bit of a renaissance. A) 14.c5+ keeps White's structure but d6 15.xc3 a6! preventing White from castling leaves Black fine. A recent example confirms this view: 16.e3 c8 ( 16...f6!? ) 17.d4 c2 18.xa7+ xa7 19.xa7 xb2 20.0-0 Ravic, N (2285) Radlovacki, J (2420) Belgrade 2011 when Black should probably play e5 21.a4 e6 22.a5 d6 and Black should hold without too many worries.; B) 14.bxc3 b8! This is the move that has brought interest back into 13...Nxc3. ( The famous Fischer game continued 14...d7 15.b1 d8 16.e3 xb5 17.xb5 d7 18.e2 f6 19.d1 xd1 20.xd1 d7 21.b8 and Black had obviously failed as he's been unable to develop the kingside. Fischer, R-Euwe, M L e i p z ig 1 9 6 0 .) 15.c5+ ( The logical 15.a3+?? actually loses to f6 16.a4 xa3 17.xa3 d3-+ ) 15...e8 16.xa7 ( 16.c6+?! was, rather surprisingly, the computer's choice in an online game but d7 17.xd7+ xd7 18.f4 b5 19.0-0-0+ c6 20.c2 a3

21.b1 a5 leaves Black clearly better with his superior structure. Tornado-CChessThinkerX ICC 2010.) 16...d6 Schandorff comments 'A fantastic concept. Black has sacrificed a pawn and lost the right to castle, but it turns out that even though the white king can still castle, it cannot find perfect safety'. It appears that if B la ck is d iss a t isf ie d i n p la yi n g t h e endgame Wang Yue selects then this is a good dynamic alternative. B1) 17.f4 xf4 18.a4+ e7 19.xf4 B1a) 19...d3 20.g5+ ( 20.c7+ f6 21.f4+ would leave Black a choice between a draw with 21...Ke7 and f5 ) 20...e8 21.d1 Torrecillas Martinez, A (2421) -Trepat Herranz, J (2322 ) Bu rguillos 201 0 when xc3+ 22.e2 h6 23.f4 b5 24.a4 a5 25.d4 e7 and Black can again try to exploit his structural advantage.; B1b) 19...a5 20.0-0 g5 21.d4 hd8 1/2-1/2 Hess, R (2572)Shankland, S (2498) Berkeley 2011.; B2) Schandorff devotes some serious analysis to this position covering 17.g1 f6; B3) 17.d4 c7; B4) and 17.0-0 b5!; B5) 17.a4+ e7!? ( 17...d7 wo u ld t ra n sp o s e t o t h e ga m e wh il e cutting out 18.0-0.) 18.a7+ ( 18.0-0 c7 19.d1! a8! 20.h4+ f6 21.a4 f7 22.e3 h5 is Schandorff's main line. ) 18...d7 ( 18...c7!? ) 19.xd7+ xd7 This position is fine for Black as W hite's structure is so bad that only Black can play for the win, even with the pawn deficit. The position has seen a few recent games confirming my hunch. B5a) 20.e2 hc8 21.d2 b5 ( 21...c5!? with ideas of ...Rb2 might b e m o r e a c c u r a t e .) 22.f4 f5 ( 22...a8! looks to win the a pawn.) 23.hg1 xf4 24.xf4 xf4 25.xg7 xc3 26.xh7 c2+ 27.d3 cxf2 and Black had the better chances with his connected passed pawns. Chumfwa, S (2315)-Kojima, S (2334) 1617

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Khanty-Mansiysk 2010; B5b) 20.0-0 hc8 21.d1 xc3 22.f4 c6 23.xd6 xd6 24.xd6+ xd6 25.d1+ e5 26.d7 a8 eno ugh to draw. ( 26...f6 27.a7 b2 is a reasonable winning try seeing as W hite's kingside is so terrible.) 27.xf7 g6 28.xh7 f6 29.h4 xa2 30.h5 gxh5 31.xh5= Vajda, S (2342) -Csonka, B (2263) Mako 2010.; B5c) 20.e3 hc8 21.d2 e5 ( 21...b5 22.hb1 d5+ 23.c2= ) 22.hc1 c4 ( 22...b5 23.c2 Vatter, H (2321)-Schebler, G (2486) Ba de n-Ba de n 20 1 0 d5+ 24.e2 xc3 25.xc3 xc3 26.d1 xd1 27.xd1 c6 should probably be a draw but Black can still play a while.; 22...xh2 looks possible.) 23.d3 bc8 24.d2 xh2 ( 24...a4 25.h3 e7 keeps White completely under wraps. ) 25.h1 ( 25.a4 attempting to generate some counterplay should have been tried. ) B5c1) 25...e5! 26.xh7 xc3 27.xc3 xc3+ 28.e2 a3 29.xg7 c2+ 30.f1 ( 30.d1 xf2? 31.xf7+ e8-+ ) 30...xf3 31.g2 a3 and White still hasn't quite found the draw.; B5c2) 25...f4 26.xh7 xd2 27.xd2 xc3 28.xg7 xf3 29.e2 f5 30.d1+ e7 31.d2 a8 and Black ground down the victory. Michalczak, T (2367)Hoffmann, M (2517) Vlissingen 2010. ] 14.xd5+ xd5 [ 14...exd5 was looked at by John Watson in Short, N (2683)-Ni Hua (2681) Liverpool 2007 but the text is more common. ] 15.xd5 [ 15.g5+ is the other major possibility forcing Black to play ...f6 when White will try to exploit the weakness on e6 and prevents Black from trying ...Be7-f6. f6 16.xd5 exd5 17.e3 e6 18.0-0-0 b4 when Black has held without problems in all the recent games: ( 18...d8 is probably also fine. ) A) 19.d2 hc8+ 20.b1 xd2 21.xd2

c4 ( 21...c5!? ) 22.e1+ d6 23.b3 f4 24.d3 h4 25.de3 xh2 26.e6+ c5 27.c1+ d4 28.d1+ c5 29.c1+ d4 30.d1+ c5 1/2-1/2 Gergacz, A (2417)-Berczes, D (2519) Zalakaros 2010.; B) 19.d3 hd8 20.b1 d7 21.c1 ad8 22.c6+ Yankovsky, R (2381)Casella, M (2249) Los Angeles 2011 when the most straightforward appears to be d6 23.xd6+ ( 23.c7 d4! ) 23...xd6 24.xa7 ( 24.h3 d7 and Black has an edge. ) 24...xh2 and Black's h pawn looks quicker than W hite's a and b pawns.; C) 19.a3 hc8+ 20.b1 c5 21.he1 xe3 22.xe3+ d6 23.de1 c4 is Schandorff's main line when he writes 'Black gets active counterplay against White's own weak pawns. Often this leads t o a m a s s s l a u g h t e r wi t h b o t h s i d e s liquidating the opponent's pawns until a draw is unavoidable.; D) 19.b1 hc8 Giri's choice with which he easily held against Ivanchuk. ( 19...hd8 is Schandorff's line.) 20.a3 ( 20.d3 c7 21.hd1 d8 22.h3 dd7 23.b3 h5 24.f4 c5 25.b2 d6 26.a3 d4! 27.xd4 cd7 28.c3 xa3 29.f5+ xf5 30.b4 Panarin, M (2533) -Barbosa, O ( 2 4 6 1 ) M o s c o w 2 0 1 1 w h e n g5! is good for Black as 31.b3 can be met with c1! ) 20...c5 21.he1 xe3 22.xe3+ d6 23.de1 c4! 24.h3 ( 24.e7 f4 25.1e6+ c5 26.xg7 xf3 27.c7+ d4 28.e2 d3 29.ec2 h5= ) 24...d8 25.e6+ c7 26.c1 d6 27.e8 xc1+ 28.xc1 c6+ 29.d2 d6 30.a8 c7 31.e3 e5 32.f4+ f5 33.d8 e7+ 34.f3 e6 35.e3 f5+ 36.f3 e6 37.e3 f5+ 38.f3 1/2-1/2 Ivanchuk, V (2779)Giri, A (2690) Monaco 2011. ] [ If White wants to keep queens on the board he has to try 15.e2 but this hasn't caused Black any major problems. f6 16.0-0 f7 17.d1 f5 18.e3 ( 18.e4 xe4 19.fxe4 c5 20.f4 e5 21.ac1 ac8 22.d2 b6 23.f1 xc1 24.xc1 d8 25.c3 d3 26.g2 e6 and Black was the only one who could be better. Melia, S 1618

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (2449)-Paikidze, N (2455) Anaklia 2011.) 18...e7 19.d7 hd8 20.ad1 xd7 21.xd7 d8 22.xd8 xd8 23.xa7 b1+ 24.g2 g6+ 25.f1 b1+ 26.g2 g6+ 1/2-1/2 Kobalia, M (2656)Rodshtein, M (2632) Plovdiv 2010 ] 15...exd5 Schandorff - 'An interesting ending is reached with much more imbalance than is perhaps appreciated at first sight'. He goes on to explain W hite has a potentially strong queenside majority while Black has a potentially vulnerable IQP and his king is rather loose. Thus W hite can count on a temporary initiative. Black, on the other hand, has his own trumps. The king is already in the centre which is advantageous in the endgame, the d pawn could potentially become a strength, after all it is passed, and White has a damaged kingside. 16.0-0 [ 16.e3 is the other main move which has the advantage of stopping the plan used by Wang Yue in the game. e6 A) 17.0-0 transposes to 16.0-0 Ke6 while cutting out 16...Rd8. However here b4 is fine for Black. ( 17...e7 18.fe1 f5 19.ad1 hd8 20.d4 f6 21.f4+ g6 22.g4+ f5 23.f4+ has been agreed drawn a couple of times.) 18.a3 a5 19.b4 b6 20.fe1 when Schandorff suggests f5 21.ad1 hd8=; B) 17.0-0-0 b4 Allowing Black to complete his development while controlling the important e1 square. 18.a3 ( 18.hg1 g6 19.d4 f6 20.b1 hc8 21.d3 Schneider, D (2487)-Schroer, J (2361) ICC 2010 c7 and Black has mobilised his pieces and has the more comf ortable game. ) 18...hc8+ 19.b1 c5 20.he1 xe3 21.xe3+ ( 21.fxe3 c4! also leaves Black with the better chances. ) 21...d6 B1) 22.ed3 c5 23.d4 a5 24.b4 axb4 25.axb4 b5 26.b2 and White is worse with his compromised kingside but he managed to hold the draw in a r e c e n t g a m e . e8 27.b3 e2 ( 27...e5!? is an interesting winning attempt. ) 28.a4 c6 29.c1+ b6 30.f4 f6 31.c8 a2+ 32.b3 a1 33.g8 b1+ 34.a4 a1+ 35.b3

b1+ 36.a4 a1+ 37.b3 1 / 2 -1 / 2 S e n gu p t a , D (2 4 9 6 )-D a s , A (2419) Metz 2010.; B2) 22.b3 e8 ( 22...a5 followed by ... Rdc5 can only favour Black.) 23.c2 e6 The start of an odd plan. 24.d4 g6 25.ed3 g2?! ( 25...g5 was still level. ) 26.xd5+ e6 B2a) 27.d2! xf2+ 28.e3 xh2 29.d6+ e7 30.d7+ would force the Black king to the back rank as e6 31.3d6+ f5 ( 31...e5?? 32.f4+ f5 33.xf7+ g4 34.xg7+ h5 35.g5+ h4 36.h6# ) 32.xf7+ e5 33.a6 and White has a clear edge.; B2b) 27.d6+ f5 28.h4 xf2+ 29.c3 and Black still held the draw. Sanikidze, T (2559)-Guidarelli, L (2446) Cappelle la Grande 2011. ] [ 16.f4 was looked at by Tony in Onischuk, A (2641)-Dreev, A (2677) Moscow 2002. ] 16...d8 Immediately defending the d pawn and preparing to push it to cause White some problems. I think the main idea is to prevent White from having time to play Be3 hitting a7. [ T o n y l o o k e d a t 16...e6 in Adams, M (2742) -Dreev, A (2683) Wijk aan Zee 2002 which is Schandorff's mainline. The idea is to place the king on f5 and he provided analysis proving Black is fine. ] 17.d1 [ 17.b3 was played in another recent e n c o u n t e r t o r e a c h t h i s p o s i t i o n . e6 ( 17...f6!? followed by ...Kf7 also looks playable. ) 18.b2 d6 I think this commits the bishop too early. ( 18...f6 19.fe1+ f5 is better when Black has at least equality. The bishop is better placed on e3 than b2.) 19.fe1+ f5?! Now the tactics don't work f o r B l a c k . 20.ad1 b8 21.e7 f6 22.xg7 and White had grabbed a pawn although still couldn't get any real advantage. Gaponenko, I (2472)-Purtseladze, M (2299) Rijeka 2010. ] 17...d4! The logical continuation of the previous move. 18.b4?! A novelty but hardly an inspiring one. Guliev wants to utilise his queenside majority but this weakens a lot of squares, in particular c4, and leaves the White pawns vulnerable. 1619

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 18.f4 was played in the previous games bu t h e re t o o B la ck wa s vict o rio u s: e6 19.ac1 g5! 20.e3 g7 21.c6+ d5 22.c7 e5 23.xa7 e6 White's queenside pawns look impressive but his pieces are uncoordinated and thus has difficulties in advancing the pawns. 24.d2 a8! 25.b7 ( 25.xa8 xa8 26.a3 d5 and Black's king can run to b3.) 25...xa2 26.e1 g8 27.f1 f6 28.h4?! ( 28.f4 wa s b e t t e r) 28...h6 29.f4 gxf4 30.xf4 d5 ( 30...g4 ) 31.xe5 fxe5 32.b5+ c4 33.bxe5? ( 33.exe5 d3 34.e1 g4 35.h5 d2 36.e2+ d3 37.e1 d2 should be a draw.) 33...xb2 and despite the lack of material Black's more active king and d4 pawn give him great winning chances. In fact W hite only survived a couple more moves. 34.5e2? xe2 35.xe2? Misevalutating the u p c o m i n g k i n g a n d p a wn e n d i n g . e8+ 36.d2 xe1 37.xe1 d3 38.d1 h5 0-1 Predojevic, B (2645)-Anastasian, A (2571) Kemer 2007. ] 18...e6 19.b2 d3! The pawn causes White yet more problems. [ 19...xb4 20.xd4 d7 21.e3 would be pretty similar to the game but it makes sense to keep the d pawn for as long as possible. ] 20.ac1 [ 20.a3 would keep the b4 pawn and is probably enough to hold the draw but is still unpleasant: d6 21.ac1 d7! 22.g2 e5 23.c6+ f5 24.c5 e8 25.h4 f6 26.f4! xf4 27.c1+ when Black is forced to sacrifice the advanced d pawn for equality as g4 28.f3+ f5 ( 28...xh4? 29.h1+ ) 29.f4 wins material. ] 20...xb4 21.c4 d6 [ Th ro win g in 21...a5 22.a3 is probably beneficial. d6 A) 23.d4 e5 24.e4 f6 25.e3 ( 25.f4 f5 ) 25...g5 26.xe5 fxe5 27.exd3 xd3 28.xd3 c8 and White has won back his pawn but still hasn't solved all his problems as he remains with a worse structure and more passive pieces.; B) 23.g2! b8 ( 23...e5!? ) 24.d4 f6 25.xd3 e5 26.d2 xd4 27.cxd4

xd4 28.xd4 c8 and Black still has some winning chances. ] 22.d4 f6 [ Now 22...e5 isn't quite so effective. 23.e4 f6 24.e3 g5 25.xe5 fxe5 26.exd3 xd3 27.xd3 c8 is similar to the previous note. The pawns on a2 and a7 f a v o u r W h i t e w h o c a n p l a y 28.a3 and with the more active rook White should hold. ] 23.1xd3 c7 24.h3 [ 24.xd8 xd8 25.xd8 xd8 would be very tough to hold. Black has the more active king and better kingside structure so White has a very tough task to survive. ] 24...b6 25.e4+ f5 26.xd8 xd8 27.e2 d5 So White has recaptured the pawn but is left with his vulnerable kingside while Black's pieces are more centrally located. Perhaps with perfect play W hite is able to hold but in the game we see Guliev be slowly ground down by China's number two. 28.g2 h5 29.c1 e5 30.e3 Again exchanging rooks would allow Black's king access to the queenside with great chances. [ 30.c2 c5! would force the rook trade. ] [ Perhaps 30.d2 is best but Black can continue to press with c5 31.b2 c4 ] 30...e7 31.f4 This looks ugly ceding the e4 square but White didn't want to allow Black further space on the kingside. [ Were I defending this position I think I'd prefer 31.f1 when a few sample lines could continue: g5 32.e1 e5 33.e2 xe3 34.fxe3 and White is passive and ( 34.xe3? xe3 35.fxe3 e5 and with the Black king running to the queenside I feel this position to be lost although White may have some drawing idea.) 34...a5 35.f2 b5 keeps him under pressure. ] 31...e4 [ 31...g5 is another possibility but trading pawns should allow White nearer to his aim o f a d r a w . 32.fxg5 fxg5 33.f3 g4+ 34.hxg4+ hxg4+ 35.g2 a5 36.e1 xe3 37.fxe3 a4 38.g3 is surely a draw although still White must be very accurate. ] 32.f3 a4 33.b2 a3 34.b5+ g6 35.b2 White's position has improved and here it looks like the game is heading towards a draw but Wang Yue doesn't give up and just 1620

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 keeps plugging away. d8 36.d2 a5 37.b2 a6 38.e4?! This is an error allowing Black to again coordinate his pieces. [ 38.c2 d8 39.e4 a4+ 40.d5 f5 41.c6 e7 42.d7 a3 43.e8 sees the White king trying to distract Black. ] 38...a4+ 39.f3 b4 40.c2 a5 41.c1 f5 42.b2 a3+ 43.e3 h4 44.c2 d6 45.g2?! And perhaps this is the decisive error. [ 45.e2 should have been played so that xf4 46.c5+ e5 47.f4 is now playable. xa2+ ( 47...e4 48.c4+ d5 49.c5+= ) 48.d3 h2 49.xa5 xh3 50.fxe5 fxe5 51.a8 still leaves Black with decent winning chances but I feel W hite should be able to hold the draw here. ] 45...xf4 Black has gained a pawn on the kingside, a huge gain and now the position is probably winning. 46.c5 a4 47.a3 e5 48.f8 g5 49.c5 e4 [ 49...g4 is also possible but a remarkable thing about this endgame is that Wang Yue manages to avoid playing any committal moves. ] 50.e7 d3 The king runs across to the queenside. 51.c6 [ 51.b5 c4 52.c5+ b3 53.b5+ a2 54.f3 c3 followed by ...Rc4, ...a4 and ... Bb2 should be winning. ] 51...f4 52.d8 a4 53.e7 d4 54.f3 e5 55.d8 c4 56.e6 c2 [ 56...c2+ was simpler 57.f1 ( 57.h1 h2+ 58.g1 xh3 ) 57...d4 58.xf6 f2+ 59.e1 xf3 60.xd4 xd4 leaves Black in an easy technical win. ] 57.e7 [ 57.xf6 xf6 58.xf6 b3 is a hopeless rook and pawn endgame as the a pawn is just too fast. ] 57...b3 58.b6+ a2 59.a6 b2 60.a5 c7 61.b4 c2+ 62.f1 b3 63.e7 c7 This wins without the need for calculation. [ 63...xa3 was also perfectly good: 64.xf6 b4! 65.xg5 a3 66.b5 a2 67.b7 c4 68.a7 ( 68.c7+ d3 ) 68...c3 and White will have to give his rook to stop the a pawn. ] 64.b5+ a2 65.d6 c6 66.d5 xa3 67.d2+ b2 68.f4 a3 69.fxg5 fxg5 70.d5 xd6! The easiest. 71.xd6 b1

72.d1+ c2 Currently this endgame is looking easier for Black than W hite and so players will have to play something other than 6.Nf3 0-1

1502 Hansen,Curt Hector,Jonny Sigeman, Malmoe (8) [Neil McDonald]

B13 2595 2505 1998

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 f6 An unusual move order to reach our standard position. 5.c3 c6 6.g5!? This is more direct than [ 6.f3 ] 6...e6 The most popular response, but two other ideas deserve to be mentioned. [ 6...a5 tries to exploit the pin on c3 in the style of the Queen's Gambit, Cambridge Springs Variation. A) Or 7.xf6 exf6 8.cxd5 b4 9.e2+ ( s i d e s t e p p i n g t h e d r a w a f t e r 9.dxc6 xc3+ 10.bxc3 xc3+ 11.e2 0-0 12.f3 e8+ 13.f2 e3+ 14.g3 g5+ 15.f2 e3+ etc. ) 9...e7 10.b5+ d7 11.xa5 xa5 12.d3 xd5 13.ge2 and White managed to extract a win in Rogers-Saltaev, Hamburg 1999, though at the moment Black seems perfectly OK.; B) 7.f3 g4! and Black seizes the initiative. ( If 7...e6 8.c5 e4 9.d2 xd2 10.xd2 g6 11.b5 g7 12.0-0 0-0 13.xc6 bxc6 14.fe1 was better for W hite in Tseitlin-Dizdarevic, Belgrade 1999. ) 8.xf6 exf6 9.cxd5 b4! 10.b3 ( 10.dxc6 xc3+ 11.bxc3 xc3+ 12.e2 0-0 looks fatal for the white king.) 10...xf3 11.dxc6 xc6 12.a3 xc3+ 13.xc3 d5 and Black is clearly on top. This became a decisive advantage after 14.f3 g5 15.f2 0-0-0 16.d1 b8 17.c4 d7 18.d2 c8 19.d3? xf3! 20.gxf3 xc4 etc in Van den Doel-Van der Sterren, Rotterdam 2000.; C) 7.a3!? e4 8.d2 This is Lanka's pet system which he has used successfully. However, I find it hard to believe that there 1621

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is no antidote to this retreating move about to be revealed in a GM game- all the more so as Van der Sterren, an opening expert, has been prepared to play into this line! xd2 Interesting is ( 8...xc3!? 9.xc3 d8 10.c5 ) 9.xd2 dxc4 10.xc4 e6 11.f3 e7 12.0-0 0-0 13.b4 Lanka-Guliev, Cappelle La Grande 1997, and here rather than h5 the retreat ( 13...d8 looks more solid )] [ The other 6th move option is less ambitious: 6...e6 7.f3 e7 Black is prep a re d t o e n t e r a n I Q P p o sit io n in wh ic h White's bishop isn't particularly well placed on g5. White tried to forestall this with 8.c5 but after e4! 9.xe7 xe7 10.b5 xc3 11.bxc3 d7 12.0-0 0-0 13.b1 b6 14.cxb6 axb6 Black already looked better in Lanka-Schmidt, Porz 1998. ] 7.a3!? d7 [ Here 7...g6!? is interesting. After 8.xf6 ( 8.ge2!? g7 9.f4 d6! 10.cxd5 xd5 lo o k s O K f o r B l a c k .) 8...exf6 White's best try for advantage may be 9.c5 In the one practical example he avoided this in favour of ( 9.e2 when g7 10.f3 e7 11.cxd5 xd5 12.a4+ d7 13.b3 xc3 14.bxc3 b8 15.e2 0-0 16.0-0 c7 17.c4 b6 18.fd1 f5 led to unclear pla y in whic h I p ref er Bla ck in Me ije rsSlapikas , Mezezers 2000 )] [ It is noteworthy that after the similar 7...g4!? 8.f3 e6 9.c5 g6 in KasparovDreev, Moscow 1996, the reigning W orld Champion avoided taking on f6 and instead b u i l t u p t h e p r e s s u r e w i t h 10.b5 Of course things are a bit different after th e imm e d iat e 7 .. . g6 , a s W h it e h a sn 't played f2-f3 and so weakened some dark squares. ] 8.xf6 Inferior is [ 8.e2 0-0-0 9.c5?! ( 9.xf6! ) 9...e4! that's why the knight had to be eliminated first! 10.f3 f5 11.f4 f6 12.0-0! g5 13.e3 e5! with very active play for Black in Kobalija-Khalifman, Maikop 1998, though W hite held on after 14.dxe5 d4 15.e6 xe6 16.xd4 xd4 17.xd4 xc5 18.b5 b8 19.xc5 xc5 20.c1 e5 and a draw was agreed. ] 8...gxf6 9.e2!? A clever move to rule out 9...

Bg4. Instead [ 9.c5!? a key idea- every player intending to play this line as White or Black should spend some time analysing the variations that follow. g4! 10.f3 f5 11.b5 h5! 12.ge2 h6 13.0-0 g8 14.h1 with unclear play in Jedryczka-Berescu, Paras 1999. ] [ In contrast, 9.g3? is definitely to be avoided. It led to a quick disaster for White after 0-0-0 10.g2 g4! 11.f3 e6 12.c5 f5 13.b4 e5 14.ge2 e6 15.dxe5 d4 16.e4 d3 17.f4 d2+ 18.f2 c4! in Topalov-Leko, Vienna 1996. ] 9...0-0-0 10.c5 f5? [ M u c h m o r e a c t i v e w a s 10...g8! which by attacking g2 immediately would prevent White from carrying out the strategy he employs in the game. Then 11.f1 f5 12.b5 e5 led to a hard fight in SveshnikovTkachiev, op1996. ] 11.f3 e5 12.b4 g8 13.0-0!! This prepares an excellent exchange sacrifice. h3 14.g3 xf1 15.xf1 There is a saying that when there opposite coloured bishops, the p la ye r wh o is a tt acking h as a n extra piece! Here W hite's kingside is rock solid, whilst on the queenside he is about to launch his mobile pawns against the black king. The light squared bishop is perfectly situated on f1 to strike out on either wing or against Black's centre according to the defence that Black chooses. b8 16.dxe5 fxe5 17.b5 a5 18.c6 d6 19.a4 b6 20.d1 d4 21.e4 e7 Black has blocked the queenside and so saved himself from being mated but it has been at a terrible cost- the knight is trapped on a5 and W hite has a f earsome passed pawn. Nor as the next move shows has he prevented the white bishop from finding a strong diagonal. 22.h3! This is the key move to prevent Black expanding in the centre with f7-f5. xa3 This is the only way to free the knight but it leads to a collapse in the centre. 23.xa3 xa3 24.xe5 a6 25.f6 b2 26.xg8 xg8 27.bxa6 c7 28.f1 f6 29.d3 c3 30.f4 xc6 31.d5+ b8 32.xb6 e5 33.b1 a7 34.d7 d3 35.xe5 xe5 36.xd3 b8 37.xb8 xb8 38.g2 h6 39.f3 e5 40.g4 d4 41.h5 xf2 42.xh6 g1 43.h4 f2 1622

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 44.g6 A very fine game by White. 1-0

1503 B13 Hoang Thanh Trang 2438 Ushenina,A 2458 European Ind w Rapid 2012 rapid (4) 15.03.12 [Eric Prié] 1.d4 d5 2.f4 f6 3.e3 c5 4.c3?! cxd4! 5.exd4 a6 An elementary way to equalize, for it is impossible for White to prevent Black's queen's bishop developing outside the pawn chain in spite of what could appear, at first glance, to be a tempo loss in order to prevent Nb5. [ 5...g4? 6.f3 f5 7.b5 a6 8.c3 g6 9.e2! e6 10.h3 g7 ( 10...xh3 11.d6+ d7 12.b5+ e6 13.xb7 ) 11.g5 b6 12.g3 Chernyshov, K (2578)Overbeck, T (2308) Pardubice 2010 1-0(30) ] 6.f3 g6? [ 6...c6! 7.h3 f5 See the next game. ] 7.d3 [ 7.h3 Or 7.Qd2 or 7.Ne5, all preventing ... Bg4, look more precise. c6 ( 7...f5 8.e5 c6 9.g4 ) 8.e5 g7 9.d2 White has obtained a good version of a sort of Barry Attack. f5 ( 9...e4 10.xe4 dxe4 11.xc6 bxc6 12.c3 ) 10.f3! b6 ( 10...b4 11.c1 d7 12.xd7 xd7 13.g4 e6 14.b5! axb5 15.xb4 a4 16.b3 b4 17.c3 0-0 18.a3! Winning a pawn. bxc3 19.b5 cxb2 20.xb2 xd4 21.b1 d8 22.xa4 a5+ 23.b4 ) 11.xc6 bxc6 ( 11...xc6 12.g4 e6 13.e5 0-0 14.h4 ) 12.g4 e6 13.a4 Danielsen , H (2536)-Gagare, S (2268) New Delhi 2012 1-0(56) ] 7...g7 [ 7...g4! 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 c6 10.e2 b4 ] 8.h3 c6 9.a3 0-0 10.0-0 Thus both black bishops are bad. h5 11.h2! xd4? [ 11...e6 12.e2 ] 12.xd4 xd4 13.xg6 hxg6 14.xd4 e6? [ 14...e6 15.ad1 c8 16.fe1 g7 17.g4! To s t o p Nf 5 . c4 18.d2 b6

19.b3 cc8 20.e5 fd8 21.d4 ] 15.a4! b5 [ 15...f6 16.b6 e5 17.xd5+ ( 17.c5!? b8 18.ad1 e6 19.c4 d4 20.f4 )] 16.b6 b7 [ 16...a7? 17.xc8 xc8 18.xa7 ] 17.xa8 xa8 18.ae1 c8 19.c3 f6 20.g4 f7 21.e3 c6 [ 21...e5 22.f4! c5 23.e2 d4 24.cxd4 exd4 25.b4! a7 ( 25...d6 26.f5 ) 26.d3 f5 27.f2 d8 28.fd1 f6 29.xd4 e4 30.e3+- ] 22.fe1 d7 [ 22...e5 23.xe5! fxe5 24.xe5 xg4 25.hxg4 g7 ( 25...f6 26.e7+ g8 27.1e6 a8 28.g5; 25...f4 26.g3 d3 27.e7+ g8 28.1e6 c8 29.xg6+ f8 30.h7 ) 26.e7+ g8 ( 26...f6 27.g5+ xg5 28.xg7 ) 27.c7 f6 28.ee7 e8 29.xc6 xc6 30.xe8+ ] 23.d4 b7 24.f3! g8 25.g4 e5 26.xe5 fxe5 27.xf8+ xf8 28.c5+ The new women's W orld champion was not inspired in this game. [ 28.xe5! g7 29.f6+ g8 30.e7+- ] 1-0

1504 Illescas Cordoba,Miguel Anand,Viswanathan Linares [Alexander Volzhin]

B13 2590 2715 1994

In this game we'll have a look at some deviations from the main line. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 c7!? An interesting attempt to prevent 6 Bf4. This move is played rather seldom but certainly it deserves more attention. [ 5...f6 6.g5!? As we already know in this position 6 Bf4 is one of White's main ideas. But recently W hite has begun to deviate from this main line by playing 6 Bg5 and nowadays this line is becoming more and more popular. g4 ( 6...e4!? is a very interesting alternative to the text. White can wi n a p a w n : 7.xe4 dxe4 8.d5 e5 9.a4+ but after d7! 10.xe4 f5! 11.xf5 xf5 Black has tremendous compensation. This recommendation needs 1623

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 p r a c t i c a l t e s t s .) 7.e2 ( 7.f3 looks harmless in view of e4!? 8.f4 e6 with equal chances; 7.b3 d7! 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 d6 is also OK for Black. ) 7...e6 A) 8.b3 was played in the classic game van den Bosch-Capablanca, 1929. The game continued: d7 9.g3 ( 9.xf6 gxf6 10.g3 intending 11.h3 is strongly met by e5! ) 9...h5 10.f3 xg3 11.hxg3 f5 12.xf5 exf5 13.d2 f6 14.e3 a5 15.c2 0-0-0 16.0-0-0 e8 17.de1 d6 with good play for Black.; B) 8.d2 h5! 9.b3 c7 10.f4 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.h4 e7 13.f3 and here instead of 13... e5?! as was played in Rozentalis-Yudasin, Israel 1999, t h e s i m p l e 0-0-0 14.0-0-0 b8 secured Black slightly the better chances. ] 6.g5 [ Another idea is to insist on developing the dark-squared bishop to the f4-square: 6.e2 but the obvious drawback of this move is t h a t t h e K n i gh t i s m i s p l a c e d h e r e a n d doesn't control the important e5-square. In my opinion the following method is good for Black: g4! 7.f3 d7 8.f4 e5!? 9.dxe5 xe5 10.0-0 d6 The active position of the minor pieces is ample compensation for the weakness of the isolated central pawn, besides it's not easy for White to create real pres sure on it . 11.h1 ( 11.d4 e7 12.a3 a6 13.ac2 0-0 14.d2 ad8 15.xe5 xe5 16.f4 f6 and Black's chances are by no means worse, MaiwaldAshley, Bermuda 1997.) 11...e7 12.a3 a6 13.c2 0-0 14.ed4 ac8 15.e3? A b l u n d e r . ( 15.d2 is better, with equal chances. ) 15...xd3! 16.xd6 xb2! Obviously W hite had missed this move. 17.b3 ( 17.xc7 xd1 18.axd1 xc7 19.d3 fc8 is also hopeless for White.) 17...xd6 18.xb2 b5 and Black e asily converted his advantage into the full point, Semeniuk-Dreev, St. Petersburg 1999. ] 6...f6 7.d2 g4 8.gf3 e6 9.h4 d6 10.g3 h5! We have already seen this manoeuvre in the previous game, here it's sound as well. 11.xd6 xd6 12.0-0 0-0 13.e1 ab8 14.a4 c7 15.b1 a6 16.e5 fe8 17.h3 g6! 18.xg6 hxg6 19.d3 xe5 20.dxe5?!

[ 20.xe5! is better, with equality. ] 20...d7 21.d4 ec8 22.e3 b6! Liquidating to an endgame where Black's chances are slightly better. 23.xb6 xb6 24.h4 f8 25.g3 e7 26.b3? The move which is difficult to explain. White voluntarily creates weaknesses on the Q-side. [ The natural 26.f4 should be preferred when Black has nothing special. ] 26...c7 27.a5 [ I think White played his previous move intending to transfer the Knight to d4-square (if he succeeds in this his position would be ve r y s o l i d ) , b u t t h i s m a n o e u vr e 27.f3 is st ro n gly m e t b y bc8 28.c1 d4! 29.xd4 d5 and Black wins the pawn back and has a clear edge. ] 27...d7 28.c4 bc8! 29.g2 b8! Transferring the Knight to c6-square where it attacks both the a5- and e5-pawns. 30.a4 d8! [ The hasty 30...c6 allows 31.cxd5 exd5 32.e6! fxe6 33.g4 and White obtains strong counterplay. ] 31.f4 c6 Now the 4th rank is closed and W hite has no counterplay. 32.d3 cd7 Black's manoeuvres are very nice: first he doubled Rooks on the c-file and then on the dfile. Now Black intends 33...dc 34. Rd7 Rd7 35. Nc4 Rd3 attacking W hite's weaknesses so White's next move is forced. 33.c5 f6 34.f3 d4! 35.exf6+ Now Black obtains a very strong pair of passed pawns in the centre of the board but this move is forced: [ 35.f2 d5 ] 35...gxf6 36.d2 e5 37.e4 [ 37.fxe5? is a blunder in view of xe5! and Black wins exchange. ] 37...d5! Now Black has a decisive advantage. 38...f6-f5 (...e5-e4 to follow) is threatened and W hite has no defence against this. 38.fxe5 xe5 39.d6 xc5 40.xb7? A timetrouble blunder which loses on the spot. [ 40.c4 was better but of course White's position is lost anyway. ] 40...c2+ White resigned since he loses a piece: [ 40...c2+ 41.h3 b8 Splendid technique by Vishy Anand! ] 0-1

1624

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1505 Ivanchuk,Vassily Jakovenko,Dmitrij EU-Cup 28th Eilat (2.4) [Danny Gormally]

B13 2771 2732 12.10.2012

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.f4 A similar idea to the Bacrot game, Ivanchuk wants to set up a clamp on the queenside, except that W hite has not committed his king's knight just yet. e6 7.c5 d7!? This has been played before, but never at the highest level. Ivanchuk makes it look a little slow. [ The normal line is 7...e7 8.b5 0-0 9.ge2!? ( 9.f3 e4 10.0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 d7 12.d3 b6 13.cxb6 axb6 White has some edge here as well, Ghaem Maghami, E (2589)-So, W (2656)/Moscow 2010. ) 9...d7 10.0-0 a6 11.a4 b6 12.xc6 xc6 13.b4 1-0 Leon Hoyos, M (2603)-Amanov, M (2507)/Saint Louis 2012 ] 8.b1! Of course. it's important to get the queenside moving as soon as possible. b6 Jakovenko decides it's important to create counterplay as quickly as possible. [ 8...e7 9.b4 0-0 10.b5 a5 11.f3 would rather play into White's hands. ] 9.b4 bxc5 10.bxc5 e4 11.xe4 dxe4 12.b5! a6 13.c4 This sequence may seem a little odd (why didn't White play Bc4 immediately?) but top players like Ivanchuk notice every little nuance in the position. A weakness has been created on b6, which may prove important later on. [ 13.a4? xd4 14.xd4 a5+ ] 13...e7 14.h3 [ In an ideal situation White would like to play 14.e2 here, but that isn't possible as it runs into a5 when Black bags the two bishops. ] 14...0-0 15.0-0 e8?! Jakovenko plays too slowly here. Its important for Black to react qu ic kly, a s in t h e lo ng t e rm W hit e h a s a structural advantage, with this strong passed pawn on c5. [ 15...a5! 16.e2 b5! Would have allowed Black to maintain the balance. One idea is to play ...Qd5! when Black would have beautiful co-ordination. 17.xb5 axb5 18.xb5 d5 when Black has good

pressure against both the a and d-pawns. ] 16.e3! Both overprotecting the important d4 pawn, and preparing Nf4. f6 [ Returning to the previous idea with 16...a5 17.e2 b5 would now not be so good, 18.xb5 axb5 19.xb5 d5 20.b1! with a big threat of Nf4. ] 17.b6! Maybe this is what Jakovenko had missed. ...Nxd4 is now impossible, as it is met by Rd6. e7 18.f4 Ivanchuk now enjoys a strategical advantage, and proceeds to crank u p t h e p r e s s u r e i n t yp i c a l l y m e t h o d i c a l fashion. b5 [ 18...f5 19.d5! xe3 20.fxe3 exd5 21.xd5 certainly does not bring any relief to Black. ] 19.b3! Ivanchuk is not interested in opening up the a-file for the Black rook, of course. h8 20.d1 xc4 21.xc4 e5 22.xa6 xa6 23.xa6 f5 24.e2 xe3 25.fxe3 b8 26.b7 White is just winning. Ivanchuk is a brilliant technical player and rarely lets such opportunities slip. g5 27.xe4 h5 28.f3 xh2+ 29.f2 g8 30.b1 h4+ 31.g3 h2+ 32.e1 h6 33.b7 e5 34.d5 a6 35.c6 f5 36.f2 d6 37.d7 c5 38.c7?! For once, "chukky's" famous technique deserts him. [ The game could have been wrapped up quickly with 38.h5! c4 39.g5 g4 w h a t e l s e ? 40.xg4 fxg4+ 41.e1 with an easy technical win. ] 38...c8 39.d6 e4 40.d8 xd8 [ 40...exf3 41.xc8 xc8 42.d7+- ] 41.cxd8+ xd8 42.xf5 xd6 43.xe4 Despite his slight slip, White is still winning as Black cannot hope to stop both the a and epawns. h6 44.a4 f6+ 45.f4 b2+ 46.f3 c1 47.d5+ h7 48.d3+ h8 49.a5 h1+ 50.g4 c6 51.e4 c8+ 52.f3 a7 53.e5 g5 54.d5 g4+ 55.f4 d8 56.xg4 g5+ 57.f3 xe5 58.c3! d4 59.c8+ g7 60.c7+ xc7 61.xc7 f6 62.a6 h5 63.g2 f5 64.h3 1-0

1625

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1506 Ivanisevic,Ivan Ovetchkin,Roman EU-ch Internet Cand 3rd blitz (2) [Eric Prié]

B13 2588 2539 21.01.2006

1.d4 f6 2.g5 d5 3.xf6 gxf6 4.e3 I n r e l a t i o n wi t h t h e p r e vi o u s g a m e a n d accurate theory, we may also consider the order of moves: [ 4.c4 c5 5.c3!? Probably the best move in the position. c6!? ( 5...dxc4! ) 6.e3 cxd4 7.exd4 ] 4...c5 5.c4 cxd4 6.exd4 c6 Because [ 6...b6 is the critical move in this position as in the Torre-Tiviakov game from some time ago and as more or less acknowledged by its later (2001) adoption by Peter Leko himself. ] 7.c3 Consequently reaching a position that had its importance in the edification of the 2... d5 Tromp theory as testified to by the number of big names playing black in the game notes. However it should not be considered to be critical any more, chiefly from the black point of view, because the earlier deviation 6...Qb6! in the 3.e3 c5 4.Bxf6 gxf6 5.c4 cxd4 6.exd4 (equivalent to 3.Bxf6 gxf6!? 4.e3 c5 5.c4 cxd4 6.exd4) branch and 5...dxc4! in case of 3.Bxf6 gxf6!? 4.c4 c5! 5.Nc3 instead of 5... Nc6 6.e3. Hence the quasi absence of comments on this Internet game despite its semi-topicality, though barely relevant, and the level of the protagonists. e6 [ 7...dxc4! 8.d5 e5 9.xc4 xc4 ( 9...d7!? The question of whether the knight on e5 is stronger than the bishop on c4 with a light pawn on d5 is difficult to settle. In any case, after the capture on c4 White will fall dangerously behind in development with every single opponent's piece (except the king!) occupying its most active square. Th u s, to lo o k f or a n e nd ing, ip so f a ct o resolving the concern of the enemy king forced to remain in the centre af ter the activation of both his rooks, is obviously better for the other camp because of the 2 bishops. 10.e2 g8 11.g3 b6 12.b3 c8 13.f3 xb3 14.axb3 a6 Cebalo, M (2482) - Tkachiev, V (2635) CROChT Rabac 2004) 10.a4+ d7 11.xc4

g8! ( 11...c8 12.d3 b6 13.ge2 g7 14.0-0 0-0 15.e3 xe3 16.fxe3 Bigg, A-Summerscale, A Coulsdon 2002) 12.g3 ( 12.ge2 xg2 13.g3 b6 14.d1 e5 15.a3 c5 16.e4 xf2+ 17.f1 h3 ) 12...b6 13.ge2 ( 13.0-0-0 xf2 14.b1 c8 15.b4 b5 16.ge2 c4 17.b3 c5 18.d6 e6 ) 13...c8 14.b3 xb3 15.axb3 a6 16.0-0 f5 17.d4 g4 18.fd1 g7 19.f4 g6 ] 8.ge2! [ 8.e2 a5 9.cxd5 xd5 10.f3 c4 11.ge2 h6 12.0-0 0-0 13.d5 fd8 14.c2 e5 15.e4 e6 16.g3 f5 17.g2 d3 18.b3 c4 19.c2 d3 20.b3 c4 1/2-1/2 Lputian, S (2625) - Leko, P (2701) EU-ChT (Men) Batumi 1999 ] [ 8.f3 g7 ( 8...h6?! ) 9.e2 0-0 10.0-0 d7 11.c1 fd8 12.cxd5 xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.c4 d7 15.e2 e6 16.fd1 e7 17.d5!? xd5 18.xd5 exd5 19.h4 e8 20.d3 ad8 21.f5 e5 22.g4 f8 23.f3 b6 24.g2 c5 0-1 Adams, M (2716) - Leko, P (2694) Frankf urt rapid 1999 ] 8...h6 9.c5 f5? [ 9...a5 10.a3 ] [ 9...b6! A) 10.b4 bxc5 11.bxc5 ( 11.dxc5 d4 12.e4 d3 ) 11...a5 12.a3 b8; B) 10.g3 bxc5 11.b5 c8! ( 11...b6 12.dxc5 xc5 13.h5 g5 14.h4 f4 15.ge4 b6 16.xd5 ) 12.a4; C) 10.a4 c8 11.g3 bxc5 12.a6 ( 12.b5 b6 ) 12...cxd4 ( 12...c7 13.dxc5 d4 14.d1 ) 13.xc8 xc8 14.b5 0-0 15.xd4 xd4 16.xd4 a6 ] 10.g3 g6 11.b5 a6 12.a4 d7 13.f3 e6+ 14.f1 0-0 15.xc6? [ 15.e1! xd4 ( 15...c8 16.xd5 h8 17.b6; 15...d7 16.xd5 h8 17.xe7 ) 16.d1 ] 15...bxc6 16.h4 ab8 17.b3 b4 18.e1 d7 19.h5 e4 [ 19...c2 20.e2 e4 ] 20.cxe4 dxe4 21.xe4 e6 22.e2 f5 23.f3 fb8 24.g4 fxg4 25.xg4+ h8 26.g1 a5 27.g3 f6 28.f3 [ 28.f4! xf4 ( 28...xd4? 29.g6+ hxg6 30.xb8+; 28...xd4 29.xe6 d5 1626

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30.c3 f5 31.g3 h4 32.f3 d2 33.xf5 xc3 34.e3 ) 29.xf4 xd4 30.g3 f5 31.h6! ( 31.xe6 f4 ) 31...e8 ( 31...f4 32.h3 e8 33.g7 xc5 34.g4 c3 35.xe6; 31...a4 32.xe6 axb3 33.axb3 xb3 ) 32.xe6 a1+! 33.g2 xe6 34.xa1 g4 35.xg4 fxg4 36.h1 g8 ( 36...e5 37.d1 g8 38.d8+ f7 39.d7+ g8 40.g7+ f8 41.xh7 xc5 42.a7 g8 43.g3 ) 37.h4 ] 28...g5 29.d1 h6 30.d3 a4 31.g3 axb3 32.axb3 a8 33.g2 d8 34.c3 c7? 35.e4? [ 35.xg5! This combination works because the fact that e6 is not defended anymore provides W hite with a vital tempo in the attack. fxg5 36.f6+ g8 37.f3 bb8 38.g6+ g7 39.xe6+ h8 40.f6 h7 41.f7 ] 35...d7 36.cf3 f5 37.e5+ h7 38.f4 e8 39.d3 g7 40.xg7+ [ 40.g6! f6 ( 40...d7 41.f4; 40...b7 41.d6 c7 42.f4 f6 43.e5 ) 41.d6 xd4 42.xd4 xd4 43.e5 xe5 ( 43...xe5 44.d7+ ) 44.xg7+ xg7 45.xc6+- ] 40...xg7 41.g6 f6? [ 41...h7 42.e5 c8 ] 42.e5+ h7 43.xc6 b7 44.a5 [ 44.g6! g5 45.b4 ] 44...a7 45.c4 d8 46.d6 c7 47.g6 e7 48.xe6 xd6 49.xd6 xd6 50.cxd6 d7 51.f3 xd6 52.e3 g7 53.d5 f6 54.d4 d8 55.c5? [ 55.g3 b8 56.g6+ e7 57.xh6 xb3 58.e5 ] 55...c8+ 56.b6 e7 57.d6+ d7 58.b4 c6+ 59.a5 c2 60.b5? [ 60.f3 ] 60...xf2 61.b6 a2+ 62.b5 b2+ 63.a6 c6 [ 63...a2+ 64.b7 f4 65.b8 b2 ( 65...f3 66.xf3 xd6 67.f6+ ) 66.b7 a2 67.c3 a1 68.c7+ d8 ( 68...xd6 69.c8 ) 69.f7 a4 70.f8+ d7 71.f6 ] 64.c3+ xd6 65.b7 a2+ 66.b6 b2+ 67.a7 a2+ 68.b8 d7 69.d3+ [ 69.c7+ d8 70.c6 f4 71.d6+ e7 72.c7 c2+ 73.c6 ]

69...e6 70.d4 e5 71.d8? [ 71.b4 g2 72.c7 g7+ 73.c6 xb7 74.xb7 f4 75.f7 e4 76.f6 ] 71...f4 72.h8 f3 73.f8? [ 73.c8 b2 74.b8+ xb8+ 75.xb8 f5 76.xh6 f2 77.h8 ] 73...f2 74.c8 c2+ 75.d7 d2+ 76.e7 b2 77.xf2 xb7+ 78.f8 b8+?! [ 78...e6 ] 79.g7 b6 80.g2 f5 81.g6 b7+ 82.xh6 a7?! [ 82...f7 83.g3 f6 84.f3+ e7 ] 83.b6 [ 83.g7 It is just a draw after all, but by making one's life harder and harder, one can lose the thread eventually, as White did in this game. In any case it is clear that time was the principal object of both player's attention in the end of this Internet Blitz game... ] 83...a8 84.g6 a7 85.g5+ f6 86.g6+ f5 ½-½

1507 Kalod,Radek Palkovi,Jozsef Czech Extraleague 1998-9 (2) [Neil McDonald]

B13 2453 2451 01.11.1998

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 f6 3.c4 c6 4.c3 cxd5 5.d4 This is one of several ways that the typical position can arise. c6 6.g5 e6 7.e2!? This is a quiet move but as the game shows it can be dangerous against inaccurate play. In Hansen-Hector we looked at [ 7.a3 Two other moves should also be considered: ] [ 7.ge2 dxc4 8.f4 xd4 9.xe6 xe6 10.xc4 xd1+ 11.xd1 a6 12.xe6 ( if 12.b5!? taking either hanging piece is fatal, but d8!? looks like a solid response.) 12...fxe6 13.0-0 h6 14.f4 g5 15.e5 g7 16.e2 f7 17.d4 hd8 and Black looked at least equal in Charbonneau-Drozdov, Montreal 1998. ] [ 7.xf6 gxf6 8.c5 A) Better was 8...g8!? 9.g3 g4 10.e2 d7 11.xg4 xg4 12.ge2 and White gave up any winning attempt and agreed a 1627

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 draw here in Psakhis-Zontakh, Portoroz 1995.; B) also interesting was 8...d7 9.b5 g8 10.g3 0-0-0 and now instead of g o i n g o f f t h e r a i l s w i t h 11.h5? as in Mainka-Miles, Bad W oerishof en 1989, ( 11.b4 or; 11.ge2 should keep some advantage for White. ); C) 8...c8? 9.b5 e5 10.ge2 e6 11.0-0 d7 12.b4! g7 13.f4! and Black was in trouble in AgdesteinGretarsson, Gentofte 1999. ] 7...a5 The most active reply. 8.f3 d8 [ Or 8...e4 9.0-0 xc3 10.bxc3 dxc4 11.f4 d5 12.b1 e6 13.c2 a3 look solid for Black in Glavina-Izeta, Spain 1995. Note that taking on b7 fails to Nxd4 in this sequence. ] 9.0-0 dxc4 10.e1!? Ignoring any threat to capture on d4. This seems to improve on [ 10.c1 h6 11.d2 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.b4 d8 14.e3 d7 with unclear play in Rogers-Dreev, Biel 1993. ] 10...h6? [ Horrible for Black is 10...xd4? 11.xd4 xg5 12.xe6 fxe6 13.a4+ but ] [ 10...d5 would be a sound reply which avoids the disaster that soon follows. ] 11.xf6 gxf6 12.f1! g7 13.xe6! This exchange sacrifice decides the game. fxe6 14.xc4 d6 Black cannot let e6 drop as he would be left fatally weak on the light squares. So he returns the exchange, but the result is a losing endgame. 15.e4 d5 16.c5 xc5 17.dxc5 xd1+ 18.xd1 f7 [ If 18...e5 19.h4 d4?! 20.g6 h7 21.g8 traps the rook. ] 19.e1 d8 20.xe6+ f8 21.g3 d4 22.xd4 xd4 23.e2 f5 Black now puts up an impressive resistance but the damage is too great. White plays precisely to grind out the win finally in the endgame. 24.c2 f4 25.g2 e5 26.c8 b4 27.b3 e8 28.g4 d8 29.f3 d4 30.d5 fxg3 31.hxg3 b5 32.c4 e5 33.b4 a5 34.a3 b2 35.c6 bxc6 36.xc6 b6 37.bxa5 a6 38.a4 xa5 39.b5 a7 40.c6 h7 41.a5 h5 42.a6 d4 43.d3 c7 44.h6 c3 45.e4 a3 46.f3 c7 47.b7 a2+ 48.h3 e4 49.xe4 g1 50.h4 h2+ 51.g5 e3+ 52.f4 h3 53.h7+ d8

54.a7 1-0

1508 Korman,U Svensson,C Swedish Team Ch [Nigel Davies]

B13

1976

In th is ga m e B lack qu ie tly co n t in u e s h is develo pme nt wit h 5 ... e6 bef ore de cid in g whether or not to challenge the c5 pawn. The problem here is that W hite has time to reinforce it with b2-b4, Bb2 and a2-a3. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c5 e6 6.b4 [ Playing to maintain his queenside pawn chain. Simple development with 6.f3 e7 7.c3 0-0 8.d3 can be well met by b6 ( 9.b4 a5 ) ] 6...e7 [ After 6...b6 White can maintain the c5 pawn with 7.b2 a5 8.a3 as after axb4 9.axb4 bxc5 10.bxc5 xa1 11.xa1 a5+ there is 12.c3 etc. ] 7.f3 0-0 [ After 7...b6 there is the usual method of reinforcing the queenside with 8.b2 a5 9.a3 etc. ] 8.d3 b6 9.b2 a5 10.a3 axb4 11.axb4 xa1 12.xa1 bd7 13.0-0 b7 14.c2 c7 15.c1 The passed pawn on c5 is now the most important element in the position. White is better. c8 16.e2 e4 17.b2 Protecting the rook in order to threaten c5c5.... e5? ....which Black overlooks. 18.c6 xb4 [ Or 18...xc6 19.b5 etc. ] 19.cxd7 1-0

1509 Kovacevic,Aleksandar Ivanisevic,Ivan 16th Bora Kostic Memorial (8) [Gawain Jones]

B13 2594 2628 10.11.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 a5!? This line hasn't 1628

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 been investigated since the early days of ChessPublishing so I decided it's time to recap. 7.xf6 The most common move but I don't think this promises White any advantage so we must have a look at the alternatives. [ 7.d2 This slightly unusual looking move has been the choice of a few strong Grandmasters. W hite tries to exploit the loose nature of Black's queen. A) 7...d8!? hopes to prove that White's bishop is no better placed on d2 than c1. 8.f3 g4 ( 8...dxc4 9.xc4 e6 10.g5 has actually transposed into a mainline and will probably transpose into a Queen's Gambit Accepted; 8...e6 playing in the Ni m zo I n d ia n s p ir i t i s o f c o u r se a l s o possible although 9.c5 slightly favours White. The bishop is quite useful on d2 here dissuading any . ..Ne4 and ...Qa5 ideas. ) 9.cxd5 xd5 10.b3 Baeckstroem, M (2228) -Vermeulen, E (1709) ICCF email 2009 xf3 11.gxf3 e6 ( 11...b6 is necessary although 12.e3 transposes to a line with a good reputation for White.) 12.xb7 xd4 and now White c a n u t i l i s e h i s e x t r a B d 2 b y 13.xd5 ( 13.0-0-0!? ) 13...xd5 14.xd5 exd5 15.0-0-0 with a clear advantage.; B) 7...dxc4 8.xc4 e6 ( 8...xd4? was looked at in the archives but White n o w wi n s wi t h 9.b5 b6 10.xd4 xd4 11.a4+ as Black cannot save his queen. 1-0 Le Blancq, S-Eales, R F o l k e s t o n e 1 9 8 4 .) 9.f3 ( 9.d5 w a s B r o n s t e i n ' s c h o i c e b u t c5! looks like a good antidote.) 9...b6 10.0-0 e7 11.e3 0-0 12.e2 Banas, J (2334)Buchnicek, P (2320) Brno 2004 was a typical pleasant IQP position for W hite. ( 12.d5 xb2! works out well for Black )] [ 7.d2 e6! looks to equalise without any difficulty. 8.xf6 ( 8.c5 e4 9.xe4 dxe4 10.xa5 xa5 11.d2 c6 12.c3 0-0-0 13.e2 c4 14.g3 1/2-1/2 Ribli, Z (2595)Torre, E (2580) Alicante 1983 Candidates equalised very comfortably.) 8...exf6 9.c5 ( 9.xd5 d8! 10.a3 xd5 11.cxd5 xd5 12.f3 d6 is certainly nothing for White.) 9...b6 10.b5 c8 11.cxb6 Ignatov, B (2364) -Laba, S (2120) ICCF email 2006 xb6 12.f3 b4 and Black has a very

comfortable position. ] [ 7.a3 takes away the b4 square from Black and prepares to push the queen away when A) 7...e4 8.d2 ( 8.cxd5 xc3 9.bxc3 xd5 10.f3 g4 11.e3 Ribli, Z (2610) -Kuczynski, R (2520) Polanica Zdroj 1993 e5! e q u a l i s e s .) 8...xd2 ( 8...xc3 was played in a recent game but 9.xc3 d8 10.b3 e6 11.f3 e7 12.d3 0-0 13.0-0 f6 14.c5 was more comfortable for White. Jakobsen, P (2225) -Pedersen, F (2334) Denmark 2010. ) A1) 9.b4 d8 10.xd2 dxc4 11.d5 e5 12.d4?! ( 12.f4 d3+ 13.xd3 cxd3 14.xd3 more or less transposes to the main line note.) 12...c7 13.f4 d3+ 14.xd3 cxd3 looked more comfortable for the second player.; A2) 9.xd2 e6 would be another fairly typical position that shouldn't cause Black too many problems.; B) 7...dxc4 must be the critical test 8.d5 e4!? 9.d2 xd2 10.xd2 e5 11.f4 d3+ 12.xd3 cxd3 13.xd3 Yatsenko, N (2090)-Oliveira, M (1900) ICCF email 2008 is quite messy. Black has t h e b i sh o p p a ir b u t m igh t st ru g gle t o complete his development. Nevertheless I find it difficult to believe he has serious problems. ] [ 7.f3 is a logical developing move and should be taken seriously. g4 ( 7...e6 is also possible.) 8.xf6 ( 8.cxd5 xd5 9.d2 e6= Petrov, O (2267)-Chekmasov, S RCCA corr 2002.) 8...exf6 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 dxc4 11.e4+ e7 12.d5 T h e s e li n e s wh e re W h i t e p l a ys d 5 a r e alwa ys sh arp . e5 ( 12...f5!? 13.xc4 e5 14.b5+ xb5 15.xb5+ d7= ) 13.f4 a3!? A p r e t t y m o v e ! 14.e2 W estera, B (2328)-Tanis, C (2307) ICCF email 2006 when I believe Black should play 0-0 ( 14...d8 15.fxe5 xd5 16.c2 xe5+ 17.e2 c5 18.0-0-0 b5 ) 15.fxe5 fe8 16.e6 ad8 17.c2 xd5 18.e2 xe6 19.0-0 b6+ 20.h1 xb2 21.xb2 xb2 22.xd5 xa1 23.xc4 e5 and Black's three pawns should be more or less suf f icient against the piece. W hite doesn't look to have enough pawns left to win. ] 1629

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 7...exf6 8.cxd5 [ 8.a3 looked more sensible on the previous m o v e . F o l l o w i n g dxc4 9.xc4 d6 10.e2+ f8! 11.d2 e6 ( I like the look of 11...g5!? 12.xg5 fxg5 when Black's bishop pair give him a pleasant position.) 12.xe6 fxe6 13.f3 Ljubojevic, L (2600)Adams, M (2660) Belgrade 1995 and now a6!? looks a decent try for an advantage. ] [ 8.c5?! looks natural but Black can now utilise his queen on a5 with xc5! 9.dxc5 d4 regaining the pawn. White can minimise h i s d i s a d v a n t a g e w i t h 10.a4 dxc3 11.xa5 xa5 but Black is definitely on top. 12.b5+ ( 12.b3 might be more accurate b u t W h i t e i s g r o v e l l i n g .) 12...d7 ( 12...e7!? might b e even st ro nger.) 13.xd7+ xd7 14.0-0-0+ c7 15.b4 c6 has been reached on a couple of occasions when White is still struggling. ] 8...b4! 9.dxc6 This just leads to a forced draw so White must play an alternative at this point if he wishes to play. [ 9.d2 has been played most frequently but shouldn't worry Black. xc3 ( 9...e7!? 10.b5+ xb5 11.xb5 xd2+ 12.xd2 xd5 looks perfectly fine to me and indeed Black went on to win. Sveshnikov, E (2585) Guliev, S (2490) Vladivostok 1994.) 10.bxc3 xd5 11.e2 ( 11.f3 0-0 12.e2 e8 13.0-0 a5 14.ac1 Jonsson, G (1461)Villa, J (1851) IECC email 2003 b5! 15.fe1 b7 and Black has control of the position.) 11...0-0 12.f4 d6 ( 12...e8+ just gives W hite further time to develop. 13.e2 d6 14.0-0 f5 15.fe1 ac8 16.f3 gave White a small edge. Gulko, B (2 6 1 5 ) - G o n za le z P e r e z, L (2 2 0 5 ) L a s Palmas 1996.) 13.e2 when I like the look of b8!? 14.0-0 b5 when Black looks to have equalised. ] [ 9.e2+ e7 10.b5+ exchanges queens but d7 11.xa5 xa5 12.d3 xd5 13.ge2 Rogers, I (2574) -Saltaev, M (2480) Hamburg 1999 must favour Black with his bishop pair. ] 9...xc3+ 10.bxc3 xc3+ 11.e2 0-0! 12.f3 The only way to avoid an immediate mate. e8+ 13.f2 In fact this repetition has happened at least forty times before! It's likely the whole game was prepared between the

two players. e3+ 14.g3 g5+ [ 14...e4!? would force White to find 15.h3 but now Black doesn't have anything better than f4+ 16.f2 e3+ with a draw anyway. ] 15.f2 e3+ 16.g3 g5+ 17.f2 6...Qa5 looks like a perfectly respectable option for Black provided he's happy with a draw while White's critical reply looks to be 7 Bd2. ½-½

1510 Kovacevic,Slobodan Abreu Delgado,Aryam Mislata op 15th (7) [Eric Prié]

B13 2364 2486 27.08.2007

1.d4 d5 2.f4 c5 3.e3 cxd4 4.exd4 c6 5.c3 f5 6.f3 e6 7.b3 d7 8.e5 Otherwise Black plays f6 as in the next game. xe5 9.xe5 e7 10.d2 c6 11.g3 [ 11.f3 f6! ( 11...e4 12.d2 g6 13.f3 e4 1/2-1/2 Sveshnikov, E (2504)Riazantsev, A (2629) Chelyabinsk 2007) 12.g3 g5! This is not "a very risky strategy" as Johnsen(Kovacevic) say but the acknowledged way to unbalance play in such positions where the Nf3 unfortunately finds himself in the way of the opposing kingside pawns! 13.e2 h5 14.h4 g4 15.h2 g8 16.0-0! h6 17.ad1 e4 18.fe1 f5 19.e5 xe5 20.dxe5 0-0-0 21.d3 g7 22.xe4 fxe4 23.c4 xe5 24.f1 b8 25.g3 gf8 26.cxd5 exd5 27.e3 d4 28.c4 f5 29.f1 d5 30.b4 f3 31.e7 e3 32.xe3 xe3 33.fxe3 xg3+ 34.f2 g2+ 35.e1 d3 Wohl, A (2419)-Sasikiran, K (2650) Torquay 2002. One has the feeling W hite just got crushed without any counterchances in this game... ] 11...e7 [ 11...d6 12.e2 ( 12.xd6 xd6 13.e2 0-0 14.0-0 The position is completely equal, with preferable long term prospects only for Black due to the possibility of conducting a mino rity at ta ck. I n th is ca se , a s I ha ve warned, he should proceed with care (like Khenkin in the main note) and not rush with 1630

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 his b-pawn at the risk of giving up the key c5-square control. c7 15.fe1 a5 16.d1 b5? 17.b3 c4 18.xc4 xc4 19.c5 Sveshnikov, E (2487)-Macieja, B (2639) W arsaw 2010 1/2(67)) 12...0-0 13.0-0 ab8 14.a4 fc8 15.fe1 xg3 16.hxg3 c7 17.a2 a5 18.b3 c4 19.c5 d6 20.ad1 d8 21.d3 b6 22.a6 b7 23.xf5 xf5 24.b4 h5 25.d3 a5 26.c2 b5 Here we go. 27.axb5 xb5 28.e3 d6 29.b3 b6 30.c4 dxc4 31.bxc4 b2 32.a4 b4 33.d7 d8 34.e7 xc4 35.xc4 xc4 36.d5 exd5 37.f3 f8 38.e5 c5 39.f5 c1 40.xh5 xe1+ 41.xe1 d8 42.d2 a4 43.g5 d6 44.e7 c1+ 45.h2 h6 46.e8+ h7 47.xf7 xh5+ 48.xh5+ h6 0-1 Midoux, S (2295) -Khenkin, I (2638) Andorra 2003. Just a reminder of how ungrateful such p o s it io n s (wh e re e qu a l d o e s n o t m e a n drawn) can prove for the weaker side when he has no plan... ] 12.f3 0-0 13.e5 Good levelling strategy. Exchanging the knights insures White a better control of the queenside. xe5 14.xe5 d6 Black should classically look for central action with this reversed Karlsbad structure. [ 14...f6 15.g3 d6 With the idea ...e6-e5e4, ...f6-f5, ...f 4 mobilizing his kingside majority. ] 15.b5 c7 16.xd6 xd6 17.0-0 ab8 18.a4 b6 19.a3 fc8 20.fe1 h6 The Sasikiran, Macieja or Khenkin games as Black might have been more instructive had they been main games, but enough with this dubious 4.Bf4?! Exchange Caro-Kann subline! ½-½

exchange Caro-Kann 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 (4.Nc3?!) 4...Nc6 5.c3 for in st a n ce. I f o n e p u rp o se o f t h is 4 . Nc 3 ? ! variation in the 1...d5 London is surprise and making the opponent think by himself (which worked in the majority of the previous games... ) a CK player (like Dizdarevic and on occasion Bindrich...) will certainly not have to struggle to orientate himself over the board when confronted by the present! 6.e2 [ 6.h3 c6 7.f3 ( 7.g4 b6 ) 7...f5 8.d3 ( 8.g4 g6 9.e5 e6 10.h4 xe5 11.dxe5 d4! 12.b5 e4 13.h5 a5+ 14.d2 b4 15.c3 dxc3 16.bxc3 xc3 17.b3 c2 18.d6+ xd6 19.xc3 xb3 20.xa5 xe5 ) 8...xd3 9.xd3 e6 10.0-0 d6 11.g5 h6 12.h4 0-0 13.a3 c8 14.ae1 e7 Miladinovic, I (2560)Dizdarevic, E (2485) Belgrade 2010 1-0(41) ] [ 6.f3 A) 6...g4!? 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 c6 9.0-0-0 e6 10.g4 d6! ( 10...b6 11.g5 d7 12.e3 Bauer, C (2583) -Bindrich, F (2 5 1 6 ) B ie l 2 0 0 8 1 / 2 (2 8 )) 11.g5 ( 11.xd6 xd6 12.e3 0-0 13.f4 b5; 11.g5 h6 12.h4 b5 13.g3 ) 11...xf4+ 12.xf4 h5 13.e3 d6 14.h4 a5; B) 6...c6 7.e5 ( 7.d3 g4 Klaric, Z (2427) -Ghasi, A (2418) Crawley 2012 rest of the game and final result unclear.; 7.e2 g4 Transposes into the ma in gam e .) 7...b6 8.a4 ( 8.xc6 xc6 9.d3 g4! 10.f3 h5 11.e2 g6 12.0-0 e6 ) 8...a5+ ( 8...xd4 9.xd4 xd4 10.0-0-0 e6 11.b6 b8 12.g3 e4 13.xd5 g6 14.c4 h6+ 15.b1 0-0 16.xg6 xg3 17.xe7+ g7 18.hxg3 ) 9.c3 xe5 10.xe5 ( 10.dxe5 d7 11.exf6 xa4 1511 B13 12.c7 xc7 13.xa4+ c6 ) 10...e6 11.b4 d8 12.d3 b6 13.0-0 e7 Kovacevic,Vlatko 2471 14.c2 h6= ] Kuljasevic,Davorin 2555 [ 6.d3 c6 7.ge2 ( 7.f3 g4 ) CRO-chT1A 19th (5) 08.09.2010 7...b4!? ( 7...g4 8.f3 h5 9.d2 [Eric Prié] g6= ) 8.a3 xd3+ 9.xd3 g4 ( 9...g6 10.f3 f5 11.d2 h5 12.d1 ) 10.g3 h5 1.d4! d5 2.f4 f6 3.e3 c5 4.c3?! 11.h3 d7 ] cxd4! 5.exd4 a6 As a matter of fact this is a qu i t e u s e f u l m o ve in t h i s 'p r e - Ca rl sb a d ' 6...c6 7.f3 g4 8.0-0 e6 9.e5 xe2 structure, and is often played later on in the 10.xe2 In this way White solves the concern 1631

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 of his bad knight at the price of a complete levelling of the position. xe5 11.xe5 d7 [ 11...d6 12.xf6!? xf6 13.f4 ] 12.g3 e7 13.e1 0-0 14.a4?! [ 14.f4 b5 15.a3 b6 16.d3 c4 17.c3 Is the standard "magic knight policy to keep the game soporific against the danger of the opposing minority attack. ] 14...b5 15.f4 b4! 16.e2 f6 17.f3 b6 18.f2 fc8 Now White is in trouble with a backward pawn down the semi-open file and no counterplay on the other wing as is traditionally the case. 19.ec1 c6 20.d3 ac8 21.e2 e8 22.b3 g5! 23.f4 e7 24.g3 d6 25.g2 a5 26.a2 e4 27.h4 c7 28.e3 h6 The game will be decided on the kingside . 29.d2 b6 30.b2 f6 31.a2 c7 32.b2 e7 33.a2 d6 34.b2 f6 White is so tied up that Black was able to manoeuvre at leisure. With this move he engages the right plan. 35.a2 f7 The right idea, however [ 35...b7! Clearly keeping the c-pawn at bay. 36.b2 ( 36.c4 bxc3 37.xc3 xc3 38.xc3 xb3 39.ac2 b4 40.e2 xc3 41.xc3 xc3 42.xe6+ h8; 36.e1 g5 37.fxg5 hxg5 38.hxg5 fxg5 39.f3 f8 40.g4 f7 ) 36...f7! 37.a2 ( 37.c4? bxc3 38.xc3 a3 ) 37...g5! 38.fxg5 hxg5 39.hxg5 fxg5 The opening of the f -f ile has created the threat of Qf 2. 40.f1 h5 41.e1 g7 42.h1 g4 The black queen has reached her optimal square. 43.b2 6c7! Black prepares the invasion of the f-file. 44.h3 f8 45.c4 cf7 46.g1 f1 Threatening both Rxe1, Rxg1+ 47.xf1 xf1 48.xf1 xg3 With a winning attack in various ways. For instance 49.g2 ( 49.xg3 xg3+ 50.e1 f4 ) 49...f4+ 50.e2 xe1 51.xe1 c1+ 52.e2 c2+ 53.f3 d1+ 54.e3 ( 54.e2 d3+ 55.g4 f6+ 56.xg5 xh3 ) 54...e1+ 55.e2 d2+ 56.f3 d3+ 57.g4 f6+ 58.xg5 xh3 ] 36.c4! The last hope to make Black doubt bxc3 37.xc3 c7? As Black must be in serious time trouble [ 37...g5! Yet again. The counterplay on the c-file with a5 hanging will arrive just too late: A) 38.hxg5 hxg5 39.fxg5 ( 39.ac2 gxf4 40.xa5 xc2 41.xc2 xc2 42.xc2

h5 43.c8+ g7 44.d7+ h6 45.xf4 ) 39...fxg5 40.f1 xc3; B) 38.fxg5 hxg5 39.ac2 gxh4 40.xa5 xc2 41.xc2 xc2 42.xc2 h5 43.e1 h3+ 44.h2 f3 45.xh3 h1+ 46.g4 f5#; C) 38.ac2 a3 C1) 39.a1 b4 40.ac1 xc3 41.xc3 c7 42.fxg5 hxg5 43.hxg5 fxg5 44.f3 f7! ( 44...xc3? 45.xc3 xc3 46.f6 ) 45.e3 g4 46.g1 f3; C2) 39.b2 xc2 40.xc2 xc2 41.xc2 xb2 42.xb2 gxh4 43.gxh4 g6+ 44.h2 g4 45.c2 xh4+ 46.g2 f2+ 47.h3 ( 47.h1 g3+ 48.xg3 xc2 ) 47...f3+ 48.h2 ( 48.h4 h1+ 49.g4 f5# ) 48...f7 49.c7+ g6-+ ] ½-½

1512 Krivoborodov,Egor Jobava,Baadur 4th Open A Moscow RUS (1) [David Vigorito]

B13 2394 2643 02.02.2008

Jobava meets the Exchange variation in one of the sharpest ways, taking on an isolated queen pawn. White passive play lands him in trouble, and Black crashes through with a beautiful attack out of seemingly nowhere on the dark-squares. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 c7 [ Black tries to prevent Bf4. This is a popular deviation from the normal 5...f6 6.f4 g4 7.b3 when Black usually chooses between 7...Qc8 and 7...Qd7. ] 6.h3 [ This is a reasonable alternative to the main line, which goes 6.e2 g4 7.f3 d7 8.f4 e5 9.dxe5 xe5 10.0-0 d6 wi t h a sl ig h t l y u n u su a l is o la t e d q u e e n pawn position. ] 6...f6 7.e2 [ Now that Black has some trouble developing his c8-bishop, W hite usually plays 7.f3 ] 7...e5! 8.dxe5 xe5 Black has an improved version of the line above, because he has not 1632

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 spent time with his queen bishop. 9.f4 d6 10.xe5 [ 10.b5+ d7 11.xd7+ xd7 is also comfortable for Black. ] 10...xe5 11.d2 0-0 12.0-0 h2+ T h i s i s a t y p i c a l m e t h o d . B l a c k wa n t t o re p o s it i o n h is b ish o p , b u t f ir st h e d ra g s White's king into the corner. 13.h1 d6 14.d4 a6 15.e1 d7 16.f3 ae8 Black is doing well because W hite has no clear plan. The d5-pawn is blockaded, but it is difficult to bring pressure against it. Black, on the other hand, has the bishop pair and can hope to create pressure on the dark-squares. 17.f5 e5 18.b3 g6 19.fd4 b6 20.e2 b8! Now White will have to watch o u t f o r a b a t t e ry o n t h e h 2 -b 8 d ia g o n a l . 21.xe8 xe8 22.f1 h5!? [ 22...e4 is also strong, pressuring f2. We can already see that W hite's king would rather be on g1. ] 23.c5 [ White tries to solve his problems tactically. 23.g1 d6 24.g3 h4! shows the point of Black's play. ] 23...xh3! 24.a4 [ 24.gxh3 d6 forces 25.g2 after which xc5 leaves Black a pawn up with a winning position. ] 24...d6 25.xh3 e4 White is a piece up but his scattered pieces cannot defend the dark-squares around his king. Black's 12th move is looking rather brilliant... 26.g1 [ 26.h4 xf2+! 27.g1 e4 is crushing. ] 26...f4 27.f3 a7! the final touch. 0-1

8.b4 [ Aside from 8. Bf6 another interesting c o n t i n u a t i o n i s 8.e2!? the game Sveshnikov - Tkachiev, Vienns 1996 continued with 0-0-0 9.xf6 gxf6 A) 10.f3 dxc4 11.d5 e5 ( 11...c7 12.a4 with a clear advantage) 12.dxe6 xe6 13.e2 h6 with compensation; B) 10.c5 g8 11.f1 f5 12.b5 e5 13.b4 h6 14.ge2 with unclear and double-edged play. ] 8...d8 [ 8...dxc4!? was tried in the game Lanka Adianto, Adelaide 1990: 9.xf6 A) after 9...exf6 10.d5 0-0-0 ( 10...xb4 11.xc4! winning ) 11.dxc6 xc6 12.c2 Black's counterplay, in my opinion, does not compensate him for a piece.; B) 9...gxf6 10.d5 0-0-0 11.xc4 ( 11.dxe6? xe6+ 12.e2 e5 with a clear advantage; deserves much attention 11.dxc6!? xc6 12.a4 and Black has to work hard to prove he has enough compensation .) 11...e5 12.b5 c7 13.ge2 and now Black would obtain equal chances after f5= ( or 13...b8!? )] [ 8...0-0-0?! is dubious because the black King gets into trouble after 9.b5 a5 10.c5 e4 11.a4! with a strong attack. ] 9.xf6 exf6 10.c5 g6 11.b5! Of course the aim of this move is not to pin the Black Knight. Firstly, it is the only square the Bishop could be developed on to let the Knight on g1 go to e2 and secondly, as will be clear later the Bishop is not going to stay there it will move to b3, creating pressure on the d5 pawn (together with Qa2 and maybe Nf4) and at the 1513 B13 same time free the way for a queenside pawn Lanka,Zigurds 2540 advance. h6 12.ge2 0-0 13.0-0 f5 Bauer,Christian 2420 14.a4! e7 15. b5 followed by 16. b6 was g7 16.d2 c8 Cappelle (2) 1994 t h r e a t e n e d . 15.f4 17.ad1 fe8 18.h1 e3 19.a2! [Alexander Volzhin] White's queen has a good job in this position. GM Zigurds Lanka proves once again that the The Black invader will be pushed back very move 7. a3!? is one of the main weapons soon. e7 20.f3 e6 21.h3 h6 22.b3 against the system with 5. ..Nc6 and 6. ..Be6. h8 23.fd3 ed7 24.g1! White's play is 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 very consistent and strong. While replaying this game all t he m oves look simple an d 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 7.a3!? d7 [ 7...g6 is not good enough to equalise: logical, but these are the moves of the player who understands very well where every piece 8.xf6 exf6 9.c5 and White is better. ] 1633

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 should be placed. g5 Trying to do something Horvath, Hungary (chW) after h6 11.h3 but this just makes things worse. 25.f3 gxf4 h5 12.d3 f5 ] 26.e2 e4 27.d2 It is noticeable that 10...f5 11.b5 e5 W hite has obtained an absolutely winning [ According to Zigurds Lanka, better was position without leaving his own camp! Black 11...h6 with the idea of putting the Bishop already has nothing to hope for. e7 28.xf4 on e3 and castling kingside. ] g6 29.xg6+ fxg6 30.e3 h7 31.ee1! 12.ge2 0-0-0 13.0-0 e6 Very precise! White has found an even better [ 13...h6 was better again. It looks like idea than simply taking the queen, which Leko was too satisfied with his excellent opens the d-file for the black Rooks. Now he vict o ry a ga in st T o p alo v - h e is p la yin g tries to force Black to take on e1 with Bc2. g5 e xa ct ly t h e s a m e m o ve s ! H o we ve r t h e 32.xe4 dxe4 33.xg5+ Here is the benefit situation is quite different as W hite has from the move 31. Ree1! hxg5 34.xg5 already developed his kingside. ] Black resigned. Excellent positional game by 14.h1 h6 15.xc6!? Zigurds Lanka. [ White was probably worried about 15. ..Nd4 1-0 16. Nd4 ed4 after which the Bishop on b5 is not very useful, on the other hand the darksquared Bishop on h6 becomes more 1514 B13 powerful. Still, 15.b4 was possible as after xd4 16.xd4 exd4 White has 17.e2 Lanka,Zigurds 2545 with the better prospects. ] Leko,Peter 2630 EUCup f Budapeste (1) 1996 15...bxc6 16.e1 e3 17.a4 Having a pair of Knights, White successfully keeps Black's [Alexander Volzhin] bishop pair unemployed thanks to his initiative This gam e was a bat tle b etween t wo big on the queenside. d7 18.g3 exd4? [ This is a clear mistake. Black's position experts with this line - Zigurds Lanka and was already worse but still playable after Peter Leko. The Latvian GM is an adherent of 18...xd4 19.xf5 xf5 20.xc6+ b8 the move 7. a3, and he was able to show 21.b5 ( 21.xd5 c8 22.xf6 xf6 some of the drawbacks of Black's set-up. A 23.xf6 White also has the advantage but very useful game for gaining an understanding Black is not without counterplay after b7 ) of the whole line. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 21...f2 ( 21...c8? 22.xd4 exd4 23.a6 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 with a clear advantage) 22.d6 ( 22.e2 7.a3 d7 8.xf6 gxf6 9.c5! c8 ) 22...e6 23.b5+ a8 24.c6+ White stabilises the centre in order to develop b8 25.ec1 with better prospects. ] his kingside. After that he has good attacking The Bishop on f5 is now a big possibilities on the queenside with b4-b5 and 19.ce2! problem for Black as it cannot find a safe so on. [ This move is much more to the point than place to stay. [ Taking a Bishop by 19.xf5? was much the dubious 9.g3?! which was played in the weaker and could lead to unclear play after game Topalov - Leko. ] xf5 20.xc6+ b8 according to Lanka. ] 9...g4 [ 9...0-0-0 would be met by the immediate 19...d3 20.xd4 b5 21.d1 [ Both 21.b4 ] 10.b4 ] [ and 21.xb5 cxb5 22.xe6 f2 23.f4 [ wh il e a f t e r 9...g7 White could start the xe1 24.xe1 were good enough to get a development of his kingside with 10.e2! decisive advantage. ] followed by Bf3 and Nge2 ( not 10.f3?! 22.gf5 winning xd4 g4 with f6-f5 next attacking the pawn on 21...e5 This is forced. 23.xe5 xe5 24.d2 e8 d4 )] 25.a4 c4 26.c1 b3 This move loses a 10.f3 [ The dubious 10.ge2?! allowed Black to piece but Black was hopelessly lost anyway. take the initiative in the game Grabics - Ju. 27.e3 xa4 28.f4 d4 29.e4 d3 30.xa4 1634

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d2 31.d1 xb2 32.xc6+ b8 33.h3 e1+ 34.h2 c7 35.b5+ Black resigned. Excellent performance by Zigurds Lanka. 1-0

1515 Larsen,Bent Seirawan,Yasser Las Palmas (Spain) [Nigel Davies]

B13

1981

If your opening repertoire needs freshening up, you could do far worse than search some of Bent Larsen's old games for ideas. An independent and original thinker, the great Danish Grandmaster has original twists and turns in almost every opening. The Exchange Ca r o i s a l i n e I o f t e n r e c o m m e n d t o m y students and in this game we see a familiar Larsen twist with 4 c3. He does not seem to be at all concerned by the fact that he is not preventing Black from developing his bishop on f5. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c3 c6 [ After 4...f5 L a r s e n p l a y e d 5.f4 against Seirawan in Monte Carlo, 1992 ( Alex Volzhin gave 5.b3 d7 6.f3 c6 7.b5 threatening 8 Ne5 as a strong line, but perhaps Black can simply parry this with f6 ) 5...e6 ( Allowing White to prevent his opponent from castling. 5...c6 looks far safer ) 6.xb8 xb8 7.b5+ d8 8.f3 d6 9.0-0 f6 10.e1 g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 e7 13.d2 h2+ 14.h1 f4 15.f1 a6 16.d3 e8 17.g3 d6 18.e3 f8 19.g4 xg4 20.hxg4 h6 21.g2 d8 22.h1 and White had a dangerous initiative. ] 5.f4 f5 [ Larsen - Barcza, Copenhagen 1965 varied a t t h i s p o i n t wi t h 5...f6 6.d2 e6 ( Given that Larsen does not seem averse to the exchange of light square bishops in this line, he might have intended to meet 6...f5 with 7.gf3 e6 8.h4 g4 9.e2 xe2 10.xe2 e7 11.hf3 0-0 12.0-0 followed by the traditional plan of trying to marshal W hite's forces for an attack on the kingside.) 7.gf3 d6 8.g3 h5 9.xd6 xd6 10.g3 0-0 11.d3 f6

12.e2 d7 13.0-0 e5 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.c2 c4 18.xc4 dxc4 19.fd1 and White had a slight edge in the endgame which he failed to convert. ] 6.d3 [ 6.f3 e6 7.b3 c8 8.bd2 f6 9.e2 e7 10.0-0 e4 11.ac1 xd2 12.xd2 0-0 13.c4 e4 14.e3 d8 15.e5 xe5 16.dxe5 c8 17.fd1 ( This weakens f2 and allows Black to seize the initiative. 17.c3 is b et t e r.) 17...c5 18.f4 f6 and White is in trouble in the game Larsen-Spassky, San Juan 1969. ] 6...g6 7.f3 e6 8.0-0 d6 9.xd6 xd6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.bd2 f6 12.e2 f4 13.fe1 a6 14.a4 g5 A rather ambitious plan which backfires. [ In any case I'm not sure that Black's position is entirely comfortable, after 14...0-0 there could follow 15.a5 c7 16.b3 with some pressure. ] 15.e3 e7 16.a5 h5 17.f1 e4 18.c4 d8 19.cxd5 exd5 20.g3 xe3 21.xe3 hh8 22.xg5 xd4 23.3xe4 dxe4 24.xe4+ Winning a pawn, though there are technical difficulties due to the activity of Black's pieces. In the event Larsen narrowly fails to convert. f6 25.h4 g6 26.a4 c6 27.g4 d1+ 28.h2 f6 29.f3+ h7 30.ac4 e8 31.b4 b1 32.gf4 e7 33.g3 d7 34.g2 d3 35.g4 a3 36.g5 fxg5 37.xg5+ g6 38.e6 aa1 39.f8+ h6 40.ce4 g1+ 41.h2 h1+ 42.g3 ag1+ 43.f3 e1 44.d7 xe4 45.xe4 b1 46.c5 xb4 47.xb7 h5 48.xb4 xb4 49.g3 c6 50.h3 e5 51.c5 c4 52.b3 d6 53.g2 b7 54.f3 g6 55.h3 d6 56.c5 c4 57.b7 e5 58.f4 c6 ½-½

1516 Le Blancq,Simon Eales,Richard G 1984 Folkestone [Paul Motwani]

B13

1984

W36: "Don't dare devour the d4-pawn!" 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 The Panov1635

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B o t v i n n i k A t t a c k i s o n e o f W h it e 's m o s t threatening systems against Black's CaroKann Defence. f6 [ I've seen 4...f5?! 5.cxd5 xd5 6.c3 a5 7.b3 happen before, and Black lost very rapidly with b6 8.d5 xb3 9.axb3 when he actually resigned facing the deadly duo of threats 10 Nc7+ and 10 Nb6. What a nightmare! ] 5.c3 c6 6.g5 a5 [ 6...dxc4 7.d5 a5 8.xc4 xc4 9.a4+ d7 10.xc4 is quite unpleasant for Black since the white d5-pawn has a cramping effect on his development because it's not easy to find a safe way to move the e7pawn forward to release the f8-bishop. ] 7.d2 [ 7.xf6 exf6 8.cxd5 b4! is a tricky alternative. ] 7...dxc4 8.xc4 xd4? Curiously, the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings only gives 8...e6 without even mentioning the obvious capture 8...Nxd4, but that (and the fact that W hite has deliberately left it to be taken) should have 'told' Black "Don't dare devour the d 4 - p a wn ! " . 9.b5 b6 10.xd4 xd4 11.a4+! Black resigned, because he loses his queen after 11...Bd7 12 Bxf7+ or 11...Qd7 12 Bb5 or 11... Kd8 12 Ba5+ b6 13 Rd1. 1-0

Something has gone wrong for the white Grandmaster... W hile the smoke of complications is still in the air, it may be a good moment to propose the sharing of the point. 1/2-1/2 Klaric, Zl (2425) - Bilobrk, F (2328) CRO-Tch Rabac 2004 ] [ 3...f6 4.e3 a5! 5.d2 cxd4 6.exd4 a6= ] 4.e3 This position with the knight on f6 is well known and we have seen in Karlik-Polak that Black should play 4...Qa5! here, intending ... Ne4 b ut t he de ve lo pm en t of th e qu ee n's knight instead presents an interesting feature... [ 4.dxc5? e5 5.g3 d4 6.b1 Sad but true ( 6.e4? f5 7.d6+ xd6 8.cxd6 f4; 6.a4? a5+ 7.c3 b5 8.cxb6 axb6 9.b3 dxc3 winning the house. ) 6...xc5 ] 4...cxd4! The most simple, and a direct consequence of Black's move order preventing Nc3-b5 (if his knight stood on f6 instead of c6) because of the control of the e5 square when [ 4...a5!? 5.f3! ( 5.dxc5? e5 6.g3 d4 ) A) 5...f6 6.d2 ( 6.dxc5 e4 ) A1) 6...cxd4 Does not transpose into the K a r l i k ' s g a m e b e c a u s e o f 7.xd4! ( 7.b5? xd2+ 8.xd2 dxe3 9.fxe3 e5 ) 7...a6 8.d3; A2) 6...a6 7.dxc5 e6 8.a3 xc5; B) 5...g4!? 6.b5 e6 7.h3 h5 8.0-0 ( 8.g4 g6 9.e5 ge7 10.dxc5 a6 ) 1517 B13 8...f6 9.a3 cxd4 10.exd4 e7 11.d3 g6 12.e2 0-0 13.xc6 bxc6 14.e5 Lyrberg,Patrik 2415 b6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.d3= ] Serper,Grigory 2560 Oslo op (3) 1994 5.exd4 f5 6.f3 [ 6.b5? c8 ] [Eric Prié] 6...e6 7.e5 ge7 [ 7...xe5 8.dxe5 ( 8.xe5!? ) 8...a6 9.d3 1.d4 d5 2.f4 The sole game ever (before 2 xd3 10.xd3 e7= Serper, G from his of my productions in the penultimate issue 98... notes when mentioned in INF60/346 ] ) in the Informant on this popular, 'easy' to start out with 2.Bf 4 line, especially at an 8.b5 c8 9.c3?! Serper, G "Intending Qa4" [ 9.g4 e4! ( 9...xc2 10.xc2 xe5 amateur level in reaction to the more and 11.a4; 9...g6 10.d6+ xd6 11.xg6 more burdensome tyranny of sharp theory. e5 12.xe5 b4+ Serper, G ) 10.f3 g6! When the theoretical battle rages on in other Prie, E sources, the unfortunate sign that the A) 11.xc6 xc6 12.xa7 xf4 lighthouse has lost some of its lustre, or 13.xc6 ( 13.fxe4 a5+ 14.c3 xa7 ) possibly that it is just aimed at a more 13...h4+ 14.d2 f2+ 15.e2 bxc6 exacting clientele... c5 3.c3 c6 16.fxe4 xd4+ 17.c1 e3+ 18.b1 [ 3...e6 4.e4 cxd4 5.b5 b4+ 6.c3 dxc3 xe2; 7.bxc3 a5 8.exd5 exd5 9.d4 1636

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 11.g3 xc2! Now it works. 12.xc2 cxe5 13.a4 c6 14.xa7 b4+ 15.f2 ( 15.d1 f6; 15.e2 g5! Threatening mate 16.d1 a8 ) 15...b6 16.xc8 ( 16.xc6 bxc6 ) 16...xd4+ 17.g2 xb2+ 18.h3 h5 19.g5 h4 20.d6 xa1 21.xb4 xb4 22.b5+ c6 23.xa1 d7-+ ] 9...a6 [ 9...g6!? Serper, G 10.xg6 xg6 11.a4 b6 12.b4 a6 ( 12...d8!? W ith the idea 13.c1 a6 14.d6 xd6 15.xd6 xd4 16.c5 xc5 17.bxc5 b2 ) 13.d6+ xd6 14.xd6 ] 10.c4 dxc4! 11.d6+ d7 12.xf7 e8? [ 12...b6 Serper, G 13.xh8 xb2 14.c1 Only move ( 14.d2 xd4!! 15.cxd4 c3 16.e3 d5 17.f7 c2 18.c1 b4+ 19.e2 c3 20.xb2 xb2 21.e1 xe3 22.fxe3 c1 23.xc1 xc1-+ ) 14...xc1+ 15.xc1 ( 15.xc1 d5 16.d2 a3 ) 15...e8 Definitely trapping the knight in the corner, followed by ...g7-g6, ...Bf8-g7 or ...Nd5, Bishop somewhere and ...Ke7 with the cover ...Nf6 in case of a check on g5. 16.h4 h5 ] 13.d6?? If not an hallucination of the type of forcing Qd8 to repeat moves while forgetting the availability of the square g6, it is difficult to understand what must have passed in the head of the Swedish player... [ 13.xh8 Serper, G d5 14.d2 ( 14.g3 cb4! ) 14...b5 W ith the idea ( 14...d6 15.xc4 xh8 16.0-0 ) A) 15.f3 Prie, E f6 16.g5 d6 17.xf6 gxf6 18.0-0-0 ( 18.g4 c2 19.c1 a4 The closure of the f-file meaning that the knight is still lost makes all the difference. 20.b1 a5 ) 18...g8! ( 18...xh8 19.d5 ) 19.d2 Bg4 was also threatened. ( 19.d5? g5+ 20.d2 f4 21.dxc6+ e7 ) 19...c7 20.d5 e5 21.e3 b7 22.dxe6 Still very messy xe6? ( 22...c5! ) 23.g4! xg4 24.g2+; B) 15.g4 e4 16.f3 d3 17.xd3 cxd3 18.b1 d6 19.xd3 xh8 20.a4; C) 15.b3 b4! ] 13...g6 14.g3? [ 14.xc8 xc8 15.g3 ( 15.xc4?

xg2 ) 15...h5 16.h4 d5 17.xc4 e3 18.fxe3 xg3+ 19.d2 g4 20.e2 xg2 ] 14...d5! 15.xc8 cb4! 16.xc4 [ 16.cxb4 xb4+ 17.e2 d3+ 18.f3 e4# ] 16...c2+ 17.d2 [ 17.f1 de3+ ] [ 17.e2 xa1 18.a7 c2 19.d3 xd4+ 20.cxd4 xd3+ 21.xd3 xd3+ 22.xd3 d6 This wandering knight also makes an appetizing prey on the other side of the board! ] 17...xa1-+ 18.e1 h6+ 19.d1 g4+ 20.f3 e3+ 21.e2 xc4 22.f2 xc8 23.e2 d2 0-1

1518 Mahboobi,Shiva Rajadarshini,M Asian U18g Tehran IRI (2) [Andrew Martin]

B13 2038 04.04.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 g6! If Black wishes to avoid the dry positions coming out of 5..Nf6 then this is the way. Black's overall plan is to mobilise his c e n t r a l p a wn s , u s u a l l y wi t h . . . f 7 - f 6 a n d eventually ...e7-e5! White tries to prevent this plan and establish a positional grip. 6.f4 [ 6.e2 g7 7.d2 f6 8.0-0 0-0 9.f3 is another f developing the White pieces. I don't see anything in this plan which can remotely trouble Black. In fact, as the Knight on e2 will soon have to be redeployed I frankly think White doesn't have a plan. If possible, I would be looking to play something like Re1, Bf4, Bc2 , Nc1-d3, shackling e5, but White has other ideas. a6 10.g3?! g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 e8 13.d1 e5 14.dxe5 xe5 Very straightforward and of course Black is fine here with very active pieces. 15.c2 c4 16.e2 b5 17.d4 b6 18.b3 d6 19.e3 c7 20.c1 de4 21.xe4 xe4 22.d3 ac8 Black focuses on activity t h ro u gh o u t . 23.d2 e7 24.f3 c5 25.d4 xd2 26.xd2 b4 27.fd1 bxc3 28.d3 xd4 29.xd4 e1+ 1637

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 0-1 Nikolaeva, A-Chernova, A/Sochi RUS 2004 an nondescript performance by White who seemed to expect the game to winitself! ] 6...g7 7.f3 f6 8.bd2 The exchange variation featured twice more in the same tournament with a lousy score for White. [ I suppose 8.h3 is a decent enough move but it's not very inspiring. Black copes: 0-0 9.0-0 a6 Preparing a possible minority attack as well as the Knight manoeuvre ... Na5-c4. 10.bd2 ( 10.c1 b5 11.a3 a5 12.bd2 b7 13.b4 c4= 14.xc4 dxc4 15.e2 d5 16.h6? xc3-+ 0-1 Jahangiri, S-Rajadharshini, M/Tehran IRI 2004 ) 10...b5 ( 10...h5 11.h2 h6 12.e1 f4 is interesting here.) 11.a3 a5 12.b4 c4 13.xc4 dxc4 14.c2 d5 15.d2 d6 16.e1 b7 17.e4 fe8 18.c1 c6 19.h6 h8 Both sides could happily play on. ] 8...0-0 9.0-0 h5 10.g5 [ In view of what happens I think that 10.e3! is better. k occupies f4 and will try to get ... e7-e5 together. White aims to play c3-c4 at the right moment. Play may proceed. c7 11.e1 f4 12.f1 a6 13.e5 h5 14.df3 f6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.c4 ] 10...c7 11.e1 h8 12.e2 f6! Black sets his plan into motion - very effective a n d e a s y t o u n d e r s t a n d ! 13.e3 e5 Only Black can be better now. 14.c2 e4 15.h4 f5 Suddenly the position is quite disgusting for W hite. W e would all be delighted to handle Black's pawn avalanche. 16.g3 f4 17.gxf4 xd4! The tactics are rolling Black's way but W hite deserved it. 18.xd4 xd4 19.xe4 dxe4 20.cxd4 xf4 W hite is f in ish ed . 21.d2 h3+ 22.h1 xf2 23.xg6+ g7 A lightweight game to be sure but it does highlight a possible winning strategy for Black against the Exchange Variation and shows how Black may implement his plans against planless White play. Overall, the exchange variation with 4 Bd3 isn't seen too often at the highest level. That's because the main lines with 4.. Nc6 5 c3 Nf6 are fine for Black, requiring only a minimum of book learning and that if he wishes, Black may play full on for a win with ...

g6 ideas. 0-1

1519 Matsuura,E Lenderman,A 9th Panamerican Team (5.4) [Tom Rendle]

B13 2475 2619 28.01.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.f4!? This unusual move is not so bad and it's only been covered once before so it's time to take another look at it! g6 [ 6...e6 7.c5 d7!? was seen recently in Ivanchuk-Jakovenko annotated by Danny Gormally but Black never fully equalised in that game. ] [ 6...dxc4 is Black's other critical response and now A) 7.d5!? is also worth investigating A1) 7...a5 may be possible here, one possible continuation is 8.b4 ( 8.f3 e6 9.d6 may be a better option for White although the position is just unclear after a6! ) 8...cxb3 9.axb3 e6 10.d6 d7! with a hard position to assess - I don't think White can have full compensation for the pawn though.; A2) 7...e5 8.g3 a5 9.xe5 c5 10.d4 ( 10.f3 0-0 11.e2 feels a more natural way to continue to me ) 10...e7+ 11.e2 0-0 12.f3 d8 13.xf6 xf6 14.0-0 f5 15.c1 ac8 1/2-1/2 Olafsson, D (2304)Ped ersen , S (24 41) Reykja vik 2 00 4 ( 15...b5! seems to give Black the advantage, e.g. 16.xb5 xb2 17.c3 ab8 and Black's two bishops and more active pieces give him the better chances ); B) 7.xc4 B1) 7...xd4 is interesting but probably not very good after 8.xd4 xd4 9.d1 c2+ ( 9...e6 10.xe6! xe6 11.b5 is unpleasant for Black) 10.e2 a n d W h it e lo o ks t o h a ve m o re t h a n enough compensation for a pawn; B2) 7...e6 8.f3 d6 9.e5 xe5 ( 9...0-0 seems better to me 10.0-0 b6 and W hite's advantage is minimal at 1638

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 best after 11.d7 xd7 12.xd6 fc8! 13.c5 d8 ) 10.dxe5 xd1+ 11.xd1 d7 12.b5 0-0 13.xc6 bxc6 14.e4 and White has a small but lasting advantage in Ivanchuk, V (2741)Inarkiev, E (2669) Astrakhan 2010 ] 7.b5 This is definitely the critical move at this point - other options are not so dangerous. [ 7.c5 shouldn't pose too many problems for Black g7 8.b5 0-0 9.ge2 e4 A) 10.0-0 led to a quick draw after xd4 ( 10...xc3 11.bxc3 e5! should equalise here ) 11.xd4 e5 12.e3 exd4 13.xd4 xc3 14.bxc3 e6 15.c6 bxc6 1/2-1/2 Ducarmon, Q (2405)-Matamoros Franco, C (2538) Seville 2013; B) 10.xc6 bxc6 11.a4 and now in Yilmaz, M (2489)-Berczes, D (2531) Sarajevo 2011 Black missed the o p p o r t u n i t y f o r a n i c e e d g e w i t h e5! 12.xe5 ( 12.xe4 exf4 13.d6 e7 14.xc6?! b8 is very awkward for White ) 12...xc5! 13.dxc5 xe5 14.xc6 b8 and Black's two bishops on a n o p e n b o a rd give h i m a n e xce l le n t game. ] [ 7.f3 g7 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 is equal ] 7...e5! 8.dxe5 b4+ 9.d2 [ White is in trouble after 9.c3? e4 ] 9...xd2+ 10.xd2 xe5 The last few moves have been pretty much forced and Black has come out of the opening in pretty good shape 11.b4 This is probably the best move but Black can simply head for very comfortable ending so it seems that 7...e5! rather takes the sting out of this opening system. [ 11.f3 was tried in Golubka, P (2418)Hawkins, J (2507) London 2012 - it looks rather odd and in fact Black just had a good position after xf3+ 12.gxf3 0-0 13.0-0-0 e6 14.f4 e7 although White managed t o gr o v e l a d r a w in t h e ga m e . ( 14...c8 15.b1 b6! may be even stronger as 16.xf6?? loses to f5+ )] 11...e7! 12.xe7+ xe7 13.c7 b8 14.xd5+ xd5 15.cxd5 White is temporarily a pawn up but Black need not rush to regain is. It's more important that he makes some use of his lead in development. d6

16.e2 f5 17.f3 xf3+ 18.xf3 bc8 19.0-0 c2 20.b3 White has held onto the pawn for now but with the Black king on d6 it's pretty useless. More importantly Black has invaded the 7th rank with a rook and White has an unpleasant defensive task ahead of him. It should probably be a draw still but L e n d e r m a n k e e p s u p t h e p r e s s u r e . h5! Gaining space on the kingside. 21.h3 e8 22.fd1 e4 This regains the pawn but lets some of the pressure off [ 22...h4 feels more natural and Black can follow-up with g5, b6, a5 before deciding what to do next. ] 23.e1! f5 24.d1 cc8 25.e2 xd5 26.ad1 cd8 27.d2 White has solved his problems and should be able to draw fairly easily now but he still has to bring his king into the game. c7 28.ed1 f7 29.xd8 [ 29.f4! is an easier way to secure the draw ] 29...xd8 30.xd8 xd8 31.f3?! [ 31.f4! again draws easily - I'm not sure why White didn't want to blockade the kingside pawns here! ] 31...c7 32.f1 g5 33.e1 b6 34.d2 d6 35.g3 h4 36.gxh4?! After this it's rather unpleasant and possibly even lost - it's hard to avoid the zugzwang that occurs in the game. [ 36.g2 and I'm not sure if Black can make serious progress here. ] 36...gxh4 37.e3 e5 38.d3 e8 39.g2 b5+ 40.e3 f4+ 41.d2 d4 42.f3 d7 43.g2 b5 44.f1 [ 44.a3 is a better try but it's lost after a5 45.f1 b4 46.axb4 axb4 47.g2 e6 48.c2 f3! ] 44...b4 45.g2 f5 46.f1 f3 A nice grind from Black and this 6...g6 looks to be a good line against the rare 6.Bf4 0-1

1520 McDonald,Neil R Lee,Graham D 4NCL 2008-9 Hinckley Island ENG (8) [Neil McDonald]

B13 2401 2269 22.3.09

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 7.f3 1639

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ A major alternative examined in the archives is 7.a3!? ] 7...e4 8.e2 I recommend this move in my book 'Starting Out with 1.e4' so I thought I should give it a try. xc3 9.bxc3 dxc4 10.b1 [ Alternatively 10.0-0 g6 11.f4 g7 12.d2 a6 13.a4 a5 14.e3 0-0 15.h6 White's plan is pretty rustic: exchange off dark squared bishops and in the absence of the knight on a5 exploit the holes around the black king. It shouldn't really work, but it isn't that easy to meet either. d5 16.xg7 xg7 17.e5 c7 18.h4 b5 19.h5 ab8 20.g4 b4 21.cxb4 xb4 22.ae1 c6 23.d1 e6 ( A horrible mistake, a move like 23...b2 keeps Black well in the game.) 24.h6+ g8 25.hxg6 hxg6 26.xe6 fxe6 27.xg6+ h8 28.c2 f5 29.h6 d8 30.xf5 1-0 Levchuk, D-Ovcharov, T/Kyiv UKR 2007. ] 10...d7 11.0-0 d5 [ White's initiative is surprisingly potent after 11...g6 12.a4 d5 ( Black can't escape t h e p r e s s u r e e i t h e r w i t h 12...g7 for example 13.xc4 xc4 14.xc4 0-0 15.b5 b6 16.d5 when the e7 pawn will drop. ) 13.xc4 xf3 14.gxf3 here White has ugly kingside pawns, but that doesn't matter as Black can't develop since g7? loses material to 15.d5 e5 16.b5 ] 12.d2 h6? [ The key move is 12...b5! when I rather like A) If 13.f3 a6 looks solid enough for Black, but not ( 13...e6?! 14.xb5 xd4 15.xd5 exd5 16.e1+ e6 17.b1 when White can utilise the b-file. ); B) You might like to try to make 13.xb5 xd4 14.b2 xe2+ 15.xe2 work for White.; C) 13.f4!? e6 ( equally if 13...a6 14.f5 ) 14.f5 with a promising initiative for White. ] 13.h4 a5 14.f3 b5 [ The natural 14...e6 loses to 15.xd5 xd5 ( Or 15...exd5 16.e1+ ) 16.a4+ c6 17.xb7 ] 15.e1 g5 [ White has a massive build up in the centre after 15...a6 16.xd5 xd5 17.e5 d7 18.f3 c8 19.e4 c6 20.d5! a7

21.e1 ] 16.xd5 xd5 17.e5 d8 18.bxb5 c6 19.ec5 d7 20.g3 e6 21.e4 Black has trapped the rook on c5 but it turns out he cannot capture it due to the threat of a fork on f6. e7 22.f3 f5 23.xc6 g4 [ Or 23...xc6 24.f6+ ] 24.e2 xc6 25.d6+ xd6 [ If 25...d7 26.b7+ d8 27.xe6 xd6 28.h4+ and mate soon follows. ] 26.xe6+ d8 27.d5 Disaster follows on d6. 1-0

1521 Mista,Aleksander Dziuba,Marcin 66th ch-POL Chotowa POL (4) [John Watson]

B13 2559 2556 29.01.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 f6 6.f4 g4 7.b3 This is by far the most analysed variation in the Exchange Caro-Kann, although as we see in EhlvestPopov, 5...Qc7 is quite playable. d7 [ Another main line is 7...c8 8.d2 e6 A) 9.h3 encourages Black to make a move he wanted to anyway: h5 10.gf3 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.fe1 a6 ( 12...g6 13.xg6 hxg6 is close to equal) 13.e5 xe5 14.xe5 g6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.c4!? ( 16.a4 ) 16...dxc4 17.xc4 d5 18.ac1 d7 19.b6 xb6 20.xb6 fc8= Mista-Macieja, Chotowa POL 2009; B) 9.gf3 e7 10.0-0 0-0 ( W ells prefers 10...h5 , and suggests 11.e5 xe5 12.xe5 0-0 13.ae1 g6 14.c2 with the idea f4-f5) 11.ae1 ( 11.c2 h5 12.e5 g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.f3 h5 15.e5!? xe5 16.xe5 f4 was satisfactory for Black in Bitalzadeh-Van Beek, Netherlands 2008; Wells likes 11.e5! and I agree, because xe5 12.dxe5 d7 13.c2! forces a c o n c e s s i o n a n d p r e v e n t s . . . B h 5 - g 6) 11...h5 12.a3 (Uninspired) g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.e5 xe5 15.xe5 d7 with equality, Krapivin-Kozlov, Moscow RUS 2009 ] 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 xf3 Wells gives this '!', 1640

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and indeed, it's the accepted move. [ 9...d6 10.g3!? 0-0 11.0-0 ab8 12.ae1 c7 13.c2 fc8 14.b1 h5 15.e5 b5!? 16.a3 a5 17.b3! gave W hite an edge in Short-W ojtaszek, W arsaw 20 04, be ca use on ce ... b5 wa s played, c5 became an effective square for White's knight. That helps to explain why ... Bxf3 usually precedes ...b5. ] 10.xf3 d6 11.g3 [ 11.xd6 xd6 12.xb7 b8 13.a6 0-0 has long been thought to give Black sufficient compensation for the pawn, and pra c t ic e h a s m o re th a n co n f irm e d t h a t suspicion. In fact, Black has scored 9.5-1.5 out of the first 11 highest-rated games in Megabase! The text keeps more positive chances for White. ] [ 11.e5 and ] [ 11.e5 have both been played here as well. ] 11...0-0 [ 11...xg3 12.hxg3 is, not surprisingly, more promising for W hite because of the open file: a6 13.f1!? c7 14.e1 a5 15.c2 with a promising position, ShortEhlvest, Tallinn/ Parnu 1998. ] 12.c2 g6 This doesn't appear necessary, but Black intends to capture if White lands a piece on e5.12...h6 seems better. 13.0-0 h5 14.xd6 xd6 15.fe1 ac8 [ 15...f4 16.f1 followed by g3 does nothing for Black. ] 16.d2 f4 17.d1! c7 18.g3 This is a desirable move in any case. f6 [ 18...d6 ] 19.g2 g7!? 20.d2 f5?! 21.f4! An awkward pin. fc8 22.g1 Now g4 is threatened. [ 22.g4?? h4+ 23.g3 xf4+ 24.xf4 g2+ ] 22...g7 23.g4 fe7 24.e3 g8 25.h4! This brute force attack succeeds because of the weakness of Black's dark squares. f8 26.g2! d8 27.h5 Now Rh1 will launch a deadly attack. d6 [ 27...f6 28.hxg6 hxg6 29.f4! ] 28.h1 e7 29.ae1! [ 29.e5 xe5 30.dxe5 b6 isn't completely clear, although W hite is obviously on top after 31.d2 ]

29...fe8? But it's hard to find a move. [ But 29...f6 30.hxg6 fxg6 31.e5 is pretty bad. ] 30.e5! xe5 31.dxe5 b6 32.hxg6! fxg6 [ 32...xe3?? 33.xh7+ f8 34.g7# is cute, and ] [ 32...hxg6 33.h3 f8 34.h8 with Rh7 coming won't last long. W hite is winning by various means now, but he picks the nicest: ] 33.xh7+! xh7 34.g5! g7 [ 34...g7 35.h1+ h6 36.xh6+ g8 37.h8+ f7 38.xg6+ mates in a few. ] 35.xg6 c8 36.h1 cc7 37.h7+ 1-0

1522 Morozevich,Alexander Adianto,Utut Amsterdam [Alexander Volzhin]

B13 2610 2605 1996

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 g6 This line leads to more complicated play. As we already know, the most likely White plan is K-side activity. After the flank d e ve l o p m e n t o f B l a c k ' s B i s h o p W h i t e ' s chances f or a K-side attack are minimal. Moreover, sometimes Black tries to seize the in it ia t i ve h e re e xch a n gi n g ligh t -squ a re d Bishops on the f5-square hoping to obtain pressure on the g-file. The drawback of this plan is that Black's Bishop is restricted by W hite's pawn chain (d4-c3-b2) and cannot support his minority attack on the Q-side. 6.f3 g7 7.h3 [ I played this line once with Black, NeverovVolzhin, Cairo 1999. The game continued: 7.0-0 f6 8.e1 0-0 9.f4 f5 10.xf5 gxf5 11.e5! e6 ( 11...e4 is senseless in view of 12.f3 ) 12.g5! The correct plan: in this pawn structure the Knights are better t h a n t h e B i s h o p . c7 13.xf6 xf6 14.d3 ab8 and here draw was agreed although white is slightly better after 15.d2 ] 7...h6 [ Natural 7...f6!? deserves serious attention: 8.0-0 0-0 9.e1 f5 10.xf5 gxf5 and in comparison with Neverov1641

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Volzhin the situation is more favourable for Black as White's K-side is weakened by the move h2-h3 (for example, see KudriashovDzuban in the notes to Black's 9th move). ] 8.0-0 0-0 9.e1 f5 The alternatives are the following: [ The attempt to create a strong pawn centre by 9...f6 i s s t r o n g l y m e t b y 10.c4! and White is clearly better. ] [ 9...f5 looks the most natural move. 10.xh6?! I don't like this move since Black ob t a in s s t ro n g p la y o n t h e g-f ile . ( Both 10.f1!?; and 10.f4!? xd3 11.xd3 deserves attention.) 10...xh6 11.xf5 gxf5 12.d3 e6 13.bd2 h8 14.e5 xe5 15.xe5 g8 16.e2 h4 17.h1 f4 18.f3? A b l u n d e r . ( 18.f3 should be played although after g6 with 19...Rag8 to follow Black is clearly better. ) A) 18...xg2 19.xh4 ( 19.xg2 g8+ 20.f1 xh3+ 21.e1 h1+ ) 19...h2+ 20.g1 g8+ 21.g2 ( 21.g3 xg3 22.fxg3 xe2 ) 21...hxg2+ 22.f1 g1#; B) 18...xg2!! and in Kudr iashov-Dzuban, USSR 1991 White resigned as quick mate or gross material losses are unavoidable: ] 10.f4 f6 11.bd2 [ Here 11.c4 is not as strong as it was a move earlier since Black has already cre a t e d p re s su re o n t h e d 4 -p a wn : dxc4 ( 11...cxd4 is n ot b ad e it h e r: 12.xd4 xd4 13.cxd5 e5 14.dxe6 xe6 15.c3 f7 , with equality.) 12.xc4+ e6! 13.xe6+ xe6 14.xe6 cxd4 15.xd4 xd4 and Black has little to worry about. ] 11...e8 12.b3 e5! Black can't delay this move, otherwise 13.c3-c4 is unpleasant. [ 12...h8 13.c4 with a clear edge. ] 13.dxe5 fxe5 [ 13...xe5 is hardly good in view of 14.b5 e6 ( 14...e7? 15.xe5 fxe5 16.g5 and White wins the exchange for nothing.) 15.bd4 with a clear edge for White. ] 14.g5 d7? Serious mistake. [ Natural 14...d6! is much better, for example: 15.c4 e6 16.cxd5 ( 16.c1? e4 is bad for White) 16...xd5 17.e4 xe4 18.xe4 h6 and Black has everything in order. ] 15.c4! A very strong and well calculated move.

W hite should destroy Black's pawn centre immediately, otherwise Black will complete d e ve lo p m e n t (Q f 7 , B e 6 e t c. ) a n d o b t a i n excellent prospects. e4 This move loses by force (although very precise play is required). [ 15...d4 is more stubborn but it's very unpleasant to play such a move as W hite obtains control over the key central squares: 16.c5 f7 17.e4 and White has a very comfortable blockade position (Nimzowich would be happy!) ] 16.c5! f7 [ 16...d6 is no better in view of 17.cxd5 xc5 18.dxc6 xc6 19.c1 with an overwhelming advantage for White. ] 17.cxd5 exd3 [ 17...exf3 is hopeless as well: 18.xe8+ xe8 19.dxc6 xc6 20.c4+ f8 21.d8+ e8 22.d1 and Black should resign. ] 18.xe8+! xe8 19.dxc6 xc6 20.b3+ h8 21.e1! After this strong move Black has little to hope for. [ Probably Black missed the text hoping for 21.xd3 e6 and the pair of black bishops give him good compensation for the pawn. ] 21...d4 Black has no sufficient defence as the following variations show: [ 21...xc5 22.e8+ f8 23.f7 ] [ 21...b6 22.f7 - in both cases White wins immediately ] [ 21...h6 22.f7 hxg5 23.xg5! and Black has no defence against 24 Re8. ] 22.xd4 xd4 23.xd3 f5 24.f7! g7 [ 24...xd3 25.e7 ] 25.e7 g8 26.e5! [ Black resigned in view of quick mate: 26.e5 c8 ( or 26...d6 27.xf5! ) 27.h6 ] 1-0

1523 Morozevich,Alexander Anand,Viswanathan vs. ROW Moscow RUS (7) [Tony Kosten]

B13 2716 2755 10.09.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 7.e2!? A sharper move than 1642

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 7.a3 which is considered the main line. ] 7...a5 8.c5!? Slightly unusual, White hopes to play a3 and b4 with gain of tempo, which forces Black's hand. [ 8.f3 is t he f un cho ice , dxc4 when 9.xf6!? i s i n t e r e s t i n g , ( 9.0-0 d8 10.e1!? was considered by Nigel Davies.) 9...exf6 10.d5!? d8 11.xc4 b4 12.0-0 xc3 ( 12...e7 13.dxe6! xd1 14.exf7+ f8 15.axd1 looks very strong) 13.e2! xb2!? 14.ab1 xd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.xb2 with an advantage. ] 8...e4 9.d2 This seems to be a novelty, [ 9.f3 g4 ( 9...xc3!? 10.bxc3 xc3+ 11.d2 a3 12.b1 is dangerous for Black ) 10.d2 xd2 11.xd2 xe2 12.xe2 was equal in Fedorowicz, JBrenninkmeijer, J/Amsterdam 1990. ] 9...c7 [ 9...xd2 10.xd2 might slightly favour White. ] 10.f3!? [ 10.f3 is perfectly reasonable. ] 10...0-0-0 11.ge2 g5!? A really imaginative move, threatening to take on d2 and then win a piece with ...g4. [ 11...xd2 12.xd2 leaves White with pressure on d5. ] 12.xe4 dxe4 13.a4 [ 13.xg5!? is critical, but after g8 14.f4 a5 15.0-0 g7 Black has active pieceplay, and will soon win the d4-pawn. ] 13...g7 14.b5 Once again, White must have considered [ 14.xg5!? when best seems to be xd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.xa7 xc5 17.xc5+ xc5 and White has an extra pawn, but Black's bishops provide nearly sufficient compensation. ] 14...b8 15.xg5 a6 16.bc3 xd4? I am not at all sure about this, [ 16...xd4! 17.f4 a7 is simpler, and fairly level. ] 17.f4 This is OK, but why not [ 17.xe7 apparently grabbing an important pawn, xe2 18.xe2 e5! is the answer ( 18...d7 19.d6 is very nice for White) 19.xd8 xb2! when things are far from clear. ] 17...d7! 18.a5!? [ 18.xd4 xd4 19.xb8 xc3+ 20.xc3

xb8 21.xe4 is worth playing, White does have an extra pawn. ] 18...c6? [ 18...e5 is fine. ] 19.a4? A blunder, the evident [ 19.xd8+ xd8 20.xb8 wins the exchange. ] ½-½

1524 Naiditsch,Arkadij Eljanov,Pavel TCh-CRO Gp1A (8) [Gawain Jones]

B13 2674 2761 11.09.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 dxc4 7.xc4 h6 This move has been scoring well for Black and I examined it in the notes to Barle-Fridman earlier this year. 8.h4 [ 8.e3 e6 9.f3 d6 10.0-0 0-0 11.e2 ( We saw 11.e1 b6 12.e2 b7 13.ad1 e7 14.e5 c8 last time which failed to set Black any problems.; 11.c1 b6 12.e2 b7 13.fd1 e7 14.e5 ed5 15.d2 xc3 16.bxc3 e4 17.f4 a3 18.a1 c8 19.c1 e7 20.d3 xd3 21.xd3 xc1 22.xc1 fd8 23.c4 1/2-1/2 Cherniaev, A (2469)-Henrichs, T (2490) Dortmund 2010 saw White unable to set Black any problems.) 11...b6 12.ad1 e7 13.e5 b7 14.c1 c8 15.d3 ed5 ( 15...f5! also looks promising here as 16.xf5 exf5 17.f3 d5 leaves White missing his light squared bishop.) 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4? f5! already left White with b i g p r o b l e m s . 18.f3 ( 18.e2 xc1! 19.xc1 f4 20.e3 xe5-+; 18.e1 xc1! 19.xc1 f4 with a great position.) 18...xe5 19.dxe5 c3 20.g3 xd1 21.xh6 f7 22.xd1 d5 and Black was winning. Panchanathan, M (2549) -Fridman, D (2654) Mesa 2010. ] [ 8.xf6 exf6 9.f3 d6 10.0-0 0-0 11.h3 f5 12.e1 ( 12.d3 was seen in IvanchukAronian which was very comfortable for Black. ) 12...b4 13.b3 c8 14.e4 b8 15.d2 d5 16.ac1 xc1 17.xc1 f4 and already it was W hite who had to be careful to keep equality. Zhigalko, A 1643

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (2591)-Sargissian, G (2673) Sestao 2010 ] [ 8.f4 e6 9.f3 d6 10.e5 A new try but hardly likely to refute the line. 0-0 11.0-0 Khetho, P (2266) -Kojima, S (2334) KhantyMansiysk 2010 when I'd consider b6 as 12.d7 xd7 13.xd6 fc8 14.c5 d8 looks easier for Black as the d4 pawn is still rather vulnerable. ] 8...e6 9.f3 e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.c1 b6 12.d3 This is Naiditsch's new try. Previously he went for 12.a3 and got nowhere. The plan here is rather basic. White wants to play Bb1, Qd3 and mate the Black king! b7 13.b1 c8 14.e1 e8 15.a3 h5 This move seems right, the others are likely to run into difficulties swiftly. [ 15...a5 16.d3 xf3 17.gxf3 f8 ( 17...g6 18.xe6! ) 18.g3 looks somewhat unpleasant to me. ] [ 15...d5 16.c2 xh4 17.h7+ f8 18.xd5 xd5 19.xh4 again gives White the better chances. ] 16.c2!? Very direct chess! [ 16.d5!? is another possibility but it seems Bla c k is d o in g o k, e . g. xh4 17.dxc6 ( 17.c2 would transpose to the following note.; 17.d3 would cut out ...Bxf2 ideas but gives Black a choice of transposing with 17... Ne7 or g6 which looks safe enough.) 17...xc6 18.xh4 xh4 19.g3 h3 20.e4 c7 and Black looks fine to me. ] [ 16.xe7 xe7 is absolutely nothing for White. ] 16...xh4 17.h7+? With accurate play this should have been neutralised. [ 17.d5!? was an interesting alternative. xf2+!? ( 17...e7 18.h7+ f8 19.xh4 xd5 20.cd1 and White has pressure for the pawn but probably no more than that.) 18.xf2 d4! 19.h7+ f8 20.e5 ( 20.xd4 h4+ We'll see this idea later.) 20...xc3 ( 20...b5 21.cd1!+- ) 21.xc3 ( 21.bxc3 xd5 22.cxd4 xg2+ 23.e3 g5+ looks extremely dangerous but perhaps is just a draw.) 21...xd5 22.e4 f6 23.xd5 xd5 with rough equality. ] 17...f8 18.d5 [ 18.cd1 is a slower suggestion with the threat of 19.d5 but Black has the very strong b4! 19.xh4 ( 19.axb4 xf3 20.gxf3 f5! is pretty dreadful for White as his queen is

in real danger of getting trapped.) 19...xh4 20.axb4 g4 ( 20...f5!? ) 21.e4 f6 22.f3 g5 23.h8+ e7 24.xe8+ xe8 25.xb7 d8 with a clear advantage. ] 18...g5?? This move throws away the whole point but the defence wasn't easy. [ Instead 18...d4! would have given Black the decisive advantage. The point is that following 19.xd4 Black has xf2+! 20.xf2 h4+ regaining the knight on d4 with a fantastic position. If W hite tries to hold onto the knight 21.e3 exd5+ 22.d3 a6+ 23.c2 xe1 would force resignation. ] 19.cd1 Now White's threats are too large. f6 20.d6!? An interesting idea closing the net around Black's king and threatening to fork the rooks. [ However 20.dxc6! was the most accurate as xc6 21.e5 g6 22.d7! e7 23.xe7 xe7 24.xc6+ wins a p ie ce a s xc6 allows 25.d5+ ] 20...g6 21.xg5 cd8? [ 21...hxg5 22.e4 xb2 23.d7 should also be winning but at least Black could play on a couple moves. ] 22.xe6+! [ 22.xe6+ xe6 23.xe6 fxe6 24.xb7 is completely hopeless. A miniature win for W hite but as the notes reveal Black actually missed a win himself and thus the theoretical assessment of 7...h6 remains good. ] 1-0

1525 Nielsen,LA Agrest,E Politiken Cup (4) [Tom Rendle]

B13 2233 2590 20.07.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 c7 [ 5...f6 6.f4 ( 6.f4 makes less sense here as Black isn't trying to play an early ... e5 ) 6...g6 is a similar setup to the game and is an easy way to avoid some of the problems of the Exchange Caro. ] 6.f4 A ChessPub subscriber, Praneeth, has asked me about 6.f4 here in the Exchange 1644

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Caro. The idea is to clamp down on e5 and prevent Black from breaking in the centre. If Black is not careful then W hite can get an e a s y ga m e , s o h e r e I 'l l sh o w a se n sib l e remedy. f6 [ 6...g6 7.f3 g4 8.0-0 f5 was a rather odd idea tried in Pinero, C (2163)-Alvarez Pedraza, A (2526) Guarenas 2012 and in the game Black was doing well after A) but 9.bd2 f6 ( 9...xf4?! 10.b3 c7 11.xd5 f6 12.c4 and White is clearly better.) 10.b3 would've left Black struggling to justify 8...f5; B) 9.b3?! xf3 10.gxf3?! f6 11.a3 h6 ] [ 6...h6 is another sensible setup against this line. In Rusanov, M (2436)-Shimanov, A (2419) Peterhof 2007 Black had no problems after 7.f3 f5 8.0-0 e6 9.e5 d6 10.e2 0-0 with a slight edge to Black. ] 7.f3 g6! This setup makes a lot of sense against 6.f4 - W hite can hardly stop Black from playing Bf5 with a comfortable game. [ 7...g4 is the move considered by Praneeth in his analysis and after 8.0-0 e6 9.e1!? White indeed has reasonable attacking chances ] 8.e5 [ 8.c2 would at least delay Bf5 but after g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.e5 Black can play e8! f o ll o we d b y N d 6 a n d B f 5 wi t h a n e a s y game. ] 8...g7 9.0-0 f5 10.a3 [ 10.xf5 White should probably take here sooner rather than later as Black gets a better version in the game by recapturing with the e-pawn. Still after gxf5 11.e3 e6 12.d2 Black has a pleasant choice between 0-0 with equality ( or 12...0-0-0!? which is a bit more ambitious - chances are still balanced after 13.a4 b8 14.b4 )] 10...0-0 11.c2 e6 12.xf5 [ 12.e3 xd3 13.xd3 ac8 is also at least a little better for Black - the pawn would rather be back on f2 here. ] 12...exf5 13.e3 ad8 14.d2 e4 15.e1 f6 16.d3 fe8 This is exactly the position Black players should be aiming for against this line - OK, White may have played the odd inaccurate move but Black's setup is

a very simply one. 17.f3 d7 18.h3 It's hard to believe W hite has any realistic chances on the kingside but then again what else is White to do here? h5 19.f1 f7 20.b4?! This just creates a further weakness in the White camp [ 20.c1 simply waiting would be a better idea but then Black can calmly improve his position with a6 21.f3 h6 22.e3 a5 but the position may be holdable for White with stubborn defence. ] 20...c8 21.e3 h6 22.g3 h7 23.f3 d8! The knight wasn't doing on c6 and so Agrest finds a way to bring it into the game. 24.d1 b6 25.e2 b7 26.e3 bd6 27.h4?! [ 27.c1 was necessary but Black is obviously a lot better after f8 28.a4 e6 but at least here Black still has to work hard to breakthrough ] 27...b5 Now Black is simply winning as once c3 drops White's position falls apart. 28.c2 e6! There's no rush to grab the pawn on c3 29.dc1 exc3 30.xc3 xe3+ 31.g2 d6 32.f2 e4 33.b2 c4 Black is a pawn up and dominates every part of the board. The rest of the game is easy 34.e1 e3+ 35.g1 xc1 36.xc1 g4 [ 36...b1! would've brought a quick end to the game as after 37.d2 ( or 37.xe3 xe1+ 38.h2 xe3 ) 37...c4 White must lose more material ] 37.xe4 xe4 38.f1 xd4 39.a3 f8 40.g2 a5 41.bxa5 bxa5 42.f3 c4 43.d2 xa3 44.a1 b4 45.xb4 axb4 46.a7+ g8 47.b7 ...g6 and Bf5 is a good system against 6.f4 and in fact Black can consider playing it a move earlier and dispensing with ...Qc7 altogether. 0-1

1526 Onischuk,Alexander Dreev,Alexey FIDE GP Moscow RUS (5.1) [Tony Kosten]

B13 2641 2677 05.06.2002

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.c3 cxd5 5.d4 c6 6.f3 g4 Dreev is obviou sly very happy to play the ensuing ending - look 1645

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 at his game against Adams a few months p r e v i o u s l y . 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 d7 14.xd5+ xd5 15.xd5 exd5 16.f4!? The more common [ 16.0-0 was examined in Adams-Dreev. ] 16...f6 The king needs to move to develop the kingside. 17.0-0-0 d8 18.hg1 [ 18.he1 is the alternative, d6 19.d4 g5! and White has nothing, Polgar, S-De Jong, T/Wijk aan Zee 1990. ] 18...d7 Played to guard the seventh rank, and put the rook on a light square, there is no point to [ 18...h6 ] 19.e3 The point of White's play, the bishop comes to d4 to menace the g7-pawn. h6!? Allowing White to take it, Black plans an active, and drawish, rook endgame. [ 19...g8 is a lso p o ssib le , b u t 20.g4 is awkward, e6 21.e1 h5 22.a4 f5 23.xa7 xa7 24.xa7 d6 and Black's activity was just enough to hold the balance, Kindermann, S-Lobron, E/Bern 1990. ] 20.d4+ [ 20.g4 has less effect now, as the black king can always f ind shelter on h7. e6 21.e1 f5 22.d1 ( 22.f4+ g6 23.g1+ would be curtains if Black hadn't played ...h6.) 22...e6 and Black was OK, Lemmers, O-Boersma, P/Enschede 1993. ] 20...f5 21.xg7 xg7 22.xg7 c8+ 23.d2 f4 This is the point - the black king, which has been buffeted around the board since the opening, now proves to be very active. 24.d3 xf3 25.e1 White is hoping for a mating net. f4 26.h3 c4! A sensible defensive move. 27.e3 [ 27.g4+ f3 28.e3+ ( 28.xc4 dxc4+ 29.xc4 xf2 i s n o t h i n g) 28...xf2 29.gg3 f4 defends. ] 27...f5 28.f3+ e6 29.g4 xg4 30.hxg4 b7 31.b3 b4 32.h3 xg4 33.xh6+ White has a little 'nibble', but it is insuf f icient. e5 34.a6 d4+ 35.e2 e4+ 36.f1!? White could accept the draw by repetition, of course. d4!? The king p re p a re s t h e p a t h f o r t h e b la ck d -p a wn . 37.xa7 c3 38.xf7 d4 39.c7+ b2 40.f3 e6 41.d7 c3 42.f2 d3 43.c7+

b2 44.f4 d2 45.d7 c2 Now White really must take the draw, or he will lose his rook. 46.c7+ b2 47.d7 c2 48.c7+ b2 ½-½

1527 Payen,Arnaud Koskinen,Veikko 10th Open Jyvaskyla FIN (1) [Neil McDonald]

B13 2354 19.07.2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.f3 g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 b6 10.e3 An equally good alternative is [ 10.d5 as seen in Rudolf-Fuhrmann. ] 10...e6 11.0-0-0 Sometimes [ 11.g1 is played, when Black's best response is b4! just ignoring the attack on g7. ( Instead 11...g6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.d5 exd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.xd5 c7 16.b1 0-0 17.f4 ad8 18.g2 f6 19.c1 as in Lautier-Illescas, Ubeda 1997, allows W hite a similar advantage to that he achieves in the main game.) 12.0-0-0 ( If 12.xg7 xd4 looks very good for Black, but maybe; 12.b5!? ) 12...xc3 13.bxc3 f6 14.g3 h6 15.d3 0-0-0 looks fine for Black who in the following example went on to win quickly: 16.e4 d7 17.g4 hd8 18.h4 d5 19.d2 c7 20.b1 a5 21.a4 c4! 22.xa7 xd2+ 23.xd2 xc3+ 24.b2 d6 25.a8+ d7 26.f8 b6+ 27.a1 xe4 and White resigned in Nieminen-Marusenko, Port Erin 1999. ] 11...e7 12.d5! This forces open lines in the centre which favours W hite's two bishops. exd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 c7 15.b1 0-0 16.f4! The strongest plan: White will put the light squared bishop on g2 to exert pressure on b7 and-in combination with a rook on the c file- on the knight on c6. b4 [ The passive 16...ac8 17.g2 f6 18.c1 fd8? just led to a loss of a pawn after 19.xd8+ xd8 20.c4 a5 21.c5! c7 22.xa7 in Payen-Ignatiev, St Petersburg 1998. ] [ Also inadequate is 16...ad8 17.g2 b4 Aagaard claims that Black has reasonable 1646

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 chances to draw after ( 17...xd5 18.xd5 d7 19.d1 f5+ 20.c2 xc2+ 21.xc2 c8 22.xc6 xc6+ 23.b3 d6 but 24.c1! d3+ 25.a4 must be close to winning for White.) 18.c1! xd5 19.xc7 xc7 20.xb7 d6 21.xa7 and the passed pawns abetted by the two bishops were a decisive factor in Grund-Nguyen, Budapest 1998. ] 17.d4 c6 [ 17...fd8!? 18.c4? ( White looks slightly b e t t e r a f t e r 18.xd8+ xd8 19.c4 but definitely not; 18.xb4?? xb4 19.xb4 d1+ ) 18...a5 19.g2 d3 20.c3 ad8 21.a3? xc3 22.xc3 f5+ 23.a1 d3! 24.c4? xa3+! 25.bxa3 f6+ and White resigned in Harley-Lee, London League 1994. ] 18.d1 fd8 [ Instead after 18...f6 19.g2 fd8 20.e4 xd1+ 21.xd1 d8? 22.xd8+ xd8 23.d3 h5 24.xc6 bxc6 25.xa7 W hite had won a pawn in Anand-Karolyi, Frunze 1987. The game move is an attempted improvement, but the conclusion remains that the whole set up is promising for White. ] 19.g2 xd1+ 20.xd1 d8 21.c1! All according to plan. d7 22.c4 c8 23.d5 xd5 24.xd5 a6 25.a3 f8 26.b4 d6 27.c4 e7 28.a4 xb4? This is just surrender. A tough defence was [ 28...f5! 29.b5 axb5 30.axb5 b8!! ] 29.xc8 xd5 30.c4 b5 31.axb5 axb5 32.d4 c3+ 33.c2 a4 34.f3 d7 35.f5 c6 36.h4 h6 37.f6 e5 38.fxg7 xg7 39.xh6 1-0

1528 Pilaj,Herwig Lendwai,Reinhard Austrian Cht 2004/5 (1) [Andrew Martin]

B13 2426 2412 19.11.2004

ON THE NOSE 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 Despite the drawish reputation of this exchange variation, Black must beware, as the following brevity demonstrates. c6 5.c3 f6 6.f4 g4 One of the more

straightforward responses, made famous by an old game of Fischer-Petrosian, where Black obtained an excellent position out of the opening. Black is just getting his pieces out. If pushed, the Bishop moves around happily to g6 to defend the kingside and then the minority attack follows. 7.b3 c8 [ 7...d7 is a decent move too, although the process of complete equalization is not so easy: 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 xf3! 10.xf3 d6 11.xd6 xd6 12.0-0 0-0 13.ae1 ( 13.fe1 ab8 14.a4 fe8 15.e5 d7= ) 13...ab8 14.c2! White manoeuvres his queen towards the Kingside. fc8 15.e2 d7? Black completely underestimates White's attack. ( Much better is 15...f4! 16.e5 xe5 17.dxe5 d7 ) 16.xh7+! A typical blow in this line. xh7 17.g5+ g8 18.h5 d8 19.h7+ f8 20.f4 b6 21.h8+ e7 22.xg7 d6 23.f5 Pililian-Akopov USSR Corres 1986-7 ] 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 White builds up with a view to controlling the e5 square. Behind this grip he masses his pieces for a kingside onslaught e.g. 0-0, Rae1, Re3, Ne5, Rh3 etc. This is why Lendwai spends time moving the bishop around to g6, but as you'll see, White retains the chance of pressure. h5 The difference between ...Qc8 and .. .Qd7 is real. On c8 the queen is less exposed but Black cannot play ... Bf8-d6. 10.0-0 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.ae1 e7 13.e5 0-0 This single move is the reason that this game is so instructive. What co u ld b e m o r e n a t u r a l t h a n t o c o m p l e t e Black's modest set-up by castling? Well, the move is wrong and plays into White's hands. Black should delay castling for as long as it takes to mobilize counterplay against e5 , or on the queenside. There are two better moves at least: [ 13...d7! It's quite thematic to challenge e5. 14.df3 cxe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.xe5 0-0 With the attacking force much reduced, Black feels he can afford to castle. 17.a4 ( 17.e3! is more dangerous .) 17...c6 18.h3 fc8 19.a1 b6 20.b5 a6 21.xc6 xc6 22.a2 ac8 23.fa1 g5 24.f1 f6 25.g3 f7 26.e2 g6 27.d3 f5 28.e1 g4 1/2-1/2 Rodrigues, A-Santos, J/ Aveiro 2000 ] 1647

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 13...xe5! I think I like this best of all. Black doesn't give White any time to backup the Knight. 14.xe5 c6! 15.e2 b5 16.fe1 a5 This position seems about equal to me. I don't see any realistic attack for White certainly not as brutal as the game, and the minority attack has been prepared. Castles will follow very shortly. ] 14.g5 c7 15.f4 a6 16.d1 b5 17.e3! Model play. Black's queenside counterplay is very slow and almost irrelevant. fc8 18.h3 b4 19.e1! Pilaj turned it into some sort of Stonewall where Black is completely helpless. bxc3 20.xg6! h7 [ 20...fxg6 21.xe6+ f8 22.h8+ g8 23.xg8# ] 21.xh7 Why not? He sees it through to the end. xh7 22.h4+ xg6 23.g4 Spielmann said of Alekhine: I understand his attacking ideas only too well. But how he gets the positions to attack from is beyond me!' Lendwai is a strong player-he just didn't see it coming! The Exchange Variation remains a go o d wa y t o m e e t t h e C a ro , p a rt ic u la rl y against a risk-taker or a higher-rated opponent. W hite has to work hard to lose these positions. 1-0

1529 Piscopo,Pierluigi Prie,Eric Grand Prix CCAS 2010 (4.3) [Eric Prié]

B13 2424 2526 26.10.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.f4?! In this king pawn move order, White should clearly stick to Caro-Kann theory rather than try to confuse the opponent with this NeoLondon transposition. c6 Or is White hoping for the trap [ 4...b6?? 5.c3 f6 6.b5 a6 7.f3 ] 5.c3 f5! 6.b3 d7 7.f3 f6! This is the acid test of the entire line, particularly as it aims to go against the London bishop. It once more emphasizes the advantage of not having the knight on f6. 8.e2 [ 8.bd2 g5 9.e3 e6 10.b5 d6 11.c4 a6 12.xc6 xc6 13.c5 c7 14.c3 a5

15.0-0 e7 16.fe1 b5 17.f1 d3 Hamark, J (2378)-Engqvist, T (2434) Sweden 2008 ] 8...g5 9.g3 h5 10.h4 g4 11.fd2 [ 11.h2 h6 12.f1 e5 13.e3 exd4! ( 13...0-0-0 14.a3 exd4 15.cxd4 b4+ 16.f1 d6 Kreindl, H (2205)-Balinov, I (2516) Austria 2007; 13...e6 14.b5 f7 15.0-0 a6 16.xc6 xc6 17.c2 0-0-0 Piscopo, P (2426)-Contin, D (2307) Torino 2010 1-0(35)) 14.xd5 ( 14.cxd4 xd4 15.d1 xe2 16.xe2 f7 ) 14...0-0-0 15.c4 ( 15.xf6? e7 16.d5 e4 ) 15...e8 16.f1 d6! 17.xf6? e6-+ 18.xe8 xe8 19.xd6 ( 19.d1 xg3 20.fxg3 d3! 21.xd3 xd3+ 22.xd3 e1# ) 19...xe2+ 20.g1 g3!-+ ] 11...e5!? [ 11...e6 Would transpose into the Nimzovitsch game. ] 12.0-0 ge7 The engines are quite fond of this way of playing as Black and thus this particular line against the Neo-London. It requires a lot of energy however... that may prove missing at the end of the game. 13.d1 g7 [ 13...g6!? 14.b3? ( 14.dxe5 fxe5 15.b4 a6 16.b5 axb5 17.xb5 g7 18.e1 e4 19.b3 ) 14...f5 ] 14.b3 b6 15.c4! White cannot just sit here and wait. 0-0 [ 15...dxc4!? 16.xc4 0-0-0 ] 16.c3 ad8 17.cxd5 xd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.c1 h8 [ 19...e6!? 20.c4 xc4 21.xc4 xc4 22.e1 ] 20.dxe5?! [ 20.c4 d6 21.d5 e7 22.d4 d7 ( 22...h6 23.c3 d7 24.xf5 xf5 25.c2 xg3 26.fxg3 f5 27.b3 ) 23.e6 xe6 24.dxe6 h6 25.xd6 xd6 26.cd1 ( 26.c3 c8 ) 26...d2= ] 20...e6 21.c4 e8 22.e2 xe5 23.fd1 d3! 24.xd3 xd3 25.xe8 xe8 26.xd3 xd3 27.c7 a5 28.d7 [ 28.b7 e1+ ( 28...a4 29.d4 f5 30.xb6 xd4 31.d6 e1+ 32.h2 xb2 33.xd3 g7 ) 29.h2 b1 ( 29...e2?? 30.c1 )] 28...c4 29.d4? [ 29.c7 a4 30.d4 xa2 31.xb6 b8 1648

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 32.c5 xb2 33.f5 b5 34.c7 f8! briefly in Barle-Fridman a few months ago 35.xf8 xf5 ] while Neil had a proper look at it in Payen[ 29.c7 d5 ] Koskinen in the archives. ] 29...e1+? 10...d4 11.b5+ [ 29...xa2 30.b7 ( 30.f5 f8 ) 30...f8! [ 11.d1 has been the other choice but the A missed opportunity in mutual time trouble, positions are very complicated. I refer you from what is a good game overall - when t o N e i l ' s e xc e l l e n t a n a l ys i s i n R u d o l f one compares the moves with the engine's Fuhrmann. ] suggestions. 31.xb6? c5 ] 11...d7 30.h2 d1 31.c7 d2 [ 11...xb5 was the choice of Mickey Adams [ 31...f5!? 32.xb6? ( 32.b3! ) 32...xa2 but appears very dangerous. 12.xb5 a6 33.d8+ h7 ( 33...g8! ) 34.d7 13.c3 g6 ( 13...d7 was Adams' choice ( 34.xf5? e5+! 35.g3 xd8 36.xd8 but 14.xb7 g6 15.0-0 g7 Rozentalis, E a4-+ ) 34...a4 35.c7 h8 36.c8+ h7 (2610)-Adams, M (2685) Hastings 1996 37.c7 ] when 16.g5 0-0 17.d6 f6 18.dxe7 xe7 [ 31...xa2! 32.xb6 f5 33.d8+ g8 ] 19.f4 and White would have simply been a 32.xb6 xb2 33.f5! pawn up.; 13...c7 14.e3 d7 15.c1 [ 33.f5! xb6 34.xg7 xa2 35.a7! e5 Bashkov, V (2400)-Magomedov, M ( 35.xh5 a6 ) 35...c4 36.xh5 a6 ( 2 3 9 5 ) C h e l i a b i n s k 1 9 9 0 w h e n 16.d6! 37.xa6 xa6 38.xf6 a4 39.d5 a3 would h ave be en very stron g, i.e . d3+ 40.b4 g7 41.g3 c8 ( 41...f6? 17.e2 xc1+ 18.xc1 xd6 19.d5 42.xg4 e5? 43.g5+- d4 44.c2+ ) with a decisive attack.) 14.e3 d7 42.f3 gxf3 43.xf3 e6= I have cut 15.d4 f6 16.xb7 g7 17.c6+ f8 Johnsen/Kovacevic's screed in the first 18.0-0-0 h6+ 19.b1 g7 20.d6 game before its conclusion: "So in the end 1-0 Kurayan, R (2256)-Olifir, M (1821) Kyiv it comes down to that basic question: is it 2010 was a recent game showing that Black any good?" The answer is definite, should show a lot of caution here. ] unfortunately: It is not. No hiding behind 12.a4 xb5 This is the safest path. one's little finger, this line may be equal but [ Taking the pawn is highly risky but perhaps is easier and more pleasant for Black, and playable. 12...xf3+ 13.f1 is covered in in addition is elementary to prepare! ] Rudolf -Fuhrmann in the archives which ½-½ looks rather dangerous. ( 13.d1!? a6 14.xd7+ xd7 15.e4 h3 16.a4+ d7 17.e4 h3 18.e2!? h4 19.e3 1530 B13 f5 20.f4 d8 21.ag1 g2 22.g5 xe3 23.g3 h6 24.xh6 gxh6 25.fxe3 Potkin,Vladimir 2626 Korneev, O (2606)-Zelcic, R (2540) Cutro Wang Hao 2724 2003 and Black has succeeded in trading 7th CHN-RUS Rapid rapid (5) 11.08.2010 queens although he was still a little worse [Gawain Jones] despite his extra pawn. )] [ 12...e5? loses to 13.dxe6 xe6 14.g5! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 ec5 ( 14...xg5 15.0-0-0 and Black 5.c3 c6 6.f3 g4 7.cxd5 xd5 already resigned in Bologan, V (2585)8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 b6 Black's aggressive Borges Mateos, J (2470) Linares 1999.) attempt but it doesn't have a great reputation. 15.xd8 xa4 16.xa4 xd8 17.0-0-0 [ 9...e6 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 e7 18.xd7 xd7 19.d1 g5+ 20.c2 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 d7 14.xd5+ 1-0 Stets, D (2422)-Bets, A (2309) Voronezh xd5 15.xd5 exd5 is the principal line 2009. ] which is very drawish. ] 13.xb5 g6 14.0-0 g7 15.e1 0-0 10.d5 e8?! Condemned by Neil in the [ 10.e3 is the other option and has been 16.g5 played slightly more often. I covered it very archives commenting on a game from 12 1649

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 years ago and this move is still a mistake! [ 16...f6 has been Black's most common response. 17.xf6 xf6 ( This natural r e c a p t u r e i s s t r o n g e r t h a n 17...exf6 18.ad1 e5 19.e3 "and White was much better in Gallagher-Krizsany, Lugano 1999." - McDonald and indeed the d pawn is f a r m o re im p o rt a n t t h a n W h it e 's lo o s e kingside which cannot really be exploited.) 18.xb7 A) 18...e8 19.ad1 ( 19.e2 b8 20.xa7 xd5 21.xd5 xd5 22.e3 b4 gave Black good compensation. Martin Alvarez, I (2289) -Alonso Rosell, A (2509) Donostia 2010.) 19...b8 20.xa7 xb2 21.d4 b6 22.xb6 xb6 and B lack successf ully held the dra w although if you're happy to defend this position then why not the endgame after 9...e6? Paunovic, D (2551)-Bellon Lopez, J (2440) Malaga 2010.; B) 18...b8 I think this is Black's best try i n t h e 9 . . . N b 6 l i n e . 19.xa7 xd5 20.ad1 ( B e t t e r t h a n 20.xd5 of Humeau, C (2193)-Debray, C (2357) Calvi 2010 which leaves Black with good counterplay.) 20...e6 21.xd5 g5+ 22.h1 exd5 23.d4 f5 24.e3 c2 25.d2 b1+ 26.g2 xa2 and Black's position seems holdable. ] [ 16...e5 has been the choice of a couple of GMs but here too White's pressure on the e file promises him the advantage. 17.e3 e8 18.ae1 c8 Galkin, A (2590)Pantsulaia, L (2612) playchess.com 2007 when White should have taken the chance to play ( 18...f6 19.f4 would be very similar to 16.. .f6.) 19.xe5 xe5 20.xe5 f6 21.d6! fxe5 22.d7 c6 23.dxe8+ xe8 24.e2 leaving White with a clear advantage. ] [ 16...f6 17.f4 e5 18.e3 c8 19.g3 ( 19.xe5 fxe5 20.e4 b6 21.g2 is also a little better for W hite.) 19...f7 20.ae1 f8 21.b3 d7 22.e4 f5 Ragger, M (2540)-Salem, A (2473) Moscow 2009 23.xe5 xe5 24.c5 g5+ 25.h1 would have been extremely unpleasant for Black as the knight on e6 dominates the board. ] 17.d6 f6

[ 17...f6 is Black's alternative but White is better here too after 18.d5!? ( 18.xb7 also f avours W hite as fxg5?! 19.xe7! is unpleasant.) 18...exd6 19.xe8+ xe8 20.c7 e5?! This loses although ( 20...c8 21.xa8 fxg5 22.d5+ h8 23.xd6 e5 24.c7 xf3+ 25.h1 also leaves White clearly better.) 21.xd7 xg5+ 22.h1 b8 23.e6 h6 24.xd6 e8 25.d7 b8 26.d8 f8 27.d5+ g7 Stripunsky, A (2512)-Gersov, E (2282) New York 2000 when the clearest win would have been 28.d1 intending a6 29.d7+ g8 30.e6+ g7 31.d7+ with mate shortly. ] 18.dxe7 xe7 [ 18...xe7 19.xe7 xe7 20.d1 leaves Black tangled up. He has to try f6 21.d5! ( Instead 21.xf6 xf6 22.xd8+ xd8 23.c5 isn't so clear.) 21...e5 ( 21...fxg5? 22.xe7+ xe7 23.xd7 f6 24.b3+ h8 25.xb7 wins a couple of pawns. ) 22.f4 A) 22...f5 23.xb7 c5 ( 23...c8 24.e7+ ) 24.e7+ ( 24.xf6+ xf6 25.xd8+ xd8 26.xa7 xf4 27.xc5 is also winning.) 24...f7 25.xd8 xb7 26.xa8 xf4 27.xa7 xe7 28.xb7+ is an easy technical win.; B) 22...b6 23.xf6+ xf6 24.xe5 xe5 25.xe5 leaves Black in a very unpleasant endgame. The extra pawn isn't so relevant but the bishop far outranks the knight in open positions with pawns on both flanks. ] 19.xe7 xe7 [ 19...xe7 20.d5 d8 21.xf6+ xf6 22.xb7 cannot really be preferred. ] 20.d1! xg5 21.xd7 This position has been semi-forced since Black's 16th and it's clear his opening has gone very wrong. The b7 pawn is dropping by force and W hite's pressure on f7 stops Black getting any meaningful counterplay. f6 [ 21...e8 is perhaps better although still clearly better f or W hite. 22.xb7 f6 23.e4 ( 23.xe8+ xe8 24.xa7 xc3 25.bxc3 c8 results in one of those positions that should probably be drawn although it's really unpleasant and many top Grandmasters lose these positions as 1650

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black. ) 23...xb5 ( 23...d4 24.d5 d8 25.xd4! ) 24.xf6+ g7 25.xb5 xf6 26.b4 and I think this endgame should be a technical win. ] 22.xb7 Straightforward but I think White could have taken the piece with [ 22.e4! xf3 23.xg5 g4+ 24.f1 when following c8 25.e7 c1+ 26.e1 xe1+ 27.xe1 Black's compensation is clearly insufficient. ] 22...e8 [ The alternative was to defend f7 so as to allow the Black queen to activate although 22...f8 23.g2 f4 24.e4 h4 25.h3 e5 26.b3 f4 27.g3 leaves White simply a pawn up. ] 23.g2 f4 24.e4 f5 25.xa7 So a second pawn drops and Black's kingside play is still rather nebulous. e5 [ 25...xe4?! initially looks tempting but 26.fxe4 xe4+ 27.f3 e2+ 28.f2 doesn't get anywhere. ] 26.b4 [ 26.b3! is slightly more accurate so that f4 27.g3 h5 28.e3 doesn't leave the b pawn hanging. ] 26...h5 [ 26...f4 was Black's last hope but again there isn't really anything. 27.g3 h5 A) 28.e7 xe7 ( 28...b8 29.e3 xe3 30.fxe3 d6 31.a7 xb4 32.f4 is of course better for White but Black has decent drawing chances.) 29.xe7 h4 isn't so clear.; B) 28.e3 xb4; C) 28.h4! c8 29.e3 xe3 30.fxe3 c2+ 31.h3 xa2 would win one pawn back although I believe this version should be winn in g f or W hite. A t an y rat e th e position is highly unpleasant. ] [ 26...xh2? 27.xh2 xf3 28.e7 doesn't get very far. ] 27.e7 xe7 After the rook exchange Black's position is hopeless. [ Therefore Wang Hao should have tried 27...d8 but 28.e3 d4 29.d2 i s wi n n i n g f o r W h i t e h e j u s t h a s t o b e careful. ] 28.xe7 f4 29.h4 h2+ 30.f1 h1+ 31.e2 a1 32.a4 [ 32.d8+ g7 33.d2 would prevent any

checks but Potkin prefers to start pushing his pawns. ] 32...d4 [ 32...b2+ 33.f1 d4 was the final hope, threatening ... f7-f5 and so winning back a pawn although 34.g5 xb4 35.a5 c4+ 36.g2 should be technically winning. ] 33.d3 [ 33.a5 was straightforward but Potkin's method is good enough. ] 33...e5 34.c4 d4+ 35.b5 d3+ 36.a5 f4 37.b5 xf3 38.d8+ h7 39.d5 g7 40.d4+ g8 41.b6 h2 42.a6 f5 43.f6+ f8 44.d7+ [ 44.b7 wa s t h e m o st a ccu ra t e . e6+ 45.a7 and it's resignable. ] 44...e7 45.c5 g5 46.hxg5 xg5 47.a5 h4 48.d7+ f8 49.e4 f4 50.d8+ g7 51.g5+ 1-0

1531 Prie,Eric Maenhout,Thibaut Amay - KBSK (10.1) [Eric Prié]

B13 2524 2354 20.03.2011

1.d4 [ 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 f6 6.h3!? e5 I would rather prefer ( 6...c7 7.f3 g6!? With the idea Bf5. ) 7.dxe5 xe5 8.f3 xd3+ 9.xd3 I like this position as White. The structure (which is not likely to change) favours the knights, and Black's extra bishop is of the wrong colour, hampered by the d5-pawn. e7 10.e3 0-0 11.bd2 e6 12.0-0 d7 13.d4 d6 14.g5 e8 15.fe1 c7 16.2f3 ae8 17.e3 a6 18.a4 f6 19.a5 h8 20.xe6 xe6 21.b6 fe8 22.xe6 xe6 23.f1 d7 24.d1 d8 25.d4 e5 26.f5 c6 27.g1 g6 28.h6 g7 29.g4 d7 30.e3 e7 31.h6+ g8 32.f4 1-0 Prie, E (2526)-Cau, B (2173) Avoine 2008 ] 1...f6 2.f4 c5 3.e3 [ 3.d5! Even more willingly after this update! ] 3...cxd4 4.exd4 d5 5.c3 c6 [ 5...f5!? 6.b3 c8 is bound to 1651

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 transpose into the previous game after the most logical 7.f3 c6 8.bd2 ] 6.d3 g4 7.b3 d7 A double-edged move. The queen is obviously better placed here, especially in conjunction with the idea to exchange the powerful London bishop by ... Bd6. Nevertheless it takes the retreat square from the king's knight in case of Nf3-e5. [ 7...c8 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 e7 10.0-0 A) 10...0-0 11.e5 h5 ( 11...xe5 12.dxe5 d7 13.c2 h8 14.h3 h5 15.xh7 g6 16.g4 ) 12.c2 g6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.f3 h5 15.e3 c7 16.g3 Browne, W (2530)- Larsen, B (2625) San Antonio 1972 1-0(43); B) 10...h5 first is considered more precise. 11.e5 xe5 12.xe5 0-0 ( 12...g6 13.b5+ ) 13.fe1 ( 13.c4!? dxc4 14.xc4 d7 15.a5 g4 16.xb7 xe5 17.dxe5 xb7 18.xb7 ab8 19.a6 fc8 20.ac1 g5 21.xc8+ xc8 22.f4 e7 ) 13...g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.a4 c6 16.d1 then is my idea: Use the queen's rook to control the queenside, possibly via a2, the time to somehow mount an attack on the other flank by mean of h2-h4, Re3-h3. Note that the h5 square may be passed without parting with the strong Be5 by using tactical means: Qg4 following Nxh5 with the threat Rxh5, Qxg7 mate! ] 8.d2 a6 [ 8...e6 9.gf3 ( 9.h3!? h5 10.gf3 g6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.e5 xe5 13.dxe5 c7 14.0-0! d7 15.c4 ) 9...xf3 ( 9...d6!? 10.e5!? c7 11.xg4 xf4 12.xf6+ gxf6 13.f3 h5 14.g3 h6 15.0-0 0-0-0 ) 10.xf3 d6 11.xd6 xd6 12.xb7 b8 13.a6 0-0 ( 13...xb2 14.b5 ) 14.0-0 ( 14.b5 b6 15.a4 e7; 14.b3 b6 15.a4 e5 ) 14...b6 15.a3 xa3 16.bxa3 a5 17.ab1 c8 18.xb6 axb6 19.c1 c4 20.xc4 xc4= To pretend for a small advantage in this ending, White needs to get rid of the back rank mate concern. Hence 9. h3!? I guess, this and what I have suggested above, is all the theoretical knowledge the Neo-Londoner needs to be equipped with in this genuine Caro-Kann transposition. You may forget about other less reliable sources... ]

9.h3 h5 10.gf3 e6 11.0-0 g6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.e5! xe5 [ 13...c8 14.df3 xe5 ( 14...d6 15.xf7 xf4 16.xh8; 14...e7 15.fc1 ) 15.xe5 e7 16.fc1 0-0 ( 16...b5 17.a4 ) 17.c4 dxc4 18.xc4 d8 19.xb7 b8 20.f3! xb2 21.c6 d7 22.c1!! b6 23.xe7+ xe7 24.a3+- This one is a goodie. ] 14.dxe5 g8 15.c4 e7 16.fd1 d4 17.f3 c6 18.d3? A ridiculous oversight. [ 18.b6! Taking the c5 square off the Bf8! e7 ( 18...d8 19.e3 d3 20.b3 a5 21.c3 ) 19.e3! O f c o u r s e . ( 19.xd4? d8 20.c5 e7 ) 19...d3 ( 19...d8 20.b3 c8 21.ac1 ) 20.b3 a5 ( 20...d8 21.b6 ) 21.c3 c7 22.ac1 ] 18...c5 19.a3 a5 20.e4 a4 21.d3 c7 22.ad1 b6 23.1d2 d8 ½-½

1532 Prie,Eric Vaisser,Anatoli National Caen (11) [Eric Prié]

B13 2500 2536 26.08.2011

1.d4 d5 2.f4 c5 A surprise, possibly i n s p i r e d b y D o e t t l i n g ( s e e f u r t h e r ) wh o happens to be a Strasbourg team mate of the most f amous French veteran. The Morris gambit would have been a perfect answer for this tense decisive game! 3.e3 cxd4 4.exd4 c6 5.c3 f5! This is the purest form of the Caro exchange policy adapted to the NeoLondon for Black. By retaining some flexibility with his king's knight, it is Black who improves his prospects in all continuations this time. 6.f3!? The order of moves has its importance: [ 6.b3?! d7 7.f3 f6! See the Piscopo game. ] [ 6.e2?! It is not logical to waste a tempo on chasing the Bf5 to a better square and go away from the key e5 square. e6 7.g3 g6 8.b3 ( 8.h4 h6 9.h5 h7 10.b3 ) 8...d7 9.d2 d6! 10.xd6 xd6 11.xb7 b8 12.a6 xb2 13.b5 ge7 ] 1652

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 6.d2!? e6 Again, what to play against ... Bd6 now?! ( 6...f6 7.g4 g6 8.gf3 ) 7.b3 ( 7.g3 d6 8.b3 b8 Like against any other 'prophylactic' move.) 7...d7 8.e2 d6 ( 8...f6 9.g4!? ) 9.xd6 xd6 10.gf3 ge7 ( 10...c7!? Intending ...Nf6. )] 6...e6 [ 6...f6?! 7.d3! For the queen is not on b3 yet! ] 7.b3 ...Bd6 has to be stopped, otherwise the position is completely equal... This is the problem with this specific Neo-London order of moves where Black takes direct advantage of the early development of White's queen's bishop. [ 7.bd2 f6!? ( 7...d6= ) 8.h4 ( 8.h3 g5 9.h2 h5 10.e2 ge7 11.f1 g6 12.e3 f5?! 13.d3 ) 8...g5 9.h5+ ( 9.xf5 exf5 10.e3 f4 11.xf4 gxf4 12.h5+ e7 ) 9...d7 10.g4 ( 10.xf5 exf5 11.e3 f4 12.xf4 e8+! 13.xe8+ xe8+ 14.e3 f5 ) 10...c2 11.c1 gxf4 12.xc2 e8 13.xe8+ xe8= ] [ 7.d3 Challenging Black's strong bishop is the most natural move. Unfortunately... xd3 8.xd3 d6 9.xd6 xd6 10.0-0 f6 11.bd2 0-0 12.ae1 c7 1/2-1/2 Sveshnikov, E (2514)-Horvath, J (2535) Bratto della Presolana 2011 ] 7...d7 8.bd2 [ 8.b5 d6 9.xd6 ( 9.e5 c7 10.a4 ge7 11.xc6 xf4 ) 9...xd6 10.bd2 f6 11.c4 0-0 12.c5 f4= Szabolcsi, J (2418)-Mihok, O (2443) Budapest 2012 0-1(53) ] [ 8.e2 f6 9.g3 ( 9.h4 xb1 10.xb1 g5 ) 9...g5 10.h4 g4 11.h2 h5 12.f1 ge7 13.e3 h6 ] [ 8.h4 ge7! ( 8...xb1 9.xb1 d6 10.xd6 xd6 11.xb7 b8 12.a6; 8...e4 9.d2 f6 10.f3; 8...g6 9.d2 d6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.xd6 xd6 12.f3 ) 9.d2 g6! 10.xg6 ( 10.xf5? exf5 ) 10...hxg6!? ( 10...xg6= ) 11.e2 ( 11.f3 f6 ) 11...e7 ( 11...f6 12.g4 ) 12.g4 g5 13.gxf5 gxf4 14.fxe6 xe6 15.0-0-0! xd4! 16.a4+ ( 16.cxd4 xe2 17.xb7 0-0 18.he1 d3 ) 16...c6 17.he1 ] [ 8.e5 xe5 9.xe5 e7 is the main line.

See the next game ] 8...ge7!? This is another 'Caro-Kannish' idea (in addition to providing extra support for the Nc6) linked to the king's knight's development to e7 rather than f6: Black wants to play ...Ng6, ...Bd6 with access to the f4 square, while protecting his Bf5 against Nf3h4. [ 8...f6! Still. See the Nimzovitsch game. For this reason W hite tends to exchange the knights on e5 as in the next game before Black gets this move in. ] 9.h3!? [ 9.e2 g6 10.g3 d6 11.xd6 xd6 12.g3 0-0= ] 9...h6 [ 9...g6 10.h2 d6? ( 10...h5!? 11.e2 d6 12.xd6 xd6 13.0-0 f4 14.fe1 ) 11.xd6 xd6 12.g4 e4 13.xe4 dxe4 14.d2 f4? 15.xb7 ] 10.a4!? [ 10.e2 h7 11.e5 xe5 A) 12.xe5 c6 13.0-0 xe5 ( 13...a6 14.c4 f6? 15.h5+; 13...d8!? 14.c4? b4! ) 14.dxe5 0-0-0 15.c4 d4 16.d3; B) 12.xe5 1/2-1/2 Prie, E (2525)Doettling, F (2571) FRA-ChT1 Guingamp 2010 Unfortunately I had not analysed this eventless game, keeping it (and the reason behind this absence of fighting spirit - due to team strategy) for a further ChessPublishing update... one year too late! ] 10...h7 11.a5 a6 12.h2 [ 12.e2 g6 13.g3 d6 ] 12...c8 [ 12...g6 13.d3 ] 13.e5 xe5 14.xe5 f6 15.g3 d6 16.xd6 xd6 17.e2 0-0 18.0-0 h8 19.fe1 [ 19.b4 e5 ] 19...ae8 20.f1 [ 20.b4 e5 21.b3 e4 22.c5 c7 23.b6 e7 24.h5 g6 25.d1 g8 26.a4 d8 27.f3 f5 ] [ 20.f3 g8 21.ad1 c7 22.a2 f7 W hite 's p osit ion loo ks f in e b ut h e is a t maximum activity without any ideas! ] 20...g8 21.f3 c4 22.e3 [ 22.b4 e5 ] 22...d2 23.d1 xf3+ 24.xf3 e5 1653

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.d1 f5?! A risky bet, admittedly played during the opponent's time trouble - with which the former Russian (who had already secured at least equal 1st place in the tournament...) is not unfamiliar! 26.dxe5 f4 [ 26...xe5 27.c2 ] 27.g4 [ 27.c4! f3 28.d6 fxg2 ( 28...e6 29.e3; 28...b8 29.a4 e7 30.e3 ) 29.g4 ( 29.xe8?? xh3 ) 29...e6 30.a4+- ] 27...f3 28.e6 xe6 29.e5 b5 30.xf3 xb2 31.d2 [ 31.d4 xe1+ ( 31...e4 32.c5 c4?? 33.xf8 ) 32.xe1 c8 33.e7 xc3 34.xb7 xd4 35.xd4 c4 36.f5 d4 37.d7 c5 38.xd4 xa5 39.a7= ] [ 31.d3!? c8 ( 31...xe1+ 32.xe1 c8 33.e7 xc3 34.f5 Intending Ne5. f6 35.xf6 gxf6 36.xb7 c5 37.b6 xa5 38.xf6 g7 39.d6 ) 32.eb1 xc3 33.xc3 xc3 34.xb7 In all cases are improved versions of the forthcoming ending, wh e re it is s t i l l W h i t e wh o , a g a in s t a l l appearances, is playing to win. ] 31...xd2 32.xd2 xe1+ 33.xe1 c8 34.e7 xc3 35.f3 c5 36.e5 d4 [ 36...h7 37.f4 d4 38.g4 h5 39.g5 xa5 40.e8 xe5 41.fxe5 d5 42.e6 g6 43.h4 a5 44.a8 xe6 45.xa5 ] [ 36...h7 37.f4 d4 38.g4! ( 38.f5? d3 39.f6 xe5! 40.xe5 d2 ) 38...xa5 39.f5 d5 40.f6 xe5 41.xe5 gxf6 42.e7+ g6 43.xb7 ] 37.f4? [ 37.g6+ h7 38.f8+ ] 37...d3 [ 37...d5! 38.f5 c6! 39.g4 g8 40.g6 c1+! ( 40...d3 41.c7 c1+ 42.f2 c2+ 43.e3 b5 44.xc2 dxc2 45.d2 d3 46.e5 e4 47.c4 f8 48.e3 e7 49.xc2 g2 50.h4 f3 51.g5 ) 41.f2 c2+ In this way the white king does not have the e3 square. 42.g3 ( 42.e1 d3 43.c7 d2+ 44.d1 f3+ ) 42...d3 43.c7 b5! The white rook is deprived of any access to the key squares e8-d7-c8. 44.xb7 c8!! 45.f6 ( 45.e7+ h7 46.xc8 d2 ) 45...gxf6 46.e7+ f8 ( 46...f7 47.xc8+ ) 47.g6+ ( 47.xc8 d2 ) 47...e8 48.e7+ d8 49.e4 c4-+

Both players may be forgiven for having overlooked this study-like possibility! ] 38.xd3 xa5 39.xb7 [ 39.e5 d5 40.f5 c6 41.g4 d5 42.f2 a5 43.h4 g8 44.g5 hxg5 45.hxg5 f8 46.g6+ g8 47.e5 a4 48.f6 gxf6 49.gxf6 xe5! ( 49...a3? 50.g7+ f8 51.g6+ e8 52.f7+ ) 50.xe5 f7= ] 39...d5 40.d7 e4 41.e5 a1+ 42.f2 a2+ 43.e3 xg2 44.g6+ h7 45.f8+ g8 46.e6 a3+ 47.f2 xh3 48.xg7+ h8 49.g6 xe6 [ 49...h5 50.h6+ g8 51.c7 g4 52.xa6 f3+ 53.g2 xf4 54.d5 d4 55.f6+ g7 56.xg4 ] 50.xh6+ g7 51.xe6 ½-½

1533 Rapport,R Laznicka,V 18th Neckar Open 2014 (8.1) [Tom Rendle]

B13 2698 2673 21.04.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 f6 6.f4 This line used to be a fairly popular way to avoid theory in the Caro Kann. White gets easy development and there are some difficulties for Black to overcome in the mainlines after 6...Bg4 (see the archives). Unfortunately (from W hite's point of view anyway) Black has a very simple setup that pretty much neutralises any advantage White was hoping for and this game is an instructive example of why the Exchange Caro has fallen o u t o f f a sh io n . g6! Black's plan is simple he's going for ...Bf5 and then easy development, usually with ...Bg7 and ... 0-0. 7.h3 Not really to guard against a piece landing on g4 so much as giving the bishop a retreat square on h2 after a later ...Nh5 from Black. [ 7.f3 h5 is a little annoying for White, e. g. ( 7...f5 is still completely playable as well ) 8.e3 c7 ( 8...g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.a3 a6 is also completely fine for Black ) 9.d2 g7 10.a3 0-0 11.h3 a6 A) 12.0-0 d7 is about equal ( 12...f5!? is an interesting aggressive option for 1654

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black ); B) 12.g4?! f6 13.f4 a5 14.f1?! and now in Elishev, I (2178)-Kostin, K (2292) Moscow 2013 e4 15.c2 f5! 16.g5 d7 would've left Black much better ] 7...f5 8.xf5 [ 8.f3 b6! 9.xf5 gxf5 10.c2 g8! 11.0-0 e4 and Black is at least equal here. ] 8...gxf5 9.b3 In an effort to set Black problems Rapport starts to go wrong over the next few moves and as a result he's soon much worse. Simple development leads to equality at best for White. [ or 9.d2 g8 10.f3 e6 and Black must be fine ] 9...d7 Black's doubled pawns are not a weakness here, they give him control of the centre and a half open g-file into the bargain. Black can castle either side with relatively little risk as he has control over the centre. 10.f3 [ 10.e2 g8 11.0-0 0-0-0 12.h1 should be OK for White - although I'd prefer to ta k e B la c k a f t e r h5 13.h2 e6 followed by ...Bd6 ] 10...g8 11.g3?! This just turns out to be a weakness [ 11.0-0 was safer but again Black has s l i g h t l y t h e b e t t e r c h a n c e s a f t e r h5 12.h2 h6!? ] 11...h5! 12.e5 xe5 13.xe5 f6 [ 13...0-0-0! immediately was also possible, threatening .. .f6 on the next move. The best White has here is 14.d1 g5 15.f4 but after xg3! 16.xh5 f6 17.d2 fxe5 18.fxe5 e6 Black has a very comfortable edge ] 14.d1 g7 [ 14...g5 is interesting here as well, although it does lead to an exchange sacrifice after 15.f4 xg3 16.fxg5 fxe5 17.g1 f4 18.dxe5 but now Black has f5! with excellent compensation for the exchange. ] 15.f4 0-0-0 16.e3 [ 16.d2 doesn't stop ...e5 as after e5 17.dxe5 Black has e8! 18.c2 fxe5 19.h6 e6 20.xg7 xg7 21.0-0-0 and Black's control of the centre and bishop

for knight give him a pleasant advantage. Still, this is probably better f or Rapport than the game ] 16...e5! Laznicka takes control of the centre and now White has to be very careful 17.dxe5 fxe5 18.xa7 In a bad position you might as well grab a pawn - but now White has to be extra careful! [ 18.d2 d4 19.cxd4? ( 19.g5 e8 and Black is clearly better) 19...f4! 20.gxf4 exd4 wins a piece for Black ] 18...c6 19.b3 d4?! It's hard to criticise such a natural move, especially as it soon leads to a win, but objectively it wasn't best. [ 19...e6 20.b6 f4 21.xc6+ bxc6 22.gxf4 xf4 leaves Black in total control, despite being a pawn down ] 20.0-0 e6 21.d2?? Rapport finally decides it's time to develop the queenside and he even has ideas of Rc1 followed by opening the c-f ile but sadly this turns out to be a decisive mistake [ 21.h2 c5 22.xc5 xc5 23.f7 gf8 24.g7 f4 looks very dangerous but White is hanging on, at least for the time being, after 25.g4 h5 26.g5 although in the long run this is very difficult to hold as White in a practical game. ] 21...c5! 22.cxd4 [ 22.xc5 f4! wins immediately - the rook on g8 is protected now the bishop on f8 has gone. 23.f3 xg3+ 24.f2 ( or 24.h2 xh3+ 25.g1 g6+ 26.f2 g3# ) 24...g2+ 25.e1 e2+ 26.d1 dxc3 and suffers massive material losses. ] 22...xd4 23.e3 e2+! A lovely finish to a crushing game from Laznicka. [ 23...e2+ 24.xe2 xg3+! 25.h2 g2# ] 0-1

1534 Rausis,Igors Berg,Klaus Gausdal (Norway) [Nigel Davies]

B13

1993

The most popular answer to 6.Bf4 is 6...Bg4, and in this game we get similar play after 6. Bg5. But one finesse to look out for is the fact 1655

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 that ...h7-h6 by Black creates a weakness on the kingside, and the Rausis plan of Kh1, Rg1 and g2-g4 could be very effective. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 f6 6.g5 g4 The usual answer to 6.Bf4 deserves consideration here as well. 7.b3 Maintaining the option of putting his g1 knight on f3. [ White has also played 7.e2 after which Topalov - Ivanchuk - Linares 1994 continued e6 8.c2 xe2 9.xe2 h6 10.h4 b6 11.g3 e7 12.0-0 0-0 13.b3 ac8 14.d2 with a difficult struggle ahead ] 7...d7 [ Alternatively there is 7...a5 after which Bhend - Christoffel, Bern 1987 continued 8.a4+ d7 9.c2 b6 10.d2 g6 11.gf3 e6+ 12.f1 g7 13.e1 d6 14.e5 with a good game for White in spite of the loss of castling rights. ] 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 xf3 [ 9...d6 10.0-0 h6 Bronstein - Pomar, Palma de Mallorca 1972 and now W hite should have played ( 10...0-0 11.fe1 h5 12.e5 c7 13.f4 was better for White in Rausis - Moonen, Bethune 1992) 11.h4 w i t h a n e d g e ( in the game he played 11.e3 )] 10.xf3 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.ae1 h6 13.c1 [ W h i t e c o u l d a l s o p l a y j u s t 13.h4 . The text is the start of a far more aggressive plan. ] 13...c7 14.d1 d6 15.e2 d7 16.b1 [ According to Rausis, the immediate 16.h1 would have been stronger. ] 16...fe8 17.h1 ab8 18.g1 b5 19.a3 a5 20.g3 [ And here the immediate 20.g4 would have been better, commencing the assault immediately. ] 20...b4 21.axb4 axb4 22.c4 dxc4 23.xc4 f6 24.f1 b7 [ It would have been better to play 24...bd8 immediately ] 25.g2 bd8 26.g4 d5 27.e4 Once again too slow. [ White should have played the immediate 27.g5 and after f4 28.xf4 xf4 put either his rook or bishop on e4 ] 27...f6 28.g5 fxg5

[ 28...hxg5 29.h3 is very dangerous for Black. ] 29.xg5 [ This leads to a draw. 29.h4 was tempting, b u t B l a c k c a n d e f e n d h i m s e l f wi t h f7 30.hxg5 h5+ 31.h2 xh2 32.xh2 xh2+ 33.xh2 hxg5 34.xg5 d7 etc. ] 29...hxg5 30.xd5 exd5 31.xe8+ xe8 32.xd5+ h7 33.xg5 e1+ 34.g2 d8 35.h5+ g6 36.g5+ h7 ½-½

1535 Robson,Ray Berkes,Ferenc 8th Gyorgy Marx GM (6) [Gawain Jones]

B13 2562 2670 12.08.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 7.e2!? This is a rarer try than 7.Nf3 or 7.a3 but has been tried by Morozevich. [ 7.f3 e4 8.c5 ( 8.e2 was covered in McDonald-Lee last year.) 8...g4 9.e3 xc5!? ( 9...e5 also looks tempting.) 10.dxc5 d4 11.xd4 ( 11.h3 looks more critical when the game might proceed xf3 12.xf3 dxe3 13.d1 c7 14.xe3 e6 when White's queenside majority promises him a very small advantage.) 11...xf3 12.xf3 xd4 13.b5 xc5 14.0-0 e6 15.ac1 e7 16.fd1 c8 17.xc6+ xc6 18.e2 b6 19.xc6 bxc6 20.d4 0-0 21.xc6 1/2-1/2 Timofeev, A (2652)-So, W (2656) Moscow 2010. ] [ 7.a3 has been White's main try when I've added in some interesting recent games. A) wh ile t h e o ld m a i n m o ve o f 7...d7 has also been essayed.; B) 7...h6 8.xf6 exf6 9.f3 g5!? was very ambitious but looks very suspicious to me. 10.b3 ( 10.cxd5 xd5 11.b5 g7 12.e2+ f8 13.xd5 xd5 14.xc6 bxc6 is rather unclear. I have a feeling White should be better but I can see Black taking control quite quickly if he gets time to play ...f6-f5 and ...Bg7-f6.) 10...dxc4 11.xb7 c8 ( 11...a5! was better, i.e. 12.e4 g7 13.d5?! f5 14.e2 xc3+ 15.bxc3 xd5 1656

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and Black has a great position.) 12.d5! a5 13.a6 d7 14.e4 e7 15.fd2 b3 Livshits, G (2447)-Rozentalis, E (2623) Israel 2010 was extremely complicated.; C) 7...g6 8.xf6 exf6 9.c5 h6!? ( 9...g7 was looked at in Friedel-Wang Ha o i n t h e a rch ive s .) 10.b5 a6 11.xc6+ bxc6 12.ge2 0-0 13.0-0 f5 14.f4 Danin, A (2509)-Nazaryev, S (2254) Voronezh 2010 with a complicated battle in p ro s pe ct be twe en t he bish o ps a n d knights but I certainly don't believe Black should have any major problems here. ] [ 7.g3 this has been tried by Tal amongst others but I'm not convinced. g6 ( 7...dxc4 hasn't ever been played but looks strong. The idea is 8.xf6 d5! which seems to refute W hite's opening.) 8.xf6 exf6 9.cxd5? ( 9.g2 ) 9...xd5 10.e2+ Paschall, W (2398)-Varga, Z (2485) B u d a p e s t 2 0 1 0 e7 11.f3 xd4! looks terrible for White. ] 7...a5 8.c5 Following Morozevich. [ 8.f3 has been the main choice but Black has scored quite well. dxc4 9.0-0 d8 A) 10.c1 xd4 ( 10...h6 11.d2 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.b4 Rogers, I (2595)Dreev, A (2570) Biel 1993 left White with some compensation although I'm sceptical whether there's really enough for the two pawns. ) 11.xd4 xd4 12.b4 d8 13.e3 given as clear advantage to White by Ftacnik but clearly Adianto disagreed and indeed following d7 14.xa7 g6 15.b5 g7 16.xc4 Ramesh, R (2415)Adianto, U (2610) Sakthi 1996 when d5 leaves Black slightly better.; B) 10.e1 b5 ( Deviating from 10...h6 which is covered in Kalod-Palkovi in the archives.; 10...a6!? also looks interesting.) 11.c1 b4 12.xf6 bxc3 13.d5! xd5 14.xc3 c5 15.f4 e6 Stocek, J (2555)Zu re k , M ( 2 4 5 1 ) C ze c h i a 2 0 0 3 wh e n White's strong initiative would have paid off had he played 16.g5 d7 17.h5 d8 18.g4 b6 19.e4 and Black's pieces are really tangled and he'll really suffer. ] 8...e4 9.d2 d8 A slight nuance. Berkes wants to have d5 defended and a discovered

attack on d4 should White exchange knights. [ Anand chose 9...c7 in Morozevich-Anand which is covered by the boss Tony Kosten in the archives. ] [ While 9...xd2 has been tried a couple of times but here White has chances for the a d v a n t a g e . 10.xd2 g6 11.b5 g7 12.h3 0-0 13.f3 c7 14.c1 a6 15.a4 b6 16.xc6 xc6 17.cxb6 xb6 18.0-0 a5 19.b3 b4 20.f4 ac8 looked fine for Black although David eventually prevailed. Howell, D (2561)-Berczes, D (2458) Winterthur 2008. ] 10.f3 Robson continues with the same theme as Morozevich but in this position it doesn't promise White any advantage. [ 10.f3 g6 11.0-0 g7 12.e3 0-0 doesn't really look very threatening either however. ] 10...xd2 [ Taking the pawn is premature. 10...xd4 11.a4+ c6 12.xe4 dxe4 13.xe4 is a little better for White as Black struggles to develop his kingside. ] 11.xd2 g6 12.ge2 h5 13.f4 h6 I like way Berkes has played. The pin indirectly defends the d5 pawn and allows B l a c k t o d e v e l o p n o r m a l l y . 14.ce2?! This allows Black to free his passive bishop on e6. [ 14.0-0 A) 14...b8 looks tempting but as I don't think that doubling W hite's f pawns is n e c e s sa r i l y a g o o d i d e a t h e m o v e i s probably a mistake. 15.g3 0-0 16.fe1 ( 16.cxd5 d8 ) 16...d8 ( 16...xf4 17.gxf4 leaves Black in a slightly unpleasant bind.) 17.xe6! fxe6 18.d3 would give White a very strong attack.; B) 14...0-0 15.fe1 d7 seems fine for Black as White has problems with the pin. B1) 16.ad1 g4 17.xg4 hxg4 18.cxd5 ad8 ( 18...g5? 19.xe7! ) 19.c2 h8 20.e4 g5 wins a piece although the position is very complicated. 21.c3 gxf4 22.d5 b8 23.xe7 fe8 24.h4 g7 looks better for Black.; B2) 16.a3 a5 17.a2 ( 17.ad1 c4 18.c1 xb2 p i c k s u p a p a wn .) 17...b3 18.d1 xf4 19.xb3 fd8 1657

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and Black has equalised. ] 14...f5! 15.c3 [ 15.xd5?! xd5 16.xd5 xd2+ 17.xd2 0-0-0 18.e3 xd4 leaves White in a very unpleasant endgame. ] 15...e6 So Black has succeeded in activating both his bishops and defending his pawns. As we'll see in the game White has to watch out for Black breaking out in the centre. True he has t he ma kin gs of a pa wn st orm o n th e queenside with his c5 pawn but he also has to watch out his pieces don't get tangled up. 16.g3 0-0 17.0-0 e5! As I warned, Berkes breaks in the centre and White's pieces are forced to scurry backwards. [ 17...b6 is an alternative approach, opening up the b file with the idea to start targeting the vulnerable d4 pawn. ] 18.dxe5 d4! 19.a3 d3 20.fd1 [ 20.c3 d4 21.g2 c2 wins material. ] 20...xe5 21.xb7 [ 21.g2 g4! is also extremely awkward. ] 21...b8! 22.xa8 [ 22.c6 was perhaps White's best chance. f3+! ( 22...dxe2 23.xe2 g4 24.c3 xd1 25.xd1 a6 26.e4 a7 27.f6+ g7 28.d7 xd7 29.xd7 would give W hite a temporary initiative but nothing like enough for a rook.) 23.g2 dxe2 24.xe2 e5 looks like Black's most accurate continuation when W hite would really be struggling. ] 22...xa8? A very odd decision. Of course Black still has very good compensation and a great attack but White has chances to hold on now. [ I'm not sure why Berkes didn't throw in 22...dxe2 23.xe2 and then take the bishop xa8 when Black's bishop pair far outweigh the rook and two pawns as White's king is too vulnerable. ] 23.d4 xf4 24.c6 [ 24.xf5 f3+ 25.f1 xh2+ 26.g1 f3+ 27.f1 gxf5 A) 28.gxf4? d2+! 29.e1 ( 29.g1 h7 and White cannot prevent the mate.) 29...c4! 30.xd3 e8+ 31.f1 h1#; B) 28.xd3 d2 29.xf5 e8 and White is really struggling to defend his king. ] 24...h6?! The sensible step although Black

is only a little better now. I wonder if already the players were starting to enter time trouble after such a complicated game. [ It was possible to leave the bishop hanging again with 24...h3! 25.gxf4 xc6 26.xd3 ( 26.xd3? leaves the White queen caught up after xd4 27.xh3 e2+ 28.f1 xf4 29.g3 h1+! 30.g1 e4 31.g3 h4! 32.g4 h1+ 33.g1 f3 34.g5 e2+ 35.g1 h3+ ) 26...xd4 27.xh3 c2 28.f3 xf3 29.xf3 xa1 30.c3 b8 31.c1 xb2 32.xa1 g7 leaves Black clearly better in the endgame and probably winning thanks to W hite's passivity and wrecked kingside pawns. ] 25.c5?! [ 25.xf5 gxf5 26.d6 g7 27.ac1 would leave the position pretty unclear as that c6 pawn has suddenly become a big trump. ] 25...e8! 26.xf5 gxf5 27.d5 a5 The position has calmed down a little. The material is roughly level but the d3 pawn is easier to defend than the c6 pawn and Black actually has the more secure king and active pieces and thus had the advantage. 28.e1?! The rook should have stayed hitting d3. g7 29.ad1 d8! 30.g2 xc6 The c6 pawn drops and with it any lingering hopes for White. Both sides err but Black eventually triumphs. 31.e3 a6 [ 31...d2! was stronger as 32.e2 d4 wins the rook. ] 32.f3 d2 33.xf5 c4 34.xh5 c2 35.e2 d4 36.h5 f5 37.b3 e4 38.h4 [ Black has not played very accurately and h a s a l l o w e d W h i t e 38.xd2! e1+ ( 38...xd2 39.b8+ f8 40.g5+ and White regains the rook.) 39.g2 h4+ 40.xh4 xd2 and Black is only slightly better as W hite has three pawns for the bishop. ] 38...a4 39.b6 xg3! 40.fxg3 e3+ 41.g2 xb6 42.g5 b7+ 0-1

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1536 Rudolf,H Fuhrmann,Daniel Bundesliga 98/99 (1) [Neil McDonald]

B13 2315 17.10.1998

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.f3 g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 b6?! Black avoids the difficulties of the endgame after [ 9...e6 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ etc. but this just seems good for White. ] 10.d5 d4 11.b5+! The older move is [ 11.d1 which leads to massive complications in which Black has excellent chances of holding his own. For example e5 12.dxe6 A) Even more hair raising is 12...c5!? 13.exf7+ xf7 14.e3 e8 15.d3 h4! [threatening 16...Rxe3+] 16.e4 ad8 A1) Similar is 17.0-0 d6 18.xd6+ xd6 19.xd4 xd4 ( but not 19...h6 20.b3+ ee6 21.e5!! defending h2. ); A2) 17.xd4 xd4 18.0-0 d6 19.b3+ f8 20.xd6 xd6 with balanced chances in GreenfeldShirov, Budapest 1996.; B) 12...fxe6 13.e3 ( 13.g2!? ) 13...c5 14.b4 0-0 15.bxc5 xf3+ 16.e2 f6 17.cxb6 xc3 ( or 17...ad8!? 18.c2 d4+ 19.xd4 xd4 ) 18.g2 ad8 and the white king is stuck in the centre and facing a dangerous attack. ] 11...d7 12.a4 xf3+ [ Here 12...e5? 13.dxe6 xe6 14.g5! xg5? He had to fight on with ( 14...ec5! ) 15.0-0-0 Black resigns... was the brief game Bologan-Borges Mateos, Linares 1999. After d7 has fallen the black king will be massacred. ] [ Instead the no-nonsense approach 12...xb5 13.xb5 g6 aiming for rapid development of the kingside, has bee n tested in several games recently, but Black doesn't seem quite to equalise. The problem is the pawn on e7 which becomes a target after 14.0-0 g7 15.e1 0-0 16.g5! f o r e x a m p l e f6 ( 16...e8? 17.d6! ) 17.xf6 exf6 18.ad1 e5 19.e3 and W hite was much better in Gallagher-

Krizsany, Lugano 1999. ] 13.f1! This keeps the e2 square for the knight and is so better than [ 13.e2 e.g. fe5 14.f4 a6 15.xe5 axb5 16.d4 xe5 17.xe5 d7 as given by Aagaard as better for Black. Perhaps 'unclear' is a better verdict a s Black still has problems getting his kingside pieces out. ] 13...a6 14.e2 fe5 15.f4! This is much more incisive than [ 15.f4 Black appears at first glance to be doing well as White is a pawn down and has a wrecked kingside. It is true that if Black were able to mobilise his kingside W hite would be completely lost. However, this isn't possible for if he now plays 15.. .Ng6 he loses the option of g7-g6. This means that the bishop on f8 would be entombed, unless he played e7-e6, but it would be very dangerous to open centre lines when W hite's rooks can be quickly brought to put pressure on d7. So Black elects to return the extra pawn for some freedom, but this leads to a collapse on the queenside and a highly unpleasant endgame. ] 15...b5 16.d4 c4 17.a4! White uses his pawns admirably to cause Black problems on both sides of the board. a5 All Black's heavy pieces and the king's bishop have been watching idly as his knights have wandered the board engaged in combat with the white pieces. This shows that there is something intrinsically wrong with his opening strategy. 18.e4 b6 19.c5 With the idea of 20 Nxa6! Black is now forced into a rotten endgame. xd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.axb5 e6 22.xa5 xc5 23.bxa6 b6 24.a3 0-0 25.g2 fc8 26.f3! f6 27.d1 c2 28.b3 c7 29.b7 c6 30.d2 f8 31.c1 xc1 32.xc1 e7 33.b4 d6 34.a3 b8 35.b5+ d7 36.xb8 xb8 37.c5 d6 38.f2 c7 39.c4 xf4 40.b6+ b8 41.a7+ 1-0

1659

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B13 material: [ 17.c5 e8 ( 17...ac8!? ) 18.b3 b6 2460 19.a6 ac8 ( 19...g4!? )] 2515 14.11.2004 17...b6 18.b5 [ 18.a3 xa3 19.bxa3 g4 20.h4 f5 21.xg6 hxg6 ] Bogdan Lalic kindly sent me a recent game of 18...d5 19.c5 [ 19.c5? g4-+ ] his from the Bundesliga with comprehensive annotations. I present them to you here and 19...g4 20.xd5 gxf3! 21.c5 fxe2 22.fc1 [ 22.xe2? xd4-+ ] attach some prose. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 22...d8?! cxd5 4.c3 c6 5.f4 From Bent Larsen. [ 22...e8! 23.xe2 a4-+ ] [ 5.d3 c7!? ] 23.xe2 f5 5...f5 [ 23...a4 24.a5!? d7 25.5c4 xa5 [ 5...f6 ] 26.xa4 xb3 27.axb3 a6 ] 6.b3 d7 7.f3 e6 8.bd2 ge7 24.h4 f7 25.c3 d5 [ 8...f6 ] [ 25...a4 26.c4 xc3 27.1xc3 9.e2 f6 Lalic wants to win and complicates. ( 27.bxc3 e5!-+ ) 27...f4 28.c1 e5-+ ] B la c k i s t ry in g t o t a ke a d va n t a ge o f t h e exposed Bishop on f4 with ...g7-g5. Of course 26.a5 xc3 [ 26...xd4?! 27.xd4 xd4 28.c8 ] if an opportunity presents itself to play ...e627.bxc3 xa5 28.xa5 b6 29.b5 d7 e5 he will take it. 30.bb1 h5 [ 9...g6 10.g3 d6 [ 30...f4!? 31.b5 f3! 32.gxf3 c6 ] A) 11.xd6?! xd6 12.xb7 b8 31.e3? 13.a6 b6 14.a4 0-0 [ 31.e1 e8 ] A1) 15.b5 fb8 A1a) 16.c4 xd4! 17.xd4 e5+ 31...f4 32.xf4 xb1 33.xb1 f7 34.e3 18.e2 f4 19.d1 g4 d5 35.e1 [ 35.f4 a5 36.b2 f5 37.e2 f6 38.g3 ( 19...c2!? 20.f3 e4-+ ) 20.f3 xa2! 39.xa2 b1+-+ ] d3+ 21.f1 e3-+; A1b) 16.xc6 xc6 17.b3?? 35...e5-+ 36.g3 exd4 37.cxd4 xd4 38.g5 d5 39.g3 h7 It looks like a6-+; Black's plan of ...Nge7-g6 and an early ... f7A2) 15.a3 xa3 16.bxa3 b2; f6 is a good one and may expose the A3) 15.b3 f4; A4) 15.b4 f4 16.b5 xe2 17.xe2 drawbacks of Bc1-f4 BEFORE Black goes .. . Nf6. e7; 0-1 B) 11.0-0 0-0= ] 10.0-0 g5 11.e3 [ 11.g3 h5 12.h4 g4 13.e1 g6 1538 B13 14.d3 e5 ] 11...g7 12.ac1 Short,Nigel D 2660 [ 12.c4 ] Ehlvest,Jaan 2610 [ 12.e1!? 0-0 13.d3 b6 14.f4 h6 Tallinn/Paernu 1998 ( 14...g4= )] [Alexander Volzhin] [ 12.a4 Seul, G 0-0 13.a5 g6 14.a4 f5 ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 12...0-0 13.c4 g6 14.a4 fd8 White can't delay this move, otherwise Black Counterplay comes against d4 or, if W hite easily equalise by playing ...Bc8-f5: blocks with ...c4-c5, via ...e6-e5 . 15.cxd5 [ 4.c3 c6 ( 4...f5 here is premature as xd5 16.b3 e7 17.d2? Failing to after 5.b3! White seizes the initiative: d7 recognise that his Queen might be short of 6.f3 c6 7.b5 e6 8.e5 c7 9.a4 squares. Lalic now finds a sharp way to win ge7 10.f4 White combines development 1537 Seul,Georg Lalic,Bogdan Klub Koelner SF - SF ( tt ) (2) [Martin, Lalic]

1660

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with creating concrete threats, all his moves suggesting themselves: b6 11.c4! a6 12.c3 c8 13.c5 with a huge edge, VeizZagorianski, Moscow 1948. Of course the Bishop is taboo: axb5 14.xb5 and White wins. ) 5.f4 ( 5.d3! ) 5...f5! 6.f3 ( Of course after the exchange of lightsquared bishops 6.d3 xd3 7.xd3 e6 Black has easy play.) 6...e6 7.b3 c8 8.bd2 f6 9.e2 e7 10.0-0 e4 11.ac1 xd2 12.xd2 0-0 13.c4 e4 14.e3 d8 15.e5 xe5 16.dxe5 c8 17.fd1?! This move weakens the f2-square and allows Black to seize the initiative. ( 17.c3 was better.) 17...c5 18.f4 f6! and W hite is in trouble, Larsen-Spassky, San Juan 1969. ] 4...c6 5.c3 This is the initial position of the Exc han ge Variat ion . The pa wn struct ure arising in this line dictates the plans for both sides. White prepares to occupy the outpost on e5 followed by a K-side attack, and Black, for his part, prepares a minority attack on the Q-side. By the way, a similar pawn structure (with reversed colors) and similar plans often occurs in the ExchangeVariation of the QGD. f6 6.f4 The main line. [ 6.h3 is the old move. It prevents Bishop's sortie to g4 but allows e5 and after 7.dxe5 xe5 Black has good play: development advantage and active position of his minor pieces are ample compensation f or the weakness of the isolated d5-pawn. The ga m e G us e v-Mik. T se itlin, USS R 1 9 8 5 continued: 8.e2?! This seemingly natural move leads W hite into great difficulties. ( 8.b5+ should be preferred with an equal position after d7 9.xd7+ xd7 10.f3 xf3+ 11.xf3 c5 12.0-0 0-0 ) 8...e7 9.b5+ d7 10.xd7+ fxd7 Now 11... N d 3 + i s t h r e a t e n e d . 11.f1 This ugly looking move is forced. ( After 11.e3 c4 12.b3 xe3 13.xe3 xe3+ 14.fxe3 f6 White has no compensation for the weak e3pawn. ) 11...e6 12.f3 xf3 13.xf3 c5 Black is clearly better and after 14.d2 0-0 15.b3 ae8! 16.g3 a6+ 17.g2 xf2!! 18.xf2 e5! Black got a crushing attack. ] 6...g4 7.b3 d7 [ 7...a5 was played in the famous game

Fischer-Petrosian, Belgrade 1970. This ga m e is a m o d e l o n e f or W h it e : 8.a4+ d7 9.c2 e6 10.f3 b6 11.a4! A very strong move which prevents 11..Bb5 exchanging the bad d7-Bishop for its strong c o u n t e r p a r t . c8 ( 11...b3 12.a2 Naturally th is is not the ideal position for the Rook, but Black's Knight is also misplaced and Black doesn't control the very important e5-square. c8 13.0-0 , intending Qe2, Ne5.; 11...b3 is no better as after 12.e2! the a4-pawn is taboo: xa4? 13.xa4 xa4 14.b5+ ) 12.bd2 c6 13.b1 h5 14.e3 h6 ( After 14...f5 F i s c h e r i n t e n d e d 15.g4! fxg4 16.g5 d6 17.xh7 and Black's position is ruined.) 15.e5 f6 16.h3 d6 17.0-0 f8 18.f4 and White has huge edge. Fischer won this game brilliantly. ] 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 xf3 10.xf3 d6 11.g3!? This humble move is indeed a very in t e re st i n g n o ve l t y wh ich p o se s s e ri o u s problems for Black. [ 11.xd6 xd6 is the usual continuation but in numerous games Black successfully solved his opening problems. Here are just a few examples: A) The quiet 12.0-0 is also not dangerous for Black: 0-0 13.ae1 ab8 The plans for both sides are obvious: White prepares a K-side attack (Ne5, f4, Re-e3-h3) and Black has counterchances on the opposite side of the board where he can execute a m i n o r i t y a t t a c k . 14.e5 b5 15.a3 ( 15.e3 b4 16.c2 fc8 17.e2 bxc3 18.bxc3 d8 19.h3 g6 and it's difficult for White to increase the pressure on the K-side while Black can hope to exploit White's pawn weaknesses on the Q-side, S e m e n ju k - S h a k a r o v, M o s c o w, 1 9 8 1) 15...a5 16.e3 ( 16.f4 b4 17.axb4 axb4 18.d1 bxc3 19.bxc3 g6 is also OK for Black, Benjamin-Christiansen, USA 1981) 16...fc8 17.d1 b4 18.axb4 axb4 19.fe1 bxc3 20.bxc3 d8 21.h3 g6 and Black is already slightly better as the game Lanka-Kasparov, USSR 1977 has proved.; B) 12.xb7?! A risky move. b8 13.a6 0-0! Black has sacrificed a pawn but his pressure on the open b-file secures him 1661

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g o o d c o u n t e r c h a n c e s . ( 13...xb2? is bad in view of 14.b5! ) 14.b5 b6 15.a4 e7 16.b3 ( 16.0-0 b8 and Black wins the pawn back and has good play.) 16...e4 17.c1 c8 18.d3 g6! Threatening to take the c3-pawn which was impossible immediately: ( 18...xc3?? 19.xc3! xc3 20.e8# ) 19.e5 ( To grab one more pawn is suicide: 19.xa7? f4 20.xe4 a6! and W hite's Queen is trapped, after 21.xh7+ f8 22.b7 b8 23.xb8+ xb8 24.g3 xa2! Black has decisive a advantage.) 19...c5! 20.dxc5 xe5+ 21.d2 xc5 We are following the game Morozevich-Oll, Groningen 1997. Black's advantage is undisputable due to the poor position of White's King. ] 11...xg3 I don't like this move since the opening of the h-file gives W hite additional possibilities. [ 11...0-0 deserves attention although after 12.c2! ac8 13.e2 (intending 14.Ne5) White has a small but steady advantage. ] 12.hxg3 a6 13.f1! The correct approach: White needn't castle since his Rook on h1 is alre ad y d eve lo pe d ! c7 14.e1 a5 15.c2 c4 16.g1 h6 17.b3 Launching a pawn attack on the Q-side. [ 17.xc4!? was a good ative to the text, and B la c k a ls o h a s t o so lve ra t h e r d if f icu l t problems: A) 17...xc4?! is a mistake in view of the u n e x p e c t e d 18.xe6+! fxe6 19.g6+ e7 ( 19...f8? loses on the spot in view of 20.g5! ) 20.xg7+ d6 21.e5 e2 22.xf6 d1+ ( 22...af8 is re f ut e d b y t he nice 23.f7+ d7 24.e5! and White wins: xe5 25.xe5+ d6 26.g6 ) 23.h2 h5+ 24.h4 xh4+ 25.gxh4 and the endgame favours White.; B) 17...dxc4 T h e o n l y m o v e . 18.e5 intending 19.g4, and Black's position is very unpleasant. ] 17...a5 18.c4 c6 19.c5 d8?! [ 19...b4 exchanging a pair of minor pieces is worthy of consideration: 20.d2 xd3 21.xd3 e4 22.b4 0-0 and White is only slightly better. ] 20.a3 d7 21.b4 Now White's advantage is

beyond doubt. e7 22.b2 d7 23.c2 0-0 [ 23...e5? fails to 24.b3 e4 25.h4 and Black is helpless. ] 24.h4 fe8 [ 24...e5 is b a d a ga in : 25.xe5 dxe5 26.dxe5 xe5 27.xe5 xe5 28.d4! and the d5-pawn is very weak. ] 25.b3 f6 26.e5 xe5 27.dxe5 d7 28.a4! f8 29.xd7 xd7 30.d4 Although I can't claim that W hite has huge e d ge it 's ve ry d if f ic u lt t o d e f e n d B la c k ' s position in a practical game. He is compelled to passive defence while White can gradually strengthen his position. f5?! This move creates a new weaknesses. I would prefer wait and see tactics. 31.exf6 xf6 32.f4 ef7 33.xf6 xf6 34.f4 c6 35.g4 Now it's clear that Black's 30th move was erroneous. W h i t e h a s a ve r y c o m f o r t a b l e b l o c k a d e position and can choose between 2 possible plans: either to play g4-g5 (after appropriate preparation, of course!) destroying the position of Black's King or to play Re5 and f4f5 aiming to undermine the d5-pawn. d7 36.e5? An inaccuracy in time-trouble. [ White should play 36.g3 and 37.Kg2 first and only after this prepare g4-g5 by playing Re1-e5. ] 36...f7 37.g3 h8? [ Black could have exploited White's mistake by the unexpected 37...g5! which led to nice d r a w a f t e r 38.f5 exf5 39.xd5 fxg4! 40.d8+ h7 41.d7 f1+ 42.g2 f2+! as was pointed out by Nigel Short. ] 38.g2 g6 39.d1 f7 40.d3 c7 [ 40...g6? is bad in view of 41.xg6 xg6 42.f5 and White is winning. ] 41.d4 f7 42.a4 g8 43.b5 axb5 44.axb5 d7 45.d3 h8 46.e1 f8 47.g5 f5? This move allows White to destroy pawn shelter of Black's King. [ 47...hxg5 should be played and Black can resist successfully: 48.h1+ g8 49.h7+ f7 50.h5+ e7 51.xg5+ f7 ] 48.gxh6 d4!? Desperation. [ 48...gxh6 is hopeless as well: 49.c6!? bxc6 50.c3+ d4 51.xc6 with easy win. ] 49.hxg7+ xg7 50.e4 d5 51.g4 g8 52.g3 h7 53.c6! The decisive breakthrough. W hite allows penetration of 1662

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black's Queen but his calculation is correct Black has no perpetual. bxc6 54.bxc6 h1 55.xe6 g1+ 56.h3 h1+ 57.g3 g1+ 58.f3 h1+ 59.e2 g2+ 60.e1 g1+ 61.d2 f2+ 62.e2 xf4+ 63.d1 Now the King is in safety. d8 64.c7! xc7 65.g6+ h8 66.e6! A picturesque position: there is material equality on the board, both Kings are open but the difference in activity of the pieces is decisive- White has a mating attack and Black hasn't even one check! A very good game by Nigel Short. 1-0

1539 Short,Nigel D Ni Hua UK-CHN Match (6) [John Watson]

B13 2683 2681 09.09.2007

An important theoretical battle, and fun as well! 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 Here's the Panov. f6 5.f3 c6 6.c3 This time White allows an old main line. g4 [ 6...e6 might enter into the kind of game that is seen in Grischuk-Dreev, but White has extra options, including 7.c5!? ] 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 This is all well-known theory. In Houska's wonderful Caro-Kann book, she recommends [ 9...b6 , which is much riskier. Her admirable goal is to leave Black with an interesting game and winning chances. Sadly, it seems that Black can't fully equalise with that move. ] 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 d7 14.xd5+ exd5!? A rarely-seen move, queried by every source I can find and called 'foolish' by Karpov and Podgaets, but it is apparently much better than its reputation. Furthermore, it poses different challenges than [ 14...xd5 15.xd5 exd5 , which is probably the most-analysed ending in chess. My sense of that ending is that with good play on both parts White retains some edge, but not enough to win. In the ChessPub archives you will find four well-annotated games f rom that position. I particularly recommend Adams-Dreev, W ijk aan Zee

NED 2002 for study. ] 15.e2+!? A lucky guess, or crazy like a fox! First of all, exchanging queens frees Black's bishop on f8 and effectively gain a tempo he may even stand better! 15 Qe2+ is one of the two recommended moves when Black neglects to exchange queens on d5. But it is seldom mentioned because of the option. That, recommended by Fischer and most of the Caro-Kann books, is [ 15.b4+ e8 16.d4 Then the play is supposed to be one-sided in White's favour, but it's much more interesting than has been assumed: A) 16...f6 17.0-0 c8?! ( 17...d6! 18.d1 d8 ) 18.d1 c5 19.f4 c4?! 20.xc4 ( or 20.d3 ) 20...dxc4 21.xd7 xd7 22.c1 c5 23.xc4 b6 24.e3 e8 25.xb6!? axb6 S Hill-L Jones, Adelaide 1988. Even here, a pawn up, White's task is very difficult and the game was indeed drawn. Probably 20 Qd3 was to be preferred.; B) 16...e7! is untried, and I can't find any way for White to get the slightest winning chances. Perhaps it is the reason that Ni Hua wanted to go into this line: 17.xg7 ( 17.0-0 f6 18.e1+ f8 , and I see no reason why Black's active bishop and much bett er pawn structure shouldn't compensate him for the loss of castling) 17...e6+ 18.d1 ( 18.e3 f6 19.g4 - forced, in view of ...d4 - xb2 20.d1 c3+ 21.f1 d8 , comfortably equal, and 19...d4 wasn't bad either.) 18...f6 ( or the more ambitious 18...f6!? 19.h6 f5 20.e1+ d7 , which is probably ob je ct ively be t t er a s we ll) 19.xf6 ( 19.g3 d6; 19.g4 h5 ) 19...xf6 20.e1+ d7 . Thus the traditional recommendation 15 Qb4+ may give White nothing!; C) 16...b5 (one of two moves that look equal, and another may achieve the same goal: 17.d2 f6 18.0-0-0 C1) 18...f7! w i t h t h e i d e a 19.c3 ( 19.e3 d8 20.xa7+? e7 and Black has a real attack ) 19...d8; C2) 18...d6?! 19.c3 d8? 20.hg1! b7 21.de1+ (White is directly winning) f8 22.e6 e5 Bromberger1663

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 L a u e r, F u e r t h 2 0 0 2 a n d n o w W h i t e p l a y e d t h e n i c e 23.xe5! ( 23.c5+ f7 24.xg7+ xg7 25.e7+ will also win) 23...fxe5 24.xe5 d7 25.g4 e7 26.b4? ( 26.d6; or better yet, 26.b4! xe5 27.xb7 e8 28.xg7+ g8 29.xa7 ) 26...xb4! 27.f5+ f7 28.c8+ e7 29.c7+ e6 30.xf7+ xf7 31.xb4 and White eventually won, but you see how frustrating it must have been. ] 15...f6!? [ The obvious move is 15...e6 , when 16.e3 tries to retain White's normal advantages with the queens still on. Maybe this is also okay for Black one game proceeded c8!? ( 16...f5!? 17.0-0 f7 ) 17.xa7 ( 17.d3 ) A) 17...c2! 18.xe6+ xe6 and Black is too active. In most lines, W hite can't keep both passers, for example, 19.d4 b4+ 20.f1 a8 21.g2 ( 21.xg7 f6; 21.a3 d2 22.a4 g6 23.b3 c3 24.xc3 xc3 25.b1 d4!? ) 21...d2 22.hd1 a4!; B) 17...xe2+? 18.xe2 c2+ 19.d3 xb2 20.d4 b7 21.hb1 Now White has what he wants and should win. c7 22.b8 d7 23.e1 c8 24.xc8 xc8 25.e8+ d7 26.a8 c6 27.b2 1-0 Leveille-Latendresse, Montreal 1995. ] 16.g1 [ 16.0-0?! d6 17.d1 h3? ( 17...f5 ) 18.g5+ g6 19.d3+ f5 ( 19...h5!? ) 20.f4 xd3 21.xd3 h6?! ( 21...ac8! 22.xd5 b8 ) 22.xd5 b8 23.e7 xf4 24.h1 he8 25.g1+ and White eventually prevailed in Benko-Addison, San Francisco 1961. ] 16...g6! [ 16...h6 17.e3 e8 18.0-0-0! isn't inspiring. ] 17.g5+ g7 18.e5+ g8 19.0-0-0 g7 20.xd5 c7+?! [ The computer finds 20...c8+ 21.b1 xb2! ] 21.b1 b8 22.b3 h5 [ 22...xh2!? ] 23.c1 xh2 24.e3 e5 25.xe5 xe5 26.f4 f6 27.xa7 a8 28.e3 h4 An interesting position has arisen in which

Black has trouble coordinating and mus t always be careful not to let the queenside p a wn s d o m i n a t e . S o h e p u sh e s h is o wn p a s s e d p a w n . 29.f5!? White grabs the chance to get rid of a weakness and attack at the same time. Still, [ 29.h1 with the idea of Rh3, and h3 30.h2 was safer. ] 29...h3 30.g3 [ 30.fxg6 h2 31.h1 looks safe enough. ] 30...h5? [ 30...g7 sets up the pseudo-trap 31.h1 ( 31.fxg6 h2 32.h1 fxg6 ) 31...xa2! , when 32.h6+! h7 33.fxg6+ fxg6 34.hxh3 ha8 is going to be a nightmarish ending with W hite generally having the lone remaining pawn. ] 31.fxg6? [ 31.h1! xf5 32.gxh3 keeps the pawns intact and avoids tricks. ] 31...h2! 32.gxf7+ xf7 33.h1 xa2! 34.xa2 a5+ 35.b1 a1+ 36.c2 xh1 37.h3 e5 Stopping Bf4 and threatening to move his rook. Now things peter out 38.f4 d6 39.d2 g6 40.d3 f5 41.e2 g4 42.h7 xf4 43.xf4 xf4 44.f2 e5 Such an innocent variation to produce so many complications! But the theory is very interesting, and indicates that 14...exd5 is fully equal. ½-½

1540 Shyam,SM Griffiths,Ryan Rhys Hastings Masters 2011-12 (5.11) [Milos Pavlovic]

B13 2462 2310 01.01.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 I haven't covered any Panov Attack games here yet, and while watching games from Hastings I spotted this one and decided to cover it. f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 One of the two main alternatives. Another one is 6.Nf3 Bg4 leading to a famous endgame which is now considered good for Black. dxc4 7.xc4 h6 This is a modern treatment and gained p o p u l a r i t y s o m e y e a r s a g o . 8.h4 Another way of playing would be typical of the Panov: 1664

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 8.e3 e6 9.f3 d6 10.0-0 0-0 11.e2 b6 12.ad1 e7 13.e5 b7 14.c1 c8 A) 15.d3 ed5 16.e4 a better option was: ( 16.xd5 xd5 17.e3 e7 18.fe1 fd8 19.g3 f8 20.h3 W hite established his typical attacking ideas although the position is still rather complex. ) 16...xe4 17.xe4 f5! 18.f3 xe5 19.dxe5 c3 Panchanathan, M Fridman, D Mesa 2010; B) 15.b3 A n o t h e r e xa m p le i s : b8 16.fe1 fd5 17.e4 f5 18.g3 h4 19.h5 xc1 ( 19...f6 20.f4 h8 21.d3 ) 20.xc1 g6?! ( 20...g5 21.xd5 xd5 22.f4 xg2+ 23.xg2 xg2 24.ed1 h4 Black has compensation.) 21.xd5 xd5 22.g4 xg2 23.d7! h8 24.hf6 g5 25.c3 f4 26.f3 a8 27.e4 d2 28.h5 g7 29.xh4 1-0 Solodovnichenko, Y Brunello, S Bergamo 2011 ] 8...xd4 It is possible to play in a different way: [ 8...e6 9.f3 e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 b6 12.a3 b7 13.d3 h5 14.g3 xg3 15.hxg3 f6 16.d5 exd5 17.xd5 h8 ( 17...xb2 18.ad1 h8 19.a2 This is dangerous for Black.) 18.ad1 d4 19.e5 xe5 20.xe5 c6 21.ee1 Kobalia, M-Riazantsev, A Moscow 2011, White is better . ] 9.xd4 xd4 10.0-0-0 e5 11.f4 Another way to play is: [ 11.f3 xf3 12.gxf3 e6 13.b5+ d7 14.f4 g5 15.fxg5 e7 16.d5 c8+ 17.b1 f5+ 18.a1 hxg5 19.xe7 xe7 20.xg5+ f6 21.e3 a6 22.e2 c2 Bartel, M--Mastrovasilis, D Aix-les-Bains FRA 2011, Black has no problems here and eventually the game was drawn. ] 11...g4 12.f3 xf3 Another option is also possible: [ 12...xf3 13.gxf3 c8 14.f1 d5 15.fxe5 xc3 16.bxc3 a3+ 17.b1 A) 17...e6 18.b5+ f8 19.d7 b8 20.xe6 fxe6 21.d7 This looks advantageous for White but also possible was: ( 21.f2 a6 22.d7 With a clear advantage.) 21...g5 22.f2 e8 23.hd1 f8 24.xa7 c8 25.h7 Ragger, M -

Buhmann, R Muelheim 2011, White has a long initiative but eventually Black survived.; B) 17...xf3 18.h3 a8 19.d7+ f8 20.g3 g5 21.e6 xe6 ( 21...e4 22.e5 f6 23.d4 e7 24.he1 d6 It seems that White's pressure is ended and with ...b6 and ...Bc5 Black is ok.) 22.xe6 fxe6 23.d7 g8 ( 23...b6 24.e1 g8 25.xe6 h7 26.e5 hg8 27.c2 White has the better endgame. ) 24.xb7 h7 25.e1 g5 26.xh7 xh7 27.xe6 f8 28.c2 Although it looks drawish W hite is a bit faster with his c-pawn so the position is still slightly better for him. h5 29.b3 c1 30.c4 h4 31.d6 Parligras, M Mastrovasilis, D Porto Carras 2011. Now it is definitely not easy for Black any more. Black eventually lost the game. ] 13.gxf3 Interesting here is: [ 13.b5+!? d7 14.gxf3 A) 14...c8 15.b1 a6 16.xd7+ ( 16.fxe5 axb5 17.exf6 g5 18.g3 b4 19.e4 ) 16...xd7 17.fxe5 e7 18.g3 h5 19.d5 h6 20.xe7 xe7 21.h4+ e8 22.d5; B) 14...xb5 15.xb5 c8+ 16.b1 a6 17.fxe5 d7 ] 13...xf3 14.fxe5 xh1 15.exf6 c6? Losing. Better was [ 15...f3 16.d3 c8 17.e3+ d7 18.xf7 g4 19.d3+ c7 20.g3+ b6 21.f2+ c7 22.g3 h5 23.h3 h6 24.d2 b8 25.d4 d8 26.d5 d6 27.hxg4 xg3 28.fxg7 hxg4 29.g8 xg8 30.xg8 d6 Black is ok. This long and sharp line was just one possibility here . ] [ Also possible was: 15...g5 16.g3 f3 17.d3 c8 18.e3+ d7 19.xf7 g4 20.d3+ c6 White has compensation, but is it enough for more? I'm not sure. ] 16.b5! Winning on the spot. gxf6 17.c7+ [ 17.xf6 also wins. ] 17...e7 18.xa8 White is a piece up. b5 19.d5 xd5 20.xd5 h5 21.c7 h6+ 22.d1 f4 23.xb5 e6 24.d3 xh2 25.d4+ e5 26.e2 f4 27.f3 g5 28.g3+ d5 29.f5+ c4 30.d4+ b5 31.d6+ c5 32.f2 b8 33.xf7 b6

1665

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 34.d8 c5 35.b3 a5 36.d7+ 1-0

1541 Spielmann,Rudolf Nimzowitsch,Aaron Karlsbad (11) [Eric Prié]

B13

11.05.1923

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c3 c6 5.f4?! f5 6.f3 e6 Apparently this typical structure (here reversed whereas generally issued from 1.d4 d5 2. c4 e6 followed by White exchanging on d5) was scrutinized in the tournament to such an extent that it gave its name to it: The Karlsbad (or Carlsbad) s t r u c t u r e ! 7.b3 d7 8.bd2 f6! Even here, with the London diagonal open, this idea poses White problems, for in return the opposing d5 pawn is protected against any further c3-c4 as in the previous game. 9.e2 [ 9.h4 h6! 10.xh6 ( 10.e2 g4 11.f1 e5 ) 10...gxh6 11.e2 0-0-0 ] [ 9.h3 g5 10.h2 h5 Does not help White. ] 9...g5 [ 9...ge7 10.0-0 g5 11.g3 h5 12.h4 g4 13.e1 h6 14.d1 g6 15.d3 xd3! 16.xd3 f5 17.e5 xe5 18.dxe5 0-0? ( 18...0-0-0 19.c4 b8 20.cxd5 xd5 21.c4 f4! 22.g3 h3+ 23.g2 xd2 ) 19.c4 d4 20.c5 d5 21.c4 Schmidt Schaeffer, S (2310)-Vonthron, H (2335) Germany 2004 ] 10.g3 [ 10.e3 d6 ] 10...h5 11.h3 ge7 [ 11...c8 12.0-0 ge7 13.d1 g6 14.e1 h4 15.h2 d6 Wohl, A (2388)Laketic, G (2446) Lido Estensi 2002 1/2(51) 16.xd6 xd6 17.d3 xd3 18.xd3 ] 12.0-0? Castling 'coffin side' [ 12.f1 g6 13.e3 f5 14.xf5 xf5 15.a4 ] 12...h6 13.e1? [ 13.d1 g6 ( 13...g6 14.e1 f5? 15.xh5 ) 14.e1 g4! 15.hxg4 hxg4 16.xg4 e5 17.xf5 xf5 18.c2 f4! 19.e3? h7 ] 13...g4 14.d1 xd2 15.xd2 gxh3

Black is a pawn up with an attack. No "ove rpro tection " o r "b lockade ", the mos t famous chess theoretician ever now finishes in style, somewhat helped, it has to be said, by the opponent's lack of defensive stubbornness. 16.d3 b6 [ 16...h4! 17.c5 c8 18.d6 hxg2 19.xg2 b6 20.a6 d8 21.b7 d7-+ ] 17.fe1 [ 17.f4 h4! 18.h5+ d8 ( 18...xh5?? 19.xh5 And f6 hangs.) 19.xh4 hxg2 20.fe1 ( 20.xg2 e5 ) 20...c7 21.xf6 h7 ] 17...h4 18.h2 f7 [ 18...hxg2 19.f4 h3 20.h5+ f8 21.e2 e5-+ ] 19.g4?! [ 19.gxh3 xh3 20.h1 ] 19...hxg3 20.xg3 h2+ 21.g2? [ 21.h1 e4+ 22.f3 ag8 ] 21...e4+ [ 21...e5 22.dxe5 e4+ 23.f3 h3+ 24.f2 ( 24.h1 xg3 25.fxe4 ag8 26.exd5 g1+ ) 24...ag8 25.f4 g2+ 26.e3 f5# ] 22.f3 [ 22.f3 xd3 23.xd3 e5 24.h1 h3 25.f2 ag8 26.xh2 exd4-+ 27.cxd4 xd4! ] 22...f5 23.xe4?! [ 23.xe4 dxe4 24.xe4 ag8 ] 23...dxe4 24.f4? It seems that White systematically makes it as easy as possible for his attacking opponent in this game, but he might have simply overlooked, in his far ahead calculation, that he was just getting mated after [ 24.xe4 d5 25.f4 xg3 26.fxg3 f5 27.f2 g6 ( 27...h1+ 28.xh1 xh1 29.xh1 g6 30.c4 xc4 31.e1 ) 28.c4 xc4 29.e3 ( 29.f1 d5 30.h1 af8 31.f3 fxe4 32.g4+ h6 33.h3+ h5 34.xe6+ g7 ) 29...xd4 ( 29...d5+ 30.f3 xf3+ 31.xf3 xd4 ) 30.g4 d5+ 31.g3 ac8 32.e5 ( 32.gxf5+ xf5+ ) 32...c2 33.xd5 e2+ 34.f3 xf4 35.gxf5+ exf5 36.d4 h3 ] 24...e5 25.e2 h4+! 26.xh4 g4+ [ 26...g4+ 27.g3 f3+ 28.xh2 xh4+ 29.g1 ah8 ] 0-1 1666

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1542 Sulskis,S Kovalenko,I Baltic zt Ilyumzhinov Cup 2014 (5.3) [Neil McDonald]

B13 2550 2615 09.06.14

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e4!? A new move on ChessPub. Black counterattacks against the white bishop, leading to a very sharp skirmish in the centre. Previously we've seen [ 6...e6 and ] [ 6...e6 and ] [ 6...dxc4 and ] [ 6...a5 ] 7.xe4 [ Instead 7.e3 looks harmless. The best response might be the vigorous In contrast White got some attacking chances after A) 7...e5!? 8.xd5 ( Bad for White is 8.dxe5 b4 9.b3 d4 10.0-0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 xc3 Meanwhile the white king is stuck in the centre and facing Black's initiative after; 8.xe4 dxe4 9.d5 d4 10.xd4 exd4 11.xd4 b4+ 12.d1 0-0 etc. ) 8...exd4 9.xd4 e6 10.c1 xd5 11.cxd5 xd5 12.c3 xa2 13.e2 e6 and White is a pawn down.; B) 7...xc3 8.bxc3 e6 9.f3 e7 10.c2 0-0 11.d3 h6 in Tomczak, J (2562)-Sjugirov, S (2658)/Katowice POL 2014. ] 7...dxe4 8.d5 e5 [ A l t e r n a t i v e l y B l a c k c o u l d t r y 8...f6 at once. For example 9.d2 e5 10.f4 g6 11.h5 f5 12.h3 e6 13.g5 exd5 14.cxd5 b6 15.d1 ( Chances are equal after 15.0-0-0 d7 16.b1 c8 ) 15...e7 Naiditsch, A (2702)-Solak, D (2602)/ Plovdiv 2012 ( Instead 15...b4 looks slightly better for Black. )] 9.d4 [ Or 9.b3 f6 ( Maybe Black can dispense with t h is m o ve a s e 4 isn 't ha nging a n d develop his bishop to g7 with 9...g6!? when 10.f3 exf3 11.xf3 xf3+ 12.gxf3 g7 13.0-0-0 d6 14.d3 0-0 is unclear.) 10.e3 a5+ 11.d2 c7 12.f3 exf3 13.xf3 xf3+ 14.xf3 Naiditsch, A (2712)-Grachev, B (2672)/Sibenik 2012 and now e5 looks equal. ]

9...f6 10.c5 Black gets the initiative after other moves. For example: [ 10.xe4 b6 11.0-0-0 ( Black would be be t t e r a f t e r 11.d2 e6!? 12.f3 c5 13.xe5 xf2+ 14.e2 fxe5 ) 11...g6!? preparing 12...Bf5 looks awkward for White. ] [ Or 10.f4 g4! 11.d2 ( White's king is under siege after 11.xe4 e5 12.dxe6 b4+ 13.e2 b6 ) 11...e5! 12.xe4 b6 13.h3 c5 14.0-0-0 xf2 with the better ch a n c e s f o r B l a ck i n T e r S a h a k ya n , S (2572) -Sjugirov, S (2643)/Martuni ARM 2014. ] 10...f5 11.b5+ f7 12.e2? I assume W hite blundered a piece here rather than sacrificed it. Still the alternatives aren't very appetising for him e.g. [ 12.d2 d3+ 13.xd3 exd3 14.g4 d7 15.f3 ( Or 15.xd3 c6! 16.e2 xd5 ) 15...e5 16.xd3 e4 17.xe4 e8 18.xe8+ xe8+ 19.f1 xg4 20.g2 xc5 and the bishop pair and his more secure pawns give Black good chances. ] 12...a6 13.c4 A piece also drops off after [ 13.a4 d3+ 14.f1 fxg5 ] 13...xc4 14.xc4 fxg5 15.0-0 b5 16.b3 e6? Not the most expedient way to deal with White's mobile centre pawns. After [ 16...g6 17.f3 exf3 18.d6+ g7 19.c3+ e5 20.xf3 xd6 21.cxd6 xd6 Black's extra pawns should come up trumps. ] 17.d6 xd6 The passed pawns have to be eliminated. 18.fd1? [ White would be back in the game after 18.cxd6 xd6 19.ad1 due to the awkward position of the black king. For example b6 20.d7+ g6 21.c3 e5 22.d5 ad8 23.xe5 ] 18...xh2+ 19.xh2 c7+ 20.g3 xg3+ 21.xg3 hd8 22.d4 f6 23.b4 h5 24.a4 This leads to the loss of the exchange, but even after a sensible move like [ 24.ac1 White is two pawns down. ] 24...bxa4 25.xa4 e5 26.xf5 xd1 27.e3 c1 28.a2 g4 29.d2 g5 30.d7 g6 31.e7 h4+ 32.h2 f8 [ Black would be mated in a couple of moves after 32...f8 33.xe5+ f4 34.e7 g3+ ] 0-1 1667

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1543 Sveshnikov,Evgeny Dreev,Alexey Keres Mem Rapid rapid (7) [Andrew Martin]

B13 2557 2682 04.01.2004

Dreev doesn't lose many so it will be interesting to see how Sveshnikov handles the situation, rapidplay or no rapidplay. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.f3 c6 5.f4!? An unusual and if my instinct serves me right, a rather dry variation. g4 [ 5...b6 6.c3! is the first tricky point, showing the reason that White omitted c2-c3. Nc3-b5 is a surprisingly awkward threat. ] 6.c3 xf3 7.xf3 e6 8.d2 d6 9.g3 ge7 No wonder he doesn't lose many. First he unloads his potentially bad bishop (no messing) and then he develops at high speed. It's very simple, easy-to-understand and will not win any prizes for beauty. 10.d3 0-0 11.0-0-0!? OK, White can make a draw by castling on the other side. But full credit to Sveshnikov for spicing up what could have been a remarkably colourless game. b5!? 'Shif ting gears' is the term. W hite shows bottle. 12.xb5! No bluffing. b8 13.d3 b6 14.b3 a5 15.xd6 [ 15.c2 fc8 16.xd6 xb3+ 17.axb3 xd6 18.d2 c6 19.g3 ] 15...xb3+ 16.axb3 xd6 17.c2 c6 18.d3 g6 19.h4! He couldn't just sit there and let Black dominate the open queenside files. Instead , W hite 'shifts gears' too. a5 20.b4 c4 21.h5 b7 22.h4 a5 23.dh1 e5 24.g3 The action is predictable. White is s i m p l y q u i c k e r . axb4 25.hxg6 fxg6 26.xg6! xg6 [ 26...bxc3 27.f7+! xf7 28.xh7+ e8 29.xb7 cxb2+ 30.d1 leaves White's Rook in perfect position and the Black King facing the full onslaught. ] 27.g4+- f6 28.dxe5 bxc3 29.xg6+ xg6 30.xc3 White takes everything. c6 31.g3+ g7 32.h4 c8 33.h3! A final, excellent move. xe5+ 34.c3 e8 35.d4 h8 36.e3 c8+ 37.b1 c6 38.xd5 b4 39.e5 c6 40.f6 Veteran Evgeny Sveshnikov at the top of his form! 1-0

1544 Topalov,Veselin Leko,Peter Millenium Vienna (5) [Alexander Volzhin]

B13 2750 2630 1996

In t h is ga m e we 'll co n sid e r a m ore ris k y approach: Black postpones the development of his kingside and instead tries to get active counterplay on the queenside. Though Black's manoeuvre Be6 looks ugly White has still not found a clear refutation of this set-up. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6!? 6.g5 e6!? 7.a3 One of the most promising continuations. d7 [ Black has tried a lot of continuations here: 7...g6 ] [ 7...h6 ] [ 7...g4 but the text move looks more to the point. ] 8.xf6 The direct approach. [ Other interesting possibilities are: 8.b4!? ] [ and 8.e2!? which are considered elsewhere. ] 8...gxf6! Typical for this line. 9.g3?!N [ After 9.b4 we transpose to the line 8. b4 ] [ 9.c5! looks more to the point. ] 9...0-0-0! 10.g2 The d5 square is creaking but Black does not care. g4! Forcing White to close the long diagonal. [ 10...dxc4 11.d5 c7 was not so clear: ( 11...e5?! i s w e a k e r : 12.dxe6 xe6 13.e2 with a clear edge) 12.a4 e5+ 13.ge2 xd5 14.xd5 xd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.0-0 with the slightly better chances for W hite, but the text move is much stronger. ] 11.f3 [ 11.ge2 dxc4 12.d5 ( 12.a4 xe2 13.xe2 xd4 with a clear edge) 12...e5 is not what White was hoping for. ] 11...e6 12.c5 [ White could try to pressurise d5 again but Black could repeat the same very unpleasant idea: 12.f4 g4! and after 13.a4 Black could breakthrough in the c e n t r e w i t h e5!! ( but not 13...xd4? 14.xa7 c2+ 15.f2 xa1 16.xd5 and Black would lose his Queen.) 14.cxd5 xd4 with a big advantage for Black. ] 12...f5 Now it is not necessary to retreat to 1668

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e6. 13.b4 [ 13.f4 would also be met by e5! ] 13...e5 14.ge2 e6! Very precise: Black does not allow White to castle. 15.dxe5 [ 15.0-0 was bad due to exd4 16.xd4? e3+ ] [ 15.f2 does not solve White's problems as after h6 16.e1 Black has the beautiful ( 16.f4 exf4 17.xf4 xf4 18.gxf4 e4! with a clear advantage; 16.b5 exd4 w i t h a c l e a r a d v a n t a g e) 16...e3+!! 17.xe3 exd4+ 18.f2 e3+ 19.f1 dxc3 with a clear advantage but this gives White more chances to resist. ] 15...d4! [ 15...fxe5 was also not bad ] 16.e4 [ After 16.f4 xe5+ 17.e4 d3 ( 17...xe4 18.fxe4 f5 19.d3 e6 20.f4 e7 21.h5 ) 18.a2 h6 White's position was not much fun. ] 16...d3 17.f4 d2+! A great performance by the d-pawn! 18.f2 [ Unfortunately 18.xd2? was impossible because of xd2 19.xe6 xg2 20.xf8 xe4! winning ( of course not 20...xf8? 21.d6+ )] [ 18.xd2 was losing after xe5+ 19.e2 ( 19.f2 b2 ) 19...xd2!! 20.xd2 h6+ 21.e1 d8 with a decisive attack. ] 18...c4! [ Much stronger than 18...xe5 19.e2 d4+ 20.e3 and White is not so badly off. ] 19.h3 Probably the only move. [ Losing were 19.exf6 d4+ 20.e2 h6 ] [ 19.d6+ xd6 20.exd6 d4+ 21.f1 he8 22.e2 xe2! ] [ and 19.xd2 d4+ 20.e1 xe5+ 21.e2 xd2! 22.xd2 h6+ 23.e1 d8 ] 19...xh3 20.xh3 d4+ 21.g2 xe5 Although W hit e has been able to move his King to a safer place, he is in big trouble as the pawn on d2 is very strong, and can be effectively supported by the Nc4-e3 manoeuvre. 22.b3 [ 22.a2 c4 winning ] 22...c4 23.hd1 [ After 23.hf2 Black was winning by e3+ 24.h3 d5! 25.xf6 e5! (with the idea

of Qh5!) 26.g4 h5! with a crushing attack. ] 23...f5!? [ The prosaic 23...e3+ was good enough: 24.h1 xd1 25.xd1 f5 ( 25...h6 26.d6+ Black is only slightly better) 26.xd2 h6 27.f4 d5+! 28.xd5 xd5 followed by Rhd8 and Bg7-c3. ] 24.eg5 [ 24.d6+ d i d n o t h e l p : xd6 25.cxd6 e3+ 26.h1 xd1 27.xd1 xd6 ] 24...d7 25.f4 g7 26.f2 [ 26.ab1 was the same: e3+ 27.h1 xd1 28.xd1 e8 29.f3 c3 winning. ] 26...d5+ 27.f3 xa1 28.xa1 e8 W hite resigned. A very conclusive win by Peter Leko which showed a lot of typical ideas for Black. 0-1

1545 Upton,Timothy J Hracek,Zbynek Pula [Alexander Volzhin]

B13 2285 2630 1997

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 f6 6.f4 g4 7.b3 c8!? Another good possibility for Black. In comparison with 7...Qd7 this move has it's m e r i t s a n d d ra wb a c ks . N o w B l a c k c a n ' t exchange dark-squared Bishops by playing ... Bd6, on th e o the r h and now Black is no t forced to exchange his light-squared Bishop with W hite's Knight on f3 (Ne5 is no longer threatened). 8.d2 e6 9.gf3 e7 10.0-0 h5! This manouevre (Bg4-h5-g6) is typical for this line, Black's Bishop has no better role than to exchange off its counterpart. 11.e5 xe5 [ 11...d7!? deserves serious attention. This move was played in Uritzky-A.Greenfeld, Israel 1996 where Black obtained a very comfortable position after 12.ae1 dxe5 13.xe5 0-0 14.c2 g6! 15.xg6 hxg6 16.d3 b5! Launching a minority attack without any delay. Black has clear play on the Q-side and it's not easy for W hite to create real threats on the opposite side of t h e b o a r d . 17.e3 b4 18.h3 bxc3 19.bxc3 xe5 20.dxe5 b8 and Black is 1669

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 slightly better. ] 12.xe5 [ 12.dxe5 is the alternative to the text. It was played in Seul-Ruzele, Bonn 1996 where Black equalizedafter d7 13.c2 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.d3 c6 16.f3 c8 17.e3 c4 (of course, the a7-pawn is taboo in view of ...b6) ] 12...0-0 The critical position of this line. Now White has tried several continuations. 13.ac1 [ 13.ae1 g6 14.xf6 xf6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.f4 b5! and Black's chances are already slightly better, Silva-Gobet, Bern 1989. ] [ 13.c2 g6 14.xg6 hxg6 15.h3 b5 16.d3 c6 leads again to a typical position where Black has easy play, NagyEperjesi, Budapest 1991. ] [ 13.f4!? in my opinion is the most logical move. c6 ( 13...g6?! is weaker in view of 14.f5! xf5 15.xf5 exf5 16.xf6 xf6 17.xd5 g6 and an advantage in the centre secures White the better chances.) 14.f5 exf5 15.xf5 g6 16.ae1 fe8 17.xg6 hxg6 and due to weakness of d5-pawn W hite has a small but lasting advantage, Kecic -Ivacic, Ljubljana 1996. ] 13...g6 14.c4 Continuing the plan begun on the previous move. White tries to exploit the position of Black's Queen on the c-file. xd3 15.xd3 dxc4 16.xc4 d8 Although White dominates the only open file he can't take advantage of it. 17.e4 [ Penetration to the 7th rank is not dangerous f o r B l a c k : 17.c7 b6 18.fc1 d5 and the Rook has to retreat. ] 17...d5 Now it's clear that Black can be satisfied with the outcome of the opening fight, he even has a small advantage due to the weakness of the isolated d4-pawn but objectively it should be a draw. 18.c5 b6 19.g3 g6 20.d3 c8 21.fc1 d7 22.h4! xc4 23.xc4 c8 24.xc8+ xc8 25.h5 White has played well and obtained sufficient counterchances. g5 Black didn't want to allow the opening of the h-file but this move weakens his King. 26.d6 f6 27.e5 d8 28.f4 h6 29.fxg5 xg5 30.h2 c2 31.f4 f6!? [ Black could win a pawn 31... Qd1 { , but the Bishop ending after Nxd5 Qxh5+ Qh3

Qxh3+ Kxh3 exd5 is drawish: Kg4 31...f6 32.b8 a6 Kf5 Kf7 33.a7 b5 34.c5 and Black can't make any progress. ] 32.xe6! A correct sacrifi ce. Three pawns for the piece and the open position of Black's King secures White equal chances. [ 32.xd5?! is weaker: fxe5 33.f6+ f7 34.dxe5 f5 (threatening Bf4 again) 35.g1 xf6 36.exf6 c5+ 37.f2 xh5 a n d it ' s n o t e a sy f o r W h i t e t o h o ld t h e material balance as the f6-pawn is very weak. ] 32...fxe5 33.xg5 [ 33.xe5!? w a s n o t b a d e i t h e r : f6 (the only move) 34.b8+ f7 35.xg5+ hxg5 36.xa7+ g8 37.xb6 and a draw is the most likely outcome of the encounter. ] 33...hxg5 34.xg5+ f7 35.dxe5 h7 36.h3 d3+ 37.h2 e4 38.g3 [ 38.h6? is weak in view of f4+ 39.xf4+ xf4 and the endgame should be won for Black. ] 38...e2+ 39.h3 f1+ 40.h4 h1+ 41.g4 e4+ 42.h3 a5 43.a4 h1+ 44.g4 d1+ 45.h3 f3 46.h6 e3 47.f4+? A gross mistake. After the queen swap Black wins easily. It's very difficult to explain this move since White rightly avoided this exchange before. Probably W hite had overestimated the strength of his pawns. [ 47.g7+ lead to draw by perpetual: e6 48.g8+ xe5 49.e8+ d4 50.d7+ e5 ( Black can't avoid perpetual: 50...d5?? 51.g4+ xg4+ 52.xg4 e5 53.g5 and White wins. ) 51.e8+ ] 47...xf4 48.gxf4 g6 Now it's time to harvest. 49.g3 [ 49.e6 f5 is no better for White. ] 49...xh6 50.f3 c4 51.e4 xb2 52.f5 g7 53.e6 f8 54.d7 xa4 55.f5 c5+ 56.d8 f7! [ T h e i n a c c u r a t e 56...a4?? would spoil e v e r y t h i n g : 57.e6 and Black has nothing b e t t e r t h a n a d r a w b y r e p e t i t i o n : b7+ 58.d7 c5+ 59.d8 ] 0-1

1670

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B13 20...gxh4 21.f4 h8! The pressure on the 2405 g-file will be very nasty for White. 22.ad1 [ 22.xd5? fxd5 23.b4 b5 and 24.c4 2615 fails to xb4 ] 1999 22...g8 23.c4 [ 23.xd5 doesn't work again: fxd5 24.b4 d8! ( Here 24...b5? is bad: 25.c4 xb4 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 g6 26.fxd5 and White's Queen is protected.) 5.c3 g7 6.f4 In my opinion this move is 25.exd5 xd5 26.xd5 a4 and Black in f e r io r t o M o ro ze vi ch 's 6 . N f 3 si n ce it ' s wins the exchange. ] premature to determine the position of White's dark-square Bishop. c6 7.e2?! 23...c7 24.b4 [ 24.exd5 is also very bad for White in view This move is the source of W hite's further of exd5 25.cxd5 g4 , with ...Rag8 to troubles. follow. ] [ T h e a l t e r n a t i v e s a r e : 7.d2 f6! A very stron g move. B lack explo it s th e 24...xf4 25.xe7 g5! Now the game is d r a w b a c k s o f t h e e a r l y 6 . B f 4 v e r y over. White has no defence against ...f5-f4. convincingly. The game Eingorn-Dzuban, 26.e5 ae8 27.h2 f4 28.xd5 xd5 Azov 1991 continued: 8.h4 e5 9.dxe5 fxe5 29.cxd5 h3 [ 29...f3 was not bad either. ] 10.g5 f6 11.gf3? A gross mistake. and now the natural ( 11.xf6 should be played 30.d6 xg2+ 31.xg2 xg2+ 32.h1 xf2 e3 alt h ou gh a f t e r xf6 intending ...Nge7, ... The rest needs no comment. 33.c1 Bf5 and Black is already better due to his 34.c7 e2 35.c4 g4! 36.d7 f3+ strong pawn centre.) 11...e4! 12.e2 e7 37.g1 g2+ 38.h1 d8 39.c8 f2+ 40.g1 g2+ 41.h1 xc8 42.dxc8+ wins a piece for nothing. ] [ The natural 7.f3 should be undoubtedly g8+ 43.h2 xc8 44.e6 c2 45.xh3 d2 46.g1 h5 preferred. ] 7...f6 8.g3 I don't like White's setup as the 0-1 Knight has no prospects at all here. 0-0 9.0-0 d7! Black finds a very good plan (e7-e5). 1547 B13 10.d2 [ 10.d2 e5! 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.b3 d4 Vajda,Levente 2505 and in the open position Black's pieces are Ringoir,Guy 2390 more active, for example: 13.xd4 xd4 GM Szombathely HUN (2) 28.07.2010 14.cxd4 xd4 and Black wins the b2- [Gawain Jones] pawn. ] 10...e5 11.h6 e4! 12.xg7 xg7 13.c2 I was asked by a subscriber to look at the f5 Black can be perfectly satisfied with the following variation but I'm afraid I cannot now results of the opening fight: he has a clear find the email so I apologise. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 edge due to his space advantage and the d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 p o s s i b i l i t y o f a K - s i d e a t t a c k . 14.e2 6.g5 dxc4 7.d5 Keeping the pawn and T h i s r e t r e a t o b vi o u sl y i s e vi d e n ce o f o f actually the more popular move. Theoretically White's erroneous 8th move. f6 15.a3 Black has been doing well but it's a little e8 A somewhat sophisticated move. awkward to develop his kingside so he must [ 15...h6 intending ...g6-g5, ... f5-f4 is more know what to do. straightforward. ] [ 7.xc4 has been more topical recently and 16.b3 a5 17.c2 d7 18.e3 was last covered by myself in Naiditsch, A [ 18.f4! deserves serious attention. ] (2674) -Eljanov, P (2761) Sibenik 2010 in 18...e7 19.fe1 g5 20.h4? A panic move. which White won but objectively Black was [ 20.g3 g6 21.g2 h6 and although doing well. ] Black is clearly better it's not easy to make 7...e5 This has been the most common, progress. ] logically putting the knight in the centre of the 1546 Uritzky,Maxim Alterman,Boris Israel [Alexander Volzhin]

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xd6 xd6 and Black had a very board but not the only option. comf ortable position in Chandler, M [ A c a s e c a n a l s o b e m a d e f o r 7...a5 (2540)-Croad, N (2313) Auckland 2008 when the knight looks rather offside but can't although Murray eventually ground down be hit back so easily. A recent game the whole point.; continued D) 8.xf6?! which looks illogical to me as A) 8.xc4 would transpose to the it eases Black's development. Indeed following note and has been the most Bla ck o f t e n p la ys . .. h6 t o h it t h at g5 common try.; bishop anyway. gxf6 ( I can't see a reason B) 8.b4 looks like the critical test but to avoid 8...exf6 when 9.xc4 xc4 Black has f ound a saf e path with cxb3 10.a4+ d7 11.xc4 d6 9.axb3 d7! as given by John in the l o o k s e xt r e m e l y p l e a s a n t f o r B l a c k .) archives. 10.d3 The choice of the 9.xc4 xc4 10.a4+ d7 11.xc4 m a v e r i c k S we d i s h G M J o n n y H e c t o r g8 12.e4 b6 Nijman, B (2165)( 10.d2 can be met by e5!; 10.b4 c8 Steffenello, L (2184) Auckland 2010 and keeping the knight 11.b5 when e4! Black was definitely on top as W hite's gives Black a great position.) 10...e6 initiative has disappeared. ] ( 10...e5! looks to favour Black as White White tries to exploit the knight jump has insufficient play for the pawn.) 11.dxe6 8.d4 ( 11.ge2 e7 12.xf6 xf6 13.b4 c8! into the centre. [ 8.xc4 xc4 9.a4+ d7 10.xc4 14.e4 xa1 15.xa1 0-0 16.bxa5 This is probably the critical position of the exd5 with an unclear position but I can't variation as it can be reached from both 7... re a lly b e lie ve B lack sh o u ld h a ve a n y Ne5 and 7...Na5 move orders. I believe problems. ) 11...xe6 12.b5+ c6 Black's long term prospects promise him the 13.xd8+ Hector, J (2525)-Nielsen, P better chances but he has to be careful not (2530) Copenhagen 1996 when I don't see to run into immediate difficulties. any compensation after xd8; A) 10...b5!? was John's suggestion and C) 8.f3 is the way to go if White doesn't looks pretty pleasant. 11.e2 when b4 want to transpose but now I quite like 12.xf6 gxf6 13.e4 g7 14.f3 b6 C1) 8...e6 has been more common 15.g3 d8 16.d1 0-0 17.h5 h8 when 9.xf6 gxf6 10.xc4 xc4 18.d4 f5 19.e3 a4 20.g3+ g6 11.a4+ d7 12.xc4 c8 13.h4 0-1 Toscano, J (2301)-Bendig, F (2369) has been seen a few times. The position IECG email 2004 seemed rather is highly complex with a battle between straightforward.; W hite's short term advantages of the B) 10...h6!? should be taken seriously as initiative and Black's vulnerable king and it was the choice of one of the World's elite, Black's long term trump of the bishop even if it was only a blitz game. 11.h4 pair. I reckon Black should probably go ( 11.xf6 exf6 can't trouble Black at all.) for g7 14.0-0 ( 14.dxe6 xe6 11...g5 ( 11...b5!? 12.d4 b6 15.a4+ d7 16.xa7 Hirneise, T also makes sense now that White's bishop (2214)-Dreyer, A (1995) Balingen 2006 is rather offside.) 12.g3 g7 13.f3 when Black should opt for c4 17.d2 c8 14.e2 Gashimov, V (2733) e6+ 18.e3 0-0 19.xe6 xe6 Ponomariov, R (2744) Warsaw 2010 when 20.0-0 f5 and the bishops should hold xc3!? ( 14...0-0 15.0-0 b5 also looks the draw without too much difficulty.) reasonable for Black.) 15.bxc3 xd5 14...0-0 15.ad1 f5 16.h5 16.e5 a5 17.0-0 xc3 18.e3 e6 Iljiushenok, I (2413)-Lomako, P (2417) l o o k s t o g i ve B l a c k q u i t e a p l e a s a n t Serpukhov 2009 when I quite like Black's position.; chances after e5; C) 10...b6 has actually been played the C2) 8...h6!? 9.xf6 exf6 10.xc4 most; xc4 11.a4+ d7 12.xc4 d6 D) 10...e6 Ni Hua's choice although Black 13.0-0 0-0 14.e4 f5 15.fe1 e8 1672

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 has at least two good alternatives. 11.f3 ( 11.dxe6 xe6 12.b5+ d7 13.xf6 gxf6 14.a5 b6 15.h5 g4 16.d5 xd5 17.xd5 0-0-0! already gave Black a fantastic position. Shadrina, T (2431)B u t u c , M ( 2 1 7 0 ) V o r o n e z h 2 0 0 9 .) 11...exd5 12.e2+ e6 13.0-0 e7 14.d4 d7 15.fe1 h6 16.xe6 fxe6 17.xf6 xf6 18.xe6+ xe6 19.xe6+ f7 20.d6 hd8 Ghaem Maghami, E (2599)-Ni Hua (2710) Beijing 2008 and Black had the better chances in the ending. ] 8...h6 The choice of the higher rated players (and Schandorff's recommendation) but not the most common. [ Instead 8...d3+ is played more often but I think here Black has more difficulties than in previous variations we have examined. 9.xd3 cxd3 10.f3 and White has more pressure than the game. Black has normally tried e6 but ( 10...f5 11.h4 ) 11.xf6 h a s s c o r e d f a n t a s t i c a l l y ( 11.0-0-0!? ) 11...xf6 ( 11...gxf6 should be preferred but here too W hite has something as Black suffers to fully develop.) 12.xd3 d7 13.0-0 0-0-0 Antic, D (2495)-Draskovic, L (1983) Budva 2009 14.fd1 would have left Black with problems with his vulnerable king. ] [ 8...fd7?! is an interesting choice but looks rather artificial. 9.f4 c7 10.0-0-0 a6 11.e1 f6 12.f3 xf3 13.gxf3 gave White a strong initiative in Janecek, J (2195)-Kolarik, J (2342) ICCF email 2004. ] 9.f4 After examining the other options this seems to be White's best retreat. [ 9.h4 was a young Anand's choice but Black can reach a promising position with accurate play. g6 ( 9...d3+ 10.xd3 cxd3 11.xd3 g5 12.g3 g7 is offered by John W atson in the archives but must promise W hite decent chances thanks to Black's passivity.; 9...g5!? might be possible but looks extremely risky. ) A) 10.xf6 This exchange never gives W h i t e a n y t h i n g i n t h i s va r i a t i o n . exf6 11.0-0-0 d6 12.e1+ f8 ( 12...e7 13.xc4 0-0 looks simplest when Black can start probing with his bishops.) 13.g3 d7 14.f4 b5 15.h3 f5 16.f3 b4

17.d1 a5 was messy but still Black should have the better chances although W hite triumphed in Zude, A (2470)Eichhorn, A (2321) Bad Wiessee 2010.; B) 10.g3 White has to keep the bishop to keep Black from developing his kingside. B1) 10...e6 was Seirawan's choice. 11.d6 ( 11.xc4 exd5 12.xd5 xd5 13.xd5 d6 14.xd6 xd6 15.e2 0-0 16.0-0 e7 1/2-1/2 Avotins, M (2466)-Starostits, A (2442) ICCF email 2 0 0 5 w a s f a i r l y s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d .) 11...e7! 12.d1 ed5 ( 12...f5 13.xc4 d7 14.b5 xb5 15.xb5+ d7 also looks fine for Black as the d6 pawn is at least as likely to become a weakness as a strength.) 13.e5 d7 14.e2 xc3 15.bxc3 g6 16.e5 xe5 17.xe5 g8 18.xc4 g7 19.b5+ d7 20.xd7+ xd7 21.e3 c6 and Black had come out of the c o m p l i c a t i o n s wi t h t h e a d v a n t a g e . Anand, V (2670)-Seirawan, Y (2600) Amsterdam 1992.; B2) 10...e5!? This was seen in a recent Correspondence game. 11.xe5 xe5 12.xe5+ e7 13.0-0-0 g4! 14.xg7 g5+ 15.b1 f5+ 16.d3! ( 16.a1 f6 17.e1+ e7! 18.xh8+ xh8 19.xe7+ xe7 and Black has easily e n o u g h a c t i v i t y f o r t h e p a w n .) 16...xd3+ 17.xd3 1/2-1/2 Vieito Soria, L (1 866)-Grabowski, B (19 38) ICCF e m a il 2 0 0 9 a n d a d ra w wa s a gre e d immediately although there's still some lif e le f t . f6 18.xg4 cxd3 19.e4 with a rather messy position but one in which I feel White is struggling to show adequate compensation. ] [ Again 9.xf6 cannot be recommended. exf6 10.xc4 xc4 11.xc4 d6 12.ge2 0-0 13.0-0 d7 14.b3 b6 15.xb6 1/2-1/2 Melia, S (2431)-Grabuzova, T (2345) Moscow 2010 saw the higher rated White player already offering to share the point. Black really should play on as her bishops coupled with queenside play offer her the only possible winning chances. ] [ Finally we should look at 9.xe5 but hxg5 10.xc4 d7 shouldn't give Black any 1673

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 problems. 11.b5?! ( 11.f3 g4 12.d4 h5 13.e2 Spiliadis, A (1888)-Nikolaidis, K (2308) Vrahati 2010 when I like the look of c7 preventing White from castling short.; 11.xg5 allows c7 "hitting c4 and h2 is at least equal" as John observed in the archives. ) 11...a5+ 12.c3 b6 13.d4 c8! 14.xb6 axb6 15.b3 xd5 16.xd5 xb5 17.xb7 c7 18.a4 d3 19.d1 c2 20.c1 e6 and Black had a decisive initiative: Bartels, H (2136)-Schneider, I (2519) Bad Wiessee 2010. ] 9...d3+ And this is rare. I'm guessing Ringoir was caught out by this unfashionable line. [ 9...g6 has been played more frequently and shouldn't cause Black too many problems. 10.xc4 ( 10.g3 would transp ose to 9.Bh4 .) 10...xf4 11.xf4 ", a position generally considered okay for Black, but a player of White might want to challenge that view" - John Watson. I've added in some recent developments in the line. g5 This looks loose but it's Black's easiest way to develop his kingside. A) 12.e3 g7 13.f3 0-0 14.0-0 c7 ( 14...a6!? might be more accurate as then the queen could f ind its place on d6.) 15.b3 g4 16.e4 a6 17.ad1 f6 18.d3 Poetz, F (2347)-Schroll, G (2441) Vienna 2010 and Black hadn't quite solved his opening problems with his kingside weaknesses.; B) 12.d2 g7 13.ge2 d7 14.a3 g4 15.a2 c8 16.c1 b6 17.0-0 0-0 18.g3 Lanka, Z (2468)-Michalik, P (2471) Frydek Mistek 2010 with a typical unclear position. Black has found active squares for his pieces but still needs to be careful about his kingside holes. However Black is probably to be preferred. ] 10.xd3 cxd3 11.f3 Compared to the positions examined earlier, I think White has decent chances here as Black will have to create holes in order to complete his development. [ 11.xd3 regaining the pawn should be seriously considered as Black will still have some problems completing his development. ] 11...g5 12.e5 g7

[ 12...f5 holding onto the extra pawn was played in the only previous game but White retained strong pressure. 13.0-0 g7 14.d6 b6 ( 14...0-0! looks like a strong exchange sacrifice 15.dxe7 xe7 16.d6 d8 17.xf8 xf8 and Black has decent play thanks to the d3 pawn. This is why White should probably prefer 11 Qxd3.) 15.a4+ d7 16.a3 exd6? Duman, A (2245) Cetinkaya, V (2069) Kusadasi 2004 when 17.xf6 xf6 18.d5 would have given White a decisive attack. ] 13.g4?! And this is just really foolish. I think White must have missed Black's response. [ Instead 13.xd3 0-0 14.0-0 would favour White and looks rather unpleasant for Black with th e f 5 weakness and no targets in White's camp. ] 13...b6! Forcing the exchange of queens as the W hite queen must stay defending g4. 14.h3 xd4 [ 14...xb2 might be another possibility but this allows W hite pressure for the pawns after 15.0-0 b6 16.xd3 a6 17.b5 There's no need to give W hite such chances. ] 15.xd4 Without the queens White's attacking chances are pretty minimal. He also has yet to retake the d3 pawn and thus Black has very good chances. 0-0 [ 15...b6!? keeping hold of the d3 pawn also l o o k s g o o d . 16.0-0-0 a6 17.he1 ( 17.e5 h5! ) 17...d8 18.e5 d7 and White is a long way from equality. ] 16.0-0-0 e6 This allows White something close to equality. [ Instead 16...b5! 17.xd3 b4 18.xf6 exf6! 19.d1 f5 And suddenly White has problems with his king safety. ] 17.dxe6 [ 17.xf6 xf6 18.xd3 is the other option but Black's bishops still give him the edge. ] 17...xe6 18.xd3 b5!? Trying to open up lines towards White's king. [ The straightforward 18...ac8 19.b1 fd8 is of course much better for Black but White may be able to hang on to the draw. ] 19.b1 b4 20.xf6 xf6 21.d5 g7 22.hd1 [ Of course the pawn is taboo as 22.xb4? ab8 23.a3 a5 and Black's attack crashes 1674

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 through. ] 22...ab8 Defending the pawn and getting out of the way of a Nc7 fork. [ However Black could have played 22...f5! when the tactics work out in his favour: 23.c7 fxg4 24.xe6 xf3 25.xg7 xg7 26.d7+ g6 27.7d6+ h5 28.hxg4+ xg4 and Black will have an extra pawn in the double rook ending and excellent winning chances. ] 23.d2 [ 23.e7+ h7 24.d4 b7 25.ef5 creating a fortress with the knights was the most accurate defence when Black's advantage is fairly minimal. ] 23...h8 [ Again 23...f5! hitting White's vulnerable kingside was the way to go. ] 24.f3 f5 25.e7 fxg4? Black's last few moves haven't been very convincing but this not only lets the advantage slip but gives White a clear advantage. It's clear that Black missed something in his calculation. [ 25...h7 26.e3 b6 would keep Black with an edge. ] 26.g6+ g8 27.xf8 f5 Black must have been pinning his hopes on this move but it i s n ' t s u f f i c i e n t . 28.e4 gxf3 29.d7 Perhaps he overlooked that his rook was h a n g i n g b a c k o n m o v e 2 5 ? xe4? And after this the position is hopeless. [ Instead he had to try 29...b5! when White is forced to play an accurate series of moves t o k e e p h is a d va n t a ge . 30.dc5 f8 31.f6+ h8 32.ce4 e7 33.d5! xd5 34.xd5 g6 35.c1 xf6 36.xf6 f2 37.d8+! The king must be forced to g7 so that Nf6-h5-h3 comes with tempo. ( 37.d1 d3-+ ) 37...g7 38.d1 xf6 ( 38...d3? 39.h5+! g6 40.g3 stops the pawn just in time. ) 39.f1 and the f2 pawn drops leaving W hite with an obvious advantage but perhaps Black can hold. ] 30.xb8 f2 31.c2 g2 32.g3 f1 33.xf1 xf1 34.c6 Now Black will simply be the exchange down and White wrapped it up quickly. h7 35.xb4 g6 36.h4 e2 37.hxg5 h5 38.d3 h4 39.g1 f3 40.d2 Not a very convincing game but it appears that Black has found a few different paths to neutralise 7.d5, perhaps the easiest

being 7...Na5. 1-0

1548 Weenink,Henri Gerard Gudju,Ion Olympiad Hague (Netherlands) (6) [Nigel Davies]

B13

1928

If there is an argument against 6.Bg5, it is probably the immediate 6...Ne4. W hite can win a pawn but there is dangerous compensation. My own preference would be for one of White's 7th move alternatives. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d3 c6 5.c3 f6 6.g5 e4 7.xe4!? Accepting the challenge. [ are more sedate options in 7.h4 ] [ and 7.f4 ] 7...dxe4 8.d5 e5 9.a4+ d7 [ Is 9...b5 an improvement? Kriegel - Kuna, Ge rm a ny (B u nd e sliga ) 1 99 3 co nt inu e d 10.xe4 f6 11.a3 b7 12.d1? ( White should play 12.0-0-0 after which e6 13.xe5 fxe5 14.xd8 xa3 15.c7 leaves b2 protected) 12...e6 13.xe5 fxe5 14.xd8 xa3 15.c7 xb2 16.xe5 xd5 17.f3 b4 and White was already in serious difficulties ] 10.xe4 b5? Commencing a very dangerous rook hunting operation. [ Black would do much better to play 10...f5 as after 11.xf5 xf5 White is left facing the threat of ...Nd3+. 12.b3 ( after 12.f3 d3+ 13.e2 xb2 14.a3 e5 W hite felt obliged to play the retrograde 15.b1 in Matthias - Chiburdanidze, Lippstadt 1996) 12...e4 ( 12...0-0-0!? ) 13.f3 xd5 recovered the pawn with a two bishop game in Kritz - Kachiani-Gersinska, St. Ingbert 1997 ] 11.xe5 xb2 12.e2 xa1 13.c2 g6 14.f3 f6 15.0-0 f5 16.a4+ f7 17.b3 fxg5 18.bd2 Winning Black's queen for two rooks. In this particular case W hite has a ferocious initiative because of his superior development and the weaknesses in Black's camp. xf1+ 19.xf1 g4 20.d4 g7 21.d6+ f6 22.dxe7 xe7 23.xb7+ f6 24.e3 he8 25.dxf5 gxf5 26.d5 ab8 1675

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27.xf5+ e7 28.g3 f8 29.xh7 f7 30.f5+ f6 31.d4 b2 32.e4 f8 33.xg4 e8 34.f4+ g6 35.f5+ h6 36.e6 g8 37.g4 1-0

1549 Adam,Detlef Ward,Christopher 4NCL [Chris Ward]

B14

2010

1.e4 c5 2.f3 g6 3.c3 g7 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d5 6.exd5 [ Regular subscribers would know that in this very plausible hyper-Accelerated Dragon possibility we have tended to focus more on 6.e5 ] 6...f6 7.c3 [ Despite my last comment, previously on this s i t e w e h a v e c h e c k e d o u t 7.c4 which dissuades xd5 because of 8.b3 as Black would rather not have to play ... e6. ] 7...xd5 8.b3 [ During the game I was wondering about 8.b5+ and after it I discovered the reference c6 9.e5 xc3 10.bxc3 d5 11.f3 xf3 12.xf3 d7 13.a4 a5 14.a3 c8 which was about equal in W ahls, M (2570) -Speelman, J (2630) Munich 1992. ] [ Also plausible is 8.c4 xc3 ( or 8...b6 9.b3 0-0 ) 9.bxc3 0-0 10.0-0 . In fairness I don't consider this to be a very testing system but as Black I was aiming for the win rather than a draw. ] 8...b6 [ To be honest it was a toss up between this and 8...xc3 9.bxc3 0-0 10.e2 c6 with my eventually plumping for the text because it kept more pieces on the board. ] 9.e3 0-0 10.d1 I was rather hoping my opponent wouldn't play this now as I was hoping to be able to play ...Be6 without the possibility of the reply d4-d5. g4 11.e2 c6 12.d5 [ I was fully expecting this and was happy with the alternative sequence 12.0-0 c8 ] 12...e5

[ I can't be too unhappy with the game but on a no t he r o ccasio n I m igh t give mo re t h o u g h t t o 12...a5!? 13.b4 xf3 14.xf3 ( I n t ri g u i n g i s 14.gxf3!? c8 15.h4 ) 14...ac4 15.c1 ( Note after 15.xb6 xb6 16.d6 exd6 White can't play 17.xb7?? because of e7+ ) 15...a5 16.b3 a4 17.b4 d6 which was very satisfactory in Samhouri, A (2336)-Adianto, U (2589) Doha 2006. ] [ Note by the way that 12...xf3?? 13.dxc6! would be a disaster! ] 13.xe5 xe2 14.xe2 xe5 15.0-0 d6 [ I preferred this to the immediate 15...c8 because at this stage I wasn't 100% sure which of my rooks I wanted on this square. ] 16.f4 g7 17.c3 [ I wasn't too worried by the concept of 17.f5 as it would concede the e5-square and I doubted that W hite could ever arrange a successful future f5-f6 whilst an fxg6 and ... hxg6 would only leave me with the better structure. ] 17...xc3 Of course conceding the Dragon bishop is always a bit risky but I thought I'd be able to prevent White from punishing me on the dark squares around my king. 18.bxc3 fc8 19.d4 [ I guess I was expecting 19.f5 and hoped I might have a small endgame advantage after c4 20.xb6 xb6+ 21.xb6 axb6 Actually I probably have but of course all rook and pawn endgames are drawn! ] 19...c5 20.fd1 ac8 21.4d3 c4 22.g3 e4 [ 22...a4 deserves some consideration a l t h o u g h I wa s a l l f o r r e m a i n i n g m o r e central. ] 23.f2 c7 [ I simply wasn't sure about the variation 23...c4 24.xb7 b8 25.xa7 b2 and so chose to prepare ...Nc4 by guarding my b-pawn. ] 24.d4 [ Still aiming for the full point, I guess I was most worried about the simplification 24.xb6 axb6 25.b1 although one idea I had come up with (actually from the moment W hite ha d p la yed g3 a nd Kf 2) wa s d7 26.xb6 h3 i.e. and now not 27.g1?? e2 ] 1676

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24...c4 This is clearly an attractive post for the knight and in truth I didn't give much thought to taking the on offer d-pawn. Looking at it now [ 24...xd5 25.xd5 xd5 26.e5 is simply good for White whilst ] [ 24...xd5 25.e5 xe5 26.fxe5 c5+ 27.f3 would be a bit murkier. ] 25.b5 [ I was fairly confident my opponent wouldn't play the greedy looking 25.xa7 but that migh t b e h is b e st m o ve . Ot h e rwise it 's difficult to say where exactly W hite goes wr o n g i n t h i s g a m e a s i d e f r o m a n u n inspirational opening. ] 25...d7 Although I had to prevent Qe8+ (or rather mate!) and was relatively happy to trade off queens, had W hite have declined the offer, I had in mind a relocation of my knight via d6. 26.xd7 xd7 27.f3 f5 28.g4 Although this ultimately doesn't work out for White, practically it is the most worrying move for Black to face. There is no enemy qu e e n le f t t o h e lp e xp lo it t h e we a k d a rk squares around the black king but as we soon see there is a chance for a rook or two to become a nuisance. By the way don't forget that aside f rom the threat to his d-pawn, White had to deal with ...Nb2. xd5 29.gxf5 gxf5 30.g1+ f7 31.g7+ e8 32.xh7 e5! Although I was obviously concerned about the prospect of a 'lawnmower' checkmate, White's d3-rook was some distance away from g8 a nd I h ad f oresee n th is rat he r st ro n g continuation. The bishop is pinned whilst 33 fxe5 Nxe5+ would be a handy fork! 33.c7 xf4+ [ I was a little short on time and consequently thought I'd stay away from the complications of 33...b5 34.g2 exd4 35.h3 although actually d8 36.xa7 and now d6 ( or the more tactical 36...dxc3 ) 37.h8+ e8 would probably have seen the game over quicker. ] 34.e2 e4+ 35.f2 f4+ 36.e2 exd4 37.xc4 e5+ 38.d1 f1+ 39.c2 e2+ 40.b3 b1+ 41.a3 dxc3 42.cxc3 e6 43.b3 xb3+ 44.xb3 e7 45.h3 e4 46.c3 e6 47.d2 a4 48.a3 I had assumed that being a pawn up with the more active rook should ensure that this rook

and pawn endgame wouldn't be drawn. b5 49.e3 a6 50.f3 f6 51.g3 g5 52.f3 c4 53.g2 f4 54.f3+ e4 55.g3 c8 56.f4+ e5 57.f3 g8+ 58.f2 f4 59.h4 g3? [ The game though ends with two mistakes. As soon as I played this I realised that I had made a calculation error and understood that I should have inserted 59...g4 60.h3 before deploying g3 with the point being that just as in the game the rook trade would lo se wh ilst 61.h1 would drop the a-pawn even if actually f6 to shackle the passed hpawn is more accurate. ] 60.xg3?? [ My error was that I hadn't noticed that following 60.h5! xf3+ (I would then probably have chosen to swallow my pride, re t re a t e d m y ro o k a n d re g ro u p e d , s t il l admittedly with reasonable winning chances. ) 61.xf3 a5 62.h6 f6 63.xf4 in fact a4 wasn't so clever as ( Compared to the main game continuation, check out 63...b4 64.axb4 a4 65.h7 g7 66.b5 a3 67.b6 a2 68.b7 a1 69.h8+ xh8 70.b8+ ) 64.e3 b4 65.d3 b3 66.c3 would only be a draw anyhow. Yes g6 67.b2 xh6 68.c3 g5 69.b2 f4 70.c3 e3 71.b2 d3 when any white king retreat will do because the concept of stalemate means that Black can't make any progress. ] 60...fxg3+ 61.xg3 a5 [ W h i t e t h e n r e s i g n e d f o l l o w i n g 61...a5 as after 62.f3 b4 63.axb4 a4 my king can stop which ever white pawn makes a serious dash for it, but my own pawn is as good as home! ] 0-1

1550 Adams,Michael Akopian,Vladimir Karen Asrian Mem rapid (3) [John Watson]

B14 2729 2673 12.06.2008

The Panov isn't considered too fearsome these days but is still a good practical choice, especially at lower levels where you're almost bo u nd to ge t a do u ble -e d ge d ga me . I 've in clud e d a co u ple o f o t h er ra th e r bo rin g 1677

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Panov contests from the last few weeks, just to show about where theory rests these days. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 [ The tired old ending line isn't good for a winning try any more, because Black can memorise the drawing lines, for example, 5...c6 6.f3 g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 d7 14.xd5+ xd5 15.xd5 exd5 16.g5+ f6 17.e3 e6 18.0-0-0 b4 19.a3 a5 20.b4 b6 21.he1 1/2-1/2 AmonatovWojtaszek, Havana CUB 2008. ] 6.f3 b4 7.cxd5 [ 7.d3 seems to lose a tempo, but White e n d s u p wi t h a s t a n d a r d p o s i t i o n t h a t probably offers as many winning chances as the main line, a recent example going dxc4 8.xc4 xc3+ 9.bxc3 c7 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 bd7 12.e5 b6 13.a3 e8 14.b3 xc3 15.c5 d7 16.fc1 a5 17.f3 a6 18.c3 bd5 19.c4 b5 20.a3 b7 21.b3 a6 22.g4 c6 23.g5 c7 ( 23...ac8 24.gxf6 xf6 25.xc6 xc6 26.xc6 xc6 27.f1 ) 24.d3 1-0 Sammalvuo -Lauber, Balatonlelle HUN 2008. ] 7...xd5 8.c2 [ 8.d2 is a popular option which avoids some tricks, but costs time. It is considered about as good as 8 Qc2, a recent example going c6 9.d3 f6 10.0-0 0-0 11.g5 h6 12.e3 d6 13.c1 e5 14.dxe5 xe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.h3 e6 17.e2 a5 1/2-1/2 Looshnikov-Riazantsev, Satka RUS 2008. ] 8...c6 9.d3 h6 10.0-0 0-0 11.a3 d6 This move goes with ...h6. If ...h6 weren't in, White's knight or bishop would be free to go to g5. The normal combination of ...g6 and ..Be7 prevents that. 12.h7+ h8 13.e4 ce7 supporting the blockade point at d5. [ The recent game Kryvoruch-Jobava, Kallithea Halkidiki GRE 2008 continued 13...f6 14.xc6 bxc6 15.a4 a5 16.c5 xc5 17.xc5 a6 18.e1 a4 19.e5 d5 20.xc6 fc8 A) for example, play might go 21.xd5 xd5 22.b4 ( 22.e5 g8 and ...Rc2 follows ) 22...xb4 23.axb4 b7

and Black will regain his pawn, in most cases after ...Rc4.; B) 21.xd5 1/2-1/2. ] 14.e5 [ 14.e1 is the natural alternative. ] 14...d7 15.xd5 exd5 16.xd7!? [ 16.d3 is more complicated. The game is equal now. ] 16...xd7 17.d3 c7 18.xc7 xc7 19.e3 Since White's bishop on e3 is bad and Black's is good, the bishop pair doesn't mean anything and the game is equal. I'll skip the details for a few moves. b6 20.fd1 fc8 21.f1 g8 22.d2 f8 23.ad1 a6 24.h4 c6 25.g4 c8 26.f4! d6 27.c2 White anticipates a pawn swap. b5 28.xc6 bxc6 29.e3 xd4?! [ 29...e7 ] 30.b1 c5 31.xd4? [ White can win a pawn with both bishops activated by 31.a2! a5 (versus the killer b4: ( 31...d8 32.b4! ) 32.xd5 d8 33.c4 . Now Black 's bishop on b6 is bad. W hite would obviously stand better, but Black's knight on d4 is an excellent defender. ] 31...cxd4 32.c1 a5 33.d3 b8 34.b4!? This temporarily loses a pawn, although it may have been intentional in view of the opposite-coloured bishops. axb4 35.axb4 d8! 36.b5 xh4 37.c5 d8 [ 37...a8! 38.xd5 a1+ 39.g2 a2 40.f5 b2 and White will have to work a bit. ] 38.xd5 e7!? 39.xd4 b6 40.c4 c7 41.e2 f6 42.e4+ d8 43.d5 f4 44.xf4 xf4 45.xf7 c7 ½-½

1551 Adams,Michael David,Alberto 4th ch-EU Liverpool ENG (7) [John Watson]

B14 2735 2568 15.09.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 [ The crucial alternative is 5...c6 6.g5 ( 6.f3 g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 1678

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 is the famous ending that has occurred in thousands(?) of games. It's almost certainly drawn.) 6...e6 7.f3 e7 8.c1 0-0 ( 8...dxc4 ) 9.c5 e4 10.xe7 xe7 11.b5 (White does everything positionally right, but by not c a st li n g a ll o ws B l a ck h is f re e d o m a n d equality:) xc3 12.xc3 e5 13.dxe5 xe5 14.0-0 ( 14.xe5 xe5+ 15.e2 g5 16.0-0 d4 17.cc1 e6 18.c4 1/2-1/2 Pavasovic, D (2597)-Ruck, R (2574)/ Sibenik CRO 2008 ) A) 14...g4! looks promising, because 15.xd5 xf3+ ( 15...xf3 16.gxf3 ad8 17.e4 d2 ) 16.gxf3 h3 yields nice, active play.; B) 14...xf3+!? 15.xf3 d4! 16.cc1 e6 17.e4 fd8 18.c4 ( 18.f4 f5 19.e5 ) 18...ac8 with equality: 19.b4 d7 20.xe6 xe6 21.xe6 fxe6 22.fe1 f7 23.e4 d3 24.f1 b6 25.ec4 d5 26.d1 e7 27.c3 bxc5 28.bxc5 cxc5 29.dxd3 1/2-1/2 KobaliaGalkin, Novokuznetsk RUS 2008. ] 6.f3 b4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.c2 [ 8.d2 is also popular, for example, in this month's game J Benjamin-Erenburg, ICC INT 2008: c6 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 f6 11.g5 e7 12.c1 h6 13.e3 b6 14.e4 b7 15.xf6+ xf6 16.e4 a5 17.b1 d5 18.d3 fc8 19.h7+ f8 20.d2 e7 with approximate equality. ] 8...c6 The standard position for this line. 9.d3 h6 Generally I don't like this move in an IQP position because of batteries along the b1 -h 7 d ia gon al. Nevert he less, Black see ms t o be ab le t o ren de r such th re at s meaningless, so perhaps the whole idea is playable. Two well-known gambit lines are [ 9...xc3 10.bxc3 xd4 11.xd4 xd4 ] [ and 9...a5 10.a3 xc3 11.bxc3 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 In both cases, White gets compensation, with unclear consequences. Later in the tourname nt, Howe ll-L 'Ami, L ive rp o o l E NG 2 0 0 8 co n t in u e d 13.b5+ f8 14.0-0 xc3 15.a2 a6 16.b2 c5 17.e2 d7 18.ac1 g5 19.f3 c6 20.xc6 bxc6 21.xc6 , when White has ample compensation, and the game was eventually drawn. ] 10.0-0

[ In the same tournament, in the game Bacrot-David, A Liverpool ENG 2008, White got little out of trying to exploit the battery just described after 10.a3 d6 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 d7 13.c2 ce7 14.d3 g6 15.xd5!? ( 15.h4 f6! ) 15...exd5 16.e5 xe5 17.dxe5 c8 18.e3 a6 19.fd1 b5 20.f5 d7 21.d3 b5 22.f5 d7 1/2-1/2 ] 10...0-0 11.h7+ h8 12.e4 ce7 13.b3 This is all standard for both sides, except that the pawn is often on g6, not h6. Now Black usually retreats to d6 here he tries another route: a5 14.d1 d7 15.e5 c6 16.xc6 Adams grabs the bishop pair, and Black is lef t with good knights and a reasonable pawn structure. From now on we see White try to apply the classic strategy of doing nothing but shifting back and forth, waiting for a mistake, and trying to gain small advantages. He doesn't really achieve much over the next 20 moves or so. bxc6 17.a4 d6 18.h3 f4 19.f3 c7 20.g3 fd5 21.c2 g8 22.d2 ab8 23.ac1 d8 24.a3 e8 25.b1 b5 26.d3 b8 27.c2 c8 28.c1 d6 29.b4 d8 30.d2 c7 31.c5 b6 32.b3 d7 33.dc1 ed8 34.a4 d6 Here Black neglects an interesting and I think superior chance: [ 34...xd4! 35.xd4 ( 35.b5! f6 36.e2! wins the pawn back, in view of cxb5 37.c7 e8 38.xb5 , a l t h o u g h t h e n xb5 39.axb5 b6 40.b7 f5 certainly isn't clear. ) 35...xb4 36.xb4 xb4 , which probably didn't look sufficient over the board, yet 37.c4 xc4 38.xc4 c5! win the piece back. ] 35.c4 bc8 36.b1 b8 37.d3 Back to lengthy manoeuvring. I don't like Black's next few moves, but it's possible that W hite can always achieve a way through. Somehow c6 becomes distinctly weaker than d4. Adams is terrific in such positions. f6 38.a5 c7 39.c5 d6 Intending to capture. 40.e4 ed5 41.xf6+ xf6 42.c2 d7 43.a4 dc7? What's this? White virtually wins by force now. [ 43...cd8 would at least get out of the pin on the c-file and pressure d4, for example, 44.e3 ( 44.xc6 f8; 44.xc6! f8 1679

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 hit s d 4 and b 4, altho ugh 45.f4 d6 46.xd6 xd6 47.c5 d5 48.c7 a8 49.c8! is a sample of how White can keep his pawn for a while.) 44...b5! 45.b3 d5 46.c2 h5! ] [ Alternatively, 43...f8 44.f4! b7 45.e5 cd8 could be tried. ] 44.xc6 xc6 45.xc6 xc6 46.xc6 xb4 47.xb4 xb4 48.a8+ f8 49.xa7 g5 50.b7 a3 51.a6 c1+ 52.g2 d5 53.b8+ g7 54.e5+ f6 55.a7 1-0

1552 Adams,Michael Granda Zuniga,Julio E It Madrid (6) [Neil McDonald]

B14 2670 2630 1998

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 g6 6.b3 Theory has focussed on this move, but the immediate [ 6.cxd5 also has quite a few followers- see Glek-Szabolsci. ] 6...g7 7.cxd5 0-0 8.ge2 [ Instead 8.e2!? aiming for 9 Be2 may be a superior way to develop the bishop- see Hebden-Hansen. ] 8...a6 9.g3 b5!? Instead he could play in quiet style with [ 9...b6 intending to aim as many pieces as possible at the target on d5. However it doesn't seem to give equality, for example 10.g2 b7 11.0-0 d7 of course he has to avoid losing a piece to the common trap ( 11...c7? 12.d6! ) 12.f4 c7 13.e1 fe8 14.a4?! ( B e t t e r w a s 14.d2 when Black has no obvious way to continue his build up as ad8? 15.d6 is trouble for him. ) 14...ad8 15.d6 exd6 16.xe8+ cxe8 17.d5 c7 18.a5 and White was still nicely placed in Rochev-Arkell, Bunratty 1999, though Black eventually won. ] [ T h e w e l l e s t a b l i s h e d m o v e i s 9...b6 with a critical position being reached after 10.xb6 axb6 11.g2 b4 12.0-0 d8 13.d6! xd6! ( Better than either 13...e6 14.a3 bd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5!

White shows good judgement in preparing the positional sacrifice that follows. exd5 17.f4 h3 18.fe1 h6 19.c3 g5 20.e5 f6 21.xd5 fxe5 22.dxe5 and the passed pawns won the day in NovikDziubian, USSR 1989; or 13...exd6 14.g5! the key to the position is gaining control over the d5 square. e8 15.a3 c6 16.fe1 g4 17.xf6 xf6 18.d5 d8 19.ec3 and White was dominant in TalBotvinnik, Moscow 1966. The fact that a heavy weight positional player like Botvinnik was unable to hold the draw indicates that Black is already in trouble.) 14.f4 d7 15.fd1 fd5 and Black looks OK. I imagine that White has other ways to try to keep an edge, but this way of playing it definitely seems Black's best bet. In fact this variation may be one of the reasons why in recent tournaments White has tended to adopt the Be2 and Bf3 method rather than g2-g3 and Bg2- compare this with the note to Black's 8th move in Hebden-Hansen. ] 10.xb5 This is critical, but the tame [ 10.a3 leads to an instructive position after b8 11.f4 b6 12.g2 b4 13.a4 b7 Black's rook is buffeted around, but White isn't able to exploit it. In fact this highlights one of the differences between the Be2 and Bf3 approach- see Hebden-Hansen and g2g3 and Bg2 as played here. For example, if W hite now plays 14.d6 ( instead 14.0-0 bxa3 15.xa3 xd5 16.e5 xe5 17.dxe5 d7 18.ac1 a5 19.c4 b7 wa s O K f o r B la ck in S h u lm a n -A b d u lla , Dhaka 1999 .) 14...exd6 15.xb7 xb7 would give Black excellent compensation for the exchange- the light squared bishop exerts considerable pressure on the kingside which has been weakened by g2-g3. On the other hand, if White had adopted the Be2 and Bf3 approach, omitting g2-g3, then in a similar situation to this he could safely win the exchange by d6 and Bxb7 and then castle, leaving Black with inadequate play. This is another scenario which favours the Be2 approach rather than the fianchetto. ] [ Meanwhile 10.xb5 b8 11.a4 b4 intending Nd3+ and Bf5 is too dangerous for White. ] 10...xd5 11.g2 e6 12.d1 a5+ 1680

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.bc3 xc3 14.bxc3 ad8 [ Here 14...d5!? would be interesting. ] 15.0-0 c4 16.d2 e5? This looks very consistent, but Adams in Informator points out that [ 16...b8! a difficult move to see, as in Black's 'mental map' of the board the b2 square hasn't figured as an available square for a black rook until W hite's last move. 17.e1 b2 18.f1 ( 18.c1? xd4! ) 18...fb8 would give Black sufficient play for the pawn. ] 17.e1 xe2 18.xe2 exd4 19.cxd4 a4 20.ac1! White returns the extra pawn in the knowledge that on an open board the two bishops and his more active pieces- the black rook on f8 is still passive- will prove decisive. xd4 21.f1! c5 22.c4 fe8? A blunder, but [ 22...xa2 23.h6 xe2 24.xe2 e6 forced 25.xf8 xf8 26.d2 b6 -Adams- would be a difficult endgame for Black to draw. ] 23.xe8+ xe8 24.xa4 1-0

bishop can be manoeuvred around to h5 in typical "Dutch" fashion, and it won't be so easy for White to mobilise the queenside. No t to m en tio n th at B la ck also h as t h e option of gaining space on the kingside with ...g5 in the right situation. Of course the Du t ch i s n o t t o e ve ryo n e 's t a s t e , b u t I wouldn't be surprised if the theory went in this direction in the future. ] 10.bxc3 c6 11.h4! White makes his aggressive intentions very clear. Already there is a threat of a "Greek gift" bishop sacrifice on h7. [ 11.b1!? Is also playable, if not perhaps as accurate. h8 12.h4 a5 13.c2 b6 14.cxb6 axb6 15.0-0 1/2-1/2 Mateo, R (2415)-Lopez Martinez, J (2508)/Ayamonte 200607 (25) ] 11...g6 12.c2 White creates a direct threat of h 5 , wh ich f o rce s B la ck t o we a k e n h is kingside yet further. [ the direct 12.h5?! is probably premature- it can be met by g5! 13.e3 f5 where there is no way through for White on the kingside, a s t h e B l a c k p a wn s f o rm a f o rm id a b l e barrier. ] 12...f5 Now we have a similar position to the 1553 B14 o n e c o n s i d e r e d e a r l i e r , e xc e p t t h a t t h e Bacrot,Etienne 2705 annoying knight on e4 is no longer there, Kempinski,Robert 2602 which is surely in W hite's f avour. 13.d2! Bundesliga 1213 (1) 20.10.2012 White wants to play h5, without Black having the response ...g5. b6 14.b5 d7 15.h5! [Danny Gormally] gxh5 16.xh5 With simple and 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 f6 straightforward play, Bacrot has managed to work up a very strong initiative on the 5.c3 e6 [ 5...c6 6.f4 A similar idea to the Bacrot kingside. bxc5 17.xc6 xc6 18.e5 f6 game, is analysed in the game Ivanchuk, V W ith so many dark-square d weak nesse s already apparent on the kingside, the last (2771)-Jakovenko, D (2732)/Eilat 2012. ] 6.f3 e7 7.f4 An interesting alternative to thing you would want to do is to exchange this the more explored lines. White intends to set bishop, but there was little choice. [ 18...e8? 19.h6! f7 20.g6+! f8 up a clamp on the queenside by playing c4-c5. ( 20...hxg6 21.h8# ) 21.xh7 xh7 0-0 8.c5 as typical in these lines, Black needs 22.xh7 f6 23.h6+ f7 24.g5+ to create counterplay quickly to avoid being is curtains. ] squashed. e4 9.d3! xc3?! Although this has been played before, I have a feeling 19.g5! cxd4 20.cxd4 xe5 21.dxe5 c7 this is too compliant, and that W hite's play 22.c3?! [ the nifty side-step 22.f1! would have left becomes too obvious after it. Black completely helpless. xe5 23.e1 [ Is 9...f5 played in the style of the Dutch, and Black might as well resign. ] really so bad? 10.0-0 c6 Looks quite 23.c5 d3? In this complicated reasonable for Black to me. The bishop can 22...d4 go to f 6 if necessary, the light squared position, where Black's position looks on the 1681

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 verge of collapse, it's not surprising that he quickly goes astray. [ In fact matters would not have been so s i m p l e a f t e r 23...fe8! as Black is not completely devoid of counterplay himself. 24.xh7 f7! 25.c1 ac8 26.f6 h8 27.xh8 xh8 and the bishop on c6 is immune as in that case Black will take on e5 with check, so the path to victory is not so obvious. 28.d2 however should still be a lot better for White. ] 24.xh7 [ 24.xe6 was also very strong. ] 24...b7 25.d4? This stops the threat of ... Qb2, but actually gives Black a chance to steer the game towards equality. [ its difficult to understand why Bacrot did not play 25.d6 hitting the e6 pawn. b2 26.xe6+ f7 27.f6+ with a mating attack. ] [ 25.xf8? however is a mistake which only leads to a draw after b2! 26.g5+ f7 27.g7+ xg7 28.e7+ g8 29.xe6+ xf8 30.f6+ ] 25...ad8? The wrong rook! This loses because of a tactical detail later on, whereas the other rook moving to this square would have enabled Black to draw. [ 25...fd8! 26.f6+ f7 27.h7+ g6 28.h6+ f7! ( of course not 28...xh6? 29.h4+ g6 30.h5+ g7 31.h7+ f8 32.g8+ e7 33.g7# ) 29.h7+ g6 30.f4 d2+ 31.d1 a4+! 32.xa4 b2 and now White has nothing better than a draw with 33.h6+ f7 34.h7+= ] 26.f6+ f7 27.h7+ g6 28.h6+ f7 29.h7+ g6 30.f4 d2+ 31.d1 xh7 A sad admission of failure. [ Now 31...a4+ do e sn 't wo rk. 32.xa4 b2 33.h6+! f7 34.xa7+ This is the main difference. W ith the rook on a8 this would not have been possible! Which is why Black should have moved the f rook to d8! ] 32.xh7 xh7 33.b1 With his own king still so exposed, Black does not have enough time to create any play based around his dpawn. d3 34.c4 e4 35.f3 xf3 36.gxf3 xb1 37.xe6+- g7 38.xd2 f4 39.e7+ f7 40.g5+ g6 41.e6 f5 42.e7+ h6 43.xa7 d5+ 44.c1 d3 45.e7 xf3

46.d4 f1+ 47.d2 h7 48.e8 1-0

1554 Bareev,Evgeny Ljubojevic,Ljubomir Amber Rapidplay rapid (1) [Tony Kosten]

B14 2707 2548 16.03.2002

Ever been on the wrong side of the board wh en B a re ev ha s sa cke d a p awn f or t h e initiative? I have and so I can sympathize with Ljubo's plight in this game! 1.c4 f6 2.f3 A C a r o -K a n n is ce r t a i n ly lo o ki n g a v e r y unlikely possibility at this juncture! c5 3.c3 d5 4.cxd5 xd5 5.e3 [ 5.g3 c6 6.g2 c7 would be a normal Rubinstein Variation of the Symmetrical English, but White has other ideas! ] 5...e6 6.d4 This could be a Semi-Tarrasch opening, cxd4 7.exd4 b4 7 However, after the exchange on d4 we amazingly reach a main line Panov, which would normally arise from 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e6 6 Nf3 Bb4 cxd5 8.d2 This is safer than [ 8.c2 which involves a double pawn sac. ] 8...c6 9.d3 e7 10.0-0 db4!? Black goes pawn-grabbing, relying on his solid pawn structure to guard against White's ensuing initiative. [ 10...f6 also puts the question to White's dpawn: A) 11.e4 is more aggressive, as xd4 ( 11...xd4?? is a blunder, 12.xd4 xd4 13.a4+ ) 12.xd5 exd5 13.e1+ e6 14.g5 is unpleasant for Black; B) 11.xd5!? xd5 12.e3 0-0 13.c2 h6 looks fine for Black, Neverov, V-Pyhala, A/Odessa 1989. ] 11.e4 xd4 12.f4! Bareev's new idea, [ 12.xd4 xd4 13.b5 is worse: b6 14.a4 0-0 15.e3 a5 and Black went on to win, Sleisz, T-Lengyel, F/Hungary 1997. ] 12...xf3+?! [ 12...bc6 would keep the white rooks from the central files. ] 13.xf3 b6 14.e3 a6 15.a3 c6 16.b4 Every white move contains a threat which keeps Black from finding the time to 1682

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 castle. e5 17.g3 g6 [ 17...f6 18.g5 xg5 19.xg5 g6 20.b5 also gives White a fair initiative. ] 18.fd1 c4 [ 18...0-0? loses on the spot to the surprising 19.c7! threatening to capture on g6, and also the move b5, trapping the black queen. ] 19.d3! xc3 In to the lion's den! But what else? [ 19...h4 20.b5+ f8 21.c7 is also very nasty. ] 20.b5+ d7 [ 20...f8 21.c5! wins the queen as xg3? 22.d8# ] 21.xd7+ f8 22.f3 With threats to both b7 and e6 White is clearly on top now. g8?! [ 22...b8 23.xe6 f6 24.d5 is a small improvement. ] 23.xb7 d8 24.xa7 h5 25.ac1 The rest is a simple matter of technique. b2 26.a5 h4 27.h3 f6 28.c6 xd1+ 29.xd1 h7 30.e4 e5 31.b1 c3 32.c5 Forcing the queens off. f5 [ 32...xa3?? 33.xe5 ] 33.xc3 xc3 34.f3 e5 35.e2 a8 36.b3 a1 37.b5 f7 38.b6 d6 39.f3 b8 40.b7 Ba7 is next. 1-0

1555 Damljanovic,Branko Nadj Hedjesi,Balind 1st ch-SCG Kopaonik SCG (12) [Andrew Martin]

B14 2588 2392 14.04.2005

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 f6 5.c3 g6 6.c4 I think that 6 Qb3 is superior because W hite doesn't need to commit his Bishop just yet. In many lines one sees the idea Be2-f3 and then Ne2-f4, reinforcing the extra d5 pawn to the limit. Of course 6 Bc4 is playable and can lead to a very powerf ul attack as we will see. White will not be able to keep his pawn, but there is the promise of pressure against f7. It's a question of style and tournament position I guess, as well as creating a position which is uncomfortable to the opponent. g7 7.f3 0-0 8.0-0 bd7 9.d4 b6 10.b3 bxd5 11.e1

So Black has got his pawn back, but White has a very free game. A typical IQP position. For those unfamiliar with the common themes in these positions, the player with the IQP generally strives to keep the pieces on and to aim for the attack, whereas the player with the better pawn structure hopes to patiently weather the storm. b6 12.e5 b7 13.f3 Again, a very typical idea, taking advantage of the temporary pin on d5. White transfers the queen to h3, where she stands ready to aid the attack, monitoring both h7 and e6. [ 13.g5 is similar but less accurate in my view: c8 14.f3 c7 15.h3 xc3 16.bxc3 c8! 17.xc8 xc8= Aleksandrov, A-Kasparov, S/Minsk 2000 Black marshalled his defense well and has equalized. ] 13...b8?! [ I prefer 13...c8 as per the last example. 13...Rb8 is rather too passive. After...Rc8 Black can look forward to ...Rc7 and maybe ...Qc8: 14.h3 a6 15.g5 c7 16.ac1 xc3 17.bxc3 A) 17...e4! 18.h6 ( 18.f4 e6= ) 18...xh6 19.xh6 xc3; B) 17...b5 18.g4 xg4 19.xg4 c8!= Glek, I-Krivoshey, S/Germany 2004 A position which Black went on to win. ] 14.h3 c8 15.g5 [ 15.d2! is interesting, protecting c3 and connecting the Rooks. White's moves is only quiet on the face of it in fact he is connecting his Rooks as a prelude to attack: xc3 16.bxc3 c7 17.h4 with ideas of c4 and /or Re3-h3, or simply Re3 and Rae1 b5 18.a4 a6 19.axb5 axb5 20.a5 e8 21.g3 h5 22.xf7! Ervin, R-Bilek, I/ Lone Pine 1975) ] 15...a6 16.ad1 I am not at all sure that this is right. White should settle for the modest [ 16.ac1 ] 16...c7 17.h6 c8 [ 17...xh6! 18.xh6 xc3 19.bxc3 ( 19.xf7 xf7 20.xf7+ xf7 21.bxc3 d5 ) 19...xc3 is very much liked by Deep Fritz and who am I to argue. ] 18.h4 xc3 [ Again 18...xh6 19.xh6 xc3 20.bxc3 xc3 was a superior version of the game. Black forgets about his King and permits a standard combination. ] 1683

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.bxc3 xc3 20.xf7+! xf7 21.xf7 and Black was in trouble in Amin, B (2596)c6 22.d5 c5 Lalith, B (2491) Dubai 2011 ] [ 22...xd5 23.xg7! e3 24.g5! xg7 10.xe7 25.d8! is an accurate sequence, bringing [ 10.f4 is hardly played but it's not such a Black's resistance to a close. ] bad idea. Still I don't think Black should 23.xg7 xg7 24.e5 Will do, but have problems if he's careful here. xc3 [ 24.d8! xd5 25.e6+ xe6 26.xe6 ( 10...f6 immediately may cause more was equally good. ] problems, preparing a quick ..e5) 11.bxc3 24...xd5 25.d7 c4 26.xc4 xc4 a5?! and now in Chekhov, S (2368)27.xb6! A game demonstrating why the Zakharchenko, A (2192) Voronezh 2011 winning strategy in virtually every game you W h it e co u l d 've ke p t a sligh t e d ge wit h can think of is based on grabbing and ( 11...f6! 12.xc6 bxc6 13.a4 d7 sustaining the initiative. It's simply so much 14.0-0 a5 with roughly balanced chances) easier to attack than to defend! 12.b3 d7 13.0-0 ] 1-0 10...xe7 [ 10...xe7 isn't considered as good although White has no more than a minimal 1556 B14 e d g e a f t e r 11.0-0 xc3 12.bxc3 c7 and now in Stocek, J (2496) -Morovic Dubov,Daniil 2594 Fernandez, I (2611) Pula 2000 W hite Jakovenko,Dmitrij 2722 would've kept good chances with 13.c1 65th ch-RUS Moscow RUS (7) 10.08.2012 d7 14.d3 ] [Tom Rendle] 11.c1 b6 12.0-0 Not a novelty but the first 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 f6 time this move has been played as such a 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 A reliably solid line for high level - it doesn't seem to me to cause Black against the Panov. 7.f3 e7 8.c5 Black too many problems but it does lead to an interesting position. 0-0 [ 12.d3 [ 8...h6 is not very popular, probably A) 12...bxc5 13.xe4 dxe4 14.xe4 because of the game Kasparov-Anand from b8 15.xc5 d5 ( 15...xb2! 16.0-0 1996 which is annotated in the archives. ] a6 17.e1 d6 and Black is absolutely [ 8...e4 is another line for Black and now fine ) 16.b3 a6 17.d3 xd3 18.xd3 9.xe7 xe7 10.c1 ( 10.b5!? ) 10...0-0 and Black was struggling for compensation 11.b5 xc3 12.xc3 e5 13.dxe5 xe5 in Collins, S (2448)-Kantorik, M (2312) 14.xe5 xe5+ 15.e2 g5 16.0-0 Teplice 2011; an d W h it e ha d a minima l ad va nt age in B) 12...f5 13.b4 ( 13.cxb6 xb6 Sargissian, G (2674)-Banusz, T (2583) 14.0-0!? seems a more testing way for Plovdiv 2012, in which Black had to defend W h it e t o co n t in u e) 13...a5 14.a4 h a r d b u t e v e n t u a l l y c a m e a wa y wit h a ( 14.a3 axb4 15.axb4 bxc5 16.bxc5 draw. ] a3! and White is under some pressure) 9.b5 e4 14...axb4 15.xb6 xa2 16.0-0 a6 [ 9...d7 10.0-0 b6?! doesn't seem to be a 17.xa6 xa6 18.e5 1/2-1/2 Jakovenko, critical line and in his annotations to one of D (2708)-Khenkin, I (2629) Sochi 2007 ] his own games Andrew Martin shows why. [ 12.c6 has long been considered critical but See Martin, A-Coates, K Borders League B la ck i s se e m in gly d o in g O K a f t e r d6 2006 for details ] 13.0-0 a6 14.d3 xc6 15.xe4 dxe4 [ 9...h6 10.f4 d7 seems a little slow for 16.xe4 b7 and now White must try d5 in Black and now 11.0-0 e4 12.c1 f6 order to demonstrate any advantage but the 13.e1 a6 14.a4 g5 15.xg5 following game shows Black should just be ( 15.e5!? ) 15...hxg5 16.xc6 gxf4?! able to draw with accurate play. 17.d5 exd5 ( 16...xc6 17.d6 e8 is only slightly 18.xd5 ad8 19.xc6 xd5 20.xd5 b5 better for W hite) 17.xb7 b8 18.c6 1684

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.e4 f5 22.b6 fxe4 23.g5 d5 24.xa6 f6 25.a3 h6 26.h3 c4 27.e1 d2 28.b3 d5 29.f1 g5 30.e2 d1+ 31.e1 d2 32.e2 d1+ 33.e1 1/2-1/2 Naiditsch, A (2712)-Rodshtein, M (2645) Porto Carras 2011 ] 12...bxc5 13.dxc5 b8 14.a4 [ 14.xe4!? is wo rt h co n sid e rin g xb5 ( 14...dxe4 15.d4 a5 looks very awkward but af te r 16.e2 e5 17.b4! keeps the position unclear: xb4 18.c6 xc6 19.xc6 f5 20.d5 with roughly equal chances although Black has to be wary of the passed c-pawn.) 15.d6 xb2 16.a4 c7 17.a3 b8 and White has obvious compensation although it's not clear if this is quite enough for the pawn. The knight on d6 is strong for the time being though ] 14...a6! 15.d3 This leads to a long forced sequence resulting in an unclear position. [ 15.e2?! xc5 16.a3 d7 simply leaves W hite without enough compensation for the pawn ] 15...xc5 [ 15...f5 is an option for Black if he wants to avoid the game continuation but after 16.b4 he would have to be careful that W hite's Queenside majority doesn't get moving. ] 16.xh7+ xh7 17.h4+ g8 18.g5 e8 19.h7+ f8 20.h8+ g8 21.h7+ e7 22.xg7 d6 So, the dust has settled and we're left with a rather interesting middlegame. White has sacrificed a piece and in return has got a pawn, some open lines down to Black's King which has been forced back into the centre and a dangerous combination of Queen and knights harassing the Black army. Still, if Black finds time to get organised then he will have a def inite advantage so Dubov has to work hard here to keep the initiative. 23.fd1! This seems to set Black some real problems [ 23.f4 was played when this position was amazingly reached before but it doesn't s e e m t o b e a v e r y g o o d m o v e d4 ( 23...d3! 24.cd1 xb2 leaves White really struggling) 24.g5 f8 25.ce4 xe4 26.xe4 and now in Van Leent, D (2184)-Burg, T (2454) Bussum 2011 d5! 27.c7+ d7 28.d1 xe4 29.xd7+ e8

30.7xd4 e3+ 31.h1 e7 gave Black a clear advantage which he went on to convert to a win. ] [ 23.cd1 is also an option, looking to place rooks on d1 and e1. It seems like Black should be comfortable though af ter b7 24.fe1 a8 and it's not clear how White should continue. ] 23...b7 24.g5+?! This may lead to the win of a pawn but it releases a lot of the pressure on Black and soon Jakovenko is doing well. [ 24.g5! is how White should continue and now A) 24...f4 25.ce4! is a nice idea pointed out to me by my computer, obvious dxe4 drops the knight on c5 so.. . xe4 ( 25...dxe4? 26.xc5 ec8 27.xf7! xf7 28.d7+ xd7 29.xf7+ e7 30.xc8 xc8 31.f4 and the passed h-pawn will give W hite g o o d c h a n c e s .) 26.xf7 ec8 is best and now it seems the game ends in a draw after ( 26...xf7?? 27.c7+ wins; 26...xf2+? 27.h1 c5 28.f1! e3 29.b4 and White has a winning attack) 27.e5+ d6 28.f7+ e7=; B) 24...f8 25.b4!? ( 25.h7!? wi n s a n e xch a n g e b u t n o t h i n g m o r e) 25...d7 26.xe6 xe6 27.e1+ e5 28.f4 and White regains the one of the sacrificed pieces and the position remains very unclear - but I'd definitely be worried about defending this position over the board as Black. ] 24...f6! [ 24...d7? 25.b4 would regain the piece with a very strong position ] 25.xf6 xf6 26.g7+ d8 27.xf6+ e7 28.d4 Obviously White cannot afford the swap of Queens but even here Black is definitely better. Still, it's not easy for Jakovenko here, Black still has to get coordinated somehow. c8 29.b4 h8 [ 29...g8!? ] 30.e2 h4?! [ 30...e8! would've been a wise move, hiding the King from checks. There is now a threat of Qh4 and swapping the Queens so a possible line would be 31.d4 h6 32.f3 e4 33.a4+ f8 34.d4 xc1 35.xc1 h7 and White is still causing 1685

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 problems for Black although certainly he does not have enough for the piece here. ] 31.b6+! d7 32.xc5 xh2+ 33.f1 White has regained the piece but now it is his King that comes under fire xc5?! [ 33...h1+ 34.g1 c6! was a more accurate way to increase the pressure. Black has threats of Rhg8 as well as Bb5+ in some positions. ] 34.xc5 h1+ 35.g1 h2 36.e2 xg2 37.f3 h8 38.d4 Suddenly we have material equality but White has some edge. The Bishop on b7 is somewhat blocked out of the game but as both Kings are exposed all three results are still possible. c8 39.e5+ e8 40.xc8+ After this the game drifts inevitably towards a draw. [ 40.d3! xc5 41.xc5 c8 42.h4 would've left Black with still some defending to do although a draw should be easy enough to obtain after g8 although White is obviously risking nothing in playing this position on ] 40...xc8 41.g4 xg4 42.xg4 d7 43.d3 c6 44.d4 b5 45.e5 a5 46.d3 d7 47.c5 c8 48.f4 b6 49.b3 b5 50.a3 b6 51.b4 axb4 52.axb4 c6 A fascinating game in which both sides had chances. I don't think this line should cause Black any objective problems but the positions after the piece sac are very unclear. Probably Black players seeking a quieter game should choose 15...f5 ½-½

More dangerous than it looks. 9 Bd3 is nat urally po ssible but W hite will ha ve t o rethink when Black moves the Bishop on b4 due to the threat of ...Nb4. The isolated pawn gives Black a target and White considerable freedom of movement. Battle is joined around t h e s e m o t i f s . 0-0 10.0-0 f6 Directly attacking the pawn. Black may also choose to reinforce the Knight on d5: [ 10...ce7! 11.d3! Adams relinquishes a tempo but attacks h7. h6 12.e4 b6 13.e5 b7 14.e2 f5 15.a3 e7! ( 15...xd4 16.h5 f5 17.xh6! ) 16.g3 xg3 17.hxg3 f6 18.e3 d5 19.f3 d6 20.ad1 ad8 Stylistically I have to prefer Black in this position. he has a firm hold on d5, hits d4 and all his pieces have decent employment. However, the game takes a downhill turn. 21.b1 c7 22.g4 fe8 23.f2 d6 24.c1 e7 25.h4! Around here White begins to get back into the game. b8 26.f2 d6 27.cd1 c8 28.g5 hxg5 29.xg5 h7 ( 29...d7 30.h4 f5 31.g6 f7 32.f4 d5 33.xb8 xb8 34.h5 g8 ) 30.xh7+ xh7 31.h4+ g8 32.h5 f8 33.f6! 1-0 Adams, M-Papaioannou, I/ Istanbul 2000 ] [ A further option is 10...e8 Black prepares a retreat square for his Bishop on f8 and ... Re7-d7 is a possible manoeuvre sometime in the future. It will take considerable skill to nullify White's attacking chances, but there a re wi n n in g o p p o rt u n i t i e s la t e r f o r t h e patient defender. 11.d1 f8 12.a3 d7 13.g5 b6 14.a4 c7 15.ac1 h6 1557 B14 16.h4 ac8 17.b3 f4 18.c5 xd4 19.xd4 xc5 20.g3 f6 21.f3 b6 Ehlvest,Jaan 2602 22.e5 e7 23.g3 xc1 24.xc1 c8 Potter,John Russell 2276 25.xc8+ Christiansen, L-Miton, K/ Bermuda V Millennium Festival (4) 04.04.2004 2003 xc8 Black has an extra pawn. ] [Andrew Martin] 11.d1! [ If 11.a3 e7 12.d1 d7 13.c4 c8 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 14.a2 c7 15.e2 fe8 16.e5 a6 W h a t is wro n g with t he goo d old Pa n o v17.g5 d6?! ( After the simple 17...h6 Botvinnik Attack? Games such as the one that Black has a fine game.) 18.xf6 gxf6 you are about to play through will do wonders 19.g4+ f8 20.xd7+ xd7 21.d5 e5 f or t he p op ularit y of th is a ggre ssive an d 22.h4 exd5 23.h6+ g8 24.xd5 g4 entertaining variation. f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 25.xf6+ xf6 26.g5+ f8 27.xf6 c6 b4 Possibly Black's most solid option and at 28.h8+ e7 29.xh7 Beim, V-Wallace, P/ the same time more venomous than 6...Be7 or Budapest 1995, it was foolhardy of Wallace 6...Nc6. 7.cxd5 xd5 8.c2 c6 9.e2 1686

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to allow Beim such a strong attack. ] 11...b6? A poor novelty. [ Perhaps 11...e8 is better here. At least then Black wouldn't get blasted by a quick d4-d5! 12.a3 f8 13.f4 d5 14.g3 d7 15.d3 h6 16.e5 xe5 17.dxe5 xc3 18.xc3 b6= ] [ 11...e7 is normal, though, 12.g5 b4 13.b3 bd5 14.e5 d6 15.f3 d8 16.ac1 b8 17.h4 planning Bg3 with ad va n ta ge, Ko st e n, A-Delch e v, A/ Forli 1989. ] 12.d5! The classic break in such positions and in this case enhanced by the Rook ond1. exd5 13.xd5! xd5 14.g5! That was the wh o l e p o i n t a d o u b l e h i t o n h 7 a n d c 6 . Already Black is in dire straits. g6 15.xc6 e7 16.xa8 b7 17.xa7 a8 18.xa8+ xa8 19.f3 Time to take stock. White has a considerable material plus. Two Rooks and a pawn for the Queen. If he can mobilise his army in peace he will surely win. Whatever hope Black has rests on the next few moves. Can Potter whip up a quick attack before the Rooks get going? Looks unlikely. b7 [ 19...f6 20.e4 f5 21.g5! f7 22.f6+! xf6 23.xa8 c5 24.a3+- ] 20.e4 e5 21.h6 The mating threats limit Black's counterplay. f5 22.g5 xb2 23.ab1 c2 24.bc1+- Something drops. b2 25.xd5+ xd5 26.c8+ f8 27.xf8# Ehlvest made the whole game look remarkably easy after he was allowed to play d4-d5!. 11 Rd1, looks like a very good move. 1-0

1558 Fedorowicz,John P Enhbat,Tegshsuren ch-USA Seattle (6) [Andrew Martin]

B14 2505 2405 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 Just a very sensible response to the Panov Attack. 7.cxd5 [ 7.d3 dxc4 8.xc4 0-0 9.0-0 b6 Endorsed by Kasparov, Karpov et al but 9... a6 is also worth se rious consideration . ( 9...bd7 With 9...Nbd7 Black hopes to

obtain an optimal position-to inflict hanging pawns on W hite and then bombard them with his major pieces e.g. ...Bxc3, ...Qc7, ... b6, ...Bb7, ...Rfd8, ...Rac8 etc This plan works very well if White plays slowly. 10.g5 a5 11.c1 xc3 12.bxc3 b6 Brynell, SDorfman, J/Bundesliga 2002) 10.g5 xc3 11.bxc3 bd7 12.d3 c7 13.c1 Kosintseva, T-Makka, I/19th W Jun Girls, Goa IND 2002. ] 7...xd5 8.c2 [ 8.d2 is an alternative. ] 8...c6 9.a3 Big John gets in the first surprise. Development with [ 9.d3 ] [ 9.e2 is much more common. ] 9...e7 [ What did Fedorowicz have in mind against 9...a5? After 10.b4 ( 10.d3 xc3 11.bxc3 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 is wild ) 10...b6 11.b2 a5 12.xd5 exd5 13.b5 e7 14.d3 g4 15.e5 c8 16.b1 h5 17.0-0 f6 18.f3 xf3 19.gxf3 d6 20.e1 f7 Miles-Djuric San Francisco 1 9 7 8 , wi t h c o n s i d e r a b l e a d va n t a g e t o Black. ] 10.d3 f6?! [ 10...f6 seems acceptable for Black. ] 11.0-0 xc3 12.bxc3 h6 An unfortunate ne cessit y. 13.e2! Reminding Black that he still cannot castle: d5 [ 13...0-0 14.e4+- ] 14.b1 a6 15.c4 With a tremendous att acking po sitio n. W hite ha s pla ce d his pieces on marvellous attacking squares and d4-d5 is imminent. By delaying (or omitting) castling, Enhbat has taken a tremendous risk. h5 16.e4 f8 17.e1 e7 18.d2 W ith perhaps the idea of Bb4. Black's problems are insoluble. f5 19.e3 h5 20.f4 g6 21.c7! g8 22.e4 h7 23.xf7+The price of crawling the King to saf et y ha s be en high. There are no ligh t squares left and the pin on the Ng6 is permanent. d8 24.e3 d7 25.e8 e7 26.a4 d7 27.d1 e8 28.g5+ Games such as this inspire one to play the Panov-Botvinnik Attack. However, it is not difficult to find improvements for Black, either in his choice of overall variation or in specific moves. To let Fedorowicz place all his pieces 1687

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 on wonderful attacking squares was suicide and sure enough, Enhbat was cleanly put away. 1-0

1559 Gelfand,Boris Morozevich,Alexander Corus Wijk aan Zee NED (11) [Tony Kosten]

B14 2703 2742 25.01.2002

1.c4 c6 2.e4 White prefers to play a Caro rather than a Slav, which would occur after [ 2.d4 d5 ] 2...d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 f6 5.c3 g6 In effect, this move is actually a temporary pawn sac, but it allows Black nice piece play in return. 6.b3 g7 [ 6...dxc4?! 7.xc4 e6 8.f3 leaves White with a great IQP position. ] 7.cxd5 0-0 8.e2 I have always preferred this move: the bishop is ready to go to f3 to defend the extra d5-pawn. a6 [ 8...bd7 is the main line, bringing the knight to b6. ] 9.f3 b6!? 10.ge2!? [ 10.xb6 axb6 11.ge2 b4 12.0-0 d8 regains the pawn, and the doubled b-pawns are not a serious weakness, although 13.d6 xd6 14.f4 d7 15.fd1 seems to offer White a plus. ] 10...xb3 11.axb3 Now White has the open a-file, but also the doubled b-pawns. b4 12.0-0 d8 13.a5 This is the point of White's tenth move, his rook can advance to defend the extra d-pawn. h6!? A new idea, Black puts paid to any ideas of White playing Bg5xf6 to ease the pressure on d5, and also may consider advancing on the kingside with ... g5-g4. [ 13...a6 was the previous favourite, stopping W hite from playing Rb5: 14.f4 ( 14.g5!? l o o k s s t r o n g e r) 14...g4 a standard idea, ( 14...e8?! was agreed wn in Bricard, E-Kirov, N/Toulouse 1990, the knight comes to the fine blockading square d6, but W hite could certainly c o n t i n u e h e r e , 15.a4 t o b 6 i s g o o d) 15.d6?! ( 15.xg4 xg4 16.c5!? is level ) 15...xf3 16.dxe7 d5! 17.xd5 xd5

Black's two pieces are best, Nixon, R-Wall, T/Recar 1995. ] 14.h4!? An interesting riposte, stopping ...g5, [ 14.f4?! would justify Black's novelty, g5! 15.c7 d7 16.e5 g4 17.e4 xe4 18.xg7 xg7 19.xe4 b6 20.a4 a5 leaves Black on top - he threatens ... Ba6, and can recapture the d5-pwn when he likes. ] 14...d3!? Black wants to play ... b6 and ... Bb7, without having problems along the h1-a8 diagonal, and so exchanges his knight. [ 14...a6 would resemble the note to move 13, but White can no longer bring his bishop to g5. ] [ 14...b6?! i s p r e m a t u r e h e r e : 15.b5 (this explains why Black had to move his knight, as now the rook gains a tempo) d3 16.d6 b8 17.dxe7 with a clear advantage. ] 15.d1 xc1 16.xc1 b6 17.a4 b7 18.d6!? White can no longer defend this pawn, and so tries to sell it dearly, [ 18.f4 g5 19.hxg5 hxg5 20.h5 xd5 was the safer alternative. ] 18...xf3 19.dxe7 d7 20.gxf3 e8 21.d1 exe7 White has managed to maintain his e xt ra p a wn , b u t h is st ru ct u re is a m e s s . 22.f1 h5 To fix the h4-pawn on a dark square. 23.da1 d5!? 24.xd5 xd5 25.xa7 xa7 26.xa7 xd4 27.c3 Now White has to be very careful, his pawns can easily drop off the board, i.e. [ 27.xd4 xd4 28.a4 d3 29.b4 xf3 30.xb6 f4 and the h-pawn is lost. ] 27...a5 [ 27...c5 28.b7 is also OK for White. ] 28.d7! [ 28.xa5? bxa5 29.g2 g7 is very good for Black - his bishop and king are both more effective than their counterparts. ] 28...xc3 This regains the pawn, but leads to a fairly drawish position, [ 28...f6!? is risky, 29.d6 ( 29.d5? xh4 30.xb6 b5 ) 29...xh4 30.xb6 and the two white b-pawns might prove more dangerous. ] 29.bxc3 a3 30.g2 xb3 31.b7 g7 32.c4 b4 33.g3 f6 34.f4 White cannot lose this, if Black wins his c4-pawn then he must concede the b6-pawn, or f7-pawn. e6 1688

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 35.c7 b3+ 36.f3 b4 37.c6+ d7 38.f6 e7 39.c6 e8 40.f6 xc4 41.xb6 ½-½

13.xf6 exf6 14.0-0 f5 15.ad1 d7 16.d3 b8 17.c1 a5 18.g3 c8! planning 19 ... Nd6 as in Shahade-Gersov, New York 2000. White is still a pawn up but Black is solidly entrenched and has some sway over the dark squares. ] 1560 B14 11.xf6 xf3 12.xf3 xf6 13.0-0 d6 Hebden,Mark 2510 14.e5!? This is the best chance to prove an Hansen,A1 2259 advantage. fd8 [ it would be extremely dangerous to accept Challengers Hastings ENG (1) 29.12.1999 the pawn offer as his dark squared bishop [Neil McDonald] is n e e d e d t o d e f e n d t h e kin gsi d e , e . g . 14...xe5 15.dxe5 xe5 16.fe1 d6 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 ( 16...g5 17.a4! ) 17.ad1 fd8 18.e4 5.c3 g6 6.b3 g7 7.cxd5 0-0 8.e2 c7 19.d6! exd6 20.f6+ g7 21.c1 [ For 8.ge2 see Adams-Granda Zuniga. ] b8 22.c3! and my computer program 8...bd7 tells me it is now mate in eight moves! ] [ Or 8...a6 9.f3 b6 10.xb6 axb6 11.ge2 b4 12.0-0 d8 13.d6! xd6! 15.fe1 xd5? Much more challenging was 14.f4 d7 15.fd1 fd5 16.g3 xc3 the patient [ 15...ab8 which simply intends to 17.bxc3 c6 18.f4 a5 19.d3 recapture his pawn on d5, so White needs and White had some advantage in Stoicato find a forcing variation. However, 16.c4 Cioara, Romania 1999. This variation should xc4 17.xc4 bc8 doesn't offer White be compared with the analysis on 9...Qb6 much. ] given in a subnote to Adams-Granda Zuniga. Now White keeps his material There W hite didn't have the option of 16 16.xb7 Bg3, keeping the bishop on a good square, advantage. ab8 17.xa7 xb2 18.e4 as he had adopted the alternative set up e6 19.a5! b6 20.c3 a4 21.a5 Giving up the exchange is the best with g2-g3 and Bg2. Therefore, it seems that xd4 drawing chance. 22.f3 db4 23.a3 c4 8 Be2 here is superior to 8 Nge2, etc. ] 24.ed2 c6 25.xc4 xc4 26.ad1 g7 9.f3 b6 10.g5 [ Perhaps stronger was 10.ge2 e.g. g4 27.d5 xd5 28.xd5 b3 29.e5 xa3 ( Or 10...f5 11.f4 d3 12.d6 exd6 30.a5 b3 31.g3 c3? [ Instead 31...b6! holds on as if 32.g4? 13.0-0 e8 14.fe1 d5 15.g3 d7 c3 ] 16.e5 Orlov-Malofeev, St. Petersburg 1997. Black's advance 14...d5 has left the pawn 32.g4 d4?? [ Here 32...b5! was probably still OK. ] slightly weak and given away the e5 square, but on the other hand it stakes a claim to 33.xe7 h5 34.e5 b2 35.xf7+ an equal share of the centre.) 11.xg4 1-0 xg4 12.f4 d7 13.a4 ad8 14.d6! exd6 15.a5 c8 16.0-0 as in Stoica-Suciu, B14 Ro ma nia 19 94 . Black ha s re linquish e d 1561 control of the d5 square and is content to Kasparov,Garry 2775 have a rather passive but solid looking Anand,Viswanathan 2725 position. ] Amsterdam 1996 10...g4 Black decides to force clarity in the [Alexander Volzhin] centre when it becomes a question of whether he can regain his pawn without making any T h e l i n e 6 . B g 5 i s o n e o f t h e p r i n c i p a l serious positional concession. More dynamic continuations after 5. ..Nc6. In this game was Black plays accurately, developing his [ 10...a5!? which greatly complicates matters, kingside first and thereby obtains a promising f o r e x a m p l e 11.ge2 a4 12.b5 h6 position. But this is not enough when you are 1689

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 playing against the W orld Champion who confuses his opponent, firstly with strange looking Rook manoeuvres, and secondly with an unexpected pawn sacrifice which lets him get a strong initiative on the kingside. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5! This move was introduced by Mikhail Botvinnik in the early thirties and remains White's main weapon nowadays. [ 6.f3 is the main alternative, but it usually leads to an approximately equal endgame after g4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.b3 xf3 9.gxf3 e6 ( 9...b6 is a sharper try, for example 10.d5 d4 11.d1 e5 with wild complications after 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.e3 c5 14.b4 0-0 15.bxc5 xf3+ ) 10.xb7 xd4 11.b5+ xb5 12.c6+ e7 13.xb5 d7 14.xd5+ xd5 15.xd5 exd5 ] 6...e6 7.f3 e7 [ 7...dxc4 8.xc4 e7 9.0-0 0-0 is a wa y t o g e t a re lia b le p o sit io n wit h slightly better chances for White. ] 8.c5 h6 [ 8...0-0 is another main continuation ] [ 8...e4 did not equalise in the game Gelfand - Kuczynski, Moscow (ol) 1994: 9.xe7 xe7 10.d3 b4 11.b5+ c6 12.xe4 dxe4 13.e5 with the better chances. ] 9.f4 [ 9.h4 0-0 gives Black the useful extramove h7-h6 compared to the line with 8. .. 0-0 ] [ 9.xf6 was played in the game Timman Kramnik, Amsterdam 1996 and after xf6 10.b5 0-0 11.0-0 e7 12.b4 b6 13.d2 bxc5 14.bxc5 d7 Black had achieved a good position. ] 9...e4 10.b5!? [ I t i s h a r d t o s a y w h e t h e r 10.c1!? was better. ] 10...xc3 11.bxc3 d7 12.0-0 0-0 The position looks good for Black he is going to u n d e rm in e t h e que e n sid e wit h b 7 -b 6 . Kas pa ro v f in ds a stra nge lo oking way t o prevent this key idea. 13.c1! Other moves allow Black to go b7-b6 obtaining comfortable play. e8 [ Now 13...b6 wo u ld b e m e t b y 14.c4! and after

A) 14...bxc5 does not solve Black's problems either: 15.dxc5 dxc4 ( 15...a6 16.a4 dxc4 17.xc4 with a clear advantage ) 16.xc4 xc5 17.b5 e7 ( 17...b6 18.xd7 xb5 19.a4 b6 20.c7 winning ) 18.c2 d4 19.xc5 xc5 20.xc5 xb5 ( 20...xb5 21.a4 a3 22.c3 winning ) 21.xd4 xf1 22.xf1 with a clear advantage in the ending, according to Garry Kasparov.; B) 14...dxc4 15.xc4 and it looks like Black can hardly find anything better than to take on c5 transposing to the line 14. .. dxc4. ] 14.e1 f6 [ The inclusion of the moves Re1 and Re8 m a ke t h e m o ve 14...b6?! too dangerous: 15.c4 bxc5 ( 15...dxc4? 16.d5 exd5 17.xd5 c8 18.d4 leads to big problems for Black) 16.cxd5 xd4 17.xd4 cxd4 18.c7 with a very strong initiative. ] 15.b1 [ According to Kasparov, the simple 15.d3 b6 16.cxb6 axb6 17.b1 was better and gave White the slightly better chances. ] 15...b6 Otherwise Black just has nothing to do. 16.a6 c8 [ 16...bxc5 17.b7 with a clear advantage ] 17.b5 d7 18.a6 c8 19.d3!? A n u n e xp e c t e d p a w n s a c r i f i c e . W h i t e ' s attacking chances on the kingside will be mo re th an en ou gh com pe n sa tio n f o r t h e pawn. bxc5 [ Of course Black did not want to admit he has lost a tempo with 19...d7 but maybe this was a better decision as the position is only slightly better for W hite after 20.cxb6 ( 20.e5 xe5 21.dxe5 g5 ) 20...axb6 21.e2 with a slight edge ] 20.e5! d7? [ This move is very logical but Black will find h i m s e l f i n t r o u b l e ve r y s o o n . 20...xe5 deserves attention as after 21.dxe5 g5 22.xg5 xg5 ( after 22...hxg5 White can launch a direct attack against the Black King: 23.h5 g6 24.xg6 fxg6 25.xg6+ f8 26.e3 g4 27.xg4 with a clear edge. ) 23.b5 d8 24.c6 a6 25.xa8 xa8 the position is not so clear as White has to be caref ul about Black's counter chances on the kingside. ] 1690

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 20...xe5 21.dxe5 f5! was probably the best decision and after 22.e3 the position is unclear. ] 21.b7 xe5 [ 21...xe5 22.dxe5 c6 does not help b e c a u s e o f t h e e x c e l l e n t 23.xf7! t h e n p o s s i b l e i s xf7 24.exf6 xf6 ( 24...gxf6 25.h5+ e7 26.xe6+! xe6 27.f5+ winning ) 25.e5 g5 ( 25...h4 26.e3 ) 26.f4 e7 27.h5+ f8 28.g6 ed8 29.h7 f7 30.f5 g8 31.g6 f7 32.g3 exf5 33.xf5 with a very strong attack, according to Kasparov. ] 22.dxe5 b8 [ 22...e7 23.h5 was not better for Black. ] 23.xb8 xb8 24.g4 f8 25.e3 d8 [ 25...g5? 26.h5 gxf4 27.xh6+ e7 28.f6+ f8 29.h3 ] [ after 25...b2 White was also winning with precise play: 26.h4! ( 26.g3? is weaker: a1+ 27.f1 c8! 28.xg7+ e7 with the idea of Ba6) 26...c4 27.g3 g5 ( 27...e7 28.xg7 d8 29.f1 winning ) 28.hxg5 cxd3 29.gxh6 c8 30.h4 d2 31.h7 d1+ 32.h2 with inevitable mate. ] 26.h4 [ 26.g3? wa s n o t m a t in g a s a f t e r g5 27.h5 gxf4 28.xh6+ e7 29.f6+ f8= White has no time to play Rh3. ] 26...a5 [ After 26...f5 White was winning by 27.exf6 xf6 28.f3 g8 29.d6! e5 30.xe5 xe5 31.g6 ] 27.g3 e7 28.xg7 d8 29.xf7 xc3 30.b5 a5 [ 30...b4 was losing after 31.xc6 xc6 32.b3 e1+ 33.h2 e7 34.f8+ d7 35.b8 ] 31.g7 [ 31.xc6! xc6 32.xh6 d4 ( 32...e1+ 33.h2 xe5 34.f4 winning; 32...c7 33.f6+ winning ) 33.h5 was more straightforward: c4 34.g5+ c8 35.h6 d3 ( 35...xe5 36.f4 e1+ 37.h2 e5 38.g7 winning ) 36.h7 winning ] 31...e7 32.xd7 xd7 Black has parried the direct attack somehow but W hite has a way to realise his big advantage. 33.f6 d4 [ O t h e r m o v e s d i d n o t h e l p : 33...e1+ 34.h2 xf2 35.xh6 with the idea of

Bg5 ] [ 33...xa2 34.xh6 b1+ 35.h2 c4 36.g5 b4 37.f4 c3 38.f5 completely opens up the Black King. ] 34.xh6 c4 35.g5 c5 36.xe7+ For the whole game Black has been solving the problem of not getting checkmated, that is probably why he missed this simple idea -the pawn ending is completely lost. Black resigned. Excellent game by Garry Kasparov. [ 36.xe7+ xe7 37.xe7+ xe7 38.xe7 xe7 39.f1 f7 40.h5 winning ] 1-0

1562 Kataev,S Dolmatov,Sergey Moscow [John Emms]

B14

1983

1.d4 e6 2.c4 f6 3.c3 b4 4.e3 0-0 5.d3 c5 6.a3 cxd4 [ Of course after 6...xc3+ 7.bxc3 cxd4? r a t h e r t h a n 8.exd4? transposing to the game. ] 7.exd4 xc3+ The best. [ After 7...e7 8.f3 d5 it looks like a Panov where White has gained the useful move a2-a3. ] 8.bxc3 d5 This looks straightforward and simply good. [ Black can also play 8...d6 intending ... Nbd7, ...b6, ...Bb7 etc ] [ On the other hand, 8...b6 9.g5 c6 10.f4! a6 11.f3 a5 12.e5 d6 13.0-0 was promising for White in V.Milov-V.Atlas, Switzerland 2003. ] 9.f3 This position can also arise from the Caro-Kann Panov Botvinnik Attack, after 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e6 6 Nf3 Bb4 7 a3 Bxc3+ 8 bxc3 0-0 9 Bd3 (indeed, it does so in this game). It's worth pointing out, though, that 7 a3 is really just a sideline of the Panov (7 cxd5 and 7 Bd3 - the latter transposing back to the Nimzo! - are the main moves), so this seems to indicate that Black has nothing to fear. [ Against 9.e2 Black could just capture on c4 and play ...b6, ...Bb7, ...Nbd7 etc, but b6 intending ...Ba6 is a promising alternative: 1691

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.cxd5 exd5 11.0-0 a6 12.c2!? bd7 13.e1 c7 14.f4 c6 with a comfortable position for Black, D. Izquierdo-H.Mecking, Ayamonte 2006. ] [ Also possible is 9.cxd5 exd5 10.f3 , but again Black is fine: for example, e8+ 11.e3 g4 12.0-0 c6 13.b1 d7 , A.Hagen-L.Johannessen, Tromsø 2006. ] 9...c7! This looks like the most accurate move, since now White is more or less obliged t o m o v e h is qu e e n t o a s l e ss t h a n id e a l square. [ Even so, there's nothing wrong with 9...dxc4 10.xc4 c7 . After 11.d3 b6 12.0-0 b7 13.a2 bd7= (e. g. J.Nikolac-U. Andersson, Zagreb 1975) we've just transposed to a fairly innocuous variation of a main line: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Bd3 d5 6 Nf3 c5 7 0-0 dxc4 8 Bxc4 Nbd7 9 a3 cxd4 10 exd4 (10 axb4! is more critical) 10... Bxc3 11 bxc3 Qc7 12 Qd3 b6 13 Ba2 Bb7. ] 10.b3 [ 10.e2? dxc4 11.xc4?? b5! 12.xb5 xc3+ , as played in J.Wempe-R.Janssen, Le id e n 1 99 9 , is som e th ing W h ite mu st avoid! ] [ Likewise, 10.c5?! is met by b6! ] 10...c6! Virtually forcing an exchange on d5 in view of the threat of ...Na5. 11.cxd5 exd5 12.0-0 g4 13.g5!? [ 13.h4 a5 14.c2 ac8 15.d2 was N. Minev-B.Spassky, Reykjavik 1957, and here the world champion-to-be gained good light-square compensation with the p o s i t i o n a l s a c e4!? 16.xe4 dxe4 17.xe4 d7 ] 13...xf3 14.gxf3 a5 15.c2 This is the beginning on an ill-conceived plan of grabbing the pawn on h7. [ I would prefer 15.b4 when the dynamic potential of W hite's bishop pair may just about compensate for his admittedly ugly structure. ] 15...c6! 16.xf6? xf6 17.xh7+ h8 18.f5 [ One possible line here is 18.f5 ac8 19.ac1 ( or 19.xf6 gxf6 20.f5 xc3 ) 19...b3! 20.c2? h6! 21.xd5 xh7 22.xb3 c6! with a winning attack for Black. ]

18...g6 19.h3 g7! Planning .. .Rh8. Th an ks f o r t he o pe n f ile ! 20.fe1 h8 21.g2 h5 22.e2 c4 Black enjoys total control now. 23.f4 xf4 24.h3 g5 25.a2 f5 [ 25...e8! is very strong, as 26.xe8 f3 27.f1 xg2+ 28.e2 xh3 is a winning attack. ] 26.h2 f4+ 27.h1 h8 28.d3 g4 29.f1 gh5 30.h2 d2! 31.xd2 f4+ 32.g1 xd2 33.e3 f5 34.d3 c2 35.e3 c8 36.e1 c6 On this evidence Black seems to be fine after 8...d5, and 7 axb4 does look more challenging. 0-1

1563 Kharlov,Andrei Izoria,Zviad 3rd IECC Batumi GEO (13) [Tony Kosten]

B14 2633 2556 26.06.2002

1.c4 Another English Opening! c5 2.c3 f6 3.f3 e6 4.e3 d5 5.d4 A S e m i - T a r r a s c h s t a r t i n g p o s i t i o n . cxd4 6.exd4 b4 [ 6...e7 is the main alternative, but is dealt with under [D42]. ] 7.cxd5 xd5 8.c2 c6 9.e2 This avoids the complications of [ 9.d3 ] 9...0-0 10.0-0 e8!? Interesting, Black prepares a square for his dark-squared bishop on f8, but also deters White from capturing on d5, as ... exd5 would open the e-file for the black rook. 11.d1 d7 [ 11...f8 is more normal, 12.e5 ( 12.g5 a5 13.e4? d7 14.a3 ac8 gives Black a good game, W hite should always try to keep some pressure on d5, W o l f f , P - S p e e l m a n , J / Ne w Y o r k W F W 1990.; 12.e4!? is a common move in this line, White wishes to attack h7 by Bd3, but here Black can simply play g6 as his bishop defends the dark squares.) 12...xc3 13.xc3 ( 13.bxc3? xe5 14.dxe5 c7 the white pawn structure is too ragged) 13...d7 14.f3 c8 15.b3 xe5!? 16.dxe5 b6 Black is solid, but White has more space, Sveshnikov, E-Tukmakov, V/ 1692

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Budapest 1996. ] 12.g5 g6 13.h4!? A typical idea in IQP lines, but a novelty here, the h-pawn will advance to weaken the black kingside. [ 13.ge4 f8 14.g5 e7 15.xe7 cxe7 16.b5 1/2-1/2 Sveshnikov, ENisipeanu, L/Ljubljana SLO 2002. ] 13...h6!? I would be loathe to advance my kingside pawns here, but how else to deal with the advancedknight? 14.f3 f8 15.h5 g5 Both sides would have been wondering if the black kingside is strong or weak. 16.c4 c8 17.e4 Again this idea, to 'reverse' the queen and bishop, whilst at the same time removing the queen from the open file and pressurising d5. g7!? 18.b3 [ If 18.xd5 a5! ( 18...exd5 19.xd5 is also not too bad for Black, after e7 ) 19.f6+ xf6 20.d3 f5 with a perfectly reasonable position. ] 18...a5 19.c2 f5 It is strange to see Black advance his kingside pawns like this, but the weakness of e5 is not easy to exploit. 20.e1 xc3 21.bxc3 c7 22.e5!? This sharp tactic leads to a lot of exchanges, and a draw. xc3 23.xc3 xc3 24.xf5! exf5 25.d2 W hite is a piece down, but a lot of black pieces are hanging. xe5!? Perhaps Black could have tried for more with [ 25...c2 26.xa5 a4 - he does have two bishops. ] 26.dxe5 c5 27.b4! cxe5 [ 27...b5 28.xa5 e6 29.c7 should be a draw with the opposite-colour bishops. ] 28.xd7 c6 29.xb7 xb4 ½-½

1564 Kharlov,Andrei Prakash,GB 12th Goodricke Open (7) [Nigel Davies]

B14 2639 2453 12.02.2001

d7 14.0-0 d5 15.c4 f5 16.xd7+ xd7 17.b2 b6 , introducing a new idea with 18.a4!? . This is really quite interesting, White wants to activate his queen via a3. In any event the practical difficulties of having a wandering king proved too much for Black: e7 19.a3+ f6 20.g3 e5 21.b2 e6 22.ad1 hd8 23.d5 xd5 24.cxd5+ d7 25.b3 c8 26.h3 a6 27.g3 c5 28.xe5 xd5 29.xg7 g6 30.f3 f5 31.e2 d3 32.b2 e4 33.h6 d6 34.e3 h5 35.h8 xa4 36.xh5 b3 37.f4 d3 38.c1 b5 39.f5+ e8 40.e4+ d7 41.c6+ e7 42.g5+ f8 43.h6+ 1-0 Kunte, APrakash, G/Calcutta IND 2001 (43) ] 9...0-0 10.0-0 e7 11.d1 b6 [ An unusual move, 11...f6 and ] [ 11...f6 being the most common. ] 12.e4!? [ Much more direct than 12.d3 ] 12...f6 13.d3 g6 14.c4 ce7?! [ Black's position becomes very passive after this. 14...xc3 15.bxc3 a5 looks better. ] 15.e5 g7 16.b3 d8 [ And here 16...a5 looks like a better chance. Now the pressure grows to intolerable proportions. ] 17.f3 d7 18.e4 c6 This loses, but I don't see a good move for Black. 19.g5 f6 [ 19...ce7 20.xd5 exd5 21.f6+ xf6 22.xf6+- ] 20.xd7 xd7 21.c5 fxg5 [ 21...d6 22.xe6! is curtains. Prakash struggles on into an exchange down endgame but the game is effectively over. ] 22.xf8+ xf8 23.xd7+ e7 24.e5 xe5 25.dxe5 d8 26.d2 g4 27.ad1 xe5 28.e2 f6 29.de1 d4 30.xe6+ f5 31.e8 d6 32.d1 f6 33.e2 c5 34.c2+ 1-0

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.c2 c6 9.e2 [ In a later round, Kunte beat Prakash in the p a w n l i n e : - 9.d3 a5 10.a3 xc3 11.bxc3 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.b5+ 1693

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B14 e5 39.dxe5 fxe5 40.xc4 e6 41.h4 h5 42.f3 d6 43.g3 g6 44.d3 c5 45.e4 xb5 46.xe5 c4 47.g4 b5 48.gxh5 31.10.2001 gxh5 49.f4 b4 50.f5 b3 51.f6 b2 52.f7 b1 53.f8 e1+ 54.f6 xh4+ Can W hite draw this endgame? The only The move 6...e6 against the 6.Bg5 Panov, has chance is to send his king to the opposite b e e n vi rt u a ll y ig n o re d f o r ye a rs , f o r n o t corner to the h-pawn's queening square. particular reason. But if people start taking Books have been written about this kind of notice of Dautov's games, it will probably thing. 55.g6 g4+ 56.h6 h4 57.f7+ spring into fashion. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 c3 58.f6+ d3 59.f1+ e2 60.b1+ cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.g5 e6 e3 61.b3+ f4 62.f7+ g3 63.g6+ A n o l d l in e wh ic h P a ch m a n a wa rd e d a n g4 64.d3+ f3 65.g6+ h2 66.c2+ exclamation mark in his groundbreaking work, h3 67.c8+ g3 68.g8+ f2 69.a2+ e2 70.f7+ f3 71.a2+ e2 72.f7+ Semi-Open Games. e1 73.f5 e3+ 74.h5 h3 75.h4 h2 [ The 'trendy' move is 6...e6 ] 76.b1+ f2 77.c2+ f3 78.d1+ e2 7.f3 [ 7.c5 e7 8.f3 would lead to the same 79.h1+ f4 80.c1+ e3 81.f1+ f3 82.c1+ e3 83.f1+ f3 84.c1+ e3 thing. ] 7...e7 8.c5 0-0 9.b5 e4 10.xe7 85.f1+ e4 86.g2+ f5 87.xh2 g5+ 0-1 xe7 [ According to Pachman this is less good than 10...xe7 after which Keres - Alekhine, B14 AVRO Tournament 1938 went on 11.c2 1566 g5 12.xg5 xg5 13.xc6 bxc6 14.0-0 Kornev,Alexei 2565 e5 15.dxe5 xe5 with an even game. ] Dolmatov,Sergey 2605 11.c2 56th ch-RUS Krasnoyarsk (7) 2003 [ After 11.c1 Dautov might well have [Andrew Martin] intended to continue in similar style to the game with though an old line of Boleslavsky 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 f6 runs b6 12.xe4 dxe4 13.e5 bxc5 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 7.cxd5 exd5?! 14.xc5 a5+ 15.d2 xa2 when it isn't Rather a passive alternative to the tried and clear what White has for the pawn. ] trusted 7...Nxd5. 8.d3 11...a5 12.d3 xc3 13.bxc3 h6 14.0-0 [ 8.e5 0-0 9.d3 is possible, as originally b6! 15.fb1 a6 And Black is better due to conceived by Grandmaster Mark Hebden, the weakness of White's pawns. We now get and recently ] to see some remorseless positional technique. [ 8.f4 has shown some fangs too: c6 16.xa6 xa6 17.cxb6 axb6 18.b3 fc8 9.e2 e4 10.c2 f5 11.d3 0-0 19.a4 a5 20.a3 c6 21.h3 12.0-0 xc3 13.bxc3 g6 14.d2 xd2 [ And not 21.xb6 ab8 22.xa5 xb1+ 15.xd2 f6 16.g5 d6 17.fe1 h6 etc. ] 18.e3 e7 19.ab1 ac8 20.xb7 a6 21...a7 22.aa1 ab8 23.b5 c7 21.f4 f6 22.e5+- Munoz Fernandez, M24.c1 a5 25.e5 f6 26.f3 c4 Gonzalez Campo, G/Formigal 2002 (22) ] 27.ab1 xb5 28.xb5 c4 29.f1 a8 8...0-0 9.0-0 In all these lines, Black reaches 30.b4 a5 31.e2 ca8 32.d2 positions similar to that of the Petroff open [ That a-pawn is definitely falling - 32.a1 games where it seems to me that he has a is met by b5 ] slight, permanent disadvantage. 32...xa4 33.xc4 xb4 34.cxb4 c8 [ 9.e5 reaches the Hebden line, where 35.d2 Black must take care but appears able to [ Or 35.d3 b5 etc. ] defend: 35...xc4 36.xc4 dxc4 37.b5 f7 38.c3 A) 9...e4 10.0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 d7 1565 Klundt,Klaus Dautov,Rustem Bavarian Masters (5) [Nigel Davies]

1694

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.c4 ( 12.a3 xe5 13.xe4 dxe4 14.dxe5 xd1 15.fxd1 1/2-1/2 Wolff, PGroszpeter, A/New York 1988) 12...xe5 13.dxe5 f5 14.f3 1/2-1/2 Wolff, PGarcia Gonzales, G/New York 1988; B) 9...c7 10.b3 xc3+ 11.bxc3 c6 12.xc6 xc6 13.0-0 e6 14.f3 fc8 15.d2 e8 16.ab1 d6 17.f4 b6 18.xd6 xd6 19.f4 f6 20.c2 h6 21.d2 d7 22.be1 e8 23.b2 c7 24.b1 f7 25.d2 1/2-1/2 Bagaturov, GSupatashvili, K/ Ankara 1995 ] 9...c6 10.g5! If any move will highlight the offside position of the Bishop on b4, then this is it! An excellent move from Korneev, forcing a concession. e6 11.e1 h6 12.h4 e8 [ After seeing the game, one should consider 12...e7 13.b3 a6!? 14.ac1 Black's position is defensible. It takes a certain 'sang froid' to play a retreat like this not even or maybe especially Grandmasters can always bring themselves to do it. Black must admit that he is worse, take a deep breath and then move. I really don't like Black's play in the game. Sure enough he seeks counterplay, but his lack of regard for his King costs him dearly. ] 13.c1 f8 14.b1 [ 14.b3 a6 15.a4 is a good plan too. ] 14...g5 15.g3 g7 16.e5 d7 17.b5 b6 [ 17...dxe5 gives d6 away, an important outpost: 18.dxe5! b6 19.d6 ed8 20.b3 xe5 21.xb7! xb7 22.xe5 xe5 23.xe5 ] [ 17...dxe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.dxe5 e7 is less effective. ] 18.d3! It's really simple. Black's King is open to attack. f8 Black decides to sacrifice the exchange, perhaps out of desperation. Maybe [ 18...dxe5 19.dxe5 ed8 20.b3 was holdable, if unattractive. ] 19.xc6 bxc6 20.c7 xd4 21.xa8 xa8 22.b3! A small change of pace before he picks up the cudgels for the final assault. Materially, Black has just about enough but his Knight is very passive and he has no real answer to h2-h4. a5 23.h4! a4 24.hxg5 hxg5 25.d2 No hesitation necessary. f6

26.c7! Very nice! This tactical shot effectively finishes resistance. xc7 [ 26...xf2+ 27.xf2 xc7 28.xf6 f4 29.xf4 gxf4 30.xc6+- ] [ 26...a7 27.xc6+- ] 27.xd4 f7 28.b4 d7 29.d3 h8 30.g6+ f8 31.xe6 7...exd5 cannot be recommended. 1-0

1567 Lell,Marianela Arkell,Keith C International [Andrew Martin]

B14

2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 g6 Arkell continues to defend what is generally accepted as a difficult variation for Black. He has done so for many years, unwaveringly and rather stubbornly in my opinion. 6.b3 g7 7.cxd5 0-0 8.e2! I think this is the best way. By transferring the Bishop to f3 White makes it hellishly difficult for Black to get the pawn back. a6 9.f4 c7?! If this is the best that Black has then forget it. Arkell has tremendous practical ability but it cannot see him through every eventuality. [ 9...a5 10.a3 d8 11.f3 c7 12.xc7 xc7 1/2-1/2 Sermek, D-Lalic, B/Porec 1998 d o e sn 't t e ll u s a n yt h in g a p a rt f ro m it ' s Bogdan playing Black and he almost always chooses the best moves in the opening so that he can get the quick draw offer in. ] [ 9...b6 10.xb6 axb6 11.d6! is poor for Black: exd6 12.xd6 d8 13.a3 xd4 14.f3 d8 15.0-0 Shahade, JPerelshteyn, E/Seattle 2003 ] 10.f3 fe8 11.e5!N A logical move. On top of all the other trumps, W hite wants to loosen the Black king position. This might not s e e m s o i m p o r t a n t n o w b u t wa t c h wh a t happens! [ 11.ge2 is a good move too: d6 12.e5 ( 12.0-0 b6 13.e5 b7 14.f4 d7 15.fe1 Alavkin, A-Ovetchkin, R/Kazan 1995 ) 12...f5 13.d1 b5 14.g3 d7 15.0-0 a5 Hummel, M-Weiss, C/Feffernitz 20 00 an d n o w 16.ce4 Black hasn't yet 1695

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 regained the pawn and has been persuaded to loosen his position in order to try to get the pawn back. W hite is solidly in control here. ] 11...d6 12.xg7 xg7 13.ge2 b6 14.0-0 a6 15.fe1 c4 16.d1 d7 [ Even after the better 16...c8 17.b3 b5 18.c1 White still has a big edge. ] 17.b3 a6 18.d2 b7 19.f4 ae8 20.e5 We see the benefit of exchanging darksquared Bishops. White has a crunching bind in the centre and prepares to commence an all-out assault again st Black's kin g cb5 21.xb5 xb5 22.ae1 [ 22.h5+ h8! 23.h6 g8 ] 22...d6 23.h4! With Black very passive this is exactly the right thing to do. c7 24.h5 c8 25.e4 f6 26.hxg6 hxg6 He hopes to weather the storm without too many concessions but this will turn out to be rather forlorn. [ Instead 26...fxe5 27.h5+ g8 28.gxh7+ h8 29.g5 f7 30.xe5+ f6 31.xf6 exf6 32.xf6+ g7 33.xd6 leads to a position wh ere W hite h as f ar too man y pawns for Black to offer any sort of prolonged resistance. ] 27.h5! [ 27.e6+ xe6 28.xe6 was less at t ra ct ive bu t sim p le r: h8 ( 28...f7 29.c1 b8 30.ec6 h8 31.g3 d6 might give some holding chances) 29.e3 f7 30.f3! h2+ 31.f1 Black's attack has ground to a halt already. ] 27...h8? [ 27...gxh5 28.xh5+ g8 29.h6 f7 30.g6 ef8 31.e3! White has plenty of time. f5 32.xf5 xf5 33.g3+ xg3 34.xg3 d7 35.f4 with what should really be a winning position although the win could take quite some time.. ] 28.xg6 eg8 29.d3 It's dreadful now. On top of being two pawns down Black has no counterplay to speak of. xh5 30.xh5+ f8 31.f4 b5 32.g3 c3 33.xc3 Of cou rse if 33 ... Nxc3 now th en 34 Rc1 cleans up. A splendid attack by Lyell, earning him the best game prize. 1-0

1568 Lputian,Smbat G Bologan,Viktor 4th Karpov It, Poikovsky (7) [Andrew Martin]

B14 2635 2660 2003

1.d4 All roads lead to the Caro-Kann apparently. f6 2.c4 e6 3.f3 c5 4.e3 d5 5.c3 cxd4 6.exd4 b4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.d2 A quiet move on the face of it, with White achieving nothing more than breaking the pin. But it's development nevertheless and with Bd3 coming up W hite keeps his bishops glaring at the Black kingside. c6 [ 8...f6 is a rarity and Akobian will show you why: 9.a4+! c6 10.b5 The bishop on d2 comes in very useful now. Black takes on c3 but it's not check! 0-0! 11.xc6 xc3 12.bxc3 bxc6 13.0-0! c7 14.c4 c5 15.a5! Ensuring that Black cannot get rid of his weak pawn so easily. d7 16.a3 f4 ( 16...c6 17.e5; 16...c8 17.dxc5 It's not the extra pawn but the d6 square that matters.) 17.xc5 fc8 18.e5 g4 19.h3 g6 20.d6 c6 21.d5 e4 22.e5 b7 23.h4 g5 24.xe4 exd5 25.cxd5 xd5 26.f5 1-0 Akobian, VLanger, M/Foxwoods Open, Connecticut USA 2003 Very specific play by Akobian. ] 9.d3 e7 A voluntary retreat which might seem odd but the Bishop was a little vulnerable on b4 and Black really needs that square for one of his Knights. [ 9...f6 is playable: 10.0-0 0-0 11.g5 h6 12.e3 d6 13.c1 e5! A rare opportunity is taken! 14.h3 e6 15.d2 a5 16.xh6 exd4! 17.b5 xd2 18.xd2 b8= J Polgar-Karpov Dos Hermanas 1999 Polgar wa s u n a b l e t o e s t a b l i s h a g r i p o n t h e position. ] 10.0-0 0-0 11.xd5!? A new one on me. The following lines give a flavour of the variation to date, with White attempting to create Kingside pressure and Black initially soaking up the pressure with the hope of cashing in on his better pawn structure later on: [ 11.e2 f6 12.e4 b6 13.a3 d7 14.fd1 ad8 ] [ 11.a3 f6 12.e2 ( 12.c2 h6 13.ad1 xc3 14.xc3 e7 15.e2 d7 16.e4 g6 17.e5 a4 ) 12...de7 13.e4 g6 1696

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.e3 d7 15.ad1 a5 16.g4 ce7 17.e4 fd8 ] 11...exd5 Bologan aims for a symmetrical pawn structure, probably quite satisfied to see that his Bc8 has a free diagonal. [ I'm presuming that the idea is that after 11...xd5 W h i t e w i l l p l a y 12.c2 Whether he can make anything of his freer position is open to debate exchanges in principle favour the defender and the Black Queen will drop back to d6: h6 ( 12...f5?! ) 13.fd1 A) 13...d8 14.h7+ h8 15.e4 h5 ( 15...d6 ) 16.xc6 bxc6 17.e5; B) 13...f6 14.h7+ h8 15.e4 d6 16.e3 d7 17.d5 ] 12.b3 The only move to put any pressure on. W h i t e t i e s d o w n t h e B i s h o p o n c 8 . f6 13.c3 a5 14.a3 g4!= An excellent move, equalizing immediately. 15.e2 [ 15.xb7 d6! threatens both Rfb8 and Bxf3. W hite must scramble for equality: 16.e5 ( 16.b3? xf3 ) 16...xe5 17.dxe5 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.fe1 d4!= This could not satisfy Lputian. ] 15...e8 16.fe1 e6 17.h3 a4 18.b5 f5 19.ad1 c2 20.d2 e4 A period of light jousting leaves the position complex, but still very much in balance. Perhaps Black is slightly to be p ref e rred . 21.d1 a5 As time runs down both players go for the win. There was no need to play his Knight to the edge. [ 21...xf3 22.xe6 fxe6 23.xf3 d7 24.d1 ] [ 21...a7!? is very interesting: 22.xa4 ( 22.f1 ) 22...xf3 23.xe6 xd1!-+ ] 22.e5 [ 22.xa4 xf3 23.xe6 fxe6 24.gxf3 c4 ] [ 22.xa4 c4 ] 22...b6 23.d7! It looks as though Bologan underestimated this move. It is actually quite devastating. f8 24.f3 g6 25.xa5 xa5 26.xg6 A sudden and most unexpected end. As far as the opening is concerned 11 Nxd5 seems a way to play 'with the draw in hand'. Against a strong, ambitious opponent such as Bologan, it must be seen as a very shrewd choice. 1-0

1569 Mariotti,Sergio Meduna,Eduard Bratislava (11) [Nigel Davies]

B14

1982

The so-called Gundaram Variation (with 5.c5) is rarely played at GM level, and only then by devil-may-care players such as Mariotti. In club chess it's another matter, with many players being attracted by the directness of W h it e 's p la n (t o se t u p a n d ad va n c e h is queenside pawn majority). 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c5 The characteristic 'Gundaram' move after which Black must decide how to proceed. He can either continue his development or try and undermine the advanced c-pawn with 5... b6. g6 [ T h e r e i s a g o o d a l t e r n a t i v e i n 5...c6 6.b5 ( 6.c3 e5 7.b5 transposes) 6...e5 a f t e r wh i c h 7.c3 exd4 8.xd4 e7 9.ge2 0-0 10.xc6 bxc6 11.g5 h6 12.h4 a5! 13.a3 d7 14.xe7 xe7 15.c1 a6 16.0-0 xc5 left Black a good pawn up in Mariotti - Magem Badals, Andorra zonal 1987 ] 6.c3 [ 6.b5+ leads to exchanges which ease Black's position. Cutler - Ekstron, Yerevan (ol) 1996 was fine for Black after the further moves d7 7.xd7+ xd7 8.f3 c6 9.0-0 g7 10.c3 e4 11.e1 f5 etc. ] [ The immediate queenside expansion with 6.b4 seems premature after g7 7.b2 0-0 8.f3 e4! 9.e2 ( 9.bd2 a5 10.a3 b6 ) 9...a5 10.a3 b6 11.c3 axb4 12.axb4 xa1 13.xa1 c6! when Black had taken the initiative in Persson - Eperjesi, Budapest 1997 ] 6...g7 7.b5+ c6 8.ge2 Avoiding a pin on the knight on f3. [ 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 g4 10.e3 e4 11.xc6 bxc6 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 f5 14.g3 e5 allowed Black to achieve an excellent game in Beckwith - Spraggett, Calgary1996 ] 8...0-0 9.0-0 a6 [ Another Mariotti game continued 9...g4 10.f3 d7 11.g5 e6 12.b1 h6 13.e3 a6 14.xc6 xc6 15.b4 b5 16.a4 1697

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 better after 10.xe7 xe7 11.0-0 d7 12.e1 xc3 13.bxc3 b6 14.cxb6 axb6 15.d3 ] 10.0-0 b6 11.xc6 xc6 12.b4 [ I c o n s i d e r e d 12.e5 for some time, rejecting the move because of c8 13.b4 bxc5 14.bxc5 a5 when I thought Black was probably OK. I underestimated 15.d2! and then c7 16.b1 d7 17.f4 f6 18.xc6 xc6 19.f5 e5 20.b3 Lettieri, G-Spoelman, W/Belfort 2005 ] 12...e4 Black has to play ...Ne4 at some stage to relieve his cramped game. 13.xe7 xe7 14.c1N A novelty? Surely White is just getting his Rooks into the game, and in this ca se, th e Rook comes in beh ind th e passed pawn. The ending is a long way off, but you never know when this sort of thing could be useful. It was a surprise to me when I consulted the archives and found that other moves were more popular: [ 14.d3! f6 ( 14...bxc5! 15.bxc5 f6 16.ab1 ab8= ) 15.fe1 fd8 16.d2 a5 17.b5 xc3 18.bxc6 bxc5 19.xc3 dc8 20.xc5 xc5 21.dxc5 xc6 22.b3 e5 23.ad1 a4 24.c1 xc5 25.d3 Eyo Castro Rial, A-Barreiros Putnam, X/ Burgas 2003 ] [ 14.c2 A) 14...bxc5! 15.e5 ( 15.bxc5 f6 ) 15...xc3 16.xc6 d6 17.xc3 xc6 18.dxc5 a5 19.a3 fb8=; B) 14...xc3 15.xc3 b5 16.e5 e8 1570 B14 17.fe1 c7 18.e3 a5 19.a3 axb4 20.axb4 c6 21.b2 xa1+ 22.xa1 Martin,Andrew D a8 23.c3 a4 24.xc6 xc6 25.g3 Coates,Kenneth G g6 26.e1 h8 27.b1 h5 28.g2 g7 Borders League 28.03.2006 Izoria, Z-Sulashvili, G/Tbilisi 2001 ] [Andrew Martin] 14...fc8 [ By analogy 14...bxc5 should be the move, 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 f6 but then I intended 15.e5! and the Rook 5.c3 c6 6.g5 I prefer Botvinnik' s move starts to look very good on c1: here to the dry positions that sometimes A) 15...d6 16.bxc5 ( 16.xe4 dxe4 occur after 6 Nf3 Bg4 e6 This is Black's most 17.bxc5 d5 18.xc6 xc6 19.e2 solid choice, but it is difficult play the fd8 20.e3 ab8 21.fe1 f5 22.cd1 positions that arise. Typically Black must b2 ) 16...c7 17.e1; defend against the advance of W hite's B) 15...b7 16.bxc5 f6 17.xc6 xc6 queenside pawn armada. 7.f3 e7 8.c5! 18.e1 xc3 19.xc3 ] 0-0 9.b5 The correct square for this Bishop, [ 14...xc3 15.xc3 b5 16.e1 a5 preparing b2-b4. d7 17.bxa5 bxc5 18.xc5 c4 19.e5 ] [ Here, I think 9...e4 is recommended in various books, but isn't W hite still a bit 15.a4 e8 16.xe4 dxe4 17.e5

A) In a later correspondence game, Iodice Di Salvio, 1985, Black decided to hold the b 5 p a w n w i t h 16...d7 after which White should have kept the tension on the queenside with 17.a1 ( in the game he mistakenly played 17.a5 ); B) 16...bxa4 17.xa4 d7 18.ac3 b8 19.d2 h7 20.d3 b7 21.fd1 was better for White in Mariotti - Savon, Venice 1974 ] 10.xc6 bxc6 11.b4 d7 12.a4 e5 13.e3 e8 14.c1 b7 15.f4! A move worth noting. White inhibits Black's central expansion, and is p repa red to give him a su pported, bu t blockaded, passed e-pawn. exf4 16.xf4 f8 17.d2 e6 18.h6 h8 19.e3 b8 20.b1 e7 21.f2 g7 22.fe1 bd8 23.bd1 c8 24.b5 Creating a passed cpawn and marking out d5 as a target. White is slightly better, but Black holds the balance because of his own pressure against d4. axb5 25.axb5 cxb5 26.xb5 a6 27.ec3 xb5 28.xb5 a8 29.c3 d7 30.a1 h5 31.d3 h7 32.h3 eb8 33.xa8 xa8 34.b5 Taking the plunge, but Black still holds the balance with accurate defence. xb5 35.xb5 b8 36.d6 xd4 37.c6 xf2+ 38.xf2 b2+ 39.f1 c2 40.xf7 g7 41.xe6 xf7 42.d6 g7 43.e1 d4 44.d1 d3 45.h4 ½-½

1698

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ I ' m s u r e n o w t h a t 17.d2! is better, reatening both Nc4-d6 and Nxe4. I had the funny idea at the board that Black could play d7 but 18.xe4 xa4 19.d6 is very good for White. ] 17...ab8 18.e1 a5 19.c4 bxc5 20.b5! the difficulties for Black are mounting and this very good move now gives W hite a permanent advantage. Ken Coates is a very s t r o n g , a gg r e s s i ve p l a ye r t h i s p r i m a r i l y defensive system and set-up does not suit him at all. cxd4 [ 20...d8 21.xe4 f5 reacts against Black: 22.e5 xd4 23.e1 ] 21.xe4 f6 22.xd4 e5 23.d2 f7 [ 23...b4 24.b2 c5 25.bb1 sees W hite f inally coordinate and he is much better as a result due to the weakness of Black's pawn at a5 and the passed pawn on b5. ] 24.d6 xc1 25.xc1 d8 26.b6! xd6 27.c8+ 1-0

1571 Milov,Vadim Kobalia,Mihail Aiacciu Masters (5.1) [Andrew Martin]

B14 2683 2621 26.10.2004

MAKING SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING 1.c4 A very strange move when one considers the content and title of this site. Yet we soon transpose to the Panov-Botvinnik variation of t h e C a r o - K a n n . f6 2.c3 e5 3.e3 Stranger and stranger. c6 4.d4 exd4 5.exd4 d5 6.f3 e7 7.cxd5 Ah, back o n known gro u n d . I t lo o ks h a rd f o r W h it e t o m a k e anythin g of th is position. He will have t o fashion his advantage from very simple tools. Perhaps his main hopes lie in the opportunity to develop his Bishops more actively than Black. That's about it! cxd5 8.d3 0-0 [ In view of the small advantage that White obtains, perhaps Black should consider 8...g4!? 9.b3 Any other move leaves Black with an improved position viz a viz the a c t u a l g a m e . xf3 10.xb7 bd7 A pawn is a pawn, but Black is developing quickly. I think I prefer this to the cheerless

p o s i t i o n t h a t B l a c k o b t a i n s . ( 10...xg2 is not as good: 11.g1 bd7 12.xg2 b8 13.xa7 g6 14.f4 xb2 15.c7 c8 16.a6 ) 11.gxf3 0-0 12.xd5 b8 13.xf6+ xf6 14.xa7 a8 15.b7 xd4 ] 9.h3! A good move, cutting down on the activity of Black's light-squared Bishop. c6 10.0-0 h6 11.f4! e6 12.e1 e8 13.a3 Despite the better bishops it will be really hard to make anything of this due to the fixed pawn position. Where to attack? Black has covered his weak pawn on d5. Milov grits his teeth and continues to play chess. [ RR 13.c1 c8 14.b1 f8 15.d3 was a shar per approach. Whilst the White battery looks menacing, the fact is that Black can defend and create counterplay at the s a m e t i m e . g6 16.d2 h7 17.e2 ( 17.e5! was a better try for advantage.) 17...a5 18.e5 c4 19.xc4 dxc4 20.ce1 d7 21.c2 f5 22.xe8 xe8 23.xe8 xe8 24.a4 d8 25.e2 d6 26.xd6 xd6 27.xc4 e6 28.d5 f5 29.g4 h4! 30.f1? Faced with virtually Black's first active move of the game, White goes wrong. It's amazing how many times t h i s h a p p e n s i n c h e s s . ( 30.g2! w a s m o r e o r l e s s f o r c e d , a n d t h e n h5 31.d1 hxg4 32.xg4 d7 33.b5 xb5 34.xb5 e7 leads to equality.) 30...xg4! 31.e4 xh3 32.e2 h2+ 33.h1 f5 34.f6+ xf6 0-1 Kislinsky, A-Drozdovskij, Y/Kiev 2003 A game which highlights that Black is very much waiting to pounce should White overstretch. ] 13...c8 14.c1 d6N Utterly logical. Black nullifies the effect of W hite's more active Bishop. [ Instead, 14...a5 15.b5! c6 ( 15...c4 16.xc4 dxc4 17.xa7 a8 18.b5 d5 19.d2 ) 16.e5 b6 17.b4 should keep t h e W h it e e d ge . d7 18.xd7 xd7 19.c7 xd4 20.xc6 xf4 21.xd5 1-0 Zude, E-Schmitzer, H/Wiesbaden 1988 ] 15.e5! f8 Giving ground a bit too easily for my liking. Black should stand toe to toe with a move like [ 15...a6 and ask White to prove it. ] 16.b1 d7 17.g3 This type of manoeuvering is actually quite subtle. White 1699

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is encouraging Black to place his pieces out of position. It's working too as the Bishop on f8 is hardly ideal. The problem for Black in this line is the complete absence of an active plan. a6 18.e2! Excellent, heading for the f4 square and thereby putting pressure on the d e f e n d i n g B i s h o p a t e 6 . e7 19.f4 W hite's advantage grows. f8 20.xe6 xe6 [ 20...fxe6 21.e5 b6 22.xc6 xc6 23.xc6 bxc6 24.b4 a5 25.e5! axb4 26.g4 ] 21.d3 f8 22.e5 b6 23.f5! f6 24.d7! In this relatively open position Milov finds some very accurate moves. Black is almost certainly lost now due to the attack on his King. d8 [ 24...xd4 25.xb6 xc1 26.xc1 xf5 27.xf5 xb2 28.b1+- ] [ 24...xe1+ 25.xe1 d8 26.xf6+ gxf6 27.h4 g7 28.xf6+ xf6 29.xc8+- ] [ 24...xd7 25.h7+ f8 26.d6+ e7 27.h8# ] 25.xf8 xf8 26.xe8+ xe8 [ If 26...xe8 27.h7! finishes the job. ] 27.e1+ e7 28.h7 a5 29.b4 xa3 30.f5! It is not easy to pinpoint a Black mistake in this game nor to suggest any real improvements. Perhaps the whole system that Bla ck e mp lo ye d he re is un prom isin g th e pass ive Blac k bisho ps really do see m t o m a t t e r. Ne ve rt h e le ss , a ve ry in s t ru c t ive performance from Milov, one that is well worth playing through again and again. 1-0

[ 6.f3 is the best move. ] 6...e7 7.f3 0-0 8.b4!? b6 Black must n e u t r a li s e t h e wh i t e p a wn s A S A P . 9.b1 Removing the rook from the a-file so as to be a b l e t o a n s w e r . . . a 5 w i t h a 3 . bxc5!? New, surprisingly enough. [ 9...e4 first had been preferred: 10.c2 xc3 ( 10...f5!? , Rubin, S-Thinnsen, J/ Los Angeles 1991, is aggressive, maintaining the knight on e4, but positionally weakening.) 11.xc3 bxc5 12.bxc5 c6 13.d3 and now Black tried to break-out with e5?! Keller, A-Grafe, W/Germany 1985. ] 10.bxc5 [ 10.dxc5 is probably worse, as Black can normally blockade the queenside pawns, and then advance his two centre pawns in such positions. ] 10...e4 11.xe4!? A sharp and interesting possibility, [ 11.c2 could be similar to the note to move nine. ] 11...dxe4 12.e5 c7!? [ 12...f6?! 13.xb8 xb8 14.c6 c7 15.xb8 xb8 16.b3 would justify White's play. ] 13.f4 d8 Black doesn't fear a discovered attack from the bishop - W hite still has to develop his kingside, so won't want to indulge in any tactics. 14.a4!? [ 14.d2!? g5!? ( 14...xc5?? 15.c1 ) 15.g3 f5 is messy, White will probably lose a piece to ...f4, but the black position will become very loose. ] 14...g5!? Again, Black cannot afford to hang around, he must strike before White has time 1572 B14 to complete his development and exploit his d7! 16.b5!? Morozevich,Alexander 2716 pa ssed c-p awn . 15.d2 Bareev,Evgeny 2726 W h i t e p l a ys f o r a n a t t a c k , b u t i t i s o n l y Sparkassen Gp 2 (1) 06.07.2002 enough for a draw. [ 16.xd7!? xd7 17.xd7 xd7 18.c3 [Tony Kosten] is playable, although Black will have counterplay against the backward d-pawn. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.c5!? This is like Gunderam's 16...xb5 17.xb5 xd4 Black has to play move, 5 c5 - whereby W hite tries to set his this otherwise he is just worse. 18.e8+ f8 q u e e n s i d e p a w n m a j o r i t y i n m o t i o n 19.c3 xe5 "In for a penny, in for a pound"! immediately. It was recommended as a good 20.0-0? A miscalculation, [ 20.b7! is clearly critical: d7!? ( 20...f4 winning attempt by Keene many years ago, 21.xd4 c1+ 22.e2 c2+ leads to a but has never really caught-on as it is too perp ) 21.xa8 e3!? ( 21...xc5 22.xd4 committal. 1700

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c1+ draws ) 22.xd7 xc5! 23.xd4 ( 23.xd4? c1+ 24.e2 d2+ 25.f3 xf2+ 26.e4 xg2+ wins White's queen ) 23...xc3+ 24.e2 xd4 25.fxe3 and White should be OK, although his king is exposed. ] 20...d5! 21.c6 d8 [ 21...xc6 22.xb8 xe8 amounts to the same. ] 22.xd8 xd8 23.c7 c8 24.cxb8 axb8 25.xb8 xb8 Black has two extra pawns and should win easily. 26.d4 a6 27.g3 h6 28.c1 b4 29.e3 g7 30.h4 d4 31.xd4 xd4 32.hxg5 hxg5 33.c5 d5 34.c4 e5 35.f1 g7 36.e2 f5 37.a4 f6 38.e3 d5 39.g4 d3+ 40.e2 e5 0-1

1573 Naiditsch,Arkadij Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (5) [Gawain Jones]

B14 2687 2681 21.01.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 This is probably Black's main defence. However it's hard to annotate this lin e a s t h e re a re a lo t o f tra n sp o sit io n a l possibilities as we'll see. 6.f3 b4 [ 6...e7 is the other, more solid option. 7.cxd5 xd5 A) 8.c4 0-0 9.0-0 c6 10.e1 f6 ( 10...f6 is recommended by Pete Wells in his Caro Kann book.) 11.a3 and we've transposed into a Nimzo-Indian mainline position! There are a lot of transposition possibilities between the 5...e6 Panov and the Nimzo. Timofeev-Jobava, Rijeka 2010, being one recent example from this position.; B) 8.d3 A junction for White. He can choose either the text move or the more positional Bc4 putting pressure on d5. c6 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 And another transposition! This time to a SemiTarrasch. JP W allace has done an indepth survey of this position in the archives, I'll just add a few recent games. B1) 10...f6 B1a) 11.e3 g6 12.h6 g7

( There is a definite argument in keeping the bishops on to maintain pressure on d4. The way the game we n t W h i t e s u c c e e d e d i n p u t t i n g pressure on Black's position. 12...e8 ) 13.d2 b6 14.e4 f6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.xg7 xg7 17.a4 b5 18.b3 c6 is a definite weakness while W hite has great c5 and e5 squares for his knights. MamedovLopez Martinez, Rijeka 2010.; B1b) 11.e4 h6 An unusual move not fearing the capture on d5. ( 11...ce7 is normal ) 12.a3 ce7 13.c2 now that Black's weakened his kingside the formation of bishop on c2 and queen on d3 is much stronger as Black cannot simply play ...g6. g6 14.xg6 ( 14.e4! e7 15.c5 hitting e6. c7 16.xg6 fxg6 17.e5 g i ve s W h i t e a p l e a s a n t p o s i t i o n .) 14...fxg6 15.e4 b6 16.e2 b7 17.d2 d7 18.ac1 ac8 19.e5 xe5 20.dxe5 e7 21.d6 xc1 22.xc1 f5 23.b4 xd6 24.xd6 c8 and Black had equalised and even went on to win in Vasquez SchroederNakamura, ICC 2010.; B2) 10...f6 11.g5 Normally White plays 11.a3 first to cut out Nb4 ideas. h6 12.f4 d6 13.e5 b6 14.c1 b7 15.b1 c8 16.a3 a5 ( 16...e7!? is interesting attacking e5.) 17.d3 xe5 18.xe5 e8 19.cd1 d5 20.h3 c4 21.e2 f8 and Black was solid although White has more activity and could continue to rearrange his pieces Mamedov-Jobava, Rijeka 2010. ] 7.cxd5 [ 7.d3 dxc4 8.xc4 would transpose out of this section and into another Nimzo! The most recent game in the archive seems to be Emms-Speelman, in which John does a good job explaining the position. I won't step on his toes but just give the moves to a recent high rated encounter. 0-0 9.0-0 a6 ( 9...b6 Zinchenko, Y-Lastin, Dos Hermanas ICC 2010 ) 10.a4 c6 11.g5 h6 12.h4 e7 13.g3 d7 14.e1 a5 15.e2 ad8 16.ad1 d5 17.e4 xa4 18.e5 b4 19.c3 b6 20.a2 a5 21.b3 1701

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d8 20.b5 d7 ( 20...xb5 21.b4 e8 22.f3 d5 23.c1 cb4 24.e5 d7 22.fe1+ e6 23.xe6 fxe6 b6 25.c4 a7 26.f3 b5 27.e2 24.xe6+ f7 25.e7+ gives White c6 28.e4 f6 29.e3 a5 30.c3 some initiative. ) 21.fe1+ e6=; xc4 31.xc4 xd4 32.h3 c5 33.d3 B1b) 15.b2 xf3+ 16.gxf3 c6! f5 34.xc5 xc5 35.c7 c8 36.b5 ( 16...exd5 17.xg7+- ) b4 37.f1 e7 38.g3 fd8 39.a7 B1b1) 17.xg7 xd5 18.e4 a8 40.b5 ed5 41.b1 ac8 42.c1 ( 18.xh8+? d7 19.e4 xh8 xc1 43.xc1 d2 44.c4 f4 45.h2 20.xd5 g8+-+ ) 18...d4 19.xd4 xg3+ 46.xg3 g5 0-1 Timofeevxd4 20.ac1 d7 gives Black the Riazantsev, Moscow 2009 ] be t te r ch a n ce s du e to h is b et t e r 7...xd5 8.c2 pawn structure.; [ 8.d2 is the other option for White. A B1b2) 17.xb6 xd3 18.xg7 recent game ran: c6 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 ( 18.xc8 g6+-+ ) 18...h7 f6 ( 10...e7 is considered to be better to 19.xh7 xh7 20.c3 otherwise ... stop the pin.) 11.g5 h6 12.h4 e7 Rg7+ is mating. axb6 Again Black 13.e1 h5 14.xe7 xe7 15.e5 f6 h a s t h e b e t t e r ch a n c e s wit h t h e 16.e3 d7 17.g3 f5 18.xf5 exf5 better structure.; 19.d2 was somewhat better for White. B2) 14...exd5 15.fe1+ e7 h7 20.d5 b6 21.f3 g6 Hovhannisyan( 15...e6!? ) 16.b3 0-0 17.a4 f5 B e l o v , R i j e k a 2 0 1 0 w h e n 22.e1 18.a5 xd3 19.xd3 c7 and White wo u l d h a v e c o n t i n u e d t o i n c r e a s e t h e was a little better but Black held the pressure. The knight is more useful than the d ra w in Ra d ja b o v, T -Mo ro ze vic h , A bishop. ( Instead 22.xd7 was played and Amber 2009. ] Black survived. )] [ 9...d6 was another retreat tried against 8...c6 9.a3 This move isn't so common but t h e yo u n g G e rm a n wh i ch re su lt e d in a has been played often by Naiditsch. miniature W hite win but Black's position [ 9.d3 ] wa s pla ya ble . 10.d3 h6 11.0-0 0-0 [ or 9.e2 are more common. ] 12.e2 e8 13.d1 xc3?! The start of a 9...e7 dubious plan. ( 13...d7 would be a normal [ 9...a5 is the alternative retreat. position. ) 14.bxc3 e5?! And this loses A) 10.d3 is also possible but allows material. 15.dxe5 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 A1) 10...h6 11.0-0 0-0 12.h7+ ( 16...xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.h7+ xh7 ( 12.e4 b6 13.c5 e7 14.b3 19.xd8 is also winning for White.) 17.b5! d8 15.d2 d7 16.fe1 ac8 xh2+ 18.f1 e7 19.xe8 xe2+ 17.d1 f6 and White hadn't got 20.xe2 g4+ 21.f3 xe8+ 1-0 Naiditschanywhere in Naiditsch-Doettling, Jobava, Budva 2009. ] French Championships 2007.) 12...h8 13.e4 ce7 14.d1 d7 15.e5 f6 10.d3 h6 [ 10...f6 given as dubious in the archives 16.xd7 xd7 17.d3 ac8 b y A n d r e w Ma rt i n b u t e vid e n t ly L a s t i n was another game by the German GM disagrees! 11.e3 ( 11.0-0 is Fedorowiczwhere Black had equalised in NaiditschEnhbat in the archives.) 11...h6 12.0-0 0-0 Grischuk, Mainz 2009.; 13.e4 ce7 14.ac1 b6 15.d2 A2) 10...xc3 11.bxc3 xd4 12.xd4 ( 15.xf6+ xf6 16.e5 b7 is perhaps a xd4 and was covered by Vigorito in little better for White with the two bishops Nepomniachtchi-Rodshtein in the but I'd be happy to play Black's position archives .; too. ) 15...f5 16.xf6+ xf6 17.c2 B) 10.d2 d7 11.d3 c8 12.0-0 h6 ( 17.xf5 exf5 doesn't promise White 13.b4 b6 14.xd5 anything the light squares and d5 outpost B1) 14...xd4! the pawn looks edible. compensate for the slightly worse B1a) 15.d1 xf3+ 16.xf3 c6 structure.) 17...e7 ( 17...d5!? ) 18.c7 17.ac1 xd5 18.xd5 exd5 19.f5 1702

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc7 19.xc7 fd5= Danin-Lastin, Moscow 2010. ] 11.0-0 0-0 12.e2 Naiditsch's new attempt in this position, trying to reroute the queen in f ron t of the bis hop. Once .. .h6 has bee n played, Black's kingside is much more vulnerable as ...g6 is impossible. Interestingly he lost to this move against Milov in a previous game. [ 12.d1 A) 12...d7 13.e2 e8 14.c2 f8 15.h4!? xc3 ( 15...d6 ) 16.bxc3 a5 17.b1 xc3? ( 17...b6 was necessary.) 18.xb7 ad8 19.b2 a5 20.xd7! xd7 21.e4 g6 22.xc6 should have been winning but somehow Black held the draw Aronian-Nielsen, Heraklio 2007.; B) 12...e8 13.h7+ h8 14.e5 out of the blue White threatens mate and forces Black to improve his structure. xe5 15.dxe5 a5 16.d2 c7 17.xd5 xc2 18.xc2 exd5 19.a4 Schneider-Erenburg, ICC 2009. ] [ 12.h7+ wa s p la ye d p re vio u sl y h8 13.e4 f6 14.d1 ce7 15.e5 xe5 16.dxe5 c7 17.e1 ( 17.xd5 xc2 18.xc2 xd5 19.e4 d8 20.d2 b6 21.ac1 is a risk free advantage for White. ) 17...b6 18.f4 b7 19.b5 xc2 20.xc2 ac8 21.e4 and White was making progress in Naiditsch-Chadaev, Budva 2009. ] 12...d6 [ 12...b6 was Naiditsch's own attempt here. 13.d1 ( 13.xd5!? looks interesting as Black wants the a8-h1 diagonal open for the light squared bishop. xd5 14.e4 d6 15.g3 borrowing an idea from the S c a n d i n a v i a n . b7 16.f4 d7 17.ad1 ) 13...b7 14.e4 f6 15.h4 e8 16.g3 h5 ( 16...d6= ) 17.h3 f6 18.e5 xd4 A) 19.xh6 is enough for a draw. gxh6 20.g3+ f8 21.xf7 ( 21.e3 g7 22.g3+= ) 21...xf7 22.g6+ f8 23.xh6+=; B) 19.e3 b3? ( 19...f5! 20.xf5 b8 and I can't see a killer blow for White so Black hangs on.) 20.g6 fxg6 21.xd8 xd8 22.e1 g5 23.b5 was winning for W hite in Milov-Naiditsch, Villarrobledo

Rapid 2009. ] 13.c2 d7 14.d3 f5 [ Black would prefer not to weaken his king but 14...f6 15.g3! puts Black in some problems. A) 15...b8 16.e1 d6 ( 16...d8 17.f4 d6 18.e5! ) 17.d5! e5 18.xe5 xe5 19.dxe6 xe6 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 c8 22.h7+ f8 23.d2 a5 24.f5 and White's attack looks decisive to me.; B) 15...e5 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 f5 18.dxe5 fxe4 19.exd6 exf3 20.dxe7 xe7 and White has a big advantage with the bishop pair. The pawn on f 3 f eels more like a potential weakness than a strength to me too. ] 15.xd5 exd5 [ 15...xd5 16.e1 f6 17.b3 d6 18.g3 followed by Bf4 and occupying e5 with d5 ideas opening up the kingside too. ] 16.g3! The dark squared bishop joins the party! g5 And a radical step by Black to try and avoid it. [ 16...f6 17.f4 e7 18.fe1 f7 19.ac1 and White has a strong bind. ] 17.d2 [ 17.h4!? gxh4 18.f4 g6 isn't so clear although I'd still prefer White. ] 17...f6 18.h4! A strong temporary pawn sacrifice to regain the f4 square. gxh4 [ Black can't keep his pawn on g5 as 18...e7 19.hxg5 hxg5 20.ae1 g7 21.b3 and Black's in trouble. ] 19.f4 e7 20.xh6 regaining the pawn. [ I would also be interested in 20.b3 f7 21.e5 ( 21.g2!? ) 21...xe5 22.dxe5 e6 23.g2 d4 24.xe6 xe6 25.h1 xe5 26.xe5 xe5 27.xh4 ad8 28.d1 ] 20...fe8 21.gxh4!? [ 21.ae1 is simple and strong. f7 22.d2 hxg3 23.fxg3 looks very pleasant for White. Black's king is more vulnerable than White's and both f5 and d5 pawns are weak. ] 21...e4 [ 21...e2!? would cut out White's reply. ] 22.d1! White rightly doesn't fear the check. g4+ [ 22...e2 trying to force the queen swap might be stronger but White's still a pawn 1703

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 up. ] 23.h2 h8 24.g1 h5 25.g5 g7 26.g3 White is basically just a pawn up. f4?! 27.g2 [ A n d wh y n o t 27.xf4 ? White's now two pawns up as g4 28.g1! xf3 29.g6!+and Black's pieces drop. ] 27...g4 Now the position is messy again. 28.g6 xg6 29.xg4 e4 30.d3 [ 30.xf4 d6 31.e5 xe5 32.dxe5 xe5 ( 32...xe5 33.h5+ g8 34.g1 is mating ) 33.h5+ g8 34.f7+ h7 35.g2 and the position starts to simplify but Black looks ok to me. ] 30...e6 [ 30...f5 31.ag1 xd4 is more accurate as now f 4 is defended compared to the game but 32.xd4 xd4 33.f3 an d B lac k h a s som e pro ble ms wit h h is weakened king. ] 31.ag1 xd4 32.xf4 [ 32.d8! looks decisive xd8 33.xg7 h6 34.1g4 xf3+ 35.xf3 xg7 36.xg7 xg7 37.g4+ f7 38.f5+ e8 39.h5 is a winning endgame, the h pawn is too hard to stop. ] 32...xf4? [ 32...a6! keeps Black in the game 33.d1 xf4 34.xf4 d6 and Black is still ok as after 35.gg4 f8 there's no Ng5 threatening mate. ] 33.xf4 d6 34.gg4 xf3+ 35.xf3 e5 36.h3 xf4 37.xf4 e6+ 38.f5 An interesting game with a few errors but shows Black has some problems in the 9. a3 line, in particular 12.Qe2!? looks tricky to deal with. Perhaps 10...Bf6 should be reconsidered as it doesn't look as bad as Andrew Martin previously thought. 1-0

1574 Naiditsch,Arkadij Vuckovic,Bojan 11th EICC Men (6) [Gawain Jones]

B14 2691 2630 11.03.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 g6 John Watson makes the comment that he has never liked or believed in 5...g6.

However, my view is more like Pete W ells', who states in his book that this is the move that Black would really like to make work. 6.b3 [ 6.cxd5 xd5 7.c4 xc3?! ( 7...b6 playing in a Grunfeld spirit seems stronger to me. ) 8.bxc3 ( 8.b3! is White's typical idea in these lines and is actually the reason that Black feels obliged to sacrifice a pawn normally. ) 8...g7 9.f3 c7 10.b3 0-0 11.g5 e6 12.a3 d8 13.0-0 c6 14.d3 b6 15.fe1 a5 16.c2 b7 17.xe6!? xd4 18.b4?? ( 18.xg6 hxg6 19.xg6+ fxg6 20.xg6+= ) 18...fxe6 19.xa5 bxa5 0-1 Hegde-Ravi, New Delhi 2010 ] 6...g7 [ 6...dxc4 7.xc4 e6 It's curious that Ravi, who is a reasonably strong fm, is happy playing these positions as they have tended to be regarded as bad for Black as e6 and g6 don't combine well. Not only are the dark squares vulnerable, but the c8 bishop has been incarcerated by its own pawns. However the game turned out well for Black. A) 8.d5! immediately would put pressure on Black's position. exd5 ( 8...g7 9.dxe6 xe6 10.xe6 e7 11.f3 xe6+ 12.xe6+ fxe6 13.0-0 gives White a clear advantage with the weak e6 pawn.) 9.xd5 xd5 10.xd5 e7+ 11.f1! is rather unpleasant for Black seeing as the logica l g7 runs into 12.d2! 0-0 13.b4 picking up the exchange; B) 8.f3 g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.g5 h6 11.h4 c6 12.d1 b6 13.b3 e7 was very comfortable for Black in PrinceRavi, New Delhi 2010 ] 7.cxd5 0-0 8.e2 [ 8.ge2 is White's other option here a6 9.f4 ( 9.g3 is looked at in the archives. ) A) 9...b6!? Wells looks stronger as 10.xb6 axb6 followed by ...Nb4 and Black should retrieve the pawn. 11.c4 b4 12.b3 f5 ( 12...d8 followed by ... g5 also looks respectable.) 13.0-0 c2 14.d2 xb3 15.axb3 c2=; B) 9...e8 10.e3 d6 11.e2 f5 12.d1 c7 13.0-0 d6 14.e4 b6 15.xb6 axb6 Black hadn't really managed any compensation for the pawn 1704

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 C3a) n e c e s s a r y a s 11.c4 a4! in Rasulov-Nedochetov, Rijeka 2010 ] 12.c2 ( 12.xa4 b5! 13.xb5 xb5 8...a5 a new move for ChessPublishing and 14.xb5 d7-+ ) 12...cxd5 not mentioned in Pete W ells' book either. and Black has the upper hand. P re vio u s ly . . . Na 6 o r . . . Nb d 7 h a ve b e e n ( 12...b5!? could be an attempt to try investigated. When I do a search, however, it for even more. ); appears that this is in fact an old move played C3b) 11.xf6 xf6 12.0-0 back in 1972 by Soltis 9.f3 I t h in k it migh t b e h e re t h a t B la c k [ 9.f3 might be a better test of Black's should look for improvements. opening try. C3b1) 12...b5 13.e5! ( 13.xb5?! A) The immediate try 9...a4 doesn't seem xb5 14.xb5 a4 15.e3 a6 to equalise. 10.xa4 xd5 11.c3 b6 a n d B l a c k w i n s t h e e x c h a n g e .; 12.d5 ( 12.0-0 e6 13.c2 c6 13.xb5 a4 14.c2 xd5 gives Black reasonable compensation on gives Black good compensation for the light squares and on the a file although the pawn. Black has the bishop pair White still has an extra pawn.) 12...e6 and a better pawn structure in 13.g5 d6 14.0-0 xd5 15.fd1; particular b2 and d4 are big B) 9...bd7 i s i n t e r e s t i n g 10.a4! weaknesses. ) Otherwise Black will play 10...Nb6 c7 C3b11) 13...a4 14.b4 b7 ( 10...b6 11.0-0 b7 12.c4 must be at 15.f3 xd5 ( 15...a3!? ) 16.xb5 least something for White) 11.0-0 d6 xc3 17.bxc3 xf3 ( 17...a6 12.c4 b5! 13.xb5 xd5 14.d2 b8 18.xa4 xe5 19.xa8 xa8 15.c3 20.dxe5 xf1 21.xa8 xa8 B1) 15...c7 16.e4 e6 22.xf1 ) 18.xf3 c7 19.d3 ( 16...xb5? 17.xd6 xb3 fc8 20.ac1 ab8 21.c4 18.xc8+- ) 17.xe6 xe6 18.a4 and W hite had more or less a n d W h i t e ' s c o n s o l id a t e d h i s e xt r a consolidated his extra pawn.; pawn.; C3b12) 13...b7 14.c6 xc6 B2) 15...xc3 16.bxc3 b7 17.ad1 15.dxc6 a4 16.c2 b4 17.e4 b6 18.c4 a4 19.d3 xf3 20.xf3 ( 17.xa4 e6! and Black's xd4 seems reasonable.; po sit io n se e m s f u lly p la ya b le .) C) 9...a6 10.g5 17...xd4 18.ad1 e5 C1) 10...f5 This position isn't clear. The C1a) White doesn't have to stop ...Nb4 computer favours W hite but it 11.0-0 b4 12.xf6 xf6 ( 12...c2 se e m s e a sie r f o r B lack t o p la y 13.xg7 xb3 14.xf8 gives White somehow. I like the bishop on d4 t o o m u c h m a t e ria l f o r t h e qu e e n .) and White has to be careful that c6 13.ac1 and White keeps both d doesn't drop.; pawns.; C3b2) 12...a4 13.xa4 xd5 C1b) 11.a3 e4 12.f4 xc3?! 14.c4 a5 15.c5 b6 16.b5 ( 12...c7!= ) 13.bxc3 e4 14.xb7 d8 17.a4 d5 18.c4 e6 xd5 15.b2 c7 16.0-0 a7 19.xd5 exd5?! ( 19...xd5 17.d2 a8 18.h6 b8? 19.xg7 20.xb7 c7 21.c5 xd4 xg7 20.c4 e4 21.d5 f5 22.d4 22.xd4 xc5 23.c2 a6 b6 and Black resigned without and Black still has adequate waiting for 23.Nc6 in Hebden-Trzaska, co m p e n sa t i o n .) 20.xb7 xb7 Hastings; 21.xb7 ab8 22.c6 g7 C2) 10...b4 would try and utilise ...a5 23.c3 and Black has nothing like but 11.xf6 xf6 12.a3 forces the two pawns worth of play in Hebdenk n i gh t t o re t r e a t a n d g e t s B la ck n o Skembris, Vrnjacka Banja 1989 ] nearer to material equality.; 9...a6 C3) 10...c7 1705

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ It looks more logical to combine ...a5 with ... Na6, especially now the bishop on f3 is d e f e n d in g d 5 . 9...bd7 10.ge2 b6 11.a4?! This is just a waste of time. ( 11.0-0 should be preferred) 11...f5 12.f4 d3! Rosenberg-Soltis, Graz 1972 with the threat of ...Bc4. The d5 pawn drops and so Black has at least equalised. ] 10.a3 [ 10.ge2 was played against one of the best ever players never to become W orld Champion. b4 11.0-0 f5 12.g5 c2 13.a3 h6 14.e3 c8 ( 14...d7 and I p ref er Black, W hite's pieces lack coordination.) 15.ac1 b6 16.h3 g5 17.xc2! xc2 18.b3 b4 19.a3 a6 20.g3 c7 and here 21.f5 would have giv e n W h it e a ve ry p l e a sa n t in i t i a t i ve . ( 21.h5 Bellin-Bronstein, Hastings 1976 )] 10...b5!? Energetic play and more aggressive than So White has various ways to be a pawn up but it seems Black has reasonable chances. [ 10...c7 11.ge2 d7 12.0-0 a4 13.c4 a5?! ( 13...d8 14.f4 b5 15.c6 b8 16.e1 b7 17.xd7 xd7 18.d3! and White has transformed his material advantage into a positional one, the Black queenside pawns are vulnerable and c5 is a strong outpost.) 14.d2 b5 15.c5 Hansen-Hector, Vejle 1994 ] 11.xb5 [ 11.xb5 b7 ( 11...b6!?; 11...a4!? ) 12.e2 ( 12.c3; and 12.d6 are also possible. ) 12...xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.0-0 b8 15.a4 ac7 16.ec3 d7 17.xd5 xd5 Again the knight on d5 offers Black decent compensation but an extra pawn should count for something. ] [ 11.d6 b8 12.dxe7 xe7+ 13.ge2 e6 14.d1 c7 15.0-0 b4 16.axb4 axb4 17.e4 xe4 18.xe4 fe8 ( 18...c4 19.d3 xd3 20.xd3 ) 19.e1 bd8 20.c6 d7 21.xd7 xd7 White's better with the extra pawn of course but Black has a strong outpost on d5 and active play still, which gives Black good drawing chances. ] 11...c7 12.b3 [ 12.c6 i s a n o t h e r p o s s i b i l i t y f5 ( 12...a6 13.c4 d6 14.ge2 cxd5 15.0-0 b7 and Black has a solid position at

the cost of a pawn.) 13.ge2 c8 14.d6 exd6 15.0-0 is probably a little better for White although the position requires further games. ] 12...a4 [ 12...a6 is an alternative way of playing the position. 13.ge2 b8 14.a2 b5 15.0-0 d6 and Black has well placed pieces but whether it's enough compensation for two pawns is doubtful. ] 13.xa4 cxd5 The position has similarities to Adams-Granda Zuniga in the archives. Black has sacrificed two whole pawns here but has a b ig le ad in d evelo pm en t a nd goo d queenside play. Meanwhile White still needs a few tempi to get his king to safety. In the aforementioned game, Black recaptured the pawn on d5 with his f6 knight. This means that Black has better coordination but d4 isn't en-prise anymore. On the other hand Black has sacrificed a further pawn as he still had a7 in that game. Originally I preferred Black here, but having examined it in detail, I don't think he has enough compensation. He has to play dynamically or will simply be two pawns down. [ Perhaps 13...fxd5 is more accurate but st il l W h it e r e t a i n s t h e b e t t e r ch a n c e s . 14.e2 a6 15.0-0 ( 15.ac3 b8 16.c2 xc3 17.bxc3 e5 18.dxe5 xe5 19.0-0 d3 20.d2 ) 15...xe2 16.xe2 e6 17.c4 xd4 18.d1 b6 ( 18...e6!? ) 19.xb6 xb6 20.a2! ] 14.e2 a5+ [ 14...a6 now allows 15.c5 ] 15.ac3 e6 16.d1 [ 16.b5! d8 17.0-0 b8 18.d3 and W hite's almost neutralised Black's counterplay. ] 16...ab8 17.0-0 fc8 18.a4 d7 19.b4 a7 20.f4? After playing accurately Naiditsch errs. [ 20.g5 h6 21.d2 and Black really has very little compensation. ] 20...xc1! White can't defend both knights. 21.xc1 xf4 22.xf4 [ 22.c5 is worse xc5 23.xc5 d7 ] 22...xa4 the position is still roughly balanced. White has rook and the two connected passed pawns for the two pieces. However Black should have the better chances with good 1706

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 squares for his pieces. 23.ae1 This move is interesting but it seems he gets cold feet. xa3 24.d5? [ 24.xe6! was logical in connection with the last move. fxe6 25.c7 and White regains the piece. a4 ( 25...xb4 26.xd7 d6 27.xd6 exd6 28.d5= ) 26.c6 xb4 27.xd7 should be a draw. ] [ 24.c7 will probably transpose. ] 24...f5 25.xe7 xb4 26.xb4?! [ 26.e8+ f8 27.e3 xe8 28.xe8 d6 would at least kee p the queens on an d better chances for White to hold the draw. ] 26...xb4 27.h3 f8 28.e8 h5 Now White has an extremely unpleasant position. Black can rearrange his pieces and target White's loose d5 pawn followed by advancing the k i n g s i d e p a wn s . A l t h o u g h wi t h r e d u c e d material, White has good chances to draw. 29.d1 g7 30.d6 b6 31.g4 e6 32.gxh5 gxh5 33.xh5 xd6 [ 33...f6 34.xe6 fxe6 35.g4 xg4 ( 35...xd6 36.xe6 really should be a draw ) 36.d7 e7 37.hxg4 d8 probably should be drawn but he'll still have to try holding rook and bishop vs rook though! ] 34.g4 f6 [ 34...xg4 35.hxg4 f6 36.d8 c5 37.c1 e4 ] 35.d8 [ I'm not sure why Naiditsch didn't play 35.xe6! fxe6 36.xe6 when, without any pawns left, the game should finish as a draw. ] 35...e7 36.8d4 [ 36.xe6 ] 36...c5 37.f4 [ Again 37.xe6 should be played ] 37...xg4 38.hxg4 b2 39.d3 g6 40.g2 b6 41.c3 d2 42.c6? A f i n a l b l u n d e r . g5! 43.xb6 xf4 44.b4+ e5 45.g3 d4 46.b5+ d5 47.f4+ e4 48.f5 d3+ 49.h4 f4 0-1

1575 Navara,David Kamsky,Gata 40th Olympiad Open (5.5) [Tom Rendle]

B14 2691 2746 01.09.2012

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 f6 5.c3 g6 6.b3 g7 7.cxd5 0-0 8.ge2 [ 8.e2 Is White's most popular move and it's been covered a few times on Chesspub, m o st re ce n t ly b y G a wa in in Na i d it s c h Vuckovic, to which I add another game that has been played this year: a6 Vuckovic chose 8...a5!? 9.f3 b5 10.a3 b8 11.f4 b6 12.ge2 f5 13.d1 d7 14.0-0 c8 15.c1 c4 and now in Koneru, H (2589)-Stefanova, A (2518) Kazan 2012 16.h3! would have prevented Bg4 and given White a clear edge. ] 8...a6 [ 8...bd7!? A) 9.f4 b6 10.e2 f5 11.0-0 h6 12.a4 a5 13.d1 ( 13.h4!? ) 13...g5! 14.h5 xh5 15.xh5 d6 and Black had equalised in Gelashvili, T (2605) Stefanova, A (2535) Chalkida 2009; B) 9.g3 b6 10.g2 f5 11.f4 has been looked at by Andrew Martin in Postny-Lagowski in the archives. ] 9.g3 [ 9.f4 is the main alternative and now A) 9...c7 10.e2 b5 11.a4 b4 12.xb4 g5 13.d3 cxd5 14.b3?! ( 14.a3 gives White chances for the advantage although after g4 15.0-0 b8 16.e1 f5 White still has to find a way to coordinate his pieces if he wants to make use of the extra pawn) 14...e6! 15.c5 f4 16.xe6 1/2-1/2 Khairullin, I (2604)Makarov, M (2505) St Petersburg 2009; B) 9...b6 seems to basically equalise for example 10.c4 f5 11.xb6 axb6 12.e3 b4 13.d2 h6 and Black was regaining the pawn with no problems in Solodovnichenko, Y (2577)-Kasparov, S (2473) Fagernes 2011 ] 9...b6 A very sensible move that does seem to solve a lot of Black's problems in this line [ If you're looking for something a bit more ambitious then 9...b5 is examined by Neil McDonald in the important game Adams1707

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Granda Zuniga from 1998. ] 10.xb6 [ 10.g2 leaving the Queen doesn't provide White with any edge at all after d8 11.0-0 xb3 12.axb3 b4 A) 13.a5 a6 14.f4 and now in Ponizil, C (2398)-Rojicek, V (2406) Czech Rep 2012 e8 would've kept chances level, e. g. ( instead after 14...h6 15.c7 e8 16.d6 exd6 17.xd6 White had some advantage although it didn't turn out to be enough to win) 15.a4 d3 16.g5 f6 17.xf6 xf6 18.c1 xc1 19.xc1 f5 and it's hard to see White hanging on to the extra pawn for long so the position is evenly balanced.; B) 13.d6 exd6 14.f4 a6 15.fd1 c6 wi t h e q u a l i t y i n A l t o u n i a n , L ( 2 4 6 0 ) Kamsky, G (2726) Las Vegas 2008 ] 10...axb6 11.g2 b4 12.0-0 d8 13.d6! Navara gives the pawn up in such a way as to at least disrupt Black's coordination for a few moves but with accurate play it shouldn't be too dangerous [ 13.a3 bxd5 14.g5 ( 14.e1 b4!? ) 14...h6 is completely equal ] 13...xd6 [ 13...exd6 14.g5 e8 A) 15.a3 causes more problems after d3 ( 15...c6 16.fe1 d7 17.ac1 is slightly better for White) 16.f4! xb2 17.xf6 xf6 18.fd5 d8 19.e4 and Black is under annoying pressure; B) 15.f4 a5 16.xf6 xf6 17.e4 xd4 18.a3 c6 19.xd6 d8 20.xc8 xc8 with an equal ending in Kanmazalp, O (2369) -Kulaots, K (2558) Riga 2012 ] 14.f4 d7 [ not 14...d8? 15.c7 ] 15.e5 e6 [ 15...fd5 had previously been played but after 16.a3 xc3 17.bxc3 c6 ( 17...d5 was perhaps more accurate) 18.xg7 xg7 19.fb1 a6 20.f4 d8 21.d5 Black was under some pressure in Pavasovic, D (2567)-Zelcic, R (2554) Sibenik 2007 ] 16.fd1 c6 17.a3 xe5! A move that shows a deep understanding of the position Navara ends up winning a pawn but gets no win n in g c h a n ce s in t h e e n s u in g e n d in g .

18.dxe5 g4 19.f4 [ 19.xd7 xd7 20.f4 c6 is nothing for White ] 19...e3 20.xd7 xd7 21.xb7 a7 22.h1 f6! Kamsky's Bishop on g7 rejoins the game and gives Black easily enough compensation for the pawn 23.exf6 xf6 24.b1 [ 24.f3 was my computer's suggested improvement but it's hard to see what White is doing after c4 25.a2 g7 while Black can slowly improve his position, perhaps starting with ... b5!? ] 24...e5! 25.d5 xd5 26.xd5+ g7 27.fxe5 xe5 Black is now threatening Bf5 and picking up the b2 pawn so it's Navara that has to be the more careful as the two Bishops could be a real pain if Black regains the pawn 28.c3 h3 29.f2 d4+ 30.e2 a5 31.d1 g4+ 32.f3 e5+ 33.d3 xc3 [ 33...xf3? Would be careless as after 34.xd4 suddenly White has good winning chances ] 34.xg4 xb2 35.b1 xa3 36.xb6 An accurate game, especially from Kamsky who drew without too much diff iculty probably 8.Be2 is still White's best try for an advantage in this line. ½-½

1576 Nepomniachtchi,Ian Rodshtein,Maxim Aeroflot Open (6) [David Vigorito]

B14 2600 2614 19.02.2008

I n a ve r y t o p i c a l p a w n s a c r i f i c e , W h i t e introduces a new finesse and gets a typical initiative. After White sacrifices a piece, Black misses (or avoids) a forced draw, but the ending gives him enough counterplay to hang on and exchange down. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.c2 c6 9.d3 [ This controversial variation has not been covered before on chesspublishing.com. The alternative 9.e2 can be found in the archive. ] 9...a5 Black threatens to snag White's important light-squared bishop with ...Ndb4. 1708

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.a3 The critical move, offering a pawn. xc3 11.bxc3 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.b5+ d7 13...Ke7 and 13...Kf8 are also possible, but the text is the main line. 14.0-0 d5 [ 14...xc3 15.xd7+ xd7 16.a4+ e7 17.g5+ f6 18.ac1 e5 19.f4 gives White a tremendous initiative for the pawns. ] 15.c4 f5 16.xd7+ xd7 17.b3 [ 17.b2 is a common alternative. The queen eyes the g7-pawn and leaves the third rank open for a white rook. After b6 18.a4 ( after 18.xg7 hg8 19.d4+ e7 it is Black who holds the initiative because of the open g-file) 18...ad8 19.a3 f6 20.g3 hg8 White has compensation for the pawn while Black remains solid. ] 17...b6 18.d1+ e7 19.a4! The a3-square will be very useful for White. One of Black's problems is that the a5-bishop is not easy to activate, so Black has to be very careful with his king because he is sometimes essentially a piece down in the defence. hd8 20.a3+ f6! [ This is actually the safest place for Black's k in g. A f t e r 20...e8 21.c5! White has a powerful initiative, because bxc5 22.b5+ wins. ] 21.d6! avoiding simplifications and creating a grip in the centre. g5! Black must try to create a haven for his king. By pushing the gpawn two squares Black gives himself both g7 and g6. 22.b2+! [ 22.d3?! g7 23.ad1 ac8 ( 23...f6!? ) 24.h4 g4 25.f3 h5 gave Black counterplay in Alexandrov-Dautov, Bundesliga 1998/9. ] 22...g6 [ Not 22...e5? 23.d5 with a strong initiative. ] 23.a3 e5 24.e2!? [ Instead 24.d5 f6 25.f3 e6 26.c2+ g7 27.e4 gives White good compensation. ] 24...f6 25.ad3 [ Another thematic idea is 25.h4!? g4 ( 25...gxh4 26.f3 e6 27.e4+ f5 28.xh4 leaves Black king very exposed) 26.g3 h5 27.f3! ] 25...ac8 26.d5 White's play looks a little slow. e8

[ 26...h5 is an an interesting idea, in order to meet h4 with ...g4. Black also creates a little more room f or his king behind his pawns. ] 27.g4!? Another thematic move. White seizes control of some light squares and further boxes in the Black king. White still has to be careful with this advance, because if he loses the initiative, this could easily backfire. f4 28.d3+ g7 29.xe5 [ This leads to a draw. After 29.h3 xc4 White is two pawns down, although 30.f5 f4 31.d7+ g8 32.e7! intending Rd6, still gives him good play. ] 29...xg4+ 30.h1 xe5 31.d7+ f8 32.xh7 f5 [ A risky winning attempt or a miscalculation? 32...e1+! 33.xe1 xe1 would leave W hite with nothing better than perpetual check after 34.h8+ e7 35.h7+ ] 33.xf5 xf5 34.h8+ f7 35.xc8 xf2 36.c7+ [ Activating the second rook with 36.d7+ g6 37.xa7 looks like a better winning attempt. ] 36...g6 37.xa7 c2 38.c7 d2 Finally the bishop is activated! 39.c6 f4 40.xb6 [ 40.h3 h2+ 41.g1 xh3 42.xb6 is similar, but White would have lured the Black rook off of the second rank. ] 40...xh2+ 41.g1 a2 42.b3 [ After 42.a6 g4 the position is getting risky for White. ] 42...xa4 43.c3 a5 44.c2 ½-½

1577 Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter Jobava,Baadur 2nd Samba Cup (2) [Andrew Martin]

B14 2707 2601 15.10.2005

In the following game Nisipeanu seems almost to accept that he cannot get anywhere with the opening moves and that he must simply try to outplay Jobova from an equal position. It doesn't work out that way! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.c2 c6 9.e2!? 1709

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Avoids any embarrassment of a possible Knight fork on b4, but I have to say that I find this move decidedly unthreatening. ce7 [ 9...0-0 ] 10.0-0 d7 Black develops sensibly. There is no danger to his position at all. 11.a3 [ 11.e5 0-0 12.b3 c6 13.g5 a5 14.f3 xc3 15.bxc3 a4 White starts to get on top after this perhaps Black underestimated the power of White's next move.. ( 15...f5= ) 16.a3 f6 17.c4! b4 18.c1! xa3 19.xa3 fxe5 20.cxd5 xf3 21.gxf3 xd5 22.dxe5 c8 23.ac1 c6 24.fd1 c7 25.c4 Ulibin, M-Ovetchkin, R/Togliatti 2003 ] 11...d6 12.e4 c6 13.xd6+N [ 13.e5 h6 14.b4 a6 15.xc6 xc6 16.b2 c8 17.g3 0-0= Kobalija, MOvetchkin, R/Moscow 1999 ] 13...xd6 14.e5 0-0 15.d3 f6 16.e3 ac8 The opening skirmishes have left the position balanced. White has two Bishops but Black is very solid and can use the d5 square as usual. 17.c5 d5 18.f3 [ 18.xc6 xc6 19.xd5 xd5 leads to a position where one might be justified in feeling that White held a small advantage. I disagree. If anything, I prefer Black who has the plan ...Rfd8, ...Nxe3 and ...e5 just for starters. ] 18...g6 19.ac1 [ 19.xg6 hxg6 20.ac1 b3 21.c2 b6! 22.fe1 d5 23.f2 fd8 gives reasonable counterplay. ] 19...xe5 20.dxe5 xd3 21.exf6 gxf6 22.xa7 The hope is that one day White will be able to attack the Black king using the opposite-coloured Bishops. But Black has very good control of the centre and this alone is enough to ensure that White's scheme cannot succeed. fd8!= 23.f2 g6 24.g3 d2 25.f2 cd8 The position is still holdable for W hite but he must proceed with care. The initiative is firmly with Jobova. 26.e3 [ 26.xd2 xd2 27.b4 d3 28.b8+ g7 29.f4 e5 30.g4+ f8 31.c8+ e7 32.c7+ e6 33.c8+ d7 34.xd7+ xd7 leaves White still wondering how to neutralise Black's active Rook. ] 26...2d3 27.e2 h5 28.e1 8d4 29.c7 Sidestepping ...h5-h4. b5 30.b6 d6

31.a5 6d5 Black's movements with his Rook are almost comical and were certainly eating up time on the enemy clock. 32.c2 c6 33.c3 f5 [ 33...h4 intending to proceed to h3 at full steam, could have been considered. ] 34.h1 f4 35.g1 h4 He is intending to pressurise g2! 36.h3 e5 37.e2 e6? [ Just 37...f6 keeps a clear advantage for Black. Time trouble rears up. ] 38.xe5?? Catastrophic [ 38.xe5! e3 39.xe3 fxe3 40.c3 turns the tables! ] 38...xc3 A game between two strong grandmasters is always of interest and the middlegame was almost an object lesson in how to pressurise the opponent . But not quite. As far as the opening goes 9 Be2 gives White very little indeed. 0-1

1578 Polgar,Judit Karpov,Anatoly Lichthof Champions Blitz blitz (1) [Andrew Martin]

B14 2710 2668 22.08.2006

Even a blitz game between two such great players is worth cataloguing. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.c2 c6 9.e2 0-0 10.0-0 e7 11.a3 f6 Perhaps the drawback with 8 Qc2 is that d4 is left unguarded.. Black's first task is to hit the pawn and then to complete development. 12.d1 [ Or 12.e4 ce7 13.e5 d7 14.d3 g6 15.h6 g7 16.xg7 xg7 17.xd5 xd5 18.c4 c6 19.xc6 1/2-1/2 Mainka, R-Groszpeter, A/ Munich 1993 My own view is that W hite has the advantage after the further bxc6 20.ac1 f6 21.fd1 fd8 22.a6 so I'm not sure why the draw was agreed. ] 12...xc3 [ 12...ce7 13.e4 b6 14.g5 looks dangerous for Black, but he/ she has many resources: g6 15.h4 b7 16.g4 xg5 17.xg5 f6 18.h3 h6 19.h5 e7 20.xf6 gxf6 21.d5 xd5 22.xd5 xd5 1710

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.f3 d6 24.d3 e5 25.xd5 exd5 26.ad1 ad8 27.e3 Howell, D-Houska, J/ London 2005 xb2 28.g4+ h7 29.f5+ h8 30.f4= ] 13.bxc3 b6 14.d3 g6!? [ 14...h6 is less committal: 15.e2 d5 16.b1 b7 17.b5 d7 18.e5 xe5 19.dxe5 c6 20.g4 h5 21.e4 xe4 22.xe4 ad8 23.e1 a6 24.exf6 xb5 25.fxg7 xg7 26.f3 d3 27.xh5 d5 28.f3 b5-+ Fernandez, J-Verat, L/Palma de Mallorca 1991 ] 15.h6 g7 [ 15...e8 16.e4 b7 17.f4 c8 18.c4 is a typical position where W hite has chances based around d4-d5, but where one cannot help get the feeling that Black should be able to cope. ] 16.xg7 xg7 17.c4 f6 Karpov feels that the simplification should have helped him in his fight against the hanging pawns. 18.d5!? It has to come to this eventually. [ 18.e4 b7 19.c3 ac8 20.ac1 a5 21.xb7 xb7 22.e5 fd8 23.e3 leaves White only marginally better with a superior Knight. ] 18...exd5 19.cxd5 a5 20.e4 g4! The more exchanges, the weaker the pawn becomes. Now put a Black Knight on d6 and who is better then? 21.h3 xf3 22.xf3 ac8 23.e4 fe8 24.g4 h5 25.d7 b3! 26.ab1 d4 27.d3 e7! Karpov is as tactically aware as ever. 28.xe7 [ White cannot retain Queens for ever: 28.a4 xf3+ 29.xf3 e4 and the same type of ending that we will see in the game is reached. ] 28...xf3+ 29.xf3 xe7 30.d1 c5 Time to take stock. White has a passed pawn but this may be surrounded. She would like to find a way through to Black's seventh rank but approaches are carefully covered. Black's King is marginally more active. Overall, I think Black is a bit better, but W hite can dra w easily with active play. And so it proves. 31.fd3 f6 32.f3+! White will check and keep checking as soon as the King emerges. g7 33.fd3 d7 34.d6 f6 35.e3 [ 35.f3+ e6 36.fd3 c6 37.e3+= ] 35...e5 36.ed3 e6 Black successfully shields his King, but can't hit c6 three times

now. 37.g3 b5 38.g2 g5 39.f4 gxf4 40.gxf4 c5 41.f3 a5 42.e3+ f6 43.d4 b4 ½-½

1579 Postny,Evgeny Lagowski,Patryk Skanska Cup Olomouc CZE (9) [Andrew Martin]

B14 2563 2415 10.07.2004

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 f6 5.c3 g6 We don't often see 5..g6 anymore, possibly because W hite has an undisputed plus in one of the main lines. W ho knows this? Certainly very few at club or district level, but at national level and above, it is difficult to recommend this variation. But to keep in touch is good, hence the following game. 6.b3 g7 7.cxd5 0-0 8.ge2 [ 8.e2 bd7 9.f3 b6 10.ge2 is very dangerous to Black and throws a veil over the line. Postny's choice is also logical, overprotecting d5 in the same manner. ] 8...bd7 9.g3 b6 10.g2 f5 11.f4 g5!?N Wow! Desperate or necessary? Let's re vie w t h e a l t e rn a t ive s b e f o re m a k in g a judgement. [ 11...e8 is a simple piece improvement, intending...Nd6 and either ...Nbc4 or ...Ndc4 12.e3 d6 13.0-0 bc4 14.b5 a5 15.b4 b6 16.d2 ( 16.a4 fc8 ) 16...xb5 17.xa5 xa5 18.xa5 xd4= Anbuhl, E-Sack, B Germany 1981 ] [ 11...h6 12.a4 d7 13.a5 c8 14.a4 d6 sees a similar regrouping, with White struggling to demonstrate the effectiveness of his extra pawn: 15.0-0 Suba, M-Dvoirys, S / S o c h i 1 9 8 3 a n d n o w ( 15.c5 c7 16.0-0 b6 ) 15...c7! 16.c3 g5 17.fe2 fc8 would have been unclear, but Black is not without counterplay. ] [ 11...d7 i s a f i n a l t r y : 12.0-0 g5 Once again this move! 13.fe2 h6 14.a4 h3 That was the point of 11..Qd7! 15.f4 xg2 16.xg2 g4 17.b5 fd8 18.xd7 xd7 19.f5 bxd5 20.a5 ad8 21.a4 a6 22.c4 c7 23.xc7 xc7 24.f4 cd5 25.d2 b4 Timofeev, A-Gansvind, V/ Internet 2004 The conclusion I'm coming to 1711

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is that the line with g3 and Ne2-f4 is not as stable for White as the other main line with Be2-f3 and only then Ne2. Black appears to have several ways to secure good counterplay the last, 11...Qd7, being very promising. ] 12.fe2 d3? [ W h y n o t j u s t 12...h6 13.0-0 d7 ( 13...d3 Black is impatient and he pays the price! )] 13.xg5 c4 14.d1 bxd5 Yes, Black gets the chance to take on d5, but he has weakened his Kingside beyond repair. 15.0-0 xc3 16.bxc3 a5 17.xf6 xf6 18.xb7 An ugly way to play the position but fully in keeping with modern trends: If it works, it m u s t b e p l a y e d ! ab8 19.e4 xe2 20.xe2 xc3 21.ad1 White's a solid pawn up with a possible attack to boot, which of course will be augmented by the presence of opposite-coloured Bishops. fd8 22.d5 a3 23.d3 d6 24.h5+- It had to come. Black feels the downside of 12...Bd3. b2 25.xh7+ f8 26.f3 xa2 27.f4 e5 Diagram 28.g6! Very nice indeed! xd5 [ 28...fxg6 29.h8+ f7 30.xd8+- ] 29.e1! fxg6 [ 29...d2 30.xf6 ] 30.xe7+ g8 31.xf6 I don't know what possessed Lagowski to play 12...Bd3? Possibly a lack of confidence. My judgement is t h a t 8 N g e 2 a n d 8 g 3 i s n o t t h e m o s t promising for W hite and that Black can survive with the help of the numerous suggestions I have mentioned. But 8 Be2...... well, that is a dif ferent story, possibly rendering this whole argument academic. 1-0

1580 Potkin,Vladimir Asrian,Karen Aeroflot Open (4) [Tony Kosten]

B14 2481 2599 07.02.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 7.cxd5 xd5 8.c2!? Riskier than the [ 8.d2 of Bareev-Ljubojevic. ] 8...c7!? Unusual, perhaps Black is hoping to

take White out of 'book'. [ 8...c6 leads to the critical main line: 9.d3 xc3 ( or 9...a5!? 10.a3 xc3 11.bxc3 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 with similar play, Kindermann, S-Speelman, J/Plovdiv 1983 ) 10.bxc3 xd4!? the pawn-grabbing point, 11.xd4 xd4 the c3-pawn is pinned in both directions! 12.b5+ e7 13.0-0! xc3 14.a4 White has a strong attack for two pawns, Nunn, J-Lobron, E/Biel 1982. ] 9.d2 d7 The knight comes to support its b r o t h e r o n d 5 . 10.d3 xc3!? A risky decision, Black concedes the bishop pair to give White hanging pawns, as in many other openings, but perhaps he should wait until White plays a3 first? [ 10...f4!? is a time-consuming alternative: 11.0-0!? ( 11.xf4 xf4 12.0-0 is also po ssib le ,) 11...xd3 12.xd3 (the threat is Nd5) xc3 13.xc3 0-0!? 14.g5 g6 ( 14...f6 15.d5 ) 15.b4 e8 16.ac1 d8 17.e4 with a strong attack on the dark squares, Kovacevic, A-Kostic, V/ Ulcinj 1998. ] [ 10...7f6 is unplayed, but looks OK: 11.xd5 xd2+ 12.xd2 xd5 13.c1 d6 for instance, although I would prefer White, myself. ] 11.bxc3 5f6 This move defends h7, and stops W hite from gaining a tempo with c4. 12.0-0 Simplest, [ 12.a4!? is a bit slow, b6 13.0-0 b7 and W hite has to do something about the threat to his knight, Ivanchuk, V-Ehlvest, J/ New Delhi IND 2000. ] [ 12.c4 b6 13.b4 b7 14.e2 f4 15.e3 xe3+ 16.fxe3 e4 17.e2 should favour White, if only slightly, because of the bishop pair, Holst, A-Rasmussen, K/ Aarhus DEN 2002. ] 12...0-0?! A novelty, but, on the strength of this game, weaker than the usual [ 12...b6 13.ae1 to bolster e5, ( 13.c1!? b7 14.f4 c8 15.e5 is also nicer for White, Solleveld, M-Janssen, R/ Leeuwarden NED 2001.) 13...b7 14.e5 xe5 15.xe5 0-0 and in this Nimzo-style position White's bishops give him the edge, but Black also has reason to be happy, Sveshnikov, E-Sasikiran, K/Dubai UA E 1712

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2002. ] 13.ae1 b6 14.e5 And this is the problem with the early castling, Black is unable to capture this piece (as in the last note), and so allows White to continue with f4. b7 [ 14...xe5? 15.dxe5 g4 16.xh7+ h8 17.d3 is winning. ] 15.f4! Now the knight lords it over the black position. fe8 16.e3! The rook swings over to the kingside. f8 17.f5 exf5 18.xf5 The storm clou ds are gathering around the black king, and even the presence of the 'perfect defender' on f8 might not be enough to save him. g6 19.h3!? The next move would be Bg5, when all of White's pieces are bearing on the kingside. xe5!? 20.xh7+ f8 21.f4! [ 21.dxe5? xe5 is nothing special. ] 21...a6? Black cracks, [ 21...fg4! 22.f5 c6 keeps him on the board. ] 22.xe5 xe5 What else? 23.dxe5 c5+ [ 23...xe5 24.d3 leaves White a sound exchange up, ] [ 23...xh7 24.xh7 xf1 25.h8+ e7 26.xa8 likewise. ] 24.f2! xh7 The natural [ 24...xf1? is met by 25.xc5+ bxc5 26.exf6 and W hite wins a piece as c4? 27.e4 threatens mate and the rook. ] 25.xc5+ bxc5 [ 25...bxc5 26.f4! leaves White an e x c h a n g e u p a g a i n , a s g8 27.fh4 and the knight can't move because of mate on h8. ] 1-0

1581 Potkin,Vladimir Meister,Yakov TCh Sochi RUS (7) [Andrew Martin]

B14 2540 2505 26.04.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 I still think this is the best way for Black. 7.cxd5 exd5 Dry as a bon e, b ut a via ble met ho d of d ef en ce o f course. 8.d3 e7+! The check is a little bit annoying for White who is forced to misplace o n e o f h i s m i n o r p ie c e s ( we a s s u m e h e

do e sn't wan t t he qu ee n s o f f an d a ra p id handshake). Ideally White would like to find time f or 0-0, Re 1 and B g5 Black's chec k interferes with that plan. 9.e5 c6 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 e6N What can one say about such a sensible developing move. Possible is [ 11...e8 but I think Meister's move is better, because it saves time on ... Re8, substituting the more useful ...h7-h6. 12.g5 e6 13.e3 h6 14.xd5! Initiating complications: xd5 15.xc6 d6 16.xf6 ( 16.xb4! hxg5 17.xd5 xd5 18.a4 xe3 19.fxe3 a6 20.c1 ) 16...xe3 17.fxe3 xc6 18.e5 f6 19.c1 e6 20.e4 xa2 21.g3 c8 22.xc8+ xc8 23.h3 f7 24.e5 fxe5 25.xe5 d7 26.f3 1/2-1/2 Swan, I-Grant, J/Scotland 1993 ] 12.g5 h6! 13.xc6 bxc6 14.h4 d6 15.a4 fe8 16.c1 Reminds me of the Scotch Four Knights. Black makes a necessary bold move to break up White's bind g5! 17.g3 xg3 18.hxg3 d6 19.c5 ab8 20.d2 g4 21.b3 xe1+ The vacuum cleaner comes out for the final moves. 22.xe1 e8 23.xe8+ xe8 24.e3 f8 25.f1 e7 26.xe7+ One gets the impression that the two players aren't too disappointed with the result. As Black, if you are happy with a symmetrical pawn formation and limited dynamic chances in return for a very solid position you may choose 7...exd5. It's a good move. ½-½

1582 Sedina,Elena Khotenashvili,Bela 11th EICC Women (11) [Chris Ward]

B14 2334 2448 17.03.2010

1.e4 c5 2.f3 g6 Yes, time for a HyperAccelerated Dragon! 3.d4 g7 [ Miss Sedina was amazingly busy in the Hyper-Accelerated this month as another one of her encounters saw the better covered (i.e. on this site) 3...cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.a4 d6 7.e5 dxe5 8.xe5 d7 My view is that White gains no advantage in this line and the 9.xd7 xd7 1713

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.e3 g7 11.d1 c7 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0 fd8 14.xd8+ xd8 15.b5 e5 16.f3 d5 17.xd5 xd5 18.c4 e4 19.c3 xc3 20.bxc3 which Black went on to win in Sedina, E-Kiefhaber, V Germany GER 2010 only adds weight to my argument! ] 4.c3 cxd4 5.cxd4 d5 6.exd5 [ Previously we have focused our attention on 6.e5 here but this adds a certain completion to the opening even though we seem to be getting further away from a real Dragon type position! ] 6...f6 If Black regains the pawn on d5 with the knight then we will have a reverse QGD Tarrasch position. As that wouldn't offer much (if anything) for W hite instead she wants to make things a little more difficult for Black. 7.c4 0-0 [ Upon 7...xd5 a n n o y i n g i s 8.b3 as Black would rather not have to play ... e6. ] 8.c3 bd7 9.0-0 [ White's temporarily extra d-pawn is destined to fall and with that in mind the main alternative available to W hite is to return it now via 9.d6 T h e n a f t e r exd6 10.0-0 b6 11.b3 typical is f5 ( Upon 11...g4 12.h3 now the trade on f3 simply tenders W hite the bishop pair advantage whilst I can't believe after f5 White's hpawn advance constitutes a concession.) 12.e1 when e8 13.xe8+ xe8 14.f4 d7 15.a4 was I suppose the niggly advantage that the English GM Mark Hebden likes to get. Instructive was e4 16.a5 xc3 17.bxc3 c8 18.e2 e7 19.h3 c8 20.e1 c6 21.a2 h6 22.a6 bxa6 23.xa6 c7 24.h4 a5 25.xa5 xa5 26.xf5 gxf5 27.d5 xc3 28.e7 c6 29.xf7 xd4 30.xd6 h8 31.xa7 d3 32.a8+ h7 33.g8+ g6 34.a6 f6 35.e5 g7 36.xf6 xg8 37.xd4 1-0 Hebden, M-Rogers, J England 1998. ] 9...b6 10.b3 bxd5 As there is far from any guarantee that there is going to be a trade of knights on d5, there is a significant difference between which knight Black chooses to take on d5 with. [ Igor Glek is a nice guy and a fine player but it is noticeable that his results as White with

this system are pretty rubbish. Take for example his encounters with 10...fxd5 : 11.e1 ( 11.h3 f5 12.e1 c8 13.d2 e8 14.e5 e6 15.f3 f8 16.ac1 xc3 17.bxc3 d5 18.g3 c4 19.xc4 xc4 20.g5 e8 21.h4 a5 22.e3 with approximate equality (but White went on to lose!) in Glek, I-Reinderman, D Germany 2001.) 11...g4 12.g5 d7 13.h3 xc3 ( 13...xf3 14.xf3 e6 15.ad1 ac8 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 exd5 18.e7 b5 19.b3 xb3 20.axb3 f6 21.d2 f7 saw Black have the better of the draw in Glek, I-Dausch, R Baden-Baden 2001. ) 14.bxc3 xf3 15.xf3 e6 16.h4 when probably White has an initiative and c6 17.h3 h6 18.h5!? was interesting in Glek, I-Deviatkin, A Moscow 2002 but again he lost. ] 11.e1 d6 Although this is a typical posting for the black queen in a standard IQP middlegame that may arise say from a 2 c3 Sicilian, actually it is very rare here. A far more common continuation is [ 11...b6 12.e5 b7 13.f3 ( similarly 13.g5 c8 14.f3 c7 15.h3 xc3 16.bxc3 c8 led to the early queen swap Aleksandrov, A-Kasparov, S Minsk 2000.) 13...c8 14.h3 with White having attacking aspirations on the kingside. That third Hyper-Accelerated Dragon in a short period saw Ms Sedina encounter a6 when 15.g5 c7 16.ad1 xc3 17.bxc3 c8 actually saw 18.xc8 xc8 19.d5 b7 20.c4 when White's pressure against e7 saw her reach a favourable endgame in Sedina, E-Gaponenko, I Rijeka CRO 2010. ] [ The best way to keep a white knight out of e5 is wit h 11...g4 but then 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 e6 14.g5 sees White secure the bishop pair and a slight edge. ] 12.e5 e6 The advantage of parking the bishop here to bolster d5 instead of b7 is that it helps seal off the e-file towards e7 and there is now no hole on c6. The f7-square is also more secure although W hite has no co u n t e r f e a rs a lo n g t h e b 7 -g2 d ia go n a l . 13.g5 ac8 14.d2 [ 14.f3 is also reasonable although it would appear that White still had Bh6 in the back of her mind. ] 1714

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ceding the initiative: 12.e4 xd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.e2 f5 The first uncomfortable move. 15.e3 e5 16.f4 a5 17.f3 a6 18.xa6 xa6 19.ed1 f6 20.ac1 e5 21.fxe5 xe5 22.b4 f4 23.d4 xd4+ 24.xd4 b8 25.e1 c6 26.d5+ Sulskis, S-Macieja, B/Tripoli 2004 h8 27.xf4 The initiative persists. ] [ I prefer 11...f6 which is safer than the other moves. ] 12.e4! It is fascinating to me that White can offer the d pawn so blithely. The clue lies in the amount of time Black takes to develop his queenside, time W hite will use to directly attack the Black King! xd4!?N Risky, but could be very playable if Black is feeling brave. The alternatives: [ 12...ce7 13.xf6+ ( 13.e5! b6 14.c3 d8 15.h5! ) 13...xf6 14.g5 ed5 15.e5 b6 16.c4 c7 17.c1 d7 18.e5 b6 19.c5 c6 20.b1 h6 21.h4 xb2 ] [ 12...xd4 13.xf6+ xf6 A) 14.xd4 xd4 15.c3 b6? ( 15...h4! ) 16.d4 d8 17.h5 Castillo Pla, E-Soler Nadal, J/Cullera 2003; B) 14.g5 f5 15.g4 h6 ( 15...d4! 16.c1 h6 17.gxf5 b4 18.b5 xd1 19.xd1 hxg5 20.xg5 f6 21.h4 e5 ) 16.e4 d4 17.c3 b6 18.gxf5 exf5 19.g3 f4 20.d4 d8 21.f5 g6 22.xh6+ h7 23.h5 f6 24.xf6 xd3 25.h4 h3 26.f5+ 1-0 Sulskis, S-Kritz, L Istanbul 2003 Not especially promising for Black it seems, but there are several improvements in the notes. 1583 B14 My impression is that Black can defend these positions, but that in general White Shanava,Konstantine 2490 has all the fun. ] Mchedlishvili,Mikheil 2568 7th ch-Euro Kusadasi TUR (7) 10.04.2006 13.eg5 h6 [ The cold-blooded 13...xb2 is correct, and [Andrew Martin] then: A) 14.xh7+ h8 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 f6 A1) 15.b1 c3 ( 15...c3 16.c2 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 This has always been xb1 17.xb1 d4 18.e4 g6 one of the most reliable lines for Black, but 19.h4 ) 16.c2 xd2 17.xd2 c7; this does not mean that he must not exercise A2) 15.e4 g6 16.b1 f6 17.b3 great care. 7.cxd5 xd5 8.d2 c6 9.d3 g7=; 0-0 10.0-0 e7 11.e1 f6 A rather wellB) 14.b1 c3 15.xh7+ h8 16.xc3 known motif. Black pressurises the d4 pawn. xc3 17.e3 xd1+ 18.xd1 f6 [ 11...db4 wins a pawn with the risk of 14...fd8 15.ad1 a6 16.h3 b5 I think it's fair to say that this position is about equal although it does soon liven up. 17.d3 xc3 18.bxc3 d5 19.xd5 xd5 20.c5 e8 21.e4 h5 Clearly Black was worried about something happening along his h-file but if it wasn't (and I'm not convinced it was) then ... e6 and ... e5 must have been candidates. 22.h6 xh6 23.xh6 f6 24.d2 xc5!? 25.dxc5 xc3 26.d7 xe4 [ Regarding 26...f8 clearly Black was worried about White's passed c-pawn. ] 27.xe8+ g7 28.c6 [ As the black queen and knight combine well together he certainly wouldn't be worse after the passive 28.f1 xc5 However a draw is still on the cards. ] 28...xf2+ 29.h1 e2 [ Upon 29...g3 White should defend with 30.f1 as f2+ 31.xf2 xf2 isn't a serious winning attempt given the strength of the passed c-pawn. ] 30.d8 e1+ 31.h2 g3+ 32.g1 e3+ 33.h2 f4+ 34.g1 c1+ 35.h2 f6 Just when it looks as though the perpetual seemed inevitable Black gets adventurous and side-steps the Qh8 mate threat. 36.d7 f4+ 37.g1 e3+ 38.h2 g3+ 39.g1 e3+ 40.h2 f4+ 41.g1 h4 Again we take a break from the checking proceedings b u t a la s B la c k st ill isn 't a ct u a lly m a kin g progress! 42.c7 c1+ 43.h2 The repetition is soon going to have to be necessary! ½-½

1715

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.e4 e5 ] 14.xd4 xd4 15.h7! e8 16.xh6! A very unwelcome surprise for Black. e5 [ 16...gxh6 17.g4+ h8 18.xd4+ g8 19.g4+ h8 20.h5 g7 21.e5+ g8 22.ac1 is, of course, carnage. ] 17.h5 gxh6 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5 c6? [ 19...e7 might lead to a draw: 20.f6+ f8 21.h5 Playing for a win here holds pitfalls for both sides: ( 21.h7+= ) 21...e6 22.h8+ g8 23.h7 g5 24.e1 ( 24.xg8 xh5 25.h7+ e7 26.e1 a5 27.e2 ) 24...xh5 25.xg8+ e7 26.g3 a5 27.e3 ] 20.xd5! Consequent. g7 [ 20...xd5 21.f6+ ] 21.f3 d6 22.e1 d7 [ 22...f5 Once again he misses a difficult de f e ns ive ide a : 23.e8! g6 24.f8!! xh7 ( 24...xh7 25.xf5 xf5 26.xa8 e6 27.c3+ f7 28.h3 xa2 29.h8 ) 25.xc8 xc8 26.xf5 ] 23.e3 f5 24.h5 xh7 [ Perhaps 24...e5 although the variations are again very difficult to evaluate in advance. 25.h3 xd3 ( 25...xh7 26.xf5+ h8 27.xe5 xe5 28.xh6+ g8 29.xd7 ) 26.g3+ xg3 27.fxg3 e8 28.f3 ] 25.g3 e7 26.g6+ My summary is simple: Unless you are very self-confident and an excellent defender, do not choose this line of the Panov for Black. 1-0

is any good for White at all, and so if one wishes to employ the idea of a quick c4-c5 in the Panov, one has to stick with the moveorder of this game. ] 6.c5!? Gundaram was the first to recognise t h e p o t e n t i a l o f t h i s m o ve . W h i t e h a s a queenside pawn majority and he wants to use it! The plan is simple: b4, a4, b5 as quickly as possible and the advancing pawns cramp Black's style. All this comes at the cost of a slowdown in development and so Black is looking for immediate counterplay, with prods such as ...b7-b6, ...a7-a5 and ...e6-e5 to b r e a k u p t h e p o s i t i o n . e7 7.c2!?N Works well, but it is very unusual for White to commit his Queen so early in this variation. It turns out to be useful for the Queen to protect the Knight on c2 and I guess if Black castles then Bd3 will come with gain of time. [ 7.b4 is more in the spirit of the line and leads to a very unclear position indeed:: A) 7...b6 8.f4 ( 8.b5+ d7 9.xd7+ xd7 10.f3 ) 8...a5 9.b5+ d7 10.xd7+ fxd7 11.a4 0-0 12.ge2; B) 7...0-0 8.b2 b6 9.f3 bxc5 10.dxc5 e8 11.b5 d7 12.0-0 a6 13.xd7 xd7 14.a4 b7 15.b1 c6 16.a3 e4 17.c3 Railo, M-Aalto, S/Finland 1988 when xc3 18.xc3 ad8 19.a4 d4 20.d2 a7 would have probably been Black's best course, although it is easie r t o se e m oves f o r W hite in t his final position. ] 7...0-0 [ I presume 7...c6 would have been a n s w e r e d b y 8.b5 with b4 to follow. In general allowing the pin on b5 and a 1584 B14 subsequent exchange on c6 favours White who grips e5 and has an easier run with Skorchenko,Dmitry 2476 the queenside pawns.. ] Tarlev,Konstantin 2384 Open Voronezh RUS (8) 20.06.2005 8.f3 b6 9.b4 bxc5 [ 9...a5 10.a4! is another thematic idea in [Andrew Martin] this line. ] a5 Hey presto! 7 Qc2 comes in Now comes a thought-provoking game where 10.bxc5 White employs a little-used line which can still useful! 11.d2 a6?? Indeed, very useful as pack a punch. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Black commits an immediate howler! [ B u t W h i t e i s s t i l l b e t t e r a f t e r 11...c7 cxd5 4.c4 f6 5.c3 12.b1 c6 13.b5 d7 14.0-0 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 5.c5 gives Black more et c. It 's to u gh f o r B la ck to ge t . .. e 6-e 5 choice. ] going and the c5 pawn is strong. ] 5...e6 [ I very much doubt that 5...c6 6.c5 e5 12.xd5 d8 13.xe7+ xe7 14.xa6 1716

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xa6 15.0-0 d5 16.ab1 fb8 17.g5! I would not have resigned just yet, but it has to be said that the Black position is most unimpressive after either a) 17...g6 18 Ne4! or b) 1 7 . . . Nf 6 1 8 B f 4 Rxb1 1 9 Rxb 1 A s a n occasional weapon 6 c5 cannot be discounted. 1-0

1585 Sveshnikov,Evgeny Malakhov,Vladimir Aeroflot Open (9) [Andrew Martin]

B14 2555 2675 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 The Panov-Botvinnik attack sits a little in the shade at present, a whim of fashion certainly because it is every bit as good as 3 e5 or 3 Nc3. f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4! I am certain that this is Black's most reliable line. 7.cxd5 xd5 8.c2 c6 [ 8...c7 9.d2 d7 10.d3 xc3 11.bxc3 5f6 12.0-0 b6 13.fe1 b7 14.d1 c6 15.e2 0-0 16.e3 ad8 17.g5 fe8 18.g3 h8 19.h3 f8 20.e5 c7 21.f4 e7 22.b5 6d7 Yudin, S-Iljin, A/Jch-RUS b20, Essentuki RUS 2003 was nominally better for White in this recent game but it remains tough to break through Black's fortifications. ] [ 8...d7 9.d3 7f6 10.0-0 e7 11.g5 h6 12.xf6 xf6 13.e5 0-0 14.ad1 leads to a position where it is difficult to get the Bishop on c8 out. ] 9.e2 0-0 [ 9...de7 10.0-0 0-0 11.d1 a5 12.g5 g6 ] 10.0-0 e7 [ 10...e8!? Miton tried to improve this line recently for Black retreating his Bishop to f8. Providing one exhibits the necessary patience this seems a viable approach: 11.d1 f8 12.a3 d7 13.g5 b6 14.a4 c7 15.ac1 h6 16.h4 ac8 17.b3 f4! The first sign that Black isn't simply defending. A) 18.g3 l o o k s t e m p t i n g b u t e4! 19.xb7 ( 19.d3 a5! 20.xc8 xc8 21.xe4 xb3 ) 19...xe2 20.xd7

ed8; B) 18.c5 xd4 19.xd4 xc5 20.g3 f6 21.f3 b6 Christiansen, L-Miton, K/ Bermuda 2003 ] 11.d1 f6 12.e4 ce7 13.h4 Sveshnikov uses his h pawn as a battering ram to try to break through to Black's King. Another example of this well-known procedure was seen in the following game: [ 13.d3 g6 14.h6 ( 14.g5! xg5 15.xg5 f5 16.f3 ) 14...e8 15.h4 d7 16.g5 c6 17.g4 f5 18.e4 h6! 19.xf6+ xf6 20.xf6 xf6= M.Adams-Magem Debrecen 1992 There's a temptation to think that W hite's initiative must give him the better chances perhaps this shows that it's not at all easy to just blow Black away. ] 13...d7 14.d3 g6 15.h5 c8 16.hxg6 hxg6 17.h6 xc3 Malakhov just makes a series of very modest moves and 17..Nxc3 reminds Sveshnikov that he too must now begin to think about careful defense. If the initial W hite attack doesn't break through there's a permanent weakness on the c file to worry about . 18.bxc3 c6 19.f4 d5 20.g4 g7 21.xg7 xg7 22.e5 More or less the best White can get now. f6! defending against the sacrifice on g6 and taking important Kingside squares. 23.c4 f4 24.f1? A sure sign that Sveshnikov hasn't made the necessary mental adjustment need to play this position objectively. It was time to t a ke o n c6 a n d re f le ct t h a t h e d id n 't ge t anything from the opening: [ 24.xc6! xc6 ( 24...xd3 25.xd3 xc6 26.f3 d8 27.d5 exd5 28.d4+ ) 25.f1 h8 26.g3= ] 24...h8 25.xc6 h4! I'm sure that White missed this intelligent Zwischenzug. 26.g3 ch8 The game has turned on its head! 27.f3 bxc6 28.d2 c5 29.e1 [ 29.ad1 h1+ 30.f2 8h5 ] 29...cxd4 30.e4 e5-+ 31.c5 e7 32.c2 d3 33.cc4 d2 A rapid transformation took p la c e i n t h is ga m e . B l a ck se e m e d t o b e defending and then he suddenly won and with a crushing attack! White's h pawn advance is obviously a double-edged sword. This game is a good lesson to prospective players of both colour. In the Panov W hite must retain his 1717

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 objectivity. Black must stay patient and look for every opportunity 0-1

1586 Adams,Michael Leko,Peter Tilburg [Alexander Volzhin]

B15 2685 2630 1996

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 Fantasy Variation has been rarely played but nowadays it is becoming more and more popular, primarily due to the efforts of Michael Adams who is the main adherent of this line at top level. It often leads to very sharp positions especially if Black chooses 3...dxe4 4.fxe4 e5. Besides Black has solid possibilities like the moves 3... g6 or 3...e6. W e'll examine all of them. g6 4.c3 g7 A natural and good move. [ 4...h6 is the alternative to the text but this plan looks dubious: A) 5.f4 is another possibility: f6 6.exd5 cxd5 7.b5 a6 Although Black's Knights look ugly White's position should not be overestimated. It's not clear how to take ad vantage of this and B lack ca n simply complete his development and prepare counterplay in the centre (...Bg7, ...Nf7, ...e7-e5). 8.c3 g7 9.d2 f7 10.d3 0-0 11.e2 e5 12.e3 b6 ( 12...c7 is not bad either.) 13.h4 e8 14.h5 f5! with mutual chances, GiaccoGomez Baillo, Buenos Aires 1998.; B) 5.e3 f6 6.d2 f7 7.h4! O n ly b y a c t i ve p la y ca n W h it e re f u t e Black's setup. The h-pawn march is very unpleasant for Black. a6?! A tactical o v e r s i g h t . ( 7...g7 should be played although White is clearly better after 8.h5 ) 8.exd5! cxd5 9.b5+ d7 10.xa6 bxa6 11.xd5 b8 12.b3 e6 13.f4 e5 14.dxe5 fxe5 15.d5 a3 16.e2 0-0 17.g3 e6 18.e4! xd5 19.xd5 wit h a d e c is ive a d va n t a g e f o r W h it e , Giaccio-Kutirov, Elista 1998 ] 5.e3 b6! The best move in this position as practice has proved. The alternatives are clearly inferior: [ After the pawn exchange in the centre the

similar queen sortie is not so good: 5...dxe4 6.fxe4 b6?! 7.d2 xb2 8.b1 a3 9.c4! That's the difference! d7 10.f3 b6 11.b3 f6 12.0-0 0-0 13.g5! White obtains a very dangerous attack. The game V. Umansky-Seger, 1994 continued: e6 14.e5 fd5 15.ce4! f5!? 16.exf6 xf6 17.xf6+ xf6 18.xf6 xf6 19.f1! e7 20.e4! and Black's position is barely defensible. ] [ An attempt at developing the knight to the e7-square can't be recommended either: 5...e6? Black's posit ion can tolerate either e6 or g6 but combining both of them call for troubles. In Shulman-Murshed, Dhaka, 1999 this plan was refuted convincingly: 6.d2 b6 7.h4! a6 8.xa6 xa6 9.h5 d7 10.0-0-0 0-0-0 11.ge2 e7?! ( 11...h6 was relatively better although after 12.hxg6 fxg6 13.f4 White advantage is beyond any doubt. ) 12.h6! Now Black's position is truly m i s e r a b l e . f8 13.g5 c7 14.f4 Provoking a decisive weakening of Black's position. f5 ( 14...e8 15.f6 g8 16.f4 and Black can't prevent the Nd3-e5 manoeuvre, winning the f7-pawn.) 15.e5 g8 16.f6 dxe4 17.fxe4 fxe4 18.xe4 d5 19.2c3 f5 20.hf1 xf6 21.xf6 h8 22.g4! e8 23.e5 f5 24.g4! xh6 ( 24...xh6 25.xh6 xh6 26.h1 g8 27.xg6+- ) 25.h1 g8 26.xg6 hxg6 27.xh8 g7 28.h7 f6 29.f4 and Black resigned. ] [ Flank activity leads Black nowhere as well: 5...b5 6.d2 b4 7.d1 dxe4 8.fxe4 f6 9.f2 Now White's centre is protected well. a5 10.f3 0-0 11.e2 bd7 12.0-0 b6 13.a3 bxa3 14.xa3 with a clear edge, Webb-Gavriel, Hampstead 1998. ] 6.d2 This temporary pawn sacrifice is the only attempt to fight for an advantage. [ Both 6.b1 e5 ] [ and 6.a3?! allow e5 with good prospects for Black ] [ 6.a4 is also hardly promising: a5+ 7.c3 d7 and white's pieces are uncoordinated. ] 6...xb2 7.b1 a3 8.exd5 f6! Returning his extra pawn Black completes his d e ve l o p m e n t . 9.dxc6 bxc6! The correct decision. In recapturing with the pawn Black gets additional control over the centre and 1718

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 intends ...Bc8-a6. [ 9...xc6? is bad: 10.d5 e5 11.d4! is very dangerous for Black, for example: ed7 12.b5 xa2 13.a1 and White wins. ] 10.d3 [ 10.c4 is the alternative, but this move is weaker: a6! 11.b3 0-0 12.ge2 bd7 13.0-0 c5 ( 13...b6! is also good for Black. ) 14.fe1 ac8 Black is already slightly better. 15.d5?! This attempt to trap Black's Queen doesn't work. b6 16.a4 c4! 17.b3 ( 17.c6 e6! ) 17...xe2 18.xe2 c4-+ 19.b5 a6 20.xa7 c7 21.a4 xa4 and White resigned, TjiamRee, Netherlands 1995 ] 10...bd7 11.ge2 0-0 12.0-0 a6! Here this move is also good. Now one can conclude Black has solved his opening problems successfully, and maybe he even has a tiny edge. 13.b3 a5 14.xa6 [ Tempting 14.d5?! is n o t go o d : xd2! and if 15.xe7+? then ( 15.xd2 is better although after xd3 16.xf6+ xf6 17.xd3 c5! Black has a clear edge in the endgame.) 15...h8 16.xd2 xd3 17.xd3 fe8 and Black wins material: 18.e3 ( 18.b4 f8! 19.e3 c5!-+ ) 18...h6! 19.f4 ( 19.xg6+ hxg6 20.xe8+ xe8 21.xh6 xe2-+ ) 19...g4 20.e4 df6 with a decisive advantage. ] 14...xa6 15.e1 fe8 16.c1 b6 17.f2 fd5 18.e4 c4 19.b1 Now the position is equal. Although Black's Knights occupy excellent blockade positions it's not clear how he can take advantage of this. e5!? 20.dxe5 xe5 21.c3 cb6 22.d4 c8 23.c2 c7 24.g3 ad8 25.bb1 f6 26.bd1 bd5 27.c4 xe4 28.xe4 f6 29.ee1 d6 30.xe8+ xe8 31.g2 e5 32.b3 d6 33.c5 f5?! 34.xd8+ xd8 35.e4! A don't like Black's play during the last few moves since White has managed to obtain a certain initiative. Black has to play v e r y a t t e n t i v e l y t o a v o i d t r o u b l e . d4 The only move. [ 35...c7? allows penetration to the back rank with a decisive attack: 36.f4 d6 37.e8+ g7 ( 37...f8 is no better: 38.d7 d6 39.c5 d2+ 40.h3 and W hite wins:) 38.g4! Now the Knight

can't retreat in view of 39.Bd4+ so perpetual is the only Black hope. xc5 39.xc5 xf4 40.f8+ f6 41.d8+! Now Black is hopeless. e6 ( 41...g7 42.f8+ g8 43.h6#; 41...e5 42.c7+ e4 43.xf4+ xf4 44.gxf5+- ) 42.gxf5+ xf5 43.d7++- ] 36.d3! f6 The only move again. [ T h e s e e m i n g l y n a t u r a l 36...f6? le a d s t o a lo st e n d ga m e a f t e r 37.xd8+ xd8 38.d7! and Black can't avoid the loss of a pawn: a5 ( or 38...d6 39.b8! xc4 40.xc6 b6 41.xa7 ) 39.b8 e7 40.c5 c7 41.a6 d8 42.xe7 xe7 43.b8! c5 44.c6 with an easy win. ] 37.e4 g7! Otherwise 38.g3-g4 wins, for example: [ 37...e5 38.g4 xf2 39.d8+ g7 40.gxf5 with a decisive edge: c5 41.f6+ h6 42.g8! b2+ 43.h3 and the checks are over. ] 38.g4 Now this move is not so strong. xf2! 39.d8+ [ 39.gxf5 leads to a draw as well: gxf5+ 40.xf2 fxe4 ] 39...f8 40.f6+ g7 41.e8+ g8 42.gxf5 d4! 43.f6 [ 43.xd4 xe8 44.xa7 e2+ ] 43...h5 44.h4 c5 45.c8 h6! Activation of the Queen secures Black a draw. 46.d6+ [ White has to take a draw, an attempt to play for a win would be disastrous for him: 46.g7+?? h7 47.d7 e3! and Black obtains a decisive attack: 48.xf7 f2+ 49.h3 f1+ 50.g3 d6+ ] 46...f8 47.e8 h6 48.d6+ f8 49.e8 ½-½

1587 Areshchenko,A Iordachescu,V 14th Euro Indiv 2013 (2.4) [Tom Rendle]

B15 2709 2582 06.05.2013

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h6 6.f3 f6 7.d3 [ 7.h3 immediately is also dangerous although it's not clear that W hite is better after f5 8.d3 g3 9.g1 and now 1719

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 fxe5 ( 9...f5 are both critical. See BaloghChatalbashev for more on this critical line. )] 7...0-0 [ 7...g4 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 0-0 A) 10.exf6! seems like the best move and was considered by Andrew with reference to the game Lommers, F (2202)-Goldstern, F (2372) Davos 2002 but I believe White's play can be improved upon and that White is better here: xf6 11.e3 b6 12.0-0! a significant improvement ( instead after 12.0-0-0?! xd4 13.xd4 xd4 Black was at least OK in the LommersGoldstern game.) 12...e6 ( 12...xb2 is very dangerous for Black after 13.e2! a3 14.g4 f7 15.h4! and White has e xc e l le n t a t t a c ki n g p ro sp e c t s o n t h e kingside. xh4? fails to 16.h3 f6 17.g5 g7 18.f5 and Black's kingside collapses.; 12...xd4 13.xd5 ) 13.a4 c7 14.c5 and White was slightly better in Paragua, M (2508)-Vedmediuc, S ( 2 4 6 8 ) I s t a n b u l 2 0 1 2 . A f t e r e7 Paragua went for 15.g4!? ( but perhaps t h e s i m p l e 15.ae1 was better with control over the centre after d7 16.xd7 xd7 17.c3 f5 18.f2 and White can target the backward pawn on e6 as well as slowly expanding on the kingside with either g4 or g3, h4. ); B) 10.e6 is analysed by Andrew Martin in Klenburg-Kantsler ] 8.h3 fxe5 [ 8...f5 has been seen a few times before but W hite seems to be better here: 9.g4! is critical xd3 10.xd3 fxe5 ( 10...a6 11.a3 f5?! was played in Maris, I (2112) Skembris, S (2475) Rethymno 2011 and here White missed a big opportunity for a clear edge against his much higher-rated o p p o n e n t w i t h 12.g5! f7 13.h4 and h5 is coming with a kingside attack that plays itself .) 11.dxe5 e6 12.e3 b6 13.0-0-0 c5 14.e4 ( 14.g5! d7 15.ce4 is possibly even stronger with the idea of 16.Nxh7 Kxh7, 17.Ng5+) 14...c6 15.eg5 and White had the better attacking chances and went on to win in Szabo, K (2541) -Balla, T (2381) Paks 2012 ] [ now 8...f5? 9.g4 is just good for White. ] [ 8...a6!? might be worth considering here

but W hite sho uld be b et te r af te r 9.xa6 bxa6 10.0-0 as Black has too many pawn weaknesses. ] 9.fxe5 c5! Black must attack the White centre or risk be in g worse wit h n o co un te rp la y. 10.dxc5 c6 11.0-0! [ 11.e2 just loses time and Black is at least equal after f7 12.f4 a5 ] 11...f7 12.b5! e6 13.f4?! An inaccuracy from Areshchenko [ 13.xc6! bxc6 14.d4 was stronger - it's not so easy for Black to regain the sacrificed pawn and so W hite's chances are preferable. ] 13...e7! Now c5 is dropping and Black can be happy with how the opening has gone. 14.e2 xc5+ 15.e3 e7 White must relinquish the two bishops not to drop a pawn and Black is slightly better. 16.xc6 bxc6 17.a4! If Black got time to play ...c5 and ...d4 the bishop on c8 could come to b7 and Black would be much better. b4 18.c5 xb2! The pawn grab is critical here 19.d4 b5 20.e3 b8 [ 20...h6! was possibly more accurate, forcing the queen away from the action on the kingside ] 21.g4 a5 22.f2 d8 23.af1 White obviously has some compensation for the pawn here, control of the centre and the ffile but Black is solid and should be at least OK here. a5 24.h1 e7?! This forces the knight to the excellent square d3 and worse White gains time because of the threat of Bc5 winning an exchange. [ 24...c7! was better and the position is evenly balanced. 25.d3 now doesn't have a t h r e a t a n d c a n b e m e t b y a6! with advantage to Black. ] 25.d3 d8 26.c5 e8 It's odd but even after losing so much time Black is doing OK here. Houdini suggests the position is just equal as it's hard for either side to make progress and it's probably right! 27.d4 b7 28.xc6?! This pawn grab gets the game going but it was better just to sit and accept equality - the position is very tricky here and both sides make a few inaccuracies. d4?! [ 28...h4! 29.xa5 d7 leaves the knight rather offside on a5 and meanwhile Black is gaining control of the kingside with Ng5 1720

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and Bh6. The extra pawn for W hite is of little importance here so I prefer Black. ] 29.xd4 d7?! [ 29...d5+ 30.f3 ( 30.f3 g5 31.xd5 exd5 32.g2 h5 is very promising for Black. ) 30...d7 is a much improved version of the game, the queen is obviously better placed on d5 than d8. ] 30.b5 b7+ 31.h2 [ 31.g1! avoids ...Rxd3 ideas as ...Bxe5 will no longer be check. ] 31...xe5? This just loses a piece although the way the game goes it's not so clear. I'm sure both sides were short of time though! [ 31...xd3! was critical and after 32.cxd3 xe5+ 33.g1 d5 34.e4! g5 35.xd5 xd5 36.f8+ g7! 37.1f7+! ( 37.xe8?? xh3# ) 37...xf7 38.xe8 c6 39.c7 xe8 40.xe8+ g8 we've reached a drawn endgame. Quite a forced line albeit a very tough one to find without the aid of a computer! ] 32.xe5 b8 33.e1? This keeps a clear edge but it's not immediately decisive. [ instead 33.g1! wins, for example xe5 ( or 33...xe5 34.f8+ xf8 35.xf8+ xf8 36.xe5; 33...d5 might be best but W hite is a whole piece up after 34.d3 ) 34.a7! and the bishop drops on e5 ] 33...d5 34.d6! xd6 35.xd6 xd6 36.c4 d8 White is the exchange up but since Black has the two bishops Areshchenko still has to be careful but his technique is up to the job. 37.g1 a8 38.g5 c8 39.d2 f8?! [ 39...a3 offered more chance of counterplay ] 40.d7! c5+ 41.e3 xe5 42.xc5 xc5 43.d8+ f7 44.xa8 With Black down to just the one bishop the win is more straightforward d4+ 45.g2 xc4 46.xa5 c2+ 47.f3 c3+ 48.e4 e5 49.b1 Black resigned - there's no stopping the apawn in the long run. 1-0

1588 Balogh,Csaba Chatalbashev,Boris 13th EICC Plovdiv BUL (7.48) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B15 2664 2570 27.03.2012

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h6 6.f3 f6 [ 6...0-0 7.d3 g4 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 f6 was played against Gawain this month and an unbalanced position was reached after A) 10.exf6 xf6 11.e3 might be a little better for White; B) 10.h4 is in need of more investigation a possible line is fxe5 11.dxe5 d7 when 12.h3 ( or 12.g3 seem to give White dangerous attacking chances ); C) 10.e6!? f5 11.d2 f6 12.0-0-0 xe6 13.g4 xd4 14.gxf5 gxf5 with chances for both sides in Jones, G (2635)-Bologan, V (2687) Plovdiv BUL 2012 ] 7.h3!? An unusual and slightly odd move but it does set Black a lot of problems [ 7.d3 was covered by Andrew Martin in Klenburg-Kantsler ] 7...f5 [ 7...0-0 was mentioned by Gawain in the n o t e s t o K r a e m e r - V i t i u g o v 8.g4!? lo o k s t o o r i s k y a f t e r ( 8.e3 is safer ) 8...fxe5 9.dxe5 b6! when Black has enough activity to compensate for White's space advantage ] 8.d3 [ 8.g4 was played against Chatalbashev in a p re vio u s ga m e a n d t h e re f o llo we d g3 9.g1 e4 and now White looks to be do in g well wit h ( 9...xf1 10.xf1 0-0 with approximate equality was perhaps a better idea, as in Velimirovic, D (2484)Drazic, S (2490) Herceg Novi YUG 2001) 10.d3 fxe5 11.xe5 a5 12.g2 xc3 13.d2! ] 8...g3 9.g1 f5 Although this has been played a few times it seems very risky so Black should carefully examine the alternatives [ 9...f5 10.e3 ( 10.e2 e4 ) 10...b6 11.c1 a6 12.a4 d8 13.xa6 a5+ 14.d2 and here Black should probably take on a4 with equal chances because after 1721

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xa6 15.c5 b6 16.0-0-0 the knight on c4 was well placed and W hite had some advantage in Polgar, J (2685)-Istratescu, A (2615) Bled SLO 2002 ] [ 9...fxe5 10.dxe5 0-0 11.e2 xe2 12.xe2 was unclear in Acs, P (2529)Minasian, A (2572) Dubai UAE 2002, although W hite went on to win that game very quickly. ] 10.xf5 gxf5 [ 10...xf5 isn't good due to 11.g4 h6 12.e2 and Black has been forced backwards ] 11.h4 [ 11.d3 isn't quite as critical although W hite's chances are probably preferable after e6 12.e3 ( 12.d2!? ) 12...d7 13.0-0-0 c7 ( 13...h5!? ) 14.e2 e4 15.g4 fxg4 16.hxg4 as in Frolyanov, D (2525)-Bologan, V (2636) Dresden GER 2007 ] 11...e6 12.f2! This looks to be an improvement from Balogh [ 12.f3 was played previously and now fxe5! 13.xg3 f6 14.f3 e4 15.g5 ( 15.e3 exf3 16.xf3 e7 17.g4 d7 18.gxf5 exf5 19.0-0-0 1/2-1/2 (19) Wahls, M (2582)-Hodgson, J (2605) Luebeck GER 1999 ) 15...h6 16.e2 hxg5 17.fxg5 g7 wa s v e r y u n cl e a r i n T ze rm i a d i a n o s , A (2453)-Shavtvaladze, N (2430) Athens GRE 2004 ] 12...e4+ [ 12...fxe5 is an interesting piece sac. but we d o n ' t r e a l l y b e l i e ve B l a c k h a s e n o u g h compensation after 13.xg3 exd4 ( 13...e4 14.h5+ d7 15.h2 xd4 16.d1 f6 17.e2 ) 14.h5+ d7 15.e2 ] 13.xe4 fxe4 14.g4!? This may not be best but considering the practical problems is poses Black it's a very dangerous option [ 14.h5+ initially the computers much pref er this m ove and it d oes seem tha t White has some advantage after d7 15.f5 e8 ( 15...e7 16.fxe6+ xe6 17.f5 f8 18.f4 ) 16.fxe6+ c7! 17.xe8 xe8 18.f5 h8 19.exf6 xf6 20.g4 xe6 21.f4+ which is unpleasant but probably holdable for Black ] 14...e7 [ 14...d7?! 15.f5! is strong ]

15.f5 fxe5! [ 15...0-0 16.f1! fxe5 17.g1 d7 18.fxe6 xf1+ 19.xf1 f6 20.f5! is a nice line for White leading to a better ending after xg4 21.xe7+ f8 22.f5 f6 23.dxe5 e8 24.f4 although Black's strong pawn chain give him some compensation here ] 16.fxe6 0-0+ 17.e2 a6?! After this things start to go downhill quickly for Black [ 17...exd4! is the critical test of White's play and now W hite can has a choice: 18.f5 is probably best when Black should give up the exchan ge imm ediate ly wit h ( 18.h6 d3+ 19.cxd3 exd3+ 20.xd3 a6 21.af1 c5+ 22.c2 xe6 23.b1 ) 18...xf5 19.xf5 a6 20.g5 d3+! 21.cxd3 exd3+ with a very complex position, although computers slightly favour W hite with 22.f3! as this is perhaps the safest place for the King under the circumstances! ] 18.g5! b4 [ 18...c7? 19.e7 f7 20.af1 and White's attack is crashing through ] 19.h6 e7? now Black is just lost [ 19...c4+! 20.e1 b4+ 21.c3 e7 and now with the King on e1 White will find it much more difficult to bring the a1 rook in t o t h e ga m e a lt h o u gh W h it e m u s t b e somewhat better still after 22.f1 xf1+ 23.xf1 f8+ 24.g1 as Black doesn't have time to grab on d4: exd4? 25.f1! dxc3 26.xf8+ xf8 27.f5+- ] 20.af1! h8 21.f5 xf5 22.xg7+ xg7 23.xf5 exd4 24.xg7+ xg7 25.gf1 c5 [ 25...e8 26.f7+ g6 27.e7 ] 26.g5+ h8 27.e7 d7 28.f7 7.h3!? looks very dangerous so Black players should carefully examine the alternatives on move 9 if they want to play this line. 1-0

1722

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1589 Bauer,Christian Alonso Rosell,Alvar Pierre & Vacances Open (8) [Gawain Jones]

B15 2633 2477 26.02.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 The Fantasy Variation continues to be topical. g6 4.c3 g7 5.e3 b6 6.d2 [ Last year I looked at 6.a3 in Nabaty, T (2485) -Khairullin, I (2617) Rijeka 2010. Since then there's only been one practical test, albeit a high rated one. e5 7.ge2 e7 8.d2 ( 8.f2 was my suggestion a l t h o u g h m a yb e B l a c k ' s o k a f t e r c7 ) 8...xb2 9.a2 b6 10.dxe5 d8 11.f4 0-0 12.g3 d7 13.g2 1/2-1/2 Predojevic, B (2628)-Solak, D (2547) Bihac 2010 doesn't teach us very much. ] 6...xb2 7.b1 a3 8.d3!? An interesting way of playing. White declines to regain his pawn and thus keeps his centre intact. He is relying on compensation in the shape of his big centre and lead in development. [ 8.exd5 has been normal but doesn't look to cause Black any significant problems. The main line runs f6 ( 8...a5 Speelman, J (2555)-Houska, J (2375) London 2004 is annotated in the archives by Andrew Martin. ) 9.dxc6 bxc6 A) 10.c4 has actually been played more often but is weaker in Alexander Volzhin's opinion. This is due to the fact that the bishop isn't defended and so after a6 i t ' s f o r c e d t o m o v e a g a i n . ( 10...bd7 followed by 11...Nb6 also looks logical. ); B) 10.d3 bd7 11.ge2 0-0 12.0-0 a6 13.b3 a5 B1) 14.d5?! initially flashes across Rybka's thought processes but Volzhin's old analysis is correct: xd2 15.xe7+? ( 15.xd2 xd3 16.xf6+ xf6 17.xd3 c5! leaves Black with a definite en d ga m e e d ge .) 15...h8 16.xd2 xd3 17.xd3 fe8 18.e3 ( 18.b4 f8! 19.e3 c5!-+; 18.xc6 is Rybka's top choice but Black is definitely for preference with his extra piece after xe2 ) 18...h6! 19.f4 ( 19.xg6+ hxg6 20.xe8+ xe8 21.xh6 xe2-+ ) 19...g4 20.e4 df6 with a decisive

advantage.; B2) 14.xa6 xa6 15.e1 ( I reached this position myself with the Black pieces. Here my opponent deviated with 15.fb1 but following fd8 16.c1 d5 17.xd5 cxd5 18.f4 e6 19.a3 c4 20.c3 a5 21.ab3 ac8 22.d1 f8 23.e2 a4 24.b7 b8 25.d2 a6 26.xb8 xb8 27.xb8 xb8 28.f2 b5 White didn't manage to hold his unpleasant position. Roy Chowdhury, S (2429) -Jones, G (2556) Parramatta 2010.) 15...fe8 16.c1 b6 17.f2 fd5 18.e4 c4 19.b1 and Black had at least equalised. Check out Adams, M (2685)-Leko, P (2630)Tilburg 1996 annotated by Alexander Volzhin. ] [ 8.h4!? is a radical attempt that has been see n a cou ple o f t im es re cen tly. Ka id o Ku la ot s ap pe a rs t o ha ve b e en t he f irs t person to try it in this position and me the second (although by a transposition). My game was from a tournament I like to forget and had absolutely no memory of the game! Timofeev has scored well with this although not necessarily due to his opening positions. My feeling is that objectively Black should be better but the positions are highly complex and one error will be decisive. A) 8...e6 9.h5 d7 10.d3 gf6 11.e5! Griffiths, R (2148)-Szabo, B (2261) Budapest 2010 and W hite was for p r e f e r e n c e a s xh5 12.g4 wins the knight.; B) 8...dxe4 looks like the critical test, the idea being to exploit the vulnerable g4 square. However W hite has scored well with 9.h5! B1) 9...gxh5!? 10.fxe4 g4?! T h i s c a n ' t b e r i g h t ( 10...f6 is more critical.) 11.xb7 d7 12.f3 d8 Timofeev, A (2637) -Bareev, E (2653) Serpukhov 2007, when sensible d e ve l o p i n g wi t h 13.c4 would have given W hite the easier game although things are far from clear after c5!; B2) 9...f6 10.h6 f8 11.fxe4 g4 12.f3 d7 13.c4 b6 14.b3 f6 15.0-0 Was highly unclear and what W hite is hoping for in this variation. I 1723

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 believe that objectively Black should probably be better and should perhaps continue with 15...Bd7 and 0-0-0. The game continued: a5 16.f4 d7 17.a4 e5 ( taking the pawn with 17...xh6 18.xh6 xh6 19.xh6 xc3 20.e5 fxe5 21.f7+! i s v e r y d a n g e r o u s .) 18.xe5! I b e t t h i s c a m e a s a s h o c k . xe5 ( 18...fxe5 19.g5! creates a mating net and thus picks up material.) 19.dxe5 0-0-0 20.exf6 b4 21.h2! g5 Kapnisis, S (2464)-Wojtaszek, R (2637) Kallithea 2009 when the most accurate finish would have been 22.h1! as xc3 23.d6 picks up the house.; B3) 9...d7 10.fxe4 gf6 11.h6 f8 12.e5 g4 13.f4 b6 14.e2 e6 15.h4 f5 16.f3 ( 16.exf6 xf6 17.f3 would keep good compensation f o r t h e p a w n .) 16...c4 17.d3 Timofeev, A (2677)-Khenkin, I (2630) Havana 2009 when Black had at least a draw with b2 18.d2 and can even play on with 0-0-0; C) 8...h5 C1) 9.exd5 was Morozevich's choice but after f6 10.c4 bd7 11.dxc6 bxc6 The position resembles the main line when h4, h5 appears to favour Black as White has further holes. Morozevich, A (2750)-Leko, P (2752) Moscow 2009.; C2) 9.h3 was played the first time the position was reached and copied by me. C2a) 9...d7 looks like a sensible idea when 10.exd5 didn't really feel in the right spirit of White's previous two moves. b6 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.g5 h6 13.b3 a5 was certainly fine for Black and I made a complete meal of the W hite side and lost quickly in Jones, G (2518)-Krasenkow, M (2661) Gausdal 2007.; C2b) 9...e6 10.f4 b6 11.g4 a6 ( 11...hxg4 12.fxg4 f6 13.g5 xe4 14.xe4 dxe4 is a more critical test of White's adventurous idea but he still has good play after 15.h5 ) 12.gxh5 xf1 13.xf1 gxh5 14.exd5 exd5 15.g1 f8?! Kulaots, K (2550)-Levin, F ( 2 5 0 0 ) G a u s d a l 2 0 0 6 wh e n t h e

thematic 16.cxd5! cxd5 17.xd5 d6 18.c4 would have left White in complete control and with easily enough for the sacrificed piece.; C2c) 9...dxe4 10.fxe4 d7 11.c4 b6 12.b3 xh3 13.xh3 f6 14.g5 a5 15.e5 fd5 16.xd5 xd2+ 17.xd2 cxd5 18.a4 Polivanov, A (2382)-Kovalev, D (2451) Alushta 2009 favoured W hite even with his pawn deficit as Black has no way to st op the rooks ent ering his position.; C3) 9.d3 And the position is similar to Bauer's treatment in the game. It's not clear whether the advanced h pawns favours W hite or Black. W hite has a vulnerable g3 square and the worse structure but Black must watch out for e5-e6 ideas with g6 undefended. In fact, as Bauer played h4 anyway the position is likely to transpose. A couple of p r a c t i c a l e n c o u n t e r s c o n t i n u e d : e6 ( 9...dxe4 is the computer's top suggestion and following 10.fxe4 h6 11.f3 g4 12.g5 e5! 13.xe5 xe5 14.dxe5 xe5 15.e2 d7 16.c4 0-0 White's compensation had run out. Brustkern, J (2299)-Battey, A (2157) Budapest 2010.) 10.h3 e7 11.g5 c7 Kernazhitsky, L (2347)Piankov, E (2310) Tatranske Zruby 2010 when White had the opportunity to play the surprising 12.exd5! exd5 ( 12...cxd5 13.b5 d7 14.f4 is great for White. ) 13.e3+ e7 14.d2! with strong pressure down the e file. ] 8...e6 A sensible looking move defending the e xt r a p a wn b u t l o s i n g f u r t h e r t i m e . T h e consensus f or Black's best move doesn't appear to have been found and he has tried many different things: [ 8...d7 was played in the first ever game to reach this position and has parallels with the mainline. 9.ge2 And now White needs something against ( 9.exd5 gf6 10.dxc6 bxc6 might even transpose. ) A) 9...e5!? is also an interesting try. 10.f4!? ( 10.exd5 gf6 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.0-0 0-0 is acceptable for Black.) 10...exf4?! The wrong pawn to take. 1724

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( Instead 10...dxe4! 11.xe4 exd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.xd4 gf6 followed by castling and W hite's compensation for the pawn has dried up.) 11.xf4 e7 12.0-0 0-0 13.b3 a5 14.xd5! d8 15.c7 e8 16.xe7+ xe7 17.f4 and White had a wonderful position. Kapnisis, S (2510)-Marchand, F (2244) Caleta 2010.; B) 9...e6 10.0-0 e7 11.f4 Black always has to watch out for this as the queen starts to run short on squares. ( The first game in the line continued: 11.h6 0-0 12.b3 xh6 13.xh6 a5 14.f4 h8 15.h3 g8 16.h4 g7 with reasonable compensation f or the p a wn . Ha z a i, L (2 4 3 0 )- S p ir id o n o v, N (2490) Agard 1976.) 11...e5! 12.dxe5 xe5 13.exd5 0-0 14.b3 a5 15.e4 c4 16.d3 cxd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 b6 19.b5 a6 20.b3 Bartel, M (2601)-Dziuba, M (2535) Lublin 2009 when Black had survived the opening stage and indeed had he gone f5 he'd have had a clear edge.; C) 9...dxe4! 10.fxe4 ( 10.xe4 might be better but then I always wonder what the point of playing t he Fantasy was. ) 10...e5 11.0-0 gf6 12.dxe5 ( 12.f3 0-0 13.bf1 g4 14.c4 xe3 15.xe3 exd4 16.xf7 xf7 17.xf7+ h8 18.xd4 c5 19.ce2 e5 20.b3 g4 was great for Black although White used his extra 200 rating points in the end. Popov, I (2594)-Grishchenko, S (2390) Minsk 2008.) 12...xe5 13.d4 fd7 14.d1 0-0 15.e3 b6 16.c4 d6 17.bd1 c5 18.xe5 xd2 19.xd2 xe5 and Black had a clear extra pawn. W illiams, S (2545)-Speelman, J (2525) Hinckley Island 2010. ] [ R e t r e a t i n g t h e q u e e n w i t h 8...a5 has also had some practical encounters but looks a bit slow. 9.ge2 e6 10.h4 ( 10.0-0 as played in Cornette, M (2496)-Brunner, N (2404) Evry 2008 is also an option.) 10...h5 11.0-0 d7 12.g5 a6?! 13.xd5! xd2 14.c7+ f8 15.xd2 b8 16.b4+ e7 17.d6 gave White a fantastic position in the high rated encounter Mamedyarov, S (2731) -Svidler, P (2727) Almaty 2008. ]

[ 8...dxe4 9.fxe4 e5 doesn't look as effective without the inclusion of ...Nd7 and Ne2. 10.f3 This is an important difference. exd4 11.xd4 e7? Not an obvious error at all but now 12.cb5! is decisive. xa2 13.d6+ d7 14.0-0 xd6 15.c4! xc4 16.b5+ e5 17.d6+ xe4 18.f4+ 1-0 Ivanov, A (2458)-Gorovykh, E (2381) St Petersburg 2007. These pretty lines are the reason that White players flock to play this, even if it's not theoretically sound. ] 9.ge2 b6 [ 9...f6 was tried in an earlier GM e n c o u n t e r b u t A lo n s o R o s e ll p r o b a b l y w a n t e d t o k e e p h 6 d e f e n d e d . 10.e5 ( 10.h6 certainly requires investigation.) 10...fd7 11.h4 a6 12.b3 a5 13.h5 ( 13.xa6!? bxa6! defends important squares. ) 13...b4 14.hxg6 xd3+ 15.cxd3 hxg6 16.xh8+ xh8 17.g5 g7 18.f2 c7 19.b1 b6 ( 19...f6!? probably favours Black but understandably he simply wanted to develop his pieces.) 20.h1 f8 21.c1 a6 22.f4 c5 23.a3 cxd4?! 24.cxd5! exd5 25.xa6 xe5 26.e1 and White's nebulous compensation had turned into something substantial. Lazic, M (2485)-Chatalbashev, B (2499) Genova 2005. ] 10.b3 [ The computer quite likes continuing with the positional 10.0-0!? although any human would like to keep the possibility of h4-h5 on t h e c a r d s . f6 ( 10...e7 11.f4! is awkward as the Black queen runs out of squares. ) 11.g5 with obvious compensation f or the pawn but Bauer's treatment is more scary to face, even if Black is objectively fine. ] [ 10.h4 immediately must also be possible. The computer offers dxe4 11.fxe4 e5 but playing in such a manner without any development is very risky. ] 10...d6 11.h4 h5 12.e5 Continuing a policy o f ga in i n g sp a c e . I f B l a c k i s a cc u r a t e , I believe he should be able to defuse White's initiative but sitting behind Black's position is hair raising! d7 13.g4 a6 [ 13...hxg4 is the main alternative but White keeps up some dangerous threats. 14.fxg4 h6 1725

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 15.g5 f5 is what Black's aiming for, i. e. 16.xf5 exf5 ( Allowing White a p a s s e d h p a wn w i t h 16...gxf5 17.h5 isn't to be recommended.) 17.f4 a6 18.h5 c4 19.b1 a6 20.f2 0-0-0 and Black has finally managed to complete his development and is doing well.; B) 15.g5!? xg4 16.f4 when Black is two pawns up but still a long way from completing his development and must be extremely accurate. One illustrative line continues c7 ( 16...a6 17.xg6!; 16...xe5!? is also interesting but I feel W h i t e s h o u l d b e b e t t e r a f t e r 17.dxe5 xe5 18.0-0 thanks to his dark square control. ) 17.xg6! fxg6 18.0-0!! h6 19.xd5!! Fantastic. The advent of the su pe r s tro ng co mp ut e r pro gram s h a s certainly brought some beauty into chess. cxd5 ( 19...exd5 20.xg6+ d7 21.e6+ xe6 22.e3+ with a decisive attack.) 20.c3 b7 21.xc8+! xc8 22.b4! and despite Black's extra rook and knight he is powerless to defend against White's attack. ] 14.gxh5?! [ 14.f4 looks like a better bet to me k e e p in g d e c e n t c o m p e n sa t i o n wit h o u t burning White's boats (his pawn structure). ] 14...xd3 15.xd3 xh5 [ Black could exploit the weakening of the f5 square with 15...e7! when 16.hxg6 xg6 17.h5 c5! is very good for Black. ] 16.g3 h8 17.h5 e7? After getting so close Black starts to drift. [ 17...c5! should have been played when Black's pieces can develop with tempo. 18.dxc5 c6 19.cxb6 ( 19.f4 d4 20.ce4 dxe3 21.d6+ f8 22.xe3 ge7 shouldn't be enough for the piece.) 19...axb6 20.xb6 xe5 21.d1 e7 and with Black almost fully developed W hite's position is starting to look very loose. ] 18.ce2 d7 [ Again 18...c5 should probably be preferred although now W hite can react with both 19.c4 ( and 19.dxc5 )] 19.c4 f5?! The weakness of g6 is too great. [ Black could try getting his king to safety with 19...0-0-0 but I bet he was concerned by

20.cxd5 exd5 ( 20...cxd5 21.a6+ b8 22.a3 looks too risky.) 21.f4 when White has a lot of pressure for the pawn. ] [ 19...dxc4 20.xc4 c5 is an alternative p l a n b u t a g a i n 21.f4 gives White good positional compensation for the pawn. ] [ 19...c5 could be best but here too 20.cxd5 exd5 21.b5! f8 22.f4 gives White the more promising chances. ] 20.cxd5 cxd5 21.f4! A strong move that Alonso Rossell might have underestimated. Black is now forced to go extremely passive to retain his material. f8 22.c3 d7 23.hxg6 [ The immediate 23.c2! is more accurate w h e n B l a c k h a s n o d e f e n c e . d8 ( 23...e7 24.hxg6 xh1+ 25.xh1 a n d B l a ck ca n n o t p la y b o t h n e c e s s a r y moves of ...Kd8 and ...Bh6.) 24.xg6! This is the difference to the game. W hite can now bring the bishop to g5 immediately. xg6 25.hxg6 xh1+ 26.xh1 f8 27.g5+ e7 28.xe7+ xe7 29.g7 and the g pawn will decide. ] 23...xh1+ 24.xh1 e7? [ 24...h6 was necessary to prevent White's next although 25.c2! taking possession of the c file is still unpleasant. Black has to preve nt 26 .Rc7 so d8 is best but now 26.f2! xf4 ( 26...e7 27.xe6+! xe6 28.c6 would allow the White rook to enter with decisive ef f ect.) 27.h4+ e8 ( 27...e7 28.g7 would be rather embarrassing.) 28.c7 when Black is forced to give his queen with xg6 but White must have an edge following 29.xd7 xd7 30.a4+ c7 31.g3 g5 32.f2 ] 25.h5! Now the bishop cannot get out of the corner. exg6 26.c2! and the rook enters. e7 [ 26...d8 now fails to the simple 27.g5+ ] 27.c7 d7 [ 27...h4+ 28.1g3 and Black cannot both defend the g7 bishop and prevent Qc6+ mating. ] 28.c6 d8 29.xe6! Black must be aware of this possibility if he's to react to the Fantasy with ...g6. This is hardly going to re f u t e t h e Caro -K a nn b u t B la ck m u s t b e careful and ready to calculate early on. If you don't mind taking risks in pursuit of the full 1726

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 23...cxd4 24.cxd4 ( 24.xa4 point then playing W hite in these positions 25.b3 dxc3 26.xb7 xa3 )] might be a lot of fun. 24.f3 g7 25.xb7 cxd4 26.c6 1-0 ½-½ 1590 Danes,Jaroslav Lechtynsky,Jiri Open Teplice CZE (9) [John Watson]

B15 2202 2420 22.06.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ exf6 6.c3 d6 7.d3 0-0 8.f3 [ 8.e2 c7 ( 8...e8 9.c2 g6 is the idea in our main game.) 9.c2 h6 was Teterev-Lomako, which you can find in the Archives. The main line after 9. ..h6 runs 10.e3 d7 , and now ( 10...e8 ) 11.d2 11 or 0-0-0 or 11 Ng3 ] 8...d7 9.e2 e8 10.0-0 g6! This is a more aggressive and way to proceed: Black intends ...f5. 11.e1 f5 12.d2 This keeps more pieces on the board while connecting rooks. [ 12.f4 looks normal, but Black has a fairly easy time of it after f6 13.g5 e7 14.f4 d7 ] 12...f6 13.g3 e6 14.c4 a5!? Black stops Bb4, and might want to expand upon the queenside. 15.a3!? [ 15.ad1 a4 16.c3 looks like a better and more direct approach. In some lines, d5 can happen. ] 15...a4 Of course. 16.c3 f8 [ 16...h5 is a good move in these structures, ga in in g s p a c e a n d co n t ro l o f g4 , wh ile preparing ...h4 in some lines. ] 17.ad1 g7 One of the points of ...g6, although Black doesn't always use it. 18.e2 e4 19.f4 xc3 20.bxc3 f6 [ 20...a5 ] 21.b1 ab8 22.g3 [ 22.g3 would watch over some key squares. White would arguably have a small edge. ] 22...c5! 23.d1?! [ 23.xb7 cxd4 24.xb8 xb8 25.xe6 fxe6 26.cxd4 xd4 27.xe6 b3 28.a8+ is a b o u t e q u a l ( t h e o p p o s i t e - c o l o u r e d bishops make any ending problematic). ] 23...h6

1591 De Firmian,Nick E La Rota,Fabio HB Global CC (6) [Andrew Martin]

a8!

B15 2549 2317 21.05.2005

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ exf6 A move which has declined in popularity, mostly due to the system that De Firmian now employs. 6.c3 d6 [ 6...e6 ] 7.d3 0-0 8.e2 c7 The point of this idea as opposed to ...Re8 is to simply slow down castling short. 9.c2 h6 10.e3 e8 [ Black has to rely on active pieces to compensate for his doubled pawns, and so 10...d7 comes into consideration. However, it fails to equalise in my view: 11.h3! b6 12.c4 c5 13.0-0 e8 14.b3 d7 ( 14...cxd4 15.xd4 d7 16.ad1 ) 15.ad1 f8 16.c3 d7 17.d5 c8 18.dxc5 xc5 19.xc5 xc5 20.b4 c8 21.c5 e5 22.e4 f5 23.f3 g6 24.c3 h8 25.f4 Hort, V-Antonio, R/Novi Sad 1990 Black could often contemplate advancing his kingside pawns against the white king in the early days of this line. Hort seemed to sidestep this effortlessly. ] 11.0-0-0!? De Firmian plays in his customary sharp and fearless style. However, if White is looking for a safe edge, he should castle short: [ Once again we see Antonio defending his favourite position: 11.h3 d7 12.0-0 f8 13.c4 e6 14.d2 c5 15.d5 g5 16.c3 d7 17.h4 h7 18.e4 f5 19.xd6 xd6 Arakhamia Grant, K-Antonio, R/ Sydney 1991 when 20.ab1! planning b4, would have been better for White. Note the vint age of th ese ga mes. 1 5 years late r Black rarely goes in for this sort of stuff. ] 11...c5 12.b1 g4 13.h3 xe2 14.xe2 cxd4 15.cxd4 xc2+ 16.xc2 You see what I mean. Doubtless W hite is better thanks to the two bishops and better 1727

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pawns but there will always be a slight doubt about his King. De Firmian doesn't worry about such niceties he sees this as an extra problem for the opponent to worry about. c6 17.f3 ac8 18.b1 b6 19.he1 White has played with due care and seeks a way to advance the d pawn to throttle all the life out of the Black position. f5 20.c1 e7 21.xc8 xc8 22.d2 c4 23.c3 Providing a shield for the King as much as anything else. c8 24.c2! g6 25.g3 f8 26.d3 e6 27.d5 c7 28.b7 Nudging the Rook out of position. d8 29.a4 And now preventing ...Nb5. b8 30.c6 f8 31.b4 a6 32.b5 a5 33.d5 f6 [ 33...f4 34.g4 d8 35.c4 b8 ( 35...c5 36.xa5! xf2 37.b4+ ) 36.d4 does not ease Black's burden. ] 34.d4 f7 35.d7 f8 36.c4 [ 36.xf5 xd5 ] 36...f4 37.g4 b4 38.e2 d8 39.c6 b8 40.h4 This is excellent stuff. White now needs to engineer a breakthrough as the culmination of his preparatory play. The point of 40 h4 is to play h4-h5! , fixing g6. e7 41.h5 d6 42.f3 e7 43.d3! f7 44.e4 d6 45.f5 f8 46.g6 e7 47.g5 hxg5 48.h6 I don't know about you, but I do not like to be ground down in this manner, without a shred of counterplay the whole game through. Great technique from De Firmian! 1-0

1592 Furdzik,Rafal Blatny,Pavel 61st NY Masters (2) [Andrew Martin]

B15 2240 2455 2003

light-squared Bishops and then play his Knight to e6. I don't like what Furdzik does next but he was probably looking around for a pawn break-some way of getting his ponderous position together. 10.xf5!? [ 10.e2 ] 10...gxf5 11.e2 e6 12.d3 xc1 13.axc1 h6 14.c4 dxc4 15.xc4 d7 16.d1 d8 Whatever White was trying to achieve hasn't quite come off. Blatny has a ready-made target at d4 and the g-file to work with. Meanwhile, Furdzik just defends..... unsuccessfully. 17.c2 g8 18.h1 a4?! The decoy. W hite can come and round this pawn up but he takes away defenders from his King. Still, a pawn is a pawn! 19.e3 h8 20.c3 g4! 21.e1 f4 22.xa4 e6 23.hxg4!? He is getting desperate. It's down to taking what's on offer and hoping for the best. [ 23.d2 xa2 24.c5 appears strong for White. ] 23...hxg4+ 24.h2 h6 25.g1 e6 26.g3? Anything but this! [ 26.c5 ] 26...h3 27.g2 g5 28.g1? [ 28.f4 f3 29.c5 b8! is excellent for Black too. ] 28...xh2+ 29.xh2 f3+ 30.f1 xh2 31.d3 h1+ 32.g2 g1# Highly interesting and original. W hite was completely outmanoeuvred. We can trace the error to move f our! 4 e5 is inf lexible and Blatny showed how to play around W hite's pawns. 0-1

1593 B15 Ganguly,Surya Shekhar 2583 1.e4 g6 2.d4 c6 3.c3 d5 4.e5 Rahman,Ziaur 2538 10.04.2005 [ 4.f3 g7 5.h3 is the sternest test. 4 e5 7th UI&UL GM (7) g i v e s B l a t n y a c h a n c e t o d i s p l a y h i s [Andrew Martin] remarkable originality. ] 4...h5 5.h3 a5 W h a t e l s e ? 6.f3 a6 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 I am coming 7.e2 c7 White isn't exactly pressurising around to this way of handling the Modern. Black so Blatny has time for all this exotic 4.e3 manoeuvering. Sometimes it's best not to [ The most critical line 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h6! make too many comments just sit back and looks OK for Black at the moment and of watch the show. 8.0-0 h6 9.d3 f5 course, there is ( 5...h5 to fall back on. )] Black's plan takes shape. He will exchange 4...d5 5.f3 b6!? Eccentric-looking, but Black 1728

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 wants to play ...Bc8-a6. [ H o w e v e r , I b e l i e v e t h a t 5...dxe4! is bett er, so f tenin g W hite up, a nd the n 6.fxe4 f6 7.e2 0-0 8.h3 against ...Ng4 a5 9.d2 c5! 10.d5 e6 11.f3 exd5 12.exd5 bd7 13.f4 e8+ 14.ge2 b5 15.d6 b4! 16.xa8 bxc3 17.xc3 xc3+ 18.bxc3 a6 with a vicious Black attack as in Mukhin-Tseitlin Tashkent 1977 19.f3 i s a n s w e r e d b y xe2! 20.xe2 h5 with numerous threats. ] 6.d2 a6 7.xa6 xa6 8.ge2 e6 And then place his pawns on light squares so wqe can say that the system is positionally w e l l - f o u n d e d , i f u n u s u a l . 9.0-0-0N Ganguly judges that Black is a little passive so he can simply castle and proceed on the Kingside. Any drawback that there can be about Black's set-up must lie in the slowness of counterplay that Black is able to muster. [ 9.h4 is more direct after which I recommend f6 10.e5 d7 11.h5 c5 with some counterplay, given that after 12.h6 f8 White pushes the Black Bishop to its best square anyway. ] [ 9.0-0 is OK for a very small advantage, but no more: e7 10.h6 0-0 11.xg7 xg7 12.e5 c5= De Poi, P-Santolini, L/Italy 1995 ] 9...d7 10.h4 h6 11.h5 g5 12.f4! Yes, correct! Energetic action is called for b e f o r e B l a c k g e t s f u l l y d e v e l o p e d . gxf4 13.xf4 0-0-0 14.h3! A very intelligent use of the Rook, planning either Rg3 or Rf3 and Rdf1. b7 15.g3 f6 16.d3 b4 17.f3 f8 18.a3 dxe4 He must try to do something. Instead, the slow [ 18...a6 19.e1 c7 is punished by 20.xc7 xc7 21.f4! when White is making use of all his pieces. ] 19.xe4 d5 20.c4 xf4 21.xf4 f5 22.c3 d6 23.d5! White's energy in this game is admirable. Every time Black seems to be getting back into it, W hite finds a strong attacking move. Naturally with the knight on g8 and the rook looking on, 23 d5 is logical too! exd5 [ 23...xf4+ 24.xf4 e7 25.g7 cxd5 26.cxd5 hg8 27.f7! is winning for White. ] 24.cxd5 e7 25.g7 hg8 26.dxc6+ xc6 27.xd6! A nice little combination, winning

material. xf3 28.xe7+ c8 29.gxf3 xd6 30.b5 d7 31.xa7+ d8 32.c6+ c7 33.xd7+ xd7 34.g6! Ta kin g a d van t a ge o f t he va rio u s f o rk in g p o ss ib il it i e s a va il a b l e . R a h m a n p u t s u p stubborn resistance from here on in, but the result is never in doubt. e6 35.b4 a8 36.b2 d5 37.ge7+ d6 38.b5 f4 39.f5+ c5 40.e5 d8 [ 40...xb5 41.g6 d8 42.xf4 d2+ 43.b3 f2 44.d4+ a5 45.fe6+- ] 41.c3 d5 42.d3+ xb5 43.d4+ a4 44.xf4 c5+ 45.d3 xa3 46.e4 b5 47.d5 b4 48.f4 b3 49.xb3 xb3 It's strange, but the Black King is just too far offside. 50.f5 c4+ [ 50...c4 51.e3+ b5 52.f6 c7 53.f5 c5 54.g6 d6 55.f7 c8 ( 55...e7 56.d5+ ) 56.f5+ e5 57.xh6 e6 58.g7 c7 59.g8 would be one example of Black trying to rush his King back and failing. ] 51.e5 c5 52.d6 c4 53.e7 a5 54.f6 a6+ 55.e5 a5+ 56.e6 a6+ 57.f5 a5+ 58.g6 a6 59.g7 e6 60.g6 The final sequence must have been embarrassing for Rahman. W hat of the opening moves? W ell, clearly 5... dxe4 is better than 5...b6 as demonstrated. 1-0

1594 Himdan,Maher Magerramov,Elmar 16th Open Abu Dhabi UAE (1) [Andrew Martin]

B15 2282 2530 12.08.2006

I had the pleasure of meeting Elmar Magerramov after a gap of 15 years on my recent trip to Dubai. He's the current coach at th e Du b ai Ch ess a nd Cu lt ure Clu b a nd I wonder if they all know how lucky they are. What a set-up in the Emirates! Many of the chess clubs have independent, sumptuous facilities, buildings in their own grounds and the best of everything, including top coaches. It is surely only a matter of time before a world-beating youngster emerges. I suppose one could consider Magerramov a veteran now, but he can still play excellent, strategical 1729

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 chess. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ exf6 6.c4 d6 7.e2 0-0 8.e3 e8N Gentle development. The alternatives: [ 8...d7 9.b3 e8 10.d2 f8 11.g3 c7 12.0-0-0 g4 13.de1 ad8 14.h3 xg3 15.hxg4 xe3 16.fxe3 xe1 17.xe1 e7 18.f2 e6 19.c3 Bubis, L-Delander, A/Bad Homburg 2005 ] [ 8...g4 9.f3 h5 10.d2 d7 11.0-0-0 a5 12.h4 h6 13.g4 g6 14.f4 h7 15.h5 b5 16.d3 b6 17.xh6 c4 18.xc4 gxh6 19.xh6 1-0 Blake, C-Oxley, D/Dos Hermanas 2004 ] [ 8...c7 9.d2 d7 10.b3 b5 11.c3 b6 12.f4 e8 13.0-0 g4 14.h3 g5 15.d3 h5 16.ae1 d5 17.xd5 cxd5 18.f4 g4 19.d1 f5 Medvegy, N-Lenart, E/ Harkany 1993 ] [ Finally 8...a6! Korchnoi's move, must also be considered. The Knight moves to c7, controlling the influential e6 and d5 squares. ] 9.d2 d7 10.f4 b6 11.d3 g4!= 12.xd6 xd6 13.0-0 White gets better results against 5...exf6 castling long. ad8 Full development is complete and Black can count on equality with his active pieces. 14.c3 c5 15.fe1? Far too casual. Instead [ 15.f3 e6 16.c2 keeps equality. ] 15...xe2 16.xe2 cxd4 Black is instantly slightly better. 17.ad1 [ 17.xd4 xd4 18.cxd4 xd4 19.f3 xe1+ 20.xe1 f8 21.xb7 d2 ] 17...g6 18.cxd4 e4 19.f3 c4! 20.c3 xe1+ 21.xe1 xd4 22.xb7 xb2 In this situation White must have realised that he is lost. It is a question of time. The precise p r o b l e m i s t h e l a c k o f a n y c o u n t e r p l a y. 23.b3 d3 24.f1 c5 25.f3 g7 26.g3 e5 27.c6 d3 28.g4 d4 29.f3 h5 But just how will Black win? The answer lies in this pawn prod. By combining play exclusively on the dark squares with threats to white's King, Black can inch forward. 30.a3 a6 31.c1 d3 32.f1 a5 There is no rush. 33.c3 b4 34.a3 xc6 35.xc6 d3 36.a4 c3 37.d7 c4 38.d1 e4 39.a1 h4 The pawn on a4 or the King must perish. Maybe both.... in that

order. 0-1

1595 Hnydiuk,Aleksander Jasnikowski,Zbigniew POL-chT2 Polanica Zdroj (3) [Andrew Martin]

B15 2306 2421 06.09.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 g6 4.e5 A sign that White is thinking of the Austrian Attack. However, Black gains in virtually every line by delaying ... Bg7 if White plays f2-f4. We must think ahead to the pawn breaks. If White plays f2-f4 any Bishop on g7 is going to feel cramped and so Black will be looking for a way to free up his position and gain counterplay. This usually comes via ...c6-c5 and thus the Bishop on f8 is very well placed in that instance as opposed to the Bishop on g7 which will probably have to retreat to f8 anyway! h5 5.e3 White is waiting for ...Bg7 h6 Black keeps him waiting! 6.d2 f5 7.f4 b5!?N A queenside expansion which is common enough in this line, but which appears to be new in this precise move-order. I see nothing wrong with 7...b5, especially with the W hite Knight already on c3. It's a case of quality versus quantity. W hite has better development but his pieces might not be on very good squares! [ Others: 7...e6 8.ge2 c5 would be the traditional method and Black does not stand badly after 9.dxc5 ( 9.g5 a5 ) 9...xc5 10.g3 d7 11.0-0-0 e7 12.b1 b6 13.f3 h4 14.ge2 f5 15.c1 when both e3 and ( 15...h5 are rather unclear. )] [ 7...b6 8.f3 A) I am sure that 8...xb2 9.b1 a3 10.e6! did not appeal to Hoi, given Hector's reputation, however Black might be able to defend himself: fxe6 11.e5 g7! 12.xg6 ( 12.b3 a5 13.e2 d7 ) 12...xd4! 13.xh8 f3+; B) 8...e6 9.d3 xb2 10.b1 a3 11.0-0 d7 12.g5 e7 13.xf5 gxf5 Hector, J-Hoi, C/Copenhagen 2001 ] 8.f3 a5 9.a4 [ 9.d3 continues with the normal development when it is rather difficult for me 1730

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to say how the game would exactly have proceeded. I'll guess at e6 10.e2 d7 11.0-0 a6 DIAG with the observation that one doesn't often have to play a position like this as W hite. I estimate the over-the board chances as equal. ] 9...b4 10.a2 It looks like he is teeing up for c2-c3 but never actually plays this move. Strange.... [ Naturally 10.e2 a6 should also be considered, with the same murky struggle as before. ] 10...e6 11.c1 a6 12.xa6 xa6 13.b3 c5 DIAG Black has to get around to this move at some stage and now we see the Bishop on f8 is in the correct place. 14.dxc5 xc5= 15.bd4 [ 15.xc5 xc5 16.0-0 b6 is rather unimpressive from White's point of view, for wh o m I a m s t ru ggli n g t o se e a n a ct ive forward-going plan. Meanwhile Black plays on the c file. ] 15...xd4 16.xd4 d7 17.e2 g7 The danger of any White kingside attack has passed and so Black shapes to castle. Good timing! 18.b5?! [ 18.0-0 xa4 19.a2 c5 20.fa1 a4 is obviously going to be uncomfortable for White, as is ] [ 18.b5 0-0 19.0-0 xa4! 20.xa4 fb8 These small lines demonstrate that the position is not quite as easy as it seems for white. ] 18...xb5 19.xb5 0-0 20.0-0 d7 e5 is t e nd e r 21.fe1 g5 An extraordinary moment to resign, but nevertheless 22 Bxg5 Bxe5 23 Rab1 Rac8 is no picnic for W hite. Let's try and summarise what happened here: 1) After 4 e5, delaying ...Bf8-g7 has distinct merit. 2) Black attacks White's centre via ...c6c5 and at that stage, the Bishop is best placed on f8.3) Black's theatre of operations is often the queenside here 7...b5 pre-empted any ideas White may have had of castling there. 4) Black's white-squared strategy can be psychologically frustrating. W hite looks for good pawn levers to crack open the position and exploit his initial lead in development but they are not at all easy to find or even prepare. Meanwhile Black plods on with his queenside

space grab. 0-1

1596 Jones,Gawain C Mendelson,Andrew Masters Bunratty IRL (4) [Andrew Martin]

B15 2418 2108 18.02.2006

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 g6 An occasional variation which can be very frustrating for White. 4.f3!? But this is an original and very interesting reply. White is willing to gambit a pawn in order to quickly castle long. dxe4 5.xe4 g7 [ 5...xd4 is the pawn grab which could easily be regretted: 6.d2! d5 7.c3 f6 8.d3 and castling long may come next. I would not like to be in Black's shoes and Mendelson decides likewise. ] 6.c4 f6 7.e2 White's development plan works very easily. bd7 8.h4! Consistent. 0-0!? But this is very brave, putting his head on the block and inviting White to chop it off! [ 8...Nb6 featured in the only other game that I have found using 4 Qf3: 8...b6 9.b3 A) I like 9...bd5 intending finally to take on e4: 10.xf6+ ( 10.d2 g4 11.xf6+ xf6 12.e3 xe2! ) 10...xf6 11.d2 g4=; B) 9...a5 10.xf6+ xf6 11.a4 h5 12.g3 d5 13.g5 f5 14.xf6 xf6 15.f3 b6 16.0-0-0 b4 17.e5 0-0 18.g4 hxg4 19.g3 d7 20.h5 g5 21.e4 d5 22.c5 f6 23.xd5+ cxd5 24.xd5+ f7 25.xd7 b6 26.d5 bxc5 27.xa8+ h7 28.e4+ f5 29.e6 1-0 Brandner, S-W eiss, C/Mureck 2001 Make what you will of that! ] 9.h5 xe4 10.hxg6!? Typical Gawain, hitting hard where it hurts. Is the sacrifice sound? P r o b a b l y n o t a g a i n st a c o m p u t e r , b u t a human opponent might panic. [ 10.xe4 f6 11.h4 a5+ 12.d2 xh5 was probably what he didn't like. ] 10...d6 11.gxf7+ xf7 12.g5 [ 12.g3 f6 13.h6 e8 14.0-0-0 f5 15.f4 d6 is a complex variation, but Black appears to be holding on. ] 12...f6 13.0-0-0 g4 1731

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Black has two other ways to try to blunt the attack: 13...a5 14.xf6 exf6 15.h5 b4 16.d3 ] [ or 13...d5 14.d2 e5! 15.d3 f6 ] 14.d3 xe2 15.xe2 d6 [ Blocking out the Bishop on c4 again seems more effective: 15...d5! 16.h4 ( 16.h5 xg5 17.xg5 d6 ) 16...d6 ] 16.d3 Tying down the Knight on f6. fd8 [ 16...h6 17.xh6! xh6 18.xh6 d5 19.xf8 xf8 20.h1 retains the attack for White. ] 17.b1 b5 18.b3 a5 19.h3 d5 [ 19...a4! forces White's hand and I am not sure that he can do very much other than to exchange: 20.xf7+ xf7 21.xf6 exf6 ( 21...xf6 22.xh7+ g7 23.a3 ) 22.xh7 h8 23.xh8 xh8 ] 20.xh7+ f8 21.f3 d7 22.xd5 cxd5 23.e1 a6 24.f5! A fine move, preventing ...Qg6. e6 25.h7 b4 26.f6! Getting rid of the defenders. Gawain is in his element. xf6 27.xf6 e8 28.g6 f8 29.f4 e7 30.f5 T h e d o u b l e p i n f i n i s h e s B l a c k o f f . exf5 31.xe7+ xe7 32.g8+ 4 Qf3 is the type of ' practical idea' one keeps in one's locker for occasional use. It should come as a surprise and sets tricky opening problems. As here, White's attack might not be 100% sound, but over the board, with the pressure of a ticking clock, success is likely 1-0

have been played in this line at the top level in the last decade. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ exf6 6.c3 Tournament practice has shown that this is the most unpleasant plan for Black to have to face. W hite defends the d4-pawn and prepares a harmonious set-up of his pieces: Bd3, Ne2 and kingside castling. d6 7.d3 0-0 [ Black has also tried 7...e6 but without su cce ss. T h e ga m e V o lzh in - Za n gie v, Russia 1996 continued: 8.e2 d7 9.0-0 c7 10.g3! h5 11.f4! g6 This move makes kingside castling impossible, because White will obtain a winning attack after f4-f5. So Black should castle queenside, but his King will hardly feel safe there. But it's difficult to find a better move than the t e x t a n y w a y . 12.c4 0-0-0 13.e3 Now d4-d5 opening files near Black's King, is a dangerous threat. g4 14.d2 h4 15.e4 f5 16.c5! ( 16.xd6+ xd6 17.xf5 gxf5 and despite Black's weak pawns the position is not clear, as Black has counterplay in the centre (Re8-e4) as well as on the kingside ( the g-file).) 16...e7 17.b4 White's initiative on the queenside grows stronger without any obstacles. xe4 18.xe4 f5 19.f3 f6 20.b5 e4 21.b4 f6 22.xe4 he8!? 23.f3! ( Black hoped for 23.xf5+ gxf5 24.f2 e4 with excellent compensation for the pawn. ) 23...xe3 24.ad1 Protecting n and preparing 25. bxc6 bxc6 26.d5 which gives 1597 B15 White a decisive attack on the Black King. b6 A move which is difficult to explain, but Khalifman,Alexander 2640 Black's position is lost anyway. 25.bxc6 a5 Seirawan,Yasser 2595 26.b5 and Black resigned. ] Wijk 1991 8.e2 e8 9.0-0! Simple and good. [Alexander Volzhin] [ 9.c2 g6 10.h4 is another possibility, but it leads to double-edged positions after d7 Now let's consider the 5...exf6 line. Unlike 5... 11.h5 f5 ] gxf6 which aims at achieving active counterplay, Black has rather more modest 9...c7 [ There are two alternatives to the text: plans here. He has no problems with 9...g4 10.c2 ] development or bad pieces, so he hopes to [ 9...d7 10.f4 both lead to a small but equalize by accurate defence. However this lasting advantage for White. Black's problem line is completely out of f ashion now. Of here is that he has no counterplay and has course it's by no means bad, but in modern to fight for a draw. ] chess Black prefers systems where he can hope for active counterplay. The following 10.g3 e6 [ Other possibilities are hardly better: 10...c5 game is one of a very small number which 1732

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.dxc5 xc5 12.e4 ] [ 10...g6 11.e4 e7 12.f3 d8 13.f4 with a clear edge for White in both cases. ] 11.f4! c5 [ 11...d7 was tried in Zapata - Hodgson, Palma 1989, but without success: 12.f5 d5 13.h5! ( 13.c4?! This move doesn't win a p i e c e i n v i e w o f xg3 14.hxg3 e4 and Black is OK.) 13...g6 14.g4 h8 15.h6 f8 16.xf8 xf8 17.f4 g5 18.h5 b5 19.fe1 ae8 20.h4 and Black is in real trouble. ] 12.d5! d7 [ The pawn is taboo: 12...xd5? 13.h5! e6 14.xh7+ f8 15.h5! with a winning attack ] [ 12...c4!? is an interesting possibility but unfortunately it also fails to solve Black's problems: 13.dxe6 cxd3 14.exf7+ xf7 15.xd3 c5+ 16.h1 c6 17.b5 b6 18.f5! with Bf4 to follow and Black has no compensation for the pawn. ] 13.c4! Now White's advantage is obvious. a6 14.f3 b6 15.b3! f8 16.b2 c7 [ 16...g6 17.f5 ] 17.f5! After the exchange of light-squared Bishops, Black has nothing to counter the power of White's Knight on f5. [ Black hoped for 17.f5 and had prepared an u n e x p e c t e d b l o w xd5! 18.cxd5 ( 18.xd5? c6 winning ) 18...c4+ and Black wins the piece back with excellent prospects. ] 17...xf5 18.xf5 ed8 19.ae1 e8 20.h5 a5 Allows a brilliant finale, but there was no defence anyway. [ 20...d6 21.h6+! gxh6 22.g4+ g7 23.xf6 f5 24.xd8 with a decisive material advantage ] [ 20...g6 21.h6+ xh6 22.xh6 (intending Re3-h3) g7 23.f5 and White wins. ] 21.xe8! xe8 22.h6+ gxh6 [ 22...h8 23.xf7 24 Qg8 is the threat now. e7 The only move, but unfortunately it doesn't parry W hite's main threat. 24.g8+!! xg8 25.f7# ] 23.g4+ Mate is unavoidable so Black resigned. An excellent game by Alexander Khalifman. 1-0

1598 Klenburg,Mikhail Kantsler,Boris 1st Int Op, Ashdod (9) [Andrew Martin]

B15 2405 2480 2003

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h6!? A tricky alternative to the tried and tested 5... h5. Black relies on piece play and the pawn break ... f7-f6 to activate his position. If White is unprepared then the idea can be ve r y e f f e c t i ve b u t t h e s p a c e a d va n t a g e conferred on White from his large pawn centre must add up to something. 6.f3 f6 [ It's puzzling why anyone should like Black's system once they have seen a few games played out. An early... Bc8-g4 seems obligatory in order to take away a defender of d4 and to prepare.. . Qb6, but this just le ad s t o a sta ble a dva nt age f or W h it e : 6...g4 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 f6 ( 8...b6 9.e2 f6 10.g4 fxe5 11.fxe5 a6 12.b3 f8 13.c3 c7 14.f4 Belotti-Krasenkow Reggio Emilia 1997 Accurately preventing Black's Knight from reaching e6. White is better. ) 9.g4! fxe5 10.dxe5! e6 11.h4 f8 12.g3 b6 13.d2 Almasi-Hodgson Groningen 1994 Taking on b2 is distinctly unattractive but Black is being strangled for space anyway. ] 7.d3 I suppose the only argument for Be2 over Bd3 could be that the White Queen stays in touch with d4. [ 7.e2! g4 8.h4 xe2 9.xe2 fxe5 10.fxe5 0-0 11.f3 Spassky-Ehlvest Oviedo 1992 I'm worried about Black's lack of counterplay here. W hite can build up easily e.g. 0-0, Bg5, Rf2., Raf1 and Black lacks a coherent plan. ] 7...g4 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 0-0 [ 9...b6 10.e2 a6 11.c3 0-0 12.e6 f5 13.g4! ] 10.e6 Klenburg is in an uncompromising mood. He puts a wedge into the Black camp making it very tricky for Kantsler to complete his development. Long-term the pawn on e6 must fall so White has to get the Kingside attack going immediately. He is trying to make Black pay for his eccentricity. There's no plan B for White-this is the only problem. [ 10.exf6 frees Black unnecessarily: xf6 1733

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.e3 b6 12.0-0-0 xd4 13.xd4 xd4 14.b1 xf4 15.e2 e5 16.hf1 g5 17.xf8+ xf8 18.h4 e7 19.h5 g7 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.h1 g5 22.f3 d7 23.xd5 cxd5 24.xd5 d8-+ Lommers, FGoldstern, F/Davos 2002 ] 10...f5 11.e3N [ After 11.g4? Black was surrounding and winning the advanced e pawn. Klenberg's novelty is designed to take care of e6. d6 12.e2 f6 13.e3 xe6 14.gxf5 xf5 15.xf5 gxf5 16.0-0-0 d7 17.dg1 g6 18.h5 e6 19.f2 f7 20.e1 e6 21.f3 f6 22.b1 e4 23.xe4 fxe4 24.b3 b6 25.e3 c8 Bosboom, MEhlvest, J/Groningen 1982 ] 11...c5! But of course, the novelty is rather slow. Black hits d4 and exposes White's lack of development. [ 11...d6 12.0-0 f6 13.e1 ] 12.f3 c4 Going after the d pawn. However, simply [ 12...c6! and Black has a fine game in all lines: 13.xd5 ( 13.dxc5 xc3+! 14.bxc3 f6 15.0-0 xe6 ) 13...cxd4 ( 13...xd4!? 14.xd8 fxd8 15.b5 f6 ) 14.xd8 fxd8 15.e2 ac8 ] 13.e2 c6 14.e3 xd4 This was his point and 14... Nxd4 is also playable too. [ 14...xd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.xd5 xb2 17.d1 a5+ 18.f2 ae8 19.xc4 c5+ 20.e3 d4 21.b3 ] 15.xd5 a5+? Kantsler was probably shocked at the success of his opening. I prefer the greedy [ 15...xb2! here, when I see no compensation for White: 16.d1 ( 16.b1 a5+ 17.f2 xa2 18.xc4 xc4 19.xb2 fd8 20.d1 b6 ) 16...a5+ 17.f2 xa2 ] 16.c3 He kept his b pawn and is right back in it now. xe3 17.xe3 d4 Again... le point, but how good is this move 18.f2 xe2 19.xe2 fd8 20.g4! Hm, the tables have turned. I see an offside Knight on h6 and no material advantage to compensate. I see a weak Black pawn on c4. f8 21.g5 g8 22.xc4 c5 23.f1 ac8 24.e5+It's good to provoke a messy scrap as long as you are willing to t ake a f e w lo sses . e8 25.a4

[ Playing on the Kingside was good too. I think White gets to h8 before Black can get his act together: 25.h4 d6 26.h5 xe6 27.0-0-0 b5 ( 27...a5 28.b1 a6 29.a3 b6 30.hxg6 hxg6 31.h1 xa3 32.h8 b3 33.c4+- ) 28.hxg6 hxg6 29.h1 b4 ( 29...xe5 30.fxe5 b4 31.h8 f8 32.h2 e3+ 33.b1 bxc3 34.h6+ f7 35.h7+ e6 36.xg6+ xe5 37.xe7+ xe7 38.d6+ e4 39.xe7+ f3 40.f1++- ) 30.f2 d6 31.xd6 xd6 32.h8 e6 33.xa7+- ] 25...d5 26.f3 c6 27.d4 b6 28.f3 Black's playing a piece down-what more can one say? xd4 29.cxd4 xd4 30.f1 xb2 31.c1 f8 32.d1 e4 33.c8+ g7 34.xg8+ xg8 35.d8+ It's mate in three. Clearly the system with an early ... f7-f6 has not yet been played out. There are all sorts of opportunities for Black to mess the game up and therefore a practical attraction, especially for rapid chess. However, objectively I think White should be better and I hope I have shown how to do this. 1-0

1599 Kraemer,Martin Vitiugov,Nikita Schachbundesliga 2010-11 (12) [Gawain Jones]

B15 2516 2709 19.03.2011

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f4 The most aggressive response. [ 4.f3 d6 would transpose to Vallejo Pons, F (2698)-Gashimov, V (2733) Reggio Emilia 2011 also examined in this update. ( While 4...d5 is also playable and I investigated it a few months ago in Lenderman, A (2553)Becerra Rivero, J (2557) ICC 2010. )] 4...d5 The most principled. [ Black can also attempt to transpose to a Pirc with 4...d6 seen in the archives in Vysochin, S (2551) -Moliboga, V (2322) Kyiv 2006 looked at by Andy Martin. ] [ While 4...b6!? is rare but was championed by English Grandmaster Julian Hodgson while another couple of GMs have tried it recently: 5.f3 d5 A) 6.exd5 wins a pawn but compromises 1734

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White's pawn structure and allows Black a lead in development. g4 ( 6...f6!? 7.dxc6 xc6 8.b5 0-0 9.xc6 xc6 10.0-0 d8 11.e2 b5 12.e5 b6 looked like decent compensation for the p a wn t h a n k s t o t h e p l a y o n t h e l i g h t squares. Narmontas, M (2310)-Cicak, S (2530) Warsaw 2006.) 7.c4 f6 8.0-0 0-0 9.b3 cxd5 10.xd5 xd5 11.xd5 Lie, K (2493) -Speelman, J (2551) Turin 2006 when instead of d8? which allowed ( 11...e6! 12.b3 xf3 13.xf3 xd4+= w i n s b a c k t h e p a w n w i t h e q u a l i t y .) 12.xf7+! f8 13.b3 xd4 14.e1! d1+ 15.f2 xf2+ 16.xf2 xf3 17.gxf3 xf1+ 18.xf1; B) 6.e5 g4 7.e2 B1) 7...e6 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 h5 ( I wonder if Black could do without this a n d t r y s i m p l y 9...e7 and hope to generate counterplay with a subsequent ...h5 should White grab space with g4.) 10.e2 h4 11.b3 h6 12.e3 f5 13.f2 f8 14.0-0 e7 15.c4 an d W h it e ha d se ized spa ce o n th e queenside while Black was forced to remain passively defending his pawn on h 4 . H u lm e s , D ( 2 2 5 5 ) -S p e e l m a n , J (2524) Daventry 2011.; B2) 7...h6 8.h4 xe2 9.xe2 c5 10.c3 c6 11.0-0 e6 12.b3 cxd4 13.cxd4 0-0 14.a3 fc8 resembled a French in which Black should be reasonably happy. Dubov, D (2416) Novikov, S (2558) Moscow 2010. ] 5.e5 h6 This is Black's secondary option and has been criticised previously by Andrew Martin on here. This game does nothing to improve its reputation. [ 5...h5 is the most common and was last looked at by John W atson in Vocaturo, D (2383)-Abbasov, F(2578) Rohde Open 2008. A recent game continued 6.f3 g4 7.e3 e6 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 h4 10.d3 e7 11.0-0 d7 12.b3!? b5 13.e2 b6 14.f2 f8 15.h1 d7 16.g1 f5 17.c3 e7 18.e2 f8 19.f3 The pawn on h4 looks useful preventing White expanding on the kingside but now he is forced to passively defend the pawn. g7 20.fb1 ac8 21.e1 d8 22.a4 bxa4

23.bxa4 c7 24.a5 and White was starting to take over. Filippov, A (2620)-Mok Tze Meng (2394) Guangzhou 2010. ] [ 5...f6 immediately hits White's big centre but will probably simple transpose to subsequent lines following 6.f3 ] [ 5...b6!? is likely to transpose to 4...Qb6 ] 6.f3 Considering I can't see how Black is to equalise after ...Bg4 this looks like the critical test. [ Having said that 6.e2 is also played so that Black cannot immediately play ...Bg4. However I don't think this is as theoretically challenging as the immediate Nf3. A) 6...b6 7.a4 a5+ 8.c3 f6 A m b i t i o u s . ( 8...0-0 9.f3 g4 is a reasonable alternative.) 9.f3 d7 10.b4 c7 11.e3 and White's extra space gives him the more comfortable game. Getz, N (2333)-Mihajlov, S (2087) Reykjavik 2011; B) 6...0-0 7.f3 g4 8.g5!? The point of W hite''s move order. xe2 9.xe2 a6 10.0-0 c7 11.h1 f6 12.f3 e6 13.h3 c5 14.c3 cxd4?! 15.exd4! c5 16.e6 d6 17.e1 f5 18.h4 xe6 19.xe6 xe6 20.e1 d7 21.g5!? with an initiative for the pawn. Kaidanov, G (2569)-Khachiyan, M (2511) Saint Louis 2011. ] 6...g4 Black hopes he has lulled White into over-expanding and will be able to fight back with ...Nf5, ...f6 and ...c5. However he has to be very accurate to prevent being steamrolled. [ 6...f6 is the alternative and A) 7.e3 is the most common. A1) 7...0-0 8.d2 g4 9.e2 d7 10.0-0-0!? Aggressive but this also allows Black a focal point for his co un te rp la y. 1 0. 0-0 with a n ed ge is safer. f5 11.f2 Villing, D (2189)Gardi, G (2032) Arco 2010 when Black missed the sho t xf3! when White is f o r c e d i n t o 12.exf6 ( 12.gxf3 h6! is a little awkward.; 12.xf3?! fxe5 13.dxe5 xe5! 14.fxe5? h6 is the point.) 12...xg2 13.fxg7 xg7 14.hg1 h3 with a messy position.; A2) 7...g4 8.h3 ( 8.e2 f5 9.f2 0-0 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 fxe5 12.dxe5 g5!? Balogh, C (2609)-Wirig, A (2472) 1735

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with a pleasant position.) 9...xd4 10.e3 Metz 2009 when White could have tried b4 11.0-0-0 e6 12.h4 a5 13.h5 13.xd5! as cxd5 14.xd5+ xd5 with a strong initiative for the pawn 15.xd5+ h8 16.xb7 d7 17.xa8 although Black is reasonably solid. ] xa8 18.g4 when White has a decisive [ 8...f5 9.e2 h5 ( 9...c5 10.dxc5 c6 material advantage.) 8...xf3 9.xf3 11.g4 h4 12.f2 e6 Gallego Alcaraz, A fxe5 ( 9...0-0 Wiwe, A (2255)-Bank, P (2235)-Ivanov, A (2547) Cali 2007 when I (2245) Denmark 2011 should be met by don't see any compensation for Black after 10.exf6! ) 10.fxe5 ( 10.dxe5 should be 13.e3 He can try d4!? 14.xd4 d5 but considered 0-0 11.e2 f5 12.f2 15.0-0-0! xh1 16.a6 xh3 17.xb7 when I like White's position.) 10...f5 xd4 18.xd4 d8 19.h1 xg4 11.g4 xe3 12.xe3 e6 when Black 20.xh4 f5 21.c6 is winning.) 10.g4 h4 had decent counter-chances with ...c611.b3 When Black felt obliged to try and c5 on the cards. Kanep, M (2531)sacrifice material with ( 11.f2!? ) 11...e6 Kuzmicz, K (2406) Cappelle la Grande 12.xb7 hxg4!? 13.xa8 c7 2011; Acs, P (2529)-Vajda, L (2535) Balatonlelle B) A n d re w Ma rt in give s 7.e2 g4 2002 hoping to trap the queen, when 14.a4! 8.h4 ( 8.e3 would transpose to 7.Be3; e7 15.a3 d7 16.xh8 xh8 17.hxg4 8.h3 was Adams' choice. xf3 9.xf3 leaves Black too much material down. ] fxe5 10.fxe5 e6 11.0-0 0-0 12.e2 d7 A d a m s , M ( 2 6 1 0 ) - B o l o g a n , V ( 2 5 5 5 ) 9.g4! fxe5 [ 9...b6 was Shirov's try in this position. C h a l k i d i k i 1 9 9 2 w h e n p e r h a p s 13.c3 10.e6!? is the most flexible when W hite has a A) 10...xd4 is the critical test but is very s m a l l e d g e .) 8...xe2 9.xe2 fxe5 dangerous. Blatny gives 11.e3 b4 ( 9...b6! looks like an improvement and 12.0-0-0 f5 13.a3!? d6 14.g5 g8 equalises. 10.d3 a6 11.xa6 xa6 ( 14...xc3 15.bxc3 xa3+ 16.d2 as 12.d2 c7 13.0-0 e6 14.e2 c5 g8 17.d4 loses the rook.) 15.xd5!? 15.c3 with rough equality. Van der Poel, H cxd5 16.c4! and White has a strong (2280)-Van der Wiel, J (2508) Amsterdam attack for the sacrificed piece. Indeed 2005. ) 10.fxe5 0-0 11.f3 Spassky, B practically the position is near impossible (2560)-Ehlvest, J (2650) Oviedo 1991 in to defend.; the archives.; B) 10...f5 11.g5 xd4 True to his spirit C) 7.d3 is looked at by Andrew Martin in Shirov wasn't happy to sit and defend and Klenburg, M (2405) -Kantsler, B (2480) 1st instead tries a piece sacrifice. ( 11...g8 Israel Int Op Ashdod 2003. ] lo o k s re a l l y u g ly a n d 12.d2 xd4 [ 6...0-0 7.h3 Depriving Black of the g4 13.0-0-0 is strategically winning as Black square. Instead 7. Be2 is likely to transpose. cannot shift that knight from g8. Therefore f6 8.e3 ( 8.g4!? ) 8...b6 ( 8...a5 he might as well sack it.) 12.gxh6 xh6 This odd pawn thrust doesn't really get 13.e3 f6 14.0-0-0 xe6 15.d4 0-0 Black anywhere. 9.d2 a4 10.e2 a5 Illescas Cordoba, M (2635)-Shirov, A 11.a3 b6 12.g4! Suarez Real, A (2395)(2690) Dos Hermanas 1996 when the Hennig, D (2404) Vila Nova de Gaia 2010.) simple 16.h4 d6 17.e3 leaves White 9.a4 a5+ 10.c3 d7 11.b4 c7 with a decisive attack. ] P e d e r s e n , D ( 2 2 9 6 ) -H a n s e n , L ( 2 2 5 2 ) D e n m a r k 2 0 1 0 12.g4! and Black's rather 10.dxe5 [ 10.fxe5 is also played but the text looks passive. ] more challenging. ] 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 f6 [ 8...b6 is played from time to time when 10...f8 [ 10...e6 11.h4 f8 12.g3 b6 13.d2 Rybka offers the interesting pawn sacrifice Almasi, Z (2620)-Hodgson, J (2580) of 9.g4!? ( 9.e2 f6 10.g4 fxe5 11.fxe5 Groningen 1994 when Andrew writes: a6 12.b3 f8 13.c3 c7 14.f4 "Taking on b2 is distinctly unattractive but is given by Andrew Martin and leaves White 1736

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black is being strangled for space anyway." White certainly has a very pleasant edge. ] [ Black would have to be very brave to try 10...0-0 11.g3 when White will castle long followed by h4-h5 and probably a quick mate! ] 11.g3 b6 Vitiugov tries to interfere with White's queenside development. [ 11...e6 was played in the only previous encounter I can see. 12.g2 I think this is t h e wro n g wa y o f p l a yin g t h e p o sit io n . ( 12.h4 lo o ks ch a lle n gi n g .; 12.d3 as in the game also looks logical.) 12...d7 13.0-0?! g5! Black seizes the initiative. 14.d3 gxf4 15.xh7 g5 16.xf4 xf4 17.xf4 xf4 18.xg7 0-0-0 when Black had a strong attack. Dimitrov, V (2512) Chatalbashev, B (2518) Tsarevo 2001. ] 12.d3 [ I don't think Black's last actually prevented W hite developing his queenside. 12.d2! l o o k s s t r o n g a s xb2?! ( 12...d7 i s b e t t e r b u t 13.0-0-0 is just great for White. ) 13.b1 a3 ( 13...xc2? 14.d3 traps the queen. ) 14.xb7 A) 14...d7 15.d3 b8 16.xb8+ xb8 17.xd5! xa2 ( 17...cxd5 18.b5+ ) 18.c3 gives White a fantastic position.; B) 14...d4 15.e2 xa2 16.g2 and White's attack is decisive. ] 12...a6 13.d2 b4?! [ 13...c5 was better so that after 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 15.e2?! is no longer effective as e4 i s c o n t r o l l e d ( 15.he1 still leaves White with an edge. ) 15...d4 ] 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 [ Perhaps Vitiugov should have taken the opportunity to get rid of the bishop although 14...xd3+ 15.xd3 e6 16.e3 c7 17.e2 0-0-0 When White can snaffle the pawn with ( 17...b6 18.d4 d7 19.c4 is also horrible.) 18.xa7! a5 19.d4 xa2 20.b6 de8 21.d2 and again W hite has what should be a winning advantage. ] 15.e2! Kraemer cleverly retreats the bishop leaving the knight precariously placed on b4. c5 16.a4 c6 17.b3 White keeps up the threats and doesn't give his high rated opponent enough time to create any

counterplay of his own. a5?! This probably just loses but otherwise W hite will have a clear extra pawn . 18.c3! c4 Black was probably relying on this move but unfortunately it's not good enough. [ 18...b5 is Black's other option. 19.xb5! xb5 20.cxb4 axb4 21.b1! and there's n o g o o d d e f e n c e t o 2 2 . N x c 5 + d7 ( 21...b7 22.xc5+! xc5 23.xb4 b6 24.xe7 xb3 25.axb3 and White has too many pawns.) 22.xb4! c4 ( 22...xb4 23.xc5+ xc5 24.xd5+ ) 23.a3 a8 24.xe7 xa4 25.xd5+ e6 26.xa4 xa4 27.xf8 xf8 28.d8 e7 29.h8 and the rook and four pawns will win very easily. ] [ 18...a6 19.xa6 bxa6 20.a3 and not much needs to be said about Black's disgusting position. ] 19.a3 a6 [ 19...d3+ is n o b e t t e r . 20.xd3 cxd3 21.b1 and White will pick up the d3 pawn while continuing an attack. ] 20.e3 e6 21.b6+ b8 22.xa5 There goes one pawn. f7 23.h4 fe8 24.b4! Bringing further forces into the attack. c7 [ 24...cxb3 25.b5 c7 26.xe8 xe8 27.axb3+- ] 25.f3 f8 26.hf1 Defending against the t h r e a t o f . . . Nxe 5 . h5 27.a4! With the unstoppable threat of 28.b5 forcing the queen back when White's attack is decisive. xe5 [ White's threats are highlighted after 27...hxg4 28.b5 e8 29.xc4 c8 ( 29...dxc4 30.a7+ c8 31.xb7# ) 30.a7 when White will mate shortly. ] 28.b5 A very well played game by Kraemer who dest royed h is 2700 rated o pponent . There seem to be severe doubts about the viability of 5...Nh6. 1-0

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B15 very costly. [ 18...cxd5! 19.d4 ( 19.xd5 ad8 ) 2355 19...f6 20.xd5+ g7 21.d4 f7 ] 2270 2003 19.xe4!+- fxe4 20.c3 f6 21.xf6 exf3 22.h8+ f7 23.g7# A warning to those of you who tend to play on autopilot. When the N o w a b r e v i t y w h e r e B l a c k l o s e s q u i t e King is even marginally compromised total unexpectedly. 1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.f3 concentration is required. dxe4 3...Bg4 must be a better move. 4.xe4 1-0 f6 5.xf6+ exf6?! Unpromising in my view. 6.d4 B15 [ 6.c4 d6 7.0-0 0-0 8.d3 leaves the 1601 Bishop on c8 gasping for air. Yes, ...Bg4xf3 Lekic,Dusan 2400 is playable , but then White would have an Burmakin,Vladimir 2590 undisputed, enduring small edge. ] Christmas Open (4) 2003 6...d6 7.e2 [Andrew Martin] [ Here's another brief catastrophe: 7.d3 0-0 8.0-0 g4 9.h3 h5 10.d2 c7 11.e2 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 g6 A safe enough d7 12.fe1 h2+ ( 12...ad8 ) 13.h1 s y s t e m f o r B l a c k w h i c h c a n b e u s e d t o f4?? How to explain such a blunder? Quite sidestep most of the main lines of the Modern simple I think! Black believes his position is o r i n d e e d , t h e C a r o - K a n n . B l a c k m u s t s t a b l e a n d c a n ' t q u i t e i m a g i n e t h a t content himself with a small disadvantage out A N Y T H I N G c a n h a p p e n t o h i m . 14.e4 of the opening in virtually every variation, but 1 - 0 M o r e d a , L - M o r a n , G / 1 s t the position is not without poison as we will Chesspangen berg Open, Buenos Aire s see. 4.h3 g7 5.f3 dxe4 Thought to be 2003 Oh dear! ] le ss am b it io u s th a n 5 . . . Nf 6 o r 5 . . . Nh 6 . 7...0-0 8.0-0 g4 9.h3 h5 10.h4! 6.xe4 d7 I like this move very much because after the [ 6...f6?! 7.xf6+ xf6 8.h6 leads to a exchange of Bishops Black will have to think large advantage for White. ] about the f5 square and ...g7-g6 can only be 7.d3 weakening. xe2 11.xe2 g6 [ 7.c4 is a more active position for the [ 11...e8 12.g4 f8 13.f5 h8 Bishop now that Black has a pawn on g6 so 14.d1 g6 15.e3 d7 sees Black trying for that reason alone I think I prefer it. Black manfully to avoid ... g7-g6 but in the end he has an uphill struggle to equalize: df6 has to play it. White is slightly better as a 8.xf6+ xf6 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 f5 result and he has a superior pawn structure 11.c3 b5 12.f1 The problem is that to boot. ] White's edge is virtually impossible to shake 12.b3 d7 13.b2 f5 14.f3 e8 15.d3 off. The pawn on e7 is a constant target and f6 16.ad1 e4 17.fe1 c7 The game if Black plays ...e7-e6 he has some darkplods on, no especial danger to either player squared difficulties as well as a Bishop on and apparently Black's guard is lowered as a f5 shooting into thin air. That Bishop could result. The correct appraisal of this position is well gettrapped! d6 13.e5 d5 14.f3 a s m a l l e d g e t o W h i t e wh i c h B l a c k c a n f6 15.g4 xg4 16.xg4 e5 17.a4 b4 minimise with careful defence. W hite has 18.c4 c7 19.dxe5 fxe5 20.e3 e6 obvious chances on the long diagonal and by 21.c5! e7 ( 21...xc5 22.xb4+- ) technically converting his queenside pawn 22.c4 f5 23.ad1 h8 24.d6 d8 majority somewhere in the ending. 25.ed1 a5 26.d7 f6 27.1d6 f8 Co un t erb ala ncing f a cto rs a re th e st ro n g 28.h4 f6 29.xg7 1-0 Kulaots, K-Poley, Knight on e4 and the pressure that the Black V/33rd Rilton Cup, Stockholm SWE 2003 I'd Rooks can bring to bear along the central files. be in trigu ed to see wh at Bu rm akin ha s 18.d5 c5?? Such an easy move to make, but prepared against 7 Bc4. Most likely nothing. 1600 Kuba,Guenter Schoeppl,Engelbert TCh Austria (3) [Andrew Martin]

1738

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 He's just playing open tournament chess and wants to steer the game in an unusual direction. ] 7...gf6 8.c3 [ is more accurate: 8.0-0 0-0 ( 8...xe4 9.xe4 f6 10.d3 0-0 11.e1 e6 12.g5 b6 13.c1 c5 but nevertheless 1/2-1/2 Pokorna, R-Lakos, N/WGM, Punat CRO 2003 ) 9.xf6+ xf6 10.e1 c7 11.c3 e8 12.g5 e6 13.d2 ad8 14.f4 c8 15.e5 c5 16.dxc5 f5 17.xf5 xf5 18.d4 c8 19.b4 d5 20.c2 ed8 21.e2 e6 22.ae1 Tkachiev, V-Okhotnik, V/ Auberville 2001 (22) ] 8...xe4 9.xe4 Here's a possible objection to Bd3-the Bishop has ended up exposed on e4 likely to be hit at some stage. 0-0 [ If 9...c5!? 10.dxc5 c7 11.0-0 xc5 12.c2 b6 13.e3 b7 14.c1 0-0 Delaying castling seems to be a reasonable try for Black. 15.h6 xh6 16.xh6 xf3 17.gxf3 e6 18.fe1 f4 19.e4 e5 20.ae1 fe8 21.a4 e6 22.b3 ee8 23.h2 ad8 24.h4 d2?? ( 24...g7; 24...a6; 24...b5 ) 25.xf4 1-0 Stock, ASchulz Knappe, F Eisenberg 1993 ] 10.e3?! Burmakin's game plan starts to pay off. The Bishop isn't ideally placed on e3. I think the correct squares are e1 for the Rook and g5 for the Queen's Bishop, played in that order. To put this plan into practice, W hite should castle and then get on with it. [ 10.0-0 e5! All but equalizing. 11.g5 ( 11.dxe5 xe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.h6 e8 14.xd8 xd8 15.fe1 g7 16.g5 maybe gives White a faint edge!?) 11...b6 12.d2 exd4 13.xd4 c5 14.f3 e6 15.xe6 xe6= ] 10...c7 11.d2?? One natural move too many and an instructive lesson for us all. There is always something to attend to, even wh en n ot hing ap pe ars to be going o n . f5 I would like to have seen White's face. 12.c2 f4-+ 13.b3+ e6 14.g5 fxe3 15.xe3 f6! Giving up a pawn to get the pieces out. White is quite lost. 16.xe6+ h8 17.xc8 xc8 18.0-0 f5 That was extremely careless for a player of 2400 standard. 0-1

1602 Lenderman,Alex Becerra Rivero,Julio USCL ICC INT (6) [Gawain Jones]

B15 2553 2557 27.09.2010

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f3 d5 A positio n th at ca n be rea ched by e ithe r Mo d e rn o r Ca ro -K a n n m o ve o rd e rs . 5.h3 Generally considered best to prevent the light s q u a r e d b i s h o p d e v e l o p i n g t o g 4 . dxe4 6.xe4 a6!? A rare try. Black prepares to bring the knight back into the game via c7. This is a speciality of American GM Renier G o n za l e z a n d e vi d e n t l y B e c e r r a R i v e r o decided to borrow the idea. [ 6...d7 Lekic, D (2400)-Burmakin, V (2590) Christmas Open, Zurich 2003 is annotated by Andrew Martin in the archives which resulted in a quick black victory. ] 7.c3 [ 7.c4 c7 ( 7...f6 8.xf6+ exf6 9.e2+ e7 10.xe7+ xe7 11.b3 c7 12.a3+ e8 13.0-0 e6 14.fe1 d7 15.f1 he8 16.c4 ad8 17.d2 c8 and Black had coordinated his pieces and had strong pressure on W hite's centre. Roeschlau, B (2236)-Kober, T (2242) Germany 2005. ) A) 8.0-0 f6 A1) 9.xf6+ was necessary for a winning bid exf6 ( 9...xf6 10.h6 e6 11.b3 d7 12.e1 0-0-0 13.c3 ) 10.e1+ e6 11.f4 0-0 12.h2 with a small White edge.; A2) 9.g3 Now White has no reason to b e b e t t e r . 0-0 10.c3 e6 11.xe6 xe6= and Black even went on to win, Bhat, V (2411)-Gonzalez, R (2424) ICC 2002.; B) 8.c3 f6 ( 8...h6!? A curious symmetry. Black develops both knights to the wing but it is rather over-creative. 9.f4 0-0 10.e5 f5 11.xg7 xg7 12.d2 e6 13.d3 d6 14.g3 d5 15.h4! f6 16.h5 and White was putting strong pressure on the kingside in Garcia Martinez, S (2420)-Gonzalez, R (2408) Havana 1999.) 9.eg5 0-0 10.0-0 fd5 11.d2 e6 12.xe6 xe6 13.g5 f5 14.g4!? c8 15.b3 b5 16.d3 1739

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Sokolov, A (2331)-Gonzalez, R Dos Kempinski, R (2587)-Gonzalez, R (2424) Hermanas 2003 when c5! 16.dxc5 xc5 I C C 2 0 0 2 w h e n h6 17.e4 f5! 17.f3 ed8 18.ad1 f5 leaves Black with would have allowed Black to take over an edge thanks to the bishop pair.) 12.f4 the initiative. ] ( Control of the d5 square is vital so 12.c4!? [ 7.d2 c7 8.c1 f6 9.xf6+ exf6 should be considered.) 12...d7 13.d2 ( 9...xf6 is probably also possible here ( 13.c4! Fighting for the important d5 square 10.h6 xd4!? is a way to play if Black is looks best when W h ite wo uld re tain a n feeling brave but White will obviously have edge. ) 13...fe8 ( 13...d5 14.h2 fe8 g o o d c o m p e n s a t i o n .) 10.b4 f8 is m o re a c cu r a t e a s n o w 15.c4 e7 ( 10...d5!? 11.c5 a5+ 12.c3 b6 16.ad1 f5 allows Black to put pressure 13.d6 d7! 14.g3 e8+ 15.d1 on the d4 pawn. ) 14.c4 a5 15.ad1 b5 leaves a rather crazy position but a4+ A) 16.cxb5! d5!? ( 16...xb5 17.xb5 16.c2 xc2+ 17.xc2 is probably cxb5 18.d5 f5 19.xe8+ xe8 20.d4 around level.) 11.xf8 xf8 12.h6+ g8 is c l e a r l y b e t t e r f o r W h it e a s h e h a s 13.e2 f8 14.xf8+ xf8 15.0-0-0 e6 basically an extra pawn, the spare f pawn and White should have a small advantage is not very useful.) 17.xe8+ xe8 18.a4 but it is nothing special and he even went on a8 when Black has some compensation to lose in Hubert, R (2320)-Kober, T thanks to control of the d5 square but (2131) Germany 2004. ] nevertheless White should be somewhat [ 7.xa6 is the computer's suggestion but better.; a5+ 8.d2 xa6 9.c5 b6 10.0-0 B) 16.b3 a4 17.c3 axb3 18.axb3 bxc4 f6 11.e1 c7 leaves Black with decent 19.bxc4 ec8 20.a1 e8 21.xa8 long term chances thanks to the bishop xa8 22.a1 and White retained some pair. ] advantage. Nyback, T (2459)-Gonzalez, R 7...c7 8.d3 (2424) ICC 2002. ] [ 8.c4 would transpose to 7.Bc4. ] [ 11.b3 8...f6 9.xf6+ A) 11...d6 12.d2 e6? 13.e4! e7 [ 9.g5 has also been tried but it's not 14.xb7 d5 15.f4 xe4 16.fe1 completely obvious that it helps W hite's ab8 17.xa7 a8 18.b7 ab8 position. 0-0 ( 9...e6!? 10.xf6+ exf6 19.a7 a8 20.b7 ab8 21.xc7 11.e3 0-0 12.0-0 f5 13.c4 should leave ( 21.xc6!? xc6 22.xe7 d5 23.xb8 White slightly more comfortable.) 10.d2 xe7 24.d6 e8 25.e1 and White's Nyback, T (2459)-Gonzalez, R (2424 ICC queenside pawns easily outrun Black's 2002. f5! equalises as 11.xf6+ exf6 extra piece.) 21...xc7 22.xc7 xd3 12.xf5 fxg5 13.c2 e8+ 14.f1 f6 23.xb8 xb8 Gonzalez Vidal, Y (2386) 15.g3 h5! is a little better for Black. ] Gonzalez, R (2408) Havana 1999 when 9...exf6 10.0-0 0-0 This is the mainline 24.a4! would leave White better as xb2? position of the variation. I suppose White must 25.e8+ f8 26.a5 a6 27.a8 be a little better with a better structure and and Black won't be able to stop the a better light squared bishop but Black has a pawn.; straightforward plan of grabbing space on the B) 11...b5! Black wants to take control of queenside. His position is very solid and it the light squares. 12.a4 e6 13.d1 a6 isn't easy to see how White should proceed. 14.f4 d5 15.e1 e6 and Black had This is a good way to play against weaker comfortably equalised. Ostos, J (2344)pla ye rs a s B la ck ca n slo wly im p rove h is Gonzalez, R (2435) Medellin 2000. ] position while W hite needs to be more 11...a5 The first new move. Becerra Rivero creative. 11.f4 [ 11.e1 e6 ( 11...a5 12.a4 e6 13.f4 immediately takes steps to grab space on the e8 14.xc7 This is a very strange looking queenside. [ 11...e6 was played the previous time this move and I believe only Black can be better position was reached but it makes sense to a f t e r t h e e x c h a n g e . xc7 15.d2 1740

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 grab space immediately. 12.c2 ( 12.c4! should be played.) 12...a5 ( 12...d5! is rather awkward for W hite to deal with) 13.d2 a4 14.e4 b6 15.fe1 d7 16.b3 axb3 17.axb3 d5 with rough e qu a l it y. S c h i lle r, E -G o n za le z, R Do s Hermanas 2003. ] 12.e1 [ As the game progressed, I wonder if White should have tried 12.a4 here. However now it will be harder for White to achieve c3-c4 as b4 will be a strong outpost for the Black knight. e8 13.d2 d5 14.h2 e6 15.fe1 d7 and Black is equalising. ] 12...a4 I quite like Black's position at this juncture. He has the straightforward plan of taking full control of the light squares with ... b7-b5, followed by ...Nd5 and it will be difficult for W hite to improve his position. The computer still slightly prefers White however. 13.a3?! And I think this is a mistake. Now White cannot fight back on the queenside with b2-b3 and c3-c4. [ 13.g3 b5 14.b3 b7 15.h4!? would at least keep the position flexible and give White a plan. ] 13...d5 14.h2 b5! Black's objective has been completed. I think White should now aim for c3-c4 to try and simplify the position. In this game Lenderman fails to improve his position at all while Becerra Rivero indicates a strong Black plan. 15.d2 a7 16.e2 [ 16.ac1! a6 17.c4 bxc4 18.xc4 d7 is only level but at least then W hite can attempt counterplay along the c file. ] 16...e8 17.ae1 ae7 18.xe7 xe7 19.e4 White tries to keep some material on the board but I think this is foolish. [ 19.xe7 xe7 20.c4 bxc4 21.xc4 is p r o b a b ly l e ve l a lt h o u gh I wo u ld st il l choose to be Black. ] 19...e6 20.e2 f5 21.b1 f6! Black retakes control over the e5 square and prepares a kingside pawn storm with ...g6-g5. The bishop on g7 looks out of play but it can get back into play either via h6 or via f8-d6. 22.h4 b6 23.e1 f7 24.f4 f8 25.c1 d5 26.xe7+ xe7 27.d1 d6 Black's pieces have coordinated perfectly. Black's minor pieces dominate the board and White is very passive. He must simply wait

a n d h o p e t h a t B l a c k wo n ' t o ve r r u n h i m . 28.e1 c4 29.h5 e8 30.d3 d5 31.c2 e6 32.d2 g7 33.b1 g5 Black takes space on the kingside. 34.c5 xc5 35.dxc5 h6! The king looks curious here but the h5 pawn has suddenly become rather vulnerable and there's no way for White to summon attacking chances against his king. 36.c2 e7 37.e3 a2!? Exchanging light squared bishops is logical as then the Black knight would dominate the remaining bishop. [ However, there was nothing wrong with 37...xh5 grabbing a pawn. ] 38.xa2 [ 38.e2! is a surprising tactic that keeps White's bishop pair due to the discovered check attack on the queen. ] 38...xa2 39.f4?! An attempt at activity but this just blocks in the dark squared bishop further. g4! The h5 pawn will drop while the knight completely dominates the e3 bishop which fails to make any impact on the position. 40.d3 d5 41.d4 e6 42.f2 d5 43.c4 bxc4 44.xc4 e4 45.d4 xh5 [ 45...g3! was the most straightforward, picking up the bishop. ] 46.g3 g6 47.d2 h5 48.a5 e3 49.xe3 xe3+ 50.h1 f3+ 51.h2 f2+ 52.h1 f1+ 53.h2 h3+ 54.g1 xg3+ 55.h1 f3+ 56.g1 e3+ 57.h1 g3 58.c3 f2 0-1

1603 Miladinovic,Igor Bellini,Fabio 46th It Reggio Emilia (5) [Andrew Martin]

B15 2595 2500 2003

1.d4 g6 2.e4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.e3 d5 5.f3!? Well-suited to the offbeat but very aggressive style of Miladinovic. This same position can occur after 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 f3 g6 etc perhaps not the optimal solution for Black, although well playable. dxe4 [ 5...b5!? intends ...b5-b4. Looks fishy but W hite was sufficiently intimidated in the following game: 6.a3 a6 7.d2 dxe4 8.fxe4 f6 9.f3 c5 10.dxc5 ( 10.e5 g4 1741

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.dxc5 xd2+ 12.xd2 xe5= ) 10...xd2+ 11.xd2?! Either of the other captures were better: ( 11.xd2; 11.xd2 b7 12.d3 bd7 13.d4 ) 11...b7 12.d3 g4 13.g1 d7 14.b3 ( 14.h3 ge5 ) 14...c8 15.0-0-0 h6+?! T e m p t in g. I t h in k B l a c k d o e s b e t t e r t o continue in un-stereotyped f ashion e.g. ( 15...xc3! 16.bxc3 gf6 17.e1 e5! Fixing the pawn on e4 and shutting down the Bg1. 18.a5 a8 19.c4 xc5 Black is absolutely fine here.) 16.b1 e3 17.xe3 xe3 18.a5 xc5 19.xb7 xb7 20.a4! Libiszewski, F-Heinis, V 19th Winter Open, Nice FRA 2003 ] 6.fxe4 e5 Without this response in the centre Black's position lacks punch. 7.dxe5 xd1+ 8.xd1 g4 It's understandable that he prefers this active move to meekly recapturing on e5, when the Black Bishop seems destined only to be kicked around. At the very least White builds up a development edge: [ 8...xe5 9.f3 g7 10.a4 ( Just 10.d4! seems very good to me.) 10...d7 11.c4 e7 12.0-0 0-0 13.f4 b6 14.b3 e6 15.d6 xb3 16.cxb3 ae8 ( 16...fe8 ) 17.e5 bc8 18.a3 d8 19.e4 fe8 A) 20.xe7! gives White a clear advant age : xd1 ( 20...xe7 21.d6 ) 21.xd1 xe7 22.d7; B) 20.xd8? xd8 21.g4 h6 22.h4 d5 Kartsev, S-Siebrecht, S/Bochum 2003 ] 9.f3 d7 10.h3N A novelty yes, but a fairly standard idea I think you will agree. W hite forces the Bishop to make a decision. Taking on f3 just seems to cede the Bishop pair without any compensation so Bellini retreats but this doesn't bode well for the future of the variation. W hite has secured an advantage with minimal thought. [ 10.e2 may be good enough for an edge too: xe5 11.0-0 ( 11.d4 xf3+ 12.gxf3! xd4 13.xd4 e6 14.f2 d8 15.xd8+ xd8 16.d1+ c7= ) 11...xf3+ 12.gxf3! This is the key move, ensuring that Black cannot sit on e5. e6 13.d2 e7 14.a4 b6 15.a5 0-0 ( 15...bxa5 16.a1 0-0 17.c5 fe8 18.xa5 ab8 19.a4 ) 16.a6 c5 17.fd1 c6 18.b7 d4 19.g2 ab8 20.a6 f5 21.xd4 cxd4

22.b5 c8 23.d5+ h8 24.a1 fxe4 25.fxe4 d7 26.xa7 a8 27.c6 c8 28.c4 g4 29.xd4 h6 30.f2 h3+ 31.g3 xf2 32.xf2 f4 33.d5 a7 34.b5 1-0 Gottstein, C-Becker, M/ Germany 1998 ] 10...e6 11.f4 Now Black has to toil even to get his pawn back. h6 12.d6! 0-0-0 [ 12...g5 13.h2 f8 14.d3 seems only to misplace the Black pieces. ] 13.h4 e8 14.e2 h5 15.0-0 h6 16.b4 [ 16.fd1 g4 17.g5 dxe5 18.xe6 xe6 19.xe6 fxe6= ] 16...g4 17.b5 c5 [ 17...gxe5 would seem more natural but I believe that W hite is still better: 18.bxc6 ( 18.g5 f8 19.dd1 b4 20.bxc6 xc6 21.d2 ) 18...xc6 19.b5!? xc3 20.xc6 b4 ( 20...d8! ) 21.xb7+! xb7 22.b1 ] 18.b6! An inventive attacking move, thus deserving of the exclam. W hite is keen to commence the action before Black takes on e5. xb6 19.b5 b8 20.g5 c8? A definite mistake. Black will rue his decision not to take on e5. Like it or not, 20...Nxe5 has to be played. [ 20...xe5 21.xe6 xe6 ( 21...fxe6 There are survival chances after this move because Black can cover the seventh rank. 22.g3 e7 23.fd1 he8 24.d8+ c8 25.a3 Black's tied up but after 25...Ka8 White still has to prove it.) 22.xe6 fxe6 23.g3 d8 24.f7 h8 25.e7 a6 26.xe6 bd7 27.c3 ] 21.xg4 hxg4 22.d7 hf8 [ 22...e7 23.xe7 xe7 24.xe6 fxe6 25.g5 ] 23.xe6 xe6 24.c7!+- Rather crushing. e7 25.e6! White's pawn has a 'lust to expand' fxe6 26.xe7 d4+ 27.h1 e5 [ 27...xe7 28.xe6+ ] 28.a6+ a8 29.e8 A cute stroke to finish off. xe8 30.c7+ b8 31.xe8 exf4 32.xf4 The evidence would seem to suggest that this fianchetto system doesn't quite cut the mustard for Black. Unless you believe in 5....b5 which I don't. 1-0

1742

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 S/Novokuznetsk 1997) 11...c7 12.0-0 0-0 13.f4 d5 14.g3 ae8 15.c3 b6 16.b3 c5?= Deva, C-Gilbert, J/London 2000 (22) ] 9.e2 c7 10.f4 bd7 11.gf3 The plan in action. Black has delayed the 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 capture on e5 too long. xe5 12.dxe5 d5 5.g5!? Not exactly an oddity but isn't Black 13.d4 h7 14.d2 a6 15.xd5 cxd5 just doing rather well after 5...h6? h6 6.5f3 16.b4 c8 [ 16...c4 17.d2 isn't much help. Black's f5 7.c4 King is permanently stuck in the centre. ] [ 7.d3 enables Black to equalise in two c4 18.d2 g6 A miserable separate ways: bd7 ( 7...xd3 8.xd3 17.0-0 e6 9.e5 b6 10.gf3 c5 11.0-0 c6 necessity, countering the idea of f4-f5. 19.f3 12.e3 cxd4 13.c4 c7 14.xd4 xd4 c7 20.c3 d8 21.xc8 xc8 22.e1 23.f5! Mrdja handles the attack 15.xd4 d8 16.e5 xd3 17.xc7 d7 b8 18.e5 c5 19.c3 0-0 20.b4 e7 21.e3 excellently. gxf5 24.xh6 d7 25.f6 e8 c8 22.ad1= Frajt, M-Tesar, V/SVK 26.e3 Third-rank action, this time threatening 2001 ) 8.e2 e6 9.xf5 a5+ 10.d2 Rh3. g6 [ 26...c6 27.xc6 bxc6 28.h3 xf5= 11.0-0 d6 12.g3 xg3 13.hxg3 is virtually Zugzwang. ] e4 14.e1 0-0 15.b4 fe8 16.e2 a5 d8 28.xe6 fxe6 29.g7+ 17.a3 ef6 18.c4 b5 19.d6 bxc4 27.c3 20.e5 xe5 21.dxe5 d5 Gunnarsson, 5 Ng5 is obvi ously a move which has to be accorded respect. But, sticking to his guns, J-Bjarnason, S/Reykjavik 2000 ] 7...e6 8.e5 I presume t he point of White's d e v e l o p i n g q u i c k l y a n d t h e n a n g l i n g t o play is to weaken the g6 square, setting up exchange on e5 sooner rather than later, possible sacrifices on f6 and e6, whether Black obtains a comfortable game. Black's king is in the centre or not. Central to 1-0 t h i s p l a n wi l l b e t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f a bridgehead at e5. I don't know-moving the 1605 B15 Knight around so much looks dubious. d6N [ 8...bd7 i s e f f i c i e n t : 9.gf3 xe5 Nabaty,Tamir 2485 ( 9...e7 10.0-0 b6 11.d3 xd3 Khairullin,Ildar 2617 12.xd3 bd5 13.c3 c8 14.e1 a6 11th EICC Men (4) 09.03.2010 15.e2 c7 16.d2 0-0 17.ad1 e8 [Gawain Jones] 18.b4 b5 19.g4 h7 20.e4 d5 21.h4 df6 22.e2 h8 23.g2 d5 24.h1 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 g6 This is the other f6 25.d3 f7 26.de1 g6 27.h2 main option with which to fight the Fantasy, d6 28.h5 f7 29.xe6 xe6 30.xe6 playing in more of a Modern spirit. 4.c3 g7 xh2 31.xh2 g5 32.xg5 fxg5 33.g3 5.e3 xc3 34.c1 d5 35.cxc6 a5 36.a3 [ 5.e5 seems to be rather premature to me. axb4 37.axb4 a8 38.ed6 f6 39.f3 If 5.Be3 works then it must be the best a3 40.e5 e4+ 41.g2 a2+ 42.g1 move. f6 6.f4 h6 7.f3 g4 8.e2 0-0 xd6 43.g6+ g8 44.xf8 a1+ 9.e3 d7 ( 9...f5 10.f2 h6! 11.g1 45.f2 a2+ 46.g3 c4 47.g6 xe2 12.gxe2 g7 13.0-0 fxe5 14.fxe5 0-1 Colmenares, C-Steffens, J/Barranquilla a6 followed by Nc7-e6 is a strange setup 2000 ) 10.xe5 d6 11.e2 ( 11.f4 c7 for Black but looks quite effective.) 10.h3 12.0-0 0-0 13.e2 h8 14.g4 h7 15.g5 xf3 11.xf3 f5 12.f2 fxe5 13.dxe5 e6 d5 16.h5 f6 17.g6+ xg6 18.xg6 14.h4 was unbalanced but Black could xf4 19.xf4 xf4 20.xe6 fxg5 21.f5 def initely call the opening a success in xf5 22.xf5 xh2+ 23.h1 f4 Nyzhnyk-Welling, Bad Woerishofen 2010. ] 24.ae1 d6 25.e4 f8 Gorlov-Bedarev, 5...b6 1604 Mrdja,Milan Danieli,Enrico IV Open, Lido Estensi (3) [Andrew Martin]

B15 2350 2120 2003

1743

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5...b5 Black tries this unconventional move quite often against the Fantasy Variation. It seems over-committal to me but Black can probably get away with quite a wide range of possibilities. 6.d2 f6 7.e5 fd7 8.h6 ( 8.h4 would be my choice as h5 allows 9.e6! fxe6 10.d3 f8 11.f4 and W hite's position looks very strong as Black is in an unpleasant bind.) 8...xh6 9.xh6 a5 10.e6 f6 11.exf7+ xf7 12.d3 g8 13.g4 g7 14.ge2 b4 15.d1 bd7 16.e3 c5 KivijarviKytoniemi, Finland 2009. ] [ 5...dxe4 is Black's other main option here. 6.fxe4 e5 although Rybka doesn't approve of Black's opening. 7.dxe5 xd1+ 8.xd1 A) 8...g4 9.f3 d7 10.h3 ( 10.f2!? ) 10...xf3 ( 10...e6 was played in Miladinovic-Bellini in the archives.) 11.gxf3 xe5 12.f4!? xc3+ 13.bxc3 gf6 14.g2 0-0-0 15.f2 he8 16.e5 h5 17.f3 g7 18.xa7 and White picked up a pawn but his weak pawns gave Black good compensation. Zvjaginsev-Rukavina, Rijeka 2010.; B) 8...xe5 9.f3 xc3+ 10.bxc3 and White has a terrible pawn structure but a huge lead in development and the b i s h o p p a i r . w h e n f6 11.g5! looks good for W hite as h6 ( 11...0-0 12.c4 followed by 13.0-0 puts very unpleasant pressure on f7.) 12.d8+! xd8 13.xf7+ The knight escapes with the booty.; C) 8...e6 9.f3 d7 10.f4 h6 11.d6 g5 12.g3 0-0-0 13.e2?! I'm really confused by this move! I don't see how it could possibly help his position. Leon Hoyos, M-Burmakin, V Cappelle la Grande 2010. ( 13.e2!? )] 6.a3!? [ 6.d2 is the mainline and seen in the archives. ] 6...dxe4 [ 6...e5 "with good prospects for Black" was given by Alexander Volzhin in the archives back in 1996 but perhaps he would change his evaluation with the help of a computer? 7.ge2 xb2 ( 7...e7 8.f2! ) 8.dxe5 xe5 9.f2! is very dangerous for Black d4 seems forced as 10.Ra2 was threatened.

10.xd4 xd4+ 11.xd4 xa1 12.xh8 f8 13.d4 is messy but I prefer White. ] [ 6...xb2? is of course not playable as 7.a4 traps the queen. ] 7.fxe4 e5 This is logical but doesn't work out too well as Black is behind in development. [ 7...f6 is rather safer 8.e2 0-0 9.f3 g4 10.d2 A typical fight for the centre between possession with the pawns and piece play. The position looks about balanced c5! 11.h3 ( 11.a4 d8! ) 11...f6 ] 8.f3 exd4 [ 8...d7 9.c4 gf6 10.g5 0-0 11.0-0 h6?! 12.xf7! xf7 13.d2 gives White the makings of a big attack. ] 9.xd4 Another typical position from the Fantasy has been reached where there's a fight between W hite's developmental advantage and his structural weaknesses. h6?! Over optimistic. [ 9...c7 is stronger but I'd prefer White after something like 10.f3 f6 11.h3 0-0 12.0-0-0 when his kingside play seems easier to achieve. ] 10.f2 [ 10.d2 xe3 11.xe3 f6 ( The pawn is still poisoned. 11...xb2 12.b3 xc2 13.b1+- followed by Nd4 (or Na1) trapping the queen ) 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.e2 leaves Black's the much weaker of the two kings. ] 10...d8 [ 10...xb2? 11.a4+- ] 11.e5 [ 11.f3!? xd1+ 12.xd1 e6 13.e5 Swapping queens doesn't solve Black's difficulties here as Ne4-d6 is coming. ] 11...e7 12.e4 d7 [ Maybe Black should try taking the pawn but he's in a lot of difficulty. 12...xe5 13.e2! A) 13...f8 14.f3 c7 15.d4! f6 ( 15...g7 16.c5+ e7 17.0-0-0+- ) 16.d1 d7 17.g3 gives White great compensation, Black's pieces are in total disarray.; B) 13...e7 ] 13.f3 gf6 Trying to develop using the pin. 14.h4! g5 The only way not to lose material instantly. 15.d6+ f8 16.g3 [ The simple 16.f5 e6 17.d6+ xd6 1744

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.exd6 gxh4 19.xh6 leaves White a pawn to the good with an ongoing attack. ] 16...b6 17.e2 fd5 18.0-0! offering the exch an ge to m ake t he a tt ack e ve n mo re serious e3 19.d3 xf1 20.xf1 d5 [ 20...c5 still wouldn't stop 21.d4! cxd4 22.xf7+ xf7 23.xf7 xf7 24.f3+ e8 25.f6+- ] 21.d4 f4 The only way to defend f7. 22.xf4 gxf4 23.xc8 xe5 [ 23...xc8 24.h3!+- ] 24.f5 xc8 25.xh6 White has two pieces f o r ro o k a nd p awn a n d st ill ha s a ragin g attack. e8 26.c4 [ 26.d7 e6 27.d4 e3+ 28.xe3 xe3 29.c4+- followed by winning both f pawns is the easiest win. ] 26...e6 27.g4 xe2 28.xf4 e7 29.h6+ e8 30.g7 The rook drops so W hite wins a piece. d7 31.f6+ c7 32.xh8 e3+ 33.h1 f2 Black's last try but White has it all covered. 34.d5+! d7 [ 34...cxd5 35.c3+ and White fends off the mate threat. ] 35.c8+! A wonderfully accurate attacking game by Nabaty and 6. a3 looks like a critical test of Black's opening. 1-0

Kallithea 2008. Black has the bishop pair and some attack. ] 5.h3 This is the usual idea, to prevent ...Bg4 and retain the tension. h6 6.d3 [ White can keep a slight edge with 6.f4 f6 7.exd5 ( or 7.d2 f7 8.0-0-0 ) 7...cxd5 8.b5+ c6 9.0-0 0-0 10.d2 f7 11.ae1 . Still, these positions are certainly playable for the second player. ] 6...f6 7.0-0 0-0 Black's strange-looking ...f6/ ....Nh6 setup has been the main strategy for many years now. The idea is that ...Nf7 will both prevent e5 and in some cases support ... e5. 8.e2!? [ 8.f4 f7 9.exd5 cxd5 10.e1 c6 with ...e5 is what Black wants but ] [ 8.e2 f7 9.d1 is a natural alternative setup. ] 8...a6 9.exd5 This exchange is timed when ...Nc6 won't be an option. cxd5 10.c4!? [ 10.d2 would prepare this move. ] 10...b4 11.f4 [ 11.cxd5 xd3 12.xd3 xd5 13.e1 may be more accurate. ] 11...xd3 12.xd3 f5 13.b3 dxc4 14.xc4+ h8 15.e1 d7 16.d5!? [ 16.e6 fc8! 17.c5 ( 17.b3 ) 17...c6 18.b3 keeps some edge, for example, e5 19.dxe5 xc5?! 20.exf6 f8 21.xh6 xh6 22.e5 etc. ] 1606 B15 16...g5 17.e6 fc8 18.d4 xe6 Neubauer,M 2422 19.xe6?! [ 19.dxe6 xd4 20.xd4 f5 21.f3 ] Liiva,Riho 2460 1st WMSG Rapid Team rapid (8) 16.10.2008 19...d8 20.e4 xd5 21.xd5 xd5 22.xe7 d1+ [John Watson] [ 22...f8! 23.e6 d1+ 24.e1 xe1+ 25.xe1 f5 gains a tempo, since ...Bf8 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f3 d5 and ...Kg7 are desirable moves. ] Of course, Black can switch plans with [ 4...d6 , which is a normal Modern Defence 23.e1 xe1+ 24.xe1 f5 25.d2 d4 setup. Another recent game went 5.a4 f6 26.f1 h6!? 27.c1 c6 28.g4 [ 28.f4 ] 6.h3 0-0 7.d3 ( 7.e2 bd7 8.0-0 e5 29.c3 fxg4 30.hxg4 d8 is a main line Classical Pirc, as in Inarkiev- 28...f5! Mamedyarov in the Archives) 7...bd7 T h i s i s r o u g h l y e q u a l . A f t e r l e n g t h y 8.0-0 e5 9.dxe5 ( 9.e3; 9.a5 ) 9...dxe5 manoeuvring, Black manages to outplay White 10.e3 e7 (this pawn structure is usually and garner the point: 31.f3 d5 32.e2 s a t is f a c t o ry f o r B la ck. H is su b se qu e n t g8 33.xg7 xg7 34.c4 b5 35.b3 manoeuvre is consistent, planning to bring f6 36.d2 a5 37.a4 e5+ 38.e4+ a knight to d4 and/or f4: 11.d2 c5 g6 39.f3 h5 40.gxh5+ xh5 41.d3 12.c4 d8 13.f3 e6 14.e2 h5 d5+ 42.e3 g6 43.c5 e5 44.c3 b6 15.c3 h6 16.fd1 g5 17.xg5 hxg5 45.e4 f5 46.g3+ e6 47.e4 f7 Zivko vi c , V (2 4 2 9 ) -B o lo ga n , V (2 6 8 2 ) , 48.c6+ d6+ 49.e3 c5 50.xc5 bxc5 1745

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 51.e2 e5 52.c3?! f5+ 53.d3 f4 54.e4 d4 55.xc5 xf3 56.b4? g4 57.c3?? g3 58.d3+ e3 59.b2 g2 60.c4+ e4 0-1

1607 Nijboer,Friso Bosboom,Manuel ch Leeuwarden NED (4) [Andrew Martin]

B15 2578 2422 03.07.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 g6 4.f3 h6 Bosboom always was a highly skilled, original player. Here he just indulges in a byplay with the move order putting a Knight in front of a Bishop move. 5.h3 g7 It had to be. 6.f4 [ I remember having a horrible experience against Mickey Adams in such a position. Why, just by coincidence here is thegame! 6.d3! f6 7.e2 f7 8.exd5 cxd5 9.c4 0-0 10.0-0 c6 11.f4 b4 12.e2 e5 13.dxe5 fxe5 14.xd5 xd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.cxd5 e4 17.g5 xg5 18.xg5 xb2 19.ab1 a3 20.c4 d6 21.fe1 b8 22.g4 d7 23.e7 xe7 24.d6+ g7 25.dxe7 fe8 26.xe4 c6 27.e5 ec8 28.d1 e8 29.d4 b5 30.b3 ec8 31.c5 f3 32.xc8 xc8 33.d8 c1+ 34.h2 g5 35.e8 1-0 Adams, M-Martin, A/ England 1998 ] 6...f6 The key move seems to be c2-c4! I think this procedure calls the whole Black set-up into question. If White DOESN'T manage to play c4, then the Nc3 is slightly uncomfortable and with ...e7-e5 on the horizon, Black tends to do well. Let us see whether Nijboer understands the position. 7.d3 [ 7.e2 f7 8.h2 0-0 9.0-0 b6 10.e1 b7 11.f1 d7 12.a4 a6 13.a5 b5 14.exd5 cxd5 15.e6 c8 16.xb5 Hm . O n e wa y o f g e t t in g r id o f t h e b a d Knight. axb5 17.xb5 f5 18.e2 with reasonable comp, Topalov, V-Shirov, A/ Linares 1994. ] 7...f7 8.0-0 0-0 [ 8...e5!? is legal, 9.dxe5 fxe5 10.g3 d4 11.e2 e6 with fair chances, Pikula, DPejovic, J/Budva 2003. ] 9.g3

[ 9.h2 e5 and Black is in business: 10.dxe5 fxe5 11.e2 d4 12.b1 e7 13.a4 d7 14.bd2 f6 15.c4 h5 16.a5 e6 17.ab1 f4 18.xf4 exf4 19.b4 ad8 20.h2 h8 21.b5 g5 22.bxc6 bxc6 23.e5 xc4 Jongsma, DVan Amerongen, A/Haarlem 2001 I like the way Black handled this one. ] [ 9.exd5 cxd5 10.e1 c6 11.b5 g5 12.h2 g4 is an interesting way of creating counterplay. ] 9...e6!? [ 9...e5 seems to be OK: A) 10.e1 dxe4 11.xe4 f5 12.h4 ( 12.xe5 fxe4 13.c4 xe5 14.xe5 b5 15.b3 a5 16.a4 g5 ) 12...c7 13.eg5 xg5! 14.xg5 h6 15.f3 e4 16.c4+ h7; B) 10.exd5 cxd5 11.dxe5 fxe5 12.e2 e6 ] 10.e1 d7 11.d2 White's position not only looks good, it IS good but there is considerable potential to go wrong. Black hasn't defined what he is doing yet, he has not yet revealed a plan, it's very messy. But you can't help but like W hite's fluent development. I see elements of psychology in Bosboom's play. He entices Nijboer into a time-trouble melee where he will feel much more at home. a5 12.h4 [ 12.exd5 exd5 13.e2 was a nice, simple way. ] 12...a4 13.e2 There should be a more constructive use for this Knight. [ He re I lik e 13.exd5! exd5 14.h5 f5 15.hxg6 hxg6 16.h4 f6 17.xf6 xf6 18.e5 xe5 19.dxe5 e4 20.h6 ] 13...e5! Confusion! A long, hard stare is n e c e s s a r y . 14.exd5 cxd5 15.c3 a5 The guy is just playing weird moves, on the ed ge o f b ein g sou n d , d esign e d t o b af f le Nijboer. Of the alternatives [ 15...e4? is ve ry p o o r : 16.xd5 exd3 ( 16...exf3 17.c7 ) 17.c7 ] [ B u t I ' m c o n v i n c e d t h a t 15...h6! is positionally best. 16.d1 and now a5 In the light of what happens, perhaps it doesn't matter. ] 16.f1 h6 17.d1 e4 18.h2?! [ 18.b5!? was possible: xb5 19.xb5 exf3 20.xf3 Very unclear. Two Knights for 1746

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the Rook but the Black pawns are ripe for the plucking. Maybe Nijboer should have gone for this. ] 18...f5 19.e2 f6 20.f4 h5 21.xh6 xh6 22.d2 f4 Yes, this is the fate that can befall passive play in this line. 23.c4 g4 24.xg4 xg4 25.c3 xh4 26.e2 [ 26.xe4 dxe4 27.xa5 g3-+ ] 26...xe2 27.xa5 g3! 28.xd5+ f7 Black's opening system responds well against hesitant play from White. I would not play it again after my game with Adams as usual he found a clear, incisive solution to the problem. 0-1

1608 Rapport,R Salgado Lopez,I Entrefaros GM 2013 (7.1) [Tom Rendle]

B15 2676 2624 11.10.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ exf6 6.c3 d6 7.d3 0-0 8.c2! In my view this is White's most dangerous line against the 5...exf6 Caro but it's so far only appeared in the notes to previous games. [ 8.e2 e8 9.0-0 c7 10.g3 d7 and Black can continue with ...Nf8, ...g6 with equal chances. ] 8...e8+ 9.e2 g6 Probably the critical response for Black but there are other options: [ 9...h8 A) 10.xh7?! g6 11.xg6 fxg6 12.xg6 e7 and White has no more than a draw here 13.h6+ g8 14.g6+ h8 15.h6+ g8 16.g6+ ( 16.0-0?! g7 and Black's piece should be worth more than the 3 pawns ); B) 10.0-0 c7 11.g3 is an improvement over the line with 8.Ne2 as White has played the much more useful Q c 2 c o m p a r e d t o B l a ck 's . . . K h 8 . e6 12.c4! and White has a slight advantage Black constantly has to worry about Bxh7 as well. ] [ 9...h6 A) 10.0-0 c7 ( 10...d7 allows 11.f4! ) 11.g3 d7 12.d2 feels like it should be better for W hite alt h o u gh B la ck is ve ry solid a f t e r f8

but one drawback of playing 9...h6 is that the knight cannot now come to g6.; B) 10.e3 c7 11.0-0-0 c5 12.dxc5 ( 12.h7+! h8 13.e4 should be a little better for White) 12...xc5 13.xc5 xc5 14.g3 e6 15.e4 c7 16.d6! and White was slightly better in Smirin, I (2632)-Bergez, L (2406) Trieste 2012 ] 10.h4! This is the key test of Black's setup White obviously has a very dangerous attack but Black has a number of resources of his own here e6 [ 10...d7 11.h5 f8 12.hxg6 fxg6 13.h6 e6 14.0-0-0 f7 ( 14...b5!? might be a better way to aim for counterplay) 15.b1 a5 16.c1 c7 17.h3! d7 18.dh1 and White's attack was gathering strength and he went on to wi n i n L u t h e r , T ( 2 6 0 4 ) - K i i k , K ( 2 4 4 9 ) Panormo 2001 ] 11.h5 f5 12.d2!? A new idea from Rapport but a very logical one - the threat is simply a quick Qh6 combined with hxg6. [ 12.hxg6 is unconvincing against accurate play fxg6 13.h6 f7 14.0-0-0 d7 15.b1 b5 A) 16.f4! is better when black has to be very careful for example b8?! ( 16...a5 17.b3 f6 is about equal) 17.g4! fxg4 18.xg6! hxg6?! 19.xg6 f8 20.xf8 xf8 21.f5 xg6 22.xg6+ g7 23.h5! and White has a winning attack; B) 16.f3?! this feels too slow f6 17.d2 b6 18.b3 a5! and Black's attack was further along in Burg, T (2479)-Narciso Dublan, M (2536) La Massana 2013 ] [ 12.f1 deserves practical testing - perhaps the king will be safe on f1 and W hite can claim a slight edge. Black should try for counterplay in the centre with c5! ] 12...f6 13.h6 f8 14.f4 [ 14.g5 d7! is fine for Black ] 14...d7 15.g3 d5 Salgado Lopez has defending accurately against Rapport's new idea and now White has to be careful as his king is still in the centre of the board 16.f4 [ I prefer 16.h3! g7 17.0-0 getting the king to safety with roughly equal chances. White does have a queenside majority but Black's position is very solid and after ad8 he has completed his development ahead of 1747

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White. ] 16...c5! Black attacks the centre before White has got castled and now White has to be very careful 17.b5 b6 18.hxg6 fxg6 [ obviously not 18...xb5?? 19.gxh7+ h8 20.g8# ] 19.d3 e6 20.h3! Rapport is being put under a lot of pressure but with accurate play he keeps chances balanced. [ 20.0-0 a6! 21.xd7 xd7 leaves Black with the two bishops and a definite edge. ] 20...e7 [ 20...f7 was more accurate as the rook is needed on the e-file whereas in the game it is forced to f7 ] 21.g5 f7 22.0-0-0! A strong pawn sacrifice tha t see s the game t ake a t urn into very complicated positons and tactics xa2 [ 22...d6 23.he1! is awkward for Black to deal with ] 23.f4 b6?! [ 23...e4 24.d3 c6 was better although White has excellent compensation for the pawn after 25.d5 d6 26.e6! ] 24.c4! Suddenly there's a big threat of Qa3 trapping the bishop on a2. Salgado Lopez comes up with an inventive way to stay in the game cxd4 25.d5 xb5! An excellent practical decision - it's better to have two pieces and an attack for the queen rather than simply be a piece down. 26.cxb5 c8+! 27.c3 dxc3 28.bxc3 c5 Black has obvious compensation here as White's king is open but at the end of the day the queen s h o u l d b e w o r t h m o r e h e r e . 29.h6? Under pressure Rapport goes wrong [ 29.d8! was necessary to exchange of Black's strong rook on c8 and after xd8 30.xd8 d5 31.f6! c4 32.d4 W hite is starting to get coordinated and should have much the better chances. ] 29...e4! 30.b2 xf2 31.h4 xd1+ 32.xd1 xh6 33.xh6 Suddenly Black has more than enough material for the queen and White has to defend accurately to hold a draw c4 34.h4 xb5 35.d8+ xd8 36.xd8+ g7 37.d4+ f6 38.xa7 c6 39.g3 g5! Black starts to get the kingside pa wns mo vin g an d W h it e h a s t o b e ve ry c a r e f u l h e r e 40.c5 g6 41.c4 f4 42.g8+ h6 43.h8 The queen makes

itself as annoying as possible. W hite must continue to attack the king and rook so as not to give Black time to push t he pawn s f7 44.g8 g7 45.e6+ g6 46.e5 fxg3 47.xg3 g4 48.c4 g7 49.c3 h5 50.e5+ g8 51.xh5 g7 52.f5 g3 The pawn is oh so close to the queening square but that's as far as it's going to get! 53.c8+ f7 54.f5+ e8 55.e5+ f8 56.f6+ g8 57.e6+ f7 58.g6+ f8 59.d6+ [ 59.xg3?? f3+ 60.xf3+ xf3 and Black wins ] 59...e8 60.e6+ f8 61.d6+ e8 62.e6+ A fantastic fighting game from both players and an important game theoretically for this line - I'm not sure White is better after 12.Qd2 so other moves need to be considered instead. ½-½

1609 Short,Nigel D Bareev,Evgeny Sarajevo [Alexander Volzhin]

B15 2683 2709 2000

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.d4 dxe4 4.c4?! A ve ry ra re ga m b it lin e wh ich h a s n e ve r occurred in the games on top level according to my database. The ideas of this line are similar to Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (1 d4 d5 2 e4 dxe4 3 Nc3 Nf6). By playing f2-f3 on the next move White opens the f-file and tries to obtain an early attack (the f7-square is usually the main target). However Black has very solid defensive resources and I believe this line is dubious for White. f6 5.f3 b5!? [ Accepting the sacrifice is possible as well a lt h o u g h B la ck m u s t d e f e n d ca r e f u l ly . 5...exf3 6.xf3 A) 6...e6?! is less precise and White ob ta in s goo d a tt a ckin g cha nce s. T h e game W elling-Pardeen, Biel 1981 continued: 7.0-0 e7 8.e1 0-0 9.g5 bd7 10.d3 e8 11.h4 f8 12.e5 c5 13.f4! Launching a very interesting combination. A1) The tempting 13...d5 intending to exchange the W hite attacking pieces 1748

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 doesn't work in view of 14.xf7 xg5 15.xg5 h6 16.xf8+! and White wins: xf8 ( 16...xf8 17.h7+ h8 18.f7+ ) 17.f1+ f6 18.xf6+ xf6 19.h7+; A2) 13...cxd4 14.xf7! xf7 15.xf6 xf6 16.e4 g8 ( 16...e5!? is worth considering.) 17.xf6+ gxf6 18.xf6 In spite of being a piece up B l a c k i s h e l p l e s s . e7 ( 18...c7 is not real improvement in view of the simple 19.af1! , f o r e xa m p l e : e5 20.xf8+ xf8 21.xh7+ g7 22.g5+ xh7 23.xf8 g7 24.h5+ h6 25.h8+ xh8 26.xh6+ ) 19.af1 g7 ( 19...d7 20.xh7+ xh7 21.g5+ g7 22.g6 ) 20.xf8+ xf8 21.xh7+ h8 22.g6+ g8 23.xf8+ xf8 24.d8#; B) 6...f5! Transferring the Bishop to the g6-square where it is very well placed for defending the King. 7.e5 e6 8.0-0 g6! Now the f7-square is firmly protected, and it's not easy for W hite to continue the attack. 9.g4?! bd7 10.xg6 hxg6 11.g5 c7! The refutation is not difficult. 12.f4 d6 13.gxf6 xf4 14.fxg7 e3+! and in view of mate in two White resigned, Porrasmaa-Lobzhanidze, Gausdal 2000. ] 6.b3 e6 7.fxe4 [ 7.g5 is the alternative to the text, but after e7! ( 7...exf3?! 8.xf3 with good c o m p e n s a t i o n .) 8.fxe4 ( 8.xe4? is bad in view of xe4 9.xe7 xe7 10.fxe4 h4+ ) 8...b4 9.xf6 xf6 10.ce2 c5 Black is slightly better. ] 7...b4 8.ce2 xe4 9.f3 a6 10.0-0 d6 [ 10...e7 was also good, for example: 11.c4 bxc3 12.bxc3 0-0 13.c4 d7 14.f4 c5 and White hardly has enough for the pawn. ] 11.c4 bxc3 12.bxc3 d7! Safe and good. [ It's too risky to grab the second pawn: 12...xe2?! 13.xe2 xc3 14.d3 d5 15.g5! f6 16.h3! and White ha s treme ndou s com pensatio n: Black can't ca st le K -s ide (in view o f Rxf 6) a nd t h e position of Black's King in the centre is also unsafe in view of possible sacrifices on the e6-square: e7 17.d2 bd7 18.xe6! fxe6 19.xe6 e4 20.ae1! and Black can't avoid gross material losses. ]

13.c2 ef6 14.c4 0-0 Finally Black has comple ted h is de velop ment and k eeps a healthy extra pawn. White has to fight for a draw. [ 14...c5 was a good alternative to the text. ] 15.c5 c7 16.g5 h6 17.h4 c8 18.fe1 xe2 19.xe2 d5 20.f1 a6 [ In my opinion, 20...b8 is even stronger: 21.d2 b4 22.c4 b8! , with a huge edge for Black. ] 21.e4 ae8 22.fe1 7f6 23.xf6 xf6 24.h4 a5 25.e2 e7 26.g3 b8 27.g2 be8 28.d3 d5 [ 28...e5 is premature in view of 29.xe5 xe5 30.dxe5 xe5 31.xe5 xe5 32.xh6! with good chances for White. Of course, the Rook is taboo: gxh6?? 33.g6+ , winning. ] 29.e5 c3! Liquidating to the endgame is the most solid solution. [ 29...xe5?! is risky: 30.dxe5 xc5 31.c2 f5 32.exf6 xf6 33.g6 and White has certain compensation f or the sacrif iced pawns. ] 30.xc3 xc3 31.d2 xe5 32.dxe5 d5 33.a4 b8 34.a5 f8 35.f3 eb7 36.h4 [ T h e im m e d ia t e 36.d4 transferring the Rook to a-file without delay is worthy of consideration. ] 36...e7 37.d4 f6 38.exf6+ gxf6 39.da4 c3 40.a3 b5 41.3a4 d7 42.c4? A gross mistake after which Black wins easily. [ 42.a6! should be played and now as the tempting d4+?! allows ( 42...c8 i s b e t t e r .) 43.xd4! xd4 44.xc6 and suddenly White's pieces become very active. I th ink a draw is th e mo st likely outcome here. ] 42...c3 Now Black wins by force. 43.a3 b1 44.3a4 [ 44.d3 d2+ 45.xd2 xd2 46.xa7+ d7 is hopeless as well. ] 44...d2+ 45.e3 g8 Winning the second pawn. The rest is easy and needs no comment. 46.e2 xg3+ 47.f2 c3 48.xa7 e4+ 49.g2 xc5 50.xd7+ xd7 51.a7+ d6 52.a4 c2 53.f1 e5 54.a5 f4 55.g7 e4 56.d3 a2 57.a6 d2+ 58.f2 f3+ 59.e2 d4

1749

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 60.g4+ e5 0-1

after 19.c3! ] 16.a5! White is emerging with a surprisingly large advantage. fd7 17.c4 a6 18.c5! xe2 19.xe2 xa4 20.xa4 dc8 1610 B15 21.d5 After this excellent move Black will toil Speelman,Jonathan S 2555 against the combined power of W hite's two Houska,Jovanka 2375 bishops. xc5 22.xc6 ab8 23.b4! e6 Staunton Mem (4) 27.08.2004 24.xe7 xb1 25.xb1 d4+ 26.d3 xc6 27.dxc6 e5 28.c1! Preserving the [Andrew Martin] c pawn is far more important than the pawn at 1.e4 Speelman told me that his opening h2. xh2 29.d4 c7 30.c5 e8 31.d6 repertoire with White needs 'deodorising'. Let b6+ 32.b5+- There is very little left to say. us see how he fares against his favourite Caro- W hite's King can invade via a6 and the c Kann. c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 Smelly stuff. g6 pawn touches down. e2 33.a4 xg2 34.c7 g5+ 35.c6 xc7 36.xc7 f5 37.a5 4.c3 g7 5.e3 b6 6.d2 [ 6.exd5 xb2 7.ge2 f6 8.b1 a3 xf3 38.b7 a3 39.a6 f5 40.xa7 f7 9.dxc6 bxc6 10.d2 0-0 11.c1 bd7 41.b7 g5 42.c6 f4 43.a7 f3 44.a8 12.f4 e5 13.dxe5 h5 14.e3 xe5 xa8 45.xa8 h5 46.c3 g4 47.g3 15.b3 e7 16.e4 f5 17.d6 e8 1-0 18.g5 f7 19.xf7 xe3+ 20.d1 e6 0-1 Carreto Nieto, G-Aldama, D/Leon MEX B15 2 0 0 4 W h it e se e m e d t o h a ve p r o b le m s 1611 understanding the castling rule. ] Swan,Iain 2200 6...xb2 7.b1 a3 8.exd5 a5 Martin,Andrew D 2365 T h e H o u s k a ' s m a s h a n d g r a b ' r a i d h a s Edinburgh op (1) 1988 resulted in the W hite pawn structure being [Andrew Martin] broken up. If Black can somehow consolidate, she will surely be better. 9.dxc6 So White has Allow me to present another of my own games to open the game. bxc6 which I think is relevant to the 1 e4 g6 2 d4 [ 9...xc6 10.b5 d8 11.d5 must have c6!? discussion. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 c6 3.c3 d5 frightened her, although Black is OK after 4.e5 h5 Seventeen years on, I am still fond of b8! Despite lagging in development White this move order for Black, although there is has difficulties taking his initiative further: no guarantee that White will play either 4 e5 or ( 11...e5 12.d4! ) 12.d3 ( 12.c4 f6 5 f4. 5.f4 h6 6.e3 13.ge2 bd7 14.0-0 0-0 15.h6 b6 [ The alternatives: 6.e2 g4 7.e3 e6 16.xg7 xg7 17.b3 d7=; 12.d4 8.g3 b4! Another jolly good reason for xd4! 13.xd4 f6 14.e4 0-0 15.xf6+ omitting ...Bg7 early on. 9.h3 ( 9.a3 xc3+ exf6 16.c4 a6 17.b1 b5 18.b3 e8+ 10.bxc3 xe2 11.xe2 d7 White has 19.e2 f5 ) 12...f6 13.h6 0-0 little compensation for his poor pawns.) 14.xg7 xg7 15.ge2 a6= ] 9...xc3+ 10.bxc3 xe2 11.xe2 f5 10.c4 d7 11.ge2 b6 12.b3 f6 12.f2 a5 13.d3 d7 14.e2 c8 13.a4! Speelman will rely on his technique in 15.f3 c5 16.hb1 cxd4 17.cxd4 c3 the queenless middlegame, hoping to target 18.e1 xg3+ 19.f2 e4+ Perelshteyn, the weak Black pawns on c6 and eventually, E-Blatny, P/New York 2001 ] on e7. [ 6.d3 g4 ( 6...h4!? ) 7.f3 e6 ( 7...h4!? [ 13.0-0 a6 14.h6 0-0 15.xg7 xg7 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 b6 10.e2 e6 ) 8.e3 16.e3 isn't much for White. ] d7 9.0-0 xf3 10.xf3 g4 11.e2 13...xd2+ 14.xd2 0-0 15.f2 d8 Mandelbaum, P-Meyer, F/Hamburg 2004 [ 15...e8! 16.he1 a6 17.c5 xe2 and now h4 is interesting: 12.h3 xe3 18.xe2 fd7 was possibly more accurate, 13.xe3 0-0-0 14.a4 b8 15.a5 a6 ] although White still has a little something 6...b5 7.d2 Swan's move order tries to take 1750

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the sting out of ...Bg4, thus leaving Black with the dilemma of what to do with the Bishop on c8. I decided to play as provocatively as possible. d7!? [ Next time I think I shall play 7...f5 8.f2 a5 DIAGRAM which defies description and is no less powerful as a result. ] 8.e6! Swan bites! [ 8.f3 b6 did not seem too worrying, whereas the text move certainly had my pulse racing. e5-e6 is thematic and usually crushing if White finds the right moment to play it! ] 8...fxe6 9.d3 f5 10.f3 g7 11.0-0-0 [ 11.0-0! looks better: b6 12.f2 c4 13.xc4 bxc4 14.a4 0-0 15.e5 White retains a major positional advantage and unlike the game, preserves a safe King. I was worried about this at the time. ] 11...a5 Black has obvious counterplay. 12.b1 b6 [ 12...b4 The more mature me prefers 13.e2 0-0 not allowing an exchange of queens. ] 13.h3 [ 13.e2! xd2 14.xd2 0-0 15.dg1 c4 16.c1 slowly preparing g4, is dangerous. ] 13...b4 14.e2 c4 15.xc4 dxc4 16.e5 b5 17.c3 a5 18.g4 [ 18.xg6 rebounds: xe3 19.xh8 ( 19.xe3 f5+ ) 19...xd1 20.xd1 f5+ 21.a1 xh8-+ ] 18...hxg4 19.hxg4 xh1 20.xh1 d5 21.h7 White continues as though nothing is happening around his own King. [ 21.h3 would have been more careful. But Swan always looked for attacking moves, come what may. ] 21...e4+ 22.a1 xe3 23.xg7 f8 24.g3?? [ 24.f7+ was the last chance, although Black's forces are concentrated and deadly: g8 25.b3 cxb3 26.axb3 a4-+ ] 24...c2+ 0-1

1612 Szelag,M Bartel,Mat TCh-POL Ekstraliga 2013 (3) [Tom Rendle]

B15 2501 2619 26.05.2013

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 b6!? [ 5...h5 is an approach that also deserves attention from Black players 6.e3 ( 6.f3 h6 7.d3 f5 8.0-0 0-0 is very solid for Black although perhaps White can claim a sligh t e d ge a f t e r 9.b3 d7 10.d2! with the plan of Nd1-e3 and c4 later on.) 6...h6 7.d2 f5 8.h3 d7 9.f3 f8!? ( 9...b5 followed by ...Nb6 was perhaps a better option, with do uble-edged play.) 10.g1 e6 11.0-0-0 d7 12.h2 and here Black could've kept White to only a slight advantage with c7 ( instead in Jaracz, P (2548)-Vokac, M (2471) Czech Republic 2013 Black got into trouble after 12...d8?! 13.g4 hxg4 14.hxg4 e4 15.xe4 dxe4 16.g2 d5 17.c4 a5 18.a3 and Black was dropping the pawn on e4 )] [ 5...h6 has received plenty of coverage in the archives but recently W hite has been gett ing goo d po sit ions in this line. Se e Areshchenko-Iordachescu and KraemerVitiugov for the latest in this line. ] 6.a4 An interesting approach but I can't say I'm a huge fan of taking a move to place the knight on the side of the board - sometimes opening principles are important! [ 6.e2 h6 7.g4! is a more testing way of playing. In Radjabov, T (2752) -Antoniewski, R (2 5 8 5 ) R o g a s ka S la t i n a 2 0 1 1 W h it e gained a slightly better position after f6 ( 7...e6!? ) 8.h3 fxe5 9.fxe5 f7 10.f3 e6 11.a4! now the knight will be well p l a c e d o n c 5 a5+ 12.d2 xd2+ 13.xd2 and Black's bishop on g7 was struggling to get into the game ] [ 6.f3 can also be reached via 4...Qb6 5. Nf3 d5 6.e5 and now g4 featured in an in t e re s t in g r a p id ga m e la s t ye a r : 7.e2 ( 7.h3!? strikes me as a dangerous pawn sacrifice that was tried in the game Martin Alvarez, I (2262)-Gashimov, V (2757) San Sebastian 2011 xf3 8.xf3 xd4 9.e3 1751

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b4 10.0-0-0 e6 11.g4 d7 12.h4 h5 and although W hite had reasonable compensation here he was unable to find a way through against his illustrious opponent. Perhaps the best try here is 13.gxh5 xh5 14.f2 followed by Be2 but Black remains very solid.) 7...h6 8.g5!? xe2 9.xe2 c5 10.c3 c6 11.f3?! ( 11.dxc5! xc5 12.d3 may only be a minimal edge for W h it e b u t h e d e f i n i t e l y h a s t h e e a si e r position to play, e.g. 0-0 13.e3 c4 14.xc4 dxc4 15.h3 f5 16.f2 an d g4 is c o min g n ext m o ve) 11...f6 12.dxc5 xc5 13.ed4 xd4 14.xd4 and now in Kurnosov, I (2648)-Novikov, S (2552) Jurmala 2012 Black could've equalised with c4 15.b3 c8! ] 6...c7 7.e3 [ 7.c5 worked well for White in Balogh, C (2644) -Markowski, T (2567) Legnica 2013 but I think Black's play can be improved upon: h6 ( 7...b6 immediately must also be fine ) 8.e2 b6 9.d3 c5 10.c3 and now cxd4 11.cxd4 c6 12.f3 0-0 13.0-0 f5! and Black had a very solid structure and pressure on d4 - if anything he should have slightly the better chances. ] 7...h6 8.f3 d7 9.d2 b5! 10.c3 [ 10.c5 xc5 11.dxc5 0-0 favours Black who will be able to break the centre open in the near future with ...f6 ] 10...f6 [ 10...0-0 11.d3 b6 was also sensible, keeping ...f6 in reserve until later on. Black can hardly have serious problems here as he can also expand on the queenside with ... a5 or ...Nc4 ] 11.d3 b6 12.b3 0-0 13.h3 f5 14.0-0 a5 15.xf5 [ 15.f2 may seem more flexible but after b4 16.e2 e4! the bishop is something of a thorn in white's side and if it's taken then 17.xe4?! dxe4 18.h2 f5 leaves Black with a protected passed pawn and a good position. ( 18...f5!? )] 15...xf5 16.f2 fxe5 17.fxe5 h6! W ith the bishop now back in the game it's hard to see how Black can be worse here and Bartel slowly improves his position over the next few moves. 18.d3 g7! 19.h2 e6 20.g4 g7 21.e3 xf1+

[ 21...b4!? 22.e2 c5 was a more a gg re ssi ve a p p r o a ch b u t ch a n c e s s t il l re ma in b ala nce d a f t e r 23.ad1 xf1+ 24.xf1 c4 25.d2 f8 26.xf8+ xf8 ] 22.xf1 f8 23.xf8+ xf8 24.e2 d7 25.d2 a4 26.h4 axb3 27.axb3 The game seems to be heading towards a draw but with the time control approaching there is still a little play left in the position f4!? 28.xf4 [ 28.f3! would've kept more control and indeed only White can be better after xe2+ 29.xe2 e6 30.f2! f5 31.d3 alt ho ugh a d ra w is st ill b y f a r t he m os t likely result ] 28...xg4 29.c3 [ given the way the game goes White should probably have just swapped queens with 29.f3 f5 30.d3 ] 29...h6! Black's only way to play for a win 30.xc6 [ 30.f3 f5 is now a little unpleasant for White ] 30...d1+ 31.h2 xd2 32.e8+ f8 33.e6 f2 34.c6 xh4+ 35.g1 g4 36.xb6? [ 36.c3! seems to hold the draw here, for example h5 ( or 36...f7 37.d8+ g7 38.e6+ ) 37.xf8 xf8 38.xb6 e4= ] 36...h6! Suddenly Black has a dangerous attack 37.f2 f5+ 38.g3?! [ 38.e2 was forced but Black still has good winning chances after xc2+ 39.f1 d3+ 40.g1 e3+ 41.h2 f7! ] 38...e3! Now White is lost 39.d8+ [ 39.h2 also loses to h5+ 40.g3 g5! ] 39...f7 40.f8+ xe6 41.g8+ d7 42.xd5+ e8 43.xb5+ f8 The checks have run out and Black can easily mop up White's extra pawns 44.d3 f2+ 45.h2 xd3 46.cxd3 xd4 5.. .Qb6 seems like a reasonable alternative to the mainline here but it's clear White has better options than 6. Na4 0-1

1752

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 went 11.0-0-0 c5 12.b1 g4 13.h3 B15 xe2 14.xe2 cxd4 15.cxd4 xc2+ 2507 16.xc2 and White is better. ] 2413 Here are some other game excerpts 15.01.2008 11.d2 that I dug up: [ 11.0-0-0 c5!? 12.g4!? ( 12.he1 ) 12...cxd4 13.xd4 f4! 14.h4 ( 14.he1; Here's a respectable but slightly slow line of 14.xf4 xf4+ 15.d2 ) 14...xe3+ the Caro-Kann that Bent Larsen used to play. 15.fxe3 e5 16.g5!? h5 17.de1 c5 One thing that I like about this game is that it wi t h a p p r o x i m a t e e q u a l i t y - t h e r e a r e f o llo ws L a rs en 's h ero Nimzo wit sch , wh o notation errors or I'd show more, Odisharia, played one of the only two other games that T-Charkhalashvili, I (2256)/ Tbilisi 2000 ] goes along this theoretical path. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 [ 11.g3 c5 12.d2 ( 12.f5 cxd4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ exf6 13.cxd4 b4+ 14.e2 xc2+ 15.xc2 Doubled f-pawns caused by exf3 or ...exf6 are and the f-pawns are problematic after all: one of the most common 'weaknesses' in they have created a monster passed pawn!) m o d e r n c h e s s . I t a p p e a r s i n d o ze n s o f 12...e8 13.0-0 f8 14.dxc5 xc5 openings for both colours. Apart from getting 15.xh6! gxh6 16.h5 e5! 17.f4 the pieces out quickly, the f-pawns can assist ( 17.xh6 xh5 18.xh5 e6 ) 17...d6 in defence of the king, or in some cases the 18.ad1? ( 18.xh6 xh5 19.xh5 g7 forward one will advance to attack the enemy 20.ad1 e5 21.f3 ) 18...xh5 19.h7+ pawn structure. 6.c3 xh7 ( 19...xh7! ) 20.xd6 xd6 [ 6.c4 e7+!? 7.e2 ( 7.e2?? b4+ 21.xd6 e6 22.d1 xa2 23.d7 b5? -whoops! ) 7...e6! is one of those old ideas ( 23...b6 ) 24.f4 c5 25.f5 e5 26.h4 h8 that forms the basis for 6... Qe7+ and thus 27.d2 1/2-1/2 Palkovi, J (2460)-Vegh, E to some extent, 5...exf6 itself! Then 8.b3 (2330)/ Hungary 1997. Black stands better. ] a6! is Seirawan's move ] [ 11.h3 b6?! 12.c4 c5 13.0-0 e8 14.b3 6...d6 7.d3 0-0 8.e2 This setup for d7? 15.ad1 f8 16.c3 (White has a White is probably the most popular one. c7 large advantage already) d7 17.d5 c8 [ 8...e8 tends to come first, almost always 18.dxc5 xc5 19.xc5 xc5 20.b4 c8 followed by ...Qc7. The difference is that 21.c5 e5 22.e4 f5 23.f3 and White W hite can't play 9 0-0 now, but Black is h a s sp a ce a n d m o b ile p a wn s, Ho rt , V m o r e c o m m i t t e d . S e e t h e A r ch ive s f o r Antonio, R/Novi Sad 1990 see the several games with 8...Re8 . ] Archives. ] 9.c2 h6!? Wells disapproves of this move, saying that it weakens the light squares, 11...e8 12.g3 [ 12.0-0-0 f8 13.g3 a5 14.e4 c7 preferring the idea of 15.b1 g6 16.g3 e6 17.b3 ad8 [ 9...g6 . Then 10.h4 is tempting and natural, and W hite has made almost no progress when he likes the setup e6 11.h5 f5 while Black developed, Dobek, S -Janik, P . To be fair, however, that's with Black's Nowy Sacz 2000 ] queen on d8 and rook on e8, which may favour White slightly because 12.h6 e8 12...f8! [ Up until now, the players have been 13.0-0-0 and come with tempo. ] following Aron himself ! The text seems 10.e3 better than 12...f4?! 13.0-0 xe3 14.fxe3 [ 10.g3 e8+ 11.e3 e6 12.0-0 d7 f8 15.f2 e7 16.e4 e6 17.a3 13.c4 may favour White for the simple ( 17.f5! ) 17...c5 18.af1 ( 18.d5 ) reason of space, but it's not much to brag 18...cxd4 19.cxd4 g6?! 20.d5? ( 20.e5! about. ] fxe5 21.d5 followed by Rxf7 is very strong) 10...d7 20...g4 21.c1 ac8 22.ff1 e5 23.f2 [ 10...e8 has also been seen of course, a6 24.h3 d7 Now White has weaknesses and the Archives have the interesting game and Black slowly takes over: 25.fd1 g5 DeFirmian-La Rota, HB Global 2005 which 1613 Teterev,Vitaly Lomako,Pavel ch Minsk BLR (6) [John Watson]

1753

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.xc8 xc8 27.h2 e5 28.f5 c1 29.d2 g6 30.e3 xh3 31.f1 d7 32.g1 b5 33.d1 xe3 34.xe3 xd1 35.b6 g4 36.g3 xf1 0-1 AsztalosNimzowitsch, Bled 1931 ] 13.0-0 g6 14.f4 [ 14.c4 never seems to achieve much. A sample line: b6 15.b4 a5 16.c5 xg3 17.hxg3 axb4 18.xb4 bxc5 19.xc5 a6= ] 14...c5!? [ 14...h4! ] 15.xg6 [ 15.e4!? cxd4 16.cxd4 f5 17.ac1 e7 18.xd6 xd6 19.c4 b6 ] 15...fxg6 [ 15...cxd4 16.xf7+ xf7 17.xd4 g4 18.ae1 d5 with some compensation, but White still stands better. ] 16.dxc5 f8 [ 16...xc5?? 17.d5+ ] 17.b4 b6 18.f5 gxf5 19.cxb6 axb6 20.xf5 e6 21.d4 b5 22.f3 d7 23.f2 I t ' s a b o u t e v e n h e r e . xf5?! Not terrible, but there's no need to exchange. [ 23...c4!? would be an interesting, aggressive move. ] 24.xf5 e4 25.f1 ae8?! 26.a3! Creating two threats. [ 26.g3 was also good. ] 26...d6 Black stops Qg3. [ 26...e2 27.g3 d6 28.g6 ] 27.a2+! h8 28.d5 e1 29.g3 c7?? [ But White is still clearly better following 29...xf1+ 30.xf1 e7 31.xb5! e1+ 32.g2 e2+ 33.f2 ] 30.xf6! Threatening Rxh6. e5 31.xh6+ gxh6 32.xe1 xd4+ 33.xd4+ 1-0

fancy but with 9 0-0 he shows that he believes in his position. Current wisdom would say that Bla ck' s o p e n p iece p la y sh o u ld h o ld t h e balance but the bottom line is that White holds a 4-3 Queenside pawn majority and Black has NOT yet demonstrated clear equality. Obviously 9 Qc2 an d a quick 0-0-0 is a n entirely different scenario. c7 [ 9...d7 10.a4 f8 holds the Kingside but little else. Black is solid, but passive: 11.g3 e6 12.f4 c7 13.f5 xg3 14.hxg3 d5 15.g4 d7 16.h6 g6 17.f4 gxh6 18.fxg6 xg4 19.gxh7+ h8 20.xg4 f5 21.f4 e3 22.xf5 xg3 23.e4 e6 24.h4 Sutovsky, E-Asrian, K/Istanbul 2003 ] 10.h3 d7 11.c4 [ 11.c2 h8 12.d2 c5 13.ae1 seems good for White and rather clear too. All the pieces are developed: b6 14.e4 b8?! ( 14...b7 15.xb7 xb7 16.f5 ) 15.xh7 g6 16.xg6 fxg6 17.xg6 a6 18.g3 xe1 19.xe1 f8 20.e4 g7 21.e7 1-0 Frois, A-Ponferrada Luque, V/ Seville 2002 ] 11...b6 12.e3 g6 [ It is jolly difficult to demonstrate a 'best line 'of play but rather typical would be 12...b7 13.c3 ad8 14.c2 h6 15.fe1 W hite is only a fraction better but it's the type of edge that won't go away. Blac k hasn't got any counterplay and there's the queenside majority to worry about. The longer the game goes on, the more unsatisfactory these positions become for Black. ] 13.d2 f5 14.g5 c5 15.c3!? Turner is an exceptionally ingenious player and this leads him to consider moves other players would not even look at! Still, White need not play in such a style. There were two other 1614 B15 straightforward ideas: [ 15.fe1 cxd4 16.xd4 b7 17.b5 c6 Turner,Matthew 2491 18.f1 e5 19.f4 ] Vulevic,Vjekoslav 2266 [ 15.ad1 cxd4 16.xd4 b7 17.e2 a6 Open Davis SUI (8) 07.08.2004 18.f3 ] [Andrew Martin] 15...cxd4 16.d5 c6 17.xf5 That was 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 the point does it work?? [ 17.fe1 ] 5.xf6+ exf6 6.c3 d6 7.d3 0-0 8.e2 G o t t o b e t a ke n . 18.f6 e5 e8 9.0-0! It is very interesting to see 17...gxf5 Turner's approach. W hite's play is nothing Perhaps the plethora of defensive possibilities 1754

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 available were confusing: [ 18...e6 19.g5+ f8 20.g7+ e8 21.xd4 xc4 ] [ 18...f4 19.xd4 b7 20.ae1 b5 21.b3 xe1 22.xe1 bxc4 23.bxc4 c8 24.e7 all unclear ] 19.ae1 g6 20.xe8+ xe8 21.xd4 e7 [ 21...c6! ] 22.f6 e6 23.xe7+ xe7 24.h4 h5?? What an appalling move. [ 24...f8 ] 25.h6 The way the game finished remains a complete mystery to me . However, White's opening play can be recommended and is good for a safe, slight edge. 1-0

Not bad, but giving up on ...c5 is a sign that Black has no confidence in his own positive strategies. 18.a4 g7 19.g1 d7 20.c4 The only try for activity. It does concede the b4 square, however. ad8 [ 20...b6 is a safer alternative compare the game. ] 21.e1! dxc4?! I see no need to surrender the centre simply [ 21...a8 dares White to make progress. ] 22.xf5 exf5 23.bxc4 b4 24.xb4 axb4 25.b3 c5?! [ Black has to tread carefully, but he can hang in there by utilising White's weaknesses, for example, 25...e7 26.b1 a6 27.d5 ( 27.gd1 f6! ) 27...c5 ( 27...c5?! 28.f3 e4 29.d6 ) 28.gd1 f2 29.b2 he8 30.d6 g8 with reasonable play. ] 1615 B15 26.d5 W hite's centre is pretty scary. a8 Vocaturo,Daniele 2383 27.a1 a6? This is tactically flawed. Much Abbasov,Farid 2578 better was [ 27...he8 ] 8th Rohde Open (2) 26.10.2008 [ or 27...b6 , although White is definitely for [John Watson] choice. ] Black's setup in this game has been around 28.c1! ha8 [ But 28...b6 29.b2 h7 30.f2 g7 for a long time, and as far as I know, it is still 31.a5! breaks through on the queenside. ] quite playable. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f4 Intentionally falling in with Black's plans. 29.b2 Threatening e6+. Suddenly White has a winning game. d8 The main option is [ No better is 29...g8 30.b3 b6 31.a5 ] [ 4.f3 , as seen in the following game. ] 4...d5 5.e5 h5 6.f3 h6 7.e3 g4 30.b3 b6 31.a5 e8 32.gd1 g8 8.h3!? Now Black gets the pawn structure that 33.axb6 xb6 34.xa6 xa6 35.d6 g7 he wants, but White is willing to sacrifice his 36.d7 a8 37.d6 c7 38.xc5! xc5 own kingside prospects in order to use his 39.d8+ xd8 40.xd8+ h7 41.d4 e6 s p a c e a d va n t a g e o n t h e q u e e n si d e . f5 42.xc5 xc5 43.c8 d3 44.c5 b3 9.f2 xf3 10.xf3 h4 Now one pawn holds 45.c6 b4 46.c7 b2 47.b8 up two. If Black had castled, White might be 1-0 able to organise the idea g4 and, after ... hxg3, h 4 b u t h e r e t h a t wo u l d b e s lo w a t b e s t . 1616 B15 11.d3 e6 12.0-0 Wells,Peter K 2480 [ 12.e2 d7 13.xf5 gxf5 14.0-0-0 a5 Speelman,Jonathan S 2541 15.b1 is solid. ] 16.08.2006 12...f8 This is the standard treatment. Black 4th Staunton Mem (3) uses his bishop to protect the h-pawn, but also [Andrew Martin] to watch over queenside squares. Ideally, he It is rare that Jonathan Speelman loses in 20 might play ...c5. 13.b3 moves with either colour. Let us try to trace [ Or 13.e2 ] 13...a5 14.e2 a6 15.c3 e7 16.ac1 the source of his downfall. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 f8 Also normal Black castles by hand before 3.c3 c6 4.f3 d5 5.h3 f6 I have never undertaking other activity. 17.h2 c7 se e n S p e e lm a n d a b b le wit h t h is s ys t e m 1755

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 be f o re a n d I do u b t I will a ga in a f te r t h is debacle! 6.e5 e4 7.d3 xc3 8.bxc3 c5 Absolutely necessary. 9.0-0 c4 10.e2 f6N Improvisation, but a risky idea with the Black King still on e8. Black should castle f irst before embarking on ...f7-f6. [ 10...a5 is the traditional move, with adequate play f or Black if the f ollowing examples are anything to go by: A) 11.d2 d7 ( 11...f6 12.exf6 exf6 13.h4 0-0 14.f4 f5 15.g4 fxg4 16.hxg4 d8 17.g2 c6 18.b1 b8 19.f3 b5 20.e2 b7 21.e3 e7 22.g2 h8 23.xd5 xd5 24.xd5 b6 25.f3 b4 1/2-1/2 Popovic, P-Ehlvest, J/ V rs a c 1 9 8 7) 12.c1 f6 13.h6 0-0 14.xg7 xg7 15.e3 b6 16.exf6+ exf6 17.e7+ f7 18.b4 a4 19.fe1 f5 20.d1 xc2 21.xc2 xc2 22.a4 d8 Isgandarova, K-Foisor, S/Heraklio 2004; B) 11.d2 c6 ( 11...a4! In the style of the French! Black freezes the W hite queenside. 12.h4 c6 13.f4 f5 14.g4 d7 15.f3 e6 16.g2 0-0-0 17.e3 f8 18.d2 e7 19.g2 df8 20.f2 d8 21.h2 a5 22.a3 a6 23.h4 a7 24.e3 b5 Bohosjan, SSpiridonov, N/ Bulgaria 1975) 12.e1 h6 13.a4 b5 14.a3 bxa4 15.h2 b8 16.f4 b5 17.f1 0-0 18.g4 f6 Lederman, L-Bleiman, Y/Beersheba 1978 ] [ 10...c6 11.a4 f6 12.exf6 exf6 13.a3 f7 14.d2 h6 15.f3 a5 16.b4 xb4 17.cxb4 d8 18.e1 d6 19.b1 e6 20.c3 ad8 21.b1 he8= Gdanski, J-Krasenkow, M/Plock 2000 ] 11.exf6! exf6 [ 11...xf6 12.h6 c6 13.d2 leads to the same uncomfortable situation that Black faces in the game. ] 12.a3! Immediately Black feels the heat. f7 13.b1 a5 14.xc4!! Wells makes it clear that the Black King must be hunted down at any cost. Speelman seems shocked by this r o u g h t r e a t m e n t . dxc4 15.e2 c7 On instinct. [ 15...xa3 16.xc4+ e7 17.b4! cutting off the queen is a fascinating way to b u i l d u p t h e a t t a c k : a6 ( 17...a6 18.e1+ e6 19.xa6 xa6 20.xb7+

d6 21.xg7 hc8 22.d2 ) 18.e1+ d6 19.f7+- ] [ 15...g5 gives the King a square and might b e t h e b e s t d e f e n s i ve r e s o u r c e . I s e e nothing totally clear for white after 16.xc4+ g6 ] 16.fe1 f8?? Cracking up. [ h e h a d t o t r y 16...d8 but even there 17.xb7!! xb7 18.xc4+ d5 19.e2 gives ongoing pressure which may however only be a draw after d7 20.e7+ xe7 21.xe7+ g8 22.e8+ f7 23.e7+ ] 17.e8+ g7 18.xf8+ xf8 19.e7+ g8 20.xf8+! 1-0

1617 Yudasin,Leonid Mccarthy,B New York (USA) (2) [Nigel Davies]

B15

1991

1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5 6.f3 g4 7.e3 [ The particul ar order of moves is less important than White's overall plan. White can also play the immediate 7.h3 and after xf3 8.xf3 e6 rule out Black's possibility of ...h5-h4 with 9.g3 This was tried a couple of times by Nick de Firmian: b6 ( 9...h6 10.e3 f5 11.f2 d7 12.0-0-0 f8 13.d3 a5 14.g4 g7 15.f5 gxf5 16.gxf5 b4 17.f6 f5 18.xf5 xc3 19.xe6 xb2+ 20.xb2 fxe6 21.f7+ d8 22.h4+ c7 23.e7 was also much better for W hite in deFirmian - McCarthy, New York 1991) 10.e2 e7 11.c3 f5 12.g4 hxg4 13.hxg4 xh1 14.xh1 e7 15.h7 f8 16.b3 d7 17.e3 a5 18.a3 c7 19.f2 and White's huge space advantage made itself felt in de Firmian Nilsson, Roskilde 1998 ] 7...h6 8.h3 [ Another instructive example went 8.e2 d7 9.d2 f5 10.f2 a5 11.g3 b6 12.b3 e6 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 f8 15.e2 xd2+ 16.xd2 e7 17.g4 with White firmly in control in the game Dolmatov Kotsur, FIDE World Ch., Las Vegas 1999 ] 8...f5 9.f2 xf3 10.xf3 h4 1756

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black completes his plan of 'crippling' White's kingside pawns, but he still comes under massive pressure. If this is the best Black can do, it is not a good sign for the Gurgenidze. 11.d3 e6 12.e2 [ Lalic - Webster, Coulsden 1999 varied with 12.0-0 f8 13.e2 e7 14.b3 a5 15.c4 a6 16.h2 c7 17.fd1 a4 18.c5 axb3 19.axb3 xa1 20.xa1 b8 21.g1 wi t h p r e s s u r e o n t h e a - f i l e a n d t h e h 4 p a wn lo o k in g we a k. I t 's n o t re a lly t h a t significant which move order White adopts the main things to keep in mind are the plans. ] 12...d7 13.0-0 f8 14.b3! With White's king tuc ked saf e ly away, op enin g up th e quee nsid e is a highly ef f e ctive p lan . e7 15.c4 a3 16.ab1 a5 17.cxd5 exd5? [ 17...cxd5 would be more tenacious but then 18.c3 intending Nb5 and c-file occupation builds serious pressure. One of Black's problems is that he finds it difficult to contest the c-file because one of his rooks is tied to the defence of h4. ] 18.g4 e7 Giving up a pawn for nothing, b u t B la c k wa s a f ra i d t o m o ve t h e kn igh t because of f4-f5. 19.xf5 gxf5 20.xf5 0-0-0 21.h2 b8 22.g1 f6 23.f3 fxe5 24.fxe5 df8 25.g4 h7 26.xh4 xh4 27.xh4 xf3 28.xf3 xh4 29.g4 h8 30.g5 f8 31.g1 g6 32.f6 g8 33.g4 c5 34.e6 c4 35.bxc4 dxc4 36.d5 c3 37.c4 c8 38.xc8+ xc8 39.f3 b4 40.f2 d6+ 41.g2 f4+ 42.f3 xh3 43.g6 e5 44.g2 f4 45.g7 xg7 46.xf4 h6+ 47.e4 b5 48.d6 b4 49.d7+ c7 50.g8 1-0

devoting less time to the old lines which have fallen out of fashion. 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.c3 Considered to be the most accurate move order. h5!? A typical idea in this variation but not normally played right away. Most players upon reaching this position have played It's curious that in the method Nigel employs, he doe sn 't wo rry abo ut d evelo ping th e ligh t squared bishop, but instead gains space on the kingside. The bishop ultimately develops to e6 but only once everything else is already in prime location. This kingside thrust dissuades White from fianchettoing and opens up the possibility of developing the darksquared bishop to h6. [ 6...f5 automatically against which 7.f3 e6 8.g3 is critical ] 7.e3 A rare response to a rare move. [ 7.f3 is the most sensible move in the position. A) 7...h4 8.f4 ( 8.h3 c7 9.d3 e6 10.0-0 d7 would be a typical setup for both sides when Black has decent play.) 8...d7 ( 8...h3! 9.g3 g4 10.e2 d5 is similar to the mainline except that Black has stopped White being able to fianchetto and thus must be fine.) 9.h3 b6 10.c4 This doesn't work out too well but o t h e r wi s e B l a c k g e t s p l a y l i k e S h o r t achieves in the game f5 11.d3 d7 12.e3 0-0-0 13.c2 xd3 14.xd3 e5! 15.0-0-0 e6 and Black stood better. Naiditsch, A-Seirawan, Y Vlaardingen 2005.; B) 7...c7 8.g3 g4 9.g2 e6 10.0-0 d6 11.h3 ( 11.c2 xf3 12.xf3 h4 wo u ld n ' t t ro u b le B la c k u n d u l y e it h e r) 11...xf3 12.xf3 d7 13.h4 f5 ( 13...0-0-0 is a more accurate move order ) 14.e1 ( 14.g5! ) 14...0-0-0 15.c4 1618 B16 dg8 16.c5 xg3! 17.fxg3 xg3 18.f4 xf3 19.xc7 g8 20.d6 f6 21.e2 Alekseev,Evgeny 2700 Ovetchkin, R-Nepomniachtchi, I playchess. Short,Nigel D 2685 c o m 2 0 0 6 w h e n d3 would leave the 45th Capablanca Mem Elite (9) 19.06.2010 position roughly balanced 22.ae1 g4= ] [Gawain Jones] [ 7.h4 cedes the g4 square and I don't believe this can be a severe test of Black's 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 idea d5!? Black has a couple of decent f6!? Nigel is famed for studying and playing alternatives ( 7...g4 This move is the most unusual lines. His reasoning is that strong thematic 8.b3 b6 9.c4 e6 10.f4 players, such as Alekseev, will have spent d7 11.e2 0-0-0 12.f3 f5 13.f2 months analysing the topical variations whilst 1757

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Schmittdiel, E-Tseitlin, M Budapest 1990 when I like a5 threatening 14...b5 14.g3 g6 15.he1 b6 16.f1?! Bad but otherwise Black gains the bishop pair with a pleasant position d5 17.d2 g8 and Black starts to achieve a dangerous kingside attack.; 7...f5 8.e2 d7 9.g3 g6 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 e6 12.f4 e5!? 13.e2 g6 14.d2 d5 was also acceptable for Black. Sadykov, R-Ovetchkin, R Izhevsk 2009.) 8.e3 e5 This is a very aggressive plan I would prefer to develop some pieces first! 9.f3 g4 10.e2 d7 A) 11.dxe5! would have exploited Black's premature pawn thrust fxe5 ( 11...xd1+ 12.xd1 fxe5 13.g5 ) 12.xd5 cxd5 13.d1 e6 14.g5 c5 15.xc5 xc5 16.0-0 e7 17.f4! promises White a comfortable advantage.; B) 11.b3 xb3 12.axb3 a6 13.b4 g8 14.g3 0-0-0= Jackova, J-Nisipeanu, L Bucharest 2008. ] [ 7.f4 f5 ( 7...d5!? putting pressure on g2 and with the potential idea of ...Qe4+ makes sense.) 8.f3 h4 9.b3 b6 10.e2 d7 11.0-0 e6 12.fe1 Womacka, M-Ovetchkin, R playchess.com 2006. 0-0-0= ] [ 7.c4 d7 8.b3 e6 9.f4 b6 10.d3 Pierrot, J-Tempone, M Mar del Plata 2001 and here Black could exploit White's loose d3 bishop with e5! 11.e3 e6 12.c2 g8 and Black is again very comfortable. ] [ Against 7.d3 I'd go for A) 7...d7 8.e2 b6 9.f4?! Black just gains time on the bishop now, better was 9.0-0. d5 ( 9...h4! ) 10.d2 a5 11.h3 g8 12.f4 xf4 13.xf4 d5 14.f3 xf3 15.gxf3 was roughly level. Manelidou, M-Khurtsilava, I Chalkida 2009.; B) 7...d5 8.f3 ( 8.f3 is the computer's choice but then Black will always have decent counter chances.) 8...g8 9.c4 d6 10.g3 g4 gives a pleasant position to the second player. ] 7...h4 And this logical follow up is the novelty. Short grabs some more space on the kingside before deciding where to develop his pieces. This also prepares trading bishops on h6.

[ 7...f5 was played in the previous game but Short prefers to delay developing the bishop until he's sure where it's best placed. 8.f3 h4 9.b3 b6 10.0-0-0 e6 11.d3 g4?! ( 11...xd3 12.xd3 is just level) 12.h3 xf3 13.gxf3 and White holds the bishop pair trump. Makropoulou, MLematschko, T Manila 1992. ] 8.b3 Alekseev also delays developing his p i e c e s ! He p l a n s o n c a s t l i n g q u e e n s i d e followed by opening up the centre before Black's king has found safety. The pressure o n b 7 p r e ve n t s S h o r t d e ve lo p in g t h e c 8 bishop straight away whilst he also has to watch out for Bc4xf7. d7 [ An immediate 8...b6!? would be similar to the game. ] 9.0-0-0 [ 9.c4 doesn't really achieve anything as after e6 Th e sa crif ice 10.xe6? fxe6 11.xe6+ e7 gets White nowhere ] [ 9.d5 looks crit ica l a5!? 10.0-0-0 a4 11.c2 A curious position has been reached. It looks like Black is a beginner, he's thrust both his flank pawns after 10 moves whilst neglecting his development. However he has space and the position isn't clear. c7 12.dxc6 ( 12.f3 cxd5 13.xd5 h3 ) 12...bxc6 13.f3 h6 ( 13...b6!? ) 14.xh6 xh6 when perhaps White is better but it's likely that the stronger player will triumph in such an unbalanced position. ] 9...b6 10.c2 [ 10.a4 c7 and Black will gain time with ...Nb6 ] [ 10.a3!? is the computer's strange suggestion, provoking e6 blocking in the c8 bishop ( 10...c7!? followed by ...Nb6 looks fine for Black. )] 10...a5 Getting out of the way so that Black ca n co nt in ue t o de ve lo p . 11.b1 b6 12.d3 d5 So 12 moves have been played and Black has played four knight moves (one with the exchanged knight), two queen moves and six pawn moves. Therefore, logically, he should be in trouble. However, he has successfully gained space on the kingside and if he can complete development then he's doing well. Me anwhile t he kn igh t is o n a strong square in the centre of the board and I'd say that Black is close to having equalised. 1758

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 12...g8 A) 13.e2 xg2 ( 13...d5!? ) 14.f4 g5 15.hg1 gives White compensation for the pawn but no more.; B) 13.g3 g4 14.f3 h5 ( 14...e6 15.c4 hxg3 16.hxg3 xg3 17.d2 a4 18.b3 a3 19.h8 is dangerous. )] 13.d2 h6 14.e2 xd2 15.xd2 e6 16.c1 c7 [ 16...0-0-0 17.b3 c7 18.c5 followed by taking on e6 would offer White a small edge with the bishop vs knight. ] 17.g3 [ 17.b3 f4 18.e4 0-0-0 19.c5 d5= is nothing to fear. ] 17...0-0-0 And Black has completed his development and can now focus on creating play. W hite's opening advantage has diminished. 18.b3 b8 Creating a square for the bishop 19.c1 c8 Alekseev now starts to take over some initiative but it isn't enough to trouble Short unduly. [ 19...g4!? would prevent the forthcoming Qe2. ] 20.he1 e5 [ 20...f5!? followed by .. .e6 and ...b6 would be my choice not ceding any light square holes when I'd actually prefer to be Black. ] 21.e2 de8 22.f3 hxg3 23.hxg3 hg8 24.f5 xf5+ 25.xf5 c8 26.c2 [ 26.f3 g5! holds equalit y ( 26...g4 27.xg4 xg4 28.e2 is nominally better for White but Black should be able to hold the draw. ) 27.c4 c7 as the f6 pawn isn't free 28.xf6 f5 29.h4 xf2= with equality. ] 26...e7 27.e4 ge8 28.ce1 f5 29.a3 g6 30.c4 exd4 Simplification gets Black nearer to the draw 31.xe7 xe7 32.xe7 xe7 33.xd4 c7 34.c5 This cedes the d5 square and means the c5 pawn is potentially vulnerable. [ 34.b4 would be White's last chance to play for the win but Black should hold without any major worries. ] 34...h5 35.b3 An interesting line. I think objectively White should be able to get some advantage but the positions are unusual and the stronger player will have good chances for the full point with either colour. ½-½

1619 Bennett,Gerald H Blasberg,Gabriel S corr. [Alexander Volzhin]

B16 2425 2500 1996

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.c3 f5 7.f3 e6 8.g3 h5 9.g2 e4 10.0-0 f5 11.e1 e7 12.h4!? d7 13.f1!? [ In the game Bormida - Blasberg, corr, 1996 W h i t e t r i e d 13.g5 This move look s harmless. In my opinion, in this simplification favours Black. In the endgame White is unlikely to cash in on the weakness o f B l a c k ' s p a wn s t ru c t u r e wh i l e i n t h e middlegame he has real chances of creating dangerous threats against Black's King. xg5 14.xg5 xg2 15.xg2 f6 16.b3 d5+ 17.xd5 xd5 ( 17...cxd5 is not bad either) 18.c4 f6 19.ad1 d8 20.f3 In this posit ion a draw was agreed, but Black's chances are by no means worse. For example, he can transfer his King to the g7-square and double Rooks on the d-file (... Rd6, ... Rhd8), threatening ...c6-c5 at the right moment. ] 13...xf3 Black is forced to give up the Bishop. [ He could try to keep it by playing 13...c5 but here this move which was very good in Riemersma - Pieterse is strongly met by 14.g5 c6 15.xe6! This unexpected sacrifice gives White a strong initiative. fxe6 16.xe6 b6 ( 16...a5 is hardly an i m p r o v e m e n t : 17.d5 a4 18.b3 , and I consider Black's position as lost.) 17.d5 f8 ( 17...b5? 18.xb5 xb5 19.c7+ ) 18.xf8 xf8 19.dxc6 xc6 20.g2 and the strong bishop pair and Bla ck' s p o o r kin g p o sit io n give s W h it e fantastic compensation for the exchange. ] 14.xf3 f6 15.g5 d5 16.e2 0-0-0 17.e5?! [ I would prefer the natural 17.g2 d7 18.ad1 and depending on Black's play White will either pawn-storm on the Q-side or breakthrough in the center (c4, d5). In my opinion W hite's chances are clearly preferable here. ] 17...xe5 18.dxe5 1759

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ After 18.xe5 Black still has to solve some d7 9.e2 h5 10.f4 h4 11.e3 c7 problems, but I believe by accurate defence 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.g4?! hxg3 14.hxg3 h e s h o u l d h o l d t h e p o s i t i o n . d7 xh1 15.xh1 ( Probably White had missed ( 18...d5?! just blunders a pawn in view of that the natural looking 15.xh1 fails to c5! 19.xd5 xg5 20.a5! although after f6 and Black takes the upper hand as 16.dxc5 21.xa7 f4 Black has some counterplay.) is bad: e5 17.e2 c6 18.h8 e4 19.g2 d5 ] a n d B l a c k w i n s .) 15...a5! 16.d3 18...d5 19.xe7 xe7 20.f4 hg8 ( 16.f3 allows a brilliant mate: e5!! 21.h2 d2+ 22.e2 gd8 23.ae1 g8! 17.dxe5 xc3+!! 18.bxc3 a3# ) 16...b6 A very good manoeuvre: the knight is 17.b3 d5 18.e1 g4 19.d2 d6 transferred to the g4-square (via h6) where it 20.b1 h8 21.d1 f5 22.e2? will occupy a very strong position. Now White A blunder, but Black's position is already far should play attentively to avoid troubles. superior. xg3 Black wins a pawn for 24.xd2 xd2+ 25.e2 d1 26.g2 h6 nothing and he soon won the game. ] 27.f3 g4+ 28.xg4 fxg4 29.g2 d7 7...h5!? A typical move for this line. 8.f4 h4 Black a has tiny advantage due to his control 9.f3 of the d-file and the weakness of White's g3[ Either 9.c4 aiming at f7 and threatening pawn, but it's impossible to make any Qb3 ] progress, so a draw was agreed. Thus we [ or 9.d3 exchanging Black's only active can conclude that this line looks playable for piece should be preferred. ] Black. The way chosen by White in the latter 9...d7 10.g4 hxg3 11.fxg3 game seems most promising. It's premature to [ W h i t e r e j e c t e d t h e n a t u r a l 11.hxg3 draw final conclusions because only a few in view of g4 12.g2 e5! , but it's not games have been played here, but it's t o o b a d a f t e r 13.e2 ( even 13.xh8!? definitely worthy of thorough examination and is not bad: f3+ 14.xf3 xf3 15.e6! practical tests. fxe6 16.h6 and White wins all his material ½-½ back! ) 13...xh1+ 14.xh1 xe2 15.xe2 with approximately equal chances. ] 11...e5!? 12.g4 1620 B16 [ 12.e2 e6 and Black is OK. ] 12...h7 13.e2 exd4!? 14.cxd4 Bilek,Istvan [ 14.xd4 e5 and Black' s Knight will Bronstein,David I permanently occupy this excellent central USSR Hungary 1955 square, while White's Knight can be driven [Alexander Volzhin] away by c6-c5 at the right moment. ] 15.f2 e7 16.g2 0-0-0 The line 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6 gxf6 was introduced 14...b4+ by Aron Nimzowitch at the beginning of the It's not easy to evaluate this position. Black 20th century. It always leads to a very sharp has an advantage in development and very a n d c o m p l i c a t e d g a m e . B y v o l u n t a r i l y active pieces. On the other hand White only damaging his pawn structure Black hopes to needs a few moves (Bf4, Rac1, threatening obtain active counterplay by exploiting the Rxc6) to create mating threats himself. So open g-file. Although nowadays this line has a both sides should play with great creativity rather dubious reputation and is rarely played and accuracy. 17.a3? Missing Black's reply, at the top level, it remains a useful weapon bu t in W h ite 's de f e n ce it wa s dif f icu lt t o for the club player. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 foresee what Bronstein had in mind! [ T h e s e e m i n g l y s t r o n g 17.f4 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.c3 f5 a l l o w s a n o t h e r b r i l l i a n t b l o w : e5!! 7.e2 and W hite is helpless: 18.dxe5 ( 18.g3 [ A quarter of a century after this game d3+ 19.f1 he8; 18.xe5 fxe5 19.dxe5 Bronstein had another interesting encounter xe5 ) 18...d3 Suddenly White's Queen is in this line. The game Ivanovic - Bronstein, in danger! 19.e3 c5 and the position is Tallinn, 1979 continued: 7.c4 e6 8.f3 1760

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 similar to the game and is just as hopeless Lib e rzo n - P a sm a n , B e e r-S h e va , 1 9 8 2 for White. ] continued: d7 10.g2 0-0-0 11.0-0 h3 [ The only way to avoid immediate defeat 12.a4! White obtains a clear advantage by was 17.e3! with a very complicated playing natural moves. xg2 13.xg2 h5 position and chances for both sides. ] 14.a5 d5 15.a6! b6 16.c4 c7 17.f4 17...c5!! David Bronstein at his best! 18.e3 e6 18.e3 h6 19.d5! A decisive [ T h e B i s h o p i s t a b o o : 18.dxc5 e5! b r e a k t h r o u g h . cxd5 20.cxd5 xd5 and White is lost. The following variation is 21.xh6 d4 ( 21...xh6 22.ac1+ b8 forced: 19.g3 d3 20.h4 xc5+ 23.fd1 and W hite wins: f5 24.xd8+ 21.e1 hd8 22.f4 d1+ 23.xd1 xd8 25.xe7 ) 22.ac1+ b8 23.f4+ xd1+ 24.xd1 c2+ 25.e1 d3+ A) 23...a8 is no better in view of 26.f1 d1+ ] 24.d1! and if h4 then the simple 18...e5! Picturesque position, isn't it!! 25.gxh4! ( Not, of course, 25.xd4?? h3+ 19.dxe5 d3 20.xf6 xf6+ 21.exf6 xe3 26.g1 xf3 with unavoidable mate.) It may seem that by swapping Queens, White 25...xh4 26.g3 with a clear extra has parried Black's threats and even managed piece.; to hold his extra pawn. But Black's pair of B) 23...e5 24.xe5+ fxe5 25.xe5+ rioting Bishops and the total lack of and the endgame is easily won for White coordination of White's pieces makes White's due to his extra pawn and the bad position position impossible to defend. 22.hc1 b6 of Black's King. ] 23.f3 e4 24.xe4 xe4+ White resigned 9...d7 10.0-0 h5 in view of the following variation: [ 10...h3 was the alternative to the text. [ 24...xe4+ 25.f1 xh2 26.g3 f2+ 11.xh3 xh3 12.a4! d7 13.a5 c8 27.g1 xg4 An excellent victory, which is with the better prospects for White. ] typical of Bronstein's creative style. ] 11.a4! h3?! 0-1 [ 11...a5 was forced, although it's much easier to recommend such a move than to make it in a game. Now Queenside castling 1621 B16 is hardly possible as White can easily open files near Black's King. But in the game Campora,Daniel Hugo 2560 things are even worse for Black. ] Morozevich,Alexander 2575 olm Moscow 1994 12.xh3 xh3 13.a5 c8 [ 13...d5 i s n o b e t t e r : 14.b3 0-0-0 [Alexander Volzhin] 15.a6! and the position is similar to Liberzon - Pasman. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 b6 15.d5! White exploits the 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.c3 f5 7.f3 d7 8.g3! 14.a6 This is one of the best plans in this line. After advantages of his position very energetically. The only move as other possibilities lose developing his Bishop to g2 White can easily c5 castle kingside, as now Black has no pressure on the spot: [ 15...d7 16.dxc6 xc6 17.d4 d7 on the g-file. Of course the fianchetto should ( 17...d5 18.a4+ d7 19.b5 ) 18.f3 be combined with developing the Knight to f3 winning ] as in this game, and not to e2 as Black will [ 15...cxd5 This move allows a very nice th e n p lay h 5-h 4 with goo d ch a nce s. b6 blow: 16.xd5 b8 17.b7!! winning ] Black is planning quite an aggressive setup 16.e1 d7 (Qd7 with Queenside castling to follow). [ 16...d6 17.f4 0-0-0 18.b4! [ However, the quiet 8...e4!? intending with an attack ] Kingside castling, deserves serious White finds a very good plan: the attention: 9.g2 e6 10.0-0 g7 11.e1 f5 17.h4! Knight will be very actively placed on f5 and and White's advantage is minimal. ] will cause Black a lot of trouble. g4 9.g2 [ 17...h6? 18.xh5 ] [ 9.e2 is another possibility. The game 1761

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 17...d6 18.f4 0-0-0 19.b4 with a strong initiative. ] 18.c2 d7 [ 18...d6 19.f4 0-0-0 20.xd6 xd6 21.f5 d7 22.a4 with a clear advantage ] 19.f4 h6?! It was definitely a bad day for Alexander Morozevich. This mistake leads to his defeat in a few moves. [ Of course, the pawn is poisoned: 19...xd5? 20.ad1 c6 21.d3 ] [ but 19...d6 is much more stubborn: 20.xd6 xd6 21.f5 d7 22.e2 0-0-0 23.ae1 e8 and there is no direct win for W hite, although his advantage is undisputable after say 24.b4 ] 20.g6! Wins on the spot. g8 [ Other possibilities are no better: 20...fxg6 21.xg6+ d8 22.xh6 ] [ 20...xf4 21.xh8 d6 22.h7 winning ] 21.xe7! xe7 22.d6 Black resigned. A very instructive example for White players. [ 22.d6 xf4 23.xe7+ xe7 24.dxe7 winning ] 1-0

1622 Espindola,Carlos Alejandro Blasberg,Gabriel S corr. [Alexander Volzhin]

B16

1996

Another important game from Gabriel Blasberg, an old adherent of the BronsteinLarsen variation. In a well known position which was considered as very bad for Black h e f in d s a n e w r e s o u rc e a n d se ize s t h e initiative. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.c3 f5 7.e2 d7 8.g3 g6 9.h4 h5 10.e2 a5 11.a4 0-0-0 12.b4 c7 13.a5 e5 14.a6 b6 15.0-0 Up to this point the players were following the game Rodriguez - Peters which was disastrous for Black. But now Blasberg tries something new. e4!? A very important novelty. This move was recommended by A. Rodriguez in his notes in Informant 44, but hadn't been tested in practice before now! Both of thes e ga mes sho w th at a f ter th e opening of the c-file Black's position is

indefensible . The text keeps it closed. [ 15...d6 was played in the above mentioned game and White got the upper hand after 16.d3! ] [ 15...exd4 is also disastrous for Black: 16.cxd4 xb4 17.e3 d6 18.c1 he8 19.b5 c5 20.f3 xg3 21.fxg3 e4 22.f2 d6 23.dxc5 and Black resigned in Morawietz-Schlenga, Germany 1989. ] 16.b5 e5 17.d2?! I don't like this move as it just wastes time and allows Black to seize the initiative. W hen playing the text W hite thought that the Knight had to retreat from its active position in the centre of the board, but Black's next move proves that this is not so. [ 17.xh5 Grabbing such a pawn should not be seriously considered, as Black obtains a tremendous attack by exploiting the open files on the K-side: xh5 18.xh5 f3+! 19.gxf3 xh5 20.fxe4 xh4 and White's King is in real danger. Here is just on e variation to illustrate the strength of Black's attack: 21.f4 cxb5 22.f3 b4! (winning an important tempo, and planning the entry of the other Rook into the attack) 23.cxb4 c4! and White is hopelessly lost: 24.b2 g8+ 25.f2 h2+ 26.e1 xb2 ] [ In m y o pin ion , 17.bxc6 is the best. The position is very complicated and needs further practical tests. ] 17...f5! 18.bxc6 [ 18.dxe5 f4! 19.h1 ( 19.xh5 f3! is no better for White.) 19...e3 20.a2 h6 21.bxc6 f3! 22.xf3 exd2 and Black is better. ] 18...g4! 19.g5 d6! Black's inventive play is very instructive. During the last few moves he has managed to put all his pieces on their mo st a ggressive squa res. O f co urs e t h e exchange is a very small price to pay for this. Although the position is very complicated I feel that Black's attack should be decisive. 20.xd8 xd8 All Black's minor pieces are very active and White's K-side is irretrievably weakened. 21.xg4 hxg4 22.h5 h4! 23.e1 xh5! The second exchange sacrifice. Now Black's Bishops run riot. 24.xh5 h2+ 25.f1 xh5 [ White resigned, as he can't avoid a quick mate or large material loss. The following variations were pointed out by the winner: 1762

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25...xh5 13.hf1 h4 14.f2 b6 when White must A) 26.c1 f4 27.e3 xe3 28.xe3 have the advantage with his lead in ( 28.fxe3 g3 ) 28...h1+ 29.e2 g3+ developmen t alt hough f ollowin g 15.af1 30.d2 xa1; b7 16.a3 c5 17.b5 c6 18.a4 B) 26.g3 f4 27.gxf4 ( 27.e2 fxg3; xb5 19.xb5 0-0-0 20.d3 d5 21.c4 27.xe4 h1+ ) 27...h3+ 28.e2 xf4 d6 22.c2 f5 Black had equalised and with g4-g3 next move. An excellent game even went on to win Godena, M (2549)from Black's point of view. Unfortunately Short, N (2680) Reggio Emilia 2011. ] W hite's weak play doesn't allow us to [ I looked at 6...h5 in an earlier game of his d r a w c o n c l u s i ve e v i d e n c e a b o u t t h e see Alekseev, E (2700)- Short, N (2685) strength of Black's novelty. But Havana 2010. ] undoubtedly Black's idea is playable and 7.f3 d7 8.g3 a5!? A new try for the site. deserves further tests. ] Nigel wants to annoy White and not allow him 0-1 easy development. [ 8...b6 has been featured on this website a couple of times although not successfully. 1623 B16 9.g2 d7 10.0-0 h5 11.a4 h3 12.xh3 xh3 13.a5 c8 ( 13...d5 was probably Gopal,Geetha Narayanan 2597 better but 14.b3 0-0-0 15.a6 b6 16.c4 Short,Nigel D 2658 was clearly better for White. See Sherzer, Gibraltar Masters (8.2) 01.02.2011 A (2490)-Filipovich, D (2225) 34th NCC, [Gawain Jones] Philadelphia 2003 annotated by Andrew Martin. ) 14.a6 b6 15.d5 c5 16.e1 d7 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 17.h4 g4 18.c2 d7 19.f4 h6 5.xf6+ gxf6 Nigel keeps faith with the 20.g6 g8 21.xe7 xe7 22.d6 Larsen/Bronstein Variation which has given 1-0 Cam pora, D (2560) -Morozevich, A h i m g o o d r e s u l t s r e c e n t l y . 6.c3 f5 (2575) Moscow 1994 was a disaster for the Nigel chooses the mainline this time. highly talented Russian. Look in the archives [ During the London tournament Nigel said for Alexander Volzhin's comments. ] that he had never won with the Caro-Kann but he was successful shortly afterwards 9.g2 [ 9.e2 has been the most common with 6...d5 a move on which Richard response, endeavouring to prevent Black's Palliser wrote an interesting article in the next and is critical. Dangerous W eapons: Caro Kann book. It A) 9...g4 was played in a fairly recent doesn't appear to have been covered on game. 10.g2 0-0-0 11.h3 h5 12.0-0 C h e s s P u b l i s h i n g b e f o r e . 7.e3 e5 13.a4 d6?! ( 13...exd4 14.b4 d5 ( One of Black's ideas is to meet 7.e2 with looks very reasonable for Black.) 14.b4 e5; and 7.f3 with g8 continuing to try c7 15.b5 and Black's queenside was and impede White's development.; 7.c4 already under a lot of pressure. could be the critical test of Black's opening Berelowitsch, A (2595)-Welling, G (2378) choice although it looks a little strange Gausdal 2008.; considering White's previous move.) 7...h5!? B) 9...d5 was the choice of the reverting back to the plan Nigel employed in l e g e n d a r y R u s s i a n D a vi d B r o n s t e i n . his previous game. ( Instead Richard's main 10.g2 e4 11.e3 d3 12.h4 lin e c on t in u es wit h 7...g8; while Black xe2+ and Black had eventually managed c o u ld a lwa ys ro ll t h e d ice wit h 7...e5!? ) t o e xch a n ge qu e e n s b u t it h a d t a k e n 8.b3 h6 9.f3 xe3 10.fxe3 e4 rather a lot of tempi. 13.xe2 g4+ 14.f3 11.d2 ( 11.0-0-0!? looks very strong as e6 15.f4 b6 16.f5 c4+ 17.f2 d5 xe3+ 12.b1 is highly dangerous. A 18.b3 xg2 19.xg2 and White's extra sample line could continue: g8 13.e1 space must promise him the edge f4 14.c4 xg2 15.xf7+ f8 16.e6! although Black is solid and held the draw. with a decisive attack.) 11...d7 12.c4 e6 1763

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Luther, T (2510) -Bronstein, D (2440) Gausdal 1994.; C) 9...e6 was played in the first game I could discover with 8...Qa5. 10.g2 h5?! I don't like this move because of 11.h4! when the bishop can no longer drop back to g6. h7 12.0-0 e7 13.e1 0-0-0 14.a4 f5 15.b4 c7 Arnason, J (2470)Bellon Lopez, J (2475) La Valetta 1980 when W hite would have had a decisive advantage after 16.f4 d6 17.xd6 xd6 18.b5!; D) 9...0-0-0 10.g2 g7 ( 10...b6 11.0-0 b5 would share certain similarities to the game.) 11.0-0 he8 12.h4 g6 13.a4 e5 14.xg6 hxg6 15.c4 e6 16.b4 saw the Kiwi GM struggling. Arnason, J (2440) -Chandler, M (2530) Brighton 1981. ] 9...b5 [ 9...a6!? is also seen and was played by none other than David Bronstein but this allows White to repeat with 10.f1 ] 10.h4 And this appears to be the first new move. [ Instead Nigel played 10.a4 when he was on the White side. d3 11.xd3 ( 11.h4 xd1+ 12.xd1 d3 13.d2 a6 14.e1 e6 15.c2 is Rybka's top s u g g e s t i o n a l t h o u g h a f t e r 0-0-0 Black's position looks reasonable to me.) 11...xd3 A) 12.a5 was tried in a more recent encounter which looks like a nuance. 0-0-0 13.e3 e6 14.0-0-0 e4 15.e1 d5 ( 15...xg2 16.xg2 h5 as Seirawan played looks more sensible to me with a perfectly playable position.) 16.c2 d6 17.b3 c7 18.a1 f8?! 19.c4?! ( 19.f3! would actually force Black to give a pawn as W hite threatens c3-c4 trapping the bishop. ) 19...xg2 20.xg2 g6 21.hd1 a6 22.b4 d7 23.d3 h5 24.h4 hd8 25.ad1 and White's extra space gave her a slight edge which she eventually converted. Paulet, I (2342)Mikadze, M (2317) Puerto Madryn 2009.; B) 12.e3 a5 13.0-0-0 e4 14.h4 xg2 15.xg2 b6 16.b3 d5 17.d2 e6 18.c2 0-0-0 19.e1 h5 20.h4 h6 21.d3 xd2 22.xd2 c7 and Black

had equalised and even went on to win. Short, N (2655)-Seirawan, Y (2595)Monte Carlo 1993. Perhaps this inspired Nigel to try playing the Black side? ] 10...g6 The natural response. [ However 10...d3!? looks legal here as 11.b3 can be met with e5! 12.c4 a5+ 13.d2 a3 14.f3 b2 15.c1 b4 with a highly complicated position. ] 11.xg6 hxg6 12.b3 a6 Nigel wants to trade queens on his own terms. Both sides would like to have pressure down the a file. 13.d5!? I'm torn between giving this interesting or dubious. It looks very logical trying to exploit Black's slow development and the computer doesn't think there's anything wr o n g w i t h i t . H o w e ve r t h e p a w n o n d 5 becomes a big headache for White later in the game. [ 13.xb5 axb5 14.d5 is an alternative although a6 15.h4 e6 16.dxc6 bxc6 looks reasonable for Black. ] 13...c5 14.xb5 cxb5 Nigel has got what he ho pe d f o r f rom t he o pe ning. Pe rh ap s White's bishop pair should give him a small advantage but the curious pawn structure ensures that Nigel can outplay his younger and less experienced opponent. It's very impressive to see how Nigel rounds up the d5 pawn and makes it look like a huge weakness. 15.e2 a4 16.h4 h6 17.f4 The most dynamic approach keeping the bishop pair but ceding further light squares which Nigel artfully exploits later in the game. [ However 17.b1 0-0-0 18.xh6 xh6 19.hc1 b8 20.c4 bxc4 21.xc4 b6 hardly causes Black any problems. ] 17...f5! Fixing White's kingside pawns and giving the dark squared bishop a new lease of l i f e o n g 7 . 18.b1 g7 19.e3 0-0-0 After logical moves from both sides we have finished the opening phase and an unclear position has arisen. The computer gives White a slight edge, presumably due to the bishop pair and what looks like a better pawn structure but I'm not convinced. Maybe I'm just biased after playing through the game but it seems to be that Black's position is the easier to play as he can put pressure against the b2 and d5 pawns while it's not clear how White can improve his position. Generally if 1764

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 one side has a plan and the other doesn't then the first will win! 20.hd1 b8 21.d3 d7 22.d2 c8 White has regrouped and was threatening to trap the knight with b2-b3 but B l a c k i s j u s t i n t i m e . 23.d4 Gopal acquiesces that he no longer has the advantage and is now simply trying to hold. [ Short was threatening ... b5-b4 so maybe White should try 23.a3 so that at least after a5 ( 23...b6!? 24.c2 c5 25.dd1 c7 is also around level.) 24.d4 the b5 pawn is no longer defended. ] 23...xd4 24.xd4 b6 Starting to put pressure on the d5 pawn. [ 24...c7!? bringing the king into the game looks promising. ] 25.b3 cd8 26.c4 The logical move but the initiative definitely switches at this point. [ Instead 26.e1! should have been played when xd5 27.xd5 b4! ( 27...xd5 28.xe7 xd4+ 29.cxd4 xd4+ 30.e2 is unpleasant for Black as the extra b pawn i s u s e l e s s .) 28.c4 e6 29.e5 c7 sho uld be a d ra w bu t W h it e ca n try f o r more. ] 26...e6! White's centre is under stress. 27.f1?! [ White should offer the pawn with 27.c3! exd5 ( 27...bxc4 28.bxc4 d6 29.bd1= ) 28.cxb5! when Black's extra pawn cannot be utilised. ] 27...bxc4 28.bxc4 a7! 29.g2 exd5 30.cxd5? And now White is just a clear pawn d o wn . P r e s u m a b l y h e m i s e va l u a t e d t h e forthcoming rook and pawn ending thinking he could hold the draw. [ 30.c5 was better as then White can at least p u t p r e s s u r e o n t h e d 5 p a w n a8! followed by ...Nc7 is obviously better for Black however. ] 30...xd5 31.xd5 xd5 32.xd5 xd5+ 33.e3 a5! Nigel wins without any controversy. 34.d4 xa2 35.e5 a3 36.g4 fxg4 37.f6 g3 38.g1 f3 39.g5 a5 40.g4 c3 41.f5 a4 42.fxg6 fxg6 43.g5 c6 44.xg3 b5 An impressive game by Short who made a 2600 player look very weak. 0-1

1624 Grigoriants,Sergey Rogers,Ian Essent Open Hoogeveen (4) [Andrew Martin]

B16 2525 2570 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 Rogers is always spoiling for a fight! 6.f3 g4 Rather than ... Bf5 7.e2 c7 Another move-order nuance, preventing Bf4. 8.h3 h5 9.h4!? White's best chances against 5... gxf 6 lie long-term in exp lo it in g h is b e t t er p a wn st ru ct u re a n d generally more solid position. Exchanges are desirable and decrease Black's ability to attack. From Black's side he must be aware of the endgame dangers and use the open d and g files to the maximum. Action can also be created by a well-timed ... e7-e5 or ... c6-c5. xe2 10.xe2 e6 11.0-0 d7 12.c4 0-0-0 13.e3N [ 13.b4 was a successful pawn sacrifice in this ancient game: xb4 14.b1 c5 15.f3 c6 16.d5 a6 17.a3 a5 18.f4 c7 19.xc7 xc7 20.fd1 he8 21.f4+ c8 22.f3 e5? ( 22...xa3 23.a1 b3 24.db1 d3 25.d1 b3= is a clear improvement.) 23.e4 f5 24.xf5 xc4 25.g5 f6 26.f7 a6 27.xd8 xd8+Najdorf, M-Panno, O/Rio de Janeiro 1957 The quality of the players demands that this reference be included. ] 13...c5 14.ac1 g8 15.f3 c6 Play has developed naturally with Rogers steadfastly refusing to open the position on the Queenside and activating his pieces as much as he can. Black has pretty good counterplay based on plans such as ... Qe4, ... f6-f5-f4 and/or ... Bd6 so White takes action immediately. 16.d5! [ 16.fd1 e4 maintains the balance. ] 16...exd5 17.cxd5 xd5 18.fd1 It's not much of a pawn and in return, White has enlivened his game. There are ideas of Bxc5 and b4 in the offing and Black must defend very carefully. c6? [ Better defensive chances were offered by 18...e6 keeping an eye on h3 as well as p i n n i n g t h e B i s h o p o n e 3 e . g . 19.h1 ( 19.b5 xh3 20.e1 a6 ) 19...h6 20.b4 xe3 21.fxe3 e7 22.bxc5 xc5 ] 1765

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.b4 d6 20.bxc5 c7 21.d6! a4 22.d4 [ I think 22.c4! was very strong indeed. I think White is winning. The Rook on d6 has a charmed and very important life and the Black Queen is hunted from pillar to post: A) 22...a3 23.c2 ge8 24.c1 a5 25.d2 b5 ( 25...e2 26.a4 xd6 27.cxd6+ b8 28.xa5 xc2 29.xc2+- ) 26.a4+-; B) 22...a5 23.c2 e5 ( 23...xd6 24.cxd6+ b8 25.a4+- ) 24.xe5 fxe5 25.d2 a3 26.c3 a5 ( 26...b4 27.e3 b5 28.xe5 b8 29.a4 xd6 30.axb5 xe5 31.xh7 ) 27.b3 xd6 28.cxd6+ b8 29.c8++- ] 22...c6 23.d6 a4 24.c4 he came to the same conclusion! a5 25.dd4?! [ As mentioned 25.c2 is strongest. ] 25...e5 26.xe5 fxe5 27.h4 [ 27.xd8+ xd8 28.c6 is still straightforwardly better for White. ] 27...b5 28.c6 [ 28.f3! g7 29.c6 d5 30.f5+ b8 31.he4 bxc6 32.c5 d7 33.xd7 xd7 34.b4+ c8 35.xc6 ] 28...bxc6 29.f3 Tension or time-trouble clearly affects this game. d6 30.c2 [ 30.xa7 b1+ 31.f2 ( 31.h2 e4! ) 31...a5 ] 30...d5 31.f5+ b7 32.b4+ a8 33.xh7 [ 33.xh7 d1+ 34.h2 e4 ] 33...d1+ 34.h2 e4! Payback time. 35.f4 xg2+! An attractive move. With one brief stroke, Rogers sweeps the W hite position away:, 36.xg2 f3+ 37.h2 e2+ 38.g3 xe3+ 39.h4 d8+ 40.h5 d5 A game absolutely typical of the line with 5... gxf6. White must be better objectively but the position is tough to nail down and Black has plenty of activity. Rogers hung on past the critical moment and took his chance when it came. 0-1

1625 Hess,Ro Stripunsky,A ch-USA 2013 Saint Louis USA (8) [Tom Rendle]

B16 2595 2570 11.05.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 A favourite variation of Nigel Short, who has used it with some success as a way to unbalance the game and create winning chances as Black. In general White should be somewhat better in this structure but it certainly leads to interesting play. 6.g3 An unusual setup in this line but one that makes some sense - certainly it's a solid pawn structure against a rook on g8. The only downside is that Black may be able to open up the kingside with ...h5, ...h4 but if he doesn't find time for this then he may struggle for counterplay. [ 6.c3 is White's main choice here and it's seen many times in the archives, along with Be2 and Ne2. ] 6...d7 Already we're into pretty unfamiliar territory - a couple of other moves have been tried here for Black. [ 6...d5 aims to capitalise on White's last move but it's not too much on an inconvenience really 7.f3 A) 7...a6! is best here as the logical 8.g2 ( 8.e3 keeps a minimal edge, for example g4 9.g2 0-0-0 10.0-0 although now Black can conside r h5!? with reasonable chances) 8...e4+ 9.e2 ( the point is that 9.e3 b4 is rather awkward for White) 9...xe2+ 10.xe2 f5 11.c3 0-0-0 has allowed Black to comfortably equalise.; B) 7...f5 8.c4 e4+ 9.e3 e5!? led to interesting play in Szelag, M (2484)Pakleza, Z (2486) Chorzow 2013 although the complications favoured W hite after ( 9...a6 was a safer and probably a more sensible option.) 10.g2 b4+ 11.e2 d7 12.a3 exd4? ( 12...e7 was necessary, although White has the better chances still after 13.h4! g4+ 14.f3 h5 15.d5 and Black's pieces are rather uncoordinated) 13.xd4 xg2 14.xf5 B1) instead Black should've settled for 1766

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14...c5 although White retains a clear a d v a n t a g e a f t e r 15.g7+! e7 ( 15...f8 16.f5 and Black again has nothing better than e8 ) 16.f5+ e8 17.c2 xe3 18.xe3 h3 19.f5 xf5 20.xf5 and Black has a very unpleasant ending to defend; B2) 14...e5? 15.h4 e4 16.axb4 d8 17.c1 d3+ 18.e1 and Black didn't have enough for the piece. ] [ 6...f5 7.g2 e6 ( 7...d7 was probably better 8.f3 a6 9.0-0 with a minimal edge for W hite) 8.f3 e4?! 9.0-0 h5 10.e1 f5 11.c4 and Black was behind in development and struggling in Kleijn, C (2386) -Retera, J (2328) Netherlands 2009 ] 7.g2 b6 8.b3!? Quite an ambitious choice from Hess. Obviously one idea is to fianchetto the bishop on b2 but more importantly this move supports both a4 and c4, limiting the scope of the knight on b6. [ 8.f3 is another sensible way to continue and W hite has a typical slight advantage after g4 9.0-0 d7 10.a4! ] 8...f5 [ 8...h5! strikes me as the right way for Black to handle the position - playing 'normal' de ve lop ing mo ve s ju st le ad to a worse position for Black. Play might continue 9.f3 g4 10.h3 ( 10.0-0 h4 11.c4 d7 gives Black a dangerous initiative on the kingside. ) 10...xf3 11.xf3 h4 12.g4 d6 and Black has forced some concessions out of White on the kingside although White is p r o b a b l y s t i l l a b i t b e t t e r a f t e r 13.c4 wi t h c o n t r o l o f t h e c e n t r e a n d t h e t wo bishops. ] 9.c4 d7 10.a4 d8 11.a5! c8 12.a6 White softens up Black's queenside ensuring that Stripunsky will struggle to find a safe haven for his king. b6 [ 12...b5! gives Black more chance of counterplay, e.g. 13.e2 h5!? 14.h4 e5 and the position is something of a mess. Still W hite is better coordinated and probably has some edge after ( 14...bxc4 15.bxc4 d6!? was also worthy of a t t e n t io n .) 15.0-0! bxc4 16.bxc4 c5!? 17.d5 d6 18.b3 although Black has at least now managed to blockade the centre and is only slightly worse. ]

13.e2 h3 14.xh3 xh3 15.f4 d7 16.0-0 g7 The opening has been a definite success for White who has a space advantage in the centre and targets to attack on both sides of the board. 17.f3 [ 17.b2 seems very sensible to me Black's defensive task is rather uneviable here for example 0-0 18.d5! c5 ( 18...cxd5 19.xd5 and the knight is dominating the centre from d5.) 19.e1 and White has control of the whole board although Black is at least solid after d6 ] 17...0-0 18.d5 cxd5 19.xd5 f5 Necessary to bring the bisho p on g7 into the game . 20.a2 e6 21.b4 White has a simple plan here - create a passed pawn on the queenside and push it! Black needs to spend some time defending here but instead he goes in for some tactics that don't work out in his favour. [ 21.f4!? intending Nh5 is also better for White ] 21...d4? [ 21...e7 was necessary although White is clearly better after 22.d2 c7 23.dd1 with Bf4 coming ] 22.b7?! Logical and strong but not the most accurate [ after 22.c6! white should be winning d3 23.xd3 xd3 24.d2! this was probably the idea that the players had missed xb3 ( 24...xd2 25.xd2 and there's no defense to the simple plan of Rd1, Be3 (or f4) and Rd7. ) 25.d7 and with the a7 pawn dropping White's pawn on a6 gives White a decisive advantage in the endgame. ] 22...c3 23.c6 d3 24.a3 [ 24.b2 also wins, e.g. xb3 ( 24...c2? 25.xg7 xa2 26.xf8 ) 25.a3 and Black has no good way to defend the rook xc4 ( 25...c2 26.xg7 xg7 27.b4 ) 26.xg7 xg7 27.e5 ] 24...d4 25.b4! xc4 26.xd3 xd3 27.xd4 [ 27.xa7 was also strong but White had calculated the game move was winning as well ] 27...xd4 28.h6 d8 [ 28...e8 was a little more stubborn although W hite should win easily enough after 29.c1 d8 30.f4! and Black can barely move. e5 can be met by 31.xe5 ] 1767

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 29.c1! The knight is forced to move and the a7 pawn drops and Hess is left with an easily winning position that he wins without problems. d6 30.xa7 e4 31.e3 xb4 32.xb6 xb6 33.xb6 a8 34.a7 f6 35.d4 d5 36.b1 1-0

1626 B16 Kosteniuk,Alexandra 2511 Chua,Alexander J 2238 US Open Fort Lauderdale USA (8) 14.08.2004 [Andrew Martin] SIMPLICITY ITSELF 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.e2 Why not? A rare move but it cannot be too bad. probably W hite is just fiddling Nf3 and 0-0 will come anyway. f5 7.f3 e6 8.0-0 I told you so. d6?! It's important to do ta ke th e b 8-h2 diago na l in th is va ria tio n although Black usually does this via ....Qc7. The Bishop might prefer to go to g7. 9.c4 W h it e 's c rit ic a l b re a k will b e d 4 -d 5 . d7 10.d5! Perhaps this is why its superior to develop the Queen before the Bishop. Black needs to castle long and the sooner the better. cxd5 11.cxd5 e5 12.h6! [ 12.e3 is also very reasonable: g6 13.e1 0-0 14.h6 e8 15.h4 f5 16.g3 ( 16.xg6 hxg6 17.b3 c5 18.h3 e4= ) 16...f4 17.g4 fxg3 18.hxg3 f8 19.xf8 xf8 20.xd7 xd7 21.xe5 Hyldkrog, L-Varberg, K/Lyngby 1990 ] 12...g6 13.b3! A move which gives Black problems because it quickly becomes apparent that the Bishop on g6 is way out of play. Bb5 is coming and with it the exposure of the Black King. b8 [ 13...b6 14.b5 e7 15.e3 c5 16.ac1 xe3 17.fxe3 a6 18.d6+! d8 19.c4 ] [ 13...b8 14.b5 ] 14.fe1 b6 15.a4! c5 16.b5! xf2+ 17.h1 xe1 [ 17...f5 18.xe5! fxe5 ( 18...xe1 19.xd7 xd7 20.xd7+ d8 21.f5!+- ) 19.xe5+ d8 20.xf5+- ] 18.xd7+ e7 19.xe1 [ T h e r e ' s n o t h i n g w r o n g w i t h 19.xe1

either. ] 19...xb2 20.d6+! The point. Kosteniuk is lethal when it comes to attacking the King although it must be pointed out that some Kings are more vulnerable than others. xd6 21.d1+ e7 22.c1 b5 23.xa7 c2 24.xb5+ f8 25.h6+ She made that look rather easy and it's hardly an advert for 5... gxf6. Perhaps we can lay the blame early at the premature ....Bf8-d6. Then again perhaps Kosteniuk was just by far the better player. 1-0

1627 Mikhalchishin,Adrian Speelman,Jonathan S Frunze [Alexander Volzhin]

B16

1979

An excellent example of creative and dynamic chess. Such an approach is absolutely obligatory for Black players in this line. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.e2 h5!? [ The less precise 6...g4 was played in R. Maric - Krziznik, V uko var, 1 966 . W hit e managed to obtain a clear edge : 7.d3! h5 8.b3 b6 9.h3! xe2 10.xe2 d7 ( Of course, 10...xd4 11.c8+ d8 12.xb7 is bad for Black.) 11.h5 g7 ( It's too dangerous to grab the pawn: 11...xd4 12.0-0 e5 13.d1 with plenty of threats.) 12.0-0 ( 12.g4 This tempting move doesn't achieve it's goal in view of f8! after the forced 13.xg7 a5+ 14.c3 xh5 15.xh8 g6 16.h4 0-0-0 17.h5 e4+ 18.e3 e6 19.xd8+ xd8 Black is by no means badly off.) 12...f8 13.e3 b5 14.b3 e6 15.c4 a5 16.d5! After this energetic breakthrough Black is in trouble. f5 ( 16...cxd5 is no better in view of 17.b4! xb4 18.cxd5 ) 17.b4 xb4 18.ab1 and Black's position is hardly defensible. ] 7.h4 [ 7.f4 This somewhat sophisticated move was tried in Baturinsky - Simagin, Moscow 1946. Soviet GM Vladimir Simagin contributed much to the theory of this line and played a lot of excellent games with it. 1768

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B l a c k n o w o u t p la ys h i s o p p o n e n t ve r y convincingly: f5 8.g3 g6 9.h4 d7 10.e2 e5! Exploiting the drawbacks of W hite's set-up. 11.dxe5 ( 11.e3 a5+ 12.c3 0-0-0 is also very good for Black.) 11...fxe5 12.g5 a5+ 13.c3 f6 14.e3 0-0-0 15.b4 c7 16.xh5 xh5 17.xh5 f5! 18.g5 f6! 19.xd8+?! A p a n i c m o v e . ( 19.f3 was better, a l t h o u g h a f t e r xh5 20.xd8 xd8 21.xf5+ d7 22.xd7+ xd7 t h e e n d g a m e i s v e r y g o o d f o r B l a c k .) 19...xd8 20.xf6 d3! Obviously White hadn't foreseen this move. 21.h3 e4+ 22.e3 xg2 23.xh8 g1+ 24.e2 xa1 and in a few moves Black won. ] 7...g4 8.d3 e5!? 9.e3 a6 10.a3 This careless move allows Black to seize the initiative. [ 10.c3 was obligatory, with mutual chances. ] 10...a5+! 11.d2 b6 12.dxe5 c5 13.e3 0-0-0! Now it's obvious that Black has outplayed his opponent. All his forces are actively developed, while all White's pieces are miserably placed. 14.b4 [ White's problems would not be solved by 14.0-0-0 i n v i e w o f h6 15.f4 fxe5 16.xe5 he8 and White is in trouble: 17.f6 e6 winning a piece. ] 14...h6! 15.f4 xd2! Continuing the series of brilliant blows. 16.xd2 [ After 16.xd2 Black wins the Queen by force: d8+ 17.e1 d3+ 18.xd3 xd3 19.cxd3 e3 and although White has two Rooks for the Queen he can't off er any substantial resistance, as all his forces are totally uncoordinated. ] [ 16.bxc5 is no real improvement in view of b2! ] 16...e4 17.d4 xd4 18.xd4 xf4 Black's attack is very strong even after the Queen swap. 19.f3 g3 This move is good enough to win, but [ 19...g3+! 20.e2 xe5 won on the spot. ] 20.h3 xh3 21.gxh3 xf1 22.xf1 fxe5 23.g5 g8 24.xf7 e4 25.g5 xg5 26.hxg5 xg5 After wild complications the players find themselves in a quiet rook ending which is easily won for Black. Besides a clear

extra pawn Black's Rook is more active, while all W hite's pawns are weak. Speelman converts his advantage into the whole point very convincingly. 27.e1 g3 28.xe4 xh3 29.e2 xa3 Black has two extra pawns already. The rest need no comment. 30.h4 a4 31.d3 b6 32.c3 a5 33.c4 axb4 34.b3 a5 35.xb4 g5 36.c4 b7 37.f4 g4 38.f7+ a6 39.b3 g3+ 40.b4 c5+ 41.a4 c3 42.f4 xc4+ 0-1

1628 Popov,Iv RUS Kabanov,N Moscow Open A 2014 (7.5) [Tom Rendle]

B16 2653 2501 07.02.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.c3 [ 6.g3 6.c3 is the main move but this worked well in Hess-Stripunksky which I annotated last year ] 6...h5!? A favourite move of Short's, this system makes a lot of sense when playing for a win with Black. Does it make as much sense when you're playing someone 150 points h i g h e r r a t e d ? W e l l , l e t ' s s e e ! 7.c4! This is probably the critical response, giving White the option of an early Qb3 to hit f7. [ 7.e3 h4 8.b3 was tried the last time 6... h5 was covered on ChessPub but I don't think it's the right way to play for W hite, B e 3 i s n ' t r e a l l y n e e d e d ye t ! F o r m o r e analysis on this position see AlekseevShort analysed by Gawain. ] [ 7.h4?! plays into Black's hands somewhat, after d5 8.f3 xf3 9.xf3 f5 10.e3 e6 11.0-0-0 d7 Black had comfortably equalised in Bulski, K (2549)-Pakleza, Z (2486) Chorzow 2013 ] [ 7.f4 d7 ( 7...d5!? looks very logical here as suddenly what is the bishop on f4 doing? Black is close to equal after 8.f3 e4+ 9.e3 g8 and has plenty of play on the kingside) 8.f3 h4 9.h3 b6 10.c4 f5 11.b3 h6 12.xh6 xh6 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 and White had a safe slight edge in Grover, S (2485)-Short, N (2682) 1769

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Ekurhuleni 2011 ] 7...d7 8.b3! e6 [ 8...h7?! is about as good as it looks here to be honest, after 9.e2 b6 10.d3 h8 11.0-0 White was already much better and I've included the rest of the game since it didn't last too much longer! e6 12.c4 d7 13.a4 g8 14.f4? ( 14.e1 keeps a clear edge ) 14...h4? ( 14...xd4! 15.xe6 xg2+! f o r c e s a d r a w 16.xg2 g4+ 17.h1 f3+ 18.g1 g4+ 19.h1 f3+ ) 15.e1 h3 16.f1 f5 17.a5 c8 18.c5 e6 19.a6 b6 20.d5! xc5 21.dxc6 c7? ( 21...d6 was the only chance but Black is in a lot of trouble after 22.b5 ) 22.d5 xc6 and Black resigned without waiting for 23.Bb5 in Coelho, L (2392)Pelikian, J (2407) Brasilia 2003 ] 9.c2!? A slightly odd decision from Popov, moving his queen for a second time so early on but t he ide a is to le ave sp ace f or th e bishop on c4 to drop back as it wants to stay on the a2-g8 diagonal. [ 9.f3 should be enough for a slight edge but Black is also happy enough after b6 10.e2 g8 11.0-0 e5!? with dynamical play for Black - for example 12.dxe5 fxe5 13.xe5?! f6 14.f4 c5+ 15.h1 e6 16.c4 g7 17.f3 0-0-0 and Black has excellent compensation for the pawn ] 9...b6 10.b3 c5! This turns out to be almost enough for equality but Black still has to be very careful here 11.dxc5 xc5 12.f4 e5?! A risky decision - this does gain time and allow the bishop on c8 more activity but on the other hand it severely weakens f5 and d5, the former in particular causing Black further problems in the middlegame [ was much safer when Black has an OK game after 12...d7 13.f3 e7 14.0-0 0-0-0 and now maybe Black can consider ... e5 ] 13.e3 xe3 14.fxe3 d6 Another slight inaccuracy - the queen was better placed on e7 where it can't be hit by Rd1 with gain of time [ perhaps after 14...e7 Black was worried by 15.0-0-0 but here a5! 16.a4 d7 17.f3 0-0-0 gives him quite a reasonable game ] 15.f3 h4 Not a move Black really wants to

play he re I t h in k b u t K ab a no v wa nt e d t o prevent Nh4-f5 16.d1 c6 17.0-0 h3? A serious mistake which leaves Black pretty much lost [ 17...e6 was necessary here when Black is only a bit worse, f or example 18.xe6 xe6 19.e4 h3! 20.g3 c4!? 21.b3 d6 22.a4+ e7 and Black at least has counterplay here ] 18.xf7+! e7 [ 18...xf7? 19.xe5+ wins ] 19.g6 hxg2 20.f2 d8 21.xd8?! [ 21.d4!! exd4 22.h7 and Black can already resign ] 21...xd8 22.h4 d7 23.h5 The h-pawn will decide things in White's favour c7 24.h6 d5 25.xd5 xd5 26.xf6 d1+ 27.xg2 g8+ 28.h2 b1 29.d2 White is two pawns up with a 3rd falling and Black's attack isn't really going anywhere on the kingside. 1-0

1629 Riemersma,Liafbern Pieterse,Gert Netherlands [Alexander Volzhin]

B16 2395 2290 1987

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.c3 f5 7.f3 e6 8.g3 h5 9.g2 This natural move looks more to the point than 9.Qe2. e4 10.0-0 e7 [ 10...f5 11.b3 was played in Gelfand Pieterse, Amsterdam, 1988. Although White won this game, he got absolutely nothing from the opening: b6 12.e5 xg2 13.xg2 d7 14.c4 a6 15.f4 b6 16.e3 h6 17.xh6 xh6 18.c4 f4 19.gxf4 0-0-0 20.ad1 f6 21.d2 xf4 with excellent prospects for Black due to the exposed position of White's King. ] 11.e1 f5 12.f1 c5! 13.e3 c6 14.b5 h4 15.d2 hxg3 16.fxg3 b6 17.a4 0-0-0 18.c4 Missing Black's idea, but, in his defence, it wasn't easy to foresee what Black had in mind! [ 18.xe4 should be preferred , when after fxe4 19.xc6 bxc6 20.dxc5 xc5 21.xe4 d2 22.h4 a very sharp (and probably 1770

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 equal!) position could arise. ] 18...c7 19.f4 xf4!! 20.gxf4 dg8+ 21.f1 xh2 White has a queen for one minor piece and it's his turn to move, but it's not ea sy to f ind eve n equ ality! 22.d6+?! After this move White finds himself in a very unpleasant situation. Let's consider some other possibilities: [ 22.e2 This move is also insufficient: h1+ 23.f2 h4+ 24.e3 cxd4+ 25.d2 ( 25.cxd4? h3+ 26.d2 d3+ , and Black wins.) 25...dxc3+ 26.xc3 g3+ 27.e3 xa1 and Black has enough material and a very strong attack ] [ It was obligatory to capture Black's riotous Bishop immediately: 22.xe4! fxe4 23.xc6 h1+ 24.f2 h2+ 25.f1 h1+ , and White can't play 26.e2?? in view of g2+ 27.e3 h3+ 28.xe4 e2+ 29.e3 exe3# ] 22...xd6 23.xe4 fxe4 24.e1 The only move. [ 24.xc6 loses on the spot in view of e3! 25.xb7+ d8 with unavoidable mate. ] 24...e7! [ Black could take an immediate draw: 24...gg2 25.xc6 f2+ 26.g1 hg2+ but he prefers to continue the attack. Absolutely the correct decision! ] 25.e2 h1+ 26.f2 cxd4 27.cxd4 h2+ Probably Black was in time-trouble and that's why he decided to take the draw by perpetual. [ 27...h3! Now 28...Bh4 29.Kf1 Rh1 is threatened and W hite is helpless: 28.e1 ( Other moves don't help White either: 28.f1 h4 and White is in trouble: 29.f2 xf2 30.xf2 h2+ 31.f1 e3; 28.xe4 h2+ 29.f3 hg2! , and White can't parry the mating threats, f or example : 30.e2 8g3+ 31.e4 f5# ) 28...g1+ 29.f2 gh1! ( 29...g4 is not bad either) 30.xe4 h4+ 31.e2 and here Black has a p l e a s a n t c h o i c e b e t we e n b1 ( and 31...e1+ 32.d2 xe4 ) 32.d2 xb2+ 33.c1 b4 34.d1 xb5 with excellent winning chances in both cases. ] 28.f1 h1+ 29.f2 h2+?! 30.f1 h1+ ½-½

1630 Rodriguez Cespedes,Amador Pieterse,Gert Dieren [Alexander Volzhin]

B16 2515 2360 1987

Now let's see a successf ul example f rom White's point of view. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.e2 f5 7.g3 g6 8.h4 h5 9.e2 d7 10.c3 a5 11.a4! An important improvement. W hite simply prepares a pawn advance on the Queenside, because sooner or later Black will probably castle there. [ It's not so good to win a pawn immediately: 11.b4 c7 12.xh5 xh5 13.xh5 a5! and Black has sufficient counterplay, as the game Boskovic - Rohde, USA 1979 showed. 14.g4 axb4 15.cxb4 f5!? 16.e2 ( 16.xf5 e6 17.c2 xb4+ with ample com pen sat io n) 16...d6 17.b3 b6 18.b2 a4! 19.d1 xb2 20.xb2 g7 Now Black is clearly better as he will win back the d4-pawn. 21.a3 d8 22.c2 e6 23.h3 xd4 24.h5 f4 The rest of the game is a very instructive example of how to co n d u ct a n a t t a ck in a p o sit io n wit h opposite-coloured Bishops. 25.f3 e5 26.d2 e4 27.d1 g8 28.g3 e5 29.e2 c3+ 30.f1 d4 31.e1 xe1 32.xe1 f4 33.h4 xg3 34.fxg3 g1+ 35.e2 f3# ] 11...0-0-0 [ Immediate counterplay in the centre without castling looks premature: 11...e5 12.b4 d5 13.0-0! exd4 14.cxd4 White is threatening b4- b5 and grabbing the pa wn is risky in view o f xb4 15.f3 with a growing initiative. ] 12.b4 c7 13.a5! e5 [ Moves like 13...a6 don't stop White's attack. Moreover, they unnecessarily create a new target, for example: 14.0-0 e6 15.b3 intending c4 and b5 opening lines near the Black King. ] 14.a6! Now Black's King feels very uncomfortable. b6 15.0-0 d6 [ Accepting the pawn sacrifice gives White a strong initiative: 15...exd4 16.cxd4 xb4 17.e3 with the idea of Rc1 and Bf3 attacking the weak c6-pawn. ] 1771

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.d3! The correct plan. White intends Qf3 and Nf5 occupying all the key squares. Now Black decides to grab the pawn, but after the opening of the c-file White's attack will be too strong. exd4 17.cxd4 xb4 [ Grabbing another pawn loses by force: 17...xg3? 18.fxg3 xg3 19.xg6 fxg6 ( or 19...xg6 20.f3 c2 21.f4 a n d t h e re i s n o d e f e n c e a g a in s t R c 1 .) 20.f4 g4 21.c1! and Black's position is hopeless: c5 22.dxc5 xd1 ( 22...bxc5 23.d5 ) 23.cxb6+ xc1 24.xc1+ c5 25.b7+ d7 26.d1+ c6 27.xd8 xd8 28.bxc5 ] 18.e3! Simple and good. Now White's plan is Rc1, Qf3 etc. b8 [ 18...e5 doesn't help Black either in view of 19.xg6 xg6 20.a4 intending Rac1. ] 19.c1 a3!? 20.c2 e5 21.xg6 xg6 [ 21...fxg6? 22.a1! and White wins a piece. ] 22.f3! d5 [ 22...xh4 23.e4 with the idea of Rc6 ] 23.e4 e7 24.fc1! White has achieved everything he wanted. After the loss of the c6pa wn , B la c k will b e u n a b le t o re sist a n y further. xh4 [ 24...c8 is no improvement in view of 25.xf6! xf6 26.xc6 with a huge material advantage. ] 25.h3 g6 26.xc6 d7 27.g3+ a8 28.c7 e6 29.1c6 [ Black resigned in view of the following variation: 29.1c6 f5 30.xa7+! xa7 31.c7+ mating. ] 1-0

17.e2 A.Rodriguez-Hickl Dubai Ol 1986 ] [ 7...c7 8.g3 e6 9.g2 d7 10.e2 0-0-0 11.h4 g6 12.0-0 d6 13.d1 he8 14.a4 f5 15.b4 e5 16.d5 c5 Nielsen-Tseitlin Hastings 1994/5 ] 8.g3! A stern test of Black's opening system. White shuts down the g file and develops his Kingside very harmoniously as a prelude to a g e n e r a l q u e e n s i d e p a w n a d v a n c e . b6 9.g2 d7 10.0-0 h3 It is both necessary and desirable to exchange off W hite's powerful fianchettoed Bishop. 11.xh3 xh3 12.a4 h5?! An attack which has little chance of success set against W hite's obviously superior development. [ 12...h5 13.a5 c4 14.b3 d6 15.c4 looks risky for Black, but Korchnoi somehow manages to get to a playable position: e6 16.a3 ( 16.c5 b5 17.a6 b6 18.cxb6 axb6 19.d3 d5; 16.a6 b6 17.f4 f5 18.e1 0-0-0 19.e2 b4 20.e4 e7 21.ed1 ) 16...d8 17.a6 b6 18.e2 e7 19.fe1 0-0 Shouldn't be too surprising. Black must get his Rooks together and the sooner the better! 20.b2 fe8 21.g2 f8 22.h3 f5 23.e5! xe2 24.xe2 c8 25.f3 ed8 26.g4 g7 27.f1 Popovic, PKortchnoi, V/Titograd 1984 Barely playable perhaps. ] 13.a5 d5N [ 13...c8? Morozevitch changed his style in recent years! 14.a6 b6 15.d5! c5 16.e1 d7 17.h4! Boring in on the light squares and emphasizing W hite's harmonious de ve lo p me n t . B la ck ca nn o t ge t h is a c t together. g4 18.c2 d7 19.f4 h6 20.g6 g8 21.xe7 xe7 22.d6 1-0 Campora, D-Morozevich, A/Moscow 1631 B16 1994 An absolute rout! ] Sherzer,Alex 2490 14.b3 0-0-0 15.a6 b6 16.c4 Black has Filipovich,David 2225 dif f icu lt ie s. W h ite 's a tt a ck ru n s o n o ile d 34th NCC Philadelphia (2) 2003 wheels while even if Black gets to play ......h5h4xg3, mate is along way off. c7 17.d5 c5 [Andrew Martin] [ 17...cxd5 18.c5! takes a can opener to Black's King. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.c3 f5 7.f3 d7 18.f4 e5 [ There's no real attack after 18...h4 : Maybe this is the point at which Black must 19.a4 e5 ( 19...hxg3 only postpones the start the search for improvements: need to think about Qc6: 20.xc7! gxh2+ [ 7...e6 8.g3 d5 9.g2 c4 10.e3 d7 21.xh2! g8+ 22.g3 xg3+ 23.fxg3 11.h4 g6 12.xg6 hxg6 13.d2 d8 xg3+ 24.h1+- ) 20.dxe6 xe6 21.fe1 14.b3 b5 15.c4 b4 16.xb4 xb4+ 1772

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d7 22.xd7+ xd7 23.xc7 xc7 24.xh4 ] 19.dxe6 fxe6 20.ad1 Centralization will do nicely thanks. e7 21.a4 with the simple threat of Qc6. xd1 22.xd1 d8 23.xd8+ xd8 24.c6 Taking the Rooks off only partially reduced the pressure. Compare theinfluence of the Queens and you will see why Black has almost insuperable problems. f5 25.b7+ d7 26.xc7 xc7 27.g2! He will take on a7 . e5 28.xa7 e4 29.h4 e5 30.b7 e3 31.a7 xb2 32.d5+ d6 33.f5+ The system of play with 6 c3 and 8 g3 poses Black a problem. I have suggested alternatives in the notes but with no real conviction. I think that W hite's position is inherently more solid and thus more promising long-term. Black needs reinforcements here. 1-0

1632 Spassky,Boris V Larsen,Bent Clarin Buenos Aires (7) [Andrew Martin]

B16 2640 2620 1979

OLD GOLD It is obvious that a lot can be learned from any real game between two exceptional players. We return this week to Buenos Aires in 1979 . Larsen had recently been defeated by Spassky the previous year ( Bugojno) using the Caro-Kann. Perhaps it is overstressing the point to say that he was thirsting for revenge, but Larsen feared noone. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 [ L a r s e n t r i e d 4...f5 in the previous encounter mentioned above. ] 5.xf6+ gxf6!? Out of fashion at the moment but this is a variation I endorse! Maybe at the very top level technique is so good that White can sidestep all the complications, but at any level below Black can often get a very good attack. What are the main ideas behind 5... gxf6? 1) Black fractures his pawn structure in return for open lines. He can use the g file for attack. 2) Black can place his pieces actively. A typical deployment would be ...Bf5, ...e6, ... Nd7, ...Qc7, ... Bd6, ..0-0-0 and then look for chances either on the kingside (with ...h7-h5)

or in the centre (with ...e6-e5 or ...c6-c5). 3) Black has an extra central pawn and can often force through ...e7-e5 or ..e6-e5 in the early middlegame. 4) Black demonstrates from a very early stage that he is not thinking only about equality. This is winning chess st r a t e g y. T h e o p p o n e n t is p la ce d u n d e r p r e s s u r e f r o m t h e o u t s e t . 6.e2 As a u niversal pla ye r, o ne wh o p lays a ll positions well, Spassky avoids any critical opening discussion and just plays a sensible move. f5 7.f3 c7 8.0-0 e6 9.c4 9 c4 is co n se qu e n t . W h it e t a ke s a d d e d control of the centre and looks to play d4-d5! d7 The aforementioned piece placement comes to pass. [ 9...d6 is less precise: 10.d5! c5 11.h4! An excellent move, highlighting how necessary it is that Black should castle! xh2+ ( 11...g6 12.f4! ) 12.h1 g6 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.g4 f5 15.xf5! exf5 16.e1+ e5 17.f4 Matanovic-Flesch match Yug-Hun 1964 d7 18.xe5 xe5 19.d5 ] 10.d5 [ After 10.d2 d6 11.h1 g8! B l a c k h a d g o o d p l a y : 12.c5 e7 ( 12...f4!? 13.c1 g4 14.xf4 xf4 15.b4 e4 ) 13.c1 e4 14.f4 a5 15.g3 h5 16.g1 f5 Kaplan, J-Larsen, B/ San Antonio 1972 ] 10...0-0-0 [ There is no need to block the centre just yet indeed so doing allows White a strong passed pawn: 10...c5?! 11.h4 g6 12.f4 0-0-0 13.f5! exf5 14.xf5 xf5 15.xf5 Black is already in a mess. d6 16.h3 dg8 17.f1 g3 18.f4! Exchanging pieces emphasizes W hite's better pawn structure and thus his superior endgame chances. xf4 19.xf4 h5 20.f3 hg8 21.xg3 xg3 22.f3 g5 23.f1 f5 24.f2 h4 25.xf5 e3 26.g4 xg4 1-0 Swinkels, J-London, F/ Antwerp 2003 ] 11.e3 [ Larsen clearly gained a lot of confidence from this encounter and here he is the next ye a r in a ct i o n a ga i n st K a va le k : 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.e3 c5 13.c1 hg8 14.d1 b6 This would be a typical trade-off for the variation. Black's active pieces compensate 1773

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f o r h i s p o o r p a w n s t r u c t u r e . 15.xc5 ( 15.c3 e5 16.ac1 b8 ) 15...xc5 16.e3 e5! 17.h4 ( 17.xd8+ xd8 18.d1 xd1+ 19.xd1 d3 20.c2 g6 21.xd3 xe3 22.fxe3 xd3= ) 17...c2 18.dc1 e4 19.b3 f5 20.d1 e6 21.f3 xe3 22.fxe3 xf3 23.xf3 f6 24.h4 f4 25.f5 c7 Kavalek, L-Larsen, B/ Solingen 1970 Black's slight endgame advantage lies in his more active King and command of the open files. Note that Black has two active Rooks to White's one! Small things, but the Grandmaster can work with them. ] [ And not 11.d4 g6 12.dxe6 e5! when Black is very active. ] 11...c5 12.b4 Spassky tries to open up lines towards the Black king. Larsen ignores him and gets on with his own play. This is a very important principle for the average player to take on board: ONLY WORRY ABOUT THE OPPONENTS PLAY W HEN YOU REALLY HAVE TO! g8! 13.bxc5 xc5 14.d4 h3 15.g3 Spassky sacrifices the exchange, seeing no real future in [ 15.f3 e5 He hopes that he will gain enough compensation from Black's open King. Larsen's response is most instructive, pressing on above all with his own attack. ] 15...xf1 Why not? 16.xf1 e5! Very specific. Black can deal with 17 Nb5. 17.b1 [ And here's how: 17.b5 b6 18.xc5 xc5 19.b1 b8 20.b3 d7 ] 17...g4 18.c1 h5! Any delay would allow White time to organise his own offensive. Note the consistency of Black's play. 19.b3 h4 20.a3 hxg3 21.hxg3 f5 The next wave he a d s t o wa rd s t h e W h it e K in g. S p a ssky struggles manfully to create threats. 22.xc5 xc5 23.b5 d6 24.b3 f4!! Respect to the opponent is due at all times. But it's my impression that the average player worries far too much about what the other fellow is doing. Look to be active and aggressive at all times. Concern yourself with direct threats and if you cannot see any, press on with your own play! 25.xb7 fxg3 26.xa7 gxf2+ 27.g2 h2+ It's hard to see White surviving. He doesn't! 28.f3 h1+ 29.g3 [ 29.e2 e4+-+ 30.d2 xd4+ 31.c1

xa7 ] 29...f6+ [ Time trouble robs Larsen of the easy finish: 29...h2+ 30.f4 g4+ 31.e3 xf1+-+ The clock could be the only reason that Spassky plays on. ] 30.xf2 h4+ 31.e2 e4+ 32.e3 xe3+ 33.xe3 g3+! 34.d2 [ 34.f2 e4+ ] 34...exd5 35.f5 b8! Preventing Ne7+ and Nc6. 36.xf7 dxc4+ 37.c2 f3! The end of any illusion that White could have entertained about saving the game. 38.g3 f2+ 39.e2 g8 An unusually uncompromising game, which reminds us how important a role self-confidence plays in chess. 0-1

1633 Valverde,Andres Blasberg,Gabriel S corr. [Alexander Volzhin]

B16 2305 2500 1997

The fianchetto system is one of the most unpleasant lines for Black in the Bronstein Larsen Variation. I believe it is the system which more than any other is discouraging B l a c k p l a y e r s f r o m 5 . . . g xf 6 . A l e x a n d e r Morozevich suffered a severe defeat in his game vs. Campora. However Gabriel Blasberg, the old adherent of this line, disagrees and has sent me some of his games which are worthy of consideration. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.c3 f5 7.f3 e6 [ 7...d7 8.g3 b6 was Morozevich's choice, but he very quickly found himself in trouble. ] 8.g3 h5!? 9.e2 [ 9.g2 is more popular, and we'll consider t h i s m o ve i n R i e m e r s m a - P i e t e r s e a n d Bennett-Blasberg. The idea behind the text is to preve nt th e e merge nce of B lac k's Bishop on the e4-square. ] 9...g4! 10.h3 Forced, as [ 10.g2?! h4 is very good for Black. ] 10...xf3 11.xf3 d5! After the queen swap Black has little to worry about. So we 1774

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 can conclude that in this game Black solved his opening problems very easily. 12.xd5 [ 12.e2 This move was tried in Kuijpers Pieterse, Hilversum, 1988, but it gave White nothing as well: d7 13.f4 f5 14.0-0 xf3 15.xf3 h6! 16.c7 c8 17.d6 f8! White can't avoid the exchange of dark squared Bishops and decides to take a draw by repetition. 18.f4 h6 19.d6 f8 20.f4 h6 and a draw was agreed. ] [ Of course, it's bad to grab the pawn: 12.xf6?? in view of e4+! 13.e3 h6! and Black wins a piece: 14.e5 xh1 15.xh6 xh6 ] 12...cxd5 13.h4 h6! 14.f4?! White decides to keep dark-squared Bishops on, but now his own Bishop looks ugly. Besides this move weakens the important central square e4 and the g3-pawn. I would pref er to exchange Bishops with a safe and balanced position. f5 15.e2 f8 16.0-0 d7 17.e3 0-0-0 18.b3 f6 Now White should come to regret his 14th move. 19.c4 e4 20.h2 dxc4 21.xc4 b8 22.ac1 g8 23.g1 f6 24.e2 g4+ 25.xg4 xg4 Black is definitely better, but a draw is the most likely outcome of the game. 26.g2 d5 27.a4 g8 28.c4 e7 29.f3 f6 30.d1 d8 31.c5 d7 32.b4 b6 33.c4 a6 34.a5 a7 35.b1 gd8 36.b5 Good defence: after the exchange of queenside pawns White is o u t o f da n ge r. axb5 37.xb5 xd4 This leads to an immediate draw. [ B l a c k c o u l d t r y 37...d5 38.cb4 ( 38.xd5 xd5 39.a4 c7 ) 38...xb5 39.xb5 c7 and Black sti ll keeps a tiny edge, although White should certainly hold the position. ] 38.xd4 xd4 39.xd4 xd4 40.a6 d7 41.b3 a7 42.axb7 xb7 43.d3 ½-½

1634 Adams,Michael Short,Nigel D 2nd London Chess Classic (3) [Gawain Jones]

B17 2723 2680 10.12.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 g6!? An obscure side

line but one which a few strong players have tried. It certainly worked well in the present scenario. White must play actively or Black will have no problems. 7.1f3 [ 7.c4 is important to check but d5 seems to be fine for Black. A high rated encounter continued: 8.1f3 g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.b3 a5 11.a4 b6 12.e1 b7 13.e4 1/2-1/2 Fedorchuk, S (2643)Predojevic, B (2654) Sibenik 2009 was very comfortable. ] [ The immediate 7.h4 is also important but it looks like Black holds on. g7 8.h5 xh5 ( 8...h6!? 9.xf7 xf7 10.hxg6+ e8 11.f3 f8 12.c3 d5 was very complicated. The computer favours White but he has no killer breakthrough and he has to play very accurately to prevent Black starting to consolidate his extra piece. Safin, S (2510)-Finkel, A (2470) Dieren 1997.) 9.xh5 gxh5 10.xh5 a5+ 11.d2 d5 12.e4 c4 13.d3 d5 14.e4 ( 14.c4 f6 repels White's attack.) 14...c4 15.d3 d5 16.e4 c4 1/2-1/2 Ibarra Jerez, J (2496)-Fluvia Poyatos, J (2500) Barcelona 2008. ] 7...g7 8.0-0 [ 8.e2 0-0 A) Another aggressive thrust with 9.h4 was examined by Jonathan previously. h6 10.h5! gxh5 A1) S t o h l c o n s i d e r e d 11.h3 to be a clear advantage for White but in this computer era we can see Black is fine. c5 12.f4 cxd4 13.xh5 xh5 14.xh5 f6 15.h4 ( 15.xh6 c a n b e m e t b y e5! 16.xe5 e8 and Black picks up material.) 15...g4 with a double edged position is given by Rowson.; A2) 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 f6 13.f4 d6 14.e5 c5 was messy but B l a c k e ve n t u a ll y t ri u m p h e d . C h e c k Mkrtchian, L (2468)-Dizdarevic, E (2492) Solin 2006.; B) 9.e5 b6 was tried recently but allowing White's knight to sit unopposed o n e 5 l o o k s s u s p i c i o u s . ( 9...h6!? is suggested by Jonathan when 10.gf3 c5 seems to be ok for Black.; I imagine Nigel was planning on playing 9...xe5 1775

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 as in the game. 10.dxe5 d5 11.0-0 Krivec, J (2345)-Orel, S (2016) Kozje 2008 when h6 12.f3 g4 looks satisfactory as 13.e6 f5! and the e6 pawn is rather vulnerable.) 10.c3 h6 11.gf3 bd5 12.d2 h5 13.g3 h3 14.g1 c8 15.c4 df6 16.0-0-0 g4 17.h4 hf6 18.hxg6! xe5 19.xe7+ 1-0 Hejazipour, M (2239)-Tanacs, A (2070) Porto Carras 2010 indicated the potential problems that Black could face. ] 8...0-0 9.e5 [ This variation was also essayed in the Women's World Championship. There the World Champion tried 9.e2 h6 A) 10.e6 is an interesting piece s a c r i f i c e . fxe6 11.xe6+ f7!? ( Black declines to try and absorb the pressure after 11...h7 12.h4 b6 13.b3 and instead gives back the material. ) 12.xg6 e8 13.e1 f8 14.xf7+ xf7 15.xf7+ xf7 16.e5+ g8 17.c3 f5 Valerga, D (2470)Nikolaidis, I (2518) Turin 2006, with an unclear middlegame in prospect. W hite has a slight material advantage but he has to be careful not to allow Black's minor pieces to coordinat e. In this instance Black prevailed.; B) 10.xf7!? looks unplayed but is the computer's top suggestion. Following xf7 ( 10...xf7 11.e1 is likely to be pretty similar. ) 11.xg6 f8 we have an unclear position. White has only two pawns for the piece but Black's king is rather vulnerable and he will struggle to develop his queenside. Certainly an interesting po s it io n to p la y. A se n sib le se rie s o f m o v e s m i gh t b e ( 11...f8!? 12.xf7+ xf7 This position is evaluated as clear advantage to W hite by the machine but the two pieces for rook and two pawns doesn't look so clear to me.) 12.c4 b6 13.h3 d7 14.b3 e8 15.c2 h5 16.g4 f7 17.f4 and I quite like White's prospects as the c4, d4 pawn wedge really causes him to suffer.; C) 10.e4 xe4 11.xe4 c5! 12.c4 when rather than e6 Hou Yifan (2591)Rua n L uf ei (24 80 ) A nt akya 2 01 0, th e s im p le s t p a t h t o e qu a lit y l o o k s t o b e

( 12...b6 as was seen in the following correspondence game. 13.dxc5 xc4 14.xc4 e6 15.h4 g5 16.b4 d7 17.e1 a5 18.e4 fd8 19.c3 ac8 20.e3 f5 21.c4 b6 22.d4 bxc5 23.xg7 xg7 24.e2 e6 25.b5 d6 26.e2 e6 27.b5 d6 28.e2 e6 1/2-1/2 Janosi, E (2226)-Delgado, R (2058) LSS email 2009. )] [ 9.c3 h6 10.xf7! saw a similar idea to 10. Nxf7 in the previous note. This theme looks critical to Black's play. A) 10...xf7 11.e1 g5 looks very risky. I think White does well following ( 11...e6 12.c2 wins at least one more pawn.) 12.e2 g8 13.xg5! hxg5 14.e6+ h8 15.h3+ g8 16.xg5! ( 16.e6+ would be a draw.) 16...b6 17.h7+ h8 18.f5+ g8 19.e6+ xe6 20.xe6+ h8 21.e4! and White wins material.; B) 10...xf7 11.xg6 f8 12.c2 c5?! ( It was essential to develop his queenside pieces so 12...b6 should be preferred but W hite still has strong pressure after 13.e5 ) 13.b3+! f7 ( 13...h8 14.h4! also wins material.) 14.e5 xe5 15.dxe5 xd1 16.xd1 h7 17.d8+ f8 18.f4 and White had a great position. Alsina Leal, D (2547) -Fluvia Poyatos, J (2467) Sabadell 2010. ] 9...xe5 10.dxe5 d5 11.e6!? W hite probably doesn't achieve full compensation for the pawn but both players were of the opin ion that otherwise Blac k would take the initiative as the e5 pawn can prove rather vulnerable. [ 11.e2 h6 12.f3 g4 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 e6 allows Black to put pressure on the e5 pawn. I reckon the position is probably level. ] 11...xe6 12.xe6 fxe6 13.c3 White has definite compensation thanks to Black's weak e6, somewhat weak king and White's bishop pair. Therefore White's previous enabled him to keep the light squared bishop. However Black also has counterplay down the f file and I see no reason he should be worse. [ 13.g4 was played in the only previous game. d6 14.e1 e5 ( 14...f7!? 15.xe6 c5 and the pressure on f2 gives Black the upper hand.) 15.g5 f6 1776

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.c4+ h8 17.e6 d5 18.g4 Korneev, O (2657) -Mateo, R (2415) Granada 2006 when c5! 19.h4 f6 20.xf6+ exf6 would have given Black a clear extra pawn. ] 13...d6 14.c2 b5! Nigel locks his knight in on the central d5 square while also grabbing space on the queenside. 15.a3 a5 16.h4!? Mickey senses that he must try to open up Nigel's king, otherwise there wasn't much point behind the e6 pawn sacrifice. [ Putting pressure on the e file with 16.e2 was also possible but Black must be careful. ab8 17.e1?! ( 17.g3 waiting should be preferred.) 17...b4! 18.axb4 axb4 19.c4 d4! and suddenly White would be in trouble. ] 16...ad8 17.g4 b4! Breaking through on the queenside and opening up the long diagonal. 18.axb4 axb4 19.cxb4 [ 19.c4?! f4 20.e3 d4 followed by ...e5 would allow Black to consolidate his extra pawn. ] 19...b8 20.a4 xb4 21.e4 [ Mickey considered 21.b1 preferable so that he doesn't lose a further tempo after d5 However the position still seems satisfactory for Black. ( 21...d4!? ) 22.h5!? f6 23.c4 xh5 24.g4 is an interesting try when the position is very messy after f3 25.gxh5 g3+ 26.h2!? g5+ 27.h3 xh5+ 28.g2 h2+ 29.f3 e5 but this is hardly the way a human should wish to play. ] 21...d5 22.e2 [ 22.d1 looks suspicious with Black's play down the f f ile bu t I don 't see anyt hin g im m e d i a t e . P e r h a p s N i ge l wo u l d h a ve continued c5!? 23.h5 d4 24.hxg6 f6 25.axd4 cxd4 26.h4 h5 and Black's king seems safe enough. ] 22...f4 23.c4 c5 [ 23...xb2 is a further option that looks promising although 24.xf4 xf4 25.g3 ff8 26.xc6 should allow White to hold reasonably comfortably. ] 24.g3 d5 25.a6 b6 26.xb6 xb6 27.e2 d5 28.g2 d4 29.h5! Mickey has regrouped well but Black should still have no problems. gxh5 30.h6 [ 30.xh5 f6 31.g5+ h8 32.h6 g8

33.h1 g7 and White can get no further an d ha s t o wat ch ou t f or a qu ic k B la c k counter with ...Bxf2. ] 30...b8 31.xh5 f6 32.g5+ f7 Black's king looks somewhat vulnerable but Nigel has it all under control. 33.f3 g8 34.h4 xb2 Grabbing the b pawn but allowing White a reasonably strong initiative. [ 34...e5 preventing White's next should be considered. 35.b3 g6 looks slightly more pleasant for Black although his extra pawn doesn't count for much. ] 35.g5! Mickey takes his chance to make Black's life slightly unpleasant. g7 [ No human would want to allow 35...d4 36.xf6 exf6 37.xh7+ but the computer is of the opinion that White has nothing better than the draw after g7 38.h5+ f8 39.h8+ g8 40.h6+ g7 ] 36.h1 d3 37.xf6+ xf6 38.g4+ f7 39.h5+ g7 40.xc5 h6 The time control has been reached and it is now W hite with a n y a d va n t a g e g o i n g a s B l a c k ' s k i n g i s exposed while his extra pawn is meaningless. However Nigel held the draw comfortably. 41.c6 d6 42.e4 e5 43.g4+ g5 44.e4 d8 45.e1 d2 46.e2 xe2 47.xe2 f6 48.g4+ f8 49.g6 g5 50.xg5 hxg5 An interesting game and White players should definitely take note of 6...g6. I believe the knight sacrifice ideas are important and critical to the viability of this variation. ½-½

1635 Akopian,Vladimir Shimanov,Alexandr 13th EICC Plovdiv BUL (6.24) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B17 2684 2591 25.03.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 Shimanov starts off playing the mainline but then deviates on the following move. [ M i l o s e x a m i n e d a g a m e w i t h 10...f6 immediately which is Black's old mainline. The main point is that 11.h4 Can be met with ( 11.e2 is actually more common. 1777

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 There are a few games in the archives, the most recent being Korneev, O (2584)-Reuss, A (2 3 0 1 ) S c h wa e b isch G m u en d 2 0 1 2 .) 11...e7!? ( or even 11...g8!? )] 11.0-0 f6 This is unusual and, while not working out well in this game, might not be so bad. [ 11...b6 is the main line and was covered most recently in So, W (2669) -Harikrishna, P (2657) Guangzhou 2010 by Gawain ] [ 11...c5!? is Black's other option here. 12.e1 ( 12.g4 f8 would transpose to a position more often reached by the 11.Qg4 Kf8 move order. You'll find plenty of games in the archives.) 12...f6 13.h4 b6 ( 13...d7 is seen in the archives in Kveinys, A (2530)-Speelman, J (2580) Bled 2002 annotated by Andrew Martin.) 14.e5 ( 14.dxc5 lo o k s p re f e ra b le wh e n bxc5 15.g5 d5 16.e4 b7 17.ad1 f8 18.c4! g8 19.c1 was very pleasant for White. Vorobiov, E (2516) -Kharitonov, A (2409) St Petersburg 2001.) 14...b7 15.g5 g8 16.b5+ e7 17.g6+? fxg6 18.xe6+? xe6 19.c4+ d5 20.xd5+ xd5 0-1 Bedouin, X (2406)-Grigoryan, A (2614) Bastia 2011 saw W hite regretting his aggressive play. ] 12.h4 b6 In general Black would like to put the bishop on the long diagonal as it has a better future there but it does take an extra tempo. [ 12...d7 should give White a risk-free advantage. 13.c4 ( 13.g5!? e7 14.f4 looks quite pleasant for W hite. If the dark squared bishops are traded then White will have a nice edge thanks to his better minor piece. ) 13...c5 14.dxc5 xc5 15.f4 d6 16.xd6 xd6 17.ad1 c7 Evdokimov, A (2495) -Tishin, D (2372) Alushta 2004 when the straightforward 18.fe1 0-0 19.e5 is enough for an edge. ] 13.g5 The most forcing continuation. [ 13.e1 has been played more often but it makes sense to immediately challenge the knight. b7 14.e5 ( 14.g5 has been played here too but can't be so different.) 14...0-0-0 15.a4 g5 16.h3 d5 17.c3 b8 18.a5 c5 19.axb6 xb6 20.dxc5 xc5 Maze, S (2497)-Planas Ferret, R (2273) Andorra 2004 which wasn't so clear. ]

13...e7?! Maintaining the knight on f6 but Black's losing a lot of time. [ 13...h7 was tried in the only game we can f ind that reached th is positio n. It look s rather suspicious but we can't refute it: 14.d2 b7 15.e5 f6 Black has lost a lot of time but he's threatening to go long followed by ...c6-c5 and attacking on the kingside whilst it's not easy to see what White should play. 16.g3 g8 A) 17.fe1 0-0-0 and now perhaps Blokhuis's idea of ( 17...c5 18.b5+ e7 19.c3 should be better for White but again m a t t e r s a r e n ' t s o c l e a r .) 18.b4!? i s w o r t h p l a y i n g . ( Instead 18.a4 is normal but c5 is merely very complex. Black does have a lot of pieces pointing at White's king. ); B) 17.b4!? This plan doesn't work out so well. c5 18.bxc5 bxc5 19.b5+ e7 20.fe1 cxd4 and Black was starting to take the upperhand in Blokhuis, J (2360)Akesson, R (2431) Barcelona 2003 but 21.b4? xb4! 22.c6+ xc6 23.xc6 xc6 didn't help matters. ] [ Meanwhile 13...d5 is very rare in 'otb' encounters but has been seen a lot in the Hiarcs Opening book. Their mainline continues: 14.c4 e7 ( 14...b4 15.b1 0-0 looks really risky and I can't imagine any human playing this way! 16.a3 a6 17.b4 f5 18.d2 and White has a safe edge.) 15.d2 b7 16.fe1 c5 17.dxc5 bxc5 18.c3 xf3 19.gxf3 c6 ( 19...0-0-0 is an improvement with a complex game.) 20.e4 0-0 21.h1 f5 22.g1! f7 23.xg7 xg7 24.xh6 fxe4 25.xg7+ xg7 26.g1 xg1+ 27.xg1 d4 28.fxe4 and White's queen and three pawns outgun the Black rook, knight and bishop. ] 14.f4 d8?! But now Black has lost too much time and has lost his battery towards the White king. [ 14...d5! was the only way to justify Black's previous move. 15.xc7 xh4 16.xb6 ( It's possible to keep the bishop with 16.e5 when f6 is a fraction better f o r W h it e .) 16...xf2+ 17.xf2 ( Maybe 17.xf2 axb6 18.a3 is White's strongest although again Black isn't too much worse.) 17...axb6 18.e5 f6! 19.xc6 ( 19.g6 1778

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g8 20.a3 is again a little better for White.) 19...b7 20.b5 c7 21.c4 xb5 22.cxb5 xc6 23.bxc6 0-0-0 and Black's probably holding the draw ] 15.e5 b7 16.ad1 It's now very difficult to find a move for Black. [ 16.g3!? was an alternative option, with the point that h5 can be met with 17.xf7! Of course this is a computer line rather than human thought but it seems to be very good f o r W h i t e . xd4 ( 17...xg3 18.xd8 xd8 19.g6+ d7 20.xg3 is a clear e xt ra p a wn .) 18.g4 xf4 ( 18...xf4 19.xh8 0-0-0 20.g6 ) 19.xh5 0-0 20.g6! a6 21.xh6+ xh6 22.xh6 gxh6 23.xa6 with good winning chances with the extra pawn. ] 16...d6 Back the bishop comes. [ 16...0-0 17.xh6! ] [ and 16...d5 17.h5 highlight some of the problems Black's facing - hardly surprising after he lost so much time in the opening. ] 17.fe1 e7 [ 17...c7 was the other option although 18.c4 c5?! ( 18...0-0-0 19.c5! is also strong.; 18...g8 is probably Black's best but here too 19.c5! bxc5 20.dxc5 xc5 21.c4 gives White a very powerful i n i t i a t i v e .) 19.dxc5 xc5 ( 19...bxc5 20.xf7! wins.; 19...xc5 20.xf7! i s n o b e t t e r .) 20.g6 c6 21.h3 winning material as g8 22.e5 a4 23.g6! is catastrophic. ] 18.h3 d5 [ 18...0-0-0 would fail to 19.g6! ] 19.g3 Keeping the tension on Black's position and continuing to prevent Black from castling long. 0-0 [ 19...0-0-0 20.g6! of course is still the problem. ] 20.c4 f6?! [ 20...b4 might be Black's best although 21.b1 fe8 22.a3 a6 23.c5! A) 23...bxc5 24.dxc5 xc5 ( 24...xc5 25.d7 ) 25.g6!; B) 23...c7 24.h4 looks like it will soon be mate. ] [ 20...xe5 looks exceptionally ugly and leaves White with a huge advantage. ] 21.h4! With the threat of Ng4. Black can't

escape. g5 Presumably Shimanov had seen the finish but couldn't find anything better. [ The comp uter in itia lly suggest s 21...h5 to prevent Ng4 but here 22.e4! followed by Rf4 and Bxf6 wins. ] 22.xg5! hxg5 23.h6 [ 23.g4 was actually the more accurate finish but W hite's winning regardless. A well-played game by Akopian after Shimanov lost too many tempi in the opening but it seems that Black's position wasn't as bad as it appeared. ] 1-0

1636 Al Modiahki,Mohamad Sundararajan,Kidambi 9th Open Dubai UAE (7) [John Watson]

B17 2556 2458 28.04.2007

A very promising line for White versus 4...Nd7. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.c4 e6 7.e2 b6 8.d3 h6 9.5f3 c5 10.e3! I think that this is the most challenging move, preparing 0-0-0 in so m e l in e s a n d t ryin g t o m a i n t a i n s o m e central superiority. [ 10.dxc5 bd7! is still considered fine for Black. ( and 10...xc5 is also satisfactory )] 10...c7 [ In ChessPub, Volzhin cited the following game and notes: 10...bd5 : 11.e5 a6 12.gf3 c7 13.0-0 cxd4?! ( Volzhin prefers 13...d6 , but 14.c4! with the idea e7 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xc5 xc5 17.e5!? 0-0 18.d6 is difficult for Black ) 14.xd4 c5 15.b5+!? f8 T h e o n l y m o v e . ( 15...axb5? 16.xb5+ d7 17.xd7 xd4 18.f6+ e7 19.xd5+ exd5 20.xd4 with a clear extra pawn and an overwhelming advantage.) 16.xc5+ xc5 17.c4! led to a White win in Rublevsky-Karpov, Polanica Zdroj 1998. See the archives. This whole idea appears to be bad for Black. ] 11.e5 d6 12.gf3 bd5 [ 12...0-0 13.g4!? ( or 13.dxc5 xc5 14.xc5 xc5 15.0-0 with an edge) 13...c4 ( 13...bd5 14.0-0-0 b5!? ) 14.xc4 xc4 15.xc4 xg4 16.g1 e5?! ( 16...xe3 1779

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 w i t h t h e i d e a 17.xe3 f4 ) 17.0-0-0 xe3? 18.xe3 h8 19.xg7! and wins, Shamkovich - Kholmov, USSR, 1961. ] 13.b5+ [ 13.0-0 0-0 14.c3 b6 15.d2 b7 was Rublevsky - Galkin, Krasnodar 1997, about equal. ] 13...e7 [ 13...f8 14.0-0 ] 14.0-0 [ 14.c4 is also promising. ] 14...d8 [ K a rp o v p l a ye d 14...a6?! 15.d3 b5 v e r s u s S v i d l e r i n T i l b u r g 1 9 9 6 : 16.c3 ( the computer finds the simple move 16.a4! with the idea c4 17.g6! f8 18.axb5 ) 16...b7 17.d2 ( 17.a4 ) 17...cxd4 18.cxd4 with approximate equality. ] 15.c3 A bit slow, although things are still a little awkward for Black. [ More pointed is 15.c4!? f4! 16.dxc5 ( 16.ce5!? ) 16...xe3 17.xe3 xc5 18.fd1 ] 15...f8 16.d2 cxd4 17.cxd4 g8 18.ac1 e7 19.a3!? d7 20.xd7 xd7 21.e5 Probably White is to be preferred here, but it isn't much. The rest goes back and forth, but overall it appears that Black hasn't solved his problems in this line, which gives W hite hope against 4...Nd7. f8 22.c4 ac8 23.f4 b6 24.b3 xc1 25.xc1 c7 26.b4 d6 27.e1 c7 28.f2! d5 29.f3 b6 30.d1?! f6 31.g3 g6 32.e4 ge7 33.c2 f5? 34.g4 d6 35.h7+ f8 36.f5! f4 37.e3?? [ 37.h1 ] 37...e2+ 38.h1 xd4 39.xd4 xd4 40.xd4 xe5 41.d1 e2 42.fxe6 f3+ 43.g1 xg4+ 44.f2 f4+ 45.g2 g4+ 46.f2 fxe6 47.h3 f4+ 48.g2 g5+ 49.h1 f7 50.g1 f6 51.e4 g5 52.xb7 xh3 53.g2 f4 0-1

1637 Amonatov,Farrukh Morozevich,Alexander 60th ch-Superfinal (10) [John Watson]

B17 2637 2755 29.12.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 f8 13.b3 b7 [ I'm still not clear what the drawbacks to the older 13...c5 are, but top players don't seem to like it. ] 14.b2 f6 15.h4 [ See Leko-Ivanchuk for 15.h3 ] 15...d5! 16.e5 [ 16.fe1 is the option see LyaskovskyProhaszka, Herceg Novi 2006 in the notes to t h e a rch i ve d ga m e B o b r a s-W o jt a s ze k , Polish Ch 2007. ] 16...g5 17.g3 [ In an earlier column, I remarked that 17.g4 might be interesting, but don't know of any tests yet. ] 17...f4 18.ae1 [ The above-mentioned Bobras-Wojtaszek game went 18.e3 c5 19.e4 ( 19.f3!? ) 19...cxd4 20.xd4 xe5 21.xe5 xe5 22.xb7 e2+ 23.h1 xe3 24.fxe3 b8 25.f3 c3 26.h5 b7 with an even game. ] 18...d8 [ T h e o b v i o u s m o v e i s 18...f6 , wh e n M o ro ze vic h m a y h a ve f e a re d a prepared attacking line from Amonatov, for example, 19.c4 ( 19.g4 g7! ) 19...e2+ 20.xe2 xg3 21.fxg3 and W hite has quite an attack, to say the least. ] 19.c1!? [ More likely to achieve something was 19.e3 c5 ( 19...xd3 20.cxd3!? with the twin ideas of f4 and Rc1; 19...g7 20.d5! ) 20.e4 ] 19...xe5! [ 19...xd3 20.cxd3 xe5 (else that irksome f4 is particularly strong) 21.dxe5 a6 ( 21...c5 22.f4 gxf4 23.xf4 xd3 24.g4! , intending to double on the f-file o n c e B l a c k p r o t e c t s e 6 .) 22.e3 , again planning f4. ] 1780

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.dxe5 xd3 21.cxd3 f5! What looked p r o m i s i n g d wi n d le s i n t o n o t h i n g . 22.exf6 xg3 23.fxg3!? [ 23.hxg3 f7 24.e3 a6 25.d1 d6 26.b2 hd8 is equal ] 23...f7 24.h4!? This doesn't really help. [ 24.f3 c5 25.fe3 d6 achieves nothing, but that's what's in the position. ] 24...gxh4 25.gxh4 c5 [ 25...xd3= ] 26.f4 [ 26.e3 hg8 27.f2 g4 28.g3= ] 26...hg8 27.f2 g4 28.h5 d5 29.xe6!? xe6 30.f7 xg2+ 31.xg2 f5+ 32.g3 xf7 33.xf7 xf7 34.xh6 [ 34.xh6 a6 35.f4 xd3 36.b8 a5 37.c7 c4 liquidates and draws. ] ½-½

progresses it becomes clear that Rayner does not know how to proceed. 18.g3 fe8 19.c5 f8 20.b5 e5 21.c6 bxc6 22.xc6 b7 23.fc1 a6 24.xa6 xb2 25.6c2 b6 26.c6 b8 27.c4 e4 Rayner, F-Hinks Edwards, T/4NCL, Telford ENG 2003) 13.0-0 0-0 14.e1 b6 15.xd7 xd7 16.e5 ad8 17.d2 c6 18.g4 xg4 19.xg4 f5 20.g6 f6 21.h5 d4!= Maksimovic, M-Knezevic, D/Belgrade 2003 Simplistic development has led to nothing for White.; A2) 11...bd7 12.gf3 xe5 13.xe5 0-0 14.0-0 b6 15.d1 e7 The Queen usually belongs on c7 but he is afraid of Bf4. 16.b4 d6 17.b2 b7 18.a3 ad8 19.c4 fe8 20.c2 b8 21.e1 d7 22.f3 f6 23.a4 f8 24.c2 fe8 25.ad1 xd1 26.xd1 c7 1638 B17 27.e5 d8 28.e2 d7 29.d1 xe5 30.xe5! xd1+ 31.xd1 c8 Anand,Viswanathan 2750 32.xb8 xb8 33.d4 c7 34.f3 e5 Nielsen,Peter Heine 2620 35.d3 g6 36.b3 g7 37.c3 a5 SIS-MH Masters, Middelfart (6) 2003 38.c5 axb4 39.axb4 bxc5 40.bxc5 c6 [Andrew Martin] 41.f4 f6 42.c4 d8 43.fxe5 fxe5 44.f7+ h8 45.h3 e8 46.f6+ 1.e4 c6 Nielsen is very much an 'in form' h7 47.f7 1-0 Godena, M-Kreuscher, player right now, but he knows that he has to W/National I, Besancon FRA 2003 Very exercise caution and curb his natural, intelligent play by Godena, who retained attacking style. 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 an advantage throughout.; 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.c4 e6 7.e2 B) 9...bd7?! I have to prefer 9...c5. b6 8.b3 Covering th e Queenside. As I analysis suggest that 9...Nbd7 is a bit see it , this is the role of the Bb3.8 Bd3 has passive: 10.d2 c5 11.0-0-0 c7 been played frequently there the Bishop has 12.h3 d6 13.g4 g5!? 14.he1 b6 more prospects but is more exposed: 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.c4 b6 17.c3 e7 [ 8.d3 h6 ( 8...c5 9.dxc5 xc5 10.1f3 18.e5 xc4 19.xc4 xh2 20.f4 ] h6 11.e4 e7 12.d2 xe4 13.xe4 f6 14.d1!? d7 15.c3 c7 16.0-0 c5 8...h6 9.5f3 c5 [ 9...a5 is the other move. At the cost of 17.c2 d7 18.fe1 c6 Sanden, Sexposing b5 Black obtains active play for Eksmyr, J/ Tch-SWE 2002 Despite Black's his pieces and one day hopes to station a initial development lag his position contains Bish op o n a6 . 10.a4 c5 11.e3 c7 n o w e a k n e s s e s a n d h e h a s e q u a l i ze d 12.e5 d6 13.gf3 0-0 14.0-0 bd5 comfortably. Perhaps that is the story of 4. .. 15.ad1 b6 16.c3 a6 So it comes to Nd7. ) 9.5f3 pass. 17.c4 cxd4 18.xd4 xe3 19.fxe3 A) 9...c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.e5 b7 Mortensen, E-Schandorff, L/ ch-DEN, A1) 11...c7 12.gf3 bd7 Horsens DEN 2003 This position is clearly ( 12...d7!? 13.0-0 0-0 14.d2 d6 fine for Black and he went on to win. ] 15.c4 c6 16.ac1 xf3 17.xf3 bd7 This position should be a little 10.c3 c7 11.d2 a6 12.e5 d7 better for W hite with two Bishops and The only concern for Black must be his Kingthe Queenside majority but as the game it's going to some little time before he gets out 1781

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 of the middle. Anand strives to organise an attack before this happens. Note that the Bb3 makes available possibilities such as Nxf7 should Black play ...Bc6 13.gf3 cxd4 14.xd4 d6 15.xd7 bxd7 16.f5 Sends a shudder down the spine and indeed Nielsen panics. f4? [ He had to play 16...f8! when White can indeed sacrifice but I believe that Black is at l e a s t h o l d i n g o n : 17.xe6 ( 17.0-0 More sob er. Bla ck mu st cont in ue co ld bloodedly: 0-0-0 18.d4 d6 ) 17...fxe6 18.xe6+ d8 19.0-0-0 g6? ( 19...c6! Best. 20.he1 xe6 21.xe6 c8 22.f4 c6 I don't think White has enough now.) 20.g5! hxg5 21.xf6+ ] 17.xf4 xf4 18.xg7+ f8 19.h5 xh5 20.xh5 e4+ Black was relying on this, but White is better coordinated. 21.e2 xg2 22.0-0-0! g5+ 23.b1 f6 I think Nielsen saw to here after 16..Bf4 and was hoping that the King would find sanctuary on e7. Meanwhile White's Bishop isn't too effective staring at the pawn on e6. It was a simple misjudgement. b7 is very weak and White can station his major pieces very aggressively before Black gets his full act together. 24.f4! c5 If he took that pawn an accident would surely happen on the f file. 25.f3 c7 26.e3 If the Black queen strays, White will occupy e5. g8 27.f5 e5 28.xh6+ e7 29.he1 The result is no longer in doubt. e4 30.c2 g4 31.xe4! Very nice indeed. Anand finds a tactical finish and just look at that Rook on a8. xe4 32.xe4+ xe4 33.g5+ e8 [ 33...f8 34.f6+- ] 34.f6 1-0

popularity will be helped much by this game. [ 11...bd7 12.gf3 c7 13.f4 ( 13.0-0 was covered by Andrew Martin in W ebbWells ) 13...b4+ 14.f1 ( 14.d2 xd2+ 15.xd2 0-0 16.hd1 c5 17.e1 xd3+ 18.xd3 d5 19.g3 b5 20.c3 b7 21.f1 1/2-1/2 (21) Bittencourt, J (2 4 2 8 )-Mo lin a , R (2 3 3 6 ) P a sso s 2 0 0 7) 14...d6 15.d1 h5 16.g3 xf4 17.gxf4 is a c ri t i c a l p o s i t io n t h a t ' s c o ve r e d b y Volzhin in the archives in Morovic FernanzezKarpov. ] 12.gf3 a6?! A rather odd move that I don't really understand - Black wants to wait and see what White is going to do and is counting on ..b5 later after Nbd5 but I don't think this way of playing is to be recommended. [ 12...bd5 is the main move and poses m o r e o f a c h a l l e n g e t o W h i t e 13.d2 ( 13.a3 a5 14.g4!? gave White dangerous attacking chances in Jenni, F (2440)-Kallio, H (2451) Aviles 2000) 13...b4 14.xb4 xb4+ 15.c3 d6 16.0-0-0!? ( 16.0-0 would've led to an equal position after b6 ) 16...c7 17.c2 b6 18.g4 b7 19.hg1 xf3 20.xf3 xh2 21.g2?! ( 21.xh2 xh2 22.d2! preparing g5 would've given W h it e go o d co m p e n sa t io n) 21...f4+ 22.b1 ad8 and White didn't have enough attackin g play f or the pawn in Egger, J (2443) -Alarcon Bahamondes, R (2154) Santiago 2010 ] [ 12...bd7 13.0-0 b6 14.d1 ( 14.f4! is more accurate as now W hite can recapture on e5 with the Bishop) 14...xe5 15.xe5 e7 16.a4 b7 17.a5 bxa5 18.xa5 fd8 19.e3 b6 20.a4 d5 21.g4 xg4 22.xg4 e5 23.xh6 xe2 24.xg7+ h8 1/2-1/2 Yu Yangyi (2607)Matlakov, M (2616) Moscow 2011 ] [ 12...c7 13.0-0 d7 14.c4 c6 15.xc6 1639 B17 xc6 16.d2 a5 17.ad1 bd7 18.b3 fe8 19.c3 and the advantage of the two Andreikin,Dmitry 2715 Bishops gave White the better chances in Sjugirov,S 2635 Movsesian, S (2663)-Miton, K (2544) 65th ch-RUS Moscow RUS (6) 09.08.2012 Bermuda 2003 ] [Tom Rendle] 13.g4!? A challenging move for Black to face, 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 especially after wasting a tempo with ...a6 on 5.c4 gf6 6.g5 e6 7.e2 b6 8.d3 the last move. [ 13.0-0 is a safe alternative but Andreikin h6 9.5f3 c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.e5 0-0 has more aggressive ideas in mind. ] Not Black's most usual choice and I doubt it's 1782

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13...bd5 [ 13...e7 has been seen before, albeit in an in t e rn e t ga m e , an d a f t e r 14.g5 hxg5 15.xg5 fd7 and now in Milisits, R (2207)M i t i c , M ( 2 2 6 4 ) I C C 2 0 0 6 16.g1! would've given White a winning attack ] [ 13...bd7 doesn't help much, for example 14.g5 hxg5 15.xg5 a5+ 16.f1 and with Rg1 coming W hite has a dangerous attack and Black is lacking in counterplay. ] 14.g1 b4+?! [ 14...b6! seems to be a better attempt to me as now the immediate 15.g5 is not so clear, for example ( 15.a3! to prevent Nb4 may be a useful waiting move for W hite, who may chose to play b4 at a later moment. Black is struggling to find any counterplay.) 15...hxg5 16.xg5 e7 and I see no immediate breakthrough for White, although his chances must be preferred. ] 15.f1 e7 I'm not sure how the check on b4 helped as Black has wasted another couple of tempi and W hite's attack is already in full swing. 16.g5 Admirably direct from Andreikin [ 16.h4! was strong as well - Black has no real answer to the threat of g5. A possible line is: e8 ( 16...b4 17.g5 hxg5 18.hxg5 h5 19.g6 and White's attack crashes through) 17.g5 hxg5 18.xg5 df6 19.h5 with a crushing attack ] 16...hxg5 17.xg5 Black has no defence here or indeed any way of creating play of his own. d6 [ 17...b4 doesn't help as White has 18.h7+! xh7 19.xh7 and Black cannot take the knight due to xh7? 20.h5+ g8 21.xg7+ xg7 22.h6+ g8 23.g4+ and Black suffers massive material loss or mate. ] 18.h7! A nice finish c7 [ 18...xh7?! leads to a swift conclusion after 19.xh7+ xh7 20.h5+ g8 21.xg7+ xg7 22.h6+ g8 23.g4+ and mate to follow ] [ 18...h8 19.xf6 xf6 20.g5 with the threat of Bxf6 is hopeless for Black ] 19.h6 B l a c k ca n a l re a d y re si g n e8 20.xg7! xg7 21.xg7+ xg7 22.g4+ h8 23.f6! and Black resigned as it's forced mate. A great attack from Andreikin but

not the best game that Sjugirov has ever played. 11...0-0 may not be so bad but I don't think Black can afford to be too slow afterwards and ...a6 was an unnecessary move. [ For example 23.f6 xf6 24.h4+ g7 25.g5+ h8 26.xf6+ g8 27.g5+ h8 28.h6+ g8 29.h7# ] 1-0

1640 Asrian,Karen Sasikiran,Krishnan World Junior Championship, Erevan [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2566 2573 2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.g4 f8 12.0-0 c5 13.e1!? The favourit e move of young Armenian GM Karen Asrian who has chosen it in 4 games in the last 2 months! b6 14.c3 b7 [ The immediate 14...c4 looks premature: 15.c2 b7 16.h4! e8 17.d2 g6 18.a4 f6 19.h3 d8 20.c2 g7 21.e5 d5 22.f4 e7 23.e3 h5 24.h2 b5 25.ae1 he8 26.d1 f6 27.h5 g5 28.f4 h7 29.f5 with an initiative for White, Asrian-Sargissian, World Junior Championship, Yerevan 2000. ] 15.h3 c4 [ 15...e7!? deserves serious attention: 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 f6 18.e1 ad8 19.dxc5 bxc5 20.d2 f4 21.c4 xc1 22.axc1 f4 23.b3 d5 24.g3 xg3 25.hxg3 hd8 with a balanced position in a complicated endgame: Black controls the dfile which is ample compensation for his pawn weaknesses on the Q-side, AsrianSargissian, Yerevan 2000. ] 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 c6 [ 17...f6 18.e1 b7 19.e5?! ( 19.b3! deserves serious attention.) 19...xe5 20.xe5 g8 21.d2 h7 Black has completed his development and has a very solid position. 22.ae1 hd8 23.f4 d7 24.g5 f8 25.f5 exf5 26.xf5 g6 27.ef1 d7 28.5f2 e8 29.f5 g8 30.b5 c8 31.b3 a6 32.f5 b5 33.bxc4 1783

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc4 and now Black is clearly better, AsrianE.Danielian, Yerevan 2000. ] 18.e1 e8 19.b3! The correct idea. White sh o u ld t ry t o op e n th e ga m e an d e xp lo it Black's lagging development f6 20.d2 b5 21.a4! Fo l lo wi n g t h e sa m e id e a . cxb3 22.axb5 xb5 23.a3! Completing development and temporarily winning back the sacrificed pawn. xa3 24.xa3 g6 25.xb3 a6 26.g3 a2 27.e2 c2 28.f3 g7 29.e5 f5 30.b7 xe5 31.dxe5 d5 32.e4 e7 33.eb2 a5 34.c4 xb7 35.xb7 b4 36.c5? Throwing away the advantage. [ After the correct 36.d6! f8 37.c5 Black has difficult problems to solve. ] 36...c8! Finally Black manages to complete his development and is now out of danger. 37.xe6+ g8 38.c7 d3 White can't hold the extra pawn. 39.f4 [ 39.e6 fxe6 40.xe6 xc4 ] 39...xf4 40.g3 d3 41.d5 f8 42.b6 e8 Draw. So it seems after many unsuccessful attempts in this game W hite found the correct plan: to undermine Black's pawn chain on the Q-side. If he succeeds Black's defence is very hard. Now it's Black turn to improve. ½-½

1641 Bobras,Piotr Wojtaszek,Radoslaw ch-POL Warsaw POL (2) [Neil McDonald]

B17 2554 2639 10.01.2010

1.e4 c6 Here we go again down a long theoretical road. 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 f8 13.b3 b7 14.b2 f6 15.h4 d5 16.g3!? White has previously tried 15.Qh3 combined with 16.g3, but this is something different. [ A game in 2007 between the same two p l a y e r s w e n t 16.e5 g5 17.g3 etc. You can see the full game with analysis by John Watson in the ChessPub archives. So that means that Bobras had a couple of years to prepare a new idea in this

variation. ] 16...b4 It's too early to assess this move with any certainty, but it seems risky for Black. An alternative plan used against the 15.Qh3 line is 16...c5, but White is surely happier to have his queen on h4, as here, rather than h3. 17.e2!? xc2 18.d5! The only consistent move, as if [ 18.ac1? b4 intending 19...Nd5 would drain the energy from White's position. ] 18...xa1 19.dxe6 e8 [ White has a rampant attack after other moves, for example 19...c2 20.g4 fxe6 ( If 20...f6 21.h4; or 20...g8 21.c4 ) 21.xe6 e8 22.f5+ f7 23.xc2 wit h a t le a st f u ll co m p e n s a t i o n f o r t h e exchange. ] 20.g4 fxe6 [ Inadequate for Black is 20...h7 21.d3 g6 22.exf7 ] 21.h4? [ White has a highly dangerous attack after 21.d1! threatening 22.Rxd6 Qxd6? 23. Qxg7 mate. For example g8 Here the rook cuts off the black king's flight to g8 and can no longer be activated as in the game with h6-h6 and Rh6. ( If 21...d8 22.d4 c8 23.xc6!; The best defence seems to be 21...e7 though White keeps the initiative with 22.h4 ) 22.xa1 c5?! Bad, but how can Black organise his game with his king s t u c k o n f 8 ? 23.b5 e7 24.h4 and Black's game is tottering. ] 21...g8 22.c4? [ There is a draw but probably no more for W hite after 22.g6! e7 23.xg7 xg7 24.xe6+ f7 ( Or 24...f8 25.f6+ ) 25.g4+ g7 ( If 25...f8? 26.g6+ g7 27.f4+ f8 28.e6+ winning the black queen. ) 26.e6+ etc. ] 22...c8 23.g6 h5! 24.e4 h6 25.xa1 f7 Black has succeeded in sheltering his king and organising his pieces, after which his advantage in firepower becomes a decisive factor. 26.h4 f8 27.f1 c5 28.c2 g5 29.g2 h4 30.gxh4 gxh4 31.d2 h5 [ The simplest win for Black was 31...g6 32.c3 f5 33.h8+ f7 34.xh4 fg8 when g2 drops. ] 32.xh4 I assume White lost on time here. Black can win most cleanly with 1784

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 32.xh4 f4! ( But not 32...xh4?? 33.g5+ h7 34.d3+ and Black is mated in two moves.) 33.xf4 xf4 34.g2 xf2! 35.xf2 f5 and 36...Rxf2 will leave Black the exchange and a pawn up. ] 0-1

1642 Bobras,Piotr Wojtaszek,Radoslaw 64th ch-POL Opole POL (9) [John Watson]

B17 2542 2637 18.02.2007

The 4...Nd7 main lines are less popular these days but apparently holding together. In this ga m e t h e p l a y e r s f o ll o w t h e we l l- k n o wn Karpov recipe for Black. It has tended to give White a slight pull and that may have been the case here, but I don't see where. Black soon finds his way to equality, and then more. Un f o rt u n a t e ly, t h is is o n e o f t h o se lin e s dominated by theory, so it may not be to your taste. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 Perhaps White should go back to [ 5.f3 gf6 6.g3!? ] [ or 5.c3 gf6 6.xf6+ xf6 7.c4 to seek for a small edge based upon space. ] 5...gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 Given as best by Jonathan Rowson in his ChessPublishing survey of 4...Nd7 theory, which contains, frankly, just about everything that I could say about this line until up to the games quoted here. I refer you to that thorough treatment (in the game 'Caro-Kann Smyslov 4...Nd7). [ Krivokapic-Prohaszka, Budapest 2007 went 11.g4 f8 12.0-0 ( 12.h4 might transpose to the main game, although g8 13.0-0 g5 14.e4 c5 seems fairly solid, with ...Kg7 and ..Nf6 to come ) A) 12...e5 is also possible, but I still prefer W h i t e a f t e r 13.e3 exd4 ( 13...c5 14.f5 ) 14.xd4 f6 15.h4; B) 12...c5 13.e3 b6!? ( 13...f6 14.h4 c4 15.e2 ) 14.ad1 c4 15.e2 b7 with equality. ] 11...b6 12.g4 White commits Black to a

plan, and really, there's only one good reply. f8 [ T h e s t a n d a r d m o v e , s i n c e 12...0-0?? loses to 13.xh6 g6 14.xg6 ] [ 12...g5?! was one of Karpov's original idea s wh ich didn 't work out well, a gain covered in Jonathan's survey. ] 13.b3 Logically placing the bishop on the long diagonal, aiming at Black's king. Top players like Leko, Karajakin, and Carlsen have used it, but Black seems to be equalizing of late, precisely by the manoeuvre that Wojtaszek executes: b7 Jonathan suggest that [ 13...c5 is a good solution, although Wojtasek and others are avoiding it, perhaps out of confidence in 13...Bb7 as much as anything else. ] 14.b2 f6 15.h4 d5! Replacing [ 15...c5 , which is the move that is in the above-mentioned survey. As you will see, the ball is back in White's court. ] 16.e5 This seems to be the best move. [ These days (meaning 2006 on), 16.fe1 has being tested more, when in several games including one by Wojtaszek himself W h i t e s a c r i f i c e d a p i e c e f o l l o wi n g f4 17.ad1 g8 18.c4!? ( This may be unsound. 18.e5 g5 19.g4 is unclear) 18...g5 19.xg5 hxg5 20.xg5+ f8 21.f6! g8 ( the computer likes 21...xh2 , but you can be sure that it's been looked at by both sides and rejected) 22.e4 e7 23.h6+ e8 24.d5 cxd5 25.cxd5 e5 26.xe5? ( 26.g3 has also been played, but; 26.c1! g6 27.g5 f8 28.h3 is the best way to sca re so mething up . Nevertheless, I like Black) 26...xe5 27.d6 xg2 28.f1 ( We're just leaving theory. 28.dxe7 , played in the stem game, loses to xe1+! 29.f1 a6+ with the idea 30.xe1 c3+ 31.d2 g1# ) 28...xe1 29.dxe7 (Now we're back) a6+ 30.d3 xd3 31.xd3 xd3+ 32.e1 c3+ 0-1 Lyaskovsky, V-Prohaszka, P/Herceg Novi 2006 ] 16...g5 17.g3!? [ 17.g4 intending f4 18.fe1 may be as go o d o r b e t t e r, s i n c e d 5 a n d N x f 7 a r e themes. Black should stand well enough, however. ] 17...f4 18.e3 c5 19.e4 1785

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 19.f3!? ] 19...cxd4 What follows looks like best play all the way to move 27: 20.xd4 xe5 21.xe5 xe5 22.xb7 e2+ 23.h1 xe3 24.fxe3 b8 25.f3 c3 26.h5 b7 27.e4 g7 28.e5 c7 29.f3 d5 30.af1? [ 30.g3 is an obvious move, after which the play is more or less balanced. ] 30...f8?! [ 30...f4! 31.xf7 ( 31.g4?? h5 ) 31...xf7 32.g3 hf8 33.gxf4 xf4 34.xf4 xf4 gives Black's rook access to the 7th rank and lets his king advance, because the pawn ending is lost. ] 31.g3 b4 32.c4 [ 32.a3!? xc2 33.c1 ] 32...xa2 33.h4 White is falling apart in the midst of difficulties. b4 34.hxg5 hxg5 35.g2 d7 36.e3 h8 37.e2 d2 38.f2 c2 39.ef3 e1+ 0-1

1643 Deep Blue Kasparov,Garry (m/6) New York [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2795 1997

Quite an unexpected opening choice from Kasparov in the final and decisive game of his match against the supercomputer. Probably after playing numerous games in this line with Karpov, Kasparov liked Black's position and decided to try it himself. But this experiment led him to total disaster. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 h6?! What??? The World Champion makes a move which was refuted by force ten years before this game! I can't believe that Kasparov didn't know this probably he did not expect that a computer would sacrifice a piece for a pawn without a clear way to win back some material over the n e x t c o u p l e o f m o ve s . 8.xe6! e7?! Not the best reaction again. [ 8...fxe6 looks more to the point although after 9.g6+ e7 10.0-0 c7 11.e1 d8 12.c4 Black's position is rather difficult to p la y. T he m ost re ce nt e xa mp le : ( not

12.xe6 d6 13.e1 f8 14.d3 g4 and Black is much better) 12...b4 13.d2 xd2 14.xd2 f8 15.c2 d7 16.b4 e8 17.b3 h5 18.e5 8d7 19.f4 with excellent prospects for White, Kalod Yevseev, Pardubice 1999. ] 9.0-0 fxe6 10.g6+ d8 11.f4 White has only one pawn for the sacrificed piece and has no direct threats, but the lack of coordination of Black's f orces and the bad position of Black's King give White huge compensation. b5?! The text move lets White open up the position of the Black King even more easily. [ 11...d5 was tried in the game Chandler Huebner, Biel 1987 but without much success: 12.g3 b4 13.e1 e7 14.e2 f6 15.c4 e7 16.a3 b3 17.d3 and Black is in trouble since it's impossible to finish his development in order to counter White's coming attack. ] 12.a4 b7 13.e1 d5 14.g3 c8 [ 14...a6 seems to be more stubborn but Black's position is difficult anyway - after some preparation W hite will play c2-c4, opening files on the queenside. ] 15.axb5 cxb5 16.d3! All White's moves are very natural. The computer plays with human logic!! c6 17.f5! exf5 [ 17...b4 do e s n o t h e lp : 18.c3 b7 ( 18...exf5 now this move is even worse than in t he gam e in vie w o f 19.xe7 xe7 20.d5! winning immediately.) 19.xe6 d8 20.d5! Now White wins the piece back by force: xd5 21.e8 b6 22.xa8 xa8 23.xd7 and Black should resign. ] 18.xe7 xe7 Now Black has enough material for the Queen, but the total lack of coordination of his forces allows W hite to f in ish t h e ga m e in o n ly o n e m o ve ! 19.c4! Black resigned. [ Black's dec ision may seem premature, but the following variations show that Black's position is absolutely lost: 19.c4 bxc4 ( 19...b4 20.xf5 bxc4 21.e5 is also hopeless) 20.xc4 b4 21.e1! winning more material: e8 22.xe7 xe7 23.xb4 A very surprising defeat for Garry Kasparov. ] 1-0

1786

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1644 Dolmatov,Sergey Svetushkin,Dmitry Open Linares [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2600 2486 2000

Some important games have been played in the Smyslov Variation. 5. Ng5 remains White's main weapon. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 f6 11.e2 c7 12.d2 b6 13.0-0-0 b7 14.b1 Theory doesn't consider this quiet positional line as dangerous for Black, but Dolmatov has something in mind. 0-0-0 15.c4 c5 16.c3 he8 17.c2! An important novelty. This modest Bishop retreat prepares 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19. Ne5 followed by an advance of the K-side pawns. This simple but powerful plan was successfully executed by Dolmatov in two very recent games. [ The whole line was previously considered as harmless and before this game Black had easily solved his opening problems, for example: 17.he1 e7! 18.a3 ( 18.dxc5 xc5 19.e5 Here this manoeuvre is s t r o n g l y m e t b y xg2 20.g1 b7 21.xg7 e4! and Black is fine: 22.xe4 xd1+ 23.xd1 xe4+ 24.c1 b7 ) 18...ed7 19.a1 xf3! 20.xf3 cxd4! 21.xd4 b7 and due to the pressure down the d-file Black had at least equal chances in Jigzhidsuren - Sapis, Ulan Bator 1988. ] 17...b8 [ 17...a6 was played in Dolmatov - Klimm, U b e d a 2 0 0 0 . 18.dxc5 xc5 19.e5! xd1+ ( 19...xg2 20.xd8+ xd8 21.g1 b7 22.xf7 xf7 23.xg2 is clearly better for White as he has a pair of strong B ish o p s a n d B l a ck's K in g is e xp o se d .) 20.xd1 d8 21.xd8+ xd8 22.f4 Black's position is very unpleasant. White's Knight is very annoying and Black can't get r i d o f i t wi t h o u t f u r t h e r we a k e n i n g h i s position. So Black is doomed to complete passivity and has to temporise. c8 23.g4 e8 24.h4 e7 25.a3 xh4?! The exchange of pawns is in White's favour. 26.xf7 e7 27.e5 a5 28.d3 d6 29.e3 c7 30.c5! This advance is an

important achievement for White, as besides the above mentioned problems Black has to think about the defence of his weak King as well. bxc5 31.xc5 d5 32.a6 d8 33.e5 b7 34.c5 b5 35.d3 c4 36.xc4 xc4 37.c3! c7 38.xa5 White has an extra pawn already and Black c a n ' t a vo i d f u r t h e r m a t e r i a l l o s s . f1+ 39.c1 xc1+ 40.xc1 g5 41.xc7 xc7 42.xe6 d6 43.f5 d7 44.d2 c6 45.d3 d5 46.a4 b4 47.d4 and Black resigned. ] 18.dxc5 xc5 19.e5 c8 [ 19...xg2 20.xd8+ xd8 21.g1 b7 ( 21...b7 is even worse in view of 22.xg7 f8 23.g6 winning a pawn.) 22.xf7 xf7 23.xg2 ] 20.f4 xd1+ 21.xd1 d8 22.xd8+ xd8 23.g4 e8 24.h4 d6? After this tactical oversight White wins material by force. 25.b4! g1 26.d1!? [ 26.e1! was even stronger, aiming to win a whole piece: h2 27.d2 f6 ( 27...g3 28.c5! bxc5 29.bxc5 xc5 30.xf7+ d7 31.b4 ) 28.c5 bxc5 ( 28...fxe5 29.cxd6 c4 30.xe5 ) 29.bxc5 xc5 30.f7+ c7 31.xd6 xf4 32.e8+ ] 26...e3 27.xf7+ e7 28.xd6+ xd6 29.xd6 xd6 30.e5+ In this endgame White has a clear extra pawn. Dolmatov is an excelle nt technician and h e conve rts his advantage into a win very instructively. e7 31.g5 h5 32.xg7 xf4 33.g6 f3 34.h8 g4 35.e4 g3 36.c5 bxc5 37.bxc5 xh4 38.e5 f8 39.c6 e2 40.c7 a6 41.f3 g5 42.xh5 h6 43.e2 c8 44.c2 e3 45.b5 a6 46.c6 b6 47.d3 g8 48.e4 a5 49.f4 d2+ 50.g4 e3 51.h5 Black resigned as White's g-pawn queens: [ 51.h5 d2 52.g7 f7 53.e8+ g8 54.g6 ] 1-0

1787

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1645 Dumitru,Victor Iu Anuta,Laurentiu CUPA TC ROM Ploiesti (11) [Andrew Martin]

B17 1646 2070 Durarbeyli,V 2100 Shreyansh,D 2002 World Youth U18 (6) [Neil McDonald]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.c4 gf6 6.g5 d5 Among Grandma sters, only Meduna has played this move frequently. It seems unlikely to me that 6... Nd5 can be good. Black's development slows down and he donates White the initiative free of charge. Having said that it's not THAT easy for White- he can only work up a small edge against best defence. 7.1f3 h6 [ 7...e6 8.e5! xe5 9.dxe5 ] 8.e4 7b6 9.b3 [ 9.d3 b4 10.e2 f5 11.a3 xe4 12.axb4 e6 13.c3 d6 14.0-0 f6 seems quite playable for Black to me as in Rytshagov-Meduna Manila Ol 1992 ] 9...f5 10.g3 g6? Meduna's favourite is to retreat the Bishop all the way. He is clearly hoping to reach a satisfactory position similar to the 4 ... Bf5 line with White's pieces hardly optimally placed. I show two good ways of keeping the initiative: [ 10...h7 Meduna 11.0-0 e6 12.e5 d7 13.f4 ( 13.c4 5f6 14.f4 e7 15.e2 0-0 16.ad1 e8 17.h5 xh5 18.xh5 ) 13...c7 14.c4 5f6 15.h1 e7 16.c2! xc2 17.xc2 h5 18.f5 As for 10...Bg6, well, I don't like it. The Bishop is more exposed here. ] 11.e5 d6 12.c4 b4 13.c5 c2+ 14.xc2 xc2 15.xc2 xd4 16.xf7+xf7 17.cxb6 axb6 18.0-0 g6 19.d1 e5 20.d2 g7 21.c3 e6 22.xg7 xg7 23.e1 f7 24.a3 hd8 25.ad1 b5 26.h4 xd1 27.xd1 f8 28.d4+ f6 29.xe7+ f7 30.xf7+ xf7 31.xf6+ xf6 32.f1 Brief, but the notes to 6...Nd5 supply the reason for inclusion. It's a rare line. 1-0

B17 2456 2236 16.11.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 [ As we shall see, Shreyansh is going to b o r r o w a n i d e a f r o m K a r p o v : 10...f6 11.h4 ( 11.e2 ) 11...e7!? threatening 12...g5 to trap the white queen, was played in Kamsky-Karpov, Dortmund 1993. However, the young Indian player has a much more hair raising version in mind. ] 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 f8 13.b3 g5!? A crazy move in a well known theoretical line. Not many players would rip open their kingside, especially as White has just played 13. b3 to clear the way for Bb2. On the other hand it must have been a big surprise for Du r a r b e yli , a n d wh e n h e m is f i re s i n t h e complications it earns his plucky opponent an unexpected victory. [ 13...c5 or ] [ 13...b7 ] 14.h3 [ Black gets a counterattack after 14.b2 f6 15.h3 g4 16.h4 gxf3 17.xf6 xh2+ 18.h1 fxg2+ 19.xg2 g8+ ] 14...g7 It was necessary to defend the rook on h8 to stop the threat of 15.Bxg5, but it requires a king with strong nerves to venture into the firing line of W hite's bishop on b2. 15.b2 f6 16.e5 [ If 16.d5? there might be a discovering an attack on the white queen by a black bishop two moves in succession: e5! 17.g3 ( Or 17.f5 g4 ) 17...e4 etc. ] 16...d5 17.g3!? [ The direct 17.f4!? was perhaps strongerBlack's defences along the f-file are weaker than in a typical King's Gambit, so we are ju stif ie d in o f f e rin g t h e e xch an ge : xf4 18.xf4 gxf4 19.f1 ( this is more precise than 19.g4+ f8 20.xf4 when Black can employ a trick to block the f-file: xe5 21.dxe5 f5! ) 19...f5 20.xf4 and Black faces a very difficult defence. ] 17...h5 18.ae1 f6 19.f4! Having developed 1788

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 all his pieces to active squares Durarbeyli decides it is the right moment to sacrifice a piece to open lines. [ After 19.c4 b4 Black looks at least OK. ] 19...fxe5 20.fxg5 d7! [ Black can't risk trying to counterattack as t h e f o l l o w i n g v a r i a t i o n s s h o w : 20...e4 21.xe4 h4 22.gxh4 f4 23.g4 g8 24.h1 d7 25.g6 and the threat of 26.g7 is very awkward for Black or ] [ 20...h4 21.gxh4 f4 22.xf4 exf4 23.xe6 with the huge threat of 24.d5+ ] 21.dxe5? [ T h e c o r r e c t p a t h w a s 21.c4! b4 ( The point is that Black can't bring his knight back to the defence as if 21...e7 22.c5! bxc5 23.dxe5 and White wins immediately.) 22.b1 and with his horse stranded on b4 Black will struggle to defend all the open lines around his king, the main threat being 23.Rf6.Forexample af8 23.a3 a6 24.c5 A) If 24...e7 25.xe5 g8 ( Or 25...d8 26.d5! ) 26.xe6!; B) 24...bxc5 25.xf8 xf8 26.d5! threatening a fork on e5 d6 27.dxe6 e8 28.f5 and the white queen invades decisively. ] 21...c5+ In contrast to the variations of the last note, Black's bishop has a breathing space on c5 [no c4-c5! move to block it in] while W hite's bishop on b2 is firmly shut in b e h i n d it s o wn p a wn o n e 5 . T h i n g s s t i l l remain very dangerous for the black king, but the complications are such that any result is possible. 22.h1 af8 23.f6 c8 Of course Black must refuse the offer on f6 as [ 23...xf6?? 24.exf6+ g8 25.g6 would be a dream for White. ] 24.h4 b4 25.e4 e8 26.a3 d5 27.d3 b5 28.g6?? A very serious mistake as White not only gives up his powerful twin pawn pincer on f6 but even worse falls into a pin. And as if that wasn't all, he also closes the diagonal that his queen might have used to attack with [ 28.e4! ] 28...e7 29.ef1 d8 Now Black threatens to take on f6 several times, which leads White to take desperate measures: 30.g4 hxg4

31.f2 g3! 32.xa7 xh2+ 33.g1 b6+ 34.xb6 xb6 35.d4 d5 36.xe6 c5 37.c4 cxd4 38.cxd5 g5 39.xf8 xf8 40.e4 d3! The counterattack triumphs as White's g-pawn will queen in the event of 41. Bxd3 Be3+. 0-1

1647 Forster,Richard Khalifman,Alexander Bad Woerishofen [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2335 2650 1996

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.g4 f8!? Of course the drawbacks of this move are evident, but tournament practice has shown that this move is viable. 12.0-0 c5 13.e1 b6 [ 13...c4 is premature as the game De Firmian - Gulko, USA 1994 showed: 14.f1 b5 Now White should play very actively, otherwise Black will complete his development with a pleasant position. 15.a4! b4 16.b3 c3 17.e5! xe5 18.dxe5 e7 ( After 18...xe5 the exchange sacrifice l o o k s v e r y s t r o n g : 19.xe5 xe5 20.xb4+ g8 21.f4 After winning the c3pawn White will have Bishop and pawn for the Rook (approximate material equality), whilst Black's forces are totally uncoordinated. Black can't hold onto the c3pawn by playing f6 i n vi e w o f 22.e4! wi t h a d e c i s i ve m a t e r i a l a d va n t a g e t o White. ) 19.e3 b7 20.ad1 g6 21.h4 h5 22.f4 g7 23.d6! with a big advantage to White. The exchange sacrifice can hardly be accepted, so W hite can simply double Rooks on the d-f ile the b4-pawn is also hanging now. ] 14.e5?! [ White obtained no advantage by playing 14.b3 in Leko - Adams, Dortmund, 1996: f6 15.h4 b7 16.e5 ( 16.b2!? deserves serious attention with the idea of meeting xf3 with 17.dxc5! and this mess seems to be in White's favour.) 16...cxd4 17.xd4 c5! After swapping off the 1789

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Queens, Black has nothing to worry about. 18.b2 ( 18.f4 b4 19.d2 xf4 20.xf4 e7 ) 18...xd4 19.xd4 d8 20.b2 e7 21.ad1 c5 22.f1 d5 and Black is already slightly better. ] 14...cxd4! The only move. It looks extremely risky, but concrete variations show that Black has made the right choice. [ White hoped for 14...xe5 15.dxe5 xe5 and had prepared a very nice refutation: 16.xe5! xe5 17.f3! Now Black is in real trouble. b8 ( 17...e1+ is no improvement i n v i e w o f 18.f1 b8 19.g3 a8 20.xh6! with an overwhelming advantage.) 18.f4 xb2 19.e1 b7 20.g3 and W hite i s threatening to capture the Rook as well as to play Be5 with a winning attack. ] 15.g6+ [ White could win the exchange by another method: 15.f3 , but it's hardly better: xe5! 16.xa8 xd3 17.cxd3 xh2+ 18.f1 d6 19.d2 b7 and Black has two pawns for the exchange, and with a pair of strong Bishops clearly has the better chances. ] 15...fxg6 16.f3+ f6 17.xa8 xh2+ 18.h1 [ 18.f1!? was the alternative to the text: f7 19.g3 xg3!? 20.fxg3 b7 21.xh8 xg3 and Black can decide whether to continue the attack or to take a draw by perpetual. ] 18...f7 19.f3 d6 20.c3! [ 20.d2?! g5! 21.c3 g4 with a clear advantage ] 20...dxc3 21.bxc3 g5 22.a4 g4 23.e2 c5 [ 23...d8! seems to be slightly more precise: 24.e3 ( 24.a3? xa3 25.xa3 d6 winning ) 24...xc3 and Black already has three pawns for the exchange. ] 24.g1 h5 25.g3 e8 26.a6! One of Black's strong Bishops should be exchanged. xa6 27.xa6 d7!? 28.xa7 [ 28.f4!? was worthy of consideration. I can't see anything better for Black than forcing a draw after xf4 29.gxf4 g3! 30.fxg3 f3 31.h2 f6 32.e2 g4+ 33.h3 f2+ 34.h2 g4+ by perpetual. ]

28...e7 29.a6 e5 30.xe5 xe5 Although this position is slightly better for Black, W hite should hold the draw. 31.e3 c5! 32.xc5 xc5 33.b1 d7 34.xb6?? A time trouble blunder. [ After the correct 34.b5 Black can hardly hope to convert his extra pawn to a whole point. ] 34...d1+! A cold shower! 35.h2 h5+ 0-1

1648 Ganguly,Surya Shekhar Speelman,Jonathan S Masters Catalan Bay ENG (7) [Andrew Martin]

B17 2541 2578 02.02.2004

THE REFUTATION OF 4...Nd7? 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 Speelman was very pessimistic about the future of 4...Nd7 after this game. He's been playing this variation for 25 years and still could not avoid getting crushed. Let us see whether Black's chances are really that bad. 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 f8 13.b3 b7 [ This is the first point at which Black could seriously consider deviating. The Bishop stays on c8 to facilitate ...e6-e5: 13...c5!? 14.dxc5 xc5 15.b2 e5 Blocking the long diagonal in this manner slows down the W h i t e a t t a c k . 16.f5 h5 ( 16...xf5! 17.xf5 e8 seems more stable to me.) 17.h3 e6 18.h4 h6 19.e3 b7 Finally. 20.ad1 d4 21.e4 g8 1/2-1/2 Geenen, M-Bagheri, A/Belgium 2003 Agreeing a draw in this position is rather silly the game is just warming up. I prefer White after 22.xb7 xb7 23.xd4 exd4 24.xd4 c5 25.e4 ] 14.b2 f6 15.h4 c5 Several other moves have been played: [ 15...d5 16.e5 c5 17.g3 xe5 18.dxe5 b4 19.fd1 d8 20.c4 xd3 21.xd3 xd3 22.xd3 e7 23.g3 Pikula, D-Sundararajan, K/Biel 2000. Although W hite has an edge this it is my impression that this position should b e survivable. Of course, if a miserable struggle 1790

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 for the draw is the best that Black has then it's not very attractive. ] [ 15...e7 Logical in the sense that Black's King is his problem. So Arlandi connects the Rooks. 16.e5 ae8 17.f4 d8 18.ad1 c8 The King march has its funny side. 19.c4 c5 20.dxc5 xc5+ 21.h1 d8 22.f5 The time spent wandering the board with the King means that White has been able to take the initiative. exf5 23.xf5+ b8 24.d3 A) 24...g5 25.h3 ( 25.g3 xg3 26.hxg3 d4!= ) 25...d4!=; B) 24...c6?! 25.g3+ d6 26.e5 a8 27.xd6 ( 27.d2 ) 27...xd6 28.xd6 xd6 29.e5 hd8 30.xd6 xd6 31.g1 d2 32.f2 d1+ 33.f1 d2 1/2-1/2 Bellia , F-Arlandi, E/Porto San Giorgio 1997 So... respectable results for Black but some rather dubious positions I think. Perhaps the last game represents the best chance for survival with 24....g5 to be qu ic k ly f o llowe d by . . .B d 4 lo o kin g quite reasonable. ] 16.dxc5 xc5 17.d4!N A strong novelty, preventing .. Qh5. [ 17.xf6 gxf6 18.xf6 h5!! was the recent game that Speelman had p r e p a r e d t o f o l l o w 19.fe1 g8?? ( 19...xf3! And here 20.xf3 xh2+ 21.f1 xf3 22.gxf3 e7 was the simple im p r o ve m e n t f o r B l a ck o ve r B o lo g a n ' s catastrophic 19...Rg8) 20.e4! Neutralising the main threat. xg2+ 21.xg2 g4+ 22.h1 xe4 23.xe4 xe4 24.e1 h7 25.d4 e8 26.xe6+- Black is wiped out. d7 27.f3 b8 28.d4 c8 29.h3+ f5 30.xf5 1-0 Leko, P-Bologan, V/Wijk aan Zee NED 2004. ] 17...a5 Trying to keep in touch with h5 but as Speelman pointed out in a recent newspaper column, that be may not be totally essential. [ Speelman thinks that 17...c7! 18.xf6 xf3 19.b2 b7 is Black's best chance but White must hold at least a small edge with connected Rooks and a more influential Queen. ] 18.xf6 gxf6 [ 18...xf3!? was Black's original intention b u t t h e n h e n o t i c e d 19.d4 xh2+

20.xh2 gxf6 21.d6+ e8 22.fe1!! w h i c h t u r n s o u t w e l l f o r W h i t e : h5+ 23.g1 g8 24.b5+! A couple of sa crif ice s to be gin wit h b ut W hit e ge t s e v e r y t h i n g b a c k w i t h i n t e r e s t . xb5 25.xe6+ fxe6 26.xe6+ d8 ( 26...f8 27.xf6+ e8 28.xf3 ) 27.xg8+ d7 28.f7+ c8 29.gxf3 ] 19.e4! The same idea that Leko employed, neutralising Black's powerful Bishop, giving White an undisputed positional advantage. xe4 20.xe4 d8 21.ad1 h5 22.d3 g7 23.fd1 Very powerful play. In effect the Black Bishop is useless. c7 24.d7! b5 25.h3 b6 There are still no real weak points for the Bishop to latch on to. The pawn on f2 is very well covered. 26.c3 c8 27.1d3 he8 28.d4 h8 [ I would have hoovered off the Knight in an instant but as it turns out 28... Bxd4 would make no dif ference. 28...xd4 29.g3+ h8 30.xd4 e5 31.d6 f5 32.xf7+- ] 29.f4 g8 30.xf6+ g7 31.xe6 Ta le n te d p la yers b acked u p b y p owe rf u l computer programs are changing the face of chess. The 4.. .Nd7 line has been played and relied upon by many of the world's elite so of course it has almost been analysed to death. We will have to see whether this game sounds the final death knell or whether there is life yet to be found. 1-0

1649 Georgiev,Kiril Adams,Michael Groningen [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2660 2630 1993

Co n t a in s a b r illia n t n o ve l t y f ro m Mic k e y Adams, which refutes White's popular set-up. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.c4 gf6 6.g5 e6 7.e2 b6 8.d3 h6 9.5f3 c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.d2 [ 11.e5 with 12. Ngf3 to follow is the main line we'll consider it elsewhere. ] 11...0-0 [ 11...c7 ] [ and 11...bd7 are the alternatives but immediate castling looks more to the point. ] 1791

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.0-0-0 a4! This is the novelty. This lunge looks dubious, but concrete analysis proves it to be strong. Intending Qb6 Black begins immediate action on the queenside. Previously other moves had been played but all of them are much weaker. 13.b5 d7 14.xd7 [ 14.xh6?! fails to xb2! 15.xb2 b6 with a large advantage ] [ w h i l e a f t e r 14.xa4 xa4 15.c4 Black has ( 15.xh6 b6 gives Black a large initiative, for example: 16.e3 ac8 17.xc5 xc5 18.d2 fc8 19.e1 d5 with the idea of Nb4.) 15...b5! 16.xc5 c8 17.d4 ( 17.xc8 xc8 18.b3 e4 w i t h a c l e a r a d v a n t a g e) 17...xc2 and White is in trouble. ] 14...xd7 15.h3 [ 15.xh6?! suggests itself but actually White will face problems after c7 16.b5 ( 16.e3 b6 17.c3 xe3+ 18.fxe3 ac8 looks dangerous for W hite.) 16...c3! 17.bxc3 gxh6 18.e2 e4 19.d7 b6 A) in the game Svidler - Khalifman, Tilburg 1 9 9 4 W h i t e b l u n d e r e d w i t h 20.xb7? and after a3+ 21.b1 xf2 22.a1?! ( 22.a4!? xe2 23.xa3 ab8 24.b2 fd8 with a clear advantage) 22...d6 Black achieved a decisive advantage.; B) 20.xb6!? axb6 and White has to fight for a draw. ] 15...ac8 16.b1 [ After 16.xh6? c6 17.e3 b6 White loses by force: 18.c3 xe3+ 19.fxe3 xc3 and so on. ] 16...c6 17.c1 d5 Black's initiative grows quickly. The situation is already quite unpleasant for White, in particular he has to spend another tempo parrying the threat of Nc3. 18.c4 fd8 Possible, although in my opinion [ t h e i m m e d i a t e 18...b5! with a large advantage was more purposeful. ] 19.a1 [ By 19.e5 e8 20.b3 White would obtain more chances of consolidating his forces. ] 19...b5 20.e4 e7 21.c3 [ 21.d4 a6 with the idea of Nac3 is disastrous for White. ] 21...a6 22.e5 f6 23.g4

[ Curiously enough this position was reached in the game Robbiano Taboada - F.Cruz, Peru (ch) 1994 via a slightly different move order. W hite was not able to change the assessment of the position: 23.f4 b4 with a strong attack ] 23...axc3 Destroying White's fortifications. The rest is simple. 24.bxc3 [ After 24.xf6+ xf6 both Knights attack the Queen. ] 24...xc3+ 25.b2 [ 25.b1 c4 ] 25...c4 26.f3 [ 26.e2 xb2+ 27.xb2 dc8 ] 26...xb2+ 27.xb2 c2+! 28.xc2 xa2+ 29.d3 c4+ White resigned. [ 29...c4+ 30.d2 b4+ ] 0-1

1650 Haba,Petr Burmakin,Vladimir KB Czech Open (7) [Andrew Martin]

B17 2500 2575 2003

Here's a brief encounter where White tries to sweep Black from the board. Unlucky! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.f3 gf6 6.xf6+ xf6 7.e5 By and large the teeth of this variation have been drawn. Black has several reasonable moves including 7...Be6,7...Nd7 and the text. f5 8.c3 [ 8.g4 g6 9.h4 is the immediate smash which Black should be able to rebuff: d7! 10.xg6 hxg6 11.c4 e6 12.h5 gxh5 13.gxh5 a5+ 14.d2 b6 15.c3 0-0-0 16.c2 f6 White has the bishop pair, but p r o b l e m s wit h h i s h - p a wn , O sm a n , M Bargan, S/ Bucharest 2003. ] 8...e6 9.g4 g6 10.h4 'Ere we go' But with Black still in control of the e4 square this advance has little real punch. d6! 11.e2 [ 11.h5 e4 12.f3?! xe5! ] 11...c5 12.g2 White controls e4 to really threaten h5. [ 12.g5 h5! 13.b5+ d7 ] [ 12.h5 e4 13.g5? xh1 14.gxf6 gxf6 15.b5+ e7-+ ] 12...cxd4 13.h5 d3! Burmakin's response is 1792

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 energetic and correct. White is never given any time to execute his threats. 14.e3 c7 15.hxg6 xe5 16.g5!? g4?! Why send the knight to no-man's land? [ 16...xc3+ 17.bxc3 xc3+ 18.d1 and Black can take the perpetual, or the rook: xa1 19.gxf6 with crazy complications after d2! ] 17.xd3 fxg6 18.f4!? perhaps White should prefer grabbing the piece: [ 18.e2! h2 ( 18...xc3+ 19.f1; 18...h5 19.xg4! hxg4 20.xh8+ e7 21.xa8 xc3+ 22.f1 must win ) 19.f4 xf4 20.xf4 xf4 21.xh2 and the rook is immune, as xh2?? 22.c6+ ] 18...0-0! Another remarkable move which keeps the Black position afloat. [ 18...xf4? 19.xf4 xf4 loses to 20.b5+ f8 21.f1 ] 19.g3? Obviously the piece cannot be captured, as [ 19.fxe5? xe5+ 20.e2 g3+ is crushing, but why not ] [ 19.h3! xf4 20.xh7+ f7 21.xf4 xf4 22.f1 when Black is forced to play xf1+! 23.xf1 h8 to regain the queen, b u t W h it e 's b ish o p m a y we ll p ro ve t h e dominant piece here. ] 19...xf4 Now White is lost. 20.xg4 [ 20.xf4 xf4 21.xf4 xf4 is also hopeless for White. ] 20...e5+ 21.d1 [ 21.e2 g3+! 22.d1 ad8+ 23.d2 xe2+ 24.xe2 f2+ is simple enough. ] 21...ad8+ 22.c2 xc1 23.axc1 f2+ 24.b1 dd2-+ 25.b4 e2 One will never see a more total domination of the seventh rank than this! It felt like a roller-coaster ride but perhaps we should give Burmakin full credit for a marvellous, controlled display of tactics. 0-1

1651 Kamsky,Gata Karpov,Anatoly Dortmund [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2655 2725 1993

One of the most fantastic opening novelties I've ever seen. An unbelievable King move in the opening! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 f6 11.h4 [ 11.e2 is the main alternative to the text, we'll consider this move elsewhere. ] 11...e7!? A very unexpected idea which was first introduced in this game. Black is threatening g7-g5! [ The alternatives do not look very good: 11...d7 12.f4 c7 13.e5! a5+ 14.c3 g5 Black relied on this resource, however an unpleasant surprise awaits him. 15.xg5! xe5 16.f3! The point. White wins the p i e c e b a c k w i t h a c l e a r e d g e . xd4 17.xd4 e7 18.0-0-0 ad8 19.he1 c8 20.h4 and Black was in trouble in Svidler - Burmakin, Elista, 1994. ] [ 11...a5+ 12.d2 h5 13.xh5 xh5 14.e5 0-0 15.0-0-0 c5 16.g4 f6 17.g5 hxg5 18.xg5 d5 19.c4 c7 20.dxc5 f6 21.d2 d7 22.h4 b6 23.cxb6 axb6 24.a3 c6 25.he1 f7 26.h5 with a clear advantage for White due to his extra pawn, Hector - Hodgson, London 1991. ] 12.e5 White is practically forced to give up a pawn. [ 12.0-0? loses a piece after g5 13.h3 g4 ] [ 12.d2?! is a lso ba d : g5 13.h3 e5 14.e3 d5 15.e2 f4 16.f1 exd4 a n d a l l W h i t e 's p i e ce s we r e m is e ra b l y placed in A.Rodrigu es - Miranda, Bello Horizonte 1997. ] 12...xe5 13.dxe5 a5+ 14.c3 xe5+ 15.e3 The critical position for the whole line. W hite's compensation looks good enough. Black's King is not safe and the Bishop on c8 is not very good, but the black pawn shield is rather solid. The position is probably unclear and is playable for both sides. b6 [ 15...c5?! 16.0-0-0 g5 is dubious because of the unexpected 17.g3! and after xg3 1793

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.hxg3 two pawns (c5 and g5) are hanging. ] 16.0-0-0 g5 17.a4 c5 Removing the weakness on the dark squares, as well as im provin g his own ligh t-squa re d Bish op . 18.he1 d7 [ 18...c7!? seems even better than the text. Black's Queen retreats from the centre as s o o n e r o r l a t e r t h i s m o ve wi ll b e c o m e necessary, also Black keeps the option of developing his Bishop either on d7 or b7. This continuation was tried in Golubev Ni s ip e a n u , R o m a n ia , 1 9 9 7 . T h e g a m e continued: 19.h4 g8 20.hxg5 hxg5 21.f4 d7 22.c4 g4 23.f5 xe3 24.xe3 f4 25.de1 f6! 26.e4 ( 26.fxe6 xe6 27.a6 g7 28.e4 ad8 29.xa7 g4 and White's position is quite uncomf ortable.) 26...exf5 27.g3 g4 with a big advantage for Black. ] 19.a3 hd8 20.g3 [ 20.d4 f4+ leads White nowhere ] [ the straightforward approach 20.f4 fails: gxf4 21.d4 g5 22.e5 h4! ( 22...xg2?? 23.xc5! ) 23.g3 fxg3 24.hxg3 xg3 25.xc5 bxc5 26.xc5+ e8 27.xf6 f4+ ] [ but 20.b4! is worthy of consideration. e8 21.xc5 xh2 22.d4 and White's domination over the dark squares is ample compensation for the pawn.. ] 20...c7 21.d4 e8! 22.b1 [ The seemingly strong 22.e5 doesn't have the desired effect: c6 23.xf6+ xf6 24.e4 xd1+ 25.xd1 d8+ and White has nothing to show for the pawn. ] 22...d5 Now it's possibl e to draw some conclusions about the result of the opening. It looks as if White has failed to obtain sufficient compensation for the pawn, mainly because his Queen is out of play. [ 22...c6!? was also good: 23.e5 d7 24.c2 b7 and White hardly has adequate compensation for the pawn. ] 23.f4! Nevertheless White still has the resources to fight, and the position is still complicated. ad8 [ Of course capturing another pawn was bad: 23...gxf4 24.gxf4 xf4? 25.f1 winning ] 24.c2 5d6 25.xf6+ xf6 26.fxg5+ hxg5 27.xd6 xd6 28.c4 Only move.

Obviously W hite cannot f ight without his Queen. e7 29.e3 f6 30.h4 gxh4 31.gxh4 d7 [ 31...d8!? was slightly more precise, keeping an eye on the pawn on f6. ] 32.h6 e5 [ 32...d2?! was weaker as after 33.g7+ f7 34.h5 d4 35.h6 the pawn on h6 seems to give White sufficient resources to survive: xc4 36.c1 and so on. ] 33.h5 g4! [ After 33...d2?! White has an unexpected blow 34.xe5+! fxe5 35.g5+ f8 36.h6+ g8 ( 36...e7 37.g5+= ) 37.g5+ g7 38.xd2 and White has won the pawn back. ] 34.h7+ d8? A blunder in time trouble after which the h-pawn becomes really dangerous. [ Correct was 34...f7! but Black probably had insufficient time to realize that after 35.g6 d1+ 36.c2 xe1 37.xf7+ d8 38.xf6+ c7 there is no perpetual check as the black King can hide away on a6. ] 35.h6 d2 36.f5 [ 36.xa7!? w a s a l s o n o t b a d : xc4 ( 36...xc2 37.xb6+ d7 38.b7+ d8 39.d5+ followed by Kc2) 37.xb6+ e7 38.b3 g6+ 39.a1 and Black is in trouble. ] 36...xf5 37.xf5 d7 White probably missed this attempt and being under time pressure went astray. [ 37...h2 38.h7 e7 39.g1 followed by Rg8 and h8Q. ] 38.g6? Closing the g-file leads to fatal consequences. [ After the correct 38.c1! d4 39.xd7! xc4+ ( 39...xd7 40.d1! winning ) 40.b1 h4 Black has to sacrifice a piece, otherwise the h-pawn queens. ( 40...xd7 41.h1 winning ) 41.d1 White would obtain excellent winning chances. ] 38...h2 39.h7 e7 40.d3 e6 41.g1 f5 Just in time. The pawns are unstoppable. The re s t n e e d s n o co m m e n t . 42.g7+ f6 43.xa7 e4 44.e2 f4 45.b3 f3 46.d1 f5 47.c1 xh7 48.b7 e5 49.xb6 xa2 White resigned. A very interesting game, despite the mutual mistakes. 0-1

1794

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1652 Kasparov,Garry Kamsky,Gata Linares [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2805 2695 1994

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 [ As the game Tiviakov - Adams proved, Black has to solve rather serious problems after 10...f6 11.e2 So the text is a popular way to deviate from this line. ] 11.g4! [ A clear improvement over the game Sion Karpov, Leon, 1993 which continuedwith 11.d2 b6 12.g4 g5! 13.h3 g8! 14.g4 ( 14.xh6 f8 15.h7 f6 16.h3 g4 17.h4 gxf3 18.xf6 fxg2 ) 14...b7 15.0-0-0 ( 15.xh6 c5 16.xg5 xg5 17.xg5 xh1 18.0-0-0 c4 ) 15...0-0-0 16.he1 f4 with the better chances for Black. ] 11...g5 [ After this disastrous game Black players ha ve s witc he d t o 11...f8 Currently this variation is very popular. ] 12.h3! g8 Black is playing as Karpov did against Sion, but there is a small but very i m p o r t a n t d i f f e r e n c e h e r e . 13.d2! H e r e t h e m o v e s B d 2 a n d b 6 h a ve b e e n omit ted , a nd this ma kes th is very st ron g Knight manoeuvre possible. [ 13.xh6?? wa s a m a jo r b lu n d e r: f8 14.h7 f6 15.h3 g4 16.h4 gxf3 17.xf6 fxg2 18.g1 xh2 and Black wins. ] 13...f8?! Too slow. [ Black had to play more actively, 13...c5!? for example. ] 14.e4 g7 [ 14...f5 weakens the King too much, after 15.h5+ e7 16.g3 f6 17.e2 Black's life is hard ] [ 14...b6 with the idea of Bb7 and 0-0-0 looks natural, but it seems that White can maintain a strong initiative with 15.0-0 b7 16.f4 c5 17.fxg5 c4 18.xf7! xf7 19.h5+! g6 ( 19...e7 20.gxh6! cxd3 21.g5+ xg5 22.xg5+ e8 23.h7 xe4 24.h8 winning ) 20.d2 cxd3

21.f1+ e7 22.xg6 and White's attack looks very strong. ] 15.0-0!? This pawn sacrifice does not require too much courage. xd4 16.e3 White has a big advantage in development, since Black has made too many moves with his Bishop. e5?! Not the best defence. [ 16...xe3? 17.fxe3 was bad as it allows White to introduce his Rook into the attack ] [ but 16...xb2!? deserves attention. Although Black's position already looks compromised very creative p lay is no w required: 17.c3! xa1 18.xa1 W h it e 's h u ge d e ve lo p m e n t a d va n t a ge , d o m i n a t io n o ve r t h e d a r k s qu a re s a n d Black's ugly-looking kingside undoubtedly outweighs Black's material advantage. g6 ( 18...b6? 19.xh6 winning ) 19.d1! Aiming for the d6-square. The following funny variation illustrates White's resources: f5 20.h5 f7 21.c2! (with the idea of Nd6) f8 ( 21...fxe4 22.xe4 f8 23.xg6+ xg6 24.xh6 e5 25.d4 f5 26.g7+ e8 27.f6 winning ) 22.c5 d7 23.d6! c8 24.xf8! and White wins. ] 17.ad1 f6 [ 17...b6 does not make Black's life easier: 18.c4! d7 19.e2 0-0-0 20.c5 e8 21.xd8+ xd8 22.a3 with a strong attack. ] [ after 17...b6 18.c4! Black cannot develop by b7? because of 19.xe6! ] 18.xf6+ xf6 19.h7! h8 20.xh6 e7 [ 20...e7 allows a brilliant combination: 21.c5! xh7 ( 21...xc5? 22.xf6 xh7 23.d8# ) 22.d8+!! xd8 23.f8+ d7 24.d1+ c7 25.xd8 xd8 26.d6# ] 21.g7 Black is just hopelessly lost against White's superior forces. f8 22.d3 d7 23.xg5 xg5 24.xg5 White has a clear e xt ra p a wn a s we l l a s a h u ge p o s i t io n a l advantage. Kasparov completes the game with great energy and precision. d8 25.e5 e7 26.c7 c8 27.a5 b6 28.e5! a6 29.e4 c8 [ 29...xd3 30.xc6+ d8 31.d1! ] 30.c4! g8 [ The pawn cannot be captured: 30...xc4?! 31.xc6+! xc6 32.b8+ ] 31.b3 b7 32.fd1 a8 33.c5! The most 1795

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 energetic way. bxc5 [ 33...xc5 34.xc5 bxc5 35.d7 and the endgame is absolutely hopeless. ] 34.d6 c4 35.bxc4 c5 36.xa8 xa8 37.xc5 b8 38.g3 b7 39.d4 f8 40.f6 Black resigned. An excellent victory, typical of Garry Kasparov's style. [ 40.f6 e7 41.d8+ xd8 42.xd8+ ] 1-0

1653 Kasparov,Garry Karpov,Anatoly Linares [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2780 2725 1992

Garry Kasparov at his very best! The games between the 2 K's are always the centre of attention. If I'm not mistaken, I would say that they are always theoretically important. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.c4 e6 7.e2 b6 8.b3 h6 9.5f3 c5 [ Two years later Karpov came up with a very im port ant imp rovemen t. His gam e versus Kasparov in Linares 1994 continued: 9...a5! 10.c3 ( 10.a4 c5 Karpov proved in later games that the interpolation of the moves a5 and a4 favours Black as it becomes dangerous for W hite to castle Queenside.) 10...c5! 11.a3 c7! 12.e5 ( Af t e r t h e pre limin a ry 12.dxc5 xc5 the manoeuvre 13.e5? is just a blunder in view of the typical blow xf2+! 14.xf2 xe5 15.xe5 g4+ and Black is a clear pawn up. ) 12...cxd4 13.cxd4 a4! ( 13...xa3 14.xh6 xb2 15.xb2 xh6 16.gf3 ) 14.c2 ( 14.a2 xa3! ) 14...d7! 15.xd7 ( 15.gf3 c8 16.d3 xc1+ 17.xc1 xc1+ 18.d2 xh1 ) 15...bxd7 16.d1 d6 17.e2 d5 18.d2 b5 19.c3 xc3 20.xc3 f6 21.d3 d5! 22.d2 ( 22.xb5+ e7 ) 22...e7 and Black's advantage is beyond doubt, although by excellent defence Kasparov managed to draw. This game is currently the most recent in this line in the battles of Karpov and Kasparov. So the most recent round of this theoretical fight is in Karpov's favour. But I'm sure that

Kasparov has prepared something here. We'll see... ] 10.f4 d6 There are two main alternatives to the text. [ 10...a6 was played in Kupreichik Spiridonov, Palma 1989. 11.0-0-0 c4!? This is th e idea behind 10...a6. By sacrificing a pawn Black hopes to obtain domination over the light squares. 12.xc4 xc4 13.xc4 d5 14.d2 b5 This position was considered by theory to be good for Black, but in this game Kupreichik proves very convincingly that this evaluation was hardly correct. 15.e2 b7 16.e5 f6 17.gf3 c8 18.b1 e4 19.c1 d5 20.he1 e7 White has successfully defended his King and now begins action on t h e kin gsid e . 21.g4! 0-0 22.g5 hxg5 23.xg5 f5 24.g1 c7 25.h6 e8 26.e3 f6 27.g6 f7 28.fh4 with a huge advantage. ] [ 10...bd5!? This move deserves serious attention. After this severe loss against Kasparov, Karpov switched to this move and wa s s u c c e s s f u l i n t h e e n c o u n t e r w i t h Shabalov (Tilburg, 1994): 11.e5 a5+ 12.d2 b5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.0-0-0 A b ra ve m o ve , wh ich is t yp ica l o f A le x S h a b a l o v ' s s t y l e . ( 14.c3 is a good al ternative, planning Nf3, kingside castling and a4 at the right moment.) 14...b7 15.e4 e7 16.d6+ xd6 17.xd6 d8 18.e5 ( 18.e5 This move leads White nowhere: b6 19.xd5 xd6 20.xb7 xd1+ 21.xd1 xb7 22.f3 0-0 and Black is already slightly better.) 18...0-0 19.f3 d7 20.d6 fe8 21.d4 a6 22.f3 b6 23.g3 c8 Black has a safe and solid position and outplays his opponent very convincingly. 24.he1 5f6 25.f3 d5 26.xd5 xd5 27.e4 h7! And Black took the upper hand. W hite has no real threats on the kingside, while Black's threats on the opposite side of the board will soon become dangerous. ] 11.g3! e7 [ 11...c7 is the main alternative to the text, but it's hardly a real improvement: 12.dxc5 xc5 13.0-0-0 xg3 14.hxg3 d7 15.h4 c8 16.e5 b5 17.e1 0-0 18.gf3 bd5 19.b1 ( 19.hd4 b6 20.g4 1796

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White had gained a large initiative on the kingside in Magomedov - Tsiganova, Cappelle-la-Grande 1995) 19...c6 20.d2 fe8 21.dh1 f8 22.g4 e4 23.e1 d6 24.g5 and Black had nothing to deflect White from her attack in J. Polgar - Epishin, Geneva 1996 ] 12.dxc5 xc5 13.e5 d7 [ Deserving of attention is simplifying the position a little with 13...bd7 14.gf3 xe5 15.xe5 with a small but stable advantage for White. ] 14.gf3 h5 It looks natural to swap this Bishop off before castling queenside. 15.0-0-0 [ 15.xf7?! is dubious: xg3 16.fxg3 xf7 17.e5 e7 ( 17...f5? 18.f1 g5 19.f7 ) 18.h5+ d8 19.g6 g5 20.xg5+ hxg5 21.xh8 e7 22.g6+ f6 and the Knight cannot escape. ] 15...xg3 [ 15...0-0-0 not opening the h-file for the R o o k wa s n o t b e t t e r : 16.xd7 xd7 17.e5! xe5 18.xe5 and Black has big problems: f4 ( 18...f6 19.xf7! winning ) 19.c4 and so on. ] 16.hxg3 0-0-0 Black's position looks very solid and safe but starting from this point W h i t e m a i n t a i n s t h e i n i t i a t i ve w i t h ve r y c r e a t i v e a n d e n e r g e t i c p l a y . 17.h5!! White's previous moves were very natural and most players would play them. But this is real World Champion's move! It was not easy to find a drawback in Black's arrangement of pieces, but the text move finds one: Nxf7 is threatened and the Black Bishop cannot find a suitable square. e8 [ T h e l o g i c a l a l t e r n a t i v e 17...g6!? compromises Black's kingside pawn structure but nevertheless deserves attention as White's initiative was possibly less powerful after 18.h4 ] 18.xd8+ xd8 [ 18...xd8? 19.xf7! ] 19.d2+ d6 [ 19...c8 20.c3 ] 20.d3 c7 [ The evacuation of the King has to be postponed again: 20...c8? was simply bad in view of 21.c3+ b8 22.xg7 ] 21.g4! c8 [ 21...f6? was losing due to 22.d4 ]

22.g5 f8 White's play has looked very convincing up to this moment, and he has posed many problems for Black. However Black's position still looks rather solid, and it's not clear how to maintain the pressure. [ The active attempt 22...b5?! fails because of 23.gxh6 xd3 24.hxg7 d8 25.b1! ( 25.h8?! h7!! 26.g5 g8 with a large advantage ) 25...f4 26.e1 g6 27.h8 and the pawn queens ] [ the best decision, according to Garry Kasparov, was 22...b8! White would keep the initiative with 23.gxh6 gxh6 24.b1 ( 24.xh6?? allows f4! )] 23.h4! Excellent! This Rook works wonders in t h i s g a m e . I t k e e p s g u a r d o n B l a c k ' s kingside but at the same time helps White's queenside activity, due to the possibility of the rook swinging across the board. b8 24.a4! e7?! A serious inaccuracy which makes White's task much easier. [ 24...c8! was more tenacious, White could keep the initiative with both 25.b1!? ( and 25.g6 fxg6 26.d4 )] 25.a5 d5 [ 25...c8 26.a6 with a strong attack on the queenside. ] 26.b1! Continuing to play dynamically. [ Much weaker was winning a pawn with 26.xd5?! exd5 27.b4 c6 28.xd5 xd5 29.xd5 d8 and Black has suddenly achieved good counterplay. ] 26...d8 [ Black has some alternatives but all them fail to solve his problems: 26...f8 27.xd5 exd5 28.b4 c6 ( 28...hxg5 29.xd5 d8 30.d4 with a clear edge) 29.gxh6! with a very beautiful idea: xh4 30.a6+! bxa6 31.b4+ followed by Qf8. ] [ 26...g8!? was the most stubborn but White still has a big advantage: 27.c4 d6 28.d4 hxg5 29.c4 g4 ( 29...f6 30.cxd5 xd4 31.xd4 with a clear advantage) 30.fe5 f6 31.cxd5 xe5 32.xe5 xe5 33.dxe6 fxe6 34.a2! threatening Rd8 and Ba4 which is practically impossible to parry. ] 27.a6 a5 28.e2! Intending Qe5-g7 eliminating the kingside. b6 29.axb7 xg5 [ 29...c6 30.fe5 ] 30.xg5 xg5 31.h5 Finally the Rook finds its way to the queenside and almost 1797

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ends the game. f6 useful moves. ] [ After 31...xg2 White was winning by [ 18...xf3 19.xf3 cxd4 20.xd4 e5 32.c5 d7 ( 32...f6 33.d1 winning ) 21.dd1 a5 With an idea to block and play 33.a6! xc5 34.xc5 xb7 35.d6+ on the dark squares simply fails due to: a8 36.d8+ b8 37.c8 ] 22.g3+- ] 32.a5 Preparing a direct attack against the [ 18...a8 19.g3 c8 20.dxc5 xc5 pawn on a7 which cannot be parried. c6 21.d2 c7 22.e4 e7 23.xf6 xf6 33.c5 xb7 34.xb7 xb7 35.a6+ 24.xf6 gxf6 25.e4 f5 26.xb7+ xb7 c6 36.a4+ d6 37.d3+ d5 38.g3+! 27.d4 ed8 28.ed1 xd4 29.xd4 Fo rc in g B la c k t o c lo se t h e f i re e xi t . e5 h1+ 30.c2 c6 31.b3 b5 32.b2 a6 39.a3+ c7 40.c5+ d8 41.xa7 33.d2 Vovk, A-Tishin, D Alushta 2006 ] Black resigned. 19.dxc5! bxc5 1-0 [ 19...xc5 20.e5 is the usual set up, W hite wants to play f4, and g4-g5 - see the Dolmatov game in the Archive. ] 1654 B17 20.d2! [ 20.e5 d5!? Otherwise f4 will be strong. Korneev,O 2584 21.cxd5 exd5 22.h5 g6 23.xg6 fxg6 Reuss,A 2301 24.xg6 xe1 ( 24...f8 25.f3 xh2 24th Staufer-Open (5) 04.01.2012 26.xh6 f4 27.h5 d4 28.d2 d5 [Milos Pavlovic] Again with some kind of compensation.) 25.xe1 g7 26.g3 e5 White is a pawn 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 up but Black has some compensation here This game came as a nice opportunity for me with a strong center and nice control of a to reply to some ChessPublishing subscribers diagonal. ] who wrote to me a sking abo ut a spe cif ic p o s i t i o n t h a t a r o s e i n t h i s g a m e . 5.g5 20...c6 [ 20...xg2 21.g1 ] The main line of the system gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 21.g3 a7 22.f3 e7 23.e4 White has a 10.xe4 f6 This move is not so popular in better structure and it is not easy for Black to recent years, the alternative is played and find good moves c7 24.a3 Interesting was also: analysed much more: [ 24.f2 with the idea of Nd3-e5, and this [ 10...c7 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 f8 looks good to me. ] This is considered best play for Black and 24...xd1+ 25.xd1 d8 26.e1 xe4 was widely adopted by many. ] 11.e2 b6 12.d2 b7 13.0-0-0 c7 27.xe4 f6 [ 27...g6 28.c2 h5 29.f4 ] 14.b1 A sharp and strong alternative is also: 28.xf6 gxf6 29.xb7 xb7 [ 14.e5 With a few possibilities, [ 29...xb7 30.e4+ a7 31.h4 d2 A) 14...0-0-0 15.f4 b8 16.b1 ( Or 32.xh6 d7 33.xf6 xh2 34.e3 ] 16.hf1 ); B) 14...c5 15.b5+ e7 16.dxc5 xc5 30.e3 d4 [ 30...c6 31.a2 h5 32.c1 d4 ( 16...bxc5 This is also possible.) 17.a3 33.h6 Despite the fact that the position With a sharp play. ] has simplified, the weak pawn structure on 14...0-0-0 15.c4 c5 16.c3 he8 the kingside helps W hite to generate his [ 16...b8 17.he1 he8 Leads to same play. ] thing ] 17.he1 b8 18.c2 This is a key move in 31.xh6 xf3 32.f8! f5+ 33.a2 d7 34.e2 Simply planning to push the h-pawn this line a6 [ 18...cxd4 19.xd4 a6 20.g3 c8 21.f4 b7? 35.e3!+- a7 36.g4 g5 37.b3 ed8 22.d3 a8 23.b3 c6 24.d2 1-0 Is a tense position in which White has the slightly better chances, as he has more 1798

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 playing as if there was nothing to think about. 26.d1 b5 27.c6 d8 28.xd8+ xd8 29.g3 b6 30.f1 e5 Even now there is no real advantage, but we can already feel that Black's position is easier to play. 31.a8+ g7 32.f3 b4 33.e2 [ 33.cxb4 looks preferable. ] 1.e4 This game has little theoretical value, but 34.g2 bxc3 35.bxc3 c5 co n s id e rab le in stru ct ive va lu e. A nyb o d y 33...f5 After surrendering the a1-h8 playing the Caro-Kann for a win should take 36.d2? heart from the following game, where Black diagonal, the position becomes unpleasant. [ 36.f3 was better, when Black would equalises and then slowly capitalises on a probably play a5 37.c4 b6 and await minute and largely conceptual advantage. c6 developments. ] 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.c3 36...c6+ 37.f3 c7 38.d1 e5 39.h4 gf6 6.xf6+ xf6 7.c4 g6 [ 7...c7 8.b3 e6 9.f3 is thought to be g8 40.f4 c7 41.c2 c5 42.f3 g1+ a little better for W hite by most sources, 43.h3 e3 44.g2 c7 45.e4 [ 45.h2 e5! ] but W hite has to play with considerable subtlety to avoid Black equalising with ...Be7, 45...xc3 46.c6 a5 47.a4 b6 48.e8+ g7 49.b5 c3 50.c6 a3 51.e4 h5 0-0 b6, Bb7 and c5 ] 52.e5+ g8 53.b8+ h7 54.b7 g7 [ 7...f5 8.b3 ] 8.f3 g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 c7 11.e2 55.e4 a1 56.c2 d4 57.c4 e5 e8 12.g5 d5 13.ad1 Nothing much 58.fxe5 xe5 59.e4 c3 60.f3 c7 wrong with this, but it feels a bit thoughtless. 61.e1 d4 62.b4 e5 63.d2 b6 64.e2 d6 65.b2+ d4 66.b3 e5 f5 14.h4 ad8 15.g3 c8 16.b3 [ 16.h3 looks more testing, and might keep a 67.e4? xg3! 68.f3 e1 69.d5 d7+ 70.h2 xh4 71.a5 f6 72.g2 b5 small edge for White. ] 16...g4 17.h3 h5 18.h4 f6 19.xd5 73.e4 xa5 74.c4 d2+ 75.f3 c3+ 0-1 xh4 20.b3 [ 20.xf7+ xf7 21.g4 f6 22.e4 is also possible, but Black has no 1656 B17 particular problems. ] 20...xf3 21.xf3 f6 Dull? You could say Kundin,Alexander 2425 t h a t ? D e a d d r a w? N o , j u s t d e a d e q u a l . Bykhovsky,Avigdor 2480 W i n n i n g c h a n c e s ? Y e s , i f yo u h a ve t h e Last Autumn GM (6) 2002 stamina and determination to play on. 22.d5?! [Andrew Martin] This can hardly be called a mistake, but in the resulting structure, Black's king is slightly THE NEUTRALIZER 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 safer because he has an extra pawn to shield 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.f3 gf6 his king, which is relevant due to the presence 6.xf6+ Gone are the days when 6 Nxf6+ of opposite coloured bishops f2 is weak but f7 was regarded as a genuinely promising try. is not. However, it takes a lot of patience from With due care and attention, Black should be B o l o g a n , a n d a l o t o f c o o p e r a t i o n f r o m a b l e t o a c h i e ve a p r o m i s i n g g a m e . T h e Korneev f or this issue to have any major simplicity of 6 Nxf6+ is deceptive. White has a bearing on the position. cxd5 23.xd5 xd5 lead in development and control of e5. Black 24.xd5 must note these factors and counteract them. [ 24.xd5 looks better, because once Black xf6 7.e5 plays e6 the bishop belongs on the a8-h1 [ 7.c4 is a calm continuation. Black does diagonal. ] best to train his forces on the e5 square and 24...e6 25.c4 b8 Now White should he can then can count on equality: f5 sense some long-term danger and think of a A) 8.e5 e6 9.b3 d6 10.e2 c7=; suitable plan, but it looks like he kept on B) 8.e2 e6 9.g5 e7 10.0-0-0 g4! 1655 Korneev,Oleg Bologan,Viktor Magistral Barcelona Casino (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B17 2657 2659 20.10.2006

1799

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.h3 ( 11.b1 0-0 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 d5 14.c1 g5= ) 11...xf3 12.xf3 d5=; C) 8.0-0 e6 9.e1 g4! 10.c3 d6= ] 7...e6! Introducing a satisfactory scheme of piece development. Black plans ...g6, ...Bg7 and ...0-0 followed by perhaps ..Nf 6-d7!, reducing the grip on e5 and aiming to exc h an ge o f f W h ite 's im p o sin g K n igh t . I believe this to be fine and 7...Nd7 has supporters too- there the theme is the same: [ 7...d7 A) 8.e3 An old Sokolov-Karpov game brought 8 Be3 to the forefront but there is little to fear: xe5 9.dxe5 f5 10.xd8+ xd8 11.c3 ( 11.xa7 xc2 12.b6 a8 13.c4 e6 14.f3 a4!= ) 11...a6 12.e2 e6 13.f4 e7 14.f3 h6 15.h4 h5 16.f2 g6 17.g3 0-0 18.hd1 xd1 19.xd1 d8 20.xd8+ xd8= 21.c5 f6 22.e3 f7 23.b4 e8 24.a4 c2 25.a5 f5 26.c4 d7 27.d2 b1 28.d6 c8 29.c3 d7 30.d4 c8 31.c3 d7 32.c5 c8 33.g2 d7 34.b6 e4 35.xe4 xb6 36.axb6 fxe4 37.c5 e7 38.d4 f7 39.xe4 g7 40.f3 h7 41.g2 g7 42.h3 h7 43.g4 hxg4+ 44.g3 g7 45.f2 h6 46.g2 g7 47.g3 h7 48.xg4 h6 49.g3 g7 50.f3 h7 51.g3 g7 1/2-1/2 Mahjoob, M-Ezat, M/ Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (51); B) 8.d3 g6! 9.e3 g7 10.d2 b6 11.e5 e6 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0-0 xa2 ( 13...f6 14.d3 c4 15.c3 xe3 16.fxe3 d5 17.f4 h6 18.hf1 xf4 19.xf4 d6= ) 14.b3 a5 15.b2 a4 16.a1 axb3 17.cxb3 xb3 18.xb3 d5+ Timman; C) 8.f3 Hoping for a small something but Black's game is easy enough- why, he could even play 8... Nf6 although that's a bit tame. f6 9.e5 d7 10.f3 g6 11.c4 g7 12.c3 0-0 13.0-0 b6 14.b3 g4 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 e6 17.d1 White has two Bishops but this sort of position is typical and offers no more than a minimal edge. Black pushes the Queenside pawns and controls the light squares c4 and d5. a5 18.a3 a4 19.a2 d5 20.c4 e7 21.d5 exd5

22.cxd5 xd5 23.xd5 cxd5 24.xd5 b6 25.d7 ae8 26.f4 xb2 27.ad1 b5 28.xb7 f5 29.b4 a8 30.g4 e6 31.g2 a6 1/2-1/2 Langheinrich, F-Schandorff, L/ Bundesliga 2002 (31) So 7...Nd7 is an effective neutralizer too. ] 8.e2 g6 9.0-0 g7 10.c4 0-0 11.e3 e8! Bringing the Knight to d6 and maybe on to f5 which will highlight the slight vulnerability of the d4 pawn. [ 11...e4 12.c2 ( 12.f4 d6 13.b3 a5 14.c2 fd8 15.ad1 ) 12...d6 13.fd1 f5 14.b3 xe3 15.xe3 b6 16.b3 c7 17.f4 ad8 18.ac1 f5 19.d3 xd3 20.xd3 e6 21.cd1 fe8 22.h3 d6 23.e4 ed8 24.1d2 b5 25.g3 bxc4 26.bxc4 b8 27.b3 xb3 28.axb3 a5 29.d3 c5 30.dxc5 xc5+ 31.e3 xe3+ 32.xe3 xe5 33.fxe5 d2 34.f1 f8 35.e1 b2 36.d1 g5 37.c5 e7 38.d3 a2 39.c6 a6 40.d7+ e8 41.d6 b6 42.c7 xd6+ 43.exd6 d7 44.g4 f5 45.gxf5 exf5 46.e2 g4 47.hxg4 fxg4 48.f2 h5 49.g3 a5 50.h4 1/2-1/2 Munoz Sanchez, M-Labib, I/ Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (50) ] [ 11...d7 12.f4 xe5 13.fxe5 c7 14.b3 ad8 15.ad1 b5 16.c3 b8 17.b3 ] 12.f4 d6 13.b3 f6 In place of 13...Qa5 Black prefers his Queen central and I think th is is th e righ t de cisio n. T he p oint is t o continue to monitor d4. 14.f3 d7 15.d2 f7 16.ad1 fd8 17.c2 Hm- the game has hardly started-evidently White didn't think much of his position or simply felt like a rest day. Black could have played on: With 17... Be6 idea ...Bf5 and ... a5-a4 in the wings he is perfectly fine. ½-½

1657 Kveinys,Aloyzas Speelman,Jonathan S Olympiad Bled (2) [Andrew Martin]

B17 2530 2580 2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 A far more r development 1800

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Stefanov finds another way.) 17.he1 a5 of the King's Bishop than 6 Bc4. The Bishop 18.g3 f8 19.b1 a6 20.d4 xd3+ is l e s s e xp o s e d h e re . B l a ck c a n ' t re a l l y 21.xd3 g5 22.f3 g6 23.ed1 d5 tolerate the Ng5 for very long, thus W hite 24.xf6 gxf6 25.a1 ad8 26.xd5 xd5 envisages Ng5-f3-e5 and finally N1f3, with a 27.xd5 cxd5 28.a3 e7 29.g4 e4 GRIP. e6 7.e2 d6 30.g3 e5 31.h4 e6 32.h5 f4 33.h3 [ 7...b6 8.1f3 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.c4 h6 f5 34.gxf5+ xf5 35.h4 e4 36.a2 f3 11.e4 bd7 12.d1 xe4 13.xe4 f6 37.a4 f5 38.d8 xh5 39.c8+ f6 14.h4 h7 15.g3 h8 16.e5 h4 40.f8+ e6 41.c8+ f6 42.f8+ f7 17.g4 g5 18.h5 xc1 19.xf7 xf7 43.xh6+ e5 44.h8+ f4 45.h3 e5 20.xf7+ g8 21.xd8 g5 22.xh7+ 46.h8+ d6 47.d8+ d7 48.b8+ xh7 23.f7 f6 24.e5 c5 25.f4 g5 e6 49.g8+ f7 50.c8+ f6 51.d8+ 26.fxg5 hxg5 27.f1 g7 28.f7 cxd4 e6 52.c8+ d7 53.g8+ f6 54.h8+ 29.af1 g8 30.g6 d3 31.c7 g6 55.g8+ h5 56.b3 f4 57.b2 e3 1-0 Sudakova, I-Parfenov, V/10th Chigorin 58.fxe3 fxe3 59.g3 e6 60.f3+ g5 Mem B, St Petersburg RUS 2002 (31) ] 61.g3+ f6 62.f4+ e7 63.c7+ f6 8.1f3 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 64.f4+ g6 65.g3+ h5 66.f3+ h4 The advantage of this move must be that it 67.f4+ h3 68.f3+ h2 69.c1 e5 supports the advance ...c6-c5!. The 70.d1 d4 1/2-1/2 Nemtzev, I-Parfenov, V/ disadvantage is that Black has Qg4 to worry 10th Chigorin Mem B, St Petersburg RUS about. Black's other, very reasonable 2002 (70) ] alternative , cutting out Qg4, is 10. ..Nf6. I 11.0-0! Looking strong right now. The two summarise recent games: [ 10...f6 11.h4 ( 11.e2 b6 12.d2 other alternatives,11 Qg4 and 11 Bd2 have b7 13.e5 c7 14.f4 0-0-0 15.0-0-0 c5 also been tried recently: [ 11.g4 f8 16.dxc5 xc5 17.b1 d5 18.a3 g5 A) 12.e4!? b6 13.d2 b7 14.e2 19.fxg5 hxg5 20.a6 xa6 21.xa6+ e5? ( 14...c5 ) 15.0-0-0 c5 16.dxe5 xe5 b8 22.d3 e7 23.g3 b7 24.a4 f6 17.e4 c6 18.he1 d8 19.c3 a6 25.g4 e5 26.e2 e4 27.b4 xb4 20.h4 d4 21.xd4 cxd4 22.xb7 28.xb4 f5 29.c4 xb4 30.axb4 f4 xb7 23.xd4 g6 24.xd6 xd6 25.e5 31.g4 e3 32.e6 de8 33.d6+ c7 1-0 Ruck, T-Van de Wynkele, R/TCh-BEL 34.d5 e2 35.de1 hf8 36.gxf4 gxf4 2002 (25); 37.f3 xc4 38.a1 e4 39.f2 f3 B) 12.0-0 c5 13.b3!? ( 13.e1 b6 14.b3 40.h4 e3 41.g3+ a8 42.c7 d4 f6 15.h4 b7 16.e5 cxd4 17.xd4 0-1 Pogonina, N-Berzina, I/WYg18, Heraklio c5= ) 13...e5 14.c3 g8 15.d1 cxd4 GRE 2002 (42)) 11...e7! 12.e5 ( 12.g4 16.cxd4 f6 17.h4 e4! 18.xe4 g5 g5 13.h3 c5 14.c3 b6 15.d2 b7 19.xg5 xe4 20.d8 d7 21.e5 f5 16.0-0-0 c7 17.b1 f4 18.he1 h5 22.d3 xe5 23.dxe5 xe5 24.e1 f5 19.xg5 hxg4 20.xf4 xf4 21.e3 25.f3 c5+ 26.de3 xd8 27.xd8+ xe3 22.xe3 xh2 23.dxc5 bxc5 g7 28.d1 f6 The smoke has hardly 24.de1 xf2 25.xe6 fxe6 26.xe6+ cleared yet..... 29.h1 b6 30.a1 d8 f8 27.e7 e8 0-1 Gonda, G-Moussa, A/ 31.e5 e6 32.5e4 f5 33.e5 g6 Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (27)) 12...xe5 34.e7 a5 35.h3 d2 36.1e2 xe2 13.dxe5 a5+ 14.c3 xe5+ 15.e3 b6 37.xe2 d6 38.c3 b6 39.d2 e6 16.0-0-0 With a strong initiative for the pawn 40.d4 b5 41.h2 e7 42.g4 e1 although a good defender will probably be 43.g2 h7 44.f2 c1 45.d8 g8 ha pp y en ou gh. Now in K am sky-Ka rp o v 46.d2 c7 47.d6 c2+ 48.g3 b1 Elista 1996, Black played d8!? ( 16...g5 49.h4 e1+ 50.h3 f2 51.g3 c2 17.a4 c5 18.he1 d7 19.a3 hd8 52.h5 d3 53.d6 f1+ 54.g3 g2+ 20.g3 c7 21.d4 e8 22.b1 55.f4 h2+ 56.e3 e2+ 57.f4 when Karpov considered c6 23.e5 d7 e7 58.f6 h2+ 59.e3 e2+ 24.c2 b7 advantageous to Black. 1801

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 60.f4 h2+ 61.e4 1/2-1/2 Ricardi, PPapaioannou, I/Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (61) ] [ 11.d2 c5 12.c3 f6 13.e2 b6 ( I think I prefer the modest 13...0-0 14.e5 d8 15.0-0 d7 16.fe1 c6= ) 14.e5 b7 15.b5+ f8 16.0-0 d8 17.f4! g6 18.ad1 cxd4 19.cxd4 c2 20.f5 e4 21.xe4 xe4 22.fxe6 xe5 23.xf7+ g8 24.dxe5 c8 25.c4 b5 26.e7 e8 27.b3 c5 28.df1 e6 29.f8+ h7 30.xh8+ xh8 31.f8 d7 32.xh8+ xh8 33.f7 e4 34.xh6 1-0 Stevanec, L-Houska, J/ Olympiad w, Bled SLO 2002 (34) ] 11...c5 [ 11...b6 12.g4 g5 13.h3 g8 14.d2 b7 15.a4 ( 15.c4 0-0-0 16.c3 c5 17.xd6+ xd6 18.e3 cxd4 19.cxd4 f6 Tukmakov ) 15...g4 16.h4 e7 17.h5 f6 18.e5 xe5 19.dxe5 d5 20.e4 0-0-0 21.a5 b4 22.xh6 xd3 23.cxd3 xd3 24.axb6 axb6 25.fd1 d5 26.xd5 exd5 27.d6+ xd6 28.exd6 c5 29.e1 d8 30.f4 e8 31.xe8+ xe8 32.h4 d4 33.h5 e4 34.h6 b5 35.f1 f6 36.f3 gxf3 37.gxf3 g6 38.g3 d7 39.e1 b4 40.d1 c4 41.f2 d3 42.c5 c3 43.bxc3 bxc3 44.b4 f5 45.xc3 xd6 46.f4 1/2-1/2 Micic, J-Houska, J/ Olympiad w, Bled SLO 2002 (46) ] 12.e1 f6 [ 12...a6 13.b3 f6 14.h4 cxd4 15.xd4 b6 16.b2 b7 17.e5 d8 18.h4 0-0 19.e3 h7 20.ae1 Here we see White's idea-simple enough- his pieces are trained menacingly on the Black King. Maybe this is why Speelman takes the action that he does. e7 21.h5 g5 22.g3 f6 23.h3 f4 24.g4 xg4 25.xg4 g5 26.h4 f5 27.e2 f4 28.g4 c6 29.hxg5 h5 30.e5 d7 31.e4 d6 32.xd6 xd6 33.xb7 hxg4 34.a3 1-0 Roiz, MKaganskiy, G/Last Autumn GM, Tel Aviv ISR 2002 (34) ] 13.h4 d7 Black keeps his King in the centre as long as he can to dissuade the attacking plan shown above. 14.e5 cxd4 15.xd4 c6 16.xc6 bxc6 17.h4 e7 Speelman sits tight. He hopes that his coordinated structure will see him through.

However, my feeling is that Black is solid but ve r y p a s s i ve - t h e r e i s l i t t l e t h a t h e c a n undertake. White has two good Bishops and the B lack King isn't entirely happy. 18.g3 hd8 19.d2 c5 20.e2 d4 21.h3 ad8 22.c3! This is what I meant. Black is forced into sacrificing a pawn. 4d5 23.xf6+ gxf6 24.xh6 d4 25.ae1 Setting up the un p le a san t sp e ctre of a sa crif ice o n e 6 . xb2? Hopeful. [ 25...5d6 isn't promising. By deactivating the Rook Black reduces his counterplay: 26.c3 e5 27.c2 b6 ( 27...8d7 28.f4 b6+ 29.h1+- ) 28.g7 d2 29.g6 ] [ 25...a5 26.g7 e5 is the best chance I think. ] 26.xe6+!+- fxe6 27.g7+ d6 28.xe6+ xe6 29.xc7 5d6 30.c4+ e5 31.e7+ d4 32.b3 The initiative is the thing with opposite colour Bishops and White is firmly in the driving seat. c3 33.xa7 c1 34.c5+ b2 Comical. If Black could only train his pieces on f2. The way things are going, it could be the King first! 35.c4 d2 36.a4 xc2 37.d5+ c3 38.xc6 d1+ 39.g2 8d4 40.f5+ b2 41.a5 a1 42.b5+ b4 43.e2+ a3 44.a6 The h-pawn plays in the reserves for now but there may come a time ...... d4 45.d3+ b2 46.d2+ b3 47.d5+ a4 48.c2+ a5 49.c7+ xa6 50.c4+ White's plan is simple enough to understand and enact and the ball is very much in Black's court right now. The fate that Speelman suffered in this game was not pleasant 1-0

1658 Leko,Peter Anand,Viswanathan Super GM Linares [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2725 2769 2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.g4 f8 As I've already mentioned Black is doing well in this line. The present game doesn't change this statement. 12.0-0 c5 13.c3 [ 13.h4 b6 14.e4 b8!? 1802

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 W e have already seen this move in Sa d va k a s o v - K a rp o v wh e re W h it e go t nothing from the opening. Recently Black tried it once again with success. The game Iordachescu - Sasikiran, Calcutta 2000 continued: 15.c3 g8 16.e1 g5! 17.h3 f6! 18.dxc5 bxc5 19.d2 g7 Now it is W hit e who ha s to think ab ou t equality. His Queen is obviously misplaced on the h3-square. 20.c4 f4 21.xf4 xf4 22.d3 d8 23.ad1? A mistake which leads to unfortunate consequences. ( 23.e2 was correct maintaining the balance: e4 24.f3 xf3 25.xf3 d2 26.xd2 xd2 27.b3 and if b7 then 28.ed1! taking the d-file under control.) 23...a6! Now W hite is in trouble. 24.b3 ( 24.e5 is even worse: xb2 25.xa6 xd1 26.xd1 xe5 ) 24...xc4 25.xc4 e4! 26.f3 xf3 27.gxf3 xc3 28.a1 d2 and Black had a decisive advantage. ] 13...b6 14.h4 b7 15.e4 xe4 16.xe4 e7 17.dxc5 bxc5! [ The natural looking 17...xc5 is not so good because the Knight is now too far away from the K-side (the best place for it is f6) andafter 18.c2! it's not easy for Black to complete his development and evacuate his King (with Rhd8 and Kf8) as W hite's Queen is ready to penetrate to h7 at the right moment. ] 18.e1 f6 19.e2 hd8 20.h3 f8 21.d2 h2+! 22.h1 f4 23.c4 xc1 24.axc1 d5 Now we can that Black has managed to solve his opening problems. Although W hite still has a tiny edge due to Black's pawn weaknesses on the Q-side it is clearly insufficient for a win. 25.e3 d7 26.cd1 ad8 27.xd7 xd7 28.g1 d5 29.c4 b6 30.e5 d6 31.e4 [ The c5-pawn is Black's only weakness and it should be fixed with 31.c4 keeping a small advantage but I believe that with accurate defence Black should hold the position. ] 31...g8 32.g3 c4! After this strong move Black has little to worry about. Now White's Qside pawns also become vulnerable. 33.f4 d5 34.e4 b5 35.xc4 [ White couldn't avoid mass exchanges as 35.e2 f6 36.g6 xf4 37.xf4 e5 38.g6 a4 is bad for him. ]

35...xf4 36.xf4 xc4 37.xc4 xb2 38.a4 c2 39.xa7 So this game between two super GMs in Smyslov's 4...Nd7 line is further confirmation of the viability of Black's position after11...Kf8. ½-½

1659 Leko,Peter Bareev,Evgeny WCh Candidates Finals (3) [John Watson]

B17 2738 2643 08.06.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 f8 The same opening as in game 1. 13.h4 A change from [ 13.e1 of the first game. I think that the queen move offers White somewhat better chances, because it keeps the option of Be4 alive, and achieves c4 in one jump. Still, Black could argue that c4 offers him a target to counterattack. ] 13...b7 14.e1 g8 [ 14...e8 has also been played, followed by ...c5. ] [ Argu ab ly wea ke r is 14...c5!? 15.e4! , as opposed to 15 c3, transposing to Game 1. ] 15.h3 e8 16.c4 f6 [ 16...c5 17.e3 ( 17.dxc5 xc5 18.e2 e5 ) 17...xf3!? 18.gxf3 cxd4 19.xd4 e5 20.ad1 d8 21.c3 and the two bishops with Black's poor king position outweigh Black's superior central majority and the doubled f-pawns. ] 17.d2 c5 18.d5!? [ A safe edge was to be had from 18.dxc5 xc5 19.c3 ] 18...e5? [ 18...exd5 was best, 19.xe8+ ( 19.cxd5 xd5 20.c3 ) 19...xe8 20.cxd5 f6! ( 20...xd5 21.e1 d8 ) 21.e1 d8 ] 19.c3 g6 20.h4 g7 Now the king is visa-vis White's bishop on c3, just as in Game1. 21.d2 d8 22.c2 c8 23.a4 g5 This prevents 24 f4, which was a serious threat. 24.g3 h5? [ Better 24...d7 , but White stands clearly 1803

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 better after retreating or exchanging. ] 25.f3 g4 26.d1 e7 27.h3 f6 28.hxg4 xg4 29.f3 c8 30.e3! Preparing Qe1-h4, f4 etc. Things are looking very bad for Black. h5 31.e1 f6 32.h4 f4 33.e4 f7 34.g3 g6 35.h5 White is winning now. b8 I don't see a plan for Black. 36.c2 f5 37.f4! e8 [ 37...fxe4 38.xe4 ( or 38.fxe5 g5 39.xg5 hxg5 40.e6+ ) 38...d6 39.f1! , winning ] 38.f2 f6 39.ae1 e4 40.xe4! fxe4 41.xe4 1-0

1660 Leko,Peter Bareev,Evgeny WCh Candidates Finals (1) [John Watson]

B17 2738 2643 06.05.2007

The Leko-Bareev match in the Elista Candidates tested the Caro-Kann main line 4... Nd7 variation. Perhaps playing this against Leko was ill-advised, if only because he is such a Classical player who enjoys small advantages and modest probing of the opponent's position. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 [ Bareev switched to 4...f5 in the final game, needing to win, and then took an early draw! ] 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 f8 13.e1 [ W e looked at 13.b3 in detail in the March update game Bobras-Wojtaszek. Black was very happy in the cited games. Leko tries ] [ 13.h4 in Game3. ] 13...c5 14.c3 Simple solid. Both sides develop naturally. [ 14.h3 ] [ 14.h4 ] 14...b7 c a n b e a n s w e r e d b y 15.h3 This odd-looking move prepares Be4, which would fail to ...f5 at the moment. Moves such as Ng5 are also in the air. The Qh3 idea (on one of the following moves) has scored 3-1 in the last year of TWIC games, but that may not mean much. Here are some examples, with

borrowed annotations (many from ChessBase Magazine): [ (a) 15.h4 has been answered by d8 ( or 15...c4 16.c2 b5 ) 16.d2 ( 16.h3 is a better try; 16.h5 cxd4 17.cxd4 f6 18.h3 c6! ) 16...f6 ( 16...cxd4 17.cxd4 f6 18.h3 d7 19.ad1 xf3 20.xf3 e7 21.f4 d5= NevednichyPapaioannou, Elista ol (Men) 1998) 17.h3 xf3 18.xf3 cxd4 19.cxd4 d7 20.a4 e7 21.c3 d5 ( or 21...a5 22.e5 d5 23.b5 d6 24.h5 f6 25.e4 c8 26.ae1 1/2:1/2 Nevednichy-Cosma, ROMch 1998 ) 22.h3 d6= Shirov-Karpov, Amber-blind rapid Monte Carlo 1998. ] [ (b) 15.e3 c4 16.c2 f6 17.h3 ( t h i s i d e a a g a i n ) e7?! looks a bit p r e m a t u r e . ( 17...d8 ) 18.e5!? with initiative, Ryan-Arlandi, EU-ch Rapid Athens 1997. ] 15...d8!? Black hasn't equalised after [ 15...c4 16.e4 , ] [ 15...e8 16.e4 , or ] [ 15...c8 16.e4 ] [ . But 15...e7! 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 f6 18.e1 ad8 is a tough nut to crack: 19.dxc5 ( 19.e3 c4 ) 19...xc5 ( 19...bxc5!? Asrian-Sargissian, Yerevan 2000 ) 20.h4 ( 20.e3 xe3 21.xe3 d5 22.d4 hd8= ) 20...he8 21.f4 d6 22.xd6+ xd6 with equality. ] 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 f6 18.e1 g6!? To escape with his king to g7. [ Now 18...e7 19.dxc5 xc5 20.b3 intends Bb2 and c4. ] 19.b3 Obviously White wants to oppose the king on the long diagonal. g7 20.dxc5 xc5 21.b2 d5 22.c4 h5! With this move Black disturbs White just enough to get his own forces coordinated. 23.g3!? [ 23.g4 , to get back to the centre via Qe4, looks better, when I would still prefer to be White, at least in practice. ] 23...d6! [ 23...xg3? 24.hxg3 (threatening g4) f5 ( 24...e7 25.ad1 d8 26.xd8 xd8 27.d1 c7 28.xf6+! xf6 29.b4! t h r e a t e n s g 4 a g a i n , s o f5 30.d7 follows, when Black is dead. Analysis by Marin. )] 24.e5 1804

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 24.e5 xe5 25.xe5 d8= ] 24...d8 This holds together well. White even has to be careful with his queen. 25.h3 [ 25.c3 ] 25...f5 26.e2 c5 [ 26...h5 27.c3 f6 28.d3 c5! is also satisfactory. ] 27.f1 h7 28.h2? Too clever! g4 looms again, but it's too slow: g5 [ The unexpected and hard-to-see shot 28...e4! wo u ld t u rn t h e t id e . 29.xe4 xf2! ] 29.g4 d6? [ 29...xh2+ 30.xh2 d6+= ] 30.g3 h5 It's hard to find a good move. 31.e3 Intending Qg2. Now Black blunders: xg3?? 32.fxg3 xf1+ 33.xf1 d1 34.e3 A horrid finish. Black had his chances in the thick of things, but the opening was a little harder to play for him than for White. 1-0

Stockholm SWE 2008, when Black tried the pro m isin g id e a xe4!? 22.xe4 xe4 and came out with a draw following 23.e1 b7 24.d1 e7 ] 17...xc5 18.ae1 [ 18.d4 c6 19.e4 f5! 20.g5! fxe4 21.xe6+ f7 22.xg7 is unclear. ] 18...f6 19.e5 d8 20.h4 This is a known type of position in which Black is close to equality, but has to work. c7 [ 20...e7 21.a4 a5 ] 21.b4 e7 22.a3 a6 23.e2!? d5 24.h5 f6 25.h4 d5 26.h3 h5! 27.fe1 h6?! [ 27...g8! is more accurate. ] 28.c1! h8 29.g5! f6 [ The point is 29...xg5? 30.xf7 xf7 ( 30...f4 31.xg5 xh3+ 32.xh3 ) 31.xe6+ f8 32.g6 ] 30.h4 xe5 31.xe5 b5 32.f5 exf5 33.xe7 xe7 34.f4 [ 34.xf6+ gxf6 35.f4 and Black's pawns are weak. ] 1661 B17 34...he8 35.f3 c8 36.f2 [ 36.xf5 xf5 37.xf5 with the idea d6? Leko,Peter 2753 38.c5 ] Ivanchuk,Vassily 2751 gxf6 38.h6+ e7 Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (4) 15.01.2008 36...f8 37.xf6 39.e3+ [John Watson] [ With hindsight, it might have been better to player 39.g2 , so that h3 is available in 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 some lines. ] It's funny that when I originally looked at 4... Nd7 it hadn't been the most popular move, 39...f8 40.h6+ Peter Leko often opts for and yet was doing reasonably well. Since then the draw when there's a fair amount of play top players haven't been shy about employing left. [ 40.b6 g7 41.f4 is a sort of zugzwang, 4... Nd7, perhaps in part because 4...Bf5 can in the sense that Black can only take his be a bit dull if White wants to play it that way. p i e c e s o f f o f i d e a l s q u a r e s , e . g . , g6 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 42.c6 ( 42.f1 g7 ) 42...e6 43.c7 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 b6 ed6 44.a4! bxa4 45.a5 and White will 12.g4 f8 13.b3 Okay, if Leko chooses end up with at least one passed pawn on this, it may as well be considered the main the queenside. ] line. [ 13.e1 was Leko-Bareev from their 2007 40...e7 41.e3+ f8 42.h6+ W Ch Fina ls, Game 1. Black equalised , ½-½ although not easily. ] 13...b7 14.b2 f6 15.h3 d5 16.g3 c5 17.dxc5 Aiming for a technical edge. [ 17.fe1 f6! 18.dxc5 c6 19.g2 ( 19.g4 xc5 ) 19...xc5 ( 19...xc5! is equal after 20 c4, and not 20.xf6?! gxf6 21.e4 xe4 22.xe4 xc2 ) 20.xf6 gxf6 21.e4 was Kotronias) -Wojtaszek, 1805

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B17 Could Leko have really missed this move? [ An earlier game between Gelfand and 2745 S p e e l m a n ( M u n i c h 1 9 9 2 ) w e n t 13...e5 2679 14.dxc5 xc5 15.f5 h5 16.h3 e6 06.03.2001 17.h4 e7 18.g3 f4 19.xf4 exf4 20.h3 g6 when Black is doing just fine. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 14.xd4 e5! 15.b2 xf3+ 16.gxf3 f6 [ Karpov must have been worried about 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 16...xh2+!? 17.h1 f6 18.g6 but after h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 Karpov defended e7 followed by ...Bd6, White has nothing this position three times in Linares and could clear. After Karpov's move Black is still easily have amassed two and a half points. struggling to consolidate - and this time he With this being the last of the three one might doesn't have the consolation of a pawn. ] have expected Leko to be well prepared.... [ W hite has another possibility in 10.xe4 17.h4 e5 [ After 17...d7 Black has to reckon with a f t e r wh i c h c7 11.d2 f6 12.d3 18.xf6 ] leads to a position which could also be arrived at via 10.Qxe4. A recent example 18.a3+ g8 19.ad1 d7 20.fe1 b5 [ Karpov would have liked to play 20...g5 was the game Ehlvest - Abdulla al Rakib, but after 21.h5 e8 there follows 22.g6 Dhaka 2001 which went on: b6 13.0-0-0 A) 22...g7 23.xe8 hxe8 24.xe5 b7 14.he1 0-0 15.e5 c5 16.dxc5 fxe5 ( 24...xe5 25.d7+ ) 25.d6+-; bxc5 17.f4 d5 18.c4 b4 19.b1 ad8 B) 22...xg6 23.xg6+ g7 24.xg7+ 20.g3 with a complex and double edged xg7 25.d7+ winning the b7 pawn. ] position. ] 21.c4 g5 22.h5 e8 23.h3 10...c7 Black has several alternatives. [ This time Black can meet 23.g6 with [ In his game against Shirov from earlier in xg6 24.xg6+ g7 25.xg7+ xg7 the tournament, Karpov chose the 26.cxb5 hb8 27.d7+ g6 28.c5 xb5 immediate 10...c5 and after 11.g4 29.xa7 xa7 30.xa7 a5 winning back ( 11.0-0 would leave White with fewer the a2 pawn after which Black is certainly no responsibilities) 11...f6 12.c3 cxd4 worse. ] 13.cxd4 b6 14.0-0 b7 15.e3 h5 16.h3 xf3 17.gxf3 d8 18.ac1 g5 23...f7 24.cxb5 g7 25.c1 a5 26.c5 [ 26.xe5!? was interesting after which xa3 ha d a n e xce llen t ga me du e to his d a rk ( and not 26...fxe5 27.d6 ) 27.ee1 square control. ] st i l l l e a ve s B l a c k wi t h s o m e p r o b l e m s 11.g4 because of the possibility of 28 Bc4. ] [ 11.d2 f6 12.e2 would transpose into the Ehlvest - Abdullah al Rakib game given 26...xa2! 27.e2 a5 28.xe5 d2! 29.f1! above. ] [ 29.e3 xd3 30.ec5 hd8 is starting to 11...f8 12.0-0 c5 13.b3?! Leko probably look very good for Black because of his prepared this move but seems to lose a pawn. vastly superior pawn structure. Rather than Whether White then has adequate submit to any kind of slow torture, Leko compensation is certainly a moot point. sacrifices the exchange. ] [ The game Judit Polgar - Karpov, from an earlier round, went 13.dxc5 xc5 14.e3 29...fxe5 30.e4 ac8 31.d1 a2 32.b4 33.a1 b3 34.e2 c7? xd3 ( 14...d7 also looks like nothing for hd8 White ) 15.cxd3 e5 16.e4 g6 17.ac1 A mistake in time-trouble. [ 34...d7 was better. ] e7 18.fe1 f5 19.a4 g7 20.xe5 xe5 21.f4 hc8 22.xc8 xc8 23.xe5 35.b6 axb6 36.xb6 c3 37.e1 b8 c1+ 24.xc1 xe5 25.e3 f6 26.b4 38.xc7 xc7 39.a5 f6 40.c6 e8! b6 27.h3 g5 28.a3 c7 and White's A f t e r h i s s l i p o n m o v e 3 4 , K a r p o v h a s d e f e n d e d e xc e l l e n t l y. T h e g a m e i s n o w extra pawn was quite worthless ] 13...cxd4!? This obvious move wins a pawn. h e a d i n g t o w a r d s a p e a c e f u l o u t c o m e . 1662 Leko,Peter Karpov,Anatoly Linares ESP (10) [Nigel Davies]

1806

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 41.xe8 xe8 42.c5 d6 43.e4 e7 44.g2 a7 45.a5 c7 46.a1 d5 47.b1 c4 48.xd5 ½-½

1663 Lo Presti,Roberto Patriarca,Luis American Continental (4) [Andrew Martin]

B17 2068 2266 09.08.2005

1.e4 Coming up an interesting theoretical game where White knows something, but not quite enough. Indeed, with victory in his grasp he tragically messes it up. I think we've all b e e n t h e r e ! c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 Definitely a very severe test of Black's resources. e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 Preparing ...c6-c5. [ 10...f6 ] 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 g5 13.h3! So far, so good. The immediate threat is a capture on g5. g8 14.e1! [ 14.d2 is answered by b7 15.c4 0-0-0 16.c3 c5 17.xd6+ ( 17.e3 f4! 18.fd1 f6 ) 17...xd6 18.e3 cxd4 19.cxd4 f6 Tukmakov ] 14...b7 [ At first sight 14...g4 looks like it wins, but after 15.xh6 gxf3 16.xe6+ White has all t h e c h a n c e s : fxe6 ( 16...d8 17.xd6; 16...e7 17.f4! ) 17.xe6+ f8 ( 17...e7 18.xg8+ f8 19.c4 ) 18.h6+ g7 19.g6!! ] 15.xe6+ fxe6 16.xe6+ f8 17.f5+ Not a mistake yet, but White is wavering. [ I n s t e a d , t h e o b vio u s 17.xh6+ g7 18.c4!! i s v e r y s t r o n g i n d e e d : f6 19.xf6+ e8 20.xg5 1-0 Kovalev, AUshenina, A/Alushta 2003 ] 17...e8 18.e6+ f8 19.c4? [ 19.xh6+ he could start again with 19 Qxh6+ ] 19...g7! Doubtless breathing a sigh of relief! 20.f7+ h8 21.e6 g7! Life is not the sam e a nym ore . 22.xg5 hxg5 23.xg5 f8 Given the chance, Black defends a c c u ra t e ly . 24.h6+ h7 25.e6 f7 26.xg7 xg7 27.xg7+ xg7 28.e1

f8 How annoying for Lo Presti. We commiserate, but note for our own games that Black is in serious trouble if W hite finds 17 Qxh6+. 0-1

1664 Macieja,Bartlomiej Meduna,Eduard zt 1.4 Budapest HUN (6) [Carsten Hansen]

B17 2538 2495 22.06.2000

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.d4 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 f6 11.e2 c7 12.d2 b6 13.0-0-0 b7 14.e5 0-0-0 The normal move is 14...c5 as in KamskyKarpov, Fide Wch Elista 1996:15 Bb5+ Ke7 16 dxc5 Qxc5 17 a3 Qc7 18 Bf4 Nd5 19 Bg3 Rhd8 20 Rd4 +=. 15.f4 h5! A new move supported by a good idea. Often in this line, Black has problems controlling W hite's activities on the kingside, and as a result it often looks like a steam train rolling down. 15...h5!? is aimed at preventing White from getting something started. [ The normal move is 15...c5 . An example of the normal play in this line is the following: 16.dxc5 xc5 17.b1 he8 18.hf1 e7 19.g4 d7 20.c3 White amply controls e ve r y t h i n g . B l a c k h a s l i t t l e c h a n c e o f releasing himself from White's tight grip, so he gets desperate. f6 21.g6 ee8 22.h4 b8 23.g5 hxg5 24.fxg5 fxg5 25.hxg5 c6 26.b5 The black position is a positional disaster. xd1+ 27.xd1 d8 28.xe6+ b8 29.xd8+ xd8 30.g4 d4 31.d3 d5 32.b4 c8 33.f4+ 1-0 Timoshenko, G-Spiridonov, N/Paris FRA 2000 ] 16.he1 b8 17.g3 [ 17.f5 exf5 18.xf5 c5 equalises co m f o rt a b l y f o r B la c k. No t ice t h a t it i s because of the potential bishop check on f5, that Black moved his king on move 16. ] 17...c5 18.c4 cxd4 19.f5 a8! Obviously, k had to get his king out of the f4b8 diagonal, since W hite was threatening Nxd6 followed by Bf4. 20.xd6 20 fxe6 Rhe8 is great for chess xd6 21.fxe6 he8 22.e7 1807

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d7 23.f4 [ 23.e5 xe5 24.xe5 dxe7 25.xe7 xe7 26.g5 reaches the same position as in the game. ] 23...xe7 24.xe7 dxe7 25.xe7 xe7 26.g5 e6 27.c4 d5 28.xf6 xc4 29.xg7 d3 30.b3 a6 31.c4 d6 wi t h a d r a wi s h e n d ga m e , a l t h o u g h t h e y continue for quite some time. 32.d2 c8 33.f1 e6 34.f4 b5 35.cxb5 d5 36.a4 d7 37.d4 xb5 38.xa7+ b8 39.a5 b7 40.e3 c8 41.a8+ d7 42.a4 c6 43.a7+ e6 44.b4 d8 45.a6 d5 46.xd3 e5+ 47.c3 d5 48.f4+ e4 49.a7 e6 50.e7 d3+ 51.c2 a3 52.b5 d4 53.b6 d5 54.b7 xb7 55.xb7 xa4 56.h4 1-0

17.c4 ) 17.g6! f8 18.axb5 ] 16...bxc4!? [ 16...xe3 17.fxe3 bxc4 18.xc4 cxd4 19.exd4 b7 20.fe5 hd8 21.f4! has the idea of Raf1. Black doesn't have a lot of useful moves, e.g., e8 ( 21...d5 22.xd6 xd6 23.af1 ab8 24.f2! f8 25.g4! ) 22.af1 ab8 23.xf6! gxf6 24.xf6 xe5 25.xe5 xd4 26.h5! c1+ 27.f1 etc. ] 17.xc4 cxd4 18.xd4 f4 19.d2 xd3 20.xd3 b7 Suddenly Black is in bad shape, with his centre too exposed. 21.ac1 [ White can get a serious advantage out of 21.e5 xe5 22.fxe5 hd8 23.a3+ e8 24.fe1 d5 25.g3! ] 21...ac8 22.b6? [ 22.fe5! ] 22...b8 23.fd1 xf3 [ 23...d5 24.xd6 xd6 25.d4 ] 1665 B17 24.xf3 d5 25.d4 b4? A blunder which Mista,Aleksander 2543 give up a pawn and position. [ 25...xh2+ 26.h1 f4! challenges White Akesson,Ralf 2468 to find an attack. ] 7th Amplico AIG Life rapid (6) 15.12.2007 26.a3 xc4 [John Watson] [ 26...b8 27.xd6 xd6 28.xc8 xc8 29.xg7 ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 [ 26...a4 27.b3 d7 28.xg7 ] 5.g5 gf6 6.c4 e6 7.e2 b6 8.d3 h6 9.5f3 c5 10.e3 This introduces a very 27.xc4 xc4 28.xg7 g8 29.d4 g5 interesting line that has done rather well. See 30.g3 f5 31.d3 c6 32.b4 c7 33.e3 e s p e c i a l l y m y n o t e s t o A l M o d i a k h i - d5 34.xh6 c7 35.e3 c3 36.c5+ e8 37.xa6 c2 38.c8+ d8 39.c6# Sundararajan in the Archives. c7 [ 10...bd5 hasn't worked out well after 1-0 11.e5 , as in Rublevsky-Karpov, Polanica Zdroj 1998. ] 1666 B17 11.e5 d6 12.gf3 bd5 Mkrtchian,Lilit 2468 [ 12...0-0 13.g4!? and ( 13.dxc5 xc5 Dizdarevic,Emir 2492 14.xc5 xc5 15.0-0 both appear to XIV Salona GM (3) 26.11.2006 favour White )] [Jonathan Rowson] 13.b5+ e7 14.0-0 [ I s u g g e s t e d p r e v i o u s l y t h a t 14.c4 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 is also promising. ] 14...a6?! Karpov's move, but I still don't see it 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 g6!? Not a bad move to play against a timid soul, or a theory junkie, working. The Al Modiakhi game went [ 14...d8 , when either the game's 15 c3 or but probably not wise against a skilful attacker. (probably better) 15 Nc4 gives White some 7.1f3 g7 8.e2! 0-0 [ 8...h6 9.e6 fxe6 10.xg6+ f8 advantage. ] 11.xe6 is not winning, due to ( 11.0-0 15.d3 b5 16.c4 A strong enough move. is probably better, with excellent [ As mentioned in my notes, the computer compensation. ) 11...a5+ 12.d2 d5 ] f i n d s a n o t h e r g o o d m o v e i n 16.a4! , w i t h t h e c l e v e r i d e a c4?! ( 16...b4 9.h4! 1808

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 9.e5 h6 looks provocative, but seems to b e p l a y a b l e f o r B l a c k . 10.gf3 c5 was Fressinet-Zelcic, Solin 2000 ] [ 9.0-0 h6 10.e4 xe4 11.xe4 c5 12.d5 f6 13.h4 xd5 ( 13...g5!? ) 14.xh6 h5 was close to equal in Kotronias-Banikas, Greece 2005. ] 9...h6 10.h5! Originally played by William Watson against Maduna, Prague 1992. gxh5 11.e4 This doesn't look bad, but according to Stohl's notes in ChessBase magazine, [ 11.h3 gives White a clear advantage. I wouldn't encourage my friends to play this line with Black, but I suspect is playable, and if you like skirting the precipice then you can play c5 and get on with the game. For instance: 12.f4 ( 12.e3 might be better. ) 12...cxd4 13.xh5 xh5 14.xh5 f6 15.h4 g4 and the position is doubleedged. ] 11...xe4 12.xe4 f6 13.f4 [ 13.h4 looks like an improvement, but after f5! 14.xf5 a5+ Black is comfortable, as shown by Nikolidas. ] 13...d6 14.e5 c5 [ 14...d5 15.g3 b4+ is also possible, b u t s o m e w h a t r i s k i e r . 16.f1 xd4 17.xh5 looks difficult for Black. ] 15.dxc5 xc5 16.e3 a5+ 17.d2 b6 [ 17...d5!? ] 18.c4 e6+ 19.f1 g4 20.e1 xf4 21.xf4 e6 Black is now quite comfortable and now does a good job of making his extra pawn look relevant. 22.e3 ac8 23.e5 fd8 24.f5 xf5 25.xf5 e6 26.d3 d5 27.h4 d7 28.xg7 xg7 29.e4 a5 30.a3 f6 31.d3 b6 32.e3 g5 33.d4 c7 34.c4 g4 35.d8 h4 36.b4 f4 37.e2 g4 38.f3 xf3 39.xf3 e5+ 40.e2 xc4 41.d4 e5 42.a4 c3 43.b5 g6 44.d2 a3 45.d7 a6 46.xa6 xa4 47.b5 g4 48.b7 e5 49.d8 c4 50.a6 g4 51.b7 h5 52.e2 b4 53.c6 c4 54.d6 c5 55.e8 f8 56.d8 e7 57.b8 c4 58.e3 g4 59.f4 c4+ 60.f3 g3+ 61.f2 b3 62.c6 h3 63.gxh3 xh3 64.f3 h2+ 65.g3 b2 66.c6 f6 67.h8 g6 68.g8+ h7 69.g5 h6 70.h4 h2+ 71.g3 d2 72.f3 d6 73.xh5+ g7 74.c6 b2 75.e5 f6

76.f3 b4 77.g4 b3 78.h5 f5 79.h1 d4 80.h5 xc6 81.bxc6 c3 82.h6+ g7 83.h5 xc6 84.b5 f6 85.f3 e7 86.e4 d6 87.h5 f5+ 88.e3 d7 89.h1 b5 0-1

1667 Montes De Oca,A Ezat,Mohamed Mahmoud Olympiad Bled (9) [Andrew Martin]

B17 2280 2375 2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 5 Ng5 remains critical although here we transpose back into another main line. gf6 6.c4 e6 7.e2 b6 8.d3 h6 9.5f3 c5 10.dxc5 bd7! I've always had a fondness for this combative idea of Smyslov since a bad experience with W hite against Eduard Meduna. I think he found a very good method for Black which I will show here. After 10...Nbd7 Black can recapture on c5 with K n ig h t , B i sh o p o r Q u e e n , d e p e n d in g o n circumstances. He invites W hite to grab a pawn and enter into murky complications. 11.f4 Leads to nothing. Critical is [ 11.b4 after which I believe that Meduna's a5! is best. Black attempts to smash up White's pawns creating additional pressure by the imminent opening of the a file. The basic plan now is to take on b4 at the right moment and destabilise with ...b7-b6. The s e n s i b l e . . . B e 7 a n d . . . 0 - 0 wi l l u s u a l l y precede this plan. I summarise the theory: 12.c3 e7 A) 13.d2; B) 13.c4 0-0 14.h3 axb4 15.cxb4 b6; C) 13.d4 0-0 14.gf3 ( 14.b2 axb4 15.cxb4 e5 ) 14...e5!; D) 13.a3 d5 14.d2 axb4 15.cxb4 f6 16.a2 c3 17.xc3 xc3+ 18.f1 f6 Murky in all lines but White has to play well even to survive! Other moves are also not dangerous to Black: ] [ 11.c6 bxc6 12.d2 ( 12.d2 d5 13.e4 e5 ) 12...b6 13.b3 a3 14.e3 a5+ 15.d2 b6= ] [ 11.e5 xe5 12.xe5 a5+ 13.d2 1809

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc5 14.f3 ( 14.xc5 xc5 15.f3= ) 14...xe5+ 15.xe5 c5 16.b5+ e7= ] 11...d5N A simpler solution was availableclearly Ezat was trying to befuddle his less experienced opponent. [ 11...xc5 12.b5+ d7 13.0-0-0 a5 14.xd7+ cxd7 15.b1 e7= ] 12.d2 xc5 13.c3 c7= Black covers e5, which is a theme recurring in this line. Now White has to develop his Knight to an offside square, which does not feel entirely comfortable. 14.h3 a6= 15.e4 [ 15.0-0 0-0 ( 15...d6 16.fe1 0-0 17.ad1 b5= ) 16.c4 b4 17.b1 d8 18.c3 c6 ] 15...7f6 16.d3 d6 17.d4 0-0 18.g4 It's pretty clear that W hite hasn't got the faintest idea of how to attack Black's solid position-he should have aimed to play c3-c4 and try to cramp his opponent. Ezat now hits out with a well-timed advance in the centre. e5! 19.f5 e4 A thematic advance with the W hite King lingering in the centre. 20.c2 xf5 21.gxf5 ad8 Simple centralisation but [ 21...c8 would have left White scratching around e.g. 22.xe4 ( 22.0-0-0 xf5-+ ) 22...xe4-+ ] 22.0-0-0 f4 23.xf4 xf4 24.e3 e5 25.de1 xf5 he found another way. Of course the W hite f -pawn was chronically weak. 26.b1 xe3 27.xe3 fe8 28.hg1 h8 29.g3 g8 30.h4 d2 31.xe4 xe4 32.xe4 d1+ It's clear that White must enter the complications after 11 b4 if he wishes to gain an advantage after 10...Nbd7. Not everybody has the taste for s u c h a ga m e . P e r h a p s t h i s i s wh y m o s t masters adopt the 5 Ng5 Ngf6 6 Bd3 move order. 0-1

1668 Morovic Fernandez,Ivan Karpov,Anatoly (m/4) Las Palmas [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2605 2740 1994

A typical Karpovian victory. Karpov outplayed his opponent step by step, and created a masterpiece of positional chess. 1.e4 c6

2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.c4 gf6 6.g5 e6 7.e2 b6 8.d3 h6 9.5f3 c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.e5 bd7 12.gf3 c7 [ 12...xe5 13.xe5 0-0 is another possibility. However after the text move Black's practical results are better. ] 13.f4 [ 13.0-0 hardly gives White hope of obtaining an o pe n in g a dvan t age. In t h is p o sitio n Karpov hasn't had serious problems. One example: 0-0 14.e1 d6 15.c4 e7 16.ce5 White's play doesn't look convincing. c5 17.c4 a6 18.a3 b5 19.a2 b7 20.e3 ce4 and Black was already slightly better in Izeta - Karpov, Dos Hermanas 1993. ] [ By the way, the natural looking 13.d2? is just a blunder in view of xe5 14.xe5 xf2+! 15.xf2 xe5 16.xe5 g4+ winning a pawn for nothing. ] 13...b4+!? Trying to disorganize White's forces a little. 14.f1 [ 14.c3? is impossible due to xc3+ 15.f1 h5! with a material advantage. ] [ 14.d2 xd2+ 15.xd2 0-0 is supposed to be critical. It's not easy to evaluate this position. W hite's dark-squared Bishop is very strong, but his King is slightly exposed. White needs some tempi to evacuate the King, allowing Black to obtain sufficient counterplay: 16.hd1 c5 17.e1 d5 18.g3 xd3+ 19.xd3 b5! Preventing c2c4. Now Black's Knight really is a strong piece. 20.c3 b7 21.ad1 and in this equal position a draw was agreed in Timman - Karpov, Netherlands, 1993. ] 14...d6 15.d1!? [ Other continuations do not pose serious problems for Black, for example: 15.g6?! is dubious: xf4 16.xh8 c5 17.d1 d7 18.g3 d6 19.d4 xd3 20.xd3 c5 and the Knight will be captured soon, with a clear advantage to black in Kerek Berescu, Kiskunhalas 1995. ] 15...h5 With the text move Black tries to be more ambitious. [ 15...xe5 also looks fine for Black: 16.xe5 0-0 17.g3 d8 18.c4 xg3 19.hxg3 d7 20.e5 ac8 21.xc7 xc7 22.e3 f8 with equality in Timman 1810

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Karpov, Amsterdam 1988. ] 16.g3 xf4 17.gxf4 White's pawn structure is ruined but he has fortified the Knight on e5, as well as obtaining the open g-file for his Rook. 0-0!? Black is not afraid to place his King opposite White's Rook. 18.g1 a6! [ The inaccurate 18...f6 would allow White t o g e t t h e in it ia t ive o n t h e k in g sid e b y 19.d4! a6 20.g4! with dangerous threats. ] 19.xd7 [ Now 19.g4 is dubious because of xf4 20.h4 ( 20.e4 f5 21.xe6+ h8 22.h4 e5 ) 20...c5 21.f6+ h8 22.h5 e5 with a large advantage ] [ 19.c3 f6 was not so clear but anyway Black's position looks quite solid. ] 19...xd7 20.e5 xe5 21.fxe5?! [ Perhaps it was time to forget about dreams o f a t t a c k : 21.xe5 xe5 22.fxe5 c6 23.e2 with an equal ending. ] 21...c6 22.e1 [ 22.e4 was not better: b5 23.d3 fd8 24.xb5 xd1+ 25.xd1 axb5 and White is going to lose a couple of pawns. ] 22...f5! 23.h5 [ After 23.exf6 xf6 24.e5 Black has the unexpected af8! winning immediately! ] 23...h8 24.e3 e8 [ Black has to be careful about White's t h r e a t s , t h e i n d i f f e r e n t 24...ad8?! could lead to trouble after A) or 25.h3!? with the idea of meeting xe5?? with 26.xh6+ g8 ( 26...gxh6 27.xh6# ) 27.xg7+ xg7 28.g3 winning; B) 25.g6 with the idea of Rh6 winning ] 25.h4 f7 Black already has a serious advantage. White has a weakness on e5, but if it is supported by f2-f4 then the pawn on f4 will be just as weak. It's important that White has no real threats on the kingside while his own King is exposed. 26.c4 e7! 27.xc7 xc7 Black keeps a tangible advantage in the endgame as well. 28.e2 d8 29.c3 [ After 29.f4 b5!? 30.c1 d4 White has problems with the pawn on f4 but this was probably more stubborn. ] 29...g5! A very instructive positional move. Karpov doesn't allow White to protect his e5pawn by playing f4, and prepares Rc5 and

R d d 5 , w i n n i n g t h e p a w n . 30.f4 gxf4! Black wisely decides to avoid complications, since he can easily win the pawn on e5. [ T h e p o s i t i o n a f t e r 30...cd7 31.fxg5 (Only move) xd3 32.xd3 b5 33.gg3 hxg5 34.d2 xd3+ 35.xd3 xd3 36.xd3 looks much better for Black but in pawn endings surprises are quite possible, especially taking into account the fact that here W hite has a pawn majorit y on th e queenside. ] 31.h3 h7 32.f1 c5 33.xf4 xe5+ 34.f2 g7 35.fh4 h5 36.d4 ed5 An extra pawn and a pair of passed pawns in the centre is definitely enough to win. 37.g3+ f6 38.xd5 xd5 39.e2 h4 40.g8 h5+ 41.d2 White resigned. 0-1

1669 Morozevich,Alexander Iordachescu,Viorel Kishinev (Moldova) [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2590 2520 1998

Karpov's victory over Kamsky looked very convincing, and White players began to avoid this lin e. Bu t the u pcoming Ru ssian s ta r Alexander Morozevich has found some new resources for W hite, and here proves that W hite's compensation should not be underestimated. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 f6 11.h4 e7 12.e5 xe5 13.dxe5 a5+ 14.c3 xe5+ 15.e3 b6 16.0-0-0 g5 Up to this point we are following the game Kamsky - Karpov, but now W hite comes up with a clear improvement. 17.h3! [ 17.a4?! c5 18.he1 d7 19.a3 hd8 was played e above mentioned game, and the white Queen subsequently took too long to get into play. ] 17...c5 [ It looks like 17...d5 does not completely solve Black's problems: 18.d2 f4 19.f3 xd3+ ( 19...d8 20.e4 with some i n i t i a t i v e) 20.xd3 d8 21.h3 f6 22.g3 White's plan is simple: to exploit Black's kingside weaknesses with h2-h4. 1811

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black is too far behind in development to create counterplay. The game Becker K r i z s a n y , T r i e r 1 9 9 8 c o n t i n u e d w i t h a6 23.h4 g4 24.xg4 d7 25.e3 ad8 26.xd7+ xd7 27.h5 d3 28.h4! The simplest. After the Queen swap Black can't hold o nto th e weak h6-pa wn, an d W h i t e ' s h - p a w n i s u n s t o p p a b l e . xh4 29.xh4 f1 30.xh6 f5 31.g7 and Black resigned. ] 18.he1 b7 [ 18...f8? 19.f3 followed by Bd2 wins White a piece ] [ 18...d7!? deserves attention and needs practical tests. ] 19.c4! Looking closely at the square e6. e4? A bad idea but Black's task is not easy here. [ 19...ad8? loses immediately after 20.xc5+! xc5 21.xe6+ and Black should resign ] [ 19...f8? 20.d5! c7 21.xb7 xb7 22.xg5 is just as bad ] [ A couple of months later Iordachescu tried t o i m p r o v e wi t h 19...e4!? Berelovich Iordachescu, Bucuresti, 1998. The game continued: 20.f3 d6 A) 21.xe6!? i s n o t c l e a r : xe6 ( O f c o u r s e , n o t 21...fxe6? in view of 22.xc5 xc5 23.xe6+ f8 24.e7+ g8 25.xd6 and White wins.) 22.xg5+ hxg5 23.xe6+ fxe6 24.g3 d5 25.b3 c4 26.xg5+ d7 and Black has sufficient material for the Queen, and the position is quite unclear.; B) 21.b3 ad8 22.g4 f6 23.c2 hg8 24.a4 c8 25.b1 xd1+ 26.xd1 d8 27.xd8 xd8 28.h4 e5 29.c1 g3 30.hxg5 hxg5 31.b4 c4 32.b5 d6 33.xg5+ xg5 34.xg5+ d7 and a draw was agreed. But it seems that for the entire game Black has had to solve difficult problems, and I feel that W h i t e ' s p l a y c a n b e i m p r o ve d u p o n . Undoubtedly there will be new games in this line. ] 20.f3 f5 21.g4 g6 This was Black's idea. W hite's Queen looks out of play, and his Bishop on e3 seemingly has no good square to discover an attack on the Black Queen. Un f o rtu n at ely a ll t he se assum pt ion s a re

i n c o r r e c t . 22.d5! This probably came as a cold shower. Material losses are inevitable. [ 22.d2!? c7 23.f4! gxf4 24.f3 followed by Bf4 also looks very promising as in Hector - Olsen, Copenhagen 1998. ] 22...xd5 [ Other continuations were hopeless for Black: 22...xd5 23.xc5+ ] [ 22...c7 23.xa8 xa8 24.xh6 winning ] 23.xd5 xd5 24.g3 Very precise t e ch n iqu e is s t ill re qu ire d , a s B la c k h a s reasonable material for his Queen and his pieces do not look bad. ad8 [ 24...f6 was losing by force: 25.c4 b4 26.c7+ e8 ( 26...f8 27.xc5+ ) 27.xg5! d3+ 28.d2 xe1 29.xf6 xf3+ 30.e3 h7 31.c6+ with a decisive material advantage. ] 25.f4! White should open up the position as soon as possible otherwise Black will coordinate his forces. xe3 [ After 25...gxf4 26.xf4 h5 White is winning by force: 27.g5+ f6 28.e5! f7 29.c4! hg8 30.cxd5 xg5 31.c7+ d7 32.d6+ e8 33.c8+ d8 34.xe6+ ] 26.xe3 gxf4 27.xf4 h5 28.g5+ e8 29.h4! Very precise. [ After 29.f6 d7 some kind of fortress could be set up. ] 29...h7 [ 29...d7 30.d1+ c8 31.xd8+ xd8 32.gxh5 h8 33.h6 is hopeless as well. ] 30.g5 White has been successful in keeping the Rook passive. Now he is going to break open the queenside. d3 31.a4+ d7 32.d1 c4 [ 32...e7? 33.xd3 xd3 34.e4 winning ] 33.b3 g7 34.bxc4 d8 35.c5! xg5 36.c6 Suddenly the c-pawn has become very d a n ge r o u s . d6 37.xa7 gd5 38.c7+ d7 39.b7 Black resigned. So it's premature to draw any final conclusions about th is line . De f init e ly we ca n e xpe c t s o m e interesting new games here. 1-0

1812

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1670 Nakamura,Hikaru Vallejo Pons,Francisco City of Culture GM (4) [John Watson]

B17 2710 2693 11.07.2009

This game must have been rather depressing for Black: W hite gets what seems like an extremely limited advantage from the opening, but keeps expanding it until suddenly there's nothing to be done. Black may have to rethink this way of playing versus 6 Ne5. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 It seems that the advocates of this move get stronger every year. I'll quote from Michael Melt's new edition of his 'Scandinavian Defense: The Dynamic 3...Qd6' 4.d4 f6 5.f3 c6 6.e5 This move is important because it's so simple, which will appeal to players of White who want a risk-free edge. [ In the Archives there are two games with 6.g3 g4 7.g2 e6 . ] 6...bd7 [ 6...f5 is probably the most important move. I'm not thrilled with 7.c4 e6 8.g4 g6 9.h4 bd7 10.xd7 xd7 11.h5 e4 12.xe4 xe4 13.c3 ( Melts likes 13.d3 ) 13...0-0-0 14.f3 . Black's in the game, of course, but it looks like the kind of position in which space and the bishop pair should mean something. ] [ Me lts quo t e s so me gam e s wit h 6...e6 , but the 7.f4 d8 lines look a bit negative after 8.c4 ( or 8.e2; or 8.d2 )] 7.f4 [ 7.c4 is also analysed at length in Melts' book. Black seems to be hanging in there. ] 7...d5 [ Not 7...b4 8.a3! xb2?? 9.a4 ] [ 7...xe5 is the main alternative, when I analysed 8.dxe5!? ( after Melts' 8.xe5 b4 9.a3 b6 10.e2 f5 , I gave 11.b4 a5 12.0-0 d7 13.f4 with advantage this is another problem) 8...b4 9.d2 e4 10.xe4 xe4+ 11.e2 xg2 12.0-0-0 , calling it 'extremely risky' for Black. Thus 7...Nd5 looks right. ] 8.xd5 [ T h e a l t e r n a t i v e 8.g3 is also still a problem: xc3 ( 8...xe5 9.xe5 xc3 10.bxc3 a3 11.d2 transposes) 9.bxc3

xe5 10.xe5 A) I think 10...g6 is a better move then 11.b1 b5!? ( 11...e4+ 12.e2 d5 ) 12.g3 f5 13.d3 e6+ 14.e2 xa2 15.0-0 is unclear White has reasonable compensation; B) 10...a3 11.d2 b2 12.d1 e6 ( 12...xa2 13.d3 with complications was Mastrovasilis, D (2580)-Tiviakov, S (2684)/Budva MNE 2009) 13.e2 f6 14.f4 d5 is given as =+ by Melts, but this is one of his few terribly wrong assessments. Simply 15.0-0 threatens R b 1 , a n d m o r e i m p o r t a n t l y, B l a c k i s undeveloped with an exposed king, for example, xa2 16.c4 (threatening to win a piece with c3) a5 17.d5 f7 18.g4 ( 18.fe1 g6 19.g4 ) 18...g5 19.e6+ g7 20.xg5 xc4 21.b1 , etc. ] 8...xe5 [ 8...xd5 has been the main line. After 9.f3 f6 10.e2 , Melts gives f5 11.c3 e6 12.0-0 e7 13.e5 ( 13.e1 is an alternative) 13...e4 with the ideas ... Qxf4 and ... Qc2. Then W hite has only a s m a l l e d g e ( b u t a n e d g e ) a f t e r 14.g3 ( he gives 14.g3 c2 , but 15.xc2 xc2 16.fe1 is not yet equal) 14...c2 15.xc2 xc2 16.ac1 ( 16.fe1 ) 16...f5 17.g4 e4 18.f3 g6 19.h4!? ( 19.c4 ) 19...d5 20.g3 f6 21.xg6 hxg6 22.fe1 and I prefer the bishops although there's a lot more going on. ] 9.xe5 [ Black was undoubtedly ready for 9.e3 d3+ 10.xd3 xf4 11.d5!? , when, apart from the risky 11... Qb4+ 12 c3 Qxb2 13 Rd1, he can try e6!? ( or 11...d7 12.0-0-0 g6!? ) 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.0-0-0 e7 14.g3 c7 15.g2 b8 ] 9...xd5 10.c4 a5+ [ 10...e4+ 11.e2 xe2+ 12.xe2 is similarly favourable for White. ] 11.d2 xd2+ 12.xd2 White has a little something, based upon his greater control of territory. I can't tell how accurate the next 10 moves or so are, but at some point he starts to cause some problems, and Black, still well in the game, reacts badly: f5 13.c3 e6 14.e2 0-0-0 15.ad1 f6 16.f4 g5 17.e3 h5 18.h3 d6 19.b4 c7 20.a4 a6 1813

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.b3 g6 22.hf1 e5 23.dxe5 xe5 although it's likely to transpose ] 24.b5 axb5 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.axb5 b8 7.e5 This is the most aggressive option but 27.c4 c8 28.b4 he8 29.b6!? g4 judging from this game W hite may have to 30.hxg4 hxg4 31.fe1 c6? 32.c5 c8? look at other options 33.e3! Threatening Bb5 and Bd5. [ 7.d3 g6 8.f4 ( 8.h3 g7 9.g4!? [ 33.b5? c3+ ] would be my suggestion - it's certainly one 33...d8 34.xd8+ xd8 35.d5 d7 way to stop the knight from coming to f5!) 36.b5 c8 37.xb7 h8 38.c6+ e6 8...d5 9.e5? this doesn't work out well at 39.b7 Rxe5 and Ba7 can follow in some order. all ( 9.d2 g7= ) 9...a5+ 10.c3 f6 It's not as though Black was theoretically in 11.xh7 fxe5 12.xg6+ d8 13.dxe5 any great difficulty, and in fact it looked as c7 and the piece was worth more than the though he was dealing very satisfactorily his 3 p a wn s i n H e s s, R ( 2 4 3 9 ) - B u rn e t t , R problems. But positions like the ones out of (2373) Peabody 2007 ] the opening are no fun to play and tend to [ 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 d6 9.e2 0-0 10.e4 favour the player with more space. was a little better f or W hite in Greet, A 1-0 (2425)-Edwards, R (2131) Catalan Bay 2007, w h i c h c o n t i n u e d xe4 11.xh6!? ( 11.xe4 f5 12.d3 would've 1671 B17 maintained a nice edge) 11...f6 12.g5 c7 13.ad1 d7 ( 13...d5 was better) Narayanan,Sri 2439 14.e5 ad8 15.d3! and Black was soon Adly,A 2607 crushed on the kingside ] 5th Kolkata Open (5.12) 07.12.2012 7...g6 8.c3 g7 9.d3 d5!? [Tom Rendle] [ 9...0-0 is also sensible but it would've deprived us of the fireworks that occurred in 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 the game! ] 5.g5 df6!? An interesting choice from A d l y t h a t h a s n ' t b e e n s e e n b e f o r e o n 10.f3?! [ White should probably settle for 10.0-0 0-0 ChessPub! 11.ef3 f5 12.e1 c7 but Black can be [ 5...gf6 has been covered extensively in very satisfied with how the opening has the archives ] gone although chances are fairly equal. ] 6.1f3 [ 6.c4 is the main alternative and now 10...f6! 11.xh7 [ 11.xg6?! is even less convincing after d5!? has been the recent choice of strong hxg6 12.xg6+ f8 and White doesn't players ( 6...e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e5 have enough compensation ] is slightly better for White ) 7.1f3 g6 A) 8.e2 was tried against Adly in 11...fxe5 12.xg6+ d7 13.xh6 [ 13.dxe5 c7 14.c4 might offer better another recent game which continued g7 chances - for example b4 15.d2 a5 9.d2 h6 ( 9...gf6! seems more 16.a3 a6 17.e6! and the position remains accurate 10.0-0 0-0 11.d3 a5 unclear although I would always rather have with equality) 10.e4 gf6 11.xf6+ the extra piece, assuming no immediate xf6 12.h3 e6 13.b3 and White was a disasters! ] little better in Sethuraman, S (2520)-Adly, 13...xh6 14.h3+ c7 15.xh6 exd4 A (2607) Chennai 2012; B) 8.0-0 g7 9.h3 ( 9.d3! planning c4 Both sides have played sensibly since 10...f6 is more critical) 9...h6!? 10.e1 f5 and now a critical position has been reached 11.e4 0-0 12.c3 d6 13.d3 xe4 sadly White blunders immediately, albeit in a 14.xe4 d6 and Black was fairly very complicated position 16.c4? [ 16.c2! is perhaps best with a complete comfortable in Ganguly, S (2630)-Arun mess of a position after dxc3 17.bxc3 g8 Prasad, S (2513) Kolkata 2012 ] 18.0-0 ] 6...h6 [ 16.e4 dxc3 17.0-0-0 allows Black the [ 6...g6 can also be played straight away 1814

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c h o i c e b e t w e e n g8 with an ongoing initiative ( and 17...d6 which reaches an unclear ending after 18.xd6+ exd6 19.h4 cxb2+ 20.xb2 d7 )] 16...d6! A great move from Adly and I'm sure it came as a nasty surprise to W hite 17.g7 [ 17.cxd5 f5 18.d2 xg6 19.g5 e5+ 20.f1 xd5 is also pretty miserable for White although he may have some chances to defend here ] 17...f4 18.f7? [ 18.e4 was the only chance but even here Black can win with f5! 19.xf5 ( 19.c5! is more stubborn but Black is winning after xc5 20.g5 xg2+! 21.xg2 b4+ 22.d1 xh7 ) 19...hg8 trapping the queen ] 18...xh7! Now it's all over 19.xh7 e5+ 20.f1 f5 and here White resigned [ 20...f5 t h e q u e e n i s l o s t a s 21.h6 fails to d3+ 22.g1 e2+ 23.f1 c1+ 24.g1 e1# ] 0-1

1672 Negi,Parimarjan Harikrishna,Penteala Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (7) [Neil McDonald]

B17 2621 2672 23.01.2010

1.e4 c6 Is 12...Bb7 a one-off attempt to confuse an opponent or a genuine challenge to the 5.Ng5 Variation? 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 b6!? 12.g4 b7!? Shades of the Poison Pawn Variation in the French Winawer. Black is willing to sacrifice his kingside pawns to open up lines of attack for his rooks. If this is an OK attempt by Black then why hasn't it been played before at top level? Perhaps the answer is that players who like crazy attacking games don't usually play the CaroKann! Of course, another factor that discourages research is th at a compute r program will tell you that Black is utterly lost after 12...Bb7. [ Other moves for Black here are 12...f8 and ]

[ 12...g5 ] 13.xg7 f8! Black's generosity doesn't extend to the f7 pawn, as for the moment he wants to keep his centre intact. Still putting the rook on f8 is a strange prelude to an attack, and this may be what has deterred players from trying the sacrifice. [ An attempt to play in the style of the famous Kamsky-Karpov game with 13...e7 c a n b e m e t b y 14.g6! ( whereas 14.xh6?? loses to ag8 15.g5+ e8 winning the white queen. )] [ Here's what might happen if Black gives up the f7 pawn: 13...0-0-0 14.xf7 c5 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.xe6 de8 ( Black is very weak on the light squares after 16...xf3 17.gxf3 xh2+ 18.h1 ) 17.h3 b8 18.d2 c4 19.f5 c5 20.ae1 White's pieces make good use of the opportunities opened up to them by the demise of Black's centre pawns: notably f5 for the bishop and the efile f or the rooks. e4 21.c3 hg8 22.d4 xc3 23.xe8+ xe8 24.bxc3 f4 25.g4 1-0 Greet, A-Richardson, J/ Birmingham 2005. ] 14.e1 [ Black has a similar initiative after 14.xh6 c5 ( even better may be first 14...0-0-0!? ) 15.h7?! xf3 16.gxf3 f6 17.b5+ e7 etc. ] [ If 14.e4 0-0-0 and Black is ready to kick back the bishop with 15....f5 followed by 16. ..c5 etc. ] 14...0-0-0 15.h1 b8 16.a4 g8 O n ly n o w d o e s B la ck give u p t h e c e n t re p a wn s a n d g o o ve r t o a n a ll o u t a t t a c k . 17.xf7 df8 18.xe6 f6 It's interesting to compare the position here with that which arose in Greet-Richardson after 13...0-0-0see the note to 13...Rf8 above. Greet was able to evacuate his queen immediately and play a quick Bd2 and Rae1. In contrast, Negi has been kept waiting to capture the centre pawns, and has used the time to play the moves 14.Re 1, 15 .Kh1 and 1 6.a4. Blac k meanwhile has got in 14...0-0-0, 15...Kb8 and 16...Nf6. The black knight is ready to join in the attack, and the f2 square has been left undefended by White's moves [ a consequence of Kh1 and Rfe1 being played rather than Rae1]. Hence we see the value of 1815

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13...Rf8! 19.xh6 c8 Black activates his bishop without weakening his king's defences as would be the case after c6-c5. 20.e2 f7 21.e5 g4! 22.xg4 [ Few players would want to defend as White after 22.xf7 xf7 23.e3 xh2 ] 22...xg4 23.f3 c8 24.f4 h7! Trapping the unfortunate white bishop on h6. 25.xh7 xh7 26.h5 [ O f c o u r s e i f 26.g5? xg5 27.fxg5? xh2# ] 26...g6 It looks as though White is about to suffer a catastrophe along the h-file, but it turns out that Negi is able to generate just enough counterplay against the black king. 27.e8 xh6 28.g4 xh2+ 29.g1 h1+ 30.f2 xc2+ 31.e3 b3+ 32.e4 Mate on c8 can only be averted by giving p e rp e t u a l c h e ck . c2+ 33.e3 b3+ Food for thought, as they say. We have to wait for further tests of 12...Bb7. Meanwhile an intrepid subscriber might like to analyse this variation themselves. ½-½

xc3+ and in this equal position a draw was agreed. ] 11...b6 12.g4 g5! A typical idea introduced by Karpov in his game vs. Sion (1993). [ 12...f8 here is not good as it leads to the position from Luther-Evseev considered in t h e c o m m e n t s t o S a d va k a s o v- K a r p o v (AV120) which is bad for Black. ] 13.h3 The only move. [ 13.e1? is bad in view of f6 14.h3 g4 15.h4 gxf3 16.xf6 xh2+ 17.h1 fxg2+ 18.xg2 g8+ and White is in trouble. ] 13...g8 14.d2 [ Of course, 14.xh6? is a blunder in view of f8 and Black wins a piece: 15.h3 g4 ] 14...b7 15.a4!? An interesting novelty. Obviously Black intends Q-side castling, so White opens the a-file without delay. [ Before this game 15.c4 was played, but this move didn't yield White any advantage. The game Topalov-Tukmakov, Tilburg 1994 continued: 0-0-0! 16.c3 c5 A) 17.xd6+ should be preferred a l t h o u g h a f t e r xd6 18.e3 cxd4 19.cxd4 ( 19.xd4? e5 ) 19...f6 1673 B17 Black has good chances.; B) 17.e3 An inaccuracy after which Ponomariov,Ruslan 2627 Black managed to seize the initiative. f4! Galkin,Alexander 2566 18.fd1 ( 18.dxc5? g4 19.h4 c6 Lausanne 2000 and Black wins.) 18...f6! 19.dxc5 bxc5 [Alexander Volzhin] 20.f1 d5 21.xf4 gxf4! 22.e1 ( 22.f3 i s n o t g o o d i n v i e w o f a6! Lots of theoretically important games have i n t e n d i n g B x c 4 , a n d N e 3 t o f o l l o w; been played in the Smyslov Variation, 4...Nd7. and it's extremely risky to grab the pawn: Generally, it has confirmed its solid reputation 22.xh6?! f6! , intending Rh8, Rd8-h8 although W hite has found some interesting w i t h a c r u s h i n g a t t a c k .) 22...f3! attempts to fight for an opening advantage. Now Black obtains an attack against the 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 W h i t e K i n g . 23.g3 ( 23.xf3? f4 ) 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 23...f4 24.h4 e2+! 25.h1 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 The modern ( 25.xe2 fxe2 and White can't parry the "tabia" of the Smyslov Variation. Here White threat of 26...Qc6.) 25...d5! 26.e3 e5 has 2 main possibilities: 11 0-0 and 11 Qg4. (intending 27...Rxe3) 27.xh6 eg5! 11.0-0 28.ad1 e5! [ 11.d2 is harmless: b6 12.0-0-0 b7 B1) 29.c4 i s b a d a l s o : xg3+! 13.e2 0-0-0 14.he1 c5 and Black 30.hxg3 h5+ 31.h3 ( 31.g1 equalises easily. The game Kuczynskixg3+ ) 31...xh6 32.xe5 xh3+ Macieja, Poland 2000 continued: 15.a6 33.g1 gh8 with unavoidable mate.; xa6 16.xa6+ b8 17.c4 cxd4 B2) 29.h4 h5 30.c4 ( 30.c4 18.xc7+ xc7 19.xd4 a6 20.f3 f6 xg3+ 31.fxg3 xh2+ 32.xh2 21.e5 xe5 22.xe5 b7 23.e3 d7 xg3+ 33.h1 g1# ) 30...h8 24.c3 xd1+ 25.xd1 d5 26.g3 1816

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31.d6+ b8 32.xf7 xh4 33.xh8 hxh8 and White resigned. ] 15...0-0-0 16.a5 f6 17.axb6 axb6 18.b3 The critical position for the evaluation of W hite's plan. g4?! A serious mistake based o n a m i s c a lc u l a t i o n . T h i s m o ve cr e a t e s weaknesses on the K-side and White obtains a comfortable blockade position. Black hopes to exploit the bad position of White's Queen, but unfortunately W hite has enough resources. [ 18...h5 (intending 19...h5-h4 and only then g5-g4) should be played, and in this very complicated position Black's chances are by no means bad. ] 19.h4 e7 20.e1! This prophylactic move refutes Black's idea. d5 21.h5 f6 [ In playing his 18th move Black was hoping for 21...f6 , but White is not going to repeat moves (22.Qh4) as he has the simple 22.xh6! h8 23.f4 , and Black can't play d6 i n v i e w o f 24.xf6 xh2+ 25.f1 Of course, this is possible thanks to 20 Re1!. ] 22.d2 d7 Black has no active moves and has to temporise. 23.a6 g6 24.xb7+ xb7 25.xe6! e7 26.xf6! xf6 27.xg4 Now White is winning. He has 2 pawns for the sacrificed exchange and can gradually strengthen his position (g2-g3, Bf4. c2-c4 etc.) while Black has nothing in return. d8 28.g3 e6 29.f3 f8 30.c4 c8 31.d5 g6 32.d4 Black resigned. In spite of this convincing win I don't think this line is really dangerous for Black (18...h5!) although the position is very complicated and both sid e s c a n im p ro ve . Un d o u b t e d ly we ca n expect new games in this line. 1-0

line GM Jonathan Speelman showed his class and proved the viability of Black's position. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.d3 gf6 6.g5 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.g4 f8 12.0-0 c5 13.e1 [ 13.c3 was tried in Shankar - Speelman, Calcutta, 1998. b6 14.d2 b7 15.fe1 e8 16.ad1 c4 17.c2 d5 18.a4?! T h i s m o v e i s j u s t a w a s t e o f t i m e . b5! 19.c2 ( The Bishop has to retreat as the opening of the b-file favours Black: 19.xb5 f6 20.h3 b8 and if 21.a4 then c8 with the threat of a7-a6.) 19...g5! Excellent. 20.h3 g7 Now Black's advantage is beyond doubt, as all White's pieces occupy miserable positions. So White sacrifices a pawn in order to complicate the position, but Black easily parries all the threats. 21.e5 xe5 22.dxe5 xe5 23.h5 f6 24.e3 d8 25.d4 xd4 26.xd4 e5 27.d2?! f3! Winning the exchange. 28.xf3 xd2 29.f5 d6 30.h4 f6 and White resigned. ] 13...b6 14.dxc5!? xc5 15.d2! This is the idea behind White's previous move. By giving up his strong Bishop White hopes for a development advantage and to exploit t h e o p e n c-f i le . B e sid e s B c3 is qu i t e a n unpleasant threat, aiming for the g7-square. [ O f c o u r s e m o v e s l i k e 15.f1 are insufficient for an opening advantage. ] 15...h5! Speelman finds the only way to equality. The idea is to drive White's Queen away from her active position, and thereby relieve the pressure on the g7-square. [ After the natural looking but bad 15...xd3?! Black's position is hardly defendable. The following game illustrates how dangerous Black's position is: 16.cxd3 e7 ( 16...b7 17.c3 g8 18.ac1 ) 1674 B17 17.e5 f6 ( 17...b7 is equally bad: 18.f4 d6 19.b4! with an immediate Ponomariov,Ruslan 2585 win. ) 18.ac1 d8 19.f3 a6 20.d7+ Speelman,Jonathan S 2600 e7 21.b4+! and Black resigned in Hastings 1998 Vorobiov - Gutov, Russia,1998. ( 21.b4+ [Alexander Volzhin] xd7 22.c6# )] T h e U k r a i n i a n R u s l a n P o n o m a r i o v t h e 16.h4 b7! 17.e2 e4 18.e3 [ After 18.ad1 e7 19.f4 Black can youngest ever grandmaster, had prepared a choose between a draw by repetition after very interesting idea in a well-known position, d6 ( or try the unclear ending after but his opponent, the leading expert in this 1817

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19...xf4 20.xf4 g5 ) 20.h4 e7 ] 18...e7 19.g5 e5! Safe and good. [ Grabbing the pawn is too risky: 19...xc2 20.ac1 xb2 21.c7 and White has a strong initiative. ] 20.f3 xg5 21.xg5 xg5 22.xe5 xh4 23.xb7 d8 [ 23...d8 24.e2 and the position is dead equal. A short but theoretically important game. ] ½-½

advantage thanks to the pair of Bishops and his pawn superiority on the queenside in Rublevsky - Gulko, Polianica Zdroj, 1996. ] [ 10...c7 11.e5 d6 12.gf3 bd5 ( 12...0-0 This careless move allows White t o b e gin a su d d e n a t t a ck: 13.g4! c4 14.xc4 xc4 15.xc4 xg4 16.g1 e5 17.0-0-0 xe3 18.xe3 h8 19.xg7! wit h a d e cisive at t a ck in Sh a m ko vic h Kholmov, USSR, 1961. ) A) 13.b5+!? is another possibility, Svidler - Karpov, Tilburg 1996. However, i t d o e s n ' t l o o k v e r y p r o m i s i n g : e7 1675 B17 Black's King is quite safe here, and the Bishop sortie allows Black to win some Rublevsky,Sergei 2685 tempi for developing his Q-side (a6, b5) . Karpov,Anatoly 2725 14.0-0 a6 15.d3 b5 16.c3 b7 17.d2 Polanica Zdroj 1998 cxd4 18.cxd4 is another possibility, [Alexander Volzhin] S v i d l e r - K a r p o v , T i l b u r g 1 9 9 6 . g5 ( 18...hc8 19.fc1 b6 20.e1 b4! An excellent victory by the improving young 21.a4 xd2 22.xd2 f8 23.f1 ab8 Russian GM Sergey Rublevsky, over th e 24.axb5 axb5 25.d3 e7 26.a3 b4 main adherent of Black's position in this line, 27.b3 d5 and a draw was agreed, Anatoly Karpov. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 although Black is slightly better. ); dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.c4 gf6 6.g5 e6 B) 13.0-0 0-0 14.c3 b6 15.d2 b7 7.e2 This move develo ps the Queen and the game Rublevsky - Galkin, Krasnodar contains the unpleasant threat of Nxf7 with a 1997 continued with 16.a3 cxd4 17.cxd4 mating attack. Black's reply is forced. b6 e7 18.fe1 ac8 19.ad1 c7 20.b1 8.d3 d8!? Black finds a very good way of [ 8.b3 is quite a different story. ] re gro u p in g h is f o rce s. 21.d3 c8 8...h6 22.h4 d8 23.h3 e7 24.g3 h5 [ The pawn is poisoned: 8...xd4? 9.1f3 25.g4 f6 26.g3 h5 and a draw Intending Ne5 after the Queen's retreat, was agreed. White can probably find other winning the f7-pawn, and if b4+ then ways to maintain his initiative, so let's wait 10.c3! xc3+ 11.f1! and White wins a for future encounters. ] piece. ] 9.5f3 c5 10.e3 However the text move 11.e5 a6 12.gf3 c7 13.0-0 cxd4?! deserves serious attention. It's invariably the This novelty is of rather doubtful value. [ I t i s b e t t e r t o c o n t i n u e w i t h 13...d6 choice of Sergey Rublevsky against the Caro and after 14.c3 one of the main positions Kann. from the line 10. ..a6 appears. ] [ 10.dxc5 is considered to be the main line. ] 14.xd4 c5 10...bd5 [ 14...f4?! is dubious as it's hardly possible [ Black has two alternatives to the text: after to make a fourth move with one piece when 10...a6 a lot of games have continued with u n d e ve l o p e d : 15.d2 xd3 16.cxd3!? 11.c3 c7 12.e5 d6 13.gf3 bd5 e7 17.ac1 d8 18.c4 and Black's Q14.0-0 one successful example of White's side looks very vulnerable. ] pla y f rom GM S ergey Rub levsky is: 0-0 15.d2 b6 16.ac1 b7 17.fe1!? b5 15.b5+!? An unpleasant check which forces 18.c4 bxc4 19.xc4 e7 20.ec1 fc8 the black King to forget about castling, and 21.dxc5 xc5 22.xc5 xc5 23.a3 d6 instead castle by hand. f8 The only move. [ T h e a l t e r n a t i v e s w e r e b a d : 15...axb5? 24.c6 xc6 25.xc6 a5 26.g3 c7 16.xb5+ d7 17.xd7 xd4 18.f6+ 27.e5 and White had obtained a tangible 1818

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e7 19.xd5+ exd5 20.xd4 with a clear extra pawn and an overwhelming advantage. ] [ or 15...e7? 16.c6+! bxc6 17.xc5+ and W hite dominates the dark-squares, while Black's King can hardly feel safe in the centre of the board. ] 16.xc5+ xc5 17.c4! The correct plan: on e o f Bla c k ' s st ro n g Kn igh t s sh o u ld b e exchanged. g6 [ 17...b5?! wa s d ub io u s d u e t o 18.xd5 xd5 19.fc1! (intending c4) b4 20.a3 opening queenside files quickly and obtaining a very strong initiative . ] 18.xd5 xd5 19.c4 f6 20.a3 With the idea of b4 to extend his sphere of i n f l u e n c e o n t h e q u e e n s i d e . d7?! A serious inaccuracy after which Black finds himself in a very unpleasant situation. [ It was necessary to deal with the King first: 20...g7 21.b4 e7 22.e3 with a clear e d g e f o r W h i t e , b u t B l a c k ' s d e f e n s i ve resources should not be underestimated.. ] 21.fd1 e8 The only move. [ Black had a lot of other possibilities, but all o f t h e m w e r e d i s a s t r o u s : 21...d8?! Now the pin on the d-file is quite unpleasant. 22.d3 g7 23.ad1 e7 24.d2 e4 25.a5! c5 26.d6! and White wins either the knight or the bishop. ] [ 21...a4? 22.b3! xb3 23.d7! h7 24.b2 a4 25.xg6+ winning ] [ 21...c6? is also bad in view of 22.d4 e4 23.d7+! xd7 24.xe4 and Black is in real trouble ] [ 21...e7 22.e3 ( 22.d3 g7 23.ad1 is n o t b a d e it h e r .) 22...g7 23.b6 with a huge advantage. ] 22.b4 e7 23.b2 White has achieved a big advantage. Black's life is very hard. White has a simple way to improve the position of his pieces: making great use of the d-file, while Black's forces are uncoordinated and have no c h a n c e o f g a i n i n g a n a c t i v e r o l e . g8 The King has to avoid the long diagonal. 24.d4 h7 25.ad1 f8 26.1d3 c8 27.h3 c7 28.d2 g7 29.d8 W hite's play is simple and lo gical. g8?! It was obviously not Anatoly Karpov's best day but in such an unpleasant situation mistakes are quite possible. 30.3d6! a4

[ B l a c k ' s i d e a w a s p r o b a b l y 30...f6? but it fails due to 31.d7! f7 32.c5 winning ] 31.xf8 xf8 32.d4 h7 [ 32...f6 was still impossible: 33.xe6! fxe5 34.xe5+ f7 35.f4+ g7 36.xc7+ ] [ 32...f6 33.d8 e7 34.c5 with the idea of Ng4 was also hopeless for Black ( b u t n o t t h e i m m e d i a t e 34.g4?? b e c a u s e o f xc4! 35.g8+ xg8 36.xf6+ h8! )] 33.d8 e7 [ After 33...g7 34.d6 f6 White wins by 35.xg6 xg6 36.xg8 xg8 37.xc7 ] 34.c5 e8 [ White's position is very powerful and t a c t i c a l t r i c k s a r e i n t h e a i r : 34...b3 35.g4! h5 ( 35...d5 36.xg8! xg8 37.f6+ f8 38.xd5 exd5 39.h8# ) 36.h6! e5 37.xe5 xh6 38.h8+! xh8 39.xg6+ h7 40.xe7 xe7 41.d3+ winning ] [ or 34...f6 35.g4 e8 ( 35...g7 36.xf6 xf6 37.g8+ winning ) 36.xe8! xe8 37.f6+ winning ] 35.d6 a4?! [ 35...f6 was more tenacious but it still loses: 36.c4 c6 37.fe5 d5 38.b6 g7 39.h2 by moving his king from the first rank White has put Black in zugzwang: g5 40.f3 with the idea of Nb6-a8 winning ] 36.f8 f6 [ 36...e8 37.xe8! xe8 38.xc7 winning ] 37.f7+ xf7 38.xf7 xf7 39.xe6 W ith a decisive material advantage. Black tries to build a fortress for some moves but is unable to do so. d7 40.h2 h5 41.e3 e7 42.d2 f5 43.c3 c6 44.c4 g7 45.a5 b5 46.a1 a4 47.c4 d8 48.e1 d7 49.e6 c6 50.a5 e7 51.c8 e8 52.c7+ e7 53.b8 d7 54.c8 e7 55.b8 f7 [ 55...d5 56.e8 e6 57.c6 bxc6 58.xc6 ] 56.a4 h4 57.xc6 xc6 58.h8 e7 59.g8 g5 60.b5 axb5 61.axb5 d8 62.h7+ f7 63.f4!? d4 [ 63...gxf4 64.e4+ e5 65.xf4 d5 66.xh4 xc5 67.h7+ f7 68.e4+ followed by capturing on b7 winning. ] 1819

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 64.fxg5 fxg5 65.g6 d7 66.b6 e8 67.c6 bxc6 68.bxc6 d8 69.c7 An excellent win by Sergey Rublevsky, who completely outplayed his great rival. 1-0

1676 Sadvakasov,Darmen Karpov,Anatoly Hoogeveen [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2465 2700 1999

Another novelty from the leading expert in the Smyslov 4...Nd7 line, former World champion Anatoly Karpov. Black equalizes easily and outplays his young opponent very convincingly. A very good example of how to play when your opponent has an isolated central pawn. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 As we concluded before, this move is currently Black's main weapon. 11.g4 f8 12.0-0 c5 [ In the game Luther - Yevseev, Groningen 1998 Black tried the less accurate 12...b6?! when W hite found a good way to get the opening advantage: 13.b3! b7 14.b2 f6 This move is forced as the pressure piling up on the g7-square is very un ple as a nt (d 4-d 5 is t he th re a t), b u t it allows W hite's Knight to occupy the important e5-square. 15.h4 e7 16.e5 c5 17.ae1 cxd4 18.xd4 c5 19.b2! Comparing this position with Leko-Adams one notices that White has some extra tempi and has managed to avoid the exchange of dark-squared Bishops. Now White's initiative will progress without any real obstacles. ag8 The only suitable plan-: Black prepares a King march to the queenside. 20.c4! Aiming for the sensitive e6 and f7 squares. ( The hasty 20.g4 leads White nowhere in view of f4! ) 20...d8 21.e2 f8 22.d1+ c8 23.xf7! This blow is the logical result of all White's previous play. Now the game is over. xf7 ( 23...xf7 is n o b ett er in vie w o f 24.xe6+ b8 25.e5 winning the Queen.) 24.xe6+ xe6 25.xe6 d5 26.d4 f4 27.h3

xd4 28.xd4 and Black resigned. ] 13.h4 b6 14.e4 b8!? Quite an interesting novelty. [ Before Black had tried 14...b7 in Topalov Timman, Elista 1998. The game continued 15.xb7 xb7 16.b3 e7 17.g3 f6 18.e3 g6 19.ad1 g7 and Black has successfully resolved any major opening problems, although W hite still has a tiny a d v a n t a g e . 20.c4 ad8 21.d5 exd5 22.xd5 f8 23.xd8 xd8 24.h4 h5 25.d1 f6 26.g5 h7 27.d5 e8 28.f4 d8! By accurate defence Black has equalized completely. But White still doesn't wa n t t o sign u p t o a n y d ra w t re a t ie s . . . 29.d6 ( It's a mistake to take a pawn with 29.xh5 in view of h8! and White has to give it back 30.d5 xd5 31.cxd5 xd5 and now Black has excellent prospects due to his queenside pawn majority.) 29...c6 30.h2 g8 31.d2?? An unusual blunder for a top player. Still pressing to play for a win, White doesn't feel the danger a n d m i s s e s a s i m p l e b l o w . ( 31.d2 ) 31...xh4! Winning a pawn for nothing. White is completely demoralized and loses in just a few moves. 32.d3 f6 33.e7?? c7+ and White resigned. ] 15.d1 c4 16.e5 f6! 17.f3 b7 18.xb7 xb7 Now it's clear that Black has successfully solved his opening problems, achieving a comfortable blocade position and firm control over the d5-square. It's not easy to find a good plan for White. He decides to undermine the c4-pawn and open files on the queenside, but the arising position is good for Black. 19.b3 cxb3 20.cxb3 d5 21.f4 e7 22.g3 xe5! Very instructive. By exchanging W hite's strong Knight, Black achieves a position with strong Knight against bad Bishop. Now Black should complete his d e ve lo p m e n t a n d co o rd in a t e h is f o rc e s . Karpov succeeds in doing this very smoothly. 23.xe5 [ B l a c k i s a l s o b e t t e r a f t e r 23.dxe5 when White doesn`t have the problem of a weak isolated pawn, but Black's Knight is far superior to the Bishop here. g6 24.h4 (what else?) g7 25.h5 d7! 26.hxg6 fxg6 27.ac1 hd8 and White only has problems to solve. ] 1820

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23...g5 24.d3 d7 25.ac1 d8 26.a6 e7 27.c4 g8 28.c7 a8 29.a4 e8 30.b8 h7 31.c7 [ The pawn is taboo: 31.xa7? in view of b7! 32.a6 a8 33.d3+ g6 winning the brave Bishop. ] 31...d5 32.e5 e7 33.c4 g5 34.d3+ g6 35.e2 hd8 36.h4 h5 Black has achieved everything he could dream of. Now he can reinforce the pressure on that d4-pawn by transferring his Knight to ... f5 (via the e7-square) 37.d3 g4 38.d2 f6 39.g3 e7 40.e3 xd4 A time-trouble inaccuracy. Although the text doesn't miss the win, now Black is forced to show his technique. [ 40...e5! looks right. Black has won a central pawn for nothing and he keeps a considerable positional advantage as well, as his Knight is much better than White`s Bishop. ] 41.xd4 xd4 42.f3 f5 43.xe6 The only move. [ 43.fxg4 is bad after xe3 44.gxh5 d2 45.f2 g4 46.e1 xa2 and Black wins easily. ] 43...xg3 44.xf5+ h6 45.c2 [ 45.c8 xh4 46.h8+ g6 47.e8+ h7 ] 45...xh4 46.d1 Exchanging ks, White hopes for drawing chances in the Queen ending, but Karpov allows him no escape. f4 47.d3 h4 48.h1 g6 49.c3 xd3 50.xd3 h3 51.gxh3 g3 52.d2+ h5 53.e3 xh3+ 54.g1 f5 55.e2 e5 56.d1 h4 57.f2 h2+ 58.e3 e5+ 59.f2 f5 60.a4 g3+ 61.e3 e5+ 62.f2 h2+ 63.e3 g5 64.d5 g1+ 65.e2 g3! Karpov at his best! White resigned, as Black wins the f3-pawn and then exchanges Queens. [ 65...g3 66.xf5 ( 66.e5+ g2 67.xf5 f2+ ) 66...f2+ 67.d1 xf3+ ] 0-1

1677 Shirov,Alexei Karpov,Anatoly vs. ROW Moscow RUS (8) [Tony Kosten]

B17 2697 2687 10.09.2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 This is not even mentioned in my copy of ECO B, which devotes by f ar the most space to [ 5.c4 but nowadays it is considered White's best choice. Now we go down the mainline of Smyslov's variation. ] 5...gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.g4 f8 12.0-0 c5 13.b3 Nigel Davies considered this doubtful, but as so many good players are playing it at the moment, I must wonder if this can be true! e5 [ 13...cxd4!? appears to win a pawn, 14.xd4 e5 15.b2 xf3+ 16.gxf3 f6!? deciding against ( 16...xh2+ 17.g2 f6 a lt h o u gh t h is m u s t b e t h e crit ica l t e s t) 17.h4 e5 18.a3+ g8 19.ad1 f5 ( 19...d7 was considered in Leko, PKarpov, A/Linares ESP 2001.) 20.fe1 h7 the black king has reached safety, and he has no problems, Hracek, Z-Meduna, E/CZE 2002. ] 14.c3!? This is the new idea, refusing to give ground in the centre. [ 14.dxc5 xc5 15.f5 h5 16.h3 is nothing for White, Gelfand, B-Speelman, J/Munich 1992. ] 14...b6!? Rather than worry about central captures, Black bolsters c5, and prepares to bring his bishop to the long diagonal if necessary. [ 14...cxd4 was played in Kizov, V-Ivanov, I/ S t r u g a M K D 2 0 0 2 , w h e n 15.cxd4 is obviously crucial. ] 15.e1 cxd4! [ 15...b7 worked-out well for Karpov in a previous game: 16.h3 xf3 17.xf3 d8 18.h3 g8 19.b2 g6 20.e2 g7 21.ae1 h5 Leko, P-Karpov, A/Moscow RUS 2002, and Black went on to win, but here he is clearly worse. ] 16.cxd4 c5! Black profits from the discovered attack on the white queen. 17.f5 h5 18.h3!? Only this is the first new move. 1821

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 18.g5 e7 19.d2 xf5 20.dxc5 d8 21.cxb6 axb6 was fine for Black in Leko, PTimman, J/W ijk aan Zee NED 2002, his bishops compensating the slight discomfort of the king. ] 18...d3! All preparation, no doubt. 19.d1 e4 20.e5!? xe5 21.dxe5 xf5 22.xf5 xe5 23.xe5 xe5 24.d4 f6!? Black prefers to avoid [ 24...f5 when 25.d5 e8 26.f4 d3 27.xf5+ regains the pawn. ] 25.xe4 ½-½

1678 Shomoev,A Sjugirov,S 66th ch-RUS HL (3.7) [Tom Rendle]

B17 2565 2647 22.06.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 f8 13.b3! Recently this move has been acknowledged as White's best try for an advantage [ Leko tried both 13.e1 ] [ and 13.h4 against Bareev in their 2007 ca n d id a t es m a t ch . B o t h ga me s ca n b e found in the archives annotated by John Watson ] 13...b7 14.b2 f6 15.h3 [ Gawain analysed White's main alternative 15.h4 in So-Harikrishna from 2010. ] 15...d5 16.g3 c5 17.c4!? Not a novelty but a new move for this website - because of this I've copied in the recent important games from this position [ 17.dxc5 xc5 18.ae1 leads to a slight advantage for White but Black is very solid and it's hard to break his position down. John W atson analyses this in the important encounter Leko-Ivanchuk. ] 17...b4 Black has a number of squares for the knight but this seems to offer the best equalising chances [ 17...e7 also deserves attention here as Black obtained an easy draw here after 18.dxc5 xc5 19.g4?! ( 19.d2! e5 20.xe5 xe5 21.ad1 is slightly better for

White ) 19...g8 20.d4 e5! 21.e4 xd4 22.xb7 xb2 23.xa8 xa1 24.xa1 f5 25.d1 e7 26.e4 d4 27.d5 f5 28.e4 d4 29.d5 f5 30.e4 and a draw was agreed in Balogh, C (2621)-Piorun, K (2499) Wroclaw 2010 ] [ 17...f6 is inaccurate because of 18.d5! exd5 19.xf6 gxf6 A) 20.cxd5 is not as good - Black is very close to equalising after xd5 21.f5 ( 21.h5 gives White better chances of an e d g e a l t h o u gh B la c k is O K a f t e r xf3 22.xf3 d8! ) 21...e5 Wang Jue (2401)Guo Qi (2439) Manila 2013; B) 20.f5 e5 21.ae1 B1) 21...c3 is Black's best try here but White can choose between a safe slight edge with 22.e2 ( or a dangerous exchange sacrifice with 22.cxd5!? c8! 23.e4 xe1 24.xe1 although here White probably has sufficient compensation but not more. ); B2) 21...g8?! 22.h5 and White was clearly better in Balogh, C (2622)Prohaszka, P (2501) Rijeka 2010 ] 18.e2 cxd4 [ 18...c6 has also been tried here and it's not so easy to show an edge for White now: A) 19.g4!? deserves attention here, the i d e a i s t o m e e t h5 with 20.g5 ( 20.xg7+!? is flashy but leads to no advantage after xg7 21.d5+ f6 22.dxc6 xc6 ) 20...cxd4 21.xd4 and White is a little better; B) 19.ad1 e4 20.d2 and a draw was agreed in Fedorchuk, S (2665)-Wojtaszek, R (2663) Pamplona 2010 and Black does appear to be fine here after cxd4 21.xd4 c6 22.c3 e5! 23.c1 d4! 24.xd4 xd4 25.h4 f6 26.xe4 xe4 with equality ] 19.xd4 c5?! [ 19...e5 is also possible although it does alte r Black's u ltra-so lid pawn struc ture 20.f3 e8 21.ad1 c6 22.f5! and White is slightly better ] [ 19...e5 was best and now 20.ad1 g8 21.f4 xd4+ 22.xd4 d8 and although I still pref er W hite's position af ter 23.h5 Black is always going to have counterplay based on W hite's vulnerability on the a81822

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h1 diagonal. ] 20.g4?! White creates nasty threats against g7 but for the moment Black can adequately defend [ 20.ad1! was stronger and Black is in t ro u b le , f o r e xa m p l e g8 ( 20...xa2 i s f a r t o o g r e e d y - n o w 21.g4! is very strong, for example h7 loses to 22.d3 h5 23.xe6+! fxe6 24.xe6 h6 25.g6 c6 26.fe1 and White has a winning attack) 21.f3 xf3 22.xf3 h5 ( 22...xa2?! 23.g4 h7 24.e5 and Black can't prevent Rd7) 23.h4 with a clear advantage for White ] 20...h7! 21.ad1 h5! Otherwise White will h a v e t i m e f o r a 3 a n d b 4 o r N b 5 . 22.h4 e7?! [ 22...e8! was Black's best chance for equality, for example 23.a3 ( 23.d2?! e5 24.f3 f6 and Black has solved all of his problems ) 23...c2! 24.f3 ( 24.xc2?? loses to c6 and White is forced to give up a rook on d5 to avoid mate.) 24...e7 25.e5! c6 26.f4 f6! with dynamic equality ] 23.h3 c5?! [ 23...f6 was necessary although White is still doing well after 24.d2! ( 24.a3?! c2! and Black is suddenly better) 24...g8 25.a3 a6 26.b4 d8 27.fd1 ] 24.f3 [ 24.a3 was also strong as c2 can now be met by 25.xe6+! fxe6 26.xe6 and with W hite threatening Qf5+ Black is much worse ] 24...xf3 25.xf3 d8?! 26.h4! W hite takes control of the d-file and now Black's misplaced rook on h7 means he is close to losing d3? This just loses a piece [ 26...e7 was more stubborn but White should be winning after 27.xd8+ xd8 28.e4 h6 29.e5 although Black can at least make it tricky now with h4! ] 27.e4 xf2 [ 27...xb2 loses to 28.xd8+ xd8 29.xh7 f6 30.xh5 ] 28.xd8+ xd8 29.xh7 d1+ 30.h1 xb2 31.h8+ [ 31.e5 a8+ 32.f3 is an easier route to victory but the line Shomoev chooses is good enough ]

31...e7 32.xd8+ xd8 33.g5 B la ck h a s n o h o p e i n t h is e n d i n g a s h i s kingside pawns are too vulnerable so Sjugirov resigned. 1-0

1679 So,Wesley Harikrishna,Penteala 16th Asian Games Team Men (5) [Gawain Jones]

B17 2669 2657 22.11.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 This has become the critical test of the 4... Nd7 line in the past few years. b6 12.g4 f8 Harikrishna decides not to repeat his sacrificial style from earlier this year. This is the main method of defending the pawn. Black wants to keep his perfect structure and so is happ y t o p ut up wit h slight discom f ort in completing his development. [ No one ha s yet rep eat ed his 12...b7!? idea annotated by Neil in the game Negi, P (2621)-Harikrishna, P (2672) Wijk aan Zee 2010. ] 13.b3 This has been acknowledged as White's best try. The bishop will control e5 and put further pressure on g7. The pawn is also useful preventing Black seizing the d5 square with ...c5-c4. Alternatives don't really get White anywhere: [ 13.e3 doesn't put any pressure on e5 and allows Black to complete his development. b7 14.ad1 d8 15.h4 f6 16.c4 c5 17.e2 e7 18.h3 e4 19.g3 f5 20.g2 e4 21.h3 f5 22.g2 e4 1/2-1/2 Kulaots, K (2592) -Drozdovskij, Y (2608) Borup 2010 was very straightforward. ] [ 13.h4 b7 14.e1 c5 This was John W atson 's suggeste d improvemen t ove r Bareev's move seen previously. ( 14...g8 Leko, P (2738)-Bareev, E (2643) Elista 2007. ) 15.e4 xe4 16.xe4 d8 17.dxc5 xc5 18.e2 g8! Black slowly ca st le s b y ha nd a n d ha s ab solut ely n o proble ms. Co rrales Jimen ez, F (2574)Drozdovskij, Y (2624) Balaguer 2010 ] 1823

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 13.d2 looks slightly less accurate. c5 14.dxc5 ( 14.c3 f6 15.h4 c4! illustrates the advantage of 13 b3.) 14...bxc5 ( 14...xc5 is possibly an easier equaliser. 15.c3 e5 16.f5 h5 17.h3 e6 18.h4 f4 19.xc8 xc8 1/2-1/2 Lobzhanidze, D (2485)-Galkin, A (2565) Krasnodar 1998 and I prefer Black who can try to trap the queen with ...f6 and ... g5 plans. ) 15.fe1 f6 16.h4 b7 17.c3 xf3 18.xf6 Escobar Forero, A (2454)-Harikrishna, P (2645) KhantyMansiysk 2010 when gxf6 19.xf6 xh2+ 20.h1 f4 ( 20...xg2+ looks like a forced draw. 21.xg2 g8+ 22.f3 c4 23.xe6 cxd3 24.xh6+ g7 25.h8+= ) 21.xe6 xg2+ 22.xg2 g8+ 23.h1 xf6 24.xf6 e5= with a level ending. ] [ Likewise 13.e1 hasn't really got White anywhere: b7 14.d2 c5 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.c3 f6 17.h3 Perez Rodriguez, L (2483)-Condori, E (2171) Cali 2010 when Black should force White to retreat with c4 18.f1 e4 19.d4 e5 20.e3 c3 and Black had good play. The only difficulty will be choosing the right time to play ... Kg8h7. ] 13...b7 14.b2 f6 15.h4 [ 15.h3 is also played but d5 forces 16.g3 c5 A) 17.dxc5 doesn't seem to trouble Black. xc5 18.e5 f6 19.ae1 ( 19.h4 d8 20.f4 g8 21.b4 d6 22.a3 h5 23.g5 e7 24.f4 d6 25.g5 e7 26.f4 d6 1/2-1/2 Kokarev, D (2622)Berczes, D (2510) Rijeka 2010.) 19...d8 20.h4 d5 21.b4 d6 22.c4 e7 23.e2 c8 24.xc7+ xc7 25.fe1 1/2-1/2 Ganguly, S (2655) -Rasmussen, A (2510) Copenhagen 2010.; B) 17.c4 e7 ( 17...f6 18.d5! is strong, Balogh, C (2622)-Prohaszka, P (2501) Rijeka 201 0) 18.dxc5 xc5 19.g4 g8 20.d4 e5 21.e4 xd4 22.xb7 xb2 23.xa8 xa1 24.xa1 f5 25.d1 e7 26.e4 d4 27.d5 f5 28.e4 d4 29.d5 f5 30.e4 1/2-1/2 Balogh, C (2621)-Piorun, K (2499) W roclaw 2010 saw Black successfully neutralise White's initiative. ] 15...d5

[ P e t e W e l l s f o c u s e s o n 15...c5!? in his Caro-Kann book but the text is more common. ] 16.e5 This seems to be the critical test immediately taking control of the important central squares and not allowing Black use of f4 without creating structural weaknesses. [ 16.fe1 looks logical but allows f4 17.ad1 ( 17.f1 f6!? looks somewhat awkward for the White queen.) 17...f6 18.d5 e5 19.dxc6 xc6 20.c4 b5 21.f1 wa s se e n in B e lo v, V (2 6 2 5 )-G a lk in , A (2597) Irkutsk 2010 in which W hite eventually triumphed but g5! 22.g4 d7 23.a3 xg4 24.xd6+ xd6 25.xd6 e7 would give Black a great position. ] [ 16.g3 is examined in the archives in Bobras, P (2554) -W ojtaszek, R (2639) Warsaw 2010. ] 16...g5 Not ideal but otherwise Black will have no way to complete his development. In return for weakening his kingside Black regains possession of f4 and gains valuable time on the W hite queen. 17.g4 John mentioned that this might be stronger than the previously played 17 Qg3 but it hadn't yet received any practical tests. His reasoning was that Black now has to watch out for sacrifices on f7 with more pressure on the e6 square. f4 [ 17...f5!? would try and exploit White's previous but this does create further holes in h i s k i n g s i d e . 18.g3 ( 18.xf5 xe5! 19.dxe5 exf5 20.xf5+ f7 21.xf7+ xf7 22.e6+ xe6 23.xh8 xh8 leaves Black in a very comfortable ending.) 18...xe5 19.xe5?! ( Surely 19.dxe5 keeping the queens on is a better try for an advantage although Black's position looks reasonable enough to me.) 19...xe5 20.dxe5 c5 21.fd1 e7 and Black had no problems. Gajsin, E (2404) -Galkin, A (2602) Tomsk 2004. ] 18.fe1 The most logical move. [ Interestingly the computer prefers 18.ae1 which has also received a couple of practical tests but looks rather clumsy. g8 A) 19.h3 d8 20.c4 e7 ( 20...f5!? 21.d1 g4 looks very dangerous.) 21.g3 c5 22.d5 Zhigalko, A (2491)Galkin, A (2607) Moscow 2004 when exd5 23.e5 d7 24.e3 xd3 25.cxd3 h5 1824

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 would leave Black clearly on top.; B) 19.g3 is the computer's top choice but xe5 20.xe5 c5 leaves White's light squares looking rather vulnerable.; C) 19.e4? f5! 20.xf5 h5! I guess this is the move that W hite missed. 21.d1 exf5 0-1 Cabrera Trujillo, J (2365) Gonzalez Vidal, Y (2522) Pamplona 2010 and W hite had nothing like enough compensation. ] 18...g8 The rook vacates the b2-h8 diagonal defending the g5 pawn and getting ready to expel W hite's queen with .. .h5 while also defending against h2-h4 ideas. ...c5 will now be easier to achieve. 19.f3 d8 20.ad1 Sensibly completing development. [ 20.e4 was the choice of the Women's World Championship finalist (the play off is tomorrow at time of writing) but it doesn't l o o k c o n v i n c i n g . f5! 21.xc6 xe5 22.xb7 Hou, Y (2571)-Sasikiran, K (2711) W ijk aan Zee 2009 xd4 23.xd4 xd4 24.a6 f7 25.c4 g4 26.g3 gd8 looks comfortable for Black with his activity. ] 20...c5 21.e4 xe5 [ 21...xe4 has only been played a couple of times over the board but has always been the choice in Correspondence and looks like a more comfortable defence to me. 22.xe4 f5 23.f3 ( 23.e3 xe5 24.xe5 xe5 25.xe5 is the computer's suggestion but I can't believe Black can have any problems here. ) 23...xe5 24.dxe5 f7 A) 25.c1 xd1 26.xd1 d8?! 1/2-1/2 Anwesh, U (2400)-Sundararajan, K (2526) Chennai 2010 is a rather curious note. Following ( 26...xe5 27.xf4 gxf4 28.h5+ e7 29.h4+ f7 30.h5+= looks like an immediate draw.) 27.xd8 xd8 28.xf4 gxf4 29.h3 d2 30.b7+ g6 31.c8 f7 32.h8! Black still has to be careful in the endgame.; B) 25.h4 xd1 26.xd1 d8 27.xd8 xd8 28.c1 d5 29.xf4 xf3 30.gxf3 gxf4 31.c4 g6 1/2-1/2 Maiwald, J (2468)-Antoniewski, R (2604) Graz 2010 looked like a correctly played game. ] 22.dxe5 xe4 23.xe4 xd1 24.xd1 e7 A f t e r a f e w e xch a n g e s B la ck is clo s e t o having equalised. If he can exchange either rooks or queens then he will be very happy

with his position. Thus W hite needs to play dynamically to try and prove that Black's king is rather misplaced and that Black's kingside i s i n n e e d o f s t r e n g t h e n i n g . 25.h4! Of course. W hite must undermine Black's kingside. d8 26.e1 And as I said in a previous note the rook exchange would make B l a c k ve r y h a p p y. No w h e h a s t o g u a r d against the threat of 27 hxg5 and 28 Bc1. g6 27.hxg5 h5!? [ 27...hxg5 28.g4 also wins the pawn and so Black tries to keep the kingside blocked and hopes to leave White with a bad bishop against his good knight which can set up shop on g6, f5 or d5. ] 28.g3 d7 29.c3 Interestingly this is actually the first new move of the game. [ The W orld Champion continued 29.c1 but after f8 ( 29...h4!? looks interesting.) 30.e3 g7 31.g2 d5 32.xd5 xd5 33.f4 e7 34.f3 g6 35.f2 he couldn't see a way forward and so split the point with the top Pole. 1/2-1/2 Anand, V (2779) Wojtaszek, R (2637) Germany 2007 ] 29...d5 [ Again 29...h4!? look interesting but Black wants to exchange queens and prove that White cannot make any progress as in the previous note. ] [ This time Black doesn't have time for 29...f8 as 30.g2 g7 31.h1 frustrates him. ] 30.xd5 xd5 To my mind this is rather a negative way of playing from Harikrishna. He is playing for the draw while So can manoeuvre around at his leisure. There's one rathe r imp ortan t dif f eren ce be tween this position and the one seen in the note to move 29. Here Black's king does no have time to defend the h5 pawn and so he is forced either to go passive with his rook or exchange h and g pawns, both of which are major c o n c e s s i o n s . 31.g2 d8 The Indian chooses the first option but soon he is forced to swap off the pawn anyway. [ Therefore he should probably try 31...h4 although this is of course still clearly better for White. ] 32.f3 h8 33.a4! Gaining space on the q u e e n s i d e a n d t r yi n g t o c r e a t e a n o t h e r weakness in Black's camp. f8 34.d1 1825

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g7?! I really don't like this as it allows White's rook into the position with decisive effect. [ 34...e7 is a very passive defence but at least White will have to work a bit. ] 35.d7 h4 36.g2! Perhaps this is what Harikrishna missed. So doesn't let Black get his rook active. hxg3 37.fxg3! Anti-positional but keeping control of the important h4 and h1 squares. a8 Admission that his plan has backfired. 38.a5 bxa5 39.xa5 [ 39.c7!? ] 39...c4 40.bxc4 c8 41.xa7 xc4 42.c7 W hite is now two pawns up and I believe technically winning. g4 [ A n i m p o r t a n t p o i n t i s t h a t 42...xe5? fails to 43.c3! e4 44.c5 f6 45.gxf6+ xf6 46.xe5 xe5 47.f3 ] 43.d2 d4 44.e3 a4 45.c4 a2+ 46.f1 f8 47.c5+ g7 48.d6 d2 49.c8 d4 50.c5 d5 51.c6 xe5 52.e7 g4 53.d8 xd8 54.xd8 e3+ 55.e2 d5 56.c7 b6 57.e3 f8 58.d4 e8 59.c5 c8 60.c6 e5 61.d5 a7 62.xe5 c6+ 63.f6 a7 64.e7 d7 65.xf7 c6 66.d8 I think Black should switch to 21...Bxe4 when he doesn't appear to have many problems. 1-0

1680 Spassky,Boris V Karpov,Anatoly Match des Legendes (2) [Andrew Martin]

B17 2548 2672 26.05.2006

It is very nice inde ed to see the legend s playing chess against each other once again. Even an exhibition quickplay match is worth documenting. Perhaps Spassky remembers 1974, when he was drubbed by Karpov in the semi final of the Candidates. Or perhaps he has settled happily in France and chess is just a hobby for him these days. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.f3 gf6 6.xf6+ xf6 7.h3 A move which frankly does not look like much. White simply takes the g4 square away from his opponent. But Spassky ensures himself 'against the loss' by these means and can hope for a very small

advantage. Possibly in the old days even a quick game of tennis. f5 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 e6 10.0-0 e7 11.c4 0-0 12.b3 Very small advantage achieved. Before White gets any bind at all with Bb2 and Rad1 Karpov hits back in the centre. c5! 13.b2 cxd4 14.fd1N [ 14.xd4 led nowhere in a previous encounter: c5 15.fd1 xd4 16.xd4 e7 17.d6 xd6 18.xd6 fd8 19.ad1 xd6 20.xd6 f8 21.f1 e7 22.d4 c8 23.e2 d7 24.e3 f6 25.e5 1/2-1/2 Spassky, B-Karpov, A/Mainz 2005 It is not done for the audience to throw cabbages in exhibition games. ] 14...a5 15.xd4 fd8 16.e2 f5 17.d3 White's chances in these positions lie in the advancement of his 3-2 queenside pawn majority. Endgames favour White due to this f e a t u r e . Do u b t l e ss B l a ck is n o t i n m u c h difficulty here, but he must avoid too many exchanges. e4? Very passive. Surely [ 17...h5! would have given Black at least equal chances. ] 18.xe4 xe4 19.ad1 f8 20.f1 f6 21.e3 xd3 22.xd3 e8 23.d2 White is en route to getting the Bishop ending he desires. xd2+ 24.xd2 a6 25.e2 d8 26.xd8+ xd8 27.c5 The King comes to c4 and a passed pawn will be established. After that the W hite King tries to f ind a way to invade on the kingside. I'm very surprised Karpov went for this ending d7 28.d3 d8 29.b4 c7 30.c4 h5 31.a4 e5 32.b5 axb5+ 33.axb5 c7 34.g4! F o r c e f u l l y d r i vi n g h o m e h i s a d va n t a g e . Black's kingside is softened up ready for the future invasion. hxg4 35.hxg4 d7 36.f4 b2 37.f5! e5 38.d5+- a3 39.g5 fxg5 Otherwise White plays his pawn to g6 and at the right moment a Bishop to h6. [ 39...b4 40.g6! e7 41.c6 bxc6+ 42.bxc6 a5 43.c5+ e8 44.e6+- ] 40.xg5 b2 41.h4 [ Karpov resigns, in view of 41.h4 c3 42.g3 e4 43.xe4 b4 44.d5 c3 45.e5 a5 46.xg7+- Black must not be t o o co n ce rn e d a b o u t 7 h 3 b u t h e m u s t certainly n ot re act a s Karpo v d id he re , expecting the draw as a matter of course. ] 1-0 1826

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1681 Suarez Real,A Hawkins,Jo 4NCL 2013-14 (9.121) [Neil McDonald]

B17 2397 2511 03.05.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 [ It looks odd to move the knight again but this is more flexible than 5.d3 when after df6 White has to worry about the hanging d4 pawn. ] 5...gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 The mos t aggressive move as W hite will a c t i v a t e h i s q u e e n i n t h e c e n t r e . h6 An important precaution as Black would face disaster after two plausible moves, namely [ 8...c7? loses due to a sacrifice on f7: 9.xf7! xf7 10.g5+ e7 ( Here 10...f8 los es the qu een t o 11.xe6+ ) 11.xe6+ d8 12.f7# ] [ Meanwhile 8...0-0 drops material to a sham sacrifice on e6: 9.xe6 fxe6 10.xe6+ h8 11.xd6 ] 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 The queen as servant to the pawns. Black wants to develop his queenside with b7-b6 and Bb7, and so Her Majesty has to defend c6 as a preliminary measure. 11.0-0 b6 There are no weaknesses in Black's pawn structure and he is only two moves away from equalising or more with Bb7 and c6-c5. Therefore W hite acts f ast by attacking g7 . 12.g4 f8 So White has forced a positional concession out of Black as his king will remain in the centre. 13.b3 The most attractive post for White's dark squared bishop is b2, when there is a latent threat of d4-d5, exposing an attack on g7. b7 14.b2 f6 Black drives back the white queen before 15.d5 can be played. 15.h3 If White is left in peace he will strengthen himself with moves like c2-c4, Rfe1 Ne5 etc. with a good game due to the awkward position of the black king on f8. T h e r e f o r e B l a c k a c t s a t o n c e t o d is r u p t White's build up. d5 16.g3 Alas for White he doesn't have time to prevent both 16...Nf4, when 17...Nxd3 will lop off his important light squared bishop, and Black's next move. He therefore deals with the bigger threat. b4 [ If Black's play can't be improved in what

follows, he does best to revert to 16...c5 as discussed by Tom Rendle in the games Shomoev-Sjugirov and Leko-Ivanchuk in the archives. ] 17.e4 f5 A critical moment. Black can't back down or else he will have the worse game on ce W hit e co nso lid a te s wit h c2 -c 4 e t c . Me a n wh ile W h it e is a lso o blige d t o p la y aggressively as his bishop is hanging and there's no good retreat. In the archives Tom analyses this position in the notes to Yu Yangyi-Zhao Xue. You might like to read his comments in relation to the present game. 18.g5! White's knight returns to g5 ten moves after being driven back by 8...h6. [ The alternative was 18.h4 but it doesn't seem as strong: f7 ( Instead 18...fxe4?? 19.xe6! e7 20.g6+ e8 21.xh8 is wi n n i n g f o r W h i t e - T o m .) 19.f3!? Making his bishop immune from capture due to the potential pin on the f-file. ( Here 19.a3 is some edge for White- Tom.) 19...g8 20.xf5 ( Also possible is 20.a3!? ) 20...exf5 21.xf5 e8 22.ae1 f8 White has two pawns and an attack for the piece, but he d o e s n ' t h a v e a n y d e c i s i v e b l o w . 23.a3 ( Instead 23.e6!? in the style of the main game seems to set Black more problems, or maybe; 23.c4 ) 23...d5 24.e6 g6 25.c4 f6 26.d7 d8 27.e6 e8 28.e2? ( White plays with fire. It's better to go for t h e r e p e t i t i o n w i t h 28.d7 ) 28...c8! the pin on the e-file is highly awkward for White. 29.h1 xe6? ( Very strong for Black is 29...d3 but perhaps his best line is; 29...h5! which wins after 30.xh5 xh5 31.fe1 xg3! attacking e1 and se tt in g u p a f ork o n g3 so t ha t W hite 's defence of e6 collapses. 32.hxg3 xg3+ 33.h2 xe2 34.xc8 xc8 35.xe2 f7 and Black is the exchange up for nothing.) 30.xe6 d8 31.fe1 g8 32.d5 cxd5? ( Blundering a piece. It wasn't too late to save himself with 32...h5! 33.xh5 xh5 34.dxc6 f7 with an unclear game.) 33.xf6 gxf6 34.xd6! xd6 35.c8+ f7 36.c7+ 1-0 Zambrana, O (2514)-Condori Aranya, E (2159)/Rio de Janeiro 2011. ] 18...e7 19.xe6+ xe6 20.xf5 f7 21.ae1! Utilising the e-file at once. White's positional justification for the sacrifice is the 1827

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 exposed black king, the rook on h8 which is shut out of the game and the uncoordinated black minor pieces. e8 22.e6! This looks strong but also not bad is [ 22.c4 to keep the black knight out of d5. ] 22...xe6 23.xe6 f6? [ A b e t t e r d e f e n c e w a s 23...e7 which keeps the bishop on b7 defended. But even so 24.d5! gives White an initiative that only a computer program could hope to survive as Black. For example Black can put up a tougher resistance with A) 24...xd5 25.d1! a quiet move but the rook will be deadly on the d-file once the black knight is chased from d5. e8 26.c4 f6 27.xf6 gxf6 Another method for White that utilises the c-pawn is A1) 28.b4 planning 29.c5 to break open the d-file. c5 29.bxc5 bxc5 30.h5+ d8 ( Or 30...f8 31.xd6 xd6 32.f7# ) 31.xc5 and d6 is indefensible.; A2) 28.f5 h7 29.c5! bxc5 30.c8 xc8 31.xc8+ f7 32.xc6 and d6 drops.; B) 24...e8 for example 25.dxc6 xc6 26.d1 h5 the only move as the white queen has to be kept out of h5. 27.c8 xc8 28.xc8+ d8 29.xg7 xg7 30.xd6 e7 31.d3 and White has three pawns and the initiative for the piece. Black can't counterattack as he is lef t defenceless after e1+ ( he has to try to h o ld o n wit h 31...h6 ) 32.g2 e4+ 33.f1 h1+ 34.e2 etc. ] 24.c8! The type of move a computer sees at o n c e , b u t wh ic h is co u n t e r in t u it ive t o a human player. It is surprising that W hite's winning plan involves the exchange of his active bishop for Black's bishop on b7 which seems a passive piece. However, the white queen and rook are then able to infiltrate on the light squares. a8 [ Black's position crumbles after 24...e7 25.xb7 xb7 26.e1 e7 27.c4 for example d8 28.a3 a6 29.f5+ f7 30.c8 and the knight drops off. ] 25.e1 d5 26.e6 d8 27.f5+ f6 28.d5! The entrance of the bishop on b2 into the game is fatal for Black as f6 can no longer be adequately protected. f7

[ B l a c k ' s q u e e n h a n g s a f t e r 28...xc8 29.xf6+ ] 29.xf6+ [ Quite good enough to win. Here is a decisive sequence that only a computer w o u l d c h o o s e : 29.d7! so that d6 is hanging c5 ( Or 29...xd7 30.xf6+ e7 31.f7+ ) 30.xf6 gxf6 31.dxc6 with the threat of 32.c7 deflecting the black queen from the defence of f6. ] 29...gxf6 30.e6+ g7 31.g4+ f8 32.g6 e7 33.xf6 h7 34.g4 cxd5 35.xh8 The end of a great attacking game. Bla ck re m a in s t wo p a wn s d own f ac in g a strong attack as if [ 35.xh8 xh8 36.f5+ e8 37.f7+ and mates. ] 1-0

1682 Susilodinata,A Karolyi,Tibor Jr Classic Queenstown NZL (3) [Andrew Martin]

B17 2254 2364 17.01.2006

Played at the Queenstown Classic in New Zealand, this game is a standard Caro-Kann game but Black makes the grave mistake of playing both e6 and trying to fianchetto his dark-squared bishop. He ends up in a tangle with his dark-squares around his king very weak and White takes advantage of this well. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 Played regularly by grandmasters Karpov, Meduna, Speelman and Arkell. 5.f3 gf6 6.g3 [ 6.xf6+ rather dull: xf6 7.c4 f5 8.0-0 e6 9.f4 d6 10.xd6 xd6 11.c3 0-0 12.e1 c5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.d4 xd4 15.xd4 g6 16.ad1 fd8 17.f3 ac8 18.b3 1/2-1/2 Kovalev - Danielian, Alushta Autumn 2005 ] 6...g6 Restraining the White Knight on g3 that is the positional point. Otherwise Black would be slightly worse with the usual combination of Bc4, 0-0, Re1 etc. 7.c4 [ 7.e2 g7 8.0-0 0-0 9.e1 b6 10.f4 b7 11.c4 e8 12.e5 c5 13.f3 c8 14.d5 xe5 15.xe5 d7 16.c1 b5 17.b3 ad8 18.a3 b4 19.b2 a5 20.a4 1828

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c8 21.h3 d8 22.ad1 b6 23.e2 h6 24.xf6 exf6 25.d6 xf3 26.gxf3 xe2 27.xe2 f5 28.d7 1/2-1/2 Geller Rogoff, Biel 1976 ] [ 7.c4 b6 8.b3 g7 9.g5 0-0 10.d2 a5 11.a4 bd5 12.h6 d6 13.xg7 xg7 14.0-0 f4 15.fe1 xd2 16.xd2 e6 17.c4 b6 18.f1 a6 19.e5 xf1 20.xf1 fc8 21.ad1 ] 7...e6?!N I don't like this move when White has not moved the Bishop on c1, which as you will quickly see takes up a powerful position on a3. [ 7...g7 8.f4 b6 9.d2 0-0 10.h3 e8 11.e2 fd7 12.d1 e5 13.dxe5 e7 14.0-0 xe5 15.fe1 xf3+ 16.xf3 e6 17.b3 ad8 18.d6 d7 19.a5 a8 20.e4 d8 21.c5 c8 22.d2 Gvetadze - Vacheishvili, Batumi 2001 ] 8.e2 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.xd4 a6 11.b3 c7 12.f3 g7 13.a3 How does Black untangle now? f8 14.xf8 xf8 15.e1 g7 16.xe6! e5 17.d6 [ 17.xf6!? leads to interesting attacking possibilities: xf6 18.d2 g7 19.d5 e8 20.e1 d7 21.e4 ] 17...e8?? [ 17...e8 18.d5 f6 19.d2 xf3+ 20.xf3 xd5 21.cxd5 e8 22.g5 is very dangerous for Black. Basically, once the dark-squared Bishops were exchanged, Black has been in trouble. ] 18.c5?! [ 18.d2! with threats of Nf5+. ] 18...h6 19.c1 xf3+ 20.xf3 Perhaps he was so disappointed with his position he let his flag run out. But White is much better anyway: [ 20.xf3 e6 21.f4 d7 22.d4 xd6 23.cxd6 a5 24.b4 7..g6 cannot be recommended. ] 1-0

1683 Svidler,Peter Bologan,Viktor 6th Karpov Poikovsky RUS (1) [Andrew Martin]

B17 2735 2683 26.02.2005

One for the theory hounds. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 Seems to be the critical move. The idea is to regroup with the eventual aim of occupying e5. White's King Bishop comes to d3 without loss of t im e in co n trad ist in ct io n t o 5B c 4 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c5 Karpov's move. Bologan will show that it is an improvement on 10... Nf6. The point is that Black has to play ...c6-c5 at some stage so he plays it immediately. 11.0-0 [ 11.d2 c7! 12.0-0 c4 13.e2 f6 14.h4 d7 15.e5 xe5 16.dxe5 xe5 17.f3 0-0! 18.xb7 ab8 19.f4 b5 20.xb8 xb8 21.f3 xb2 Karpov, seems OK for Black, whose active pie ce s a s well a s t h e wea ke n e d W h it e queenside compensate for the exchange. ] 11...f6 12.h4 Ruling out kingside castling for Black in the f oreseeable future. Bxh6 would then be too strong. [ 12 Bb5+, displacing the Black king is also wort hy of clo se con sid era tio n. Ano the r Ka rp o v de f en sive ge m : 12.b5+ e7 13.e2 c7 14.dxc5 xc5 15.e3 c7 16.d4 d8 The King is quite safe on e7 and Black plans ...Bd7, developing the rest of his forces. 17.c3 d7 18.c4 c6 19.e5 e4! 20.g4 xg4 21.xe4 xh2+ 22.h1 e5 23.xe6 fxe6 24.xg4 xd4 25.cxd4 f7 26.ac1 b6 27.f4+ g8 28.c7 xd4 29.xd4 xd4 30.xb7 a5 31.c1 ad8 32.f3 d1+ 33.xd1 xd1+ 34.h2 a4 35.b3 1/2-1/2 Topalov, V-Karpov, A/Dos Hermanas 1997 ] 12...cxd4 [ 12...c7 13.e1 d7 14.g5 e7 15.dxc5 xc5 16.e5 Ivanchuk-Karpov Dortmund 1997, is a game not to be repeated for Black. ] 13.e1 d7 So this has been the main line, m o re o r le ss sin ce t h e n . B la ck co n t e n t s himself with modest development. 14.xd4N A novelty, but maybe it is not necessary to 1829

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 produce something new here. [ I wonder what Black intended after 14.xd4! which appears dangerous: a5 ( 14...0-0 15.xh6 gxh6 16.xh6 e8 17.e3+- is immediate destruction. ) 15.e3 A) But not 15...d8 16.f5! f8 17.d4 c6 18.g3 d7 19.xg7 e7 20.h3 d5 21.ad1 c7 22.f1 hg8 23.xf6 xd1 24.xd1 xd1 25.g3+ 1-0 Dominguez, L-Rasmussen, A/ Copenhagen 2002 A crushing game.; B) Here, let me suggest 15...g5 16.h3 0-0-0 as an improvement. I analyse: B1) 17.b3 B1a) 17...a4 18.c4 e7 19.c5 ( 19.d4 h5 20.e3 c6 21.g6!? ) 19...c6 20.xd7 xd7 21.e2 c5 22.ad1 xd1 23.xd1 e4=; B1b) 17...c7 18.xa7 h5 Unclear but I am not totally convinced in Black's compensation. Just the best that I can find.; B2) 17.a3 d5 18.b3 c7 19.xa7 f4 20.f3 xd3 21.cxd3 xh2+ 22.h1 c6= I'm not sure that I fully believe this for Black and so what did Bologan have in mind?; C) 15...f8 16.f4 xf4 17.xf4 c8 18.f3 e7 19.g3 b4 20.e5 g5 21.c4 hd8 22.h3 h5 23.e3 g4 24.a3 xb2 25.ab1 xa3 26.xf7 c5 27.xd8 xe3 28.xe3 Lautier, J-Karpov, A/Biel 1997 ] [ 14.d2 c7 15.ad1 0-0-0 16.xd4 c5 17.e3 xd4 18.xd4 a6 19.xa6 bxa6 20.xf6 xh2+ 21.xh2 gxf6 22.g4 f5 23.e5 Shabalov, A-Gulko, B/ Parsippany 1996 ] 14...c6 15.e5 xe5 16.xe5 d5 17.xd5 xd5 18.d2 Maybe this was White's point a very small risk-free edge in an ending. Bologan's next move is very accurate. a5! 19.c4 [ 19.a3 b5 20.b3 a4 21.c4 c7 breaks up White's position before he can get his rooks going. ] 19...b4 20.b1 e7 21.c3 hd8 22.f3 g5 White is not better here. The Bishop on b1 blazes fire along an empty diagonal. Meanwhile Black is very active. A draw is fair. ½-½

1684 Timman,Jan H Karpov,Anatoly Sanur [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2655 2696 2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.g4 f8 12.0-0 [ In J.Polgar-Karpov Sanur 2000 White preferred 12.d2 but Black equalised easily: e5! 13.c4 b6! 14.h4 xc4 15.xc4 f5! 16.dxe5 xe5 A) After the natural looking 17.c3 f6 Black is already slightly better, for example: 18.f4 ( or 18.g3 e8+ 19.e3 xg3 20.hxg3 g5 21.0-0 xe3 22.fxe3 e6 23.xe6 xe6 24.ad1 e7 with a clear edge for Black in the Rook ending.) 18...e8+ 19.f1 d7! 20.e3 d3+ 21.xd3 xd3+ 22.g1 e2! 23.b4+ g8 24.xb7 g5! a n d in win n in g b a ck t h e p a wn B la c k o b t a in s a cl e a r e d ge d u e t o t h e p o o r position of White's King.; B) 17.0-0!? White attempts to hold the in i t i a t ive a t a n y co st . xc2 18.e1 and now Black could get a big edge by playing g5! (pointed out by Karpov) ( Instead 18...g6 w a s p l a y e d : 19.f4 d4+ 20.e3 b6 21.f2 xe3 22.xe3 e8 23.ae1 xe3 24.xe3 and W hite has some compensation and managed to draw.) 19.h3 d8 20.e3 xb2 21.c5+ g7 22.e7 xe7 23.xe7 xa1 24.xd8 xd8 and White can hardly hold the position. ] 12...c5 13.h4 b6 14.e4 b8!? This move recently introduced in SadvakasovKarpov is now one of Black's main weapons. Lots of games have already been played and this plan has confirmed it's viability. 15.b3!? The latest development. [ 15.d1 c4 16.d5!? An attempt to improve. ( 16.e5 was played in the above mentioned game where Black easily solved his opening problems after f6 17.f3 b7 18.xb7 xb7 ) 16...e5 17.f5 g8 The critical position which has arisen twice and in both games Black could be satisfied 1830

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 wit h t h e o u t co m e o f t h e o p e n in g f igh t . 18.e3 ( 18.d2 didn't yield White any advantage either: f6 19.xc8 xc8 20.f1 d7 21.b3 cxb3 22.cxb3 h7 and Black is even slightly better due to the weakness of the d5-pawn, Wells-Speelman, Millfield 2000.) 18...f6 19.xc8 xc8 20.a4 d7 21.c3 c7 22.d2 g4 23.h3 xe3 24.fxe3 f5 25.e4 f4 and Black has easy play, as the game Timman-Galkin, Hoogeveen 2000 played just a few days earlier had proved. ] 15...f6?! [ L a t e r K a r p o v i m p r o ve d wi t h 15...e7!? and White didn't find anything better than a draw by repetition: 16.f4 d6 17.h4 e7 18.f4 d6 19.h4 1/2-1/2 Leitao,Karpov, Buenos Aires 2000. Undoubtedly there is a wide field for future debates here. ] 16.dxc5 bxc5 17.b2! The point. White's Bishop is very strong now and the pressure on t h e g 7 - s q u a r e i s v e r y a n n o y i n g . xe4 18.xe4 b7 19.g4 f5 20.h5 xf3 21.xf3 f7 [ It's too risky to grab the pawn: 21...xh2+ 22.h1 e5 ( or 22...d6 23.fe1 f7 24.h5+ g6 25.h4 e7 26.c4 , winning the exchange.) 23.xe5 xe5 24.fe1 f6 25.ad1 and it's not clear how Black can complete his development. ] 22.h5+ g6 23.h4 e7 24.h3 f6 25.xf6 xf6 26.ae1 The exposed position of Black's King secures W hite a huge advantage. e5 27.c3 he8 28.f4 b4 29.g4! d4 30.h3 It seems White is easily winning but Karpov defends excellently. g7 31.fxe5+ xe5 32.xe5 xe5 33.g3+ f4 34.e1+ d6 35.c3 d3 36.e4 xc3 37.xg6+ c7 38.f7+ b6 39.xf4 a5 40.c7+ b4 41.b7+ a3 42.xa7+ b2 It's difficult to believe only 10 moves ago Black's King was on the f6-square! 43.f2+ d2 44.xd2+ xd2 45.xc5 d1+ 46.f2 xg4 47.d5? Wasting time. [ After the correct 47.b4 White has excellent winning chances. ] 47...h4+ 48.e3 xa2 49.b4+ a3 50.b5 The Queen ending still seems very promising f o r W h i t e b u t i t i s n o t t o b e w o n . xh2 51.c6 b4 52.b6 a5! The best square for the King. 53.b7 h5 54.c8 Now White's

Queen occupies passive position and can't defend the King from checks. e5+ 55.d3 d5+ 56.e3 e5+ 57.f3 d5+ 58.f4 d2+ 59.f5 f2+ 60.g6 g3+ 61.f6 h4+ 62.f7 f4+ Draw. ½-½

1685 Tiviakov,Sergei Adams,Michael Wijk aan Zee [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2625 2660 1996

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.d3 gf6 6.g5 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 f6 11.e2 [ This continuation is more popular than 11.h4 ] 11...b6 12.d2 b7 Until this moment both sides have played natural developing moves. Now W hite has to choose a plan. 13.e5! Choosing a good moment to occupy an important central square. c7 [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 13...c5 is not better: 14.dxc5 xc5 15.f4!? is similar to the game. ] 14.f4! Simple and powerful: now the Knight is very threatening for Black. c5 [ 14...0-0-0 15.0-0-0 leads to a slow positional game, and is clearly in White's favour due to the strong Ne5. ] [ 14...0-0 also looks dangerous: 15.0-0-0 ( 15.g4!? c5 16.g1 cxd4 17.0-0-0 with an attack) 15...c5 16.he1!? ( 16.dxc5 xc5 transposes to the game) 16...cxd4 17.g4 launching an attack on the kingside. ] 15.dxc5 [ 15.b5+?! is just a waste of time: e7 and next move Black completes his development (Rh8-d8) with a comfortable position: Black's King is safe while White's pieces are slightly uncoordinated now. ] 15...xc5 [ 15...xc5 16.0-0-0 is not an improvement for Black ] [ neither is 15...xe5 16.fxe5 d7 17.cxb6 axb6 18.c3 and next move White will ca s t l e o n t h e k i n g si d e , a n d B l a c k h a s nothing to show for the pawn. ] 16.0-0-0 0-0 17.b1! Very useful, as we'll 1831

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 see later. [ 17.he1?! was inaccurate as after d5! two pawns (a2 and g2) are hanging. Then possible is 18.b1 ( 18.g4 xa2 19.c3 a1+ 20.d2 a4 ) 18...xg2 19.xg2 ( 19.e3 c5 ) 19...xg2 20.g1 b7!? with the idea of encountering 21.c3 with d5 and Black is OK ] [ 17.hg1 was possible but Black could try xe5 18.fxe5 d7 with a slight edge to white ] 17...fd8 [ Now 17...xe5 18.fxe5 d7 19.he1 is worse for Black. ] 18.he1 White is ready to start a kingside attack with g4-g5 etc. ac8 [ 18...d7?? was impossible due to 19.xf7! xf7 20.xe6+ f8 21.c4 with unavoidable mate. ] 19.g4 xe5 Black was worried about the possibility of 20.Nxf7!? Kxf7 21.g5 with an attack 20.fxe5 e4! [ After 20...d5?! 21.g5 White's attack on the kingside develops quickly, while Black has nothing to counter it with: hxg5 22.xg5 b4 23.d2 h4 24.g1 f4 Bad, but w h a t i s b e t t e r ? 25.g4! After this wellcalculated move, White wins by force. xe2 26.xh4 xd3 27.cxd3 a6 28.e3 d8 29.c2 d5 30.a4 b5 31.xa7 xe5 32.d2 f5 33.e1 and Black resigned, Malishauskas - Olsen, Erevan 1996. ] 21.c1 [ 21.xe4? is pointless since after xe4 the Bishop cannot be taken: 22.xe4 d4 23.e2 xc2+ 24.a1 cd8 and Black wins the piece back with an extra pawn and a decisive advantage. ] [ 21.xh6 does not promise White any advantage because of c3+! 22.bxc3 gxh6 23.d2 a6! 24.xh6 xd3 and White should take a draw by perpetual check: 25.g5+ f8 26.h6+ e7 27.f6+ ] 21...b4 [ 21...f2? i s b a d b e c a u s e o f 22.e3 winning the brave Knight ] [ while 21...xe5? 22.xe4 xd1 fails to 23.h7+ xh7 24.xe5 winning ] 22.a1 [ 22.xe4 leads White nowhere in view of xd1 23.xd1 xe4 ]

22...c5 23.c3 a5 [ 23...a4!? 24.c2 c6 was better, but it would hardly solve all Black's problems. ] 24.c2 xd1 25.xd1 a6 26.d2! An excellent move which contains two threats: 2 7 . b 4 a n d 2 7 . Q d 8 R d 8 2 8 . R d 8 b7 The only defence, but now all Black's pieces look miserable and can't defend the King. 27.d7! f8?! [ 27...c5 28.e3!? f8 was more stubborn although White already has a big advantage after for example 29.a4!? ] 28.d4 c8 In time trouble Black does not of f e r to o m uch resista nce . 29.e4 g6 30.xh6 In addition to his superior position, White is a pawn up. c4 31.a3 d5 32.f4! Qf6 is the threat and it can't be parried by normal means. So Black tries his last chance, but Tiviakov allows no escape. xc3 33.xd5 exd5 34.f6 xa3+ 35.bxa3 xa3+ 36.b1 b4+ 37.c1 e1+ 38.b2 Black resigned. White's King easily escapes from the perpetual: [ 38.b2 b4+ 39.b3 d4+ 40.a2 and there are no more checks. ] 1-0

1686 Topalov,Veselin Anand,Viswanathan Linares (Spain) [Alexander Volzhin]

B17 2740 2770 1998

In this top level game White introduced a very interesting novelty in a well known position. Black had to solve some difficult problems but managed to draw, although White was slightly better throughout the game. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 e6 6.d3 gf6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.g4 f8 12.0-0 c5 13.e1 b6 14.c3 b7 15.h4!? A very cle ver idea. White wants to play h4-h5, blocking Black's kingside after this it will be difficult f or Black to develop his Rook on h8 . e8 Within two months of this game some more games were played with this line at a very high level. [ A n a n d - K a rp o v, Mo n a co , 1 9 9 9 : 15...c4 16.c2 b5 17.d2 a5 18.h5 d5 19.h3 1832

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b8 20.b3 b4 21.bxc4 bxc3 22.xc3 xc4 23.d2 c7 24.b3 f6 25.ac1 a7 and it seems that Black has solved his major opening problems, but White is still slightly better. ] [ Shirov - Karpov, Monaco,1998: 15...d8!? This idea also deserves attention. 16.d2 f6 17.h3 xf3 18.xf3 cxd4 19.cxd4 d7 20.a4 e7 21.c3 d5 22.h3 d6 23.e3 h5! intending R h6, with a very complicated and unclear position. W hite won this game in a time scramble. ] 16.h5 d5 17.d2 d8 18.e2 g8 [ T h e t h e m a t i c 18...c4 19.c2 b5 deserved attention. ] 19.h3 c6 20.e3 [ 20.e5?! is d u b io u s in vie w o f xe5 21.dxe5 e7 and Bxg2 is quite an unpleasant threat. ] 20...xf3 21.xf3 f6 22.h4 e7 23.h3 cxd4 24.cxd4 d6 25.e3 f8 26.c1 b4 [ The immediate 26...d5 27.e4 f6 keeping the Qb4 sortie in mind was slightly more precise. The regrouping of Black's forces by playing Ke7 and Rc8 is another good idea here. ] 27.b3 d5 28.e4 f6 29.c4 d6 30.xd5 xd5 31.xd5 xd5 32.c7 a5 33.a4 g8 34.b7 h7 35.xf7 [ 35.xb6 hd8 winning the pawn back, with an obvious draw. ] 35...b8 36.a7 b5 37.f4 Avoiding the trick: [ 37.xa5 bxa4 38.xd5 axb3! and Black is better. ] 37...f8 38.e5 [ 38.xa5?? d8 ] 38...xe5 39.dxe5 bxa4 40.bxa4 xe5 [ The position is dead equal. White can't create pressure on the g7-pawn: 40...xe5 41.g3 g8 and White's h5-pawn is hanging. So a draw was agreed. ] ½-½

1687 Varga,Cs2 Kallai,Gabor TCh-HUN 2008-9 (10) [John Watson]

B17 2391 2462 05.04.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 This has been by far the most popular way to meet 4...Nd7 for years, and dominates t h e C h e s s P u b l i s h i n g a r c h i v e s . a5+ But what's this? Amazingly, of the 6 games that I found with this move, there wasn't a single win by White, even though two of the players were 2600+ and one above 2500! Black's point soon becomes clear. 6.d2 [ W h i t e ca n go in t o a n e n d i n g b y 6.d2 xd2+ ( 6...c7!? ) 7.xd2 , but he really doesn't have anything worthwhile after gf6 8.d3 e6 ( 8...h6 9.5f3 e6 ) 9.0-0-0 h6 10.5f3 b6 11.f4 b7 12.e2 c5 with full equality, Petrov-Brunsteins, IECG email 2004. ] 6...d5 Attacking the d-pawn. So what, right? 7.1f3!? Can this be a mistake? [ a) 7.e2 keeps f3 as an escape square, bu t I h a ve n 't se e n it p la ye d . A f t e r gf6 8.f3 e5!? 9.c3 e6 10.e2 d6 11.0-0 0-0 12.e1 exd4 13.xd4 e5 14.f3 e7 , and Black may stand a bit worse, but has a typically solid Caro-Kann position. 15.c4 d8 16.g5 c7 ] [ b) The most common move has been 7.d3 , with the idea 7. ..Qxg2 8 Be4. But I'm not so sure about it: A) 7...xd4 8.1f3 d6 9.e2 gives White compensation, but probably no more: gf6 10.0-0-0 h6 11.xf7?! ( 11.e4 xe4 12.xe4 f6 i s b a l a n c e d) 11...xf7 12.c3 ( 12.he1 ) 12...d5 13.e5 e6 14.he1 g8 15.c4 xe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.xe5 f6 18.g6 e6 a n d B l a c k wa s w i n n i n g i n D a n i e l s e n (2506)-Kjartansson, Reykjavik ISL 2008; B) 7...gf6 8.1f3 h6 9.c4! ( 9.h3 is well-answered by 9...g5, but Black stood all right after e6+ 10.e3 d5 11.e2 g5! 12.d2 7f6 in L AndersenBrunsteins, IECG email 2006.) 9...d6 10.xf7!? ( a little crazy. 10.e4 xe4 11.xe4 wo uld be n orma l) 10...xf7 1833

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.0-0 g5 12.c3 g7?! ( 12...c5!? 13.d5 b5! is one approach) 13.e5+ g8 14.e1 f8 15.b3 c7 16.d5!? ( 16.a3 ) 16...e6 ( 16...cxd5! 17.cxd5 e6 ) 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.g6 ( 18.a3 ) 18...xg6 19.xg6 h7 ( 19...g4! 20.g3 f7! 21.c2 xc3 22.bxc3 h7 ) 20.ad1?! g4 21.h3 xc3? ( 21...h2+ 22.f1 h1+ 23.e2 xg2 is practically winning, with the idea 24.hxg4 e4+ ) 22.xc3 g7 23.d3 f6 ( 23...d7 ) 24.d8+ xd8 25.xd8+ e8 26.ed1 ( 26.xe8+ f7 27.xc8 xc8 28.e5+ e7 29.c5 gives compensation) 26...f7 27.e5+ f8 28.1d3 b7 29.xa8 xa8 30.d8 b7 31.b8 c7 32.g6+ f7 33.e5+ e7 34.g6+ f6 35.xe8 xg6 ( 35...f7! wins outright) 36.xe6+ g7 37.f3 c8 38.d6 f5 and Black should definitely win, but the higher-rated player held a draw in Illescas Cordoba, M (2602)-Dizdarevic, E (2507), Plovdiv 2003/ .] [ c) 7.5f3 is untried. There might follow b6!? 8.b3!? f5 9.c4 e4+ 10.e2 f6 11.g5 c2 ( 11...d3!? ) 12.xc2 xc2 13.c1 d3 with approximate equality. ] [ d) I like the look of the also-untried 7.b3!? . Since it may be the best chance for White to get something going, I'll analyse it for a while: A) 7...b6 allows White to play the ambitious 8.1f3 , because h6 9.c4! f5 10.xf7! xf7 11.e5 launches a serious attack: f6 12.h5+ g6 13.xg6 f7 14.e2 ( - White can also keep up the attack by 14.d3 f6 15.h4 g8 16.e5 h5 17.xh5+ xh5 18.0-0!? f6 19.ae1 with surprising strong p r e s s u r e , e . g . , bd7 20.g6 f7 21.f4 b8 22.e2 e6 23.fe1 c5 24.d5! exd5 25.cxd5 d6 26.e6 with the idea Bxh6) 14...f6 15.xh8 xh5 16.xh5+ xh5 17.g6 g7 18.0-0-0 f5 19.h4 h7 20.g4 f6 21.f3; B) 7...e6!? also lets W hite play 8.1f3 gf6 ( 8...h6 9.c4 ) 9.c4 ( 9.c4 d6 10.c5 c7 11.d3 ) 9...d6 10.e2; C) 7...b5 8.a4! h6 9.5f3 g5 10.axb5

cxb5 11.c4 f5 12.e2 favours White's development.; D) 7...xd4 8.1f3 d6 9.c4 e6 10.e2 with attack. ] 7...h6 8.h3?! It's amazing how White has difficulties after this. [ 8.c4 f5 9.h3 g5 10.hg1 gf6 11.e3 is more-or-less balanced after e5! 12.dxe5 g4 ] 8...g5! 9.d3 [ White did no better in Sadvakasov (2600)Dizdarevic(2486), playchess.com INT 2003: 9.e2 g7 10.c4 d6 11.c5 e6? ( 11...c7! and White has trouble with ... g4 and losing his d-pawn.; 11...f6 is also a good move ) 12.0-0 gf6 ( 12...g4 13.f4 is the reason 11...Qe6? was such a mistake ) 13.e1 f5 14.b3 d5 15.d3 g4 16.e4? ( 16.e4 7f6 17.e5 h5 18.c2 with an edge) 16...h5 17.ae1?! ( 17.c4 7f6 18.ee1 xh3 19.gxh3 xh3 20.f1 limits the damage) 17...7f6 18.e5 xh3 19.xb7 0-0 and Black is a piece up he went on to win. 20.e2 g4 21.h3 xf3 22.xf3 g6 23.xc6 e6 24.a4 a5 25.5e2 h5 26.xa5 g4 27.hxg4 hxg4 28.xd5 xd5 29.e4 g3 30.fxg3 xg3 31.b5 f4 32.f1 h3+ 33.h1 f2+ 34.g1 xe4 ] 9...b6!? [ Black really needn't prevent c4 yet, since 9...gf6! 10.c4 ( 10.c3 c5! 11.c2 xh3 12.gxh3 ce4 ) 10...d6 threatens ...g4 and upon 11.hg1 g4 12.h4 xd4 13.c3 , f4 14.e2 g5 forces White to demonstrate compensation. ] 10.0-0 g4 11.e2?! [ Better 11.e1 , but xf3 ( or 11...0-0-0 12.a4!? xf3 13.xf3 xf3 14.gxf3 e6 15.a5 d5 16.g2 g7 17.c3 ge7 ) 12.xf3 xf3 13.gxf3 g7 still seems a bit better for Black because of the f-pawns, for example, 14.c3 e6 ( 14...0-0-0 15.f4 is unclear, with the idea g4 16.f5+ e6 17.xg4 f6 18.f3 c4 19.c1 hg8 ) 15.a4 0-0-0 16.a5 d5 17.g2 ge7 ] 11...g7 [ Now 11...xf3! 12.xf3 ( 12.gxf3 f6 13.e3 d7 14.g2 g8! ) 12...xf3 13.gxf3 g7 is a tempo ahead of the last note and allows Black the key central break 1834

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.c3 e5! 15.fe1 ( 15.dxe5?? d8 ) 15...0-0-0 ] 12.c3 f6 13.fe1 0-0 14.f1 ad8 15.hg1 c5 [ 15...f5! 16.xf5 xf5 17.xe7? fe8 18.xb7 b5+ 19.e2 d7 ] 16.c4!? [ 16.xe7 ] 16...xd4! 17.xd4 xe2+ 18.gxe2 cxd4 19.ad1 g4!? [ 19...e5! ] 20.b4 fe8 21.g3 [ 21.b3 ] 21...e5 22.e4?! exc4 23.f5? xb2 24.b1 2c4 25.xe7+ h8 with the threat of ...a5, among others. 26.xb7? [ White is still much worse after 26.d3 f8 ] 26...a5 27.xa5 xa5 28.xb6 d3 29.f5 c4 ...Nxb6 or ...Nd2+ is decisive. 0-1

1688 Vescovi,Giovanni P Miton,Kamil Aeroflot Open (8) [Andrew Martin]

B17 2633 2543 24.02.2004

The Grandmaster of today is very well prepared. Instant game databases such as TWIC enable the strongest players to see all the latest games and ideas.... immediately! And of course these same players will be able to sift through all the information quickly and come to the right conclusions. We presented Ganguly-Speelman in our last update and the future for 4..Nd7 did not look good. Miton varies from Speelman's play and gets the same rough treatment, but we will see some improvements for Black. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5! gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.0-0 b6 12.g4 f8 13.b3 Now that the King has been shunted to f8 W hite reasons that he can afford a more leisurely development. c5 If Black can play this move he should. To recap: [ 13...f6 Fair enough, but White has the easier time organising his position. 14.h4 d5 15.e5 c5 16.b2 b7 17.fe1 h5 18.c4 f6 19.dxc5 bxc5 20.f4 g8

21.e3 e7 22.h3 h6 23.ae1 So it comes to pass. Black has to play a series of awkward moves just to combat straightforward White development, Markidis, K-Simeonidis, I/ 7th W hite Tower Open, Thessaloniki GRE 2003. ] [ 13...b7 As Speelman and Bologan played. These games were discussed in the last update but for sake of completion: 14.b2 f6 15.h4 c5 16.dxc5 xc5 17.xf6 ( 17.d4 a5 18.xf6 gxf6 19.e4 Ganguly, S-Speelman, J/Catalan Bay ENG 2004 ) 17...gxf6 18.xf6 h5 19.fe1 Le ko , P-Bo lo ga n, V/ W ijk a an Zee NE D 2004. ] 14.dxc5 xc5 15.b2 e5 So to the natural result of 13...c5. Black tempts White to part with his d pawn in order to open the long diagonal. The point is to play ... e6-e5 which Black hopes will blunt the Bishop on b2 and at the same time liberate Black's own dormant Bishop on c8. My problem is still the King on f8, uncomfortably positioned but we will see that this might not be as serious as it looks. 16.f5 h5 17.h3 e6 Here Miton could have exchanged. [ T h e v a r i a t i o n s a f t e r 17...xf5 seem defensible for Black, albeit a little worse: 18.xf5 e8 19.h4! e6 ( 19...g8 20.fe1 e4 21.h3 e5 22.xe5 xe5 23.ad1 ) 20.fe1 g6 21.g5 ] 18.xe6!? [ 18.h4!? h6 19.e3 b7 20.ad1 d4 21.e4 g8 1/2-1/2 Geenen, MBagheri, A/TCh-BEL 2003 a very odd decision as after 22.xb7 xb7 23.xd4 exd4 24.xd4 d8 25.c3 White is a pawn up! ] 18...xe6 19.g3 f6 [ 19...h4! Black misses a shot: 20.xh4 ( 20.g5 f6 21.g6 d5 22.d3 c6 23.fd1 xf3 24.xd6+ xd6 25.xd6 e4 26.c4= ) 20...xc2 21.c3 c8 22.fc1 e4 23.f3 f6 24.h3 f7 This is a variation which must be closely examined by Caro enthusiasts. ] 20.h4 xc2 Black rejects coordination as his main priority, and snatches a hot pawn. Instead, after [ 20...g8 21.ad1 d8 22.g6 e4 1835

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.fe1 b6 17.f3 d5 ( The point, I presume, is that after 17...b7 White goes 18.h3 teeing up a possible sacrifice on h6. However, even this doesn't seem d a n ge ro u s : ad8! and White is hampered by the fact that his Knight on e5 hangs.) 18.g3 b7 19.e4 f5 20.e2 f4 21.e4 xe5 22.h7+ f7 23.h4 e8 24.g6+ d7 25.b5+ c6 26.xc6+ xc6 27.c4 f6 28.c5 bxc5 29.ac1 b7-+ Olsson, L-Andersson, F/Skara 2002 ] 15...d6 16.h3 Maybe preparing Bf4 so that the Bishop has a retreat square. Or, in the case of Ng4, White takes away the threat to t h e h p a w n . b6 17.d2 b7 18.g4 The idea comes to pass. xg4 19.xg4 e5?! I think Webb is playing a very canny psychological game with Wells. It's an Open t o u rn a m e n t a n d t h e G ra n d m a s t e r wa n t s desperately to win. In my view he's made a poor opening choice, because White is really going to have to play badly to lose this position. If Black is happy with a draw then it's there for the taking but as we now know, Wells is very UNHAPPY with that. So he has to press. I think Black should have centralised, setting a 1689 B17 small trap: [ 19...ad8! 20.xh6?? ( 20.c3!? f5 Webb,Richard M 2348 21.g6 d5 22.xe6 xe6 23.xe6+ Wells,Peter K 2493 f7 24.xf5 fe8 25.e1! ) 20...f5 Premier Portsmouth ENG (2) 21.02.2004 21.g6 f6-+ Black is not worse in these [Andrew Martin] lines. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 20.xh6! f5 21.g6 xb2 Unfortunately, 5.c4 News of Ganguly-Speelman hadn't now [ 21...f6? loses to 22.xg7+ xg7 filtered through to the Portsmouth Open. gf6 23.xg7 xg7 24.xe5 ] 6.g5 e6 7.e2 b6 8.d3 h6 9.5f3 c5 22.ab1 f6? 10.dxc5 xc5 [ 22...c3 23.xe6 ] [ 10...bd7 is the sha rper alternative and White has, theoretically anyway, the better 23.xg7+ xg7 24.xg7 xg7 25.xb2 Looks to me as though either Wells was right chances there. ] 11.e5 bd7 In this particular line, Black o f f f o r m o r t h a t h e h a d e a t e n u p l a r g e must challenge W hite's control of e5. If he amounts of time earlier on looking for ways to does not do so, then a Kingside attack will create winning chances in a position where follow. White is now beginning to think about there were none. g6 26.g3 h8 27.xf5! 28.e7+ f6 29.xb7 xh3 where he wants to put his King. 12.gf3 c7 exf5 13.0-0 So Webb decides on the solid option. 30.xa7+- g5 31.g2 gh6 32.f4+ W h it e s h o uld o nly b e a b le t o m a in ta in a W hite's opening play is recommended to m i n i m a l e d g e i n t h i s l i n e , i f t h a t . xe5 those who wish to insure against a loss. 1-0 14.xe5 0-0 15.e1 Reinforcing e5. [ 15.f4 is another try but it seems that B l a c k h a s a s a t i s f a c t o r y c o u n t e r : d6 Black has no reason to complain: 23.xd6 xd6 24.xd6 xd6 25.xh8 xh8 26.f3 exf3 27.xf3 d2 28.f2= ] 21.ad1 c5 22.xe5!? Unleashing a very speculative attack but which rattles Miton completely. However, [ 22.g6+ wasn't promising so perhaps this is the right tactical decision: f7 23.xh8+ xh8 24.c1 xa2 25.d3 e2 26.d2 h4 27.c3 e4 ] 22...fxe5 23.f3+ e7 24.d3 hd8 25.g6+ e8 26.c6+ d7?? [ 26...f7 was the only move with very unclear complications: 27.xe5+ f6 28.f3+ ( 28.e3! d6 29.f3+ f5 30.xa8 xe5 31.e8+ f6 32.f8+ g6 ) 28...f5 29.d7+ xd7 30.xd7 e8 31.xa7 d3 ] 27.d5+- f8 28.xe5 It's mate in three more moves, although this is a game where the result doesn't tell the full story. Perhaps Black is hitting back already and 4... Nd7 will liveon! 1-0

1836

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1690 Yu Yangyi Zhao Xue Tata Steel Challengers (13.6) [Tom Rendle]

B17 2677 2567 26.01.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.g5 gf6 6.d3 e6 7.1f3 d6 8.e2 h6 9.e4 xe4 10.xe4 c7 11.g4 f8 12.0-0 b6 13.b3 b7 14.b2 f6 15.h3 d5 16.g3 b4!? An important alternative to 16...c5 that we haven't seen before on ChessPub [ 16...c5 is analysed in Shomoev-Sjugirov and Leko-Ivanchuk in the archives ] 17.e4 c5?! This seems to just lead to a very unpleasant middlegame [ 17...f5! and now White has a choice where to put his knight A) 18.h4 f7! ( 18...fxe4?? 19.xe6! e7 20.g6+ e8 21.xh8 is winning for White ) 19.a3 ( 19.f3!? g8 20.a3 d5 21.c4 is similiar but perhaps a little better for White) 19...d5 20.xd5 cxd5 21.f3 c8 22.c3 ( 22.ac1 g8 23.fe1 g5 24.e5 xe5 25.xe5 was slightly better for White in Antonio, R (2 5 6 5 )- L a yl o , D ( 2 5 2 8 ) Ma n i la 2 0 1 1) 22...f6 23.fe1 g5 24.e5 and White had a minimal advantage in Stellwagen, D (2639) -Berkes, F (2606) Crete 2007; B) 18.g5 e7 19.xe6+ xe6 20.xf5 f7 21.c4 ( 21.ae1! is probably an improvement with balanced chances ) 21...a6 22.ae1 c7 23.e3 g8 and White didn't quite have enough f o r t h e p i e c e i n S u t o vs k y , E ( 2 6 9 2 ) A n t o n i e ws k i , R ( 2 6 0 4 ) S p o l e t o 2 0 1 1 although the game ended in a draw ] [ 17...g8 is interesting here but White should be a little better after 18.c4 ( or 18.e5!? ) 18...c5 19.d5! h5 ( 19...exd5 20.cxd5 xd5 21.xd5 xd5 22.ad1 e7 23.g4 h7 and despite being a pawn up Black is clearly worse - if you want to know why just look at the rook on h7!) 20.ad1 exd5 21.cxd5 xa2 22.fe1 b4 23.h4 ( 23.f5!? looks good here too) 23...c8 24.f5 b7 25.b1 d8?! 26.f5 c8 27.h4 xf5 28.xf5 f8 29.d6! xd6 30.xg7!

A) 30...xd1 31.xd1 xg7 32.d8+ xd8 ( 32...f8 33.g5# ) 33.xd8+ f8 34.g5+ should also just be winning for White but there is a little work to do; B) 30...e7?! 31.xe7 xd1+ 32.g2 xe7 33.xe7 xg7 34.e6 1-0 Inarkiev, E (2674)-Galkin, A (2608) Kemer 2007 ] 18.xb7 xb7 19.dxc5 bxc5 [ or 19...xc5 20.e5 g8 21.ad1 d5 22.c4 f6 23.g2! xg2+ 24.xg2 with a miserable endgame for Black who is still a long way off activating his rook on h8 ] 20.h5 xc2 If you've got a bad position you might as well grab a pawn but this doesn't really help here 21.ad1 d8 22.e5 [ 22.e5 was also strong, e.g. e7 23.c3 d4 24.xd4 cxd4 25.xd4 xd4 26.xd4 g8 27.g4 f8 28.c1 and Black is clearly in trouble here ] 22...b4 23.c4 e7 24.xd8+ xd8 25.xc5+?! White grabs back the pawn which can't be too bad [ 25.d6! however looks even stronger, keeping complete control after A) 25...c7 26.d1 and Black can barely move - for example g8? loses to ( or 26...g5 27.f4 f6 28.xf6 gxf6 29.xf7! xf7 30.d8+ g7 31.xf7+ xf7 32.xh8 ) 27.xf7!; B) 25...e7 26.xc5 d3 27.xg7+! xg7 28.d4+ f6 29.xd3 ] 25...g8 26.d6 b6 27.d4 c6 28.xb6 axb6 29.e3 Black has done a fantastic job of holding on after the opening went wrong but sadly here Zhao Xue goes wrong and loses the endgame e7?! [ 29...g5! 30.c1 b4 gives Black an e xce lle n t ch a n ce t o h o ld t h e e n d ga m e although White is still pressing after 31.d4 f6 32.b7 e7 33.xb6 f7 34.c7 d5 35.d6+! g6 36.d7 xd6 37.xd6 b8 38.d4 f5 I think Black is active enough here to hold the draw ] 30.c8 a3 31.xb6 h7 32.d1 Now White is just a clear pawn up and Black still isn't fully coordinated b8 33.d7 f6 34.c7 e7 [ 34...e5 is at least a bit more active but W hite should win eventually after 35.a7 ( 35.g2!? makes sense as well) 35...d6 1837

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 36.g2 g4 37.a6 xe3+ 38.fxe3 e7 39.c4 ] 35.a7 b4 36.a3! d6 37.b4 Suddenly the pawns look very, very strong! c6 38.d7 f8 39.c7 [ 39.b5! Passed pawns should be pushed ] 39...e5 40.f4 g4 41.d7 d6 42.xb8 xc7 43.a7 Black is going to have to give up a piece to stop the b-pawn so she resigned 1-0

1691 Zhou,Y Sumets,A 88th Hastings Masters (9.4) [Tom Rendle]

B17 2419 2638 05.01.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.f3 gf6 6.xf6+ xf6 7.c3 A new move as far as ChessPublishing goes b u t qu it e a f a s h io n a b le o n e , a lt h o u g h i t doesn't really alter the structure of the position very much. Instead Ne5 and h3 have both been seen in the archives. [ 7.c4 is the other main option and now f5 is Black's most reliable reply. Here W hite has a few reasonable moves: A) 8.0-0 doesn't set Black too many problems after e6 9.c3 d6! 10.g5 h6 11.h4 c7 12.g3 xg3 13.hxg3 g4 and Black was very comfortable in Finegold, B (2500) -Seirawan, Y (2636) Saint Louis 2011; B) 8.e5 e6 9.g4!? is interesting here g6 ( 9...e4 10.f3 d5 11.d3 b5 is a sensible alternative for Black players wishing to avoid these complications) 10.h4 B1) 10...d7 11.xg6 hxg6 12.g5 b6 13.b3 was about level in Shyam, N (2484)-Wageih, K (2332) Athens 2012 but after a5?! ( instead 13...c5 14.dxc5 xd1+ 15.xd1 xc5 and Black has equalised ) 14.a4 e7 15.g4 d5 16.d2 b6 17.0-0-0 White was left better as Black has no safe place for his king; B2) 10...d6 11.e2 e4 12.f3 d5 13.d3 b5 14.a4 b4 15.c4 bxc3 16.bxc3 was unclear in Kristiansen, J

(2432)-Rasmussen, A (2505) Helsingor 2012 and here Black should've continued with xe5! 17.dxe5 d7 followed by Nc5 with balanced play; C) 8.e2 also seems to be less critical because of e6 9.g5 a5+ 10.c3 g4 ( 10...e4 was played by Sumets himself in the game Goutali, T (2349)-Sumets, A (257 9) Tipa za 201 1, which co ntinue d 11.d2 e7 12.d3 xd2 13.xd2 xd3 14.xd3 0-0 15.0-0 with complete equality. ) 11.e5 d5 12.d2 f6 13.g3 h5 14.h3 f5 15.e3 and here Black grabbed the initiative in Tiviakov, S (2670)-Ivanchuk, V (2756) Hoogeveen 2009 with g5!? 16.f3 g4 ] 7...g6 This seems to be an entirely sensible setup, albeit it's not the only one Black can play here [ 7...g4 is the main alternative, when White should grab the two bishops with 8.h3 xf3 9.xf3 but after e6 10.g3 a5 11.a4 g6 12.g2 g7 13.0-0 0-0 White's advantage is only slight and in Alekseev, E (2659)Ivanchuk, V (2768) Khanty-Mansiysk 2011, Black even managed to slowly outplay his opponent and go on to win a model game. ] 8.h3! This removes the option for Black to play ...Bg4 and at least sets some problems for Sumets to solve. [ 8.c4 g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 c7 11.g5 f5 12.e2 fe8 13.ad1 d5 was fine for Black in Talla, V (2452)-Piorun, K (2513) Wroclaw 2011 ] 8...g7 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 c7 [ 10...b6 is less accurate here. After 11.f4 b7 12.e2 e6 13.ad1 e7 14.a6!? fd8 15.xb7 xb7 White was a little better in Gao Rui (2442)-Ding Liren (2695) Athens 2012 as it's not so easy for Black to equalise with c5 here. ] 11.e1 c5 12.dxc5 xc5 13.e3 c7 White can hardly be worse here but Sumets begins expertly outplaying Yang-Fang from here - seizing on every inaccuracy. 14.d4 d8 15.b3 [ 15.e2 feels like a more natural move when I think W hite still has a very slight advantage - e.g. e6 16.e5 e7 17.a4! gaining space on the queenside. ] 15...e6 16.ad1 b6 17.e5 1838

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 17.a3 was better as after b7 18.e5 the queen doesn't have an ideal square to g o t o . F o r e x a m p l e c6 ( 18...c5!? is perhaps best) 19.a6 xd1 20.xd1 xa6 21.xa6 d7 22.xg7 xg7 23.d3 is still more comfortable for White ] 17...e7 18.xf6?! I don't really understand this move - I guess White couldn't find a plan but after this only Black can be better. [ 18.a4 b7 19.e2 is slightly passive but W hite still has ideas of Qh4 and play on the kingside so he can hardly be worse. ] 18...xf6 19.e4 b7 20.xb7 xb7 21.a4 a6 22.d2 e7 23.c4 c5 24.e5 The knight is moving about a lot but I'm not sure what the idea is! c7 25.d3 e7 Of course Black wants to keep the bishop on the board to create winning chances later 26.b4 a5 27.c2 c5 28.e3 Seven knight mo ves late r a nd Bla ck ha s established a strong bishop on c5 and now brings he brings his queen into the action f4! 29.c2 h5 Gaining space and slowly squeezing White on the kingside. 30.b3 ac8 31.xd8+ xd8 32.d1 xd1+ 33.xd1 e5! White should probably still be holding here but it's getting more and more unpleasant wi t h e ve r y p a s s i n g m o ve . 34.b2 h4 Setting a clever trap into which Zhou falls. 35.c4?! [ 35.d3 was a better try when Black should keep up the pressure with f5 36.e2 d6 although W hite is still only slightly worse after 37.f3! ] 35...b5! 36.xa5?! [ 36.axb5 a4! 37.d2 a3 38.xf4 exf4 39.xa3 xa3 should be a winning endgame for Black although these things a re n e v e r s o c le a r a s W h it e ca n t r y t o de f e n d wit h 40.f1 f8 41.e2 e7 42.f3 c1 43.e4 ] [ 36.b2 might be the best try here but now B l a c k c a n p l a y bxa4 37.xa4 a7 and wit h e4 coming the kn ight o n a4 is rather offside. ] 36...e4 Now the knight is too far away and Black is breaking through with e 3 37.b7 a7 38.b4?! The final mistake after which it's all over [ 38.e2 was an only move although Black is probably just winning with c1+ 39.f1

( or 39.h2 e3! ) 39...d2 40.h1 bxa4 41.bxa4 xf2 and the e-pawn will decide things in Black's favour. ] 38...e3 39.c5 bxa4 40.f1 [ 40.fxe3 xe3+ 41.f1 a3 is also hopeless ] 40...a3 41.d3 c4 42.e2 exf2 A very instructive game by Black although White players should not despair - with 15. Qe2 white should be a little better and it's normally the player with the superior understanding that will ultimately triumph in these positions! 0-1

1692 Zwanzger,Johannes Conquest,Stuart Bundesliga [Andrew Martin]

B17 2265 2535 2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 d7 5.f3 gf6 6.eg5 h6!? With Stuar t Conquest the game enters the twilight zone early. Black invites White to sacrifice a piecehe has the devil in him! I daresay Zwanzger thought for a long time now- what should he do? Eventually he decides to retreat but that can hardly be good. I suppose it depends what you think of the following variation: 7.h3 [ 7.e6 Seriously aggressive! fxe6 8.d3 a5+ 9.d2 h5 10.e2 g5 11.g4 xg4 12.e5 dxe5 13.dxe5 g8 14.0-0-0 The critic al position. It will take some time for Black to unravel- meanwhile White threatens h3. Place your bets! ] 7...g5! 8.hg1 Not exactly what the doctor ordered. g7 9.d3 c5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.b5+ fd7 Black is a little better alreadyinvariably Conquest chooses the complex continuation. Simpler was [ 11...d7 12.xd7+ fxd7 13.e2 b6 with Black for choice. ] 12.d4 This guy seems very keen on the Knights.... a6 13.e2 b6 14.c3 e5! You have to attack when you are ahead in d e v e l o p m e n t ! 15.b3 xd1+ 16.xd1 It's understandable that he doesn't wish to take with the King- White has some survival 1839

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 chances there but the position is very unpleasant: [ 16.xd1 xb3 17.axb3 e6 18.c2 ( 18.c4 d8+ 19.e1 d7 20.e3 e4! ) 18...f5+ 19.d3 ( 19.d1 d8+ 20.d2 e6 ) 19...e4 20.e2 e3+ ] 16...d3+ 17.e2 g4+ 18.f3 f5 19.c2 f4+ 20.xf4 xc2 21.e3 c4 22.h4 Almost certainly the best chance and indeed, Conquest seems slightly confused. Perhaps b o t h p l a ye rs we re a lr e a d y in so m e t im e trouble, encouraged by the earlier complications. [ 22.c5 f8! 23.e4 xb2-+ ] [ 22.c1 g6 23.h4 gxh4 24.c5 0-0-0 25.xh4 xe3 26.xe3 f6 27.c4 g5+ 28.f2 b5-+ ] 22...0-0-0 I think Black could have played better: [ 22...gxh4 23.xh4 xb2! 24.c1 d3 25.d2 xb3 26.axb3 d8 27.c2 e1+ 28.b1 d1 The White King finds no sanctuary. ] 23.hxg5 hxg5 24.xh8 xh8 25.xg5 [ 25.h3 g4 26.fxg4 xb2-+ ] 25...g8! 26.h3 f6 27.h4 xg2+ 28.f2 xb2 A pawn up but the Bishop on h8 has to be extricated. Complications continue but White is always toiling. 29.f1 h2 30.g3 h7 31.e1 c4 32.g2 f5 33.c5 f4 34.h2 e3+ I t ' s o v e r . 35.g1 f6 36.ce4 h4 37.e2 d7 38.g4 d1+ The complications after 6...h6 7 Ne6 have yet to be resolved so until someone busts Black completely I don't see any reason why this uncompromising idea shouldn't be played more often. 0-1

cleverly exploits with a strong novelty. 0-0-0! That's it! For tactical reasons Black does not fear the "trapping of his bishop" [ previously 9...e5 had been played, but this rather plays into W hite's hands. 10.dxe5 xe5+ 11.e2 c5 12.xg6 hxg6 13.f4 xe2+ 14.xe2 1-0 Kuczynski, R (2505)Lauber, A (2517)/ Germany 2010 ] 10.h5 e5! The center is exploding, when White is less than ready for it. 11.h3 [ 11.hxg6 exf4 12.e2 fxg6! 13.xf4 d6 14.d2 xf4 15.xf4 a5 is just bad for W hite, his king remains marooned in the center. 16.a3 a4 ] [ 11.dxe5 xe5 12.b3 d3+ is only good for Black. ] 11...e4! Black has solved all of his opening problems. 12.xe4 xe4 13.d3 ef6 14.0-0 exd4 15.cxd4 h6 Black stops forever any idea White had of playing Ng5, but this probably wasn't necessary. [ 15...d5! 16.f3 7f6 17.g5 b8 and Black has very good co-ordination. ] 16.f3 b6 17.e3 bd5 18.a3 d6 19.b4 b8 20.ac1 he8 21.fe1 xe3 22.fxe3 White has been drifting for the last few moves and Black is already better. d7?! Not the most testing. [ 22...h2+! 23.h1 g3 was a crude way to win the h-pawn that the computer suggests, although it's not clear that White would have enough compensation for it. 24.e2 e7! ] 23.f2 c7 24.b5 cxb5 25.b1 a6 26.a4 b6 27.axb5 a5 28.e4 xe4 29.xe4 e7 Black is better here, as he has a long term plan of attacking the W hite king (note how an early h4 leaves the kingside somewhat exposed) while his own king is completely safe. 30.e2 d6 31.h1 c8 1693 B18 32.be1 c3 33.c2 c7 34.g1 xc2 Andriasian,Zaven 2604 35.xc2 e6 36.h3 A horrible position to Eljanov,Pavel 2681 have to defend. In fact, after the next move, Turning the screw. Chigorin Memorial 20th (8) 03.11.2012 W hite is just lost. b4! 37.d1 c3 38.d3 a4 39.f3 f6?! [Danny Gormally] [ 39...b6! 40.xf7 xe3 41.f4+ a7 looks immediately decisive. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h3 f6 7.f4 bd7 8.c3!? 40.f2 a3 41.d5 d6 42.c4 xc4 Now the ending almost looks c7 9.h4 The problem with all these pawn 43.xc4 m o v e s , i s t h a t W h i t e i s n e g l e c t i n g h i s holdable for White, but Elanjov manages to 44.g4 d e v e l o p m e n t . A p o i n t t h a t E l a n j o v n o w grind it out after many moves. d8 1840

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a7 45.e2 b6 46.d3 d6 47.c3 0-0-0 14.g5 White doesn't have a great a5 48.b3 e8 49.e1 e4 50.d5 a d va n t a g e , b u t h i s e n d u r i n g e d g e i s xg4 51.xb7 g5 52.f3 xb5+ 53.c4 enough to cause Black some headaches b2 54.a1 h2 55.g4 h4 56.e2 h3 e7 15.h4 h7 16.d2 hf6 17.b1 57.e4 b4 58.a2 c3+ 59.d5 c1 60.e5 1-0 Tiviakov, S (2677)-Timman, J (2571)/ fxe5 61.dxe5 a4 62.c4 d1+ 63.c6 Wijk aan Zee 2012 ] h1 64.f7 e1 65.e6 d1 66.e2 e7 8...bd7 9.f4! An important idea. White 67.g6 b4 68.c7 c3 69.e4 f6 intends f5, a most aggressive plan. 70.c6 e7 71.c7 b4 72.g6 d5 [ Another training game of mine against the 73.c6 d6+ 74.c7 d1 75.c6 d6+ metal monster (yet again I was Black) went 76.c7 a6 77.b1 a7+ 78.c6 c3 9.f4 d6 10.xg6 hxg6 11.a4 c7 79.b6 a8 80.b7 a5 81.c6 xh5 12.c3 0-0-0 13.a5 h7 14.f3 dh8 82.d7 f6 83.e7 xe7 84.xe7 d5 15.h3! And White was better. (I did not play 85.c2+ b4 86.a2 c5 87.h2 c6 the game out.) A lot of people would be 88.d5 b6 89.c2 g5 90.f7 h5 91.h2 terrified to play such a position as W hite, b5 92.e6 g4 A strange ending has arisen. wit h t h e o p e n h - f i le , b u t o f c o u rs e t h e As the White king is cut-off, he is lost. 93.g2 computer does not fear ghosts. In fact Black a5 94.a2 c3 95.g6 d3 96.h6 does not have any obvious way to e3 97.c2 g3 98.c3+ f2 99.c2+ g1 breakthrough, while by contrast W hite's 100.d2 h4 101.d5 h3 102.g5 g2 queenside play is just getting going. This is 103.g4 xd5! 104.xd5 h1 in many ways a typical position for this line. ] 0-1 9...b6 10.b3 a5!? [ 10...d7 11.c3 ( 11.a4!? ) 11...0-0-0 12.f3 c5 13.f5 exf5 14.xf5 cxd4 1694 B18 15.cxd4 b8 16.f4+ a8 17.e5 fd5 18.ac1 1/2-1/2 Azarov, S (2618)-Laznicka, Areshchenko,Alexander 2710 V (2674)/Czechia 2012/CB44 2012 (65) ] Khenkin,Igor 2655 Bundesliga 1213 (2) 21.10.2012 11.f5! White does not dally. In the Caro-Kann, generally speaking Black is very solid, and if [Danny Gormally] allowed time to develop, and get castled, he 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 will be very hard to breakdown indeed. So 5.g3 g6 6.h3 f6 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 White's best chance of success is often by W h i t e t r i e s a d i f f e r e n t t a c k . O n e o f t h e scoring a knockout blow in the opening. exf5 advantages of Nh3 over Nge2, is that White 12.c3 d7 [ Taking the chance to try and alleviate some can get mobilised as quickly as possible. of the mounting pressure with exchanges, [ The more standard idea 8.f4 has mainly would also not be entirely successful, for been championed by Tiviakov, who has a example 12...a4 13.c2 f4 14.xf4 xc2 number of games in this line. Generally 15.xc2 e7 16.f5 0-0 17.d2 speaking White will just take on g6, and try followed by Rf3 and Raf1, when White has and nurse his slight edge to victory. the makings of a strong attack. ] A) 8...d6 9.b3!? ( 9.c3 bd7 10.f3 b6 11.b3 bd5 12.xg6 hxg6 13.g5! e7 14.c2 e4 15.xe7 xe7 13.g5 1/2-1/2 Tiviakov, S (2675) - 16.e1 d8 A difficult move to have to make, Deviatkin, A (2590)/Konya 2012) 9...c7 as the Black king is hardly completely safe in 10.f3 a5 11.c3 a4 12.xg6 hxg6 the center with so much action going on. [ unfortunately for Black, the attempt to run to 13.c2 bd7 14.a3 e5 15.e3 0-0 t h e k i n g s i d e w i t h 16...he8 runs into 16.0-0-0 1-0 Tiviakov, S (2664)-Iturrizaga 17.xf5+! xf5 18.xe4 xe4 ( 18...xh3 Bonelli, E (2605)/Khanty-Mansiysk 20094 19.xc6+ f8 20.xd7 xe1 21.xh3! (40); is a winning ending for White) 19.xe4+ B) 8...d5 9.xg6 hxg6 10.c3 d7 when the h-pawn drops. ] 11.d2 c7 12.f3! 7f6 13.0-0-0 1841

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.f4?! Trying to be subtle when there is no need. [ After his excellent play in the opening, W hite could have gained a very nice advantage with the straightforward 17.xe4! fxe4 18.xe4 e7 ( 18...e8 19.h4+ c8 20.ae1 looks horrible for Black.) 19.c5 ( 19.eg5!? is also not bad, with p re s s u r e o n t h e k in gs id e) 19...xe1 20.axe1 b8 21.f4 where Black faces a difficult defence ahead, if he is to save this unpleasant endgame. ] 17...e8 18.h4 f6 19.b1 [ 19.c1 h6 is also a bit messy, the way forward for W hite isn't as clear as it was earlier. ] 19...c4! A good demonstration of how easy it is to let slip an advantage against a highclass player. By threatening ...Nd2, Khenkin manages to at least equalise the game. In fact it is White who must now be careful. 20.xf5 xf5 21.xf5 e3 22.xd7+ xd7 23.f3 e7 [ Possibly by playing 23...fg4 A Magnus Carlsen type endgame wizard might be able to grind out a win here even with such a microscopic advantage (for example Black has a slightly superior structure on th e kingside) but Khenkin is happy to steer the game towards a draw. ] 24.fh5 xh5 25.xh5 f6 26.xg7!? [ There was also nothing wrong with the simple 26.e1 ] 26...g8 27.h5 xg2+ 28.h1 xb2 29.xf6+ d6 30.e1 [ 30.e1 c4 31.xe7 xe7 32.xh7 xa2 33.g5 a4 34.f7+ d6 35.xb7 a3 36.h5 Should lead to a draw- the h and a pawns pretty much cancel themselves out. e2 37.h6 a2 38.a7 e1+ 39.g2 a1 40.xa1 xa1 41.f7+ e7 42.h7 a8 43.h8 xh8 44.xh8 f6 45.f3 g7 46.e4 xh8 47.d5! c5 48.d6 xd6+ 49.d5 b7 50.c6= ] ½-½

1695 Becerra Rivero,Julio Riazantsev,Alexander Final ICC INT (5.3) [Andrew Martin]

B18 2569 2576 14.03.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.c5 'Something to break the monotony' I will not be offering a prize to the first reader wh o i d e n t if ie s t h e sp e a ke r . Fi sch e r a n d Bronstein enjoyed 5 Nc5 in the old days and it's true that the move works well if Black overreacts. Black should settle for a comfortable game by first driving back the Knight and then developing normally. b6! 6.b3 [ 6.a6?! was a confusing try of Fischer, but after xa6 7.xa6 d5! Black already has a very good game. ] 6...e6 7.f3 d6 8.g3 The only try for advantage is to press on c6. e7 9.g2 h6 10.0-0 [ 10.e2 d7 11.e5 c8 12.0-0 0-0 Sorensen, J-Rasmussen, K/Koge DEN 2004 is a typical Black development and quite OK for him. ] 10...0-0 Two other moves have been tried: [ 10...d7 11.e2 c8 12.e5 0-0 13.d1 a5 14.c3 f6 15.d2 b8 16.f1 h7 17.b3 b5 18.a3 d6 19.b2 b6 20.e3 c5 21.c4 cxd4 22.xd4 c5 23.xc5 xc5 24.d3 b6 25.ac1= Kasparov, S-Gustafsson, J/ Deizisau 2003 ] 11.c4N [ 11.e2 t o p i n d o w n e 5 d7 12.c3 ( 12.e5 c8 13.d1 b8 14.c4 a5 15.e3 a4 16.c1 xe5 17.dxe5 c7 18.f4 b5 19.b3 bxc4 20.bxc4 a7 21.d3 g4 22.xg4 xe3+ 23.h1 f5 24.ab1 d4 25.e2 e3 26.dc1 xg2 Waitzkin, J-Asrian, K/New York 1998 ) 12...c8 13.bd2 g4 14.h3 h5 15.c4 b8 16.b4 b5 17.a5 d5 18.d2 e8 19.c4 bxc4 20.xc4 e5 21.dxe5 xe5 22.cxe5 xe5 23.ae1 1/2-1/2 Bronstein, D-Petrosian, T/Moscow 1966 ] [ 11.e1 d7 12.bd2 c8 13.e4 b8 14.b3 d5 15.b2 5f6 16.xf6+ xf6 17.c4 d7 18.e2 d6 19.ad1 c7 20.d2 fd8 21.e4 b4 22.f1 e7 1842

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.d5 cxd5 24.cxd5 exd5 25.xd5 e6= Schilow, W-Heinig, W/ Berlin 2001 We may determine from these brief examples that it is difficult for White to increase his nominal advantage which essentially consists of the backward black pawn on c6 . Black's development isn't interrupted in any way he has few practical problems. So to 11 c4, which, unless White can arrange either d4d5 or c4-c5 at the right moment, seems equally toothless. ] 11...d7 12.e2 c7 13.e3 c5! 14.ac1 ad8= Black is very comfortable. The problem is the time limit it satisfies the modern need for instant gratification. 15.fd1 e4 16.dxc5 xc5 [ 16...bxc5 17.d2 f5 18.cd1 xe3 19.xe3 f6 is equally fine. ] 17.xc5 xf3 18.xf3 xc5 19.xc5 xc5 20.a3 White has a Bishop and the queenside pawn majority, germs of the win. Black has a counterbalancing square on d4 for the Knight. Above all in such positions, Black must play actively and prevent W hite from realising his trumps. f5 21.b4 c7 22.c5 xd1+ 23.xd1 d8! 24.e1 bxc5 25.bxc5 d4 Still fine for Black, he is playing well. 26.c6 d6 27.c5 a6 28.b1 [ After 28.f1 b5 29.a4 A) 29...a7 30.c1 c7 31.b1 d4 32.b7? ( 32.a5! ) 32...xa4!; B) 29...b6! is a satisfactory rearrangement of Black's pieces. 30.c1 c7 31.b1 a5 32.b8+ h7 33.b1+ f5 34.b4 d2 ] 28...d8 [ 28...b5? isn't the same this time: 29.a4 d8 30.axb5! Winning! d1+ 31.xd1 xd1+ 32.f1 ] 29.f1 b8?? [ 29...a8 30.b7 a7 31.xc7 xc7 32.g2 f8= ] 30.xb8+ xb8 31.c7 c8 32.xa6 xa6 33.c8+ Etcetera xc8 34.xc8+ h7 35.a4 A lightweight game but what else can one e xp ec t f rom t his t im e co nt ro l? Use d sparingly, 5 Nc5 is a reasonable practical try . 1-0

1696 Belotti,Bruno Solozhenkin,Evgeniy Montecatini Terme [Alexander Volzhin]

B18 2420 2540 1999

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.c4 e6 7.1e2 f6 8.0-0 d6 9.f4 This old line introduced by Paul Keres in the 1950s is now in fashion again. Black has to avoid some tricks here. c7?! And he fails to do so! [ 9...e4 Trying to exchange White's Knight and prevent f 4-f5. Nevertheless... 10.f5! xg3 11.xg3 xg3 12.fxg6 xf1 13.gxf7+ xf7 ( 13...f8 is even worse in view of 14.f4! White intends to recapture the Knight with the Rook (Qd3 and Rxf1) with a decisive attack. g5 15.e5 e3 16.e2 xc4 17.xc4 xf7 18.f1+ and White wins.) 14.g4 d6! The only defence. ( 14...e8 loses instantly in view of 15.h6! as was pointed out by Paul Keres.) 15.g5! A) 15...xh2+ 16.xf1 e8 17.e1 d6 18.f4 xd4 ( 18...d7 19.f5+ g8 20.xe6 h8 21.d3 ) 19.xe6+ f8 20.f5+ f6 21.d6+ e7 22.xf6+ gxf6 23.xe7+ xe7 24.c8+; B) 15...xh2 16.f5+ e8 17.xe6 f8 18.f7+ xf7 19.c8+ d8 20.xd8#; C) 15...d7 The only way to avoid immediate loss. The alternatives are: 16.xf1+ ( 16.h5+?! g8 17.xf1 f8! is OK for Black.) 16...f6 17.h5+ e7 18.h4 af8 19.e1 After White wins the e6-pawn there will be approximate material equality on the board but White's chances will be clearly better. ] 10.f5! The idea behind Black's previous move was to prevent this breakthrough but nevertheless it still works! exf5 11.xf5 xh2+?! Another careless move after which Black's position is hardly defensible. [ Black has to play 11...xf5 12.xf5 bd7 13.g3 0-0-0 although his position is rather unpleasant here as shown in Fichtl Golombek, Munich 1958. ] 12.h1 0-0 [ 12...xf5 is the main alternative to the text, but it's no better in view of 13.xf5 d6 1843

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.h6! The game Siqueira - Groszpeter, 1979 continued: g8 15.f4 e7 16.h5! bd7 17.xg7+ d8 18.e1! g4 19.g5 df6 20.h5! and Black can't avoid material loss. ] 13.e1! [ 13.g3! is not bad either. This move was played in Keres - Golombek, Moscow, 1956. A) 13...g4 is more stubborn, and although Black's Bishop is offside it's not so easy to win it. 14.d3! b5 15.b3 e8 16.f4! Black's light-squared Bishop is the main defender of Black's King, so it's necessary to exchange it. A1) 16...b7 17.xg6 c5+ 18.d5 fxg6 19.d6 c4 20.f3 e5 21.g2 d7 22.xe8 xe8 23.xh2 cxb3 24.axb3; A2) 16...xf5 17.xf5 d7 18.xf7+ xf7 19.xg4 c4 20.d3! xc2 21.h6 g6 22.e6+! xe6 23.f8#; A3) 16...c5 17.xb5 ( 17.xg6 is not bad either: b7+ 18.d5 ) 17...c6 18.xc5 b7 19.d6 e4+ 20.xe4 xe4 21.d5 and White is winning in all lines; A4) 16...h8 Black has a wide but joyless choice here. The alternatives are: 17.xg6+ fxg6 18.f4 d7 19.d6 f8 20.ae1 and Black is h o p e le s s ly lo s t , B e 6 b e in g t h e f irs t threat. g5 21.xg5 xd6 22.e7 xf1+ 23.xf1; B) 13...xf5 This move loses by force. 14.xf5 xg3 15.xf6! gxf6 16.g1 and after a few moves Black resigned. ] 13...d6 This move allows White to destroy the seemingly safe position of the Black King. But it's difficult to find a real improvement. [ 13...xf5 is also bad: 14.xf5 (threatening 15.g3) d6 15.xf6! gxf6 16.h6 a n d W h it e ' s a t t a ck is u n st o p p a b le , f o r example: e8 17.h4 f8 18.xf8 xf8 19.g3! with a quick mate. ] 14.xg7! xg7 15.xf6! d7 [ The Rook is taboo: 15...xf6 16.h4+ g7 17.h6+ g8 18.f6 with unavoidable mate ] [ 15...b5 16.b3 e8 By pinning the Knight, Black tries to slow down W hite's attack. Nevertheless... 17.h4!

A) The sacrifice cannot be accepted: 17...xe2 18.h6+ g8 ( 18...h8 19.xg6 fxg6 20.f6+ ) 19.xg6+ hxg6 20.f6 f8 21.xg6+ h8 22.xf7 xf7 23.xf7 xh6 24.g6! g7 25.h5+; B) 17...d7 18.h6+ h8 19.xf7 e7 20.xg6 hxg6 21.h3; C) 17...h8 18.xg6 fxg6 19.f6+ g7 20.xd6 winning material as Black can't play xe2 in view of 21.d8+ ] 16.h4! This Rook is like a bone in Black's throat! b5 [ 16...xf6 17.h6+ g8 18.xf6 ] 17.d3! White exchanges the main defender of Black's King. fe8 18.f3 d8 [ Again it's bad to grab the piece: 18...xd3 19.cxd3 xe2 20.h6+ h8 21.xf7 and Black is hopelessly lost. ] 19.g5 e7 [ 19...c7 i s n o b e t t e r : 20.xg6 fxg6 21.af1! ( The tempting 21.f7+ is not so good. xf7 22.xh7+ e6 23.xg6+ f6 24.xf6+ d7 25.f5+ e6 26.f4 h8+ 27.g1 xf4 28.f7+ c8 29.xe6+ b7 30.xf4 xf4 31.e5 h6 This line seems to be forced. Although W hite is two pawns up his King is quite e x p o s e d a n d t h e f i g h t i s s t i l l a h e a d .) 21...g8 ( 21...f8 22.f2! and Black can't avoid the penetration of White's Rook to the 7th rank. ) 22.f7 h5 23.h3 and White wins. ] 20.xg6 hxg6 21.h6+ g8 22.h3 f6 23.f1 Mate is unavoidable, so Black resigned. 1-0

1697 Carlsen,M L'Ami,E 75th Tata Steel GpA (10.4) [Tom Rendle]

B18 2861 2627 23.01.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.c4 e6 7.1e2 b5!? A n e w m o ve f ro m E r win in a we l l k n o wn position - possibly he just wanted to avoid Carlsen's preparation but in fact it looks like a sensible idea. 1844

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 7...f6 is more common and along with ] [ 7...d6 it has been seen many times in the archives. After Bd6 W hite can grab the bishop pair if he chooses with 8.h4 h6 9.f4 xf4 ( 9...h7?! 10.gh5 is very unpleasant for Black) 10.xf4 see Short-Svidler annotated by Andrew Martin ] 8.b3 The most logical retreat for the bishop. [ 8.d3 f6 9.0-0 d6 gives Black a comfortable game although White can try 10.f4!? 0-0 11.f5 exf5 12.xf5 but Black is generally OK after xf5! 13.xf5 bd7 followed by Qc7 and Rae8. ] 8...d6 [ 8...c5!? is the most critical follow up to 7... b5 and now an important test of this idea is 9.a4! c4 10.a2 a6 and it all depends on whether White can make something of his lead in development or if the bishop is just shut out on a2. It seems to me that Black is doing OK here - play might continue 11.f4 f6 12.0-0 c6 13.c3 e7 14.e2 0-0 15.xg6 hxg6 16.b1 a5! and Black can be happy about how the opening has turned out. ] [ 8...f6 9.f4 ( maybe 9.a4 is better although Black is still solid enough after d6 10.0-0 0-0 11.f4 c7 12.xg6 hxg6 13.axb5 cxb5 14.c3 c6 ) 9...c5!? 10.f3 bd7 11.dxc5 xc5 ] 9.f4 xf4 [ 9...f6 looks more natural to me but Erwin w a s p r o b a b l y w o r r i e d a b o u t 10.h4! although things aren't totally clear after the brave 0-0! 11.h5 f5 12.xf5 exf5 13.0-0 when Black has a solid enough position after bd7 ( 13...g4!? planning Qh4 is a more adventurous way of playing )] 10.xf4 f6 11.0-0 0-0 12.c4 This seems wrong to me although it's tough for me to disagree with arguably the strongest player of all time! Still, after this move Black seems to have reasonable play in the centre and the pawn on d4 is weakened. [ I would rather play a bit more slowly with 12.a4 d5 13.d2 and I feel that White's two Bishops give him some advantage here. For example play could continue ( 13.d2 xf4 14.xf4 b4 is OK for Black.) 13...b6 14.axb5 cxb5 15.c3 with h4-h5 coming. ]

12...bxc4 13.xc4 b6 14.d2 d8 L'Ami has equalised from the opening but against Carlsen that still leaves you with an awful lot of work to do! 15.fd1 bd7 [ 15...d5 straight away makes sense here obviously White can't play Bd6 here as in the game as the knight is not yet on d7. Perhaps best is 16.xd5!? xd5 ( 16...cxd5 17.ac1 c6 is also solid but White has slightly the better chances after 18.c5 ) 17.f1 but Black can hardly have too many problems after c5 18.dxc5 xc5 19.ac1 xd2! 20.xc5 a6 ] [ 15...a6 was also worthy of consideration planning Nb4-d5 and it can always go via c7 if White plays a3. ] 16.ac1 d5 [ 16...e5!? was more active but perhaps can keep an edge with 17.e3 g4 18.b3! xe3 19.xe3 and the weakness on c6 is the most significant feature of the position. ] 17.d6 7f6 18.c5 b8 19.f3 h6 20.e2 d7 Not really a mistake but after this Black struggles to find a plan and that's a difficult position to put yourself in against the World Number 1. [ 20...a5! seems more accurate when it's up to W hite to make something happen. Perhaps 21.c3 is the way to go but now after d7 22.xd5 ( 22.a3?! b4 is very comfortable for Black.) 22...cxd5 23.a4 b5 24.b3 dc8 White's edge is minimal. ] 21.a3 e5?! This only opens the position for Carlsen's bishops and now his advantage is obvious [ 21...a5 was still the best way to play when W hite is only a little better and Black's position remains very solid. ] 22.b3! Magnus reacts calmly to the break in the centre and simply gives himself the option o f r e t r e a t i n g t h e B i s h o p b a c k t o b 2 b6 23.c3 7f6 [ 23...exd4 is no better after 24.a4 b7 25.xd5! cxd5 26.xd4 and Black is left with a miserable position to defend. ] 24.c5 c7 25.dxe5 xe5 26.d4 e7 27.e1 d6 28.f2 xc3 29.xc3 The position has simplified somewhat and White is clearly better with the bishop pair and a t a r g e t o n c 6 t o a im a t . A l s o t h e d a r k 1845

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 squared bishop is looking towards g7 and 8.xg6 Black constantly has to be on the look-out for [ 8.c4 is a reasonable alternative and now a kingside attack. d5 30.e5 a3 31.h4! Black has plenty of choice Carlsen probes for another weakness on the A) 8...b6 9.b3 d7 10.0-0 ( 10.h4!? ) kingside f6 32.d4 h7 33.xd5 10...d8 11.c3 bd5 12.d3 The pressure tells and W hite wins a pawn and Black was forced to part with the g6 xd5 Bish op a nd a f te r xd3 13.xd3 g6 [ 33...cxd5? fails to 34.h5! xh5 35.h4 14.g5 White has a nice edge and went f7 36.c7 f8 37.ee7 g8 and with on to grind out the win in Radjabov, T Black completely tied up it's no surprise that (2756)-Kamsky, G (2720) Bazna 2009; 38.xf6! is winning here for White. ] B) 8...e5 9.xg6 hxg6 10.0-0 e7 34.xc6 b4 35.c4 d6 Even with the 11.dxe5 xe5 12.b3 xd1 13.xd1 e xt ra p a wn B la ck h a s e xc e lle n t d r a win g was a little better for White in Tiviakov, S chances with the presence of opposite (2684)-Ruck, R (2558) Budva 2009 and coloured bishops so it's instructive to see how Tiviakov went on to win a marathon 105 Carlsen grinds out the win from here. 36.c5 move encounter.; d8 37.h2 a6 38.e7 b8+ 39.g3 C) if 8...e6 then 9.h4! keeps Black under xg3+ 40.xg3 a7 41.c6 a5 42.c5 pressure; ad7 43.e3 7d6 44.c4 e6 45.f2 D) 8...c7 9.e2 ( 9.0-0 e6 10.c3 d6 de5 46.c3 e8 47.d2 a4 48.xe5 11.f3 0-0 is fine for Black) 9...b6 xe5 49.b4 b5 50.e3 h5 51.c7 g6 10.h4 ( 10.b3 might be a more testing 52.a7 d5 53.g3 d3 It's very hard to way to try for an edge, e.g. e6 11.h4! say but perhaps this is a mistake, allowing 0-0-0 12.h5 f5 13.xf5 exf5 14.e3 White to target g7 too easily? with a tense battle ahead) 10...xc4 [ 53...d7 is tougher to break down after 11.xc4 e6 12.h5 f5 13.xf5 a5+ 54.a5 d5 55.c5 d7 although 14.d2 xf5 15.f3 d6 16.g4 b5! o b v i o u s l y W h i t e r e t a i n s g o o d wi n n i n g 17.xb5 cxb5 and Black was comfortable chances here. ] in Palac, M (2580)-Eljanov, P (2691) Porto 54.c5 a3 55.f8 xa2 56.f4 h7 Carras 2011 ] 57.xg7+ h8 58.f5 Black's counterplay [ 8.h4?! e5! 9.e2 ( 9.dxe5 is probably wit h th e a -p awn com es ju st t oo la te . c2 better although Black can hardly be worse 59.xf6 a3 60.a7 a2 61.g3 c6+ 62.g5 after xe5 ) 9...xc2 10.xc2 b4+ g8 63.c5 a6 64.d4 d6 65.a1 11.d2 xd2+ 12.xd2 exf4 13.xf4 Another expertly ground out victory f rom a5+ 14.d2 was all played in Muzychuk, Magnus but L'Ami's 7...b5 deserves more A (2580) -Stefanova, A (2523) Tbilisi 2012 attention, especially coupled with ...c5! and now it's hard to see why Black didn't 1-0 s i m p l y p l a y xd2+ 15.xd2 0-0-0 with an obvious advantage for Black ] 8...hxg6 9.f3 Although this looks like the 1698 B18 start of an aggressive setup the idea just Collutiis,D 2513 doesn't seem to work here [ 9.c4 Is probably an improvement but then Khenkin,Igor 2670 it made more sense to play it on the last go, Salento Open 2012 (8) 25.05.2012 before committing to capturing on g6. ] [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] 9...e6 [ 9...e5 must also be fine for Black but as we 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 shall see Khenkin hardly has problems in 5.g3 g6 6.1e2 f6 7.f4 bd7 the game! ] [ 7...e5 is covered in Jobava-Arutinian ] I don't really understand this move, I [ 7...d5 is also played from time to time but 10.h4?! W hite seems to have a nice edge af te r suppose White is trying to start something on the Kingside but it's ill-advised with his King 8.xg6 hxg6 9.c4 f6 10.e2 ] 1846

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 still in the centre [ 10.c3 and ] [ 10.e2 both make more sense although the position should just be equal. ] 10...b6! This discourages White from castling on the Queenside so already Collutis has problems relocating his King. 11.c3 c5! since Black has the advantage it makes sense to open up the centre 12.dxc5 xc5 13.a4? I can only imagine that White underestimated the strength of Black's plan because this is far too slow [ 13.b4 was a much better choice although still Black retains the better chances after e7 14.d2 ( 14.e2?! e5 15.e3 c7 and the threat of Nd5 means W hite is in trouble ) 14...a5! ] 13...e5 14.b5+ [ 14.e2?! loses in spectacular fashion to 0-0-0! 15.xe5 xf2+ 16.e2 d5 17.f4 xg3 18.xg3 b3 and White is being crushed. ] 14...f8 15.e2 eg4 [ 15...a6! was perhaps even clearer as now 16.xe5 xf2+ 17.e2 xg3 18.xg3 axb5 19.a5 c6 simply leaves Black a pawn up with a good position ] 16.0-0? Another mistake after which Black is simply winning - unsurprisingly White's King comes under an unbearable attack. [ 16.f3 was the best chance but Black is still doing well after f2 ( 16...d6 17.fxg4 xg3+ 18.d2 xh4 19.xh4 xh4 20.c2 xg4 21.xg4 xg4 22.g5 offers some hope for White to draw) 17.f1 a6 18.b4 d6 19.xf2 c7! 20.e2 axb5 21.a5 d5 and White's pieces are still completely uncoordinated. ] 16...c7! 17.f3 xh4 18.g5 h2 19.d3 g4 20.xh2 [ 20.e3 may keep the game going a few more moves but Black is easily winning after xf1 21.xf1 a6 22.c4 xe3 23.xe3 d8! 24.e2 e4 ] 20...xg5 21.b4 g4+ 22.g1 xf2 Not the most clinical finish but easily good enough for Collutis to throw in the towel. A strong game from Khenkin who shows 7... Nbd7 is a sensible option f or players not wanting to go into the positions arising from 7...e5 analysed in Jobava-Arutinian.

[ 22...e3! is even more deadly ] 0-1

1699 Crouan,Stephane Rausis,Igors National I, Sautron (2) [Andrew Martin]

B18 2275 2535 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.h3!? If results are anything to go by, this variation is should be heading for the scrap heap. Some sort of sacrifice on e6 is the main point but that will only happen if a) Black is careless or b) Black invites the sacrifice. Thetraditiona l 7 Nf3 is better, controlling e5. As Gligoric once remarked: 'Main lines are the best lines' e6 8.f4 h7 9.c4 f6 10.e2 [ After 10.c3 Black played very accurately and solidly in a recent game from the World Girls Junior Championships: d6 11.fh5 g8 12.e2 e7 13.d2 bd7 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 15.b3 xh5 16.xh5 f6 17.xf6 xf6 18.e3 c7 19.c2 xc2 20.xc2 b6= Jennitha, A-Priyadarshini, M/19th WJun Girls, Goa IND 2002 ] 10...d6 11.c3 [ Or 11.gh5 0-0 12.e3 bd7 13.0-0-0 b6 14.xf6+ xf6 15.h3 e7 16.d3 d5 ( 16...xd3 17.xd3 d5 18.g4 ) 17.xh7+ xh7 18.c4 xe3 19.xe3= Boricsev, O-Wu Shaobin/20th Cairnhill Open, Singapore SIN 2002 , a game eventually won by Black. ] 11...bd7 12.gh5?! If White is ever going to sacrifice on e6 he has to do it now-there will be no other chance. The sacrifice of the Knight is nonsense but 12 Bxe6 might have some future: [ 12.xe6 fxe6 13.xe6 ( 13.xe6+ e7 ) 13...xg3 14.fxg3 e7 15.0-0 g8 16.xd7+ xd7 ] [ 12.xe6 0-0 ( 12...fxe6! 13.xe6 e7 14.xg7+ f7 15.xe7+ xe7 16.7f5 xf5 17.xf5 ae8 This last variation is perhaps the best that both sides can do.) 13.xd7 xd7 14.0-0 fe8 15.f3 e7 16.d3 ae8 ] 12...0-0 13.g4 e5! 14.xf6+ xf6 1847

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.h5 g6 It's becoming very clear that 15.c4 f4?! ( 15...xe3= ) 16.xf4 xf4 White is heading off the rails big-time. Crouan 17.xf4 xf4 18.e3 Jurcisin, I-Janko, M/ is trying to obliterate one of the most solid Slovakia 2005 ] Grandmasters on the circuit-there is not a 9...d6 great deal of hope. 16.g5 exd4! 17.cxd4 [ Or 9...gf6 10.d2 ( 10.e3 c7 11.c3 [ 17.gxh6 fe8 18.e3 dxe3 19.f4 d6 12.0-0 0-0-0 13.c4 g4 14.c5 xg3 xh6-+ ] 15.fxg3 xe3 16.xe3 h5 17.g5 f6 17...b5 18.b3 c5 The central counterplay is 18.h4 d5 19.b4 d7 20.ab1 e8 far too fast. 19.dxc5 21.a4 hxg5 22.xf6 gxf6 23.hxg5 xg5 [ 19.f4 xf4 20.xf4 cxd4 ] 24.b5 d7 Epstein, D-Sarkisian, D/ 19...xc5 20.d5 ae8 21.e3 d3+ Houston 1999 The square d5 beckons.; 22.f1 xf2! 23.xf2 c5 24.f4 f5 10.g5 a5+ 11.d2 c7 12.0-0-0 d6 Payback completed. Mission over. 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 0-0-0 15.b1 c5 0-1 16.dxc5 xc5 17.e2 f6= Svihel, KSplichal, S/Moravia 2002) 10...c5 11.0-0-0 c8 12.d5 xd5 13.g5 e7 14.h4 1700 B18 White attempts to make something out of nothing. c4 15.e4 5f6 16.c3 a5 Farago,Sandor 2271 17.xf6 xf6 18.e5 a6 19.g4 b5 Groszpeter,Attila 2518 ( 19...b4! 20.h3 b5 21.b1 xc3 TCh-HUN 2005-6 (1) 16.10.2005 22.xc3 0-0 ) 20.g5 b4 21.gxf6 gxf6 [Andrew Martin] 22.h5 g5 23.b1 fxe5 24.xe5 h6 25.g7 f8 26.xg5 b6 27.d2 c3 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 28.e4 cxb2+ 29.xb2 c6 30.d4 5.g3 g6 6.f3 d7 7.d3 White pins xc2+ 31.a1 b3 32.b5+ c6 33.c1 his hopes on slightly greater piece activity and b2+ 0-1 Ciocaltea, V-Barczay, L/ a little more space. He refuses to loosen his Szombathely 1966 ] pawn structure with h2-h4. But where are the weaknesses in Black's position? Where is the 10.e4 df6!? 11.xd6+ xd6 12.d2 13.c4 e4 The preceding notes p o i n t a t wh i c h B l a c k ' s s t r u c t u r e w i l l b e d5 breached. I am afraid that White cannot count demonstrate how this solid line might lead on any advantage whatsoever after 7 Bd3, towards a draw and it is clear that Groszpeter is willing to take a risk in order to win this however 'natural' the move. e6 8.xg6 [ 8.0-0 gf6 9.b3 e7 10.b2 0-0 game. He cedes the dark-squared Bishop and 11.xg6 hxg6 12.c4 leads to a position has provoked White into a slight loosening of very representative of this system. W hite the pawn structure. Both sides have chances has nothing: b6 13.e1 fe8= 14.c2 in the coming middlegame. 14.e3 [ 14.xe4 xe4 15.f4 gf6 16.e2 b5! c5 15.a3 a5 16.dxc5 xc5 17.ab1 ed8 is not a lot for White ] 18.d4 c6 19.e2 cd7 20.b2 c5 21.e5 e8 22.b4 axb4 23.axb4 cd7 14...h5 15.0-0-0!? [ 15.0-0 e7 would leave White unsure how 24.d3 ac8 25.ec1 b8! 26.h3 c6 to proceed. ] 27.a1 d7 28.d1 c7 draw Spassky15...b5! Thematic, grabbing the light squares. Portisch Montreal 1979. ] 16.h3 bxc4 17.xc4 b5 18.he1 e7 8...hxg6 9.e2 [ 9.e4 gf6 10.eg5 d6 11.e2 e7 19.d2 d5 20.xd5 [ 20.e5 might not have been so obliging, 12.d2 0-0 13.e5 c5 14.xd7 xd7 although e4! looks good for Black. ] 15.dxc5 xc5 16.0-0 fd8 17.fd1 a4 18.b3 g4 19.xg4 xg4 20.e1 e7 20...cxd5 21.f4? [ White had to tidy his position a little first 21.f3 f6 22.c4 e4 23.f1 f6= this is just carelessness. 21.e2 e4 Huebner, R-Seirawan, Y/Barcelona 1989 ] 22.b1 ab8 23.e1 ] [ 9.d3 c7 10.e3 gf6 11.e2 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 d6 13.h3 d5 14.b1 7f6 21...e4! 22.e2 c8+ 23.c2 xc2+ 1848

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.xc2 xf2 25.f1 e4 26.c1 f6 27.b1 g5 28.h2 b7 29.c6 xc6 Smooth f rom Black, rather clueless f rom White. 0-1

1701 Ferrari,Nicola Lalic,Bogdan 21st Open Italy (1) [Nigel Davies]

B18

22.08.2001

White's failure to make much headway in the main lines of 4...Bf5, has sent him back off the arc hives f or so me o ld Keres and Ta l games. Yuri Razuvaev told me that he had been showing 6.N1e2 to the Italian team which may account for it cropping up here. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.1e2 [ A similar line, which can transpose, is 6.c4 . A recent example is Tiviakov - Anand, Corsico Masters Rapid 2001 which went e6 7.1e2 d6 8.h4 h6 9.f4 xf4 10.xf4 f6 11.e2 bd7 12.h5 h7 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.f3 b5 with complex play in prospect. ] 6...f6 [ One of the antages of the 6.N1e2 move order (compared to Tiviakov - Anand) is that after 6...e6 7.h4 h6 8.f4 Black cannot capture the f4 knight but must retreat with h7 ] 7.f4 But this is not what Razuvaev would have suggested as it allows Black to equalise immediately. [ A famous game from the 1960 Tal Botvinnik match went 7.h4 h6 8.f4 h7 9.c4 e6 ( after 9...e5 White offers a very dangerous gambit with 10.e2 as in BonchOsmolovsky - Panov, USSR Ch 1/4 Final,, 1952 ) 10.0-0 d6 11.xe6! fxe6 12.xe6 c7 13.e1 bd7 14.g8+ f8 15.xh7 xh7 16.f5 g6 17.xh6+ g8 18.xd6 xd6 19.g5 e7 20.d3 g7 and now 21.f4 would have been the best, with a complex struggle in prospect ( in the game Tal made a serious mistake with 21.g3 as after xe1+ 22.xe1 xg3 23.fxg3 the endgame was very good for Black )]

7...e5 8.xg6 hxg6 9.dxe5 a5+ 10.d2 xe5+ 11.e2 xe2+ 12.xe2 bd7 13.0-0-0 White can claim to be a tiny bit better here, due to his possession of the two bishops but it ain't much. In the game he plays some slightly dodgy moves and has to scramble for a draw. c5 14.f3 f8 15.c3 e8 16.e4 With a name like Ferrari, I guess it's difficult to indulge in long-term positional manoeuvers. White decides to force the pace, but he's on the worse side of equal. xe4 17.fxe4 b6 18.h3 a4 19.d7 xc3 20.bxc3 xe4 21.f3 e7 22.d8+ e8 23.d7 e7 24.d8+ e8 25.d7 ½-½

1702 Fontaine,Robert Beikert,Guenther TCh-Nat1 Final (8) [Andrew Martin]

B18 2525 2440 08.05.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.c4 e6 7.1e2 d6 We have seen Svidler coming unstuck with the White pieces in this same update after 8 Nf4. Fontaine chooses a quieter method. 8.0-0 d7 9.f4 There canno t be anything wrong with what White is doing but I'm very doubtful whether it puts any meaningful pressure on Black. Positionally the exchange of darksquared Bishops is desirable for White he may hope to occupy d6 later on (much later). But the overall imp ression tha t Black is very comfortable remains. [ 9.f4 gains the two Bishops but Black has coherent development. xf4 10.xf4 gf6 11.a4 ( 11.d6?? b6 ) 11...0-0 12.a5 ( 12.d6 e8 13.a5 e5= ) 12...e7 I reckon White was finally threatening Bd6 13.e1 ac8 14.c3 fd8 15.b3 White has long-term squeezing opportunities. Fully developed, Black takes immediate action. b5! 16.axb6 axb6 17.a7 b5 18.f1 d5 This seems to be a common idea in this line. Black establishes a strong Knight on e5, nullifying the effect of the Bishops. 19.d2 a8 20.xa8 xa8 21.e4 h6 22.c4 bxc4 23.xc4 xe4= Polgar, J-Adianto, U/Jakarta 1996 ] 1849

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 9.f4 is loosening and only dangerous if Black ignores the idea of f4-f5. Thus e7! 10.a4 0-0 11.a5 c7 12.h1 f6 13.g1?! A) 13...c5! was also very good: 14.dxc5 ( 14.a6 cxd4 15.axb7 xb7 16.xd4 fd8 ) 14...xc5 15.f3 g4; B) 13...ed5 14.xd5 cxd5 15.c3 e4 It turns out that White's pawn lunge only weakened his position. Black is much better and went on to win: 16.h5 b5 17.e3 b4 18.cxb4 xb4 19.g4 c2 20.f5 exf5 21.xf5 c8 22.af1 d6 23.g3 e8 24.g5 e1 25.1f3 xf5 26.xf5 f6 27.h4 e4 28.h3 xf5 29.g3 g4 30.f2 e4 31.b3 0-1 Rodriguez, R-Schiller, E/Dos Hermanas 2003 ] 9...b6 10.b3 d5N A very decent move but I think I prefer [ 10...e7! Black's development is fluid, rapid and to the point. Observe how White gets into trouble in the following fragment: 11.e5?! ( 11.c4 xf4 12.xf4 f5 13.xf5 xf5 14.e1 0-0=; 11.xd6 xd6 12.c4 c5=; 11.e1 0-0 12.d2 a5 13.a4 ed5= ) 11...xe5 12.dxe5 c5 13.c3 xd1 14.xd1 c6 Bichsel, W-Lobron, E/Biel 1981 ] 11.xd6 xd6 12.d2 gf6 13.c4 e7 14.fe1 0-0= I think it's fair to put a big, fat juic y equal sign on the position . W h at is wrong with Black's game? He has good pieces and can centralize his Rooks. In order to make any progress, White must try to put a clamp o n . . . c 6 - c 5 . 15.ad1 c5 Heh, he didn't m a n a ge it ! 16.f4 c6?! A redeployment which wasn't necessary just yet. I suggest two easyimprovements: [ 16...cxd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.xd4 fd8 19.ed1 xd4 20.xd4 c8= ] [ 16...fd8 17.xg6 xg6= ] 17.dxc5 xc5 18.d6 a5 19.d2 [ 19.xg6 hxg6 20.f4 fd8 21.e4 xe4 22.xe4 xd1 23.xd1 d8= ] 19...fd8 20.e3 xd1 21.xd1 d8 22.xd8+ xd8 Even here White is only minimally better. It should be a draw. 23.ge2 Retaining pieces in the hope of complications. Fat chance as the position is colourless. [ 23.xg6 hxg6 24.a4 d4! 25.xc6

xe3 26.fxe3 bxc6= was perhaps objectively best. ] 23...g4 24.c3 h4 25.g3 xg3 26.hxg3 ge5 27.c5 f8 If anyone is better now it's Black. His King is nearer the centre and his pawns are less exposed. It's amazing that he goes on to lose from here. 28.a4 e7 29.xc6 Rational.. xc6 30.c3 [ 30.xg6+= ] 30...c2 31.fe2 e5 32.f3 e6 33.f2 b4 34.e3 a6 35.b5 xc5 36.xa7 [ 36.ed4+ exd4+ 37.xd4+ d5 38.xc2 a5 is slightly better for Black who has the superior King. ] 36...d5 37.b5 [ 37.c3+ d6 38.b4 e6 39.a4 d4 40.a5= ] 37...g6 38.bc3+ c4 39.c1 d3?! Exchanging an active for a passive piece cannot be a good deal. Black should get on with gently mobilizing his own majority and keeping his own pieces fruity: [ 39...f6 40.g4 b5 41.d2 e6 42.b3+ b4 ] 40.xd3 xd3= 41.b5?! [ 41.f4 exf4+ 42.gxf4= ] 41...f1? Looks like time marred this stage of th e ga m e. Th e Kin g a n d P a wn en d ing is clearly better for Black so he should take on b5. Correspondingly White should keep the Knights on: [ 41...xb5! 42.xd3 f5 43.e3 g5 44.d3 c5 45.c3 h5 ] 42.d6+ d5 43.xb7 xg2 44.b4 Suddenly it is White who is much better in this see-sawing game. f1 45.a4 h5 46.b5 g5 Lon g ove rd ue bu t t he bu s has d epa rt ed . 47.d8 A very agile Knight! With a shortage of time this can be exceptionally irritating. f5 48.f2! c4 49.b6! a6 50.b7 He sees no ghosts. xb7 51.xb7 h4 52.gxh4 gxh4 53.a5 h3 54.a6 c6 55.a5+ For after 55... Kb6 56 Nc4 wipes up. Yet the impression r e m a i n s : W h i t e ' s o p e n i n g s ys t e m g i v e s nothing. 1-0

1850

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B18 satisfied with the result of the opening. Black has an excellent Knight on d5 while White's pieces are somewhat uncoordinated and his 1999 dark-squared Bishop has no good squares. On the other hand it's hardly realistic to claim that Black has the advantage as White has no ad8 20.h4 In the Koszalin (Poland) tournament this re a l wea kne sse s. 19.g2 August, Ukranian GM Vladimir Tukmakov Kingside action is the only possibility f or played two games in this line. Both of them White. fe8 Not a bad move, but it's not clear are theoretically important. Let's see. 1.e4 c6 why Black didn't choose the natural looking 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 d o u b l i n g o f t h e R o o k s o n t h e d - f i l e , f o r g6 6.c4 e6 7.1e2 d6 8.f4 f6 example [ 20...b6 21.c4 d6 ] However despite the positive result of this [ or 20...d7 21.c4 c8 22.b5 dd8 game Tukmakov deviates first. Probably he with a very pleasant position in both lines. ] was afraid of the home preparation of his 21.d1 a7 22.c2 c6 23.e4 opponent.. [ In the game against Socko two rounds White tries to exchange one of Black's Knights previously Tukmakov had preferred 8...c7 in order to play h4-h5. b4 24.xf6+ gxf6 9.fh5 xh5 10.xh5 g6 11.g3 f4! 25.e4 d5 26.h6!? This move contains a After exchanging the dark squared Bishops very nice trick. It's a bit surprising that a Black has no difficulties. 12.e3 d7 s t r o n g a n d e xp e r i e n c e d p l a y e r l i k e G M 13.f3 xe3 14.fxe3 gf6 15.0-0-0 Vladimir Tukmakov now loses the game in just h7?? This seemingly natural White tries to complicate the position, but one move! this can hardly be good as Black's prospects m o ve s p o il s e ve r yt h i n g . P r o b a b ly B la c k f o r a qu e e n s id e a t t a ck a re b e t t e r t h a n thought that W hite's Bishop has no good W hite's chances on the other side of the squares. But White finds one! [ Black had some better possibilities. In my board. It would be better to castle kingside opinion 26...f5 was the best move. The with dull equality. 0-0 16.b1 ab8 exchange on d5 leads White nowhere while 17.e2 b5 18.h4 h5! A very good move. 27.d3 e7! 28.xc6 bxc6!? gives Black Now it takes a long time for White to prepare at least an equal endgame. His next few the opening of files on the kingside with g2moves are obvious: Nd5, Rb8 etc. ] g4. 19.f1 c5 20.h2 fc8 It becomes clear that Black's attack is faster and more 27.g5!! Surprisingly enough Black's position, dangerous. But W hite's next move is just which was so solid only one move ago is now suicide! 21.d5? xd5 22.g4 e5 23.f2 completely destroyed. It's funny that it's the c4 Now White is lost. Qe5 is the threat. d a r k - s q u a r e d B i s h o p wh i c h h a s h a d n o 24.f3 hxg4 25.g5 b7 26.xd5 exd5 s u i t a b l e m o v e s t i l l n o w , t h a t l a n d s t h e 27.xg4 e5 28.c3 e8 and White decisive blow! fxg5 Loses immediately, but I have failed to find a real improvement: resigned. ] [ 27...c7 28.xf6 xf6 29.xf6 [ 8...h4 9.fh5 xh5 10.xh5 xh5 Black has lost a pawn for nothing and it's 11.xh5 f8 12.0-0 d7 13.e1 gf6 ] not clear how he should protect his King, as 9.b3 a5 10.a4 d5 11.xg6 hxg6 the threat h4-h5 is very unpleasant. xd1 Black has a very solid centralised position, 30.xd1 e7 31.e5! c5 What else? and White's Bishop pair is of no importance 32.xc5 xc5 33.xb7 b8 34.d7 here. 12.e4 e7 13.0-0 d7 14.f3 and the endgame is hopeless for Black. ] 7f6 15.g5 c7 16.g3 0-0 17.c3 c5! h8 29.xd5! The simplest, Normally it's not good to open files when the 28.xf7+ o p p o n e n t h a s t h e B is h o p p a i r , b u t h e r e although [ 29.hxg5 e3+ 30.f3 was also good White's Bishops are quite passive and Black enough to win. ] has chances to exploit the d-f ile . 18.dxc5 [ Black resigned as after 29.xd5 exd5 xc5 It's clear that White can hardly be 1703 Hracek,Zbynek Tukmakov,Vladimir B Koszalin [Alexander Volzhin]

1851

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 30.hxg5 Rh1 mating is unavoidable. Now we can draw some conclusions. At the moment Black is doing well both in the main line, and also in other variations in the Classical line with 4... Bf5. It's difficult to say which line will become White's main weapon in the near future. One thing is obvious: there are many possibilities for future investigation f o r b o t h s id e s, so u n d o u b t e d ly we ca n expect many interesting games in this line. ] 1-0

1704 Jobava,Baadur Arutinian,D 71st ch-GEO 2012 (11) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B18 2721 2561 24.05.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.1e2 f6 7.f4 e5 This has long been considered an equaliser in this line but Jobava shows here that there is still life (if perhaps not an objective advantage) in the resulting m iddlegame . Certainly Black players need to know their stuff! [ 7...bd7 Is examined in Collutis-Khenkin, also in this month's update. ] 8.dxe5 [ 8.xg6 Is more common but after this the position does just seem to be equal, for example hxg6 9.e3 bd7 10.dxe5 a5+ 11.d2 xd2+ 12.xd2 xe5 and although White has tried a few things Black is doing fine here. 13.c3 ( 13.e2 0-0-0 14.d1 c5 15.0-0 he8 with equality in Godena, M (2508) M a m e d y a r o v , S ( 2 7 5 2 ) P l o v d i v 2 0 1 2) 13...ed7 14.0-0-0 c5 15.f3 0-0 and Black had no problems in Kamsky, G (2 6 9 5 )-L a n d a , K (2 6 6 4 ) Re ggio E m ili a 2010 ] 8...a5+ [ 8...xd1+ is also playable but here White does seem to keep a small edge 9.xd1 g4 and now White has a choice A) 10.h3 h6! ( 10...h5!? 11.e6! fxe6 12.f3 f6 13.f4 f7 14.d3 is more comfortable for White) 11.f4 a6 12.c3 0-0-0+ 13.e1 c5 14.f2 xf2

15.xf2 h5! gives Black good compensation for a pawn; B) 10.xg6! s e e m s b e s t t o m e hxg6 11.e2 ( 11.e4 was Fischer's choice and it may yield some edge after xe5 12.e2 f6 13.c3 bd7 and now White wo u l d h a ve t h e e a si e r p o s i t i o n a f t e r 14.c2 Fischer, R-Foguelman, A Buenos Aires 1960) 11...xe5 12.f4 g4 13.h3 f6 14.f3 c5 15.d2 0-0 16.b4 ( 16.d3 ) 16...d8 17.d3 f8 18.hd1 bd7 19.f1 b6 20.c4 d7 21.e1 ad8 22.xd7 xd7 23.a4 a6 24.e2 e7 25.f1 f8 26.e3 a8 27.f5 gxf5 28.xf5 c7 29.c3 e6 30.h4 g6 31.xe7 xe7 32.e3 d8 33.g4 d7 34.d3 f6 35.e2 g5 36.f1 d7 37.hxg5 xg5 38.f5 e6 39.a5 g8 40.b5 axb5 41.cxb5 f6 42.a6 bxa6 43.bxc6 b8 44.xf6+ d6 45.e5+ xc6 46.f3+ d7 47.f7+ e8 48.f6 c5 49.xb8 d7 50.c6 1-0 (50) Muzychuk, A (2580)-Valgmae, T (2208) Caleta ENG 2012 ] 9.c3 xe5+ 10.e2 [ 10.e2 is often chosen if White is playing for the draw but of course Jobava is looking for something more challenging. ] 10...c7 [ 10...bd7 has twice been played by Jobava himself although Black has to be quite caref ul in this line 11.0-0 0-0-0 12.a4 c5 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 b6 15.c2 and this seems to be a critical position for the assessment of the line A) 15...bd5 was played by Jobava in the latter of his two games, perhaps to avoid preparation but I don't think it's as good. 16.d2 h5 17.b4! b6 and now ( 17...h4? 18.ae1 c7 19.bxc5 hxg3 20.hxg3 and White is simply a pawn up) 18.ae1! f or exa mple d6 ( 18...c7? 19.c4+- ) 19.f5 f8 20.g5; B) 15...he8!?; C) 15...h5! seems to be critical C1) 16.b4 looks to be the most testing here and now h4 17.f5+ b8 18.bxc5 hxg3 C1a) 19.cxb6? gets White into trouble after gxf2+! 20.xf2 ( 20.xf2 h5 21.g1 xh2+ 22.f2 a8! 1852

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 again this cautious move leaves White in s e r i o u s p r o b l e m s) 20...xh2+ 21.f1 a8! is winning for Black ( 21...h1+ 22.e2 he8+ is also very strong ); C1b) 19.hxg3 xc5 20.e3 a5 and although the position remains t e n s e I t h in k ch a n ce s a re ro u gh l y balanced.; C2) 16.f5+ b8 17.g5 de8 18.d2 c4 19.f4 xf4 20.xf4+ d6 and Black had at least equalised in Sutovsky, E (2639)-Jobava, B (2596) Rethymnon 2003 ] 11.h4! This was Jobava's idea behind not taking earlier on g6 d6 [ 11...bd7 12.h5 e4 13.xe4 xe4 14.d4!? gives White a small but definite edge ] 12.h5 xf4 13.xf4 [ 13.hxg6 doesn't get White any advantage after xg3 14.gxf7+ xf7 15.fxg3 bd7 ] 13...xf4 14.hxg6 fxg6 15.b3 bd7! Probably the only move to keep reasonable chances [ 15...c7?! 16.d3 is awkward for Black the threat of Bxg6 causes real problems f8 17.0-0-0 bd7 18.he1+ d8 19.c2 and W hite is obviously doing rather well here, despite remaining a pawn down ] 16.xb7 [ 16.e6+?! d8 17.d1 c7 and White is struggling for a follow-up ] 16...0-0 17.xc6 e5 18.e6+ [ 18.c5 g5! and Black has at least equal c h a n c e s - f o r e xa m p l e 19.e3 xe3 20.fxe3 fg4 21.f1 ad8 22.h4 h5! ] 18...h8 19.0-0 ae8 20.h3 Ok, we've definitely reached the end of the opening and it's time to take stock. Despite being put under pressure Arutinian has played extremely well and has emerged with excellent compensation for a pawn - however, this still needs to be followed up with accurate play and over the next few moves Jobava starts to show his class. d8 [ 20...c4! looks like the best move and now 21.xc4 ( 21.d3 d2 22.fe1 xe1+ 23.xe1 g4 ) 21...xc4 22.fd1 d8! and I don't see how W hite makes any progress here, especially as he still has to

watch out for Ng4 ideas on the Kingside ] [ 20...b8!? ] [ 20...fg4 21.h1 this may look ugly but it seems black has no way to take advantage of the misplaced knight f6 22.ad1 ] 21.ad1 xd1 [ 21...h5!? is perhaps an improvement 22.b4 ( 22.de1 h7! ) 22...xd1 23.xd1 d2 and Black is going to regain the pawn with equal chances. ] 22.xd1 d2 23.e6 The position is still almost equal but it must be considered a minor victory for White to be able to bring his Queen back into the game. e8 24.b3 d3 25.c4! xb2 [ 25...d8 comes close to holding but White will keep the only winning chances after 26.e2 c1 27.d1 xe2+ 28.xe2 xe2 29.xe2 d2 30.c3 xb2 31.c1! and with the rook behind the passed pawn Black still has work to do in order to hold the draw ] 26.e2 h5?! This was a good option earlier but here it seems to be too slow [ 26...d7! p r e p a r e s R b 8 27.b1 b8 28.f3 e5 although it has to be said that W h i t e i s s t i l l d o i n g w e l l a f t e r 29.e4 especially as the pin on the knight on b2 is somewhat tricky to deal with ] 27.b1 h4? Probably the decisive mistake [ 27...a4 was a necessity and now 28.xa4 h4 29.f1 xe2 30.c5 e4 ( 30...h3?! doesn't seem to help after 31.gxh3 d3 32.c1 xh3 33.c6 and the c-pawn is too strong) 31.xa7 c2 32.b6 h7! 33.e3 c3 ( 33...xa2 ) 34.c6 g4! 35.f1 c4 and Black is fighting hard although White has the better c h a n c e s a f t e r 36.a4! xc6 37.d8 but despite the passed a-pawn the ending should be holdable after f6 38.xf6 gxf6 ] 28.xb2 e1+ 29.f1 hxg3 30.xg3 Now not only is Jobava a clear pawn up but he has the safer King and better pawn structure. He wins very easily from here. c1 [ 30...e5 was perhaps a better defensive try but White must be winning after 31.xe5 ( 31.h3+ h5 32.b7 is perhaps even better ) 31...xe5 32.f3 ] 31.b8 xb8 32.xb8+ h7 33.xa7 e4 34.e3 d2 35.h3+ g8 36.d3 xf1 1853

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 36...g5 37.g3 g4 38.g2 is still winning preparation White will break through in the for White ] centre with c4 and d5. ] 37.xf1 b2 38.c5 xa2 39.c1 14.b3 c7! 15.xf7 g7! After this cool With the Queen behind the pawn the rest is m o ve it is W h it e wh o h a s t o t h i n k a b o u t trivial. a5 40.c6 c7 41.c4+ f8 equality. 42.e6 f4 43.g3 A fine game from Jobava [ White hoped for 15...c5 16.dxc5 xc5+ who shows there is more bite in this line than 17.e3! xe3+ 18.xe3 xf7 19.b4+ it previously looked. and next move the Rook will penetrate to the 1-0 7t h ran k wit h a d e cisive a dva n t age f o r White. ] 16.e6 he8 17.d2! The safe and correct 1705 B18 decision: W hite returns the extra pawn but Khalifman,Alexander 2656 completes his development. [ On the contrary the attempt to hold the Rustemov,Alexander 2553 pawn was extremely risky: 17.e2 b6 Germany 2000 18.a4 e7 19.a5 bd5 20.xd5 xd5 [Alexander Volzhin] 21.d2 ae8 with tremendous compensation ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.c4 f6 7.1e2 e6 8.0-0 17...f8 18.c4 b5 19.f1 xf4 20.xf4 21.e2 h6 Now Ng4 is a very d6 9.f4 f5!? A very interesting move. xf4 Black voluntarily spoils his pawn structure, but unpleasant threat. Re3 with Rae8 to follow is This move looks as compensation he obtains firm control over also d angero us. 22.h3! the important e4 square. Besides W hite's ugly but it's actually W hite's best. W hite is dark-squared Bishop is restricted by the f4- parrying all the threats and now he liquidates to a slightly worse endgame where he has pawn and now has few prospects. [ 9...d7!? is also an interesting possibility. sufficient defensive resources. xh3 23.gxh3 Unfortunately there are no recent games d5 24.g2 e6 25.c3 ac8 26.f2 f6 here and the theory of this line is based on 27.h4 ed8 28.ad1 b6 29.c1 c5 an old game Eolian - Kasparov, Riga 1977 30.dxc5 xc5 31.b3 e6 32.e2 h6 (by the way, the future World Champion was 33.b7 b8 34.f3 g5 35.hxg5+ hxg5 bc8 Black still retains a small o n l y 1 4 y e a r s o ld a t t h e t i m e ! ) . 10.h1 36.h3 ( 10.f5?! is dubious in view of exf5 11.d3 advantage, but it's hardly possible to make e4!; w h i l e t h e q u i e t 10.d3 any progress, so a draw was agreed. To tell doesn't promise White any advantage: xd3 the truth not a very impressive performance 11.xd3 g6 ) 10...h5! 11.f5 exf5 12.f4 from the new W orld Champion. But Alex is xf4 13.xf4 h4 14.e1+ f8 15.e2 f a m o u s f o r h i s h o m e p r e p a r a t i o n a n d undoubtedly he will try to prepare an h3! and Black seized the initiative. ] 10.xf5 exf5 11.g3 g6 12.e1+ f8 improvement. So we'll wait for his next games 13.f3 The critical position of this line. It had in this line. been played several times previously, but ½-½ now Black came up with a clear improvement. bd7! This move was thought to be a blunder B18 in view of 14. Qb3 attacking both the b7 and 1706 Landa,Konstantin 2641 f7 pawns. [ 13...h5 was played in Efimov - Khenkin, Ruck,Robert 2567 Reggio Emilia 2000 where Black failed to Bundesliga 1213 (1) 20.10.2012 equalise: 14.b3 h4 15.h1 bd7 16.f2 [Danny Gormally] g7 17.b2 b6 18.f1 bd5 19.g3 hxg3 20.hxg3 and White is better as the 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 press ure o n th e a1-h8 diagon al is very 5.g3 g6 6.h3 f6! I think this is the u n p l e a s a n t f o r B l a c k , a n d a f t e r d u e most flexible move order. Black keeps all 1854

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 options open. [ 6...e6 Has been played in many games, but to my mind its somewhat inferior. The problem is that in most lines Black will be forced to give up his dark-squared bishop, which is the more important of his bishop pair, as his dark-squares have already been somewhat weakened by the inclusion of ... e6 and ..c6. 7.f4 d6 8.c3 f6 9.h4 c7 10.f3! Would be a typical continuation, when to avoid exchanging his dark-squared bishop on f4, Black might have to play the horrible looking ...Bc2 at some point. ] 7.f4 bd7 [ 7...e5!? Is an attempt to reach a playable ending. Black comes very close to equalising completely, although perhaps White can lay claim to a slight edge. A) 8.dxe5!? xd1+?! ( 8...a5+ 9.d2 xe5+ 10.e2 xe2+ 11.xe2 xc2 is ve ry u n c le a r, W hit e h a s t h e b e t t e r d e v e l o p m e n t b u t B l a c k h a s a n e xt r a pawn. ) 9.xd1 g4 10.xg6 hxg6 11.e2! xe5 12.f4! g4 13.h3 f6 14.f3 c5 15.d2 0-0 16.b4 d8 17.d3 f8 18.hd1 1-0 Muzychuk, A (2580)-Valgmae, T (2208)/Caleta 2012; B) 8.xg6 hxg6 9.dxe5 a5+! 10.d2 xe5+ 11.e2 xe2+ 12.xe2 bd7 13.0-0 0-0-0 14.ad1 b6 15.fe1 ( 15.c1 d6 16.fe1 c7 17.h3 he8 18.d3 1/2-1/2 Radjabov, T (2735)-Anand, V (2799)/Morelia/Linares 2008) 15...d6 16.f1 c7 17.g3 e4 18.c1 c5 19.f4+ d6 20.c1 c5 21.e3 d5 22.d3 xe3 23.xe3 xe3 24.xe4 xd1 1/2-1/2 Radjabov, T (2761)-Leko, P (2751)/Nice 2009 ] 8.c4 e5?! Possibly a bit too brash. The problem with this move is that it only enhances the scope of White's light-squared bishop, which is now bearing down on f7. [ 8...b6 9.b3 d7 10.0-0 d8 11.c3 bd5 12.d3!? xd3 13.xd3 g6 14.g5 g7 White has a pleasant long-term edge, as we've seen so often in this line 15.fe1 h6 16.d2 0-0 17.ad1 1-0 Radjabov, T (2756) -Kamsky, G (2720)/Bazna 20091 (49) ] 9.xg6 hxg6 10.0-0! Simple moves leave

White better. e7 11.dxe5!? Landa decides to just take an enduring edge in the endgame with his two bishops, rather than play more adventurously. Perhaps he had been reading the Edmar Mednis book "from the opening into the endgame" [ 11.e1 exd4 12.xd4 0-0 13.d3 b6 and White will have to agree to an endgame in any case, after 14.xd8 xd8 15.b3 ] 11...xe5 12.b3 xd1 13.xd1 Black's problem, as so often in these endgames, is that he lacks any real targets to latch on to. All he can do is sit an suffer as W hite goes into torture mode with the two bishops- a miserable and thankless task. 0-0 14.h3 White now threatens Be3, where Black wi l l h a ve n o a c t i ve p l a y wh a t s o e v e r, s o essentially his next turn is forced. c5 15.f4 fe8 16.e1 ed7 17.f1 f8 18.xe8+ xe8 19.d1 b6 It appears that White has no targets, and a lot of players would just take a quick glance at the position and say "draw", but as I said earlier the two bishops are an enduring advantage, and good players always find ways in. 20.c3 a5 21.a3 a4 22.a2 bd5 23.c1 b5? This eventually leads to decisive weaknesses on the queenside. [ As difficult as it was, I think he would have been better off awaiting developments. To that end 23...a7 suggests itself, where Black would then have the later option of playing ...Bb8. Not much I grant you, but sometimes its better to sit still rather than try and force the issue, whereby you end up accelerating your fate. 24.c4 c7 25.e2 e4 26.f3 c5 with good holding chances for Black. ] 24.c4! b6 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.e2 b4 27.axb4 xb4 28.e3! Black has only one we a k n e s s , o n a 4 , b u t i t ' s e n o u g h . fd7 29.d4 c5 30.f4 f5 31.c1! A useful retreat, preventing any ideas of ...a3. Now W h it e in t e n d s g 4 , wi t h a n a t t a c k o n t h e kingside. f6 32.h4 e7 33.g5! Threatening Nf4, White gives Black no time to breathe. d8 34.c3! Landa makes the human decision. [ 34.f4!? d1+ 35.e2 a1 36.xg6+ d7 37.e5+ d6 38.f7! Is playable, but very messy. ] 34...a3 35.bxa3 d3 1855

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ T h e o b v i o u s r e c a p t u r e 35...xa3 but without success: 11...c7 12.d2 0-0-0 Does not offer any respite after 36.h7 f8 13.e2 c5 14.e5 b6 15.dxc5 xc5 37.h8+ e7 38.xd8 xd8 39.f7! 16.e4! Exploiting Black's delay in And despite the reduced material, W hite de ve lop in g t h e Kn igh t . d4 17.0-0-0! should be able to win the ending. ] xe5?! Grabbing the pawn seems extremely 36.b1!? risky, as White has far better development [ 36.b5!? d1+ 37.e2 a1 38.c3! and will dominate over the dark squares. xa3 39.h7 was another possibility. ] ( T h e n a t u r a l d e ve lo p in g m o ve 17...f6 36...d1+ 37.e2 g1 38.h7 xg2 gives Black reasonable chances, for 39.xg7+ d6?? After having to find only example: 18.xf6 gxf6 19.f3 c4 move after only move for such a long period of and Black is by no means doing badly.) the game, Black eventually cracks. 18.fxe5 xe5 19.b4! Probably Blac k had [ 39...f8! and surprisingly, given the flow of underestimated the strength of this move. the game, it looks as if Black is holding on Now he is in real trouble. f4+ ( 19...c7 by the skin of his teeth 40.xg6 ( 40.f7+ is also refuted by force: 20.d6+ b8 e8 41.xf6 xf2+ 42.d3 xa2 21.xf7! xd1+ 22.xd1 xf7 23.d8+ is even worse) 40...xf2+ 41.e1 ( 41.d3 c8 24.d6+ mating. ) 20.b1 d5 f3+ 42.c2 fd5 is hardly any better, ( 20...f6 21.d6+ b8 22.xf7+- ) Black's activity is annoying.) 41...xa2 21.hf1 c7 ( 21...e3 22.c4+ 42.xf6+ g7 43.xf5 d6! 44.h4 h2 with Bc5 to follow, trapping Black's Queen in 45.d2 g3+ 46.d1 xh4 47.f3 h1+ the center of the board!) 22.d6+! xd6 48.c2 xg5 and the game will be a draw. ] 23.xd6 xd6 24.xf7!+- with decisive 40.f4+ The bishop on c5 is dropping. c6 advantage for W hite, Nadanian - Henius, 41.c7+ b5 42.c3+ a6 43.xc5 Armenia 1997. ] 1-0 12.d2 c7 13.e2 c5! I believe, the best. This move is aimed against Ne5. [ Loskutov had already played this position 1707 B18 vs Burmakin in 1995, when he had a clear advantage after the lessaccurate Loskutov,Oleg 2355 13...0-0-0?! 14.e5! Asrian,Karen 2575 A) 14...xe5 is no real improvement: St . Petersburg 1999 15.dxe5 ( 15.fxe5? is just a blunder in [Alexander Volzhin] view of xd4 ) 15...d5 16.0-0-0 and White is doing well.; As we have seen before, Black is doing well in B) 14...b6 15.c3 c5 16.0-0! d6 the Classical Main line of the Caro. So White 17.a4! b8 18.a5 c8 19.a6 players have begun to try earlier deviations. and the attack is gaining force. ] Among them the following line is worth a close d6! It's difficult to protect the f4look. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 14.0-0-0 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f4!? Not very p a w n b y n o r m a l m e a n s , s o W h i t e j u s t popular, but rather a dangerous continuation. sacrifices it. Now wild complications arise. B y p l a y i n g t h i s w a y , W h i t e s e c u r e s a 15.f5!? xf4!? Accepting the challenge. [ I w o u l d p r e f e r t h e s i m p l e 15...0-0 c o n s i d e ra b l e sp a c e a d va n t a ge a n d f ir m wit h qu it e a co m f o r t a b le p o sit io n a f t e r control over the e5-square. On the other hand, 16.xd6 xd6 The game Sax - Douven, W hite's dark-squared Bishop is now Wijk an Zee 1989 continued 17.dxc5 xc5 somewhat restricted. 18.e5 xe5 19.fxe5 d5 20.h4 [ 7.f3 is regarded as the main and a draw was agreed, although in my continuation. ] opinion Black is already slightly better. ] 7...e6 8.f3 d7 9.h5 h7 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 gf6! The move order is very 16.xg7+ f8 17.xe6+ fxe6 18.xe6 It's not easy to be sure about the correct important in this position. [ Black also tried to get by without this move, evaluation of this position (even with the 1856

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 luxury of analysing at home when you have ple nt y o f tim e). I 've spe n t se ve ral ho u rs analysing this position, and in my opinion W hite has sufficient compensation for the s a c r i f i c e d p i e c e , b u t h a r d l y m o r e . c6 Black had to choose between this move and [ 18...e8 After the obligatory 19.f5 xd2+ 20.xd2 cxd4 White can choose between 21.h4 and ( 21.xd4 c5 22.g6 with a messy position in both cases. )] 19.d5! a4 [ 19...xd2+ 20.xd2 xe6 21.dxe6 b6 22.h4! taking aim at both the f5 and g6 squares with ample compensation f or a piece. ] 20.h4 xd2+ 21.xd2 a5+ [ Of course, it's bad to grab the pawn: 21...xa2 22.f4 a5+ 23.b4! and White wins: d8 24.e5 ] 22.b4! b6 [ After 22...d8 23.f4 White has a strong initiative (Nh4 and Ne5 are the threats). ] 23.f4 e8!? Black finds a very interesting resource in order to play for a win. [ 23...c4!? leads to a draw 24.d6 xb4+ 25.c1 a3+ 26.b1 b4+ 27.c1 a3+ with perpetual, as White can't play 28.d2?? in view of c3+! ] 24.xd7 e4 25.xf6+ Forced. [ The alternatives are insufficient: 25.f5 xb4+ ] [ or 25.xe4?? xd7 ] 25...xf6 26.f1! After this precise move White has little to worry about. [ If instead 26.c8+ f7 27.xc5 g8 B l a c k ' s R o o k s a r e ve r y a c t i ve a n d h i s chances are to be preferred. ] 26...f4+ 27.d1 d4+ 28.e2 e4+ It`s wise to take a draw here, as attempts to play for a win can backfire on Black [ 28...e4+ 29.f2 xd5 ( 29...xd5 is no good as after 30.c8+ White wins the exchange back in all variations, for example: g7 31.c7+ d7 32.e5+ ) 30.c8+ e8 31.xb7 and suddenly Black is in big trouble. ] 29.f2 e3+ 30.g3 f4+ 31.f2 e3+ 32.g3 f4+ A very interesting and exciting game. ½-½

1708 Mista,A Iordachescu,V TCh-FRA Top 12 2014 (3.3) [Neil McDonald]

B18 2593 2594 26.05.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h3 A tricky move that is surprisingly rare. Gawain has analysed it in the archives-see Radjabov-Eljanov, World blitz 2010. e6 7.f4 Black has to do something fast or White will advance h4 and h5 to attack the bishop. Obviously there is no longer the standard Caro-Kann move h7-h6 as Nxg6 will wreck the black kingside pawns. d6 8.c3 f6 9.h4 xf4 Black solves the problem by eliminating White's knight so that h7-h6 can be played after all. On the other hand, White can be pleased to acquire the bishop pair. 10.xf4 h6 11.h5 h7 12.b3 e7 In Fedorchuk-Rosmuller, mentioned in the Radjabov-Eljanov game cited above, Black got into trouble after [ 12...b6 13.a3! when his king was stuck in t h e ce n t re . P u t t in g t h e qu e e n o n e 7 seems more sensible. ] 13.e2 0-0 14.0-0 d5 15.d2 a5 Black gains space o n the queens ide. He creates a base on b4 for his knight should White play c3-c4. 16.f3! I've very impressed by Mista's regrouping of his pieces beginning with this move. Previously White has hurried to dislodge the black knight from d5, but this has allowed Black to effectively counterattack with c6-c5! For example [ 16.c4 b4 17.ac1 ( Or 17.c3 d8 18.fc1 c5! 19.e3 8c6 20.dxc5 e5 intending 21...Nd4 to take over the centre. 21.a3 d3 22.d1 xc5 23.xd8+ xd8 24.b4 axb4 25.axb4 e6 26.c5 so far this is Azarov, S (2585)-Jenni, F (2550)/Plovdiv 2008 and here I like f4 when Black's knights are strongly centralised.) 17...c5 again this attack on the white centre proves very effective. 18.dxc5 8c6 19.e3 ( If 19.a3 d4! ) 19...a4 20.a3 c2 21.c3 6b4 22.cd1 xa2 23.e5 Sprenger, J (2497)-Ruck, R (2575)/ Bol CRO 2013 and here ab4 keeps the black knights rampaging. ] 16...a4 Black chases the queen away from the 1857

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b-file so that he can develop his knight to d7 without allowing Qxb7. 17.c4 d7 18.fe1 7f6 19.f1 White's plan gradually unfolds. He retreats his knight to make way for the pawn move g2-g3, taking away the f4 square from the black knight on d5. Then once the queen is on e2 he'll finally be ready for c3-c4. Then he will finally be ready to advance c3-c4. c7 20.e2 ac8 21.g3 c5?! Iordaschescu runs out of patience. He plays the pawn thrust that turned out well in the games cited in the notes at move 16, but here it turns out poorly as Mista has kept his position very solid. [ Perhaps it was time to stabilise the knight on d5 with 21...b5!? ] [ Alternatively Black could carry on marking time with 21...e7 But human players find it hard to do nothing, especially when it feels like the opponent is making progress. ] 22.c4 b6 23.f4 Mista chooses an aggressive approach that is vindicated in the game. Nonetheless, there was much to be said for the quiet [ 23.dxc5 xc5 24.b3 when the black knight on b6 has no good centre square whilst the white bishops look fearsome. ] 23...d7 24.dxc5 d3 25.d1 xc4 26.b3 White has enticed the black pieces forwards, hoping to prove they are over extended. e5? Black agrees with his opponent that his pieces are too loose and offers a pawn to solve the problem of his hanging knight. Nonetheless after [ 26...b2! 27.d2 a3 28.b4 fd8 Black seems to hold everything together, despite his wandering knight on b2. ] 27.xe5 xe5 28.xe5 fd8 29.c1 axb3 Now W hite succeeds in consolidating his material advantage. Black had to try [ 29...d4 which regains his pawn, though the endgame will be unpleasant for him after 30.e1 axb3 31.axb3 xf1 32.xf1 d3+ 33.g2 xb3 34.b1 c2 35.b5 due to the terrible weakness on b7. ] 30.xb3 a6 31.e3 c7 32.f5 d3 33.c3 d2 34.d5 Black's bid for counterplay has merely exposed his own king to a strong attack. d8 35.e3 xd5 36.xd5 h8 37.xf7 d3 38.fe5 c2 39.b5 d1+ 40.h2 h7 41.e6 [ A possible finish is 41.e6 f8 42.g6+

xg6 43.hxg6+ h8 44.e8 winning the queen. ] 1-0

1709 Movsesian,Sergei Zelcic,Robert Porec (Croatia) [Alexander Volzhin]

B18 2640 2585 1998

As we have seen, in the Main line Black is solving his problems quite successfully. So White has been looking for an advantage in old and rare continuations. Of these the 6.Bc4 line is definitely the most popular. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 [ Russian GM Rublevsky has won many g a m e s i n a n o t h e r r a r e l i n e 5.c5!? But in a recent game against GM Alexey Dreev, one of the leading experts in this line, he got no advantageafter d7! ( 5...e5?! is just bad: 6.xb7 e7 7.a5 exd4+ 8.e2 b4+ Extremely risky, but otherwise Black has no compensation for his pawn weaknesses. 9.d2 xb2 10.d3! xd3 11.cxd3 b4 12.f3 xd2+ 13.xd2 e7 14.ac4 b4 15.b1 c5 16.e4 and Black is in trouble, Klovan - Machulsky, 1978.; 5...c7 V e ry so lid . 6.d3 xd3 7.xd3 f6 8.f3 e6 9.0-0 and White is only slightly better due to his space advantage.; 5...b6 6.b3 e6 7.f3 f6 8.g3! Creating pressure on the h1 - a8 diagonal. I would prefer to have the Bishop on b7 instead of f 5 if I was Black. bd7 9.g2 c8 10.0-0 d6 11.e2 g4!? Preventing the unpleasant sortie Ne5, but giving up the important bishop. 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 0-0 14.c4 and White was clearly better in Rublevsky - Asrian, Krasnodar, 1997. ) 6.xb7 c7! 7.c5 xc5 Here a draw was agreed as the position after 8.dxc5 e6 doesn't promise White anything. ] 5...g6 6.c4 [ 6.1e2 e6 7.f4 d6 8.c3 ( 8.c4 is a transposition to the main line, but white has something else in mind.) 8...f6 9.h4 This aggressive sortie is strongly met by 0-0! White hadn't considered this move seriously. 1858

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.xg6 ( 10.h5 f5 11.xf5 exf5 and Black has everything in order.) 10...fxg6 11.g5 ( Grabbing the pawn gives Black a strong initiative: 11.c4 a6 12.xe6+ h8 Now Re8 is the threat, so White has to castle with the pawn on h4 which doesn't look very promising. 13.0-0 c7 14.c4 cd5 ) 11...xg3 12.fxg3 d5 13.xf6 xf6 14.e2 d7 15.c4 a5+ 16.d2 xd2+ 17.xd2 f2+ 18.c3 c5 19.dxc5 xc5 and Black was clearly better in Casper - Epishin, Germany, 1998. ] 6...e6 7.1e2 d6 8.0-0 c7 9.f4!? The most aggressive interpretation of this position. e7 10.d3 d7 11.c4 0-0-0!? A very interesting and unusual attempt. Black tries to complicate the position as much as possible. Now one can expect a very sharp encounter which is usual when Kings are castled on opposite sides of the board. [ However I would prefer simple moves like 11...c5 ] [ or 11...d8 in order t o prepare kingside castling, with good play for Black. The text is much more ambitious. ] 12.h1 [ 12.c5?? doesn't win a piece but blunders two pawns after xc5 13.dxc5 xc5+ ] 12...f5 13.xf5 xf5 14.e3 b8 15.b1 W hite prepares a pawn attack on the q u e e n s i d e . c5 It may seem that Black has obtained sufficient counterplay in the centre due to the position of White's Queen and the Black Rook on the same file. However White f i n d s a n e x c e l l e n t r e s o u r c e . 16.b4! Such moves are typical of the brave style of the top Czech player and quarter-finalist in the recent World Championship in Las Vegas, Sergey Movsesian. Now Black has difficult problems to solve. cxb4 [ 16...cxd4 i s w e a k e r : 17.xd4 xd3 18.xd3 and Nb5 is a nasty threat as is the advance of the c-pawn. ] 17.a3 b6 18.c1 e7 19.xf5 exf5 20.b3 he8 21.d5 c5 22.d4! [ Winning back the pawn by 22.xc5 xc5 23.axb4 allows strong counterplay in the centre: e3 24.c3 e4 with an unclear position. ] 22...e4 This careless move allows White to open files near Black's King.

[ The exchange sacrifice deserved serious a t t e n t i o n : 22...xe3 23.xe3 bxa3 and Black is by no means badly off. I think that this continuation would justify Black's previous play. ] 23.c6+! This exchanging combination seriously weakens the position of Black's King. bxc6 24.xc5 cxd5 25.cxd5 xd5 26.axb4 b7 27.fd1 d7 28.g3 Natural, but not best. [ White could win by force: 28.a1! b6 W hat else? 29.xd7 xd7 30.xb6 axb6 31.a3 and Black is helpless: b7 32.b5! Opening an important diagonal. Now both Qd6 and Qf8 are dangerous threats. e8 Absolutely the only move. 33.d6+ c7 34.d5! ( O f c o u r s e n o t 34.a8+?? i n v i e w o f xa8 35.xc7 e1# and suddenly it is W hite who is mated!) 34...b7 35.d4 f6 36.h3! Now White's King is out of danger and the Rook can participate in the attack. c8 37.a6 c5 38.d8+ c8 39.d6+ and White wins. Of course it was difficult to calculate such a long variation, especially in time-trouble. ] 28...g6 29.a1 b6 30.xd7 xd7 31.xb6 axb6 32.a3 b7 33.b5 e7? Black misses his chance. [ The more natural 33...e8 was the only way to draw: 34.d6+ c7 35.d5 b7 36.d4 c8 and compared with the previous line W hite has lost an important tempo (h3), so he has no time for Ra6. ] 34.d6+ Now Black is in trouble. c7 [ 34...c7 This move doesn't help Black either: 35.d5 b7 36.d8+ c8 37.xe7 ] 35.c1 Black is absolutely helpless against the threat of Rc6. f6 36.h3! White needn't hurry. g5 37.c6 c8 38.xb6+ a7 39.a6+ b8 40.b6 Despite the mutual mistakes this was a very interesting game. 1-0

1859

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1710 Nataf,Igor Alexandre Hansen,A1 33rd Rilton Cup (2) [Andrew Martin]

B18 2560 2335 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.c4 Nataf is tiring of having to break down the brick wall and tries an older move. Objectively, White cannot expect any advantage after 6 Bc4 this has been known since the days of Tal-Botvinnik. e6 7.1e2 [ 7.h4 is sharper and in the following fragment White employs an old suggestion of Tal but I am afraid that this is unconvincing: h6 8.1e2 f6 9.f4 h7 10.gh5 xh5 11.xh5 xc2! The day of the computer means that this type of pawn sacrifice has to be 100% correct. 12.xc2 a5+ 13.d2 xh5 14.e4 d7 15.f3 f6 16.e2 Delorme, A-Asgari Khanghah, K/2nd Open, Nantes FRA 2003 when g6 17.g4 c2! leads to a clear advantage for Black. ] 7...f6 8.0-0 bd7 9.f4!? This will work out ve ry well if W h ite ge t s f 4-f 5 in , b ut if h e doesn't he will only weaken his position . Basically Nataf is trying to intimidate hislowerrate d opponent and it doesn't come off! [ 9.f4 d6 10.e1 c7 is no problem for Black at all who has a sound position. The sacrifices do not work: A) 11.xe6 fxe6 12.xe6+ ( 12.xe6 0-0-0 ) 12...d8; B) 11.xe6 xf4! ] 9...b6 10.d3 [ 10.b3 d7 11.e1 is a noble attempt to play f4-f5 but it is simply parried by e7 Again the Black position is very solid. ] 10...xd3 11.xd3 d6 [ 11...g6! seems to me to be better, putting paid to f4-f5 for good. Observe how Black marshals his forces in the following, very instructive game: 12.b3 bd5 13.c4 e7 14.b2 g7 15.ad1 0-0 16.c3 a5 17.a3 ad8 18.b4 c7 19.f3 d7 20.d2 fd8 Model development. 21.fd1 c8 22.ce4 xe4 23.xe4 d6 24.xd6 xd6 25.a4 6d7 26.c3 b6 27.g3 a6 28.a5 bxa5 29.bxa5 b8 30.b2 xb2 31.xb2 d8 32.c3 b8

33.d3 b3 34.b1 xd4+ 35.xd4 xb1+ 36.f2 e5 37.fxe5 c5 38.d5 b3 39.a1 xa5 40.e6 a2+ 0-1 Garcia Fe rn a n d e z, C-Ma ge m B a d a ls, J/ O p e n , Pamplona ESP 2003 ] 12.f5 e5 Cool. 13.g5 c7 14.e4 [ It's perhaps surprising that Nataf doesn't take the chance to lame the Black structure: 14.xf6! gxf6 15.e4 but it's difficult to p ro ve a n y W h it e a d va n t a ge a f t e r 0-0-0! 16.ad1 exd4 17.xd6+ xd6 18.xd4 e5! 19.xe5 fxe5 20.g3 c7= ] 14...bd7 15.xf6 xf6 16.xd6+ xd6 17.g3 The point of W hite's play. 0-0-0 18.xe5 [ 18.dxe5 c5+ 19.h1 e4 20.f4 xc2 ] 18...b4 Yes, this is indeed an easy move to underestimate. Black has threats of ...Rhe8 and ...Qxb2 and if he loses the pawn back, W hite's position is compromised . 19.g3 he8 With a handy initiative. 20.d3 [ 20.fe1 xb2 21.d3 b4 22.ab1 e7= ] 20...g4! Hansen plays very well. Threats appear on e3 and surely sometime soon Black will be ready to take on b2. 21.f6 So strong is the Black initiative that Nataf feels obliged to jettison his extra pawn. No way can White be better anymore. xf6 22.a3 d6 23.c3 g6 24.f4 g4 Black has one extra Rook in the game so he's quite right to try and attack. W hite is still equal but he has to be very careful. 25.h3 e3 26.f3 f5 27.f1 e4! 28.e1 de8 29.xe4 xe4 30.d3 h5 Very confident play indeed by Hansen. Nataf appears a little shaken by the strength of Black's resistance. 31.e5?? [ 31.f2 d5 32.f4 xf4 33.xf4 b3 34.d2 draw agreed might have been a better way to proceed. ] [ 31.c5 e8 32.f2 was another quite acceptable way to maintain equality. I have the feeling that 31 Ne5 was played rather quickly. Nataf gets to repentantleisure! ] 31...xd4! S u d d e n l y c r u s h i n g ! 32.cxd4 xd4+ 33.f2 And resigns before 33... Re1+ and 34...Qxe5 completes the embarrassment. Another Grandmaster bites the dust against 4...Bf5! 0-1 1860

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1711 Perez Ponsa,Federico Deviatkin,Andrei Dos Hermanas Blitz Final blitz (1.3) [Gawain Jones]

B18 2390 2587 19.03.10

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 h6!? Deviatkin's speciality (and to a lesser extent also Burmakin's although Bellon Lopez was the first GM to try it) and a move which seems effective at blitz chess. Black's plan is to play a 4... Bf5 Caro-Kann but be able to play his bishop back to h7 immediately rather than having to stop off on g6. White has tried lots of moves here. 5.f3 This is the most logical but allows Black's plan. I think White should try one of the alternatives. [ 5.c4 f5 A) 6.c5?! b6 ( 6...e6! equalises i m m e d i a t e l y a s 7.xb7? b6 drops a piece.) 7.b3 e6 8.e2 d6 9.g3 g6= Skripchenko-Deviatkin, playchess.com 2004..; B) 6.g3 h7 7.1e2 this was tried by Grischuk so should be seriously considered. ( 7.f4 e6 8.f3 d6 9.0-0 e7 10.e5 0-0 11.e2 c7 12.e3 d7 13.ad1 d5 and Black's solid but I probably favour W hite slightly. SorokinDeviatkin, Sochi 2006.; 7.c3 e6 8.e2 d7 9.f4 e7 10.f3 f5 11.xf5 xf5 12.e5 d6 13.0-0 e7 14.f3 0-0 15.e3 b6 16.b3 d5 a n d B la c k wa s ve ry s o l id l y p l a c e d i n Hammer-Burmakin, Gausdal 2005.) 7...e6 8.0-0 B1) 8...f6 looks more sensible to me but Burmakin evidently wanted to control t h e f 5 s q u a r e . 9.f4 d7 ( 9...e7 10.f5 ) 10.f5 exf5 11.e1 a6 12.xf5 xf5 13.xf5 0-0-0 14.f3 and I like W hite with the bishop pair and aggressive chances on the queenside but the computer just thinks it's level.; B2) 8...e7 9.b3 d7 10.f4 d5 11.fh5 ( 11.c4 xf4 12.xf4 h4 13.d2; 11.e1!? ) 11...7f6 12.c4 b6 ( 12...b4 would be stronger so the a pawn doesn't come with a free tempo. ) 13.e1 xh5 14.xh5 d7 15.a4 0-0-0 16.a5 a8 17.a6

Grischuk-Burmakin rischuk-Burmakin rischuk-Burmakin rischuk-Burmakin, Calatrava 2007. ] [ 5.d3!? Is an interesting try f5 ( 5...xd4 looks very risky 6.f3 d8 7.0-0 f6 8.e2 when Black's a long way behind in development for the pawn.) 6.f3 e6 7.e2 d7 8.0-0 xe4 9.xe4 gf6 10.d3 d6 11.c3 c7 12.g3 0-0-0 13.b4 h5 14.h3 h4 15.e4 When I prefer W hite, his attack looks faster to me Petrosian-Deviatkin, ICC 2006. ] [ 5.g3 This move looks strange but the idea is to prevent the bishop development to f5. A) 5...f6 would be more normal 6.f3 e6 ( developing the bishop outside the pawns with 6...g4 7.c3 bd7 8.d3 e6 looks adequate for Black.) 7.d3 c5 8.0-0 c6 9.dxc5 ( 9.e3!? ) 9...xc5 10.a3 a5 11.b3 0-0 12.b2 e5 13.e1 ( 13.xe5 xe5 14.xe5 g4 15.e4 otherwise 15...Qh4 would be winning. xe5 16.xc5 c7 17.e4 d8= The pressure is worth a pawn.) 13...e8 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 g6 A1) 16.xe5 looks the most challenging but the complications work out ok for Black. xe5 17.xe5 f5 18.f4 xd3 19.cxd3 xd3 20.fd1 ( 20.f6 xe5 21.xe5 d4 22.g3 xg3 23.hxg3 xa1 24.xa1 c8 should be a draw but White will have to suffer. ) 20...f5 ( 20...c2!? ) 21.xf5 gxf5 22.d6 ac8=; A2) 16.c4 f8 17.fe1 g7 18.e4 e6 19.c5 c8 20.e3 c7 21.ad1 e7 22.c4 SlizhevskyDeviatkin, Moscow 2006.; B) 5...h5!? and this looks too provocative. It's important to control the g5 square. B1) 6.h4 g6 7.c3 g7 8.d3 f6 9.b3 b6 ( 9...c5!? ) 10.f3 xb3 11.axb3 bd7 12.0-0 0-0 13.e1 was somewhat better for White although a draw was agreed shortly in BrendelDeviatkin, St Petersburg 2006.; B2) 6.d3 h4 7.3e2 f5!? ( 7...d5 doesn't disturb W hite as 8.f4 xd4 9.g6! is extremely strong.) 8.xf5 ( 8.h3!? ) 8...a5+ 9.c3 xf5 10.b3 1861

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b5 11.c4 xb3 12.axb3 e6 13.f3 d7 14.h3 e7 15.f4 h6 was only a tiny advantage for White and in the game Black managed to outplay White and eventually convert in MaslakDeviatkin, playchess.com. ] [ 5.c3 f5 6.c5 c8 ( 6...e5! looks to equalise here. 7.xb7 e7 8.a5 exd4+ and Black exploits White's early c3.) 7.f3 e6 8.b3 d7 9.g3 I don't think fianchettoing the bishop is really the way to go. gf6 10.g2 d6 11.0-0 0-0= He n r i c h s - B u r m a k i n , B a d W o e r i s h o f e n 2006. ] 5...f5 [ 5...g4 isn't so logical and should promise W hite an advantage. 6.c3 d7 7.c4 ( 7.h3 xf3 8.xf3 ) 7...e6 8.g3 gf6 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 d6 11.0-0 c7 12.d2 0-0 13.ad1 The two bishops should give White some advantage although Black is extremely solid of course. AcsUrban, Lubniewice 2003. ] 6.g3 [ 6.c5 doesn't trouble Black too much. c7 7.d3 ( 7.g3 e5! 8.g2 xc5 9.dxc5 d7 10.0-0 0-0-0 11.e2 gf6= ZarnickiDeviatkin, playchess.com 2004.) 7...xd3 8.xd3 d7 9.0-0 e6 10.c4 gf6 11.b4 this gives Black some counterplay. ( 11.e1 and Black has his typical solid structure but it's hard to find a good way to activate. ) 11...a5 12.bxa5 xa5 13.b3 b6 14.a4 d6 was roughly balanced Aitbayev-Deviatkin, Voronezh 2009. ] [ 6.d3 e6 7.0-0 ( 7.e2 f6 8.0-0 xe4 9.xe4 xe4 10.xe4 d7= Ejsmont-Deviatkin, Warsaw 2005.; 7.f4 xe4 8.xe4 f6 9.d3 d6 10.xd6 xd6 11.0-0 bd7 12.e1 0-0= Heika-Burmakin, Schwaebisch 2006. ) A) 7...f6 8.xf6+ xf6 9.c4 a6 ( 9...d7 10.xf5 xf5 11.d5! cxd5 12.d4 gives W hite the initiative.) 10.xf5 xf5 11.b3 0-0-0 12.e3 g5 was extremely complex but I tend to think White has the better chances. Generally, when attacking on opposite flanks, the side which hasn't moved a pawn in front of his king (i.e. the c6 pawn) will have the faster attack. Delchev-Burmakin, Balaguer

2006.; B) 7...xe4 is another line which reminds me of a Fort Knox French. Black is passive but very solid. 8.xe4 f6 9.d3 bd7 10.e1 e7 11.c3 ( 11.c4 0-0 12.b3 could be an alternative setup for White but c5 is ok for Black.) 11...0-0 12.c2 c5 13.d3 c8 14.h3 c7 15.e3 fd8 16.ad1 b6 17.e5 cxd4 18.xd4 c5 19.e3 bd5 20.e2 f4 21.c4 xd4 22.xd4 xc4= Zablotsky-Burmakin, Saratov 2006. ] 6...h7 7.d3 [ 7.c4 doesn't look too scary either. The bishop on h7 is more relevant than the one on c4. A) 7...d7 8.e2 e6 9.f4 gf6 10.0-0-0 d5 11.d2 e7 12.e4 c7 13.g3 0-0 14.d3 c5 and Black already had the better chances and won swiftly with 15.b1?? ( 15.xc5 was necessary b u t o f co u rs e xc5 16.xh7+ xh7 17.dxc5 ac8 is very comfortable for Black. ) 15...c4-+ Shomoev-Deviatkin, playchess.com 2004.; B) 7...e6 8.0-0 d7 9.e2 gf6 10.e5 xe5 11.dxe5 d5 12.f4 c5+ 13.h1 was completely fine for Black. The bishop looks out of place on c4. KlimovDeviatkin, St Petersburg 2005 ] 7...xd3 8.xd3 so we have a normal position from the 4...Bf5 line except W hite hasn't had time to play h4-h5 while Black hasn't yet developed his knight to d7. I think th is sho u ld f avo ur B la ck as t he kingsid e attack loses its force. d7 9.d2 So White has the two alternative bishop moves like in the mainline. [ O n e g a m e r a n 9.f4 e6 ( 9...a5+ 10.d2 c7 followed by e6 and queenside castling also looks ef f ective f or Black.) 10.0-0-0 gf6 11.b1 e7 12.e5 d5 13.c1 xe5 14.dxe5 b5!? ( 14...c7 15.he1 0-0-0 is safe equality.) 15.e4 b6 16.g3 g6 Fressinet-Deviatkin, playchess.com 2004. ] 9...e6 10.0-0-0 gf6 11.he1 e7 12.b1 [ 12.e2 0-0 13.e5 would be how White normally tries this position with the pawn on h5 but without that pawn I don't think it's too scary for Black. ] 1862

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12...0-0 13.e4 c5 while e2 allows White to return to his plan of [ 13...xe4 14.xe4 a5 looks easier for h4-h5 immediately. ] Black to play to me. ] 6...e6 14.xf6+ [ 6...f6 is the other main line when White [ 14.e3 c7 15.dxc5 fd8 16.xf6+ can choose either to develop his bishop or xf6 17.a3 a5 18.d4 ac8= play Nf4 immediately. is also totally safe for Black. ] A) 7.c4 is probably a better winning 14...xf6 15.f4 b6 16.dxc5 xc5 attempt when a recent encounter with a 17.d6?! Understandably the players make a high average rating continued: e6 8.f4 f e w m is t a k e s se e in g a s i t 's b lit z b u t t h e d6 9.c3 ( 9.h4 is White's thematic try opening has been a definite success for Black. but c7! is strong. 10.h5 xc2 11.xe6 I think White should try something other than fxe6 12.xc2 xg3 13.fxg3 xg3+ 5.Nf3 which is too predictable and falls in with 14.f2 xf2+ 15.xf2 is a suggestion of Black's plans. xd6 18.xd6 xf2 19.d2 Schandorff when White probably doesn't b6 20.xb6 axb6 21.d6 a6 22.e5 have sufficient compensation.) 9...c7 b5 23.ed1 d5 24.d7 b4 25.f1 f6 10.f3 bd7 11.b3 0-0-0 12.0-0 he8 26.g6 ( 12...c5!? is probably the most accurate [ 26.d3 fa8 27.c1 was necessary ] as 13.e3 c4! 14.xg6 hxg6 15.c2 26...fa8-+ 27.xb7 xa2 28.b8+ xb8 b6 worked out well for Black who now 29.xa2 c8 has full control of the d5 square. Can, E [ 29...e3! 30.f2 xc2!-+ ] (2477)-Arutinian, D (2566) Konya 2010.) 30.f2 f7 31.e5+ e7 32.d3 d6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.e1 c5 15.g5 a5 33.b3 b8 34.d2 e5 35.f2 f5 36.d1 16.e4 e7 17.f4 xe4 18.xe4 f6 e6 37.f2 e4 38.d1 e3 39.d3 g5 19.e2 b6 20.e5 c6 21.xc6+ 40.g3 c8 41.f1 c7 42.f3 f7 43.c4 bxc6 Tiviakov, S (2634)-Bartel, M (2609) f4 44.g4 c7+ 45.b3 f6 46.h3 e4 Lub lin 2 01 0 lef t W hite with a def in it e 47.xb4 xc2 48.b3 d2 49.e1 c1 something thanks to his bishop pair but he 0-1 was unable to convert the full point.; B) 7.f4 B1) 7...e6 is likely to transpose back 1712 B18 into the game continuation but W hite a l s o h a s t h e a d d e d o p t i o n o f 8.h4 Radjabov,Teimour 2744 now, as there's not enough time to get Eljanov,Pavel 2742 rid of the f4 knight. Therefore if Black VI World Blitz blitz (34) 18.11.2010 just wants to play his e pawn one square [Gawain Jones] forward he should do it on move 6. d6 9.h5 e4 10.xe4 ( 10.h6!? ) 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 10...xe4 11.f3 f6 12.h6 g6 5.g3 g6 6.h3!? Surprisingly this move and White had definitely made progress. doesn't seem to have been looked at Malec, S (2108)-Piorun, K (2499) previously on ChessPublishing so I have tried Polanica Zdroj 2010.; to remedy that. The move may look strange B2) 7...e5! This was Nigel's but W hite's plan is to stick his knight on f4 recommended path in the archives and and then h4-h5 will become a big threat as ... reaches a fairly dry endgame. 8.xg6 h6 isn't really feasible if White can exchange hxg6 9.dxe5 a5+ 10.d2 xe5+ on g6. The knight on f4 also puts pressure on 11.e2 bd7 ( 11...xe2+ e6 and so Black has to be wary of sacrifices. was Bogdan's choice in the archives but [ 6.1e2 is fairly likely to transpose - they either way White doesn't have significant are just different routes to the f4 square. winning chances.) 12.xe5+ xe5 However with the knight on h3 W hite has This position has been seen four times ideas of first developing his light squared already this year but in each Black held bishop to c4 before playing his knight to f4 1863

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.e4 f6 10.xf6+ ( 10.xd6+ xd6 the draw without difficulty his play down wins the bishop pair but allows Black decent the h file promising decent h file counterplay and a lead in compensation for White's bishop pair. ] development. 11.h3 bd7 12.c3 0-0-0 [ 6...h6?! is a common error. Black does not 13.e3 d5 and Black had no problems, have time for this anymore as W hite will Neuman, P (2432)-Fridman, D (2661) Ohrid have greater pressure on e6. 7.f4 h7 2009. ) 10...xf6 ( 10...gxf6!? Schandorff 8.c4 e6 9.0-0 f6 10.e1 e7?! looks more dynamic.) 11.g3 c5 12.g2 11.xe6! is a typical case in point. 0-0 c6 13.dxc5 xc5 14.0-0 d8 15.f3 ( 11...fxe6 12.xe6 d7 13.xg7+ f7 f5!? ( 15...d7 preparing ...Nd4 16.e4 14.e6 and White has three pawns for the g5 looks promising for Black.) 16.c3 d7 piece and an ongoing attack.) 12.b3 17.b4 e7 18.e3 a6 19.fd1 xf3 and White had a clear extra pawn. Rechel, B 20.xf3 and White had definitely some (2416)-Ignacz, R (1955) Birmingham 2006. ] advantage thanks to his bishop pair while he 7.f4 d6 could try to make some use of his [ 7...h4!? is an interesting idea. Seeing as queenside majority. Bitoon, R (2458) -Lalith, White's plan was to play h4-h5 Black finds B (2457) New Delhi 2010. ] the simplest way to prevent it. 8.e3 f6 [ 8.gh5!? is an interesting way to try and 9.d2 e7 10.xg6 hxg6 11.g5 create some holes in Black's structure when was already agreed drawn in Rozentalis, E I qu i t e li k e f8!? Black acknowledges it'll (2628)-Postny, E (2641) Mulhouse 2010. take a while to complete his development Rather premature but e4 12.xe4 xe4+ but keeps his super solid structure - typical 13.e3 g5 14.0-0-0 xe3 15.fxe3 d7 Caro Kann style. ( 8...xh5 9.xh5 g6 16.d3 d5 17.b1 0-0-0 18.h3 f6 10.g3 f6 11.h6 bd7 12.c3 e7 was agreed drawn in another ten moves. 13.e2 0-0-0 14.0-0 hg8 was slightly Azarov, S (2600)-Akopian, V (2700) Budva more favourable for White with his bishop 2009. ] pair although with kings castled on opposite 8.h4 The logical continuation. sides Black will of course have his chances [ 8.c3 doesn't change very much. f6 9.h4 too. Bitoon, R (2447) -Guerrero, A (2270) c7 10.f3 bd7 11.h5 c2! A curious Khanty-Mansiysk 2010) 9.c3 d7 10.f3 square but the bishop is safe here. 12.h6 gf6 11.xf6 xf6 12.e2 c2 13.g4 gxh6! 13.xh6 ( 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 f5 14.f3 e8 15.h5 g6 16.g3 g8 15.f4 xf4 16.xf4 xf4 17.xf4 c2 17.g4 xg4 18.xg4 f6 19.d1 g4 18.fe2 h5 Yilmaz, M (2476)xd1 20.xd1 h5 saw Black starting to Ma rgvela sh vili, G (2 52 9 ) K on ya 2 01 0 .) take the upper hand. Vydeslaver, A (2404)13...0-0-0 14.d3 hg8 15.f4 g6 Shengelia, D (2572) Barcelona 2007 ] 16.xg6 fxg6 17.xd6 xd6 18.f4 xf4 After this White has at least a small 19.xf4 e5 Black has completely solved his 8...xf4 o p e n in g p r o b l e m s a n d a c t u a lly s t a n d s edge with his bishops. [ 8...c7 is the suggestion in Schandorff's somewhat better but was evidently happy Grandmaster Repertoire book. 9.xg6 hxg6 with the half point. 1/2-1/2 Kononenko, D 10.e4 f4 is given as equal in the book. (2590) -Panarin, M (2531) Pardubice 2010 ] His line con t in u e s ( 10...f6 11.xd6+ [ 8.e2 is a rather non-commital approach xd6 12.g3 bd7 13.g2 Kasparov, S and shouldn't cause Black to suffer. f6 (2492)-Mumelter, I (1838) Leros 2010 must 9.0-0 c7 10.xg6 hxg6 11.c4 bd7 favour White thanks to his bishop pair which 12.e3 c5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.xc5 xc5 was eventually converted.) 11.g3 ( 11.xf4 15.d2 a5 16.b3 b4 and Black had no xf4 12.g5!? looks interesting and might problems. Pogonina , N (2491 )-Krush, I give W hite a nibble. d7 13.g3 c7 (2490) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010. ] 14.g2 and the pressure on f7 is slightly [ 8.xg6 White can also take the bishop pair awkward for Black to deal with.) 11...xc1 immediately but he's used up a lot of tempi 12.xc1 e7 13.d2 f5 14.0-0-0 d7 while the h file will be useful for Black. hxg6 1864

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.g2 0-0-0 16.b4 f6 17.d3 b6 18.xb6 axb6 19.hd1 d7 20.c3 c7= and Black is very solid. ] 9.xf4 h6 10.c3 [ 10.h5 h7 11.e5?! was tried in another recent game but looks rather illogical. Black wants to develop his knight anyway and W hite's only potential advantage is his bishop pair so he shouldn't try to exchange it. ( Therefore perhaps 11.c4!? is a try. ) 11...f6 12.d3 xd3 13.xd3 bd7 14.xf6?! xf6 15.0-0-0 a5 16.b1 0-0-0 17.c4 d7 18.e4 hd8 19.xf6 gxf6 20.e4 g5 and Super GM technique was employed to good effect. Margraf, D (2264)-Feller, S (2649) Bremen 2010. ] 10...f6 11.e2 Radjabov delays h5 for a few moves but it doesn't change too much. [ Another strong GM trie d 11.h5 h7 12.b3!? which is probably a better bid for t h e a d v a n t a g e . b6 13.a3! keeping Black's king stuck in the centre. bd7 14.d6 e5?! Over optimistic. In Fedorchuk, S (2665)-Rosmuller, A (2117) Vlissingen 2010, White could have achieved a gre a t a d va n t age wit h 15.c4! exd4 16.0-0-0 ] 11...0-0 12.d2 d5 13.h5 h7 14.f3 xf4 15.xf4 d7 16.0-0 Black has succeeded in exchanging off W hite's main trump i.e. the bishop pair. However both sides were probably reasonably happy. The following play centres around control of the d5 square. As it was only a blitz game of c o u rs e t h e re we re in a cc u ra ci e s b u t it i s interesting to see the top players' plans. a5 [ Perhaps Eljanov should have thrown in 16...b6 17.d2 fd8 18.ad1 f6 19.c1 and only now expand on the q u e e n s i d e w i t h a5 This plan is adopted against White pushing in the centre. ] 17.ad1 a4 18.c4 f6 19.d2 a5 20.fd1 fd8 [ 20...b4! would force White to take an eye off pushing with d5 in order to defend his pawn. ] 21.e3 d7 22.c3!? A slightly curious decision but White's only real way to make progress. [ 22.a3 ad8 and White is getting nowhere while Black can try to increase pressure on

d4. ] 22...b6 [ Exchanging queens actually looks to favour Black as following 22...xc3 23.bxc3 a3! White struggles to defend both c4 and h5. However it appears that he can probably hold the draw with the accurate sequence. 24.f1 a5 25.d5 cxd5 26.cxd5 e4 ( 26...c7!? ) 27.xe4 xe4 28.dxe6 xd2 29.xd2 xc3 30.c4 xd1 31.xa5 fxe6 32.xb7 c3 33.d6 is a draw. ] 23.f1 Continuing the plan to push d5 but relinquishing control of e4. ad8 [ 23...e4! looks sensible. ] 24.e3 a7? Eljanov ignores Radjabov's plan at his peril. [ 24...c7 indirectly defending should have been preferred when the position is still just equal. ] 25.d5! Mission accomplished. Suddenly Black has big problems. cxd5?! [ 25...exd5 26.cxd5 e4 27.xe4 xe4 28.d4 is also awkward to deal with as h7 29.g4 forces Black to create big holes in his structure. ] [ 25...c5! looks most accurate although not easy to find in blitz. W hite is still better following 26.dxe6 fxe6 27.g4 xd2 28.xf6+ f7 29.xd2 xd2 30.xd2 xf6 but Black should probably be able to hold. ] 26.cxd5 e5 Deciding to just give up a pawn, a sensible practical decision as then at least Black can play some quick moves but now W hite is obviously clearly better. However there was no way to keep material parity. [ 26...exd5 27.xd5 xd5 28.xd5 a n d B la c k wi l l l o s e a t l e a s t o n e o f h i s queenside pawns. xd5 29.xd5 b8 30.b4 xd5 31.xd5 b5 32.c4! ] 27.xe5 e8 28.f4 e4 29.d4 xf3 30.xf3 White is a pawn up and the blitz game doesn't need any more annotations. Objectively White didn't have any advantage out of the opening but the game shows how important it is for both sides to remember to keep up control of the central squares. a3 31.b4 e5 32.d6 xh5 33.f5 g5 34.e7+ h8 35.c4 b6 36.c8+ h7 37.d3+ g6 38.c4 b5 39.b3 g7 40.f4 e5 41.fd4 h5 42.g3 xg3 1865

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 43.fxg3 e8 44.c8 b5 45.e1 46.c4 f8 47.c7 xb4 48.e7 1-0

f6

moment. Korchnoi castled short. 0-0 18.g4! g6 19.e3 fe8 Wily defence . Counterplay is prepared by means of ...e6-e5 and sacrifices are prevented on e6 or g6. 20.h3 g7 21.h5 g5 22.f4 Suddenly life is made 1713 B18 unpleasant. gxf4 23.xf4 e5 24.h3 exd4 Sadvakasov,Darmen 2520 25.xd4+ e5 26.g5 The attack runs on Kortschnoj,Viktor 2640 oiled wheels.... hxg5 [ Centralisation with 26...ad8 is desirable, Match Astana (4) 2003 but a little late: 27.gxh6+ h8 ( 27...xh6 [Andrew Martin] 28.f4+ h7 29.xd8 xd8 30.g1+- ) 28.h4 xd1+ 29.xd1 e7 30.xe7 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 xe7 31.g5 d7 32.d6 f6 33.e4! ] 5.g3 g6 6.c4 e6 7.1e2 d6 [ 7...f6 seems a very reliable move. Black 27.xg5 ad8 28.h6+ g8 29.c3 xd1+ cedes the two bishops but builds up a strong 30.xd1 e7 31.g1 f6 32.e4+ h8 light-squared pawn chain: 8.0-0 ( 8.f4 33.g7 f8 34.d4 Idea Qf2-f5 maybe. A d6 9.c3 bd7 10.f3 b6 11.b3 Sam Lloyd-like manoeuvre f3 35.d3 e5 bd5 12.xg6 hxg6 13.g5 e7 36.e3 f5 37.g5 f4 38.e4 She made it 14.0-0-0= ) 8...d6 9.f4 d7! 10.f5!? to h7. How then should Black equalize against Very speculative. ( 10.d3 xd3 11.xd3 6 Bc4?. I think the line Korchnoi adopted g6= is a solid example of what Black is a l m o s t d o e s t h e t r i c k , b u t n o t q u i t e , a s aiming for.) 10...exf5 11.f4 e4 12.h4 Sadvakasov conclusively proved. Black should xf4 13.xf4 d6 Paehtz, T-Seger, R/ focus on 7... Nf6! 1-0 Bundesliga 2002. ] 8.h4 h6 9.f4 xf4 10.xf4 f6 11.d2 d5 12.e2 d7 Around here I think Black B18 should start looking for improvements. As the 1714 game goes White obtains a handy initiative. Savchenko,Boris 2627 To me it seems simplest to snap of f that Svetushkin,Dmitry 2552 Bishop on f4. As long as White can't gain too Chigorin Mem Classic Open (4) 31.10.2010 much time on the Bg6 the position is equal: [Gawain Jones] [ 12...xf4! 13.xf4 f5 14.0-0-0 ( 14.f3 d7 15.g4 h7 16.0-0-0 e7 17.a5 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 d6 18.e2 b6= ) 14...d7 15.e3 5.c5 This positional move has only been 0-0= ] covered once on ChessPublishing as far as I [ B y c o n t ra s t 12...e4 appears risky. The can see, but it's becoming quite common with idea to station the Bishop on d5 is laudable White struggling to show an edge in the main b u t i n v o l v e s B l a c k i n q u e e n s i d e line. Both Savchenko and Zvjaginsev play it concessions: 13.f3 xf4 14.xf4 d5 f re qu en t ly. W h it e's a im is to ke e p B la c k 15.d3 b5 16.a4 b6 17.xd5 exd5 passive and no t allow him h is traditiona l 18.axb5 cxb5 19.b4 ] counterplay with ...c5 while keeping a stake in 13.0-0-0 b5 the centre. d7 This has been the choice of [ 13...7b6 14.b3 0-0 ( 14...xf4 the top players recently but of course Black 15.xf4 f5 16.f3 0-0 17.g4 ) 15.e5 ] has alternatives. 14.d3 xd3 15.xd3 xf4 16.xf4 c7 [ 5...e5!? is Schandorff's recommendation 17.f3 I'm sure Korchnoi felt he could hold but surprisingly still hasn't been taken up by this position and that is why he went for it. But many top pla yers. 6.xb7 White is now W hite is a shade better simply due to obliged to take the b7 pawn. b6 7.c5 development. If Black castles long he will exd4 8.b3 b4+ 9.d2 f6 regret the move ... b7-b5. leaving the King in A) 10.e2+ e6 11.0-0-0 isn't very the centre exposes him to d4-d5 at some promising either: xd2+ 12.xd2 c5 1866

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.g5 0-0 14.xc5 e4! 15.xb6 axb6 16.xd4 was Shaposhnikov, E (2564)-Yevseev, D (2580) St Petersburg 2 0 0 3 w h e n L a r s p o i n t s o u t xa2 is decisive.; B) Perhaps 10.xb4 is the best try and perhaps the reason that the top players haven't picked this one up. xb4+ 11.d2 xd2+ ( 11...b6?! 12.0-0-0! c5 13.g5 g6 14.e1+ f8 15.g4!? looks promising.) 12.xd2 e4+ 13.e1 c5 White's advantage is hardly huge but maybe it's still a little unpleasant. 14.f3 d6 15.xc5 0-0 16.d3 ( Maybe 16.b3 is a better winning try when c6 17.d3 e5 18.xf5 xf5 19.g4 e3 20.xd4 ac8 21.c3 fe8 22.f2 d3+ 23.g3 gives White a nibble.) 16...c8 17.e4 e8 18.d2 xe4 19.fxe4 xe4+ 20.xe4 xe4 1/2-1/2 Nikolenko, O (2524)-Yevseev, D (2529) Dagomys 2009.; C) 10.d3 The most common but to be honest I think Black is better after this. xd3 11.cxd3 0-0 12.e2 c5 13.0-0 ( 13.xb4 xb4+ 14.d2 c6 15.0-0 xd2 16.xd2 e5 also gave Black any advantage going. Ninov, N (2512)-Ragger, M (2 6 1 4 ) P e rist e ri 2 0 1 0) 13...xd2 14.xd2 a5 Finally deviating from the mainline. ( 14...bd7 is given in Schandorff's Grandmaster Repertoire and is also very comfortable.) 15.fc1 bd7 16.c2 fe8 17.g3 ab8 18.f1 a4 19.xc5 xc5 20.xc5 xc5 21.xc5 xb2 22.c4 h5! 23.xd4 ee2 24.xa4 xf2 25.g3 g4 26.f4 g2+ 27.h1 ge2 28.f3 f2+ 29.g1 h3+ 30.h1 g2 0-1 Felgaer, R (2597) Agrest, E (2585) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 was a perfect demonstration of Black's ideas. ] [ 5...b6 is another common try and was covered in the archives by Andrew Martin see Becerra Rivero, J (2569)-Riazantsev, A (2576) ICC 2004. ] [ Both 5...c8 ] [ and 5...c7 simply defending the pawn are possible but, as White doesn't take the pawn in the game, this doesn't seem entirely necessary. ]

6.d3 Exchanging off the light squared bishops and taking control over the e5 square. This is the main idea behind 5.Nc5. [ Practice has proved that taking the pawn with 6.xb7 doesn't promise White anything. c7 7.c5 xc5 8.dxc5 A) 8...e5!? allowed White to keep the e x t r a p a w n w i t h 9.b4 but Black had reasonable compensation following a5 10.c3 d8 11.a4 f6 12.c4 d5 13.e2 e6 14.xd5 xd5 15.0-0 e7 Piorun, K (2499)-Rodshtein, M (2626) Wroclaw 2010.; B) 8...d8 9.d3 e6 10.e3 is critical. ( 10.f3 Giving away the extra pawn gives Black a very easy game. His slight queenside structural weakness is meaningless. xc5 11.0-0 e7 12.e2 xd3 13.cxd3 0-0 14.g5 d5 15.ac1 f5 16.c4 h6 17.f4 d6 18.xd6 xd6 19.fc1 c5 20.c2 b8 1/2-1/2 Gurevich, V (2470)-Fridman, D (2661) Baden-Baden 2010.) 10...f6 11.f3 e7 ( 11...g4 looks logical but Black has to be careful, for example: 12.b4 xe3 13.fxe3 g6 14.0-0 g7 15.b1 e5 16.e4! xe4 17.g5 d5 18.c4! xc4 19.xc4 xd1 20.bxd1 would leave White with great compensation.) 12.0-0 ( 12.e2 looks like a better try for an edge. ) 12...e5 13.d2 e4 14.e2 d5 15.d4 f4 16.c3 e6 and Black had equalised. Jovanovic, Z (2543) -Dreev, A (2666) Sibenik 2006.; C) 8...e6 This looks the easiest. 9.d3 ( 9.e3 d8 would transpose to 8... Rd8. ) 9...xc5 10.xf5 e5+ ( 10...exf5!? looks ugly but Black can generate strong pressure after 11.e2+ f8 12.f3 e8 13.e3 xe3 14.fxe3 f6 15.0-0-0 g6 with complex play but Black has no reasons to be concerned.) 11.e2 xf5 12.f3 e7 13.0-0 0-0= and Black ha d no issues, Ca ruan a, F (2652)-Kamsky, G (2695) Reggio Emilia 2009. ] 6...xd3 [ 6...xc5 is an important alternative. Following 7.xf5 e6 8.h3 d7 An unusual position has arisen. The bishop looks rather offside on h3 but can re-enter 1867

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the game with g2-g3. I believe White should have a little something here thanks to the bishop pair but Black has his typical solidity. 9.f3 d6 10.0-0 gf6 11.e2 0-0 12.g3 c7 13.e1 fd8 14.c3 ( 14.c4 looks more relevant.) 14...h6 15.e5 c5! 16.f4 d5 17.d2 Godena, M (2515)Popov, V (2460) Moscow 2004 when I quite the look of xe5 18.dxe5 c4 when the d5 knight gives Black a promising position. ] [ 6...e6!? is the odd suggestion of Rybka's. It looks illogical allowing White to spoil Black's structure and White must have something after 7.xd7 xd7 8.xf5 exf5 9.f3 d6 10.0-0 e7 11.e1 0-0 12.c4 ] 7.xd3 e6 [ 7...gf6 is likely to become to the same thing. 8.f3 e6 9.0-0 ( 9.e2 would transpose to the game.) 9...e7 10.c4 c5 ( 10...0-0 11.e3 This doesn't really get anywhere so I think Savchenko's plan of the queenside fianchetto is more challenging. a5 12.e1 a6 13.c2 b5!? 14.b3 bxc4 15.bxc4 c5 16.dxc5 fc8 17.ab1 xc5 18.xc5 xc5 19.b5 a3 20.b3 1/2-1/2 Zvjaginsev, V (2656)I t u r r i z a g a , E ( 2 6 1 4 ) P a m p l o n a 2 0 1 0 .) 11.e3 ( 11.e2 cxd4 12.b3 like the game is again possible.) 11...cxd4 12.xd4 0-0 13.e2 c8 14.b3 a5 15.ad1 b8 16.de5 c6 17.xc6 xc6 18.d3 d8 19.c3 b6 20.xd8+ xd8 Zvjaginsev, V (2656)-Belov, V (2625) Irkutsk 2010 when 21.e5 k e e p s t h e a d va n t a ge a s d6 22.b4 d4 23.xe7 xe7 24.e3 d8 25.f3 d7 26.xa7 bags a pawn. ] 8.e2 gf6 9.f3 e7 As often happens in the Caro, Black has the choice between e7 and d6 for his bishop. [ 9...d6 was Khenkin's choice. 10.0-0 0-0 11.fe5 This doesn't really result in anything. ( I imagine Savchenko was planning on playing as in the game with 11.c4 ) 11...c7 12.f4 d5 13.g3 xe5 14.dxe5 e7 15.f4 And I find this ugly. ( 15.c4 b4 16.xb4 xb4 17.h4 e7 18.xe7 xe7 is nothing for White though. ) 15...g6 16.h1 b5! 17.f3 c5 18.f2 c4 and Black had started to take the upper hand. Jaracz, P (2532)-Khenkin, I (2590) Dresden 2010. ]

10.0-0 0-0 11.c4 This is the position Savchenko was aiming for with 5.Nc5. White has control of the centre with more space. However Black is very solidly placed but he does struggle for counterplay. c5 Black's only logical counter but after this I believe White probably has an edge with his queenside play although it's probably only a matter of taste. I believe Keith Arkell would enjoy playing black here as he would see Black having an extra central pawn and good long term prospects. 12.b3 cxd4 13.b2 Savchenko reached this position a couple of weeks after this game was played in the World Blitz Championships. c5 White's main trump in the position is his extra space and so Black tries to liberate his position with some exchanges. [ That game continued: 13...a6 14.xd4 c7 15.fd1 fd8 16.h3 h6 17.de5 This liquidation allows Black to equalise. ( 17.ac1 c5 18.e3 xd3 19.xd3 d7 and Black is creeping towards equality but still has to be accurate.; 17.e3!? ) 17...c5 18.xd7 xd7 19.b2 f6 20.e5 xd1+ 21.xd1 d8 22.d3 xd3 23.xd3 e7 and I would still prefer White although objectively there is very little edge. Black actually went on to win the game but it b eing b litz p la ye d a su bsta nt ia l ro le . Savchenko, B (2632)-Eljanov, P (2742) Moscow 2010. ] 14.ad1! Just as in certain lines of the French Tarrasch, White doesn't need to hurry to pick up the loose d4 pawn. [ 14.xd4 xd3 15.xd3 c5 would fall into Black's plans of trading pieces. ] 14...c7 15.xd4 fd8 16.e5 b6 17.xc5 xc5 [ 17...xc5 looks more accurate as 18.xf6 i s n ' t a r e a l t h r e a t . F o l l o w i n g gxf6 Black controls the important e5 square and can hope to generate play down the g file. It is too difficult for W hite to get at Black's king as he cannot activate his rooks. ] 18.h3 h6 19.d4 f5 20.e5 e4 21.b2! Of course White must keep the queens on for any chances although objectively Black should still be able to hold. However the pressure along the long diagonal is rather annoying. a6 [ 21...b4 would prevent Rfe1 when the 1868

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 critical line runs 22.a3 xa3 23.xa3 xd4 24.de1! c2 25.e7 f8 26.xb7 and White's activity promises him an edge. ] 22.fe1 f5 23.a3 Preparing to expand on the queenside. ac8 24.b4 d6 25.c5 xe5?! I don't like allowing White an uncontested bishop. [ I would prefer 25...c7 although White has a definite something after 26.c4 h5 27.e5 xe5 28.xe5 xe5 29.xe5 f6 30.c4 and Black will still have to suffer for the half point. ] 26.xe5 e8 27.xd8!? Preparing the following move. [ It was also possible to continue calmly with 27.c3 keeping up the pressure. ] 27...xd8 28.b5 f6?! Perhaps overlooking White's reply. [ 28...axb5 should be played 29.xb5 when c2 30.a4 c8 31.f4 xc5 32.xb7 and White has a clear advantage with the a pawn and bishop versus knight. It may be possible to hold but it won't be easy. ] 29.bxa6! bxa6 It's easy to see that taking the piece won't work. [ 29...fxe5 30.axb7 b8 31.c6 and the three connected pawns will decide. ] 30.b6 c8?? [ 30...d2 was essential although 31.g3 e5 32.xa6 and White is a pawn up with great chances. ] 31.g4! And e6 drops and with it the c8 rook. A smooth positional victory by Savchenko and proof that 5.Nc5 should be taken seriously. I don't think Black has found an entirely convincing response. 1-0

After losing a painful game to Harriet Hunt in this line when I was younger, I felt obliged to desert 1.e4 altogether, such was my fear of this opening. Trying to breakdown the 4...Bf5 line, is like trying to breakdown a reinforced st ee l d oo r wit h you r h ea d , on ly to f ind a homicidal gorilla lurking behind it. 5.g3 g6 6.h3!? A funky line that has become quite popular lately. Knights on the rim are famously dim, but in many ways this is a very modern chess move. White gives little thought to aesthetic considerations, and plays as concretely as possible. Tiviakov has had many games in this line, but Radjabov is another notable player to try this idea. Now Black probably has three main replies: 6...Nd7, 6...e6 and 6... Nf6! Of these, I think 6...Nf6! is the best, and 6...e6 is perhaps the worst. [ 6.1e2 Is similar to Nh3, the knight will he ad to f 4 . B y p la yin g t he kn igh t t o h 3 instead, White hopes to gain by the fact the bishop on f 1 is not blocked and also in some variations, the knight may go to g5. e5!? However is then possible. 7.dxe5 xd1+ 8.xd1 d7 9.f4 h6 With some good play for the pawn- Black will castle long and play a quick ...f6. ] 6...d7 [ N o w h o w e v e r , 6...e5 Is not as strong, which is one of the advantages of playing N h 3 i n s t e a d o f N g e 2 . 7.dxe5 xd1+ 8.xd1 d7 9.f4 h6 10.d3! an d W h it e is b e t te r. T h is wo uld no t b e possible of course with the knight on e2! ] 7.f4 This is the main idea. the knight goes to f4 and in conjunction with a speedy h4, will hope to pester the bishop on g6. Often to avoid getting into trouble, Black will have to hand White the advantage of the two bishops. 1715 B18 [ When I played a training game against my computer program deep Rybka, it came up Savchenko,Boris 2540 with the unpretentious developing move Vitiugov,Nikita 2691 7.e2!? here. (one of the advantages of Chigorin Memorial 20th (9) 04.11.2012 playing the knight to h3 instead of e2, White [Danny Gormally] can complete his development in doublequ ic k t im e ) e5 8.0-0 exd4 ( 8...gf6? 1.e4 c6 The Caro-Kann, surely one of the Ru n s in t o t ro u b le a f t e r 9.dxe5 xe5 world's most solid chess openings. How do 10.xd8+ xd8 11.f4 eg4 12.f5 you break this down? Many have tried, and Winning material.) 9.e1!? e7 10.f4 failed, to provide the answer to this elusive gf6 11.h4 0-0 12.h5 e4 13.f1! d5 puzzle. 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5! 14.f5 b4 15.d2 b6 16.xb4 xb4 How I hate it when confronted by this move! 1869

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.xd5 xd5 18.xg7! xg7 19.g4+ h8 20.xd7 And White was better in Deep Rybka -Gormally. (I turned if off at this point.) ] 7...gf6 8.c4!? White just plays natural developing moves. [ T h e i m m e d i a t e 8.h4?! is probably premature: e5! 9.dxe5 xe5 10.e2 e7 11.xg6 hxg6 12.d2 0-0-0 13.c3 1/2-1/2 Socko, B (2579)-Jaracz, P (2539)/ W arsaw 2004, If anyone is better in the final position, its Black. ] 8...c7!? 9.b3 e6 10.h4 d6?! Not a bad move in itself, but the dubious mark is for the opportunity that Black misses. [ Black could have ignored White's threats with 10...0-0-0! which would have been similar to the Elanjov game we'll look at in a minute. 11.h5 e5! 12.fe2 e4 13.xe4 xe4 14.xf7 df6 15.e6+ b8 with very good activity for Black. ] 11.f3 0-0-0 12.h5 f5 [ 12...e5 13.fe2 now it is just good for White, as there's no ...Be4 anymore. ] 13.xf5 a5+ 14.e2!? xf5?! After this W hite steers the game towards a superior ending. [ Black could certainly have considered v e n t u r i n g t h e p a w n s a c 14...exf5 here, trying to take advantage of his lead in development. W ith the king slightly uncomfortable on e2, opening the center seems most logical. 15.xf7 e4 16.f1 df6 17.e6+ b8 and its a bit of a mess, but Black undeniably has compensation. ] 15.d3! xf3+ 16.gxf3!? [ I c a n s e e n o t h i n g w r o n g w i t h 16.xf3 here either, but clearly White has plans of attacking the g7 pawn. By recapturing with the pawn, White also has in mind a later f4 followed by Ne5, creating awkward pressure for the opponent. ] 16...b8 17.e3 c8 18.f4 hf8 19.ag1 g6 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.c3 Despite the doubled f-pawns White is clearly better. Black has no easy way to break out, no meaningful pawn breaks to speak of, and W hite can always create uncomfortable pressure against f7. d5 [ 21...c5 22.e5! cxd4 23.cxd4 xe5 24.fxe5 h5 25.c1 b6 26.d3 d5

27.d2 hf4+ 28.e4 also looks like a clear plus for White. ] 22.e5 7f6 23.f3 e7 24.d2 cd8 [ As if he just sits there he will be slowly suffocated, now was the time to breakout with 24...c5! 25.dxc5 xc5 26.c4 c6 Minimizing his disadvantage. even here he would remain worse though, as White can slowly improve, while Black lacks a clear target. ] 25.c2 c5! finally the right idea. 26.e3 ed5 [ 26...cxd4! 27.xd4 f5 28.xf5 exf5 29.c4 e4 And although Black is worse as the White queenside majority has more potential than Black's kingside one, I think Black should be able to hold this. ] 27.d1 cxd4 28.xd4 c8 29.b3 c5 30.f5 xd4 31.xd4 gxf5 32.xd5 exd5 33.f4 g8? Just dropping the d-pawn. [ 33...cd8 34.xf5 e4 would have demonstrated some tough resistance. ] 34.xf5 e8 35.xd5 g2 36.d2 f6 37.d7+ c7 38.h7 c6 39.xf6 xf6 40.h6 cg8 41.xf6+ c7 42.f7+ c6 43.e6 8g6+ 44.e7 c7 45.d4 a6 46.e4 h2 47.a4 b6 48.c4+ b8 49.b4 g6 50.a5 hh6 51.f4 e6+ 52.f8 c6 53.xc6 xc6 54.f5 xc3 55.e7 f3 56.e5 c7 57.e7 1-0

1716 Short,Nigel D Svidler,Peter Los Inmortales IV (9) [Andrew Martin]

B18 2680 2690 2002

1.e4 A game between two very good friends which presumably neither wished to play. hence the rather cautious opening. c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.c4 Not at all a bad line to play against unsuspecting or weaker opponents. Between the very best though, Black appears to be able to gain easy equality. Essentially White plans Ne2-f4 and then maybe some sacrifice on e6( if he is allowed!). By developing the Bishop first he cuts out Black plans which involve ... e7-e5. For instance: 1870

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 6.1e2 f6 7.h4 h6 8.f4 h7 9.c4 e5! 10.e2 xd4! 11.0-0 bd7 12.c3 d6 13.e3 e7 14.d3 e4 15.f4 g5! 16.hxg5 hxg5 17.h3 g4 18.g5 g6 Kallai-Foldi Hungary 1979 and White isn't getting anywhere ] 6...e6 7.1e2 d6 Petrosian's antidote. Should White try to storm the position with f4f5 Black is ready e.g. 8 0-0 Nd7 9 f4 Ne7! =+ [ 7...f6 is also pretty good: A) 8.f4 d5 ( 8...d6! 9.b3 c7 10.f3 a5 11.c3 a4 12.xg6 hxg6 13.c2 bd7 14.0-0 0-0 15.g5 c5 16.dxc5 xc5 17.ad1 xg5 18.xd6 b5 1/2-1/2 Tiviakov, S-Dautov, R/ Bundesliga 2002 (18)) 9.xg6 hxg6 10.c3 d7 11.e2 e7 12.e4 7f6 13.g5 d7 14.f3 g5 15.g3 g4 16.e5 xe5 17.xe5 f6 18.e2 h5 19.d2 a5 20.0-0-0 0-0-0 21.f3 gxf3 22.xf3 f5 23.xf5 1/2-1/2 Tiviakov, SAsrian, K/Olympiad, Bled SLO 2002 (23); B) 8.h4 h6 9.f4 h7 10.0-0 d6 11.xe6 fxe6 12.xe6 xg3! 13.fxg3 e7 14.e1 e4 15.f5 xf5 16.xe7+ xe7 17.e1+ f7 18.b4 b6 19.d2 bd7; C) 8.0-0 bd7 9.f4 b6 10.b3 d6 11.c4 c7 12.f3 c5 13.dxc5 xc5 14.h4 0-0 15.h5 f5 16.xf5 exf5 17.d3 g4 18.g3 d4 19.f4 c6 20.xc6 1/2-1/2 Titova Boric, E-Lagvilava, G/Olympiad w, Bled SLO 2002 (20) ] 8.h4 Short plays the critical line, more or less forcing Black to give up the two Bishops. h6 9.f4 xf4 [ After 9...h7 10.gh5 gives White a rather dangerous initiative. Now Black must rely on the solidity of his position. ] 10.xf4 f6 The critical position, known since Tal-Botvinnik. W ith correct defence, White is unable to make a lasting impression. 11.h5 [ 11.d2 bd7 12.0-0-0 d5! 13.de1 ( 13.d6 7b6 ) 13...7b6 14.b3 xf4 15.xf4 d5 16.e5 0-0 17.e4 b8! 18.d6 d8 19.c4 b6 20.xb8 axb8= Tal-Botvinnik (15) 1960 ] [ 11.c3 bd7 12.e2 b6 13.b3 a5 14.h5 h7 15.0-0 0-0 16.fe1 a4 17.d1 bd5 18.d2 b5 This method of 'staking

out space' must be noted. 19.c1 b6 20.b3 axb3 21.xb3 fc8 22.c4 bxc4 23.xc4 e8= ] 11...h7 12.0-0 [ 12.e2 bd7 ( 12...xd4 The cold light of Fritz likes 13.e5 g4 14.xg4 xg4 15.xg7 g8 16.c3 xc2 White's compensation is there for all to see but it's really not clear to me that Black can't just slowly dampen the attack. So Short go es f or a sa f e, solid op tion an d Black holds the fort easily.) 13.0-0-0 d5 14.d2 7f6 15.d3 xd3 16.xd3 c7 17.b1 0-0-0 18.h4 e7 19.c4 Geller- Ba girov USSR Ch 1960 White has m o r e s p a ce , b u t h is p o si t i o n is a lit t l e loose. ] 12...bd7 13.b3 0-0 14.e1 b6 15.c4 c5 16.d5 exd5 17.cxd5 b4 18.d2 xd2 19.xd2 Play might proceed 19...Nb6 20 Rac1 c4! 21 Bxc4 Nxc4 22 Rxc4 Nxd5= In preference, both players head for the bar. ½-½

1717 Svidler,Peter Erenburg,Sergey ACP Blitz Final blitz (1.3) [Andrew Martin]

B18 2733 2513 17.04.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.c4 They are getting so sick of the long main lines after 6 h4 and W hite's singular lack of recent success that even the very best players are looking for new ways to play older variations. Or maybe he is just testing Erenburg's preparation. Yes, I know it's only a blitz game but it's the f inal! e6 7.1e2 d6 8.f4 White mustn't now be given time to play h2-h4 that is the serious threat. h4 Sharper than 8...Nf6. Here we see the quickplay influence. Black asks White to make a decision....quickly....he may get it wrong. [ 8...f6 9.c3 ( 9.h4 c7! 10.xg6 hxg6 11.f3 bd7 is pleasant for Black.) 9...d5 10.xg6 hxg6 11.e4 e7 12.e2 d7 13.b3 c7 One could argue that White is a shade better here with the two Bishops but Black is very solid indeed and has a strong 1871

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Knight on d5 coupled with counterplay on h2. This type of position has been known since Tal-Botvinnik to give level chances, Hasangatin, R-Ovetchkin, R/Sochi RUS 2004. ] 9.gh5 Taking on g6 is pretty spineless: [ 9.xg6 hxg6 10.e2 f6 11.e3 1/2-1/2 Rabiega, R-Gustafsson, J/playchess. com 2003 Or... let's not playchess.com ] 9...xh5 10.xh5 e7N To date, Black has played his Queen to f6: [ 10...f6 11.e2 g6 Le point. 12.xg6 hxg6 A) 13.f4 d7 14.d3 e7 15.e3 f5 16.f2 f6 17.0-0 g5 Evidently it is still possible to spice the game up. 18.xf5 exf5 19.g3 g4 20.c1 0-0-0 21.d3 e4 22.ae1 f6 23.e2 c7 24.c3 b6 25.f2 c5 26.xe4 fxe4 27.xe4 cxd4 Walter, M-Opocensky, K/Sliac 1932; B) 13.g3 f6 14.f3 bd7 15.f2 Something patient like this is about the only thing that White can try. Just play on with the two Bishops and open the game u p s lo wly . M a yb e t h e r e wil l b e so m e chances in the late middlegame or ending. But it really is a tough game to win. c8 16.b3 c5 17.c3 c4 18.c2 d5 19.d2 e7 20.b4 h5 21.a4 ch8 22.h4 f6?? Quite inexplicable. ( 22...7f6= ) 23.xg6 Collins, SMarusenko, P/Port Erin 2001.; C) 13.f4 xf4 14.xf4 d7 15.c3 gf6 16.h3 may give White his usual minute edge but not a lot to work with.; D) 13.g5 f6 14.h3 bd7 15.b3 b6 16.xf6 gxf6 17.0-0-0 0-0-0 18.c4 c7 19.c2 g5 20.f3 h4 21.d3 f5 22.hd1 d7 23.c3 g4 24.fxg4 fxg4 25.f1 gxh3 26.gxh3 e5 27.d5 c5 28.df3 e4 29.xf7 xh3 30.e1 h2+ 31.e2 xe2+ Hamann, S-Barcza, G/ Copenhagen 1965 ] [ 10...xh5 11.xh5 g6 12.f4 f6 13.d3 bd7 Even Kasparov cannot make anything of the White position: 14.0-0 a5 15.a4 d5 16.c3 0-0 17.h6 fe8 18.fe1 c7 19.g3 b5 20.b3 b6 21.e5 xe5 22.dxe5 cd5 23.h4 eb8 24.e4 xa4= Kasparov, G-Topalov, V/ Leo n 1 998 As sessin g t he inf orm ation I

would say this is a good try for White when he wants to keep the draw in hand. However, exp on ent s of 4. ..B f 5 co uld sca rce ly b e troubled by the thought of a draw! Usually Black only wins in this line when W hite over-presses and there seems to have been a lot of that lately. ] 11.e2 f6 He plays his Queen to e7 in order to play the Knight to f6. It's also true that keeping the Queens on gives a lot more colour to the game. 12.d2 bd7 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.b1 d5!= Yes sir! The strong Knight cancels out the two Bishops yet again. 15.xd5 cxd5 16.d3 fc8 17.h4 b5!? Whoever is quickest, wins! 18.f4 [ Even Deep Fritz doesn't like taking that pawn and that is really saying something! After 18.xb5 ab8 19.he1 f6 20.d3 b7 Black has obvious compensation far too much in my opinion. ] 18...a6 Or was it positional after all? 19.f3 f6 20.f5? Oh...he had to wait a move. Much better was [ 20.c1! c6 21.f5 with more time Svidler would certainly have played this way. ] 20...xd4 The game turns on this brave capture. W hite's d pawn was the star prize because a route is now open to the king. 21.fxe6 fxe6 22.g5 b4 23.h5 f8 24.hf1 g6 25.f3 a7! Comfortable def ence. ...Be5 and/or ...Rac7 come into focus. 26.h5 e5! 27.c1 [ 27.b3 c3 28.c1 ac7-+ ] 27...g7 28.h3 [ 28.hxg6! hxg6 29.g3 ac7 30.xg6 xg6 31.xg6 e4 32.xe4 dxe4 33.f2 b4 ] 28...c6 29.f4 d6 30.hxg6 hxg6 31.g4 ac7 32.h1 e5 Unpleasant. White has massed his forces as best he could but there is no mate at all. 33.xg6 xg6 34.h7+ f8 35.f1+ f7 A game too complicated for blitz chess, certainly from White's point of view. Svidler clearly needed more time to work out the best way to play the attack. As far as the opening is concerned I am doubtful that 6 Bc4 gives White anything at all although it's a welcome change from the rather arid positions arising from 6 h4, etc, etc, etc. 0-1

1872

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1718 Tiviakov,Sergei Dreev,Alexey Ubeda [Alexander Volzhin]

B18 2627 2639 1999

This twenty-three move victory against a top player shows that even a small inaccuracy may be enough to leave W hite in a difficult situation. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.c4 e6 7.1e2 f6 8.f4 d6 9.h4 After Black's reply it becomes clear that this aggressive move in reality is a waste of time and merely weakens W hite's position. There were lots of better moves. [ 9.0-0 ] [ 9.c3 ] [ 9.b3 ] 9...c7! 10.xg6 [ After 10.f3 Black can just grab the pawn without compensation xc2 But by playing the text White admits the drawbacks of his previous move. ] 10...hxg6 11.f3 bd7 12.g5? After this natural move Black allows White no escape. It's difficult to believe as W hite's position looks very solid, but it's true! [ The less ambitiou s 12.b3 should be preferred. ] 12...c5! Surprisingly enough, after this move (which is a novelty according to my database) it's not easy to find a reasonable defence for White. [ W h i t e h o p e d f o r 12...0-0-0 13.0-0-0 which has been played before, with reasonable chances. ] 13.dxc5 [ White has no time to castle: 13.0-0-0 cxd4 14.xd4 e5 winning material. ] 13...xc5 Now the bishop is hanging and Qe5 check, winning the b2-pawn for nothing, is a l s o a n u n p l e a s a n t t h r e a t . 14.xf6 As the following variation shows it's not easy to find a playable continuation for White: [ 14.xb7? This move loses a piece by force: b8 15.a6 b6 16.a4 b4 ] [ 14.e2 allows a nice combination: xg3 15.fxg3 xg5! 16.hxg5 xh1+ 17.f2 xa1 18.gxf6 xf6 with a big advantage for Black. ]

14...xf6 15.b3 0-0-0 Simple and good. [ 15...e5+ wasn't bad either, although this move requires very precise calculation: 16.e2 xb2 17.xb7 Otherwise Black is a c l e a r p a wn u p , f o r e xa m p l e : ( 17.d1 0-0-0 ) 17...xa1+ 18.d2 b4+! The point. 19.xb4 d8+ 20.e3 xh1 21.a4+ d7 and Black wins. ] 16.c3 [ After 16.0-0-0 the unexpected blow xh4! 17.xh4 g5+ wins a pawn, as White's attempt to regain it: 18.e3 xh4 19.xa7 fails to f4+ ] 16...xg3 17.xg3 [ 17.fxg3 is even worse: e5+ 18.f1 e4 and White's position is miserable. ] 17...h5 Now it become s clear that White's King is in big trouble. Re5+ is quite an unpleasant threat: queenside castling is illegal, so kingside castling is the only possibility, but this allows Black to win the h4-pawn with a mating attack on the h-file. 18.0-0 dh8 19.f3 xh4 20.g3 h2 21.c2 g5 22.e4 g4 23.f4 h5 Mate is unavoidable, so White resigned. 0-1

1719 Vovk,A Salem,AR Al-Ain Classic Open A 2013 (9.5) [Tom Rendle]

B18 2599 2564 28.12.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h3 e6 7.f4 h4!? [ 7...c7 is another very solid option for Black here 8.c3 ( 8.h4! makes a lot more sense to me, for example d6 9.xg6 hxg6 10.e4 with a slight advantage for White ) 8...f6 9.c4 bd7 10.0-0 d6 11.f3 0-0 12.b3 a5 13.a4 xf4! 14.xf4 b6 15.c4 fe8 and Black had comfortable equalised in Alekseev, E (2683)Berkes, F (2679) Eppingen 2013 ] [ 7...d6 8.h4 xf4 9.xf4 h6 is considered to be the mainline and this (along with W hite's other 8 move alternatives) was analysed by Gawain in Radjabov-Eljanov from 2010. ] 8.ge2! This looks to be the best answer to 1873

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the tricky 7...Qh4 - the queen will be forced back by g3 and then White can play Bg2 and a quick 0-0 [ 8.e3 A) 8...f6 seems to equalise for Black here 9.d2 e7 A1) 10.0-0-0!? is a little more ambitious here but Black is probably OK here after d5! ( 10...g4!? ) 11.ge2 xe3 12.xe3 d7; A2) 10.xg6 hxg6 11.g5 1/2-1/2 Rozentalis, E (2628)-Postny, E (2641) Mulhouse 2010; B) 8...d7 is less convincing for Black, White was soon better after 9.d2 e7 10.e2 gf6 11.xg6 hxg6 12.g5 h7 13.0-0-0 d6 14.f3 0-0-0 15.h4! and Black's queen was rather shut out of the game on h7 and White went on to win in Brunello, S (2593) -Erenburg, S (2615) Helsingor 2013 ] 8...d7 [ 8...d6 9.g3 e7 10.g2 f6 11.xg6 hxg6 was slightly better for White in Gaehwiler, G (2223)-Prohaszka, P (2510) W interthur 2009 and now I think he should've continued with 12.0-0 bd7 13.c4 followed by 14.Nc3 with a good game ] 9.g3 d8 10.g2 [ 10.xg6! hxg6 11.g2 is more accurate as it doesn't give Black the option of 10... Bf 5 a n d n o w gf6 transposes back to the game ] 10...gf6 [ 10...f5! seems to pretty much equalise here as White can no longer take the bishop pair. If White plays 11.h3 preparing g4 then Black can just give his bishop a retreat square with h6 ] 11.xg6 hxg6 12.0-0 a5 [ Black could opt for castling kingside with 12...e7 13.c4 0-0 but after 14.c3 c7 15.e1 White has a very comfortable middlegame with the two bishops and space advantage. ] 13.c4 0-0-0 14.h3 e5!? Black doesn't want to sit passively and await a queenside attack so instead he opens up the centre [ 14...g5!? was also worth investigating although I think White should be better after

15.a3! g4 16.h4 e7 17.e3 with 18.b4 coming W hite has th e m ore da nge rou s attack ] 15.a3 exd4 16.f4! [ 16.xd4?! e5! and the pin on the knight is rather awkward ] 16...e5?! [ 16...d3! gives the pawn back immediately but I think White's advantage is only slight after 17.xd3 b6 18.c2 d6! 19.xd6 xd6 20.b4 ( 20.c5? d2 ) 20...a4 ] 17.b4 c7 18.xd4! Now b4 and Qc7 have been played it's hard for Black to put more pressure on d4 - Salem is already in some trouble here I think. h5 [ 18...g5 is similar to the game after 19.xe5 ( 19.xg5? c5! 20.bxc5 xc5 21.e3 c6 and W hite is losing material) 19...xe5 20.f3 c7 21.c2 although at least Black's knight is better placed on f6 than h5. Still White is much better here with a lead in development and a promising queenside initiative. ] 19.xe5 xe5 20.f3 f6?! [ 20...c7 was better, keeping the queen for the defence of the Black king ] 21.a4 b8 22.c5! e7 23.ae1 d5 Otherwise 24.Ne5 was coming with potentially a game winning breakthrough on c6 (or at the very least an attack with b5) 24.e2?! [ 24.h2! seems to win straight away, for example g5 ( 24...d7 25.g4 f5 26.e5 c7 27.g4 picks up a piece) 25.b3! e8 26.g4 f5 27.b5 and Black's position is falling apart ] 24...d8 25.fe1 c7 26.d2 Now b5 is coming so Salem goes for the good practical decision to sacrifice a piece for two pawns but it's not quite enough. [ 26.b5! was much stronger here, for example hd8 ( 26...xc5? 27.e8+ xe8 28.xe8+ d8 29.bxc6 bxc6 30.d4 wins ) 27.b4 cxb5 28.d2! and White is winning at least an exchange ] 26...xg3!? 27.fxg3 xg3 28.e4 d4+ 29.f2 e5 30.d1! Accurate defence from Vovk. xf2+ 31.xf2 d8 32.c1 f6 33.xe5 fxe5 [ Black should probably try to hold the ending after 33...xe5 34.f4 xf4 35.xf4 g5 although with some care White should be 1874

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 winning after 36.e4 ] 34.b2 e3 Black is desperate to keep the queens on but it's already hopeless 35.e2 g5 36.f7 a6 37.f3 d5 38.h2 1-0

1720 Wang Hao Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 1st FIDE GP London 2012 (10) [Tom Rendle]

B18 2742 2729 02.10.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.c5 e5!? An interesting way of combating this line - White is now committed to grabbing on b7. [ 5...d7 was covered by Gawain in Savchenko, B (2627)-Svetushkin, D (2552) St . Petersburg 2010 ] 6.xb7 b6 7.c5 exd4 The critical continuation [ 7...xc5 8.dxc5 xc5 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 f6 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 and W hite had a very slight advantage in Smirin, I (2661)-Berkes, F (2693) Paks 2011 ] 8.b3 b4+ 9.d2 f6 [ 9...xd2+ 10.xd2 c5 has been played a couple of times but I think White should be a little better after 11.d3! xd3 12.cxd3 as the pawn on c5 is something of a weakness ] 10.xb4 xb4+ 11.d2 e7+!? In his notes to the Savchenko game Gawain looks at both Qxd2 and Qb6 but this move also seems to give Black excellent chances to equalise 12.e2 Other moves are not so good [ 12.e2?! c5! 13.f3 0-0 14.0-0 bd7 a n d i t 's W h it e t h a t h a s t o b e t h e m o r e careful here. ] 12...xc2 13.xe7+ xe7 14.xd4 g6 This move seems to solve most of Black's problems although Mamedyarov still has to watch out for the weak c-pawn. [ 14...e4 15.f3 d8 16.0-0-0 ( 16.ge2 looks interesting here and now after g6 17.c1 d5 18.a3 b6 19.b3 d6 White could've obtained good chances in Givon, A (2340) -Michalik, P (2529) Plovdiv

2012 with 20.g3! intending Bg2 and f4) 16...g6 17.ge2 d5 was about equal in Kh a iru llin , I (2 6 42 )-Dre ev, A (27 1 1) S t Petersburg 2011 although perhaps White can keep a small initiative with 18.g3! ] 15.c1 [ 15.c4 is my computer's initial attempt to k e e p a s m a l l a d v a n t a g e b u t a f t e r c5! 16.b5 c6 17.f3 hd8 18.0-0 ab8 Black seems to have fully equalised. ] 15...e8 16.c4 bd7 17.ge2 e5 18.a6 d3 This complicates the game unnecessarily [ 18...f8! seems more logical and the o p e n in g h a s d e f i n it e ly b e e n m o re o f a success for Black, for example 19.0-0 ( not 19.xc6? d3+ and White drops at least an exchange) 19...ab8 20.xc6 xb2 21.xe5 xe5 22.c3 c5 and only Black can be better here, although the game is heading for a draw unless someone makes a few mistakes. ] 19.f4! xa6 20.fxe5 g4 21.e6 e5! 22.xc6+ [ 22.f4 would've kept a little play in the position although chances remain balances after fxe6 23.xc6+ d6 24.b4 b5 ] 22...xe6 23.xe5 xe5 24.f2 xe2 Black is happy to liquidate into a drawn ending - the players continue for a few more moves but the result is not in doubt at this stage. 25.he1 d6 26.xe2 xe2+ 27.xe2 e8+ 28.f2 e5 29.d1+ c6 30.c1+ d6 31.d1+ c6 32.c1+ d5 ... e5 seems to be a fully satisfactory way for Black to play against the 5.Nc5 line ½-½

1721 Adams,Mi Khenkin,I 41st GM Dortmund GER (7.3) [Tom Rendle]

B19 2740 2605 02.08.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 8.e5 h7 9.d3 bd7 10.xh7 [ 10.f4 had previously been played by Adams but it didn't turn out to be quite as testing after e6 11.xh7 xh7 12.e3 1875

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e7 13.f3 a5+ 14.c3 hf6 and Black had equalised in Adams, M (2722)Mamedyarov, S (2729) London 2012 analysed in the archives. ] 10...xe5! Khenkin plays the critical line [ 10...xh7 11.e2 e6 12.d2 followed by a quick 0-0-0 gives White the advantage and a very easy position. ] 11.dxe5 a5+ [ 11...xd1+ 12.xd1 xh7 13.e2 e6 and now White could kept a very pleasant endgame advantage in Topalov, V (2769)Sulskis, S (2527) Crete 2007 with 14.e3! e7 15.ad1 and now White is ready to play Ne4 with complete control over the centre. ] 12.f1 xh7 13.e6 A very standard idea from Adams, breaking up Black's kingside pawn structure [ 13.e2 e6 may be a little better for White but Black is very solid so it's a tough position for White to make progress from. 14.d2 b4 15.xb4 xb4 16.e4 0-0 17.c3 ( 17.c4! is more ambitious - the point is that now after e7 18.d6 White is ready to support the knight on d6 with c5.) 17...e7 18.g3 f6! and Black had equalised in Istratescu, A (2613)-Dreev, A (2694) Switzerland 2011 ] 13...d5 [ after 13...fxe6 14.e2 it's unlikely Black will hold on to e6 for long ] 14.exf7+ xf7 15.e4 The first new move comes from Mickey and although Black may be able to equalise here it will take some very accurate play. [ 15.f3?! was a rather unambitious choice in Kovalev, V (2523)-Dreev, A (2654) Legnica 2013 and after xf3 16.gxf3 e6 17.f4 e7 18.e5 0-0 19.f4 ad8 Black's better pawn structure gave him a definite advantage. ] 15...f6 16.xf6+ xf6?! An inaccuracy from Khenkin that leads to a very difficult position for Black. This is the problem with the s y s t e m - t h e r e a r e n ' t t o o m a n y wi n n i n g chances for Black and one mistake can land you in trouble. [ 16...exf6! was the right way to recapture and after 17.h3 e7 Black is going to castle into safety. Black's kingside pawn

structure isn't ideal but with rooks coming to the centre very quickly he should be OK here. ] 17.h3! An excellent move from Adams which aims to target the queen on f6. e6 18.e3 e7 [ 18...d8 was perhaps a better defensive try b u t W h i t e is st il l d o i n g we l l h e r e a f t e r 19.h5+ f7 ( not 19...g6?! 20.f3! gxh5 21.xf6 e7 22.f4 and Black is in a lot of trouble ) 20.xf7+ xf7 21.f3+ e8 22.xa7 e7 and White is a pawn up with good winning chances. ] 19.d4 g6?! An odd mistake from Khenkin, Black is just losing a pawn here. [ 19...f7 isn't much better here as White has 20.f3 f6 21.xf6 gxf6 22.d3 and W hite's control of the d-file is very annoying for Black who doesn't have any good moves here. ] [ 19...e5!? was probably the best way to give up a pawn with some drawing chances for Black after 20.h5+ f7 21.xf7+ xf7 22.xe5 ad8 as at least Black is now well coordinated ] 20.g3 f5 21.xg7 f8 22.g4 Adams is now a pawn up with a good position and it's hard to see a way back for Black from here. d8 23.e1 d6 24.c3 Slowly improving W hite's position by protecting the bishop on d4 - it's not as if Black can do much right now. [ 24.xa7 was also strong ] 24...h5 25.g6+ d8 26.xf5 xf5 27.g8+ d7 28.g3 c5 29.e3 f6 30.f8 a6?! [ 30...dd5 avoids the loss of the second pawn but W hite shouldn't have too many p ro b l e m s wi n n in g a f t e r 31.f7+ c8 32.f4! ] 31.f7+! [ Black is losing another pawn here and the resulting endgame is completely hopeless e.g. 31.f7+ A) or 31...c6 32.f4! e5 ( 32...dd5? 33.xe6+ ) 33.g5 e6 34.xf6 exf6 35.xf6 xf6 36.xe5; B) 31...c8 32.xc5! xc5 33.xf6 is easily winning ] 1-0

1876

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1722 Adams,Mi Lenderman,A Gibraltar Masters 2014 (4.6) [Tom Rendle]

B19 2754 2561 31.01.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 b6 14.e4 [ 14.he1 has been the fashionable choice in recent months but perhaps Adams didn't want to play the position after 0-0 15.f5 exf5 16.xe7 d8 17.e2 e4 as this currently seems to be Black's best option - see Ganguly-Vitiugov f rom this month's update. ] 14...d8 [ 14...xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 A) 16...c5 is slightly less convincing 17.dxc5 xc5 18.e5 ( 18.c3 st ra igh t awa y also just loo ks goo d f o r White ) 18...c8 ( 18...0-0 might be possible here but Black was probably wo rrie d a bo u t a qu ick g4 , e . g. 19.g4!? d4 20.d3 with g5 coming ) 19.c3 0-0 A1) 20.g4! was more precise with a definite advantage after xg4 ( or 20...e7 21.xf6 xf6 22.xf6+ gxf6 23.g4+ h7 24.d7! ) 21.xg4 f6 22.he1; A2) 20.d7?! xd7 21.g4 e5 22.xe5 f6 23.c3 c7 24.f4 and White was slightly better in Kulaots, K (2570)-Ipatov, A (2581) Konya 2012; B) 16...b5! seems like the way to equalise for Black B1) 17.e3!? might be a more ambitious way to handle the position and now after g4 White can play ( 17...c5 should still be OK for Black) 18.f4! xf2? ( 18...f5 19.c7 xf2 20.xb7 d8 21.e5 is also dangerous for Black) 19.e5 f6 20.xf2 fxe5 21.g3 with a clear advantage; B2) 17.c4 f5+ 18.a1 xh5?! ( 18...d8 19.c3 e4 is fine for Black ) 19.e5 ( 19.e5! xe5 20.dxe5 g6 21.g4 g7 22.xh6 f8 23.g5 xh1 24.xh1 e8 25.b1

and White can press for the win with no risk ) 19...f4 20.e3 g6 21.g4 f6 22.f4 xe5 23.dxe5 g6 and Black managed to go on to hold the draw in Ko ka re v, D (2 63 9 )-Ro zu m, I (2 4 8 2 ) Kazan 2013 ] 15.c4 c5 [ 15...0-0 16.g4?! is a thematic pawn sacrifice but I'm not convinced by it here ( 16.xf6+ xf6 17.c3 is more sensible with the plan of Ne5 and g4 but perhaps Black can block this with g4! and still be OK ) 16...xg4 17.e2 f5 18.g3 c5! 19.d5 f6 20.c1 fe8 21.c2 de5 and White didn't have enough for the pawn in Escobar Forero, A (2455)-Bacallao Alonso, Y (2519) Panama City 2013 ] 16.d5! xe4 [ 16...exd5!? 17.cxd5 xe4 18.xe4 f6 19.a4+ f8 wins a pawn for Black but after 20.he1 ( 20.g4!? ) 20...xd5 21.c3 W hite has excellent play here and more than enough compensation as Black is so badly coordinated ] 17.xe4 f6 18.c1 0-0 19.dxe6 xe6 20.xe6 fxe6 The opening has definitely been a success for White as he has a clear target on e6 to aim at. Despite this Lenderman holds relatively easily - still I think White can find ways to increase the pressure. 21.he1 f7 22.f4 The first slight mistake from Mickey. [ 22.e3! keeps Black tied down and White can slowly improve his position with Kc2, Nd2-e4 ] 22...b6 23.d6?! Possibly this was based on a miscalculation because after this Black is just fine [ 23.b3! xd1+ 24.xd1 d8 25.xd8 xd8 should probably be a draw but White is definitely still pressing after 26.e5+ f6 27.f3 ] 23...fe8 24.b3 [ 24.xc5 also leads to equality after xc4 25.b3 b6! 26.bxc4 bxc5 27.c2 xd1 28.xd1 b8 29.b1 xb1 30.xb1 g6! 31.hxg6+ xg6 and a draw can safely be agreed ] 24...d5! 25.e5 [ 25.cxd5?! xd6 26.dxe6+ dxe6 27.xe6 xe6 and it's White that has to be slightly 1877

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the more careful in this endgame ] 25...b4 26.xd8 xd8 27.a3 d3 28.e2 xe5 29.xe5+ xe5 30.xe5 b6 31.c2 Black still has the isolated pawn on e6 but it's easily defendable now and neither side have realistic winning chances d4 32.g3 g4 33.d3 f6 34.e1 [ or 34.e4 f5! 35.e3 ( 35.xg4?? xg4 36.e4 xh5 37.f3 g6 38.e5 f7 and Black should win the king and pawn ending ) 35...d4+ ] 34...e5 35.e3?! [ 35.e4 was more accurate as now Black can't exchange rooks the position is just a draw after g5 36.h4 ] 35...f5 36.h1 a6 37.a4 a5 38.e2 g5 39.e3 f5 40.e2 e4+ 41.f3 d4 42.e2 g5 43.e3 e4 Suddenly White is under some pressure but he holds the draw c o m f o r t a b ly in a n y c a s e 44.g4! xg4 45.g1+ f5 46.xg7 d3+ 47.e2 xb3 48.g6 b4 49.xh6 g5 50.c6 xh5 51.e3 xa4 52.xb6 xc4 53.a6 a4 54.f4 White is active enough that Black can't hold onto his extra material b4 55.a5 g6 56.xc5 f6 57.a5 e6 58.f3 exf3+ 59.xf3 d6 60.e3 c6 61.d3 b6 62.a8 b7 63.a5 b6 A solid hold from Lenderman but I still feel that W hite was better earlier on, 15...0-0 looks critical in this line. ½-½

Unfortunately there have only been a few games with this line, so it's premature to draw any conclusions. ] 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.e2 Despite the result of this game, I doubt if this move is best here. [ Both 14.f3!? ] [ and even the direct 14.e2!? , intending g2-g4 are worthy of consideration. No doubt we'll see them in future games. ] 14...c5 15.dxc5 xc5! As I've already mentioned this recapture is preferable. [ 15...xc5 is clearly inferior: 16.b1 c7 17.xd7 xd7 18.c3 with an obvious advantage to White.. ] 16.c3 c7! The text is much better because White cannot play 17. Ng4 as the f4-pawn is hanging. [ The position was well known to Mickey who had played it f ew weeks earlier against Magem: 16...b6?! 17.g4! a6 18.xf6+ xf6 19.xa6 xa6 20.xf6 gxf6 21.f5 with a big advantage to White. White converted the game to a win easily: b4 22.h5 d5 23.he1 winning material. ] 17.f5 exf5? Horrible. It's not necessary to calculate the variations to understand how strong White's Knight on f5 is. It's strange that Peter Leko, who is famous for his ability to find excellent defensive resources, didn't feel this. [ An improvement for Black was shown a few days after this game in Macieja - Rustemov, Swidnica, 1999: 17...fe8! 18.f3 d6! 1723 B19 A draw was agreed here, although I think Black's chances are slightly better already. ] Adams,Michael 2716 Leko,Peter 2694 18.xf5 Now I've failed to find a way for Black Linares 1999 to resist . fe8 [ 18...ce4 also loses quickly in view of [Alexander Volzhin] 19.d7! xd7 ( Black has no time to take the strong Bishop: 19...xc3 20.xe7+ This line has become so popular that even h8 21.7g6+ fxg6 22.xg6+ g8 world class GMs have included it in their 23.e6+ winning everything.) 20.xe7+ opening repertoire. This is further proof of it's h8 21.xe4 and White has a material viability. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 advantage as well as a decisive attack. ] 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 8.e5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 19.f3 f8 This move allows a quick mate, but Black's position is bad anyway: 11.d2 Another possibility. bd7 12.f4 e7 [ A s o n t h e p r e v i o u s m o v e 19...ce4 [ 12...d6 was tried in Illescas - Karpov, Dos is strongly met by 20.d7! xd7 21.xh6+ Hermanas, 1999. W hite obtained a h8 22.exf7+ h7 23.xe4+ g6 24.h5 dangerous initiative 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.b1 mating. ] c7 15.e2 ad8 16.f3 h5 17.g4! 1878

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.xh6+ gxh6 21.g4! Probably Black Ha r ik r i sh n a , P (2 6 8 5 ) - Ma m e d y a r o v , S missed this hoping only for (2729) Istanbul 2012 ] [ 21.xf6? g7 ] [ 9.f4!? is a very aggressive approach in this 21...xg4 22.xg4+ h7 23.f5+ g8 line and was examined last year by Gawain 24.f6 h7 25.h8+ g6 26.h5+ in the game Lu Yijie-Nguyen Van Huy ] A q u i c k m a t e i s u n a v o i d a b l e , s o B l a c k 9...bd7 resigned. [ 9...xd3 was Leko's choice against Adams [ 26.h5+ f5 27.f6+ g4 28.f3+ g5 back in 1999 which is analysed by 29.f6# Despite this speedy defeat I think Alexander Volzhin in the archives and I've Black has sufficient resources here. One added my thoughts to a more recent game. could point out that my commentary on the 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 bd7 12.f4 e7 opening of this game contains more 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.f3 Adams chose Qe2 questions than answers. Undoubtedly there which is probably a slightly better approach will be many games in this line in the near c7 15.he1 and here White got a very future. ] slight edge in Brunello, S (2587)-Malikentzos, 1-0 S ( 2 3 0 7 ) P l o v d i v 2 0 1 2 a f t e r c5 ( but probably it was better to wait and see what W hite did with 15...ad8! as after 1724 B19 16.f5 d6 17.xd7 xd7 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.b3 h8! 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 e5 Adams,Michael 2722 Black seems to have solved his problems) Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 2729 16.xd7 xd7 17.dxc5 ] 1st FIDE GP London 2012 (2) 22.09.2012 10.f4 [Tom Rendle] [ 10.xh7 is a major alternative and now xe5! 11.dxe5 a5+ ( 11...xd1+ 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 12.xd1 xh7 13.e2 seems to give 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 White a comfortable edge, although Black A provocative move-order, normally Black did manage to hold a draw in Topalov, V plays Nd7 to prevent Ne5. 8.e5 h7 9.d3 (2769)-Sulskis, S (2527) Crete 2007) 12.f1 [ 9.c4 was tried against Mamedyarov at the xh7 13.e2 O lym p ia d b y H a ri kri sh n a e6 10.e2 A) 13...e6 14.d2 b4 15.xb4 xb4 n o w W h i t e h a s t h e t h r e a t o f N x f 7 d5 16.e4 0-0 17.c3 ( 17.c4! is perhaps a 11.h5 c7 12.0-0 d6 13.e1 bit more testing, e.g. f6 18.d6 fxe5 After this Black has no problems ( 13.g4!? 19.d1 c5 20.b4! xb4 21.h3 is an interesting attempt to fight f or the and W hite has a dangerous initiative in initiative but it seems like Black should have return for the pawns) 17...e7 18.g3 f6! enough play, for example xe5! The pawn and Black had equalised in Istratescu, A should be taken otherwise W hite has a (2 6 1 3 ) - D re e v, A (2 6 9 4 ) S wit z e r la n d better version of the game 14.dxe5 xe5 2011; 15.d2 0-0 16.xh6 f5! 17.g5 h8 B) 13...0-0-0 14.e6 is analysed by 18.xd5 cxd5 19.f4 f6 20.g5 e5 Carsten Hansen in Leko-Bareev ] 21.e3 d6 22.f4 e4 23.ad1 c6 24.e2 and with both Bishops shut out of 10...e6 11.xh7 xh7 12.e3 A solid move the game the position is equal and in fact but due to the check on a5 it's not clear it rather drawish.) 13...0-0 14.g4 f6 gives any edge. [ 12.d3!? transposes to the game Hou 15.f3 bd7 ( 15...c5!? it a more direct Yifan (2602)-Guo Qi (2331) Chengdu 2011 ch allen ge f o r a n ed ge an d n o w 16.xh6 which continued e7 13.d2! not worrying is critical but after cxd4 17.g4 bd7 ab o u t th e p a wn o n h 4 xe5 ( 13...0-0 W hite doesn't seem to have a strong 14.0-0-0 hf6 15.b1!? and I like White's continuation and so Black's centre should kingside chances) 14.fxe5 xh4 15.0-0-0 give him a slight edge) 16.xd7 xd7 g5 16.e4 xd2+ 17.xd2 and White 17.e4 e7 with equal chances in 1879

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 had very good compensation for a pawn. Perhaps this is a more dangerous approach than the one Adams adopted. ] 12...e7 [ 12...hf6 13.e2 ( 13.d2 to cut out the c h e c k w o u l d b e m y p r e f e r e n c e h e r e) 13...a5+ 14.d2 a4 ( 14...b5! s e e m s a b e t t e r c h o i c e h e r e wi t h l e ve l chances ) 15.f5 d6 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.h5 with a good position for White in Konguvel, P (2373) -Macieja, B (2599) Mumbai 2008 ] 13.f3 a5+! A strong move which seems to pretty much equalise. 14.c3 [ 14.d2 d5 gives Black no problems at all ] 14...hf6 [ 14...d5 15.e2 hf6 16.0-0 e4 17.f3 d6 18.g4 f6 19.h3 g6 20.h5 xh5 21.xh5 gxh5 22.xh5 g8 23.h3 f6 24.f3 f5 25.h2 d7 26.h4 xh3+ 27.xh3 e4 28.g4 h5 29.g5 fxg5 30.fxg5 xg5 31.f7+ e8 32.f3 xe3 33.xe3 f2+ 34.h2 g4+ 0-1 (34) Sulypa , A (24 24)-Hau chard, A (2524) Gonfreville FRA 1999 ] 15.h5 b5 16.0-0-0 d5?! [ 16...a5!? leads to a balanced position ] 17.d2?! [ I'm slightly surprised that Mickey didn't go for 17.xd7 xd7 18.d2 when Black will take a couple of moves to get the King out of the centre and White is ready to play f5 with the better chances. ] 17...xe5 18.dxe5 0-0-0 19.b3! Aiming to push Black back in the centre of the board b6 20.e2 d3?! A very imaginative and interesting move but completely unnecessary since Mamedyrov could equalise with any normal move. [ f o r e xa m p le 20...xe2 21.xe2 d5 and the game is heading for a draw ] 21.c4! Adams is forced into accepting the sacrifice in order to avoid being slightly worse. a6 22.xd3 xa2 23.c5! [ 23.de1 also seems to give White the better chances after d8 24.c3 a5 25.f1 b4 26.c2 a1+ 27.b1 xb1+ 28.xb1 xd2 29.xd2 xd2 30.d1! When Black will have to play accurately to hold the draw ] 23...xc5 24.b4 c4!

[ 24...a4?! 25.b1! a3+ 26.c2 xg3 27.bxc5 xc5 28.b4 and Black is in trouble ] 25.b1 a3+ 26.c2 xg3 27.b3 xb3+ 28.xb3 xd2+ 29.xd2 e3 30.d3 b6 The dust has settled and Black has two pawns for the exchange which is normally sufficient. Unfortunately for him White already occupies the only open file and it's not in Black's favour to exchange Rooks here. Still, it takes accurate play to make the most o f t his a dva nta ge an d A dam s goe s wrong immediately [ 30...xf4? leads to a lost position after 31.f1 xe5 32.xf7 ] 31.g3? After this Black is probably holding. [ 31.h4! was the active more the position required A) 31...d8 32.xd8+ xd8 33.g4 e7 34.xg7 e3 35.g3 must be an easy win; B) 31...g8 is very passive and after 32.g4 f2 33.f3 d4 ( 33...e1 34.f5! i s c r u s h i n g) 34.fg3 White is easily winning; C) 31...f6 32.g4 fxe5 33.fxe5 c7 34.xg7 xe5 35.e7 with a winning endgame for White - the rooks are just too active. ] 31...g8 32.d1 d8 33.b5 An interesting atte mpt to creat e winnin g ch ance s bu t it quickly burns out into a rather unusual repetition of moves. cxb5 34.c3+ b8 35.d7 f8 36.g3 c8 37.d1 g8 38.c3+ b8 39.d7 f8 40.b4 a6 41.g3 c8 42.d1 g8 43.c3+ b8 44.d7 f8 45.g3 [ 45.g4!? was a possible way to play the position on but in reality I don't with White had any winning chances. ] 45...c8 46.d1 g8 47.c3+ b8 48.d7 f8 49.g3 ½-½

1880

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 threatening g4-g5 with an initiative. ( 16.g4?! B19 c5 is less clear )] 2722 2783 16.e2 [ 16.e5 0-0 was played in a recent top01.10.2012 level women's game which continued 17.f4 d5 18.g3 b6 19.c4 b4?! ( 19...f6 20.f4 d7! and White's advantage is 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 minimal ) 20.b3 xd4 21.d7 xd1+ 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 22.xd1 a5 23.a3 f5+ 24.a1 c2+ 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 25.a2 d8 26.c7 e8 27.f3 12.0-0-0 c7 and despite being a pawn up Black was in [ 12...e7 is far more popular at the moment serious trouble due because the knight on and is well covered in the archives. ] c2 cannot escape, Muzychuk, A (2598)13.e4 e7 A slightly unusual move from Stefanova, A (2518) Kazan 2012 g5 28.g4 Hikaru, but given how the game goes I doubt h7 29.f4 h4 30.d2 e1 31.e3 b6 we'll see a rush of players seeking to copy his 32.e5 c5 33.e2 g3 34.c6 g5 way of playing 35.hxg6 fxg6 36.e5 g5 37.d7 f7 [ 13...xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.e2 0-0-0 38.fxg5 xc7 39.f6+ f8 40.xe1 f4 16.g3 d6 is another reasonable way of 41.d7 e7 42.d8+ g7 43.e4 hxg5 playing for Black and Andrew Martin covered 44.h5+ ] it for this site in the game Karpov-De 16...c5 Freitas ] [ 16...b6 17.c1 ( 17.g4! seems a more [ 13...0-0-0 is Black's most usual dan gerous ap proach a nd I like W hit e's continuation and here W hite should c h a n c e s h e r e) 17...b5 18.c4 f5+ probably continue with 14.g3! as in Geller19.a1 xh5 ( 19...e4! ) 20.e5 f4 Hort, annotated by Volzhin for ChessPub. ] 21.e3 g6 22.g4 f6 23.f4 14.b1 Adams reacts with the most popular 1/2-1/2 Vallejo Pons, F (2677)-Dreev, A reply - Kb1 is generally a useful waiting move (2705) Albox 2005 ] in these positions. [ 14.xf6+ xf6 ( perhaps 14...xf6 17.dxc5 xc5 [ 17...0-0?! 18.g4! is gives White a strong is the better recapture) 15.g3 b6 16.b1 attack as xg4?! is met with 19.hg1 ] d8 17.he1 e7 and now in Negi, P (2618)-Lalith, B (2491) Dubai 2011 I believe 18.e5 d4 [ 18...0-0 19.f4 and it's not clear Black has a White could achieved a strong initiative with better move than d4 transposing to the 18.g4! as it's not clear where Black is going game ] to play his King. ] 14...d8 it's hard for me to criticise this move 19.f4! Simple play from Mickey, cementing the but it's certainly clear that now Black has to knight on e5 and preparing g4-g5. [ 19.d3 was a rather tame choice in Hou castle on the Kingside so W hite is always Yifan (2513)-Kachiani, K (2375) going to have good chances for an attack Ekaterinburg 2007 and lead to an early draw starting with g4 and for this reason I don't see after b5 20.c3 a4 21.b3 0-0 22.e5 ] the attraction of playing this line for Black [ 14...0-0-0 is a safer option and now 15.g3 19...0-0 20.c3 a4?! This is where things ( 15.xf6!? ) 15...c5 16.f4 c6 17.xf6 really start to go wrong for Hikaru - the rooks xf6 18.d5 ( 18.he1! keeps more tension simply ends up offside and unable to take part in the position) 18...exd5 19.xd5 e5 in the action both in the centre and on the 20.xc6+ xc6 21.c3 xd1+ 22.xd1 Kingside. [ 20...d6 was better although I prefer White e8 and Black had basically equalised in after 21.g4!? ( or 21.e3 xd1+ 22.xd1 Spasov, V (2590)-Enchev, I (2431) Bankya c7 23.g4 )] 2011 ] 21.c4! Cutting the rook out of the game d6 15.xf6+ xf6 [ 21...b5!? tries to mix things up but White is [ 15...xf6 16.he1 and White is 1725 Adams,Michael Nakamura,Hikaru 1st FIDE GP London 2012 (9) [Tom Rendle]

1881

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 doing well after 22.e3! c7 23.b3 a5 24.cxb5 d5 25.xd5 exd5 26.a4! and the rook on a5 is completely shut out of the game ] 22.c3 xe5 Not a move that Black wanted to play but otherwise Adams would have an easy attack with g4-g5 23.fxe5 h7 24.b3 As ever Adams stamps out any counterplay before going on the offensive a6 25.d7 Black's position is miserable White has control of th e only ope n f ile on the b oard and is better on all sides g5 26.hd1 b8? A blunder that brings a swift end to the game but in truth the position was already lost for Black [ if 26...b5 then 27.d4! c8 28.cxb5 xd7 29.c5 c7 30.xf8 b6 31.b4 leaves White with a winning position ] 27.d8+ xd8 28.xd8+ h7 29.c2+! A very accurate move from Adams [ 29.d3+ g6 30.d7?? ( 30.hxg6+ s t i l l w i n s) 30...g1+ 31.b2 xg2+ and Black is back in the game - of course this doesn't work with a Queen on c2! ] 29...g6 30.d7 g8 31.hxg6 g7 32.gxf7 Bla c k c a n s a f e ly re sign at t h is po in t b u t Nakamura decides to play on for a few more moves. xf7 33.e2 g8 34.f3 f8 35.xb7 g7 36.b2 A wonderfully controlled game from Adams. 1-0

idea of g4-g5 comes into question. Black must keep focussed and he trains his sights on the d pawn to get counterplay. The timing of ...c6c5 is often crucial. [ 15...d5 is a different way. White more or less forces an exchange of Queens and enters a kind of ' semi-endgame' with a sm all p lu s: 16.c4 e4 17.xe4 xe4 18.e3 d6 19.b3 b5 The typical pawn break for Black after c2-c4. Kulaots keeps his edge. 20.c5 e4? ( 20...f5 21.f4 f6 22.g4 e7 was surely a better chance. ) 21.c2 c8 22.e5 f6 23.a4 b4 24.g4 d5 25.d2 g5 26.he1 xd2 27.xd2 0-0 28.d3 f5 29.g6 f6 30.gxf5 xf5 ( 30...exf5 31.de2 xg6 32.hxg6 f4+ 33.c4 xe2 34.xe2+- ) 31.xe6 xh5 32.d6 h3+ 33.c2 c7 34.e2 f6 35.d8+ f7 36.h8# 1-0 Kulaots, K-Grant, J/4th IECC, Istanbul TUR 2003 One can see why Bareev chooses 15..Qa5 now. To win these positions with Black after the queen exchange is virtually impossible. ] 16.b1 0-0 17.e5 ad8 18.g3 [ 18.g4 is quite in keeping with White's strategy but then c5! hits at just the right time. ] 18...h8 19.c4 d7 20.d3! f6 21.a3 b6 22.e3 c5! 23.dxc5 xc5 [ 23...xc5 is not as good: 24.xc5 xc5 25.xa7 d4 26.e3 xe5 27.xd4 xd4 28.b4! ] 1726 B19 24.xh6 That's just the thing isn't it? White feels he should be going somewhere with this Akopian,Vladimir 2700 Bareev,Evgeny 2730 position. Bareev's defence is excellent. [ 24.c1 would be a more solid choice. ] It Enghien les Bains (1) 2003 24...xe5 25.xe5 f6 26.e3 d7! [Andrew Martin] Just taking the d file in itself will give White a 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 headache. 27.f4 e5 28.h6 g6 29.g3 30.h7 d2 31.xe5 e6! 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 Switching fd8 from 7...Nf6 to throw Akopian off balance. I think Akopian overlooked this resource when 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 he went in for the combination. The threat of xf6 It's supposed to be a gain to prevent ...Qc7 ...Qf5+ is very powerful. 32.xf6+ gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 33.c3 xc3 34.xc3 xf2 35.c2 dd2 f6 15.d3 a5 Very theoretical. White has It's tough to nail Black in this line. active pieces but to breach Black's incredibly 0-1 solid position is quite another matter. Central to W hite's hopes is the establishment of a Knight on e5. The Knight will have a cramping influence and should Black castle short the 1882

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1727 Akopian,Vladimir Solak,Dragan 38th Olympiad (10) [John Watson]

B19 2679 2595 23.11.2008

The 'Houska' variation of the old main line of the Caro-Kann gets another test. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 15.0-0-0 [ The opponents in the following game are well-prepared, so we get to see a test of 15.d5 : cxd5 16.cxd5 d6 17.b5 gf6 18.dxe6 xe6+ 19.f1 0-0 20.e1 d5 21.xd5 xd5 22.f5 f6 23.3d4 ( finally a deviation from theory, but then it es s en t ia lly t ra n sp o se s! Ho uska's m a in game Berelovich-Khenkin, Belgian League 2005 went 23.h3 fe8 24.xe8+ with a draw, although she likes Black. If xe8 25.3d4 c5 follows, we're back to the game ) 23...c5 24.h3 fe8 25.xe8+ xe8 26.a3 a6 27.f3? (this is plausible, to pre ve nt . ..Ne4 , bu t ( 27.g4; or 27.g3 intends Kg2 and gives White's knight on f5 a safe retreat at e3. ) A) 27...g6! is a problem for White, since 28.d6 e7! ( 28...d8 29.b4 xb4 30.xb4 xd4 31.xc5 xc5 32.xb7 will probably draw, although White has to work ) 29.hxg6 fxg6 30.b4 ( 30.e2 xb2 31.a5 b6 and it's the rook that's trapped, not the knight on d6!) 30...xd4 31.bxc5 xc5 with a clear extra pawn; B) 27...d8?! B1) 28.g4! is a good way to introduce t h e s a m e i d e a : g6!? ( 28...h7 ) 29.hxg6 fxg6 30.xh6+ g7 31.b4 xd4 32.bxc5 xc5 33.d3; B2) 28.b4 (White's under a lot of pressure it seems that e6 29.xe6 fxe6 30.g3 b6 31.e3?? White finally succumbs to the pressure, a n d t h i s l o s e s m a t e r i a l . ( 31.e1 is better, but c4 still gives Black a nice edge; 31.c3 d3! 32.e4 d5 33.xf6+ gxf6 34.b2 d1+ 35.e2 h1! wins a pawn) 31...c4 32.b3 h4! 33.e4 d1+ 34.e2 e1+

35.d3 xe3 36.g3 e7 37.d2 g2 and Black emerged a piece up, Shaw, J (2469)-Khenkin, I (2647), Dresden 2008. ] 15...gf6 16.he1 [ 16.b1 0-0 is another standard sequence, played in two games recently: a) Kotronias, V (2587) - Braun, A (2567), 38th Olympiad Dresden 2008 went A) stopping ...b5, but this is slow. 17.e4 is Houska's main line. Check the Archives for similar play.; B) b) 17.de1 fd8 18.c2 a5!? 19.e2 g4 ( 19...c5! 20.f4 b6 ) 20.f4 b6 21.c3 a4 22.e4 Loskutov, O (2482)-Iordachescu, V (2572), Serpuhov RUS 2008, and here a3 23.b3 df6 24.xf6+ xf6 25.g4 h7 would be a solid defence.; C) 17.c2 fd8 ( 17...c5 ) 18.c1 ac8! 19.e2 c5 20.d5 (a little crazy White hopes for a kingside attack) exd5 21.g4 xg4 ( 21...e5 ) 22.dg1 df6 23.h4 d4 and White has no real compensation for the pawn (..d3 is coming soon), but managed to complicate and eventually win. ] 16...b5 17.cxb5 Not mentioned in Houska's book. [ She analyses 17.b1 bxc4 18.xc4 c8! with the idea ...c5 at great length. ] 17...cxb5+ 18.b1 0-0 [ 18...b7 19.c1 ] 19.f5 fe8?! [ 19...exf5! 20.xe7 d6 might seem to weaken Black's position too much, but he defends his material after 21.e2 d5! , and White has only a slight advantage or none, because his pawn on h5 is attacked and Black has some light square pressure to compensate for his White's on the dark squares. One line might be 22.e5 xh5 ( 22...fe8!? ) 23.xd7 ( 23.xf5 hf6 24.ee1 fe8 ) 23...xd7 24.e5 f6 25.xf5 d5 26.h1!? fe8! 27.hh5 c7 28.d5 e6! with a messy position. ] 20.xe7+ xe7 21.xb5 b8 22.a6!? [ 22.a5 b7 23.b3 c8 24.c1 ee8 only slightly favours White. ] 22...xh5!? Recovering his pawn. Nevertheless, 1883

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 22...b6! is p ro b a b ly b e t t e r : 23.xb6 ( 23.a3 ee8 ) 23...xb6 would stop W h i t e ' s m a i n i d e a o f d 5 . T h e n 24.e5 ( 24.h1 e4! ) A) 24...eb7! 25.g4!? bd7! i s m o r e a c t i v e , w i t h t h e i d e a 26.d3 ( 26.b3 xe5 27.dxe5 xg4 28.e2 ) 26...xg4 27.g1 gf6 28.xh6 xh5; B) 24...c8 (versus Nc6, but 25.g4 c4 26.g1 results in White keeping the pawn, although he has a bad bishop to live with. ] 23.d5! This is trouble. b7 [ 23...b6 24.xb6 xb6 25.dxe6 xe6 26.xe6 fxe6 27.e5 ( or 27.d4 c4 28.c3 )] [ 23...f8!? has the clever idea 24.d6 b7 , but 25.a3 d7 26.a5 still favours White. ] 24.xb7 xb7 25.d4 [ 25.dxe6! xe6 26.xe6 fxe6 27.e3 is strong. White has bishop-versus knight and Black has serious weaknesses, e.g., hf6? 28.d6 f7 29.a6 ] 25...f8 26.dxe6 xe6 27.xe6 fxe6 28.e3 f6 Without White's excellent knight, this isn't quite as easy 29.d8+!? [ 29.d6 ] 29...f7 30.c5 ec7 31.f8+ g6 32.d4 c6 33.a8 d7 34.e3 a6 35.a3 d5! 36.c5 f4 37.e3 d5 38.d4 c7? A bad mistake on move 38 usually signifies time pressure, especially when it's a strong grandmaster. [ 38...f4 was again correct, intending 39.c3 d3 ] 39.xa7! xd4 40.xa6 xa6 41.xe6+ f7 42.xa6 d2 43.c6 xf2 44.c2 White's pawns are connected and passed, so this is a fairly easy win. f4 45.b4 e6 46.a2 g5 47.b3 g4 48.c4 f5 49.xf4+ xf4 50.b5 e5 51.c3 h5 52.d3 h4 53.e3 d6 54.f4 h3 55.gxh3 gxh3 56.g3 c5 57.a4 b6 58.xh3 a5 59.g4 xa4 60.b6 1-0

1728 Amonatov,Farrukh Akesson,Ralf 12th HZ Open (8) [John Watson]

B19 2650 2481 08.08.2008

Franck Steenbekkers sends along his notes to this well-known game. Franck has discovered a way for W hite to punish this sub variation once and for all. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 15.0-0-0 gf6 16.b1 [ I n J o v a n k a H o u s k a ' s b o o k , 16.he1 is answered by b5 ( 16...d8 17.b1 0-0 18.f5 would transpose to the game, but that is cooperative on Black's part. )] 16...d8!? [ Houska's main line goes 16...0-0 A) 17.he1 , hoping to transpose if Black plays 17...Rad8?!, can be met by fe8 , for example, covering e7, or perhaps by ( 17...g4!? ); B) 17.e4 b5! ] 17.he1 0-0 18.f5! exf5 [ 18...fe8 looks plausible, but White has the amazing 19.xe6! fxe6 20.xg7 with an excellent attack. Black's best bailout i s p r o b a b l y f8 (co ve r in g g6 ) 21.xe8 xe8 22.g4! ( 22.xh6 g4 23.e3 f6 ) 22...d6! 23.xh6 h7 24.xh7+ xh7 25.d2! w i t h t h e i d e a ( 25.xf8 xf8 26.e5 also favours White, with his pawns and outpost, but it's not easy) 25...xg4?? ( 25...8d7 26.g5+ g7 27.c3! ) 26.g1 f6 27.g5+ ] 19.xe7 e4 [ Perhaps 19...d6 should be tried. Then a possible (unforced) line would be 20.e2 e4 A) I just found my own note in the A r c h i ve s : " 21.c1 fe8 22.g3 b5! 23.cxb5 cxb5 24.h4 d5 ( 24...e5! 25.b3 c4 26.xf5 d5 ) 25.f3 with some advantage, eventually drawn 1/ 2-1/2 Rohit, G (2470)-Antonio, R (2539), Cebu City 2007"; B) 21.h4 dc5! 22.c2 f6 23.f3 e6! ] 20.h4! The beginning of a pretty sacrificial 1884

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 idea. xf2 21.f3 xd1 22.xf5 Now 23 Qg4 is threatened, so Black threatens mate to get out of his pin on the seventh. b6 23.xd1 [ In the stem game, White stopped the mate by 23.b3 , but should have been losing after f6 24.xh6 ( 24.g3 xh5 25.g4 g6 26.xh6+ g7 ) 24...a5! 25.e5 c3 26.xd1 gxh6 27.e3 a5 28.f3 h8 . Black should win, but W hite somehow survived: 29.f4 h7 30.e5 c3 31.e7 g5 32.e3 a5 33.e7 f6 34.c5 d2 35.g6+ g8 36.e7+ h8 37.g6+ g8 38.e7+ h8 1/2-1/2 Smeets-Roos, Dresden 2007. ] 23...f6 24.xh6! [ 24.f3 is another deadly-looking move, but xd4! 25.e3 ( 25.g3 g4 ) 25...c5 26.xd4 cxd4 isn't clear. ] 24...gxh6 [ 24...c5! might be objectively better, attacking f 5 then a crazy lin e would b e 25.f3 xd4! 26.e3 ( 26.xg7 d1+! 27.c2 fd8 ) 26...fd8! ( 26...d1+ 27.c2! ) 27.xd4 xd4 28.h6+! h7 29.f5+ xf5+ 30.xf5 d7 31.xd7 xd7 and it appears that Black should hold. There may be a win in there somewhere, of course. ] 25.d2!? [ Here's the point at which Franck Steenbekkers finds a nice geometric win: 25.c1!! (off the pin on the d-file) . The best defence that Steenbekkers points out is xh5 ( Not 25...c5?? 26.xh6 e8 27.g5+ h8 28.xe8+-; 25...a5?? 26.e5 ) 26.xh6 c5! 27.xh5 g6 28.xg6+ fxg6 29.h6+ h8 30.f7+ xf7 31.xf7 xd4 32.xb7 , and Franck says 'with good winning chances for White'. I agree, with these superficial ideas: a5 ( 32...xc4 33.xa7 g4 34.a4 xg2 35.a5 d2 36.b7! ) 33.a7 xc4 34.xa5 g7 35.a7+ f6 36.a4 e5 37.a5 d5 ( 37...a4 38.b3 b4 39.a2 c4 40.a6! cxb3+ 41.b2 a4 42.xb3 a1 43.b4 g5 44.b5 f4 45.g7 ) 38.a6 a4 39.d7+ e6 40.g7 f6 41.a7 f5 42.c2 c4 ( 42...g4 43.b3 a5 44.c4 ) 43.a8 g4 44.a7 g3 45.c3 xg2 46.d4! g5 47.c5 g4 48.b5

a2 49.xc4 g3 50.b4 g1 51.b5 g2 52.b6 and wins. ] 25...c5! 26.xh6+ [ 26.f4 xd4! ] 26...g7 27.g4 xg4 28.f4 xh5 Black is winning now. But even among strong players, you never know, especially wit h today's time controls. 29.xg4 de8 30.e3 g6+?! [ 30...f5! 31.f2 xe3 32.xe3 f4 is easy enough. ] 31.c1 xe3 32.xe3 f5?! [ 32...e8 33.f5+ f8 ] 33.c2 f7 The next moves in time pressure are fairly random. 34.b3 h7 35.d5 h6 36.f3 cxd5 37.cxd5 f4 38.c4 g5 39.b4 g7 [ 39...f5! was particularly strong. ] 40.d6 b6 [ And here 40...b5! does the trick: 41.c3+ ( 41.d2 e5 42.g2+ f6 43.e4+ f5 ) 41...f6 ] 41.c3+ f6 42.f3 f5 43.c3+? [ 43.a4 ] 43...f6 44.d4 c5+ 45.xc5 bxc5+ 46.xc5 f7 47.c6 e8?? [ Only seconds left, I imagine. 47...f3! wins: 48.c7 f2 49.e3 ( 49.d7 f1 ) 49...e6 ] 48.e5 d8 49.f3 g6 [ Now it's trickier to see that 49...f5! 50.d4 e5 works. ] 50.e5?! [ 50.d4 ] 50...g7?? [ 50...e6! wins ] 51.b4 h7? [ It wasn't easy to see 51...g8! 52.b5 f8! 53.f3 , when I think White can hold the draw, at least at first glance: f6 54.a4 e6 55.a5 e3 56.g5 c3+ 57.b7 d7 58.xa7 c5 59.h3! xb5 60.xf4 xa5+ 61.b6 , etc. ] 52.b5 c8? Black needs to divert the knight by ...f3 and go to the first rank. Moving back and forth loses straightaway: 53.a4 h6? 54.a5 e6 55.b6 axb6 56.axb6 xe5 57.b7+ b8 58.d7 1-0

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B19 24.e2?! [ 24.xg4! xg4 25.f3 f6 26.e4 ] 2598 25.xe5 d7 26.f4 xe5 2653 24...xe5 ad8 28.e4! xd4 29.d6 11.09.2007 27.fxe5 xd1+ 30.xd1 xd6 31.exd6 This is equal. White has more space and can make enough 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 threats to prevent Black from using his extra 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 pawn. d7 32.e1 e8 33.g4 a5 34.e3 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ d8 35.e4 d7 36.a3 a8 37.g3 h8 12.d2 b4 Houska's recipe. Our other game 38.f3 e8 39.g4 e5 40.f5 f6 41.f3 c8 with this line features 12...Qa4. 13.c3 e7 42.f1 e6 43.f3 d7 44.g6 g8 45.f1 f8 46.e4 14.c4 c7 15.0-0-0 [ In the recent game R Antonio-Al Sayed, ½-½ C e b u C i t y 2 0 0 7 , W h i t e p l a y e d 15.d5!? , which is the obvious reaction and provokes B19 the moves cxd5 16.cxd5 d6! 17.0-0-0 1730 ( Houska analyses 17.c3; 17.b3 gf6!; Anand,V 2770 17.e2!?; and 17.b5 at length, with Andreikin,D 2709 equality or better for Black) 17...gf6 FIDE Candidates 2014 (12.4) 27.03.2014 18.c3 xd5? ( 18...xd5! has been [Tom Rendle] s h o wn t o o f f e r p l e n t y o f p l a y w i t h f u l l equality ) 19.xg7 g8 20.d4? ( 20.xh6 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 wins a second pawn safely) 20...b4! 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 e6 This line is 21.b3?! c6+ 22.d2 d8?! (back and holding up pretty well at the moment for Black, forth! ( 22...g4 was one of several better most importantly Carlsen secured an easy moves ) 23.e1 b5 ( 23...c2+ 24.f1 draw with it against Anand in their W orld f6 ) 24.a3 ( 24.a4! ) 24...c8 25.a4 a6 Championship match last year. 8.e5 h7 26.e2 xg2 Now Black is winning. 27.f1 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 d7 11.f4 b4+ g4 28.e3 d5 29.b3 f4 30.b5 12.c3 xb5 31.axb5 c2 32.xf4 xf4 33.e1 [ 12.d2 given that this line is currently c5?? ( 33...c4 wins ) 34.xc2 1-0. ] doing fine for Black perhaps it's time to look 15...gf6 16.he1 b5 This is Houska's line. for possible deviations for White - and 12. [ Another game just played went 16...d8 Bd2 might fit the bill, although White must 17.b1 0-0 18.f5 exf5 19.xe7 d6 be accurate to find an edge - the following ( 19...e4! ) 20.e2! e4 21.c1 fe8 game ends in a quick draw but there are a 22.g3 b5! 23.cxb5 cxb5 24.h4 d5 few moments where W hite could've been ( 24...e5! 25.b3 c4 26.xf5 d5 ) more aggressive xd2+ 13.xd2 gf6 25.f3 with some advantage, eventually 14.0-0-0 0-0 15.e2 ( 15.b1! c7 drawn 1/2-1/2 Rohit, G (2470)-Antonio, R 16.e2 followed b6 g4-g5 looks dangerous (2539), Cebu City 2007. ] for example White is better against a quick ... 17.c5 0-0 We've seen this type of position c5 c5 17.g4 fd8?! 18.g5! xe5 19.fxe5 before. Here Houska gives 18 Ne4 as a main g4 20.h5! f2 21.gxh6 xh1 22.g5 f5 line. 18.b1 23.exf6 with a crushing attack) 15...c7 [ 18.f5? exf5 19.xe7 xc5! 20.e2 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 ad8 18.e3 cd7 was Leko-Karpov, Miskolic (rapid) ( 18.g4! is the only way to play for more but 2006. ] Black should be OK here with xe5 19.fxe5 18...fd8 19.c2 f8 c5! 20.g5 h5 and with White's kingside [ 19...a5 ] attack stopped for the time being the 20.e2!? g4 21.f4 b7 22.g3 df6 po sitio n is equ a l) 18...xe5 19.dxe5 23.e5 d5?! 1/2-1/2 Jakovenko, D (2724)-Eljanov, P [ 23...d5 was equal. ] (2702) Tromso 2013 ] 1729 Amonatov,Farrukh Bareev,Evgeny 60th ch-RUS Higher League (8) [John Watson]

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12...e7 13.d2 gf6 14.0-0-0 0-0 15.f3 So this is Anand's improvement over his game with Carlsen - I must say I'm not convinced, although he obtains good chances later on I see no reason why Black should be worse here, especially with the strong plan of ...a5, ... a4 [ 15.e4 led to an early draw in AnandCarlsen which I annotated last year. ] 15...c7 16.c4 [ 16.e2 c5 17.b1 transposes to a sideline I looked at in Anand-Carlsen as a possible improvement but it looks like Vishy doesn't like this idea. Perhaps Black can just hold the kingside with h5 although this always feels a bit risky to me. A possible continuation here would be 18.xd7 xd7 19.dxc5 xc5 20.f5!? exf5 21.g3!? wit h un cle ar p lay. Black can 't be m uch worse after c6 though ] 16...a5! Gaining space and looking to provoke a weakness on the queenside 17.b1 ad8 18.c1 a4 The novelty actually comes from Andreikin and it looks like Black should be OK here. Still, the position is complicated and perhaps Anand was just aiming for a tricky middlegame where Black has plenty of chances to go wrong [ 18...fe8 19.e2 ( 19.h5!? is dangerous here too, e.g. c5 20.xg7!? xg7 21.g3+ f8 22.f5 d6 23.xd7+ xd7 24.xh6+ e7 25.f2 with two pawn s a nd a b ig att ack f or th e p iece. I wonder if Anand had this idea in mind in his preparation?) 19...c5 20.g4 cxd4 21.g5 xe5 22.fxe5 h7?! and now in Topalov, V (2707)-Dreev, A (2676) New Delhi 2000 ( 22...d7 is critical here, although White retains a strong attack after 23.gxh6 d3 24.c3 g6 25.h5 Black's whole position looks very suspicious in this line) 23.hf1! ( 23.gxh6 xe5 24.hxg7 f5 was still better for White in the game but it was no longer completely clear, although Topalov did go on to win ) 23...f8 24.gxh6 g6 25.f4 would've left Black in a lot of trouble ] 19.he1 a3 20.b3 b4 21.e3 c5?! I'm not sure I like this move, the pawn becomes a strength on d5 [ 21...fe8 calmly waiting seems a better approach. White can try 22.e2 preparing

g4 but now might be a better time for c5 as ( 22...h5!? ) 23.d5 exd5 24.cxd5 d6 and Black can no longer bring a knight to f5 ] 22.d5 exd5 23.cxd5 b6 24.ed3 c8? A serious mistake which Anand pounces upon. The White pawn on d6 becomes something of a monster [ 24...c8! was necessary to prevent the pawn from pushing on, but even here Black is a bit worse after 25.g4! xg4 26.xg4 d6 27.f5 and Black can't properly deal with the duel threats of 28.Bxh6 and 28.f6, although after f6 28.xh6 h8 29.f4 c4! Black actually has reasonable compensation for the pawn ] 25.d6! fe8 26.h5 Suddenly Black is in dire straits and Andreikin is just looking to survive. Anand was a long way ahead in the Candidates at this stage and could be n e r vo u s a b o u t p o t e n t i a l t r a p s s o i t wa s important for Andreikin not to be too passive e6?! 27.xf6+? [ 27.d7! seems to win outright here for example c7 28.f5! xe5 29.xf6+ gxf6 30.xh6 and there's no good defense to the threat of Qg4+ and mate on g7 ] 27...xf6 28.d7 c7 29.g4! c4 30.g3 g6 31.h5 cxb3 32.xb3 a4! Andreikin keeps on fighting but it seems almost a lost cause 33.hxg6 fxg6 34.xb4 c3+ 35.c2! b5 36.b3 a4 37.f3?! [ 37.d2! c5+ 38.xa3 and Black doesn't really have anything to show for the piece ] 37...c5+ 38.c2 a4+ 39.b3 c5+ 40.c2 a4+ 41.b3 [ 41.c4! bxc4 42.xa3 was still close to winning for White but with Anand so close to winning the Candidates he didn't want to risk anything and who can blame him? He did win the tournament the next day after all! ] ½-½

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1731 Anand,V Carlsen,M WCh 2013 Chennai IND (2) [Tom Rendle]

B19 2775 2870 10.11.2013

1.e4 c6 A slight surprise as Carlsen chooses a Caro Kann in his first Black game of the World Championship match. He has played it bef ore but not since 2011, and it's worth noting that he had only faced the Advance variation. Anand decides to see what Magnus has prepared for the Classical mainline... 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 e6 Interestingly Carlsen chooses this sideline rather than taking on Vishy in a theoretical mainline battle. In terms of preparation he has the advantage that he has never played this line before whereas Anand had this earlier this year against Ding Liren. 8.e5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 d7 11.f4 b4+ 12.c3 e7 13.d2 gf6 Up until now the game has been following Anand's win against Ding Liren but now Vishy decides to sidestep the majority of Carlsen's preparation by choosing a different move here. 14.0-0-0 [ 14.e2 worked well for White in AnandDing Liren which I analysed in the archives bu t Ca rls e n d e f in ite ly wo uld 've h ad a n improvement ready. My guess would be he w o u l d ' v e t r i e d 0-0! when White should consider ( 14...c5 was Ding Liren's choice) 15.f5!? d6 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.0-0-0 ] 14...0-0 15.e4 [ 15.e2!? is a more aggressive way to play, p r e p a r i n g a q u i c k g 4 - g 5 a n d a f t e r c5 16.b1 ( I w a n t e d t o g e t 16.g4!? to work here but after cxd4 17.xd7 xd7 18.g5 dxc3! 19.xc3 xd3 20.xd3 d5 Black has survived White's attack and has excellent chances here.) 16...c7 17.f3 cxd4 18.cxd4 d5 19.g4 Black has a strong knight on d5 but W hite still keeps good attacking chances on the kingside. Probably Anand was reluctant to play into suc h a co mp licat ed lin e and risk be in g outprepared, having been surprised in the opening. ] 15...xe4 16.xe4 xe5! [ 16...f5?! is less accurate here 17.e2!

xe5 18.dxe5 d5 19.c4! d7 20.b4 e8 21.d6 and White had control of the dfile and much the better chances in Smeets, J (2613)-Lauber, A (2465) Forchheim 2012 ] 17.fxe5 [ 17.dxe5 d5 18.xd5 cxd5 and only Black can be better in this ending, perhaps wit h . . . b 5 a n d a m in o rit y a t t a ck o n t h e queenside. ] 17...d5 This is Carlsen's idea - if he can get the queens off then it should be a comfortable draw with Black. 18.xd5 Anand agrees to the exchange, much to the disappointment of the watching audience. This leads to a quick draw but probably W hite had no real advantage in any case [ 18.g4 was the critical test but we can be sure that this is still part of Magnus's prep. and now: h7 A) 19.b1 f5 ( 19...ad8 ); B) 19.g5! is white's trickiest option but after f6! ( 19...hxg5?? loses to 20.hxg5+ g8 21.h5! f5 22.gxf6 xf6 23.exf6 d7 24.fxg7 xg7 25.g5 ) 20.exf6 xf6 21.b1 ae8 Black should have no serious problems here as he can liquidate his weak pawn on e6 with ... e5 in the near future. ] 18...cxd5 19.h5 b5! If Black sits and waits White might get annoying pressure by playing a rook to g1 and pushing g4-g5 and then doubling rooks against g7 but with this move Black gets enough counterplay by aiming to create a weakness in White's queenside with ...a5 and ...b4 20.h3 a5 21.f1 ac8 With Black ready to play ...b4 Anand decides it's time to force a draw with 3-fold repetition. 22.g3 h7 23.gf3 g8 24.g3 h7 25.gf3 g8 A definite success for Carlsen's preparation in this game, surprising Anand with a Caro and then using the unusual 7...e6 to obtain an easy draw. ½-½

1888

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 better for White in Paehtz, E (2419)-Maric, B19 A (2433) Plovdiv 2003 ] 2783 2707 14...c5 15.dxc5 [ 15.f5!? looks dangerous here - a key line is 25.04.2013 cxd4 ( 15...0-0 is safer but then 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.g6 should be enough for a slight advantage ) 16.xf7! xf7 17.fxe6+ g8 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 18.exd7 xd7 19.0-0-0 with a complicated 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 e6 8.e5 h7 position but probably a good one for White 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 d7 11.f4! due to generally more active pieces. ] Up u n t il h e re we ' re s t ill f o l lo wi n g S a ric Nisipeanu which I annotated last month. There 15...c7 [ given the way the game turns out Ding I suggested that White should be better after Liren probably wished he'd just taken on c5 the usual 11...c5 so it's interesting to see a s t r a i g h t a wa y h e r e . T h e r e n o o b v i o u s dif f erent approach from Ding Liren here. a d v a n t a g e f o r W h i t e a f t e r 15...xc5 b4+!? This move was mentioned in the 16.0-0-0 0-0 although probably Anand's archives in the notes to the game Khalifmani d e a w a s t o t r y 17.e4!? followed by a S o l o z h e n k i n 12.c3 e7 13.d2 gf6 quick attack with g4-g5. Still af ter xe5 14.e2!? A novelty from Anand. 18.fxe5 xe4 19.xe4 c7 20.g4 ad8 [ 14.0-0-0 was considered by Andrew Martin A) 21.h5 d5 22.f4 fd8 and Black in his notes to the Khalifman game and I've has no problems ( 22...b5!? ); ad d e d in m y t h ou gh t s as we ll a s so m e B) 21.g5 h5 Black seems to be holding. ] recent games from this position. c5 15.e3 Anand aims to hold onto the pawn, at A) 15...c7 doesn't seem to equalise at 16.b4! least for now. The pawn on c5 now proves to all here A1) 16.e4 d8 17.xf6+ xf6 be a thorn in Black's side, making it harder for 18.c4 0-0 19.xd7 xd7 20.dxc5 him to activate his pieces. 0-0 17.0-0 a5 xe5 19.fxe5 d7 20.e4! c6 21.e2 e7 ( 21...xd1+! 18.a3 22.xd1 xh4 is closer to equalising Fantastic play from Vishy, giving back the although I'd still rather be W hite after pawn in return for an attack. axb4 [ 20...xh4?! 21.xh6! would be a disaster 23.d4! ) 22.f2 gave White a slight for Black the best he can do here is edge in Grischuk, A (2732)-Yevseev, D A) 21...gxh6 22.g4+ g5 23.xg5 (2589) Krasnoyarsk 2003; xe5 ( 23...hxg5?? leads to mate after A2) 16.xd7! looks best here and now 24.xg5+ h8 25.f4 ) 24.xe6+ xg4 xd7 ( 16...xd7 17.d5! ) 17.dxc5 a4 25.xc7 leaves White a pawn up with a 18.b1 d8 19.e2 xd1+ 20.xd1 good position; 0-0 21.d4 and Black didn't have B) 21...xe5 22.f4 e7 23.f2 f6 enough for the pawn in Smeets, J (2531)24.g4 and White will win at least a pawn Medvegy, Z (2478) Solingen 2005 and keep his positional advantages. ] although later W hite went wrong, and 21.cxb4 xe5 22.c3 c7 23.ad1 ad8 even over-pressed and lost.; B) 15...0-0 16.e4 cxd4 17.xd4 xe4 24.g4 g6? [ 24...e5 was better but White remains 18.xe4 xe5 19.xe5 c8 20.g4! clearly better after 25.d6 xd6 26.xd6 ] and White was clearly on top and went on to win in Korneev, O (2566)-Zelcic, R 25.d6! This introduces the crushing threat of Rxf7 and there's really no defence here. (2524) Nova Gorica 2004; [ 25.h5 g5 26.d6 is also crushing ] C) 15...a5 16.xd7 xd7 17.dxc5 d8 18.b1 xc5 ( 18...0-0 was given 25...e5 [ also hopeless is 25...xd6 26.xd6 fe8 by Andrew as a 'clear improvement' and I 27.h5 g5 28.e4! and now Rxf7 is a pretty agree it does give Black good chances. much unstoppable threat, for example even Still W hite has some initiative after e7 doesn't help after 29.xf7!! xf7 ( or 19.f5!? ) 19.e2 d7 20.f5 was clearly 1732 Anand,V Ding Liren Alekhine Mem (5) [Tom Rendle]

1889

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 29...xf7 30.g6+ f8 31.xh6+ e8 32.g6+ f8 33.h6 ) 30.g6+ f8 31.xh6+ e8 32.xe6+ e7 33.g6+ f8 34.h6! and Black can safely resign. ] 26.c4 b6 27.e4 d7 [ 27...xd6 is met by 28.xd6 xd6 29.xe5 ] 28.h5 gxh5 29.f5 f6 30.xh5 c6 31.xf6! xf6 32.xe5 A rather one-sided game with Ding Liren being put to the sword by the current World Champion. This line is looking shaky for Black at the moment although 15. ..Bxc5 does give reasonable chances to equalise. 1-0

1733 Anand,Viswanathan Macieja,Bartlomiej Bundesliga 2006-7 (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B19 2792 2585 29.10.2006

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 [ 12...c7 ] 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 [ 14...b4 15.e4! is better for White. ] 15.0-0-0 gf6 16.de1!? [ 16.e4 b5! is, I believe, one of the points of Black's move order. ] 16...b5 I am not sure of the significance of this move-order, but [ 16...0-0 17.f5 exf5 18.xe7 e4 is fine for Black. ] 17.c5! Superficially anti-positional, but a l t h o u gh B l a c k ga i n s t h e d 5 s q u a r e , h e doesn't gain anything else on the queenside, and W hite has a long-term threat of g4-g5 which is difficult to play against, especially now that castling queenside is no longer attractive for Black. 0-0 [ 17...0-0-0 looks unwise with the pawn on b5, but is still worth considering because it is not easy for W hite to get at the Black king. ] 18.e2 This looks like a novelty, and it turned out to be highly effective. fe8 [ 18...g4!? It is often a good idea to start

with the move that looks most irritating for your opponent, because it often turns out to be best. This move is a little counterintuitive because the knight moves away from the freshly made stable on d5 to much less certain ground, but it prevents g4 with tempo and makes it difficult for white to play a co n st ru ct ive m o ve . I a m no t su re wh a t sh o u ld h a p p e n n o w, b u t a sa m p le lin e s u g g e s t s t h a t B l a c k i s o k . 19.ef1 ( 19.e3!? ) 19...fd8 threat of Nc5. 20.c2 df6 Now White wants to move his knight and play f3 and g4 but it's not so easy. 21.e1 ( 21.h4!? might be stronger, when the stakes quickly become quite high after d5 22.f4 f5 and it feels like anything could happen. ) 21...d5 22.f3? ge3 ] 19.g4! e5 20.f5 exd4 21.g5 hxg5 22.xg5 h7 23.f4 c8 24.exd4 xc5 25.c2 f8 26.eg1 e4 27.e5 f6 28.h6 fxe5 29.hxg7 e7 30.xe5 d6 31.f4 xe5 32.fxe5 1-0

1734 Apicella,Manuel Bauer,Christian ch-FRA Aix les Bains (6) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2520 2585 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.f3 d7 7.h4 h6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 Black can stop Bc1-f4 with the older move 10... Qc7, but the precise point of this move order is to be able to play ...Qd8-a5 in one go, accelerating Queenside pressure. 11.f4 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 14.e4 a5 15.xf6+ xf6 16.e5 ad8 17.g3 h8 18.d3 [ 18.c4 d7 19.d3 was the course of Karyarkin-Van Delft Vienna 2003. The text seems more direct. ] 18...d5N This prod with the Knight seems playable but the hit in the centre is reliable too: [ 18...c5! 19.f3 xd4 20.xd4 cxd4 21.xb7 d5 22.g3 a4 23.b3 a6 24.d3 a4 25.d1 c5 26.b3 a6 27.a4 f6 28.b5 c8 29.d3 e7 30.e5 c5 31.d3 1/2-1/2 Adams, MBareev, E/ Dortmund 2002 ] 1890

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.d2 b6 20.c4 f6 21.e3 a5?! [ 21...a6! keeping in touch with the light squares is correct. The attack on c4 coupled with ... Nf6-d7, gives sufficient counterplay. An additional bonus must be that the Black queen already protects b7. 22.f3 g8 23.g4 ( 23.hd1 d7 24.g3 h8 25.f4 xe5 26.xe5 f6 27.c7 d7 28.b3=; 23.f4 d7 24.g3 h8 25.e1 f6 26.f3 a4 27.b3 b4= ) 23...d7 and no w 2 4 g5 come s a drif t due to th e hanging Rook on d3, ] 22.b3 a6 23.f3 g8 24.g4 d7 25.g5!! No hanging around for Apicella. With Bauer's Queen way out on the edge and no central counterplay to be seen it's party time! xe5 [ 25...xg5 26.xg5 hxg5 27.h6 xe5 28.dxe5 gxh6 29.xh6+- ] 26.dxe5 hxg5 27.h6 xc4 28.hxg7 xg7 29.xg5! Bauer kept his dark-squared Bishop to avoid a fate like this. Unfortunately for him, Apicella has spotted a brilliant finish. xg5 30.f6+! Beautiful! Forced mate. 1-0

Acceptance by [ 19...fxe4 leads to 20.xe4 df6 ( 20...gf6 21.xe6+ f7 22.h4! threatens Nf5, Bxh6, and other nasty attacks ) 21.xe6+ A) 21...h7!? 22.xg4 ( 22.f5+ g8 23.e6+; 22.h4! ae8 23.hxg4 xg4 24.xg4 d6 25.b1 isn't so clear ) 22...xg4 23.xg4 d6!; B) 21...f7 and White has to prove that he has enough for the material A sample of play would be 22.e5!? xe5 23.dxe5 e8 24.xh6 c8! ] 20.e1!? e5 [ Or 20...c5 ] 21.g3 exd4 [ Or 21...g5 ] 22.xf5 xf5?! [ T h e c o m p u t e r s o l u t i o n i s 22...g5! 23.xg4 e5! 24.h3 xd2+ 25.b1 ( 25.xd2 xc4+ wins ) 25...g5 with an extra pawn, meeting 26.f4 with d7! ] 23.xg4 f7?! [ Black should sacrifice material in turn by 23...g5! 24.xg5 ( 24.e6+ f8 ) 24...xg5+ 25.b1 e5 , when he gets a 1735 B19 second pawn and attack for the exchange. ] Bacrot,Etienne 2705 24.xh6 f6 25.d2! e5 26.e2 d3 Leko,Peter 2747 27.e4! b6 28.b3 c5 29.h6 a3+ [ 29...b5 30.f4 bxc4 , and Rybka says FIDE Grand Prix (4) 17.12.2008 31.d1! ] [John Watson] 30.d1 [ 30.b1 is also strong with the idea fe7 A n o t h e r t e s t o f Ho u ska 's m a in lie in t h e 31.hxg7 g6 32.h8+! xh8 33.gxh8+ Classical Caro-Kann. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 xh8 34.h1+ g8 35.g6+ g7 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 36.xd3! ] h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 30...xa2?? [ But 30...g6 31.xg6+! h8 32.g7! 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 15.0-0-0 gf6 wins best is ] 16.e4 W e've seen all this before. 0-0 [ 30...e7! , when 31.h5 (covering g5) g6! B u t h e r e B l a c k d e vi a t e s f r o m H o u s k a ' s 32.xd3 ( 32.h2 ) 32...xd3 33.xg6+ recommendation 16...Rd8, and White tries to h8 34.xd3 probably favours White's two take immediate advantage: 17.g4!? xg4 extra pawns, but it's still messy. ] 18.e2! 31.h7+! A pretty finish. [ Sidestepping 18.hg1 f5! 19.c3 e5 ] [ 31.h7+ f8 ( 31...xh7 32.hxg7+ g8 18...f5 19.dg1!? A little crazy, and probably 33.h8# ) 32.b4+ fe7 33.hxg7+ xg7 unsound, but in practice Black will be put 34.xg7# ] under great pressure. Slower moves were 1-0 [ 19.g3 and ] [ 19.h4 ] 19...ae8 Safe and apparently solid. 1891

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1736 B19 Balogh,Csaba 2665 Ragger,Markus 2655 TCh-AUT 1st Bundesliga 2012 (1.1) 20.01.2012 [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 14.e4 c5 [ 14...xe4 is the other main move but doesn't grant Black many winning chances: 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 d5 17.e5 e4 18.xe4 xe4 and Black held the ending although he was under significant pressure 19.e1 fd8 20.f3 f6 21.g4 ac8 22.c4 d7 23.a5 b6 24.c3 g5 25.c2 f8 26.he1 xe5 27.dxe5 e7 28.b4+ c5 29.c3 and Black really shouldn't have had any problems. Najer, E (2637)-Parligras, M (2625) Solingen 2012. ] 15.g4!? This pawn sacrifice is thematic in the Caro-Kann and here too it should be taken seriously. [ 15.dxc5 is inspected in the archives Carpentier, J-SIM Janosi, E (2425) ICCF Email 2002 by Andrew Martin. ] 15...xg4 The pawn should be taken [ I n a n e a r l y g a m e i n t h e l i n e 15...cxd4 was played but here the young Azeri could have played 16.g5! which looks very strong. ( Instead 16.hg1 xe4 17.xe4 c5 18.xd4 xd4 19.xd4= was nothing at all for W hite, Gashimov, V (2470)Mc h e d l is h v il i , M (2 5 4 0 ) B a t u m i 2 0 0 2 .) 16...xe4 17.xe4 c5 18.g4 with a dangerous attack. ] 16.e2 Preparation for Black's subsequent ... f5 as now e6 will be hanging. [ 16.hg1 f5 looks fine for Black. ] 16...b6 Continuing down the recommended theoretical path. [ 16...f5 has been tried by a couple of GMs but is not sufficient to equalise: 17.xc5 xc5 18.dxc5 d5 ( 18...c8 19.c3 f7 20.hg1 xc5 21.d4 e5 22.xe5 xe5 23.xe6 f6 24.xe5 xe5 25.d5 h2 26.g6 left White in a very pleasant ending: Cheparinov, I (2660)-Le Quang, L (2647) Moscow 2010.) 19.xh6! e4 20.e3 f6 21.d2 b4 22.b3

a n d B l a c k wa s u n d e r h e a vy p r e s s u r e , although he did manage to hold a draw with his high rated opponent. Caruana, F (2675)Rapport, R (2509) Chur 2010. ] [ 16...e8?! looked very unnatural and Black was swiftly in a lost position: 17.dxc5 c8 18.d4 f5 19.d6 xd6 20.cxd6 f6 21.b5 Piorun, K (2513)-Riazantsev, A (2689) Warsaw 2010. ] [ 16...cxd4 has also been played but this looks very risky: 17.xd4 df6 18.xf6+ xf6 19.xh6! gxh6 and here 20.f5! looks very dangerous indeed ( Instead Black survived after 20.xe6 b6 21.hg1+ h8 22.xf8 xf8 23.d3 e8 24.f3 g7 25.c3 b5 26.d4 b6 27.g2 f8 28.a4 f5+ 29.a1 1/2-1/2 Cornette, M (2552)-Magem Badals, J (2576) France 2010. ) 20...exf5 ( 20...c7 21.hg1+ h8 22.e3! g4 23.xg4 g5 24.d4+ e5 25.e4 leaves White with a very comfortable advantage.) 21.xd8 xd8 22.e3 h7 23.f3 and here the queen looks stronger than rook, bishop and knight as Black's king is still vulnerable while his pawns are dropping fast. ] 17.e5 [ 17.dg1!? was another recent try that was highly successful but it appears with correct play Black should hold on. f5 18.h2 W h e n B l a c k e r r e d w i t h ( 18.e5!? could be another interesting try. ) A) Instead 18...gf6 looks solid enough: 19.xc5 ( 19.xf6+ xf6 20.d5 e8 21.f3 grants White good compensation for the pawn but nevertheless was Black's best. ) 19...xc5 20.dxc5 xc5 21.xh6 w h e n B l a c k h a s t h e w a c k y d4!? ( 21...f7 is of course the sensible move, w i t h a r o u g h l y b a l a n c e d p o s i t i o n .) 22.xg7+ h8 23.c4 ( 23.c3 e4 24.g3 g8! favours Black.) 23...e4 24.g3 xg3 25.fxg3 f7 with a highly complex position. My computer initially prefers W hite but following 26.f3 e5 27.g5 e8 28.d1 c6 29.xd4 exd4 30.c2 f3 it is Black who is starting to take over the initiative.; B) 18...xh2?! 19.xc5 xc5 20.dxc5 c7? ( 20...xc5 21.xh2 gives White dangerous prospects down the g file but 1892

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 was necessary.) 21.xe6+ h8 22.xg7! xg7 23.xh6+ g8 24.g6+ h8 25.c3+ 1-0 Parligras, M (2650) -El Debs, F (2497) Caleta 2012. ] 17...dxe5 And this is also the correct knight. [ In previous games Black has more c o m m o n l y t r i e d 17...gxe5?! but this doesn't equalise: 18.dxe5 xe5 19.hg1 and the two pawn deficit means very little with such a strong attack, as borne out in a c o u p l e o f r e c e n t G M g a m e s . fd8 ( 19...h8 20.c3 f6 21.f4 c6 22.xg7! ad8 23.dg1 d4 24.xd4 cxd4 25.g4 a3 26.h7+ was all very easy for the Women's Champion - Hou, Y (2570)-Le Thanh Tu (2318) China 2010.) 20.xh6 a6 21.xd8+ xd8 22.e1 choosing to keep the queens on for the attack ( although 22.xa6 bxa6 23.xg7 f3 24.f6+ xf6 25.xf6+ xg1 26.xd8 looks like a great ending. ) 22...f3? ( 22...g6 was necessary.) 23.c3 e5 24.xg7+ h8 25.xf3 f1+ 26.c1 xg7 27.h6+ f8 28.h7 g7 29.g3 d1 30.h5+ h8 31.xf7 1-0 Negi, P (2615)-Del Rio Angelis, S (2559) Montcada 2009. ] 18.dxe5 f5 19.exf6 xf6 The Hiarcs O p e n in g b o o k e n d s h e re b u t it 's sa f e t o assume both players home analysis c o n t i n u e s . 20.dg1 xe4 21.xe4 f6 22.c3 And only this move seems to be the novelty. [ In the only other game to reach this position W hite was very successful with 22.b3 A) Instead 22...c4! seems to be the way to go and is probably the reason Balogh d e v i a t e d . F o l l o w i n g 23.xh6 cxb3 24.axb3 f7 Black's counterplay on the a f ile an d p os sib ility of e xch a ngin g t h e queens on d4 mean that he is fine, e.g. 25.g5 ( 25.e3 a5 is certainly not worse for Black. ) 25...d4=; B) 22...d6?! 23.xh6 d4 24.xd4 xd4 ( 24...cxd4 25.xg7 xg7 26.h6 f7 27.h5 would also give White a big advantage in the ending.) 25.xg7 xg7 26.h6 f7 27.h5 c8 28.e5 cc7 29.xg7+ xg7 30.hxg7 f7 31.xe6 re ac h ed an e n din g sim ila r to th e o n e reached in the game where W hite won

very quickly: xg7 32.e2 f6 33.b2 h7 34.a4 a6 35.a5 h4 36.e8 1-0 Pruijssers, R (2415) -Abeln, M (2329) Netherlands 2010. ] 22...d6? Surprised by 22.c3 Ragger fails to find the right response. [ 22...f7! was certainly not the easiest move to find but this plan of running the king to the queenside looks to hold equality. 23.h7 ( 23.h3 ad8 24.f4 d5= and Black's position looks safe enough as his pieces are active. ) A) 23...e8 might also be ok but 24.xg7 looks rather dangerous, for example: xg7 25.xg7 xf2 26.g6+ e7 ( 26...d7? 27.d1 ) 27.d1 d8! ( 27...b5 28.c1! is very unpleasant: af8 29.xh6 8f6 30.h7+ e8 31.g8+ e7 32.g3 with a clear advantage.) 28.xh6 d5 29.c4 d4 30.g7+ e8 31.h6 fxd2 32.xd2 xd2 33.h7 d1+ 34.c2 h1 35.h8+ xh8 36.xh8+= with a drawn ending.; B) 23...h8! 24.g6+ ( 24.c2 ad8 and Black can hardly have anything to fear. ) 24...e7 25.a1 so that the bishop can move from d2 without ...Bxc3 problems. ad8 26.f4 d7 27.e1 c8 28.g4 he8 29.e4 d5 30.he1 c6= and Black is fully coordinated and is equal. ] [ Instead 22...h8 23.g6 leaves Black under ongoing unpleasant pressure, even if he tried exchanging into an endgame with ( 23.xh6!? ) 23...c6 24.xc6 bxc6 25.g4 ] 23.xh6 d5 24.g6 [ 24.e2!? is also possible if White wants to keep the initiative but not really as sensible as the game continuation which nets White a clear extra pawn. ] 24...f5+ 25.xf5 exf5 26.xg7 xg7 27.h6 f7 28.h5 e8 29.hxg7 xg7 30.xg7+ xg7 31.xf5 White has succeeded in reaching an endgame with an extra pawn and it feels winning to me. Balogh displays immaculate technique to grind out the full point. b6 32.f4 e2 33.a4 a6 34.a2 d2 35.f5 g6 [ 35...a5 is suggested by the computer but d o e sn 't lo o k t o sa ve B la ck e it h e r a f t e r 1893

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 36.b3 c4+ 37.xc4 xb2 38.b5 ] 36.f8 g7 37.a8 a5 38.b8 d6 39.b3 f7 40.c4 f6 41.f3 d6 42.b5 d2 43.b7+ e8 44.xb6 xb2+ 45.xc5 f2 46.e6+ d7 47.e3 a2 48.b5 b2+ 49.xa5 c6 50.f4 15.g4 is a dangerous move to face but doesn't yet appear to give White a definite plus. In the game 22.c3 was an interesting nuance but had Black found 22...Kf7! it wouldn't change the assessment from equality. 1-0

1737 Balogh,Csaba Rodshtein,Maxim 5th Open Wroclaw POL (8) [Gawain Jones]

B19 2621 2626 01.07.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e2 0-0 [ 13...c5 is Lars Schandorff's suggestion, avoiding the plan used in the game. ] 14.f1 Preparing g2-g4 in an attempt to open up the king. This line came into fashion in 2008 and W hite has scored very well but recently Black has come up with some good defensive resources. c5 [ 14...b6 has been seen quite frequently. 15.b1 ( 15.e3 was also tried in a recent game. a4 16.h3 b6 17.c4 b5 18.fe5 d5 19.b1 b5 20.a5 e4?! Andersen, M (2382) -Lalith, B (2502) Choto wa 20 10 wh en th ere was no thin g wrong with 21.axc6 ) A) 15...d5 16.e3 e4 17.h4 h7 is a strange plan. The queen looks really out of place but Black hopes to combine defensive resources with an attack down the long diagonal. A1) 18.e5 e4 19.g4 xd2+ 20.xd2 ad8 A1a) 21.g6!? fe8 ( 21...fxg6?? 22.hxg6 h8 23.d5+- ) 22.xe7+ xe7 is around level.; A1b) 21.a3 f6 22.d3 Llaneza Vega, M (2470)-Lafuente, P (2578) Burguillos 2010 when the

s i m p l e s t wo u l d b e xe5 23.dxe5 xd3 24.cxd3 d8 25.e4 d5 26.c4 c7 although White is still a little better.; A2) 18.c1 ad8 19.g4 d5 20.ge5 bd7 21.hh1 Hou Yifan (2 58 9)-Zh ou W e iqi (25 85 ) Dan zh o u 2010 looked rather artif icial and d8 looked the simplest way to defuse any hopes of a White attack. Black plans on exchanging knights and all rooks when Black will have the better of the game.; B) 15...a4 Black provokes White into creating a weakness in front of his own king. 16.b3 b6 17.g4 a5 18.a4 bd5 This position has been reached twice in the past few months. B1) 19.c4? allowed the fantastic b5!! 20.axb5 Vallejo Pons, F (2708) Vuckovic, B (2630) Rijeka 2010 when Black would have taken the upper-hand with ( 20.cxd5 xd5 21.c1 xb3+ 22.b2 bxa4 is very dangerous.) 20...cxb5! 21.cxd5 xd5 22.b2 a4 with a fabulous attack. 23.d3 axb3 24.xb3 a3+ wins material.; B2) 19.e5 b5? Too ambitious. ( 19...d7 was more circu mspect .) 20.xc6 d6 21.axb5 a3 22.h3 b4 23.xe7+ h8 24.c3 a2+ 25.c1 a4 26.g5 hxg5 27.g6+ g8 Vaibhav, S (2419)-Sethuraman, S (2513) Pardubice 2010, when, instead of taking the draw with 28 Ne7+, 28.xb4 was simply winning as a1+ ( 28...axb3 29.xb3+- ) 29.d2 xd4+ 30.e1 xb4+ 31.c3 xb3 32.xf8 is simply an extra rook. ] [ 14...g4!? is an interesting attempt to prevent White's plan of opening the g file. 15.e5 gxe5 16.dxe5 c7 17.f4 f6?! 18.exf6 xf6 19.xe6+ h8 20.g3 with an extra pawn. Kryakvin, D (2591)Charochkina, D (2303) St Petersburg 2010 ] [ 14...b5 looks too slow. 15.g4 d5 16.g5 xg5 17.xg5 hxg5 18.g1 f4 19.xf4 gxf4 20.d2 f6 21.g4 b6 22.dg1 ( 22.e4! h6 23.dg1 is a more accurate move order, preventing Black the possibility of capturing on d4.) 22...d5 23.e4 h6? ( 23...xd4 had to be played although 1894

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.g5! threatening 25.c3 leaves White with a great position.) 24.d6! f3+ 25.d2 xd2+ 26.xd2 g6 27.hxg6 f5 28.h4 g7 29.h7+ f6 30.f7 g8 31.e5 1-0 Kononenko, D (2582) -Korobkov, P (2491) Plovdiv 2010. ] 15.g4 cxd4 This seems necessary. Alternatives have been tried in recent games but W hite has reached very pleasant positions. [ 15...d5 16.c4 b4 17.dxc5 a6 18.g1 ( 18.g5! hxg5 19.h6 g6 20.h7+ h8 21.c3+ f6 22.c6 bxc6 23.xg5 would already be winning.) 18...axc5 19.g5 hxg5 20.xg5 b6 21.c3 f6 22.xe6 xe6 23.xe6+ xe6 24.xd7 f7 25.xb7 and the extra two pawns were e a s y t o c o n ve r t . G e o r g ia d i s , I ( 2 4 5 7 ) Kounalakis, E (2142) Rethymno 2010. ] [ 15...h7 is a very passive defence. 16.b1 c8 17.g3 cxd4 18.xd4 c5 Kochetkova, J (2327) -Thorsteinsdottir, H (1995) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 when 19.e3 is rather more pleasant for W hite as she could start proceedings on the kingside. ] 16.g5 d5! A new try for ChessPublishing. Funnily enough I first saw this move played against me in a blitz game on ICC. The move looks incredibly risky but Black's counterplay comes very fast. [ 16...hxg5 was seen in Robson-Malakhatko but this is exactly what White is aiming for. A recent game continued: 17.xg5 a5 18.b1 fe8 19.g3 ( 19.h6 g6 20.xd4 is also pleasant f or W hite.) 19...ac8 ( 19...e5 20.f5! is too risky.) 20.xd4 e5 21.xd7!? xd7 22.xe7 e4 ( 22...xe7 is necessary although 23.f5 e6 24.g1 leaves White with a very powerful initiative. g6 25.hxg6 fxg6 26.d3 f8 27.g5 and Black won't last long.) 23.xe4 f6 24.f5 xf5 25.xf5 and White was simply winning, Csonka, A (2381)-Karner, C (2345) Oberwart 2010. ] 17.gxh6 b6 18.e4 Vacating the e2 square for the White king. [ 18.hxg7 a3!! was the route of my blitz game. 19.gxf8+ xf8 and amazingly despite W hite's extra rook he has no defence, for instance: 20.b4 ( 20.bxa3 c3 21.xc3 dxc3 and White must give up

at least his queen to prevent the mate.) 20...xb4 21.c4 ( 21.bxa3 xa3+ 22.d2 b4+ 23.c1 c3 and White cannot defend both his queen and the mate threat on a2. ) 21...c3 22.d2 xa2+ 23.c2 ( 23.b1 c3+ 24.c1 xb2+ 25.xb2 xb2+ 26.xb2 xd1+ 27.c2 xf2-+ ) 23...xb2+ 24.d3 b3+ 25.e2 c3+ ( 25...xc4+ might be even stronger.) 26.e1 xd1+ 27.xd1 xd1 28.xd1 e5 and Black's easily winning. ] [ 18.g1 a l s o l e a d s t o a d r a w . a3 19.xg7+ h8 20.bxa3 c3 21.xc3 dxc3 22.h7+ g8 ( 22...xh7 23.e4+ xh6 24.xd7 and White's king can escape to e2. ) 23.g7+= ] 18...c5 [ 18...a3?? 19.bxa3 c3 20.xc3 dxc3 21.xd7 gets Black nowhere. ] 19.g4 Forced [ 19.xd4?? f6 20.e5 b3+ and the White queen drops. ] 19...f6 20.g5 a4 [ 20...c3 21.xf6 xa2+ 22.b1 c3+ 23.c1 would be another route to the draw as a2+ 24.d2 b4+ 25.e2 d3+ and again Black wins the queen. ] 21.xf6 [ 21.b3 is no different. b4 22.xf6 a3+ 23.d2 b4+= ] 21...xb2+ 22.d2 b4+ 23.c1 a3+ 24.d2 b4+ 25.c1 a3+ 26.d2 b4+ Interestingly Rodshtein has now had this game twice. It appears that Black has accurately defused this aggressive try and shows that Black has tactical tries of his own which, with correct play lead to a draw. ½-½

1738 B19 Berg,Emanuel 2610 Lopez Martinez,Josep Manuel 2557 XI Open Salou ESP (7) 11.05.2009 [John Watson] Once more we have Jovanka Houska's favorite variation. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 1895

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.c4 c7 15.0-0-0 gf6 16.b1 0-0 17.c2 This important new and popular move h a s h a d go o d su cce ss o f la t e . I t is n 't i n Houska's book. The point is to discourage ... c5 because of d5, as well as to stop ...b5 for the moment, and thus gain time to prepare a kingside attack. Nevertheless, I f eel that Black should come out with satisfactory play. fd8 Here's a survey of the many alternatives. Black seems to have several satisf actory moves: [ a) 17...c5 18.d5 exd5 19.f5 is awkward because of the tactical A) 19...fe8 20.xh6! f8 21.d2 d4 22.g5; B) 19...b6! 20.f4 ( 20.he1 fe8 21.xh6! f8! 22.g5 ) 20...xf4 21.xe7+ h8 22.cxd5 fd8 23.xc5 bxd5 24.h4 c7 25.xc7 xc7 26.c1 d7 27.f5 with a very small advantage; C) 19...d6?! 20.xh6! gxh6 21.xh6+ g7 22.g5! e5 23.f5+! ( 23.hxf7 ) 23...h8 24.xd6 xd6 25.xd5 b8 26.f5 eg4 27.f3 ] [ b) 17...ac8 A) 18.h4 b5! 19.c5 a5 20.e4 ( 20.f4 a7 21.e5 a4 22.e4 a3 23.b3 xe4 24.xe4 f6 25.xf6 xf6 26.e5 fd8 27.f4 is unclear) 20...xe4 21.xe4 f6 22.h4 a4 23.e5 ( 23.g4 h7 24.hh1 fd8 25.e3 ) 23...a3 24.b3 fd8 25.e3; B) 18.de1 b5!? ( 18...fe8 19.h4 ) 19.f5! exf5 20.xe7 d6 21.e2 bxc4 22.h4 xd4 23.xf5 d3 24.xd3 cxd3 25.e3 ce8 26.he1 with a small edge, E Berg-Al Sayed, Caleta 2009. ] [ c) 17...g4 18.c1 df6 19.h4 d6 20.f1 ( 20.e4 xe4 21.xg4 f6 22.h4 ) 20...f4 ( 20...b5 ) 21.xf4 xf4 22.e3 xe3 23.fxe3 g3 24.dh1 c5?? 25.f4! with the idea Rh3, virtually winning, Ko tron ia s (2 6 03 )-Na ka mu ra, H (26 99 ), Caleta ENG 2009. ] [ d) 17...a5 18.h4 fd8 ( 18...a4 ) 19.e2!? b5!? ( 19...c5 20.g4 c6 21.d5 exd5 22.g5 hxg5 23.xg5 e4 24.cxd5 xd2+ 25.xd2 Kotronias-Vallejo Pons, Budva 2009, and best was h6! ) 20.g4 ( 20.cxb5 d5 21.g4 7f6 22.g3 )

20...h7 21.h3 bxc4 22.g1 ab8 23.g5 hxg5 24.xg5 xg5 25.xg5 xg5 26.xg5 b5 27.hg3 1/2-1/2 Shaposhnikov-Ovetchkin, Dagomys RUS 2009. Black stand better after xg5 28.xg5 h2! ] 18.h4 h7! It's not clear what else Black should do. [ 18...c5 19.d5 exd5 20.f5 d6 21.xh6!! ] [ 18...a5 transposes into the note above. ] 19.hh1 [ W hite gets nowhere with 19.f4 df6 20.e1 g5 ] [ Maybe 19.f4 df6 20.e5 should be tried, when g5 is fine for Black. ] 19...hf6 [ Or 19...c5!? with the idea 20.d5 exd5 21.cxd5 df6 22.f5 f8 ] 20.de1 a5 21.e5?! [ 21.e2 ] 21...b4! 22.f4? [ 22.d3 xd2 23.xd2 c5! ] 22...xd2 [ At this point, Black stands better, and even st ro n ge r wa s 22...xe5! 23.fxe5 xd4! 24.xb4 axb4 ] 23.xd2 c5! 24.d5 exd5 25.f5 xe5 26.fxe5 e4! 27.f4 g5 28.h4 d7 [ 28...dxc4! ] 29.g4 d8 30.d6?! dxc4!? Black gives up of his advantage. Much better were [ 30...f6 and ] [ 30...d4 , both with a significant plus. ] 31.xc4 b6 32.f1?! [ 32.f4! ] 32...aa7 [ 32...e7! forces a significant advantage after 33.f5 e6! ] 33.a3 e7 34.f5 d7 35.gf4 e6?? Perhaps time trouble. [ 35...c6 protects f7 and hits g2. ] 36.xf7! d8 37.f8+ xf8 38.xf8+ xf8 39.c8! d4 40.xa7 xa7 41.d5 e7 42.d6 a4 43.xb6 b3 44.e6 e8 45.d6+ g8 46.d5 h8 47.e7 1-0

1896

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1739 Bok,R Seirawan,Yasser Max Euwe Match (2) [Gawain Jones]

B19 2430 2644 14.05.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 White's alternative to [ 11.d2 which has already been seen this month. ] 11...a5+ 12.d2 a4 Seirawan's speciality. [ 12...b4 and ] [ 12...c7 are both more common ] 13.0-0! Deep preparation was involved in this game [ 13.a3 is seen in Van den Doel- Seirawan in the archives whilst John W atson also suggests ] [ 13.h4!? ] 13...gf6 [ 13...d6 is an alternative development route but isn't good enough to equalise 14.e4 c7 15.b4! I like this move, gra bb in g sp ace an d co mb at in g Black's a d o p t e d p l a n . ( Instead 15.fe1 gf6 16.c3 a6 17.xa6 bxa6 and despite Black's shattered pawns he had equalised. Tischbierek, R-Medvegy, Z Austria 2007.) 15...gf6 16.c3 a6 ( 16...xb4 17.ab1 d6 18.xb7 ) 17.b5 b6 ( 17...cxb5 18.xb5 c6 19.b4 is fairly promising.) 18.ab1 with good chances for an advantage. ] 14.fe1 e7 15.a3 This seems like a more accurate move order as now the bishop has been forced to sit on e7 rather than d6. This is both a more passive square and in line with W hite's rook on e1 which comes in highly effective. [ 15.c4 grabbing space is also possible. d8 ( 15...0-0-0!? ) 16.b3 ( 16.h4! looks strong t h r e a t e n i n g t o j u m p a k n i g h t i n t o f 5 .) 16...a3 17.c1 a5 18.a3 0-0 19.f4 fe8 20.b4 a4 21.e2 a6 22.c3 b6 a n d B la c k ' s q u e e n h a d s u rvive d b e in g trapped, leaving him with a solid game. Abergel, T-Zhang Pengxiang ICC 2006. ] [ 15.e5 is too early. xe5 16.dxe5 d8 17.e2 d7 18.c3 c5 19.b4 a3

20.g4?! ( 20.d2 a6 is roughly level.) 20...0-0 21.e3 a4 22.e4 xc3 23.xc3 b2 Preventing Rg3 when Black stood satisf act orily. Pa pp, G -Kust ar, S Budapest 2004. ] 15...0-0 [ 15...c5 16.b3 ( 16.b4!? again looks strong. cxd4 17.xd4 0-0 18.gf5 ) 16...c6 17.c4 cxd4 18.xd4 c5 19.c2 d7 20.c3 0-0 21.ad1 gave White a very pleasant game. Bobras, P-Heinig, W Bad Wiessee 2006. ] [ 15...d8 16.b3 b5 17.c4! M o r e a m b i t i o u s t h a n ( 17.xb5 cxb5 when Black's pawn structure looks ugly but he now has counterplay down the c file and control over c4.) 17...b6 18.b4 0-0 19.f5 fe8 20.xe6! We'll see this idea in the game continuation. fxe6 21.xg7! xg7 22.xh6+ h8 23.g7+ xg7 24.g6+ h8 25.g5 e5 ( 25...f8 26.h6 is mate next move.) 26.dxe5 f8 27.h6 xf2+ 28.xf2 e4+ 29.g1 1-0 Fedorchuk, S-Cyborowski, L Lubniewice 2005. ] 16.f5! [ 16.b3 is the quiet option but after b5 17.c4 b6 18.b4 c7 Black stands solidly if passive, Boros, D-Medvegy, Z Budapest 2005. ] 16...fe8 [ 16...exf5 17.xe7 drops a pawn. ] [ 16...d8 17.xh6+! ( 17.d6 is the positional route.) 17...gxh6 18.xh6 e8 19.e5 xe5 20.dxe5 leaves White with a decisive attack. ] 17.xe6!! This refutes Black's opening, the rook is a toadstool:) f8 Seirawan uses his experience and simply acknowledges that he's been out prepared and accepts to play the position a pawn down. A good lesson to learn as many players would give up instantly. [ 17...fxe6 Of course the tasting is always the critical test but 18.xg7! leaves Black unable to prevent White's great attack. A) 18...xg7 19.xh6+ h8 20.g5 when the threat of Qg6 or Nf7+ is decisive.; B) 18...f8 19.b3 this intermezzo, worsening Black's queen's position, looks t h e m o st a cc u ra t e . ( The straightforward 1897

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.xe8 xe8 20.g6+ g7 21.xh6 e7 must also be good for White of course. ) 19...b5 20.c4 b6 21.xe8 xe8 22.g6+ g7 23.xh6 e7 24.g5 and White's three pawn count for a lot more than the piece as Black's king still has significant problems.; C) 18...f8 19.xe8 xe8 20.e5 b5 21.g3+ h7 22.e1 and Black can't really hope to survive. ] 18.xe8 [ 18.b3 immediately would gain a tempo on the game as now the queen must go to b5 ( 18...a6 19.xa6 bxa6 20.xc6 is hardly palatable.) 19.c4 a6 20.xe8 ( 20.ee1!? ) 20...xe8 reaches a position from the game but with White to move rather than Black. ] 18...xe8 19.b3 a6 20.c4 [ 20.xa6 bxa6 21.a4 would allow Black to win back the pawn with xh5 but White's ad va nt age sh o uld be e no u gh f ollo win g 22.e1 xe1+ 23.xe1 when White can go about the job of highlighting Black's weak queenside pawns. ] 20...c5 [ R e c a p t u r i n g t h e p a w n w i t h 20...xh5 21.e5 ( 21.a4!? ) 21...xe5 ( 21...hf6 22.g3+- ) 22.dxe5 xe5 23.f3 g6 24.xh6+ xh6 25.xh6 is definitely better for W hite although this was probably Black's strongest option. ] 21.g3?! This lets Black out. [ 21.d5 xh5 22.a4 in order to be able to move the rook leaves W hite with a clear advantage as he would have total domination over the Black pieces. ] [ 21.e5!? i s a l s o i n t e r e s t i n g . cxd4 ( 21...xe5 22.dxe5 xe5 23.xh6+! gxh6 24.g3+ g5 25.xg5 e4 26.g4 xg5 27.d1 ) 22.xd7 xd7 23.g3 ( 23.xd4!? ) 23...f6 24.xh6+ h8 25.g4 f5 26.h6 would have given Black very little compensation for the pawn. ] 21...cxd4 22.xd4 e5 23.c3 c5 24.e1 d8 Seirawan has succeeded in unravelling his pieces and, although he's still worse, manages to drum up enough activity to hold the draw. 25.gf5 eg4 26.b4 xd4 27.xd4 d6 28.f3 xh5 So Black retrieves the pawn but W hite's queenside

majority and bishop versus knight should still give him the better chances. 29.c2 [ 29.c5 d5 30.c1! would force Seirawan to continue to play accurately to neutralise White's advantage. ] 29...hf6 30.c3 d3 31.xd3 xd3 32.b2 a6 The American GM survived Bok's strong home preparation and held onto the draw but W hite was clearly better and this puts a big hole in the ...Qa4 line. Thus I think Black will have to return to the more mainstream alternatives. ½-½

1740 Carpentier,Jean Christophe Janosi,Ervin ICCF Masterclass EM/M/199 [Andrew Martin]

B19 2425 20.07.2002

Here's a game which could easily be missed which I came across recently. It is of definite interest to Caro-Kann fans. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e4 0-0 As seen many times before and the modern approach from Black. There is no definite commitment of the Black queen ( she may go to either c7 or probably a5 ) and ..c6c5 is on the not too distant horizon. 14.b1 c5 15.dxc5 [ 15.xf6+ xf6 16.e3 c7 17.dxc5 xc5 18.xc5 xc5 1/2-1/2 Luther, TKhenkin, I/Cali 2000 tells us little apart from that the position is downright dull! ] 15...c7 Black has done very well from this po sit io n in t o u rn a m en t p ra xis. Ho weve r, Carpentier comes up with a powerful novelty. 16.g4! Apparently a novelty at the time this game was played, although the idea of prising open the kingside is as old as the Caro-Kann hills. [ 16.xf6+ xf6 17.g4 should also be worth a look, I guess A) 17...xg4 18.hg1 ( 18.dg1 f5 19.d4 ad8 20.e3 ) 18...fd8 19.e2 f6 20.xh6 xh5 21.g5! (Fritz 9 ); B) 17...fd8! 18.e2 h7 19.g5 xg5 20.xg5 xg5 21.xg5 hxg5 22.h6 1898

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc5 ] 16...xg4 In for a penny... [ 16...xc5 17.xc5 xc5 18.g5 fd8 19.e2 hxg5 20.xg5 definitely looks better for White ] 17.hg1 f5 18.d4!! A remarkable move, showing disdain for material. Over the board this would be very tough to cope with, but in correspondence one would expect Black to find some sort of defence. e5 [ If 18...fxe4 19.xe4 df6 20.xe6+ f7 21.xg4 xg4 22.xg4 xc5 23.f5 h8 24.c3 f8 25.xh6 xf2 26.f5 and W hite has his pieces in all the right places. ] 19.c6! fxe4 20.e2 xf2 The only problem I have with these games is that they are all using Fritz, Junior etc. Very little of this stuff comes for the head of the players, although that does not detract from the educational value. To prove what am saying please run your engine as you play through the moves. It is a shame, but correspondence chess has been ruined. [ 20...df6 21.cxb7 ab8 ( 21...ae8 22.xg4 xg4 23.xg4 f6 24.xh6 c7 25.xg7 xg7 26.xg7+ xg7 27.c6 h6 ) 22.c6 c7 23.xb8 xb8 24.xg4 xg4 25.xg4+- is more Fritzfuelled mayhem. ] 21.xh6 f7 22.cxb7 af8 23.c6 c7 24.xg7 xg7 [ If 24...xc6? 25.xf8+ h7 ( 25...xf8 26.xd7 xd7 27.b8+ ) 26.xd7 xd7 27.b8 xf8 28.g3+- ] 25.xe7+ h7 26.xg7+ xg7 27.g1+ h7 28.e3 At first sight a strange resignation. But the variations: 28...Rf4 29 Qd4 with the idea of Qxd7 and 28.. .Qc5 29 Qg3 finish Black off. A worthy innovation, but more than likely computer driven. 1-0

1741 Cheparinov,Ivan Iordachescu,Viorel 8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (8) [John Watson]

B19 2646 2587 11.04.2007

Four of this month's top six main lines with 4... Bf5 saw Jovanka Houska's recommended defence 11...Qa5+ 12 Bd2 Bb4, resulting in t wo win s a n d t wo d ra ws! I 'l l d o a p a rt ia l overview of the line using a game from earlier this year, and filling it in with recent games. Then I'll leave this whole variation to rest for a few months! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 The usual starting point. 15.0-0-0 [ A recent game returned to the original and o b v i o u s t r y 15.d5!? , r e su l t in g i n cxd5 16.cxd5 d6 17.b5 ( other moves are 17.0-0-0; 17.c3; 17.b3; and 17.e2!? , the latter played twice by Golubev! None of these moves seem to give White anything special ) 17...gf6 18.dxe6 ( Houska gives 18.xb7 0-0 19.0-0 c5 20.b5 xd5 21.c3 fb8 22.e2 xh5 ) 18...xe6+ 19.f1 a6 ( 19...0-0 20.e1 d5 21.xd5 xd5 22.f5 f6 is a game that Houska cites, leading to a draw.) 20.f5 0-0 ( 20...c4+ 21.g1 0-0 22.h4 b5 23.c3 fe8 is also playable) 21.e1 ( 21.xe6 fxe6 22.e1 f7 ) 21...c4+ 22.g1 fe8 23.b3 b5 24.h4 c5 and Black's pieces were coordinating better than White's in Arizmendi Martinez-Landa, Burguillos 2007, a game that Black won. ] [ We saw 15.e4 in last month's game Rasmussen-Khenkin. ] 15...gf6 16.he1 [ 16.b1 was examined in last month's Stellwagen-Grooten game. ] 16...b5! [ In Akopian - Khenkin, Mainz 2007, the two leading GMs tested 16...d8 17.c2 0-0 18.f5 d6 19.xd6 xd6 20.b1 b5!? 21.e5 bxc4 22.xc4 b8 23.xc6? xd4 24.c3?! xf2 25.xd7 xd7 26.g4 fc8 ( 26...b6 is also very strong, definitely enough to win with) 27.e3 g2 ( 27...f3! ) 28.d2 e4+ ( 28...xg4! 1899

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 29.xh6!? f5+ 30.a1 c2 intending 31.xd7 bxb2 ) 29.a1 c2 30.xd7! bxb2 31.d8+ h7 32.d3 xa2+ 33.b1 cb2+ 34.c1 xd3 35.xd3 g2 36.b1 1/2-1/2 ] 17.b1 0-0?! [ Easier and better is 17...bxc4 18.xc4 c8! -Houska, when Black has the idea ... Nb6 and ... Nbd5 followed by a queenside attack which is faster than W hite's on the kingside. ] 18.c1 [ 18.f5! h a s t h e i d e a d8 ( 18...exf5! 19.xe7 d6 20.e2 is about equal) 19.xh6+ gxh6 20.cxb5! ( 20.xh6 bxc4! 21.xc4 e8 22.e5 d5 and Black is holding on) 20...g4 ( 20...cxb5 21.xh6 g4 22.c1 b7 23.xe6! ) 21.e5! , which is awkward for Black, although not disastrous. Again, 17...bxc4 was preferable. ] 18...bxc4 19.xc4 ac8 20.f5 d8!? [ 20...b6 21.xc6 d8 ] [ 20...exf5! 21.xe7 d8 22.ee1 e4 ] 21.e3 [ 21.xh6+! looks promising. ] 21...b7 22.d3 c5 Black is now better for one thing, W hite's pawn on h5 will divert pieces for defence. 23.c4 cxd4 24.xd4 e7 25.d6 xd6 26.xd6 e4! 27.d4 dc5 [ 27...xd2+! 28.xd2 f6 is also good. Black eyes h5 and g2, but 29.g4 fd8 30.f4 xc1+ 31.xc1 g2 is tough to meet. ] 28.a5 a6 29.c3 xc3+ 30.xc3 fd8 31.c4 b7 32.ec1 b8 33.b3 e4 34.3c2 a5 35.a1 f6 [ 35...a4!? 36.xa4 d5 is suggested by Fritz, but looks a little fishy. ] 36.e5 d5! 37.c6!? b4! 38.xb8 [ 38.xd8 xc2+ 39.xc2 xd8 leaves White's king a little exposed and his pawns vulnerable. ] 38...xc2+ 39.xc2 xb8 [ 39...xb8! covers more squares, and 40.c7 a8! 41.c6 a7! 42.c5 a6 43.c4 d6 isn't helping White. ] 40.f4 f8!? Time pressure? [ 40...b5! is strong, with the idea 41.c7 xh5 ]

41.g4 d5! 42.c4?! [ 42.b2 ] 42...e5+ 43.c3 xc3+?! [ 43...g5 Retaining the queens on keeps the irritating threats alive. ] 44.xc3 f5 45.f3! e5 46.gxf5 xf5 47.c5 xh5 48.xa5 f7 49.b4 e6 50.a6+ [ 50.a7! ] 50...d5 51.b5!? f5 [ 51...c4!? t h r e a t e n s b 5 , a n d 52.b6?? ( 52.g6 xb5 53.xg7 f5 54.h7 h5 55.b2 should be okay.) 52...c3 53.a3+ c2 wins. ] 52.g6 xf3 53.xg7 c5 54.e7 Fair enough, although Black loses nothing by playing on. ½-½

1742 Chevelevitch,Evgueni Fridman,Daniel 79th ch-GER Bad Woerishofen GER (9) [David Vigorito]

B19 2456 2627

White tries a sideline against the popular 11... Qa5+ variation. Black plays an interesting deviation on move 18. After White avoids a c r i t i c a l p a wn s a c r i f i c e , B l a c k i s a b l e t o exchange queens to get an ideal Caro Kann endgame where he patiently grinds down White's defences. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.e4 This is another attempt to give Black trouble in Houska's line. Black has to move his king, but he develops quickly. [ 13.c3 ] 13...gf6! 14.d6+ e7 15.xb7 [ 15.c4 xd2+ 16.fxd2 c7 17.0-0-0 hd8 18.a3+ c5 19.b3 b6 20.dxc5 xc5 21.xc5 bxc5= Jakovenko, D (2581)Khenkin, I (2611)/Moscow RUS 2004 can be found in the archive. ] 15...xd2+ 16.xd2 b4 17.b3 [ 17.a3 xa3 18.bxa3 ab8 intending ... Rfc8 and . ..c5 is considered to be fine for Black. White's extra doubled a-pawn means little. ] 17...xd4 18.0-0-0 ab8!? 1900

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 18...hb8 is also possible. Fridman decides that the a7-pawn is not likely to become seriously endangered and makes a more active move. ] 19.a3+ c5 20.a5 [ Obviously 20.xa7? a8 is not possible. ] 20...hc8 Black has a very active position and his king is just as safe as White's is. 21.f3?! [ 21.dc4 xf2 22.hf1 is an interesting attempt to seize the initiative. White's knight c a n g o t o d 6 a n d xg2 can be met by 23.g1 and Rxg7. ] 21...b4! The endgame will be very pleasant for Black, because he has good central control and his king is well placed. Also, the h5-pawn may become weak, which is typical of the classical Caro Kann. 22.xb4 cxb4 [ The active 22...xb4 intending ... Rf4-f5! is also is nice for Black. ] 23.d4 b6 24.ab3 d6 The endgame looks more like a Sicilian now, except that White's king rook pawn has wandered to h5. 25.he1 d5! 26.g4 f8 [ Black could even play 26...xg4 27.c6+ f8 28.xd5 exd5 29.xb4 xf2 because 30.xd5? loses to d3+ Instead Black keep the tension and does not allow White to activate his pieces. ] 27.f3 a5 28.b1 b6 29.e2 a4 30.xd5 fxd5 31.d2 Black gradually pushes White back. a3! 32.bxa3?! [ 32.b3 e3 is pretty miserable ] [ but leaving the queenside alone and p l a y i n g s o m e t h i n g s o l i d l i k e 32.d4 was a better chance. ] 32...bxa3 33.c1 b8 34.a1 e3 35.d4 [ 35.c4 e5 36.c5 bd5 37.b3 e7 is still much better for Black, but at least White may get some counterplay with the cpawn. ] 35...d8 36.4b3 c8 With such a grip on the position, Black is in no big hurry. 37.b1 f5 Opening a second front. 38.d4 f7 39.gxf5 exf5 40.e1 bd5 41.c4 xc4 42.xc4 xc4 43.xf5 It looks like White has made some progress, but his king is still in danger despite Black's reduced army. c6 44.g1 f6 [ 44...c3+ 45.a1 c5 is similar and p r o b a b l y e v e n s t r o n g e r . A f t e r 46.d6+ ( 46.xg7+ f8; 46.xg7 d5 /\...Rd2xa2)

46...e6 47.e4 xe4 48.fxe4 xh5 mops up because the g7-pawn is untouchable. ] 45.d4 b6+ 46.b3 c3+ 47.a1 d6 48.c1 d3 Facing the loss of his kingside pawns, White threw in the towel. 0-1

1743 Chkhaidze,Nikoloz Houska,Jovanka Masters Hastings ENG (9) [John Watson]

B19 2203 2399 05.01.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.f3 d7 7.h4 h6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e4 c5 Surprise! In her book Houska recommends 13...0-0 or, as a slightly passive backup, 13... Nxe4 14 Qxe4 Nf6. The text move seems rather early, but White has to prove that it's exploitable. One problem, as he finds out to his chagrin, is that Black gets open lines on the queenside vis-àvis White's king. 14.g4!? This isn't particularly testing when Black hasn't castled. cxd4 [ 14...xg4 15.dxc5 xc5?? 16.xc5 xc5 17.b5+ ] 15.g5?! [ A rash move, neglecting the centre and opening the h-file. Better was 15.xd4 ] 15...xe4 [ 15...hxg5 is perhaps still better in most lines Black comes out a pawn ahead. ] 16.xe4 hxg5 17.xd4 [ 17.xb7 0-0 ( 17...f6 18.a5! c8 19.xc8+ xc8 20.xd4 a6! is moderately in Black's favour) 18.b4 b8 19.xe7 xe7 20.xa7?! ( 20.e4 ) 20...e5! with a clear advantage, in view of 21.xe5 xe5 22.xd7 fd8 and ...d3. ] 17...c5 18.g4? [ 18.e5 c8 (threatens ...Nd3+) 19.c3 d7! 20.e2 ( 20.g3 c7 - Black is still a p awn ah ea d) 20...xc3! 21.bxc3 a6 with major pressure a la the Dragon Sicilian. ( 21...c7!? )] 18...d5! 19.c3?? [ But Black has a nice advantage after 19.b3 e4! 20.g3 xb3+ 21.axb3 1901

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c8 ] 19...xa2 Winning. 20.b3 c8 21.h3 f5 22.e2 e4 23.b2 a3 24.b5+ c6 0-1

xd7 22.e5 dd8 23.g4! Giving the p o s s i b i l i t y o f f 4 a n d g 5 , s q u e e zi n g i n a middlegame/ ending and certainly the option of Rh3, which White exercises sooner rather than later. d6 24.h3 c5? I just find this move unwise, opening the game when the 1744 B19 opponent has superior development. [ Black has to try to tough it out for instance Chuprov,Dmitry 2464 after 24...e7 25.f4 ] Burmakin,Vladimir 2571 [ or 24...a5 25.f4 but in both cases his 8th Open Voronezh RUS (5) 16.06.2004 position remains unappealing. ] [Andrew Martin] 25.dxc5! xc5 26.hd3 Now of course, 27.f3 e5 An instructive win coming up now, where W h ite is right on to p . f6 White shows that a small edge really can be He had t o p la y t his m ove, else e6 wa s a t ra n s la t e d i n t o a win wi t h p a t i e n ce . I 've liability. 28.d5 c6 29.h4! Power play. noticed that Black tends to win with 4...Bf5 c7 30.d3 e4? Compounding the earlier only when White loses his shape and plays error. As an indication of how resilient Black's too hard, too fast. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 position is consider [ 30...d7! 31.g6 ed8 32.f4 c4 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 33.e7! xd5 34.xd5+ b8 35.b3 b6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 36.e7! d7! Black is still in there e6 11.d2 c7 We have been here before, pitching. ] many times..... 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.e2 d6 31.g3! d7 32.f5 ed8 33.c4 [ 13...gf6 ] A game where Black was the architect of his 14.e4 f4 15.g3 xd2+ 16.exd2 [ After 16.xd2 retaining the centralized own downfall. Burmakin seemed quite unable knight, if only for a second, Black is quite to sit and do nothing, the occasional fate of equal: gf6 17.xf6 xf6 18.e5 he8 Black players after 4...Bf5. The final position 19.f4 e7 20.hd1 a5 21.a3 d5 is nice, with Black quite unable to meet the 22.e1 a2! 23.c3 xh5 Nithiananthan, threat of c5. If 33...b6 then 34 b3! and he runs J-Pereira, J/21st Cairnhill Open, Singapore out of moves. 1-0 SIN 2003 ] 16...e7 [ I think White's idea is to keep both pairs of B19 K n i g h t s o n : 16...gf6 17.c4 b6 1745 18.ce5 Whether this is going to lead to Corrales Jimenez,Fidel 2599 very much I cannot say. At least he lured the Stellwagen,Daniel 2635 Ng8 to a less active square than f6. ] 39th Olympiad Men (7.9) 28.09.2010 17.b1 f5 18.e4 f6 19.c5 [Gawain Jones] With more space, avoid exchanges! All the same, one would expect that Black is very 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 close to equality here. he8 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 [ After 19...d7 20.d3 b6 21.c3 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 White keeps his advantage in space and his 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e4 grip on e5 traditional trumps in this variation. [ Recently on ChessPublishing we've seen He's a little better, but will have to work more of the fashionable 13.e2 followed by very hard to win. ] 14. Nf1 but Corrales Jimenez returns to 20.c3 d7 21.xd7! Perhaps this move the mainline. ] seems like a contradiction, however Chuprov 13...xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.e2 d5 16.c4 has seen a clear way to increase his [ 16.b1 e4 17.f1 is somewhat similar advantage. The hold over e5 remains and to the game continuation but I'd probably White manages to get both his Rooks playing. prefer leaving the pawn on c2 if it's going to 1902

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 come down to a race. g4 18.c3 0-0-0 Therefore Dreev goes for the safer option. 19.d2 f5 20.e2 f6 21.b3 e4 22.f1 d5 23.e1 b5 24.f3 xf1 25.exf1 d5 26.d2 g5 27.c3 b6 28.g3 c7 29.h2 1/2-1/2 Tseshkovsky, V (2549 )-Dre ev, A (265 3) Ta shken t 201 0 didn't trouble Black at all. ] 16...e4 This is arguably the mainline of the w h o l e C l a s s i c a l C a r o K a n n . 17.f1 But this idea of keeping the queens on is very rare, and, after seeing this game we might see why. [ When Stellwagen himself reached this position with the W hite side he chose to exchange queens with 17.xe4 but didn't really get anywhere. xe4 18.e3 f5 Black has other options but this has been Leko and Cheparinov's choice in this position. Black challenges for the centre and immediately threatens ...f4. The e5 square looks like a big hole but the dark squared bishop can cover that adequately. 19.he1 ( 19.c2 was played in Anand, VLeko, P Nice 2008 but after f4!? 20.d3 fxe3 21.xe4 exf2 22.df1 f8 23.xf2 d6 24.e2 f4+ 25.d3 d7 26.h4 d8 27.g6 g4 28.h4 xh4 29.xh4 f8 30.g6 f5 31.g4 f3+ 32.e3 f2 33.e2 f3+ Leko held without drama.) 19...0-0 20.e2 d6 21.e5 fd8 22.d3 f6 23.h1 b5! The typical break challenging for the d5 outpost. 24.c2 g4 25.e1 f6 26.h1 g4 27.e1 f6 28.f3!? An interesting winning attempt. xh5 29.g4 fxg4 30.fxg4 f6 31.g5 bxc4 32.xc4 hxg5 33.xg5 e8 34.xc6 ac8 35.xc8 xc8+ 36.d2 f7 37.f4 xf4+ 38.xf4 Stellwagen, D (2635) -Rodshtein, M (2632) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 and W hite had a slightly better endgame but Black held quite comfortably. ] 17...0-0 [ T h e c u r i o u s 17...f5 with ideas of defending the f7 pawn was played in the first recorded encounter with Qf1. 18.e1 e4 19.e3 b4 I think this is mistaken. ( 19...0-0-0 would be quite a sensible follow up when I don't think Black has any reasons to be concerned.) 20.d1 a5 21.d3 f6?! 22.xf5 exf5 23.h4 f4 24.xf4

xh5 25.e5 e7 26.f5 f6 27.xh5 g6 28.xe7 xe7 29.xf6+ xf6 30.e5 and the English GM was a clear pawn up. W atson, W (2395)-Cummings, D (2360) London 1983. ] [ 17.Qf1 was seen earlier this year too when Bla ck o pt e d f o r 17...g4 18.e1 f5 19.e2 ( 19.e5! is more sensible as xf2? 20.g4! f6 21.g1 will pick up the s t r a y k n i g h t .) 19...0-0 20.ef1 fd8 was a rather unconvincing opening by White. Szabo, Z (2418)-Feher, A (2247) Zalakaros 2010. ] 18.e1 h7 The queen on h7 makes a strange impression but is actually a very useful square. Not only is it safely tucked away from being hit by any aggressive White pieces, it also does a good job of both defending the Black king and, as we'll see in the game, x-raying down towards W hite's queenside. 19.e2 ad8 This logical looking move appears to be a novelty. [ The immediate 19...b5 has been tried in a couple of previous games. 20.c5 fd8 21.h4 d5 22.e4 f6 23.g4 but here W hite has decent attacking chances. a5 ( 23...f8 24.g1 e7 25.f4 d5 26.d6 g8 27.e5 c8 28.c7 xe5 29.xe5 e7 30.f4 ad8 31.f5! f8 32.fxe6 f6 33.d6 and somehow Black held the draw but at this point he is completely lost. Sokolov, D (2387) -Bakker, S (2293) Moscow 2006.) 24.a3?! Kosashvili, Y (2548)-Langeweg, K (2290) Breda 2000. Surely this is touching pa wn s on th e wron g sid e of th e bo ard . ( 24.g1 preparing either 25.g5 or Ne5 and f4 and I'd prefer W hite as his aggressive intentions look much scarier. )] 20.c3 fe8 Useful prophylaxis. Stellwagen defends the e7 bishop and we'll see how useful this turns out to be in the game. 21.h3 The Cuban prepares g2-g4. [ 21.e5 d7 doesn't seem to get White anywhere. The fact that my computer keeps wanting to trade queens doesn't bode too we l l f o r h i s a t t a ck i n g c h a n c e s . ( 21...c5 also looks very reasonable. )] [ The immediate 21.g4 xg4 22.hg1 f6 gets White nowhere. ] [ I wonder if 21.c2 might be White's safest 1903

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bu t o f c o u rs e t h is wo u ld m a ke W h it e 's opening look ridiculous. Even here Black can play b5 and he's the only one who can be better. ] 21...b5! Opening up the queenside and gaining the important d5 outpost. 22.e5 [ 22.c5 i s t h e a l t e r n a t i v e b u t d5 l o o k s m u c h m o r e a t t r a c t i ve f o r B l a c k . ( 22...g4!? 23.g3 f5 also favours Black. )] 22...bxc4 23.f3 Attempting to prevent Black's next. [ 23.xc6 c8 24.e5 ( 24.xc4 d6 looks risky with both king and queen stuck on th e c f ile .) 24...d5 and here White should trade queens although thanks to that mega knight on d5 Black is clearly on top. ] [ 23.xc4 d5 also favours Black. ] 23...d5! And this must have shocked Corrales Jimenez. The f7 pawn is not relevant while Black's queenside attack gathers more steam. 24.xf7? And this loses. [ White's best might be 24.xf7 but here Black can force a better endgame with g5+ 25.d2 b4! 26.e4 Only move. ( 26.xg5 xa2+ 27.d2 xd4+-+ ) 26...xe4 27.xe4 d3+! 28.xd3 xf7 29.e5+ g8 30.xg5 hxg5 leaving Black the exchange up but at least W hite has a strong knight and better structure for reasonable drawing chances. ] [ 24.xc4 xc3 25.bxc3 g5+ 26.d1 b8 looks extremely dangerous. ] 24...xc3 25.bxc3?! [ Objectively White should have played 25.xc3 When Black would still have had to have been accurate. A) 25...xf7? 26.xe6+ f8 27.f3+ f6 28.xf6+ gxf6 29.xf6+ f7 ( 29...g8? 30.e3! is surprisingly winning for White as Black cannot defend against 31.Rg3. ) 30.h8+ draws.; B) 25...xd4! and eventually the f7 knight wi l l d r o p . 26.g3 is perhaps the trickiest ( 26.e5? g5+; 26.f3 f6-+; 26.xe6 g5+ 27.xg5+ xe6 28.xe6 e4-+; 26.xc4 xc4+ 27.xc4 xf7 28.xe6 g5+ 29.e3+ f8 30.c5+ e7-+ ) 26...f6! 27.e5 f5! 28.f3 d5 bu t h ere B la ck ha s f u ll co nt ro l o f t h e position, a safer king and more pawns. ]

25...b8 Now White has no defence. 26.e4 a3+ 27.d2 b2+ 28.e3 e2+!! A very pretty finish and I actually saw the move being played as this match was on the board next to us. Of course 29.Rxe2 Bc1+ picks up the queen. An excellent display by Stellwagen who made 17.Qf 1 look rather ineffectual. On the whole Black appears to be doing well in the Classical lines which explains why so many people have switched to the Advanced over recent years. 0-1

1746 David,Alberto Mittelman,Gur Antwerp [Alexander Volzhin]

B19 2540 2420 1999

Although the Classical Caro-Kann was e x a m i n e d i n t h e N o ve m b e r u p d a t e , i t ' s necessary to take a look at it again. The theory of this line develops rapidly, and there have been quite a few theoretically important games in this line since November. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 8.e5 Currently this line is White's main weapon. h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 e7!? This move has become popular due to the ef f ort s o f G M V la d im ir E pishin , who is a leading expert in the Caro-Kann. Black delays t h e d e ve l o p m e n t o f h i s Q u e e n ' s K n igh t , retaining the possibility of putting it either on d7 or c6 (after c6-c5). [ 11...bd7 is the old main line. ] 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.f4 [ In the game Zontakh - Epishin, Cutro 1999 W h i t e t r i e d 13.b1!? This move is useful f o r W h ite b e ca use in ma n y line s B la c k exploits the unprotected a2-pawn. Also this seemingly humble move contains a trick. A) T h e t y p i c a l 13...c5? is bad here: 14.dxc5 xc5 15.xh6! and Black is in trouble: c7 ( 15...xd3 16.xd3 xf2 17.xg7! xg7 18.xf2 ) 16.f3 xf2 ( 16...xe5? 17.f4! trapping Black's Q u e e n i n t h e c e n t r e o f t h e b o a r d !) 17.xg7! and White wins: xg7 18.h5+! xh5 19.g4+ h6 20.g5+ h7 1904

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.xh5+ g7 22.g5+ h7 23.g4 f6 24.h6+ g8 25.xf6+!? xf6 26.xf6 b6 27.xe6+; B) 13...bd7 14.e2 c7 15.f4 fe8 16.he1 ( 16.h5!? aiming for a direct Kingside attack is worthy of consideration.) 16...f8 17.h5 xh5 18.xh5 f6 19.f3 h5! This is a typical def ensive move aimed against g2-g4. 20.c4 ( 20.g4 hxg4 21.xg4 xg4 22.xg4 f5! 23.f3 ad8 is OK for Black. ) 20...g6 It's difficult for White to break through on the K-side. 21.g4 ad8 22.gxh5 xh5 23.e3 h7 and Black's chances are by no means worse. ] 13...c5 14.dxc5 c7 This position was tested in two of Mittelman's recent games, and in both he managed to solve his opening problems. 15.he1 [ In Baklan - Mittelman, Antwerp 1999 White preferred 15.c3 but also failed to gain any a d v a n t a g e . T h e g a m e c o n t i n u e d : c6! 16.f3 A) 16...xe5?! i s w e a k e r : 17.fxe5 ( 17.xe5? xc5 18.xb7 fc8 ) 17...d5 18.f5 ( 18.xd5!? exd5 19.f5 is also worthy of consideration.) 18...xc3 19.xe7+ xe7 20.xc3 and White was clearly better.; B) 16...xc5! 17.d3 ( 17.g4 xg4 18.xg4 f5; 17.xc6 xc6 18.xc6 bxc6 - in these lines Black has little to worry about.) 17...b4 18.xb4 xb4 19.b1 ac8 20.c3 d6 21.e1 fd8 22.g4 xg4 23.xg4 f8 24.xd8 xd8 25.d1 e7 and Black has equal chances. ] 15...c6 16.xc6 xc6 17.f5 ad8 18.b3 [ 18.e2 a4 is OK for Black, for example: 19.b1 xh4 20.f1 g4 21.xg4 xg4 22.fxe6 fxe6 23.xe6 xc5 ] 18...d5 19.fxe6 fxe6 20.e2 xc5 21.de1 d7 The position is approximately equal as the weakness of the e6-pawn is compensated by the active position of Black's pieces. But now W hite committed a gross blunder. 22.xe6? Beginning a combination which leads to deplorable consequences for White. f2! 23.xf6 [ 23.e7 b5! is also bad for White. ]

23...xf6 24.e5 xg3 25.xd5 f1+ 26.e1 f4+! [ 26...xe1+? 27.d2 e6 28.d8+ h7 29.xg3 is good for White. ] 27.b1 [ 27.d1 g4+ ] 27...h8! Probably White missed this move in his calculations. Now Black wins a piece. [ 27...xe1+?? 28.d1+ ] 28.a3 xe1+ 29.a2 e7 The rest needs no commentary. 30.f5 d6 31.f7 e6 32.xe6 xe6 33.xb7 e2 34.c3 c5 35.g4 e4 36.h5 xg4 37.b4 f2 38.c7 g6 39.hxg6 xg6 40.c4 h5 41.f7 g2 42.b3 h4 43.a4 h3 44.f5 h2 45.h5+ g7 46.b5 g6 0-1

1747 De Firmian,Nick E Dreev,Alexey Tch Sweden [Andrew Martin]

B19 2535 2690 2003

DRY AS A BONE 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 I remember that Tony Miles really liked this, the Capablanca Variation. ' Soak up a bit of pressure and all the endings are good for Black ' he used to say. ' White's pawn structure is almost always over-extended' Patience is required certainly a n d a re a s o n a b l e a m o u n t o f t h e o re t i c a l knowledge but there is more than a grain of truth in that statement. Don't forget how Tal came to grief against Botvinnik in 1961! Dreev wants to dampen the attacking flair of the former American Champion. He succeeds. 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 White has a nominal advantage in development but that's it, Black is as solid as a rock. 14.e4 a5 15.xf6+ xf6 16.e5 That should be considered an achievement for White. Black must be accurate now lest g4-g5 mows him down. ad8 Pressure against d4 forms the basis of counterplay. 17.g3 h8 18.c4 c5! 19.e3 cxd4 20.xd4 g8 Typical Dreevwatertight defence freeing the King's Rook. 21.e3 d6 22.c3 c7 23.g4 xd1+ 1905

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.xd1 d8 25.xd8+ xd8 26.d4= ( Perhaps 14...0-0 is safer ) 15.dxc5 xe5 Basically De Firmian is saying that he will take 16.xh6 a5 17.xg7 xc5 18.a3 c4 a draw. Wedberg tried for longer: 19.f3 when instead of d5? ( the long [ 26.c2 a6 27.f3 c7 28.d4 c5 forcing line 19...a4 20.d4 b5 21.b4 29.d3 d6 30.f4 c5 31.f3 c7 32.b3 hxh5 22.xh5 xh5 23.xh5 xh5 f8! 33.a4 g8! Dreev's resolve does not 24.xc4 xc4 25.xh5 f1+ 26.b2 weaken. He is still inviting W hite to xg2 is only a little better for W hite.) overstre tch . 34.d3 d7 35.g5 hxg5 20.xh8 Van der Wiel, J-Lobron, E Sarajevo 36.fxg5 e7 37.g2 c5 38.g6 f6 1984 and Black had insufficient 39.e2 d7 40.xc5 xc5 41.h6 gxh6 compensation for the material. ] 42.xf6 f8 43.h2 c6 44.g3 e4+ [ 14.f1!? was the suggestion of a certain 45.b2 e2+ 46.c3 a5 47.c5 xc5 Kiwi GM. ] 48.b8+ f8 49.e7 f3+ 50.d2 f2+ 14...0-0 51.d3 f3+ 52.d2 f2+ 53.d1 f1+ [ 14...c5 should be Black's preferred option if 54.d2 f2+ 1/2-1/2 Wedberg, T-Dreev, A/ he does not want to allow White's caveman Tch-SWE 2003 ) A good struggle. ] attack. 15.dxc5 0-0 ( 15...c7!? 16.c3 ) 26...a6 27.xd8+ xd8 28.f3 h7 29.c2 16.c3 ( 16.f4 xc5 17.e5 d5 f5 30.d3 g5 31.c5 b6 32.xa6 xf3 18.xd7 xd7 19.c4 xf4 20.xd7 xe2 33.gxf5 exf5 34.b4 The players try their best 21.xe2 f6 22.b3= is nothing to worry to unbalance the situation but all roads seem about either. ) 16...c7 to lead to a draw. g6 35.hxg6 h5 36.d3 A) 17.e5 xc5 18.g4 fd7 19.e4 h4 37.e2 g5 38.e5 h3 39.f1 f3 when instead of f5?! Boudre, J-Lobron, E 40.f4 h4 41.c5 bxc5 42.bxc5 Cannes 1992 ( 19...xe4 20.xe4 fd8= Now you might say ( if you are obsessed with would have given White nothing. ); ratings) that this not a very good deal for B) 17.f5! exf5 ( 17...xc5 Dreev. Two arid draws and the loss of rating is too dangerous, i.e. 18.xd7 xd7 points. But if we stick with the chess this is a 19.xh6+ h7 20.g4! with a decisive more than satisfactory result for Black and for attack. ) 18.xe7 fe8 19.d6 xc5 me the onus is very much on W hite to 20.xc5 xc5 21.d4 a5 22.c4 demonstrate an advantage here. The promises W hite a small but definite Capablanca Variation is correct. advantage. ] ½-½ 15.f1 [ 15.e5 was played in a recent high powered game but didn't trouble the top 1748 B19 Spaniard c5 16.xd7 xd7 17.dxc5 c6 18.c3 d5 19.e5 xc5 20.e4 c4 Dobrowolski,Piotr 2397 21.xc4 xc4 and Black equalised and Fridman,Daniel 2654 even went on to win. Saric, I-Vallejo Pons, 5th Open Wroclaw POL (2) 27.06.2010 F Rijeka 2010. ] [Gawain Jones] 15...c5 16.g4 If we compare this position with 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 Gopal-Kharitonov which I annotated a couple 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 of months ago, we see that Black has an extra 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 ...Rc8 but White has Kb1. It seems Kb1 is a 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e2 c8 Almost certainly more useful addition. c4 Making logical use of ...Rc8. played to cut out the line [ 16...cxd4 These positions are even better [ 13...0-0 14.f1 followed by 15.g4 although for White than the mainline g4 break as Kb1 as we se e in th e gam e, Do bro wski st ill defending a2 is more useful than ...Rc8. utilises this plan to great effect. ] 17.g5 hxg5 18.h6 g6 ( 18...gxh6 19.xh6 14.b1 and I doubt Black will survive very long.) [ 14.e5 has been White's usual treatment 19.xg5 looks very promising. ] c5 when the critical line appears to be 1906

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.g5! Ok so the idea isn't very subtle but nevertheless very strong. hxg5 18.xg5 [ 18.h6 g6 19.e3! and Black's position starts to creak. ( The simple 19.xg5 c3! 20.xc3 xc3 21.bxc3 d5 22.e4 f5 isn't so clear )] 18...c3 19.g1 The most uncompromising option. [ Again 19.h6 g6 20.b3 gives White a comfortable advantage although Black can fight on. ] 19...a5 [ 19...cxb2 20.h6 d5 ( 20...xh5 21.g3 hf6 22.xg7! xg7 23.e4+ h8 24.h1+ h7 25.xh7+! xh7 26.h1+ g7 27.g1+ h7 28.e5 and White mates.) 21.d3! White wants to take on g7 with the bishop when his attack must be decisive. ( 21.xg7+ h8 22.d3 isn't so clear.) 21...f6 22.xg7! xg7 23.h6 a5 ( 23...c7 24.xg7+ h8 25.g5 7f6 26.d2! First White stops Black's play and then he can continue with his. Of course the position is still complicated but White's attack should strike first. ) 24.xg7+ ( 24.d2!? is also winning.) 24...h8 25.g5 b4 26.a3 xc2 27.h7+ g8 28.g3 xa3+ 29.xb2 b6+ 30.a2 and White's threat of 31.Nxf7 and 32.Rg7 mate is decisive. ] [ 19...xh5 is very risky as that pawn was helping block W hite's attack but could be critical. One line I analysed runs: 20.g3! ( 20.d5 b6 21.b3 xg5 22.xg5 b4 and Black's counterattack is awkward to deal with.) 20...hf6 21.h6! b6 22.b3 fe8 23.xg7 xg7 24.f5+ f8 25.e3 g4 26.h6! gf6 27.g5 d6 28.e5 and White's attack breaks through. ] 20.e5 [ 20.h6 g6 21.e5 xe5 22.dxe5 b4 23.b3 d5 24.c1 is again very promising for White as Black lacks any counterplay. ] 20...xe5? This is the decisive mistake. [ 20...fd8 seems to hold for Black but I wouldn't be surprised if my analysis can be improved on: 21.e1 threatening to take on f7. ( 21.h6 lo o ks t e m p t in g b u t f8 22.xg7? xg7 23.h6 xe5 24.dxe5 b4 would be a disaster, that bishop was needed to stop any mate threat.; 21.c4 c7

22.fe3 b5 23.h6 f8 24.xg7 xg7 25.h6 bxc4 26.xg7+ h8 is very sharp bu t lo o ks go o d f o r Bla ck.) 21...xe5 22.dxe5 d5 23.g4 f8 24.xe7+ xe7 25.e3 cxb2 26.xd5+ xd5 27.xg7 xc2 28.f6+ f8 29.h8+= with a draw by perpetual ] 21.dxe5 b4 22.b3 e4 [ Perhaps 22...e8 is necessary but of course White's attack should crash through whilst Black can do nothing but wait. ] 23.c1! The play down the g file quickly proves decisive. [ 23.h6 fd8! isn't so clear ] 23...c5 [ 23...g5 24.xg5 xg5 25.xg5 is also hopeless. ] 24.g4 a5 25.e3! fd8 26.xg7+!! This sacrifice blows open Black's king. xg7 27.h6+ g8 28.d2! A very pretty only move. The knight not only gets out of the way of the rook's path to g1 but also blocks the rook swap. e4 29.g1+ g5 30.f3 d1 31.xg5! Dobrowolkski continues to find the narrow path to victory. xc1+ 32.xc1 xg5 33.g1 Here we've seen a very strong Grandmaster get blown away by the g4 idea. Black players have to take this extremely seriously. 1-0

1749 Eliseev,U Riazantsev,A 66th ch-RUS HL (4.8) [Tom Rendle]

B19 2557 2708 23.06.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.f3 d7 7.h4 h6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 b6 14.he1 This line has been causing Black some problems of late and here we see Riazantsev with a new approach to handling it as Black. c5!? [ 14...0-0 has twice been played by Mamedyarov and I've annotated his games against Karjakin and Topalov in the archives. W it h b e st p la y W h i t e s e e m s t o h a ve a s t a b l e a d v a n t a g e a f t e r 15.f5 exf5 1907

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 15...b4 16.xh6! gxh6 17.c3 gave Karjakin a very dangerous attack in his game with Mamedyarov) 16.xe7 d8 17.e2 ] 15.c4 [ 15.c4 was the move I suggested in my notes here to Karjakin-Mamedyarov and I s t i l l t h i n k t h i s m o v e d e s e r ve s s e r i o u s attention. The idea is to play Bc3 on the next move so let's examine a few options for Black here. A) 15...cxd4 is interesting but risky 16.f5! A1) 16...c5 17.xg7+ f8 18.xe6+ fxe6 19.xe6 e8 20.xd4 ( 20.e5!? ) 20...xh5 21.b3 and W hite has two pawns and a promising attack for the sacrificed piece. It's certainly easier to play White here.; A2) 16...exf5 17.xd4 0-0 ( 17...f8?! fails to 18.xe7! xe7 19.xf5+ f8 20.b4+ g8 21.e7+ h7 22.d3+ g6 23.hxg6+ g7 24.c3! and White has a winning attack) 18.xe7 ae8 19.de1 xe7 20.xe7 and White is left with a small but definite advantage; B) 15...c8 fails to equalise here after 16.e5! 0-0 17.xd7 xd7 18.d5 exd5 19.xd5 and White has a stable advantage in the centre and the better attacking chances.; C) 15...a5 aims to gain space on the queenside but after 16.c3 it's not clear Black has anything better than 0-0 17.f5 exf5 18.xe7 d6 19.ee1 with an edge for White. ] 15...cxd4 16.xd4 0-0 [ 16...c5 might also be playable here as well with Black equalising after the plausible line 17.c2 d8 ( worse is 17...0-0?! 18.gf5 d8 19.xh6+! gxh6 20.xh6 e8 21.g4 and White has a very dangerous attack ) 18.c3 0-0 19.gf5 exf5 20.xe7 fe4 21.e5 xc3+ 22.xc3 e4 23.e3 c7 24.xf5 d6 25.f4 xc4 with a level position. ] 17.gf5 [ as ever it's worth checking out the piece sacrifice 17.xh6!? but here it seems likely to end in a draw, for example gxh6 18.gf5 exf5 19.xf5 h8 20.xe7 xf2!

21.xh6 c5 22.c3 ae8 23.xf7+ g8 24.h6+ h8 25.f7+ g8 26.h6+ h8= ] 17...b4 [ 17...exf5 isn't so bad for Black either here after 18.xe7 d6 19.e2 fd8 and at most White has a minimal edge after 20.a5 b6 21.c3 ] 18.xb4 [ 18.xe6 leads to a clear draw here after fxe6 19.xg7 ( 19.xh6+?! h8 and W hite doesn't have enough for the piece ) 19...xg7 ( 19...f7?! 20.xe6 and W hite has three pawns for the piece and an ongoing attack) 20.g6+ h8 21.xe6! xe6 22.xh6+ now with the queen on e6 there's no blocking the check with ...Nh7 g8 23.g6+ h8 24.h6+ g8 25.g6+= ] 18...xb4 19.a3 a5 20.b4!? Very ambitious play from Eliseev who seems prepared to take a big risk in going for an edge. c7 21.b5 f4 22.fd6 [ 22.e7+ was another option but Black is OK after h8 23.d6 xf2 24.xb7 a5! as 25.xa5? loses to xa5! 26.bxa5? b8+ 27.c1 b2# ] 22...xf2 23.xb7 xg2 24.7d6?! This allows Riazantsez some dangerous play on the queenside after which I start to prefer Black's chances, although it's still a very difficult position to assess. [ 24.a5! Would've blocked Black's a5 and the position is very unclear. Black is a pawn up but both kings are vulnerable and if it comes to an ending then W hite's further advanced pawns might count for something ] 24...a5! With the a-file being opened up White has to be very careful 25.g1 h2 26.g3 Eliseev chooses to swap the queen off into an ending in which he's a pawn down. Still the queenside pawns are dangerous and the game could still go either way. xg3 27.xg3 axb4 28.axb4 xh5 29.b3 f4 It's now two pawns but W hite has compensation if he can just get the pawns moving. 30.d4?! [ 30.c5! why not start pushing them straight away? h5 31.c7 ab8 32.a6 bd8 33.b5 and the game could still go either way, 1908

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 although with the potential f or Black to sacrifice a piece for the pawns I guess he still has marginally the better chances. ] 30...a6 31.c5 fa8 32.c6?! [ 32.c2 was better although Black is definitely on top after d5 ] 32...b6?! Missing a big opportunity but Riazantsev plays it safe and is still clearly better here, although the pawn on c6 keeps the game interesting. [ 32...e5! wins here - White must defend the p awn o n c6 but af te r 33.b5 a1+ 34.c2 8a2+ 35.b2 ( not 35.c3? d5# ) 35...xb2+ 36.xb2 xd1 37.c7 xd4 38.c8+ h7 White's knight on d6 is t ra p p e d a n d lo st . S t ill, t h is wa s a ve r y to u gh va ria t io n t o ca lcu la t e d u rin g t h e game. ] 33.c2 fd5 34.b5 a5 35.dd3 h5! Black gets his own pawns moving on the kingside 36.a3?! This is going nowhere at all but in fairness it was very tricky for White to stop the kingside pawns at this stage. a4 37.b2 h4 38.c2 g5 39.h3 g7 40.a3 xa3 41.xa3 h8 A very interesting game and an interesting approach from Riazantsev. It seems Black has to be happy to accept a draw in this line whereas White still has plenty of options. It'll be interesting to see if 15.Qc4 gets tried in the future. 0-1

W hite should have some advantage here 18.g3 Ganguly repeats the line chosen by Topalov against Mamedyarov (also in the archives) but I didn't think it was enough for an edge then and my opinion hasn't really changed! [ 18.c1!? is also well worth a look here A) 18...e8 is probably Black's best as now after 19.de1 ( or 19.g4 fxg4 20.xe4 xe4 21.xe4 f6! 22.f4 gxf3 23.g1 h7 with balanced chances ) 19...df6 20.h4 d7 21.f3 xd4 22.xf5 d5 Black is still very solid; B) 18...df6?! 19.h4! a5 20.f3 d6 21.e5 b5 22.xf5 xf5 23.xf5 and W hite was a clear pawn ahead and went on to win in Ankit, R (2439)Svetushkin, D (2608) Kavala 2013 ] [ 18.f4 df6 ( 18...e8?! 19.g4! fxg4 20.xe4 xe4 21.xe4 gxf3 22.g1! ) 19.e5 was my recommendation before and we're still waiting for this to appear in a game. ] 18...df6 19.h4 [ 19.e5 leads to some very interesting play after e8 ( 19...c5! is probably safer) 20.f3 xg3 21.g2 fxh5 22.dg1 when I actually quite like White's chances ] 19...d7 20.f3 [ 20.g1! planning f3 gives Black more to worry about I think but Black is still OK, e.g. xd2+ 21.xd2 e4 22.e2 ae8 1750 B19 23.ge1 and White's edge is minimal at best ] Ganguly,S 2619 Vitiugov,N 2737 20...d5 21.c1 [ 21.xf5?! xd4 is very comfortable for Gibraltar Masters 2014 (9.4) 05.02.2014 Black ] [Tom Rendle] 21...fe8 Vitiugov has now equalised and 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 goes about the task of slowly outplaying his 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 opponent. 22.a1 d6 Black is happy to 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 e n t e r t h e e n d ga m e h e re wh e n s u d d e n l y 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 b6 14.he1 0-0 W hite's king will be out of the action on a1 23.xd5 xd5 24.e5 c4 25.ee1 xe1 15.f5 exf5 [ 15...b4 is probably too risky for Black 26.xe1 d6 27.f3 d8 28.e5 [ 28.b1 I quite like here, bringing the king b e c a u s e o f 16.xh6+! gxh6 17.c3 back towards the centre - the position is see Karjakin-Mamedyarov which I annotated p r e t t y l e ve l a f t e r f6 29.f4 xh5 last year. ] 30.xd6 xd6 31.xf5 e6 32.h1 f6 16.xe7 d8 17.e2 e4 This seems to be 33.c1 ] Black's most solid line right now against 13. Kb1, 14.Rhe1 but with accurate play I feel 28...f6 29.xf5 xf5 30.xf5 xd4 31.b3 1909

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d5 32.xd5 xd5 33.c4 f6 34.g4 d7 35.e3 [ 35.b2 leads to a similar position to the game after f5! 36.gxf5 f7 37.b1 f6 38.c2 xh5 39.e5 g6 40.fxg6+ xg6 ] 35...a6! [ 35...e5 36.xa7 xf3 at first looks promising for Black as g4 is dropping but a c t u a l l y a f t e r 37.a4! e5 38.a5 W h i t e 's p a wn s a re f a st e n o u g h o n t h e queenside to prevent Black having any real winning chances ] 36.d4 f5! 37.b2 f7 38.gxf5?! [ 38.c3 f6 ( 38...c5 39.e3 e6 40.b4! also seems enough to draw) 39.b4! m a y b e t h e w a y t o h o l d o n , e . g . fxg4 40.fxg4 xg4 41.a5 g6 42.hxg6+ xg6 43.b6 h5 44.xb7 h4 45.xa6 h3 46.g1 and White can give up the bishop and hold a draw ] 38...f6 39.c3 xh5 40.e5 f6 41.d3 I'm not sure if Black is quite winning here or not but I can't see an easy way for White to improve so we might as well just sit back and admire Vitiugov's f antastic technique. g6 42.fxg6+ xg6 43.e3 f5 44.d6 h5 45.f2 h7 46.g3 g5 47.c5 f7 48.d4 e5 49.e3 d3 50.d2 e5 51.e3 h4+ 52.xh4 xf3+ 53.h5 e5 54.c1 d3 55.d2 c5 56.c1 e4 57.b2 f2 58.h6?! After this it's all over d3 59.a3 [ 59.c3 c1 wins a pawn and the game ] 59...c5 60.g7 e6 [ 60...e6 61.f8 b5 and the bishop on a3 is trapped ] 0-1

makes his task look easy. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 gf6 Not the most accurate move if Black is uncomfortable with White's bishop on f4 but Black has an idea. [ One of this month's games showed White playing a thoroughly harmless line. However, Black has to be careful if White pursues a more aggressive policy: 10...e6 11.d2 ( 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 is the line we've seen so often in this column, following Houska's repertoire. ) 11...gf6 A) as opposed to the harmless 12.c4 e7 13.c3 0-0 , when 14.e4 c7 15.e5?! neglects development and leads t o a s u sp ici o u s p a wn st r u ct u re : xe4 ( 15...ad8; 15...fd8 ) 16.xe4 f5!? ( Black has a minor edge after both 16...fd8; and 16...xe5! 17.dxe5 fd8 ) 17.e2 xe5 18.dxe5 ( 18.xe5! ) 18...ad8 19.h3 d7 20.d1 fd8 1/2-1/2 Petrenko-Maric, Ohrid 2009.; B) 12.0-0-0! e7 13.b1 0-0 14.e2 B1) 14...b6! is Houska's main line, when one variation proceeds much as in our game: 15.e4 xe4 16.xe4 f6 17.e2 b5! 18.c4!? f5+ 19.a1 ad8 20.c3 e4! ( or 20...d6 ); B2) 14...c5? (apparently this, the old m a i n l i n e , i s s i m p l y b a d ) 15.d5! (introduced by Jakovenko) B2a) 15...xd5 16.e4 with a strong at t a ck b ase d up o n t h e id e a g4 -g5 ( here 16.c4 5f6 17.c3 is unclear - Seirawan ); B2b) 15...exd5?! 16.xh6! gxh6 17.f5 e8 18.xh6+ f8 19.d2! ( T h e o l d m o v e w a s 19.g5 1751 B19 , as played in Jobava-Bareev, Rethymnon 2003) 19...g8 20.xf7! Gaponenko,Inna 2438 (this seems to finish off the variation) Chiburdanidze,Maia 2506 b6 . This is Swinkels, R (2459)14th ECC w Ohrid MKD (1) 04.10.2009 Seirawan, Y (2634), Netherlands NED [John Watson] 2009. Now ( 20...xf7 21.xd5+ f8 22.f5+ f6 23.xd7 b6 24.b3 ) In the main 4...Bf5 variation of the Caro-Kann, 21.xd5! ( instead of 21.7e5 xe5 castling kingside has been extremely popular 22.xe5 ad8 23.h6 f6 24.f4 h8 over the last couple of years. Some attacks , a l t h o u g h 25.h7 f6 26.e2 with an early g4 have caused a few problems w o u l d h a v e k e p t t h e a d v a n t a g e) (by no means insoluble). Black's strategy in 21...f6 22.b3 e7 23.7g5 xg5 this game, with the idea of trading queens, 1910

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.xg5 h6 25.g3 g7 26.g5! proves too strong (Olthof/Rybka). ] 11.f4 e6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 14.e4 [ C o n s i d e r i n g w h a t f o l l o w s , 14.e5 may be a better try. ] 14...xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 d5! The dual ideas behind this move are ...Qe4 and ...Nxh5. 17.e5 [ 17.g3 i s m o r e i n t e r e s t i n g : e4 ( 17...b5!? 18.c4 f5+ 19.a1! xh5 20.e3 f6 21.e5 and g4 yields attacking chances; 17...fd8 with the idea 18.e5 e4 19.c4 c5 ) 18.e3 ad8 19.h4 ( 19.e5 xd4! ) 19...d5 20.e5 d7 21.c4 g2! is not clear, but Black is in no danger. ] 17...e4! 18.xe4 [ 18.e3 d5 ] 18...xe4 19.he1 f6 [ 19...xf2? 20.d2 h4 21.ee2! ( 21.g3? h3! )] 20.g4 [ 20.g4 fd8 leaves White with nothing in particular to do the position is practically equal. ] ½-½

but too late for Black I fear. 19.h6! g6 20.h7+ h8 21.xd4 ac8 22.g3 White's attack is in full flow while Black has absolutely no counterplay on the other wing. e8 23.e4 xe4 24.xe4 f6 ( 24...xg5 25.xd7 e7 26.xe7 xe7 27.e5 f8 28.f4 d5 29.f3+- ) 25.e5! xe5 26.xe5 h5 27.d7 xg5 28.xf7+ ( 28.xf7 f4 isn't quite so clear ) 28...xh7 29.xg5+ g8 30.xb7 f8 31.f3 f5 32.g1 f4 33.xe6 xe6 34.xg6+ f8 35.xe6 xf3 36.c3 f2 37.a3 1-0 Geetha Narayanan GopalS a n d u l e a c, C a p p e l le l a G r a n d e 2 0 1 0 . Another win by Gopal and played to perfection, this line seems very dangerous for Black. ] [ 14...b6 received a practical outing recently. 15.b1 d5 deviating from 15... N a 4 s e e n p r e v i o u s l y . 16.e3 e4 ( 16...b5!? If White were forced to trade queens Black would be happy but White has 17.c4 a6 18.g4 e4 19.e1; 16...d6 17.g4 e4 might be the best way to try and regroup to avoid g5.) 17.h4 h7 18.h3 wa s s e e n i n D wo r a k o ws k a - T h i n g s t a d , Caleta 2010 but I don't really understand this move, ( instead 18.e5 fd8 19.3g4 keeps up the pressure. )] 1752 B19 15.g1 Very basic chess. Gopal's plan isn't Geetha Narayanan Gopal 2575 very subtle, he's just going to race the g pawn Kharitonov,Alexandr 2538 towards the Black king. That the plan isn't subtle though, doesn't mean it's not effective. 26th Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (6) [ Black's last was u sed to pre ven t 15.g4 [Gawain Jones] but White tried it anyway recently. However she didn't receive enough compensation 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 after xg4 16.g1 gf6 17.e5 b6 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 18.h2?! ( 18.b1 defending a2 looks 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 stronger when W hite definitely has some 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e2 0-0 co m p e n sa t io n .) 18...d5 19.c4 e4 [ 13...c8 was played in Saric-Vallejo Pons 20.e3 f5 White's compensation has today! (9th March) and maybe we'll have a totally dried up. 21.g3 bd7 22.f4 ad8 look at that next month. I wonder if this 23.dg1 xh5 24.f3 c5 25.g2 cxd4 means Black players are getting scared of 26.xd4 xe5 27.xe5 f6 28.c3 c5 the game continuation? ] 29.gf1 xf4 0-1 Paikidze-Melia, Moscow 14.f1 h8 Black's new try in this highly 2010 ] topical position. Black has to get some queenside [ 14...c5 was examined in Robson- 15...c5 Malakhatko in the archives while John also counterplay. [ The pawn on h5 is definitely poisoned. looked at 14...Nb6 15.g4 cxd4 16.g5 hxg5 15...xh5 16.g4 hf6 17.g5 hxg5 17.xg5 a5 18.b1 fd8 18.xg5 when White's pressure down the h Finally deviating from John's extensive notes 1911

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 file will be decisive very shortly. ] 16.g4! cxd4 [ 16...h7 doesn't prevent 17.g5! xg5 18.xg5 hxg5 ( 18...xg5 19.xg5 hxg5 20.dxc5 ) 19.h6! gxh6 20.dxc5 f6 21.f4 and Black won't be able to beat off White's attack ] 17.g5 hxg5 18.xg5 Black appears to have big problems in this line. White's attack on the kingside plays itself and Black's queenside play is much more nebulous than, say, your typical Sicilian. a5 [ 18...g8 19.xd4 xg5+ 20.xg5 c7 21.d2 followed by Ndf3 keeping an eye on e5 when Black has problems on f7. White has definite pressure here. ] 19.b1 a6 Black's afraid of the attack and so trades queens but this doesn't get any closer to equality. 20.xa6 bxa6 21.xd4 [ 21.h6!? looks interesting too g8 ( 21...g6 22.xd4 when the threat of Rxd7 means Black has a few problems with his dark squares. c5 23.d3 xf2? 24.g2 c5 25.e5!+- ) 22.xd4 gxh6 23.h4 ( 23.xd7 xd7 24.xe7 xg1 25.xg1 isn't so clear.) 23...g6 24.xh6+ xh6 25.xh6 when that passed c pawn gives White excellent winning chances. ] 21...c5 22.g3 [ Again 22.h6 deserved consideration ] 22...e5 This wins a pawn but still doesn't solve Black's problems 23.df5 xf2 24.g2 xg3 25.xg3 In fact Black cannot hold onto the extra pawn with the loose knight on d7 a n d p a w n o n g 7 . e4 Black's best try. Instead [ 25...e4 26.d6! fb8 27.e3 b5 ( 27...g8 28.d4+- ) 28.xg7 d5 29.xd5 xd5 30.d4+- ] [ 25...g8 26.h6! gxh6 27.xh6 g6 28.h1 h7 29.f5 f6 30.gh3 df8 31.h6 e6 32.e3 ef8 33.c5+- ] 26.xd7 xg3 27.xg3 Material is theoretically level with Bishop and knight against rook and pawn but W hite still has pressure, the c pawn is extremely powerful a n d B l a c k ' s a 6 p a w n i s r a t h e r w e a k . f6 28.h6?! But this is careless. [ 28.c1 ] 28...g6?! [ 28...fd8! is enough for a draw 29.hxg7+

h7! ( Not 29...g8 30.e4! ) 30.e4 ( 30.xd8 xd8 31.c1 xg7 and the position has transformed, suddenly the relevant pawns are the Black e and f.) 30...fxg5 31.g8+ ( 31.f6+ h6! 32.xd8?! xd8 33.g8 d1# ) 31...xg8 32.f6+ f8 33.h7+= ] 29.e3 ad8 30.xd8 I don't like this move. Generally when White has two pieces for the rook he should strife to keep the other pair of rooks on. [ 30.xa7 d1+ 31.c1 f5 is very double edged however. ] 30...xd8 31.c4 f5 Now it's a race and either side could win but White eventually triumphed. [ 31...d3 32.c5! xe3 ( 32...f5!? ) 33.c6 and Black can't stop the pawn. ] 32.g5 c8 This is too passive. Better was [ 32...d4 ] 33.b3 h7 34.c2 a5 35.e2 a4 36.c3 axb3+ 37.axb3 a5 38.d3 Black's pieces are at a standstill while W hite can slowly improve his position and start pushing that c pawn. b8 39.b5 [ 39.c5! xb3 40.c6 b6 41.c7 c6 42.d8 xh6 43.d5 a4 44.e7 should be enough although will require technique. ] 39...f4 40.e2 f8 [ 40...c8! 41.c3 ( 41.f3 a4! ) 41...b8= ] 41.c7 e4? 42.d5 f3+ 43.f2 b8 44.f6+ h8 45.xe4 xb3 46.f4 h7 47.f6+ h8 48.d6 Suddenly Black is in danger of being mated. a4 49.f8 b7 50.c5 a3 51.c6 c7 52.g7+ xg7 53.hxg7+ xg7 54.c7 a2 55.c8 a1 56.g8+ h6 57.h8+ The black queen drops and so he resigned. Black has still not solved his problems in this topical 14.Nf1 line. 1-0

1753 Geller,Efim P Hort,Vlastimil Skopje/Ohrid [Alexander Volzhin]

B19

1968

Now it's time to study the Classical line with 4 . . . B f 5 . A s i t h a s b e c o m e ve r y p o p u l a r 1912

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 recently, we'll examine it thoroughly. W e begin with this classic game. This game led to a new era in the understanding of this line. At the time that this game was played, W hite usually chose 7.Bd3 without h5, afraid that the pawn on h5 might become weak. In this game Geller proved that the endgame with a blocked kingside is far from comfortable for black. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.h5 h7 8.d3 xd3 9.xd3 d7 10.f3 c7 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e6 13.e4 0-0-0 14.g3 Even nowadays this line, which was introduced by Geller, is considered to be one o f t h e m o s t u n p l e a s a n t f o r b l a c k . xe4 15.xe4 e7 Not a bad move, but nowadays Black usually prefers 15...Bd6 16.b1 he8 17.c4 c5 18.f4 d6 19.e5 xe5 [ As 19...f5 fails to 20.f7! and ] [ 19...xe5 20.dxe5 should not be seriously considered because of the weakness of d6, Hort decides to exchange knights and then rooks. But the endgame is very difficult for Black. ] [ I n m y o p i n i o n , h e s h o u l d t r y 19...e7 with the idea of 20...cxd4, and I can't see a way for white to get a serious advantage. ] 20.dxe5 f8 21.e3 xd1+ 22.xd1 d8 23.xd8+ xd8 24.c2 a5 25.a3 a4+ 26.c1 c7?! Black wants to obtain counterplay by playing 27...b5. But with two prophylactic moves Geller leaves the Black pieces in complete passivity. [ 26...e7 is more stubborn, as 27. Qg4 is met by 27...Bg5. I think, 27.f4 with the idea of g4 and f5 etc keeps a big advantage, but compared to the game, Black's queen is much more active now. ] 27.f4! Preventing b5 and pushing Black's queen to a passive position. d7 28.b3! T h e q u e e n w i l l n e v e r r e t u r n t o a 4 ! d8 29.c2 e8 30.e4 e7 Black has no good moves and is forced to temporize. Now White begins his pawn attack 31.f4! c7 32.g4 h4 33.f5 g3 34.fxe6 fxe6 35.g6+ f8 36.xe6 xe5 Now everything is ready for a King march. 37.d3! The King is aiming for the g6-square. g3 38.e4 h2 39.f5 g3 40.d2! The g7-square is the main target now. h2 41.c3 f7+

[ Black resigned as the variation 41...f7+ 42.xf7+ xf7 43.e4 with 44.Kd5 to follow is too obvious. Black lost this game without making any serious mistakes, only a f e w sligh t in a ccu ra cie s. I t 's f u n n y t h a t black managed to maintain material equality throughout the whole game( even in the final position).An excellent achievement by Efim Geller. A real masterpiece of positional chess! ] 1-0

1754 Giri,A Grischuk,A 19th European Teams (8.3) [Tom Rendle]

B19 2732 2785 16.11.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 d6 An unusual move already from Grischuk, developing the bishop to d6 rather than e7. This might contain the threat of ... Bxg3 but as we saw in Guseinov-Pantsulaia it's not a move White players should be afraid of. 13.b1! c7 Grischuk decides not to take the knight but now I'm not sure the bishop is well placed on d6. [ 13...xg3 14.fxg3 0-0 15.h4! worked well for W hite in GuseinovPantsulaia which I annotated earlier this year. ] 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 0-0-0 [ 15...f6 is likely to transpose to the mainline after 16.e2 0-0-0 17.c4 ] 16.c4 he8?! A mistake from Grischuk, really underestimating White's next move. [ 16...f6 is necessary but White is still a little better here after 17.e2 A) 17...he8 can now safely be played 18.e5 ( 18.c5?! f4 is now possible with the Queen on e2 rather than e4 and with the knight coming to d5 Black has no problems. ) 18...b8 19.c3 but White is definitely better here; B) 17...c5 18.c3 he8 19.e5 cxd4 20.xd4 b6 21.g4 b7 22.f3 and White was better in Adams, M (2720)-Adianto, U (2589) Turin 2006 ] 1913

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.c5! f8 18.f4 This is really awkward for Black to deal with as White is going to have pressure down the h2-b8 diagonal for the foreseeable future. a5 [ 18...e5!? is tricky but White doesn't have to take the pawn immediately here, e.g. 19.h2! f6 ( 19...f6 20.c2 e7 21.xe5 ) 20.f5 and Black is losing m a t e r i a l h e r e . O n e n i c e l i n e i s b8?! 21.dxe5 fxe5 22.xe5! xe5 23.xe5 xd1+ 24.xd1 xe5 25.d8+! xd8 ( 25...c7? 26.d7# ) 26.xe5+ with an easily winning endgame for White ] 19.e5! Giri swaps the knight off on d7 so the Queen can come to e5. xe5 [ after 19...f6?! 20.f3 e7 21.d3 Black is in a lot of trouble, the queen is short on squares and W hite can bring the knight into d6. ( or 21.c4 )] 20.xe5 d7 An only move but Grischuk is barely hanging on here 21.d3 Somewhere around here Giri starts to lose the thread a li t t le . W h i t e i s s t i ll c le a rl y b e t t e r b u t h e doesn't make the most of his advantage. [ 21.g3! allows the queen to stay on the crit ical dia gon al a nd a f te r f6 22.f4 White can just continue with Rhe1 and just targeting the weak e6 pawn by doubling and playing Qg4. Qg4 will often also threaten breaks with d5! ] 21...f6 22.e4 c8 23.hd1 b4 24.c1?! This prevents . ..Bxc5 but it's not a move White really wants to play and it gives Black a chance to get right back into the game. [ 24.g3 makes a lot more sense and now xc5? loses to ( 24...e5 also makes no sense here as White just wins with 25.f5+ b8 26.dxe5 ) 25.a3 c4 26.b3 ] 24...d5?! [ 24...e5! comes close to equalising here after 25.e3 ( 25.f5+?! b8 26.dxe5?! now loses a piece to xd3 27.exf6+ a8 28.xd3 xf4 ) 25...a5 26.cd1 c7 27.dxe5 xe5 28.xe5 fxe5 29.xd8+ xd8 30.xd8+ xd8 31.c2 e7 32.d3 e6 33.e4 and although White has the better bishop in this endgame it should still be a draw with accurate defense from Black ] 25.g6 dd8 26.e4 d5 27.g6 dd8 28.h2 e7 29.e4

[ 29.g4! seems to be the correct way to i n c r e a s e t h e p r e s s u r e a n d a f t e r de8 30.e3 Black is going to have big problems simply holding the pawn on d6. ] 29...de8 30.b3 d2 31.d6 f5! 32.f3 f7 Grischuk has held firm in a very unpleasant middlegame for a long time and now he manages to escape as we see another inaccuracy from Anish. 33.d1?! [ 33.d3 g5 ( 33...b4 34.g3 and Qf4 is coming) 34.f4 d8 35.a3 a n d W h i t e i s wi n n in g a s a6 loses to 36.xa6 bxa6 37.xc6+ c7 38.xc7 d7 39.xd7+ xd7 40.e5 ] 33...g5 34.e5 g4 35.xc6+ White decides he's had enough and forces a draw [ 35.a3 xf3 36.xf3 should still be a little better for White ] 35...bxc6 36.b8+ d7 37.b7+ d8 38.b8+ e7 39.b7+ d8 40.b8+ e7 41.b7+ An odd game but the opening was definitely a failure from Black's point of view. At the moment 12...Bd6 just seems to give White a comfortable game. ½-½

1755 Guseinov,G Jobava,Baadur GEO-AZE Friendship 2012 (5) [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle]

B19 2609 2721 11.06.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.d3 Less popular than Qe2 but the idea is to keep the Queens on if Black chooses Qd5 b6 Black has plenty of alternatives here although none without risk [ 15...0-0 A) 16.g4 interesting but probably not dangerous if Black is well prepared xg4 ( 16...d5!? ) 17.hg1 xf2 ( 17...f5?! 18.e2 c8 19.e5 xe5 20.dxe5 and White has great compensation for a pawn in Lundin, J (2314)-Arjun, B (2178) Stockholm 2012) 18.e2 xd1 19.xh6 f6 20.xg7 xg7 21.h6 f6 22.h2 1914

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xf3 23.hxg7 e3+ 24.b1 c3+ 25.bxc3 xg1+ 26.xg1 fd8 27.g5 h7 28.f6 d7 29.b2 g8 30.h4+ xg7 31.g3+ f8 32.b8+ g7 33.g3+ f8 34.b8+ g7 35.g3+ 1/2-1/2 (35) Hovhannisyan, R (2600)Akopian, V (2684) Plovdiv BUL 2012; B) 16.b1 is quite testing and now c5 17.g4 xg4 18.e2 h8 19.hg1 f6 20.dxc5 c7 21.e5 xc5? ( 21...ad8 se em s to re ta in rea so n ab le cha nce s) 22.xh6! gxh6 23.d7! xd7 24.xd7 xd7 25.d2 h7 26.b4 ad8 27.bxc5 led to an easy win for White in Kamsky, G (2741)-Seirawan, Y (2643) Saint Louis 2012 ] [ 15...d5 16.c4 e4 17.b3! This is the idea behind 15.Qd3, it's hard for Black to force the swap of Queens and now b5!? ( 17...0-0 is probably better although it's not clear that W hite can't simply grab the b7 pawn here ) 18.he1 f5 ( 18...h7? was tried in Sadvakasov, D (2627)-Antonio, R (2573) Guangzhou 2010 but after 19.e5! c8 White missed the opportunity for a large advantage with the simple 20.b4! ) 19.e5 c8 20.f3! led to a quick victory in Leko, P (2755)-Dreev, A (2607) Moscow 2007 which concluded A) 20...0-0 21.g6! fxg6 22.e5 is strong for White but Black is still in the ga m e a f t e r bxc4! 23.b7 ( 23.xc4?? c5! and Black remains a piece up) 23...b8 24.xa7 a8 25.xe7 d5 a line I'm sure both players had missed (supplied to me direct from Houdini)!; B) 20...bxc4?! 21.b7 d8 22.g4 h7 23.a5 d5 24.xd8 ] [ 15...g4 16.e2 0-0 17.b1 ( 17.e5 xe5 18.dxe5 b6 19.b1 fd8 20.g4 b5! 21.xb5 cxb5 was equal in Guseinov, G (2616)-Dreev, A (2698) Plovdiv 2012) 17...d5 ( 17...b6 is a possible improvement) 18.e5 xe5 19.dxe5 c5 20.f4 fd8 21.g4 d5 and White had built up a nice initiative in Akopian, V (2691)Rodshtein, M (2632) Plovdiv 2010 although he now missed the chance to increase it with 22.g5! hxg5 23.h6 g6 24.fxg5 with the point that xe5 can be met with 25.h2! f5 26.h7+ h8 27.c7

and Black is really struggling ] [ 15...c5 16.b5+ d7 17.xd7+ xd7 18.e3 cxd4 ( 18...c8 19.d5 exd5 20.xd5 and White has the more comf ortable structure) 19.xd4 f6 20.e5 and White had a very slight edge (which was eventually converted into a win after a couple of Black inaccuracies) in Filippov, A (2637) -Iordachescu, V (2644) Tashkent 2012 ] 16.e5 d8 A sensible option to avoid the complications of 0-0 but as we shall see I don't think it solves Black's difficulties [ 16...0-0 17.g4 ad8 18.g5 is tricky but it seems Black is just about OK here ( 18.e3 d7 doesn't cause Black any problems ) A) 18...xd4! 19.f3 ( 19.gxf6!? xd3 20.fxe7 d5 21.e3 c7 22.exf8+ xf8 23.f4 is probably about equal, at least Black is solid enough that he shouldn't lose.) 19...b5! ( 19...hxg5 20.h6 is strong ) 20.gxf6 xf6 21.c3 xd2 ( 21...a4 may also be playable) 22.xd2 g5 23.d3 d8 24.f4 xd2 25.xd2 xb2+ 26.d3 seems to lead to a draw according to my silicon friend!; B) 18...hxg5? but not after this move! 19.h6 xd4 and now White blundered in this winning position B1) instead 20.hxg7 would be crushing, e.g. xg7 ( 20...fe8 21.g3 ) 21.xg5 xd3 ( 21...xe5 22.h6+ ) 22.h6+ g8 23.cxd3 with Rdg1+ to follow; B2) 20.g6?? fxg6 21.xg6 h7! Probably overlooked by White 22.xe6+ f7 23.hxg7 f6 24.b3 b6 25.a3 fd7 26.f8+ 0-1 (26) Corrales Jimenez, F (2597)-Kogan, A (2535) Zaragoza ESP 2010 ] 17.g3! xd4 [ 17...f8 was played back in 1982 in the high-level encounter Huebner, R (2620)Larsen, B (2605) and after 18.e3 d5 19.c4 xe3 20.xe3?! White had s o m e wh a t t h e b e t t e r c h a n c e s ( 20.fxe3! seems much more natural, and with a solid centre and half-open f-file to work with White has great attacking chances here. ) 20...f6 ] 18.xg7 [ 18.c3! seems to cause more problems 1915

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e4 ( 18...a4?! 19.xd8+ xd8 20.xg7 h7 21.g3 xa2 22.h4 and White has a dangerous initiative and Black's pieces are still badly placed - Nc4 to d6 is coming so overall Black is close to losing I suspect.) 19.xd8+ xd8 20.xg7 ( 20.e1!? h7 21.b4 also gives good compensation for a pawn ) 20...h7 21.xh7 xh7 22.f3 and W hite retains a slight edge into the endgame ] 18...f8 [ 18...h7? 19.g3 leaves White clearly better ] 19.d3 g8 This forces mass simplification to an equal ending [ after 19...a4 20.a3 it looks as though Blac k ha s en ough f or a d raw wit h xd3! 21.cxd3 g8 22.xh6 d5 23.h7 ( 23.he1 f6 gives Black a dangerous attack ) 23...f6 24.h6 d5 ] 20.xh6 g4 21.f4 xf4 22.xf4 xd3! 23.cxd3 xf2 24.h6 xh1 [ 24...f6 ] 25.xh1 f6 26.g4 h8 27.e3 a6 [ 27...f8 seems an easy way to draw 28.g5 fxg5 29.xg5 f7 ] 28.f1 f7 29.g5 g6 30.gxf6 xf6 A well played game although perhaps 18. Bc3 causes more problems for Black in this line so players might like to consider alternatives on move 15 or the complications arising after 16... 0-0 ½-½

White has to be too afraid of! xg3 [ 13...c7 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 0-0-0 takes us back into more mainline territory and the bishop is slightly misplaced on d6 I think, f or example in Adams, M (2720)Adianto, U (2589) Turin 2006, White got a plea sa nt a dvan ta ge a f t e r 16.c4! f6 17.e2 c5 18.c3 he8 19.e5 cxd4 20.xd4 b6 21.g4 b7 22.f3 And Adams had a typical bind over the position and went on to smoothly outplay his opponent. ] 14.fxg3 0-0 15.h4! A strong novelty that calls Black's whole idea into question. White has the strong plan of g4-g5 and it's very tough to stop [ 15.e2 was played against Pantsulaia the first time he played this line but Black was OK after c7 16.e5 ad8 17.g4 xe5 18.dxe5 h7 19.de1 ( 19.f4! would've kept a minimal edge for W hite) 19...d7 20.hf1 fd8 and Black was at least equal and went on to win in Gopal, G (2550)-Pantsulaia, L (2575) Istanbul 2012 ] 15...c5 [ 15...e8 is my computer's suggested improvement but White must still be doing well after 16.e1 c5 17.g4 cxd4 18.g5 hxg5 19.xg5 and White's attack is very dangerous and certainly more than worth the sacrificed pawn. ] 16.g4 h7 Black does he best to hold back g5 but White simply plays it as a pawn sac. [ or 16...cxd4?! 17.g5 hxg5 18.xg5 e5 19.h6 and White has a crushing attack. g6?! wo u l d l o s e t o 20.xe5! xe5 21.f1 1756 B19 and Black's defences are crumbling. ] Guseinov,G 2623 17.g5! xg5 [ 17...hxg5 18.g4 f6 19.h6 is miserable Pantsulaia,L 2556 for Black after f7 20.h1 gxh6 21.xh6 Nakhchivan Open A 2013 (8.4) 30.04.2013 g7 22.e4 hf8 23.c3 and Black is [Tom Rendle] barely hanging on. ] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 18.xg5 hxg5 19.hh1 [ 19.g4 f6 20.h6! also keeps a strong 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 attack ] 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 20.h6! c5 21.e2 d3 12.0-0-0 d6 Although this move is unusual 19...cxd4 Guseinov has already faced it last year. I Black is doing his best to defend and may annotated his game against Parligras and it have hoped that swapping the queens off c a n b e f o u n d i n t h e a r c h i v e s . 13.b1 would solve his problems but it seems he's Previously Guseinov played 13.Ne4 which overlooked White's idea 22.cxd3 xd3+?? [ 22...d5 had to be played although Black obviously prevents ...Bxg3, but given how this is still under a lot of pressure after 23.c3 game goes it doesn't seem to be a move that 1916

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f6 24.h5 he can survive for the time being alternatives in this position at least with d7 and now White's best is [ 14.h4 was a slightly odd try in Dvirnyy, D 25.h3! and it's unlikely that Black can hold (2520)-Berkes, F (2685) Istanbul 2012 xe4 back the attack in the long run. ] 15.xe4 e7 16.c4 0-0-0 17.e2 23.xd3 xd3 24.hxg7 fd8 ( 17.f4! was a better try for an edge [ or 24...xg7 25.c3+ ] although Black is OK after xf4+ 18.xf4 25.xg5 f2 and Black resigned without f6 19.e5 c7 still White can press with waiting for 20.xc7+ xc7 21.e5 hf8 22.g4! ) [ 25...xg7 26.xd8 f2 27.hf1 xd1 17...he8 18.c3 b8 19.hh1 28.xd1 is also hopeless for Black. ] and it was clear that Black had equalised as 26.xd8+ xd8 27.h8+ xg7 28.xd8 Rh4 has now just been a waste of time ] 1-0 [ 14.b1 doesn't set too many problems after xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 d5= 17.c4 e4+ ( 17...f5+ 18.a1 0-0-0 1757 B19 wo u l d b e a m o r e a m b i t i o u s a p p r o a c h) 18.xe4 xe4 19.e3 0-0-0 20.c2 Guseinov,G 2628 1/ 2 -1 / 2 (2 0 ) S t evic, H (2 6 15 )-Krs t ic , U Parligras,M 2628 (2466) Sibenik 2012 ] World Cities Team GpD (3.6) 24.12.2012 [ 14.xf6+ xf6 15.de1!? [Tom Rendle] wa s an in te re st ing way of a vo iding t h e exchange of Queens in Dvirnyy, D (2522) 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 B r u n e l l o , S ( 2 5 9 1 ) T o r i n o 2 0 1 2 e7 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 ( 15...d5 16.b1 0-0-0 17.c4 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 gives W hite a small but nagging 12.0-0-0 d6 This move is very rare and as advantage.) 16.c4 ( 16.b3! strikes me as such it hasn't featured on ChessPublishing for a m o r e t e s t i n g i d e a , f o r e xa m p l e 0-0-0 many years. 17.b4 d6 18.xd6 xd6 19.h4! [ 12...e7 has been seen many times in the followed by Ne5 and Black is under a little archives ] b i t o f p re s s u r e a l t h o u g h o f co u r s e h i s [ 12...c7 is Black's other main option here position is incredibly solid.) 16...0-0-0 and was last analysed in Adams17.c2 he8 18.c3 g4 19.b1 b8 Nakamura. ] and chances were level. ] 13.e4 c7 [ 13...xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.e2 14...xe4 15.xe4 e7 16.c3 0-0-0 So we've reached a fairly typical was seen in Ye Jiangchuan-Azmaiparashvili 17.e2 middlegame position for this line - White still in the archives where Black played Qe7. More recently c7 has been seen in a few has a slight space advantage but he needs to games but I think White is a little better in find a plan in order to create some winning these positions: 16.b1 ( 16.g3 0-0-0 chances. he8 18.he1 [ 18.b1! would be my preference here as 17.c4 c5 18.c3 cxd4 19.xd4 a6 it's useful to cut out checks from f4 and g5 20.b1 d7 and now in Ermenkov, E as well as give the King a little more security (24 65 )-K uk ov, V (2 36 7) Bo rovet s 2 00 8 if the centre opens up. Play could continue W hite could've obtained a pleasant edge i n a s i m i l a r ve i n t o t h e g a m e wi t h b8 with 21.c1! b8 22.b3 with c5 a 19.he1 f6 20.e5 d7 21.d3 dangerous threat) 16...0-0-0 17.c4 c5 with a slight edge to White. Note that in the 18.c3 cxd4 19.xd4 a6 20.g4 d7 game this move wouldn't be possible 21.b3 c6 22.f3 and White had some because of Qg5+ ] advantage in Stefansson, H (2583)-Velicka, P (2496) Differdange 2008 although Black 18...f6 19.e5 d7! 20.g4 [ If 20.b1 Black can equalise with xe5 eventually held the draw. ] 21.dxe5 b6! followed by swapping rooks 14.c4 I'm not sure White has much of an edge along the d-file. ] after this move but he has a number of 1917

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20...f5! This equalises easily [ 20...xe5!? was also fine as after 21.dxe5 c5! 22.xg7 xc4 Black has plenty of counterplay ] 21.g6 xe5 22.dxe5 g5+ The resulting endgame is probably just a draw although superficially White has the easier position to play I think after this move. [ 22...b6 23.f3 b8 is also equal. ] 23.xg5 hxg5 24.xd8+ xd8 25.f3 f4 26.c2 h8 27.h1 c5! 28.d3 d7 29.e2 f8?! [ after 29...a6 it's hard to see how White makes progress - for example 30.d3 c6 31.e4 b5 and Black's counterplay arrives in time and if White tries to keep control with 32.b3? then Black gets excellent chances after b4 33.a1 d8! and White is forced to give up a pawn with 34.g3 in order to extricate his King ] 30.f2?! [ 30.h6 was the best try for a win although Black should still be holding Parligras would have to find some accurate moves gxh6 31.xh6 f5 ( 31...f7 32.d3 and Black is very passive) 32.h7+ c8 ( 32...c6? gives White excellent winning chances after 33.e7 xe5 34.xe6+ d6 35.f6! xf6 36.xf6 d7 37.xg5 ) 33.d3 xe5 34.e4 and despite being a pawn up Black is still on the defensive due to the passivity of his pieces. ] 30...f5 Now Black has no problems and the game quickly fizzles out to a draw. 31.e1 a6 32.a4 b6 33.e4 a5 34.b3 e8 35.e2 f8 36.e1 h8 37.h1 h6 38.h3 f7 39.h1 e8 40.h3 f7 41.g3 g6 42.hxg6+ xg6 43.xh6+ xh6 44.g4 g6 Neither side even has a pawn break here so there's nothing to do but agree a draw. 12... Bd6 seems a reasonable option for Black but White has chances for an edge with either 14. Rh4 or 14. Nxf6+ and 15.Rde1 ½-½

1758 Gwaze,Robert Woodward,Timothy ch-GBR, SCO Edinburgh (9) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2335 2285 2003

1.e4 The following game is very surprising. In an established main line, where Black is thought to be very safe, Zimbabwean Master Gwaze stirs up a whirlwind attack. c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.f3 d7 7.h4 h6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1! Just taking time out to safety the King. It's very hard to get to grips with the solid Black position-a slow, safe building method seems correct. Well.... not exactly. Let's see some recent alternatives: [ 13.e4 White's Knight on g3 isn't exactly active and recentralizes, hoping to exchange off a potential defender of the Black King. Both 13...0-0 and 13...Nxe4 are acceptable: 0-0 ( 13...xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.e2 d5 16.c4 e4 17.xe4 xe4 18.e3 d6 19.b3 b5 20.e5 bxc4 21.bxc4 f6 22.f4 xe5 23.xe5 e4 24.h4 c3 25.d2 f6 26.h2 a4 27.d5 cxd5 28.cxd5 c8+ 29.c2 xc2+ 30.xc2 b6 31.dxe6 e7 32.e4 d8 33.g4 c8+ 34.b3 c6 35.a4 d5 36.f4 xe6 37.xe6+ xe6 38.f5+ d7 39.g1 a6 40.c4 d6 41.d4 c6= Kriventsov, SFinegold, B/ Philadelphia 2003) 14.xf6+ ( 14.b1 c5 15.xf6+ xf6 16.d5 b6 17.c1 exd5 18.xd5 fd8 1/2-1/2 Van Blitterswijk, S-Willemze, J/Dieren 2003 (18)) 14...xf6 15.e2 c5 16.dxc5 c7 17.c3 xc5 18.e5 fd8 19.g4 d5 20.f3 g5+ 21.d2 xd2+ 22.xd2 f6 23.xd8+ xd8 24.d3 g5+ 25.b1 d7 26.g3 xg4 27.b8+ h7 28.xa7 e4 29.e3 g2 30.e1 f6 31.e5 g4 32.xg4 xg4 33.b3 xh5 34.e4+ g6 35.c4 d1+ 36.xd1 xd1+ 37.b2 d5 38.f4 e5 39.f6 e6 40.f3 e4 41.g3 g7 42.c7 d5 43.a4 h7 44.f4 g5 45.h2 g6 46.b4 f5 47.b8 f7 48.a5 d7 49.a6 bxa6 50.b6+ h5 51.xa6 d4+ 52.b3 xf2 53.a1 e3 54.h1+ g4 55.b5 e2 0-1 Tamas, M-Pap, P/3rd Savaria Summer Open, Szombathely 1918

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b4!? 13.e4 gf6 14.d6+ e7 15.xb7 xd2+ 16.xd2 b4 17.b3 xd4 18.0-0-0 hb8 19.a3+ c5 20.a5 c8 21.dc4 xf2 22.d6 c7 23.b5 cc8 24.d6 c7 25.b5 cc8 26.d6 1/2-1/2 Morovic Fernandez, I-Karpov, A/Cap d'Agde 2002 ] 12...gf6 13.c4 e7 [ 13...0-0-0 is also possible of course but then 14.a3 might have been the reason why he didn't do it. ] 14.e2 0-0 15.0-0 fe8= To be honest, I don't think that White can claim anything at all here. Black is very solid and the Knight on d2 looks weird. For Hector the unusual nature of the position is the only thing that matters. 16.fd1 b5! Aiming to get rid of the c4 pawn and to cement a Knight on d5. 17.a3 ac8 [ 17...bxc4 18.xc4 b5 19.ac1 d5 l o o k s m o r e a c t i v e , a n d t h e n 20.e5 ( 20.d6 g5! 21.c2 7f6= ) 20...a5= ] 18.ac1 a6 19.e5 bxc4 20.xc4 c5 21.b3 cxd4 22.xd4 e5! Black is still playing with accuracy and resolve. 23.e3 c5 [ Here, I think 23...e6! to be positionally accurate. 24.f3 c5 25.b4 b3 26.c3 1759 B19 a5! ] Hector,Jonny 2513 24.b4 b3 25.c2 d4 That was the point, Iordachescu,Viorel 2609 but now W hite can work up a small edge 13th Sigeman & Co (9) 24.04.2005 26.xd4 exd4 27.d3 The Bishop on e7 is ' bad', that's all, but it is enough for a [Andrew Martin] Grandmaster to work with. d5 28.xd4 Looks like simple tactical Jonny Hector remains as dangerous and as xb4? original as ever. Here he is getting his teeth miscalculation which I think when you see the into another 2600 victim. 1.e4 c6 Presumably ga m e i s e a sy t o u n d e rst a n d . J u s t a s a n Iordachescu intended that the Caro would exercise it might be worth freezing the game k e e p He c t o r a t b a y. W e e n t e r a f a m ilia r here and trying to see what's wrong with 28... sequence. 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 Nxb4. [ 28...b6 was the best move, with White f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 only fractionally for choice. ] h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2!?N It's very unusual to see 12 29.axb4 ed8 30.g4 xd1+ 31.xd1 Nd2 here. A move is a move as they say. xc4 32.f1! 33 The sting. After 32....Rc6 Positional points: 1) White leaves his Bishop comes b5 on f4, preventing the Queen from dropping 1-0 back to c7.2) 0-0-0 isn't possible anymore. 3) There's less of a grip on e5, which is usually the bridgehead of any White attack. It looks like the balance sheet favours Black, but it doesn't work out that way. [ I give only one, slightly unusual example after the well-catalogued 12 Bd2 12.d2 HU 2003 ] [ 13.he1 Straightforward centralization. Black copes comfortably: 0-0 14.c4 c5 15.c3 cxd4 16.xd4 c7 17.b1 a6 18.c3 fe8! 19.e5 xe5 20.xe5 ac8 0-1 Thavandiran, S-Porper, E/ Futurity, Kitchener CAN 2003 ] 13...0-0 14.e2 c7 15.e4 xe4 16.xe4 f6 17.e2 fd8 It's hard to believe that White will win quickly from here but Gwaze shows another reason f or the earlier Ne4: 18.g4! c5 [ 18...xg4 19.dg1 f6 20.xh6 e8 21.xg7 xg7 22.h6 is simplicity itself. ] 19.g5 hxg5 20.xg5 xd4 21.h6 xd2 Woodward is getting desperate already. How come so many strong players have problems with 4...Bf5? 22.xd2 gxh6 23.xh6 f4 24.h3!+- f8 25.xe6 fxe6 26.xe6+ g7 27.dd3 A remarkably simple win once momentum was created. Gwaze brought a refreshing and direct approach to the problem and was rewarded with the full point. 1-0

1919

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ There is nothing much wrong with 16...xe4 17.xe4 0-0 18.xd7 xd7 19.e5 d6 although the position is rather dull. ] 17.f3 b5 18.g4 a6 19.e2! c8 20.b4!? Wow! Why not [ 20.g5 hxg5 21.xg5 xh5 ( 21...f8 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 22.h6 gxh6 23.xh6 ) 22.gxf7 ] 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 20...b6 21.g5 hxg5 22.xg5 xh5 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 b4+ 23.gxf7 c4 24.g2 xh1 25.xh1 f8 [ 11...a5+ 12.d2 b4 ] 26.h8 The breakthrough on the kingside has 12.c3 e7 13.0-0-0 gf6 14.b1 a5 [ 14...0-0 first implies that Black has another been very well engineered. e7 27.g6 a5 good square for the Queen. Anand tries e7: 28.xc4 bxc4 29.e5 So Black seem to 15.e5 c5 16.e4 cxd4 17.xd4 b6 have two clear problems in this line: 1) He 18.xf6+ xf6 19.e4 e7! needs to put his Queen on the right square. 2) If containment of a kingside attack by White He needs to castle short....and the quicker is the top priority this seems a safer way. the better. To me the answer to both of these 20.g4 fd8 21.xf6+ xf6 22.e3 problems is connected. The Black Queen xd1+ 23.xd1 d5 24.d4 f4 belongs on e7 where the Kingside is given ( 24...g5! appears to be equal: 25.e5 additional protection. xe5 26.xe5 b5 27.c2 c8 28.d4 f6 1-0 29.d6 f7 ) 25.xf4 xf4 26.g4 b5 27.c2 d5 28.b3 a6 29.a4 B19 Leko, P-Anand, V/Bastia 2001 White has a 1761 nominal edge, but the strong Knight at d5 Hracek,Zbynek 2615 makes the chances practically equal . ] Epishin,Vladimir 2585 15.e5 d8 16.e4N A new move and Germany 1998 Black immediately reacts poorly. Results have [Alexander Volzhin] favoured White in this position but objectively, Black should be OK. In this game between two experts in this line, [ 16.e2 just seems like a waste of a move Black introduced an important novelty and to me: 0-0 17.e4 xe4 18.xe4 f6 o u t p l a y e d h i s s t r o n g o p p o n e n t v e r y ( 18...xe5 19.xe5 1/2-1/2 Ruck, T- convincingly. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 Lorincz, I/Hungary 2005) 19.e2 c5= 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 Balog, M-Lorincz, I/Hungary 2004 ] f6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 [ Meanwhile 16.c4! kicks the Queen 11.d2 e7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.e2 c5!? around and may well be the best move of A new and very interesting idea. all: d5 ( 16...a6 17.c7 c8 18.d6+ [ I n s t e a d o f t h e a u t o m a t i c 13...bd7 xd6 19.xd6 xd3+ 20.xd3 b6 Black immediately opens the c-file, 21.b3; 16...b5 17.d6+ xd6 18.xb5 keeping different possibilities for developing cxb5 19.xd6 d5 20.c2 ) 17.d6+ his knight. ] xd6 18.c4 c5?? Black is duly baffled. 14.dxc5 c7! ( 18...xg2 ) 19.f1 e4+ 20.xe4 [ 14...d5 is not so good: 15.b1 xc5 cxe4 21.xd6 xd6 22.g4 0-0 23.g1 16.c3 c6 17.xf6 xf6 18.e4 e7 b5 24.c5 de4 25.f3 g5 26.f4 gh7 19.g4 fd8 20.c3 and White is better as he 27.g5 xh5 28.gxh6 g6 29.f3 7f6 is ready for a kingside attack, while Black 30.xc6 xf4 31.f3 4d5 32.e2 h7 has difficulties organizing sufficient 33.df1 h5 34.e5 e7 35.c6 a6 36.c7 co u n t e rp la y. W h it e ' s e xce lle n t k n igh t s d5 37.xf7+ xf7 38.xe6 1-0 Babaev, dominate the centre, and Black's Bishop has R-Maherramzade, J/Baku 2003 ] no real prospects. ] 16...d5?! 15.e5 d8! 1760 Hermansson,Emil Vajda,Albert May Roses Cup (10) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2441 2472 14.05.2006

1920

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ The natural looking 15...xc5 finds a very nice refutation: 16.f4 d5 17.xd5! exd5 18.g6 a5 19.xf8 xa2 20.e6! and it's easy to understand that Black's position is lost. ] 16.c3 c6! The correct strategy: Black doesn't hurry to regain his pawn, but instead completes his development. I believe that after the text move Black has successfully solved most of his opening problems. 17.xc6 [ 17.d3 is inferior as it gives Black the initiative after d5 18.d2 b6! Now it's too dangerous to grab the pawn: 19.cxb6 axb6 with tremendous compensation. But declining the sacrifice doesn't make White's life easier as Black will open the b-file with b6xc5 and will ram White's position with the c-pawn. ] 17...xc6 18.xf6 xf6 19.e4 e7 20.b4? Too optimistic. White has clearly overestimated his position. [ H e s h o u l d p r e f e r t h e s i m p l e 20.xd8+ xd8 21.d1 xd1+ 22.xd1 xc5 wi t h a b a l a n c e d p o si t i o n , f o r e xa m p l e 23.c4 d7+ 24.e2 b6 ] 20...d5! A n e x c e l l e n t m o v e . 21.c4?! Another wrong step. W hite still doesn't feel the danger. [ 21.c4 isn't an improvement as it gives Black a strong attack after e5 22.f3 a5! 23.b2 xe4! 24.fxe4 axb4 ] [ 21.xd5 was the only chance to fight: exd5 22.d6 Otherwise Black's attack is unstoppable, for example: ( 22.g3 g5+ 23.b1 a5 24.c3 b6 opening all the files o n t h e q u e e n s i d e w i t h m a t e s o o n .) 22...xd6 23.cxd6 xd6 and Black's advantage is not as big as it may seem. But definitely White didn't have this position in mind when playing the ambitious 20.b4. ] 21...b5! Now White is in real trouble. 22.e2 Other moves lose a piece: [ 22.b3 xd1+ 23.xd1 xe4 ] 22...e5! 23.f3 f5 24.c4 bxc4! [ Of course, Black shouldn't take the Knight i m m e d i a t e l y : 24...fxe4 25.cxb5 a n d t h e p o s i t io n b e c o m e s u n c le a r , f o r example c7 26.f4 d5 27.xe4 ] 25.b2 d5 26.b5 [ 26.c3 xd1+ 27.xd1 a5 28.a3 b8

and I can't see any defence against Bxc5. ] 26...c7 27.xd5 exd5 28.d4 dxe4! This well calculated exchange sacrifice is the direct way to victory. 29.d5+ h7 30.xa8 e5 White's King is alone and can't survive the a ttack of B lack's Qu een, Bisho p an d Pawns! 31.c8 c3+ 32.d1 d3+ [ White resigned as mate is unavoidable after 32...d3+ 33.e1 e3 It's not ea sy to e va l u a t e t h e m e r i t s a n d d r a wb a c k s o f Black's novelty after only one game, and say whether it's better than the usual13... Nd7. Anyway I'm sure that we'll see a lot of interesting games here. ] 0-1

1762 Hracek,Zbynek Rasmussen Bundesliga 2004-5 (6) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2595 2462 12.12.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 The main lines after 4...Bf5 are elongating, sufficiently so to put off most players. Yes Black is solid, we all know that, but who wants to play a chess game of only a few original moves? THAT is the problem for the next generation. 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 gf6 12.0-0-0 d5 13.d2 b4 14.b3 [ Taking offers little: 14.xb4 xb4 15.b1 a5 16.c4 0-0-0 17.e2 d6 18.e4 c7 19.c5 f6= Zontakh-Zviagintsev Yugoslavia 2000 ] 14...a5 15.b1 a4 16.e3 d5 17.e2 b5 18.e4 b6N OK, the novelty. What do we have? Black has left his King in the middle hoping to commence an attack. He's two moves away from contact right now ( ...b4-b3 ) a n d yo u wi l l s e e W h i t e j u g g l i n g t o b o t h prepare for this advance and to begin his own attempt to blow Black out of the water. Ah the Black King....well, that is the major defect of this line as you can see. He's high and dry in the middle and there's no easy escape to either flank. All in all I prefer White because of this ' King' situation. [ 18...e7 is quieter but White keeps an e d ge if h e is vi gi l a n t : 19.e5! xe5 1921

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.dxe5 c7 21.f4 a3 22.b3 b6 23.g3 0-0 24.c4 bxc4 25.xc4 b5 26.c1 fc8 27.c2 b6 28.xb5 cxb5 29.hc1 xc2 30.xc2 c8 31.xc8+ xc8 32.b4 b6 33.c2 Macieja, B-Grabuzova, T/ playchess.com INT 2004 The Knight on e4 has been the key piece throughout and it is because of this Knight that White now has a large advantage. ] 19.h3! b4 20.e5! Black almost always has to take this Knight , and then the pawn on e5 not only has a cramping effect, but also lends the Knight on e4 wonderful support teaming u p t o c o n t r o l d 6 . xe5 21.dxe5 b3 He has to try this or the earlier ...Qb6 wouldn't make any sense. 22.cxb3 a3 [ I just don't see any Black compensation after 22...axb3 23.xb3 a7 24.a3 c7 25.f4! a4 26.c3 a8 27.xd5 ] 23.e3 He goes for control, rather than the grabbing of material a very human reaction. [ Deep Fritz gives 23.c3 axb2 24.xb2 a5 25.c3 xc3+ 26.xc3 a3 obviously not believing in the dark-squared Bishop at all! ] 23...c7 24.c4 axb2 25.d4 a3 26.c5! This is what he wanted. A straight swap! b2 drops anyway. xc5 27.xc5 a5 28.d6+ Ouch! Black is toiling. The restraining effect of White's twin pawns on e5 and h5 will now be felt. d7 29.c2 a7 30.f3! f5 [ 30...xa2 31.xf7+ d8 32.xa7 will do nicely. ] 31.a4 b8 32.g4! A game of good, incisive timing by Hracek reaches a climax. If h e doesn't see a Black threat he will get on with his own attack! So in its own way, 32 g4 is a very instructive move, and a lesson to all of us. c5 [ 32...c5 can be dealt with simply: 33.xc5 xc5 34.xb2 b6 35.xf5+ d5 36.xd5+ cxd5 37.d6 ] 33.c4 f4 [ 33...f8 34.gxf5 exf5 35.xf5 e7 36.g1! is just lost for Black. ] 34.xf4 [ 34.g6 wa s m a yb e b e t t e r s t i ll : e8 35.xf4 e7 36.xb2 b8 37.fd4+Black is unable to muster even a threat! ] 34...e7 35.g6 c3+ 36.c2 What is left

for Black but resignation? At least his proud b pawn remains. 1-0

1763 Iotov,Valentin Genov,Petar 67th ch-BUL Sofia (3) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2255 2490 2003

1.e4 c6 A win for the Caro-Kann in under 20 moves? How is it done? 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6!? Once again we see this modern interpretation of the position. Black allows Ne5, h i t h e r t o t h o u g h t v e r y s t r o n g . 8.e5 White should definitely take up the challenge. Black gains if he does not by maybe playing... c5 and ...Nc6! h7 9.d3 [ A s l o n g a s 9.c4 e6 10.e2 d5! doesn't work for W hite then this line is in good shape. ] 9...xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.0-0?! Nothing wrong so far but White's last move is very quiet, posing Black no problems at all. Indeed, looking over the position one wonders what the W hite pawn is doing on h4! d6 12.f4 0-0 Basically this is a normal position with a White pawn on h4! This cannot favour anybody other than the second player. Iotov seems confused. He now embarks on a wild goose chase. 13.b3 d5! A classic double attack. 14.xb7 xf4! 15.xa8 c7 And now th e white Queen is entombed. We see that Ionov's strategy has completely failed. 16.b4?! xe5 17.b5 A miserable necessity against the threat of ...Na6 xd4 18.ab1 h3+ Ouch! f2 drops, g3 hangs and the King goes with it. The variation with 7... N f 6 s t a n d s u p we l l a l t h o u g h W h i t e wa s playing chess from another planet. 0-1

1922

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B19 24...f8 25.f4 [ 25.xd5 exd5 26.e5 b7 27.d6 b6 2581 28.e1 looks distinctly better than the 2611 game. ] 24.02.2004 25...b7 26.b3 bd8 Khenkin musters his forces intelligently and now holds the initiative. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 In the back of White's mind is the ending, with P u t t i n g W h i t e i n a n u n c o m f o r t a b l e th e p awn o n h 5 lo o kin g sick. Ja ko ve n k o p s y c h o l o g i c a l d i l e m m a . Y o u k n o w i t s makes a move forward, but this makes things relatively easy to get a draw in a whole host worse. 27.g4 d4! 28.e5 [ 28.g5 e4! 29.xe4 xe4 30.xd4 of lines but to win against this rock-solid xd4 31.gxh6 gxh6 32.e1 g3 33.e5 variation White really has to play flat-out and d5 is scarcely playable for White. A pawn might have to take some risks above and will fall. . ] beyond the call of duty. 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 28...b4 29.b2 [ 29.f3 a3+ 30.b1 d5 31.xd4 cxd4 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4! 32.c4 a6 looks very bad for White. ] More combative than ...Qa5-c7. 13.e4 gf6 I really like the style that Black It appears that Black can allow the check on 29...d5 d6. 14.d6+ e7 15.c4 xd2+ 16.fxd2 d i s p l a y s i n t h i s g a m e . A l l t h e t i m e i t ' s centralization which holds the key and whilst c7 17.0-0-0 hd8 [ 17...hc8 was the odd-looking continuation K h e n ki n ' s p o si t i o n l o o k s o r g a n i s e d a n d in the following recent. Black wants to play ... coordinated, poor Jakovenko cannot activate c6-c5 and lends some firepower to that aim. the Rook on h1. 30.f3 xf4 31.g3 c4 18.b1 c5 19.dxc5 xc5 20.e3 e5 The icing on the cake is the final attack. 32.c3 33.xf2 xc3+ 34.b1 xe5 21.e2 c6 22.g4?! The type of f2+! Collapse. he could put a Rook on f1 overreaction Black is just praying for. White 35.de1 sh o u ld s e t tle f o r ( 22.h4 or; 22.b3 and get to a poor Rook ending, but that is with equality in either case.) 22...d8 about it: [ 35.hf1 f6 36.de1 c3+ 37.c2 23.f3 e4 24.xd8 xd8 25.d1 b4 ( 37.c1 a5-+ ) 37...e4-+ 38.e3 26.c1 xd1+ 27.xd1 f6 28.e3 f4 cxb3+ 39.axb3 c8+ 40.b1 c3+ Black is getting the upper hand because 41.b2 d1+ 42.a2 b2# ] W hite has weakened his pawns. 29.e1 [ 35.df1 c3+ 36.c2 cxb3+ 37.axb3 e5 30.d3 xd3+ 31.cxd3 d7 32.b1 c7 38.xf7+ xf7 39.xf7+ xf7 Arnold, L-Medvegy, Z/Germany 2003 when 40.xc3 f6 41.a1 d7 The pain and e5 would have been clearly better for suffering will be intense. ] Black in view of the compromised W hite 35...c3+ 36.c2 a5 37.a1 e4 pawns. ] 18.a3+ c5 19.b3 b6 20.dxc5 xc5 Right now 4..Bf5 stands head and shoulders 21.xc5 bxc5= The position is firmly equal. over 4...Nd7 or 4...Nf6 as Black's best way of B o t h s id e s h a ve o n e e xp o se d p a wn a n d handling the main line of the Caro-Kann. neither seem to have the muscle needed to 0-1 break open the position. One would expect a couple of Rook trades on the open d-file and 1765 B19 a quick handshake. 22.g3 ab8 23.f3 [ 23.xd8 xd8 24.f3 d5 25.e3 Jones,G 2645 wo u ld b e m o re a p p ro p ria t e , t a kin g t h e Laznicka,V 2686 correct view that White has nothing and that 4ncl Guildford 1 -Wood Green 1 (11) 05.05.14 he had better make a draw while he can. ] [Jones, Gawain] 23...d5! Effective centralization. 24.e2 [ 24.e3 d4 25.c3 a4 might give White 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 a few uncomfortable moments. ] 5.g3 g6 6.f3 d7 7.h4 h6 8.h5 h7 1764 Jakovenko,Dmitrij Khenkin,Igor Aeroflot Open (8) [Andrew Martin]

1923

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 14.e4 c5 [ 14...xe4 has been played more often but Karjakin had a nice win over Gustafsson which Tom annotated previously. When this was played against me I decided to follow Sergey's idea 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 d5 17.e3 b5 Logical but this seems too slow. ( However 17...g4 didn't work out well for Black either in Karjakin, S (2779)Gustafsson, J (2629)/Dortmund GER 2012/ [Tom Rendle].) 18.e5 a5 19.g4 a4 20.g5 hxg5 21.h6 g6 22.h7+ h8 23.xg5 a3 24.b3 a7 Jones, G (2655)-Chapman, T (2290)/North Shields 2012 when the c l e a n e s t w i n w o u l d h a v e b e e n 25.e3 and White has too many threats ] 15.g4 [ T o m r e c e n t l y i n v e s t i g a t e d 15.xf6+ in Navara, D (2 703)-Su mets, A (2598)/ Rhodes GRE 2013 ] 15...xg4 16.e2 b6 17.e5 dxe5 18.dxe5 f5 19.c3!? A new try. [ Previously 19.exf6 has been played but it seems Black is holding here. Tom and I analysed this in Balogh, C (2665)-Ragger, M (2655)/Baden AUT 2012 and we also examined both sides' earlier alternatives. ] 19...a6 The threat was 20.f3 so Black has to t r y a n d g e t r i d o f t h e q u e e n s . 20.b5 Offering a further pawn. [ 20.e1 doesn't get White anywhere as after c6 White has to repeat. 21.e2= ] 20...xf2 [ 20...xe5? is the wrong pawn to take. W h i t e h a s a f e w o p t i o n s b u t 21.c4 might be cleanest: f7 ( 21...f6 22.c3 g4 23.d6 b6 24.xe6 is also very good for White ) 22.c7 c6 23.xa8 xa8 24.c3 leaves White clearly better as his initiative continues ] [ While 20...c6?! looks very dangerous 21.f3 xe5 22.xe5 xb5 23.xh6! f6 24.xe6+ f7 25.c1 c4 26.a4! a n d B la c k is in t r o u b l e ( 26.h6 xb2 isn't so clear) 26...c6 ( 26...xa4 27.h6 is crushing; 26...b4 27.c3 xc3 28.d7 is also hopeless.) 27.d6 xf3 28.e1 and White's initiative is likely to be decisive. ] 21.xf2 xb5 22.g3 White needs to be accurate with his move order

[ 22.hg1? f4! 23.xf4 g5 is an important resource for Black. ] 22...h8 [ During this final round match Jon Speelman and Malcolm Pein were commentating live. Here they looked at the fascinating 22...ad8!? which might be enough for a draw. He continues the line A) However 23.xh6 is another important line to investigate. xd1+ 24.xd1 f7 25.g1 ( 25.f4 e2 ) 25...f8 26.f4 when Houdini is sure it's 0.00 but practically the position still doesn't look so easy for Black. c4 ( 26...e2?! 27.g6 ) 27.h6 c5 28.d1 e8 and Houdini says 0.00 after everything but certainly not easy 29.h1 f8 30.hxg7 xg7 31.h4 e7 ( 31...e7 32.h8+ f7 33.h5+ g6 might also hold.) 32.h8+ f7 33.h5+ g8=; B) 23.hg1?! is no longer convincing with Black's queen so much more active than the game and Jon rightly observes Black is doing well af ter f7 24.xh6 xd1+ 25.xd1 e2; C) 23.dg1 g5! 24.hxg6 xd2 25.xh6 fd8! 26.h8+ g7 And it looks like W hit e d oesn 't have an y be tte r th an a draw: ( 26...xh8 27.h3+ g7 28.h7+ f8 29.h8# ) 27.h7+ g8 28.h8+ ] 23.hg1 f7! [ 23...g8 24.g6 is more awkward for Black as 25.Bxh6 is a big threat. ] 24.g6 e8 25.f4! It's important to stop Black having the ...f4 resource. [ 25.xe6?! is too greedy. Black has g5! and his pieces are no longer cramped. ] 25...f8 After navigating the tricky position well Laznicka gives me the advantage. [ 25...h4! looks peculiar but was probably Black's best. However you need a computer to help understand all the complications. A) 26.h1 e7 leaves White with nothing better than repeating. ( While 26...d8! might be even better.) 27.hg1 ( 27.xe6 g5! ); B) 26.d6 d8! ( 26...e7?! 27.h1 g5 28.xg5 hxg5 29.xg5; 26...c7!? ) 27.h1 ( 27.xe6 e7 and Black succeeds in trading off some 1924

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pieces while maintaining a pawn a d v a n t a g e .) 27...e7 28.xe6 d4! 29.xh6 gxh6 30.xh6+ h7 31.f6+! g8 32.xf5 and White has two pawns f or the piece and still some attackin g chances but objectively Black shouldn't be worse. ] 26.xh6 Now with g8 undefended this pawn is hanging. d7 Thanks to my opening preparation I'd a big time advantage and now used a big chunk to figure out what my plan should be. I was pleased to find the following idea. [ As the game looked hopeless for Black we wo n d e r e d wh e t h e r h e h a d t o t r y 26...c4 here but W hite is obviously on top after something like 27.e3 f4 28.gf1! c3 29.h6 ] 27.xd7 xd7 28.g5 e8 When you're u n d e r a t t a c k i t 's lo g ica l t o t ry a n d t ra d e queens. [ Now 28...c4? is obviously too slow 29.h6 wins instantly. ] [ However the computer comes up with 28...g8! which looks to be Black's best defence. However 29.h6 e8 30.f6 xg6 31.xg6 c4 32.hxg7 c5 33.h6 f7 34.h4 obviously gives White the better ending. ] 29.c4! This was the concept I'd discovered. The Black bishop is in a very unfortunate position and so I fix the c5 pawn so it can never escape. Black also has the problem that it is extremely difficult to activate his a8 rook as I control the important d8 square. [ Initially I was looking at 29.d1 which the c o m p u t e r a c t u a l l y p r e f e r s b u t a f t e r c4 30.xe8 xe8 31.d7 c5 32.xb7 f4! I felt Black was far too active for White to be better. ] 29...a6 [ Perhaps 29...g8! was Black's last chance. The point is that after 30.d1 Black actually wants to keep the queens on the board with c6 Playing like this with the enemy queen s o n e a r y o u r k i n g l o o k s s u ic i d a l b u t i t doesn't seem that W hite has a knockout blow. However after 31.a1 a6 32.a3 b5 33.f6 Black's position continues to look very dangerous. ] 30.d1 b5

[ 30...a4! Again Black should keep the queens on the board. W e actually had a look at this in the post-mortem but considered 31.b3 c6 32.c1 to be too d a n g e r o u s f o r B l a c k , f o r e xa m p l e g8 ( 32...e4 33.xe6+-; 32...g2 33.h6+- ) 33.d8! ( 33.h6 e8! gets the queens off without W hite's kingside bind.) 33...b5 34.h6 f3 35.xe6+ h7 and I'm very sceptical that Black can survive, at least in a practical game. ] 31.xe8 xe8 32.d7 So we've reached my ideal position. Once Black captures on c4 he'll actually be two pawns up but as all his pieces are so passive I think he is just lost. There's no future for the bishop on f8 or king trapped in the corner, while the rook has no targets to attack. [ I noticed 32.d6!? too that looked strong but didn't want to let Black escape the bind. However this also looks good for White, one amusing sample line going: g6 33.h6 xd6 34.exd6 h7 35.d7 f8 36.b4! cxb4 37.c5 and White's c pawn wins the game. ] 32...bxc4 33.c2 a8 [ 33...g8 34.a7 and I can recapture the pawns at my leisure. ] 34.a4 g8 [ 34...a5 35.d8! was the idea behind the previous move. If Black loses a5 my pawn will be much too fast, as occurred in the game. ] [ Perhaps 34...c3!? 35.xc3 c4 should be tried, giving away the extra pawns to activate the bishop but I think I should be winning with my queenside majority after the simple 36.xc4 ] 35.b7 f4 This was the move I expected but simply loses. However it's understandable to try and activate the rook. [ M y c o m p u t e r t r i e s t o h o l d w i t h 35...c3 36.xc3 a5 but 37.c4 c8 38.b3! e8 39.b6 f7 40.a6 is just winning. ] 36.xf4 d8 37.a5 My a pawn is too strong while Black is still playing without two thirds of his pieces. d4 38.d2 h4 39.b6 xh5 40.xa6! That e6 pawn is actually rather annoying for Black. g5 [ 40...xe5 41.a8 and Black has no good way to prevent the pawn from queening: f5 42.a6 1925

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 42...f7 43.a7 h7 44.a5! xe5 17.dxe5 xd3 18.xf6+ gxf6 followed by 45.Bb6 and moving the rook is 19.xd3 fxe5 20.d7 t r a n s p o s e s) cleanest. ( During the game I judged 16...xe5 17.xe5 xd3 18.xf6+ gxf6 44.b8 xa7 45.xf8 also to be winning 19.xd3 fxe5 20.d7= . Black has an extra as I'll pick up all Black's loose pawns very pawn, and even the one on h5 can be weak, easily. ); but White controls the d-file has just enough B) 42...f1 43.a7 a1 44.e3! f7 p la y a ga in st t h e kin g in li n e s l ik e ab8 45.xf8+! xf8 46.xc5+ f7 47.a3 ] 21.hd1! g7 22.1d3 f6 23.f3+ g5 41.xe6 g4 42.a6 h1 43.e8! c3 24.g3+ f6 ( 24...xh5?? 25.d1! 44.xc3 h7 45.e6 g3 And Viktor threw in and mate next move!) 25.f3+ with a draw the towel. 19.Nc3 sets Black some practical by repetition. ] problems but if Black is perfectly prepared I 16.xe4 c7 17.b1 ad8?! Black should think he should be ok. do something about Rh3-g3 or g4-g5. I think 1-0 he should play [ 17...f6 18.e2 d5 . ] 18.g4! This is an apparently primitive advance, 1766 B19 but Kaidanov has prepared it perfectly by Kaidanov,Gregory S 2686 preventing the sort of central action that might Ivanov,Alexander 2623 counteract it. In fact, an elementary attack by The Frank K. Berry 2007 US Championship (8) g5 is hard to counter. f6 [ 18...xe5 19.dxe5 c5 20.e3 b6 [John Watson] doesn't solve Black's problems after 21.g5 ( or 21.b3 a4!? 22.c2! ) 21...hxg5 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 22.xg5 a4 23.c1! xd1 24.xd1 xf2 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 e6 8.h5 h7 25.g1! ] 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 f6 11.f4 b4+ [ Ho us k a's rep e rt o ire invo lve s 11...a5+ 19.e2 d5 [ 19...h7!? ] 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 . Bareev plays 20.d2! c5? another popular sequence. ] [ It must be time for 20...f6 21.g6 fe8 12.c3 d6 13.e5 co m e wh a t m a y, a lth o u gh 22.c4 f4 [ One high-level encounter went 13.xd6 23.xf4 xf4 24.he1 is strong, for xd6 14.0-0-0 bd7 15.b1 0-0 16.e4 example, d6 25.c5 f8 26.f4! xe4 17.xe4 f6 18.e5!? fd8 intending f5 ] 19.xd6 xd6 20.e5 ad8 =, Bokros, A 21.g5! Now the attack is almost unstoppable. Erenburg, S, Austria 2006 ] 13...0-0 14.0-0-0 Here White controls more cxd4 [ Or 21...hxg5 22.h6! xe5 23.dxe5 f6 space but Black has no serious weaknesses. 24.hxg7 xg7 25.dg1! (with the simple The ...c6/...e6 structure normally holds up threat exf6, which is almost impossible to well in such situations. bd7! 15.e4!? parry) f7 26.exf6 g6+ 27.c1 f5 This allows a simplifying continuation. 28.b5! ( 28.xg5 f4 ) 28...b6 29.xg5 [ Another idea is 15.he1 . Then c7 , etc., ] 16.e4!? xe4 ( 16...xe5?? 17.xf6+ gxf6 18.dxe5 has the idea xe5 19.xe5 22.cxd4 hxg5 23.xg5 e7 [ Or 23...f6 24.c1 b6 ( 24...b8 fxe5 20.g3+ and Bxe5; 16...xe5?! 25.g6! fxg5 26.xe6+ h7 27.xd5 ) 17.xf6+ gxf6?? 18.dxe5 xe5 19.xe5 ) 25.c4 and e6 falls. ] 17.xe4 ad8 ( 17...xe5 18.dxe5 ) 18.b1 is like the game, but without an 24.dg1 b6 [ A classic mate follows 24...f6 25.h6! fxg5 immediate kingside advance. ] ( 25...fxe5 26.hxg7 ) 26.h7+ h8 15...xe4!? 27.g6# ] [ Along those lines, exchanging by 15...xe5! would be a smart policy, since 25.d2 f6 26.h6 fxe5 27.xe7 xe7 the tactics work out well: 16.dxe5 ( 16.xe5 28.xg7+ h8 29.g5! Black resigned, in 1926

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 view of g8 [ 29...exd4 30.h7+! ] 30.xe7 and mates. 1-0

of the game and it looks like a good one. There are two ideas: a) Black hits f2 ( obvious) b) Black guards e5, because to get anywhere, W hite must play Ne5 and then Black intends to take. [ N e v e r t h e l e s s 15...0-0 seems perfectly possible: 16.e5 ad8 17.g3 h8 1767 B19 18.c4 d7 19.d3 f6 Typically, the Karjakin,Sergey 2635 pressure on e5 gives Black counterplay. Azmaiparashvili,Zurab 2671 20.hd1 xe5 21.xe5 xe5 22.xe5 It Dos Hermanas ESP (8) 08.04.2005 b4! 23.c5 a4 24.b3 a6 25.g4 b5 [Andrew Martin] 26.c3 Karjakin, S-Van Delft, M/Vienna 2003 when fe8! 27.g5 e5 28.gxh6 gxh6 A NOMINAL EDGE 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 would have been roughly equal. ] dxe4 4.xe4 f5 Current thinking states that b5! Another way to simplify White can expect only a nominal edge against 16.e2 this rock-solid Capablanca variation. He has apparently. 17.d3 [ Trading leads to a drawish position: tried and tried but the Black position holds up. 17.xb5 cxb5 18.g3 d8 19.c3 f6 What you are about to see is state of the art. 20.e5 b4= ] 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 But this is not very exciting. By 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 The twin prongs of 17...d8 the black pawns on c6 and e6 keep white at delaying castling with other useful moves bay. 11.f4 gf6 Black often gives a check taking priority, Black has successfully slowed on a5 to draw a White piece out of position d o wn a n y W h i t e ki n g s i d e a t t a c k . 18.e5 but Azmai is quite happy to play around the xe5 19.xe5 f6 Why not? 20.xf6 gxf6 powerful bishop on f4. 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e4 21.f3 g8! 22.e1 [ 22.xf6 g5! looks to me like the idea, a5! but not ( 22...xg2 23.xh6 xf2 24.e3 [ 13...xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.d3 d5 f5 25.h6 when only W hite can win.) is the other way fr Black which we have 23.xg5 xg5 24.g3 dd5 ] featured in earlier games. Perhaps W hite gets a small pull in the simplified positions 22...g5 23.c4 f8 24.g4 d7 25.e4 f5! th a t aris e . 16.c4 e4! 17.xe4 xe4 Important counterplay at the death. Trading 18.e3 d6 19.b3 f6 20.g4 b5= pawns and queens doesn't really help White Kramnik, V-Bareev, E/W ijk aan Zee 2003 both sides have mutual weaknesses so it's O n l y t h e v e r y b e s t t e c h n i c i a n s wi l l b e time to shake hands. ½-½ squeezing out a White win from here. ] [ 13...0-0 is sharper. I prefer White after 14.xf6+ xf6 15.g4! xg4 16.hg1 f5 B19 17.e2 h7 18.xe6 d5 19.xe7 xf3 1768 Karjakin,Sergey 2779 20.e5 Karjakin, S-Dreev, A/ playchess. Gustafsson,Jan 2629 com 2004 Black's move in our f eatured ga me is a ha lf -wa y ho use b et we en t h e 40th GM Dortmund GER (9) 22.07.2012 simplicity of the first line and the committal [Tom Rendle] 13. .. 0-0 . For inst an ce , B la ck is no t ye t committing his King, and as you'll see, this 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 makes a difference. ] 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 14.xf6+ 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 [ 14.b1 is less convincing: xe4 15.xe4 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 This looks to be a f6 16.e2 xh5 Pelletier, Y-Nielsen, P/ dangerous move with a growing reputation playchess.com INT 2004 White has to justify [ 13.e2 and ] his sacrifice from where I'm sitting. ] [ 13.e4 have both received a lot of 14...xf6 15.b1 g4!N The first new move coverage in the archives ] 1927

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13...0-0 14.e4 xe4 [ 14...c5 15.g4!? was a tricky pawn sacrifice that I an alys ed with Gawa in in Ba logh Ragger earlier this year. ] 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 d5 17.e3!? A seemingly quiet move but the idea is that White wants to keep the Queens on the board, and is counting on his attack to breakthrough on the Kingside before Black gets going on the Queenside. [ 17.e5 e4 normally leads to an ending which, whilst not a lot of fun to play as Black, s e e m s t o b e co m f o rt a b le e n o u gh b u t I wonder if it's worth considering 18.e3!? here instead of capturing on e4. Perhaps Black is just doing fine after d5 ] 17...g4 [ 17...b5 is logical but perhaps a bit slow 18.e5 A) 18...d6 to challenge the knight seems more logical although White may consider c o n t i n u i n g a g g r e s s i v e l y w i t h 19.g4!? ( 19.f4 is perhaps a more circumspect choice ) 19...xe5 20.dxe5 xe5 21.g5 hxg5 22.h6 g6 although it's not straightforward to see how to continue in this position; B) 18...a5?! 19.g4! a4 20.g5 hxg5 21.h6 g6 22.h7+ h8 23.xg5 a3 24.b3 and Black was already in serious trouble in Jones, G (2655)-Chapman, T (2290) North Shields 2012 ] [ 17...ad8! seems to be a sensible line for Black here and is probably what I'd recommend A) 18.d2?! b5 19.c4 f5+ 20.a1 g4 21.f3 xe3 22.xe3 g5 23.f2?! ( 23.c3 xd2 24.xd2 b5 ) 23...c2 and Black was already clearly better in Navarrete Espi, S (2120)-Georgiev, K (2658) Roquetas de Mar 2012; B) 18.e5 d7 19.d3 b5 20.c1 f6 21.g4 h8 22.f4 fe8 1/2-1/2 (22) Bruzon Batista, L (2711)-So, W (2650) Montreal CAN 2012 ] [ 17...d6 18.g4!? is again difficult for Black to deal with xg4 19.dg1 f5 20.c1 A) 20...f7 21.c4! e4+ ( 21...a5?! 22.h4! and Black is in trouble) 22.xe4 fxe4 23.xg4 exf3 24.xh6 h7 25.e3 gave White a better ending and he went

on to win in Narayanan, S (2383)-Ankit, R (2412) Tashkent 2012; B) 20...h7 21.h4! xd4?! ( 21...f6 22.g6 f7 was a better defensive try although W hite has excellent chances after 23.f3 ) 22.f3 e5 23.g6 fe8 24.d1 c4 25.h2 f7 26.xd6 xd6 27.xd6 d5 28.g3 e5 29.g1 d6 30.h4 f6 31.xf5 f8 32.g4 ae8 33.xg7 e7 34.e4+ h8 35.g6 1-0 Bok, B (2488)-Solleveld, M (2502) Netherlands 2012 ] 18.c1 [ 18.d2 worked out well in this game but I would be surprised if it posed any long-term problems f5 ( 18...xe3! 19.fxe3 e5 and I see nothing to fear in the position for Black players; 18...f5 also seems a solid option ) 19.c4 d6 20.f3 ( 20.b3!? may leave W hite a little better) 20...b5 21.cxb5 cxb5 22.c1 ac8 23.he1 h8?! ( 23...fe8! ) 24.d5 c5?! 25.d4 now White is winning xd5 26.xe6 e4+ 27.xe4 fxe4 28.xf8 xf8 29.e3 b4 30.e2 a6 31.d4 c4 32.b3 1-0 Kravtsiv, M (2559)-Charochkina, D (2298) Pardubice 2010 ] 18...f6 This seems a bit complient to me - of course Black's structure is very solid but White is going to get g4 in now. [ 18...fd8 offers better chances of equality and now A) 19.c4!? f5+ 20.a1 d7 21.h4 xh4 22.xh4 f6 23.g4 e4 24.e3 c5?! ( 24...g2! looks to be the best way to hold up the Kingside attack) 25.f3 c6 26.g5 gave White a dangerous attack in Bok, B (2511) -Ducarmon, Q (2368) Limburg 2012; B) 19.e5 xe5 20.dxe5 B1) 20...b5!? 21.xb5 ( 21.g4!? may be more dangerous) 21...cxb5 may be a little better for White but Black held the draw pretty comfortably in Bok, B (2453)-Michiels, B (2489) Amsterdam 2011; B2) 20...a5 21.d2 c5 22.f4 d5 23.e3 a5 24.xd5 cxd5 25.g4 and W hite had the better chances in Negi, P (2603) -Lalith, B (2481) New Delhi 2010 ] 1928

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.e5 e4 20.f1! Of course we already know Karjakin isn't interesting in swapping Queens here c5 21.f3 h7?! This seems to be a mistake, Black aims to create some pressure on c2 but it doesn't seem to be quite enough here. [ 21...d5 seems a more normal retreat square but Black is still under pressure after 22.e3 ad8 23.g4 with a strong initiative for White ] 22.dxc5 xc5 23.d7 xd7 24.xd7 ac8 25.g4! [ 25.xb7 b6 26.e2 c6 isn't so clear ] 25...b6 26.h2 f5? Weakening the Black kingside, a mistake that Karjakin is quick to punish. [ 26...c6 Gustafsson should have stuck to his plan to hit c2 but it's all rather u n p l e a s a n t . 27.d1 ( 27.xb7 is still possible as well) 27...c7 28.e2 a6 29.e4 and Black has no counterplay at all ] 27.e2 [ 27.g5! hxg5 28.e2 c6 29.xg5 also leads to a winning attack ] 27...fxg4 28.xe6+ h8 29.xg4 ce8 30.g2 g8 Black is tied down to g7 and W h i t e i s a l r e a d y a p a w n u p 31.d2! Preventing ...Re1 and threatening to increase the pressure on g7 with Bc3 e5 32.a4 a5 33.d4 xh5 34.xa5 xa5 35.gxg7! A fantastic game from Karjakin showing that 13.Kb1 is a move to be taken very seriously. [ 35.gxg7 xg7 36.d8+ g8 37.xg8+ xg8 38.d8+ and the rook on a5 drops ] 1-0

13...0-0 b6!? A rare line that has been scoring well for Black and hasn't been seen in the archives. 14.he1! This seems to be the way to set Black significant problems in this line. [ After 14.e4 Black should be OK after xe4 ( 14...d8 is also very solid) 15.xe4 f6 ( 15...0-0-0!? ) 16.d3 d8 ] 14...0-0 [ 14...0-0-0 15.f5! is better for White after f8 16.e3 b5 17.c4 ( 17.xb5 cxb5 18.c4!? is also a touch better for White.) 17...g4 18.e2?! ( 18.e2! keeps an advantage after xf2 19.xf2 xc4 20.b3 d5 21.e5! ) 18...xh5 with an unclear position in Konguvel, P (2344)-Lalith, B (2484) Visakhapatnam 2011 ] [ 14...c5!? has not been played but if the line proves to be a problem for Black is could well be worth investigating. One option for W hite is now 15.c4!? preparing Bc3 and/ or Ne5 and again meeting 0-0 with 16.f5 ] 15.f5 b4 [ 15...exf5 is analysed in the next game, Topalov-Mamedyarov. ] 16.xh6+! A shocking sacrifice, not because the idea is so unusual but largely because of how quietly Karjakin follows up trusting in his long-term attacking chances. No other moves promise any advantage: [ 16.c3 a3 and White would no have to transpose back to the game with 17.xh6+ gxh6 18.c1 ] 16...gxh6 17.c3 a3 Black might as well gain time by threatening mate on b2 18.c1 fe8 Mamedyarov plans to defend with Nh7 and Bf8 and this looks like a good plan to me but 1769 B19 already Black's position is very precarious. Karjakin,Sergey 2786 Perhaps the most telling assessment of this Mamedyarov,S 2766 variation is that Mamedyarov was unwilling to Renova FIDE GP Zug (5.2) 23.04.2013 repeat this line 5 days later against Topalov. [ 18...g7 is another sensible option for [Tom Rendle] Black but again here White has good play, for example 19.a1 ( 19.g4 straight away 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 i s c l e a r l y d a n g e r o u s a s w e l l a f t e r g8 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 20.g1 h8 21.e3 f8 22.g5 d5 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 23.d3 White has still has a strong attack; 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 A very dangerous line 19.e3!? h8 20.e5 xe5 21.dxe5 White has recently won two convincing games d5 22.f3 also seems very promising.) on Ch e ss P u b be f o re , ch e ck o u t Ba lo gh 19...e7 Ragger a nd Karjakin-Gustaf sson both o f A) 20.xe6 seems to lead to a draw but which deal with Black's most popular reply 1929

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 probably no more after fxe6 21.xh6+ h8 22.g7+ ( 22.g5!? keeps good attacking chances although af ter e4! 23.xe4 g8 Black seems to be s u r v i v i n g .) 22...xg7 23.g6+ h8 24.g5; B) 20.g4 looks most likely to be Karjakin's idea here with a dangerous attack after g8 21.g5 ( 21.xh6+ is also interesting although I'm not convinced af ter xh6 22.g5+ g7 23.gxf6+ xf6 24.e5 xe5! 25.dxe5 e7; 21.e3 h8 22.g5!? ) 21...g4 ( 21...hxg5 22.xg5 f8 23.h3 ) 22.e4 xf2 23.f4 hxg5 24.xg5 xg5 25.xg5+ f8 26.h6+ e7 27.g5+ ( 27.xe6+ ) 27...xg5 28.xg5+ f6 B1) 29.xe6+ again leads to a draw here after fxe6 30.g7+ d6 31.g3+ e7 ( or 31...d7 32.g7+ c8 33.xf6 xd1 34.xe6+= ) 32.g7+; B2) 29.f1 2e4 30.f4 ] 19.g4! h7 20.c4 Now the Bishop on a3 has to retreat f8 [ 20...b4?! 21.g1 and Black is in some trouble - for example a5 22.xh6 f8 23.d2 b4 24.xb4 xb4 25.g5 and White's attack is far too strong. ] 21.g5 hxg5 [ 21...h8 22.g6 fxg6 23.hxg6 ( 23.c5!?; 23.xg6!? ) 23...hf6 24.h1 is unpleasant for Black ] 22.xg5 xg5 23.xg5 h8 [ 23...a5?! i s n o b e t t e r a f t e r 24.c5! preventing the queen from coming to the king's defence. ] 24.g1 Amazing at it seems Black could just be lost here and it's not really clear what his mistake has been - the more I look at this piece sacrifice the more I like it! c7 [ 24...a5 25.c5 g7 26.f3 is no better for Black - for example f5 27.g3 g8 28.h6 f6 ( 28...f8 29.h4 g6 30.h5 wins ) 29.xf6+ xf6 30.e5 gf8 31.g7 with a crushing attack ] 25.f3 f6 26.f4 d6 27.g3! c5 [ 27...g8 might be a better try but Black is s t i ll m u c h wo r se a f t e r 28.xd6 xg3 29.xc7 h3 30.ge1 although at least here Black has a very slim chance to hold a draw. ]

28.xd6 h7+ 29.a1 e4 30.h4 Now W hite stays a pawn up and keeps the attack. Karjakin wins without any trouble g8 31.f3 g5 32.f4 f5 33.xf5 exf5 34.e7 xf3 35.gf1 g3 36.d5! cxd5 37.cxd5 g7 38.d3 f7 39.d6 h2 40.xg3 and Black resigned - a flawless victory from Sergey Karjakin. [ The point is that af ter 40.xg3 xf1 41.f4! the knight is trapped on f1 and will soon fall. ] 1-0

1770 Karpov,Anatoly De Freitas,Celso Villares CXSP Simul Sao Paulo (1) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2690 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 The good reputation of Capablanca's variation persists. Black's position in all lines is very, very dependable. 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 gf6 11.f4 a5+ A small moveorder refinement. If W hite plays c2-c3, he weakens his Queenside which is significant because he's probably going to castle long. If as here, he goes into reverse gear, then Black gets to put his Queen on c7, the most coherent square. 12.d2 c7 13.0-0-0 e6 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 f6 Black might wish to keep his Knight on d7 so that he can trade o n e5 if nece ssary. This seems a n equally viable approach: [ 15...0-0-0 16.f4 d6 17.xd6 xd6 18.e5 xe5 That's what I meant! 19.dxe5 c5 20.f4 White hopes that his pawns on e5 and h5 will stif le the Black Kingside however it is tough to mount any meaningful pressure without Rooks. Quite c o r r e c t l y , B l a c k t r a d e s d o w n : xd1+ 21.xd1 d8! 22.xd8+ xd8 23.g3 ( 23.xf7 xe5 24.f8+ d7 25.f7+= ) 23...e7 24.xg7 xf2 The threat of mate on e1 saves the day. 25.b3 e3+ 26.d1 d4+ 27.e2 e4+ 28.d1 d4+ 29.e2 1/2-1/2 Shaw, J-Sarbok, T/7th BayEM, Bad W iessee GER 2003 An easy draw for Black but perhaps this points up a 1930

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 reason why more players don't use 4...Bf5 on a regular basis. It's just TOO solid. ] 16.e2 0-0-0 17.g3 Taking away the f4 square from Black rather than preparing Bf4. If W hite wants to win he has to avoid wholesale exchanges. Karpov sees a future for his Bishop on c3. d6 18.c4 c5 19.c3 he8= 20.b1 c6 White is only a shade be t t e r n o t en o u gh f o r an yt h in g t a ngib le . 21.h4 [ 21.dxc5 xc5 22.xf6 gxf6 goes for an endgame edge but White's King open and the pawn on h5 is exposed .This markedly cramps his style. 23.d2 f5 24.f3 f6 25.d2 g2! ] 21...e7 22.dxc5 xc5 23.e5 xe5 24.xd8+ xd8 25.xe5 xe5 26.xe5 Yes, off come the pieces once again. Karpov looks forward to an endgame with Bishop versus Knight and a Queenside pawn majority to work with. e8! But Black has a kingside majority to counterbalance. The position is equal. 27.d4+ d7 28.c2 f6 29.xd7+ xd7 30.d4 b6 31.d3 e5 If White's pawn were on h4 then I could believe he would have something to work with. As it is I slightly prefer Black. 32.e3 [ 32.c3 e6 33.g4 f5! 34.gxf5+ xf5 35.b4 f6 36.c5 bxc5 37.bxc5 xh5 38.c6 f4+ 39.c4 e6 40.c7 d7 41.xe5 e6 would be a good sample variation. W hite is worse although maybe not lost. ] 32...f5 33.g4 Karpov is getting desperate. fxg4 34.b4 f6 35.a4 xh5 36.c5 bxc5 37.xc5 f4+ 38.e4 h5! The pawn is simply promoting. 39.e3 [ 39.xa7 h4 40.f3 h3 ] 39...h4 40.xf4 exf4 41.xf4 h3 42.g3 g5 43.b5 d6 44.a5 c5 I think Black played very well indeed. Admittedly, this was a simultaneous display but Villares de Freitas outplayed Karpov in a technical position and that is quite rare. As far as the game goes it is a reminder to White about the pawn on h5. The pawn cramps Black's Kingside but this doesn't come free of charge. 0-1

1771 Kasimdzhanov,Rustam Vallejo Pons,Francisco It Pamplona (3) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2650 2635 2002

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 Here we will see t wo h e a vywe i g h t s s l u g g i n g i t o u t i n t h e Capablanca Variation. Despite the slightness, this game pretty well represents state of the art play at present. 11.f4 To prevent ...Qc7, or so the theory goes. [ 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 ( 12...c7 13.e4 0-0-0 14.g3 c5 15.xc5 xc5 16.c4 d6 17.c3 b8 18.e2 e7 19.e5 a8 20.b1 hf8 1/2-1/2 Sasu Ducsoara, A-Bets, A/Bucharest 2002 (20)) 13.e2 ( 13.b1 0-0 14.c4 b5 15.cxb5 cxb5 16.xb5 b8 17.a5 xa5 18.xa5 b5 19.d2 fb8 20.c1 d6 21.e2 e4 22.df1 a5 23.g4 a4 24.e1 a3 25.f3 d2+ 26.xd2 xb2+ 27.c1 xa2+ 28.d1 b1+ 29.c1 b6 30.c2 c4 31.f2 xc1 32.xc1 e3+ 33.xe3 xf2 34.f1 xf1+ 35.xf1 a3 36.e3 a2 37.c2 f5 0-1 A takisi, U-Kara deniz, E/ ch-Ba lkan , Istanbul TUR 2002 (37)) 13...c5 14.dxc5 c7 15.b1 xc5 16.c3 0-0-0 17.e5 b6 18.d3 d4 19.d2 c4 20.c3 xd2+ 21.xd2 b6 22.f4 d5 23.g4 e3 24.dd1 xf4 25.f3 xd3 26.xe3 c5 27.d4 b8 28.e2 b6 29.h3 e5 30.c4 f6 31.c1 f7 32.b4 d5 33.a4 e6 34.g3 d7 35.b3 a8 36.b5 c6 37.g4 f4 38.g3 d5 39.e2 c8 40.a5 a6 41.xd5 xd5 42.xa6+ b8 43.axb6 xb3 0-1 Anka, E-Lopez Martinez, J/ Budapest 2002 (43) ] 11...gf6 [ 11...a5+ 12.d2 c7 ( 12...b4 13.b3 xd2+ 14.xd2 gf6 15.0-0-0 0-0 16.ge4 d5 17.xd5 cxd5 18.xf6+ xf6 19.f3 b5 20.c3 fc8 21.c2 b4 22.g4 d7 23.d3 bxc3 24.bxc3 c6 25.b1 ac8 26.hc1 8c7 27.b3 a6 28.c2 f5 29.gxf5 exf5 30.b5 f6 31.f1 f4 32.h2 ac6 33.b3 d7 34.e2 f6 35.d2 f5 1931

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 36.h2 b6 37.f1 e7 38.b1 h7 39.h4 c4 40.h2 g5 41.c1 g1 42.b1 a3 43.c1 b7 44.d1 c4 45.e1 a5 46.he2 g5 47.h2 b2+ 48.d2 a4 49.c2 c4 50.d3 a3 51.d2 b2 52.ee2 e3 53.c4 xa2 54.c5 b2 55.h1 f5 56.c3 f7 57.a1 c4 58.xc4 xe2 59.xa3 e3+ 60.b4 xf3 61.c6 e3 62.b5 f3 63.c7 f8 64.f1 c8 65.c5 b3 66.c6 xb5 67.xb5 xc7 68.xf3 c4 69.f5 xd4 70.c5 d1 71.xd5 e1 72.d4 g8 73.f5 e6 74.d5 f6 75.e5 a6 76.f4 1/2-1/2 Kuba, GGanaus, H/TCh-AUT 2002 (76)) 13.0-0-0 gf6 14.e4 e7 15.g3 xe4 16.xe4 0-0-0 17.f4 ( 17.c4 c5 18.f4 a5 19.b1 cxd4 20.xd4 f6 21.c6 xd1+ 22.xd1 b4 23.f3 f5+ 24.a1 c5 25.a3 c2 26.xa7+ xa7 27.c1 xf2 28.c5 e5 29.xa7 exf4 30.a8+ d7 31.xh8 d2 32.b1 f3 33.xg7 e6 34.f8 e4 35.e8+ 1-0 Varadi, VEperjesi, L/Budapest 2002 (35)) 17...a5 18.b1 f6 19.e5 xe5 20.xe5 hf8 21.f3 c5 1/2-1/2 Garcia, G-Kogan, A/Merida 2002 (21) ] 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 14.c4 White can pla y f o r a st a n d ard grip o n e 5 b u t B la ck trades down: [ 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 d5 17.e5 e4 18.xe4 xe4 19.he1! xf2? ( 19...f6 20.g4 NCO ad8 21.f3 d7!= ) 20.d2 h4 21.ee2 ] 14...a5 15.e5 ad8 16.e2 fe8= Black is very comfortable in this position. He has good development and there is no danger to his King. His plan must be to trade on e5 and hope to exploit his more compact pawn structure in an ending. White must be careful t o k e e p s o m e p ie ce s o n a n d st a y i n t h e middlegame when his extra space keeps the balance. 17.d3 xe5 18.dxe5 d7 19.hd1 c5 20.3d2 Trading on d8 goes nowhere. b4 21.xd8 xd8 22.xd8+ xd8 23.d2 a4 24.e3 e7 Time to get the draw offer in. If anything, it's Black who stands a little better after 25 Qg4 Kf8 4...Bf5 remains rock-solid. ½-½

1772 Kasparov,Garry Anand,Viswanathan XX SuperGM Linares (7) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2845 2750 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 gf6 11.f4 e6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 14.e4 [ 14.c4 a5 15.e5 ad8 16.e2 fe8 17.d3 xe5 18.dxe5 d7 19.hd1 c5 20.3d2 b4 21.xd8 xd8 22.xd8+ xd8 23.d2 a4 24.e3 e7 1/2-1/2 Kasimdzhanov, R-Vallejo Pons, F/It, Pamplona ESP 2002 ] 14...xe4 Anand decides to tread the most solid route. The first priority with Black against Kasparov is to try and avoidloss! [ 14...a5 is more complex: 15.xf6+ xf6 16.e5 ad8 17.e2 b6 18.c3 c5 19.dxc5 xc5 20.g4 xd1+ 21.xd1 d8 22.e1 d5 23.c1 h4 24.f1 xc3!? 25.f4 f6 26.g5 hxg5 27.xf7!? xf7 28.fxg5 b4 29.a1 d4 30.gxf6 xf6 31.g2 Thipsay, P-Pra k ash, G/ ch-IND, Mumbai IND 2003 White went on to win - a little unjust. ] 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 d5 17.e5 e4 18.xe4 xe4 19.he1 Perhaps White is a shade better. He has more space and the possibility of advancing the Kingside pawns to cramp Black. Still, it is very hard to believe t h a t B l a c k c a n b e t h a t m u c h wo r s e . f6 20.g4 fd8 21.e3 d6 22.f3 ac8 23.c4 a5 Anand must considered 23...b5 here which seems very thematic to me - it is most puzzling that he does not play it. The analysis confirms that Black is equal: [ 23...b5 A) 24.g5 hxg5 ( 24...xh5? 25.gxh6 xe5 26.dxe5 gxh6 27.xh6 ) 25.xg5 xe5 26.dxe5 xd1+ 27.xd1 xh5 28.d7 a6 29.c2; B) 24.b3 d7 25.d3 ( 25.xd7 xd7= ) 25...bxc4 26.bxc4 b8+ 27.c2 g3= ] 24.a4! This will be a more difficult form of equality to maintain. Kasparov has drained some of the life out of Black's position. d7 25.d2 c7 26.c3 xe5 27.dxe5 c5 1932

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28.c2 Despite numerous small advantages in the position, Kasp arov will f ind it very dif ficult to convert this edge. I guess the reason I preferred 23...b5 was that there at least Black had some counterplay. Here he is condemned to wait. xd1 29.xd1 d8+ 30.e2 d7 31.f4 d8 32.f5 g5 33.f6! A very good move, confining the Black King. An instructive Rook manoeuvre follows. b6 34.a1! d8 35.a3 gxf6 36.b3! We now see the value of 33 f6! Black's King and Rook are very tied down and the White Rook roams the board picking off pawns. f4 [ 36...fxe5 37.xb6 e4 38.b5 d3 39.xc5 f8 40.xa5 ] 37.xb6 xe5 38.xe5 fxe5 39.b5 d4 40.xc5 xg4 41.b3 g3 42.xe5 xb3 43.xa5 Sturdy resistance has enabled Anand to get to an ending which is possibly drawn. However, White has pawns further advanced than Black and a better King. It is still very tough for Black. f5 44.a8+ g7 45.c5 c3 46.c8 a3 47.c6! xa4 48.e8 [ 48.c7 c4 49.d3 c1 50.d4 f4 51.e4 e5= ] 48...c4 49.xe6 f4 50.g6+ [ 50.f3 c5 51.g6+ h7 52.xf4 xh5 53.d6 c5 54.e4 h5 55.d4 c1 56.e5 h4 leaves Black on the verge of a draw. ] 50...h7 51.d3 c5 52.d4 c1 53.e4 c4+ 54.d5 c3 55.d4 c1 56.e4 c4+ 57.f3 h8?? After defending so tenaciously Anand goes fatally wrong. He should play [ 57...c5! with a standard draw: 58.xf4 ( 58.g4 f3 59.f6 f2 60.f7+ g8= ) 58...xh5 59.d6 c5= ] 58.xh6+ g7 59.d6 h7 60.g4 g7 61.d7+ f6 62.c7 If 62...Ke6 simply Rg7 and h5-h6 etc. A superbly played ending by Gary Kasparov once Anand missed his chance to play ...b7-b5. 1-0

1773 Kasparov,Garry Bareev,Evgeny 57th ch Moscow RUS (1) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2813 2715 15.11.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 e6 8.e5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 d7 11.f4!? An interesting choice from Kasparov and a move motivated by the desire to sidestep Bareev's heavy preparation in the main line. A move such as f2-f4 raises as many questions as it answers. W hite strongpoints e5 but leaves dark-squared weaknesses in the wake. gf6 12.d2 c5 It seems very logical to strike at the W hite centre in this way. Nevertheless, Ivanchuk delayed ...c6-c5 in another high-level encounter: [ 12...d6 13.0-0-0 c7 14.b1 0-0 15.e2 ad8 16.f3 h5!? An amazing move. 17.hg1 c5 18.g4 A) 18...cxd4 19.gxh5 ( 19.xd7 xd7 20.gxh5 c8 ) 19...xe5 20.fxe5 xe5 21.h6 g6 22.h5; B) 18...xe5?! 19.dxe5 xg4 20.g3 f5 21.exf6 dxf6 22.xh5 xh5 23.xg4 f5 24.e2 f7 25.de1 xf4 26.xf4 xf4 27.h5 Anand, V-Ivanchuk, V/Linares 1999 Black is a pawn up but his position cannot be considered better. His own pawns are fragmented and White still has chances of attack. ] 13.0-0-0 e7 [ Meanwhile 13...cxd4 14.g6 h7?! ( 14...g8 15.xf8 xf8 16.b5+ d7 17.xd7+ 8xd7= ) 15.xf8 xf8 16.xd4 b6 17.b4+ g8 18.f5 was the very odd continuation of Vogt, LPatuzzo, F/Switzerland 2004. W hite won qu i ck l y, b u t a s p o in t e d o u t , B la c k c a n improve. ] 14.c3 0-0 15.dxc5 Steady by White-he does not want to lose this game and to be honest, I don't think he has anything if Black continues to play carefully. Why should White be better? Black has done nothing wrong. [ 15.f3 holds out little hope of advantage: cxd4! ( 15...c7 is inaccurate. Black should play to dissolve the centre. 16.xd7 xd7 17.dxc5 a4 18.b1 b5 19.e4 xe4 1933

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.xe4 xc5 21.d7 Zelcic, RNaumann, A/ Pula 2003) 16.xd4 xe5 17.fxe5 d5 18.e4 I suppose that you could say this is one of the main attractions of the early f2-f4, in that White has managed to create a bridgehead on e5 to aid a Kingside attack. c8 19.b1 c7 20.c3 Timoshenko, G-Svetushkin, D/Kiev 2001 an d n o w I s u gge st b5 21.f6+ xf6 22.exf6 g6 23.h5 g5 with a very sharp position. ] 15...xe5 [ With the help of Deep Fritz I have managed to determine that 15...xc5 is probably OK too. White tries to clear the diagonal for an a s sa u lt o n g 7 b u t B l a c k h a s a d e q u a t e c o u n t e r a t t a c k i n g r e s o u r c e s : 16.f3 ( 16.xd8= ) 16...c7 17.g4 cd7 18.d2 ( 18.f5 ac8 19.he1 xg4 20.xg4 f6 21.f3 d5 ) 18...fd8 19.hd1 d5 ] 16.fxe5 d5 17.d2 c7 18.c4 xc5 19.e4 c6 This is the move that Bareev is relying on. I must say that I think Black is fine here. He's got m ore compact pawns an d pressure on c4. The Rooks can go to c8 and d8. 20.b1 [ 20.g5 is flashy, but not much else. Black reacts calmly with g6! and White must go back: ( 20...hxg5 21.hxg5 g6 22.h3+- ) 21.f3 ac8 22.xh6 xc4+ 23.b1 fd8 ] 20...b6 21.b3 [ Once again 21.g5 g6 22.f3 fd8 leads to nothing f or W hite other than a wa st e o f t im e . S o t h a t's wh y K a sp a ro v simply reinforces his position with b2-b3, a forward going move. ] 21...ad8 22.f3 d4 Black steps into the holes that the White pawns have left behind. 23.d6 f6 [ 23...xd6? 24.xc6 bxc6 25.exd6 d8 26.c5 d7 27.e3 e4 28.h3 is advantageous for White, whose passed pawn more than offsets the bad bishop. ] [ 23...d7 24.xc6 bxc6 25.c3 xd1+ 26.xd1 xh4 27.f5 exf5 28.xd7 d8 29.xa7 d1+ 30.c2 g1= ] 24.b5 xf3 25.gxf3 d3 26.a5 xd1+ [ 26...xf3 27.d4! ] 27.xd1 c8

[ 27...fxe5 28.xa7 c5 29.b5 xf3 30.d6 xd6 31.xd6 c8 32.xe6 ] 28.d7 fxe5 29.xb7 xh4 The Bishop was f u l f i l li n g a t wi n r o le o n t h e se c o n d r a n k monitoring both sides of the board. Black should take on f3 immediately: [ 29...a6 30.c7 xf3 31.b8 f8 32.h5! f7 33.xa6 ] [ 29...xf3! 30.xa7 xa7 31.xe7 c6 32.e8+ f7 33.a8 h3 This is a very messy position but I have the impression that with Black's better King and extra pawn he cannot be worse, despite W hite's imposing majority on the queenside. ] 30.b4! Perhaps overlooked. The game turns. d8 31.a5 f8 32.b4 d8 33.c5 [ 33.xa7 xa7 34.xa7 is much better for White precisely because he has retained his pawn on f3. In mutual time pressure, Kasparov decides to step on the gas. ] 33...e7 34.xa7 xa7 35.xa7 f8 36.a5 xc5 37.xg7+ xg7 38.xd8 a3 39.c2 The pressure pays off. White e m e r g e s wi t h a c l e a r l y wi n n i n g e n d i n g . Kasparov is effectively a pawn up and his Bishop monitors the h pawn. It remains to mobilize his own pawn majority. g6 40.c3! h5 41.b4 f5 42.b3 c1 43.b5 f4 [ 43...e4 44.fxe4+ xe4 45.a4 d5 46.b6! Black's problem in this variation is the skewer. His King is on the same diagonal as the would-be queen. h4 47.a5 h3 48.a6! h2 49.a7 h1 50.a8++- ] 44.a4 xf3 45.a5 e4 [ 45...e3 46.b6 h4 47.xe3 h3 48.g1 g2 49.a6 xg1 50.a7 h2 51.a8 h1 52.xh1+ xh1 53.b6+- ] 46.a6 e3 47.b6 h4 48.a7 That will do. The 4...Bf5 Caro is becoming almost as heavily analysed as lines of the Najdorf or the Dragon. Naturally this attracts not especially interesting but very functional players such as Bareev who don't like to think too much when they play but can just churn out the moves and get a decent position. Yes 2700 guys can a lso b e lik e t h a t . Ca n yo u re m e m b e r a n outstanding Bareev game? I think not. Kasparov found a chink of light with 11 f4 and promoted a game of chess rather than a test of memory. He should be congratulated for

1934

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.d4 d5 25.e2 c6 26.e1 Black is in big trouble, Paehtz, E-Maric, A/ EuTCh w, Plovdiv BUL 2003 (35). ] 11.d2 e7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.f4 c5 1774 B19 The traditional bid for counterplay but it's a Khalifman,Alexander 2675 different story while the White Knight remains Solozhenkin,Evgeniy 2520 on e5-Black has to be a LOT more careful. c7 15.c3 d5 16.h5! ECC, Rethymnon (1) 2003 14.dxc5 The danger signs are all there. g7 is the soft [Andrew Martin] sp o t a n d K h a li f m a n h o n e s rig h t in . xc5 ANNILHATION 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 17.h3! c8 18.g3 f8 19.e4 e7 With the lynchpin at e5 intact, it's dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 20.xd5!! 7.f3 e6 Modern, provocative. Black invites time to begin the final assault. I suppose Black completely underestimated the force of Ne5. 8.e5 Why not? h7 9.d3! [ 9.h5 is very belligerent. Black has to jump White's attack- that's certainly what it looks through a few hoops but there are chances like! exd5 21.f5 Idea Nf6+ and mate or win of success at the other end: c7 10.c4 of the Queen. xc3 22.f6+ [ 22.bxc3 was also crushing: g6 23.f6+ f6 11.f3!? xc2 12.f4 d6 13.0-0 h8 24.xg6 fxg6 25.xg6+ ] 0-0 14.ac1 h7 Black has weathered the storm. 15.b4 ( 15.xh6!? xe5 16.dxe5 22...xf6 23.xf6 xg3 24.xf7+ h7 A good example of the lightning-fast xe5 17.e3 ) 15...bd7 16.b5 xe5 25.xf8 17.dxe5 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.bxc6 attack W hite can generate from what looks bxc6 20.xc6 f4 with a clear plus, Dogge, l i k e a q u i e t p o s i t i o n . E x c e l l e n t p l a y b y M-Okkes, M/ Essent Open, Hoogeveen NED Khalifman! 1-0 2003 (29). ] 9...xd3 [ I t ' s w o r t h k n o w i n g t h a t 9...xd4 1775 B19 is answered by the very strong 10.xf7! ] 10.xd3 f6 Kramnik,Vladimir 2805 [ 10...d7 appears safer. Black has the Bareev,Evgeny 2725 opportunity to exchange W hite's powerful GMA, NED Wijk aan Zee (3) 2003 K n i g h t i f h e w i s h e s . 11.f4 b4+!? [Andrew Martin] ( 11...e7 12.d2 xe5 13.fxe5 c5 14.b5+ c6 15.xb7 c8 16.xc8+ A heavyweight clash. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 1/2-1/2 Jonkman, H-Okkes, M/Essent Open, 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 Hoogeveen NED 2003) 12.c3 e7 13.d2 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 gf6 14.0-0-0 c5! I think I prefer this to the 10.xd3 gf6 11.f4 It is thought beneficial method adopted by Solozhenkin. Black's to stop ...Qc7. e6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e4 loosened White's queenside a little and he [ 13.b1 0-0 14.e4 Helm, L-Tian Tian/ h a s n ' t c o m m it t e d h is K in g j u s t ye t . A s 19th WJun Girls, Goa IND 2002. ] f eatured, Khalif man blasts away with a 13...xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.d3 d5 16.c4 direct kingside attack but he would not have e4 17.xe4 xe4 18.e3 More or less a had the same opportunity here. Black's typical position for this line. White has more position is much more flexible. 15.e3 a5 space but in the hands of a mere mortal it's 16.xd7 xd7 17.dxc5 d8 18.b1 the type of advantage that can so easily ebb A) I n m y v i e w 18...0-0! is a clear away to nothing. White's pawns can be very i m p r o v e m e n t : 19.b4 ( 19.c4 xc5 strong, restricting Black, but if White doesn't 20.xd8 xd8 21.b4 a6!= ) 19...a3 get the technical decisions correct those 20.c2 f6; s a m e p a wn s c o u l d c o m e u n d e r s e r i o u s B) 18...xc5 19.e2 d7 20.f5 e5 pressure. d6 19.b3 f6 20.g4! 21.f3 f6 22.fxe6 xd1+ 23.xd1 fxe6 Keeping the Black Knight from f5 and this that. 1-0

1935

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 must be considered an essential component of White's plan. b5! Striving to undermine the White pawn centre. Bareev understands that this is the only way to get counterplay in this position. 21.d2 d7 22.c2 d8 23.f3 f6 [ 23...bxc4 24.e5+ c7 25.bxc4 doesn't help Black. ] 24.e5+ c7 25.c5 The big decision of the game. The Black Knight gets d5, the W hite Rook gets d6. W hich is more significant? Kramnik has no doubt. xe5 26.dxe5 c8 27.h3! e7 28.f3! The advantage grows. The Knight will not make it to d5 in time. hf8 29.d6 a5 [ 29...d5 30.d2 a5 31.g5 hxg5 32.xg5 a4 33.h6 gives a strong inkling of what W hite is playing for. Black tries for counterplay but the threat to the f pawn is impossible to parry. ] 30.g5 hxg5 31.xg5 f5! So he holds up h5-h6 for the time being. 32.d1 a4 33.b4 c8 34.fd3 a7 35.d8+ xd8 36.xd8+ b7 37.c3 a6 38.d3 c7 39.e4 The endgame squeeze continues. Bareev hopes to remain passive and hold the draw but Kramnik has observed a very nice point. b7 40.d1 c8 41.d8+ b7 42.f4 c8 43.d7+ c7 44.d3 In a superior endgame, why hurry? c8 45.d8+ b7 46.f6! Waiting for the opponent to play a winning move is one of the most uncomfortable sensations in chess. g6 [ 46...gxf6 47.exf6 c8 48.xc8 xc8 49.g5 d7 50.h6 xh6 51.xh6 e5 ( 51...a3 52.g7 e8 53.f4 ) 52.h7! e4 53.g7 e6 54.a3 ] 47.hxg6 fxg6 48.g5 Zero counterplay throughout for Bareev. That doesn't happen often. 1-0

9.d3 bd7!? The normal way for Black to play this line is to continue with 9...Bxd3 10 Q xd 3 e 6 1 1 B d 2 N b d 7 . 10.xh7 xe5 11.dxe5 a5+ [ 11...xd1+ 12.xd1 xh7 13.e2 e6 14.e3 f5 15.exf6 xf6 16.ad1 e7 17.f3 Vallejo Pons-Magem Badals, Leon 2 0 0 0 , a n d n o w a5 would have kept the chances level ] 12.f1 xh7 13.e2 0-0-0 14.e6 d5 14...f6 would lock the bishop down on f8, but 14...f5!? intending ...g6, ... Bg7, ...h5 and ... Nf6 is a consideration worth. 15.exf7 xf7 16.e3 a6?! This is a very ugly move, completely giving up control over the dark squares. 16...Kb8 is clearly to be preferred, after which the chances are about equal. 17.b4 White obviously seizes the opportunity to take control over the dark squares. Also 18 Bb6 is good. e6 18.b6 d7 19.b1 f6 20.c4 d6 21.h3 f4 [ Black can here play 21...g6 22.b3 xg3 23.hxg3 e4 with a reasonable game. ] 22.b2 g6 23.b5 d3 24.bxc6 bxc6 25.g1 xe2 26.xe2 d1+ 27.f1 g4 27...Re8 with an even endgame is a better choice. 28.xe6 h5 [ 28...h2+ 29.xh2 xh2 30.xh2 xf1 31.xc6+ b7 32.g6 c1 33.e3 xc4 34.xg7+ is a good endgame for White. ] 29.g3 e5 30.xc6+ b7 31.e6 h6 32.xh6 gxh6 33.e3 a1 34.g2 xa2 35.f3 c3 36.h2 xe3 37.xe3 b4 38.f4 with a better endgame for White, who eventually won. c5+ 39.e4 a3 40.f3 e3+ 41.d5 b4 42.e5 a5 43.h2 a4 44.b2 b3 45.xb3 axb3 46.d3 e1 47.f5 xg3 48.e6 xh4 49.d7 e7 50.c5 1-0

B19 2743 2702 12.07.2000

1777 B19 Leko,Peter 2753 Ivanchuk,Vassily 2751 XXV SuperGM Morella Linares MEX/ESP (9) [David Vigorito]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 8.e5 h7

Ivanchuk essays Houska's pet 11...Qa5+ line and seems to catch Leko totally unprepared. After a couple of passive moves by W hite,

1776 Leko,Peter Bareev,Evgeny SuperGM Dortmund GER (5) [Carsten Hansen]

1936

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Ivanchuk seizes the initiative and never lets go. A nice example of White becoming overextended in the Caro Kann. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 Houska's recommendation in her excellent Play the Caro Kann. 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 15.0-0-0 gf6 16.b1 0-0 17.he1 This is hardly the most popular idea. Leko did not seem to have any particular idea in mind. a5 [ 17...fd8 18.c2 a5 19.a3 a4 20.e2 g4 a typical idea from Houska's book. Black blocks the g2-pawn and chances are about even, although the Chinese prodigy went on to win in Hou Yifan-Iordachescu, Moscow 2008. ] [ 17...fe8 18.e5 d6 19.f4 ad8 20.c3? b5! was Stellwagen-Grooten, Vlissingen 2007, which can be found in the archives. ] [ 17...b5!? is another idea which is common with Black's setup. ] 18.c1 This looks rather passive. [ 18.f5 can be met by exf5 ( or 18...b4 ) 19.xe7 e4 ] 18...fd8 19.c2?! Planless. [ 19.e2 at least pays attention to the centre. ] 19...a4 20.e5 xe5 21.dxe5 xd1 22.xd1 d7 23.f4 c5 Black already has a pleasant initiative. 24.e4 d8 25.c2 xe4 26.xe4 b6! Ivanchuk correctly judges that he can jettison the a-pawn. [ 26...a3 ] 27.xa4 g1 28.c2 d1 29.e2 f1! 30.a3 [ White can hardly move, and the ugly 30.e4 can be met by c5 (threatening ... Be3) 31.d2 b4! 32.c2 f2 33.e2 xf4 ] 30...c5 [ 30...xf4 was also strong. First Ivanchuk activates all of his pieces. ] 31.d2 [ 31.d2 l o o k s l i k e a b e t t e r t r y . d4 intending ...c5 still leaves White all tied up though. ] 31...d1 32.c2 d4 33.c5 f1! Back again. The harvest begins. 34.d2 xf4

35.a2 f2! The queen and bishop ending leaves W hite without any hopes for coun terp lay. 36.xf2 xf2 37.g4 xc5 38.f4 d4 39.d2 e4 Black keeps increasing his grip. W hite has little to do. 40.a1 d4 41.h2 c5 Now Black is ready for a direct attack on White's king. 42.a2 b5 43.d2 d5+ 44.b1 b4 45.a4 This hastens the end, but White was helpless against the advance ...b3 is any case. b3 46.d3 c4 47.e2 h1+! 48.c1 a8 [ 48...a8 49.xc4 e4+ 50.a1 xb2+ wins the queen. ] 0-1

1778 Lu Yijie Nguyen Van Huy 1st HDBank Cup (8.12) [Gawain Jones]

B19 2311 2449 08.01.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 [ These days 7...d7 is much more common to prevent the game continuation. ] 8.e5 h7 9.f4!? This appears to be a novelty but quite logical. In the mainline with 9. Bd3 White often plays a subsequent f4-f5 to open up the position and target Black's king and Lu Yijie wants to do it immediately. [ 9.d3 is the main continuation. It's important to realise that A) 9...xd3 has been the main line when White has scored well with 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 bd7 12.f4 e7 13.0-0-0 A1) 13...c5 has also been looked at a couple of times by Andrew Martin but he f a i l s t o c o n s i d e r t h e c r i t i c a l 14.d5!? ( 14.he1 McDonald, N (2390)Hermansson, E (2395) Budapest 2003 s e e t h e a r c h i v e s .; 14.c3 was Kasparov's choice, Kasparov, G (2813)-Bareev, E (2715) Moscow 2004 also in the archives.) 14...xe5 15.fxe5 c4! ( 15...xd5 16.h5 is very dangerous ) A1a) I like the look of 16.f3!? xd5 17.hf1 continuing the attack. Following f8?! ( 17...0-0 looks scary but is probably necessary 18.g4 c3! 1937

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.xh6 cxb2+ 20.xb2 g6 21.d3 wit h a c ra zy p o si t i o n .) 18.f5!? ( 18.h5 is also very good.) 18...g5? ( 18...exf5 19.c3 c8 20.xd5 is obviously better f or W hite but a lesser evil.) 19.g7+ d7 20.h3! c6 21.xf7! d7 22.xf8 xf8 23.xe6 with a decisive advantage. Shaposhnikov, E (2558)-Gavrilov, A (2447) Vladimir 2008.; A1b) 16.xc4 xd5 17.a4+ d7 18.b3 d5 The previous moves have all been pretty much forced and White is now at a cross roads. A1b1) 19.h5 0-0-0 ( 19...g6 20.g3!? and White can hope to claim something small with the weak f 7 pa wn a nd f 6 an d d6 squ ares.) 20.xg7 hg8 Kulovana, E (2293)Starostits, I (2464) Teplice 2009 when taking the pawn must be critical. 21.xh6 h8 22.d2!? ( 22.g5 xg5+ 23.hxg5 e7 24.g3 hg8= ) 22...f8 23.g5 xg7 24.c4 c7 25.xd8 xd8 26.b1 b6 27.xd8+ xd8 28.e3 with a roughly balanced position.; A1b2) 19.c4 was played recently but following c6 he played the inexplicable 20.f3? when xc4+ Nagy, G (2338)-Prohaszka, P (2510) Zalakaros 2010 was an extra pawn.; A1b3) 19.e4 0-0 20.g4 c7 21.g5 h5 22.f6+! xf6 23.gxf6 g6 and Black seemed to be fine. Bruzon Bautista, L (2677) -Bareev, E (2675) Khanty Mansiysk 2005.; A2) 13...0-0 14.e2 is examined in Adams, M -Leko, P, Linares 1999, by Alexander Volzhin.; B) 9...bd7 has also been looked at in Leko, P (2743)-Bareev, E (2702) Dortmund 2000 by Carsten Hansen.; C) 9...xd4? 10.xf7! xf7 11.g6+ ] [ 9.c4 has also been looked at in the archives. ] 9...e6 10.f5!? White goes all in. [ It was also possible to transpose back to 9. Bc4 with 10.c4 when a high rated clash continued bd7 11.e2 d5 12.c3 e7

13.h5 0-0 14.d2 c5?! ( 14...xe5 15.fxe5 xh4+ 16.g3 g5 is the critical test but understandably Grischuk didn't want to open lines towards his king in a blitz game. ) 15.xd5 ( 15.g4 g6 16.xd5 xe5 17.fxe5 xd5 18.0-0 is also pleasant for W hite.) 15...xe5?! ( 15...exd5 looks like it loses to 16.g4 with a double attack but Black can keep the disadvantage to manageable proportions with g6! ) 16.xe5 f6 17.xf6+ gxf6 18.h5 exd5 19.0-0 and White's creating opening had been a great success. Mamedyarov, S (2719)-Grischuk, A (2736) Moscow 2009. ] 10...bd7 11.xf7!? Continuing the manic plan! [ 11.fxe6 xe5 12.dxe5 a5+ 13.f2 xe5 and Black's king looks the more secure. ] [ 11.e2 threatens Nxf7 but xe5 12.dxe5 c7! leaves Black with an edge. ] 11...xf7 [ 11...c7!? is also interesting but Black will have to take the knight next move anyway. 12.f3 xf7 13.fxe6+ xe6 14.c4+ e7 15.f4 and the computer doesn't think there's anything to fear but White does have a strong initiative for the piece. ] 12.fxe6+ e7!? Black gives back the piece to develop his pieces and wrestle f or the initiative: a sensible decision. [ Of course 12...xe6 must be critical but not a move that an unprepared opponent would particularly like to play. The game might continue: 13.c4+ d5 14.g4+ f7 15.h5+ ( 15.0-0+ 7f6 16.xh6! is a further option when Black should play 16...Bxc2 as gxh6 17.h5 allows White a decisive attack.) 15...g6 16.xd5+ cxd5 17.xd5+ e8 18.0-0 f6 19.xb7 xd4+ 20.e3 d5 and it looks like Black will slowly unravel. However to play in such a manner is not to many people's tastes while the game looks perfectly satisfactory for Black. ] 13.exd7 xd7 So White is now a pawn up but his own king has become the more vu l n e r a b l e w h i l e h e i s a l i t t l e b e h i n d i n development. The pawn on h4 is also highly annoying, creating huge weaknesses on the 1938

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 kingside. 14.f4 [ 14.d3 d6 15.f3 e7+ 16.d1 xd3 17.cxd3 xg3 18.xg3 ae8 would also give B la c k gre a t co m p e n sa t io n f o r t h e pawn. ] 14...b4+ [ 14...b6 is another option when 15.e2 looks like White's most circumspect reply. ] 15.c3 e8+?! I think this is the error which gives White the better game. [ Instead Black should have gone for 15...e7+! 16.e2 ( 16.e2 d5 17.xe7+ xe7 18.e5 e3 leaves Black wi t h r e a s o n a b l e c o m p e n s a t i o n f o r t h e pawn. ) 16...d6 17.d2 d5 ( 17...xf4 18.xf4 d5 19.e5 xe5 20.dxe5 ae8 should also equalise.) 18.xd6 xd6 19.h5 g6 20.c4 gxh5 21.cxd5 xd5 wit h a n o d d l o o kin g p o sit io n b u t B la c k shouldn't be significantly worse. However he must be careful about his king's safety. ] 16.e2 d5 17.0-0 d6 Initially I thought this an error but in fact Black's position is already very difficult. [ 17...xf4 18.xf4 d6 19.g4 e7 20.d5! is dangerous to deal with. ad8 21.b3 c7 22.dxc6 bxc6 23.f3 favours White with an extra pawn while both kings are a little loose. ] [ 17...xh4 18.g4+ d8 19.cxb4 xf4 20.xf4 xg3 21.f7 e3+ 22.h1 e7 23.f8+ e8 24.xe8+ xe8 25.d5! and White crashes through. ] 18.g4+ A sensible enough move but White had a much stronger option. [ White should have tried 18.xd6! xd6 19.h5! provoking Black to trap in his bishop in the corner. g6 ( 19...e7 20.g4 c7 21.ae1 and White has the initiative and a pawn.; 19...e3 20.f3 xf1 21.f4+ d7 22.g4+ i s h o p e l e s s .) 20.d3! when the complications work out in White's favour: e3 21.e4+ e7 ( 21...c7 22.f7+ ) 22.d2 A) 22...gxh5 23.f6 ( 23.c5!? is even stronger according to the computer. ) 23...xf6 24.xe3+ e4 25.xh6 and it's easy to see that Black won't last long.; B) 22...xe4 23.xh6 g8 ( 23...d6 is the computer's top choice although

24.xh7 xh4 25.xg6+ e6 26.g4 leaves White in a winning ending.) 24.f3 e6 25.g4 e4 26.ae1 xe1 27.xe1+ d6 28.e6 h8 29.xd5 and Black's king has been completely stripped of defenders while the bishop on h7 is worse than useless. ] 18...c7 19.xd6+ xd6 20.f7+ e7 21.f3 xf7?! This widens White's advantage. [ 21...g6 was safer when White has a definite edge after 22.xe7+ xe7 23.f5 f8 24.h5 xf5 25.xf5 g5 26.g3+ xg3 27.xg3 but Black continues to have good drawing chances. ] 22.xf7+ b6 23.f1 [ 23.h5! was a better square to go to with the simple idea of picking up the g7 pawn when White would have a clear edge. ] 23...d3 A slightly odd position has been reached. Black's king has been forced to run but is relatively safe on b6. White should just be a pawn up but he must be careful Black doesn't create a strong initiative. 24.e6 [ 24.f3 covers more squares and threatens Ne3 t o trade of f some pie ces while f4 25.g3 e2 26.xf4 xf4 27.gxf4 xg4 28.e3 leaves White in a very promising endgame. ] 24...f4 Continuing to try and create an initiative. [ The alternative was 24...xe6 25.xe6 e8 when White is obviously better in the ensuing e ndgam e af te r 26.xd5 cxd5 but Black has reasonable chances to hold the draw. ] 25.f3 [ 25.g3! c7 26.e2 trading off a pair of minor pieces was stronger. ] 25...f8 Black has succeeded in coordinating his forces and now has good play f or the pawn. 26.a4 a6 The king isn't as secure now as Nguyen Van Huy hoped. [ 26...a5 was better when Black might not even be worse 27.e5 xe5 28.dxe5 f4 29.e1 xf1 30.xf1 e8 is a better version of the next note as White's pawn is fixed on a4. ] 27.d1 [ White should probably have traded queens with 27.e5 when Black's defensive task is 1939

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 still not so easy xe5 28.dxe5 f4 29.e1 xf1 ( 29...c7!? ) 30.xf1 e8 ( 30...d3 31.e3! xb2 32.e6 is very scary here) 31.e4 d3 32.e6 c5 33.e5 xe6 and W hite ret ains a n ib ble with b isho p ve rs u s k n igh t a n d m o re a ct ive p i e ce s . ( 33...xe6 34.a5+! )] 27...c2 28.d2 b3 [ The pawn isn't edible as 28...xa4 29.b3! xb3 30.b2 wins the bishop. ] 29.e4 White finally decides to exchange queens but now his advantage has almost fully dried up as a4 is falling. xe4 30.xe4 a5 [ 30...xa4 was also legal as now 31.b3? can be met by xc3! ] 31.g3 f4 I imagine both sides were in time trouble at this stage. [ There's nothing wrong with 31...xa4 ] 32.h5 xa4 33.g6 e7 34.d3 g4? A careless move as the rook has no future here while it simply forces the White knight to a great square. [ 34...d5 was better although White does still retain an advantage after 35.e2 g8 ( 35...g4 36.f2 f4+ 37.e1 ) 36.e4 ] 35.e4 now 36.Nc5+ is a big threat. a5 [ 35...b6 36.e2! and White has the double threat of 37.Nf2 hitting the knight on e7 and Re1-a1 mate. ] 36.c5 f7 37.d7 Attempting to create a mating net. [ 37.f2 wa s t h e m o st a ccu ra t e . xh5 ( 37...d5 is perhaps better but 38.xb7+ b6 39.c5 a5 40.e2 should be winning f o r W h it e .) 38.e2! g5 39.b4+ b6 40.xh5 xh5 41.f7 winning the knight. ] 37...e6? This blunders the piece and the game. [ 37...d5 was the last chance although W hite is definitely better with his active pieces and Black's king in almost a mating net. ] 38.b4+ a4 39.c5+ a3 40.xe6 d5 41.c2 g3 42.c5 b6 43.f2 g5 44.e6 xh5 45.f4 xf4 46.c4 d3+ 47.xd3 b3 48.e2 1-0

1779 Lundin,J Arjun,B XLI Rilton Cup 2011-12 (5) [Milos Pavlovic]

B19 2314 2178 01.01.2012

1.d4 d5 2.c3 c6 3.e4 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 The main line Classical is considered very solid for Black and is the main reason why players of the White pieces started to look for other ways of conf ronting the Caro-Kann. e6 11.d2 Another way is: [ 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 This is widely regarded as a mainline today and it seems that Black is comfortable here. For instance: 15.0-0-0 gf6 16.he1 This is only one of many possibilities here for White. 0-0 ( 16...a5 17.e2 b4 18.f5 xh5 19.c5 f4 20.xf4 xf4+ 21.b1 0-0 22.e7+ h8 23.xe6 Negi, P-Arutinian, D Qinhuangdao 2011 ) 17.f5 d8 ( 17...fe8 18.xe7+ xe7 19.c2 b5 20.cxb5 c8 21.bxc6 b6 22.b1 xc6 23.a4 e8 24.c1 b8 25.b3 bc8 26.xc6 xc6 Kotronias, V -Bologan, V Moscow 2011) 18.xh6+ gxh6 19.e5 xh5 20.xh6 f5 21.h3 xe5 22.xh5 f7 23.xf7+ xf7 24.xf8 g5+ 25.c2 xf8 26.xe6 Macieja, B -Swicarz, M Wroclaw 2011, with the better prospects for White. ] 11...gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e4 xe4 [ 13...0-0 14.xf6+ xf6 15.g4 Can lead to the same position. ] 14.xe4 f6 15.d3 Leko's interesting move order 0-0 [ 15...d5 16.c4 e4 17.b3! is considered good for White. ] 16.g4 xg4 [ 16...d5 17.g5 xa2 18.c3 hxg5 A) 19.xg5N a1+ 20.c2 a4+ 21.b1 b5 22.c4 f5 23.xf5 exf5 24.h6 g6 ( 24...g4 25.hxg7 xg7 26.hg1 xg5 27.xg5 ) 25.h7+ h8 26.d5 g4 27.c3+ f6 28.xf6+ xf6 29.dxc6 bxc6 30.d6 e4 31.xe4 fxe4 32.xc6; B) 19.xg5 a5 20.h6 ( 20.dg1 a4 21.h6 a3 22.d1 axb2 23.d2 b1+ 1940

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.xb1 d5 25.f3 a1 26.xg7 xb1+ 27.xb1 xf3+= ) 20...g6 21.e5 ( 21.h7+ h8 22.e5 a4 23.f3 g7 24.c2 b3+ 25.b1 a3 26.d2+- ) 21...h7 22.dg1 a4 23.xf6 a3! 24.bxa3 B e t t e r w a s : ( 24.b1 axb2+ 25.c2 xf6 26.xa2 xa2 27.d7 e7 28.xf8+ xf8 29.b1 b5 30.xb2 a3 ) 24...xf6 25.xf7 g8 26.f4 xa3 Kobalia, M -Popov, V Rijeka 2010, Black seized a winning attack. ] 17.hg1 f5 [ 17...xf2 is a move that was mentioned in the ChessPub forum, it was never played but an advantage against it is not sure if any. 18.e2 ( 18.e3 xd1 19.xh6 f6 20.f4 xd4! 21.e5 e3+ 22.xe3 xe3 23.xg7+ h8 24.xf7+ g8 25.g7+= ) 18...xd1 19.xh6 f6 20.xg7 xg7 21.h6 f6 22.h2 ( 22.xg7+ h8 23.g5 xh6 24.h7+ xh7 25.xh7 xh7 26.h5+= ) 22...xf3 23.hxg7 e3+ 24.b1 c3+ 25.bxc3 xg1+ 26.xg1 fe8 27.g5 ad8 28.h6 f5 A fascinating line but its not clear how W hite is more than just equal. ] 18.e2 c8 Not the only move here and probably not the best choice. Other moves have been more popular: [ 18...h7 19.e5 xe5 20.dxe5 A) 20...e8 21.g6 f7 A1) 22.dg1 fd8 ( 22...ad8 23.e3!+- ) 23.xg7+ xg7 24.xg7+ xg7 25.e3 f7 26.xh6 g8 27.d1 ad8 28.e2 d5 29.f4 Easier to play with W hite although the position is unclear.; A2) 22.c4 ad8 23.xe6 ( 23.dg1 g8 24.xe6 gf8 25.b3 ) 23...xe6 24.xe6 c5 25.f1 fe8 26.xe8 xe8 27.c3 g6 28.b4 e7 29.hxg6+ xg6 30.g1+ f7 31.f4 h5 Barbosa, E (2412)-El Debs, F (2477) Campinas BRA 2011. Black is ok here.; B) 20...f7 21.xh6 ( 21.b1 e8 22.d3 d8 23.g3 f8 24.g6+ h8 25.e3 xd1+ 26.xd1 b6 27.c4 c5 28.b3 e7 29.d6 White has easier play and compensation.) 21...a5 22.c4 xe5

B1) 23.ge1 f6 24.d2 B1a) 24...d8! 25.h6 ( 25.xe6 h4 ) 25...d4 26.b3 xd2 27.xd2 xh6+ 28.e2; B1b) 24...e5 25.f4! b5 26.b3 a5 27.fxe5 a4 28.g3 e6 29.b1 d8 30.g1 g8 31.h6 f8 32.hxg7 xg7 33.h4 d5 34.f4 xd1+ 35.xd1 d7 36.g1 c4 37.g3 e2 38.c1 g4 39.e1 e4 40.g3 g4 41.h2 e4 42.a3 b4 43.axb4 xb4 44.h1 e4 45.h7+ f8 46.f1 f7 47.h6 xe5 48.h8+ e7 49.g5+ d6 50.d8+ 1-0 (50) Kulaots, K (2601) Schroll, G (2449) Aix-les-Bains FRA 2011; B2) 23.f4 b5 24.xe5 bxc4 25.g6 W h it e h a s t h e b e t t e r e n d ga m e . e8 26.d4 f6 27.xf6 xf6 28.xf6 gxf6 29.xc4 h6 30.xc6 xh5 31.d2 g4 32.e2 e7 33.b4 f4 34.b5 e4 35.a4 f4 36.a5 e5 37.b6 axb6 38.axb6 f3+ 39.d2 d7+ 40.c3+d5 41.xf6 c5 42.f5 xb6 43.xe5 c7+ 44.b3 f7 45.c3 f4 46.c2 a4 47.b3 f4 48.d5 c6 49.d4 f8 50.c4 a8 51.d3 1-0 (51) Spraggett, K (2576)-Oms Pallisse, J (2493) Barcelona ESP 2011 ] [ 18...d5 19.c4 d6 ( 19...e4 20.xe4 fxe4 21.xg4 xf3 22.xh6 f6 23.xg7 xg7 24.dg1 xf2 25.xg7+ h8 26.7g6 h7 27.xe6 f4 28.h6 e3 29.g7+ h8 30.ee7 xd4 31.h7+ 1-0 (3 0 ) Lint che vski, D (2 55 3)-L a lic, B (2470) Pardubice CZE 2011) 20.e5 xd4 21.xg4 fxg4 22.xg4 xf2 23.xe6+ f7 24.f4 1-0 (24) Leko, P (2751) -Topalov, V (2796) Nice FRA 2009. This win brought new at te ntion to th is line f o r W hite bu t Black found some antidotes to this. ] 19.e5 xe5 20.dxe5 h7 [ 20...f4 21.g6 g5 22.c4 h8 23.f3 With the better prospects for White. ] [ 20...h8 is slightly better. ] 21.g6 W hite's attack plays itself . e8 22.e3 Threatening to sacrifice the rook. f8 [ 22...g5! 23.f4 e7 ] 23.g3 c7 24.g1 Simple and effective, W hite is winning. f7 25.b4!+e7?! 1941

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.xe7 xe7 27.xh6+ 1-0

1780 Luther,Thomas Doettling,Fabian Schwerin [Alexander Volzhin]

B19 2505 2475 1999

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 8.e5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 e7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.e2!? Quite an inte resting idea. To exploit the omission of Nbd7 White intends a g-pawn thrust, launching a direct Kside attack. By the way the position of the hpawn (on h4 as opposed to h5) favours White, as it makes the g-pawn advance more powerful. [ Another Knight move 13.e4 was played in Filipenko - Epishin, Nova Gorica 2000, but this typical manoeuvre seems rather h a r m l e s s h e r e . xe4 14.xe4 d7 15.b1 c7 16.f4 xe5 17.xe5 d6 Now we can conclude that Black has managed to equalise easily. 18.h3 ad8 19.hd3 d7 20.xd6 xd6 21.c3 fd8 22.c2 e7 23.g3 d5 24.f4 b5 White's position is already rather unpleasant. He has run out of ideas, while Black's pawn advance on the Q-side quickly becomes d a n g e r o u s . 25.1d2 a5 26.e3?! c5 27.ed3 ( 27.f5 is b a d in vie w o f e5! and White can't hold the material balance.) 27...c4 28.f3 b4 Now it's clear that Black has outplayed his opponent. 29.f5 e5 30.e2 ( 30.f6 d7 31.fxg7 bxc3 32.bxc3 exd4 33.cxd4 a4+ ) 30...d7 31.d2 exd4 32.xd4 xd4 33.cxd4 a4+ 34.d2 xa2 35.d5 c3+ and White resigned. ] 13...bd7 [ 13...c5?! 14.g4! cxd4 15.g5 looks very dangerous for Black. ] 14.xd7 xd7 15.g4! The correct approach. At the cost of only one pawn, White obtains a tremendous attack on the Black King. xh4 It was hardly better to reject the sacrifice, as by playing g4-g5 White easily opens files near the Black King. 16.h3! e7

[ 16...xf2? 17.xh6 with a quick mate. ] 17.dg1 [ The hasty 17.xh6 doesn't work in view of gxh6 18.xh6 g5+ ] 17...e8 18.xh6! [ 18.g5 was good enough as well, but the text is more purposeful. ] 18...gxh6 19.g5 xg5+ 20.f4 f6 21.xh6? A move which is difficult to explain. Up to this point White had played perfectly, but by swapping Queens he spoilt an excellent attack. [ T h e n a t u r a l 21.fxg5 hxg5 22.e3 is very strong. Obviously W hite underestimated his attacking resources here. I analysed the position for quite a while and came to the conclusion that Black's position is hardly defensible. Here are some variations: A) 22...f8 23.xg5+ g6 24.hg1 (intending Nf4) f8 25.1g3! threatening Rxg6 wit h Rf 3 t o f o llo w, a n d B la c k is helpless: h8 ( 25...e7 26.a3! h6 27.f4! f6 28.xe6+ f7 29.h3! xh3 30.xh3 fxg5 31.xg5+; 25...e7 26.f3 g7 27.d5 cxd5 28.c5+ d7 29.b5+ and in both lines White wins.) 26.xg6! fxg6 27.f4+ g7 28.c7+ g8 29.xg6+ f8 30.f4+ e7 31.h6 g7 32.h7!; B) 22...f8 Black's King tries to escape from the danger zone. 23.xg5 B1) 23...e7 24.g3! d8 ( 24...g8 25.f5+ f8 26.xg8+ xg8 27.g3+ f8 28.d6+ e8 29.h8+ xh8 30.e7# ) 25.f1 e7 26.g7 f8 27.e4 intending Ng5 winning the pawn back with an overwhelming advantage.; B2) 23...ed8 24.a3+ c5 25.g3! b6 26.c3! Bringing the Knight into the attack finishes the game quickly. e7 ( 26...xd4 27.g8+ e7 28.g5+ f6 29.xc5+ d6 30.xd6+! xd6 31.e4+ ) 27.c7+ ( 27.d5! is also worthy of consideration.) 27...d7 28.e5! and Black is defenceless against Nd5: f4+ 29.b1 (now Rxe6+ winning the Queen is t h r e a t e n e d ) xd4 30.d5+ xd5 31.xd5 exd5 32.e1+ with a quick 1942

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 mate. ] 21...xh6 Here a draw was agreed, the position after the forced [ 21...xh6 22.xh6 g7 23.fxg5 h8 is equal. Black failed to solve his opening problems in this game, moreover it's not easy to find an improvement for Black even in home analysis. So we can conclude that Luther's 13. Ne2 needs further practical tests, and in my opinion it's currently the most serious problem for Black in the CaroKann Classical main line. We certainly won't have to wait long for new games here. ] ½-½

1781 Luther,Thomas Rausis,Igors Germany [Alexander Volzhin]

B19 2560 2535 1998

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 e7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.b1 Of course by playing such prophylactic moves W hite can hardly f i g h t f o r a n o p e n i n g a d v a n t a g e . c5 Epishin's idea (c5 prior to developing the Knight) works here as well. [ 13...bd7 is also possible. The game G a r m a - L o b r o n , N o vi S a d ( o l ) , 1 9 9 0 c o n t i n u e d : 14.e4 c5 15.dxc5 xc5 16.xc5 ( 16.xf6+ seems more accurate: xf6 17.xd8 fxd8 18.e3 ac8 19.xd8+ xd8 20.d1 f6 21.c3 an d a draw was a gree d in K up re ichik Balashov, 1980.) 16...xc5 17.e2 b6 18.e5 fd8 19.g4 d4 20.d3 d5 Black dominates the centre and can easily parry White's kingside attack. 21.g5 hxg5 22.h6 ( 22.xg5?? c3+ ) 22...g6 23.h7+ h8 Now it's not clear how White should continue his attack, while Black will soon create dangerous threats (for example, the manoeuvre Rac8-c3, intending Rxd3, looks quite unpleasant for W hite). 24.c4 f4 25.xf4 gxf4 26.e5 c7 and Black won easily. ] 14.e3 bd7 15.e4 c7 Now it's clear that W hite hasn't managed to create any

opening problems for Black. Moreover, White should play very carefully in order to avoid problems himself. 16.dxc5 Forced as White can't allow c5-c4, after which Black gets the excellent d5-square for his Knight and the possibility of launching a pawn attack (b5-b4) on the Q-side. fd8 17.xf6+ xf6 18.c4 d5 19.d4 b5! Excellent. This unexpected sacrifice gives Black a strong attack. 20.xb5 ab8 21.e2 xc5 22.a1? White has lost his confidence in his position. The exchange of the dark-squared Bishop which protects important squares near the King leads to a quick collapse. [ 22.e5 was obligatory. Black has ample compensation for the pawn (but not more) after d6 ( 22...a5 23.c4! is not so good for Black ) 23.d3! The only move. xe5 24.xe5 c5 Black has a lasting initiative and many tactical possibilities, for example 25.hd1 c3! ] 22...xd4 23.xd4 xb2! Black attacks with great creativity. Here W hite was probably regretting his careless 22nd move. 24.xd5 Losing immediately, but [ 24.xb2 gives Black a pleasant choice between c3+ and ( 24...b8+ 25.c1 b1+ 26.xb1 c3+ 27.b2 xe2 ) 25.c1 a1+ 26.d2 xh1 27.c4 b8 wit h excellen t win ning ch ances in b ot h lines. ] 24...db8! Now White's King can't escape from the mating net. 25.d3 xc2 [ O f c o u r s e t h e h a s t y 25...c4?? spoils everything in view of 26.d8+ ] 26.d1 c4 27.d8+ xd8 28.xd8+ h7 [ White resigned in view of 28...h7 29.a5 (the only way to protect the a2-square) c1+ winning the Rook as exchanging is impossible: 30.xc1 xc1# ] 0-1

1782 Lutz,Christopher Dreev,Alexey World Team Championship (6) [Nigel Davies]

B19

17.10.2001

After having been overshadowed by 4...Nd7 for a number of years, 4...Bf5 is making a 1943

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 com eb ac k. T he se xy p la ns f o r Black are wh e re h e c a s t le s kin gsid e a n d a t t e m p t s violence on the queenside. This is a good example, with both sides delivering a number of body-blows before the game finally ends in peace. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 [ The discovery that Black could also play 7...f6 in this position is one of the big CaroKann 'happenings' of the last ten years. In many positions it is preferable for Black to leave his knight on b8 for the time being so that after a later ...c6-c5 it can come to c6. Some problems arose in the line 8.e5 h7 9.d3 ( 9.c4 e6 10.e2 is well met by d5 ) 9...xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 but Epishin has been more than happy to play Black here. Drazic - Epishin, Bratto 2 0 0 1 c o n t i n u e d e7 ( 11...d6?! is strongly met by 12.f4 after which Adams S t o h l , H a m b u r g 2 0 0 0 c o n t i n u e d bd7 13.0-0-0 c7 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 h5 16.f5 with a powerful initiative.) 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.f4 c5 14.dxc5 c7 (if Black doesn't have his bishop on d6, he doesn't need to recapture straight away) 15.e4 ( For 15.he1 see David - Mittleman, Antwerp 1999 ) 15...d8 16.xf6+ xf6 17.g3 d7 18.g4 h5 19.xf6+ xf6 20.e3 ( 20.c3 g4 was played in Godena Epishin, St . Vin ce nt 200 1. Presuma bly Drazic intended this to be an improvement.) 20...d5 21.xd5 xd5 22.f3 c8 23.d1 b6 24.c4 xe3 25.xe3 bxc5 26.g3 g6 27.d2 1/2-1/2 ] 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 [ Mikhail Bo tvinnik used to pla y 10...c7 t o a v o i d W h i t e ' s n e xt . B u t t i m e s h a v e changed. ] 11.f4 b4+ Larsen's move, which argues that c2-c3 will slightly weaken W hite's queenside. [ The old line was 11...gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 ] 12.c3 e7 13.0-0-0 gf6 14.b1 0-0 15.e5 a5 An interesting way to get counterplay. [ Leko - Anand, Corsico Masters Rapid, 2001 v a r i e d w i t h t h e m o r e d i r e c t 15...c5 after which 16.e4 cxd4 17.xd4 b6 18.xf6+ xf6 19.e4 e7 20.g4 fd8

21.xf6+ xf6 was comfortable for Black ] 16.c4 a4 17.f3 a5 18.d3 ad8 19.hd1 a6 20.e2 b6 Marking out the c4 pawn as a target. 21.c1 fd7 22.g4 xe5 23.xe5 g5 24.dc3! W h i t e d e f e n d s h i m s e l f wi t h so m e f a n c y footwork. The rook on c1 is immune because of the mate threat against g7. d7 25.f4 xe5 26.dxe5 f5! [ And not 26...e7 because of 27.g3 ] 27.g3 e7 28.g6 c5 29.g3 f7 30.xh6 h4 31.g6 [ White must give up the exchange, but there's compensation. After 31.g6 d2 his 'attacking' pieces would become prisoners of war. ] 31...xg3 32.h6 c6 33.xg3 xg2 34.h7+ h8 35.xf7 xg3 36.a3 d3+ 37.a1 d7 Finally it s clear that Black is better, but W hite manages to scramble a draw. 38.g6 e8 39.g5 d4 40.g1 d7 41.c1 d1 42.xd1 xd1+ 43.a2 b3+ 44.a1 xc4 45.g6 f1+ 46.a2 c4+ 47.a1 c1+ 48.a2 xf4 49.xe6 xh7 50.e8 c4+ 51.a1 c1+ 52.a2 c4+ 53.a1 e2 54.e6 The e-pawn is getting dangerous, but Black can always bail out by giving perpetual check. d1+ 55.a2 d5+ 56.a1 h1+ 57.a2 d5+ 58.a1 d1+ 59.a2 ½-½

1783 McDonald,Neil R Hermansson,Emil FSGM May, Budapest HUN (9) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2390 2395 2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6!? A more dynamic way to handle the 4...Bf5 line as opposed to the traditional 7.. . Nd7. Black allows 8 Ne5 and in return retains the option of a later ...c6-c5 and ...Nb8-c6! 8.e5 h7 9.d3 [ 9.c4 e6 10.e2 d5 is the most critical line where Black seems to be holding his own. ] 9...xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 [ I prefer 11.f4 here. It's less committal and 1944

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White doesn't have to make any concessions. ] 11...bd7 [ Black waited with the Knight in another recent game: 11...e7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.f4 c5 14.dxc5 c7 15.e4 d8 16.f3 xe4 17.xe4 xc5 18.g4 d4 19.e2 c6 Eventually he gets the Knight into play on a more active square. 20.g5 xe5 21.fxe5 h5! 22.xh5 xe5 23.c3 xd1+ 24.xd1 c7 25.g6 fxg6 26.h5 d8 27.g4 gxh5 28.xh5 e3+ 29.b1 h6 30.a3 f7 31.e5 h7 32.e4+ g8 33.b3 d5 34.b2 a6 35.a4 f5 36.c4 c5 37.h4 e5 38.e7 xc3 39.d8+ h7 40.xc3 e4 41.d1 g5 42.h1+ h6 43.d1 g5 1/2-1/2 Shaposhnikov, ESolozhenkin, E/St Petersburg 2003 A sharp struggle where Black was obliged to defend actively and this he achieved. ] 12.f4 A move such as 12 f4 shapes the game. On the one hand White strengthens his hold on e5 and, given time, he will establish a grip on the centre which might enable him to build up as Kingside attack. Against this the Bd2 reduces in strength and the dark squares become rather ' airy' For me 12 f4 is not very pleasing on the eye-it's an ugly move although if it works, play it-the modern philosophy of c h e s s . . . . . e7 13.0-0-0 c5! 14.he1 The critical moment as Black starts to develop his counterplay. White must find something now. McDonald relies on natural moves-he could not have been very happy with the alternatives: [ 14.xd7 xd7 15.dxc5 xd3 16.cxd3 xc5 ] [ 14.dxc5 xe5 15.xd8+ xd8 16.fxe5 d7 17.a5 c8 18.e4 xc5 19.d6+ xd6 20.exd6 ( 20.xd6 b6= ) 20...d7 ] [ 14.c3 0-0! 15.f5 xe5 16.dxe5 xd3 17.xd3 d5= ] 14...0-0 15.xd7 xd7 16.f5 The justification of 12 f4? xd4 I think this lets the White pieces become a little too active. Preferable was [ 16...cxd4! which, although it allows 17.fxe6 ( 17.f4 d5 18.b1 ac8 ) 17...fxe6 18.g6 the White Queen is less dangerous than it looks. Black has adequate counterplay: h8 19.c3 c5 20.e4

xe4 21.xe4 f6 ] 17.xd4 cxd4 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.xe6 d5 20.h5?! White would have had a much better chance of advantage with [ 20.e4! d3 21.a5 ] 20...f7 [ 20...xh4 ] 21.e1 Oddly regressive but at least h4 is protected. [ 21.e5 e3! 22.xe3 dxe3 23.xe3 xh4 24.ed3 g5+ 25.b1 g6 26.g3 e8 ] 21...e3! 22.xd4 xg2 23.g3 d8 24.xd8+ xd8 25.e5 xh4 26.xg7 g5+ 27.d1 f1+ White loses his Rook. I remember a conversation with Neil where we discussed the new time control and in the end we both agreed that it was a bit of a curse. The quality of competitive chess is going downhill dramatically and the stress levels are rising as the spectre of the ' prolonged' time scramble raises its head after three hours or so of any well-contested game. Something has to be done. 0-1

1784 Miralles,Gilles Speelman,Jonathan S Escaldes (Andorra) [Alexander Volzhin]

B19 2515 2600 1998

As White is failing to obtain any advantage in the line with 8. h5, he switched to 8. Ne5, in t h e f o l lo win g ga m e . W h it e ch o se a ve r y ambitious plan (winning a pawn), trying to refute Black's set-up immediately. This idea however was brilliantly refuted by Caro-Kann expert Jonathan Speelman. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.f3 f6 7.h4 h6 8.e5 The possibility of this move worried Black players so much that 6... Nf6 was out of fashion for decades. But due to the efforts of the Spanish GM Magem it has become clear that Black has sufficient resources here. It's difficult to say whether th is mo ve is b e t te r t h an 8 . h5 , b u t W h it e preferred it in the elite tournaments in Linares and Dos Hermanas this year. h7 9.c4 e6 10.e2 Developing and creating the threat of 1945

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Nxf7. d5 Absolutely the only move. [ 10...xd4? 11.xf7 with a quick mate. ] 11.xd5?! Too optimistic. White wins a pawn, but Black obtains fantastic compensation. Other moves should be preferred: [ 11.c3 A somewhat passive move which allows Black to equalize easily after d7 and the seemingly strong 12.h5 xe5 13.xe5 is parried by g8! In Kreiman Dautov, Bad Wiessee, 1997 White couldn't even attain equality: 14.d2 ( 14.xh6? gxh6 15.xd5 d6 16.f6+ e7 ) 14...d6 15.e2 c7 Now it's clear that the "active" Knight on h5 is out of the fight. 16.b3 0-0-0 17.0-0-0 b8 18.g3 a8 and c6-c5 at the right moment will give Black an undisputable advantage. ] [ In my opinion, the most dangerous a p p ro a c h i s 11.f3 After the forced f6 12.xd5 cxd5 13.b3 e7 14.b5+ d8 the Black King remains in the centre leaving the position unclear: 15.d2 f6 16.d3 d7 17.b3 c6 18.e2 c8 19.c1 e5 with mutual chances in Haba - Khenkin, Koszalin, 1999. ] [ 11.d2 This move al so deserves serious attention. In the game Xie Jun Chiburdanidze, Elista (ol) , 1998 W hite obtained a dangerous initiative for a pawn after xc2 V e r y r i s k y . ( 11...d7 in my opinion is better.) 12.c1 ( 12.h5 is interesting as well.) 12...h7 13.0-0 d7 14.xd5 cxd5 15.b5 f6 16.a5 b6 17.c6 ] 11...cxd5! But I definitely prefer the text as it gives Black excellent compensation for the pawn. Why should Black grab a pawn when it's possible to sacrifice one! [ It's not easy to refute the stupid-looking 11...xd5 12.h5 g8 , for example 13.0-0 d7 14.c4 xd4 15.xd7 xd7 16.d1 c7 and it's not easy to develop White's attack, although his compensation is obvious. ] 12.b5+ d7 13.xb7 xe5 14.dxe5 b8 The critica l position for an assessment of White's plan. It doesn't look very promising for White. 15.a6 [ 15.xa7 xc2 16.0-0 e7 17.h5 0-0 and the pawn is a small price to pay for W h i t e ' s e x p o s e d k i n gs i d e a n d B l a c k ' s

domination over the light squares. ] [ 15.c6+ is probably best, although after d7 16.xd7+ xd7 17.c3 the open files on the queenside promise Black a lasting initiative (as in the Benko gambit!). ] 15...d7! [ Of course, the pawn is taboo: 15...xc2 16.c6+ ] [ while 15...e7?! allows White to transfer his Queen to an excellent square: 16.a4+ d7 17.g4 with advantage. ] 16.0-0 e7 17.a4?! A strange looking move. White intends to launch a sophisticated attack on the kingside which takes a lot of time and quickly leads to a lost position. [ The attempt to activate the Queen with 17.e2 d o e sn 't wo rk in vi e w o f a4! ( Of course, White would be happy after 17...xh4 18.g4 )] [ White avoids playing 17.c3 (here or earlier) as this move weakens the light squares, but it's better than the text. White should think about defence rather than attack. ] 17...xh4 18.h5 0-0 19.a3 g6 20.e2 [ Maybe 20.h3 is better but it would hardly change the evaluation of a position which is already very difficult for White. ] 20...fc8 21.g4 [ Of course White has no choice as moves like 21.c3 protecting the pawn don't fit in with his previous moves. ] 21...c4 22.f4 e7 Now it's clear that White's kingside action has led nowhere. Black's king is well protected, while White can't hold his weaknesses on the queenside. The rest is easy. 23.h3 xc2 24.f5 exf5 25.g3 c7 26.e1 b4 27.f4 xc1! [ White resigned as the variation 27...xc1 28.xc1 xc1 29.xc1 xf4 30.c7 b4 is absolutely hopeless for White as he can't even take the pawn: 31.xa7 c5+ ] 0-1

1946

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1785 Movsesian,Sergei Iordachescu,Viorel F.I.D.E. KO World Ch., New Del [Paul Motwani]

B19

2000

Deadly Dynamic Duo... W 29: "Happy New Year in New Delhi" Caro-Kann Defence, Code B19. Here in my first Internet column of 2001, I'd like to wish all readers a very happy New Year, and let's also celebrate together the recent conclusion of the previous year by enjoying a delightful game played then in New Delhi. The curry there is much better than the Caro-Kann looked when Moldavia's GM Viorel Iordachescu crashed to a 24-move defeat as Black against super-GM Sergei Movsesian of the Czech Republic in the second round of the F.I. D.E. W orld Cha mpionship knock-ou t tournament. A particularly potent quartet from W hite at move numbers 16, 19, 23 and 24 propels him to a quick victory in our featured game. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 [ The most popular alternative is 4...d7 5.g5 s e t t i n g t h e t r a p h6? 6.e6! intending a5+ ( 6...fxe6?? 7.h5+ g6 8.xg6# ) 7.d2 b6 8.d3! fxe6?? 9.h5+ d8 10.a5 which actually happened some years ago in a super-GM encounter between England's Dr John Nunn and Bulgaria's Kiril Georgiev. ] 5.g3 g6 6.h4 "h for hunting!" is a favourite attacking motto of Belgium's Gorik Cools. h6 7.f3 Just imagine that White had played Ng1-f3 back at move two instead of d2-d4 there, but all the other subsequent moves remain unchanged until now. Then 7 Ne5 would put Black in really big trouble because of 7...Bh7 8 Qh5! g6 9 Bc4 (or 9 Qf3, intending 9...Qd5? 10 Qxd5 cxd5 11 Bb5+) 9... e6. In that line, the poor h7-bishop looks like a frightened hedgehog! However, I'll take this opportunity to highly recommend "The Hedgehog", which is a brilliant new Batsford book written by GM Mihai Suba, one of the most deep-thinking players I've ever known. f6 [ Some people prefer 7...d7 to stop the move that White plays next. ] 8.e5 h7 9.d3 xd3

[ 9...xd4? allows 10.xf7! intending xf7? ( or 10...xd3? 11.xh8 e5+ 12.e3 h7 13.d8+!! xd8 14.f7+ and 15 Nxe5 with a decisive material advantage for W hite.) 11.g6+ xg6 12.xd4 ] 10.xd3 Threatening 11 Qb3 with a double attack against Black's pawns at b7 and f7. e6 [ 10...bd7?! l e t s W h i t e p l a y 11.g6 because of fxg6?? 12.xg6# ] 11.d2 e7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.f4 White gains space and also makes ultra-secure the position of his proud centralised e5-knight. bd7 14.f3 c7 [ 14...c5? i s b a d b e c a u s e o f 15.xb7 intending cxd4 16.c6 e8 17.xe7+ xe7 18.b4 ] 15.c4! White further increases his spatial advantage, and prepares to play Bc3 without allowing ...Nd5 by Black. c5 16.d5! ae8 [ 16...xe5? loses to 17.fxe5 because of d7 ( or 17...xe5 18.f4 winning Black's queen. ) 18.d6 ] 17.he1 exd5 18.cxd5 d6 19.c3! xe5? At first sight this may seem to win something, but in fact Black very quickly loses material by force. 20.fxe5 xe5 [ If 20...xe5 then 21.xe5 xe5 22.d6 is already "the end" for Black. ] 21.xe5 xe5 22.f5 d8 [ This fails to stop White's deadly d-pawn f r o m a d v a n c i n g t o d 6 , b u t 22...d6 was no good either because of 23.xh6+ gxh6 24.xf6 ] 23.d6! xd6 24.xd6! Black resigned in view of 24...Rxd6 25 Qg3 threatening 26 Qxg7 or 26 Qxd6. 1-0

1786 Nakar,Ey Dreev,A Yerevan ARM (1.25) [Neil McDonald]

B19 2409 2679 03.03.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 e6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 f6 11.d2 e7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.b1 c5 14.e4 c6 15.dxc5 White grabs the pawn on offer. As we 1947

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 shall see he gets no advantage and is even in danger of inferiority if he is careless. xd3 16.xf6+ xf6 [ Not 16...gxf6 as it leaves Black with a hanging pawn on h6. ] 17.cxd3 fd8 18.e3 [ No more promising for White is 18.c3 d5 Black need look no further than this obvious move as it easily equalises, but even after the liquida tio n ( 18...xc3 19.bxc3 b6 20.cxb6 axb6 White's pawns are so raggedy it's difficult to see an advantage for him, for example 21.h4 d5 22.d2 b5 ) 19.xf6 ( the pawn on d4 will drop off after 19.d4 ad8 ) 19...gxf6 20.d4 ad8 21.c1 White returns the pawn to more or less force a draw in the endgame. ( not 21.h4 xc5 ) 21...xd4 22.xd4 xd4 23.h3 d2 24.b3 8d7 25.c2 d1+ 26.c1 1d2 27.c2 d1+ 28.c1 1d2 29.c2 d1+ W hite can't tolerate a black rook on his second rank while Black can't allow White to consolidate his better pawn structure. 30.c1 1/2-1/2 Nozdrachev, L (2413)-Popov, I (2651)/Loo RUS 2014. ] 18...d5 On d5 the rook eyes not only the weak pawns on c5 and d3, but also the one in h5. This means that both the white rooks are tied down to defending pawns. 19.a3 ad8 I wonder if Black doubles his rooks along the d-file in the Caro-Kann more than in any other opening? 20.c2 a5 Stopping White s u p p o r t i n g t h e c 5 p a w n wi t h 2 1 . b 4 a n d perhaps intending to fix W hite's queenside with a5-a4. Nakar stops this with his next move. 21.b3 e5 Preventing 22.d4. Dreev could get the pawn back with [ 21...d4+ 22.xd4 ( Or 22.xd4 xc5+ 23.d2 xd4 ) 22...xd4 but perhaps he preferred to keep the tension rather than play the position after 23.b4 ( 23.xd4 xc5+ ) 23...xf2 ] 22.b1 a7! Again Dreev avoids recapturing the pawn. Evidently he wants to set his lower rated opponent as many problems as possible, whereas after [ 22...xd3 23.hd1 White has little to fear. ] 23.bd1 b5 24.a4 a7 The knight retreats happy to have provoked 24.a4, as now the white pawn on c5 can no longer be defended by b3-b4. 25.d2 e7 26.c4

[ White has to give up the c5 pawn, as 26.e4 turns out badly after f5 27.c3 5d7 28.g3 c6 29.a2 d5 30.he1 f4 ( the exchange sac 30...xc5 also looks good for Black after 31.c3 xe3 32.xd5 xf2 33.f1 xg3 34.e3 d4+ 35.c3 f4 etc. ) 31.gxf4 exf4 32.xf4 xc5+ 33.b1 xh5 and Black has much the better of the pawn structure, including an outside passed pawn. ] 26...xc5 27.b6 White acquires a bishop versus knight in the endgame, which gives him compensation for his worse pawn st r u ct u r e . xb6 28.xb6 c8+ 29.b2 c6 30.d2 White is too passive. He would get counterplay after [ 30.a3 b4 31.c1 ] 30...b4 31.hd1 f5 32.f3 c6 33.e3 f7 34.g4 This natural move actually makes White's pawns weaker. [ Instead 34.f4! would increase the scope of White's bishop and give more chances of equalising. ] 34...f6 35.g5 hxg5 36.xg5 fd6 The pressure on d3 is becoming unbearable. 37.c3 d4 Zugzwang. Any move by White's b is h o p l e a d s t o i t s lo ss , in c lu d i n g t o e 3 because of a knight check on d5. Therefore White has to give up the d-pawn. 38.e2 [ He had to retreat with 38.b2 ] 38...c6+? Very surprisingly Dreev misses [ 38...xd3 when the threat of 39...Rc6 mate is immediately decisive. ] 39.b2 xd3+ And here more precise is [ 39...xd3 ] 40.a3 cd6 41.g1 e4 42.fxe4 xe4 43.xe4 fxe4 44.d2 d5 45.c3 e5 Instead White should draw fairly comfortably after 46.a2? [ 46.e1 and 47.Rxe4. ] 46...e3 47.g3 e2 48.e3 d3 49.b1? W hite doesn't take advantage of his good fortune in still being alive. Instead he could fight on with [ 49.a3 f4 50.e4 xh5 51.xe2 ] 49...c5! Winning a piece. 50.d2 [ Or 50.xd3 xc3 ] 50...e1+ 51.xe1 c1+ 52.a2 xe1 53.b2 d1 54.e4 g2 55.e5 b6 56.f5+ g8 57.h6 gxh6 58.f6 g7 59.xb6 f4 60.b4 axb4 61.a5 d5 1948

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A useful lesson in Caro-Kann technique from Dreev, despite the errors around move 40. 0-1

1787 Navara,D Sumets,A 29th ECC Open 2013 (2.5) [Tom Rendle]

B19 2703 2598 21.10.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 [ 13...b6 is another option for Black but it's been under some pressure recently, for example see Karjakin-Mamedyarov from the archives. ] [ 13...a5!? is an interesting new approach which is covered in the next game Wei YiAntonio ] 14.e4 c5 15.xf6+ [ 15.g4!? is a critical alternative which is analysed in Balogh-Ragger and although it undoubtedly very dangerous it seems that with accurate play Black should be just ab o ut O K s o h e re we se e Na vara try a slower approach. ] 15...xf6 [ 15...xf6 is more popular but then Black has to worry about 16.g4! xg4 17.e2 h8 18.hg1 f6 19.dxc5 with a da n ge rou s a tt a ck f o r W hite th a t worked particularly well in KamskySeirawan: c7 20.e5 xc5? ( 20...ad8! was necessary but now maybe White can hold onto c5 with 21.b4! a5 22.a3 axb4 23.axb4 and White's attack still looks more potent than Black's.) 21.xh6! gxh6 22.d7 xd7 ( 22...xd7? gets mated after 23.d2 h7 24.g4! ) 23.xd7 xd7 24.d2 h7 25.b4 ad8 26.bxc5 f6 27.f4 e8 28.e4+ h8 29.xb7 g7 30.xa7 c8 31.d1 f5 32.d7 g7 33.a4 f6 34.a5 1-0 Kamsky, G (2741)Seirawan, Y (2643) Saint Louis 2012 ] 16.d5?! This may be a very thematic move but here Black is absolutely fine with accurate play [ 16.g4! gives Black far more problems in this line for example cxd4 17.g5! ( instead

17.b4?! e8 18.xd4 b6 19.c3 c5 20.b5?! e4 and Black was already clearly better in Short, S-Medvegy, Z (2474) Cork 2005 ) 17...hxg5 ( 17...xg5?! 18.xg5 hxg5 19.h6 g6 20.xd4 f6 21.e3! b6 22.xg5 and White regains the pawn and keeps a strong initiative on th e kin gsid e) 18.b4 e8 19.h6 g6 20.xd4 and White has excellent compensation for the sacrificed pawn although after b6! it's possible that Black is just about OK ] 16...c4 This leads to a position where White has nothing better than to swap queens into a pretty equal ending [ 16...b6 should also be fine for Black but he obviously has to be careful 17.c1 exd5 ( 17...ad8! 18.d6 c6 is about equal) 18.xd5 ad8 19.f5 b5?! ( 19...b8! was better to stop White gaining control of t h e d - f i l e) 20.d6 fe8 21.c4 a4 22.hd1 and White had the better chances and he managed to grind out a win in Luther, T (2536)-Sutovsky, E (2660) Graz 2009 ] 17.xc4 b6 18.b3 xd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.c4 e7 21.f4 fd8 The game seems to be heading towards an early draw but somehow Navara over-presses, perhaps not really sensing any danger. 22.c7 xd1+ 23.xd1 f8 24.e5?! The first sign that White is getting a little overambitious [ 24.b3 c6 25.a3 c8 26.d6+ e7 27.b2 xd6 28.xd6 e7 29.d3 b6 and the ending is looking very equal! ] 24...e8 25.d7 c8 26.f4?! Another slight inaccuracy from Navara who was probably pinning all of his hopes on a miscalculation at this point [ 26.xf6+ gxf6 27.f4 xc4 28.xh6 h4 29.g7 xh5 30.xf6 should still be an easy draw although perhaps Black can play on for a little bit with d5 31.d4 b6 as the knight on d5 is such a strong piece but with so few pawns on the board it's hard to see Black winning from here. ] 26...g5 27.xg5 hxg5 28.h6? This was clearly Navara's idea but it just doesn't work [ 28.e5 was necessary here, although after f6 29.f3 xc4 30.d4 e5 31.e6 f5 W hite has a lot of work to do to hold the draw in this position ] 1949

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28...d8! 29.hxg7?! here when White only has a small edge after [ 29.h7 g6 30.c2 xd7 31.xd7 xd7 17.c3 ( 17.d2 g7 18.e1 f8! 32.c3 may offer some small drawing and Black is OK) 17...g7 18.e3 d4 chances as it's not so easy to win the pawn 19.cxd4 xd4 20.h3! ] o n h 7 b u t a f t e r d6 33.f3 h8 [ 16...f6?! 17.e3 g7 18.d1 Black should be winning in the long term is awkward for Black ] a l t h o u g h t h e r e a r e d e f i n i t e t e c h n i c a l 17.d2 pro blem s to so lve as W h it e can cre at e [ 17.h5!? was also well worth considering another passed pawn on the queenside. ] here gxh5 ( 17...g5 18.exf7+ xf7 19.g6 29...xd7 30.h1 f6 Suddenly Black's king is g8 20.d2 is very pleasant for White - that coming to f7 and White is not picking up the knight on g6 is nicely placed for kingside knight for the pawn on g7. This just leaves aggression and pressure in the centre.) Black a piece up so White resigned. 18.b3! c8 19.b2 xc2 20.xd4 g8 0-1 21.xh5 and Black is still way behind in development ] 17...g7 18.h3 f8?! After this Black is 1788 B19 really struggling but it was already a tricky Negi,P 2633 position for Ragger to handle [ 18...c8! offered better chances although Ragger,M 2646 W h i t e k e e p s a n e d ge wit h 19.c3 g5 Graz Casino Open 2014 (5.1) 17.02.2014 ( 19...f8 20.e1 is no better) 20.h5 e5 [Tom Rendle] 21.e1! dxc3 22.bxc3 f6 23.xf6+ exf6 A) 24.e7!? c7 25.c4! also looks 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 promising, sacrificing a pawn but after 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 8.e5 h7 xe7 ( not 25...xc4?? 26.d3 c8 9.d3 bd7 10.xh7 xe5 11.dxe5 a5+ 27.b4 and Black cannot stop Red1 and 12.f1 xh7 13.e6 d5 14.xd5 Rd8 ) 26.b3 b6 27.a3 xe1+ 28.xe1 The first new move a5 29.b3 and White regains the pawn [ 14.exf7+ had previously been played in a with a very pleasant endgame; few games but it doesn't seem to offer a real B) 24.hxg5 hxg5 25.g4! ] edge against accurate play xf7 15.e4 f6 16.xf6+ xf6 ( however 16...exf6! 19.exf7+ xf7 20.f3 f6 21.e1 d7 ae8 23.c3! Negi has all of this 17.h3 e7 allows Black to equalise here) 22.d5 17.h3 and White had a definite advantage pieces on their best squares so he opens up in Adams-Khenkin which I annotated last t h e ce n t re a n d re a p s t h e b e n e f it s o f h is superior coordination. g7 year. ] [ or 23...d3 24.c4! ( 24.xd3?! e5 25.d4 14...cxd5 15.e2! g6 d8 offers Black real chances to defend) [ 15...fxe6 is critical as well but I still like 24...g7 25.xd3 e5 26.d4 and Black White's position after 16.f4 or ( 16.f4!? has no tactics here and is simply a pawn bringing the bishop to blockade on e5 is down ] another reasonable option ) A) 16...e5 17.g6! ( 17.xd5 c8 24.cxd4 xh4 [ 24...xd4? loses to 25.c7! f6 18.c3 e6 and Black is active enough for 26.xe8+ xe8 27.c3 and White is a equality here) 17...g8 18.xe5 c8 clear exchange up ] 19.c3 e6 20.f4 with a slight edge for 25.c3 f6 26.c7 c8 27.d5! Black is still White; B) 16...d7?! 17.g6! g8 18.f4 f6 equal in terms of material but his position is completely busted. The threat is Rxe7+ and 19.g3 and White is in total control ] 16.f4 Negi's opening idea seems to be a Black's next move shows he really doesn't success, Black has no way to comfortably have a good answer to it g8 [ 27...f7? 28.d6 exd6 29.xf6 xf6 equalise here d4 30.d5 wins a piece and the game ] [ 16...d8 is perhaps Black's best option 1950

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28.xf6 exf6 29.d6 d8 30.fe3 [ 30.d5! wins as well ] 30...e5?! The final mistake but it was already lost for Black [ 30...h7 is more stubborn but Black is losing in any case after 31.e8+ xe8 32.xe8+ f7 33.e7+ g8 34.e2 and Black is completely tied down while White's King walks into d5 and e6 ] 31.f4 c6 32.e8+ f7 33.1e7+! xe7 34.xe7+ g8 35.e6 A lovely finish from Negi and an immaculately played game. 14. Qxd5 and 15.Ne2! seems like an important improvement for W hite in this line and the position is already difficult for Black. 1-0

1789 Nijboer,Friso Gagunashvili,Merab Harmonie Groningen NED (5) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2567 2567 26.12.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e2 0-0 14.b1 c5 15.d5!? In this very well-known position comes a move that looks impossible W hite just gives the d pawn away! What is he getting in return? 1) Time and momentum for his attack. 2) The Black Knights and Queen are uncomfortable under the gaze of the W hite rook on d1. Black's position takes time to untangle. 3) If Black takes with the pawn, the e file opens up and f5 becomes exposed. All this means tha t 15 d5 is ve ry interestin g indeed and puts Black under terrific pressure. xd5 [ 15...exd5 is answered by the remarkable 16.xh6! Indeed, Jobova remarked after the following game finished that it was almost all preparation. I don't know whether that intimidates you, it certainly does me! I have no wish to play a game of chess which the opponent has all played at home! What is the world coming to?? gxh6 17.f5 e8 18.xh6+ Black is in trouble. Please note the strength of Jobova's opposition, Jobava, B-Bareev, E/ECC, Rethymnon GRE 2003. ]

16.e4 This looking very dangerous for Black too. White centralizes his Knight, preparing g4g5! c4 17.g4 b6 18.g5!N White must waste absolutely no time, hence Nijboer's direct novelty. [ 18.xc4 ac8 19.b3 xb3 20.axb3 se em s mo re h elpf ul t o Black, a lt ho ugh White went on to win the following game: b5 ( 20...c5!= ) 21.c3 xc3+ 22.xc3 b6 23.d4 c5 24.e5 a5 25.f4 b4 26.xc5 xc5 27.d6 b5 28.hd1 Deepan, CAlavi, S/Tehran IRI 2004. ] 18...hxg5 [ The deflection 18...c3 19.xc3 achieves nothing. Black must take on g5. ] 19.h6 Words are inapplicable. f6! The best, fighting response. [ Black can try to counterattack with 19...a3 but White is much quicker. He only needs a small time out and then hostilities re co m m e n ce : 20.b3 cxb3 21.axb3 f6 ( 21...gxh6 22.fxg5! e5 23.xh6; 21...ac8 22.hxg7 fd8 23.fxg5 c6 24.h8+ xg7 25.xe6+ xe6 26.g1+ g6 27.xg6+ fxg6 28.xd8 xd8 29.d3+- ) 22.c3 ac8 ( 22...gxh6 23.xd5 exd5 24.xh6 fe8 25.d3 ) 23.xd5 exd5 24.d3! In all cases White has a tremendous attack. ] 20.e3 Now there's an unexpected move! Probably Nijboer recognised that taking on g7 just helped Black and hit upon 20 Be3 as the ' only move left' It's not 100% convincing. I think Black can defend. [ After 20.hxg7 xg7 21.xc4 ac8 22.d3 h8! is a good defence. ] 20...a6 [ 20...xe3! was also possible, although allowing the Rook to the seventh rank feels wr o n g . B u t t h e f u r t h e r 21.xd7 d5 22.hxg7 xg7 23.xc4 fd8! sees Black recuperating. ] 21.hxg7 xg7 22.fxg5! As stated, no expense must be spared. fxg5 23.xg5 xg5 24.xg5 7f6 [ 24...ae8 25.h7+ g8 26.h5 is curtains. ] 25.xe6+ f7 26.g5+ g7 27.xd5! T h e b o y c e r t a i n l y k n o ws h o w t o a t t a c k . Black's last defender is stripped away. xd5 28.h7+ g6 29.h5+ f5 30.f7+ 1951

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 My own feeling is that Black, armed with a 34.b3 h4 35.c1 f3 36.d3 e2 very strong playing program, must examine 37.c3 g1 38.b2 f1 39.d2 h3 40.f5 15...exd5 16 Bxh6 very carefully indeed to h2 0-1 Guseinov, G-Doettling, F/Aviles determine the ultimate soundness of White's 2000 ] pawn offer. It is regrettable that chess has 20...xe5 21.dxe5 c4! If White trades, the c o m e t o t h i s , b u t t h a t ' s r e a l i t y . S o m e endgame will be worse for him than before knowledge of this pawn sac at a lower level 22.f2 would probably win game after game after [ 22.xc4 bxc4 23.e3 c3! 24.b3 game. ( 24.bxc3 a3 25.a1 0-0 ) 24...b4 1-0 25.f5 e7= ] 22...d8 23.b3 d4 24.f3 d5 25.f5!? [ 25.g5 b4 gives Black adequate 1790 B19 counterplay. ] Oleksienko,Michailo 2515 25...exf5 26.gxf5 xe5 27.c3 xf5 White is correctly trying everything to Kovalev,Denis 2421 28.g3 Tch-UKR Alushta UKR (6) 20.04.2006 open the position, but Black is able to resist b y f o c u s i n g o n t h e o r i g i n a l p l a n . d7! [Andrew Martin] 29.hf1 h5 30.xd5+ xd5 31.g1 [ 31.xg7 f8 32.f6 is answered by c5 ] AS SOLID AS CAN BE Capablanca's variation re ma ins a s s o lid a s ca n b e . 4. . . Bf 5 h a s 31...c5 32.g4+ c7 33.f5 e6!= without doubt resisted the advent of database 34.f4+ d6 35.xf7+ b8 Crawling away c5 37.g3+ a8 technology. Here is yet another example of t o s a f e t y . 36.f2 c8 39.e5 e8 40.c7 the durability of this line. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 38.c7 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 I t i s f i t t i n g t h a t a r e p e t i t i o n o n t h e l i g h t h6 7.f3 e6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 squares concludes this interesting game. This 10.xd3 f6 11.d2 bd7 12.0-0-0 e7 is not a particularly difficult line to play for 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 f6 Modest, but Black once you grasp the overall idea. eff ective. 15.e2 d5! Control of the light- ½-½ squares is central to Black's overall game plan after 4...Bf5. It's a bonus that the Queen 1791 B19 attacks both a2 and h5. 16.b1 Pavlovic,Milos 2494 [ W e've seen examples of 16.c4 e4 Gyimesi,Zoltan 2602 before. White struggles to prove anything. ] 25.01.2006 16...xh5 Why not? 17.e5 f6 18.f3 Gibtelecom Masters (2) For the pawn White buys some time and ties [Andrew Martin] the Black King down in the middle for a while. b5! So that the Black queen can stay where 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 she is. 19.g4 d7 20.f4N xd3 10.xd3 Take your pick [ 20.g5 is being given approval by Deep Fritz, 9.d3 but it does not bring Guseinov any joy. Let between 10...Ngf6, 10...Qc7 and 10.. e6. us see why: xe5 21.dxe5 c4 22.f2?! There are small differences. W ith 10...e6 ( Clearly 22.xc4 bxc4 23.gxh6 Black keeps his option open to castle short, is critical. White aims for a better endgame: whereas 10..Qc7 is more or less a preface to gxh6 24.xh6 0-0-0 25.xh8 xh8 26.f4 ...0-0-0.One might assume 10...Ngf6 does is then logical enough, but I doubt that White exactly the same thing as 10..e6, but the is better after, say, c5 ) 22...d8 23.gxh6 continuation of this game demonstrates that gxh6 24.a5 xd1+ 25.xd1 c5 26.g2 this is not so. e6 Preventing ...Qc7 as well as f4 27.g7 ( 27.d2! looks better for placing the Bishop as actively as possible. W hite to me. d4 28.g7 f8 29.f4 ) 11.f4 a5+! 12.d2 [ 12.d2 is yawnsville.... xd2+ 13.xd2 27...f8 28.g2 h5 29.e2 a6 30.d2 gf6 14.0-0-0 c5 15.e3 cxd4 c4 31.e3 g8 32.f4 d5 33.e1 g2 1952

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1/2-1/2 Joksic, S-Djuric, S/Strbske Pleso 1978 ] [ After 12.c3 it is less attractive for White to castle long. That is the point of the intermediate check. ] 12...b4! 13.c3 Turns out White plays c3 anyway. e7 14.c4 c7 More reliable then 14...Qa6, although the continuation of the following snippet suggests that move might be playable too: [ 14...a6 15.0-0 gf6 16.fe1 0-0 17.f5 fe8 18.xe7+ xe7 19.b4 ee8 20.e5 ad8 21.e2 b5 Leko, P-Bareev, E/Dortmund 2002 White's a lit t le b e t t e r a f t e r 2 2 b 3 , b u t it 's n o t a n advantage which one can easily pin down. ] 15.0-0-0 [ 15.0-0 is natural enough and nothing special: gf6 16.fe1 0-0 17.e2 ad8 18.c3 d6 19.e5 c5 is very reasonable for Black indeed: 20.xd7 xd7 21.d5 xg3 22.xf6 h2+ 23.h1 gxf6 24.g3 exd5 25.xh2 d4 26.ad1 d6 27.g4+ h8 28.e4 e7 29.de1 xe4 Adams, M-Riazantsev, A/Bastia 2005 ] 15...gf6 16.e4 0-0 17.xf6+ xf6 So we finally reach a standard type of position where White is looking to attack on t h e K in g s i d e a n d B l a c k h o p i n g t o b le n d judicious defence with an eye for the right m o m e n t t o p la y . . . b 7 -b 5 ! 18.g4 xg4 Bold, but we have to consider that this had all been played before. 19.hg1 f5 20.de1N A not exactly earth-shattering novelty. White attacks e6. Before came: [ 20.e5 xe5 21.dxe5 fd8 22.e3 g5 23.f4 e7 24.g6 f8 25.dg1 d7 26.xh6 c5 27.xc5 xd2+ 28.b1 d3+ 29.c1 d7 30.hg6 d2+ 31.b1 d3+ 32.c1 1/2-1/2 Predojevic, B-Lastin, A/Budva 2004 as 32...Qd2+ forces a draw. ] 20...d7 21.e2 f6 22.b1 [ 22.xe6+ xe6 23.xe6 ae8 24.xe8 xe8 25.e1 e4 looks if anything to be a fraction better for Black. Dissolving the tension cannot be the way to play for a win and so it is understandable that White keeps the queens on. ] 22...ad8 23.d1 Something is not quite right with White's play. Having given up the pawn, one senses he is struggling to find

c o m p e n s a t i o n , i f o n l y i n h i s h e a d ! c5! 24.a5 [ 24.c3 c6! ] 24...b6 25.dxc5 a4 [ 25...c6 26.cxb6 xd1+ 27.xd1 axb6 28.b4 c8 29.b3 e5 is a very logical variation. ] 26.xd8 xd8 27.d2 e5! Knocking White's d pawn out had the desired effect.. Black's central pawns threaten to sweep everything from their path. 28.c3 bxc5 Black is now a pawn up! 29.d2 [ 29.b3 e8 30.b2 a5 does not help W h i t e . . . . a 5 - a 4 i s c o m i n g wi t h d e a d l y effect. ] 29...d7 30.f3 e4!! Now is is really horrible for Pavlovic. 31.fxg4 [ 31.b3 xc3 32.fxg4 d4 33.f1 fxg4 34.xe4 g3 35.xd4 xd4 36.c2 f8 simplifies to an easily winning position. ] 31...xc3 32.b3 f6 33.gxf5 xf5 34.f1 e5 35.e1 e3 36.c2 e8 37.e2 b8 38.d1 a5! 39.d5 e4+ 40.c1 a4 41.xc5 xb2+ 42.xb2 xc4+ A very nice game by Gyimesi, not only ke e p i n g W h it e o u t , b u t a d d in g p le n t y o f dynamic ideas of his own. 0-1

1792 Ponomariov,Ruslan Tukmakov,Vladimir B Donetsk (Ukraine) [Alexander Volzhin]

B19 2585 2605 1998

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 [ It's interesting to compare this game with the game Karpov - Huebner, Tilburg, 1982: 7...d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 gf6 11.f4 e6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e5 0-0 14.c4 c5 15.d5 xe5 16.xe5 g4 17.xg7 xg7 18.e2 g5+ 19.b1 f6 20.dxe6 c8 21.e7 e8 22.d6 g4 23.e5 g8 24.e1 d7 25.xd7 xd7 26.f5 f6 27.d5+ xd5 28.cxd5 f4 29.g3 c7 30.c2 b5 31.xh6+ h7 32.f5 g8 33.d6 a5 34.e6 g5 35.xf6 xh5 36.d7 h2 37.e3 and Black resigned. This game is brilliantly 1953

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 analysed by Dr. Robert Huebner in the CB megabase and I can't add anything to his deep annotations. ] 8.e5 h7 9.d3 This move, introduced last year by Ivanchuk has become very popular. It looks more promising than 9. Bc4. xd3 [ It's easy to calculate that the pawn is taboo: 9...xd4? 10.xf7! xd3 11.xh8 e5+ 12.e3 h7 13.h5 and White's Knight easily escapes via the g6-square. ] 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 bd7 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 14.c4 c5?! This move is brilliantly refuted. Black's play was improved upon just a month later in the game Chernov Nisipeanu, Romania, 1999: [ 14...a5!? 15.f3 ad8 16.d3 xe5 17.dxe5 d7! Avoiding the trick: ( 17...xd3? 18.xd3 d8 19.exf6! xd3 20.fxe7 a n d a f t e r t h e f o r c e d d8 21.exd8+ xd8 White has Rook, Bishop and Knight for the Queen, and with precise play should win the game.) 18.e2 c5 Black has a very comfortable game, and gained the upper hand after 19.xd8 xd8 20.h5 d3 21.g3 b5! 22.cxb5 c5! ( 22...xb5 is weaker in view of 23.f4 exchanging the strong Knight, with equality. )] 15.d5 xe5 16.xe5 g4 The logical followup to 14...c5. However an unpleasant surprise awaits him. 17.xg7!! Ponomariov borrows Karpov's idea with great success. xg7 [ 17...xf2 18.d2 xd1 ( 18...xg7 19.xf2 ) 19.xh6 ] 18.e2 f5?! [ Although 18...f6 is much more stubborn, B la c k ' s p o s i t io n i s qu i t e d if f ic u lt h e re : 19.dxe6 Here Black has a joyless choice: A) 19...c7 is hardly a real improvement. 20.f5+ h8 21.he1! A very important move. W hite combines threats on the kingside with pressure on the central files. Black's problem is the absence of good s q u a r e s f o r h i s e x t r a B i s h o p . fxe6 22.xe6 d8 Now Black's forces are totally uncoordinated and White begins the direct attack. 23.g4! xg4 This move allows the penetration of the Rook to the 7th rank but after ( 23...e8 24.xe8+ xe8 25.xe8+ h7 26.d6 Black has

to give up his Queen in order to avoid immediate mate.) 24.d7 c6 25.d6 and Black is helpless against the many threats.; B) 19...e8 This move allows a nice combination, but 20.f5+ h8 21.d7!! The point. xd7 22.d2! g5 23.hxg5 fxe6 24.g6! mating. ] 19.f3 f6 20.xe6 g8 21.xf5+ h7 22.g4 White has a decisive advantage as Black's pieces are totally uncoordinated. b6 23.he1 xe6 Now the passed pawn becomes very dangerous but I have failed to find a real improvement: [ 23...f6 24.xb6 axb6 25.e6 a6 26.d6 is no better. ] 24.dxe6 xf5 With the text Black hoped for a blockade, but unfortunately for him White's material advantage is too big now. [ 24...ad8 loses immediately in view of 25.d7! for example: xd7 26.exd7 d8 27.e8 ] 25.gxf5 xh4 26.d7+ e7 27.h1 f6 28.xb7 The rest is a matter of technique. g8 29.xa7 g5 30.f4 xf5 31.f1 g6 32.a4 h5 In this hopeless position Black's flag fell with 8(!) moves still to play. Many players name the youngest ever grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov "small Karpov". This game proves how correct this statement is! 1-0

1793 Pritchett,Craig William Grant,J Scottish Ch Oban [Andrew Martin]

B19

07.2005

I rarely feature draws in this little column, unless they are of common or extreme interest. The following game is a missed opportunity f o r W h ite a n d sho ws wh y n o t t o ge t in t o extreme time-trouble. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.f3 d7 7.h4 h6 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e4 All as seen hundreds, if not thousands of times before. a5 [ 13...xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.d3 d5 16.c4 e4 17.xe4 xe4 18.e3 d6 1954

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 was an earlier game of Kramnik-Bareev which I believe we have featured. Although white is possibly a little better one has to say that Black's position will be very difficult to breach and counterplay comes via ... b7-b5 ] 14.xf6+ [ 14.b1 xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 xh5 17.c1 f6 18.e5 d7 19.g4 Pelletier, Y-Nielsen, P/ playchess.com INT 2004 is an unconvincing pawn sacrifice for White with the Black King as yet uncastled. For instance: xe5 20.dxe5 b5 ] 14...xf6 15.b1 g4 [ 15...0-0 16.e5 ad8 17.g3 h8 18.c4 d7= 19.d3 f6 20.hd1 xe5 21.xe5 xe5 22.xe5 b4 demonstrates typical play for Black , gradually loosening W hite's grip on e5 and thereby obtaining equality. 23.c5 a4 24.b3 a6 25.g4 b5 26.c3 b6 27.xb6 axb6 28.cxb5 cxb5 29.c6 d5 30.xb6 e5 31.a4 bxa4 32.bxa4 exd4 33.d3 f5 34.b5 xb5+ 35.axb5 b8 36.b3 fxg4 37.c2 g6 38.hxg6 g7 39.d3 xg6 40.xd4 f5 41.e3 b6 42.e2 h5 43.f1 h4 44.g2 f4 45.b4+ f5 46.b1 f4 47.b3 e4 48.b4+ f5 1/2-1/2 Karjakin, S-Van Delft, M/ Vienna 2003 ] 16.e2 0-0 [ Or 16...b5 17.d3 d8 18.e5 xe5 19.xe5 f6 20.xf6 gxf6 21.f3 g8 22.e1 g5 Karjakin-Azmaiparashvili Dos Hermanas 2005 ] 17.h4!? [ 17.e5 was less sharp, although both moves allow White the possibility of g2-g4. ] 17...xh5 [ 17...f6 18.g4 fd8 might have been safer ] 18.f3 f6 19.g4 a5 20.xh6! This was Pritchett's point and White does indeed launch a very dangerous attack. gxh6 21.f5! W onderful play, but it cost veteran Craig Pritchett too much time on the clock! d5 Black's task is not an easy one: [ 21...exf5 22.xe7 is not quite as easy for White as one might imagine, but after the fairly forcing line g7 23.xh6! d8 24.e5 e8 25.xf5 xh6 26.g5+ g7 27.gxf6+ xf6 28.g1+ g6 29.xg6+

fxg6 30.d7+ f6 31.a4! there's no do u bt th a t o nly W h it e ca n win wit h t h e exposed Black King, White's safe King by contrast and the Queen threatening to go on the rampage. ] [ 21...fd8 is mentioned by Aagaard, but I do not like Black's position in the ending after 22.xe7+ f8 23.g6+ fxg6 24.xe6 g5 25.f4! xf4 26.df1 d6 27.e5 xe5 28.dxe5 e6 29.exf6 ae8 30.c1 f7 31.g5! ( 31.xh6 e1+ 32.xe1 xe1+ 33.d2 g1 34.h7+ xf6 35.xb7 g2+ 36.d3 g3+ 37.c4 xg4+ 38.b3 ) 31...h5 32.d1 ] 22.xh6! Three excellent moves in a row and the Black position is brought to its knees. All that remains is to administer the finishing blow. exf5 [ 22...c3+ 23.bxc3 a3 24.g6+!! fxg6 25.xe6+ f7 26.h6++- ] 23.h2 [ Which was 23.gxf5! threatening Rg1. Black cannot defend: g5 24.g1 f6 25.g6+ f7 ( 25...h7 26.h2+ h6 27.xh6# ) 26.e6# ] 23...g5 24.h8+ [ Even here 24.h1! w a s w i n n i n g : f6 ( 24...fe8 25.g6+! f8 26.d6++- ) 25.h8+ f7 26.h7+ e8 27.d6+- ] 24...g7 25.h7+ g8 26.h8+ [ 26.h1 With Rg6 not possible anymore, Rh1 isn't working now: fe8 27.h8+ g7 28.h7+ f6 29.xf5+ e7 30.xg5+ d6 ] 26...g7 27.h7+ g8 28.h8+ One cannot help but feel sorry for Pritchett, who played brilliantly for most of this game. 17 Nh 4 , sacrif icin g t h e h p a wn, is wo rt h further attention! ½-½

1794 Rasmussen,Allan Stig Khenkin,Igor 29th Politiken Cup (8) [John Watson]

B19 2446 2602 27.07.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 1955

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 15.e4 A safe but unambitious move. [ Usual is 15.0-0-0 ] 15...gf6 16.0-0-0 b5! 17.xf6+ [ 17.c5 would be the normal move, with dynamically balanced play. See Houska for this kind of position. ] 17...xf6 18.e5 bxc4 19.xc4 0-0 20.g4 d5? Abandoning the kingside without gaining time in the process. [ 20...e4! both stops ...g5 and threatens ... Nxf2. Then 21.e3 c5 22.f3?! f6 23.g5 d5 is obviously a much better version of what might follow in the game. ] 21.b1 [ White misses the chance for 21.g5! hxg5 22.h6 with a nice attack ( or 22.dg1 )] 21...c5 22.c1 fc8 23.f4!? [ In opposite-side castling positions, you g e n e r a l l y p u s h p a w n s : 23.g5! xg5 24.xg5 hxg5 25.h6 causes more problems for Black. ] 23...b7 24.g5 ab8 25.b3 cxd4!? [ 25...b6 26.e2 c4 27.h3!? ] 26.xd4 a3 27.xc8+ xc8 28.e1 c7 29.c4 c5 30.e4 hxg5 31.fxg5 h2 with approximate equality which persists throughout the rest of the game. 32.f3 f2 33.xf2 xf2 34.e4 g3 35.b2 f8 36.e3 f4 37.c4 xd2 38.xd2 c3 39.a4 h3 40.xa7 h2 41.a8+ e7 42.a7+ f8 ½-½

1795 Rendle,Tom Hunt,Harriet 4NCL Division 1a (4) [Tom Rendle]

B19 2384 2446 12.01.2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 c7 [ against 12...e7 I was intending to play the tricky 13.b1! that I covered a lot in 2013. ] 13.e4 0-0-0 14.g3! This is White's most testing line against an early ... Qc7 and ... 0-0-0. xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.e2 d6 [ 16...d5 was worrying me a little during the

game, I couldn't quite remember what the theory was at this stage but W hite has a couple of reasonable options here 17.e5 ( 17.c4! might be stronger here although it's still not clear after xh5 18.f4 d8 19.he1 b4 20.e5!? e7 21.g1 but with Black's rook on h5 very strangely placed White had excellent compensation for the pawn in Stellwagen, D (2616)-Bareev, E (265 5) Am ste rda m 2 00 8) 17...xd4 18.f4 e4 19.d3 was my intention and this was played in Polgar, J (2727)-Bareev, E (2643) Elista 2007 c5 ( not 19...xe5?? 20.xe5 and the bishop can't be taken due t o m a t e o n d 8 .) 20.g6 ( 20.c3 is very tricky and may be an improvement, e. g. xf2 21.b1 b6 22.c4 xc4 23.xc4 e5 24.d2 and here I quite like W hite's position, although Black has two pawns for the exchange.) 20...xf4 21.xf4 a5 ( 21...xf2!? seems fine for Black as well ) 22.f3 xa2 23.c3 b6 and Black is at least equal here. ] 17.c4 c5 18.c3 b8 I have a feeling this is a slight mistake. Obviously ...Kb8 is a useful move for Black to play but probably after centralising the rook on h8. [ 18...cxd4 19.xd4 a6 20.b1 b8 is also very solid for Black but W hite has the better pawn structure and still a nice space advantage after 21.f3! with the knight heading for the key e5 square. ] [ 18...he8 is the mainline here and it has the advantage of preventing 19.d5, at least for the time being. A) 19.e5 doesn't really convince me here although it is still a little tricky for Black cxd4 20.xd4 xe5 21.xe5 a5 ( 21...c5! is an improvement and I find it hard to believe Black is much worse here. White has to watch out for ...Ng4!? ideas) 22.a3 d7?! ( 22...xd1+ 23.xd1 d8 is only slightly better for White) 23.d6 f6 24.c5 and White has complete control in Ganguly, S (2625) -Mahjoob, M (2498) Subic Bay 2009; B) 19.b1 c6 20.h4!? c7 21.c1 e7?! and now in Akopian, V (2705)Megaranto, S (2499) Amsterdam 2005 W h i t e s h o u l d ' v e c o n t i n u e d ( 21...cxd4 22.xd4 is slightly better for W hite) 1956

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.e5! xe5 ( 22...b6?! 23.dxc5 xc5 24.b4! d6 25.c5 d5 26.f4 i s u n p l e a s a n t f o r B l a c k) 23.xe5 and White has a definite edge here ] 19.d5!? [ 19.b1 is of course a safe alternative with a minimal advantage. ] 19...he8 [ 19...exd5?! 20.xf6 gxf6 21.xd5 is very comfortable for White. ] 20.c2 [ 20.xf6!? gxf6 21.he1 f5 didn't seems very convincing to me during the game but perhaps W hite is a touch better after 22.d2! f4 23.g4 ] 20...e5 After this Black struggles a little to get her bishop into the game but already it was tricky to find a plan. [ 20...c8 sitting tight was a better option alt ho ugh I s till pref e r my po sition af te r 21.h4! c7 22.xf6 gxf6 23.dxe6 xe6 ( or 23...fxe6 24.g6 ) 24.f5 ] 21.d2 [ 21.de1 is probably stronger here, I was w o r r i e d a b o u t g4 but 22.h4! leaves White clearly better as the knight is coming in to f5 ] 21...d7 22.f3 a8 23.g4 f8 Looking for some counterplay with ...f5 at a later moment [ maybe Black should try for counterplay with 23...b5!? at some moment but White can always just keep things solid with 24.b3 c7 25.he1 ] 24.de1 de8 25.e2 g8?! 26.e4 [ 26.he1! is more accurate, I was worried by f5 but missed the nice line 27.f4! e4 ( 27...exf4 28.xe8+ xe8 29.xe8+ xe8 30.xf5 ) 28.gxf5 xf4 29.xe4 and White comes out a safe pawn ahead ] 26...f6 27.he1 d8 [ 27...e7 allows 28.xd6 xd6 29.f4! exf4 30.e6 d7 31.e4 f3 32.xf3 an d W hit e ha s com p le te co nt ro l o f t h e board ] 28.d2 a6 29.xd6 Perhaps a bit hasty but I felt it was the right time to open the position up [ 29.b1! was still more accurate - Black is struggling to move here and it makes sense to get my king to safety before starting any tactics. ] 29...xd6 30.f4 d7! I slightly

underestimated this move but it's the only one that gives Black counterplay [ 30...exf4? 31.e6 d7 32.xf4 is fairly hopeless for Black ] 31.fxe5 fxe5 32.g5 hxg5 33.xe5 [ 33.xg5 is also good for White ] 33...g4! This pawn proves to be a nuisance but hopefully not more than that 34.e6 f2 35.b3 f3?! Probably the decisive mistake, once the queen reaches b6 Black is in serious trouble [ 35...c7 was far more stubborn although after 36.e3 f3 37.e5 White still has excellent winning chances ] 36.b6 c8 37.b3! [ 37.e3? would be premature as it allows a4! with serious counterplay. The best White has here is 38.b3 xb3 39.axb3 but now after g3 things are not so clear ] 37...g3 38.e3 Now there is no good defence to the simple threat of Bxc5 d8 [ 38...g2 39.g1 ( not 39.xc5? xc5 40.xc5 f1! 41.b2 f6 42.e7 g1 43.xg1 xg1 44.xd7 xe1 45.xg7 xh5 46.f7 with a drawn endgame) 39...f1+ 40.b2 xg1 41.xg1 wins ] 39.xd8 xd8 40.xc5 f6 41.h6! g2 [ 41...gxh6?! loses immediately to 42.e7 g8 43.xf6 g2 44.e8+ xe8 45.xe8+ a7 46.d4+ b6 47.g8 ] 42.hxg7 f1 43.d2 g8 44.e7 [ 44.d4! also wins xe1 45.xe1 xg7 46.xf6 g1 47.xg1 xg1 48.d6 ] 44...xe1 45.xe1 h5 [ 45...e8 allows the nice finish 46.xe8+! xe8+ 47.f2 g8 48.f8 g1+ 49.xg1 b8 50.f2 c8 51.f3 d7 52.f4 e8 53.e5 f7 54.d6 ] 46.d6! [ 46.d6 xg7 47.d7 and Rxg7 cannot be prevented without moving the knight and allowing Re8+. ] 1-0

1957

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1796 Robson,Ray Malakhatko,Vadim Arctic Chess Challenge (5) [John Watson]

B19 2491 2570 05.08.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e2 The main line these days. [ 13.b1 ] [ 13.he1 ] [ and 13.e4 are also played. ] 13...0-0 14.f1!? The latest craze, played a lot since last year. White ends up mixing up his respected opponent. [ Houska's 'older' book concentrates upon two moves. Looking at the databases, it seems that in spite of new moves, their assessment is still OK for Black. I'll just use a tiny bit of her material: a) 14.he1 b6 'and now': 15.-- ( 15.f5 exf5 16.xe7 fe8 17.d6 e4! , etc.; 15.e5 fe8 16.c4 a6 17.a5 b5! (Houska: 'Black should only swap queens when it is in his interests to do so, and here with W hite's pieces a little awkwardly situated it is best for Black to keep the queens on to continue the attack') 18.b1 c5! 19.dxc5 xc5 20.b3 xb3 21.axb3 b6 22.c3 a5 , following a game A.Naiditsch-B.Jobava, Dortmund 2006. Houska says: 'Now the afile should be opened Black has a very promising position indeed.' )] [ b) 14.e5 c5! 15.dxc5 xc5! a n d n o w s h e a n a l yse s se ve ra l m o ve s , including 16.g4 ( 16.xh6 a5! ) 16...c7 17.b1 fd8 18.c3 xg4 19.xg4 f8 of Xie Jun-L.Brunner, Bern 1995. ] 14...c5 This is the most common response. 14...Qb 6 has done p oorly, and th ere are several games with [ 14...b6 , as mentioned in the Forum, e.g., A) 15.g4 d5 16.b1 b5!? ( 16...e4! ) 17.xb5 cxb5 18.e5 fd8 19.a5 , about equal, Horvath, A (2519)Iordachescu, V (2608)/Metz FRA 2009; B) 15.b1 a4 16.d3 ( 16.a1 c5 17.c1?! c7 18.g4 ad8 19.g5 hxg5

20.xg5 cxd4 21.g1 d5 22.h6 g6 23.g3 with a mess, Mammadov, R (2121)-Vuckovic, B (2561)/ Dresden GER 2008. ) 16...c5 17.b5 e8! 18.xe8 fxe8 19.g3 cxd4 20.xd4 ed8 and Black even had a small edge in Cs o n ka , A ( 2 2 8 9 ) - H o u s k a , J ( 2 3 9 2 ) / Caleta ENG 2009, eventually drawn. ] [ How about 14...b5!? ] 15.g4! An extremely promising pawn advance, and also standard stuff these days. White's score has been overwhelming with it, including a lot of miniatures. A side point is that White's centre disappears otherwise, e.g., [ 15.dxc5 xc5 16.c3 b6 ] [ 15.b1 cxd4 16.xd4 b6 17.c3 fd8 18.e3 ac8 , etc. ] 15...cxd4 [ 15...xg4 i s t o o r i s k y : 16.g1 f5 17.xe6+ h8 18.e5?! ( 18.e1! f6 19.xf5 xf2 20.xh6 and White is winning ) 18...dxe5 19.dxe5 g5? 20.f4 e7 21.g6 h4 ( One of this month's g a m e s w e n t 21...ac8 22.xg4 fxg4 23.fxg5 c6 24.e4 f7 25.gxh6 gxh6 26.c3 xh5 27.e3 g5 28.e6+ g8 29.d7 1-0 Badmatsyrenov, O (2386)Pavlov, O (2328)/Tomsk RUS 2009) 22.e3 xe3 23.xe3 ac8 24.d5 b6 25.gd1 with a large advantage, Mellema, A (2097)Heredia Serrano, C (2105)/Groningen NED 2008. ] 16.g5 hxg5 [ 16...d3 17.cxd3 ( 17.xd3! hxg5 18.h6 ) 17...hxg5 18.xg5 b6 ( 18...d5 19.xe7 xe7 20.h6 b4! ) 19.e3 ac8+ 20.b1 b5 21.c4 f5? 22.a1 b6 23.ce5 c5? 24.dg1 with a huge attack, Tokhirjanova, H (2106) -Franciskovic, B (2275)/Dresden GER 2008 ] 17.xg5 d5?! Some more wins for White: [ a) 17...a5 18.b1 A) Just two weeks ago Black went into the same line and did even worse! 18...c5 19.h6 fd8?? ( 19...a6 ) 20.hxg7 b6 21.e5 ( w i n n i n g o n t h e s p o t ) a4 22.h8+ xg7 23.xf6+ xf6 24.h6+ g7 25.h7+ f8 26.h8+ 1-0 Vorobiov, E (2606)-Gabrielian, A (2513)/Ulan Ude RUS 2009; B) 18...e5?! 19.g3 fe8 20.f5 f8 1958

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.dg1 h8 22.3h4!? d5? ( 22...b6 ) 23.g6+ fxg6 24.hxg6+ g8 25.h3 c5 26.gh1 f8 27.h8+ g8 28.1h7 d3 29.xg7 dxe2 30.f7+ 1-0 Papp, G (2509)-Stohl, I (2531)/Paks HUN 2008. ] [ 17...g4 18.xe7 xe7 19.xd4 h6 20.g1 fd8 21.e3 f6 22.xg7+ f8 23.gg1 c5 24.f3 1-0 Zozulia, A (2341)Van den Bersselaar, J (2184)/ Tromso NOR 2009. ] 18.xe7 xe7 19.xd4 f6 20.b1 [ 20.h6! g6 21.b1 ] 20...h6! 21.c4? [ 21.1h2 ] 21...ac8? [ 21...b4! with the idea .. .Qh7+. ] 22.d1 5f6 23.e3 c5 24.e5 ce4 25.f3 h7 26.a1 cd8 27.xd8 xd8 28.h6 d2?? 29.3g4! f5 30.xf6+ xf6 31.xb7 h5 [ 31...xe5 32.a8+ h7 33.hxg7+ xg7 34.h8+ g6 35.h6+ f5 36.xd2 ] 32.a3 d1+ 33.xd1 xd1+ 34.a2 h5 35.a8+ h7 36.hxg7 xg7 37.f4 f5 38.xa7 h5 39.d4 xf4 40.xf4 xf4 41.a4 Maybe Black needs to deviate before 15 g4?? 1-0

[ 14...a6 also looks playable, with a later view to ... b7-b5 and light-squared pressure: 15.0-0 gf6 16.fe1 0-0 17.f5 fe8 18.xe7+ xe7 19.b4 ee8 20.e5 ad8 21.e2 b5!= Leko, P-Bareev, E/ Dortmund 2002 ] 15.d5 cxd5!N With the Black Kingside undeveloped, it has been presumed risky to open the position....until now. Khenkin looks like he has done his homework, presumably armed with the necessary computer a s s i s t a n c e a n d c o m e s u p wi t h a m u c h needed improvement, if the following fragments are anything to go by. [ 15...0-0-0?! places the Black King in too much danger: 16.0-0 gf6 17.e2 d6 18.dxc6 bxc6 ( 18...xc6 19.d4 c5 20.b3 c7 21.c5 xg3 22.fxg3 e5 23.f3 e4 24.c6! bxc6 25.c3 d5 26.ac1 b8 27.f4 xh5 28.b4 e5 29.c5 d7 30.xd7 fxd7 31.e3 a6 32.c3 f6 33.d6 g4 34.fc1 f8 35.b3 1-0 Almasi, Z-Fridman, D/Mallorca 2004 ) 19.e4 xe4 20.xe4 f6 21.e1 b7 22.a5 c7 23.b4 xh5 24.xc7 xc7 25.b5 f4 26.bxc6 xc6 27.b1 d3 28.a5 d7 29.b3 hd8 30.fb1 c7 31.d2 d6 32.e5 1-0 Lutz, CKhenkin, I/ Germany 2004 Khenkin o b vio u sly le a rn e d h is le s so n f ro m t h i s drubbing! ] 1797 B19 16.cxd5 d6 17.c3 gf6 Black's simple Rodriguez Guerrero,Enrique 2449 point is that he is pinning White's pawn on d5. Khenkin,Igor 2610 N o w c o m e s t h e p o i n t m e n t i o n e d i n t h e III Open Bajada de la Virgen ESP (2) 14.06.05 introduction. 18.0-0-0 xd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.xg7 h7 21.d4 So White has [Andrew Martin] exchanged his central pawn for the g pawn W hen is a central pawn worth more than a and hopes that he is better due to the nice p a w n o n t h e f l a n k ? C e r t a i n l y n o t i n a n Bishop and the potential weakness of the endgame, where the outside passed pawn is pawn h6. I doubt it. I like the Black Knight on King! But in the opening and at any stage of d5 and the extra central pawns. Khenkin the middlegame most strong players would defends easily enough and with interest! 7f6 prefer the central pawn because of the extra 22.h4 g7 23.b1 d8 24.d2 [ 24.xa7?? c3+ ] square control that it offers. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 25.a3 g4! 26.xg4 xg4 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 24...a6 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 It turns out that the White Bishop is now 'bad', 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 despite appearances, due to the number of A refinement, obliging W hite to move his c pawns fixed on dark squares. Furthermore pawn if he wants any advantage at all. His Black is more active and the Knight on g3 is position is thereby slightly weakened. 13.c3 p o o r l y p l a c e d . T h i s R o d r i g u e z s e e k s t o remedy. 27.e4 e7 14.c4 c7 1959

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 27.c2 f4 28.c7 b5 29.a7 was possibly a better chance. ] 27...f4! Forking g2 and h5. 28.c2 xg2 29.b6 d1+ 30.a2 f5! The central pawns begin to show some clout. 31.c8+ f7 32.c5 xc5 33.c7+ It seems harsh to put a question mark after this move when the alternatives were awful too: [ 33.xc5 d7 ] [ 33.xc5 f6 34.c8 d3 ] 33...e7 34.c5 d3 35.e1 xe1 15... cxd5 looks as if it is a major improvement for Black. 0-1

1798 Saric,Iv Nisipeanu,LD 17th Neckar Open (9.4) [Tom Rendle]

B19 2616 2677 01.04.2013

1.e4 c6 2.c3 d5 3.d4 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 e6 [ 7...d7 is normally preferred to prevent the knight coming into e5 so easily. ] 8.e5 h7 9.d3 xd3 [ 9...f6 10.xh7 xh7 isn't as bad as it looks at first sight but still White should be better after 11.h5! c7 12.e4 ] 10.xd3 d7 11.f4! This is the critical test of Black's setup [ 11.f4 may keep a nominal edge but Black has no real problems after xe5 12.xe5 a5+ 13.c3 f6! 14.0-0 ( 14.xf6?! gxf6 and Black has the more dynamic chances as White's king has nowhere obvious to go.) 14...e7 15.e4 0-0-0 16.f3 xe4 17.xe4 1/2-1/2 De Firmian, N (2545)Mchedlishvili, M (2615) Gjovik 2009 ] 11...c5 [ 11...gf6 is Black's main alternative and is analysed by Andrew in the key game Kasparov-Bareev from 2004 which continued 12.d2 e7 13.0-0-0 c5 14.c3 0-0 and now worthy of attention is 15.e4!? ( K a s p a r o v p l a y e d 15.dxc5 h e r e b u t n o w xc5 should be OK for Black. ) 15...d5 16.g4! with good attacking chances on the kingside. ] 12.e3 cxd4

[ 12...a5+ 13.d2 a4 is interesting but after 14.d5! I like White's chances, for example A) 14...d8 A1) 15.f3 df6 16.b3! may also be e n o u gh f o r a sl igh t e d ge a f t e r xb3 17.axb3 xd5 ( 17...a6?! 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.0-0 is very pleasant for W hite) 18.xa7 and Black is still behind in development.; A2) 15.0-0!? xe5 16.fxe5 xd5 17.f3 gave White a very strong initiative for a pawn in Baramidze, D (2351)-Maric, A (2455) Dortmund 2002; B) 14...e7 15.dxe6 xe5 16.fxe5 fxe6 17.c3! and White was doing well in Ye Jiangchuan (2677)-Dreev, A (2690) Shanghai 2001 ] 13.0-0-0 This seems to keep an edge but in practice White hasn't been able to win from th is p o sit io n so it 's wo rt h e xa m in in g t h e alternatives: [ 13.xd7 A) 13...dxe3?! 14.0-0-0 c7 15.xe3 looks rather scary for Black and White is p r o b a b l y j u s t c l e a r l y b e t t e r a f t e r c8 16.e4 c6 17.xc6 xc6 18.xf8 and Black has to give up a pawn with f6 ( 18...xf8?! 19.d8+ e7 20.hd1 and Black can barely move.) 19.xe6 xe6; B) 13...xd7 14.0-0-0 may be the right way for White to put pressure on Black's position. ( 14.xd4 b4+ 15.c3 c5! equalises for Black) 14...c5 ( 14...d8 15.xd4 ) 15.e4 b6 16.c4 should be a l i t t l e b e t t e r f o r W h i t e ( 16.b4!? is an interesting alternative - for example xb4 17.xd4 f5 18.b3 fxe4 19.xb4 c8 20.b3 and although the position is messy W hite must have very good chances - the bishop on d4 is a great piece! )] 13...xe5 14.fxe5 e7 15.xd4 d5 16.e4 c6 [ 16...f5 17.f2 xd3 18.xd3 h5 19.hd1 e7 left White with a similar edge to the game in Pruijssers, R (2319) Mchedlishvili, M (2568) Netherlands 2006 although Black again held the draw. ] 17.c4 xd4 18.xd4 xd4 19.xd4 1960

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 It's clear that White has any advantage going in this position but as Black has no weaknesses it's going to be hard to win. c8 20.b3 [ 20.hd1 e7 21.b3 c7 22.b2 0-0 23.d7 fc8 24.h5 was more of an advantage in Vuckovic, B (2458)-Doettling, F (2509) Elbow Beach 2001 but again Black managed to defend. ] 20...e7 21.f1 f8 22.fd1 c7 23.d6+ By swapping off the knight W hite makes it clear he just wants a draw and Black is happy to accept. [ 23.d2! keeps a slight edge after f6 24.exf6 xf6 25.xf6+ gxf6 26.e3 but I suppose Saric felt Nisipeanu would hold the draw fairly easily here. Still White is the more active and Black has an extra pawn island so it could certainly be worth pressing for a few moves here. ] ½-½

1799 Shaw,John K Johannessen,Leif Erlend 4NCL Nottingham ENG (6) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2445 2516 23.01.2005

You know the 4...Bf5 Caro-Kann is becoming almost as well-analysed as the Dragon or the Najdorf! Opening lines that need to be memorised stretch to move 25 and beyond as White seeks to prove an advantage. Do you like this type of chess? I don't personally. W h ere is th e e njoym en t in playin g o th e r people's moves? I wonder how others feel about this subject? Of course if you branch out early in the game you run a higher risk. Take a look at what happens here. Black innovates (!?) on move 23 and loses eight moves later, admittedly to a very nice tactical shot .But for a 2500 player this really is a woeful performance. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 c7 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 14.e4 gf6 15.g3 xe4 16.xe4 d6 17.c4 c5 18.d5 f6 19.c2 exd5 20.cxd5 d7 21.c3 he8 22.xf6 gxf6 23.b1! Why would Black go in for such a

position? It seems only a question of time before a White Knight appears on f5, teaming up with the passed d-pawn to make Black's life thoroughly miserable. Is this the full story? Not exactly. W hite's pawns on d5 and h5 might well become weak that is what Black is playing for here. [ 23.h4 can be played directly, but Black has a tactic based on the position of White's King on c1 e.g. e5 24.f4 xh5 25.e2 xd5 26.xd5 xf4+! 27.gxf4 xd5 28.d1 xa2 and White is running out of pawns fast: 29.xd8+ xd8 30.f5 e6! saves the day. 31.d3+ c7 32.xh6 e1+ 33.c2 h4 34.xf7 xf4 35.d8+ c6 36.c8+ b6 37.e6+ 1/2-1/2 Landa, K-Khenkin, I/Bad Wiessee 2004 So Shaw plays Kb1 immediately and he now plans to activate the Knight. ] 23...g4!?N [ 23...b8 led to a win for Black in another recent GM clash but I find the game u n c o n v i n c i n g : 24.h4 g4 25.f5 ( 25.f5! is by far the strongest here, and White is much better: f8 26.e3 f3 27.g4 ) 25...e2 26.he1 xe1 27.xe1 xe1+ 28.c2 e2+ 29.d3 e5 30.xf6 c7 31.xh6 dxd5+ 32.c2 e2+ 33.c1 a6 34.f8+ d8 35.xf7 e5 36.b3 xf2 37.h6 c4 38.b6 dd2 39.h7 c2+ 0-1 Frolov, D-Volzhin, A/ Samara 2000 ] 24.d4 Shaw activates his Knight come what may. [ Instead 24.h4?! e5! reveals the point of omitting ...Kb8. ] 24...e5 25.b5 b8 26.f4 xh5 27.he1 f5?? Well, it was Sunday morning, I suppose. Black could have chosen either of 27...Qd7 or 27...Bf8 and kept in the game: [ 27...d7 28.c3 ( 28.d3 h3 29.h1 xh1 30.xh1 f8 31.c3 g4= ) 28...f5 29.h1 xh1 30.xh1 g8 31.d3 g6 32.h5 e8 ] [ 27...f8 28.e2 xe2 29.xe2 h3 30.e3 f5 31.c3 g7 ] 28.xf5 xf5 29.e8!! c7 30.d6 a5 31.d7 Black's novelty is well worth investigating further. For now 23...Qg4 is holding up, if you like your chess this hard-

1961

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pawn majority, Gurevich, V-Khlian, E/Azov 1995. ] 21.f3 Actually new, but perfectly logical, [ 21.d3?! c5 22.ed1 cxd4 23.xd4 xd4 24.xd4 d8 led to a quick draw in 1800 B19 Thorsteins, K-Lobron, E/Reykjavik 1984. ] Shirov,Alexei 2697 Kramnik,Vladimir 2807 21...ac8 22.c3 f8 Worth remembering, vs. ROW Moscow RUS (3) 09.09.2002 before playing ...c5 Black improves all his pieces, including the king who comes one [Tony Kosten] s t e p c l o s e r t o t h e c e n t r e . 23.c2 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 One advantage that comes directly from more 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 space in the ending, is that the king can often 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 advance to a more aggressive post more White stops Black from bringing his queen to easily. d5 24.c1 c5 The time has come for this, as Black has all his pieces on their c7. gf6 A sensible move, [ 11...b4+ 12.c3 e7 was examined in best squares. 25.dxc5 xc5 26.f4 b5 27.a3 Lutz - Dreev, W orld Team Championship I pref e r W h ite , who h as more sp ace an d 2001, but why give W hite the free move possibilities on both sides of the board, but the black position is certainly very playable. c3? ] 28.g5 hxg5 29.fxg5 b4!? 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 0-0 14.e4 g8!? Although W hite would prefer to avoid piece B l a c k p l a y s a c t i v e l y o n t h e q u e e n s i d e , exchanges on general principles, having more although this does entail opening the a-file for space, here it is clear that the g3-knight is not White. 30.d3 cc8 31.axb4 xb4 32.d2 particularly well-placed, and interferes with e7 33.a1 c7 34.g6! fxg6? It would be the advance of the g-pawn. xe4 15.xe4 better to avoid this move, which loses the e6f6 16.e2 d5 17.e5 e4 Black takes pawn, and let White capture on f7, instead. the opportunity of exchanging queens before 35.hxg6 cd7 36.xe6 With an extra pawn, a n d a p o si t i o n a l a d va n t a ge , W h i t e win s White has the time to play f3 an g4. [ 17...xg2? would be a horrible mistake: comfortably. f6 37.d1 c7 [ 37...e7 is better, to attack the g-pawn. ] 18.dg1 e4 19.xe4 xe4 20.xh6 38.e3 d5 39.h3 e7 40.g1 d6 and wins. ] Black is still hoping to pick-off the g-pawn. 18.xe4 xe4 19.he1! The most precise, [ 19.hf1 is unnecessary, fd8 20.f3 f6 41.g2 a5 42.c5 b6 43.f4 b5 21.g4 c5 White has less than in the current 44.e4 f5? [ 44...e5 was quite forced. ] game, Kovalev, A-Kruppa, Y/Berlin 1993. ] [ 19.de1 leaves the d-file, f6 20.g4 fd8 45.d6! There is no sensible defence to Bxe7 21.c3 c5 22.dxc5 xc5 23.f3 as above, and Rgh2 followed by Rh8 mate. Medina Garcia, A-Ubach Miralda, M/ESP 1-0 1999. ] 19...f6 B19 [ 19...xf2?! 20.d2 h4 21.e3 ( 21.g3? 1801 h3 ) 21...fd8 22.f3 g4 23.xh4 Shyam,N 2482 xe3 24.xe3 must favour White. ] Barbosa,Oliver 2573 20.g4 Obviously White needs to defend his h- 10th Parsvnath Open (11.1) 23.01.2012 pawn, but this is also part of a kingside space- [Gawain Jones & Tom Rendle] gaining operation which proves important later in the endgame. fd8 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 [ 20...c5 21.dxc5 xc5 22.e3 fc8 23.c4 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 f8 24.xc5+ xc5 25.f4 is clearly to 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 White's taste, he has more space, control of 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e2 0-0 14.f1 h8!? the d-file, and can advance his queenside This is an interesting winning attempt but boiled. 1-0

1962

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 objectively White should be a little better. [ 14...c5 seems to be good enough for a draw - as seen in Balogh, C (2621)Rodshtein, M (2626) Wroclaw 2010. ] 15.g1 b6!? And this is new for the site. [ Instead 15...c5 16.g4 cxd4 17.g5 didn't work very well in Geetha Narayanan Gopal (2575)-Kharitonov, A (2538) Cappelle la Grande 2010, annotated by Gawain in the archives. ] 16.c4 And this looks critical to us. White avoids the queen exchange which would be necessary after ...Qd5. [ In a previous game between two Australian talents, W hite tried 16.b1 d5 17.g4 c4?! ( 17...b5 and; 17...c4 are looked at via the 16.g4 move order.) 18.e3 xe3 ( Taking the bishop looks more relevant but 18...xd2+ 19.xd2 e4 20.e5 feels a little more comfortable for White.) 19.xe3 h7 20.c4 a5 21.e5 d6 22.f4 and White had a very pleasant position, alth ou gh h e so me ho w we nt o n to lose . I lli n gwo rt h , M (2 3 5 7 )-C h e n g , B (2 3 4 6 ) Melbourne 2011. ] [ 16.g4 would of course be the most direct path: d5 17.b1 A) 17...c4 allows White to keep the queens on with 18.e1! b5 19.g5 c4 ( 19...hxg5 20.b3 looks rather dangerous.) 20.b3 xd2+ 21.xd2 e4 22.e3 xg5 23.e5 and White has dangerous looking compensation.; B) 17...b5! 18.xb5 ( 18.e1 c4 is no longer really an option.) 18...cxb5 19.g5 xh5 20.gxh6 g6 21.g3 f6 seems pretty level ] 16...c7 17.g4 c5 [ 17...h7 is rather passive and definitely not what Black wants. ] 18.g5 cxd4!? An enterprising piece sacrifice which W hite probably shouldn't have accepted. [ 18...hxg5 19.xg5 gives White a very dangerous looking attack. ] 19.gxf6?! Taking the piece is almost an automatic move but now Black has full compensation with an easier position to play. [ Instead taking the other way with 19.gxh6 was the critical test of Black's idea: gxh6 ( Neither 19...fc8 20.b3 xc4 21.bxc4

xc4+ 22.xc4 xc4+ 23.b2; nor 19...g8 20.hxg7+ xg7 21.xg7 xg7 22.b3 are really satisfactory for Black.) 20.xh6 g8 21.1d2 is an unclear position but one in which White seems to be better, e.g. xg1 ( 21...g4 22.xg4! xg4 23.e5 is very strong. ) 22.xg1 g8 ] 19...xf6 20.b3?! Another slip from Shyam, there isn't time for him to consolidate his extra material. [ Instead bringing the king to safety with 20.b1! w a s b e t t e r d3!? ( 20...xc4 21.c1 looks fairly safe but with three pawns for the piece it's just messy.) 21.xd3 xc4 ( 21...fd8 22.b3 xc4 23.c1 ac8 i s n ' t c l e a r e i t h e r .) 22.c1 ac8 when most people would pref er to pla y Black with his safe king and good attacking chances although if W hite can neutralise the initiative he does have an extra piece. ] 20...a5 21.d3?! After this we can't find a way back for W hite and so must call it the losing move. [ 21.g4 a4 would see Black piling on the pressure. ] [ Instead White's best chance was to give back the material with 21.xd4! xd4 22.xh6 when again we have a highly unclear position although it feels easier to have the Black pieces. A couple of sample lines could go: e5 23.e3 d5 24.d4 when Black can choose between ( 24.h6 g6 25.d4 xd4 26.xd4 fd8 is more comfortable for the second player. ) A) and 24...c3!? 25.xc3 ( 25.xe5 xe5 26.xe5 e2+ picks up the rook.) 25...xc3 26.h6 g6 when Black is slightly better. ( 26...gxh6 27.e3 g7 28.xg7! xg7 29.g3 looks very dangerous. ); B) 24...xd4 25.xd4 a4 26.b2 axb3 27.axb3 ( 27.h6 g5 28.xd5+ f6 and Black wins material as it's too dangerous for W hite to hold onto his d5 rook: 29.d4 bxa2 30.a1 e5 31.e4 fd8 and Black has an overwhelming position. ) 27...f6 28.h6 g5! and Black's king looks the safer of the two kings. ] 21...a4 Despite White's extra piece he cannot prevent Black opening up his king. In the meantime Black's king is rock solid and the 1963

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bishop on f 6 does a great job co mbinin g attack and defence. 22.b4 [ 22.g3 axb3 23.axb3 a2 would also be very strong. ] 22...fd8 23.b2 axb3 24.axb3 d7! 25.1d2?! The final blunder but by now White's position is indefensible anyway. [ The computer offers 25.1h2 but b6 26.d2 c5 27.g4 a4+!? ( or the simple 27...e4 28.e1 c3 ) 28.bxa4 xa4 29.b3 da8 and the extra two knights aren't enough to parry Black's attack: 30.xf6 ( 30.b1 e7 ) 30...a3+ 31.c2 d3+ 32.xd3 xd3 33.e5!? a2+ 34.xd3 gxf6 35.xf7+ h7-+ and Black's picked up a queen while his attack is still decisive. ] [ 25.b1 b6 26.d2 a7 followed by doubling on the a file is decisive. ] 25...b6 The bishop is trapped and so Shyam c a lle d it a d a y. A n in t e re st in g id e a f ro m Barbosa when Shyam fell apart completely and was very quickly in a lost position. 19. gxh6 is the critical test of the idea when it seems that White is better although matters are still not crystal clear. 0-1

1802 Shyam,Nikil P Ovetchkin,Roman 3rd Mayor's Cup (10) [Gawain Jones]

B19 2385 2519 09.06.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e2 c5 Another try not yet covered on ChessPublishing. Black leaves his king in the centre so that the kingside attack lacks force. This is rather committal however and allows the following sequence: 14.he1 [ 14.dxc5 is an alternative option but hardly c ri t i c a l. A r e c e n t ga m e c o n t i n u e d : c7 15.h4 xc5 ( 15...0-0!? ) 16.c4 b5 17.c3 b7 18.f5! 0-0 ( 18...ce4 wins material but allows White a dangerous initiative with 19.xg7+ f8 20.xe6+ fxe6 21.d3 ) 19.xe7+ xe7 20.xb5 ce4 21.b3 d5 22.b4 xb4 23.xb4

and the knight gets trapped if Black takes on f2 and thus White has a clear advantage. Bajarani, U-Shimanov, A Kirishi 2010. ] 14...0-0 Ovetchikn is now rather obliged to castle as [ 14...cxd4 15.xd4 0-0 16.df5 is strong c5?! If Black allows the dark squared bishop to be exchanged he will be strategically worse but this has a tactical flaw. 17.xh6+! gxh6 18.xh6 e8 A) 19.e4 is probably stronger. e7 20.b1 xe4 21.xe4 f6 22.f4 h8 ( 22...e7 ) 23.g3+ h7 24.c1! defending b2 and threatening 25.Qd3+ e7 25.g5 A1) 25...f6 26.f4 e8 ( 26...g8 27.xe6! ) 27.xe6! xe6 28.xd7+! xd7 29.g6#; A2) 25...b6 26.a3 ae8 27.xe7 xe7 28.g4 and Black remains in trouble.; B) 19.xd7 xd7 20.e5 d5 21.xf6 d4 22.e4! and Black's position is still dangerous. ] 15.f5 This must be critical, attempting to exploit Black's move order. cxd4 [ 15...exf5 is a passive approach and White must have a risk-f ree e dge and indee d following 16.xe7 c7 17.dxc5 fe8 18.d6 xc5 19.xc5 xc5 20.xe8+ xe8 21.e3 b6?! ( 21...ce4 seems forced) 22.d4 g4 23.xf5 e4 24.d4 exf2 25.f1 e4 26.g3! g6 27.hxg6 fxg6 28.xh6+ xh6 29.xf2 W hite was simply a pawn up with a technically winning position Turov, M-Lalith, B Chennai 2010. ] 16.3xd4 The aggressive approach. [ White can also play for a small advantage with 16.xe7+ but as long as Black is accurate it shouldn't trouble him too much. xe7 17.xd4 c5 ( 17...ac8 18.b1 b6 19.g4 c4? We should know by now how risky it is to allow W hite this g4-g5 break. 20.g5 xd2+ 21.xd2 hxg5 22.xg5 c5 23.e5 c7 24.h6 e8 25.hxg7 xg7 26.f6 d8 27.h6 c7 28.h5 xh5 29.g1+ g3 30.g5+ h7 31.fxg3 1-0 Vocaturo, D-Soumya, S Wijk aan Zee 2010 was all rather straightforward - White's attack plays itself 1964

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 once he's allowed to open the g file.) 18.g4 fd8 19.e3 d5 20.g1 e4 21.d2 xd2 22.xd2 ac8 and Black had at least equalised. Simonian, H-Soumya, S Bhubaneswar 2010. ] 16...c5 This position was examined by Volzhin a long time ago! He considered the position fine for Black with his main line being the alternative knight sac to the game 17.xh6+ [ 17.xe6 is the other sacrifice open to White. fxe6 18.xe6+ f7 19.xh6 b6 20.xg7 ( 20.xg7 left the position with a curious material imbalance following xe6 21.xe6 xg7 22.xg7 xg7 23.g4 W hite's rook and f our pawns should be ro u g h l y e qu a l t o t h e t h re e p ie c e s . I t ' s important for W hite's prospects that he doesn't allow Black to coordinate his army, something which White failed to do in So, WYu Shaoteng Subic Bay 2009.) 20...xe6 21.xe6 xf2 when he preferred Black's extra piece to the pawns. Spasov, V-Magem Badals, J Debrecen 1992. ] 17...gxh6 18.xh6 e8 "is another alternative but I don't really believe it" Volzhin. This piece sacrifice has proved topical recently with many strong players on both sides testing out the position. Shyam successfully creates a large initiative whilst Ovetchkin believes in the overall solidity of Black's structure in the Caro-Kann to convert h i s e x t r a p i e c e . 19.b5 the knight is preparing to jump into d6 whilst also opening up the line of the rook towards the queen. Of course other moves have also been tried: [ 19.g4 was Gashimov's attempt, planning on simply mating the Black king. A) 19...b6 20.b3 f8 21.xf8 xf8 22.e5 ( 22.b1!? should be c o n s i d e r e d .) 22...d5 23.c4 c7 24.g5+ h7 25.d4 b5 26.d2 f6 Kryakvin, D-Lalith, B Chennai 2010, and Black had fought off White's intial lunge wh i ls t p r e p a r i n g h i s o wn p l a y o n t h e queenside.; B) 19...f8 20.xf8 xf8 21.b1 b6 B1) 22.g5 d5 23.f3 ac8 24.g6 f6? and the game was agreed drawn in Khairullin, I-Berkes, F Budva 2009 but the quiet ( 24...fxg6 was obligatory

although White retains a strong attack.) 25.a1! leaves Black in all kinds of trouble.; B2) 22.f3! is the most accurate, guarding c3 so that d5 is no longer so strong as White can counter with 23.c4 e5 ( 23...e7 24.e5 ) 24.f5 when his position looks very promising.; C) 19...h8 20.b3 e7 21.d2 an artificial looking regrouping. ( 21.g5! was stronger, not worrying about g8 as 22.b5 would win b ack the piece .) 21...c8 22.g5 d5 23.g6 f6 24.gxf7 e7 25.g1 c7 26.c3 e5 and Black had started to take over the initiative. Ryan, J-Alonso Roselli, A Barcelona 2009.; D) 19...d5 20.g5 D1) 20...a5 21.g6 xa2 22.b3 a3 23.xd5 xb2+ 24.d1 D1a) 24...b1+! would have kept B l a c k i n t h e g a m e 25.c1 exd5 26.xe8+ xe8 27.xe8+ f8 28.g7 h7 29.gxf8 ( 29.xf8 xh6! 30.g8 xc1+ 31.e2 xc2+ wo u ld tu rn t he ta b le s.) 29...xf8 30.xf8 with an unclear material imbalance.; D1b) 24...f6? 25.gxf7+ xf7 26.d3 b1+ 27.c1 g8 28.d7+ e7 29.d6 1-0 Fontaine, R-Landa, K France 2009.; D2) 20...b6 21.f3 ( 21.g4!? is a suggestion by Gashimov.) 21...a6 ( 21...xf2 22.g6 'with the attack. ' (Gashimov). The position is extremely comp licate d bu t m ost peo ple pref e r a t t a c k i n g r a t h e r t h a n d e f e n d i n g .) 22.xa6 bxa6 23.c4 5b6 24.g6 f6?! ( 24...fxg6 25.g1 f8 26.xf8 xf8 27.xg6 is Gashimov's offered improvement and indeed here Black's chances shouldn't be worse.) 25.e2 ad8 26.b3 and despite the material deficit White stands better as Black is r a t h e r p a s s i ve . M e a n wh i l e t h e t w o connected passed pawns are a powerful force. Gashimov, V-Jakovenko, D Elista 2008. ] [ 19.f3 has been the battleground for a few GMs but thus far Black has held his own. f8 20.g5 ( 20.xf8 xf8 21.h6 h8 1965

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.xb7 Not really in the spirit of the variation. d5 23.f3 c5 and Black's initiative on the queenside came surprisingly quickly. 24.b5 c8 25.c4 f6 26.b1 b8 27.e5 a4 28.xd5 xb2 29.d4 d3+ 30.a1 xe1 31.c5 fd8 32.xf7+ g8 33.h7+ xf7 34.c7+ g6 0-1 Stanojoski, Z-L'Ami, E Budva 2009.) 20...c8 ( 20...e7 21.h6 a5 1/2-1/2 Efimenko, Z-Berkes, F Kragujevac 2009.) 21.b1 ( 21.b3?! was a recent attempt but can't be advised as c7! helped Black get out of the pins. 22.c3 d5 23.e4 f6 24.e3 e5 and Black had no problems, Tomczak, J-Dziuba, M Chotowa 2009.) 21...c5 22.h4 xh5 23.xe6 a5 24.xf6 xf6 25.xf6 f5 26.h4 xe6 27.xe6 fxe6 28.f3 g7 29.e7 b6 30.c3 f7 31.g5 c7 32.e3 e5 33.xa7 d7 1/2-1/2 Tiviakov, S-Magem Badals, J Buenos Aires 1996 was an old game which has lasted the test of time. ] [ 19.b3 is a further W hite option. f8 20.xf8 when both recaptures have been tried in practice A) 20...xf8 21.c5 ( 21.b1 isn't ridiculous when in doubt this is a g o o d p r e p a r a t o r y m o ve .) 21...e7 22.xd7 xd7 23.d3 ad8 24.h6 f6 25.e5 h7 26.f3 e8 27.e4+ h8 28.e5+ f6!? 29.xe6 xe6 30.xe6 with a roughly level ending. W eeks, MRiazantsev, A Hamburg 2005.; B) 20...xf8 21.e3 g7 22.h6+ h8 23.c5 e7 24.xd7 ( 24.xb7! c7 25.d6 looks promising.) 24...xd7 25.f4 ( 25.a3!? ) 25...g8 26.f3 f6 27.c3 g6 28.g4 h7 29.g5 g8 ( 29...h5! ) 30.e5 ee8 31.b4 ac8 32.c3 c7 33.d4 ec8 34.e3 e7 35.xa7 c6 0-1 Guseinov, GRiazantsev, A Baku 2002, saw Black soak up the pressure and win. ] 19...f8 20.xf8 xf8 21.d3 A new try but it doesn't seem enough for more than a draw. [ 21.b1 is a useful time-out, improving the safety of White's king and protecting the a2 p a w n . A r e c e n t g a m e c o n t i n u e d : b6 22.d6 ( 22.h6 also looks interesting, with the threat of capturing on d7.) 22...c5

23.g4 ( Playing as in the game with 23.d3 also deserves consideration) 23...g5 24.f3 b6 25.c4 ad8 with a complex position, the knight on d6 controls the board but W hite is no longer going to mate Black. Vaibhav, S-Lalith, B Bhubaneswar 2010. ] [ 21.d2 didn't work well for White and following d5 22.d6 c5 23.e4 xe4 24.xe4 f6 25.g4 ac8 26.g5 f5 27.d4 c6 28.g6 fxg6 29.hxg6 xf2 his attack had run out of steam. Papp, GMedvegy, Z Hungary 2009. ] 21...a5 22.g3+ [ 22.ed1 seems to force a draw with best play ad8 ( The more natural 22...fd8 runs into problems after 23.d6 as f7 is vulnerable .) 23.g3+ ( I can suggest you should investigate 23.h6!? before playing this position with either side as an attempt for more than the draw. ) A) 23...h8? 24.d6 leaves Black in trouble as after c5 ( 24...xa2 25.a3 traps the queen.) 25.f3 the knight falls with check.; B) 23...h7 B1) 24.d3+ also tends towards the draw. h8 25.d6 ( 25.e3 h7 26.d3+= ) 25...xa2 26.e3 ( 26.c4!? ) 26...a1+ 27.d2 a5+ 28.c1=; B2) 24.d6 c5 25.f3 ( 25.f3 xa2 ) 25...c7 26.xf6 xd6 27.xd6 xd6 28.e3 d5 29.h6+ g8 30.g6+ is another draw ] 22...h8 23.d6 [ 23.d1 would stop Black being able to take on a3 due to Ra3 but g8 looks to hold up for Black. ] 23...xa2 24.e3 a1+ 25.d2 a5+ 26.b4? Too optimistic. Better would have been [ 26.c1 offering the repetition is the most sensible when Black could try playing on with h7 27.b1 ] [ while if White is going for the win he could try 26.c3 d5+ 27.c2 h7 28.d1 c5 29.d3+ h8 30.d2 h7 and White has at least the draw. ] 26...xb4+ 27.c1 h7 [ Not 27...g4? 28.xg4 xg4 29.h6+ g8 30.e3 ] 1966

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28.d1 c5 [ 28...a5!? is also very strong for Black. ] 29.xc5 xc5 30.h6 ad8? An elementary error by the GM giving away all the advantage he had accumulated since White's mistake a few moves back. [ 30...f5!? 31.g7 f6 32.f7+ xf7 33.xf7 d5 is the computer's choice for a clear advantage whilst ] [ 30...ac8 31.xc8 xc8 looks simplest wh e n B la c k wo u ld h a ve a n e xt ra p a wn compared to the game. ] 31.xf7+ xf7 32.xd8+ f8 33.a8 [ 33.c8! b6 34.g7 xg7 35.hxg7+ xg7 36.c7+ would have kept White's pawn st ru c t u re in t a ct a n d ret a in e d a p a sse d pawn although the draw is still favourite. ] 33...a6 34.c3 b6 35.f3 xf3 36.gxf3 cd7 37.xa6 h7 38.a8 xh6 Th e t wo k n igh ts h o ld th e roo k a nd pa wn without difficulty. With so few pawns left the position is always going to be draw. 39.d8 g5 40.d2 f4 41.e2 e5 42.e3 d6 43.a8 g6 44.a1 f6 45.g1 e7 46.g5 fd5+ 47.e4 c6 48.f4 ce7 49.g1 f6+ 50.d4 fd5 51.e4 c3+ 52.d3 ed5 53.g5 a4 54.f5 c5+ 55.c4 e4 56.g6 f4 57.xe6+ xe6 58.fxe6 xf2 59.b5 c7 60.e7 e4 61.e8+ b7 An amusing end to an im p ort an t th e ore t ica l lin e . I ca n 't a dvise playing it for Black, as, although I haven't found a win for White, there are many lines in which you have to defend extremely accurately for many moves. Meanwhile White can choose a draw if he wishes. Complete knowledge of the lines and good defensive ability are a must for any Black exponent. ½-½

re ce n t l y t h is m o ve h a s re c e ive d a lo t o f attention. d7 [ 11...xc2!? is the critical move, but so far most people have shied away from it. The o n l y g a m e I c o u l d f i n d wi t h 1 1 . . . B x c 2 continued like this: 12.c1 h7 13.0-0 d7 14.xd5 cxd5 15.h5 e4 16.b5 f6 17.a5 b6 18.c6 c7 19.b4 a6 Xie Jun-Chiburdanidze, Elista wOL 1998. ] 12.d3 [ A p o p u l a r a l t e r n a t i v e i s 12.0-0-0 , but Black appears to be okay here too: xe5 13.dxe5 c7 14.f4 0-0-0 15.e4 e7 16.h5 ( 16.f3 b6 17.b3 c5 18.c3 c6 19.c2 c4 20.e2 a6 21.b3 b5 Anka-Solozhenkin, Helsinki 2000 ) 16...b8 ( 16...f6 17.exf6 gxf6 18.hf1 he8 1/2-1/2 Ivanchuk, V-Dreev, A/ Elista 199 8) 17.he1 f6 18.exf6 gxf6 19.f3 he8 20.a3 f5 21.f2 f6 22.d3 g7 with a comfortable game for Black, Ye Jiangchuan-Dreev, Sheniang 1999 ] 12...xd3 13.xd3 5f6 14.f4 c5 15.0-0-0 e7 16.dxc5 xe5 17.xd8+ [ 17.fxe5 xd3 18.cxd3 g4 19.e4 xe5 20.c3 g4 is pleasant for Black ] 17...xd8 18.fxe5 d7 19.b4 b6! Rather than attempting to win the pawn back B l a c k s e e k s a c t i ve c o u n t e r p l a y a g a i n s t White's weakened kingside. [ 19...xe5?! i s m e t w i t h 20.c3 g6 21.h5! ] 20.cxb6 xb6 21.c3 c8 22.b2 0-0! 23.e4 a5! 24.d6 xd6 25.exd6 fd8 26.b3 xd6 27.e3 d5 28.c5 dc6 29.a3 b8 30.d4 f6 31.he1 h5 , a n d a d r a w wa s a g r e e d u p o n b e c a u s e neither side can make progress. ½-½

1803 Smirin,Ilia Epishin,Vladimir 1st ch-Europe (3) [Carsten Hansen]

1804 Spence,David Houska,Jovanka Masters Hastings ENG (5) [John Watson]

B19 2666 2667 05.07.2000

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 8.e5 h7 9.c4 e6 10.e2 d5 11.d2 White has a dozen or so alternatives to this move, but

B19 2214 2399 01.01.2009

W h ite f ollows a lon g ma in line he re t h a t Jovanka Houska has covered thoroughly in her book. He makes a new move, but it has no particular impact on the general verdict 1967

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 that Black stands at least equal. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 15.d5 cxd5 16.cxd5 d6 17.b3 gf6 18.dxe6 xe6+ 19.xe6 fxe6 20.d4!? Finally a departure. White deviates from the standard c o n t in u a t i o n s 2 0 0 - 0 -0 a n d 2 0 R c 1 , b u t Houska proceeds unruffled. f7 21.0-0-0 c5 22.b1 hd8 23.b5!? [ 23.c3 is more solid, intending f3, and if a4 , then White is almost equal after ( 23...d5; 23...ac8 ) 24.de2 ] 23...ce4!? Alternatives that also give a slight edge are [ 23...g4 and ] [ 23...a6 24.c3 ac8 ] 24.xe4 xe4 25.e3 a6 26.c3 xc3+ 27.bxc3 ac8 28.d4? The beginning of a poor piece placement. A safe idea was [ 28.xd8 xd8 29.c2 ] 28...d5 29.de1?! [ 29.c2 e5 30.e3 a5 31.b2 e6 retains some pressure. ] 29...c5 [ Or 29...f6! ] 30.h4? [ 30.e5 xd4 31.xd5 exd5 32.cxd4 e8! ] 30...xd4 31.cxd4 b5+ 32.a1 c2 33.f4+ f5! Black's seventh-rank rook will triumph. 34.xf5+ exf5 35.d5 [ 35.b1 b5 36.b2 c1+ 37.b1 c4 38.d5 d4 ] 35...xf2 36.d6 xg2 37.e7+ f6 38.xb7 d2 39.d7 f4 40.b1 g5 41.c1 d6 42.c2 f3 43.b3 xd7 0-1

Kann'. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 15.0-0-0 gf6 16.b1 0-0 17.he1 With the idea of Nf5. At this point in the book Houska analyses a game of her own with incredible thoroughness. In fact, she uses exclusively her own analysis, with no game citations! That contest went [ 17.e4 b5! 18.xf6+ (here there's a particularly monstrous note with alternatives) xf6 19.c5 fd8 20.e2 g4!? (a favourite theme of hers, to both cover e5 and prevent g4) 21.g3 d5 22.f4 d7 23.e5? xe5 24.xe5 d8 (winning) 25.g4 f6 26.g3 e5 27.f4 exf4 28.xf4 xc5 29.xh6 gxh6 30.e4 h7 ] 17...fe8 [ 17...fd8 18.f5?! f8 is also possible. ] 18.e5 d6 [ Or 18...xe5 ] 19.f4 ad8 20.c3? Perhaps misunderstanding the position, but more likely there was something wrong with his calculations. b5! As usual! Here it simply wins the light squares. since 21 c5? loses at least a pawn. 21.cxb5 [ That is, 21.c5 xc5! 22.dxc5 xe5 23.xe5 xd3 24.xc7 xg3 , etc. ] 21...cxb5 22.xb5 Bold, or perhaps simply reckless. b8 23.a5 b6 24.c1 eb8 25.a1 [ 25.c2 b7 26.a4 might hang on better. ] 25...b7 26.c4? [ 26.a4 xb2 27.c4 b6! with the idea 28.xb6 ( 28.xd6 xd6 a n d . . . N d 5) 28...xb6 29.c2 xf4 , etc. ] [ 26.c2?? a6 ] 26...xf4 27.xb6 axb6 28.b5 xg3 1805 B19 Black has two pieces for a rook and every Stellwagen,Daniel 2631 positional advantage. White could resign here, Grooten,Herman 2370 but a 2630 player shouldn't give up against HZ Open Vlissingen NED (8) 10.08.2007 someone 300 points below him! 29.f1 d5 30.xd5 xd5 31.d2 7f6 32.f3 d6 [John Watson] 33.c6 e7 34.h3 e4 35.e1 f5 36.g3 [ 36.xe6? c8 37.b1 g5 ] A top grandmaster loses to someone There are easier ways to win, but this hundreds of points below him. This game 36...f4 illustrates the effectiveness of the standard will do. 37.h2 f7 38.f3 g5 39.a3 [ 39.g3 keeps him in the game for a while. ] themes outlined by Houska in 'Play the Caro1968

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 39...a8 40.f1 a4 41.g1 e7 42.c8 the bishop on e5. Of course he still to take e3 43.c7+ d6 44.fc1 c5! measures against a white pawn storm on the A nice finishing touch. kingside. 20.g4 ad8 21.g5 0-1 [ A l l o w i n g a b l o c k a d e , b u t a f t e r 21.h5 it's difficult to see how the white pawn can get past the g5 square. Black will always be ready to exchange off rooks/ counterattack 1806 B19 down the d-file if the bishop ever tries to Sutovsky,E 2642 lend a hand with Be3. ] Eljanov,P 2732 21...h5! 22.hf1 Here was the last chance to 15th Karpov GM 2014 (8.5) 19.05.2014 ram the black kingside with [Neil McDonald] [ 22.g6 However, the offer to exchange queens with c6! would pour cold water on 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 White's attacking aspirations. The weakness 5.g3 g6 6.f3 e6 7.h4 h6 8.e5 h7 of the h4 pawn would be an important factor 9.d3 This whole variation has been expertly in an endgame. For example analysed by Tom Rendle, Gawain Jones, A) 23.xc6 bxc6 24.xa7 xd1+ Andrew Martin and others on ChessPub. A1) 25.xd1 a8 ( Not bad is xd3 10.xd3 d7 11.f4 b4+ 12.c3 e7 25...fxg6!? ) 26.gxf7+ xf7 27.f1+ 13.d2 gf6 14.0-0-0 c5 g6 28.f2 xa2 with balanced [ This is where Carlsen preferred 14...0-0 chances in the endgame.; in his W o rld Ch am p ion sh ip m at ch wit h A2) 25.xd1 fxg6 and the hanging h4 Anand. ] pawn is a liability.; 15.e3 0-0 16.e4 cxd4 17.xd4 B) 23.c2 keeping the queens on but [ In view of White's troubles in this game I Black has a little tactic: fxg6 24.xg6?? seriously think he might do best to simplify xd4! and Black wins a piece due to the with 17.xd7 xd7 ( Of course Black loses pin on the c-file and the fact that h1 is material after 17...dxe3? 18.exf6+ xf6 hanging to the black queen if the rook 19.xf8 xf8 20.xe3 ) 18.xd4 recaptures. ] Perhaps White then has a small edge. I've been trying out lines on the computer such 22...g6 White's pawns are now stymied on the as d5!? 19.g3 ( Or 19.f3 f5 20.f2 kingside. Sutovsky doubles his rooks and ac8 21.d3 a4 22.b1 c6 q u e e n a l o n g t h e f - f i l e , b u t t h e r e i s n o w h e n B l a c k a i m s f o r q u e e n s i d e breakthrough there. Indeed, his pressure on c o u n t e r p l a y .) 19...f6 20.b1 b5 f 7 a m o u n t s t o lit t le m o re t h a n a h o ld in g operation to tie down the black pieces and when Black looks very solid, ] 17...xe5! A slight change in move order prevent them launching an attack in the centre revitalises the whole opening system. Tom or the queenside. 23.f4 d7 24.df1 g7 b6! Even without being forced by was a bit p es sim ist ic he re ab out B lack's 25.e3 chances in the notes to Anand- Ding Liren, White Eljanov would probably have played this move. He will challenge the white bishop on giving [ 17...xe4 18.xe4 xe5 when White d4, leaving White to make a difficult choice. was able to recapture with his bishop on e5, 26.f2 c5 27.b1 [ After 27.xc5 bxc5 White's pawn on e5 is and gain a strong initiative after 19.xe5 weak. He'll have to loosen his pressure on f7 c8 20.g4 in O.Korneev-R.Zelic, Nova to defend it, and then Black's pieces will be Gorica 2004. ] free to counterattack along the d-file. He 18.fxe5 Because Black has played 17...Nxe5 therefore maintains a pawn as a bulwark on first, White can't reply d4, but this is also an attractive target. ] [ 18.xe5? as he drops a piece after xd3 27...xd4 28.cxd4 c4 29.c1 19.xf6+ gxf6 20.xd3 fxe5 ] 18...xe4 19.xe4 c7 Black's seem far White doesn't want the c-file to fall into Black's more secure with a white pawn rather than hands after 29...Rc7, but alas: d3+ 30.a1 1969

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c8 31.f1 cc7 The black rook is defending f7 but in a more active way than on f8. White's major pieces are now in zugzwang. For example: 32.a3 [ 32.g1 d2 33.b1 c1+ 34.xc1 xf4 35.d1 xh4 wins the h-pawn. ] [ 32.e1 xd4 wins the d-pawn. ] [ 32.e1 c2 33.g1 d2 and b2 drops as if 34.b1 xf4 ] [ 32.f3 xd4 33.xf7+ xf7 34.xd4 xf1+ wins the king! ] 32...b5 Very thematic. The next wave of Eljanov's attack involves using the a3 pawn as a h a n d l e t o b re a k o p e n t h e wh it e ki n g' s defences. 33.f6 b4! [ H e s h o u l d n ' t t a k e o n d 4 a s 33...xd4 34.xf7+! ( A sacrifice on g6 doesn't work: 34.xg6+ xg6 35.f6+ h7 36.h6+ g8 37.g6 xe5 an d B la ck win s.) 34...xf7 35.xd4 xf1+ 36.a2 is nothing for Black. ] 34.axb4 b3 35.f3 xb4 36.f4 a4+ 37.b1 c2+ 38.a1 g8! This retreat takes away the check on f7 so that 39...Rd5 and 40.Ra5 is threatened. This obliges White to exchange queens and enter a horrible endgame. 39.e4 g7 40.xc2 xc2 41.d5 Sutovsky despairs of waiting for a slow death. However, giving Black a passed pawn merely speeds up the fragmentation of White's position. exd5 42.e1 d4 43.b1 d3 44.d1 e2 45.f3 b7 46.dxd3 bxb2+ This is when life is fun. Black has two rooks on the seventh rank, an extra pawn and a couple more weak white pawns to target. 47.c1 a2 48.b1 eb2+ 49.c1 h2 50.b1 ae2 51.f1 xe5 52.d7 f5 53.xf5 gxf5 54.xa7 f4 55.a3 g6 56.a6+ f5 57.f6+ e4 58.xf7 xh4 59.c2 g4 60.g7 h4 61.d2 f3 62.g6 g2 63.f7 h3 0-1

1807 Svetushkin,Dmitry Berkes,Ferenc Bundesliga 2009-10 (5) [Neil McDonald]

B19 2570 2663 12.12.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 15.0-0-0 gf6 16.he1 a5!? The pawn can prove valuable on a5 to support Bb4 ideassee the game Kamsky-Topalov in the notesa n d wi l l a l s o b e a v i t a l f a c e t o f B l a c k ' s queenside pressure once it reaches a3. [ S o f a r w e h a v e f o c u s e d o n 16...b5 in the archives. ] 17.b1 0-0 18.e5 [ If 18.f5 b4! ] 18...xe5!? The purpose of this exchange is to win the c5 square for the black knight, a fine post where it contributes to the attack that begun with 16...a5. [ Instead Topalov found a different use for the a5 pawn: 18...ad8 19.e2 planning cheapos of the 20.Ng6 fxg6? 21.Qxe6+ Rf7? 22.hxg6 kind. Even in a blindfold game, T o p a l o v s e e s t h e d a n g e r . ( An obvious attempt to improve White's play would be 19.f4!? ) 19...b4! The exchange of bishops also lessens W hite's attacking chances. 20.f4 fe8 21.a3 xd2 22.xd2 c5 23.ed1 cxd4 24.xd4 c5 25.e3 a4 wi t h a n e ve n t u a l d ra w i n t h e b li n d f o l d game Karjakin, S-Topalov, V/Nice FRA 2008. ] 19.dxe5 fd8 20.e2 d7 21.f4 c5 22.e3 [ After the sharp 22.f5 Black comes out on top thanks to his strong centralisation, for example d3 23.f6 ( If 23.f1 xe5 threatens mate on b2.) 23...f8 24.fxg7 ( Or 24.e4 xe1 25.fxg7 xg7 26.f6+ xf6 27.exf6 d4 to stop a queen check on g 4 a n d d o u b l e r o o k s 28.xe1 g3 29.xh6 ad8 and Black can force the exchange of queens with 30...Qxe1+ 31. Q xe 1 Rd 1 + o r 3 0 . . . Q g4 wh e n W h it e ' s mating chances will vanish.) 24...xg7 25.g5 xe1 26.xd8 xd8 27.xe1 b5 with good chances for Black as if 28.cxb5?! 1970

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 cxb5 29.xb5? xe5 30.xe5 d1+ and wins the queen. ] 22...a4 23.d4 [ White seems unable to find a constructive plan. As he takes on c5 in the game, he might as well have done so at once with 23.xc5 though I prefer Black after xc5 24.e4 b4 ] 23...a3 24.b3 a5! Thanks to the arrival of the pawn on a3 all the dark squares begin to open for the black queen. 25.xc5 [ W hite might have been intendin g 25.f5 bu t t h e n n o tic e d xd4! 26.xd4 c3 when d4 and g3 are hanging and his king is facing annihilation: 27.g4 ( Or 27.e3 b2# ) 27...xb3! 28.e4 a1+ 29.c2 b2+ 30.d3 exf5 31.xb2 axb2 32.axb3 a1 and Black wins ] 25...xc5 26.e4 b4 27.xd8+ xd8 28.d1 xd1+ 29.xd1 b6! The a7-g1 diagonal is wondrous for the black queen. She threatens to invade at once on e3, and when this is prevented the d4 square be co me s a f a nt ast ic p o st f o r he r. 30.e2 d4 31.c2 a5 32.g3 b4 33.b1 f8 34.c2 f5!! Black is dominant on the dark squares and now needs to spread this influence to the light squares. Once the white knight is dislodged from e4 the white defence will crumble. 35.exf6 gxf6 36.d3 [ A very elegant variation is 36.b1 g1+ 37.c2 a1 38.d3 f5 39.f2 c3# ] 36...b2+ 37.d1 a1+ 38.e2 xa2+ 39.f3 e7 40.f2 f5 41.g4 b2 42.d1 fxg4+ [ If 42...fxg4+ 43.xg4 ( If 43.g3 c1 intending 44...a2.) 43...g2+ 44.g3 xg3+ 45.xg3 a2 and Black's a-pawn deservedly has the last word by becoming a queen. ] 0-1

1808 Topalov,V Mamedyarov,S Renova FIDE GP Zug (9.4) [Tom Rendle]

B19 2771 2766 28.04.2013

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7

9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 b6 14.he1! 0-0 15.f5 exf5 Shakhriyar decides not to repeat the move he played earlier in the tournament against Karjakin and instead accepts a slightly worse position. [ 15...b4 16.xh6+! gxh6 17.c3 a3 18.c1 is a very dangerous piece sacrifice analysed in Karjakin-Mamedyarov. ] 16.xe7 d8 17.e2 e4 A key position for the assessment of 13...Qb6 has been reached. White is probably a little better here but needs a good plan. 18.g3 I'm not convinced this is it as Black seems to equalise now. [ 18.e1 e8 19.g3 was tried in Papp, G (2552)-Doric, D (2513) Sibenik 2012 but again W hite got no advantage after df6 20.h4 d5 ( 20...d7! 21.f3 d6 seems more accurate to me with equality.) 21.f3 d6 22.e5 c4 23.a3 ( 23.b3! xd3 24.xd3 is a little better for White) 23...ad8 ] [ 18.f4!? df6 19.e5 seems more a m b i t i o u s t o m e . O n e i d e a i s t h a t c5 can perhaps be met by 20.g4!? ( 20.h3 is also tricky )] [ 18.g4!? is quite a thematic pawn sacrifice. After xd2+ 19.xd2 fxg4 20.f3 W hite gets dangerous play for the pawn although perhaps Black can equalise with f6 21.fxg4 e8! ] 18...df6 19.h4 d7 [ 19...e8 was played in Kasimdzhanov, R (2690)-Ruck, R (2567) Schwetzingen 2013 and although White won it wasn't due to the o p e n i n g a s a f t e r 20.c1 ( 20.g1!?; 20.xf5 d5 is fine for Black; 20.e1! planning f3 might be W hite's best way to fight for the advantage.) 20...d7 21.f3 d5 22.a1 d6! 23.xd5 xd5 Black had safely equalised. ] 20.f3 xd4 [ 20...d5! might be a more accurate way to play as now Nxf5 isn't possible and after 21.xf5 xd4 Black is at least ok and possibly a little better. ] 21.xf5 e5 22.c1 fe8 Black's knight on e4 is very strong and ensures that he can't really be worse here. 23.de1 e6 24.g4 ae8 25.a1 Preventing any tricks based on Qd5 followed by Nd2+ or even Nc3+ in some 1971

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 positions d5 26.a3 xg4!? Black grabs a pawn but White can win it back by force and the resulting endgame is completely equal if not immediately drawn. 27.xg7! xg7 28.f3 ef6 29.xe6 xe6 30.xe6 xe6 31.fxg4 xg4 [ 31...a6 is also completely OK for Black ] 32.xa7 xh5 33.xb7 h1 34.b1 h5 Both sides have to be a little careful in this type of ending with passed pawns on both sides of the board but neither make a mistake and the game correctly ends as a draw 35.c7 h4 36.f4 Bringing the queen back ready for perpetual checks e4 37.a4 h3 38.a5 e1?! This allows White half a chance, albeit one that it's much easier to spot with the help of a computer! 39.a6?! [ 39.c4! keeps a few winning chances after xa5 40.xe4 h5 41.d4+ g8 42.f4 h2 43.xh2 xh2 44.g4+! f8 45.c8+ g7 46.xc6 but after d2! the combination of Black's advancing f-pawn and perpetual check ideas means that Black should be holding the draw here. ] 39...d2+ 40.a2 xc1 41.g5+ h7 [ 41...f8 42.d8+ g7 43.g5+ ] 42.h5+ g7 43.g5+ h7 44.h5+ g7 45.g5+ ½-½

1809 Topalov,Veselin Vallejo Pons,Francisco XIX Ciudad Leon ESP (1.1) [Andrew Martin]

B19 2804 2666 10.06.2006

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 b4+ 12.c3 e7 13.e4 gf6 14.xf6+ [ 14.d6+ xd6 15.xd6 a5 16.b4 ( 16.e5 d5 17.xd7 xd6 Mrdja, MKasparov, S/Cutro 2005) 16...c7 17.a3 T h e B is h o p is p r e y t o B la ck p a wn s . b5 18.e2 d5 19.d2 a5 20.c1 b8 21.c4 b4 22.cxd5 cxd5 23.g4 bxa3 24.bxa3 d6 25.e3 b8 26.f1 0-0 27.g5 hxg5 28.xg5 xa3= Karpov, AL a rs e n , B / T ilb u rg 1 9 8 2 29.h6 d3+ 30.g2 h7! ]

14...xf6 15.e5 A common position. White bases his hopes on the strong Knight, but hitherto has found it difficult to prove any tangible advantage. a5!?N I don't think this is a great novelty. Black's Queen needs to go to the e4 square in this variation. It turns out that Vallejo has other designs for his Queen. [ 15...d5 seems reasonable, hitting g2 and preparing either ...Qe4 or ...Nd7. 16.f1 ( 16.f3 d8 17.c2 d7 18.b3 xe5 19.xe5 f6 20.xd5 exd5 21.f4 d6= Takata, R-Schiller, E/Hawaii 1994; 16.g3 looks more dangerous: g8 17.a3 e4+! d i s r u p t i v e 18.f1 f5 19.f3 d6 20.e1 xe5 21.xe5 b1+ 22.e1 xb2 Antonio, R-Li Shilong/Tagaytay City 2004; 16.0-0 xh5 17.h2 f6 ) 16...0-0 17.h3 c5 18.dxc5 xc5 19.e2 fd8 20.d3 e4 21.xe4 xe4 22.ad1 xd3 23.xd3 b6 24.e5 f6 25.xf6 gxf6 26.e2 d8 27.h1 d5= Ivanovic, B-Khenkin, I/Herceg Novi 2001 Somehow White contrived to lose this deadequal position. ] 16.g3 g8 17.h3 a6 18.f3 d8 [ 18...d5 ] 19.b4 d7 20.d3 c4 21.d2 d5 S h e m a d e i t a n d it is n o w a q u e s t i o n o f whether W hite's queenside advances are weakening or not. Topalov is the last player to give extra moves. 22.e2 f6 23.xd5 cxd5 24.f3 d6 [ 24...c8 25.ac1 d7 26.g4 may give White an ongoing, small edge. ] 25.a4 e7 26.d2 b6 27.g4 a5? He aims for counterplay against a4, but he is opening up the queenside where W hite is stronger. [ 27...a6 was more modest. ] 28.hb1! d7 29.bxa5 bxa5 30.b5 I do n't kno w ho w T op alo v in du ces t he s e mistakes. Must be charisma. a8 31.c1 da7 32.ab1 White has an iron grip now. e8 33.d3 d7 [ 33...c7 34.b6 a6 35.b7 6a7 36.xa7 xa7 37.e5 xe5 38.dxe5 a6 39.e3 c7 40.b5 xc3 41.xa5 carries on squeezing. ] 34.e3 c8 35.1b3 b8 36.xb8+ xb8 37.e5 xe5 38.dxe5 b7 39.xb7 xb7 40.c5 It's the old story in these Caro Kann 1972

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 endgames: occasionally the g7 pawn is nailed down. f6 [ 40...c6 41.f8 d7 42.f4 f6 43.d3 fxe5 44.fxe5 c6 45.d4 b6 46.e7 c7 47.c5+- ] 41.f4 c6 42.f8 fxe5 43.fxe5 d7 44.d3 c7 45.e3 c6 Here he comes and he is not joking. 46.f4 d7 47.g5 d8 48.xg7! hxg5+ [ 48...xg7 49.gxh6 xh5+ 50.g5 g3 51.h7 e4+ 52.g6 ] 49.xg5 xg7 50.h6 e7 51.h7 Confidence played a large hand in this game. 1-0

1810 Vallejo Pons,Francisco Granda Zuniga,Julio E City of Culture GM (1) [John Watson]

B19 2693 2647 07.07.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 c7 [ Our friend Jovanka Houska recommends 11...gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 and castling kingside. ] 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 [ 12...gf6 13.b1 0-0-0 transposes. ] 13.b1 gf6 14.c4 b8 15.c3 a8 This whole idea looks quite good for Black, who isn't tied to one method of equalising. 16.e2 e7 [ a) The best-known game with this move order (with Yudasin's notes) went 16...d6 17.e5 hf8 18.f4 c5! 19.b3 ( 19.d5?! exd5 20.cxd5 b6 >
awkward for Black. ] 17.e5 xe5 [ 17...hf8 is also playable, as in DvoirysYudasin above. ] 18.dxe5 d7 19.f4 f5! 20.c2 [ 20.exf6 xf6 21.xf6 xf6 doesn't achieve anything, since f4 hangs, and 22.e3 he8 23.xd8+ xd8 is fine for Black. ] [ Considering how the game goes, 20.f3 is probably more accurate. ] 20...c5 [ 20...b6!? is safer. Then 21.a5 xd1+ 22.xd1 d8! has the idea 23.xd8+ xd8 24.c5 xc5 25.xc5?! ( 25.xf5 exf5 26.xc5= ) 25...d1+ 26.c1 d3+ 27.c2 xg3 ] 21.b4 a6 This knight gets a little stuck here, although it doesn't seem to hurt Black much. Instead, [ 21...b6 22.a1 a6 23.a3 c7 may improve a little, since the queen eyes both a6 and f2 as active posts. ] 22.a3 c8 [ 22...b6!? ] 23.e2 xd1+ [ 23...c5 24.b5 c7 still leaves the knight with no prospects. ] 24.xd1 e8 Hitting h5. 25.h1 Arguably the first slip. [ 25.d4 is better: f7 ( 25...c7 26.b3! has the idea of xh5 27.d7 d8 28.xg7 , and otherwise W hite's queen guards h5 from e2 ) 26.e2 d8 27.b3 . In this kind of position, White's space means something, although how he makes progress isn't clear maybe g4 at some point. ] 25...g5!? Unnecessary, but not bad. [ 25...f7 with ...Rd8 is also fine. ] 26.hxg6 xg6 27.g3 h5 28.d3 g4 29.e3 d8 30.e1!? b6 Tricky any slow move was all right. 31.f2? A mistake, failing to see Black's idea. [ 31.c3 ] 31...c5! The point of b6: finally the knight returns to play. [ 31...c5 32.b5 c7 is uninspiring. ] 32.d4 e4! 33.xc6 d2 Black has the initiative and attack. 34.xe7 xf2 35.c5! Counterattack. [ 35.c8 has ideas of Nxb6 or Nd6, but e2! 1973

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 36.d3 d2 37.e3 h4! is a pretty T h e re st is e a sy. xh5 29.h3 f6 breakthrough. ] 30.dd3 h7 31.de3 f5 32.e5 b8 35...g7! 36.xh5! 33.d3 f6 34.he3 d6 35.e1 g5 [ 36.c6 d7! 37.d4 d5 ] 36.c5 g6 37.h1 f8 38.f4 xd4 36...xe7 37.h8+ b7 38.d3 c7 39.g3 ff6 40.e3 b2 41.d3 a2 39.a1?? Time pressure, probably for both 42.fxg5 hxg5 43.d8 f4 44.e2 xe2 sides. 45.1xe2 f3 46.xf6 gxf6 47.gxf3 fxe5 [ White's piece sacrifice is justified by 39.c6+! 48.xe5 f6 49.g2 g7 50.a2 f4 xc6 ( 39...xc6 40.h7+ b8 41.h8+ 51.xc6 c4 52.b5 f6 53.g3 e5 b7 , etc. ) 40.a6! , and Black has to bail 54.xa7 e4 55.fxe4 xe4 56.b6 o u t w i t h a p e r p e t u a l b y c3+ ( or 1-0 So, W (2516)-Ravi, L (2404), Cebu City 40...d2+ ) 41.c1 a2+ 42.b1 c3+ ] 2007. ] 39...d2? A slow move like 14...d6 15.b3 a6 16.c4!? A bold move, [ 39...a6 keeps the piece and attack. ] ceding pawn weaknesses for attack. 40.c4 a6 41.g4?! d7?? 42.c6+ xc6 [ 16.xa6 bxa6 looks bad for Black at first, 43.b8+ A tragic blunder, but a very exciting but h5 is hanging. ] game. 16...xg3 17.fxg3 b6 1-0 [ 17...xh5 doesn't look bad. Maybe White plays 18.e5!? hf6 19.xd7 xd7 20.ae1 ] 1811 B19 18.b4!? 0-0-0?! [ 18...xh5 looks safe enough. ] Van den Doel,Erik 2587 Seirawan,Yasser 2634 19.e7 xh5 [ 19...de8 20.c5 b5 21.xb5 cxb5 KNSB TCh-NED 2007-8 (1) 15.09.2007 22.d6 and now Ne5 really is a big threat. ] [John Watson] 20.c5 c7 21.d6! a5 22.d2! xc5 [ 22...hf6 23.c4 a6 24.e7! 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 wins material and gets a knight to d6. ] 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 23.dxc5 xc5+ 24.xc5 xd3 25.e4!? [ 25.c4 f6 26.f3 is also good. Black's 12.d2 a4!? Here's an alternative to the three pawns aren't a match for White's piece older 12...Qc7 and the newer 12...Bb4 and activity, for example, xf3 ( 26...hd8 (f e a t u r e d i n o u r o t h e r g a m e ) . 1 2 . . . Q a 4 27.xa7 ) 27.gxf3 b8 28.e5 deserves attention if only because Caro-Kann and f7 falls. ] expert Seirawan is playing it. Nevertheless, it 25...f5 26.g4! fxg4 27.xa7 xb3 28.f7 suffered two recent losses. 13.a3 [ My computer 'mentions' 13.h4 , when d8 29.c5 b2 30.xe6 dd2 31.c7# b5 is an interesting idea, since after 14.c4 12...Qa4 is probably playable, yet it doesn't xb2 , White doesn't have 15 0-0 at his seem worth the trouble when 12... Bb4 is available. disposal. ] 1-0 13...gf6 14.0-0 [ A week later, White also succeeded in grabbing space by means of 14.b3 b5 B19 15.c4 a6 16.0-0 d6 17.e4! xe4 1812 Vescovi,Giovanni P 2592 18.xe4 f6 ( 18...0-0!? and White has the advantage, but not anything decisive.) Karpov,Anatoly 2668 19.h4 b5 ( 19...e7 , to hold the fort.) Rapid Match Guarulhos BRA rapid (1) 5.12.06 20.e5 d8 21.fe1 b7?! 22.ad1 [Jonathan Rowson] ( 22.a5! c7 23.b4 ) 22...xa3 23.a5 c8?! ( 23...0-0 24.xd8 xd8 is the best 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 that Black can do) 24.b4! 0-0 25.e3 b2 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 26.b3 bxc4 27.xc4 b5 28.xb2 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 It is probably worth 1974

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 saying something about the structure here, because it determines the basis for most of the moves that follow. My impression is that when people start playing the Caro-Kann, they see white's h5 pawn as weak and a long-term vulnerability, but as they become more familiar with GM games, they realise that this pawn actually constitutes the basis of white's advantage. As long as White keeps control of the game, this pawn should never be seriously weak, nor should it tie W hite down. In the hands of strong players, you frequently find that this h5 pawn is a huge asset, not only b e c a u s e it give s W h it e e xt ra sp a ce , b u t because it gives White various breakthrough possibilities for instance after an exchange of knights on e5, W hite can often force a breakthrough on the kingside by advancing his f-pawn to f6, getting rid of the g-pawn and then advancing the g-pawn to get rid of the hpawn, and then give the hero on h5 right of passage. Another way the pawn shows its strength is when Black plays ...c5 and White is left with 3-2 on the queenside but 3-4 on the kingside. In those cases, the h5 pawn often effectively means that Black cannot create a passed pawn because he cannot use his g-pawn to support his f-pawn to support his e-pawn. An illustration of why this is an issue can be seen in the game Adams-Adianto from the Turin Olympiad 2006. e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 e7 14.c4 c7 15.0-0-0 gf6 16.b1 Deviating from AnandMaceja in the November update, where White played Rde1 immediately. I would tend to trust Anand, and indeed if White plans to meet b5 with c5(as Anand did) then it is not clear that putting the king on b1 is a priority. 0-0 17.de1 fd8 18.c2 d6 19.e2 I find it hard to believe that this can cause Black serious problems, but somehow Black has to face up to the threat ofg4-g5 c5 [ 19...g4 looks right to me, but may not be. The point is not so much to take on f2 but just to stop g4. 20.h4 df6! and I don't see a convincing follow-up. ] 20.g4! cxd4 [ 20...xg4 21.eg1 f5 22.d5 looks at least troublesome for Black. ] 21.exd4 f4 [ 21...xg4 22.eg1 df6 23.h4

keeps the initiative. ] 22.g5 hxg5 23.h6 This position is worth comparing to a game in the Spassky-Karpov candidates match from the seventies. In that case, Karpov calmly rebuffed the attack but here he is blown away. f8 24.hxg7 xg7 25.c3 g4 26.eg1 e5 27.e2 xc4 28.xf4 xf4 29.xe5 g6 30.xg4 1-0

1813 Wang Hao Ponomariov,Ruslan 73rd Tata Steel (9) [Gawain Jones]

B19 2731 2744 25.01.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.e2 c5 Ponomariov employs Schandorff's recommended move order which has become more popular re ce nt ly a s it preve nt s W h it e 's cavem a n approach of 14.Nf 1 and g4-g5 which has been analysed in depth on this site. 14.he1 0-0 15.f5 cxd4 [ Jorge Fernández Vázquez sent an email asking about 15...e8 which is Schandorff's suggestion. On the face of it I believe White should have the better of it but perhaps Black is fine. Interestingly I can only find a c o u p l e o f g a m e s b e f o r e t h e b o o k wa s published but some strong players have experimented with it recently. His mainline continues: 16.xe7+ xe7 A) 17.g4 has been the main battleground of the variation and looks critical but on the face of it Black is holding comfortably. xg4 ( 17...cxd4 was played in Andersen, M (2410)-Le Roux, J (2551) Caleta 2011 from this year but 18.g5! hxg5 19.xg5 looks very dangerous.) 18.g1 f5 19.e5 gxe5 20.dxe5 A1) 20...h7 must be pretty similar but it's probably an advantage that h6 is now defended. 21.g3 f8 A1a) 22.f4 b6 23.d6 d5 24.f3 ad8 25.c4 b4 26.g6 h4! and Black had taken the upper hand and won a nice game: 27.b1 1975

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c6 28.dxe6 f7 29.d6 ( 29.xc6 was more challenging but bxc6 30.e6 e7 31.xh6 xc4! 32.g5 d3! is very good f or Black.) 29...d4 30.e3 h1+ 31.c1 e4+ 32.a1 xd6 33.exd6 e2 34.d7 xd7 0-1 Nemcova, K (2289) -Mirzoeva, E (2216) Moscow 2011.; A1b) 22.dg1 f7 and White has good compensation for the pawn but Black stands firm and indeed the only practical encounter saw an upset Black win. Iordache scu, V (2 634)Sarkar, J (2418) Caleta 2011.; A2) 20...h8 A2a) 21.g6 f8 22.g3 h7 23.dg1 ad8? ( 23...g8 was necessary when it's unclear how White should proceed.) 24.xg7 xg7 25.xg7 xg7 26.e3 g5 27.g3 h8 28.xg5 hxg5 29.xg5 d7 30.f6+ g8 31.g6+ f8 32.h6+Kon nyu, J (24 01 )-Fe he r, A (22 33 ) Budapest 2010.; A2b) 21.f4 f8 22.e3 b6 23.d6 f7 24.g3 ad8 25.h2 d7 26.c3 ed8 27.c2 h7 28.h4 e8 29.h2 ed8 30.h4 e8 31.h2 ed8 1/2-1/2 Robson, R (2562)-Shankland, S (2513) St Louis 2010 and obviously neither side could find a good way to continue.; B) 17.d5 d6 18.dxe6 xe6 19.e3 c6 was also fine for Black as h5 is hanging. Papp, G (2509)-Schneider Zinner, H (2394)Austria 2008.; C) T h e s e m i - w a i t i n g m o v e 17.b1 was tried by the top Swedish GM and might see more tests. ac8 18.g1 cxd4 19.xd4 d5?! This loses a lot of time 20.c4! 5b6 21.b3 c5 22.g4 f6 23.b4 a6 24.ge1 f7 25.xc5 xc5 26.f4 e5 27.f5 c8 Berg, E (2612)Hillarp Persson, T (2538) Lund 2010 and White's initiative and extra space gave him a great game.; D) 17.c4 cxd4 18.xd4 c5! 19.c3 a6 20.b1 ac8 21.f3 xc4 22.xb7 c5 23.b4 ce4 and Black has a great position. ] 16.xe7+

[ I examined the more aggressive approach of 16.3xd4 in Shyam, N (2385)-Ovetchkin, R (2519) Mumbai 2010. ] 16...xe7 17.xd4 fc8?! I looked at 17... Nc5 and 17...Rac8 previously. but this move doesn't make so much sense to me as I would have thought the a rook should be on the c file and the other rook on the d file. [ 17...c5 18.g4 fd8 19.e3 d5 20.g1 e4 21.d2 xd2 22.xd2 ac8 and Black had at least equalised. Simonian, H-Soumya, S Bhubaneswar 2010 was my comment from last time and I see no reason to change that assessment. ] 18.g4! Obvious. This is always White's plan. d5 [ 18...c5 was played in the only other game I can find that reached this point. 19.e3 c4 20.xc4 xc4 21.f3 a6 22.b3 cc8 Tsaboshvili, L-Izoria, Z (2280) Tbilisi 1999 and here 23.a4 would keep White with a nibble. ] 19.b1 7b6 20.f4 Wang Hao's position plays itself and Ponomariov must be creative to have some threats of his own. c5 21.c3 c4 [ 21...a4 would give White a choice on how to proceed, perhaps the easiest being 22.b3 ( 22.g5 b6 allows Black to trade queens although 23.b5 xb5 24.xb5 c5 25.d6 c6 26.e4 b5 27.e3 is still better for W hite.; 22.d3 b5! however, is not clear.) 22...c4 23.f3 and g4-g5 is on its way. ] 22.c1 b5? This is a terrible blunder by a player of Ponomariov's ability - it definitely wasn't his day. [ 22...b6 wa s b e t t e r b u t s t i l l 23.a1 le a ve s W a ng Ha o wit h a ve ry ple as a n t position. Black can try to complicate with a3 24.e4! xc3 but 25.bxc3 xc3 26.b2 doesn't get anywhere. ] 23.xe6! Of course. The knight on d5 will be undefended if he takes on e6. The Ukrainian goes for broke but the game is already decided. a3+ 24.a1 b4!? 25.bxa3 [ 25.d4 xd4!? is the idea although even here 26.cxb4 is easily winning. ( 26.cxd4? bc2+ 27.xc2 xc2+ 28.b1 xe1 would actually be winning for Black. )] 25...xc3+ 26.b2 c2+ 27.b1 xa3+ 1976

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 28.xa3 xa3 29.d4 Black's attack has 23.a5 a8 and White didn't have disappeared and White has an extra piece. To enough for the piece in Kunal, M (2288)make matters even worse for Black White can Lalith, B (2484) New Delhi 2012 ] continue his kingside attack at his leisure. c4 15...b6! Another useful waiting move 30.g5 c5 31.e5 hxg5 32.fxg5 d8 keeping the option of castling on either side. 33.g6 xe5 34.xe5 c7 35.de1 f8 [ 15...xe4 16.xe4 a3 17.b3 f6 36.xb5 a6 37.be5 b7+ 38.a1 b6 might equalise for Black although he still 39.f5 d7 40.e6+ should be careful of a quick g4. Play could 1-0 continue 18.e2 d6 19.g4!? xg4 20.hg1 f5 21.c1 and White has excellent compensation for the sacrificed pawn ] 1814 B19 16.g4!? A tricky pawn sacrifice that should Wei Yi 2580 probably be accepted. Other moves don't Antonio,R 2518 seem to cause Black too many problems as Asian Cities Dubai Cup 2013 (5.1) 23.10.2013 castling kingside should be safe enough xe4 [ 16...xg4! must also be investigated here. [Tom Rendle] White gets reasonable compensation after 17.hg1 f5 18.de1! but Black may be OK 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 after 0-0! ( not 18...fxe4?! 19.xe4 xf2 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 20.e3 and White will regain the piece with 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 gf6 an excellent position) 19.g3 f6 20.xe6 12.0-0-0 e7 13.b1 Black has been and now Black can force a draw with ( or struggling here recently after the usual moves 20.e2 f7 and White has enough (13...0-0 and 13...Qb6!?) so it's interesting to compensation for the pawn but no more) s e e a n e w a p p r o a c h i n t h is ga m e , e ve n 20...c5! 21.e2 xe6 22.xe6+ h8 t h o u gh it 's u l t im a t e l y u n su c ce ssf u l . a5!? 23.xf5 ae8 24.d7 d8 25.e6 de8 ] A very logical choice from Antonio - he doesn't want to castle kingside into a big 17.xe4 f6 18.c3 [ 18.f4! also looks sensible, preparing Ne5 attack so instead he aims to gain space on on the next move. I don't see an easy way the queenside and wait to see W hite's plan for Black to equalise here, for example a3 14.e4 a4! 15.c4 I'm not at all convinced by 19.b3 e7 20.hg1 and Black is running this move as it seems to allow Black good play out of moves to avoid castling. Kingside is [ 15.xf6+! is the critical test of this line not a good option with g5 coming but 0-0-0 A) 15...xf6 16.g4 ( 16.a3! looks like a 21.e5 xe5 22.c5! a6 23.xe5 d7 s a f e p a t h t o a s l i g h t e d g e , e . g . b6 is obviously rather awkward for Black if not 17.f4 d5 18.e5 0-0 19.g4 g5 immediately losing. ] 20.e3 d8 21.e5 and White is ready to push on the kingside with g4 and f4.) 18...a3?! [ 18...a6! would be my choice here and 16...b6 17.c1 a6! and Black had now W hite's best chance for an edge is a lm o s t e qu a lis e d in S t o p a , J (2 4 7 0 ) probably 19.e5 but after b6! Tangborn, E (2455) ICC 2006; ( 19...xe5?! 20.dxe5 b6 21.d4 0-0 B) 15...xf6 16.e5! d5 17.f3 22.g5! gives White a fantastic and probably ( 17.g3! gives Black more problems, for just a winning attack) 20.f4 xe5 21.xe5 example a3 18.b3 g8 19.c1 xc4 22.xg7 f8 23.a3 0-0-0 and it's not clear where Black's king is the position is just very unclear ] going in the long term.) 17...b5 18.g4 d8 19.he1 d7?! ( 19...a3! 20.b3 d7 19.b3 0-0-0 Once Black has been forced to is a b o u t e qu a l) 20.xc6? ( 20.g6! castle queenside it seems clear to me that his was the right way to sacrifice the piece early queenside aggression hasn't really with excellent compensation after fxg6 helped - Wei Yi has control of the centre here 21.xg6+ f8 22.xe6 h4 23.g5! ) and here he prepares to double on the d-file. 20...xc6 21.d5 c4 22.xc4 bxc4 20.d2 c5 A try for counterplay but it doesn't 1977

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 really work - still, it's probably better than just sitting and waiting for White to improve his position further. 21.hd1 c7 22.e3 cxd4?! [ perhaps Black should wait with 22...he8 and see what White's plan is. Perhaps the way to improve the position is 23.d3 b8 24.c2 preparing dxc5 c8 25.e5 xe5 26.dxe5 g5 27.f4 e7 28.d7 c6 29.e2 and White is clearly better although Black is still fighting hard for the draw after c7 ] 23.xd4 Now White is very comfortable. [ not 23.xd4? g5! ] 23...c6 24.c1 [ a n im m e d i a t e 24.g5! was stronger, e.g. hxg5 25.xg5 xg5 ( 25...e5 26.c3 changes nothing) 26.xg5 e5 27.e3 and Black will lose a pawn - the pin on the dfile is a real problem. ] 24...c7 25.c2 he8 26.g5! Finally the breakthrough comes hxg5 27.xg5 xd4 28.xd4 f6 29.a7! [ 29.xd8+ also wins a pawn after xd8 30.xd8+ xd8 31.xd8+ xd8 32.h6! gxh6 33.xf7+ e7 34.xh6 ] 29...xd2+ 30.xd2 e5 [ 30...e7 also f ails to 31.c5 d5 ( or 31...d8 32.xd8+ xd8 33.xf7; 31...c7 32.d4! and now Black must play d5 and again allow 33.e4 ) 32.e4 ] 31.xf7 b2+ 32.d3 b1+ 33.d4 Amazingly the king is safe enough in the centre of the board as the knight on f7 prevents a check on d8 [ 33.e2! was still a safer option when after e4+ 34.e3 xe3+ 35.xe3 the ending should be winning for White ] 33...e4+? A final mistake after which the position is hopeless for Black [ 33...e5+ gives Black swindling chances but after accurate play W hite should still win: 34.c5 e4+ 35.b6 e6+ 36.b5 c3+ 37.b4 xa2+ 38.xa2! e1+ ( 38...xa2? allows mate in 5 with 39.a8+ c7 40.d8+ c6 41.c8+ b6 42.c5+ a6 43.a5# ) 39.c5 and W hite's extra piece should win the game although with the king so exposed Black can still hope to cause problems. One line would be d1 40.a8+ c7 41.d8+

xd8 42.xd8 xd8 43.xa3 which gives back the piece for a good ending. With an active king and an extra pawn White must have excellent winning chances ] 34.c3 f3+ 35.b4! d5+ A desperate last try 36.xd5 [ 36.cxd5 f4+ 37.d4 wins more easily ] 36...exd5 37.a8+ c7 38.xe8 The dust has settled and Black's position is hopeless. 13...a5 deserves more outings as in t h i s g a m e B l a c k wa s d e f i n i t e l y c l o s e t o equalising and 16...Nxg4! looks like it was playable. 1-0

1815 Xie Jun Brunner,Lucas Bern Berna [Alexander Volzhin]

B19 2515 2535 1995

Since the Tal - Botvinnik World Title matches in the early 60s, the Classical line with 4...Bf5 has not been very popular. It had a reputation of being a solid but quite passive opening, where Black had to fight for equality without gaining real winning chances (see Geller Hort). This would hardly suit Black players on the modern chess scene. But as time passed, Black's strategy became enriched with new ideas: he began to castle on the kingside, and boldly tried to obtain counterplay in the centre and on the queenside to compensate f or White's kingside attack. Practice has shown that this strategy is perfectly viable. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 f6 Nowadays Black chooses this move order. [ If he prefers the old 7...d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 gf6 the move 11.f4 makes Black choose whether to play the position with kingside castling, where the Bishop on f4 is much better placed than on d2 after e6 ( or to switch to the old main line with queenside castling after 11...a5+ 12.d2 c7 )] 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 [ Here 11.f4 is harmless in view of d6 12.xd6 xd6 13.0-0-0 bd7 14.e2 0-0 Black has successfully completed his 1978

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 development and has no real problems. 15.e5 fd8 16.he1 c5! This is Black's main idea. 17.xd7 xd7 18.dxc5 c6 and Black had nothing to worry about, as another game from the match Xie Jun Brunner, Bern,1995 proved. ] 11...bd7 12.0-0-0 e7 The critical position in this line. 13.e2 0-0 14.e5 [ White can try to exploit the pressure on the e-file with 14.he1 c5 15.f5 But Black solves his problems by cxd4 16.3xd4 c5! White has various possibilities of sacrificing something here but none of them work: 17.xe6 ( 17.xh6+ gxh6 18.xh6 e8 is another attempt, but I don't really b e l i e v e i t .) 17...fxe6 18.xe6+ f7 19.xh6 b6 20.xg7 xe6 21.xe6 xf2 and Black' s extra piece is better than W h it e ' s we a k p a wn s a s wa s p ro ve d i n Spasov - Magem, Debrecen, 1992. ] 14...c5! Opening an important file near W hite's king. Now the game is somewhat s i m i l a r t o a S i c i l i a n ! 15.dxc5 xc5! A brave and good move. White can't exploit the position of black's Queen on the open dfile. [ I t ' s n o t s o e a s y t o r e f u t e 15...xc5 but I feel this move is inferior to the text as the Knight on c5 keeps the centre under control and doesn't let White's knight on g3 enter the game. ] 16.g4 [ 16.xh6 l e a d s W h i t e n o wh e r e : a5 17.e3 xa2 and White's King is in danger (Rac8 and Nb3+ is one very unpleasant threat). ] [ 16.b1 has been tried once: c7 17.he1 fd8! 18.f4 a4 19.b5 c5 20.e2 ac8! The repetition of moves is only an e le m e n t a ry t rick, p ro vin g t h a t B l a ck i s confident about his position. 21.c1 a4 22.xd8+ xd8 23.e4 b6 24.a1 xe4 25.xe4 b4 26.f1 d4! Black's play is very instructive: he combines threats to White's King with pressure in the centre. 27.f3 d2! Black's advantage is decisive. 28.a3 xf4 29.xf4 xf4 30.xa4 xc1 31.e8+ h7 32.c4 xb2+ 33.b1 b4 34.c3 xc3+ 35.c2 xc4 36.xf7 f6+ and White resigned, Sanz - Magem, Sevilla, 1993. A very useful

ga m e f o r g a in i n g a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f Black's resources. ] 16...c7 17.b1 [ Sacrifices on h6 don't work: 17.xh6+?! gxh6 18.xh6 fd8 19.e3 g4 ] [ 17.xh6?! gxh6 18.xh6+ h7 19.g4 f4+ and white has nothing to show for the piece. ] [ In my opinion White should already be thinking about equality here and with this aim in mind 17.e5!? is probably the best: xe5 18.xe5 with a balanced position. ] 17...fd8 18.c3 xg4 19.xg4 f8 20.a3?! White voluntarily creates a potential target for a pawn attack. [ White's Knight on g3 is very passive and it's not possible to exchange it: 20.e4? xd1+ 21.xd1 f5! Now White is in trouble: 22.f6+ h8 23.g6 gxf6 24.xf6+ g7 25.xh6+ g8 26.g6 f7 and Black wins ] [ In my opinion either 20.xd8 xd8 21.d1 a4 22.d2 ] [ or 20.d4 c6 21.xc5 xc5 22.e4 e7 23.e2 f5 24.d2 f6 should be preferred. In both lines W hite has good chances to equalize. ] 20...b5 21.e2 c6 22.f3?! A clear inaccuracy again, after which the Black initiative progresses without obstacles. [ White should exchange Rooks first: 22.xd8 xd8 23.f3 and although the position after a4 24.a5 d5 25.e4 d7 is better for Black White can resist. ] 22...xd1+ 23.xd1 a5! White can't prevent the opening of files on the queenside. 24.d2 [ 24.e1 is probably more stubborn, although Black has a very strong attack after b4 25.axb4 axb4 26.xb4 a6 27.a3 a4 28.d3 (this possibility shows the difference between this line and the text) b6! intending Nc4. ] 24...b4! 25.axb4 axb4 26.xb4 a6 27.a3 a4! Exchanging the last defender of the White King. The rest is easy and needs no commentary. 28.d4 [ 28.e4 xb2 29.xb2 a2+ 30.c1 a3 winning ] [ 28.xf8? c3+ 29.xc3 a1# ] 28...xa3 29.bxa3 b5+ 30.b4 [ 30.c1 g5+ ] 1979

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 30.a1 e5 31.b4 xb4 32.axb4 c3+ winning ] 30...c3+ An excellent game which illustrates Black's ideas in this line very well. Everybody who plays this line should study it thoroughly. 0-1

22.exf6 xf6 23.e2 e5 Curiously, t he Queen on e7 assists the advance of the pawn, although Black could hardly have known that in advance. 24.e1 e4 25.c3 e8 26.xf6 [ 26.f3 f7! 27.xf6 gxf6 28.fxe4 xa2 29.g4+ b8 gives Black plenty of counterplay. ] 26...xf6 27.g4+ c7 28.xe4 xe4 1816 B19 29.xe4 xf2 30.g6 [ 30.b3 f6 secures all areas. ] Ye Jiangchuan 2648 Azmaiparashvili,Zurab 2671 30...f4+ We have seen time and again that if Torch Real Estate Cup (19) 26.06.2005 White tries too hard against 4. ..Bf5 he can come badly unstuck. This is not thrilling chess [Andrew Martin] but it is a practical solution for Black. At a ECO Code B19 is fast becoming a very tough lower level, where enjoyment rather than an area to an not ate. Co unt less ve ry sim ila r absolute concentration on results is the key games are played and 4...Bf5 is finding favour factor I would say look elsewhere for your at the very top level with many players who kicks. are only interested ' not to lose' with the Black ½-½ pieces. One cannot do better then 4...Bf5 if one requires a very, very solid system for B19 one's repertoire but the risk of a dull game is 1817 high. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 Yu Yangyi 2675 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 Ding Liren 2714 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.d2 5th Hainan Danzhou 2014 (7.4) 02.07.2014 gf6 12.0-0-0 d6 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 [Neil McDonald] f6N We will see Azmai adopt a slightly different piece placement to normal in the 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 coming game. Black places his Queen on e7 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 e6 Black avoids making the Kingside more secure and the the automatic queen less exposed than it would be on c7. [ 7...d7 As we shall see, one reason is that The drawback is that the Queen is less active. he hopes to put the knight on the more 15.e2 e7!? Perhaps Black will castle long active c6 square after playing c6-c5. ] and play ...c6-c5. Ye pre-empts the issue. 8.h5 White continues the way he would 16.e5 against 7...Nd7. He can try to exploit the [ 16.b1 0-0-0 17.a5 ( 17.e5 c7 omission of the knight move with 18.f4 d5 19.g3 ) 17...c7 could show [ 8.e5 h7 9.d3 which has been another useful side to 15...Qe7 ] examined in the archives. ] 16...0-0-0 17.a5 xe5 Exchanges ease any 8...h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 f6 11.d2 Black difficulty. 18.dxe5 xd1+ 19.xd1 e7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.b1 c5 All as planned. d5 20.d2 Black is ready to play 14...Nc6 with equality. [ The ending after 20.g4 g5+ 21.xg5 W hite therefore rushes to prevent him by hxg5 can hardly pose Black any problems a t t a c k i n g t h e c 5 p a w n . 14.e4 c6! whatsoever: 22.g4 ( 22.h1 g4! 23.d2 Anyway! Black ignores the threat to his ce7 24.h4 f5 25.xg4 xh5 26.c4 ) pawn. 15.c3 Acceptance of the pawn offer 22...f4 ] is discussed in Nakar-Dreev. If White wants [ Furt hermore 20.c4 c5 21.d2 b5 t o d e f e n d d 4 w i t h h i s b i s h o p t h e n t h e might even be better for Black! ] alternative is 20...d8 21.e4 f5 [ 15.e3 Here is an illustration of Black's [ 21...c5 22.h4 f6 also appears very c o u n t e r p l a y : cxd4 16.xd4 b4!? satisfactory. ] 17.xf6+ xf6 1980

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 18.b5! e7?! ( Enterprising, but I t h i n k B l a c k s h o u l d p r e f e r 18...b6!? with an active game after 19.xb6 axb6 20.a3 d5 ) 19.xe6! This unexpected t a c t i c s p o i l s B l a c k ' s f u n . ac8 ( B a d o f c o u r s e f o r B l a c k i s 19...fxe6 20.c5 when White regains his piece a pawn up. ) 20.c3!? ( The game could end as a sha rp draw af te r 20.xf8 xc2 21.d4 e4 22.a1 xd4 23.xb4 xb2+ 24.xb2 xb2 25.d8 d2 26.d7+ h7 27.f8+ g8 28.d7+ ) 20...xe6 21.xb4 f5+ 22.a1 fe8 Black is active, but I'm not sure if he has quite enough f or his pawn. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic here?; B) 18.b3?! A bit passive as it allows Black to build up a queenside initiative without worrying about the 19.Nxe6! trick that occurs after 18.Qb5. e7 19.g4 d5 20.c1 a5 Black's attack turns out to be more potent than White's kingside assault, which never gets past the barrier on g5. 21.c4 a4 22.b5 b4 23.he1 fd8 24.e3 c6 25.f3 ( The b2 pawn is a nice target for Black's rooks, queen and b i s h o p a f t e r 25.xc6 bxc6 26.xc6 ab8 ) 25...a3! 26.c5 c7 27.xa3 f4! This sequence of moves is archetypal of what Black is trying to achieve in the Caro-Kann. White's pieces are wrongfooted, not with the result that he gets mated, but rather that his kingside pawn structure crumbles, leaving him material down. In game after game with the Caro-Kann strong players as Black manage to pick off pawns that White has been trying to attack with, or use to gain a space advantage. 28.b3 xg4 ( Instead 28...a5 looks even stronger.) 29.d2 xh5 30.e4 xd1+ 31.xd1 f5 and Black managed to convert his extra pawn: 32.c2 d4 33.d6 e5 34.a3 b6 35.e2 d8 36.b4 xb4 37.axb4 a8 38.f3 a4 39.d3 xb4 40.b3 c8 41.d6 c6 42.f5 xc4 43.xd4 exd4 44.d1 c5 45.b2 g6 46.d2 g7 47.f4 b5 48.xd4 h5 49.d3 b4 50.d5 f2+ 51.a3 xf4 52.c3+ h7 0-1 Nithander, V (2438)-Ducarmon, Q (2483)/Vaxjo SWE 2014. ]

15...b4! Exchanging on d4 would leave White with a small edge. Instead Ding Liren s e e k s c o u n t e r p l a y b y a d va n c i n g o n t h e queenside and putting pressure on the d4 pawn. 16.xf6+ xf6 17.xb4 cxb4 18.e4 b6 19.e5 ad8 20.f4 d5 21.d2 [ White might have saved a tempo on the game continuation with 21.h3 for example fd8 22.hd3 and here Black could take precautions against W hite's future g4-g5 a d v a n c e a t o n c e w i t h xe5 23.fxe5 ( White ends up with a lousy pawn on d3 after 23.dxe5 xd3 24.cxd3 ) 23...8d7 24.e3 a5 25.g4 d8! in the style of the game but with the black pawn on a5 rather than a4. ] 21...fd8 22.hd1 a5 23.g4 a4 24.d3 xe5 25.fxe5 8d7 26.f4 d8! An important defensive move. White mustn't be allowed to advance 27.g5 when he would g a i n a n a t t a c k a l o n g t h e g - f i l e . 27.d2 Of course not [ 27.g1? xd4 By threatening the b4 pawn White distracts a black rook from the attack on d4, so that his own rook is freed from defensive duty on d1 and can support the g4g5 advance. ] 27...b5 28.g1 b3! [ After 28...bd5 White's best reply would be 29.d1 which shows that Black is already in charge- he can force a draw if he wishes. Understandably Ding Liren tries for more. ] 29.g5 White presses on with his attack as after [ 29.axb3 axb3 A) 30.c4? a8 ( even better than 30...xe5 ) 31.f4 the threat was mate in two a5 and Black has a winning attack.; B) 30.cxb3 xe5 his centre is collapsing. ] 29...hxg5 30.xg5 bxc2+ 31.xc2 h8 32.g4 [ 32.h6 g6 ] 32...a3 33.xa3? Strategically speaking the exchange of his e5 pawn for the black one on a3 is undesirable f or W hite. Evidently he hoped his attack along the g-file would bear fruit, but it is easily countered. Best was [ 33.b3 Then it is hard to see how White can b r e a k t h r o u g h o n t h e g - f i l e a f t e r bd5 1981

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 due to the pressure on d4, but it is equally uncertain that Black has any way to play for advantage. ] 33...xe5 34.ag3 c5+! An important interpolation, as after [ 34...f6 35.xg7 f5+ 36.b3 B l a c k h a s n o b e t t e r t h a n a d r a w : b5+ 37.a4 a5+ 38.xa5 xd4+ 39.b4 c2+ 40.a3 d3+ 41.xd3 xd3+ 42.a4 c2+ 43.a3 etc. with perpetual check. ( and not 43.b5 c6# )] 35.b1 f6 Not only defending g7 but t h r e a t e n i n g m a t e i n t wo . 36.a3 xh5 37.xg7 [ White has insufficient play for the pawn after 37.f4 h6 ] 37...xg7 38.xg7 xg7 Black has all the winning chances as the d4 pawn is ultimately doomed, when he will acquire connected passed pawns. Nonetheless it won't be easy for the black king to evade perpetual check. The rest of the game is laborious and I've limited myself to a couple of comments. 39.a4 hd5 40.a5 xd4 41.g5+ f8 42.f6 7d5 43.h8+ e7 44.b8 b5 45.c7+ f6 46.c3 e5 47.a6 bxa6 48.c6+ g5 49.xa6 db4 50.a8 xb2+ 51.c1 b8 W ith the fall of W hite's last pawn it looks resignable. However as we shall see in the flurry of checks Black goes wrong and actually gives his opponent the chance to draw. 52.e4 2b5 53.e3+ g6 54.g3+ f6 55.h4+ e6 56.h6+ e7 57.h4+ d7 58.f6 c5+ 59.d2 b2+ 60.d3 b3+ 61.d2 e8 62.d6 bc3 63.f6 c2+ 64.d1 2c4 65.d2 f4 66.b6 d5+ 67.e3 f8 68.c6 fd4 69.f6 c5 70.e2 b5 71.e3 bd5 72.h6+ e7 73.g5+ e6 74.h6+ d7 75.f6 f4 76.b6 dd4? [ This could have proved costly. Instead 76...f6 secures the e5 pawn after which the checks will eventually fizzle out. ] 77.b5+ d6 78.e8? White finally stops checking when it could most have profited him. He can draw with [ 78.b8+ d7 79.b5+ e6 80.e8+ f6 81.h8+ g6 ( or 81...f5 82.c8+ f6 83.h8+ ) 82.g8+ h6 83.h8+ g5 84.g7+ ( resisting the temptation for 84.xe5+ when Black can play to win after

g6 as the king and pawn endgame is lost for White after 85.xf4 xf4 86.xf4 f6 87.e4 g5 ) 84...h4 85.h7+ g3 86.g7+ h3 87.h7+ g2 88.g7+ g4 89.xe5 f6 90.f5! ( avoiding the last trap 90.xf6 when a neat mate follows with ge4# )] 78...c4 Ruling out the white queen's check on c8 so the king can go to f5 if necessarysee the note to the next move. 79.d3 [ The king will slip out of the checks after 79.d8+ e6 80.e8+ f6 81.h8+ f5 82.h7+ e6 83.h6+ f6 84.h3+ g4 ] 79...fd4+ 80.e3 c3+ 81.e2 c7 82.e3 e7 83.c8 d7 84.e8 f4 85.b8+ e6 86.e8+ e7 87.h8 f6 88.g8+ f5 89.c8+ g6 90.g8+ g7 91.e8+ g5 92.d8 g6 93.e8 d4 94.f3 d3+ 95.e4 g3 96.c8 g4+ 97.f3 f4+ 98.e3 f5 99.d8+ g4 100.d1+ h4 101.h1+ g5 102.h8 e4 103.d4 f3 104.h2 h6 105.b2 e6 106.d5 e7 107.d6 h7 108.e5 hh3 109.d2+ g4 110.e2 hg3 111.h2 e3 112.e2 h3 113.d4 f2 114.e1 g2 115.d3 e2+ 116.d4 f4 117.e4 e3+ 118.f5 f1 119.d2 A very tough battle which shows the sort of torment Black can inflict on his opponent once he has neutralised his attack and forced him onto the defensive. [ White resigned without waiting for 119.d2 g3 ] 0-1

1818 Zapata,Alonso Andretta,Carlos Open Miami USA (8) [John Watson]

B19 2504 30.09.2007

T h i s t im e W h it e wi n s o n e , a l t h o u g h t h e opening looks fine for Black. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f5 5.g3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.f3 d7 8.h5 h7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 e6 11.f4 a5+ 12.d2 b4 13.c3 [ A potentially important move that Houska gave detailed attention to but hasn't been seen recently is 13.e4!? gf6 14.d6+ 1982

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e7 ( 14...f8 15.c4!? xd2+ 16.fxd2 d5 - there's a lot to be explored here! ) A) 15.xb7 xd2+ 16.xd2 ( 16.xd2?! b5 ) 16...b4 17.b3 xd4 is analysed in Houska, to equality; B) 15.c4 1/2-1/2 Galkin, A (2608) Ovetchkin, R (2557), Krasnoyarsk 2007. A f t e r 1 5 N c 4 , p l a y c a n g o xd2+ 16.fxd2 c7 17.0-0-0 ( 17.a3+ c5 18.b3 b6=; 17.e4; and 17.f3 h a v e b o t h b e e n p l a y e d) 17...hd8 with double-edged play. I wonder if White will c ome b ack to this line f or a f resh look? ] 13...e7 14.e4 This soon transposes to a normal line. gf6 15.c4 c7 16.0-0-0 b5!? [ Strange to say, Houska doesn't recommend this, which is her f avourite move in just about all lines. It looks good here as well. I n s t e a d , s h e r e c o m m e n d s 16...d8 , which also seems satisfactory. ] 17.c5 [ 17.cxb5?! cxb5+ 18.b1 b7 covers all the light squares, wins d5, and exposes White's weak isolated d4 pawn to eventual attack. ] 17...0-0-0 A risky and unusual decision. [ 17...0-0 and ] [ 17...d8 are the normal ideas here. I like the 2nd one. ] 18.xf6 xf6?! [ 18...xf6 19.e2 b7 ] 19.a3 de8 20.b1 b7 21.he1 e5? [ 21...a8 would try to consolidate, although 22.e5! is very strong, with the idea xe5?! 23.dxe5 xe5? 24.a5 b8 25.d7 ] 22.a5 c8 23.d5! b8 [ 23...cxd5 24.c6+! xc6 25.c1 is too strong. ] 24.b3!? a6? 25.a4 b7 26.dxc6 xc6 27.d7! xa5 28.axb5+ [ in view of 28.axb5+ xb5 29.xa7+ xa7 30.xb5 ] 1-0

1819 Al Qudaimi,BA El Gindy,Essam 5th Cities Beirut LBN (2) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2414 2495 09.04.2007

1.e4 c5 2.e2!? We haven't really had a sensible discussion about Keres' 2 Ne2 for some time. Obviously, the opening may go back into main lines, but the game of te n branches into quite original channels. d6 3.g3 c6 4.g2 f6 5.c3!? This is what I mean. W hite wants to play d2-d4, a logical plan which is not easy for Black to meet. g4 [ In the following high-level game, Black tries t o d i s s u a d e W h i t e : 5...e5!? 6.d4 He is not to be denied! cxd4 7.cxd4 g4 8.f3 d7 9.d5 b4 10.e3 White is already better, with more space and easier development. e7 11.b3 ( Simplest is 11.bc3 0-0 12.0-0 intending Qd2, h3 and f4. ) 11...a5 12.0-0 b5 13.bc3 b8 14.d1 ( 14.a3 a6 15.ac1 c5 16.d1 b4 ) 14...a6 15.d3 c5 16.d2 b4 17.d1 b5 18.f2 fd7 19.f4 b6 20.h1 Karjakin, SAreshchenko, A/Foros 2006 ] 6.h3 h5!?N [ 6...d7 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 e6 9.bc3 e7 10.e3 obviously gives White all he wants. ] [ Frankly, having played ..Bg4 in the first place I think Black should take on e2 and j u s t g o w i t h a n o r m a l s e t - u p : 6...xe2 7.xe2 g6 8.0-0 g7 9.d3 0-0 10.e3 d7 11.f4 b8 Most would prefer White with the two Bishops, but Black's game is obviously playable. ] 7.f4 xe2 White was threatening g4. 8.xe2 e6 9.0-0 e7 10.d3 c7 11.e3 0-0 12.d2 d5 Black has chosen a French formation as opposed to the Dragon formation illustrated earlier, but he is still wo rs e . W h it e h a s t wo B i s h o p s a n d n i c e cramping centre, behind which he can hope to gradually mass a kingside attack. The problem is counterplay for Black. with his darksquared Bishop on e7 he will f ind it very difficult to create the traditional pressure on d4 and c3. 13.e5 d7 14.d4 cxd4 15.cxd4 b6 16.f3 ac8 17.fc1 a5 18.b3! 1983

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a3 19.xc8 xc8 20.f5 Computers do not assess this position very well at all. In my view White is much better. It's a question of potential and what may happen in the moves to come. Yes, Black may survive a tactical onslaught, but there is no need for White to play like that. W hite can play to gradually enhance the power of his light-squared Bishop and Black will struggle to counter this plan. exf5 21.h4 g6 22.xd5 f8 [ 22...c6 23.d1 b4 24.c4 ] 23.d1 e6 24.f2 c3 a pseudo-attack. White is covering everything and he now goes into action. 25.g4!? [ I prefer 25.g2 d8 26.xe6 ( 26.f3 g5 27.xg5 xg5 28.f4 c6 29.d5 c1 is roughly level, not what White requires. ) 26...fxe6 27.f4 d7 28.d5 ] 25...f4 [ Black can defend with the superior 25...d8 26.gxf5 ( 26.xe6 fxe6 27.gxf5 exf5 28.g2 d5 ) 26...xd5 27.fxe6 xe6 ( 27...fxe6 28.f1 d7 29.e1 c6 30.d5! exd5 31.d4 ) 28.g2 xh3 29.d5 ] 26.xe6 xe6 [ 26...fxe6 27.xf4 d8 28.f3 leaves Black's Na5 looking very remote. ] 27.xf4 d5 28.f1 c6 29.f3 h6? Possibly provoked by a time shortage. [ He has to PREVENT the White queen reaching h6, not encourage it! Even so 29...f8 30.g5 h6 31.e6! is looking very miserable for Black. ] 30.xh6 e4 31.g5! xe3+ 32.h1 All these Anti-Sicilian sidelines can be dealt with comfortably, as long as they are paid due respect. If Black is casual, he may slide to defeat as here. 1-0

on e7, e.g. 6...e5 7.d2 ge7 8.f4 b6 9.gf3 0-0 10.0-0?! Missing Black's idea. ( 10.e2 a6 11.0-0-0!? ) 10...a6 11.e2?! ( 11.c4!? b5 12.cd2 b4 13.c2; 11.c2? d5! ) 11...d5 12.ad1 d4 Amin, B (2641)-Narayanan, S (2440)/ Dubai 20133 Extra ] 7.h3 0-0 8.e2 e5 9.0-0 e8 To prevent f4, a l t h o u g h i t c o m e s a n y w a y ! 10.f4?!N Natural, but underprepared. [ 10.a3 b5 11.b4 cxb4 12.axb4 Kuzmicz, K (2400)-Ksieski, Z (2424)/ Karpacz 2008, and now d5!? ] 10...exf4 Good, but Black had two very appealing alternatives aimed at disrupting White's centre. [ 10...c4 11.fxe5 xe5 12.d4 d3 13.a3? ( 13.g5 xb2 14.c2 d3 15.a3 ) 13...xe4 14.xc4 d5! 15.xd3 ( 15.a3 xb2-+ ) 15...dxc4 16.xc4 d6! 17.d3 f5! ] [ 10...d5!? 11.xc5 ( 11.exd5 xd5 12.xc5 h6! with excellent compensation.) 11...dxe4 12.dxe4 xd1 13.xd1 exf4 14.xf4 xe4 ] 11.gxf4 h5 Again, notice the familiar idea of preparing ...f5 to undermine White's centre. 12.d2 f5! An opening success for Black. 13.f3 Tricky, but White still has problems on the e-file. [ 13.e1 f6! ] 13...h6 [ 13...f6 ] [ 13...fxe4 14.dxe4 xe4? 15.e5! xe5 ( 15...xe3?? 16.d5++- ) 16.xe4 f7 ] 14.f2 h7 15.d2?! Too much! fxe4 16.dxe4 xe4 17.g5+ hxg5 18.xe4 gxf4 19.h2 e5!! [ 19...d7!? 20.g1 e5 is also acceptable, but the text just feels healthier. ] 20.g1 1820 B20 [ 20.xf4? h6 21.e3 h4-+ ] Amin,B 2654 20...e6 21.ad1 f6 22.d5 d7?! Gopal,G 2540 Black actually misses a few wins around here, Al-Ain Classic Open A 2013 (7.2) 26.12.2013 and even gives W hite a golden opportunity later in the game to make a tussle of it, but of [Smerdon, David] course this isn't so important for our opening 1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.g3 g6 4.g2 g7 analysis. [ 22...xd5 23.xd5 f3-+ ] 5.c3 d6 6.e3 f6 [ Black often plays with ...e5 with the knight 23.c4 f3 24.e1 h6 25.c3 f4+ 26.h1 1984

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f8 27.xf3 xh3 28.g5+ xg5 5.h5! An excellent positional move. g7 29.xh3 xf1+ 30.xf1 f4? [ 5...c6 6.c3 a6 and now, although the [ 30...g4!-+ ] position should be level, W hite has been 31.d2 doing rather well: ( 6...g8!? 7.xh7 g7 [ 31.f3!! ] 8.h8 f5 0-1 (50) Skorna, U (2369)31...g4 32.g3 h5+ 33.h2 xd5 Trebizan, D (2126) ICCF 2008 ) 34.f7+ h8 35.e8+ h7 I can only A) 7.f4!? d4 ( 7...g7 ) 8.d3 e6? assume time trouble played a role here. ( 8...g8! 9.f5! xg2 10.0-0-0 ) 9.f3 [ 35...g7 36.d7+ f8!! 37.xd6+ xf3+ 10.gxf3 1/2-1/2 (30) Brochet, P ( 37.e2 e3-+ ) 37...e7!-+ ] (2373)-Deepan Chakkravarthy, J (2506) 36.f7+ h8 37.e8+ Paris 2009; ½-½ B) 7.a4 d4 8.d3 g8 9.ge2! xe2 10.xe2 0-1 (56) Toufighi, H (2454)-Negi, P (2620) Kolkata 2009 ] 1821 B20 6.c3 c6 7.f4 [ 7.b5!? It feels so unnatural to voluntarily Averbukh,Alex 2183 cede both bishops - and yet, in the resulting Kotanjian,Tigran 2500 structure, Black's permanent lack of a safe 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (1.4) 02.08.2014 haven for the king seems to be at least as [Dave Smerdon] important a factor. a6 ( 7...d7!? /\Qg4 ) 8.xc6+ bxc6 9.ge2 ( 9.f4!? f5! 10.f3!? This game came from the lopsided first-round fxe4 11.g5 f8 ) 9...d7 10.g3 g4 Olympiad clash Japan-Armenia - which, for a 11.xg4 xg4 1/2-1/2 (35) Skorna, U long time, looked like it was going to end 2-2! (2420) -Carrettoni, A (2281) ICCF Email 1.e4 c5 2.b3 This continues to be a popular 2002 12.h3 ] surprise weapon amongst GMs today. d6 A common mistake in these [ I ' v e d o n e a l o t o f a n a l y s i s o n 2...c6 7...d4? in the archives. 3.b2 d6 ( 3...f6!? 4.e5 positions, as we saw above. White's bishop d5 5.f3 g6 was the recent game wants to go to d3 most of the time anyway, Morozevich, A (2731)-Nakamura, H (2775) and now Nge2/f3 will come with tempo (of Dubai 2014; 3...d5!? 1-0 (52) Kramnik, V sorts). [ 7...0-0!? ] (2796)-Inarkiev, E (2695) Nizhny Novgorod 2013; 3...e5?! 1-0 (43) Kramnik, V (2784)- 8.d3 e6 [ 8...a6! ] Kobalia, M (2651) Tromso 2013) 4.b5 d7 1-0 (34) Carlsen, M (2881)-Leitao, R (2645) 9.f5 [ 9.f3! was also very good, and probably Caxias do Sul 2014 ] stronger. d7 ( 9...xf3+ 10.gxf3! ) 10.0-0 3.b2 f6 4.xf6!? A little unusual, more xf3+ 11.xf3 e7 12.g3 f8 13.b5! common is to attempt to double the c-pawns! 0-0-0 14.xf7 ] These are really great positions for players 10.exf5 0-0 11.ge2 xe2 who want to drag their opponent into 'the 9...exf5 12.xe2 unknown', and just play some chess. [ 12.xe2 ] [ 4.b5+ is the logical choice of Morozevich. T wo r e c e n t e x a m p l e s : c6 ( 4...d7 12...d5 13.0-0 b5?! Objectively weak, but 5.xd7+ bxd7 6.d3 g6 7.f4 g7 8.f3 Black had to try something. [ 13...c4 14.bxc4 dxc4 15.xc4 xd2 0-0 9.e2 e5 10.f5!? 1-0 (26) Morozevich, 16.ad1! xc2 17.d4! is also crushing. ] A ( 2 7 3 1 ) - M i l o v, V ( 2 6 2 2 ) D u b a i 2 0 1 4) 5.xc6+ bxc6 6.d3 g6 7.e2 g7 8.0-0 14.c3 [ The pawn could safely be taken: 14.xb5 0-0 9.h3 e5 10.g3 1-0 (41) Morozevich, b8 ( 14...c4 15.d4+- ) 15.a4 a6 A (2731)-Moiseenko, A (2707) Dubai 2014 ] 16.d3 c4 17.f3+- ] 4...gxf6 [ 4...exf6 s m e l l s f i s h y . 5.c3 e7 14...c4 [ 14...b6! 15.h1 b7 was better, but 6.c4!? ] 1985

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White is still well on top after say 16.f4 ] 15.c2 e8 16.d4 Black's position just stinks. e5 17.f4 [ 17.xb5 a6 18.bxc4 dxc4 19.d4 ] 17...e7 18.f1?! White starts to show his rating. [ 18.f3 e2 19.g4 h8 20.f1 ] 18...d7 19.h4 h6 20.g4 h8 21.g3 f8 [ 21...e8! ] 22.e2 [ 22.f3! e7 23.g1! admits the previous mistake. W hite will play Rf1, Qg4, b4 and Nd4, and then have a nice long think! ] 22...b4 [ 22...ae8! was more accurate. ] 23.g4 [ 23.bxc4! dxc4 24.cxb4 ae8 ( 24...xb4 25.xf7 ) 25.f4 e7 26.g4! and everything is under control. ] 23...bxc3 24.dxc3 cxb3 25.axb3 b5 26.c4 dxc4 27.bxc4 ae8 28.d3 [ 28.cxb5! xe2 29.d3 2e5 30.h4 is clearly more favourable for W hite, although the weakness of the white king will make conversion tricky. ] 28...c6 29.c3? [ 29.f4! ] 29...a5! White has not stuck the boot in when required, and Black finally takes his chance. 30.h3 e3 31.xe3 xe3 32.d4 e5 33.d5 a4! 34.e4 a3! 35.f3? b8?? [ 35...d6! /\Bf8 ] 36.d3?? Ghosts! [ 36.xa3! b1+ 37.d1 xf5 38.a7 and White is suddenly slightly better again, a lt h o u g h t h e p o si t io n r e m a i n s d o u b le edged. ] 36...f8-+ 37.b1 d6 38.c2 g7 39.d1 c5 40.d3 xd5 41.cxd5 d6 42.b1 e3 43.d3 a2 44.e2 xd3 45.xd3 xd5 0-1

1822 Baklan,Vladimir Tukhaev,Adam TCh-UKR Alushta UKR (3) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2618 2466 23.04.2007

1.e4 c5 2.e2 A move with independent characteristics, if White so desires. d6 3.g3 d5!? 4.g2 dxe4 5.bc3 f5 6.0-0 f6 7.d3 One cannot get more independent than this! exd3 8.f4 c6 [ 8...e6 9.e1 f7 10.xd3 bd7 11.f4 a5 12.xe6 h6 13.d3 b6 14.d8+ g6 15.xb7 xb7 16.xb7 c4 17.f3 d8 18.f4 d6 19.xd6 xd6 20.f4 hd8 21.e5 b4 22.b5 d1+ 23.xd1+Steffens, O-Homuth, M/ Schleswig Holstein 1991 ] [ 8...dxc2 9.xc2 c6 is given by the computers, but we come back to the tough decision of what is easy to play over the board and what is not. There are few players who would relish taking Black after 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.e1 d6 12.e3 e6 13.ad1 ] 9.e1 dxc2 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.xc2 f7 A different way. 12.e2 We can summarise White's compensation: 1) His King is safer. 2) He has full and easy development. 3) Black's pawns are fractured. Whether it is enough is tough to say, certainly defending this position will eat into Black's time. d6 13.d3 d5 14.f4! Fixing e5. xf4 15.xf4 e6?! [ I think it was time to give a pawn back: 15...e5 16.ad1 e7 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5 b8 19.b3 g5 Optically, the White ga m e lo o k s e xc e ll e n t , b u t B l a c k ' s t wo Bishops are now starting to play. Timidity is no good in a position such as this. ] 16.ad1 e7 17.f3 g5 18.d3 g7 He had to dissuade Ne5. 19.h5+ f8 20.xc5! f6 [ 20...xc5 21.d8+ e7 22.xh8 xh8 23.xh7+ isn't pretty for Black. ] 21.h6+ f7 [ 21...g7 22.xe6+ xe6 23.xe6 xe6 24.xe6 c8 25.d7 ] 22.d3 b8 23.e3 f8 24.e5+ xe5 25.h5+! An important intermezzo. f6 26.xe5! xb2 [ S o t h a t i f 26...xe5 27.xg5! with unstoppable mate: b4 28.f4+ xf4 1986

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 29.gxf4# ] 27.e3 h6 28.f3 b6 29.e4+ g6 30.d6 White retains the initiative. We all know the problem sitting Black: the position is playable, maybe even better, but very tough to handle. g4 31.f4 c5 32.c4 b4 33.a3 b7 34.d6 b6 35.c4 b7 36.d6 b6 37.c4 b7 38.d6 [ I suppose 38.e5+ could be considered a winning attempt, but there g7 39.c3 e7 40.dc1 c7 41.d3 d8 42.xc5 h7 leaves White with potential problems around his King. ] 38...b6 White's gambit in the opening gives practical chances. Nevertheless, no guarantees! ½-½

Popov, Sofia 1984. ] 9.c3 cxd3 10.cxd3 b5 11.e3 [ Of co urse , 11.xb5? l o s e s a f t e r b6+ 12.h1 xb5 ] 11...b4 12.e2 a5 13.d2 a6 14.fc1 The early pressure on the queenside prompts the grandmaster to change tactics and try to put a stop to Black's ambitions. b5 [ 14...ac8!? should be considered. ] 15.ed4! The start of a clever combination designed to win material. This is a usual ploy in the system based on the hidden strength of t h e l i g h t - s q u a r e d b i s h o p o n g 2 . xd4 16.xd4 xd3 [ Or 16...b7 17.e5 d5 18.c6 xe3 19.xe3 is excellent for White. ] 17.xd3 xd3 18.e5 This is the point of White's play. The e-pawn is nudged forward to create a discovered attack on the a8 rook. 1823 B20 dxe5 19.fxe5 h5 20.xa8 xa8 Barlov,Dragan 2475 Black has a pawn for the exchange but his Ristic,Nenad 2425 pieces lack harmony. 21.g4 g3 22.f4 Yugoslav Team Ch 1994 e4 23.c6 The knight hits the pawns on b4 and e7 meaning that White must win material. [Gary Lane] g5 24.h2 d2 25.f2 [ 25.xe7+ f8 26.d5 ( 26.f5! ) 1.e4 c5 2.d3 g6 3.g3 g7 4.g2 c6 26...f3+ 27.g2 xh2 and Black is back 5.f4 d6 6.f3 f6 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 in the game thanks to the loose e-pawn. ] The set-up by Barlov aims at creating a swift 26.xe7+ f8 27.c8+! kingside attack by delaying the development 25...b5 of the queen's knight to c3 or even c2-c3. c4 It is always good to see a top player follow An imaginative idea to speed up the process general principles and in this case it is the of exchanging pawns to stop White creating a golden rule that 'when ahead on pieces, swap off pieces'. A simple slogan but it is pawn clamp in a closed position. Instead, [ 8...b5 should be considered as in the sometimes forgotten in the heat of the battle. xc8 28.xc8 c6 29.d1 The rest is easy annotated game Fedorov-Kasparov. ] [ 8...e6 9.g4 d7 10.c3 f5 Black is f o r s o m e b o d y o f B a r l o v ' s c a l i b r e . e4+ concerned about the possibility of f4-f5 and 30.e3 f5 31.exf6 a5 32.d8+ f7 decides to block the option. the drawback is 33.a7 that the pawn on e6 is weakened. 11.g5 1-0 f6 12.gxf5 gxf5 13.exf5 exf5 14.e1 The knight is heading for the e6 square h8 B20 15.d2 h6 16.e6 xe6 17.xe6 d7 1824 Barnes,SP 18.e2 g8 19.f1 e7 20.d2 g6 Freel,L 21.e1 h5 22.f2 with equal chances, B. Abramovic-A.Sherzer,New York 1990. ] Hawick England (3) 01.07.2000 [ 8...b8 9.g4 White embarks on the [Gary Lane] tra dit ion al kingside p awn ad van ce . e8 10.f5 e6 11.fxg6 fxg6 12.c3 b5 13.e3 1.e4 c5 2.b3 A favourite of Nigel Short. d6 b4 14.d4 bxc3 ( 14...xe4! looks good 3.b2 c6 4.f4 White wishes to impose his 15.h2 d5 and Black is better.) 15.bxc3 authority of the e5 square because ...e7-e5 is cxd4 16.cxd4 a5 1/2-1/2 I. Radulov-L. often played to lessen the strength of white's 1987

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 queen's bishop. e6 5.f3 f6 6.c3 e7 7.d3!? A fairly unusual move that is designed for a kingside attack. The idea is that the e-pawn will be advance unleashing the king's bishop. [ 7.e2 is considered a reasonable approach giving W hite the option of advancing the d-pawn. 0-0 8.0-0 b6 9.d4 cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 d5 12.d3 ( 12.exd5?? c5 wins ) 12...dxe4 13.xe4 xd3 14.xd3 d5 15.f3 ( 15.ae1!? ) 15...b7 ( 15...b4 seems a good idea intending to exchange the bishop on d3.) 16.e1 f6 17.a3 with equal chances, Haas, T-Rittmeier,B/Baden-Baden 1990. ] 7...0-0 [ Or 7...a6 8.0-0 A) 8...0-0 9.h1 e5 10.fxe5 dxe5 11.d5 xd5 12.exd5 b4 ( 12...xd5 13.e1 e8 14.xe5 xe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.xe5 e6 with level play) 13.xe5 xd3 14.xd3 xd5 15.f3 xf3 16.xf3 d8 17.c3 d6 18.e1 b5 19.a5 f8 20.b6 b7 21.fe3 when the silicon monster playing W hite had an edge in Comp Rebel 10-Comp Nimzo 7.32/Debrecen 1999/; B) 8...d5 9.h1 ( 9.e5!? should be considered ) 9...b4 B1) 10.e2?! xe4 ( 10...dxe4 11.g5 e3 12.dxe3 xd1 13.xd1= ) 11.xe4 dxe4 12.e5 f6 is fine for Black; B2) 10.e5 h5 11.e1 xd3 12.xd3 g6 13.f2 b6 14.g4 b7 15.e2 g7 16.f6+?! After the exchanges on f6 the pawn will be weak xf6 17.exf6 f5 18.e5 h5 19.d3 d7 20.g1 c6 21.g3 d4 22.e4 0-0-0 gave Black the advantage in Vukovic,Z-Cabrilo,G/Kladovo 1990/ ] 8.e2 a6 Black wants to advance the queenside pawns. 9.0-0-0 b5 [ 9...b4 is a sensible choice to exchange the bishop on d3 10.a3 xd3+ 11.xd3 b5 intending Bb7 when I prefer Black. ] 10.dg1 [ 10.e5 to increase the role of the lightsquared bishop is quite good when dxe5 11.fxe5 d5 12.h4 f4? 13.xh7+ xh7 14.e4+ g6 15.h5 with a wining

advantage. ] 10...d7 [ 10...d5! intending to advance the c-pawn is the right plan when 11.e5 ( 11.e5 d7 12.e1 b4 is good for Black) 11...b4 12.exd5 exd5 13.a3 xd3+ 14.xd3 b7 gives Black good prospects on the qu e e n s i d e t h a n k s t o t h e a va l a n c h e o f pawns. ] 11.g4 Barnes rightly wants to accelerate his chances on the kingside to deflect Black from attacking on the queenside. b4 12.g5 White continues to advance on the kingside in pursuit of the attack. xd3+ [ 12...h5!? immediately is probably better because taking on d3 allows White the extra option of Nc3-e2-g3. For instance: 13.g4 e5 14.f5 f4 15.xf4 exf4 16.g1 h8 ( 16...xd3+ 17.xd3 c6? 18.f6 is good for White) 17.a3 xd3+ 18.xd3 c6 19.e2 with doubled-edged play giving W hite enough compensation for the exchange. ] 13.xd3 h5 14.e2 c4?! It cannot be right to encourage the white queen to dominate the a1-h8 diagonal. 15.d4 f6 Black has to block the a1-h8 diagonal to avoid a calamity on g7. [ 15...e8? 16.g3 e5 17.fxe5 f4 18.exd6 f8 leaves White a couple of pawns up with an attack. ] 16.h4 [ 16.gxf6!? xf6 17.e5 dxe5 18.xe5 c8!? 19.c6 d6 20.xe7+ xe7 21.g5 intending to double rooks with good chances. ] 16...cxb3 17.axb3 a5 [ 17...c8 18.gxf6 xf6 19.e5 ( 19.d3!? is also worth trying) 19...dxe5 20.fxe5 c7 21.e1 d5 22.g4 f7 23.h3 with roughly equal chances. ] 18.g2 [ 18.gxf6 xf6 19.g2 the idea of doubling the rooks is fairly obvious but still effective a4 20.hg1 f7 21.g5 f8 22.xh7 xh7 23.xg7+ h8 24.7g6 h7 25.g7+ with at least a draw. ] 18...g6 [ 18...a4! is necessary to get the counterplay on the queenside working before White can crash through on the kingside: 19.gxf6 xf6 1988

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 19...xf6 20.hg1 g6 21.h5! is good for White ) 20.xd6 xb2+ ( 20...a3 21.xf6 xf6 22.e5 f7 23.hg1 when White has an edge ) 21.xb2 axb3 22.fd4 ( 22.xb3? b4! 23.c5 xf4 24.xf4 xf4-+ ) 22...a2+ 23.xb3 a5 seems to be winning for Black due to the exposed white king. ] 19.hg1 [ Or 19.gxf6!? xf6 20.f5 ] 19...c6 20.e3 f5?? Black loses patience a n d t r i e s t o g o o n t h e o f f e n s i ve b u t t h e problem of the weakness of the a1-h8 diagonal has not gone away. [ 20...a4 is the consistent approach. ] 21.c3 fxe4 [ 21...f7 22.xc6 c8 23.xb5 fxe4 24.h2 d5 25.g4 is completely winning for White. ] 22.h8+ f7 23.xh7+ e8 24.xg6+ d7 25.fd4 [ 25.xh5 exf3 26.d4 fxg2 27.xe6 e8 28.g4! wins ] 25...d5 26.xh5 e3 [ 26...a4 is now too late : 27.g4 axb3 28.c3+- ] 27.dxe3 xg2 28.xg2 b6 29.g4 1-0

10.f4 0-0-0+ Sejkora, V-Jankovec, I/Decin 1977 ) 5...g6 ( 5...d6?! 6.c3 g6 7.d4 g7 8.e3 is nice for White, Horner, J-Lee, G/ Ayr 1978 ) 6.d4 ( 6.c3 now, is met by d5 ) 6...cxd4 7.xd4 g7!? ( 7...a6 stops Nb5 ) 8.b5 0-0 9.1c3 a6 10.d6 b5 11.e3 c7 12.f4 with a clear advantage, Csapo, ZBednay, B/Budapest 2006. ] 5.h3 g5!? Why not? Basman showed repeatedly such systems are possible. The thing is that the Knight on e2 is passive for a while. 6.bc3 [ I think he seriously has to consider 6.d4 when cxd4 ( 6...h4 7.d5! e5 8.f4; 6...f6 7.d5 exd5 8.exd5 e5 9.ec3 ) 7.xd4 h4 8.xc6 bxc6 9.d4 h7 10.e5 hxg3 11.fxg3 g7 12.c3 d5 is quite unclear. ] 6...g7 7.d3 b6 8.e3 b7 9.d2 f6 10.0-0-0 This is exactly the type of response Black was looking for. White's slow play has allowed Firman to obtain a decent position. d4! 11.b1 [ This was the second opportunity to play actively with 11.f4! after which White must s u r e l y b e b e t t e r : gxf4 ( 11...xe2+ 12.xe2 gxf4 13.gxf4 e7 14.hg1 d5 15.e5 h4 16.f3 ) 12.gxf4 d6 13.hg1 d7 14.b1 e7 15.f2 ] 11...h4 12.xd4 cxd4 13.b5 e7 1825 B20 14.exd4 a6 15.c3 hxg3 16.fxg3 c7 Bartel,Michal 2226 17.ce2 [ I suppose this was a rapid game, but White Firman,Nazar 2495 now misses a THIRD chance with 17.e5! 6th Amplico AIG Life rapid (10) 17.12.2006 xg2 18.xg2 c8 19.f3 d6 20.exd6 [Andrew Martin] xd6 21.e4 d5 22.f2 ] 18.hf1 f5 19.c3 f6 1.e4 c5 2.e2 If one needed evidence that 2 17...0-0-0 Ne2 can lead to original positions, consider 20.xc7+ xc7 21.c3 f4 22.ce2 [ 22.gxf4 gxf4 23.ce2 dg8 24.f3 the following game. e6 3.g3 c6 4.g2 d6 ] h5!? [ There is more than one unclear alternative: 22...dg8 23.g4 h7 24.f3 f8 25.c3 26.a3 xc3 27.bxc3 g6 4...d6 5.d4 ( 5.0-0 ge7 6.b3 g6 7.b2 b4 e5 8.bc3 g7 9.d5 0-0 10.f4 xd5 Perhaps the final position is only slightly 11.exd5 d4 12.xd4 exd4 13.c3 dxc3 better for Black. Rapidplay has a lot to answer 14.dxc3 e8 1/2-1/2 Turner, M-James, D/ for. Hastings 1995) 5...cxd4 6.xd4 xd4 0-1 7.xd4 e7 8.c4 c6 9.d2 e7 with Open Sicilian play, Lehmann, H-Popov, L/ Sofia 1962. ] [ 4...ge7 5.0-0 ( 5.c3 d5 6.d3 dxe4 7.dxe4 xd1+ 8.xd1 b6 9.a3 a6 1989

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1826 Bauer,Christian Wirig,Anthony GM Nancy FRA (6) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 1827 2636 Bezgodov,Alexei 2396 Demianjuk,Alexander 17.02.2005 Polyarniy Krug (9) [Andrew Martin]

1.e4 c5 2.b3 I have to confess that I am a little afraid of this move and find it surprising that it has only become popular recently. 2 Nf3 e6 3 b3!? has been quite a serious attempt for a while but the immediate b3 has the advantage of keeping the f-pawn free and in many lines the combination of the bishop on b2 and the pawn on f4 is quite formidable. I should also say that I have lost several blitz games on ICC against this move! I have no d o u b t t h a t B l a c k c a n d e a l wi t h i t , b u t i t requires some thought and some care. d5?! Probably wrong, simply because it loses too much time. [ 2...b6 3.b2 b7 4.c3 e6 5.f4 d5 looks like quite a steady answer. ] [ 2...c6 3.b2 e6 As a rule, I suspect Black shouldn't play e5 when White has the option of playing f4 directly. 4.b5 ge7 5.f4 a6 6.xc6 xc6 7.f3 d5 8.e2 This is the type of trouble I ran into in my blitz ga mes . B la ck may n ot act ua lly b e worse, but he does have to inconvenience h i m s e l f t o c o m p l e t e d e v e l o p m e n t . d4 lo ok s s af es t . 9.d3 e7 10.bd2 0-0 11.0-0 and Black should be fine- but the pawns on f4 and e4 give W hite plenty to look forward to. ] 3.exd5 xd5 4.c3 d8 5.b2 f6 6.f3 e6 7.e2! Bauer executes his advantage with considerable panache. e7 8.0-0-0 c6 9.g4! h6 10.g1 a6 11.h4 d7 12.g5 hxg5 13.hxg5 f8 14.e4 h7 15.d4 cxd4 16.xd4 xd4 17.xd4 c7 18.g2 g6 19.d2 e5 20.d6+ f8 21.d3 xd6 22.xd6 f5 23.xb7! b8 24.xa6 h2 25.d1 g8 26.d8+ h7 27.xb8 xb8 28.d3!? The sign of a strong practical player-returning a pawn to take full control. xd3 29.xd3 xf2 30.a4 c7 31.h1+ g8 32.a3 f4 33.d6 c8 34.c5 e4 35.a5 f5 36.b4 e3 37.a6 e2 38.e1 f1 39.d2 f4 40.f8+ 1-0

B20 2561 2345 07.12.2006

1.e4 c5 2.a3 g6 3.c3 g7 4.h4!?N Have you read 'Challenging the Sicilian with 2 a3' by Alexei Bezgodov? Whether you believe or not the book contains some of the most original and remarkable analysis that you will ever see. We saw GM Cvitan dealing coolly with 2 a3 last month, but he did not have to face such naked aggression! Who knows what exactly to make of 4 h4 ? Black is thrown immediately on to his own resources. [ 4.c4 is more measured, but not necessarily better: e6 5.ge2 c6 A) 6.d3 f6 ( 6...ge7 ) 7.a2 0-0 8.0-0 b6 9.f3 a6=; B) 6.0-0 ge7 7.a2 0-0 ( 7...b6 8.d3 b7 9.e3 0-0 10.d4 d5 11.exd5 exd5 12.d2 cxd4 13.xd4 1/2-1/2 Lach, BDarga, K/ Wuerttemberg 2000) 8.d3 d4 9.e3 h6 10.d2 h7 11.ae1 b6 12.g3 b7 13.d1 d5 14.f4 f5 15.c3 dc6 16.exf5 exf5 17.d4 cxd4 18.cxd4 g8= Kuipers, E-Degraeve, J/Gent 2001 with the idea of ...Nf6-e4 ] 4...c6 5.h5 e6 6.f3 ge7 7.h6 Onward and upward. f6 8.e5!? I guess on other moves, Black castles or goes ...d7-d5. xe5 9.e4 7c6 [ The computer gives 9...f5 and if White has nothing better than 10.xe5 xe5 11.xc5 0-0 12.c3 d5 13.d4= then the infernal machine is probably right. ] 10.xc5 [ 10.d6+ f8 11.h3 would continue in the same obscure vein. Some calmness is n e e d e d t o f i n d a g o o d d e f e n c e : e7! 12.xe5 xe5 13.c4 c7 14.e3 d5 Frankly, W hite's position looks like a beginner is playing. ] 10...d5 11.xe5 xe5 12.b5+ c6 13.xc6+ bxc6 14.d4 0-0= Not a normal Sicilian and that is exactly what White wants. Some might prefer the Bishops, but White's pawn on h6 has a cramping influence and the Knight on c5 is pretty strong. Black should aim for ...e6-e5! as soon as he can to negate 1990

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 these small White advantages. 15.f4 h8 16.e3 f6 17.0-0 e5! 18.g4 This guy is really crazy! [ 18.f3 was more normal, if one can put it that way, after which either b8 ( or 18...f5 19.ac1 b8 20.b4 a5 ) 19.b4 e4 20.e2 f5 both keep roughly equal chances. ] 18...exf4 19.xf4 g5! 20.g3 f5 Black is finally beginning to get ambitious and with some justification. 21.gxf5 xf5 22.c3 e8! The pawn on h6 is now officially in danger. 23.d2 g6 24.h2 d3 [ 24...ae8 is natural enough too! ] 25.xf8+ xf8 26.e1 e4 27.f1 xf1+ 28.xf1 f6 29.f2 e7 30.c7 f8 31.d7 White must keep on harrying, lest his pawn drops off the board for nothing. xh6 32.xf8? [ 32.c8 ] 32...xf8?? [ 32...h1+! is a BIG improvement: 33.e2 f3+ A) 34.f1 d1+ 35.e1 d3+ 36.g1 e3+ 37.f2 c1+ 38.h2 ( 38.e1 xe1+ 39.h2 h1+ 40.g3 h4# ) 38...h1+ 39.g3 g2#; B) 34.e1 c2! 35.g3 e3+! 36.f1 d3+ 37.g2 e2+ 38.g1 e4-+ ] 33.xc6 f4 34.e8+ g7 35.e7+ g6 36.e6+ h5 37.h3+ g6 38.e6+ h5 ' Walking the walk' can sometimes be a hairraising experience.... ½-½

1828 Bochkarev,Alexander Nogin,Nikolai Independence Cup (2) [Gary Lane]

B20 2320 1998

1.e4 c5 2.b3 d6 3.b2 c6 4.f4 The advance of the f-pawn is designed to stop Black from playing ...e7-e5. e6 5.g3 Bochkarev wants to fianchetto on the kingside which is an echo of the set-up employed in the Closed Sicilian. [ 5.f3 f6 A) 6.e5 d7 7.b5 c7 8.0-0 b6 9.a4 d7 10.g5 d8 11.a3 d5 12.f5 exf5 13.xf5 e7 14.xf7 xf7

( 14...0-0 15.e6 xe6 16.h6+ h8 ) 15.e6! 0-0 16.xf7 xf7 17.exf7+ A1) Or 17...h8 18.a5 c4 19.axb6 ( 19.d4 is a good alternative) 19...xb6+ 20.h1 xb5 21.xb5 xb5 22.xa7 xa7 23.g4 f8 24.xg7+! xg7 25.f8#; A2) 17...xf7 18.a5 ( 18.h5+ is also strong when g8 19.d3 h6 20.g6 f8 21.f1 leads to mate) 18...xb5? Black miscalculates and loses a piece ( 18...c4 19.h5+ g8 20.bxc4 leaves White on top) 19.xb5 c6 20.f1+ the point is that the knight i s n o w p r o t e c t e d b y t h e q u e e n g8 21.axb6 xb6 22.c3 c4+ 23.h1 d4 24.e2 1-0 Krupa,M-Toma,K/ Brzeg Dolny 2001/; B) 6.c3 e7 7.e2 0-0 8.0-0 b6 9.d4 d5 10.e5 The pawn structure now is similar to a French Defence. g4 11.c1 cxd4 12.b5 e3 13.e1 f5 B1) 14.xd4? a6 ( 14...fxd4?! 15.fxd4 xd4 16.xd4= ) 15.g4 h4! winning.; B2) 14.bxd4?! fxd4 15.xd4 c5=; B3) 14.g4 A nice in-between move that g i v e s W h i t e a s l i g h t i n i t i a t i v e : h6 15.bxd4 c5 16.h1 xd4 17.xd4 The knight likes it on d4 h4 18.g1 f5 ( 18...a5= is the best chance for Black. ) 19.exf6 xf6 20.g5 xf4 21.xf4 xf4 22.gxh6 xd4 ( 22...g6 23.g4 f7 24.g3+- ) 23.xd4 xd4?? a blunder but Black is lost anyway. ( 23...g6 24.g4 xg4 25.xg4 ) 24.xg7+ h8 25.f1 1-0 Heiduczek,J-Mittermeier,J/Berlin 1992/ ] 5...f6 6.g2 e7 7.f3 0-0 [ 7...xe4 8.xg7 g8 9.b2 f6 Black needs to respond actively otherwise his king might come under attack now that he can't castle kingside 10.c3 with equal chances. ] 8.e5 [ 8.c3 seems perfectly acceptable to get another piece into play. ] 8...d5 9.a3 b5 10.exd6 xd6 11.e5 b7 12.c4 bxc4 13.bxc4 f6 14.0-0 1991

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 White catches up with development but his queenside pieces are also undervalued. d4! A clever attacking move that installs a strong knight on d4. 15.h3 [ 15.c3!? xg2 16.xg2 ab8 17.b1 b6 with the idea of doubling rooks gives Black an edge. ] [ 15.xb7 is a temporary sacrifice due to ab8 16.g2 xb2 with advantage. ] 15...d7 The knight on e5 is White's dominant piece so Nogin intends to exchange it. Another reason is that after the exchange of pieces then options such as ... Qd6-c6 will be possible. 16.g4 f5 [ 16...ab8 17.c3 c6 18.f2 allows White to avoid mate but his position is poor. ] 17.e3 f6 [ 17...c6 18.g2 b6 19.xb7 xb7 20.c3 f6 gives Black the superior prospects due to white's exposed king. ] 18.c3 fb8 19.b1 c6 20.g2 xg2 21.xg2 c6 22.h1 [ 22.e3 b7 23.a1 xb1 24.xb1 b8 and White is struggling to make an impact. ] 22...b7 23.a1 ab8 24.xb7 xb7 25.e1 [ 25.d3 d6 26.e3 b3 and Black maintains the pressure. ] 25...g6 26.a4 a6 27.a5 [ 27.e3 b3 ] 27...f7 28.g4 [ 28.f1 b3 ] 28...f3 [ 28...f3!? 29.e3 fxg4-+ ] 29.gxf5 gxf5 30.a4?? causes even greater problems [ In the circumstances, 30.e2! is the best chance xe2 31.xe2 ( 31.xf6 xf6 32.xe2 xe2 33.xe2 b4 34.e3 a4 and Black should win ) 31...xa1 wins ] [ 30.xf3 xf3 31.d1 d8 wins the apawn giving Black a winning ending. ] 30...h3! The simple threat of ...Nf3 followed by ... Qxh2 mate is a killer. 31.e3 [ 31.e3 is not much help after f3 32.xf3 xf3 33.h4 d4 and it is time for White to go home. ] 31...f3 32.e2 xc3 33.b2 [ Or 33.d1 xd2! 34.xc3 b1 wins. ] 33...xb2 34.c6 a7 35.g2

[ 35.f2 just prolongs the torture d4 36.c8 c1 37.g2 f3 38.g8+ e7 and eventually White will run out of checks and have to face reality. ] 35...d4 36.g4 e1 [ 36...fxg4 37.f5 f8 is also an easy victory for Nogin. ] 37.h6+ xh6 38.e2 0-1

1829 Bondarev,Boris Beshukov,Sergei open Krasnodar [Gary Lane]

B20 2435 1997

1.e4 c5 2.b3 b6 3.f4 White wishes to control the e5 squares so that his bishop on b2 will not be blocked by a black pawn. Of course, it also helps to develop the kingside in an aggressive manner. [ Or 3.c4 c6 4.g3 h5!? an aggressive continuation 5.h3 e5 ( 5...h4 is met by 6.g4 ) 6.c3 ge7 7.d3 d6 8.f3 d7 9.d5 xd5 Black is happy to encourage a series of exchanges 10.exd5 d4 11.xd4 exd4 12.e2+ e7 13.f4 f5 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 15.xe7 1/2-1/2 I.Nei-P.Leko, European Team Championship Debrecen 1992. ] [ 3.d4 e6 ( 3...cxd4 is met by 4.f3 ) 4.f3 a6 5.xa6 xa6 6.0-0 c7 7.d5 d6 8.c4 e5 9.c3 White has a space advantage but black's knight on c7 looks misplaced. e7 10.e3 g6 11.d2 f5 12.exf5 gxf5 13.g5 h6 14.xe7 xe7 15.fe1 0-0-0 16.b4 White starts attacking at the first opportunity cxb4 17.b5 xb5 18.cxb5 b7 19.xb4 e7 ( 19...xd5 20.ad1 e6 21.xe5 dxe5 22.c3+ b7 23.xd8 and Black can give up) 20.c3+ d7 21.xe5+! a great sacrifice to gain direct access to the black king dxe5 22.xe5 xd5 23.ac1 he8 24.xf5+ d6 25.c6+ xc6 26.g6+ 1-0 J.DovzikI.Kincs, Eger 1993. ] [ 3.b2 b7 4.e2 White adopts a slow development strategy. It is a safe choice but hardly expected to become the latest fashion e6 5.f4 f6 6.d3 e7 7.g3 d6 1992

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.g2 c6 9.f3 0-0 10.0-0 the chances are even c7 11.bd2 ae8 12.c4 b5 13.xd6!? White wants to trade off some pieces but it does nothing to improve his position. xd6 14.e5 d8 15.exf6 xf6 16.xf6 xf6 17.e5 d4 18.f2 e7 19.c3 f5 20.e4 1/2-1/2 J.Weidemann-H. W e gn e r , G e r m a n T e a m C h a m p i o n sh i p 1987. ] 3...b7 4.c3 g6 [ A few years later Black experimented with 4...a6 to keep out a bishop from b5 when the game continued 5.f3 e6 6.b2 d5 7.d3 ( 7.e5 d4 8.e2? xf3 9.gxf3 h4+ 10.g3 xf4 and Black is a pawn up f o r no th in g) 7...c6 8.exd5 exd5 9.e2+ ge7 ( 9...e7? fails to 10.xd5 ) 10.0-0 b4 11.ae1 xd3 12.xd3 d4 13.a4 c7 14.f5 c6 15.f2 c8 16.e5 gave White an edge in L.Langner-S. Berezjuk, Prague 2001. ] 5.f3 g7 6.b2? [ Interesting is 6.c4 when xe4 7.xf7+ xf7 8.g5+ f8 9.gxe4 c6 offers equal chances. ] 6...xe4 Black takes advantage of the pin on a1-h8 diagonal to win a pawn. I have included this game as a warning to White of a typical tactic. It also has merit because so often players of the Black pieces are baffled how to take advantage of an extra pawn to win the game. In this example White goes all out for glory and it backfires. 7.xe4 xb2 8.c4 [ 8.b1!? is the best move in the circumstances but White abandons caution. g7 9.c4 ] 8...xa1 9.xa1 f6 10.f5 0-0 [ 10...gxf5?! gains a pawn but wrecks his kingside upon 11.xf6+ exf6 12.0-0 0-0 13.d5 c6 14.h4 with a strong attack. ] 11.fxg6 hxg6 [ 11...xe4?! 12.gxh7+ xh7 13.d5= c6 14.xe4+ g8 15.c3 when the queen is eager to switch to the kingside. ] 12.e5 [ 12.xf6+ exf6 13.d5 e8+ 14.f2-+ ] 12...d5 13.xf6+ exf6 14.g4 e8+ 15.d1 e6 Beshukov sensibly guards the f6 pawn. [ 15...dxc4? is what White wants when the game will end peacefully with 16.xf6+ f8

17.h7+ g8 18.f6+ f8 19.h7+ g8 20.f6+ and a draw by repetition. ] 16.f1 [ 16.xd5 is not much help af te r xd5 17.xf6+ xf6 18.xf6 d7 and White can give up. ] 16...dxc4 17.xf6 [ 17.xf6+ does nothing when xf6 18.xf6 xf6 19.xf6 d7 gives Black victory. ] 17...d4 0-1

1830 Bumb,Andreas Weinhold,Oliver German Junior Ch (1) [Gary Lane]

B20

1998

1.c4 c5 2.c3 c6 3.e4 Now it is clear how it is possible to transpose via an English. d6 4.f4 [ 4.f3 intending to transpose to a Maroczy B i n d s e t - u p i s a p o p u l a r c h o i c e . e5 Black signals he has no intention of transposing to main lines which is certainly appropriate. This is because not everyone wit h t h e B la ck p ie ce s will kno w ho w t o handle the Maroczy Bind pawn structure. 5.e2 e7 6.d3 f5 7.exf5 xf5 8.e3 f6 9.a3 0-0 10.0-0 d4 11.b4 b6 12.g5 xe2+ 13.xe2 g4 14.h3 h5 15.e3 h6 16.h4 d7 17.d2 ae8 18.ab1 with roughly equal chances, A. Kosteniuk-J.Kochetkova, Kolontaevo 1998. ] [ 4.e2 White avoid a kingside fianchetto and gets on with the task of developing the kingside. f6 5.f3 e6 6.0-0 e7 7.d3 ( 7.d4 is also possible) 7...0-0 8.h3 d4 9.xd4 cxd4 10.b5 e5 11.b3 d7 12.f4 Once again in this system the advance of the f-pawn heralds the start of an aggressive plan for White a6 13.a3 a5 14.c2 b5 15.d2 c7 16.b4 b6 17.cxb5 axb5 18.e1 f5 19.c1 d8? 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.c6 e8 22.xe7+ xe7 23.b4 g5 24.xf8 xf8 25.xc8+! 1-0 A.Saric-F. Bilicic,Kastel Stari 1997. ] 4...g6 5.f3 g7 6.d3 f5 This is slightly unusual but it is played occasionally against a Closed Sicilian set-up. Apart from challenging 1993

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the centre it makes the advance g3-g4 more difficult to achieve. the drawback is that it slightly exposes the black king and White can fight back by preparing e5 to limit the power of the bishop on g7. [ 6...f6 7.g3 0-0 8.g2 b8 9.0-0 a6 A s u s u a l B la ck in t e n d s t o a d va n c e h i s queenside pawns 10.a4 g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 d4 13.f1 b5 14.axb5 axb5 15.e2 d7 16.h2 bxc4 17.dxc4 b4! T h e we a k c -p a wn is a n o b vio u s t a r ge t 18.xd4 xd4 19.a4 b6 20.xb4 xb4 21.b3 b8 22.f3 a8 23.c2 a1 24.g4 a5 and Black was better in Nunez Vergara-Dominguez Perez, Menorca 1996. ] 7.g3 f6 8.g2 White has an easy plan of development. 0-0 9.0-0 e8 10.e1 b8 11.a4 e5 12.b1 a6 13.e3 Both sides are busy improving the positions of their pieces. White has temporary managed to curtail the advance ...b7-b5 and now plans to take on e5 soon when dxc5 will not be possible if the cpawn is left without support. b6 [ If 13...d7 then 14.fxe5 xe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.f4 e6 17.exf5 gxf5 18.d2 and White is better. ] 14.d2 b4 15.f3 h5 16.d2 h6 17.fxe5 xe3+ 18.xe3 f4?! An interesting pawn sacrificed designed to bring the king's k n ig h t i n t o t h e a ct io n via t h e f 4 squ a re . However, without much chance of reinforcements from the other pieces then the alternative of just taking back the pawn should be considered. [ 18...dxe5 19.exf5 xf5 20.xe5 ( 20.h4! xd3 21.d5+ g7 22.xd3 xd3 23.xd3 is good news for White)) 20...d4 21.e2 d6 22.c3? a2 wins. ] 19.gxf4 xf4 20.exd6 xd6 21.d5 The knight blocks the threats to the d3 pawn making it clear that Black has not enough compensation for the pawn. bxd5 22.exd5 f5 23.be1 xe3 24.xe3 xd3 25.xd3 xd3 26.xd3 f6 27.e2 f8 28.e5 b7 29.d6 a7 30.d7 b5 31.f3 1-0

1831 Burnett,Ronald Fedorowicz,John P Foxwoods Open (2) [Gary Lane]

B20 2420 2574 02.04.1999

1.e4 c5 2.c4 d6 3.g3 h5!? An ambitious move that aims to rattle White by planning ... h4 to open up the h-file. This is not just an outrageous attack but a positional idea to persuade W hite to making concessions on the kingside. Others: [ 3...f6 4.g2 g6 5.c3 g7 6.d3 a6 7.e3 c6 8.ge2 e5 9.0-0 g4 10.f3 d7 11.d2 with equal chances, M.Van. Houten-P.Haase, Hengelo 1999. ] [ 3...g6 4.g2 g7 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 e6 7.bc3 ge7 8.d3 d4 9.xd4 xd4 10.h6 d7 11.d2 b6 12.ab1 a5 13.e2 f6 14.a3 and White was slightly better in A.Somoff-M.Ftouni, Beirut 1997. ] 4.h4!? I am not convinced by this move which stops ...h4 but does present Black with the g4 square for his pieces. [ 4.h3 should be considered when h4 5.g4 e5 6.d3 intending f4 is fine for White. ] 4...c6 5.c3 g6 The position is similar to an English opening that started with 1 c4 c5 2 e4 except the advance of both h-pawns give it a distinct quality. 6.g2 g7 7.ge2 e5 8.d4 [ 8.d3 g4 this highlights the problem of having a pawn on h4 when the bishop can t a ke u p r e s i d e n c y o n g 4 9.0-0 f3+ 10.h1 d7 and it is Black who has the initiative. ] 8...cxd4 9.xd4 g4 [ Not 9...xc4? which loses after 10.a4+ ] 10.f3 d7 11.b3 a5 12.d2 c8 13.0-0 c5 Black is already better because his enterprising opening has confused W hite. The immediate problem is that the knight is pinned to the king which is awkward to deal with. 14.h1 [ If 14.d1 c6 exploits the pin on the knight which becomes clear after 15.ce2 xd4 16.xd4 e5 wins ] 14...xc4! Revealing a discovered attack on the d4 knight. 15.bxc4 xd4 16.xd4 xd4 17.b2 xc4 18.ac1 White is already two pawns down and could resign with dignity. 1994

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Then again, who ever won a game by resigning? e5 19.fd1 e7 20.d5 xc1 21.f6+ d8 22.xc1 a4 23.f1 b5 24.d1 c7 25.f4 c6 Fedorowicz has been established for years as one of America's leading players and is giving a good demonstration of how to convert his mat erial advant age witho ut allowing an y c o u n t e r p l a y . 26.a3 d8 27.f1 a4 28.c1 exf4 29.d5+ b8 30.gxf4 a6 31.c3 xc3 32.xc3 0-1

1832 Carlsen,Magnus Leitao,Rafael Duailibe Caxias do Sul Uva rap rapid (4) [Smerdon, David]

B20 2881 2645 06.03.2014

1.e4 c5 2.b3 I know this is just a rapid game, but given that 2.b3 has been employed by Carlsen, Kramnik, Morozevich and Grischuk in the last 12 months, can we really still call it a sideline? Perhaps it's time to take this cheeky little move more seriously. c6 3.b2 d6 4.b5 d7 Definitely the popular choice. [ It's also possible to allow the doubling of the pawns: 4...f6 5.xc6+ bxc6 6.d3 e5 7.e2 g6 8.0-0 h6! 9.f4? 0-0! 0-1 (36 ) Zu de , A (2 40 0 )-W e i, Y (2 60 7 ) Caleta 2014 ] 5.f4 a6 [ 5...e5 is interesting here. White should sacrifice the pawn: 6.f3 exf4 7.d3 ge7 8.d2 g6 and now the queen's knight should head for d5 as quickly as possible: 9.c3! ( 9.0-0 a6 10.c4 ce5 11.d5 b8 0-1 (29) Paichadze, L (2529) -Socko, B (2654) Yerevan 2014) 9...e7 10.d5 0-0 ( 10...h4+ 11.g3! fxg3 12.0-0-0! ) 11.0-0-0 ] [ 5...f6 6.e2 e6 7.f3 e7 8.0-0 ( 8.e5!? is more forcing: d5 9.e4 f5 10.exf6 xf6 11.c3 0-0 12.0-0-0 1/2-1/2 (43) Morozevich, A (2722)-Eliseev, U (2549) Moscow 2014) 8...0-0 9.d3 d5 10.xc6 xc6 11.e5 c4! Mamedyarov, S (2760)-Anand, V (2799) Nice 2008. Despite the result, this position is quite level, and resembles some sort of reversed Bogo-

Indian. ] 6.xc6 xc6 7.c3 [ 7.d3 d5 8.d2 e6?! ( 8...c4!? 9.bxc4 dxe4 10.e2 e3!? ) 9.gf3 f6 10.e5! c8 11.e2 e7 12.c4! 1-0 (66) Rapport, R (2687)-Tregubov, P (2625) Warsaw 2013 ] 7...f6 8.e2 e6 9.f3 e7 10.0-0-0!? Certainly an aggressive option! [ 10.d3 0-0 11.0-0 b5 12.e5 dxe5 13.xe5 b7 14.ae1 b6 15.h1 ] 10...c7 [ 10...0-0 11.d4 d5! ] 11.d4 cxd4?! [ 11...0-0 12.d5 exd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.exd5 ae8= ] 12.xd4 c8 13.g4 And now we have a, well, sort of Open Sicilian, but with W hite possessing a handy bishop on b2. W hite is better. 0-0 14.g5 [ 14.f5! d7 15.g5 e8 16.h4 ] 14...d7 15.h4 b5 16.he1 fe8 17.a3 c5 18.f5?! It's a rapid game give the WC a break! [ 18.xc6! xc6 19.b1 b8 20.h5 and White is faster. ] 18...f8? [ 18...exf5 19.xf5 f8 20.g2 e5! 21.d5 xd5 22.xe5 xe4 23.xe4 dxe5 24.e3 e6 ] 19.f6! a5? [ 19...b7 20.b1 d7 21.g1 ] 20.dxb5 xb5 21.xb5 b8 22.b1+xe4 23.fxg7 e7 24.xe4 xb5 25.a4 c6 26.d3 e5 27.f1 xg7 28.f5 f8 29.h5 c7 30.d2 d7 31.xe5+ g8 32.xd7 xd7 33.f5 e8 34.c3 1-0

1833 Chomet,Pascal Tagnon,Nicole ch Paris (3) [Gary Lane]

B20

1992

1.e4 c5 2.d3 d6 3.g3 f6 [ 3...g6 is also possible when as usual White takes his time in deciding when to play Nc3 or c3 4.g2 g7 5.f4 e6 6.f3 e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.a3 bc6 10.e5 b6 11.b5 a6 12.a4 d7 13.e1 fd8 1995

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.d2 c4 15.dxc4 dxc4 16.e3 d5 17.f2 a5 18.fd4 f8 19.xd5 xd5 20.c7 b7 21.xa6 xa6 22.e2 b7 23.ad1 when the chances were roughly e q u a l i n R . D j u r h u u s - M . E l g a b r y, C a i r o 1999. ] 4.g2 c6 5.d2 e6 6.f4 e7 7.h3 This normally played with the idea of 0-0 and f4-f5. c7 8.f2!? d7 9.c3 Chomet keeps out the black knight from d4 and more importantly prepares d4. h5 10.h3 0-0-0 The question is whether Black can start a swift kingside attack? 11.f3 h7 [ 11...e5 12.f5 d5 gives White enough p r o b l e m s t o m a k e s u r e h e i gn o re s h i s queenside ambitions. ] 12.d4 cxd4 13.cxd4 e5 [ 13...d5 14.e5 and White has a slight edge when he brings a rook to the c-file. ] 14.d5 b4 15.0-0 exf4 16.xf4 b8 17.d2 a5 Black deserves to be in trouble. A promising middlegame has been messed up because the timing of the attack was wrong. Now White is poised to increase the pressure on the queenside. 18.fc1 b6 19.e3 There is no hiding place for the queen. b5 20.f1 a4 21.d4! 1-0

1834 Collette,Benjamin Georgiev,Krum 21st Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (6) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2194 2456

6.a3! Is the kind of fantastic idea that draws white players to this line. Black may be absolutely fine here, but even so- why give your opponent so much fun? ] 3.b4 g7 4.c3 d6 [ 4...b6 is also very solid. I don't have the book at hand but I know that Solosovski covers this move and I remember thinking that the line he gave contained a couple of gratuitous errors from Black and thus ended with an edge for White. However, looking at the position here, there is no reason why Black should have any problems. ] 5.f3 c6 6.b1 e6 7.g3 ge7 8.g2 0-0 9.0-0 b6 10.e1 e5 11.d3 h6 12.d2 d4 13.c4 e6 14.e3 f5 15.exf5 gxf5 16.f4 exf4 17.gxf4 h7 18.cd5 xd5 19.xd5 g8 20.h1 h8 21.d2 h4 22.b2 xg2 23.xg2 g8 24.xe6 xg2 Black heavily out rated his opponent, but even so this was quite a smooth display and gives an example of how a strong player reacts to a move like 2 a3!?- without getting in a flap about how to refute it! 0-1

1835 Conquest,Stuart Nunn,John DM London (10) [Gary Lane]

B20 2485 2590 1993

1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.g3 d5 4.d2 f6 5.g2 e5 6.e2 [ 6.exd5 xd5 7.gf3 e7 8.0-0 0-0 1.e4 c5 2.a3 A move of the moment, and 9.e1 f6 10.b3 c7 11.c3 the position is one that appeals to players who like to be a equal e6 12.e3 c4 13.dxc4 xc4 little cheeky at the start of the game. It's not 14.c5 c8 15.d2 f7 16.db3 d8 such a bad move, but nor should it be any sort 17.e2 d5 18.d2 b6 19.e4 a5 20.a4 of theoretical problem for Black. In my opinion, h6 1/2-1/2 M.Tal-A.Kapengut, USSR Ch you shouldn't spend more than 20 minutes of 1971. ] your life thinking about what you will do about [ 6.h3 is also worth investigating when the 2 a3!? In fact although I have known about idea is to castle kingside and play a quick f4. this move for a while, and glanced through e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c3 h6 9.f4 dxe4 10.dxe4 the recent book on the subject by Alexei g4 11.e2 f5 12.fxe5 gxe5 13.f4 Bezgodov (published by Chess Stars), but I fxe4 14.xe4 g4 15.b5 b8 16.xc5 have never f elt moved to give the matter d4 17.d5+ xd5 18.xd5 xb5 much thought. However, Black's response in 19.xe7+ h7 20.f4 be8 21.xe5 this game looks quite sensible. g6 xf1+ 22.xf1 xe7 23.e1 f7+ 24.g2 [ 2...e6 3.b4 cxb4 4.axb4 xb4 5.b2 f8 b6 25.d3 d7 26.f2 e6 27.b3 d5+ 1996

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 27...d2? 28.c4 a3 29.f4 wins ) 28.g1 f3 29.e3 c6 30.f1 d6 31.xd6 xd6 32.e2 and the extra pawn helped W hite to win in A.Gelman-K. Gevorgian, Moscow 1995. ] 6...e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.exd5 [ 8.h3 this is an attempted improvement on the main game Conquest-Nunn. In this case White intends to resist the urge to swap off in the centre. b8 9.c4!? An original plan to fight for control of the of the d5 square. If Black plays ...d4 then W hite can counter with f4 and start a kingside pawn storm. dxe4 10.dxe4 d3 11.c3 d4 12.e1 c2 13.f1 a6 14.e3 xd1 15.xd1 b5 16.b3 d8 17.b2 a5 18.f1 b7 19.cd5 xd5 20.cxd5 g6 21.ac1 b6 22.c2 a5 23.xd4 exd4 24.g1 bd8 25.f1 f5 26.exf5 xf5 27.xb5 xd5 28.c4 xc4 29.xc4 e8 30.d2 fe5 31.a3 e2 32.xe2 xe2 33.xc5 d3 34.xb6 d2 35.d4 e1+ 36.g2 d1 37.xd1 xd1 38.xa5 a1 39.a4 a3 40.b6 xb3 41.a5 h5 42.e3 1/2-1/2 V. Malaniuk-O.Gritsak, Koszalin 1998. ] 8...xd5 9.e1?! It is probably best to keep the rook on the f-file because one of the main ideas is to play f4. For instance: [ 9.c4!? e6 10.f4 exf4 11.xf4 xf4 12.xf4 d5 13.c7 xc7 14.xd5 with equal chances. ] 9...e6 10.c4 c7 11.f4 ad8 12.d2!? [ 12.fxe5 b8! the best move according to Nu nn in t en d in g . . .b 5 wh en Nd 6 c a n b e answered by Nxe5. 13.a4 xe5 14.f4 g4 15.d2 xc4 16.dxc4 which Nunn thinks is equal. ] 12...f6 13.f5 xf5 14.xd5 xd5 15.e3 d7 16.xd5 [ 16.f1 is a sterner test for Black after h3 17.xd5 xd5 18.f2 e7 with the idea of pursuing the attack with ...f5-f4. ] 16...xd5 17.c3 d7 18.e3 d4 19.xd4 xd4+ 20.g2 d7 21.e2 c6+ 22.f1 d7 23.g1? A waste of time. [ 23.e4 e7 preparing ...Qh3+ and f5 is tough for White. ] 23...e4! 24.dxe4 [ 24.xe4 xb2 25.ab1 d4+ 26.h1 f5 is much better for Black. ] 24...d4+ 25.g2 f5 26.f1 e8 27.ae1

b5 28.h5 g6 29.g5 b4 30.d1 xe4+ 31.h3 The king is just waiting to be finished off. g7 32.c3 f6 33.c1 f4+ 34.g4 d3+ 0-1

1836 Devereaux,Maxim Lunn,Timothy Monarch Assurance Isle of Man (6) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2377 2079 28.09.06

1.e4 c5 2.a3 By comparison with 2 b4, 2 Na3 is positively excellent! It's a good way of leaving the beaten track and W hite is not worse. a6!? Played to dissuade White from putting his knight on c4, as this will be met by ...b5. 3.c3 Giving him the twin options of rerouting the Knight to c2 and d2-d4 where possible. We will go back into a 2 c3 variation wh e re 2 . . a6 is o f qu e st io n a ble va lu e . g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 c6 6.0-0 d6 7.d4 Restraint is no longer necessary against B l a c k ' s p a s s i v e s e t - u p . f6 8.d5! White heads for a Benoni setup with gain of time. b8 9.h3 0-0 [ N o t i n g t h a t 9...xe4 10.a4+ loses a piece in time-honoured fashion. ] 10.d3 b5 11.f4 bd7 12.ad1 W hite has completed his development and looks forward to a kingside attack or a quick e4-e5. Black has problems with the Bishop on c8 and is very passive. b6 13.e3 c7 14.fe1 d7 15.f1 c4?! Allowing White u n c h a lle n g e d u s e o f d 4 . 16.c2 fe8 17.c1 b7 18.h6 ad8 [ 18...h8 would have been my choice, sensing the danger to the Black King. But a f t e r t h a t 19.cd4 c7 20.f4 a4 21.d2 c5 22.g5 a5 23.df3 is still much better for White, as the Black King is in for a real pounding. ] 19.g3 [ 19.xg7! xg7 20.cd4 c8 21.g5 wasted no time. ] 19...a4 20.xg7 xg7 21.d4 c5 22.e5 dxe5 23.h4!? Perhaps sensing that his opponent will fold at the first sign of outright attack. h5? [ The cold-blooded 23...f5 24.xe5 xc2 1997

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.xc2 xd5 was superior, after which get uncomfortable pressure no matter what, Black has turned the tables. ] from this junction. Your engine will agree. 24.xe5 c8 25.e3 cd7 26.exh5! [ 5...d6 6.d2! is a computer-inspired Of course, if Black just sits there and lets it novelty I'm giving away for free. ( 6.c4!? a5 h a p p e n , s u c h m o ve s a r e p o ssi b le . xh5 7.d2 d7 1/2-1/2 (60) Petrosian, T 27.f5+ g8 28.xh5 It's mate in three (2592)-Hou, Y (2509)/Moscow RUS 2007) moves. 6...c6 ( 6...b6 7.a3! ) 7.d5 b8 1-0 8.c3 with a fantastic position. ] [ 5...g6 was played recently, but I think White should still be very satisfied with the 1837 B20 result of the opening. 6.c3 a6 7.c4 ( 7.f3 ) 7...g7 8.f3 e6 9.e5 c7 Dobrov,V 2537 10.d2 d5 11.exd6 xd6 12.e4 c6 Blom,V 2184 and here W hite could have won with the 3rd Split Open 2013 (8.8) 17.08.2013 s p e c t a c u l a r 13.a6!! ( 13.f4 e7 [Smerdon, David] 14.d6+ f8 15.xc6 xc6 16.xf7 xf7 17.xc7 d7 0-1 (36) Bezgodov, A 1.e4 c5 2.a3 Not as toothless as it seems, in (2482)-Gundavaa, B (2516)/Khanty my opinion - but then again, I've always had a Mansiysk RUS 2013) 13...d7 ( 13...bxa6 soft spot for the weird and wondrous. c6 14.f6+ xf6 15.xc6+ d7 16.xc7 I've decided to look at this line because I think c8 17.xa7 xc4 18.a3+- ) 14.d6+ it's a very natural reply to W hite's second f8 15.a5 ] move. I imagine a lot of players on the black side would assume this developing move 6.c3 c6 7.exd5 [ The weaker 7.e5 was analysed in the notes stops b4 in its tracks, but in fact winning the to Shchukin-Malina. ] pawn after W hite's third actually leads to a 7...xd5 8.a3 Time to take stock. This a respectable variation of the Wing Gambit. [ 2...g6 is meant to be one of the best reasonably important position, both for 2. a3 answers to 2.a3, but things can get really and for the Wing Gambit proper, as Black can c r a z y a f t e r 3.h4!? - see Marusenko- easily arrive here ju st by playing natura l moves. White has lost a pawn, to be sure, but Burdalev in the archives. ] 3.b4 cxb4?! ...and this is why I chose to has the a- and b-files to work with. Meanwhile, cover this game. Can you believe that this White also has a lead in development and the natural win of a pawn on move three is an potential to increase it, thanks to the slightly awkward position of the black queen. W ith error? No? Then read on! [ 3...e5!? is my favourite move for Black here. we a kn e s se s o n c 7 a n d f 7 , a m o n g o t h e r It leads to some very strange positions, with squares, the position is quite precarious for Black's knight heading to e6 before the rest Black. d7 [ A white win in a correspondence game (!) of the pieces get a look at the game. 4.b5 went 8...a6 9.c4 d8 10.d5 b8 d4 5.c3 e6 and now a recent clash ( 10...b5 11.dxc6 xd1+ 12.xd1 bxc4 went 6.c4 f6 7.d3 d5 8.exd5 xd5 13.f3! ) 11.e5 f6 12.b5+ d7 9.f3 b6 10.a2 d6 11.0-0 0-0 13.c4 g6 14.gf3 g7 15.0-0 e4 12.bd2 f4?! ( 12...a6! 13.bxa6 xa6 16.xf7 xf7 17.d6+ e8 18.e1 f5 14.e4 c7 ) 13.e4! 1/2-1/2 (71) 19.a3 c6 20.d5 xc3 21.xe4 xa1 Bezgodov, A (2482)-Kurnosov, I (2657)/ 22.g4 d7 23.e1 c3 24.e3 a1 Khanty Mansiysk RUS 2013 ] 25.d1 f6 26.gxf5 d8 27.d5 f8 4.axb4 xb4 5.d4 Yes, I'm going to claim 28.e6 1-0 Vlasveld, W (2439) -Jaederholm, that W hite is already better! d5 The most B (2496)/ICCF email 2007 ] common, though I don't think it's best. Again, we're going to investigate what happens if 9.c4 e6 10.h3N I quite like this novelty. Black just plays natural, 'popular' moves. Suddenly Black's queen is feeling a little However, I would say that White is going to uncomfortable. 1998

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ P r e v i o u s l y s e e n wa s 10.b6 e4+ 11.e3 d8 12.xd7 xd7 13.f3 f6 14.d3 d5 15.0-0 e7 16.c4 d6 and now instead of 17.d5? as in Damia, A (2263)-Bagaturov, G (2474)/San Nicola Arcella 2007 (0-1, 37) , White could have kept an edge with 17.c5! d5 18.e5! ] [ 10.f3 is of course also possible. So many choices! ] 10...e5 Probably forced. [ 10...f6?! 11.f4 e4+ 12.e3 ] 11.e3 [ 11.b6!? is a little different this time White is playing for an endgame advantage, would you believe! e4+ 12.e2 xe2+ 13.xe2 d8 14.xd7 xd7 15.dxe5 and the two bishops guarantee a solid plus. One important feature is c5 16.e6! fxe6 17.g5 with strong threats. ] 11...d6 12.d5 d8 13.c4 b8? [ 13...c7 14.f4 e4 was an improvement, as the queen defends d7 herself. However, 15.g5 f6 16.d6 c6 17.a5! keeps the pressure on. ] 14.f4! e4 15.e5 d6?? Losing, but is it any wonder Black blunders? The position was already very difficult. [ 15...f6 16.xd7 xd7 17.b5 f5 18.xd7+ xd7 19.e3 and Black's position is in complete discord. ] 16.xd7 xd7 17.g4+ e7 18.f2?? Odd. But at least we get to see a typica l position f or this line, with 'just-suf ficient' compensation that appears quite often in the Wing Gambit. [ I have to assume there was some good reason why the GM eschewed the free rook with 18.xg7 , after which my engine gives +6. Perhaps W hite missed that after f6 19.xh8 c7 20.b2 b6 he has 21.0-0-0!! and, well, that's that. ] 18...f6 19.h4 f8 20.e2 So now the game is back on level terms. W hite has a very active position, the sort that would suit most Wing Gambit players to a tee. However, o b j e c t i v e l y B l a c k s h o u l d b e o k a y . e3! 21.d3?! [ 21.xe3 xd5 22.d4 xf4 23.f3! ] 21...xd5 22.c4? b4? A game of errors! [ 22...c7! ] 23.0-0 c2? I should say, these positions are

severely complicated and incredibly unorthodox, so I can't blame either player for the inaccuracies! However, this really is the last straw for Black: a bunch of black pieces are misplaced on the last rank, while the c2 knight has started its own adventure. Meanwhile, all of White's pieces are ready to strike. [ 23...xd3 24.xd3 c5 ] 24.a2 d4 25.f5 xe2+ 26.xe2 h6 27.xe3 c6 28.c5 e7? 29.xe7! White finishes in style. xe7 30.f6 gxf6 31.xf6 h7 32.e5 e8 33.d6 g8 34.d7 d8 35.b2 1-0

1838 Dodgson,John A Corkett,Anthony op Jersey (7) [Gary Lane]

B20

1998

1.e4 c5 2.d3 g6 Black wishes to get on with the job of developing on the kingside. 3.g3 [ 3.e3 g7 4.c3 d6 5.d2 c6 6.f4 e5 7.fxe5 xe5 8.gf3 b6 9.d4 g4 10.g5 f6 11.f4 g5 12.g3 e3 13.a4+ d7 14.b5 g4 15.f2 gxf3 16.gxf3 cxd4 17.cxd4 g5 18.f4 g4+ 19.f3 f6 20.xd7+ xd7 21.xd7+ xd7 22.xg4 xd4 23.c4 h5+ 24.f3 h4 25.e1 e7 26.d1 c6 27.f2 xf2 28.xf2 h6 29.e5 e7 30.xd6 h5 31.hg1 ah8 32.f3 f6 33.g7+ e6 34.e4 xe5+ 35.fxe5 xe5 36.e7+ f5 37.d6+ g6 38.g1+ 1-0 V.Hort-W. Hartmann,German Team Ch 1982. ] 3...g7 [ 3...d5 4.exd5 ( 4.d2 ) 4...xd5 5.f3 g7 6.g2 e6+ 7.f1 f6 8.h3 c6 9.g1 0-0 10.h2 d6 11.a3 e5 12.e1 e6 13.c4 xc4 14.dxc4 c7 15.c3 ad8 16.c2 d7 17.e3 h6 18.h4 e7 19.ad1 f5 20.f4 e4 21.f1 b6 22.e2 f6 23.g2 c6 24.f2 g7 25.g4 f6 26.gxf5 gxf5 27.g1 xd1 28.xd1 e7 29.e1 h7 30.e3 g8 31.h4 d6 32.g3 e6 33.d1 d7 34.h5 f6 35.xg8 xg8 36.g1+ g7 37.e8 f8 38.f1 1/2-1/2 K.Mokry-J.Nun, 1999

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c5 2.b3!? d5 3.exd5 f6 If this move works, then 2 b3 can be considered redundant. In the style of the Tal Gambit vs the Grand Prix attack, Black is willing to sacrifice a pawn for activity. My own view is that b2-b3 is much more useful to White than f2-f4 can ever be in a position of this type. 4.b5+! Why not. White wants to keep the pawn and gets closer to castling. [ 4.b2 xd5 is just very easy for Black: 5.f3 c6 6.b5 ( 6.d4 cxd4 7.xd4 xd4 8.xd4 e6 9.c3 xc3 10.xd8+ xd8 11.xc3 f6 12.0-0-0+ c7 leads nowhere at all from White's point of view: 13.b5 a6 14.d3 c5 15.f3 d7 16.he1 h5 17.e4 ad8 18.d4 a3+ 19.b2 b4 20.c3 d6= Paljusaj, E-Brkic, A/Pula 2000) 6...d7 7.0-0 e6 8.e1 f6 9.a3 e7 10.c4 0-0 11.xc6 xc6 12.fe5 d5 13.e2 b6 14.ad1 c7 15.e3 ad8 16.d3 b7 17.3g4 xg4 18.xg4 f6= Ruck, T-Kiss, A/Koszeg 1997 ] [ 4.c4 e6 5.dxe6 xe6 is an Icelandic Gambit where White is stuck with the lightsquared Bishop. I believe in Black's compensation here: 6.f3 c6 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 d7 9.b2 d8 Restraining the W hite pawn on d2. 10.a3 0-0 11.c2 f5 12.d3 xd3 13.xd3 xd3 14.xd3 xd3 15.ad1 fd8 1/2-1/2 Garcia, A-Feller, J/Novi Sad 1990 ] 4...bd7 5.c4 a6 6.xd7+ xd7 7.b2 e6 8.dxe6 xe6 9.f3 d7 [ 9...d3! might offer more chance of co m p e n s a t i o n : 10.e2 ( 10.c3 d6 11.e2 g6 12.d4 0-0 13.dxc5 xc5 14.0-0 g4 ) 10...xe2+ 11.xe2 h5! ] 10.0-0 0-0-0 11.d4! The difference. White's King is safe and he gets to offer some 1839 B20 exchanges. cxd4 12.xd4 c7 13.c3 Dvirnyy,Daniyl 2351 d6 14.bd2 g4 15.h3 h5 16.e4! e7 [ 16...h2+ 17.h1 f4 can be answered Miatello,Alberto 2057 b y t h e c o l d - b l o o d e d 18.xg7! hg8 Open Verona ITA (5) 06.01.2007 19.c3 ] [Andrew Martin] 17.ae1 f5 18.c5 f6?! Black does not Idiosyncratic variations such as 2 b3 will believe in his position anymore. [ The sole chance lay in 18...f6 but even always be dangerous in the right hands. One there 19.eg5! g6 20.e5 is very strong must not give a flying fig for theory, possess indeed. ] an iconoclastic temperament and be useful in attack. Only then will 2 b3 work for you! 1.e4 19.xf6 gxf6 20.hxg4! hxg4 21.xf6 h5 Pardubice 1998. ] 4.g2 e6 5.f4 [ 5.f3 A worthy alternative d5 6.exd5 exd5 7.0-0 e7 8.e1 0-0 9.c3 e8 10.g5 e6 11.d2 bc6 12.h4 h5 13.h6 d6 14.xg7 xg7 15.g5 f5 16.b5 d7 17.f4 ac8 18.c3 e7 19.e2 ce8 20.d2 d4 21.f4 b4 22.e2 d5 23.xe7 xe7 24.a3 xg2 25.axb4 d5 26.bxc5 f6 27.xd5 xd5 28.e4 b6 29.cxb6 axb6 30.b3 d6 31.b4 e6 32.a7+ b7 33.c4! xc4 34.xb7+ 1-0 E. Carlier-J.Bernard, Paris 1993. ] 5...e7 6.c3 This is the point of 2 d3 for many people. W hite is able to choose between c3 or Nc3 depending how Black reacts. bc6 7.e3 b6 8.f3 d5 9.e5 W hite is happy to allow Black a French Defence set-up. The reason is that with the centre closed then White can start a kingside pawn advance. h5 10.f2 c7 11.a3 a6 12.c2 Dodgson has a space advantage and is using it to manoeuvre his pieces to useful squares. W hite has an edge. f5 13.d2 f8 14.h3 White slowly but surely is improving his position. The intention now is to play g4 and push back the knight on f5 leaving Black in a very passive position. d7 15.0-0 e7 16.d4 a5 17.b3 b8 18.fc1 White's position is comfortable but this is not the right way to grab the initiative. He should consider preparing lines with g4. f8 19.f1 b5 20.e1 xf1 21.xf1 d8 22.e2 a8 23.g2 b7 24.g4 Finally, the expected advance is played and Black immediately falls into a trap. h4+? 25.xh4 xh4 26.g5 1-0

2000

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.e7 d7 23.e5 xc5 24.h4 dh8 25.g3 5h6 26.xf7 Very convincing by White after Black's lapse on move nine. Thus 9 ..Qd3 is the only chance for rescue. 1-0

1840 Fedorov,Alexei Kasparov,Garry Wijk aan Zee NED (2) [Gary Lane]

B20 2575 2849 14.01.2001

1.e4 c5 2.d3 Fedorov is renowned for his aggressive style but in this case chooses to avoid the main lines. This is probably to avoid Kasparov's renowned opening preparation. c6 3.g3 g6 [ If 3...d5 then 4.d2 transposes to the King's Indian Attack. ] 4.g2 g7 5.f4 d6 6.f3 f6 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 Federov wants to play a set-up on the kingside which is the same as the Closed Sicilian. However, he hopes to accelerate the attack by delaying Nc3 which often becomes a target for Black after ...b7-b5-b4. [ 8.c3 or ] [ 8.c3 are also possible. ] 8...b5 [ 8...e5 9.f5 d5 ( 9...gxf5 10.exf5 xf5 11.xe5 dxe5 12.xf5 is slightly better for White. ) 10.exd5 xd5 11.fxg6 hxg6 12.e1 f5 13.bd2 d7 14.h2 ad8 15.h4 ( 15.c4 increasing pressure on the e5 pawn looks logical) 15...e6 16.e4 b6 17.g5 d4 18.xe6 xe6 19.f3 d6 20.c3 White stops the knight invading on d4 but now the d3 pawn is weak e7 21.a4 f5 22.g4 d7 23.f1 White has a passive position and has still not completed his development, A.BerescuC.Burnoiu, Bucharest 1999. ] [ 8...b8 9.a3 c7 10.g4 b5 11.c3! White spots a good time to transpose back into a favourable version of the Closed Sicilian. a5 12.g5 d7 13.d5 d8 14.f5 d4 15.h4 b4 16.axb4 axb4 17.f4 and White had the initiative in K.KokoliasM.Verivakis,Chania 2000. ] 9.g4 [ 9.e5 dxe5 10.xe5 xe5 11.fxe5

( 11.xa8 xh3! 12.g2 xg2 13.xg2 d5+ 14.g1 eg4 gives roughly equal chances ) 11...d5 12.c4 c7 13.xa8 xa8 gives Black decent compensation for the exchange. ] 9...a5 10.f5!? b4 11.e1 Even Kasparov was later quoted as saying this move was optimistic! White is still keen to attack on the kingside and leave his queenside pieces on their original squares. a6 [ 11...d7 12.h4 de5 is another way to cope satisfactorily with the white attack. ] 12.h4 c4 13.h6 [ Fedorov goes for a direct attack. His ideal sequence would be to follow up with Ng5 threaten to exchange pawn on g6 and open up the possibility of Rxf6 to exchange the defender of h7. The only snag is that Black is allowed to move. Alternatively, if the dp a w n i s d e f e n d e d w i t h 13.d1 then Kasparov can keep up the pressure upon cxd3 14.cxd3 b6+ 15.h1 e5 16.xe5 dxe5 17.g3 fd8 18.e3 c6 ] 13...cxd3 14.cxd3 [ The onslaught has to falter to deal with the crumbling pawn structure. Or 14.fxg6 fxg6 15.g5 xh6 16.xh6 d7! 17.xf6? exf6 and the queen on d7 protects h7 giving Black a won game. ] 14...xd3 15.e1 xh6 [ Kasparov is understandably reluctant to lose control and allow a king-hunt. Then again, it is not clear that White has enough pieces to finish off the job of mating the exposed black king. 15...xe4 16.xg7 xg7 17.xe4 xe4 18.g5 b6+ 19.h2 xg2 20.xh7+ f6 21.xg2 ( 21.xf7 xf7 22.xg6+ e5 23.e6+ f4 ) 21...xg5 22.d2 ] 16.xh6 b6+ 17.h1 e5 18.bd2 [ Realistically, the best practical chances is to offer to exchange queens and then suffer in the ending after 18.xe5 dxe5 19.e3 xe3 20.xe3 fd8 ] 18...ac8 19.g5 c2 20.f1 xf1 21.xf1 fc8 22.fxg6 hxg6 23.b3 [ 23.xf7 is a good example of how to sacrifice too many pieces upon xf7 24.g5 e3 25.h7+ e6 26.gxf6 exf6 27.g7 g5 28.h4 a desperate idea but otherwise White can only resign in view of the material 2001

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 deficit. xh4+ 29.g1 g4 30.f3 xg2+ that White can indeed use the file to cramp 31.xg2 e3+ 32.g1 g3+ 33.h1 Black and thereby claim the advantage. ] g2# ] 15.f4 exf4 16.xf4 e5 17.d2 d7 [ 23.xf6 exf6 24.h7+ f8 and the white 18.g5 attack fades away. ] [ 18.g4! gaining space and taking squares 23...xg2! 24.xg2 c2+ 25.g3 e3+ was definitely worth consideration. ] 0-1 18...h6? [ He is obviously afraid of 18...c6 19.f4 but I th ink Black can escape tac tically: ( 19.xc6 xc6 20.a4 b5 21.af4 e6 1841 B20 and White has no way to increase the pin.) Fedorov,Alexei 2611 19...xg2 20.xg2 a8! 21.aa1 Landenbergue,Claude 2435 ( 21.fa1 xa7 22.xa7 c6 23.a1 b4 8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (4) 06.04.2007 24.f1 a8+ ) 21...xa1 22.xa1 d6= ] [Andrew Martin] 19.xh6 c6 20.xg7 xg7 21.f4 xg2 1.e4 c5 2.d3 It's surprising that 2 d3 isn't 22.xg2 c6 23.aa1 e5 24.ae1 tried more often, because it's an obviously White has an obvious huge advantage. b7 decent move and seems more flexible to me 25.g4 d5 26.xd5 xd5+ 27.g3 e6 [ Attempts to coordinate the Black pieces fail than 2 Nc3 if White intends a Closed Sicilian t o c o n v i n c e : 27...be7 28.f6+ g8 formation. The option of c2-c3 is still on the 29.c3 d8 30.e4 d7 31.g5 g7 table. d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.c3 d8 32.g2 ] [ 4...d7!? is played in a similar position in the English: 1 c4 d6 2 Nc3 e5 3 d4 exd4 4 28.c3 d4 29.xd4 cxd4 30.b5 c6 fxe6 32.d6 a7 33.h4 Q x d 4 N c 6 5 Q d 2 a n d s o c o u l d b e 31.xe6 considered here. The variations after 5.g3 A s t h e e n d g a m e a p p r o a c h e s B l a c k ' s ( 5.e3 e5 6.f3 c6 7.g3; 5.f3 c6 ) problems increase with the threat of Kg5! b4 [ Thus 33...a2 could be met aggressively 5...b6 6.g2 b7 7.f3 c6 8.0-0 with 34.f7+ g8 35.g5 xb2 36.f6 don't seem that good for White, although as d8 37.xg6+ f8 38.c4 xc2 39.xb6 we are encountering all the time in these c3 ( 39...f2 40.f6+; 39...h2 40.d7+ Sicilian sidelines, the battle is yet to come. ] e7 41.g7+ d6 42.f8 c6 43.h4 5.g3! f6 6.g2 g6 7.e3!N Now I think h3 44.d7+- ) 40.f6 xd3 41.d7+ White can count on an opening edge, given e8 42.e5+- ] that the Bishop on g2 is so strong. [ 7.ge2 g7 8.h3 a6 9.e3 c7 10.d2 34.f2 a5 [ 34...a2 35.f7+ g8 36.g5 xb2 Eisenbeiser, J-Germer, M/Schoeneck 1999 37.xg6 xc2 38.e7 f2 39.f5 is rather similar to the game. ] is convincing enough. ] 7...bd7 8.a4 White has visions of controlling 35.f7+ g8 36.f6 e5 37.xg6+ h7 the a file. g7 9.a5 0-0 10.h3! [ 10.a6 is mistimed: b8 11.axb7 xb7 38.f7 e3 [ 38...xg6 39.xe5+ f6 40.c3! ] 12.xb7 xb7 13.a2 c7 14.ge2 ( 14.f3 fb8 15.b3 g4 16.d2 de5= ) 39.xe6 xc2 [ 39...xe6 40.g5+ g6 41.xe6 xc2 14...c6 15.0-0 e5 42.f4+ f6 43.g5++- ] Black straightforwardly answers W hite's 40.g5+ g7 41.xb6 pawn-pushing with development. ] 10...e5 11.ge2 b8 12.0-0 b5 This was 1-0 what it had to come to. Now White takes the file, but can he use it? 13.axb6 axb6 14.a7 e8 [ 14...b5 15.d2 b6 16.fa1 ] [ 14...e8 15.d2 d6 16.fa1 are small, convincing variations to show 2002

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1842 Gelashvili,Tamaz Gassanov,Assif 2nd President's Cup (8.13) [John Shaw]

B20 2605 2353 10.05.2007

e7-e5 and prepare a potential kingside expansion with f4-f5. g7 6.f3 0-0 7.c4 An id e a t o co n t ro l th e ce n t re , wh ic h is borrowed from the English Defence. ( 7.g3!? is worth investigating intending to castle k i n g s i d e wi t h s i m i l a r p l a y t o a C l o s e d Sicilian. ) 7...c6 8.c3 e5 9.fxe5 dxe5 1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 Other sound lines include 10.d5 xd5 11.cxd5 d4 12.e2 a5+ [ 2...b6 and ] 13.f2 ( 13.d2? c2+ 14.d1 xd2+ [ 2...d6 3.b2 f6 ] 15.xd2 xa1 16.xa1 f6 when Black 3.b2 e5 This is just about the only standard h a s a m a t e r i a l a d v a n t a g e .) 13...f5 set-up that I think Black should avoid. The Black is right to try and take advantage of plan Bc4, Ne2, 0-0 and f2-f4 is easy and fun the temporary misplaced white king. 14.f1 for White. xf3 15.xf3 c4 16.g1 ( Or 16.dxc4 [ 3...f6 is just one of many decent fxe4; 16.bxc4 b6+ ) 16...c3 the passed calternatives. ] pawn will be a long-term menace. 17.c1 4.c4 f6 5.d3 d6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 0-0 c5+ 18.h1 b5 with advantage for Black, 8.bc3 b8 9.a4 a6 10.d2 d4 11.a5 A.Pridorozhni-A.Motylev, Tomsk 2001. ] [ A l s o p o s s i b l e w a s t h e d i r e c t 11.f4 with the point b5 12.axb5 axb5 13.xd4 4...bd7 [ 4...d7 is the main alternative 5.xd7+ cxd4 14.xb5 ] bxd7 6.d3 e5 Black makes sure that the 11...h5 12.f4 xe2+ 13.xe2 exf4 a1-h8 diagonal is closed to ward off the 14.xf4 g5 15.c3! Much better than the threat of white's queen's bishop. 7.e2 d5 obvious 8.exd5 xd5 9.0-0 e7 10.bc3 xc3 [ 15.g3 h3 ] 11.xc3 0-0 12.d5 d6 13.f3 15...f6 16.xh5! Giving up the queen to gave White a slight initiative, T.Gelashviligain two wonderful minor pieces and a pawn. M.Gagunashvili, Batumi 2001. ] xc3 17.xc3 e6 18.xg7 xc4 19.bxc4 e8 Black had little choice but to return 5.d3 [ 5.e2 g6 6.f4 g7 7.f3 0-0 8.0-0 material. 20.xe8 xe8 21.f3 This allows W hite could exchange on d7 but he can Black a sliver of counterplay. save time by waiting until he is forced. a6 [ 21.f6! would maintain the bind. For 9.xd7 xd7 10.c3 b5 11.f5 b7 example, d7 22.af1 b5? 23.axb6 xb6 ( 11...gxf5 12.exf5 xf5 13.xe7 xc2 24.e5 ] 14.d1 with equal chances.) 12.d3 e6 21...b5 22.axb6 xb6 23.af1 b7 13.fxg6 fxg6 14.ae1 when the game soon 24.g3+ f8 25.h4 a4 26.f2 a3 drifted to a draw, I.Papaioannou-B.Gelfand, 27.g7+ e7 28.h2 c1 29.f6+ f8 Istanbul 2000. ] 30.g5 e1 31.f6 d7 32.h6 White's pieces finally catch up with the black 5...g6 6.xd7+ xd7 7.f4 The advance of king. f5 33.exf5 a5 34.e6 c3 35.f6 the f-pawn is a standard idea in lines with 2 b3 because it helps to prevent ...e7-e5. g7 xc2 36.e7 xe7 37.fxe7+ e8 38.f3 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 d5! The timing has to be 1-0 right before Black challenges the centre. In this case, Vladimirov has spotted that the 1843 B20 opportunity has arisen. 10.exd5 [ Or 10.e5 g4 11.d2 ( 11.e1 d4 Gelashvili,Tamaz 2547 12.c1 is hardly what White wants because Vladimirov,Evgeny 2605 it is rather passive) 11...d4 with the black Dubai Arad United Emirates (3) 17.04.2002 knight ready to hop on to the e3 square. ] [Gary Lane] 10...xd5 11.xg7 xg7 [ 11...e3? is simply awful because it loses 1.e4 c5 2.b3 d6 3.b2 f6 4.b5+ a piece after 12.e2 xf1 13.xf8 xf8 [ 4.d3 g6 5.f4 White takes steps to stop ... 2003

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.b5+ d7 9.c6 winning material. ] 7.b5+ d7 8.xe4 xe4 9.g5 g6 [ 9...b7 10.d5! white cuts of Black's bishop and prepares to focus on the weak f7 pawn w h e n a s a m p l e l i n e i s h6? 11.e6! and White is on top. ] [ Or 9...xg2 10.g1 b7 11.d5 a6 12.f3! when a typical direct attack is revealed to be crushing after f6 13.e6 c8 14.h5+ g6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.xg6# ] 10.f3 c8 [ 10...d5!? 11.dxc5 c7 ] [ 10...h6 11.xd7+ xd7 12.b7+ c7 ( 12...e8? 13.c6+ wins ) 13.xa8 hxg5 14.c4 and White is on top. ] 11.d5 c7 [ If 11...h6 then 12.e6 fxe6 13.dxe6 c7 14.g4 xc2 15.xd7+ and Black can give up! ] 12.0-0 b7 13.fe1 White has a marvellous position against an experienced grandmaster and all this by playing 2 b3. a6 14.c6 a7 15.e3 f6? [ After 15...d8 White has a forcing c o m b i n a t i o n 16.xg7! a beautiful, forced end to the game xg7 ( 16...g8 17.xf8 xf8 18.h3 with a big edge) 17.xe7+ c7 18.xd7+ b8 19.xa7+ xa7 20.e7+ b8 21.b7+ a8 22.e1 with a winning position ] 16.e6 f7 17.h3 f5 [ 17...b8 is desperate but hardly helps after 18.f4 d8 19.e6+ e8 20.xg6 hxg6 21.xd6 winning. ] 18.g5+ g8 The black king is trying to hide but the defence is prone to disaster because 1844 B20 his queen is far away doing nothing. 19.e3 Georgiev,Krum 2440 e5 20.dxe6 xc6 21.e7 [ 21.exd7?! is not so accurate because Ermenkov,Evgenij 2500 xd7 22.c4 d5 23.cxd5 d6 24.d3 Albena 1985 gives Black chances of survival that he [Gary Lane] doesn't deserve. ] 1.e4 c5 2.b3 b6 3.b2 b7 4.c3 d6 21...d5 22.e8 [ Or 22.exf8+ xf8 23.d3 leaves White 5.f3 a little better b ut af ter such a f antastic [ 5.f4 is another favourite of players with the opening it is not enough. ] W hite p ieces but de veloping the king's 22...xe8 23.xe8 b8 The knight moves to knight is perfectly sensible. ] 5...f6 6.d4!? An imaginative sacrifice. xe4 24.e6 c7 25.ae1 f7 26.xf7 xf7 It is time for Black to start counting [ Taking the pawn with the bishop walks into 27.xb8 28.e8 g6 29.xf8+ a nice trap upon 6...xe4 7.xe4 xe4 t h e p i e c e s ! d4

14.xf1 ] 12.d2 c7 13.e5 ad8 14.f2 c8 15.c3 Gelashvili finally activates the queen's knight although prospects are still fairly level. a5 [ 15...xc3 16.xc3 f6 17.f3 g4 18.e1 with some play against the e-pawn. ] 16.xd5 xd2 17.xd2 xd5 18.e1 f6 19.c4 f7 20.de2 White has good chances against someone weak but a 2600 player is hardly going to go wrong. e8 21.a4 h6 [ 21...h5? 22.d6+! brings the game to a quick finish. ] 22.h4 h5 23.a5 d7 24.g3 c6 Vladimirov starts a manoeuvre to increase the value of th e bish o p by f ind in g a sup erio r squ are . 25.f2 d7 26.e3 ed8 27.e2 White cannot make any obvious progress so decides to walk the king over to the queenside. c7 28.d2 d5 29.a3 [ 29.c3 is also equal. ] 29...c6 30.c4 White closes the game in an effort to lessen the chances of Black making a breakthrough. d6 31.c3 e8 32.c2 b5 33.axb6 axb6 34.d4 cxd4+ 35.xd4 b5 36.e6 b7 [ 36...c8 37.c5 intending b3-b4 cementing the passed pawn is in White's favour. ] 37.c5 [ 37.c5 b4+ 38.c2 d5 when the passed c-pawn is on the verge of being rounded up. ] 37...c7 38.e6 ½-½

2004

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 The easiest way to finish off the game. xf8 30.e8 g7 31.xf8 xf8 32.xb6 e8 33.f1 1-0

15.bc3 h4 16.g4! h7 17.e4 b6 18.xd4 exd4 19.f4 f5 20.gxf5 gxf5 21.f2 It will take some time to realise the extra pawn, but White has the natural plan of taking the e file. d7 22.f3 f6 23.ae1! h6 [ 23...ae8 24.c1 intending Nh3-g5 simply 1845 B20 leaves Black a pawn down for nothing. Black Georgiev,Krum 2494 m a y e x c h a n g e : xe1 25.xe1 e8 Gochev,Mladen 2222 but has the same problems after 26.xe8+ Open Halkidiki GRE (7) 03.05.2007 xe8 27.h3 e7 28.d2 ] [Andrew Martin] 24.c1 e8 25.e6! f6 26.h3 d7 He found a nice way to increase his 1.e4 c5 2.b3 My general impression of 2 b3 27.xf5! is favourable, although whether this move can a d v a n t a g e . T h e B i s h o p o n e 6 w i l l b e be used regularly with hope of an advantage impossible to shift and whilst covering g8, is doubtful. It is however, a very good surprise enables White to penetrate on the g file. xe6 weapon and particularly against lower-rated 28.xe6+ h8 29.g1 h5 30.f5 h7 op po sition . W ith t ha t in m in d th en , I will 31.e4 f6 32.g6 Have you ever seen demonstrate the following patchy effort to more dominating pieces? g7 33.e2 f6 show how a slow game-plan can often have a 34.g5 g8 35.f4 [ 35.xg8 also crushes Black convincingly: very surprising effect. d6 3.b2 f6 4.c3 xg8 ( 35...xg8 36.f6 ae8 37.xe8; g6 5.g3 g7 6.g2 0-0 7.ge2 35...xg8 36.h5+ h7 37.h6 g8 The White set-up is solid and unpretentious. 38.g5 ) 36.f6+ xf6 37.xf6 xg6 No weakness is shown to the opponent. The 38.fxg6 xf6 39.e6+ g7 40.f7+ ] weight is transferred to the middlegame. e5 It's a good to block the diagonal like this, 35...xg6 36.fxg6 xf4 37.g5 e7 preparing ...Nh5 and ...f7-f5, a good, active 38.h5+ 1-0 plan. [ 7...c6 8.0-0 b8 9.f4 e8 10.h3 f5 11.d3 c7 12.b1 e6 13.d2 d4 B20 14.xd4 xd4+ 15.h2 b6 Kosten, A- 1846 Senff, M/Marseille 2006 leads to balanced Gietl,Thomas 2305 play. ] Reich,Thomas 2370 8.0-0 c6 Ch GER (8) 1997 [ 8...h5 9.d5 f5 should be played here I [Gary Lane] think: 10.exf5 xf5 11.e3 c8 12.c3 c6 13.d4 Heimrath, R-Blum, G/ 1.e4 c5 2.b4 The Sicilian Wing Gambit is Wildflecken 1993 when exd4 14.cxd4 f6 great for surprise value and is pretty good at 15.d5 f7 leads to an advantage for club level where the defensive technique of Black. ] Black is quickly tested. cxb4 3.a3 d5 9.h1!? Gochev has plenty of rope to hang This is one of the most popular replies. The himself with. I suppose White intends f2-f4 at idea for Black is to open lines for his pieces some moment and then the King is better on and activate the queen. 4.e5!? I think this is a h1. B ut a vague m ove ne ve rt he le ss . d7 good idea because if and when the W ing 10.d3 d4 11.b1 d5? Gambit is mentioned in the 'books' only [ Just 11...c6 12.xd4 cxd4 13.c3 dxc3 [ 4.exd5 is mentioned. Therefore, 4 e5 14.xc3 d5 is a better way to do it. The should make quite a few players start a strategy of doing very little works! ] lengthy think. ] 12.exd5 g4 13.f3 c8 14.c4 I cannot for 4...c6 5.d4 the life of me see what Black's idea was when [ 5.b2 e6 6.axb4 xb4 7.g4 h e w e n t 1 1 . . d 5 . h5 Perhaps that was it. A standard idea in the French Def enc e 2005

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 which the Black pawn structure now re s e m b l e s . g6 ( 7...f8!? ) 8.f3 b6 9.c3 c5 10.a4 b4 11.g3 e4+ 12.d1 f8 A glance at the position indicates that Black's positional sensitivity has temporarily deserted him because his development now looks very poor. 13.d3 b4 14.e2 h6 15.c3 g4 16.xg4 xg4 17.b5 d7 ( 17...b8 18.hb1 d7 19.h3 h6 20.g4 gives White ad e qu a t e c o mp e n sa t io n f o r th e pa wn .) 18.b6! d8 19.xd7 xd7 20.h3 h6 21.d4 xd4+ 22.xd4 a6 23.xd7+ xd7 24.g4 gave White a clear advantage in J. Martin Ojeda-C. Hernandez Cid, Barcelona 2000. ] 5...b6 [ 5...f5 Rather than allow his light-squared bishop to be locked behind his pawns after 5...e6, Black chooses to activate his bishop. 6.f3 e6 7.axb4 xb4+ 8.c3 e7 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 h5 Black is wary of allowing White to double his h-pawns after ( 10...h6 11.xh6 gxh6 12.bd2 ) 11.a3 h6 12.xh6 xh6 Black has managed to preserve his pawn structure at the cost of giving up the right to castle. 13.0-0 b6 14.c4 xa3 15.xa3 dxc4 16.xc4 d5 17.c3? it is not pretty but White needs to avoid the exchange of queens in this particular position, where the pawn deficit results in a lost ending. ( 17.c3 ) 17...e7 ( 17...xc4 18.xc4 e7 19.c7 d5 20.b7 g6 looks good for Black.) 18.a6 g6 19.fc1 d8 20.xa7 c6 21.b7 b4 22.xb6 a2 23.c5 xf3 ( 23...d7 24.a1! ) 24.xd8+! 1-0 K.BeierR.Schneider, Lichtenfels 1994. ] [ 5...e6!? is also playable. ] 6.f3 It is also possible to use the darksquared bishop to defend d4: [ 6.e3 A) 6...f5 7.axb4 xb4+ 8.d2 xd4 9.xd4 xd4 10.gf3 c5 11.b1 c7 12.b5+ d7 13.e2 e6 14.0-0 e7 15.c4 White is making valiant efforts to stir up attacking chances but the defence should hold f irm. xb5 16.xb5 a6 17.b2 dxc4 18.xc4 d5 19.c1 d8 20.xb7 e7 21.d4 c8 22.xe7+ xe7 23.d6+ f8 24.xc8 xc8

25.f3? ( 25.xe6+!! fxe6 26.f3+ wins! ) 25...d7 26.a8 g6 27.xc8+ xc8 28.xc8 g7 29.d6 b8 30.f1 b2 31.c6 c2 32.a5 c5 33.dc4 g5 34.e2 d5 35.e3 g6 36.g4 d1 37.f3 d3+ 38.g2 h5 39.h3 h4 40.h2 f6 41.g2 f5 42.f3 1/2-1/2 A. Teixeira-R.Coutinho, Brasilia 1999.; B) 6...e6 7.axb4 xb4+ 8.c3 b2 9.a4 d7 10.a2 The opening has gone wrong if W hite has to give up his attacking chances and enter an ending a pawn down. ( 10.f3 b4 11.b5 c2+ 12.d1 xb5 win s e a sily) 10...xa2 11.xa2 ge7 The famed grandmaster Gligoric now gives a masterclass on how to convert such a favourable position into victory. 12.g4 a6 13.d3 h5 14.f3 c8 15.e2 6a7 16.f4 hxg4 17.fxg4 b5 18.c2 b6 19.d2 c8 20.e2 h3 21.g3 ( 21.f2 xe2 22.xe2 b5 wins ) 21...xc3 22.f2 c4 23.xc4 xc4 24.d2 cxg3! 0-1 Haritver-S. Gligoric, Montilla 1978. ] 6...f5 7.e2 Both sides now get on with the job of jostling f or better squares for their pieces. e6 8.0-0 c8 9.e3 a5 10.h4 ce7 11.c4 dxc4 12.axb4 xb4 13.d2 b5 [ 13...c3 14.xc3 xc3 15.xc3 xc3 16.xf5 A) 16...xf5 17.a4+ c6 ( 17...d8 18.fc1 b4 19.c2 and Black is busted ) 18.b5 wins; B) 16...exf5 17.a4+ c6 18.d5 is good for White. ] 14.a3 d7 [ 14...d5 15.a4+ c6 16.xf5 exf5 17.b5 gives White a pleasant edge. ] 15.xc4 The twin threats of Nb6 and Nd6+ dictate Black's response. d5 16.xf5 exf5 17.xa5 e7 18.d6+! xd6 19.xd5 1-0

2006

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c2 26.d4 c1+ 27.h2 d5 28.xe6+ 1847 B20 fxe6 29.exe6 c5 30.d4 b5 31.e5 Grabinsky,Vladimir 2361 c3 32.c6 1-0 Gallegos,P-Gaffagan,S/ Sharevich,Anna 2267 San Francisco 2000 ] 300 Years St . Petersburg RUS (6) 23.10.2003 9.0-0 bxa3 10.xa3 xa3 11.xa3 ge7 [Gary Lane] Black catches up on development but White f6 1.e4 c5 2.b4 The Wing Gambit is designed has decent attacking chances. 12.e1 to allow White to grab a lead in development 13.b1 f7 14.d4! In this line the idea of d2and sometimes he is allowed to developed a d4 to open the position for W hite's pieces strong pawn centre with d2-d4 if Black plays occurs again and again. exd4 15.xd4 0-0 pa s s ive ly. cxb4 3.a3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 Normally, when Black castles he is out of 5.f3 e5 6.b2 c6 7.c4!? The advance t ro u b le b u t n o t h e re d u e t o W h it e 's we l l of the c-pawn seems to be the best way for placed pieces. A great advert for the opening. White to try and make progress by harassing 16.b5 [ 16.ae3 d7 17.b5 ad8 18.d6 g4 the black queen. 19.f3 and White is clearly better. ] [ 7.axb4 xb4 8.c3? a terrible idea because a knight could emerge on c3 to hit 16...g6 [ 16...d8 is Black's best chance but after the queen but this pawn advance lacks 17.d6 g4 18.d3 h5 19.c5 urgency in view of the pawn deficit c5 9.d4 White is still on top. The text allows Black to exd4 10.cxd4 b4+ 11.bd2 f6 go rapidly down hill. ] Black develops comfortably and has no worries. 12.c2 b5 13.d3 0-0 14.0-0 17.d6 c7 18.d5+ h8 19.xg6 e7 [ 19...hxg6 20.xc8 xc8 21.ee3 g4 15.e4 xf3 16.xf6+ gxf6 17.gxf3 in t e n d i n g Rh 3 wh e n B la c k c a n p u t t h e d6 18.xh7+ h8 19.f4 g8+! pieces back into the box. ] 0-1 Serrano,C-Delorme,L/Hyeres 2002 ] 20.f7+ g8 21.xh7+ The start of a nice 7...e6 [ 7...e4+ 8.e2 f6 9.0-0 bxa3 10.xa3 finish! xh7 22.h5+ g8 23.h6+ gxh6 [ Or 23...h7 24.xe7 xe7 25.f5+ g8 c5 11.xe5! xe5 12.d4 xd4 13.xd4 26.xe7# ] xd4 14.xd4 c6 15.e3 ( 15.xf6 gxf6 16.b5 gives White an edge partly due to 24.g3+ h7 25.xe7+ the weak doubled f-pawns) 15...0-0 16.b5 1-0 with equal chances and the game was soon drawn, Zajarnyi,A-Salinnikov,D/ Alushta 1848 B20 2000. ] 8.d3 c5 Grekh,Andrey 2370 [ 8...d6 9.0-0 f6 ( 9...ge7 10.e1 f6 Zakhartsov,Viacheslav V 2541 11.axb4 xb4 12.e4 0-0 13.d4 Vasylyshyn Mem (4) 09.10.2006 W hite rightly wishes to open the position [Andrew Martin] especially when he has a rook on e1 and the black queen occupies the e-file. f5 14.d5 1.e4 c5 2.b4 I must admit that I have never exd5 15.cxd5 xd5 16.c3 c4 bee able to understand the lure of the Wing 17.dxe5 e7 18.e2 e6 19.d2 fd8 Gambit. W hite sacrifices a pawn for what gave Black the advantage although White seems to be very little compensation. There is eventually won, Zajarnyi,A-Raceanu,V/ a degree of dark-squared pressure and the Techirghiol 2000.) 10.e1 0-0 11.axb4 open files on the queenside must count for xb4 12.xe5 xd3 13.xd3 xc4 something, but my general feeling it that it 14.e5 h4 ( 14...f4 is better for Black) cannot be enough. Perhaps in the hands of 15.a4 h5 16.xh5 xh5 17.d4 xe5 Frank Marshall or Paul Keres 2 b4 can be 18.xe5 f6 19.a3 e6? ( 19...d7! made to look good but they were playing saves the position) 20.xf8 xf8 21.f4 g6 chess in a different ear. cxb4 3.a3 22.c3 b6 23.b5 c8 24.h3 a5 25.d6 [ 3.c4!? I've seen English Master Charlie 2007

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Kennaugh play 3 c4, perhaps that's the future! ] 3...d5! It has been known for quite some time that this is the antidote. 4.exd5 xd5 5.b2 c6 [ 5...f6 6.f3 g4! is simple and effective. Black develops sceptically. 7.e2 e6 8.0-0 c6 9.d4 d8 10.h3 h5 11.e1 c8 12.c4 bxc3 13.xc3 e7 14.a4 0-0 15.ad1 b6 16.a1 fd8 17.b1 c7 18.b5 b8 19.e5 xe2 20.xe2 Roth , P-Hoelzl, F/Vienna 199 6 W h ite's simply a pawn down with a fractured position. ] 6.f3 [ 6.axb4 e4+ 7.e2 xb4 8.c1?! ( 8.a3 f4 9.f3 e5 10.xf8 xf8 11.c3 f6 12.0-0 g8 13.a4 h6 14.b1 ) 8...e5 9.c3 b6 10.f3 e6 11.g5 f5 12.c4 g6 13.0-0 f6 14.h1 e7 15.f4 exf4 16.xf4 0-0 17.a4 a6 18.b3 d8 19.ce4 xe4 20.xe4 b5 Hrabinska, M-Iltchouk, E/ Alushta 2003 ] 6...e6N [ 6...e5! much stronger, blocking the long diagonal. 7.c4 e4+ 8.e2 f6 9.0-0 bxa3 10.xa3 c5 11.d4 exd4 12.d3 g4 13.h3 h5 14.e1+ e6 15.b5 A) Why not 15...0-0 playing without risk? 16.bxd4 ( 16.c7 ac8 17.xe6 fxe6 18.b3 b6 19.xe6 fe8 20.xc6 xc6 21.xa7 d6 ) 16...xd4 17.xd4 xd4 18.xd4 xd1 19.axd1 d7; B) 15...0-0-0 16.a4 a6 17.a1 b8 18.bxd4 xd4 19.xd4 xd4 20.xd4 c5 21.xe6 Sonnet, J-Meynard, T/ France 2002 White was given unnecessary chances. ] 7.axb4 xb4 Of course if he had played 6... e5, he would have been able to take with the Bishop. 8.c3 d8 9.e5 f6 10.a3?! [ 10.b5+ is the best chance to make s o m e t h in g o f t h is p o sit i o n . W h it e ge t s momentum going and prepares to castle: d7 ( 10...d7 11.0-0 c7 12.h5! a typical strike. g6 13.e2 g7 14.xd7 xd7 15.a4! a5 16.xb4!! axb4 17.d5 I recall the book by Bezhgodov on 2 a3 when I see this line.) 11.xd7 xd7 12.0-0 a6 13.xd7+ ( 13.a4 b5 14.b3 c5 )

13...xd7 14.e4! Eyeing the Bishop on f8. c7 15.f3 ] 10...a6 11.b1 bd5 12.xf8 xf8 13.b3 c7 14.d3 xc3 15.dxc3 e5 16.e2 e6 White has nothing now and he already has to resort to random attacking. 17.b4+ g8 18.a5 e4 19.c5 b8 20.e5 h6 [ 20...d5 21.xe4 d6 22.d4 holds the White position together. ] 21.c4 b6 22.xe6 fxe6 23.c4 h7! [ But not 23...bxc5 24.xe6+ h7 25.f5+= ] 24.c6 f4 25.e5 c1+ 26.e2 xh1 To be absolutely honest I cannot recommend 2 b4 altho ugh it must b e a dmit ted th at a scrappy struggle will almost always result. Maybe 2 a3 is the best lead-in, delaying the fatal advance or Kennaugh's 3 c4 is worth a look, but when there are so many interesting ways to play against the Sicilian, why leave yourself with no Plan B? 0-1

1849 Hague,Ben Palliser,Richard Bradford (3.1) [Palliser, R/Vigorito, D]

B20 2306 2435 31.10.2009

Richard Palliser was kind enough to send me this game, even though he ended up losing! The notes are mine and the variations noted by "RP" are Richard's. 1.e4 c5 2.b3 We have featured this favourite occasional weapon of Nigel Short's more than some main lines! c6 [ Later Richard changed his move order and got his revenge. 2...d6 3.b2 f6 4.c3 g6 5.b5+ ( 5.d5 bd7 6.b5 g7 7.xf6+ xf6 8.xf6 exf6 9.e2 0-0 10.0-0 is J Rowson-J Shaw/ Exhibition 2003 in the archives, and Rowson suggests a6= ) 5...d7 6.xd7+ bxd7 7.d3 g7 8.f4 0-0 9.f3 b5! 10.0-0 ( 10.xb5 a5+ 11.c3 xe4 ) 10...c4 11.h1 b4 12.e2 cxd3 13.cxd3 g4 14.xg7 xg7 15.d2 b6 16.h3 gf6 17.ac1 fc8 18.f5 e5 19.xe5 dxe5 20.fxg6 hxg6 21.g5 xc1 22.xc1 d6 23.g3 f8 24.h2 d8 2008

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.d1 c5 26.f1 xd3 27.h6+ e8 28.c1 g8 29.xc5 xh6 30.a5 d7 31.xe5 b7 32.e2 g8 33.d4 f6 34.c6 e6 35.a5 c7 36.c4 e7 37.b5 xe4 38.xb4 c3 39.a4 f5 40.e5 f6 41.f3 e5 42.b8 e4 43.d4 d7 44.c6 e3 45.f8+ g5 46.g3 f4+ 47.f3 e2 48.f2 d1 49.h4+ h6 50.f7 0-1 Hague, B (2289)Palliser, R (2435)/Halifax ENG 2009 ] 3.b2 d6 There are several other moves here: [ 3...e5 ] [ 3...f6 ] [ 3...a6 ] 4.b5 [ 4.f4 can be found in a couple of games in the archive as well. ] 4...f6 I kind of like this move. Black shows that he basically is not afraid of what White is doing. If White takes on c6, Black at least has the bishop pair and good central control. [ 4...d7 ] [ 4...e5 ] 5.c3 g6 Again showing no concern for W hite's play! 6.d5 g7 7.xf6+ exf6 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 e8 10.d3N Richard found a couple of other examples from this position. One is old, but one is from 2008: [ 10.g3 h5 11.h4 d7 12.d3 f5 13.xg7 xg7 14.exf5 xh4 15.e4 d5 16.f6+ g8 17.xc6 xc6 18.g3 g4 19.d2 h7 20.g5+ g8 21.e4 1/2-1/2 Nei, IGeller, E/Moscow 1983 ] [ 10.f4 xe4 11.f3 d5 12.d3 d4 13.xd4 xd4 14.ae1 d6 15.e8+ f8 16.e2 g4 17.e3 xe8 18.xe8 xe2 19.xe2 a6 20.c3 h4 21.g3 h5 22.f4 axb5 23.f3 e6 24.h4 h3-+ Deglmann, L (2342)-Bobras, P (2565)/Bad Wiessee 2008 ] 10...h5!? [ This is a common thrust in this kind of pawn structure, but it looks a little dubious to me. After the obvious 10...f5. Richard gives: 10...f5= 11.xg7 xg7 12.exf5 xf5 when 13.d4 is met by b6! ] 11.f4 f5 So Black plays this after all. 12.xg7 xg7 13.exf5 [ 13.f3!? d7 14.d2 - RP looks a little better for White. ]

13...xf5 14.d2 e5 A good centralizing move. 15.c3 f6!? [ 15...b6 16.c4 ae8 17.ae1 xe1 18.xe1 xe1+ 19.xe1= - RP ] 16.c4 h8 [ 16...ae8 ] 17.d5 d8 18.d4 [ Richard gives 18.f4 ee8 19.e3 f6 20.ae1 h4 with approximate equality ] 18...cxd4 19.cxd4 ee8 [ 19...e4 20.ae1!? ( 20.ad1 ) 20...xd4 21.b2 f6 22.e7 - RP ] 20.e3 f6 21.b5?! [ This is an odd move. Perhaps White was worried about the pressure on d4. Still, 21.ad1 looks more natural. ] 21...e4 22.d5 [ If White wanted to level the position, 22.xc6 bxc6 23.xf5+ xf5 24.f3= would do the trick ] 22...d4 [ 22...d4!? 23.c3 e7 24.c7 xd5 25.xd5 xd5 26.xb7 c5 - RP looks f a i r l y l e ve l , b u t a t l e a s t t h e r e i s s o m e imbalance. ] 23.d3 e5 24.xf5 xf5 25.xf5+ xf5 26.d4 e4 Black is well centralized and d5 is weaker than d6, so W hite grabs a pawn. 27.xa7 h4! It makes sense to bring another unit close to the White king. Black will need to try to create counterplay on this side of the board. 28.h3 c8 29.ae1 Black's pieces were ready to take up threatening posts, so I think that this is a good practical decision. xd5 [ Over the board is difficult to evaluate 29...xe1!? Richard gives 30.xe1 xe1+ 31.h2 d1 32.b6! ( 32.xb7 cc1 33.g3 c2 34.b6 xa2 35.gxh4 xd5 36.e3 ad2 ) 32...cc1 33.g3 hxg3+ 34.xg3 c3+ 35.g2 xd5 36.xb7 ] 30.xe5?! [ 30.d1! e4 31.xd6 c2 32.a4 - RP ] 30...dxe5 31.a4 c2 32.a3? [ It was time to simplify into an even ending with 32.xh4 xa2 33.c4 xc4 34.bxc4 b2= ] 32...e4! Now Black has the initiative. The rest of the notes are Richard's. Unfortunately time trouble rears its ugly head... 33.a7 d2 34.b4 d3? 2009

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 34...e2! 35.c5 xc5 36.bxc5 b2 37.e1 f5 ] 35.xb7! e2? [ 35...d1 36.xd1 xd1+ 37.h2 d6+= ] 36.e7! c3 [ 36...xa3 37.e5+ h7 38.f6 g8 39.a1 ] 37.b5 e1?? [ 37...b2 38.xe4 xb5 39.xh4 xa3 40.d4+ ] 38.xe1 xe1+ 39.h2 xf2 40.xe4 g3+ 41.h1 xa3 42.b1!+- e7? [ 42...d6! 43.b6 f6 44.b7 b8 ] 43.b6 b7 44.b4 b8 45.c3+ 1-0

Hamann, C-Stanke, J/Koenigshofen GER 2007 ] 6.axb4 e4+ 7.e2 xf3 8.gxf3 xb4 This is rather greedy, but should be OK for Black as long as he avoids the tricks. 9.c3 b6 10.b5 [ 10.b5+ c6 11.d5 d8 12.b4 d6 ] 10...c6 11.d4 d8 [ 11...e6 was also very sensible: 12.f4 c8 13.c4 a6 14.c5 d8 15.d6+ xd6 16.xd6 ge7 ] 12.e3 e6 [ 12...e5! was less modest and quite a bit better than the text. Black finds the right moment to switch gears: 13.d5 ( 13.c3 a6 14.d5 c5 15.xc5 xc5 16.c7+ f8 ) 13...c5 14.d2 f6 ] 1850 B20 13.b1! There are some problems now with Hamann,Carsten 2218 tactics against Black's queen. d5 [ 13...b4 14.xa7 c6 15.c3 d5 Koller,J 2246 16.xb7 ] ch-GER Koenigshofen GER (7) 25.01.2007 14.c4 xd4 15.xd4 b4+ 16.f1 xd4 [Andrew Martin] 17.e4! c5 18.b1 d6 19.xb7 Now comes an example of another variation Given the opportunity, W hite starts to play which GM Davies doesn't consider in his powerfully. d8 20.g1 g6 21.b8 e7 The last ten moves or so make me 'Gambiteer' book. 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 22.e5 wonder why the White player is playing this d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.f3 g4 nonsense at all. Why does he need to give up [ 5...e5 A) 6.axb4 xb4 7.c3 gaining time, is the a pawn so early when there are many other main lin e. Af ter t hat , I t hink th e m ost sharp and more reliable variations? 1-0 reliable for Black is d6! A1) 8.d4 f6 A1a) 9.dxe5 xd1+ 10.xd1 g4 B20 11.exd6 ( 11.a2 c5 12.e1 1851 Harari,Zaki 2250 c6 ) 11...xf2+ 12.e1 xh1 Dunnington,Angus J 2420 13.g3 d8 14.g2 e8+ 15.f1 1997 xg3+ 16.hxg3 c6 17.g5 f5 Masters Highgate (7) [Gary Lane] 18.xf7+ d7; A1b) 9.e2 exd4 10.cxd4 0-0; A2) 8.a3 c6 9.c4 ( 9.c4 f6! 1.e4 c5 2.b4!? The Wing Gambit that was 10.d4 exd4 11.xd6+ xd6 12.cxd4 f irst m en t ion e d b y Gre co in a b ou t 16 1 9 ! 0-0 ) 9...e4+ 10.e2 g6! 11.c4 Nowadays, it comes and goes out of fashion c7 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 g4 14.0-0 but is still tricky to meet in tournament play. cxb4 3.b2 d8; [ 3.a3 is the main alternative in this position. B) 6.c4 e6 7.b2 c6 8.d3 f6 Angus Dunnington later told that he intended 9.0-0 c5 10.axb4 xb4 11.xe5 0-0 to reply with d5 in order to stop White from 12.e2 c6 13.f3 d8 14.d4 xd4 getting any joy out of the opening. ] 15.xd4 xd4 16.xd4 e4 17.c3 The thrust in the centre is the xd4 18.b3 c5 19.fd1 g4 3...d5 20.xb7 xe2 21.xe2 xc4 r e c o m m e n d e d r e s p o n s e t o t h i s g a m b i t 2010

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 opening. The idea is to activate the queen and open lines for his pieces. 4.exd5 xd5 5.f3 White carries on developing and I think this is the best approach for White. [ 5.c4 A popular reply to put the question to the black queen as to where it should go. e4+ 6.e2 ( 6.e2 It seems risky to offer Black the option of an ending when you have sacrificed a pawn. xe2+ 7.xe2 c6 8.d4 f5 9.d5 b8 10.c5 e4 11.f3 xf3 12.xf3 a6 13.d4 c8 14.a3 xc5 15.bd2 d3+ 16.e2 f4+ 17.d1 xd5 gave Black a winning advantage in J. Howell-M.Austin, Dallas 1999. ) 6...xg2 7.f3 g6 8.e2 e5! W hite has a lead in development but few threats. So, Black gets on with the job of blocking the a1-h8 diagonal with the intention of following up with ...Bd6. 9.xe5? f5 10.a4+ d7 11.b3 xe5 12.xb7 c6 13.d4 e4 14.xc6+ xc6 15.f3 h4+ 0-1 L.Buth-O.Prestel, Ladenburg 1992. ] 5...f6 [ 5...c6 6.c4 The advantage of playing this on move 6 rather than move 5 is that now Be2 is possible to block the check without leaving g2 unguarded. e4+ 7.e2 f5 8.d3 f4 9.0-0 f6 10.a3 e6 11.axb4 xb4 12.a3 0-0 13.c2 e7 14.e3 g6 15.g3 c7 16.h4 fd8 when White is still stru ggling to ju stif y his sa crif ice although he eventually won in H.SuchslandK.Morgenroth, Frankfurt 2000. ] [ 5...g4 6.e2 f6 7.c4 d8 8.0-0 e6 9.d4 c6 10.bd2 e7 11.h3 h5 12.b3 0-0 13.e1 a5! Black wisely uses his extra pawn to his advantage by advancing to stop W hite from building-up his pieces for an attack. 14.d1 a4 15.c1 b6 16.d5 exd5 17.cxd5 a5 18.e5 g6 19.cd3 fe8 20.f3 d6 21.d2 b3 22.axb3 xb3 23.g5 a3 24.c4 d8 25.xa3 xa3 26.xa3 xa3 led to victory for Black in Abrahams-A.Beni, Bad Gastein 1948. ] 6.c4 bxc3 7.xc3 a5 8.c4 A logical choice to pinpoint f7 as a target and maintain the temporary initiative provided by the lead in development. [ 8.b3 e6 9.c1 c6 ( 9...e7 10.d5!

c6 11.xe7 xe7 12.b5+ d7 13.xd7+ xd7 14.xg7 g8 15.d4 xg2 16.f1 g8 17.xb7 with doublededged play that will appeal to any gambit player! ) 10.c4 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.d4 b4! With an extra pawn it is hardly surprising that Black is eager to enter an ending. 13.fd1 a5 14.xb4 xb4 15.e2 b6 16.a3 e7 17.e5 b7 when the position is in Black's favour due to the extra pawn, W.Spranger-B.Hoy, German Team Ch 1992. ] 8...e6 9.0-0 a3 Dunnington is eager to thwart W hite's attacking ambitions by exchanging the dark-squared bishops. 10.b3 xb2 11.xb2 0-0 12.fe1 c6 13.ab1 d8 14.a4 b6 15.bd1 b7 Now that Black h a s m a n a ge d t o a c t i va t e h is p i e c e s t h e question is whe the r W h ite has su f f ic ien t compensation for the pawn? The answer is no. 16.d4 a5! Good play by Black who uncovers his light-squared bishop to guard against the advance d4-d5. 17.a2 c8 18.e5 d5 19.e4 f6 20.f3 c4 21.xc4 [ 21.b3 f4 22.c1 d5 is better for Black. ] 21...xc4 22.c5 b4 23.e2 [ Or 23.xb7 xb2 24.xd8 xd8 25.xe6 a2 when I prefer Black who will soon have two connected passed pawns. ] 23...f4 [ Also strong for Black is 23...bxc5 24.xe6+ h8 25.dxc5 f4 26.xd8 xe6 27.xf8+ xf8 ] 24.e3 bxc5 25.xf4 e5 this is why Dunnington had not bothered to play 23... bxc5 because now he is poised to win another pawn. 26.xe5 Desperation! fxe5 27.xe5 xd4 28.e6+ h8 29.b1 d5 30.f3 Dunnington often gets into time-trouble which is the only explanation for Harari carrying on in such a lost position. xe6 31.xe6 d7 32.a5 h6 33.a6 d5 34.e5 c4 35.b5 fd8 36.c5 g8 37.f2 d6 38.e7 xa6 39.cc7 f6 40.xa7 d2+ 41.e1 0-1

2011

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1852 Kabanov,Nikolai Navara,David FIDE World Cup (1.2) [Richard Palliser]

B20 2520 2722 29.08.2011

1.e4 c5 2.b3 g6!? This provocative-looking continuation was recently advocated by Peter Heine Nielsen in 'Experts on the Anti-Sicilian'. [ Before we examine this fun line, I should mention that the leading 2 b3 expert, the Georgian Grandmaster Tamaz Gelashvili, has also faced 2...e6 3.b2 d6 of late. This is new for the site and far from bad, although it is a little too committal for my taste. Black remains quite flexible in the centre, but has lost the useful option of a kingside fianchetto. Gelashvili-Zhao, New Y o r k 2 0 1 1 , c o n t i n u e d 4.b5+ d7 ( B l a c k i s a f t e r t h e b i s h o p - p a i r 4...c6 5.xc6+ bxc6 6.f4 f6 7.e2 must be a little better for White,; but it's not clear there was anything wrong with 4...d7 ) 5.f4! (a f airly s tan dard b ut st ill pret ty use f u l expansion) gf6 ( it's worth comparing what follows with the earlier Shengelia-Khurtsidze, Batumi 2003, where 5...a6 6.xd7+ xd7 7.f3 f6 8.d3 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.bd2 b5 11.c4!? restricted Black's bishops and was perhaps a touch more pleasant f or White, although many would be happy as B la c k h e r e) 6.e2 a6 7.xd7+ xd7 8.f3 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.d3 b5 11.bd2 c6 12.h1 c7 13.ae1 when White was fully developed and slightly for choice after a5 14.e5! d5 15.exd6 xd6 16.e5 in view of his potential attacking chances on the kingside. ] 3.b2 f6 4.e5 White's main move, but he doesn't have to take up the challenge and might prefer: [ a) 4.f3 d6 ( Heine Nielsen analyses and p r e f e r s b o t h 4...g7; and 4...c6 , moves which will surely soon receive some testing ) 5.b5+ bd7 6.xf6 exf6 7.c3 ( Paichadze's 7.d3!? can lead to similar play after a6 8.xd7+ xd7 9.c3 g7 10.ge2 ) 7...a6 8.xd7+ xd7 9.ge2 g7 10.g3 e6 11.f4 0-0 12.0-0 f5 13.ae1 gave White an edge in Gelashvili-G. Shahade, New York 2011. Yes, Black has

two unopposed bishops and can undouble his pawns, but it's not so easy to shake off White's pressure in the centre and on the kingside. It may help to see a few more moves: d7 ( 13...e5!? 14.xe6 fxe6 15.f4 d4+ 16.h1 d7 may be the critical line) 14.cd5 ae8 15.exf5 xf5 16.h5! and White was able to remove the important defensive bishop on g7. ] [ b) 4.xf6 exf6 5.c3 has been suggested by Rowson, but after g7 6.c4 0-0 7.ge2 d6 8.g3 c6 9.0-0 Black can do even better than d4 which he considered to be unclear. ( Indeed, Heine Nielsen draws a t t e n t i o n t o 9...h5! , which certainly looks like it gives Black promising counterplay, since 10.h3 h4 11.ge2 f5 undoubles the pawns while unfurling the unopposed darksquared bishop. )] 4...d5 5.f3!? [ This was suggested by Jonathan in his notes to Short-Nielsen, Internet (blitz) 2004, but in this precise position seems to go unmentioned by Nielsen. Short-Nielsen had gone 5.c4 b6 6.e6 ( White comes up sh o rt af t e r 6.xf7+? xf7 7.e6+ g8 8.f3 dxe6 ) 6...f6 7.b5 g7 8.f3 0-0 wit h a n e a sy g a m e f o r B la ck - s e e t h e Archive. ] [ Instead 5.e6!? f6 6.exd7+ xd7 7.c4 is rather murky and receives some attention from Anand's second, ] [ while 5.g3 g7 6.g2 c7 7.f4 d6 8.f3 c6 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 g4 was fine for Black in Conquest-McShane, London League 2011. ] 5...b4! [ A bold novelty in this rather unexplored p o s i t i o n . P r e v i o u s l y 5...b6 6.h3 ( Jonathan preferred the immediate 6.a4! against which Black seems to rather lack a good response) 6...g7 7.e6!? f6 8.a4 dxe6 9.b5+ 6d7? ( 9...c6 had to be tried ) 10.f4 b6 11.a3 saw White rewarded for his highly-creative play with the initiative in Musin-Makartseva, Khanty Mansiysk 2009. ] [ Instead 5...c7 6.c4 e6 7.e4 isn't at all clear - see the Archive f or Jonathan's thoughts. ] 6.c4 e6 An ugly move to have to make, but 2012

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Navara has realised that White is a long way from exploiting the weakened dark squares, especially if his queen's knight is about to journey away from the route to e4. 7.a3 [ This doesn't turn out well, but might not be so bad. Instead after 7.d1 g7 8.c3 d5 9.d4 d6 we reach a rather unusual version of the c3 Sicilian where it's hard to believe Black doesn 't ha ve de cent count erpla y against the white centre. ] 7...g7 8.b5? [ This gets the knight into the game, but asks far too much of White's position and might already be considered the decisive mistake. No doubt future games will pinpoint improvements, although I'd be surprised if White had any path to the advantage here. After, for instance, 8.e3 8c6 9.f3 d5 10.b5 d4 11.e4 0-0 Black can always offer a queen exchange via d5 and should be fine. ] 8...0-0 9.0-0-0 [ The consistent follow-up to White's a m b i t i o u s p l a y . N o t e t h a t 9.d1?! was no longer really an option on account of d5! 10.e2 d4 with an excellent game for Black. ] 9...xa2+ 10.b1 b4 11.e3 [ An attempt to pressure c5 while overprotecting e5. W hite might like to do s o m e t h i n g g u n g - h o s u c h a s 11.h4 , b u t a f t e r a5 the e5-pawn is pretty vulnerable, with 12.d6? f a i lin g t o 8c6 13.g3 a2+ 14.c1 xe5! . ] 11...a5! Reminding White that his king position is not totally secure. Kabanov does have a grip on the central dark squares, but surely Black must be somewhat for choice here? 12.d6 [ Of course, 12.xc5? a6 was hardly an option. ] 12...8c6 13.f4 d4! [ Simple and highly effective, although 13...b5!? , with the idea of 14.xb5 d5 , was also pretty tempting. ] 14.c3 [ A rather desperate but pretty essential try. Clearly 14.d3 cannot be right and after f6! White isn't able to prevent the long diagonal f r o m o p e n i n g u p wi t h s o m e e f f e c t : f o r instance, 15.f3 fxe5 16.xe5 a2+

17.c1 xf4! when 18.xf4? drops the queen to xd3+ 19.cxd3 e2+ . ] 14...a2+ 15.c1 b5 A key deflection and o n e wh i c h l e a ve s W h i t e i n r e a l t r o u b l e . 16.cxb4 bxc4 17.bxc4 b8 18.b5 f5 White is being crushed. Already the only way to h o ld o n t o h is qu e e n sid e p a wn s is b y f o r c i n g t h e q u e e n s o f f . 19.a3 xa3 20.xa3 xd6 21.exd6 b7 22.xc5!? [ Desperation. After 22.f3 xf3 23.gxf3 a6! 24.bxa6 d4 Black would have d o m i n a t e d t h e wh o l e b o a r d , a h e a d o f exploiting both his safer king position and superior structure. ] 22...fc8 23.d4 xd4! [ A little tactic to decide, whereas 23...xg2? 24.e2 xh1 25.xh1 wouldn't have been so clear, in view of White's strong clump of queenside pawns. ] 24.xd4 [ After 24.xd4 xc4+ 25.b2 xg2 26.e2 xb5+ White can avoid mate with 27.a3 , but xh1 28.xh1 c6 29.a4 b8 30.a5 c2 can hardly offer him any chances to survive. ] 24...xg2 25.e2 xh1 26.a3 xb5 Completing the rout. Black is now an exchange and two pawns to the good. Unsurprisingly Kabanov had seen enough. 0-1

1853 Klings,Peter Bruno,Fabio Capo d'Orso Open (5) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2173 2450 20.05.2008

1.e4 c5 2.a3 The individualistic nature of 2 a 3 c a n n o t b e d is p u t e d , b u t I h a ve o f t e n wondered what happens when Black just ignores b2-b4 and carries on developing. We have seen frequently that 2 ...g6 is a good move; now consider another perfectly decent reply for Black. e6 3.b4 b6! Yes, this is fine. What role does a2-a3 play in this position? 4.bxc5 bxc5 [ 4...xc5 5.d4 e7 6.f3 b7 7.d3 is probably a bit better for White. Why give him the centre like this? ] 5.c3 c6 6.f3 White now has to make 2013

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 something of the position. He has tried several alternatives: [ 6.g3 To be honest, I find this Closed Sicilian hybrid a bit rubbishy. b8 ( 6...d6 7.g2 d7 8.ge2 f6 9.0-0 e7 10.d3 0-0 11.h3 b8 12.e3 a5 13.f4 b2 14.c1 b6 15.d2 a6 16.g4 c8 17.g3 d4 18.e5 e8 19.ce4 a4 20.g5 xc2 Khalukov,Y (2398)-Batsanin,D (2452)/Sochi 2007) 7.g2 ge7 8.f4 d6 9.ge2 g6 10.0-0 g7 11.h1 d4 12.xd4 cxd4 13.e2 f5 14.exf5 xf5 15.c3 0-0 16.xd4 xd4 17.cxd4 b6 18.d3 xd4 19.a2 b7 20.e1 xg2+ Vocaturo,D (2450) -Agrest,E (2561)/Arvier 2007 ] [ 6.b1! This is a bit more like it. At least White justifies b2-b4 this way. A) 6...d6!? is an interesting Deep Fritz suggestion: 7.f3 ( 7.g4 f6 8.xg7 g8 9.h6 d4 10.b2 b8; 7.c4 f6 8.d3 0-0 9.f4 c7 ) 7...ge7 8.b2 0-0 9.c4 c7 with ... d7-d5 to come.; B) 6...g6 7.b2 f6 8.b5 e5 9.f4 d6 10.f3 g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 a6 13.fxe5 dxe5 14.c7+ xc7 15.xf6 g8 16.c4 g7 17.d5 1-0 Collette, B (2165)-Randisi,A (2076)/Paris 2004 ] 6...b8! Black is first to the b file! 7.c4 g6 8.0-0 g7 9.e1 A most peculiar square for the Queen, although I am not sure W hite knows where he is going. a5 10.b1 xb1 11.xb1 b6 12.c3 a5 13.e2 e7= One does not play chess to get these positions with W hite. Black is very comfortable indeed. 14.d3 [ 14.a4 c7 15.b2 xb2 16.xb2 0-0 17.c3 f5 ( 17...f6= )] 14...d6 15.d2 ac6 16.a1?! Common sense should tell him this cannot be right, but he wants to play the Rook to b1. I think that is where the Queen should have gone: [ 16.b1 d8! ( 16...xb1 17.xb1 d7 18.f1 f5= ) 17.b3 0-0 18.b1 d4 19.xd4 cxd4 20.d1 f5 This is not very thrilling. ] 16...0-0 17.b1 d8 18.a2 h6 [ 18...f5! is a sharp try which assumes the initiative: 19.exf5 ( 19.c4 d7 20.d1

d4 21.xd4 cxd4 ) 19...xf5 20.e4 fd4 ] 19.c4 g5 20.d1 g4 21.e1 a5! 22.b3 a6! Bruno starts to outplay his opponent. W hite is so constipated he feels the urge to try to release the pressure: 23.xg4? [ 23.a4 h5 24.g3 d4 ] [ 23.e5 xe5 24.e4 c7 25.a4 c8 ] 23...b8! 24.xb8+ What else? [ If 24.a2 ] 24...xb8 25.xb8+ h7 26.b1 c7-+ I have rarely seen a position where W hite's pieces are so uncoordinated. 27.b3 c4 28.dxc4 xc4 29.d3 g6 30.e2 xe4 31.e3 a4 32.xa6 xa6 33.f3 c4 34.c3 a2 35.xg7 xg7 36.bd2 xc2 37.g3 d5 38.h4 a5 39.b3 e5 40.b5 e4 41.xa5 exf3 42.xd5 d1+ Now I can im a gin e yo u lo o kin g o ve r t h is ga m e a n d thinking: 'what a load of rubbish' Yet that is precisely the type of position which White is seeking to promote! With 2 a3 he is basically attempting to take the Sicilian player as far away as possible from routine and dump him in the jungle on his own. My own view is that 2 a3 is inadequate for advantage and that the best way to meet it is to angle for a position where 2 a3 is almost a wasted move, so 2...g6 and 2...e6, omitting a later cxb4 make perfect sense. On that rare occasion you have to face 2 a3 in your own games, you now have a good reply. 0-1

1854 Kodentsov,Grisja Van Assendelft,Floris Junior Ch Leiden (1) [Gary Lane]

B20

01.05.2000

1.e4 c5 2.b4!? The Sicilian Wing Gambit is designed to frighten Black who is likely to have never seen it before. cxb4 3.a3 d5 4.exd5 f6 Black is wary of taking the pawn with his queen in case it is subsequently attacked by White's pieces. However, 4...Nf6 is still thought of as aside-line and the reason why becomes clear in this game. [ The main line is considered to be 4...xd5 2014

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and W hite may now continue 5.f3 e5 6.axb4 xb4 7.c3 White can also play 7 Na 3 wh ic h i s t h e m a in a lt e rn a t ive . d6 8.a3 c6 9.c4 White finds a way to chase the b lack queen . e4+ 10.e2 ge7 11.c4 c7 12.a3 0-0 13.0-0 e6 14.g5 g6 15.xe6 xe6 16.b3 ab8 17.fb1 fd8 18.c5 b6 19.xe7 xe7 20.a6 e4 21.g3 g6 22.a2 e6 23.b5 d7 24.b1 bd8 25.a4 W hite has done well to restrict his grandmaster opponent and the game was eventually drawn, Haub-V.Lukov, Giessen 1994. ] 5.axb4 xd5 6.f3 [ 6.b5 is sensible to preserve material equality. f5 7.f3 e6 8.b2 The bishop as a commanding presence on the a1-h8 diagonal and fully justifies White's opening choice. d7 9.e2 f4 10.0-0 d6 11.e1 xe2+ 12.xe2 0-0 13.d4 h4 14.g3 g4 15.xf5 xf5 16.a3 ac8 17.c4 b8 18.e3 g6 19.a4 intending Rg4 gave W hite an edge in P. Rewitz-P.Rasmussen, Danish Ch 1996. ] [ 6.a3 Another way to hold on to the bpawn. e6 7.c3 ( 7.b5!? is a reasonable alternative because now White starts to get into trouble by placing his queenside pawns on dark squares. Consequently, his bishop on a3 soon looks like a big pawn.) 7...e7 8.d4 0-0 9.f3 d7 10.b3 b6 11.g3 b7 12.g2 b5 13.bd2 5b6 14.c1 d5 15.d1 c8 was slightly better for Black,M. Ellinger-W.Wakefield, Nottingham 1946. ] 6...g4 [ 6...e6 7.b2 d7 8.g3 5f6 9.g2 xb4 10.0-0 Littlewood is renowned as an attacking player and would be happy to give away a pawn. 0-0 11.a3 b6 12.e2 d7 13.e5 c7 14.fb1 e7 15.b5 xc2!? ( 15...xb5 16.xb5 fd8 looks like a decent alternative for Black.) 16.d4 xb5 17.xb5 fd8 18.e3 fd5 19.xb6 axb6 20.e1 f5 21.e4 f6 22.b3 g6 ( 22...d6!? ) 23.d4 g7 24.f3 f6 25.g4 xd4 26.xd5 xd5 27.xf7! xf7 ( 27...xf7 28.h6+ g7 29.xf7 e8 is also possible to give Black winning chances. ) 28.xe6+ f8 29.xd5 h5

30.h6 xh6 31.xd4 g7 32.d6+ g8 33.e7 a1+ 34.g2 h6 35.e6+ 1 - 0 J. L i t t le wo o d - B . Ca f f e rt y, Ha s t in g s 1960. ] 7.c4 c6 [ 7...xb4 8.e5 ( 8.xf7+ xf7 9.e5+ e8 10.xg4 and Black can no longer castle giving White the superior chances.) 8...c7! ] 8.b2 c8 9.b3 cxb4 Finally, Black cannot resist the pawn any longer. 10.c3 On e h as to a d mire t he yo un gst er f o r h is determination to create an initiative by continuously improving his pawns and sensibly avoiding trying to restore the pawn count. [ 10.xa7? seems too good to be true and it is. b6 11.a1 ( 11.a4+ d7 12.xd7+ xd7 13.e5+ e8 followed by ...Nxc2+ winning material.) 11...xc2+ 12.xc2 xb2 wins ] 10...a6 Cutting out the option of Rxa7. 11.xd5 xd5 12.a4! A good example of how to play this gambit opening. The open afile allows the rook to roam and it is often how Black is caught out because he is not expecting the extra piece to be added to the attack. d7 13.d4 [ 13.xd5? xa4 ] 13...f6 14.e5 Watch out for mate on f7. e6 15.e2 c5 16.xd7! A tremendous move that rips apart Black's position in one tactical swipe. xd7 17.xf7 This is the point because the bishop was defending e6 and now its absence allows a breakthrough. b6 [ 17...xf7 18.xe6+ f8 19.f7# ] 18.xh8 f8 19.f3+ g8 20.f7+ xh8 21.xg7# 1-0

1855 Kosten,Anthony C Marchal,C Open Metz FRA (1) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2517 1897 14.04.2007

The overall editor of this site rarely gets a mention in the games department, but we all know that he can play chess really well. Here we see him pushing the boat out in a recent 2015

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 French Open tournament. 1.e4 c5 2.b3 Throwing a lower-rated opponent on to her own res ources as ea rly as po ssible . c6 3.b2 f6 4.c3 d5 Energetic, although I am doubtful that giving W hite such strong control over the long diagonal is a very good idea. [ 4...g6 is routinely played, but there is scope for some unconventional thinking here. 5.b5 ( I quite like 5.d5!? g7 6.xf6+ xf6 7.xf6 exf6 with a structural edge to White. ) 5...g7 6.d3 ( 6.d5!? ) 6...0-0 7.xc6 bxc6 8.f4 ( 8.f3 d5 9.0-0 g4 10.h3 is more sensible from where I'm sitting. ) 8...d6 9.f3 a5 10.d2 b8 11.0-0= Wege, J-McShane, L/Kuppenheim 2003 ] [ 4...e6 5.b5 d4 6.e5 is an original position once more: d5 7.xd5 xb5 8.e3 e7 9.f3 0-0 10.e2 c7 11.h4 b6 12.g5! h6 13.d3 xg5 ( 13...hxg5 14.hxg5 g6 is critical. According to Deep Fritz 10 White has a forced mate: 15.f5!! xg5 16.h3 h4 17.xh4 f5 18.xf5 etc ) 14.hxg5 a6 15.c4 xg5 16.a4 d5 17.exd6 d5 18.e4 f6 19.f3 Goumas, G-Mastrokoukos, G/ Athens 2006 ] 5.exd5 xd5 6.f3N Just a common-sense move. There is no need to elaborate when the opponent is 700 points lower than you. Others: [ 6.b5 f5 7.f3!? ( 7.f3 ) 7...e6 8.xd5 xd5 9.xd5 exd5 10.0-0-0 0-0-0 11.xc6 bxc6 Fievet, P-Salaun, P/ Montpellier 1991 ] [ 6.xd5 xd5 7.f3 xf3 8.xf3 g4= Bjerring, K-Fluvia Poyatos, J/Mataro 1997 ] 6...g4 7.h3 h5 8.b5 One sees Bb5 cropping up all the time in the 2 b3 variation. White relies on his dark-squared pressure for advantage and so by removing the Knight on c6 White accentuates his control over d4 and e5, enabling the diagonal to remain open down to g7. d6 9.0-0 e6 10.xd5 xd5 [ 10...exd5 11.e1+ e7 12.xc6+ xc6 13.e2 leaves the Black position very clumsy and difficult to handle. ] 11.g4! g6 12.e5 0-0-0 [ 12...a6 13.xc6+ bxc6 14.d3 f6 15.c4 is somewhat better for White. ] 13.xc6 bxc6 14.e2?! Sloppy, but the sort

of thing that happens in first rounds, the GM has just driven to the tournament and is tired, the local player fresh. [ 14.c4! first, should win: d6 ( 14...xd2 15.f3 xb2 16.xc6+ winning, as below. ) 15.f3 with a whole extra tempo over the game. ] 14...b7 The machines show equal, but I don't like Black's game at all. Her King is open and her structure is poor. Optimistic Black players will argue that the pawn on g4 gives them something to latch on to and that the Queen on d5 is well posted, counterbalancing features. From this argument, take your pick! 15.c4!? Based on some interesting tactics, but I believe that White had a stronger move. [ Instead 15.ad1! maintains the advantage, thanks to xc2 16.xf7 xd1 17.xd1 e7 18.xh8 xh8 19.xg7 ] 15...d6 [ T o n y ' s i n t e n t i o n i s c l e v e r : 15...xd2 16.f3! xb2 17.xc6+ b8 18.ad1 d6 19.b5+ a8 20.d7!! .Black has on e pie ce e xt ra f o r a n in sta nt , b ut s h e cannot defend herself: e4 ( 20...xd7 21.xd7 e5 22.c6+ b8 23.d7 ) 21.xd6 xa2 22.fd1 ] 16.b4? White overlooks two defences! f6 [ After 16...xd2 17.f3 xb2 18.xc6+ b8 it's more straightforward this time: 19.xg6! hxg6 20.ab1+- ] 17.bxc5 xd2! 18.f3!? [ O b je ct ive ly sp e a kin g 18.xd2 xd2 19.c3 c2 20.ab1+ followed by Nxg6 was the best chance, but how could White expect to win this? ] 18...fxe5 19.b3+ [ And not 19.ad1? d3! ] 19...a8 20.ad1 Trying to overload Black's Queen, or at least, making her believe that the Queen is overloaded. a5 [ 20...g5 21.a4 e8 was a decent defence too. 22.xd8+ xd8 23.d1 c8 24.a5 e7 25.xe5 g6 ] 21.a3!? [ 21.c3 c7 22.xe5 c8 23.xd8 xd8 24.d1 c8 is the only defence, but sufficient. ] 21...c7 22.xe5 c8 [ Tal Abergel, who was sitting at the next 2016

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b o a r d , s u g g e s t e d 22...b6!? after the game. ] 23.xd8 xd8 So far, so good for Black. She is within an ace of beating the GM. 24.h2 For wont of something to do? The king moves off the back rank so that a later Rd1 might become possible. h5? Casual. [ 24...e7 25.a6 c8 seems to win for Black. ] 25.a6 e8 26.d1 e7?? [ 26...e4 was the only move, although White regains the piece by 27.f3 ] 27.d8+! It is mate next move! 1-0

1856 Kosten,Anthony C Rajlich,Vasik G Freestyle [Kosten/Rowson]

B20

17.06.2006

Rapide 25m 1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 3.b2 e5 [ 3...d6 4.f4 f6 5.c3 g6 A) 6.d5 g7 7.xf6+ exf6 8.c4 ( 8.e2 0-0 9.g3 f5 10.xg7 xg7 11.exf5 d4 ) 8...0-0 9.e2 f5 is nothing.; B) 6.g3 g7 7.g2 0-0 8.ge2 b6?! I was more worried about ( 8...e5 9.0-0 d4 with the threat of ...Bg4, I prefer Black! ) 9.h3 to stop tricks on g4 ( 9.a4 a6 10.0-0 b5 11.ac3 b4 12.d5 g4 f o r e x a m p l e) 9...d7 10.g4! one of the few moves I played that my computers hadn't envisaged! c4 11.g5 h5 12.d5 c5 13.xg7 xg7 14.c3! ugly, but b4 is a strong threat a6 15.bxc4 b5 ( 15...xc4? 16.b6 ) 16.d4 a7 17.0-0 another move the computer didn't like! bxc4 18.g3 with a powerful attack in the making Tony Kosten - brain-damage/ Freestyle 2006 1-0 (27) ] 4.c4 Jonathan liked this. f6 5.c3 [ 5.d3 d5! - Jonathan. ] 5...d6 [ 5...xe4 6.xe4 d5 7.d3 dxe4 8.xe4 d6 9.h5 f6 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.f3 f5 12.d3 g6 13.g4 looked playable. ] 6.d3 a6 [ 6...e7 was Short, N-Prasad, D/Mumbai

IND 2004 - see Jonathan's comments. ] 7.a4 JR: Not completely forced. [ 7.ge2 b5 8.d5 b7 9.g3 JR: Looks at least playable for W hite, and perhaps quite promising. ] 7...g6! Of course! JR: A good move, but by no means a refutation of White's set-up. 8.ge2 JR: This is by far the most 'natural' move, but given that the plan of f4 doesn't work so well, it might be worth thinking of alternatives here, or at least nearby. [ 8.d5!? JR. If White is going to play f4, there is a lot to be said for removing the knight from c3(to avoid the pin on the h8-a1 diagonal). xd5 9.xd5 g7 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 JR: I think White probably has the better side of equality here. ] 8...g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 [ 10.d2 JR: This looks better than h3. A) 10...b8!? 11.f4 ( 11.d5!? JR ) 11...exf4 12.xf4 maybe, but g4! 13.h3 e5 is awkward JR- is it? Not sure what Bla ck d o e s a f t e r 14.c1 It looks quite scary, agreed, but not sure Black has anything better than 14... Nf6 here.; B) 10...h5 11.d5 JR; C) 10...e6 11.f4 d5?! ( 11...exf4 12.xf4 h5 ) 12.exd5 xd5 13.f5! Mikac, T-Jeras, S/Ljubljana 1993. ] 10...b8 11.f4?! Probably an error as Black is well placed to counter this and the opposition of bishops is not in W hite's f avo ur. S till, White's position is primed to play this move, and if he can't play this then what is his plan? [ 11.d2 h5 ] 11...exf4 12.xf4 d7 JR: Black seems to be comfortable now (though not more than that) so from here on, Tony, you are on your own! 13.c1 [ 13.h1 de5 14.d5 g5 ] 13...de5 14.d5 The problem is that there is only one d5 square for two minor pieces, and if the knight goes there then . ..b5 wins the bishop! d7 15.d2 g5 16.c1 [ 16.ad1 d4 17.h1 h4 18.f2 h6 ] 16...b4 Black can use d4, e5 and b4! 17.ce2 Now White also has to beware tricks along the a1-h8 diagonal, plus ...g5 as the knight has no squares. [ 17.d1 g4!? 18.hxg4 d4+ 19.f2 f6 20.d2 xf2+ 21.xf2 g5 ] 2017

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17...h4! I hoped for [ 17...f3+ 18.xf3 xa1 19.g3 h6 ( 19...d4+ 20.h2 ) 20.xg6 which should win, but not much chance of this in Freestyle! ] [ 17...h6 18.d4 ] 18.b1? I should have tried one of [ 18.d4 A) 18...ec6 19.c3 ( 19.b2 be8 20.ab1 xd5 21.exd5 xd4 22.xd4 cxd4 23.xd4 h6 ) 19...xd5 20.exd5 a5 21.a2 fc8 22.dxc5 dxc5 23.e3 c4 24.b4 b3 25.ad1 g5 26.f2 h6; B) 18...xd5 19.xd5 cxd4 20.xd4 ( 20.g5 xg5 21.xg5 d3 22.cxd3 xd3 23.ad1 c5 24.e7 xe4 25.xf8 xf8 )] [ 18.c3 xd5 19.xd5 f5 20.f4 ( 20.d4 cxd4 21.cxd4 fxe4; 20.g5 xg5 21.xg5 fxe4 22.dxe4 xf1+ 23.xf1 c4 ) 20...xf4 21.xf4 fxe4 22.dxe4 ] 18...g5! 19.c3 [ 19.d4 gxf4 20.xf4 g4 21.hxg4 xd5 22.exd5 ] 19...gxf4 20.cxb4 [ 20.xf4 g5 21.h4 g6 22.cxb4 h3 23.g3 h6 ] 20...f3 21.f4 [ 21.f4 e7 22.xf3 xf3+ 23.xf3 cxb4 ( 23...e6 ) 24.h5 e6 25.g5 f6 26.h6 fc8 27.f4 h8 28.c4 d4+ 29.h1 ] 21...fxg2 [ 21...cxb4 22.f2 xf2+ 23.xf2 fxg2 24.xg2 ] 22.xg2 cxb4 23.f2 xf2+ 24.xf2 c6 White might be able to salvage a draw here, but I was already in severe time trouble. 25.xc6 bxc6 26.b2 be8 27.h5 e6 28.d1 g6+ 29.h1 c5 30.xg7 xg7 31.d4 cxd4 32.xd4 g8 33.h4 h5 34.g2 xg2 35.xg2 c8 36.d2 c6 37.xe5!? Hoping that the tablebases would kick in and find a draw as soon as I got some pawns off the board! [ 37.g3 f6 38.f4 f7 ] 37...dxe5 38.d8+ g7 39.b8 c2+ 40.g1!? [ 40.f1 h2 41.xb4 xh4 42.g2 a5 43.c4 g4+ 44.f3 f5! is also hopeless, as the king and pawn is lost, 45.c7+ f6

46.exf5 b4 ] 40...a5 41.b5 f6 42.xa5 e2 43.b5 xe4 44.a5 g4+ [ 44...g6 45.g2 ] 45.f2 xh4 46.g3 g4+ 47.f3 d4 48.a6 d6 49.a5 d8 50.a7 a8 51.e4 h4 52.f5 h3 53.a2 f7 54.g4 e6 55.xh3 f5 56.g3 e4 57.a6 f5! [ 57...d3 58.f3 c3 59.e4 xb3 60.d5 is also winning, but is more difficult: c2 61.e4 b3 62.c6+ b1 63.a6 b2 64.f5 c2 65.c6+ d3 66.b6 xa7 67.xb2 a4 and the e-pawn queens. ] 58.a5 d3 59.f3 [ 59.xe5 xa7 60.xf5 a3 wins the bpawn when the white king is too far (in fact Black mates in 30!!) ] 59...c2 60.e3 xb3 61.d3 e4+ 62.d4 b2 0-1

1857 Kramnik,Vladimir Inarkiev,Ernesto 66th ch-RUS 2013 (6.2) [David Smerdon]

B20 2796 2695 11.10.2013

1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 3.b2 Here we go again! Kramnik again puts faith in this rare sideline, and once again is rewarded, fresh off his success against Kobalia in the World Cup. d5 Very rare, but the idea is often seen against wacky Antis, such as 2.b4, 2.f4 and of course 2.c3. 4.exd5 xd5 5.c3 e5+ [ 5...d8 has been played a few times, but of course W hite has to be better in this position. 6.h5 e6 ( 6...b6 7.c4 e6 looks very fishy to me, but was a grandmaster's choice in Mattsson, M (2101)Ulibin, M (2544), Stockholm (Sweden) 2010, and now 8.e4! would have been very strong. Black has serious problems finishing his development, while b7? should not be met by 9.xe6? e7! with compensation, but rather the simple 9.Nf3! after which Black is completely busted.) 7.e4! g6 8.f3 e5 9.b5 1-0 (37) Buecker, S (2342)-Boensch, U (2540)/Germany 1994 ] 6.e2 White's lead in development and fewer pawn weaknesses guarantee a small but 2018

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 stable endgame advantage. [ For some reason, keeping the queens on hasn't proved to be very popular, although White retains some small advantage in this c a s e a s w e l l : 6.e2 g4 ( 6...d4 7.b5! ) 7.f4 e6 8.h3 xe2 9.gxe2 ] 6...xe2+ 7.gxe2 f5 8.0-0-0 Natural, but White has a tricky pawn sacrifice by way of alternative. [ 8.g3!? is interesting. xc2 9.c1 g6 10.a4 e5 ( 10...b6? 11.b5 c8 12.d4+- ) 11.xc5 xc5 12.xc5 f6?! ( 12...ge7! 13.xe5 b6 14.xg7 g8 15.xc6 xc6 16.c3 with a double-edged endgame to follow. I would rather play White if pushed for choice, chiefly because I love sacrificing the exchange (!), but objectively t h e p o s i t i o n i s ' u n c l e a r ' .) 13.a6! 1-0 (26) Czerniak, M (2370)-Cebalo, M (2415)/Zagreb 1969 ] 8...0-0-0 9.g3 e5 10.f4 White ensures that the diagonal for his b2-bishop stays open. We can surmise the opening by stating that White has a small advantage thanks to his lead in development and an easy game. [ 10.g2 i s w e a k e r : d4 11.d3 f6 12.de1 d6 13.a3 he8 14.xd4 cxd4 15.xd6 xd6 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 d7 and Black has a tiny edge (0-1 (42) Ali, E (2312)-Franco Ocampos, Z (2516)/ Palma de Mallorca ESP 2009) ] 10...exf4 [ 10...e4 11.e1! f6 12.d1! /+/- is a very powerful, multifunctional move, af ter wh ich Black will have a h ard tim e maintaining e4. ] 11.xf4 f6 12.c4 d4 This move was praised by some commentators, and given a '!' by GM Ramirez, but I think this is largely on account of Kramnik's inaccurate response. [ 12...g4 might have been Black's best chance of holding the fort. White might well consider sacrificing the exchange (I know I would!) by playing 13.Bxf7 here, because a f t e r t h e c o m p u t e r ' s m a i n l i n e 13.de1 ge5 14.d5 f6 15.hf1 b8 Black is stubbornly holding on. ] 13.d3?! Kramnik dodges the fireworks, but in doing so gives up much of his advantage. [ 13.b5! invites complications, but they seem to favour White. xc2 14.xf7 b4

15.e6+ xe6 16.xe6 d3+ 17.c2 d5 18.xf6 gxf6 19.hf1 e7 20.f4 xf4 21.xf4 and after all the smoke has cleared, W hite has a very pleasant endgame. ] 13...d6 14.df1?! [ Ramirez rejects 14.xf7 xf4+ 15.gxf4 on account of b5 "And surprisingly White's bishop on f7 starts to have some serious issues as it has no retreat squares." However, I think this position favours White and was Kramnik's best option. Let's look further: 16.e4! secures the bishop's future wi t h t a c t i cs . hf8 ( 16...xe4 17.dxe4 xe4 18.he1 f3 19.xd4! cxd4 20.d3 is much better for White.) 17.xd4 xd4 ( 17...cxd4 18.g5! ) 18.g5! xf4 19.e6+ b8 20.hf1 and again White has the better of the ending. ] 14...d7 15.ce2 xf4+ 16.xf4 c6 17.hg1 d7 Inarkiev has defended well and has almost reached equality. Kramnik finds a surprising strategic transformation to keep the p r e s s u r e o n . 18.xd4! cxd4 19.b4 Kram nik took advanta ge o f ju st t he righ t moment in which Black was forced to recapture on d4 with the pawn. Now W hite has a free hand on both sides of the board, though the advantage is still not fatal. b5 [ 19...a4!? is an interesting computer idea to swap off White's c4 bishop. 20.g4 b5 21.b3 xb3 22.axb3 e8 with a long fight ahead. ] 20.b3 g4 21.h5 xh2? [ 21...e3! was the way to go, immediately fighting for counterplay. I can understand Ernesto's reluctance to go in for such a complicated line, but unfortunately he's run out of options by this point. 22.xf7 xf7 23.xf7 f8 24.b3 ( 24.e6+ c7 Was still very unclear, despite the fact that White is temporarily up two pawns. 25.xg7 nets a second pawn, but after f2 26.b3 d6! 27.h4 e5! White probably cannot win. ) 24...g5! and Black has good drawing chances thanks to the misplacement of the knight on h5. ] 22.f2! g4 23.f4! Ve ry p re cise . f5? Going down without a fight. [ 23...e5 24.xg7 ] [ 23...e3 would have kept the game alive. 2019

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.xg7 g8 25.h5 g6 26.xf7 xf7 15.c3 f6 16.d2 e7 17.c3 c6 27.xf7 h6 28.f4 h2 29.b3 d7 18.h5 h6?? 19.xh6! d4 and now the And W hite still has a few technical i n e x p l i c a b l e ( 19...gxh6 20.g6+ g7 difficulties, though d4 should prove more of 21.f6 ) 20.f3?? although White still won in a weakness than a strength in the end. ] Di m i t ri j e vi c, D ( 2 2 7 2 ) - S r b is , J (2 1 5 6 ) / 24.e6 g6 25.g7+- I guess Inarkiev was Sibenik 2010 (39) ] hoping this knight was going to end up trapped, [ 10...e6 looks sensible and is the but Kramnik has it all figured out. e5 computer's top choice, but as White I like [ 25...c7 26.xd7 xd7 27.e1+- ] the resulting positions after 11.f5 xc4 26.e1 f3 27.e2 hd8 28.xd7+ xd7 12.bxc4 White will play Bc1 and Rb1 and 29.e6 d6 30.f8! The rest doesn't need probably flick in Nd5, with active co mm en ta ry. h5 31.e6 xe6 32.xe6 possibilities on both sides of the board. ] d7 33.f8 g1 34.d1 e8 35.xd4 11.d5 White has a nice edge b8 12.fxe5 f3 36.d6 g5 37.e6 d7 38.c5 e8 dxe5 13.g3 39.e6 d8 40.b7+ d7 41.e3 g4 [ It's only a rapid game, remember, but here 42.c5+ d8 43.e6+ d7 44.f4 f7 Kramnik missed a nice opportunity: 45.d4 h4 46.xf3 gxf3 47.gxh4 xa2 13.xd4! forces Black to recapture with the 48.e1 e7 49.d5 d6 50.h5 e5 51.h6! e - p a w n , w h i c h i s s u b o p t i m a l . exd4 xf4 52.f2 ( 13...cxd4? 14.xe7+ xe7 15.a3 ) 1-0 14.xf6+ xf6 15.c1 with easy play. ] 13...xd5 14.xd5 h4?! 15.h5 f6 16.c4?! Optically appealing, but I'm not sure 1858 B20 this is best. White has a great bishop, but he Kramnik,Vladimir 2784 would have a great bishop even if the pawn Kobalia,Mikhail 2651 just stopped its march at c3, and then Black's WorldCup 2013 (13.3) 16.08.2013 powerf u l ste ed wou ld ha ve t o ret re at . g6 17.d1 g7 18.a2 e7 19.c3 e6 [Smerdon, David] 20.af2 b5 21.axb5 axb5 22.h1 h5? 1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 3.b2 e5?! I'm not sure White is really that much better in While White's system is harmless, this popular t h i s p o s i t i o n , i f a t a l l , b u t i t ' s c e r t a i n l y setup is definitely to be avoided. It might be e a sie r t o p la y. A n ywa y, t h e t e xt is a b ig objectively okay but White gets a very easy mistake because it allows White a very active ga m e. Fo r in f o , 2 . .. g6 is m y p re f ere nce , p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t s h o u l d n ' t b e p o s s i b l e . . . t h o u gh B la c k n e e d s t o k n o w o n e o r t wo 23.xd4 exd4 24.f5! gxf5 25.exf5 bxc4? [ 25...xd5 was of course critical, but despite sharpish lines to play it (check out the being two (!) bishops down, temporarily, archives). 4.c4 d6 5.d3 f6 6.e2 e7 W h i t e i s b e t t e r : 26.f6! xf6 27.xf6 7.bc3 d4!? Deviating from Short-Prasad a n d B l a c k h a s t o b a i l o u t w i t h xg2+ (2004, 1-0) from the archives, although we get 28.xg2 but White has tremendous a similar sort of position. pressure. ] [ Very instructional play by Black was seen in T h i s z wi s c h e n zu g a g a i n ! d6? the following recent game: 7...0-0 8.0-0 26.f6! e6 9.h3 h5! 10.d5 g5 11.f4 27.fxg7? [ 27.xe6! fxe6 28.xh5!+- ] (What else?) exf4 12.dxf4 xf4 13.xf4 xf4 14.xf4 g5 15.d2 e5 16.af1 27...xg7 28.bxc4 xd5 29.xh5 f5 ae8 17.xe6 xe6 18.xe5 xe5 19.f2 30.cxd5 g6 31.h4 be8 32.f3 e3 1/2-1/2 Izoria, Z (2585)-Amanov, M (2510)/ 33.xe3 dxe3 34.e7+ f7 35.xe3 f4 36.e5+ f6 37.xf6+ Kramnik takes the Wheeling 2013 ] 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 a6 10.a4 b6!?N The first pragmatic approach. xf6 38.g3 f3 39.g1 f5 40.d6 f6 41.f2 e5 42.e1+ xd6 new move, but not a good one. [ Previously seen was 10...b8 11.a5 c6 43.e3 12.d5 xd5 13.xd5 d4 14.f5 c6 1-0 2020

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1859 Kravtsiv,Martyn Kuzubov,Yuriy 75th ch-UKR m (2.4) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2446 2559 27.11.2006

1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 b3!? This is certainly worth a look and may well throw Wing Gambiteers off balance. I think we can assume that they will all have something reasonably prepared for 3...d5, although that remains the best third move. W ith 3...b3 Black throws a spanner in White's works and restores (or should do) the pawn structure to symmetry. 4.cxb3 [ 4.c3!? b6 5.b2 g6 was the bizarre continuation of a recent master game. An unconventional position was reached and then they both copped out!: 6.d3 c6 7.f3 d6 8.xb3 f6 9.bd2 e6 10.g3 h5 1/2-1/2 Nanu, C-Manolache, M/Padron 2004 ] 4...d5! 5.exd5 [ 5.e5 c6 6.b2 f5 7.f3 e6 seems very comfortable indeed for Black, as the Bishop on b2 ' bites on granite'. 8.c3 a6 9.c1 c8 10.d4 a5 11.e2 e7 12.0-0 g6 13.g3 e7 14.d2 h3 15.e1 g5 16.a4 0-0 17.xc8 xc8 18.c3 c6 19.c5 e7 Hrabinska, MAksionova, T/Evpatoria 2006/ ] 5...f6 6.b5+ d7 [ I have slight stylistic preference for 6...bd7! as there is no real way that white can defend d5 in the long run and once a Black Knight captures there, he will find himself on a marvellous square: 7.c3 A) However 7...g6 also looks good, dispen sing with ..a6 altogether! 8.b2 g7 9.c2 0-0 10.ge2 b6 11.g3 bxd5 Black's development is more compact and his pawns are less exposed. 12.h4 ( 12.xd5 xd5 13.f1 e6 ) 12...f4 13.ce2 xg2+ 14.f1 b6 15.c4 g4 16.e4 f5 17.xg7 xe4 18.d4 c6 19.c3 2e3+ 20.dxe3 xh1 21.f4 b5 22.e2 h2+ 23.g1 f3+ 24.xh1 xd4+ 25.xc6 xc6 26.xb5 e5 27.g1 ab8 28.a4 fd8 29.h5 g7 30.b4 d2 31.hxg6 hxg6 0-1 Berger, C-Andrianov, N/Connecticut

2001; B) 7...a6 Forcing. 8.xd7+ xd7 9.f3 b5 10.ge2 b7 11.f4 d8 12.0-0 xd5 13.cxd5 xd5 14.g3 ( 14.xd5 xd5 15.g3 e6 is a fraction better for Black. ) 14...f6 15.b2 f7 16.d4 g6 17.h4 g7 18.h5 g5 19.h6 xh6 20.h2 gxf4 21.xh6 Zhdanov, VAbrashkin, B/Samara 2001 after which f5! 22.ac1 g8 23.f3 g6 24.h4 xb3 again looks poor for White. ] 7.c4 g6 8.b2 g7 9.c3 0-0 10.a4 g4 11.f3 c8 12.ge2 b6 It's a bit like the Panov Attack in the Caro-Kann. W hite understands that if d5 drops he will be instantly worse thanks to the isolated pawn on d2. So his immediate game-plan is based entirely on reinforcing this point to the hilt. 13.b4 b7 14.b3 a5 15.b5 bd7 16.d4 c8 a nice square appears on c4, which Black can train his sights, although White is still a p a wn u p . F o l l o wi n g o n f r o m t h e i d e a o f reinforcing d5, White would now like to station major pieces on the e file to nail down e7, thus using the extra d5-pawn as constructively as he can. This takes time. 17.a3 e8 18.0-0 d6 19.d3 f6 20.h1 c7 21.e4 [ 21.ac1 d7 22.fe1 fc8 is approximately equal. ] 21...xd5 22.xd6 exd6 23.e4= e7 24.ad1 [ if we are talking about ways to keep a b a l a n c e t h e n 24.xb7 xb7 25.fe1! would have been my choice. This continuation depends on a tactical point: e8 26.g3! xd4?! ( 26...c7!= ) 27.ad1 f2 ( 27...g7 28.xd6; 27...c5 28.e4! ) 28.xd6 b8 29.e4 h4 30.ed1 ] 24...e8 25.d5 f5 26.d3 c8 [ 26...ce7 ] 27.c1 xc1 28.xc1 d7 29.b3 g5 30.c7 d2 So far, so good, but now as soon as Black makes an intimidating move, White collapses. 31.g1?? [ 31.c2 e1+ ( 31...xc2 32.xc2 d4 33.xd4 xd4 34.d2 c5 35.xc5 dxc5 36.g1 f5 37.c2= ) 32.g1 e3 33.e2 was fully defensible. ] 31...e3 W h ite is cu t o u t o f c2 . 32.c2 2021

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 W ell, not entirely... xc2 33.xc2 e1 My conclusion is that 3... b3! poses problems for W hite, psychologically as much as anything. Black finds an excellent moment to throw a spanner in the works and sets the scene for the usual ..d7-d5, which in turn frees his position. 0-1

1860 Kupreichik,Viktor D Khismatullin,Denis 29th Mem Nezhmetdinov (2) [John Shaw]

B20 2402 2570 02.06.2007

1.e4 c5 2.e2 d6 The only one of the Big Three 2nd moves (2...d6, 2...e6, 2. ..Nc6) to allow 2.Ne2 to remain an independent line. [ 2...e6 and ] [ 2...c6 both retain the option of d7-d5 in one jump, so White should return to regular lines with 3 d4 or 3 Nbc3. ] [ Dragon players also have nothing to worry about: 2...g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 g7 ( 4...f6 )] 3.g3 Getting ready to defend e4. [ 3.c4 could be explored. White can try for d2-d4 heading for Maroczy-style play, or Nbc3, g2-g3 and Bg2 pretending it's the Botvinnik variation of the English. I don't fancy the Botvinnik, but I understand there are those that do. ] 3...d5!? This is the one that stops Najdorf players being move-ordered. [ 3...f6 4.g2 a6 would certainly be met by 5.c3 and 6.d2-d4. White has the same option against 4...Nc6 or 4...g6 but Black also has to consider the immediate 5.d4. This leads to lines of the Classical and Dragon that are not critical, but they would be difficult enough if all you know is the Najdorf. ] 4.g2 dxe4 5.bc3 e5! Curiously, this obvious move seems to be a novelty. It leads to play that I think will be much more to the taste of a Sicilian player than hanging on to the pawn. [ 5...f5 looks ropey to me. No development and a weakening lunge to save an extra pawn. I don't have a forced refutation, but I

wo u ld o n l y p l a y t h e W h it e s i d e o f t h i s position. 6.d3 exd3 7.f4 was the start of Ro ws o n 's a n a lysi s. I t ri e d t o sh o r e u p Black's defences, but I still like White. One Fritzy line that amused me is f6 8.xd3 ( 8.xd3 is also fun.) 8...c6!? Controlling e5 seems more important than retaining the right to castle. 9.xd8+ xd8 10.e3 e5 11.0-0-0+ c7 12.fd5+ xd5 13.xd5+ b8 14.f4 ( 14.d2!? ) 14...c7 15.d5+ with a repetition. ] 6.xe4 f5 It's not so weakening with e7-e5 already on the board. 7.4c3 f6 8.d3 c6 9.0-0 d6 Plenty of space and easy develop me nt . 10.d5 h6 11.ec3 0-0 12.e3 e6 13.f4?! A likely move at some point, but probably not now. [ A better move order is 13.xf6+ xf6 14.b5 ( 14.f4 is worth a thought. exf4 15.gxf4 may not be as bad as it looks.) 14...f7! This is the correct bishop to save, so that it can later challenge White's better b ish o p wit h B f 7 -d 5 . ( 14...e7 15.c7 m i g h t b e a n e d g e .) 15.xd6 xd6 It may still be equal, but it seems easier to play Black's moves. ] 13...g4! 14.d2 d7 15.ae1 ae8 16.h1 xe3 17.xe3 f7 18.b3 b8 Black has a pleasant advantage, although the game was drawn after various adventures. 19.fxe5 xe5 20.ee1 d4 21.e3 xe3 22.xe3 xe3 23.xe3 d4 24.d2 e8 25.f2 e5 26.e2 e7 27.g1 g5 28.c3 c6 29.d4 cxd4 30.cxd4 d5 31.e2 d6 32.xf5 d7 33.f1 xd4 34.xd4 xd4 35.e3 b6 36.g1 d3 37.e5 d4+ 38.xd4 xd4 39.c1 a5 40.c6 d1+ 41.f1 b5 42.xh6 a1 43.a3 xb3 44.f2 a2+ 45.e1 a1+ 46.f2 g7 47.b6 a2+ 48.e3 xa3 49.xb5 f7+ 50.d4 a2 51.b7 a4? I suspect an error was made inputting the game. 52.h4? [ Kupreichik would not have missed 52.xf7+ ] 52...gxh4 ½-½

2022

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 (to m y mind ) decisio ns o ve r t he las t f e w moves, and now it is not so easy to make progress because the black major pieces now have considerable scope. 38.f4 [ 38.e5 c5+ 39.e3 xd5 40.f4 e6 is murky. ] 1.e4 c5 2.a3 d6 3.c3 f6 4.g3 38...b6+ 39.e3 xb2 40.e2 b1+ There is something pleasing about this move, 41.e1 c2 42.e2 c5+ 43.e3 c2 because it takes two moves to defend the e- 44.e2 p a w n wi t h t h e b i s h o p o n g 2 , b u t t h i s i s ½-½ possible due to the fact that the immediate Ne4 doesn't work. g6 B20 [ 4...xe4 5.a4+ This looks decisive, and 1862 it is, but you should see d7 6.xe4 c6 Malakhov,Vladimir 2691 7.b5! when the knight once again justifies Sasikiran,Krishnan 2692 his presence on a3! ] XXXVI Bosnia GM (9) 15.05.2006 5.g2 g7 6.e2 0-0 7.0-0 e5 8.d4 [Jonathan Rowson] A fairly normal position, where the knight is neither particularly well-placed nor particularly 1.e4 c5 2.a3 a6 This move doesn't make badly placed on a3. exd4 9.cxd4 c6 10.d5 much sense to me, given that the knight can [ 10.dxc5 dxc5 11.f4 xd1 12.xd1 g4! quite happily go to c2. 3.c3 c6 4.f3 f6 is annoying. ] 5.e2 Keeping the position semi-closed. 10...b4 11.c2! At move two, it would have [ 5.e5 d5 6.g3!? also looks playable. ] been stretching the imagination a bit to say 5...d6 6.g3 g4 7.h3 h5 8.g2 e6 9.0-0 that the justification for the knight being on a3 e7 10.d3 d7 11.c2 c8 12.g4 g6 might be to remove a knight on b4, but this 13.d2 The position now resembles a line in m o v e d o e s a l l o w w h i t e t o o r g a n i s e h i s t h e R o s s o l i m o wi t h 3 . . . d 6 , b u t w i t h t h e position. xc2 12.xc2 e8 13.c3 a6 difference that white's light squared bishop is 14.a4 d7 15.a5 g4 16.d2 b5 17.axb6 on g2 instead of c2(after Bb5-a4-c2), and xb6 18.d1 b5 19.e1 d4 20.c3 white's knight is on c2 instead of g2!(after Nf3a7 21.h3 f6 22.e3 h5 23.h2 ae7 h4-g2). I suspect this difference should favour 24.f3 d7 25.g4 This move surprised me, W hite in general, but Black seems to take because until now W hite's play had been control over the next few moves. e5!? 14.e3 quite restrained. However, Malakhov must f8 15.d5 b5 I always find it curious when have felt that a knight on g4 was a threat to such strong players seem to stop half-wayBlack's defences. through a plan. In this case, why not ...Ne6? If [ 25.ad1 This solid move looks promising, if the problem was ... Ne6 a4!? followed by Nc4, only because e5 26.f4 is progress. ] then why didn't white play a4 before Nd5? But 25...hxg4 26.xg4 g7 27.ad1 e5 then you realise, of course, that strong GMs 28.xd4! I suspect Malakhov saw this coming, are not strong just because they see lots of and it is a pity he didn't follow-up accurately, things, but because they are quick to adapt be c a u s e u n t il n o w I t h in k h e h a s p la ye d appropriately to whatever they see. 16.f4 exf4 extremely well. xg4+ 17.xf4 e6 18.f3 b4 The position is [ 28...cxd4 29.f2 f6 30.xd4 c7 31.f4 quite tense, an d th e next f ew move s are and I doubt if the white initiative will burn particularly difficult for both sides. 19.d5 h5! out any time soon. ] Re m i n d i n g W h it e o f h i s d r a f t y ki n gs id e . 29.hxg4 cxd4 30.f2 f6 31.xd4 20.xe7 xe7 21.g5 h4! Sasikiran's play is W hite has overwhelming compensation for impressively combative, but now both kings the exchange. c7 32.g5 g8 33.gxf6 are potentially vulnerable. I feel that W hite h7+ 34.g1 g5 35.e3 d7 36.g3 f7 should be ok here somehow, but the position 37.xg5 eh8 White has made some strange is very difficult to handle in practice because 1861 Malakhov,Vladimir Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter XXXVI Bosnia GM (5) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2691 2695 11.05.2006

2023

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 there are so many weakness to cover(c3, d3, compensation is good, rather than decisive, g3, g5, h3). 22.f2 bxc3 23.bxc3 e5 and if W hite plays some half-moves then 24.xh4 xd3 25.xg6 fxg6 26.e2 c4 Black will be doing very well. However, if we 27.e3 h4 28.c2 ef4 29.xf4?! compare this line to, for example, 2.Nf3 d6 3. Missing his chance. Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 Ngf6 5.0-0 Nxe4, which is [ 29.xf4!! xf4?! ( 29...xf4 30.xf4 xf4 considered playable for Black, but also very 31.a4+ d8 32.d1 is level ) 30.f1 risky, then it would seem that W hite has xg5 ( 30...xg2? 31.a4+ d8 32.b6+ some extra tempi here, although the c7 33.xc7+ xc7 34.xc4+ d7 exchange of bishop for knight does change 35.f7 is the neat point) 31.xf4 xf4 the nature of the position quite a lot. There 32.d2 wins material. ] is no way to analyse this position to a firm 29...xf4 30.a4+ d7 31.xd7+ xd7 conclusion at this stage, but I would just The ending is horrible for White. 32.ab1 c5 warn people who want to play this position 33.f2 xg2 34.xg2 xg5+ 35.h2 as White, not to assume that your position xe4 36.f2 e3 37.b6 a5 38.b7+ c6 will play itself. You are a central pawn down 39.fb2 e2+ 40.xe2 xb7 41.e7+ c6 so have to play resolutely! cxd4 ( 7...b5!? ) 42.xg7 d5 43.h4 g4 44.h3 g1 8.c4 c6 9.xd4 d6 10.b6 b8 ] 45.h2 c1 46.xg6 xc3 47.g5+ d4 7.e1 b6 8.d4 cxd4 9.xd4 f6 10.g5 48.g4+ c5 49.h5 f3 50.h6 f8 51.h7 [ 10.c4 ] h8 52.g7 c3 53.g2 d4 54.c7 d5 [ 10.e5 is probably not as good as it looks on 55.f2 d3 f i r s t i m p r e s s i o n s . d5 11.c4 b4 0-1 ( 11...e7 12.e3 ) 12.d1 The knight can no longer go to c4, but it does a good job of defending c2! b7 13.e3 c5 14.f4 1863 B20 e4! ] Malakhov,Vladimir 2690 10...c5 11.d3 [ 11.c3! looks like an improvement. e7 Vorobiov,Evgeny E 2539 12.xc6 dxc6 13.c4 and White is 59th ch-RUS 1st League (2) 04.09.2006 probably quite a lot better, but at the very [Jonathan Rowson] least is quite safe. ] 1.e4 c5 2.a3 c6 3.b5 This position still 11...b7 12.ad1 d6 [ 12...c7!? ] amuses me, because it looks like W hite is playing a Rossolimo, until you notice that 13.xf6 gxf6 14.c4 0-0-0 15.c3 b8 instead of white having a knight on f3, he has 16.cd2 e5! Black seems to be better now. one on a3. I find it hard to believe that this 17.b3 f5 18.xc5 bxc5 [ 18...xc5 19.xc5 bxc5 20.g5! difference favours W hite, but on the other is an important detail. fxe4 21.xf7 d5 hand, it might just mean that Black has a wi t h s o m e c o m p e n s a t i o n wa s m y f i r s t different set of problems to solve. After all, thought, but then White has 22.xd8 xd8 the theory of the Rossolimo is quite well 23.xe4 ] established, while the theory of the Zvagintsev line is in its infancy, so in addition 19.exf5 hg8 20.f1 b5+ [ 20...a4!? intending Qf4 or Qg4, is more to pretending to have the threat of f 2-f 4, ambitious. ] White is also forcing Black to think for himself. 21.g1 c6 22.e3 e4 c7 4.f3 a6 5.xc6 [ 22...g4 23.h3 f4 ] [ 5.e2 f6 6.d3 Is too passive to be a 23.e1 d5 24.e5+ a8 25.g3 xg3 threat to Black. ] 26.hxg3 d4 27.b4 cxb4 28.xd4 xd4 5...xc6 6.0-0 e6 [ 6...xe4 7.d4 looks very dangerous for 29.xd4 d5 30.xb4 xa2 31.c4 a5 Black, but anybody playing this way, with 32.c3 a4 33.c2 b1+ 34.h2 b3 White or Black, should take a closer look at 35.a5+ b8 36.d4 xc4 37.b6 d5 this position because I suspect the 2024

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 38.b5 e3 39.c7+ a8 40.a5+ ½-½

1864 Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar Van Wely,Loek CCT 2008 Wijk aan Zee [John Shaw]

B20

2008

1.e4 c5 2.b3 It is refreshing to see a world class player try 2.b3, even if the game supports the existing conclusion: Black is fine but there is plenty of play. d6 3.b2 f6 4.b5+ d7 [ If 4...c6 then it is usual to exchange on c6 and play d3 and f4. However, I reached an interesting position after 5.e5!? dxe5 ( 5...d5!? ) 6.xc6+ bxc6 7.xe5 in Shaw-Le Roux, 4ncl 2005. I prefer White's structure to Black's bishops. ] 5.xd7+ xd7 [ T h e r e i s n o t h i n g w r o n g w i t h 5...bxd7 either. Normal play would be: 6.d3 g6 Nothing is forced here. ( It may be easier for Black to find a plan after 6...e6 7.f4 d5 ) 7.f4 g7 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 b5 10.e1 Perhaps it is easier to play the white side (in Grand Prix Attack style with Qh4, Ng5, f 5 ) b u t I t h i n k B l a c k ' s p o s i t i o n i s ve r y sound. ( Richard Palliser pointed out the blunder 10.bd2? xe4 11.xg7 xd2 12.xf8 xf1 13.xe7 xe7 14.xf1 f6 when Black is better. )] 6.d3 c6 7.f4 I think Black is fine, but it's more unclear than simply level. I would have no objection to playing this position with either colour. d5 [ Also sensible is 7...e6 For example: 8.f3 e7 9.0-0 d5 10.e5 c7 11.xc6 xc6 12.e5 d7 13.c4 Gelashvili-Amano elashvili-Amano elashvili-Amanov, Dubai 2006. The 2.b3 expert won, but I think Black is e qu a l. I s u g ge s t d4 14.d2 0-0 with the idea of f7-f6 or f5. The queenside formation reminds me of a Reversed Benoni where White has put the bishop on exactly the wrong square. ] 8.d2 [ 8.e5 g4 and White has problems covering e3. ]

8...0-0-0 9.e2 dxe4 10.dxe4 d4 One senses that Van Wely didn't think much of 2.b3 and his last series of moves is highly ambitious and risky. 11.xd4 xd4 12.d1 c3 13.gf3 xc2 14.g5 d4 15.0-0 e6 16.xf7 g8 17.g5 e7 18.xe6 xe4! A clever sequence which I felt certain would lead to a draw. 19.f3 xe6 20.h3 g4 21.xg4 g6 22.h3 h6 All forced. 23.f3! White has just enough play to cause some problems. [ I expected 23.g4 g6 with a repetition. ] 23...f6 24.h1 d4 25.b4!? Opening up the black king and removing the bishop's support. cxb4 26.e4 b6?! [ Developing the final piece with 26...d8 is safer when Black can defend. For example: 27.g5 e7 28.b3 b6 ] 27.f5 c7 28.h3 c6? Now the f-pawn is a monster. [ 28...e5 gives an added defence if White plays as in the game. 29.g4 b8 30.f6 g6! and Black hangs on. ] 29.g4! b8 30.f6 a5 31.f7 f8 32.f5 [ Missing a win with 32.g5! xg5 33.xg5 f6 34.xh7 8xf7 35.xf6 gxf6 36.g4 ] 32...h4 33.d7 g6 34.d5 a4? It was already difficult but this allows a quick kill. 35.d4! Breaking the blockade on f8 due t o t h e d o u b l e t h r e a t o n b 4 a n d g 7 . b3 36.axb3 axb3 37.g7 xf7 38.g8+ a7 39.xf7 xe4 40.xc7 b2 41.xb7+ A successful high-level test, but it's a win for Mamedyarov rather than a triumph for 2. b3. 1-0

1865 Marusenko,Petr Burdalev,Kirill ch-Kyiv Kyiv UKR (9) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2330 2182 28.01.2007

Petr Marusenko has been a regular visitor to England f or many years. Clearly, he ha s picked up the English trait of eccentricity. 1.e4 c5 2.a3 g6 3.h4!? Neither bad nor good, just indescribable. [ 3.b4 was recommended in Bezhgodov's book, but I am not sure what the implications are of that statement: g7 4.c3 d5 5.exd5 2025

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd5 6.f3 f6 7.e2 0-0 8.c4 d8 9.b2 b6 10.0-0 b7 11.b3 c6 12.bxc5 a5 13.c2 bxc5 14.d3 h5 15.xg7 xg7 16.bd2 e6 17.ab1 c7 Mamedyarov, S-Kotronias, V/Mallorca 2004 I prefer Black with his better Bishop and control over d4. ] 3...g7 4.h5 d5 [ Believe it or not there is a Grandmaster example to show: 4...c6 5.c3 d6 6.c4 White has to get some pieces out sometime. d4 7.d3 g4!? 8.f3 ( 8.xg4 xc2+ 9.d1 xa1 10.b5+ is tempting, but after f8 White really has nothing.) 8...e6 9.ge2 A) Just 9...xc4 10.dxc4 xe2 11.xe2 ( 11.xe2? xc3+ 12.bxc3 a5 13.d3 gxh5 14.xh5 f6 ) 11...b6 was indicated and Black is completely OK.; B) 9...gxh5?! Why, apart from a perverse desire to meet fire with fire? 10.xe6 fxe6 11.xd4 cxd4 12.e2 c8 13.xh5 f6 14.g5 h6 15.g3 xc1 16.xc1 a5+ 17.d2 xd2+ 18.xd2 e5 19.c3 Dobrov, V-Sutovsky, E/playchess. com INT 2006 ] 5.exd5 xd5 6.c3 d8 7.c4 I am not really scoffing at this play in fact I admire W hite's originality. I like the approach of tearing up the theoretical handbooks and starting again. Certainly Black must be very careful now. He must stick to his guns and focus on d4, as in many Sicilian structures. c6 8.f3 e6 [ 8...g4?? 9.xf7+ ] [ I prefer 8...h6 enabling ...Bg4: 9.d3 g4 10.e3 d4! ] 9.d3 gxh5? Why do they do this? Sutovsky before him too? What are Black's plans for his King? [ P e r h a p s h e j u s t d o e s n ' t l i k e 9...ge7 10.e4 b6 11.h6 ] [ 9...a5 10.d2 c7 11.b5 d8 12.c3! xc3+ 13.xc3 g5 14.b5 ] 10.e3 d4 11.g5 [ 11.e4! is also very strong. f6 12.xc5! f5 13.g5 d6 14.e2 ] 11...f6 12.ge4 xe4 13.xe4 b6 14.f4 The opening has been a complete success for W hite. Black's pawns are

f ract ured and his King is vulnerable . f5 15.xh5 xb2 16.b1 d4 17.c3 g7 18.g4!+- Game Over e7 [ 18...e7 19.d6+ d7 20.b5+ c7 21.xf7+ ] 19.gxf5 exf5 20.xf7+! d7 [ 20...d8 21.g5 ] 21.xf5+ d8 22.d5+ d7 23.xa8 [ I f w e a r e g o i n g t o s p l i t h a i r s 23.g5+ wa s e ve n b e t t e r : e7 24.xg7 f8 25.g5 ] 23...xf7 24.xc8+ xc8 25.d6+ At first sight, a complete rout, which is not much better at second or third sight either. But average players the world over are craving for something fresh against the Sicilian and 2 a3 certainly fits the bill! 1-0

1866 Morales Araujo,Francisco J Spraggett,Kevin XXXII Open Sevilla ESP (2) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2102 2633 08.01.2007

Th e f o llo win g ga m e p re se n t s u s wit h a n excellent example of how a stronger player outplays a lesser opponent. White may even have a small edge out of the opening, but the position remains complex and both sides have plenty of chances to go wrong. Guess who gets it wrong last! 1.f4!? We will soon transpose. c5 2.f3 g6 3.c3 g7 4.g3 d6 5.g2 c6 6.d3 f6 7.0-0 0-0 8.e4 g4 The King's Knight is an essential component in any coming White kingside attack, so Black eliminates it! The way is cleared for . ..Rb8 and ... b7-b5-b4. This is a simplistic plan, but one which works. 9.h3! xf3 10.xf3 c8 So that any move by the 'b' pawn cannot be answered by e4-e5. 11.a4 [ 11.e3 d7 12.g4 b5 13.a3 a5 Ye Jiangchuan-Gelfand, B/Shenyang 2000 seems very satisfactory for Black. ] 11...a6 12.a3 d7 13.e3 c7 En route to b8 to facilitate ..b7-b5. [ 13...b8 is a little paradoxical after the earlier ...Ra8-c8. The tempo counts and W hite can obtain an edge: 14.fd1! b5 15.axb5 axb5 16.e5! a5 17.b4 dxe5 2026

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 17...b7 18.xb5 dxe5 19.a7 ) 18.bxa5 xa5 19.d2 exf4 20.gxf4 xc3 21.c2 xd2 22.xa5+Jansa, V-Neelotpal, D/ Benasque 1998 ] 14.f2 b8 15.c2 c7 16.d4 White's two Bishops and big centre definitely give him the advantage, but this is not the type of edge that's easy to nail down. cxd4 17.xd4 a5! E ye in g c 4 . 18.e2 cc8 19.f3 c7 20.d4 [ 20.d2 b6 21.b3! looks good, restraining Black's Knights however this is qu it e t o u gh t o f i n d f o r a 2 1 0 0 a n d h a s o n g o i n g t a c t i c a l i m p l i c a t i o n s : xc3!? 22.ac1 d8 23.d3 b4 24.xc8 xc8 ] 20...e5 21.e3?! [ I prefer 21.f2 when attempts by Black to stir it up are fraught with risk: exf4 22.gxf4 f5 23.g5! ce8 24.e5 dxe5 25.d5+ h8 26.f7+ ] 21...exf4 22.xf4 [ After 22.gxf4 c4 Black has counterplay. ] 22...fe8 But Black has targets here too. 23.f2 c4 24.ad1 f6 The tables are gradually turning. d6 is safely covered and the two Bishops are ineffectual. Black has assumed the advantage. 25.d4 xe4 26.c2 e7 He wants to play without any risk [ But 26...f5 was also strong. ] 27.b3 a5 [ Fritz prefers 27...a3!! as only Fritz would and of course it works! 28.xe4 ( 28.b2 xc3 29.xa3 xd4+ 30.xd4 e2+; 28.d3 xc3 ) 28...xe4 29.xe4 xe4 30.fe1 xd4+ 31.cxd4 xe1+ 32.xe1 c2 33.c1 d5 ] 28.fe1 d5 29.c4 c5 30.e3 c7 [ 30...b4! keeping a close eye on the White Queenside pawn chain, may have been better. ] 31.e2 f6 [ 31...xg3! 32.xg3 xg3-+ ] 32.f4 dxc4 33.b4 b3 34.a5 h5 35.b6 xe1+ 36.xe1 d7 37.d1 e7 Black is two clear pawns up and makes no further errors. 38.d3 h4 39.g4 e4 40.f4 ed2 41.d5 e2! 42.e3 e8 43.f1 xe3! Very nice indeed, teeing up threats of ...Nf3+ 44.xe2 xe2 45.h1 e5 The final troops are brought to bear.

46.g1 c3 47.d3 e4! 48.d8+ g7 49.d4 xd4 50.xd4 c2 51.c4 c3 A very classy d isplay b y Sp ra gget t, o nly getting involved in tactics when he needed to and with a excellent final twist. 0-1

1867 Morozevich,Alexander Baklan,Vladimir Mainz Ordix op rapid (9) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2743 2595 08.08.2004

1.e4 c5 2.b3 d6 3.f4 c6 4.f3 f6 5.c3 g6 6.b2 [ 6.b5!? ] 6...g7 7.e2 [ 7.b5?! is certainly more natural-looking here, but it is important not to forget about xe4! ] 7...d4 This attempt to 'punish' Qe2 is by no means forced. [ 7...g4 looks plausible(when Nh5 is some sort of threat), as does ] [ 7...h5 8.g3 g4 9.g2 0-0 10.0-0 ] 8.d3 e5 [ 8...xe4 9.xe4 f5 ( 9...d5 10.xd5 xc2+ 11.f2 xa1 12.b5+ d7 13.xb7! ) 10.xb7 b8 11.xa7 xc2+ 12.d1 xa1 13.xa1 0-0 ] 9.b5 [ 9.fxe5 dxe5 10.e2 is also possible, but less threatening to Black. ] 9...0-0 10.xd6 exf4 11.xd4 cxd4 [ 11...xd6!? 12.f3 ] 12.a3 g4 13.f3 h4+ [ 13...e3! 14.d3 ( 14.dxe3 dxe3 15.d1 a5+ ) 14...a5 15.b2 g4 16.f2 e6 ] 14.g3 xh2 15.xf4 xf4 16.gxf4 xf1 17.xf1 d8 18.e2 g4+ [ 18...d3+ 19.xd3 xa1 20.xa1 ] 19.d3 d7 20.ag1 h5 21.xg4 This is my favourite part of the game. I really like the simplicity of this sacrifice. The bishop on g4 and pawn on h5 were dominating both rooks, but now all of white's pieces can play freely. hxg4 22.g1 a5 [ That said, I might have felt differently after 22...ad8! 23.e5 f5! which is very hard to 2027

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 assess without detailed analysis. ] 23.xg4 a4 24.b4 White won here, which means that the game score was probably incomplete, or else Baklan took too much time trying to solve his opening problems and now lost on time. In any case, W hite now appears to be very comfortable. 1-0

1868 Moser,Eva Calzetta Ruiz,Monica EU-ch (Women) 6th (6) [John Shaw]

B20 2422 2254 16.06.2005

1.e4 c5 2.d3 g6 3.g3 g7 4.g2 c6 5.f4 d6 6.f3 f6 This set-up for Black is a key challenge to 2.d3 and the Big Clamp, as it feels easier for W hite to fight for the advantage in the other lines. However, with a n a c c u r a t e m o ve o r d e r W h i t e s t i l l h a s promising play (as ever, finding a forced advantage everywhere against the Sicilian would be too much to hope for). 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3! Stopping ...Bg4 turns out to be crucial. Naturally, this move also prepares the standard avalanche g4 and f5, when Qe1-h4 and Bh6 are on the cards. [ We can see why 8.h3 is so important if we follow normal Big Clamp play: 8.c3 g4! 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 c8 This move was chosen by the three best players to reach this position: Gelfand, Spraggett and Sutovsky. For what it's worth, all three won their games. Black's plan is Nd7, b5, a5 and go for it on the queenside. The exchange of bishop for knight has freed Black from any cramp, and W hite's attempted kingside attack is weakened. I shouldn't overstate the issue, as it's not a disaster for W hite, but Black seems to have the easier play in a near-balanced position. So one to avoid for White. The following high-level example is just an illustration: 11.e3 d7 12.g4 b5 13.a3 a5 14.d2 b6 15.f2 b4 16.axb4 axb4 17.fc1 Wisely accepting that the kingside attack is not getting there. d7 18.f3 a8 19.xa8 xa8 20.f5 a2 21.h4 e5 22.xe5 xe5 23.cxb4 xb2 24.bxc5 dxc5 25.f1? ( 25.xc5= )

25...d6! 26.fxg6 hxg6 27.g2 xd3 28.e1 e2 0-1 Ye Jiangchuan -Gelfand, Shenyang 2000. ] [ As ever, Black must be ready for a transposition to the Closed Sicilian with 8.c3 This will be a problem for many, as t h e li n e wit h . . . e 6 a n d . . . Ng e 7 i s m o s t people's favourite. ] 8...b5!? As played by Kasparov, and so popular and widely recommended. There is no need to prepare ...b7-b5, as W hite's attempte d tricks along t he long diagona l would backfire. [ The slowness of 8...b8 can be exploited by 9.g4 b5 10.f5! The play can head in many directions, so just consider the following two high-class examples: A) 10...b7 11.e1 c4 12.e3 cxd3 13.cxd3 c8 An indictment of 8...Rb8. 14.a3 e5 15.e2 xf3+ 16.xf3 a6 17.c3 d7 18.ac1 e5 19.g2 e6 20.f2 exf5 21.gxf5 d7 22.cf1 e7? A slip in a typically tense Big Clamp middlegame. Now in Short-Leko, Cap d'Agde (rapid) 1996, W hite could have played ( 22...f6 ) 23.f6! xf6 24.xf6 xf6 25.g5+-; B) 10...b4 11.e1 d7 12.h4 e6 13.g5 f6 A typical moment: Black can stall W hite's kingside attack but only at the expense of killing his own bishop. 14.e3 de5 15.xe5 xe5 16.d2 a5 17.c4 Minasian -Ki. Georgiev, New York 1998, White was a little better. In the game Black retreated his knight to f7, but perhaps instead: xc4 18.dxc4 e7 19.g3 b7 20.ad1 bd8 21.b3 ] [ 8...e5 may at first feel a strange mixture (traditional is either e5-and-Nge7 or Nf6and-leave-the pawn on e7) but similar setups with e5-and-Nf6 have become popular in the Closed Sicilian. If White is careless he can run into trouble after a quick ...Nd4 a n d . . . N h 5 . I r e c o m m e n d 9.g4!? ( t h e t e m p t i n g 9.f5 i s m u r k y a f t e r d5 ) 9...exf4 Otherwise f4-f5 is halfway to a crush. 10.c3!? ( 10.xf4 b6 is a slight nuisance.) 10...g5 A tactical try to make use of the extra pawn. 11.xg5 xg4 12.xf4 d4+ This is critical. ( 12...h6 was Renner-Ljubic, Schwarzach 1999, and 2028

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 after 13.f3 White has a good edge.) 13.h1 f6 14.f3 f2+ Black wins the exchange, but White has good compensation. 15.xf2 xf2 White has m a n y o p t i o n s , b u t o n e s i m p l e wa y i s : 16.d2 d4 17.xd4 xd4 18.h6 f7 19.d5 ] 9.a4!? I recommend this move (and, more impressively, Kasparov gave it a!? in Informant) as a way to exploit the omission of both ...Rb8 and Nc3 (.. a7-a6 is not available for starters). If Black captures then the b1-knight goes to c3 if Black pushes then b 1 - d 2 - c 4 s l o ws B la c k o n t h e q u e e n s i d e (W hite's kingside may trundle up the board later). The position after 9.a4 seems critical for the Big Clamp lines with Bg2, but so far only 6 games have reached here. Plenty of unexplored territory in which to create new theory. [ After 9.e5 (which no one has ever played) Kasparov in Chess Informant suggested the line dxe5 10.xe5 xe5 11.xa8 xh3 12.g2 N o w t h e e n g i n e wa n t s d4+! ( Kasparov's line was 12...xg2 13.xg2 c6 ) 13.h1 xg2+ 14.xg2 d5+ W hite has surrendered the light squares while the e5-knight will find a wonder outpost on g4. All very pleasant f or Black, but I doubt you will ever get the chance to play it. ] [ You are probably tired of reading that 9.c3 transposing to the Closed Sicilian is possible. ] [ 9.g4 a5 10.f5 b4 is the start of the wellknown game Fedorov-Kasparov, Wijk aan Zee 2001. White went all-in on the kingside, but his queenside and centre collpased too quickly. 11.e1 Kasparov criticised this m o v e a n d W h i t e ' s n e x t t w o . ( Kasparov mentioned 11.bd2 a4 12.b1 without an assessment. Perhaps one day someone will try it.) 11...a6 12.h4? c4 13.h6? cxd3 14.cxd3 xd3 White was following apart. This game is a clear warning: since Black has not wasted any time on Rb8, W hite must pay attention to Black's queenside play before going for it on the kingside. ] 9...bxa4 [ Clearly the other option is 9...b4 10.bd2

a6 A) 11.e2?! has been played by a very classy player (though, to be fair, just in a rapid gam e) bu t it line s up the quee n horribly with the a6-bishop. c8 12.c4 A1) In "Fighting the anti-Sicilians" IM Richard Palliser also suggested 12...d5!? 13.exd5 xd5 14.ce5 d4= when Black is okay.; A2) But the real problem is 12...xe4! 13.dxe4 ( 13.xe4 d5 14.e2 dxc4 15.dxc4 d4 ) 13...e6! Soon d6-d5 will win b a ck t h e p ie ce wit h a c le a r advantage.; A3) 12...d7 In Malakhov-Baches Garcia, Benidorm (rapid) 2006, W hite eventually won this rather balance d position.; B) 11.e1 This set-up needs more tests. I have opted for the conservative unclear, though I find W hite's position more h a r m o n i o u s t h e k n i g h t o n c 4 wi l l b e excellent, leaving Black with the nasty choice of giving up his bishop or playing a potentially loosening d6-d5 (weaker c5pawn and open file for the e1-rook). c8 B la ck h a s m a n y o t h e r m o ve s , s o t h e following game is just an example: 12.b1 e8 13.c4 A typical set-up the knight is f a i r l y s e c u r e o n c 4 . c7 14.h1 ( perhaps 14.h2 if any king move is desired ) 14...d5 15.exd5 xd5 16.fe5 d4 17.h2 b7 18.d2 c7 19.c3 f5 20.e2 fd8 21.a5 In Moser-V. Rajlich, Budapest 2002, I believe White's knights were the more secure and impressive. Black, of course, is Mr Rybka (his latest engine says Black is level, but perhaps it's biased). ] 10.xa4 [ Kasparov's annotation was 10.c3 b8 No d o u b t , t h i s wo u l d b e s i m i l a r t o t h e game. ] 10...b8 11.h2 d7 12.c3 a5 13.e1 c4?! White refutes this tempting move very convincingly. [ Mo re re liab le wa s: 13...b6 This is a complex middlegame with many options on most moves, so no forcing lines, but here is o n e t h e m a t i c s e q u e n c e : 14.a3 a4 ( o t h e r w i s e p e r h a p s b 2 - b 3 ) 15.g4!? 2029

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 I think unclear/sharply balanced is a fair assessment, but I would rather play White's side. ] 14.xc4! b4 15.d5! xd5 16.exd5 b6 17.d4!? [ 17.d4!? wa s a l s o p r o m i s i n g . xc4 18.c6 ] 17...b7 18.c4 xd4 Black couldn't resist any longer, but perhaps [ 18...a4 was tougher. Of course White is still better after, for example 19.d2 xb2 20.xa5 d7 21.e2!? ] 19.xd4 d7 20.d2 a4 21.e3 [ 21.c3!? ] 21...e8 22.f5+- e5?! Now it's a rout, but there was no complete defence. [ 22...f6 may look more solid, but the defenders are grossly outnumbered, so a winning attack is inevitable. One convincing method (and there are others) is 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.e6! fxe6 25.h6 f8 26.xg6+ h8 27.f4 ] 23.h6 c8 24.c3 Most sensible moves were also winning. For example: [ 24.f4 ] [ 24.fxg6 ] [ 24.c6 ] 24...c7 Now or on the next two moves White could play a winning Ne6. But there is no need to b e f las hy, a s simp ly lif tin g th e p iece s towards the black king wins every which way. 25.e4 d7 26.f4 g5 A desperate attempt to stop Rh4. 27.f6 [ If White wanted to be sadistic there was also 27.h4!? gxh4 28.e6! fxe6 29.fxe6 and mates. Though of course there is no point to Rh4, as the immediate 27.Ne6 is a quicker mate. ] 27...exf6 28.xh7+ f8 29.h8+ Winning everything and mating. 1-0

Closed Sicilian-style play except possibly without a knight on c3. [ 2.g3 is another move order with the same idea, but then White must be ready for d5!? For example: 3.exd5 xd5 4.f3 g4 5.g2 e6+ 6.f1 ] 2...g6 3.g3 g7 4.g2 c6 5.f4 d6 6.f3 e6 By far the most common move in my database (I guess many Black players are on anti-Closed Sicilian autopilot) but the Roadmap is not so keen. [ The recommendation is 6...f6 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 (stopping ...Bg4). The 2700-rated Movsesian has been playing this line with White recently. Note that he often follows up with Nc3, transposing to a Closed Sicilian after avoiding the approved antidote of ...e6 and ...Nge7. ] [ The back-up line of 6...e5 is interesting. Moser also has experience in this line: 7.c3 ge7 8.0-0 0-0 9.a3 exf4 10.xf4! ( 10.gxf4?! d5 has scored wonderfully for Black including Visser-Van W ely, Ne t h e rla n d s (ra p id ) 2 0 0 5 .) 10...e5 ( 10...d5 11.b5!? g4 12.b3!?N ) 11.d2 7c6 12.c2 g4 13.fe1 a5 14.e3 e6 15.h1 b5 16.1c2 ad8 ( 16...ac8 17.d5 fe8 ) 17.d5 f5?! 18.g5 d7? 19.f4!+- f7 20.exf5 gxf5 21.e3 h6 22.h4 b4 23.xf5 bxc3 24.bxc3 d5 25.xg7 xg7 26.e6+ xe6 27.xf8 g6 28.f6 d4 29.af1 f5 30.6xf5 xf5 31.xf5 xh4 32.gxh4 d4 33.e4 1-0 Moser-V. Schneider, Graz 2010. ] 7.0-0 ge7 8.c3 d5 An odd loss of tempo, but not necessarily bad. [ The usual scheme is 8...0-0 9.e3 b6 with a complex middlegame on the way. ] 9.e5 0-0 10.e1 b6 11.e3 a6 12.f2 d7 13.a3 fc8 14.c2 d8?! [ 14...h5!? planning ...Nf5 looks normal. ] 15.d4 c4 16.g4 Now White's kingside play 1869 B20 looks far more convincing than Black's barely Moser,Eva 2436 started queenside action. c7 17.h4 c8 Petrenko,Svetlana 2263 18.f6 h6 19.e3 b5 20.a3 a5 21.e1 39th Olympiad Women (7.29) 28.09.2010 W h i t e b u i l d s u p a s t a n d a r d a t t a c k i n methodical fashion. f8 22.g5! Just firing [John Shaw] every piece at the black king. e8 [ 22...hxg5 is of course suicidal: 23.h3 g7 1.e4 c5 2.d3 An interesting line that is not as 24.fxg5 f8 25.h4+- ] passive as it may look. Of course White plans 2030

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.h3 b8 24.h4 Of course planning to t a k e o n h 6 . h5 25.gxh5 f5 26.h6! White still manages to sac her queen. Black resigned to deny her opponent the pleasure of xh4 27.h7# 1-0

1870 Motylev,Alexander Potkin,Vladimir Yaroslav the Wise rapid 5th (4) [Smerdon, David]

B20 2686 2610 26.08.2014

Imagine that before some game, White has three primary goals from the opening: To get a completely unexplored position, where White is not objectively worse, and in which he has attacking opportunities straight from the word go. Keep in mind these three objectives as you go through this game, and suddenly you'll realise that White's play is all entirely logical! 1.e4 c5 2.b3 g6 3.b2 f6 4.h4!?N I wonder what Alexander had for lunch. [ 4.e5 is the move that usually scares Black off this line, although it should be perfectly acceptable for Black if he knows what he's doing. d5 and here White has tried many different moves, scoring very uninspiringly, but I believe best is ( 4...e4? 5.f4 ) 5.d4 ( 5.e6 f6; 5.c4 b6 6.e6 f6; 5.h4!? g7 could transpose to the main game. ) A) 5...g7 6.dxc5! i s s t r o n g . a5+?! 7.d2 xc5 8.c4! 1-0 (58) Stojanovic, M (2100)-Muhren, B (2314) Tromso 2014; B) 5...cxd4 6.xd4 b6?! ( 6...c7 7.f3 ) 7.c4! c6 8.d2 1-0 (30) Gelashvili, T (2614)-Jalabadze, N (2019) Tbilisi 2010; C) 5...a5+ 6.c3 cxd4 7.xd4 c6 8.e4 f5 9.exf6 xf6 10.c2 g7 11.f3 d5 12.bd2 e5 13.b4 c7 14.b5 d4 15.xd4 exd4 16.e2 f5 17.b3 d3 18.f3 e5+ 19.f1 e4 20.xe4 dxe4 21.c4 f6 22.a3 0-0-0 23.a4 e6 24.e3 hf8 25.xf8 xf8 26.d1 e3 27.f3 h6 28.xa7 e2+ 29.f2 h4+ 30.g3 xf3+ 31.xf3 d5+ 32.f2 f6+ 0-1 (32) Paichadze, L (2293)-Miroshnichenko, E (2608) Baku

2006 ] [ 4.f3!? is, well, not as bad as it looks. d6 5.b5+ bd7 6.xf6 exf6 and the pair of bishops should compensate Black for his mangled pawn structure. 1-0 (41) Gelashvili, T (261 6)-Sha had e, G (24 46) Ne w York 2011 ] 4...c6 [ After 4...g7! White can transpose to a position that could have been reached after 4.e5, but I suspect Motylev might have had a crazy pawn sacrifice in mind. The immediate A) 5.e5 d5 6.f3 ( 6.f3!?N e6 7.h5 with Qg3, Nf3, Bb5 to follow. This is perhaps objectively the best way for White t o p la y t h is li n e .) 6...c6 7.h5!?N gives W hite some interesting attacking opportunities. A1) 7...d6 8.c3 dxe5 9.xd5 ( 9.g5!? ) 9...xd5 10.c4 e4+ ( 10...d8 11.g5! ) 11.f1 a n d B l a c k c e r t a i n l y wi l l h a ve s o m e worrying moments for his queen in the future.; A2) 7...0-0 8.c3 A2a) 8...xc3!? 9.dxc3 d5 and I can't see a good way to continue White's threats, in which case Black m u s t b e s l i g h t l y b e t t e r . ( 9...xe5? 10.xe5 xe5 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.d2 with dangerous threats down the hfile. ); A2b) 8...xe5 9.xd5 xf3+ 10.xf3 xb2 11.b1 e5 12.d3 and W hite's threats cannot be discounted.; B) 5.h5!? is a typical rapid-game move, and certainly fulfils two of the opening's objectives as outlined above the only question is whether or not White is worse wit h b e st p l a y. xh5 6.xg7 xg7 7.d4!? a5+! ( 7...cxd4?! 8.xd4 0-0 9.d2! h5 10.g4! with an attack.) 8.c3 d6 and I feel White doesn't quite have enough for the pawn. ] [ 4...h5?! 5.e5 is an inferior version for Black of 4.e5. ] 5.h5 [ 5.e5!? should seriously have been considered here. The resulting positions are 2031

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 completely crazy, but not unfavourable to White. Ticks all the boxes! d5 ( 5...h5 6.g4 g7 7.h5 Only one word is appropriate here: "Unclear"!) 6.e6!? ( 6.c3 xc3 7.xc3 g7 8.h5!? xe5 9.xe5 xe5 10.f4! ) 6...f6 7.h5 g5 8.h6! dxe6 9.h5+ d7 10.c3 f4 11.h2 with a totally ludicrous position. ] 5...d6! [ 5...g7 6.h6! f8 7.f3 ] 6.b5 e5! The dark-square blockade is a very sensible antidote to W hite's eccentricities. 7.hxg6 fxg6 8.c3 g7 [ Black also could have considered the immediate 8...a6 9.xc6+ bxc6= ] 9.e2 [ 9.a4!? a6 10.c4 ] 9...a6! In order to gain some control over the light squares. 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.0-0-0 0-0= 12.f3! Castling on opposite signs is usually an indication that both players should waste no t i m e i n a t t a c k i n g . a5 13.g4 a4?! Very practical for a rapid game, but objectively the sacrifice is unnecessary. [ 13...d7! 14.h2 h6 with ... Nb6 and ...a4 to come. It's not clear to me how W hite plans to continue his attack. ] 14.xa4 xa4?! [ 14...e6 15.d3 d7 was better, but obviously this wasn't what Black had in mind after his 13th move. ] 15.bxa4 e6 16.c4?! Black's risky idea pays off. [ 16.d3 e7 17.h3 seems to favour White, because xa2 18.a5! a8 19.a3 is very strong, with Ng5 in the air. ] 16...a5! 17.d3 xa4 18.a3! d7 19.c2 a6 20.g5 f7 [ 20...d5!! would have been very dangerous. White would have had a hard time keeping both of Black's bishops at bay suddenly, the sleeping guy on g7 is starting to wake up. 21.h2 ( 21.cxd5? cxd5 22.exd5 xd5 followed by ...Rb8) 21...b8! 22.xh7+ f7 23.h2 dxc4! and I would prefer to be Black. ] 21.h2 f8 22.d2? [ It was probably time to begin the exodus to the kingside with 22.d2 ] 22...d5! Once again, this move is powerful. 23.f2 dxc4 24.dxc4 xc4+

[ 24...b7!? ] 25.c2 a6 26.xc5 b7 [ Black had several promising moves here, such as 26...a2!? ] [ 26...d7!? ] 27.e2 b6 28.c2 d7 [ 28...a2!! 29.xc6 ( 29.e2 e6-+ ) 29...e3+ 30.d2 xd2+ 31.xd2 xb2+ 32.c2 xc2+ 33.xc2 c4 ] 29.c4 c5 30.e2 e6 31.a4 d4? [ 31...xg5 32.xc5 f8 33.c3 h5 ] 32.xd4 exd4 33.xc5?? [ 33.a5 ] 33...d3!-+ 34.c4+ e6 35.b5 xb2+ [ 35...d6-+ ] 36.d2 xb5?? [ 36...a7!!-+ 37.e8+ g7 38.xe6 xc5 etc ] 37.xb5+- xb5 38.axb5 c4 39.b6 a6 40.f4 d4 41.b1 b7 42.xd3 f2 43.e2 c5 44.f3 f8 45.c1 d6 46.h1 g8 1-0

1871 Movsesian,Sergei Dancevski,Orce 24th ECC Kallithea GRE (2) [David Vigorito]

B20 2732 2421 18.10.2008

Sergei Movsesian is a 2700+ Grandmaster wh o d o e sn ' t m i n d wh e e lin g o u t t h e " B i g Clamp" once in a while. This is a viable way to play for W hite - it may not lead to a theoretical advantage, but it keeps pieces on the board and leads to a complex fight. 1.e4 c5 2.d3 If an opening like 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 is considered a reasonable way of playing for a win with Black, certainly White can play this way a tempo up. g6 3.g3 g7 4.g2 c6 5.f4 d6 This is a normal way of playing in the Closed Sicilian but it does little to disturb White's play. [ Another scheme of development is 5...e6 6.f3 ge7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.e5 Now I like the forceful A) instead 9...b8 allows White to develop his "clamp" unhindered: 10.e3 d4 11.f2 dxc3 ( 11...b5 was Movsesian, S (2642) -Guseinov, E (2457)/Dresden 2032

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2007, which can be found in the archives) 12.xc3 b6 13.d4 a6 14.e1 cxd4 15.xd4 xd4 16.xd4 f5 17.f2 left W hite with an edge because of his space advantage and Black's inactive g7bishop in Fernando, D (2449)-Cruz, J (2074)/Almada 2008.; B) 9...f6!? not allowing White to build up so easily. After 10.exf6 ( 10.d4 cxd4 11.cxd4 fxe5 12.fxe5 b6! puts a lot of pressure on W hite's centre) 10...xf6 11.a3 d6 12.c2 this looks too slow d7 13.e3 e5 Black was doing well in Petrosian, D (2460)-Iljin, T (2408)/Alushta 2008 ] 6.f3 e6 [ This is rather compliant because Black is playing somewhat passively in the centre. W hy Not play ...e6 before ...d6 and then decide on ...d6 or ...d5 later? Other moves are 6...f6 and ] [ 6...e5 which can both be found in the game archives. At least the latter move stakes out a claim to the centre. ] 7.0-0 ge7 8.c3 [ 8.c3 would transpose to the main lines of the Closed Sicilian. W hite prefers a flexible approach where he can play for d3d4 later. ] 8...b6 [ Another recent Movsesian game went 8...0-0 9.e3 b6 10.f2 d7 11.e1 a6 12.a3 ac8 13.d2 c7 14.ad1 d8 15.c2 c8 16.g4 e5!? giving White a big space advantage on the kingside in order to initiate counterplay in the centre 17.f5 d5 18.g5! h6 19.h4 g5 20.h5 f6 21.h4 dxe4 22.dxe4 xd1 23.xd1 d7 was about equal in Movsesian, S (2732)Belezky, A (2466)/Munich 2008, though Movsesian eventually out-manoeuvred his opponent and won. ] 9.e3 d5 So Black has lost a tempo! However, given the slow nature of the position this need not be fatal. Still, a tempo is a t e m p o . . . 10.e5 a5 A typical idea. Black advances his a-pawn before playing ...Ba6 in case he needs a pawn break in addition to his piece play on the queenside. 11.f2 [ White avoids any ...d4 ideas. 11.a4 a6 12.a3 clamping on the b5-square is

another typical idea. ] 11...a6 12.e1 d7 Black cannot play ...b5 aiming for ... b4 because the c5-pawn is loose. 13.a3 0-0 14.c2 ae8 By playing this move, Black looks like he is gearing up to play ...f 6 by of f e ring the e6-p awn some extra coverage. 15.d2 b8 [ Another tempo! 15...f6 16.exf6 xf6 17.d4 looks a little better for White, but then what was the point of Black's 14th?! ] 16.ad1 fc8 Black is hoping for 17.d4 so that he does not have to worry about the c5pawn, but White has no need to open the cfile for Black just yet. 17.g4! f8? Sometimes it is difficult to decide where to put the rooks, but this takes indecisiveness too far! Black has essentially taken three tempi to play one move (Ra8-b8). There is a saying, "a bad plan is better than no plan at all". You cannot give m o v e s a w a y v s a 2 7 0 0 p l a y e r ! 18.d4 this forces Black to make a decision because the c5-pawn is attacked. cxd4 [ 18...c4 19.h4 just gives White too much of a free hand on the kingside. ] 19.cxd4 [ Of course 19.cxd4 is also possible. Movsesian goes for piece play and exchanges off his only passive piece - the c2-knight. ] 19...xd4 20.xd4 Now f5 is coming. c6 21.xc6 xc6 22.f5! exf5 [ The machines recommend moves like 22...c4 but no human is going to allow 23.f6 h8 ] 23.gxf5 [ 23.xd5 is also strong, but Movsesian has a reason for keeping this in reserve. ] 23...gxf5 24.e6! b7 [ The point is that 24...fxe6 can be met by 25.xe6! c7 26.de1 when Re7 and B xd 5 a r e b o t h co m in g . ( 26.c6 d7 27.xd5+ xd5 28.xd5+ )] 25.e7 fe8 26.f4 g6 27.d3! The rook is heading to g3. There is no good defence. g4 28.xb8! [ After 28.xb8 xb8 29.e8+ xe8 30.xe8+ f8 31.g3 leaves White a rook ahead. ] 1-0

2033

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B20 bankrupt. [ 12.e2! f6 13.exf6 xf6 14.bd2 b6 2642 15.e4 g7 16.ac1 f5 Todorcevic, M2457 Lanka, Z/Paris 1990 is again a bit better for 03.04.2007 White after 17.fe1 ] 12...b6 [ Thus critical are both 12...dxc3! 13.bxc3 Coming up is a good example of the ' Big a5 14.xc5 b4 15.xe7 xe7 16.c4 Clamp' strategy, where W hite tries to c5+ 17.f2 bxc3 18.d6 d5 ] gradually mount a Kingside attack undercover [ 12...b4 and 13.cxb4 xb4 14.c4 ed5 of the blocked centre. This is very effective if 15.a3 c6 16.fd2 In my view Black has Black doesn't respond energetically. 1.e4 c5 an excellent position in the first of these 2.d3 c6 3.g3 g6 4.g2 g7 5.f4 e6 variations. ] 6.f3 ge7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.e5 b8 [ I think 9...b5! is the way to go here, 13.c2 d8 14.cxd4 cxd4 15.g5 b7 dispensing with ...Rb8 for the time being. 16.e4 An excellent post for the Knight. a8 Now White can think about mounting Every tempo is crucial as Black tries to deny 17.d2 the W hite pieces good attacking options. pressure with g4 and f4-f5. d5 18.ae1 f8 It's surprising how quickly the attack 10.e3 c4 11.d4 b4 12.bd2 d7 13.g4 19.g4! a5 14.c1 fb8 The difference. 15.f2 comes when Black misplaces his pieces. e7 c8 16.h4 bxc3 17.bxc3 b6 20.f5 exf5 21.gxf5 xe5? [ 21...gxf5! was both bold and necessary: I would say this is model play by Black. 22.d6 e3! 23.xe3 ( 23.xe3 dxe3 18.b1 a4 19.xb8+ xb8 20.b1 24.xe3 h4 25.dxf5 xe1 26.xe1 b2 21.f6 d3 After this White can only xe5 ) 23...g5 24.e2 dxe3 25.g3 save himself by going 'all in' on the Black xd6 26.exd6 d4 ] King. 22.e3 xa2 23.bd2 h6 Now W hite has full control. c7 ( 23...c2! intending ...Rb2, looks very 22.xd4 strong. ) 24.g5 b2 25.d1 a5 26.h3 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.h6 f8 25.h3 g7 [ 25...f5 26.g5 c5 27.xe5 xd4+ xc3 27.df3 28.xd4+- ] A) 27...xg5! would have finished the masterpiece: 28.xg5 ( 28.fxg5 xd4 26.g5 It is as simple as that! 29.h6 xg2+ 30.xg2 f4+ 31.g1 1-0 e3+ 32.h1 xf3+ 33.g1 g2# ) 28...xd4+; B20 B) 27...xg2+ 28.xg2 xd4 29.b1 1873 xf4 30.b8+ f8 31.xh7 xf3+ Movsesian,Sergei 32.xf3 e1+ 33.f1 e3+ 34.h1 Pinter,Erik e4+ 35.g1 e3+ 36.h1 ch Banska Stiavnica 14.07.2007 1/2-1/2 Jaracz, P-Nakamura, H/ICC INT [John Shaw] 2003 ] 10.e3 1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.g3 g6 4.g2 g7 [ P r e v i o u s l y M o v s e s i a n t r i e d 10.d4 5.f4 d6 6.f3 e5 This was recommended by which also looks quite good: b6 11.e3 f6 GM Rogozenko in "Anti-Sicilians: A Guide for ( 11...a6 12.e1 f5 13.f2 ) 12.exf6 Black". The downside for Black is that f4-f5 is xf6 13.f2 cxd4 14.cxd4 g7 15.c3 a constant menace. The standard procedure b5 ( 15...f5 16.e1 ) 16.e1 is to answer ...gxf5 with Nh4 and if ...fxe4 Movsziszian, K-Alonso Moyano, J/La Pobla then dxe4 and White has dangerous play on de Lillet 2006 ] the kingside and a grip on a few choice light 10...d4 11.f2 b5 12.a3!?N an interesting squares. There are many varieties of this sac novelty, asking Black to show his hand. If ..b5- i n s e v e r a l d i f f e r e n t v a r i a t i o n s . 7.0-0 b4 or ...dxc3 followed by ... b5-b4 are not A flexible move White must castle kingside at working, then the whole Black position seems some point, whereas all his other pieces have 1872 Movsesian,Sergei Guseinov,Elmir 8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (1) [Andrew Martin]

2034

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a few options. [ 7.c3 has been played often, no doubt to be able to answer ...exf4 with Bxf4 without dropping b2. As we shall see, this may be unnecessary. Either way, a transposition to the 7.0-0 line is very common. ] [ I n f a c t , m y r e c o m m e n d a t i o n i s 7.c3 which we shall see in the next two games. The following game is worth a look though, to see some typical ideas and as an option for those who refuse to play the Closed Sicilian with W hite (even a fun line of it). One curious point: Rogozenko's book seems to miss the possibility of this transposition to the Closed. His line with the usual Closed move order involves ...e6 and ...Nge7. Many o t h e r B la c k p la ye rs wo u ld b e sim ila rl y surprised by this transposition. ] 7...ge7 [ R o g o z e n k o g a v e 7...exf4 and only m e n t i o n e d 8 . g x f 4 h e r e , b u t 8.xf4!? is just about playable. xb2 9.bd2 e5 ( 9...xa1? is far too greedy: 10.xa1 f6 11.c4 With a brutal attack.) 10.xe5 dxe5 11.e3 b6 This is the moment to make a judgment: does White have enough for the pawn? In Van Dooren-Gharamian, Differdange 2007, White failed to find much compensation and Black won (using a plan of ...f6 and king to g7). I think W hite can find enough play with a plan of queen to f2 and knight to c3. For example: 12.f3 f6 13.b1!? d4 14.f2 f7 15.c3 e6 16.d5 Certainly not a forced line, but thematic. ] 8.h4 A straightforward approach, but I am not wholly convinced. So the next options are worth a look for those who want to avoid Nc3. [ 8.f5 gxf5 9.h4 is another variation on the usual theme. ] [ 8.c3 is the standard Big Clamp move. Then if 0-0 9.a3 exf4 White should, as I mentioned in passing in a previous update, reply 10.xf4 ( 10.gxf4?! d5 as in VisserVan W ely, Vlaardingen 2005, is already pleasant for Black. )] [ Of course 8.c3 is covered in the next two games. ] 8...exf4! Stopping the telegraphed f4-f5. 9.gxf4 f5 Black is doing fine here, but as the game shows, there is plenty of play in the

position. 10.c3 0-0 11.d2 h8 12.df3 fxe4 13.dxe4 d5 14.e5 g4 15.e1 d7 16.g5 d8 17.e3 d4 18.cxd4 cxd4 19.d2 d3 20.g3 c8 21.b4 dc6 22.d6 d4 23.xd3 e2+ 24.h1 xf4 25.g3 xg2 26.xg2 xf1+ 27.xf1 e2 28.e1 f5 29.f4 xd6 30.e6 Trying to confuse the issue, as [ 30.exd6 f8 was good for Black. ] 30...b5 [ 30...c6! was more controlled. 31.xd6 f3 32.xc6 xc6 33.e7 g8 ] 31.xd6 xg5 32.xe2 c1+?!= [ 32...f5 was messy, but still good for Black. ] 33.e1 f6 34.g2 f8 35.d2 c6? Losing his way, no doubt in time trouble. [ 35...c5 was level: 36.f3 e7 37.d7 g5+!? 38.xg5 xg5+ With a perpetual, I believe. ] 36.f2! e7 37.f7 c5 38.d8 [ Or 38.d7! g8 39.xf8+ xf8 40.e7 ] 38...c8 [ 38...xe6 39.xf8+ ( or 39.d3 ) 39...g7 40.g8+ h6 41.h4+ ] 39.e7! g5+ 40.h1 xd8 41.xf8+ xf8 42.exf8# 1-0

1874 Movsesian,Sergei Weiss,Christian AUT-chT 0809 (1.1) [John Shaw]

B20 2751 2424 07.11.2008

1.e4 c5 2.d3 e6 3.g3 [ Of course White could return to a normal King's Indian Attack with 3.f3 , but we shall follow an independent course. ] [ Naturally, White can get creative in various way: 3.f4 d5 4.e2 Perfectly sensible the Be2 version of the Big Clamp has been covered a few times on ChessPublishing. I shall concentrate on its Bg2 cousin. However, note that a recent trend is 2.Be2, as played by IM Andrew Greet. This may transpose to a Big Clamp later. ] 3...d5 4.exd5!? Rare and almost unexplored. The usual KIA moves are of course possible, such as 2035

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 4.d2 or ] [ 4.e2 In both cases, White will later have the choice of Nf3 or first f2-f4. ] 4...exd5 5.g2 f6 6.e2 Movsesian stays off the beaten track. [ Instead 6.c3 would transpose to a wellknown position from the Closed Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3.g3 d5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Bg2). After d4 7.e4 xe4 neither recapture causes Black much trouble. W ith Movsesian's move order, when he finally plays Nc3 and ...d5-d4 lands, W hite has more options than just Ne4. ] 6...e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.g5 White is fighting for the light squares in general and d5 in particular. This move was a novelty at the time, although with such a rarely-played position that is hardly saying much. [ A p r e v i o u s g a m e c o n t i n u e d 8.d4 which is interesting despite the loss of a tempo. The g2-bishop is well-placed to harass an IQP. ] 8...a6 Rather curious-looking, but Black wants to keep his knight within range of d5. [ R e a s o n a b l e w a s t h e s i m p l e : 8...c6 For example: 9.bc3 d4 10.xf6 xf6 11.e4 ( 11.d5!? ) 11...e7 12.f4 Black is solid, but White has good knights and the easier position to play. ] 9.bc3 d4 10.xf6 xf6 11.d5 c7 N o t t r y i n g t o s a v e t h e b i s h o p . 12.xc7 And Movsesian agrees with Black's judgement. xc7 13.f4 On a simple count, Black has two bishops and more space, but that is too simplistic. White's minor pieces are both stars and his pawn structure has no attackable weak point. d6 14.d5 d8 Not so much to save the dark-squared bishop, more to allow the other bishop to develop. 15.h5 b8 [ If 15...a5 then 16.a3!? with ideas of b2b4 keeps up White's mild pressure. ] [ 15...d7 looks the most solid move when Black finally must be close to equality. ] 16.ae1 g6 17.h6 e6?! A natural choice, but [ 17...d7 was better when Black can hold the balance. On a practical note, how easy a position is to play can be just as important as the objective assessment. In this game, Black had to exercise extreme care while

W hite's pieces flowed smoothly into the action. ] 18.f4 f6 Perhaps Black had missed that if [ 18...d7 then 19.h5! f6 20.xf6+ xf6 21.f4 The nagging pressure continues it's not much but it's there. For example: c6 22.xc6 bxc6 ( 22...xc6?! 23.f5! ) 23.b3 ] 19.xe6 fxe6 Now White's initiative morphs into a structural advantage. 20.e4 g7 21.g5 e5 22.h4 b5 23.h5 It's the usual story: opposite-coloured bishops suits the side with the initiative. gxh5 24.xh5 h6 25.g2 bd8 26.h1 e6 27.f4! f7? Dropping a pawn. [ A move such as 27...f7 would limit the damage. ] 28.fxe5+xh5 29.xh5 fe8?! Black resigned as 30.Bc6 picks up another p a wn . M o vs e s i a n ' s r a r e 4 . e xd 5 s e t j u s t enough problems to harass Black. W hite's other move 4 options are also appealing, especially for KIA fans. 1-0

1875 Mozes,Ervin Farago,Sandor IM-B Balatonbereny (11) [Gary Lane]

B20 2415 2365 1996

1.e4 c5 2.g3 c6 [ 2...d5 is also possible to contest the centre. ] 3.g2 g6 4.e2 g7 5.c3 For the first time White reveals his true intention of building up a centre with c3 and d4. [ 5.bc3 would transpose to the Closed Sicilian. ] 5...d6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 b6 The d-pawn is the object of Black's desire and the queen move is likely to be a favourite of those who prefer a direct approach. [ 7...g4 8.f3 d7 9.bc3 f6 10.e3 0-0 11.d2 c8 12.0-0 b5? ( 12...a5 13.b3 leaves White with a small space advantage.) 13.xb5 a5 14.a3 d5 15.e5 e8 16.ac1 left White a pawn up f o r no th in g in S .V esse lo vsky-V .V ojte k , Slovakia 1999 ] 2036

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.bc3! [ 8.d5? xb2 9.xb2 xb2 10.bc3 e5 and White cannot justify his pawn sacrifice. ] 8...g4 [ 8...xd4?! 9.d5 c5 10.xd4 xd4 11.c7+ d8 ( 11...xc7 12.xd4 e5 13.d3 when White has compensation for the pawn in the form of Black's weak darksquares on the kingside.) 12.xa8 xf2+ 13.f1 e6 14.b3 d4 15.a3 b5+ 16.e2 a5 17.d1 e5 18.b2 d7 19.d5 a6 20.xa6 bxa6 21.xe5 dxe5 22.e2 f6 23.d2 c8 24.c1+ b7 25.c7+ xa8 26.dxd7 xd7 27.xd7 c8 28.d2 c6 29.xe7 f6 30.e3 c6 31.xf7 1-0 L.Shamkovich-N.Faulks, Bermuda 1995. ] 9.f3 d7 10.e3 e5 [ 10...xb2 11.b1 a3 12.xb7 when the rook on the seventh rank gives White a slight advantage. ] 11.d5 d8 The early excursion by the queen has not been a success. The pressure on the d-pawn has not forced W hite to concede any concessions and has merely lost time in terms of development. 12.0-0 ge7 13.g5 Mozes pins the king's knight intending Nf6+ or Bf6 at the appropriate moment. 0-0 [ Or 13...exd4 when 14.f6 0-0 15.xe7+ xe7 16.xg7 xg7 17.xd4+ f6 18.fd1 is excellent for White. ] 14.dxe5 xe5 15.f6+ g7 16.xd7 xd7 17.d2 fd8? [ 17...h8 18.ad1 intending f4 looks good for White. ] 18.f4 f6 [ 18...f6 allows a mini king hunt after 19.xf6+ xf6 20.c3+ e6 21.f5+ gxf5 22.f4# ] 19.h6+ 1-0

1876 Nadyrhanov,Sergey Odeev,Handszar Voskresensk [Gary Lane]

B20 2460 2405 1993

1.e4 c5 2.g3!? d5 The critical way to test the ef f ectiveness of W hite's opening choice.

Black immediately challenges the centre. 3.exd5 xd5 4.f3 g4 5.g2 e6+ [ 5...e4+?! 6.f1 is similar to the game except W hite can gain time by hitting the queen with Nc3. ] 6.f1 h3!? [ 6...c6 is consider ed the main line but a number of masters have played the bishop move because it looks obvious. ] 7.b4! The unexpected gambit! White gives up a pawn to speed up his development and take advantage of the awkwardly placed black queen. [ 7.c3 is a reliable alternative and after c6 8.d3 d7 9.e3 xg2+ 10.xg2 e6 11.e4 the position is equal. ] 7...cxb4 8.a3 c6 [ 8...b3 is an alternative and is featured in the illustrative game Sepp-Mallsauskas. ] 9.b2 [ 9.axb4 i s a l s o p o s s i b l e w h e n xb4 10.a3 d7 11.d4 xg2+ 12.xg2 e6 13.c4 intending Ne5 and Qa4 gives White some compensation for the pawn. ] 9...f6 10.axb4 xb4 11.a3 White is a pa wn d o wn so h e h u rrie s t o a ct iva t e h is pieces. g6 12.b1 a5 13.xf6 exf6 B l a c k v o l u n t e e r s t o d o u b l e h i s f - p a wn s because he wants to maintain the bishop on h3. [ 13...xg2+ 14.xg2 xf6 15.c3 d3 16.xb7 c6 17.b1 g7 18.b8+ xb8 19.xb8+ d7 20.a7+ c7 21.e3 gives White a slight edge thanks to Black's exposed king. ] 14.c3 c6 15.b5 0-0-0 16.g1 d3?! Odeev is understandably not keen on a quick d4 giving W hite more space. However, the rook is needed in defence and a better policy is [ 16...xg2 when 17.xg2 d5 18.d4 e7 19.a4 intending c4 and d5 is fine for White. ] 17.fd4 This is what Black missed because the knight cuts off the rook [ 17.bd4 is an oth er to win af te r d7 18.xh3 xh3 19.e2 xd4 20.xd4 and White is clearly better. ] 17...d7 18.xh3 xh3 19.xc6! The quickest way to win. [ 19.e2 is good but Black can survive a 2037

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 little longer. ] 19...bxc6 20.a7+ d7 [ 20...c7 21.b3 d6 22.c4 wins. ] 21.b7+ d8 22.b1 The queen joins in the attack and the black king has nowhere to hide. d6 23.b6+ e8 24.xc6 g4 25.c7 1-0

t h e f o ll o win g g a m e , wh e r e N a k a m u ra i s severely punished for this cheeky move. f6 3.h4 [ 3.xc5 xe4 is fine for Black, but White is not significantly worse, so I wouldn't be surprised if somebody were to try this. ] 3...c6 4.e2 e5 5.d3 e7 6.g3 d5 7.d2 0-0 8.c3 b5 Black already seems to be somewhat better and Volokitin plays the 1877 B20 rest of the game with a lot of panache, which Nakamura,Hikaru 2657 is especially impressive given that he only had Dejmek,Mark W 2144 to draw the game to win this two-game match. 33rd World Open (3) 30.06.2005 9.h3 [ 9.gf3 h5 ] [Jonathan Rowson] 9...d4 [ 9...a5 ] 1.e4 c5 2.h5 Ahem. Don't try this at home. [ 9...b4 ] Nakumara wins this game in spite of this move, not because of it. 2.Qh5 might look like the 10.c4 e8! 11.cxb5 h4 12.f3 b4 product of a genius who defies conventional 13.d1 f5! 14.a3 d6! 15.axb4 fxe4 wisdom because he has seen further than 16.h5? [ 16.e2 xh3 17.0-0 actually seems to be everyone before him. However, I suspect this ok for White! ] audacious move is actually the product of youthful exuberance, supreme confidence and, 16...xh3 17.g3 f6 18.b3+? White had no doubt, just a dash of exhibitionism. d6 to move his f-pawn. h8 19.f3 exf3 20.f2 I was going to suggest some alternatives- but g5 21.xf3 [ 21.xh3 e3+ 22.f1 xd2 23.xd2 I wouldn't know where to start or stop. 2.Qh5 g6 24.c2 c4 with serious storm-trooper has little going for it objectively, but if you action coming white's way. ] enjoy winding your opponents up as early as possible, and are willing to be slightly worse 21...g6 22.xg5 f5 23.xh3 xf3+ with White after two moves, then it might be 0-1 worth a shot. 3.f4 c6 4.c3 f6 5.f3 e5?! 6.f5 d5 7.d3 b6 8.g4 b7 9.g5 dxe4 B20 10.dxe4 d7 11.e3 c7 12.d2 d4 1879 13.cxd4 cxd4 14.f2 c2 15.d3 xb2 Navara,David 2658 16.b1 xa2 17.e2 a5 18.gf3 b4 Bu Xiangzhi 2640 19.0-0 0-0 20.c4 d3 21.xd3 c5 37th Olympiad (12) 03.06.2006 22.e3 a4 23.g6 ad8 24.xf7+ h8 [Jonathan Rowson] 25.f6 xd2 26.xd2 xe4 27.xe4 xe4 28.xe4 xe4 29.xb6 hxg6 1.e4 c5 2.b3 d6 3.b2 f6 4.c3 c6 1-0 5.b5 [ 5.f4 might be more accurate here, waiting to see Black's next move before committing 1878 B20 the bishop on f1. ] Nakamura,Hikaru 2660 5...d7 6.f4 a6 7.xc6 xc6 8.e2 d5! Volokitin,Andrei 2671 B l a c k h a s p l a ye d t h e o p e n i n g i n a v e r y 6th YM Lausanne SUI (3.2) 19.09.2005 principled manner. 9.exd5 [Jonathan Rowson] [ 9.e5 d4! 10.exf6 dxc3 11.xc3 ( 11.fxe7 xe7-+; 11.fxg7 xg7 12.xc3 xc3 1.e4 c5 2.h5 So it wasn't just a one-off! 13.dxc3 a5 ) 11...gxf6 12.xf6 g8 Although I don't wan t to give 2. Qh5 an y 13.f3 d6 14.e5 ( 14.c3!? xf4 theoretical credibility, I couldn't resist showing 15.0-0-0 ) 14...g6 ] 2038

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9...xd5 10.h3 White's play looks a bit strange, but he is ahead in development and his bishop on b2 remains powerf ul. xc3 Not forced, but I doubt if the alternatives are better. 11.xc3 d5 12.0-0 0-0-0 [ 12...e4 13.xe4 xe4 14.d3 f5!? ( 14...c6 15.a4 b6 16.f5 ) 15.f2 h5 16.a4 b6 17.e4 e6 18.g3 ] 13.g5 f5 14.d3 e6 15.ae1 d6 [ 15...h5!? ] 16.e4 c7 17.e5 A good practical move, all the more so given the blunder-begging Fide time control. [ 17.xg7!? hg8 18.e5 a5 ] 17...xe5 18.fxe5 xe5 19.xf7 hf8 20.xf8 xf8 21.f2 xe2 22.xe2 d7 23.e4 Instructive. The knight could have gone to e5, but it is not well-supported there and nor does it do much. f5 24.g4 e5 25.c4 Navara is trying to trap the rook on e5- if he is given time to play h4, Black would be in trouble. h5! [ 25...xe4 26.f2! ] 26.h3 hxg4 27.hxg4 xe4 28.f2! g5 29.xe4 White has emerged with a very slight p u l l , wh i c h a l m o s t b e c a m e a f u l l p o i n t , pro ba b ly b e ca u se f rom th is p o int o n t h e players were playing with more or less 30 seconds a move. e5 30.g3 e6 31.a3 a5 32.b4 axb4 33.axb4 cxb4 [ 33...b6 ] 34.c5 b3 35.h4 g6 36.b4 d5 37.xb3 c6 38.xb7 g6 39.g5 xc5 40.d7 e6 41.h6 b4 42.g5 c3 43.g7 d2 44.f7 a6 45.d5 e3 46.xe5+ f4 47.d4 d6 48.a5 g4 49.d5 xg5 50.e7 b6 51.d6+ f4 52.d7 b8 53.b5 a8 54.a5 b8 55.c5 g5 56.e6 d8 57.f5+ g4 58.f7 h3 59.e7 xd7+ 60.xd7 g4 61.h7+ g2 62.e6 g3 63.f7 h2 64.f5 ½-½

1880 Nikzaban,E Wang Li 10th Open Dubai UAE (6) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2069 2407 12.04.2008

1.e4 c5 2.a3 There can be no doubt that this is not just a casual variation and that Black must have so meth ing concrete pre pare d against it. Observe here how Wang Li takes the offered pawn almost casually, as if he expects to win automatically and then comes under fire from White's sustained initiative. e6 3.b4 cxb4 4.axb4 xb4 5.b2 f6 [ RR 5...f8 looks ludicrous, but as Black has no weaknesses it is permissible: 6.a3 d6 7.f3 c6 8.d4 d5 9.e3 dxe4 10.xe4 f6 11.e3 b4+ 12.c3 e7 13.bd2 0-0 14.e5 c7 15.d3 b6 16.0-0 b7 17.f4 g6 18.h3 fe8 19.e1 f8 20.h4 Dobrov, V (2492) Dragomarezkij, E (2486)/chessassistantclub. com INT 2004 This position is quite unclear to me, although I imagine White will score ve r y we l l f r o m i t i n a n o ve r t h e b o a r d scenario. His attack on the King is very strong. ] 6.e5 d5 7.f3 Several other moves have been tried they all roughly come to the same. W hite gets to push Black around for quite some time in return for a pawn. [ RR 7.c4 e7 8.a3 ( RR 8.c3 0-0 9.e4 bc6 10.h5 g6 11.f3 h6 12.c5 ce7 13.g3 b6 14.d3 b7 15.0-0 xe4 16.xe4 c8 17.cxb6 axb6 18.a4 a5 19.fa1 c6 20.a3 b5 21.xf8 bxa4 22.d6 c7 Wagner, S (2120)-Jansa, V (2494)/Differdange 2007/CBM 119 ext) 8...bc6 9.c2 a5 10.a3 c7 11.a1 b6 12.g3 f5 13.h3 b7 14.f3 ce7 15.d3 d5 16.exd6 xd6 17.xf5 xf5 18.e5 0-0-0 19.0-0 f6 20.f7 c6 21.e1 xd2 Williams, S (2427) Arakhamia Grant, K (2446)/Scarborough 2004/CBM 101 ext/ 1-0 (36) ] [ RR 7.g4 0-0 8.d3 c6 9.f3 f5 10.exf6 xf6 11.h4 e5 12.0-0 d6 13.g5 h6 14.e4 f5 15.bc3 xc3 16.xf6+ xf6 17.c4+ d5 18.xc3 d4 19.b3+ h8 20.a3 xd3 21.xd3 f7 Razinger-Eliskases, E/Ebensee 193301/ 2039

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 0-1 ] 7...c6 8.c4 de7 9.e2 b6 10.0-0 0-0 11.a3 g6 [ I would have liked to have played 11...d5! I am sure he didn't do this because the long diagonal opens up, but nevertheless I think this was the best move, leading to advantage to Black: 12.exd6 ( 12.c2 dxc4 13.xb4 xb4 14.xc4 b7; 12.cxd5 xd5 13.b5 d7 ) 12...xd6 13.d4 b7 14.b5 f4 15.g3 b8 ] 12.d4 Now White has reasonable co mp en s at io n . Black swo o ps o n t he t wo Bishops, involving him in a loss of time, but which should still lead to advantage.. f4 13.d5 a5 14.d6 xa3 [ I have to prefer 14...b7 15.b5 c5 16.c7 c8 17.d2 xe2+ 18.xe2 xf3 19.xf3 xc4 ] 15.xa3 b7 16.c1 xe2+ 17.xe2 c8 18.g5 h6 [ 18...f6! allows 19.xh7 xh7 20.g3 e8 21.g4 f7 22.h4+ g8 23.h6 and Black survives after g6 24.xf8 xf8 ] 19.g3 f6?! Wang's play is altogether too careless. He thinks he can win with virtually any move. [ By this sta ge , p re f erab le wa s 19...hxg5 which almost certainly leads to a draw: 20.xg5! ( 20.xg5 f6 21.exf6 xf6 22.h5 f5! ) 20...g6 21.h5 xc4 22.xg6+= ] 20.h3 xc4 21.xh6 f7 22.f4 c5 23.xg7! He asked for it! xg7 24.xg7+ xg7 25.g4+ h8 26.h5+ g8 27.g6+ h8 28.h6+ g8 29.g6 What are to make of this game? The message is clear to Sicilian addicts: do not underestimate these little -played sidelines. Have something very specific prepared. [ 29.h5 f8 30.xf6+ leads to forced mate. ] 1-0

1881 Perez Reclusa,Jesus Miguel Skripchenko,Almira Pamplona (3) [Gary Lane]

B20 2444 2000

1.e4 c5 2.b4 The Sicilian Wing Gambit is a great surprise weapon. cxb4 3.a3 bxa3 Black tends to avoid giving W hite a lead in development and opening lines, but one still needs to know what to do if the pawn is taken. [ 3...d5 is the main alternative. ] 4.xa3 e6 [ 4...d6 5.b2 e6 6.f3 f6 7.b5+ d7 8.e2 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 a6 11.d3! W ith the bishop on b2, the Australian is happy to put his light-squared bishop on d3 because blocking the advance of the d-pawn makes no difference. c7 12.e5 dxe5 13.xe5 c8 14.c4 d8 15.fb1 b5 16.e3 ( 16.a5!? ) 16...c6 17.h2 b4 18.e5 xd3 19.xd3 c8 I prefer Black now White has been deprive d of the bishop pair. 20.a2 c6 21.xc6 xc6 22.e2 d6 23.xd6 xd6 1/2-1/2 M. Kagan-P. Jovanovic, Canberra 2000. ] [ 4...c6 5.b2 d6 6.c4 e6 7.f3 e7? W h o op s! B la ck d eve lop s na t u ra lly a n d forgets the changing state of the position on t h e b o a r d . 8.xg7 f6 9.xh8 xh8 10.b1 gave White the better game in M. Gutmann-M. Wuehl, Ladenburg 1992. ] 5.f3 This works out well in the game where the emphasis is on rapid development. Other moves are possible: [ 5.d4 b4+ 6.d2 xd2+ 7.xd2 f6 8.b5 0-0 ( 8...xe4? 9.f4 is good for White. ) 9.d3 d5 10.e5 e8 11.f4 d7 12.f3 f5 13.0-0 xb5 14.xb5 c6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.a6 c8 17.fa1 b7 18.c3 f7 19.xc6 xc6 20.xc6 gave White the better ending in S.Biro-H. Ebner, Eger 1987. ] [ 5.b5 a6 6.d4 b6 7.d3 b7 8.c3 ( Not 8.f3? when axb5 is now possible because the pin on the a-filed has been relieved. ) 8...c6 9.f3 b4 Black is right to exchange the light-squared bishop before castling kingside otherwise e4-e5 will reveal an attack against h7. 10.0-0 c8 11.b2 f6 12.d5 xd3 ( 12...exd5 13.exd5 2040

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 fxd5 14.e1+ e7 15.xd5 xd5 16.xg7 g8 17.f6 e6 18.xe7 xe7 19.xa6 xc2 20.b5 gives White the superior chances due to the vulnerable black king.) 13.xd3 c7 14.e3 h6 15.dxe6 dxe6 16.e5 c5 17.e2 d5 18.e4 f4 19.e1 c6 20.fd2 0-0 Black is a pawn up and has the initiative giving him a winning advantage, K.Lutz-A. Filipenko, Biel 1993. ] 5...d5 6.exd5 exd5 7.b5+ c6 8.0-0 As usual in this line it is important for White to get on with the job of developing in order to maximise attacking options. d6 9.b2 The bishop s up it place on the long diagonal which is virtually an automatic idea having made space for it with 2 b4. f6 10.c4! White is playing very energetically against his s t r o n g o p p o n e n t wh o is o n e o f t h e b e s t women players in the world. In this case, White is seeking to undermine the centre and open more lines for his pieces. a6 [ 10...dxc4 11.e1+ ge7 12.xc4 0-0? 13.xd6 xd6 14.b3+ h8 15.a3 d8 16.xc6 xc6 17.xf8 xf8 18.d4 when the tactical combination has favoured White to the point where he is now winning. ] 11.cxd5 axb5 12.dxc6 b4 [ 12...bxc6 13.xb5! A) 13...xh2+ 14.xh2 xa1 15.e1+ e7 ( 15...f7 16.b3+ f8 17.xa1 cxb5 18.a3+ e7 19.e1 wins ) 16.xa1 cxb5 17.a3 wins; B) 13...xa1 14.xd6+ xd6 15.xa1 is good for White ] 13.cxb7 xb7 14.c4 The opening has been a success for White who has managed to steer Black away from her, favoured and deeply analysed open Sicilian. Instead, she has been lured into a gambit where W hite h a s r e g a i n e d h i s p a wn a n d s t i l l h a s a n initiative. e7 15.d4 xa1 [ 15...xh2+ 16.xh2 c7+ 17.g1 xc4 18.xa8+ xa8 19.e1 f7 20.g4 gives White good attacking chances against the weakened black king. ] 16.h5+! The move that Black missed because now White gets the chance to up the stakes by pursuing the king. [ 16.xa1 xh2+ 17.xh2 c7+ 18.g1 xc4 19.a7 d5 with doubled-edged

play ] 16...g6 17.b5+ f7 [ 17...d7?? 18.xd6+ d8 19.b6+ c7 20.e6+ wins ] 18.xa1 White's attack is still raging with Black's in disarray. d5 19.a6 [ 19.a7 also looks strong. ] 19...e5 20.xe5+ fxe5 21.f3 [ 21.e6 xe6 22.xe5! d5 23.f6+ e8 24.xh8+ d7 25.d6+ wins ] 21...xf3 22.xe5 The checkmate threats d e c i d e t h e o u t c o m e o f t h e g a m e . c6 23.g7+ e6 24.gxf3 g5+ 25.h1 c8 26.b7 1-0

1882 Repkova,Eva Hou,Yifan 38th Olympiad w (2) [David Vigorito]

B20 2400 2578 14.11.2008

The Chinese prodigy uses a neat tactical trick in the opening and gradually outplays her opponent in the endgame. 1.e4 c5 2.b3 d6 3.b2 a6!? A slow but sensible approach. Black simply prevents and Bb5 ideas. [ Both 3...f6 and ] [ 3...c6 can be found in the archives. ] 4.f4 [ W hite plays this while she can. If 4.f3 then Black can play a quick ...e5 and it will be difficult for W hite to develop any initiative. ] 4...c6 5.f3 f6 6.c3 [ There is no reason for Black to fear 6.xf6 gxf6 She will play ...f5 quickly and enjoy the bishop pair and greater central control. ] 6...e6 7.e5 This looks a bit hasty. White could consider 7.g3, 7. Bd3, or e ven 7.d4 . dxe5 8.fxe5 d7 9.e4 dxe5! This simplifying combination had to be assessed properly. 10.xe5 xe5 11.xe5 d5! This is the point. White's next move is forced, else White will stay a pawn down. 12.f6+ gxf6 13.xf6 g8 material is even but it is difficult for White to develop because of the pressure on g2. Black can play ...Bd7 and ...0-0-0. 14.f3 There is nothing better but the ending is pleasant f or Black. xf3 15.gxf3 e7 2041

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xe7 xe7 17.f2 d7 18.d3 f5 19.hg1 g6 Suddenly White has to be wary of her h-pawn. If White exchanges on g6, then the h-file will open for Black's other rook. 20.f4 This looks reasonable, placing the pawn on a dark-square and fixing Black's pawns on lightsqua res . Howe ver W h ite 's pawns will b e vu l n e r a b l e t o B l a ck ' s a c t i ve p i e c e s . f6 21.g3 h6! 22.h3 h4 23.f3?! Why invite Black's next move with tempo? [ 23.e3 ] 23...c6+ 24.e3 xf4! [ 24...e8 with ideas of ...e5 was also good. W hite's king is not comfortable. However Hou correctly assessed the following sequence. ] 25.xf4 e5+ 26.e3 f4+ 27.f2 fxg3+ 28.xg3 g8+ If White goes back the rook comes to g2 with strong effect. 29.h4 e4 30.f1+ e5 31.e1 d4 32.c4 g7 [ 32...g2 33.e2 allows White to defend. ] 33.e2 b5 34.e6 g1 [ Also goo d wa s 34...c4 35.bxc4 bxc4 with the idea ...c3. ] 35.f5 c1 36.xh7 [ White cannot hold things together. If 36.c3+ d3 37.f2 c2 38.xh7 xd2 ] 36...xc2 37.g3 d3 [ Or 37...xa2 ] 38.e3+ xd2 39.xe4 xe4 40.xe4 xa2 41.h4 b2 42.h5 xb3+ 43.g2 d3 Black's rook easily gets back in time. 44.h6 d8 45.h7 h8 46.e7 c4 47.d7+ c2 48.f2 c3 0-1

that I am not particularly impressed by the idea with either colour! d6 5.e2 g6 6.0-0 g7 7.f4 It might be too early for this move, but without it W hite cannot hope f or a significant advantage. [ 7.bc3 ge7 8.d5 looks like a safer way to play. ] 7...ge7! A cunning answer to white's early aggression. 8.d3 [ 8.fxe5 0-0 leaves White struggling to hold equality. ] 8...d5! Bold, but justified by the weakening of t h e e 3 squ a re . 9.exd5 xd5 10.fxe5!? This was a good work out for my calculation so I decided to give it a go, even though I didn't fully believe it at the time. [ 10.xd5 xd5 11.bc3 was my first thought, gaining time on the queen, but there is no way to convincingly increase t h e p r e s s u r e a f t e r d8 12.e4 0-0! When White is in danger of being worse. ] [ 10.c1!? is probably soundest. ] 10...xe5 Going for the relatively safe option after considerable thought. [ 10...e3 11.xf7+ Junior doesn't buy this for White at all. e7 ( 11...f8 12.xg6+; 11...d7 12.e6+ c7 13.xg7 xd1 14.xd1 xe6! missed this move at the time. 15.xe6 e7 16.xh8 xe6 double attack.) 12.bc3 ( 12.c1 xd1 13.g5+ d7 14.xd8 xd8! The key detail- hitting the bishop and thus overloading the roo k on d1. Playing e 6 doesn't help because the bishop on g7 then attacks the rook on a1. ) A) 12...xd1 13.d5+ xd5 simplest. ( 13...f8 14.xg6+ g8 15.f7+ f8 1883 B20 16.axd1 Keeps the fires burning, and would be enough to put most players off Rowson,Jonathan this line.) 14.xd5 e6! This is a typical Savage,Ben D annoying computer move that I hadn't Training LCC 05.08.2006 seen- the simple fact is that Black attacks [Jonathan Rowson] the bishop and thus gains a tempo to prevent or at least disempower Rf7+ which 1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 3.b2 e5 4.c4 (after Bxe6) is now met with Kxe6 with Following Nigel Short's approach against tempo rather than a meek retreat to the Pras ad f rom t he Ma y up da te . O bserva n t back rank. 15.xe6 xb2 16.f7+ xe6 subscribers may notice the similarities 17.xg7 Black is at least not worse.; between this position and my round seven B) 12...f8? A cooperative move that game against Martin Taylor at the British e n c o u r a g e d m e t o g o d o wn t h i s l i n e Championship: 1c4 b6 2.Nc3 Bb7 3.e4 e5!? 4. 13.c1! I was pleased to see this idea, d3 Bc5 followed by Nge7 and f5. I have to say 2042

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and impressed that Ben had also seen it, and decided it was too dangerous f or Black, albeit one move previously when it d i d n ' t w o r k q u i t e a s w e l l . xd1 14.g5++- ] [ 10...0-0!? is also possible. ] 11.c1 0-0 12.bc3 [ 12.xd5 ] 12...e6 13.h1 xc3? There is no need to give me what I want like this- now I improve my coordination and my structure. It was essential to hold fast in the centre. [ 13...c8!? ] 14.xc3 xc4 [ 14...h4!? 15.f4! ] 15.bxc4 c7? This makes things worse, because my knight will land on d5 with tempo. [ 15...d6 ] 16.f4 g4 17.xg7 xg7 18.h3 e5 19.b2 ae8 20.ae1? A sloppy move, failing to smell the blood before the prey slips away. [ 20.d5! is decisive- simply because I take control of f6 and prevent Black from playing f6. Moreover, I force the queen to a bad square. ] 20...f6 21.d5 c6! Now I sensed that I had missed a chance, and it was my turn to lose the plot. 22.e4? A natural enough move, aiming to double on the e-file and keeping the rook protected. [ 22.a3!? ] 22...d7? Played with the relief of being able to exchange some pieces, but missing a much better move. [ 22...xc4! is all but decisive. I saw this almost as soon as I played Re4, but Ben replied with Nd7 before I had time to consider a way to try to stay in the game. 23.c3 xe4 24.dxe4 b5 25.a4 a6 26.axb5 axb5 is technically winning for Black, but there is still a lot of work to do before the point is reeled in. ] 23.fe1 xe4 24.xe4 b6 25.c3 Now I realised I had lost most of my ad va n ta ge, a n d was ba sically pla yin g t o confuse my opponent in his time trouble. e8 26.xe8 xe8 27.e4 c6 28.b5 xb5 29.cxb5 a4! 30.g1 b6 31.f2 f5 32.d6 c3 [ 32...f6 ]

[ 32...f6 ] 33.e3 f6 And now I saw a dastardly trick and felt it was well enough hidden that Ben might fall for it, while also not committing myself to anything that put me in danger of losing. 34.d2 e5 35.f7+ d4?! [ 35...f6! Now I should probably take a draw, because the alternative looks risky. 36.d6 e5 37.c8 xb5 38.a4 d6 39.xa7 f4 ] 36.g5! xb5?? [ 36...xa2 37.c3+ looks good for White. ] [ 36...b1+! was still fine for Black. ] 37.c4 A surprising mating net. At first I saw Nf3 followed by c4 winning the knight, but this is obviously better. 1-0

1884 Rowson,Jonathan Shaw,John K Exhibition (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20

29.07.2003

This is not a recent game, but it's my only experience with 2.b3 and does have some the ore tical value. I t was pla yed as a th e second of a 2 game rapid match in Scotland to bring attention to an art exhibition about chess. 1.e4 c5 2.b3 d6 3.b2 f6 4.c3 g6 This seems needlessly provocative, especially in a 30 minute game, but it might be ok and if it is, it's a pain for White, because it neutralizes his pride and joy on b2. 5.d5 bd7 6.b5 g7 7.xf6+ xf6 8.xf6 exf6 9.e2 0-0 [ 9...a6!? ] 10.0-0 [ 10.c3!? ] 10...b6 [ 10...a6!? looks more accurate. 11.xd7 ( 11.d3 e5; 11.c4 b5 12.d5 b8 and Nb6. ) 11...xd7 12.c3 c6 and I suspect that W hite's advantage is mainly visual. 13.d4 a5 14.d3 ad8 ] 11.c3 f5 12.f3! a6 13.d3 fxe4 14.xe4 Now there is a clear advantage for White due to the d5 square and the misplaced knight on b6. c7 15.a4! f5 16.d5+ xd5 17.xd5 f7 18.ae1 e6 2043

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.f4 c8?! [ 19...ae8 20.xe6 xe6 21.xe6 xe6 22.xb7 d5 I was more concerned about this line at the time, because it's hard to see how to get my rook on f1 involved- but after 23.b4! White is still better. ] 20.h4! b8 21.g3 d7 22.h5 g7 23.hxg6 hxg6 24.h5+ h6 25.xd6 be8 [ 25...xh5 26.e7 f6 27.h2+ g5 28.f4+ g4 29.h3# ] 26.f4 c4 27.bxc4 xa4 28.e6 1-0

1885 Sasikiran,Krishnan Cheparinov,Ivan 37th Olympiad (8) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2692 2635 29.05.2006

1.e4 c5 2.a3 d6 3.c3 f6 4.g3!? One noteworthy thing about 2.Na3 is that it is quite rare that the knight moves again over the next five moves or so. By that point, it is usually clear whether it should be on c2 or c4, or even somewhere else, but White seems to gain something from waiting before moving the knight. c6 5.g2 d5 A questionable decision. [ 5...g4!? Looks a little irritating for White to meet. ] [ 5...e6 and then waiting for White to play d4 before taking and playing d5 makes sense, because with the knight on a3 W hite probably has to block the position with e5, and then the bishop is not particularly wellplaced on g2. Black could also try to play d5 before W hite has played d4, because the resulting IQP positions look quite promising. e.g. 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 0-0 ( 7...d5!? ) A) 8.c2 d5 9.exd5 exd5 10.d4 f5 Looks like it will give Black quite a good IQP position. ( 10...c4!? ); B) 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d5 10.e5 d7 ] 6.exd5 xd5 7.f3 g4 8.h3 xf3 [ 8...h5 is playable, but more complex, and as I have said before, the FIDE time control tends to make even strong players opt for whichever approach will make the position more straightforward to play. ]

9.xf3 e6 10.d3 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.e2 d7 13.d2 ad8 14.ad1 fe8 15.g2 a6 16.c2 Note that only now White decides to move the knight again, in this case anticipating ...b7-b5 b5 17.a3 f6 18.h4 c7 19.e4 a5 20.e3 b4 [ 20...a4!? intending Na5-b3, looks better. ] 21.c1 bxc3 22.bxc3 a4 23.c2!? Clearing the way for the f1 rook to come to b1, while keeping c3 protected. e7 Perhaps too passive. [ 23...xe3 24.xe3 e7 looks more combative. ] 24.c4 Now White is in control, mainly because the knight is very strong here. f8 25.b1 b8 26.cb2 xb2 27.xb2 d8 28.g2 [ 28.h5!? ] 28...e7 29.d1 a8 Black's play in this game was surprisingly passive. [ 29...f5 30.f3 e5 looks better, though White keeps some advantage after 31.xe5 xe5 32.xa4 xc3 33.a6 ] 30.b5 a7 31.f3 d8 32.d1 h6 33.b1 c7 34.b6 f6 35.f4 e5 36.e3 xe4 37.dxe4 d6 38.d5 d7 39.xc5 xc5 40.xc5 Now the ga me should win itself, but that is easier said than done with more or less 30 seconds a move. b7 41.b5 a5 42.c4 b3 43.d1 h7 44.h5 f6 45.f5+ xf5 46.exf5 d7 47.b4 d4 48.e3 a7 49.g4 g8 50.h5 f7 51.b6 e8 52.f1 d7 53.e1 b3 54.d1 c5 55.d5 d3 56.e2 c5 57.e3 b3 58.f4 exf4+ 59.xf4 c7 60.b4 c5 61.d5 a7 I started watching around now, and every time I thought Black would resign, Cheparinov reminded me just how tough the last line of defence of a strong G M c a n b e . 62.b6 a8 63.d4 c8 64.c3 [ 64.f4!? ] 64...e8 65.b4 c8 66.b5 d3 67.b7+ d6 68.xg7 c5+ 69.b6 e5! 70.xf6 xc4+ 71.b7 b5+ 72.a7 a5+ 73.b8 xa3 74.e4+ d5 75.f6 b5+ 76.b7 e6! 77.g5 xb7+ 78.xb7 c4 79.gxh6 a3 80.h7 a2 81.h8 a5+! 82.c7 a1 83.e8+ d5 84.f7 c1+ 85.d7 c6+ 86.e7 e6+ 87.f8 h6+ 88.g8 And finally the king is completely safe! It may 2044

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 seem that White was always winning easily, but when you are watching these things live it never seems to simple, and when you are playing it is even harder. 1-0

1886 Sasikiran,Krishnan Motylev,Alexander 9th Aeroflot Open A (9) [David Vigorito]

B20 2653 2697 17.02.2010

Perhaps inspired by his def eats in 'slow' systems at the hands of Navara and Nakamura (both games can be found in the archives), Sasikiran tries his hand at the white side of the Big Clamp. 1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.g3 g6 4.g2 g7 5.f4 e6 [ 5...d6 can be found in several games as well, one recent outing from Clamp specialist Movsesian went 6.f3 f6 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 b8 9.g4 b5 10.c3 (returning t o o f f i c i a l C l o s e d S i c i l i a n t e r r i t o r y ) b4 11.e2 a5 12.b1 c4!? 13.e3 a6 14.d2 cxd3 15.cxd3 d7 16.fc1 fc8 17.g3 e6 18.g5 e8 19.h4 and White's play looked more serious in Movsesian, S (2708)-Swiercz, D (2474)/Wroclaw 2010. ] 6.f3 ge7 7.0-0 [ A good display for White was 7.a3 d6 8.c3 b6 9.0-0 a6 10.e1 d7 11.c2 0-0 12.d4 cxd4 13.cxd4 a5 14.b3 ac8 15.a3 fe8 16.e3 b7 17.e5 xf3?! ( I d o n o t l i k e t h i s d e c i s i o n 17...dxe5 18.dxe5 d5 looks more solid) 18.xf3 d5 19.e2 b7 20.b5 ac6 21.d3 a8 22.a6 with an obvious edge. The game turned around however after d7 23.d6 xd4?! a bit of a bluff 24.ec1? ( 24.xd4 xd6 25.b5! wins material) 24...ec6 an d Bla ck c o ncerte d t he extra p awn in Rustemov, A (2532)-Bischoff, K (2561)/ Muelheim 2010 ] 7...0-0 8.a4 [ I think White should refrain from this move, which weakens the queenside. 8.c3 d5 is Movsesian, S (2642)-Guseinov, E (2457)/ Dresden 2007 in the archive. ( 8...d6 9.a3 will likely transpose to 7.Na3 above )] 8...b6 9.c3 b7 10.a3 d6 11.d4?!

[ This also appears to be premature. 11.e3 ] 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 d7 13.e1 Now the moves a4 and Na3 look out of place. f5!? [ Initiating immediate action in the centre. 13...ac8 was also good. ] 14.exf5 [ looks more likely to disturb Black, but after 14.d5 exd5 15.exf5 xf5 ( worse are 15...xf5 16.h3; or 15...xf5 16.g5 ) 16.xd5+ h8 Black's lead in development looks more important than White's optically better structure. ] 14...xf5 15.e3 [ Even though this bishop looks 'bad', White will miss having it on the board. Better was 15.d5 cd4 16.dxe6 xe6 although Black has some initiative here as well. ] 15...xe3 16.xe3 e7 Black has another knight to go to f5. 17.c2 ac8 18.ce1 White has trouble doing anything constructive. Black's hippo-like formation is very effective. All of his pieces work well together and the d4pawn is a target. f5 19.d3 a5 [ B l a c k f i x e s t h e a 4 - p a w n . 19...c4 was also good. If 20.a5 e4 21.d2 fc8 increases the pressure. ] 20.aa3 [ 20.c3 was probably a better chance to stem the tide. ] 20...c4 21.ac3 This is bad, but it is not easy to find moves for White. xa4 22.c2 b5 23.e5 Desperate, but probably the best practical chance. dxe5 [ There is no reason to not take the piece, b u t e v e n s i m p l i f y i n g w i t h 23...xe5 is good. ] 24.dxe5 d5 25.xd5 exd5 26.xd5 a7+ 27.g2 a8 [ More accurate was 27...b7 which would keep the b5-pawn protected ] 28.h3 c4 [ 28...e8 intending ...Qe6 is even better. ] 29.xb5 xc3 30.bxc3 d8 31.d4 a4 32.b1? [ The last chance was 32.e2 in order to meet xd4 with 33.c4+ ] 32...e3 [ or 32...xd4 33.cxd4 c8+ 34.g2 c6+ and ...Rxd4. ] 2045

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 33.a2+ h8 34.b6 a3 35.c6 c8 36.e7? A blunder in a lost position. f3 0-1

White's position worse and as such, can be tried. The only real threat to Black is that he might become overconfident. White can angle the game into various Anti-Sicilian formations and must rely on the element of surprise for 1887 B20 maximum effect. This is not a variation for Savchenko,Boris 2568 common use. W e've seen that very strong Belov,Vladimir 2599 players can be challenged by 2 Na3, but I XIII TCh-RUS (4) 23.04.2006 w o u l d n ' t r e c o m m e n d p l a y i n g i t a g a i n s t opponents who are markedly stronger than [Andrew Martin] you are. You will simply get outplayed in the D o y o u s e e 2 N a 3 a s t h e p r e l u d e t o a e q u a l p o s i t i o n s i n e vit a b l y a r i se . N o t a l l Kingside attack? Then take a look at this innovations are good, however 2 Na3 is not game, where W hite sets up a Grand Prix bad. You will have interpret the difference. formation and lands a haymaker. 1.e4 c5 1-0 2.a3 c6 3.b5 g6 4.d3 [ 4.xc6 makes little sense, as the Knight on B20 a3 has no role to play against the doubled 1888 pawns. ] Savchenko,Boris 2630 4...g7 5.c3 f6 6.f4 0-0 7.f3 a5 Bukavshin,I 2502 [ The straightforward 7...d5 was tempting 64th ch-HL Taganrog RUS (5) 19.06.2011 too. ] [John Shaw] 8.0-0 a6 9.a4 b5 10.c2 d6 11.e1 With Qh4, f5, Bh6 and Ng5 on the horizon. 1.e4 c5 2.a3 A few years ago this was a b8 12.h4 b4 This has to be a key moment shocking surprise weapon, but now it has in th e ga m e, or ma n y ga me s in volvin g a endured as just another, admittedly quirky, Knight on a3. Black has to judge that his anti-Sicilian. c6 It's only move 2, so Black counterplay will come first. 13.c4 bxc3 has lots of plausible moves. 3.b5 a5!? 14.bxc3 xc4 15.dxc4 a5 16.e1 d7 This is played with the knight on f3, so why [ I'm not sure I understand why Black didn't not with the knight on a3!? This is a new move play 16...g4! 17.e5 ( 17.d2 b2 to ChessPublishing, I believe. 18.b3 xd2 19.xd2 xc3 ) 17...e6 [ 3...f6 is the most logical move. 18.h3 h6 19.d3 a4 ] A) 4.xc6 bxc6 5.e5 d5 also offers 17.e5 b6 18.b1 g4 19.g5 h6 White nothing. The following game had a 20.xf7 Desperation or genius? Neither. 20 funny moment. 6.e2 g6 7.d3 g7 8.f4 Nxf7 is necessary. xf7 21.xg6 xa2 0-0 9.f3 d6 10.c4 f6 11.0-0 fxe5 22.exd6 exd6 23.f5 f6 12.fxe5 g4 13.h3 xf3 14.xf3 xf3 [ 23...xb1 24.xf7+ h8 ( 24...xf7 15.xf3 d7 16.d2 b6 17.e1? 25.e6+ f8 26.xd6+ ) 25.e7 This is a bad idea. Both players fell victim looks pretty scary ] to chess blindness. ( 17.a5 f8 18.e4 24.b2 a5 25.h3 bf8 xe5 19.xc6 xb2 20.xe7+ g7= ) [ 25...xf5 26.xf5 h8 27.g4 a4 17...xc4 18.e6 b7 19.f7+? h8 28.e4 ] 20.dxc4 xb2?? ( 20...f8 21.c3 xf7 26.hxg4 xc4 27.b7 e5 28.g5 22.exf7 This was no doubt the idea, with [ Missing an immediate chance with t h e o v e r s i g h t e5!-+ ) 21.xe7 28.xg7+! xg7 29.xh6+ g8 Cherniaev - D. James, Sunningdale 2006; ( 29...xh6 30.h4+ g7 31.h7# ) B) 4.d3 g6 5.f3 ( 5.c3 g7 6.f4 0-0 30.g5+- ] 7.f3 a5 8.0-0 a6 9.a4 b5 10.c2 28...hxg5 29.xg5 xg6 30.xf6 xf6 d6 11.e1 b8 Vysochin - Baklan, Kiev 31.fxg6+- xg6 32.h4 h6 33.f8+ 2006 ) 5...g7 6.0-0 0-0 7.e1 e8 My conclusion is that 2 Na3 does not make 8.c3 c7 9.xc6 dxc6 10.e3 b6 11.h3 2046

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e6= I. Popov - Durarbeyli, Gaziantep 2008 ] 4.a4!?N Not so bad, but this was a fine moment to return to old-fashioned normality with [ 4.c3! White seizes the centre while the a5knight is dafter than the one on a3. For example: a6 5.e2 A) 5...e6 6.f3 ( Instead after 6.c2 f6 7.e5 d5 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 b5 10.f3 b7 11.d2 c8 as in Galuscak - Gritsak, Warsaw 2010, White has helped his opponent to a good position where the a5-knight makes sense. ); B) 5...f6 6.e5! ( 6.d3 is reasonable but less convincing. ) 6...d5 7.f3; C) 5...e5 6.f3 d6 7.d4; D) 5...d6!? 6.d4 f6 7.dxc5! ( 7.f3 xe4 8.dxc5 c6 9.cxd6 exd6 10.c4 f6= ) 7...dxc5 ( 7...xe4?? 8.a4+ d7 9.xe4 c6 10.g4+- ) 8.xd8+ xd8 9.e5 d5 10.f3 h6 11.c4 xc4 12.xc4 e6 13.a4 ] 4...b6?! Bizarre is the best way to describe this. Perhaps the best thing about 2.Na3 is that its weirdness seems to be contagious. [ 4...a6 5.c3 b5 6.c2 b7 7.f3 f6= ] 5.c3!? The most challenging. [ 5.d3 would keep e4 under control, but is also less ambitious. ] [ 5.f3 b4!? would lose e4! Okay, White can lose c4 instead of e4, so let's call it a sac: 6.c4 xc4 7.xc4 xc4 8.d3 White has reasonable compensation. The point is that after 4...Qb6 W hite can find decent chances with all sorts of moves. ] 5...g6!? This was Black's idea. It turns out to be poor, as in the long term the queen is struggling to find a home. 6.f3! Not allowing Black to play his hand. [ 6.d4!? xe4+ 7.e2 xg2 8.g1 f3 9.b5 d8 10.f4 a6 11.c7 a7 12.dxc5 f6 is equal according to Rybka with the claim that 13.g3 h1+ 14.g1 f3 is best play. Excellent, let's move on... ] 6...c6 7.c4 e6 The wanderer is not so happy. [ 7...b8 8.c2 b5 9.e3 f6 10.e2! ] 8.e3!? This is okay, but allows an invasion on d3. W hite has it under control, but he could find an easier life with:

[ 8.d3! f6 ( 8...b8 9.f4; 8...d5 9.a5 d7 10.xc6 xc6 11.xc6+ bxc6 12.h3 ) 9.h3 g4 10.xg4 xg4 ] 8...e5 [ 8...f6 allows a simple edge after: 9.d3 b8 10.d1 g6 11.b3 d6 12.e2 ] 9.e2 c4 10.f3! Wild but it works. [ 10.c2 f6 11.f3 d3+ 12.xd3 cxd3 13.xd3 xe4= ] [ 10.b5 d3+ 11.f1 xe4 12.xc4 f4 13.f3 xf3 14.xf3 e6= ] 10...a6 11.c2 f6 12.b3 b5 [ 12...d3+ causes White no long-term problems after a little care: 13.f1 g6 14.xc4 xc1 15.xc1 g7 16.a4 d5 17.e3 ] 13.f4! g6 14.e5!? xf4! 15.f3 6d5 16.h3! The relevance to opening theory ended long long ago, so I shall show the rest in quick style. [ 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 leads to a forcing line: b7 18.d4 xg2 19.e4 xh1 20.xh1 c8 What happens next is anyone's guess, but the game continuation looks preferable. ] 16...xe3!? This is messy enough, but the alternative was just as murky: [ 16...xh3 17.xd5 g5 18.c7+ d8 19.xa8 xc7 20.d5 e6 21.d4 b7 22.e3 e7 23.0-0 c6 24.f2 f5 A long but plausible line that leads to a continuing mess. One possible continuation is: 25.exf6 gxf6 26.a4 c5 27.axb5 xe3 28.bxc6 xf2+ 29.xf2 cxb3 30.xb3 xc6 31.xa7+ b6 ] 17.dxe3 b7 18.xf4 xg2 19.g1 xh3 20.f3 c8 21.xh3 White has an extra bishop, but his weak pawns and insecure king limit his advantage. g6 22.e4 g7 23.f4 0-0 24.b4 a3 25.c1 a6 26.h6 xe5 Perhaps a little too cavalier with his rook. [ More practical wa s 26...a3 27.xg7 xg7 w h e n a f t e r 28.g2 converting White's advantage would not be so easy. ] 27.xf8 xf8 28.g5 f6 29.g3 W hite is willing to return a little material to simplify the fight. b6 30.a4 [ 30.0-0-0! was more convincing. ] 30...bxa4 31.xa4 e6? It was time to take the rook. [ 31...xg5 32.xg5 White has the better 2047

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 o f it , b u t h is e xp o s e d k in g m e a n s t h a t progress would not be easy. ] 32.ga5+- Now it's all over. d5 33.e5 g7 34.xa7 d4 35.4a6 b5 36.a4 b8 37.a8 xa8 38.xa8 xa8 39.d1 a3 40.f4 dxc3 41.c1 a2 42.xc3 xh2 43.b5 h1+ 44.d2 h2+ 45.c1 h6+ 46.b1 h1 47.f3 e1 48.b6 g7 49.a8+ 1-0

1889 Sedlak,Nikola Palac,Mladen 37th Olympiad (8) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2564 2561 29.05.2006

1.e4 c5 2.b3 b6 This move cannot be bad, but in the resulting positions there is every reason to think that White has chances to be better because all he is doing really is de ve lo ping h is p ie ce s qu it e active ly a n d gaining space. 3.b2 b7 4.c3 d6 5.f4 a6 6.f3 e6 7.e2 [ 7.d3!? ] [ 7.d4!? ] 7...c6 8.0-0-0 c7 9.f5 [ 9.f2!? ] [ 9.g4!? ] [ 9.g3!? ] [ 9.e3!? ] 9...f6 10.f2 0-0-0 11.fxe6 fxe6 12.g3 g4 13.e2 [ 13.g1 d5! 14.exd5 exd5 15.h3 h5 ] 13...ge5 14.h3? This fails tactically. [ 14.xe5 A) 14...dxe5! Black has hidden resources in this structure and white's pieces are not well placed to exploit the weakened epawns. 15.g4 ( 15.h3 d4 16.e3 c4! ) 15...d4 16.c4 ( 16.e2 h5 ) 16...e7 17.hf1 h5!; B) 14...xe5 15.h3 ] 14...d4! 15.xd4 cxd4 16.xe6+ b8 17.b1 [ 17.d5 xd5 18.xd5 d3 ] 17...dxc3 18.xc3 e8-+ 19.h3 g6 20.e3 g7 21.a4 h5 22.e2 g4 23.xg7 xe4 24.d3 xg7 25.xd6+ c7 26.xg6 e7 27.he1 g7 28.f5

f7 29.g6 g7 30.f5 f7 31.g6 f2 32.e6 g7 33.f6 xd1 34.xd1 e7 35.e5+ a7 36.a5 b5 37.d4 c7 38.e3 xa5 39.d5+ b6 40.e5 gh7 41.d6 h6 42.f5 d8 43.d7 f3 44.d3 g4 45.e4 e6 46.d5 e7 47.c3 exd7 48.e5 c8 0-1

1890 Sepp,Olav Malisauskas,Vidmantas zt Vilnius [Gary Lane]

B20 2390 2570 1993

1.e4 c5 2.g3 d5 Black responds in a positive manner by undermining the centre. 3.exd5 xd5 4.f3 g4 5.g2 e6+ 6.f1 White is willing to allow the king to step out of the way, in return for eventually gaining time by attacking the black queen. [ 6.e2?! gives up the right to castle without any compensation after xe2+ 7.xe2 c6 ] 6...h3!? [ 6...c6 should be considered. ] 7.b4! cxb4 [ 7...c4+ is a risky way to win a pawn because the black queen is continually hounded by W hite: 8.d3 xg2+ 9.xg2 xb4 10.a3 g4 11.b1 d7 12.e5 d5+ just count the number of black queen moves and it is no surprise that White's lead in development gives him an edge 13.f3 xf3+ 14.xf3 b6 15.b5 a6 16.b3 b8 17.a3 b4 18.xa7 f6 19.e1 gave White a tremendous attack in O.SeppJ.Leino, Gausdal 1994. ] 8.a3 b3 9.c3 f6 10.b1 xg2+ [ 10...bxc2 is likely to be the response of most players who get a chance to grab a pawn when 11.xc2 xg2+ 12.xg2 c6 13.b3 g5 14.h3 g4 15.hxg4 xg4 16.xb7 e6 17.e4 was slightly better for White in J.Shaw-E.Gufeld, Hastings 1994. ] [ 10...c4+ 11.g1 xg2 12.xg2 bxc2 13.xc2 c6 14.b3 e6 15.d4 e7 16.e1 bd7 17.d5 xd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 exd5 20.d4 d8 21.xb7 c5 22.e3 b6 23.c1 e5 24.g5+ e8 2048

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.f5 f8 26.f4 g6 27.b8! 1-0 J.Shaw-J.Goormachtigh, Moscow 1994 ] 11.xg2 c6 12.xb3 e6 13.d4 e7 14.d5! A typical sacrifice that can be more easily calculated thanks to the lead in development. With the black king still in the centre there is time to create hazards if the efile can be opened. c8 [ 14...exd5 15.e1! bd7? 16.d4 c7 17.f5 wins. ] [ 14...xd5 15.xd5 xd5 16.xd5 exd5 17.e1 when the twin threats of Rxb7 and Rbe3 makes White the favourite for victory. ] 15.e2 0-0 16.dxe6 fxe6 17.e1 The pin on the e-file is a theme in this game and White has come out of the opening with the better position. Black has no choice but to surrender the e-pawn. c5 18.xe6+ xe6 19.xe6 b6 20.e4 bd7 21.b2 White is simply a pawn up and just making sure there is no counterplay available. xe4 22.xe4 f6 23.e2 ae8 24.xe8 xe8 25.e5 The knight does a good job of blocking the black rook out of the game. If it swing the d-file then Rd3 maintains White's advantage. c8 26.d3 e7 27.c4 f8 28.f3 e8 29.g4 c5 30.g5 g8 31.h4 h6 32.g4 hxg5 33.hxg5 b5 34.h3 bxc4 35.h8 c3 [ 35...f8 36.d7+ wins ] 36.xg8+ f8 37.g6 1-0

B) 3.bc3 d6 Now White should decide betwe en a normal O pen line wit h 4.d4 ( or a wimpy Closed with 4.g3 )] 3.g3 c6?! The dubious sign may be a little over the top, but I dislike this move and the approach it implies. White is allowed to build a big centre with c3 and d4. In the real c3Sicilian Black's most respectable replies involve ...Nf6 provoking e4-e5 or the ...d5 break. In this case ...Nf6 does nothing as Bg2 is easy, but it is not too late for ...d5, even a tempo down. [ 3...d5!? This shows the correct spirit and has been analysed before on ChessPub. A recent example went: 4.g2 dxe4 5.bc3 f5 Too risky and ugly for my tastes. ( I s t i l l l i k e 5...e5 as in Kupreichik Khismatullin, Kazan 2007, which is in the Archives. ) 6.d3 exd3 7.cxd3!? ( 7.f4 is analysed in the old ChessPub games.) 7...e6 8.f4 f6 9.0-0 d6 Now in Yegiazarian - Khukhashvili, Tbilisi 2010, White fired too soon with ( 9...c6!? ) 10.xe6?! ( Instead a calm m o v e s u c h a s 10.b3 was strong. For example: xf4 11.xf4 0-0 12.b5 a6 13.d6 )] 4.g2 g6 5.c3 This is the point. White is not playing a Closed Sicilian but instead has a suped-up c3-line. g7 [ 5...h6N is an original attempt to make something of Black's passive set-up. The idea is to exchange dark-squared bishops then keep Black's central pawns on dark 1891 B20 sq u a r e s . I t 's n o t b a d b u t I t h in k B l a c k should vary earlier. ] Shaposhnikov,Evgeny 2533 cxd4 7.cxd4 A simple edge for Kurukin,D 2409 6.d4 Voronezh Master Open (3.4) 14.06.2011 classical reasons. g4 Various other moves have been tried, but White's centre is secure. [John Shaw] [ 7...b6 This is a challenging move, but the tactical solution has been known for 1.e4 c5 2.e2 This move has been seen a decades: 8.bc3! ( 8.d5 isn't bad either) few times on ChessPublishing, but a reminder 8...xd4 Otherwise White has the usual and update is worthwhile, especially if you simple edge. 9.d5 c5 10.xd4 xd4 only play the Najdorf. d6 11.e3! xe3 12.fxe3 The threat is Rc1. [ If Black plays 2...e6 then White has nothing a5+ 13.b4 d8 14.c1 White is clearly better than transposing to a normal line. ] better as the following old game shows: [ 2...f6! is an easy move for Najdorf A) One can try to defend more stoutly, but players. it is a thankless task: 14...f8 15.c7 A) 3.e5 gives Black a pleasant choice g4 ( 15...b8 16.d4 ) 16.xg4 c8 between d5 ( and, my personal 17.e6+ fxe6 18.0-0+ g7 19.xe6 favourite, 3...g4 ); 2049

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc1 20.xc1; B) 14...b8 15.0-0 d7 16.d4 f6 17.c7+ f7 18.e5 dxe5 19.d5+ e6 20.xe5 g7 21.xe6+ xe6 22.xe6 e7 23.xe7+ xe7 24.c7 f7 25.d5+ e8 26.xb7 1-0 Samarian Wesen, corr. 1957 ] 8.f3 d7 9.bc3 e5 [ Fairly recently a 2600+ player reached this position with Black and eventually drew, but it did nothing to alter my view that White has an edge. 9...f6 10.e3 0-0 11.0-0 a6 12.c1 c8 13.d2 b5 14.b3 e8 S o f a r t h is is De m ch e n ko - A m o n a t o v, Belorechensk 2010, and now instead of the slow 15.h3 ( t h e s i m p l e 15.fd1 improves White's position just a little and waits another move to see what Black will do. One possible plan for W hite is d4-d5 followed by Nd4, but now Black has to worry about other ideas as well. )] 10.dxe5!? A novelty that uses an admirably direct approach, but the old moves were also okay. [ 10.e3 or ] [ 10.d5 d4 11.e3 ] 10...dxe5 11.b5 Otherwise there was little point to exchanging on e5 and giving away W h i t e ' s s p a c e a d v a n t a g e . a5+ Black missed a trick that will land on the board a couple of moves later. [ Probably best is to allow the check on d6 and keep developing: 11...ge7 12.d6+ f8 13.e3 For Black his uncastled king is an annoyance rather than fatal. ] 12.ec3 d4? Without this follow-up the check on a5 was pointless, but there is a tactical refutation. 13.b4! An easy one to miss as it seems to exacerbate the pin on the c3knight. d8 [ 13...xb4? 14.a3 traps the queen when xb5 ( 14...a5 15.d6+ is simple but fun when all three king moves drop the queen e7 16.c4+ ) 15.xb5 xb5 is not a convincing sac. ] 14.d6+ f8 15.xb7 b6 16.c5 W ith an extra pawn and the safer king my assessment of "clear advantage" is conservative. Black ended it all in a hurry: b5? 17.a4 e8 18.d5 d8 19.b5 Black resigned, which was a fine decision.

Some mixture of Ba3, 0-0 and f2-f4 would soon win everything anyway. The point to remember about 2.Ne2 is not to allow White an easy c3 and d4. So, 2...Nf6 or 2...d6 3.g3 d5 are good lines to consider. 1-0

1892 Shaw,John K Shneider,Aleksandr 22nd Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2432 2529

1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 3.b2 d6 [ 3...e5!? ] 4.b5 d7 5.f4 e5 [ 5...a6 6.xc6 xc6 7.e2 This looks comfortable for White, and early attempts to rock the boat don't seem to work: d5!? 8.d3 a5+!? 9.d2 dxe4 10.dxe4 0-0-0 11.gf3 f6 12.0-0 ] 6.f3 exf4 7.0-0 ge7 [ 7...f6!? 8.c3 e7 9.d5 0-0 ] 8.c3 g6 9.d5 ce7 10.a4! An important move. Black should be made to weaken the b6 square before White agrees to the exchange of bishops. xd5 11.exd5 f6 12.h4! An elegant way to win the pawn back and retain the initiative. xh4 13.e1+ e7 14.xh4 0-0 15.xf4 [ 15.xf4!? f5 16.ae1 ] 15...f5 16.f2 I find it a little surprising that W hite is better here, because Black has a clear edge on the kingside in terms of structure and king safety. However, the most important factors in the position are White's lead in development and more active major pieces. f6 17.xf6 xf6 [ 17...xf6 18.e1 xb5 19.axb5 ae8 20.xe8 xe8 21.xf5 a1+ 22.f1 e1 23.f8# is by no means a forced variation, but in my experience such lines are a kind of litmus test for the assessment of a position. The fact that White wins after the most natural moves suggests that White is probably better. ] 18.e1 a6 19.xd7 xd7 20.e2! b5 [ 20...af8 21.e7 6f7 22.xd7 xd7 23.a5 g5 24.c4 keeps some initiative. ] 21.e7 xe7 22.xe7 g5 23.f1 bxa4 2050

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Probably a mistake. 15.dxc4 ac8 16.f2 a5 is fine for [ 23...f4 24.a1 af8 looks like it might give Black ) 14.0-0 a6 15.e5 d5 led to rough better counterplay. ] ly equal chances because although Black 24.bxa4 b8 25.a7 b2 26.c1! h a s p la y o n t h e q u e e n si d e , W h it e h a s Keeping control. I am not sure why this is so, some attacking opportunities on the kingside, but my impression is that John Shaw is at Kabela,A-Barton,O/ Czechia 2001 ] least 2600 in Rook endings. b4 27.xa6 4.c4 f6 5.d3 d5 d4 28.d3 xd5 29.a5 c4 30.a8+ g7 [ Or 5...a6 maybe it is all in the mind that 31.a1! cxd3 32.cxd3 e6 33.a6 ee5 m a ke s B la ck wa n t t o re p lica t e W h it e ' s 34.b8 a5 35.bb1! eb5 36.d1 xa1 advance of the a-pawn 6.g5 e7 7.f3 37.xa1 b8 38.a7 a8 39.f2 Now White c7 ( 7...b5 8.a2 d5 looks good and is winning. Impressive technique! f6 40.e3 achieves easy equality) 8.0-0 b5 9.a2 0-0 e5 41.a5+ d5 42.g3 f6 43.a6+ g7 10.e1 d6 11.d2 b7 12.ad1 ac8 44.d4 f4 45.gxf4 gxf4 46.c5 13.h3 when a draw was shortly agreed, Rost 1-0 van Tonningen,O-Kauder,H/Potsdam 1997. ] 6.exd5 exd5 7.b5 a6 I don't think Black should encourage Schukin to take the knight 1893 B20 in order to double the c-pawns because this likely to be part of the plan. 8.xc6+ bxc6 Shchukin,Igor 9.h3 h6 10.f3 d6 11.0-0 0-0 12.e1 Golichenko,Ilja Championship (2) 17.01.2004 c7 13.d2 This is rather quiet but it is not obvious how W hite can respond positively. [Gary Lane] b8 14.b1 f5 15.c1 fe8 16.b4? 1.e4 c5 2.a3!? The latest fashion for those I presume White wishes to free his position who want to play som ething d if f e rent . e6 but it is not worth giving away a pawn. [ 16.e2 to safely play b2-b4 is more 3.c3 c6 Also possible: logical. ] [ 3...a6 well if White is going to advance his a-pawn then why can't Black? At least in this 16...xe1+ 17.xe1 cxb4 18.axb4 xb4 case the advance ... b7-b5 is a reasonable 19.d4 e8! [ White was relying on 19...d7 when White plan 4.ce2 e7 5.g3 c6 6.g2 f6 fights back with 20.xb4! xb4 21.xd5 7.f4 d6 8.f3 c7 the position now xd5 22.xb4 xb4 23.xb4 c5 24.c4 resembles a Closed Sicilian but a2-a3 does with an equal game. ] look a bit silly 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 d7 11.h3 c4 12.e3 ac8 13.g4 cxd3 14.cxd3 g6?! 20.c1 xc3 21.xc3 c8 22.f3 h5 Black volunteers to make his kingside dark- 23.d2 e6 24.d4 f6 Black is indulging in squares weaker 15.c1 b8 16.g3 e8 little manoeuvres while he contemplates how 17.d4 ( a better plan is 17.g5 when d7 to make progress with his extra pawn. 25.f4 18.d4 gives White a space advantage and is e7?! [ I think 25...a5 maintains Black advantage we l l p l a c e d t o a t t a c k o n t h e k i n g s i d e) because 26.b8 is met by e8 ] 17...xd4 18.xd4 xc1 19.xc1 b5 20.e3 c8 21.f5 e5 22.c3 d5! 26.b8 f8 27.c4 [ 27.e5! really makes Black suffer for his with an edge, Tessier, B-Lipnowski,S/Alberta carelessness because the knight is very well 1997. ] placed. ] [ 3...d5 4.d3 ( I think 4.exd5 exd5 5.b5+ c6 6.d4 is a good opening choice for 27...dxc4 28.xc4 d7 Black makes sure White ) 4...c6 5.f4 d4 6.ce2 f6 that a knight on the e5 square will now be d8 30.d5?! 7.g3 e7 8.e2 the light-squared bishop e x c h a n g e d . 29.b1 is rather confined so White's opening has White should not encourage Black to get rid of merely led to a passive position b5 9.d2 his weak c-pawn because the rook on e6 is 31.xd5 f8 b6 10.f3 b7 11.b3 0-0 12.e2 fd8 tied up defending it. cxd5 13.h3 ac8 ( 13...c4 14.bxc4 bxc4 32.c1 b6 33.a5 b7 Now Black starts 2051

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 again to make slow progress in his efforts to exploit the extra pawn. 34.e5 a8 35.f3 d5 36.g3 b8 37.g6 e8 38.f4 xf4 39.xf4 g6 40.e1 c6 41.d8+ h7 42.d3 xf3?? [ Or 42...b5 maintains Black advantage due to the passed pawn. ] 43.xf3?? [ Why not 43.xg6+ xg6 ( 43...xg6 ) 44.gxf3 winning easily. ] 43...xf3 44.g3 a5 Black is two pawns up and despite the opposite coloured bishops there is little chance of White salvaging a draw. The game concluded: 45.a1 a6 46.f2 d5 47.a3 a4 48.e3 b3 49.d4 g5 50.c1 g6 51.a1 e6 52.h4 gxh4 53.gxh4 h5 54.e5 b3 55.a3 xh4 56.h1+ g3 57.e4 e6+ 58.d3 g4 59.g1+ Due tot he fast time-limits players are encouraged to play on to the very end! f5 60.c1 a6 61.a3 h5 62.e3 h4 63.b4 a3 64.f2 a2 65.c3 h3 66.h1 g4 67.g1+ h5 68.a1 e6 69.g3 b6 70.f4 b4+ 71.e5 b1 0-1

1894 Shchukin,Igor Malina,Vitaliy Stepichev Kiev (3) [Gary Lane]

B20

22.10.2004

1.e4 c5 2.a3 c6 I suspect that the deployment of the knight makes it too easy for W hite to justify his opening moves because there is a tendency to transpose to the more esta blishe d W ing Gambit. This normally occurs after 1 e4 c5 2 b4 cxb4 3 a3 Nc6. [ 2...e6 3.h3!? I think White is only playing this so that in future years people will say he was the first person to advance the hpawn. They will also add that the idea is r a t h e r s i l l y . c6 4.f3 c7 5.e2 a sign that W hite is hardly showing much ambition but a closed position does mean that in the long-term his advance of the a and h-pawns will not be that important when considering the loss of time. f6 6.d3 e7 7.bd2 d5 8.0-0 0-0 9.c3 d8 10.c2

b6 ( perhaps 10...b6 to move his bishop to a6 or b7 is a wiser choice.) 11.b4 d4 12.c4 c7 13.b5 a5 14.fe5 ( or 14.cxd4!? cxd4 15.b2 wit h an e dge) 14...xc4 15.xc4 d7 16.a4 ac8 17.g5 e5 18.ad1 ( instead 18.ab1 dxc3 19.xc3 e6 20.e3 is also equal) 18...e6 19.b2 a5 20.d2 c7 21.c4 b6 ( or 21...a5 22.bxa6 bxa6 23.b1 is equal ) 22.a1 d6 23.a3 led to equal chances in Zakar,D-Sztruhar, Z/Budapest 2003. ] 3.b4 e5 An odd looking move but in a way understandable because now if the pawns are exchange on c5 then Black will be able to activate his king's bishop. [ I think 3...cxb4 makes White second move look respectable because it transposes to the Wing gambit: 4.axb4 xb4 5.d4 A) or 5...d5 6.c3 c6 7.e5 White treats the position like an Advance French where the pawn deficit allows the queen's rook l o t s o f f r e e d o m e6 ( 7...f5 seems a better choice because the epawn really does make it a French pawn structure where the light-squared bishop is locked in behind his own pawns) 8.d3 f5 9.f3 e7 10.h4 d7 11.g4! fxg4 12.g5 h6 13.xh7 threatening Bg6+ xh7? a blunder because it does not r e l i e v e t h e p r e s s u r e ( 13...b6 is a better idea to give the king some room ) 14.xh7 xh4 15.xh6 gxh6 16.xg4 with a winning advantage, G o l o vch e n ko , G - K u la go , A / S e rp u k h o v 2004.; B) 5...d6 6.d5 f6 7.c3 a6 8.e3 g6 9.d2 g7 10.b5+ d7 11.e2 0-0 12.xa6 White decides to buckle black's queenside pawns as compensation for his pawn deficit bxa6 13.0-0 c7 14.b3 e5 15.d4 with roughly equal chances, although White eventually won, Coleman,JTunks,D/ British Team Championship 2004. ] 4.b5 d4 Black plays the knight to a central square where there are plenty of options. [ 4...a5 5.c4 ( perhaps 5.c3 is more flexible) 5...d6 6.d3 f5 the position is roughly equal but in practical terms it more easy for Black to play who has the 2052

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ready made plan of opening the f-file for the benefit of his king's rook after castling 7.c3 e7 8.g3 f6 9.g2 fxe4 10.xe4 f5 11.c3 a6 12.a4 0-0 13.ge2 e8 the queen prepares to transfer to the queenside in order to help create attacking chances 14.d5 d8 the bishop retreats in order to cover the b6 square 15.e3 g6 16.0-0 e4 17.d4 h5 with a slight edge for W hite, Kuipers,E-Ikonnikov,V/Vlissingen 1998. ] 5.c3 e6 6.f3 c7 7.c4 f6 Now both players are just keen to complete their development. 8.d3 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.a4 b6 11.e1 d6 12.bd2 g6?! This is surprising because there is no need f o r Ma lina to wea ke n h is p awn structu re especially with his bishop perched on e7. This means that the dark squares will be weak and the long-term idea of playing a future ...f7-f5 will take some time to play saf ely. 13.f1 g7 14.e3 f4 15.g3 h3+ 16.g2 h6 17.h4 g5 [ If Black shuffles his pieces around there is sc o p e f o r W h it e t o la u n ch a ligh t e n in g attack: 17...d7 18.d2 d8 19.ef5+! gxf5 20.xh6+ g8 21.g6 and White wins. ] 18.d5 b8 19.c6 h3+ 20.g1 c8 21.f4 exf4 22.gxf4 gh7 23.hg2 Now that W hite has pushed some of Black pieces back the time is right to make progress on the kingside . d7 24.xd7 xd7 25.f5! A standard way to make Black work hard in defending this position. The advance of the fp a wn c u t s t h e b l a c k q u e e n o f f f r o m t h e kingside and it also brings up the possibility of using the bishop on c1 to add weight to the onslaught. h5 26.f1 7f6 27.c4 h7 28.h1 be8 29.f3 d8 30.a2 d7 31.d5 g5 [ Or 31...f6 32.gf4 xf4 33.xf4 g5 34.xd6 is good for White who has stolen a pawn ] 32.b2 e5 33.xe5 dxe5 [ Not 33...xe5? due to 34.fxg6+ xg6 35.g4 when the threat of h2-h4 is good news for White. ] 34.g4?! This seems positive but it allows Black to exchange the strong knight on d5. [ I prefer 34.a5 to stretch Black's pieces who

will now have to keep guard on a white rook infiltrating on the queenside. ] 34...f6 35.xf6+ xf6 36.f3 h5 37.h3 h8 38.f2 White should be better because his knight can eventually reach the influential d5 square but at the moment he is still a t t a c k in g . g7 39.f3 g5 40.e2 g4 41.g3 g5 42.e3 f4? I assume this has something to do with time-trouble because Black misses [ 42...h4 when White loses material. ] 43.gg2 xe3 44.f6+ h7? [ 44...f8 is necessary so the rook on h8 can keep protecting the h5 pawn ] 45.xe3 hg8 46.f5 The rook is able to invade and destroy Black's pawn barrier. g6 47.xh5+ g8 48.xg4 xf6 49.f5 g7 1-0

1895 Shirazi,Kamran G Oleksienko,Michailo 23rd Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (4) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2424 2541 5.3.07

1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 bxa3 Davies misses out this move altogether, which is quite amazing, because it also poses White a problem. Black hope White will take on a3 with the Bishop, when ...d7-d6 will blot this same Bishop out! 4.d4 [ 4.xa3 d6 5.d4 f6 6.d3 c6 7.c3 e6 8.e2 e7 9.0-0 b6 10.d2 e5 11.h3 0-0 12.f4 I suppose you could say that this is the culmination of W hite's opening co m p e n sa t i o n . b7 13.b1 ( 13.g3 exd4 ) 13...c7 14.g4 h6 15.f3 fe8 16.f5 d5! Very appropriate. 17.exd5 xd5 18.c1 exd4 19.cxd4 f6 20.a3 xd4 21.exd4 g3+ 22.h1 xh3+ 23.h2 e3+ 24.e4 xe4+ 25.xe4 xe4 26.xe3 xe3 0-1 Frink, F-Kubin, P/ Tatranske Zruby SVK 2006 ] 4...d6 5.d2 as usual, Shirazi is insistent on going his own way, quite often to the detriment of his position. I doubt 5 Nd2 can be best. [ 5.d3 f6 6.e2 looks more 'together' from W hite's point of view, however with c6 7.c3 e5 Black's game is perfectly together. 8.xa3 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.c2 2053

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d5 11.f3 e6 Hrabinska, M-Kalinina, M/ Evpatoria UKR 2007 although W hite won this game in the end, believe it or not. ] 5...g6 6.gf3 g7 7.h3 c6 8.c3 f6 9.d5 b8 10.xa3 0-0 11.c4 bd7 12.b2 c5 Time to take stock. 1) White is a clear pawn down. 2) White's King has yet to find safety 3) White has two open files on the queenside down which he hopes to bombard the Black pawns with pressure. 4) White can consider e4-e5, although this unlikely to be effective with his King so open. 5) Black has an impregnable Knight on c5 and with ..Nfd7!, can effect desirable exchanges. All in all, White is already much worse. 13.e5 [ 13.a1 a5 14.e5 fd7! 15.e2 dxe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5 d6 19.e3 a4 20.0-0 d8 21.fa1 e6 gives you a flavour of what Black is trying to do. ] 13...fd7! 14.a1 xe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.xe5 dxe5 17.xe5 d6! This is similar, of course. 18.xd6 He didn't want to do this, but [ 18.e3 e6 19.e2 exd5-+ was even worse. ] 18...exd6 19.f3 d7 20.f2 a6 21.e2 b5 22.b1 ab8 23.a5 b4 24.e4 [ 24.b3 xb3 25.xb3 b6 26.c5 dxc5 27.xc5 may have been a better shot at activity. After a8 28.a5 f8 29.e3 e7 30.d4 d6 31.d3 c8 32.c4 ab8 33.d4 b7 34.f4 Black still has to lift White's blockade. ] 24...f5 25.e3 fe8 26.d3 xe4 27.fxe4 f5 It's child's play from here. 28.b2 fxe4 29.e2 b3 30.d4 e3 31.b1 e4+ 32.c3 f4 33.f3 b2 34.a3 g7 Very one-sided, although it is my observation that many Wing Gambiteers are bluffing. They don't actually know what to do against 3..bxa3 and just bank on that fact that the pawn will not be taken! 0-1

1896 Shirazi,Kamran G Spraggett,Kevin 22nd Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (1) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2389 2581

1.e4 c5 2.b4 b6 From a theoretical point of vie w, B lack sho u ld ce rt a in ly t ake on b 4 . However, from a practical point of view, if you consider yourself the stronger player, there is a lot to be said for getting the pieces out and trying to win the game, rather than trying to win a theoretical argument, and risk giving your opponent what he wants- the initiative and some advantage on the clock, and most of all, some fun. 3.bxc5 bxc5 I feel that Black is already very slightly better. Both sides have sligh t ly we a ke n e d t h e ir qu e e n sid e s , b u t Black's pawn on c5 gives him slightly more control over that sector, not only because b4 is under control, but because the queen has access to the a5-d8 diagonal. 4.c4 e6 5.c3 c6 6.f3 ge7 7.0-0 g6 8.d4 cxd4 9.xd4 a5 10.e2 e7 Now that the position has stabilised, I am sure that White would rather have the b-pawns back! We have an Open Sicilian, where the hard work taken to play b7-b5-b4 etc has already been achieved. White's biggest problem is that the knight on c3 is not protected. Spraggett keeps control of the position very well and breaks through in style. 11.b1 0-0 12.e3 e5 13.b3 ec4 14.f4 a3 15.b5 xb5 16.xb5 a6 17.e2 b7 18.c4 d6 19.e5 c7 20.d4 d8 21.e3 dxe5 22.xe5 d6 23.xd6 xd6 24.fd1 b7 25.c5 c6 26.g3 e7 27.d3 e5 28.e1 e4 29.b3 f5 30.f4 xd3 31.xf5 ad8 32.c5 f6 33.bc1 a8 34.h3 h6 35.c2 g6 36.e3 d1+ 37.h2 f5 38.e5 f7 39.g3 g5 40.c1 1d7 41.c5 e7 42.b2 g6 43.a3 f4 44.b3 e3 45.f3 g4! 46.hxg4 g5 47.d3 de8 48.b2 h4+ 49.g1 e2 0-1

2054

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1897 B20 Short,Nigel D 2663 Kosten,Anthony C 2533 British Team Championship (4NCL) (11) 6.5.02 [Gary Lane] 1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 3.b2 d6 4.f4 White's set-up is a calm, straight-forward line that should not really trouble Black. However, th is en c o u nt e r sh o u ld b e kno wn as 'T h e Ch a m p a g n e G a m e ' . N o t b e ca u se o f t h e bubbly, exciting and elegant display on the chessboard but because both player's were among a group who enjoyed a magnum of champagne the night before. Ironically, it was the generous Tony Kosten who supplied the drink thanks to winning the Best Game Prize in the French Team Championship. It will soon become clear why former world championship contender Nigel Short joked at the end of the game "you should have given me more champagne last night!". e6 5.f3 [ 5.b5 is also possible d7 6.f3 f6 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 with roughly equal chances, Boog, A-Kuczynski,R/Geneve 1988. ] 5...f6 6.c3 e7 [ 6...a6 is a careful move but developing another piece seems the right idea 7.e2 e7 8.d4 cxd4 9.xd4 c7 10.d2 White declares his aggressive intentions by preparing to castle long 0-0 11.0-0-0 d7 12.f3 ac8 13.b1 b5 14.g4 xd4 15.xd4 c6 16.g5 d7?? ( 16...e8 keeps an eye on the g7 pawn, which will soon be shown to be a good idea.) 17.d5! 1-0 Abend,P-Claassen,J/Porz 1990/ ] [ Or 6...c7 7.d4 cxd4 8.xd4 e7 9.f5 e5 10.db5 b8 11.a3 0-0 A) 12.xd6 xd6 13.xd6 a6 14.xb8 xb8 15.d6 d8 ( 15...d4!? 16.d3 b5 at least gives Black good piece play compared to the game) 16.0-0-0 b5 17.xc8 bxc8 18.xd8+ xd8 19.a3 gives White an edge; B) 12.d5 A good way of maintaining the pressure without giving Black much counterplay xe4 13.d3 c5 14.bc7 W hite has won the exchange so Black complicates matters e4 15.xc5 exd3 16.0-0 dxc5 17.xd3 b5 18.f6!

a lo ve ly m o ve t o b a t t e r d o wn b la c k ' s defences and expose the king to a direct attack d6 19.fxg7 xg7 20.f6 xh2+ 21.h1 h8 ( 21...xc7 22.xh7# ) 22.xa8 e5 23.h5+ f8 24.d5 b7 25.ae1 xa8 1-0 Hauwert,N-Van Eeten,D/Haarlem 1991/ ] 7.g3 Short is well known to be fond of the Closed Sicilian so it is no surprise that he favours a kingside fianchetto [ Also possible: 7.b5 d7 8.0-0 0-0 9.xc6 xc6 10.e2 a6 11.a4 b6 12.ad1 c7 13.d4 cxd4 14.xd4 b7 15.b4 ac8 16.b5 a5 17.g4?! d5! Black sensibly greets a wing attack by trying to open the centre as a way of exposing the white king 18.e5 e4 19.xe4 dxe4 20.f5 ( 20.e3!? is an obvious improvement) 20...xe5 21.c6 c5+ 22.d4? xc6 0-1 Navone,N-Vujovic,M/Mendrisio 1989/ ] 7...e5 8.fxe5 xe5 9.xe5 dxe5 10.b5+ d7 [ 10...f8!? is interesting intending to play ... g7-g6 and ...Kg7. ] 11.e2 a6 12.xd7+ xd7 13.a4 h5 14.h3 A standard idea so that if Black advances the h-pawn then White can push his g-pawn forward thus stopping the black king's rook from becoming active. h6 [ 14...b6 is a suggestion by Kosten to lessen the effect of 15 a5 which can now be met by 15...b5. ] [ 14...h4 15.g4 is fine for White. ] 15.a5 g6 16.f3 d8 17.d1 h4 18.g4 h7 19.f5 g5 The bishop is not easily driven from g5 [ 19...g5!? is worth a try. ] [ 19...xf5 20.exf5 c6 21.xe5 when White is a pawn up for nothing. ] 20.d3 There is no rush so White wisely protects his e-pawn and at the same time avoid the threats on d2. [ A r a s h m o v e s u c h a s 20.xe5+ allows Black back into the game after e6 21.h2 xe4+ 22.f1 xd2 with better chances for Black due to white's exposed king. ] 20...f8 21.xe5 Short takes the e-pawn as a reward for his controlled but forceful style. Although admittedly, Black still has some play on the dark-squares. e6 22.c3 2055

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Or 22.b2 f6 23.xf6 xf6 24.h7 d4 ( 24...0-0-0?! 25.xh4 ) 25.0-0-0 c3 gives Black decent attacking chances which he doesn't really deserve. ] 22...e3 [ 22...d8!? A) 23.h5 h6 ( 23...g5 24.h8+ e7 25.xh4 ) 24.f5 g6; B) 23.f2 g5 24.h2 f6 at least keeps the bishop active. ] [ Kosten told me he had been preparing 22...f6 23.xf6 ( 23.h7! In fact, Black having tried to calculate all the tactics then n o t i c e d t h a t t h i s s i m p l e m o v e w i n s .) 23...xf6 24.e5 d4 with complications although I prefer White. ] 23.d5 Short has a very comfortable position with his pieces dominating the centre of the board. In contrast, Black's pieces lack harmony. g5 24.f3 xe5 25.xe3 [ Less impressive is 25.xe3 d4 26.d2 xd5! 27.exd5 xe3 28.xe3 xc2+ 29.e4 xa1 30.xa1 d7 ] 25...d4 26.a4 c3+ 27.f2 d4 [ 27...d8!? 28.g2 g5 ] 28.d1 0-0-0 29.e1 b2 30.a1 xa1 31.hxa1 d6 32.g2 xc2 [ 32...d8 33.c4+- ] 33.xc2 [ 33.c4 e3+ 34.xe3 xd3+- ] 33...xd3 34.f1 xb3 [ 34...g3+!? 35.h2 f6 ] 35.xf7 c3 [ 35...g5 36.c4 is winning ] 36.f2 c7 37.e1 c4 [ 37...g3+ is not much help after 38.h2 e3 39.g2 5xe4 40.xe4 xe4 41.f7+ c6 42.xh4 wins ] 38.c2 g3+ 39.f2 xh3 40.cxc4+ b8 41.f3 b5 42.cb4 c5 43.b3 c2+ 44.e3 g2 [ 44...h1 45.ab4 looks very strong for White ] 45.ab4 xg4 [ 45...b5 46.axb6 gg3 47.f2 and Black can resign with honour. ] 46.xb7+ c8 47.f7 g5 [ 47...g6 is no relief upon 48.c3+ d8 49.e5 and the passed e-pawn and extra piece are too much. ]

48.b6 g2 1-0

1898 Short,Nigel D Nielsen,Peter Heine EU-ch Internet final blitz (2.2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2684 2652 07.11.2004

Warning!! This is a blitz game. 1.e4 c5 2.b3 g6!? A principled and gutsy reply, attempting to neutralize the bishop on b2. 3.b2 f6 [ 3...f6 intending Nh6-f7, Bg7 and 0-0 is not out of the question, but I suspect it would not discourage anybody from playing 2.b3 ] 4.e5 [ 4.xf6!? exf6 5.c3 gains control of d5 and the light squares more generally, but I suspect Black will be able to play ...Bg7, 0-0, d 6 a n d f 5 wh e n h e sh o u ld n 't h a ve a n y problems. That said, there might be some mileage in trying to discourage f5 with Nge2g3: g7 6.c4 0-0 ( 6...d6!? 7.ge2 f5 8.d3 0-0 9.0-0 ) 7.ge2 d6 8.g3 f5 ( 8...c6!? 9.0-0 d4 ) 9.exf5 e8+ 10.f1 gxf5 11.h5 and White is better. ] 4...d5 5.c4 [ 5.e6 f6 is similar to the game. It seems that Black is close to the edge, but it is not at all clear that White is even better. ] [ 5.f3!? looks like it might be critical. c7 ( 5...b6!? 6.a4! ) A) 6.c4 e6 A1) 7.xe6!? dxe6 ( 7...fxe6 8.h4 l o o k s q u i t e d a n g e r o u s .) 8.e3 intending Nf3, c4 and d4 and trying to make use of the queenside majority before the bishop on f8 wakes up.; A2) 7.e4 A2a) 7...g7 8.f3 c6 9.0-0 0-0 10.c3 d6 11.d5 and White appears to be somewhat better, but t h e n y o u s e e ( 11.exd6 exd6 doesn't look bad for Black- there are too many ideas- Nc7, intending Bf5, N e d 4 , N b 4 , R e 8 e t c .) 11...ed4 and things are far from clear.; A2b) 7...c6; B) 6.e6 Though tempting, this may not be best. f6 7.exd7+ xd7 the difference 2056

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with the game continuation is that White can make it awkward for Black to castle. However, I still think Black's position has potential and I am not sure how to assess t h e p o s it io n . 8.a3 ( 8.a4!? ) 8...g7 9.c4 c6 ( 9...a6!?; 9...b5 10.xb5 ) 10.e2 b8 ] 5...b6 6.e6 [ 6.xf7+ xf7 7.e6+ g8 is not encouraging for White. ] 6...f6 7.b5 [ 7.exd7+ xd7!? ( 7...xd7 should also be ok. ) 8.e2 g7 9.f3 xc4 10.bxc4 e6 ] 7...g7 8.f3 0-0 9.exd7 xd7 10.xd7 xd7 11.0-0 e5 After that vaguely irregular turn of events, it seems that Black has emerged with the slightly better position due to his extra space, and the fact that W hite might soon be struggling to find constructive moves. 12.d3 c6 13.e1 d5 14.c3 ac8 [ 14...f4 looks better, to keep an extra set of minor pieces, but let's not forget that this is a blitz game. In fact, for that reason, I won't give any further annotations. Suffice to say that 2...g6 is probably a lot better than it looks. ] 15.xd5 xd5 16.c4 d7 17.e2 fd8 18.ad1 b6 19.c3 a5 20.h3 d6 21.e4 d7 22.h4 e7 23.e4 cd8 24.a3 c6 25.e2 g5 26.b4 g6 27.g3 axb4 28.axb4 h5 29.bxc5 bxc5 30.d2 h4 31.e4 xe4 32.dxe4 hxg3 33.fxg3 xd2 34.xd2 d3 35.e3 d7 36.b3 f8 37.e3 e6 38.g2 d4 39.a3 b7 40.xd4 cxd4 41.e1 f8 42.a6 f7 43.d3 b3 44.f2 c3 45.c6 e7 46.h4 gxh4 47.gxh4 d3 48.f3 f5 49.exf5 xh4 50.e4 a3 51.d6 e7 52.d5 b4 53.c5 d2+ 54.e2 a1 55.xd2 xd2 56.xd2 f6 57.c6 a8 58.c7 c8 59.d7 xf5 60.e3 e6 61.h7 d6 62.e4 xc7 ½-½

1899 Short,Nigel D Prasad,Devaki V Commonwealth-ch (5) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2702 2395 14.01.2004

1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 3.b2 e5 This is the first reaction of many players on seeing 2 b3 for the first time- an attempt to blunt the bishop on b2. However, it seems to give W hite a pleasant position, and the bishop on b2 still has a future due to the prospect of f 2-f4. 4.c4!? I like the simplicity of this move. There is no rush to play f4, but rather an steady plan of Nge2, 0-0 and then f4. [ 4.f4 exf4 5.f3 is playable, and Black sh ou ld kno w wh at t o d o he re , bu t f ro m White's point of view, it seems unnecessarily messy. f6 now looks best. 6.c3 e7 and now Black intends to castle so white has to do something, and I don't think there is an yt hing co nvin cing to b e do ne . 7.e5 ( 7.b5!? 0-0 8.0-0 d5 ) 7...g4!? ( 7...h5 8.c4 does not look so clear. h4+ 9.f1 ) 8.d5 h4+ ( 8...0-0 is perfectly playable, intending Re8 and Bf8 and waiting for h3 before playing Bh4(or if you are too scared, Nh6 is not a complete disaster).) 9.e2 f2 10.e1 And Fritz thinks Black is winning easily, but analysis engines rarely understand positions with knights trapped in corners (e.g. after Nh1 Qh4), so I am not 100% sure about this position, though my gut feeling is that Black is doing well. d6 ] 4...f6 5.d3 [ 5.c3 If 5.d3 d5!? turns out to be playable, this move order might be important. xe4 6.xe4 d5 A) 7.b5 dxe4 8.xc6+ bxc6 My first impression was that White should be able to regain the pawn somehow, with advantage, but now I am not so sure. 9.h5 ( 9.e2 d5 10.c4 d3 11.xe5 f5; 9.xe5 g5 10.g3 e7; 9.e2!? g5 10.g3 g4 11.c1 e6 12.0-0 f5 13.d3 ) 9...d6 10.xe5? g6; B) 7.d3 dxe4 8.xe4 looks better for White, because of the keen bishops, but it may not be, due to Black's sturdy centre. d6 9.f3 ( 9.f3 d4! 10.xd4 exd4 2057

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.xb7 e7+ ) 9...0-0 10.0-0 e8= ] 5...d6 [ 5...d5!? is worth considering. 6.exd5 xd5 A) 7.f3!? A1) 7...f4 8.g3 g6 ( 8...g2+ 9.f1 h3 10.g1 looks like it should be good for White sooner or later. ); A2) 7...f6 8.fd2!? looks like it might give some initiative, because sooner or later white can play f4, but even here Black looks ok. e6 9.0-0 d7 10.c3 f4!? ( 10...e7 11.xd5 xd5 12.f4 ) 11.e2 d5 12.xd5 xd5 13.f4 0-0-0!; B) 7.f3 e6 seems ok for Black. ] 6.c3 e7 7.ge2 0-0 8.0-0 a6 9.a4 d4 10.h3 e6 11.f4 d7 [ 11...d5 12.exd5 xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.fxe5 g5 15.xd4 e3+ 16.h1 cxd4 doesn't give Black enough compensation. ] 12.f5 [ 12.d5!? ] 12...xc4 13.dxc4 The position has clarified in white's favour due to the kingside space and usefulness of the d5 square, but there is still a lot of work to do. g5 14.d5 f6 15.ec3 h8 16.xf6 xf6 17.d5 h6 18.h2 g6 19.c3 c6 20.f6 h5 21.f3 ae8 22.g3 e6 23.g2 c8 24.a5 b8 25.d3 d7 26.af1 h6 27.b4 g5 28.a3 h6 29.3f2 g5 30.bxc5 xc5 31.xc5 dxc5 32.h4 h6 33.e2 xe2 34.xe2 g5 35.h3 gxh4 36.xh4 g8 37.f5 d8 38.b2 d7 39.f1 e8 40.fb1 b8 41.b6 1-0

2 0 0 8 f r o m t h e a r c h i v e s .) 6...g6!? not fearing doubled pawns. 7.d5 g7 8.xf6+ exf6 9.f3 0-0 10.e2 e8 11.0-0 c6 12.d3 f5 13.xg7 xg7 14.exf5 xf5 15.xf5 gxf5 16.f4 d4 gave Black sufficient play in the ending in Gelashvili, T-Mamedov, N / Bucharest ROU 2008. ] 3.b2 e5 4.c4 d6 5.f4!? [ V e ry co f f e e h o u se ! 5.e2 is a calmer approach. g6 6.0-0 g7 7.f4 is Rowson, JSavage, B/Training LCC 2006, annotated by Rowson in the database. ] 5...exf4 6.f3 [ White simply plays to recapture the pawn. C o n t i n u i n g i n g a m b i t s t y l e w i t h 6.f3 is another idea, but this is more speculative. ] 6...f6 [ 6...h4+ 7.g3! is the point, because f7 is weak. ] 7.xf4 e7 8.c3 e6 9.f3 0-0 10.0-0 The position resembles an Anti-Sveshnikov 1. e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 e5 4. Bc4 to some degree. Black's pieces are able to sufficiently contest the d5-square. h5! 11.e3 f6 This regrouping gives Black sufficient chances. 12.h1 e8 13.xe6 xe6 [ 13...fxe6 is also possible. Note that 14.g4 can be met by d4 15.xd4 cxd4 16.f2 f6 ] 14.d3 b5 This isn't so necessary. i would pref er someth ing simple like 14...Qd7 t o develop the a8-rook. 15.c1 d4?! [ This allows White's next. Better is 15...xc3 although W hite is a little better after 16.xc3 ] 16.d5 xf3 17.xf6+ 1900 B20 [ This looks inaccurate. After the simple 17.xf3 xb2 18.xb2 the knight on h5 is Short,Nigel D 2665 on a limb, the d5-knight dominates, and Ramanth,B 2239 White can build up easily on the kingside. ] ch-Commonwealth (6) 02.10.2008 17...xf6 18.gxf3 [David Vigorito] [ Choosing the g-file over the f-file. 18.xf3 was also good. ] 1.e4 c5 2.b3 This has been one of Short's favourite weapons in recent years. It shouldn't 18...h5 19.g1 g6! Now Black is pretty really give White anything, but it certainly isn't much ok, but his famous opponent gradually overwhelms him. 20.g4 e7 21.d2 f8 bad and often leads to original play. c6 [ 2...d6 is a solid reply. 3.b2 f6 4.b5+ 22.ag1 e6 23.h4 f6 24.g3 d7 d7 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c3 ( 6.d3 25.g2 xg3 26.xg3 f6 27.h5 d8 is Mamedyarov-Van W ely/W ijk aan Zee 28.f4 f8 29.d5 d7 30.f5 e7 31.h4 2058

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 h8 32.c1! Heading to f4 when the d6pawn will be indefensible. c4 33.f4 cxd3 34.cxd3 c7 35.xd6 c1+ 36.g2 f7 37.xf8 xf8 38.xb5 1-0

1901 Short,Nigel D Svidler,Peter RUS-The World rapid (1) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2682 2690 08.09.2002

1.e4 c5 2.b3 b6 3.b2 b7 4.c3 e6 5.f4 [ 5.g3!? ] 5...a6 Although useful, it is not clear that this move is necessary. [ 5...d5 6.b5+ A) 6...c6 looks too strange to be good, and probably is. 7.exd5 xb5 8.xb5 a6 ( 8...exd5 9.e5 a6 10.e2+- ) 9.dxe6 ( 9.c3 exd5 10.e2+ is also some advantage because after e7 11.f3 d7 12.0-0 bc6 13.ae1 Black has severe difficulties finishing development.) 9...axb5 10.exf7+ xf7 11.h5+ e7 12.e2+ and White will have three pawns and an attack for the piece.; B) 6...c6 is the move Black would like to play, but there seem to be some annoying tactical issues. 7.exd5 exd5 8.e2+ B1) 8...e7!? 9.xd5! xd5 10.xg7 0-0-0 11.xh8 and Black will have a hard time proving adequate compensation for the exchange and two pawns, although b4!? , for example, d o e s k e e p t h e g a m e a l i ve . ( 11...f6 12.xf6 xf6 13.c4 f5 14.d3 d5 15.0-0-0 ) 12.f1 f6 ( 12...xc2 13.c1 ) 13.xf6 xf6 14.c3 I suspect that this variation is good for W hite, but it wouldn't astonish me if somebody were to discover that Black has a way to make this line, with 8... Be7 work, because White does lose a lot of time in the process of winning material, so White shouldn't assume that 9.Nxd5 wins by f orce, because Black has various ways to try to conjure compensation before the material

advantage makes itself felt.; B2) 8...ge7 9.f3 d4 ( 9...c7 10.xd5; 9...d7 10.e5 ) 10.e4 c7 11.b4!; C) 6...d7 looks a bit risky for Black, but it might be viable. 7.exd5 This is not forced, but otherwise Black has probably achieved something by getting away with not playing ...a6. ( 7.e2 d4 ) 7...h4+!? The key point. 8.g3 e7 9.f3 exd5+ 10.e5 ( 10.f2 0-0-0 ) 10...0-0-0 ] 6.f3 d5 7.d3 [ 7.exd5 exd5 8.e2+!? ] 7...f6 8.e5 fd7 9.g3 c6 10.g2 b5 Just as with the Short-Topalov game, I feel in these lines where White is committed to e5, the positions are just unclear and the bishop is not particularly well-placed on b2. 11.0-0 b6 [ 11...c4!? ] 12.d4 c4 13.e2 g6 14.g4 h5 15.h3 c7 16.c3 a5 17.f5 hxg4 18.hxg4 gxf5 19.gxf5 exf5 20.c2 c8 21.f2 b4 22.h1 xh1 23.xh1 bxc3 24.xc3 b4 25.xb4 axb4 26.h7 e6 27.h3 a7 28.c1 c8 29.d2 cxb3 30.xb3 c4 31.d3 xa2+ 32.g3 b2 33.xf5 c3 34.f4 xd3 35.xd3 a8 36.g5 a3 37.c2 e7 38.xe6 fxe6 39.d1 a2 40.g4 f2+ 41.g3 b2 42.c5 xc5 43.dxc5 xe5 44.xe6 c2 45.b7 c3+ 46.g2 d3 47.d7+ d8 48.f5 xc5 49.xb4 e7 50.f2 f6 51.b1 e5 52.e2 h3 53.c2 h2+ 54.d1 d4 55.b5 d5 56.b3+ c6 57.b4 d3 58.c4 f2 59.b8 f4 60.b5+ c7 61.h8 b4 62.xd3 xd3 63.d2 c5 64.h6 d7 65.e3 e6 66.d3 d6 67.c3 g4 68.h5 f4 69.a5 d5+ 70.d3 e5 71.a8 g3+ 72.e2 b3 73.e8+ d4 74.f2 ½-½

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B20 If Queens and Rooks were exchanged White 2683 might have a big advantage, but as things 2702 stand the position is just very tense. 28.g1 [ 28.c1!? ] 17.05.2000 28...c8 29.c1 d3 30.xc8+ xc8 31.2f3?! It is not clear why Nigel felt that he 1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 3.b2 a6 4.f4 e6 5.f3 had to abandon his a-pawn, but he might have ove r-ra t e d h is a t t a ckin g ch a n ce s o n t h e f6 [ 5...d5!? 6.e2 dxe4 ( 6...f6 7.exd5 kingside dark squares. [ 31.2b3 c3 32.d2 ] xd5 8.g3 ) 7.xe4 f6 8.e2 e7 31...c3 32.h4 a1+ 33.h2 xa5 34.h5 9.g3 ] a2+ 35.h3 b1 36.g1 b2 37.h4 6.d3 [ 6.e5 d5 7.g3 would probably be my c5 38.hxg6 hxg6 39.h2 a1 40.g4 e4 41.g1 b2 42.h2 c1 43.g1 choice as White. ] f1 44.h4 d1 45.g4 h8 46.h2 c1 6...d5 7.bd2 e7 8.g3 0-0 9.e5 [ 9.e2 I think White should consider 47.g5 g8 48.g4 d3 49.g1 b2 50.h2 a3 51.h4 c5 52.g1 e4 keeping the tension for as long as possible. ] 53.h2 f5 54.xf5 exf5 55.g2 e4 9...d7 10.g2 56.f3 c1 57.f1 d4 58.h3 d3 59.e6 [ 10.c4!? ] 10...b5 My general impression is that when fxe6 60.g3 e1 61.xe4 fxe4 62.g2 white plays b3, Bb2, and g3, Bg2 and then e2 follows up by meeting ... d5 with e5, he rarely 0-1 emerges with the better position. The bishop on b2 is sometimes vulnerable, and you often B20 feel its absence on the g1-a7 diagonal. The 1903 bishop on g2 is not so bad, but it does not Sivanandan,BS 2396 threaten Black's king, so in general I think this Konguvel,Ponnuswamy 2331 s o r t o f p o s it io n , t h o u g h p la ya b le , is n o t Commonwealth Championship (9) 26.04.2003 particularly promising for White. 11.0-0 c4! [Gary Lane] I suspect Short either missed this powerful mo ve, o r m ore likely, u n de re st ima t e d it . 1.e4 c5 2.a3 White is highly rated but 12.h1 cxd3 13.cxd3 a5 14.e2 a4 obviously wishes to steer clear of standard 15.fc1 b6 16.a3 b4 17.axb4 a6 theory. It might not set the world alight but 18.bxa4 has a certain curiosity value. [ 18.xa4 xb4 19.e1 c5 20.d4 b5 [ 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 e6 4.axb4 xb4 5.c3 21.xc5 xc5 and Black retains good e7 6.d4 ] compensation. ] 2...e6 3.f3 18...xb4 19.d4 c5 20.e3 [ 3.b4 is the fun response. ] [ 20.a5 might be better because after a 3...d5 4.exd5 exd5 5.d4 The position has s i m i l a r s e t o f m o v e s t o t h e g a m e a7 transposed to a sort of French Defence where ( 20...b5 21.c3 ) 21.e3 xd3 22.c3 the a3 pawn still looks silly. c6 6.e3 c4 xd4 23.xd4 3c5 white has 24.c6 7.b3 cxb3 8.cxb3 d6 9.d3 ge7 10.0-0 This means that Black has to do something 0-0 11.c3 The position is level but there is les s re liab le o n mo ve 2 3, a nd W hite is still plenty of play for both sides. f5 12.b4 probably not worse ] [ T h e p a w n g r a b a f t e r 12.xf5 xf5 20...xd3 21.cb1 c7 22.f1 xd4 13.xd5 is r e f u t e d b y xh2+ 14.xh2 23.xd4 3c5 24.b5 The position looks xd5 when Black is better. ] roughly equal now, but I prefer Black, due to 12...e8 13.c1 d7 14.e1 ac8 15.f1 t h e lo n g -t e r m a d va n t a ge s o f h a vi n g t h e f6 16.a4 g6 17.c5 After the excitement sounder structure and safer king. g6 25.a5 of 2 a3 W hite has been playing very quietly fb8 26.xd7 xb1+ 27.xb1 xd7 but has now secured an edge. f7 18.d3 1902 Short,Nigel D Topalov,Veselin Sarajevo Bosnia (1) [Jonathan Rowson]

2060

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd3 19.xd3 b6 20.b3 d7 21.b5 ce7 22.a4 f5 23.xf5 xf5 The ending is equal. 24.xc8 xc8 25.c1 c4! A nice move which demonstrates that White has been trying too hard to win a level position and has now allowed Black to seize the initiative. 26.xc4 dxc4 27.a1 f4 28.xf4 xf4 29.c2 f7 30.g3 c1 31.f1 d6 [ 31...e6 32.g4 d6 33.h4 d5 with an edge. ] 32.e2 e4 33.d1 h6 34.b4 e6 [ 34...xf2+!? looks like a better idea when 35.c2 e4 36.c6 e6 37.xa7 d6 38.c6 e3 gives Black the brighter prospects. ] 35.c6 [ 35.c2 g5= ] 35...d5 36.xa7 [ 36.e7+ d6 37.c8+ c7 38.xa7 xf2+ 39.c2 e4= ] 36...c3+ 37.c2 xa4 38.c6 g6 39.g1 f8 40.f3 a3 41.e2 b2 Black puts pressure on the d4 pawn but the danger is that the bishop will be cut off if he is not careful. [ 41...d6 42.h4= ] 42.g4 g5? Black is being careless. [ 42...d6!? is still about equal. ] 43.b4+ [ 43.e7+!? e6 44.f5 a3 45.c3 is much better for White. ] 43...d6 44.c6 [ 44.d2 ] 44...d5 45.h3 a1? The bishop is going no where in the corner of the board. [ 45...e6 is a better option. ] 46.e7+ e6 47.f5 h5 [ 47...b2 48.e3+- ] 48.e3 [ 48.d5+!? f7 49.gxh5 e5+- ] 48...hxg4 49.hxg4 b2 50.xc4? [ 50.d5+ is a winner upon d7 51.xc4+- ] 50...xd4 51.xd4+ d5 52.d3 c5+ 53.c3 a4+ ½-½

1904 Smirin,Ilia Vallejo Pons,Francisco Open Baku (7) [Richard Palliser]

B20 2676 2724 12.08.2011

1.e4 c5 2.e2 A slightly surprising choice by Smirin as this has been a favourite weapon of Vallejo himself. f6 [ Three days earlier Vallejo had been on the white side and must have been happy to see 2...d6 3.g3 c6?! 4.g2 g6 5.c3 g7 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 . John discussed this position in Shaposhnikov-Kurukin, Voronezh 2011, and Vallejo Pons-Bajarani, Baku 2011, merely supplied further evidence, if it was needed, that W hite has a pleasant edge here: f6 8.bc3 0-0 9.0-0 d7 10.g5!? (trying to provoke a softening in t h e b la c k k in g ' s d e f e n si ve sh i e l d ) b6 11.b3 g4 12.d2 d5 13.e5 f6 14.exf6 exf6 15.e3 e6 16.f4 f7 17.d3 and Black most certainly hadn't managed to equalise. ] 3.bc3 d5!? [ Vallejo has no desire to be move ordered into a Classical, Najdorf, Scheveningen or Dragon after 3...d6 4.d4 cxd4 5.xd4 , and chooses quite a critical independent option. ] 4.exd5 xd5 5.xd5 xd5 6.d4 This 'gives White some chances to be better' according to Jonathan Rowson. I can certainly see why he thought that, but Vallejo knows 2 Ne2 pretty well and now dives headfirst into quite a critical line. e5! 7.c3! [ White must offer a pawn for the initiative. Otherwise, how does he develop his kingside? Indeed, after 7.dxe5 xe5 8.c3 e7 9.f4 f6 White remains in a slight pickle. He'd really rather not go long and 10.e3 0-0 11.f4 feels a little slow, a lt h o u gh p e r h a p s c6 12.d5 e5 13.d3 is enough for rough equality. ] 7...xd4 8.e3 [ White wants to exploit Black's weakened light squares. He didn't have to allow the queens to come off, but after 8.f3 c6 9.b5 d7 10.0-0 g4! ( 10...f6 11.e4! isn't so clear) 11.xc6 bxc6 the only issue is whether Black is comfortable or more 2061

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 than comfortable. ] 8...xd1+ 9.xd1 e6 10.e4!? [ The crude 10.b5?! doesn't get White a n y w h e r e a f t e r a6 11.d6+ xd6 12.xd6 c4 , ] [ but 10.d5 was possible, leading after A) or 10...d6 11.c3 when Black can't r e a l l y a v o i d t h e r e p e t i t i o n a f t e r e7 ( c e r t a i n l y n o t 11...e7?? 12.b5 ) 12.d5; B) 10...xd5 11.xd5 d7 12.b5 0-0-0 13.xd7+ xd7 14.xe5 to full equality. However, having White, Smirin understandably prefers to press a little more than this. ] 10...d7 11.g5?! [ If I'm right about the next move, this further uncompromising choice should have been too ambitious an approach. However, even 11.b5 a6! ( 11...c8? 12.g5 g4 13.f3 gives White a vastly improved version of the game ) 12.xd7+ xd7 13.xc5 xc5 14.xc5 c6 15.0-0 0-0 16.d7 fe8 17.d6 might not have been enough for full equality in view of the potential difference b e t we e n t h e m in o r p ie ce s if B la ck ca n somehow manage to untangle. ] 11...g4?! [ I have to confess that I'm rather puzzled at this point. Vallejo must have studied this gambit line before, but why did he deviate from the sequence 11...f5! A) this doesn't lead anywhere, so presumably both players were focussing their attention on 12.c4 , b u t a f t e r f6! 13.e6 ( 13.f7? b6 14.b3 c4 is the main point, leaving Black somewhat ahead following 15.xh8 cxb3 16.cxb3 g6 17.f4 exf4 18.xf4 g7 19.xg6 hxg6 the two minor pieces just look somewhat more useful than the rook and pawn, with ...Be6, ...Nd5 and ...Kf7 set to tidy Black's position) 13...c8 does White really have enough for the pawn? - his light-squared bishop is strong, but something like the machine's 14.d5 b6! ( 14...b6?! enables White to equalise with 15.xf8 xd5 16.xd5 xf8 17.xc5 d7 18.xc8 xc8 19.c3 ) 15.c4 e7 16.xf8 hxf8 doesn't particularly impress me;

B) 12.b5? f6 13.e4 xe4 14.xd7+ f7 15.f3 xc2 16.d2 g6 17.a4 b8! 18.b3+ e8 19.f2 f7 , after which Black converted his extra material in Kupreichik-Vaulin, St Petersburg 2001. ] 12.f3 h5 13.c4 [ Smirin remains in no hurry to regain his pawn, but this was by no means W hite's only decent approach. After 13.b5!? d8 ( 13...0-0-0? 14.c4 recoups the pawn with some advantage, in view of the nasty tactic f6? 15.e6 e8 16.b5 e7 17.xc5! ) 14.d5!? ( more vigorous than 14.c4 a6 15.a4 e7 16.f2 xg5 17.xg5 f6 18.e3 e7 when White can only win back his pawn on c5 with equality) 14...e7! ( good defence instead 14...f6? leads after the long line 15.e6 f7 16.xd7! xd7 17.xf8 xf8 18.xc5 g8 19.xa7 d5 20.xd7+ xd7 21.e3 to an ending where the only issue is whether the presence of opposite-coloured bishops might enable Black to hold) 15.xe5 f6 16.e4 Black would still have had to be careful, although with g6! 17.e6 xe4 18.fxe4 a6 he would have been over the worst, as 19.xd8 xd8 20.c4 c7 21.d5 would only have seen the holes on d5 and e5 balancing each other out. ] 13...d8 Wisely covering the knight and so indirectly defending f7. 14.0-0 e7 15.e4 0-0?! [ At first his looks like another prudent choice, but after it White seems to regain his pawn w i t h a n o n g o i n g p u l l . I n s t e a d 15...b6? 16.b5 g6 17.d5 f6 18.fd1 f5 would have kept the extra pawn, but how then to escape the terrible pin? Moreover, 19.d6!? , aiming to transfer the rook to c7, might well be immediately dangerous. ] [ However, I'm not sure why Vallejo rejected 15...g6! it's certainly not so obvious what W h i t e i s d o i n g h e r e . M a y b e 16.b3!? ( Black's point is that 16.b5 a6 17.xd7+? xd7 18.xd7 xd7 19.xc5+ xc5 20.xc5 xc2 keeps him a pawn ahead,; as does 16.c3?! 0-0 17.b5 xe4 18.fxe4 f6 ) 16...a6 17.d6+ ( there's nothing o b v i o u s n e x t u p a f t e r 17.d5 b8 ) 17...xd6 18.xd6 , but after e7 19.fd1 2062

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 can Black really be in danger? I suspect 3...g7 4.c3 that White's bishops give him enough for the [ 4.c3 can be recommended to those who pawn, but surely no more than that. ] like to make bizarre positions even more 16.b5 f6 17.xc5 xc5+ 18.xc5 b6 odd. The general approach against such [ A timely draw offer and one which I suspect ideas is to play in an orthodox manner and Sm irin la t e r m ay h a ve wish e d h e 'd n o t wait for a tactical opening. d5! 5.exd5 xd5 a c c e p t e d . A f t e r 18...b6 19.b7! 6.f3 f6 7.e2 0-0 8.c4 d8 9.b2 b6 the onus is on Black to demonstrate a path 10.0-0 b7 11.b3 c6 12.bxc5 a5 t o f u l l e q u a l i t y : f o r e x a m p l e , xd1 13.c2 bxc5 14.d3 h5 15.xg7 xg7 ( o t h e r w i s e , 19...b8?! 20.d6 16.bd2 e6 17.ab1 c7 18.fe1 merely d rives W h ite's knight to a grea t c6 Mamedyarov, S-Kotronias, V/Mallorca square ) 20.xd1 e4 ( or 20...g6 21.c4 2004 Black went on to win in 104 moves c8 22.b4 and the pawns are beginning to wi t h h i s g r i p o n d 4 a n d s l i g h t l y b e t t e r gather serious momentum) 21.f2 exf3 bishop.. ] 22.gxf3 g6 23.c4 f5 24.b4 4...d6 5.g3 c6 6.b1 b6 and the init iative is mo st certa inly wit h [ Stokke had been here before, although not White. ] against Grandmaster opposition: 6...f6 ½-½ 7.g2 g4 8.ge2 b8 9.h3 d7 10.0-0 c8 11.h2 h5 12.d5 xd5 13.exd5 d4 14.bxc5 dxc5 15.c3 f5 16.d3 b5 1905 B20 17.f4 b6 18.d2 0-0 Messy, which is about all that 2 a3 promotes. Stokke, KStokke,Kjetil 2302 Hanley, J/Oslo 2005 ] Cvitan,Ognjen 2527 op 20th Pula (3) 18.06.2006 7.g2 b7 8.ge2 e6 9.0-0 ge7= This is how most strong players meet [Andrew Martin] eccentric variations. Black sticks to a tried 1.e4 c5 2.a3!? Interest seems to be fading in and trusted game plan of steady development, 2 a3. The novelty value has worn of f and refusing simplification, keeping play centrally Black has several comf ortable ways to a orientated. Obviously, one can play as one p l a y a b l e g a m e , w h i c h i s a l l t h a t r e a l l y wishes with the White pieces, but the moves concerns a decent player. 2...g6 as will see a3, b4 and Rb1 look right out of place. 10.f4 h e r e , i s a r e l i a b l e r e p l y , i m m e d i a t e l y d4 11.d3 0-0 12.e3 d7 13.bxc5 dxc5 14.e5 xg2 15.xg2 d5 Everything in the interrupting White's standard plan. g6! 3.b4 16.d2 f6! And a central break, [ 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3!? looks like a very dodgy centre. rendering Rb1 a waste of a tempo. 17.exf6 gambit and particularly so against Magnus Carlsen. g7!? ( 4...dxc3 5.xc3 c6 xf6 18.e4 White feels that he is forced to is simply a standard Morra where White has play along with Black's plan, seeing little substituted 2 a3 for a developing move. counterplay elsewhere. xe4 19.dxe4 ad8! [ 19...c6! also looks good to me: 20.xd4 This cannot be good. 6.f3 ) 5.f3 ( 5.cxd4 ( 20.c3 ad8 ) 20...cxd4! Exposing two d5! makes 2 a3 look superfluous.) 5...d3 weaknesses on c2 and e4. 21.e1 ac8 6.xd3 c6 7.0-0 f6 8.g5 0-0 9.e2 22.c1 b5 White has only a miserable d6 10.bd2 d7 11.ad1 b6 12.c4 defence to look forward to. ] c5 13.c2 a6= But equality with bite! In view of the pin White has to be very careful. 20.f2 b5 21.c1 c6 Excellent timing. 14.b4 e6 15.d2 c8 16.d3 d5 22.h3 [ 22.g1 xe4+ 23.f3 d4 24.e3 17.exd5 xd5 18.e3 fd8 This was the g5!-+ ] type of position that I was referring to when I mentioned Black's 'playable game' in the 22...d6! [ 22...xe4 23.xb5 ] introduction. All pieces nicely developed, no tactical problems. Carlsen went on to win. 23.e1 xe4-+ there is nothing more to be said. 24.g2 e5 25.e3 e6+ 26.g4 exf4 Stokke, K-Carlsen, M/Oslo 2006 ] 2063

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 The conclusion is inexorable: that 2 a3 is something of an extravagance. Black gets an excellent game by sticking to the basics of sound development geared towards occupation and control of the centre. To that end 2 ...g6! is a very good start. 0-1

A) after 11...gxf5 12.d4 Black's centre is weak. One extreme example of how the game can develop is: d5 13.f2 b6 14.e1 e8? 15.g5! cxd4 16.xe6!? ( 16.h5! h6 17.xd5+- ) 16...xe6 17.xe6 xe6 18.xd5 d7 19.b3 be8 20.b5 b8 21.e1 f7 22.xe6+ xe6 23.xf5+ And White won in I. Donev-S. Stanojevic, Goetzis 1997.; B) 11...exf5 12.b3+ h8 13.g5 a5 1906 B20 14.f7+ g8 15.xd8+ xb3 16.axb3 Strikovic,Aleksa 2554 xd8 17.fe1 f6 18.c2 a6 19.d4 Bogosavljevic,Boban 2551 Yandemirov-A. Potapov, Tjumen 1992; TCh-SRB 1st League (8) 28.08.2010 C) 11...xf5 12.f2 b5 This is Black's [John Shaw] best option, but it is till W hite for choice after 13.d2 planning Rae1. ] 1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.g3 g6 4.g2 g7 [ 9...d7 has been played many times, but is 5.f4 d6 6.f3 e6 The most common move, a n o t h e r v a g u e m o ve . W h i t e h a s g o o d but, as we shall see, there are strong chances after, for example: 10.a3 b8 arguments in favour of the two main 11.d4 ] alternatives: 10.d4 a6 [ 6...f6 ] [ Also possible is 10...cxd4 11.cxd4 d5 [ 6...e5 ] 12.e5 although Black is unlikely to find a 7.0-0 ge7 8.c3 0-0 9.e3 An important better option than a6 ] position, as Black has many options. No doubt a few players will be making it up from here, 11.e1 c8 [ Or 11...cxd4 which could eventually be but preparing in greater depth will pay similar. 12.cxd4 d5 13.e5 The game has a dividends, as there are many dangers lurking, long way to go, but W hite starts the fight especially for Black. b6 The most common with a space advantage. ] move and one that makes a lot of sense: a6 is 12.a4 An interesting plan, but not the only a likely square for the bishop. [ Instead 9...b8 is also frequently-seen, but one: [ 12.a3 is natural and flexible. It is worth this is exactly the sort of move 2.d3 players noting that on occasion White can recapture h o p e t o f a c e . B l a c k i s p l a yi n g C l o s e d on d4 with a knight rather than a pawn. This Sicilian-style moves in a totally different flexibility makes it tricky for Black to type of position. After 10.d4! White has orientate his play. cxd4 13.xd4 xd4 scored heavily. For example: cxd4 11.cxd4 14.xd4 e5 ( 14...c7 15.xg7 xg7 d5 12.e5 The rook makes little sense on b8. 16.a4 B. Socko-Handke, Stockholm b5 13.c3 ] 2000 ) 15.e3 d7 16.b3 exf4 17.xf4 [ The more direct 9...b5 shows there is no c5 18.ad1 e5 19.xe5 xe5 20.c2 need for ...Rb8. One idea for Black (which I b5 21.a3 c8 22.d4 Kaidanovfirst saw mentioned by GM Babula) is to put Shirov, Moscow 1989 ] the pawns on b4 and a4. That would take away both the c3-and b3-squares from the 12...b7 [ Black could try 12...d3 but then White has b1-knight. That latter square is relevant 13.dxc5 b5 ( 13...dxc5 14.d1 ) 14.d1 because a standard set-up later is White's xe4 15.cxd6 f5 16.c5 ] centre on d4 and e5, and Black on d5 and e6, when the c5-square (Nb1-d2-b3-c5) is 13.bd2 cxd4 14.cxd4 d7 15.a3 Again, it's "just" a space advantage. fd8 an appealing outpost. 10.d4 ] [ 9...f5 is a bold reaction. 10.a3 b8 16.ac1 a5 17.b4 ac6 18.b3 h6 11.exf5 This sets Black a nasty problem, as 19.d5 [ I would prefer to build up with 19.f2 ] all the recaptures have downsides. 2064

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19...exd5 20.exd5 b8 [ Crit ic al wa s 20...xd5 21.xd5 d4 22.xd4 xc1 23.xc1 xd5 24.xd5 This is intriguing: three minors for a queen. Should be fun for W hite but he does not have total control yet. For example: c8 25.c6 e8 26.f1 f5 ] 21.d4 xc1 22.xc1 c8 23.xc8+ xc8 24.b5 [ 24.b5!? ] 24...xd4 25.xd4 c1+ 26.f1 d7 27.e3 xe3+ 28.xe3 White broke through in the end in good style, but the rest is not so relevant for our opening research. f5 29.xf5 gxf5 30.f2 f8 31.e3 e7 32.d3 f6 33.c4 g4 34.g1 f6 35.f3 e4 36.e3 a8 37.g4 f6 38.h4 f7 39.h5 c5 40.g5!+- fxg5 41.fxg5 hxg5 42.xg5 d7 43.d4 e5 44.e2 b7 45.a4 c8 46.f4 f6 47.h6 f7 48.h5 a6 49.h7 h8 50.xd6 g7 51.e5+ xh7 52.xh8 axb5 53.axb5 xh8 54.e8 1-0

1907 Stripunsky,Alexander Krush,Irina 90th ch-Marshall CC (6) [Andrew Martin]

B20 2597 2443 09.12.2006

The fad for 2 Na3 will surely fade in 2007. if I am allowed to make one prediction for the coming year, this would be at the top of the list. 1.e4 c5 2.a3 b6! Just good common sense 3.g3 I guess it's up to White to try and create a position where the Na3 makes sense. [ If 3.f4!? b7 4.d3 g6 5.c3 g7 6.f3 d6 7.e2 d7 8.c4 a6 9.b1 e6 10.0-0 e7= Black's very flexible structure enables him to cope with anything White can muster. 11.d2 0-0 12.c2 b5 13.b3 b8 14.e3 bc6 15.g4 f5 16.gxf5 gxf5 17.c2 g6 Tirrito, L-Genocchio, D/ Genova 2004 White has serious problems keeping his pawn structure together. ] 3...b7 4.g2 f6 [ Naturally 4...g6 is good here to, with play developing in a similar fashion to the last note. ]

5.e2 e6 6.f4 d5! Bringing c4 under control and thus making the re-introduction of the Na3 into play a time-consuming process. 7.e5 fd7 8.f3 e7 9.d3 c6 10.c3 a6 11.0-0 d4?! So far Krush has played impeccably, but I don't like this move too much because it makes life easy for White visà -vis the Na3. [ Instead, just 11...0-0 is very sensible, with... Qc7, Rooks to the centre and then ...b6-b5 on the horizon. ] 12.f5! Sharply seen. 0-0 [ T h e p o i n t i s t h a t 12...exf5 13.e6 i s v e r y u n c o m f o r t a b l e f o r B l a c k : fxe6 14.xe6 f8 ( 14...dxc3 15.g5! f8 16.xc6 ) 15.xf5 c8 16.h4! ] 13.fxe6 fxe6 14.c4 [ 14.h3! surely came into close consideration, but perhaps Black can bail out with. h8! A) 15.xe6? dxc3 16.bxc3 dxe5!! 17.xe5 xe5 18.xf8+ ( 18.xe5 xf1+ 19.xf1 xd3+-+ ) 18...xf8 19.xe5 f3; B) 15.c4 c7 16.f4 b5 17.cd2 dxc3 18.bxc3 b4 ] 14...b8 15.f4 h8 16.d6 a8 17.e4 h6 18.h3 He got there anyway. e8 19.ae1!? [ Taking on e6 was probably not quite as clear as White would have liked:: 19.xe6 g6 This is clearly why he didn't do it but maybe White is still better: 20.xd7 xf4 21.cxd4 d8 22.e6 xd4 23.xd4 xf1+ 24.xf1 cxd4 25.f4 ] 19...g6 20.g2 f5 21.d6 ff8 22.h4 [ 22.d2 d8 23.xa8 xa8 24.2c4 b5= ] 22...xd6 23.exd6 e5! This was the move that 19 Rae1 was designed to prevent! 24.xe5 cxe5 25.xe5 [ 25.h5 xd3 26.xe5 xe5 27.xe5 xg2 28.xg2 dxc3 29.bxc3 bd8 30.xf8+ xf8 ] 25...xg2 26.xg2 xe5 27.xf8+ xf8 28.xe5 Stripunsky very careful to keep some protection around his King. Having come so far, he does not want to lose. xd6 29.e2 dxc3 30.bxc3 f6 31.g2 c6+ 32.h2 I feel that 2...b6 is a perfectly good reply to 2 Na 3 a n d give s B la ck a ve ry co m f o rt a b le 2065

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 position. Perhaps a double-fianchetto by Black, going on to a hedgehog formation is best of all and equalizes easily. ½-½

nothing and he will wait for Black to demonstrate how to proceed. d5! Variations are inapplicable. Black's advantage grows move by move. 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.g5 d7 [ I like 19...d6 a little more, eyeing Kingside dark squares. W hite cannot equalize: 20.e3 ( 20.e2 f8 21.c2 dxe4 1908 B20 22.dxe4 e5 23.a1 e6 and the Knight Todorcevic,Miodrag 2465 f i n a l l y m a k e s i t t o t h e d r e a m s q u a r e .) Miton,Kamil 2638 20...f8 21.d2 a4 22.g5 dxc4 23.dxc4 VII Rapid El Sauzal ESP (7) 05.11.2006 xd2 24.xd2 d4 ] [Andrew Martin] 20.e1 dxc4 21.dxc4 e5 22.h4 e6 VERY SLOW INDEED 1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 23.e3 e7! 24.g5 [ The exchange of queens makes the Bishop 3.g3 g6 4.g2 g7 5.c3?! I often fee l that on g2 loo k like a jo ke : 24.xe7 xe7 the marriage of c2-c3 and f2-f4 in the Closed 25.g5 ed4 ] Sicilian is a rather unhappy one. If W hite 25.h2 h5 26.f6 must play c2-c3, then he should be looking to 24...cd4 advance with d4 as quickly as possible. If he Rather desperate. [ 26.hf3 was the same ' nothing' strategy, plays with f2-f4, he should hang back as far but Black now improves his position with as possible on the queenside, because that is f8 and it's hard to see any sort of plan for Black's natural theatre of operations. In the White at all. ] following game Todorcevic does nothing and gets punished unmercifully. More likely he 26...xf6 27.gxf6 f7 28.f1 He has had could find nothing to do. d6 6.d2 b8! enough and does not wish to face 28...Rbd8, Definitely correct when White plays c2-c3. 7.f4 when penetration on the d file is inevitable. 0-1 f6 [ Or 7...b5 immediately: 8.df3 g4 9.e2 c8 10.0-0 f6 11.h4 0-0 12.f5 b4 B20 T h e W h i t e p a wn c h a i n c r i e s o u t t o b e 1909 a t t a c k e d in t h is m a n n e r. 13.h3 bxc3 Toufighi,Homayoon 2454 14.bxc3 xe2 15.xe2 h5! 16.e1 a6 Negi,Parimarjan 2620 ( 16...b4! is very strong indeed.) 17.g4 Tata Steel TCh-Asia (5) 26.12.2009 f6 18.d2 b7 19.c2 fb8 20.f2 [David Vigorito] d7 21.f3 b4 0-1 Schueler, W-Troeger, R/Rowy 2002 ] Here we see an outing of the 2.b3 Sicilian 8.gf3 b5 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 b4 where White gives up his bishop as early as It's a reversed colours English where White move 4. This is strategically risky but may not has wasted several moves such as c3, Nd2 be so b ad . In t he gam e t h e h ighe r ra t e d and has already assumed a passive stance. player manages to outplay his opponent in There might be some tenacious defenders out both the middlegame complications and the there who would like the W hite game, but endgame that soon follows. 1.e4 c5 2.b3 d6 Black's position is very straightforward to play 3.b2 f6 4.xf6 This is very unusual. and thus slightly better. 11.c4 e8 12.g4 W hite gives up his fianchettoed bishop to c7 E n r o u t e t o d 4 i f a l l o w e d . 13.f5 d a m a g e B l a c k ' s s t r u c t u r e . T h i s i s n o t More as a defensive measure than anything necessarily bad, but it looks risky to me. else. e6! Good timing. The Kingside could [ 4.c3 (4.Bb5+ is also in the archives) e6 well blow up in W hite's face. 14.h1 a5 ( we h a ve a ls o l o o ke d a t 4...g6; and 15.g1 b7 16.b1 e8 17.df3 4...c6 ) 5.f4 e7 6.f3 0-0 7.e2 c6 You see what I mean about clueless play, 8.0-0 d5 9.e5 g4 gave Black a decent however I think Todorcevic has taken the view Fre n ch p o sit io n in Re p ko va , E (2 4 3 4 )(the correct one) that his position promises Kempinski, R (2617)/Warsaw 2009. ] 2066

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 4...gxf6 5.h5 This is consistent. White prevents .. . h5 and eyes the f7 and h7-pawns. c6 6.c3 a6 7.a4?! I do not like this move. White wants to secure c4 for his bishop, but this move weakens his queenside further. Was ...b5 really that much of a threat? [ 7.c4 (this comes with tempo but the square is not that stable) e6 8.f3 b5 was presumably what White did not like ] [ 7.f3!? keeps White's options open. ] 7...d4! Why not? Black is already fighting for the initiative. 8.d3 g8 9.ge2 xe2 [ Of course Black avoids 9...xg2? 10.g3 entombing the rook. ] [ Black could consider throwing in 9...g5 for example 10.xh7 xg2 11.g3 g4 when the rook is still stuck but White's king does not look so comfortable. After 12.d5 the position is very unclear. ] 10.xe2 h6!? I imagine Black would have rather not spent a tempo playing this, but it is rather a decent move. 11.c4 e6 12.h4? [ White should just castle kingside here, as there will be no better place for the king a n ywa y . A f t e r 12.0-0 g5?! ( 12...d7 intending ...Qe7 and 0-0-0 is better, and unclear ) 13.h3 White intends f4 and stands well. ] 12...f5! 13.exf5 f6 [ 13...d5! w a s a l s o g o o d . I f 14.fxe6?! ( 14.d3 xg2 15.g3 d6 threatens both ... Qe5+ and a promising exchange sac on g3 ) 14...xe6 15.d3 xg2 16.g3? f6 hits the a1-rook and f2. ] 14.0-0 d5 15.d3 d6 16.ae1 d8!? Black's bishop pair and big centre give him compensation for the pawn. His king will prove to be pretty safe wandering around like this. 17.c4 [ W hite should probably throw in 17.fxe6 fxe6 ( 17...xe6 18.g3 heads f or f 5) 18.c4 and then play ] 17...exf5! This looks ugly, but it is a pawn and it controls some important square. Also Black will develop his bishop to e6 now. 18.c3 [ 18.g3 dxc4 19.bxc4 g4! ] 18...e6 19.xd5 [ 19.cxd5!? is better, but White was probably expecting Black to take the knight. ] 19...d4! [ 19...xd5 20.cxd5 g4 also gives Black

decent play, but the text is stronger. ] 20.e3 [ This is forced. The point of Black's play is that on a move like 20.c2 Black has xd5 21.cxd5 f4! 22.g3 xg3+ mating ] 20...f4 Otherwise Black would be worse. 21.xe6 [ Again White's play is forced. 21.f3 g7 leaves White without a sensible defence to the attack on g2. ] 21...fxe6 22.f7 [ W hite has two pieces attack and 22.b6 runs into f3! 23.xf3 xh4 when Black has a strong attack. ] 22...g7 The only move, but good enough to give Black an exchange up ending. 23.f6+ [ 23.xg7 xg7 is similar. ] 23...xf6 24.xf6 g7 25.e1 e7 26.h5 White has a pawn for the exchange, so all is not lost, but he gradually gets outplayed. f7 27.g6 ff8 28.e4 f7 29.h2 [ 29.xb7 ab8 30.xa6 xb3 gets a second pawn, but Black's rooks will become active and White's pawns are a bit of a wreck. ] 29...ad8 30.h3 c7 31.d3 g8 32.f1 e7 33.e1 f7 34.f1 d4 35.e1 gd8 36.g4 xd3!? An interesting practical decision. Black gives back material to get an endgame where his pieces are more active. 37.xd3 xd3 38.f3 xb3 39.xf4 xf4 40.xf4 b4 41.d1?! f6 42.a5 xc4+ 43.e3 e5 44.b1 xh4 [ 44...b4 ] 45.xb7 [ 45.g4 was a better try. ] 45...a4 46.h7 a3+ 47.f2 xa5 48.xh6 a2+ 49.g3 c4 50.f4+ d5 51.f3 c3 52.g4 c2 53.h1 b2 54.c1 d4 55.e2 c3 56.g5 b1 0-1

2067

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1910 Vallejo Pons,Francisco Dunis,Aurelien ch-FRA Top 16 Poule Haute (10) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2677 2485 06.05.2005

1.e4 c5 2.e2 d6 [ 2...f6!? ] 3.g3 d5 I mentioned this possibility in the February update, but as far as I know, this is the first time it has been tried. In some ways, it is quite important to know whether Black can do this, because otherwise he has to play 2... Nf6 or else allow White to steer him out of the Najdorf. 4.g2 dxe4 5.bc3 f6 [ In the February update, I suggested that 5... f5 was probably black's best move here and that the onus was on White to show that he had sufficient comp for the pawn. The fact that Vallejo allowed this made me wonder what he had in mind here and I think I now know the answer. 5...f5 6.d3 exd3 7.f4! and now there are lots of possibilities, but white's lead in development, combined with the weak squares caused by ...c5 and ...f5 means that W hite should easily have enough compensation. A) 7...e5 8.h5+ g6 9.xg6 f6 10.h4 g8 11.xe5!? ( 11.xf8 xf8 White also has good comp here. 12.cxd3 xd3 13.e3 ) 11...e7 12.f4 bd7 13.d2!? A cheeky line given by Fritz. Enjoy it-but don't take it too seriously. e4+! A spoiler. 14.xe4 xh4 15.gxh4 fxe4 16.xe4 dxc2 17.xc2 and White has some initiative, but black's bishops are sleeping giants.; B) 7...f6! is clearly the most sensible move. 8.xd3!? This looks at least playable, even though W hite is a pawn down. Exchanging queens seems to increase the compensation, rather than re du ce it . ( 8.xd3 c4 9.e5 xd1+ 10.xd1 also looks a bit better for White.) 8...xd3 9.xd3 White clearly has comp here-he is ahead in development and black's position has lots of holes. I prefer W h i t e , b e c a u s e t h e co m p e n s a t io n i s enduring, but I suspect that Black should be ok after a few caref ul moves. bd7 10.f4 c4 11.e5 xe5 12.xe5 f7

and there is still comp, but there's no knock-out.; C) 7...c6 8.h5+ my impression is that B l a c k s h o u ld n o t a l l o w t h i s m o v e . g6 9.xg6 f6 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.h4 g8 12.xf8 xf8 13.cxd3 It's messy, but somehow I prefer White.; D) 7...dxc2 8.h5+ g6 9.xg6 f6 10.h4 g8 11.xf8 xf8 The game can develop in lots of different ways now, but my judgment, for what its worth, is that White has more than enough compensation here. ] 6.xe4 This position already looks quite promising for White, due to the strength of the g2 bishop and the lead in development. xe4 7.xe4 e5 I don't like this move, but it might be ok. 8.d3 d6 9.c3 d7 10.f3 b8 11.g4 White appears to have a pleasant light square bind, but Black is still rather solid. f8 12.d5 e6 13.c3 d7 14.h4 b5 15.e3 [ 15.a3!? looks like the most accurate move here, but Paco may have been concerned about c4 when the weakness of b3 is felt. However, this may still be better for white after 16.e3 cxd3 17.d1! ] 15...b4 16.c4 Surprising in some ways, but also the safest move. d4 17.xd4 cxd4 18.c1 c8 19.a3 This is the move that made the biggest impression on me in this game. White gives Black a pawn for nothing obvious in return. However, without this move there is a real danger that Black will play ... Qa5 and win the a-pawn and the b-pawn which would be much worse. So in some ways it looks like damage limitation on the queenside, with a view to making something happen on the kingside. bxa3 20.bxa3 [ 20.b4 At the risk of offending Paco, my previous note may be way off the mark and he might simply have missed that this is not possible due to xb4+ 21.xb4 a5 ] 20...e6 21.f1 xa3 22.a1 c5 23.a6 An active and annoying rook. 0-0 24.g5 xd5 25.xd5 b6 26.f5 d6 27.h5 c5 28.e4 g6 29.g4 f5 30.gxf6 xf6 31.a2 I find that these positions are very hard to play for both sides. Psychologically, Black must have felt he was at least ok because he is a pawn up and white has just had to retreat his rook to defend f2. However, with all the 2068

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 major pieces on the board, all that really m a t t e r s i s wh o h a s t h e b e t t e r a t t a c k i n g chances and in this case it appears to be W hite. Moreover, both sides have passed pawns, but white's c-pawn somehow seems more relevant. Black's extra pawn is not really felt at all because, with the exception of g6 and h7, none of them challenge white's light square strategy. g5 32.h3 f4 33.e6+ f7 34.g4 f4 35.d7 c7 36.e6+ f7 37.xe5 Winning the pawn back and keeping control. g7 38.d5+ h8 39.h6 Now White has too many assets. Black faces serious practical problems. e7 40.f3 xf3 41.xf3 c8 42.e2 f6 43.e6 1-0

b7- it is well placed in some ways, but it is also easy to trap. 25.b5 a5 26.d7 xd7 27.xd7 White has adequate compensation due to his superior light-squared control, but probably not enough to claim the advantage. g7 28.a4 e7 29.c2 ab8 30.b5 fc8 31.c4 xc4 32.xc4 a8 33.b3 d8 34.g1 f6 35.f3 g5 36.d5 a5 37.c4 f8 38.d2 a7 39.e3 a5 40.d2 ½-½

1911 Vallejo Pons,Francisco Nakamura,Hikaru Young Masters (7) [Jonathan Rowson]

1.e4 c5 2.e2!? This move looks like a simple bluff and I had never given it much thought until watching the post mortem of this game. The move look like and inconsequential precursor to 3 d4 but it is in fact directed against Najdorf players, who don't normally put their knights on c6, at least not as early as move two! If Black doesn't play 2...Nc6, White might be able to steer the game towards anti-Sicilian pastures, which is what happens here. d6 [ 2...f6!? might be the most accurate move here and it seems that W hite has nothing be t t e r t h a n h e a d in g b a ck in t o a n o p e n Sicilian. 3.bc3 ( 3.e5 g4 leaves White s t r u g g l i n g t o e q u a l i z e .; 3.g3 This is possible, but Vallejo remarked that the knight might be better on g1 than g3! Indeed I am not sure this Ne2-g3 has much going for it, except for a certain amount of originality.) 3...d6 ( 3...e5!? With the knight on c6, W hite would play Nd5 followed by Nec3, but here this is not possible. However, it doesn't follow that e5 is a good movejust that White will have to think a bit more creatively about how to proceed.; 3...d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.xd5 xd5 6.d4 gives W hite some chances to be better.) 4.d4 cxd4 5.xd4 a6 etc. ] 3.g3!? Now the idea is Bg2, c3 and d4. This is not terrifying, but White is every bit as likely to get an advantage with such an approach, as he is with 20 moves of theory in the main

B20 2650 2644 09.02.2006

1.e4 c5 2.e2 d6 [ As I mentioned in a previous update, for Najdorf players the most accurate move is probably 2...f6!? When White is more or less obliged to play Nbc3 and then after d6, Black does not have to be concerned about c3 and d4 happening. ] 3.g3 h5 4.h3 e5 5.g2 c6 6.c3 g6 7.d4 g7 8.e3 It feels like White has chances of being better here. b6 9.a3 ge7 10.dxc5 dxc5 This structure is generally favourable for White, but the knight on e2 and bishop on g2 are not particularly well placed. 11.xd8+ xd8 12.b5 0-0 13.c7 b8 14.0-0-0 b7 15.g4!? c8 16.d7 c6 17.xe7 f6 18.d5 xd5 19.xa7 c4 20.g3 c6 21.b7 [ 21.a3 looks horribly greedy, but it might in fact pose Black problems because after h4 22.f1 White has a clear plan of Nd2 and Bf1 and I don't see a fully adequate answer for Black. e6 23.d2 a5 24.d1 e7 25.f1 fd8 26.b5 f6 27.a4 Black has been quite cooperative in this line, but I didn't see any major improvements. ] 21...h4 22.f1 d8 23.d2 e6 24.f1 a8 This is the problem with the rook being on

1912 Vallejo Pons,Francisco Van der Stricht,Geert ch-FRA Top 16 GpA (3) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2686 2425 06.02.2005

2069

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 lines. However... f6 [ 3...d5! This surprising move, suggested by Paul Motwani on a bus journey after the event, looks like a promising antidote. It seems strange to lose a whole tempo, but White has some concrete problems to solve after this move. A) 4.bc3 d4 This is not always a problem in Closed Sicilians, and indeed, there are lines of the Grand Prix attack where this is allowed. But here, with the knight on e2 and the pawn on g3, Black has nothing to fear.; B) 4.g2 dxe4 5.xe4 ( 5.bc3 f5! It seems that Black is asking a lot, but I don't think it's easy for W hite to prove c o m p e n s a t i o n .) 5...f6 6.g2 g6 looks equal.; C) 4.exd5 xd5 is really annoying- it's hard to b elie ve W hite 's p osit ion af te r 5.g1 ] 4.g2 c6 [ 4...g6 5.0-0 g7 6.c3 0-0 7.d4 c6 8.h3 e5!? looks more promising for Black. ] 5.c3 e5?! 6.d4 Now White does seem to have some advantage. cxd4 7.cxd4 exd4 8.xd4 xd4 9.xd4 e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.c3 a5?! This looks Pseudo-active and leads to further problems. [ 11...e6 ] 12.f4 d8 13.b4! h5 14.f3 e6 15.g4 g6 16.e3 dc8 17.e2 d7 18.d2 b6 19.f4 f6 20.h5 g6 21.d4 f8? [ 21...f6 looks necessary. White is certainly better, but also somewhat over-extended so it shouldn't all be one-way traffic. ] 22.h3 c4 23.f2 g5 24.f4 Now White has everything. b5 25.h4 d2 26.f6+! gxf6 27.xf6 1-0

1913 Vega Gutierrez,Sabrina Neide Hetey,Laszlo 2000 Malaga [Paul Motwani]

B20

2000

Quick Tricks and Traps 1) B4: The game S. Vega Gutierrez-L.Hetey played in Malaga,

Spain, on 2 March 2000 was a King's Indian Attack gone wrong, because after the moves 1.e4 c5 2.d3 e6 3.g3 d5 4.e2 c6 White's 5.c3?! [ (direct development with 5.f3 is better) created a weakness at the d3-square which Black exploited as follows: ] 5...f6 6.g2? dxe4 7.dxe4 e5! 8.e3 fg4 White is clearly in a mess, but his next move capitulates immediately 9.f4? d3+ White (rated 2173) resigned in view of 10 Kf1 Ngxf2. 0-1

1914 Veselovsky,Sergey Haba,Petr op Ceske Budejovice (8) [Gary Lane]

B20 2440 2485 1996

1.e4 c5 2.g3 d5 This is considered the main line against 2 g3. 3.exd5 xd5 4.f3 g4 5.g2 e6+ Haba takes the opportunity to stop White from castling. 6.f1 c6 7.h3 h5 8.d3 d7 The queen steps out of the way to allow the e-pawn to move. 9.a3 f6 [ Or 9...xf3 10.xf3 e6 11.c4 ge7 12.f4 g6 13.e3 c8 14.a4 b6 15.g1 h5 16.h4 e7 17.e2 f6 18.e4 ge5 19.xe5 xe5 20.c3 g6 21.g2 1/2-1/2 F.Vazquez-Garcia Palermo, Ponferrada 1991. ] 10.e3 e6 [ 10...e5? simply allows White to transpose into the illustrative game with a pawn bonus after 11.xe5 ] 11.e5!? The idea is that White enters an ending where he will have the edge of a pair of bishops. In practice Black tends to hold the ending to a draw but it can be a struggle. [ 11.c4 is a quieter way to handle the position when Black quickly equalised after f7 12.a3 e5 13.fd2 d8 14.f3 c8 15.e4 b5 16.cd2 d4 1/2-1/2 C. Renner-G.Fahnenschmidt, Bodensee Cup 1996. ] 11...xd1 12.xd7 xc2 13.xf6+ gxf6 [ 13...xf6 also leads to positions where a d ra w i s t h e li ke l y r e su lt . F o r in s t a n c e : 14.xc2 d5 15.d2 d7 16.a3 d6 2070

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.e3 ce7 18.e4 xe3+ 19.xe3 d5 20.g2 1/2-1/2 A. Brito-Solana, Las Palmas 1991. ] 14.xc2 0-0-0 15.e2 d4+ 16.xd4 cxd4 17.d2 b8 18.ac1 h6 19.c5 [ 19.c4 xd2 20.xd2 e7 21.hc1 is slightly better for White. ] 19...xd2 20.xd2 e7 21.h4 ½-½

1915 Visser,Y De Vreugt,Dennis Wijk aan Zee (4) [Gary Lane]

B20 2442 2452 20.01.2001

1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.g3 g6 4.g2 g7 5.f4 d6 6.f3 f6 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 b5 [ 8...d7 strangely this usually turns out to be a waste of time because it is not needed t o h e l p . . . b 7 - b 5 . 9.g4 b8 10.c3 White transposes to the Closed Sicilian and is poised for a kingside attack. e8 11.f5 e5 12.g5 c6 13.d2 xf3+ 14.xf3 f6 15.af1 d7 16.h4 gxf5 17.xf5 e5 18.h6 gave White a strong attack in J. Maiwald-T.Reich, Austria 1999. ] [ 8...b8 9.a4 White tries to slow down the qu e e n s i d e p a wn a d va n ce b y B l a c k . a6 10.c3 b5 11.axb5 axb5 12.e5 dxe5 13.fxe5 d5 14.d4 cxd4 15.cxd4 b6 16.h2 f5 17.c3 db4 18.f4 bd8 19.d5 c2 20.c1 a5 21.e3 c7 22.xb5 b8 23.xa5 I present the entire game because otherwise the sacrifices are too confusing xd5 24.fd4 c5 25.e6 xb5 26.xb5 xb5 27.xf8 xf8 28.d2 f5 29.xb4 1/2-1/2 San Jose Torres-J. Gomez Luesia, San Jose 1998. ] 9.g4 [ 9.c3 the pawn move is useful to help an eventual d3-d4. b4 10.g4 bxc3 11.xc3 b8 12.b1 a6 13.e3 b4 14.e1 d7 15.e5 d5 16.f2 e6 17.a3 c6 18.a4 b7 19.f3 f6 Black managed to undermine the white central pawn wedge although the result was eventually a draw in the game M.Paragua-K. Miton,Paris 1998. ] 9...a5 10.a4 Amazingly, this game was played only a few days after the classic encounter

Fedorov-Kasparov, Wijk aan Zee 2001. In that game White unsuccessfully tried [ 10.f5 and failed to make much of an impression. This game has been fully annotated by me. ] 10...b4 [ If 10...bxa4 then 11.c3 is fine for White. ] 11.bd2 a6 12.e1 The rook is removed from the f-file but it is usually needed to lend support to the advance. In this case, Visser intends to challenge Black's set-up with e4-e5. c8 13.b1 d5 14.e5 d7 15.f1 e6 16.b3 f6! This is the right approach to White's pawn on e5 because it allows Black to undermine the centre. 17.exf6 xf6 18.g3 h8 19.h4 A vigorous approach by White who is hap py t o pose Bla ck p roble ms b y advancing on the kingside. [ 19.g5 f7 20.f1 adds support to the fpawn but White is still worse because Black has very active pieces. ] 19...e5 20.f5 d6 De Vreught rightly ignores the pawn avalanche on the kingside in the knowledge that without piece support it is harmless. And it is ! 21.g5 d4 22.e2 In an effort to complicate matters, White gives up a p awn . gxf5 23.xd4 cxd4 24.gxf5 xf5 25.h5 The twin threats are Nf7+ and Qxh7 mate s but are easily rebuf f ed . g6 26.xg6 hxg6 27.xd5 xc2 28.f7+ xf7 29.xf7 xd3 Black has 'lost' the exchange but his compensation is excellent in the form of two extra passed pawns. It is White who is losing because his pieces are relatively passive and can do little to stop the advance of the d and e pawns. 30.g5 f5 31.bc1 c3 32.f1 e4 The central pawns st art rollin g f orwa rd a nd B lack is cle arly winning. 33.f4 e5 34.xe5 xe5 35.h5 e3 36.hxg6 e2 37.fe1 d3 0-1

1916 Visser,Y Van Wely,Loek NK Rapid Vlaardingen NED rapid (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2485 2648 01.10.05

1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.g3 g6 4.g2 g7 5.f4 d6 6.f3 e5 A noteworthy decision. My 2071

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 impression is that the relationship of the f4 pawn to the e5 pawn is more likely to favour W hite when the g1 knight goes to h3, but mu c h le s s s o wh e n it goe s t o f 3 . Th is is mainly because with the knight on f 3 it is harder to make f4-f5 work. 7.0-0 ge7 8.c3 White doesn't succeed in making sense of this move in what follows and there was a lot to be said for the more conventional 8.Nc3 [ 8.c3 ] 8...0-0 9.a3 [ 9.h4!? ] 9...exf4!? Concrete play- with the pawn on c3 the plan of taking on f4 and playing d5 seems to give Black an easy game. 10.gxf4 [ 10.xf4 makes more sense, if only because it makes better use of the knight being on a3(Nb5 is an idea). d5 11.b5 dxe4 12.dxe4 g4 is then hard to judge. ] 10...d5 11.e1 b6 12.h4 [ 12.g3!? ] 12...a6 13.f5 gxf5 14.exd5 [ 14.h6 was worth considering. ] 14...xd5 15.g5 [ 15.c4!? is probably best, but I doubt if W hite seriously considered exchanging queens. ] 15...h6 16.xf5 Too much too soon, but [ 16.a4 a5 17.f3 xd3 is also good for Black. ] 16...de7 17.xf7 xf7 18.xf7 xf7 19.xh6 White doesn't have enough firepower left to do any damage. d6 20.f1+ g8 21.xg7 xg7 22.e4 h8 23.g5+ g6 24.f2 ce5 25.g2 xd3 26.xd3 f3+ 0-1

counterplay. 3.d4!? [ 3.b4 g7 4.c3 b6! illustrates a basic principle in this variation that Black should not take on b4 when he f ianchettos his Bishop on g7, but instead should let White take on c5 if he so desires. The b file can usually be employed more profitably by Black! ] 3...cxd4 4.c3 [ 4.xd4 f6 5.e5 ( 5.b5!? c6 6.xc6 bxc6 7.e5 d5 8.f3 g7 ) 5...c6 6.f4 a5+ demonstrates the clear difference between this and a similar Open Sicilian variation: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 g6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Qxd4 Nf6 5 e5 Nc6 6 Qf4 when 6...Qa5 doesn't work. ] 4...d3!? [ Of course Black can take this pawn, entering Morra where a2-a3 is of questionable value: 4...dxc3 5.xc3 A) 5...g7 6.c4 a6 7.e3 e6 8.a4 a5+ ( 8...b5! 9.b6 bxc4 10.xa8 b7 11.b6 xe4 ) 9.b4 e5 10.c1 c6 11.f3 xe4 12.b6 b8 13.d3 g4 14.c4 d4 15.xd4 e5 16.a4 1-0 Caprio, G (2071)-Tordeur, J (1988) / Kemer TUR 2007 was not however, what the doctor ordered.; B) 5...c6 6.c4 f6 7.f3 g7 8.0-0 0-0 ] 5.xd3 g7 6.f3 f6 7.0-0 c6 8.e1N [ 8.g5 0-0 9.e2 d6 10.bd2 d7 11.ad1 b6 12.c4 c5 13.c2 a6 14.b4 e6 15.d2 c8 16.d3 d5 17.exd5 xd5 18.e3 fd8 19.ce5 xd3 20.xd3 e4 21.xd8+ cxd8 22.b5 b7 Stokke, K (2302)-Carlsen, M (2646)/Oslo 2006 The Black pawn structure 1917 B20 is more compact. ] If this was a Modern Defence you Vocaturo,Daniele 2412 8...d6= Pham Minh Hoang 2479 would wonder what the move a2-a3 was all 4th Open Rhone FRA (6) 15.04.2008 about. That strikes me now. By the simplest of means Black has reached a traditional, [Andrew Martin] playable middlegame, avoiding all 1.e4 c5 2.a3 g6! I think this is a very good complications and can look forward to the and effective answer to 2 a3. Black can just future with confidence. 9.g5 h6 10.h4 0-0 play common-sense moves and get a decent 11.bd2 h5! 12.c4 f4 13.e3 [ I m u s t s a y 13.f1 seemed absolutely position, full of life. If White proceeds at all forced to me when I first saw this game, but normally he soon begins to question the value m a y b e B l a c k c a n g e t a w a y w i t h g5 of a3 and b4 whereas if he strikes out, as we ( 13...e6 14.d2 g5 15.g3 h5 will see here, Black has more than enough 2072

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.e3 c7= ) 14.g3 h5 after that, when 15.e3 xg3 16.hxg3 e6 17.d2 c7 18.ad1 d8 gives him a nice position. Counterplay follows with ...a6 and ...b5. ] 13...xd3 14.xd3 e6 Black has obtained the two Bishops without having to weaken his Kingside. Thus I prefer his chances. W hite natu rally mo ves to p ut a Knight on d 5 t o counterbalance. 15.d5 d7 16.ad1 fe8 17.h3 ac8 18.e3 b5 A minority attack will form the base of Black's future plans should the game just meander on (and White really has nothing better other than to keep a balance). Sensing this trend, Vocaturo tries to simplify. 19.e5! xe5 20.xe5 xe5 21.xh6 g7 22.g5 c5? [ 22...h7!= 23.xe7?! c4 24.d5 ( 24.g3 xe7 25.xd6 c7 26.xe7 xe7 ) 24...xd5 25.xe8 xe8 26.xd5 e4 27.g3 h6 is a nice trap and should h a v e b e e n p r e f e r r e d t o t h e s o m e wh a t dubious game move. ] 23.xe7+ f8 24.f4? [ I don't understand why not 24.d5 xd5 25.xe8+ xe8 26.xd5 e1+ ( 26...f6 27.d2 xd5 28.xd5 e1+ 29.h2 e5+ 30.xe5 dxe5 31.f3 ) 27.h2 f6 ( 27...e5+ 28.f4 hits the queen ) 28.d2 ] 24...xe7 25.xd6 c7 26.xe7+ xe7 27.ed1 e5 28.h4+ f6 29.g3 f8 30.e3 e5 31.h6+ g8 This all looks very time-trouble orientated. W hite's next move is catastrophic. 32.6d3?? [ 32.d2 g7 33.d4 c5 ] 32...g5 The erratic conclusion of this game should not divert us from the main point that 2..g6 is a very good and economical way of meeting 2 a3. 0-1

1918 Vukovic,Zdravko Aldrovandi,Costantino European junior Championship (6) [Gary Lane]

B20 2475 2328 08.07.00

exf4 11.xf4 xf4 12.xf4 g5 13.f1 e3+ 14.h1 d4 15.xd4 cxd4 16.h5 e6 17.f2 f6 18.af1 and the position was equal in V.Osipov-A.Vaulin, Tomsk 1998. ) 10.h3 h6 11.f4 The standard move to help open up the a1-h8 diagonal and allow the king's rook to have a more active role. exf4 12.xf4 d5 13.h5 d4 14.c4 f6 15.e1 e8 16.f4 g5 Black's weakened pawn structure is a longterm concern. 17.e2 f5 18.exf5 xf5 19.g3 xf1+ 20.xf1 e6 21.e1 xc4 22.dxc4 f7 23.e2 d6 24.e4 f4 25.c1 xc1 26.xc1 e7 27.f1 g7 28.f3 e8 29.f6 e3+ 30.h1 xf3? 31.xe8+ 1-0 T.Gelashvili-T.Gasparian,Bad Wiessee 1999. ] 5...g5!? [ 5...exf4 6.f3 f6 7.0-0 e7 8.e5 d5 9.xc6+ bxc6 10.exd6 xd6 11.xg7 g8 12.e5 g6 13.f2 f6 14.b2 h3 15.f1 d7 16.a3 g7 17.h1 g4 18.c4 h6 19.e1 ag8 20.c1 xf3 21.gxf3 g6 and Black had the initiative in M.Rehak-J.Wendt, Pardubice 1996. ] 6.fxe5 g7 7.a3 After almost falling off his chair with surprise I think W hite wanted to tighten control of the game and stop Aldrovandi from attacking straight out of the opening. The idea is to exchange pieces on e5 and then slowly but surely undermine the gpa wn . I th ink Vu kovich sh o uld n o t b e s o cautious and go for it with [ 7.h5 and now the game continuation ge7? is ruled out by 8.xg5 ] 7...ge7 8.c4 0-0 9.exd6 d4 10.xd4 cxd4 11.dxe7 xe7 Black is a whole piece down but is threatening ...a6 and then ...b5. 12.b2 xe4+ 13.f1 [ 13.e2 xg2 14.f3 e8+ 15.e2 xf3 is good for Black. ] [ 13.e2 xc2 14.d3 c5 15.c4 b5 and Black gets his piece back and maintains the strong initiative. ] 13...f5+ 0-1

1.e4 c5 2.b3 c6 3.b2 d6 4.b5 e5 5.f4 [ 5.xc6+ bxc6 6.e2 e7 7.0-0 f6 8.d3 0-0 9.d2 g4 ( Or 9...h5 10.f4 2073

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bishop on the a1-h8 diagonal. 15.c1 b7 ] B20 ge5 14.f4 0-0 15.b3 2334 13.d2 2593 The kingside advance has come to a halt so it 19.02.1999 makes sense to stop counterplay with ...c4. b8 16.e1 g5 17.xe5 xe5 18.d5 The white knight looks good on d5 but Black 1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.g3 d5 4.d2 d4 has no worries because his strong knight on A critical move which has a reputation for e5 keeps out intruders. h5 19.h4 g4 20.g3 being in White's favour. The reasoning is that h7 A luxury that Atalik can afford because it by taking away the tension in the centre, is far from clear how White intends to storm h6 Black gambles on conjuring up play with a the solid barrier of pawns. 21.f4 22.ad1 xf4 23.xf4 e8 24.a4 b7 queenside pawn advance. [ 4...dxe4 5.dxe4 f6 6.g2 e5 7.e2 25.a1 ee7 26.h1 d7 27.fb1 a5 g4 8.f3 e6 9.0-0 d7 10.c3 0-0-0 The pawns are fixed and a draw the natural 11.e1 c4 12.b4 xb4 13.cxb4 xb4 outcome. 28.d2 e8 29.f1 f7 14.f2 c7 15.b1 c3 16.bxc3 xc3 ½-½ 17.xc3 xc3 18.e3 b8 19.xa7+ a8 20.e3 ( 20.fc1 to kick the queen B20 away is good for White.) 20...d3 21.fc1 1920 a3 22.c5 a5 23.b6 d2 24.xd2 Williams,Simon Kim 2478 xd2 1/2-1/2 K.Beres-D.Sulc, Harkany Duncan,Christopher R 2332 1995. ] 4NCL 2005-06 (10) 30.04.2006 [ 4...f6 5.gf3 g4 6.h3 xf3 7.xf3 g6 [Jonathan Rowson] 8.g2 g7 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 e6 11.e2 d4 12.d1 c6 13.e5 d7 14.f4 1.e4 c5 2.a3 b6 I suspect Black should wait dxe5?! Full marks for imagination but now for b4 before playing this. many for practical purposes. White will grab [ 2...g6 3.h4 h5 4.d4 cxd4 5.xd4 f6 the material and fend off the attack with is now absolutely fine for Black. It is by no relative ease. 15.fxe5 xe5 16.f1 c7 means imm ediat ely obvious t hat W hit e 17.f3 ad8 18.c3 g7 19.g4 d7 gains anything from having his pawn on a3. ] 20.g3 f6 21.e2 fe8 22.d2 d6 3.c3 g6 4.h4!? Played not so much to 23.f2 e5 24.e3 b6 25.ad1 e7 26.d4 open the h-file as to weaken g6. h5 cxd4 27.cxd4 e4 28.c1 f8 29.e2 f5 [ 4...g7 5.h5 b7 looks better, when Black 30.f4 b4 31.e3 fxg4 32.hxg4 is well ahead in development and White has 1-0 O.Biti-J. Drlje, Pula 1999. ] yet t o sho w t he va lu e in his rook -p awn 5.f4 e5 6.df3 pushes. ] [ 6.gf3!? ] 5.d4 cxd4 6.xd4 f6 7.b5!? g7 6...exf4 Atalik rightly exchanges the pawns [ 7...c6 8.xc6 dxc6 9.xd8+ xd8 otherwise White will eventually find the right 10.f3 And the g5 square is probably more circumstances to play f5 and start a kingside useful for Black than the g4 square is for pawn storm. 7.gxf4 f6 8.e2 g6 9.g2 White. ] g7 10.0-0 White has sorted out his kingside 8.e5 g4 9.e4 c6 10.e6! Full marks for development and must now seek to exploit style. This sounds too good to be true, but I his slight space advantage. b6 11.f5 am writing this while listening to the best of [ 11.c3 is worth a try when dxc3 12.bxc3 Sting 1984-1994, and at the moment the move b7 is equal ] 10. e6 ap pea red o n t he scree n, th e s on g 11...g4 12.g5 f6 "Demolition Man" came on. f5 11.d5 f6 [ 12...c7 13.h3 ( 13.g3 is also answered 12.f3 d4 13.xa8 xc2+ 14.e2 xa1 by e3! ) 13...e3! 14.xe3 dxe3 15.g5 b3 16.f3 c5 17.exd7+ xd7 the pawn on e3 looks loose but Black has 18.xd8+ xd8 So the position clarifies, and c o m p e n s a t i o n t h a n k s t o t h e d o m i n a n t Black is a pa wn u p! B u t W hit e h as hu ge 1919 Welling,Gerard Atalik,Suat Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (7) [Gary Lane]

2074

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c o m p e n s a t i o n d u e t o h i s a c t i ve p i e c e s , d6 9.h3 d7 10.0-0 c8 11.a2 superior mobilisation, and the weakness on no doubt played with a smile because now g6. 19.e5 c8 20.xg6 e8 21.xd7+ the advance of the a-pawn can be justified fxd7 22.xe7+ b7 23.e1 e4 a6 12.b1 b5 13.b4 c7 14.b2 24.xe4 fxe4 25.f5 e5 26.d1 c7 led to equal chances in Shchukin,I-Dzhupin, 27.b4 b5 28.e7 a6 29.c1+ b6 30.c2 D/Kiev 2002. ] f6 31.d6 g8 32.xf6 xf6 33.g3 5...a6 6.e5 1-0 [ 6.a4 b5 7.b3 c6 8.d3 b7 gives Black no openings problems but the position is roughly equal allowing White to 1921 B20 steer the battle towards the middlegame. ] Williams,Simon Kim 2473 6...axb5 7.exf6 c6 8.e3 [ I prefer 8.d3 to attack the b-pawn when Wells,Peter K 2504 exf6 9.xb5 is equal. ] British Rapidplay Championship rapid (10) 8...e6 9.c3? Williams is a talented [Gary Lane] international master but here he goes astray The a-pawn is 1.e4 c5 2.a3!? This move is in vogue thanks with an obvious move. b4! to the book "Challenging the Sicilian with 2 pinned so W hite has to contend with knight a3" by Alexei Bezgodov. Then again not many either meekly retreating or taking on th e people have had the nerve to play it against a challenge to prove that 2 a3 was a worthwhile top grandmaster. g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 opening. 10.b5 bxa3 11.bxa3 [ If 11.xa3 then b5 threatens to repeat the W hite is playing aggressively and trying to threat of using the pin on the a-file to good give B la c k n e w p ro b le m s t o solve in t h e effect. ] opening. [ A cheeky idea is to treat the position like a 11...a5+ 12.c3 c5 It is natural to gain M o r r a G a m b i t : 4.c3 d3?! ( 4...dxc3 time by developing a piece to attack the white is the sternest test because ...g6 is much queen but it is not the best choice in the more useful than having a pawn on a3.) 5.c4 circumstances. [ The star move is 12...b4! when 13.d2 the pawn advances to make room for the ( 13.e2 d5 win s a pie ce) 13...h6! queen's knight g7 6.xd3 f6 7.c3 is probably the move which W ells missed c6 8.f3 White is developing in the when calculating the line. 14.xh6 xc2+ accepted fashion of a Morra Gambit player 15.d1 xc3 16.b1 xa3 and Black is after the sacrifice has been declined. White clearly winning. ] will enjoy more space to manoeuvre his 13.d3 e5 14.g3?! p i e c e s b u t i n r e t u rn B l a c k t e n d s t o b e [ It is ugly but 14.d2 is marginally better satisfied with a solid position d6 9.h3 0-0 although Black is still on top. ] 10.e3 d7 11.c1 a6 12.0-0 b8 13.e2 ( 13.b4 would be a good choice to 14...g4 15.h3 e3! A delightful move justify the amusing opening and gain more which cuts across the white queen's defence space ) 13...a5 14.d5 gave White the of the queen's knight which spells doom and brighter prospects in Mufics,I-Kulcsar,M/ gloom for Williams. 16.xe3 xc3+ 17.e2 xc2+ 18.f3 Hungary 1995. ] [ Or 18.d2 e4+ 19.f1 d6 is not much 4...f6 5.b5 The bishop is developed to fun for White. ] excha nge piec es if the que en's knight is Wells introduces the prospect of the mo ve d t o t he c6 squ are. Th e insp ira tio n 18...b6 comes from the line 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 g6 3 d4 light-squared bishop strutting on the h1-a8 a4 cxd4 4 Qxd4 Nf6 and now 5 Bb5 is played. Of diagonal with deadly effect. 19.f4 course, having the king's knight developed is A nice touch which indicates the full extent of better than being able to say you have merely White's plight because the rook will cut off the king from hiding on the fourth rank. 20.g5 advanced the a-pawn. [ 5.c3 g7 6.f3 0-0 7.c4 c6 8.e3 2075

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.dxe5 e7 18.e2 [ 18.d2 f7 19.b3 is nothing special for White. ] 18...e6 19.d2 fd8 20.xa7! As usual in 1922 B20 this opening a tactic saves the day for White. Zajarnyi,Anatolyi 2380 xa7 21.xd8+ xd8 22.xd8+ f7 Raceanu,Valentin 2277 23.g5+ g6 24.h4 c8 [ Or 24...xh4 25.e8+ xg5 26.c1+ f4 Techirghiol (6) 08.07.2000 27.xe6 a1 28.e4+ h5 29.g3+ [Gary Lane] fxg3 30.f5+ g5 31.xh7+ ] 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 25.xe6 xe6 [ 25...xd8 26.xd8 d3 27.d1 5.b2 offers the better ending for White. ] [ 5.f3 was the preference in a high-class game that soon faded to a draw upon e5 26.b5 c6 27.g5+ f7 28.c7 g6 [ 28...e7 29.xf5+ g8 30.d5 xh4 6.axb4 xb4 7.b2 c6 8.a3 31.e6+ f8 32.d6+ g8 33.e6 the queen's knight tends to be developed is very strong for White. ] here to prepare Na3-b5 or even Bf1-c4. g4 9.e2 ge7 10.b5 d7 ( 10...c8?! 29.e6+ g8 30.e3 Perhaps a time-trouble 11.xa7 ) 11.0-0 0-0 12.xe5 xe5 move. [ 30.e7 looks very strong. ] 13.xe5 xe2 14.xe2 g6 15.b2 a6 16.d4 ac8 17.f3 1/2-1/2 L.Barczay-I. 30...g4 31.g3 b4 32.xg7 xg7? [ 32...f4! 33.c3 b1+ 34.h2 b6 Bilek, Budapest 1958. ] 35.d4 xd4 36.xd4 xd4 37.e7 a8 5...e5 6.f3 38.xa8 f7 ] [ 6.axb4 xb4 A) 7.a3 c6 8.b5 d8 9.c4 f6 33.g5+ h8 34.f6+ g8 35.f7+ h8 10.e2 ( 10.f3 g4 is fine for Black.) 36.d5 c5 [ 36...a1+ 37.h2 c5= ] 10...0-0 11.c3 c5 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 b4+ 14.f1 ( 14.bc3 e6!? ) 14...e4 37.f6 a1+ 38.g2 15.g1 f6 gave Black an excellent 1-0 position in Staub-Hanisch, German Team Ch 2000.; B20 B) 7.c3 xc3 Black is content to swap 1923 off pieces to lessen the potential attack. Zherebukh,Yaroslav 2618 This is why with a knight on a3 the Saez Coma,Alejandro 2097 exchange with ...Bxa3 is not so worrying Montcada op 22nd (3) 27.06.2014 b e c a u s e t h e n B x a 3 a l l o w s W h i t e t o [Smerdon, David] dominate the a3-f8 diagonal. 8.xc3 c6 9.f3 ge7 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.d4 1.e4 c5 2.b4 It's been a while since we've e4 13.d2 b5 14.b3 b4 15.b2 a5 looked at this old wrinkle. I have a confession th e a d va nc e o f t he qu e e n sid e p a wn s t o m a k e , m u c h t o t h e m i r t h o f m y indicates that Black is on top although grandmaster colleagues: I actually respect the later things went wrong and W hite won, Wing Gambit! It may not be sound, but I've Spielmann-Saemisch, Marienbad 1929. ] never seen a convincing refutation to it, and 6...c6 7.c4 e6 8.d3 d6 the variation contains a lot of venom for the [ 8...e4 9.0-0 exd3 10.e1 wins the black underprepared. But I'm sure most masters queen ] would disagree with me on this. cxb4 3.a3 9.0-0 ge7 10.e1 f6 11.axb4 xb4 f6!? A bit provocative, but I guess Black 12.e4 White is struggling to justify his wanted to get his opponent out of theory (in material deficit. 0-0 13.d4 f5 the Wing Gambit?!). [ 13...exd4? 14.d5 wins ] [ 3...e5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 f6 6.g5 14.d5 exd5 15.cxd5 xd5 16.c3 c4 ( 6.e2 e7 7.axb4 xb4 8.c3 e7 9.d4 e4+ 21.g3 h6 0-1

2076

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6 ) 6...d5 7.exd5 xd5 8.h5 ( 8.xf7! must be the way to play, for better or worse. xf7 9.f3+ e6 10.b2 e7 11.e4!? ) 8...g6 9.f3 xg5? ( 9...f4!! 10.xf7+ e7-+ ) 10.xd5 d8 11.0-0 0-1 (26) Zajarnyi, A (2274)-Shirov, A (2702) Kishinev 2014 ] [ 3...e6 4.axb4 xb4 5.c3 e7 6.d4 d6 7.d3 1/2-1/2 (63) Bonafede, A (2310)Caruana, F (2709) Siena 2010 ] [ 3...d5 is the main move, but White has many underrated resources. 4.exd5 xd5 5.f3 e5 6.c4 e6 A) 7.b2 c6 8.d3 d6 9.0-0 f6 10.e1 0-0 11.axb4 xb4 12.f1 f5?! 13.xe5 xe5 14.xe5 1-0 (66) Bortnyk, O (2516)-Vorontsov, P (2413) Kirishi 2014; B) 7.d4!? exd4+ 8.e2 d3?! ( 8...f6! 9.b2 c6 ) 9.xd3 f6 10.0-0 c6 11.e1 e7 1-0 (35) Shirazi, K (2404)Tregubov, P (2628) Livry Gargan 2009; C) 7.d3!? is certainly the most provocative option! c5 ( 7...e4 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 f6 10.xe4 xa1 11.b3! with a dangerous amount of compensation for the pawn...oops, I mean rook!; 7...c6 8.0-0 f6 9.e1 d6 10.axb4 xb4 11.f1 0-0 12.c3 0-1 (31) Shivananda, B (2 3 8 2 ) -Ya gu p o v, I (2 4 2 8 ) Mu m b a i 2013 ) 8.axb4 xb4 9.0-0 1/2-1/2 (16) Bobel, P (2284)-Jaulneau, C (2553) ICCF 2014 ] 4.e5 d5 5.axb4 e6?! [ 5...d6 6.f3 c6 was more combative. 7.b5 xe5 8.d4! xf3+ 9.xf3 ] 6.b5! An opening success. d6 7.b2 dxe5 8.xe5 d7 9.b2 7f6 10.f3 e7 11.c4 f4?! [ 11...b4 looks loose, but was probably Black's best chance to hold the balance. 12.d4 b6 13.e2 a5 14.bxa6 xa6 15.xa6 xa6 16.0-0 ] 12.d4 0-0 13.g3 g6 14.g2 b4+ 15.bd2 [ 15.c3 xc3+ 16.xc3 c7 17.d3 e5 18.0-0 ] 15...e5 16.0-0 e4 17.g5 g4 18.c2! e2 19.gxe4 xe4 20.xe4 xf1 21.xf1+White has a completely dominant position f or the slight material def icit . a6

22.b3 a5 23.c5! axb5 24.d6 25.xb7 d7 26.d5 e5 27.c6 28.a3 fc8 29.d6 b6 30.c5 31.d5 1-0

1924 Zvjaginsev,Vadim Dreev,Alexey ch-RUS Superfinal (7) [Jonathan Rowson]

c7 c7 a6

B20 2659 2694 26.12.2005

1.e4 c5 2.a3 e6 3.c3 d5 4.e5 In many lines of the Advanced French, White does play Na3-c2, so Dreev's approach does not look like an attempted refutation of 2.Na3. Moreover, It is possible to delay d2-d4 and gi ve t h e p o s i t i o n a n o r i gi n a l f l a v o u r , a s Zvagintsev does here. I don't think the result of the opening was bad for Black, but even a player of Dreev's class was made to look a little uncomfortable. c6 5.f3 d7 6.g3!? [ 6.c2 followed by d2-d4 is a major alternative, but Zvagintsev seems to enjoy playing unconventionally in the opening. ] 6...a6 7.c2 c8 8.g2 c7 9.e2 c4!? 10.0-0 c5 11.ce1! The acrobatic horse wants to emerge on d3, with prospects of go in g to f 4 an d h 5 . a5 12.d4 cxd3 13.xd3 b6 14.d4 e7 15.g5 g6 16.h4 h6 17.c1 e7 18.d1 xd4 19.cxd4 f5 20.e1 b5 21.g4 c6 22.d2 [ 22.xd5!? was a possibility here, but White does lose some control. d8 23.xc6+ xc6 24.e3 a5 and Black has full compensation. ] 22...a5 23.c2 b4 24.xb4 xb4 It seems hard to believe that Black is worse here, but sometimes these positions can be deceptive. White is temporarily on the back foot, but his position has more potential, while Black is short of ways to improve his position. 25.d1 0-0 [ 25...a5!? To give the bishop on b5 a square on a6, might be better. ] 26.b3 a5 27.a4 d7 28.a3 fe8 29.c5 Now White has some advantage, but Black's position is very solid. d8 30.a5 b5 31.b4?! I don't like this move, mainly because 2077

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 it prevents W hite from bringing his bishop back to the c1-h6 diagonal, where it might be needed later, and also because it makes it easier for Black to block the c-file on c4. [ 31.c2 f6 32.ac1 d7 ( 32...xa5 33.exf6 gxf6 34.h5; 32...fxe5 33.dxe5 xa5 34.b4 xb4 35.xc8 ) 33.h5 ] 31...f6 32.e1 d7 33.h3 f7 34.a3 h5 35.f3 g6 36.b1 fxe5 37.xf5 exf5 38.xf5 xf5 39.xf5 exd4 40.xd4 g6 41.g5 [ 41.fxd5 c6 with the idea of Re1+ and Rh1 mate. ] 41...e6 42.g4 [ 42.dxd5!? e1+ ( 42...c6 43.d1 At first I thought this was better than the game, but I think Black should draw now, because the only real threat to Black is f4-f5, and in the resulting positions it shouldn't be too difficult to defend the h5 pawn.) 43.h2 c6 44.xg6+ f7 45.xc6! ] 42...hxg4 43.dxg4 h7 44.h5 e8 45.hxg6+ xg6 46.h5+ g8 47.xg6+ xg6 48.xd5 e4 49.e5 c6 50.f4 e8 51.g5+ f7 52.f2 e4 53.f5+ g6 54.g5+ f7 55.f5+ White cannot really wi n b e c a u s e h i s b i s h o p o n c 5 d o e s n o t adequately support his f-pawn, and yet it is needed on c5 to defend b4. ½-½

1925 Zvjaginsev,Vadim Khalifman,Alexander ch-RUS Superfinal (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2659 2653 20.12.2005

1.e4 c5 2.a3 The anti-Sicilian move of the moment. The main strength of this move is that it is not as bad as it looks, and that it pos es f res h p ro ble ms. I like t he wa y th e knight targets the c4 square in front of the c5 pawn, and I also like the flexibility of the move. The knight might go to b5 or c4, but it is every bit as likely to end up on c2 after c2-c3 or c2c4. In spite of all that, I doubt if the move is particularly good, and my main concern would be that White has lost his most natural way of defending e4. c6 Certainly not bad, but as soon as I saw 2 Na3!? I felt that the most

challenging response was [ 2...b6!? with the simple idea of attacking e4 from b7. Now White doesn't seem to have a convenient way to defend e4 he doesn't have time to play c3 and d4 and if he plays d3 Black is not in any great danger. I recently suggested this while doing some casual analysis in Verona and proceeded to look with GM Michele Godena at the (slightly bizarre) variation: A) 3.g3 b7 4.g2 f5!? ( 4...f6 ) 5.d3 ( 5.exf5 xg2 6.h5+ g6 7.fxg6 g7 8.gxh7+ f8 9.hxg8+ xg8-+ ) 5...f6; B) 3.e2 b7 4.g3 h5 5.xh5 xe4 6.g4 g6 7.f4 f6 8.f3 e4 and Black is keeping his shape. ] 3.b5 c7 4.f3 g6 5.c3 a6 6.xc6 xc6 7.0-0 It is possible to take on e4, but the weakness on b6 and the open e-file make it a very risky undertaking. g7 8.d4 d6 9.d5 c7 10.h3 f6 11.f4 0-0 [ 11...xe4 12.a4+ ] 12.e1 [ 12.e5!? ] 12...b5 13.d2 b7 14.ad1 fe8 15.c4 b6 16.h6 h8 17.b3 e6 18.g5 exd5 19.cxd5 e7 20.e3 ae8 21.de1 Black should be ok here, but he seems to play t h e n e x t f e w m o v e s t o o a m b i t i o u s l y . a5 22.b1 b4 [ 22...d7 ] 23.c2 d7 24.d2 a6 25.gf3! I think Khalifman probably underestimated the consequences of this move. e5 26.g5 xf3+ 27.xf3 d7 28.e5 dxe5 29.xe5 xd5 30.xf7 xe3 31.xe3 xf7 32.e7+ f8 White's attack is a slow-burner-not terrifying, but it's not easy for Black to put the flames out completely. 33.e4 d1+?? This appears to be the losing move. The rook was needed for some lateral defence, and now there is no way to protect the king. [ 33...d6! making Rd1+ a serious threat. 34.h6+ g7 35.xg7+ g8 36.f4 Fritz seems to think that Black can hold this position, but I think White has quite a se riou s a dva nt age d ue t o h is e n du rin g initiative on the kingside. ] 34.h2 d6+ 35.f4 Now the problem is that in addition to Bh6+, Qa8+ is a problem 2078

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 because the rook on d5 is no longer blocking the h1-a8 diagonal. f6 36.h6+ g8 37.a8+ 1-0

1926 Zvjaginsev,Vadim Kobalia,Mihail 61st ch-HL Russia (10) [David Vigorito]

B20 2663 2618 13.09.2008

A heavyweight battle in the dreaded Zviagentsev variation by the man himself. White takes his extravagant play a little too far and loses several tempi. W hen playing W hite, one can take certain liberties. Here White goes to far but manages to get back into the game. nevertheless, Black remains calm and still seizes the initiative. 1.e4 c5 2.a3 Well, White can play like this if he likes. g6 [ A sensible reply not covered on this site, although of course the idea is quite normal. Instead 2...c6 allows White to "correct" his play with 3.b5 One recent example is g6 4.f3 (other moves can be found in the archives) g7 5.0-0 f6 6.e1 0-0 7.c3 White has been allowed to play a Rossolimo variation, Nevednichy, V (2577) Busu, C (2339)/Eforie Nord ROM 2008. ] 3.g3 g7 4.g2 c6 5.d3 d6 6.f4 So we have a Closed Sicilian where W hite accidentally put his knight on a3. f6 [ A B o t v i n n i k s e t u p w i t h 6...e5 is also sensible. 7.c3 ge7 8.f3 0-0 was Zvjaginsev, V (2663) -Khismatullin, D (2613)/ Novokuznetsk RUS 2008. ] 7.f3 0-0 8.0-0 b8! Now why is the knight on a3? 9.c4 [ White loses a lot of time playing this way. After 9.c3 b5 10.c2 b4 11.c4 White can at least claim equality. ] 9...b5 10.e3 g4! 11.d5?! [ 11.xg4 xg4 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 b4 is very comfortable for Black. His queenside initiative is rolling along and White will have trouble creating any kind of real assault with both of his knights exchanged. ] 11...e6 12.c3 An interesting square for the

kn ig h t . it t o o k f i ve t e m p i t o g e t h e r e ! b4 13.e2 a5 14.h3 f6 Okay, so Black lost two tempi with his knight, but he is still up t h r e e m o v e s i n t h e r a c e . 15.g4 c4! This is possible because White has not played Ng3 yet and the e4-pawn would be loose in case of dxc4. 16.e3 a6 17.c1 c8 18.f2 e5!? This is very committal. 19.g5 [ If 19.f5 d5! 20.g5 d4 ( 20...dxe4? 21.gxf6 ) 21.d2 d7 22.f6 h8 Black has a tremendous initiative on the queenside but his h8-bishop is locked out of play. Neve rtheless, I pref er Black here because he can always sacrifice on f6 and have good compensation because he controls so much of the board. ] 19...cxd3 20.cxd3 exf4 21.xf4 d7 22.fc2 White has managed to coordinate his pieces without any dire consequences. Black is forced to shift gears now, and it is to his cre d it t ha t he d oe s n ot com e un ra ve lle d having lost the initiative. b7 23.d5 e8 24.d2 c5! Black offers a pawn to free his pieces and fight for the initiative. 25.f6+? [ 25.xc5 dxc5 26.xc5 d4! 27.xc8 xc8 28.xd4 xd4+ 29.h1 b7 gives Black enough counterplay. He controls the dark-squares and both W hite's pawn structure and king position are a bit loose. ] 25...xf6 26.gxf6 xf6?! [ Black misses a chance. Instead 26...b3! is very strong. 27.c3 bxa2 and it is difficult for W hite to exploit the weakness around Black's king. ... Qxf6 and ...Nb4 are coming. ] 27.f1 [ 27.xc5 dxc5 28.xc5 d4 is better for Black because of the poor g2-bishop, so White plays for an attack. ] 27...e7 28.h2 White wants to play Ng4. f5 [ More incisive was 28...e5! with the idea 29.d4 xe4! 30.xe4 xe4 31.xc8 xc8 32.dxe5 c2 winning. ] 29.g5 g7 30.h6? [ Better was 30.exf5 when matters are not so clear. ] 30...d4+ 31.e3 xd3 Now Black exchanges queens and keeps his material advantage. 32.xc5 xd2 33.xd2 dxc5 34.exf5 a6! 35.d6 [ White hopes to complicate matters. 35.ff2 2079

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e1+ 36.f1 d4 37.fxg6 hxg6 38.f6 xf1 39.xf1 xf1+ 40.xf1 g7 and with an extra pawn and a strong knight, Black should have no difficulty converting his extra pawn. ] 35...xf1 36.xc6 xh3 37.xe8 xe8 38.fxg6 e2! Decisive. 39.gxh7+ xh7 40.f3 g2+ 41.h1 xb2 0-1

1927 Zvjaginsev,Vadim Motylev,Alexander ch-RUS Superfinal (9) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2659 2632 28.12.2005

1.e4 c5 2.a3 c6 3.b5 g6 4.xc6 bxc6 5.d3 g7 6.f4!? Showing yet another novel aspect of Na3. It is true that the knight often looks odd on this square, but W hite does gain quite a lot by keeping his knight on g1. Now we have some kind of grand prix attack- a version that would normally favour white, but one in which the knight on a3 would be elsewhere. d5 7.e5 This looks too early to me. [ 7.e2!? ] 7...f6 8.e2 fxe5 9.fxe5 h6 10.f3 g4 Once Black has solved the problem of this bishop, he rarely has major problems. Indeed, in such positions the doubled c-pawns are often not such a problem in themselves, but rather because they restrict this bishop. 11.0-0 0-0 12.c3 c7 13.c2 f5 [ 13...f7!? Might be even better. In either case, Black is making all the running now. ] 14.f4 d4 [ 14...h4 looks better. Black keeps more tension in the position, and the knight on c2 is not given an immediate opportunity to make sense of himself. ] 15.cxd4 xf4 16.h3!? cxd4 17.hxg4 dxc3 18.bxc3 xg4 19.d2 g3 20.ae1 e6 [ 20...b6+!? Not sure why Motylev didn't give this check. 21.d4 ( 21.h2 g5-+ ) 21...xc3 22.g4 Perhaps this looked intimidating, but Black can keep the countera t t a c k g o i n g w i t h c2 23.f3 c5 when he retains a bit advantage. ]

21.b3 c5 22.f2 xd3 23.xc5 xc3 24.xe6 b6 25.xb6 axb6 26.xg7 xg7 27.f2 White has good drawing ch a n ce s, b e cau se B la ck' s e xt ra p awn is effectively the h-pawn, and the most likely outcome is therefore the theoretically drawn ending of h+g v g. e8 28.e6 e7 29.d2 c5 30.a4 h5 31.h2 f6 32.f2+ g7 33.d2 a5 34.d4 c5 35.d2 f6 ½-½

1928 Zvjaginsev,Vadim Ponomariov,Ruslan XIII TCh-RUS (1) [Jonathan Rowson]

B20 2670 2738 20.04.2006

1.e4 c5 2.a3 So it looks like this move is going to with us for a while. Zvaginstsev has alrea dy won a f ew game s with it agains t strong opposition, and nobody has yet shown anything resembling a refutation. So I guess it is time to speak about this move as more than some sort of psychological ploy. The first point of this move, I think, is that it has a certain aesthetic appeal, at least for me. The c4 square looks quite inviting for the knight on a3, mainly because it seems, at some in ef f a ble le ve l, t o ta ke a dvan ta ge o f th e placement of the pawn on c5. More concretely, it is a semi-useful waiting move, and white's position is still flexible enough to respond appropriately to whatever Black does now. Another way to look at it, at least in those cases where White continues with c3, is that it is a hyper-accelerated c3 Sicilian, in that white often plays Na3 in the c3 Sicilian, so now he is merely getting his Na3 move in as early as possible! The move is flexible enough, ho we ve r, t ha t c3 is n ot a lwa ys require d . Sometimes White plays Bb5, and I am sure there will be some lines where W hite might even play c4 and Nc2. I guess the overarching point is that white is not worse, and he will probably be more attuned to the first phase of the game than normal, because he has provoked an immediate conceptual 'crisis'. c6 [ 2...a6 is covered in Malakhov-Sasikiran. ] [ In a previous update, I suggested that 2... 2080

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 b6 might be a simple antidote to 2.Na3, because a bishop on b7 will target e4, and White no longer has the convenient option of defending it with Nc3. I still think this might be the case, but now I wonder if White might try to change the character of the position with something like: 2...b6 3.d4!? cxd4 4.f3 and try to use his lead in development to make something happen. For instance b7 5.f4!? xe4 6.b5 a6 7.g5 b7 8.xd4 and White has a serious lead in development in return for losing a serious pawn. I am not sure if I fully believe this, but it would make me think twice about playing 2...b6 and thinking that all my problems were solved. ] [ 2...g6 therefore looks like the best answer for the time being, and it will be curious to see how the theory starts to develop here. ] 3.b5 For those who are interested in reverse opening systems, we now have 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.'pass' Na6. In that case, there is no reason for white to pass, and no reason for Black to play Na6, but there you go. g6 4.c3 g7 5.d3 f6 6.f4 0-0 7.f3 d6 8.0-0 d7 9.e1 White has a pleasant position, but Black can also be happy with the outcome of the opening. e6 This move, in conjunction wit the next, doesn't seem to serve Black very well. [ 9...a6 10.xc6 xc6 11.h4 b5 With the idea of getting counterplay with a quick c5-c4, leaves the position tense. ] 10.h4 h5 11.g4 xh4 12.xh4 f6 13.xg6 hxg6 14.gxh5 gxh5 15.a4! The exclam is for style as much as anything. Zvagintsev is alert to the possibility of attacking h5 f rom d1 . d5 16.d1 c4 This looks a little desperate, but Ponomariov obviously felt that he needed to change the direction of the game, which was going white's way. 17.e5 e7 18.dxc4 d4 19.c2 [ 19.cxd4 xd4 20.xh5 Also looks safe and sound, but the game continuation is more fully controlled. ] 19...dxc3 20.bxc3 a5 21.a3! xa3 22.xa3 ac8 23.e2 f6 24.ad1 e8 25.f5 fxe5 26.fxe6 xf1+ 27.xf1 g7 28.f3 b5 29.cxb5 xc3 30.b1 c5 31.e2 e4 32.f2 e3+ 33.xe3 e5+ 34.f3 xb5 35.xb5 xb5 36.e1 f5+

37.g3 f8 38.d2 40.h4 c4 41.g5 43.h3 e8 44.xh5 46.b1 d6 47.b8 49.h5 b5 50.h4 52.h7+ e8 53.xa7 55.g6 xe6 56.f6+ 58.d5+ 1-0

e7 d2 xa2 f4 f4 f5 d8

39.f3 42.c1 45.g6 48.a8 51.h8 54.h7 57.a8+

1929 Balaji,G Roy Chowdhury,Saptarshi Commonwealth Championship (5) [Gary Lane]

d5 d6 a4 f6+ d6 d4 c7

B21 2266 2400 14.01.2004

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.f4 d5 4.f3 dxe4 5.xe4 c6 6.g3 A bishop emerging on g2 is a useful idea and is usually combined with a queenside fianchetto. e7 7.g2 f6 8.f2 This is a trademark move of English grandmaster Mark Hebden. The idea is to preserve the tension by keeping the pieces on the board and by fighting for control of the e5 square with a queenside fianchetto and Nf2d3. [ If 8.xf6+ then xf6 is fine for Black especially beca use it ru les o ut W h ite's standard plan of a queenside fianchetto. ] 8...0-0 [ 8...b8 9.0-0 b6 10.b3 the double f i a n c h e t t o i s a f e a t u r e o f t h i s l i n e b7 11.b2 0-0 12.c4 c7 13.e2 bd8 14.d3 d7 15.ae1 led to equal play in Al Modiahki,M-Cebalo,M/Biel 1993. ] [ 8...c7 9.b3 as usual White prepares for a queenside fianchetto d7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 d8 12.d3 b6 13.f5 A) 13...f6 14.fxe6 xa1 15.exf7+! xf7 ( 15...h8 16.f4 b7 17.e8+ f8 18.xa1 when White has a big advantage ) 16.g5+ g8 17.d5+ f8 18.e6+ wins; B) 13...exf5 14.g5 b7 15.h5 xg5 16.xg5 e8 17.f4 with a level position.; C) 13...e5 14.g5 xg5 ( perhaps 14...f6 is worthy of consideration) 15.xg5 f6 16.d2 f8 17.g4 the pawn advances and given time White 2081

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 will gradually increase the pressure on the kingside b8 18.e4 e7 19.f1 d4 20.c3 b5 21.g5 b7 22.gxf6 gxf6 23.f3 with good chances of an attack, Conquest,S-Vragoteris,A/Kavala 1991. ] 9.0-0 c7 10.b3 The standard strategy is a double fianchetto. [ White can also focus control on e5 with 10.e2 when play might proceed: b6 11.c3 b7 12.d3 ad8 13.d2 ( 13.e3 fe8 14.ad1 f8 15.c1 g6 16.fe1 g7 17.a3 b8 18.e4 with roughly equal chances, Todorcevic,M-Ljubojevic,L/Szirak izt 1987. ) 13...fe8 14.ad1 f8 15.fe1 g6 16.c4 g7 17.c3 d4 18.xd4 xf3 19.xf3 xd4 1/2-1/2 Kveinys,A-Todorov,O/ Cappelle la Grande 1994. ] 10...b6 11.b2 b7 12.e2 [ 12.c4 ad8 ( or 12...a6 13.e2 ad8 with slightly better chances) 13.e2 d7 14.ad1 fd8 15.fe1 b8 16.g5 h6 17.f3 a8 18.c3 with a roughly level position, Martin,A-Kharlamov,V/Moscow 1991. ] 12...ad8 13.d3 This manoeuvre with the knight is part of the idea of moving the knight from e4-f2. a6 14.c4 b7 15.de5 e8 16.g5 [ 16.ae1 is about level. ] 16...xe5 17.xe5 d7 18.c3 [ Or 18.xb7! xb7 19.e4 a6 20.ad1 offers equal chances. ] 18...xg2 19.xg2 f6 20.e4 Spot the threat! d4+ 21.xd4 xd4+ [ 21...cxd4?? is not particularly impressive upon 22.xh7# ] 22.xd4 xd4 23.f3 d3 24.e5 d6 25.ad1 c7 26.f2 fd8 27.e2 Balaji has secured a defendable position but Black is higher rated and with considerable presence of mind manages to push White into a dour defensive task. a6 28.a3 f6 29.f3 d3! A key idea to rule out any prospect of a future d2-d4 while putting pressure on the b3 pawn. 30.b1 b8 31.fd1 [ The rook on d3 is such a menace White should try to exchange it with 31.fc1 c6 32.c3 when White should draw. ] 31...c6 32.e1 [ If 32.b2 then e5 gives Black a strong initiative. ]

32...xb3! A nice little sacrifice which wins a pawn and tips the game heavily in Black's favour. 33.xb3 d4+ 34.e3 xb3 The game concluded: 35.f3 a5 36.c1 c6 37.d3 f7 38.e4 h6 39.f1 e7 40.h4 h5 41.e3 f7 42.g1 e7 43.d1 f5+ 44.f2 e7 45.e1 d6 46.c2 c6 47.e3 d4 48.a4 b7 49.g4 hxg4 50.xg4 h8 51.h1 f5 52.h5 c6 53.e3 xe3 54.xe3 d6 55.h2 f5 56.g2 h7 57.g5 e7 58.g1 d6 59.g5 a6 60.f3 e7 61.e3 f6 62.g6+ f7 63.g5 h8 64.e2 b5 65.cxb5 axb5 66.axb5 b8 67.g1 xb5 68.e3 b8 69.c1 c8 70.f3 f6 71.c4 d8 72.xc5 xd3+ 73.g2 d8 74.c1 h8 75.h1 h6 76.h3 h8 77.g3 h6 78.h2 f7 79.f3 f6 80.g3 e5 81.fxe5+ xe5 82.h4 f6 83.h2 g5 84.f3 xh5 0-1

1930 Berg,E Miezis,N Vasteras Open 2013 (6.2) [David Smerdon]

B21 2556 2546 28.09.2013

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 5.f3 a6 6.c4 c6 7.0-0 d6 Not the most popular move. [ 7...ge7 is most often seen, both in practice and in texts. However, see Esserman-Van Wely in the notes for some fresh ideas for White in this line. ] [ 7...b5 was recently essayed by Hiarcs against Rybka in a match ending in a draw, lending even more credibility to the line! ] 8.f4 e7 9.e2 g5!? The unorthodox Latvian grandmaster goes his own way once more. [ 9...e5 10.e3 f6 is the normal continuation. A similar position is covered in Luks-Nilssen, and demonstrates that White generally has enough compensation for the pawn in these lines, but not more than that. That's enough to classif y the gambit as 'sound' in my opinion, which is why I'm surprised the Morra isn't seen more often in tournament play, but other 2082

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 grandmasters would probably disagree. ] 10.e3 b5 11.b3 d7 12.d5!? A fantastic concept, more usually seen in the Open Sicilian. [ 12.ad1 h6 13.e5!? dxe5 14.e4 gives White compensation, for example c7 15.c1 g4 16.fd2 f5 17.fd1! ] 12...g4 13.d4 exd5 14.xc6 xc6 15.d4 f6 16.xg4 f8 17.ac1 After a forced sequence, it's time to take stock. White has lost a piece but has plenty of juicy lines to choose from for his remaining army. Black's king is not going to find a safe location any time soon, and the knight on g8 an d bishop on e7 must be feeling a bit embarrassed. All in all, White has sufficient compensation and dangerous attacking p ro s p e c t s . b7 18.xd5 xd5 19.exd5 h6 Good defence Black quickly brings his knight into the barricade. [ 19...h5!? is the computer's first choice, but understandably Miezis doesn't want to open up any more holes in his position. However, W hite lacks the minor pieces to take advantage of Black's light-squared weaknesses. ] 20.h3 f7 21.c3 b4 22.e3 c8 23.e6 g8! Sneaky, tactical defence. 24.e3? Berg has played the attack energetically, but at this critical juncture he errs. [ 24.xh7! is the best and only move. A) 24...g7 25.h4 b7 26.fe1 e5! ( 26...xd5? 27.g3+- ) 27.xe5 dxe5 ( 27...fxe5?? 28.h8+ g8 29.h6+ g7 30.g6+- ) 28.h8+ g8 29.h6+ g7= would be a well-earned draw.; B) 24...b7 25.f5 g5 26.e4 and W h ite ha s just enough thre ats t o maintain the balance. E.g. d8 27.xf6+! xf6 28.xf6 f7! 29.e1 xd5 30.xg5 xe4 31.xe4 xg5 32.xb4= with a complicated endgame in which a draw is the most likely result. ] [ 24.fe1? g7! is the neat point of Black's 23rd move. ] 24...b7! 25.f4? The wheels fall off. Such a shame after such romantic play by the talented Swede! d8! 26.e4 f5 Oops. 27.xe7 xe7 28.h3 0-1

1931 Berg,Olaf Astengo,Corrado Troll Masters (7) [Gary Lane]

B21 2065 2172 12.01.2003

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.c3 d8 5.f3 f6 last book move 6.c4 [ 6.e5 e6 7.f3 is also possible. ] 6...e6 [ 6...g4 A) 7.e5 h5 ( 7...e6 8.xe6 fxe6 9.f3 c7 10.0-0 and White is better) 8.xh5 xh5 9.xf7#; B) 7.xf7+ xf7 8.e5+ g8 9.xg4 when White is a pawn up and Black can no longer castle.; C) 7.0-0? xf3 8.xf3 d4+ 9.f2 c6 10.d3 e6 11.e3 d7 12.e4 with advantage to White, Vosu,A-Traks,M/ Tallinn 2000. ] 7.0-0 [ 7.d3 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.h1 b6 10.e1 b7 11.e4 c6 12.d2 d4 13.xd4 cxd4 14.c3 How could White have a lost p o s i t i o n i n a c o u p l e o f m o v e s ? c8 15.cxd4?? A tragedy for White and a big laugh for Black xe4 0-1 Pieris,T-Rahman, T/ Calcutta 2001. ] 7...e7 [ 7...a6 8.d3 ( 8.a4 would stop the queenside pawn advance but Black would probably fianchetto on the queenside) 8...b5 9.b3 b7 10.e2 As usual the queen comes to e2 in this variation. At the moment it also helps to deter Black from the advance .. . c5 -c4 . e7 11.a4 b4 12.e4 d5 ( 12...0-0 is simple and good promising e qu a l ch a n ce s) 13.f5! exf5 14.xc5 this tactic is only possible because the black king is still in the centre c6 15.xb7 d7 ( 15...b6+ was probably the idea but it leaves the knigh t on d5 ha nging. Fo r instance: 16.f2 xb7 17.xd5 ) 16.c5 d8 17.d4 0-0 18.e6 fxe6 19.xe6+ h8 1-0 Ahmed,J-Grancea,M/Dallas 2000. ] 8.h1 0-0 9.e5 The good thing about this opening is that White can play the same sort of moves all the time ruling out the need to learn detailed lines. bd7 10.f3 [ 10.e2!? b6 11.b3 is level. ] 2083

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10...c7 11.e2 a6 12.a4 b6 13.e1 b7? A move that seems to be normal just to complete development but....! [ 13...d6= ] 14.xf7 d5 [ 14...xf7 allows White to start a king hunt with only one result possible 15.xe6+ g6 16.f5+ h5 17.e2+ h4 18.c4+ g5 19.d4+ xf5 20.d3+ and Black can go home. ] 15.e5 [ 15.g5!? is the right way to search for victory xf4 16.d3+- ( Not 16.xd5?! exd5 17.d4 xd4 18.e6+ h8 19.e2 and it is not clear that White really is better.) 16...d6 17.xe6 xe6 18.xe6+ h8 19.g5 with White clearly on top. ] 15...d6 16.d3 It is important for White to keep the knight on e5 so that Black cannot create any counterplay. [ 16.xd5?! is not so convincing upon exd5 17.xa6 xe5 18.fxe5 xe5 19.xe5 ae8! 20.xe8 xe8 when Black has the superior chances. ] 16...xc4 17.dxc4 ae8 18.d2 [ 18.a5! bxa5 19.b3 is good for White. ] 18...g6 [ 18...e7 19.a5 ] 19.g3 xe5 20.fxe5 h5 21.e4 [ 21.g1 has the merit of avoiding spite checks on the h1-a8 diagonal. ] 21...xe5! 22.f1 c6 23.g1 d7 24.c3 e5 25.fd1 [ 25.a5 is still a decent plan when bxa5 26.xf8+ xf8 27.d1 is still decent for White. ] 25...hf6 26.g5?! [ 26.xf6+!? xf6 27.e1= ( 27.xe5? d7-+ )] 26...h6 27.h3 e6 [ 27...e4 28.d2 g7 29.a5 ] 28.g2 [ 28.f2 e4 29.e3 h7= ] 28...b8 29.a5 c6 30.axb6 [ 30.d3!? g4 31.e1 xa5 32.b3 ] 30...d4 31.xd4 cxd4 32.f2 xb6 33.d3 c6+ 34.g1 h7 35.e1 e7 [ 35...b6 36.a3 f7 37.c5 ] 36.b4 b8 37.c5 b5 [ 37...xb4?? 38.xa6 xc5 39.xf6+- ] 38.c3 dxc3 39.xc3 d5 40.f3 xb4

41.e4 g7 [ 41...bb7!?= ] 42.f1 The threat is Qf8+. b8 43.ad1 e6 [ 43...c7 44.f6+ h7+- ] 44.d6 f5 45.e2 [ 45.xf5?! gxf5 46.xf5 a5 ] 45...h5 [ 45...h3 46.ff6 h7 47.xg6 f8+- ] 46.g4 h3 47.ff6 c6 [ 47...h7 48.xg6 f8 49.f6+ wins. ] 48.xg6+ h7 49.xh6+ [ 49.xc6?? b1+ 50.f2 xh2+ 51.f3 b3+ and it is Black who is winning. ] 49...xh6 50.xh6+ xh6 51.d2+ g7 [ 51...h7 52.g5 f7 53.h5+ g8 54.g6+ g7 55.xc6 xg4+ 56.f1 f4+ 57.e2 b2+ 58.d3+- ] 52.g5+ [ 52.g5+ f8 53.h6+ g7 54.h8+ f7 55.d6+ e6 56.xg7 b1+ 57.f2+- ] 1-0

1932 B21 Bondielli,Giorgio 1987 Rowson,Jonathan 2594 Capo d'Orso Porto Mannu PAL (6) 23.05.2007 [Andrew Martin] 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6! I have always thought that this was one of the hardest systems for W hite to cope with. Black tries to find an optimal move-order by which he keeps open the option of ...Bg4, which in turn makes W hite's standard development plan of 0-0, Qe2 unattractive. 7.h3 So White has to take time out for h3, which is rather a luxury at this stage. [ 7.0-0 f6 8.f4 g4 9.b3 e6 10.g5 was tried in a recent 4NCL game by one of England's leading Morra specialists. W atching the game at the time I was unconvinced and still am! a5! ( 10...b5!? 11.xb5 h6! ) 11.a4+ d7 12.f3 xc4 13.xc4 ( 13.fxg4 xb2 14.d4 f6 ) 13...h5 14.f2 e7 15.h3 0-0 16.d1 c8 17.b3 c5 18.a3 b6 19.b4 d7 20.a4 c7 ( 20...c6 ) 21.fd2 e5 22.e3 b5 23.b2 c3 Hague, B-Wells, 2084

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 P/Wokefield Park ENG 2007 This is not my vision of attacking compensation, although it was a long while before Black realised the extra pawn. ] [ 7.g5 f6 8.xf6 gxf6 9.0-0 e6 10.d4 a5 11.xc6 bxc6 12.d4 is simply unconvincing for W hite. This looks like a normal Sicilian, but with White a pawn down! e7 13.h1 b8 14.f4 ( I suppose White didn't lik e 14.b3 b4 15.d2 g8 ) 14...xb2! 15.ab1 xb1 16.xb1 0-0-+ 17.b8 d5 18.exd5 cxd5 19.b3 c5 20.d3 c7 21.c2 f5-+ Coraretti, B-Liu, E/Las Vegas USA 2007 ] 7...f6 8.e2 e6 9.0-0 b5 10.b3 b7 11.d1 b8! A careful placement of the Black Queen, out of range of the White Rooks and thereby nullifying any Nd5 sacrifices. 12.f4 d7 13.d2 e7 14.ad1 de5 Successful control of e5 is central to Black's winning ambitions in many of the Morra main lines. Here, Black is simply better, because although White has arranged his pieces in a pretty picture, there is nothing to attack with them! 15.h2 [ 15.xe5 dxe5! It is essential for the Knight t o p r o t e c t t h e B i sh o p o n e 7 . ( 15...xe5 16.xe5 dxe5 17.g4 0-0 18.d7 c5 19.xe6 d4 20.d5 xd5 21.xd5 a7= ) 16.g3 ( 16.h2 0-0 17.h5 c8 18.d3 d8 19.xe5 xd3 20.xd3 b4 21.d1 g6 22.g3 xe5 23.xe5 c5 ) 16...0-0 17.d7 d8 ] 15...0-0 16.d4 xd4 17.xd4 a7 18.h1 ad8 Once again we reach a normal position where White has a pawn less. [ 18...c5 was decent too! ] 19.d2 a8 That's why he didn't go to c5. 20.c2 c4 21.c1 f6 22.4d3 b4 23.b3 e5 24.xe5 xe5 e4 drops and so White has had enough. An efficient display by Rowson. 0-1

1933 Brunner,Nicolas Lopez,Gerard 8th Open Chambery FRA (7) [Gary Lane]

B21 2253 08.08.2002

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 f6 8.e2 a6 9.d1 c7!? I always think that Black is asking for trouble by putting the queen on the c-file because White will usually play Rac1 at some point. 10.f4 e5 [ 10...e5 11.xe5 dxe5 12.ac1 b8 13.b5+! A) 13...d7 14.d2 axb5 this is the critical test because Black grabs material an d in ret u rn W h it e is gif t wra p pe d a wonderful attack 15.xb5 c5 ( 15...a4 16.c7+ d8 17.xe5 wins ) 16.xc5 0-0 17.c7 xa2 18.b4 b6 19.xe5 c5 ( 19...xe5 allows a puzzle like finish upon 20.xf8+ xf8 21.d8# ) 20.c6 a8 21.a3 h6 22.h3 d7 23.e7+ h7 24.xb6 a4 25.d4 d7 26.b4 d8 27.c8 1-0 Falout,L-Tyle,V/Klatovy 1999.; B) 13...axb5 14.xb5 e7 15.c7+ f8 16.xa8 xa8 17.xe5 g6 18.c7 e8 19.f3 gave White bright prospects in Kohl,J-Jahic,E/Marianske Lazne 2004.; C) 13...d7 14.d3? ( 14.xd7+ xd7 15.a3 e7 16.b4 is double-edged) 14...axb5 15.xb5 c6 hands up anyone who can W hite's attack? 16.c4 e7 17.g5 0-0 with a winning advantage, Santos, A-Granados Gomez,M/Sant Cebria 1998. ] [ 10...e7 11.h3 0-0 12.ac1 h6 13.e5 ( 13.a3!? is worth a thought to try and gain space on the queenside by advancing the pawns ) 13...dxe5 14.xe5 xe5 ( 14...d6 seems to be risky but one sample line is 15.xd6 xd6 16.g6 e5 17.xf8 exf4 18.g6 f5 19.h4 d4 gives Black an edge ) 15.xe5 a5 16.d3 b4 ( 16...d7 is possible to try and develop the queenside pieces. For instance: 17.b4!? xb4 18.b1 c5 19.xb7 c6 20.c7 a7!? 21.a4 d5 22.h7+ xh7 23.xd5 xc7 24.xc7 xd5 25.c3 favours W hite) 17.a3 h4 18.f4 c5+ 2085

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.h2 f2 20.xf6 ( 20.f3!? ) 20...g3+ 21.h1 xf6 22.f1 with roughly equal chances, Sola,R-Zuriel,M/Villa Ballester 2000. ] 11.d5 [ 11.g5! looks like a decent alternative bec aus e t he d5 squ are will in cre ase in importance. e7 12.xf6 xf6 13.d5 d8 14.h3 when White has sufficient compensation for the pawn. ] 11...xd5 12.exd5 e7 13.xe5! b5 [ 13...d8!? ] [ 13...dxe5 14.d6 regains the piece with a bonus attack d8 15.g5 f6? 16.xf6 gxf6 17.dxe7 xe7 18.h5+ f7 19.xf7# ] 14.b3 dxe5 15.xe5 [ Or 15.d6 d7 16.xe5 leaves Black suffering due to the pin on the e-file. ] 15...d7 16.d6 g4 [ 16...g6 17.xg7+ and Black can pack the pieces away. ] 17.f3 g6 18.ac1 Brunner is playing in the spirit of the opening by adding another piece to the attack. The knight on e7 is going no where due to the prospect of a check on the efile so it makes sense to slow down Black's development. e6 [ 18...d7 is also possible when 19.e1 e6 20.xe6 fxe6 21.dxe7 xe7 22.c7 is good news for White. ] 19.xe6 [ 19.dxe7?! is not quite so accurate due to xe7 20.c7 d8 and Black is still suffering but has some hopes of survival. ] 19...fxe6 20.d7+ f7 [ 20...d8 21.c7# ] 21.d8 xd8 22.xd8 It is time to start counting the pieces and the position is clearly heavily in White's favour. d5 23.d7+ e7 24.d2 [ 24.a7 f8 25.xa6 is also good. ] 24...e8 25.d6 [ 25.e1 d8 26.a7 g8 27.c6 and White is on course for victory. ] 25...f8 [ Or 25...d8 26.xd8 xd8 27.e1 b6+ 28.h1 e3 29.e2 and White is still doing well having fended off the brief flurry of a activity. ] 26.xe7+ xe7 27.c8+ e8 28.xe8+

[ White is spoilt for choice because 28.c1 is also good. For example: e7 29.f4+ f5 30.xf5+ xf5 31.xe8+ xe8 32.a7 winning. ] 28...xe8 [ 28...xe8 29.a7 c6 30.h1+- ] 29.a7 b1+ 30.f2 xa2 31.c2 e7 32.g4 a5 33.a8+ [ 33.c7!? xc7 34.xc7 f8+- ] 33...f7 34.g2 [ 34.xh7? would be a pointless exercise because the pawn is not that important and it would present Black with a draw: d2+ 35.g3 e1+ 36.h3 f1+ 37.g3 e1+ 38.g2 e2+ 39.g1 e3+ 40.g2 e2+ 41.g3 e1+ and White would reluctantly have to agree to a draw. ] 34...h6 35.f2 a2 36.d4 a5 37.f4+ g6 38.e5 d5 39.xd5 xd5 40.xa5 b4 41.g3 f6 42.f4 g6 43.b5 h5 [ 43...g5 44.f5 e5+- ] 44.g5+ e7 45.f3 d6 46.e4 c6 [ 46...h4 47.b8 c7 48.h8+- ] 47.b8 [ 47.xd5 exd5+ 48.e5 c5+- ] 47...c5 [ 47...c7 48.a8 e7+- ] 48.c8+ d6 49.g8 [ 49.d8+ c5 50.e5 e3 51.xe6 g2 52.f5 when a pawn will promote ] 49...b6 50.xg6 c4 1-0

1934 Buchicchio,Gianpaolo Damia,Angelo Italian Junior Championship (2) [Gary Lane]

B21 2188 2002

1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.xc3 c6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 a6 9.d1 c7 [ A l s o p o s s i b l e : 9...b5 10.b3 a7 an odd looking move which must be motivated with a view to defend. 11.f4 d7 well now we know Black's idea of moving the queen's rook but it hardly helps his piece harmony 12.ac1 b7 13.a3 f6 14.g5 0-0 15.xe6!? fxe6 16.xe6+ h8 17.xd7 xd7 ( 17...xd7 18.e5 2086

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e8 19.e6 is roughly equal) 18.xd6 xd6 19.xd6 e7 20.d2 f6 ( or 20...g5 21.h4 h6 22.e3 xe3 23.fxe3= ) 21.f3 e5 22.d5 ( 22.cd1 g8= ) 22...xd5 ( 22...xd5!? 23.exd5 a7+ 24.h1 c4 ) 23.exd5= g5 24.f1?! ( 24.e1!?= ) 24...c4 gave Black decent chances in Flitney,A-Xie,G/Canberra 2003. ] 10.f4 b5 11.b3 [ 11.xb5 is very tempting but probably not c o r r e c t i f B l a c k p l a y s a c c u r a t e l y axb5 12.xb5 b6 13.xd6+ xd6 14.xd6 ge7 ( 14...f6 15.ac1 a6 looks good for Black because W hite's attack is fairly slow ) 15.b4 0-0? ( 15...a6 would leave W hite with a lot of work to do in order to prove his sacrifice is worthwhile) 16.b5 e8 17.bxc6 xc6 18.e5 a6 19.e4 h6 20.ab1 b5 21.a4 1-0 Kripp,W-Schmidt,H/ Bergen Enkheim 1997. ] 11...b7 [ 11...b4 12.d5 anyone who plays this opening like to play the most spectacular move at every opportunity exd5 13.ac1! d4 ( 13...dxe4 14.xe4 f6 15.xc6+ xc6 16.xc6 leads to an ending where I favour White's chances due to his lead in development) 14.a4 d7 15.xc6 xc6 16.xd4 with a clearly winning position, Morvay,M-Arutyunyan,A/Budapest 1991. ] 12.ac1 The rook slides across to the c-file which is an obvious to do with the queen on c7. f6?! [ 12...b8 is worth considering to avoid any tricks. ] 13.d5! A textbook way of exploiting the queen on c7 by using the extra development to create a tactic. exd5 [ Or 13...xd5 14.exd5 still leaves Black struggling ] 14.exd5 0-0 15.dxc6 c8 [ 15...xc6 m e r e l y a l l o w s 16.d4 and Blac k c an st op pa cking th e pie ce s away. ] 16.e1 h5 [ Or 16...d8 17.d3 e7 18.xe7! xe7 19.xd6 wins. ] 17.g5 xg5 [ 17...f6!? is a better reply but White is still on top ] 18.xg5 g6

[ 18...f6 19.xf7 d5 20.g5+- ] 19.xf7 f4? Well, it was losing anyway but this makes sure Black doesn't waste any more time playing. [ Or 19...d5 20.g5 g7 21.xd5 looks bleak. ] 20.xd6+ 1-0

1935 Carr,Neil L Plaskett,Jim British Championship (1) [Gary Lane]

B21

1984

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 d6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 f6 [ 8...a6 9.d1 c7 10.f4 f6 11.e5 h5 12.exd6 xf4 13.dxc7 xe2+ 14.xe2 0-0 ( 14...d7 is probably more to the point in trying to round up the c-pawn as quickly as possible with ...Rc8) 15.ac1 f6 ( 15...b4 16.ed4 a5 17.e2 xc7 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xc6= ) 16.d2 a5 ( 16...e8!? ) 17.d3 b6 a compromise but the knight cannot safely retreat 18.b4 b7 19.e4 a5 20.b5 a7 21.a4 ( 21.c6!?+- ) 21...e7 22.xb7 xb7 23.e5 f6 24.d7 e8?? ( if 24...f7 then 25.b8 maintains the pressure by preparing Rd8+) 25.c6+J. W alker-R.S. Thynne/Teignmouth Championship 1984. ] 9.d1 e5 This is the main line. Also possible: [ 9...d7 10.g5 b8 11.b5 ( 11.ac1 a6= ) 11...0-0 12.xf6 xf6 13.xd6 e5 A) 14.xe5 xe5 15.xf7 xf7 ( 15...xh2+ 16.h1 b5 17.b3 xf7 18.xd7 xd7 19.xe6+ f7 20.h5 when W hite is on top) 16.xd7 xd7 ( 16...xh2+ 17.h1 xd7 18.xe6+ h8 19.xd7 leaves White with an extra pawn ) 17.xe6+ f7=; B) 14.h3 c6 B1) 15.b5 xf3+ 16.xf3 xb5 ( 16...xb2 17.xc6 xa1 18.xb7= ) 17.xb5 xb2 gives Black an edge.; B2) 15.ab1 a6 16.b3 b5 ( 16...c7 17.xe5 xe5 18.c4 ) 17.bc1 xf3+ 18.xf3 b6 ( 18...d7!? is a quiet but reliable after 19.c2 a5 2087

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 w i t h e q u a l c h a n c e s) 19.xf7! a nice tactic to rip apart Black's defence xf7 ( 19...xf7 is met by 20.d6 wi t h e x c e l l e n t c h a n c e s) 20.xe6 A pinning theme b7 21.xc6! xc6 22.d5 e8 23.e5! aa7 ( 23...xe5 allows 24.xf7+ to win handsomely upon xf7 25.xa8+ f8 26.d8 ) 24.exf6 gxf6 25.xf6 ad7 26.xf7+ xf7 27.h4 with a winning advantage, Esenov,A-Rajmohan,M/Denizli, 2003. ] 10.h3 0-0 11.e3 e6 12.ac1 c8 [ 12...h6 13.b4 e8 ( 13...b8 14.xe6 fxe6 15.b5 a5 16.a4 b6 17.a2 f7 18.g4 b7 19.g5 xe4 20.g6+ f6 21.b1 xc3 22.xc3 ac8 23.h4 e4 Black is better but with the king on f6 there is still a chance and the game was eventually drawn, Herrstrom,T-Eriksson,M/ Sweden 2000.) 14.a3 a6 15.a2 xc4 16.xc4 c8 17.d5 ( 17.d3 d7= ) 17...xd5 18.xd5 h8 19.g4 c7 20.d3 d7 21.cd1 g8 22.a2 c8 23.g2 e8 24.d2 b5 ( 24...g5 25.xg5 hxg5 26.f3= ) 25.f1 ( 25.c1 c7 26.dc3 b7= ) 25...b7 26.g3 ed8 ( 26...a5 is promising for Black) 27.f5 f8 28.f3 ( 28.d5!?= ) 28...a5 29.bxa5 xa5 30.d5 c8 ( 30...c4 31.b1 ) 31.a4= ( 31.xd6?! allows xd6 32.xd6 xd6 33.xd6 c4 when Black is on top ) 31...dc7 32.g3 ( 32.e2 c2 33.1d2 xd2 34.xd2 b3 35.axb5 c2= ) 32...c2 ( 32...c4!? 33.xb5 a8 with good prospects for Black) 33.b1 g6 34.xb5 ( 34.xb5? gxf5 35.gxf5 xb5 36.axb5 c4-+; 34.xh6+?! xh6 35.xh6 b4= ) 34...c7 35.b6?? Oh dear! ( instead 35.xh6+ xh6 36.xh6 is fine for White) 35...c4 36.e3 e2 37.xc2 xc2 38.h1 ( 38.xc2 xc2 39.bd5-+ ) 38...g2+ 39.h4 e7+ 0-1 Dubois,JK o s t e n , A / Fr e n c h T e a m C h a m p i o n s h i p 1989. ] 13.xe6 [ 13.b5 is worth investigating ] 13...fxe6 14.b4 a6 15.b5 b8?! [ Or 15...axb5 16.xb5 d7 allows Black to hang on with a slight edge. ] 16.xe5 a5 [ 16...dxe5? 17.xd8 is obviously good for

White. ] 17.f3 [ 17.c4 is e ve n b e t t e r b e ca u s e b4 18.d4 c5 19.a4 with advantage to White. ] 17...xc3 18.d2 xb5 19.xb5 xc1 [ Or 19...axb5 20.xc3 xe4 21.c7 with advantage to White due to the active rook. ] 20.b3 xd1+ 21.xd1 xe4 22.e3 d7 23.d4 If you count the material then Black has a slight edge but the practical reality is that it is much easier for White to conduct the rest of the game. ec5 24.b3 d5 [ 24...b5 25.e2 f6 26.xc5 xc5 27.d4= ] 25.d4 [ 25.g4 e8= ] 25...f4 [ 25...b6 26.g4 f6 27.g3= ] 26.c1 e4 [ 26...f8 27.e3 ( 27.xc5 xc5 28.xc5 c8 and Black has an edge; 27.xc5 xc5 28.xc5 c8 w i t h a n e d g e) 27...b6 28.xc5 xc5 29.a4 when White has the slightly better chances. ] 27.f3 [ 27.xc5!? is a good choice when xc5 28.xc5 is go o d n e ws f o r W h i t e c4 29.e3 xc5 30.xe6+ f8 31.f5+ and White is better. ] 27...h4 28.e1 f7 29.g3 xb3 30.xg7+ e8 31.f2 [ 31.h8+ f8 32.f2= ( 32.axb3? xd4! 33.xh7 c5-+ )] 31...f8 [ 31...bc5 32.xh4 xh4 33.xh7 f6= ] 32.g8 h6 33.axb3 e7 34.e3 h5 [ 34...g6 35.xh7+ g7+- ] 35.g4 e5 36.xh7+ d8 37.f2 a5 [ 37...d4 38.xd4 b5 39.g8+- ] 38.f4 c5+ [ 38...d6 39.f7+- ] 39.f1 d4 40.xe5 xe5 41.g5 1-0

2088

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1936 Carrettoni,Angelo Costa,Francesco EMPES02B e-mail [Jonathan Rowson]

B21 2345 2276 2003

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 While I am happy to answer subscribers questions on any antiSicilian, I should let it be known that I think the Morra gambit is basically losing for White. Tha t d oe sn't mea n you sh ou ldn 't play it , because it has a certain amount of practical strength and can be tricky for Black to deal wi t h a t s u b - I M l e ve l . H o w e ve r , f r o m a n objective or theoretical point of view, I don't think there is a way to 'fix it' because, as far as I can tell, you need more than two extra tempi to justify losing a centre pawn. dxc3 4.xc3 d6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 f6 7.e2 [ 7.e5 dxe5 8.xd8+ xd8 9.xe5 e8 doesn't seem to give white enough comp for the pawn because he is only a few tempi ahead and Black has time to get organised. ] 7...a6 8.0-0 [ 8.e5 dxe5 9.xe5 b5 10.b3 e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.d1 This gives White some initiative, but again I'm not at all sure that it's enough for the pawn. ] [ 8.a4!? is possible, but a6 is much more useful for Black than a4 is for White. ] 8...b5 9.b3 bd7 10.a3 A clear sign that something has gone wrong. White's only comp for the pawn is TIME, and if he has to take this time for moves like a3, Black will soon catch up and White will have nothing to show for the material disadvantage. [ 10.f4 b7 11.fd1 ( 11.e5 dxe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.xe5 e7 also looks fine- the heart of the matter is that Black has no weaknesses and that his extra pawn on e6 is extremely useful for keeping White at bay. ) 11...b4 12.a4 xe4 doesn't look too good either. ] 10...e7 11.d1 0-0 12.f4 b6 13.e3 b8 14.d4 b7 15.f3 If White had pawn on c2 here it would be a normal Sicilian, with perhaps a slight edge for Black, but without the pawn on c2 Black should be winning. e8 16.ac1 e5 17.a2 d5 18.f4 c4 19.e5 g4! 20.f2 xf2 21.xf2 a7 22.c2 ac8 23.ce2 b6 24.b1 b4 25.axb4

xb4 26.b3 a3 27.xc8 xc8 28.d3 c5 29.h1 g6 30.f1 b5 31.xb5 axb5 32.d1 a8 33.e1 b4 34.c2 a2 35.ed4 So far Black has played very sensibly and he just nee ds to f ind a wa y through. e7 [ Beginning with 35...a6 makes more sense to me-improving the worst piece. ] 36.d3 c5 37.b1 a5 38.h3 c5 39.h2 White was now rewarded for his stubborn defence. h5?? 40.xe6! b6 [ 40...fxe6 41.g3 h4! 42.xg6+ f7 43.f6+ e8 might give Black survival chances. 44.d4 xd4 45.g6+ d8 46.f7 c8 47.g8+ d8 48.f8 c7 49.xd8 f2 And White probably has to make a perpetual. ] 41.g3 h4 42.g5 [ 42.xg6+ fxg6 43.cd4 f7 44.g5+ g7 45.de6+ h6 46.f7+ h7 47.fg5+ gives an amusing draw. ] 42...c8 43.cd4 xe6 44.xg6+ fxg6 [ 44...f8 45.xe6+ e7 is more tenacious, because now there is a threat of Ra1. ] 45.xg6+ Now it's easy. f8 46.h6+ g8 47.xe6+ h7 48.f7+ h8 49.f5 xg2+ 50.xg2 a2+ 51.f3 f2+ 52.g4 1-0

1937 Carrothers,Charles Cole,James Redlands [Gary Lane]

B21

18.04.2000

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 It is probably best for Black t o im m e d ia t e l y s t ri ke in t h e ce n t r e . T h e reason why White is playing the line without 2 Nc3 is that in certain situations when Black puts a knight on d4, there is the extra option t o g e t r i d o f i t w i t h c 3 . 3.exd5 f6 This is known as Tal's Gambit but he was certainly not the first person to play it. The idea is that Black can get on with development rather than take back with the queen. 4.b5+ An important move because [ 4.c4 just blocks in the light-squared bishop ca u si n g t h e W h i t e p i e ce s t o b e r a t h e r 2089

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 cramped. ] 4...d7 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 e6 7.e2 d6 [ 7...e7 8.dxe6 fxe6 9.f3 0-0 10.e5 d6 11.c3 a6 12.0-0 c6 13.d3 and W hite's extra pawn gave him the advantage in Carrothers-J.Cole, Redlands (1) 2000. ] 8.d3 0-0 9.dxe6 [ 9.f3 exd5 10.e5 c7 11.0-0 e8 12.c3 c6 ( 12...xe5 13.fxe5 xe5 14.f3 d4 15.b5 c6 is good for Black.) 13.b5 d4 14.xd4 cxd4 15.f2 xe5 16.fxe5 g4 17.xd4 b6 18.c5 ( 18.xb6! axb6 19.d4 dxc4 20.h3 h6 21.xh6 gxh6 22.a3 and the ending is bet te r f o r W h it e th anks to t he sup erio r pawn structure.) 18...e6 19.f4 xe5 20.xe5 xe5 and the chances were level in C.Carrothers-J.Cole, Redlands (5) 2000. ] 9...fxe6 10.f3 c6 11.c3 ae8 12.0-0 e5 13.e4 [ 13.f5 This is one of the lines featured in my book on the Grand Prix Attack d4 14.d1 xf5 15.g5 ( perhaps 15.g5!? ) 15...g4 ( 15...c7 16.xf6 xf6 17.d5 fe6 18.g5 g6 19.d2 d8 20.e4 d6 21.xc5 xc4 22.dxc4 b6 23.f6+ 1-0 Carrothers,C-Cole,J/California 2000/ [ L a n e ] ( 2 3 )) 16.d2 h6 17.h3 g3 18.fe1 hxg5 19.hxg4 xg4 20.xg5 f5 21.ce4 e7 22.f3 xf3 23.gxf3 xe4+ 24.g2 xg2+ 25.xg2 d6 26.xe5 f6 27.xe8+ xe8 28.e1 f7 29.b3 d4 30.g3 f6 31.f4 g6 32.g5 f2 33.h1 e3+ 34.f4 g7 35.h6 xf4+ 36.xf4 xh6 37.e5 g7 38.d4 cxd4 39.xd4 f8 40.e5 e7 41.f4 d6 0-1 C.Carrothers-J.Cole, Redlands (11) 2000. ] 13...exf4 14.b3 g4 15.b2 ce5 16.xd6 xf3+? [ There are times in a game when it is sensible to keep things simple so Black s h o u l d p l a y 16...xd6 17.xe5 xe5 18.ae1?! f3! 19.e4 f2+ 20.xf2 xf2 21.xe5 f8 gives Black the better game. ] 17.xf3 e3 A desperate measure to complicate matters now that the mistake by Black is obvious. [ 17...xd6 18.xg4 wins. ] 18.d5+

[ 18.xb7 wins for White. ] 18...e6 19.ae1 e3 20.e5?? A easy mistake to make. Carrothers is naturally concerned with protecting the knight a n d m a k e s a d r a m a t i c m i s t a k e . xd5 21.cxd5 xe5 22.xe5 xd6 23.fe1 h6 24.1e4 f3 It is to Cole's credit that he quickly finishes off the game in style. 25.g3 f2+ 26.f1 f6 27.e2 f3 0-1

1938 Chaplain,Fabrice Abergel,Thal French Team Ch (1) [Gary Lane]

B21 2278 2000

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.c4 e6 6.f3 c7 A normal ping move but in recent years it has also heralded the start of a stout defence based on counterattacking in the opening. 7.0-0 [ 7.b5 b8 8.0-0 a6 9.c3 f6 10.e2 g4 W ho can see the threat?? 11.b3? Obviously not White. d4! 0-1 D.RobertsonM.Rattray, Perth 1995. ] 7...f6 8.e2 [ 8.h3 is probably the best way to avoid Black's sneaky trick. ] 8...g4 9.h3 [ 9.b3 d4! 0-1 G.Tesinszky-E. Magerramov, Budapest 1990. ] [ 9.g5 d4! wins ] 9...d4 The Classic position known as 'The Siberian Trap'. 10.b5 xf3+ 0-1

1939 Colding,E Krush,Irina 9th Open Foxwoods USA (1) [Andrew Martin]

B21 2186 2464 04.04.2007

Coming up a good reason why W hite shouldn't take on e6 in the old main line of the Morra. 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 d6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 f6 9.d1 e5 Rarely played these days but good enough for easy equality in my 2090

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 view. With 9...e5 Black plans ....0-0 and ..Bg4. I t ' s a m o o t p o i n t wh e t h e r W h i t e s h o u l d respond with 10 h3 or 10 Be3, but Black has no problems in either case. 10.h3 0-0 11.e3 h6! White's positional idea to dominate d5 is obvious, so Black cuts it out. Black further plans ...Be6. I used to play the Morra myself as a kid and found this solid idea so difficult to meet, eventually I gave the whole opening up. 12.ac1 e6! Both covering d5 and enticing White to capture, after which Black gets kingside play with the help of ..Qe8-g6. 13.xe6 fxe6 14.b4 [ I believe I've seen 14.b5 d7 15.c5 mentioned somewhere, 'with compensation'. After ad8! 16.c2 a6 17.a4 c7 I'm afraid I just don't understand that comment. ] 14...e8!N As befits her aggressive style, Krush comes up with an active plan. The qu e e n ge t s o f f t h e d a n g e ro u s d f ile a n d relocates to g6. [ 14...a6 15.a4 plays into White's hands by offering a queenside target: e8 16.b5 ( 16.c4 f7 17.b5 axb5 18.axb5 a5 19.d3 ac8 20.a4 xc1 21.xc1 d8 22.xd6 xe4 23.xe5 Friedrich, WLobenhofer, R/Regensburg 1997) 16...d8 ( 16...axb5 17.axb5 d8 ) 17.b6 f7 18.d2 d7 19.c4 axb5 20.axb5 d5 21.exd5 exd5 22.xd5 It has been instructive to note how Lendwai has made use of the weak square on b6. g5 23.c2 a4 24.xe5 xe5 25.xe5 e6 26.g3 e8 27.d6 h5 28.e1 xh3 29.ce2 d8 30.xd8 d4 31.e8+ h7 32.f8 1-0 Lendwai, R-Drinovec, A/Velden 1993 ] 15.b5 [ 15.b5 d8 is different. White has no immediate entry point on the queenside. ] 15...d8 16.xa7 xb4 17.b2 c6 18.b5 [ So that if 18.xb7 xa7 19.xa7 xe4 20.c7 g6! gives Black a decided initiative. ] [ Meanwhile 18.d2 xa7 19.xa7 a4! sees the Black queen leaping into the action from a different angle. ] 18...xe4 19.c7 g6 20.h2 b8! 21.c2 d5 This is very bad for White of course and it is difficult to find a spot where

he could have improved. 22.d2 bc8! 23.f3 [ 23.xe4 xc7 24.g3 xc2 25.xc2 e4-+ ] 23...g3+ 24.h1 xd2 25.xe6 [ 25.xd2 xc7 ] [ 25.xd2 xc7 ] 25...xf3 26.gxf3 xh3+ I am not saying what Krush did refute the Morra, only that opening textbooks tend to paint a rosy picture about White's chances in this variation and that as you have seen, the defence is not that difficult! 0-1

1940 Costa,Fernando JM Morais,Mario Figueira Foz Open (2) [Gary Lane]

B21

1999

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 f6 8.g5 g4 This natural looking move is exactly what White wants. [ 8...e6 should be considered. ] 9.b3! At a stroke White has the advantage by attacking both b7 and f7. e6 10.xb7 a5 [ 10...c8 11.xa6! is great for White who is now a pawn up. ] 11.b4 xc4 [ 11...xf3 12.a4+ d7 13.xa5 xe4 14.b5 wins ] [ 11...d5 12.a4+ d7 13.xa5 dxc4 14.e5 b7 15.xf6 gxf6 16.xg4 leaves White with an extra piece. ] 12.xc4 xf3 13.c6+! e7 14.gxf3 I think it is better to maintain the tension rather than stake everything on sacrificing a piece to open up lines. [ 14.d5+ exd5 15.exd5 xd5 16.fe1+ e6 17.b7+ e8 18.c6+ e7 19.b7+ d7? Black should accept the perpetual check and agree a draw 20.xa8 and White i s on top because Black will have big problems getting his pieces active. ] 14...c8 15.a4 The opening has been a success for White. A barrage of threats has forced Black to severely compromise his 2091

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 po s itio n . T h e king o n e 7 lo o ks d ist inct ly 12.d2 unsafe and gets in the way of the kingside [ 12.e3 a5 13.ac1 ( 13.d4 gf6 pieces. And how many pawns has Costa lost 14.e5 dxe5 15.xe5 xe5 16.xe5 in achieving this? None! h6 16.e3 e5 0-0; 13.a3 gf6 gives standard Morra 17.g2 g5 18.ac1 b7 19.fd1 compensation, but it is very hard to believe It is easy for Costa to put his pieces on good in White's position, which is normal in every squares because moving the rooks to the c way except he's a pawn down! 14.ac1 ) and d files is a natural strategy for Morra 13...b4 14.a4 gf6 ] players. g7 20.a3 hd8 21.d5+ xd5 12...gf6 13.ad1 A very straightforward 22.xd5 e6 23.c3 plan, but does it work?' e5 [ 23.cd1 f8 and Black can continue to [ H o w d o e s B l a c k f a r e a f t e r 13...b4? struggle on with a dour defence. ] All the variations seem to be good for Black: 23...ab8 24.b3 c6 25.dd3 g4 14.xd6 ( 14.a4 b5!; 14.b1 xe4 Black gets top marks for trying to organise 15.d4 dc5 16.c2 e5 ) 14...bxc3 counterplay but White can deal with it more 15.bxc3 xd6 16.xd6 b5 17.c4 tha n a dequat ely. 26.fxg4 xe4+ 27.f3 h5-+ Upon examination of these lines I am c4? forced to conclude that doubling Rooks 1-0 against d6 is not sufficient. ] 14.g5 0-0 15.h4 g6 16.h6 fd8 17.f3 1941 B21 [ 17.f3 intending Ng5, may have been b e t t e r, b u t a f t e r c5 18.d5 xd5 David,Edwin 2205 19.xd5 xd5 20.xd5 e6 I still prefer Borchgrevink,Harald 2297 Black. ] TCh-NOR 2006-7 (8) 10.03.2007 17...c5! The weakness of the e4 pawn and [Andrew Martin] the Knight on h4 tell the story of this opening. 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 The Morra Gambit has not been effective on 5.f3 a6 6.c4 b5 A move order which this occasion. 18.f5 Rather desperate. gxf5 attempts to cut down on White's options, not 19.g3+ g4 20.exf5 [ 20.h3 xb3 21.axb3 d5!! attacks h6 and to mention the immediate gain of a tempo. brings the whole Black position to life. ] 7.b3 b7 8.e2 d6 9.0-0 e7 10.d1 20...h8! g2 creaks as well. 21.f6 xf6 d7 11.f4 b6 [ To date 11...b8 has been more common, 22.xg4 xb3! 23.f5 [ 23.axb3 g8 24.xd6 xd6 25.xg8+ where Black keeps his Queen shielded from xg8 26.xd6 xg2+ 27.f1 h4 view. W ell, W hite is down to one decent should be simple enough. ] move in my book: A) 12.g5 gf6! 13.xe6 ( 13.xe6 23...d5 24.axb3 e6-+ Black is playing very fxe6 14.xe6 c5 15.d5 xd5 well indeed. Note that White never gets to use 16.xd5 xd5 17.exd5 0-0! ) 13...fxe6 his Rooks effectively. 25.h5 d4 26.e2 14.xe6 f7 15.g5+ g8 16.c2 g8 27.f3 xb3 28.g3 g6 29.e1 c8 30.e4 xe4 31.xe4 a5 32.f4 exf4 c7! with the idea of ...Qc4 if needed.; B) 12.d2 gf6! 13.xd6 xd6 33.xf4 c4 34.de2 c6 35.f3 d7 14.xd6 xd6 15.xd6 b4 16.e5 bxc3 36.e5 xe5 37.xe5 d3 38.d2 d4+ 17.exf6 cxb2 18.b1 xf6 Nikhelesh, K- 39.e3 c1+ 40.f2 h4+ Now it is a question of finding improvements for White. Vioreanu, B/Goa 2002; C) 12.e5! xf3 ( 12...d5 13.ac1 b4 They will not be easy to come by. Once White 14.xd5! xd5 15.xd5 exd5 16.e6 puts his Bishop on c4 the die is already cast. xf4 17.exd7+ xd7 18.c2!; 12...b4 0-1 13.a4 bxc3 14.xd7+ xd7 15.exd6 f6 16.bxc3 ) 13.xf3 xe5 14.xe5 dxe5 15.c6+ f8 16.ac1 ] 2092

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1942 Diermair,Andreas Bui Vinh Elekes Mem Budapeste (10) [Gary Lane]

B21 2196 2420 27.05.2002

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 a6 9.d1 c7 10.f4 f6 I think this is Black's best reply if caught in this variation. 11.d2 White immediately puts pressure on the d6 pawn. [ 11.e5 is a natural response to try and take a d v a n t a g e o f t h e q u e e n o n c 7 dxe5 12.xe5 xe5 13.xe5 0-0 14.ac1 d6 15.f4 e7 ( 15...b5 16.d3 b7 is f i n e f o r B l a c k) 16.d3 ( 16.d3!? looks like a good idea to maintain some attacking options) 16...b5 17.b3 d7 ( 17...b7!? looks more logical) 18.cd1 c5+ 19.h1 fd8 ( 19...e8 20.e4 i s a b o u t e q u a l) 20.e4 ( 20.f5!? is more positive when e8 21.fxe6 fxe6 22.e4 xe4 23.xe4 xd3 24.xd3 the position is about equal) 20...xe4 21.xe4 e8 22.h3 g6 23.f1 ( 23.hd3 xd3 24.xa8 xd1+ 25.xd1 f8 is better for Black) 23...d6 24.e1 e7 25.g3 h8 ( 25...d4 26.f5 exf5 27.d3-+ ) 26.h6 f6?? ( 26...f6 a l l o w s B l a c k t o f e n d o f f t h e a t t a c k) 27.xg6+! xg6 28.xg6 d4 29.xe6 xb2?? 30.f5 ( 30.f7! leads to a quick mate but thankfully White still managed to win, Bristina,H-Pleskot,S/Australian Championship reserves 2004. )] [ 11.ac1 is a good choice to try and exploit the black queen A) 11...b8 12.e5 h5 13.g5 xg5 14.xg5 f4 15.f3 dxe5 16.ce4 0-0 ( 16...f6 allows White to create a lightening attack after 17.d6+ f8 18.gf7 g8 19.g3 g6 20.xc8 xc8 21.g5 when Black is in big trouble) 17.g3 d5 18.h5 h6 19.xd5!! exd5 20.xd5 e7 21.f6+ gxf6 22.xf7 f5 ( 22...a5 is met by 23.c4 with a winning position. For example: a4 24.xh6 xf7 25.h4 leading to mate; 22...b5 is met by 23.c6 and the attack continues) 23.xh6+ g7 24.xf5+ xf5 25.g4+ h8 26.xf5

b5 27.xa8 xa8 28.c7 1-0 Schmidt,WGeberl,H/Germany 1994.; B) 11...0-0 12.h3 B1) 12...h6 13.e5 dxe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.xe5 a5 16.d3 b4 ( 16...b5? allows 17.xf6 xf6 18.e4 when the twin threats spell disaster for Black ) 17.a3 h4 18.f4 gave White sufficient compensation for the pawn, Sola, R-Zuriel,M/Villa Ballester 2000.; B2) 12...d7 13.b3 fe8 14.e5 dxe5 15.xe5 b5? 16.e4 Suddenly Black is suffering with lots of tactics available for White d5 17.xd5 exd5 18.xd5 d4 19.xd4 1-0 Lukacs,A-Bollaart,J/ Utrecht 2001. ] [ 11.d2 0-0 12.e5 dxe5 13.xe5 d6 14.g3 ( 14.xd6 xd6 15.g6 e5 16.xf8? exf4 wins ) 14...xe5 0-1 Hohmann,G-Wegner,C/Berlin 1993. ] 11...e5 [ 11...b5 12.d3 0-0 is roughly equal despite Black's extra pawn. ] 12.e2 0-0 13.ac1 b8 14.g5 b5 15.xe5 dxe5 16.e3 b7 17.b6 [ Or 17.a3 h6 18.h4 d5 with an edge for Black. ] 17...d8 18.e3 a7 19.g3 xe4 20.xe4 xe4 21.xd8 axd8 22.xd8 xd8 23.xe5 a8 24.f1 d5 25.a3 c8 26.c3 xc3 27.xc3 c6 28.xc6 xc6 The big problem is that White is still a pawn down and with the attack a distant memory the grim reality is a lost ending. 29.f4 f8 30.f2 e7 31.e3 d6 32.g3 e5 33.d3 h6 34.fxe5+ xe5 35.h4 g5 36.hxg5 hxg5 37.a4 f5 38.axb5 axb5 [ 38...xb5 39.c2 is also winning. ] 39.f1 b4 40.c4 e4 41.b3 f4+ 42.gxf4+ gxf4+ 43.f2 d4 44.e2 d5 45.c2 c4 46.d2 f3 47.a4 g4 48.c2 d4 49.d3 f3 50.f1 e6 51.d3 c4 [ 51...c4 52.f5 f2-+ ] 0-1

2093

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B21 ways to kill off the game. For example, [ 19.xb7 xb7 20.d2! e7 21.d6 2351 xd6 22.xd6 winning a piece. ] 2565 20.xe5 d5 21.c1 f6 19.06.2010 19...xe5 T h e r e wa s n o r e a l i m p r o ve m e n t . 22.f5! A very stylish mating combination. The Morra can still fell a good GM, but only if he avoids 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 [ My vote would go to 4...c6 5.f3 d6 the approved defence. 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 f6 when theory and 1-0 practice agrees that W hite is struggling. 8.e2 ( 8.h3 e6 puts White a tempo down B21 on lines where Black volunteers an earlier ... 1944 e7-e6. ) 8...g4 9.d1 e6 10.f4 b8 ] Djurhuus,Rune 2483 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 c6 8.e2 b5 Dannevig,Oystein 2350 9.b3 a7 This is a rather popular anti-Morra Norwegian Ch (4) 05.07.1999 line, but I like White. 10.d1 d7 11.f4 [Gary Lane] [ 11.g5 has been tried, but White has no need for panic measures. ] 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 This challenge to the centre 11...e7 12.ac1 b7 13.e5! Logically is generally regarded as Black's best response using his lead in development by opening the to 2 f4. It is the reason why 2 Nc3 is more centre. fashionable to stop ...d5. 3.exd5 f6 4.b5+ [ The extremely passive 13.a3 seems to be A logical move because an early c4 to support the most popular choice in my database, the d5 pawn would block in the light-squared which is surprising. ] bishop. d7 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 e6 7.e2 13...h6?N A novelty that should never be d6 The bishop targets f4 and helps to repeated. Even so, I cannot find a route to prepare the advance ... e5. 8.d3 0-0 9.dxe6 equality for Black. fxe6 10.f3 c6 11.0-0 ae8 12.c3 e5 [ 13...dxe5 14.xe5N ( 14.xd7 13.f5 d4 has been tested 3 times, but White has at [ Or 13...xf5 14.g5 e4 15.dxe4 xe4 best equality after xd7 15.xe5 xe5 16.ae1 f6 17.d2 xe1 18.xe1 e5 16.xe5 f6 17.a4 ) 14...xe5 15.xe5 1/2-1/2 A. Schmied-E.Brondum, f6 16.xb5! axb5 17.xb5 Black suffers Copenhagen 1997. ] from his lack of development and a nasty pin. 14.d1 e4!? This is an interesting alternative The best I can find is xg2 18.xg2 0-0 to open up the position. 19.xd7 ( the point of Black's counter[ 14...xf5 15.g5 b8 16.ge4 sacrifice on g2 is that if 19.xf6 he has with roughly equal chances. ] a8+ ) 19...xd7 20.g3 White's bishops 15.dxe4 xe4 16.xd4 cxd4 17.xe4 a n d p a s s e d p a w n s s h o u l d b e t h e k e y xe4 18.d3 e5 19.f6 The f-pawn is feature, as Black is not active enough to doomed so it makes sense to try and disturb m a k e a n y u s e o f W h i t e ' s l o o s e n e d Black's kingside pawn barrier. h5 20.h3 kingside. ] e6 [ T r y i n g t o b l o c k t h e c e n t r e wi t h 13...d5 [ If 20...xf6 21.xf6 gxf6 22.d2 is logical, but W hite has a plan: 14.xd5! gives W hite the better games thanks to a xd5 ( 14...exd5? 15.e6 fxe6 16.xe6 superior pawn structure and a less exposed with threats against c6 and soon also f7.) king. ] 15.xd5 exd5 16.e6 ] 21.d2 xf6 22.xf6 xf6 23.f1 e7 14.exd6 xd6 15.xd6 xd6 16.e4! 24.b4 The black rook is running out of decent Black must have missed this move, as there is squares in view of the threat g4. h4 25.c5 no way he intentionally allowed a knight to e5 26.g5! Dannevig resigned because if land on d6 with check. xd1+ 17.xd1 e7 the bishop is taken then Qc4+ is followed by 18.d6+ f8 19.e5 White had various

1943 Dimitrov,Pavel Parligras,Mircea 4th Open Varna BUL (8) [John Shaw]

2094

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Rf8 mate. 1-0

1945 Djurhuus,Rune Hagesaether,Halvard Norwegian Ch (1) [Gary Lane]

B21 2484 2215 08.07.2000

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.b5+ bd7 This continuation is fairly rare but Yermolinsky has given it his seal of approval. 5.c4 a6 6.xd7+ [ 6.a4?! b5 7.cxb5 xd5 8.f3 g6 gives Black the better chances. ] 6...xd7 7.f3 [ 7.d4 A) 7...cxd4 is another approach which certainly produces positive results by opening the position for Black's active pieces. 8.xd4 e6 9.c3 c8 the rook targets the c-pawn and controls the c5 square 10.f3 c5 11.d3 0-0 12.e5 exd5 13.cxd5 g4! 14.e4 xe5 15.fxe5 f5 16.g3 e8 17.f4 f6 18.d1 White is obliged to give up the right to castle. ( 18.0-0-0 fxe5 19.d2 d4+ 20.b1 xd5 and Black is winning ) 18...fxe5 19.e3 a5 and Black had a strong attack in H. Mas-R. Aljamiat, Jakarta 1997.; B) 7...e6 This is the accepted formula of dealing with the pawn deficit by undermining the d-pawn and opening up the diagonal for the dark-squared bishop. Black is intent on rapid development. 8.dxe6 fxe6 9.f3 cxd4 ( 9...c6!? should be considered) 10.xd4 c8 11.e5 c5 12.d3 0-0 13.e3 b6 14.xc5 xc5 15.d2 ( 15.xd7 xd7 16.xd7 xb2 is better for Black.) 15...d8 16.e3 xe5?! 17.xe5 g4 18.c5! when White has fended off the attack and is winning, H.Mas-J.Pinski, Budapest 1997. ] 7...g6 Hagesaether wishes to fianchetto his king's bishop and whist his king to safety. This is all very well but he is a pawn down and it is probably more sensible to challenge the centre.

[ 7...e6 this is the direct approach aiming to undermine White's pawn centre and quickly d e v e l o p t h e k i n g s i d e p i e c e s . 8.dxe6 ( 8.e2!? is also played in this position) 8...xe6 9.d3 as usual the backward dpawn offers Black compensation for the pawn deficit. d6 10.0-0 0-0 11.c3 c7 12.g5 g4 13.c2 ad8 14.ge4 e7 15.e3 b6 16.f5 d7 ( 16...e5 17.ae1 xf5 18.f4 d4+ 19.e3 e5 20.f4= ) 17.xf6+ xf6 18.d5 and White was better in A.Schmied-P.Larsen,Copenhagen 1998. ] 8.0-0 g7 9.c3 0-0 10.d3 White resists the temptation to play [ 10.d4 which will give Black a target for his dark-squared bishop after exchanges on d4. ] 10...e6 At last Hagesaether finds time to advance his e-pawn which is the standard way of trying to weaken White's pawn centre. The difference in this game is that the delay has allowed Djurhuus to catch up on development offering more options. 11.e3! c8 12.dxe6 xe6 13.e5 d7 14.xd7 xd7 15.d2 fd8 16.f5?! [ 16.ad1 g4 17.e2 b5 gives Black active play. ] 16...xc4 17.dxc4 xd2 18.xd2 xd2 19.f6 f8 [ 19...h6 seems to be more energetic but 20.d5 f8 leaves White with a strong knight on d5. ] 20.f2 d4 [ 20...xf2 21.xf2 d8 22.d5 when the material is equal but W hite has more control of the position thanks to the strong knight. ] 21.b3 e8 22.f1 d6 23.g3 f8 The king edges closer to the centre but the p a wn o n f 6 i s a p a i n f o r h i m b e c a u s e i t restricts his movement. 24.e1 e6 25.xe6 fxe6 26.e2 f7 27.e4 The knight is better than the bishop in this ending as it can secure active outposts. Now White can boast of a protected passed pawn. The job now is to find a way to advance it. h6 28.h4 b5 29.g4 bxc4 30.bxc4 f4 31.g5 hxg5 32.hxg5 xc4 Black has managed to pick up a pawn but the threat of the passed f-pawn is always around and the obvious problem is that his 2095

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 king is obliged to defend against it's advance. 33.f2 d4 34.f3 e5 35.b2 d3+ [ 35...b4!? 36.c2 c4 37.d6+? e6 38.xc4 xg5-+ ] 36.g4 d4 37.b7+ f8 [ 37...e6 38.f7 d8 39.xc5+ d6 40.d7+ wins ] 38.xc5 d2+ 39.f3 d6 40.e7 xg5 41.e6+ xe6 [ 41...g8 42.f7+ h8 43.f8# ] 42.xe6 f7 43.xa6 xf6 44.a4 1-0

1946 Dubois,J M Fernando,Diogo Open Cappelle la Grande (7) [Gary Lane]

B21 2294 2404 01.03.2001

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 a6 [ Or 6...ge7 7.g5 h6? loses after ( 7...d6? 8.b5 is win n i n g) 8.b5 d5 9.exd5 exd5 10.f4 ] 7.0-0 ge7 Black reveals the idea behind his set-up. A knight developed on f6 is often a target for e4-e5 . Also if White puts a rook on the d-file and wishes to exploit the pin with e4e5 after ...d7-d6 then having a knight on g6 will mean Black will have more control of the e5 square . 8.g5 An understandable choice because the pin will oblige Fernando to play a pawn move which will weaken Black's kingside. f6 [ 8...d6 9.c1 h6 10.h4 g5 11.g3 g6 12.e2 This is a standard idea to coordinate the rooks and move them to the c/d files. g7 13.fd1 ce5 14.b3 f4 15.xf4 gxf4 16.d4 0-0 17.f3 ( Perhaps 17.f3!? should be considered) 17...b5 18.d2 g5 19.ce2 g6 20.c6 e5 21.h1 h4 22.dc1 f2 23.d3 b7 24.c7 ab8 25.h3 d5 and Black was better in L.Costa-S.Dumont,Pouso Alegre 1997 ] 9.f4 [ 9.h4 b5 ( 9...g6 10.g3 transposes to the main game.) 10.b3 a5 11.c2 g6 12.e5 e7 ( 12...b7!? should be considered) 13.exf6 xf6 14.xf6 gxf6

( 14...xf6 15.e4 xb2 16.b1 a3 17.d6+ e7 18.d4 xd6 19.xg7+ d8 20.xg6 f8 21.c3 when White has excellent play for the pawn) 15.d4 b7 16.h5 f7 Black gives up the right to ca s t l e wh i c h i n d i c a t e s t h e s t r e n g t h o f White's attacking possibilities 17.fd1 c7 18.ac1 e5 19.f5 d5 20.e1 f4 ( 20...c7 21.h6+ e7 22.xg6 hxg6 23.xd5+ f8 24.h4 wins ) 21.e2 g5 22.d6+ g7 23.xg5 fxg5 24.xb7 xb7 25.xg6 xg6 26.d4 1/2-1/2 L. Deak-Z.Kohlrusz, Hungary 1999. ] 9...g6 10.g3 b5 [ The immediate 10...e7 is also possible. 11.h4 xh4 12.xh4 0-0 13.b3 b5 14.f4 White's good attacking chances are based on the fact that it is easier to develop and ma noe uvre his p ieces to wards th e kingside. f5 15.xe7 xe7 16.d6 a5 17.ad1 a6 18.d4 b6 19.e5 c6 20.xb6 xb6 21.d6 a4 22.d1 b8 23.e2 a7 24.fd1 f7 25.xd7+! xd7 26.xd7+ g6 27.xa7 gave White a winning advantage in H.Spengler-H.Daum, Germany 1997. ] 11.d3 e7 12.a4 b4 13.d5 The first time I saw this remarkable move I thought it was a misprint! A closer look indicates that if taken it will allow White to launch a vicious onslaught. ce5 The master takes one look at the complications and declines the imaginative sacrifice. [ 13...exd5 14.exd5 ce5 15.d6! This the reason why the sacrifice works. Black's retarded development proves to be a curse when W hite's pieces are swarming around the black king. A) 15...f8 16.xe5 xe5 ( 16...fxe5 17.e1 b6 18.xe5 xe5 19.xe5+ d8 20.e8+!! If only this could have been played on the board it would have won the best game prize xe8 21.h5+ d8 22.g5+ e8 23.e1+ f7 24.c4# ) 17.xe5 fxe5 18.h5+ g6 19.xg6+ Showing off! hxg6 20.xg6#; B) 15...xd6 16.xg6+ xg6 17.xd6 b6 18.e1+ d8 19.c1 a7 20.c5 wins ] 14.xe5 fxe5 15.xe7 xe7 16.h5 The threat is 17 Bxe5. 0-0 17.ac1 d6 18.a5 2096

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d7 19.e2 The attack s faded but now White can look for other targets. It is not easy for Black to make the most of the extra. d8 20.a1 c8 21.d2 b8 22.fd1 d8 [ 22...c6 23.c4 xe4 24.xe6+ h8 25.a4 e8 26.b3 and White will get the pawn back with an edge. ] 23.c4 c8 The four queenside pieces look ugly a nd th is is ref lect ed in th e ir la ck o f mobility. 24.h4 c7 25.b3 b8 26.h5 f4 [ 26...f8 27.xe5 and the d-pawn is pinned. ] 27.xf4 exf4 28.xf4 b5 29.g4 The queen pinpoints e6 as a weak point in Black's camp, which deflects attention away from the threat to a5. e5 30.h6 g6 31.d4 c5 32.c4 a7 33.xc8! 1-0

1947 Dubois,J M Vorobiov,Evgeny E 23rd Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (4) [Andrew Martin]

B21 2242 2563 5.3.07

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 c7 7.0-0 f6 If long theoretical variations in the Morra Gambit exist, then the lines springing form this so-called 'Siberian Trap' contain some of the longest forcing ideas. Black's system is tricky, based on moves such as ..Ng4 and ... Nd4, taking away the guard of h2. White has found ways to combat these plans, but they don't convince me 100% 8.b5 b8 9.e5 g4 10.f4 a6 11.d6+ xd6 12.exd6 One of the main positio ns. W h ite will claim t hat his d arksquared Bishop and cramping pawn at d6 give him sufficient compensation. I am very doubtful. b5 [ 12...0-0 seems to be very reasonable, getting the King to safety before essaying ... b7-b5. 13.d4 ge5 14.xc6 xc6 15.g4 f5 16.g3 b5 17.e2 f6 18.h5 e5 19.fe1 ( 19.xe5 xe5 20.xe5 xd6 ) 19...e4 20.b3+ e6 21.ad1 b7 22.h4 f8 23.a4 a5 24.b4 c6 25.c5 bxa4 26.e2 h8 27.c4 Langner, L-Rachela, M/Slovakia 2006 ] 13.d4!?N

[ After 13.b3 comes b6 14.c1 b7 15.h3 f6 16.e5 d4! 17.f3 xe5 ( 17...e4 18.xe4 xe4 19.fe1 f6 20.d3 a5 21.c7 xb3 22.axb3 c6 23.b4 d5 24.xd5 xd5 25.ec1= White's initiative makes up for the pawn.) 18.xb7 0-0 19.e3 xb2 20.c2 a3 21.d4 ( 21.c5 a5 ) 21...fb8-+ ] [ Meanwhile 13.xe6 fxe6 14.g5 was t he spe culat ive ch oice of a rec en t author on the Morra: A) 14...f6 15.xe6 A1) 15...f7! 16.g5+ ( 16.c7 d8! 17.xa8 xa8 18.e5 e6 19.xf6 xf6 20.e1 b7 21.g4 g5 22.h3 h5 ) 16...f8 17.b3 d8 18.ae1 h6; A2) 15...dxe6 16.d7+ xd7 17.xb8 xb8 18.d6 e5 19.fe1 f7 20.ad1; B) 14...0-0 15.xg4 e5 16.h3 h6 17.b3+ h8 18.f7+ xf7 19.xf7 exf4 20.f8+ h7 21.f5+ g8 22.fe1 b7 23.xd7 c8 24.xc8+ xc8 25.d7 d8 26.e8+ f7 27.xd8 xd8 Langrock, H-Kouznetsova, E/ Bonn Roettgen 1999 28.e1+- ] 13...xd4 14.xd4 0-0 15.e2 f6 16.f3 b7 17.g5 d5 18.xd5 xd5 19.e7 c8 20.b3 c6 So far play has been forcing and I fail to see how White is going to have reconcile himself to a long struggle for the draw. There is no dark-squared initiative to sp e a k o f an d g7 lo o ks e a sy t o p ro t ec t . I suppose White's first task is to organise some sort of Rook-lift. 21.f4 e8 Planning ...f6 or ....f5. 22.ae1 f5 23.e3 f7 24.g3 h8! It is very easy to sidestep the White attack.. 25.d4 g8 26.h3 g6 27.g3 h5 28.f3 [ Now if 28.h3 g4 29.xg4 fxg4 30.h4 gc8 31.xg4 c2 As in all oppositecolour Bishop middlegames, the initiative is the key. ] 28...h6 29.a7 e8 Everything is safely p r o t e c t e d . 30.d4 h7 31.d1 c2 32.e5 c8 33.h4 xa2-+ 34.h2 xb3 35.d3 c4 36.f4 f2 37.xb3 xf4 38.bc3 b4 39.c8 g4 40.gc3 b2 The Siberian Trap still looks like a very good

2097

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 way to meet the Morra. 0-1

1948 Esserman,Mark Bartell,Thomas U.S. Chess League [David Vigorito]

B21

[ 22...h6 23.h4 does not help. ] 23.g5 fd7 24.xf7+ h8 25.e7 f8 26.xf8+ One of several ways to win. xf8 27.c8 1-0

1949 B21 Esserman,Mark Chandran,K H e r e E s s e r m a n t a k e s o n t h e C l a s s i c a l Sturbridge (6) 06.03.2010 Defence. 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 [David Vigorito] 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 f6 9.d1 e5 10.e3 Esserman shows how to handle the trappy [ Previously we have only covered 10.h3 'Siberian' variation. 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Esserman does not seem concerned by .. . dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 c7 Bg4, and Bartell does not bother playing it. ] [ This move signals Black's intention to play 10...0-0 the Siberian line. Instead 6...c5 7.0-0 [ 10...g4 must be critical, but I am not sure ge7 8.e5 0-0 9.e4 b6 10.g5 h6 if Black's bishop really wants to be on the 11.f6+ gxf6 12.xf6 e8 13.g5 f5 kingside after 11.h3 h5 ] 14.g4 e3 15.h5 f5 16.d3 e7 11.ac1 d7 17.xh6 xh6 18.h7# 1-0 was the [ 11...e6 immediately is probably an amusing miniature M. Esserman-Y.Guzman improvement. ] 2007 ] [ 11...a6 12.b4 g4 13.a3 c8 14.b3 h6 7.0-0 f6 8.b5! 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 gave White sufficient [ Only in this way can White exploit Black's compensation for the pawn in Esserman, M one-dimensional play. Instead 8.e2 g4 (2277) -Ginsburg, M (2372)/Miami 2007 9.h3?? ( 9.d1 c5 is also bad) 9...d4 b e c a u s e o f t h e b i s h o p p a i r a n d sp a c e is the trap that White must avoid. ] advantage. ] 8...b8 9.e5! xe5 12.a3 This looks slow, but White wants to gain [ A c o u p l e o f g a m e s w i t h 9...g4 space on the queenside. Black is not c a n b e f o u n d i n t h e a r c h i v e s : 10.d6+ positioned to do anything active anyway. a6 Milman, L (2356)-Ehlvest, J (2587)/New 13.b4 b5 14.b3 e6 York 2003 ( 10.f4 Dubois, J (2242) [ This invites White's next. Black should Vorobiov, E (2563)/Cappelle la Grande probably just play 14...c8 ] 2007 )] 15.d5! xd5 10.xe5 xe5 11.e1 c5 [ Again, 15...c8 looks safer. If 16.h3 xd5 [ After 11...b8 12.d4 d6 13.f4 e5 17.exd5 b8 looks tenable, because 14.xe5+! is crushing. ] B la c k ' s r o o k is d e ve lo p e d a n d W h it e ' s 12.f1! The key move! Now Rc1 is a big coming sacrifice does not work. ] threat. d5 16.exd5 b8? [ After 12...a6 13.e3 c6 14.a7! ( not [ 16...a7 Perhaps it is too easy to not take 14.c1? axb5! 15.xc6 bxc6 when Black the Morra seriously. After 17.xe5? fails to is actually better) 14...c7 15.c1 d8 dxe5 18.d6 xd6 19.c5 c8 16.c2! traps the bishop on c8! After b4 Instead White can play normally, when he 17.xc8 0-0 18.b6 xe1 19.xa8 has decent compensation for the pawn, but xf2+ 20.xf2 xa8 21.d4 White won in there is no knockout in sight. ] Rezzuti, V-Neborak, Y/email 1999. ] 17.xe5! dxe5 18.d6 xd6 19.c5 xc5 13.g5 White threatens 14.Qxd5 Qxd5 15. 20.xd8 xf2+ 21.xf2 xd8 22.g4! Nc7 a6 merciless exploitation of the initiative. a5 [ 13...f6 14.c1 e7 15.f4! xf4 2009

2098

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.c7+ f7 17.xa8 d8 18.d4 d5 19.c4 b4 20.ed1 b6 21.xe6+ xe6 22.c7+ 1-0 was EssermanBraylovsky, New York (rapid) 2003 ] 14.c1 b6 15.xd5 axb5 16.xb5 Compare both sides development! d6 [ Or 16...d6 17.c4 e7 ( 17...b8 18.xe6+! ) 18.xc8+ xc8 19.xc8+ d8 20.xd8# ] 17.xe6+ [ Black resigned rather than face 17.xe6+ fxe6 18.xe6+ f8 19.f5+ e8 ( 19...g8 20.c4# ) 20.xc8+ xc8 21.xd7# (Esserman) ] 1-0

[ 14...e7 15.xd6 ] 15.ac1 [ Not 15.g5 c5 ] 15...b6 [ Now 15...c5 loses to 16.xc5! xc5 17.xb7 with a crushing attack, for example a7 18.c6 c8 19.a4 d7 20.a5+ ] 16.g5! A total knockout. [ B l a c k r e s i gn e d . A f t e r 16.g5! e7 17.xd6! is the cleanest of many wins: ( 17.xf7+; 17.xd6 xd6 18.xd6 e4 19.xf7+ e8 20.xe4 xf7 21.xe7+ g6 22.xd7 ) 17...xb4 18.xf7+ e8 19.xe7+ f8 20.xb4+- ] 1-0

1950 Esserman,Mark Sarkar,Justin op Miami [David Vigorito]

1951 Esserman,Mark Van Wely,Loek US Open Orlando (3) [Richard Palliser]

B21

2008

In this game Esserm an plays a shockin g novelty and knocks out a strong IM. 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 5.f3 a6 6.c4 b5 7.b3 b7 8.0-0 b4 This move has been suggested before. 9.d5!? [ An amazing positional sacrifice! After 9.a4 xe4 White surely has some compensation, but whether or not it's enough for two pawns is questionable. ] 9...exd5 10.exd5 White is down a whole piece, but Black's king is exposed and it will be very difficult for him to develop his minor pieces. d6 11.d4! [ Also possible is 11.e1+ e7 12.xb4 but in this case Black's king is more likely to find shelter, even on f8. ] 11...f6 12.xb4 c7 [ After 12...c8 13.e1+ e7 14.f4 0-0 d o e s n o t s a v e B l a c k : 15.xe7 xe7 16.xd6 d8 17.e7! e8 18.e1 le a ve s B la c k t ie d u p , f o r e xa m p le fd7 19.h4! wins the queen. ] 13.f4 White threatens to corral the queen with 14.Rc1 Qd7 15.Ba4 bd7? [ 13...a5 14.fe1+ d8 looks like the only chance, but White has obvious compensation. ] 14.fe1+ d8

B21 2453 2683 04.08.2011

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 ge7 This defence has long had a good reputation against the Morra, although I've never been totally convinced, largely because of the line which the American expert on the opening now selects. 8.g5 f6 [ As Andrew Martin has said: 'It's a moot point whether this is good or not.' Yes, pushing the f-pawn is standard, but the alternatives, 8...h6 ] [ and 8...d6 followed by ...h6, deserve definite consideration. ] 9.e3! [ A somewhat more challenging approach than 9.h4 g6 10.g3 , which just helps Black to unravel with tempo and after, for instance, c5!? he went on to win in Simonsen-Conquest, Torshavn 2000 - see the Archive. ] 9...g6 [ This in connection with Black's next can o n l y b e d e s c r ib e d a s r is k y. A f t e r 9...b5 10.b3 Black can, of course, transpose to the game, but quite possibly he should prefer a5!? . White can then continue in gambit style with 11.d4!? ( or regain his pawn with 11.xe6 dxe6 12.xd8+ xd8 2099

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 13.b6+ e8 14.xa5 c6 , although surely only Black can be better here with the bishop-pair. )] 10.b3 b5 [ Van Wely is well-known for playing critical l i n e s , b u t I wo n d e r i f h e ' l l r e p e a t t h i s particular one. However, by this point it's not so easy to find anything better for Black, as shown by 10...e7 11.d5!? ( 11.a4 is also very possible) 11...exd5 12.exd5 a5 13.d6 when White seizes the initiative and after, for example, xb3 14.axb3 xd6 ( maybe 14...0-0!? 15.c5 e8 , although here W hite has at least 16.d5+ h8 17.dxe7 xe7 18.xe7 xe7 19.fe1 d6 20.xe7 xe7 21.e1 f8 22.d4 with ongoing compensation) 15.xd6 e7 16.b6 d6 17.ac1 the holes in Black's camp must give White more than enough for his pawn. ] 11.d5! [ The American IM must have been delighted to land this critical blow. He had previously preferred 11.h4 , b u t a f t e r b7 12.h5 ge5 13.xe5 xe5 14.f4 c4 15.xc4 bxc4 16.g4 c7 White didn't have quite enough for his pawn in Esserman-Simpson, Internet 2008. ] 11...exd5?! [ I've been tempted to criticise some of Black's previous moves on practical grounds and although I think Black can still draw after the text, he is forced to find a string of only moves. I can only imagine that Van Wely had been caught out in the opening or had mixed up his lines. In any case one would have thought the alarm bells would ha ve be en ringing by n o w an d t ha t t h e prudent 11...b8! would have been preferred. After 12.c1! ( this looks like a b e t t e r t r y t h a n t h e 12.e1 ce5 of Martin Sanchez-Makeev, correspondence 2 0 0 8 , w h e r e 13.c1? exd5! 14.xe5 xe5 15.f4 c4 16.exd5 f7 failed to give White enough for his piece) 12...a5! ( preparing to disturb White's bishop instead 12...exd5? 13.exd5 ce5 14.xe5 xe5 15.d6 echoed our main game and gave White some advantage in Zelic-Martinovic, Split 2007, as Andrew Martin has previously shown,; but 12...f7 is possible and then

13.d4 a5 14.f4 xb3 15.xb3 , as in Zelic-Doric, Sibenik 2007, followed by exd5!? 16.exd5 d6 17.f5 b6 looks a bit ropey, but Black's defences do hold in the event of 18.xc8 xc8 19.xb6 b8 ) A) or 13.a3 a4 14.a2 b4 15.xb4 xb4 16.axb4 xb4 ( 16...xb4?! 17.d2! xe4 18.b1 b7 19.xe4 xe4 20.xa4 xf3 21.gxf3 e7 22.fd1 doesn't give Black quite enough for the exchange) 17.xa4 and White had re gain e d h is p awn in Tin tu re -B o cc ia , c o r r e s p o n d e n c e 2 0 0 7 , b u t a f t e r a5 18.b3 decided that he had nothing better th an t o o f f er a dra w - th e p os it ion is , indeed, equal if not dead; B) 13.f4!? a4 14.xe6 dxe6 15.xg6 hxg6 16.xc6 xd1 17.xd1 e5 Black had returned the pawn to enjoy comfortable equality in Martin SanchezDorer, correspondence 2009. ] 12.exd5 ce5 [ Naturally Black must block the e-file. Instead 12...a5? 13.e1 e7 14.d6 just saw him being crushed in Zelic-Deur, Stobrec 2007. ] 13.d6 b7 14.xe5! White wastes no time opening lines against the black king. fxe5 15.f4 f6? [ Not a successful novelty and the leading Dutch Grandmaster does seem to have a rather unfortunate knack of losing memorable miniatures. Here Black had to plunge into the critical line 15...exf4! 16.e1 fxe3 17.xe3+ e7 when 18.d4 may well have seemed extremely terrifying over the board, but as shown by a correspondence game Black can survive: c8! ( t h e o n l y m o ve , wit h 18...b8? 19.dxe7 a7 being flattened by 20.f7+! xf7 21.e8+ hxe8 22.f1+ and in Zakharov-Gusev, Tula 2001, White w o n s e r i o u s m a t e r i a l a n d t h e g a m e) 19.ae1 ( there's nothing especially threatening after 19.dxe7? c6 20.f3 xe7 ) 19...c6 20.f3 d8 21.dxe7+ xe7 22.xe7! (otherwise Black would remain a piece ahead) xe7 23.xg7+ d8 24.xh8+ c7 and a draw was agreed in Castillo-Stepanov, 2100

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 correspondence 2007. After 25.e5+ d6 xf6 14.xd8+ xd8 and it is Black who 26.xd6+ xd6 27.f6+ c7 28.f2 can look forward to winning) 13.xe5 e6? W hite has slightly the better pawns and ( 13...dxe5 14.f6+ xf6 15.xd8+ xd8 might well continue, but it should, of course, and Black is on top) 14.ac1 f8 15.c7 be a draw. ] xc4 16.xc4 h6 17.xa8 f6 18.e3 16.fxe5 xe5 17.g5!? 1-0 Zitek,A-Ptacnik,P/Most 1999. ] [ Perhaps Van Wely had missed this blow or 12.e3 f6 was already psychologically destroyed by [ 12...b5 13.b3 move 15 and so unable to offer any A) 13...d8 resistance. Here the more mundane 17.f7+ A1) 14.g5 h6 15.h3 0-0 16.h5 d8 18.b6+ c8 19.e1 would also d4 17.xd4 exd4 18.xd4 ( 18.f3 h a ve m o re t h a n d o n e t h e b u s in e s s f o r is a better idea in order to improve the White. ] position of W hite's pieces) 18...a7 17...e7 19.ad1 c5 20.4d3 gave White [ Unfortunately for Black the bishop was excellent chances in Duebon,P-Wilk,J/ immune, in view of the killer check Deidesheim 2000.; 17...xg5? 18.e1+! and if d8 then A2) 14.a3; 19.a5+ . ] B) 13...d7 14.b6 ( 14.ac1 d8 18.f7+ d8 19.dxe7+ xe7 20.d2 15.g5 xg5? 16.xg5 ge7 17.xe7 Black is still a pawn up, but unsurprisingly xe7 18.c7+ 1-0 Martinez Mendoza,Pwith his king caught in both the centre and Trujillo Villegas,P/Villahermosa 2001.) such a pin his days are already rather 14...a7 15.d3 f6 16.d5 numbered. Van Wely comes up with the only ( 16.xd7?! lets Black off the hook upon real defensive try. c8 21.ac1+ c6 xd7 17.d2 0-0 with only a small edge 22.fd1 Simple and strong - there's no good for White ) 16...b7 17.xf6+ ( 17.xe7 way to defend d7. f5 23.f4! Accurately a l s o l o o k s g o o d . F o r i n s t a n c e : xe7 calculated as Esserman finishes in style. xf7 18.xd6 xe4 19.xf7+ xf7 24.d6 d8 25.xc6 xc6 26.xc6 20.xe5+ e8 21.xb8+ xb8 22.xd7 B la c k is c o m p le t e l y u n d o n e o n t h e d a r k c6 23.xg7 xe5+- ) 17...gxf6 squares. ( 17...xf6 18.ac1 e7 19.d5 1-0 gives White decent opportunities) 18.d5 d8 19.ac1 e6 20.d3 a5 ( if 20...c7 then 21.h4 increases the 1952 B21 pressure ) 21.h3 g8 ( or 21...c4 22.xc4 bxc4 23.xc4 xb2 24.h4 Flitney,Adrian when a knight on f5 will be bad news for Bristina,Husein Black ) 22.h1 a4 23.d5 xd5 reserves (6.33) 04.01.2004 ( 23...c7 24.xc7 xc7 25.c1 [Gary Lane] is also good for W hite) 24.xd5 b4 ( perhaps 24...d7!? is worth a try to try 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 and lengthen resistance to the inevitable 5.f3 e7 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 c6 8.e2 d6 loss ) 25.a5 e6 26.xa4+ f8 9.d1 c7 An instinctive response to move 27.h6+ g7 28.c6 when White is in the queen off the d-file to avoid any nasty pins. complete control of the position,Tagalaki, However, it does gives White the chance to A-Oikonomopoulou,M/Kallithea Chalkidiki c re a t e a u s e f u l in it ia t ive . 10.f4 e5? 2003. ] A mistake which has happened many times. I have highlighted this game because to my 13.b6 xe4 [ 13...a7 14.xc8 xc8 15.xa7 xa7 surprise such an error does go unpunished is hardly an improvement for Black. ] occasionally. 11.d5 b8 [ 11...d8 12.xe5? ( 12.e3 is the right 14.xa8 xa8 15.xf7+! A nice little tactic answer ) 12...xe5? ( 12...dxe5! 13.f6+ to make sure that Black is deprived of his 2101

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 extra pawn. xf7 16.c4+ e6 17.xe4 Fitney is clearly winning but rated around 2000 he encounters a few obstacles on the way to victory. At least he gives us an insight in how easy to go wrong! Adrian would no doubt be happy to point he has won the Tasmanian championship 4 times. If you are wondering where that is then have a look at a map of Australia then locate a large island in the south. h6 18.h4 xh4 19.xh4 d5 20.c5 [ 20.f4 can also be considered when d4 21.f2 d8 22.g3 is very good for White. ] 20...e8 [ 20...d8 21.g3 ] 21.f4 [ I like 21.d3 in order to pursue the attack. ] 21...e4? [ I n d i f f i c u l t c i r c u m s t a n c e s 21...d8!? is the best chance ] 22.f5! xf5 23.f1 c8 24.g4 [ 24.xf5+ is the easiest route to victory upon xf5 25.f1 xf1+ 26.xf1 ] 24...g8? [ Bristina misses a chance to complicate things with 24...e5! when White must start thinking again: 25.d4 ( 25.xf5+? xf5 26.gxf5 f3+ and it is Black who is smiling) 25...f3+ 26.xf3 exf3 27.gxf5 xf5 28.g3 might still be a little better for White but it will definitely be a struggle. ] 25.gxf5 [ 25.xf5?! e5 26.f2 e3= ] 25...e5 26.d4 f3+ 27.xf3 exf3 28.g3 d7 29.xf3 e4 30.d1 a4 31.c3 [ 31.b3!? b4 32.f2 g4+ 33.h1 e4 34.xe4 dxe4 35.d8+ f7 36.d7+ f6+- ] 31...d4 32.b3?? [ There is no need to be clever when 32.d2 c6 33.f1 is an easy victory. ] 32...e8?? Black is just going through the motions because he assumes it is a dead loss. [ but 32...c6 saves the day after 33.d3 ( 33.xd4 e1+ 34.f2 xf3+ 35.xf3 xd1 with a lost ending!!) 33...dxc3 34.xc3 d5 ] 33.xd4 h5 34.h3 c6

[ 34...e1+ There is no perpetual check after 35.xe1 xe1+ 36.g2 d2+ 37.f2 g5+ 38.f1 c1+ 39.e1+- ] 35.g2 xd4 [ 35...e7 36.g5 d6 37.f6+- ] 36.xd4 [ Not 36.xc6?? when an upset would be caused by xd1+ ] 36...c1+ 37.f1 White is a rook up and it is just a matter of avoiding the annoying checks. e3+ 38.f2 c1+ 39.g2 c6+ 40.f3 c2+ 41.g3 c7+ 42.f4 c3+ 43.h4 e1+ 44.xh5 e8+ 45.h4 e1+ 46.g3 e7+ 47.g5 e1+ 48.h5 e2+ 49.g4 e8+ 50.g6 e5 51.e6+ 1-0

1953 Flitney,Adrian Escribano,J Australian Open (11) [Andrew Martin]

B21 2023 1857 09.01.2007

They were queuing up to take on Flitney's Morra at the Australian Open, but not always with success. 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 [ 4...c6 5.c4 d6 6.f3 A) 6...e6 7.0-0 f6 8.f4!? a6 9.e2 c7?! I don't much rate this move. 10.ac1 e7 11.d5 exd5 12.exd5 0-0 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.fe1 e8 15.g5 f8 16.c2 ( 16.d2! ) 16...e7 17.xe7 xe7 18.xf7++Flitney, A-Stojic, S/ Tuggeranong AUS 2007; B) 6...a6 7.0-0 f6 8.e2 g4 9.d1 e6 10.f4 b8 11.ac1 e7 12.h3 xf3 ( 12...h5 must surely be a critical alternative.) 13.xf3 0-0 14.g4?! c8 15.g5 d7 16.e2 de5 Flitney, A-De Noskowski, A/Tuggeranong AUS 2006 Eventually 1-0 ] 5.f3 c6 6.c4 c7 [ 6...b4 7.0-0 ge7 8.b5?! Flitney, AVlietstra, M/Tuggeranong AUS 2007 was rather obscure and now Black should play ( 8.f4 would be my choice, eyeing d6, and if xc3 9.bxc3 d5 10.d3 allows White the use of the two Bishops.) 8...d5! 9.exd5 exd5 10.d3 ( 10.xd5?! xd5 11.xd5 2102

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 0-0 12.xd8 xd8 with two nice Bishops.) p a wn s u p a n d wi t h t h e t h r e a t o f N e 4 .) 10...0-0 ] 17...xf5 18.xf5 xf5 19.f4 ( 19.xd6 7.0-0 Works a treat, but is it best? xg5 20.xc5?? f3+ wins for Black) [ Instead 7.e2! is my preferred move-order, 19...xd3 20.xd3 xd3 21.xd6 xe2 when if f6 then comes 8.e5! g4 9.f4 22.b3 d2 ( 22...b6 23.d1 b2 24.f1 f6 10.d5! exd5 11.exf6+ ce5 12.xe5 h6 25.f2 e1+ 26.f1 e2 both sides xe5 13.h5+! g6 14.f7+!! after which will repeat the position leading to a draw.) John Nunn analyses the f ollowing: xf7 23.h3 h6 24.f1 a6 25.f8+ h7 26.b8 ( 14...xf7 15.e2+ e5 16.xe5 b4+ b5 27.cxb5 axb5 28.xb5 xa2 17.d1 xc4 18.xh8+; 14...d8 and the game was eventually drawn in M. 15.g5+ e7 16.xe5 xe5+ 17.xe5 Orsag-B.Kievelitz, Decin 1996. ] dxc4 18.xh8+- ) 15.xd5+ e8 16.xe5+ 8.e2 c6 xe5+ 17.xe5 b4+ 18.d1 f8 19.a3 [ 8...d6 9.xe6+ fxe6 10.e2 c6 e7 20.e1 d8 21.c1 ] 11.bc3 0-0 ( 11...0-0-0 is a serious 7...f6 8.e2 g4 The famous 'Siberian alternative for Black to instantly put a rook Trap', where Black tees up the game-winning on the half-open d-file.) 12.0-0 ad8 13.a3 threat of ..Nd4.That is, if White overlooks it! e5 14.d3 e7 15.fxe5 xe5 16.f4 fe8 9.b5 b8 10.h3 h5 11.g3 c5 ( 16...xd3 17.xd3 xd3 18.g5 [ 11...a6 12.c3 ge5 13.xe5 xe5 with equal chances) 17.b5 d6 18.e3 14.b3 b5 has been suggested by IM John xd3 19.xd3 xe3 20.xd6 xd6 D o n a l d s o n a n d n o w I t h i n k 15.e3 21.xc5 e2 22.ad1 xd1 23.xd1 is W hite's best, with very unclear xb2 24.d7 1/2-1/2 H. Mas-Wynn Zaw consequences. ] Htun, Penang 2000. ] 12.f4! ge5 13.xe5 xe5 14.ac1 a6 9.xe6+ 15.xe6! A typical Morra tactic. Black never [ 9.c3 b4 10.xe6+ fxe6 11.d1 0-0-0 gets to enjoy his extra material because he is 12.h3 d3 this idea of disrupting White's so far behind in development. b6 16.xc8+ development by planting a knight on d3 is an xc8 17.d6+ e7 18.xc8+ axc8 echo of the main game 13.c2 h6 14.b3 19.xe5 fxe6 20.d2 The Morra can be e7 15.a3 d7 16.af1 hd8 17.b1 dangerous. Watch out! a6 18.f3 g4 19.g3 h5 20.f3 b5 1-0 ga ve B la c k t h e su p e rio r ch a n ce s in A . Kostouros-K.Rasmussen, Ikaros 1999. ] 9...fxe6 10.h3?! 1954 B21 [ 10.a3 is usually played to cover the c2 square and then decide where to develop Formanek,Edward W 2320 the king's knight. ] Rohde,Michael A 2555 World Open Philadelphia 1988 10...b4 11.a3 d3+ 12.e2 0-0-0 Rohde wishes to keep the knight on d3 to [Gary Lane] stifle White's queenside development. 13.f1 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 Black resists e5 14.fxe5 xe5 15.f2 d6 16.b3 the urge to take the pawn with the queen Formanek finally finds a way to activate his because W hite would be able to gain time bishop but the white pieces lack harmony. attacking it with 3 Nc3. 4.b5+ d7 5.xd7+ hf8 17.c2 c6 18.a3 h5 19.g3 xg3! 20.xc5 xd7 6.c4 e6 7.dxe6 [ 20.hxg3 xg3+ 21.e1 xf1 22.xf1 [ 7.e2 is usually played to maintain the xd2 wins. ] tension. ] 20...fe8+ 21.d1 f4 22.d3 b6 23.a3 7...xe6+ [ 7...fxe6 8.f3 c6 9.e2 d6 10.0-0 xh2 24.h1 g3 25.xh5 xf2 26.d2 [ 26.xh7 xd3+ 27.c1 e2 intending to 0-0 11.bc3 e5 12.f5 ae8 13.d3 e4 double rooks on the second rank which 14.xe4 e5 15.xf6+ xf6 16.d5+ gives Black a clear edge. ] h8 17.g5? ( 17.g3! leaves White two 2103

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26...e5 27.h3 g5 28.xh7 xd3+ 29.e2 d4 30.f1 c3 31.c1 d6 32.xg5? [ perhaps 32.e3 is best to avoid the awkward discovered checks. ] 32...f7+! Black now engages on a winning combination that exploits the exposed white king. 33.e3 g5 The knight hits the rook and also rules out f3 as an escape square for the king. 34.xa7 d2+ 35.e1 d7+ 0-1

1955 Gravel,Simon M Matin,M Oviedo (3) [Gary Lane]

B21

1992

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 c5 7.0-0 [ 7.e5? is logical to make room for a knight on e4 but d5! is fine for Black. ] 7...a6 8.e2 [ Another idea is 8.f4 to add support to the e5 advance. ] 8...ge7 9.e5 [ 9.d1 c7 10.e3 xe3 11.xe3 g6 12.ac1 The idea of bringing the rooks to t h e c - a n d d -f i le s sh o u ld b e a n a lm o s t automatic reaction by White. 0-0 13.b3 f4 14.xf4 The ending should be avoided because if Black can find activity the extra pawn will prove to be decisive. xf4 15.g3 g6 16.a4 b5 17.b6 a7 18.d6 b7 19.xc8 xc8 20.d4 ge7 21.xc6 xc6 22.cd1 xd6 23.xd6 c6 and Black had a won ending in J. RashidianS.Reschke, Giessen 1995. ] 9...b5 10.b3 c7 [ 10...0-0?! is an easy mistake to make and after 11.e4 a7 12.g5 White has excellent attacking chances. ] 11.e4 a5 12.d2 An inspired idea to concentrate on development with visions of swinging a rook to c1. [ 12.c2 is a sound alternative to hang on to the pair of bishops. ] 12...xb3 13.axb3 d5 [ 13...b7? 14.ac1 xe4 15.xe4 a7 16.xc5! and White wins a piece. ]

14.a5! A nice way to gain a tempo which creates the right conditions f or a rook to infiltrate the heart of Black's position. a7 15.xc5 xc5 16.fc1 a7 17.c7 b7 I think it would be fair to say that Martin has big problems. His queen is cornered and castling is ruled out because the knight would be taken. 18.ac1 c8 19.b4 Gravel is keen to maintain the pressure and make sure Black cannot get away with castling out of danger. [ 19.d3 0-0! gives Black hopes of survival. ] 19...xc7 20.xc7 c6 21.d6 h6 What else? Martin is in such a python like grip that there are no constructive moves available. 22.d2 g5 23.h4 g4 24.f4 The queen enters the attack and it brings the game to an abrupt finish. f5 25.exf6 1-0

1956 Hardarson,Robert De Firmian,Nick E Politiken Cup (3) [Gary Lane]

B21 2331 2598 05.07.1999

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6 This is sometimes referred to as the Taylor Defence. 7.0-0 f6 8.b4!? Another pawn is added to the fire to cause confusion and create attacking opportunities. g4 [ 8...xb4 9.b3 ( 9.xf7+ xf7 10.b3+ e6 11.xb4 d5 12.d4 White has good chances because Black has had to give up the right to castle.) 9...e6 10.xb4 d5 11.b5+ axb5 12.xb5+ d7 13.e5 and White has good compensation for the pawn. ] 9.b5 xf3 10.gxf3 axb5 [ 10...e5 is featured in the illustrative game Regan-Van Beek ] 11.xb5 g6 12.d5 g7 13.b2 h5 [ 13...0-0 14.xf6+ exf6 15.d5 intending Rfd1 will make it difficult for De Fi r m i a n t o m a k e t h e m o s t o f h i s e x t r a pawn. ] 14.xg7 xg7 15.c1 0-0 [ 15...c8 16.a4 0-0 17.xc6 bxc6 2104

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.xc6 and White has won back his gambit pawn with roughly equal chances. ] 16.xc6 bxc6 17.xc6 xa2 [ 17...a7 18.d2 is fine for White whose strong knight gives him an edge. ] 18.c8! A great idea that I suspect Nick De Firmian missed. The rook is offered in the sure knowledge that if it is taken then Nxe7+ g i v e s W h i t e a d e c i s i v e a d v a n t a g e . d7 19.c7 d8 20.c8 [ 20.xe7 is playable but White understandably is content to draw with his higher rated opponent. ] 20...d7 21.c7 d8 22.c8 d7 ½-½

R-Huddleston,H/Australian Junior Championships2003. ] [ 12.ac1 e6 13.d5 xd5 ( 13...xe4? is tempting but after 14.b6 d7 15.xe4 White is smiling) 14.xd5 xd5 15.exd5 b8 16.c4 ( 16.c4 d7= ) 16...b5 17.g4 ( perhaps 17.c2!? is worth c o n s i d e r i n g) 17...f5! Black rightly takes steps against the rook before W hite can engineer an attack 18.b4 d7 19.b3 f4 20.d2 c5 21.c3 d7 22.xc5? ( In the circumstances 22.b4!? is a better id e a t o m a i n t a i n t h e t e n s io n u p o n a4 23.c6 ) 22...dxc5 23.xe5 xd5 24.c3 e6 when the White attack grinds to a halt leaving Black with a material advantage, Moneva, A-Llorente Zaro,A/Zaragoza 1999. ] 1957 B21 12...e6 13.xe6 fxe6 14.c4 d7 Hardarson,Robert 2310 15.g5 d8 16.f4? It seems at first glance a Hjartarson,Johann 2535 good idea for W hite to open the position in Championship (10) 1991 order to try and further undermine the d6 pawn. However, Black springs a surprise [Gary Lane] worthy of a top-class grandmaster! [ 16.a5!? is the right approach to make sure 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 Black's position remains cramped. ] 5.f3 d6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 f6 8.e2 e7 9.d1 This is considered the main line. e5 16...exf4 17.xf4 g4! 18.f1 [ 18.hxg4 xf4 19.h3 f7 20.g5 c6 10.h3 0-0 11.e3 a6 12.a4 There is some is good for Black. ] d e b a t e a b o u t t h e ri g h t wa y f o r W h it e t o proceed. In this case Hardarson is keen to 18...xf4 19.xf4 e3 [ 19...xg5?! is an error of judgement due to prevent ...b5. 20.xg4 f7 21.d4 when White has [ 12.a3 d7 13.b4 this is a fairly sensible decent play. ] route for W hite to take by trying to grab more space on the queenside b5 14.a2 20.e2 xg5 21.xe3 [ 21.f3 c6! the knight is bought back into h6 15.ac1 b8 16.d5 xd5 17.xd5 the action with deadly effect 22.xe3 d4 e8 18.c2 c8 19.dc1 b8 20.b7 23.d3 xe3+ 24.xe3 c2 when the ( 20.xc8 xc8 21.c7 d8 22.a7 knight fork decides matters. ] gives W hite an edge thanks tot he active rook ) 20...xc2 21.xc2 c6 ( 21...f5 21...f7 22.h1 Well, White has little to lose 22.d2= ) 22.xc6 ( I like the idea of so he sets up a sneaky trap. [ 22.xf7 xe3+ is a disaster. ] 22.xc6!? xc6 23.xa6 which gives White a promising ending due to the passed 22...xf4 [ 22...f8? allows 23.xf7! xe3 24.xd7 p a wn s o n t h e q u e e n si d e .) 22...xc6 with an easy win. ] 23.d3 d7 24.d5 c8 25.g4 ( 25.c1 e8= ) 25...g5 26.h2= f6 27.c1 23.xf4 c8 24.d1 h6 25.e3 c6 ( 27.d2 g7= ) 27...g7 28.g2? 26.d4 c5 27.e2?! [ 27.d2 leaves Black a clear pawn up but ( 28.d1 maintains the grip on the d5 square White has run out of decent options. ] and renews the pressure on the d6 pawn.) 28...e7! 29.d1 xc1 30.xc1 ( 30.xc1 27...xd4 28.xd4 g5 29.b3 [ If 29.e1 then c4 seals victory in the d5 31.c2 e6 ) 30...d5 finally Black ending. ] shakes of the shackles and the extra pawn will now make a positive difference, Harris, 29...xe4 30.e1 2105

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 30.g1 f7-+ ] 30...d5 0-1

1958 Hebden,Mark Rodriguez Vargas,Orestes Malaga [Gary Lane]

B21 2465 2455 1987

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 e6 5.f3 c6 6.g3 This is a pet line of Hebden's who normally indulges in a doublefianchetto. e7 [ 6...f5!? 7.f2 d6 8.b3 h6 ( 8...f6 looks reasonable a nd blocks the a1-h 8 diagonal. ) 9.b2 0-0 10.g2 f7 11.d3 this a theme in the line that the knight takes up residence on d3 in an effort to control the e5 square b6 12.g5 d7 13.h4! a6 14.h5 h6 15.c4 b5 16.0-0 fe8 17.fe1 bxc4 18.xe6! xe6 19.d5 d8 20.xe6 xe6 21.e1 e8 22.xe8+ a nice finish by White to wrap up the game xe8 23.xe6 f8 24.xd6+ f7 25.xa6 cxd3 26.xa7 1-0 Hebden, M-Hansen,C/ Malmo 1987. ] [ 6...f6 A) 7.c3!? d5 ( 7...d6 ) 8.xd5 xd5 9.d3 e7 10.g2 b8 11.0-0 d8 12.e3 with a slight edge, Chen, E-Zhang, M/Auckland 2004.; B) 7.f2 g6 8.g2 ( if Whites to play a double fianchetto then he should start with 8.b3 and a level position) 8...g7 9.0-0 ( Now 9.b3 is not so good because of g4 10.b1 xf2 11.xf2 when White has given up the right to castle) 9...0-0 10.d3?! ( 10.d3 is a better idea offering equal chances) 10...g4! 11.xc5 b6 12.d4 xd4 13.xd4 xc5 14.xg4 e5 Black is already on top which is impressive when considered that White is an expert on this opening 15.f3 e4 16.xe4 f5 17.xb7 xd4+ 18.h1 xc2 19.b3 ac8! 20.xc2 xc2 21.e1 b8 22.d5 d8 23.b3 f2 24.h4 g4 25.d1 xd1 0-1 Hebden,M-Mestel,J/ British Championship 1986. ] [ 6...h6 is slightly unusual but designed to

allow the manoeuvre Nh6-f5 to eventually land on d4 7.g2 e7 8.0-0 f5 9.b3 h5 10.b2 d7 11.e1 ( perhaps 11.e5!? is worth a try) 11...b4 12.c1 f6 13.a3 c6 14.e1 b6 15.f2 cd4 16.b4 c8 ( 16...xc2 17.ac1 cxb4 18.xc2 xf2+ 19.xf2 bxa3 20.a1 a4 is double-edged) 17.xd4 cxd4 with equal chances, Conquest,S-Novikov,I/Ostrava 1994. ] 7.g2 f6 8.f2 0-0 [ 8...c7 is also possible. For instance: 9.b3 ( 9.0-0 0-0 10.b3 is also possible) 9...b6 10.b2 b7 11.c4 d8 12.e2 0-0 Black has a solid set-up and the better chances b ecause his pie ces are b ette r placed 13.0-0 fe8 14.d3 a5 15.fe1 h6 16.c3 d7 17.b2 ed8 18.h3 d4 19.xd4 cxd4 20.d2 c6 gave Black the initiative, Popchev,M-Deev,A/Ruse 1987. ] 9.b3 Hebden knows this variation very well and has faith in the double fianchetto set-up. [ Or 9.d3 c7 10.0-0 b6 11.c3 ( 11.e5 b7 12.f3 with a level position) 11...b7 12.e2 ad8 13.e3 fe8 14.ad1 f8 15.c1 g6 16.fe1 g7 17.a3 b8 18.e4 with roughly equal chances, Todorcevic,M-Ljubojevic,L/ Szirak izt 1987. ] 9...d5 10.b2 f6 11.e5 xe5 [ Or 11...c7 12.fg4 xe5 13.xf6+ gxf6 14.fxe5 fxe5 15.g4+ h8 16.0-0 with decent attacking chances because of Black's exposed king. ] 12.fxe5 e7 13.e4 d7 14.c4 [ 14.0-0 looks even better. ] 14...b4 15.0-0 c6 [ If 15...d3 then 16.c3 c6 is roughly equal. ] 16.a3 xe4 17.xe4 c6 18.c3 g6 19.g4 c7 20.ae1 White has the bishop pair and some decent attacking chances. ad8 21.b1 [ 21.g2 is also reasonable but with the bishop on b1 W hite can engineer tactical chances based on taking on g6 after h2-h4h5. ] 21...d4 22.h4 fe8 [ 22...xb3 is the critical test 23.h5 d4 24.hxg6 hxg6 25.f2! g7 26.ef1 with strong attacking chances. ] 23.h5 f8 24.b4 g7 25.f4 d7 26.b5 2106

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ed8 27.g4 f8 28.g2 d8 29.h1 White is steadily assembling his pieces for the onslaught. e7 30.e3 fd8 31.ef1 a6 32.a4 axb5 33.axb5 b6 34.f2 a7 35.hxg6 hxg6 36.h3 Finally, White is ready to make the breakthrough on the kingside. g5 [ Or 36...xe5 37.h7+ f8 38.xg6 with a strong attack. ] 37.h7+ f8 38.xg6 xg6 39.xg6 xe5 40.g5 [ 40.e1 to force the bishop away from queenside is interesting upon g7 41.a1! ad7 42.a6 when White is better. ] 40...g7 41.a1 dd7 42.xf7! Black is busted. e7 43.xa7 xa7 44.h5 d6 45.g4 e5 46.xd4 cxd4 47.g6 g7 Black is tied up in defending the advance of the g-pawn leaving White in an ideal position to step up the pressure. 48.h5 d3 49.f3 d4 50.xd3 c5 51.f3 xc4 52.e4 e5 53.e2 [ Or 53.f3 xb5 54.f7 g8 55.g7 wins. ] 53...c5 54.g3 d6 55.f5 e4 56.xe4 e5 57.d3+ e6 58.g4+ 1-0

1959 Hinks Edwards,Thom Hennigan,Michael 4NCL Nottingham ENG (8) [Jonathan Rowson]

B21 2383 2408 10.04.2005

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.c4 e6 5.dxe6 xe6 6.f3 c6 7.d3 e7 8.e2 d7 9.c3 As I mentioned in the WheelerEmms game, I think Black's compensation here is probably fully adequate. However, White should not be worse either, so Black c a n n o t ge t a wa y wit h a n y o ld m o ve . h5? A bit of a reckless lunge. Black uses a move to weaken the g5 square in return for... what? I'm not too sure what Michael was thinking but I suspect he was just in a combative mood and looked for a move to fit that. [ 9...0-0 Although castling queenside puts more immediate pressure on d3, the king if much safer on the kingside, and this is probably worth an extra tempo because part of White's problem is finding a constructive

plan, and this is even harder if there is not a king on the queenside to attack. ] 10.e3 0-0-0 11.a4 g4 12.g1 d4 If Black has to exchange the queens and change the pawn structure then something must be wrong. 13.xd7+ xd7 14.xd4 cxd4 15.b5 b4+ 16.d1 e3+ 17.xe3 dxe3 18.c2 a6 19.a3 e7 20.c3 h4 21.f3 d4 22.g3 f5 23.e4 d7 24.d5 c5 25.b4 f5 26.f3 a7 27.ae1 c6 28.e7+ d7 29.xc6+ xe7 30.xb7 f6 31.c5 g5 32.xe3 hxg3 33.hxg3 xh1 34.xh1 gxf4 35.gxf4 xf4 36.d5 a5 37.e6+ g5 38.a6 b8 39.xa5 f2+ 40.b3 f4 41.a8 e5 42.e8 1-0

1960 Hlinka,Vasil Dudas,Janos Slovakian Championship (2) [Gary Lane]

B21 2310 1994

1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 A novel way of entering the Morra. dxc3 [ 4...c6 5.c4 f6 A) 6.cxd4 xe4 7.d5 b8 ( 7...a5+!? is worth looking at for Black) 8.e2 f5?! 9.h4 a5+ ( 9...c8 10.xf5 xf5 11.d3 c8! 12.0-0 with roughly equal chances ) 10.d2 xd2 11.xd2 b6 12.xf5 gave White a winning advantage in Riemer,M-Kreutz,S/Bonn 1992.; B) 6.e2 g4 7.bd2 dxc3 8.bxc3 e6 9.0-0 c8 ( 9...e7 intending to castle kingside seems a sensible idea for Black.) 10.d1 e5 11.b5+ fd7 12.h3 h5? ( 12...xf3 13.xf3 xf3+ 14.xf3 a6 allows Black to cope with the variou s pawns and remain a pawn up.) 13.g4 g6 14.xe5 the pin on the d7 knight will prove decisive. dxe5 15.c4 c7 16.xe5 e7 17.xd7 xd7 18.xd7 a5 19.xb7+ 1-0 Sturc,G-Brioul,G/Cappelle la Grande 1995. ] [ 4...e6 5.cxd4 a6 6.c3 b5 7.d3 b7 8.0-0 f6 9.e2 e7 10.d1 0-0 11.f4 h5 12.e3 d7 when White has a space advantage giving him a slight advantage, Barrasso, A-Segura,M/Lima 2001. ] 2107

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 5.c4 cxb2 6.xb2 The pair of bishops look rather threatening but two pawns is a lot to sacrifice after just 6 moves! I suspect the idea is b o r ro we d f ro m t h e 'c e n t re ga m e ' t h a t usually arises after 1 e4 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 c3 dxc3 4 Bc4 cxb2 5 Bxb2. I suspect the reason why White has failed to follow this idea in the Morra is that Black can block the effectiveness of the bishops. e6 7.0-0 f6 8.e2 e7 9.d1 bd7 Dudas just gets on with following the same set-up that he normally employs against the Morra. The advantage is that he TWO pawns in the war chest. 10.e5 dxe5 11.xe5 0-0 [ 11...c7!? ] 12.c3 b6 13.a4 b4 [ 13...d8 is the safe choice. ] 14.xf7! A excellent sacrifice that demolishes the pawn shield. xf7 [ 14...xf7 lures the king out and 15.xe6+ is a knockout blow. ] 15.xe6?? In the excitement of playing such an aggressive game, White goes wrong at the critical moment. [ 15.a3! justifies the knight sacrifice by knocking the queen away from the bishop on c4. xa4 ( 15...a5 16.xe6 e5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xe5 winning ) 16.xe6 xc4 17.xc4 when White better placed pieces mean that he is better. ] 15...e5-+ [ 15...e5 16.xe5 xc4-+ wraps up the g a m e i n f a v o u r o f B l a c k . ( 16...xa4?? is awful 17.xe7 e6 18.xe6+- )] [ Of course, not 15...xa4?? because Black s h o u l d le a v e t h e k n i g h t a l o n e 16.xf7+ h8 17.xf6 xd1+ 18.xd1 xf6 19.d8+ xd8 20.f8+ g8 21.xg8# ] 0-1

1961 Hodgson,Julian M Mestel,A Jonathan Zonal Bath (2) [Richard Palliser]

B21 2520 2520 1987

'1987? We want hot theory!' I hear you say. That's fair enough, but this game is a good exa mp le of ho w W hite ca n slo wly a im t o exploit his extra pawn despite Black's grip on

the d4-square. It certainly impressed me when I saw it recently, along with the other Bath Zonal games, on John Saunders' excellent Britbase website (see the link from the top of www.bcmchess.co.uk). 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.b5+ d7 [ It's important to remember that this is by no means obligatory. Indeed, the combative 4...bd7!? was my preference in 'Fighting the Anti-Sicilians'. Following 5.c4 a6 6.xd7+ ( 6.a4?! is risky and b5! 7.cxb5 b6!? 8.bxa6+ xa4 9.xa4+ d7 10.c4 e6 was great fun for Black in the classic game W.Watson-Razuvaev, London 1983 ) 6...xd7 7.f3 e6 8.e2 ( or 8.dxe6 xe6 9.d3 d6 10.0-0 c7!? 11.g5 0-0-0 12.xe6 fxe6 with decent play for the pawn) 8...e7 9.dxe6 xe6 10.0-0 ( the closely-related move order 10.c3 f5 11.e5 0-0 was examined by Andrew in Shyam-Thipsay, Mumbai 2006) 10...0-0 11.c3 we reach quite a critical p o s i t io n i n wh i ch B l a ck s h o u l d o p t f o r ( Sveshnikov once preferred 11.d3 f5 12.e5 when Black has a number of r e a s o n a b l e m o v e s , i n c l u d i n g d7!? ) 11...e8! ( 11...f5 12.e1 e8 13.e5 d6 14.f2 d7 15.d3! xe5 16.fxe5 xd3 17.g3 was about equal in PessiParligras, Predeal 2006) 12.d3 ( now 12.e1 runs into d6 13.e5 xe5 14.fxe5 g4 ) 12...f5 13.d1 d6 , maintaining at least sufficient compensation. ] 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 e6 7.e2 e7 [ A slower method of playing the position than the 7...d6!? of Sulskis-Ringoir. That aims to quickly activate Black's pieces with ... e5, whereas Mestel is happy to play for more long-term compensation down the dfile. This is also reasonable, although it doesn't give Black too many winning chances since W hite can often return the p a wn f o r a d ra w o r j u st s it t i gh t wit h a fortress. ] 8.dxe6 xe6 [ Mestel isn't in a hurry. Black can also settle for 8...fxe6 , but 9.f3 0-0 10.d3 c6 11.0-0 d6 12.c3 ae8 left him a tempo down on 7...Bd6 lines in ZhizmerOnoprienko, Kyiv 2007. ] 2108

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.xe6 fxe6 10.f3 c6 11.0-0 d8 [ As Andy Martin has unsurprisingly pointed out, this line has certain similarities with the Icelandic Gambit (1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6 3 c4 e6!?), which is an old favourite of his. Thus I wo n d e r w h e t h e r B l a c k i s n ' t b e t t e r o f f castling queenside, rather than short as M e s t e l g o e s . O n e e x a m p l e : 11...d6!? 12.d3 b4 13.e1 0-0-0 14.d2 e5! 15.c3 exf4 16.a3 c6 17.xf4 he8 18.d1 e5 and while Black's compensation probably wasn't quite wholly sufficient, it wasn't at all easy for White to use his extra pawn in Rzayev-Mihok, Belfort 2005. ] 12.c3 0-0 13.b3 g4! [ A good positional idea. Mestel prepares to activate his bishop and also doesn't mind if his knight is driven back to h6, since it will then go to an excellent square on f 5. A m o r e r a d i c a l a p p r o a c h i s 13...d4!? 14.xd4 xd4 15.b5 d7 16.xa7 e4 17.b5 f6 18.b1 fd8 19.a4 , when Black will win back one of his pawns, with some compensation for the other. ] 14.e2! Defending the f4-pawn and especially the key d4-square. f6 [ At first, 14...b4 looks tempting, but after 15.b2 d3 16.c3 it turns out that the d3knight doesn't paralyse the white camp and can always be exchanged with Ne1 or Nc1. ] 15.b1 e5? [ Some games do come down to just one mistake and I suspect that the current game is one of those. Instead Mestel might have played slowly, asking White if he can really make any use of his extra pawn. Indeed after 15...b6!? 16.b2 xb2 17.xb2 b4 Black retains reasonable positional compensation, but playing this way does require accepting that Black is happy to draw. ] [ A more radical, but possibly stronger d e f e n c e i s 15...d4! 16.fxd4 xd4+ 17.xd4 xd4 . Having played around with this position for a while, it becomes apparent that it's extremely hard for White to make any use of his extra pawn or even b i sh o p v s . k n ig h t p o ss ib le a d va n t a g e . Indeed Black's grip on the d-file almost fully compensates for the missing pawn. Here's a

sample line: 18.e1 f7 19.g3 ( or 19.b4!? cxb4 20.xb4 , trying to open the position for the bishop, but after b6 21.b2 xd2 22.c5 c8! Black maintains the balance in view of 23.cxb6 cc2 ) 19...fd8 20.b2 h5! 21.g2 a5 22.h3 f6 and White remains rather tied up. ] 16.h3 h6 17.fxe5 xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.xf8+ xf8 20.b4! Seizing the initiative. Hodgson is happy to keep his bishop on c1 for the time being, so long as his rook, assisted by his knight and/or queenside pawns, can become active. It now becomes clear that Black's bind is well and truly over, as Mestel is forced right on to the defensive. cxb4 [ Alternatively, 20...b6!? 21.bxc5 bxc5 22.b5 c7 23.c3 d4 24.a3 xc4 25.xc5+ and again White emerges with a healthy extra pawn. ] 21.xb4 b6 22.b5 f7 23.a4?! [ Continuing actively, but perhaps it was time to switch to a slower approach with 23.b3!? , allowing White to meet ...Nd6 with d3, and only then a4 and Ba3/Bd2. ] 23...f6 24.a5?! [ Now White has to cede bishop for knight and quite possibly 24.c5!? bxc5 25.xc5 e5 26.c7 was a better try, although the exchange of queenside pawns has clearly helped Black. ] 24...d6 25.a3 e8 26.xd6 xd6 27.axb6 axb6 28.f1 xd2! Mestel, of co u rse , t a ke s t h e o pp o rt u n it y t o t ra d e a further set of pawns. Black's rook is now quite a c t i v e l y p l a c e d a n d wi t h h i s h a vi n g t h e greater-range minor piece, he now has good chances to hold. 29.xb6 c2 30.e6+ d7 31.e4 d6 32.f4 d2 [ Or 32...e5!? 33.d5 d2 and it's not at all easy for White to make any progress at all. ] 33.d5 d4?? [ Black could have transposed to our last note with 33...e5 . Mestel's choice is instead a terrible blunder - Hodgson always was a lucky as well as an extremely talented player! ] 34.e1 Black loses a piece. 1-0

2109

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Or 11...b7 12.fd1 e5 13.g5 ] 12.fd1 e5 13.e3 0-0 As usual in a good ve rs io n o f t h e Mo r ra , B la ck i s b e h in d i n 2001 development. [ 13...xc3? fails to 14.ac1 b4 15.d3+- ] 14.d3 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 [ 14.c4 bxc4 15.xc4 e6 16.xe6 fxe6 ] [ 3.xd4 c6 4.a4 e5= ] 3...dxc3 4.xc3 e6 A standard line that aims 14...d8 [ 14...g4!? is worth looking at ] to blunt the effectiveness of the White attack In this opening there are always after Bf 1-c4. 5.f3 a6 Covers b5 6.c4 15.xe5! various pitf alls f or Black and in practical c7!? [ Or 6...c5 7.0-0 c7 8.e2 b5 9.b3 experience a lot of players fall for them. e6 [ 15...dxe5 16.xd8+ A double attack ] c6 10.e3 xe3 11.xe3 a7?! a p a wn u p B l a ck is d e sp e ra t e t o s wa p 16.f3 bc6 17.xe6 fxe6 18.g5 d7 [ 18...e5 19.e2 ( 19.xe6? is a blank que ens b ut it is all too o bvious t o b e a shot c8 20.d4 xe6-+ ) 19...c8 successful strategy 12.g5 g6 13.e5 c7 20.d4 ] 14.e4 f8 15.ac1 d8? 16.xc6! xg5 17.xc8+ xc8 18.fxg5 g7 19.e5 Revealing an attack against h7. xe5? [ 19...f5 20.exd6 xd6 21.xd6 xd6 19.xf7 gave White a winning advantage in 22.xd6 xd6 23.xe6 c8 leaves Black K. Von Kiedrowski-B. Plietz,Kassel 1999. ] a pawn down in the ending. ] [ 6...b5 is the normal continuation. ] 20.xh7+ f8 21.d4 c8 7.e2 b4 [ 21...7c6 is an attempt to carry on as if [ 7...b5 8.b3 e7 9.0-0 c6 10.d1 b7 everything is normal but comes unstuck 11.d5! a typical Morra Gambit idea to after 22.c5! e7 23.xd6 xd6 24.xd6 create complications exd5 12.exd5 a5 xd6+- ] ( 12...f6 13.d6 d8 14.g5 offers White good attacking chances.) 13.d6 d8 22.xe5 dxe5 23.xd8+ 14.xf7+ A great idea to help White create a 1-0 s t u n n i n g a t t a c k xf7 15.e5+ f8 16.dxe7+ xe7 17.xd7+ e8 18.g5 B21 ac6 19.ac1 h6 20.e5 d4 21.h5+ 1963 g6 22.xg6 d5 23.xe7+ f7 24.xf7+ Ivanchuk,Vassily 2753 xf7 25.xd4 hxg5 26.f5 led to victory Giri,Anish 2734 for White in G.Craciun-L. Micsa, Eforie Nord Leon ESP, Ivanchuk vs Giri (4) 08.06.2013 1998. ] [Smerdon, David] [ 7...c6 8.0-0 d6 9.d1 ge7 10.e3 0-0 11.ac1 g6 12.b3 f4 13.a4 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 After last ( 13.d5!? looks good. For instance: exd5 month's game with 3...Qxd5? I've decided to 14.exd5 d8 15.dxc6 bxc6 16.xf4 xf4 show you the real reason why 2.f4 is just no 17.e7 f8 18.g5 ) 13...b5 14.c5 d6 good. (Actually, that's not strictly true, as 15.d3 xe3 16.xe3 d7 17.h4 a7 White can play the infamous Toilet Variation 18.g5 ac8 19.h5 h6 20.g3 ge5 with 3.Nc3!? with an equal game!) 4.b5+ 21.dxe5 xe5 22.xe5 dxe5 23.xe5 bd7 5.c4 g6 White wins back his pawn and is better, B. [ 5...a6 6.xd7+ xd7 7.f3 is in the Riveiro-E.Gutierrez, Medellin 1996. ] arch ives (1 -0 (4 4) Dju rhu us, R (24 84 )8.0-0 d6 9.f4 Hagesaether, H (2215)/ Asker 2000), with [ 9.d1 xc3 10.bxc3 d7 11.f4 wh ich B la ck h a s a f a n t a st ic sco re , b u t highlights the weak d6 pawn giving White Giri's approach also looks good. In general, some compensation for the pawn. ] Black just gets a suped-up Icelandic Gambit 9...xc3 10.bxc3 b5 11.b3 e7 in every variation. ] 1962 Iodo,Anna Kozlitina,Elena Russian Junior Ch [Gary Lane]

B21

2110

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6.a4N I have no idea what Chucky's big plan was after the normal 5...a6, but in any case his idea in this game is hardly likely to attract many followers. Basically readers should have guessed by now, but I'm not a fan of this variation for White at all! [ 6.f3 g7 7.c3 0-0 8.0-0 b6 9.d3 e6 10.dxe6 xe6 11.h1 c7 12.e5 ad8 13.f3 a6 14.a4 xa4 15.xa4 d7 Iuldachev, S (2550)-Tissir, M (2416)/ Abu Dhabi 2004 1/2-1/2 (62) ] 6...g7 7.a5 0-0 8.f3 b8!? A nifty idea, winning back the a5 pawn. [ However, 8...a6 9.xd7 xd7 10.0-0 e6 gives Black fantastic compensation above and beyond the meagre pawn loss. Black has the two bishops, better development, lots of open lines and a juicy target of the backward d-pawn, while the a5 and f4 guys look a little vulnerable too. If you are having troub le s eein g th e co ncre tene ss o f th e compensation, here's a sample line after some natural moves: 11.dxe6 xe6 12.d3 f5 13.a3 e8 14.h3 d6 15.g4 e6 16.c3 ad8 17.e5 d7 18.f3 f5 19.g5 b8! ] 9.d3 a6 10.a4 xa5+ 11.d2 d8 Well, Black can't complain about the outcome of the opening, but the time it's taken him to regain the pawn has allowed White to catch up o n de ve lo pm en t. T he gam e is a lm ost balanced, with a slight preference for the second player. 12.c3 e6 13.dxe6 xe6 14.0-0 f5 15.a3 bd7 16.bd2? Weird. [ Something like 16.Re1 or even 16.h4 g4 17.f3 was better. White threatens to d e ve lo p h is o t h e r kn ig h t n o w, a n d b6 18.c2 h5 19.h3 should be equal. ] 16...xd3 17.a5 xa5 18.xd3 [ 18.xd7 c7 ( 18...xa3!? 19.bxa3 xf1 20.a4 d3 ) 19.xd3 xd7 ] 18...ad8 I'm not quite sure what Chucky's ide a wa s. I t's rea lly just a pa wn . 19.xd7 xd7 20.xd7 xd7 21.e4 c7 22.d2 f6 23.xf6+ xf6 The rest of the game is not very interesting from the theoretical level, but it's a nice example of good technique. This Dutch 'kid' is really quite good... 24.b3 d8 25.e3 b5 26.e4 d6 27.g3 g7 28.g2 d3 29.xd3 xd3 30.cxb5 axb5 31.c1 c3 32.xc3 xc3 33.g5 b4

34.f1 h6 35.f3 f6 36.e2 c3 37.d3 a1 38.e1 e6 39.c2 b2 40.e3 h5 41.h3 f5 42.g2 f6 43.e1 d5 44.f3 c4+ 45.bxc4+ bxc4+ 46.e3 c5 47.d2 d6 48.e2 c6 49.d2 c5 0-1

1964 Jones,Gawain C Bates,Richard British Championship (6.3) [Richard Palliser]

B21 2606 2373 30.07.2011

1.e4 c5 2.d3 This approach is becoming increasingly popular, especially when teamed up with the idea of a reversed Dutch set-up (placing the king's bishop on e2), as opposed to a Big Clamp set-up (where the bishop is fianchettoed). c6 [ 2...d5!? is a radical attempt to cross White's plans. It would be quite nice for the Sicilia n p la ye r if it wo rke d , b u t I 'm n o t convinced it's enough for equality: 3.exd5 ( 3.d2 and a KIA-type approach is the alternative then c6 4.g3 f6 5.g2 e5 transposes to Movsesian-Likavsky, Hustopece (rapid) 2009, which John has previously annotated) 3...xd5 4.c3 d8 5.f3 ( there's no need to commit the knight just yet and 5.g3 f6 6.g2 gives White quite a pleasant set-up in my view - see John's notes to Fedorov-Landenbergue, Dresden 2007, in the Archive) 5...c6 6.g3 f6 ( 6...e5 7.g2 d6 8.d2! followed by Nc4 gives White good play in a reversed English situation) 7.g2 g4 8.h3 (it's usually worth putting the question to the bishop without delay in such s i t u a t i o n s ) h5 ( new, and a logical improvement over Jo.Hodgson-Cork, Coulsdon 2010, where 8...d7 9.0-0 c7?! 10.f4 b6 11.a4 a5 12.b3 was hardly what the doctor had ordered c5 is loose, d3-d4 hardly a bad plan and Nb2c4 might trump even that in the event of ... e6 ) 9.g4! ( I think White was right to take action 9.0-0 e6 10.f4 d6 begins to look quite comfortable for Black) 9...g6 10.f4 e6 11.e5 xe5 12.xe5 and with two 2111

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.f3 e8 23.e1 e7 Black indirectly raking bishops, not to mention Qf3 on its defends against the threats and has decent way, White had a definite pull in Brkic-Halay, chances to hold with the bishop-pair. ] Biel 2011. The logical move now for Black was d6 , b u t a f t e r ( 12...d7 13.g3 3.f4 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 d6 [ Black's invariable choice, playing just as he w a s t h e g a m e) 13.xd6!? ( 13.e2 does against the Closed Sicilian. Fans of a ... i s s i m p l e r a n d a l s o q u i t e r e a s o n a b l e) d5 approach might, however, prefer to hold 13...xd6 14.f3 0-0 15.0-0-0 I'd prefer to back on this, preferring 5...e6 6.0-0 ge7 play White, as a well-timed h3-h4 (probably , which a t le ast keep s W h ite gues sing. after first moving the queen to allow the Another game from Sheffield, Ansell-Britton, option of meeting ...h5 with f2-f3) will begin continued 7.e1 d5!? 8.c3 f5?! to emphasise that Black's bishop is a little ( but this is going a bit too far in the misplaced on g6. ] independence stakes 8...a6 would likely be [ Black can also play a delayed ...d5 with my choice, preparing ...b5 while keeping 2...g6 3.f4 g7 4.f3 d5 , after which White out of that square) 9.a3 ( even 9.e5 5.e2 ( 5.exd5 xd5 6.c3 d8 lo o ks a lit t le b e t t e r f o r W h it e I h a ve n 't is just a pretty decent version of the managed to make ...h6 and ...g5 ideas work Centre-Counter for Black, as pointed out by for Black, while White can play Na3 a6 c3-c4 Vigorito ) 5...c6 6.0-0 f6 7.e5 g4 or maybe just a2-a3 and b2-b4) 9...b6 8.c3 f6!? ( an attempt to undermine the 10.b1 0-0 11.e5 a6 12.c2 d7 13.d4 head of the pawn-chain without delay after with a strong centre for W hite, 8...d4 White might just develop his knight to demonstrating one of his main aims in the a3, but the more vigorous 9.g5!? h6 Be2 set-up. Realising he didn't have the 10.f3 turned out pretty well in McShanegreatest of French positions, Britton tried to Van W ely, London 2009, as we've seen exchange his bad bishop with b8?! 14.b3 before,; but had I prepared for 2 d3, I b5 , but this only served to make matters suspect I might well have tested Vigorito's worse af ter 15.a3 c8 16.c4! , with a su gge s t io n o f 8...h6!? , with the idea of virulent initiative for White. ] 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 g4! ) 9.d4 b6 [ Instead 5...d5!? would transpose back into 10.h1!? ( this ambitious move slightly Jones-Palliser, above. ] surprised me a less creative and aggressive opponent than Gawain would likely just have 6.0-0 g4 [ Bla ck' s m a in m ove ve ry m u ch is 6...e6 gone 10.b3 ) 10...0-0!? 11.dxc5 , as we'll see in our next game, Stevic( critical, but so too was 11.h3!? h6 Tischbierek. ] 12.dxc5 xc5 13.b4 b6 14.xd5+ [ Fans of creative but also quite thematic and after h8 15.g4!? e6 16.c4 fxe5 play should note the possibility of 6...f5!? 17.fxe5 f7 the position is pretty murky, 7.c3 e6 , as advocated for Black by John in perhaps roughly level) 11...xc5 12.d4! the recent 'Experts on the Anti-Sicilian'. ] ( avoiding 12.b4 f2+ w i t h a d r a w) 12...fxe5! 13.xc6 f2+ (the main point 7.e1 c4? [ It seems that 2 d3 often encourages Black behind Black's extremely-aggressive play) to play actively and try to 'punish' White for 14.xf2 xf2 15.xe7+ h8 16.xd5 his slightly slow play. Here such an exf4 was the rather sharp course of Jonesa p p ro a ch is d e f in i t e l y f o o l h a r d y. A f t e r Palliser, British League (4NCL) 2011. At this 7...f6 8.h4 there would have been point White should have settled for 17.xf4 everything to play for, although this position ( 17.d2?! f3! 18.xf3 g4 gave me a isn't so easy for Black without a knight on c3. serious initiative in the game, although I A f t e r , f o r i n s t a n c e , xf3 ( 8...0-0 later missed my chance and was steadily i s l i k e l y b e s t) 9.xf3 d4 10.d1 gro u n d d o wn) 17...xf4 18.xf4 xf4 White keeps everything covered. He may 19.d8+ f8 20.xf8+ xf8 21.d2 follow up with central expansion, but very wi t h a n e x t r a p a w n , a l t h o u g h G a w a i n dangerous for Black is that good, old routethought it was likely just a draw after e6 2112

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 one approach on the kingside after f4-f5. Remember a certain game McShaneCheparinov? ] 8.dxc4! [ I suspect that Gawain was pinching himself at this point, unable to believe how well his preparation had gone. Meanwhile Bates was later rather perplexed as to why he'd repeated the whole line, as since the game J. Cobb-Bates, Plovdiv 2010 (where 8.h1 cxd3 9.cxd3 f6 10.c3 d7 11.g5! xe2 12.xe2 was only a little better for White), he'd analysed the capture on c4 and found Black's position to be quite suspect. Having been there myself before, I can only say: if only we never forgot anything and never made slightly-impulsive moves too quickly in the opening. ] 8...b6+ 9.h1 xb2 10.xb2 xb2 The point of Black's play, of course, but the open b-file will spell serious danger for him. 11.c3 xf3 [ This doesn't turn out well, but at least Black plays some critical moves. Already improvements are rather hard to come by: f o r i n s t a n c e , a f t e r 11...f6 12.b1 ( 12.e5!? dxe5 13.fxe5 d7 14.b1 xc2 15.xb7 is also rather dangerous for Black, i n v i e w o f t h e f i e n d i s h l i t t l e m o v e 0-0 16.c7! when the knight can't leave c6 on account of Nd4, taking on f3 loses material, and dxe5 17.d1 d3 18.xe5 xe5 19.d5! xd1 20.xe7+ h8 21.xe5+ f6 22.f4 leaves White with an ongoing, highly-dangerous initiative) 12...xc2 the machine points out the nasty idea of 13.c5! 0-0 ( 13...dxc5 14.c4 corrals the queen ) 14.cxd6 exd6 15.b5 , leaving Black's queen in mortal danger. ] 12.xf3 b4 13.b1 xc4 14.xb7 Bates has managed to evacuate his queen, bu t on ly a t th e price of a llowin g W h it e a rampant rook and serious threats on the light squares. d4 [ 14...f6? 15.e5 dxe5 16.c7 would have cost Black a piece, ] [ and 14...b8 15.b3 xb3 16.axb3 c5 wouldn't really have given Black grovelling chances in view of the all-powerful blow, 17.e5! . ] 15.d5! Now Black will struggle to move his

knight from g8 and to make matters even worse for him, Gawain is particularly deadly in such open, attacking situations. c8 [ I'll leave it to subscribers to decide whether 15...f8 16.f2 xf3 17.xf3 c8 18.f5 g5 19.f6 e6 is really the improvement for Black the machine (at least initially) wants to claim. ] 16.xa7 [ Netting a clear pawn and setting a neat trap, although 16.b4!? c5 17.a1 e5 18.b7 was also rather good, neatly moving the rook back and forth to force an extremelycommittal advance out of Black. ] 16...xc2? [ Now White gets to reveal the main point behind his last, but Black's days were surely n u m b e r e d t o o i n t h e e v e n t o f 16...xf3 17.xf3 xc2 18.f1! and then, say, c5 ( if 18...e6 19.a1 ) 19.a5 c6 20.a1 .] 17.b1 c5 [ Hitting the rook while avoiding the threatened fork. Instead 17...c6 18.b2 f6 19.c1 would have netted a piece and the game. ] 18.b7 c6 19.c7+ Winning material unless Black allows the neat finish which now occurred: d7 20.xc6+ xc6 21.e5+ b6 22.b1+! xa7 23.b7# 1-0

1965 Jones,Gawain C Kempinski,Robert European Rapid Ch rapid (12) [Richard Palliser]

B21 2635 2603 18.12.2011

1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 [ Perhaps a more accurate move order for Black is 2...e6 3.f4 d5 4.e2 c6 5.f3 f6 , pressuring e4 ahead of deciding what to d o with the da rk-squa red bishop . O f course, though, White can still push on and A) 6.c3 is the alternative, as in Rendle-A. Hunt, London 2011, where b5!? 7.e5 ( 7.exd5!? and if exd5 8.e5 looks like the critical test to me) 7...b4 8.a4 d7 9.d4?! ( if he wanted to play this, it was better to first flick in 9.a3 a5 and here 2113

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 W h i t e m i g h t c o n s i d e r t o o 10.0-0 , keeping his options open, with c4 also a plan ) 9...a5 10.b3 cxd4 11.xd4 xd4 12.xd4 c5 saw Black seizing an early advantage; B) 6.e5 d7 7.c4! ( White should challenge in the centre, just as he does in ou r ma in ga m e 7.c3 e7 8.0-0 b5 just seems too easy for Black - see Welling-I.Sokolov, Gibraltar 2009, in the Archive ) 7...d4 8.0-0 e7 9.bd2 0-0 10.e4 f6! 11.exf6 xf6 12.e1!? xe4 13.dxe4 a6 14.d2 b8 ( 14...d3!? 15.d1 b5 would have been s o m e w h a t m o r e c r i t i c a l) 15.d3 le f t h i m s l i g h t l y f o r c h o i c e i n J o n e s Tregubov, Bastia (rapid) 2011. ] 3.f4 e6 4.f3 e7 5.e2 Gawain opts for the same set-up as in Jones-Slavin, but here there are some important differences with Black heading for a French-type position, rather than fianchettoing on the kingside. d5 6.0-0 f6 7.e5 d7 8.c4! Once again this early central challenge makes a lot of sense to me. Pushing on to d4 would likely leave White with an edge, since he can post a knight on e4, so Kempinski prefers to maintain the tension. b6 9.c3 d4?! [ It seems that this ambitious leap was new and with good reason. Previously Black had k e p t h i s o p t i o n s o p e n w i t h 9...0-0 and after, for example, 10.e1 d4 11.f2 f5?! ( 11...xe2+ 12.xe2 d7 13.b3 c6 would have been solid enough for Black ) 12.g4! h6 13.h3 White was slightly for choice in Kiik-Kosmo, Naantali 2003. ] 10.b3?! [ Hardly a bad move, but with more time on the clock I suspect Gawain would have preferred 10.xd4! cxd4 11.b5 c5 12.b4! . After xb4 White might regain the pawn on d4 after fianchettoing his bishop, b u t I a l s o q u i t e l i k e 13.b3!? e7 ( 13...c5? holds on to the extra pawn, but the d6-square is more important than a pawn and 14.a3! dxc4 15.dxc4 d7 16.xc5 xc5 17.a3 leaves White calling the shots ) 14.b2 dxc4 15.dxc4 0-0 16.xd4 when Bf3 and a4-a5 is one plan. ] 10...d7 11.b2 xe2+!

[ It was time to resolve the central situation, as 11...0-0? 12.xd4 cxd4 13.b5 xb5 14.cxb5 would have left White picking up d4, such as after c5 15.a3 and b4. ] 12.xe2 c6 13.f2! A useful multipurpose move. Gawain doesn't just want to have the queen handy for any kingside attack, but by p r e s su ri n g c 5 h o p e s t o f o rc e B l a c k in t o resolving the central tension. 0-0 14.h1 d7 15.a3 ac8! Kempinski, however, is up for the challenge. At first I thought White should be a little better here, as that knight on b6 is rather restricted, but after some analysis I'm not so sure that is so: Black is extremely solid and it's not so easy for White to increase the pressure. 16.ad1 [ The c-pawn was of course taboo: 16.xc5? xc5 17.xc5 dxc4 and White can't recapture in view of 18.dxc4? xf3 . ] 16...fd8 17.h4!? h6 18.h2 A sign that W hite is slightly short of a good plan. In a normal length game, perhaps Gawain would have been happy with a draw here, but in a ra p i d o n e h e wa s n o d o u b t s t i l l k e e n t o complicate the struggle. e8! Suddenly the ... f6 break enters the agenda and one can see White beginning to regret the advance of his hpawn. 19.e2 dxc4 20.bxc4? [ Not only does this free Black's knight, but it also allows a strong liquidating continuation. Gawain might have won the British Rapidplay back in November in some style with a very impressive 10.5/11, but Kempinski is no mug and it was time to start suing for peace with 20.dxc4 . ] 20...xf3!? [ The Polish Grandmaster decides to trade one advantage for another, but he might also have proceeded more sedately with 20...a4 followed by ...a6 and ...b5. I'm not too sure what W hite is doing here, so it looks very much like advantage and perhaps even clear advantage to Black. ] 21.gxf3? [ White wants to use the g-file, but this is ugly. Perhaps Gawain had missed Black's last, otherwise I suspect he would have preferred 21.xf3 a4 22.c1 xh4 23.xb7 xa2 24.e4 when Black is up a pawn, but the f4f5 push means that White is still very much in the game. ] 2114

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21...a4 22.c1 xa2 23.h5 f8! Good defence, overprotecting g7. White still has an f4-f5 break and can generate some pressure, but Kempinski refuses to panic and calmly goes after the weakling on d3. 24.g1 b3 25.e3 d7 26.f5 exf5 27.xh6?? [ Oh dear. It really wasn't Gawain's day. Instead 27.f4 would still have offered White some practical chances with the e5e6 break. ] 27...xd1! And just like that a rook dropped off. 28.e3 xd3 29.f2 xc4 30.h6 xe5 31.g3 g6 32.f4 c2 33.c3 a2 34.a3 c2 35.c3 d1 36.e3 e8 37.c1 b3 38.c3 b2 39.h7+ h8 0-1

1966 Jones,Gawain C Slavin,Alexei London Open (7) [Richard Palliser]

B21 2635 2400 09.12.2011

1.e4 c5 2.d3 One of Gawain's pet lines. c6 [ As we'll see in the notes to JonesKempinski, if Black is after a set-up with ... d5, he might well begin with 2...e6 3.f4 d5 .] 3.f4 [ The popular choice these days. White wants to play a Big Clamp set-up, but with his bishop on e2, not g2. That said, 3.g3 g6 4.g2 g7 5.f4 is still quite viable and it's good to see that even an infamous loss to Kasparov hasn't fully put Fedorov off such an approach. In Fedorov-Polgar, W arsaw (blitz) 2011, both players typically did their utmost to seize the initiative and h5!? 6.h3 e5! (fighting back in the centre and note how Black hasn't spent time preparing this with ... d6) 7.f3 exf4 8.xf4!? ( risky, but 8.gxf4 ge7 9.c3 f5 would have been pretty comfortable for Black) 8...xb2 9.bd2 ge7! ( 9...xa1? 10.xa1 f6 11.e5 g7 12.e4 would have given White fantastic play on the dark squares for the mere cost of an exchange and pawn) 10.0-0 d5 11.b1 g7 12.c4! dxc4? ( 12...dxe4! 13.xe4 0-0 might well have begun to call W h i t e ' s c o m p e n s a t i o n i n t o q u e s t i o n)

13.xc4 0-0 14.d6 b6 15.e5 and by now W hite had a grip on the position and dangerous compensation for the pawn. ] 3...g6 [ Here too Black might push his e-pawn, 3...e6 , as Kempinski was to choose against Gawain the following week. ] 4.f3 g7 5.e2 Reaching something of a tabiya. The key question now is: will Black counter in the centre with ...d5 or develop along more standard anti-Closed Sicilian (or reversed English) lines? d5 [ Slavin wastes no time hitting back in the centre. Also fairly popular is 5...f6 6.0-0 d5 , after which 7.e5 g4 8.c3 sees White beginning to build a big centre. This important position received some coverage from Vigorito in McShane-Van Wely, London 2009, and I also gave it some in my notes to Jones-Bates, Sheffield 2011. At this juncture Vigorito proposed h6!? 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 g4! which is perhaps the simplest way to play ...Qb6 and ...Nf5 will follow with French-style counterplay against d4. ] [ We've seen too that in the aforementioned Jones-Bates, 5...d6 6.0-0 g4 7.e1 c4? 8.dxc4! b6+ 9.h1 xb2 10.xb2 xb2 quickly backfired on Black, ] [ but 5...e6 6.0-0 ge7 isn't such a bad setup. That said, I prefer White's bishop being on e2 rather g2 in such a position, since the bishop can always defend against a raid on c2 with Bd1, in true reversed Dutch style. Here White might shift his queen towards the kingside, but the steady A) 7.e1 d5 8.c3 b6 9.a3 a6 10.d2 0-0 11.d1 h6 12.c1 left White fairly well coordinated in RendleD'Costa, London 2011, although after f5! 13.e5 b8 14.c2 d7 15.h3 ( 15.d4! should have been tried, not fearing any queenside pawn storm moreover, after xe2 16.xe2 fc8 17.e3 cxd4 18.cxd4 followed by g4 White's kingside pla y lo oks t o me slight ly m ore p ot en t than anything Black can muster on the other flank) 15...d4! 16.c4 b5 17.b3 c7 B l a c k h a d m a n a g e d t o s e i ze e n o u g h counterplay; B) 7.c3 0-0 8.e3 very much comes into 2115

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 consideration too, playing in Big Clamp st yle b u t f or t h e loca tio n of th e ligh t squared bishop. Brkic-Solic, Bol 2011, continued b6 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 d5 11.e5 a6 12.f2! d7 13.a3 b8 14.c2 and having overprotected d4 White was ready to build on the kingside with g4. ] 6.0-0 e6 7.c3 ge7 8.a4! [ Slavin's move order has meant that Black might meet 8.e3 with d4!? 9.cxd4 cxd4 10.f2 0-0 11.a3 , although I'm not e n t ire ly c o n vin ce d I 'd p la y t h is wa y a s Black. ] [ If we view the position as a reversed Classical Dutch, the text makes a lot of sense, seizing space and making it harder for Black to expand with ...b5. Indeed, it is undoubtedly an improvement over 8.a3 , after which 0-0 9.e5 d7 10.c2 d4! ( b e f o r e W h i t e p l a y s d 4 h i m s e l f ) 11.c4 ( 11.cxd4 cxd4 12.cxd4?! xd4 13.xd4 b6 14.e3 d5 sees Black regaining his pawn with advantage) 11...f6! 12.exf6 xf6 13.d2 g7 14.e4 b6 15.d2 c7 left Black in pretty decent shape with the ... e5 break high on the agenda in HariharanRamesh, Calicut 2003. ] 8...0-0 9.a3 d4 [ After 9...dxe4 10.dxe4 xd1?! 11.xd1 b6 12.b5 White has a very pleasant edge, b u t s t il l I 'm n o t so s u re a b o u t S la vin ' s advance. ] [ R e t a i n i n g t h e t e n s i o n w i t h 9...b6!? followed by ...Bb7 and perhaps ...Na5 in response to any Qe1-h4 raid would likely have been my preference. ] 10.d2 b6 11.c2 dxc3?! [ I assume that Slavin didn't like the look of 11...a6! 12.c4 b7 , but this would have been acceptable enough f or him, since 13.b4 ( 13.e1 makes more sense, hoping to enjoy a free hand on the kingside, although Black should be OK after, say, h6!? ) 13...a5! keeps lines fairly closed with some effect. ] 12.xc3! [ The right recapture, hoping to weaken the black king's defences, whereas 12.bxc3?! a6 13.e1 d7 would just have given Black easy counterplay. ]

12...d4 13.cxd4 cxd4 14.b4 Gawain had to judge this position when he retreated his knight to c2, although I doubt it took him too long to conclude that White has quite a nice edge. White's kingside ambitions have most certainly not gone away and just where is Black's counterplay? e8 15.e1 [ Route one and why ever not? That said, a decent case might also be made for 15.e5!? , heading for c4 and then d6. ] 15...c6 16.d2 The bishop has done its job by forcing Black to lose time with the rook, so now drops back, hoping to later re-emerge w i t h s o m e e f f e c t o n h 6 . a5 17.c1 It may seem that W hite could have done without this move, but just look at what an important role this rook plays in the f o r t h c o m i n g t a c t i c s . b7 18.d1! Black's 16th was quite a committal choice and the text wastes no time revealing one downside: his light squares have been weakened. d7 19.b3 a6 Finally Black obtains a threat, but he is at least two moves too slow here (ideally he'd have been able to challenge the c-file at this point), and Gawain is quick to take advantage. 20.g5! d8? [ Your machine will rightly criticise this de f e n sive re t re a t , bu t t h e f in e po in t o f White's play was that 20...xd3 21.f3 a6 22.h4 ( however, 22.h3? h6 leads nowhere ) A) 22...h5! is a superior defence when 23.f5 would have given White pressure at the least sufficient for the small material investment, ( but 23.xf7?! xf7 24.f5 doesn't quite seem to cut the mustard here, since W hite comes up short af ter g8 25.fxe6 xe6 26.f6 xf6 27.xf6 ae8 28.xg6+ h8 ); B) 22...h6? 23.xf7! xf7 ( if 23...xf7 24.xc6 , regaining the piece with a large advantage ) 24.f5 would have given White a huge attack: for example, g8 25.fxe6 xe6 26.xh6 (threatening to exchange on g7 and e6, ahead of sacrificing the exchange on c6 to invade with the queen on e7) e2 27.f6! xf6 28.xf6 and there's no defence, extra rook or not, in view of the point ae8 29.xc6! . ] 21.f5! The expert on the Grand Prix Attack was hardly going to pass over this thematic 2116

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 break, sacrificing a pawn to open the key a2consider a more ambitious strategy g8 diagonal for his bishop. Black is now in involving queenside castling for example, serious trouble, so I suspect he really should 7...c7 8.0-0 0-0-0 9.c3 a6 10.g3 h6! have snaffled on d3 and then followed up with 11.a3 d4 12.xd4 cxd4 13.d5 xd5!? ...h5, although to judge that he could get 14.cxd5 h5 gave Black decent positional away with such play would not have been at and attacking compensation for the pawn in all easy to work out while under pressure at D.Marshall-G.Orlov, Seattle 1990) 8.0-0 0-0 the board. exf5 9.c3 d7 10.d3 ad8 . Now White must [ It's too late for 21...xd3? : 22.f3 a6 b e a c c u r a t e : 11.h1! ( correct, whereas 23.f6 h8 ( or 23...h6 24.h4 ) 24.xh7! 11.e3? g4! 12.d2 d4 has seen and White breaks in down the h-file. ] W h it e s t ru g gl e i n a n u m b e r o f g a m e s , 22.g3! including Sale-Lutz, Pula 1997, which can [ Calm and very strong. White simply wants be found in the Archive) 11...c7 12.b3 to recapture on f5, rather than get involved b6 13.a4 d7 14.b5 b7 15.e5 a6 in the murky complications of 22.h4? h6 16.xd7 xd7 17.c3 d4 was about 23.xf7 xf7 24.g3 . ] equal in Gudbrandsen-Gullaksen, Oslo 22...f4 2006: once again Black's clamp on the d-file [ Desperation. The alternative was to grovel fully compensates for the sacrificed pawn. ] with 22...e5!? , but White has a few strong 7...d7 continuations here, including 23.f4 c5 [ Aggressive and by no means a bad move, 24.exf5 xf5 25.c7 e8 26.e1 but if Black wants to go long, I would prefer when all his pieces pour in. ] 7...c7!? 8.e2 0-0-0 , gaining a tempo 23.xf4 f8 24.xh7! Crashing through in against the c4-pawn. ] style. Already Black might have given up, but [ Quite often, though, Black settles for Slavin prefers to be shown. xh7 25.h4+ kingside castling and after 7...e7 8.e2 g8 26.xg6 e8 27.h7+ f8 28.h6! d7 9.c3 0-0 ( 9...h5?! was rather too Flushing the black king out into the open ambitio us in Hinks Ed ward s-Hennigan , where it will quickly be mated since it can British League 2005, which Jonathan has never cross the c-file. xh6 29.xh6+ e7 pre viou sly an no ta te d) 10.0-0 ad8 30.g5+ d6 31.h6+ e6 we're back in our key tabiya, as investigated [ Or 31...e6 32.e5# . ] above. ] 32.g3+ e7 33.c7+ It's mate next move. 8.e2 d6?! 1-0 [ I'm not a fan of blocking the d-file like this, especially with the queen on d7, not c7 (when ...Bd6 would target f4). Instead the 1967 B21 c o n s i s t e n t 8...0-0-0 9.0-0 f5 seemed completely OK for Black in NelisKahn,Evarth 2334 Tortarolo, Cannes 1990. There are two Ruszin,Anna 2125 things which one must be aware of when Budapest (3) 04.06.2007 regaining the pawn thus: (i) can White whip [Richard Palliser] up a queenside initiative and (ii) is a timely N g 5 a wk wa r d ? H e r e n e i t h e r s e e m t o o 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.c4 troubling, as shown by the continuation of Immediately holding on to the pawn, but White the game: 10.a4 ( or 10.c3 xd3 may now struggle to find a good role for his 11.xd3 xd3 12.xd3 xd3 13.g5 light-squared bishop, just like in certain lines d7 14.e3 h6 15.ge4 xe4 16.xe4 of the Icelandic Gambit. e6 5.dxe6 xe6 d4 and Black keeps everything covered 6.f3 c6 7.d3 without too much diff iculty) 10...xd3 [ White's moves are pretty interchangeable. 11.xd3 ( beginning a misguided plan and Another common route to what is probably perhaps it was already time to head for t h e k e y t a b i y a b e i n g 7.e2 e7 exchanges and equality with 11.d1 f5 ( in 'Fighting the Anti-Sicilians', I also 2117

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.c3 xe2 13.xd8+ xd8 14.xe2 ) 11...xd3 12.e5? xe5 13.fxe5 g4 and Black, who threatens mate, had much the stronger attack. ] 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.c3 b8 Trying to get some pressure down the d-file. This isn't ideal, but I'm not too sure what to suggest instead. Black would like to engineer a pawn break on the kingside, but that is far from easy. In comparison with a ...Qc7 and ...0-0-0 set-up (see Marshall-Orlov, above), White hasn't had to defend f4 with g3 and so will simply capture any pawn which dares to reach g5. 11.e3 d4? [ A serious misjudgement. It was better to improve Black's final piece with 11...he8 , asking White if he wants to trade f4 for c5 or not. ] 12.xd4! [ I like this attacking approach, although there was nothing wrong with the more materialistic 12.e5!? xe5 13.fxe5 g4 14.xg4 xg4 15.d2 . ] 12...cxd4 13.b5 xf4!? [ Ambitious. The 'safe' course was 13...a6 14.e5 e7 , although after 15.a3 xe5 16.fxe5 d7 17.b1 xe5 18.b4 W hite has by far the better attacking prospects and Ruszin's attempt to avoid this seems quite reasonable. ] 14.xa7+ b8 15.b5 g4? [ Underestimating White's attack. For better or worse, Black had to get the queens off with 15...xc4! 16.dxc4 d3 17.xd3 ( 17.a4? dxe2 18.a7+ c8 19.fe1 d3 gives White nothing more than a draw) 17...e3+ 18.h1 xd3 19.xd3 xd3 , with some chances to hold this pawn-down ending. ] 16.a4 b6 [ Neither would 16...e7 have saved Black in view of 17.h1! (now d4 drops off) e3 18.fxd4 xf1 19.xf1 with a crushing attack for the exchange. ] 17.h3 e3 [ The long diagonal also costs Black dear after 17...e3+ 18.h1 f6 19.e5 b7 20.f3 . ] 18.fxd4! It's all very easy: White's queen, knights and powerful bishop f orm f ar too strong an attacking force against the horribly-

exposed black king. d5 20.f3 1-0

1968 Kharlov,Andrei Tyomkin,Dimitri 21st ECC Saint Vincent ITA (3) [Jonathan Rowson]

19.xf4

xf4

B21 2619 2467 20.09.2005

1.e4 c5 2.f4 Kharlov seems to have taken a liking to this move recently. d5 3.exd5 f6 [ 3...xd5 4.c3 d8 ] 4.b5+ d7 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 e6 7.dxe6 xe6+ [ 7...fxe6 is more common, and was exa min ed in p re vio u s u pd a t es. I n b o t h variations, Black usually develops enough compensation to win the pawn back, but W hite often retains an advantage due to the placement of the pawns on c5 and c4this fixed feature of the position tends to favour W hite, because his bishop is more influential. ] 8.e2 c6 9.xe6+ fxe6 10.a3! Much more pointed than Nc3- it's important to control c2. b4 11.h3! Who said knights on the rim are dim? Kharlov protects f4 and p r e p a r e s t o c o n t r o l d 3 w i t h N f 2 . d3+ 12.e2 0-0-0 13.c2 e5 14.fxe5 xe5 15.b3 d6 16.b2 he8 17.e3 fg4 18.g3 xe3 19.dxe3 g4 20.f3 xe3 21.he1 As I mentioned, Black's pressure is enough to win the pawn back, but now White is somewhat better because Black is a bit tender on the light squares. f5 22.xe8 xe8 23.d1 f8 24.e4 g6 25.d5 d7 26.g5 h6 27.f3 e6 28.e5 e7 29.g4 d6+ 30.e3 f7 31.f4 d8 32.e5 xe5 33.xe5+ f6 34.d5 e8 35.f3 g5 36.e3 e6 37.xc5 f8+ 38.e3 f4 39.xe7 xe7 40.h3 f1 41.b5 b6 42.c5 bxc5 43.xc5 h1 44.a5 xh3+ 45.e4 d6 46.xa7 c5 47.b7 h2 48.a4 f2 49.a5 f4+ 50.e5 xg4 51.a6 1-0

2118

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 1969 Kobernat,Alan Wojtkiewicz,Aleksander 10th Governors Cup (1) [Jonathan Rowson]

B21 2101 2570 28.10.2005

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 c7 7.0-0 f6 8.h3 a6 9.e2 d6 10.e3 e7 11.ac1 0-0 12.d4 d7 13.f4 Black shouldn't have any real problems here, and seems to be a fairly safe pawn up. However, Wojtklewicz's next move was a little loosening and made the position needlessly tense. b5?! [ 13...ac8 ] 14.xc6 xc6? [ 14...xc6 15.d3 ( 15.d5 ac8! 16.xb5 xb5! ) 15...b7 looks like it should be ok for Black, and therefore winning in the long term. ] 15.d3 [ 15.d5! is even stronger, and leaves Black with very real problems- it seems he has to sacrifice his queen. xd5 16.xd5 exd5 17.xc6 xc6 This sacrifice may not even b e e n o u g h t o h o l d o n : 18.d4! dxe4 19.g4 g6 20.f5 looks like a strong attack. ] 15...b7 16.e5 dxe5 [ 16...d5 feels safer because the f-file remains closed. ] 17.fxe5 d5 18.xd5 exd5?! [ 18...xd5 is obviously the move that Black wanted to play, but perhaps he was scared of something simple like 19.b6 intending Be4. Black has resources there, but my impression is that 'W o-jo', playing Black, wa s n o t t a k in g h i s o p p o n e n t s e r io u s l y enough, and wasn't taking the trouble to check variations carefully. ] 19.h5 g6 20.h6 ac8 21.ce1 White has significant compensation here, but Black is still somewhat better, even after making several moves that looked inaccurate. c5? I suspect Black saw that after taking and playing e6, the queen on a7 could defend the king laterally from b7. However, I suspect he missed that the rook on f8 loses an important defender. [ 21...f5 is still ok, because 22.e6 xe6 23.d4 f6! holds. ]

[ 21...e6 22.d4 c7 is safe and so m e wh a t b e t t e r f o r B l a c k . W h i t e h a s some positional compensation in the form of a dark square blockade, but Black is now quite safe, and still a pawn up. ] 22.xc5 xc5 23.e6 c6 24.e7 e8 25.xf7 1-0

1970 Komorzycki,Jakub Bernard,Ryszard Krynica [Gary Lane]

B21 2225 2345 1994

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.b5+ d7 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 e6 7.e2 d6 8.f5 [ 8.d3 is established as the main line because it helps W hite to defend f4 and result in quicker development. ] 8...0-0 [ 8...e5 9.g4 g6 10.g5 h5 11.fxg6 f4 12.gxf7+ xf7 13.e4 0-0 14.d1 ( 14.c3 looks like a better option to try to catch up with development.) 14...h5+ 15.c2 a6 16.a3 b5 17.b3 bxc4 18.bxc4 h3 19.xh3 xh3 20.g6 f4 21.gxh7+ h8 22.g6 b8 23.d3 e4 ( 23...f2+ 24.d2 d8 25.b1 and with the white king safe one can count the pawns to see who is winning) 24.d2 xd3+ 25.d1 f2 26.b2+ 1-0 J.Ka rt ma nn-M. Bo uarab a, Ge rm an y 1997. ] 9.fxe6 fxe6 10.dxe6 e8! On e8 the queen is well placed to transfer to h5 for an attack. It is this move that has just about put the line out of business. [ 10...c8 The queen on c8 indicates Black's number one priority is to win the e-pawn. This is because it allows ...Re8 to round up the pawn. 11.f3 e8 12.0-0 xe6 13.d1 c6 14.d3 d7 15.c3 h6 16.d5 ae8 17.d2 b8 18.b3 d6 19.ae1 ( perhaps 19.f4!? should be c o n s i d e r e d) 19...xe1 20.xf6+ xf6 21.xe1 d6 22.f2 xd3 23.d2 xb3 24.xd7 xb2 25.c3 b1+ 26.f2 g5 27.d2 c1 28.e4 e5 29.xe5 xe5 30.f6+ f8 31.h7+ e8 32.f6+ f8 2119

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 33.h7+ g8 34.f6+ f8 1/2-1/2 E. Maljutin-P.Nielsen, Minsk 1993. ] 11.b3 [ 11.f3 h5 12.0-0 xh2+! is a classic trap that has claimed a number of victims. ] 11...c6 12.b2 b4 13.d1 If White has to give the right to castle after only 13 moves then the opening has gone wrong. [ 13.a3 g6 the threat of Nd3+ gives B l a c k a c l e a r a d v a n t a g e 14.0-0-0?? xa2# ] 13...g6 14.a3 d3 15.c3 g4 16.h3 f2! The lead in development brings great divid en ds with t his won de rf ul ro ok m ove plunging White into despair. 17.e1 [ 17.xf2 gxf2+ 18.c2 f4+ wins ] 17...xe2 18.xe2 White is completely lost and just carries on for a short while to make the length of the game look respectable. e8 19.c2 xe6 20.e3 xe3+ 21.dxe3 xh2 22.d2 e5 23.b1 f4 0-1

1971 Kramnik,Vladimir Chumachenko,A Gelendzhik 1987 [Paul Motwani]

B21

1987

W 1 0 : " R e n o wn e d P r i n c e " V . K r a m n i k - A . Chumachenko, Gelendzhik 1987. Sicilian 2 f4. My wife and I have birthdays in June, whereas our son's is in October. Both of those months are special this year for Russia's super-GM Vladimir Kramnik, who may pause briefly to celebrate his 25th birthday on June 25 before continuing with intensive preparations for October 7: the magic day when he's due to begin challenging Garry Kasparov, the world's top-rated player, in a potentially gruelling 16game Brain Games Network W orld Chess Ch a m p io n s h ip m a t ch , s ch e d u l e d t o l a s t almost a month in London. Even as a teenager, Kramnik was already being tipped by Kasparov as a very possible future holder of the world chess crown, and so it is quite appropriate that the original Slavic meaning of the name 'Vladimir' is 'renowned prince'. It's not hard to picture Kramnik in the role of supreme champion when one sees the quality

of 178 superb whole games or extracts in the new 272-page masterpiece "Kramnik, my life and games", published by Everyman at 17.99. I wonder if Kramnik is a James Bond fan, judging by the action in the book's game no. 007! It's an encounter at Gelendzhik 1987 from our hero's pre-teen years, and since no notes were supplied in this case, I am providing my own annotations here now. 1.e4 c5 2.f4 This "Grand Prix Attack" could of course also be reached via the move-order 1 f4 c5 2 e4. If you're interested in picking up lots of sneaky ideas emanating from relatively rare f irst m oves such as 1 f 4, t hen I ca n recommend another new Everyman book: "Winning Unorthodox Openings" by IM Angus Dunnington, who is already a highlyacclaimed author due to his numerous excellent previous works. b6 [ This is really too timid for my taste, and so I would prefer the vigorous reaction 2...d5 intending 3.exd5 f6 and then variations like 4.c4 e6! offer Black tremendously active piece-play in return for just a very small material investment. ] 3.c4! White grabs the chance to seize more space. b7 4.c3 e6 [ If 4...f6? 5.e5 e4? then White quickly wi n s B l a c k ' s u n wi s e k n i g h t wi t h 6.b1! followed soon by d2-d3. ] 5.f3 d6 6.d4 cxd4 7.xd4 f6 8.d3 bd7 9.e2 White sensibly over-protects his e4-pawn in anticipation of ...Nc5 happening. e7 10.0-0 [ 10.e5? dxe5 11.fxe5 c5! 12.exf6 xd4 is suddenly fabulous for Black. ] 10...0-0 11.h1 A typical prophylactic measure, to avoid problems which could arise from keeping White's king and d4-knight on the same diagonal. c7 12.f5! e5 13.db5 d8 14.d5 xd5 15.exd5 a6 16.c3 f6 At first it might seem more natural to block at f6 with the knight, but in fact 16...Nf6 would actually add power to a g4-g5 kingside attack by White. 17.e3 c8 18.e4 c5 19.xc5! With Black's knight now eliminated, the white counterpart becomes practically untouchable on its superb central outpost at e4. bxc5 20.d2! Preparing g4-g5. b8 21.a3 White may even play on the queenside too, with b2-b4. a5 22.g4 h6 23.h4!! 2120

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A brilliant pawn-sacrifice, and for an entire book of instructive attacking themes, I refer you to GM Larry Christiansen's irresistible "Storming the Barricades", a 176-page gem published recently by GAMBIT at 13.99. xh4 24.f6! c8 [ If 24...g5 then White's queen would rapidly find her way to the h7-square after a few preparatory moves such as Bc2, Qd3 and Nxg5. ] 25.h2 b3 26.c2! [ Not 26.xh4 xd3 27.g5?? h3+ ] 26...xb2 27.xh4 xc2 28.g5 d7 29.fxg7 h3+ [ 29...xg7 30.xh6+ g8 31.f6# was Black's 'alternative'. ] 30.xh3 xh3 31.gxf8+ xf8 32.f2 Black resigned, due to his fatal material deficit. 1-0

1972 Kufa,Pavel Nepomucky,Ondrej Ch Moravia [Gary Lane]

B21

1996

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.c4 e6 6.f3 c5 7.0-0 ge7 8.g5!? This is a move in the true spirit of the opening. W h it e go e s o n t h e a t t a ck a t t h e e a rlie st o p p o r t u n i t y b y t h r e a t e n i n g Q h 5 . g6 There is not much tournament experience in this line. Black has to be careful: [ 8...h6? looks natural but it allows 9.xf7! xf7 10.h5+ g8 11.xc5 when White has a positional advantage. ] [ 8...0-0 9.xh7 xf2+ 10.xf2 xh7 11.h5+ g8 12.f4 is fine for White. ] 9.h5 h6?! 9...Nce5 has been suggested. 10.xf7! xf7 11.xc5 White has emerged from the opening with fantastic prospects. He has the better placed pieces and won his pawn back. Meanwhile, Black needs to get his exposed king to safety. b6 [ 11...g8 12.f4 is not pleasant for Black but it is better than the actual game. ] 12.h5 The pin on the knight is very awkward for Black. White wants to play f4-f5 and it is not clear how this can be successfully stopped. ce5 13.e2 c6

[ 13...f8 14.f4 c6 15.f5 wins ] 14.f4 d4 15.f5 xe2+ 16.xe2 1-0

1973 Lane,Gary William Hendy,Mark Internet [Gary Lane]

B21

2002

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 f6 8.e3 White just gets on with developing his pieces. The text is a little bit unusual but has the advantage of not being exhaustively analysed in the books. b5 [ 8...e6 has the merit of blocking the a2-g8 diagonal 9.e2 e7 10.fd1 A) 10...c7 11.ac1 0-0 12.a3 ( or 12.b3 g4 13.f4 ge5 14.xe5 dxe5 15.e3 a5 16.a4 d4 17.xd4 exd4 18.xd4 b5 19.c3 b6 is about equal, Sylvan,J-Hoffmann,M/Biel 1994/ ) 12...g4 13.f4 ge5 14.a2 b8 ( 14...b5 15.d5! exd5 16.exd5 g4 17.xe5 dxe5 18.xc6 d7 19.h3 is good for W hite) 15.d2 b5 16.g3 b6 17.h1 b7 18.f4 g6 ( 18...d7!? ) 19.h5 h6 20.f5! ge5 21.fxe6 fxe6 22.xe6+ h8 23.d5 with a clear advantage, Vasta,EDimitrijeski,B/Internet ICC 2000/; B) 10...d7 11.ac1 a5 12.d4 xd4 13.xd4 0-0 14.d3 f6 15.xf6 xf6 16.xd6 with roughly equal chances, Milman-Anderson, Foxwoods open Connecticut 2002 ] 9.xf7+! I am not sure if this has been played before but in an internet game I just wanted to attack. It could be an important novelty and the bonus is that White quickly gets his piece back. [ 9.b3 is the standard move but I think it misses out on giving Black problems straight out of the opening. g4 10.d5 d7 11.a4 b4 12.h3 ( 12.c1 is a better choice which might lead to a brilliancy upon c8 13.g5 xd1?? 14.c7+ xc7 15.xf7+ d8 16.e6# ) 12...xf3 13.xf3 e6 ( 13...g6 14.fc1 de5 15.e2 c8 2121

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xa6 and White is winning) 14.f4 f6 th at it is so un d . xe5 9.f4 d3+!? 15.e2 c5 16.c4 e7 17.h5 g6 ( 9...d6! ) 10.xd3 xf4 11.c1 b4+ 18.xc5 ( 18.fd1!? ) 18...dxc5 19.xa6 12.f1 a5 ( 12...d8 13.c4 wins ) d4 20.b5+ f8 21.g4 xg4 22.hxg4 13.c4 b8 14.xc8+! xc8 15.d6+ g6 23.f4 g7 24.c4 a5 25.fc1? White has created a winning combination ( 25.e5 gives White chances of survival) and soon finishes the job. e7 16.xc8+ 25...g5 26.g3 e5 27.d5 xc1 xc8 17.e2 f6 18.b3 d5 19.g3 0-1 Tammiaho,J-Innala,H/FIN 1999/ ] c6 20.e5 b6 21.a4 xb2+ 22.f3 9...xf7 10.e5 This is the move that makes b6 23.xd7+ The king hunt is fun for the whole line work in White's favour. dxe5 White but misery for Black. f6 24.g4+ [ 10...e8 11.g5+ g6 12.g4 wins ] g5 25.h4+ h5 26.xf7+ 1-0 P.Monrad[ 10...g8 11.d5+ e6 12.xc6 d7 K. Boyd, New Zealand Ch 1992. ] 13.e4 when White is on top due to his 7...f6 better development and consequently good [ 7...a6 A cautious approach that shows that attacking chances against the stranded Black is wary of Nb5. 8.0-0 d6 9.d1 black king ] f6?! 10.xd6! xd6 11.e5 e7 12.exf6 11.xe5+ e8 gxf6 13.f4 d5 14.b3 b5 15.e1 d4 [ 11...g8 12.xc6 xd1 13.fxd1 16.d5! 1-0 B.Moore-M. Murillo, USA gives White the better ending because it will 1991. ] take time for Black to activate his kingside 8.g5 g4 9.h3 pieces. ] [ 9.c1 a6 10.h3 ge5 11.xe5 xe5 12.xc6 c7 13.d4 d7 14.d5! ( 11...xe5 12.b3 c5 13.0-0 d6 In strong position the tactics flow and here I 14.a4+ b5 15.xb5 axb5 16.xb5+ d7 set about reducing the shield of pieces around 17.b4 xb5 18.xb5+ d7 19.xd7+ the black king xd5 xd7 20.bxc5 xc5 21.e5 d3 22.c7 [ Or 14...b7 15.xf6+ exf6 16.b3 e7 when White's extra development give shim 17.fe1 when White is on top. ] the better chances.) 12.f4 a5 13.0-0 d4 15.h5+ g6 16.xd5 The queen on d5 is 14.g4 f5 15.h4 c5 16.h1 xc4 well placed to stop Black castling kingside in 17.d5 xf1+ ( 17...exd5 18.xc4 dxc4 order to pursue the attack. d8 17.fd1 g7 19.exf5 xf5 20.h5+ g6 21.e2+ e7 18.ac1 d6 As usual I hardly want to enter 22.e5 White has lots of play despite the an ending when the attack is at it's height. material deficit) 18.xf1 exd5 19.exd5 f7 19.b3 f6 20.c7 The rook invades the 20.e1 b5 21.h5+ g6 22.h4 g8 seventh rank and Black's king is relegated to ( 22...c2 23.e7! ) 23.f6 e6 24.dxe6+ the task of defending the bishop on d7. f7 dxe6 25.d8 d7 26.d1 1-0 F. La Mar-L. 21.a3 f6 22.f3 xb2 23.d3 Walker, Eastpointe 1994. ] 1-0 G.Lane-M.Hendy, Internet 2002 [ 9.g1? has been played but surely it was 1-0 the result of the 'touch-move rule'? ] [ 9.0-0? as usual this normal looking move gets demolished by d4! 10.xd4 xh2# ] 1974 B21 9...ge5 10.xe5 xe5 11.b3 If White Laurent,Bruno 2188 plays this opening he has to be prepared to Leconte,Jean Olivier 2257 cope with being a pawn down. Of course, Naujac (5) 2000 there is compensation in the form of extra development. f6 12.e3 c5 13.c1 xe3 [Gary Lane] 14.xe3 0-0 15.0-0 [ 15.d5? looks good but Black can play 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 xc1+! 16.xc1 d3+ winning ] 5.xc3 e6 Prevents intrusion on d5 6.c4 15...c6 16.fd1 a6 Black finds time to c7 7.e2 [ 7.b5 b8 8.e5?! This gambit works well thwart the likelihood of Nc3-b5. 17.d5 exd5 in the game but I am not totally convinced 18.exd5 h8 19.c5 Spot the threat! d6 2122

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.a3 d8 21.dxc6 bxc6 22.d5 b7 23.f3 There is a lot of pressure against the c6 pawn as W hite attempts to restore the material balance. ac8 24.e6 b8 25.d5 bc8 26.e6 b8 [ 26...c5!? should be considered. 27.g3 b8 ] 27.d5= ½-½

White advances the pawn to threaten b4-b5 and more importantly the black queen is in dire straits due to the prospect of f2-f4. d5 ( if 18...b7 White can smile upon 19.f4 and the black queen looks silly) 19.f4 xc4 20.fxe5 xe2 21.exf6 exf6 22.xe2 dxe4 23.xe4 ce8 1-0 Schenk Papke,A-Ripoll Ramis,M/Binissalem 2002. ] 11.d2 c5 12.ac1 b6 [ Or 12...xd3 13.xd3 b6 14.d2 aiming to exchange dark-squared bishops is 1975 B21 the aim. ] Lenderman,Alex 2298 13.b1 b7 14.b3 e8 15.fd1 Lenderman Miton,Kamil 2600 centralises his rooks to maintain the tension. New York rapid (2) 07.12.2004 The problem for Black is that it is difficult to create counterplay without compromising his [Gary Lane] position. c8 16.d5 e6 17.b4 e5 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 d3 It is surprising 18.e2 a6 Miton tries to undermine the c4 that a 2600 grandmaster is f rightened of p a w n a s a w a y t o f l u s t e r t h e t a l e n t e d entering the main lines but the Morra Gambit youngster. 19.xe5 xe5 20.f4 g7 21.f5 W hite is d oing well by pushing the blac k has a dangerous reputation. pieces back which means he is on top. c7 [ 3...dxc3 is the critical line. ] 4.c4 This pawn advance makes room for the 22.b5?! [ I prefer 22.g4 ] queen's knight to be developed to the best [ 22.g4 to keep the options open and available square on c3. c6 5.xd3 f6 especially the possibility of c4-c5. ] 6.f3 d6 7.h3 g6 8.c3 [ Also possible: 8.0-0 g7 9.c3 d7 22...b7 23.g5 d7 24.f6 This looks like a 10.d5 c5 11.c2 0-0 12.b1 e6 winner but the Polish grandmaster comes up 13.e3 e5?! this is risky because the with a sound defence. xd5 25.fxg7 [ or 25.cxd5? exf6 26.f4 xc1 27.xc1 f5 important central square on d5 is presented when the pin on the e-file is deadly. ] to W hite as a gift ( 13...b4 to exchange the light-squared bishop is a good idea 25...f6 26.e5 h5?! A careless move fails offering equal chances) 14.b4 e6 15.d5 to make the most of White's inaccuracy. [ A big improvement is 26...e6! when the cd4 16.xd4 xd4 17.f4 gave White an pin on the e-file gives Black the edge. ] edge in Torres,L-Ahmed,M/Thessaloniki 27.d2 xg7 28.exd6 f6 29.dxe7 xe7 1984. ] 30.e1 f8 8...g7 9.e3 0-0 10.0-0 d7 [ 30...e6 is the more solid reply. ] [ Also possible: 10...d7 11.d2 a5 12.a3 fc8 13.b4 d8 14.ac1 31.h6 f7 32.xg7 xg7 33.d3 ed8 The position is equal but in rapidplay W hite has more space and this makes it 34.c3 easier to conduct a game when there is a you have to carry on because soon time will tight time-control e8 15.fd1 d7 16.e2 be an im porta nt f acto r a nd mista ke s will b6 17.h6 de5 18.xe5 xe5 19.xg7 happen. c7 35.e4 c8 36.c6 e7 xg7 20.d5 White has a strong knight 37.xe7 xe7 38.e1 c5+ 39.h2 d6+ and more room to manoeuvre giving him 40.g3 xg3+ 41.xg3 f8 42.h2 h5 the advantage, Castro Otero,S-Mirzoev,A/ 43.a4 Lenderman has some ambitions to use his 3 versus 2 majority to create a passed Pontevedra 2003. ] [ 10...b6 11.c1 a6 12.e2 b4 13.b1 pawn. However, he should also bring his king c8 14.b3 d7 15.fd1 the threat is e4-e5 into the action. f5 44.a5 h4 45.axb6 axb6 d7 47.c6? A clear error of to take advantage of the pin on the d-file 46.d5 e6 16.g5 e5? 17.a3 c6 18.b4 judgement that hands all the winning chances 2123

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to Black. [ He saw that a waiting move such as 47.e2 allows xb5 but did not see that 48.e6! is actually better for White. ] 47...xc6 48.bxc6 c8 49.c7 xc7 50.e6 g7 51.xb6 xc4 52.a6 The ending has become somewhat clearer after the exchanges. Basically, a look in the books will indicate that with correct play Black can hold this position despite the pawn def icit. f4 53.b6 h6 54.b5 f5 55.c5 g5 56.c6 d4 57.a6 h5 58.f6 f4 59.a6 f2 60.g1 c2 61.h2 g5 62.a5 f2 [ If 62...f4 then 63.g1 to avoid the prospect of a pin with f4-f3 should lead to a draw. ] 63.g1 f4 64.h2 g6 65.a6+ g7 66.b6 g4 67.hxg4 fxg4 68.g3 f2+ 69.g1 hxg3 70.b4 ½-½

1976 B21 Llaneza Vega,Marcos Fernandez Fernandez,Alejandro ch Preferente (2.20) 24.02.2001 [Gary Lane] 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.xc3 e6 6.c4 d6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 d7 9.d1 a6 10.a4 f6 [ 10...c8 11.f4 ( 11.h3 h6 12.f4 e5 13.g3 f6 14.d2 White gets on with the job of activating his pieces b6 15.ad1 a5 16.a2 b3 17.a5 b4 18.xb3 xb3 19.xd6! xd6 20.xd6 b5 21.d2 b4 22.xe5 xa5 23.xf6 gxf6 24.f4 gave White the advantage in Stanka, W-Gallagher,J/Loosdorf 1993.) 11...c7 12.ac1 A) 12...e5 the advance of the e-pawn is a typical response to pressure on the d6 pawn in this variation. The difference is that White can now gain time attacking the black queen 13.d5 b8 14.g3 f6 15.b6 d8 16.h4 h6 17.xf6 xf6 18.h3 ( 18.xd7! xd7 19.xa6 win s t h e p a wn b a c k givin g W h it e t h e advantage ) 18...0-0 19.e1 e6 20.d5 e7 21.b4 with a slight edge, Jaeck,V-

Dillmann,M/ Ingelheim 1998.; B) 12...e5 13.a2 b8 14.b4 b5 15.axb5 axb5 16.d4 gave White decent play in Ker,C-Stuart,P/NZL 1991. ] 11.f4 [ 11.g5 0-0 12.xf6 xf6 ( 12...gxf6 13.e3 heading for h6 is a worry for Black) 13.xd6 c7 14.ad1 ad8 15.e5 e7 16.6d2 1/2-1/2 Gerst,M-Bohne,U/GER 1998. ] 11...e5 12.g5 e6 13.xe6 fxe6 14.b4! I like the way White finds every opportunity to play aggressive chess. 0-0 [ 14...xb4 15.ab1 c7 16.xb4 xc3 17.xb7 with a slight initiative. ] 15.b5 White wants to knock the queen's knight out of the way. [ 15.c4 d7 16.b5 axb5 17.axb5 xa1 18.xa1 d8= ] 15...d4 [ 15...axb5!? i s p o s s i b l e 16.xb5 d5 17.xf6 xf6 ] 16.xd4 exd4 17.xd4 b6 18.e3 a5 19.d2 [ 19.c1!? is interesting. ] 19...axb5 20.d5?? Oh dear! White is trying to be clever by exchanging queens while taking on e7. BUT the black queen is defended leading to ruin. [ 20.c1 is the best continuation in the circumstances: e5 21.d3 bxa4 22.b1 ] 0-1

1977 Lohage,Arne Tobor,Detlef open Balatonbereny (8) [Gary Lane]

B21 2165 1996

1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 [ 4.xd4!? f6 5.c3 is a main line Sicilian. ] 4...dxc3 5.c4 [ 5.xc3 is a standard Morra. ] 5...e6 [ 5...cxb2 is the only way to really test the gambit. ] 6.0-0 [ 6.xc3 f6 is a standard response. ] 6...e7 2124

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ There is still time for 6...cxb2 7.xb2 f6 8.c3 when Black is better due to the extra pawns. ] 7.xc3 The position now transposes back into a standard Morra Gambit. Perhaps at least White would have gained some time on the clock due to his unusual move-order. f6 Black is behind in development. 8.e2 c6 9.d1 c7 10.a3 The pawn might well control b4 but there are alternatives which help to increase the pressure. [ 10.f4! e5 ( 10...a6 ) A) 11.b5+ f8 ( 11...ed7 12.e5!; 11...fd7 12.xe5 dxe5 13.ac1! intending Nd5 with advantage to White.) 12.xe5 dxe5 13.ac1 b8 14.e3 a6 15.a4! g4 ( 15...axb5 16.b6 d7 17.xd7! gives White a clear advantage) 16.d2 b6 17.d7 ( 17.c6 a7 18.h3 f6 19.e3 is good for White.) 17...xd7 18.xd7 f6 19.c6 White is better because Black's pieces lack harmony, M u s a l o v , R - L a b a za n o v , K / K r a s n o d a r 2001; B) 11.xe5 dxe5 12.b5+ d7 13.xd7+ xd7 14.b5 b6 15.e3 c5 16.d6+! e7 17.h5 ( 17.xc5 xc5 18.xb7 b6 19.d6 is good for White because the black king is stranded in the middle of the board.) 17...d4! 18.xf7+ xd6 19.f4 af8 20.xg7 hg8 21.xd4 xg7 22.xb6+ e7 23.xa7 with a clear advantage, Wuts,FRoberts,P/Hoogeveen 2001. ] [ 10.b5 b8 11.g5 ( 11.f4 e5 12.xd6+ xd6 13.xd6 xd6 14.xe5 is worth investigating for W hite) 11...a6 12.c3 0-0 13.ac1 b5 14.b3 b7 15.f4 h5 16.e3 a5 17.c2 c4 gave Black the advantage because he has fended off the attack and remains a pawn up, Sousa,H-Luis,P/ Lisbon 2000 ] 10...a6 Secures b5 to stop the knight going there. 11.b4 b5 12.a2 0-0 13.h3 A bit of a waste of time. When you are a pawn down it makes sense to keep developing. [ T h e r e f o r e , 13.b2!? deserves consideration ] 13...xb4! A sharp continuation that could have been avoided if White had found time to fianchetto on the queenside. 14.axb4 xc3

Tobor is now two pawns and White's attack is non-existent. 15.d2 c6 16.b1 b7 17.a3 [ Or 17.d4 d7-+ ] 17...ac8 18.e5 [ 18.c3 d7-+ ] 18...dxe5 19.c3 [ 19.xe5 e4 20.e1 fd8 21.xd8+ xd8-+ ] 19...e8 [ 19...xc3!? 20.xc3 xc3 21.xe5 xb4 22.b2-+ ] 20.xe5 xc3 21.xc3 d5 22.b2 [ 22.d3 f5-+ ] 22...f6 [ 22...xb4 23.d4 f5 24.f3-+ ] 23.d3 [ 23.d3 xb4 24.xb4 xb4-+ ] 23...h5 [ 23...fxe5?? would be a terrible mistake and a miracle for White 24.xh7+ f7 25.h5+ g8 26.h7+ h8 27.g6+ g8 28.h7# ] 24.d7 xb4 25.xh7+ [ 25.f1 hardly improves anything d8 26.g4 e8-+ ] 25...xh7 26.xh7+ xh7 27.xf8+ xf8 28.d7 The two pieces for a rook favours Black but with a pawn bonus then White really is in trouble. [ 28.xf6 doesn't do any good d5 29.a1 g6 and the connected queenside pawns will roll forward. ] 28...c6 29.d8 g8 [ 29...e7!? and Black can already relax 30.c8-+ ] 30.a3 f7? [ 30...a5-+ saves time and Black wins easily. ] 31.xf8+ Annihilates a defender: f8 xf8 Decoy theme: f8 32.xb4+ f7 Even after e change of fortunes Black's initial material advantage was such that he is still on top. 33.f1 e5 34.g3 e6 35.e2 f5 36.d3 g2 37.h4 g6 38.c3 d5 39.d3 c6 40.a5 c5 41.c3 d5 42.c7 [ 42.f4!? ] 42...b4+-+ 43.b2 [ 43.c2 f3-+ ] 43...e4 44.d8 b5 45.e7 [ 45.g5 does not solve anything a5-+ ] 2125

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 45...a5 46.f8 [ 46.c2 cannot undo what has already been done a4-+ ] 46...a4 Black plans a3+. 47.e7 a3+ 48.a1 a4 49.b1 [ 49.g5 does not help much b3 50.c1 c4-+ ] 49...b3 50.f6 c4 [ 50...c4 51.c1 b5-+ ] [ 50...b5!? makes it even easier for Black 51.a1-+ ] 0-1

1978 Luks,Monika Nilssen,John Arni 6th HZ Open Vlissingen (4) [Gary Lane]

B21 2088 2363 06.08.2002

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.xc3 e6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 d6 8.e2 e7 Black should quickly conclude development. 9.d1 d7 10.f4 e5 This is considered the main line. Black deflects the attention on the d6 pawn but in compensation W hite is rewarded with the d5 square for his pieces to occupy. 11.e3 f6 12.a4 [ 12.ac1 0-0 A) 13.a3 c8 14.b4 b5 15.b3 e6 16.a2 d7 17.d5 d8 ( 17...xe4?! 18.b6 xb3 19.xb3 b7 20.xc8 xc8 21.c2 is b e t t e r f o r W h it e) 18.xf6+ xf6 19.xe6 fxe6 20.d2 e7 21.a2 h6 22.c2 fd8 23.cd2 f7 24.b6 e8 25.c5 ed8 26.b6 1/2-1/2 Re ema n, I-Cumm ing,D/ SCCA 2000.; B) 13.h3 c8 B1) 14.g4 b5 15.d3 xg4? an ambitious and wrong sacrifice 16.hxg4 xg4 17.d5 d7 ( 17...f5 18.exf5 xf5 19.xf5 xf5 20.d2 is bet ter f o r W hit e) 18.b6 e6 19.xc8 and White is winning; B2) 14.b3 a5 15.d5 b5 16.a3 xd5 17.xd5 c4 18.b3 B2a) 18...xa3 19.b6! e8 20.xc8 xc8 21.c7 f6 ( 21...b4 ) 22.xe7+ xe7 23.xd6 winning; B2b) 18...xe3 19.xc8 xc8

20.xe3 e8 21.a7 gave White ample compensation for the pawn, Strauss,A-Krebs,J/Oberwart 1999. ] 12...0-0 13.h3 White takes time out to stop the black knight or bishop emerging on g4. [ Or 13.d5 xd5 ( 13...xe4? walks into 14.b6 c8 15.xe4+- ) 14.xd5 e6= ] 13...h6 14.b4 An experienced Morra player will know that this is a familiar attacking idea in this variation. b5 [ 14...xb4 15.a5 c6 16.b6 c8 17.ac1 with pressure for the two pawns. ] 15.axb5 axb5 16.xb5 [ 16.xa8 xa8 17.xb5 e6 ] 16...xa1 17.xa1 xb4 18.xd7 xd7 [ A n i n a c c u r a c y w o u l d b e 18...xd7 because 19.b5 d5 20.a7 is good news for White. ] 19.a7 e6 20.b5 c2 21.d2 d4 22.xd4 exd4 23.d5 xd5 24.exd5 e5 25.g3 [ 25.d3!?= ] 25...f6 26.d7? Lukas is still trying to apply pressure but this is too much because now the b lack roo k can occupy the a -f ile an d wreck havoc on the weakened king. [ 26.a6 e4 ] 26...a8 [ 26...a8 27.c7 f5 ] 0-1

1979 Majer,Christopher Cafolla,Peter Monarch Assurance Isle of Man (6) [Andrew Martin]

B21 1991 2062 28.09.06

B y co n t ra st t o 1 e 4 c5 2 b 4 ? ! t h e Mo rr a Gambit is well worth an occasional outing. At m a s t e r l e ve l , o n e c a n n o t p l a y t h i s o n a regular basis, but as a surprise weapon, it's not so bad. In fact, when surprised you'll find most opponents decline and try to go back into some kind of c3 Sicilian. 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 5.f3 a6 6.c4 c7 7.e2 [ 7.b3 could be deemed unnecessary at this stage. c6 8.0-0 d6 9.h1 ge7 a defensive formation patented by Bent Larsen. 10.d4 xd4 11.xd4 0-0 2126

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12.e3 c6 13.d2 b5 14.ac1 d8 15.f4 b7 16.f2 b8 17.cd1 a5 18.c2 c4 19.d4 Li Haoyu-Wang Rui/ Tianjin 2001 and now I see nothing wrong with the greedy xb2 20.de1 c4 21.e5 b4 22.h4 h6 23.f5 exf5 ] 7...b4 [ 7...e7 was roughly treated in the following game: 8.0-0 b5 9.b3 b7 10.d1 d6 11.f4 e5 A massive concession just the sort of the Morra gambiteer is waiting for. ( Better was 11...d7 although 12.ac1 c5 13.c2 c8 14.b4! gives White dangerous compensation.) 12.d5!+- d8 13.xe5 dxe5 14.xe5 f8 15.xe7 winning, Saradjen, J-Orel, A/Nova Gorica 2004. ] 8.0-0 b5 Variations where Black develops his king's bishop very early don't impress me that m u c h . I t h in k a qu ic k e 4 -e 5 h igh l igh t s a problem on d6 and creates a nice attacking square on e4 for either a White Knight or his Queen. Black has numerous alternatives to the move played in this game, but against each, White gets good compensation: [ 8...c6 9.d2 ge7 10.a3 c5 11.ac1 b5 12.a2 a7 13.b4 b6 14.d5! with compensation, Schultz, G-Kelso, J/ Eppingen 1988. ] [ 8...xc3 9.bxc3 e7 10.a3 b5 11.d3 bc6 12.e5 b7 13.d6 with a strong dark-squared bind in Eschenbrenner, W Lebermann, H/Hessen 1990. ] [ 8...e7 9.g5 bc6 10.ac1 0-0 11.b3 xc3 12.xc3 f6 13.h4 b5 14.d1 b4 15.c2 a5 16.cd2 a6 17.e3 fd8 18.c5 h8 19.e5! Black is in trouble, Schwab, T-Eckert, M/ Koblenz 1992. ] 9.b3 c6 10.e5! This is the right way and Black has to react immediately in view of the a t t a ck in g p l a n o f B f 4 a n d N e 4 , p o ssi b l y followed by Rac1. It's all too easy for White. d5! 11.exd6 xd6 12.e4 [ 12.d5! is thematic and may be even stronger: d8 ( 12...b7 13.d1 ge7 14.xe7 xe7 15.g5 0-0 16.ac1; 12...b8 13.e3 b7 14.b6 a7 15.fd1 ) 13.d1 ge7 14.xe7! xe7 15.a4 b4 16.g5 f6 17.h4 f7 18.e4 ]

12...e7 13.g5 h6 14.xe7 [ Retaining Bishops was an option: 14.e3 f6 15.xf6+ xf6 16.c5 e7 17.ac1 0-0 18.fd1 This typical Morra Rook development gives compensation. ] 14...gxe7 15.ac1 0-0 16.c5 d8 17.e4 d5 18.fe1 Reaching a position which may well be OK for Black, but which over the board gives white all the fun. d6 [ 18...f6 19.h4 b7 20.xe6!? a5 21.d3 ( 21.xf6 xb3 22.xb3 xc1+ 23.xc1 d1+ ) 21...b8 22.e3 ] 19.ed1 a7 20.c2 f5 21.h4 ce7 22.d3 c6 23.b3 b7 24.c5 Accurate defence is not at a premium in club or congress chess, but even so Black's next move is very poor. a8? [ 24...ce7 25.e1 c8 26.xd5 exd5 ( 26...xd5 27.xe6! xe6 28.xe6 xe6 29.xd8+ h7 30.e1 ) 27.e5 ] 25.xe6 xe6 26.xc6 e8 27.xd5 xd5 28.xd5+ h7 29.g5+ h8 30.xh6+ Not at all a great game, but a good illustration of the defensive task which White gives Black by sacrificing that early pawn. For the average player, there is nothing wrong with the Morra at all. 1-0

1980 Mak,Sharon Smith,V Olympiad Istanbul (14) [Gary Lane]

B21 2020 12.11.2000

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.xd4 A surprising move that aims to steer the game away from Black's preparation. The argument is that although White will lose time when the queen is attacked at least it avoids main line theory. c6 Anything else would allow White to get away with his cheeky opening. 4.c3 [ 4.d3 f6 5.c3 ( 5.c4 g6 6.c3 g7 7.f3 d6 8.e2 g4 9.0-0 c8 10.f4 with roughly equal chances, F.Plank-A.Postl, Vienna 1999.) 5...g6 6.f3 e5 7.g5 g7 8.d5 0-0 9.e2 d6 10.0-0 e6 11.xf6+ xf6 12.xf6 xf6 13.xd6 ad8 14.a3 a6 15.ad1 and White had an extra pawn in G.Gould-T.Munro, 2127

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Southport Park 1998. ] [ 4.a4 f6 5.f3 d6 6.g5 d7 7.xf6 gxf6 8.c4 b6 9.a3 g7 10.c3 f5 11.d5 d8 12.d3 fxe4 13.xe4 c8 14.0-0 a5 when Black's strong bishop on g7 gave him the advantage in B.Wikman-A. Tonteri, Helsinki 1998. ] [ 4.e3 looks the best of the bunch because it keeps out of the way of the Black pieces. It is similar to the Centre Game that arises after 1 e4 e5 2 d4 cxd4 3 Qxd4 Nc6 4 Qe3. ] 4...e6 5.a3 White has to be alert because 5... Bb4 would be embarrassing. d6 6.b5 d7 7.e3 c8 8.d2 Once again the queen must move which means that Black is developing smoothly, with at least equality. a6 9.a4 c7 10.c3 f6 11.f3 e7 12.ge2 0-0 13.b3 a5 14.a2?! [ 14.0-0 xb3 ( 14...c4 15.xc4 xc4 is similar to the game except White has had an extra move) 15.cxb3 allows White to continue with the easy middlegame plan of putting the rooks on the c and d files. ] 14...c4 15.xc4 xc4 16.b3 c7 17.a4 b6 18.0-0 c6 19.f4 b7 20.ad1 fd8 21.c1 White is not too sure of which plan to adopt and is consequently struggling. d7?! Black is busy manoeuvring when a positive reaction is necessary. [ 21...e5 is the right way to continue when 22.g5 d5! 23.xf6 dxe4! is good for Black ] 22.fd1 f6 23.e1 c5+ 24.f2 xf2+ 25.xf2 White has wasted a lot of time moving the queen but has got away with it. The ending is slightly better for Black due to control of the half open c-file. c6 26.d3 dc8 27.g1 h6 28.e5 dxe5 29.xe5 b4 30.h1 h7 31.g4 d5 32.xd5 exd5 33.c3 a3 [ 33...e6! 34.cxb4 ( 34.f4 d4+ 35.g1 dxc3 36.xc3 c5+ 37.f1 f6 38.d4 d6 39.e2 cd8 40.cd1 e4 41.3d2 b4 42.a2 f3 wins ) 34...xc1+ 35.xc1 xe5 36.d1 e3 37.g2 c3 is just good for Black. ] 34.c2 e6 35.d4 c5 36.g1 ce8 37.f2 f8 38.h4 The position is level. g5 39.h5 c5 40.g3 c6 41.f5 b7 42.b4 f8 43.a2 c8 44.b5 a5 45.c2 c4

46.a2 c8 47.e3 c5 48.ae2 ½-½

1981 Marciniak,Alexandre Lesbros,Bernard French Ch Vichy (4) [Gary Lane]

B21

19.08.2000

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 [ 3.xd4 c6 4.a4 e5= ] 3...dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 This pawn formation is favoured by those who wish to restrict the power of W hite's king's bishop when it takes up its usual place on c4. 6.c4 c7 7.e2 f6 [ 7...a6 8.0-0 ge7 9.d1 d6 10.e3 g6 11.ac1 e7 12.b3 b8 13.g5 a5 ( 13...0-0 14.h5 h6 15.xe6! xe6 16.xe6 fxe6 17.xg6 gives White a strong initiative.) 14.f3 0-0 15.d2 c7 16.f4 h8 17.f1 f6 18.f3 b5 19.f2 d7 20.c2 a5 21.d1 xb3 22.axb3 e5 23.f5 e7 24.cd2 d5 25.xd5 xd5 26.xd5 c7 27.g4 d8 28.xd8+ xd8 29.xe5! b7 30.f4 b6 31.xd8+ 1-0 A.Hortillosa-J.Van Zandwijk, Leopoldsburg 2000. ] [ 7...ge7 8.0-0 g6 9.e3 e7 10.ad1!? White continues to improve his position. ( 10.ac1 intending to find a way through to the black queen with a2-a3 and b2-b4-b5 to uncover the c-file so the rook can attack.) 10...a6 11.g5 f6 12.h3 b5 13.b3 a5 14.c1 b8 15.c2 c4 16.d4 0-0 17.b3 e5 18.bxc4 exd4 19.d5 b4 20.e5 f5 21.f4 c5 22.h1 a5 23.h5 e7 24.xe7+ xe7 25.xf5 xf5 26.xf5 g6 27.e4 c5 28.d5+ 1-0 W.Bennett-R.Gilles, Bern 1995. ] 8.e5!? [ 8.0-0 g4 9.h3?? d4! is the famous Siberian Trap that wins instantly. ] 8...g4 9.f4 [ 9.b5 b8 10.f4 a6 11.d6+ xd6 12.exd6 b5 13.b3 b7 14.g5 ( 14.0-0 to complete development makes sense) 14...f6 15.xe6 0-0 16.xf7+ xf7 17.xf7 xf7 18.0-0 e8 19.d2 e4 20.ad1 g6 21.f3 e8 22.fe1 xe1+ 2128

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 23.xe1 f5 24.g5 d5 25.e3 xd6 26.xf6 xf6 gave Black a winning game in Hess-Hintz, Neumuenster 2000. ] 9...h5 [ 9...b4 10.c1 ( 10.h3! ) 10...f6 11.0-0 xc3 12.xc3 gxe5 (two pawns pushes this gambit opening to its limits) 13.b4 a6 ( 13...0-0 allows White active piece play after 14.b5 a5 15.fc1 xf3+ 16.xf3 e5 17.g3 d6 18.h6 f7 19.e2 ) 14.b5 axb5 15.xb5 xf3+ 16.xf3 a5 17.h5+ g6 18.h6 f7 ( 18...xc3 19.g7 f8 20.d6 wins ) 19.c5 b6 20.xc6 bxc5 21.xa8 xa8 22.h4 xa2 when it was time to count the pawns in Black's f avour in the game R.T aylor-A . Hammond, British Team Ch 2000. ] 10.h3 h6 11.0-0 a6 Black takes steps to control the b5 square. 12.fd1 b5 13.b3 e7 Black should quickly conclude development. 14.e4 f5 15.d6+ xd6 16.exd6 b6 17.c2 g6 Black supports the knight. 18.xf5 gxf5 19.e3 d8 20.ac1 b7 21.c5 f6 22.d2 g8 23.f4 0-0-0 It seems that Black can whisk his king to safety but things are not so clear. Perhaps he should just leave it in the centre. [ 23...d8!? is worth investigating. ] 24.a5 [ 24.e5 would have made it much easier for White g6 25.h4 h7 26.xc6+ xc6 27.a5 b7 28.d4 leads to mate. ] 24...b8 25.xc6 dxc6 26.d7+ a8 27.b6 With the decisive threat Be3 c5 [ Or 27...xb2 and White can demonstrate his attacking capabilities upon 28.e3 c5 29.xc5 xg2+ 30.xg2 xf3+ 31.xf3 c3+ 32.e3 xe3+ 33.fxe3 e5 34.xd8+ b7 35.c8+ b6 36.d8+ a7 37.dc7# ] 28.e3 xg2+? Desperate but black is lost anyway. [ 28...e7 29.e5 xg2 30.xc5 xc5 31.xc5 ] 29.xg2 [ Black resigned in view of 29.xg2 g8+ 30.f1 d8 31.xc5 b8 32.d8 ] 1-0

1982 Martin,Andrew D Muir,Andrew J Lloyds Bank op (8) [Andrew Martin]

B21 2330 2200 08.1979

I want to consider an idea now which I've only seen mentioned in one of Ken Smith's old books on the Morra and nowhere since. White pla ys wit h a n e a rly f 2 -f 4 in st e a d o f Nf 3 . Obviously this is very risky, but as we will see I u se d t h e va ri a t io n wit h su cc e ss i n t wo games from an old Lloyds Bank masters event. Normally, a game from 1979 would have no relevance today, but as I say, this line is most uncommon and it's as well to be aware that it exists! 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.c4 d6 [ After 5...e6 6.f4 also appears possible. White's basic plan is to get castled and then to try to play f4-f5 if he can. Either that or just Nf3, Be3, Qe2, 0-0 Rad1 and play on with typical Morra compensation but as lo o se r po sit io n t h a n n orm a l. Ju d ge f o r yourselves: ( 6.ge2!? f6 7.0-0 a6 8.a3 b5 9.a2 b7 10.f4 e7 11.g3 d6 12.e2 0-0 13.fd1 b8 14.d2 e5 15.ad1 c7 16.g5 fd8 17.f4 c4 18.d3 ac8 19.f5 a5 20.h1 a6 Basman, M-Corden, M/Birmingham 1972 ) A) 6...a6 7.a4? Too many pawn moves for one opening. It was time for ( 7.e3! Best, preventing ...Bf8-c5. f6 8.f3; 7.f3?! c5! ) 7...b6 8.f3 c5 9.f5? f6 10.h3 0-0 11.g4 c7 12.fxe6 g3+ 13.e2 f2+ 14.d3 b4# 0-1 Pishchurina, E-Bindich, J/Kolontaevo 2005; B) 6...c5! 7.f3 a6 forces White back into an inferior line, so maybe 5...e6 6 Be3! is the way to go if you must play with a quick f4.; C) 6...f6 7.e5 d5 8.d3 d7 9.f3 f5 10.exf6 xf6 11.e5 d6 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0 e8 14.d2 d7 15.b5 b8 16.xc6 bxc6 17.d4 f6 18.ae1 White has definite compensation, pinning Black down on the e file. c7 19.h1 b6 20.c3 c5 21.f3 d4 22.d2 b7 23.g5 d5 24.c4?! I remember even today that Cummings was in time-trouble 2129

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and I wanted to keep as many pieces as I could on the board. However, the player of 2 0 0 6 wo u ld c h o o s e ( 24.xe6 xe6 25.xe6+ xe6 26.xe6 fe8 27.fe1 wi t h a s a f e , sm a l l e d g e .) 24...c6 25.xe6 fe8 26.f5 xc4 27.xc4 d5 28.d3 b7 29.g5+- f7 30.xf6 xf6 31.e4 ac8 32.b3 h8 33.g4 e7 34.g5 b7 35.f3 d7 36.g4 c7 37.f6 d6 38.fxg7+ g8 39.h5 1-0 Martin, A-Cummings, D/London 1979 My take on this line is that 5.. .e6 6 f4 is very risky for White, who must play a quick Be3 to be able to justify his extravagance. ] 6.f4 e6 [ Eccentric American Master Dan Mayers has been experimenting with an early f2-f4. I'm sure at a lower level, one can get away with a l m o s t a n y t h i n g ! 6...f6 7.e5 dxe5 8.xd8+ xd8 9.fxe5 g4 10.f4 e6 11.h3 h6 12.0-0-0 a6 13.f3 b5 14.d3 b7 15.b1 g6 16.e4 xe4 17.xe4 c8 18.g5 f5 19.xd8+ xd8 20.c6++Mayers, D-Loda, D/Lignano Sabbiadoro 2005 ] 7.f3 e7 [ 7...a6 8.a4 e7 ( 8...ge7 9.e2 g6 10.0-0 e7 11.e3 0-0 12.ad1 d7 13.d4 c8 14.a2 c7 15.h5 f6 16.ce2 ge7 17.f5 I consider this thematic.... xd4 18.xd4 e5 19.f3 xa4 20.c1 d7 21.xc8 xc8 22.g5 xg5 23.xg5 Pleasants, A-Lea, E/Frome 2001/ ) 9.0-0 f6 10.e2 0-0 11.d1 c7 12.h3 a5 13.a2 b3 14.xb3 b6+ 15.d4 e5 16.a5 a7 17.e3 exd4 18.xd4 b8 19.e5 d7 20.e6 1-0 Mayers, D-Braunlich, T/Las Vegas 2004 He makes it all look so easy! ] 8.e2 f6 9.e3 0-0 10.d1 a6 [ Maybe 10...a5 11.0-0 g4 was more appropriate, with a very messy game after 12.c1 ] 11.e5 e8 12.0-0 Mobility plus momentum give White an edge in this position. Not the normal Morra fare by any means, because White has more pieces on the kingside than usual and thus Black has to continually think about his King. a5 13.f2 b5 14.b3 b4 15.c2 g6

[ 15...bxc3 16.e4 g6 17.xc6 b8 18.bxc3 b7 19.d7 was what I saw at the board, assuming W hite to be better after d8 20.xd8 xd8 21.d4 ] 16.exd6 xd6 17.e4 d8 18.c1? [ I c a n ' t b e l i e v e I d i d n ' t p l a y 18.e5! which is obviously the best move. W hite m u s t t h r o w c a u t i o n t o t h e wi n d s : xe5 ( 18...b7 19.c5! c7 20.xf7! xf7 21.xe6 a5 22.xd8 xd8 23.b3 ) 19.fxe5 xe5 ( 19...xe4 20.xd8+ xd8 21.xe4 b8 22.f3 ) 20.d4 ] 18...f5 19.fd1 h5 20.b3 b7 21.c5 xc5 22.xc5 xd1+ 23.xd1 d8 Of course, Black is right back in the game now. 24.c1 fd4 25.xd4 xd4 26.c4 d6 27.f1 d8 28.c4 e5 29.e3 f6 30.fxe5 fxe5 31.g5 But there are always muddling chances in chess. Like Cummings before him, Muir goes under in time-trouble. f8 32.xb4 f5 33.c4+ d5 34.xd5+ xd5 35.xg6+ f8 36.b8+ e7 37.e8+ f6 38.h4+ g5 39.f8+ e6 40.e8+ d7 41.d8+ c6 42.xd5 I can't see this discussion cropping up any more than once in these erudite updates, but as an occasional, attacking weapon and with the benefit of complete surprise, an early f4 in the Morra could well cause a few shocks. 1-0

1983 McShane,Luke J Cheparinov,Ivan 17th TCh-Eur (3) [David Vigorito]

B21 2615 2667 24.10.2009

Luke McShane wins another miniature in the 'Big Clamp' against very strong opposition. 1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.f4 g6 [ This is a fundamental decision. The a l t e r n a t i v e i s t h e a g g r e s s i v e 3...d5 (looking to punish White for his omission of Nc3). After 4.e2 f6 5.e5 g8 ( 5...d7 6.c3 e6 7.f3 e7 8.0-0 b5 also worked out well f or Black in W elling, G (2371)Sokolov, I (2657)/ Caleta 2009 - see the archives ) 6.c3 h6 7.f3 g4 8.e3 e6 9.bd2 f5 10.f2 h5 11.0-0 e7 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 h4 14.a3 a5 15.d4 b6 2130

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.d3 g6 gave Black a decent Gurgenidze type position in McShane, L (2615)-Efimov, I (2433)/Novi Sad 2009, and Black went on to score a big upset. Cheperinov decides to just 'get on with it' and plays as if he is in a Closed Sicilian. ] 4.f3 g7 5.e2 White can also play the Clamp with g3 and Bg2. McShane's move looks passive, but it has a future, as we shall see. d6 6.0-0 f6 7.e1 0-0 8.h4 c4!? A new and aggressive idea. This move is not bad, but it is not really necessary either. I cannot help but feel that Cheparinov was not taking White's opening too seriously. Some other possibilities: [ 8...g4 ] [ 8...b5 ] [ 8...e6 is very sensible. After 9.h3?! h5! 10.e1 f5 Black was already better in Jacobs, B-Donaldson, J (2435)/Stillwater 2001. ] 9.h1 cxd3 10.cxd3 g4 Black wants to win the d4-square, but McShane simply plays a r o u n d i t . 11.c3 xf3 12.xf3 b6 13.d1! A clever idea that is sometimes seen in the Classical Dutch - which is what White is basically playing in reverse! The bishop heads to b3. White is also geared up for Rf3, f5 with a n a t t a c k . a6?! This does not do much, other than encourage White. 14.f3 fc8?! Further abandoning the king. 15.h3 h5 [ This proves to be too weakening. I imagine Black did not like the look of 15...h6 16.f5 g5 seems to keep it together. 17.xg5 hxg5 18.xg5 with Rg3 coming. White's attack looks very strong but I do not see anything decisive. ] 16.f5 No w everyt hin g f a lls ap art . e5 S o m u c h f o r t a k in g o ve r t h e d 4 -s q u a r e . 17.g5 f8 [ It's hard to find moves. If 17...b6 18.b3 h8 19.d1 and White is ready for d4, destroying Black's position. ] 18.fxg6 fxg6 19.b3 xd3? This loses instantly, but I do not see any salvation for Black. White's attack is too strong. 20.f3 [ White will detonate on f6, for example 20.f3 e5 21.xf6 xf6 22.xf6+ exf6 23.xf6+ e8 24.d5 ] 1-0

1984 McShane,Luke J Sedlak,Nikola Bundesliga 2004-5 (9) [Jonathan Rowson]

B21 2629 2521 30.01.2005

1.e4 My thanks to Luke Mcshane for some comments on this game. c5 2.f4 d5 3.d3!? Not as tame as it looks! As we will see, if B la ck ca p t u re s o n e 4 W h i t e h a s q u it e a pleasant ending, yet it's hard to resist the temptation of displacing the king and I imagine that most Black players would go for this approach. c6 4.f3 dxe4 [ 4...f6 I would be curious to see Luke's idea here. I doubt that he had one before the game and would have to decide between 5.bd2 ( 5.c3; 5.e5; 5.e2 )] 5.dxe4 xd1+ 6.xd1 So why might such a position be better for White? The first reason is that White's pawns on e4 and f4 give him a certain amount of space. The more subtle reason is connected with the placement of Black's pawn on c5. Black will almost certainly have to move his e-pawn at some stage and then he will have weak squares on the d-file, as we see in the game. Moreover, the c5 pawn itself is a target and if Black defends it with b6- this pawn becomes a kind of fulcrum for White, who can get at Black's position with a4-a5. Meanwhile, W hite's king is not too seriously displaced and can usually find a safe square quite easily. That said, I am not sure that White is really better, and Black can probably equalize with some care. However, I t h i n k m a n y g a m e s c a n b e wo n wi t h t h i s approach simply because many Black players will probably be under the impression that W h i t e h a s e r re d a n d t h a t t h e y h a v e t h e initiative at this stage. This 'atmosphere' means that Black players are likely to be tempted by some pseudo-activity which will probably harm their position- which is exactly what happened here! g4 [ 6...b6!? Intending to fianchetto and castle queenside. ] [ 6...f6!? intending Nh6-f7 to cover d6 after the e-pawn moves. ] 7.e3 0-0-0+ 8.bd2 e5 9.fxe5 xe5 10.e2 A superficial appraisal: White has a weak e-pawn and has his king caught in the 2131

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 centre. A deeper appraisal: White has more space, is ahead in development, and in the long term the placement of the pawn on c5 will give Black problems on the light squares. xf3 If Black retreated his knight, I imagine that Luke would have played Ng5, improving his coordination. [ 10...d6 11.xe5 xe2+ 12.xe2 xe5 13.c4 d4 14.f4 gives White some initiative. ] 11.gxf3 e6 12.d3 f6 13.e2 d7 14.f4 g6 The position has stabilised somewhat and we are well out of the opening. I think Luke is particularly strong in the late middlegame/endgame and in my forthcoming book: Chess f or Zebras I have a chapter called "Glorious Grinding" which is primarily an examination of Luke's play in this stage of the game. There are lots of subtleties in what follows and some sequences that leave me a little baffled. I will leave you to enjoy them all and hopefully learn something from the totality of what f ollows. 15.ag1 e8 16.g3?! Don't understand this move at all, but sometimes it doesn't do any harm to play a move for the sole purpose of confusing your opponent. d6 17.b3 f6 18.h4! c7 19.hg1 a6 20.a4! f7 21.a1?! This is positionally well-motivated but there is a tactical flaw: e7 [ 21...f5! 22.e5 xe5! ] 22.f2 he8 23.a5! Fixing the queenside structure- remember what I said about the pawn on c5? b8 24.f3 d7 25.a4 e6 26.g3 b8 27.g1 f7 28.e1 g8 29.f3 I find it instructive that Luke was in no hurry to exchange light-squared bishops. He needs the bishop on d3 to protect e4 for a while, but after a bit of manoeuvering he is v e r y h a p p y t o m a k e t h i s e x c h a n g e . f7 30.b1 c8 31.d2 Now b4 is on the agenda. d6 32.e1 c7 33.f1 g8 34.g2 b8 35.h3 e6?! Probably time trouble induced- this makes things much easier for White. 36.xe6 xe6 37.g1 c6 38.f3 Now White has a substantial advantage based on his extra space and light square control. f8 39.c4 e6 40.d1 c8 41.aa1 d8 42.xd8+ xd8 43.d1+ e7 44.d5 b8 45.f5 gxf5 46.exf5 d4+ 47.xd4 cxd4 48.xd4 c5

49.e4 h5 50.b4 b5 51.c3 g3 52.d1 f8 53.h1 f2 54.f1 g3 55.g1 h2 56.g6 f7 57.h6 g7 58.g6+ f7 59.g2 b8 60.d2 g3 61.d7+ g8 62.b6 This leads to some mess- but sometimes you have to let your opponent kick a little in order to make any progress. e5+ 63.d3 xh4 64.d5 f8 65.c4 xf5 66.xb7 f2 67.e4 e5+ 68.f3 d4 69.xf6 e3+ 70.f4 c3 71.d7+ e8 72.c5 d8 73.b6 e3+ [ 73...xc5 doesn't quite draw 74.bxc5 xc5 75.d7+ e8 76.d5 xd5 77.xd5 d7 78.b4 d6 79.xa6 c6 80.b4+ b5 81.a6 etc. ] 74.e4 g1 75.g7 c1 76.d5 h4 77.h7 f2 78.c6 e8 79.b7 b1 80.c6 This game probably says more about Luke Mcshane's endgame technique than the Grand Prix attack, but all the same it suggests that allowing Black to exchange on d1 might be a legitimate way to play for the advantage. 1-0

1985 McShane,Luke J Van Wely,Loek 7th Staunton Memorial (3) [David Vigorito]

B21 2620 2655 10.08.2009

The Big Clamp will not get W hite an advantage, but it is likely to lead to an interesting game and is a logical choice for a 2600+ 'amateur' like Luke McShane. 1.e4 c5 2.d3 g6 [ This is fine, but it is slightly committal. 2...c6 is the most natural and commonest move. After 3.f4 d5 4.e2 f6 5.e5 d7 6.c3 e6 7.f3 e7 8.0-0 b5 Black stood well in W elling, G (2371) -Sokolov, I (2657)/Caleta ENG 2009. See the archives for notes to this miniature. ] 3.f4 [ White must always decide on what move order to use f or the Clamp. Usually the choice will be based on what White is willing to deal with in case of a quick ...d5. Also possible is 3.g3 g7 4.g2 c6 5.f4 as seen in a few games in the archives. ] 3...g7 4.f3 d5 2132

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Van Wely always plays principled, a g g r e s s i v e c h e s s . O f c o u r s e 4...c6 is also possible, but then White may opt for a fianchetto. ] 5.e2 [ 5.exd5 would not mix well with f4. After xd5 ( even 5...f6 6.c4 0-0 7.c3 e6 l o o k s q u i t e p l a ya b l e) 6.c3 d8 gains time for W hite, but this is hard to exploit and the f4-pawn looks a bit funny. ] 5...c6 [ 5...dxe4 6.dxe4 xd1+ 7.xd1 must be equal, but often these e-pawn vs cpawn endings are easier to play for the epawn player. Another example is the opening 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 (?!) dxe5 4. Qxd8+ Kxd8 when Black has scored very well. ] 6.0-0 f6 7.e5 g4 8.c3 [ This is a typical sortie, because 8.h3 h6 loosens up White's kingside and a quick ...f6 is in the offing. ] 8...d4 [ Van Wely plays true to his style, gaining space and preventing d3-d4, but this allows W hite to initiate complications. 8...h6!? is logical and safe. 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 g4! will allow Black to pressure d4 with ...Nf5 and ...Qb6. ] 9.g5! Fighting for the initiative. h6 10.f3 dxc3 [ This looks like a bit of a concession. This unusual positions can be very difficult to j u d g e o v e r t h e b o a r d , e ve n f o r s t r o n g players. After 10...0-0 perhaps Black did not like 11.xc6!? bxc6 12.c4 when c5 is weak, although here Black has play too with f6 ] 11.bxc3 Keeping control of the d4-square. d4?! This was the idea, but it looks too risky after McShane's principled reply. It seems like Black is playing 'more correctly', but with White you can get away with a little bit, and White's unusual opening should not be subject to tactical refutation. 12.cxd4! xd4+ 13.f2 xa1 14.b2! An unusual way to imprison the black queen. This also sets up a hidden attack on Black's king, which both players failed to notice... f5? [ 14...0-0 15.a3! intends to round up the queen with Nc2. Black can still fight however, with f6 If 16.c2? xb2 17.xb2 fxg5

is too much material ] [ 14...f6 15.xb7 xb7 ( 15...fxg5?! 16.xa8 0-0 17.a3 d7 18.d5+ followed by Bb3 and Nc2+-) 16.a4+ f8 17.e6+ f7 18.c4 is possible too, although it looks dangerous ] 15.c3 [ This is strong, but I think White has even better in 15.xb7! xb7 16.a4+! f8 ( 16...d8 17.xf7+ c8 18.b5 is of little help) 17.b3 when the double attack on f7 and b7 wins for W hite, especially with some Ba3 ideas in reserve, for example c4 18.xc4 h6 ( 18...e6 19.xb7 h6 20.xf7+! xf7 21.xe6 xg5 22.a3# ) 19.xb7 with a crushing attack. ] 15...d4 16.ge4 xf3+ 17.gxf3 W hite's position looks a wreck, but Black's queen is none too happy. Place her on d8 and White could resign. b6 18.c2! [ 18.d2 (intending Nb3) looks too hasty after e6 Now however, White will win the queen with Rb1. ] 18...0-0 19.b1 xb1 20.xb1 d8 So the fireworks are over for now and Black has two rooks for a queen and minor piece. Black has a lovely position, but is just down too much material. 21.g2 h6 22.e3 e6 23.f2 f6 This creates some weaknesses around the black king, but Black cannot just sit around while White gradually improves his position. 24.e2 h7 25.d4 c4 26.c2 cxd4 27.xd4 ac8 28.a4! The queen is just too strong. fxe5 29.fxe5 a5 Trying to hold it together, but a pawn is going anyway. 30.c6! b5 31.xa5 d7 [ 31...xc6? 32.xd8 ] 32.a6 f8 33.f4 g5 34.fxg5 d5+ 35.g1 hxg5 36.b4 f3 37.xb5 dd8 38.h3 f5 39.bd3 e2 40.b1 h8? 41.c1! With a double attack on the Be2 and Rf5. xe5 42.xe2 xe3 43.b6! 1-0

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 kingside in an effort to ward off the impending attack 15.g5 h6 16.e4 b6 17.xc4 bxc4 18.e3 a5 ( 18...xb2 19.b1 e5 20.c5 c8 when White has compensation for the pawns due to Black's backward development) 19.c5 e5 20.h5 c6 ( 20...g6 21.xe6 xh5 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 22.xg7+ f8 23.xh5 is good for 5.f3 e6 6.c4 c7 7.0-0 f6 8.b5 White. ) 21.f3 d8 22.g3 f8 ( 22...0-0 [ White does not allow the Siberian Trap after 23.xh6 wins ) 23.fe1 b4 24.d4 f6 8.e2 g4 9.h3? d4! and Black wins. ] 25.g6 d5 26.xe6! f4 27.xf6+ 8...b8 9.e5 g4 1-0 Krueger,N-Eckert,F/Goch 1996. ] [ 9...a6 is probably the best move to relieve the pressure 10.exf6 axb5 11.fxg7 xg7 13.h3 f6 14.e1 a5 15.g5 a4 16.xf6 17.c2 This is a lovely position for a 12.xb5 0-0 13.e3 d5 14.d2 gxf6 White has reasonable chances and is not a Morra player because the black kingside has pawn down! f6 15.f4 a7 16.fe1 h8 been disrupted and W hite is well placed to 17.h6 f7 18.xg7+ xg7 19.xc6 attack. If you add in the fact that Black is a ( 19.f4! is in W hite's favour) 19...bxc6 top Grandmaster then W hite can afford to 20.d4 e5 21.xc6 d7 22.b4 xg2+ smile. b4 18.b1 d5 19.h4 xd6 [ 19...f4 20.g4+ g6 21.xg6 fxg6 23.xg2 g4+ 24.f1 h3+ 25.g1 22.xg6 hxg6 23.xg6+ h8 24.e4 g4+ 1/2-1/2 Simic,D-Gouat,Y/email 1999. ] leads to mate. ] [ A critical line is 9...xe5 when White can t r y t o m a k e t h e m o s t o f t h e l e a d i n 20.g4+ h8 21.f5! development upon: 10.xe5 xe5 11.e1 1-0 c5 ( 11...b8 12.d4 d6 13.f4 e5 14.xe5+! with a winning advantage, B21 Fridrich,M-Kacmarcik,L/Zlin 1999.) 12.f1 1987 a6 13.e3 c6 14.a7! c7 15.c1 d8 Morozevich,Alexander 2741 16.c2 A quiet but stunning move because Grischuk,Alexander 2710 t h e b i s h o p o n c 8 i s n o w d o o m e d b4 Corus A Wijk aan Zee (3) 17.01.2005 17.xc8 0-0 18.b6 xe1 19.xa8 [Gary Lane] xf2+ 20.xf2 xa8 21.d4 with an easy win, Rezzuti,V-Neborak,Y/email 1999. ] 1.e4 c5 2.f4 In recent times at the world elite 10.d6+ This hasn't been played much but it level only Nigel Short has been faithful to is based on the logical idea of cutting off the playing the Grand Prix Attack as a surprise black queen from the defence of the kingside. weapon. e6 3.f3 d5 4.d3 A surprisingly The argument against it is that eventually a quiet move from Morozevich who is renowned p a w n o n d 6 m i g h t b e a we a k n e s s . xd6 for his attacking style. 11.exd6 b5 [ 4.b5+ I think this is the best of the bunch [ 11...f6 12.b3 b5 13.e2 d5 14.b2 d7 5.xd7+ xd7 ( 5...xd7 6.e5 c7 0-0 15.d3 xd6 16.g5 g6?? ( 16...h6 7.exd5 exd5 8.0-0 with roughly equal 17.xg7 xg7 18.g4 h8 19.h5 g7 chances ) 6.d3 d6 7.0-0 e7 8.c4 d4 20.g4 l e a d s t o a d r a w) 17.xh7? 9.e5 the pawn advances so the queen's this is better for W hite but it is not mate! knight will have the e4 square available c7 ( 17.h5!! a move worthy of any puzzle 10.bd2 c6 11.e4 e7 12.d2 f5 book gxh5 18.xh7# ) 17...e8 18.f3 13.exf6 gxf6 14.a3 f5 15.eg5 0-0-0 when White won after 45 moves, Klimes,M16.b4 with a double-edged position, Strejc,J/Svetla 1994. ] Minasian, A-Yudasin,L/Los Angeles 2003. ] 12.b3 0-0 [ 4.c3 dxe4 ( 4...c6 5.b5 is level ) [ 12...a6 13.h3 ge5 14.f4 c4 5.xe4 f6 6.b5+ ( 6.f2 has been tried It is interesting that Black delays castling wi t h a vi e w t o e m p l o yi n g a q u e e n s i d e 1986 Milman,Lev Ehlvest,Jaan 53rd Masters (1) [Gary Lane]

B21 2356 2587 22.04.2003

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 fianchetto) 6...d7 7.xd7+ bxd7 8.e2 e7 9.d3 0-0 10.h3 c8 11.g4 xe4 12.dxe4 c4 13.d2 b6 14.0-0-0 with equal opportunities, Ratel, L-Lallemand, R/Le Touquet 2003. ] [ 4.e5 c6 5.c3 ge7 6.a3 ( 6.d4 is the best bet with a pawn structure similar to the French Defence) 6...a6 7.d3 b5 8.c2 b7 9.d4 f5 10.e3 cxd4 11.fxd4 ( 11.xd4 i s a b o u t e q u a l) 11...cxd4 12.xd4 h4+ 13.g3 xg3 14.f2 xf4 15.xg3 e4+ A) 16.f2 xh1? ( 16...f5+ 17.e1 e4+ draws ) 17.xb5+ wins; B) 16.e2? xh1 17.0-0-0 e4 with an easy win, Sitaric,A-Kristovic,M/ Bizovac 2004 ] [ 4.exd5 exd5 5.c3 d4 6.e4 f6 ( 6...e7 does nothing to help the cause and if Black is not careful might even lead t o t r o u b l e : 7.e2 f6? 8.d6+ d7 9.xf7! winning ) 7.d3 e7 8.g3 c6 9.g2 0-0 10.0-0 f5 11.h4 ( 11.xf6+ xf6 12.e5 offers equal opportunities) 11...d7 12.f3 c8 13.xf6+ xf6 14.e1 the queen shuffles over to the kingside but there is no sign of the usual kingside attack e8 15.f2 h3 16.a3 xg2 17.xg2 b5 18.d2 d7 19.ae1 d5 gave Black the better chances due to the space advantage, Hennings, M-Hapala, M/Mureck 2001. ] 4...c6 5.c3 White is still waiting for an exchange of queens so the advance of the pawn is useful so the king can take refuge on c2. Of course, it also acts to stop a black knight intruding on the d4 square. e7 6.e2 h6 7.e5 The first sign of aggression from White but with no pieces to back it up it is a harmless gesture. xe5 8.fxe5 h4+ [ After 8...c7 9.xh6 gxh6 10.d4 dxe4 11.0-0 the position is better for White because black's kingside is very weak. ] 9.g3 g5 10.h4 xc1 11.xc1 0-0 12.a3 d7 13.g5 A safe offer to exchange queens b u t it a l lo ws B la ck t o sa d d l e W h it e wit h doubled isolated e-pawns. dxe4 [ Or 13...xg5 14.hxg5 leaves the knight with no escape squares. ] 14.dxe4 c6 Grischuk has done nothing special but simply weakened some pawns

wh i c h h e n o w i n t e n d s t o a t t a c k . 15.0-0?! W h ite see m s t o re m em b er t ha t h e lo ve s attacking and casually discards a pawn. [ Surely 15.e3 is necessary when f5 16.f4 xe4 17.xe4 xg3 18.g2 xh1 19.xh1 f6 is wild. ] 15...xe4 16.g4 f5 [ I like the look of 16...d3 17.f2 ( 17.fd1 xg5 18.hxg5 xe2 winning; 17.xd3 xd3 18.f2 ad8 is good for Black) 17...xe2 18.xe2 xg5 19.hxg5 xg4 with a very nice ending ] 17.exf6 xf6 18.c4 [ If 18.xf6 then xf6 19.xf6 gxf6 leads to an ending where Black has an extra pawn. ] 18...d5 19.xf6 xf6 20.e5 xg5 Fin a l ly, B la c k f in d s t h e ri gh t m o m e n t t o exchange queens now that the knight on h6 can retreat. 21.hxg5 f7 22.xf7 xf7 23.d3 e7 [ Why not 23...c4 because 24.xh7 fails to g6 which traps the bishop. ] 24.e1 g6 Grischuk defends the h-pawn and White is scrambling around merely hoping for the best. 25.e3 f8 26.e2 xa2 Perhaps Morozevich should start counting the pawns! 27.c4 f4 28.b3 d6 The king joins in the action and will seek to advance his extra pawns. 29.h3 a5 30.g2 b6 31.g3 f7 32.d1 a4! A neat way to break up the queenside pawns to allow Black to activate t h e b i s h o p . 33.bxa4 xc4 34.h2 W hite know s he is lost but with fast time limits one might as well carry on until it looks rather bleak. d5 35.b2 c6 36.e2 c4 The c-pawn is on it sway to promotion and with the white king cut of f the def ence is difficult. 37.b4 c3 38.b1 c5 39.b5+ [ Or 39.c1 b4 40.b1+ a3 41.c1 b2 42.e1 c2 wins. ] 39...d4 40.d1 f1 The rook can hassle the bishop meaning that things are looking bad for White. 41.c2 g1+ 42.h4 g2 0-1

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 pressure on and maintaining an advantage. B21 xd6 20.exd6 ( t h r e a t e n i n g h 4 ) f6 2736 21.de1 fe8 22.h4 xh4 23.xc5 ] 2705 04.07.2013 19...b6 20.g3?! [ 20.d6 was still possible, with c8 21.g4 transposing to the last note. ] 1.e4 c5 2.f4!? A move not often seen at the 20...xc4 21.xc4 ac8 Now Black's major problems are over. 22.e2 b5 23.f4 c4 top level. d5 3.exd5 xd5?! [ I can't believe I'm giving a 2700's third move 24.a3 fd8 25.d6 f5 26.bxc4 bxc4 as 'd u b io u s ' , b u t I a lwa ys t h o u gh t t h a t 27.xc4 g6 White has finally won a pawn, 3...f6 was the real test of White's but his king is exposed, his attack has been accelerated Grand Prix. There are plenty of snuffed out and the presence of opposite games in the archives to keep you busy if c o l o u r e d b i s h o p s a l l c o m b i n e t o m a k e winning chances hard to come by. 28.e2 you want to know more! ] e8 29.b4 d5 30.c1 a5 31.b2 a4 4.c3 d8 5.f3 f6 6.e5!? [ 6.c4 was Berg-Astengo, 2003, from the 32.e3 h6 33.c3 e4+ 34.xe4 xe4+ 35.a1 d3 36.e1 d7 37.e3 e4 archives. ] 38.b3 b7 39.b2 a4 40.b4 6...e6 7.b3 [ My engine tells me that 40.xb7 xb7 [ 7.f3 is more popular, but transpositions 41.d3 is something sizeable for White. This are possible. Basically, in this variation could well be true, but we've long since left White usually plans to play b3, Bb2, Bd3, the relevant part of the game for our Qf3, 0-0-0 and mate on the kingside. Easy, theoretical purposes. ] huh? ] 7...d7 8.b2 c6 9.d3 d6 10.e2 40...xb4+ 41.xb4 f7 42.a3 g5 43.c4 The advantage of W hite's 7th move is now g6 44.d3 c6 45.c5 f4 46.gxf4 gxf4 clear: Moro has the extra flexibility of moving 47.e1 d8 48.d4 f5 49.d5 exd5 50.e6 dxc4 51.e7 d5 52.b4 c3 53.c1 d3 the queen here to shore up e5. 0-0 11.0-0-0 [ A c t u a lly , in t h i s e xa ct p o si t io n 11.0-0 54.xc3 xc3 55.xc3 g4 56.d2 h3 was pro bably stron ger. b4 12.f3 57.d6 f3 58.e1 g2 59.c5 xh2 Moro was definitely better out of the i m m e d i a t e l y c o m m e n c e s a t t a c k i n g 60.f2 operations, with a very juicy position for opening, and this game only reinforces my suspicious that 3...Qxd5 is no good. If only White. ] 11...b4 12.b1 fd5 13.hf1 xd3 players always played this move - then I'd take 14.xd3 xe5 15.fxe5 c6 16.e4 up 2.f4 myself! Up to now, W ang's play over the past few ½-½ moves has been best, but despite this, White still has a nice little advantage. e7?! B21 [ 16...b4 17.e3 xe4 18.xe4 c7 1989 19.f3 was a better option. ] Oim,Tonu 2368 17.d6 c8 18.c3 Leito,Priit 2355 [ 18.de1 w a s m o r e d a n g e r o u s : f6 Estonian Ch Parnu/Tallinn 06.04.2001 ( 18...d7 19.e3 f5 20.g3 ) 19.g4 ] [Gary Lane] [ 18.f4 probably wins a pawn as Black is advised to liquidate with xd6 19.exd6 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 g5 20.e3 (t h re a t e n in g Rxf 7 ! ) f6 [ 4.xd4!? is harmless but good for surprise 21.xe6+ h8 22.f5 xf5 23.xf5 ad8 value when c6 5.a4= ] 24.xc5 xd6 25.a3 though there will be 4...dxc3 5.xc3 c6 6.c4 d6 7.e2 some technical difficulties in converting the The queen comes to e2 in order to make room pawn. ] for the king's rook to come to d1 to try and 18...g5 19.c4?! Not the most energetic. exploit the semi-open d-file. f6 8.0-0 e7 [ 19.g4! is such a nice move, keeping the 9.d1 e5 10.h3 Otherwise Black will play ... 1988 Morozevich,Alexander Wang,Yue FIDE GP Beijing (1.2) [Smerdon, David]

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Bg4. 0-0 11.g5 h6!? [ 11...e6 is more normal 12.xf6 ( 12.d2 it looks reasonable to build-up pressure on the d6 pawn e8 13.e3 c8 14.d5 xd5 15.xd5 c7 16.c1 e8 17.xc6 bxc6 18.dc2 c5 19.b4 e6 20.bxc5 xc5 21.xe5 xe4 22.c6 f6 23.xa7 e6 24.b5 gave White an edge in W.Eschenbrenner-W.Jakel, Wiesbaden 1993. ) 12...xf6 13.xe6 fxe6 14.b5 e7 15.d3 d7 16.d2 ad8 17.ad1 a6 18.xd6 c7 19.b3 xd6 20.xe6+ h8 21.xd6 d4! was better for Black in Ilic-Sofrevski, Yugoslavia 1975. ] [ 11...a6 12.ac1 the good thing about the Morra is that this set-up is played against most set-ups by Black. b8 13.xf6 xf6 14.d5 e6 ( 14...d7 15.d2 intending Nxf6+ is fine for White) 15.xa6! xd5 16.exd5 e7 17.d3 a5 18.c4 g6 19.b4 with roughly equal chances, D. Hersvik-S.Berntsen, Stavanger 1998. ] 12.xf6 xf6 [ Not 12...gxf6 13.h4 d4 14.h5 ] 13.b5 e7 14.d2 b6 15.ad1 White increases the pressure on the backward d-pawn. d8 16.e3 xe3 17.fxe3 f8 18.a3 [ 18.xd6 f6= ] 18...a6 [ 18...a5!? needs to be considered. ] 19.xd6 White restores the material level. xd6 20.xd6 xd6 21.xd6 e7 22.d2 ½-½

e n d g a m e i s e q u a l . dxc3?! ( 12...e6!? is t he right ch oice wit h e qu al cha nc e s) 13.dxc3 White has a slight because it is easier to develop and he has 3 against 2 on th e que e nside so h e sh ou ld be ab le t o e v e n t u a l l y c r e a t e a p a s s e d p a w n . f6 14.xf6+ gxf6 15.e3 e5 16.0-0 Suddenly White has potential play on the ffile for the king's rook. h6 17.f3 he8 18.d1+ c6 19.f2 e7 20.h3 xf4 21.xf4 exf4 22.xh7 g8 23.h4 ge8 24.xf4 ( 24.d2!?+- to stop the check on e 2 w o u l d l e a d t o a s w i f t e r v i c t o r y) 24...e2+ 25.f1 xb2 26.xf6+ c5 27.f2 xf2+ 28.xf2 e7 29.d4 b5 30.h4 e6 31.f4 a6 32.xf7 xa2+ 33.g1 ( 33.g3 a1 34.h5 h1 ) 33...a5 ( 33...a6!? ) 34.h5+a4? ( 34...a4 35.g3 a1+ 36.h2 a2+ 37.h3 a1+- ) 35.h6 e2 36.h7 e8 ( 36...e1+ 37.h2 e8 38.g4+- ) 37.g4 a3 38.g5 1-0 Zugic,I-Krush,I/Montreal CAN 2001. ( 38.g5 e1+ 39.f2+- )] [ 7...h6 8.e4 You never know Black might not see the threat of Nd6 mate!! e6 9.b3 f5 10.b2 with equal chances, Rasmussen, A-Tikkanen,H/Helsinki 1999. ] 8.xc6 xc6 9.e5 Another reason why the queen on e2 is useful because it allows the knight to occupy the e5 square. c8 10.0-0 g6 [ 10...e6 11.f5 e7 12.fxe6 fxe6 13.d3 ] 11.d3 g7 12.f5 The whole point of the Grand Prix Attack is to play aggressively so the pawn advance is a natural ploy. 0-0 [ 12...d7 13.xd7 xd7 14.e4 gxf5 1990 B21 15.g3 d4+ 16.h1 g4 ( 16...e6?? allows 17.xf5 and Black can resign) Orel,Oskar 2346 17.e1 ] Kovac,M 2107 Slovenian Championship (2) 04.08.2002 13.h1 d5 14.xc6 xc6 15.xd5 xd5 16.xe7 b6 17.b1 xa2 [Gary Lane] Kovac certainly has a lot of pressure on b2 but he needs to keep an eye on the safety of his 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 king. 18.e3 xb2 [ 3...f6 is the main alternative. ] [ 18...f6 19.xc5 xf5 20.c4 and I prefer 4.c3 White gains time by chasing the black White. ] queen. d8 5.f3 c6 6.b5 d7 B l a c k b l o c k s t h e p i n 7.e2 The queen 19.xb2 xb2 20.f6 h8 The problem with the bishop on h8 is that effectively Black will protects the bishop on b5. f6 [ 7...d4 8.xd4 cxd4 9.e4 xb5 remain a piece down for the rest of the game. 10.xb5+ d7 11.xd7+ xd7 12.c4 21.xc5 a8 22.c4 a5 23.d4 b6 [ 23...b3 24.c1 ] despite W hite huffing and puffing the 2137

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24.e1 xf6? the temptation to activate the bishop is too much but Black has made a big oversight. [ 24...h6 25.b7 d8 26.xb6 xb6 27.xb6 b8+- 28.xa5 with a winning ending. ] 25.e8+!! Bravo! Orel finds a combination destined for the puzzle books. [ Not 25.xf6 when bxc5 26.c6 d8 27.xc5 xd4 28.xa5 c8 it is Black who has the better chances. ] 25...xe8 1-0

1991 Os,Luis Filipe Shirov99 Internet [Gary Lane]

B21

1999

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 5.c4 c5 In the 1980s Timman exp e rim e n t e d wit h t h is m o ve . B la ck ca n transpose into normal lines after a quick ... Nc6 but there is another option available. The idea is to leave the knight on b8 and quickly play ...Ne7-g6 intending to disrupt the standard White plan of e5. 6.f3 [ 6.f4 d6 7.a3 d7 8.b4 f6 and now 9.ge2! is an improvement on the weak 9 Qd2? from the game Lacklison-Smith, corr 1989, which allowed 9...Bxf2+ 10 Kxf2 g5 with an edge for Black. After the new move W hite keeps the material level and maintains the initiative: b6 10.xd6 g6 11.0-0 ] 6...c6 7.0-0 ge7 8.g5?! It is harsh to complain about such a logical move but when you sacrifice a pawn it is important to in c re a se th e pre ssu re . I t hin k B la ck h a s n o t h i n g t o f e a r f ro m t h e p in a n d it d o e s nothing compared to making use of the rook occupying the semi-open d-file. [ 8.f4 suggests itself intending e5 and Ne4. ] 8...0-0 9.e2 f6 10.h4 g6 11.g3 ge5 12.xe5 xe5 13.xe5?! It is a mistake to give up the bishop pair and at the same time open up the f-file for Black. White should consider:

[ 13.b3 b6 14.ad1 b7? 15.xe6+ ] 13...fxe5 14.h1 It is not pretty but White has to do something about the pressure on the f2 pawn. f6 15.f3 Some people might argue that the pawn is now safe so all is well. This is not the case b eca use the kingside pawn barrier has been weakened and Black's darksquared bishop looks very strong. a6 16.a3 b5 17.b3 b7 18.ad1 ad8 19.e1 d4 20.g3 d5 Black is definitely on top. The extra pawn is certainly useful and the pair of bishops are powerf ul. 21.de1 xc3 22.bxc3 dxe4 23.g1 Of course the pawn is taboo because [ 23.fxe4?? fails in dramatic fashion xf1+ 24.xf1 xf1# ] 23...exf3 24.gxf3 d3 25.xe5 g6+ 26.g3 xg3+ 27.hxg3 dxf3 The ending is clearly winning for Black who too much material. 28.xf3 xf3 29.xe6+ f8 30.h2 xc3 31.a1 e7 32.g8 h6 33.h7 e3 34.g6 f6 35.h7 g6 36.g8 e2+ 37.h3 g2+ 38.g4 h5+ 39.f4 e4# 0-1

1992 B21 Peterson,Eric 2387 Slovak,Pavel 2051 Tatry Open Tatranske Zruby SVK (1) 27.09.03 [Gary Lane] 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 f6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 d6 9.d1 c7 10.f4 e5 11.e3 a6 [ 11...0-0 12.h3 ( 12.ac1 looks like a good idea to try to make use of the fact that the black queen is on the c-file a6 13.d5 g4 14.b3 ac8 15.d5 b8 16.xc6! winning easily, Kachibadze,G-Heistermann, T/Willingen 2001. ) A) 12...e6 13.xe6 fxe6 14.ac1 a6 15.c4 c8 16.a4 d5 17.exd5 ( 17.b3! is an improvement when xe4 fails to 18.b6 ) 17...xd5 18.xd5?! ( 18.b6 xb6 19.xb6 gives White a slight edge) 18...exd5 19.xd5+ h8 20.b6 d8 gave Black the better ch a n c e s i n S c e m a m a , H - G e o r g i e v , K / Aubervilliers 2001.; 2138

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B) 12...a6 13.ac1 b8 the queen hides out of the way but it does get in the way of the rest of the queenside pieces 14.a3 b5 15.a2 b7 16.g5 ( perhaps 16.d3!? ) 16...h6 17.xf6 xf6 18.d5 d8 19.d3 h8 20.e3 b6 21.f5 White is doing well to keep a grip on the position by targeting the d6 pawn. a7 22.c2 ad8 23.d5 a5 24.3h4 ( 24.e2 b8 25.xb7 xb7 26.c6 is better for W hite) 24...xd5 25.xd5 with roughly equal chances, Pritchard,DFraser,J/, British Team Championship 2002. ] 12.ac1 b8 Black is understandably reluctant to leave his queen on the c-file. The snag is that it gets in the way of the rest of the pieces. 13.d5 xd5 [ 13...xe4 fails to 14.b6 ] 14.xd5 d8 [ 14...d7 15.a3 0-0 16.d2 heading for c4 gives White the initiative. ] 15.b6! Peterson is keen to apply pressure as soon as possible. Basically, Black is under pressure because he cannot get his pieces out which means his defensive options are limited. e6 16.xe6 xe6 [ 16...fxe6 17.c7 a7 18.xd6 is clearly better for White. ] 17.c7 a7 18.xd6 xd6 19.xd6 e7 [ 19...0-0 is a safer option when 20.xe5 xa2 21.d3 leaves White on top due to his commanding pieces. ] 20.xe6+! xe6 [ 20...fxe6 21.c7+ f8 22.d4! leads to mate. ] 21.c4+ f6 22.xe5 b6 23.c3 e6 24.c6 1-0

1993 Pfaff,Volker Breiter,Juergen Kassel (5) [Gary Lane]

B21

18.06.2000

it's best square is a good idea.) 10...g6 11.g3 0-0 12.fd1 b7 13.d2 ce7 14.ad1 d5 15.exd5 xd5 16.xd5 xd5 17.e4 e7 18.xd5 exd5 19.d3 ( 19.f1 ad8 20.xd5 with equal chances ) 19...fd8 20.b3 d4 21.h3 a7 22.d3 d7 23.e4 ad8 and Black still has the extra pawn ensuring the advantage, 0-1 J.Doll-D. Johannsen, Pinneberg 1997. ] 8.b3 h6?! A cautious response. It is the type o f o f m o ve p la ye d a ll t h e t im e b u t o f t e n ignored in books. [ 8...ge7 9.g5 f6 10.f4 ( 10.e3 g6 11.d4 a5 12.xe6! dxe6 13.xd8+ xd8 14.b6+ e8 15.xa5 d6 16.a4 wit h a n in i t ia t ive f o r W h it e , G . V a n d e r Hoeven-R.Ba ckelin, Amsterd am 2 000 .) 10...g6 11.g3 b7 12.h4 xh4 13.xh4 c5? the top Russian player must have been 'spooked' by the opening 14.h5+ 1-0 V.Chikovani-I.Yagupov, Tula 1999. ] 9.e2 When Black plays something odd it makes sense for W hite to get with the standard plan of mobilising the queen to support the idea e4-e5 and get the rooks active. b4 10.d1 The rook comes to the semi-open d-file to increase the pressure on Black. ge7 11.f4 g6 12.g3 0-0 13.ac1 White has completed development and Black still has to catch up on activating his pieces. a5 14.xb5 e7? [ 14...axb5 15.xc6 dxc6 16.xd8 xd8 17.h4 White has the slightly better chances because the black pieces have a lack of harmony, although on pure material terms it could be considered equal. ] 15.d6 f6 16.xf8 xf8 17.d6 White is the exchange up and here it is easy to say that the rest is a matter of technique. However, I think it is always good to see how a winning advantage is converted into a full point. f4 18.e3 b8 19.xc8 xc8 20.e5 f5 21.g3 h3+ 22.g2 b8 23.xc6! A nice finish to a well played, tactical encounter. dxc6 24.c5+ 1-0

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.f3 c6 4.c3 dxc3 5.xc3 a6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 b5 [ 7...c5 8.e2 b5 9.d3 ge7 10.f4 ( 10.a3 intending b4 to oust the bishop from 2139

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B21 into the attack. [ 9.f4 0-0 10.b3 a6 11.e3 a5 12.c1 2335 e5 13.b1 d7 14.f3 fc8 15.d3 b5 2177 16.c5?! ( 16.d2 is worth a try with the idea 13.04.2001 that bxc4 is met by 17.d5! xd2 18.xe7+ f8 19.xd2 xe7 20.xe5 dxe5 21.b4+ e8 22.bxc4 ) 16...b4 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 d3 4.xd3 c6 17.e2 xd3 18.xd3 b5 19.c2 e5 5.c4 An interesting idea to prevent the 20.fd1 dxc5 gave Black the better chances possibility of ...d7-d5 and generally develop in in Costa Fernando,J-Ribeiro,F/ Oliveira de order to preserve the space advantage. d6 Azemeis 2001. ] 6.c3 f6 7.ge2 e6 Black wants to control the d5 square and simply develop the 9...0-0 10.b2 b6 11.f4 a6 Black prepares a queenside expansion. 12.f3 b8 13.h3 king's bishop. Others: [ 13.a3 c7 ] [ 7...e5 Black is keen to exchange the lightsquared bishop because it is usually an 13...e5 [ Pe rh a p s B la ck sh o u ld co n sid e r 13...b5 attacking piece in this line 8.0-0 e6 9.h3 when 14.cxb5 axb5 15.xb5 b6+ e7 10.e3 a6 11.c1 d7 12.b3 xd3 16.h1 a7 17.c4 g4 is worth a go. ] 13.xd3 a5 14.f4 e5 ( Black compromises his pawn structure 14.f5 White wishes to cut off the light-squared when he should prefer 14...c6 when play bishop on c8 from its defensive duties. b5 might continue 15.xd6 d8 16.e5 xe5 15.d5 bxc4 16.xf6+ xf6 17.xc4 b7 17.xe5 xd3 with equal chances) 15.d2 18.c3 d4 19.d5 A classic way of fighting gave White the advantage in Beckerling,J- for control of the d5 square. This is because now Black will wish to avoid an exchange of Schotte, R/Ruhrgebiet 1996. ] [ 7...g6 8.0-0 g7 9.e3 0-0 10.d2 e5 bishops in the fear that a knight would then 11.d5 xd5 12.cxd5 xd3 13.xd3 b e f r e e t o t a k e u p r e si d e n c e o n d 5 . c8 xb2 Black is a pawn up and wins quickly 20.h5 h6 21.g3 g5 22.f1 f6 23.h4! because White tries too hard to prove some A nice tactical way to put Black in big trouble. f o r m o f c o m p e n s a t i o n 14.ab1 g7 xf5? Roberts has given up! [ 23...xh4 24.g6 d8 25.f6 xf6 15.a3 ( 15.d4!? is a better idea and 26.fxf6 and White wins ] hope to use the open lines for his rooks) 15...d7 16.fc1 e6 17.dxe6 xe6 24.exf5 f4 25.e4 [ 25.e4 xf5 26.xf5 xf5 27.xf4 18.b6 It looks great but does not work well xe4 28.xe4+- ] i n t h i s p o s i t i o n xe4 19.xd6 e7 20.d3? xa3 21.xa3 b2 0-1 Vedral, O- 1-0 Kubikova,A/Klatovy 1998. ] 8.0-0 B21 [ 8.g5 e7 9.e3?! a waste of time. White 1995 should wait until the bishop is kicked away Pleasants,Allan J with ...h7-h6 because then he saves a move Harman Bishop,AP and Black will weaken his pawn structure Dorset (2) 03.02.2001 0-0 10.0-0 g4 11.d2 f6 12.f4 e5!? [Gary Lane] ( 12...ge5 is about equal) 13.xe5 dxe5 14.h3 f6 15.ad1 d4 16.g5 xe2+ 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e5?! 17.xe2 Black has ruined his promising The logical behind the move is to put a stop opening by giving himself doubled e-pawn to W hite's usual ploy of e4-e5 when Black an d th e n exch an gin g h is a ct ive pie ce s has developed his king's knight to f6. An le avin g W h it e wit h th e be t te r ch an ce s, obvious problem is that it concedes control of Azizbekian,E-Luchko,A/Krasnodar 2001. ] the d5 square because e7-e6 is ruled out and 8...e7 9.b3 I like the idea of a queenside the weakness of the a2-g8 diagonal is a worry. fianchetto to bring the dark-squared bishop 5.c4 1994 Philippe,Christophe Roberts,Paul FSIMB April Budapest HUN (7) [Gary Lane]

2140

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5.f3 d6 6.c4 e6 Black blocks the a2g8 diagonal because the bishop on c4 is White's most aggressive piece. 7.xe6 fxe6 8.b3 d7 9.0-0 c6 10.d1 White is relying on his space advantage and open li n e s t o p u t B l a ck u n d e r p r e s s u r e . f6 11.e3 e7 12.g5 d8 13.f3 f7 ( 13...c6 14.g5 d8= ) 14.ac1 0-0 15.b5 a6 16.c7 ac8 17.xe6 and White h ad won back the pawn leaving him with the better position in G.Batista-S. Farhat, Brasilia 2001. ] 5...f6 6.f3 c7 Black wishes to defend the e-pawn and attack the bishop. 7.b3! Here, the direct approach works well. The queen move not only defends the bishop but attacks f7. d5 [ 7...d6 8.g5 the extra pressure against f7 forces Black to give up a pawn d5 9.exd5 ] 8.exd5 Pleasants has won his gambit pawn back and how has an important lead in development. a6 9.0-0 d6 10.g5 bd7 11.fe1 0-0 12.ac1 [ 12.h3! might be more accurate in order to lessen the effect of ...e5-e4 followed by .. . Bd6xh2+. e4 13.d2 ] 12...b5 [ 12...e4! 13.xe4 ( 13.d2 xh2+ 14.h1 f4 leads to complications. For instance: 15.d6 xd6 16.dxe4 xe4 17.xe4 b8 18.xf7+ xf7 19.f6+ xf6 20.e7 ) 13...xe4 14.xe4 c5 15.d3 xb3 16.xc7 xc7 17.axb3 f6 18.d2 d8 and Black is the exchange up with the better position. ] 13.f1 c5 14.d1 b8 15.b4 White has had to adjust his pieces after Black's attack on the queen but the long-term trump of a space advantage gives White the edge. cd7 16.a3 b7 Black pins his hopes on undermining the passed pawn on d5. However, with the queen on b8 there is good reason for White to attack on the kingside. 17.h4 h6 18.e3 e4 It is a risky business advancing the e-pawn because it will be difficult to defend. 19.h3 e5 20.f5 d8 21.c5! A star move! White puts the question to Black wh e t h e r h e will e xch a n ge o n c5 t h e re b y transforming the isolated pawn into double passed pawns. xc5 [ 21...f8 22.xf8 xf8 23.d4

intending Qc5+ is good for White. ] 22.bxc5 xd5 Black can hardly wait for the passed pawns to advance but his prepared plan is f a u lt y. 23.e7+ h8 24.cxd5 xd5 25.xd5 b7 26.c6! A relatively easy way to cut out the pin on the knight. xc6 27.h5 After the flurry of tactic Pleasants has emerged with an extra piece which is enough to secure victory. e8 28.ed1 e5 29.h4 d8 30.b4 xd1 31.xd1 e3 32.xc6 xc6 33.fxe3 xe3 34.d8+ h7 35.d3+ g6 36.d4 c1+ 37.f1 g5 38.f6 1-0

1996 Polgar,Judit Kramnik,Vladimir Rapid Cap d'Agde (1.2) [Gary Lane]

B21 2722 2777 27.10.2003

1.e4 c5 2.f4 e6 3.c3 d5 4.f3 dxe4 5.xe4 This position can also arise from the move-order 1 e4 c5 2 f4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 e6 5 Nf3. c6 [ 5...f6 6.xf6+ xf6 7.d4 ( 7.e5 xf4! this is the critical test 8.b5+ d7 9.e2 xb5 10.xb5+ c6! a great move that is based on exploiting white's exposed king. 11.xb7 xe5+ 12.d1 h5+ 13.e1 h4+ 14.f1 f4+ 15.g1 d4+ 16.f1 d8 17.xc6+ d7 18.a8+ e7 and Black is better.) 7...cxd4 8.xd4 xd4 9.xd4 a6 10.d2 led to equal chances in Carr,N-King,D/British Championship 1988. ] 6.b5 [ 6.b3 has been tested: f6 7.f2 g6 8.b2 g7 9.g3 the idea of a double fianchetto is popular and a steady response by White 0-0 10.g2 d4 11.d3 d5 12.xd4 cxd4 13.0-0 b6 14.e5 b7 15.xd4 xf4! a neat way of regaining material 16.xf4 xg2 17.xg2 xe5 18.xe5 d5+ 19.f3 xe5 20.f1 f5 with equal chances, Fuller,M-Canfell,G/ Sydney 1990. ] 6...d7 7.0-0 [ 7.e2 is a major alternative: h6 8.b3 f5 9.b2 a6 10.d3 ( 10.xc6 xc6 11.0-0 is equal ) 10...cd4 11.xd4 xd4 12.xd4 cxd4 2141

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) 13.0-0 h4 14.ae1 e7 15.g3 d8 16.e5 ( perhaps 16.f5 should be c o n s i d e r e d) 16...0-0 17.f5 exf5 18.xe7 g4 19.a4 with level chances, Van der Ploeg,G-Lehnert,R/IECG 2002.; B) 13.g5 f6 14.0-0 g6 15.ae1 is roughly equal, Langner,L-Jaworski,M/ Prague 2001. ] 7...f6 [ 7...f6 A) 8.xf6+ gxf6 ( or 8...xf6 9.e5 d8 is about equal) 9.f5 c7 ( if 9...exf5 Black has won a pawn but has an awful p a wn s t ru c t u r e 10.e1+ e7 11.d3 when W hite is better.) 10.fxe6 fxe6 11.e1 e5 ( 11...0-0-0 12.xf6 c4 13.xc4 e5 gives Black good play for the sacrificed material) 12.e2 d6 13.xe5 xe5 14.c3 a6 15.e2 0-0 16.d3 with a level position, Malbran,GMellano,S/Buenos Aires 1993.; B) 8.d3 a6 9.xf6+ gxf6 ( Or 9...xf6 10.xc6 xc6 11.e5 c8 with roughly equal chances.) 10.a4 d4 11.xd7+ xd7 12.e3 f5 ( 12...0-0-0 is the ambitious response when 13.d2 b8 14.a3 is double-edged.) 13.e2 0-0-0 14.f2 c7 15.d2 ( 15.d2!? is a solid response.) 15...xf4 16.e4 c7 ( Or 16...e7 17.b4 cxb4 18.b6 h6 19.xd8 xd8 20.ac1 with equal chances. ) 17.c3 d6 18.b4 ( 18.h3 might be a saf er approach when hg8 19.a3 g6 still gives Black good attacking p r o s p e c t s .) 18...xh2+ 19.h1 g3 20.bxc5 hg8 21.g1 ( 21.ab1 is more to the point in an effort to engineer some counterplay.) 21...h2+ 22.h1 g3 23.ab1 g6 24.xg3 xg3+ 25.xg3 xg3 26.b2 h6+ 27.g1 h2+ 28.f2 f4+ 29.e2 e5+ 30.d2 g5+ 31.e2 xg2+ 32.f2 xf2+ ( 32...d5 is even stronger!) 33.xf2 h2+ 34.e3 xb2 35.xb2 White is struggling but now due to a time scramble or Black just needing a draw to win the tournament the game was soon wrapped up. h5 ] 8.d3 [ 8.xf6+ gxf6 ( or 8...xf6 9.e5 d8 is about equal) 9.f5 c7 ( if 9...exf5

Black has won a pawn but has an awful p a w n s t r u c t u r e 10.e1+ e7 11.d3 when White is better.) 10.fxe6 fxe6 11.e1 e5 ( 11...0-0-0 12.xf6 c4 13.xc4 e5 gives Black good play for the sacrificed material ) 12.e2 d6 13.xe5 xe5 14.c3 a6 15.e2 0-0 16.d3 with a level position, Malbran,G-Mellano,S/ Buenos Aires 1993. ] 8...a6 9.xf6+ gxf6 [ Or 9...xf6 10.xc6 xc6 11.e5 c8 with roughly equal chances. ] 10.a4 d4 11.xd7+ xd7 12.e3 f5 [ 12...0-0-0 is the ambitious response when 13.d2 b8 14.a3 is double-edged. ] 13.e2 0-0-0 14.f2 c7 15.d2 [ 15.d2!? is a solid response. ] 15...xf4 16.e4 c7 [ Or 16...e7 17.b4 cxb4 18.b6 h6 19.xd8 xd8 20.ac1 with equal chances. ] 17.c3 d6 18.b4 [ 18.h3 might be a safer approach when hg8 19.a3 g6 still gives Black good attacking prospects. ] 18...xh2+ 19.h1 g3 20.bxc5 hg8 21.g1 [ 21.ab1 is more to the point in an effort to engineer some counterplay. ] 21...h2+ 22.h1 g3 23.ab1 g6 Suddenly the white king looks horribly exposed 24.xg3 xg3+ 25.xg3 xg3 26.b2 h6+ 27.g1 h2+ 28.f2 f4+ Kramnik is having all the fun by chasing the king. 29.e2 [ 29.g1 h2+ 30.f2 c7 31.d4 g8 is good news for Black. ] 29...e5+ 30.d2 g5+ 31.e2 xg2+ 32.f2 xf2+ [ 32...d5 is even stronger! ] 33.xf2 h2+ 34.e3 xb2 35.xb2 White is struggling but now due to Black just needing a draw to qualify in the tournament the game was soon wrapped up. h5 ½-½

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B21 12.b5 ge5 13.xe5 fxe5 14.e3 d6 2230 15.d2 a6 16.c3 e7 17.0-0-0 [ 17.c1 0-0= ] 1997 17...0-0 18.f4? [ 18.b1 is a safer alternative. ] 18...exf4 19.f2 [ If 19.xf4? then xf4! wins ] 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 19...b5 20.b3 h8 21.b1 b8 5.f3 g6 [ 21...a5 22.c2-+ ] [ 5...a6 is a slow move when Black is behind on development 6.c4 h6 7.0-0 e6 8.e2 22.e2 a5 [ 22...a5!? is a little better for Black. ] ge7 9.f4 g6 10.g3 e7 11.e5 0-0 12.fd1 c7 13.ac1 b5 14.d3 b6 23.c1 d7 24.xf4 b4 [ 24...e5 25.e1 d8 26.d5 when the 15.h4 ( 15.e4 looks like a decent idea) st ro n g kn ig h t o n d 5 g ive s W h it e s o m e 15...d8 16.e4 b7 17.b1 ( 17.h5 f8 compensation. ] 18.a3 with an edge) 17...b4 18.d6 d5 19.h5 f8 20.xb7 xb7 21.d4 f6 25.he1 a5 [ 25...bc8 26.e3 g5 27.g3= ] 22.cd1 c5 23.4d2 b4 24.xd5 exd5 25.exf6 ( 25.a3! e7 26.a2 is strong ) 26.d4+ [ 26.d3 xb3 27.c7 ( 27.xb4 xc1 25...e8 26.d3 gxf6 27.a3 e7 28.a2 28.g3 xa2 29.xa2 b6-+ ) 27...d2+ g7 29.xd5 a7 30.h4 c5 31.f5+ 28.a1 b3+ 29.axb3 xb3 30.xd7+- ] h7 32.d2 1-0 Boschetti,C-Leist,G/ 26...f6? Brocco 1990. ] [ Black can improve with 26...e5 27.d5 [ 5...f6 6.e5 ( 6.d3 c7 7.e2 e6 xb3 28.axb3 xb3 29.xe5+ dxe5= ] 8.0-0 g4 9.c2?? Watch out for this if you play either colour! d4 0-1 Umancova, 27.xf6+ xf6 28.c7 bf8 [ 28...g8 29.d3 d4 30.xa5+- ] B-Ma rkova,K/ Hrad ec Kralove 1997 (9 )) 6...g4 7.f4 d6 8.exd6 exd6 9.b5 29.d3 [ 29.xe6 is very strong. For instance: d5 ( 9.d3 is an idea to carry on getting the 30.xd7 6f7 31.xd5 xb3 32.xf8 pieces out quickly) 9...ge5 10.xe5 xe5 d2+ 33.xd2 e7 34.d7 e8 11.xe5 dxe5 12.xd8+ xd8 13.0-0-0+ 35.d4+ g8 36.f6+ h8 37.xe8+ d7 14.e2 g6 15.b1 a6 16.c3 e8 g8 38.f6+ xf6 39.xf6 b4 40.d8# ] 17.d5 f5+ ( 17...d6!? 18.f6+ e7 is better for Black.) 18.d3 xd3+ 19.xd3 29...d4 30.xd7 8f7 [ 30...6f7 31.xe6 xb3 32.xb3 f6+- ] d6 20.f4 e4 21.f6+ e7 22.xe4 xf4 23.g3 e5 24.e1 f6 25.f3 hf8 31.d8+ f8 32.xa5 [ 32.xa5 g5 33.e5 xh6 34.b4+- ] 26.xf6! xf6 27.xe5+ with equal chances although W hite eventually won, 1-0 Hawkes,P-Mohd,F/Auckland1997. ] 6.h4 B21 [ 6.f4 g7 7.c4 f6 8.0-0 0-0 9.e2 1998 d6 10.e5 ( 10.fd1 threatening e5 is Regan,Natasha 2115 interesting.) 10...h5 11.g3 xf4 12.gxf4 Hodgson,John H 2250 dxe5 13.xe5 xe5 ( 13...e6 and White is Lloyds Bank (7) 08.1994 in trouble because White's kingside pawns [Gary Lane] are weak. ) 14.fxe5 d4 15.e6 fxe6 16.xe6+ xe6 17.xe6+ h8 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 1/2-1/2 Lepsik,M-Hoffmann,M/ Cesky Brod 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 f6 8.e2?! 1995. ] The idea is logical enough, to make room for 6...f6 7.h5 g7 a rook on d1 and help to support the advance [ 7...xh5!? 8.e5 d6 ] e5. This game is widely quoted in books who 8.h6 f8 9.g5 g4 10.c4 f6 11.f4 e6 make a claim that the text inspires great 1997 Quadrio,Alexandre Candeias,Humberto Team Championship [Gary Lane]

2143

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 complications. However, such conclusions are wrongly based on the assumption that GM Julian Hodgson would only play the best moves. An idea that could cost W hite the game when one realises that Black is in fact JOHN Hodgson a keen amateur player from England! g4 9.d1 e6 This combination of pinning the king's knight and then setting up a solid pawn barrier works wonders for Black. [ 9...a5?! 10.d5! e6 11.xf6+ gxf6 12.h3 xf3 13.xf3 e7 14.d2 d8 15.ac1 giving White good prospects b e c a u s e t h e b l a c k ki n g i s st u c k in t h e centre. ] 10.f4 [ Or 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 e7 12.f4 b8 13.e2 ( 13.f1 0-0 14.d2 d8 15.ad1 c7 16.g4 e5 17.e2 b5 18.c2 Black had successfully managed to fend off the attack and stood better in N.Regan-E. Paehtz, Dresden 1998.) 13...0-0 14.g3 e5 15.e3 b5 16.h6 g6 17.f4 b4 18.f5 bxc3 19.fxg6 hxg6 20.f4 cxb2 21.ab1 xe4 22.f3 b4 23.e3 d5 24.d4 a3 25.d3 c3 26.f1 ab8 0-1 R. Watzdorf-C.Buhr, Berlin 1994. ] 10...h5 [ 10...c7 11.ac1 d8 12.d5! b8 13.xf6+ gxf6 14.xa6 xf3 15.gxf3?! ( 15.xf3 preserves White's kingside pawn structure and is better) 15...a8 16.b5 g8+ 17.f1 e5 18.e3 xa2 19.xc6+ bxc6 20.xc6 b8 when Black had some c o u n t e r p l a y a n d e ve n t u a l ly d re w i n P . Blomeyer-J.Andersen, Cattolica 1993. ] [ 10...b8!? is a reasonable alternative. ] 11.e3 f6 12.e5?! The English women's international is known for her ultra aggressive style but this just very risky. xf3 [ 12...xe5 13.e4 f5 looks good to me for Black. ] 13.exf6 xe2 14.fxg7 xg7 15.xe2 f5 16.b6 d5 Hodgson is a pawn up and is better. But just remember that in this opening W h it e re lie s o n a ct i ve p ie ce p la y a n d i n practical experience is usually a force to be r e c k o n e d wi t h . 17.g4 d6 18.xd5? A combination of bluff and daring inspires Natasha to shed a whole rook for an attack. c4 A good way to wreck White's ambitions by ou s tin g t he da rk-squa red bisho p t h a t

should allow future options such as ...Kd8. [ 18...exd5 19.xd5 b8 20.f6+ e7 21.d5+ e8 22.f6+ with perpetual check. ] 19.d4 g8 20.xe6 fxe6 21.e1 e7? Black understandably wants to catch up on development. A big improvement is [ 21...g6 that protects e6 leaving Black with a won game. ] 22.xe6 d8 23.c5 f7 24.e4 xd5 25.xd5 xc5 26.xc4 d6 White has two pawns for the piece that should not be enough to allow her to avoid defeat. The white pawns should be picked off as they advance but other factors such as time-trouble have an influence on the eventual outcome. 27.g3 e5 28.c3 e6 29.e3 g7 30.f4 f3+ 31.g2 h4+ 32.f2 f5 33.c4 c7 [ 33...c5+ 34.f3 g1 35.g2 d4 36.c2 d5 and Black has improved the position of his pieces. ] 34.g4 c5+ 35.f3 d4+ 36.e4 b5 37.f5+ Regan has done very well in quickly advancing her pawns, but Black must take his share of blame for letting the advantage slip. f6 38.h3 d6+ [ 38...d7 looks like a reasonable alternative. ] 39.xd6?! e7+ 40.d5 e5+ 41.c4 b5+ [ 41...xd6 42.h6+ e7 43.xh7+ f6 44.xb7 and White has managed to pick up f a r t o o m an y p a wn s a n d h as at le a st a draw. ] 42.xb5 axb5+ 43.xb5 a3+ 44.c6 xb2 45.xh7 a5 46.h6+ f7 47.e6 xa2 48.e2 a6+ 49.b7 a4 50.xb2 xg4 51.c6 f6 52.f2 g5 53.h4 xf5 54.h2 g6 55.d6 ½-½

1999 Regan,Natasha Koglin,Anke German Team Championship (3) [Gary Lane]

B21 2184 2261 1999

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 f6 8.b4 e6 [ 8...g4 is met by 9.b5 ] 2144

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 8...b5 is a popular choice to stop White from advancing his b-pawn 9.d5 d7 A) 10.a4 b8 11.axb5 axb5 ( A blunder would be 11...xd5? when 12.exd5 a7 13.bxa6 xb4 14.e3 gives W hite a big advantage) 12.f4 White prepares the advance e5 ( 12.xc6 xc6 13.d3 d7 14.e1 gives White compensation for the pawn; 12.g5 seems to be a good alternative) 12...e6 ( or 12...xb4?! 13.xf7+! xf7 14.b3+ e8 15.xb4 is good news for White because Black can longer castle) 13.xc6 xc6 14.e5 d5 15.xd5 xd5 ( Or 15...exd5 16.e1 d7 17.exd6+ e6 18.xd5 and Black can resign with honour) 16.e1 ( 16.a7 b6 17.e3 c6 18.d4 c4 19.h5 gives W hite decent attacking chances) 16...dxe5 17.xe5 The bishop is well placed on e5 because Black is still struggling to develop and his bishop on f8 is stuck defending the pawn on g7 b7 18.c3 e7 What else? Black has to return the pawn in order to get his pieces activated 19.xg7 g8 20.c3 d7 21.d3 f6 22.ed1 ( 22.a3 g6 23.g3 is slightly better for White who has avoided a calamity on the g-file ) A1) 22...c6! 23.xd7+ xd7 ( 23...xd7 24.xf6 xf6 25.a8+ e7 26.xg8 when the practical chances favour White) 24.xd7 xf3! 25.d3 xc3 26.xc3 ( 26.a5! xg2+ 27.f1 xb4 28.xb5 c6 29.xb4 xh2 with a probable draw) 26...xg2+ 27.f1 xh2 is better for Black; A2) 22...f8 23.g3 c6 24.xf6?? Oh no!! ( 24.d4 keeps the tension when xd4 25.xd4 is slightly better f o r W h it e d u e t o t h e e xp ose d b la ck king ) 24...xf6 ( 24...xd3?! 25.xd8 xd1+ 26.xd1 xf3 27.d6 g7 28.h3 with equal chances) 25.a8+?? T i m e - t r o u b l e ? g7 ( 25...xa8 is also winning after 26.xd7 xf3 ) 26.xg8+ xg8 27.d4 e5 winning a p ie c e a n d t h e g a m e , E ib e r sb e rg e r Loebler,/Austrian Ch 1996/; B) 10.e3 e6 ( Less precise is 10...xd5 11.exd5 e5 12.xe5 dxe5 13.e1

with compensation for the pawn in the form of advanced development) 11.xc6 xc6 12.d4 ( 12.d4 is an interesting w a y t o d e f e n d t h e e - p a w n w h e n c8 13.fd1 b7 is double-edged) 12...d7 ( 12...b7 13.a4 e5 14.de2 xe4 15.axb5 axb5 16.xb5 e7 17.d3 and White has some compensation for the pawn ) 13.f4 b8 ( 13...c8 14.c1 ) 14.f3 b7 15.b3 c8 16.d4 e7 17.ae1 0-0 18.e3 c6 19.g4 ( 19.g3 fd8 ) 19...d7 20.g5 W hite kicks away the knight, which is currently helping to defend. e8 21.h5 e5 22.h3 gave White decent attacking ch a n ce s , Co m p t o n , A - Mo rk, K / L o n d o n 1999/ ] 9.b5 [ 9.b3 e7 ( 9...xb4!? has been neglected in practice but looks fine for Black after 10.xb4 d5 11.b5+ axb5 12.xb5+ d7 13.xb7 c8 ) 10.d1 b6 11.a3 g4 12.a2 A fun way to cover th e f 2 p awn 0-0 13.h3 ge5 14.xe5 dxe5 15.e3 d4 16.e2 f6 ( 16...d8 17.aa1 f6 18.b2 with some compensation for the pawn; 16...xb3? 17.xb6 d4 18.xd4 exd4 19.xd4 with a clear, positional advantage in the ending ) 17.f4 ( 17.c3!? is worth consideration) 17...exf4! ( Not 17...xb3 18.xb6 d4 19.xd4 exd4 20.e5 wi t h a b i g a d va n t a g e b e c a u s e B la c k ' s queenside pieces are blocked) 18.xf4 ( 18.xd4 xd4+ 19.xd4 e5 20.ad2 exd4 21.h1 e6 gives Black the better chances ) 18...c7 19.d3 ( 19.xd4!? xd4+ 20.xd4 xf4 21.f2 e5 22.d3 b5 23.b3 b7 and Black has repulsed the a t t a c k l e a v i n g h i m a c l e a r p a w n u p) 19...d8! the threat of a discovered attack on the white queen is awkward 20.f1 b5 21.d5 exd5 22.xd5 xd5 23.exd5 f5 24.c5 e5 gave Black a winning advantage in Fanha,P-Pinheiro,J/Lisbon 2000/ ] 9...e5 [ Or 9...axb5 10.xb5 e7 11.e1 with compensation for the pawn. ] 10.xe5 dxe5 11.e2 When you have sacrificed a pawn in the opening there have to 2145

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 be special circumstances to voluntarily agree to exchange queens. e7 12.d1 a5 13.d2 [ 13.f3 0-0 14.d2 ] 13...c7 [ 13...b4 14.e3 0-0 15.a3 xa3 16.b1 c5 17.xa5 ] 14.ac1 0-0 15.bxa6 bxa6 16.a4 [ 16.d3 d6 17.f3 d8 18.g5 when White has some chances against the exposed black queen ] 16...b7 17.f3?! Regen supports the e-pawn but it is a missed opportunity! [ 17.xe6! gives White a strong initiative based on harassing the black queen b8 18.f5 g6 Black might win a pawn back this way but in the long-term the dark-squares on the kingside are weakened 19.h3 xe4 20.c3 b7 21.f4 a little nuance to gain time d6 22.g5 e7 23.b1 c7 ( 23...a7 is the best in the circumstances but White has all the fun) 24.xb7! xb7 25.xe5 and White is winning ] 17...c6 18.b3 b7 [ 18...fd8 19.c5 h5 gives Black an edge ] 19.e3 b5 20.f2 ad8 21.c5 W h ite ce rta inly h a s a ct ive pie ce pla y a s compensation for the pawn xd1+ 22.xd1 a8 [ 22...xc5 23.xc5 d8 is a tiny bit better for Black ] 23.a4 c6 24.b2 d6 [ 24...xc5 25.xc5 c8 26.d6 a7+ 27.h1= d7 28.xe5 xe5 29.xe5 is equal ] 25.b6 b8 26.a5 h6 Just in case of backr a n k m a t e ! 27.xa6 e8 28.b6 c8 29.xc8 xc8 30.c5 [ 30.e3!? to stop the black queen invading White's position on the c1 square is worth considering. ] 30...c6 31.a7 e7 32.b6 c8 33.a5 h7 34.e2 d7 35.xd7 c1+ 36.f2 xd7 37.e3? White walks into a sort of selfmate puzzle. [ Instead 37.b7 gives White winning chances. ] 37...h1 38.g3 [ 38.a6? allows Black to unleash is attacking plan upon h4+ 39.g3 xh2+ 40.f1

h3+ 41.g1 xg3+ ] 38...g5? forfeits the advantage [ 38...e1+ is the right way to make p r o g r e s s wh e n 39.f2 xa5 crucially eliminates the passed a-pawn giving only Black winning chances. ] 39.g1 Regan forces the exchange of queens to enter a winning ending. However, these things are never easy in time-trouble and Black swindles a draw. f4+ 40.h3 xg1 41.xg1 d2 42.a6 b4 43.b6 d6 44.g3 g8 45.f2 f8 46.e3 e7 47.a7 c6 48.b5 b7 49.d3 a3 50.c7 b2 51.c4 d4 52.b8 g5 53.d3 g1 54.h3 f2 55.e2 ½-½

2000 Regan,Natasha Sebag,Marie Saint Vincent zt (Women) (6) [Gary Lane]

B21

24.05.1999

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 g6 6.h4 [ 6.c4 A) 6...e6 7.0-0 a6 8.f4 h6 9.e1 f6 10.d5 d6 ( 10...exd5? 11.exd5+ e7 12.d6+- ) 11.xf6+ xf6 12.xd6 xd6 ( 12...d4! is the best way to relieve the pressure ) 13.xd6 e7 14.f4 g5 15.g3 e5 16.ac1 f6 17.a3 e6 18.d5 c8 19.c4 h5 20.d2 h4 21.c3 a7 22.c1 0-0 23.c7 ( 23.b4 is useful when xc4 24.xc4 o f f e r s b e t t e r p r o s p e c t s f o r W h i t e) 23...e8?? A big mistake which allows W h i t e a s e a s y w i n . ( 23...xc7 is an improvement when 24.xc7 xc7 25.xc7 xd5 26.exd5 f7 27.d6 gives White winning chances.) 24.xc8 xc8 25.xc8! xc8 ( 25...xd5 26.xe8 xe8 27.exd5+- ) 26.xc8 xd5 27.xf8+ xf8 28.exd5 and Black can give up, Kacakovski, D-Prisagjanec,S/ Struga 2002.; B) 6...d6 7.0-0 g4? 8.xf7+ xf7 9.g5+ e8 10.xg4+- h6 11.h3 ( 11.d1 f7+- ) 11...f7 ( 11...d7 12.g3 is better for White) 12.d5 c8? 2146

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Oops! B1) 13.e6 g7 ( 13...xg5 14.f6# ) 14.xf7+ d7 15.xg7+-; B2) 13.e6 1-0 Titz,H-Wolfram,B/ Aschach 1997. ] 6...h5 7.g5 [ 7.c4 intending Qb3 is worth checking out. ] 7...g7 8.c4 f6 9.0-0 d6 10.e5 I don't like the idea of exchanging queens when a pawn down unless there is a concrete line offering White decent chances. [ 10.c1 is also possible. ] 10...dxe5 11.xd8+ xd8 12.b5 f8 A simple but effective way to minimise the impact of Nc7. 13.c7 [ 13.xe5 d7 14.xd7+ xd7 with an edge to Black who has the extra pawn. ] 13...b8 14.xe5 d7 [ Or 14...e8 15.fe1 xe5 16.xe5 is fine for White. ] 15.d3 b6 16.b3 f5 17.ad1 xd3 18.xd3 xb2 19.a4 [ 19.e3 c6 ] 19...c6 20.e1 e5 21.xe7+? At first glance this looks like a neat combination but it is ultimately flawed. [ 21.f3 is a superior idea although after h7 22.d5 Black has the better chances. ] 21...xe7 [ The point of White's play is revealed upon 21...xe7?! 22.xe5 c6 23.g5 with some compensation in the f orm of active piece play. ] 22.f4 hd8! 23.d5+ [ 23.de3 d7 reveals the idea of getting out of the pin by attacking the white knight. ] 23...xd5 24.xd5 [ 24.xd5 b4 25.d4-+ ] 24...xd5 25.xd5 d6 26.xf7 [ 26.xc6 d4+ 27.f1 bxc6 with an easy win. ] 26...xf4 27.e6+ d7 28.xg6 e3+ 29.h2 e5 30.g7 xf7 31.xf7+ e6 32.h7 [ 32.f3 d4-+ ] 32...a6 [ 32...b5 33.axb5 xb5 34.g3-+ ] 33.xh5 [ 33.a5 f5-+ ]

33...b5 34.axb5 axb5 35.g4 [ 35.h3-+ ] 35...b4 36.f5 b3 37.f1 b2 38.b1 d4 39.g3 c8 [ 39...c8 40.f4 c1 41.xb2 xb2-+ ] 0-1

2001 Regan,Natasha Van Beek,Guido Haarlem (3) [Gary Lane]

B21 2160 1998

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 f6 8.b4!? An interesting gambit that deserves further practical tests. g4 [ 8...e6 9.b5 e5 10.xe5 dxe5 11.e2 e7 12.d1 a5 13.d2 c7 14.ac1 0-0 15.bxa6 bxa6 16.a4 b7 17.f3 ( 17.xe6 b8 18.f5 g6 19.g4 xe4 20.b6 c5 21.xa8 xf2+ 22.h1 xa8 23.f3 with a double-edged game) 17...c6 18.b3 b7 19.e3 b5 Bla ck h a s t h e b e t te r ch a n ce s b e c a u s e W hite's initiative had drif ted away in N. Regan-A.Koglin, Germany 1999. ] 9.b5 xf3 [ 9...axb5 10.xb5 g6 is a recommendation for Black by Taylor although I think 11.b2 g7 12.d5 looks a good try with similar play to the main game Hardarson-De Firmian. ] 10.gxf3 e5 11.bxa6! xc4 [ 11...bxa6 12.a4+ d7? ( 12...fd7 13.e2 intending f4 gives White decent compensation because Black's kingside development is poor.) 13.b5 is good news for White ] 12.axb7 a7 [ 12...b8 13.a4+ d7 14.xc4 xb7 15.a4 and the passed a-pawn is awkward for Black. ] 13.b5 xb7 14.a4 d7 [ 14...d7 15.xc4 e6 16.a4 e7 17.a5 was better for W hite in K.Regan-Tisdall, Denver. It worth noting that the American master Ken Regan is no relation to Natasha Regan of England. ] [ If 14...b6?? then White should jump for 2147

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 joy and play 15.c7# with a smile! ] 15.xc4 e5 16.a4 d7 17.g5 It is easy for Regan to swiftly develop her pieces and the latest threat is 18 Nxd6 to take a d v a n t a g e o f t h e p i n n e d e - p a w n . b8 18.ab1 h6 19.e3 White has a clear advantage. Black is reluctant to take up a thankless struggle against the relentless advance of the a-pawn and gives up prematurely. e6 20.a6 1-0

2002 Regan,Natasha Woestenburg,Jochem Haarlem (5) [Gary Lane]

B21 2160 1998

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 Black accepts the offer of the pawn and enters the Smith-Morra Gambit. 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 f6?! A natural looking move which is in fact a mistake. White can now play for a strong initiative. 7.e5! dxe5 [ 7...xe5?? A big error but it has occurred in numerous games when W hite wins a queen after 8.xe5 dxe5 9.xf7+ xf7 10.xd8 ] 8.xd8+ xd8 [ 8...xd8 9.b5 e6 ( 9...e6 10.xe6 xe6 11.c7+ d8 12.xa8+- ) 10.c7+ d7 11.xa8 xc4 12.xe5+ c8 13.xc4 b8 14.f4+ xa8 15.0-0-0 c6 16.e5 g8 17.xc6 bxc6 18.d8+ b7 19.b8+ a6 20.d1 d5 21.xd5 cxd5 22.c7 g6 23.c2 1-0 T.Duran-M. Jelinek, Prague 1997. ] 9.g5 e6 [ What else? 9...e8 10.b5 b8 11.xf7+ d8 12.e3 b6 13.0-0-0+ d7 14.e6 e8 15.b3 ( 15.c7+! d8 16.a6 wins ) 15...d4 16.xd4 exd4 17.xd4 c8+ 18.b1 f5+ 19.a1 g6 20.a4+ d7 21.xd7+ xd7 22.xg7+ c6 23.xh8 h6 24.c1+ b7 25.xc8 xc8 26.f3 a5 27.e1 f4 28.xe7 c7 29.e5 xe5 30.xe5 b5 31.xg6 hxg6 1-0 M.Braje-M.Oezaslan,Berlin 1996 ] 10.xf7+ e7 11.xh8 White has won material and is clearly on top. Natasha Regan

is an experienced English woman's international and soon wraps up the game. d4 12.0-0 g6 13.b3 g7 14.a3+ e8 15.b5 xb5 16.xb5+ d7 17.ac1 a6 18.xc8+ Regan is keen to simplify matters by exchanging pieces. xc8 19.xd7+ xd7 20.f7 c2 21.d1+ e8 22.d6+ f8 23.xb7+ g8 24.d8+ f7 25.d7+ f6 26.g4 xa2 27.e7+ f7 28.d6+ 1-0

2003 Richardson,Mark Nakamura,Hikaru Open Bermuda BER (1) [Gary Lane]

B21 2430 01.02.2002

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.xd4?! It cannot be right in the Sicilian to encourage Black to develop quickly by attacking the queen. This variation has a certain amount of shock value but is likely to remain a rare guest at tournament level. c6 4.d1 [ 4.e3 f6 5.c3 e5 6.c4 d4 7.d3 ( 7.b3 b4 when it is clear that the queen should still be on d1because it just gets in the way of the queen's bishop ) A) 7...c5 8.g3 ( 8.ge2? xc2+ 9.xc2 xe3 wins ) 8...d6 9.xg7 g8 10.h6 g6 11.d2 xg2 looks good for Black.; B) 7...d5?! 8.exd5 g4 9.g3 h5 10.h4 c5 11.h3 ( 11.e3! and White has the better prospects) 11...f5 12.g5 a5 13.0-0-0 B1) Or 13...b4 14.f3 ( 14.d2 xc3 15.xc3 xa2 16.xd4 exd4 17.he1+ f7 18.c7+ g6 19.f4+ wins ) 14...xc3 15.bxc3 xc3 16.fxg4? e2+!; B2) 13...0-0 14.f3 f4 15.xf4 exf4 16.xf4 f2 17.e5 xd3+ ( 17...f7 ) 18.xd3 f5 19.g6 d7 20.g4 ae8 21.f4 White is struggling and Black handles better the latter stages of the game ( 21.f4!? ) 21...f6 22.g5 d4 23.e5 xf3 24.xf3 xe5 25.xe5 xf3 26.gxh5 a6 27.e4 e3+ 0-1 Hardarson,R-Nyback,T/ Reykjavik ISL 2001 ] 2148

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 4...f6 5.c3 [ 5.d2 g6 6.gf3 g7 7.d3 0-0 8.0-0 d6 Black wisely adopts a 'Dragon' set-up to defend against W hite's strange opening choice. Luga, A-Faulks,N/Istanbul 2000 ] 5...g6 6.e3 g7 7.c4 0-0 Hakamura is a strong player and his robust way of playing against White's queen sortie is worth noting. 8.h4 You have to admire White's determination to attack. Instead [ 8.f3 g4 9.d2 b6 is comfortable for Black which indicates that ] [ 8.h3 is necessary before developing the kingside. Hardly, a glowing reference for White's choice of opening. ] 8...h5 9.d2 e5 10.b3 d6 11.f3 eg4 [ 11...xf3+ has the merit of doubling the fpawns but after 12.gxf3 it is obvious White will be pleased to have an open line t o attack. There is no point encouraging him! ] 12.g5 b5! Black spots the chance to put White under pressure by finding a way to try and win the e-pawn by threatening ...b5-b4. 13.h2 [ If 13.xb5 then xe4 14.d5 f5 gives Black a much better game due to the poorly positioned White pieces. ] 13...b4 14.d5 xh2 [ 14...xe4 15.xe7+ h7 16.d5 xg5 17.xc8 ( 17.xa8 xe7+ 18.f1 a6+ wins ) 17...xc8 18.xg4 xb2 with a winning advantage. ] 15.xh2 xd5 [ 15...xe4 16.xe7+ h7 17.e3 xg5 18.xg5 e8 wins ] 16.xd5 xb2 17.d1 c3+ Black is ahead and makes sure the job of winning is quickly completed. 18.f1 c7 19.d3 a5 20.f4? Perhaps a form of resignation!? a6 0-1

It can have a good effect on someone who is badly prepared but I believe Black should be fine. [ 6.e5 g7 7.f4 e6 ( 7...f6 8.e6= ) 8.c4 ( 8.b5!? to take advantage of the inviting square on d6) 8...ge7 9.0-0 0-0 10.b5 ( 10.e4 f5= ) 10...f5 11.e2 a6 12.d6 ( 12.c3 offers roughly equal chances ) 12...fd4 ( 12...xd6 13.exd6 b5 14.d3 is a little better for Black.) 13.d3 ( 13.xd4!? is a better choice when xd4 14.d2 is equal ) 13...xf3+ 14.xf3 xe5 15.e3 ( 15.g3!? c6 16.ab1 is slightly better f or Black) 15...xc4 16.xc4 b5 17.b6= b7 18.xa8 xa8 19.f3 xb2 20.ad1 d5 21.d2 g7 22.b6 c8 gave Black good winning ch a n c e s , H a m a n n , C - B a n d l o w, M / G E R 1993. ] 6...h5 7.c4 g7 8.b3 Flesch's recommendation and a sensible choice to pinpoint the f7 pawn. [ Instead the standard Morra move 8.e2 fails to impress as much. For instance: d6 9.g5 h6 10.e3 0-0 11.f3 d7 12.d2 c8 13.b3 a5 14.f2 e5 15.d4 ( 15.hd1 is the best chance in the circumstances) 15...e6 ( 15...c4! 16.xc4 xc4 17.e3 fc8 with a clear advantage) 16.xe5 ( 16.hd1!? i s m o r e s o l i d) 16...xe5 17.xe6? g4+! ( 17...fxe6?! 18.xh6 b6+ 19.e2 is better for Black; 17...xe6?! 18.xh6 b6+ 19.f1 xc3 20.bxc3 xb3 21.axb3 xc3 22.d2-+; 17...xc3?! 18.xh6 xb2 19.ab1 xe6 20.xb2 xb3 21.axb3 when the extra pawn gives Black good winning chances) 18.fxg4 fxe6+ ( 18...xe6?! 19.g3 hxg4 20.g2-+ ) 19.e2 f4 ( or 19...xc3 20.bxc3 xc3-+ ) 20.d3 hxg4 21.hf1 xc3? Whoops Black gets carried away with trying to win in style ( 21...e5 is simple 2004 B21 and strong) 22.bxc3= ( 22.xc3?? b5+ 23.e1 xc3+ 24.bxc3 g3+ 25.d2 Rohler,Siegfried 2253 xf1 winning ) 22...e5 23.d1 c6 Kreisl,Robert 24.c4 d5 ( 24...xe4!? looks like a good Austrian Team championship (7.6) 23.02.01 bet when 25.e1 d5 26.xe4 dxe4 [Gary Lane] 27.xe6+ g7 28.xe5+ xe5 is better for Black) 25.d4= h5 ( or 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 25...xe4!? 26.xe4 dxe4 27.xe6+ 5.f3 g6 6.h4!? This is grandmaster Janos g7= ) 26.g3 e5 27.xf8+ xf8 28.f2+ Flesch's cheeky idea to accelerate the attack. 2149

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e7 ( 28...g7!? 29.c2 f6 30.xa7 d4= ) 29.c2 d4 30.cxd4 xe4+ 31.c3 ( 31.b2!? f5 32.e3 is better for White ) 31...d6= 32.f1?? White blunders into mate! ( The careful 32.b2 stops any direct mate threats a5 33.a3 xg3 34.e3= ) 32...a5+ 33.b2 a3+ 0-1 Jouy,J-Bouvier,B/St Quentin 2002. ] [ 8.d5!? xc3+ 9.bxc3= ] 8...a5 9.xf7+ f8 10.d5 f6 11.g5!? [ 11.d3!? is Flesch's original idea when he analysed xf7 12.g5+ g8 13.e5 h7 ( I think 13...e6 is an obvious improvement 14.exf6 xf6 15.0-0 when White has decent compensation for the pawn because Black is behind in development) 14.d5+ e6 15.xe6 winning. ] 11...xf7 12.e5+ g8 13.xg6 c6 [ 13...h7 14.e5 e8 15.0-0 is good news for White. ] [ 13...h6 14.g3 h7 15.e5 g4 16.d5 and White has the better chances. ] 14.xh8 xh8 15.f4 [ 15.d5!?= ] 15...d6 16.0-0-0 e6 17.f3 c8 18.b1 b4 19.b5 [ 19.e5 h7 20.g6 g8 holds on. ] 19...a5 20.e2? [ 20.e3 is a better choice but Black is still on top. ] 20...xc3 21.bxc3 xa2 [ 21...xa2+?! 22.b2 g8 23.c1-+ ] 22.e3 [ 22.e5 c7 23.d2 xc3+ 24.xc3 xc3 25.c1-+ ] 22...xe4 23.fxe4? [ 23.xe4 xc3+ ] 23...xc3+ 24.c2 c7 25.d2 c4 26.he1? Rohler speeds up his demise but the position is rather hopeless. [ 26.c1 xe4+ 27.e1 b4+ 28.f1-+ ] 26...a2+ 27.c1 b1+ 28.d2 b2+ [ 28...b2+ 29.d3 c4+ 30.xc4 b5# ] 0-1

2005 Sale,Srdjan Lutz,Christopher Pula (3) [Gary Lane]

B21 2425 2555 1997

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.c4 The pawn supports the extra d5 pawn. This continuation has been played by some strong players but the drawback always seems to be that the light-squared bishop is somewhat restricted behind the backward d-pawn. e6 The German GM carries on with the accepted formula of opening the position in a bid to activate his pieces. 5.dxe6 xe6 6.f3 c6 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.c3 d7 10.d3 The argument by White is that with the bishop on e2 the d-pawn is better protected. This is a debatable argument because White's pieces will become congested and it is Black who has the initiative. ad8 11.e3?! [ 11.h1 is a fine id ea to prepare 12 Be3 when 12...Ng4 is not so effective after 13 Bg1 followed by h3. fe8 12.e3 f5 13.e5 xe5 14.fxe5 g4 15.f4 f8 16.d5 xe5 1/2-1/2 R.Smith-D.Guthrie, Hamilton 1998. ] 11...g4! 12.d2 d4 13.e1 [ 13.xd4? xd4+ 14.h1 f2+ 15.xf2 xf2-+ ] 13...fe8 There is no rush, so Lutz centralises his king's rook to take advantage of the open e-file. 14.h1 xe2 15.xe2 f8 The bishop retreats setting up a discovered attack on the e-file. 16.h3 f6 [ 16...xc4? is a classic case of wrong timing because 17.xg4 wins. ] 17.f3 The queen steps out of the firing line but....! xc4 Lutz just carries on anyway and takes on c4, relying this time on the pin on the d-file. 18.dxc4 xd2 19.xb7 b8 As usual it is Black who has all the activity and the bonus of a queen well placed on the second rank. 20.f3 xf4 21.xa7 xb2 The rook dominates the scene and the end is nigh. 22.d5 xd5 23.cxd5 g3 The threat of mate on g2 decides matters. 24.d2 e7 A precaution against the threat of Qxf7 mate. 25.a5 e2 0-1

2150

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2006 Sanchez,Fernando Anelli,Antonio Ballester Vilna (8) [Gary Lane]

B21

2001

1.e4 c5 2.d4 [ 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.xc3 is another move-order which can be useful if Black has been lured away from his normal defence to the Morra. ] 2...cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 b5 [ 7...e7 8.e2 b5 9.b3 a5 10.c2 b7 11.d1 ( 11.f4!? ) 11...c7 12.e3?! c4 The bishop on e3 is an obvious target for Black who wishes to exchange pieces to halt the usual attack. 13.c1 c8 14.b3 e5 15.xe5 xe5 16.b2 f6 ( Not 16...xc3? 17.d2 b4 18.xd7+ wins ) 17.a4 c7 18.xf6 xf6 19.ac1 bxa4 and White can resign with honour, V.Konig-J. Vanek, Plzen 1997. ] [ 7...c5 8.e2 ge7 9.f4 ( 9.a3 intending b4 to shoo away the bishop is a worthy alternative) 9...0-0 10.fd1 b5 11.b3 b7 12.ac1 A) 12...d6 13.xb5!? ( 13.e5 d5 14.xb5 xf2+ 15.xf2 axb5 16.c5 g6 17.g3 a5 and Black preserves his extra pawn and advantage.) 13...axb5 14.xc5 dxc5 15.xd8 fxd8 is doubleedged; B) 12...a7 Usually, White needs to play a3 and b4 to make the bishop retreat so h e n o w h e c a n m a ke ra p id p ro gr e ss . 13.d6 e8 14.d3 c8 15.g3 White has a space advantage while Black has an irritating task of trying to improve his passive pieces. b4 16.d2 d5 17.d1 f6 18.exd5 xd5 19.xd5 exd5 20.c7 e7 21.xb7 xb7 22.xd5 1-0 J. Tomas Batet-B.Sanz Calzada,San Feliu 2000. ] 8.b3 b7 [ 8...d6 9.e2 f6 10.d1 c7 11.e3 e7 12.ac1 b7 13.h3 ( 13.d5! with the rook on c1 and the queen on c7 this sacrifice is always a possibility. exd5 14.exd5 xd5 15.xd5 and White is better. ) 13...0-0 14.d3 ac8 15.d4

e5 16.c2 b4 17.ce2 xc2 18.xc2 xc2 19.xc2 xe4 20.xb4 and the ending a pawn down for W hite is difficult, S.Grossmann-M.Zelba, Ueberlingen am Bodensee 2000. ] 9.e2 As usual the queen comes to e2 to support the advance e4-e5 and co-ordinate the rooks. ge7 10.g5 f6 11.f4 [ 11.h4 g6 12.g3 transposes to the main game. ] 11...g6 12.g3 c5 13.fd1 The rook comes to the semi-open d-file and threatens 14 Bxe6. e7 14.ac1 d6 The bishop receives extra support but it does weaken the e6 pawn. 15.a3 0-0 16.a2 When the bishop is on c5 a typical plan is a2-a3 followed by b2-b4. ge5 17.b4 a7 18.h1 Sa nche z h as no th ing im me dia te b u t lik e many positions from the Morra has a certain amount of pressure. In practical experience it is Black who struggles to do anything with the e x t r a p a w n . fd8 19.h4 The knight is heading for f5 to take advantage of the pin on the a2-g8 diagonal. h8 20.f4 c4 [ After 20...f7 21.f5 White will ht for control of the d5 square and has reasonable prospects. For instance: e5 22.h5 g8 23.g6 d7 24.xd6! xd6 25.xf7+ xf7 26.xe5+ g8 27.f7+ h8 28.g6+ wins. ] 21.f5! exf5 22.xf5 d7 [ 22...e6 23.xd6 is good for White. ] 23.xc4 bxc4 24.xd6 e8 25.xc4 It is now W hite who is a pawn up and as a b o n u s h a s a v e r y s t r o n g p o s i t i o n . e5 26.c7 f8 27.xb7 1-0

2007 Santos,M De Deus,J Sao Paulo (6) [Gary Lane]

B21

13.09.1998

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 d3 An easy option for Black is to decline the gambit. The drawback is that W hite can then steer the game towards a position similar to the Maroczy Bind. 4.xd3 d6 5.c4 White makes clear his determination to create the Maroczy 2151

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Bind by strengthening the dominance of White on the d5 square. f6 [ 5...c6 6.c3 g6 7.ge2 This is the difference compared to the illustrative game. The king's knight is developed to e2. g7 8.0-0 f6 9.g5 a5 10.d2 d7 11.ad1 h6 12.xf6 xf6 13.d5 xd2 14.xd2 0-0-0 15.xf6 exf6 16.c3 The weak d6 pawn is a long-term target for White giving him the better chances. e7 17.fd1 c7 18.f3 h5 19.f2 he8 20.c2 c6 21.b4 b6 22.b3 f5 23.d5+ xd5 24.exd5 d7 25.e1 xe1 26.xe1 f4 27.e2 e8 28.xe8 xe8 29.d2 d7 30.c2 h4 31.h3 a5 32.a3 axb4 33.axb4 d8 34.c3 c8 35.d4 e7 36.d3 f5 37.c5 bxc5+ 38.bxc5 dxc5+ 39.xc5 g5 40.c6 d8 41.d6 g4 42.e5 gxh3 43.gxh3 b7 44.xf5 1-0 M. Wittke-D.Hewig,Bundesliga 1997. ] 6.c3 g6 [ 6...e6 7.f3 c6 8.h3 e7 9.e3 0-0 10.c1 b6 11.0-0 b7 12.e2 c8 13.cd1 d7 14.b1 de5 15.xe5 xe5 16.b3 c7 17.b5 b8 18.d4 fe8 19.f4 c6 20.g4 f8 21.f3 g6 22.fe1 g7 23.f5 exf5 24.exf5 e5 25.xe5 xe5 26.fxg6 hxg6 27.f4 xe1+ 28.xe1 e8 29.g3 xe1+ 30.xe1 d4+ 31.h2 c8 32.xd6 xg2 33.xg2 c6+ 34.e4 xd6 35.d5 f6 36.f1 g7 37.f4 c5 38.b8+ h7 39.xa7 b2+ 40.f3 f2+ 41.g4 g7 42.d7 g1+ 43.f3 e3+ 44.g4 e7 45.xf7 xf7 46.d5+ e6+ 47.f3 xd5+ 48.cxd5 f6 49.e4 d6 50.a4 g5 51.d4 h4 52.c4 xh3 53.b4 g5 54.a5 bxa5 55.bxa5 g4 56.a6 g3 57.a7 g2 58.a8 g1 59.c8+ g2 60.g4+ g3 61.e2+ h3 62.h5+ h4 63.f3+ h2 64.f4+ g3 65.h6+ g2 66.d2+ f3 67.d3+ g4 68.e4+ 1/2-1/2 H. Robitsch-E. Regenfelder,St.Veit 1995. ] 7.h3 A sly but valuable move in this variation. The idea is that White delays developing the king's k nigh t in o rd er t o preven t it b ein g pinned by ...Bg4 and it also helps in hindering ...Ng4 if the queen's bishop is developed to e3. g7 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 c6 10.e3 White's plan is easy in fact he can steadily develop his pieces. Black's task is slightly

complicated by his lack of space to manoeuvre. d7 11.c1 c8 12.b3 e8 13.d2 a5 14.fd1 a6 A key idea for Black is to try and engineer a break with . ..b5 at some point. W hite always has to try and prevent this which can lead to a tense struggle. 15.b1 h5 16.d5 xd5 17.exd5 e5 18.d4 White is already better. The extra space means that Black has difficulty generating any counterplay. The queen on h5 looks somewhat misplaced and will soon become a target. f6 19.f4 f7 20.e4 The light-squared bishop returns to the fray in order to hunt the black queen. g5 21.e6 g4 22.hxg4 xg4 23.f3 g3 24.b4 If White had some free moves then he would happily advance the c-pawn to create a passed pawn. h6 25.f2 g6 26.e2 h8 [ 26...b5? 27.h5 f5 28.g4 wins. ] 27.h5 g8 28.c3 Another piece joins the pursuit of the black queen f orcing further concessions. ed8 29.g3 e8 30.b6 The congested Black pieces spell disaster. The rook is trapped on d8 and W hite must win material. xe6 31.dxe6 c6 32.xd8 xd8 33.g4 Checkmate on g8 can only be avoided by giving away more material. xe6 34.xe6 xf4 35.xe7 xg3 36.xf6+ g8 37.f7+ 1-0

2008 Sapienza,Julian Farrancha,Hector Chivilcoy (1) [Gary Lane]

B21 2287 2032 19.04.2001

1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 Secures e5 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 [ 4...a6 5.cxd4 White has already managed to establish a strong pawn centre. e6 6.c3 e7 7.d3 b5 8.0-0 b7 9.e2 The queen is well placed on e2 because it supports the pawn on e4 and co-ordinates the rooks. c6 10.a3 a5 11.f4 d7 12.b4 c8? 13.xb5! axb5 14.bxa5 a6 15.a4 with a winning advantage, Arabito,GTodor,C/ Ischia 1999 ] [ 4...g6 5.cxd4 g7 Black is hoping to 2152

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 undermine the pawn centre. 6.c4 e6 ( 6...g4?! 7.xf7+! xf7 8.g5+ e8 9.xg4 xd4 10.e6 is good news for White who has an attack and the black has given up the right to castle.) 7.0-0 e7 8.e3 ( 8.b3 should be considered with the idea d5 9.e5 and White maintains his space advantage) 8...d5 9.b5+ d7 10.xd7+ xd7 11.e5 bc6 12.h4 0-0 13.c3 f6 14.f4 ac8 15.c1 led to equal chances in Niedermaier,T-Ritter,H/ Hauenstein 1991 ] 5.c4!? An ambitious idea to create an instant attack. I prefer the usual Morra move [ 5.xc3 when White can follow familiar lines ] 5...e6 [ 5...cxb2!? is a sterner test of the line. For instance: 6.xb2 b6 7.d4 and although he has the initiative White still has a lot to do to make up for sacrificing two pawns. ] 6.0-0 [ 6.xc3 f6 is still possible to transpose to a normal Morra. ] 6...c2!? [ I think Black should test White with 6...cxb2!? 7.xb2 f6 when an exciting game is guaranteed. ] 7.xc2 e7 It makes sense to develop the kingside because Black should quickly conclude development. 8.d1 d7 [ 8...c7 is one way to avoid a possible pin on the d-file. ] 9.c3 c6 10.b5 f6?! I can understand Black being tired of the attention but when facing the Morra you have to get used to it. I think Black should try the ugly looking but sensible [ 10...b8!? ] 11.xd6+ Sapienza has managed to use his opening initiative to win back the pawn and just as importantly maintain the pressure. [ I n f e r i o r i s 11.xd6 a6 ( 11...xd6 12.xd6+ e7 13.f4 ) 12.xd7 xd7-+ ( 12...xd7 13.f4 b6 14.d1+ c8 15.c7+- )] 11...xd6 12.xd6 c7?! [ 12...e7 13.d1 c8 with equal chances ] 13.f4! White does well to spot an opportunity to raise the stakes by threatening to take on e6 with the rook and reveal an attack on the

queen. 0-0 14.ad1 e5? [ 14...fc8 is the best try in a difficult position w h e n t h e g a m e m i g h t c o n t i n u e 15.b3 e8 ] 15.xe5 xe5? [ 15...g4 16.xg4 xg4+- ] 16.xf7+! An amusing tactic that snares the black queen and effectively ends the game as a contest. xf7 [ 16...xf7 17.xc7 ] 17.xc7 xd6 18.xd6 [ 18.xd6 and White can already relax f7 19.f3 e8+- ] 18...f7 19.xb7 e8 20.e1 e6 [ 20...f5 is no help after 21.b3 xe4 22.f3+- ] 21.a6 h6 22.b4 c8 23.d3 b7 24.e5 d5 25.e3 c8 [ 25...d8 allows White to gradually steer the game towards victory after 26.c5 g4 27.e4 xf2 28.xf2 xf2 29.xf2 f8+ 30.e3 xe4 31.xe4+- ] 26.c5 [ 26.exf6?! is a useless try c1+ 27.f1 xf1+ 28.xf1 xf6 and even now Black only has slim drawing chances. ] 26...g4 27.xd5 xe3 28.xe3 c2 [ 28...cc7 a last effort to resist the inevitable 29.c5 cd7 30.b3 winning. ] 29.e6 1-0

2009 Schmidt,Wolfgang Zahn,Wolfgang Bundesliga (3) [Gary Lane]

B21

1994

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 c5 7.0-0 a6 8.f4 This looks like a good way of handling the Black set-up. The bishop eyes up the d6 square but there is another motive. It helps to prepare e5 when Black could not reply with the usual d5 because it could be taken "en passent" and White would win the pawn. d6 [ 8...ge7 9.e5! 0-0 10.e4 a7 11.g5 is very good for White. ] 9.a3 White has pinpointed d6 as a weak pawn and this is the first step to force Black into a 2153

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 compromise. e5 The e-pawn advances which leaves a backward d-pawn and a hoe on d5 for White to occupy. [ 9...ge7 10.b4 a7 11.xd6 and White has restored the material balance and has the initiative. ] 10.g5 ge7 11.b4 a7 12.d5 h6 13.h4 b5 14.a2 d7 15.xe7 xe7 16.c1 The opening has been a success for White because Black is struggling to activate his pieces. c6 [ 16...xd5 17.xd5 b7 18.xb7 xb7 19.xd6 wins for White because of the twins threat of taking on e5 and Rc7. ] 17.h4 b7 18.f5 f8 [ 18...0-0?? gives White the chance to finish off in style. 19.f6+ gxf6 20.g4+ h8 21.g7# ] 19.f3 c8 20.fd1 d4 21.h4 e8 [ 21...d8? 22.g6+ wins. ] 22.h3 d8 23.xc8 xc8 24.f5 f8 25.g3 g6? [ 25...e6 26.xd6 d7 27.xb7 xb7 28.c1 gives White a small edge. ] 26.xd4 exd4 [ If 26...xd5 then 27.xd5 exd4 28.xd6+ g7 29.e5+ h7 30.xd4 is very good for White. ] 27.xd6+ g7 28.e5+ h7 29.f6+ g7 30.h5+ 1-0

2010 Senador,Emmanuel Dang Tat Thang Asean Open Bandar Seri Begawan (4) [Gary Lane]

B21 2433 2273 2001

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 a6 9.d1 d7 10.f4 b5 [ 10...e5 is also possible. ] 11.b3 e5 [ 11...b4 12.b1= ] [ 11...b8 is another way to defend the d6 pawn: 12.e5! is the right way to exert instant pressure on Black d5 13.ac1 the plan for White of centralising the pieces is easy to follow and more importantly it is usually highly effective a7 14.e3 b8 15.xd5!

exd5 16.xd5 d8 17.xa8 xa8 18.xd7 xd7 19.d3+ e8 20.c7 f8 21.d7 e4 22.h3 a simple reply which leaves Black struggling to form a decent defence g6 23.c5 g7 24.xe7 xe7 25.xe7 f8 26.c8 e6 27.xf8 xf8 28.xf7+! xf7 29.g5+ 1-0 Luniaczek,PVozka,D/CZE 1995. ] 12.e3 f6 13.h3 White is wary of allowing the bishop to pin the knight on g4. 0-0 14.g5 e6 15.xf6 xf6 16.d5 [ 16.d5!? is another way to handle the position ] 16...xd5 17.xd5 The bishop is strong on the a2-g8 diagonal and the backward pawn on d6 is a long-term worry so the position offers equal opportunities. c8 18.a4 b6 19.axb5 axb5 20.xc6?! There is no need to give up the useful bishop because now Black will have the initiative. [ 20.d2 d4 21.xd4 exd4 22.d3 c5 23.a5 with a double-edged position. ] 20...xc6 21.d5 c5 22.ad1 [ 22.d3 e7 ] [ 22.ad1 e7 with the bishop doing a good job of holding on to the d6 pawn. ] 22...e7 23.h2 Senador is banking on being able to manoeuvre the knight to the ideal d5 square where it would have a commanding presence. [ 23.e3 b4= ] 23...fc8 24.f1 xd5 [ 24...g5 is a decent idea maintaining Black's edge due to the pawn advantage. ] 25.xd5 White continues to keep a grip on the d5 square. c5 26.e3 g5 27.xc5 dxc5 28.g4 d8 [ 28...h6 is also possible to rule out back rank mates. ] 29.d5 g6 30.g3 f4 31.c3 d6 [ 31...f8 32.g3 b4 33.c4 g5 34.a6 and due to th e a ctive pie ce pla y W hit e should secure a draw. ] 32.b3 g5 33.d3 c6 34.g3 f6 35.xe5 xe5 36.e7+ g7 37.xc6 f6 38.f1 e6 39.e2 b4 40.d8+ e7 ½-½

2154

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B21 23.h5 b8 24.g4 e8 [ 24...e8? 25.xd5! exd5 26.xd7 and White is back in the game despite his 2322 weakened pawn structure. ] 12.05.2000 25.cd1 c8 26.h4 c4 [ 26...f5 is another way for Black to continue. Basically, W hite is in trouble having tried 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 to attack on the kingside with a queen and h5.xc3 e6 6.c4 c7 It looks e the queen pawn. ] is simply developing and stopping e4-e5 but there is also another motive that is soon 27.d4 c6 28.ed1 e7 29.e2 e5 A go o d d e m o n st ra t io n o f h o w B la c k c a n revealed. 7.0-0 f6 8.e2 gradually push White back and use his extra [ 8.h3!? ] pawn. 30.xc4 dxc4 31.g3 d8 8...g4 9.d1 32.xd8+ xd8 33.f5 d1+ 34.h2 d7 [ 9.g3 is also possible. ] 9...c5 T h e t h r e a t i s . . . N d 4 . 10.e3 35.e4 xf5 36.exf5 d4 37.h3 f4+ An unfortunate compromise for White to keep 38.g1 b4 0-1 the position playable. [ 10.b5 b8 11.h3 xf2 12.e3 xh3+ ( 12...xe3 13.xe3 xd1 14.xd1 0-0 B21 is the simple win for Black.) 13.gxh3 g3+ 2012 14.f1 xh3+ 15.f2 xe3+ 16.xe3 Shyam,Nikil P 2301 e5 17.c7+ ( 17.xe6! fxe6 18.d6+ Thipsay,Praveen Mahadeo 2494 e7 19.g5+ f8 20.d8# ) 17...d8 ch-Commonwealth (2) 21.11.2006 18.g5+ f6 19.xe6+ e7 20.xg7+ f7 [Andrew Martin] 21.f4 e6 22.xe6 1-0 A.Fokken-M. Winkels, Cologne 1994. ] 2 f4 is a very alluring move order from White's [ 10.f1 Whoops! d4! 0-1 L. Dosa-G.Antal, point of view, as long as he is able to build up Paks 1996. ] his Kingside pressure in peace. It's even 10...xe3 11.fxe3 0-0 12.h1 better if he is allowed to play Bb5xc6, [ 12.ac1 a6 13.a3 b5 14.d3 b6 doubling Black's pawns and this was all taught 15.e1 e7 16.e5 White has some to us long ago by Bent Larsen. So here we practical chances but accurate defence are going to see the reason why 2 f4 is out of should be enough for Black to hang on to fashion at a high level, as Black plays for the extra pawn. b8 17.e4 a7 18.c2 disruption right from the word go! 1.e4 c5 h6 19.xc6 dxc6 20.e4 c7 21.b4 b7 2.f4 d5! 3.exd5 22.c5 d8 23.d4 xc5 24.bxc5 cd7 [ I would personally duck the challenge with 25.e4 d5 26.f3 xe5 The position 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 ] f a l l s a p a r t . 27.b3 b2 28.f1 f5 3...f6 4.b5+ 29.g3 xb3 30.c7 xe3+ 31.h1 d3 [ 4.c4 e6 5.dxe6 xe6 allows White to 32.xf5 exf5 0-1 R.Buenadicha Gomez-X. retain control over d3 for the time being, Guillen Lorenzana, Mondariz 2000. ] b u t B la ck h a s go o d a t t a cki n g c h a n c e s 12...a6 13.ac1 b5 14.d3 b6 15.e1 anyway. ] d6 16.e5 xe5 17.xe5 xe5 18.xh7+ 4...bd7N 5.c4 a6 6.xd7+ xd7 7.f3 [ 18.h5 f5 when Black has blocked the e6 8.e2 e7 9.dxe6 xe6 10.c3 attack on h7 and e5. ] This reminds me of the Icelandic Gambit, 18...xh7 19.h5+ g8 20.xe5 f6 where Black has a monster light-squared 21.g3 d5 22.h4 The problem for White is Bishop and a lead in development for his that he needs reinforcements in the form of pawn . pieces to pursue the attack. It is not really [ 10.0-0 0-0 11.d3 f5 12.e5 d6 e n o u g h t o a d v a n c e t h e h - p a wn wi t h o u t 13.f3 e8 14.c3 xe5 15.fxe5 d4+ s u p p o rt f ro m t h e r e st o f t h e p i e ce s . d7 16.e3 xe5 17.xf5 xe3+ 18.h1 2011 Shein,Efim Bitansky,Igor Team Ch Ramat Aviv (11) [Gary Lane]

2155

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e5 1/2-1/2 Sveshnikov, E-Kiik, K/Gausdal 1992 A short game, where the reputation of the White player got him off the hook. ] [ Or 10.b3 0-0 11.b2 g4 12.h3 f5 13.c3 e8 14.0-0-0 d3 15.e3 b5! 16.e5 bxc4 17.bxc4 g6 18.d3 d6 To be frank, I have no idea why anyone should want to go in for this with W hite. 19.e4 xe5 20.xe5 xe4 21.dxe4 a5 22.c3 ( 22.b3 is another stab at defence: f6! 23.c3 c7 24.f5 f7 25.he1 ab8 ) 22...xc3+ 23.xc3 xe4 24.d5 xc4 25.d2 xf4 26.e3 e4+ 27.f3 c4 0-1 Gazivoda, M-Zendilovska, K/Belgrade 2004 ] 10...f5 11.e5 0-0 12.d3N White is unsure about where to place his King, but to play 0-0-0 in this position looks like suicide to me. [ Instead 12.0-0 d4+ 13.e3 ad8 14.e2 is just about playable for White: d6 ( 14...xe3+! 15.dxe3 e4 16.b3 f6 17.f3 fe8 ) 15.g3 c8 16.h3 fe8 17.d3 c7 18.f2 d7 19.f3 b8 20.d1 b6 21.e3 b7 22.e4 c6 23.a3 f5 24.c3 a5 25.ab1 f6 26.d5 xd5 Kind, B-Ahn, M/Germany 1996 27.cxd5 b3! 28.d4 xd5 ] 12...d6 13.e3 e8 14.0-0-0 xe5 15.fxe5 xe5 One can see why 2 f4 is in the doldrums. Black has regained his pawn, with the safer King and much more active pieces. 16.d2 b5 17.d4 e4! 18.xe4 xe4 19.he1 e7 20.f2 c8 21.b3 cxd4 22.xd4 bxc4 W orse and worse. 23.b2 cxb3-+ 24.axb3 h6 25.c3 c7 26.xe4 xe4 27.d4 f6! 28.g3 [ There is no solace to be found: 28.xe4 xc3+ 29.a2 c2+ 30.xc2 xc2+ 31.a3 xg2-+ ] 28...g6 29.a1 b7 30.d1 b8 31.a4 e8 32.a3 f7 33.b4 b5 34.a1 e2 35.d2 f1+ 36.b2 c8 37.a5 h7 38.a3 e8 39.c2 g6 40.c1 e2+ 41.a1 xh2 Not the final nail in the coffin for 2 f4, because White has 3 Nc3, but taking on d5 looks like a very poor practical choice. 0-1

2013 Sigurjonsson,Stefan Thor Thorsteinsson,Thorsteinn Rapid Reykjavik rapid (7) [Gary Lane]

B21

04.03.2003

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 5.f3 a6 6.c4 b5 7.b3 b7 8.0-0 [ 8.e2 might be a better idea to support the e-pawn. ] 8...d6 [ 8...b4 9.a4 xe4 seems to be a viable option for Black ] 9.e2 d7 10.d1 gf6 11.g5 A suggestion by Shipman but there are plenty of alternatives: [ 11.f4 b8 ( 11...b4 12.d5 exd5 13.exd5+ e7 14.f1 White seems to be busted but Black's pieces are awkwardly placed e4 15.e1 f5 16.g5 e5 17.a4+ d8 18.e6+ c8 19.ac1+ b8 20.c7 White wins back material and it is game on xc7 21.xc7 xc7 22.f3 f6 23.xe5 dxe5 24.c4+ b6 25.xe5 c5+ 26.f1 hd8 27.c6 xc6 28.dxc6 d6 29.c7 d7 1/2-1/2 Vujadinovic,MSontges,K/ Correspondence 1998.) 12.ac1 e7 13.d5 exd5 ( 13...xd5 14.exd5 e5 is a little better for Black) 14.exd5 f8 15.c6 xc6 16.dxc6 e6 17.xe6 fxe6 18.xd6 d5 19.xd5 xf4 20.xe6 c1+ 21.e1 a7 22.e5 c7 23.d6 0-0 24.xe7 xe7 25.xe7 xc6 when Black has evaded all the tricks and is winning Lize,P-Richter,S/Correspondence 1998. ] [ 11.a3 e7 12.f4 b8 13.ac1 0-0 14.a2 e5 Black relieves the pressure on the d6 pawn but at the cost of losing control of the important d5 square. For example the bishop on a2 now has more influence on the a2-g8 diagonal. 15.g5 h6 16.xf6 xf6 17.h4 the knight threatens to occupy f5 or g6 thus stepping up the attack. d8 18.f5 f8 19.f3 d7 20.xh6+! a classic little trick to strip Black of pawn cover around the king gxh6 21.xf6 d8 22.f5 c7 23.d3 c8 24.g6+! h8 25.xf7 g5 26.xg5 hxg5 27.d5 gave White a winning ending in Kinnmark-Robatsch, Halle 1963. ] 2156

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11...e7 12.xf6 gxf6 13.e3 [ 13.d4 c5= ] 13...h5 14.a3 b6 15.f4 [ 15.d4 should be considered ] 15...e5 [ 15...g8 16.e1 is a bit better for Black. ] 16.xe5 fxe5 17.f3 h6 18.ac1 [ If 18.e2 then h4 gives Black the initiative. ] 18...f8 [ 18...f6 19.e2 ] 19.d3 g7 20.e2 [ 20.c2 is another defensive measure which is not what you want in the Morra. ] 20...h4 21.h3 g8 22.h1 f8 23.f3 hg6 24.g1 g5 Black won a timescramble 0-1

2014 Simonsen,Olavur Conquest,Stuart Torshavn (1) [Gary Lane]

B21 2183 2529 06.10.2000

1.e4 c5 2.f3 A slightly different way to transpose to the Morra Gambit. [ 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 ( 4...c6 5.f3 g6 6.c4 g7 7.0-0 e6 8.e3 ge7 9.e2 d5 10.fd1! the pin of the d-file had been missed by Black d4 11.xd4 gave White the better chances in Harris-Soltysik,Camberra 2001.) 5.c4 d6 6.f3 e7 7.0-0 f6 8.e2 This should be an automatic choice f or Morra players because it is a theme that happe ns all the time in t his o penin g. I t means that it is often easier for White to find a plan. a6 9.d1 c7 10.f4 e5 11.e3 bd7 12.ac1 b8 13.g5 0-0 14.xf7+! xf7 15.c4 Black has probably only c o n s i d e r e d ( 15.xf7 ) 15...d5 16.xd5 xd5 17.xf7 xf7 18.xd5+ f8 19.xc8+ xc8 20.xd7 with a clear advantage, G.Spain-R.Wang, New Zealand Ch 2001. ] 2...e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.xc3 W e are now back on familiar ground. c6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 ge7 8.g5 f6 [ 8...h6 9.e3 ( 9.h4 is also possible)

9...d6 ( 9...g6 10.d4 e7 11.f4 0-0 12.h5? xd4 13.xd4 c7 when the twin threats against c4 and f4 gives Black an advantage.) 10.e2 This move again is a motif of the Morra. g6 11.fd1 d7 12.b4 c8 13.b2 f6 14.f1 e7 15.b3 0-0 16.a4 ce5 17.xe5 xa4 Suba is an experienced grandmaster and realises that it is best to exchange pieces in order to hinder W hite's usual active play. 18.xa4 xe5 19.b5 axb5 20.xb5 g5 21.b6 a8 22.b3 fc8 23.a4 f6 24.d4 xe4 25.xf6 gxf6 Suba's kingside is exposed but it is not clear how W hite's remaining pieces can exploit this situation. 26.xd6 e5 27.ad1 c3 28.b4 ac8 29.f1 8c7 and Black is better S.Vanderwaeren-M.Suba,Antwerp 1996. ] 9.h4 g6 10.g3 c5!? The bishop on c5 looks quite aggressive but it has been rarely played. I suspect Conquest's seal of approval will change that. [ 10...e7 is the usual move. ] 11.e5? [ 11.a3 is probably the best continuation intending b4. ] 11...f5 Against a gambit player Conquest is not keen on accepting material when he can a clearer route to victory. The obvious threat is ...f5-f4 to corner the dark-squared bishop. [ 11...fxe5 12.e4 e7 13.d6+ xd6 14.xd6 e7 looks fine for Black. ] 12.e2 An admission that things are not quite right. The knight on c3 is normally influential when White conducts the natural plan of Qe2, followed by Rfd1. Therefore, the knight on e2 is misplaced. 0-0 13.c1 b6 [ 13...c7 14.xe6+ dxe6 15.xc5 f4 16.h4 xh4 17.xh4 xe5 is better for Black. ] 14.a3 The right plan but it is too late. a5 This is particularly good now that the queen's knight is no longer stationed on c3. 15.f4 b7 16.d1 c7 17.g5 It might not win any awards from positional players but White does set a big trap! ae8 Black is just too good and now the defence of e5 is a cause for concern for White. [ 17...h6 18.xd7! xd7 19.xe6+ xe6 20.xe6 fe8 21.c7 actually wins for 2157

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 good to see it being played more regularly. e4 Ashley tries to create complications by opening up lines before W hite can get his queenside pieces out. [ Or 14...xf5 15.g5 b8 16.ge4 is equal. ] 2015 B21 Small,Gregg 2270 15.xd4 cxd4 16.xe4 xe4 17.dxe4 Ashley,Maurice 2482 c7 [ If 17...xe4 then 18.d3 e7 Continental Open (2) 25.07.2000 ( 18...fe8!? should be considered) 19.g5! [Gary Lane] e8 20.f6 is better for White as the black is exposed ] 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.b5+ [ 4.c4 protects the d5 pawn but the bishop 18.d3 xh2+ 19.h1 e5 The bishop retreats to defend the d4 pawn. Of course, if on f1 is blocked. e6 ] 4...d7 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 Now that the Black can deliver a check on the h-file then it light-squared bishop has been exchanged is game over but until then he is must cope White finds time to protect his extra pawn. e6 with being a pawn down. 20.d2 c6 21.f3 7.e2 White prepares to take on e6 and f7 22.e1 fe7 23.g5 c7 24.b3 a6 25.f2 preserve the material advantage. d6 8.d3 [ 25.h3 gives White some vague attacking [ 8.f3 xf4 9.0-0 0-0 10.dxe6 fxe6 threats but Black will play b5 ] 11.c3 c6 12.d3 is equal. ] 8...0-0 9.dxe6 fxe6 10.f3 c6 11.0-0 25...d6 26.ef1 h6 27.f4 f7 28.xe5 Ashley is doing well to stop White from White has a pawn bonus but it will take time xe5 to convert it into an advantage because he making any use of his extra pawn. 29.e2 b5 has to watch out for his backward d-pawn. 30.cxb5 axb5 31.g1 f6 32.d1? [ 32.a4 is a better idea to deflect Black's ae8 pieces. The idea is to gradually advance the [ 11...e5 12.f5 once again it is in White's a-pawn and when Ashley puts a stop to that interest to keep the position closed then the d-pawn is White's target. ] otherwise Black's lead in development will be strong xf5 13.c3 h5 14.e4 32...xf5 The game is now equal. 33.xd4 xe4 15.xe4 d4? 16.d5+ h8 g3 34.d3 g4 35.f1 fe5 36.f3 e6 17.xd6 e2+ 18.h1 g3+ 19.g1 37.fe1 b4 38.d3 b6+ 39.e3 b8 e2+ 20.h1 g3+ 21.g1 xf1 40.d4 d8 41.e3 de8 22.xf1 xh2 the Black attack is not ½-½ convincing when there is no breakthrough 23.e3 h1+ 24.g1 f6 25.xe5 af8 B21 26.h2 xf3+ 27.gxf3 xf3+ 28.f2 2016 and W hite was a piece up, H. Mas-Al Sola,Ruben 2293 Modiahki,Istanbul 2000. ] Trejo,Juan 2120 12.c3 e5 13.f5 Argentine Team championship (3) 2000 [ 13.fxe5?! it is not a good idea to open the [Gary Lane] position f or Black's active pieces. xe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.e4 xe4 16.xf8+ 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 xf8 17.dxe4 d4+ It is hardly surprising 5.f3 d6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 a6 8.e2 e7 that Black can find a winning combination 9.d1 c7 10.f4 This bishop moves when White only has the queen developed. introduces various tricks so Black has to be 18.e3 ( 18.h1 xe4! ) 18...xe4 very careful e5?! and Black was winning in I.Lauterbach-A. [ 10...d7 is met by 11.e5! is good for White Koglin, Battle Abbey 2001. ] and one sample line is d5 12.xd5 exd5 13...d4 14.d1! I suggested this move in 13.xd5 a5 14.e6 with a winning my book on the Grand Prix Attack and it is position ] White. ] 18.c3 cxe5! 0-1

2158

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.xe5 [ 11.xe5?! allows Black get away with playing a poor move after dxe5 12.e3 f6 13.ac1 b8 14.a4 with about equal c h a n c e s , B ych ko v, A -K u zn e c o v, V / O rs k 2002. ] 11...dxe5 12.ac1 f6 [ 12...b8 is possible and it is important for White to know how to go in for the kill: A) 13.a4 b5? obvious but wrong 14.xb5+ xb5 ( 14...axb5 15.xc8+ xc8 16.xb5+ f8 17.b6 b8 18.d7+ xd7 19.xd7 with a winning advantage ) 15.xb5+ axb5 16.b6 b8 17.xc8 f6 18.c7 when Black is already on top, Adell Corts,F-Catala Peris,M/ Aragon 1997.; B) 13.b5+ f8 ( 13...axb5 14.xb5+ f8 15.a4 xa4 16.xa4 b6 17.xe5 a n d W h i t e i s d o i n g w e l l) 14.a4 when Black tends to lose after B1) 14...a7 15.xe5 axb5 16.b6 f6 ( 16...xb6 allows 17.xc8+ xc8 18.d7+ and Black is busted) 17.xc8 is p re t t y d ism a l f o r B la ck, B a u m , HWoyciechowski,F/Kehl 1989.; B2) 14...b6 15.xc8+! xc8 16.xb6 b7 17.d7+ e8 18.a4 White can a f f o rd t o b e p a t i e n t wh e n h e h a s a c r u s h i n g p o s it i o n b4 19.b3 f6 20.fxe5 fxe5 21.h5+ 1-0 Hess, DNeumeier,L/Bonn Roettgen 1999. ] [ 12...a5 13.b5+ axb5 14.xb5 f6 ( if 14...f8 then 15.xe5 gives White sufficient compensation in the form of an attack ) 15.c7+ f7 16.xa8 xa8 17.c7! the queen's rook joins in the onslaught against the black king b6 18.d8 a real hammer blow and White can already look forward to receiving the brilliancy prize a6 19.xe5+ fxe5 20.f3+ f6 21.xa8 xa8 22.a3 g8 23.b4 with a superior position, Balada Moreno,J-Valero Perez,F/ Valencia 1998. ] 13.b5! b6 [ If 13...axb5 then 14.xb5+ reveals an attack on the black queen ] 14.c7+ f8 [ 14...xc7 15.b5+ axb5 16.xc7 wins. ] 15.xa8 a7 16.c7 The white knight slips away from the black leaving Black a whole

rook up. g6 17.xe5 g7 18.f3 b5 19.b3 h5 20.h3 c5 21.c2 b6 22.g5 h4 23.e5 h5 24.d3 g3 Black is playing some flashy moves but he is still lost. 25.f3 f5 26.xe6 fxe6 27.gxe6+ xe6 28.xe6+ h6 29.xf5 gxf5 30.xf5 g8 31.f6+ 1-0

2017 Spain,Graeme Froehlich,Peter Auckland (6) [Gary Lane]

B21 2188 2421 29.01.2003

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 a6 5.c4 e6 6.f3 b5 7.b3 b7 8.e2 d6 9.0-0 d7 10.d1 [ Or 10.f4 gf6 11.a3 e7 12.fd1 b8 13.d2 0-0 14.ad1 As usual White puts pressure on the d6 pawn e5 15.g5 h6 ( 15...e8 16.xf6 xf6 17.h4 and the white knight heads for the useful f5 square ) 16.h4 ( An improvement is 16.xf6! xf6 17.h4 b4 18.axb4 ) 16...d8 ( 16...c8 17.c2= ) 17.h3 ( 17.xf6 xf6 18.h4 f8= ) 17...c7 18.g4 ( 18.c2!? a5 19.h2= ) 18...c5 19.c2 e6 20.g3 ac8 21.h4 d4 22.xd4 exd4 23.xd4 b6 24.f5 f8 25.h4 g5 26.g3 c5 27.d1 Once again W hite targets the isolated d6 pawn. c4 A) 28.e5 d7 ( 28...dxe5 29.xd8 xc3 30.bxc3 xe4 31.xh6+ g7 32.c8 and White has the better chances ) 29.xd6 xd6 30.xd6 xd6 31.xd6 e8; B) 28.f3 xd4 ( 28...d5 29.e5 xd4 30.xd4-+ ) 29.xd4 ( 29.xd4 xd4+ 30.xd4 d5 ) 29...d7 30.f2 c7 31.b3 e5 32.d5 c8 33.c1 ( 33.b3!? is a d e c e n t a l t e r n a t i v e) 33...g7 34.e3 b6 35.e2 ( or 35.c6 xe3 36.xe3 xc6 37.xc6-+ ) 35...c7? ( 35...xg4 is the winning move when after 36.hxg4 xd4 37.xd4 xd4+ 38.f2 e5 is very good for Black) 36.f5 xf5 37.gxf5 c8 38.h4 gxh4 ( 38...c4 2159

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 is a better idea aiming to exchange pieces in order to avoid an attack 39.hxg5 xb2! 40.xb2 xc3 41.xc3 xc3-+ ) 39.a2? ( 39.xh4!? d7 40.g2 w h e n W h i t e i s s t i l l t r y i n g t o a t t a c k) 39...e7 ( 39...d5!? 40.f4 d4 41.d1 d3 a n d B la c k is win n in g) 40.f4 c4 ( 40...d7!? 41.d5 c1+ 42.h2 d8 allows Black to hold on.) 41.d5 d8 42.f6 f8?? this is what I call a serious blunder 43.g4+ h7 44.e7! 1-0 Byfield,G-Santa,J/Philadelphia 2000. ] 10...b4!? Froehlich plays sharply. The German master is now resident in Australia and continues to play to a high standard. [ 10...gf6 is the usual move. ] 11.a4 [ 11.d5 mentioned by Burgess without comment exd5 12.exd5+ e7 13.d4 c5 14.c4 f8 15.f4 g5 16.g3 e7 17.a3 A) 17...xd5? 18.xd5 xd5 19.f5 with decent compensation for the material.; B) 17...xd5? 18.xd5 xd5 19.f3 bxa3 ( 19...f6 20.xd6+ xd6 21.xa8+ wins ) 20.xa3 when I would rather be White.; C) 17...b3 18.f3 c8 19.e1 is time f or W hite to start counting the pieces, Ask,J-Bisby,D/Gausdal 2003. ] 11...gf6 12.c2 e7 13.f4 e5 Black is happier to advance the e-pawn now that white's light-squared bishop is not on the a2-g8 diagonal. [ 13...b6 is met by 14.c5 when c6 15.xa6 xe4 16.xe4 xe4 17.xe4 xa6 18.xb4 is better for White. ] 14.g5 c8 15.ac1 a5 16.b3 0-0 17.b1 [ 17.h4 g6 ] 17...h6 18.xc8 xc8 19.xf6 xf6 [ Or 19...gxf6 20.h4 f8 21.f5 with excellent play for White. ] 20.b2 c5 21.c4 g6 22.h3 f8 Froehlich plays patiently and steadily improves his position. 23.h1 d5 24.exd5 xd5 25.xe5 c3 26.xc5 xc5 27.f1 xf3 28.gxf3 e8 29.d3 d5 30.d2 f4 31.xa6 f5 [ 31...a8!? 32.b5 xh3 is also winning. ]

32.c1 xf2 33.c8 xc8 34.xc8 e1 35.c4 xh3 36.a3 bxa3 37.xa3 f4 38.c2 f2 39.b4 f7 40.a3 e7 41.c4 d8 42.xf5? White wrongly thinks this will lead to a draw. gxf5 43.d6 d7 44.xf5 h5 45.h2 c6 46.g7 b5 47.xh5 xh5 International masters tend to know how to win such positions as do most school children. 48.h3 f4+ 49.g4 e3 50.f5 xb4 51.e4 c1 52.e5 c4 53.d6 d4 54.c6 e3 55.d6 d5 56.c6 f4 57.b5 e7 58.b6 c4 59.a6 c5 60.b7 b5 61.a7 [ 61.a8 c6 62.a7 c8+ 63.a6 c7 64.f4 b6 65.f5 d6 66.f6 e4 67.f7 c5# ] 61...c6 62.a8 d5 [ 62...c7 63.a7 c8+ 64.a6 b6 65.f4 d6 66.f5 e4 67.f6 c5# ] 63.a7 c7 [ 63...e3+ 64.b8 b6 65.f4 d7+ 66.a8 b6 67.f5 a6 68.f6 b6+ 69.b8 f4# ] 64.a8 b6 65.f4 a6 [ 65...a6 66.f5 b6# ] [ 65...xf4?!= ] [ 65...xf4?!= ] 0-1

2018 Stevic,Hrvoje Horvath,Csaba TCh-CRO Gp1A (3) [John Shaw]

B21 2607 2529 06.09.2010

1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.f4 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 d6 6.0-0 f6 7.e1 This is the way the experts play this line nowadays. [ The older line is 7.c3 but it is less punchy and has scored feebly. ] 7...c4 This idea has tempted a few strong players with Black (in similar positions). As a very general judgement, the games suggest Black does not benefit greatly from this ploy. Standard development seems a more reliable path for Black. [ 7...0-0 8.h4 g4 9.h1 Certainly not c o m p u l s o r y . ( 9.bd2 followed by h2-h3 seems very sensible. This would be similar to Greet-McClement below.) 9...e6 10.bd2 2160

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c8 11.c3 b5 12.h3 xe4 A clever tactic b u t n o t t h e b e s t m o ve , i n m y o p i n i o n . ( The simple line was 12...xf3 13.xf3 b4 White has the bishop pair, but Black's set-up is sound and logical.) 13.xd8 g3+ 14.h2 xf1+ 15.xf1 fxd8 16.hxg4 In Stevic - Tadic, Bihac 2010, White's two minor pieces eventually proved more effective than Black's rook and pawn. ] [ 7...g4 8.bd2 0-0 9.h3 xf3 10.xf3 b8 11.d1 ( 11.e3!? ) 11...d7 As a matter of opening theory, I could stop here, but the rest of the game is enough fun to be worth a very quick scan. 12.h4 c4 13.h5? xb2! White had missed this shot. We can see why Kg1-h1 is a popular move earlier. 14.hxg6!? In for a penny... xa1 15.h4 hxg6 16.g5 f6 17.f5-+ W hite's sac is unsound and there are various defences (I won't try to list them all), but it's certainly a scary position to play for Black. b6+ 18.h1 e6 19.h6 e7? ( 19...exf5 20.exf5 c7! ) 20.f3? ( 20.fxg6! fxg6 21.g4!+- ) 20...gxf5? ( 20...b4! 21.h3 e1+ 22.h2 e5+ 23.g3 xg3+! 24.xg3 xd1-+ This game i s s o m u c h e a s i e r u s i n g a c o m p u t e r .; 20...a5! ) 21.h3! Now it's a forced mate. g6 22.xe6! 1-0 Greet - McClement, Scottish Championship 2010. ] 8.h1 0-0 9.h4 b4 Attempting to punish White's early queen expedition and prevent White playing a later Nc3. [ 9...cxd3 would transpose to McShane Cheparinov, Novi Sad 2009, which is in the Archives. W hite won rather quickly. I will mention just a few more moves of it, as a key Be2-Clamp idea soon appears. 10.cxd3 g4 11.c3 xf3 12.xf3 b6 13.d1! That's the one: the allegedly passive bishop finds a great diagonal on b3. ] 10.a3 cxd3 11.cxd3 c6 Black retreats, claiming that forcing the knight to a3 is an achievement. Meanwhile W hite can try the standard Grand-Prix style hack-attack. [ An alternative was to complete development with: 11...d7 12.f5 c8 13.h6 Not White's only option, but let's see a thematic continuation of W hite's attack. xh6 ( 13...c2!? ) 14.xh6 gxf5? 15.g5! c2 ( 15...e5 16.g4!! ) 16.xc2

xc2 17.f3! xe2 18.g3+- ] 12.f5 White has achieved what he was looking for - a non-theory mess with good hacking chances on the kingside. I don't think Black has done much wrong either, so there is n o r e a s o n h e s h o u l d b e w o r s e . gxf5 Unafraid not a mistake, but a move which p u t s h e a vy d e m a n d s o n B la ck' s t a c t ic a l accuracy. [ 12...d7!? was perhaps easier to play. ] 13.h6 xh6 14.xh6 g4 15.g5+ h8 16.exf5 f6?! [ Stronger was 16...g8 I guess Black was w o r r i e d a b o u t 17.h5 but after ( 17.f4!? ) 17...f6! 18.xf7? Black has a trick: d5!-+ White's queen is trapped and will soon be collected by ... Rg7. ] 17.f4 d7 18.c4 b4?! It seems Black cannot afford the time for this manoeuvre. [ 18...c8!? ] 19.g5 bd5 20.h4 c8 21.f3!+Black's errors seem to have b een ra the r minor (the?! signs above are with the benefit of much hindsight) and yet his position is falling apart. xc4 Desperation, but there was no good answer to the threat of Bxd5. [ F o r e x a m p l e : 21...c6 22.xd5 ( t h e s i m p l e 22.ae1 is also immensely strong. Without a computer as a helper, this would be by far the more practical move.) 22...xd5 23.e3 The plan is to remove the key defender - the f6-knight. a5 24.b4! ( the im pat ien t 24.g4? allows b4 ) 24...b5 25.fe1! Threatening both a2-a4 and to take on d5 then e7. Black is dead. For example: c6 26.a4 xd3 27.b5 d7 28.ad1 b3 29.d5 When the f6-knight goes, everything collapses. ] 22.dxc4 e3 23.e4! c6 [ If 23...xf1 then 24.xh7! is the idea. ] 24.f3 [ Or 24.xh7 xh7 25.f6 xe4 26.xe4+is also good enough. ] 24...xe4 25.xe4 White has a material advantage and an attack. eg4 26.xf6 xf6 27.e1 g8 28.h3 b6 29.b3 c7 30.g3 xg3 31.xg3 Yet another respectable GM is hacked by the Big Clamp. Black's position from the opening was fine (meaning balanced chances in an unclear 2161

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.d1 e8 position) but it is notable how his game fell here is more significant. f6 16.h3 fxe5 17.fxe5 a5 18.b3 c6 19.e3 apart without any simple blunders. b6 20.d2 xb5 21.cxb5 c7 22.d7 1-0 d5 23.e4 ae8? [ Black had to try 23...c3+ 24.d3 xe4 25.xe4 f7 although of course White is 2019 B21 still a little better. For example: 26.d2 ] Stevic,Hrvoje 2607 Sanikidze,Tornike 2564 24.xd5!? Giving up the exchange so that the 26th European Club Cup (1.15) 17.10.2010 bishop on d5 will dominate the a5-knight. [ The less imaginative 24.xd5 was also [John Shaw] good. For example: exd5 25.b1 d4 26.d2 f6 27.d3 xe5 28.xa7 ] 1.e4 c5 2.d3 [ IM Andrew Greet has recently been playing 24...exd5 25.xd5+ h8 26.d3! d8 It's such a pretty position that one 2.e2!? with f2-f4 and d2-d3 to come. It 27.e4 can understand Stevic wanting to sac the could certainly transpose to the game. ] 2...c6 3.f4 e6 4.f3 d5 5.e2 exchange earlier. xd5 The bishop was huge, I recently covered the Big Clamp with Bg2 but Black could make his opponent's task lines, but this is a different beast altogether. more difficult by sitting solidly. For example: [ 27...h6 White can make progress with dxe4 A little compliant. White's extra space is 28.b1 Threatening b2-b4. b8 29.h4!? worth an edge in the ending, plus the white b7 30.h5 But the kingside advance and king has better prospects of finding a central breakthrough will require some effort. ] post than its counterpart. [ 5...f6 6.e5 d7 ( 6...g4 has been 28.xd5 xb3 29.a2 [ T h e d i r e c t 29.b1! was much more tried a handful of times, when I am surprised co n vin cin g c4 An ugly but essential move. no o ne ha s rep lie d 7.h3 h6 8.g4 ( The problem with 29...a5 is 30.e6! Certainly, things will get messy, but this is d8 31.d1+Black collapses as Rd7 is the thematic approach.) 7.c3 e7 8.0-0 coming and he has no constructive moves of b5 This is G. Welling- I. Sokolov, Gibraltar his own. ) 30.xc4 a5+ 31.d5 d8+ 2 0 0 9 , wh i c h wa s a n a lyse d b y I M Da ve 32.e6 xa3 33.g5+- ] Vigorito in the Archives. Roughly balanced 29...g8 30.b2 a5 was a fair assessment. ] [ 30...d8+! was essential to limit the [ Black can also use a standard anti-King's damage. 31.e6 ( 31.e4 c4 ) 31...d3 I n d i a n A t t a c k s e t - u p w i t h 5...d6 32.xe7 xe3 33.c2 ] For example, 6.0-0 ge7 7.e3 f6 8.c3 b7? There were no perfect 0-0 9.a4 b6 10.a3 b7 11.c2 a6 31.d2 12.ae1 c7 13.g3 ae8 U. Krstic-B. solutions, but now the white king runs riot. [ 31...d8+ 32.e6 f8 33.xa5 bxa5 Predojevic, Bihac 2010 ] 34.a4 ] 6.dxe4 xd1+ 7.xd1 f6 8.e5 d5 9.c4 db4?! Superficially tempting, but the knight 32.c6! d8+ 33.d7+- The wandering king collects a piece. f7 34.e6 xe6 is heading for long-tern passivity. [ 9...de7 made more sense, with f5 and d4 35.xe6 The game is effectively over. f6 as good destinations. Even so, after logical 36.b1 e7+ 37.d5 e2 38.g4 h6 play such as 10.c3 f5 11.c2 cd4 39.e1 f2 40.e4 g2 41.g1 e2+ 12.xd4 xd4 13.e4 White keeps a 42.d3 e8 43.e1 a8 44.c3 xc3 45.xc3 a6 46.bxa6 xa6 47.b3 b5 faint edge. ] 10.e2! The white king plays a starring role in 48.e8+ h7 49.e5 a4 50.c8 c4+ t h is ga m e , a n d t h is is ju st t h e st a rt . e7 51.xc4 This is one of the highest level tests 11.c3 0-0 12.a3 a6 The downside of the so far of the typical ending after ...dxe4 dxe4 k n i g h t e x p e d i t i o n t o b 4 i s n o w o b v i o u s . ...Qxd1. The evidence suggests that White is 13.b5 d7 14.c2 I use the same symbol more comfortable, so Black should choose a as in the variation at move 9, but the edge 2162

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 more combative line on move 5. 1-0

2020 Stevic,Hrvoje Tischbierek,Raj Open Biel (5) [Richard Palliser]

B21 2619 2436 21.07.2011

1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.f4 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 d6 6.0-0 e6 [ If Black wants to develop his knight to f6, he has usually preferred 6...f6 and after 7.e1 0-0 ( 7...c4 also failed to convince in Stevic-Horvath, Croatian Team Ch a m p io n s h ip 2 0 1 0 - se e t h e A rch ive) 8.h4 it's not so hard to improve on the c4?! o f M c S h a n e - C h e p a r i n o v . ( Indeed, here V i g o r i t o p r o p o s e d t h e s e n s i b l e 8...e6 - compare with our main game. )] 7.c3 [ The way they tend to play nowadays. Of course, 7.a3 ge7 8.c3 can't be so bad, but after 0-0 9.e3 a6 10.d4 (arguably premature) cxd4 11.xd4 ( 11.cxd4 d5 12.e5 b6 gives Black a decent version of the French, but still I suspect White should have preferred this) 11...b5 12.xc6 xc6 13.d2 c7 14.ad1 d8 15.c2 b8 Black enjoyed a good Sicilian set-up and went on to overcome his psychologicallydestroyed opponent in Larsen-Fischer, 6th matchgame, Denver 1971. ] 7...f6!? [ New in this particular position. Black has u s u a ll y p re f e rre d 7...ge7 , reaching a position I discovered to my surprise hadn't yet been covered on ChessPub. Just as in re la t ed B ig Cla mp po sit io ns W h it e h a s c h a n c e s f o r a n e d g e a n d 8.e3 0-0 ( 8...f5!? might well be more of a challenge) 9.d4 b6 ( 9...d5 10.e5 f5 11.f2 is quite a critical line, but the consensus seems to be that White's strong centre gives him the upper hand) 10.dxc5! dxc5?! ( a little compliant I would prefer the unbalancing 10...bxc5 and after 11.a3 f5 12.e5!? d5 13.d2 dxe5 14.fxe5 xe3 15.xe3 e7 chances were about equal despite the hole on d6 in Stevic-Popovic,

Rijeka 2010 of course, both sides can look to improve over this unbalanced sequence) 11.a3 c7 ( another game from Biel, Brkic-Salem, saw 11...b7 when I would have stuck the knight on c4 either before or after Qe1, but 12.b5 b8 13.a4 a6 14.a3 c7 15.c4 c8 16.e1 was still perhaps a touch better for White in the game ) 12.b5 b8 13.d6 a6 14.xb8 axb8 15.fd1 bd8 16.f2 gave White an ideal edge which he ground out in Stevic-Hakimifard, Biel 2011. ] 8.h1 [ One point of the experienced German Gra n d m a st e r's m o ve o rd e r is t h a t n o w 8.e1 0-0 9.h4 isn't so convinced for W h i t e a f t e r b5 he'd preferred not to have created that hook on c3. ] 8...0-0 9.a4 Stevic settles for a sequence of natural moves, but I find it hard to believe that such a course of play challenges Black from a theoretical perspective. Practically, however, there is of course all still to play for in a long manoeuvring struggle. b6 10.a3 b7 11.e1 e7 [ S p y i n g t h e h o l e o n b 3 , 11...a5!? m u st h a ve b e e n t e m p t in g a n d i f 12.d1 p e r h a p s e v e n c4 , forcing the centre to open earlier than White might like. ] 12.h4! Logical and strong with Black's queen not entirely happy on e7 in view of the e4-e5 breakthrough. d7! [ Safety first. This permits White's knight into d6, but Black remains very solid and no mo re t h a n a t o u ch wo rse . S e n d in g t h e knight to a5 no longer achieved so much, but one wonders about 12...a6 . However, after 13.c4 c7 ( the bold 13...b5!? 14.b6! also works out well for White, as shown by, for instance, ad8 15.axb5 axb5 16.e5! d5 17.xe7 dxe7 18.e3 when the knight on b6 lives and W hite is slightly for choice) 14.e5! Black must take care. Probably he should just drop the knight back to e8 without delay, as dxe5 15.fxe5 d7 16.d4 would just open attacking paths for White's no-longer-dormant dark-squared bishop. ] 13.b5 d5?! [ I'm not so keen on this one and would have preferred 13...xh4 14.xh4 d5! 2163

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 . Possibly Tischbierek feared 15.exd5 exd5 16.f3 , b u t a f t e r ( 16.c7?! ad8 17.xd5 fe8 gives Black plenty of activity for the pawn, as 18.f3 f6 19.c4 a5 refuses to allow White any rest) 16...f6 h a s B la c k re a lly a n yt h i n g t o f e a r, wit h 17.d6 simply met by a6 ? ] 14.xe7 xe7 15.e5 a6 [ Driving the knight to where it wanted to go, b u t t h e n a t le a st B la ck ca n p re p a r e t o exchange it. Instead 15...f5?! 16.g4 a6 would have been a little too radical, in view of 17.c7 ac8 18.gxf5 xc7 19.f6 when W hite's pawn-wedge looks rather useful. ] 16.d6 c6 17.d4 c8 18.xc8 fxc8 And so White's extra central space gives him a s ma ll p ull. Against a le ss-expe rien ce d opponent I suspect Stevic would have fancied his chances of grinding out a victory, but Tischbierek now proved equal to the task of creating counterplay. 19.g4 f6! 20.f5!? [ Highly aggressive. White might well have p r e f e r r e d t h e c a l m 20.e3 , although perhaps Stevic was worried by ideas of a timely ...c4. ] 20...fxe5 [ A sensible-looking response, as the knight will be very well placed on e6. However, Black is a little worse after this and so I wonder if he would have done better with 20...exf5!? . Then 21.e6 ( 21.exf6 fxg4 22.fxg7 gxf3 23.xf3 xg7 surely doesn't give White enough for his pawn) 21...fxg4! ( 21...e8 22.gxf5 gxf5 23.d3 xe6 24.xf5 now looks like good compensation Black has lots of holes in his position all of a sudden ) 22.exd7 xd7 23.dxc5 bxc5 24.e1 f5 looks like decent value for a piece Black is quite active and that kingside pawn clump might well come into play. ] 21.fxe6 f8 22.e7 [ Instead 22.xe5 xe5 23.dxe5 xe6 24.f6 e8 would have been similar to the game - I find it hard to believe that Black can be worse with such a knight, although White might try to expand with his kingside pawns. ] 22...e6 23.xe5 xe5 24.dxe5 a7 25.h6 [ This prevents ...Rf8, but the bishop does

little else here. Correct was 25.f6! xe7 26.xa6 when Black can regain his pawn with a8 27.e2 xa4 28.xa4 xa4 , but after 29.g2 followed by Kg3 and h2h4 White might yet be able to create some pressure. ] 25...a5! Not only getting the pawn off prise, bu t a lso f ixin g W h ite 's o wn a -p awn a s a weakness. 26.f6 xe7 27.af1? [ It looks like this was based on an oversight or a surge of over-optimism. However, after the calm 27.g2 ce8 ( but not 27...d4+?! 28.g3 d8 29.cxd4 cxd4 30.d3 followed by h2-h4 with definite chances for White ) 28.f3 f7 Black would surely have been fine a4 is weak and that knight still a great defensive piece. ] 27...xa4 28.g5 c2 29.f3?! [ This looks like panic. He shouldn't have done, but perhaps Stevic had overlooked Black's last or suddenly realised that 29.g4 f5 30.xf5 gxf5 31.1xf5 d4 would have given Black decent counterplay. Still, White has ideas of g5-g6 here and this looks like a better try than the game. ] 29...e4! Forcing the bishops off as Tischbierek secures somewhat the better endgame. 30.xe4 dxe4 31.e1 d8 32.xe4 b5 Black must be clearly better here. He has to watch out for the f8-square, but White's bishop is completely entombed and there is a certain queenside majority... 33.e1 b4 [ Hardly bad, but with more time available perhaps B lack would have pref erred t o begin with 33...a4!? , avoiding the defensive mechanism W hite sets up in the game. Then 34.a1 ( this won't halt the pawns, but what else? - 34.g2 ee8 35.f1 d2 leaves Black very much in the driving-seat too ) 34...ee8 35.g1 d5 36.e1 b4 37.cxb4 cxb4 38.a1 a5 would have seen Black making definite progress on the path to the full point. ] 34.a1 a8 35.cxb4 cxb4 36.b3 Halting the pawns for the time being, although Black retains decent chances even here. ee8 37.c1 e7?! [ This definitely smacks of time trouble. Black must have suddenly become alarmed by the threat of 38 Rc6 and also been keen to 2164

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 avoid 37...a4 38.bxa4 xa4 39.b1 when the b-pawn is fairly well halted for the time being, ] [ b u t a c t u a l l y 37...ad8! 38.c6 d4 would still have been good for him, as the knight has another fine post - f5. After, for example, 39.cd6 f5 40.xd8 xd8 41.a6 ( 41.e6 b8 certainly doesn't help) 41...f7! 42.xa5 d3 43.a7+ e6 44.xh7 xe5 45.g2 xb3 46.g7+ f4 Black would have retained good winning chances despite the reduced material. ] 38.c4 b8 39.g2 g7? [ Hitting e5 and heading for f5 with the knight, but now W hite develops awkward counterplay. Black's last prepared to push the a-pawn and that should have been done without delay: 39...a4! 40.bxa4 b3 41.f1 ( or 41.c1 d4 42.a5 xe5 43.a6 e2+ 44.f2 a2! , retaining good winning chances thanks to the tactical point 45.xa2 bxa2 46.a1 b2+ 47.g3 b3+ 48.g4 a3 ) 41...b2 42.b1 d7 43.c2 f4+ and Black is in time to defend the b-pawn on account of the mid-board mate in the event of 44.g3 d3+! 45.xf4? b4+ . ] 40.c5! Defending e5 and attacking c5. Tischbierek responds with the only try. a4 41.bxa4 b3 42.f1? [ Allowing Black to press all over again. After 42.xg7! White would have drawn without difficulty: b2 43.f1 b1 ( or 43...xg7 44.b1 b4 45.c2 ) 44.xb1 xb1 45.f6 and there isn't any way past such a fortress. ] 42...e6 43.c6 b2 44.b1 f7? [ It's possible that Black missed White's 47th or that he was unable to find a way to win, and yet there was certainly a promising path in 44...f4+! 45.g3 ( or 45.f3 d3 , defending b2 whilst picking up e5 thanks to the misplaced rook on c6 indeed, White's 43rd was perhaps not the most accurate) 45...d5 46.c2 eb7 followed by ...Rb3 and ...Nc3. ] 45.a5! White's a-pawn arrives to distract the black pieces just in time. c7 46.xc7+ xc7 47.e6+! xe6 [ Now it's just a draw. Black might have tried 47...xe6!? 48.a6 b3 49.f2! ( the last accurate defensive move instead

49.a7? f4+ gives Black definite chances du e t o th e va riou s f o rks, su ch a s af t e r 50.f1 a3 51.xb2 a1+ ) 49...d4 ( 49...c5 50.a7 a3 51.e2 xa7 52.xb2 is similar) 50.a7 a3 51.xb2 xa7 , although it's hard to imagine him winning this in a grandmaster vs. grandmaster game. Yes, ...Nf5 followed by ... Nxh6, ...g5 and ...Kg6 might win the h-pawn, but then it's still an easy theoretical draw. ] 48.g7 b5 49.f6 xa5 50.xb2 ½-½

2021 Stevic,Hrvoje Yilmaz,Mustafa Enes 4th Mediterranean Open (3) [John Shaw]

B21 2621 2476 14.11.2010

1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.f4 d5 4.e2 f6 [ Of course Black can take the queens off with: 4...dxe4 5.dxe4 xd1+ 6.xd1 As I mentioned in a previous Update, I feel Black should decline this sort of option. White's extra space in the centre offers him the more appealing position. W hite's advantage, if indeed it exists, is slight, but Black's compliant play is not in the spirit of the Sicilian. ] 5.e5 g8 An extravagant manoeuvre, but Black wishes to set his knight on a good path. [ 5...d7 is sensible, even though the knight does get in the way rather. 6.c3 e6 7.f3 e7 8.0-0 b5 ( The database mentions a game Shaw - Pyrich, Oban 2000, of which I have no memory. Apparently it continued: 8...0-0 9.d4 f6 10.a3 The game has barely started so it's rather unclear, but W hite's (my?) extra space gives decent chances for an advantage.) 9.a3 ( 9.d4!? ) 9...b4 10.c2 bxc3 11.bxc3 b6 The rest of G. Welling - I. Sokolov, Gibraltar 2009, can be seen in the Archives. I would suggest 12.d4!? is a sensible variation. ] 6.f3 g6 [ Also logical is 6...g4 7.0-0 e6 8.c4! ge7 There are two old games by Bent Larsen (who got here f rom a 2.f 4 move ord er) which a re wo rt h f ollo wing: 9.c3 dxc4 10.dxc4 f5 2165

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 A) His first game went: 11.a4 fd4 12.xd4 xd4+ 13.f2 xe2 14.xe2 d3 15.f5 e7 16.f4 e4?! In Informant Larsen gave this move an exclam and said Black was a little better. Modern computers disagree: ( 16...d7 looks safer and about equal.; 16...xf5? 17.d5 is the trick Black should avoid.) 17.d2! is very dangerous: For example: ( 17.fxe6 was eventually drawn in Larsen Tal, Amsterdam 1964. ) A1) 17...xe5 is t o o g re e d y: 18.c3 xf5 19.d5 g6 20.xe7! ( curiously 20.c7+ d7 21.xa8 xa8 is not so clear ) 20...xe7 21.b5; A2) 17...0-0 18.f6! gxf6 19.exf6 xf6 20.e1 d4 ( 20...f5? 21.g4! ) 21.c3 d8 22.xf6 xf6 23.d5 g6 24.f6+ h8 25.b5!? The might knight is dominant on f6.; B) 11.h3! Larsen's improvement on his p re vio u s ga m e . xf3 12.xf3 d4+ 13.xd4 cxd4 ( Larsen suggested 13...fxd4 as the lesser evil, saying White h a s a s l i g h t e d g e . A f t e r 14.e4 I would agree.) 14.e4 e7 15.c5 f6 16.d6+ d7 17.b4 White had a huge advantage in Larsen - Bednarski, Palma de Mallorca 1967. ] [ 6...h6 was Magnus Carlsen's choice in this position (although he was "only" rated 2693 at the time). 7.0-0 g4 Now instead of A) White could follow Larsen's style with: 8.c4!? For example: f5 9.h3 ( 9.c3!? ) 9...xf3 10.xf3 dxc4 11.dxc4 A position just a fraction different from Larsen - Bednarski. I believe White also has an edge here.; B) 8.g5 as in K. Lie - Carlsen, Gausdal 2007, ] 7.0-0 g7 8.c4 Treating the position in similar fashion to Larsen. d4 Finally, a different structure after all the examples of ... dxc4. Naturally, with the centre blocked the play switches to the wings with b2-b4 a likely part of W hite's plans. The theory certainly ends here it's just a game. 9.g5 h6 10.f3 c7 11.a3 0-0 12.c2 b8 13.e4 b6 14.a3 f6 15.exf6 exf6 16.b4 d8 17.a4 e6 18.g3 f7 19.e1 d7

20.a5 b5?! Now Black's structure comes unglued. [ 20...fe8!? was just one of the moves to keep the balance ] 21.xc5 [ Or 21.f5!? gxf5 22.xc5 ] 21...xc5 22.bxc5 bxc4 [ Perhaps Black was relying on 22...xc5 but White has a pinning trick: 23.a3! b4 24.xb4 xb4 25.d2 fb8 26.ab1 f8 27.xb4 xb4 28.xb4 xb4 29.xb4 xb4 30.b1! xa5 31.b7 The material count is fine for Black, but White's activity and the passed c-pawn will cause plenty of trouble. ] 23.xd4 bd8?! Now the c5-pawn survives and causes chaos. [ 23...xc5 was essential, even though 24.e3 is unpleasant. For example: fe8 25.dxc4 xc4 26.c1 ] 24.e3 cxd3 25.c6!+- Black now needs a miracle and doesn't find one in the rest of the game. h3 26.xd3 fe8 27.f2 xe1+ 28.xe1 xa5 29.c4 f8 30.e6 e8 31.d5 b4 32.c7 xc4 33.xc4 c8 34.xf8 xc7 [ If 34...xf8 then 35.c5+ followed by Re7. ] 35.e8 c8 36.xc8 xc8 37.xh7 g7 38.xf7 The Big Clamp strikes again. Of course the game was won in the middlegame though, not the opening. 1-0

2022 Stomprowski,Eckhard Buessing,Olaf German Championship [Gary Lane]

B21

1997

1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.c4 e6 [ 5...cxb2!? 6.xb2 b6 is the big test of the line. ] 6.xc3 We are now back in a main-line Morra. c6 7.0-0 f6 8.e2 a6 A standard idea to restrict W hite from attacking the d6 pawn with Nb5. 9.d1 c7 10.f4 e7 Black should quickly conclude development so he can take advantage of the 2166

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 extra pawn. 11.ac1 [ 11.e5?! is wo rt h in ve st iga t in g . h5! 12.exd6 xf4 13.dxc7 xe2+ 14.xe2 d7 when Black is better because he has not castled yet so he can quickly play ... Rc8. ] 11...0-0 12.b3 [ 12.e5!? looks tempting A) 12...dxe5 13.xe5 xe5 ( 13...d6! 14.xd6 xd6 15.g6 e5! 16.xe5 xe5 17.xe5 e7 is the right way for Black to handle 12 e5.) 14.xe5 a5 15.d3 d7 16.f4 b5 17.b3 c5 18.g3 xb3 19.axb3 f5 20.d5! h4 21.c7 amazing the black queen is caught out on the side of the board. a2 22.b4 1-0 Popov, A-Berezov,L/Moscow 1963.; B) 12...h5 13.exd6 xf4 14.dxc7 xe2+ 15.xe2 c5 16.a4 a7 17.c5 e7 18.d7 e8 19.fe5 f6 20.h5! gave White a clear advantage in Ricaurte Lopez,J-Garcia,S/Quito 1998.; C) 12...e8 13.exd6 xd6 14.xd6 xd6 15.b3 e7 16.e5 a5 17.c2 b5 18.b4 ac4 19.xc4 xc4 20.e4 the twin threats of Qxa8 and Qxh7+ mate decides the outcome of the game in White's favour, Kochet,A-Stepunina,E/Kiev 2000. ] [ 12.a3 is a good choice for White. For instance: d7 13.a2 b8 14.b1 d8 15.e5 dxe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.xe5 a7 18.e4 e8 19.d4 b5 20.e3 b8 21.g5 xg5 22.xg5 d5 23.h4 g6 24.h3 d8 25.g4 c6 26.c3 f6 27.xd5 xd5 28.d4 g7 29.d1 e7 30.e5 d8 31.g4! the simple threat of g4g5 decides the game. h6 32.h4 f3 33.xf6+ 1-0 Vesanen,A-Tiikkainen,J/FIN 1997. ] 12...h5 13.e3 d8 14.d5 [ 14.a4 e8= ] 14...exd5 15.exd5 d7 [ 15...f6!? is noteworthy ] 16.dxc6 xc6 17.xf7+! A brilliant tactical trip that rips apart Black's pawn shield. xf7 18.g5+ The point of the sacrifice is revealed because the knight check allows a discovered attack against h5. xg5 19.xh5+ g8 20.xg5 e8 21.g3 [ Or 21.d5+ xd5 22.xc7 xa2 23.xb7

ab8 is equal. ] 21...e6= 22.f4 Increasing the pressure on the isolated pawn on d6 d8 23.b3 e7?? A typical mistake by Black. He has just about survived a tricky opening and now relaxes. Wrong! [ 23...f7= would keep Black alive ] 24.g5!+- The bishop deflects the queen with decisive effect. xg5 Theme: Deflection from e6. The mate threat is Qxg2 25.xe6+ h8 26.h3 f8 27.g3 f6 [ 27...xg3 28.hxg3 d8 29.d4+- ] 28.b3 d5 29.e1 b2 30.a4 h6 31.cd1 f6 32.e7 Watch out for mate on g7. f5 33.h4 f6 34.de1 f4? [ 34...f8 35.1e6 f6 36.e5 xe6 37.xe6+- ] 35.1e6 [ 35.xg7! would speed things up for White. e4 36.g8+ h7 37.xe4 dxe4+- ] 35...a1+ 36.e1 [ A better idea is 36.h2 d4 37.h3+- ] 36...d4 [ 36...f6 runs into 37.xg7!? e4 38.g8+ h7 39.xe4 dxe4+- ] 37.xg7!!+- xf2+ [ 37...xg7 Deflection from f4 38.xf4 ] 38.xf2 xf2 39.ee7 [ 39.xb7! and White has prevailed xb7 40.xf2+- ] 39...b2 40.h7+ g8 41.xh6 d4 [ 41...xb3 42.hh7 b1+ 43.h2 xa4+- ] 42.d6 Threatening mate in one. f8 43.c7 xb3 [ 43...e8 cannot change what is in store for ? 44.xd4 xg2+ 45.f1+- ] 44.xd4 b1+ 45.h2 e8 46.h5 b2 [ 46...b6 is not much help after 47.h6 xa4 48.h4+- ] 47.g4 d8 [ 47...d7 doesn't change the outcome of the game 48.g7 b4 49.cxd7 h4+ 50.g3 xh5 51.xb7+- ] 48.h7 [ 48.xc6 and the rest is a matter of technique as they say in the books! For example: bxc6 49.h6 c7+- ] 48...e2 49.g8+ e8 50.xe8+ xe8 51.g4 2167

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 51.a5 keeps an even firmer grip f8 52.h6 g8+- ] 51...f8 52.a5 e4 53.c7 d5 54.g3 c6 55.f4 d5 56.e5 [ 56.h6 is yet another win. f7 57.f5 g8 58.g5 e8 59.g6 d8 60.g7 ] 56...f3 57.f6 [ 57.h6 g8 58.g5 h5 59.f6 g4 60.g6 h8 61.e7 e6 62.xe6 b5 63.e8# ] 57...xg4 [ 57...e8 does not help much either after 58.e7+ d8 59.h6 xg4 60.h7 wins. ] 58.xb7 [ 58.h6 g8 59.g6 h8 60.e7 wins. ] 58...e8 59.h6 1-0

2023 Sulskis,Sarunas Goletiani,Rusudan US Open Los Angeles USA (3) [Gary Lane]

B21 2578 2314 05.08.2003

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 e6 [ Or 4...c7 5.b5+ ( 5.f3 xf4 6.xc5 f6 7.d4 c7 8.b5+ is promising for White ) 5...d7 6.e2 xb5 7.xb5+ d7 8.f3 offers equal play, Cubas,J-Disconzi da Silva,R/Rio de Janeiro 2001. ] 5.b5+ The grandmaster has tried this before wi t h s u c c e s s . I t h i n k t h e i d e a i s t o p l a y something a bit different to gain time on the clock. d7 6.e2 The grandmaster prefers to maintain the tension by keeping guard on the bishop. It is an unusual line but at least it does have surprise value. [ 6.xd7+ xd7 ( 6...xd7 is also sensible) 7.f3 c6 Black reduces the effectiveness of Ne5 by W hite. 8.0-0 e7 9.d3 f6 10.e3 g4 11.e2 d4 12.xd4 xe3 13.xe3 xd4 is equal, Hardy,O-Brown,A/ British Team Championship 2000. ] 6...xb5 [ 6...f6 7.f3 xe4 8.xd7+ xd7 9.xe4 c6 ( 9...d5 10.e2 c6 is roughly equal) 10.b3 d5 11.xd5 exd5 12.a3 d7 13.0-0-0 d6 14.g3 d4 15.b1 he8 1/2-1/2 Larsson,M-Perez,B/

IECG 2002. ] 7.xb5+ d7 8.a4 c6 [ White has had previous experience in this line and the result was positive 8...h6 9.b3 f5 10.b2 c6 11.f3 c8 12.e5 xe5 13.fxe5 e7 ( 13...xb5 14.axb5 a8 15.e2 intending to double rooks on the a-file favours W hite) 14.g4 d4 15.xd7+ xd7 16.0-0-0 led to equal chances in Sulskis,S-Novikov,I/Koszalin 1999. ] 9.f3 a6 10.e2 d4 11.xd4 cxd4 12.f5 e5 [ 12...exf5?? is simply terrible due to the double check 13.f6+ when d8 14.xd7 is the end for Black. ] 13.0-0 f6 14.b4 xb4 [ Black has to play 14...d3! when play might continue: 15.h5+ ( 15.cxd3 d4+ 16.h1 xa1; 15.xd3 xd3 16.cxd3 xb4 ) 15...f7 16.xf7+ xf7 17.c3 with equal chances. ] 15.a3 A good idea by Sulskis who wants the exchange of bishops so he can activate his queen's rook. The key to such a position is that the black king is still stuck in the middle of the board and that is the inspiration behind White aggressive play. xa3 16.xa3 c8 17.b3 c7 [ Or 17...xc2 allows the clever 18.xb7! which looks good upon c7 ( 18...xb7 19.d6+ e7 20.xb7 ) 19.b8+ f7 20.xa6 winning. ] 18.b6 [ 18.fb1 f8 19.a5 with double-edged play. ] 18...d3 19.cxd3 d4+ [ If 19...xa4 then 20.d6+ f8 21.xb7 is better for W hite because Black's kingside development is poor. ] 20.e3 xe3+ 21.dxe3 The ending favours W hite because he can target the b7 pawn. e7 [ 21...e7 22.d4 exd4 23.exd4 h6 24.c5 is good for White. ] 22.d6+ d7 23.xb7 White is a clear pawn up ensuring the advantage. a8 [ I don't think Black would even consider 23...b8 b e c a u s e o f 24.c5+ c8 25.xb8+ xb8 26.xa6+ winning easily. ] 24.d4 exd4 25.exd4 c4 26.c5+ e8 2168

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27.b7 f8 [ 27...xd4 d o e s n o t h e lp u p o n 28.e1 and it is time to give up. ] 28.e6+ f7 29.d5 1-0

2024 Sulskis,Sarunas Ringoir,Tanguy European Championship, Dresden (2) [Richard Palliser]

B21 2525 2200 4.4.07

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 A critical pawn sacrif ic e. Many pla yers kn ow t hat this is considered to defuse White's attacking aims, but just how many have also examined the quite complex and often forcing main lines? Indeed, I've long felt that a well-prepared and brave white player could score quite well with this line, at least below international level. Ch e c k in g o u t t h e A rch ive, I a lso ge t t h e impression that Jonathan too feels that this line isn't the dead-end it is sometimes portrayed as being. 4.b5+ [ The only way to challenge Black is to cling on to the extra pawn. White can do so too with 4.c4 , as we'll see in Kahn-Ruszin. ] 4...d7 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 e6 7.e2 d6!? [ Advocated by both Gallagher and Rogozenko in their classic anti-Sicilian repertoire works. Black can also play more circumspectly with 7...e7 - the subject of Hodgson-Mestel. ] 8.f5!? Critical, but there are alternatives, including the more solid and fairly respectable 8 d3: [ a) 8.d3 0-0 9.dxe6 fxe6 10.f3 c6 11.0-0 ( a touch more accurate than 11.c3 e5 12.f5 when Black might transpose, but he can also regain his pawn immediately with d4! 13.d1 xf5 14.0-0 h5 , as he did in Romanov-Lim Yee W eng, Singapore 2006) 11...ae8 12.c3 e5 reaches a key tabiya. Black's activity and W hite's backward d-pawn supply full compensation for the pawn. White can hope to gain a bind on the central light squares, but I don't feel that he can gain any advantage. For example: 13.f5 ( 13.e4?!

exf4 14.b3 g4! 15.b2 was explored by Gary Lane in the game Carrothers-Cole, Redlands 2000, but this just looks terrible for White, such as after b6!? , followed by ... Be5 ) 13...d4 14.d1 xf5! ( simple and best more tempting, but also somewhat m o r e r i s k y i s 14...e4!? , after which 15.dxe4!? xe4 16.xd4 posed a few problems for Black in Yudasin-Christiansen, Minneapolis 2005, as Jonathan's excellent notes reveal this is a good example of the type of forcing position which I feel might well reward a well-prepared white player) 15.g5 ( Lane has suggested 15.g5!? , but Black should be fine here, such as after d4 16.ge4 xe4 17.xf8+ xf8 18.xe4 b6! 19.e3 c7 his control of d4 is no less important than W hite's of e4) 15...g4 16.d2 (perhaps there is a more precise square f or the queen, although Black seems to have the same counter-idea in any case) e4! ( a strong temporary pawn sacrifice to get the best out of the knight's active role on g4 instead 16...d4 17.e4 e7 18.xe7 xe7 19.ae1 b6 was pretty level in Janse-Tikkanen, Stockholm 2007, although Black managed to grind out a win when White defended too passively ) 17.xe4 d4 18.h3 ( possibly 18.h1!? xf3 19.xf3 xh2 20.xf8+ xf8 is a better defensive try, although I'd be rather concerned about W hite's exposed king indeed, Black is still for choice here and can easily gain the upper hand, as shown by the sample line 21.e2 e5! 22.xc5 f5 23.d7 xd7 24.xe5 g4 25.g3 h6 26.d2 f5 with advantage) 18...xf3+ 19.xf3 xf3 20.gxf3 e5 (now W hite can't defend all his isolanis) 21.g2 f8 ( the machine's simple suggestion of 21...f8!? is another way to regain the pawn and keep a pleasant advantage ) 22.f1 c7 23.f6 g6 24.c3 f4 25.g4 xh3+ saw Black regaining his pawn with a clear advantage in H.Mas-R.Nolte, Kuala Lumpur 2007. ] [ b) 8.h3!? looks rather ugly, but does defend f4, if not fight for control of the d4square. 0-0 9.dxe6 fxe6 10.0-0 c6 11.c3 d4 12.d1 e5 Black's activity and grip on d4 again gave him full 2169

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 compensation for the pawn in DrenchevKozhuharov, Pernik 2007. ] 8...0-0 9.fxe6 fxe6 10.dxe6 [ Due to his stunted queenside, 10.xe6+?! d o e s n ' t r e a l l y h e l p W h i t e a f t e r xe6+ 11.dxe6 c6 12.f3 b4! . ] 10...c7!? One of two pretty challenging moves. Indeed, while I think that this line could be a good white choice against unprepared opponents at club level, there is no doubt that W hite needs to do some homework in the forcing main lines which we now reach. Black also has: [ a) 10...e7 11.f3 c6 12.c3 d4 13.xd4 cxd4 14.b5 ( 14.d5? fails to xd5 15.cxd5 g5 when White loses both his advanced central pawns) 14...c5 15.d3 a6 16.a3 b4+ 17.d2 xd2+ 18.xd2 was Sellitti-Valsecchi, Fiuggi 2007, in which Black needed to play pretty creatively to avoid a somewhat worse ending. However, Valsecchi was most certainly up for the challenge: g4!! 19.xg4 f2+ 20.c1? b4 21.xd4 d2+ 22.b1 af8 . No doubt unable to see a defence White now resigned. He should really have tried 23.c1 , a l t h o u g h f1! ( the flash 23...xc1+!? 24.xc1 xg2 probably isn't so good, because after 25.g4! White will be able to put up a bit of resistance in one of the resulting exchange-down endings) 24.c3 xc1+ 25.xc1 xd3+ 26.c2 f1 27.b3 xc1+ 28.xc1 c3 , followed by ... Kf8-e7xe6 and then disturbing W hite's kingside before further advancing the king, should eventually be winning as White is so passive. ] [ b) 10...e8! has been marked '!' by a number of respected annotators and I am happy to follow in their footsteps. Following 11.f3 ( the grim 11.b3 c6 12.b2 b4 didn't see White last too long in Komorzycki-Bernard, Krynica 1994 - see Lane's notes in the Archive) 11...h5 12.c3 ( and not 12.0-0? xh2+! ) 12...c6 13.d3 ae8 Black had a strong initiative for the two pawns in Hebden-Davies, Nottingham 1987, but perhaps White has a precise way of avoiding the worst. Indeed, I wo n d e r a b o u t 14.b5!? , with the idea of ( maybe 14.d2 f5 15.0-0-0 is best )

14...g3+ ( unfortunately for White the simple 14...b8! 15.d1 a6 16.c3 f5 looks quite promising for Black) 15.d2 a6?! 16.hxg3! xh1 17.d6 , reaching a mess in which the e6-pawn lives. ] 11.c3! [ A bold sacrifice of the h-pawn and castling rights, although White's king usually has to stay in the centre in any case. A critical alternative is 11.f3 c6 12.c3 ae8 13.d3 d4 14.xd4 cxd4 15.b5 b4+ when my reading of Jonathan's notes to Wheeler-Emms, British League 2005, is that while White might have some very precise way to make a draw, this position is fraught with danger for him. ] 11...xh2 [ Critical, but possibly not best. The only previous game I could f ind saw instead 11...c6!? 12.f3 ae8 A) I wonder what Sulskis intended here perhaps 13.b5!? e7 14.0-0 , although Black maintains enough c o m p e n s a t i o n a f t e r a6! ( but not 14...b8?! 15.d4! ) 15.xd6 xd6; B) 13.0-0 , and now in Skog-Brandt, Stockholm 1996, Black might have tried d4! with the idea of 14.xd4 cxd4 15.d5? ( even 15.b5 xh2+ 16.h1 e5!? 17.xe5 xe5 looks a little better for Black ) 15...xd5 16.cxd5 xh2+ 17.h1 xf1+ 18.xf1 g3 followed by a decisive 19...Rf8. ] 12.f3 g3+ 13.d1 c6 14.d3 ad8 [ White's king is a serious source for concern here, but if he can keep his e6-pawn he is probably OK. Thus I suspect that 14...ae8! improves, after which 15.d5 ( 15.g5 c a n n o w b e m e t b y g4! ) 15...d6 16.xf6+ xf6 17.g5 b4!? ( an intriguing sacrificial possibility Black might also play much more so lidly wit h 17...e7 18.e4 g6 ) 18.e4 exe6 19.xd6 xe2 20.xe2 f2+ 21.e3 c2+ 22.e4 xd6 is pretty murky and supplies decent play for the exchange. ] 15.g5! As far as I can see, this is the only testing continuation. b4?! [ Even the superior 15...d6 wouldn't have solved Black's difficulties in view of 16.xf6! xf6 17.e4 xe6!? ( a decent try instead 2170

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 after 17...xd3+ 18.xd3 xd3+ 19.e2 dxf3 20.gxf3 xe6 Black hasn't enough for the exchange, despite his extra pawn and grip on d4) 18.xg3 xc4 19.e8+! ( a strong resource much less effective being 19.d4 xd4+! 20.xd4 xd4+ 21.d2 e5 ) 19...f8 20.e4 xd3+ 21.d2 and Black's two pawns and initiative won't supply quite enough for the piece with the queens coming off. ] 16.e7! xd3+ 17.d2 e8 [ Neither would the desperate 17...xd2+?! 18.xd2 e8 have saved Black in view of 19.e6+ h8 20.e4 xe7 21.xf6! . ] 18.e6+ h8 19.xf6 f4? [ A sharp but flawed idea. Instead 19...gxf6 20.xf6+ g8 21.e6+ h8 , would have forced W hite to find the precise ( and not 21...g7?? 22.h6+ ) 22.f7 xd2+ 23.c1! ( after 23.xd2? f4+ 24.d1 d7+ 25.d5 g4+ if anything, it's White who is lucky that Black has no more than a p e r p e t u a l wi t h 26.e1 g3+ 27.f1 xc4+ 28.g1 d4+ 29.f1 d3+ ) 23...d1+ 24.xd1 xe7 25.xe7 xe7 26.f1 , reaching n ending the exchange ahead, although some technique is required here both to get the a1-rook into play and in dealing with Black's pesky knight. ] [ B l a c k m i g h t a l s o h a v e t r i e d 19...f4!? 20.ce4 xd2+ 21.xd2 xf6 22.xf6 gxf6 23.a3 c6 24.e4 e5 , again with some chances to resist in an exchangedown ending. ] 20.ce4 xd2 21.xd2 [ Missing the ice-cool 21.f7!! which would have been immediately decisive since Black lacks any effective checks: c1+ ( or 21...g5+ 22.e2 d2+ 23.xd2 ) 22.d2! ( an aesthetic and essential followup instead it would be White who is mated after 22.xc1?? f4+ ) 22...xd2+ 23.xc1 and it's game over. ] 21...gxf6? [ Returning the favour. Ringoir had to once again settle for a clearly inferior ending with 21...xd2+! 22.xd2 f4+ 23.e2 xf6 .] 22.xf6+ g8 23.e6+ g7 [ Now Black's king is hounded to its death, but it would have been fatally cornered in

t h e c a s e o f 23...h8 24.f7 xd2+ 25.xd2 d6+ 26.c1 . ] 24.h6+ f7 25.xh7+ e6 26.h6+ [ Black's queen is lost after 26.h6+ d7 27.f5+ xe7 28.h7+ . Fascinating complications, but while Sulskis' 11 Nc3 created certain practical problems which his opponent wasn't able to solve, I suspect that Black is fine here should he know his theory with either 10...Qc7 or, perhaps better, 10...Qe8. ] 1-0

2025 Sveshnikov,Evgeny Jeric,Simon Slovakian Team Championship (5) [Gary Lane]

B21 2512 2319 02.12.04

1.e4 c5 2.f4 c6 [ 2...d5 is the critical test in my opinion. ] 3.f3 g6 4.b5 g7 5.c3 A logical idea to prepare a pawn centre with d2-d4 and stopping Black from playing ...Nd4 which is a typical response in such positions. I have to admit that in my Batsford book 'The Grand Prix Attack" I concentrated on lines with [ 5.xc6 . I suspect that the majority of players with Black would be expecting ] [ 5.c3 which transposes to the main line. Therefore the advance of the c-pawn will have a lot of surprise value. ] 5...a6!? In the Grand Prix Attack is rarely a good idea to waste a move on encouraging White to exchange pieces on c6 because this is one of the main ideas. [ There are not many games played in this line but I discovered a few which will give an idea of what to expect: 5...b6 A) 6.a3 f6 7.e5 ( perhaps 7.d3 ) 7...d5 8.d3 is equal; B) 6.e2 a6 7.c4 a5 8.0-0 xc4 9.xc4 e6 10.d4 cxd4 11.cxd4 f6 12.c3 xe4? Black is trying to be smart but he ends up being the joker 13.xe4 d5 14.c5 1-0 Hallerova,E-Ptacnikova,L/ Brno 1991. ] [ 5...f6 6.d3 it does look rather tame but on the other hand Black will not really know what to because this is a fairly obscure line 2171

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and will end up consuming a lot of time on the clock 0-0 7.0-0 d5 8.e5 e8 9.xc6 bxc6 10.e3 b6 11.b4 ( also possible is 11.bd2 when the threat of Nb3 causes Black a headache because xb2 12.xc5 b7 13.d4 gives White the advantage) 11...d4 12.bxc5! b2 13.xd4 xa1 14.b3 the black queen is trapped which is a shocker b8 ( 14...a5 15.c4 and White will win ) 15.xb8 e6 16.xa7 b2 the black queen has escaped but at a heavy cost of 3 pawns so W hite's victory is imminent, Turov,M-Hoelzl, F/Balatonlelle 2003. ] 6.xc6 dxc6 7.d3 Sveshnikov seems to be taking things easy but there is some venom in this line. This is because normally Black takes back with 6...bxc6 allowing him to contest the centre with a future ...d7-d5. Now this option is not available so one idea is that White can attack on the kingside more easily. However, White decides on a different approach. f6 8.0-0 0-0 9.c2 [ Also possible is another set-up for White: 9.e3 b6 10.e5 c7 11.d2 with equal chances. ] 9...b6 10.bd2 a5 11.c4 a6 12.ce5 W hite has no desire to allow ...Bxc4 and seeks to undermined the pawn on c6. c7 13.e3 White catches up on development so he can bring the queen's rook into the game. ad8 14.ad1 d7 15.g4 f5 This a decent move but of course there are some long-term risks because now the black king is exposed 16.f2 e5?! [ Instead 16...fxe4 17.xe4 f6 is roughly equal. ] 17.b3+ h8 18.g5! OK, it is fairly obvious but the threat of a knight fork on e6 or f7 is a scorcher! c4 19.dxc4 White picks up a pawn for free. exf4? This mistake allows White to dictate havoc on the board. [ 19...de8 is necessary when 20.d3 fxe4 21.xe4 is better for White. ] 20.e6 e5 [ Or 20...c8 21.xf4 followed by taking a rook is very bad news for Black. ] 21.xf8 fxe3 22.xd7 exf2+ 23.xf2 e7?! [ 23...c7 is the better option although 24.fd2 maintains White advantage. ]

24.xb6 c8 25.fd2 fxe4 26.c5 [ 26.b8 would convince Black to put his coat on and go home. ] 26...e8 27.f6! xf6 [ Or 27...xd2 28.xe8 xd1+ 29.f2 f5 30.a7 is very good for White. ] 28.xd8 xd8 29.d4+ g8 30.xd8 f7 31.xe8+ [ 31.c7+ f6 32.d8 is the meanest way t o co n t in u e a n d d e m o n s t ra t e j u s t h o w terrible the position is for Black. ] 31...xe8 32.e1 1-0

2026 Sveshnikov,Evgeny Ramesh,Ramachandran B Open Dubai UAE (2) [Gary Lane]

B21 2571 2458 16.04.2001

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.c3 d8 5.f3 c6 6.b5 d7 7.0-0 White gets on with the job of developing. [ 7.e2 is also possible. ] 7...e6 8.xc6 White takes the knight because he wants to install his own knight on e5. [ 8.b3 the idea to fianchetto on the qu e e n s i d e i s s o l id b u t n o t p a r t i c u l a r l y threatening for Black. e7 9.b2 f6 10.d3 0-0 11.e4 d4 12.xd7 xd7 13.c4 ad8 14.xd4 cxd4 15.xf6+ xf6 16.b4 led to equal chances in Sveshnikov,EKiselev,S/Podolsk 1992. ] [ 8.e2 ge7 9.e5 c7 10.xc6 xc6 11.b5 d8 12.c4 ( 12.h5!? g6 13.e2 is one way to try and compromise Black's pawn structure but it is harmless.) 12...c8 13.e5 xe5 14.fxe5 e7 15.g4 0-0 16.d3 f5 17.g3 d7 18.d6 xd6 19.exd6 b6 20.b3 ( 20.e5 c6 21.e3 is good for White) 20...f6 21.e5 with chances in favour for White, Gikas,BSchulz,K/Kleve 1999. ] 8...xc6 9.e5 c8 10.e2 White generally puts the queen on e2 in order to connect the rooks and reinforce the e5 knight. [ 10.h1 White tucks the king into the corner to avoid any annoying checks on the g1-a7 diagonal but it is a bit slow f6 11.d3 e7 12.e2 0-0 13.d2 b5 14.xc6 2172

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc6 15.xb5 b6 A) 16.c4 a6 17.c3 xb2 18.ab1 c2?? ( 18...a3 19.b7 and White is better because the black queen is misplaced ) 19.fc1 wins; B) 16.c3 xb2 17.ab1 a3 18.b3 a6 19.f5 with roughly equal chances, Simmons,M-Battal,T/St Helier 2003. ] 10...e7 11.d3 f6 12.e3 0-0 13.ad1 Sveshnikov is content to activate his pieces and wait to see what happens. d5 14.xd5 exd5 15.d4 c4 16.f5 As usual in the Grand Prix the theme of advancing the f-pawn occurs again. e8 17.g4 a4? Ramesh is a strong international player but fails to spot a tactical combination. [ 17...f6!?= ] 18.h6 [ 18.h6 f6 19.xg7 A) 19...h5! Black was probably too shocked to notice this resource although admittedly W hite is still on top 20.xf6+ ( 20.g3 h4 21.a3 xc2 and the game continues but W hite's advantage is not huge) 20...hxg4 21.xd8 fxd8 22.xg4 when the ending favours White but it is not all over.; B) 19...xg7 20.f6 ] 1-0

2027 Tas,Gunther Dardha,Arben Team championship (6) [Gary Lane]

B21 2241 12.01.2002

cxd4 and Black wins a pawn. ] 10...xe2 11.xe2 e7 12.f3 Something has clearly gone wrong in the opening if the king's knight retreats. [ Or 12.e3 xg5 13.xf5 exf5 14.fxg5 0-0 15.0-0 e8 gives Black a small edge. ] 12...b4 13.e3 xe3 14.xe3 bxc3 15.bxc3 d4 16.d2 [ 16.cxd4 cxd4 17.d2 offers roughly equal chances. ] 16...dxc3 17.xc3 0-0 18.0-0 d5 Dardha has a good initiative and is aiming to attack the weak d3 pawn. 19.fd1 fd8 20.a3 b8! The rook swings into a position to be able to infiltrate White's position. 21.e1 b3 22.c2 White defends the bishop and is already suffering due to his passive position. db8 23.db1 d4 24.xd4 xd4+ 25.h1 b2 26.xb2? This seems the most natural move but it allows Black to stay on top. [ 26.f3! xc2 27.xb8+ d8 28.xd8+ xd8 29.g1 with decent chances of survival compared to the actual game. ] 26...xb2 27.c1 f2 28.h3 What else? The threat was back rank mate. h4 29.d1 f1+ 30.h2 xe1 0-1

2028 Taylor,Leon Perelshteyn,Eugene World Junior Championship (1) [Gary Lane]

B21 2424 18.09.2000

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 d3 [ 3...dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 is the main 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.e5?! An usual move line Morra Gambit. ] because W hite tends to exchange on d5. 4.xd3 c6 5.f3 g6 6.0-0 g7 White wishes to keep the tension and maybe B l a c k i s b e h i n d i n d e v e l o p m e n t . 7.c4 even steer the game towards a sort of French An interesting idea which often occurs in this structure by even playing c2-c3 and d2-d4. line. Basically, White wants to make room for c6 4.f3 g4! This is the big difference his queen's knight to develop to c3 and with a wit h a n o rm a l Fre n ch b e ca use t h e ligh t - pawn on c4 it will further cement W hite's squared bishop becomes active and Black control of the d5 square. has already equalised. 5.e2 e6 6.d3 ge7 [ 7.f4 f6 8.e1 d6 9.bd2 this looks 7.bd2 Tas is content to just develop his se nsib le , ju st d eve lo ping t he p ie ce s in pieces which is a quiet way to handle the anticipation of a middlegame battle. 0-0 opening. f5 8.f1 c8 9.c3 b5 10.g5 10.e2 d7 11.ad1 b6 12.b3 [ 10.d4 bolsters the pawn centre but fails to ( 12.c4!? is another possibility) 12...de5 impress upon xf3 11.xf3 cxd4 12.cxd4 13.xe5 xe5 14.c2 c7 15.d4 b7 2173

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ( 15...c4 16.xe5 xe2 17.xe2 xe5 18.c6 f6 19.b3 gives White a slight edge ) 16.b3 ac8 17.d5 b8 1/2-1/2 W oeber,F-Pilaj,H/ Dornbirn AUT 2002. ] [ 7.e3 d6 8.d2 f6 9.c4 this move should co me as no surprise becau se it happens so often and is designed to allow t h e qu e e n ' s k n i gh t t o e m e r ge o n c 3 g4 10.d4 0-0 11.f4 ( 11.c3 is lo gica l) 11...d7 12.h3 xd4 13.xd4 c6 14.c3 e5 15.e3 ( 15.fxe5 is met by d7 ) 15...exf4 16.xf4 h5 17.h2 a5 18.xd6 fd8 19.c5 d4+ 20.h1 xd6! 21.cxd6 g3+ 22.h2 e5 23.g1 xf1 24.xf1 xd6 25.c4 c5+? 26.h1 xc4 27.xd6?? xf1+ 0-1 Foisor,SVazquez,R/Pobla de Lillet ESP 2002. ] 7...d6 Black's structure reminds me of the Dragon. 8.c3 f6 9.h3 White takes time to cut out the pin with ...Bg4 but he also wants to develop the queen's bishop to e3 and is concerned about ...Ng4. 0-0 10.e3 [ 10.e2 is often played by Morra players in order to co-ordinate the rooks and prepare Rd1. d7 11.d2 is White really worried a b o u t B l a c k e xc h a n g i n g h i s i m p o r t a n t b i s h o p t o d o u b l e t h e c - p a w n s ? de5 12.xe5 dxe5 13.e3 ( 13.ad1 d4 14.e3 e6 15.d5 intending Bc3 and f2f4 with an edge) 13...d4 14.d1 b6 15.f3 b7 16.f2 e6 17.d2 e7 18.f1 ad8 19.e1 d7 20.ad1 fd8 21.f2 f5 gave Black the better prospects, Hedke,FVogt,L/German Team Championship 1998/ ] 10...a6 [ 10...b6 11.e2 ( 11.d2 to prepare Bh6 is worth a thought.) 11...b7 12.fd1 d7 13.ac1 c8 14.b1 c7 15.b3 b8 in some lines the black queen does well to hide and for example take up residence on a8 to boost the power of the light-squared bishop BUT not in this type of position. 16.d5 fe8 17.g5 e6 18.e3 h6 19.f4 de5 20.g4 with the better position, Kostin,A-Kalod,R/Martin 1996. ] 11.d2 I like the queen on d2 where it can help to play Bh6 to exchange off bishops. d7 12.d5 xd5 13.cxd5 [ 13.exd5 e5 14.xe5 xe5 15.ae1 is fine for White. ]

13...e5 14.xe5 xe5 15.f4 g7 16.f5 White is serious about attacking the kingside and has good prospects as long as he can find a breakthrough. b5 17.xb5 axb5 18.fxg6!? This releases the tension. Perhaps W hite could have considered doubling the ro o ks o n t h e f -f ile a n d e ve n e xch a n gin g bishops via d4 or h6 before making a commitment with the f5 pawn. hxg6 19.h6 xh6 20.xh6 b6+ 21.f2?! Why allow a rook to be pinned so that it cannot move? [ 21.h2 d4 and the black queen is ready to drop back to g7 to cancel out any mating ambitions. ] [ 21.h1 ] 21...ac8 [ After 21...d4 22.d2 xd2 ( 22...xe4 23.e1 h4 24.a3 a4 25.e3 g i v e s W h i t e a n i n i t i a t i v e) 23.xd2 with an equal position. ] 22.c1 d4 23.xc8 xc8 24.f4 f6 25.h2 At last White has time to walk away from the pin but now Black has activated his r e m a i n i n g p i e c e s . c4 26.e2 g7 27.g3?! To his credit Taylor is determined to win but this is not the right course of action. [ 27.g3 b4 ] 27...b4 [ 27...c2! ensures at least a draw. 28.xc2 d3+ 29.f3 xc2 30.b3 xa2 when it might still be a draw but Black has the best practical chances. ] 28.e3 e5+ 29.f4 [ 29.f2 c5 ] 29...d4 30.e3 d1 31.d2 [ It is about time White faced reality and play the quiet 31.h2 to avoid any nasty accidents when c2 32.xc2 xc2 33.d4 is equal. ] 31...b1 32.e5? White is trying too hard to win when the position demands he should be t h i n k i n g a b o u t s e c u r i n g t h e d r a w . fxe5 33.g5? e1+ Finally, the exposed white king is the reason for Black being able to create tactical chances. 34.f2 [ 34.h2 d o e s lit t l e t o h e lp a f t e r f4 35.xe7+ h6 36.d4 xd4 37.f8+ g5 38.d8+ f4 39.f6+ e3 40.xd6-+ ] 34...f4 35.xe7+ [ 35.h2 is one last hope xf2 36.g3-+ ] 2174

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 35...h6 [ 35...h6 36.h2 xf2-+ ] 0-1

2029 Teterin,Sergey Grischuk,Alexander Novgorod (1) [Gary Lane]

B21 2395 29.06.1998

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.c3 [ 4.b5+ d7 5.xd7+ bxd7 6.c4 is the main alternative. ] 4...xd5 Black gets his pawn back without a struggle. 5.b5+ [ 5.xd5 xd5 6.b5+ ( 6.f3 is a n in vita tion t o an e qu al e nd in g an d probable draw e6+ 7.e3 c6 8.f3 g6 9.b5 xe3+ 10.dxe3 d7 11.d2 g7 12.0-0-0 a6 led to equal chances in V.HortP.Cramling, Roquebrune 1998.) 6...d7 7.xd7+ xd7 8.f3 Once again it is W h i t e wh o i s h a p p y t o st e e r t h e g a m e towards an equal ending. f6 9.d3 e6 10.xd5 xd5 11.c3 d6 12.e2 0-0 13.0-0 fd8 14.f3 ac8 15.d2 (=) b8 16.af1 c6 17.d4 f6 18.e3 with equal chances, M.Vann-J.Daugman, Birmingham 2001. ] 5...d7 [ 5...c6 6.f3 ( 6.f3!? intending Ne5 looks like a good idea) 6...db4 7.a4 f5 8.d3= ] 6.xd7+ xd7 7.f3 c6 [ 7...xf4 is tempting when White may continue 8.0-0 with play along the f-file in compensation for the pawn. ( 8.d4 xg2+ 9.f2 cxd4 10.xd4 h4-+ )] 8.0-0 g6 [ Or 8...xf4 9.g5 e5 10.d3 e7 11.xf4 exf4 12.h3 0-0 13.xf4 fe8 ] 9.e5 [ 9.d3 g7 10.e4= ] 9...xe5 10.fxe5 xc3 11.dxc3 c6 12.e2 g7 The simplification has seen White end up with an isolated e-pawn, which is an obvious target for Black. 13.f4 0-0 14.ad1 [ 14.fe1 intending e5-e6 is worth investigating. ]

14...ad8 15.f3 e6 16.e3 xd1 17.xd1 xa2 Black wins a pawn and the next stage of the game is to consolidate the position. 18.c1 [ 18.xc5 xb2 19.xe7 xc2 20.d8 b1+ 21.f2 b6+ 22.d4 a5 and watch that a-pawn roll forward. ] 18...e6 19.e3 a2 20.c1 a4 21.b3 e4 22.e1 d5 23.d1 White can chase the queen around but he can't make an y progress. e4 24.e1 f5 25.d2 b6 A patient approach to strengthen Black's pawn structure. 26.g3 White wants to release the queen from protecting the bishop so that it can invade the seventh rank. h6! 27.f1 g5 28.e3 xe5 Black is two pawns up and is winning. 29.c4 e6 30.d1 f5 31.f2 f4 32.e1 f5 33.gxf4 g4+ 34.h1 f3+ 35.g1 xf4 36.f1 d4 0-1

2030 Thomas,George Alan Alekhine,Alexander Baden-Baden Baden Baden (10) [Nigel Davies]

B21

1925

The King's Indian Attack is even playable a g a i n s t A l e k h in e ' s De f e n c e . W h il s t i t i s obviously not an attempt to refute Black's play, it produces a controlled positional game and contains a drop of poison should Black be careless. There is no shortage of playable replies, my personal preference being 2...c5 as in this game. 1.e4 f6 2.d3 c5 3.f4 A logical move, taking space on the kingside. [ Nimzovitch also tried 3.c4 in a couple of games, his game against Alekhine from Dresden 1926 continuing c6 4.c3 ( 4.f4 d6 5.c3 g6 6.e2 g7 7.e3 d4 8.d2 g4 gave White nothing in Nimzowitsch - Vukovic, Kecskemet 1927) 4...e6 5.f4 d5 6.e5 d4 7.e4 xe4 8.dxe4 g5 with a highly original and complex position ] [ 3.f3 c6 4.g3 brings about a King's Indian Attack. ] 3...c6 4.f3 g6 5.e2 [ I would prefer 5.g3 leading positions akin to a Closed Sicilian. The delayed development 2175

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 of W hite's knight to c3 has some definite advantages. ] 5...g7 6.bd2? The knight is poorly placed on this square. [ Better are both 6.0-0 ] [ and 6.c3 ] 6...d5 7.0-0 0-0 8.h1 b6 9.exd5 If White has to give up the centre like this, his position is already very bad. [ Most of his problems stem from his 6th move, 9.e5 g4 threatening ...Ne3. ] 9...xd5 10.e1 b7 11.c4 d4 12.e3 c6 13.d1 d5 14.xd4 cxd4 15.xd5 xd5 16.f3 d7 17.xb7 xb7 In this simplified position, Black's plan is to put pressure on the c2 pawn. White decides to avoid this, but at the serious cost of contracting weak pawns on c3 and d3. 18.c4?! dxc3 19.bxc3 ac8 20.b2 fd8 21.f3 f6 22.d4 Strategic capitulation, as now B la ck 's p ieces inf iltrate o n th e ligh t s qu a re s . B u t in t h e lo n g r u n it wo u ld b e im po s sible t o a vo id th is m ove in vie w o f Black's impending ... Qa6. d5 23.e3 b5 24.d2 d5 25.h3 e6 26.e1 a4 27.a1 b5 28.d1 c4 29.b3 d6 30.h2 a6 31.ff1 e7 32.h1 cc6 33.fe1 h4 34.f1 c4 35.xc4 xc4 36.a3 e7 37.fb1 d6 38.g3 f8 39.g2 e7 40.f2 d7 41.e2 c6 42.a2 ca4 43.ba1 d5 44.d3 6a5 45.c1 a6 46.b2 h5 47.h4 f6 48.c1 e5! The decisive breakthrough. 49.fxe5 fxe5 50.b2 exd4 51.cxd4 b4! 52.axb4 xa2 53.bxa5 xb2 0-1

2031 Valenti,Giuseppe Wild,Alexander Italian Championship Semi-final (8) [Gary Lane]

B21 2200 1999

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.f3 d6 4.c3 dxc3 5.xc3 c6 6.c4 e6 7.0-0 e7 [ Or 7...d7?! 8.b5 b8 9.f4 e5 10.b3! is good for White. ] 8.e2 d7 9.d1 a6 The pawn stop a white knight occupying the b5 square and also prepares ...b7-b5. 10.f4 c7

[ 10...e5 is the main alternative: 11.e3 f6 12.b4!? ( 12.d5 White is a pawn down but his compensation is based on greater space and the ability to occupy the important d5 square xd5 13.xd5 0-0 14.ac1 h8 15.d2 g5 16.c4 xe3 17.xe3 e7 18.xd6! xd6 19.xc6 xc6 20.xc6 xc6 21.f3 with a winning advantage, Friedl, G-Theiss,H/ Landshut 1999.) 12...b5 ( 12...xb4 13.ab1 c6 14.xb7 c8 15.b6 is better for White) 13.d5 c8 14.a3 ( 14.b2!? should be considered) 14...0-0 ( 14...xb4! 15.axb4 xc3 16.xa6 xd5 17.exd5 0-0 18.da1 c4 is fine for Black) 15.h3 xb4 16.axb4 xc3 17.xa6 xd5 18.xd5 c4 gave Black the advantage in Noland,S-Newsham,J/ Dallas 1999. ] 11.ac1 Valenti sensibly adds the queen's rook into the action by taking up residence on the c-file intending a potential attack on the queen. However, the fact that Black has not played the usual ...e7-e6 should be an inspiration. [ 11.e5! is the most aggressive move plunging Black into trouble: a5 ( 11...d5 12.xd5! exd5 13.xd5 a5 14.e6 winning ) 12.d5! d8 ( 12...exd5 13.xd5 d8 14.exd6 c8 15.dxe7 xe7 16.g5 f6 17.xf6 and White will win brilliantly. )] 11...d8 [ 11...f6 12.e5 h5 13.g5 ( 13.exd6 xf4 14.dxc7 xe2+ 15.xe2 c8 16.e4 f6 with a better ending for Black) 13...dxe5 14.xe7 xe7 15.e4 when White's compensation is based on the black king being in the centre of the board. ] 12.h3 [ 12.e5 d5 13.d3 a5 14.a3 gives White sufficient compensation for the pawn. ] 12...c8 [ 12...f6 13.d2= ] 13.b3 [ 13.e5 d5 14.d3 a5 ] 13...a5 14.c2 g5? Wild by name wild by nature! A reckless move which is an indication of frustration with a passive position. However, Black does have an extra pawn and should try to get the rest of his pieces activated with [ 14...f6!? resulting in equal chances. ] 2176

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.d2 The bishop retreats and Black has nothing more to do on the kingside. Now White is better because the black king can no longer saf ely castle kingside with such a weakened pawn structure. b4 16.cc1 d7 [ 16...b6+17.a4 b5 18.xb5+ axb5 19.b6 c6 20.xg5 and White is on top. ] 17.a3 c8 [ 17...h5 18.e3 c5 19.axb4 xe3 20.xe3+- ( 20.fxe3?! g4+- )] 18.axb4 [ 18.b1!? i s a l s o v e r y g o o d xc1 19.xc1 d8 20.xb4 and Black can resign. ] 18...xb4 19.a2 h6 [ 19...xb2 20.b1 a3 21.b3 a5 22.b1 is much better for White. ] 20.e3 [ 20.d5 a4 21.b6 xa2 22.xc8 a4 23.xd6+ f8+- ] 20...c6 21.d4 d7 22.f3 White is taking his time to win when a more positive approach would speed things up. [ 22.b1 seems even better f6+- ] 22...c6 23.d4 [ 23.d4!? is also good after e5 24.d5 a5 25.b4 winning. ] 23...a5 24.d2 b5 25.b4 a3 26.db1 The black queen has been cleverly trapped and the game is over as a contest. xc1+ 27.xc1 f6 28.xd6 e5 29.d1 f6 [ 29...e7 allows White to prove himself upon 30.h5 d7 31.xd7 xd7 32.xf7+- ] 30.d5 d7 31.b2 xb2 32.xb2 1-0

Gambit. ] 5.xd3 d6 6.0-0 g6 7.c4 [ 7.b3!? has been suggested. ] 7...g7 8.c3 f6 9.h3 White wishes to prevent the pin on the knight with ...Bg4. 0-0 10.e2 The queen gets out of the way to allow the rooks to co-ordinate. W hite has tested various moves: [ 10.e3 d7 ( 10...h6 11.c1 e6 12.b3 a5 13.d2 h7 14.d5 xd2 15.xd2 fc8 16.b4 gave White a space advantage in Deckert,M-Dreckmeier,D/Erlangen 1994.) 11.e2 a5 12.a3 fc8 13.b4 h5 Black is consistent in transferring the queen to the kingside rather than retreating 14.ac1 h6 15.fe1 g5 a risky gesture to try and attack with very little reinforcements to justify the advance 16.b5 a5 17.d5 with a pleasant space advantage, Gipslis,ABuslaev,A/Tbilisi 1965. ] [ 10.g5 h6 11.h4 d7 12.c1 c5 13.b1 e6 14.b3 a5 15.d5 led to equal ch a n c e s i n M u zyc h u k , A -M a m o n o va , Y / Sevastopol 2000. ] 10...h5 [ 10...d7 looks a reasonable choice. ] 11.e3 e5 The big problem with this advance is that while it supports a knight occupying f4 it produces some long-term problems. The first is that the backward d-pawn looks very weak and the other is that the option ...e7-e6 is ruled out meaning that White has complete control of the d5 square. [ 11...xc3 has the merit of doubling the cpawns but this is of fset by the resulting we a k n e s s o f t h e d a r k s q u a r e s o n t h e kingside. ] 12.ad1 e6 13.b1 b8 [ 13...f4 14.xf4 exf4 15.d5 is good for White. ] 2032 B21 14.b3 I prefer White who has strong pressure Vera,Kelver 2233 against the d6 pawn and better placed pieces. 15.d5 h7 16.d2 g5 17.c5 Nina,Miguel 2238 h6 Championship (11) 08.10.2002 White really needs this to work otherwise he has carelessly allowed Black to get rid of the [Gary Lane] weak d-pawn. [ 17.d3!? ] 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 White uses a slightly different move-order to 17...dxc5 18.xc5 g8 [ 18...d8 19.xg5+ is a knockout blow enter the Morra Gambit. d3 Black declines after h8 ( 19...hxg5 20.xg5 f4 the gambit which should give White an edge. 21.xf4 exf4 22.e5+ g8 23.h5 [ 4...dxc3!? 5.xc3 is the main line Morra 2177

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 winning ) 20.xe6 fxe6 21.c2+- ] 19.e3!? White is still busy shuffling his pieces around the board to exploit Black's weaknesses. [ 19.d6!? looks initially like a winner but Black reveals an escape clause after c8 20.c7 xh3! 21.e1 ( or 21.xa8 xg2 22.h2 xf1-+ ) 21...d4 giving Black sufficient attacking chances. ] [ 19.b4 is a good way to gain space on the queenside. ] 19...f4 20.f5 A classical outpost f8 21.xf8 xf8 22.d6 I don't know why White wants to give us his attacking options where Black has no problems. [ 22.e3!?= is another option. ] 22...e2+ 23.h2 c3 24.xf8 gxf8 25.c1 xb1 26.xb1 xf5 27.exf5 It is ironic that after all the exchanges it is White who now a poor pawn structure due to the doubled f-pawns. g7 28.fe1 f6 29.g4 ad8 30.bd1 fe8 31.d2 The knight has lots of good squares available and will help to put a long fight.....but! e4 [ 31...d4 32.e4+ g7 33.g2 ] 32.c4 d4 33.g2 h5 34.e3 b5 35.c1 hxg4 36.hxg4 e5 [ 36...a5 looks much more sensible and keeps Black on top. ] 37.c5+ f6 [ 37...f4 38.f6= ] 38.c7?! [ 38.d5+! actually allows White to grab the initiative upon g7 39.c3 to attack the epawn. ] 38...a6 39.ec1 [ 39.a7 d6 defends the a6 pawn. ] 39...e7 [ 39...d6 40.h1 g7 41.d1= ] 40.xe7 xe7 41.c7+ f6 42.a7 [ 42.f1 e2= ] 42...d6 43.g3? [ 43.f1!? ] 43...e2+ 44.g2 c1 A premature resignation but Black is wining the ending. 0-1

2033 Vistisen,Lars Adamski,Jan Copenhagen (2) [Gary Lane]

B21 2195 2415 1999

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 5.f3 [ 5.c4 is also possible. ] 5...c5 6.c4 e7 [ 6...d6 7.0-0 e7 8.e2 0-0 9.d1 g6 10.a3 a6 11.b4 a7 12.b5 f6 13.d2 d7 14.bxa6 bxa6 15.d5? exd5 16.g5 f4! The move that White missed means t h a t B l a c k i s wi n n i n g . 17.d2 h3+ 18.gxh3 xf3 19.xd5 e5 0-1 D.FauthW.Zahn, Bayern 1995. ] 7.0-0 0-0 [ 7...g6 8.g5 f6 ( 8...0-0 9.xh7! xh7 10.h5+ g8 11.xc5 ) 9.h3 0-0 10.h1 a6 11.f4 b5 12.b3 c6 13.h5 a7 14.e5 d4 ( 14...fxe5 15.g5 h6 16.xg6 hxg5 17.c2 f7 18.h7+ f8 19.f5 the White onslaught is impressive.) 15.exf6 xf6 16.g5 h6 17.ce4 f5 18.g4 b7 19.gxf5 hxg5 20.e1 xb3 21.fxg6 1-0 F.Costa-P.Pinho, Lisbon 1998. ] 8.e5 A natural move which seems right because the e4 square is vacated for the knight. However, in the game Black responds energetically to limit W hite's initiative. It might be better to try Qe2 and then Rd1 to exert some pressure on the semi-open d-file. d5 9.exd6 xd6 10.b5 d5 [ 10...c5? 11.xd8 xd8 12.c7+- ] 11.xd6 xd6 12.e2 White belatedly follows the standard idea of making room for the rook on d1. However, it normally stifles development but in this case having already played ...d5 Black can smoothly develop. d7 13.d1 b6 14.b4 b7 Adamski gives a good example of how to conduct the game. The fianchetto reinforces the defence of the knight on d5, and in the middlegame the influence of bishop on the h1-a8 diagonal will be important. 15.b2 ac8 16.d4 [ 16.a3 fd8 Black is simply a pawn up and i s i n a g o o d p o s i t i o n t o c o p e wi t h t h e potential power of W hite's dark-squared bishop. ] 16...fd8 17.ad1 f8 18.g5 c7 2178

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.g4 f6 20.e2 xd4 21.xd4 h6 7.e2!? 22.f3 xf3 23.gxf3 [ 7.g5!? f6 8.f4 g6 ( 8...0-0 9.d6 [ 23.xf3 e5! 24.h4 e4 is o n e wa y o f t r yi n g t o re st r ic t B l a c k ' s and the vulnerability of the bishop on c4 is de ve lo p m e n t) 9.g3 a6 10.0-0 c6 revealed. ] 11.c1 b5 12.b3 b6 ( 12...0-0 13.xb5 23...e5 24.h4 g6 25.a6 xf2+ 14.xf2 axb5 15.d6 e8 [ 25.h3 xc4-+ ] gives W hite decent compensation for the 25...xh4 pawn because Black's pieces lack 0-1 harmony ) 13.a4 b4 14.d5 0-0 15.xb6 xb6 16.d6 ge7 17.fd1 d8 18.d2 e8 19.d4 xd4 20.xd4 c6 2034 B21 21.xe6+! h8 22.dd1 dxe6 23.xc6 xc6 24.xc6 e5 25.b6 White has an Vospernik,Andrej 2144 edge but is unable to make much progress Bacsi,Andras 2131 in the ending a5 26.f3 e8 27.dd6 h6 First Saturday (9) 10.06.2001 28.e1 g8 29.f2 f7 30.dc6 e7 [Gary Lane] 31.d2 d7 32.c1 xa4 1/2-1/2 L. Tegzes-R.Paksa, Hungary 1998. ] 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.f3 [ 7.0-0 is a reasonable alternative ] [ 3.xd4 c6 4.a4 e5= ] 7...0-0 8.g5 bc6 9.d1 a6 Controls b5 3...e6 10.a3 A dual purpose move that prepares to [ 3...e5 4.c3 dxc3 5.xc3 ] gain space on the queenside with b2-b4 and 4.c3 also cope with the possibility of ...b7-b5-b4. b5 [ 4.xd4!? c6 5.a4= ] 4...dxc3 A true test of a gambit is to grab the 11.a2 d6 Black reduces the effectiveness of e4-e5. pawn! 5.xc3 c5 6.c4 e7 [ 11...a5!? ] [ 6...d6 7.0-0 a6 8.e2 e7 9.d1 A) 9...bc6!? 10.f4 g6 11.g3 e5 12.b4 a7 13.0-0 c7 14.c1 b8 15.e5 [ 15.fd1 b7 ] Black gives up control of the important d5 square but he is a pawn up! 12.h3 0-0 15...dxe5 16.e4 [ 16.xe7!? xe7 17.xe5 ] 13.a3 e6 14.ac1 ( 14.b4 d4 Black has effectively halted White's 15.xd4 xd4 16.ac1 c8 is better for 16...f6 Black ) 14...c8 15.b4 d4 16.xd4 initiative from the opening and now it is time xd4 17.d5 xd5 18.xd5 xc1 to count the pawns. 17.e3 xe3 18.fxe3 19.xc1 g5! 20.d1 xg3 21.xd4 d8 [ Or 18...a5 19.c5 axb4 20.xe6 xe6 f4 22.f1 xh3+ 0-1 F.Absmaier-H. 21.xe6+ h8 22.axb4 d6-+ ] Gergen, Bayern 1997.; B) 9...0-0 10.g5 bc6 11.a4 a7 19.fg5 [ 19.c5 a5 ] 12.c3 b5 13.b3 c7 14.d3 c5 15.a4 b4 it is now Black who has the 19...h6 [ 19...fxg5 20.xg5 f5 21.g4-+ ] initiative and just as importantly the extra Very ambitious but Morra Gambit pawn. 16.e2 a5 17.d2 g6 18.e3 20.h5? ce5 19.xe5 xe5 20.ac1 a6 p l a ye r s c e r t a i n l y l i k e t o a t t a c k a t e v e r y 21.d4 ( 21.f4!? e7 and Black is opportunity. [ 20.f3 is the safer alternative but Black better ) 21...ac8 22.f4 e7 23.xc5 remains on top. ] xc5 24.e3 fc8 25.xc5 dxc5 26.f3 h6 27.d2 g5 28.h1 c4 29.d6 20...hxg5 [ Also possible 20...fxg5 21.xf8+ xf8 ( 29.c2 d3 30.xd3 xd2 31.xd2 22.f1+ f5 23.c5-+ ] cxd3 32.d1 b3 intending Rc2 is winning for instance 33.xb3 c1+ 34.d1 d2 21.xg5 fxg5 22.xf8+ xf8 23.f1+ f5 35.g1 e2 and Black wins)) 29...xf4 24.g4 [ 24.e4 doesn't change anything anymore 0-1 M.DellaValle-A.Fester,ECG 1999. ] 2179

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a7+ 25.h1 g6 26.xg6 g7 27.exf5 23.xh7! e5 24.h4 g6 25.g3 f7 xg6 28.fxg6+ g7-+ ] 26.xf6 e5 27.e8+ f4 28.xg7+ 24...b6 25.gxf5 xe3+ 26.f2 exf5 1-0 T.Alexandrou-H.Polizou, Patras 2000. ] 27.h8+ e7 28.xg7+ d6 29.f8+ [ 6...ge7 7.g5 f6 ( 7...h6? 8.b5 d5 c7 30.d5 c1+ 9.exd5 exd5 10.f4 wins ) 8.e3 g6 [ 30...b8 makes it even easier for Black 9.0-0 e7 10.e2 a6?! ( 10...0-0!? 31.e7+ d7 32.g2-+ ] 11.fd1 ) 11.a4 c7 12.b6 b8 31.g2?? further deteriorates the position 13.ac1 0-0 14.fd1 f5 ( 14...h8 This could be down to time-trouble. is a better bet.) 15.exf5 xf5 16.d3 h8 [ 31.f1 c3 32.xa8 e3+ 33.h1 ] ( 16...d5 17.xf5! exf5 18.xd5 31...c6 32.b3 is very good for W hite.) 17.xd7 xd7 [ 32.f7+ just delays the inevitable loss b6 18.xd7 xd7 19.xd7 the ending is very 33.f1 c3 and Black is winning. ] good for W hite f8 20.d2 b4 21.e2 32...b7 33.f7+ b6 d8 22.a3 c5 23.xa6 xe3 24.xe3 [ Or 33...e7+ 34.f3 xf3+ 35.xf3 f1+ bxa6 25.xc6 b5 26.b4 a5 27.bxa5 36.e3 f4+ 37.d2 d8+ 38.d5 xd5+ xa5 28.g3 dd5 29.c8 g8 30.b3 39.xd5 xd5 40.c2 e2+ 41.b1 f7 31.b7+ d7 32.e5+ 1-0 M.Adamsd2 42.a1 c3 43.a4 c1# ] W.Watson, Eastbourne 1990. ] 34.d5 7.e2 c7 8.e5 [ 34.e6 is no better after d8 35.c2 [ 8.0-0?! g4 9.h3? d4! is the trap that e3-+ ] White must avoid! ] 34...d8 35.f3 8...g4 9.f4 f6 The critical move. [ 35.f1 does not change the outcome after [ 9...d5 10.exd6 xd6 11.xd6 xd6 d2+ 36.f2 xd5+ 37.xd5 xd5 12.d1 ( 12.0-0? d4! is the outstanding 38.xf5 d3 39.xg5 xa3-+ ] move yet again) 12...e7 13.0-0 0-0 35...g4 14.e4 e5 15.h3 f6 16.d6 e6 0-1 17.xe6 ( 17.xe5 xc4 18.dxc4 fe8 19.fe1 when White has won the pawn back with equal chances.) 17...xe6 18.b3 d4 2035 B21 19.xd4 xd6 20.f3 e6 1/2-1/2 R. Taylor-T.Dougherty, Witley 2000. ] Wall,Tim 2375 [ 9...d6? 10.b5 b6 11.exd6 b8 12.0-0 Kelly,Brian 2390 d7 13.c7+ d8 14.h3 f6 15.g5 Masters Newport (8) 1997 e8 16.ad1 If you get this position on the [Gary Lane] board make sure you let all your friends know about it! d4 17.d2 f5 18.fe1 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 h6 19.gxe6+ 1-0 M.Westerweele-R.De [ 4.xd4!? c6 5.a4= ] Nieuwe, Vlissingen 1999. ] 4...dxc3 5.xc3 c6 6.c4 f6 [ 6...b6?! It is rare to see this queen sortie 10.d5 [ 10.b5 b8 11.d6+ xd6 12.exd6 0-0 so early in the game because it easier for 13.h3 ge5 14.xe5 fxe5 15.xe5 xe5 White to attack it. 7.0-0 f6 8.e3 c7 16.xe5 seems fine for White but needs 9.b5 b8 10.c3 g4 11.g5 c5 some practical tests. ] 12.h4 a6 13.g3 d6 14.a4 xf2+ ( 14...a7 15.xc5 dxc5 16.d6 10...a5+ [ The acceptance of the piece sacrifice is gives White decent chances) 15.xf2 xf2 g o o d n e w s f o r W h i t e a f t e r 10...exd5 16.xf2 b5 17.g5 e5 18.b3 bxa4 11.exf6+ ce5 12.xe5 xe5 13.h5+ 19.xa4+ e7 ( 19...d7 20.xd7+ xd7 g6 14.f7+! is an improvement on the 'book' 21.xf7 is very good for White) 20.h5 f6 line suggested by John Nunn ( 14.xe5+ 21.af1 The great thing about the Morra is xe5+ 15.xe5 dxc4 16.f7+ xf7 that for practical purposes White can create 17.xh8 ) 14...xf7 15.e2+ e5 t re m e n d o u s p la y. a7 22.h1 g6 2180

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.xe5 b4+ 17.d1 xc4 18.xh8+ and White is better. ] 11.d2 d8 12.exf6 xf6 13.f4 b4 14.xb4 xb4 15.0-0 0-0 16.ac1 c6 17.fd1 e7 18.e1 g4 [ 18...d6 19.g3 maintains the tension. ] 19.g3 [ 19.e4 h6= ] 19...f6 20.h3 h6 21.h4 f5 22.cd1 [ 22.d3 is a possible alternative. ] 22...a6 [ 22...cd4!? 23.xd4 xd4 24.e4 f5 25.d5 is fun but Black has probably too many pawns for White to be happy. ] 23.d3 g6 Lending support to the f5 knight. 24.e4 cd4 Black is now in command 25.xd4 xd4 26.c4 c6 27.xc6 bxc6 28.c5 [ 28.b3 b8 ] 28...b8 [ 28...xb2 29.h5 f5 30.e7-+ ] 29.a4 [ 29.b3!? ] 29...xb2 30.e5 d5 [ 30...a2!? 31.h5 d5 32.hxg6 hxg6 33.de1 xa4 34.c2-+ ] 31.de1 b1 32.xb1 xe5 33.xc6 d4 34.c1 f5 35.h2 [ 35.d6 Tim Wall i s a fine player but I think he could have found a better route here. For instance: e5 36.c7 exf4 37.xd4 f6 38.xf6 xf6 39.xc8+ f7 40.c7+ g8= ] 35...e5 36.c5 d7 [ Weaker is 36...exf4 37.xf5 xf5 38.c4+ f7 39.xd4 fxg3+ 40.fxg3 ] 37.xa6 [ 37.d5+ f7 38.a8+ g7 ] 37...e4 [ 37...g4 38.c4+ ( 38.xe5? fails to xf4 39.c4+ h8-+ ) 38...h8 39.g2 ( 39.xe5? doesn't work because of xf4 40.g1 f6-+ ) 39...xf2 40.d5 ] 38.d3 [ 38.c4+!? is worth looking at if White wants more after h8 39.d5 xd5 A) 40.xd5 xa4 ( 40...xf2+?! 41.g1 a2 42.f6= ) 41.f3 xf3-+; B) 40.xd5 xa4 41.xe5 ] 38...e2 39.c4+ [ 39.g1 h3 40.c4+ h8 41.d5

xd3 42.xe5+ g8 43.d5+ f7 44.c7-+ ] 39...h8-+ 40.d5 [ 40.g1 d1+ 41.g2-+ ] 40...xd3 The mate threat is Rxf2 for anybody who has missed it! 41.xd7 [ 41.xe5+ g8 42.d5+ f7 43.c7-+ ] 41...xf2+ 42.h3 f1+ 43.g4 e2+ 44.g5 [ 44.h3 does not help h2# ] 44...h5# 0-1

2036 Welling,Gerard Sokolov,Ivan 7th Gibtelecom Masters (1) [David Vigorito]

B21 2371 2657 27.01.2009

The Big Clamp fails to clamp as Sokolov plays the most challenging continuations against White's uncommon move order. 1.e4 c5 2.d3 c6 3.f4 [ This move poses an interesting move order question. Should White play this way or play 3.g3 first? In either case, Black can play quietly with 3...g6 or try 3...d5, as in the game. d5!? c a n m e m e t w i t h 4.d2 giving a King's Indian Attack ( or more critically with 4.exd5 xd5 5.f3 when White has an extra tempo compared to an English Opening line 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4, but in that variation Black does not always fianchetto his king bishop. In any case, I suspect that 3...d5 is a decent move for Black and this justifies 2. Nc3 as the most co mmon wa y t o he ad into Close d Sicilian and Grand Prix type positions for White. )] 3...d5!? 4.e2 [ 4.exd5 xd5 5.c3 is another "Reversed English", this time with 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 f5 3. d4! exd4 4.Qxd4. Here, after d7!? ( or 5...e6+!? ) 6.f3 b6 Black will develop harmoniously. ] 4...f6 [ 4...dxe4 5.dxe4 xd1+ 6.xd1 is probably just equal, but I think these endings (e4 vs c5) are usually a bit easier to play for White. ] 2181

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 5.e5 d7 Now we have something like a 2.f4 French which has to be harmless. W hite is not worse though - it's a game. 6.c3 e6 7.f3 e7 8.0-0 b5 Black waste no time in starting his queenside play. There is no need to rush to castle. 9.a3 Black's play is quite obvious - he is going to just throw everything at the queenside. White's plan is not so simple, because it is not easy to get in f4-f5. The immediate 9.d4 was also possible. Black can open the c-file, but by securing the e5-pawn W hite can aim for f5. b4 10.c2 bxc3 11.bxc3 b6 12.e1 White is making his intentions clear - the queen will go to the kingside. a4 13.d2 b8 14.g3 0-0 [ If Black intends to connect his rooks he may as well just castle, not fearing White's next. After 14...g6 W hite should play 15.ab1 challenging Black on the b-file with a complex game. ] 15.f5?! [ This allows a strong positional sacrifice. 15.ab1 is better. ] 15...exf5! 16.h6 g6 17.xf8 xc3! This clever in-between move gives Black a big advantage. 18.xe7? [ The only move was 18.e1 although after xe2+ 19.xe2 xf8 Black has two pawns and a great position for the exchange. ] 18...xe2+ 19.f2 xg3 20.xd8 xf1 21.f6 Perhaps White thought the knight on f1 was trapped, but... xh2! 22.xh2 b2 23.c1 b4 This is the point - White no longer can defend with Nf3-e1, so Black will remain several pawns up. [ 23...d4 24.e6 xc2+ 25.xc2 xc2 26.e7 d7 is similar, but the text move is more efficient. ] 24.e6 This is the only try, but it is not enough. d4 25.e7 d7 26.g1 xc2 27.xc2 xc2 28.f3 b4 29.e5 a4 30.g4 d5 [ 30...d5 31.g5 h6 will break White's little blockade. ] 0-1

2037 Wheeler,Darren Emms,John M 4NCL Nottingham ENG (7) [Jonathan Rowson]

B21 2239 2505 09.04.2005

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 Even if it's true that the following Gambit is working for Black, it is worth remembering t hat W hite has othe r continuations here: [ 3.c3!? ] [ 3.d3 ] 3...f6!? The last time I looked, the verdict on this line was that Black didn't get fully sufficient compensation for his pawn. However, I respect John's opening judgment and no doubt he has examined the resulting positions very carefully. 4.b5+ [ 4.c4 e6 5.dxe6 xe6 6.f3 c6 7.c3 Black's compensation here amounts to the weaknesses caused by f4 and long term pressure down the d-file. ] 4...d7 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 e6 7.e2 d6 8.f5 [ 8.dxe6 fxe6 9.d3 c6 10.f3 Here Black can castle either way (intuitively, kingside feels best) and should follow up with ...e5. I suspect his compensation is fully adequate if White clings on the pawn, but maybe there is a way to give it back e.g. 0-0 11.c3 e5 12.f5 xf5 13.e4 And W hite is quite solid, although Black should not be worse. ] 8...0-0 9.fxe6 fxe6 10.dxe6 c7! 11.f3 c6 12.c3 ae8 13.d3 d4 14.xd4 cxd4 15.b5 b4+ 16.d2 [ 16.d1!? b6 17.f4 xe6 18.f3 a6 19.c7 e7 20.d5 xd5 21.xd5+ h8 and although the first wave of trouble has passed, the white rooks are still not playing and the second wave will be much more seriou s e .g. 22.g3 c3! 23.bxc3 b2 24.c1 e2# ] 16...xd2+ 17.xd2 b6 18.e5 xe6 19.xd4 [ 19.c7!? d5! 20.xb6 f2+ 21.c1 xb6 with serious pressure. ] 19...e4+ 20.c2 [ 20.c1 might be f2 21.xb6 axb6 22.d2 xh1 23.xh1 f2+ 24.c3 xg2 25.d4 Black is better, but White's drawing 2182

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 chances are non-negligible. h6 26.h4 g4 27.f5 h5 28.f1 ] 20...f2+ 21.c1 c5 22.b4 xd3+ 23.xd3 ee2 24.d1 f6 25.d5+ [ 25.d4! seems to force Black into taking a draw. g5 26.d5+ xd5+ 27.cxd5 d2+ ] 25...h8 26.c1 xg2 27.c3 ef2 28.e1 f3+ 29.e2 xe2 0-1

13...a6 14.b3 The threat is 15 Na4 Qa5 16 Bd2 which forces the queen to retreat when the c5 pawn can safely be taken. c7 [ Fo r e xa m p le : 14...fe8 15.a4 a5 16.d2 c7 17.xc5 b6 18.f2 leaves White with an extra pawn. ] 15.a3 fd8 16.xc5 At last Williams's plan has triumphed and he has won a vital pawn. f8 17.f2 a5 18.ac1 d7 19.g4 g7 Black's knight was playing a useful role in the centre but now it has been meekly forced to retreat which emphasises White's control of 2038 B21 the game. 20.d1 h5 21.h3 e7 22.e3 d4 23.g2 c5 24.g5 The threat of a Williams,Elijah dominating knight on e4 pushes Black into Staunton,Howard London 1851 exchanging pieces but this merely opens up another avenue of attack in the shape of the [Gary Lane] semi-open f-file. xg5 25.fxg5 b7 26.f4 1.e4 c5 2.f4 c6 3.f3 e6 4.b5 hxg4 27.hxg4 b6 The queen belated tries The idea of giving up the bishop for a knight to take an active role. The idea of setting up to wreck the opponent's pawn structure has mating threats on the h1-a8 diagonal makes quite a sting in its tail. The point is that it sense but it cannot disguise the poor defence c6 29.h2 seems a fairly harmless idea but time and of the black king. 28.g3 again Black has suffered due to the long-term White quickly covers the threat of ...Qh1+ and weakness of the ...c5 pawn. g6 5.xc6 bxc6 in turn finds a way to accelerate the attack on 6.c4!? The idea of blockading the doubled c- the h-f ile. e8 30.c2 f5 31.gxf6 h7 pawns is a good ploy and a common theme in At first glance it looks like Black has managed this opening. It certainly makes sense as t o c o n j u r e u p s o m e a c t i v e p l a y b u t . . . . Black's queenside activity is restricted and he 32.xg6! xf6 [ The queen can be taken but at a heavy c a n n o t p la y . . . c4 t o t r y t o e xch a n g e t h e price: 32...xh2 33.f7+ h7 34.xh2+ doubled pawn. Normally, Black responds at a xg6 35.f8 and Black will soon be later stage with ...d5 to challenge the centre checkmated. ] but in the long-term this merely exposes how weak the c5 pawn has become. g7 7.e2 33.exf6 xh2 34.xh2 e8 35.h8+ f7 b6 8.e5 Williams demonstrates a good 36.e5# A stylish finish. understanding of the position. The ...c5 pawn 1-0 can only safely be defended by playing ...d6 which has now been ruled out. h6 9.c3 B21 f5 10.e4 The knight on e4 is a monster. It 2039 Williamson,Harvey 2400 compliments the opening aims well by Overton,David 2743 attacking the ...c5 pawn and adds the option 2002 of threatening g4 followed by Nd6+. 0-0 11.d3 British Correspondence Chess Society b8 12.0-0 d5 Staunton adopts a robust [Gary Lane] attempt but even at this early stage he has problems because his counterplay can easily 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 f6 Black is be rebuffed. 13.c3 I highly [ Also worth considering: 13.exd6 d8 b e h i n d i n d e v e l o p m e n t . 8.b4 14.b1 xd6 15.e3 xe4 16.dxe4 a6 recommend this move for correspondence 17.b3 when White has a small but lasting games. This is because most players will use advantage because as usual the ... c5 pawn a computer although they tend to say it is only to avoid blunders. However, I suspect a few is a liability. ] 2183

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 who have limited time to study will also use it in the op ening. Consequ ent ly, B lac k will assume he is doing well here because the computer does not take into account the longterm benefits of the pawn sacrifice in the Morra such as active piece play and attacking opportunities. Also someone using a computer will think he is doing well when suddenly the silicon monster will realise what is going on by a b r u p t l y c h a n g i n g t h e a s s e s s m e n t . g4 It makes sense to pin the king's knight to reduce White's attacking opportunities. [ 8...xb4 9.xf7+ ( Or 9.b3 e6! 10.xb4 d5 and Black gets his piece back. ) 9...xf7 10.b3+ e6 11.xb4 d5 12.d4 ] 9.b5 xf3 [ 9...axb5 10.xb5 g6 11.e5?! A tempting move but it is always going to be a risky business to enter an ending a pawn down ( I prefer 11.b2!? when g7 12.d5 gives W hite decent compensation for the pawn ) 11...dxe5 12.xd8+ xd8 13.xe5 d7 14.xd7 xd7 15.b1 g7 16.e1 0-0 17.a4 d5 18.c5 ( Or 18.d1!? e6 19.c4 ce7 makes Black work harder for victory ) 18...c7 19.e4 d4 20.d3 f5 21.d2 ( 21.g3 has the merit of covering the e2 square to avoid the tactic which occurs a few moves later but Black remains on top due to the extra pawn) 21...c3 22.b4 ce2+!! A clever trick which unveils the rook on the c-file with deadly c o n s e q u e n c e s f o r W h i t e . 23.xe2 the rook is successfully deflected from the defence of the dark-squared bishop ( Or 23.xe2 xe2+ 24.xe2 xc1+ 25.f1 d8 intending to double along the a-rank winning easily.) 23...xc1+ 24.f1 xe2+ 25.xe2 b8 with a winning position, Reeman,I-May,M/SCCA 2000/ ] 10.gxf3 [ 10.xf3? is not advisable on account of the fork e5 when Black can win material upon 11.e2 c8! ( White survives after the inaccurate 11...xc4?! followed by 12.xc4 c8 13.d3 when the queen can protect t h e k n igh t) 12.bxa6 bxa6 ( 12...xc4?! is s illy b ec au se 13.axb7 c6 14.b1 gives White some play when he should be resigning ) 13.xa6 xc3 and Black is much

better ] 10...axb5 11.xb5!? A nice idea of Williamson's to activate the knight because pre vio u s e xa m p le s ha d co n ce n tra t ed o n pinning the queen's knight with [ 11.xb5 ] 11...e5 12.b3 e6 Black just wants to catch up with development by preparing to castle kingside. 13.g5 [ 13.b2 is also worth considering to make the most of the knight being on b5, which allows the dark-squared bishop to have greater influence on the a1-h8 diagonal ] 13...c6 14.xf6 [ 14.c1 leads to double-edged play after a5 15.a4 e7 16.xf6 gxf6 17.f4 ] 14...gxf6 15.f4 b6 [ 15...a5 is met by 16.a4 to support the knight on it's strong outpost ] 16.a4 a7 17.xa7 xa7 18.f5! White gets more space. An excellent move designed to increase the scope of the lightsquared bishop. Black is already in trouble and significantly still has not caught up with development. e7 19.h1 a5 20.c1 c5 [ 20...exf5 21.d5 fxe4 22.h5 leaves Black close to resignation ] 21.b1 c6 [ Once again, taking the pawn on f5 leads to ruin upon 21...exf5 22.h5 d8 23.d5 wins ] 22.d3 [ 22.e1 d7 23.d3 is also good for White. ] 22...b6 23.fe1 h5 24.fxe6 fxe6 25.f4 c3 26.d2 h6 27.g2 a8 28.d1 g8 29.f2 White intends f5 c4 30.xb6 gc8 31.f5 The other f-pawn now continues the theme of undermining the pawn barrier around the stranded black king. exf5 32.f3 f4 [ 32...xa4 33.exf5+ d7 34.d5 and White can give up ] [ 32...fxe4 33.xe4! a nice surprise xe4 34.b7+ xb7 35.xb7+ e6 36.xe4+ f5 37.h4 g6 38.d7 gives White a winning ending. ] 33.ed1 Now the threat really is mate in one 8c6 [ Of course, 33...xa4?? quickly loses after 34.xd6+ f7 35.xh5+ g8 36.g1+ g5 37.xf6 ] 2184

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 33...xa4?? 34.xd6+ f7 35.xh5+ g8 36.g1+ g5 37.xg5+! fxg5 38.g6+ h8 39.h6+ g8 40.xg5+ h7 41.g6+ h8 42.h6+ g8 43.g1# mate ] 34.g1 e8?! [ An improvement is 34...g5!? ] 35.a5! g5 36.e5 [ 36.e5 Black resigned in view of dxe5 37.b7+ e6 38.h4 xh4 39.d5+ f5 40.f7 winning ] 1-0

2040 Yudasin,Leonid Christiansen,Larry Mark HB Global CC (7) [Jonathan Rowson]

B21 2538 2524 21.05.2005

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 f6 Following on from last month's discussion, it seems that this line is very much playable for Black. If anyone could show what was wrong with Black's conception, you would expect Yudasin to, but all he succeeds in getting is a slightly worse endgame. However, all is not quite what it seems, because I think White has quite a big improvement: I am not sure if this game took place with a normal time control. It might be a blitz game- if so my apologies- but it gives us some instructive material in any case. 4.b5+ d7 5.xd7+ xd7 6.c4 e6 7.e2 d6 8.dxe6 fxe6 9.d3 c6 10.f3 0-0 11.0-0 ae8 12.c3 e5 13.f5 d4 14.d1 e4 15.dxe4 xe4 16.xd4 xc3?! this may not be fully sound. [ 16...cxd4 17.xe4 xe4 18.d3 e5 is sounder for Black, and White seems to k e e p a t i n y e d g e a f t e r 19.f4 exf5 20.xd6 xf1+ 21.xf1 xf1+ 22.xf1 xd6 23.e4 but all results are still possible here. ] 17.bxc3 cxd4 18.xd4? [ 18.cxd4 Why not straighten the pawns? I don't see a fully adequate answer for Black here. ] 18...c6 19.d3 c5+ 20.d4 e4 21.xc5 xc5+ 22.h1 xf5 23.d2 xf1+ 24.xf1 xc4 25.b1 b6 26.g3 e4 27.f4 f7

[ 27...e2 is harder for White to deal with. ] 28.b8 a4 29.b2 e6 30.g2 d5 31.f3 g6 32.d2+ c4 33.e5 b5 34.g4 a5 35.e4 b4 36.cxb4 axb4 37.c2+ b5 38.d5 b6 39.d6 b3 40.axb3 xg4 41.c4 g5+ 42.e6 h5 43.b4+ ½-½

2041 Yudasin,Leonid Sorkin,Igor ch-Marshall CC (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B21 2554 2356 10.12.2005

1.e4 c5 2.f4 My general feeling about this move is that it works best when it is played quite positionally, surreptitiously, but not too ambitiously or suspiciously. e6 [ 2...d5 3.d3!? was McShane-Sedlak from the February 2005 update, which had a similar flavour to this game. ] 3.d3 c6 4.f3 d5 5.e2 d6 [ 5...dxe4 6.dxe4 xd1+ 7.xd1 (King takes is also playable.) leaves white with a slightly better ending. The source of the advantage is the extra space given by the pa wn s o n e 4 and f 4 , and th e sligh t vulnerability of the c5 pawn and the weakness on d6. ] 6.0-0 ge7 7.a3 That move again! In this game, the knight is heading to c2, and later to c5 via b3 and a1. a6?! This move is partly designed to rule out any hassle with Nb5, but also to play b5 later. However, it does weaken the dark squares, where Black suffers later. There was a lot to be said for castling and playing ...b6 followed by ...Ba6. Given that Nb5 can be met with Bb8, I don't think Black has much to fear here. [ 7...0-0 8.c3 b6 ] 8.c3 0-0 9.c2 c7 I am not sure exactly where Black goes wrong here, but he seems to run into problems on the c5 square. This is partly because neither of his knights can offer r e a d y a s s i s t a n c e t o t h i s s q u a r e . 10.h1 A cunning waiting move, inviting Black to weaken his position. [ 10.e3 would probably make Black play b6, when White has less to latch on to. ] 10...b5?! 11.e3 b6 12.e1 d4 13.cxd4 2185

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 cxd4 14.d2!? There was no need to stay on the d4 pawn but Bg1 was also possible. If Black plays ...f6 and ...e5, the bishop could be re-routed to h2. a7?! [ 14...f6!? Black needs to compete for the dark squares bef ore it is too late . 15.a4 bxa4 16.xa4 e5 looks playable, although White still has the more attractive options. ] 15.a4 f5?! Probably the move that tilts the balance from difficult to bad. However, I don't see a way to play that solves all of Black's problems- White's position is better on both sides of the board. 16.a5 c7 [ 16...c5 17.e5?! would be an improvement for Black, because he could arrange to place his bishop on a square controlling c5. However, ( 17.b4! fxe4 18.dxe4 d3 19.bxc5 g6 20.xd3 xd3 21.b4 Hits Black before he is fully organised. )] 17.e5 Black has big strategic problems due to the weakness of d4, c5 and a6, and the lack of space for his pieces. b8 18.c1 c7 19.a1? This looks like a strategically wellintentioned move but a tactical blunder. [ 19.b4!? intending Na1-b3 retains a huge advantage. ] 19...a7 [ 19...xa5! The a5 should have been grabbed with both hands (or all four hooves). 20.xa5 ( 20.xc7 xc7 protects a5.) 20...xc1 21.xc1 ( 21.xd8 xe1 22.xe1 xd8 is just better for Black. ) 21...xa5 22.b3 b6 23.fxd4 is playable for White, but the position has opened in Black's favour. ] 20.b3 d5 21.d1 b7?! This allows Bb4, which is a big gain for White, but the only way to discourage it was to retreat the queen and admit that the previous move was a mistake. 22.b4 d8 23.d6 Now White has c o m p l e t e c o n t r o l . c8 24.c5 xc5 25.xc5 d5 A creative defensive try, that would have worked if W hite was more materialistic. 26.xf8 [ 26.xd5 exd5 27.b4 was perhaps even stronger because W hite keeps complete control. ] 26...xf8 27.xd5 We should be used to this kind of sequence now. Grandmasters frequently give and take the exchange almost

'en passant' while trying to achieve other strategic objectives. exd5 28.b3 c5 29.g5 d8 30.e6 This looks premature, but in some ways the previous two moves oblige it. In any case, in a rapid game, it is hard to be accurate at every stage of the game. e7 31.h3 c6? [ 31...h6 32.f3 xe6 33.xd4 e8 and Black is almost ok. 34.e5 xd4 35.xd4 might keep a slight nibble for White. ] 32.xd5 xa5 33.xb7 xb7 34.e5 h6 35.f3 c5 36.b8+ h7 37.xd4 d6 38.b6 d5 39.c6 xe6 40.b4 e2 41.g1 xd3 42.xd3 xd3 43.xa6 d2 44.f1 e4 45.h2 e2 46.a1 d2 47.d1 f2 48.c1 c4 49.f1 e2 50.e1 f2 51.b4 d2 52.d1 e4 53.d3 h5 54.e3 a2 55.d7 f6 56.a7 c4 57.g3 1-0

2042 Zelic,Mladen Bartel,Mateusz 11th EICC Men (6) [David Vigorito]

B21 2306 2634 11.03.2010

I came across a Morra Gambit! The Grandmaster employs a setup we looked at last month, but W hite does not follow the Esserman recipe... 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 5.f3 a6 6.c4 b5 [ Another recent success for Black went 6...e7 7.g5 f6 8.f4 g6 9.g3 e7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e2 b5 12.b3 h8 13.ad1 e8 14.h4 c6 15.h5 ge5 16.h4 c5 17.xe5 fxe5 and by now B la ck is clo se t o win n in g, Re in wa ld , P (2097)-Hausner, I (2460)/Baden AUT 2010. ] 7.b3 b7 8.e2 [ White protects the e4-pawn, but this typical move may not be the most threatening. For the more consistent 8.0-0 b4 9.d5!? see Esserman, M-Sarkar, J/Miami op 2008. ] 8...d6 9.0-0 d7 10.d1 gf6 11.f4 [ 11.g5 is in the archives in the game Sigurjonsson, S-Thorsteinn, T/ Reykjavic 2003 ] 11...b4 2186

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ T h i s i s m o r e c o m b a t i v e t h a n 11...b8 12.d2 e7 13.ad1 0-0 14.xd6 xd6 15.xd6 c5 16.e5! which was better for White in Zelic, M (2354)-Genser, H (2160)/ Pula 1999, which is in the archives. ] 12.d5 [ After 12.a4 A) 12...xe4 13.xd6 xd6 14.xd6 e7 ( 14...0-0?! 15.e5! ) 15.ad1 gives White some initiative for the pawn; B) 12...xe4 it is difficult to believe that White has enough for two pawns ] 12...exd5 [ 12...xd5 13.exd5 e5 14.a4! is given by Gary Lane ] 13.exd5+ critical according to Lane - here it gets a test. White's position looks good, but he is down a whole piece - he does not even have a pawn for it. e7 14.xd6 f8! 15.xe7+ [ 15.g3 (threatening 16.d6) can be met by c5! ] 15...xe7 16.d2 d6 Blocking the d-pawn. 17.d4 a5 [ Instead 17...g6 18.h6+ g8 19.e6!? e8 looks scary. I do not see anything clear for W hite, but it is also very difficult for Black to untangle.. ] 18.ac1 [ 18.f5 e5 does not lead anywhere. ] 18...e8 19.b5 b6 20.c7 e5 21.d6 g5! Black makes room for his king. Instead 21...g6 would allow 22.Qh6+. Now White has nothing for his piece other than a passed dpawn which is securely blocked. Black quickly takes over the initiative. 22.e1 e4 23.e2 g7 24.f3 xd6 Black captures the wayward pawn and defends f7 at the same time. W hite could resign. 25.d5 xd5 26.xd5 he8 27.xe5 xe5 28.h4 f5 0-1

2043 Zelic,Mladen Genser,Harald Pula (8) [Gary Lane]

B21 2354 2160 06.06.1999

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.xc3 e6 5.f3 a6 6.c4 b5 7.b3 b7 8.0-0

[ I prefer 8.e2 ] 8...d6 [ What would White do after 8...b4 9.a4 xe4 when it is far from obvious if he has any compensation for the two pawns. ] 9.e2 d7 10.d1 gf6 11.f4 [ 11.a3 is a careful approach e7 12.f4 b8 13.ac1 0-0 14.d4 e5 15.g3 c8 16.xe6!? Morra players like doubleed ge d po sit io ns so W hite ju mp s at t h e c h a n c e t o c o m p l i c a t e m a t t e r s fxe6 17.xe6+ h8 18.xc8 xc8 19.xe5?! there is no need to exchange pieces especially when it gives life to the weak d6 pawn dxe5 20.d5 xd5 21.exd5 d6 22.h5 d7 23.c3 e8 gave Black the superior position, Pleasants, A-Greet,A/ Millfield 2000. ] 11...b8 12.d2 e7 [ 12...b4 13.d5!? ( 13.a4 looks like s u r r e n d e r u p o n xe4 ) 13...xd5 ( 13...exd5 14.exd5+ is critical) 14.exd5 e5 15.a4! e7 16.e3? a missed opportunity. For instance: ( 16.xe5! dxe5 17.xe5 b6 18.d6 wins ) 16...d8 17.c6 ga ve W hit e a n e d ge b ut th e ga m e wa s eventually drawn, Emami Eghdam,KJachnowitsch,K/ Willingen 2001. ] 13.ad1 As usual the d6 pawn is the target for White's pieces. 0-0 [ Perhaps 13...b4!? is the real test when for example 14.xd6 xd6 15.xd6 bxc3 16.a4 should be fine for Black. ] [ 13...e5 14.xb5! axb5 15.xe5 0-0 ( 15...dxe5 16.xb5+ f8 17.xe5 a7 18.xf6 xf6 19.d7 b8 20.e5 e7 21.xe7 xe7 22.b4+ e8 23.a4+ wins. ) 16.g4 xe4 17.d4 c5 18.xd6 xb3 19.axb3 xd6 20.xd6 c8 A) 21.xf8 xf8 ( 21...xf8 22.xb5 ) 22.xb5 are equal; B) 21.f6+ h8 ( 21...gxf6?? 22.g4+ h8 23.e7 and Black can give up) 22.xf8 xf8 23.xb5 a6 24.e5 gxf6 25.xf6+ g7 ( 25...g8 26.g5+ g7 27.d8+ is a lso a pe rpet ual chec k) 26.d8+ xd8 27.xd8+ 1/2-1/2 Zelic,MArmanda,I/Split 1998. ] 14.xd6 xd6 15.xd6 c5 It is fair to say that Black is putting pressure on the e4 pawn. [ 15...b4!? 16.a4 c7= ] 2187

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 16.e5 e8 17.6d4 xb3 18.axb3 c7 19.g5! Zelic is well placed to accelerate a t t a c k i n g o p t i o n s o n t h e k i n g s i d e . h6 20.ge4 xe4 21.xe4 d5 22.f6+ [ 22.c3 is less dramatic but gives White an edge. ] 22...xf6 [ 22...gxf6!? 23.g4+ h7 24.xd5 exd5? ( 24...d8 25.d3+ f5 26.d6 is a little better for W hite) 25.d3+ h8 26.e3 h7 27.h4 h8 28.xh6+ g8 29.h7# ] 23.exf6 c7 24.g4 [ 24.d7 f4 25.fxg7 fc8= ] 24...g6 25.e3 ad8? [ 25...c2 is Black's best bet to hang on. ] 26.f1 h7 27.h4 h5 28.xh5+!! It is never easy to sacrifice a rook but the task is made easier when it leads to a forced mate. [ 28.xh5+ gxh5 29.g5 xh2+ ( what else??) 30.xh2 g8 31.xh5# ] 1-0

A) 11...xd4 12.xd4 d6 13.h5 0-0 14.ad1 h8 15.e2 e7 16.d3 e5 17.xe5 ( 17.h3 g6 18.h6 g7 19.xg7+ xg7 20.d1 c7 21.c3 c6 22.e3 ) 17...fxe5 18.h3 h6 19.f4 b7 20.c2 ac8 21.b1 f7 22.g4 exf4 23.h1 c4 24.b3 xe4 25.f3 f5 26.c3 Richter, G-Guenthner, O/ Germany 2006 after which A1) 26...xh3!? 27.gxh3 ( 27.xh3 e3 ) 27...e1 28.e4 e3 29.g2 xe4 30.xe4 f3 31.d2 f4 32.g3 d5; A2) 26...e3! 27.xb7 e5 28.xe3 fxe3 29.xf8+ xf8 30.e2 d5 is rather unclear.; B) 11...b7 12.h5 xd4 13.xd4 d6 14.f4 0-0 15.f5 f4 16.g4 h8 17.ad1 e7 18.e3 exf5 19.xf5 e6 20.d5 xd5 21.xd5 g6 22.f2 e5 Palkovi, J-Hracek, Z/Czechia 1997 and now 23.fd1 d6 24.h4 ac8 looks good for Black to me. ] 11...b8!?N He wants his cake and he wants 2044 B21 to eat it too! [ Taking the Knight will of course be risky: Zelic,Mladen 2258 11...exd5 12.exd5 ce5 13.d6 b7 Martinovic,Sasa 2400 14.xe5 fxe5 15.f4 exf4 16.e1 fxe3 12th Cvitanovic Mem A (1) 28.04.2007 17.xe3+ e7 18.d4 b8 19.dxe7 a7 [Andrew Martin] 20.f7+!! A classic Morra sacrifice. xf7 21.e8+ hxe8 ( 21...axe8 22.f1+ f3 There now follows a classic demonstration of 23.fxf3+ f4 24.xf4+ g6 25.g3+ how dangerous the Morra can be in the right h5 26.h4# ) 22.f1+ g8 23.xa7 hands. Veteran Grandmaster Martinovic is xe3 24.xe3+Zakharov, V-Gusev, A/ literally swept away! 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Tula 2001 ] dxc3 4.xc3 c6 5.f3 e6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 ge7 8.g5 White depends on this 12.c1 exd5 13.exd5 ce5 14.xe5 xe5 I am pretty sure Martinovic mo ve wh e n B la ck p la ys . .. Nge 7 e a rly. f6 15.d6 It's a moot point whether this is good or not. u n d e r e st im a t e d 1 5 d 6 , o r co u l d n 't qu it e Black's system relies on dark-square control believe it was possible! a5 [ 15...b7 16.f4 f7 17.e1 e4 18.c5 f o r s u c c e s s , n o t a b ly t h e s qu a re s d 4 , e 5 f5 19.d5 f6 20.xe4+ fxe4 21.xe4+ especially and f4. W hite must try to strike e7 22.dxe7 starts to look like another rout quickly bef ore Black's grip on the centre . c8 23.c3 c6 24.d5 ] comes into effect. 9.e3 g6 10.b3 b5 16.a7! Very usefully nudging the Rook to an 11.d5!? [ 11.d4 is also a logical move, although exposed square. a8 17.d5! c6 [ 17...xa7 18.xc8+ ] perhaps a little slow under the b7 19.f7+ d8 20.b6+ circumstances. W hite plans f4-f5. In this 18.xc6 particular line his Queen is best-placed on Ouch! The last thing a veteran wants is to d2 monitoring f4, or h5 and he follows up have to calculate. He or she is content to rely with Rad1. Fast, coherent development on the technique acquired over decades of experience. Black should choose another gives compensation. 2188

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 defence in that case. 1-0

2045 Acs,Peter Kalinitschew,Sergey Bundesliga 2008-9 (8) [David Vigorito]

B22 2542 2492 13.12.2008

Kalinitschew introduces a new idea in a rather dull old line with 12...g6!? He equalizes easily enough, but then he either miss-assesses a exchanging sequence or just becomes too ambitious. White's bishop pair secures him a long term plus. 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 [ This is nowhere near as popular as the more dangerous and interesting main lines that start with 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 8.exd6 xd6 9.0-0 e6 ] 6...d6 7.c4 b6 8.b5 dxe5 9.xe5 d7 10.xd7 [ This is the most popular move for White wh e n h e go e s in f o r t h e o ld m a i n l in e . Instead 10.c3 xe5 11.dxe5 xb5 12.xb5 xd1+ 13.xd1 d5 as covered in Ushenina-Nijboer, Wijk aan Zee 2008 is correctly held to be harmless for Black ] [ T h e o t h e r l i n e i s 10.xc6 xc6 ( 10...bxc6? 11.f3! ) 11.xc6 bxc6 12.0-0 and now both 12...e6 and 12... g6 are ok. ] 10...xd7 11.c3 d8 [ 11...e6 12.0-0 d8 13.e3 e7 14.g4 0-0 Tiviakov-Karjakin, Wijk aan Zee 2007 ] 12.e3 [ White can also play 12.0-0!? when xd4 is risky ( 12...a6 Nisipeanu-Volokitin, Foros 2006; 12...e6 transposes above) 13.e2 gives White an ominous development lead. ] 12...g6!? [ I have not seen this idea in this line before. 12...e6 is normal. ] 13.b3!? [ White want to quickly bring a rook to d1. 13.0-0 may be more f lexible, but g7 14.b3 (14.Rc1!? 14.Re1!?) transposes. ] 13...g7 14.0-0 0-0 [ Black c annot p lay the greed y 14...xd4 b e c a u s e o f t h e st r a igh t f o rwa r d 15.xd4 ( 15.ad1 e5 16.xd4 exd4 17.a3!

is also strong) 15...xd4 16.ad1 f6 17.xd8+ xd8 18.xc6 bxc6 19.a3 with tremendous compensation. ] 15.fd1 [ it is hard to decide between this and 15.ad1 White will have to figure out if he is more likely to want his other rook on c1 or e1. ] 15...e6 [ 15...d5 Another idea is to blockade the dpawn with. ] 16.d5 [ W hite could throw in 16.g5 to throw Black's rook off the d-file, but c8 ( 16...f6 17.e3 ) 17.d5 xd5 18.xd5 exd5 19.xd5 e6 looks okay for Black despite W hite's bishop pair. Black's pieces are active and White is not so well coordinated to develop an initiative. ] 16...xd5 [ I do not really like this decision. 16...exd5 is sa f e r. A f t e r 17.xb6 ( 17.g5 c8 transposes to the previous note) 17...axb6 18.xd5 e6 White could play 19.Rfe1 here had he chosen the other rook! 19.xb6 ( 19.c3= ) 19...xb3 20.axb3 xb2 Black is at least equal. ] 17.xd5 exd5 18.xa7 White has managed to give B la ck t h e iso la t e d p a wn . B la c k 's central control still gives him a reasonable position, but, the bishops always hold some promise for the future. d4 19.b6 c8 20.a4! Introducing the possibility of a5-a6 to undermine the c6-knight and open lines. e5 21.ac1 [ 21.a5 ] 21...fe8 22.g3 h5 Trying to stir up something on the kingside, but Black does not really have any real attacking chances. 23.f3 e6 [ Black gives the c6-knight some extra protection and prepares to double on the efile. ...Rf6 is also a possibility. 23...h4 24.a5 hxg3 25.hxg3 e6 26.b4 leaves White with a comfortable edge. ] 24.c5 White has a lot of tempting moves like 24.a5, 24.b4, and 24.Bc4. ce8 25.a5 c7? [ This is a blunder. Black probably assumed the d4-pawn was just well protected! 25...f6 26.d3 h4 is better, although White maintains a steady plus. ] 2189

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 26.xc6! bxc6 27.xc7 xc7 28.xd4 bishop is better compared to the white No w W h i t e i s u p p a wn f o r n o t h in g . e1+ knight ) 30...c3 31.d5 ( 31.f1 xe3 29.g2 a1 30.b4 The rest is not difficult. 32.fxe3 g3 is good for Black) 31...xe1 ee1 31.xc6 e7 32.f6 xf6 33.xf6 ( 31...exd5 32.xb6+ f8 33.c5+ g7 g5 34.g4 hxg4 35.xg4 g7 36.f3 g6 34.xd1 offers bright prospects for White) 37.fg3 f6 38.h4 g1+ 39.f3 a3+ 32.f6+ e7 and White will win, Acs,P40.e2 a2+ 41.d3 d1+ 42.c4 xf2 Votava,J/Budapest 1995. ] 43.hxg5 f5 44.h4 f4 45.h6+ f5 17...g7 18.b3 0-0 46.f6+ e5 47.d3 c2+ 48.b3 xd3+ [ 18...d5 49.xc2 g3 50.a6 xg5 51.f8 g2+ A) 19.d4 e5 20.d3 d7 ( 20...f6!? 52.b3 g7 53.b5 a7 54.c4 e4 is another possibility) 21.g5= f4 55.c5 f3 56.b6 22.d2 ( I prefer 22.c2!? to control the 1-0 f5 square when c7 23.f5 gives White a small impetus) 22...e6= 23.fe1 a5 24.xe6 xd2 25.xg7+ f8 26.xd2 2046 B22 xg7 27.xe7 b5 28.e3 ( 28.b3 e8 29.c4 c6 30.xe8 xe8= ) 28...e8 Acs,Peter 2370 ( 28...xb2!? might be worth a go Schneider,Attila 2355 because 29.d4+ g6 Budapest Budapeste (7) 1995 looks unbalanced) 29.xe8= with roughly [Gary Lane] equal chances, Acs,P-Varga,P/Budapest 1996.; 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 B) 19.d2!? Acs is obviously a bit of an 5.f3 c6 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d6 8.exd6 expert in this line and it is interesting to xd6 9.0-0 e6 10.xe6 xe6 11.xd4 see his prepared improvement e5 20.f4 xd4 12.xd4 d8 13.h4 e2 14.d2 gxf3 21.xf3 xf3 22.xf3 b6 23.e1 h5 15.h3 White wishes to stop ....Qg4 f6 24.c4 c7 25.f4 xf4 26.xf4 f7 b e c a u s e t h e e xch a n ge o f qu e e n s wo u l d 27.d4 he8 28.f3 d6 ( 28...g7 reduce his attacking chances. g5 16.g3 29.d4 e5 30.xd8 xd8 31.f2= ) [ If 16.xg5 then h6 wins. ] 29.f2 e6 30.g5+ xg5 31.hxg5 16...g4 17.h4 d2+ 32.f3 ed8 33.gxf6= 8d3+ [ 17.b3 34.e3 xe3+ 35.xe3 xb2 36.fxe7+ A) 17...g7 18.f4 d5 19.fe1 xb2 xe7 37.h4 xg2 38.xh5 xa2 20.c4 xf4 21.xf4 gxh3 22.g5 f6 39.d4 White wants to play c5 to secure a 23.c5 hxg2 24.ad1 xd1 25.xd1 drawn rook and pawn position d7 40.c5 c6 26.a5 ( 26.xa7 0-0 27.c5 b5 41.h7+ c6 42.h6+ b7 43.h7+ f3-+ ) 26...b6 27.xa7 0-0 28.xe7 a6 44.d5 d2+ 45.c6 g2 46.d6 xc4 29.g5 e2 30.d2 g4 31.d7 d2+ 47.c6 b4 48.b7 d4 49.c7 xd7 ( 31...f5!? 32.d3 h4 33.d5+ h4 50.c6 h7+ 1/2-1/2 Acs,Pf7 34.a8+ h7 35.xg2-+ ) 32.xd7 Krasenkow,M/Germany 2002. ] a8 when Black is on top but the game was eventually drawn, Acs, P-Szuk,B/ 19.d4 xd4 20.cxd4 e4 21.d2 d5 22.ae1 g6 Budapest 1995.; [ Or 22...xd4 23.c3 xc3 24.bxc3= ] B) 17...gxh3 18.d4 g4 19.xh3 e6 20.xg4 ( 20.f3 d5 maintains Black's 23.f3 [ 23.b3!? is a possible improvement when initiative) 20...hxg4 21.f4 d5 22.fe1 e6 24.e5 gives White decent chances by g7 23.e2 a4 24.ab1 c5 25.c4 trying to exploit the relatively exposed king. ] ( 25.e3 d3 26.ed1 e5 gives Black an edge ) 25...d7 26.e3 b6 27.f4 23...d3 24.h6 xd4+ 25.h2 fe8 a4 28.b3 c3 29.b2 d1 ( 29...g3!? 26.e5 h7 [ Not 26...xb2? 27.fxg4 h8 28.xh5+- ] looks good) 30.be2 ( or 30.d2!? xe3 31.xd7 xd7 32.fxe3 when Black's 27.d2 2190

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 27.xh5? f6 28.fxg4 A) 28...xg4+?? 29.h1 d5 30.xf7+ g8 31.xd5 xd5 32.g7+ ( 32.xg4+?! xf7 33.g7+ e6= ) 32...h8 33.xg4+-; B) 28...xh5 29.gxh5 g8 with the superior chances for Black. ( 29...xh6?? is awful upon 30.g5+ h7 31.xf7+ h8 32.h6+ g8 33.h7#; 29...xb2?? 30.xf7+ h8 31.g7+ g8 32.xb2+ xf7 33.g6+ f8 34.g7# )] 27...f6 [ 27...xd2? 28.xh5+ h6 29.xh6+ xh6 30.fxg4+- ] [ 27...xb2?? 28.xh5+ g8 29.xg4+ g7 30.g5 xg5 31.xg5+ f8 32.h5+- ] 28.c3 d6 29.fe1?! [ 29.fxg4 xg4+? ( 29...hxg4 30.f2 keeps the game balanced offering chances for both sides.) 30.h1 xe5 31.xf7+! xf7 32.g7# ] 29...gxf3 30.gxf3 g8 31.f4 g6 32.b4?? Whoops! White's position suddenly crumbles. [ 32.f5 b6 33.h3 f2 34.h2 xh2+ 35.xh2 d5 is about equal. ] 32...xb4 33.xb4 d4 [ 33...d4 34.h3 xb4 35.xe7 d5 36.xf7+ g8-+ ] 0-1

Spreeuw,J/Birmingham 2001. ] 16.xg7 e5 17.g5 d3 [ 17...h6 18.e3 xe3 19.fxe3 is a level ending. ] [ 17...d5?! allows White to build up a decent initiative upon 18.f3 f6 19.g3 e7 20.e1! c2 21.g5 xb2 22.c4 xg5 23.xg5+ f6 24.ab1 c3 25.xb7+ f8 26.b3 1-0 Nun,J-Hlavac,R/ CZE-ch1 corr8284 1982. ] 18.f3 [ I rather like 18.f4!? but could not find any games on it. For instance: d6 19.b3 needs to be tested at tournament level but I quite like White's prospects. ] [ 18.b3 h6 19.h4 d1 20.d2 xd2 21.xd2 xd2 22.ad1 g5 23.e4 f4 24.xf4 xf4 25.c4 I include the rest of the game because these strong players give a model example of how to treat the position e7 26.b3 d6 27.d3 c5 28.e1 d7 29.f1 b6 30.e4 h5 31.f3 f6 32.g3 f7 33.d3 e7 34.g3 f5 35.e2 f7 36.d3 f6 37.f3 a5 38.ed2 e7 39.e2 h4 40.d1 b4 41.a3 xa3 42.de1 f7 43.xe6 c5 44.c6 d8 45.e5 g6 46.ee6 d4 47.ed6 xd6 48.xd6 c5 49.d8 g7 50.e2 1/2-1/2 Afek,Y-Ikonnikov,V/Paris 1995. ] 18...d1 19.d2 c4 20.xd1 xd1+ 21.f1 h6 22.h4 d2 23.xd2 xa1 24.h5 f6 25.f3 g7 [ 25...e7!? 26.b3 d8 27.xb7+ f8 28.xh6+ g8 29.xa7 d1 30.a6 2047 B22 with double-edged play. ] Acs,Peter 2440 26.g3 f6 27.f4 e7 28.b4+ e8 Volzhin,Alexander 2485 29.xb7 xa2 [ 29...f8 30.b8+ g7 31.g3+ h7 Budapest Budapeste (13) 1996 32.f4 gives White the slightly better [Gary Lane] chances. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 30.e3 [ 30.b8+!? looks like a good choice when 5.f3 c6 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 8.exd6 e7 31.b4+ d7 32.e3 offers White xd6 9.0-0 e6 10.xe6 xe6 11.xd4 good security and some prospects against xd4 12.xd4 d8 13.h4 e2 14.d2 the exposed black king. ] e6 15.g3 d6 [ A l s o p o s s i b l e : 15...f6 16.b3 f7 30...f8 31.xa7 g7 32.g3 [ Perhaps 32.e3!?= should be tried. ] it looks ugly but the king is fairly safe and it doe s a llow th e b ishop to b e d evelo pe d 32...d8 33.e3 d1 34.e4 [ 34.xh6+ xh6 35.f3 xf1+ 36.xf1 without losing the g-pawn 17.e3 c4 g7 37.g4+ f8 38.b4+ e7= ] 18.f3 d5 19.xd5 xd5 20.e3 c4 21.ad1 xb2 22.xd5 1/2-1/2 Hodgson,J- 34...b1 35.c4 h5 36.b5 h4 37.c4 2191

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 hxg3 38.hxg3 e1 39.g4+ [ 39.b4!?= ] 39...h7 40.h5+ g8 Black has managed to create a decent attack. 41.b5 xc3! 42.e8+ [ 42.bxc3?? is wrong due to the pin on the bfile upon xb5 ] 42...g7 43.bxc3 xf1+ 44.g2 g1+ 45.h2 h1+ 46.g2 e4+ 47.f3 xe3 48.xh1 xf3+ 49.h2 xc3 50.a4 e5 51.g4+ f8 52.g5 d4 53.f6 e3 54.g4 e4 [ 54...g8 55.g2 ] 55.g5 [ Or 55.h8+!? e7 56.e5+ d7 57.d5+ e8 58.e5+ d8 59.d6+ c8 60.f8+ c7 61.xf7+ b6 62.f6+ c5 63.g5= ] 55...g8 56.d8+ h7 57.f6 f3 58.h6+ g8 59.g6 f2+ 60.h1 f3+ ½-½

Curtea de Arges 2002 (please again refer to Gary's notes in the Archive). ] 7.c4 d6 8.a3 a6 9.dxc5 xc5 [ Neither would Black have equalized after 9...c7 10.0-0 xc5 11.g5 : the inclusion of ...g6 is already being sorely felt. ] 10.e3 e7 The best defence. Black had to cover the d8-square and now it's not so easy for White to invade his solid position. 11.0-0-0 c6 12.b6! [ This and th e resulting queen exchange retains a nagging edge in typical Adams fashion, whereas 12.e2 g7 13.c4 d5! 14.g5 ( or 14.xd5 exd5 15.b6 e6 16.xa8 d4! with good counterplay) 14...f6 15.e3 0-0 wouldn't have been so bad for Black. ] 12...d7 13.c7 de5 14.xe7+ xe7 15.xe5 xe5 16.d4 f6 [ Perhaps radical measures were already called for and I wonder about 16...xc4!? 17.xh8 ( perhaps White should prefer 17.xc4!? f6 18.e3 d7 19.d6+ xd6 2048 B22 20.xd6 ) 17...xa3 18.bxa3 xa3+ 19.c2 b5 20.f6 b7 , followed by Adams,Michael 2724 placing the bishop on d5, thereby setting up Jones,Gawain C 2526 a useful defensive barrier. ] Staunton Memorial, London (7) 13.08.2007 17.e2 Now there can be no doubting White's [Richard Palliser] sizeable advantage with f4 followed by Nc4 on 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 the way. d7 18.c4 xd4 19.xd4 e7 5.f3 g6 6.b3! This simple move is 20.hd1 a7 [ Jones is a resourceful chap and so avoids somewhat more potent than it at first appears. 20...b5 21.a5 when he would have done Indeed, Black does well to avoid being left with well to develop his queenside. ] a nagging disadvantage. e6?! Jones only 21.a4! a5 wants to exchange queens on his terms, but [ Settling for quite grim defence. A more now he falls somewhat behind in development. cr i t i c a l b u t n o t b e t t e r l i n e wa s 21...c5 That helps to explain why this was a novelty, and after 22.f4! d7 23.b6 c6 24.c4 with Black having previously preferred: Black continues to suffer: his rook on a7 [ a) 6...xb3 7.axb3 bd7 8.a3! a6 will remain stranded out of play. ] 9.c4 d5 10.g3 g7 11.g2 e6 12.e3 e7 13.e2 was a little better for White in 22.b1 Tidying and avoiding a potential check on b3 in the event of ...Nc5. f6 23.f3 f5 Adams-Savchenko, Moscow (blitz) 2007. ] [ Perhaps 23...e5!? 24.d5 b6 was a better [ b) 6...e6 7.c4! d7 8.d5 f5 9.c3 defence, being prepared to offer the b-pawn, g7 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 also supplies an such as with 25.g4 c5 26.xc8 xc8 edge (see Emms-Ansell, British League 27.xb6 c6 , for some freedom. ] 1999 in the Archive). ] e5 25.e2 b6 26.f4! [ c) 6...cxd4!? 7.c4 e4+ 8.f1 e6 24.d6 is fairly critical: 9.cxd4 a6 10.c3 f5 Jones claimed the scalps of both Van Wely 11.e5 g4?! 12.xg4 xg4 13.e3 and Timman in this event, but in this game all d7 14.e1 e7 15.d5! gave White a that the talented Englishman could do was sit us ef ul initiat ive in L .V ajda -Man olache , an d wa tch as his o p p on e nt co n t in u ed t o 2192

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a c c u m u l a t e p o s i t i o n a l a d v a n t a g e s . f7 27.xf7 xf7 28.d6 b7 29.g3 e4+ 30.d3 xd3+ 31.1xd3 Thus Black has exchanged off all the minor pieces, but his wea kne ss es on b6 , e6 and h 7 lea ve him facing a rather unpleasant rook ending. c8?! [ It wouldn't have been sufficient, but probably the more active 31...b8 32.d7+ xd7 33.xd7+ f6 34.xh7 e5 was a better try. ] 32.xb6 h6 33.dd6 e7 34.b5 a8 35.a2! As ever, Adams' calmness and refusal to hurry stands out. All Jones can now do is thrash on the kingside, but that doesn't get him very far. g5 36.a3 gxf4 37.gxf4 c7 38.e5 b7? 39.exe6 ab8 40.e2 A fine positional crush from Adams and while Black's opening can be improved, 6 Qb3! does look like an excellent try for a nagging edge. 1-0

2049 Afromeev,Vladimir Dvalishvili,Pavel S Geller Mem Moscow RUS (12) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2558 2455 11.05.2006

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 [ 4...e6 Those Black players wishing to f o l lo w t h e . . . Q xd 5 a n d . . . e 6 r e p e rt o ir e covered in previous updates should consider playing this move order to avoid the following, but then they should be ready for 5.e3 When White might gain something from not having developed the knight to f3. ] 5.dxc5!? Simple, but not without sting. xd1+ [ 5...xc5 Should be fine for Black, but th e se po s it ion s a re very t ricky t o p la y, because the combination of Na3, Be3 and Qa4 can quickly cause tactical problems. 6.f3 For instance, it is not at all obvious what Black should play here. None of the most natural moves- Bg4, e6, Nc6, g6, Qc7, e5 look particularly attractive to me. Needless to say, Black is not actually worse here, but I recommend prospective Black players reflecting on what they would play here, a nd h ow p la y m ight d evelop . Fo r W hite players struggling to get an edge

elsewhere, you could do worse than look at these lines for a few hours. Against a wellprepared player, you won't get an advantage, but this is a minor variation of an anti-Sicilian, so if your opponent is well-prepared you are either playing a strong GM, or are very unlucky. ] 6.xd1 e5 7.b4 And now I seriously doubt if Black has enough for the pawn. c6 8.b5 a5 9.f3 g4 10.c2 xf3 11.gxf3 axb4 12.cxb4 d5 13.d2 e7 14.a3 0-0 15.xc6 bxc6 16.c3 Personally, I have always enjoyed the feeling of consolidating an extra pawn- there is usually a moment, a bit like this one, where you become sure that the compensation is vanishing and the extra material is coming into its own. fd8 17.xd5 xd5 18.a4 h4 19.hf1 d4 20.c3 f4 21.b5 e7 22.b6 f6 23.a5 xc5 24.b7 d8 25.a6 a7 26.a5 c4+ 27.b3 dd4 28.fc1 xc1 29.xc1 1-0

2050 Ahmadinia,Ebrahim Amin,Bassem Dubai op 14th (8) [Sam Collins]

B22 2379 2608 22.04.2012

1.e4 c5 2.c3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 d5 5.e5 c6 6.c3 h6 7.h3 g7 8.g4 f6 9.f4 0-0 10.g2 This is probably the most ambitious response to the 2...g6 system. White has set out his stall in the centre and, if he can complete his development without any setbacks, will be clearly better, if not winning. Black has to blow up the centre ASAP. fxe5 [ 10...e6 11.f3 f7 12.0-0 g5?! allows W hite to favourably liquidate: ( Mikhalchisin suggests queenside counterplay with 12...b6!? ) 13.exf6 xf6 14.fxg5 xg5 15.xg5 xg5 16.xf8+ xf8 17.f3+ g7 18.xg5 xg5 19.f1 e7 20.e3 with a classic, clearly better for White position from the French Tarrasch in D.Pavasovic (2579) - V.Durarbeyli (2476), Rijeka 2010 (1-0 in 28). ] 11.fxe5 e6 12.f3 xf3!? Highly thematic in such positions, f or instance f rom certain variations of the French Tarrasch (1.e4 e6 2. 2193

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3). I remain unconvinced as to its objective value but it's certainly a shocking move and worked to perfection in this game. [ 12...f7 13.0-0 b5 14.e3 d7 ( 14...a6! Mikh a lch isin) 15.d2 b4 16.e2 b6 17.h1 b3 18.axb3 xb3 19.c1 b6 20.d3 fb8 21.c5 and White had consolidated in M.Goodger (2147) - K.Indrebo, Caleta 2010 (1-0 in 31). ] 13.xf3! The right move. [ 13.xf3 h4+ 14.f2 xf2+ 15.xf2 xd4 gives Black excellent compensation for the exchange - his strong centre restricts the white minor pieces, the white rooks will take a while to establish themselves, and Black already has one extra central pawn with another target on e5. ] 13...h4+ [ 13...b6!? is another direction. 14.e2 f7 15.f1 fxe5!? 16.dxe5 xe5 and Black is a rook down but White has a lot of work to do to consolidate the position. 17.g2 ( 17.d4 c4 and White has n o t h in g b e t t e r t h a n 18.e2 ) 17...xf3 18.xf3 d7 and I find it hard to believe that Black has full compensation, but again White is some distance from full consolidation. My engine gives a half pawn advantage for White, which is pretty light on a nominal 3-pawn surplus. ] 14.f1 g3 15.g1?! A panicked move. [ 15.e3! was critical. Black has a number of pote ntial res ponses but I've yet to f in d anything clear for him. b6 16.f2 a6+ 17.e1 f4 18.xd5! exd5 19.xd5+ f7 20.f3 xf3 21.xf3 and, unless Black has something very specific very quickly (which I don't see), the rook and connected central passers will overpower the two knights. ] 15...xh3+ 16.f2 [ 16.e2 was a better try, but I would happily play this position as Black since he already has a pawn for the exchange and the bishop is coming to a6. ] 16...h2+ 17.g2 h4+ 18.g3? [ 18.f1 was better, but after d7 19.f4! Black has a fascinating tactical sequence: f5!? 20.e2 cxd4 21.xd4 xd4 22.h2 ( 22.xd4 h1+ 23.g1 xg1+

24.xg1 f8 25.xd5 exd5 26.e3 b6 , again with decent comp for the exchange) 22...xh2! 23.xh2 xf3 24.xf3 (otherwise Black gets too much play for the queen) f8 25.g2 xf3 26.xf3 and I prefer Black with two pawns and the bishop pair for the exchange. ] 18...xd4!! A b e a u t i f u l s h o t . 19.xd4? This loses. [ 19.g2 was more tenacious but after xf3 20.xf3 f7 Black has overwhelming compensation for the exchange with two pawns, a target on e5 and an initiative. ] 19...f5 20.f4 g5 I don't know what else W hite thought would happen here. 21.a4 Resignation was more appropriate. xg3+ 22.e2 xe5+ [ 22...h4 is even stronger but it hardly makes a difference. ] 23.f1 d6 24.d2 b5 25.c2 It will be fascinating to see if 12...Rxf3!? has any takers. As pointed out in the notes, Black has some slightly more sedate alternatives which also seem to provide good play, but for a practical game I can endorse Amin's approach, which leads to pretty long term compensation, albeit for a substantial material deficit. 0-1

2051 Alekseev,Evgeny Grischuk,Alexander RUS-chT 21st (4.1) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2678 2777 10.04.2014

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e7 8.0-0 0-0 This line, whereby Black delays ...Nc6 until after castling, has come into fashion in the last year. To be honest, it doesn't seem any improvement on the early ...Nc6 variation, but it's worth paying attention to it as a lot of strong players have taken up the black side. 9.d2!? One of many options. [ 9.e2 is what I usually play, and the game generally reaches familiar territory after 9... Nc6. One original try was b6!? 10.d3 ( 10.xd5!? exd5 11.d1; 10.bd2!? l o o k s p r o m i s i n g : b7 11.e4 dxe5 12.dxe5 d7 13.d2 c8 14.ac1 c5 2194

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.g3 1/2-1/2 (46) Vajda, L (2613)Fedorov, A (2567) Mamaia 2013) 10...dxe5 11.dxe5 d7 0-1 (70) Rasulov, V (2514) Matlakov, M (2682) Rhodes 2013 ] [ 9.c3 xc3 10.bxc3 c6 11.exd6! xd6 12.e1 b6 13.g5! with a very pleasant position. 1-0 (46) Rozentalis, E (2586) -Vera Gonzalez Quevedo, R (2509) Montreal 2003 ] [ 9.e1 c6 10.exd6 xd6 11.c3 b6 12.b3 ( 12.xd5 exd5 13.b5 ) 12...xc3 13.bxc3 b7 14.c2 1-0 (54) Mamedov, R (2660)-Wojtaszek, R (2716) Shamkir 2014 ] 9...c6 10.c3 b6 [ 10...dxe5 11.dxe5 - see Kobalia, M (2633)Dominguez Perez, L (2757) Loo 2014 ] 11.b3 dxe5 12.dxe5 I'm surprised by Grischuk's choice in this game. In my experience, White has an easy edge in these positions. The pawn on e5 is hardly a weakness, while Black has problems with his pieces, particularly his queen, c8-bishop and b6-knight. a5 [ 12...d7!? 13.f4 c5 14.c2 b4 15.b1 xd1 16.xd1 saw White easily take half a point from his much-f ancied opponent in: 1/2-1/2 (31) Salepci, O (2132) -Bagaturov, G (2453) Izmir 2013 ] 13.c2 ac4 14.c1 Probably the secondbest move. [ 14.e2! is quite common, and makes a lot of sense: Black's knight has gone to a lot of trouble to swap off W hite's bishop, which itself has only moved once. Perhaps Grischuk was attracted to the fact that Black has a great score from this position, but h o n e s t l y , a f t e r xd2 15.xd2 d7 and n ow t he o bviou s no velt y ( 15...d4? 16.ad1 1-0 (31) Pourramezanali, A (2435)-Debashis, D (2504) Sharjah 2014) 16.ac1! c6 17.fd1 b8 18.e4 White's position is extremely desirable. ] 14...xd1 15.xd1 d7 16.e4?! Every white player has made this choice, too, but I think it's inaccurate. [ 16.b3! temporarily weakens the c-file, but everything will soon be under control. a5 ( 16...ac8? 17.bxc4 xc4 18.b2 b4 19.d3 fc8 20.c1!+- ) 17.e4 and, with Nd6 to follow, W hite has good

chances to maintain an edge. ] 16...a5 17.e3 [ 17.g5 b4! and White is already missing the e4-square. ] 17...fd8 18.b3 ac8 19.ac1 a3 20.c2 b4 21.g5 e8 22.dc1 a3 23.d1 b4 24.dc1 a3 25.d1 b4 A tame conclusion. Ultimately, though, I think White has more chances to press for an edge in this variation than is commonly assumed. ½-½

2052 Alekseev,Evgeny Mamedov,Nidjat Junior Olympiad (3) [Gary Lane]

B22 2497 2403 13.09.2000

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 [ 5...g6!? is an interesting alternative. ] 6.dxc5 xc5 The queen takes back on c5 to maintain more options. There is a difference in this line compared to those where ...Nc6 has already been played in that the queen can still retreat from attack along the c-file. [ 6...xd1+ is the main alternative. ] 7.a3 bd7 8.h3 [ Or 8.e3 c7?! ( 8...c8!? looks a better bet ) 9.h3 h5 10.b5 b8 11.g4! g6 12.g5! e4 13.a4! a6 14.0-0-0 f5 ( 14...axb5?? is revealed as a big mistake after 15.xb5 xa4 16.xd7+ d8 17.b6+ ) 15.bd4 ec5 16.c4 ( 16.a3?! e4 17.b4? e5! 18.bxc5 xc5 19.a4 exd4 20.xd4 b5 21.a5 f4+ wins ) 16...b5 17.e2 e4 18.b3 xb3+ 19.axb3 b7 ( 19...e6 20.xd7!? xd7 21.g2 is unclear with the exposed black king compensation for the loss of the exchange ) 20.g2 e6 21.he1 ( 21.d4? c5! 22.xe4 xe4 23.e1 xb3+ 24.d1 b1+ 25.c1 xc1# ) 21...c8 22.d4 d5 23.h1 ( 23.b4 xb4 24.xg7 g8 25.d4 e7 ) 23...c5 A) 24.xc5 xc5 25.e5 xh1 26.d7 ( 26.xh1 0-0 27.d7?? xh1+ and black wins ) 26...c7; B) 24.d2 xh1 25.xh1 d5! 26.xc5 xc5 27.e4?! ( better is 27.hg1 ) 2195

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27...xb3 28.hg1 0-0? 29.g4 b4?? ( 29...e7 30.f6+ xf6 31.gxf6 g6 ) 30.f6+! gxf6 31.gxf6+ h8 32.h4 ( 32.g7!+- ) 32...e3+ 33.fxe3 c5 34.d3 h5 ( 34...f5 35.d8! g8 36.xg8+ xg8 37.d8# ) 35.c2? ( 35.e2!+- ) 35...xc2+ 36.xc2 bxc3 37.bxc3 h7 38.a1 a5 39.ha4 fc8 40.1a3 f5? ( 40...a8! is an improvement) 41.xa5 f2+ 42.d3 g6 43.3a4 1/2-1/2 E.Mukhametov-E. Mochalov, Russia 1996. ] 8...h5 9.e3 c8 10.c4 The position could be described as equal but I think White has some plus points. For example: he has a space advantage, Black has been forced to play a line he will have little experience with and the black queen on c8istemporaril y badly placed. c7 11.a4!? An adventurous idea to pin the knight on d7 and facilitate castling queenside. xf3 [ 11...e6 12.g4 g6 13.b6! d8 14.xd7 xd7 15.xa7 and White has won a pawn. ] [ 11...a6 looks like a reasonable alternative. ] 12.gxf3 d5 13.0-0-0 Alekseev swiftly brings his rook to the d-file to increase the pressure on Black. c6 14.b3 xe3 15.e5! A remarkable move. As usual in a combination Black has been banking on White playing the obvious move by taking back on e3. xe5 [ Or 15...e6 16.xb7 b8 17.xb8+ xb8 18.b5+ d7 19.xd7+ xd7 20.xd7 wins ] 16.b5 xd1 17.xc6+ bxc6 18.b7 If you count the pieces then you might wonder just how effective W hite's combination has been. The big thing is in this position is that it takes time for Black to activate his pieces and in the meantime the white queen will add more pawns to his hoard. d8 19.xd1 d7 20.xa7 g6 21.c7 g7 22.f4 White is toying with Black. Mamedov would like to castle but Rxd7 would finish him off. If nothing is done White can simply push the a-pawn to a8 to deflect the queen's rook from the defence of d7. g5 23.fxg5 e5 24.xc6 Three passed connected pawns are difficult to s t o p e n s u r i n g W h i t e ' s a d v a n t a g e . d6 25.c2 0-0 26.f4 h8 27.f5 e5 28.e4 f6 29.h4 c8 30.a4 The queenside pawns

start to roll forward and Black is in big trouble. c4 31.d4 a5 32.b4 e5 33.bxa5 xd4 34.xd4 The position is still winning for Alekseev who can use his queen and king to support the passed queenside pawns. c7 35.gxf6 exf6 36.c4 g7 37.c3 a8 38.b6 ac8 39.b5 c5 40.a6 5c7 41.b4 f7 42.d5+ g7 43.c5 a7 44.b7+! 1-0

2053 Ancheyta,Miguel Ehlvest,Jaan XV Torre Merida MEX (2) [Gary Lane]

B22 2282 2600 14.12.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 e6 6.c3 xc3 7.bxc3 c7 8.c2?! White protects the c-pawn but it is unusual to burden the queen with task. The question is how should Black punish such an obvious move? Ehlvest's handling of the game is a great example. [ 8.d2 A) 8...b6 9.f4 ( 9.f3!? is a normal move ) 9...e7 10.f3 0-0 11.d3 a6 12.xa6 xa6 13.e2 b7 14.0-0 led to equal chances in Agrest,SMiddelburg,T/Porto San Giorgio 2000.; B) 8...d6 9.f4 d7 10.f3 d5 11.d3 b6 12.0-0 with a level position, Asylguzhin, R-Ehlvest,J/Dubai 2001. ] [ 8.b2 a3!? Black wants to try and refute White's set-up but this is not the way to do it. Instead, he should just carry on developing as normal when the bishop on b2 is not as actively placed as being on d2. 9.b3 xb2 10.xb2 d6 11.f3 d7 12.b5 0-0 13.xd7 xd7 14.0-0 b6 with roughly equal chances, Lorenz,O-Kunze,H/Augsburg 2001. ] 8...b6 9.d2 b7 10.f3 d6 It is standard practice to try and undermine the e5 pawn. 11.b5+ d7 12.d3 a6 13.xd7+ xd7 If Black is going to try and claim an edge from the opening then it will be based on having the pair of bishops. 14.0-0 c6 Of course, Ehlvest is not expecting White to allow mate on g2 but by adding the queen to the h1-a8 2196

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d7 ] 11.d3 [ 11.e4 is less threatening than it looks: a5! A) 12.d3 f5 13.exf6 xf6 14.e3 ( 14.e2 b3 ) 14...b6 15.b4 c6; B) 12.a2 b5 13.e1 c4 14.xc4 xc4 15.g4 Burtasova, A-Lupik, M/ Herceg Novi 2005 h8!= 16.bd2 c8 White has to be very, very careful that his pieces do not become over-exposed. ] 11...c8 12.e4 g6N [ Many Sicilian players would prefer the combative 12...f5! and I really don't see what is wrong with this move: 13.exf6 xf6 14.h4 e8!? Aiming to either break White's attack with ...Qh5 or maybe develop an initiative with ...h7-h6 and ...Qf7. ( 14...a5 15.bd2 g6 16.h6 d5 17.e4 b3 18.eg5 ) 15.c3 h6 16.e3 h5 17.g4 f6= ] 13.h6 e8 14.bd2 dxe5 15.dxe5 b8 I suppose White is a bit better here, but these p o s i t i o n s a r e ve r y c o m p l e x t o p l a y . H i s queenside can become weak, so he hasn't got a totally free hand on the kingside. 16.g4 [ J u s t t a k i n g t h e f i l e w i t h 16.ac1! is a good approach and should keep an 2054 B22 edge, although it is only an edge, despite what the computers say: c6 17.g4 d7 Antonio,Rogelio Jr 2550 18.b4 b6 19.fe1 b5 ] Barbosa,Oliver 2414 17.e4 b5! As predicted. 1st GMA Cup Manila PHI (5) 20.11.2006 16...b6 18.xb5 xb5 19.ad1 d7= 20.g5 [Andrew Martin] [ 20.b1 c5 could not have attracted White too much ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 [ nor is 20.b4 a6 particularly inspiring. ] 5.f3 c6 6.c4 e6 Black is in there Keeping the dark squares covered. pitching all the way after 2...Nf6. I believe in 20...f8! his counterplay, but he has to have strong 21.b4 [ So 21.h4 would have now been the nerves! 7.0-0 logical continuation: xb2 22.b1 xa3 [ 7.xd5 exd5 8.cxd4 appeals only for an 23.xb7 c7 24.xc7 xc7 although this instant. After the simple d6 9.0-0 e7 has definitely got an ' all in' quality to it. I Black is absolutely fine. ] guess Antonio was still hoping to win this 7...d6 8.cxd4 e7 9.e2 0-0 10.a3 d7 game without sacrifice, but of course, 21 b4 The fate of the Queens Bishop is a problem gives Black purchase on the queenside. ] that Black has to solve and therefore 10...Bd7 22.bxa5 xa5 23.d3 a6 can be termed a 'natural' move. I don't think 21...a5! the Bishop will stay there for long, with c6 or 24.fd1 g7! 25.g3 c5 26.xc5 xc5 Black has completely equalized and Antonio b5 possible destinations. [ Instead 10...b6 looks perfectly playable knew it. Unfortunately for him, he continues too: 11.d1 a5 12.bd2 xc4 13.xc4 over-ambitiously. 27.h4? [ 27.h4! ec8 28.h3 was the safe way. ] a6 14.g5 f6! 15.exf6 xf6 16.ac1

diagonal it means that if he chooses to take on e5 then White can no longer take back with t h e k n igh t . 15.fe1 e7 16.c4 White is worried about the influence of the black queen and is plann ing va rious tactics revolvin g around a timely d4-d5. d5 [ 16...c8 17.ac1 h6 18.d5! exd5 19.cxd5 d7 20.e6 fxe6 21.dxe6 b5 22.g6+ d8 23.xg7 winning. ] 17.ec1 dxc4 18.xc4 e4! Ehlvest is looking forward to the ending because he can a d v a n c e t h e a a n d b p a wn s t o c r e a t e a passed pawn and then support it with his influential bishops. 19.b1 xb1+ 20.xb1 d5 21.a4 b5 22.a5 White has managed to stop the pawns rolling forward but at the cost of leaving his rook on a5 with no escape squares. d7 23.b4 e4 24.b2 hc8 25.h3 [ 25.xe7?? c1+ 26.e1 xe1# ] 25...c1+ 26.h2 c2 27.xc2 [ 27.b3 d5 28.b1 xa2 29.a1 xb4 30.5xa2 xa2 31.xa2 a5 and the two, connected passed pawns ensure victory. ] 27...xb4 0-1

2197

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27...c3! Missed by White, whose game together. ] takes a turn downhill. 28.xc3 xc3 29.f6 12.f4 c5+ 13.e3 c7 14.e5 xe3+ a4 30.d4 xd4 A typically complex [ 14...g4!? 15.d4 b6 ] Sicilian fight, where as so often, White gets 15.xe3 xc4 16.exf6 e6 17.g3 hit on the rebound.. [ The ending after 17.d4! xf6 18.xf6 0-1 gxf6 19.e4 g7 20.d6 is better for W hite because it is awkward for Black to develop his queenside pieces. ] 2055 B22 17...xf6 18.ad1 h8 [ Perhaps 18...d6 19.f5 e5 is Black's best Bade,Joern 2264 try to survive. ] Pfretzschner,Roland 2249 German Team championship (12) 08.03.2003 19.f5 b6+ 20.f2 f6 21.d5 c5 22.b4 b5?? A blunder which could happen to any [Gary Lane] of us. [ 22...c6 is the only hope when 23.h4 1.e4 c5 2.c3 e5 3.f3 c6 4.c4 gives White decent winning chances. ] I advocated this line in my old book 'The C3 Sicilian' published by Crowood. However, 23.d6 [ 23.d6 e8 24.c7+- ] copies are now scarce which is why we have Chesspublishing! e7 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 1-0 last book move. c7?! The queen is not well placed on c7now that the centre has been B22 opened because White can find ways to gain 2056 time in development by attacking it. Baklan,Vladimir 2552 [ 6...exd4 Anapolsky,Sergey 2450 A) 7.xd4 f6 8.c3 0-0 9.c2 Ukranian Team Championships (7) 1999 ( 9.0-0!? ) 9...b4?! ( 9...c5 is a better [Gary Lane] choice ) 10.xb4 xb4 11.0-0 c6 12.f4 b6 13.d6 there is a golden rule 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.a3 that you should develop your pieces and it White is trying to make Black think on move 4 is often ignored but here is evidence of by avoiding the established main lines. what fate can bring if you are not careful [ You might have difficulty looking up this e8 14.e1 xb2 desperate but White move but a tip is that it usually transposes had a grip on the position anyway. to the relatively better known lines which ( 14...h6 15.e5 h7 16.d5 d8 occur upon 4.f3 c6 5.a3 ] 17.c7 wins ) 15.c1 a5 16.a4 xc4 4...c6 5.f3 17.xb2 xb2 18.d4 1-0 Godena,M[ 5.f3 is an interesting response which Jedinak,R/Forli 1995.; according to my research has been played B) 7.0-0 d6 8.xd4 f6 9.c3 0-0 at international level: c7 6.e4 g6 7.d4 10.e1 a6 11.a4 gave White an edge in cxd4 8.cxd4 g7 9.f3 d6 10.h3 Jacek,M-Hlavnicka,J/CZE 1995. ] ( 10.exd6 xd6 11.c4 d8 12.e3 f5 7.dxe5 xe5 8.xe5 xe5 9.0-0 gives Black an edge; perhaps 10.d2 [ 9.c3 f6 10.f4 c5 at least the queen should be preferred but it is not exactly now temporarily cuts out the option of White ambitious in the style of the early queen castling kingside 11.b3 0-0 12.e5 g4 sortie ) 10...0-0 11.e2 dxe5 12.dxe5 f5 13.e4 d4 allows Black to fight back so 13.h4 xe5 14.0-0 e6 left Black with White is wise to stick to the text move and a n e xt ra p a wn a lt h o u gh t h e ga m e wa s push the whit eking into safety. ] eventually drawn, Coudari, C-Spraggett,K/ 9...f6 10.c3 0-0 11.d3 a6 Montreal 1975. ] [ Or 11...e8 12.d5 c5 13.xf6+ xf6 5...e6 The star Ukrainian player has faith in 14.b1 d6 15.b4 b6 16.b2 this line so it makes sense to see how other wh e n whit e's p a ir of bisho p s work we ll opponents have reacted: 2198

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 5...b6 6.e2 d6 7.exd6 e5 ( the alternative is 7...xd6 8.b5 d8 9.d4 with interesting play) 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 e4 10.g5 A) the scheme to protect the pawn with 10...f5 allows White to create an initiative upon 11.d5 e5 12.b5+ bd7 13.xe4! xe4 14.d4 xd6 ( 14...g6 15.xe5+ wins ) 15.xe4 with an edge.; B) 10...xd6 11.xe4 1/2-1/2 Baklan,VPelletier,Y/ Berlin 1999. ] [ 5...a6 Black prepares to advance his queenside pawns 6.c4 b5 7.e3 e6 8.xd5 exd5 9.d4 White creates a pawn chain and makes room for his dark-squared bishop to be developed d6 10.exd6 xd6 11.dxc5 xc5 12.d3 e7+ 13.e2 with mutual chances, Baklan,V-Degraeve,J/ Paris 1999. ] [ 5...g6 6.b3 A) 6...c7 7.d4 cxd4 8.c4 e6 9.cxd4 g7 10.d5 ed4 ( 10...a5 11.e3 xc4 12.xc4 f8 13.d6 is good for White because Black is rather congested) 11.xd4 xd4 12.e3 b6 ( or 12...f5 13.e4 d6 14.g4 h4 15.b5+ d7?! 16.exd6 is good for W hite) 13.0-0 d6 14.exd6 xd6 15.e1 a6 16.d3 b5 17.c2 xc2 18.xc2 b7 19.b3 d8 ( 19...xd5?? is just the start of a dream s e q u e n c e f o r W h i t e 20.xd5 xd5 21.xe7# ) 20.e2 0-0 21.g5 f6 22.xe7 xe7 23.xe7 xd5 24.e3 f7 25.b6 xe7 1/2-1/2 Baklan, VHracek,Z/German Team Championship 1999.; B) 6...b6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 d5 Black makes sure W hite is not able to advance the d-pawn with impunity 9.exd6 g7? ( Bla ck n e e ds t o p la y 9...e6! when White can only secure equality upon 10.c4 xc4 11.xc4 xc4 12.xc4 xd6 13.0-0 d8 with equal chances) 10.d5 e5 11.xe5 xe5 12.b5+ d7 13.dxe7 xe7 14.0-0 after all the initial flurry of excitement White is a pawn up for nothing 0-0 15.e3 fc8 16.ad1 ( 16.fe1 f6 17.xd7 xd7 18.c4 is better for White) 16...g4 17.d2 d7 18.h3 f5 19.d3 xd3 20.xd3 c5 21.d6 xd3 22.dxe7 xb2 23.d4

xd4 24.xd4 It now becomes clear that the retreat of the black knight is cut off by the rook on d4. b5 25.xb5 c4 26.c1 a6 27.cxc4! xc4 28.d8+ 1-0 Baklan, V-Aagaard,J/Groningen 1998. ] 6.c4 b5 7.e3 xe3 8.fxe3 White could argue that the semi-open file will be of benefit when he castles kingside. b6 9.d4 d6 [ 9...e7 10.d3 0-0 11.0-0 b7 12.c2 intending Qd3 is roughly equal. ] 10.exd6 xd6 11.d3 White puts the bishop on the most active square in hopeful preparation of a kingside attack. h6 12.e2 b8 13.0-0 0-0 14.h1 e5 It makes sense for Black to challenge the central white pawns and allow the light-square d bisho p to b e developed on the h3-c8 diagonal. 15.dxc5 xc5 16.b4 d6 17.e4 [ I prefer 17.a4 to try and engineer some activity on the queenside. ] 17...e6 18.e3 b7 19.a4 a6 20.h4 fe8 21.f5 xf5 [ perhaps 21...ed8!? should be considered ] 22.xf5 White has the straightforward plan of doubling rooks on the f-file to accelerate the attack. e7 23.ff1 c6 24.axb5 axb5 25.d2 [ Or 25.c4 g6 26.cxb5 c3 27.fc1 xb4 28.c4 with the superior prospects. ] 25...c7 26.c4 bxc4 27.xc4 f8 28.b5 d7 29.b4 b6 30.h5 d4? In a difficult position Black goes rapidly downhill: [ It is not easy to see how Black can defend against the onslaught: 30...h7 31.xe5 b7 32.d5 winning. ] 31.a6! This is the strongest reaction by preparing to swing the rook across tot he kingside in pursuit of the black king. [ White is also on top after 31.xf7+!? h7 32.ad1 xb5 33.g6+ xg6 34.xf8 f4 35.f3 with the advantage.. ] 31...bc8 [ Or 31...b6 32.xf7 xf7 33.xf7+ h7 34.xe7 when the extra piece will come in handy. ] 32.xf7+ h7 33.d2 White is clearly winning but he can wrap up the game with [ 33.xe7! when a sample line runs b6 ( 33...xe7 34.xh6+! gxh6 35.g6+ h8 36.xh6# ) 34.xf8 xf8 35.xb6 2199

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and the pieces can go back in the box. ] 21.c4 c6 22.c5 b4 23.xg6 hxg6 33...g8 24.d2 c6 25.h6 fe8 26.h3 e4 [ Instead 33...b6 falls victim to 34.xh6! Puigdemont, J-Vidarte Morales, A/Barcelona when Black crumbles gxh6 35.xb6 d2 1996 ] 36.xe5 g5 37.xg5 hxg5 38.b7 [ 12.h3 h5 13.g5 is another way. h6 with a winning ending. ] 14.h4 g6 15.b1 xd3 16.xd3 g5 34.xh6! xf7 17.g3 h5 18.xd6 xd6 [ There is not much choice when you Perez A le ma n, P -L ezcan o Ja en , P/ La s consider that 34...xh6 allows mate upon Palmas 1993 One gains the impression that 35.xh6+ gxh6 36.g6+ h8 37.xh6# ] if Black has to weaken his Kingside with ... 35.g5+ h6 36.xh6+! gxh6 37.xf7+ g7-g5 then white must be a least a little 1-0 better, with both d5, f5 and g5 to aim at. ] 1-0 12...e8 Take your pick whether you prefer th e I Q P a n d f re e p iece p la y o r t h e m o re compact W hite formation. 13.g5 xe1+ 2057 B22 14.xe1 h6 15.h4 g5 It happened again. Baklan,Vladimir 2618 White is better but has he got the firepower Polzin,Rainer 2470 left to prove it? In practice these types of TCh-AUT 2006-7 (11) 11.03.2007 position fizzle out. 16.g3 xg3 17.hxg3 c7 18.f1 e8 19.e3 a6 20.a2 d7 [Andrew Martin] 21.e2 My problem in playing Black would be 1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 d5 A move which is to find some play which is actually going to re ga rd e d b y ma n y a s B la ck's m o st so lid win the game. Not many like the ' neutralising choice of all against the 2 c3 Sicilian. My ' approach. I suppose in view of the rating impression is that White obtains a risk-free difference, Black is content to be solid and edge 4.exd5 exd5 5.f3 c6 await events. f8! 22.b4!? Was there any A pawn structure is reached, familiar to those need for this so quickly? [ I quite like the flexible 22.d2 and if e4 who play the French Tarrasch. Yet W hite's then 23.c2 f6 24.a2 and the game next move proves this a superior setting, as continues with Black holding the fort, but still the Bishop on c1 is unimpeded. 6.e3 c4 a little worse. ] 7.b3 Before Black can gain space there. cxb3 22...d6 23.b1 g4 24.b5 axb5 8.axb3 d6 9.d3 g4 10.bd2 [ 10.0-0 f6 11.g5! 0-0 12.e1 h6 25.xg4 With every piece exchanged, Black's 13.h4 f4!? so that the Knight on b1 has burden decreases. xe2 26.xe2 xg4 to go to a less active square. 14.a3 a6 27.xb5 xf3 28.gxf3 g7!= [ 28...a3 29.h7! xc3? ( 29...d6 15.c2 g5 16.xg5 hxg5 17.h3 xf3 30.h8+ e7 31.g2 e6 32.a8 d8 18.xf3 g6 19.e3 d6 20.g3 g7 33.b8 ) 30.xh6+ e7 31.xg5+ 21.g4 ( 21.f5! is interesting now, would not be so effective. ] securing an advantage for W hite, I think: h8 22.xg5 e7 23.e5 ) 21...e4 29.b2 e7 30.d3 c7 31.b3 d7 22.e5 xc3 23.xc6 bxc6 24.xg6 As predicted, the game tends towards a draw. b5 25.b1 fe8 26.d1 f6 27.g2 32.g2 g8 33.b5 d6 34.c4 dxc4 xf3+ 1/2-1/2 Macieja, B-Movsesian, S/ 35.xc4 d7 36.d5 f6 37.d6 b5! 38.xb5 The game and the notes say it all. Zagan 1997 ] Not especially interesting from Black, but 10...f6 11.0-0 0-0 12.e1 [ Or 12.g5 a familiar move, obtaining the when he's happy with a draw , why not? Let usual tiny edge: h5 ( 12...c8 13.e1 White make the running. b8 14.b1 h6 15.h4 Shaw, J-Bellin, J/ ½-½ Kilkenny 2000) 13.e1 g6 14.f1 c8 15.e3 b8 16.g4 d6 17.xf6+ gxf6 18.h4 a6 19.g3 d7 20.xb8 xb8 2200

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B22 play for the material. Certainly for a Morra 2183 player, it must be tempting! [ T h e s t e m g a m e we n t 15.xb7? a7 2625 16.a4? xf1-+ 0-1 (30) Berelowitsch, A 29.08.2013 (2500)-Rublevsky, S (2645)/Azov 1996 ] 15...b8 [ 15...xf1 16.xf1 c7 17.e3 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 It's a funny sort of position. Black is going 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 d6 7.a3 d7 8.d3 c6 to have trouble getting the bits out and the 9.0-0 d7 10.b4 a6 11.bd2 king safe, as White will always be able to [ I previously looked at 11.e1 in Janevwhip up some kingside pressure with his Shyam and concluded that c8 12.g5?! e xt r a ( ! ) m i n o r p i e ce . E ve n m y e n gi n e probably wasn't good enough, despite being agrees that W hite has enough for the ve ry t ri c k y. O f co u r se , W h it e ca n p l a y exchange. The position is definitely more fun something else on move 12. To be honest, to play from the white seat, but objectively though, I have always disliked the Nbd2 it should be only sufficient compensation. ] se t up in t h e m a in gam e a s it f ee ls like g i vi n g B l a c k t h e f 4 a n d c 3 s q u a r e s t o 16.b2 [ Placing the bishop on the other diagonal choose from can't be right. ] with 16.f4 or 16.Be3 was also possible in 11...c3 both cases White has sufficient [ K o r n e e v h a s a l s o t r i e d 11...f4 compensation. ] which seems quite okay: 12.e4 d5 13.c2 b5 14.e1 d3= And here I feel that 16...e7 17.d1 [ 17.e3! xf1 18.xf1 looks like another White is on the better side of equality and w a y t o k e e p t h e f i r e s b u r n i n g , a s 0-0 my engine agrees, but often any sniff of an ( 18...a5!? ) 19.d3 d8 20.xh7+ h8 initiative fizzles out in these positions - and 21.d4! looks decent. ] of course, I'm biased! 0-1 (41) Lyell, M (2237)-Korneev, O (2651)/S. Cristobal de La 17...0-0 [ 17...xf1 18.xf1 b6 19.d3 ] Laguna ESP 2008 (41) ] 18.e3 a5 Black stubbornly refuses to take [ 11...dxe5 was covered in Tiviakov-Bosch. ] the gift on f1. Now White could have called in 12.e1 [ 12.c2 c8! allows Black to equalise with the bluff, though it only promised equality. ease. 13.xc3 xf3 14.b2 c6 15.c4 19.d4!? Still going for it! [ Objectively, 19.d3!? was probably better, dxe5 16.dxe5 c5 and now a recent game with equality. xd3 20.xd3 d8 21.fd1 s a w t h e n e w 17.e2!? ( 17.c2 a4 c7 22.c1 b8 23.d2!? f8 24.c3= ] 18.xa4 xa4 19.d6+ xd6 20.exd6= 20.h3? White errs - right idea, 1/2-1/2 (45) Nemec, Z (2233)-W osch, A 19...xf1 (2256)/ Lechenicher SchachServer 2011 wrong move order. [ 20.xe6! was the way to go - more wood (45) ) 17...a4 18.b3 b5 19.a5 on the fire! fxe6 21.h3! and despite being wh i c h l e d t o su c c e s s . H o we ve r , B l a c k a rook and a knight down, White has some should be fine, e.g. d5 20.g3 c3 dangerous threats: f5! 22.xd7 e8! 21.f3 h5 22.b2 and now h4! ( 22...h6? ( 22...c4 23.g4 ) 23.xf5 exf5 24.b3+ 1-0 (58) Ebeling, D (2368)-Luukkonen, T f8 ( 24...h8?? 25.e6+- ) 25.e6 b5 (2267) /Mantta FIN 2013 (58)) 23.g4 26.c3 g6 27.xb7 ( 27.xe7 d8 h3! ] 28.h3 xe7 29.c5+ xe6 30.xb5 ) 12...dxe5 13.e4 xe4 14.xe4 b5! 27...d8 28.h3 axb4 29.axb4 e8 ] T h i s i s B l a c k ' s b i g i d e a . 15.dxe5!?N 21.xe6 c4!-+ I guess White D o e s t h i s v e r s i o n o f t h e e x c h a n g e s a c 20...g6 rehabilitate the line? W as it preparation? I missed this. 22.xd7 xe6 23.h6 d8 c a n ' t a n s w e r e i t h e r q u e s t i o n , e xc e p t t o 0-1 conclude that, while not objectively enough for an edge, White gets a significant amount of 2058 Barrenechea Bahamonde,G Korneev,O 78th ch-ESP 2013 (1.1) [Smerdon, David]

2201

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2059 Bauza,Alejandro Crosa Coll,Martin Championship (6) [Gary Lane]

B22 2287 2290 26.04.2001

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 A relatively new idea to target the d4 pawn as soon as possible. 5.e3 cxd4 [ 5...g7 allows White to take a pawn and attempt to hang on to it. 6.dxc5 xd1+ 7.xd1 f6 8.b5+ c6 9.f3 0-0 10.h3 d5 Black has to play energetically to justify the pawn deficit. 11.e2 xe3 12.fxe3 d7 13.bd2 e5 14.xe5 xb5+ 15.c4 xe5 16.cxb5 xb2 17.ab1 a3 18.c6 bxc6 19.b3 d6 20.bxc6 fc8 21.c1 gave W hite an advantage in the ending, Adell Corts,F-Herrera,I/Cullera 2001. ] 6.cxd4 [ 6.xd4 indicates that White is happy with a q u i e t g a m e a n d a p o s s i b l e d r a w f6 7.xd5 xd5 8.d4 f6 9.c4 e6 10.d2 c6 11.gf3 The former world champion is now in his old age and is happy to avoid complications and just wishes to develop his pieces. h6 12.b3 0-0 13.0-0 f7 14.fd1 fd8 15.c5 e5 16.fd2 led to equal chances in Smyslov,VGalliamova,A/Amsterdam 2001. ] 6...h6!? An interesting idea to exchange bishops that has little logic behind it. After all the usual idea in this variation is for Black to fianchetto to put pressure on the d4 pawn. [ 6...g7 7.c3 d6 8.c4 f6 9.h3 0-0 10.f3 c6 11.0-0 d8 12.e5 e6 ( Or 12...xe5?! 13.dxe5 c7 14.b5! a5 15.f3 gives W hite a clear advantage) 13.b5 e7 14.c1 d7 15.c3 ac8 16.b3 e8 17.d1 h5 18.f3 a5 19.d5 A theme of the C3 Sicilian in positions involving an isolated queen pawn is the idea of advancing it. xb3 20.axb3 a6 21.d6 f8 ( 21...xd6 22.d5 exd5 23.xc8 xb2 24.a5 when I prefer White.) 22.g4 f6 23.d2 c6 24.f4 the passed pawn on the sixth rank gave White the edge but the position was eventually drawn, Toomanian,H-Illijin,N/ Abu Dhabi 2001. ] 7.c3 a5 8.c4 c6 9.f3 xe3 10.fxe3 If the idea was to weaken White's

kingside pawns I don't think it is particularly successful. The reason is that after castling kingside the half-open f-file will actually aid White in the attack and of course Black now has weak dark squares on the kingside. f6 11.0-0 0-0 12.e2 h5 13.h3 b6 14.ac1 b7 15.e4 The central pawns are good because they cover important squares making it more difficult for Black to make manoeuvre. e5? Worried about the advance e4-e5 and decides to take action. [ 15...ad8 16.e5 d7 17.e6 is better for White. ] 16.xe5! xe2 17.xe2 xe5 18.xf6! An in-between move that blows apart Black's combination. [ Black had assumed White would play the obvious 18.dxe5 when xe4 19.xe4 xe4 20.c7 d5 keeps Black in the game. ] 18...c6 19.b5 Bauza is a up but he wisely increases the pressure by threaten to take on c6. b4 20.d6 a6 21.xa6 xa6 22.cf1 Another pawn will bite the dust encouraging Black to give up all hope. ad8 23.xf7 1-0

2060 Beltran,Jorge Ayza Ballester,Jordi op Ponferrada [Gary Lane]

B22 2315 1992

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 c6 7.c3 xc3 8.bxc3 d6 9.exd6 White has no intention of having a weakened pawn on e5 and opts to exchange on d6. xd6 10.d3 a5 11.d2 In this system there is no danger of W hite losing a pawn on c3 or e5 but the only snag is that Black has a comfortable position. [ 11.0-0?! xc3 Black grabs a pawn and is a b l e t o c o n t in u e wit h h i s d e ve lo p m e n t 12.b1 a6 13.e1 a5 14.e2 h5 15.h3 0-0 16.e4 b8 17.xc6 bxc6 18.xb8 xb8 19.e5 xe2 20.xe2 d6 21.c4 ( 21.xc6 b7 22.e5 d5 and Black has the better prospects in the ending ) 21...c7 22.a3 d8 23.c5 a5 2202

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and the extra pawn gave Black a winning ending in J.Horvath-S.Nyaradi, Hungary 1999. ] 11...0-0 [ Also possible: 11...d7 12.0-0 h6 13.e2 h5 14.ab1 b8 15.fe1 0-0 16.e4 f5 17.e2 g5 18.c4 and the threat to e6 gave White the advantage in M. Glickman-A. Read, Parsippany 2000. ] [ 11...h5 12.0-0 0-0 13.e1 e5? 14.xe5 xd1 15.axd1 xe5 16.dxe5 and White was a pawn up for nothing in J. Kienast-A.Stassen, Wallertheim 1994. ] 12.g5 A robust attacking stance that immediately puts Black on guard. Another approach is [ 12.0-0 intending Qe2-e4 with roughly equal chances. ] 12...g6 13.e4 e7 14.h4!? Beltran is playing with a great deal of energy by starting a straightforward attack that is designed to open up the h-file. e5! It is correct for Black to re s p o nd qu ick ly to p u t a st op t o W h it e 's ambitions. According to general principles an attack on the wing should be challenged by a n a t t a c k in t h e ce n t re . 1 4 . . . e 5 ce rt a in l y follows this policy and the object is engineer sufficient threats to distract White's attention from an all out attack. 15.h5 [ 15.dxe5 xe5 16.e2 f5 17.g3 d3+ 18.f1 fd8 gives Black the better position thanks to his well placed pieces. ] 15...exd4 16.hxg6 hxg6 17.cxd4 Beltran has been successful with his plan of playing h4-h5 followed by taking on g6 to give the king's rook greater influence. Such an attacking idea is fine if you can add reinforcements but the rook alone can do nothing. d8 18.c3 b4! The biggest threat for Black is White opening up the a1-h8 diagonal to support the rook so he exchanges off a potential attacking piece. [ 18...f5?? 19.d5 wins. ] 19.d2? [ 19.d5 is the only way to strive for an advant age whe n xc3+ 20.xc3 b4 21.e4 is double-edged. ] 19...xc3 20.xc3 xd4 In a couple of moves the position has been transformed largely in Black's favour. The queen on d4 has won a pawn and arguably just as importantly

now covers the important h8 square. The reality is that the White attack has no future. 21.d1 e8+ 22.f1 b4 A no risk strategy to head for a superior ending. 23.xg6 xd2 24.h7+ g7 25.xd2 h8 26.d4 xa2 27.xa2 xh7 28.xh7+ xh7 29.d8 b6 30.b4 a5 [ 30...a6+ forces immediate resignation. ] 31.d5 [ 31.d3 a4 wins. ] 31...a6+ 0-1

2061 Benjamin,Joel Stripunsky,Alexander 34th World Open (7) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2565 2569 03.07.2006

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.c4 d6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 e7 This looks a little submissive, but I guess in most lines it will just transpose to the mainlines with ...Nc6. Perhaps Black hopes to do something different with his knights, and indeed that is what happened in the game. 8.0-0 0-0 9.e1 [ 9.e2 is a major alternative, and give that White plays it later, I suspect it is the more flexible move. ] 9...dxe5 10.dxe5 b6 11.d3 a6 12.e2 c5 13.c2 d5 14.d1 d7 15.bd2 [ 15.c3 White should consider allowing the structural damage in return for removing the strong knight on d5. ] 15...b4? This feels like the moment where Black begins to go wrong. Moving the strongest minor piece doesn't seem to yield any dividends. [ 15...a4!? is an unusual-looking move, but it seems to be quite effective here because W hite can't play b3 due to ...Nc3. 16.b3 ( 16.xa4 xa4 17.e4 c5!= ) 16...xb3 17.axb3 b6 and I think I even slightly prefer Black, because the knights are strong and stable. ] 16.b1 a5 [ 16...b6 ] 17.e4 a6 [ 17...b5 18.e1! ] 2203

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.e3 c6 [ 18...xe4 ] 19.d4 c7 20.f6+! White's opening play wa s m o re pu rp ose f u l, a nd n ow he ha s a winning attack. xf6 21.exf6 d5 22.xh7+ xh7 23.h3+ g6 24.fxg7?? Yet another illustration of the immense fallibility of Grandmasters. Instead of ending the game immediately, Benjamin gave himself an awful lot of extra work. [ 24.g4+ xf6 25.g5# ] 24...xg7 25.g4+ h8 26.h4+ g8 27.g4+ h8 28.h4+ g8 29.g5+ h8 30.h5+ g8 31.g5+ h8 32.h6+ g8 33.f3 e4 34.g5 ef6 35.xd5 exd5 36.xf6 c2 37.e3 g6 38.d4 fe8 39.h3 c6 40.c1 f6 41.f3 e4 42.d3 d4 43.f4 ae8 44.h2 f5 45.g3 g7 46.a3 f4 47.h4 xh4 48.xh4 d3 49.d6 d2 50.xd2 e4 51.f4 e2 52.c2 e4 53.c3 f7 54.f2 h8 55.g3 f5 56.e3 a5 57.a3 a4 58.e2 d8 59.e7+ f8 60.c7 e8 61.d2 g8 62.h4 d5 63.f2 g6 64.f5 h6 65.d4 e5 66.d7 f7 67.d8+ h7 68.d7 g8 69.g4+ f8 70.xb7 d5 71.b8+ e7 72.b4+ f7 73.g4 e7 74.f2 e4 75.g3 f4 76.c5+ d7 77.xf4 xf4 78.g4 c4 79.e3 d6 80.g3 c2 81.d8+ c6 82.c8+ 1-0

2062 Berelowitsch,Alexander Tiviakov,Sergei 1st Pfalz Open (9) [John Shaw]

B22 2606 2649 23.02.2008

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 e6 5.f3 f6 6.e3 cxd4 7.cxd4 c6 8.c3 d6 9.a3 A very common theoretical position with well over 500 games in my database. g6!? Tiviakov's third attempt with this rare move, so certainly worthy of attention for at least 3 reasons: 1) Tiviakov is a strong player. 2) He is experienced on the white side of 2.c3 3) Repeating the line suggests it is reliable (some strong players will play any old rubbish once, as a surprise weapon). [ Of course 9...e7 is the common move. ]

10.d2 Planning to harass the queen. Tiviakov's two previous games varied here: [ 10.c4 g7 11.0-0 0-0 12.e2 b6 13.ad1 e7 14.e5 b7 White has played all the logical moves, but not made a dent. 15.f4 ed5 Howell-Tiviakov, Isle of Man 2005. Black has a solid anti-IQP and later won. ] [ Tiviakov's other game was less relevant to the theory of 7...g6. Bradenburg-Tiviakov, Dieren 2005, showed Black's system working perfectly, albeit after some helpful white moves. 10.g5 g7 11.xf6 xf6 12.e4 e7 13.xf6+ xf6 "Avoid exchanging minor pieces" is the traditional IQP advice for W hite, and for goo d reason . 14.b5 d7 15.0-0 0-0 16.d2 fd8 17.e3 e7 18.xd7 xd7 19.e5 g7 20.fd1 ad8 21.xf6+ xf6 Straight into a classic bad IQP ending. Black won. ] 10...g7 11.f4 d8 12.b5 d7 Now Black will not reach his ideal double fianchetto. [ However, 12...0-0 13.xc6 bxc6 14.0-0 is very pleasant for W hite. The potential outposts on e5 and c5 suggest that, in this case, Bh6 is a positional threat. ] 13.e5 c8 [ Black would like to exchange pieces but 13...xe5 14.dxe5 d5 ( 14...h5 15.g5 ) 15.g5 is not so easy. For example: c7 ( White will always have g o o d c h a n c e s a f t e r 15...f6 16.exf6 for the obvious structural reasons.) 16.0-0 xc3 17.xd7+ xd7 18.xc3 Can White make anything of his slight lead in development and control of d8? I'd certainly ra t h e r b e W h it e , b u t it ' s n o t cle a r t h a t anything can be forced. For example: 0-0 19.ad1 b5 ] 14.0-0 0-0 [ Now 14...xe5? is badly timed. 15.dxe5 d5 16.g5 c7 17.xd5 when there is no saving check on e5. ] 15.g5 [ T h e s i m p l e 15.ad1 is safer with the standard "equal/ slightly better for W hite" assessment. ] 15...a6 Forcing the bishop back, but Black had a sharper option. 2204

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e8 15.ae1 led to equal chances in Benderac,S-Stanimirovic,A/Cetinje 1992. ] 8...xc5 9.xc5 xc5 10.d3 g4 11.e2+ f8!? A nice idea to put pressure on White by making room for a rook to occupy the e-file. In the long-term the obvious drawback is that it will take time to activate the king's rook. [ 11...e6 12.0-0 0-0 is equal. ] 12.0-0 e8 13.d1 b6 [ 13...g6 indicates that Black is eager to get his king's rook into the game which is made easier by White not having a dark-squared bishop, 14.bd2 g7 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 e7 17.b3 he8 18.b5 e4 with equality and the game was eventually drawn, Mazakova,P-Antoshik, A/Prague 1999. ] 14.b3 xf3 15.xf3 e5 16.d1 d4 17.f5 d3 In a game such a critical move requires good judgement. The question is it a lone pawn that will soon be lost or a valuable passed pawn which split W hite's pieces? 18.d2 g6 Finally Benjamin finds time to coordinate his rooks. 19.e4 g7 20.h3 Blatny is reduced to a high-class waiting move, which indicates that Black's decision to create a passed pawn is absolutely correct. xe4 21.xe4 c6 22.e1 f5 23.g5?! [ Or 23.d2 xc3 24.c1 a5 25.b4 d8 26.b3 leaves Black better but at least White has activated his pieces. ] 23...xc3 24.c1 a5 25.b4 d8 [ 25...xa2? allows 26.c7+ f8 27.f4+- ] 2063 B22 [ If 25...xb4?! then 26.b1 f4 27.xb7+ h6 28.xe5! xg5 ( 28...xg5 29.g3! ) Blatny,Pavel 2535 29.d5 and I prefer White because the black Benjamin,Joel 2575 king looks uncomfortable on the side of the World open Philadelphia (3) 1995 board. ] [Gary Lane] 26.d2 h6 27.xe5 xe5 [ 27...xg5 28.c7+ f6 29.f4 wins. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 d5 4.exd5 exd5 [ 27...hxg5?! is not impressive upon 28.xe8 5.e3 b6 6.c2 It is interesting that in this xe8 29.c3+ h6 30.d1 heavyweight encounter White is not prepared and the position is equal. ] to sacrifice the b-pawn. c6 7.f3 f6 28.b2 hxg5? 8.dxc5 [ 28...he8!? maintains Black's advantage [ 8.bd2 is also worth a try just to get on upon 29.f4 g8 30.fxe5 xg5 ] with development. For example: g4 9.d3 cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 c5 12.0-0 29.xe5+ h6 30.d1 h7 31.h4!? gxh4 0-0 ( 12...xd4 13.cxd4 xd4 14.fe1+ 32.e3+ g5 33.xd3 e7 34.c3 h7 e6 15.f3 b4 16.a3 f4 17.c5 35.h1 b6 [ 35...f4 looks a sterner test for White. ] is good news for White) 13.2f3 f6 14.h3 [ Positionally, exchanging pieces is in Black's interests, but at first there seems to be a tactical problem with the g5-d8 pin: 15...xe5 16.dxe5 xb5 17.xd8 fxd8 18.xb5 c5! I wonder if this was o v e r l o o k e d . ( 18...d5? 19.xa7 a8 20.xf6 ) 19.xf6 xf6 20.exf6 xb5 A draw is very likely. ] 16.e2 White has at least prevented Black from developing his bishop on the ideal b7square. c7 17.ad1 d5 This is a good move, although it accepts that Black will have the less comfortable side of a dull position. Avoiding such "boring" moves is a common source of trouble for Black players facing 2. c3. 18.xd5 exd5 19.xc6 xc6 20.h6 xh6 21.xh6 White has the superior bishop, but as long as the queen stay on the board it will be tough to exploit this. The simple bishop ending is White's dream position, and even that would probably be drawable. fe8 22.f3 e7 23.fe1 xe1+ 24.xe1 a5 25.e7 e8 26.xe8+ xe8 27.e3 d7 28.h4 h5 29.g3 e6 30.g2 b5 31.c3 a5 32.d2 g4 If White had any hopes of a win, then this kills them. 33.xg4 hxg4 34.h5 Sensibly bailing out before the stronger player has a chance to start playing. gxh5 35.g5+ f8 36.d8+ g7 37.g5+ f8 38.d8+ g7 A classic c3-Sicilian? White was almost better, then it's a draw. ½-½

2205

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 36.a3 f7 37.d6 e7 ½-½

2064 Braga,Fernando Alberto Spangenberg,Hugo La Plata (9) [Gary Lane]

B22 2465 2565 1997

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 [ I t i s w o r t h r e m e m b e r i n g t h a t 7...dxc3 8.xc3 d6 9.exd6 transposes to the main game. ] 8.exd6 dxc3 A daring move that aims to grab a material advantage. In practice W hite's superior development means a quick kingside attack is likely. 9.xc3 exd6 10.0-0 [ 10.g5 is a good alternative. ] 10...e7 11.g5 A strong, direct move that targets the weak f7 pawn. This is the right way to play a gambit line by putting Black under pressure straight from the opening. [ 11.f4 0-0 12.d3 e6 13.fd1 d5 14.a3 f6 15.ab1 e7 16.d4 d7 17.c2 g6 18.e2 g4 19.f3 f5 and White had insufficient compensation for the pawn in S.Vajda-C.Peptan, Timisoara 1994. ] 11...e5 [ If 11...xg5 then 12.h5 wins back the piece because the queen threatens not only the bishop but mate on f7. However, the grandmaster should have considered e7!? 13.xf7+ d7 and it is not obvious how to successfully attack the stranded black king. ] 12.f4 xg5 Spangenberg has little choice but to exchange pieces because if the e5 knight re t r e a t s t h e n W h i t e s i m p l y t a k e s o n f 7 . 13.fxe5 0-0 Black obviously got caught out in the opening and is now content to hand back the extra pawn. If White took on d6 he would retain the better chances but after seeing a good move it always makes sense to look for a n e v e n b e t t e r m o v e . 14.xf7! xf7 15.xf7+ xf7 16.h5+ g8 17.xg5 The combination has been a success because White has a strong, attacking initiative. d7 [ 17...f8 18.f1 f5 19.g4 wins. ] 18.d1 White introduces another piece into

the attack. It is quite stunning how such a strong player like Spangenberg can get into such trouble after only 18 moves. Black's lack of queenside development means that constru cting a reasonab le def enc e is a n impossible task. h6 19.xd6 f5 20.e8+ h7 [ 20...f8 21.xf8+ xf8 22.d8+ f7 23.e3 Black will slowly be crushed because it is awkward to activate the rook and bishop. For instance: f5? 24.xb6 ] 21.xh6! In such a dominating position it is White who has all the fun. d7 [ 21...gxh6 22.e7+ g8 23.d8+ f8 24.xf8# ] 22.e7 g4 23.h3 1-0

2065 Bruzon Batista,Lazaro Zapata,Alonso Carlos Torre Memorial, Merida (1.2) [Richard Palliser]

B22 2648 2470 18.12.06

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.c4 d6 6.0-0 c6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 e7 9.e2 0-0 10.e1 [ It does appear a little strange to play both Qe2 and Re1, but from what I can see, the critical variation 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 dxe5 12.dxe5 a5! continues to hold up well for Black. ] 10...a5!? [ Ambitious as Black provokes an exchange on d5. I've preferred 10...d7 on a couple of occasions and this still seems fine for Black, such as with 11.c3 xc3 12.bxc3 dxe5 13.dxe5 a5! 14.b1 ab8 15.d3 fd8 16.g5 g6 17.f3 e8 , which kept everything defended on the kingside and left W hite with a collection of weak pawns in Vysochin-Milu, Predeal 2006. ] 11.exd6 [ A new try, but just like the earlier exchange on d6, probably not one sufficient for any advantage. Perhaps W hite should prefer 11.d3!? b4 12.exd6 xd6 13.e4 f5 14.d3 xd3 15.xd3 , which has long been considered fine for Black, but recently White has won a few games in this line: for 2206

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 example, b6 ( 15...c6 16.c3 f6 looks like a more solid defence and 17.b5 d8 18.f4 b4 19.b3 d5 20.d6 e8 21.ac1 was quite solid for Black in Golubovic-Bilobrk, Sibenik 2006, although White retained a small edge) 16.c3 b7 17.d5! ad8?! ( now Black runs into trouble a more critical line must be 17...exd5 18.f4 d7 19.e5 d8 20.ad1 b4 , which may not be so bad for the second player, despite the weaknesses created by his overextended pawns) 18.g5! f6 19.ad1 exd5 20.b5 a6 21.xd6 xd3 22.xf6 gxf6 23.xd3 xd6 24.d4 was truly disgusting for the young American-Italian star in Godena-Caruana, Cremona 2006. ] [ Another try is 11.xd5 exd5 12.f4 , but c6 13.c3 e6 14.h3 a6 15.ad1 h6 16.d2 e8 17.e2 f8 saw Black maintaining a very solid balance in Predojevic-Hossain, Turin Olympiad 2006. ] 11...xd6 12.xd5!? Giving up the key bishop so lightly is radical, although Bruzon hopes to gain a useful lead in development and especially to force through a rapid d4-d5. xd5 13.c3 c4! [ This gives Black time to co-ordinate and qu i t e p o s s ib l y a lr e a d y f u l l y s o l ve s h i s p r o b l e m s , wh e r e a s 13...d8?! 14.f4 , followed by 15 d5, would have given White the initiative. ] 14.e4 c6 15.f4 [ Now 15.d5 fails to convince after xe4 16.xe4 exd5 17.xd5 d6 when only Black can be better with his bishop-pair. ] 15...d8 16.ad1 d7 17.g5 The only real t r y , b u t Z a p a t a i s n ' t t o o t r o u b l e d . xg5 18.xg5 f6 19.f4 e8! Forcing further liquidation. If ideas like 11 exd6 Qxd6 12 Bxd5 are the best that W hite can come up with, then he is surely not doing too well in this important variation of the c3-Sicilian. 20.xe6+ xe6 21.xe6 xd4 22.xd4 xd4 23.d6 f5 24.d1 c6 Already the players could agree a draw and, indeed, it is only Black who makes some small progress over the remaining moves: 25.f3 c8 26.f2 f7 27.h3 h5 28.d2 h4! 29.e4 g5 30.d6+ xd6 31.xd6 b5 32.g1 a5 33.h2 c1 34.a3 c6 35.b4 c4

36.bxa5 a4 37.d6 xa5 38.c7 ½-½

2066 Burg,Twan Giri,Anish Open A Groningen NED (2) [David Vigorito]

B22 2460 2585 22.12.2009

In a popular line of the 2.c3 Sicilian, W hite introduces a sharp looking sacrifice. However, u p o n clo se r in sp e ct io n it is re a lly j u s t a drawing mechanism. So theoretically this idea is no problem, but it could be a practical issue if Black wants to try to win. In this game the young GM Giri went a little too far. 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 c6 8.0-0 e7 9.e2 0-0 10.c3 [ 10.e4 is also popular. One recent example featured Giri with Black in the same event: d7 11.d3 f5 12.exf6 xf6 13.e2 a5 14.c3 h5 15.f4 d5 16.xd5 exd5 17.d2 ae8 ( for a discussion of the moves leading here as well as the sharp 17...g5!? see Erenburg, S (2475)-Yagupov, I (2460)/Alushta 2002 in the archives) 18.e2 g6 19.g3 f5 20.fd1 e4 and Black had no problems in Brandenburg, D (248 1) -Giri, A (2585)/ Groningen 2009. ] 10...xc3 11.bxc3 dxe5 [ 11...a5!? was featured in Kaidanov, G (2596)-Shulman, Y (2606)/Tulsa USA 2008 ] 12.dxe5 a5 [ 12...c7 can also be found in the games collection. ] 13.e4 [ 13.a4!? was recently discussed in Radjabov, T (2761)-Dominguez Perez, L (2717)/ Linares 2009. ] [ 13.d2 is the obvious move, protecting the c3 -p a wn . T h is h a s a l so b e e n p la y e d a couple of times recently: d8 14.fe1 d7 15.b3 e8 16.e4 d7 ( 16...g6 17.h4 c7 18.g4 f8 19.g5 d3 20.h5 gave W hite some initiative in Rabiega, R (2531)-Chuchelov, V (2598)/Berlin 2009) 17.ac1 ad8 18.g5 h6 19.e3 a3 20.b1 f8 21.bc1 a3 22.b1 2207

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 when Black chose to avoid a repetition and played xc3 23.c2 g6 24.xh6 in Godena, M (2537) -Vocaturo, D (2500)/ Reggio Emilia 2009. Although Black went on to lose, the position is balanced, yet sharp, at this point. ] 13...a4 This move is played to discourage Bd3, as pointe d o ut b y E mms in his ne w Starting Out: 2.c3 Sicilian. Black intends ... Na5 to exchange queens. 14.g5 h6 15.f6 [ This looks very sharp, but really it just f o r c e s a d r a w . P r e v i o u s l y 15.xe7 had been played. After xe7 16.ab1 b8 17.b4 c6 18.e3 b6 19.d3 White maintained the initiative in Nisipeanu, L (2675)-Ramirez, A (2483)/Juan Dolio 2003. ] 15...gxf6 16.g4+ h8 [ 16...h7?? 17.d3+ wins the Black queen on a4! ] 17.h4 d8? Black wants to play for a win, but this is too perilous. [ 17...fxe5 18.xh6+ g8 19.d3 f5 20.g6+ is a draw ] [ 17...xe5 18.xe5 g7 19.g4+ h8 20.h4 is also a draw ] 18.xh6+ g8 19.exf6 xf6 [ Black has to give the piece back because 19...f8 20.g5+ h8 21.h5+ g8 22.g5 mates. ] 20.b3! g7 21.xg7+ xg7 22.xa4 The smoke is clear and White remains a pawn up. Black has some drawing chances because o f W h i t e ' s s p l i t q u e e n s i d e p a w n s . d7 23.fd1 e5 24.xd7 xd7 25.d4 f6 26.f1 xd4 27.xd4 c8 28.e2 c4 29.b1 a4 30.b2 b6 31.e1 g6 32.f3 d5 33.d2 b5 34.g3 a6 35.d4 c4 36.e2 e5 37.b1 a4 38.b2 White's play has been rather passive. Black could probably stand pat and hold, but he seems to get some ideas of his own. The ambitions of youth... b6 39.e1 c4 40.c2 e3 41.d2 c4 42.c2 f5 [ 42...e3= ] 43.f2 f6 44.h4 e4 [ 44...a3 45.c1 c4= ] 45.fxe4 fxe4 46.g4 a3 47.c1 c4 48.g1 [ 48.g5+ is bet te r, be cau se af te r g6 White has 49.f4+ f5 50.g3 ]

48...xa2 49.g5+ g6 Now the e2-knight is pinned. 50.g2 d2 [ 50...a5 51.h5+! ] 51.g3 [ 51.h5+! xh5? 52.g6 wins for White - the Black king is in danger. ] 51...d7 52.f4 e3 53.h5+! Finally! xh5 54.g6 h6 55.d4 d6?? [ 55...g7 56.f5+ g8 still holds things together. ] 56.e6! Covering d8. Now the g-pawn is going to be difficult to stop. e2 57.xe2 e7 [ 57...xg6 58.f8+ ] 58.g7 f7+ 59.e5 c4+ 60.d4 xg7 61.h2+ White wins a whole rook. 1-0

2067 B22 Can,Emre 2464 Ludwig,D 2400 WYCC Boys U18 Vung Tau City (11) 30.10.08 [David Vigorito] Here we look at a popular system that was recommended years ago by Gallagher in "Beating the Anti-Sicilians" 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 [ 4.f3 c6 5.c4 ] 4...cxd4 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 b6 7.c3 [ Another move for White is 7.d3 a6!? ( 7...b4+ 8.d2 xd2+ 9.xd2 a6 10.e4!? c6 11.xd5 exd5 12.c3 b4 13.a3 d3+ 14.d1 is perhaps the line White had in mind) 8.e4 I have seen this idea before, but it seems too ambitious here. W hite will win a pawn, but he cannot get castled and quickly loses the initiative. c6 9.xd5 exd5 10.a3 ( 10.c3 b4! ) 10...e7 11.c3 0-0 12.xd5 d6! Simply opening the position. 13.a4 a5 ( 13...b7!? ) 14.b4 ( perhaps White should have just gone for 14.b4 dxe5! 15.xe7+ xe7 16.e3 exd4 17.xd4 c4 18.xa6 xe3 19.fxe3 xe3+ 20.e2 ad8 when Black has the initiative, but no win is in sight) 14...c4 15.c6 d7 16.xe7+ xe7 17.d2 ac8 18.xa5 bxa5 19.b3 a6 20.xa5 b7 21.d2 xb3 22.xa6 c2+ 23.e1 c3+ 24.d1 dxe5 25.e1 xf2 2208

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 0-1 Arngrimsson, D (2392) -Inarkiev, E (2669)/Kallithea 2008 ] 7...xc3 8.bxc3 c7 9.d2 b7 [ 9...d6 10.d3 d7 11.0-0 b7 is another common move order ] 10.d3 d6 11.0-0 d7 12.g5!? [ This is the most ambitious plan. Instead 12.e1 dxe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.xe5 d6 15.h5 g6 16.h3 ( 16.b5+ c6 17.f3 0-0-0 18.xc6 gxh5 ) 16...0-0 is very solid for Black. ] 12...dxe5 13.h5 g6 14.h3 Now White threatens 15.Bxg6! e7 [ perhaps Black should further investigate the rarer 14...g7!? ] 15.ae1 [ 15.fe1 is also possible The move in the game commits W hite to playing for f2-f4, because otherwise the f1-rook will be out of play. ] 15...d5 [ Perhaps Black needs to look for an i m p r o v e m e n t h e r e . 15...xg5 16.xg5 xc3 is dangerous but may be the most testing. ( 16...f5 17.h6 f7 18.b5 looks very dangerous; 16...0-0 17.dxe5 xc3 looks risky after 18.e3 intending Qh6 and Rh3 )] 16.f4! exd4 17.cxd4 d6 [ 17...f6 18.f5! gave White a strong attack in Peredy, F (2430)-Kerek, C (2310)/ Budapest 1997. ] [ 17...h6 18.xf7 only seems to lead to a draw after ( 18.f5!? ) 18...xf7 19.f5 exf5 20.xf5+ gxf5 21.xf5+ f6 22.g6+ f8 23.xh6+ xh6 24.xh6+ f7 25.g6+ f8 etc. ] 18.f5! gxf5 19.xf5 xg5 [ After this White is clearly better. testing White with 19...exf5 20.xf5 A) 20...c4 c a n b e m e t b y 21.xf7! xd4+ 22.e3 f6 23.g5 ( or 23.xh8 xf1 24.h5+ d8 25.f7+ c7 26.xf1 ) 23...d4+ 24.h1 0-0 comical and forced, but not good enough 25.xe7 xf7 26.xf7 xf7 27.xf7+ h8 28.h3; B) 20...f8 allows 21.b4! xb4 22.xd5 with a strong attack, for example: c8 ( or 22...0-0-0 23.a8+ b8 24.c1+ d7 25.xf7 ) 23.xh7 d8

24.xf8 xf8 25.e4 but Black has reasonable chances after d2 ] [ Perhaps 19...f6 is the most resilient. 20.xf7 only leads to a draw after xf7 21.xe6+ xe6 22.h5+ g8 23.g5+ f7 ] 20.xg5 g8 21.h5 Black is in big trouble. h6? [ White's idea is 21...f8 22.xe6! xe6 23.xf7# ] [ 21...f8 i s m e t w i t h 22.e4 and with Black's king corralled in the centre, White's initiative is very strong. ] 22.xe6! xg5 [ Again, the idea is 22...xe6 23.xf7#! ] 23.xf7+ d8 24.xd5 xd5 [ No b e t t e r is 24...xd5 25.e8+ c7 26.xa8 ] 25.e8+ c7 26.xd5 xe8 [ or 26...xd5 27.xa8 ] 27.c1+ [ 27.c1+ d8 28.a8+ e7 29.e1+ picks up more material. ] 0-1

2068 Carlsson,Pontus Istratescu,Andrei 18th European Teams (1.6) [Sam Collins]

B22 2502 2627 03.11.2011

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 Something of a surprise from the amiable Swedish GM, who has a sharp style (subscribers of the Dragon section can see his games featured heavily there) and very much tends to favour Open Sicilians. f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 c6 [ The alternative setup was essayed in round 9. 7...b6 8.d3 c6 9.0-0 b4 10.g5 e7 11.xe7 xe7 12.c3 xd3 13.xd3 0-0 14.e4 dxe5 15.dxe5 . This position arose in M.Godena (2548) D.Mastrovasilis (2621), Porto Carras GRE 2011 (1/2-1/2 34). It is a classic c3-Sicilian edge, where the white knights are more effective than the black bishop and knight combination. W hite is also considerably better mobilised and has an advantage in space. ] 2209

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.0-0 e7 9.c2 A new move for me and for this site, though not technically a novelty. However, I have some doubts as to whether this was actually played (see the note to White's 13th). [ On my recent c3-Sicilian DVD I recommend 9.e2 0-0 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 dxe5 12.dxe5 . This leads to very similar play and, in the event of Qe4, a direct transposition is p o s s ib le . T h is h a s b e e n e xt e n sive ly covered in the Archives. ] 9...0-0 10.c3 dxe5 11.dxe5 xc3 12.bxc3 a5 13.d2 Raising a serious question about the score of this game, since now Black can capture on e5. Either W hite started with 13.Rfe1 or (perhaps more likely) 9. Qe 2 wa s pla ye d . d7 14.fe1 fd8 15.ab1 ab8 16.e4 A typical position for the 9.Qe2 line has been reached. White has kingside attacking prospects Black has a superior structure which may prove significant in the endgame. The following moves also seem very logical from both players. e8 [ 16...a4 is a thematic move in these structures, pinning white's light-squared bishop to the queen. It goes without saying that a queen exchange would solve many of Black's problems. 17.g5 is logical, when xg5 ( 17...g6?? 18.xf7! is the tactical difference) 18.xg5 dc8 19.d3 xe4 20.xe4 leaves an endgame where Black could probably claim equality in view of his lack of weaknesses, and targets to aim at on a2 and c3. I would still prefer W hite, however, since with the two bishops he can never be worse. ] 17.g5 g6 18.h4 h5 19.f4 A move with a very dangerous threat. xd2!? A highly enterprising exchange sacrifice, but it is not clear whether this is Black's best. [ 19...xg5 20.xg5 e7 leaves Black with problems on the dark-squares and W hite with the two bishops, but seems a solid choice. I don't see any way for W hite to break through here, while Black can double on the d-file with a good game. ] [ White's threat is illustrated after a neutral move like 19...a6?? : 20.xe6! when the knight is immune from capture in view of i m m e d i a t e m a t e , a n d xd2 21.h6 is also decisive. ]

20.xd2 xe5 From a material point of view, Black cannot complain in such a position (pawn for the exchange, plus the two bishops). However, White has some residual initiative, and if he can use this to gain a concession (for instance, by trading the light-squared bishops) we will be comfortably better, as occurs in the game. 21.f4 [ 21.b5 is an attractive attempt to break the communication between the flanks. After g4 22.xe8 xe8 ( 22...xg5 23.xf7+ xf7 24.d7+ g8 25.xe6+ g7 26.h3 and White regains the piece with interest) 23.f3 Black has some compensation for the exchan ge, but I'm not sure that it's enough. ] 21...xg5 [ As if to illustrate my point about direct transpositions between the 9.Qc2 and 9.Qe2 line s, Pont us had alread y reach ed this position with White earlier this year, but from a 9.Qe2 move order! That game continued 21...d6? and now White missed a big shot. A) 22.e4 xc4 23.f6+ ( 23.xd6! ) 23...f8 24.xc4 c6 and White should have forced a draw by checking on h7 and f 6 i n P . Ca rls so n (2 4 9 6 ) - B . L in d b e r g (2391), Vasteras 2011 (0-1 in 35); B) 22.xe6! fxe6 23.xe6 when White's i n i t i a t i v e f o r c e s m a t e r i a l g a i n s xc3 ( 23...f7 24.bd1 xc3 25.f6 is similar.) 24.f6 f3+ 25.xf3 xf3 26.gxf3 with excellent winning chances. ] 22.xe5 xe5 23.xe5 f4 [ 23...f6 seems more natural, with decent compensation for the exchange. ] 24.e4 d6 25.b5 Forcing a trade of lightsquared bishops leaves W hite on top. The rest of the game is not particularly relevant from a theoretical perspective, but Pontus shows nice technique to infiltrate on the lightsq u a re s a n d p u t a wa y a s t r o n g G M . f8 26.xe8 xe8 27.f1 d7 28.d4 e5 29.d5 e6 30.a5 a6 31.b6 e7 32.d5 c7 33.b1 e6 34.bd1 e4 35.a4 e5 36.c5 h4 37.g3 hxg3 38.hxg3 f5 39.e2 d6 40.cd5 e7 41.d7 g5 42.c7 d6 43.h7 e7 44.a5 b5 45.dh1 c5 46.1h6+ d5 47.d7+ c4 48.c7 b4 49.b6 A theoretically significant game. It seems to me that if Black is going to go in for 2210

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the exchange sacrifice on move 20 (as is [ 15...fe8 is worth a try so that after 16.h6 basically f orced af ter his 16th move), he h8 Black avoids the exchange of his needs to play very precisely. 16...Qa4 seems important dark-squared bishop. ] safer. 16.h6 cxd3 17.xg7 xg7 18.xd3 dxe4 1-0 19.xe4 d5 The knight is heading for f4 which indicates Black still has the initiative. 20.g3 f6 21.c2 ae8 22.ad1 f4 2069 B22 23.e4 xe4 24.xe4 f5 25.ee1 [ 25.xe5 fxe4 ( 25...xh3+! 26.gxh3 Cau,Benjamin xe5 27.xe5 xe5 28.d7+ h8 Collins,Sam 29.d2 when White has the more exposed Glorney Cup FRA-IRL (5.4) 29.07.1999 kingside but the position gives good, [Gary Lane] practical drawing chances.) 26.d7+ xd7 27.xd7 is a good alternative continuation 1.e4 c5 2.c3 e5 3.f3 c6 4.b5 for White. ] Cau decides to treat the position in the style 26.d4 d3 27.e2 c4 of a Ruy Lopez which is more commonly seen 25...e4 after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5. a6 5.a4 The black knight tango has left W hite in a I prefer to take the knight because in the Ruy mess because he can only defend. 28.b1 Lopez, Black often has to play ...Na5 and then h5 29.b3 h4 30.f1 f4 31.ee1 e7 ...c5 but here he has already achieved one of 32.e3 g5 33.h1 d8?! [ 33...d3! is a winner after 34.e2 xf2+ his ambitions. 35.xf2 xe3 ] [ 5.xc6 dxc6 6.xe5 g5 ( 6...e7 is also possible 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.f3 34.d4 d6 35.bd1 d3 36.xd3 exd3 White has a pawn for the exchange xe4+ 10.e3 b4+ 11.c3 e7 12.0-0 37.xd3 xc3 13.bxc3 with equal chances.) 7.d4 but he should lose the game. xe3 38.xe3 ( 7.f3 xg2 8.g1 h3 is double- fd8?! [ 38...f6 prevents tactics based on Ne6+. ] edged. ) 7...xg2 8.f3 xf3 9.xf3 f6 10.bd2 cxd4 11.xd4 c5 12.e2 b5 39.e2 xd4 40.cxd4 xd4 41.e1 d8 13.f3 e7 14.f1 d7 15.f4 b6 42.c3 h6 43.e1 d3 44.c1+ h5 16.e3 and the game was eventually drawn 45.c6 d4 46.e2 a5 47.b7 h6 in P.Kranzl-T. Markowski, Bad W iessee 48.a8 b4 49.f8+ h5 50.e7 d1+ 51.h2 d6+ 52.xd6 xd6 The rook 1997. ] ending is a draw. 53.g3 a4 54.c2 d4 5...b5 6.c2 c7 [ 6...f6?! the queen is misplaced on f6. 55.g2 g5 56.c6 7.0-0 h6 8.d4 d6 9.d5 ce7 ( 9...a5 ½-½ 10.a4 b4 is an improvement on the game.) 10.a4 A classic way of opening up the game B22 to take advantage of Black's congested 2070 Cherniaev,Alexander 2509 pieces. b4 11.cxb4 cxb4 12.a5 g4 Buss,Ralph 2270 13.a4+ d8 14.e3 c8 15.bd2 b8 16.e2 e7 17.ac1 f6 18.xa6 Open Leukerbad (3) 13.07.2002 1-0 S. Neuschmied-G.Eiler, Austria 1995. ] [Gary Lane] 7.0-0 d6 8.d3 g6 A good idea by the I r i s h m a n t o f i a n c h e t t o b e c a u s e i t i s 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 particularly effective against the Closed Ruy 5.f3 g4 6.a4+!? d7 The sternest Lopez which is identified by an early d3. 9.e3 defence possible for Black. 7.b3 cxd4 g7 10.bd2 f6 11.h3 0-0 12.e1 [ If 7...xb3 8.axb3 the ending is equal W hite is shuffling his pieces around in the although White is hoping that the semi-open accepted manner but Black has gained time a-file for the queen's rook will give W hite on the normal Ruy Lopez lines. b7 13.f1 some decent chances ] a5 14.g3 d5 15.c1 c4 8.xd4 c6 2211

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 8...e6 A) 9.e3 c6 10.d2 e7 11.2f3 xd4 12.xd4 0-0 13.e2?! xg2 14.0-0-0 d5 15.c4 a5 16.hg1? a4 17.xb7 a3! 18.xg7+ ( 18.bxa3 allows Black to storm through with xc3+ 19.b1 xd1 20.xd1 ab8 and Black wins ) 18...h8 19.d3 ab8 20.xf7 xb7 21.xf8+ xf8 0-1 Rahls,PSimutowe,A/ Bad Woerishofen 2001.; B) 9.e2 c6 ( Not 9...xg2? due to 10.f3 h3 11.xb7 with an easy win) 10.f3 xd4 11.xd5 ( 11.cxd4 xd4 12.xb7 b4+ 13.d2 e5+ 14.f1 b8 and Black is on top because White's pieces lack harmony) 11...xb3 12.xb3 c5 13.d2 e7 14.c4 ac8 15.e3 with roughly equal chances, Nepomniashchy,Y-Belov,V/Vladimir 2002. ] 9.e3 [ 9.b5 e5+ 10.e2 ( 10.e3 is met by g4 and Black has the better chances) 10...e6 11.d2 c5 12.c4 b8 13.e3 e7 14.f3 ( 14.d1 is promising to add weight to c ont rol o f t he d6 square. Fo r instance: 0-0 15.bd6 b6 16.f4 with an edge) 14...d5 15.d1 0-0 16.0-0 gives W hite the su perior ch ances, Zh u Chunhui-W ang Yaoyao/Suzhou, Jiangsu 2001. ] [ 9.xd5 xd5 10.f3 e5 11.bd2 is about equal. ] 9...xd4 [ 9...a5 is also a reasonable choice. ] 10.xd4 e6 11.d2 c6 12.xd5 [ Or 12.c4!? xg2 13.0-0-0 is the risky option for W hite who gives up a pawn for an initiative. ] 12...xd5 13.b5+ d7 14.0-0 White is rated over 2500 so is relying on his expertise to smoothly win the ending. However, the position is equal so White has to work hard to convert his extra pawn on the queenside into a passed pawn. a6 15.a4 c8 16.fe1 c5 17.xc5 xc5 18.e4 c7 [ If 18...c8? then 19.d6+ e7 20.xc8+ wins. ] 19.d6+ e7 20.f5+ f6 [ 20...f8 is not so good because it blocks in the king's rook. ]

21.e3 c6 22.c2 h5 [ 22...h6 23.ad1 is equal. ] 23.ad1 b5 24.d4 g6 25.a4 Cherniaev is doing the right thing by trying to probe for weaknesses on the queenside. Of course, it can go wrong because opening lines can also benefit Black. b8 26.axb5 axb5 27.a1 b6 28.d3 d5 29.xd5+ xd5 30.h4 c4 Buss secures his b-pawn and the position is level. Black's pieces are well placed while W hite is still struggling to demonstrate an a d va n t a g e . 31.c2 bb7 32.ad1 a7 33.e4 e7 34.h2 White is not even vaguely aware of the danger and just rambles on. Instead, he should keep an eye on the advance ...e6-e5. [ 34.f4 is the right approach with equal chances. ] 34...a2 35.1d2 e5 Black has spotted a nice tactical trick and forces the rook to move. 36.d8 [ 36.d6 is a ls o m e t b y xb2 37.xb2 xd6 with a clear advantage. ] 36...xb2! A nifty move, which at a stroke plunges White into despair because the rook on d2 is overloaded. 37.xb2 xd8 38.d2+ e7 39.g3 b3 0-1

2071 Cherniaev,Alexander Georgiev,Kiril Open Coventry ENG (8) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2509 2654 28.03.2005

1.e4 I have included this game mainly for it's strategic value. White gets nothing out of the opening, and it's instructive that the IQP position with two bishops against two knights seems to favour Black. c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 e7 9.e2 0-0 10.e4 db4!? Georgiev is fond of this move, which is a decent alternative to the main lines with [ 10...d7 ] [ and 10...c7 ] 11.exd6 [ 11.b3 dxe5 12.dxe5 d3 gives Black quite a comfortable ending. ] 11...xd6 12.c3 2212

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 12.a3 d5 13.c3 looks more accurate. ] 12...a5 13.f4 d8 14.e2 d7 15.e5 c6 As a rule, when Black solves the problem of his c8 bishop in these IQP positions, he should be ok. 16.xc6 axc6 17.ad1 [ 17.fd1 ] 17...d5 18.c1 f6 19.f3 ce7 20.e2 c8 21.e4 c6 22.e3 c7 23.a3 e7 24.xf6+ xf6 White should maybe take on d5 here and knuckle down for a draw because the given pawn structure seems to favour the knights. 25.e4 h4 26.b1 d7 27.g3 h3 28.e4 a6 29.c1 d6 30.d3 f6 31.g2 f5 32.fd1 fd8 33.e3 h6 34.h3 d5 35.h2 f6 36.3d2 6d7 37.e4 ce7 38.g4 c8 39.g2 dc7 40.e2 d7 41.ed2 f5 42.f3 cd8 43.xf5 exf5 44.c2 g5 45.dc1 g7 46.g4 fxg4 47.hxg4 e6 48.c5 b6 49.c6 d6 50.xd6 xd6 51.e1 d7 52.g3 e6 53.d2 f4+ 54.h2 xe1 55.xe1 f6 56.e3 c6 57.f3 c2+ 58.d2 b3 59.c3 d1 60.e3 f7 61.e4 e2+ 62.xe2 xe2 63.f2 b5 64.d5 f4 65.d6 e6 66.d4 Black is clearly in control, but it's not clear why white resigned here. Perhaps he lost on time. 0-1

2072 Cherniaev,Alexander Hunt,Harriet V 4NCL Division 1d (9.153) [Dave Smerdon]

B22 2432 2450 04.05.2013

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.a3!? An unusual move order, though probably not a good one. f6 [ If Black wants to try and take advantage of W h i t e ' s s t r a n g e f o u r t h m o ve , o n e c a n consider 4...c6 5.f3 g4 6.e2 e5!? which has been played a couple of times with good results. ] 5.f3 e6 6.d4 Now we are back in regular theory. This position has been covered a few times on ChessPub, with 6...Qd8 being the easiest solution to W hite's offbeat choice. cxd4 Playable, of course, but why justify W hite's idea? 7.b5 a6 8.xd4 c5 9.xd5 xd5 10.a3!?

[ 10.b4 is more normal. After e7 11.a3 White is slightly better due to more active pieces and chances to roll the queenside majority, though Black shouldn't be too afraid (Sveshnikov - Kobalia, 2002 (1/2-1/2, 12). ] 10...ac7 11.xc7+ [ 11.b4 e7 12.b2 0-0 13.0-0-0 xb5 14.xb5 a6 15.c4 b6 16.b3 d7 17.c4 fc8 18.c5 a5 19.b1! is the sort of slight queenside initiative Black should rather avoid. Galego, L (2515) -Cifuentes Parada, R (2540), 2004 (1-0, 40). ] 11...xc7 12.c4 a5 A novelty. Certainly if Black can get away with stopping W hite's queenside pawns without falling into any tricks, she'll be doing fine. [ 12...e5 13.b4 e4 14.bxc5 exf3 15.f4 e6 16.d6 is a bit better for White. Lupik, M (2166)-Orlov, O (2333), 2008, 1/2-1/2 (42) ] 13.f4 a6 14.b3 0-0 15.e2 f6 16.d2 e5 17.b4 e4? Up until now Black has played well, but here Harriet errs. [ T h e c a r e f u l 17...e7 was strong, e.g. 18.bxa5 d8 19.c3 c5 20.b4 f7 and with ...Nb3 or ...Bf5 coming, Black is starting to take over the initiative. ] 18.bxc5 exf3 19.xf3 xc5 20.e3! Suddenly the two bishops on the open board guarantee White a sizeable advantage. d3+ 21.e2 e5 22.d5+ h8 23.f4! g4 24.c5 [ 24.d4! was very strong. Black's pieces are in disarray and White will simply play h3 and then turn his attentions to the Black queenside pawns. ] 24...e8+ 25.f3 h6? Black returns the favour. [ 25...f5! gave Black some practical chances, although White is still clearly on top. ] 26.he1 g4+ 27.f2 xe1 28.xe1 c8 29.xb7?? An amazing miscalculation based on an optical illusion. White throws away the win. [ 29.b6 is completely crushing. a4 30.c5 b8 31.e7 and Black can resign. ] 29...xc5 30.e8+ [ Had White recovered in time, he might have tried 30.h3 d7 31.e7 a4 32.d5 wi t h s o m e p r a c t i c a l c h a n c e s , e . g . f5 2213

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 33.a7 h5 34.g4 d6 35.e3 with vague ambitions of swapping enough pawns to reach a rook and minor piece versus rook endgame. ] 30...g8 31.e3 [ I can only assume White planned 31.d5 missing c8!-+ ] 31...c7 32.a6 [ 32.b8 g6 33.d5 c8 ] 32...e7+ 33.xe7 xe7 34.d4 g8 35.c5 f7 36.b6 a4 37.b5 d1 38.c5 d5+ 39.b7 e7 40.d3 xf4 41.xh7 xg2 42.e4 e3 43.c6 c4 44.c7 d6+ 45.b8 g4 46.d3 d7 0-1

Luke decides that it is risky to play for a win and this seems wise. For instance. [ 34...d4 35.b3 a3 36.d2 d6 37.c4 e5 38.f4+ exf3+ 39.xf3 looks comfortable for White. ] 35.e3 c5+ 36.e2 d6 37.e3 c5+ ½-½

2074 Cherniaev,Alexander Webb,Richard M Portsmouth (2) [Gary Lane]

B22 2509 2372 22.02.2003

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e5 3.f3 c6 4.c4 e7 5.d4 2073 B22 [ 5.0-0 is a solid reliable move but it does not test Black's defences. f6 6.d3 0-0 7.g5 Cherniaev,Alexander 2496 d6 8.a4 h6 9.xf6 The English ladies McShane,Luke J 2651 international is happy to exchange pieces 4NCL West Bromwich ENG (11) 23.05.2004 because she is more interested in controlling [Jonathan Rowson] t h e d 5 s q u a r e xf6 10.bd2 e6 ( 10...g5 11.xg5 xg5 12.f3= ) 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 d6 11.d5 xd5 12.exd5 e7 13.b3 b8 5.d4 cxd4 6.xd4 e6 7.bd2 c6 8.e4 14.e4 g6 15.fe1 e8 16.ad1 dxe5 9.xe5 xe5 10.xe5 d6! ( 16.c4 f4 ) 16...e7 17.g3 d7 11.b5+ d7 12.xd6 xd6 13.xd7+ 18.h3 f4 19.e2 g6 20.g3 b5 xd7 If anyone is better here it is Black. His Black declines the offer to repeat moves pieces are more active and it's easier to make 21.a5?! ( 21.axb5!? xb5 22.xb5 xb5 use of his pawn majority because it has the 23.a1= ) 21...f4 22.f1? support of his pieces. Cherniaev explained ( 22.a2!? ) 22...xd3!-+ led to a clear that he knew this position was slightly worse advantage for Black, Jackson, S-Webb,R/ for White but was happy to go straight for it. England 1997.It is also an indication why This struck me as an odd decision, all the W ebb was happy to make a repeat more given that he just needed to draw this performance against his highly rated game for his GM title. However, he felt that opponent. ] W hite ca n e as ily h old t he ba lan ce , e ve n against a stronger player, while with a more 5...cxd4 6.cxd4 exd4 7.xd4 f6 8.c3 complicated position it might be more difficult. 0-0 [ 8...b4 9.0-0 14.f3 hc8 15.e2 b5 16.d1 a5 A) 9...xc3 10.bxc3 xe4? 11.d5! f6 17.d2 b4 12.e1+ f8 13.xc6 bxc6 ( 13...dxc6 [ 17...a4!? ] 14.xc6 wins ) 14.xc6 and White has a 18.ac1 bxc3 19.xc3 f6 Now Black's massive advantage; knight on d5 is unassailable. 20.d2 cb8 B) 9...0-0 10.db5 e5 11.e2 a6 21.c2 a4 22.e1 a6 23.d4 g5 24.g3 12.d6 c7 13.xc8 axc8 14.d5 h5 25.h3 b5 26.d2 e5 27.dc4 e6 xd5 15.xd5 d6 16.a3 c5 17.d2 28.e1 e7 29.d3 f5 30.e3 d5 gives White the superior chances, Pinski, 31.c8 xe3 J-Kotwicka,M/Krynica 1998. ] [ 31...e4 32.c5 xe3 33.d2+ 9.c2 is a pain for Black. ] [ 9.0-0 d6 ( 9...xe4 10.xe4 d5 11.b5 32.xe3 e4 33.c1 c5+ 34.e2 d6 2214

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with an edge.) 10.h1 a6 11.b3 a5 12.f3 h5 13.a4?! ( 13.f4 maintains the pressure when I would rather be White.) 13...xd4 14.xd4 e6 15.d1 b5 16.e1 ac8 17.b6 c5 18.b4 c6 19.e3 d8 20.a4?? oh dear! xb6 0-1 Piber,V-Parkanyi,A/Zalakaros 1999. ] 9...a6 [ 9...d5!? 10.xd5 xd5 11.xd5 e6 12.xd8 axd8 gives Black active piece play in compensation for the pawn. ] 10.0-0 b5 11.d5 b7 12.e3 xd5 [ 12...b4! 13.e2= ] 13.cxd5 The opening strategy has worked in White's favour because he has a dominant knight on d5. e5 14.b3 e8 15.b2 f8 16.f5 c8 17.d2 [ 17.a4!? is worth investigating. ] 17...xd5 18.xd5 f6 [ 18...g6 19.ac1 xc1 20.xc1= ] 19.d2 c6 20.f3 Cherniaev is wise to lend support with the f-pawn and try to put a stop to Black's counterplay. c2 21.f2 xd2 22.xd2 The ending is better for White because his pieces are nicely placed and the isolated d-pawn is an easy target. c6 [ 22...g6 23.d6 xd6 24.xd6 with an edge. ] 23.ad1 g6 24.e3 [ 24.d6!? e7 25.d5 and White is better. ] 24...c5 25.d4 xd4 26.xd4 ce6 Black is determined to try to put W hite off from playing f3-f4 to dislodge the black knight by getting ready to put pressure on the epawn. 27.f2 f8 28.4d2 h5 29.h4 c8 30.f4 c6 31.e5 [ Or 31.xd7 xe4 32.f3 ce8 with equal chances. ] 31...b8 Webb is defending stoutly but in this position it is White who has all the chances because of the harmony of the pieces. 32.f3 f6 33.exf6 xf6 34.d5 e6 35.g4 hxg4+ 36.xg4 c5 37.f3 e8 [ 37...f7 38.a3 is slightly better for White. ] 38.g1 c6? A time-trouble blunder ends the game. [ 38...f7 is the best chance although White has the better chances. ] 39.c7+ [ 39.c7+ f7 40.xe6 ( or 40.xd7+

e7 41.xe7+ xe7 42.xa6 43.e4 f5+- ) 40...dxe6 41.d6+- ] 1-0

2075 Chirila,Ioan Christian Hughes,TD 7th UTD GM Richardson USA (8) [John Shaw]

c3+

B22 2492 2267 20.12.2010

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 [ Of course 7...c6 8.0-0 e7 has been seen a thousand times. ] 8.b3 I think this is the most aggressive choice White is willing to accept an IQP. [ My old favourite was 8.d3 but dxe5 9.dxe5 a6 is troublesome. I still believe 10.g5!? is the likeliest try, but have never cla i m e d W h it e wa s b e t t e r . (s e e S h a wKartunnen in the Archives). ] 8...dxe5 9.xe5 [ Of course 9.dxe5?! is feeble. After xd1+ 10.xd1 the only question is whether Black is already better. ] 9...c6 10.f3 Keeping the knights on is the most aggressive approach. A previous example of this line is Goodger-Dinger in the Archives. [ The other line is 10.xc6 bxc6 11.0-0 e7 but Black has scored well from here. Ha vin g o n e f e we r p a ir o f m in o r p ie c e s lessens White's attacking prospects, plus the c8-bishop finds it easier to get in the game. ] 10...b4 An unusual move order but it soon t ra n s p o s e s b a ck t o t h e re gu la r l in e s . I n general, Black is likely to move the c6-knight as otherwise the c8-bishop has little scope. The drawback is that White gains the option of Ne5. It's the usual IQP story: White wins the middlegame or Black wins the ending. 11.c3 e7 12.0-0 0-0 13.e1 d7 14.e5 David Howell has played this position 3 times with White (2/3). It is useful to have seen a f e w ga m e s f r o m t h i s p o si t i o n t o p i c k u p standard ideas, but each side has too many options to make learning forcing lines possible at this stage. c6 A likely move at some point, but other lines have been tested. For example: 2215

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 14...4d5 15.d3 c8 16.d2 c6 17.ad1 c7 18.e4 a4 19.c1 d8 A) instead 20.c5!? c6 keeps Black u n d e r t h e u s u a l p r e ss u r e ( 20...xb3?! 21.xb7 ); B) 20.xc8 Releasing a lot of the tension. xc8 21.g3 h8 22.xa4 xa4 23.c1 e8 24.b3 ab6 Black was almost equal in D. Howell - T. Banusz, Balatonlelle 2005. ] [ 14...c6 15.f4 ( 15.g4!? ) 15...xe5 16.dxe5 g5 ( my first thought was that 16...c6 17.g4 d3 should be the a n s w e r b u t 18.e3 g6 19.h3 keeps the initiative trundling along.) 17.g4 xf4 18.xf4 c6 19.e3 e7 20.g3 f5? A big concession to make, especially considering the lack of a real threat. ( after 20...fd8= Black has solved his opening problems ) 21.d1 ad8?! Dropping a pawn. ( O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , 21...ae8 22.gd3 , with Rd6 to come, was also nasty. ) 22.xd8 xd8 23.xf5 W h it e e ve n t u a lly won in D. Ho we ll - J. Ashwin, Vung Tau 2008. ] 15.g4 4d5 16.h6 f6 17.e4 h8?! Now White can force an ending with a huge minor piece imbalance, as we shall see. [ More principled was 17...a4 although White keeps some initiative after 18.xd5!? xd5 ( 18...exd5 19.xf6+ xf6 20.g5 ) 19.ac1 F o r e x a m p l e : h8 20.xf6 xf6 21.g5 f5 22.xf5 exf5 23.c5! White has enough activity to force a concession. f6 24.xd5 fxg5 25.b3 ] 18.xf6 xf6 19.g5 f5 20.xf5 exf5 21.xc6 bxc6 Two bishops versus two knights White must be much better but he still has to break through. The rest of the game is not relevant to opening theory. It should be a demonstration of the power of the bishops, but in fact it is one of two games this month where a black rook and knight combine to glorious effect. 22.e7 fe8 23.c5 g6 24.f1 g7 25.ac1 f4 26.e3 xe3 27.fxe3 fd5 28.xb6 [ K e e p i n g t h e t e n s i o n w i t h 28.f2 would have been my choice. One of the strengths of the bishops is that White has the choice of when to exchange. White can harass his opponent for hours before forcing

the pace. ] 28...axb6 29.xc6?! This allows Black to complicate the game. [ Having given up one bishop, it seems White had unwittingly committed himself to surrendering the other. Choosing a rook e n d i n g w i t h 29.xd5 cxd5 30.a3 was a reliable line. Black is under pressure, but a rook ending must be a better drawing shot than two bishops against the knights. ] 29...xe3+ 30.g1?! This passive move lets the rest of White's advantage slip away. [ 30.f2 was compulsory even though it's a b it m e ss ie r t h a n W h it e wo u ld l ik e . Fo r example: g4+ 31.e2 e8+ 32.d3 f2+ 33.c4 e2 The race should work out for White in theory, but it's not so simple: 34.xb6 e4 35.a4 xg2 36.a5 xb2 37.a6 b1 The win is not clear to me or my computer. This is just a sample line but it shows that White has lost some control. ] 30...e8 [ T h e d ire c t 30...d8 was good enough to level the game. ] 31.h3 [ After 31.xb6 g4 Black has just enough material left to force a draw. For example: 32.g3 e1+ 33.g2 e2+ 34.g1 xb2 35.b7 b1+ 36.g2 b2+ 37.g1 b1+= ] 31...e4 32.d6 [ White needed to get his king out into the act io n wit h 32.f2!? f4 33.xb6 xd4 34.e2 and then race the a-pawn. This should be promising for W hite but Black has swindling chances. ] 32...f4!= Black is attacking with only a rook, knight and pawn, but W hite is now the one who must be careful to draw. 33.d7 f1+ 34.h2 f4 [ Also tempting was 34...f2 35.xf7+ h6 36.g3 xb2 followed by ...Nxg2. 37.f4 xg2+ 38.e5 ] 35.xf7+ h6 36.d5 f5! A scary move to land, especially if time trouble was an issue. The spectre of . ..Ng3 and ...Rh1 mate appears. 37.h4?? [ 37.c4 was the only move to draw. d1 ( 37...e1? 38.d3 g3? 39.xf4+- ) 38.e2 xd5 39.g4= If the knight or f4pawn disappears then so do the mating 2216

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 chances a drawn rook ending would result. ] [ 37.xf5? gxf5 38.d6 wins for White in every line except one: f2!-+ ] 37...e3! Now the threat is 38...Ng4+ 39.Kh3 Nf2+ 40.Kh1 Rh1 mate. There is no defence as 38.g3 hxg3+ wins the rook. So Black won the fight, but the opening was a success for White. 0-1

7...b4 At this stage Black should be pleased be cau se W h ite n orm a lly a vo id s th is lin e because the light-squared bishop on d3 is potentially an attacking piece. 8.c3 xd3+ 9.xd3 g6 [ 9...e6 10.g5 e7 is a reasonable alternative for Black. ] 10.0-0 g7 11.d5 0-0 12.d4 e6 13.db5 exd5 [ 13...e8 is the right move to fend off the white knight from occupying d6. ] 2076 B22 14.exd5 d6 15.f4 d7 [ 15...e8 16.g3 is good news for White Chow,Samuel 2120 because Black cannot adequately defend Canfell,Gregory 2284 the d6 pawn. ] Australian Championship (1) 2002 16.xd6 fd8 17.fe1 a6 18.e7 [Gary Lane] [ 18.e7? xd6 19.xd6 xd3 would be a disaster for White and a miracle for Black. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 b6 The queenside fianchetto is a favourite of people who want to avoid the 18...dc8 19.a4 [ 19.f3! xb5 20.xf6 gives White a main-lines 3.d4 b7 Some people prefer winning advantage. ] [ 3...e6 ] 19...b7 20.d6 cb8 4.d3 [ 20...xc3 21.bxc3 xd5 22.f3! c6 [ 4.d5 f6 5.f3 ( 5.d3 d6 6.f3 bd7 23.xf7+ and Black can resign with honour ] 7.c4 g6 8.0-0 g7 9.c3 0-0 10.h3 a6 11.e1 e6 12.f4 e5 13.g5 h6 14.d2 21.f3 g4 W h a t e lse ? 22.xg4 xg4 xd5 24.h3 e5 25.c7 h5 with double-edged play similar to a 23.cb5 King's Indian except the bishop on b7 looks Chow maintains his advantage by adding the rather forlorn, Capata,I-Ausmins,E/ Bratto exchange to his collection of material. e6 xa8 27.a5 c6 28.axb6! ITA 2000 ) 5...d6 6.c4 g6 7.c3 g7 26.xa8 8.e3 0-0 9.d2 with play similar to a White continues to accurately finish off the Samisch King's Indian Defence, where the game. xe7 29.xa7 b8 30.xe7 xb6 bishop on b7 looks poorly placed, Cherniaev, 31.e8+ f8 32.e4 xb2 33.c5 f5 34.g4 c2 35.gxf5 xc5 36.f6 A-Wu,L/Kidlington op 2001 ] [ 4.f3 e6 5.e3 d5 6.e5 the pawn structure 1-0 reminds me of an Advanced French. c6 7.a3 f6 8.f4 fxe5 9.fxe5 h4+ 10.f2 B22 e4+ 11.e2 h6 12.d2 g6 13.h3 2077 Collins,S IRL 2469 e7 14.f4 f7 15.h5 White has fallen behind in development and wishes to avoid L'Ami,Alina 2398 08.02.2014 an instant attack by heading for the ending Bunratty Masters 2014 (4.4) xh5 16.xh5 0-0 gave Black a slight [Smerdon, David] initiative, Hadzimanolis,A-Petraki,M/Patras 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 GRE 2001 ] 5.c4 b6 6.b3 c4 7.c2 c7 8.e2 4...f6 5.e2 [ Perhaps 5.d2!? should be considered to g5 9.a3 g4 10.b5 b8 11.h4!? protect e4 and also give the light-squared We've looked at this dangerous move a few times. I'm really liking it! xe5 12.0-0 a6 bishop a retreating square on b1. ] Probably Black's best. Check the archives for 5...cxd4 6.cxd4 c6 7.f3 [ 7.d5!? b4 8.b5 a6 9.a4 a5 10.c3 a lt e r n a t ive s . 13.d4 d5 14.f4 d3 e6 is complicated but should offer equal 15.xd3 cxd3 16.xd3! Sneaky Sam! [ Sam mentioned 16.xg4 without comment chances ] 2217

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 in his analysis of Godena-Kargin. He then gave the rest of the moves to the game Godena-L'Ami, A (!!), where after e6 17.b3 b5 18.b2 the position was unclear, Godena, M (2548)-L'Ami, A (2323) Bratto 2010 ] 16...e6 17.e4 I suspect that Sam was still in his preparation. Alina is a woman of principle, playing main lines and having faith in her systems. I would wager she had an improvement lined up f or a repeat of her game a gains t God ena, but S am (h imself famous for beating Peter W ells in this line) g e t s i n f i r s t . b5? The opening preparation works a treat! [ 17...d6 18.hf5 looks dangerous ] [ 17...c7! is best. I don't know what Sam had in mind, but while the position is of course double-edged, Black should be okay. 18.e1 ( 18.f5 f6 19.e2 e5 ) 18...f6 19.e2 d6 ( 19...xf4 20.d3 c7 21.f1 d5 22.xg4 ) 20.d3 d7 and Black will evacuate the king to the queenside next move, with equal chances. ] 18.f5! Now Black's king won't find safety on either side of the board. And trust me, he looks all over in this game! d6 [ 18...f6 19.e2 e5 20.c2! and d4 is coming. ] 19.fxe6 xh2+? Extremely risky. [ 19...dxe6 20.d3 is still pretty ugly, though. ] 20.h1 dxe6 21.d3+- Black is completely busted. b7? [ 21...e5 22.xg4 h5 23.f3+- ] 22.xf7!! c7 23.xg4 [ 23.xh7!+- is an instant win. ] 23...xf7 24.xh2 d5+ 25.g3 e5 26.hf3 d6 27.g5+ e7 28.gxe6 [ 28.e4 is +17. ] 28...e5 29.g5+ f6 30.f1 ag8 31.f5 e1 32.xf6+ e8 33.c7+ d7 34.d5+ xc7 35.e5+ b6 36.e6+ a7 37.xb5+ A fine win by our former columnist, who continues to impress with this variation. 1-0

2078 Collins,Sam Camacho Collados,Jose Barcelona Sants op 14th (3) [Sam Collins]

B22 2459 2340 19.08.2012

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 8.b5 dxe5 9.xe5 d7 10.xd7 xd7 11.c3 e6 12.0-0 e7 [ 12...d8 (or on move 11) is another major line, attempting to force W hite to commit his bishop to e3. ] 13.g4 0-0 14.d1 f5 I don't think this is necessary. [ B la ck is e xt re m e ly so lid a f t e r 14...fd8 15.h6 g6 ( 15...f8 , is also possible when, in M.Sadler (2650) - A.Shirov (2710), Amber Rapid 1998, White decided to repeat moves with 16.g5 e7 17.h6 ) 16.ac1 ( 16.e3 was immediately agreed drawn in S.Zhigalko (2583) - Z.Andrasian (2533), Lake Sevan Martuni 2008 .) 16...ac8 and now a good example of logical play in such positions is J.Emms (2586) - B.Macieja (2542), Batumi 1999: 17.h4 ( 17.e3 a6 18.e2 d5 19.xd5 xd5 20.c4 d7 21.e4 b4 22.a3 d5 23.xd5 exd5 24.d3 a4 25.xc8 xc8 26.c1 xc1+ 27.xc1 f6 28.e3 c4 29.xc4 dxc4 30.g4 g7 31.g5 f5 was agreed drawn in K. Kuzmicz (2400) - K.Miton (2580), Karpacz 2008 ) 17...a6 18.xc6 xc6 19.g5 c4 20.e2 ( a little passive I would have preferred 20.h5= ) 20...dc8 21.xc4 xc4 22.c3 h5 23.f4 xg5 24.hxg5 d5 25.xd5 xd5 with a slight advantage for Black and a draw in 45 moves. ] 15.e2 This feels like the correct square, though alternative retreats have been tried. [ 15.f3 a6 16.xc6 xc6 17.xc6 bxc6 18.f4 fc8 19.f3 f7 with a level endgame: Li Haoyu (2386) - L.Ding (2637), Ningbo 2011 (0-1 in 43). ] 15...f6?! Giving White a chance at a standard central breakthrough. [ 15...h8 16.f4 ad8 17.e5 a6 18.xc6 xc6 19.ac1 d5 20.e4 a4 21.b3 a3 22.c5 left White dominant in N.Kosintseva (2518) - A.Bodnaruk (2372), Moscow 2009 (1-0 in 59). ] 2218

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 15...ad8 16.f4 ( 16.d5 exd5 17.xd5 h8 18.c3 c7 19.e3 f6 ) 16...d5 17.xd5 exd5 18.ac1 c8 was S.Paridar (2242) - V.Cmilyte (2442), Mallorca 2004 (0-1 in 43), and now 19.e3! would have kept control ( rather than the game's 19.e5 f4! with counterplay )] 16.d5!? exd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 Of course the rook is immune. I thought this was extremely strong, with two bishops on an open board, but in fact it's not so easy in view o f W h i t e ' s d e v e l o p m e n t d e f i c i t . e7!? 19.xe7 [ 19.xf5 isn't a serious winning attempt in view xe2 20.xe2 d4 21.c4+ h8 , for instance 22.d5 c2 23.b1 d4 ] 19...xe7 20.d7?! This seems to misplace my light squared bishop. [ In retrospect, 20.d1 looks like a better attempt at advantage. c6 ( 20...ad8 21.e3 also looks like an edge) 21.b1 fd8 22.e3 xd1+ 23.xd1 xb2 24.d7 b8 25.f4 with more than enough compensation. ] 20...fd8 21.e3 xd7 22.xd7 b6 23.e1 f7 24.b3 d8 25.e6+ g6 [ Of course not 25...xe6?? 26.xb6+ d7 27.d1++- ] 26.f1 d5 Black has now fully equalised, a fact I didn't want to acknowledge, with unfortunate results. 27.xd5 xd5 28.c1 d7 29.e2 f7 30.a4 g5 31.g3 e7 32.d3 d7+ 33.e2 e7 34.d3 d7+ 35.c4?? A horrible blunder, not u n c h a r a c t e r is t ic f o r m e i n B a r ce l o n a a s s u b s c rib e rs c a n se e f ro m m y ga m e wit h Spraggett. I should have settled for the draw. f4-+ Black wins a piece. The rest has some interest/bad memories for me, but for our purposes I'll stop here. 36.gxf4 gxf4 37.xf4 d4+ 38.b5 xf4 39.a6 xf2 40.xa7 xh2 41.xb6 b2 42.c5 xb3 43.d5 h5 44.e4 b4+ 45.f3 xa4 46.c5 g6 47.g2 a3 48.b5 g5 49.c5 h4 50.b5 f4 51.h1 f6 52.b6+ f5 53.b5+ g4 54.b1 h3 55.f1 g3 56.b1 a2 57.f1 h2+ 58.g1 g2+ 59.h1 f2 This line fully deserves its solid reputation for Black, especially in the lines given in the note to Black's 14th. 0-1

2079 Collins,Sam Spraggett,Kevin Barcelona Sants op 14th (9) [Sam Collins]

B22 2459 2595 25.08.2012

My comments to this game are largely informed by Kevin Spraggett's thoughts, both from our post-mortem over tapas and his comments on his wonderful blog. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 e7 9.e2 0-0 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 dxe5 12.dxe5 a5 13.d2 d8 14.fe1 c7?! This move seems to lead to a difficult position for Black. Black's alternatives are explained by John Shaw in his notes to Le.Vadja (2508) - J. Neubronner (2262), Budapest 2011 (1-0 in 37). 15.d3 b6 [ Kevin rejected 15...g6 in view of 16.h6 b6 17.h4 b7 18.h5 a5 19.hxg6 hxg6 20.d4 and Qg4. ] 16.g5 [ 16.e4 has been played in all 3 games to reach this position but my move is much stronger. ] 16...h6 [ K e v i n s a y s h e h a d t o p l a y 16...g6 , though White is much better after 17.f3 f8 18.e4 ] [ 16...xg5 leaves Black in a horrible position facing two strong bishops. ] 17.h7+ h8 [ 17...f8 18.xf7! wins, for instance xf7 19.h5+ f8 20.xh6! ] 18.xf7+ xh7 19.e4+ g6 [ The big question is whether White has anything better than perpetual after 19...g8 20.xh6+ h8 . Kevin provides the answer: 21.e3! with a fatal transfer to h3. ] 20.xh6 This is the key concept, which came in for high praise from my generous Candidate opponent after the game. White is in no rush to regain material but gains dominance of the dark squares, and simply plans to lift his rook to the kingside via e3. b7 21.g5+! The bishop on f6 will be better than a rook. xg5 22.xg5 d7 Starting to demonstrate some class, the ability to keep one's head in a horrible position. As Kevin notes, "The only good defence! Black needs 2219

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 to put his Rook on g7 to stop the immediate bleeding." [ The computer prefers 22...g7 23.f6+ f7 but this looks horrible after 24.h4 ] 23.f6 g7 24.ad1 Bringing in the final piece. f8 25.e3 [ 25.d6! is the natural response to Black's last, after which ...Re8 would lose a tempo. Kevin pointed this out in the post-mortem. ] 25...g8 Leaving me with a tactical shot, to which I was completely oblivious! [ 25...b8 was a better attempt to hang on, but White is much better. ] 26.g4 [ 26.xg7+was a move I barely even considered, but it wins: xg7 ( 26...xg7 27.d7!! wins in all lines, a key resource which completely escaped me. W e also didn't see this in post mortem.) 27.h4 with a decisive initiative - Rh3 is a horrible t h r e a t , a n d g8 28.d6 doesn't help Black ] 26...c8 27.f4? Running short of time, I made a move which "consolidates" my e5-pawn. In so doing, I throw away my advantage, and shortly afterwards, the game. [ 27.h4 leaves White will on top, for instance e7 28.xg7 xg7 29.h5 ] 27...e7 28.xg7 xg7 29.g3? [ 29.h4 is still about level. ] 29...c5+ Now Black is already better, and Kevin plays very accurately: 30.d4? [ 30.h1 ] 30...b5! Kevin's assessment is accurate: " N o w B la c k s h o u l d win . T h e r e s t i s j u s t W h i t e ' s t i m e t r o u b l e " . 31.f1?? b4-+ 32.dd3 bxc3 33.xc3 a6+ 34.e1 g1+ 35.d2 d8+ 36.c2 f2+ 37.c1 d2 38.b1 b6+ A deeply disappointing game f or m e, b ut a showcase of W h ite's attacking possibilities in the c3-Sicilian. 0-1

2080 Collins,Sam Suarez Real,Alberto 4NCL (5) [Sam Collins]

B22 2426 2395 11.02.2012

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 b6 This line was popularised by Joe Gallagher in his book on the Anti-Sicilians, which is still something of an opening classic despite being very dated. The strongest player to recently regularly use this as Black is Momchil Nikolov, whose rating is 2 5 6 0 a t t h e m o m e n t . I wa s u n d e r t h e impression that my opponent was improvising, p e r h a p s i n f o rm e d b y h is p re vio u s g a m e against the c3-Sicilian, where he lost against Vadja in the latter's pet line (see John Shaw's notes to Le.Vajda (2508) - J.Neubronner (2262), Budapest 2011 (1-0 in 37) f or an account of Vadja's tremendous results). [ That line and game continued 6...d6 7.c4 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.e2 c6 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 dxe5 12.dxe5 a5 13.d2 d7 14.b3 fd8 15.e4 e8 16.fe1 ac8 and now Vadja started his trademark attack with ( d e v i a t i n g f r o m t h e 16...d7 of Vajda - Zagorskis, Dresden 2008, also covered in John Shaw's notes) ) 17.h4! A) the computer suggestion of 17...a6! 18.h5 ( 18.c2 g6 and Black gets counterplay with 19...Nb4! which, if captured, is followed by ...Bc6 regaining the piece ) 18...d3 19.g4 f5 is more targeted, with equality; B) 17...c7 18.h5 a5 was too slow. 19.g5! xg5 20.xg5 d7 21.f6!? ( 21.c2 was also very strong) 21...c5 22.e3 xb3 23.axb3 h8 24.h6 gxf6 25.h4 e7 26.g3 and another textbook attack netted White another point in L.Vajda (2586) - A. Suarez Real (2417), France 2009. ] 7.d3 I have always been a fan of this straightforward developing move. Black can trade bishops but it takes time. [ The main move here is 7.c3 xc3 8.bxc3 , when the "hacky main line" (his words) after c7 9.d2 b7 10.d3 d6 11.0-0 d7 12.g5 is covered most recently by John Shaw in the Archives, 2220

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with earlier annotations by David Vigorito. ] 7...a6 Removing the powerful d3-bishop must be critical, but the time investment is considerable in view of W hite's lead in development. Also, White has other trumps in the position. [ The alternative 7...b7 (and 7...Bb4+) is covered by Gary Lane in the Archives. The problem from Black's perspective is that he wo u l d b e a t e m p o d o w n o n t h e 7 . N c 3 variation, since the useful ...Qc7 would not come with tempo. ] 8.0-0 [ 8.c3 can also be played immediately. However, this gives Black the additional option after xc3 9.bxc3 xd3 10.xd3 d5 11.exd6 xd6 of developing his knight to d7, for instance 12.g5 c7 13.d2 d7 14.a4 f6 15.h4 0-0 16.0-0 h2+ 17.h1 f4 18.xf4 xf4 19.g3 c7 with balanced play in M.Pap (2507) - M. Nikolov (2589), Paleochora 2011 (1/2-1/2 in 48). ] 8...xd3 I was happy to see this since now my queen will certainly be able to support a d5advance. However, it is understandable that Black did not want to have to consider Bxa6 on every move. 9.xd3 c6 I think this is quite a precise move-order in view of Black's option at move 11. [ 9...e7 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 d5? is a trap which has caught a number of GMs. ( 11...0-0 12.d5 is pretty similar to the game ) 12.exd6 xd6 13.a3! and the bishop is immune since Qe4 would win the rook. Accordingly, White develops with tempo, which is probably decisive in view of his initial lead in development. ] 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 e7 I think this move is strategically risky for Black. [ Black could take advantage of his precise move order with 11...d5! 12.exd6 xd6 ( I was expecting 12...xd6 since it seemed more harmonious to put the queen on d6 and the bishop on a3. This position must be close to equal. My intention was to play 13.a4 with a possible Ba3 in the pipeline.) 13.e1 requires accuracy of Black. ( 13.e4 e7 14.d2 0-0 15.g5 g6 16.h4 e8 17.h5 f8 18.f4 h6 19.f3 f5! with complex play in which Black's chances

are no worse: E.Van Beers (2357) - G.Van der Stricht (2423), Belgium 2007 (0-1 in 38). ) A) 13...c8!? looks like a decent waiting m o v e - t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f 14.d5 are not as scary as they first appear. e7 15.d4 ( 15.b5+ d7 16.xd7+ xd7 17.dxe6+ fxe6 looks okay for Black) 15...xd5 16.g5 f6 17.xe6+ e7 18.ae1 0-0! and Black survives.; B) 13...0-0 14.g5 g6 15.e4; C) 13...e7 was played in N.Gospodinow (2230) - D.Sanner, Germany 1998 (1/2-1/2 in 25), and now 14.g5! would have been n i c e f o r W h i t e : c8 15.b5+ c6 16.e4 c7 17.xd6+ xd6 18.a4 with some initiative; D) 13...e7 14.c4 ( 14.f4 0-0 15.a4 retains some pressure and looks more promising ) 14...0-0 15.d5 exd5 16.cxd5 b4 17.b3 was approximately level in M. Gomez (2425) - J.Iruzubieta Villaluenga(2385), Elgoibar 1995 (1-0 in 45). ] 12.d5! The key advance for this line, aiming to pile on the pressure against the d7-pawn. exd5 13.xd5 0-0 14.d1 The hero of this variation is Swedish GM Stellan Brynell, who has managed to get this position three times. c7 [ 14...b8 unsurprisingly led to a crush in S. Brynell (2508) - T.Kaimer (2261), Pardubice 2002. I will give the game largely without notes since the moves speak for themselves. I should just say that this type of position is far easier to play for White than for Black. 15.f4 d8 16.e4 c8 17.d3 a6 18.g5 ac8 19.h4 b5? ( 19...h6! was essential) 20.ad1 xa2 21.xe7 xe7 22.g5 g6 23.xd7 xd7 24.xd7 h6 25.xe7 hxg5 26.e6 f8 27.exf7+ xf7 28.e8+ h7 29.d4 g7 30.hxg5 a4 31.d8 1-0. ] 15.f4 This position was agreed drawn in S. Brynell (2462) - P.Cramling (2492) , Swedish Championship 2001, but I have no idea why you'd take a draw here as White. ad8 [ 15...fd8 16.e4 b7 17.g5 ab8 18.d3 h6 19.f4 a5 20.e2 bc8 led to another attacking demonstration in S. Brynell (2508) - M. Hoerstmann, (2323), 2221

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Pardubice 2002: 21.d4 f8 22.xh6! d6 13.g3 ( or 13.f5!? g6 14.g3 g7 23.g3 dxe5 24.xg7 xg7 25.f5 f6 15.e3 give s W h it e a sl igh t e d g e) 26.xg7+ xg7 27.xg7 xg7 28.d1 13...a6 14.d1 h6 15.b3 c8 16.b2 xd1+ 29.xd1 xc3 30.d7+ g6 31.h4 g5 led to equal chances in Werner,Vc6 32.g4+ f7 33.h5 d4 34.d7+ Wang Lei/Rotterdam 1998.; 1-0. ] B) 10...e7 16.d3 a5 17.d4 c4 B1) 11.f4 0-0 12.h3 a5 13.fd1 a4 [ 17...c5 was essayed in T.Ochsner (2305) 14.a3 a5 15.e5 this ends up helping J.Adamski (2390), Copenhagen 1997 (1/2-1/ Black because it extends the influence of 2 in 55), where White went for a queenside h i s l i g h t - s q u a r e d b i s h o p ( 15.d5!? ) pawn with 18. Nb5. However, the direct 15...d5 16.d2 xc3 17.xc3 d5 18.g3! would have led to a decisive with a small initiative, Krysztofiak,Minitiative for White, for instance h8 19.f3! Pinski,J/Warsaw 1998.; xd4 20.cxd4 g8 21.e6 with crushing B2) 11.e1 0-0 12.h3?! a bit slow threats. ] especially when such a move can be 18.xc4 The simplest solution, winning delayed for some time ( 12.d5; 12.g5 decisive material. xc4 19.f5 c5 20.g3 a r e b e t t e r a l t e r n a t i v e s) 12...d5! f6!? The best practical try, but insufficient. Black sensibly strikes out in the centre [ 20...g6 drops an exchange for insufficient 13.e5 e4 14.d2 d7 15.ac1 fc8 compensation after 21.g5 ] 16.a3 a5 Black now has the option of ... 21.xg7+ h8 22.exf6 xf6 23.g5 Ba6 17.e3 h6 18.h4 b5 19.a2 c4 My opponent was in time trouble which didn't and Black is on top with a strong help his defence. In fact, he ended up losing queenside presence, W esterweele,Mon time. e8 24.f1 e4 25.g3 fe6 Maes,W/ Vlissingen 1998. ] 26.d1 d6 27.h6 xh6 28.xc5 bxc5 10.g5 a6 29.xh6 g8 30.b1 f7 31.f4 e7 [ Or 10...d5 11.xf6 dxe4 12.xe4 gxf6 32.h4 d7 33.e2 d5 34.b5 d4 35.d3 13.0-0 h6 14.g3 e6 15.d5!? I think this game provides further evidence a risky idea but it allows W hite to exert that the best way for Black to play this line is some pressure and demand Black to play to aim for ...d5 himself rather than allowing some accurate moves xd5 16.f5 f8 White to play d5. Even if Black achieves this 17.fd1 b7 when White has some advance and gets his move order right, I think compensation for the pawn, Vlassov,Nth e re s u lt in g p o sit ion s a re sligh t ly m o re Kogan,A/ Moscow 2002. ] pleasant for White. 11.e3 e6 12.d2 b4 13.xf6 gxf6 1-0 14.c1 g8 15.a3 [ 15.h3 looks like a good idea to defend g2 and introduce the option of taking on h7 ] 2081 B22 15...e7 16.e2 [ 16.g3 g6 17.f4 and I prefer White ] Cooper,Lawrence 2349 Kogan,Artur 2530 16...b7 17.0-0 It has taken some elaborate Isle of Man (4) 01.10.2002 manoeuvres but finally Cooper has managed to castle. [Gary Lane] [ 17.g3 c8 18.d1 c6 ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 b6 3.d4 b7 4.d3 f6 17...f5 18.f3 fxe4 19.xe4 [ 19.fxe4 g5 20.f3! when the threat 5.e2 cxd4 6.cxd4 c6 7.f3 b4 against f7 saves the knight on d2. ] W hite is obliged to give up his bishop pair which is what Black wants. 8.c3 xd3+ 19...f5 [ 19...d5 looks reasonable when 20.4g3 9.xd3 c8!? An interesting idea by the d7 gives Black a slight edge due to his Israeli GM to put White off castling kingside. active pieces ] [ 9...e6 is considered the main move: 10.0-0 A) 10...d6 11.d5 e5 12.h4 d7 20.4c3 g5 21.f4 f6 22.f2 f7 23.d5 2222

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 c4 24.dxe6+ dxe6 25.d4 In a doubleedged position White is relying on chances connected with Black's exposed king. ad8 26.f3 b5 27.e5+ xe5 28.fxe5 g4 29.h3 gd4 30.e1 [ 30.g4! looks very strong giving White decent attacking chances after e7 31.gxf5 exf5 32.xf5+ g7 33.c2 intending to swing the rook across to the kingside to aid the attack. ] 30...g8 31.f3 h8 Kogan has cleverly put his king in the corner before continuing his aggressive policy. 32.h2 e7 33.b3 d3 34.f4 xf3 [ Or 34...xa3? 35.bxc4 xf3 36.xf3 bxc4 37.h1 wins ] [ 34...xb3 35.xd3 xd3 36.xb5 ] 35.xf3 xb3 36.xb5 d5 37.f4 xg2 38.xg2 b7+ 39.h2 xb5 40.g5 b2+ 41.h1 b7+ 42.h2 c8 [ 42...f8!? ] 43.f6+ g7 44.c1 [ 44.xe6?? is tempting but is revealed as a big blunder upon c2+ 45.e2 xe2+ 46.h1 g2# ] 44...e8 [ 44...xc1 allows a perpetual check after 45.d8+ g8 46.f6+ g7 47.d8+ ] 45.xg7+ xg7 46.c7+ g6 47.xa7 f4 48.g2 c8 49.f3 f5 50.f7+ [ 50.h4!? is a better try. ] 50...xe5-+ 51.xf4?? Oops! [ 51.a4 h5 52.h7 c3+ 53.g2 g3+ 54.h2-+ ] 51...c3+ 52.g4 h5+ [ 52...h5+ 53.g5 g3+ 54.g4 hxg4 55.hxg4 xa3-+ ] 0-1

2082 Crut,Aurelien Fournier,Sylvain French under 20 Ch [Gary Lane]

B22 2164 1999

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.c4 b6 7.b3 dxc3 Black accepts the gambit which gives White a l e a d i n d e v e l o p m e n t . 8.xc3 a5 It is natural that Black wishes to exchange the

light-squared bishop that traditionally causes so many problems. The only problem is that it is difficult for Black to develop smoothly. [ 8...d6 9.exd6 xd6 ( 9...exd6 10.g5 is considered the main line and is better for White. ) 10.xd6 exd6 11.b5 d8 12.g5 e5 13.f4 and White is winning. ] 9.0-0 xb3 10.xb3 e6 [ 10...d5!? should be considered. ] 11.d1 c7 [ 11...d5 12.exd6 xd6 13.f4 xf4 14.xd8+ xd8 15.b4 c7 16.d4+ is very good for White. ] 12.e3 c5? A mistake in a difficult position. [ 12...d5? 13.exd6 xd6? 14.b5 wins ] [ 12...c4 13.xb6 xb3 14.axb3 leaves White with an extra piece because the a7 pawn is pinned. ] [ 12...e7 13.b5 d8 14.xa7 d5 15.xd5 exd5 16.b6 is an amusing win. ] 13.b5 c6 14.ac1 1-0

2083 Deep Blue Kasparov,Garry m Philadelphia (1) [Gary Lane]

B22 2795 1996

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 Amazingly, it is still being debated whether this is a good reply against a computer who does well in open positions thanks to its immense ability to calculate. 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 A standard opening choice to pin the knight in an effort to put pressure on the d4 pawn. 6.e2 e6 7.h3 White wants to nudge the bish o p ba ck t o th e e d ge o f t h e bo a rd . I t highlights the slight drawback that in some ca ses W h ite ca n p lay Qb 3 t o h it b 7 . h5 8.0-0 [ 8.e3 is also possible. ] 8...c6 9.e3 cxd4 10.cxd4 b4!? 10...Be7 is also possible but Kasparov has faith in this move which looks a bit strange when White has not yet played Nc3. [ Other moves give White a chance to 'strutt his stuff' and show what he is capable of. 10...e4 11.c3 xc3 12.bxc3 a3 13.c4 d7 14.g4 g6 15.d5 An excellent 2223

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 riposte to open up the position and take advant age o f the king maro oned in th e centre. exd5 16.cxd5 e7 17.e5 xd5 18.a4+ A piece will soon drop off the board leaving Black completely lost. f8 19.d7+ g8 20.fd1 e6 21.xa3 h5 22.d6 e4 23.d4 1-0 E.Matsuura-H.Ferreira, Maalox Plus Open 1999 ] [ 10...d6 has also been played but it does cut off the queen from retreating along the dfile: 11.c3 a5 12.a3 c8 ( 12...0-0 looks good so that Qb3 can be met by ...Rb8 to protect the pawn.) 13.b3 0-0 14.xb7 A brave decision but accurately calculated. The queen can do a smash and grab job by winning a pawn without waiting around to be trapped. b8 15.fd1 d5 16.xd5 xd5 17.f1 d6 18.ac1 c7 19.a6 fc8 20.c5 f5 21.g3 The combined threats of Bf4 and doubling the rooks on the c-file wins material. e7 22.dc1 h6 23.xc6 1-0 G.Lee-S.Radha, British Ch 1993. ] 11.a3 a5 12.c3 [ A good alternative is to dismiss the prospect of ...Bxc3 by expanding on the q u e e n s i d e : 12.b4 b6 13.c3 d6 14.b5 e7 15.e5 xe2 16.xe2 d5 17.ac1 c8 18.d3 1/2-1/2 D.PavasovicS.Savchenko,Portoroz 1996. ] 12...d6 13.b5 e7 [ 13...d5 was Kasparov's recommendation which was revealed after the match had finished. If 14 Bc4 then 14...Bxf3 15 gxf3 Qh5 is good for Black. The computer could bale out with a draw by offering to repeat the position with 14 Nc3. ] 14.e5 xe2 15.xe2 0-0 16.ac1 Both sides are jostling for the right to improve their pieces by occupying better squares. The computer is already in the driving seat thanks to the space advantage. ac8 17.g5! b6 18.xf6 gxf6 The kingside pawn structure is wrecked. [ If 18...xf6 then 19.d7 wins the exchange. ] 19.c4! fd8 [ Or 19...xd4? 20.xd4 xd4 21.g4+ h8 22.xd4 wins a piece. ] 20.xb6 Getting rid of the bishop and in turn f u r t h e r w e a k e n i n g B l a c k ' s p a w n s . axb6 21.fd1 f5 22.e3 f6 23.d5! At the time

this was move was acclaimed as proof that De e p B lu e co u ld sa crif ice m a t eria l f o r a positional advantage. However, in the newspapers a few days later it was confirmed that the computer had done it in the knowledge that it could win the pawn back. xd5 [ 23...exd5 24.xb6 xb2 25.xb7 b8 26.xc6 xb5 27.c3 f4 28.f6 e8 29.g5+ h8 30.dc1 is good for White. ] 24.xd5 exd5 25.b3! A classy move. There is no rush to take on b6 so White nudges the pawns forward to avoid it being taken at a lat te r sta ge . h8 Kasparov signals his true intention- checkmate. [ 25...d8! 26.xb6 d7 is the sensible choice but such a dour, defensive task is not Garry's sort of game. ] 26.xb6 g8 27.c5 [ If 27.xb7?? then g5 hitting c1 and g2 wins. ] 27...d4 28.d6 f4 29.xb7 e5 30.d5 f3 31.g3 d3 Kasparov has great attacking options but the snag is that they just don't work. [ 31...f4 32.c8! ( 32.h2 xg3 33.fxg3 d2+ 34.g1 g2# ) 32...g5 33.c5+- ] 32.c7 e8 33.d6 The knight returns to the f ra y ju s t in t i m e . e1+ 34.h2 xf2 35.xf7+ g7 [ 35...xf7 36.d8+ g7 37.xf7+ xf7 38.d5+ e7 39.xf3 leaves White in a winning position. ] 36.g5+ h6 37.xh7+ 1-0

2084 Degraeve,Jean Marc Lautier,Joel French Championship (4) [Gary Lane]

B22 2586 2663 22.08.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 d5 7.exd6 xd6 8.0-0 e6 9.a3 xb3 10.xb3 e6 11.d4 cxd4 12.b5 d7 13.bxd4 xd4 14.xd4 A critical position for the future of the line has been reached. White has a safe position but has he got enough to win? e7 [ 14...c5 15.d1 ( or 15.e3 c8 16.fd1 2224

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a4 17.b5+ xb5 18.xb5 c4 19.xc5 xc5 20.d6+ xd6 21.xd6 e7 22.ad1 1/2-1/2 Manca,F-Freitag,M/ AUT 2000. ) 15...0-0 16.f4 d5 17.g3 xd4 ( 17...fd8 looks fine and offers equal chances ) 18.xd4 b5 19.a4 a6 20.dd1 c6 21.h3 h6 22.a3 b6 when Black is defending well by manoeuvring the knight, Reinaldo Castineira,R-Hernandez,R/ Mondariz 1999. ] 15.d1 0-0 16.e3 [ 16.f5 c7 17.xe7+ xe7 18.e3 d5 19.d4 ( 19.d2 is a bit passive fd8 20.c4 f6 21.h3 h6 22.f3 b6 with a dra w likely, B ru ne lie re, P-Che n g Xinkai/Shenyang 1999.) 19...fd8 20.c4 b4 21.c3 f6 22.a3 c6 23.e3 xd1+ 24.xd1 d8 25.d2 with equal chances, Janovsky, S-Prasad,D/Koszalin 1998. ] 16...c8 17.b5 c5 18.xc5 xc5 19.d6 c6 20.b5 xb5 21.xb5 White is content to have a draw in hand and push for the win. The logic is that in the longterm 3 versus two on the queenside favours White. This is because Black's pawn majority can be blocked to a certain extent by the white king. a6 22.d6 a4 23.d2 fd8 24.ad1 b5 25.c4 The French grandmaster is doing well to exchange pawns in order to create a passed pawn. f8 26.cxb5 axb5 27.xb5 xd2 28.xd2 b8 29.d4 xb2 30.xb2 xb2 31.c6 e8 32.f1 White has all the winning chances due to the outside passed pawn. The game concluded: f6 33.e2 d7 34.b4 d6 35.d2 a4 36.c2 e5 37.b3 c5+ 38.c4 f5 39.d3 a4 40.b4 b6 41.a4 e4 42.e1 d5 43.a5 c8 44.c2 f4 45.c3 d6 46.d4 c8 47.b5 [ 47.h4 g6 ] 47...c6 48.c4 g5 49.g4 fxg3 50.fxg3 h5 [ 50...b7 51.c3 e3 52.d3 ] 51.d4+ d6 52.b5+ [ 52.h3 e5 ] 52...e5 [ 52...c6 53.h3 ] 53.a6 h4 [ 53...b6+!? must definitely be considered 54.c3 g4 ] 54.d4 hxg3 55.hxg3 a7

[ 55...d6 56.f5+ c6 57.d4 ] 56.c2 c8 57.e3 a7?? sad, but how else could Black save the game? [ 57...d6 ] 58.c5+- c8 59.c4+ e6 60.g4 [ 60.c6+and White has reached his goal ] 60...d7 61.d5 c7 62.xe4 e7 63.e5 g8 64.a7 b7 65.d6+ xa7 66.f5 [ 66.f5 b6 67.e6+- ] 1-0

2085 Delchev,Aleksander Mrva,Martin Zonal Tournament, 200 [Paul Motwani]

B22

2000

Quick Tricks and Traps 1) B10: The game A. Delchev-M.Mrva played at a zonal tournament in Budapest on 23 June 2000 was a Sicilian Defence with the following moves 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 d7 4.f3 e6 5.d3 e7 6.0-0 b6 7.f4 b7 8.bd2 c8 Reader's Challenge B10P1 Alexander De lch e v, ra t e d 2 5 6 0 , t h e n p la ye d 9.e1? a n d yo u r ch a l le n ge is d isc o ve r wh y t h a t plausible-looking move is in fact a serious error. Look out---a solution is about to appear! S o l u t i o n t o B 1 0 P 1 B l a c k p l a y e d g5! which wins material because if W hite's f4bish op retreats to e3 or g3, t hen 10. ..g4 leaves the f3-knight without any safe retreat--since the e1-square is unfortunately fully occupied by a big rook!

2086 Demkovich,Anatoliy Zarubina,Polina Kaissa Open Kharkov UKR (2) [Gary Lane]

B22 2402 23.01.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.g3 A n i n t e re s t i n g id e a t o f i a n c h e t t o o n t h e kingside in order to attack the d5 knight. It has be en playe d successf u lly b y t he to p player Rozentalis but then again he tends to play g2-g3 against just about anything. c6 2225

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 5.g2 b6 The knight moves out of trouble. [ 5...e6 is a logical choice to keep the knight centralised. Of course, White would not want to take on d5 because his kingside would look vulnerable without the light-coloured bishop. 6.f3 b6 Black chooses to oppose the h1-a8 diagonal with a queenside fianchetto. 7.0-0 b7 8.a3 d6 9.c4 dxe5 10.fxe5 d6 11.d4 0-0 12.xc6 xc6 13.dxc5 xc5 14.e5 b5 15.c4 f6 16.d3?! ( 16.a4! is a clear improvement on the game when play might continue fxe5 17.axb5 when the knight is pinned by the bishop on g2.) 16...xc4 17.xc5 bxc5 18.e1 b4 19.e3 xd1 20.exd1 ac8 21.ac1 a6 22.d6 fd8 23.xe6 xa2 24.a1 c4 25.e7 a6? 26.b7 f8 27.e4 c7 28.xc4 xb7 29.xa2 1-0 S. Drazic-C.Maruejols, Cannes 2000. ] 6.f3 d6 [ 6...e6 7.0-0 d5 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 e7 10.c3 d7 11.b3 c8 12.b2 a6 13.c1 gave White a small advantage in P. Villard-X.Ouadin, Montlucon 1997. ] [ 6...d5 7.0-0 g4 8.e1 ( 8.d3? xe5 ) 8...e6 9.d3 e7 10.bd2 h5!? A daring id ea to advance on the kingside when the king is still on e8. It can cause White problems if Black can keep the position closed and eventually castle queenside in order to unite the rooks. 11.h3 f5 12.e2 g5 13.b3 d7 14.d4 with double-edged play although W hite eventually won in E.Schmittdiel-B. Bente, Seefeld 1998. ] 7.exd6 xd6 8.0-0 g4 9.h3 Demkovich wants to know the bishop's intentions before playing d2-d4. [ 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 e6 11.c3 e7 12.f4 d8 13.h3 h5 14.g4 g6 15.e5 c8 ( 15...xd4 16.xb7 c2 17.c1 b8 18.c6! and W hite wins.) 16.d5 exd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 xe5 20.xe5 c5 21.ad1 0-0 22.c3 gave White a slight edge in the ending although the game was eventually drawn, T.Kos-A.Bokros, Pardubice 2000. ] 9...h5 [ 9...xf3 10.xf3 when White has the bishop pair and on an open board that will be a long-term advantage. ] 10.d4 cxd4

[ 10...xf3 11.xf3 cxd4 12.cxd4 xd4 13.xb7 d8 14.c3 when the open nature of the position favours White due to the influence of the light-coloured bishop. ] 11.g4 g6 12.xd4 xd4 13.cxd4 d7 [ 13...b8 14.c3 e6 15.f4!? is promising for White. ] 14.f3 d8 15.xb7 xb7 16.xb7 xd4 17.e3 d6?! [ 17...b4!? is probably the best choice but in the long-term the rook looks open to attack on b4. ] 18.c3 White has managed to activate his pieces but Black's kingside in contrast is rather neglected. d3?! [ 18...h5 should be considered ] 19.fd1 f6 Black makes room for his king. 20.c5! The start of a winning combination. d8 21.c6+ f7 22.xb6 axb6 23.d5+ e6 24.c4! 1-0

2087 Deviatkin,Andrei Novikov,Stanislav ch-Moscow Final (7) [John Shaw]

B22 2574 2558 29.05.2010

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 g4 6.e2 cxd4 7.cxd4 e6 8.c3 a5 An old favourite of mine with Black. It is a bold way to play for a win against 2.c3. It works beautifully if White plays passively, but there was always one line I worried about. 9.h3 [ 9.0-0 f6 10.h3 h5 11.e3 d6 is rather pleasant for Black. ] 9...h5 10.d5! That's the one. White sacs a pawn to prevent Black achieving his planned set-up. exd5 Accepting the pawn directly is most common, as trying to exploit a pin down the d-file tends to leave the black king in trouble. [ 10...0-0-0 11.d2 The best of a rather wide choice. exd5 A) Pavasovic, a c3-Sicilian specialist, has tried 12.c1 d4 ( 12...xf3 13.xf3 e8+ 14.f1 doesn't really disrupt White after f6 15.g3 ) 13.b5 b4 and now instead of 14. Rc5? he should 2226

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 have played 14.xa7+ xa7 15.xb4; B) 12.0-0 The most flexible. B1) In "Fighting the anti-Sicilians" R i c h a r d P a l l i s e r s u g g e s t e d 12...d4 13.b5 b4 14.xb4 xb4 but then 15.fxd4! is winning, with the points xd4 ( or 15...xe2 16.xe2 xd4 17.ac1! f6 18.e5+- ) 16.c1+! c6 17.xa7+ c7 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xh5+-; B2) 12...f6 13.c1 Black's position is worse than it may at first appear. For example, Rogozenko pointed out that b8 loses to 14.b5 ] [ 10...d8 is little explored. One promising reply is 11.d2 exd5 12.d4 xd4 13.xh5 ] 11.d4 xe2 [ If 11...xd4 12.xh5 and White has excellent play after either e6 or 12...Nc6. ] 12.xe2+ e7 13.xc6 bxc6 14.0-0 W hite's lead in development usually translates into a better ending rather than a vicious attack on the king. f8 [ I tried the other main line, but disliked the experience so much I gave up the whole variation. 14...d8 15.d2 d4 16.e4 A) A more recent game continued: 16...e5 17.f3 f6 18.fe1 0-0 19.g3 c7 20.f5 fe8? ( after the correct 20...d5 White has many tempting options, including 21.xe7 xe7 22.g3 xg3 23.xe7+ h8 24.fxg3 ) 21.xe7! xe7 22.a5! 1-0 Boros -I. Rees, Budapest 2009. If Black takes on a5 then Nxe7xc6xd8 is good fun.; B) 16...b5 17.xb5 cxb5 18.a4 White has more than enough compensation. The best Black can hope for is to return the pawn and hold a draw. Not so appealing for an ambitious player w i t h B l a c k . ( 18.fe1!? ) 18...bxa4 ( 18...b4 leaves more weak pawns as targets. White is a little better after either 19.fe1 o r 1 9 . R a c 1 .) 19.xa4 Maybe I can defend a little better than I did in the next few moves, but it is a thankless task. d7 20.c1 f6 21.c8+ d8 22.xd8+ xd8 23.d6+ Vysochin Shaw, Cappelle la Grande 2003 ] [ T h e n a t u r a l d e ve l o p i n g m o v e 14...f6

is unpopular but perhaps no worse than the alternatives. 15.g5 ( not 15.e1? 0-0 16.xe7?? fe8 ) 15...f8 16.fe1 b4!? I still like White after 17.ac1 as the play is similar to the main lines. ] 15.e1 The most logical try, but White has other decent moves. [ 15.d2 ] [ 15.f4 ] 15...e8 [ Black has also tried 15...d8 but it has the same issues. W hite targets the weak queenside pawns before Black can develop his kingside. The extra pawn never lasts. For example 16.d2 f6 17.ac1 d7 18.d3 d6 19.g5 e8 20.a4 c7 21.c2 e6 22.xc6 xc6 23.xc6 Nisipeanu - Zapata, Juan Dolio 2003 ] 16.d2 f6 17.d3 h5 18.ac1 h4 19.a3 h5 This rook is almost developed, but it has no next move 20.e2 b5 21.xb5 cxb5 22.d4 e4 23.b4 xb4 24.axb4 a6 25.f3?! [ Instead 25.c6 is more promising when White certainly will win the pawn back, but Black should hold. ] 25...g3= [ 25...d6!? ] 26.xe8+ xe8 27.c8+ d7 28.a8 e5 29.f2 h1+ 30.f1 g3+ 31.f2 h1+ 32.f1 e3 Showing willing, but a draw is still on the cards. 33.a7+ c8 34.xa6 d3 35.xb5 d2 36.d6+ c7 37.b5 g3+ 38.e1 xb2 39.c6+ d7 40.xf7 xb5 41.e5+ e7 42.g6+ d7 43.e5+ e7 44.g6+ ½-½

2088 Dzindzichashvili,Roman Sakharov,A USSR [Andrew Martin]

B22

1957

I've recently been enjoying 'Surprise in Chess' by Amatzia Avni. This is an unusual book, well-written and deals with a subject way off the main roads that the average player likes to tread. A couple of Anti-Sicilian games caught my eye and I'd like to share them with 2227

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 you now. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d6 6.f3 c6 7.e2!? An old-fashioned way to treat the position, which as you'll see from the notes, gets an occasional outing today. W hite is basically refraining from committing himself, concentrates on simple development and hopes to outplay Black later. I cannot see that this move and associated ideas will worry many people, but look what happens here! f5 8.0-0 e6 9.d2!? More of the same a very unusual position for this Bishop. Doubtless White wants to go Nc3 and be able to capture back with a piece in safety at least that's the only reason I can come up with. [ 9.a3 gives nothing: e7 ( 9...c8 10.e1 e7 11.d2 0-0 12.c3 xc3 13.xc3 d5 14.f1 b6 15.d2 a5 16.h3 c7 17.e3 a4 18.d2 a5 19.g4 g6 20.f4 b3 21.xb3 xb3 22.g3 fc8 23.e3 b6 24.f2 Hierholz, B (2217)-Weindl, A (2364) /Ge rmany 200 7 e4 ) 10.exd6 xd6 11.c3 0-0 12.b5 b8 13.c3 d8 14.xd5 xd5 15.e3 f6 Shianovsky, V (2314)-Nogin, N (2337)/Kiev 2001) ] [ 9.b3 b6 10.xb6 xb6= ] 9...dxe5N [ 9...e7 10.b3 c7 seems a safe enough route to maintain equality: 11.exd6 xd6 12.c3 Cobiella Rodriguez, JRecuero Guerra, J/Norena 2001 when the best I can see for Black is xc3! 13.bxc3 0-0 14.fe1 e4 ] 10.dxe5 db4 He thinks he spies a weak ness in the W h ite camp . He ca nno t suspect the impact of W hite's coming play. 11.c3 d3?! [ Just 11...e7= will do... ] 12.g5! xb2 That was the point, but in fact White now has two good moves. 13.xd8+ [ Instead 13.b3 b6 14.b5! seems to be winning: d3 15.a4+- Dzindzi chooses the more aesthetic, if not the best way. ] 13...xd8 14.b5+ [ Here 14.b5! c8 15.xa7 looks simple and strong. ] 14...c6 15.d4 d3 16.xc6! xf1 [ 16...xb5 17.xb5 bxc6 18.c7++- ] [ 16...a6 17.xd3 xd3 18.fd1+- ] 17.xf1 bxc6 18.c1 a3??

[ 18...b8! 19.b1 a3 20.a4 0-0 more than keeps Black in the game: 21.xb2 ( 21.xb2 fd8 22.g3 b4; 21.xb2 xb2 22.xb2 fd8 23.g3 c5 24.g2 d4 ) 21...fd8 22.g3 b4 23.xa3 xb1 24.d6 c1 ] 19.b1! You get the gist a very flawed game. But I have never seen a final position like this wh e r e t h e o p p o n e n t re sign s wit h a ll t h e enemy pieces on the back rank, nor a sequence of moves leading up to such a position, where White retreated all his pieces to base in order to win material. Strange! 1-0

2089 Ekstroem,Roland Nemet,Ivan Swiss Ch Pontresina (9) [Gary Lane]

B22 2487 2412 21.07.2000

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 f6 This is an unusual continuation that can and often does catch White out. The simple idea is to take on d5 with the knight rather than expose the queen. [ 3...xd5 is the standard move. ] 4.d4 [ 4.b5+ is the main alternative. ] [ 4.c4 e6! offers Black a good, aggressive game because W hite becomes cramped after d3 when his light-square bishop looks more like a big pawn. ] 4...cxd4 5.b5+ [ 5.xd4 xd5 6.xd5 xd5 7.c4 b6 8.b3 e5 9.e3 8d7 10.f3 f6 11.0-0 c5 12.xc5 xc5 13.c2 e6 14.bd2 was equal in P.Rasmussen-T.Romsdal, Gausdal 2000. ] 5...bd7 It seems at first sight that this novelty should be fine for Black. However, he wi ll s o o n b e a p a wn d o wn a n d n e e d s t o accelerate his development to create some counterplay. [ 5...d7 A) 6.c4!? is worth invest iga tin g b5 7.b3 dxc3 8.xc3 a5 9.e2 a4 10.c2 a6 11.g5 a5 12.xf6 gxf6 13.a3 c8 14.f3 xc3 Black cannot develop smoothly and foolishly tries tactics 2228

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 a s a n e s c a p e c l a u s e . ( 14...g8!? ) 15.d2! b4 16.bxc3 bxc3 17.e3 c5 18.b1 e6 19.f4 f5 20.b8+ e7 21.d6+ 1-0 R.Dolezal-T.Civin,Plzen 1999.; B) 6.xd7+ xd7 7.xd4 xd5 8.xd5 xd5 9.f3 c6 10.a3 g6 11.g5 h6 12.d2 g7 13.d1 d8 14.0-0 0-0 15.c1 e5 16.fe1 f5 17.c2 f7 18.f1 e4 19.fd4 e5 20.e2 fe8 21.f3 exf3 22.xf3 xf3 23.gxf3 b6 24.xd8 xd8 25.d2 and the game was eventually drawn in A.Lazar-Z.Basagic, Ljubljana 2000. ] 6.xd4 g6 7.d6 This is a clever idea to pose a fresh set of problems in the opening for Nemet to cope with. Basically, Ekstroem intends Nf3 and 0-0 which means that Black will have a p ro ble m f ianche tto in g o n th e kingside because if . .. exd6 the dark-squared bishop needs to guard on the pawn. exd6 8.f3 e7+ The logic is that after the obvious 9 Be3 Nemet can play 9...Bg7 followed by castling kingside. It all seems highly likely but t h e S wi s s G M h a s c o m p l e t e l y m i s s e d a t a c t i c a l i d e a 9.d1! A marvellous move to accommodate the king's rook moving to e1. It is amazing to think that black could resign after only 9 moves. a6 [ 9...d8 10.e1 e5 11.xe5 and of course the d-pawn is pinned leaving White with an extra piece. ] 10.e1 axb5 11.xe7+ xe7 Black has com pe ns at io n f or t he que en bu t it is no t enough. W hite can easily co-ordinate his pieces to stop the black king from seeking safety. 12.h6 The first step in the plan is to stop Black castling kingside. c5 13.bd2 d7 14.g5 The second step to stop queenside castling is revealed because now 14...0-0-0 is well met by 15 Nxf7 forking the rooks. g8 15.f3 d5 16.g4 Ekstroem is sensibly slowly increasing the pressure by restricting Black from manoeuvring his pieces to better squares. c6 17.c2 a4 18.e5 d7 19.xf7 White is clearly better but Black is not prepared to give up with out a fight. e8 20.g5 d4 21.xf6 Another piece is added to the war chest but still Black will not give up. d3+ 22.d1 f8 23.g5 e6 24.e3 f4 25.e5+ c8 26.b3 d5 [ 26...a8 27.xf4 wins ]

27.xd3 f4? [ 27...a8 is losing but the task of winning will take White longer. ] 28.g5 The rook o n f4 has no escape squares. I suspect one of the players was in time-trouble which might explain why Black did not ease the suf f ering by resigning. xe5 29.xf4 xf4 30.d4 Once again Black has to accept that he will lose even more material. xf3+ 31.c2 xg4 32.xe5 f5+ 33.e4 e6 34.f1 1-0

2090 Emms,John M Ansell,S British League (4NCL) (9) [Gary Lane]

B22 2573 2400 23.05.1999

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g6 6.b3 This looks harmless and can lure Black into a false sense of security. The ending is pleasant for W hite if Black exchanges on b3 and the immediate threat is Bc4. e6 An unusual looking move which is difficult to find over the board. It is much more tempting to try [ 6...xb3 which merely opens up the a-file for the rook. The game EkstromGaprindashvili, World ChT, Lucerne 1997, c o n t i n u e d : 7.axb3 cxd4 8.xd4 d5 9.c4 c7 10.f4 ba6 11.b5! xb5 12.xb5+ d8 13.xa6 bxa6 14.c6 f5 15.e2+- ] [ 6...cxd4 is natural but runs into problems after 7.c4! e4+ 8.f1 e6 9.cxd4 e7 ( 9...g7? 10.c3 g4 11.b5+- ) 10.c3 f5 11.h6 g4 12.g7 g8 13.e5 Jenni-Forster, Biel 1997. ] 7.c4 [ E m m s h a s a l s o t r i e d 7.bd2 with encouraging results: h6 8.c4 d7 9.d5 f5 10.d3 ( 10.e4!? xc1 11.xf6+ exf6 12.xc1 0-0 13.e2 e8 and W hite has a passed pawn but Black should be fine as the pin on the e-file is awkward. ) 10...xd3 11.xd3 g7 12.0-0 0-0 13.e4 a6 14.e1 b4 15.xf6+ xf6 16.b1 f5 17.xf5 gxf5 18.e2 e6 19.dxe6 1/2-1/2 J. Emms-J.Hodgson, 2229

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Harplinge 1998. ] 7...d7 8.d5 I like this move which aims to build upon White's space advantage. Basically, the middlegame plan is to get all your pieces out and watch Black struggle to find a constructive plan. [ 8.dxc5 is worth investigating. White has no realistic chance of hanging on to the extra pawn: g7 9.c3 a6 10.e3 0-0 11.e2 ( 11.d1!? ) 11...g4 12.d1 c7 13.d4 xc5 14.a3 xd4 15.xd4 f4 16.f3 ( 16.f3! e3 17.xc5 xd1 18.xe6 fxe6 19.xd1 ) 16...e5+ 17.de2 fd8 18.d5 ac8 O. LemmersP.Doggers, Dieren 1999. ] 8...f5 9.c3 The advantage of 7 c4 over 7 Nbd2 is now apparent as White has the option of brin ging t he que en 's knigh t to a m ore active square. g7 10.e2 0-0 11.0-0 Emms is content to develop his pieces. c7 [ 11...a6 has the merit of completing development and waiting to see how White continues before moving the black queen. ] 12.b5 b6 13.f4 a6 14.fe1 The good thing about Emm's play is that he makes it look so easy. He has spotted the e7 pawn is weak and decides to put pressure on it. fe8 15.f1 ac8 16.h3 White is continuously improving his position. Ansell does well to keep the momentum going but he is only really responding to White's actions. h6 17.ac1 g5 18.h2 d7 19.e5 f5 20.d3 How does White decide to exchange the light-squared bishops? The answer is that the bishop on f1 is doing precious little so it makes sense to exchange off Black's active piece. xd3 21.xd3 b8?! Black wants to get on with the game rather than adopt a wait and see policy. 22.c7! xb3 23.axb3 ed8 24.xc5 The first pawn leaves the board and Black is in deep trouble. White has achieved a winnin g position by a p atien t approach where his space advantage p r o v o k e d B la c k in t o t ryin g t o re vi ve t h e position. b6 25.5a6 xa6 26.xa6 e6 Black gets top marks f or trying to creat e swindling possibilities. In a hopeless position he offers another pawn in return for liberating h i s r o o k s . 27.dxe6 fxe6 28.xe6 d2 29.ce1 d7 30.d6 d4 31.h1 c5 [ 31...xf2 32.xd2 xe1 33.xd7+- ]

32.xc5 bxc5 33.g3 f8 34.xh6 xf2 35.xf2 fxf2 36.g6+ h7 37.xg5 W hite has plenty of extra material and can think about mating chances with the black king on the edge of the board. xb2 38.e4 h6 39.g8 1-0

2091 Emms,John M Gallagher,Joseph G 4NCL 2008-9 Staverton ENG (10) [David Vigorito]

B22 2487 2462 03.05.2009

This game sees a battle between two ChessPub contributors who each, incidentally, wrote books on the 2.c3 Sicilian! 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 d5 [ 6...c4 is Black's main alternative. ] 7.exd6 xd6 8.a3 [ This is White's best independent move order. 8.0-0 e6 9.a3 xb3 followed by ...Qd3! is considered fine for Black. ] 8...a6!? [ Black's ends any Na3-b5 ideas, although this does cost a tempo. In the archives the a l t e r n a t i v e 8...e6 can be found. White maintains chances for a slight edge with 9.d4 cxd4 ( or 9...xb3 10.xb3 cxd4 11.b5 ) 10.b5 ] 9.0-0 f5 10.d4 cxd4 11.xd4 White captures this way to gain the f3-square for the queen. xd4 12.cxd4 e6 13.f3 d7 14.d5! [ 14.c2 xc2 15.xc2 d5 ] [ 14.f4 xa3! 15.bxa3 0-0 16.ad1 Manor, I (2510)-Yudasin, L (2635)/ Rishon L e - Z i o n 1 9 9 6 ac8 with the idea ...Bc2! 17.e2 s t o p s t h i s , b u t a f t e r d5 Black has an excellent position. ] 14...xd5 15.d1 xa3 16.bxa3 0-0 17.b2!? [ 17.xd5 exd5 18.xd5 e6! tickles White's back rank and gives Black at least equal chances after 19.b2 e4 20.g3 f6 21.d6 f5 ] [ 17.h4!? creates the possibility of g4 and h5 while also threatening to take on d5 ac8! ( 17...h6? 18.xd5 exd5 19.xd5 2230

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 wins for White) 18.b2 Okhotnik, V (2370)Shneider, A (2470)/USSR 1987 and now Black should play ( safer is 18.xd5 exd5 19.xd5 e6 20.xf5 e1+ 21.h2 xc1 22.xc1 xc1 23.xb7 xa3= ) 18...c2! ] 17...ad8 18.h4!? h6 19.d2 White has compensation for the pawn, but perhaps no more than that. The position is quite safe for him, however, because he can win back the p a wn b y t a k i n g o n d 5 a t s o m e p o i n t . b5 20.c1 [ White plays for the initiative. Instead 20.ad1 c8! 21.xd5 exd5 22.xd5 xd5 23.xd5 e6 is equal. ] 20...h8 21.c5! h7 22.xd5 exd5? [ Strangely enough, this is a big mistake. Black should use the pin on the d-file to take time out for the prophylactic 22...f6! ] 23.cxd5 White is loaded on the d-file and the weakness of g7 should create big problems. e7 24.xd8? [ B l a c k c a n r e s i g n a f t e r 24.xg7+! b e c a u s e a f t e r xg7 25.g4+ when 26.Qd4+ and 27.Rxd8 follow. ] 24...xd8 25.xd8+ xd8 26.xf7 Now W hite has only won a pawn, and the opposite-coloured bishops give Black good chances to hold. White correctly tries forever but it is just not enough. d1+ 27.h2 g4 28.e7 g8 29.f3 f4+ 30.g1 f7 31.e5 f6!? 32.xf6 gxf6 33.xf6+ h7 34.h5 xa2 35.c3 f7 36.g4 b3 37.f2 d1 38.g3 e2 39.f4 d1 40.h4 c2 41.g5 hxg5+ 42.xg5 [ after 42.fxg5 Black just keeps his bishop on t h e b 1 -h 7 d ia go n a l (o r swit ch e s t o t h e d1-h5 diagonal to attack the h5-pawn if W hite's king wanders away) and if W hite e ve r p la y s g6 + B l a ck ca n sa cr if ic e h i s bishop, leaving White with the wrong rookpawn on the other side of the board. ] 42...d1 43.f5 e2 44.h6 c4 45.d2 d5 46.f6 a5 47.e7 b4 48.xb4 A good try. a4! [ 48...axb4? 49.axb4+- ] 49.d2 b3 50.f6 [ 50.f6 g8 51.f7+ xf7 52.h7+ xh7 53.xf7 leads to a similar situation. ] 50...c2 51.g5 b1 52.b4 xf5 53.xf5 xh6 54.f6 Now White has to

somehow gather up the a4-pawn while keeping Black's king f rom a8. It seems it cannot be done... h7 55.f7 h8 56.f8 h7 57.c3 g6 58.e7 f5 59.d6 g6 60.e7 h7 61.e5 g6 62.g3 g7 63.e5+ g6 64.e6 g5 65.f7 h6 66.g8 g6 67.g7 f5 68.f7 g5 69.e5 h6 70.g8 g6 71.g7 f5 72.f7 g5 73.f8 f5 74.e7 e5 75.e8 e6 76.h4 d6 77.d8 e6 78.g3 f7 79.d7 f6 80.d6 f7 81.h4 f8 82.c6 e8 83.g5 f7 84.h4 e8 85.d6 f7 86.d7 f8 87.g5 f7 88.e7 g6 89.e6 g7 90.d6 g8 91.e7 g7 92.g3 g6 93.e5 f5 94.d6 g6 95.c5 f5 96.d5 g6 97.c4 f5 98.h2 e6 99.b5 d7 100.xa4 c6 ½-½

2092 Erenburg,Sergey Mastrovasilis,Dimitrios World Junior Championship (10) [Gary Lane]

B22 2421 2426 01.11.2001

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.g3 c6 [ 4...d6 5.exd6 ( 5.g2? dxe5 ) 5...e6 6.g2 xd6 7.f3 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.d4 d7 10.bd2! cxd4 11.e4 e7 12.cxd4 with equal chances, E.Rozentalis-O.Gritsak, Glogow 2001. ] 5.g2 c7 6.f4 White supports the e-pawn, which can also help a future kingside pawn avalanche. [ 6.xd5? xe5+ 7.e2 xd5 gives White an extra pawn and the advantage. ] 6...e6 7.e2 [ 7.f3 e7 8.d3 0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.e2 W hite wishes to keep the pawn on e5 in order to keep the position closed and maintain the slight space advantage. a6 11.c4 b6 12.c3 d5 13.b3 d7 14.b2 ad8 15.ad1 c8 16.h1 a8 17.h4 h6 18.f5 In the main game the same player indulges in a strong kingside attack and in this example he shows a pedigree for it. d4 19.f6 gxf6 20.exf6 xf6 21.e4 g7 22.c1 gave White compensation for the pawn, S.Erenburg-D. Kokarev, Oropesa del 2231

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Mar 2000. ] 7...e7 8.f3 a6 Mastrovasilis wishes to cre at e so me c ou nt erplay b y pu sh in g th e queenside pawns. [ 8...0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.exd6 ( 10.d3 is also possible if White wishes to maintain a pawn presence on e5) 10...xd6 11.d3 b6 12.a3 a6 13.c4 e7 14.d2 b7 15.ae1 ad8 16.c1 fe8 17.g5 b5 18.xf7! xf7 19.xe6+ f8 20.xd5 gives White a winning advantage, S.SivokhoP. Svidler,St Petersburg 1996. ] 9.d3 b5 10.c4 White is keen to knock the knight off its perch on d5 where it is well placed. b6 11.b3 Erenburg prepares to fianchetto on the queenside to help complete development. b7 12.b2 0-0 13.0-0 bxc4 14.dxc4 a5 15.bd2 a4 16.e4 The centralised knight is excellently poised on e 4 t o e x e r t c o n t r o l o n t h e g a m e . b4 17.f6+! xf6 [ Or 17...gxf6 18.exf6 d8 19.g5! xg2 20.h5 e4 21.h6 wins ] [ 17...h8 18.g5 h6 19.xb7 xb7 20.h5 gives White strong attacking chances. ] 18.exf6 g6 [ 18...gxf6 19.xf6 h6 20.e5 intending Qg4+ is a winner for White. ] 19.f5 xf3 20.xf3 h8 21.fxg6 1-0

rook is in the centre White can retreat the b i s h o p t o c 1 w i t h o u t f e e l i n g s i l l y ! d6 20.c2 f6 21.h3 c7 22.f1 g6 23.e2 d5 24.g5 1/2-1/2 Wahls, MTischbierek,R/Biel 1993.) 11...b7 12.c2 h6 13.d2 d7 14.fe1 ad8 15.ad1 gave White a passive position in Erenburg, S-Jakovenko,D/Oropesa del Mar 2001. ] [ 9...a6 10.c4 c7 11.a4 b6 ( 11...b8!? preparing ...b7-b5 looks sensible. ) 12.xb6 xb6 13.d3 e7 14.g5 f6 15.e3 c7 16.d4 White strikes ou t in t h e ce n t re t o t ry t o st ir u p s o m e tactics. d8 17.b3 cxd4 18.xd4 xd4 19.xd4 h8 20.f4 d6 ( 20...b8 hoping to develop the queen's bishop is worth considering) 21.h1 a5 22.fd1 a6 23.b5 c7 24.d3 c6 25.ad1 ( The greedy 25.xc6? wastes all of White's good work after bxc6 26.b3 c5 winning ) 25...d7 26.b3 e5 27.fxe5 fxe5 28.e3 g4 29.e1 f5 30.d2 e4 31.d5 f8 32.f2 c8 33.xa5 A pawn leaves the board emphasising W hite's dominance of the position c7 34.b5 cf6 35.d4 d7 36.g5 g6 37.e7 with a tremendous position, Nunn,J-Nielsen,U/Vejle 1994. ] 10.d3 b6 11.c4 c7 12.a4 b8 As usual in the line Black prepares to oust the knight on c4 by preparing to advance the bpawn. 13.e2 a6 14.h4!? Erenburg pushes the h-pawn as a way of adding support to the g5 square which might be useful for an attack. 2093 B22 b7 15.d1 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.e3 Erenburg,Sergey 2421 I think White needs a lot of patience with this Teterev,Vitaly 2301 line. Basically, he is waiting for Black to go wrong safe in the knowledge that his own World Junior championship-Under 18 (6) position is very solid. a5 18.c2 b4 19.d4 [Gary Lane] b3 20.e2 d6 21.h5 A hopeful idea to try 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.g3 d6 and upset Black. h6 22.g4 f5 23.ge5 cxd4 24.f4! 5.exd6 e6 6.g2 xd6 7.f3 c6 [ W h i t e r e s i s t e d p l a y i n g 24.cxd4 [ 7...0-0 8.0-0 c6 just transposes to the but the following line has a sting in the tale main game. ] which probably both sides missed: fd8 8.0-0 0-0 9.a3!? This is considered one of 25.f4 b6 26.xf7 xf7 27.xc7 xc7 the main lines and W hite's play has been 28.e5! with roughly equal chances. ] likened to a sort of King's Indian Attack. de7 24...e7 25.xd4 xg2 26.xg2 xd4 Other moves have been tried: [ 9...b6 10.c4 c7 11.d3 ( 11.a4 b7 27.xd4 xe5 28.xe5 c6 29.d6 [ 29.g4 xe5 30.xe5 f6 31.e3 h8 12.d3 b8 13.b3 h8 14.e1 a6 32.a7 b7 is equal. ] 15.d2 a8 16.ad1 b5 17.axb5 axb5 18.e3 ce7 19.c1 now that the queen's 29...bc8 2232

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ A n i m p r o v e m e n t i s 29...xe5! when supports the e5 pawn and co-ordinates the 30.xe5 b7+ 31.g1 a8 is fine for rooks. Also possible: Black. ] [ 9.bd2 30.ad1 g5 31.f4 f5 32.f3 a5 A) 9...0-0 10.e4 b6 11.d3 dxe5 33.b6 Erenburg is trying hard to win but with 12.dxe5 b4 13.b1 xd1 14.xd1 accurate play Black should hold the draw. d7 15.a3?! ( 15.d6 looks good news c4 34.xb3 e5 35.b5 c2 36.c1 a4 for White ) 15...a4 16.d2 ac8 17.c3 37.b4 a5 38.e3 f5 39.b7 f4?! 4d5 with the better prospects due to the This all looks very well but after the exchange pin on the c-file, Gurgenidze, B-Petrosian, of pawns the d4 square is perf ect f or the T/Gagra 1958.; bishop. B) 9...dxe5 10.dxe5 f4 11.c2 [ 39...e4 40.e2 d5 41.a7 White is still ( 11.e1 d3 12.e3 is slightly better a pawn up with the better chances. ] for White ) 11...0-0 12.b3 g6 13.e4 40.gxf4 exf4 41.d4 c7 42.xc7 xc7 ( 13.e1 d7 is about equal) 13...c7 The resignation is premature but 43 Ra1 is a 14.f4 xf4 15.xf4 f6 16.ac1 d7 killer move. 17.bd4! gave White a slight edge in 1-0 Mukhitdinov,M-Macs,V/Novosibirsk 1962. ] 9...0-0 10.e4 d7 11.d3 Watch out because the threat is mate! f5 12.exf6 xf6 2094 B22 13.e2 [ 13.h4 seems right but b4 is irritating Erenburg,Sergey 2475 14.d1 ( 14.e2 c2 wins ) 14...xd3 Yagupov,Igor 2460 15.xd3 e8 when Black is better because Autumn International (3) 16.09.2002 without the light-squared bishop the White [Gary Lane] attack is harmless ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 13...a5 14.c3 h5 15.f4 d5 [ Or 15...g4 16.e3 with equal chances. ] 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 16.xd5 exd5 17.d2 g5 18.e3 [ 7.d3 is a big alternative: A) 7...c6 8.a3 just to stop a knight P r o b a b l y t h e b e s t r e s p o n s e i n t h e c o m i n g t o b 4 t o e x c h a n g e t h e l i g h t - circumstances. [ 18.xg5 runs into xf4! 19.xf4 xg5 squ are d b is h o p c7 9.e2? ( 9.0-0 when the two pieces are better than the is a well known sacrifice dxe5 10.dxe5 rook giving Black the advantage. ] xe5 11.xe5 xe5 12.b5+ [ 18.xg5?! xf3 19.xe7 ( 19.gxf3 xg5 is about equal because the black king will wins ) 19...xd3 20.xd3 xe7 leads to move ) 9...xd4 10.d1 xf3+ 11.gxf3 roughly equal chances. ] dxe5 and Black is winning, Takyrbashev,B18...xf3 19.gxf3 h3 20.e2 xf1 Noroozi,O/Tehran 2001.; B) 7...d7 8.c3 ( or 8.0-0 c6 9.a3 21.xf1 h4 After giving up the exchange to d7 10.b4 a6 11.e1 e7 12.bd2 wreck the kingside pawns, Black eyes the d4 dxe5 13.dxe5 c3 14.c2 c8 pawn as a possible target. [ 21...f7!? is also reasonable. ] 15.xc3 xf3 16.d4 with an edge, K o l b e r t , E -M i l a n o vi c , D / S o zi n a 2 0 0 4 .) 22.h1 h8 23.g1 g8 [ If 23...h6 then 24.b4 to gain space on 8...xc3 9.bxc3 c6 10.0-0 d7 the queenside is promising. ] 11.a3 ( 11.f4 is needed to strengthen t h e c e n t r e) 11...dxe5 12.xf8 xf8 24.d3 f8 25.g4 h3 26.b3 [ Not 26.xg5?! xg5 27.xg5 h4 13.xe5 ( 13.e2 is necessary and rely when the position is roughly level. ] on the black king giving up castling to m a k e u p f o r t h e p a w n) 13...xe5? 26...xf3 [ Maybe 26...h5!? 27.g1 d7 will keep 14.dxe5 d5 15.f3 d8! 0-1 Joanovits,MWhite battling to prove his advantage. ] Collas,S/Clichy 2004. ] Simple and good to avoid any 7...c6 8.0-0 e7 9.e2 The queen 27.g2 2233

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 lingering tactics. [ Or 27.xf3?! xf3+ 28.g2 g4 29.h6! still looks good news for White. ] 27...f8? Black has to make it hard for White but the position is slipping away. [ Fo r e xa m p le : 27...f5 28.xf3 xf3 29.xg5 xb3 30.axb3 a6 31.xe7 xe7 32.g4 with a winning ending. ] 28.g4 [ 28.xd5?! is not quite so accurate upon f5 29.xf5 xf5 with chances of holding the ending. ] [ 28.xb7?! c8 29.b5 c7 30.g1 is still good for White but the text is easily winning. ] 28...h4 29.xb7 Now that the black queen has been shut out of the game White can go on the rampage. h5 30.d1 e4 31.xc6 h4 [ 31...b1 32.c2 xc2 33.xc2+- ] 32.c2 [ Or 32.h3 b1 33.g1 f5 34.h2 wins. ] 32...e6 [ 32...h3 does nothing to help Black's cause upon 33.xe4 dxe4 ( 33...hxg2+?? 34.xg2 ) 34.g3 leads to an ending where the extra piece will certainly be handy! ] 33.g4 [ 33.xg5 is also good: h3 34.g3 xg5 35.xg5 e1+ 36.g1 e4+ 37.xe4 dxe4 38.f1 and Black can resign. ] 33...f6 [ 33...e4 is met by 34.c1 winning. ] 34.h3 1-0

2095 Esserman,Mark Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro World Open Philadelphia USA (5) [David Vigorito]

B22 2391 2563 03.07.2009

White's seventh move is not uncommon, but Ramirez shows a good way to play for Black. 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.f3 d6 6.cxd4 e6 7.c3 This seems a bit cooperative. [ 7.c4 is the most common, while ] [ 7.a3 is also popular. ]

7...xc3 8.bxc3 c7 [ I like this move. Black immediately p r e s s u r e s t h e c 3 - p a w n . 8...c6 is an alternative. ] 9.d2 d7 10.exd6 This gives Black a comfortable version of the line 1 e4 c5 2 c3 Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 d4 cxd4 5 Nf3 e6 6 cd4 b6, which was popularized by Gallagher in the 1990's. In that line after 7.Nc3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 Qc7 9. Bd2 Bb7 10. Bd3 d6 11. O-O Nd7 White can protect e5 with 12.Re1. Here Black has not spent time on ...b6 and .. .Bb7, so the pressure to White's centre comes quickly. [ 10.a4 is possible, although it looks a little odd. ] [ The tactical 10.g5 is critical. After dxe5 11.h5 threatens both f7 and e6, but Black can play b8! 12.xh7 exd4 13.cxd4 d8!? 14.f6+ xf6 15.xh8 with an unclear position. ] 10...xd6 11.d3 b6 12.0-0 b7 No w B la ck h a s a co m f o rt a ble ve rs io n o f Gallagher's line. 13.h3 0-0 14.e1 f4 Black wants to stop any Ng5 ideas. An alternative was 14...Rfe8. 15.e3 [ 15.xf4 xf4 16.e3 ac8 is pretty level. Black has a better pawn structure, but White has some space. ] 15...f6 16.c4 ad8 [ It can be difficult to decide how to arrange t h e r o o k s . M o r e n a t u r a l i s 16...ac8 intending ...Rfd8. ] 17.d2 [ I would prefer 17.e2 keeping the f3-knight well protected. ] 17...xe3 18.fxe3?! This is risky, because White's kingside will be weakened. [ 18.xe3 xf3 also wrecks White's pawns, but ] [ 18.xe3 xf3 19.xf3 xd4? fails to 20.xh7+ Instead 19...e5! gives Black chances to play for en edge because he will gain control of the c5-square. ] 18...xf3 19.gxf3 e5 White may not be worse yet, but Black's position is certainly much easier to play in practice. 20.h2 fe8 21.ad1 e7 22.f1 de8 23.d5 Not exactly what White would like to play, but the pressure on his centre was growing. d8 A flexible move. Black can bring his knight to c5 right away with 23...Nd7, but bringing it to 2234

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d6 via e8 is even more ambitious because the c4-pawn will come under attack. 24.a4 c5 25.d2 e8 26.a5 d6 27.axb6 axb6 28.b2 g6 29.b1 xc4 W hite's counterplay against the b6-pawn elicits this response. White may be happy to exchange of his sad bishop for Black's knight, but his position remains difficult because his king will never feel completely comfortable. 30.xc4 xc4 31.e4 c8 32.xb6 c7 33.e2 g7 34.g2 d7 35.e3 dc8 36.g5 d6 37.d1 h6 38.e3 c3 39.d3 c1 40.e1 8c2+ 41.e2 b4 42.dd2 c3 43.d3 3c2 44.dd2 c7 45.b2 c4 46.bd2 a6 47.f4?! White has defended well, but it is difficult to sit still wondering what the opponent will come up with and White lashes out. 7c3 48.f2 f6! White's rash advance has only made Black's job easier. 49.e3 [ 49.fxe5? g5+ 50.h2 xe5+ 51.g2 g5+ 52.h2 f3! gives Black a mating attack. ] 49...exf4 50.xc3 xc3 51.d4 xd4 52.xd4 f8 [ 52...f6 l o o k s e a s i e r . I f 53.d6 c8 will round up White's advanced pawn. ] 53.e5 g5 54.e4?! [ 54.d6 e8 55.a4 d3 56.a8+ d7 57.a7+ e6 58.e7+ f5 59.d7 would have given Black greater difficulties. ] 54...g3+ 55.h2 d3 56.d6 d2+ 57.g1 f6! This breaks up White's pawns and wins easily. 58.h4 d5 59.hxg5 hxg5 60.exf6 f7 61.e7+ xf6 62.d7 e6 63.g7 xd6 64.f2 e6 65.f3 f6 66.a7 d3+ 67.g4 g3+ 68.h5 f3 69.a6+ e7 70.a7+ d6 71.a6+ c7 72.a7+ b6 73.f7 g4 74.h4 g2 75.g5 f2 76.f4 g3 77.g4 g1 78.f5 f1 79.xf1 xf1 0-1

2096 Fantin,Ludwig Paragua,Mark CCAS Open Cap d'Agde (2) [Gary Lane]

B22 2215 2500 24.10.2003

1.e4 c5 2.c3 b6 3.d4 b7 4.d3 f6 5.e2 [ 5.d2 is a safer approach to avoid having to concede the light-squared bishop. ] 5...cxd4 6.cxd4 c6 7.f3 b4 8.c3 xd3+ 9.xd3 e6 [ 9...c8 is worth considering aiming to play ...Ba6. ] 10.g5 [ 10.0-0 is the right response in the circumstances just to get more pieces into the action A) 10...e7 11.f4 0-0 12.ac1 d6 13.c2 a6 14.fc1 h5 15.e3 ( 15.g3 xg3 16.hxg3 c8 gives Black a slight edge due to the prospect of a pair o f b i s h o p s e m e r g i n g i n t o t h e a c t i o n) 15...b5 16.d5 e5 17.e2 c8 18.d2 g5 well top marks for enterprise but zero for long-term pawn care! 19.xc8 xc8 20.c3 h8 21.c7 f5 22.xd8 xd8 23.c7 e8 24.f3 f4 25.f2 f6 26.h3 h5 27.b3 g4 28.hxg4 hxg4 29.h4 g3?? ( 29...xd5 is winning for Black but no doubt time-trouble was the reason behind the move actually played) 30.xe7 1-0 Pages,J-Quideau,P/Creon 2003.; B) 10...d6 11.g5 e7 12.d2 ( 12.ac1 0-0 13.fe1 is about equal) 12...0-0 13.f4 h6 14.h4 e5 15.xf6 xf6 16.fxe5 dxe5 17.d5 Semenova,LZigura,O/Kiev 2003 led to equal play and the game was eventually drawn, ] 10...e7 11.0-0 0-0 12.ac1 All sensible stuff for White who is thinking about doubling rooks on the c-file. h5 13.xe7 xe7 14.fe1 f5 Paragua is a 2500 player and now fights to unleash his bishop. 15.d5?! [ 15.e5 might be better but Black has few problems in such a position ] 15...f4 The knight joins in with good effect. 16.d2 fxe4 17.xe4 f6 Black side- steps the pin on the e-file but now W hite has to struggle with the pin on the h1-a8 diagonal. 18.e5? g5 the twin threats of mate on g2 2235

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 and a discovered attack against the white 11.b3 c7 12.d2 a5 Black continues to queen is very strong. 19.xf4 White goes play energetically by trying to stop W hite down on material terms to a much stronger from activating his pieces 13.c2 a4 player so the future is bleak. 14.c1 g4 15.h3? White blindly walks [ 19.g3 h3+ ] into a sneaky trick d4! 0-1 Tsebekov,H19...xf4 20.xf4 xf4 Petrov,S/Orel 1996 (15) ] 0-1 8.0-0 [ 8.c3 0-0 9.0-0 d7 10.a4!? it is possible that the queen would be placed on it s origina l squ are to th wa rt Blac k's 2097 B22 attacking ambitions g4 11.e1 Feelders,Ad A) 11...xe2!? 12.xe2 d4 13.d1 Ernst,Sipke 2440 ( 13.xd7 xe2+ 14.h1 xd7 wins ) AKN op 10th Haarlem (6) 08.07.2001 13...g4 14.f3 h4 gives Black [Gary Lane] reasonable play and already W hite has compromised his kingside.; 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.c4 B) 11...d6 12.xg4 xg4 13.g3 f5 A natural reaction by W hite to secure his Black has managed to conjure up a decent extra pawn. e6! This is the right way to handle attack forcing W hite to start defending. the position. Black gambits a pawn in the 14.c2 h5 15.h4 f5! Black is knowledge that he will have greater piece play demonstrating great energy by maintaining and that White's light-squared bishop is a little the initiative 16.d3 ad8 17.f3 g5 passive due to the pawn on c4. 5.dxe6 xe6 ( 17...f4 is fine but then White can reduce 6.f3 c6 7.e2 e7 t h e t e n s i o n w i t h 18.d5+; 17...b8 [ 7...d6 8.0-0 c7 ( 8...0-0 9.d3 c7 intending ...f5-f4 is worth considering as 10.c3 e8 11.g5 h6 12.h4 d4 a n a t t a c k i n g o p t i o n) 18.h1 f4 13.xd4 xd4 gave Black decent ( 18...gxh4 19.xh4 xh4 20.gxh4 h2 compensation f or his pawn, Parveen,Twins ) 19.d5+ h8 20.xg5 xg5 Paasikangas Tella, J/Manila 1992.) 9.c3 21.hxg5 fxg3 22.f3 h2 with a winning a6 10.a3 0-0-0 11.a2?! ( 11.b4!? advantage, Machado,G-Viana,C/Brasilia looks a good idea to speed up a queenside 1999. ] attack by handing back the extra pawn cxb4 12.axb4 xb4 13.b2 when White has the 8...0-0 9.a3 d7 10.b4 d4 [ If 10...cxb4 then 11.d4 reclaims the centre brighter prospects) 11...d4! this idea to with roughly equal chances. ] undermine the h2 pawn is a theme in this 11.xd4 xd4 12.b3 Feelders seems to line A) 12.h1 xf3 13.gxf3 ( 13.xf3 xc4 have blundered horribly by not protecting his rook but it is a trick! cxb4 is also good for Black ); [ 12...xa1 l o o k s t e m p t i n g b u t 13.b2 B) 12.xd4 xh2+ 13.h1 xd4 14.f4 traps the queen. ] ( 14.g3 to trap the bishop fails spectacularly upon xg3 15.fxg3 xg3 13.b2 e4 14.e1 The rook defends the leading to mate) 14...xf4 15.d3 xc1 bishop but until the queen's knight is moved 16.xc1 h4+ 17.g1 h2+ 18.f2 the rook is vulnerable, so the bishop on e2 e8 19.a4 d7 20.a5 c6 cannot move due to the pin on the e-file. b5 ( 20...f4+! 21.g1 d4+ 22.f2 xe2 As usual Ernst manages to f ind a way to wins ) 21.e1 xg2 22.c3 h2 23.c2 increase the pressure by attacking the c4 d7 24.b4 f3 25.xf3 h1+ 26.d2 pawn. 15.d3 bxc4 16.dxc4 ab8 17.a4 [ Or 17.d2 f4 18.c1 bxa3 19.a2 g5+ 27.e3 xe3# 0-1 Bibik,Jb4 is better for Black. ] Martynov,P/ Lahti 1999 ] 18.xf6 xf6 19.a2 g5 [ 7...d7 is similar to the main game but in 17...bd8 this instance produces a surprising result, Black is content to stop the queen's knight f5 Black's pair of 8.0-0 e7 9.d3 0-0 10.bd2 fd8 d e v e l o p i n g . 20.c2 2236

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bishops looks impressive and stops W hite from co-ordinating his pieces. 21.a2 a5 22.f1 fe8 23.b2 f6 24.a2 [ 24.d2 fails upon xd2 25.xd2 xe2 ] 24...g6 25.e1 g5 26.b2 h5 27.d1 xd1+ 28.xd1 f6 29.d2 A round of applause please for the knight who has finally decided to join the game. The only problem is that it is far too late. d4 30.a2 d8 [ 30...b1 is a pretty finish when 31.xb1 xe2 32.f1 xd2 wins. ] 31.b3 c3 32.xc3 xc3 0-1

and the pin on the e-file is awkward for Black. ] 13...f3 14.e5 [ 14.xf3 xh2+ 15.h1 b7 and the defence by Markovic is hard to break. ] 14...xa3 15.exf6 d6 16.xf3 g5 17.e1+ White is clearly better. The attack against the black king is relentless and there is no sign of a suitable defence. f8 18.h5 xh2+ 19.h1 b7 20.xg5! e6 21.d5 g8 22.xh6+ e8 23.g7 1-0

2098 Filipovic,Branko Markovic,Zo Vrnjacka Banja [Gary Lane]

2099 Firman,Nazar Nevednichy,Vladislav Open Miskolc (9) [Gary Lane]

B22 2420 2199 18.08.1999

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e5 3.f3 c6 4.c4 c7 A key move which has helped to revive the entire line for Black. The idea is to meet Ng5 with Nd8. 5.d3 f6 6.g5 d8 7.f4 T h e p o s it i o n h a s sim ila rit ie s t o a K in g' s Gambit which is not really the sort of thing a Sicilian player is happy to confront. exf4 8.0-0 d6!? It looks odd but this is a favourite re s p o n se b y B la ck in t h e p osit io n . 9.a3 White gains time by threatening Nb5 which is considered on an old game. [ 9.f3?! h6! 10.h3 g5 the threat of ...g4 highlights the problem of White prematurely moving his queen. 11.e2 e7 12.e5 h7 13.xf4 gxf4 14.xf4 a6 15.a4 g5 16.d2 b6 17.d5 c6 18.d4 cxd4 19.cxd4 b7 20.ac1 xd5 21.xd5 xd5 22.c4 g8 23.xb6 h3+ 24.h1 xg2+ 25.xg2 xg2 26.xg2 b8 27.d5 g5 and Black eventually won in F. Roeder-J.Gabriel, Bundesliga 1994. ] 9...a6 10.b3 b5 [ 10...h6 is a sensible measure to oust the knight. 11.c4? ( 11.h3!? ) 11...hxg5 12.xd6+ xd6 13.e5 b6 14.exf6 c4+ ] [ 10...e6!? should be considered. ] 11.d4 Filipovic has a clear threat with e5 and is also still keen to take back on f 4. cxd4 12.cxd4 h6 13.h3 [ 13.f3 xe4! 14.e1 b7 15.d2

B22 2526 2548 19.03.2004

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e6 6.e2 c6 7.0-0 cxd4 8.xd4!? This is hardly ever played although the idea is sound enough to release the f3 square for the bishop. However, the popular view is that taking with the knight makes it too easy for B l a c k t o e q u a l i s e . xd4 Black is h to exchange pieces so that he can get on with undermining W hite's isolated d-pawn. Also possible: [ 8...d7 9.f3 A) 9...d6 10.e3 xd4 11.xd4 c7 12.b3 c6 13.c4 e7 14.xc6+ bxc6 15.d2 0-0 16.e2 ( 16.fe1!? ) 16...fd8 17.c4 d5 18.h3 ( 18.e5? allows c5 and Black wins.) 18...ad8 19.ad1 e8 20.fe1 f6 21.xf6 xf6 22.e3 5d7 the game should be heading for a draw 23.xd7 xd7 24.d1 f8 25.xd7 xd7 26.a6 d5 27.c4 f6 ( 27...c7 28.a5 b6 secures the draw ) 28.a5 e7 29.b7 d2 30.xa7 xb2? 31.b8+ 1-0 Yagupov,ISavon,V/Orel 1994.; B) 9...a5 10.e1 e7 11.f4 0-0 12.xc6 xc6 13.xc6 bxc6 14.d2 fd8 15.c2 h5 16.h3 ( 16.f3!? ) 16...d5 17.g3 g5 18.e5 h6 ( 18...h6 19.h4 f6 20.xd5 cxd5 21.hxg5 xg5 22.f1 is a little better for White) 2237

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.f3 f4 20.xf4 xf4 21.e3 d5 22.c4 h5 23.d1 c5 24.d7 gave W hite a slight edge in Brynell,SAhlander,B/Malmo 1994. ] 9.cxd4 e7 [ Firman,N-Staniszewski,P/Swidnica 1999 is an early example of White playing the line so it explains his preference: 9...a5 A) 10.c3 b4 11.b3 0-0 12.g5!? A1) 12...xc3 13.xf6 ( 13.bxc3 xg5 wins ) 13...xb2 14.xg7 xg7 15.xb2; A2) 12...xg5 13.xb4 b6 ( 13...d7 14.xb7?! ab8 15.xa7 c6 16.f3 xb2 with sufficient compensation for the pawn ) 14.f3 a6 15.xa8 xf1 16.f3 d3 17.a4 a5? ( 17...b5 18.xa7 b4 19.a4 f4 is fine for Black who can put pressure on the dpawn by intending ... Rd8 while 20.d1?! c2 is better for Black.) 18.xa5 bxa5 19.d1 White is better because of Black's poor pawn structure which is b a s i c a l l y t h e d o u b l e d a - p a w n s c4 20.b3 a6 21.a4 d8 22.c5 c8 23.f1 f8 24.e2 e7 25.d3 e8 26.c3 c7 27.c4 d6 28.e1 b6 29.d3 a6+ 30.e3 d6 31.c1 b4? what?? 32.xa6 xa6 33.c6+ 1-0 Brynell,S-Eriksson,A/ Lindesberg 1993 (33).; B) 10.f3 e7 11.c3 0-0 12.b3 d8 13.d1 b8 14.e3 ( 14.f4 d6 15.xd6 xd6 16.ac1 d7 17.e4 xe4 18.xe4 is about equal) 14...b5 15.ac1 b4 16.a4 ( 16.f4 d6 17.xd6 xd6 18.e4 xe4 19.xe4 is equal ) 16...b7 ( 16...d7 17.c5 threatening Nb7 gives W hite an edge) 17.xb7 xb7 18.c5 b6 19.d3?! a slight error that allows Black to push forward ( 19.c4!? ) 19...a6 20.a1 d5 gave Black the initiative. ] 10.c3 d6 11.f3 The difference compared to standard lines with a bishop on e2 is that I think the knight on f3 is useful for a timely excursion to e5 and without a knight on c6 it is easier for Black to activate the queen's bishop. [ 11.b3 xd4 12.b5 b6 13.e3 a5 is assessed as unclear by Sveshnikov. I

would suggest that W hite continue with 14.xa7 0-0 ( 14...xa7? 15.b6 b4 16.xb4 xb4 17.xa7 winning ) 15.xc8 axc8 16.f3 is roughly equal. ] 11...0-0 12.e3 d7 13.d5 [ Or 13.xb7?! ab8 14.f3 xb2 merely allows Black to get his rook active ] 13...e5 14.b3 a5 15.fc1 a4 16.d1 h6 17.a3 b8 18.e2 b5 19.a2?! The knight is needed on c3 to protect the d5 pawn d8 20.b4 xb4 21.axb4 e8 [ 21...e6! looks like a decent improvement to put some pressure on Black. If 22.c5 then xd5 23.e1 xe3 24.fxe3 d5 and Black is better. ] 22.c5 a6 23.a3 ad6 24.d3 b7 25.h3 xd5 [ 25...xd5! 26.f3 c6 is good news for Black ] 26.dxd5 xd5 27.c1 xc5 28.xc5 d5 29.c8 d7 30.b8 e4 31.f4 d5 32.g4 c6 33.d6 g6 34.c5 h5 35.c8 c7 36.a8 xb4? forcing a draw which might be due to time-trouble because Black still has an edge 37.xb4 a perpetual check is in store upon ...Qc1+ and ...Qf4+. ½-½

2100 Frackowiak,Oliver Hess,Christian Jr German Team Ch (2) [Gary Lane]

B22

2000

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.cxd4 c6 6.f3 e5 7.c3 With no pawn on c3 Black is eager to attack the queen. b4 8.d2 xc3 [ 8...exd4?? has certainly been played in haste but 9.xd5 is a good way to make White smile. ] 9.xc3 e4 10.e5 xe5 11.dxe5 e7 This is considered the critical position of the w h o l e l i n e . 12.e2!? An interesting way to seek the advantage and the good thing is that many sources do not even consider the move. It is similar to 11 Qc2 which prepares Rd1 but the difference is that in some variations ...Bg4 is ruled out. e6 [ 12...0-0 13.d1 c6 ( 13...xa2 14.b4 2238

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e3 15.xe7 a5+ 16.b4 c7 17.c5 b6 18.xe3 1-0 D. Pedersen-S. Nielsen, Aalborg 2 000 .) 14.d6 ( 14.b4 e8 15.xe7 xe7 16.d8+ e8 17.xe8+ xe8 18.xe4 e6 19.e2 xa2 20.0-0 d8 21.xb7 xe5 1/2-1/2 I. Tallova-M. Mrva, Czechteam Ch 2000.) 14...a4 15.c4 c2 16.d2 c1+ 17.d1 f4 18.b4 e6 19.c1 e3! whoops, TarsovMarkarov, St.Petersburg 199. ] 13.d1 c6 14.d6 a4 15.d4 White is doing a good job of shepherding the black queen away from protecting his king. xa2 16.b5+ f8 Black can no longer castle but is banking on making something of W hite's poor kingside development. But...! 17.xb7 c8 [ 17...e8 18.xe7+! xe7 19.d8+ e8 20.b4+ g8 21.xe8# ] 18.xe7+!! 1-0

2101 Fressinet,Laurent Al Modiahki,Mohamad Wch Blitz Dubai blitz (1) (1) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2717 2549 19.06.2014

1.e4 c5 2.f3 g6 3.c3 g7 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d5 6.e5 c6 7.h3 We continue our in ve s t ig a t io n o f t h is va ria t io n , wh ic h we started last month in Fressinet-Guseinov. [ 7.b5 will often transpose, but one independent game went h6 8.0-0 ( 8.h3 ) 8...g4 ( 8...0-0= is better ) 9.bd2 0-0 10.xc6 bxc6 11.h3 d7?! ( 11...xf3 12.xf3 f6 13.f4 ) 12.b3 f6 13.c5 1-0 (29) Kramnik, V (2791)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2703) Moscow 2010 ] 7...h6 There are lots of transpositions lurking in this variation, so a combination of preparation and understanding is key. In general, it's my belief that Black should wait with ...f6 until after he's castled, so as to be able to keep the possibility of recapturing with the rook. Consequently, W hite can of ten consider playing Bf4 to threaten Qd2, thereby provoking an early ...f6. If Black has time to get d evelo pe d and castle d, h e h as goo d chances of breaking down White's centre, so

it's important for the first player to immediately play actively. That's why White often delays Nc3, because maximum pressure is often best exerted with moves such as Bb5, Bf4, 0-0 etc. [ 7...f6 8.b5 d7 9.0-0 xe5?! ( 9...fxe5 10.xc6 xc6 11.xe5 f6 12.c3 ) 10.xd7+ xd7 11.c3 b6 12.a4! 1-0 (49) Schwenteck, C (2508)-Castelló Benavent, J (2227) ICCF 2012 ] 8.b5 [ 8.c3 is the most popular move, but I don't think it's the most testing. 0-0 9.b5 f6! ( 9...f5 10.xc6 bxc6 11.0-0 1-0 (35) Kramnik, V (2759)-Guseinov, G (2659) Baku 2009 ) 10.0-0 ( 10.exf6 xf6!= ) 10...fxe5 11.dxe5 e6 12.e1 with a slight edge to White. ] [ 8.f4!? looks interesting to me. f6 9.exf6 exf6 10.b5 0-0 11.0-0 with a typical position where W hite has a slight advantage. ] 8...0-0 [ 8...f6 9.exf6 exf6 10.0-0 0-0 11.c3 ] 9.0-0 b6 [ 9...f6! Now is the moment! 10.exf6 xf6! ( 10...exf6?! 11.c3 g5?! 12.e1 g4 13.hxg4 xg4 14.f4 1-0 (30) Tkachiev, V ( 2 6 3 7 ) - G u se i n o v, G ( 2 6 0 7 ) W a r s a w 2013 ) 11.xc6 xc6 12.c3 f7 13.e1 e6 14.f4 d7 15.d2 ac8 1/2-1/2 (30) Ca b rilo, G (24 6 6)-Ko vace vic, A (2 47 8 ) Vrnjacka Banja 1999 ] [ 9...f5 10.g4 h6 11.c3 is a common theme to remember. Don't worry so much about W hite's kingside the lead in development fully compensates. f6 12.exf6 xf6 13.g5 ( 13.g5 xf3! 14.xf3 xd4 15.xd5+ xd5 16.xd5 f7 ) 13...e6 14.xc6 bxc6 15.e1 ] 10.c3 f5 11.xc6 bxc6 12.b3 [ 12.a4! b5 13.g4 h6 14.e1 f5 ( 14...f6 15.e6 ) 15.xh6 fxg4 ( 15...xh6 16.g5 g7 17.c1 f4 18.e6 ) 16.xg7 xf3 17.h6 d3 18.c2 xd4 19.c5 xc5 20.xc5 ] 12...f6 13.a4 b5 14.exf6 [ 14.e1! fxe5 15.xe5 d6 16.c5 ] 14...exf6 15.e1 d7 16.c5 ad8? [ 16...f7 17.f4 ] 17.f4+- c8 18.d2? 2239

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 18.c7 de8 19.d2! h6 20.c3 a5 21.a4 b4 22.xb4 axb4 23.a5+- ] 18...fe8? [ 18...b6! ] 19.c7+- xe1+ 20.xe1 f8 21.a4 1-0

positional advantages have melted away. There is no need to try to cash in yet. ] 30.g2 d5 31.h3 d7 32.g4 White's best chance. e5?! [ This must have been a difficult decision. 32...xd2 33.xd2 xd2 34.gxf5 f3 35.exe4 xe4 36.xe4 c6 is still much better for Black, but there is no immediate win. ] 2102 B22 33.gxf5 f3 34.f1 g1+ 35.xg1 xg1 Galant,Sergey 2248 Bercys,Salvijus 2421 36.a3? [ White finally had a chance to fight back with FKB ch-USA Qualifier (1) 28.03.2008 36.d4! c6 37.c4 g8 38.xe4! [David Vigorito] wh e n t h e c o u n t e rt h r e a t o f R d 6 + gi v e s White counterplay. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 37.dxe3 g2+ 38.h4 f3 5.c4 b6 6.b3 c4 7.c2 c7 8.e2 36...e3! g5 9.xg5?! We have not looked at this White's king is almost mated. 39.d4+ [ 39.xd3 g5+ 40.h3 e2 41.e5+ move before on ChessPublishing. While I am e8 threatens ...Bf1+, and after 42.f4 sure it is indeed inferior to the normal 9.h3 (forced) f1+ 43.xf1 xf1 and 9.e6, it is still useful to know how the W hite's scattered pieces leave him little coming play may go. xe5 10.xe5 xe5 chance of saving the game. ] With active pieces, a half-open g-file, and an extra centre pawn, Black can be happy. 11.f4 39...e8 40.h3 g2 After 41.Rxd3 Bg7! d3+ 12.xd3 cxd3 Black's d3-pawn may threatens both 42...Bf6+ and 42... Rg4+ look separated from the rest of his army, but it 0-1 will be very difficult for White to round it up. In the meantime, White's queenside is looking B22 pretty miserable. 13.e4 d6 14.g3 g8 2103 15.f2 f5 16.a4 Gaponenko,Inna 2437 [ After 16.g4 d7 17.h3 h5 White will still Sutovsky,Emil 2624 not get a chance to round up the d3-pawn. ] XXII Open Reykjavik ISL (2) 07.03.2006 16...e5 17.fxe5 dxe5 18.b3 c8 19.a3 [Jonathan Rowson] g7 of course Black wants to keep the bishop pair. 20.b2 e4 21.0-0 g6 22.e1 d8 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 [ 22...d7 looks more natural. ] 5.f3 e6 6.e2 cxd4 7.cxd4 c6 8.0-0 23.a3 e7 9.c3 a5!? I am surprised that this [ Not 23.xe4 e8 ] move has not been played more often, with 9... 23...f5 24.a5 d7 25.c4 Black has a big Qd6 and 9...Qd8 being much more common. I advantage. he now makes an interesting suppose with the queen on a5, Black is less practical decision. White hopes to play ne3 likely to be able to complete development with and maybe even g4 to bother Black's pawn ... b6 and ...Bb7. On the other hand he can chain. xc4!? By sacrificing the exchange, develop with ...Rd8 and ...Bd7-e8 if necessary. Bla c k e n s u re s t h a t h e will h o ld o n t o t h e I suspect the point is that 9...Qd6 10.Nb5 Qd8 initiative. he gets a pawn immediately, and 11.Bf4 is quite a well-known continuation, but White's rooks have no open lines to work with. now White has to think for himself. As far as I 26.bxc4 e5 27.h1 xc4 28.c1 h6 can tell, 9...Qa5 is not as reliable as 9...Qd6, 29.a4 f7 but is probably a good choice for provoking a [ There is no need to self pin with 29...xd2 weaker player into over-reaching. 10.a3 0-0 30.d1 After e3 31.xd2 exd2 32.a2 11.b4!? Black may still be better, but W hite can [ 11.e3!? There might be something to be sacrifice back on d2 when a lot of Black's said for seeing Black's next move because 2240

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 both ...Bd7 and ...Rd8 have down-sides. d7 ( 11...d8 12.b4 c7 13.c1 This looks like some initiative for White, but I suppose Black is not in any real danger if he plays the next few moves caref ully.) 12.b4 d8 13.d5 exd5 14.xd5 is at least the better side of an equal position, and probably slightly more. ] 11...d8 Wisely avoiding the poisoned pawn, and now we have the position with 9...Qd8 with Black a tempo 'down' in that White has achieved a3 and b4, while Black has managed to castle. It is perhaps for this simple reason that 9. ..Qa5 has not been played by other strong GMs. However, it is far from clear wh e t h e r t h e m o ve s a 3 a n d b 4 d e f i n it e l y favour white, because now the knight on c3 lacks protection and the c4 square can no longer be covered with a pawn. My impression is that White should be able to play in such a way that the space gained is more of an asset than a liability, but on the other hand, Sutovsky's approach makes it more difficult for White to continue in a routine manner and therefore increases the likelihood of an error. [ 11...xb4 12.axb4 xa1 13.b3+- ] [ 11...xb4 12.axb4 xa1 13.b3 a5 14.bxa5 xa5 15.a3 e8 16.b5+- ] 12.b5? This is also the first move recommended by Fritz 9, but it looks to me like a simple strategic error. The knight on a5 is excellently placed, covering b3 and c4, and Black has a useful pawn break in the form of .. .a7-a6 if and when he needs it. [ 12.e3 b6 13.b3 b7 14.fd1 Or something similar, looks like an improvement, and I suspect White retains a slight advantage, but the better player has plenty of chances to win with either colour. ] 12...a5 13.e5 d7 14.d2?! Another bad move. [ 14.g5 c8 15.d3 looks more purposeful. ] 14...e8 15.e1 An unusual copy-cat dance: both queen's bishops go to their king's square. However, it feels to me that Black's bishop is more satisfied by this turn of events, because the white bishop could have gone to a more active square in one move, while the bishop on e8 is relatively secure, and has managed to free the d and c files for the major pieces

without making any structural concessions. c8 16.a4 This was White's idea, but it looks artificial to me, and I'm not surprised that it doesn't work out. a6! 17.a2 b6 18.xa5 axb5!? An elegant intermezzo, which White may have missed. [ However, 18...bxa5 19.c6 axb5 also looks good for Black. ] 19.xb5 bxa5 20.xe8 xe8 21.ac1 xc1 22.xc1 b6 Now Black has a clear edge, because of his influential bishop and white's weak pawns on d4 and a3. 23.d7 xd7 24.xd7 f8!? I always enjoy moves that make full use of resources. Moreover, soon we see that the activity of Black's king is a very im po rta n t f ea t ure o f t h e p os itio n . 25.c8 xc8 26.xc8+ d8 27.c4 [ 27.c5+ xc5 28.dxc5 e7 29.c6 e8 30.a4 d8 is no improvement. ] 27...f6 28.c3 xd4 29.xd4 xd4 With a simple technical win. 30.b5 e5 31.f1 e7 32.e2 d7 33.h3 c6 34.a4 c5 35.d3 b4 36.g4 g6 37.f3 f5 38.a7 c5 39.b5 h6 40.a7 h5 41.gxh5 gxh5 42.b5 b4 43.a7 c7 44.c6+ xa4 45.d4 e5 46.xf5 b3 47.e3 a4 48.c4 h4 49.d2+ b4 50.c2 a3 51.e4 b6 52.b1 b3 53.d2+ c3 54.e4+ b3 55.d2+ c3 56.e4+ d3 57.d6 e2 58.f7 xf3 59.xe5+ g3 0-1

2104 Garcia Callejo,Jesus Kogan,Artur Pablo Gorbea Open (9) [Gary Lane]

B22 2270 2483 18.06.2000

1.e4 c5 2.c3 b6 3.d4 b7 4.d3 f6 5.e2!? [ 5.d2 is worth investigating ] 5...cxd4 6.cxd4 c6 7.f3 b4 Black is already equal because he can exchange the important light-squared bishop. 8.c3 xd3+ 9.xd3 c8 Kogan should have copyright on this move because he plays it so often! 10.f4 [ 10.g5 e6 11.d2 ( 11.xf6 gxf6 12.0-0! is better for White) 11...b4 12.xf6 2241

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 gxf6 13.e3 a6 Black is relying on stopping W hite from castling kingside to exert some pressure 14.f3 c7 15.f2 c8 16.ac1 b8 17.g3 h5 18.e2 xe2 19.xe2 h4 20.g4? A terrible blunder that allo ws B lac k t o st e al vict o ry. ( 20.xc8+ xc8 21.c4 is a probable draw) 20...xc1 21.xc1 xh2+ 22.e3 b8 23.c4 f4+ 0-1 Pila Diez,M-Kogan,A/ Suances 1997. ] [ 10.a4 with the idea of supporting Nb5 if Black plays ...Ba6 e6 11.0-0 b4 12.e1 a6 13.e3 0-0 14.d2 b7 15.h3 ac8 16.e5 e8 17.d5 xd2 18.e7+ h8 19.a3?! ( 19.xd2 is simple and good after b8 20.f4 c7? 21.g6+! hxg6 22.h4+ g8 23.g5 and White mates) 19...d6 20.xc8 xe1 21.xd6 xd6 22.xe1 d8 23.exd6 d5 24.e5 gave W hite a slight edge but a draw was soon agreed, Vistisen,L-Kogan,A/Rotterdam 2002. ] [ 10.0-0 a6 11.b5 xe4 leaves Black a pawn up. ] 10...a6 11.d2 b7 12.d5 e6 Kogan's idea is to undermine the centre which will be helped by the fact that the white king is stuck in the centre. 13.a3 c8 14.d1 [ 14.e5 e7 ] 14...e7 15.e5 [ 15.e5 d6 16.xf6 xf6= ] 15...0-0 [ or 15...exd5!? 16.xd5 d6 ( 16...xe4 17.e3 d6 18.xe4 dxe5 19.xe5= ) 17.f3 xe4 18.d4 f6 and Black is doing well. ] 16.f3 h5 17.e3 f5 [ 17...h4+ 18.f2 f6 19.d4 ] 18.exf5 [ An improvement is 18.g5! when f6 19.d6 d8 20.exf5 exf5 21.f2 offers equal chances. ] 18...xf5 19.g4 h4+ 20.f2 [ 20.g3!? f6 21.d4 ] 20...exd5 21.g3?? Disaster looms for White after such a careless move. [ 21.e2 is needed when d4 22.xd4 e8 White is still in trouble. ] 21...d4! 22.xd4 [ 22.ce4 dxe3 23.xe3 e7-+ ] 22...xf3 23.e4

[ 23.d3 is desperate and anyway not good enough after e8 24.d2 g5 25.xg5 xf2+ 26.c1 xd3 27.xd3 xg5 28.xd7 f6-+ ] 23...xc3! A stylish way to wrap up the game. 24.xf3 [ 24.bxc3 e2# ] 24...xf3 25.bxc3 [ 25.d4 c2 26.d2 xd2 27.xd2 f6 wins. ] 25...xe3+ 26.d2 e2+ 27.c1 g5+ 28.b1 0-1

2105 Gashimov,Vugar Moiseenko,Alexander Tromso (8) [Richard Palliser]

B22 2655 2641 11.08.2007

1.e4 c5 2.f3 [ Another move order into the game is 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 c6 , as recommended by Rogozenko for Black in his work on the Anti-Sicilians. ] 2...c6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.c4 e6 7.cxd4 d6 8.0-0 e7 9.exd6 [ This has received a fair amount of attention of late, not least because White has been f a i l i n g t o p r o v e a n y t h i n g a f t e r 9.e2 , as we'll see in Bruzon-Zapata. ] 9...xd6 10.c3 0-0 [ In this IQP situation, Black has also been k n o w n t o t r y 10...xc3 11.bxc3 0-0 , but this doesn't equalize: for example, 12.e2 ( 12.e1 is a decent alternative, as we'll see in note 'a' to Black's 11th, below) 12...b6 13.d1 a5 14.d3 b7 15.e5 f6 16.f4 gave White the upper hand in Mestrovic-Kokol, Nova Gorica 2007. ] 11.e1 b6!? Rare, interesting and far from bad. More common are: [ a) 11...xc3?! 12.bxc3 b6 13.g5! e5?! ( ambitious safer is 13...xg5 14.xg5 b7 , although 15.g4 still gives White a decent initiative, as shown by e7?! 16.xe6! fxe6 17.xe6 d7 18.xe7 , regaining the piece with a large advantage in Khamrakulov, -Del Rio Angelis, Ayamonte 2242

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2007 ) 14.f3 xg5 15.xg5 exd4 was seen in B.Hague-I. Gourlay, British League 2007, and now 16.xf7+! h8 ( or 16...xf7 17.e8+ f8 18.xf8+ xf8 19.xc6 f5 20.d5+ h8 21.cxd4 , w i t h a c l e a r e x t r a p a w n) 17.cxd4 is promising, since Black can't exploit the pin in view of the tactical point b7 18.h5! g6 ( t e m p t in g i s 18...xd4!? 19.e7 c6 , but af ter 20.f3 21 I'm not convinced that Black has enough for the exchange which he should give up, rather than allow Re4) 19.f3 g7 20.f4 . ] [ b) 11...d8 was Rogozenko's recommendation and is very solid for Black: 12.b3 ( or 12.xd5 exd5 13.b5 g6 14.e5 xe5 15.xe5 f6 16.e1 g4 , with easy equality in Ronchetti-David, Turin Olympiad 2006) 12...f6 ( 12...a6 can a ls o be e mp lo ye d sh ou ld B la ck b e worried by Nb5 and/or want to gain some counterplay with ...b5) 13.e3 ( more critical might be 13.b5!? b8 14.g3 , but here b6! 15.f4 b7 16.c7 b8 17.b5 a8 18.c7 is fine for Black who can either repeat or even employ h5!? 19.xa8 xf4 20.gxf4 b4 21.e3 e7 , which offered positional compensation for the exchange in Michalczak-Gordon, Dresden 2007 however, I'm not entirely sure if it's quite enough since W hite too can attack on the kingside) 13...b6 14.e2 b7 15.ad1 a5 16.c2 ac8 had earlier given Moiseenko a decent anti-IQP set-up in Emms-Moiseenko, Bled Olympiad 2002. ] 12.e4 [ Logical, if not enough for an advantage. Neither, though, is 12.g5 xg5 13.xg5 h6 : for example, 14.ge4 ( or 14.f3 f6? 15.c1 b7 16.d5 exd5 17.xd5 ad8 , with full equality) 14...d7 15.b5 b7 and there's no good way to make use of the pin. ] 12...d8 13.a3 Technically speaking a novelty, although White's plan of doubling his queen and bishop on the b1-h7 is almost as old as the hills. b7 14.a2 f6! [ Moiseenko is happy to give up the bishoppair to ease his cramp and especially to improve his knight from c6. I quite like this approach, although it's not clear that

14...c8 15.d3 a5 was such a bad alternative. ] 15.d3 ce7 16.e5 [ An immediate 16.b1 was also possible, but again Black has no desire to weaken his kingside with ...g6 and would have preferred g6 . ] 16...g6 'How are you going to get passed that?', Black is effectively saying. 17.xf6+ xf6 18.g5 d5 19.b1! [ Correctly trying to attack, whereas the doubled f-pawns would most certainly not h a ve b e e n a we a kn e ss in t h e e ve n t o f 19.xd5 xd5 20.xf6 gxf6 21.f3 ac8 .] 19...c7 20.g3 fc8 21.d3 [ I wonder if White wouldn't have done better to have tried 21.h4!? . However, after h5! ( the variation 21...b7? 22.xf6 gxf6 23.g4 f5 24.f6+ g7 25.xd5 xd5 26.h5 21 illustrates one of the main ideas behind h4 ) 22.g4 f6 23.h3 ( or 23.xf6 gxf6 24.h5 fxe5 25.hxg6 hxg6 26.dxe5 c4 , keeping White's attacking a m b i t i o n s u n d e r c o n t r o l) 23...h5! , I'm still can't se e a good way through Black's solid defences, whereas ( 23...xe5?! 24.dxe5 d7 25.d3 f8 26.h5 gives White some chances to lever Black open with h5-h6. )] 21...b7! 22.xf6 [ This doesn't lead anywhere, but neither did 22.f3 d7 , since the f3-pawn rather interferes with White's co-ordination. ] 22...gxf6 23.g4 f5 24.e5 h8 25.ac1 xc1 26.xc1 c8! Not worrying about the f7-pawn because the c-file will supply plenty of counterplay. Indeed, if anybody has to be s l i g h t l y c a r e f u l t o d r a w, i t ' s G a s h i m o v . 27.xc8+ xc8 28.xf7+ g7 29.d6 c1+ 30.f1 xb2 31.h4! h5 32.e8+ f7 33.d6+ g7 34.e8+ f7 35.d6+ A good example from Moiseenko of how Black doesn't always have to counter a Bb1/Bc2 and Qd3 set-up with ... g6. His knight on g6 was an excellent defender and, indeed, this never looked like an especially good IQP position for White. Quite possibly the early exchange on d6 quite simply isn't all that challenging, at least unless Black obliges with a premature

2243

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 exchange of knights on c3. ½-½

2106 Gavrilov,Alexei Yakovich,Yuri Open A Voronezh RUS (7) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2461 2570 19.06.2006

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 c4 7.c2 c7 8.e2 g5 9.h3 The main point of this move, in addition to preventing ...g4, is that W hite wants to wait for Black to recapture with a minor piece on e5 before taking on g5, in order to avoid Nxg5 Qxe5 which tends to lead t o c o m f o r t a b l e e n d i n g s f o r B l a c k . g7 10.a3 This does not look very promising for White. [ 10.0-0 is the favoured approach by C3 Sicilian aficionados Tiviakov, Pavasovic and Rozentalis. xe5 11.xg5 d5 ( 11...h6 12.e4!? Pavasovic ) 12.a4 d7 13.a5 c8 14.f3 ( 14.d4 cxd3 15.xd3 d6 wo r k e d o u t we l l f o r B l a c k i n T i vi a k o vShabalov, Isle of Man, examined in a previous update. ) 14...g6 15.d4 cxd3 A) 16.xd3 This feels much more natural t o m e a n d i n d e e d e5 ( 16...e6!? Radjabov's recipe might work here too.) 17.a6 b6 18.c4 dxc4 19.e4 b8 20.c3 gave White a very healthy initiative in Tiviakov-Gladyszev, Isle of Man 2005.; B) 16.xd3 e6 was Tiviakov-Radjabov, W a rs a w 2 0 0 5 , co ve re d in a p re vio u s update. Black followed up with ...Nce7 and ...e5, and when White played a6 he kept the tension, rather than block the queenside with ...b6. ] 10...xe5 11.xg5 d5!? This move is not at all intuitive to me, but it makes sense in light of the variation: [ 11...d3+ 12.xd3 cxd3 13.xd3 e5+ 14.e3! -a square controlled by the knight on d5. ] 12.g3 [ 12.e4 e6 doesn't seem to help White's cause. ...f5 is coming ] 12...d3+ 13.f1 c6 14.g1 b5 15.xd3 cxd3 16.xd3 b7 Black obviously has

massive compensation for the pawn. 17.f3 b4 18.b5 b6+ 19.g2 h6 20.e4 f5 21.f2 g8 22.e1 e5! 23.xf5 xg3 24.d4 0-0-0 25.f1 df8 26.c2 xf3 27.e2 xf2+ 28.xf2 xf2 29.xf2 e5 0-1

2107 Getz,Nicolai Malakhatko,Vadim Arctic Chess Challenge (9) [David Vigorito]

B22 2219 2570 09.08.2009

White plays a new move in the 2.c3 Sicilian. It should not trouble Black, but playing for a win is another story. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.c4 [ 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 is a more common move order. After d5 ( 6...c4 7.c2 c7 8.e2 g5 is the main alternative) 7.exd6 xd6 we transpose to the game. ] 4...b6 5.b3 d5 6.exd6 xd6 7.f3 c6 8.0-0 e6 9.e1!? [ 9.a3 is the main theoretical move. Black's most aggressive response is to play xb3 followed by the blockading 10...Qd3! ] [ 9.xe6 xe6 10.a4 is another independent White attempt to get something. This is covered in Pavasovic, D (2566)B o ri s e k , J (2 5 0 9 ) / P o rt o ro z S L O 2 0 0 5 . ( 10.d4 cxd4 11.xd4 is another main line that is pretty safe for Black )] [ 9.e2 was also tried recently by a big 2.c3 expert. However, after xb3 10.axb3 g6 11.a3 g7 ( 11...a6!? ) 12.d4 cxd4 13.b5 d7 14.d1 0-0 15.bxd4 White's initiative soon petered out and the game was quickly drawn in Rozentalis, E (2588)-Kapnisis, S (2464)/ Chalkida GRE 2009. ] 9...xb3 10.xb3 c4?! [ Black is much higher rated than his oppone nt and is se eking an advantage already. 10...d3 goes nowhere because of 11.e3 ] [ but 10...e6 should equalize without difficulty because playing a quick d4 and Rd1 to bother Black's queen would lose a tempo for White. ] 2244

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.b5! Now White has ideas like Na3 or a4 or even Ne5. c7 [ Black protects the b6-knight in order to play ...a6, but this looks rather slow. There are too many pins to play 11...e5?? 12.xe5 ] [ 11...d8 looks the most consistent. Even here, White is for choice after 12.a3 d5 13.xd5 xd5 14.b3 ] 12.d4 [ 12.a3 (or 12.b3) a6 13.h5 look a bit funny, but may be better tries to pressure Black. ] 12...cxd3 [ Now after 12...a6 13.h5 White's centre is strong and he has a lead in development. ] 13.xd3 d8 14.e4 e6 Now Black seems okay, and you would expect him to gradually outp lay his op pone nt, who is rat ed 350 + points lower. 15.g5 e7 16.a3 xg5 17.xg5 e7 18.f3 c5 19.c2 0-0 20.cd4 xd4 21.xd4 d5 22.e3 g6 23.b3 fd8 24.ae1 e7 25.f4 This position is still equal, but Black, perhaps f r u s t r a t e d b y h i s o p p o n e n t 's s o l i d p l a y, becomes a bit too adventurous. h5 26.c4 h4!? This forces White's ugly reply, but if Black does not find a tactical knockout, the rook could easily wind up being misplaced. 27.g4 h5 28.h3 g5?! [ 28...hxg4 29.hxg4 d6 ( 29...g5 30.e4 le a v e s t h e h 4 -r o o k lo o k i n g a b i t s i ll y.) 30.xe6! fxe6 ( 30...xf4 31.xf4 xg4+ 32.g2= ) 31.xd6 xd6 32.c5 xg4+ 33.f1 c6 34.cxb6 xb6 35.xe6 was perhaps too drawish for Black. ] 29.e5! This is even stronger than 29.Qe4 now. d7? [ 29...hxg4 is impossible because of 30.f5 ] 30.c7! Black is all tied up and playing without a rook. f8 [ 30...hxg4 31.f5 ] 31.a5? [ 31.f3! threatens a crushing Nxe6, and e8 is met by the spectacular 32.xf7! xf7 ( 32...xf7 33.xd8+ ) 33.xe6 winning. ] 31...c5 Now Black is alive at least. 32.e5 xd4 33.xg5+ h7 34.xc5 hxg4 35.h5+ xh5 36.xh5+ g8 37.hxg4 g7 38.g5 White has managed to win a pawn, but his own king is exposed too so the

win is far from easy. d2 39.g2 d4 [ 39...xa2 40.d1 looks unpleasant, but Black has f8 ] 40.e2 d3 41.g6! g7 42.g5 xg6 43.xg6+ fxg6 44.xe6 White is a pawn up but he seems content to draw. f7 45.e3 [ 45.e5 d2 46.a5 keeps the rook active. ] 45...d2 46.a3 f6 47.g3 b6 48.f3 a2 49.a4 g5 50.d3 [ 50.f4 ] 50...b2 51.f4 ½-½

2108 Ghaem Maghami,Ehsan Leon Hoyos,Manuel 39th Olympiad Men (10.27) [John Shaw]

B22 2594 2579 01.10.2010

1.e4 c5 2.c3 An Olympiad test for the c3Sicilian between two players rated just under 2600. d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 g4 6.e2 cxd4 7.cxd4 e6 If Black could make this line work it would be very useful for ambitious players who answer 2.Nf3 with 2... N c 6 ( 3 . c 3 d 5 e t c . ) . 8.c3 b4!? I have played the c3-Sicilian (on and off) for years, but I don't remember ever looking at this position. That is a selling point for Black. [ The problem with 8...a5 is 9.h3 h5 10.d5!? ] 9.0-0 a5 10.e3!? White is unafraid of the alleged threat to c3. [ The most common move is the passive 10.d2 For example, ge7 11.a3 xc3 12.bxc3 0-0 looks very comfortable for Black. ] [ 10.a3 is no threat as long as Black just sticks to the routine and doesn't take twice on c3. xc3 11.bxc3 ge7 ] [ W h i t e c o u l d c e r t a i n l y f l i c k i n 10.h3 before making the bigger decisions. Then 10...Bh5 is likely, as xf3 11.xf3 ge7 12.e3 feels like an improved version for White, on the grounds that his bishops are excellent. ] 10...ge7 A sensible decision. [ 10...xc3 11.bxc3 xc3 is asking for trouble. White has various promising lines. 2245

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Just one example (selected for its oddness): 12.c1 a5 13.c5 c7 14.g5 White will win back the pawn with a strong initiative, as xf3 15.xf3 g6? is killed by 16.d5 ] 11.b3 0-0 12.fd1N A fresh position with plenty of imbalance. White wins because he plays better on the day, but there is no reason Black could not return to this position. fd8 13.h3 h5 14.ac1 ac8 15.a3 xc3 16.bxc3 c7 17.g4 g6 18.c4 Now Black must play very accurately to avoid being blasted by d4-d5. Black is a strong GM (2579) so he understood the importance of stopping d4-d5 just fine, but something went wrong for him in the tactics and d4-d5 eventually lands wit h a t h u d . e4?! The bishops selects the wrong diagonal to cover d5 here it is insecure. [ C o r r e c t w a s 18...f6! when the roughly balanced fight continues. For example: 19.d5 exd5 20.cxd5 f7 21.c4 a5 22.d6 xb3 23.xf7+ xf7 24.dxc7 xd1+ 25.xd1 xc7 26.xa7= A long forcing line peters out to equality. ] 19.g5! a5 20.b4 ac6 [ After 20...c6 Black's kingside lacks defenders, but since this is a little murky and the game is depressingly clear, Black should try his luck with this alternative. For example: 21.d3!? h6 ( 21...g6? blunders away all Black's dark squares: 22.e4 xe4 23.xe4 ac6 24.b2+- ) 22.h7+ h8 ( 22...f8 23.xe6+!? fxe6 24.d5 The black king is vulnerable to a rook lift to d4.) 23.xf7+ xh7 24.xd8 xd8 25.d5 Messy but promising. Of course White had many other options. ] 21.b3 a5 22.b4 ac6 23.c5 [ 23.b5 g6 24.d5 was also strong ] 23...b6 24.b5 g6 After all the dancing Black has to admit defeat and allow d4-d5. 25.d5 This is bad enough, but c4-c5 is also looming. h6 26.f3 e5 [ 26...a5 27.c5 is deadly ] 27.c5 xd5 Black has many possible captures, but nothing works. For example, [ 27...xd5 28.xd5 xd5 29.cxb6 xc1+ 30.xc1 xf3+ 31.xf3 xc1+ 32.g2 xb6 33.a4!+The a-pawn is a strong contender for promotion. ] [ 27...xf3+ was perhaps most resilient, but

even so, 28.xf3 bxc5 29.xc5 is crushing. ] 28.cxb6 xf3+ 29.xf3 b8 30.xc8 xc8 31.b7 c7 32.xd5! exd5 33.xd5 e7 34.xa7 The c3-Sicilian is still a useful weapon, especially if Black is determined to make a fight of it rather than use one of the theoretically-approved boring equalizers. 1-0

2109 Givon,Asaf Solodovnichenko,Yuri Grand Europe open Albena-2013 (8.13) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2415 2565

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 e7 9.exd6!? I've never really been a fan of this move, but it has its advantages. White opts out of a theoretical debate and instead heads towards a normal IQP structure that closely resembles the 2...d5 lines with ...e6. For some reason, this relatively rare move seems t o h a ve b e e n p l a ye d q u i t e a l o t a g a i n s t Solodovnichenko - is there something we don't know about this guy? xd6 10.c3 0-0 11.e1 d8 [ Generally in these sorts of positions, Black's idea setup is to play ...b6, ...Bb7 and put the rooks on d8 and e8. However, in this variation it's diff icult to orchestrate because W hite always threatens the standard d5 push. E.g. 11...a6 12.b3 f6 13.e3 b5? 14.d5! ] 12.b3 f6 13.b5!? An interesting idea, borrowing from a similar line after 2...d5. [ More normal is 13.e3 b6 14.a3 b7 15.e2 a5 16.c2 ac8 with a pretty standard IQP with chances for both sides Paragua, M (2533) -Edouard, R (2686)/Al Ain 2012 0-1 (42) ] 13...d7 14.f4 b4! [ 14...a6?! 15.c7 a7 16.d5! exd5 17.c1 d6 18.xd5 xf4 19.xf4 xd1 20.exd1 xd1+ 21.xd1 ] 15.e2 b6N [ 15...a6 has been played before, when White cravenly retreated, but to good effect: 16.c3 ( 16.c7 a7 17.c1 a5 2246

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 18.xe6 fxe6 19.xe6 xe6 20.g5 d5 21.xe6 xe6 ) 16...b5 17.g5 e7 18.e5! xe5 19.dxe5 e8 20.d2 xd2 21.xd2 d7 22.xe7 xe7 23.d1 0-1 (36) Asis Gargatagli, H (2474)-Edouard, R (2688)/Leon 2012 (36) ] 16.d5?! Not here. [ 16.c7!? h5 17.xe6 fxe6 18.xe6+ xe6 19.xe6 xe6 is very unclear, though I've alwa ys p re f e rred th e pieces t o th e queen in unbalanced positions for purely psychological reasons. ] [ 16.a3 required Black to play accurately: a6 17.a4! f8! (Very subtle!) ( 17...e7 18.c1 e.g. d5? 19.c7 xd4 20.xd5 xe2+ 21.xe2 xe2 22.xe7+ ) 18.c1 d5 19.ec2 xb5 20.xc6 xc6 21.xc6 f5 22.xa8 xa8= ] 16...xd5 17.xd5 a6! 18.e5 xe5 [ 18...xd5! is very powerful, probably netting Black a pawn after some fireworks. 19.xd5 xd5 A) 20.c7 xe2 21.xd5 ( 21.xc6 c5 22.xb4 d8 ) 21...xe5 22.xb4 g6; B) 20.xc6 xb5 ] 19.xe5 xb5 20.b3 exd5 21.xb4 So, not an idea opening result for the first player, but at least there are chances to hold. This is the end of the interesting part from a theoretical perspective, so to sum up: White's idea is interesting and 16.a3 gives Black a few over-the-board problems to solve, but a booked-up opponent should be able to equalise. ac8?! [ 21...e8 ] 22.b3 c2 [ 22...e8! ] 23.e7 c6 24.c7 f6 25.xc2 xa1+ 26.c1 f6 27.c7 h6?? [ 27...b2! 28.d1 ( 28.e1 e8; 28.f4 e2 ) 28...c2 ] 28.f4 c8 29.xb5+- e6 30.c6 d4 31.xe6 fxe6 32.f2 f7 33.e2 e8 34.d2 1-0

2110 Glavina Rossi,Pablo Hamdouchi,Hicham French Team Championship (7.4) [Gary Lane]

B22 2417 2522 2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.a3!? This has quite a lot of surprise value because it is rarely seen at tournament level. d6 [ The German player Wolfgang Heidenfield employed this line with White throughout the 1 9 6 0 s a n d sh o u l d b e a n i n sp ir a t i o n t o anyone who wants to take up the challenge nowadays of putting the knight on the side of the board. Here are some examples: 5...g6 A) 6.g3 A1) 6...b6 7.g2 a6 8.c4 c7 9.d4 cxd4 10.xd4 xe5 11.f4 g7 ( or 11...xc4 12.xc4 xc4 13.xc7 xc7 14.xa8 e5+ 15.e2 and White is a rook up) 12.xa8 xa8 13.0-0 e6 ( 13...xc4 14.xc4 xc4 15.e1 e6 is roughly equal) 14.xe5 xe5 15.xe6 fxe6 16.e2 ( 16.b5 xb5 17.cxb5 xb2 18.b1 g7 19.c1 is better for White because Black dare not castle because the d7 pawn will fall off the board) 16...b8 17.ad1 c6 18.b5?! ( 18.d3 to maintain the pre ssure o n t h e d -p a wn is t h e righ t approach to deter Black from castling) 18...0-0 19.f3 b7 20.g2 g5 21.d4 ( 21.e3! looks like an improvement because h6 22.d3 issues the twins threats of Qg6+ or Qxd7) 21...e5 22.g4 h6 1/2-1/2 Heidenfeld, W-Pomar Salamanca,A/Torremolinos 1961.; A2) 6...g7 7.g2 A2a) 7...0-0 8.0-0 d6 9.exd6 xd6 10.d4 cxd4 11.b5 this in-between move is a theme in this line and is worth remembering c5 ( 11...d7 12.bxd4 xd4 13.xd4 d8 14.e2 xd4 15.cxd4 b6 16.h6 b7 17.fe1 ac8 18.e5 f6 19.xe7 xe7 20.xe7 xg2 21.xg2 g4 22.d2 c2 23.h3 1/2-1/2 Heidenfeld,W -O'Kelly de G a l w a y , A / T o r r e m o l i n o s 1 9 6 1 .) 12.bxd4 d8 13.a4 b6 14.b5 2247

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xb5 15.xb5 e5 16.g5 f6 17.c1 f5 18.a3 ( 18.e1 ac8 is slightly better for Black) 18...a4 ( Black could dictate the game with 18...f8 when 19.b1 d3 20.e1 e4 21.fd2 f5 gains some space and makes it difficult for White to develop smoothly ) 19.e1 d7 20.f1 ad8 21.b5 c5 22.e3 d3 23.xd3 xd3 24.ac1 h6 25.ed1 f5 26.e1 a6 27.xd7 xd7 28.b4 f8 29.ec2 d3 30.b5 e7 31.c4 c8 ( I like 31...g5 to put White under pressure by preparing the advance of the f-pawn) 32.c5 a6 33.bxa6 xa6 34.b4 White's intention is c5-c6 to cause havoc to Black's position e2 35.c4 g7 36.c6 bxc6 37.xc6 e4 38.4e5 d6 39.d4 a6 40.f4 e7 41.b3 ( 41.f2 d5 42.c6 xc6 43.dxc6 is equal ) 41...d5 ( perhaps 41...d5 42.c5 f6 with the idea of ...g6-g5 is worth a look ) A2a1) or 42.c5!? d3 ( 42...c8!? is wo rth consid erin g) 43.exd3 exd3 44.d1 stops the d-pawn and gives White some winning chances; A2a2) 42.c6 xc6 43.xc6 e2 44.c8+ f7 45.c7+ g8 46.c8+ f7 1/2-1/2 Heidenfeld,WLarsen,B/Havana 1966.; A2b) 7...c7 8.e2 White simply def ends the e5 pawn and gets the queen into the action 0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.d4 cxd4 11.cxd4 g4 12.d1 ( 12.h3? is just a disaster upon xd4 13.e4 xf3+ 14.xf3 xh3 15.d1 xe5 and it is time for White to count t h e p a w n s a n d w e e p) 12...e6 13.e4 f5 14.e1 g4 15.e4 xf3 16.xf3 d5! 17.e3 ( if 17.xd5 then exd4 gives Black the edge 18.xd8? xf3+ 19.g2 axd8 20.xd8 xd8 21.xf3 xe5+ with a winning ending due to the extra pawn) 17...c8 18.g4 b6 Black is obviously targeting the d4 pawn 19.xe6 ( 19.c2 fd8 is equal ) 19...fxe6 20.b3 g5 21.b2 f5 22.d2 cf8 23.c2 h6 24.e2

xf2 25.xf2 xf2 26.xf2 g4 27.c1 b5 ( or 27...xd4 28.e3 xe5 29.d1 f3+ 30.xf3 a5 31.f2 xa2 is fine for White) 28.f4 d3 29.d2 g6 ( 29...c3 30.b1 is unclear) 30.e1 h5 31.g2 h7 32.e1 d8 33.h4 e8 34.h3 gxh3 35.h2 f7 36.xh3 h6 37.c2 g8 38.f1 g4+ 39.h2 g5 40.xg5 xg5 ( instead 40...xg5 41.f7+ g8 42.ff2 is actually better for White) 41.f3 e3 42.e2 h6 43.ef2 g8 44.h4? ( 44.e2 is the best chance of holding the position) 44...xd4 wh e n B la ck is o n t o p , B is gu ie r, A Fischer,R/Stockholm 1962.; B) 6.b3!? is a direct approach to oust t h e b l a c k k n i gh t f r o m t h e ce n t r e b6 ( 6...c7 7.d4 cxd4 8.c4 is slightly better for White) 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 g7 9.f4 ( the pawn sacrifice 9.d5 xe5 10.xe5 xe5 is interesting because 11.h6 stops Black from castling kingside with some compensation) 9...d5 10.b5 d7 11.e3 c8 12.0-0 a6 13.xc6 xc6 14.ac1 ( 14.h6 0-0 15.xg7 xg7 16.ac1 is another option with an edge for W hite) 14...0-0 15.b3 xc1 16.xc1 with a small space advantage, Pelikian,J-Coelho,L/Sao Paulo 2001. ] 6.exd6 [ I think 6.b5 is worth considering to pin the queen's knight. ] 6...exd6 [ 6...xd6 is a decent alternative when Black might consider a kingside fianchetto. ] 7.d4 e7 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 f6 10.b3 [ Instead 10.dxc5 leads to a tame position upon dxc5 11.c2 e8 12.d3 h6 13.c4 and the position is equal. ] 10...b6 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.e3 e6 [ Or 12...e7 13.fe1 e6?! when the desire to block the e-file backfires due to 14.b5 when the c5-pawn will be taken. ] 13.c2 e7 14.fe1 ac8 15.ad1 White is simply centralising his pieces but his knight on the edge of the board, gives away the fact that the position has not benefited from the early excursion by the queen's knight. fd8 2248

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ If 15...xa2? then 16.b3 traps the bishop. ] 11.e2 xf3 12.xf3 a5 13.b3 16.b1 White is not really defending the a2with equal chances, Stevic,H-Cebalo,M/ pawn because if the bishop does take then b2Zadar 1996.; b3 would trap it. Instead , he is making room B) 6.a3 a6 although the a-pawn stops for the knight on a3 to enter the game via the the knight entering the b5 square it is c2 square. primarily designed to prepare ...b7-b5 [ After 16.d3 h6 17.b5 a6 it seems that 7.g5 e6 8.d1 c7 9.c4 b5 the knight must retreat but he can try the ( 9...e7 10.f3 b5 11.e5 bxc4 12.exf6 amazing 18.d6! xd6 ( 18...xd6 gxf6 13.e3 gives W hite an edge) 19.h7+ h8 20.xd6 xd6 21.xc5 10.xf6 gxf6 11.e3 h5 12.g3 b7 winning ) 19.xc5 h8 20.xd6 xd6 13.g2 c4 14.f3 with roughly equal 21.c4 e7 22.xe6 fxe6 23.b3 chances, Markovic,M-Ostojic,N/Budva hitting the knight on b6 and the pawn on e6 1996. ] with advantage to White. ] 6.d2 e6 7.exd5 exd5 16...xd1 17.xd1 e5 18.xe5 xe5 [ 7...xd5 8.b3 e4 9.e3 xc5 19.f3 b8 20.e4 d5 10.xc5 xc5 11.d1 e5 12.f3 h5 [ 20...c7?! is met by 21.f4 c8 22.b5 13.g4? a nice idea to distract the black a6 23.xb8 xb8 24.f4 with an edge. ] qu e e n f ro m t h e pro t e ctio n of t h e d a rk 21.c1 It might seem a bit odd to retreat the sq u a re d b is h o p b u t W h i t e h a s m i s s e d bishop to it's original square but it avoids something ( 13.xc5 xc5 14.e4 d7 being exchanged off the board. c7 22.g3 15.g4 gives White the superior chances) b6 23.a4 f8 24.b5 d7 25.d1 13...xg4 14.xc5 xf3 I suspect White The big threat is c3-c4 so Black needs to take failed to appreciate the fact that Black would evasive action. e8 26.c2 White is rated not only regain the piece but have a safer 100 points below his grandmaster opponent king 15.g1 d7 16.xg7 0-0-0 so can be happy with this position because Black has swept his king to safety and now it B l a c k i s h e a d i n g t o w a r d s a d r a w . xb5 is his turn to find a way to attack 17.e2 27.xd5 xd5 28.xd5 c4 29.b3 f6 18.g3 hg8 19.g2 f5 ( 19...e5!? ½-½ looks a reasonable idea to give the lightsquared bishop more options) 20.e3 xg3?! Black misguidedly embarks on a 2111 B22 scheme to exchange pieces which merely manages to reduce his attacking options Godena,Michele 2481 and improve White's pawn structure 21.hxg3 Aronian,Levon 2571 e8 22.xd8+ xd8 23.e4 e5 24.d4 3rd IECC Batumi GEO (2) 13.06.2002 ( 24.f4!? is a good idea to push Black [Gary Lane] backwards ) 24...b5 25.f6+ c8 26.e2 c5 27.xh7 d5 28.b1? a blunder 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.dxc5 c6 which uses material thanks to the dazzling 5.c2 d5 black queen h1+ 29.f1 h6 30.e4 [ 5...dxc5 ( 30.h4 c1+ 31.e2 d4+! 32.cxd4 A) 6.f4 e5 ( 6...g6 7.a3 g7 8.d1 b5+ and Black can go home) 30...c1+ d7 9.f3 0-0 10.e2 c8 11.0-0 0-1 Werner, C-Moingt,J/France 1997. ] when White's pieces have more harmony Stevic,H-Beenish,B/Marina d'Or 1998.) 8.b3 White protects the pawn and intends to 7.g3 a6 8.f3 ( 8.d2 b5 9.a4 b8 get on with development. In general, Black 10.gf3 d6 11.e2 0-0 12.axb5 axb5 tends to regain the pawn but can get into a 13.f1 c7 14.e3 e7 15.0-0 g6 tangle if he is not careful. e7 9.f3 0-0 16.c4 with double-edged play, Keitlinghaus, 10.e2 e4 11.e3 f5 12.d3 [ Or 12.0-0? g3 13.d3 xd3 14.xd3 L-Donner,B/ Dortmund 1998.) 8...c7 xf1 15.xf1 d7 gives Black the better 9.a4 e7 10.a3 the knight is heading to chances. ] c4 to put pressure on the e5 pawn g4 2249

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 12...a5 13.a4 g6 14.0-0 c7 15.ad1 ad8 Aronian takes steps to defend his isolated d-pawn. 16.fe1 c8 A clear sign that Black is running out of decent ideas. The problem is that he has not made a concerted effort to take back on c5 and consequently his pieces lack co-ordination in the resulting middlegame. [ 16...fe8 is also possible. ] 17.c1 fe8 18.b5 h5 Black rightly seeks active play by pinning the king's knight. 19.e2 f8 20.c2 h6 [ 20...g6!? is playable. ] 21.fd4 g6 [ 21...xe2 22.xe2 e5 23.f4 when the d-pawn comes under pressure. ] 22.c1 xc5 At last Black has restored the material level but the isolated d-pawn is still a long-term worry. 23.xc5 xc5 24.b5 e7 25.d3 xd4?! Black seeks to simplifies matters but instead helps W hite to improve his position. [ A better course of action is 25...xd3 when 26.xd3 e5 27.dd1 offers White a slight ed ge d u e t o t h e iso la te d b la ck d -p a wn although Black's active knight is useful. ] 26.xd4 g5 27.b1 c6 28.xg6 fxg6 29.c2 White has further managed to weaken Black's pawn structure and now takes time to defend the a-pawn. h7 30.g3 e4 31.h4 e7 32.xe4 dxe4 33.e3 e8 34.b3 c8 [ 34...c5 is a decent reply when 35.xc5 xc5 36.xb7 e3 gives Black good practical chances of getting a draw. ] 35.f7 xh4? 36.d6! Godena makes use of his queen perched near the black king to launch an attack. [ O b v i o u s l y n o t 36.gxh4 when g4+ l e a d s t o v i c t o r y f o r B l a c k u p o n 37.h2 xh4+ 38.g2 g4+ 39.h2 e5 and White can resign. ] 36...xg3 [ 36...f6 might block the 6th rank but 37.xf6 seals Black's fate. ] 37.xg6 1-0

2112 Godena,Michele Gallagher,Joseph G Mitropa Cup m (5) [Andrew Martin]

B22 2528 2480 29.05.2008

Equal or not quite? 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 8.b5 dxe5 9.xe5 d7 10.xd7 xd7 11.c3 e6 12.0-0? d8 This is one of the most commonly played variations after 2 c3. Black's position is very and he has some play against the IQP. White's trumps are the two Bishops, slightly superior mobility and time Black has to spend getting the poor Knight on b6 back into the game. I suppose it's a question of taste. 13.a4 e7 14.a5 d5 15.a6 db4 16.axb7 xb7 17.b3!?N On the face of it, this does not look like much of an improvement on 17 Qf3, especially taking both results into account, but I will show that even after 17 Qf3, Black has good chances to equalize. [ 17.f3 0-0 18.e3 Most of the notes from h e re o n a r e b y R o g o ze n ko , a l t h o u gh I believe he misses the critical moment , which has basically just arrived. I mark my own notes AM. A) 18...f6 19.fd1 b8 20.e4; B) 18...d7! AM, both protects the Queen and increases pressure on d4.White does not have very much: 19.a4 ( 19.ac1 fd8 20.fd1 f6= 21.d5 exd5 22.xd5 xd5! 23.xd5 xd5 24.xc6 b3 25.xd5 xd5 26.c8+ d8 27.xd8+ xd8 28.xa7?? a4; 19.fd1 fd8 20.d2 f6 21.ad1 a6 22.a4 c7= ) 19...fd8 20.e4 b8 21.g4 d5=; C) 18...a6?! 19.a4 C1) 19...b6 20.d5 ( 20.fd1 xd4 21.g4 c5 ) 20...d4 21.e4 ( 21.xd4 xd4 22.dxe6 fxe6 23.e2 c5 24.xe6+ h8 ) 21...c5; C2) 19...f6 20.fd1 C2a) 20...a8 21.g4 ( 21.e4 e7 22.g4 f5 ) 21...h5 ( 21...e7 22.e4 ) 22.f4 ( 22.e4 e7; 22.xh5 xd4 ) 22...e7 23.e4 f5 24.xf6+ gxf6; C2b) RR 20...c7 21.g4; C2c) 20...b6 21.d5 d4 22.e4 2250

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e5 23.f4 xd5 24.xd5 xd5 25.xd5 e2+ 26.f2 xb2 27.a2 xa2 28.xa2 c3 29.c4 exf4 30.xf4 xd1+ 31.xd1 1-0 Howell, D (2519)-Mikhalevski, V (2598)/Ottawa 2007 ] 17...d7 18.a4 0-0 19.xc6 [ 19.xb4 xb4 20.xd7 xd7 21.d1 d8 is a series of exchanges which can only favour Black! ] 19...xc6 20.xb7 xb7 21.d5 b4 22.dxe6 fxe6= Easy enough for Joe Gallagher. ½-½

( 19...ac8!?= 20.a5 b8 with the point 21.a6 b4! ) 20.d2 f5 21.c4 xc4 22.xc4 f4 23.d2 hd8 24.c3 d5 25.e1 f6 26.f3 Godena - D. Rombaldoni, Bratto 2009.; B) 15...xd8 16.xb5 f6 17.e3 e6 18.a4 f7 19.fc1 In Godena - Kargin, Rijeka 2010, Black played the unnecessary B1) T h e d e v e l o p i n g 19...e7! was far stronger when White has to be careful to hold the balance. One point is 20.xc6 bxc6 21.xc6 and Black regains the pawn with d7! as if 22.c4 then both b5 and ( 22...hb8 are strong. W hite will be left with one 2113 B22 qu e e n s id e p a wn t h a t is p a s s e d b u t obviously a we akn ess rat her th an a Godena,Michele 2554 strength. ); Kargin,Arseny 2392 B2) 19...a5 and eventually drifted into 40th Bosna Open (5) 09.05.2010 trouble and lost. ] [John Shaw] 6...c4 7.c2 c7 8.e2 g5 A sharp and 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 ambitious line from Black, which has attracted many f ollowers. 9.a3!? A rather new and 5.c4 b6 6.b3 The sharp line. [ The same two players had faced each other little known idea that looks very dangerous. two months earlier when Godena had tried The old main lines are [ 9.h3 and ] one of his pet lines: 6.e2 d6 ( 6...d5 [ 9.e6 Both these alternatives have been usually comes to the same thing) 7.exd6 covered in the Archives. ] xd6 ( 7...e5 is also very sensible.) 8.a3 ( 8.0-0 has also been tried, but Black has no 9...g4 The consistent approach. [ A l s o i m p o r t a n t i s : 9...g7 10.xc4 problems after, for example, e5 9.d3 e7 ( 10.b5 b8 11.xg5 was Tkachiev 10.bd2 0-0 ) 8...e5 9.0-0 e7 10.d4 Morozevich, Moscow (blitz) 2009, and now cxd4 11.b5 d8 12.cxd4 Godena has xe5 looks safe and interesting enough.) reached this position three times in the past 10...g4 c o u p l e o f y e a r s . a6 ( The simplistic A) A n e w i d e a i s : 11.d6+!? f8 approach is also fine: 12...exd4 13.bxd4 12.xf7!? This sac seems to be xd4 14.xd4 0-0 White can make dangerous enough to make Black return n o t h i n g s e rio u s o u t o f h is e xt ra m o ve . the piece on e5, at some point. This is 15.e4 f6 16.d1 e7 17.xe7 xe7 untested analysis, so proceed with care. 18.e3 a4 19.d4 e6 20.b3 b6 xf7 13.g5+ g8 ( 13...e8 14.d4 ) 21.b2 fd8 22.d4 d5 23.f5 f8 14.b3+ e6 15.d4 h6 16.e4 xe5 24.ac1 e4 25.g3 c6 26.f5 e4 17.dxe5 xe5 18.h3; 27.g3 c6 28.f5 1/2-1/2 Godena - T. B) 11.xb6 axb6 12.g5 xe5 Nedev, Khanty-Mansiysk 2010. Not a classic, 13.xe5 xe5 14.d4 h6 15.e4 g6 but a worthwhile reminder of what W hite 16.g3 White perhaps had an edge in usually gets if Black is well-prepared and Gallagher - Haznedaroglu, Khantyhappy with half a point.) 13.d5 xd5 Mansiysk 2010. ] 14.xd5 axb5 15.xd8+ A) After 15...xd8 16.xb5 f6 17.e3 10.b5 b8 [ Of course not 10...d8? 11.d6+ exd6 c7 Black must exercise a little care with 12.exd6+ e7 ( 12...e7 13.d4 ) 13.g5 his king. 18.fc1 e6 19.a4 d5 2251

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 which is disastrous. ] 11.h4!? The other plausible knight advance has also been tested, but seems less promising to me: [ 11.g5 For example: xe5 12.0-0 a6 13.d4 h6 A) Or 14.e4 d5 ( 14...d6!? ) 15.g3 h5; B) 14.f4 hxg5 15.fxe5 g7 16.e1 d6 Kazhgaleyev - Nataf, France 2001. ] [ Note that the sac no longer works: 11.d6+? exd6 12.exd6+ e7-+ and the threat of ...Qxd6 is the key difference. ] 11...xe5 Universally played, as [ 11...xe5 drops the exchange: 12.xe5 xe5 13.c7+ d8 14.xa8 xa8 Black has insufficient compensation. This simple line is important, as it means the queens stay on the board and Black's king is a target. In many other the other variations of the 8...g5 line Black plays ...Qe5 and an unbalanced ending results. ] 12.0-0 The white king is safe, so the plan now is to blast everything open with b2-b3 a likely s t a r t e r a n d f 2 - f 4 a l s o o n t h e c a r d s . d6 At this point, Black has a few options and White could simply start playing chess. [ 12...d5 13.f4 gxf3 14.xf3 g7 15.xe5 xe5 16.f2 ( 16.f3!? 0-0 17.d4 cxd3 18.xd3 ) 16...0-0 17.h4 f5 18.d4 cxd3 19.xd3 c4 20.f4 White was significantly out-rated and uses his promising position to force a draw. He had at least a couple of strong alternatives: ( 20.b3!? d6 21.f4 f6 22.xf6 xf6 23.c7; 20.e1!? f6 21.xf6 xf6 22.c7 ) 20...f6 21.xf6 xf6 22.xc4 dxc4 23.c7 b8 1/2-1/2 Kanmazalp Spoelman, Chotowa 2010. ] [ Godena later faced 12...a6 The game was anything but clear, however Black's exposed king always required care: 13.d4 d5 14.f4 ( 14.d3!? makes sure White has easy q u e e n s i d e d e v e l o p m e n t .) 14...d3 An exc ellen t d e cisio n , slo win g W h it e 's in it ia t ive . 15.xd3 cxd3 16.xg4 e6 17.b3 b5 18.b2 h5 19.f3 ( 19.g3!? ) 19...b7 20.c4 bxc4 21.bxc4 g8 22.b3 e7 23.a5 ( 23.cxd5 xd5 24.xh5 xh4 25.g3 ) 23...xh4 24.xb7 xb7

25.cxd5 xb2 26.dxe6 b6+ 27.h1 c6 28.exf7+ xf7 29.xh5+ f8 30.f3 After a wild yet logical sequence White will soon have three pawns for the piece. c8?? Relying on a non-existent back rank trick. ( After 30...g6! 31.xg6 xg6 32.xd3 the pawns look easier to handle than the bishop, but there's still plenty to play for.) 31.xh4 g6 32.e1 c1 33.fe3 e6 34.xe6 dxe6 35.f6+ g8 36.xe6+ h8 37.h3 c7 38.e5 1-0 Godena - A. L'Ami, Bratto 2010. ] 13.b3 d7 [ A s e n s i b l e a l t e r n a t i v e w a s 13...a6 For example, a typical line is: 14.d4 c7 15.f4 gxf3 16.hxf3 I am not claiming more than "unclear", but finding a safe home for the black king is a tricky challenge of course this is the main theme of the 9.Na3 line. ] 14.bxc4 bxc4 15.d4 A strong idea, but White could also play in standard style with [ 15.b1 a6 16.d4 c7 17.f4 ] 15...xb5 16.dxe5 White has correctly judged that his queen has nothing to fear from the b5-bishop. d5 [ The discovery 16...a3?? only succeeds in trapping the knight after 17.d3+- ] 17.e6! Almost an automatic move the black king remains a target. e5? Desperately requesting an exchange of queens. [ T o u gh e r wa s 17...fxe6 when there is no immediate kill, but White can simply bring all his pieces into the action. For example: 18.b1 ( instead 18.xe6?! would let Black ca st le lo n g a f t e r e5 19.xg4 d7 Probably White will still be better, but this is a how-not-to-attack example.) 18...d7 19.xg4 And a check on h5 will foil Black's escape plans. ] 18.exf7+ d8 19.xg4 xc3 20.b1+Black doesn't even have any material in return for his wandering king. c6 21.b3 g7 22.f3 d4 23.h5 d6 24.f4 There is no sensible answer to Be5. In summary, there were various unclear options in the opening, so Black's 8...g5 line is still alive, but 9.Na3 is a major headache, especially for the black king. One general point about the 10.Nh4 line: it appeared in normal over-the-board chess in 2010, but a few e-mail and Man-plus2252

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Computer games had tested it a few years earlier. Yet another reminder for all of us (especially me) that little-known names can play vital "novelties" way before well-known GMs. 1-0

2114 Godena,Michele Rombaldoni,Axel 70th ch-ITA Siena ITA (8) [John Shaw]

B22 2549 2471 01.12.2010

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 8.b5 dxe5 9.xe5 d7 10.xd7 [ The other commonly played line is: 10.xc6 xc6 11.xc6 bxc6 12.0-0 White has absolutely nothing after g6 ( or 12...e6 )] 10...xd7 11.c3 e6 12.0-0 d8 [ Another main line is: 12...e7 13.g4 0-0 14.xc6 bxc6 15.h6 f6 16.fd1 h8 17.e4 e7 18.g5 xg5 19.xg5 White tries to be better but he rarely is. ] 13.g4 A quirky idea that Godena has used a couple of times recently. [ Another way is: 13.a4 White plans to push this pawn as far as it will go. A) 13...a6 can lead to a wild line after: 14.xc6 xc6 15.g5 f6 16.e3 e7 17.h5+ g6 18.h6 A1) another option is: 18...f8 19.h3 g7 ( 19...f7!? ) 20.fc1 0-0 21.a5 c8 And now in Vysochin - Sandipan, St Petersburg 2009, the most active line was 22.a4 d5 23.c5; A2) 18...f7 19.fc1 d5 20.xd5 xd5 21.c7 d7 22.ac1 xc7 23.xc7 a5 24.xe7+ xe7 25.g7+ d6 26.f4+ It is a wonder of the c3S ic il ia n t h a t t h i s p o sit io n h a s b e e n reached twice. It should be a draw if Black can tiptoe through a minefield. A2a) 26...c6! 27.d5+! xd5?? ( 27...c5! is the only move to draw.) 28.d7+ e4 29.f3+! f5 30.d3+ xf4 31.d4+ g5 32.e3+ h4 33.f4+ h5 1-0 Jurkovic - Rezan, Sibenik 2008.; A2b) 26...d5? was Sebag - Karjakin,

Cap d'Agde 2006, when White missed a d i f f i c u l t w i n w i t h : 27.d7+! There are lots of fun lines to expand on this, but I will just mention a few highlights: A2b1) 27...c4 28.xe6+ d3 29.b3+! xd4 30.d1+! c5 ( 30...e4 31.f3+! xf4 32.d4+ f5 33.e4+ g5 34.e3+ h5 35.g4+ h4 36.h6+ ) 31.b4+!; A2b2) 27...e4 28.xe6+ xf4 29.h3!! It feels to me that Black should have a defence, but the machine says no. For example: h5 30.g3+ g5 31.e3+ f5 32.f3! Most enjoyable for the sadists among us.; B) 13...e7 14.a5 d5 15.a6 B1) 15...c7 16.a4 xa6 17.g4 g6 B1a) 18.h6!? goes for more. In his original annotations, Federov preferred 18.d5 and in this position suggested ab4 19.ad1 a6 "Planning ...a6 and ...Na5". It is worth noting that after 20.fe1! this plan no longer works: b5 ( 20...d5 21.b3!? ) 21.b3 a5 22.d5! ( even 22.xe6!? i s g o o d e n o u g h : fxe6 23.xe6 a n d W h i t e w i l l h a c k t h r o u g h .) 22...xb3 23.dxe6 c6 24.exf7+ xf7 25.xe7+ xe7 26.g5+; B1b) 18.d5 Via a forcing line, this kills the game to a draw. exd5 19.xd7+ xd7 20.xd5 ab4 21.xb4 xb4 22.g5 c8 23.fd1+ c7 24.xc6 xc6 25.xa7 b6 1/2-1/2 Godena A. Fedorov, Moscow 2004.; B2) 15...db4 16.axb7 ( For all the excitement elsewhere, the f ollowing game is a rather typical example: 16.g4 0-0 17.axb7 xb7 18.d1 h8 19.xc6 1/2-1/2 Godena - Shytaj, Senigallia 2009. ) 16...xb7 B2a) 17.b3 has been played by Nisipeanu and Godena, but, as Rogozenko pointed out a few years ago, it is not clear why the d-pawn is not en prise: xd4! 18.xc6+ xc6 19.e3 ( 19.xa7 c5 20.a4 0-0 ) 19...d7!?; B2b) 17.e3 0-0 18.f3 a6 19.a4 2253

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Stevic - Pavlidis, Rijeka 2010, was annotated by IM Vigorito a few months ago. W h ite won the ga me, but no t because of the opening. ] [ The most common move is actually 13.e3 but it is dull and has led to an ocean of draws. ] 13...h5 The natural reply. [ Grabbing the d4-pawn feels suspect, but I cannot see a clear refutation and no one has demonstrated one over the board. For example: 13...xd4 14.f3 d5 15.g5 e7 16.ad1 c5 17.xe7 xe7 White's compensation is based on the fact that Black must take with his king. ( 17...xe7? 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 exd5 20.xd5 0-0 21.xc6 bxc6 22.xc6; 17...dxe7?? 18.xd8+ xd8 19.xf7+- ) 18.xd5+ xd5 ( 18...exd5? 19.xc6 bxc6 20.c1 ) 19.xd5 xd5 20.xc6 xc6 21.a3+ f6 22.xa7 d8= White has levelled the ma terial, b ut Bla ck has n o problems, Krzyzanowski - Czakon, Chotowa 2007. ] 14.g3 [ Godena's first attempt with this line was less successful: 14.g5 a6 ( 14...xd4!? ) 15.xc6 xc6 16.e3 h6 17.f3 d5 18.xd5 xd5 19.h4 e7 1/2-1/2 Godena - Gallagher, Biel 2009. ] 14...h4 15.f3 h3 16.g3 The h3-pawn is a sou rce o f imb ala nce it cre ate s a tt ackin g chances in some lines but might drop off in an ending. a6 17.xc6 xc6 18.xc6+ bxc6 19.e3 c4 Rogozenko criticized this move and I agree the e3-bishop is no prize. [ A few years ago Rogozenko suggested 19...e7 w i t h t h e i d e a 20.ac1 d7 and the black king covers the weakness on c6. ] 20.b3 A novelty the original approach worked well but there is a trick Black can try: [ 20.a4 xe3?! Now White is happy. ( The weird 20...d2!? works rather well: 21.xd2 xd4 One sample line: 22.ac1 xd2 23.xc6 e7! with the simple idea 24.xa6 0-0 Black plans moves such as ... Bf 6 an d do u b lin g o n th e 7t h he h as so much compensation I think he might even b e b e t t e r .) 21.fxe3 e5 22.dxe5 h5 23.b6 xe5 24.c4 The wonder knight

on c4 helped White to victory in Bluvshtein Charbonneau, Montreal 2002. ] 20...xe3 21.fxe3 c5 22.d5! e7 Now White is certainly happier. [ The critical line was 22...exd5 23.f5 d4 Black was no doubt concerned about his king, and understandably so, but it seems possible to survive. For example: 24.exd4 cxd4 25.e1+ d7 26.xf7+ c6 27.a4 ] 23.dxe6 fxe6 24.ad1 xd1 25.xd1 f8 26.e4 f5 27.f2 c4 Black must find activity as his pawn structure is an array of we akn esse s. 28.bxc4 a5 29.d2 c5 30.e2 A little passive. [ White can improve his king as follows: 30.g4!? a3 31.f2 c3 32.f3 xc4 33.f2 ] 30...a3 31.xh3 [ Once again, 31.g4 followed by Kf2-f3 and then Nf2, looks the best way. ] 31...xe3+ 32.g2 e5? [ Black would likely escape with a draw after 32...c3 ] 33.f2 Not bad, but even better was [ 33.f3! The discovered checks are harmless, so White can put his king on e4 and then have a think. For example: d4+ 34.e4 d7 35.g5 d6 36.f3+- ] 33...d4? The knight had to go before it turns into a monster on e4. [ After 33...xf2 34.xe5+ d7 35.xf2 xa2+ Black could rely on the legendary drawish tendency of rook endings. ] 34.e4+White has a dominant minor piece to go with his extra pawn. d7 35.h4 c6 36.h5 a5 37.g4 d3 38.e1 a3 39.e2 d3 40.g5 d1 41.h3 h1+ 42.g4 d7 43.f5 xh5 44.g6 h4 45.xg7 e7 46.g6 a4 47.g8 a3 48.g7 g4 49.c5 g1 50.c6 b6 51.c2 1-0

2254

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 12...a5 13.d1 c8 14.xa7 ] B22 2528 13.0-0-0! d3 14.he1+- a5 [ B l a c k w o u l d l i k e t o p l a y 14...e6 2173 but of course the problem is 15.xe6+ fxe6 21.05.2011 16.xe6+ e7 17.d6+ ] 15.b4 ac4 16.xa7 a8 17.b5+ d7 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 18.xd3 1-0 5.c4 b6 6.b3 d5 [ My favourite line is still 6...c4 7.c2 d6 ] 7.exd6 xd6 8.a3 2116 B22 [ 8.0-0 is of course a major alternative. ] 8...e6 9.d4 xb3 10.xb3 cxd4 11.b5 Godena,Michele 2516 d8? It seems Black did not know the theory Wang Yue 2685 and invented a disastrous novelty. Istanbul ol (Men) 40th (2.2) 29.08.2012 [ T h e o n l y s e n s i b l e m o v e i s 11...d7 [Sam Collins] T h e n a f t e r 12.bxd4 xd4 13.xd4 Black has a choice of how far to push his e- 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 pawn: [ Not testing his pet variation 4...c6 5.f3 A) Shirov tried 13...e5 in a couple of rapid f5!? with which he has enjoyed such games, but reached unappealing marvellous results. ] positions. 14.f3 d6 15.e3 ( 15.0-0 5.f3 g4 6.e2 e6 7.h3 h5 8.0-0 c6 0-0 16.e3 c6 17.xb6 axb6 18.fe1 9.e3 cxd4 10.xd4 Taking with the pawn ae8 19.ad1 e7 20.d5 is more ambitious. xe2 11.xe2 e7 K a z h g a l e y e v - S h i r o v , B a s t i a 2 0 0 2) Taking on d4 is the most common move but 15...c6 16.xb6 xb6 Black doesn't need to release the tension at A1) More promising is 17.a4+!? c6 th is st age . 12.d1 0-0 13.d2 Not only ( 17...f8 is a significant concession) does W hite have a minus score after this 18.xc6+ bxc6 19.0-0-0; move, so does Godena! I've seen a dozen or A2) 17.xb6 axb6 18.0-0-0 e7 so games of his here, with several losses. 19.he1 xa2 20.xe5 a1+ 21.c2 [ Another c3-Sicilian specialist has preferred xd1 22.xd1 xe5 23.xe5+ d6 a more aggressive approach, clearing the c324.f5 1/2-1/2 Kazhgaleyev-Shirov, squ a re . B la ck re m a in s e xt re m e ly s o lid Bastia 2002. In fact, Shirov drew both though. 13.c4 xd4 14.xd4 c6 games, but the 13...e5 line does not look ( 14...e4 15.xe4 xe4 16.d2 d6 fun for Black to play.; 17.b3 fd8 18.f3 f5 19.c3 f6 B) 13...e6 14.0-0 c5 ( 14...e7 was agreed drawn in H.Stevic (2614) - N. is also sound and popular) 15.d1 0-0 Sulava (2539), Otocac 2010) 15.c3 fd8 16.e3 Now there is a blunder Black must 16.d2 d7 17.ad1 ad8 18.e3 xd2 avoid: a4?? ( 16...e7 17.c2 19.xd2 xd2 20.xd2 xc4 with a draw 1/2-1/2 Jenni -Gallagher, Lenzerheide in H.Stevic (2531) - O.Cvitan (2535), Split 2010 ) 17.xe6! xb3 18.axb3 fxe6 2008. ] 19.xc5 fc8 20.xb6 axb6 13...fc8 In R. Antonio - Li Chao, Jakarta 2011, [ The position after 13...fd8 14.2f3 a6 Black somehow held the draw 40 moves 15.c4 e4 16.xc6 xc6 17.b3 later. This would have been even less has been tested in several games by l i k e l y a f t e r : 21.xa8 xa8 22.g4+Godena. For example: a2 23.d6 xb2 ( 23...b5 A) 17...h6 18.f1 b5 ( 18...c7 19.d4 24.b6 ) 24.xb6 c2 25.c4 Black would d7 20.b2 a5 21.d2 a4 22.ad1 probably have resigned about here. ] axb3 23.axb3 c5 24.xd8+ xd8 12.f4 c8 Black already has no good 25.xd8+ xd8 26.c2 b6 27.d2 moves: d6 28.f3 a6 29.d4 f6 with a draw 2115 Godena,Michele Sreeves,Clement 1st Alimini Village Open (1) [John Shaw]

2255

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 in M. Godena (2485) - M.Sadler (2600), Ischia 1996) 19.e5 e4 20.b6 dc8 21.xe4 xe4 22.e1 d2+ 23.e2 and now Black rolled the dice with bxc4!? ( 23...e4 was level, or just a draw after 24.f1 d2+ ) 24.xd2 b4+ 25.e2 and the simplest would have been xe1 ( better than 25...cxb3 26.axb3 xe1 27.xe1 c3 28.b4 with some winning chances for White in M.Godena (2481) - B. Jobava (2566), Batumi 2002 (0-1 in 50).) 26.xe1 ab8 27.e3 cxb3 28.axb3 b5 29.f3 xb3 30.xa6 with an endgame which is probably balanced; B) 17...c5 18.xd8+ xd8 19.xc5 xc5 20.d1 xd1+ and a draw was agreed in M. Godena (2523) - L.Van Wely (2654), Plovdiv 2003.; C) 17...ac8 18.ac1 f8 19.f1 e4 20.b6 xd1+ 21.xd1 e8 22.d2 h6 23.e1 c6 24.e3 c5 with another d ra w in M. G o d e n a (2 5 0 6 ) - Z. Hra ce k (2607), Bled 2002. ] 14.2f3 h6 [ 14...xd4 15.xd4 e4 16.b5 a6 17.b3 d5 18.c2 c6 19.e1 b5 20.ad1 e8 21.g5 h6 22.xf6 hxg5 23.xe7 xe7 24.d4 d8 25.ed1 xd4 26.xd4 d8 27.d3 xd4 28.xd4 with a level queen endgame in M.Godena (2485) - V.Loginov (2505), Budapest 1993 (1/2-1/2 in 36). ] 15.xc6 xc6 16.d4 b5 17.e5 b7 18.g4 xg4 19.xg4 f8 20.d3 Optically this looks good f or W hite, but I haven't found any clear way to make inroads. d8 21.g3 [ Centralisation with 21.ad1 d5 22.e4 leaves White at least not worse. ] 21...d5 22.f4 [ 22.f3! is better, followed by Ra1-e1-e5. ] 22...b8 23.e4 d8 24.e1 a6 25.f4 [ 25.h4! restrains ...g5. The game is equal after c8 ] 25...g5! 26.e4 g7 Trading White's best piece. White needs to be precise to maintain equality. 27.xg7 xg7 28.h4 f6 29.hxg5 [ 29.f4 is the most precise. ad8 30.fxg5 hxg5 31.e3 e7 32.b4 h8 33.hxg5 ( 33.xg5+ xg5 34.xg5+ xg5 35.hxg5

c8 is at least equal for Black) 33...d6 and Houdini thinks the position is dead equal. ] 29...hxg5 30.f4 ad8 31.e3? [ 31.a4 would have kept the balance. ] 31...d3! Wang Yue seizes the initiative and goes on to convert an instructive endgame, a consideration of which is beyond the scope of this column! 32.fxg5 f5 33.f2 xf2+ 34.xf2 xg3 35.xg3 d2 36.a4 xb2 37.axb5 xb5 38.h4 g6 39.c4 xg5 40.g4 a5 41.b1 a4 42.b5 xb5 43.cxb5 a3 44.b6 a2 45.b7 a1 46.b8 h1+ 47.g3 g1+ 48.f3 f1+ 49.g3 e1+ 50.h3 c3+ 51.h4 g7 52.d6 f3 53.d2 f6+ 54.g3 e5+ 55.h4 e4 56.g3 g6 57.d8 e3+ 58.g2 g7 59.e7 f4 60.h4 e4+ 61.f2 d4+ 62.g2 d2+ 63.f3 c3+ 64.g2 b2+ 65.g3 e5+ 66.g2 g6 67.f2 e4+ 68.g3 d3+ 69.h4 d8+ 70.g3 b8+ 71.h3 h8+ 72.g2 c3 73.f4 f6 74.d2 g5 75.e2 f4 76.d3+ g5 77.d8+ f6 78.g8+ g6 79.b8 e4+ 10.Nxd4 is nothing for White. 0-1

2117 Goodger,Martyn Dinger,F Premier Hastings ENG (5) [John Shaw]

B22 2067 2378 01.01.2008

1.e4 c5 2.c3 It is worth noting that Black was over 300 points higher rated. f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 [ 7...c6 Leaving the knight on d5 is the s o l i d l i n e I wo u l d r e c o m m e n d ( a s l a s t month). ] 8.b3 [ 8.d3 dxe5 9.dxe5 a6 I was the one sitting opposite when Nigel Short made this up over-the-board at Gibraltar 2003. I played 10.0-0 but after ( 10.e2 was later recommended by many, but b4 11.e4 d7 is what I saw during the game, and it st ill lo oks like a go od an swe r. 12.xb7? c7; My latest try was 10.g5!? e7 11.xe7 xe7 12.c3 which at least keeps the queens on. Black should be okay 2256

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 though. ) 10...c5 the exchange of queens helps Black. ] 8...dxe5 9.xe5 c6 10.f3 This retreat is more aggressive than [ 10.xc6 bxc6 11.0-0 e7 12.c3 0-0 when Black is fine: there is little chance of a d4-d5 break. ] 10...b4 11.c3 d7 12.0-0 e7 13.e1 An IQP position where Black has fewer pieces than usual on the kingside: a c3-player should be happy to reach this position (you'll get m u c h l e s s i n m o s t 2 . c 3 m a i n l i n e s ) . 0-0 14.e5 4d5 15.d3 c6 [ Varying from 15...a5 as in Howell-McNab, London 2005. Copying David Howell is still a sensible plan for 2. c3 players. ] 16.c2 g6 17.b3 d7 After this Black begins to lose control of d5, which hardly seems possible at the moment. [ 17...f6 is safe and sound. ] 18.h6 The natural try but there are others: [ 18.xd5!? when White will be more active in a symmetrical pawn structure. ] 18...xe5 [ T h e o b v i o u s 18...e8 loses by force in classic IQP style: 19.xf7! xf7 20.xe6! 7b6 ( 20...xe6 21.xd5 xd5 22.e1+ d6 23.f4+ c6 24.a4+ ) 21.e5 g8 22.f3 ] 19.xe5 b4? Trying to keep the pieces on, but it's too late for that. [ 19...e8 also leaves Black with problems o n d 5 . F o r e x a m p l e : 20.xd5 exd5 21.ae1!? ] [ I t w a s t i m e t o b a i l o u t w i t h 19...xc3 20.xf8 f6! 21.xc3 xe5 22.dxe5 but Black would struggle to generate winning chances from this level position. ] 20.e3 e8 21.a3 a6? Losing by force, but the alternative was a probably inferior version of a previously rejected line. [ 21...d5 22.xd5 ( Or 22.xd5 exd5 23.e1 ) 22...exd5 ] 22.d5! This should be "Game Over". exd5 23.xd5 f8 [ 23...xd5 24.xd5 obviously hits b7, and 25.Bxf7+ followed by Qb3+ is the second threat. ] 24.xe8 xe8 25.xf8 xf8 26.e5! [ Everything wins. 26.e1 , bringing in the final piece, is also rapidly 1-0. ]

26...f6 [ 26...g8 27.e7+ f8 28.e1 and Qh8. ] 27.xf6 e7 28.xe7+? Winning but exchanging queens is certainly not the quickest way. [ 28.d7+! xd7 29.f6+ ( My computer k n o w s t h a t 29.e1 is a forced mate, but I calculated the main line as a simple checkcheck-wins variation.) 29...f7 30.h8+ e7 31.e1+ d6 ( 31...e6 32.xe6+ xe6 33.xh7+ ) 32.e5+ c6 33.a4+ ] 28...xe7 29.xh7 c5 30.e1+ d6 31.f6 [ 31.c2 ] 31...xb3 32.xe8? Now Black's active king is a factor. It must still be winning, but it gets away (time trouble?). [ 32.xe8+ ] 32...xe8 33.xe8+ e5 34.h4 a5 35.c7 d2 36.f3 a4 37.f2 c4 38.g4 xb2 39.h5 gxh5 40.gxh5 f5 41.b5 g5 42.e3 xh5 43.d6 g5 44.d2 f6 45.c2 e6 46.xb2 xd6 47.c3 e5 48.b4 f4 49.xa4 xf3 50.b5 e4 51.a4 d4 52.a5 c3 53.b6 b4 54.xb7 xa5 A sad finish, but the first half of the game shows that 2.c3 can be dangerous if Black takes liberties to avoid the "boring" lines. ½-½

2118 Goodger,Martyn Shaw,John K Open Liverpool ENG (2) [John Shaw]

B22 2093 2446 03.09.2007

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 c6 8.0-0 e7 One of the lines Rogozenko recommended in his Anti-Sicilians: a Guide f or Black. 9.a3 White has many other options, but Black has no theoretical problems against any of them. The Roadmap provides about all the knowledge required . 0-0 10.e1 d7 11.d2 Intending to remove the d5-knight without creating a weakness on c3. [ 11.bd2 Howell-Aagaard, British 2007, led to a fine win for Black. ] 2257

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11...c8 12.c3 xc3 13.xc3 a5? This is the usual idea, and was recommended by Rogozenko in analysis he published in support of his book. Positionally it makes sense, but there is a tactical flaw. [ More solid is 13...d5 as I believe Richard Palliser has played. This game is not in my database, but Martin Goodger mentioned it in the post mortem. 14.d3 There is an Advanced French vibe. One lively try is f5!? 15.exf6 gxf6 ] 14.exd6! xd6 [ 14...xc4 15.dxe7 xe7 16.b4 d6 17.d5 is disgusting. ] 15.a2 Next is d4-d5 against almost anything. c6 Consistent but losing a pawn by force. [ 15...c6 is not as solid as it looks. 16.d5 exd5 and White's activity is difficult to control. Black's kingside is short of defenders. A s a m p l e l i n e : 17.xd5 ( 17.xd5!? ) 17...e6 ( 17...g4 18.ad1 ) 18.xe6 fxe6 19.xe6+ h8 20.h6 f6 ( 20...e5? 21.xe5 gxh6 22.g6# ) 21.h5 xf3 22.xf3 ] 16.d5 exd5 17.d4! f6 18.xd5+ h8 19.ad1 c7 All forced since 15...Bc6. [ For example, 19...b6? 20.xb6 axb6 21.xc6 xc6 22.d4 cc8 23.e6 wins material. ] 20.xc6 xd4 Again there was no choice: [ 20...xc6 21.g4 d6 22.e6 ] 21.xd4 xc6 22.xc6? White's first mistake. [ A back rank trick is well hidden in the position. 22.e6! f7 ( 22...g8 23.d7 ) 23.d8! e7 24.xe7 xe7 25.xb7 Black has very few drawing chances. ] 22...bxc6 23.d7 fd8 24.ee7 xd7 25.xd7 d8 Now my back rank trick saves half a point. 26.xd8+ xd8 27.f1 g8 28.d4 a6 29.e2 f7 30.d3 e6 31.c4 e7 32.c5 d8 33.d4 e7 34.c5 d8 ½-½

2119 Gormally,D Jones,G 4NCL 2013-14 (3.111) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2504 2648 11.01.2014

I couldn't help but choose this game for the column, and not only because it features two of ChessPublishing's columnists going headto-head. Some of you may have read Danny's comments in his September column in which he accuses anti-Sicilian players of being "wimpy types" who incorrigibly avoid playing "a proper man's opening". Imagine my glee to witness Danny not only employing my favourite anti-Sicilian, but even using my notes! He does so successfully, I should add, and the game again proves that Black has to be extremely careful in 2...Qxd5 lines in order to maintain the balance. 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.d4 f5 6.e3 In m y op in io n, t he ve rd ict ha s no w be e n returned on the tricky 5...Bf5. Black has good chances to catch an unprepared opponent unawares, as we have seen time and again on this site. However, assuming that White knows what he's doing (and 6.Be3 is a very good start), Black faces the usual story in 2...Qxd5 lines: He can equalise, but only by showing accuracy in completing his development, and t h e r e s u l t in g e n d g a m e s h o l d n e x t t o n o winning chances for the second player. cxd4 7.xd4 e6 8.d2! My suggested improvement from Smerdon-Mararoa, which continued with the weaker 8.Qb3=. ge7?! This doesn't feel quite right. It's a natural idea to try and swap a pair of knights and bring the other stallion to c6, but this gives White the option to either prepare for this plan or avoid it altogether. [ In the notes to Smerdon-Mararoa, I suggest 8...xd4! 9.xd4 e7 as an equaliser. However, it's not dry equality, and seeing as this line is probably critical, let's investigate a b it f u rt h e r: 10.c4!? c6 ( 10...a6? 11.e2 ) 11.e3 a5 ( 11...e4?! 12.b5! e7 13.f3 h4+ 14.g3 h6 15.xc6+ bxc6 16.xf5 exf5 17.d2 ) 12.xf5 xf5 13.d3 d5 ( 13...a5 14.e3 ) 14.0-0 xd4 ( 14...d6 15.e1 xd4 16.e4! c4 17.cxd4 0-0 18.e3 ) 2258

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.cxd4 0-0-0 ( 15...e7 16.a4+ f8 ) 16.c1+ b8 17.c4 ] [ 8...f6 9.e2! is also discussed in Smerdon-Mararoa. ] 9.b3?!= Inaccurate. [ 9.a4! stops Black's plan in its tracks. a6 ( 9...d8 is better, but 10.d1 is still much b e t t e r f o r W h i t e B l a c k wi l l s t r u g g l e t o complete his development without loss.) 10.d1! and Black is in big trouble, e.g. g6? 11.c4!+- b5?? 12.xb5! ] [ 9.2f3!? also looks promising, as xd4 10.xd4 c6 11.a4! is again clearly better for White. ] 9...xd4 10.xd4 a6?! Another inaccuracy. D e s p i t e i t s p l a c i d n a t u r e , t h i s va r i a t i o n requires extreme precision by both parties in order to avoid disaster in the opening - a good reason for a well-prepared ChessPublishing subscriber to employ the line, with both colours! [ 10...c6 is a natural continuation of the plan enacted on move 8. 11.xd5 exd5 12.b3 0-0-0= and Black has nothing to worry about. ] 11.e2! c6 12.xd5 exd5 13.b6! Note the difference between this position and the note to Black's 10th move. Here, Black no longer has the option to castle queenside and is saddled with a permanent weakness on b6 in addition to the isolated pawn. Meanwhile, White has preserved his bishop-pair. These factors combine to give W hite a very easy game, although the position may be holdable. d6 14.0-0 0-0 15.fd1 c2 16.dc1 f5 17.f1 f4 18.d1 fe8 19.e3 [ 19.e3!? e4 20.f1! xe3 21.xe3 e5 22.d4 ] 19...ad8?? An uncharacteristic blunder from one of England's most talented grandmasters. [ 19...xe3 was forced, though the position still requires careful handling from the black side. 20.xe3 ad8 21.d2 e6 22.ad1 d4! 23.cxd4 xa2 would be yet the third (!) t ra n s f e r o f t h e is o la t e d p a wn b e t we e n p l a y e r s , b u t h e r e W h i t e h a s 24.d5! which guarantees lasting pressure. ] 20.xf4 xe2 21.g3!+Black is lost. Ho we ve r, G a wa i n f ig h t s li ke a t ig e r a n d almost saves half a point in the end. e4 22.xe4 xe4 23.d2 f6 24.ad1 g5

25.g3 d4! 26.f3 d5 27.f2 xa2 28.xd4 f7 29.b6 xd2 30.xd2 e6 31.c5 d5 32.e2+ f7 33.b3 e6 34.c4 h5 35.h4? [ 35.f2 ] 35...gxh4 36.h2 f5?! [ 36...e5 ] 37.f2 h3 38.gxh3 e5 39.g3 d7 40.h4 g6 41.d4 c6 42.c3 f7 43.d2 e6 44.f4 e7 45.e4 f7 46.f4 e7 47.d8 f5 48.e1 e7 49.c3 f5 50.b8 d7 51.e1 e7 52.d3 c6 53.d4 g6 54.g3 e6 55.c5 f5! 56.b6 g4 57.f2?? [ 57.f5!! xf5 58.xb7+- ] 57...f3? [ 57...xf4! goes close to saving the day. 58.xb7 ( 58.g8+ f3 59.c5 g2 with very good drawing chances.) 58...xb7 59.xb7 d3! 60.d4 ( 60.c5?? xf2 61.c6 e4-+ ) 60...f5 61.c5 xc5+! 62.xc5 xh4 63.xa6 g4 64.b4 h4 65.b5 h3 66.g1 f4 67.b6 f3 68.b7 h2 69.xh2 f2 70.b8 f1+= ] 58.d4? [ In such a complicated endgame, it's no wo nd e r th e p layers m issed th a t 58.e1! was the only winning move. Don't ask me why the computer told me so. ] 58...xh4! 59.xf6 f5 60.xb7 xb7 61.xb7 xf4 62.xa6 e4?? As is so often the case, the loser is the one who makes the last mistake. Gawain had fought so well to bring the game back from the brink, but just falls short of the line. [ 62...h4! 63.xh4 xh4 64.c5 ( 64.b4 f5 65.b5 e5 66.b6 e7 67.b7 c6= ) 64...f5 65.c6 ( 65.b4 e5 66.b5 d5 67.b6 e7= ) 65...e5 66.c7 e7= ] 63.b4 e3 64.b5 f5 65.h4 e6 66.f2 g4 67.g3 f6 68.c6 e4 69.b5 xg3 70.b6 h4 71.b7 h3 72.b8 h2 73.g8+ f5 74.h7+ e6 75.xh2 1-0

2259

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B22 trying to last a bit longer. c7 24.g4 e5 2309 25.e3 g7 26.fe1 e7 27.d2 d7 28.xd7 xd7 29.xe5 dxe5 30.g5 b4 19.09.1999 31.d5! xb2 32.c3 a3 33.xh4+ g8 34.d8+ h7 35.xd7 xd5 36.xe5 1-0 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d6 6.c4 b6 7.b5+ d7 8.e6 B22 I predict that the majority of players will be 2121 stunned by this spectacular move. It is a Grbac,Boris 2206 sound idea and the piece sacrifice is only Saric,Ante 2350 temporary. fxe6 Bizovac Metalis op 10th (3) 27.02.2003 [ 8...xb5 9.h5! ] [Gary Lane] 9.d3 c6 10.g4 The queen attacks the e6 pawn and protects g2. 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 [ 10.h5+? g6! 11.xg6+ hxg6 12.xh8 5.d4 cxd4 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 8.exd6 xg2 13.h6 6d7 14.g8 a5+ xd6 9.0-0 e6 and Black has a clear advantage. ] [ 9...g4? 10.xf7+ xf7 11.g5+ 10...d7 is good for White. ] [ 10...c8 11.c3 8d7 12.h3 f6 10.xe6 xe6 11.xd4 xd4 12.xd4 13.g3 d7 14.g5 g6 15.0-0 h5 d8 13.h4 e2 The main line is 16.e3 h6 17.xe6 xg5 18.xd7+ considered to be about equal. 14.d2 xd2? xd7 19.xg5 and White had a small This move is hardly mentioned in the books a d v a n t a g e i n E . R o s e n t a l i s - A . D o m o n t , but occurs frequently at club level. The point Geneva 1987 ] is that Black is able to gain two pieces for a [ 10...d7 simply results in the black king rook but the drawback is that his development being very vulnerable to an attack. 11.h3 i s r e t a r d e d . 15.xd2 xd2 16.fd1 h5 12.g3 c8 13.0-0 a6 14.c3 c7 I prefer to move the king's rook to the d-file 15.e1 g5 16.xg5 h6 17.xe6! xe6 because White might need the queen's rook 18.f5 f8 19.xe6+ c7 20.d5 d7 to hassle the black queen if it takes the b2 21.xd7 xd7 22.b5+ b6 23.a4 a5 pawn 24.e3+ xe3 25.xe3+ c5 26.ab1 [ 16.ad1 h6 17.g3 c6 18.d4 f6 h6 27.xe7 ad8 28.b4 axb4 29.xb4 19.b8+ f7 20.d8 a6 21.fd1 a6 30.e2 g6 31.eb1 d3 32.c7+ gives W hite decent play because Black's 1-0 L.Perez-A.Abreu, Cuba 1997. ] development is poor, Gordon,V-Zatonskih,A/ 11.h3 The success of the opening can be Kiev 1998. ] traced to how easy it is for White to construct 16...xb2 a middlegame plan based on rapid [ 16...h6 17.g3 c6 18.b8+ ( 18.d3 development and attacking the e6 pawn. g6 looks like a good alternative c8 19.ad1 12.g5 e5 13.e6 f7 14.f5! Bravo!! A f6 20.b8 f7 21.d7 is better for White, fantastic idea that means Black is busted B a r l e , J - W i t t m a n n , W / L j u b l j a n a 1 9 8 1 .) after just 14 moves. e8 18...c8 19.d3 e6 20.ad1 e7 21.d7 [ 14...gxf5 15.xf5+ e8 16.h5# ] xd7 22.xd7 xd7 23.xb7+ 15.c7 d8 16.e6+ g7 17.xa8 xa8 the jury is still out on who is better here but 18.0-0 A quick count of the pieces make it W hite can cause problems by advancing clear that White has a material advantage. It the queenside pawns d6 24.c4 d8 is also worth noting that the black king is still 25.g3 e5 26.c7+ f5 27.g2 g5 struggling to find shelter which helps White to 28.c5 h5 29.h3 e4 30.b4 f5 31.a4 h4 pursue the attack. h5 19.g5 h4 20.dxe5 32.c6+ e5 33.gxh4 gxh4 34.b5 f4 h5 21.f4 h7 22.exd6 exd6 23.c3 35.f3 d3+ 36.g4 c3 37.xc8 xc5 White is completely winning and Black is just 38.b8+ with a winning advantage, Garcia 2120 Gradalski,Przemyslaw Wegrowski,Henryk Polish Team Ch (2) [Gary Lane]

2260

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 del Rey, S-Villafane Roca,H/Asturias 1999. ] 17.d4 f6 18.a4 e6? [ Or 18...e5 19.d8+ f7 20.a5 with a winning advantage. ] 19.ab1 c2 20.xb6! xd1+ [ 20...axb6 allows 21.d7# mate. ] 21.xd1 axb6 22.h5+ d7 23.f7+ c6 [ 23...e7 24.xg7 c8 25.xh7 xc3 26.g4+- ] 24.e8+ c7 25.xe6 c5 26.f7+ b8 27.xg7 d8 28.g3 [ 28.h4 d2 29.xh7 xf2+- ] 28...d2 29.xf6 [ 29.xh7 xf2 30.h1 f1+ 31.g2 f2+ 32.h3 f5+- ] 29...a7 [ 29...xf2 30.d8+ a7 31.h1+- ] 30.g4 a6 [ 30...xf2 31.xf2 b8+- ] 31.h4 a5 32.g5 a2 [ 32...b5 33.f5 xf2+ 34.f1 b6 35.xh7 g3 36.axb5 f2+ 37.g1 f3+- ] 33.f7 xa4 34.xh7 f4 [ 34...g4+ 35.f1+- ] 35.g6 xf2+ 36.g2 [ 36.g2 c5 37.g7 g4+ 38.f3+- ] 1-0

2122 Greet,Andrew Houska,Jovanka Monarch Assurance (9) [Andrew Martin]

B22 2310 2375 03.10.2004

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.d4 cxd5 5.c3 e6 6.f3 b4 7.cxd5 I NT RO D UCI NG T HE P L A YE RS : A n d re w Greet is a promising young player of master strength from Cornwall, England. He recently came close to a GM in the British Championships and has a solid, dogged style. If I am not mistaken he is trying to broaden his horizons by employing more attacking opening systems, particularl y with W hite. Jovanka Houska is a female Grandmaster, very solid, tenacious and reliable. She is playing chess continuously at the moment, looking to improve. xd5 8.d2 0-0 9.d3 e7 10.0-0 c6 11.a3 f6 12.e3 b6

13.e2 b7 14.ad1 A typical IQP position where W hite must now decide on the best squares for his Rooks and then launch the attack. Without a White Bishop on g5 I have always felt very comfortable as Black . ...Rc8, ...Re8,... Bf8...g6 follows and then comes the pressure on d4. It's not as simple as that undoubtedly, but if you feel good about your position you will certainly play it well! [ 14.ac1 is a solid alternative, but little else. Black has no weak points. d5! 15.xd5 xd5 16.c2 h5 An excellent spot for the Black queen. It's now White who has to think about equalizing. 17.e4 ac8 18.a4 b5 19.d1 g4 20.g5 xd1 21.fxd1 h6 22.f3 fd8 23.d5 exd5 24.xd5 xd5 25.xd5 f6 26.xc6 xc6 27.xc6 xc6 28.d4 xf3 1/2-1/2 Kroeze, F-Khenkin, I/ Almelo NED 2004 Pretty representative. White handled his responsibilities well. ] 14...c7 15.fe1 ad8= Preparing ...Nd5. 16.b1 The traditional battery of Bishop and Queen lined up against h7 doesn't seem too frightening. d5 17.c2 g6 18.xd5 xd5 19.a2 [ 19.c1 c8 ( 19...f6 20.e2 d7 21.e4 d6= ) 20.e2 f6 21.e4 dd8 22.b4 b8= ] 19...d7 20.h4? One slip is all it takes. [ White had much better chances of d e ve lo p in g a n in it i a t ive wit h t h e u s u a l central advance: 20.d5! exd5 21.xd5 f6 ( 21...fd8 22.c4 f6 23.f4 ) 22.d2 fd8 23.ed1 g7 24.b4 a6 25.a4 ] 20...e5! A total shock if you are the recipient of such a move. W atch out forunprotected pieces!! 21.dxe5 [ 21.xc7 xf3+ 22.gxf3 xc7 is just all pain and no gain for Greet and so he decides to abandon his Queen for a few cheapos. ] 21...xc2 22.xd7 xf3 23.xe7 xb2 24.h6 xa2 25.xf8 xf8 26.xa7 d5 27.a4 There is really nothing to be said anymore. the White Rooks cannot even join together! b5 28.b4 xa3 29.xb5 a4 30.b8+ g7 31.e3 xh4 32.b1 g5 Ye s , it ' s o f f i c ia l : B l a c k c a n wi n t h e I Q P positions too! 0-1

2261

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2123 Gvetadze,Sopio Dzagnidze,Nana 65th ch-GEO w (5) [Andrew Martin]

B22 2352 2429 03.03.2008

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.d4 f6 6.a3 A toothless line, once Black has evaded the obvious opening traps. d8 A safe enough way of dealing with threats based around Nb5 and Nc7+, despite the slight loss of time. 7.d3 [ 7.dxc5 xd1+ 8.xd1 d7 ( 8...xc5 9.b5 a6 10.e3 xe3 11.fxe3 0-0= ) 9.b5 xb5 10.xb5+ c6 11.b4 e4 12.c2 xf2 13.f1 g4 14.h3 f6 15.e5 c8 16.xc6 bxc6 17.a6 c7 18.f4 e7 19.c4 e5 20.g5 c7 21.xf6 gxf6 Borsos, B (2301)-Csirik, A (2051)/ Hungary 2007 22.xf6 ] 7...c6 8.0-0 [ 8.dxc5 xc5 9.c4 c7 10.e2 b6 11.0-0 b7 12.a4 0-0 13.g5 fd8 14.fe5 xe5 15.xe5 d5 16.ae1 ad8 17.b1 h6 18.xf6 gxf6 19.g4 f4 20.e4 g5 21.f3 f5 22.e3 5d7-+ Littlewood, J (2320)-Suba, M (2505)/ Eastbourne 1990 ] 8...cxd4 9.cxd4 e7 [ Even 9...xa3 10.bxa3 0-0 appears playable, where Black knowingly surrenders the two Bishops in return for easy development and attack against the White pawn structure. 11.g5! h6 12.h4 d6! I think this is right. 13.xf6 ( 13.g3!? xa3 14.e2 d8 15.fd1 b4 ) 13...gxf6 14.d2 g7 and Black is approximately equal. ] 10.e3 b4 11.e2 0-0 12.e5 d7 13.b3 e8 Black has done nothing remarkable, yet still reaches a very comfortable position. It's typical c3 fare a game of chess rather than any theoretical debate. 14.ac4 b5 15.d2 a5 16.a3 a4! 17.d1 bd5 The computers say equal, but I slightly prefer Black's chances. The diehard Sicilian player could not fail to be satisfied with Black's game. 18.d3 b4 19.dc4 b5 20.c1 bxa3 21.bxa3 d7 [ 21...b8 22.d2 a7 was an interesting way of mounting pressure on d4. ]

22.b1? A very odd tactical miscalculation. White should just plod on with Re1. [ 22.e1 h6= ] 22...c3? Mistake for mistake. Black should take on e5 first: [ 22...xe5! 23.xe5 ( 23.dxe5 xe3 24.fxe3 xc4 25.xc4 xd1 26.fxd1 xa3; 23.xb5 xc4 24.xc4 c3 ) 23...c3 24.xh7+ xh7 25.c2+ g8 26.xc3 c8 27.d2 xf1 ] 23.h5? This phase of the game is less than impressive, tactically speaking. [ 23.xh7+ xh7 24.d3+ g8 25.xc3 xe5 26.dxe5 a6 is about equal. ] 23...f6 24.h3 xb1 25.xb1 xc4 26.xc4 b8-+ Black is winning comfortably now. 27.e1 b3 28.e5 d6 29.g5 xe5 30.xf6 xd3! 31.xd8 xh3 32.gxh3 xd4 33.e7 c8 The reckoning. White is left a pawn down with her remaining pawns a shamble. 34.b1 f6 35.b4 e5 36.xa4 c2 37.b4 xf2+ 38.f1 d4 39.a8+ f7 40.f8+ e6 41.a4 xh2 42.a5 xh3 43.e8+ d5 44.e7 c4 45.e1 g5 46.c7+ d5 47.g2 e3 48.b4 h5 49.e7 e2+ 50.f1 a2 51.e1 f5 52.xg5 xa5 53.h7 a1+ 54.e2 a2+ 55.f1 f4 56.xh5 f3 6 Na3 is the type of line commonly seen at lower levels where opening traps are the order of the day. It would be especially effective in evening games. Yet Dzagnidze showed the way here for Black with the effortless retreat 6..Qd8 and traditional Sicilian development thereafter. 0-1

2124 Hadzimanolis,Antonios Anastasian,Ashot IX EICC Plovdiv BUL (1) [David Vigorito]

B22 2293 2560 21.04.2008

This game caught my attention - an Alekhine's Defence quickly turns into a 2. c3 Sicilian! Note that in the game both sides h a ve t a k e n a n e x t r a m o v e t o r e a c h t h e position. Black plays a "bad line" in order to avoid White's gambit play. 1.e4 f6 [ 1...c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 2262

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 5.cxd4 d6 6.f3 c6 7.c4 b6 8.b3 would be our Sicilian move order. ] 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.c5 d5 5.d4 d6 6.cxd6 cxd6 7.f3 c6 8.c4 b6 9.b3 d5 [ 9...dxe5 is covered in this month's Smerdon-Sales game. ] 10.h3!? [ 10.h4 is suppose to be critical - White denies Black the opportunity to develop his c8-bishop outside the pawn chain. After e6 11.f3 White has spent two tempi though... The Bb3 is also hardly placed ideally. This approach is covered in Spence-Wang Yue, which can be found in the archives. ] 10...f5 11.c3 e6 12.0-0 e7 Black has a comfortable French/Caro structure - the f5bishop is well developed, he has already "achieved" ...c5, and he has sufficient room for all of his minor pieces. 13.e3 0-0 14.c1 c8 15.e1?! [ It is not easy for White to find a plan. p e r h a p s h e s h o u l d j u s t p l a y 15.c2 and try to stir something up on the kingside. Is the b3-bishop really "better" than its counterpart on f5?! ] 15...g6 16.d3 c4 17.e2 xe3 Black does not need to hurry this exchange, but it's not bad. 18.fxe3 a5 19.d1 xd3 The same thing applies to this exchange. Black's position is so solid that how he proceeds is largely a matter of taste. In the arising position with opposite-coloured bishops, W h i t e ' s p a wn c h a i n i s m o r e v u l n e r a b l e because his control over e3, d4, and e5 is less secure than Black's pawn chain, based at f7. 20.xd3 g5 21.b3 g6 22.g4 c6 23.b5?! White position is not so terrible, but it is difficult for him to do anything active. This lunge does not do much. e7 24.h4? This just loses. a6! [ Not 24...xh4 25.d6 with counterplay, for example c7 26.xf7! ] 25.d6 xd6 26.exd6 xh4 Now White only lacks compensation for the pawn, but d6 is sure to fall as well. 27.f4 d8 28.cf1 f5 29.e2 xd6 An easy game for Black, but I think that 9...d5 (8...d5 from the Sicilian move order) is a reasonable way to play for those surprised by White's Bb3 gambit. 0-1

2125 Handoko,Edhi Mihelich,Patrick US Open Los Angeles USA (2) [Gary Lane]

B22 2429 04.08.2003

1.e4 c5 2.c3 a5 This has been attracting comment on the bulletin board. It is designed to stop building up the usual pawn centre. 3.f3 [ 3.d4?! cxd4 4.xd4 of course the c-pawn is pinned which is the point of the line c6 is fine for Black. ] 3...c6 4.c4 f6 [ 4...e6 5.0-0 b5 6.b3 c7 7.d4 a5 8.c2 b7 I have to say that Black deserves to lose after moving his knight around the board and allowing it to end up on b7 9.e1 d6 10.f4 d7 11.bd2 f6 12.f1 e7 13.g3 c6 14.d5 d7 15.dxe6 fxe6 16.e5! d5 17.exd6 xd6 18.e5 f6 ( if 18...0-0 then 19.f5! is good news for White) 19.g5 1-0 Dekker, J-Knight,T/Les Dicqs 2002. ] 5.e2 The queen defends the e-pawn. [ 5.d3 e6 6.g5 d5 7.exd5 exd5 8.xf6 ( 8.b3 e6 9.0-0 is equal ) 8...dxc4 9.h4 cxd3 10.xd3 e6 11.0-0 c4 12.e2 d6 13.d1 c7 14.a3 0-0 15.xc4 a6! Black is pawn down but after he excha n ge s p iece s o n c4, W h ite will b e burdened with weak doubled pawns 16.b3 h6 17.d4 xc4 18.xc4 xc4 19.bxc4 fe8 20.ab1 b6 21.xc6 bxc6 22.e1 a5 23.e3 b6 24.ee1 a5 1/2-1/2 Rozentalis,E-Miezis,N/Gausda l 2003. ] 5...d6 6.h3 e6 7.0-0 e7 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d5 10.exd5 xd5 11.d2 White just gets on with the job of developing. d8 12.c3 0-0 13.fd1 xc3 14.xc3 d7 15.d5! A theme of the C3 Sicilian is to try and play d4-d5 at the right moment to open the position. exd5 16.xd5 c7 [ 16...c8 is a better bet because if White c o n t i n u e s w i t h 17.g5 then f5 allows Black to temporarily hold the position. ] 17.g5 h6? Mihelich wrongly assumes that the knight will automatically retreat. 18.d3

2263

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 hxg5 19.xd7 b8 20.e1 b5 21.g6! 1-0

2126 Hansen,Sune Berg Krasenkow,Michal Bundesliga 2004-5 (8) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2551 2676 29.01.2005

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.d4 f6 6.e3 The critical move here, as all c3 Sicilian fans will know. [ 6.d3 I used to think that this move was the most dangerous for Black, but then I noticed that none of the strong c3 players played it. The reason it seems to fall short is that Black is not compelled to take on d4. The bishop on d3 is well placed for attacking the Black king in an IQP position, but not so well placed for ideas based on c4 and dc and playing on the queenside, so Black just sits tight and after a few moves White has to decide how to develop his knight on b1. ] [ 6.e2 c6 7.0-0 cxd4 8.cxd4 e7 9.c3 d6 is generally considered to be fine for Black. ] [ 6.a3!? may still have some sting, mainly because it's difficult for Black to remember what to do about it. ] 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 b4+!? An idea that is growing in popularity and has been used to good effect by many strong GMs including Kurajica, Socko and Krasenkov. 8.c3 0-0 9.d3 This allows Black to make good sense of his position. [ 9.e2!? Might be an improvement here with the idea of b6 10.e5!? When Bf3 becomes a dangerous idea. However, after e4!? it's hard to understand what is going on. Things turned out well for Black in J Shaw-B Kurajica, Calvia Olympiad 2004 11.c2 a6 12.f3 f5 13.d3 c6 14.0-0 xc3 15.bxc3 xd3 16.xd3 e5! but I am sure W hite can improve on that game and my feeling is that the position after 10...Ne4!? is critical for the assessment of the 7...Bb4+ idea. ] 9...b6 10.0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 a6 12.xa6 xa6 White's position doesn't look so bad, because Black cannot force a light squared

blockade. However, as this game shows, W hite's pawns are weak in the long term, while Black's position is extremely solid. 13.e2 b8 14.c4 e4 15.b2 bd7 16.a4 ac8 17.ac1 c7 18.fe1 fc8 19.b3 f5 20.h3 e4 21.a5 h6 22.axb6 axb6 23.h4 f6 24.f3 f5 25.e2 a8 26.ec2 ef6 27.d2 ca7 28.b4 a1 29.b2 e4 30.e7 xc1+ 31.xc1 h5 32.d6 c6 33.h2 hf6 34.e5 e8 35.f4 a4 36.b3 a8 37.b5 ef6 38.e5 a5 39.b1 e4 40.f4 a2 41.b5 xf2 42.f1 d3 43.xh6 gxh6 44.xd7 f4 45.f2 a3 46.xa2 xa2 47.h4 xc4 48.d8+ g7 49.xb6 c1+ 50.h2 e1 51.d8 e2 52.f3 g3+ 53.h1 f4 54.h4 d3 55.f3 f2+ 56.g1 xh3+ 57.h1 f4 58.h4 g4 59.h2 d5 60.f3 e3 61.h4 f4+ An impressive grind by Krasenkov and a warning to c3 Sicilian players to take this line seriously. 0-1

2127 Hellrung,Bernhard Schwark,Mario Leipzig (3) [Gary Lane]

B22

1997

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 d6 It is worth remembering that the position can also be reached via the move-order 2...d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 cxd4 e6. 5.f3 f6 6.c3 e7 [ 6...a6 7.d3 c6 8.0-0 e7 9.a3 b5 10.c2 h6 11.e5 d5? whoops! 12.xd5 1-0 H.Hoffmann-D.Buech,Germany 1998. ] 7.d3 0-0 [ 7...c6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 h6 10.e3 ( perhaps 10.e2!? is worth considering) 10...a6 11.c1 d7 12.e5 e8 13.a3 c8 14.b1 f5 15.exf6 xf6 16.d3 d5 17.xh6 ( Or 17.e5!? is a way to continue t h e b a t t l e) 17...gxh6 18.g6+ h8 19.xh6+ g8 20.g6+ h8 21.fe1 d6 22.h6+ g8 1/2-1/2 K.Cojhter-M. Drobne, Maribor 1997. ] 8.0-0 a6 9.e2 It should become apparent with a study of the games in this variation that the queen of ten goes to this square. The 2264

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 basic idea is to help connect the pair of rooks, be ready to support the advance e5 and play Qe4. c6 10.h3 b5 11.e5 This advance is crucial to many attacks because it deprives Black of the knight that defends h7. dxe5 12.dxe5 d5 13.xd5 exd5 [ 13...xd5 looks reasonable but the queen on d5 soon becomes very vulnerable after 14.d1 c5 15.e4 g6 16.h6 intending Rac1 is winning for White. ] 14.f4 b4 15.b1 b7 16.d4! It looks like the knight is only heading for the f5 square but it also sets a deadly trap. e8? [ 16...e8 17.f5 g6 18.g4 promises White a decent attack. ] 17.a3 c6 18.xc6 xc6 19.c2 A standard trick that uses an attack on h7 to win material by also hitting the hapless bishop on c6. g6 20.xc6 c8 21.xa6 d7 There is no real prospect of trapping the white queen but it is never fun to resign just after the opening. 22.d3 c4 23.xc4 bxc4 24.fd1 c8 25.xd5 1-0

18.b1 b4 with better chances for Black, Zumsande,M-Boensch,U/Tegernsee 2003. ] 11.c3 f5 12.xb7 b8 13.c7 e7! Black carries on developing the kingside. Also possible: [ 13...c8 14.f4 xf4 15.xf4 xd4 16.e5 ( 16.xd4 xc4 17.d1 a3! gives Black an edge) 16...d6 17.a6 c5 18.xd7 ( 18.xf7!? xf4 19.xh8 looks rather complicated because the knight on h8 is trapped) 18...xd7 19.xd6 xd6 20.d1 with roughly equal chances, Ke itlingh au s,L -So u leid is, G/ B ad e n O o s 2004. ] 14.f4 xf4 15.xf4 xb2 Black gets his pawn ba ck a nd is rewa rded with a t leas t equality. 16.d5 exd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 0-0 19.c1 [ I like 19.e1 threatening to win a piece with Bxc6 and Rxe7. It a lso allows W hite t o retreat the bishop to c1 without blocking in the queen's rook. ] 19...b5 20.c4 b4 21.d3 [ If 21.b3 then f6 22.b1 f5 is winning for Black. ] 21...f6 22.b1 fb8 Black has the initiative 2128 B22 b e c a u s e W h i t e h a s n o t ye t m a n a g e d t o Henris,Luc 2249 develop his king's rook. A direct result of Popovic,Petar 2502 W hite volunteering to move his king in the Belgian Team Championship (11) 23.03.2004 opening. 23.xb4 xb4 24.f4 [ 24.c4 to protect the a-pawn allows c8 [Gary Lane] and the game is effectively over as a contest 25.d2 e6 winning. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.a4+!? The Belgian 24...c8 25.b1 d5 26.d2 b8 [ Also possible: 26...b5+ 27.g1 c3 international favours this line and has a good 28.xc3 xc3 29.h3 c6 with the brighter s c o r e w i t h i t . d7 This is considered the prospects. ] strongest reply. It is logical in that the bishop on g4 is no longer pinning the knight so it 27.e4 c3 28.xc3 xc3 29.e2 b2+ might as well be moved. 7.b3 cxd4 8.c4 30.e3 a5 [ 30...xa2? is amusing for White upon e4+ 9.f1 A line loaded with risk because 31.d1 e8 32.d8 f8 33.c6 White gives up the right to castle. e6 10.cxd4 and Black can resign. ] [ 10.bd2 is also popular. ] 31.d1 b6+ 32.f4 e6 Black is in control 10...c6 [ 10...c6 11.c3 a6 Black is of the position with the two bishops covering understandably wary of allowing a bishop or all the vital back rank checks. As an added knight to land on the b5 square 12.g5 b5 bonus White is poised to lose a pawn, which 13.d3 b6 ( or 13...e7? 14.xf6 xf6 is very bad news in such an ending. 33.a3 15.e4 wins ) 14.d1 c6 15.a3 e7 xf2 34.g3 h6 35.d2 f1 36.e5 c7+ ( 15...xd4 allows White to enjoy a decent 37.d4 a1 38.c5 xa3 39.c6 b6 initiative upon 16.xd4 xd4 17.e4 a7 40.d4 c3+ 41.b7 c7+ 18.xa8 xa8 ) 16.h4 h6 17.f4 c8 0-1 2265

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bright f or W hite af ter 7...0-0-0 8.xd7 xd7 9.xa7 cxd4 10.f3 with Bf4 coming fast, and note that the white king can always fit snugly at f2 if required. ] 2000 8.f3! Hitting the g4-bishop and also preparing to p lay Bc4 wit hou t allowing ...Q xg2 . f5 Quick Tricks and Traps 1) W30: "Look out for 9.c4 d6 10.f4 Menacing some nasty Luc's new knight-move!" Sicilian 2 c3, Code discovered attacks from f4 towards d6 if the B22. [Notes are very kindly given by FM Luc e 5 - k n i g h t m o v e s o u t o f t h e w a y . b6 Henris] In 1997, with a lot of excitement, I Mr Mo: Luc ly gave numerous other lines here, d i s c o v e r e d t h e a m a zi n g 7 N e 5 ! a n d t h e but the conclusion is basically always the complications resulting from this move in the same: Black is busted due to the terrible pin following line of the c3-Sicilian. During the along the a4 to d7 diagonal, combined with same year, at the Pardubice Open, I met GM the fact that his queen is now being hounded Drazen Sermek, one of the best connoisseurs constantly by White's attacking pieces. 11.b5 of the opening. We discussed and refined the d8 [ 11...d8 12.g5 is another "dead end" for id e a t o ge t h e r. T h e n I h a d t o wa it f o r a n Black. ] opportunity to use the novelty... and it was only a few weeks ago that I finally succeeded 12.c4 Bye bye Black queen! c2 13.b3 in playing 7 Ne5! over the board. 1.e4 c5 d5 14.xb6 and Black soon resigned. 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 1-0 6.a4+ [ I like this interesting deviation from the 2130 B22 more common path of 6.e2 ] 6...bd7 Hess,Robert L 2609 [ Mr Mo: GM Jonathan Rowson prefers Arnold,Marc Tyler 2445 6...d7 7.b3 cxd4 which he played as Politiken Cup (4.8) 01.08.2011 Black at the recent Istanbul Olympiad. ] [Richard Palliser] 7.e5! [ W30.1: The main line is supposed to be 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.d4 7.c4 although in the game G. Brauening-Z. cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 Hracek, Kecskemet 1992, Black was clearly [ A solid alternative to the main line, 7...c6 better after e4+ 8.e3 xf3 9.d2 c6 8.0-0 e7 . ] 10.b5 xg2! 11.xc6 xc6 12.b3 8.d3 xh1 ] [ This doesn't seem to lead anywhere, so [ Another interesting and untried idea is probably White should prefer 8.b3 dxe5 7.bd2!? ] 9.xe5 c6 10.f3! b4 11.c3 d7 7...e6 12.0-0 e7 13.e1 reaching 'an IQP [ The extent of Black's problems becomes position where Black has fewer pieces than clearer as we start to examine some other usual on the kingside: a c3-player should be possibilities too:- a) 7...f5 8.f3! leads to happy to reach this position', as John noted. cxd4 ( 8...e6 transposes to the actual Se e h is co m me n t s to G o od ge r-Din ge r, game ) 9.cxd4 xb1 ( 9...e6 10.c3 d6 Hastings 2008, in the Archive. ] 11.g5 b4 12.b5 is another nightmare 8...dxe5 for Black ) 10.c4! ] [ Black should liquidate the centre. Instead [ b) 7...cxd4 8.cxd4 followed by Nb1-c3 8...c6 9.0-0 e7 10.c3 0-0 11.e2 d5 embarrasses Black's queen ] 12.e3 gives White a pleasant position [ c) 7...g6 8.f3 e6 9.f4 followed by Bc4 against Black's French set-up - see Timmanis similarly unpleasant for the black lady ] Bruzon, Curacao (rapid) 2005, in the [ d) W30.2: The game S. Slapikas-M. Archive. ] Rytshagov, Mezezers 2000, was also very 9.dxe5 a6! 2129 Henris,Luc Sclacmender,Julien Soignies Blitz, 2000 blitz [Paul Motwani]

B22

2266

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Nigel Short's key idea - the knight is bound for c5. I'd always thought it should go via a6, but 9...8d7!? seems quite viable too. Play transposes if White castles and after 10.g5 e7 ( 10...c7?! 11.0-0 xe5 looks rather greedy White has a few ideas here and in L. Vajda-Rodriguez Lopez, Budapest 2011, 12.b5+ d7 13.c3 xf3+ 14.xf3 c6 15.ac1 saw him beginning to press) 11.xe7 xe7 12.c3 we've reached note 'b' to White's 10th, below. ] 10.0-0 John's choice in Shaw-Short, Gibraltar 20 0 3 , b ut la t e r h e p re f erre d t o ke e p t h e queens on. White can do so with both: [ a) 10.e2 gives Black a couple of ideas, including c5 ( 10...b4 11.e4 d7 was John's other idea an aggressive white player might then try 12.c3 4d5 13.0-0 xc3 14.bxc3 and if c7 perhaps 15.g5!? which doesn't look at all clear) 11.c2 d5 12.0-0 d7 followed by ...Qb6 (Shaw). ] [ b) 10.g5 e7 11.xe7 xe7 12.c3 c5 13.c2 d7 14.0-0 d8 and now subscribers will find A) More recently 15.e2 c6 ( first 15...0-0 would seem to be advisable) 16.b5! xb5 17.xb5+ cd7 18.ad1 0-0 19.h4 fe8 20.d4 f8 21.fd1 xd4 22.xd4 d8 23.xd8 xd8 24.e4 saw White retain a small pull in Gavrilov-Peptan, Eforie Nord 2011.; B) 15.d4!? in Shaw-Karttunen, Turin Olympiad 2006, with Jonathan's notes in the Archive. ] 10...c5 11.c2 xd1 12.xd1 d5 [ B l a c k c a n a l s o b e g i n w i t h 12...d7 , as he did in Shaw-Short, where 13.c3 c8 14.a4 a5 15.d4 e7 was pretty comfortable for Black. ] 13.d4!? A new idea. White activates his rook be f ore B d 2 b lo cks it , a lth o ugh e ven th is doesn't really seem to give him anything. [ Previously 13.d2 d7 14.c3 b4! 15.b1 bd3 had been a little annoying for W hite in Aepfler-Handke, Bad W iessee 2008, ] [ while 13.c3 xc3 14.bxc3 d7 15.d4 0-0-0!? ( 15...e7 would be normal and good, hoping later to exploit Black's small structural advantage) 16.g5 e8 17.a4

wasn't too clear in Cazelais-Belezky, Caleta 2005. ] 13...d7 14.d2 There's no better square for the bishop and now any exchange of knights o n c 3 w o n ' t c r i p p l e W h i t e ' s p a w n s . e7 15.g4 Making use of the rook, but Hess' young American compatriot has developed very sensibly thus far and doesn't have any problem dealing with this. g6 16.h6! [ A decent practical try, preventing Black f r o m g o i n g s h o r t a n d g ivi n g h i m s o m e problems to solve. Instead 16.c3 c6 would have been rather comfortable for Arnold. ] 16...f5! I rather like this bold response. Black doesn't worry about weakening the g5-square, rather he wants to increase his light-squared presence in preparation for the coming . ..Bc6. 17.d4 [ The rook goes back, as 17.exf6?! xf6 would have f orced W hite into a slightly unconvincing pawn sacrifice. ] 17...c6 18.bd2 0-0-0 19.c1 [ W h i t e w o u l d l i k e t o p l a y 19.g5!? , but after d7 ( 19...f4 20.xf4 xd2 21.c1 b8 may also be OK for Black) 20.d1 hd8 Black is holding: 21.df3 ( and not, of course, 21.xh7?? h8 ) 21...b4! 22.xd7 xd7 23.xd7 xd7 24.b1 bd3 with sufficient counterplay against e5. ] 19...b8 20.d1 This feels a little inconsistent with W hite's last, but I haven't been able to find anything better. Black is just very solidly placed. d7 21.b3 hd8 22.g5! White's only hope is to exploit the weakened dark squares once these bishops come off. a6! [ Eyeing the b4-square. Instead 22...xb3 23.xb3 c7 24.h4 would have given White some chances to press. ] 23.xe7 xe7 24.a5 [ Beginning a plan to increase the pressure on the d-file. More consistent would have been 24.h4 , a l t h o u g h a f t e r c8 ( 24...g5!? is tempting, hoping to attack g2, but after 25.h6! the weakness of e6 becomes more pronounced) 25.bd4 db4 26.xc6+ xc6 27.a4 ab4 Black shouldn't have too many problems, with e5 as weak as e6 and h7. ] 2267

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24...b5 25.4d2 c8 26.b3 Continuing the plan begun by his 24th. c5! [ After 26...b6 27.d4 d7 28.c2 the weakness of e6 may give White an edge. Arnold prefers a more dynamic defence. ] 27.d4 [ White hasn't anything after this. The critical test was, of course, 27.xd5 exd5 28.xd5 e2 29.c1 e6 30.xc8+ xc8 when e5 is quite weak and Black seems to h a v e e n o u gh c o u n t e rp la y. W it h 31.e1 White avoids having his pawns doubled, but a6 leaves White short of a great move and 32.g3 ( 32.f3 would prudently repeat) 32...c7 33.c5 d7 generates the awkward threat of ...b6. ] 27...xb3 28.axb3 a6 Wisely keeping the bishop in touch with the knight's likely retreat f r o m a 5 t o c 4 . 29.xe6 Finally White achieves a breakthrough... but not any advantage. f6 30.exf6 xe6 31.d7 xf6 32.h4 b6 [ There would have been little left to play for after 32...b6 33.c4 xc4 34.bxc4 c7 . ] ½-½

2131 Hess,Robert L Negi,Parimarjan World Team Ch., Ningbo (5) [Richard Palliser]

B22 2609 2642 21.07.2011

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.c4 d6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 c6 8.0-0 e7 9.a3 This hasn't been at all fashionable of late, but not so long ago received a fair bit of testing. As we'll see, Hess comes armed with a new idea and may also have decided that it was unlikely Negi had studied 9 a3 for a while. 0-0 10.e1 d7 [ Black almost always develops thus, although 10...b6!? has also been tried see Andrew Martin's notes to D.HowellMestel, 4NCL 2008, in the Archive. ] 11.bd2 Supporting the bishop and preparing to come to e4 in some lines, but this is far from forced and White has too: [ a) 11.d2 c8 12.c3 xc3 13.xc3 A) criticised by John and rightly so I believe having played this once too, I later

switched to 13...d5 14.d3 f5 15.exf6 xf6 and now 16.e3 ( more vigorous than the 16.e5 of Goodger-Palliser, Bolton 2006, where xe5 17.dxe5 g5!? 18.g3 e8 19.h4?! h5 20.xh5 xh5 was extremely pleasant for me) 16...g6 17.b3 was perhaps a little better for White in Shaw-G.Pinter, 4NCL 2008 - see the Archive for the victor's notes; B) 13...a5?! 14.exd6! xd6 15.a2 saw White enjoying a strong initiative in Goodger-Shaw, Liverpool 2007. ] [ b) 11.d3 is hardly ever mentioned, largely I suspect because if after c8 White has nothing better than 12.e2 then one might question why the rook went to e1. Black has several possibilities at this point, with a5!? ( 12...b6! might well be the most precise, since 13.e4 f5 14.exf6 xf6 15.h4 d5 leaves Black ahead in development and pre tt y act ive in a Fre nch Ta rras c h -lik e situation ) 13.a2 (preparing a combination, but also one I was happy to fall in with) b6! 14.b4 b3 15.xh7+ xh7 16.d3+ g8 17.xb3 a6 one which gave me excellent play for the pawn, thanks to W hite's weaknesses down the c-file and on the light squares in Hanley-Palliser, Blackpool 2003. ] [ c) John has also given some coverage to Da vid Ho we ll's id e a o f 11.d3!? c8 12.d2 a6 ( 12...b6 13.c3 xc3 14.xc3! reveals one point of White's set-up the queenside is secured and in Brandenburg-Rotstein, Groningen 2010, dxe5 15.dxe5 fd8 16.e4 a5 17.d3 g6 18.ad1 b3 19.f4 saw White b e gi n n i n g t o p r o b e B l a ck 's vu l n e r a b l e kingside ) 13.c3 xc3 14.xc3 , as in Howell-Hillarp Persson, Oslo 2008. I wouldn't be totally surprised if other leading c3 Sicilian exponents also began to give this whirl. ] 11...c8 [ Very natural, but not exactly forced. I think I would play this way, but one alternative to look into might be 11...dxe5!? 12.dxe5 a5 13.a2 ( 13.d3 f4 14.b1 b5 homes in on the now-vulnerable d3-square) 13...b5 14.e4 , when the issue is whether Black can sufficiently distract White 2268

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 on c4 before he launches a powerful attack on the kingside. ] 12.exd6!? [ A logical novelty. Previously White had played 12.b4?! , but after the vigorous b5! 13.xd5 exd5 14.b3 g4 Black had good counterplay in D.Howell-Aagaard, Britis h Cha mpionship, Gre at Ya rmo ut h 2007. ] [ Interestingly Jacob Aagaard recently covered this variation for Black in 'Experts on the Anti-Sicilian', where he suggests that t h e u n t rie d 12.e4!? is 'White's strongest option', and it will be interesting to see if this takes off. Aagaard's main recommendation begins with the solid c7 , ( although he also mentions Rybka's bold idea of 12...xe5!? 13.dxe5 xc4 14.exd6 xe4! 15.xe4 xd6 with the two bishops and a pawn for the exchange. I doubt it's quite enough, but then again as a winning try against a lower-rated opponent... )] 12...xd6 13.e4 This was, of course, the main point behind the exchange on d6. f4!? [ Ambitious. I dare say Negi wanted to avoid the main lines of Hess' preparation and Black will obtain decent enough compensation after this. It was possible to m o ve t h e qu e e n , b u t wh y n o t t h e ca lm 13...e7 ? A f t e r, sa y, 14.a2 ( 14.d3 is the other way to set up a battery, but it seems that White shouldn't hurry with it after b6 15.c2 fd8 16.d3 g6 it's not so clear what's W hite doing next, whereas Black is all set to obtain good counterplay w i t h . . . N a 5; I also considered various attempts to use the g5-square, but certainly if 14.g5 Black has f6! when it seems strange to place the bishop on h4 or back on c1, but after 15.d2 Black can liquidate the whole board with xd4 16.xd5 xf3+ 17.xf3 exd5 18.d6 xd6 19.xd5+ h8 20.xd6 c6 ) 14...b6 ( this no longer convinces, so perhaps Black must keep on going backwards, preferring another solid move in 14...f6 ) 15.d3 fd8 16.b4! White has a definite pull with options on both flanks. ] 14.xd5 exd5 15.xf4 dxe4 16.xe4 e6 This was Negi's idea. Black will obtain a certa in grip on the light squa res a nd th e

position rather reminds me of that most solid of openings, the Petroff. 17.e3 [ The rook was going to have to retreat in any case and it is logical to switch it to the c-file, b u t w e s h o u l d a l s o e x p l o r e 17.e1 . Then if Black continues as in the game, with d5 18.c1 cd8 , White has ( 18...fd8 might be more precise, since after 19.c5 d7 the d-pawn is en prise and Black controls c7) 19.c5! d7 20.b4 b6 21.c3 xd4 22.c7 xf3+ 23.xf3 a4 24.h4 , retaining a small initiative, albeit with a draw the most likely result. ] 17...d5! [ Negi activates his pieces to the maximum. This wasn't the only approach, but after 17...d5!? 18.e5 f6 19.xc6 xc6 20.e5 f5 21.c1 while Black would retain certain compensation, White might well have tried to grind for some time. ] 18.c3 cd8! [ The right rook in this case, as after 18...fd8 19.e3 g4 20.h3 xf3 21.xf3 xf3 22.gxf3 Black wouldn't have been able to capture on d4. ] 19.e3?! [ Now Black is OK. I suspect White's last try to obtain a little something was 19.h3! xd4 ( Black might just wait with 19...fe8 after 20.e3 the extra pawn is secure, but it won't be so easy for White to make progress after, say, f5 ) 20.xd4 xd4 21.xd4 xd4 22.e3 when Black must either give up a7 or acquiesce to a4 23.d1 when White retains a pull through his more active rooks, although I suspect Negi would have managed to hold without too much difficulty. ] 19...g4 20.h3 [ In the event of 20.c5 Black again regains his pawn, here following xc5 21.dxc5 xd1+ 22.xd1 e5 . ] 20...h5?! [ Black's 13th was ambitious, but at least granted him clear compensation. With the even more ambitious text Negi wants to retain some pressure, but I don't really understand how he hoped to do more than regain the pawn on d4 at some later stage. Correct was the simple 20...xf3 21.xf3 ( 21.gxf3? looks extremely risky, with e6 2269

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 22.h2 d5 but one dangerous way in wh i c h B l a c k m i g h t a c t i v a t e h i s r o o k s) 21...xf3 22.gxf3 f5! ( forcing a further c o n c e s s i o n 22...xd4 23.xd4 xd4 24.c7 would still give White a pull) 23.f4 ( otherwise something like 23.g2 f4 24.d2 xd4 leaves Black very active and W hite's kingside a bit shaky) 23...xd4 24.xd4 xd4 25.c7 f7 26.c8+ f8 27.c7 f7 , with a repetition. ] 21.ac1! [ The machine wants to play 21.g4 g6 22.c5 d6 23.b5 , but this all looks rather suspicious to my mind and invites Black to plonk his bishop on the key h1-a8 diagonal. Hess' decision to improve his worst-placed piece must be correct. ] 21...f5! [ Active and good defence the mistake only comes on the next turn. By now 21...xf3 22.xf3 xf3 23.gxf3 was no long so good, as after xd4 ( or 23...f5 24.b3! f7 25.f4 ) 24.xd4 xd4 25.c7 White would have won a pawn by force. ] 22.c5 f7? [ I dare say Negi missed White's powerful re jo i n d e r a f t e r a ll, . . . f 5 st o p p e d W h it e moving his g-pawn, right? Necessary was 22...a2! when the pin would have remained problematic for W hite and after 23.b5 ( 23.g4 only serves here to leave W hite's kingside looking rather exposed after g6 24.gxf5 xf5 ) 23...d7 24.d5! f4! (both sides battle for the initiative) 25.c5 xd5 26.a4 whilst White is better, the position is still pretty murky. Black might attempt to keep his position together with ff5 , although then 27.h4! f7 28.xa7 would be a cheeky way to grab a pawn ( xb5 29.xb5 xa7 30.xh5 regains the piece a typical computer resource). ] 23.g4! Breaking the pin in the most shocking and powerful manner. g6 [ Meek, but Negi may well have been psychologically destroyed at this point. 23...fxg4!? 24.g5!? was White's point, when ( 24.e5 is also good, settling for an extra pa wn af te r xe5 25.xe5 fe8 26.xe8+ xe8 27.hxg4 f7 , although in this case Black's light-squared control and saf er kin g m ake a draw the mo st likely

result ) 24...e8 ( not 24...d7? 25.xh7! ) 25.hxg4 f7 leaves Black on the defensive. However, I think Negi should really have gone in for this - White's advanced kingside might yet come back to haunt him after, for instance, 26.xf7 xf7 27.f5 e6 and that d-pawn isn't totally secure either. ] 24.g5 f6 25.b3+ h8! [ Condemned by the computer, but this keeps the position sharp. Instead af ter 25...f7 26.xf7! ( 26.xb7 xd4 27.xd4 xd4 28.xf7 xf7 doesn't seem so clear, but may also be good) 26...xf7 ( if 26...xf7? 27.xf5 ) 27.xf7+ xf7 28.xf5 xf5 29.gxf5 Black would have had various ways to regain one pawn, but this would also have been an endgame with good winning chances for White. ] 26.xb7 [ With ...f4 a threat and his position a little loo se in gen eral, Hess un de rst an da bly settles for some simplification. I dare say too he was keen to avoid 26.d5 f4 27.dxc6 fxe3 28.xe3 de8 29.d2 d8 when it's risky for White to avoid repeating moves. ] [ Strong, however, would have been the fearless 26.e6! when I suspect Black would have tried fxg4!? ( 26...f7 27.gxf5 keeps everything together and after xe6 28.fxe6 xd4 29.xd4 xd4 30.e3 the e-pawn is set to decide proceedings) 27.xd8 xd8 , with some counterplay against White's king, although after 28.hxg4 e4 ( or 28...h4 29.d5! xg4+ 30.g2 ) 29.f1 f3 30.e1 xg4 31.e5 it shouldn't be enough. ] 26...xd4 27.xd4 xd4 Regaining one pawn, but White is still ahead in view of what now occurs. 28.c8 dd8 29.xd8 xd8 30.h4! Without this White would likely even be worse, but now he is able to keep his knight on an aggressive square and so pursue the initiative. fxg4 31.c8 h6?? [ Negi's sense of danger badly lets him down, although it's not impossible he was played on in crem ent a lo ne by t his point . Af te r 31...e8 32.d7 e5 Black would have held his back rank together, leading to a pawn-down ending but with definite defensive prospects after 33.xe8+ xe8 2270

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 34.xg4 h6 35.e6 f7 . ] 32.b8! Ouch. Suddenly there's no safe square for the rook to move to. 1-0

2132 Howell,David Carlsen,Magnus Chess Classic (3) [David Vigorito]

B22 2597 2801 10.12.2009

When I saw the pairing for the London Chess Classic, I expected this battle: one of the world's foremost 2.c3 Sicilian practitioners against the world 1 rated player! In the game we see an interesting semi-novelty at a very early stage. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e6 6.e3 This is the most popular move nowadays. Alternatives are aplenty: [ 6.a3 ] [ 6.e2 ] [ 6.d3 ] [ 6.a3!? ] 6...e7!? This move is not even mentioned in Rozentalis's authoritative 2002 (has it been that long?!) book. Carlsen is not afraid to give up a pawn. [ 6...cxd4 is the main move. ] 7.dxc5 Of course. The whole point of 6.Be3 is to 'force' Black to exchange on d4! xd1+ 8.xd1 0-0 Black is ahead in development and has ideas like ...Ng4 and ...Nd5 available. W h i t e m u s t t ry t o h o l d o n t o t h e p a wn . I imagine we will see more of this position in the future. 9.bd2 g4 10.b3 [ A prudent choice. 10.b4 a5 11.c4?! ( 11.a3 ) 11...axb4 12.cxb4 c6 13.b5 b4 14.e4 xe3+ 15.fxe3 a3 16.e1 d8+ 17.c1 f5 18.ed2 c3+! ( 18...xc5 ) 19.b2 f6 20.d4 xe3! gave Black a winning position in Van de O u d e we e t e rin g, A (2 3 6 9 ) -P a vlo vic, M (2545)/Amsterdam 2004 although Black somehow went on to lose.... ] 10...xe3+ 11.fxe3 d7 12.c6 White cannot hold onto the pawn any longer, so he breaks up Black's pawn structure, which will also grant some squares to his knights. bxc6 13.a5 c5 The next several moves

see Carlsen using tactics to maintain material equality. 14.d4 Now the undefended c6pawn is attacked twice. f6! 15.c4 [ 15.axc6 g4 16.e2 b7 leaves White i n a t a n g l e . I f 17.h3 xe3! 18.xe3 xc6 ] 15...g4 16.e2 e5! 17.c2 [ 17.dxc6 xe3 18.xe5 f5! leaves W hite's king and minor pieces in a mess. ] 17...f5 Hitting the c2-knight and creating the possibility of ...Be4. 18.h3 f6 19.b4 e4 20.bxc6 White finally eats the pawn! fe8 [ Carlsen calmly defends the e5-pawn. 20...ac8 21.xe5 b6 22.b3 ce8 ] [ and 20...xg2 were good alternatives. ] 21.hg1 b6 22.b4 ac8 23.b5 xa5 [ Carlsen decides to force matters. Instead 23...c7 intending to double rooks on the cfile also looks good. ] 24.xa5 c5 25.a4 ec8 26.d3 xd3+ 27.xd3 xc3+ 28.e2 Material is even and Black certainly has some initiative, but White's position should be defensible. c2+ 29.f3 e4+ 30.f4 8c5 This looks scary for W hite, but Howell finds the best move. 31.c6! By attacking a7 White at least gives Carlsen something to think about. If Black's attack does not bring dividends W hite will p u s h h i s q u e e n s i d e p a w n s h o m e . g5+ 32.g3 5c3 33.e7+ [ In time pressure, White keeps his knight in play. It was possible to take on a7 though: 33.xa7 xe3+ 34.h2 g4 35.h1! gxh3 36.gxh3+ f8 Black is in check, so he cannot mate White with ...Rxh3 just yet, and 37.g2 seems to defend. ] 33...f8 34.f5 d5 35.ge1? [ This is just a blunder (at this level at least) 35.ad1 d3 ( 35...xe3?? 36.d8# ) 36.c1 xe3 37.xe3 xe3+ 38.g4 f2 39.c7 h6 40.g3 ( 40.h5 g7 ) 40...b3 and Black's e-pawn is stronger than anything W hite has going on the queenside. ] 35...f4! 36.g1 e2+ 37.g4 xg1 38.xg1 f6 Up a whole exchange, Black is winning now. It is still not so simple because White's king and knight are active and it's not easy for Black to create a passed pawn. Still, one would think that a 2800 player would win 2271

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 6...c6 7.c4 xf3 8.b3! [ 8.gxf3 f5! 9.b3 0-0-0 10.xf7 d5 11.xd5 xd5 Shaked, T-De Firmian, N USA (ch) 1996 gives Black good chances ] 8...a5 [ The computers like 8...xg2?! but after 9.xd5 xd5 10.xb7 xd4 11.a6 c2+ 12.e2 xa1 is takes them a while (though not as long as it used to!) to realize the knight on a1 probably isn't ever coming home ] 9.b5+ d7 10.xf3 [ 10.xa5?! b6 11.a3 xg2 12.g1 d5 is annotated by Lane in the archives in the game Rahls, P-Naiditsch, A Bad Woerishofen 2001 ] 10...xc4 11.xc4 cxd4 12.xd4 [ 12.xd4 xd4 13.xd4 has also been played, but it cannot offer White too much. see Keitlinghaus, L-Lutz, C/ Efurt 2004 in the database. ] 12...e6 13.g5 c8 14.e2 e7 [ 14...d5 Tiviakov, S-Spoelman, W /Dutch Championship, Hilversum 2007 ] 15.d1 [ P a l l i s e r s u g g e s t W h i t e t r y 15.0-0-0 with the idea d5 16.xf6 xf6 17.b5 g5+ 18.b1 0-0 19.d6 This would certainly lead to a more full-blooded game. ] 15...d5 16.f3 [ 16.xf6 Palliser mentions xf6 17.b5+ 2133 B22 xb5 18.xb5 e7 19.e2 c5 with equality Peptan-Zhu Chen, Bled Howell,David 2593 Olympiad 2002. ] Chandler,Murray G 2515 16...e4 ! with equality - Palliser. I see no 4NCL 2008-9 Hinckley Island ENG (4) 7.12.08 re a s o n a t a l l t o q u e s t i o n t h i s. Ho we l l i s [David Vigorito] unperturbed, however, and just settles in and David Howell always scores well with the 2.c3 plays chess. 17.e3 0-0 18.d4 This is a bit Sicilian. He doesn't always get anything out of odd. Didn't White just avoid an exchange of the opening, but the classical positions suit queens? The reasoning is that now that Black his style well and he is quick to grab the has castled, White's king will be better placed initiative given the opportunity. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 in the centre in the ending. g4!? [ I still have trouble believing that 18...xe2+ d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 19.xe2 d5 can really offer anything to 6.bd2 White, but Black prefers to keep the tension [ This move offers some neat tactics but in an even middlegame rather than go into probably won't give White much chance of an ending where White has made even the getting anything out of the opening. I smallest gain. ] suspect 6.dxc5 is White's best try, while 19.0-0 d5 20.fe1 f4 Black's "miniboth ] initiative" doesn't change the assessment of [ 6.a4+ and ] the po sitio n, bu t W hite sh ould be a little [ 6.e2 have been tried as well. ]

this position with Black! Not today... 39.h4 gxh4 40.xh4 a3 41.g4 xa4 42.d1 aa2 43.d7 h2+ 44.g3 hg2+ 45.h3 gf2 46.d4 g8?! [ 46...a3 ] 47.e7 f8 48.c7 [ 48.xe4 is possible as well, but Howell understandably prefers to keep the Black king pinned to the first rank. ] 48...e8 49.g3 f1 50.xh7 a3 51.g2? [ 51.f5 ] 51...d1 52.f5 d7 [ I believe Black played this quickly. Even the best make bad practical decisions. It does not take much calculation to see that 52...a2+ 53.g3 g1+ 54.f4 f2+ 55.xe4 xg4+ wins the f5-knight! ] 53.h8+ f7 54.g3 b3 55.f4 b1 56.xe4 Now W hite is safe. f1 57.h7+ e6 58.h8 c7 59.d4+ d6 60.d8+ d7 61.c8 g7 62.d8+ d7 63.c8 e7+ 64.d3 c7 65.d8+ d7 66.g8 g1 67.e2 c5 68.f2 b1 69.f8 d6 70.f7 b2+ 71.f3 a2 72.e4 b6 73.f8 g2 74.f3 h2 75.b8+ c7 76.a8 b7 77.f8 h7 78.f4 h1 79.f3 ½-½

2272

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 careful. 21.f1 a6 22.h1 fd8 23.e4 f6 [ 23...f5 is also possible, as after 24.e5 g6 White doesn't seem to have anything better than 25.ee1 ] 24.de1 f5 25.e5 [ Safer is 25.xf6 xf6 26.d4= ] 25...h5 [ This looks quite logical, because White will play g3 soon enough, but over the next few moves Black begins to lose the thread a bit. Black could also seize the initiative with 25...xe5 26.xe5 ( 26.xe5 d3 27.1e2 xf2+! wins for Black because of White's weak back rank. ) 26...c2! ] 26.g3 d5 [ I would prefer 26...g6 because after the mass exchanges of 27.xg6 xg6 28.xf6 xf6 Black controls the only open file. ] 27.f4 e7 28.f3 f6 29.e5 c2 30.1e2 d3?! [ 30...a4 31.f5 g4 32.5e4 xa2 was a better try. ] 31.f5! Suddely White grabs the initiative. Black will lose a pawn. g4 32.fxe6 fxe6 [ 32...xe5 33.xe5 wins quickly. ] 33.xe6 xd4? desperation, probably in time pressure. 34.xd4 f8 35.e1 g5 36.e8 e3 37.8xe3 xe3 38.xe3 1-0

on d8 is not en prise so Black has a tactical resource to simplify the position. Now Black threatens ...b6 and ...Bb7 so White has to act. 15.g5 xg5 16.xg5 xe5! 17.xe6 fxe6 18.f4 c4! 19.xe5 [ 19.xe5 xe4 20.xe4 b6 also leads to nothing. ] 19...d5 20.e3 d3 21.e2 xc3 22.ad1 xe2 23.xe2 c4 24.g3 [ 24.g3 ] 24...d7 25.h3 c6 ½-½

2135 Howell,David Epishin,Vladimir CCA-ICC Open (1) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2416 2605 11.05.2005

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 e6 5.f3 f6 6.a3 e7 7.e3 bd7?! Ambitious and double-edged. David Howell makes it look very bad, but I'm not sure things were always so clear: 8.c4 d6 9.c3 g4 10.d3 xe3 11.fxe3 0-0 12.0-0 f6 13.c2 g6 14.e2 d7 15.ad1 ad8 16.e5 e8 Very solid, but perhaps too passive. White now takes control with a series of strategically lucid moves. 17.f3 b8 18.b4! cxd4 19.exd4 d7 20.xd7 xd7 21.e3! de8?! Looks like Black is asking 2134 B22 too much from his position, but he already Howell,David 2471 has some problems here: Epishin,Vladimir 2600 [ 21...a5 22.c5 axb4 23.axb4 b6 24.d5 14th Monarch Assurance (6) 29.09.2005 bxc5 25.bxc5 b4 26.d6 g5 27.xg5 [Jonathan Rowson] xc3 ] 22.c5 f5 23.d5 exd5 24.xd5 d8 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 25.d4 e6?! [ 25...e5 Black should have taken the 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 e7 chance to activate and or exchange his 9.e2 0-0 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 dxe5 12.dxe5 c7 queen. ] [ 12...a5 is the other main line here, the 26.a4 f7 27.xe8 xe8 28.f6+ xf6 key point being 13.e4 a4! when Black 29.xf6 c7 30.d6 c8 31.fe1 f8 threatens to exchange queens with ...Na5 ] 32.d7 b8 33.d6 c8 34.e7 b6 13.e4 d8 14.e1 35.xa7 bxc5 36.xc5 e6 37.ad7 f6 [ 14.h4!? was my first thought on seeing this 38.d4 a6 39.d8 xa3 40.xf8+ xf8 position, but it seems that it hasn't been 41.a1 b3 42.a8+ e7 43.e5+ played before. ] 1-0 14...d7!? A thoughtful novelty. The main point being that after Ng5, Bxg5 Bxg5 the rook 2273

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2136 Howell,David Medvegy,Zoltan ch-EU Cork IRL (5) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2348 2467 26.03.2005

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 d6 7.d3 I am a little surprised to see David Howell play this move, because he has been playing the c3 Sicilian for a long time and this move has never had a particularly good reputation. b4 [ 7...dxe5 8.dxe5 ( 8.xe5 c6 is equal. ) 8...b4 is also thought to be fine. ] 8.g5 e7 9.xe7 xe7 10.c3 xd3+ 11.xd3 d7 12.b5 White is not worse after this, but Black is comfortable in the ensuing endgame. [ 12.d5!? generates a little initiative, but it d o e s n ' t s e e m t o c o m e t o m u c h . dxe5 13.xe5 exd5 14.0-0 0-0 15.fe1 e6 16.xd5 d8 17.ad1 c6 And one way or another the position will become drawish. ] 12...xb5 13.xb5+ d7 14.xd7+ xd7 [ 14...xd7 15.g5 is troublesome. ] 15.exd6 b6 16.c1 d5 17.e5 [ 17.g5 looks more irritating for Black. However, after h6 18.e4 b6 Black puts the king on d7 and waits for the right moment to play f5. ] 17...f6 18.c4 c8 19.e2 [ 19.d2 d7 20.a4 looks better, but it's hard to believe that W hite is going to get anywhere in the long run. ] 19...d7 20.a3 c6 21.a5 xc1 22.xc1 b8 23.g3 xd6 equalising. But now White gradually loses control of the game. 24.c4+ d7 25.e3 e7 26.d3 c8 27.d1 [ 27.xc8 xc8 28.e4 and Black has only a s ymb olic a dva nta ge. I suspect David realised this, and perhaps he had to win this game to have chances of a norm. ] 27...c6 28.h4 b5 29.e4 d6 30.g4 g6 31.g5 f5+ 32.d3 a6 33.h1 d5 34.xd5 xd5 35.e1 c4 36.e5+ d6 37.e1 c7 38.h1? e5! Now Black has some advantage. 39.f3 c4 40.dxe5+ xe5 41.e3 b4 42.d3 d4+ 43.e3 bxa3 44.bxa3 a4 45.f2 xa3 46.g3 c3 47.b1 c7 48.a1 a7 49.a5+ d4

50.f4 c4 51.e3 b4 52.a1 53.d3 a4 54.b1+ c5 55.c2 56.c1 d4 57.b1 a2+ 58.a1 d3 0-1

a5 a3

2137 B22 Howell,David 2528 Mestel,A Jonathan 2470 4NCL 2007-8 Wakefield Park ENG (5) 12.1.08 [Andrew Martin] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 c6 8.0-0 e7 9.a3 A Howell favourite and a move with two separate functions. a) The battery Bd3 and Qe2-e4 can be prepared undisturbed without a possible ...Nb4 b) b2-b4 may well be a useful gain of queenside space 0-0 10.e1 b6!? [ After 10...d7 11.bd2 c8 12.b4 b5! 13.xd5 ( 13.d3 dxe5 14.dxe5 a5 ) 13...exd5 14.b3 g4 Black has good co u n t e rp la y: 15.h3 h5 16.f4 dxe5 17.dxe5 a5 18.bxa5 xa5 19.bd4 c5 20.g4 g6 21.xb5 b6 22.bd4 c4 23.a4 b2 24.d2 xd4 25.xd4 Howell, D (2519)-Aagaard, J (2467)/Great Yarmouth 2007 when d3 26.f5 xf5 27.gxf5 xe1 28.xe1 b3! 29.f6 xh3 gives Black the advantage. ] 11.exd6N Howell's improvement on the earlier 11 b4: [ 11.b4!? d8 12.d3 dxe5 It is tempting to open up the Rook, nevertheless there may have other alternatives worth consideration: ( 12...g6 13.bd2 dxe5 14.c4 c7 15.cxe5 f8 16.e2 f6 17.xc6 xc6 18.h4 a5 ) 13.dxe5 g6?! 14.h4 ( 14.a2! with the idea of Rc2 or Rd2 looks good for White, who has freer development.) 14...a5 15.b5 d4 16.h5 d7 ( 16...xb5 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.g5 xg5 19.xg5 f5 ) 17.a4 ac8 18.b2 f5 19.hxg6 fxg6 20.bd2 f4 21.c4 c7? ( 21...a7! ) 22.xf5 xc4 23.e4 xb5 24.b1 gxf5 25.xc4 Kristjansson, S (2432)-McShane, L (2568)/ Reykjavik 2003/ (25) ] 11...xd6 12.d3 f6 13.e3 d8 14.c3 e7 [ 14...e7! keeping the isolated pawn under 2274

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 restraint, was preferable. Howell wastes no time in commencing the attack. ] 15.d5 c7 16.b5 b8 17.dxc6! bxc6 [ 17...xd3 18.c7 is the rather cool point. ] 18.bd4 c5 19.c6! Giving hidden depth to what appears like a standard combination. White sees through to a winning endgame. xd3 20.xb8! [ 20.xe7+ f8 21.xd3 xe7 22.xc5+ e8 23.e5 b3 24.ad1 was a more complicated route and quite unnecessary when White is so much better. ] 20...xe3 21.xe3 xb8 22.b3 b6 23.d1 e4 [ Neither 23...b7 24.xb6 axb6 25.e5 d5 26.d7 d8 27.b4! cxb4 28.xd5 xd5 29.axb4 f6 30.c1+- ] [ 23...xb3 nor 24.xb3 b7 25.e5 a6 26.d7 d5 27.xd5 xd5 28.c1 c4 29.b6 help Black's cause. Mestel is simply lost. ] 24.e5 d6 25.xb6 axb6 26.f1 g5 27.c4 xc4 28.xc4 g7 29.d3 h5 30.a4! f5 31.b3 As after 30...Bd8 31 a5! bxa5 32 Rb8 wraps things up. Very efficient from David Howell, although the opening skirmishes seem satisfactory for Black, with 10...Qb6 looking OK. 1-0

5. Qxd4 e6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Qe4 f5! ] 5...b6 6.b3 d5!? 7.d4 cxd4 8.xd4 [ After 8.cxd4 Black's idea is to play the immediate g4! ( 8...c6 is supposed to b e s l i g h t l y d u b i o u s b e c a u s e o f 9.h4! pre ve nt in g t h e de ve lop m e n t o f Bla c k 's light-squared bishop. See Spence, D (2198)Wang Yue (2698)/Gibraltar ENG 2008. )] 8...c6 9.f4 xd4 [ Black could also try fighting for the initiative with 9...g5!? 10.xg5 ( 10.g3 g7 ) 10...g8 with an unclear position. ] 10.xd4 [ 10.cxd4 f5 Followed by ...e6 is fine for Black. ] 10...e6 [ E v e n h e r e B l a c k c o u l d p l a y 10...f5 Perhaps he was concerned with 11.a3 e6 12.b5 ] 11.h4 [ White probes the kingside. Another option would be to play normally with 11.0-0 e7 12.d2 intending Nf3 and Bc2. ] 11...d7 12.h5 c8 13.d2 [ 13.h6 is another possibility, but White does not have to hurry with this. ] 13...c5 14.d3 f5!? [ 14...0-0? is very bad because of 15.c2 but ] [ 14...a4!? and ] [ 14...f6!? are also possible. ] 2138 B22 15.e3 [ 15.h6 ] Howell,David 2614 [ 15.exf6 xf6 16.e3 xe3 17.xe3 0-0 Miroshnichenko,Evgenij 2696 is pretty level. Black can meet a Bd3/Qc2 37th Greek Teams (9) 09.07.2009 battery with ...Qh6. ] [David Vigorito] 15...0-0 16.f4? This is a major oversight, Black uses an unusual move order to throw which Black is quick to take advantage of. his opponent on his own resources. White still With [ 16.xc5 xc5 17.d4 /\h6 White can still manages to fight for an edge, but when he fight for the initiative. ] overlooks a tactic the initiative passes to Black uses this tactic to make an Black. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 16...b5! uncommon opposite-coloured bishop d6!? [ This is a bit unusual, but isn't bad. Black exchange. 17.xb5 xe3 The f4-pawn is avoids some lines with a delayed d4, such hanging, so Black will disrupt the White king. 18.g3 xd2+ 19.xd2 c4+ 20.c2 f7 as 4...c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 ] 21.xc4 a6! 22.b4 xc4 23.b3 b5 5.c4 b6 With the play shifted to the [ Another idea is to play 5.d4 cxd4 6.xd4 24.ad1 ( 6.cxd4 enters the old main lines, which are queenside Black has a pleasant initiative. The considered satisfactory for Black) 6...e6 position looks like a good French for Black. when White has avoided the line 4.d4 cxd4 25.b1 h6 2275

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 25...b4 Black stops the advance of White's h-pawn. There were alternatives, such as the immediate ] 26.d3 fc7 27.hd1 e4 28.c2 a5 29.d4 c4 Enticing White to soften up his queenside structure. 30.b3 c8 31.g4?? [ 31.d2 the game goes on. ] 31...xd4 32.xd4 xd4! Transposing to an easily winning king and pawn ending. 33.cxd4 xc2 34.xc2 fxg4 35.d3 g6 [ 35...g6 36.hxg6 g7 37.f5 exf5 38.e3 xg6 39.f4 h5 wins easily. ] 0-1

2139 Howell,David Short,Nigel D London Classic 3rd (6) [Sam Collins]

B22 2633 2698 09.12.2011

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 d5 I've always t h o u gh t t h a t t h is wa s a r a t h e r g o o d lin e against the c3-Sicilian. The reason it is not more popular is purely a function of preparation - Black needs to be comfortable in the French, both in the Advance Variation (as arises directly af ter 4.e5) and in the line played in the game, which is very closely related to the French Tarrasch variation 3. Nd2 c5 4.exd5 exd5. Obviously Nigel is a French specialist so such issues don't concern him. 4.exd5 exd5 [ It's not too late for Black to play 4...xd5 , but this is much more easily reached via a 2...d5 move order, which doesn't allow an Advance French. ] 5.f3 c6 6.b5 [ 6.e3 is the main alternative, as covered in the Archives in V.Baklan - R.Polzin, Austrian Team Championship 2007 (1/2 - 1/2 in 38). ] 6...d6 7.dxc5 xc5 8.0-0 ge7 9.bd2 0-0 10.b3 This position should be compared to 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.0-0 Ng e 7 9 . N b 3 . T h e r e t h e b i sh o p n o r m a ll y retreats to d6 since 9...Bb6 can be met by 10. Re1 intending 11.Be3. Here W hite has already committed to the semi-useful c3 move, so Short reckons he can deploy his bishop more actively. b6 11.e1 g4 12.e3 e8

[ Afek has deviated from this normal developing move, with disastrous results. 12...c7 13.c5 e8 14.h3 a6 15.xc6 xf3 16.xf3 bxc6 17.d4 d7 18.g4! C.Van Oosterom (2426) - Y.Afek (2283), Groningen 2010 (1-0 in 30) ] [ 12...xe3 13.xe3 f5 14.d3 ce7 ( 14...b6 15.xd5 ce7 16.c5 ad8 17.e2 didn't give Black enough compensation in A.Kartsev (2145) - Y. Afek (2310), Dieren 2010 (1-0 in 35)) 15.h3 h5 16.c4 h4 17.xd5 xd5 18.g4 f6 19.xh4 f4 20.f3 was J.Haarr (2211) Y.Afek (2299), Oslo 2011 (1-0 in 58), and now ad8 would have equalised. ] 13.h3 h5 14.xb6 [ 14.a4! is m ore a mb it io u s. A f t e r c7 15.c5 a6 16.xc6 xc6 17.xe8+ xe8 18.xd5 xf3 19.xf3 White had a clear extra pawn in S.Smagin (2545) - O.Cvitan (2510), Biel 1995 (1-0 in 25). ] 14...xb6 15.xc6 [ White has more often retreated his bishop with 15.e2 , but Black looks sufficiently active to hold the balance. ] 15...xf3 [ 15...bxc6 16.g4 g6 17.d4 c2 18.xb6 axb6 19.bd4 e4 was nothing special for White in G.Malbran (2306) - D. Valerga (2472), Buenos Aires 2006 (0-1 in 46). ] 16.xf3 bxc6 17.e2 g6 18.ae1 xe2 19.xe2 d8 20.d4 [ Trading queens with 20.e3 doesn't look like anything special either: xe3 21.xe3 b8 followed by ...f6 and ...Kf7. ] 20...c5 21.f5 d4 22.e4 h6 23.cxd4 cxd4 Black has full counterplay. 24.d2 a5 25.xd4 xd4 26.xd4 xa2 27.b3 f8 28.g3 g6 29.g2 a5 30.c6 d2 31.a4 d3 32.f3 d5 33.b4 axb4 34.xb4 e6 35.d2 xd2 36.xd2 g7 It is interesting that Howell put his money on 6. Bb5. These positions have been known since the Karpov - Korchnoi matches to be very close to equality. A slight passivity in Black's game, coupled with the necessity of accurately handling positions outside the Sicilian domain (including the Advance French), are the only discouragements to anyone looking for a very sound defence to 2276

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the c3-Sicilian. ½-½

2140 Howell,David Shytaj,Luca 38th Olympiad (5) [David Vigorito]

B22 2593 2472 17.11.2008

The young British GM David Howell continues to score well with the 2.c3 Sicilian. In this game Black loses his way in a complicated line, but I think that Black was at least okay in the opening. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 [ White players are leaning towards this move order because Black has been doing fine in the main lines arising after 5.d4 cxd4 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 8.exd6 xd6 9.0-0 e6 10.a3 dxc3! ] 5...b6 6.b3 c4 [ Th is is a c ritica l re spo nse. A f t e r 6...d5 7.exd6 xd6 8.a3! ( 8.0-0 e6 9.a3 xb3 10.axb3 d3 ) 8...e6 9.d4 cxd4 10.b5 leads to a line that Black often tries to avoid. ] 7.c2 c7 8.e2 g5! 9.e6 [ This leads to an odd pawn structure. Often W h i t e p l a y s 9.h3 g7 10.0-0 xe5 11.xg5 d5 12.a4 d7 13.a5 c8 but Black has done ok here as well. There are a f ew games in the archives in this variation. ] 9...dxe6 10.xg5 e5! Black is happy to exchange queens. 11.d4 cxd3 12.xd3 xe2+ 13.xe2 h6 Black throws this in before White can play Bh5, even though it is not fatal. 14.e4 e5!? [ 14...f5 was played in Jones, G-Nataf, I Warsaw POL 2005. Here Black prefers to avoid complications arising after the check on h5. ] 15.g3 [ 15.0-0 f5 16.g3 g6 also looks fine for Black. ] 15...e6 Black obstruct his e-pawn but he will castle long and have good development. 16.d2 0-0-0 17.0-0 d5 18.c4 g8 With some simple play Black is already better. ...Nf4 and ...f5 are both in the air. 19.h1

f4 20.xf4 exf4 21.h5 xc4 [ Also p ossible is 21...f3 The position is drawish after 22.gxf3 xc4 23.xc4 e5 24.b3 ( 24.e2 d2 ) 24...e6 25.f4 d3 26.f5 g5 27.g3 exf5 28.f4 g6 29.ad1 xb2 30.xd8+ xd8 31.xf7 when both sides have pawn weaknesses. ] 22.xc4 e5 23.e2 [ White could also play 23.b3 d2 ( 23...f3 24.gxf3 transposes to the last note) 24.xf4 xb2 25.ab1 when the position is about equal. ] 23...d2 24.xf4 xb2 25.fb1 xb1+ 26.xb1 e6 27.g3 d6 [ It looks more logical to put the bishop somewhere else in order to leave the d-file open. After 27...g7 28.d1 d8 29.xd8+ xd8 Black is a little better because his king is better placed and the c3-pawn is more vulnerable than any of Black's pawns. ] 28.g2 c7 29.h5 e7 30.f4 d7 31.f5! Now White is fighting for the initiative. exf5 32.f1 f6? [ There was no need to give up a pawn. After 32...e5 33.xf5 d6 the game should still be a draw. ] 33.xf6 xf6 34.xf5 e7 35.xf7 d6 With rooks on the board White still has good practical chances. It is very unpleasant to defend these endings. 36.h7 g6 37.d3 e6 38.h4 a5 39.f5 e2+ 40.f3 xa2 41.xh6+ c5 42.e6 d6 43.h5 h2 44.h6 a4 45.h7 a3 It looks like Black has created counterplay, but W hite has a trick. 46.e2! h1 [ 46...xe2 47.h8 ] 47.e8! a2 48.a8 This wins the a-pawn. e5 [ 48...a1 49.xa1 xa1 50.h8 ] 49.xa2 xc3 50.c2 b4 51.xc3! The simplest. xc3 52.g4 d4 53.g2 h4 54.g3 h1 55.g5 d5 [ 55...d5 56.h3 queens, and ] [ 55...e5 56.h3 is the same ] 1-0

2277

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2141 Howell,David Tiviakov,Sergei 14th Monarch Assurance (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2471 2678 25.09.2005

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 e6 I have noticed that most strong players prefer this move order to 4...Nf6, thus ruling out any complications involving 5.dc or 5.Be3 5.f3 f6 6.e3 cxd4 7.cxd4 c6 8.c3 d6 [ 8...b4 still looks like a reliable option here. ] 9.a3 I am not sure why David opted for this move order, but 9.a3 looks a bit over-refined to me. Subscribers should tell me if there is some subtle point behind this move, but until they do I'll assume that developing the bishop on f1 and castling should come first. [ 9.d3 ] [ 9.c4 ] 9...g6!? A rarely played move. It looks risky to take an extra move with the king in the centre, but the idea is that just as 9.a3 was a luxury, so is 9...g6. White is not in a position to take advantage of Black's lack of development. But wh y g6 a n ywa y? W e l l n o r m a l ly i n t h e s e structures, Black plays Be7, and only later, if he has time, he plays ... Re8, g6(often to prevent mate on the b1-h7 diagonal), and only then Bf8-g7. The pawn on g6 helps to bolster the defences, and the bishop on g7 is well placed, targeting the d4 pawn. It is also useful that the e7 square is no longer occupied, because this square can be used to re-route the knight on c6 to f5 or d5 via e7 My impression is that 9...g6 is a good move, and that it is probably a complete answer to 9a3. 10.c4 g7 11.0-0 0-0 12.e2 b6 13.ad1 e7 14.e5 b7 15.f4 ed5 16.g3 e7 Black has achieved a comfortable position, and is already somewhat better due to the structure. It is often difficult to play with an IQP when you lose the initiative, but David now makes his position much worse with some misplaced aggre ss io n . 17.f4? xc3 18.bxc3 e4 19.e1 xa3 Black is already winning, so White rightly takes a lunge. 20.xf7 xf7 21.xe6 e7 22.a2 f8 23.f5 gxf5 24.h4 xh4 25.xf7 xc3 26.a3+ xf7

27.xc3 e4 28.h3 30.b3+ h8 31.d5 33.e2 f4 34.c2 f6 xg4 37.e8+ g7 xd5 0-1

g8 29.fe1 g4 g8 32.a2 c3 35.e4 f3 36.xg4 38.g3 d4 39.c1

2142 Howell,David Van Wely,Loek 7th Staunton Memorial (9) [David Vigorito]

B22 2614 2655 16.08.2009

I va n c h u k ' s 8 . . . g5 l e a d s t o ve r y u n u s u a l middlegames where the players can not relay on typical middlegame patterns. Van W ely plays a new move which seems okay but he quickly drifts into trouble. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 c4 7.c2 c7 8.e2 g5 9.h3 [ 9.e6 dxe6 10.xg5 e5! ] 9...g7 10.0-0 xe5 11.xg5 h6 [ This is an unusual move order. Usually Black plays 11...d5 12.a4 h6 ] 12.f3 d5 13.a4 So we are back in the main line. Now Van Wely comes up with something new. 0-0!? [ Van Wely is confident that his compromised kingside will not be breached. 13...bd7!? is somewhat prophylactic, Black avoids a4-a5 with tempo and overprotects e5. After 14.e1 f6 (covering e7 14.0-0 would transpose to the main game) 15.d4 (15.Na3!? 15.b3!?) cxd3 16.xd3 xd3 17.xd3 c5 18.xd5 e6 19.h5 T i vi a k o v, S ( 2 6 6 9 ) - T i m m a n , J ( 2 6 1 6 ) / Hilversum NED 2006, Rowson suggests 0-0-0! ~/= in the archives. ] 14.e1 bd7 15.a3 White almost always d e ve lo p s t h is wa y. N b 5 is in t h e a ir a n d there's some pressure on c4. a6 16.b3 d8 [ Instead 16...cxb3 does not seem like such a great concession. After 17.xb3 g6!? ( 17...e6 ) 18.xd5 f4 19.c4 d6 20.e4 c5 Black begins to generate a lot of activity. ] 17.b1!? White does not have anything forcing, so he keeps the tension for the time being. xf3+ 18.xf3 e5 19.g3 Black has some problems developing 2278

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 normally. d6 nothing in this game. The move has about 100 [ 19...d7 20.bxc4 dxc4 21.xc4 xc4 g a m e s i n t h e d a t a b a s e , t h o u g h m o s t l y 22.xe5 wins for White ] between lower-rated players. 6.a3 [ 19...h8 20.bxc4 dxc4 21.xc4! [ 6.dxc5 is always a critical move in these 2... (anyway!) xc4 22.xe5! xe5 23.xe5+ d 5 p o s i t i o n s . A f t e r xd1+ ( 6...xc5 g8 24.xe7 is very strong - White's is more compliant and allows White rapid seemingly jumbled pieces on the queenside development with 7.e3 , when the bishop are ready to spring into the attack wit h is definitely worse on f5 than on g4) 7.xd1 moves like Rb4 and Bb3. ] the white king is confined to the centre, but 20.bxc4 dxc4 21.e3! A very sneaky, and the normal adverse outcomes from a pin by strong, move. e6 a bishop on g4 (winning back material with [ Black decides to shed a pawn to get his interest, or ruining White's kingside pawns) pieces out. W hite's point is that a quiet do not arise. The position looks dynamically m o v e s u c h a s 21...h8 can be met with balanced, but I think playing Black is more 22.xc4! xc4 23.d3! winning material. ] comfortable. M.Godena (2540) - A. 22.xb7 d5 23.b4 ac8 24.h4 c6 Rombaldoni (2425), Bratto 2009 continued The position is still quite murky. W hite is a e6 (other options are available like castling pawn up, but Black has his pieces out and queenside or playing the pawn to e5 but I W hite's queenside still looks funny. 25.g3 quite like Rombaldoni's measured approach) f8?! This looks a bit panicky, but it is not 8.e3 f6 9.bd2 d5 10.b3 easy for Black to capitalize on W hite's odd a n d n o w I l i k e 0-0-0 ( rather than the piece placement. 26.h5 c7 27.h7! game's 10...xe3+ 11.fxe3 0-0-0+ 12.e1 By creating a mating square on g8, White sets e5 w h e n a f t e r 13.g5! g6 14.c4 up some tactics against the h6-pawn. Another White was on top and went on to win in 30 point is that White's sidelined knight is able to moves. ) 11.e1 e5 with continuing come into the game with great eff ect. f6 compensation, since playing by analogy with 28.c2! a8 the Godena game is a shot in the dark: [ 28...c5 29.e3 e6 was a better try. ] 12.g5?! g6 13.c4 e7 ] 29.e3 c5 30.h4 [ 6.e3 is the move I like best. Black has a [ 30.xc4! just wins the c-pawn because of very wide range of options here (castling the pin on the fourth rank. Rh4 will follow queenside, two moves with the e-pawn, with devastation on the kingside. I suspect developing a knight to f6) and as this line the last several moves were made in some gains popularity these will likely be tested in time pressure. ] su f f icie nt ly high -le ve l ga me s. A re ce n t 30...c6 31.a3! The last piece finally comes highly-ra te d e ncou nt er (p erha ps W an g into play a5? 32.b8 xa3 33.xd8+ e8 Yu e 's in s p i r a t i o n i n e n t e r in g t h is li n e ) 34.f5 This is not the strongest (34.Rxe8) but continued cxd4 7.xd4 xd4 8.cxd4 is more than good enough. xb1 9.a4+! d8 10.xb1 f6 11.f3! 1-0 e6 12.f2 f5 and now the spectacular double-rook sacrifice 13.d5? was only good enough for a draw: ( 13.e1 g4+ 14.g1 2143 B22 xe3 15.xe3 e6 16.d3 g5 17.f2 is clearly better f or W hite) 13...xb1 Howell,David 2633 14.a5+ c8 15.e2!? ( 15.c5+ d8 Wang Yue 2697 16.a5+ repeats immediately but White Hastings Masters 2011-12 (5.1) 01.01.2012 w a n t s t o p l a y f o r a f e w m o r e m o v e s) [Sam Collins] 15...xh1 16.c3+ d8 17.a5+ e8 18.b5+ d7 19.xd7+ xd7 20.b5+ 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 d8 21.a5+ d7 and a draw was agreed 5.f3 f5!? A variation I had never seen in view of perpetual check in S.Vysochin before I tuned in to the Hastings live coverage (2529) - A. Areshchenko (2694), Kiev a n d s a w D a v i d H o we l l a p a wn d o wn f o r 2279

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2011. ] [ The first move I checked in this position was 6.bd2 , aiming to put a bishop on c4 without allowing a check on e4. Unfortunately Black has the precise e6+! , when after 7.e2 cxd4 8.xd4 xd4 9.cxd4 d3 10.f3 xe2+ 11.xe2 xe2 12.xe2 I prefer Black. ] 6...cxd4 7.c4 e4+ 8.f1 [ The standard trick 8.e3 , when Black can't capture since White takes on f7 and forks on g5, still leads to a displacement of the white k i n g a f t e r e6! 9.cxd4 b4+ 10.f1 . This looks perfectly comfortable for Black. S . K ri s t ja n s s o n (2 4 7 2 ) - A . R o m b a ld o n i ( 2 3 0 9 ) , R e y k j a vi k 2 0 0 9 c o n t i n u e d f6 11.g5 h4 12.g3 h6 13.h3 g6 14.g4 e4 15.f3 xa3 16.bxa3 c2 17.e2 d5 with a clear advantage for Black, who went on to win in 37 moves. ] 8...e6 9.b5 d3 [ 9...c8 10.a4! is okay for White ] [ 9...dxc3 is also playable, based on a stunning resource: 10.c7+ e7 11.b3 d8 12.a3+ f6 13.c1 and now d1+!! 14.xd1 xa3 when the c-pawn is a significant asset. However, it only seems enough for a marginally better endgame for Black: 15.b5 c2 16.d2 c1+ 17.xc1 xc1 18.xc1 b1 19.xb1 xb1 20.d6 ge7 21.xb7 f5 and White should not lose. ] 10.fd4 xd4 11.cxd4 [ 11.xd4 0-0-0 12.f3 e5 13.xd3 c5 14.xf5 xf5 15.e3 xd4 16.cxd4 would be a position where White could book himself in for 100+ moves of suffering if the black king had castled short. W ith the b la c k k in g o n t h e qu e e n s id e t h e re a r e a l wa y s s o m e c h a n c e s, b u t i t i s h a r d l y surprising that David did not want to go in for this. ] 11...c8 12.f3 c6 13.xd3 xd3+ 14.xd3 a6 15.c3 f6 16.d5? A despondent move. [ 16.d2 and suffering with the IQP was a more tenacious option, but it is possible that David was still reeling from how quickly and easily he had been outplayed in his pet line. ] 16...xd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 exd5

The rest of the game is not central to our theme. However, W ang Yue has great technique and smoothly converted his extra p a wn . I t ' s t o o e a r l y t o s a y wh e t h e r t h i s position is winning or just "excellent winning chances for Black". Either way, White has to deviate earlier. 19.e3 c2 20.e1 d7 21.e2 xe2 22.xe2 d6 23.h3 c8 24.c1 e8 25.d3 h5 26.c2 f6 27.e2 e5 28.b3 g5 29.e1 g8 30.h1 e6 31.d2 g3 32.c1 f5 33.c5 d8 34.a5 d7 35.c8 h4 36.e8 f4 37.c3 d4 38.b4 c7 39.e4 c1 40.e1 c6 41.e4 e5 42.d2 b5 43.e2 c8 44.e1 f4 45.e4 xd2 46.xd2 d8 47.d3 b4 48.g4 d5 49.f4 a5 50.fxg5 fxg5 51.g3 hxg3 52.xg3 xa2 53.f3+ g6 54.xd4 c2 55.e5 c5+ 56.d4 c3 57.xc3 bxc3 58.xc3 h5 Definitely a line which will gain some traction. Howell is as good as anyone on the white side of the c3-Sicilian so this game is quite shocking. I anticipate 6.Be3 as the main direction for White. 0-1

2144 Howell,David Ward,Christopher Jack Speigel Memorial (2) [David Vigorito]

B22 2528 2440 21.03.2008

David Howell continues to score well with the 2.c3 Sicilian. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.dxc5! xd1+ [ The alternative 6...xc5 leads to a more convention al game, but W hite will gain time hitting Black's queen at some point with Be3. ] 7.xd1 c6 [ The main line is 7...e5 8.b4 e4 9.h3 h5 10.g4 xg4 11.hxg4 xg4 12.bd2 exf3 ( or 12...h5 ) 13.d3 with an unusual endgame that looks favourable to W hite b e ca u se h is lo p sid e d p a wn m a jo rit y i s more threatening. ] 8.h3!? [ Because Black is not threatening the c5pawn, White takes the opportunity to clarify the situation on the kingside. 8.b4 e5 9.c2 is an alternative. ] 2280

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8...xf3+ 9.gxf3 e6 [ This is more solid than 9...e5 which would weaken the light-squares. ] 10.b4 a5 11.b5 d5 12.d2 e7 13.a3 W hite must make several "ugly" move to maintain the integrity of his pawns chain. 0-0 14.a2 [ 14.xc6 bxc6 15.c2 f6 16.a2 would avoid the coming trick, but perhaps Howell was trying to bait his opponent into the following melee. ] 14...axb4 15.xc6 [ Not 15.cxb4? dxb4 ] 15...b3 [ This leads to an unbalanced ending which appears to favour W hite. The simple 15...bxc6 16.cxb4 fb8 threatens to regain the pawn with 17...Bxc5 and gives Black good compensation. It is difficult for White to develop his pieces, for example: 17.c3 xc3+ 18.xc3 xc5= ] 16.xd5! bxa2 17.xa2 xc5 18.e2 White has a hideous structure, but his bishop pair ensures good long-term chances. fc8 [ 18...xa3 19.xa3 xa3 20.c4 also favours White. ] 19.c1!? b5 20.b3 e7 21.d1 c5 22.f1 d8 23.e3 h5 24.g2 xd1 25.xd1 d5 26.e2 Black's rook has no way into W hite's position. W hite shuff les about for a bit now. f8 27.f4 g6 28.g4 h6 29.e2 g5 Perhaps Black should sit tight. It is not so easy for White to make progress because his knight is passive and his king must guard the h3-pawn. 30.f3 d8 31.f1 With the h3-pawn no longer subject to attack, White centralizes his king. f5 32.e2 f7 33.c6 g4 Black makes a bid for counterplay, b u t W h i t e 's b i s h o p s c a n h e l p s u p p o r t a queenside advance while Black's kingside demonstration will prove to be quite manageable. 34.hxg4 fxg4 35.xb5 h5 36.a4 h4 37.d2 This is the first move of White's queen knight! It develops just in time to sacrifice itself. h3 38.f1 c8 39.c4 b4 40.b6 h8 41.h2 g8 42.f1 [ 42.a5 g3 43.fxg3 xg3 44.f1 g2+ 45.f3 is also good enough. ] 42...e7 43.c5 c8 44.c6 d6 45.a5 xf4 46.a6 h2 47.xh2 xh2 48.a7 g3 49.fxg3

xg3 50.a6 1-0

2145 Howell,David Wells,Peter K Jack Speigel Memorial (5) [David Vigorito]

B22 2528 2520 23.03.2008

David Howell is one of the few Grandmasters to use 2.c3 on a consistent basis. In this game he introduces a new idea in a well-trodden line. It worked out for White here, but objectively Black should have little to fear if he is careful. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 8.exd6 xd6 9.0-0 e6 10.a3 dxc3 11.e2 xb3 12.b5 [ This finesse is considered slightly more accurate. 12.axb3 gives Black two extra o p t io n s , n a m e l y c2!? ( and 12...0-0-0 with the idea 13.b5 d3 )] 12...b8 13.axb3 e5 This is the main line. 13...g6!? is also possible. 14.bd4 xd4 [ This is more accurate than 14...f6 15.bxc3 e7 ( 15...xd4? 16.cxd4! ) 16.f5!? 0-0 17.3h4 which was played by the same opponents! The game Howell, D-Wells, P/ Birmingham ENG 2005 can be found in the archives. ] 15.xd4 f6 16.bxc3 f7 17.f5!? [ This move has not been played before at master level as far as I can tell. The main line is 17.b5 when the game usually drifts towards a sterile equality: a6 18.e3 axb5 19.xb6 xa1 20.xa1 e8 21.a5 when both 21....b4 and 21...Qc6(!) have been tried. W ith the text W hite takes his chances a pawn down in the middlegame. At least it is something fresh! ] 17...c8 This is probably best. The queen h e a d s t o c 6 . 18.f3 c6 19.h3 g6 otherwise it is not clear how Black will develop. 20.h6+ xh6 21.xh6 d5 [ perhaps Black should try the greedy 21...xc3 22.e3 d5 White has the initiative, but he is up two pawns and the d5-knight covers the sensitive c7-square. ] 22.f4 [ Now this is surprising! 22.c4 looks more 2281

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 natural, but after e7 ...Nf5 will be a useful defensive move. ] 22...xc3 23.a4 xb3 24.e4 It's difficult to believe that White has enough here. d3 25.fe1 exf4 26.xf4 f5 27.e5 ac8? [ What's wrong with 27...d4+ 28.h1 xf4 ( not 28...xf4 29.e7+ ) 29.e7+ g8 ? It looks scary, but everything is covered. ] 28.g5 c7 29.h4 Now White's initiative becomes alarming. f4 30.h5 e3? [ 30...f3 looks like the best try, although if W h i t e f i n d s 31.1e4! cutting off the black queen from g6, it is dif ficult to see how Black can defend his king. ] 31.hxg6+ [ 31.f6! also wins, because xf6 32.xf4+ f5 ( 32...f5 33.xf5+ xf5 34.xc7 ) 33.e6+ g7 34.xc7+ wins the house. ] 31...xg6 32.h4 xg2 This fails, but there was no defence. 33.e7+ xe7 34.xe7+ f8 35.h6+ g8 36.g7+ xg7 37.d8+! 1-0

2146 Howell,David Wells,Peter K 4NCL 2005-06 (4) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2348 2519 20.11.2005

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 8.exd6 xd6 9.0-0 [ 9.a3 is a major alternative that we can look into another time. ] 9...e6 10.a3 [ 10.xe6 xe6 11.xd4 xd4 ( 11...d7!? ) 12.xd4 d8 13.h4 e2! is considered comfortable for Black. ] 10...dxc3 11.e2 [ 11.b5 xd1 12.xd1 c8 13.xe6 fxe6 14.xc3 g6 is a very comfortable ending for Black ] 11...xb3 12.b5 [ 12.axb3 seems more flexible, but in most cases the lines will probably transpose. ] 12...b8 13.axb3 e5 The most reliable move, but by no means the only one. Black could also consider [ 13...g6 or ]

[ 13...e6 ] 14.bd4 f6?! [ 14...xd4 15.xd4 f6 16.bxc3 f7 looks fairly safe, but White's compensation is enduring due to the precarious king on f7, the uncomfortable knight on b6 and the powerful rook on a1. 17.b5 a6 18.e3 axb5 19.xb6 xa1 20.xa1 e8 21.a5 is equal- the time taken to win the pawn back allows to catch up in development. ] 15.bxc3 e7 [ 15...f7 is also possible. ] 16.f5!? [ 16.xc6 is also possible and might actually be better for White in spite of being a pawn down. bxc6 17.e4 c7 18.c4 intending Be3,Ra6 and Rfa1. ] 16...0-0 17.3h4 White has decent compensation, and his position has become quite easy to play. f7 18.g4 h8 19.h5 g8 20.g4 h8 21.h5 g8 22.d1 Eschewing the draw. I am not sure whether or not this was wise, but by move 27 W hite is definitely on the back foot, so something went wrong around here. f8 23.d3 [ 23.e3!? ] 23...e8 24.g4 d7 25.xd7 xd7 26.e3 d8 27.f1 h8 Black is now safe, and the extra pawn becomes the most important feature of the position. 28.h3 f7 29.c4 g6 30.h6 xh6 31.xh6 d4 32.f3 d7 33.xd4 xh3 34.gxh3 xd4 35.e3 d3 36.a1 xb3 37.xb6 axb6 38.a8+ g7 39.b8 c3 [ 39...b4!? ] 40.xb7+ h6 41.xb6 f5 42.c6 g5 43.g2 e4 44.c7 h5 45.c6 f4 46.f1 c1+ 47.e2 f3+ 48.d2 f1 49.e3 e1+ 50.d4 e3 51.h4+ xh4 0-1

2147 Hummel,Markus Kuemin,Simon European Junior Ch (7) [Gary Lane]

B22 2135 2195 1998

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d6 6.c4 b6 7.b5+ d7 8.e6 T h i s p o s i t i o n d e m a n d s a d i a g r a m ! xb5 2282

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.h5 c8 10.xb5+ d8 [ 10...c6 Black shows little ambition by wanting to trade queens 11.exf7+ xf7 12.h5+ g6 13.f3+ xf3 14.xf3 h6 15.c3 g7 16.e3 c6 17.0-0-0 b4 18.b1 4d5 19.c1 ac8 20.xd5 xd5 21.xc8 xc8 22.c1 xc1+ 1/2-1/2 R.Antonio-Xu Jun, Shenzhen 1992. ] 11.e3 [ 11.e2 fxe6 12.bc3 c4 13.g5 d5 14.0-0 xc3 15.xc3 d3 16.e1 f5 17.e4 h6 18.h4 d7 19.g5 c6 20.xe6 d8 21.d5 b5 22.d4 g8 23.d2 f6 24.g4 h5 25.h3 xe6 26.xe6 xb2 27.xe7+ xe7 28.e6+ 1-0 R.Persson-K.Roser,Budapest 1997. ] 11...xe6 12.d5! An idea thought up by Rozentalis to maintain the initiative. d7 [ 12...xd5 13.xb7 c7 14.c3 is delightfully unclear E.Preissmann-J.Adler, Geneva 1995. ] [ 12...xd5? 13.xb6+ axb6 14.xd5 wins ] 13.xb6+ axb6 14.xb6+ c7 15.e3 I t is f a irl y e a s y f o r W h it e t o d e ve lo p h i s k n i g h t s a n d wh i s k h i s k i n g t o s a f e t y b y castling kingside. The difference for Black is that he needs to play precisely to connect the rooks and protect his centralised king. g6 16.c3 g7 17.ge2 d7 18.c1 h5 19.0-0 c5 20.e4 White wishes to avoid the ending because he wants to attack. f6 21.d3 h6 22.c2 c8 23.d1 g4 It is premature for Kuemin to start attacking himself before making sure his king is safe. [ 23...d7 should be considered. ] 24.d4 f4 25.g3 e5 26.cb5 b6 [ 26...xd5 27.xc8+ xc8 28.a3 and White is better. ] 27.dc1 c5 28.b4 xc2 29.xc2 1-0

2148 B22 Ibarra Jerez,Jose Carlos 2522 Rodriguez Guerrero,Enrique 2432 Granada Nazari GM (9) 20.04.2014 [Smerdon, David] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 g6 3.f3 g7 4.d4 cxd4 5.c4!? What a cool idea! We haven't seen

this on ChessPub before, but there's some sense to the madness. White combines AntiSicilians, transposing from the 2.c3 to one of the more dangerous variations of the Morra. [ It should be noted that White has been doing very well in the 'normal' main line of late, e.g. 5.cxd4 d5 6.e5 c6 7.b5 h6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 f6 10.exf6 exf6?! 11.c3 1-0 (30) Tkachiev, V (2637)-Guseinov, G (2607) Warsaw 2013 ] 5...d3!? [ 5...dxc3 must be critical, but has been chosen surprisingly rarely. Well, perhaps not so surprising, as the resulting positions offer White at least sufficient compensation for the pawn, and are certainly more dangerous than the usual main lines of the Morra. 6.xc3 c6 Pretty much forced. ( 6...d6? 7.b3 e6 8.f4; 6...f6? 7.e5 g4 8.xf7+ ) 7.0-0 A) 7...f6 8.e5 g4 9.xf7+ ( 9.f4!? gxe5 10.xe5 xe5 11.xf7+ xf7 12.xe5+ g7 ) 9...xf7 10.g5+ g8 11.xg4 xe5 12.e4; B) 7...d6 8.e2 ( 8.g5!? e5 9.b3 xc4 10.xc4 h6 11.e3 0-0 12.h3 with reasonable compensation, especially wit h t he black kn ight stran ded on h 6) 8...f6 9.h3 0-0 10.d1 with respectable compensation. 1-0 (34) Adams, M (2610)Nunn, J (2595) Oviedo 1992 ] [ 5...d6 6.cxd4 f6 7.c3 0-0 is a very sensible way for Black to play this line, alt h ou gh it 's a bit p assive , Ca ru an a , F (2640)-Bu, X (2714) Cap d'Agde 2008 ] 6.b3 e6 7.g5 a5?! A bit loose, but clearly the opening has been a success for White. [ 7...c7 8.xd3 ] 8.xd3 c6 9.bd2 h6 10.h4 ge7?? 11.c4! c5 12.g3+- White is completely winning, and to be honest, the game shouldn't last as long as it does. 0-0 13.d6 h5 14.a3 f5 15.b6 [ 15.h3! And Black is completely paralysed. ] 15...axb6 16.xa8 g4 17.0-0 fxe4 18.h3 f5 19.c2 e8 20.a4 f7 21.xe4 f5 22.ad1 ce7 23.e5 f6 24.fe1 xd6 25.xd6 f5 26.xb6 f8 27.e2 d6 28.f3 d8 29.b4 f6 30.a4 f8 31.d3 d5 32.f4 d6 33.e5 c7 34.g4 f8 2283

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 35.f3 b6 36.e1 g7 37.d2 h7 38.e3 g8 39.g3 e7 40.g4 f5 41.c4 d4 42.e4 f8 43.e2 b4 44.d3 g7 45.b3 d8 46.e5 d6 47.c6 d7 48.b4 b7 49.a5 bxa5 50.c5 axb4 51.cxd6 xd6 52.xb4 xe4 53.xe4 c7 54.xe6 c3 55.xg6 c1+ 56.h2 xg6 57.f7+ h8 58.xd4+ g8 59.xb7 1-0

22.c2 f5 23.h5 is a typically forced sequence for this variation, again ending in a draw: d4! 24.xd4 xd4 25.f3 xc4 26.f6 xc2 27.h6 f8 28.xb7 4d7 29.g7+ e7 30.f6+= ] 18...a5 19.f4 d8 20.h5 c5! 21.bc1 [ 21.d4!? was quite strong, involving sacrificial ideas on e6 if Black allows the steed to remain. a5 ( 21...xd4 22.cxd4 xd4 23.xb7 ) 22.g4! f8 23.e3! E v e r y o n e f o r w a r d ! xc3? ( 23...c4 2149 B22 24.g3 xe5 25.h4 ) 24.xe6!! fxe6 25.xe6+ f7 26.f5 g6 27.hxg6 hxg6 Istratescu,A 2677 28.f6 xe3 29.e6!! e7 30.exf7+ xf7 El Debs,F 2520 31.xf7+ xf7 32.xe3 ] Basel Master Open 2014 (4.4) 03.01.2014 21...a5 22.b1 xc3 23.xc3 xc3 [Smerdon, David] 24.d2 c7 25.g5 Istratescu has 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 misplayed things, but here he returns to the cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e7 8.0-0 0-0 general principle in this line: White must go 9.e2 c6 10.c3 dxe5 11.dxe5 xc3 forwards, no matter what! g6 26.hxg6 hxg6 12.bxc3 a5 13.d2 d8 14.fe1 27.e3 d5 28.e4 d8 [ 28...c4! 29.h6 xe5 30.c3 f5 31.f4 We've seen this tabia a few times on this site, fxe4 32.xe5 xe5 33.fxe5 xe5 34.xe4 including some excellent analysis by Sam c5+ ] Collins. As I said in the notes to Sebag-Velikov, I believe Black needs to try 14...b6 or risk 29.c3 c4 30.f4 [ 30.h6! xe5 31.f4 d1 32.xe5!! being subject to a dangerous attack. d7 xe1+ 33.h2 f6 34.g5!! h1+ 35.xh1 15.ab1 Istratescu is not a man to be trifled d1+ 36.h2 h5+ 37.xh5 gxh5 with in the 2.c3 Sicilian, but Rb1 wouldn't be 38.xe6 fxe5 39.fxe5 ] my choice. See the archives for the usual [ 15.b3 Sebag, M (2527)-Velikov, P (2422)/ 30...d1! 31.c2 xe1+ 32.xe1 c6?! [ 32...c7! 33.h6 xe5 34.c3 f6 Haguenau FRA 2013. ] 35.b3 f7 36.f4 g7 and White runs 15...c7 16.d3 e8 17.h4 d5N out of steam. ] [ 17...d7 18.e4 g6 19.g5 ad8 20.c2 a5 21.xe7 xe7 Palachev, P 33.f6+ xf6 34.exf6 d5 35.b8+ h7 (2425)-Purygin, A (2206)/Samara RUS 2012, 36.h2+ g8 37.c3 g5 38.b8+ h7 and now 22.f4! is the standard way 39.h2+ g8 40.b8+ h7 A fair result. ½-½ forward. xc3?? 23.ec1+- ] 18.e4 Not the best. I think Istratescu missed the strength of the rook lift to the queenside. B22 Instead, White should consider an interesting 2150 Istratescu,A 2664 pattern of piece deployment by placing the Greenfeld,A 2545 bishops on c3 and f1. 20.10.2013 [ 18.e4 g6 19.c4 d7 ( 19...c5 20.c3! 17th Corsican Circuit Final (1.4) d8 21.f1! ) 20.g5 ( 20.f1!? ad8 [Smerdon, David] 21.c3 is also an interesting way to arrange the pieces here. The bishops hold 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 d6 6.cxd4 c6 7.c4 dxe5 out the black rooks, and White can continue 5.f3 to concentrate on the kingside with the usual This move does crop up from time to time, h 5 , Q f 4 t y p e o f m o v e s . T h e c o m p u t e r though in my opinion it's inferior to the regular eventually comes round, giving W hite a . . . N b 6 . R e a d e r s m i g h t h a ve n o t i c e d m y healthy edge.) 20...ad8 21.xe7 xe7 prejudice against the ... e6 system, but of 2284

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 course that is a very popular choice here as well. 8.dxe5 [ 8.xd5 is very sharp see SveshnikovShirov. ] 8...db4 9.xd8+ The endgame has always been considered equal, but things are not that simple. Black can often find herself on the ba c k f o o t as W h it e p ut s o n a n en d ga m e squeeze. Istratescu has proved to be a bit of a specialist when it comes to handling the white pieces from this position. [ 9.b3 is supposed to keep a bit more life in the position see Skripchenko-Cmilyte. ] 9...xd8 10.a3 a6 Natural, but perhaps not best. Richard analysed ...Bg4 in the notes to Sveshnikov-Shirov and concluded that Black is okay I can't disagree. [ 10...g4 and now Richard only considered 11.Nd4, but in fact I'd be tempted to allow Black to double the f-pawns in exchange for granting White the two bishops, e.g. 11.0-0 xf3 12.gxf3 e6 13.e3 dc6 14.f4 a6 15.ac1 and Black still has some work to do t o cl a im e qu a l it y, e . g . e7? 16.c2! with a healthy endgame advantage. ] 11.0-0 e6?! With a c8 bishop and a d8 knight, this move really doesn't feel right. [ 11...b5 12.e2 dc6 seems logical, but recently a 2100 uncorked a strong novelty which earned him a victory against a Ukrainian grandmaster: A) Instead, 13.e3 is close to equal, but g6 14.fc1 b7? in Potapov, P-Laznicka, V (2010) wasn't the way to show it: ( 14...d7 ) 15.xb5!! axb5 16.xb5 a5? 17.a4 Potapov, P (2427)-Laznicka, V (2659)/Rijeka CRO 2010; B) 13.d2! e6?! ( 13...d7 14.fc1 g6 ) 14.fc1 b7? ( 14...d7 is better, but White is still clearly on top: 15.c2 xc2 16.xc2 b4 17.cc1 e7 18.d4 0-0 19.a3 d5 20.c6 a n d W h i t e i s p r e s s i n g f o r t h e w i n .) 15.xb5! (again!) axb5 16.xb5 a5 17.xc6+ xc6 18.xc6+- Patil, P (2193)Oleksienko, M (2563)/New Delhi 2012. ] [ 11...g4 is again possible. ] 12.d2 d7 [ 12...b5 13.e2 b7 14.fc1 e7 15.c2! also is much better for White. d5 16.cd4 d7 17.a4! Istratescu, A (2647)-

Hamdouchi, H (2627)/Pau FRA 2012. ] 13.fc1?! [ 13.e2! is more accurate. Now ...b5 14. Rfc1 gives White a slight advantage, while c8 14.c4! b5 15.ac1 threatens tactical motifs based on the c-file pin and the weakened dark squares. ] 13...c8 14.b3 c6? Gifting White an easy advantage on the queen's side. [ 14...xc1+! eases Black's defence. 15.xc1 b5 and Black should be able to hold. ( 15...d3 16.c7 xb2 is the computer's suggestion, claiming "0.00", but it's very hard to believe, and from a practical standpoint White's position looks much more enjoyable. )] 15.c4! d3 16.c3 c5 17.d4 [ 17.c2 xf3 18.gxf3 and White's doubled pawns are totally irrelevant when compared to W hite's overwhelmingly superior activity. ] 17...e4 18.c2 c5 19.e3 Finally Black develops his f8 bishop, but it's too little, too late. Black is practically lost. d5? 20.ac1? Mutual blunders. [ 20.b6! xb3 21.xb3+- ] 20...0-0? 21.b6! Success on the second attempt. xb3 22.axb3 xd4 23.xc8 xe3 24.fxe3+- c6 25.c7 xe5 26.d7 xd7 27.xd7 b6 28.b4 g6 29.c6 g7 30.xe6 f6 31.b7 d8 32.ee7 d1+ 33.f2 Once again, Istratescu highlights the difficulties Black faces in this endgame line. 1-0

2151 Istratescu,Andrei Pavlovic,Milos Zuerich op 36th (5) [Sam Collins]

B22 2654 2513 29.12.2012

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.e2 c6 10.c3 dxe5 11.dxe5 xc3 12.bxc3 a5 13.d2 d7 14.fe1 fd8 15.ab1 ab8 16.b3 [ Varying from the 16.e4 which was tried by Swedish GM Pontus Carlsson in two games I covered previously, both available in t h e n o t e s t o P . C a r l ss o n ( 2 5 0 2 ) - A . 2285

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Istratescu (2627), European Team Championship 2011 (1-0 in 49). It is interesting to see Istatescu on the white side, especially since my recommendation a4 wa s t es t e d in A . I st rat e scu (2 6 4 1) - A . Bleunven (2221), Plancoet 2012. 17.g5 xg5 18.xg5 dc8 all followed my analysis. 19.f6!? A shocking move which the engine doesn't suggest immediately, but which immediately results in an assessment o f " 0 . 0 0 " . ( I o n l y g a v e 19.d3 xe4 20.xe4 , with the assessment "leaves an endgame where Black could probably claim equality in view of his lack of weaknesses, and targets to aim at on a2 and c3. I would still prefer W hite, however, since with the t wo b i s h o p s h e c a n n e ve r b e wo r s e . ") 19...gxf6 20.exf6 h8! . For the moment, Black defends resolutely. 21.d3 ( 21.d3!! xe4 22.xe4 is an incredible resource, though Black has no complaints after g8 23.h4 g6 24.xg6 fxg6 ) 21...a5? ( 21...e5! controls important squares on the kingside and leaves White with insufficient compensation) 22.b4 xc4 ( 22...c6 23.e5+- ) 23.xa4 xa4 . Black is still doing fine here, and certainly shouldn't lose i n 7 m o v e s . 24.h3 b6 25.e5 d8 26.e4 c6 27.h4 d1+?! It doesn't make a huge difference, but driving the king to safety is obviously a poor choice. ( 27...d5 ) 28.h2 d5 29.e4 h5?? ( 29...dd8 followed by ...Rg8 leaves Black wit h no prob le ms.) 30.f4 and Black resigned. ] 16...e8 17.e4 a6 18.c2 g6 19.h4 d5? An example of how even strong players can play badly when faced with an attack on their king (one of the secrets behind White's success in this variation). Pavlovic spends two tempi clumsily bringing a rook to attack a pawn he could have taken in one move. [ 19...xa2 20.h5 d5 wins a pawn and brings the queen into the centre with tempo. W h i t e h a s c o m p e n s a t i o n a f t e r 21.g4 but clearly Black had to go for this. ] [ 19...a5 , intending ...Bc6 to trade the knight on f3, was also a reasonable defence. ] 20.c4 c5 [ 20...dd8 was still okay. ]

21.b3! Now the black pieces are slightly awkward on the queenside. d8 [ 21...b6 and ...Qb7 is a better try. ] 22.e3 a5 23.h5! White's initiative on the kingside has assumed threatening proportions, while it is as yet unclear wha t B lack ha s achieved on the queenside. b4 [ 23...d7 24.bd1 xd1 25.xd1 b6 might have been a better defensive attempt but White still has a strong initiative. ] [ 23...b6 24.f4 c8 25.hxg6 hxg6 26.h2 and Ng5 is strong. ] 24.g5+Trading Black's best defender excellent attacking technique. xg5 25.xg5 d3 [ 25...h6 invites 26.xf7! xf7 27.hxg6 e8 28.bd1! with a decisive attack - just look at Black's pieces on the a-file. ] 26.bd1 One of several ways to win. xe5 Black tries to upset the natural course of the game, but W hite retains a powerful attack (and too much of a material advantage) even after his queen is exchanged. 27.xe5 xe5 28.xd8 f8 29.xe5 gxh5 30.c5 a5 31.d3 c6 32.f3 h4 33.d4 e8 34.f3 g7 35.f5+ f8 36.d6 e7 37.xe8 xe8 38.e4 xc5 39.xh4 b5 40.xh7 c1+ 41.h2 a5 42.fxf7 White continues to do well in this objectively equal line. I'm sure Istratescu prefers White's position! 1-0

2152 Ivanov,Alexander Ehlvest,Jaan Foxwoods Open (7) [David Vigorito]

B22 2516 2606 11.04.2009

Ehlvest plays an odd move in the opening and shows that there are still ways to avoid theory and create an unbalanced position. The game qu i c k l y r e a c h e s a t yp i c a l st r u c t u r e wi t h chances for both sides. 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 Ivanov usually plays either an open Sicilian or Rossolimo, which may explain Ehlvest's choice in the game. f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 c7!? An unusual move that is not even mentioned in Rozentalis' work on the 2.c3 Sicilian. 2286

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Normal is 8...e7 ] 9.bd2 [ A solid response, but one that is not too threatening. Instead 9.e2 looks normal ] [ while the direct 9.xd5 exd5 10.c3 e6 looks critical. ] 9...e7 This position could have also arisen af t er 8. .. Be7 , but t here 9.Nbd 2 is hardly critical. [ Black should avoid opening the position too qu ic k ly, f o r e xa m p l e 9...dxe5 10.dxe5 xe5?? 11.xd5 exd5 12.xe5 xe5 13.e1 ] 10.exd6 White gains some time with this capture, but Black still reaches a satisfactory isolated queen pawn position because there is no real pressure on d5. xd6 11.e4 d8 12.a3 [ Instead 12.c3 0-0 would reach a position from the Panov Attack in the Caro Kann with both sides losing a couple of tempi. This would normally be reached by the move order 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Be7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bc4 Nc6 9.O-O O-O. ] 12...0-0 13.d3 b6 14.eg5 As Black is developing easily, this is W hite best try to fight for the initiative. xg5 [ Black gives up the bishop pair both to simplif y and to unbalance the position. Instead 14...g6 was also possible. ] 15.xg5 [ 15.xg5 f6 looks okay for Black, who will continue with ...Bb7 and Ne7. It is not easy for W hite to set up effective tactics against e6 and f7, and Black could even play ...Ne7-d5 before moving the bishop from c8. ] 15...d6 16.e4 [ White heads for a drawish position. Instead 16.h4!? intending Bg3 was the way to play for the initiative. ] 16...b7 17.xd5 [ More natural is 17.d3 because it forces the response f5 but after 18.h4 ac8 The position is rather unclear. Both sides have pawn weaknesses and while W hite has the bishop pair, all of Black's minor pieces are quite good too. ] 17...exd5 18.d3 Now the position is completely equal. c8 Black repositions his

bishop, which was now doing nothing on b7. 19.h3 f6 20.d2 e6 21.fe1 d7 22.c3 f5 Black is starting to take over the initiative. His bishop is looking a lot better than White's 23.d2 e4 24.h2 ac8 25.f3 g6 26.f1 c7 27.ac1 fc8 28.f4 h5 29.h4 d8 30.b4 xc1 31.xc1 xc1 32.xc1 e6 33.e3 f7 34.g3 a4 White must already be careful, as Black's queen is coming in . I n t i m e p r e s s u re I va n o v m a n a g e s t o neu tra lize t he pre ssu re . 35.e2 d1+ 36.h2 c2 37.c3 d3 38.d2 [ After 38.xd3 xd3 39.c1 c2 Black will play ... g5 with a tiny initiative, although W hite should not have trouble drawing. ] [ 38.xe6+! was the simplest though. ] 38...b5 39.c3 d7 40.f4 W hite exchanges knights, and more importantly, makes the time control. ½-½

2153 Janev,Evgeni Shyam,Sundar M 7th International Varna Open (4.1) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2444 2502 22.06.2013

12...dxe5 probably refutes White's idea thanks to t he incre dible 14 ...Ne3!. In the game , W hite could have built up a very powerful position with 20.Nde4!, hoping to sacrifice the queen if allowed. The game doesn't really change the evaluation that the 7.a3 line is objectively toothless. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.a3 Old theory, recommended in my first ever 2. c3 Sicilian book ("The Complete c3 Sicilian", by Murray Chandler). d7 8.d3 c6 9.0-0 d7 This setup is considered the problem with W hite's approach. 10.b4 a6 11.e1 Th e a lt e rn at ive 1 1 . Nb d2 wa s co vere d in T i v i a k o v - B o s c h , 2 0 0 6 . c8 12.g5?! Interesting and very tricky, but if Black finds the right continuation, W hite will have to su f f er a jo yle ss en dga me . O th er mo ve s , however, make it hard for W hite to actively develop the rest of his queenside. [ 12.b2 is more prosaic. ] 12...e7 2287

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ Black has a few pitfalls to avoid, e.g. 12...g6?? 13.f3! e7 14.exd6 f6 15.g4 h6 ( 15...xd6 16.xe6+- ) 16.xf7+- ] [ 12...dxe5! is the real test. 13.dxe5 e7 14.g4 and now Black has a real thunderbolt: e3!! leading to an advantage in eve ry line . ( 14...b5 15.xb5 axb5 16.f3 gives White a nice position. (1-0 (49), Janev, E (2450)-Nikolov, M (2550)/ Kyustendil BUL 2010)) 15.xe3 xe5 16.xe6 ( 16.g3?? xd3 0-1 (41) Kouvatsou, M (2185) -Nikolov, M (2552); 16.h5 xd3 17.xe6 g6 18.xg6 hxg6 19.f4 g5 ) 16...xg4 17.xd8 xd8 18.c5 xd3 19.xe7+ d8 20.e1 c7 ] 13.h5 g6 14.h6 f8 15.h3 dxe5 16.dxe5 g7 17.g3 b5 [ 17...e7 will probably have to be played eventually anyway, so Black should avail himself of the opportunity immediately. 18.b2 ( 18.c3!? is tricky, but Black should be brave and play xg2! 19.b2 c6 20.b5 axb5 21.xb5 0-0 22.d6 a8 23.h3 h6 24.gxf7 xf7 25.xe6 d5 26.xf7 xe6 27.xd8 xd8 ) 18...0-0 19.c3 h6 20.h3 but after c7 W hite has to play 21.f4 and after f5 22.xf5 exf5 Black has a small edge thanks to the bishops and the safer king. ] 18.xb5 [ 18.xg6?? was played before, but doesn't work: hxg6 19.xe6 fxe6 20.xg6+ f8 21.xe6 xe5-+ 0-1 (31) Rainfray, A (2406)-Bedouin, X (2342)/France 2008 ] 18...axb5 19.d2 e7?! Too late! [ 19...0-0 20.df3 h6 21.e4 ] 20.df3? [ 20.de4! was the way to go, initiating all sorts of amazing queen sacrifices. A) 20...xe5 21.f4 f5 ( 21...xf4 22.xf4 0-0 23.d6 ) 22.xe5!! xg3 23.d6+ e7 24.dxf7 g8 25.d6+ f6 26.fxg3; B) 20...f5 21.b3 0-0 ( 21...xe5 22.b2 0-0 23.xe6! fxe6 24.xe5 ) 22.b2 c4 23.ad1; C) 20...xe5 21.b2 f5 22.xe5!! xe5 23.xe5 ] 20...f5 Now Black is getting on top. 21.f4

c4 [ 21...h6! 22.e4 g5! 23.g4 xe5 24.xe5 xe5 immediately punishes White's tentativeness. ] 22.e4 0-0 23.b2 c2 24.ab1 c7 [ 24...b6! was better. I guess Black was afraid to let go of the control of f6, but after 25.f6+ xf6 26.exf6 d3! Black is still to be preferred. ] 25.h4 f6 26.h2 fxe5 27.bc1 [ 27.h5! was natural. gxh5 28.xh5 b6 29.h3! ] 27...c6?! [ 27...c8! ] 28.h5! White doesn't need a second invitation. gxh5 29.xh5 xc1 30.xc1 f6? A strange move. [ 30...d4! 31.eg5 c2! with a complicated game. ] 31.xf6+ xf6 32.b2 g7 33.h6 f5 34.h3 e4 35.c1 From here on, White's position begins to slide. [ 35.g4+! g7 36.xg7 xg7 37.g5 is very pleasant for White. ] 35...d7 36.xf6 exf3 37.g4+ f7 38.e5 c8 39.h5+ f8 40.xc8+ xc8 41.g5 This gives away any ambitions of the win. [ But 41.xf3 c1+ 42.h2 h6+ 43.h3 xh3+ 44.xh3 h5!= is probably drawn anyway. ] 41...fxg2 42.f6+ e8 43.h8+ d7 The beginning of a glorious king march along the white squares. 44.xh7+ c6 45.h3?! d5! 46.c3 c4 47.xg2+ e4 48.g8?? [ 48.f1 with drawing chances. The black king must be halted! ] 48...c4! 49.f6 b3! The king march is complete! 50.d8 g4+ 51.h2 f4+ 52.g1 c1+ 53.h2 xa3 54.a5+ b3 55.d8 f4+ 56.g1 xb4 57.d7 g4+ 58.f1 c4+ 59.g1 c1+ 60.g2 c6+ 61.xc6 bxc6 0-1

2288

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2154 Jario Garcia,Ricardo Javier Bayod,Angel Spanish Team Championship (2) [Gary Lane]

B22 2155 Jones,Gawain C Nataf,Igor Alexandre 1999 6th EICC Warsaw POL (3) [Jonathan Rowson]

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 A good way for Black to avoid the main lines. He concedes the centre but hopes to later undermine the pawns on d4 and e4. 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 f6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 I think White is already a little better here. It is easy to develop the pieces and quickly castle. The advantage of the central pawns means that Garcia has more room for manoeuvring and the advance e5 is always likely to oust the defender of h7. e7 7.d3 0-0 8.0-0 b6 9.e5 [ 9.e2 is also possible with the idea of e5 followed by Qe4. b7 10.f4 c6 11.ad1 h5 12.e3 b4 13.b5 a6 14.a4 b5 15.b3 f6 16.a3 c6 17.e5 e8 18.d5! an excellent idea to exert pressure on the dfile a5 19.a2 exd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.xd5 c8 22.fd1 c7 23.f4 c4 24.xc4 xc4 25.xc4 xc4 26.exd6 d8 27.5d4 c2 28.4d2 c4 29.d7 f6 30.d6 e4 31.xf8 xd2 32.xd2 d4 33.c5 1-0 P.Eschmann-B.Hug,Basel 2000. ] 9...d5 10.e4 h6 11.b1 White is very obvious about his intention to put the queen on the b1-h7 diagonal. f5 [ 11...a6 12.c2 dxe5? 13.eg5! f6 14.dxe5 xf1 15.exf6 g6 16.xf7 ] 12.exf6 xf6 13.c2 b7 [ 13...e7 14.eg5 xg5 15.h7+ f7 16.g6+ f6 17.xg5+ hxg5 18.h5 wins for White. ] [ 13...d7 is a better idea but White still has all the chances after 14.c3 ] 14.xh6! White jumps at the chance to wreck the black pawn structure. The idea is that if the bishop is taken then there is no escape square on f7. c6 [ If 14...gxh6 then 15.xd6 xd6? 16.h7# ] 15.eg5 1-0

B22 2439 2559 20.06.2005

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.c4 b6 6.b3 c4 7.c2 c7 8.e2 g5 9.e6 My current impression, based on looking at the main games in this line, is that 9.h3 is the critical move here. dxe6 10.xg5 e5 11.d4 cxd3 12.xd3 xe2+ 13.xe2 h6 Not forced, but otherwise Black has to w a t c h o u t f o r B h 5 a t t a c k i n g f 7 . 14.e4 This looks wrong, because it doesn't work out t a c t i c a l l y a n d B l a c k g e n e r a l l y wa n t s t o advance his central pawns in any case. f5 15.h5+ d8 16.c5 e5 17.f7 I guess this was white's idea, but without any p i e c e s o u t i t l o o k s a b i t c o n t r i v e d . e6! M o r e o r l e s s w i n n i n g ! 18.xe6+? W hite should have cut his losses and retreated. [ 18.b3 h5 19.g5+ e7 20.h4 Black is much better here, but the position is not fully resolved. ] 18...e7 19.c7 xf7 20.xa8 xa8 White has nominal material equality(on most point scales) but Black is completely winning be ca u se t h e t wo m in o r p ie ce s a re m u c h stronger than the rook, or rather, the four minor pieces and rook are much stronger than the two rooks, bishop and knight! 21.f4 c5 22.fxe5 xe5 23.b4 b6 24.d1 d7 25.a4 c6 26.a5 xg2 27.e1 c7 28.e3 d3 29.g1 f3+ 30.c2 e4 31.d4 e5 32.xe5 xe5+ 33.b3 d5+ 34.c2 c7 35.d2 c8 36.af1 f6 37.g3 b5 38.b2 d6 39.fg1 e4 40.xe4+ xe4 41.e3 e6 42.ge1 d5 43.d1+ c4 44.d2 d3+ 45.a1 g8 46.de2 xc3 0-1

2289

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2156 Jones,Gawain C Vitiugov,Nikita 13th EICC Plovdiv BUL (5.1) [Sam Collins]

B22 2635 2709 24.03.2012

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e7 8.0-0 0-0 An interesting move order, delaying ...Nc6. Certainly in this game the omission looks sensible, since Black aims for a queenside fianchetto where the queen's knight will be more harmoniously deployed to d7. 9.e2 Overwh elmingly t he mo st p op ular m ove , though White must now be prepared to play the positions after 9...Nc6 with his queen on e2. [ 9.e1 was played in J.Benjamin (2565) - A. Stripunsky (2569), World Open 2006 (1-0 in 82), annotated in the Archives by Jonathan Rowson. ] [ 9.d2 has been tried by a couple of c3Sic ilian hea vyweights re cen tly. I n b ot h ga me s B la ck a voide d . .. Nc6 an d dre w easily. dxe5 ( 9...d7 10.c3 xc3 11.xc3 b6 12.a5 dxe5 13.xe5 d6 14.b3 d5 15.f3 b6 16.xd5 xd5 17.xd5 exd5 This double IQP position is dead equal. 18.d2 e6 19.ac1 fc8 20.xc8+ xc8 21.c1 xc1+ 22.xc1 d6 23.f4 f5 24.g6 xg6 and a draw was agreed in H.Stevic (2612) - Z.Kozul (2577), Zadar 2011.) 10.dxe5 b6 11.e2 b7 12.c3 xc3 13.xc3 d7 14.ac1 c8 15.a6 c7 16.fd1 fd8 wit h a d raw in a cou p le o f mo ve s in S . Ru ble vs k y (26 7 8) - D.B o ch a ro v(2 5 95 ), Olginka 2011 (1/2-1/2 in 18). ] 9...b6 This is the point. [ 9...c6 transposes to normal lines: a p a r t i c u l a r l y g r u e s o m e e xa m p l e i n t h e Archives is P.Motwani (2525) - S.Collins (2381), British Championship 2003 (1-0 in 26). ] 10.bd2 [ 10.a3 b7 11.d3 reaches a position more commonly associated with the move order 6...b6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.a3 d6 10. Qe2 Bb7, only there it is W hite to play! White has score overwhelmingly from that line, and even a tempo down it looks quite

playable: c6 12.e4 g6 13.h6 e8 14.bd2 dxe5 15.dxe5 a5 16.e2 d7 17.ad1 ad8 18.e4 c7 19.h4 with a standard kingside initiative in E. Ghaem Maghami (2586) - D. Neelotpal(2468), Jodhpur 2003 (1-0 in 55) ] [ A game from two days previously in the same tournament ended in tears for White. 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 b7 12.f4 c7 13.d3 d7 14.ac1 xf3 15.xf3 dxe5 16.dxe5 g6 17.fe1 fd8 18.g3 c5 19.c2 d7 20.h4? ( 20.e3 is balanced) 20...d8! 21.e3? ( 21.h5 d3 22.xd3 xd3 23.e3 d1+ 24.e1 xe1+ 25.xe1 c8 ) 21...xh4 22.g4 e7 23.h3 d3 24.e3 c8 25.d4 xc1 and White resigned in O.Abdulov (2387) - Z. Kozul (2602), Plovdiv 2012. ] 10...b7 [ An alternative plan was demonstrated by Ma rk T a im a n o v: 10...a5 11.e4 a6 12.xa6 xa6 13.g5 dxe5 14.dxe5 xg5 15.fxg5 and now, instead of the 15. ..Nc5? 16.Nxh7 of T.Polak (2450) MTaimanov (2510), Bissen 1995 (1/2-1/2 in 28), the maestro should have played h6 16.f3 c5 with a comfortable game. ] 11.e4 dxe5 12.dxe5 d7 13.d2 [ Not 13.g5? xe5 B.Yildiz (2219) - N. Mohota (2311), Beijing 2008 (0-1 in 23). ] 13...c8 [ This position had been reached (via a completely different move order) in 1/2-1/2 A.Maciejewski (2345) - M.Schurade (2365), Rostock 1983. After 13...c5 14.a3 c8 15.xc5 xc5 16.ad1 c8 17.d3 g6 18.g5 g7 19.e4 c7 20.d6 b8 21.xb7 xb7 22.fe1 b5 23.e4 xe5 24.f3 c7 25.xd5 exd5 26.c3+ f6 27.xd5 b4 28.axb4 xb4 29.xb4 xb4 30.c1 b7 a draw was agreed. ] 14.ac1 c5 It is hard to see why Black would have cause for complaint in such a position. Gawain tries to get something going on the kingside but Vitiugov defends coolly. 15.fg5 h6 16.xc5 xc5 17.e4 h4 18.xd5 [ Perhaps it was time to switch to positional play: 18.g3 h3 19.a6 with some queenside initiative. ] 18...xd5 19.xc5 xc5 20.xc5 bxc5 2290

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Now things fizzle out. 21.e3 xa2 22.xc5 [ 9...c8 to protect the b7 pawn looks logical d5 23.c3 a6 24.f3 a8 25.a1 g5 when 10.d6 e6 11.d4 g7 12.f3 26.f2 h4+ 27.g1 g5 28.f2 h4+ with an edge. ] A well played game by two strong GMs. It is 10.xb7 The opening has been a complete worthwhile to be aware of this move order. success and he is already a pawn up. c7 ½-½ 11.f4 Jonkman is an experienced player and knows when to apply the pressure. In this case a forceful move makes sure Black goes 2157 B22 on the defensive, which means he concedes 12.xa7 cxd5? Jonkman,Harmen 2520 a n o t h e r p a w n . c8 El Ghazali,Youssef M 2303 El Ghazali finds a way to complicate matters xc3 Open Tanta City EGY (6) 19.05.2002 but it just doesn't work. 13.xd5 14.xf7+! White jumps at the opportunity to [Gary Lane] stop Black f rom castling and he picks up 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.d4 cxd4 another pawn. [ 14.bxc3 xd5 15.d2 0-0 and Black at 5.b5+!? This move has a good pedigree and least hope. ] stops Black from smoothly developing. 14...xf7 15.bxc3 e4 16.c1? [ Also possible: 5.cxd4 xd5 6.c3 [ 16.0-0-0! looks amazing but it seems to win A) 6...e6 7.f3 e7 8.d3 0-0 9.0-0 easily. ] c6 10.e1 f6 11.b1 ( 11.e4 is a possible improvement) 11...b6 16...xc3+ 17.xc3 xc3 18.a3 a4 12.e4?! ( 12.g5!? ) 12...xd4 13.xd4 19.f3 d1+ 20.f2 d4+ 21.g3 g5 [ 21...h6 intending ...g6-g5 is a worry for xd4 14.h5 f5 15.g5 f6 16.h4 White. ] h6 17.h3 d7 the white attack has been successfully forced back leaving 22.xg5 e5+ 23.h4 g8 24.h3 h6 B l a c k a p a w n u p , M a j e r , J - T e s k e , H / 25.xe7+ xe7 26.xe7 xe7 27.f4 d7 28.a3 b5 29.e1+ f7 30.d1 Pardubice CZE 2002.; B) 6...g6 7.f3 g7 8.b5+ d7 9.b3 Loss on time? xc3 10.bxc3 0-0 11.xd7 xd7 12.0-0 1-0 c6 led to equal chances in Douthwaite,BShirazi,K/Metz FRA 2001. ] B22 5...d7 6.c4 dxc3 Black is happy to take 2158 the pawn on c3. Jonkman is relying on his Jonkman,Harmen 2424 space advantage to create an initiative. Luks,Monika 2086 [ 6...b5!? a little finesse to avoid the main HZ Open Vlissingen NED (6) 06.08.2003 game continuation which involves Qb3 to [Gary Lane] attack the b7 pawn 7.b3 dxc3 8.xc3 g6 9.f3 g7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e1 a5 12.a3 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 a6 with equal chances, Vajda,L-Nemet,I/ 5.c4 b6 6.b3 e6 Basel SUI 2002. ] [ 6...d6 7.exd6 xd6 8.a3 f5 9.d4 7.xc3 g6 8.b3 With the bishop on d7 cxd4 10.b5 d7 11.fxd4 xd4 White takes the opportunity to attack the b7 12.xd4 g6 13.0-0 e6 14.e2 d5 pawn while adding extra support to d5. a6 ( 14...d6!? ) 15.d1! d6? Oh dear! [ 8...c8 9.f3 g7 10.0-0 gives White a 16.xd5 1-0 Godena, M-Luban,P/Bolzano nice space advantage. ] 2000 ] 9.e3 The bishop keeps an eye on the c5 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 d6 9.e2 e7 10.0-0 square to stop the knight occupying it. d7? A natural looking move which actually [ 9.xb7? c5 10.b4 e5! 11.f1 loses! ( 11.ge2? d3+ 12.xd3 xb4 ) 11...b8 [ 10...dxe5 11.dxe5 0-0! 12.e4 c7 12.a3 ce4 13.xa7 c5 wins ] 13.c2 g6 14.h6 e8 15.bd2 9...g7 1-0 Schneider,V-Tessedik,K/Budapest HUN 2291

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2002 ] 5...g4 6.f3 f5! Declining the capture on d4 [ 10...0-0 11.c3 ( 11.d1 d5 12.f4 a5 seems like an interesting option at this point. 13.a4 b4 14.a3 d7 15.c2 White is denied Nc3. gave White a slight edge, Ragger,M-Farago, [ 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 f5 is more regular, after S/Budapest 2003.) 11...d5 12.c2 f5 which 8.c3 a5 9.b3 bd7! 10.c4 13.exf6 xf6 14.g5 with bright attacking g6 11.ge2 e6 12.0-0 c8 13.f4 prospects, Blauert,J-Hossain,E/ Calcutta certainly looks a bit better for W hite, 2002. ] a l t h o u g h r a t h e r t h a n 1 3 . . a 6 c2! 11.exd6 xd6 12.d5! should be tried: 14.xc2 xc4 15.d3 1-0 b6 16.e4 e7 17.d2 a6 ] 7.a3 e6! 8.f2 d5 In view of the menacing idea of Nb5, Black must continue 2159 B22 with forcing play. 9.a4+ c6 10.e1 d7 xe3 12.xe3 e6 13.b4 Jonkman,Harmen 2425 11.dxc5 Spoelman,Wouter 2414 W h a t e l s e o r W h i t e w i l l b e l e f t w i t h a Corus C Wijk aan Zee NED (7) 20.01.2007 disorganised position? e7 [ I presume Spoelman didn't quite believe [Andrew Martin] 13...d2+ 14.e2 ( 14.e2 xa2 ) 14...xa2 yet the capture on a2 disrupts Jonkman didn't have much luck with the 2 c3 W hite more than Black: 15.g4 ( 15.g1 Sicilian in Wijk. We catalogue his efforts here. e7 16.d4 0-0 17.xf5 exf5 18.e2 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 d5 but with an extra Rook in play I prefer [ 2...f6 3.e5 d5 4.c4 e6 5.f3 d6 Black. ) 15...g6 16.f4 e7 17.h4 h5! 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 c6 8.0-0 e7 9.e2 18.f5 h7! 19.fxe6 fxe6 20.g1 0-0-+ ] 0-0 10.e1 d7 11.d2 c8 12.c3 xc3 13.xc3 dxe5 14.dxe5 b6 14.e2 0-0 Coordination is the name of the 15.ad1 fd8 16.a3 a5 17.d3 c6 game. 15.c4 g5 16.f4 h4+! 17.g1 [ 17.g3 d5 ] Jonkman, H-Van Haastert, E/Wijk aan Zee NE D 2 0 07 an d n o w 18.d4 would have 17...d5 18.b3 a5 [ 18...ad8 was a decent enough option. ] been a fraction better for White based upon xf3 ( Of course 18...b3 is superior.) 19.a3 f6 20.g3 axb4 21.axb4 a1 19.xb6 xe2 20.xd8 xd1 21.xe7 22.xf5 xf5 23.f3 fa8 24.h3? [ 24.d6! was the best try under pressure, White went on to lose. ] however d4!! is an excellent riposte: 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.e3!? Trying to 25.xf5 xb3 26.g3 d2 take the sting out of ...Bc8-g4 Black appears White scarcely has a good move. ] unimpressed. e4 26.d2 xf3-+ [ Meanwhile 5.f3 g4 6.dxc5 xd1+ 24...b1! 25.g4 7.xd1 e5 8.b4 e4 9.h3 h5 10.g4 27.xb1 d4 28.b2 g3+ 29.g2 f3+ xg4 11.hxg4 xg4 12.bd2 exf3 Perhaps these randomising lines where White 13.d3 c6 14.e1+ e7 15.c2 f8 captures on c5 give him the advantage, but 16.a4 led to the usual mayhem in this they are obviously hellishly difficult to play v a r i a t i o n . N e g i n o w a d o p t s a v e r y over the board. Computer programs would like straightforward approach: h5! 17.a3 them. ( 17.e4 e8 18.xf3 f5+ 19.b3 h4; 0-1 17.a5 a6! 18.e4 e8 19.xf3 f5+ 20.b3 h4 21.xe8+ xe8; 17.b5 This looks like the wrong way to handle the queenside majority. d8 18.a3 h4 19.e4 c8 ) 17...d8 18.e4 c8 19.xf3 h4 20.d4 h5 Jonkman, HNe gi, P/ W ijk aa n Zee NED 2 0 07 A ga in White lost. ] 2292

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2160 Kaidanov,Gregory S Areshchenko,Alexander FIDE World Cup 2013 (1.1) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2574 2709 11.08.2013

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.e2 I was surprised to discover that the old 'main' line of 2...Qxd5 hasn't been covered on ChessPub before! Having said that, my preference is for 6.dxc5 here, which leads to complicated positions that are super fun to play. e6 7.h3 h5 8.0-0 c6 9.e3 cxd4 10.cxd4 e7 11.c3 d6 12.b3 [ I was always taught that 12.a3 is slightly more accurate, cutting out Black's ...Qb4 options, although to be honest they don't seem so great for Black anyway. ] 12...0-0 [ 12...b4 13.g4 g6 14.e5 0-0 15.g5 xb3 16.axb3 d5 17.xd5 exd5 18.fc1 is some old theory I was taught as a boy. ] 13.a3 [ 13.xb7? ab8 14.a6 xb2 ] 13...a6 14.fd1 fd8 [ 14...b5 allows an extra possibility: 15.d5 A) 15...a5?! prompted me to fall into a 55 minute (!) think in my younger days, but at least it led to one of my prettiest c o m b i n a t i o n s : 16.b4!?N ( 16.a2 ) 16...xb4 17.axb4 xb4 18.a2 e7 19.d6 d8 20.b4 c4 21.xc4 bxc4 22.g4 g6 23.e5 d5 24.xc4 c2 25.d2 b3 26.a5 xa2 27.dxa2 f6 28.c1 xb4 29.a4 d5 30.c6 fc8 31.g5 xe3? 32.gxf6 f5 33.xa6!! xa6 34.e7+ xe7 35.xc8+ xc8 36.d7 1-0 (74) Smerdon, D (2513) -De Bortoli, P (2183)/Cannes (France) 1997; B) 15...xd5 16.xd5 exd5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 gives a (very) slight endgame edge. ] 15.ac1 So here we are at the critical junction of the old main line. White has mobilised all of his forces to their most active stations - but so what? I gave up this line precisely because W hite has no concrete way to improve her position. Overall the game is level, but it's hard to suggest a plan for the first player. h6!? [ 15...b5 is by far the most common move.

16.d5 a5 ( 16...xd5? falls for a nice trap: 17.xd5 exd5 18.xc6 xc6 19.d4 g6 20.g4 1-0 (25) Marotta, M (2466) -Bernardino, Z (2571)/ICCF Email 2002 ) 17.a2 xd5 18.xd5 exd5 19.c5 f6 has all been seen before. 20.xd5 xc5 21.dxc5 g6 22.a4 ( 22.b4 b7 23.c7 e4 24.a1 xa1 25.xa1 d6= ) 22...b7 23.c7 e4= 1/2-1/2 (46) Sveshnikov, E (2595)-Sax, G (2535) ] 16.g4 g6 17.e5 xe5 18.dxe5 xe5 19.xb7 e8?! Not the most accurate. [ 19...d6 20.g2 ab8 as Black can meet b4 with ...a5!. ] 20.b6? [ 20.b4! gives White an edge thanks to his queenside majority and better piece placement. The Black queen might soon find he rse lf in d a n ge r, a n d a5 can be met tactically by 21.b5! ab8 22.f3 xb5? 23.f4!+- ] 20...ab8 21.f4 Losing a pawn, but things were already a bit grim. [ 21.xa6? xb2 22.a4 a3! and suddenly W hite's pieces look a bit loose. 23.d4 f4 24.e3 b8! ] 21...xf4! 22.xf4 xb6 23.b4 d5 Things have not gone well for W hite since move 20, and suddenly he faces an unpleasant struggle. White will at best have to defend an ending a pawn down, and then it remains to be seen whether he can slime his way to half a point. In the game, Areshchenko's technique is very good. 24.xd5 exd5 25.xd5 xb4 26.xa6 [ 26.axb4 xe2 27.d2 was a better try, angling for opposite coloured bishops. Okay, the rest of the game isn't that important for the theoretical analysis, but the technique is nice to watch. ] 26...xa3 27.c8 b1+ 28.f2 b2+ 29.d2 xc8 30.xc8 c5+ 31.g2 e4+ 32.h2 b3 33.e2 d3 34.a2 f8 35.a6 e4 36.e2 b4 37.e5 f6 38.c3 d6+ 39.g1 b1+ 40.e1 c5+ 41.h2 b6 42.xe4 xa6 43.b4 xb4 44.xb4 a2+ 45.g3 a3+ 46.g2 f7 47.b7+ g6 48.c7 e3 49.a7 h5 50.gxh5+ h6 51.h4 e5 52.g3 xh5 53.a8 b5 54.c8 h5 55.h8+ g6 56.a8 f5 2293

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 57.a3 b4 58.a5+ g6 59.c5 f5 18.g5 h6 19.f3 e8 (chasing off 60.a5 b3+ 61.g2 b6 62.g3 f6 White's queen to discourage Bxh6 ideas) 63.f4 b4+ 64.g3 g4+ 65.h3 e4 20.h3 xc3 21.b1 White has some play 66.g3 g6 67.a7 e3+ 68.g2 e7 for the pawn. ] 69.a5 e5 70.a7 d5 71.g3 d3+ 17...c6 18.d3 72.g2 f4 73.a5 g3+ 74.h2 e3 [ This is a little bit different now, because 75.g2 e5 76.a8 f5 77.g8 e2+ with the black bishop on c6 the e6-pawn is 78.f3 e3+ 79.g2 g3+ 80.f2 h3 weaker. After 18.g5 h6 19.f3 d6! 81.h8 g4 82.g8 f3+ 83.e2 e3+ is comfortable for Black, because ( 19...d5 84.f2 e6 85.h8 a6 86.f8 20.xh6 gxh6 21.xh6 with Bd3 or Ng5 [ 86.h6 f3 ] coming should give White at least a perp) [ 86.h5 g5 ] 20.xh6 xf3 21.gxf3 gxh6 22.xh6 f4 86...a2+ 87.e1 f3 88.f6 a1+ 89.d2 wins for Black. ] g1 90.d3 g4 91.d2 f2 18...f5 19.g3!? 0-1 [ This ret re at is speculat ive , bu t 19.g5 xg5 20.xg5 d5 Black is pretty comfortable. ] 2161 B22 19...a4! 20.f1 xc3 21.e2 xa1 f7 23.xf5 f8 24.d2 Kaidanov,Gregory S 2596 22.xe6+ Shulman,Yuri 2606 This is the point of White's play. He wins back 25.xa5 e8! Frank K Berry ch (5) 17.05.2008 s o m e m a t e r i a l . b2 Black fights for the initiative. 26.c4 d7 [David Vigorito] 27.e3 g6 28.b1?? a3?? [ Shocking! 28...xf2+ wins instantly. Time This game was played in the fifth round of the p re ss u r e wa s li ke ly t h e c u l p r it f o r t h i s USA Championship. Yury Shulman dominated double blunder. ] the event, scoring three wins in a row with Black against Gulko, Kaidanov, and Becerra! 29.c7 b5! After this White must either allow 1.e4 c5 Usually Shulman prefers the French, the exch ange of que ens, as in the gam e s o K a i d a n o v c h o o s e s t h e 2 . c 3 S i c i l i a n , 30.b3 [ or play 30.c2 when the f7-rook is probably hoping to avoid specific preparation. unpinned and Black has a crushing pin of 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 his own with c8 ] 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 c6 8.0-0 e7 9.e2 30...xb3 31.axb3 c8 32.e5 g7 0-0 10.c3 This just wastes time. Holding up [ The popular 10.e4 along with other tenth 33.d5? Black's queenside with 33.b4 was a better try. moves, can be found in the archives. ] The rest is easy. e6 34.e3 xe5 35.dxe5 10...xc3 11.bxc3 a5 [ This is a rare move. 11...dxe5 is a more fc7 36.b2 [ 36.xb5 c1+ 37.xc1 xc1+ 38.f1 common alternative. ] xb3 is also simple - the a-pawn is a 12.exd6 xd6 13.g5!? runner. ] [ Very aggressive. White could simply play 36...c1+ 37.f1 8c3 13.d2 intending Rab1 or Bd3. ] 0-1 13...e7 [ 13...xc3 looks too risky. White can blast open the position with 14.b2 a5 15.d5 exd5! 16.d3 when ( 16.d3 g6 17.xd5 is also possible) 16...g6? would lose to the lovely 17.h5! ] 14.e4 d7 15.d1 c7 Black has a solid position with possibilities for counterplay on the queenside. 16.h5 a5 17.f1 [ 17.d3 lo oks m ore n at ural. A f t e r f5 2294

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 B22 a6 22.a5 d5 23.g3 [ White begins to lose the thread. Instead 2459 23.e5 makes it more difficult for Black to 2667 develop and maintains the balance. ] 10.10.2009 23...c5 Now Black can double rooks on the hfile and he also may capture on d4 at some This game is a good example of Black winning point to isolate a White pawn. 24.ad1 dh8 in a main line of the 2...Nf6 variation where 25.f1 e7! Black intends not only ...Bxd4 W hite tries to kill the game right out of the and ...Nf5, but this move also sets up a lateral xd4 opening. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 attack on W hite's a5-pawn. 26.e5 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 27.cxd4 [ 27.xd4? f5 threatening ...Nxg3+ and ... 8.exd6 xd6 9.xd4?! Rxe5 is winning for Black. ] [ This move is not so bad, but it becomes 28.e2 c6 29.c5 xd1 clear that White is just trying to grovel out a 27...h1+ draw. There is a reason th is capture is 30.xd1 d7 Black has a small advantage h a r d l y e v e r p l a y e d . O f c o u r s e 9.0-0 because of his better pawn structure. White is the main line. One recent example went does have the bishop pair, but they are not e6 10.xe6 ( 10.a3 is White's most too threatening and both of Black's minor ambitious way to play) 10...xe6 11.xd4 pieces are very good. White's 'active' rook on h1 xd4 12.xd4 d8 13.h4 e2! 14.d2 c5 is also rather ineffective. 31.c2 e6 ( 14...h5 with the idea ...Qg4 is also fine Black's rook, however, is able to cause some for Black ) 15.e4 (this is unusual) e7 trouble. 32.f4 d5 33.d2 h4 34.b3?! [ White makes the mistake of believing the 16.g5 xg5 17.xg5 d3 ( 17...h6 ) opposite-coloured bishops will save him. On 18.ae1 f5 19.e3 h6= Serrano Bozada, the contrary Black is able to play for a win E (2217)-Oms Pallisse, J (2498)/Palma de without worrying about any possible Mallorca 2009. ] counterplay. There was no need to give up 9...xd4 10.xd4 White is willing to take on this pawn. Instead 34.e3 b4 35.f3 an isolated pawn to exchange queens. g6!? should have been played. ] [ Keeping some tension. Of course 10...xd4 [ but not 34.c3 f4+ ] 11.cxd4 is fine for Black as well. I imagine B l a c k w a s w a r y o f W h i t e m e e t i n g a n 34...xd4 35.xd5 xd5 36.f3 h4 37.e1 eventual ...e6 with d5, liquidating into a h1 38.c1 f6 39.d2 h8 40.f2 e5 symmetrical pawn structure with little chance Black will gradually advance his kingside. 41.e3 c6 42.d1+ e6 43.b6 h4 for either side to play for a win. ] 44.c5 d5 45.b4 c4 46.d2 g5 47.e2 11.f4 [ 11.0-0?! h3 basically forces 12.a4+ f5 48.e1 f4 Black follows the typical method w h e n a f t e r xa4 13.xa4+ d7 - the superior side places his pawns on the Black's bishops give him everything to play opposite colour of his own bishop to control squares of both colours. 49.f8 f5 50.e2 for. ] Black would rather get ...g4 in to create a 11...d7! 12.0-0 c6 13.g3 xg3 e4 14.hxg3 Black has managed to exchange passed e-pawn, but this break is difficult to queens on his own terms. With an imbalanced engineer. 51.fxe4+ xe4 52.g3 Else ...g4-g3 pawn st ruc ture th ere is greate r scop e t o comes. f3 53.d2 c6 54.c5 g4 55.e3 o u t p l a y h i s l o w e r r a t e d o p p o n e n t . h5!? c3+ 56.f2 b3 57.d6 b5 58.c5 c4 This is not done so much to try to mate White 59.d6 e4 60.c5 d3 Now ...Rb1-f1 is c3 62.d1 c4 (though it could happen!) as it is to quickly t h r e a t e n e d . 61.e1 activate the h8-rook. 15.d2 h4 16.gxh4 63.d2 c2 64.d7 a4 65.e7+ [ 65.d2 was a better try. ] xh4 17.f3 h5 [ 17...xf3 18.gxf3 e6 was also worth 65...d3 66.xb7 c1+ 67.f2 c2+ 68.f1 b5 69.e7 c3+ 70.g1 g2+ considering. ] 18.d4 d7 19.e1 e6 20.f4 0-0-0 21.a4 2162 Kalezic,Blazo Areshchenko,Alexander 25th ECC Ohrid MKD (7) [David Vigorito]

2295

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 71.h1 f2 0-1

2163 Kantans,Toms Shankland,Samuel L 8th Gibtelecom Masters (7) [David Vigorito]

B22 2304 2491 01.02.2010

White is unfamiliar with a very murky line of the 2.c3 Sicilian and is lost in 12 moves! 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.c4 b6 5.b3 c4 6.c2 c6 7.f3 c7 8.e2 g5 9.0-0?! I have never seen this move before. White simply ignored Black's threat. Although White will not lose a pawn, Black is able to s h o w t h e p o s it i o n a l va l i d i t y o f h i s id e a . Previously we have looked at: [ 9.xg5?! which has similar drawbacks to the game ] [ 9.e6 gives Black a strange pawn structure but allows Black to exchange queens with dxe6 10.xg5 e5 ] [ 9.h3 g7 10.0-0 is the main line xe5 ( recently Black experimented with 10...g4?! 11.hxg4 xe5 12.e1 d6 13.xe5 xe5 14.d4 cxd3 15.xd3 and White's position was easier to play in Zhigalko, S (2668)Fedorov, A (2619) / Minsk 2010) 11.xg5 d5 ( 11...h6 12.f3 d5 is Howell, D (2614)Van W ely, L (2655)/London 2009 in the archives ) 12.a4 bd7!? a prophylactic retreat ( previously we looked at the main move 12...d7; as well as 12...h6 ) 13.d4 (W h it e c o u ld t ry 1 3 . b 3 o r 1 3 . Na 3 ) cxd3 14.xd3 xd3 15.xd3 e6 16.e1 f6 ( I would prefer 16...e5 ) 17.a3 d7 18.b5 xb5 19.axb5 h6? was Bebel, A (2285)-Havlikova, K (2155)/Marianske Lazne 2010. here W hite could end the game qu ic k l y wi t h 20.xe6+!! fxe6 ( 20...f8 21.xf6 xf6 22.h7+ g7 23.xh6+! xh6 24.xf6 is depressing ) 21.g6++- ] 9...g4 10.d4 xe5 11.xg4 h5! Black already has some initiative. It is odd that a 2300 player would go into this murky va r i a t i o n wi t h n o t h i n g i n m i n d . 12.xc6? This allows a nice shot. [ Black does not mind the endgame after 12.f5 g8 ]

[ while 12.h4 g8 is also not inspiring for White, but it's still a game. ] 12...xh2+! Black win s a pawn . 13.xh2 hxg4+ 14.g1 [ After 14.g3 dxc6 White's king is not very comfortable despite the absence of queens. ] 14...bxc6 [ 14...dxc6 accelerating Black's development, looks even better to me. ] 15.d3 d5 16.dxc4 xc4 17.e1 h6 Of course Black is happy to exchange pieces. This also help him double rooks on the h-file. 18.xh6 xh6 19.b3 d6 20.d2 f5 21.xf5 xf5 Black has an extra pawn and a better position. 22.f1 d7 23.ad1 ah8 24.g3 e6 25.g2 d6 26.d4 f5 27.a4 This is only a minor inconvenience. a8 28.c4 e4 29.cxd5 cxd5 30.f3 gxf3+ 31.xf3 h1 32.g2 hh8 33.f3 hc8 34.e3 c3 35.h1 d6 36.h6 a5 37.f4 xg3 38.f3 f1 0-1

2164 B22 Kaplan,Sasha 2208 Balogh,Csaba 2463 European Junior Championships -under 16 (7) [Gary Lane] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 e6 6.a3 c6 [ A lso p o ss ib le : 6...cxd4 7.b5 a6 8.xd4 this is used a drawing weapon against stro ng p laye rs b ut t here is still plenty of play in the position xd4 9.fxd4 e7 10.f4 0-0 11.d6 xd6 12.xd6 c5 13.xc8 axc8 14.e2 g6 15.0-0 e5 led to equal chances but Black won after 52 moves in Bae,T-Miezis,N/Oslo 2003. ] [ 6...d8 7.e3 cxd4 8.xd4 d5 9.b3 xe3 10.fxe3 it cannot be good for White to allow his bishop to be exchanged leaving him with a weak pawn on e3 e7 11.0-0-0 d7 12.b5 xa3 ( 12...a6!? ) 13.xa3 e7 14.a4 ( 14.xe7+ xe7 15.e4 at least allows W hite to try and use his temporary lead in development) 14...0-0 15.f3 c5 16.d4 a6 17.e2 b5 18.e5 b7 19.h5 d5 20.hf1 f6 2296

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.g6?? White is obviously keen to attack but this is too much! hxg6 22.xg6 f5 now the white queen cannot go to the h4 square in search of mate 23.xf5 exf5 24.xd5+ e6 0-1 Poluektov,Y-Martidis,A/ Limassol 2001. ] 7.b5 d8 8.dxc5 xc5 9.xd8+ White is playing a strong player so is happy to exchange queens and drift towards a draw. The problem is that if Balogh has enough patience he can happily play for ages safe in the knowledge that his position is already equal. xd8 10.f4 e4! Black rightly plays actively rather than going on the defensive. 11.bd4 xd4 12.d1 d7 13.cxd4 At least now Black has a target in the form of the isolated d-pawn. [ 13.xd4 e5! 14.xe5 e8 15.f3 xe5 16.fxe4 xe4+ 17.e2 when Black will be able to use his pair of bishops to extract an advantage. ] 13...b4+ 14.d2 c6 15.a3 xd2+ 16.xd2 xd2 17.xd2 e7 Black has an edge due to the relatively weak d-pawn but victory is still far away. However, it is awkward for White to play a position with no winning pro spe cts an d a gainst to ugh op pos ition . 18.e3 hd8 19.d3 ac8 20.d2 h6 21.c1 f5 22.g3 g5 The only way to knock the white king away from defending the dpawn is to create play on the kingside. 23.b1 f8 24.f4 cd8 25.c5 g8 26.h3 d5 27.c3 d6 Both sides are manoeuvring carefully which is a sign that time-trouble is looming and Black is still searching for a breakthrough. 28.f2 h5! 29.e2 g7 30.fxg5 xg5 31.f4 c6 32.f2 e7 33.c2 f6 34.d1 e4 35.h4 [ 35.f3 xd4 36.xe4 xe4 37.xe4 fxe4 38.c7 e3+! leaves Black on top. ] 35...g7 36.xh5 xd4 37.e3 e5 38.g4 d3+! The amiable Balogh went on to win the tournament and he deserved it after this battle, which saw him convert a slight edge to a victory. 39.xd3 exf4+ 40.xf4 xd3 41.g5+ Nowadays, the fast time-limits that few players resign when it is the honourable thing to do! e6 42.f3 c7 43.b3 d7 44.h5 d4+ 45.e3 e5 0-1

2165 Karpatchev,Aleksandr Lyrberg,Patrik Gausdal (8) [Gary Lane]

B22

1993

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.f3 d5 4.exd5 exd5 [ 4...xd5 5.d4 transposes to positions associated with 2...d5 ] 5.d4 c6 6.e3 White wishes to sort out wh a t i s h a p p e n i n g i n t h e c e n t r e b e f o r e deciding where to develop the rest of his forces. cxd4 7.xd4 The position has a strong similarity to the Tarrasch variation in the French Defence. W hite has a very solid position with the long-term plan of maintaining a piece blockade on d4 and then undermining the d5 pawn. d6 8.e2 [ 8.d2 is another idea with a similar set-up to the main game except the king's bishop is played immediately to d3. For instance: ge7 9.2f3 0-0 10.d3 g6 11.c2 g4 12.h3 d7 13.d1 c8 14.b3 f4 15.xf4 xf4 16.xd5 This looks risky for White with is king in the centre but under closer examination he can just about get away with it. e7+ 17.e2 cd8 18.0-0 c7 ( 18...xh3 19.e4! Black probably missed this in his earlier calculations as c h e c k m a t e o n h 7 i s t h e t h r e a t xe4 20.xe4 and Black cannot defend both bishops. ) 19.h5 g6 20.h6 e5 21.ed4 c6 22.g5 The game is effectively over. f5 23.ge6 xd4 24.xd4 f4 25.fe1 d5 26.e4 xa2 27.b3 h8 28.a1 f6 29.xa2 d8 30.f3 1-0 L.Vogt-K.Volke, Bundesliga 1996. ] 8...ge7 9.0-0 [ 9.d2 0-0 10.2f3 As usual in this line W hite concentrates on developing while helping to reinforce control over the d4 square. g4 11.0-0 e8 12.e1 d7 13.d2 ad8 14.ad1 xd4 15.xd4 xe2 16.xe2 c6 17.f3 White enjoys a nagging advantage thanks to the isolated dpawn. h6 18.de1 b6 19.h3 e6 20.f1 e7 21.d4 xd4 22.xd4 g5 23.d3 de8 24.xe6 xe6 25.xe6 fxe6 26.b3 f7 27.c4 f6 28.e3 dxc4 29.xc4 d7 30.e2 d5 31.xd5 exd5 32.a4 f7 33.d3 e6 34.g4 e7 35.f4 c5 36.f5+ 2297

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 e5 37.d2 f6 38.c3+ f7 39.b4 e7 40.b5 c5 41.e5 g6 42.fxg6+ xg6 43.b8 h5 44.gxh5+ xh5 45.xa7 h4 46.a5 1-0 A.Stripunsky-J.Suran, Czech Republic 1995. ] 9...0-0 10.d2 This solid t resourceful line is idea for a long game played in Gausdal. This is because there are few distractions at the Norwegian venue which is in the only hotel at the top of an isolated mountain ski resort. When I played someone helpfully pointed out that at least there was a disco. I was quite impressed until I realised that it was closed. Perfect conditions for concentrating on the chess! a6 11.e1 c7 12.f1 [ 12.2f3 is also possible and after g4 13.h3 White has a slight plus. ] 12...d7 13.c2 ac8 14.xc6 It should be noted that this exchange is played when Black is in no position to play 14...bxc6 due to the loose pawn on a6. xc6 15.ad1 e6 16.d3 A standard way to weaken the kingside pawn barrier. g6 [ 16...h6 should be considered when 17.h7+ h8 18.f5 is better for White. F o r i n s t a n c e : xf5?! 19.xf5 e7 20.h5 ] 17.a3 e5 18.a4 White finds a clever way t o t ra n s f e r t h e q u e e n t o t h e ki n g s id e i n preparation for an attack. f6 19.b1 cd8 20.g3 It might seem that White is making slow process but at least White is improving his pieces while Black is merely watching. e5 21.h4 fe8 22.g5 The weakened darksquares around the black king act as a homin g be acon to W hite . c8 23.h5! It looks like madness but the bleak prospect of Nf6+ means that the knight is captured. gxh5 24.xe5 Another amazing move. The key defender is removed. xe5 [ 24...xe5 25.f6 wins because if the queen moves then Qg5+ leads to checkmate. ] 25.xh7+! Ole! xh7 [ 25...g7 26.f6+ f8 27.g5 will lead to checkmate. ] 26.xh5+ g8 27.f6 g4 28.h8# 1-0

2166 Kavitha,JE Sattar,R Sangli Commonwealth (4) [Gary Lane]

B22

2000

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e5 3.f3 c6 4.c4 e7 [ 4...c7 is worth investigating. ] 5.d4 The right approach is to open the centre. [ 5.a4 f6 6.g5 ( 6.e2!?= ) 6...0-0 7.b3? An obvious way to put pressure on f7 and Black responds positively to the s i t u a t i o n . ( 7.d3 is a safer continuation) 7...d5! 8.exd5 a5 9.a2 xc4 10.xc4 xd5 Black already has a strong initiative du e t o th e b et t er de ve lop me n t an d t h e chance to hassle the white queen 11.f3 e6 ( 11...f4 12.0-0 e6 13.e4-+ d3 with a clear advantage because White will h a ve s e ve r e d i f f i c u l t i e s a c t i va t i n g h i s pieces ) 12.e4 f6 13.xe5 c4 14.d4 e8 15.f5? ( White walks into a trap although 15.e3 is we l l m e t b y b6 ) 15...cxd4 16.xd4 ( or 16.e5 d6 17.f4 xe5 18.fxe5 d5-+ ) 16...b4+ 17.e3 ( 17.d2 xd4+ 18.c2 e2+ 19.d2-+ ) 17...xd4 18.d2 ( 18.f3 ad8 19.e2-+ ) 18...xe3+! another great move, which helps to pursue the white king 19.fxe3 ( 19.d1 xc3! 20.c2 b3 21.bxc3 xc2+ 22.c1 xc3 23.a3 xa3+ 24.xc2 c8+ 25.b1 b4+ 26.b3 xb3+ 27.a1 xa4# ) 19...xe3+ 20.d1 d8 21.c2 e4 22.c1 xd2 23.d1 ( 23.b1 xc2 24.a3 xb2+ 25.a1 xa3 26.a5 a2+ 27.b1 xc3# ) 23...xd1+ 0-1 Kavitha-Reefat, C o m m o n w e a l t h 2 0 0 0 . ( 23...xd1+ 24.xd1 g1# )] 5...cxd4 6.cxd4 exd4 7.0-0 [ 7.xd4 f6 8.c3 0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.h3 ( 10.e3 xd4 11.xd4 e6 12.ad1 when White is better.) 10...a6 11.e3 d7 12.xc6 xc6 13.d4 xe4 14.xe4 xe4 15.xg7! a nice tactic to open lines aro u n d t h e b la ck kin g xg7 16.d4+ gave White the better chances in Skytte,RKlima,L/Olomouc CZE 2002. ] 7...f6 8.xd4 [ Or 8.e5 g4 9.f4 d6 10.exd6 xd6 11.xd6 xd6 12.e1+ f8 13.bd2 2298

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 ce5? ( Black needs to get his pieces into t h e g a m e w i t h 13...d7 ) 14.e4? W hite is eithe r kind o r f oolish ( 14.xe5 xe5 15.e2! f6 16.f4 g4 17.fxe5 wit h a n e asy win) 14...xf3+ 15.xf3 xh2+ 16.f1 c7? ( A better continuation f o r B l a c k i s 16...h1+!? 17.e2 d3+ 18.xd3 h4 with e qu al cha nces.) 17.a3+ e7 ( 17...g8 18.d6 g6 19.xf7+ g7+- ) 18.c5+e6 ( 18...e3+ 19.fxe3 b6+- ) 19.xe6 fxe6 20.xe6+ f7 1-0 Liang,I-Beltugov,E/ Pskov 1998. ] 8...d5 9.exd5 xd5 10.b5 a6?? It seems logical to get rid of the white knight but it is fatally wrong. [ 10...b6 is right when 11.xd8+ xd8 12.e1+ f8 13.b3 offers White a small edge. ] 11.xd5?? [ 11.xd5 is the right move because Black cannot take the knight due to the threat of Q x f 7 + . P l a y m i g h t c o n t i n u e : e6 ( 11...xd5 12.c7+ d8 13.xd5 winning ) 12.xd8+ xd8 13.d1+ c8 14.d6+ xd6 15.xe6+ fxe6 16.xd6 and Black can resign. ] 11...axb5 Black has got away with a dubious opening. 12.c3 b4 13.b5 a5!? Sattar is fighting back with a spirited approach and targets the loose knight. 14.c4 0-0 15.f4 xd1 16.fxd1 e6 It suddenly becomes clear that it is Black who now has the better co-ordinated pieces mainly due the p ro b le m o f h a n gin g o n t o t h e b 5 k n igh t . 17.e2 [ The obvious 17.xe6 is simply met by fxe6 bu t no w th e b isho p on f 4 is also u nd e r attack leaving White hopeless. ] 17...f6 18.d2 xa2 19.xa2 xa2 One has to admire Sattar's play after surviving the opening he has played energetically and is rewarded with an extra pawn. 20.f3 [ 20.h3 a8 ] 20...a5 21.d6 b3 22.d1 d4 23.xb7?! [ 23.g4!? offers Kavitha better chances of s u r v i v a l u p o n b3 24.d2 a8 with an edge for Black. ] 23...b3 24.d2

[ 24.c1 xf3+ 25.gxf3 d5 26.c7 xb2 is good news for Black. ] 24...e8 25.h3 e1+ 26.h2 xf3+ 27.gxf3 d1 28.g2 g5 29.d6 [ If 29.e3 then b3 maintains Black's advantage. ] 29...b3 30.c5 c2 31.d3 b1 32.a3 g7 33.c5 [ 33.f4 h6 is fine for Black. ] 33...a1 [ The most accurate move. Less convincing are: 33...xb2?! 34.xb2+ xb2 35.xb3 xb3 36.xc2 with a draw despite White's poor pawn structure. ] [ 33...xb2? 34.xb2 xb2 35.xb3! xb3 36.xb2+- ] 34.d3 [ 34.a4 e5 and White will run out of decent moves. ] 34...xa3! 35.bxa3 c3 0-1 Bae,T-Reefat,S/ Gausdal NOR 2002. [ 35...c3 36.xc2 bxc2-+ ] 0-1

2167 Keitlinghaus,Ludger Lutz,Christopher German Cup Final (2) [Gary Lane]

B22 2503 2597 21.03.2004

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 6.bd2!? This is for players who want to play something different. White would like to play Bc4, followed by a quick Qb3 or Q a 4 d e p e n d i n g wh a t B l a c k r e p l i e s . c6 7.c4 xf3 [ The instinctive 7...d7 allows White to be on top after 8.b3 e6 9.e5 ] 8.b3 [ 8.gxf3 is also considered a decent response. ] 8...a5 9.b5+ [ 9.xd5?! is natural but not the best: xb3 10.xf3! ( 10.xb3 xg2 11.a4+ d7 12.g1 c6 13.xc6 bxc6 is better for Black due to the extra pawn) 10...xa1 it is time for W hite to start counting the pieces! However, it is understandably if you t h i n k t h a t t h e kn ig h t o n a 1 is t ra p p e d . 11.xb7 d8 12.c6+ d7 13.e5 cxd4 2299

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.e2 ( 14.d2 seems more logical to cut off the escape of the knight but it is not easy for White to make progress: e6 15.b3 dxc3+ 16.xc3 d6 17.xd7 xd7 18.b2 e5+ 19.b1 e7 20.xd7 xd7 21.b2 xb2 22.xb2 xb3 23.axb3 when the ending heavily favours Black due to the extra pawn) 14...e6 15.d1 c5 ( 15...d6!? is worth considering) 16.b4 b6 ( 16...d6 ) 17.b2 c2 18.d3 e7 ( 18...dxc3 19.xc3 e7 20.xd7 xd7+ 21.xd7 xb4+ 22.xb4+ xd7 and Black emerges with the bonus pawn as i n t h e g a m e) 19.xd7 dxc3 20.xc3 xd7+ 21.xd7 xb4+ 22.xb4+ xd7 23.a4 d8 gave Black the winning ending in Xie,G-Froehlich,P/Canberra 20003. ] 9...d7 10.xf3 xc4 11.xc4 This is a standard position but both sides seem to think they can wrestle a slight initiative if things go right. It is a bit dull but a safe choice. cxd4 12.xd4 [ 12.xd4 e6 13.g5 e7 14.0-0-0 c8 ( 14...0-0 15.f5 e8 16.xe7+ xe7 17.h4 fd8 18.xf6 xf6 19.xf6 gxf6 20.xd8+ xd8 21.d1 xd1+?! 22.xd1 seems to be good for White who can create a passed pawn on t he queenside while Black will be hampered in his ambitions by the dou bled f -pawns.) 15.b3 d5 16.a4+ f8 17.xf6 xf6 18.xa7 g6 19.he1 g5+ ( 19...xg2 looks a better idea ) 20.b1 g7 21.xb7 xd4 22.xd4 b8 23.e4 gave White the a d v a n t a g e i n M i c h a l c z a k , T - P a e h t z, E / playchess.com 2003. ] 12...xd4 13.xd4 a6 This position is level and really should be a draw. If anyone has practical winning chances then it has to be White because in the long-term 3 against 2 on the queenside means he can create a passed pawn. 14.e2 At first sight this might seem strange but in the ending the king can play a useful role in the middle of the board. [ 14.0-0 is also possible. ] 14...e6 15.c4 c8 16.b3 c5 The German grandmaster is simply getting his pieces out into the action. [ Black can also develop his bishop to a n o t h e r s q u a r e s u c h a s 16...d6 but it makes little difference to the position:

17.b2 e7 18.hd1 hd8 19.c2 b5 20.e3 c5 21.xd8 xd8 22.cxb5 axb5 23.c1 d6 24.a4 bxa4 25.bxa4 a8 26.a1 gives White the superior chances due to the passed pawn, Blauert, J-Nguyen Ngoc Truongson/Budapest 2004. ] 17.b2 e7 18.hd1 hd8 19.c2 xd1 20.xd1 d6 21.e3 h5 [ 21...xh2 22.g3 h5 23.h1 and goodbye bishop. ] 22.h3 [ Or 22.c3 xh2 23.g3 h4 24.f3 looks better for White because the bishop on h2 is going nowhere. ] 22...c5 23.d3 a5 24.d1 g8 25.c3 c8 26.d1 b4 27.c3 Both players are indulging in lots of manoeuvring, in the hope that someone will crack and do something stupid. c6 28.b5 e8 29.a7 c7 30.e5 d7 31.b5 f6 32.b2 d6 33.xd6 xd6 34.c3 White has still not made much progress and now the players will reach the time control of move 40 before deciding what to do! b6 35.d4 b7 36.g4 hxg4 37.hxg4 c5 38.c3 e5 39.d5 c7 40.d2 c8 41.e3 ½-½

2168 Kemp,Paul Michael Palliser,Richard British Championship (5.16) [Richard Palliser]

B22 2114 2454 29.07.2011

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 c6 8.0-0 e7 9.d2 A solid and quite unpretentious move which we haven't covered before on ChessPub. W hite's main idea is to develop quickly with Nc3 and be able to recapture with the bishop in the event of an exchange there. 0-0 [ The most logical move in my opinion, but by no means the only one. W ith W hite developing a little slowly a definite case can be made for a French approach, 9...b6 10.b3 d5!? , a n d a f t e r 11.c3 d7 12.e2 a5 13.a3 a4 14.c2 c4 15.c3 b5 16.f4 b6 17.e1 g6 18.ed3 c4 chances were about equal in Munoz-Bruzon 2300

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Batista, Santiago de los Caballeros 2011, albeit with the position more blocked than th e n e a r-2 7 0 0 -ra t e d G ra n d m a st e r wa s surely after against his 2400 opponent. ] 10.c3 dxe5 11.dxe5 b6! [ Black plays against the light-squared bishop. After 11...xc3 12.xc3 I wasn't overly impressed with Black's position: he is a little cramped and W hite might well generate pres su re do wn t h e d-f ile an d/ o r on t h e kingside. Certainly b6 13.a3 d8 14.e2 a5 15.d3 b3 16.ad1 g6 17.b5! saw White retaining a pull in KryvoruchkoJankovic, Rethymnon 2011. ] 12.b3 [ Logical enough, but now White must lose one of his bishops. A more critical line is 12.e2!? d7 13.f4 g5!? , forcing White t o s a c rif ic e h i s e -p a wn f o r r e a s o n a b l e compensation. Those interested in playing this unexplored position with either colour s h o u ld re a ll y co n s u lt Ja co b A a ga a rd ' s coverage in the recent 'Experts on the AntiSicilian'. ] 12...a5 13.f4 [ This caught me a little by surprise, although it's solid enough. My brief preparation had only examined 13.c2 ac4 14.e2 xd2 15.xd2 d7 16.e4 g6 , which was very solid for Black in Sieber-Bojkovic, Davos 2007, as explained by Aagaard. ] 13...xb3!? [ Ambitious and I was certainly guilty of being a little too keen to retain the queens against my lo we r-ra t e d o p po n e n t . Co rre ct wa s 13...xd1 14.xd1 ( 14.fxd1!? xb3 15.axb3 is a more unbalancing try I have problems believing it should give W hite anyth in g a nd e ve n d7 16.e3 c6 17.d4 d5 18.f5!? b4!? seems OK for Black ) 14...d7 15.e2 b4 16.e4 ac4 with sufficient activity on the queenside for Black and full equality. ] 14.xb3 d7 15.fd1 [ It must be right to pin and so pose a few questions for Black's queen. Instead after 15.b5?! xb5 16.xb5 d5 Black had n o p r o b l e m s wh a t s o e v e r i n M o m b e l l i Ebeling, Arco 2009. ] 15...e8! Not the only square, but it's useful to control a4 and b5, and the text also prepares

a pawn sacrifice. 16.a4 [ This forces Black to return one of the bishops, but seems to squander W hite's edge. During the game I was mainly looking at 16.e3 c6 17.xb6 axb6 18.xb6 when Black's bishops should compensate for the pawn. Here he might start quite slowly with b8 , ( but I wanted to blow the p o s i t i o n u p wi t h 18...f6!? : for example, 19.exf6 xf6 20.d4 xd4 21.xd4 g6 22.g3 a5 and White's light-squared weaknesses surely give Black enough for the pawn. )] [ After the game we thought that 16.d4!? was the way to preserve a small plus, but after a4! 17.xa4 xa4 18.g3 fd8 I'm now finding it rather hard to believe that White has anything. ] 16...c6 17.d4 d5! [ Neutralising the pressure, which 17...d5 18.c2! wouldn't have entirely done. ] 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xd5 [ Black can't have any problems after this, but neither does he in the event of 19.g3 b8 20.c2 b4 the pressure down the bfile is very useful and as so often in this structure, b2 is at least as vulnerable as c6 if not more so. ] 19...cxd5 20.e3 b8 [ Preparing to clamp with 1 vs. 2 on the queenside, but the machine's suggestion of 20...b8!? 21.xb8 fxb8 22.d4 b4 followed by ...Bd8-b6 might have been even stronger. ] 21.d3 a5 22.a6 Kemp goes after the bpawn in a bid to try and prevent Black from con solid ating an d slo wly t aking over th e queenside. b4 23.dc1 c8 24.xc8 [ This came as a slight surprise. I was mainly expecting 24.b5 e7 when the position remains close to equality and Black will probably have to try a well-timed ...f6. ] 24...xc8 25.xc8 [ White fails to appreciate that the ending which soon occurs will be quite uncomfortable for him. This wasn't, however, a m i s t a k e , a l t h o u g h 25.d3 pe rh ap s f o llowed b y Bd 4 wa s ce rt ainly possible, maintaining a slight disadvantage. ] 25...xc8 26.f1?! [ W hite would like to go 26.c1! xc1+ 2301

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 27.xc1 followed by bringing his king to e2 and then Bd2. I dare say Kemp was put off by d4! 28.f1 d3 when I analysed 29.e3 h5 30.d4 h7 31.c3? ( not the way to try and involve the white king instead after 31.f3! g6 32.f2 Black can do no more than repeat moves with d2 33.e3 b4 ) 31...xc3 32.bxc3 g6 33.e1 f5 34.d2 xe5 35.xd3 d5 , with a winning pawn ending, although my suspicion during the game that White could improve was clearly correct! ] 26...f6! [ This undermining break is quite awkward for White. Instead after 26...f8 27.c1 xc1+ 28.xc1 e8 29.e2 d7 30.d3 it would just have ended up in a draw. ] 27.exf6 [ It's not ideal to grant Black such a central majority, but after 27.d4?! fxe5 28.xe5 c2 Black's room invades ] [ and 27.f4? fxe5 28.fxe5 c2 29.d4 f7 followed by ...Kg6-f5 looks awful. ] 27...gxf6 28.c1 b8 29.c7 [ I was quite happy to see this and also the fact that my opponent was beginning to run low on time. More of a concern was 29.f4!? when any advance of the black centre would have required careful calculation. ] 29...f8! Preventing White's idea of Bh6 and, of course, hitting b2 at the same time. 30.a7 [ I was pleased to see this too, although it's not a mistake as I had wrongly assumed. Instead after 30.c5 xc5 31.xc5 f7 32.xa5 xb2 I'd prefer to play Black with the mobile central majority, but objectively this should also be a draw. ] 30...e5! Time to roll those pawns! 31.xa5? [ Very natural, but now Black's initiative is quick to sweep all before it. Necessary was 31.d7! (rooks belong behind passed pa wns ! ), a nd af t e r d4 32.d2 xb2 33.xa5 c5!? ( 33...a2 34.d8 g7 had been my intention at the board, but the fearless silicon suggests that 35.a5 f5 36.b6 is just a draw) 34.f3 d3 35.xd3 f2+ 36.e1 xg2 , with a plus for Black, although again W hite should be able to draw. ] 31...d4 32.c1 c8 33.d2 c2 This is the problem. Suddenly White's rook finds itself a

tactical liability on a5. 34.e1 c1 35.a8 [ The only move, in view of 35.e2?? xe1+ .] 35...d3 36.d8 d1! [ Black might be able to win af ter 36...e4 37.f3 f5 38.fxe4 fxe4 39.f2 e3+ 40.xe3 xe1+ 41.d2 e2+ 42.c3 xg2 43.b4 , but the text is much, much simpler. ] 37.f3 f7 38.a5? [ Collapsing completely, although after 38.f2 c5+ ( 38...e7 39.d5 e6 40.b5 d2 also does the trick) 39.g3 xe1 40.xd3 a1 41.b3 e6 Black should be winning fairly easily White's queenside pawns aren't going anywhere and his king isn't overly happy on g3. ] 38...b4 39.a6 d2 0-1

2169 Kernazhitsky,Leonid Obsivac,Josef Valoz Cup Olomouc CZE (3) [Gary Lane]

B22 2438 2355 08.08.1999

1.e4 c5 2.c3 a5 3.a3 To put a knight on the edge of the board after just 3 moves looks strange but then again Black is hardly playing along traditional lines. [ 3.f3 followed by Bc4 is a favourite alternative for White. ] [ 3.c4?! is a panic measure which will make Black smile. g6 4.c3 g7 5.d3 c6 6.ge2 e5 7.c2 d6 8.0-0 f6 9.d5 xd5 10.exd5 0-0 11.g3 e6 12.f4 g4 13.e2 exd5 14.cxd5 c4! Black opens the g1-h7 diagonal to prepare a devastating check 15.xc4 f5 16.b3 c5+ 17.d4 xd4+ 18.h1 ac8 19.h3 f2+ 20.h2 fe8 21.xd4 xd4 22.b5 e7 23.f3 c2 Black is totally dominating the game and soon wraps up in style 24.g3 a6 25.a4 ce2 26.b3 xh3! 27.c3 e4 28.xf2 xf2 29.xh3 f1 0-1 Den Hollander-Van den Berg, Haarlem 1999. ] 3...g6 [ 3...c6 4.f3 d6 5.d4 cxd4 6.c4 This is the reasoning behind the third move. 2302

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black's queen is forced to retreat allowing W h i t e t o t a k e b a ck wi t h t h e p a wn . c7 7.cxd4 f6 8.e5 d5 9.d3 e6 10.0-0 e7 11.exd6 xd6 12.xd6+ xd6 13.e1 b6 14.e5 b7 15.g4 g6 16.g5 xe5 17.dxe5 d7 18.ad1 a n d B la c k ' s we a k d a rk -squ a re s o n t h e kingside gave W hite the advantage in I. Novak-V.Bochnicka, Slovakian Ch 1996. ] 4.d4 cxd4? It is hardly surprising that Obsivac didn't realise that on move 4 he could go so wrong. [ 4...g7 5.c4 c7 6.f3 leaves White with a slight edge. ] 5.c4 The knights performs its intended role to knock back the queen which usually means White will take back on d4 with the pawn. d8 6.xd4 f6 7.g5 g7 8.e5 g8 9.d6+ exd6 10.xd8 c6 11.h4 xd8 12.exd6 f6 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.f3 a6 15.c4 b5 16.b3 b7 17.he1 e6 18.b1 ac8 19.e5 c5 20.xf7+ xf7 21.xf7 xf7 22.e7+ g8 23.de1 d5 24.d4 e6 25.e5 f5+ 26.a1 e6 27.a7 b4 28.xa6 f8 29.cxb4 d4 30.c4+ e6 31.f3 h5 32.c5 h8 33.c8 d8 34.h4 g8 35.b5 f7 36.xf8+ xf8 37.c4 xd6 38.e2 h8 39.e5 fe8 40.b6 xe5 41.xe5 d3 42.f4+ g8 43.b7 xb7 44.e3 1-0

2170 Khalifman,Alexander Sitnikov,Dmitrij 64th ch-HL Taganrog RUS (1) [John Shaw]

B22 2627 2463 15.06.2011

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.d4 g4 6.dxc5 My general advice to Black in this and similar positions is to exchange on d1. Then play for an initiative against the wh i t e k i n g o r u n d e r m i n e h i s q u e e n s i d e structure. Naturally there is much analysis in the Archives (on various similar lines) that expands on this view. xc5 Levelling the material, but the queen will inevitably have to move again. [ 6...xd1+ 7.xd1 e5 8.b4 e4 is a big main line ]

7.e3 a5 8.h3!? Giving Black a chance to go wrong. [ 8.b3 is messy and looks dangerous for Black, but there is nothing absolutely clear. xf3 9.gxf3 c7 10.a3 a6 11.0-0-0 e6 12.b6 ( 12.f4 h6 13.g2 f5 14.a4 xe3 15.fxe3 c5 16.xc6+ bxc6 17.c4 0-0 ) 12...f4+ 13.b1 f6 ( 13...xf3?! is dubious on principle as a horribly greedy pawn grab. One possibility: 14.c4 xa3 15.xa3 ge7 16.c5 Black's position deserves to go downhill in a hurry.) 14.e3 c7 15.f4 e5 In Langrock Dovramadjiev, Santanyi 2004, Black quickly managed to castle short to relative safety. ] [ 8.e2 is almost as good as the game continuation. In both cases the lines have not been tested enough for a conf ident conclusion but the general debate is b e t we e n " u n c le a r" a n d " sl ig h t e d g e t o White". f6 ( 8...e6 looks like the better move order, but has not been played by any really strong players yet: 9.b3 0-0-0 ) 9.b3 c7 10.a3 a6 11.b6!? ( 11.h3 h5 12.c2 as in W. Becker - Meins, Germany 2006, is a less threatening use of the a3-knight.) 11...b8 12.0-0 e6 13.c4 e7 14.ad1 ] 8...d8?!N This may look like a "tempogainer", but in fact this move does far less for Black's position than W hite's next does for him. [ The right way is: 8...h5! when h2-h3 has not gained much for W hite. 9.bd2 ( Or 9.a3 which feels less flexible (as Nb5 is not much of a threat) but White has slightly the better of it. e6 10.c4 c7 11.g4 g6 12.a4 Turov - Bryzgalin, Krasnodar 2005.; 9.b3 is possible, but after xf3 10.gxf3 c7 we transpose to the 8.Qb3 line above, with the minor difference that the pawn is on h3 not h2.) 9...f6 10.b3 c7 11.0-0-0 Jordanova - Raeva, Svilengrad 2006. It may not be much, but such positions are the reason I suggest Black takes on d1 rather than c5. ] 9.bd2 xf3 Undeniably a concession. [ 9...h5?! now no longer works: 10.b3! c7 11.b5 d7 12.a4 a6 13.xc6 xc6 14.xc6 bxc6 15.g4 g6 16.e5 For example: c7 17.b3 f6 18.xg6 2303

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.f4 ge7 9.c2!? A favourite move of Levente Vajda, who is a c3-specialist. In fact, White is not really being greedy at all. The plan is to return the pawn and force Black to give up bishop for knight. ( After seeing how 9.Kc2 works out, it becomes clear that the untested 9.h3!? makes a lot of sense. Again, White returns the pawn but gains the bishop pair. For example: 0-0-0+ 10.bd2 xf3+ 11.gxf3 g6 12.e3 gxe5 13.c2 W hite's kingside may not look pretty but his bishops will be powerful.) 9...g6 10.g3 h5 ( 10...0-0-0!? ) 11.h4 xf3 12.gxf3 gxe5 13.d2 L. Vajda - V. Plat, Slovakia 2010. ] 6...xe5 7.dxe5 xe5+ 8.e3 Of course White can develop in various ways, including starting with [ 8.e2 However, I don't think Black has many problems. ] 8...d7 In many lines Black plans to castle long. 9.b3 Trying to cross Black's plans by hitting f7 and b7. The latter "threat" turns out to hurt W hite more than Black, so 9.Qb3 is misguided. It's yet another case of "don't grab the b-pawn". [ In a rapid game Kramnik chose : 9.a3 0-0-0 10.f3 f6 ( 10...c6 11.h3+ d7 is not exciting but it looks a sound equalizer. ) 11.0-0-0 e7 12.f4 h5? A) 13.g4!!+A winning improvement! xg4 ( 13...xg4 14.a6!; 13...xg4 14.c6+! bxc6 15.a6# ) 14.b5! xb5 15.h3 h5 16.xg4+ hxg4 17.e3 h5 2171 B22 18.xe7 xf4 19.xc5+ c6 20.f5+ e6 21.xd8+ xd8 22.d1 1-0 Smirnov Khamrakulov,Dzhurabek 2490 - Batsanin, Arkhangelsk 1996.; Holmirzaev,Bahodir 2377 B) 13.b5 Kramnik - J. Polgar, Paris ch-UZB Major (7) 27.05.2011 (rapid) 1994, was eventually drawn. A later [John Shaw] game showed the dangers of repeating the moves of rapid games, even if the 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 o r i g i n a l p l a ye r s a r e b o t h i m m e n s e l y 5.f3 e5!? A pawn sac to shake White out of strong. ] his usual c3-routine. 6.xe5 Declining the [ 9.d2 is another plausible try. ] pawn in favour of trying to gain time at the 9...f6 10.d2 e7 11.xb7 Consistent expense of the black queen. [ My recommendation is the "greedy" but far too dangerous. [ 11.0-0-0!?N may be worth a try, but I would 6.dxe5!? One annotator of my game against recommend varying earlier. ] Eric Lawson (see below) assessed this move as dubious. At the time I would have 11...b8 12.xa7 xb2 13.c1 [ A game I need to re-forget went: 13.a3 agreed, but now I believe it is White's best xd2! 14.xd2 e4+ 15.e1 0-0 chance of an edge. xd1+ 7.xd1 g4 hxg6 19.c5 a5 20.0-0-0 ] [ 9...c8!? makes more sense than the game, but is still unpleasant. ] 10.xf3 f6 11.a4 We have gone far enough to reach a conclusion. White's bishop pair and queenside play give him an edge (at the very least). d5? Allowing his queenside pawns to be split when c4 becomes a handy outpost. [ 11...e6? was the useful developing move, but 12.b5 c7 13.xa7 is a pawn for nothing. ] [ 11...c7! was the way to limit the damage. ] 12.b5 a6 [ 12...c7 13.xa7 ] 13.xc6+ bxc6 14.c4 c7 15.0-0 e6 16.d4 Now for Black, covering g7 is a pain. f6 17.fe1 Correction: covering e6 is a pain. Weaknesses often ripple along a defensive st ru ct u re . f7 18.e4 c5 19.e5 c8 20.g3 g8 21.d1 h5 22.a5 c6 23.h1 g6 24.d6! Black resigned. At such points, annotators often write something smug like "Black failed to move his f8-bishop or h8-rook. " In reality, Black was well aware he needed to develop, but his slips in the opening (especially moves 8 and 11) created so many problems that he never had time to spare. [ 24.d6 xd6 ( 24...xd6 25.xe6+- ) 25.xd6 xd6 26.c4+- ] 1-0

2304

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Black has far too much compensation. I def end ed f or a while, bu t it was a grim business and I cracked in the end. 16.c4 h4 17.g3 f6 18.c1 e8 19.b2 g5 ( 19...xf2!? 20.xf2 e4 21.f1 xc4 22.e2 e6 ) 20.b7 g4 21.d5 e7 22.e2 e6 23.c6 c8 24.a6 e4 25.c4 e8 26.f3 g5 27.e2 c8 28.a3 e4 29.f1 f3+ 30.xf3 xf3 31.d3 g4 32.d2 d8 33.xd8+ xd8 34.fe1 a5+ 0-1 J. Shaw - E. Lawson, Hastings 2002. ] [ White could stop the sac on d2 with 13.d1N but after 0-0 Black is better. For example: 14.a3 bb8 15.e2 a8 16.b2 g4 17.c4 e6 ] 13...xd2! 14.xd2 0-0 This is the second time this position has been reached and White won both times. Don't be fooled. Black has a tremendous attack. 15.d3 [ 15.e2 d5+ ( the n atura l 15...d8!? looks much stronger) 16.e1 xg2 17.f1 e8 18.d1 c6 19.a6 h5 20.b5 xb5 21.xb5 xh2 22.a4 e5 23.a5 xc3+ ( 23...b8!? 24.d3 g4 ) 24.e2 a8 25.a6 g4 26.d3 c2+ 27.d2 e4 28.a7 xe3 29.fxe3 h7 30.d7 g5 31.f5+ According to the database L. Vajda Muzik, Pardubice 1999, stopped here with the result 1-0. That makes little sense as after xf5 32.xf5 g6! 33.xc5 xa7 Black has nothing to worry about. ] 15...d8 16.hd1 g4 17.c2 xd1+ Taking a rook with check turns out to be a mistake. [ The winning line was: 17...d5! 18.d2 ( 18.a5 c4 ) 18...b4+! For example: 19.cxb4 xd3 20.xd3 f5+ 21.c4 e6+ 22.b5 d3+ 23.a5 d8+ 24.a4 xa2# ] 18.xd1 d5 19.d2 c4 20.xc4 e4+ 21.b3 c8 22.a6 White defends well and eventually won the game, but the rest is not relevant to opening theory. d8 23.e1 xg2 24.b7 f8 25.e3 g4 [ 25...xh2!? ] 26.d4 f4 27.a6 e6 28.b6 d2 29.e3 xa2??+- I guess Black thought he would have at least a perpetual, but it's a mirage. [ 29...d7!? ]

30.xa2 a4+ 31.b1 b3+ 32.c1 xc3+ 33.d1 b4 34.a8+ f8 35.e2 a1+ 36.c1 a4+ 37.c2 d7+ 38.e2 g4+ 39.e3 g5+ 40.d4 f6+ 41.c4 e7 42.e3 h5 43.b7 h7 44.e4+ g6 45.d5 a6+ 46.b5 e6+ 47.d3 d6+ 48.d5 a6+ 49.c4 d6+ 50.e2 e6 51.d5 g7 52.xf7 xh2 53.c8 1-0

2172 Khamrakulov,Ibragim S Mogranzini,Roberto 12th Open Malaga ESP (5) [David Vigorito]

B22 2553 2415 14.07.2009

Black plays an interesting idea to combat White's move order and reaches easy equality. However, in his haste to make a draw he misse s a qu ie t m ove a n d e n ds up un d e r heavy pressure. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 g4 6.e2 cxd4 7.cxd4 e6 8.h3 [ This looks inaccurate because of Black's following play. A better move order is 8.c3 b4 9.0-0 a5 10.h3 See PapaioannouCheparinov, Gothenburg SWE 2005 in the archive. ] 8...b4+!? [ 8...h5 would likely transpose above. ] 9.c3 xf3! 10.xf3 c4! Black borrows an idea from the Scotch Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.cxd4 Nc6 6.Nf3 B g 4 7 . N c 3 B b 4 8 . B e 2 B xf 3 9 . B x f 3 Q c 4 ! 11.d2 ge7 [ Bad is 11...xd4 12.xb7 ] [ b u t g r a b b i n g a p a w n w i t h 11...xd4 looks feasible. ] 12.a3 a5 13.e2 [ After 13.e2 xd4 the pawn looks rather tasty because White has wasted some time removing his bishop from the nice h1-a8 diagonal and has blocked the e-file as well. ] 13...xd2+ 14.xd2 d8 15.c1 a4 16.0-0 0-0 It is time to take stock. Black is well developed and has pressure against the d4-pawn. However, White's strong bishop puts some pressure on c6 and b7, so the game is equal. 17.c2 White is not going to be playing for an attack, so exchanging queens 2305

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 seems reasonable. Khamrakulov hopes to axb4 11.cxb4 , as occur red in A.Ledger-C. outplay his opponent in the endgame. xc2 Ward, British League 2005: Jonathan has 18.xc2 d7 19.b4 a6 20.b1 g6 21.a4 previously analysed this and in 'Fighting the b8 22.b5 axb5 23.xb5 xd4? Anti-Sicilians' I devote a f air amount of [ Black is too hasty. Instead 23...a8 24.c4 coverage to the fascinating positions which g7 keeps the game in balance. ] arise after both 11... 0-0-0+ and 11...e4!?) 24.xd4 xd4 25.a5! perhaps Black missed 10...e4 ( also tempting is 10...0-0-0!? 11.a3 this simple move? Now b7 falls and the ae4 12.h3 exf3 13.hxg4 fxg2 14.g1 h5 pawn will become very dangerous. a4 , with co unt erp lay in Brand enb urg-De n [ 25...d7 26.cb2 does not help. ] Heeten, Wijk aan Zee 2007) 11.h3 d7 26.xb7 a1+ 27.h2 xa5!? 12.e1 d5 13.c2 e7 14.a3 f6 This is probably the best practical try. 15.e1 0-0-0! the position remained rather Otherwise a6 and Rbb2-a2 will come. 28.xa5 unclear in D.Howell-Bu Xiangzhi, Liverpool xb7 29.ca2 d5 30.a7 b4 2007, although I must admit that I'm not a [ A tough choice. Exchanging rooks with huge fan of the congested white camp. ] 30...xa7 31.xa7 would seem to be a 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 e6 8.h3 better drawing attempt, but I believe with [ White can also begin with 8.0-0 f6 9.c3 3:4 pawns this ending is winning for White. a5 , after which 10.h3 h5 takes play A quick glance at Dvoretsky did not provide back into our main line. ] the answer... ] [ However, as the resulting IQP positions are 31.g3 h5 32.2a3 g7 33.f3 f6 34.e3 quite comfortable for Black, W hite should b6 35.g2 d5 36.f3 f6 37.f4 b5 probably prefer the critical pawn sacrifice 38.c4 d5 39.c6 g8 40.d6 f6 8.c3 a5 9.h3 h5 10.d5!? exd5 41.aa6 g7 42.db6 f5 43.a7 g8 11.d4 , which remains surprisingly rare. 44.b4 g7 45.g4 Finally White makes clear Now Motylev's xe2 ( Jonathan was keen progress. Black will not be able to cover f7. on 11...xd4 12.xh5 c6? , but I'm long hxg4 46.hxg4 d5 47.bb7 xg4 been unconvinced: Najer-Lautier, Khanty 48.xf7+ h6 49.g3 h5 50.a4 g5? Mansyisk 2005, continued 13.0-0 f6 [ This just loses. Instead 50...d3+ 51.f3 14.g5 e7 15.xf6 xf6 16.xd5 e5 d1 allows Black to fight on. ] and now, as I first mentioned on the Forum, 51.h7+ h6+ 52.h3 Now the mating 17.b4! is strong ) 12.xe2+ e7 13.xc6 threat wins a whole piece. g1 53.h4+ g5 bxc6 14.0-0 d8!? 54.7xh6 was my recommendation and awaits further 1-0 tests. ] 8...h5 9.0-0 f6 10.c3 a5 11.b3 [ Black is also quite comfortable after 11.a3 2173 B22 d6 12.e3 0-0 : for example, 13.b4 ( or 13.b3 ab8 14.ad1 fd8 15.fe1 h6 Khamrakulov,Ibragim S 2604 16.b5 d5! 17.g4 g6 18.xd6 xd6 San Segundo Carrillo,Pablo 2536 19.e5?! xe5 20.dxe5 c6 Spanish Championship, Ayamonte (4.3) , with promising play down the c-file in C. [Richard Palliser] C o o l e y - E m m s , B r i t i s h L e a g u e 2 0 0 7) 13...d8 14.d2 c8 15.ac1 a5! 16.b5 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 e7 and I enjoyed an extremely pleasant 5.d4 g4 Now play becomes quite forcing anti-IQP set-up in J.Saunders-R.Palliser, and White must respond adventurously in kind British League 2007. ] if he wants to pose any problems. 6.e2 Neutralizing White's play down the [ A critical alternative runs 6.dxc5 xd1+ 11...b4! 7.xd1 e5 8.b4 a5 9.b5 ge7 b -f ile a n d , p e rh a p s n o t su rp risin gly, t h e , with reasonable play for the pawn in a queenless IQP middlegames have thus far not ra t h e r c o m p l e x p o s it io n . A f t e r 10.d2!? p ro ve d t o o ch a lle n gin g f o r B la ck . 12.e3 ( a new try a critical alternative is 10.a3 xb3?! 2306

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ San Segundo decides to damage White's structure. However, W hite's resulting pressure down the half-open a-file gives him a small pull, which explains why Black more usually prefers to keep the tension with 12...d6 . ] 13.axb3 d6 A much more active square t h a n e 7 : B la c k sh o u l d p re f e r t o f igh t f o r control of e5. 14.g4! This and White's next, breaking the pin and gaining some pressure, was the only real way to pose any problems. g6 15.e5 0-0 [ And not 15...xe5? 16.dxe5 xe5 17.f3! 0-0 18.xb7 ab8 19.xa7 , netting a pawn with advantage. ] 16.xc6 [ No doubt Khamrakulov also considered 16.f3 , b u t a f t e r fc8 17.xc6 bxc6 18.a6? , d3 is awkward because, as pointed out by the fiendish machine, 19.xc6 h2+! 20.xh2 xf1 wins the exchange. ] 16...bxc6 17.a6 When I first saw this game on TWIC, I thought that White might have a pull and that is indeed the case. However, after Black's 18th, calmly giving up the a7pawn, W hite's problem is that Black is very solid and the extra b-pawn pretty meaningless. fc8 18.fa1 ab8! 19.b5 [ Now the game fizzles out. White's extra pawn wasn't too useful after 19.d1!? d3 20.xa7 d8 , but this was still a better try. ] 19...cxb5 20.xd6 h6! Removing any backrank problems and preparing to invade the seventh. 21.da6 c2 22.d1 xb2 23.xa7 d5 A fine outpost for the knight and now W hite can do nothing other than force drawish simplification. 24.c1 b1 25.xb1 xb1 26.f3 c2 27.xd5 exd5 28.b4 c8 29.b7 Perhaps not the most precise of games (12...Bd6 should probably be preferred), but still a good indication of just how solid Black is in these queenless IQPs. White players really need to analyse either 6 dxc5 or 10 d5 if they want to set Black any real problems after 4...Nc6 5 Nf3 Bg4. ½-½

2174 Kinnert,Dieter Balduan,Markus op Troisdorf [Gary Lane]

B22 2323 1999

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.dxc5 c6 [ 4...xe4?? 5.a4+ wins. ] 5.cxd6?! White grabs another pawn and encourages complications. One of the reasons why this line became very popular is that in the first edition of the best-selling book 'A repertoire for the attacking club player'. It claimed a few victims before Black started winning regularly by playing a variation on s h o w i n t h i s g a m e . xe4 6.dxe7 W h i t e c o u r a g e o u sl y t a ke s o n b la c k i n a t a c t i c a l m a ze . T h e o n l y p r o b l e m i s t h a t nowadays the opinion is that with correct play Black should emerge on top. [ 6.e3 xd6 7.f3 g6 8.a3 a5 9.b3 g7 10.b5 f5 11.d2 0-0 12.e2 e6 13.c2 ac8 14.0-0 a6 15.a3 b5 gave Black an edge in Engelbert, C-Gullaksen,E/Hamburg GER 2002. ] [ 6.f3 xd6 7.xd6 xd6 8.f4 e6 9.bd2 e7 10.c4 xc4 11.xc4 0-0 12.0-0-0 gives White a slight, space advantage Bex,E-Mezouaghi,M/Vins du Medoc FRA 2002. ] 6...xd1+ 7.xd1 xf2+ The critical test. It used to be thought that White could pick up two pieces for a rook and then eventually convert the extra material into victory. [ 7...xe7 8.e3 White is now a pawn up although his king still needs to be safely positioned f5 9.f3 0-0-0+ 10.bd2 c5 11.xc5 xc5 12.e2 d3 13.xd3 xd3 gave Black some play for the pawn, Sauveniere,H-Winants,H/Huy 1993. ] 8.e1 xh1 9.exf8+ xf8 There is some debate about how the queen should be taken. B a ld u a n o b vio u sly f o llo ws t h e sch o o l o f thought that Black should retain the possibility of castling queenside in order to brings the rooks to the centre. The difference is that with a king on f8 then the queen's rook can come to the e-file and another option would be to use the king's took to aid the advance h7-h5h4-h4 then play the knight to g3 and when it is taken play h3-h2. 2307

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 9...xf8 10.f3 g4 A) 11.f4 e8+ 12.e2 f6 13.bd2 g5 14.d6+ g7 15.f1 d8 16.a3 xf3 ( 16...he8!? 17.c5? xd2 18.xd2 xe2 wins ) 17.xf3 g4 18.h4 g3 19.g1 he8 ( 19...d2! is an improvement) 20.f3 f2 21.f5+ g8 22.h6+ g7 23.f5+ g8 ( 23...g6 24.xg3 d3 25.h5+ is r a t h e r go o d f o r W h i t e) 24.h6+ 1/2-1/2 Norgaard,J-Martin del Campo,J/ MEX 1995.; B) 11.e2 h5 ( Perhaps 11...e8!? sho uld be c on side re d) 12.f4 h4 13.bd2 e8 14.f1 g5 15.xg5 h3 16.b5 ( 16.d3 ) 16...g3+ 17.hxg3 ( 17.f2 e4+ 18.xe4 xe4 19.f1 gives Black a small plus) 17...h2 18.xh2 xh2 19.g1 h5 20.xc6 bxc6 21.f4 e2 22.a4 d5 Black is clearly better but takes time to conquer White's resistance 23.c4 c8 24.b4 d3 25.c1 f6 26.d6 e6 27.c4 a3 28.b5 aa2 29.bxc6 xg2+ 30.f1 gf2+ 31.g1 g2+ 32.f1 h2 33.g1 ag2+ 34.f1 h3 0-1 Hinks Edwards,T-Avrukh, B/Bratislava 1993.; C) 11.e3 h5 ( 11...e8 always see ms a good idea to keep White under pressure by pinning a piece on the e-file) 12.e2 h4 13.bd2 e8 14.c4 h3 15.f1 ( 15.g3 xg3! 16.hxg3 h2 17.xh2 xh2 18.xg4 h1+ and White will never play an opening line again!) 15...g3+ 16.hxg3 h2 17.xh2 xe2+ 18.xe2 xh2 gave Black a comfortable game and h e s o o n wo n in S o e r ge l, F- S c h r o l l, R / Postbauer 1998. ] 10.g3 [ 10.f4 f5 11.a3 0-0-0 12.b5 fe8+ 13.e2 e6 14.f1 h6 15.d6+ if White has to hand back the extra material then the opening must have gone wrong ( 15.f3 g5 16.c1 d3 is excellent for Black ) 15...dxd6 16.xd6 xd6 17.f3 g5 18.g1 g4 19.h4 e6 20.d1 xd1+ 21.xd1 e5 22.xh1 d3 23.b3 xb2 gave Black a winning ending, Lardot,D-Norri, J/Vantaa 1994. ] 10...g4 11.f4 [ 11.g2 seems to pick up the stranded

piece but Black can generate active piece play 0-0-0! 12.d2 e5 13.xh1 d3+ 14.f1 xc1 15.xc1 xd2 ] 11...0-0-0 12.d2 fe8+ The black rooks dominate the central files and make it extremely difficult for White to contemplate taking the knight in the corner. 13.e2 f6 14.df3 g5 15.d2 e5! Black piles on the pressure and seeks to exchange another defending piece. 16.d4 [ 16.xe5 xe5 intending to double rooks on the e-file 17.d1 xe2+ 18.xe2 f2+ 19.e1 h3 wins ] 16...d3+ 17.d1 hf2+ The 'spare' knight on h1 enters the fray and W hite is in deep trouble. 18.c2 xd4! Fairly obviously for a casual observer but it still has to be played on t h e b o a r d . 19.xd3 xd3 20.f1 f5 21.c1 h3 0-1

2175 Kobalia,Mihail Dominguez Perez,Leinier RUS-chT 21st (5.1) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2633 2757 11.04.2014

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 e6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 d6 8.0-0 e7 9.d2 0-0 10.c3 dxe5 [ 10...b6 is the most common move, although I think White should retain an edge se e t h e n o t e s t o : A l e k s e e v, E ( 2 6 7 8 ) Grischuk, A (2777) Loo 2014 ] 11.dxe5 xc3 [ 11...b6 12.b3 a5 transposes to Alekseev-Grischuk. ] 12.xc3 a6 [ 12...b6 is very popular and was Carlsen's choice. 13.e2 ( 13.d3 b7 14.c2 1/2-1/2 (14) Godena, M (2501) -David, A (2580) Rome 2013, but White seems a little better to me (and to Houdini!).) 13...b7 14.d3 ( 14.fd1 c7 15.a3?! 0-1 (62) Ynojosa Aponte, F (2374)-Quesada Perez, Y (2626) Istanbul 2012, but 15.Bd3 keeps some advantage.) 14...b4? ( 14...c8 15.fd1 c7 16.e4 g6 17.f4 would lead to a typical position for the ...e6/ d6 system, in which W hite has a 2308

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 comfortable space advantage in the short run, but most endgames will be drawn.) 15.xh7+! xh7 16.e4+ g8 17.xb4 xb4 18.xb7 1/2-1/2 (62) Ivanchuk, V (2751)-Carlsen, M (2733) Nice 2008 ] [ 12...xd1 13.fxd1 b6 14.b5 is also more comfortable for White. ] 13.e2 [ 13.a4 b6 14.d3 ( 14.e2 b7 15.ac1 c7 16.d3 fd8 17.fd1 might still be a little better for White, but the weakness on b4 is probably more important than the weakened a6 pawn.) 14...b7 15.e4 xd1 16.fxd1 ad8 1/2-1/2 (31) Antonio, R (2541) -Paragua, M (2519) Manila 2013 ] [ White can also provoke a weakness on Black's kingside first with 13.d3 b5 14.c2 g6 15.fd1 c7 16.ac1 b7 , although now he should switch the queen ba c k t o e 2, ra t he r t h a n 17.d2?! b4! 18.xb4 xb4 19.xb4 xb4 20.xc7 xf3 21.gxf3 fd8 22.e2 xd1+ 23.xd1 xa2 where it is White who has to hold the draw. ] 13...b5 14.d3 b7 15.fd1 Perhaps not the most accurate. It is clear that the Black queen will soon have to vacate d8, whether pu s he d to d o so o r no t , wh e re a s it 's n o t entirely clear where the white rooks want to go. [ 15.e4 should be preferred, and now if b6 then 16.d2! is a strong manoeuvre. For example, note that after fd8 17.e3 c7 it becomes clear that White should pref er t o de ploy h is roo ks o n th e c-f ile i n s t e a d , s t a r t i n g w i t h ( 17...c5? 18.xh7+!+- ) 18.ac1 ] 15...b6 16.d2 ad8 17.e3 c7 18.ac1 b8! This wouldn't have been possible if White had played Be4 instead of Rfd1. 19.b6 [ 19.e4 xd1+ 20.xd1 d8 21.xd8+ xd8 sends the game straight towards a draw. ] 19...d5 20.e4 xd1+ 21.xd1 b4 22.c7? The first of a serious of suboptimal moves. [ 22.xb7 xb7 23.a5 c8 24.xb4 xb4 25.xc8+ xc8= ] 22...a8?! [ 22...a7! 23.d6 ( 23.xb7 xa2!! )

23...xe4 24.c7 b6 25.xe7 d3 ] 23.xb7 xb7 24.a3 d5 25.a5 c8 26.h3?! White would have been more comfortable creating luft with g3, instead. The rest of the game is not theoretically interesting, but it's impressive how easily Leinier outplays his strong opponent from this equal position. h6 27.d2 b6 28.e3 xc1 29.xc1 c4 30.d4 d5 31.c2 c6 32.d3 d8 33.b3 xa3 34.c5 xc5 35.xd8+ h7 36.d3+ g8 37.d8+ h7 38.d3+ g6 39.d6 c1+ 40.h2 f4+ 41.g1 c1+ 42.h2 f4+ 43.g1 b1 44.xa6 c1+ 45.h2 f4+ 46.g1 c3 47.d6 g7 48.d3 b4 49.g3 c1+ 50.g2 d5 51.d4 c7 52.f3 c6 53.f1 c3 54.g1 a8 55.h2? [ 55.g2 ] 55...a1+ 56.g2 b2 57.c4 d5 58.h4 h5 59.g4 f4+ 60.g1?? [ 60.g3 xe5 61.f3 c7-+ ] 60...c1+ 61.f1 e2+ 0-1

2176 Kobalia,Mihail Khismatullin,Denis Russian Championship Qualifier (8) [Richard Palliser]

B22 2634 2566 11.09.07

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 [ The modern move order. The once standard 4.d4 is becoming rarer by the month. ] 4...c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 d5 7.exd6 xd6 8.a3! [ Exploiting the delay in going d2-d4 to reduce Black's options. Another move order is 8.d4 cxd4 9.a3 , after which dxc3! ( 9...e6 10.b5 transposes to our main game ) 10.xd6 exd6 11.b5 b8 received a couple of outings in the recent Romanian Team Championship: 12.bxc3 ( Biro had earlier tried the speculative 12.0-0?! and cxb2 13.xb2 e6 14.c7+ d7 15.xe6 fxe6 16.g5 d5 17.fe1 e8 left Black pretty much a clear pawn up in Biro-Solak, Predeal 2007) 12...a6 13.e3 axb5 14.xb6 e6!? ( more ambitious than 14...e7 , which looks also fine for Black) 2309

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 15.0-0-0 ( perhaps 15.d4!? , although after c4!? 16.0-0-0 d7 I haven't been able to find anything particularly good for W hite to do down the d-f ile) 15...e7 16.he1 d7 17.d4 hg8 18.b2 a8 19.d2 a6 20.de2 c4 wasn't a huge improvement for W hite in Biro-Motylev, Predeal 2007. White's compensation after 11...Rb8 isn't wholly convincing, largely because Black's king isn't too inconvenienced on d7, and Kobalija's move order looks somewhat more accurate. ] 8...e6 9.d4 cxd4 [ A n o t h e r m o v e o r d e r i s 9...xb3 when White has often recaptured with the queen, but I wondered if Kobalija intended 10.axb3!? , after which e6+ ( or 10...cxd4 11.b5 d7 12.0-0 ) 11.e2 xe2+ 12.xe2 may supply a small edge: for example, cxd4 13.b5 d3+ 14.xd3 0-0-0+ 15.c2 a6 16.e3 d5 17.a7+ xa7 18.xa7 and White can play to advance with b4, Kb3, Bc5 and c4, while Black will probably go ...f6 and ...e5. ] 10.b5 In the older lines with d4 and only t h e n N a 3 - b 5 , B l a ck h a s u s u a ll y a lr e a d y traded light-squared bisho ps and so ca n retreat with ...Qb8, but here that is, of course, im p o s s ib le a s t h e bish o p o n e 6 m u st b e covered. d7 11.0-0!? [ Previously Jonathan has examined the more positional 11.bxd4 xb3 12.xb3 e6 ( Black can also consider 12...xd4 13.xd4 g6!? , a l t h o u g h 14.0-0 g7 15.d1 0-0 16.e3 17 gave White an edge in Sermek-Pelletier, Leon 2001, as the b6knight will be a little loose after Nb5) 13.0-0 xd4 14.xd4 e7 15.d1 , which was perhaps a touch better for W hite in Pavasovic-Schandorff, Gothenburg 2005 (see the Archive). ] 11...xb3 [ With his kingside undeveloped, Black must be careful. Indeed, aggression often backfires on him, as it does after 11...d3? 12.xe6 fxe6 13.e1! , intending 14 Nbd4, with strong pressure and the advantage. ] 12.axb3 e5!? [ A m b i t i o u s . I n s t e a d t h e s o l i d 12...e6 would have restricted White to no more than a small pull after 13.bxd4 xd4 14.xd4

e7 15.g4 0-0 16.d1 . ] 13.cxd4 a6! The knight must be driven backwards, although Kobalija can flick in an intermezzo. 14.d5! b4 15.c3 f6 [ Black had to shore up his e5-pawn: 15...4xd5? 16.xe5 e6 17.xd5 xd5 18.e3 xd1 19.fxd1 c8 20.ac1 , with a strong initiative for W hite, would not have been the way to go. ] 16.xe5! I wonder if this tempting sacrifice was preparation or over-the-board realisation from Kobalija that it was the only way to set Black problems, even if it is insufficient for an advantage. fxe5 17.h5+ f7 [ I h a ve n 't m a n a ge d t o re f u t e 17...d8!? , but there is no doubting White's powerful compensation. Note especially the line 18.e3 c8 ( and not 18...6xd5? 19.fd1 e6 20.xd5 xd5 when White regains his piece with 21.f3 e4 22.h5 ) 19.xe5 d6 20.e4 e8 21.xh7 , which isn't totally clear, but 22 Ne4 is next up and I quite like W hite's play for the piece: for example, e7 22.e4 bxd5 23.fd1 c8 24.b6+! c7 25.c5 , leaving Black badly trussed up. ] 18.xe5+ e7 19.h5+ g6! [ Not bad, but once again this wasn't the only approach in this tricky situation for Black. I suspect that Khismatullin avoided 19...f7!? , not through fear of an early r e p e t i t i o n , b u t r a t h e r 20.e1+ e7 21.xe7+ ( another dangerous line is 21.h4 4xd5 22.xd5 xd5 23.g5 , b u t a ga in B la ck a p p e a rs t o h a ve ju s t enough defensive resources, as shown by c8 24.ad1 f6 25.b4 f8 26.xb7 e8 27.xf6 xf6 28.xe8+ xe8 29.c1 h5 ) 21...xe7 22.h4+ e8 23.xb4 , which looks pretty dangerous. However, after xd5 24.a4+ f8 25.d2 , while W hite has reasonable play for the exchange, he doesn't seem to have any more than that. ] 20.g4 f7 21.g5! [ A m u c h b e t t e r t r y t h a n 21.d4? , which would have run into the trick c2 22.xh8? g7 23.xh7 h8 . ] 21...e5? [ Now White regains his piece with a d v a n t a g e . M u c h b e t t e r w a s 21...d7! 2310

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 when 22.d4 leaves three of Black's pieces e n p ris e , b u t h e ca n sa ve h im se lf wit h 4xd5 ( and not 22...c2? 23.f6+ g8 24.ac1 ) 23.xd5 ( or 23.a4!? xa4! 24.xh8 c5 25.ad1 f5 26.xh7+ g7 27.h6 g8 28.xg7 xg7 29.h8 , with ongoing complications, but not ones unfavourable for Black.) 23...xd5 24.e3 xd4 25.xd4 g7 26.xb6 he8 , reaching a level endgame. ] 22.e3 d6 23.e6+! Neat. xe6 24.dxe6+ xe6 25.xb6 ac8 26.ad1 Not only is W hite now a clear pawn up, but Black's king position remains a cause for concern. c6?! [ This fails to help matters as it doesn't really def end the d6-bishop (W hite will attack Black's knight, threatening to overload the bishop). Probably a better defence in this rather unpleasant position was 26...he8 27.fe1+ f7 28.e4 e5 29.c5 a5 , when White continues to press, but Black is holding firm for the time being. ] 27.fe1+ f7 28.a5! e8 [ Not ideal, but neither was 28...b6 29.xb4 xb4 30.d7+ f8 31.b7 , with some initiative and quite possibly a decisive one at that. ] 29.e4 e7 30.d7 f8 31.xe7 [ It's hard to criticize White for a move which leaves him with bishop, knight and pawn for a rook. However, Khismatullin can now put u p a l i t t l e r e s i s t a n c e , wh e r e a s 31.g5! would have overloaded Black's defences and forced immediate resignation. ] 31...xe7 32.xb4+ d8 33.f3 b6 34.c3 c7 35.d1 e7 36.b4 h6 37.h4 d7 38.a1 b7 39.f2 d5 40.e1 a5 41.bxa5 bxa5 42.a1 a6 43.a4 b5 44.e2 Bringing White's final piece into play. With Black having weaknesses on both flanks, the final result is never in doubt and, indeed, Kobalija unsurprisingly wins with some ease. d5 45.d2 b5 46.d3 c6 47.a2 d5+ 48.e2 h5 49.g3 b6 50.c3 d5 51.a4 c7 52.e3 c6 53.f4 h5 54.d4+ b5 55.b3 a6 56.c3 f5 57.d3 b7 58.e5 a6 59.e4 b6 60.c4 f8 61.d4+ c7 62.c5 Powerful play from Kobalija, although, while there is no doubting that his 16 Nxe5 is practically pretty

dangerous, it doesn't seem to suffice for an objective advantage. 1-0

2177 Korobov,Anton Mamedov,Rauf Aeroflot Qualifier, Moscow (rapid) (6.1) [Richard Palliser]

B22 2702 2651

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 c4 7.c2 c7 [ This in connection with Black's sharp next has faded in popularity of late, but remains a decent way to unbalance the struggle. One solid alternative is 7...d6 8.exd6 xd6 .] 8.e2 g5 9.h3 Tiviakov's old preference. As this tabiya hasn't been covered on ChessPub for a while, let's have a quick look at some of the alternatives: [ a) 9.a3 is a favourite of the Ukrainian Grandmaster Kislinsky, but after g4 10.b5 b8 11.g5 xe5 12.0-0 A) 12...h6 13.f4! is an important point, as in Kislinsky-Voloshin, Kouty nad Desnou 2012, where gxf3 14.xf3 g7 15.xe5 xe5 16.f2 0-0 17.c7! b8 ( 17...xc7? 18.f5 e8 19.h7+ f8 20.d4 gives W hite a winning attack) 18.e8! was an impressive knight's tour to remove a key defender; B) 12...d6! 13.e1 d7 14.d4 cxd3 15.xd3 a6 was fine for Black and agreed drawn here in Kislinsky-Todorovic, Belgrade 2012. ] [ b) I was surprised to see long-term c3 practitioner Joel Benjamin going 9.xg5 , since xe5 10.d4 cxd3 11.xd3 xe2+ 12.xe2 h6 has long been known to be fine for Black and after 13.f3 g7 14.a3 0-0 15.0-0 d5 16.d1 f5 White clearly had nothing in Benjamin-Priyadharshan, US Online League 2012. ] [ c) 9.e6 was once popular, but dxe6 10.xg5 e5 should be fine for Black. ] [ d) 9.0-0?! g4 10.d4 xe5 11.xg4 h5! gave Black an early initiative in KantansShankland, Gibraltar 2010, which can be found in the Archive. ] 2311

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9...g7 10.e6 [ Here, however, Tiviakov preferred 10.0-0 and Mamedov has also faced this: xe5 11.xg5 h6 ( 11...d5 has been somewhat more popular and receives extensive coverage in the Archive) 12.f3 d6!? ( and here too Black has tended to prefer 12...d5 , but I can't see anything wrong with the text ) 13.a4 d7 14.a3 xf3+ 15.xf3 c6 ( 15...xa4 16.d3 regains the p a w n , s i n c e cxd3? walks into a welldisguised fork: 17.xa4 xa4 18.g4 ) 16.g4 e5 17.d4 ( 17.a5 is more combative, but after d5 18.xc4 h5! Black seems to have sufficient counterchances: for example, 19.g5 0-0-0 20.xe5 dxe5 21.e1 hg8 22.xe5 xg2+! when the rook is taboo, in view of 23.xg2?? e3+ ) 17...cxd3 18.xd3 h5 19.e2 and 1/2-1/2 in Vallejo PonsMamedov, European Championship, Aix-lesBains 2011, but if anyone's better after g8 20.f3 , it's Black. ] 10...dxe6 11.xg5 Regaining the pawn, but practice has tended to suggest that Black's central pawn clump is more of a strength than a weakness in this and closely-related positions. Moreover, White is yet to untangle his queenside pieces. h6 12.f3 d7 [ Natural and new, largely though because f e w wh i t e p la ye rs a re go in g in f o r t h i s structure these days. There's nothing wrong either with the previously-played 12...e5 and after 13.a3 e6 14.b3 a5 chances were about even in MargstahlerMartinez, Milan 2007. ] 13.b3? [ Korobov is an immensely talented and dangerous grandmaster, but here completely underestimates the danger in the position. The way to arrange this key pawn lever was with first 13.a3 e5 14.0-0 0-0-0 a n d o n l y t h e n 15.b3 , although I'd still be happy enough as Black after, say, hg8 . ] 13...b4! Suddenly the bishop on g7 and the cramping pawn on c4 make their presence very much felt. 14.a3 [ The only real try, as 14.e4 would have been rebuffed by f5 . ] 14...xc2+ 15.xc2 c8

[ Or just 15...e5 followed by ...Bf5. White is rather weak on the light squares and still faces difficulties finding his dark-squared bishop a decent role. ] 16.0-0 d5 17.e3 [ Critical, even if does allow a dangerous pawn sacrifice. Instead after 17.xc4 xc4 18.bxc4 xc4 Black would just have a very pleasant advantage with his more active pieces and bishop-pair. ] 17...f4! 18.xc4 [ White comes under a serious attack after this, but it's hard to view the machine's 18.d1 c6 19.bxc4 g8 as a serious improvement. ] 18...c6 19.d4?! [ The attack is just too strong after this. Indeed, it seems that W hite didn't have anything better than 19.g3 xh3+ 20.h2 g5 21.h4 , extremely grim though this would have been. ] 19...xd4 20.cxd4 g8 21.f3 Forced, but now the knight captures with check and the black queen joins the fray. xh3+ 22.h1 g3 23.e2 f4 [ Equally crushing would have been 23...h4 24.e1 ( 24.gxh3? xh3+ 25.h2 xf3+ 26.xf3 xf3+ 27.g2 g5 decides ) 24...h5 . ] 24.f2 g6 25.g1 e2 The simplest. Mamedov nets the exchange while maintaining a virulent initiative. 26.h2 g3+ 27.g1 xf1 28.xf1 d3+ 29.f2 xd4 30.b1 b5 0-1

2178 Kosintseva,Nadezhda Hou,Yifan Kazan FIDE GP (Women) 4th (5) [Sam Collins]

B22 2528 2623 15.06.2012

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 e7 9.d2 I remember when this move was shown to me by John Shaw. It is amazing to think that White could hope for an advantage like t h i s (t h e h i gh ly u n p re t e n t i o u s i d e a is t o recapture with the bishop after Nc3, thus avoiding the slight structural weakening of 2312

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bxc3) and I don't really believe that Black can face serious problems here. 0-0 10.c3 b6 It makes sense to avoid the exchange on c3, thus rendering Bd2 somewhat redundant. On the other hand, White can claim that keeping pieces on the board favours the side with more space. [ The same idea, but in a different structure, was seen af ter 10...dxe5 11.dxe5 b6 12.b3 a5 in P.Kemp (2114) - R.Palliser (2454), British Championship 2011 (0-1 in 39), annotated by Richard in the Archives. ] 11.b3 a5 This seems to be almost a novelty. [ 11...dxe5 is the most popular move, when 12.dxe5 a5 transposes back into Kemp Palliser and has scored well for Black. ] 12.exd6 xd6 13.c2 e7 [ Houdini likes the more active approach with 13...f5!? . This move actually isn't so bad in IQP structures, as Alex Baburin explained in his excellent book 10-15 years ago. ] 14.e2 ac4 [ Co m p le t in g d e ve lo p m e n t wit h 14...d7 and 15...Rc8 is also sensible. ] 15.f4 d7 [ 15...d5 16.xd5 exd5 ( not 16...xd5?? 17.e4 b5 18.d3+- ) 17.ac1 leaves W hite better placed in the symmetrical structure. ] 16.e4 c6 17.xc6 bxc6 Leading to a notoriously drawish structure, but one where White will gain some time on the c4-knight, which can no longer be supported by a rook on c8. 18.ac1 c8 19.fd1 d5 Trying to simplify, but White retains a handy initiative. [ 19...d6 threatens to re-route the knight to the excellent f5-square. White is perhaps b e s t a d v i s e d t o p r o c e e d wi t h 20.xd6!? xd6 21.a3 with a slight advantage. ] 20.xc4 xf4 21.e5 c7 [ 21...d6 avoids problems on the c-file, but White retains slightly better chances after 22.g3 g6 23.e2 fd8 24.c4 , since his minor pieces are more effective than their black counterparts. ] 22.g3 g6 23.xg6 hxg6 24.d5! A good transformation. exd5 25.xd5 e5 26.f4 e6 27.xe7+ xe7 28.d6 White is clearly on top in the resulting major

piece position. b7 29.b3 fe8 30.e1 ed8? Allowing penetration on the seventh rank. [ 30...a6 would have limited Black to a slight disadvantage. ] 31.e7! a6 [ 31...xd6 32.xb7 is a very unpleasant double rook endgame. ] 32.f4 f8 33.a4 ce8 34.ce1?! [ 34.xe8! xe8 35.c7 leaves White with good winning chances. ] 34...xe7 35.xe7 d3! Now Black has counterplay. 36.c4 f3 37.e3 d1+ 38.g2 d5+!? [ Hou elects to try her luck in the rook endgame, rather than continuing to defend passively after 38...d7 ] 39.xd5 cxd5 40.e7 b8 41.xa7 xb3 42.d7? Kosintseva doesn't even try to win. [ 42.a5 a3 43.f4 followed by bringing the king to the centre might have posed Black some problems. ] 42...a3 43.xd5 xa4= 44.h4 f8 45.b5 e7 46.b7+ e6 47.b6+ e7 48.b7+ e6 ½-½

2179 Kosteniuk,Alexandra Salgado Lopez,Ivan Aeroflot Open A (1) [John Shaw]

B22 2498 2626 08.02.2011

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 d6 5.c4 e6 6.d4 c6 7.0-0 cxd4 8.cxd4 e7 9.e2 0-0 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 dxe5 12.dxe5 a5 13.a4!? Another test for Radjabov's novelty from Linares 2009. The pawn occupies a square the black queen wants. [ The old main line is 13.e4 when a4! slows White's attack, as the intended Bd3 was meant to be a mate threat, not a queen exchange. ] 13...d8 14.e4 An attempt to improve on the 13.a4 stem game, but I think W hite should simply repeat the old game. [ The first game with 13. a4 (it's in the Archives) continued 14.d2 Radjabov Dominguez Perez, Linares 2009. ] 2313

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14...d7 Salgado Lopez decides to play safe and develop. [ Dave Vigorito had mentioned 14.Qe4 and suggested 14...xc3 Perhaps Black was worried about 15.e3 White might have a little play on the queenside (in this line White usually plays on the kingside) but I feel White is fighting for equality rather than an advantage. ] 15.d3 g6 16.b1 ab8 17.e1 The question is whether W hite can find a better move than simply trying to defend c3. e8 Now that the d8-rook hits d3, Black is certainly threatening ...Qxc3. The capture was possible at once, but required great precision and still offered White some compensation. [ 17...xc3 18.d2 a3 The queen feels a little uncomfortable, but cannot be caught. However, the game continuation is a far m o r e s e n s i b l e c h o i c e f o r B l a c k . ( not 18...c5? 19.b5 a3 20.c1+and the queen runs out of squares. )] 18.g5?! This is the attacking move White wants to play, but it doesn't work. [ 18.d2 would be in similar style to the Vajda games (see elsewhere in this Update) but in this case d5 forces an exchange of queens, which is certainly not what White desires. ] 18...xg5 19.xg5 xe5 [ 19...h6!? 20.f3 xc3 makes a huge amount of sense as ...Nd4 will soon follow, while White's knight is a long way from f6. ] 20.xh7? A swing and a miss. [ White could keep practical chances with 20.h4 g7 21.c2 as the g5-knight threatens to relocate to f6. For example, h6 22.e4 g5 23.g3 Black is a pawn up but it is messy enough to make an accident likely. ] 20...xc3!-+ Two minor pieces are hanging and the attack is not working. [ The hope was 20...xh7?? 21.h4+ ] 21.e3 xh7 22.h4+ g7 23.xg6 It looks scary, but the black king is safe on the dark squares. f6 24.h7+ f8 25.e4 d4 26.h5 c6 27.c5+ e8 28.be1 xe4 29.xe4 b6 30.c7 bc8 31.g3 c3 32.g4 c2 33.f3 d5 34.h4 e7 35.h1 f5 36.f4 g6 37.h3 g3 With the queens off, any hope of a swindle

disappears. 38.xg3 xg3+ 39.h2 h5 40.g4 f6 0-1

2180 Krassilnikov,Evgeni Sveshnikov,Evgeny Spring Cup Cheliabinsk RUS (2) [David Vigorito]

B22 2399 2506 07.03.2008

This game caught my attention. What will the man himself play against his own pet variation? 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 8.exd6 xd6 9.0-0 e6 So it's the main line of 2...Nf6. A fine choice, in my opinion.... 10.a3 xb3 [ Sveshnikov avoids the more complicated (but better!) 10...dxc3 ] 11.xb3 e6 12.b5 d7 13.bxd4 xd4 14.xd4 e7 15.d1 0-0 All of this has been seen before on our site. 16.f5!? [ White decides to grab the bishop. 16.b5 ] [ and 16.e3 are alternatives that can be found in the archives. ] 16...c7 17.xe7+ xe7 18.e3 d5 19.d4 The position is very close to equality, Black's knight does not have a permanent outpost. With unbalanced pawn in an open position, White is a little bit "more equal". c7 20.c4 e7 21.g3 White does not hesitate to go into the endgame against his famous opponent. xg3 22.hxg3 fc8 23.b3 f6 24.g4 White wants to prevent ...e5 followed by . ..f5. This also takes a square away from Black's knight. c6 25.e3 d8 26.f1 f7 27.e2 e5 28.xd8 xd8 29.d1 xd1 30.xd1 So probably Black should be able to draw this endgame, especially with White's slightly flawed kingside structure. But with a bishop against a knight, White can try... e6 31.d2 g6 32.a3 f5 33.gxf5+ gxf5 34.f3 a5?! Black wants to hold up White's queenside, but this pawn could be a target for White's bishop. 35.c3 [ I w o u l d p r e f e r t h e p a t i e n t 35.b6 to tie down Black's knight. ] 35...h5 36.b4 axb4+ 37.axb4 e7 38.b5 g6 39.g5 To stop ...Nh4. f8 40.e3 d7 2314

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 40...g6 ] (2442)-Salem, A (2567)/Jakarta INA 2013.) 41.c5?! f6? 10.xd4 e5! (or else White is just better) [ After 41...d5 Black can hardly lose. ] 11.xe5 xa3 12.bxa3 0-0-0 13.d4 42.c4 Now the queenside pawns will be he8+ 14.d2 e4+ 15.c1 e6 dangerous. d5 43.d2 f4 and after the accurate 16.a4! Black still has [ 43...f6 The pawns will become targets on some work to do to prove equality, though the dark-squares, but 44.g5 d5 45.b6 objectively it's there. ] leaves Black low on moves. ] 8...0-0-0 9.fxd4 44.d3 e7 45.e4 f5 46.c3 g3+ [ 9.bxd4 g4 10.xf5 xf5 11.a4 47.d3 h4 xe3 12.fxe3 c5 13.f2 g6 14.c4 e6 [ If 47...d5 48.c6 bxc6 49.b6 d6 15.he1 d6 16.b5 f5 17.g1 xb5 50.xe5+! wins. ] 18.xb5 e5 19.xe5 xe5 20.ad1 48.c6! bxc6 49.b6 d7 50.xe5 xd1 21.xd1 d8 22.xd8+ xd8 23.g3 Harvest time. c8 51.xf4 b7 52.e3 e7 24.f2 d8 25.g1 e7 26.f2 [ W h it e ca n also p la y th e dire ct 52.xg3 d8 27.g1 e7 28.f2 1/2-1/2 Potapov, hxg3 53.f4 xb6 54.e4 c5 ( 54...c7 P (2444)-Khairullin, I (2650)/ Moscow RUS 55.f3 c5 56.xg3 c4 57.f3 is easy ) 2013. ] 55.d5 b5 56.f5 c4 White has 57.d4 9...g4 10.e2?! b e c a u s e a f t e r b4 White will queen first [ We have previously looked at both with check! ] 10.xf5?! and 10.Qe2?! ] 52...h5 53.e4 f6+ 54.f5 d7 55.f2 [ I'm surprised no-one has tried Sam's c5 56.xh4 c4 57.e1 xb6 58.g4 c6 recommendation of 10.d2! , after Black is 59.g5 d7 60.f4 e7 61.g6 f8 62.e6 virtually forced to take a draw. White has to a4 63.f5 c3 64.f6 c5+ 65.f5 c2 find a few only-moves, but given the 500 66.d2 d7 67.c1 g8 68.h6 h8 ELO gap between the two players, Krauss 69.f7 c1 70.g7+ h7 71.g8+ would probably have been pretty satisfied 1-0 with an easy half-point. e4+ ( 10...xd4? 11.cxd4 a6 12.c1+ b8 13.c7+ a8 14.a4!+-; 10...e6 11.xc6 bxc6 12.d4 2181 B22 e5+ 13.e2=; 10...e5? 11.xf5 xf2 12.xf2 xd2+ 13.xd2 xd2+ 14.e3 Krauss,Jo 2154 xb2 15.bd6+ ) 11.e2 xg2 Nisipeanu,LD 2674 leads to a long, forced drawing sequence: 17th OIBM 2013 (2.2) 26.10.2013 12.f1 xh2 13.xf5 e4 14.e3 e5 [Smerdon, David] 15.d4 xf1 16.xf1 xd4 17.cxd4 f3+ 18.e2 xd4+ 19.e1 f3+ 20.e2= ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 10...xg2 11.f3 xe3 12.fxe3 g5 5.f3 f5 6.e3 f6 7.a3 [ My preference is for 7.e2 when I believe 13.e2? [ 13.xc6! would have given White a chance White has a very small, but safe, edge. ] to make Black sweat for the win. 7...cxd4 8.b5 A) 13...bxc6! 14.xa7+ c7 ( 14...b7 [ 8.xd4 xd4 9.xd4 is a typical 2.c3 15.b3+ ) 15.axc6 e5 16.xe5 xe3+ 'safe' choice: White guarantees a miniscule 17.e2 xe2+ 18.xe2 e8 19.xf7 edge with, if she so chooses, practically no g4 20.0-0-0 g8 21.d4 xd1 losing chances. xd4 ( 9...e5?! has been 22.xd1; played a few times, but finally someone got B) 13...xe3+ 14.e2 xe2+ 15.xe2 around to play the refutation that the bxc6 16.xa7+ b7 17.axc6 ] computers immediately scream out: 10.a4+ d7 11.b5! c6 12.a5! 13...h4+ 14.f1? h3+-+ Yet another and White is clearly better: d5 13.xa7 quick black win for the early ...Bf5. 15.g1 e5 xe3 14.xc6 xa5 15.xa5 c2+ 16.xa7+ xa7 17.c4+ c6 18.xc6 19.xb7+ xb7 20.b5+ c7 16.d2 xa1 17.d3 Khamrakulov, D exd4 2315

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.cxd4 g4+ 0-1

2182 Kristjansson,Stefan Bjarnason,Saevar Icelandic Championship (5) [Gary Lane]

B22 2428 2264 24.08.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 f6 4.f3 White adopts the quiet approach keen just to g e t o n wi t h d e ve l o p i n g a n d wa i t f o r t h e middlegame before taking chances. xd5 5.d4 e6 [ 5...cxd4 6.cxd4 ( 6.xd4 e6 7.g5 c6 8.b5 f6 9.h4 d7 10.xc6 xc6 11.bd2 e5 the pawn attacks the queen and more importantly controls the f4 square which will soon be occupied by the knight giving Black the advantage, Neulinger,MP l a c h e t k a , J / A u s t r i a 1 9 9 5 .) 6...g6 Black is relying on targeting the isolated dpawn 7.b3 g7 8.c4 e6 9.g5 a5+ 10.c3 xc3 11.bxc3 c6 12.0-0 gave White a slight edge due to his active pieces in Motwani,P-Summerscale,A/ Hastings 1991. ] [ 5...g4!? the pin on the knight is fairly harmless 6.e2 c6 7.0-0 e6 8.e1 b6 9.e5 xe2 10.xe2 cxd4? ( 10...f6 11.xf7 xd4 12.cxd4 xf7 saves Black from losing lots of material but his king is misplaced; 10...e7 11.xf7 xf7 12.xe6+ f8 13.xd5 is also excellent for White ) 11.xf7! a delightful move which destroys Black's position d8 12.xh8 White is completely winning but it is still fun to see what happens next dxc3 13.xc3 b4 14.a3 bc6 15.e3 c7 16.ad1 d6 17.h5+ 1-0 Guyard,R-Biehler,S/Nice 2000. ] 6.d3 c6 [ Or 6...d7 7.0-0 e7 8.bd2 0-0 9.b3 A nice idea to persuade Black to release the tension in the centre by exchanging on d4 cxd4 10.bxd4 a6 11.e2 7f6 12.e5 c7 13.e1 b5 14.a4 ( 14.g5!? gives White a slight edge) 14...b4 15.c4 c5 16.b3 e7 17.xc5 xc5 18.g5 g6 19.xf6 ( 19.xg6! hxg6 20.f3

wins ) 19...gxf6 20.g4 f5 21.f6+ g7 22.h5+ h8 23.d2 f6 24.e3? f4 25.h3? Oops! e5 26.xf4 xf4 27.xh7+ g8 0-1 Shakarova,L-Radovszki,A/ Smolensk 1992 (27) ] 7.a3 White is looking ahead and making sure that when Black exchanges pawns on d4 that the possibility of ...Nb4 is ruled out. cxd4 8.cxd4 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.e2 The queen is poised to go to e4 in the right circumstances to attack h7. c7 11.g3?! Kristjansson is concerned about the prospect of ...Nf4 but t h is m o ve d o e s we a ke n t h e wh it e k in g' s safety. [ 11.c3 f4 12.xf4 xf4 13.d5! is slightly better for White. ] 11...b6 12.d1 b7 13.bd2 Both sides are now engaged in manoeuvring their pieces to superior squares. fe8 14.c4 f6 15.e4 A dire ct bu t a wkward at t ack f or B lac k t o handle. g6 16.g5 g7 17.ac1 Now that White has managed to extract some active play on the kingside he brings his queen's rook into the game. f6 18.d2 ad8 19.e2 b8 20.h4 The h-pawn is advanced to sof ten up the kingside pawn barrier. f5 21.c3 xc3 22.bxc3 b5 Black wants to knock the knight off its perch in an effort to complicate matters. 23.ce5 xe5 24.xe5 a6 [ If 24...xe5 then 25.dxe5 a6 is doubleedged because Black lacks the defensive dark-squared bishop but has compensation in th e f o rm of curren tly do min at in g th e h1-a8 diagonal. ] 25.a4 b4 [ 25...bxa4 is a more promising idea. ] 26.xa6 bxc3 27.xb7 xb7 28.xc3 At the end of the flurry of activity W hite is rewarded with an extra pawn. d5 29.e3 b4 30.c4 e5? 31.xe5? [ 31.a2 is the star move to take advantage of the rook being pinned to the king once the white knight moves. For example: ed8 ( 31...h8 32.xe5 a5 33.f7+ g8 34.h6+ h8 35.g8+ a beautiful finish xg8 36.f7# ) 32.b6 xb6 33.dxe5 e6 34.ed3 winning ] 31...xa4 32.dd3 xe5 33.dxe5 a1+ 34.h2 dxe5? Bjarnason's valiant defence fails at the last hurdle due to a neat tactical 2316

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 trick. 35.xe5 xe5 [ Or 35...xe5 36.e3 winning. ] 36.d8+ f7 37.c4+ e6 38.d7+ f6 39.c7 g5 40.d8+ 1-0

2183 Kulhanek,Tomas Manik,Mikulas Czech Christmas (5) [David Vigorito]

B22 2409 2448 29.12.2008

Sometimes the defence wins. We look again at the line recommended by Gallagher in his classic "Beating the Anti-Sicilians". White has a different answer to "which rook" on move 15. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 b6 7.c3 xc3 8.bxc3 c7 9.d2 b7 10.d3 d6 11.0-0 d7 12.g5! dxe5 13.h5 g6 14.h3 e7 15.fe1 [ White essentially gives up the idea of playing f2-f4 and ensures that both of his rook will be active. W e also looked the dangero us, but more committa l 15.ae1 in October. See Can, E (2464)-Ludwig, D (2400)/Kallithea GRE 2008. ] 15...d5 [ This looks the most solid. Other moves have also been tried without much success. 15...f8 16.xh7 f6 17.h3 leaves White with a strong initiative. ] [ 15...h6 intends Kf8-g7. 16.ad1! ( 16.f4 anyway, has also been played) 16...d5 17.dxe5 xe5 18.b5+ f8 19.c4! b7 20.c3 f6 21.xf7!+- was Motylev, A (2455)-Konotop, S (2185)/Russia 1997 ] 16.ac1 d8!? [ Putting the question to the g5-knight. 16...c4 17.f3 0-0 18.xf7!? ad8 ( 18...xf7? 19.xa8+ ) 19.e2 xd3 20.h6+ g7 21.xd3 f6 was Berelovich, A (2495)-Nechaev, A (2330)/ Donetsk (zt) 1998. This is playable but W hite still keeps some initiative because of Black's loose kingside. ] 17.c4 [ 17.f4!? is possible even without a rook on f1. exf4 ( 17...xg5 18.fxg5 0-0 is safer ) 18.xf7! xf7 19.c4 with an unclear

position, although again White at least has a safer king. ] 17...b7 18.xe6 [ Having said "A"... The only other reasonable option is 18.h6 but at the very least Black can play f8 19.h3 ( 19.h4 g7 /\...h6 ) 19...e7 with a repetition. ] 18...fxe6 19.xg6+ hxg6 [ Of course not 19...f8?? 20.h6+ g8 21.xe6# ] 20.xh8+ f8 White has managed to destroy the whole Black kingside, but he had to give up two active minor pieces for a rook to do so. 21.c5 White must fight to keep the initiative at all costs. bxc5 22.dxc5 c6 Black has to block the c-pawn. 23.h3 [ 23.f4!? can be met by f6 ( or 23...e4 but not; 23...exf4? 24.xe6+ ) 24.xf6 xf6 25.xe5 f7 ] 23...f6! White's rooks cannot break into Black's position. Black only needs to coordinate all of his pieces and the initiative will change hands. 24.g3 f5 25.c3 h6 26.cd1 f4 27.h4 g5?! [ B l a c k w a s n o t s a t i s f i e d w i t h 27...h5 28.xh5 gxh5 29.g3 winning the e5pawn. ] [ A p r o p h y l a c t i c m o v e l i k e 27...c8 (protecting the c6-bishop to diffuse Rd6) was a better winning attempt. ] 28.h8+ f8? [ This is too risky. Instead 28...e7 29.g7+ f7 ( 29...e8 30.d6 c8 31.h8+ f8 32.g3 ) 30.xf7+ xf7 31.g3 wins material, a l t h o u g h a f t e r xc5 32.gxf4 gxf4 /\...Rg8 will give Black counterplay. ] 29.h3? [ This is too timid. 29.g3 f3 is not so clear ] [ and 29.xe5 g4 forces 30.h3 ( 30.g3?? f3 )] [ but White should play the natural 29.d6! which essentially gains a tempo and enhances White's tactical possibilities, for example: c8 30.xe5 ( 30.g3 f3 31.xe5 xe5 32.xe6+! xe6 33.xe5 c6 is a bit murky) 30...g4 31.g3 f3? 32.xe6+ d7 33.e7+! leads to mate. ] 29...e4 Now Black is okay again. 30.d2 d5 31.e3 f7 32.h5+ g6 33.h7+ f8 34.c6?! This was not really necessary, but W hit e was p rob ably wo rried abou t B lac k 2317

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 bringing his pieces into active posts while his own rooks sit idly by. xc6 35.c1 e7 Having snagged another pawn, Black is happy to enter an ending with two minors against a rook. 36.h6+ [ 36.xf5+? exf5 ] 36...f7 37.h5+ g7 38.c5 d5 This c-file has not helped White and he starts to get desperate. 39.d4+ e5 40.b2 b8 [ Another way was 40...e3 41.fxe3 e4 42.f3 b4 forking several pieces. ] 41.d1? [ 41.e2 allows White to hold on. ] 41...e3 [ This is good enough, but why not 41...xb2 ? 42.xd5 e3 is curtains. ] 42.fxe3 h2+? [ I'm not sure how to explain this one if the score is right. 42...xb2 wins instantly. ] 43.h1? [ This is a mystery too. 43.xh2 xb2 44.xd5 xd5 45.xd5 ] 43...xh3 0-1

immediate problem of defending f7. 8.xe6 [ 8.d3 e7 9.f4 exf4 10.xe6 fxe6 11.xf4 d6! Against anything else White will have the edge. 12.g3 h5 13.xd6 xd6 14.g2 b6 15.d1 f6 16.d2 b7 17.a4 h5 18.f3 g4 19.e2 0-0-0 20.h3 e5 1/2-1/2 R. Aschenbrenner-K. Postl,Graz 1997. ] 8...dxe6 9.e1 a6 10.a4 d7 This is a good example from Black's point of view because it shows how to successfully defend against the initial attack. 11.f1 c6 12.d3 e7 13.d2 b6 14.c4 b8 15.g5 The opening has left White with a bit more space but Black is fine thanks to his solid position. 0-0 16.d1 fd8 17.f3 b5 18.axb5 axb5 19.e3 a8 It is now Jamrich who has the initiative. White has vague, attacking hopes on the kingside which will distracted by the counterplay on the queenside. 20.g4 xg4 21.xg4 xg5 22.xg5 b4 23.xa8 xa8 24.cxb4 cxb4 25.c1 d6 26.e3 e8 27.g3 f8 28.h1 h6 29.h3 a2 30.b1 d4 Black is dominating the position and now Kun m u s t g i ve s e r i o u s a t t e n t i o n t o d e f e n c e . 31.e2 a4 32.d2 f5?! If Black wants to 2184 B22 play this then it is probably best to move the Kun,Gabor 2314 king to h7 first, to avoid any annoying checks. Jamrich,Gyorgy 2189 33.exf5 exf5 34.c1 d7 [ 34...xf2 35.c8+ e8 36.g2 FSIM B September (11) 14.09.1999 and White is back in the game by [Gary Lane] threatening Bc6 or Rf1. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 e5 3.f3 c6 4.c4 c7 35.g1 e7 36.c2 f6 37.g2 b5 5.0-0 f6 6.g5 d8 7.b3 A typical 38.b3 a6 39.c1 xd3 40.c7 e6 41.d5 a6 42.g2 e6 43.d5 a6 response to add pressure against the f7 pawn. [ 7.f4 is the most aggressive approach. h6 44.g2 ( 7...exf4 8.e5! is dangerous for Black.) ½-½ 8.f3 d6 ( 8...exf4 9.e5 g8 10.e2 is a bit better for W hite thanks to Black's B22 lack of harmony.) 9.d3 e7 10.a4 0-0 2185 11.a3 a6 12.h3 e6 13.xe6 xe6 Landa,Konstantin 2639 Shirov,Alexei 2702 14.c4 exf4 15.xf4 d8 16.b3 e8 10.04.2014 17.a2 f8 18.af2 d7 19.b1 b5 RUS-chT 21st (4.1) 20.axb5 axb5 21.c3 bxc4 22.bxc4 b8 [Smerdon, David] 23.d5 c6 24.d2 f6 25.c3 e5 26.h4 xd5 27.cxd5 a3 28.xe5 dxe5 I thought we'd take a quick look at a neat 29.g4 a6 30.f3 c8 31.f5 h7 'drawing option' for White against the main 2... 32.g3 c4 33.g6+ h8 34.dxc4 a8 Nf6 line. Theoretically, being able to force a 35.xg7 1-0 G.Kosanovic-D.Colovic, draw with W hite isn't very significant, but Vrnjacka Banja 1999 ] practically it's a nice bit of info to keep tucked 7...e6 The only move but it solves the away for a rainy day. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 2318

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 [ 7...dxc3?! 8.xc3 is extremely dangerous for Black - but you knew that already, right? ] 8.exd6 xd6 9.0-0? e6 By far and away the most popular move, and also the best. [ 9...dxc3 isn't quite so bad in this position, but is still not to be recommended. 10.xc3 xd1 11.xd1 g4 ( 11...a6? 12.e3! d7 13.d5+- ) 12.b5 c8 13.e3 xf3 14.gxf3 h5 15.ac1 a6? 16.xc6!! bxc6 17.a7 d8 18.xf7+ xf7 19.xd8+1-0 (23) Jenni, F (2415)-Ammann, W (2260) Baden 1998 ] [ 9...f5 is also tried from time to time. The solution is similar to the main game: 10.xd4 xd4 11.cxd4 e6 12.c3 e7 13.f3! 1-0 (56) Lautier, J (2620)-Polgar, J (2630) Hilversum 1993 CBM 039 [Blatny, P] ] 10.xd4 xd4 [ 10...xb3? is inaccurate: 11.axb3 xd4 12.e3!! ] 11.cxd4 xb3 12.xb3 e6 [ 12...xd4? 13.e3 e5 14.c3 ] 13.c3= e7 [ 13...b4 14.d5! also equalises immediately, which Maxim Lavron has used on several occasions to steal away draws from much higher-rated opponents. xb3 15.axb3 xd5 16.xd5 exd5 17.d1 e7 18.xd5 0-0 19.e3 ad8 ( 19...fd8 20.xa7 xa7 21.xd8+ xd8 22.xa7 f5 23.f1 1/2-1/2 (23) Lavrov, M (2374)Bocharov, I (2463) Berdsk 2010) 20.xd8 xd8 21.f1 a6 22.c1 d6 ( 22...f6 23.c7 1/2-1/2 (36) Lavrov, M (2366)Smikovski, I (2558) Berdsk 2008) 23.b4 f6 24.b5 axb5 25.d1 1/2-1/2 (37) Lavrov, M (2372)-Rogozenco, D (2504) St Petersburg 2012 ] 14.d5! The key idea to secure the draw. Man, I feel icky just writing that - but there will come a time when you desperately need that half point, and then you'll thank me! xd5 [ 14...exd5 15.e3 d8?? Filimonov, A (2257) -Filinberg, D (2168) Novokuznetsk 2003, 16.xb6! xb6 17.fe1++- ] [ 14...0-0 15.dxe6 xe6 16.e3= ( 16.xe6 fxe6 17.e1= )] 15.d1

[ 15.xb7 is in my opinion a slightly dirtier way to steer towards a draw. 0-0 16.xd5 exd5 17.f4 xf4 1/2-1/2 (17) Pokazanjev, N (2315)-Shomoev, A (2541) Novokuznetsk 2003 ] 15...b6 [ 15...d8 16.xd5 exd5 17.xb7 ] 16.xd5 exd5 17.xb6 axb6 18.xd5 W hite has a tiny, tiny edge here, and realistically can never lose. Shirov puts the issue beyond doubt. d8! 19.xd8+ xd8 20.f4 f6 21.g4 xb2 22.b1 f6 23.xb6 c8 24.b4 d8 25.c4+ d7 26.d4+ c8 27.c4+ d7 28.d4+ c8 29.c4+ ½-½

2186 Lane,Gary William Pinkus,Lutz Toulouse (6) [Gary Lane]

B22 2370 1990

1.e4 c5 2.f3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.c3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 [ Sometimes Black can cause confusion by using the move-order 7...dxc3 8.xc3 d6 9.exd6 exd6 transposing to the main game. This is one reason that sometimes players have difficulty finding a reference to 7...dxc3 in the opening books. ] 8.exd6 dxc3 9.xc3 exd6 10.g5 I think this is the best way to counter Black's o p e n i n g s t r a t e g y. W h i t e u s e s h i s e x t r a development to play aggressively. d5 11.0-0 e7 [ 11...h6 is surprisingly routed upon 12.xf7! xf7 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5+ f6 15.b3 with the king in the open there are bound to be plenty of attacking chances for White. In this instance a queenside fianchetto is very strong. f5 16.g4 xg4 17.b2+ g5 18.f4+ h4 19.e1+ h5 20.f7+ g6 21.h3 c5+ 22.h1 d7 23.f6 f2 24.xf2 1-0 M.Gola-S.Arkhipov,Moscow 1989. ] 12.h5 xg5 Black concedes the bishop pair and more importantly does little to stem the onslaught. [ Also possible 12...g6 13.h6 e6 14.e1 2319

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 d7 15.f4 d6 16.xd6 xd6 17.b5 f8 18.h3 0-0-0 19.xe6 fxe6 20.xe6 d7 21.ae1 a6 22.d6+ c7 23.e8+ b8 24.f6 d8 25.g3+ a7 26.xc6! bxc6 27.c7+ a8 28.xc6+ a7 29.c7+ a8 30.e7 xe7 31.xe7 d4 32.d1 1-0 J.Van Mil-J.Quist,Dieren 1990. ] 13.xg5 e7 14.fe1 g6 [ 14...e6 15.xe6! g6 16.xe7+ xe7 17.xe7 gxh5 18.f6 and White has a clear advantage in the ending. ] 15.xe7 gxh5 16.xd8+ xd8 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 After a flurry of exchanges the situation has become somewhat clearer. I felt pretty confident at this point because black's kingside pawn structure is weak, the queenside is not yet developed and the king looks exposed in the centre. f6 19.ad1 c7 [ 19...d7? 20.e6 wins. ] 20.e7+ b6 21.f3 a6 What else? 22.d6+ a7 23.h3 There is enough time to take the pawn at my leisure. Consequently, I decide to improve my position by ruling out any future back-rank mate tricks. b8 24.b4 f5 25.a4 he8 [ After 25...hg8 I get the chance to find a place in f uture puzzle books af ter 26.b5 xh3 27.xa6# ] 26.xe8 xe8 27.xf6 e4 28.xh5 Another pawn disappears from the board and it is just a matter of time before Black gives up. e5 29.f3 xf3 30.xf3 e4 31.b3 b6 32.f3 c4 33.g4 c2 34.f4 c7 35.f5 d6 36.a5 d5 37.f3 1-0

In an almost identical position I once had someone castle against me. After I che ckmat ed h im on h7 h e just cou ld n't believe it to such an extent that he sat there, li t h is p i p e a n d c a r ri e d o n t h in k i n g . a6 16.g4 g6 17.ac1 b8 18.g5 c5 19.g3 b5 20.cd2 d4 21.e4 f5 22.h3 e7 23.xc8+ xc8 24.xe7 xe7 25.g4 f4 26.f1 g7 27.e1 d5 28.c1 d8 29.f6 b7 30.e4 xf6 31.b4+ Game over. d7 32.exf6 f5 33.gxf5 d6 34.xd6+ xd6 35.xb7 1-0 A.Van der Kuijl-I.Bos, Holland 1997 ] 8.0-0 e7 [ Black intends to chip away against the strongpoint of e5. 8...d6 9.c3 xc3 10.bxc3 e7 11.f4 c6 12.e2 dxe5 13.dxe5 c7 14.ad1 0-0-0 15.h4 b8 16.g3 a5 17.d4 ( 17.c1!? ) 17...xc3 Black can just about get away with this but it does give White plenty of play. 18.b5 c6 19.f3 c5+ 20.h2 c8 21.c1 a6 22.fd1 xb5 23.xb5 xd1 24.xd1 d8 25.a6 c7 26.xd8+ xd8 27.e4 h6 28.e1 d7 29.h7 f8 30.xa5 bxa5 31.b1+ a8 32.d3 A clever finish. a6 33.e4+ 1-0 A.Kharlov-E.Prokopchuk, Russian Club Cup 1998 ] 9.c3 c8?! I think it a better bet for Black to concentrate on developing and castle kingside. Ho we ve r , t h e d e c i s i o n i s n o t s u r p r i s i n g considering numerous players are wary of their defensive problems when the bishop on d3 is lined up against h7. 10.e4 h6 11.e1 a6 12.b1 I could tell that my opponent was not completely happy with his position and felt 2187 B22 it would be prudent to keep the pieces on the board. c6 13.g3 a5 Lane,Gary William [ The venom of White's potential for attack is Rayner,Francis revealed after 13...0-0 when direct mating Natwest Masters 1987 threats reap rewards 14.c2 f5 15.exf6 [Gary Lane] xf6 16.xh6! gxh6 17.g6+ h8 18.h5 and White will soon checkmate. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 b6 Black plays this either 14.d2 c6 15.a3 A quiet move that tends to fianchetto or to exchange light-squared to be useful in this variation. The idea is to stop .. .Nb4 and also prepare b4 in a bid for bishops. 7.d3 b7 [ Less usual is 7...b4+ 8.bd2 ( 8.d2 queenside play. 0-0-0 16.e4 f5 17.exf6 is just as good as the text.) 8...b7 9.0-0 gxf6 18.f3 b7 [ 18...f5? 19.xf5 exf5 20.xd5 d6 10.c4 dxe5 11.dxe5 c6 12.e2 is very good for White. ] c8 13.d1 c7 14.d2 e7 15.e4 2320

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 19.b4 c4 20.xc4 xc4 21.f4 The threat of bringing a rook to c1 is decisive. xd4 22.ac1+ c5 23.bxc5 bxc5 24.ed1 Black decided to bring the game to an end. 1-0

2188 Lane,Gary William Richardson,Keith B BCF-ch Edinburgh (6) [Gary Lane]

B22

1985

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 e6 5.f3 f6 6.e2 The lines associated with Be2 tend to fade in and out of fashion but I believe they are a good alternative to Bd3. One idea is that on e2 the bishop can come to f3 after Ne5. Also, the queen is not obstructed in her defence of d4 which means the darksquared bishop can be deployed to g5 rather than the usual e3. e7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 A s p e c ia l i t y o f m i n e wh i c h a i m s t o t a k e advantage of a pawn majority on the queenside. The alternatives include Be3 or Bg5. d8 9.dxc5 I have played this with success in a number of games. In my experience the ending had no fear as I could concentrate on the simple but effective plan of advancing my pawn majority on the queenside to create a passed pawn. It sounds too easy but sometimes having a decent plan is all that is needed to have the upper hand. Another factor in W hite's favour that it is a little bit awkward for Black to develop his lightsquared bishop to a useful square. [ Bringing t he queen's knight out is another option which will appeal to those who are not keen on entering the ending straight from the opening. White simply wants to keep on develop in g an d try to e xp lo it t he sligh t space advantage. 9.c3 cxd4 10.xd4 a6 11.f4 d7 12.f3 The pair of bishops are well placed to keep Black under pressure. b6 13.b3 d8 14.e2 c6 15.xc6 xc6 16.ad1 bd7 17.d4 b6 18.a3 The middle-game is roughly equal but White should be happy here because the plan of gaining space with b4 followed by c5 is fairly obvious. However, Black has to be

wary even in the most docile positions. d6? 19.xe6! One mistake and Merk grabs the chance to sacrifice. e8 20.xd6 xe6 21.xb6 xe2 22.xf6 White has emerged from the combination with an extra piece, 1-0 T.Merk-R.Besler,Mengen 1994. ] 9...xc5 [ 9...c7 Black is not very keen on the ending and takes steps to keep the queens on the board. The only snag is that White as usual can gain time by attacking it. 10.c3 xc5 11.a3 a5 12.b5 e7 13.f4 d8 14.a4 c6 15.b4 White quickly uses his 3v2 pawn majority to advance on the queenside. of course, the pin on the a-pawn certainly helps! e5 16.g3 d4 17.fxd4 xd4 18.xd4 exd4 19.f3 d7 20.b5 g4 21.fe1 d7 22.xg4 xg4 23.c5 This is text book stuff. White is determined to use his pawn majority to create a passed pawn which is the main idea behind the entire line. d5 24.c6 bxc6 25.bxc6 f4 26.c7 The c-pawn s a monster. Black will soon be tied up in defending the advance of the pawn which means White can find ways to provoke more weaknesses. dc8 27.f3 g5 28.xd4 e6 29.d7 c5+ 30.h1 f8 31.d3 e6 32.ac1 a7 33.d7 h6 34.xe6 fxe6 35.e5 1 - 0 A . M a c i e j e ws k i - Z . P y d a , B yd g o s z c z 1990. ] 10.c3 bd7 11.a3 If in doubt advance the pawns on the queenside should be a golden rule in this variation. a6 [ If 11...a5 then b4 is temporarily stopped but there is also a 'hole' on b5 which a white piece ca n occup y withou t f ear of bein g attacked especially after 12.f4 intending Nb5 looks good for White. ] 12.b4 e7 13.f4 just developing and keeping an eye on the c7 square to stop the black queen from finding a useful role in the game. b6 14.b3 b7 15.fd1 c8 16.ac1 This is easy to play for me. I have developed all my pieces and can now turn to the long-term aim of creating a passed pawn. d8 17.a4 c6 18.f1 e4? in seeking to find some activity Richardson has merely invited me to go pawn grabbing. 19.c7 dc8 20.xb6 g6 21.d4 I have won a pawn but still have to win the game. d8 22.b6 2321

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 I ju st wa n t t o i m p r o ve m y p ie ce s b e f o r e coming to the next part of the campaign which is exploiting the c-pawn. ab8 23.xd7 xd7 24.e3 f6 25.c5 At last the passed c-pawn advances and the end is nigh f or Black. c6 26.xf6 gxf6 27.d6 d5 [ 27...xf3 28.xf3 e5 29.d1 and White wins as Black has zero threats. ] 28.c6 e5 29.xe5 1-0

2189 Lane,Gary William Ward,Christopher Lloyds London (9) [Gary Lane]

B22

08.1994

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 A popular choice to encourage White to extend his pawns in the hope that in the long-term they can be undermined. 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.c4 An agressive continuation. b6 7.b3 d5 [ 7...dxc3 8.xc3 is good for White. ] 8.exd6 xd6 9.0-0 g6!? This turns out to be something of a W ard speciality. I now sank into deep though and tried to work out why Ng5 didn't just win. After a while I realised it wa s b e st t o d ela y t h e o b vio us a nd brin g another piece into the game. 10.a3 [ 10.g5 Ward later revealed that this was by the normal choice and he had already chalked up a number of victories including this example played previously in the year: e6 11.f3 e7 12.e4 f5 13.g5 g7 14.e1 e5 15.g3 f6 16.f3 e6 17.xd4 xd4 18.cxd4 e4 19.c3 xb3 20.axb3 0-0 Black has whisked his king to saf ety and now W hite must cope with a shattered queenside pawn structure. 21.f4 e6 22.b5 d5 23.ec1 xf4 24.xf4 xb3 25.c7 ac8 26.d2 d3 27.xd3 exd3 28.d5 xc1+ 29.xc1 xd4 30.d1 d8 31.f4 xb2 32.xd3 c3 33.f1 b5 34.e2 b4 35.b1 a5 36.c5 d2+ 37.e3 d5 38.d3 a4 0-1 J.Demarre-C.Ward, Paris 1994. ] 10...g7 [ 10...a6 Ward's prepared improvement but he obviously is not that convinced because

he soon offers a peace settlement to his lower rated opponent. 11.g5 e6 12.f3 e7 13.f4 h6 14.e4 1/2-1/2 M.OlesenC.Ward, Gausdal 1995. ] 11.b5 It makes sense to gain time by hitting the queen. d8 12.bxd4 xd4 13.xd4 White has an edge already. The traditional play f having 3 versus 2 pawns on the qu e e n sid e ha s b ee n a ch ie ved a n d m o re importantly my pieces are better co-ordinated. 0-0 14.g5 d7 15.e1 All very straightforward, apply pressure to e7 and make sure Black cannot easily break free with ...e5. f6 16.e2 Maintaining the pressure and a key element to remember is that Ward's queenside pieces are not doing very much. a5 17.d2 e6 Fed up with trying to defend e7 he advances it one square I am quite happy with this because it means that developing the light-squared bishop will take time. 18.f3 d8 19.f4 f5 [ 19...d5? 20.xd8 xf4 21.xa5+- ] 20.h4 The pin on the knight is quite nasty and I am threatening Nd4 to oust the queen. h6 Desperation but the only way to avoid imminent disaster. 21.xh6 xh6 22.xh6 d7 23.h3 h5 24.f4 g7 I have to give Ward credit in making life very difficult for me. He might be a pawn down but it has relieved the pressure and he can now belatedly develop his queenside pieces. 25.g5 ac8 26.e5 h8 27.d1 It looks good for me but the unusual opening meant that I was already on the verge of time-trouble. f8 28.h4 e7 29.d3 c6 A sign that something went seriously wrong in the opening that it has taken 29 moves to post the bishop on an active square. 30.de3 h8 31.f4 h5 32.d4 [ 32.xf7+ xf7 33.xf7 xf7 34.xe6+ g7 35.xc8 xc8 also looks good for White and is similar to the game. ] 32...f6 33.xf7 xf7 34.xe6+ Black will have two pieces for the rook but in addition I will have a whopping 3 extra pawns. g7 35.xc8 xc8 36.g4 f8 37.f3 In time-trouble the onus is on not ruining the position by playing a daft move so I concentrated on cutting out the direct threats. f4 38.c4 h7 39.e7+ f7 40.xf7+ xf7 41.h4+ g8 42.b4 2322

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 42.e7 I t m a y b e o b vi o u s b u t xg2! is no ...Nxg4 here, as there is in the is an impressive reply. ] corresponding line with the knight on f6, so 42...e6 43.g4 g7 44.b5 d7 White is at least ok. ] At this stage of the game both of us were 9.b5 busy thinking about the best move which is [ 9.d2?! Looked awkward in Emms-Kuzmin fairly obviously but I just wanted to make sure Mo n a rc h A s s u r a n ce 2 0 0 3 , a n d in d e e d after such a long struggle. However, White's knight on b1 didn't manage to move something rather strange happened. Lembit before White resigned on move 32. ] Oll the Estonian grandmaster leaned over and 9...ge7 10.a3!? to my amazement played Qe4!! For some [ 10.c2 xf3 11.gxf3 axb4 12.cxb4 0-0-0 reason he thought we were just analysing on was unclear in Howell-Ward, Gausdal 2005. one of the top boards but he soon realised his 13.xc6 xc6 14.a3 d4+ 15.c3 b6!? error when Chris and I asked what on earth he and this complicated position remained was doing. He reacted by shouting apologies, complicated until Chris (presumably) lost on including a few English four letter words, time trying to make his 40th move from a before sprinting out of the tournament room. position he could only draw or win on the At which point Chris and I stated laughing but board. ] ironically were told to be quiet by the arbiter. 10...axb4 11.cxb4 0-0-0+ 12.bd2 d4 45.e4 Chris whispered "A grandmaster [ 12...e4 looks critical and I wouldn't be move". b6 46.a8+ e8 47.c8 h7 surprised if we have to return to this 48.e4 The lack of pawn cover means that the position. 13.h3 ( 13.xc6 xc6 14.h3 black king is always in trouble. d7 49.c7 e6!? 15.g5 d5 16.c2 f5 and I think I e6 50.xf7 xf7 51.c5 Designed to create like Black.) 13...exf3 Not forced, but looks a passed pawn. bxc5 52.e7 d5 53.xa7 critical. ...Be6 and ...Bh5 are also possible. c4 54.c7 h6 55.b6 e6 56.b7 14.hxg4 fxg2 15.xc6 ( 15.g1 d4 The rook is given up as White queens. followed by ...h5 looks promising for Black, 1-0 but obviously this position requires some careful analysis to be sure.) 15...gxh1+ 16.xh1 h5 And I think I slightly prefer 2190 B22 Black, though all results are possible. ] Ledger,Andrew 2438 13.e2 xe2?! This feels like it might be a Ward,Christopher 2475 mistake because it allows White to improve 4NCL 2005-6 Birmingham ENG (1) 22.10.2005 his king's position. [ 13...xf3 14.xf3 ( 14.gxf3 d5 [Jonathan Rowson] g i ve s B l a c k p l e n t y o f p l a y .) 14...f5 was the main alternative, when I am not too 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 sure what is happening, but Black's position 5.f3 g4 6.dxc5 It is easy to confuse this will certainly be easier to play over the next line with 4 d4 Nf6 5 Nf3 Bg4 6 dc It is hard to few moves. ] say who this version favours, but the last time I s a w i t w a s E m m s - K u z m i n , M o n a r c h 14.xe2 f5 15.b2 Now White is fully Assurance 2003, where White lost horribly. It coordinated and Black is running out of bullets. turns out that Chris Ward has played this line His next few moves look like knives that are before as Black, against David Howell, and not sharp enough to do real damage. d4+ although he lost that game on time, it was not 16.xd4 exd4 17.d3! f5+ 18.e4 too clear what was happening just out of the It might seem precarious to walk into a pin opening. So this line is not very well known, like this, but without pawn breaks Black's but it does have some importance, because options are limited, and Andrew Ledger keeps 19.xe4 d3 the quieter lines with Be2 are looking fairly co n tro l ve ry we ll. xe4+ comfortable for Black at the moment. xd1+ 20.ad1 g6 21.d2 A good practical movethe king will be completely safe on f3. f5+ 7.xd1 e5 8.b4 a5!? [ 8...e4 9.h3 h5 10.g4 In this case there 22.f3 d4 23.b3 d5 24.he1 h6 2323

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.d2 d4 26.g3 d7 27.b3 d5 20.d4 White seems to be playing 28.a5 d2 29.e2 e8 30.xe8 xe8 aggressively but with accurate play Black 31.e2 f4 32.c4 h5 33.f3 xh2 has little to fear h6 21.xe7 xe7 22.g3 34.xd2 fxg3 35.e2+ d7 36.xg3 h1 f5 23.xc7 xc7 24.d3 f8 25.ad1 37.e5+ c7 38.f3 c1 39.e7+ c6 ec8? a natural looking move but it is just a 40.a4 a3 41.d4+ d5 42.xb7 b1 blunder ( 25...f6 is reliable to give the king 43.d7+ e4 44.c6 g1+ 45.h2 g5 some freedom with an equal ending) 26.g4 46.d4+ f3 47.d3+ xf2 48.xa3 1-0 Benko,F-Silva Nazzari,R/Mar del Plata A good game by Andrew Ledger, but I think 1969. ] Black can improve on move twelve and/or 9...xc6 10.g4 h5! A lesser player might thirteen. not know how to handle the position but Louis 1-0 Galego is a tough Portuguese grandmaster. Here he realises he can't get his kingside pieces into the game because of the threat 2191 B22 against g7 if the bishop moves so he chases Leite,Catarina 2140 the white queen. 11.g3 h4 12.g4 h3 Galego,Luis 2521 13.g1 [ 13.gxh3 dxe5 is good for Black because Portuguese Championship (2) 2002 14.xe5 fails miserably to e3 15.xc6 [Gary Lane] c2+ 16.e2 bxc6 and White can go home. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 e6 6.xd4 c6 7.e4 d6 8.b5 13...hxg2 14.a3 dxe5 15.c4 [ 15.xe5 walks into xa3 16.bxa3 f6 d7 9.xc6?! I don't see the point of when Black is clearly winning ] exchanging on c6 when there is no need to do 16.g3 xf3 17.xf3 c7 so. It is better to wait until Black has wasted a 15...f6 move with ...a6. The idea here is to avoid the A little f inesse to ha ng o n to th e e-pawn threat ...Nxe5 but there are better ways to do before allowing the king's rook to grab a pawn. 18.e3 xh2 19.d2 0-0-0 20.0-0-0 this. For instance: I think that Leite should start counting the [ 9.exd6 xd6 10.0-0 0-0 11.d1 A) 11...c7 12.bd2 ad8 13.c4 e7 pawns at this point and promptly resign. a5 14.a4 fe8 ( 14...d4! is the route to 21.b1 a4 22.xg2 xg2 23.xg2 c5 equality ) 15.g5 xg5 16.xg5 f5 The threat is to exchange the knight to take 17.e2 h6 18.f3 a6 19.b3 away the defender of the rook. 24.f3 e4+ gave White an edge in Suarez, J-Brond,V/ 0-1 Mar del Plata 1967.; B) 11...h6!? 12.c4 f6 13.h4 e7 2192 B22 14.c3 gives White a slight edge.; Lemmers,Oscar 2444 C) 11...e7 12.e2 c7 13.c4 f6 14.g5 a6 15.a4 e5 16.xe5 xe5 Murariu,Andrei 2361 17.xe5 xa4 18.b3 fd8 19.c3 Victor Ciocaltea Mem (1) 04.03.2003 is e qu al a lt h ou gh W hite wo n af te r 4 0 [Gary Lane] moves, Matovic,S-Raspopovic,M/Belgrade 2003. ] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 [ 9.a4 A move played by a very strong player 5.c4 d6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 d7 8.xd5 but it has failed to catch on. The motive is to This line crops up now and again but the secure the bishop in order to avoid ...Nxe5 general feeling is that it is better to hang on to win ning a pa wn . dxe5 10.xe5 xe5 the bishop. [ 8.0-0 7b6 now White must decide where 11.xe5 a6 12.xd7+ xd7 13.0-0 d6 basically Black has already achieved to put the bishop equality 14.e4 c7 15.d2 d6 16.f3 A) 9.d3 dxe5 10.dxe5 e7 ( 10...b4 11.e4 xd1 12.xd1 e7 13.c3 c8 17.d1 0-0 18.g5 fe8 19.h4 e7 2324

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 gives White the better prospects because the bishop on e4 makes it awkward for Black to develop his queenside) 11.a3 d7 12.e2 c8 13.g3 a6 14.bd2 a4 15.e4 c5 16.xc5 xc5 17.d2 b5 18.xb5+ xb5 19.b4 b6 20.e3 with a slight edge, Polovnikova,E-Flear,C/ Istanbul 2003.; B) 9.b3 d7 10.g5 an aggressive continuation preparing Qh5 dxe5 11.dxe5 h6 12.e4 c6 13.g4 h5 14.e2 e7 15.bc3 c7 16.f4 g6 17.d2 gave W hite a small plus, Pavasovic,DEsplana,C/Bled 2002. ] 8...exd5 9.0-0 dxe5 [ 9...b6 10.g5 a forcing line which gives W hite a slight plus e7 11.xe7 xe7 12.exd6 xd6 13.e1+ e6 14.g5 0-0 15.d3 g6 16.xe6 fe8 17.d2 ( 17.c3 xe6 18.xe6 xe6 19.b3 is about equal) 17...xe6 18.f3 ae8 19.xe6 xe6 20.h3 with a draw likely, Brynell,S-Popov,V/Stockholm 2002. ] [ 9...e7 10.exd6 xd6 11.e1+ f8 Black volunteers to give up the right to castle ( 11...e7 12.c3 f6 13.g5 0-0 14.b3 gives White the brighter prospects) 12.c3 b6 13.e5 e6 14.h5 g8 15.f4 g6 16.f3 when White's pieces are well placed for the forthcoming attack, Vajda, S-Vasiesiu,D/Bucharest 2001. ] 10.dxe5 b6 11.a4 e6 12.a5 c4 13.b3?! [ 13.a6!? is one way to maintain a slight edge. ] 13...xa5 14.b5+ c6 15.xb7 c8 16.g5 b6 Black has withstood the attack very well and is even a little better. 17.xb6 axb6 18.c3 d4 19.b5 h6 20.d2 c5 21.b4 xb4 [ Not 21...xb4? wh i c h a l l o w s 22.xb4 xb4 23.d6+ d7 24.xc8 xc8 25.xd4 winning. ] 22.xb4 xb4 23.ab1 c5 24.d6+ xd6 25.exd6 c6 26.xd4 [ 26.fd1!? is a much better idea to equalise in the ending upon xd6 27.xd4 c6 28.db4 and the extra pawn will fall off the board. ] 26...xd6 The simple fact is that Black is now a pawn up and favourite to win. 27.b5 d7

28.c3 b7 29.b5 [ If 29.a4 then b5 preserves the pawn. ] 29...0-0 [ 29...c4 l o o k s n i c e b u t 30.e1+ saves the exchange. ] 30.fb1 c8 31.a4 bc7 32.h3 d7 33.5b4 c1+ 34.xc1 xc1+ 35.h2 b5 36.b6 c6 37.c8 d7 [ 37...xg2 38.xg2 xc8 39.xb5 gives White a chance to hold on in a tough ending. The outside passed pawn is better for Black to convert to victory. ] 38.b6 e8 39.d5 f8 40.h4 c4 Murariu is happy to exchange rooks to take a st e p c l o s e r t o wi n n i n g . 41.xc4 bxc4 42.g3 c6 43.c3 e7 44.f3 d6 45.f4 c5 46.e3 b4 47.d2 b3 48.e2 b2 49.c3 h5 50.d1+ b3 51.c3 [ 51.c1 c3-+ ] 51...f6 52.d1 g6 [ 52...g5 53.hxg5 fxg5 54.c1-+ ] 53.c3 g5 54.hxg5 fxg5 55.e2 b2 56.c3 h4 57.d1+ b3 58.c1 [ 58.e3 g4! 59.xg4-+ ] 58...g4 59.fxg4 xg2 60.g5 h3 61.g6 h2 [ 61...h2 62.f2 h1+ 63.xh1 xh1-+ ] 0-1

2193 Liberadzki,Slawomir Dobrzanski,Pawel Polish Junior Championship (10) [Gary Lane]

B22 2015 25.01.2001

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 5.e3 [ 5.dxc5 xc5 ( 5...xd1+ 6.xd1 offers an ending where Black is hoping that the king gets in the way of the rest of the white pieces to compensate for the pawn.) 6.e3 a5 7.f3 g7 8.c4 W h it e se n si b l y g e t s o n wi t h t h e jo b o f developing the kingside h6 9.0-0 0-0 10.e1 c6 11.bd2 c7 12.e2 f5 13.ad1 xe3 14.xe3 h6 15.b3 h8 16.c4 led to roughly equal chances in Tippleston,C-Lalic,B/ Islington 1998. ] [ 5.e2 cxd4 6.f3 e5+ ( 6...a5 7.xd4 f6 8.e2 g7 9.0-0 0-0 2325

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 10.h4 c6 with even chances, Flitney,ADepasquale,C/Canberra 2000.) 7.e2 dxc3 8.bxc3 c6 9.0-0 a5 10.b4!? Ambitious but W hite is assuming that the open lines will b e a benefit because most of Black's pieces are still on their original squares. ( 10.b3 f6 11.d2 seems like a possible idea to try and use the extra development as compensation for the pawn deficit. ) 10...xb4 11.d2 f6 12.b1! c6 13.b5 d8 14.f4 e5 15.xc6+ bxc6 16.xe5 amazingly, it is now White who is clearly winning. d5 17.xh8 cxb5 18.xb5 c7 19.xd8+ xd8 20.f6+ e8 21.d1 with a clear advantage, Kunte, A-Hegde,R/Nagpur 1999. ] 5...cxd4 6.xd4 [ 6.cxd4 f6 ( 6...g7 ) 7.c3 Now that the pawn exchange has happened on d4, t h e c 3 s qu a r e i s n o w a va i l a b le f o r t h e queen's knight. a5 8.c4 g7 9.f3 0-0 10.0-0 g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 led to equal chances in Scavo,F-Nevednichy, V/Saint Vincent 2000. ] 6...e5 7.e2 [ 7.e3 xd1+ 8.xd1 is fine for Black who can develop smoothly while the white king tends to get in the way having been stranded. ] 7...c6 8.e3 g7 [ 8...f5!?= is worth thinking about. ] 9.a3 a5 10.c4 c7 11.d1 e6 12.d6+ f8 13.f3 h6 Dobrzanski is worried about a white knight occupying the g5 square. 14.b5 b8 [ 14...d8!?= is interesting ] 15.c4 a6 16.c5 xc4 17.xc4+ It is worth pointing out that W hite is concentrating his efforts on putting pressure on the e5 pawn. ge7 18.b6 d8 19.d5 g8?? It is fair to say this is an outright blunder! [ 19...b8 is the best bet in a difficult position. ] 20.xc7 1-0

2194 Looshnikov,Nikolai Kobalia,Mihail Russian Team Championship (4) [Gary Lane]

B22 2443 2602 20.05.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.f3 f6 5.d4 g4 6.a4+!? d7 The bishop has done its job of pinning the knight and now fends off the check. 7.b3 cxd4 8.xd4 c6 9.e3 [ 9.c4 seems a direct way to try to take advantage of Black's queen on d5 but it s h o u l d b e f a i r l y h a r m l e s s a f t e r xd4 ( 9...e4+ 10.e3 e6 11.xb7? walks into a clever trick upon b8 12.c7 c8 13.b7 xd4! 14.xe4 xe4 15.xd4 xc4 ) 10.cxd4 e4+ 11.e3 e6 12.c3 c6 ( 12...xg2 13.0-0-0 c8 14.b1 a5 is double-edged) 13.0-0 c8 14.b5 d6 15.ac1 c6 16.fe1 e7 led to equal chances in Rissotti,LCastellanos,R/ Bento Goncalves 2000. ] [ 9.b5 e5+ 10.e2 e6 ( 10...a6 11.f4 b8 12.d4 e6 13.0-0 c5 gives Black a slight initiative) 11.d2 c5 12.c4 b8 13.e3 e7 14.f3 d5 15.d1 0-0 16.0-0 is a little better for White due to his s p a c e a d va n t a g e , Z h u C h u n h u i - W a n g Yaoyao/Suzhou, Jiangsu 2001. ] 9...a5!? Black is happy to exchange queens but on his terms. If he took on b3 then White would be rewarded with a semi-open a-file for his rook. 10.xd5 xd5 11.c1 White sensibly wants to preserve his pair of bishops and also if Black can take on e3 then the pawn structure will also be weakened. e5 12.b3 c6 13.e2 White simply wants to castle kingside. Instead, White has also tried a kingside fianchetto: [ 13.1d2 f5 Black has no desire to see a knight on e4 and advances the pawn to cut out the opportunity 14.g3 0-0-0 15.g2 e6 16.0-0 g5 Black is cheekily attacking on the kingside and why not because he has the initiative 17.e1 g4 18.c4 e4 19.g5 d7 20.f1 h6 21.h4 g8 ( or 21...hh7 22.h3 h5 23.g5 gxh3 24.h4 dg7 25.h2 c7 26.xh3 e7 is slightly better for Black but the game was soon drawn, Sermek, D-Avrukh,B/Pula 2000.) 22.ad1 2326

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 gg7 23.ba5 xa5 24.xa5 b6 25.b5 xd1 26.xd1 1/2-1/2 Potkin,VKabanov,N/Pardubice 2000. ] 13...a5 14.a4 e6 15.d1 [ 15.0-0 allows xc3 16.xc3 xb3 leaving White a pawn up. ] 15...0-0-0 Black has smoothly developed his queenside which means his options are better than White. 16.0-0 f4 17.c2 [ If 17.xf4 then xd1! 18.xd1 xb3 19.e1 exf4 sees Black emerging on top. ] 17...c4 18.e1 d3 19.xd3 [ 19.d1 xb3 20.xb3 c5 21.f1 d6 is better for Black who is dictating matters. ] 19...xd3 20.3d2 [ 20.1d2 e6 leaves White struggling to develop his pieces on the queenside due to the knight on b3 relying on constant protection. ] 20...e6 21.f1 e7 22.e3 hd8 23.bd2 f5 Just when Looshnikiv has finally managed to get his pieces into the action, Black advances the f-pawn threatening f4 to win material. 24.f3 f6 25.f4 [ 25.g5 d5 26.xf6 gxf6 27.ad1 xf3 28.xd3 xd3 29.gxf3 xf3 winning. ] 25...e4 26.g5 [ Or 26.g5 g8 27.h3 h6 intending g5 favours Black. ] 26...xg5 27.xg5 g8 28.h3 3d6 29.e3 g6 30.f4 d2 31.eb1 [ 31.e2 to try to save the pawn fails after xe2 32.xe2 d2 33.f1 xb2 winning. ] 31...g5 32.h5 f4 33.g4 f7 Kobalija continues to pile on the pressure by chasing the wayward knights ensuring that White has a lack of harmony. 34.gf6 g6 35.e1 xb2 36.g7 e3! Black rips apart the kingside pawns by preparing to double his rooks on the second rank. 37.fxe3 dd2 38.e4 xg2+ 39.h1 xh2+ 40.g1 0-1

2195 Lucchetti,Philippe Sebag,Marie National I Montpellier (2) [Gary Lane]

B22 2181 2403 01.02.2003

1.e4 c5 2.c3 b6 3.d4 b7 4.d3 f6 5.e2!? cxd4 6.cxd4 c6 7.f3 b4 Black has equality already by depriving White of the bishop pair. 8.c3 xd3+ 9.xd3 c8 10.0-0?! The previous move by Black was designed to stop this so what is going on? Is White right and has nothing to fear? The next few moves reveals the truth. [ 10.d5!? is another possibility. ] 10...a6 11.b5 xe4! The point of Black's play is revealed because she wins a pawn. 12.e1 [ 12.xe4 allows xb5 ] 12...xb5 [ I prefer 12...d5 and Black has the better chances. ] 13.xe4 e6 14.f4 a6!? The situation has changed since the win of the pawn but the Fre n ch wo m e n 's in t e rn a t i o n a l h a s t o b e careful. [ 14...c6 15.d5! b7 16.ac1 is good news for White. ] 15.ac1 b7 16.d5 c8 17.xc8+ xc8 18.c1 b7 19.c7 f5? [ 19...xd5 eases the tension but Black has little hope of doing anything in the ending when her kingside pieces still have to be developed. 20.xd5 exd5 21.xa7 e2 22.d4 and White is the favourite. ] 20.a4! [ 20.xb7?! fxe4 21.xa7 exf3 22.xa6 exd5 23.xb6 when the two connected queenside pawns are a big boost towards victory. ] 20...b5 21.xb7 bxa4 22.xa7 White is winning and it should just be a matter of technique...! b5 23.a5 e2 [ Or 23...c4 allows a delightful combination upon 24.a8+ e7 25.d6+ f6 26.g5+ g6+27.e7 xe7 28.e5+ f6 29.xh8 xd6 30.xc4 ] 24.d4? [ 24.e5! is the key to unlock Black's defences. For instance: e7 25.a8+ d8 26.g5 with mate next move. ] 2327

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 24...c4 25.d6 xa2 26.xa4 d5 27.b4 [ 27.b4 g5 28.e5 g8 ] 27...f7 [ 27...g8 28.e5 ] 28.e5 g8 [ 28...h5 ] 29.b8 [ 29.a4!?+intending Ra7 is still great for White but now Lucchetti starts to go wrong. ] 29...g6 30.e2 g7 31.xg8 xe5 32.d8 c6 33.c3 The game is probably drawn now but having been winning so easily it must be difficult for White to comes to terms with the reversal of fortune. [ 33.b3 b5 34.f1 xd6= ] 33...xd6 34.h8 h5 35.g3? I suspect that W hite is not only fed up but also in timetrouble judging by this move. [ 35.c8!?= ] 35...f8 Amazing, the tables have completely turned because Black has cleverly trapped the rook in the corner. 36.f4 g7 37.xf8 xf8 38.f2 e7 39.e3 f6 40.h4 d6 41.b4 e5 42.b5 h1 43.d3 [ 43.a4 e7 ] 43...e6 44.e3 d7 45.d3 c7 46.c4 d5+ [ 46...b7!? ] 47.c5 [ 47.xd5+ Black was hoping for xd5+ 48.xd5 e4 49.c4 b6 50.b4 and eventually a win after e3 51.c3 xb5 52.d3 b4 53.xe3 c3 54.e2 c2 55.e3 d1 56.f3 e1 57.g2 e2 58.h2 f2 59.h3 g1 ] 47...d4 48.b6+ b8 49.d1? This makes it easy for Black. [ 49.b1! e4 50.xd4 ] 49...exf4-+ 50.gxf4 [ 50.xd4 fxg3 51.c3 f3-+ ] 50...d3 51.d4 f3 [ 51...f3 52.e3 d2-+ ] 0-1

2196 Luch,Michal Bacrot,Etienne Schachbundesliga 2010-11 (15) [John Shaw]

B22 2385 2716 10.04.2011

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.g3 An occasionally popular way to avoid the theory of the main line 2.c3 systems. c6 5.g2 e6 6.f3 [ Rozentalis has tried 6.e2 to keep the option of f2-f4. d6 7.f4 dxe5 8.fxe5 e7 ( 8...g5!? was wild and unclear in Rozentalis Smirin, Athens 2007. Rozentalis played 9.h3, but maybe 9.a3 g7 10.c4 0-0 11.f3 was more of a challenge, as g4 12.h4 b5 13.e3 is a n u n cle a r m e ss .) 9.f3 This should be calmer than the Smirin game, but the following example is also extremely sharp: a6 10.d3 b5 11.bd2 b7 12.0-0 0-0 13.e4 c7 14.c4 b6 15.f4 d7 16.f6+! gxf6 17.exf6 d6 18.cxb5 axb5 19.d4! xf6 20.xb5 d4 21.xd4 xg2 So far D. Phillips - W. Taylor, corr. 1994, has been great fun and now the right way seems to be: 22.b5! ( the game was s o o n d r a w n a f t e r 22.xg2 ) 22...xf1 23.xf1 b6 24.xd6 c4+ 25.d4 d5 ( 25...xb5? 26.xf6 g5 27.f4+- ) 26.xf8 xf8 27.a4 ] 6...g6 A novelty. It makes perfect sense, so it is surprising no one else has tried it. On the other hand, Black also seems fine in the usual lines. [ The usual moves are 6...d6 7.exd6 xd6 ] [ and 6...c7 7.e2 ] 7.0-0 With the bishop heading for g7 it would make sense to try to land a knight on d6, so: [ 7.a3!? d6 ( Or 7...g7 8.c4 0-0 9.a4 Just f or example: b6 10.d6 xe5 11.xe5 xe5 12.xb7 xb7 13.xb7 b8 14.g2 d5 ) 8.c4 dxe5 9.fxe5 xe5 10.xe5 g7 There is plenty of unexplored territory. One odd example: 11.e2 c7!? A b l u n d e r ? ( 11...0-0 is normal and about equal) 12.xg6 hxg6 13.xd5 d7 14.0-0 0-0-0 15.g2 e5 Compensation? Maybe. ] 7...g7 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d6 10.exd6 Since Black has an ideal anti-IQP set-up, I would rather avoid this move. 2328

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 10.a3!? For example: dxe5 11.dxe5 0-0 ( 11...xe5?? 12.xe5 xe5 13.xd5 exd5 14.e1 ) 12.g5 ] 10...xd6 11.c3 ce7 12.xd5 This feels a little helpful. [ 12.e5!? keeps more tension in the position, which is desirable for White as his s t r u c t u r e i s i n f e r i o r . O f c o u r s e xe5? is a horrible idea: 13.xd5 ( or 13.dxe5 ) 13...xd5 14.dxe5 xe5? 15.e1+- ] 12...xd5 13.b3 0-0 14.e1 d7 15.e5 c6 16.d2 a5 17.xc6 bxc6 I find it a little surprising that Black voluntarily accepted a weak pawn on c6, but perhaps, as he was over 300 points higher rated than his opponent, Black wanted to add a little more imbalance to the position. [ 17...xc6 was fine. For example: 18.ac1 a4! 19.d3 b6= It is level, but with a tendency to drift in Black's favour. ] 18.a4 fb8 19.b3 c8 20.ac1 b4 21.e3 a6 Black wants to keep the pieces on to make it easier to outplay his opponent. [ 21...d3 shakes out to rough equality after: 22.xc6 xc6 23.xc6 xc6 24.xc6 d8= ( 24...c8 25.d1 )] 22.c4 f8 23.ec1 [ Now that the d4-pawn is defended the bishop should return with 23.d2 d5 24.xd5 exd5 25.c5 ] 23...d5 24.xd5 xd5 25.4c2 [ 25.d2 was still sensible. ] 25...b4 26.a3 f8 27.b4 aa8 28.xc6?? [ After 28.bxa5 xa5 29.c4 xa3 30.xd5 xd5 31.xc6 Black has a nominal edge. White should be able to hold the draw. ] 28...axb4! 29.xc8 xa4 30.h6 Perhaps the 2700+ star has miscalculated? Sadly for W hite, not today. a8 31.xf8 xc8 32.xc8 b7! [ 32...d7! comes to the same thing. ] [ W h i t e m a y h a v e h o p e d f o r 32...h5? 33.xb4+ g7 with a likely draw. ] 33.e8 c6 34.b8 c7 No square is safe for the rook on the 8th rank. [ 34...c7 35.e8 c1+! 36.g2 c6+ ] 0-1

2197 Maia,Luciano Malta Alonso,Nicolas I Comunic Sao Paulo (1) [Gary Lane]

B22 2273 2109 04.02.2004

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5!? 4.g3 A favourite of the grandmaster Rozentalis. d6 5.exd6 e6 A clever little move to allow the bishop to be developed actively on d6. 6.g2 xd6 7.f3 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.d4 The obvious move to challenge for control of the central squares. [ 9.d3 b6 10.bd2 b7 11.c4 e7 ( 11...c7 12.e1 is equal ) 12.a4 c7 13.b3 fd8 14.e1 ( 14.d2 intending Rfd1 would save a move compared to the game ) 14...h6 15.d2 f8 16.ed1 d7 17.e1 dd8 18.ac1 ac8 led to equal chances in Jakubiec,A-Sendera,J/ Lubniewice 2002. ] 9...cxd4 [ 9...b5 10.dxc5 xc5 11.bd2 b6 12.c2 b4 13.c4 f6 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 f5?! It looks like Black is being aggressive but in fact he is being reckless by seriously weakening the e-pawn ( 15...d7 looks a better choice) 16.e2 e8 17.e5 xe5 18.xe5 ( 18.xa8 xc4! 19.xc4? a6 and it is Black who has the superior chances.) 18...d6 19.c5! The move that Black missed is a winner. xc5 20.xa8 with a clear advantage, Hodge,D-Taylor,R/Birmingham 2001. ] 10.xd4 xd4 [ Black can also try and keep the tension with 10...ce7 11.d2 e5 12.4b3 c7 13.c4 White is the same player as in the main game and as usual concentrates on getting the pieces out b5 14.e3 b7 15.e2 xe3 16.xe3 xg2 17.xg2 d5+ 18.g1 a5 19.fd1 c6 20.ac1 f5 21.c4 offered equal chances in Maia,LCarvalho,H/Sao Paulo 2004. ] 11.xd4 e7 [ 11...b6 12.xb6 xb6 13.d1 d8 ( 13...c5 offers roughly equal chances) 14.f4 e7 15.xd8+ xd8 16.a3 W hite has an edge thanks to his lead in development so that his bishops make it difficult to get his queenside pieces into the 2329

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 action d5 17.d1 d7 18.c4 xf4 19.xd7 The rook on the seventh rank causes huge problems because Black is obliged to play passively xg2 20.xg2 b8 21.b5 f8 22.d6 e7 23.xb7 a pawn down and Black is destined to lose e8 24.c7 a6 25.b3 f5 26.a5 f6 27.c6 b6 28.c5 b5 29.b4 d8 30.xg7 a5 31.a4 axb4 32.axb5 b3 33.g8+ 1-0 Molander,R-Pedersen,O/ Gausdal 2002. ] [ 11...c7 12.d2 d7 13.e4 b5 14.e1 ( 14.d1!? is also possible) 14...e7 15.b3 ( 15.g5!? is equal ) 15...c6 16.c4 e5 17.d1 b4 White has been slowly moving his queenside pawns allowing Black to stir up some potential problems 18.c3 ad8 19.e2 c5 gave Black the initiative in Szieberth,A-Todorovic,G/Budapest 2002. ] 12.d1 f5 13.d3 e7 14.e2 If Maia has any winning ambitions he should be careful to choose the right moment to e x c h a n g e q u e e n s . b6 15.d2 d8 16.c4 xd1+ 17.xd1 c7 18.e2 d7?! [ 18...f6!? is a useful idea in order to meet the bothersome 19.f4 with e5 ] 19.f4 c8 20.a5 I guess White could argue th a t h is kin gsid e f ian ch et t o in t h e opening has been rewarded because his bishop on g2 is dynamite. b6?! Black has vague hopes of giving up the exchange in order to create some winning attempts on the h1-a8 diagonal. [ 20...c6 21.xc6 bxc6 22.c4 picks up a pawn. ] 21.b7 [ An accurate choice is 21.f3 when b8 22.xb8 xb8 23.c6 is very good for White. ] 21...e8 22.xa8 xa8 23.d1 e8 24.b3 White is the exchange up but the game still needs to be won. c6 25.e5 f3 26.d3 d6? Alonso adds to his plight by allo win g W h it e t o give u p a ro o k f o r t wo pieces. 27.xd6 h1 28.f3 xf3 29.d2 There is no mate so it is just a matter of time before Black leaves the building. h6 30.d4 c5 31.xc5 e4 32.e5 b1+ 33.f2 e4 34.xh6 gxh6 35.xe6 fxe6

36.xe6+ f8 37.f6+ 1-0

2198 Mamedov,Rauf Smirnov,Pavel Moscow Open (9) [Richard Palliser]

B22 2651 2618 10.02.2013

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 8.b5 The players head down one of the main lines. It has quite a drawish reputation and must be equal, but both sides can play for the full point, as we will see. dxe5 9.xe5 d7 10.xd7 xd7 11.c3 e6 12.0-0 c8 Placing the rook on the half-open file can hardly be bad, but is new for ChessPub. The alternatives: [ a) 12...e7 13.g4 0-0 14.d1 f5?! ( as Sam indicates, Black should prefer 14...fd8 15.h6 g6 16.ac1 ac8 ) 15.e2 gave White a small but clear edge in Collins-Camacho Collados, Barcelona 2012, which Sam has previously annotated. ] [ b) 12...d8 was both Shirov and Ivanchuk's recent choice, but don't forget about Vajda's new idea: 13.h5!? ( Ivanchuk faced the more routine 13.e3 in Bernotas-Ivanchuk, Jurmala (rapid) 2013, and after e7 14.f3 a6 15.xc6 xc6 16.xc6+ bxc6 17.ac1 d7! 18.c2 b8 19.fc1 hc8 20.f4 b7 21.e4 a5 proceeded to outplay his much lower-rated opponent) 13...e7 ( o n e w o n d e r s i f 13...a6!? was Ivanchuk's idea chances look about equal after a trade on c6 and it's hard to believe that 14.d3!? is fully sound, even if xd4 15.e3 e5 16.xe5 xe5 17.xa6 bxa6 18.xb6 may be a touch better for W hite) 14.d1 d5 ( 14...0-0! was Sam's suggested improvement, although he also points out why Shirov likely rejected it: 15.d3 d5 16.g3 g6 17.h6 f5 18.xg6+ hxg6 19.xg6+ and it's a draw) 15.g4! g6 16.h6 f5 17.e2 f7 18.ac1 gave White an edge and he went on to win in Vajda-Shirov, Zurich 2012 - see the January update. ] 13.e3 [ 13.e1 e7 14.g4 was preferred in 2330

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Darban-Khajavi, Iranian Championship, Zahedan 2012. Now Black should simply castle: 0-0! ( 14...g6?! 15.h6 a6 was the game when W hite should have e x c h a n g e d o n c 6 , ra t h e r t h a n a l l o we d 16.a4? xa4 17.xa4 xd4 18.xd4 xd4 19.g7 g8 20.xd4 c4 ) 15.h6?! xd4 16.e4 f6 and White doesn't have enough for the pawn. ] 13...a6 [ As usual the alternative is 13...e7 when 14.g4 ( 14.b3!? might be worth a try, with the idea of putting the white bishops to good use after 0-0 15.d5 xd5 16.fd1 fd8 17.xd5 exd5 18.xa7 ) 14...0-0 15.ad1 f5!? (often this advance weakens e6 too much, but here in connection with Black's next it seems OK) 16.f3 d5 17.xd5 exd5 18.f4 was about equal and agreed drawn in Bergez-Cuartas, Barcelona 2011. ] 14.xc6 [ M y e n g i n e i n i t i a l l y t o u t s 14.e2!? , but af ter e7 15.f3 b4! it's hard to believe that Black should have any problems. ] 14...xc6 15.b3 [ White must angle for a rapid d4-d5 advance, otherwise he will just be worse: for instance, 15.g4 f5! 16.e2 b4 when Black has the initiative and White's bishop is already consigned to defensive duties. ] 15...e7 16.d5 [ Here we go. 16.ad1 0-0 17.d5 xd5 would just transpose. ] 16...xd5 17.ad1 [ I w o n d e r i f 17.xd5 exd5 18.ad1 was a slightly more accurate move order, when d6? fails to 19.f4 . ] 17...0-0 [ Hardly bad, of course, but does White have anything better after 17...d6 than 18.e4 ( 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.xd5 exd5 21.d1 d7 22.xd5+ regains the pawn, but only Black can be better after e6 thanks to his more active king) 18...c6 19.c3 d6 20.e4 ? ] 18.xd5 exd5 19.xd5 e6 20.fd1 Presumably this was the idea of Mamedov's play. White has the d-file, but it's hard for him to make much use of it with the structure

symmetrical and Black's position so solid. b5 21.d3 h6 22.g3 fc8 Taking the c-file in return for the d-file merely confirms that White has absolutely nothing here. 23.b3 c3 24.f1 3c6 [ I wonder if both players knew that they were following a game from late last year up to th is p oint . Th ere 24...8c6 25.5d3 xd3 26.xd3 d6 27.c2 xd1+ 28.xd1 c6 29.d3 f6 was unsurprisingly shortly agreed drawn in Yudin-S.Zhigalko, Khanty-Mansiysk 2012. ] [ Indeed, even if Black wanted to play on, he c a n ' t r e a l l y . 24...c2 25.5d2 xd2 26.xd2 , for instance, is also just going to lead to further exchanges. ] 25.d3 c3 26.f1 3c6 27.d3 c3 ½-½

2199 Mamedov,Rauf Wojtaszek,Radoslaw Gashimov Memorial-B (9) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2660 2716 29.04.2014

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.c4 d6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 e7 8.0-0 0-0 9.e1 c6 10.exd6 I looked at this move before in Givon-Solodovnichenko. While it's not my first preference against the ...e6/d6/ Nc6 setup, it's certainly a respectable option and leads to fairly typical structures. In fact, the resulting structure in this game is part icu larly u sef ul f or und erstand ing th e themes that can crop up from multiple variations, including 2...d5 3.ed Nf6!? 4.d4 Nxd5, 2...d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 with ...e6, and even (or especially) the Panov variation of the CaroKann. xd6 11.c3 b6 We'll soon reach a standard structure, but Black has alternatives. [ 11...xc3 12.bxc3 d7 is a different way to develop the c8-bishop. This makes less sense to me, as it weakens Black's control over d5. 13.d3 ac8 14.e2 a6 15.g5!? ( 15.g3! b5 16.a4 ) 15...xg5 16.xg5 f5 17.d2 1/2-1/2 (46) Ronchetti, N (2450)-Zhigalko, S (2683) Rhodes 2013 ] [ 11...d8 is the most common move, and p r o b a b l y a l s o t h e b e s t . 12.b3 f6 13.b5!? ( 13.e3 b6 is Paragua, M2331

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Edouard, R.) 13...d7 14.f4 Givon, ASolodovnichenko, Y, see the PGN Archive for both these games. ] 12.b3 xc3 13.bxc3 b7 Interestingly, W h it e is a c t u a lly a t e m p o b e h in d a ve r y similar line that can arise from the Panov variation of the Caro-Kann. However, his attacking chances remain dangerous, granting him the better prospects in my opinion. It's worth noting, though, that many Caro-Kann specialists have made their living defending these sorts of positions. 14.c2 This is an important type of position for the 2. c3 Sicilian, as well as several other openings. In fact, the diagram could also come about from the CaroKann, the Scandinavian, Alekhine's Defence and even the 1.d4 Colle system. It's important to become comfortable with handling these positions, especially if you have the 2.c3 Sicilian in your repertoire. It's true that the hanging pawns constitute a weakness, but as compared to more usual isolated pawn positions arising from 2.c3, here White has a little more stability in the centre. In addition, White can often also employ a plan of a4-a5 to soften up Black's queenside and target the b pawn. However, by far the most common plan for White is, as per usual, to conduct a s wif t a s s a u lt o n B la ck's k in g. T h e u su a l formula is to plonk a battery on the b1-h7 diagonal and flick in Bh6 and h4-h5. Another common idea is (after Bc2) to play, with or without h4, a quick Ng5 and Qh5. Finally, it's important to remember that even if W hite doesn't crash through on the kingside, his positio n with the han ging pa wns is more secure in the endgame than with an isolated pawn on d4, so White should keep an eye out for less violent plans in the centre and on the queenside. In general, the position can be objectively evaluated as slightly better for W hite, and practically speaking I certainly prefer his chances. [ 14.g5!? a5! 15.h5 xg5 16.xg5 c6 17.g3 xb3 18.axb3 with a very small endgame advantage to White. ] 14...d5?! An odd place for the queen, with Be4 in the air. [ 14...fd8?! 15.g5! xg5 16.xg5 dc8 17.f3! ] [ 14...ac8 15.d3 g6 16.h6 fd8

17.g5 ] 15.e4 h5 16.f4 [ 16.b1 ] 16...fd8 17.d2?! Not a common development for White in this line. [ 17.a4!? a5 ( 17...b5! 18.d1!? and W hite can start to target the new weakness on b5.) 18.xb7 xb7 19.c7! dc8 20.d7 ] 17...a5! 18.xb7 xb7 19.e5 ac8= 20.g4 h4 21.g3 h3? She'll feel left out over here. [ 21...f6 22.e3 h6 ] 22.e2 d6 23.d5! e8 24.dxe6 fxe6 25.ad1 f8 26.d3 f7 27.xf7 xf7 28.d7+ g8 29.f3 h8 30.xa7+Black is lost. h6 31.e5 cd8 32.g2 g6 33.e4 [ 33.e4+- ] 33...g8 34.f4 e7 35.c7 c8 36.d6 ee8 37.e5 e7 38.d6 [ 38.xe7 xe7 39.b7+- ] 38...e5! 39.xe7 exf4 40.xf8 xf8 41.a8?! [ 41.d5+! h8 42.a8+- ] 41...d6 42.c4 g5 43.xf8+ xf8 44.d5 e7 45.a4 h6 46.c6 g7 47.h3 b4 48.d7+ g6 49.c6+ g7 50.d7+ g6 51.c7 b1 52.c6+ g7 53.d7+ g8 54.f5 1-0

2200 Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar Shanava,Konstantine World Under 18 Championships (7) [Gary Lane]

B22 2595 2423 29.10.03

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.xd4 The lines fluctuates in popularity but Mamedyarov is rated 2595 and this game helped him to win the W orld Junior Championship. Therefore, if it is good enough for him in an important game then it must be worth investigating. e6 6.f3 c6 7.e4 d6 8.b5 I think this is the most challenging continuation which puts Black under pressure. d7 9.c4 c7 [ Also possible: 9...b6 10.exd6 xd6 A) 11.0-0 a6 12.d1 e7 13.g5 f6 2332

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 14.e3 c5 15.b4 ( 15.xc5 is interesting with one sample line being: xc5 16.xc6 xc6 17.g4 xf3 18.xf3 xc4 19.xb7 0-0 20.d7 g5 21.c3 with a small initiative) 15...xe3 16.xe3 axb5 17.xb6 bxc4 18.b5 a5 19.c3 f7 ( 19...0-0 is possible when 20.c7 f7 is fairly level ) 20.e4 hd8 21.c5 White is going astray by not increasing the pressure. ( 21.d6+!? is the right way forward when g8 22.c7 e5 23.ac1 e6 24.e4 a b o u t e qu a l .) 21...e5! 22.d5 ( 22.xb7 xb7 23.xb7 e6 24.xe7+ xe7 25.xd8 xd8 when the ending favours Black because the king can help to halt the advance of the queenside pawns) 22...b3 23.e1 xc5 24.xc5 ac8 25.xe5+ fxe5 26.cxe5 f6 27.xb7 g8 28.a4 c3 29.d5+ e6! 0-1 Santos,M-Vescovi,G/ Registo 1999.; B) 11.e3 b4+ 12.bd2 0-0 13.0-0 a6 14.xc6 xc6 15.g4 the queen swings across the board in an effort to e n g i n e e r s o m e a t t a c k i n g c h a n c e s f5 16.f4 d7 17.b3 1-0 Andersson,CNill,J/Plovdiv 2003. led to equal chances in ] 10.exd6 [ The choice for White is a matter of taste and either line look like decent continuations: 10.g5 f6 11.exf6 gxf6 12.h4 e7 Black has to be careful because his kingside is exposed so precautions have to be taken before castling on that side of the board. 13.c3 g7 14.d1 a6 15.xc6 xc6 16.d3 d8 17.0-0 0-0 18.d4 f7 19.f4 gave White an e d ge in S ch mit t d ie l, E -A t la s, V / A UT 1999. ] 10...xd6 11.0-0 b4 [ Or 11...xb5 12.cxb5 b4 ( 12...e7 is the safe alternative) 13.c3 0-0? 14.d1 c7 ( 14...c8 15.f4 is very good for White ) 15.d4 wins ] 12.xd7+ xd7 13.c3 c6 [ 13...0-0?! 14.d1 e7 15.xb7 and Black is in serious trouble. ] 14.a3 ba6 [ 14...xe4?? simply loses outright upon

15.xe4 when Black has two pieces under attack. ] 15.e2 0-0 [ 15...c5 is logical to manoeuvre his knight to a more central square. ] 16.b4! An excellent move which severely restricts the wretched looking knight on a6. Mamedyarov is playing to his strengths by forcing Black into a passive position and will t h e n s e e k t o c r e a t e s o m e t a c t i c s . e8 17.e4 e7 18.f4 The obvious threat is b5 to take way the defence of the c7 knight. A quick glance at the white pieces shows they are well co-ordinated with a space advantage. The big difference is that Black's pieces lack harmony indicating the primary problem. c8 [ Obviously 18...h6?? allows 19.b5 winning a piece. ] 19.d6 xd6 20.xd6 b8 21.e4 b6 22.ad1 e8 23.xe8 xe8 24.g5 White to play and mate in one! f5 [ 24...g6 25.h4 h5 26.e4 also spells disaster for Shanava because of the impending knight fork on f6. For instance: g7 27.f6+ h7 28.g5 g7 29.f6 c8 30.xh5+ wins easily. ] 25.xe6+ xe6 26.xe6 The ending with W h i t e a p a wn u p i s c l e a r l y wi n n i n g . f7 27.fe1 h6 28.d6 e7 29.f1 ae8 30.e3 f4 31.e2 c8 32.f3 f7 [ Or 32...xc4 33.d8+ f7 34.f8+ g6 35.xf4+ xf4 36.xf4 wins. ] 33.c5 1-0

2201 Mammadov,Z Smirnov,P Baku Open 2013 (2.16) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2436 2627 20.09.2013

White trots out the less popular (at least at the top level) 12.Re1, although it turns out that this move has been the choice of many correspondence players. This fact alone led me to investigate the position a bit deeper, and I discovered that indeed White seems to have a pull with best play. In the game White could have landed a powerful blow on move 17, though Black could himself have improved 2333

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the move before, with a draw the likely result. However, check out my notes to move 14 for an even earlier possible improvement for W h i t e t o g a i n a s l i g h t a d va n t a g e i n t h e endgame. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 c4 7.c2 c7 8.e2 g5 9.h3 g7 10.0-0 xe5 11.xg5 d5 12.e1!? So far on ChessPub, attention has focussed on 12.a4. Indeed, seeing a s it's t he choice of Tiviakov an d Pavasovic, it's worthy of any 2.c3 player's attention. However, there's nothing terribly wrong with the text, which is equally popular at c lu b le ve l. d6 This position has gotten lots of attention in correspondence games, for some reason. [ 12...h6 13.f3 xf3+ 14.xf3 e5 15.g3 ( 15.b3 immediately is weaker: e4 16.bxc4 e6 17.e2 xc4 18.a4+ f8 19.a3 e5 20.b5 c6 ) 15...f6 and now 16.b3! e6 17.bxc4 dxc4 18.a3 a6 19.f3! 1-0 (25) Klewe, W (2283)-Freytag, W (2007)/ICCF email 2008 ] 13.b3 f6 14.bxc4 [ 14.h5!? looks like a decent improvement. h6 ( 14...d3 15.xd3 cxd3 is hard to believe. 16.a3 f8 17.f3 a n d d 3 s h o u l d d r o p i n t h e l o n g r u n .) 15.xh6 xh6 16.xe5 f6 17.e6 ( 17.e2!? xg5 18.a3 d7 19.bxc4 xc4 20.xc4 dxc4 21.g3! ) 17...fxe5 18.c7+ f7 19.xa8 xa8 20.bxc4 dxc4 21.e4 ( It's easy to just trust correspondence game analysis on sight, but to me it seems that 21.a4 is more natural, tying down Black's queenside. White must be a bit better.) 21...c7 22.a3 b5 23.d3 xc1 24.xc1 cxd3 25.xd3 a6 26.c4 b4 27.c2 a5 28.e3 e6 29.c5 f4 30.c4+ e6 31.c2 c8 32.b5 d5 33.xd5 xd5 34.d7 g8 35.g4 e6 36.f1 e7 37.a4 d8 38.e2 c7 1/2-1/2 (38) Driessen, B (2027)-Price, D (2035)/ICCF 2011/OM Corr 0613 ] 14...dxc4 15.e4 g6 16.a3 f5? [ 16...f8! featured in two high-level correspondence games. Everything seems to peter off: 17.f4 c6 18.h1 h5 19.c5 d5 20.xc4 xf4 21.f1 e5 ( 21...h6 22.e3?! f5 0-1 (50) Kupsys, A (2577) Tochacek, M (2564)/Switzerland 2003, but

instead 22.Be3 Rg8 23.Bxf4 transposes to 21...Be5. ) 22.e3 g8 23.xf4 xf4 24.d4 b6 25.f3 d8 26.e2 h6 27.f2 e3 28.e2 f4 29.f2 e3 30.e2 1/2-1/2 (30) Kupsys, A (2577)-Balabaev, F (2679)/Switzerland 2003/OM Corr 0613 ] 17.g3? [ 17.f4! is a strong improvement . fxe4 ( 17...d3 18.d6++-; 17...c6 18.d6+ d8 19.xc4+- ) 18.xe4 f5 ( 18...g3 19.fxe5 xe5 20.c6+! is a key point.) 19.fxe5 xe4 20.xe4 xe4 21.xe4 ] 17...h5 18.c5 h4! 19.f1? [ 19.f4! was necessary. xg3 20.fxe5 d7 ( 20...d5 21.f2 g5 22.f3 ) 21.f2 g6 22.a3 ] 19...d5! 20.e3 d7 21.f4? d3!-+ 22.xd3 cxd3 23.f2 [ 23.xd3 c6! 24.e2 g8 and g2 falls. ] 23...c6 24.h2 h6 25.f3 xf4 26.f1 0-0-0 27.d4 hg8 28.a3 xd2 29.e5 xg2+ 30.xg2 f4 A cute finish. 31.xc6 xg2+ 32.f1 bxc6 33.xe7 xd4 34.cxd4 c3 35.c1 d2 0-1

2202 Managadze,Nikoloz Tsilidis,Alexandros 6th Open Korinthos GRE (8) [Gary Lane]

B22 2428 2316 30.07.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.dxc5 c6 [ 4...xe4?? happens often at club level and brings a smile to White's face upon 5.a4+ ] 5.c2 White defends the e-pawn in simple f ashion but t he queen move has a good , proven track record. d5 6.d2 Managadze brings out another piece while defending the epawn. [ 6.exd5 xd5 7.a3 f5 ( 7...xc5 8.b5 f5 9.e2 c8 10.e3 d5 11.xa7 xa7 12.xa7 e5 is one sample how Black can frustrate W hite's kingside development even if it does cost a pawn.) 8.b3 e4+ 9.e2 0-0-0 ( 9...xg2 10.f3 g6 11.xb7 wins ) 10.f3 d5 11.c4 e5 ( 11...e6 looks fine for Black) 12.e3 d3 ( 12...d3+ 13.xd3 xd3 14.a5 xb3 15.axb3 d5 16.f2 f4 2334

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with sufficient compensation for the pawn) 13.a5 d7 ( 13...xe2 14.xe2 d3+ 15.f1 xb3 16.axb3 d5 17.f2 xb2 18.c6! with a clear advantage) 14.0-0-0 xb3 15.axb3 f5 16.d4 c6 17.xc6 bxc6 18.a6+ d8 19.e2 when the extra pa wn ga ve W h it e a clea r a dva n t age in Lardot, D-Viirret,J/FIN1998. ] 6...dxe4 Black simplifies matters but there are a variety of replies: [ 6...g6 7.gf3 dxe4 8.xe4 xe4 9.xe4 f5 10.a4 g7 11.e3 White makes it clear that he wants to hang on to the extra pawn 0-0 12.b5 c7 13.0-0 d7 14.d4 a6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.c2 e5 17.b3 f5 18.f4 g5?! ( 18...e6!? is a decent alternative) 19.fxe5 xe5 ( 19...f4 20.d4 xe5 21.e2 is better for W hite.) 20.g3?! ( 20.xg5 xh2+ 21.h1 and Black's king is still more exposed ) 20...xg3 21.xg5 with complications favouring White, Dumas Aviles,A-Crosa,M/Macas 2000. ] [ 6...e5 7.b4 a5 Black rightly acts quickly to undermine the queenside pawns 8.b5 d7 9.gf3 axb4 10.xc6 xc6 11.cxb4 dxe4 12.xe5 e3 13.df3! after the series of exchanges White has emerged with a clear, extra pawn Garner,D-Konakanchi,N/ Witley 1998. ] [ 6...e6 7.exd5 xd5 8.b3 a5 ( 8...xc5 9.xc5 xc5 10.f3 0-0 11.e3 d5 12.e2 with an edge for White partly due to t h e b i s h o p p a i r) 9.a4 White stops the advance of the black a-pawn but at the same time it weakens the support of the knight on b3 e5 10.f3 e6 11.a3 xc5 12.xc5 xc5 13.e3 led to equal chances in Mukhametov,E-Tregubov,P/ Berlin 1997. ] 7.xe4 d5 Black is keen to restore the material balance by attacking the c5 pawn. 8.d3 e5 [ Or 8...xe4 9.xe4 xc5 10.e3 a5 11.f3 gives White a pleasant, development advantage. ] 9.xf6+ Managadze manages to double the fpawns but has to act quickly otherwise Black will castle kingside and use the open d and efiles for the benefit of his rooks. exf6 10.e4 xc5 11.f3 f5

[ 11...e7 is a safe reply although White has an edge. ] 12.e3 a5 13.xe5 xe5 14.xb7!! A sensational reply which suddenly highlights the fragility of the black king. xb7 15.a4+ d8 [ 15...e7 16.0-0-0 d8 17.b4+ e6 18.xb7 e7 19.de1 and the bishop will move next and persuade Black to resign. ] 16.0-0-0+ c8 17.d4 White simply has too many pieces swarming around the black king. e6 18.hd1 c6 [ If 18...e7 then 19.c4+ b8 20.f4+ leads to mate. ] 19.a6+ b7 20.c4+ b8 21.d8+ 1-0

2203 Manca,Federico Cvitan,Ognjen Reggio mem Chicco [Gary Lane]

B22 2420 2535 1991

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 A relatively new idea to put pressure on the d4 pawn with a kingside fianchetto. 5.e3 [ 5.a3!? cxd4 6.b5 A standard idea to threaten Nc7+ while adding support to take on d4 without allowing an isolated queen's pawn. a6 7.xd4 xd4 8.xd4 g7 9.b5 f6 10.e3 b6 11.e2 b7 ( 11...0-0 12.f3 b8 13.xa7 is clearly better for White.) 12.f3 xf3 13.xf3 0-0 14.d4 led to equal chances although White eventually won, Blatny,P-Klinger,J/Velden 1993. ] [ 5.e2 is another way of handling the position: cxd4 6.cxd4 g7 7.f3 h6 8.c3 d8 ( 8...a5!? at least keeps the black queen active.) 9.f4 0-0 10.0-0 f5 11.d5 advancing the pawn has the merit of stopping Black from developing the queen's knight to its best square on c6 a6 12.a4 d7 13.b3 b6 14.ad1 b7 15.fe1 gave White the slightly better chances due the space advantage in Hort, V-Spraggett,K/ San Bernardino 1992. ] 5...cxd4 6.cxd4 [ 6.xd4 I tend to think this is White's way of offering a draw! f6 7.xd5 xd5 8.d4 2335

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f6 9.c4 e6 10.a3 c6 11.f3 0-0-0 12.b5 b8 13.c5 chances are even, Stevic,H-Almasi,Z/Pula 2000. ] 6...g7 7.c3 a5 8.c4 [ 8.f3 h6 9.e2 f5 10.f4 ( 10.0-0!? is a ls o p o s s ib le .) 10...c6 ( 10...0-0 is worth considering so that Black can bring a rook to the d-file.) 11.d5 cd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.d3 0-0 14.0-0 e5 15.dxe6 xe6 16.d2 fe8 17.h6 h8 18.f4 f5 1/2-1/2 Rosandic,D-Jezidzic,G/ Makarska Tucepi 1995. ] 8...h6 9.f3 f5 10.0-0 0-0 11.f4?! The bishop moves again but now the defence of the d4 pawn is more awkward. [ 11.e2 is a reasonable alternative or ] [ 11.c1 ] 11...c6 12.d5 [ 12.e2 d8 13.b3 e6 14.ad1 fxd4 15.exd4 xd4 16.xd4 xd4 leaves Black a safe pawn ahead. ] 12...b4! 13.d2? [ 13.dxc6 xc4 14.cxb7 xb7 15.g5 h6 16.e3 fd8 gives Black excellent chances thanks to his active piece play. ] [ 13.b3 xb3 14.xb3 a5 when I think Black has a slight edge. ] 13...a5 Oops! Only s it become clear that the bis h o p o n c 4 c a n n o t re t re a t be ca u se it s partner on f4 could then be taken. 14.e2 A sad necessity. d4! 15.d3 f5 0-1

12.xb5 xb5 13.b1 ] 9.d3 [ 9.e2 was recommended by Rowson. The idea is to meet b6 with 10.e5 with some Bf3 ideas. Rowson then points out e4!? when it's hard to understand what is going on. Things turned out well for Black in J Shaw-B Kurajica, Calvia Olympiad 2004 11.c2 a6 12.f3 f5 13.d3 c6 14.0-0 xc3 15.bxc3 xd3 16.xd3 e5! but I am sure W hite can improve on that game and my feeling is that the position after 10...Ne4!? is critical for the assessment of the 7...Bb4+ idea. (Rowson) ] 9...b6 10.0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 a6 In this manner Black manages to trade the light-squared bishops without allowing his queen to get booted around. 12.e5 [ 12.xa6 xa6 13.e2 b8 14.c4 e4 is Hansen, S (2551)-Krasenkow, M (2676)/ Baden Oos GER 2005 in the archives. ] 12...xd3 13.xd3 d8 The threat of ... Qxe5 prevents c4. 14.f4?! [ This weakens the light squares. 14.e2 is better. ] 14...c6 15.f2 [ Now 15.c4 can be met by xe5 16.fxe5 xe5 17.xh7+ ( else White remains a pawn down: 17.dxe5 xd3 18.exf6 xe3 ) 17...xh7 18.dxe5 d3 when Black is better. ] 15...e4 [ Now 15...xe5 16.fxe5 xe5? does not work because there is no bishop 2204 B22 hanging on e3 after 17.dxe5 xd3 18.exf6 ] Manik,Mikulas 2460 16.ae1 [ Black's tactics still work. After 16.c4? xe5 Navara,David 2654 17.fxe5 xf2! White's position falls apart. ] Rapid Hustopece CZE (3) 06.06.2009 16...f5 17.h4 [David Vigorito] [ White can achieve the advance of the c3pawn with 17.xc6 xc6 18.c4 but after Navara plays a fairly modern idea with ... ac8 Black's dominant e4-knight gives him a B b 4 + f o l l o we d b y a n e xc h a n g e o f l i g h t nice advantage. ] squared bishop. This looks like an interesting line in which Black can play for a win. 1.e4 c5 17...xe5 18.fxe5 dc8 Now Black has a 2.f3 e6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.d4 f6 huge advantage. The c4-square and c3-pawn are very weak, and the e4-knight dominates. 6.e3 cxd4 7.cxd4 b4+ 8.c3 0-0 [ Another modern concept is 8...d7 9.d3 19.c1 c4 [ The pawn is actually quite tasty. After b5 to trade the light-squared bishops. 19...xa2 the queen will head back to c4, 10.0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 0-0 achieves the goal, and 20.c4 can be met with d2! 21.fd1 although this is rather time consuming and xd3 22.xd3 b5 23.c5 a5 with an easy W hite ca n develop so me in itiat ive wit h 2336

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 7...g6 8.a3 c7 9.0-0 g7 10.d3 0-0 11.c4 d7 12.e3 e6 with equal chances in E. Rozentalis-F.Hellers, Malmo 1993. ] 8.0-0? [ 8.d4 is the usual move cxd4 9.xd4 e5+ 10.e2 ( perhaps 10.e2!? should be tried) 10...xe2+ 11.xe2 0-0-0 12.0-0 d3 13.e1 e5 Black is doing a go o d jo b in re st ric t in g W h i t e 's p ie c e s . 14.d2 f5 15.f1 e7 16.e3 f6 17.b3 g6 18.b2 c5 19.c4 he8 20.ad1 xe3 21.fxe3 xe2 22.xd8+ xd8 23.xe2 d1+ 24.f1 ( 24.f2 g4+ 25.f3 e4+ 26.f4 h6 27.c3 f1+ 28.xf1 d8 and remarkably White is m a t e d d e s p i t e h a v i n g a n e x t r a r o o k) 24...e4 25.g2 b4 26.xe5 d3 27.d4 d2 28.xa7 xf1 29.e4 f4 0-1 R.Chiaretti-N.Fercec,Porto San Giorgio 1998. ] 8...d3! Fercec rightly takes the opportunity to plant a bishop on d3. The useful pin on the knight can be awkward but the key point is to stifle White's development. Medak now has to th in k ab o u t ho w t o ge t h is d a rk-s qu a re d bishop into the action and in due course the qu e e n ' s ro o k . No w t h is s o r t o f s it u a t i o n sometimes happens but how should one take advantage? Just watch and see how Black cre a t e s a p o we r f u l a t t a ck . 9.e1 g5! This is just great stuff! Black blatantly declares his intention to stifle White and go on the attack. [ If 9...0-0-0 then White can make an effort to ease congestion by a mass of exchanges after 10.xd5 xd5 11.f4 f5 12.xd3 2205 B22 xd3 13.e3 e5 and Black has still man age d to re strict W hit e's que ens id e Medak,Bojan 2253 development. ] Fercec,Nenad 2464 Where exactly is that knight going? Open Pula (4) 19.05.2000 10.a3 The squares b5 and c4 are covered by the [Gary Lane] bishop on d3 so it is hardly a threat to Black's 11.b3 0-0-0 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.g3 aggressive ambitions. h5 This quiet move was popularised by the GM Fercec serenely castles to secure his king Rozentalis who seems to want to fianchetto and activate his queen's rook. 12.a4 [ Upon 12.c4 then d7 13.e3 e6 against lots of openings! d6 5.exd6 xd6 and Black is better. ] 6.g2 c6 7.e2 f5 [ 7...g4 8.h3 h5 9.a3 e6 10.g4 g6 12...b6 13.b3 h4 Black gleefully carries 11.d4 d7 12.c4 1/2-1/2 J.Mellado on with the plan of opening up the h-file. An obvious plan is to take on g3 followed by ... Trivino-A.Kharlov,Malaga 1999. ] win. ] 20.f3 xd3 21.xd3 c4 22.e1 d8 23.b1 d5 24.b4 b5 25.d1 xb4 [ Black seems to be trying to win by purely positional means. It is understandable, especially in a rapid game, to try to avoid counterplay. However, 25...xc3 26.xc4 xd1 27.c8+ f7 28.c7+ g6 should win, because after 29.b4 xd4 30.f8 f4 31.xg7+ f5 Black's pieces, including his king, become very active. ] 26.cxb4 d7 27.c1 White grabs his chance to at least get some play. xd4 28.c8+ f7 29.c7+ g6 30.e7! Now matters are not so clear. f4 31.xe6+ f5 32.e7 g5 33.xh7 g4 34.xa7 d1 Black still appears to have a dominant position, but he has shed a couple of pawns and there is no knockout in sight. 35.f1 b1 36.f7+ [ A seemingly unnecessary check. There is a point, however. Instead 36.b7 f3 37.gxf3 gxf3 gives White big problems. ] 36...xe5 37.b7 d4 [ 37...f3 38.gxf3 gxf3 39.xb5+ (now this is with check!) f4 40.h5! the only move f2 41.h4+ f5 42.xe4 xe4 43.xf2 is a draw. ] 38.xb5 f3 39.gxf3 gxf3 40.f5 Now the draw becomes clear. Black is so active that White's extra pawns do not mean anything, but Black is not going to win either. e3 41.e5 f4 42.e8 f2 43.xe4+ xe4 44.xf2 b2+ 45.g3 xa2 46.f2 a8 47.g2 g8+ 48.g3 d4 49.b5 ½-½

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Qh6. 14.xf7 It is a desperate measure to 9...f6 grab material but it is a terrible position. [ 9...cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 c7 Medak would be happy to play defensively but 12.d2 d7 13.e4 b5 ( 13...e5 with his pieces locked out on the queenside 14.d3 c6 15.f4 f6 16.c4 e7 there is little choice. 17.xf6+ gxf6 18.b3 when the broken [ 14.g4 h3 15.h1 e5 16.f3 f6 17.f2 Black kingside pawn structure gave White xg4+ wins. ] an edge in V.Baklan-G. Vanderstricht, Gent 14...e5 15.b3 f6 The threat of ...Nf3+ is 1999. ) 14.e1 e7 15.g5 fd8 16.e4 very strong. If W hite takes on f 3 with the xg5 ( 16...f6 17.xb7 gives White a bishop then the weak light-squares allows pawn for nothing) 17.xg5 when the pair of mating combinations. The end is nigh. 16.b5 bish ops gave W hite a small a dvan tage b8 17.a4 although the game was eventually drawn in [ 17.h3 c4 18.d1 xb5 is an easy way T.Kos-B. Golubovic, Charleville 2000. ] for Black to win an extra piece. ] 10.dxc5 xc5 11.e2 17...h3 18.a5 [ 11.xd8 xd8 12.g5 has been tri ed by [ 18.h1 f3+ Black sets out on a path a few players with the idea that in the longleading to a forced mate. 19.f1 ( 19.xf3 term 3 versus two pawns on the queenside xf3 wins ) 19...xh2+ 20.g1 f3+ will give him the advantage. However, this 21.f1 c6 22.f7 xd2+ 23.g1 h2# ] is easier said than done so it is a good idea 18...hxg2 to keep the queens on the board. ] 0-1 11...c7 12.b4 d6 13.a3 d8 14.b5 e7 15.d1 b8 16.e3 White has managed to smoothly develop his pieces in 2206 B22 contrast to Black who looks rather cramped. d5 17.c5 f6 18.d2 As usual Men Men,Boris finds a way to harass the black queen, which Strugach,L Classic Troy (2) 1993 will aid the attack. d7 19.e4 d8 [ 19...g6!? 20.h4 ] [Gary Lane] 20.c4! f6 [ 20...dxb4 21.xb4 xb4 22.c5 xd1+ 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 23.xd1 f8 24.xb7 gives White a [ 4.g3 tends to transpose to the game. ] winning advantage. ] 4...e6 5.g3 A good way to avoid main line theory. c6 6.g2 d6 7.exd6 xd6 8.0-0 21.xd7 xd7 22.d1 xe4 23.xe4 e8 Black resigned in view of 24...Bc8 25 0-0 9.d4 The logical choice in order to exert 24.d2 Bxc6 bxc6 26 Qd8. some control over the e5 square. This will be useful to restrict Black playing ...e6-e5 and 1-0 also W hite sometimes occupies e5 with a knight. B22 [ 9.d3 A quiet move that indicates that White 2207 Michalczak,Thomas 2361 wishes to get the pieces out and then take Becker,Marcel 2320 the battle to Black in the middlegame. b6 06.02.2006 10.bd2 b7 11.e2 c7 12.c4 e8 ch-GER Osterburg GER (4) 13.a4 h6 14.d2 d7 15.ad1 ad8 [Andrew Martin] 16.c1 e5! Black denies White the chance to plant a knight on e5 and at the same time 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 s t o p s b e in g s o cr a m p e d . 17.fe1 f5 5.f3 g4 6.dxc5 Since a recommendation 18.h4 f7 19.f3 f8 20.h5 d7 by IM Sam Collins in a repertoire book, a 21.g6 fe8 22.f1 f6 23.f3 h7 move which is getting more and more popular. 24.h4 g5 25.g2 f4 gave Black excellent White opens the centre and encourages Black play on the kingside, N.Short-G.Kasparov, t o e x c h a n g e q u e e n s , a f t e r w h i c h t h e queenside pawn majority might become the London 1993. ] 2338

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 most important feature of the position. xc5! Although White is about to get a free hit on the queen, Black can retreat the Queen back to c7 avoiding any further loss of time. The pin on f3 then becomes annoying and White cannot gain any advantage. [ There is no need to speculate with 6...xd1+!? 7.xd1 e5 8.b4 ] 7.h3 [ 7.e3 c7 is a good example of the mechanism in action. Black plans the usual development with ...e6 etc. In this example White tries hard to prove an advantage, but the Black position passes with flying colours: 8.a3 a6 9.a4+ A) 9...bd7 looks best to me! I see nothing for W hite: 10.h3 ( 10.e2 e5 11.h3 e6= ) 10...xf3 11.gxf3 e6 12.0-0-0 0-0-0=; B) 9...d7 10.b5 c8 11.f4 xb5 12.xb5+ bd7 13.e2 e6 14.0-0 d5 15.g3 b5 16.c2 ( 16.g4 7f6 17.h4 e7 18.a4 ) 16...e7 17.e5 7b6 with a solid position, Lim Yee WengZhao Jun/Hyderabad IND 2005. ] [ 7.a3 a6 to stop Nb5 when the queen retreats to c7, 8.h3 h5 9.e3 c7 10.g4 g6 11.g2 e6 12.a4+ bd7 13.f4 is given by Collins, but I see nothing special f o r W h i t e a f t e r b6! 14.c4 c5 The point is that ...b7-b5 is now a threat. 15.fe5 b5 16.d1 d8 17.xg6 hxg6 18.d6+ xd6 19.xd6 b6 20.d4 xd4 21.cxd4 d5 22.xd5 exd5 23.d2 f6= ] 7...h5 8.e3 c7 9.a3 a6 10.a4+ bd7 11.0-0-0 e6 12.f4 [ A s l o n g a s B l a c k c a n s u r v i v e 12.b5 h e s h o u l d b e O K . I r e c o m m e n d b8 13.bd4 d6 with nothing wrong whatsoever in the Black camp. ] 12...c8 13.g4 g6 14.e5 b5 15.a5 e4 A critical position, the black king is still in the centre, can W hite exploit this? 16.f3?! The most obvious, but flawed. [ 16.g5? is a mistake, xe5 17.xe5 d7 wins material, Burtasova, A-Demina, J/ Chisinau 2005. ] [ 16.xd7 might be best, but xd7 17.h2 c5 18.c2 0-0 19.c7 f6 20.xc8 axc8 21.g2 xg2 22.xg2 d5

wi t h a p l u s , D e m k o v i c h , A - P a vl o v , M / Sevastopol 2000. ] 16...b7 [ 16...xe5! is a definite improvement for Black which secures him the better position: 17.fxe4 c6 18.b6 xa3 19.bxa3 e5 20.h2 0-0 21.d6?! d4-+ ] 17.xd7 xd7 18.e2 c5 19.c2 0-0 Black has completed development and has a promising Open Sicilian type position where t h e wh it e p ie ce s a re slig h t ly m isp l a c e d . 20.c7 f6 21.xc8 fxc8 22.b1 d5 23.e5 f6 24.g3 e5 Black has a definite edge now. 25.c4 e3 26.xe3 xe3 27.cxb5 axb5 28.he1 d4 A great square. 29.c1 d5 30.xc8+ xc8 31.d1 g5 32.h4 h6 33.b3 xb3 34.axb3 f7 Black has more space, better pawn structure an d h is kingsid e p awns in h ib it th e whit e bishop. 35.c1? Anything but this! xc1+ 36.xc1 White's b-pawns are devalued so he might as well be a pawn down. gxh4!? [ 36...e6 37.c2 f5 38.hxg5 hxg5 39.gxf5+ xf5 and Black will soon create an outside passed pawn. ] 37.xh4 g6 38.c2 f5 39.d3 xb2 40.e7 h5 41.gxh5+ xh5 42.c2 d4 43.d3 f2 44.f6 g3 45.e3 g6 W hite pf af f s around a bit but there is n o changing the result. 46.d8 f7 47.d3 e6 48.g5 e1 49.e3 d5 50.b6 b4 51.d8 c5 52.f6 d6 53.h4 c5 54.e1 e7 55.e3 g5+ 56.d3 c1 57.c3 d5 58.c2 a3 59.d3 c5 60.e1 b6 61.b4 e4+ 62.fxe4+ fxe4+ 63.e2 d4 64.e1 e3 65.b4 c5 66.e1 b4 White is in zugzwang as any bishop move allows ...Kc3xb3.6... Qxc5 is a good way to play. A capture on c5 is unthreatening to Black when he hasn't developed his queen's knight. 0-1

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Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2208 B22 a knight coming in to e5 [ b e t t e r w a s 10...b6! 11.e2 e7 Miezis,N 2548 and I believe Black should equalise here Dobrov,V 2511 without too many problems, for example Petrov Memorial Rapid 2014 rapid (3.1) 21.2.14 12.e3 d5 ( or 12...a6!? 13.a3 xa3 [Tom Rendle] 14.bxa3 d5 ) 13.e5 c6 14.a4 a6 15.c4 d8 16.c3 0-0 and Black is fine 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 here ] xd5!? This hasn't been covered in a main game on ChessPub before but it has been 11.a4 [ 11.b3 c6 12.e5 is also better for played a fair amount, although much less than W hite although not quite as dangerous the standard 4...Nf6 that can be found perhaps as the game continuation ] countless times in the archives. It's a very risky line as we shall see but it's probably not 11...c6 12.e5! Miezis wisely keeps up the pressure. If Black is allowed time to castle that bad. 5.c3 d6 [ 5...a5 seems a bit too risky here, for t h e n h e w i l l b e a t l e a s t e q u a l s o W h i t e example after 6.d4 f6 7.f3 g4 8.h3 continues to creates threats to deny Black d7 ( or 8...h5?! 9.g4 g6 10.e5 e6 this time. xe5 [ maybe Black should've gone for 12...d8 11.g2 with a clear advantage for White) here but I still like W hite's position after 9.c4 e6 10.0-0 e7 11.d5 ( 11.e1 13.d1 ( 13.xc6 bxc6 14.a3 xa3 is also just good for W hite) 11...exd5 15.xc6+ d7 16.bxa3 0-0 isn't so clear 12.xd5 c6 13.b3 0-0 14.e1 c5 as White's extra pawn is basically useless.) 15.e5 and White had a very comfortable 13...e7 14.c3 b6 15.g5! and Black middlegame and went on to win in Jobava, s t i l l c a n ' t c a s t l e h e r e b e c a u s e o f 0-0 B (2702)-Lan, Z (2165) Tianjin 2013 ] 16.xf6! xf6 17.d7 xb2 18.xf8 6.d4 f6 7.f3 e6 8.b5+ xc3 19.d7 and White should be winning [ 8.d3 seems to be enough for a small here ] edge here, for example e7 ( or 8...c6 9.0-0 e7 10.b5 d8 11.f4 d5 13.dxe5 d5 14.d1 White has a big lead in 12.g3 0-0 13.c4 a6 14.c3 xc3 development but Black is still just about OK 15.bxc3 and White has the more pleasant here but he has to find the only defence and position in Gormally, D (2506)-Paehtz, E give that this was a rapid game that's even (2383) Wroxham 2002) 9.0-0 0-0 10.e2 more difficult than it usually would be. c6? c6 11.d1 d8 12.b5 b8 13.e5?! Very logical, escaping from the pin on the d( 13.g3! d5 14.e4 keeps Black under file but unfortunately for Dobrov is just loses a piece after White's next move 15.e3! some pressure ) [ 15.xd5? doesn't work straight away A) 13...a6! was necessary here and Black because of exd5 16.c7+ d7 17.xc6+ sh ou ld be O K a f t e r 14.xc6 ( 14.f4 bxc6 18.xa8 c5 and Black regains the looks scary but Black is still fine here axb5 piece with a good game ] 15.xc6 xf4 16.xe7+ f8 17.xc8 axc8 18.xb5 xd4 with roughly equal 15...a6 [ 15...e7 also loses because of 16.ac1 chances ) 14...bxc6 15.c3 d5 d7 17.c7+ d8 18.a5! ] and Black is very solid; B) 13...xe5? 14.f4 fd7 15.dxe5 a6 16.xd5! exd5 17.c7+ d7 [ 17...d8 18.xc6 bxc6 19.xa8 16.d6 and White was in complete control is also completely hopeless ] in Siddharth, R (2372)-Drazic, S (2469) 18.xa8! Chennai 2013 ] [ 18.xc6+ bxc6 19.xa8 c5 20.b6+ 8...d7 9.0-0 xb5 10.xb5 d7 c6 21.a4 d4 22.f4 should also win but So far Dobrov has been doing an excellent job the game move is clearer ] of staying solid in this tricky line but here I think he makes his first slight inaccuracy. The 18...xa4 19.b6+ c6 20.xa4 b5 queen is definitely a target on this square for 21.c3+ c4 22.d1 An interesting opening 2340

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 from Dobrov which isn't as bad as Miezis 14.e1?! g6 15.d3 c4 was also made it look, unfortunately Black starting successful for Black - see Hadzimanolis, A going wrong in the early middlegame and (2293) -Anastasian, A (2560)/Plovdiv 2008. ] bein g b ehind in d eve lop men t th is swif tly 14.c2 xc2 15.xc2 ac4 16.d3 c8 ended in disaster. 17.fc1 The position is probably still about 1-0 equal, b ut it is 'more e qual' f o r Black . a6 18.d1 d7 19.b3 a3 Black prefers to keep his knights than to trade off White's bad 2209 B22 bishop. 20.xc8 xc8 21.xc8+ xc8 Montes De Oca,A 2278 22.c1 h6 23.xa3 White rushes to trade off Fier,Alexandr Hilario T 2604 as many pieces as he can, but Black's bishop Pan-American Teams (2) 10.08.2009 will prove to be strong and these exchanges ju st re d u ce W h it e 's ch a n ce s o f c re a t in g [David Vigorito] counterplay on the kingside. xa3 24.g4?! Th e A rge nt ine a n G M Fie r h a s h ad mu ch This is more of a weakening move than an success of late. Here we look again at a line attacking move. e7 [ 24...e7!? is also possible, when the that is easy to learn for Black against the knight can go to c6 (as in the game) or aggressive 8.Bb3. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 maybe even to g6, eying the f4-square. ] d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 8.b3 d5!? More strong players 25.e3 a7 26.h4 c6 27.c2 d8 are choosing this move. Black avoids some A good move. The queen surveys both sides dangerous theoretical lines which do not of the board from here. 28.h5 g5!? 29.g2 necessarily promise equality either. White may f4 30.c3 f6 Black can play on the kingside be able to get some advantage here with too. W hite may have started regretting his accurate play, but it is manageable and a kingside pawn advances around here. 31.exf6 strategic battle ensues that is likely to favour xf6 32.d3 d6 33.e3 f4 34.d3 This is a better square than d6 because the stronger player more than the slight '+/=' c7 the bishop can head to b6 to pressure the d4promised in the books... pawn. 35.e3 f7 36.ce1 b6 37.c2 [ 8...dxe5 9.d5 a5 is the risky main line. ] e7 38.e5 d6 9.h3 [ 38...xe5? 39.dxe5 xe3 40.exf6+ [ 9.h4 is the typical recipe against Black's wins for White, but ] idea. e6 10.f3 e7 ( 10...d7 11.c3 [ 38...xe5!? 39.xe5 xe5 40.dxe5 c8 was played in the game Vallejo Pons, F is possible, although this is holdable for (2675)-Carlsen, M (2580)/Espana 2004, White. ] back when Magnus Carlsen was 'weak'.) 11.0-0 d7 12.c3 c8 13.e1 0-0 39.f4 h4 40.f3 White has been holding it 14.c2 f5!? 15.exf6 xf6 was Spence, D together pretty well under pressure. Now he (2198)-W ang Yue (2698)/Gibraltar 2008. lets Black in a little bit. h2 41.xc6 [ Forced, because 41.d3 loses right away See the archives for John Shaw's notes. ] to xc2! ] 9...f5 10.0-0 e6 11.c3 e7 In this Caro Kann structure Black is doing quite well - in 41...xc2 42.e5+! [ 42.e5 d1+ wins the d4-pawn. ] similar positions from the slow lines of the Advanced Caro Kann, Black has to play ...c7- 42...xc6 43.xe6+ c7 44.e5+ c8 c6-c5 and usually has to route his knight via 45.e8+?? [ After defending well for so long, White g8-e7-b6. Whilst it has taken him the same f i n a l l y s u c c u m b s . I n s t e a d 45.e6+ number of tempi to get the knight to b6 here, should draw: b8 ( 45...c7 46.e5+ ) White has spent two moves bringing his king 46.xb6 e4+ 47.g3 e3+ 48.g2 bishop to the rather poor b3-square. 12.e3 xf4 49.d8+ a7 50.xd5 xg4+ 0-0 13.c1 a5 51.f2 and Black may as well deliver [ Fier immediately initiates play with his perpetual check himself. ] knights on the queenside. Instead 13...c8 2341

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 45...d8 Now the Black king escapes and Black remains up a piece. 46.e6+ b8 47.xd5 d3+ 48.g2 e2+ 49.g3 e3+ 50.g2 c7 0-1

White is a clear pawn up, but as long as the queens stay on the board Black has chances to hold because white's king has so little pawn shield. ac8 28.b5 [ 28.xd8+ xd8 29.g2 Looks plausible, and especially when you see b6 30.e7! covers b7 and a3. However, now Black can play c8! and Black is about to get some 2210 B22 serious counterplay. ] Morozevich,Alexander 2717 28...xa3 An interesting decision. Svidler,Peter 2725 [ 28...xb5 29.cxb5 d5! also gave good TCh Sochi RUS (4) 22.04.2005 drawing chances. ] [Jonathan Rowson] 29.xb7 b8 [ 29...c5!? ] 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.g3 A s a f e t r y f o r a n a d v a n t a g e , a n d q u i t e 30.xd8+ xd8 31.f5 exf5 32.xf5 c1+ promising when Black has already committed 33.g2 d2+ 34.h3 [ 34.f2 seems to give more winning him self to e6 be ca use t hen t here are n o chances, but I have the feeling that I am complicated lines with an early ...e5 or ...Bg4 missing something. xf2+ 35.xf2 d2+ to worry about. c6 6.g2 d6 7.exd6 xd6 36.f3 d3+ 37.f4 d2+ ( 37...d4+ [ 7...xd6 8.0-0 e7 9.a3 is another line, 38.e4 f2+ 39.g4 g6 might be a better but again I have the feeling that white's defence. ) 38.e5 xh2 39.a8+ h7 position is somehow easier to play. ] 40.f3 and White takes control and runs 8.d4 0-0 9.0-0 cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 with the c-pawn? Perhaps, but chess is 11.xd4 c7! Taking twice on d5 is too risky rarely that simple. ] for White. White should be forced to play c4 before the knight gives up the d5 square. 34...xh2+ 35.xh2 c2+ 36.g2 xf5 37.a8+ h7 38.xa7 more or less allowing 12.d2 d7 [ 12...e5 13.d3 g6 is also possible, and a perpetual. c2+ 39.h3 f5+ 40.g2 e4+ 41.h2 c2+ 42.h3 f5+ keeps Black coordinated. ] 13.e4 e5 14.d3 c6 15.f4 b6+ ½-½ 16.h1 c7 Black has all his pieces out, but they are strangely placed. 17.c4 b4 B22 [ 17...f5!? was possible here and I'm 2211 surprised Peter didn't play it. 18.g5 f6 Motwani,Paul 2525 19.f3! ad8 20.e2 fe8 The position Collins,Sam 2381 lo o k s f i n e l y b a l a n ce d h e r e . B l a c k h a s British Championship (1) 14.07.2003 compromised his structure, but all his pieces [Gary Lane] are happy. ] 18.e2 fd8 19.e3 a6 20.b3 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.d4 Now there is some slight discomfort for Black cxd4 6.c4 d6 7.cxd4 e7 8.0-0 0-0 because somehow his pieces don't coordinate 9.e2 c6 10.e4 White points the queen very well. b6 I'm not sure how far Peter had in the direction of the h7 pawn. e8 seen when he played this, but it seems to lose [ 10...b6 11.d3 g6 12.h6 The attack is a pawn almost by force. 21.a3 d3 22.ad1 easy for White to conduct. e8 13.c3 a6 [ 22.fd1 might be even stronger, because 14.a3 d7 15.ad1 Another piece is after xe4 23.xe4 c5 White the brought into the action. White has plenty of additional possibility of keeping the position possibilities to attack. dxe5 16.dxe5 a5 as it is with 24.c2 because a3 is protected 17.fe1 xa3? under pressure Black simply by the rook on a1. ] m i s c a l c u l a t e s 18.a1 c5 19.e3 22...xe4 23.xe4 c5 24.xh7+! xh7 1-0 Cherniaev,A-Gormally,D/Portsmouth 25.xc5 xc5 26.h5+ g8 27.xc5 2003. ] 2342

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.e1 b6 12.d3 No prizes for guessing this move which is a standard component of W hite's attack. g6 13.c3 b4 14.b1 4d5 15.g4 xc3 16.bxc3 c7 17.h4 Advancing the h-pawn is a great way to soften up the kingside. However, I am starting to wonder if the score of the game is wrong and that there is a bishop already on d2 to protect the c-pawn! d7 [ Why not 17...xc3 is the question but the following analysis indicates White will have a vicious attack: 18.h5 xa1 19.h6 f8 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.xg6 xe1+ 22.xe1 xh6 23.h5 e7 24.xh6 fxg6 25.xg6+ when I think I would rather be White. Therefore, perhaps Motwani really did allow his rook to be taken! ] 18.h5 f5 19.g3 g7 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.xf5! The start of a clever combination. exf5 22.exd6 xd6 23.h6+ xh6 [ 23...f7 allows 24.g5+ f6 25.xe8 xg3 26.e6# ] 24.h4+ g7 25.xe8 f8 26.ae1 1-0

2212 Motwani,Paul Shaw,John K 111th ch Hamilton SCO (7) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2552 2424 16.07.2004

13.g6 d7 14.0-0 e8 15.xe8 xe8 was fine for Black in Frois-Yakovich Magistral de VRSA 2000. ] 8...c7 9.g3 b5! A powerful idea which gives Black chances to play for the advantage at an early stage. 10.g2 a5 11.0-0 a6 12.e1 c5 Perhaps this is just pseudo active. It might have been better to keep the bishop covering the kingside. [ 12...e7 ] 13.g5!? 0-0 14.xd5 exd5 15.f3 [ 15.d1!? ] 15...e7 [ 15...d8!? This was my first thought when I saw the position and it seems to pose wh it e m o re p r o b l e m s . 16.xd5+ e6 17.xe6 dxe6 18.xe6+ h8 And White will find it difficult to defend his king in the long term. ] 16.e3 xe3 17.xe3 f4 18.gxf4 h6 19.h3 [ 19.f3 g6 20.d4 xf4 does not look like an improvement. ] 19...f5 20.f3 b7 21.d2 a6! 22.h5 e6 23.f3 The position is very messy but Black is at least equal. [ 23.f3 d6! leaves White with certain problems to solve. ] ½-½

2213 B22 Motylev,Alexander 2280 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.d4 Malakhov,Vladimir 2535 cxd4 6.xd4 c6 7.e4 f5 The most ambitious move, but there is nothing wrong RUS-ch U20 Ekaterinburg (11) 1996 with the solid 7...d6. 8.e2 [Jonathan Rowson] [ 8.exf6 xf6 is considered very comfortable for Black, who usually follows 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 cxd4 up with ...d5 and ...Bd6. 9.h4 ( 9.c2 5.cxd4 c6 6.f3 e5 7.c3 b4 8.e2!? gives Black lots of options, but again Black Paul from the university of Reading wanted to can justif y playing aggressively e.g.: d5 know more about this line that I mentioned 10.g5 d6 11.d3 e5 12.xh7 e4 briefly in a previous update. I have struggled 13.g6+ f8 and with ...Ne5 coming, it to find material on it so what follows is mainly seems the hunter is about to become the my own thoughts. e4 This looks critical. Black hunted. ) 9...d5 10.d3 d6 11.g6+ e7! can try to play directly for equality but he is And despite losing his castling rights, Black likely to be worse for a while because he lags i s t h o u g h t t o b e f i n e . H i s l e a d i n in development. [ 8...exd4 9.0-0 xc3 10.bxc3 ge7 development gives him a certain amount of 11.xd4 a5 12.xc6 xc6 13.d6 e5 time to organise a safe place for his king, but sometimes he goes on an immediate 14.xe5+ xe5 15.f4 was a bit better for White in Liss,E-Sutovsky Israel 1995 ] co u n t e ra t t a c k . 12.c2 h6 planning g5 2343

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 8...xd4 9.d2 xc3 10.xc3 e7 11.xd4 exd4 12.xd4 xg2 ( 12...xd4 13.xd4 ) 13.0-0-0 e6 14.b5+ c6 15.hg1 xh2 16.xg7 f8 17.xc6+ bxc6 18.xf8+!+- was a sweet finish to a one-sided game in Lemmers,O-Van Blitterswijk Netherlands 1995. ] [ 8...exd4 9.0-0 d8 Israeli IM Yochanan Afek has tried this approach a few times, presumably with the aim of making a quick draw. White retains some initiative, mainly because he has more pieces out. 10.b5 and now Black has Nge7 and Nf6 but my impression is that neither fully equalises. ] 9.0-0 xc3 10.bxc3 exf3 11.xf3 A critical position. In return f or the piece W hite has gained a lot of time and usually manages to win the piece back with a combination of Re1, d5 and Ba3. This is an important moment for Black, but as far as I can tell, there is no clear path to equality. decision for Black. f5 [ 11...a5 12.e1+ ge7 13.d5 0-0 14.c4! d8 15.e2 d4 16.xe7 d7 ( 16...xf3+ 17.gxf3 d7 looks like an improvement, after which Black has some compensation for the pawn due to white's weakened kingside.) 17.h5! g6 18.e3 c2 19.f1 e8 ( 19...xa1 20.f6 c2 21.h6+- ) 20.xd7 xa1 21.xa1 c3 22.d1 c2 23.xb7 gxh5 24.b3 Rytshagov,M-Mohr,G, Moscow 1994 ] [ 11...d6 only prevents Ba3 for a move 12.a4! and the usual combination of Ba3, Re1 and d5 will win White the piece back with interest. ] [ 11...c4 12.e1+ ce7 This is the most obvious way to hold on to the extra piece, but I am not sure it is wise. 13.d5 d8 14.d6 c6 15.d5 g4 16.b3 f6 17.xf7 ( 17.f3!? might be an improvement.) 17...a5 Black seems to be surviving here so I suspect White could have been more accurate earlier. ] 12.a3!? [ 12.e1+ e6 13.d5 0-0-0 14.c4 f6 15.b2 b8 16.b3 xd5 17.cxd5 xd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.xg7 hd8 left White with a slight edge in the endgame in Rosandic,D-Trauth,M Cannes 1995. ]

12...ge7 [ 12...e6!? ] 13.e1 e6 14.d5 0-0-0 15.dxc6!! Not strictly necessary, but great entertainment value. xd1 [ 15...xc6 16.a4 obviously gives White a huge attack. d5? 17.g4 ] 16.cxb7+ c7 17.axd1 c8 imaginative defence from Malakhov. [ 17...c6 18.d6+ xb7 19.b1+ a6 20.xc6 with a winning attack. ] 18.c4 [ 18.b1 b6-+ ] [ 18.e2!! is pointed out by Fritz. The simple idea is to play Rb2 threatening to queen on b8. This has to be done with the e-rook because the d-rook is needed to control d6 to allow Bd6+ after Black blocks the b-file with his knight. ] 18...f4 [ 18...a5 19.b2 d6 20.e5+- ] [ 18...f6!? looks like the most stubborn def e nce he re, but th en I like the mu ltipurpose move 19.h3 giving the king some lu f t a nd t hre at e n in g B g4 . h5 20.e2 intending Rb2 is still winning. ] 19.b2! d6 [ 19...f6 20.xe6+- ] 20.e5 xe5 21.xe5+- xb7 now White is a clear exchange up. 22.h3 d8 23.b1 d6 24.a5 c8 25.b7+ d6 26.c5+ e5 27.c6+ d6 28.c7 d7 29.a6+ e5 30.c6 d2 31.xe6+ 1-0

2214 Najer,Evgeniy Lautier,Joel WCC Khanty Mansiysk RUS (3.5) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2641 2680 05.12.2005

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.d4 g4 6.e2 [ 6.dxc5 was examined in the previous update. ] 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 e6 8.c3 a5 9.h3 h5 10.d5 exd5 11.d4 White plays the critical line. This variation has already been considered in the August 2005 update. My general impression is that this approach is not 2344

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 particularly promising f or W hite. If this is indeed the case, the line with 4...Nc6 and 5... Bg4 is looking quite healthy for Black at the moment. xd4!? Lautier is renowned for his deep and careful preparation, so this move might well be the most accurate for Black. However, more ambitious is to try and win a pawn with [ 11...xe2 12.xe2+ e7 when White has enduring compensation for the pawn, but nothing particularly concrete. ] 12.xh5 c6 [ 12...e6!? is worth considering, but there is no need for it at the moment because W hite will need an improvement over the game continuation if this line is going to cause any problems for Black. ] 13.0-0 [ 13.xd5!? xd5 14.xd5 would give White some advantage if the position settled down, due to the two bishops. However, Black can cause some trouble immediately, so I think the position is equal. For example: d8!? 15.c7+ d7 16.d5 g6 17.d1 c8 18.c3 ( 18.b3 d4 ) 18...e8+ 19.f1 f5!? 20.f4 h6 21.xh6 xh6 22.f3 f7 and White has various ways to pretend to have an edge, but I think the most likely outcome is for W hite to over press on the basis of a non-existent advantage, and for Black to win. ] 13...f6 14.g5 [ 14.e1+ e7 leaves White without an obvious continuation. Perhaps 15.f3 d8 16.b3 but then b4 looks comfortable for Black (Nxd5 is not possible because the rook on e1 hangs). ] 14...e7 15.xf6 Not very ambitiou s, but the alternative seems to be being a pawn down for uncertain compensation. xf6 16.xd5 e5! 17.b3 0-0 18.xb7 xd5 19.f3 d4 20.xc6 ac8 21.d5 xd5 22.xd5 xb2 Not exactly a riveting game, but for those of you who had hoped that this line gave White some initiative, this game should make you think again. ½-½

2215 Nakamura,Hikaru Carlsen,Magnus 4th London Chess Classic (7.1) [Sam Collins]

B22 2760 2848 08.12.2012

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 Nakamura had already used a c3-Sicilian against Topalov in the FIDE Grand Prix in London in September. f6 4.e5 d5 5.c4 e6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 d6 8.0-0 e7 9.e2 0-0 10.d1 c7 Only the third most popular move here, but one of the best-scoring for Black. [ I covered 10...d7 in the notes to S. Tiviakov (2656) - A.Giri (2693), Hoogeveen 2012 (1/2 in 46). ] 11.a3 [ As noted by Nakamura, 11.d3?! db4 is nothing for White. ] [ 11.xd5 exd5 12.c3 was Kramnik's s u g g e s t i o n , wh i c h S h o r t d e s c r i b e d a s "vegetarian". Magnus noted that a draw was normally agreed within 4 or 5 moves of e6 13.f4 , which looks dead equal. ] [ Nakamura also considered the immediate 11.h4 . This doesn't look like much after d8 , when Black's plans (along the lines of Tiviakov - Giri) could include ...dxe5 and trading rooks, while after 12.d2 even b6!? is interesting. ] 11...d8 12.b4 Nakamura didn't seem too enthusiastic with this plan after the game, which is hardly surprising given the piece sacrifice which arises. a6 13.d3 b5 14.h4 dxe5 15.dxe5 b7 Black's game already looks more coherent - he is fully developed and ready to break with ...a5 in some lines. 16.a2?! Intending g3, Rad2 and Bb2. dxb4! A move which was interestingly characterised by Nakamura as leading to an equal position where, if anyone is pressing, it's White since Black is left with a bad bishop on f8. He notes that he expected Magnus to find something sharper. [ The players suggested 16...ac8 17.c2 b6 18.g3 a5 as a logical continuation. Howe ver th is was pro bab ly based on a misassessment of the value of Magnus' continuation, which could have been revealed on move 22. ] 17.axb4 xb4 18.ad2 xd3 19.xd3 2345

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xd3 20.xd3 d8 21.e2 xd1+ 22.xd1 xf3?! A move which spoils White's structure and wins a third pawn, but in fact it is Black who has to be slightly careful after this. [ Both Kramnik and Aronian suggested keeping the bishop and pushing the pawns, for instance with 22...b4!? ] [ or 22...h6!? . Carlsen said he had thought he would have a safe advantage after taking on f3 (and quipped "I wouldn't trust Levon's judgment since he likes any position where he's material down!"). Nakamura conceded that, at the very least, it's easier to play for Black. ] 23.gxf3 xe5 [ 23...xh4 was another Kramnik suggestion. 24.f4 e7 and Black is not in danger. ] 24.d7 f8 [ Carlsen had missed in his preliminary calculations that after 24...e1+ 25.g2 xc1 26.xe7 h6 the knight on b1 isn't t r a p p e d , f o r i n s t a n c e 27.d8+ h7 28.d3+ , "and once the knight gets into the game I can at least forget about winning." ] [ 24...d6 25.e8+ f8 26.e3 was also thought by the players to be nice for White. ] 25.e3 a5 26.e8! Holding the pawns and keeping the bishop passive on f8. [ 26.d2 allows a4 ] 26...h6 27.g2 Now it becomes clear that Black needs to find a way to bring the position t o s a f e t y . a4 28.a3 b4 29.c4 c7 30.b6 e7! The last important move for B l a c k , a c c o r d i n g t o N a k a m u r a . 31.xa4 xh4 32.a8 e7 33.c8 b3 34.d7 b2 35.xf8 xf8 36.b7 e5 37.xb2 f6 38.c2 [ Carlsen noted that 38.b3+ f7 39.xf7+ xf7 and ...g5 is also a dead draw. ] 38...f7 39.f5 h8 40.d2 g8 41.g3 h8 42.e3 g8 43.h2 h8 44.g2 g8 45.d3 h8 46.f4 exf4 47.xf4 g8 48.e4 h8 49.e3 g8 50.d4 h8 51.f4 g8 52.g3 h8 53.e3 g8 54.d4 h8 55.e3 g8 56.d4 h8 A very interesting game, though not because of the opening. Certainly Black has had the

better of the recent tussles in the 10. Rd1 line. ½-½

2216 Neubauer,M Al Modiahki,Mohamad 37th Olympiad (6) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2454 2575 27.05.2006

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 g4 I have to admit that the move orders in this line are a bit of a pain, but the difference between the knight being on c6 and the knight being on f6 are quite significant. From Black's point of view, it is worth knowing about this line if you like to meet 2.Nf3 with 2... Nc6 and then 3.c3 with 3...d5. W hile from White's point of view, it is worth reflecting on th e f o llo win g: if yo u can n o t a chie ve a n y advantage when Black play's the most obvious(to me at least) moves, is this opening worth the time and effort? I think it is, but such lines reward careful study, because knowing the nuances and having fresh ideas is essential for White's attempts to gain and edge, and, for Black, to survive. 6.e2 [ 6.dxc5 xd1+ 7.xd1 e5 has been covered in previous updates, and amounts to a better version of the ending that Black normally has with his knight on f6 instead of c6. ] [ 6.bd2 by contrast, is playable against Nf6, bu t m a kes lit t le se n se h e re b ec a u s e it do e sn 't p re ven t B lack f rom de velo pin g normally. cxd4 7.c4 d7 with the knight o n f 6 t h i s a ll o ws B f 7 a n d Ne 5 , o r Q b 3 followed by Ne5. 8.cxd4 e6 etc. ] 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 e6 8.c3 a5 9.h3 h5 10.d5 We have seen this line in a previous update. W hite tries to open the position to exploit his slight lead in development, and perhaps show that the queen on a5 is misplaced. exd5 11.d4 xe2 12.xe2+ e7 13.xc6 bxc6 14.0-0 f6 15.d2?! This looks wrong to me, and even though W hite maintained some initiative in what follows, I am far from sure this is the most testing approach. [ 15.e1? 0-0! 16.xe7 fe8 is obviously not the way for White to play. ] 2346

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 15.g5 f8 Not forced, but if Black is forced to recapture on f6 with his g-pawn he will have weaknesses on both sides of the board, and White will have a fairly clear plan o f b r i n g i n g h i s k n i g h t t o f 5 . 16.fe1 And now Black has many queen moves, of which the most active is b4 ( 16...e8? 17.xf6 gxf6 Gave White good compensation in one of the few games in this line.) 17.ac1 then leaves the position quite tense, and White seems to have more enduring compensation than he did in the game. Personally, I think I would prefer White here. ] 15...c7 16.fe1 d7 17.f4 h6 18.a4 f8 19.ac1 b4 This move doesn't feel quite right somehow. [ 19...e4! makes more sense to me, with the aim of playing Ng5-e6. In that case the position is hard to assess. ] 20.ed1?! [ 20.d2! is a much better way to keep the momentum because it retains white's advantage in time(tempi). In that case I think W hite has more than enough compensation for the pawn. ] 20...g8 21.c5 f5 [ 21...xc5 22.xc5 h7 23.c2+ ] 22.e5 [ 22.d3! is much more dangerous for Black. ] 22...xe5 23.xe5 xc5 24.xf6 b4 25.d4 c8 26.c5 [ 26.xa7 ] 26...xc5 27.xc5 h7 28.dc1 he8 29.f1 d4 30.xc6 xc6 31.xc6 d3 32.d6 e2 33.xd3 ½-½

kingside is not targeted and 6.Be3 can be met with a new system based on taking on d4, playing ...Bb4+ followed by taking on c3 and playing...b6 and ...Ba6. At the moment, this system looks very respectable for Black. T h e r e f o r e , 6 . Na 3 is t h e o n ly lin e t h a t i s currently still 'live' in the sense that it is not too clear what Black should do about it. The following game gives us some pointers in the right direction. c6 7.b5 The knight on a3 can also go to c2 or c4, but this usually only happens when Black has played ...a6. d8 A simple retreat, freeing the d5 square for the knight on f6 and inviting the following ending. 8.dxc5 [ 8.f4 d5 ] 8...xc5 9.xd8+ xd8 At first blush this position looks fairly promising for White, but on closer inspection things are not so clear. 10.b4 This proves to be weakening later, but I don't think it is actually a mistake if followed up with the requisite vigour. [ 10.f4 e4 11.d1+ e7 12.bd4 xd4 13.xd4 d8 and Black is fine. ] 10...b6 11.d6 [ 11.d2!? e5 12.f4 eg4 13.c4 e4 14.e2 gf6 15.xb6 axb6 16.c4 d7 17.b2 xb5 18.cxb5 e7 Looks about equal. Needless to say, that lin e is no t forced! ] 11...e7 12.c4 [ 12.g5!? A crude move, but very dangerous for Black to meet. A) 12...d8 13.dxf7 d5 14.b5; B) 12...f8 13.a3; C) 12...d8!? is not forced, but is perhaps t h e m o s t s o l i d o p t i o n . 13.c4 h6 ( 13...c7? 14.b5 d5 15.e4 f5 16.a3+ f7 17.ed6+ is not as good for W hite as it looks, but is still better 2217 B22 avoided. ) 14.xb6 axb6 15.f3 This looks a better version of the game for Nevednichy,Vladislav 2566 White.; Krasenkow,Michal 2672 D) 12...xd6 13.xf7+ e7 14.xh8 6th EICC Warsaw POL (2) 19.06.2005 d7? Black should look for an [Jonathan Rowson] improvement here, though if there is one, t h e va ria t io n s will n o t b e p a rt ic u la rl y 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 e6 s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d . ( 14...a6 15.a3!; 5.f3 f6 6.a3 In previous updates, I have 14...e4!? 15.f3 f2 16.g1 h3 suggested that 6.Bd3 is innocuous because Hard to say what's happening here, but in Black is not obliged to take on d4, 6.Be2 is a practical game I imagine many players also fairly innocuous, mainly because black's 2347

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 would agree to a repetition because the position is too strange to continue in any degree of comfort.) 15.b5! Is a dirty trick which Black should avoid. a5 16.a3+ And the coordination is disturbed so the knight on h8 lives for the f oreseeable future. ] 12...e4 13.xb6 axb6 14.b2? White misses a chance to assert himself. [ 14.b5! a5 ( 14...b8 15.d3 c5 16.c2 also looks better for White.) 15.a3+ e8 16.d2 xd2 17.xd2 c4+ ( 17...e5 18.e1 f6 19.f4 ) 18.xc4 xa3 19.c2 If Black were better developed, the fixed queenside structure might favour him, but in the current instance W hite has a clear advantage because all his pieces are more active than their counterparts. ] 14...f6 15.d3 d6 16.0-0 [ 16.b5 Last chance to change the structure and give the bishop on b2 some scope. ] 16...e5 17.a3 e6 Now Black is clearly better, mainly because the bishop on b2 plays no part in the game. Over the next few moves Krasenkov takes complete control and White feels obliged to sacrifice a pawn for some freedom, but it didn't give him any respite. 18.d2 hd8 19.e2 d7 20.fe1 b5 21.h3 f7 22.ad1 ad8 23.f3 e7 24.f1 ec8 25.e3 b6 26.d2 f5 27.c4 e4 28.e2 dxc4 29.xd7+ xd7 30.c1 g6 31.g4 e5 32.gxf5 gxf5 33.b2 d3 34.xd3 exd3 35.f1 c4 36.c3 d2 37.d1 d3 38.xd2 d5 Resignation seems a bit premature, but after [ 38...d5 39.e1 xh3 40.g3 c4 41.g5 g6 42.f4 White's position has not really improved, and Black can win in a variety of ways e.g. h4 43.c1 h5 44.d1 c6 45.d8 f4 46.d4 e5 47.xf4 f3+ 48.f1 xf4 49.xf4 h4 50.e2 h3 wins. ] 0-1

2218 Ni Hua Morozevich,Alexander World Team Ch (9) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2603 2707 10.11.2005

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 8.b5 d7!? The context of this game is important, because this was part of the final round game in t h e re ce n t wo rl d t e a m c h a m p io n s h ip . Russia had to beat China 3.5-0.5 to win the even and this meant that everybody had to try to win. It is not so easy to beat a 2600 player who wants to draw with W hite, especially when they play the c3 Sicilian! This makes the following game all the more impressive. White played nervously, as one might expect, b u t M o r o ze v i c h w a s h a p p y t o a l l o w h i s opponent to simplify the position, extracting small gains as he went. [ 8...dxe5 9.xe5 d7 is fine for Black, but the lines tend to be very drawish. ] 9.exd6 e6! [ 9...exd6 is playable, but not particularly attractive for Black. ] 10.0-0 xd6 11.c3 e7! 12.d3 c6 So there will be no early simplification and Black can try to play against the IQP- a good outcome from the opening. 13.e2 [ 13.g5!? White should probably try to take advantage of the fact that Black doesn't have a knight on f6 somehow. ] 13...bd5 14.d1 0-0 15.e5 xe5 16.xe5 [ 16.dxe5 looks safer. ] 16...b6 17.h5 g6 18.xg6 White is clearly playing for a draw, but he is doing it too crudely. Playing for a draw is a real art, and takes a lot of experience to do well. My impression is that White was feeling a lot of tension in this game and was over-eager to release it by simplifying matters on the board. hxg6 19.h4 xc3! 20.bxc3 b5 Black has a comfortable edge now, due to his more act ive bish op a nd b ette r st ruct ure . 21.e1 ac8 22.g3 fd8 23.h4 f5 24.f4 f6 25.a4 d5 26.d6?! Perhaps planning to secure the queenside with Bb4 and a5. xg2! Alert! 27.e7 d7 28.xf6 d5!? Interesting decision, because 2348

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 28...gxf6 29.xg2 dc7 also looks better 16.c2 c4 17.xc4 ( 17.g3 for Black. ] is an interesting alternative) 17...xc4 29.e5 The bishop looks strong on e5, but the 18.b3 d6 19.c4 White's hope is that three g7 pawn dulls its influence. The bishop on d5 versus two pawns on the queenside will is not as securely anchored, but there is no make it easier to create a passed pawn. f5 way f or W hit e to reliab ly snuf f it o ut . f7 20.b2 d2 21.ac1 e5 22.fd1 d7 30.e3 a5! Fixing the pawn on a4. 31.c1? 23.b4 e7 24.f1 xd1+ 25.xd1 f7 Making things worse. 26.e2 d8 soon led to a draw in E. [ 31.f4 c4 is still better for Black, but White Matsuura-B.Gonzalez, Brasilia 2000. ] has decent chances of holding the position. ] 15.c2 31...c4 32.f4 [ Or 15.e3 e6 16.g3 d5 17.d4 e7! [ 32.a1 xa4! Anyway! 33.xa4 b1+ 18.c2 f5 19.g4 with roughly equal 34.h2 h1# ] play. ] 32...xa4 33.g5 b5 34.xf5 gxf5 35.f2 15...e6 a2+ 36.e2 a3 37.b2 b3 38.xb3 [ 15...e5 16.e1 f6 17.d4 intending f2-f4 xb3 39.e3 d7 40.a1 a4 41.d2 a7 is a reasonable alternative. ( Also possible: 42.d6 a6 43.a3 f7 44.e3 a8 17.e3 c4 18.b3 xe3 19.xe3 c5 45.f2 h8 46.h1 d5 47.h3 e4 20.g3 g6 21.ad1 0-0 22.c4 d4 48.e3 h6 49.h5 e8 50.g3 xh5 23.xd4 xd4 24.f5 d7 25.xd4 exd4 51.d5 g5! A classy move, taking full 26.d3 d6 27.g3 f7 28.d1 d7 advantage of the temporary features of the 29.e1 f7 30.h4 g7 31.g2 f7 position. 52.dxe6 g4 53.d4 h3 54.g1 32.g1 b6 33.g2 a5 34.g1 g7 g3 55.e5 g2 56.d1 h1 57.d7 g1 35.e2 f7 36.e1 f5 37.f4 e7 58.d6 c6 38.xe7+ xe7 39.a3 d7 40.b4 axb4 0-1 41.axb4 c7 42.f1 c6 1/2-1/2 B. K o e n i g- J . D e li t zs ch , G e rm a n T e a m C h 1996 )] 2219 B22 16.d4 c7 [ 16...c4 17.g3 with the aim of restricting Ni Hua 2534 Black's bishop by keeping an eye on g7. ] Nakamura,Hikaru 2364 Summit Seattle (4.10) 18.03.2001 17.g5 e7? [ 17...d5 has been suggested as an [Gary Lane] improvement when play might continue A) 18.h5 g6 ( 18...h6? 19.xe6 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 is winning because the f-pawn is pinned) 5.f3 19.h4 g7 with equal chances; [ 5.c4 used to be considered as a sharp B) 18.ae1 d6 19.xe6? fxe6 alternative but c7! is fine for Black. ] 20.xe6+ d7 and the black king 5...c6 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 8.exd6 escapes the attack leaving White with a xd6 9.a3 a6 10.0-0 e6! An important material deficit. ] move to diffuse the attacking influence of the [ 17...d7?! 18.ae1 e7 19.xe6!? fxe6 bishop on b3. 20.xe6 c8 21.h5+ f8 22.fe1 d8 [ 10...g4? 11.xf7+ xf7 12.g5+ e8 23.f3+ g8 24.e4 maintains White's 13.xg4 is good for White because the initiative ] black king is stuck in the centre. ] 11.xe6 xe6 12.xd4 xd4 13.xd4 18.f5! The knight swings into action to focus d8 14.h4 This is considered to be a main attention upon the black king. exf5 [ 18...xg5 19.xg7+ d7 20.xg5 line. Initially, White scored well with it but the is winning for White. ] test of time has been good for Black who 19.xe7 d7 20.f6! Another good move to usually emerges with an equal position. c6 [ 14...h5!? a nice idea and now the intention confirm White's superiority. gxf6 [ 20...0-0 21.g5 g6 22.h6+- ] is 15...Qg4 to exchange queens. 15.h3 f6 2349

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.ae1+ e7 22.xf6 g8 23.xe7+ xe7 24.xb6 The situation is somewhat clearer with White a pawn up and the black king looking vulnerable in the middle of the board. e4 25.f3 e2 26.f2 xf2+ 27.xf2 The endgame is hopeless. e7 28.d1 c8 29.e3 h6 30.d4 c6 31.f4 f6 32.g3 e6 33.d8 c4+ 34.e3 c6 35.h8 e5 36.f4+ d5 37.e8 f6 38.e5+ c6 39.c4 b6 40.b4 d7 41.d4 d8 42.a4 d7 43.a5 bxa5 44.xa5 e7 45.e5+ d7 46.b5 axb5 47.cxb5 1-0

A) 8...b6 9.xd8+ xd8 10.b3 ( 10.b5+ c6 11.c3 g6 12.0-0 g7 13.e3 Salgado Lopez, I (2598)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2718)/Legnica POL 2013) 10...g6 11.d4 d7 12.e3 g7 13.f4 0-0 14.c3 c6 15.xc6 xc6 16.0-0 e6 17.a4 Nisipeanu, L (2665)Dominguez Perez, L (2757)/Linares ESP 2013); B) 8...db4 9.xd8+ White takes the game into an ending in which she has a slight but persistent niggle. You can find my more exhaustive notes on this line in I st ra t e s cu -G r e e n f e ld . H e r e 's a s m a l l summary: ( 9.b3 e6 10.0-0 a5 11.b5+ d7 12.a4 Pavasovic, D 2220 B22 (2602)-Movsesian, S (2711)/Sibenik CRO 2009 ) 9...xd8 10.a3 a6 11.0-0 e6 Nisipeanu,LD 2674 12.d2 ( 12.e3 Potapov, P (2460)Radjabov,T 2723 Cherniaev, A (2447)/Khanty Mansiysk 7th Kings Tournament (9.2) 15.10.2013 RUS 2013 ) 12...d7 ( 12...b5 13.e2 [Smerdon, David] b7 14.fc1 Istratescu, A (2647)Hamd ouchi, H (2627 )/P au FRA 201 2) 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 13.fc1 c8 14.b3 c6? ( 14...xc1+! 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 dxe5 15.xc1 c6 16.e1 ) 15.c4 This line is definitely making a move up the Istratescu, A (2664)-Greenfeld, A (2545)/ fashion charts. It's always caused me Bastia FRA 2013 ] problems in the past, so I've been happy to [ 8.xd5 xd5 9.c3 can lead to some see it sitting on the sidelines - but wacky positions after Wells' favourite 9... unfortunately it looks like black players have Qd6 or Shirov's 9...Qa5 see the notes to come around to appreciate it as well. On the Sveshnikov, E (2521)-Shirov, A (2708)/ plus side, White has a choice of what sort of Tallinn EST 2013 ] game she wants to play from here: a safe endgame with small chances for an edge, a 8...e6 9.0-0 d6 An improvement on the complex and unbalanced middlegame, or a main line, in my opinion. Teimour seems to standard IQP. This is in my opinion one of the equalise pretty easily after this move. [ 9...e7 is the main move, after which I best features about the 2.c3 Sicilian: White recently tried 10.f3 ( 10.xc6 ) 10...f6 often has the pleasant choice between 11.c3 xc3? ( 11...0-0 12.e3 ) 12.bxc3 pla ying so lid line s wit h very f ew winn in g a5 13.d3! Smerdon, D (2498)chances f or her opponent, or choosing a Buchicchio, G (2306)/Sunningdale ENG more aggressive approach, depending on the 2012 ] tournament situation/opponent/mood! 8.xe5!? Not the most popular, but a safe 10.xd5 Heading straight for the draw, largely choice if one wants to get into standard IQP dictated by the tournament standings, and perhaps the strength of his opponent positions. [ 8.dxe5 is White's main choice, inviting the (remember, Radjabov used to be 2790 not too e n d ga m e . T h is is m y p re f e r e n ce wh e n long ago!) [ 10.f3 0-0 11.c3 h6 with a normal facing the early ...dxe5, but I have a certain IQP sort of position. ] fondness for endgames, and so this may not be to your taste. You can see some good, 10...exd5 11.f4 xe5 12.xe5 0-0 13.e1 There's not much happening here. detailed analysis in other ChessPub games, f5 14.c3 d7 15.d2 fe8 16.g3 xe1+ but here's a brief summary: 2350

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 17.xe1 e8 18.xe8+ xe8 19.xd5 e4 20.c3 xd4 21.xd4 xd4 22.f3 e6 23.f2 c6 24.a3 a6 25.e2 c4 26.d4 xd4 27.xd4 Can you say "Sofia Rules"? f6 28.f2 f7 29.h4 h6 30.e3 e6 31.g4 b3 32.c3 ½-½

king's bishop by not putting a knight in its way on f3. The snag is that after a future d2-d4 white has less control of the important e5 square. [ 7.a3 e6 8.f3 e7 9.0-0 0-0 10.d4 cxd4 11.b5 c5 12.bxd4 d7 13.b3 c4 14.fd2 ( 14.e1!? ) 14...a4 someone should tell Black that there are other pieces on the board apart from the 2221 B22 queen! 15.e4 b6 16.e2 ad8 17.c4 a6 ( 17...f6 18.c3 a6 19.e1 Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter 2695 offers White a slight plus because the black Volokitin,Andrei 2660 queen is poorly placed) 18.e1 f6 Aerosvit GM Foros UKR (2) 18.06.2006 19.c3 a5 20.xa5 xa5 21.d2 f5 [Jonathan Rowson] 22.e4 c8 23.c3 a6 24.b3 d7 25.xf6+ xf6 26.e4 is equal, Ofstad,P1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 Stam,B/Bergen 2001. ] 5.f3 c6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 8.b5 [ 7.f3 e6+! the right time to exchange dxe5 9.xe5 d7 10.xd7 xd7 11.c3 qu e e n s b e ca u se t h e wh it e ki n g will b e I find it hard to believe that this approach can awkwardly placed 8.e2 xe2+ 9.xe2 yield W hite any advantage, but Nisipeanu b6 10.d1 a6+ 11.d3 d8 gave Black a tends to study his openings carefully, so it sligh t in it ia t ive , Re d o n d o A rgu e lle s , G might be that the positions are deceptive and Estremera Panos,S/Pamplona 2001. ] that Black has more problems than he initially This is a quiet response with seems to. That might certainly be the case 7...e6 here. d8 12.0-0 a6 13.xc6 xc6 14.e1 Komjenovic content just to get his pieces out ready for the middlegame struggle. d5 15.d2 e6 16.c1 e7 17.g4 f6 [ 7...g6 [ 17...f6 ] A) 8.a3 b6 9.d4 cxd4 10.b5 d8 18.e4 b6 19.xf6+ gxf6 20.b3 ( 10...d7 is the right reply when the game [ 20.h6!? ] continuation no longer works because 20...h5 21.e4 d6 22.f3 b6 23.c4 a5 11.f4 e5 12.xc6 xc6 allows an 24.ec1 f8 25.h3 attack on the pieces stationed on h1 and [ 25.b4 axb4 26.xb4 xb4 27.b3 d5 b5. ) 11.f4 e5 12.xc6+ bxc6 13.xe5 28.a4+ and now Fritz says 28...b5 is mate cxb5 14.xh8 gave White a winning in 15 and 28... Rd7 is mate in 9. I'll leave it advantage, Pham Duc,T-Nguyen Van Huy/ to you to work out why! b5 29.xb5+ ] Hanoi 2002.; 25...g7 26.b4 axb4 27.xb4 g8 28.a3 B) 8.d4 e6 ( or 8...cxd4 9.xd4 xd4 h4 29.c7 d7 30.c8+ d8 31.8c7 d7 10.xd4 e6+ 11.e4 is equal ) 9.0-0 32.c8+ d8 33.8c7 g7 10.dxc5 xc5 11.f4 xf4 12.xf4 ½-½ e5 13.e2 ( 13.b4 e7 14.e3 has the merit of temporarily preventing kingside castling to the threat of Bc5.) 2222 B22 13...0-0 14.e3 e7 15.d2 c7 Nuevo Perez,Antonio 2169 16.e4 f5 17.c4+ h8 18.g5 e4 Komljenovic,Davor 2505 19.fd1 ( 19.f3 to break up the pawn Open Dos Hermanas (4) 08.04.2002 chain is worth considering in order to [Gary Lane] activate the light-squared bishop) 19...h6 20.e6? it looks nice but it is a serious 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.g3 d6 blunder. f7 0-1 Casagrande,F-Isonzo,D/ 5.exd6 xd6 The idea of taking with queen is Porto San Giorgio 2001. ] to aim for a more open position. 6.g2 c6 7.e2 White hopes to make more use of his 8.0-0 e7 9.d4 cxd4 10.xd4 xd4 2351

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.xd4 The position is equal but both players need to qualify that by rapidly developing their pieces. 0-0 12.d2 d8 13.c4 [ An alternative is 13.e4 when c7 14.g5 h6 15.f3 b5 16.g4 is better than the game continuation because White has some attacking possibilities. ] 13...c7 14.e4 b5! A good move by the grandmaster designed to allow his own pieces to smoothly find their best squares. Basically, it prepares a queenside fianchetto and the pawn on b5 deters c3-c4 ousting the knight on d5. 15.e5 b7 16.e2 d6 17.e1 Although White has a slight disadvantage it is nothing to be proud about because he really should emerge from the opening with at least equality. ab8 18.d2 b6 19.xb7 xb7 20.f3 d5 The knight returns to the centre and Black has an edge because he can try to make progress on the queenside. 21.ac1 c8 22.d4 d7 23.d3 a6 24.cd1 f8 25.c1?! [ 25.f3 heading for e5 seems sensible to hold the position. ] 25...b6 26.f3 d6 27.b3 c7 28.d3 b6 29.ed1 a5 30.d2 [ 30.e3 is necessary to get the pieces out a n d e n c o u r a g e t h e m a s s e xc h a n g e o f pieces. ] 30...dc6 31.b3 b4 32.cxb4? A typical mistake because Nuevo Perez wrongly assumes that Black will automatically take b a c k o n b 4 . T h i s p s yc h o lo g ic a l m is t a k e causes his immediate downfall. a4 33.c5 [ 33.d4 xc1 wins ] 33...xb4 34.e3 if the white knight moves then the bishop on c1 is taken. xc5 0-1

2223 Nussbaumer,Hans Kassubek,Wolfgang German Team Championship [Gary Lane]

[ 6...c6 is the critical variation when 7.c3 b4 8.d2 xc3 9.xc3 e4 10.e5 with a slight edge for White. ] 7.xd4 xd4 8.xd4 a6 Black is wary of Nb5. [ 8...d7 9.b5 xb5 ( 9...a6 10.1c3 f6 11.e3 with an edge.) 10.xb5+ d7 11.0-0 a6 12.a4 b5 13.d1 d6 14.e3 gf6 15.c3 0-0 16.f3 ad8 17.d5 xd5 18.xd5 e5 19.ab1 fe8 20.fd1 b8 21.b3 when White had a slight advantage in the ending thanks to the pair of influential bishops, O. Nepomucky-K. Martisek, Brno 2000. ] 9.e2 [ 9.c4 b4+ 10.d2 xd2+ 11.xd2 f6 12.0-0 White has a lead in development but it is not easy to convert this into a material gain. 0-0 13.fe1 d7 14.2f3 c6 15.ad1 ae8 16.xc6 xe1+ 17.xe1 xc6 18.e5 d5 19.xd5 xd5 20.d7 c8 21.g3 h6 22.d1 b4 23.a3 c6 24.c5 d8 25.xd8+ xd8 26.f1 f8 with level chances although White won after 44 moves in K.Temovjin-S.Van Rompaey, Golden Sands 2000. ] 9...f6 10.0-0 d6 11.c3 0-0 12.g5 White has a nagging initiative which makes it ea sie r t o de velo p . bd7 13.ad1 h6 14.h4 e5 15.f4 c7 16.f5 g6? 17.d6 [ 17.xh6+! g7 18.g4 xg4 19.xg4 b6 leaves Black a clear pawn down. ] 17...g7 18.f3 b8 19.g4 b6 20.xc8 fxc8 21.f2 d8? [ 21...c4 22.d4 b6 solves the problem of the white bishop controlling the a1-h8 diagonal. ] 22.d4 The big threat is g4-g5 to take advantage of the pinned knight on f6. c4 23.d5 1-0

B22

1999

2224 Pacher,M Istratescu,A Plovdiv Reykjavik ISL [Sam Collins]

B22 2402 2633 2012

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 e5 6.f3 exd4 Black has no desire to contest a line th at nowadays is rathe r 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 fashionable. 5.f3 f5 6.a3 cxd4 7.b5 2352

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ At least David developed another piece here with 7.c4 , though we saw from his game against Wang Yue that this is nothing to write home about. ] 7...0-0-0 8.cxd4 e5 Frankly, if you get a position like this with W hite after 8 moves, y o u d e s e r v e w h a t ' s c o m i n g ! 9.c3 That's right: Nb1-a3-b5-c3. In some lines of the c3-Sicilian this is possible, but not here. [ St. Krisjansson (2500) - G.Jones (2635), R e y k j a v i k O p e n 2 0 1 2 c o n t i n u e d 9.a4 exd4 10.d2 e4+ 11.d1 a6?! Uncharacteristically, Gawain misses a shot. ( Perhaps he wasn't expecting to have to calculate forced wins with Black after 11 m o v e s , b u t 11...g4! is terribly strong. White looks busted: 12.e2 a6 (now there is no Ng5 to worry about) 13.c1 b8 14.xc6 axb5 15.a5 d7 16.e1 d3 17.xd3 xf3+ 18.gxf3 xf3+ 19.e2 e7 20.c3 d5 and White's initiative c o m e s t o n a u gh t .) 12.c1 ( 12.g5! is an unlikely defence, but one which seems to hold. axb5 13.xb5 xg2 14.xc6 xc6 15.c1 c5 16.xc6+ bxc6 17.xc5 h6 18.xf5 xf5 19.xf7 and the game peters out.) 12...b8 13.g5 axb5 14.xb5 d5 15.b3 g4+ 16.f3 xg5 17.xg5 b4?? ( 17...d3! creates a threa t o n f 3 .) 18.xc6 d3 19.xd3?? ( 19.c3 won for White.) 19...xc6 20.fxg4 f6 Now Black is better again. 21.e2 e4 22.e3 a5 ( 22...c8 is winning and much stronger - I suspect there may have been a mistake with the scorekeeping a r o u n d h e r e .) 23.c4 d7+ 24.d3 The game is recorded as a win for Black at this point, which is surprising given that the position is roughly equal. ] 9...b4? Black looks about 5 tempi up on a Chigorin Defence which, coupled with the fact that the centre is about to open, makes his position look very attractive. However, things are not so clear after the text move, while Black missed a very straightforward route to a clear advantage. [ 9...a5 is really strong: 10.d2 exd4 11.e2 b6 and Black is a pawn up with the better game. ] 10.d2 xc3 11.bxc3 ge7 12.e3 exd4 13.cxd4 e4 14.e2 g5!? Not finding

another route to replenish his diminishing initiative, Istratescu starts aggressive play on the kingside, and immediately gets rewarded. 15.xg5?? Just an awful move. Now the white kingside gets ripped apart. [ The brave 15.0-0! was indicated, after which the game is unclear. ] 15...xg2 16.g1 [ 16.f3 is better, but after xf3 17.xf3 he8 White will have trouble with his king even if the queens are traded. ] 16...f6? [ 16...f5! leaves White without a good move: 17.xf7 ( 17.g4 cxd4 18.xf5+ xf5 19.xd5 xd5 20.xa7 he8+ 21.f1 and Black has a huge initiative) 17...xf7 18.xg2 cxd4 and the white king on e1 will be the central actor in the late middlegame. ] 17.g4+ f5 18.f3? [ The opportunistic 18.h5 , preparing Nf7, would have kept White in the game. ] 18...xf3 19.xf3 [ 19.xf3 he8 is also great for Black. ] 19...f4 20.d2 xd4 21.xd4 xd4 The curtain could have been drawn here. 22.g4+ d7 23.c1+ c6 24.xf4 e8+ White players seem to be attracted to 6.Na3 like moths to the flame, but Black's central play is much quicker than in other Na3 lines. My advice: steer clear. 0-1

2225 Padevsky,Nikola Clemens,Christian Hamburgo (8) [Gary Lane]

B22

1977

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.xd4 c7 [ 5...b6 6.f3 ( 6.f4 to try and delay ... d5 is another idea.) 6...c6 7.e4 g6 8.f4 g7 9.a4 d5 10.exd6 0-0 11.b5 f5 12.e2 e5 13.g3 xd6 14.0-0 W hite has a slight edge thanks to the pressure against the e5 pawn. fe8 15.d1 c7 16.a5 c8 17.a6 bxa6 18.xa6 b6 19.bd2 ad8 20.aa1 c8 21.c4 b7 22.a5 xd1+ 23.xd1 a8 24.a1 e6 2353

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 25.xc6 xc6 26.xc6 xc6 27.xe5 W h i t e a s wo n a p a wn a n d h a s a c l e a r advantage. xe5 28.xe5 c4 29.xc7 xc7 30.b3 d6 31.c4 e4 32.f1 b7 33.a3 f8 34.e2 c3+ 35.d3 The black knight is running out of decent squares. d1 ( 35...b1 36.a1 xb3+ 37.c2+- ) 36.a2 1-0 F.Grzesik-A.Weindl, Bundesliga 1988. ] 6.f3 c6 7.h4 [ 7.e4 g6 ( 7...d5 8.exd6 xd6 9.c4 e5 10.f4 f6 11.a3 White has a slight edge thanks to his lead in development.) 8.g5 ( 8.f4 to support e5 looks fine for White. ) 8...g7 9.c4 b5 10.b3 b7 11.f4 0-0 12.bd2 e6 13.h4 c5 14.h6 xb3 15.axb3 c7 16.xg7 xg7 17.f4 a5 18.h4 A risky strategy. White ignores the pressure on e5 and switches to attack. h5 19.e4 d8 20.d4 b6 21.g4 e6 22.e3 xd4 23.cxd4 hxg4 24.g1 f5 25.exf6+ exf6 26.0-0-0 c6+ 27.c3 b4 28.d5 c7 29.d6 c6 30.xg4 bxc3? ( It would be interesting to see what W hite had in mind after the superior 30...ae8 ) 31.dg1 cxb2+ 32.xb2 g5 33.xg5+! 1-0 D.Hilck-A. Stabolewski, Poland 1988. ] 7...d6 8.exd6 xd6 [ Or 8...exd6 9.xd8+ xd8 10.d3 and the long-term weakness of the pawn on d6 gives White the better game. ] 9.c4 e6 10.bd2 White is sensibly developing his pieces and the knight heads for e4 to harass the queen. e7 11.e4 d8 [ If 11...xh4 the exchange is flawed after 12.xd6+ d7 13.xf7 f8 14.7g5 an d W hit e h as wo n a p a wn a n d ru in e d Black's position in the process. ] 12.g3 0-0 13.h6 e8 [ T h e o b vio u s 13...f6? is just wrong and leads to an early exit after 14.xf6+ xf6 15.g5 g6 16.xc7 when White has emerged with an extra piece. ] 14.0-0 c7 15.f4 Padevsky is naturally reluctant to enter an ending when his queen is well placed for the attack. a5 16.ad1 f6 17.xf6+ xf6 18.fe1 The big difference between the two sides here is that only a glance at the board is enough to realise that it is White who has activated all

his pieces. As usual in the C3 Black's lightsquare bishop has problems finding a useful square. b5 19.c7 A crafty in-between move to push the black queen to an inferior square. a6 20.b3 e7 [ After 20...b7 the lack of harmony amongst Black pieces is evident: 21.g5 ac8 22.e4 e7 23.d7 and the threat of Nd6 highlights White's big advantage. ] 21.e5 It is a good general rule to strip the king of its defenders. xe5 22.xe5 d5 23.xf7! A pretty combination which decides matters. It is worth noting that Black never gets the opportunity to activate his queenside pieces. xf7 24.xd5 Black resigned in view of 24...exd5 25 Re8+ Rf8 26 Bxd5+ Be6 27 Bxe6+ gives White an extra piece. 1-0

2226 Paehtz,Elisabeth Short,Nigel D BCF-chTc 1112 (4NCL) (11.141) [Sam Collins]

B22 2459 2697 07.05.2012

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.d4 f5 6.e3 f6 A new move for our coverage, which has focussed on 6...cxd4 and 6...e6. Of course, 6... Nf6 looks like the most logical move in the position! 7.a3 [ 7.c4 d7 8.c3 is a natural attempt to exploit the downside of 6...Nf6 compared to 6...e6 (i. e. that there is no ...Bb4 in the p o sit io n ) . cxd4 9.xd4 0-0-0 10.xc6 xc6 11.b3 a6 and now A) 12.b5?! is not as crazy as it looks but cannot be recommended. axb5 13.cxb5 e4 14.c1+? ( 14.c3+ d7 15.0-0-0+ d5 16.d3 xc3 17.xe4+ xd1 18.xd1+ c8 19.xf5+ e6 and White will struggle to demonstrate full compensation for the exchange) 14...b8 15.c4 b1+ 16.c1 e4 17.e2 ( either White was playing for a win or, m o r e l i k e l y h a d r e a l i s e d t h a t 17.c4 would lead not to a repetition but to e6! when after 18.xe4 xb3 19.f4+ a8 20.b4 e5! 21.xb3 exf4 Black wins) 17...d5 and Black went on to win in M. P a p ( 2 5 0 7 ) - Y . K r yv o r u c h k o ( 2 6 5 2 ) , 2354

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 Rethymnon 2011 (0-1 in 30).; B) 12.b6 leads to a normal c3-Sicilian endgame. xb6 13.xb6 d7 14.e2 e6 with equality. ] [ 7.b3 is a little negative, but not bad. Certainly after A) 7...cxd4 8.xd4 ( 8.c4 a5 9.b5+ d8 10.xd5+ xd5 11.xd4 g6 is equal ) 8...xd4 9.xd4 e5! 10.xd5 xd5 11.xe5 0-0-0 with full compensation; B) 7...xb3 8.axb3 d5?! 9.dxc5 xe3 10.fxe3 Black's compensation was not clear in D.Zifroni (2355) - E.Porper (2395), Ramat Gan 1992 (1-0 in 43). ] [ 7.b5 is another move. It has only been tested once, between unrated players, but might be developed in the future. ] 7...cxd4 [ 7...e6 was played in Z.Mestrovic (2337) - M. Brkic (2126), Neum 2008 (1/2-1/2 in 60), but Nigel's move is obviously stronger since it retains the option of playing ...e5, which is lik ely to be pa rt icu la rly p ot e nt give n W hite's retarded kingside development consequent upon Nb1-a3-b5. ] 8.b5 0-0-0 Already I would be more comfortable with Black's position. White has a choice of recaptures on d4 but each lead to their own problems. 9.fxd4 [ 9.cxd4 e5 is a theme with which we are very familiar from the 6.Na3 games. While White is better placed to meet this central break than in those lines, Black obviously can have no problems in a position where he is so well developed and already b r e a k i n g i n t h e c e n t r e . A f t e r 10.a3 (to prevent ...Bb4+) exd4 11.fxd4 xd4 12.xd4 xd4 13.xd4 g6 Black is certainly no worse. ] [ 9.bxd4 g4 10.xf5 xf5 11.a4 xe3 12.fxe3 g6 13.b5 e5 14.0-0 ( 14.xa7?? drops the bishop to xf3+ 15.gxf3 xb5 ) 14...b8 and White has no compensation for his slightly inferior structure. ] 9...g4 10.e2? I saw this move as it was played, and remember being struck by how ugly it was. [ T h e c o m p u t e r r e c o m m e n d s 10.d2 , but such an un-developing moving will

always be highly counter-intuitive. In any e ve n t , t h e r e s e e m s t o b e n o kn o c k o u t p u n c h a v a i l a b l e f o r B l a c k h e r e : e4+ 11.e2 xg2 12.f1 xh2 13.xf5 e4 14.e3 e5 15.d4 xf1 16.xf1 and Black does not seem to have anything b e t t e r t h a n f o rcin g p e rp e t u a l wit h xd4 17.cxd4 f3+ 18.e2 g1+ 19.e1 f3+ ] 10...xe3 Nigel played this instantly, as far as I remember. He probably (correctly!) thought that with two bishops, a lead in development and an extra centre pawn, Black was doing v e r y w e l l . 11.xe3 xd4 12.xd4 e6 13.b3?! [ Development with 13.e2! would have s a ve d t h e g a m e . xg2 14.f3 h3 15.b5 leads to sharp play which peters out: d3 16.e5 d7 ( 16...d6 17.xd6+ xd6 18.xd6 xf3 19.c5+ b8 20.g1 leaves Black with some compensation for the exchange, but White should not be worse) 17.xa7+ d8 18.c6! d3! ( 18...bxc6?? 19.xc6+ and 20.Qb8+, matin g) 19.xb7 d6 20.xg7 e3+! 21.fxe3 xe3+ 22.d1 d3+ 23.e1 e3+ with perpetual. I may have had some electronic assistance with that last variation... ] 13...c2 14.e2 xb3 15.f3?? A really horrible blunder. [ 15.axb3 c5 16.f3 xe3 17.xd5 xf2+ 18.xf2 xd5 19.xa7 c7 ( 19...b8 20.ha1 c7 21.e1 i s t h e s a m e) 20.e1 and White should make a draw. ] 15...a5 Whoops. 5...Bf5 continues to claim victims, though I hope the notes have indicated some more promising directions for White. However, I have not found a clear route to an edge after 6...Nf6. 0-1

2355

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 21.b5 xe5 22.dxe5 c4 23.xb6 xf1 24.xf1 b8 25.d6 xd6 26.exd6 xb2 leaves Black the favourite to win the ending. ) 20...c4 21.xc4 xc4 22.e3 d5 23.c1 ( perhaps 23.d3!? should be considered) 23...b7 24.f3 xc1 25.xc1 c8 26.c3 with an equal position, 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 1/2-1/2 P.Pisk-M.Hajek, Prague 1999. ] [ 4...e6 This another way of transposing to [ 13...g4!? 14.e4 c7 15.g3 xe3 the main line. 5.f3 f6 6.e3 cxd4 16.xe3 ( 16.fxe3!? is arguably the better 7.cxd4 c6 8.c3 d8 9.d3 e7 way to take back the piece. W hite would 10.0-0 0-0 11.a3 b6 12.e2 The standard then support the d-pawn with a pawn and set-up in this line. b7 13.ad1 d6 open the f-file for the king's rook.) 16...ad8 14.b1 ad8 15.h3 fe8 16.fe1 b8 17.b1 b8 ( 17...a5 is a more active 17.c2 g6 18.a2 a5 19.e5 a8 reply. ) 18.h5 xf3 19.xf3 g6 20.f6+ 20.h6 f8 21.g5 g7 22.b4 ( 22.g4 xf6 21.xf6 c6 22.a2 ( 22.e4 xg4 23.xd8 xd8 24.hxg4 xg2 25.b4 helps to support the advance d4-d5 and f3 26.bxa5 xd1 27.xd1 xd4 k e e p s a n e y e o n t h e c 6 k n i g h t . e7 gives Black plenty of play with possible 23.xe7 xe7 24.d3 and Black will have improvements likely.) 22...c6 23.xc6 some play against the isolated d-pawn; xc6 24.d5 xd5 25.xd5 xd5 26.xd5 22.h4!? ) 22...e7 23.f4 d6 24.e3 xd5 27.f3 White has a material advantage, xd4 25.h4 f4 26.g3 xe3 27.fxe3 f5 P.Novak-S.Chloupek, Prague 98. ] the ending an extra pawn gives Black a 5.e3 cxd4 6.cxd4 e6 7.a3 c6 8.f3 winning advantage, N. Bojkovic-S. e7 9.d3 0-0 10.c3 d6 11.0-0 b6 Prudnikova, Vrnjacka Banja 1996. ] 12.e2 The classic main line position. b7 14.c1 fe8 15.fe1 ad8 16.e5 xe5 13.ad1 d5 [ 13...fd8 14.g5 g6 15.b1 ac8 17.dxe5 xc3 18.h5 xd3 19.xd3 16.fe1 d5 17.e4 c7 18.a2 xg5 xd3 20.bxc3 xc3 21.g4 ec8 22.h6 19.exg5 e7 20.d2 f6 21.e4 c7 f8 [ 22...g6 23.h4 8c4 24.f4 c2 is good for 22.h4 h5 23.e4 g7 24.g5 f6 Black. ] 25.xf6+ xf6 ( 25...xf6 26.xe6+ h8 27.d5 e7! 28.e1 is delightfully unclear) 23.d1 d5 24.d4 h8 25.d2 3c4 26.xd5 xg5 27.xe6+ g7 28.xg5 Black has active rooks so it seems wrong to xd4 29.b3 White has emerged with an exchange one. [ 25...xa3 26.h3 and the two, passed extra pawn and the threat is Rxd4 followed connected pawns on the queenside give b y Ne 6 +xc 7 . e7 30.f3 f5 31.e6+ White a headache. ] xe6 32.xd8 e2 33.d1 xb2 34.b4 A good way of trying to get Black to xb4 35.axb4 c6 36.c8 e7 37.c7 26.h4 A g o o d e x a m p l e o f h o w t o w i n s u c h we a k e n h i s p a wn s t r u c t u r e b y t h r o wi n g 27.f4 positions, which is why I have included the f o r w a r d t h e h - p a w n . xa3 entire game. f6 38.h4 e6 39.xa7 There now begins a serious of manoeuvres by both sides but it is Black who always has the 1-0 L.Yurtaev-M.Tal, USSR 1979. ] [ 13...a6!? The pawn move has the merit of upper hand. g8 28.h5 xd4?! I think the stopping a future Nb5 but is rarely played. best practical chances lay with Black hanging This is because the emphasis is usually on o n t o b o t h r o o k s a n d c o n c e n t r a t e o n stopping White being able to advance the d- advancing the passed pawns. 29.xd4 h6 pawn. 14.b1 ac8 15.g5 ( 15.a2 30.a4 c5 31.d7 a8 32.g4 a5 33.a4 i n t e n d i n g d 4 - d 5 a5 16.e5 d8 34.f4 c6 35.e3 d5 36.xc5 is a reasonable alternative) 15...a5 xc5 37.d4 d5 38.f4 c4 39.e3 e4 [ 39...a4 40.xb6 xf4 is winning for Black 16.e5 d5 17.d3 f5 18.xe7 xe7 because the white pawns will soon drop off 19.xd5 xd5 20.fe1 ( 20.xa6 c4 2227 Palkovi,Jozsef Toth,Andras Cup Paks (4) [Gary Lane]

B22 2474 2337 22.08.2000

2356

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 the board. ] 40.c1 a4 41.g5 hxg5 [ 41...b5 42.c8+ h7 43.e8 xf4 44.g6+ is just one example of how things can go wrong. ] 42.fxg5 h4 43.c8+ h7 44.c2+ e4 45.d3 g6 46.f1 g4+ 47.h2 xg5 If the king defends with 47... Kg8 then 48 hxg6 fxg6 49 Qf6 leads to a draw. ½-½

31.e5 g6 32.e3 d8 33.b4 d6 34.a4 e7 35.e5 f5 36.xd6 xd6 37.e4 xd4 38.a8+ h7 39.xf5+ exf5 40.a7 g6 41.a6+ f6 42.f4 d2 43.a7 e2 44.b7 h7 45.b5 g6 46.b7+ g8 47.a7 f8 48.b7 e7 49.b5 d7 50.h4 e7 51.h5 f7 52.hxg6+ xg6 53.g2 h5 54.f3 d3+ 55.f2 d2+ 56.f3 d6 57.a5 ½-½

2228 Papaioannou,Ioannis Cheparinov,Ivan 15th ETC Gothenburg SWE (2) [Jonathan Rowson]

2229 Papp,Csaba Palac,Mladen Open Pula CRO (1) [Gary Lane]

B22 2578 2634 31.07.2005

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 g4 6.e2 cxd4 7.cxd4 e6 8.c3 b4 9.0-0 a5 This is still a theoretical position but I had never seen Cheparinov's approach to the opening before. Cheparinov is, I believe, working with Topalov regularly, so anything he does in the opening is worthy of note. In this case Black gets a solid position with some chances to outplay the opponent. I am not sure where White should improve, but he might consider something more aggressive here: 10.h3 [ 10.d5!? d8 11.d2 exd5 12.e1 ge7 13.a3 d6 And now White has options, including h3, b4 and Nb5, and I wouldn't b e s u r p r i s e d i f o n e o f t h e m wa s q u i t e dangerous. ] 10...xf3 11.xf3 ge7 12.e3 0-0 13.b3 fd8 14.a3 xc3 15.bxc3 c7 I think Black is fine here- the knights have decent squares and pawns to play against. White is also fine but personally I would find it easier to find good moves for Black here because my target (the c3/d4 complex) is clearer. 16.g5! A radical decision, but one showing good understanding of what needs to be done. Indeed, if Black puts his knights on c4 and d5 he will achieve complete control of the position. d7 17.xe7 xe7 18.ab1 c8 19.a4 b6 20.fc1 h6 21.g3 d8 22.a6 dc7 23.b7 b8 24.g2 d7 25.a4 bc8 26.a5 xc3 27.xc3 xc3 28.axb6 axb6 29.xb6 c4 30.b8+ c8

B22 2167 2574 12.05.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 d6 6.c4 b6 This is all standard stuff but I suspect Palac was not ready for the thunderbolt that was about to strike! 7.xf7+? A move of brilliance or just bluff? It looks impressive but without sufficient forces to support the attack it is doomed to failure. xf7 8.g5+ g8 The king hides in the corner so that the black queen can eventually cover the f7 square. [ 8...e8 9.e6 c7 the queen gives the king an escape square 10.h5+ g6 11.f3 c4 12.f7+ d8 when black's king is relatively safe considering he is a piece up. ] 9.f3 Spot the mate threat! e8 10.e6 g6 11.cxd4 h6 12.f7 xe6 13.xh8 xh8 14.xb7 d5 Although the material level might be equa l Black's pie ces are bette r placed and W hite has only got his queen active, which is about to be trapped! 15.c7 c4 16.c3 a6 17.xd5 xc7 18.xc7 c6 19.xa8 0-1

2230 Paragua,Mark Edouard,Romain Al Ain op (7) [Sam Collins]

B22 2533 2686 27.12.2012

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 e6 8.0-0 e7 2357

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 9.exd6 xd6 10.c3 0-0 11.e1 d8 Rogozenko's recommendation. [ 11...b6 and various alternatives are considered by Richard Palliser in his notes to V.Gashimov (2655) - A.Moiseenko (2641), Tromso 2007 (1/2-1/2 in 35). ] 12.b3 f6 13.e3 b6 14.a3 This move is almost universally played in IQP structures. Here, however, it is a slight waste of time compared to the main line where, as will be seen, the knight tends to go to a5. Moreover, a3 is a slight weakening of the queenside light squares and sets up later shots based on ... Rc8 and ...Na5-c4xa3, exploiting the knight on c3. [ 14.e2 b7 15.ad1 and now Black's m a in a p p ro a ch i s a5 16.c2 ac8 17.e5 . His position is still extremely solid after c6! , reflected in draws in 23 moves in J. Emms (2520) - A.Moiseenko (2570), Bled 2002 and 25 moves in C. Landenbergue (2458) -M.Pavlovic (2541), Biel 2007. ] 14...b7 15.e2 a5 16.c2 ac8 17.e5 Inviting a repetition. [ 17.ac1 looks like a better try, but I still prefer Black. ] 17...c6 18.f3 a5 19.e5 c6 20.f3 g4!? Ambitiously declining the repetition. 21.ad1 This slow move doesn't help. [ 21.d5!? deserved consideration. xe3 ( 21...exd5 22.f5 xe3 23.xc8 xg2 24.xb7 f4 25.f1 d7 26.e2 xe2+ 27.xe2 xb7 and Black has no problems from a material point of view, in addition to the safer king. However, White really should not lose this position.) 22.xe3 exd5 23.ad1 c5 24.d3 g6 25.b4 c4 26.xd5 xd3 27.xe7+ xe7 28.xd3 xf3 29.gxf3 with a slight edge for Black in an endgame White should hold. ] 21...a5! Setting up the stock threat of captures on f3 and h2. 22.e4?! [ The unnatural 22.b5 was better, though after d7 23.d3 xf3 24.gxf3 ( 24.xf3 xe3 followed by ...Nc4 is excellent for Black ) 24...f6 Black has a fine position. ] 22...d5 Slightly inaccurate. [ Black had a strong option here in 22...c7! 23.d3 ( 23.b1 d5; 23.c1 xe3 24.fxe3 xe4 25.xe4 xc1 26.xc1

xc1+ also leaves Black with all the winning chances ) 23...b3 with a solid advantage. ] 23.g5?! [ 23.f4 was more solid, though after f6 Black has no problems at the very least. ] 23...xg5 24.exg5 [ 24.fxg5 f5 25.b1 is complicated but ultimately better for Black after h6 26.h3 c6 ] 24...f6! Trading one minor piece has favoured Black. In addition, the white knights struggle to find good squared on the kingside. 25.d3 h6 26.h3 [ 26.e4 xe4 27.xe4 xe4 28.xe4 xe4 29.xe4 c2 is just a depressing endgame for White. ] 26...h5 27.f4 g4 28.e3 xf3 29.xf3 xf3 30.gxf3 Clearly Black has all the chances and eventually prevailed, despite Paragua's resistance. c6 [ 30...b3! ] 31.d5!? xd5 [ 31...exd5! ] 32.xd5 xd5 33.e4 xd1 34.xd1 c8 35.d7 White has managed to create certain practical drawing chances, but Edouard's technique is quite impressive. f5 36.d3 c1+ 37.g2 d1 38.b4 c6 39.f4 f8 40.d6 e7 41.xc6 xd3 42.c7+ d7 43.c8 d6 44.h4 e5 45.f8 e6 46.fxe5 xe5 47.h5 f4 48.a4 g4 49.a5 bxa5 50.bxa5 d5 51.f7 xa5 52.xg7+ xh5 53.f3 a4 54.g8 a5 55.g7 b4 56.g1 a4 57.h1+ g5 58.g1+ g4 59.b1 a3 A good example of Black's chances in the typical IQP structure. 0-1

2231 Paridar,Shadi Gupta,Abhijeet Negroponte Open (2) [John Shaw]

B22 2264 2587 10.08.2010

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 5.f3 g4 One of Black's key defences to 2. c3, so I was keen to see what the experts were doing against it. 6.bd2 This is popular with the 2.c3 experts. At lower levels it would 2358

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 have the benefit that Black must avoid a few tricks in the next few moves. At GM level the position after White's 12th move is likely to appear on the board quite quickly. Of course White has other options such as: [ 6.dxc5 ] [ 6.e2 ] 6...c6 By far the most common move and for good reason, as the others are rather risky. Still, let's have a quick look: [ 6...e6 7.a4+ c6 8.c4 d6 9.b5 Now Ne5 is on the way, so: xf3 10.xf3 d7 11.e3 ] [ 6...cxd4 7.c4 d7 The computer s u g g e s t s a n o v e l t y : 8.e5!? ( 8.b3 My database suggests this move has been p l a y e d 3 3 t i m e s o u t o f 3 3 g a m e s . e6 W hite has tried many things, but I don't se e an yth in g I like a s m uch as 8. Ne 5 .) 8...xd1 9.xf7+ d8 10.xd7 This seems to lead to a slight edge in an ending without any drama. That makes it more reliable than 8.Qb3. bxd7 ( 10...dxc3 11.xf6!? exf6 12.xd1 cxd2 13.xd2 ) 11.xd1 dxc3 12.bxc3 ] 7.c4 xf3 8.b3 The only reliable path. [ 8.a4? is a famous error due to d1! ] [ 8.gxf3?! is also mistaken, due to the pre c ise s e qu e n ce : f5 9.b3 0-0-0 10.xf7 d5 11.xd5 xd5 ] 8...a5 Black has little choice, as [ 8...xg2 is an unsound sac: 9.xd5 xd5 10.xb7 xd4 11.a6 c2+ 12.e2 xa1 13.d1 ] 9.b5+ Once again, there are no good alternatives: [ Instead 9.xd5 xb3 10.xf3 looks fun for a moment, but everyone plays A) t h e u n t e s t e d 10...xa1 is the entertaining line that Black can choose to play, but never does. A few sample variations: 11.xb7 A1) 11...d8 is inaccurate as it gives W hite extra opt io ns: 12.c6+ d7 13.e5 ( 13.dxc5!? ) 13...cxd4 14.e2 White is certainly winning all his material back, but I can't see more than equality anyway.; A2) 11...b8 12.c6+ d8 White has to scramble to create enough play. It is p o s s i b l e , t h o u g h : 13.g5 g8

14.xf7+ c8 15.dxc5 e6 16.b4 c2+ 17.e2 ( 17.d2?! xb4 18.cxb4 xb4 19.a3 f4 ) 17...xb4 ( 17...xb4 18.cxb4 xb4 19.a3 c4 20.d3 f4 ) 18.cxb4 d4+ 19.d3 xc6 20.c4 Still a mess, and u n qu e st io n a b ly m a n y o t h e r o p t io n s before this.; B) 10...xd5 11.axb3 cxd4 12.xd4 e5 Black was level in Shirov - J. Polgar, Dos Hermanas 1997, and various other games. ] 9...d7 10.xf3 xc4 11.xc4 cxd4 12.xd4 In the last few years 2.c3 experts Tiviakov, Howell and Godena have reached this position a total of 6 times, scoring 5.5 points. It's true Black was out-rated every time, but not to the extent that a 92% score was expected. Objectively, the position most be close to equal, but it is very clear that Black has the tougher practical task. [ 12.xd4 is as uninspired as it looks. ] 12...e6 Naturally, not the only move. [ 12...c8 13.e2 e6 14.0-0 e7 ( 14...a6!? would avoid the hassle that follows. ) 15.d1 c7 16.b5 b8?! 17.g3!? Black is already in deep trouble. ( 17.d4! was perhaps even nastier. For example: e5 18.f4! exf4 19.d6+ f8 20.xc8 xc8 21.e1 Black's position collapses in evry line my computer and I can find not surprising, as he is playing without a rook. ) 17...e5 18.e1 d7 19.f4 A) if 19...a6 then 20.d4 is very strong, or even ( 20.ad1!? if White wants to be flashy. axb5 21.xb5 c6 22.xe5 xe5 23.xe5+- And so on. ); B) 19...f6 20.ad1 0-0 And now in Godena - Stella, Sarre 2009, White could have played: 21.xd7 exf4 22.f3 ] [ 12...e5 13.c2 ( 13.e2 0-0-0 14.b3 d3 15.g5 xe2+ 16.xe2 e7 17.ad1 ) 13...d5 14.e3 xc4 15.xc4 d7 Tiviakov - Aveskulov, Ottawa 2007, was a f airly t ypical c3-Sicilian e nding I would say level, but Tiviakov comprehensively out-played his opponent to win it. ] 13.g5 c8 14.b3 [ 14.e2 as in Tiviakov - Spoelman, Hilversum 2007, has already been seen 2359

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 on ChessPublishing. ] 14...c5!?N Black is unafraid of doubled p a wn s . A s t h e g a m e g o e s , i t s e e m s h i s judgement is correct. [ 14...e4 15.0-0-0! c5 16.c2 Tiviakov - Idani, Mashhad 2010, is in the Archives. ] 15.xf6 gxf6 16.0-0-0 0-0 17.c2 [ White could try 17.c2 but after, say, fd8 18.b3 c6 19.xc5 xc5= the black king is untroubled by his slight exposure. ] 17...c7 18.c4 [ The game would make more sense if White a c t u a l l y p l a y e d 18.a4 when xf2 could be met by various moves including 19.df1 ] 18...e5 [ 18...xf2 ] 19.g4+ h8 [ 19...g5+ 20.xg5+ fxg5= is fine, but Black was higher-rated and I guess wanted more chances to complicate the game. The rest of the game is not of much theoretical interest. ] 20.he1 g8 21.f3 g5+ 22.b1 c7 23.g3 f5 24.d3 g4 25.g2 b5 26.f3 g5 27.e2 f6 28.ed1 a6 29.f4 gc8 30.d7 g7 31.e1 xd7 32.xd7 d8 33.d3 xd7 34.xd7 h6 35.f3 f6 36.c2 e7 Bailing out for a draw. 37.xe7 xe7 38.d3 f6 39.d4 f7 40.c4 b4 41.f3 c5 42.h4 e7 43.b3 d6 44.e2 a5 45.d3 b6 46.e2 d4 47.d3 b2 48.e2 c5 49.d3 c3 50.e3 a4 51.d3 a3 52.e3 d4+ 53.d3 c3 54.e3 The second half of the ga m e wa s n o t d e s p e r a t e l y e xc it i n g, b u t Black's 14...Bc5!? passed its first test. The verdict is th at W hite is strugglin g to f in d anything against 5...Bg4. ½-½

2232 Parligras,Mircea Vachier Lagrave,Maxime Schachbundesliga 2010-11 (4) [John Shaw]

B22 2601 2721 14.11.2010

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 c4 7.c2 d6 As far as I

can see, this is the first time this line has been covered on ChessPublishing. Perhaps it is not as exciting as the line [ 7...c7 8.e2 g5 , but it is far more reliable, in my view. ] 8.exd6 xd6 [ A l s o i n t e r e s t i n g i s : 8...e5!? 9.0-0 Now a fresh approach is: e6 ( the obvious old move was 9...xd6 but after 10.d3 cxd3 11.xd3 White has had some successes in building his initiative.) 10.d4 cxd3 11.xd3 ( Now if 11.xd3 then Black can consider xd6 to cool White's ambitions. For example: 12.xd6 xd6 13.g5 d5 14.d1 e7 15.e3 0-0-0 16.d2 h6 17.gf3 e6= Black had no problems in Ankit - Li Chao, Manila 2010, and Li Chao eventually ground out the win.) 11...xd6 Black already looks rather comfortable. For example: 12.c2 d8 13.e4 d5 14.e1 xe4 15.xe4 f6 16.bd2 g6 17.c4 xc4 18.xc4 d5 19.xd5 xd5 20.e3 f7= Pavasovic - Fier, KhantyMansiysk 2010, was roughly level, but, once again, Black won a long ending. ] 9.0-0 g4 [ Less popular is 9...g6 and after 10.b3 W hite has better than usual chances of creating some play. ] 10.e1 Steady development is normal, but also frequently seen is: [ 10.e2 e6 This was Anand's choice, so it is probably right, even though White has a pawn-grabbing possibility: A) The question is what happens if 11.xe6 xe6 12.g5 Now e6 and h7 are both attacked. d5 13.xh7 xh7 Otherwise it looks a real pawn up for not enough. 14.xh7 g6 15.d4 ( or 15.h4 h6 16.h5 f8 17.hxg6 g7 a n d t h e b i s h o p d o e s n o t g e t a w a y .) 15...d7 ( 15...cxd3!? ) 16.g5 g7 17.h4 ( 17.b3!? ) 17...f6 ( 17...0-0-0!? 18.h5 h8 19.hxg6 f8 ) 18.xf6 xf6 19.h5 f8 20.hxg6 g7 21.gxf7 xh7 22.d2 g7 23.fe1 xf7 Gaponenko Savina, St Petersburg 2009, was now roughly level although W hite has to be more care f ul. T here were qu ite a f e w murky moments before we got to this point. Grabbing the h7-pawn looks highly 2360

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 s u s p e c t , b u t I d o n 't ye t h a ve a cl e a r refutation.; B) 11.e3 Tiviakov replies with a quiet move. xe3 12.fxe3 e5 After a long and eventful game, with Black pressing all the way, Tiviakov - Anand, Wijk aan Zee 2010, was eventually drawn. ] 10...0-0-0 Active and direct. [ Another line runs 10...e5 11.xe5 xf3 12.e1 d5 13.b3 with a messy game where White, it seems to me, has most of the fun. ] 11.b3 f6! This takes the sting out of White's play. [ Instead 11...e5 has been played a couple of times with A) 12.f5+!? For example: e6 ( 12...xf5 13.xe5 d5 14.a3 ) 13.xg4 xg4; B) 12.xe5 the reply in both cases (heading back to the abovementioned line) but White has an additional option: ] 12.a3 [ Now 12.e4 e5 leaves White with no tricks and looks rather unpleasant. ] 12...d5 Black is extremely active and will soon have the better pawn structure. Perhaps it's still level, but I would not enjoy playing White here. 13.b2 [ Vachier Lagrave repeated this line in a blitz g a m e . W h i t e v a r i e d w i t h : 13.e2 Losing a tempo, but, with an ending on the way, that is not fatal. xf3 14.xf3 xf3 15.gxf3 cxb3 16.axb3 e6= In Tkachiev Vachier Lagrave, Warsaw (blitz) 2010, Black was easily level. He quickly achieved a winning position before blundering into a mate in 2 the wonders of blitz chess. ] 13...xf3 14.xf3 xf3 15.gxf3 cxb3 16.axb3 e6= As in the above game, White has the bishops, Black has the better structure. Black eventually won a long ending, which is interesting but not so relevant to our opening studies. 17.c4 b8 18.a3 d7 19.e4 xa3 20.xa3 hd8 21.f1 a6 22.e3?! White's position has started to drift towards being unpleasant, but now it goes a little more downhill. It is not easy to suggest anything better than neutral waiting moves, such as [ 22.aa1 ] 22...xe3+ 23.dxe3 a7! The knight will be stronger than the bishop. 24.aa1 f5 25.c2

c7 Forcing the pawns onto the same colour as the bishop. 26.c4 c6 27.ed1 cd7 28.e2 c7 29.xd7+ xd7 30.d1 xd1 31.xd1 d6 32.d2 e5 33.c3 a5 34.f4?! Creating another weakness, but it is miserable to shuffle around passively while th e o p p on e n t slowly im pro ve s h is e n t ire position. exf4 35.exf4 b6 36.f3 e7 37.b4 axb4+ 38.xb4 g6-+ Winning a pawn Vachier Lagrave expertly converted this i n t o a wi n : 39.b5 c7 40.d5 xf4 41.g8 h6 42.h7 e6 43.b4 f4 44.h4 g5 45.hxg5 xg5 46.g6 e6 47.f7 c5 48.g6 d7 49.b5 e5 50.e4 d6 51.d5 h5 52.xb6 h4 53.g8 d7+ 54.b5 f3 55.f7 h3 56.c5+ c7 W h i t e r e s i g n e d a s a f t e r 57.d5 e5 the h-pawn goes all the way. Black's play in the opening is very convincing this is my recommended answer to White's "omit-d2-d4" system. Black reaches a roughly level ending that tends to develop in his favour as White's weaker structure gradually disintegrates. 0-1

2233 Passakos,Georgios Tringov,Georgi P op Ano Liosia (3) [Gary Lane]

B22 2165 2405 1997

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6 The latest fashion which is intended to put pressure on the d-pawn by developing the bishop on g7. 5.dxc5 [ 5.e3 is the standard continuation which may change in the future if the illustrative game sets a trend. cxd4 6.cxd4 ( 6.xd4 A dull but solid continuation. f6 7.xd5 xd5 8.d4 f6 9.c4 e6 10.f3 c6 11.c5 f4 12.xe6 d3+ 1/2-1/2 H. Stevic-B.Lalic, Porec 1998.) 6...g7 7.c3 a5 8.f3 f6 9.e2 0-0 10.0-0 c6 11.h3 d8 12.b3 b4 the ending is easy for Black to play because he can put pressure on the isolated d-pawn. 13.c4 xb3 14.xb3 a5 15.e5 xb3 16.axb3 e6 17.b5 xb3 18.xa7 xa7 19.xa7 d5 20.c1 a4 21.c7 e8 22.c5 f8 23.f1 f6 24.f3 b6 25.c8 2361

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 xc8 26.xc8 a4 27.e1 e8 28.a7 d8 29.b3 d7 30.d2 c7 0-1 A.Vaklinov-V.Georgiev, Plovdiv 1999. ] 5...xc5 6.e3 c7 This has been played by specialists such as Komarov and D. Gurevich but no one has had the nerve to try out the bishop sacrifice against them [ 6...a5 is a simple way to avoid the path followed by the illustrative example 7.c4 g7 8.b3 e6 9.a3 e7 10.b5+ bc6 11.c5 0-0 12.c4 ( 12.xc6 xc5 gives Black at least equality) 12...c7 13.d6 d8 14.xc6 bxc6 15.a3 e8 16.f3 e5! 17.0-0 e4 18.d4 f5 19.xf5 xf5 20.ad1 g4 21.d2 g5 22.c5 gave White a slight edge thanks to his superior pawn structure in B. FilipovicA.Dragojlovic, Niksic 1996. ] 7.xa7!? A quite startling move which has caused many masters a headache trying to cope with the complications. The idea is to follow up with Qd4 if the bishop is taken. c6 [ 7...xa7 8.d4 c6 9.xh8 f6 10.f3 b6 11.b3 when White's queen is temporarily shut out of the game but it is not clear is this is worth Black sacrificing the material. ] 8.e3 f6 [ 8...e6 is an attempt to kick start the development in an attempt to have some compensation for the pawn. ] 9.a3 xa3?! Black gambles by sacrificing the exchange to complicate matters. This can be a good practical strategy but if White has good defensive technique he can just start counting the pieces. 10.bxa3 g7 11.c1 0-0 12.b3 [ 12.f3 is an obvious improvement to get the rest of the pieces activated. ] 12...g4 13.b6 It is hardly surprising that White is keen to enter the ending when he has a material advantage. However, the dormant kingside is a cause for concern. d6 14.c4 xe3 15.xe3 e5 16.e2 xa3 Black has certainly conjured up some impressive counterplay. 17.d2 e6 18.f3 c4 19.xc4 xc4 20.g1 Passakos is making life difficult for himself but the idea is that the knight will emerge on e2 to allow castling. a5 21.e2 d8 22.b2 h6 23.d1 xd1+ 24.xd1 d5+ 25.e1

xg2 Black has fought back very successfully and can claim an advantage 26.g1 e4 27.h3 b5 28.g4 h1+ 29.g1 f5 30.g3 f4 31.a3 xg3 32.a8+?? xa8 0-1

2234 Pavasovic,Dusko Borisek,Jure XVI Vidmar Mem (8) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2566 2509 16.07.2005

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 d5 7.exd6 xd6 8.0-0 My impression from recent games is that 8. Na3 is the most critical move here but it is noteworthy that the leading proponents of 2c3 frequently shift their emphasis in the opening. I suspect this is because they know that none of their lines should lead to an advantage with best play and are relying on their intimate knowledge of various sidelines as a way of causing practical problems as early as possible. e6 This is one of black's more solid approaches but if Black is going to do this he needs a good answer to white's direct approach in this game. 9.xe6 xe6 10.a4! d7 11.a5 d5 12.d4 e6 13.e5!? Playing for Space. [ 13.dxc5 xc5 14.b4 looks promising, but Black has d6 15.b5 e5 to hold the balance. ] 13...xe5?! [ 13...c7 was possible, and it doesn't look like White has any real advantage. 14.xc6 ( 14.a6 b5!; 14.a4 cxd4 15.a6 c8 16.axb7 xb7 17.cxd4 d6 looks fine for Black. ) 14...bxc6 The safest- and the structural concession doesn't matter too much because white's far advanced a-pawn means that Black can attack down the b-file and meet b4 with c5. ] 14.dxe5 e7 [ 14...c4!? looks more combative. However, 15.d2 c8 16.a4! b5 17.axb6 xb6 18.a1 leaves White with some structural advantage. ] 15.a3 c6 16.a6 b6 This is always a difficult choice- whether to allow a long-term intruder o n a6 or accept some structura l 2362

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 damage. In this case I think Black was right because there is no particularly constructive way to keep the tension. [ 16...d8 17.f4 xd1 18.fxd1 xd1+ 19.xd1 bxa6 20.c4 leaves White in complete command. ] 17.xd7+ xd7 18.d1+ c8 19.g5 White now has a clear positional advantage due to his extra space and lead in development. White plays the final phase of the game very confidently, allowing the nature of his advantage to change until the advantage transforms itself into a win. h6 20.h4 g5 21.g3 e7 22.b5 h5 23.h3 h4 24.h2 b8 25.f4 gxf4 26.xf4 d8 27.xd8+ xd8 28.g3 d7 29.gxh4 c4 30.h5 c6 31.d4+ d5 32.g2 c5 33.f3 e4 34.g5 d7 35.d1 f8 36.h4 f5 37.g3 b5 38.f6 e3 39.d4+ e4 40.xb5 c5 41.d6+ xd6 42.d4+ e3 43.exd6 d7 44.g5+ e2 45.xc4 f6 46.c7 d8 47.xd7 xd7 48.xf6 xd6 49.h6 d7 50.f4 1-0

2235 Pavasovic,Dusko Cebalo,Miso 14th Belisce Metalis Open (7) [Andrew Martin]

B22 2575 2471 25.02.2007

Two experienced campaigners meet to contest a critical opening duel. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 g6!? A move which keeps maximum tension in the position and as such ideally suited to playing for the win (or the loss). In the event of an IQP position, Black reasons that his fianchettoed Bishop will be perf ectly placed. Both Pavasovic an d Cebalo have plenty of previous history here, a s y o u c a n s e e . 5.f3 g7 6.a3! Not only setting up ideas of Nb5 but also preparing Bc4. f6 [ 6...cxd4 is tricky, but insufficient: 7.c4 A) 7...d8 8.b5 a6 9.bxd4 f6 10.a4+! c6 ( 10...d7 11.b3 ) 11.xc6 bxc6 12.e5 0-0 13.xc6; B) 7...e4+ 8.e3!! is very risky indeed f o r B l a c k , t h e p o i n t b e i n g t h a t dxe3 loses to ( So 8...h6 should be preferred,

but even here 9.b5! 0-0 10.d3 d5 11.cxd4 f5 12.0-0 xe3 13.fxe3 d8 14.e2 c6 15.ad1 is better for White, who has a strong centre and good coordination.) 9.xf7+ f8 10.d8+ xf7 11.g5+ ] 7.c4 e4+ 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0 cxd4 10.xd4 e5! [ 10...c6 11.e1 h4 12.xc6 bxc6 13.f3 gives White an enduring structural advantage according to IM Sam Collins. g4 14.f4 f6 15.ad1 h5 16.c7 f5 17.h3 h6 18.e3 fe8 19.f4+Pavasovic, D-Movsesian, S/Rabac 2003 ] [ Alternatively 10...g4 11.g5 e5 12.f3 c5 13.h3 f6 14.e1 c6 15.e3 a5 16.b5 f5 17.fd4 xd4 18.xd4 d7 19.f4 c5 20.b3 h5 21.h2 ad8 22.e2 e6 23.ad1 a6 24.d3 xd4 25.xd4 Tiviakov, S-Manik, M/Calvia 2006 ] 11.f3 c6!? This is Cebalo's idea. The difference is the position of the Black Queen, which is much more influential on e5 than h4. 12.xc6 bxc6 13.ae1!?N One wonders what he is going to do with the Rook on f1. [ 13.fe1 has been seen in a couple of previous Cebalo games: c7 14.f4 b7 15.e2 ( 15.b3 a5 16.a4 a6 17.c4 e6 18.d3 xc4 19.xc4 d5 20.g3 e6 21.d6 c8 22.c5 aa8 23.e2 d8 24.d1 b6 25.xd8+ xd8 26.xb6 xb6 27.g3 1/2-1/2 Sermek, D-Cebalo, M/ S i b e n i k 2 0 0 5) 15...d5 16.g3 a5 17.ad1 e6 18.c2 Stevic, H-Cebalo, M/ Vukovar 2005 and now fd8!= ] 13...c7 14.c2 a5 15.d4 a6 16.f4 d7 17.xa6 xa6 Cebalo has obviously worked out that Black's pawn weaknesses on the queenside can usually be dissolved and so he is willing to defend what at first sight looks a cheerless position. 18.b3 [ 18.d1 g4 19.e5 xf3 20.xf3 b6 leads to active Black counterplay on the qu e e n s id e : 21.b3 d5 22.xg7 xg7 23.c4 c3 24.d2 a4 ] 18...a7 19.e3 aa8 20.d4 fe8 21.d1 d5! 22.e2 f5 White is perhaps a fraction better, but that is all. 23.e5 e4 24.xe4 xe4 25.xg7 xg7 26.d4 [ 26.fe1 d6 27.c5 h5 28.f1 ab8 2363

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 29.b3 is not enormously exciting, but of immediately with Rb6-b4) 13...c8 14.f4 course only White can win. ] ( 14.g3 xg3 15.hxg3 xd4 26...d6 27.a4 eb8 28.b1 b5 29.g3 looks conclusive, but Black has merely c5 30.c4 b4 31.xa5 A capture on a5 won his pawn back, and white's position is follows and then ...Ra4! What are we to make s t i l l p e r f e c t l y p l a y a b l e .) 14...e7 of this Black system? Well, despite attempts with similar lines to the game- it would to keep the tension my own feeling is that it is take quite a deep analysis to show the not as good or reliable as ideas based on an significance of the queen being on g6.; early ...Bg4. However, expert Pavasovic was B) 12.e5?! xe5 13.dxe5 c6! u n a b le t o win wi t h W h i t e f o r m yo u r o wn as in Zakharov-Tregubov, Chigorin judgement from that.... Memorial, 1995. ] ½-½ 12.xb7 b8 13.c7 e7 14.b3 0-0 [ 14...b4!? Shipov. By forcing the bishop to protect the knight on c3, Black prevents 2236 B22 White playing Qf4 and keeps more tension in the position. 15.d2 0-0 16.c1 ] Pavasovic,Dusko 2564 Hracek,Zbynek 2605 15.f4 a5 16.b2 fc8 [ 16...a3 17.xa3 xa3 18.g1 a5 15th TCh-CRO (3) 24.09.2006 19.e5 followed by h4 and Rh3 worked out [Jonathan Rowson] well for W hite in Keitlinghaus-Gross, Bundesliga 2003. But Black's idea of Na5 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 was probably a mistake. ] 5.f3 g4 6.a4+ I was curious to see Pavasovic playing this line, because it fell out 17.h4 a3 18.xa3 xa3 19.c1 b2 of fashion a few years ago, largely due to the 20.h3 h5 21.d2! It is quite impressive w a y B l a c k p l a y s i n t h i s g a m e . d7 that Pavasovic somehow manages to give his pawn back and retain an edge in the endingAlmost certainly the best move. [ 6...bd7 would be promising if the this must be white's best way of playing this following queen sacrifice was forced, but line, and Black has to find an improvement somewhere, because White soon has quite a White has an improvement A) 7.e5 e6 ( 7...0-0-0 8.xg4 xg4 significant advantage. xd2 22.xd2 xd4 9.f3! Motlyev ) 8.e2! is better, and gives 23.d3 e5 24.e3 e8 25.f3 xf3 26.xf3 f4 27.e3 g6 28.h5 f4 white some initiative.; B) 7.c4 e4+ 8.e3 xf3 9.d2 c6 29.ce1 c6 30.f3 xh5 31.xe5 g6 32.e7 xe7 33.xe7 b7 34.xf7+ f8 10.b5 xg2 11.xc6 xc6 12.b3 ] [ 6...c6 7.c4 e4+ ( 7...d7 8.dxc5 ) 35.xb7 xb7 36.c4 [ 36.d5!? ] 8.e3 xf3 9.d2 g4 and now either 37.f2 f6 38.e3 g5 c a p t u r e f a v o u r s w h i t e , b u t t h e m o s t 36...e7 c h a r m i n g i s 10.xf3 xg2 11.e2! I feel that White should win this ending but h5 when Black's lack of development is much so m e h o w it s lip p e d a wa y. 39.d4 more important than white's odd-looking 40.d5+ xd5 41.xd5 c8 42.e5 h4 43.e4 g4 44.fxg4 xg4 45.f4 e6 king. ] 7.b3 cxd4 8.c4 e4+ 9.f1 e6 46.f5 d5 47.h3 d6 48.g5 c5 49.xh4 b4 50.g4 a3 51.f1 xa2 10.cxd4 52.b4 b3 53.b5 c3 54.g5 f7 55.g4 [ 10.xd4 c6 is comfortable for Black. ] g6 56.f4 d4 57.e2 d5 58.f3+ 10...c6 11.c3 f5 [ 11...g6!? as played by Tregubov, c5 59.e4 h5 60.d3 d4 61.f1 g6 Gu s t af f s on a nd Marko vski is wo rt hy o f 62.e2 d5 63.e3 e5 64.d3 e8 attention. The placement of the queen on g6 65.g6 f6 66.d4 xb5 67.xb5 xg6 ½-½ is particularly relevant after A) 12.xb7 b8 13.c7 ( 13.a6 gives Black the option of forcing a draw 2364

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2237 Pavasovic,Dusko Kharlov,Andrei 90th LSK Metalka Trgovina (7) [Gary Lane]

B22 2547 2638 26.01.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 d6 7.exd6 xd6 8.a3 The modern line of the C3 Sicilian continues to attract the best players at international level. e6 9.d4 xb3 10.xb3 cxd4 11.b5 d7 12.bxd4 xd4 13.xd4 e6 14.0-0 e7 15.d1 0-0 16.b5 There is some debate on how White should continue: [ 16.f5 has the merit of exchanging off the bishop which might be useful in the longterm c7 17.xe7+ xe7 18.d3 White prepares to swing the rook across to the kingside in preparation for an attack fd8 19.g3 h8 20.e3 d5 the knight is well placed in the centre of the board 21.d4 e5 22.e1 f6 23.c4 ( 23.e3 c7 is equal ) 23...f4 24.e3 d3 25.f1 b4 26.xb4 xb4 27.a3 d3 28.b4 f5 when Black had a useful initiative, Mitrovic,P-Pavlovic,D/Becici 1993. ] [ 16.e3 White wants to get another piece into the game c8 17.b5 c5 18.f4 d5 19.g3 a6 20.c4 f6 ( 20...axb5 21.cxd5 d8 22.dxe6 xe6 23.xb5 is better for White) 21.d6 xd6 22.xd6 e8 23.ac1 c6 24.e5 e4 25.d3 ( 25.e3!? maintains White's edge) 25...f6 26.f4 c5 with equal ces and the game was eventually drawn, Lemmers,O-Cardon, H/Gent 1994. ] 16...c6 17.e3 c5 18.xc5 ½-½

2238 Pavasovic,Dusko Kraemer,Martin Khanty Mansiysk ol (Men) 39th (10.3) [Sam Collins]

B22 2568 2516 1.10.10

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 d6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 c6 7.c4 b6 8.b3 d5!? Anyone with an appetite for statistics might want to run a search for this position in their database and look at the long string of

"0-1" results. It is true that these are largely attributable to a significant rating difference in Black's favour, with several GMs trying the line with the black pieces. In fact, the only 2400+ player on the white side in 2011 was... me! That game was about as exciting as its description indicates: S.Collins (2426) - M. Venkatesh (2455), San Sebastian 2011, (1/2 1 / 2 , 1 3 ( ! ) ) . 9.h4 The main move and the only one I've played to date. Basically, this is the only means of stopping both ...Bf5 and ... Bg4. White waits for ...e6, when the knight will drop back, with a French Defence type position. The alternatives seem to pose fewer problems for Black. Both lead to positions which should be compared to the Advance Caro Kann. [ Kraemer has used this line a bit. 9.h3 f5 10.h4 xb1 11.xb1 e6 12.f3 b4+ 13.f1 e7 14.e2 a5 15.a3 a4 16.c2 c4 17.g3 b5 and Black looked comfortable in V.Kostic (2440) - M.Kraemer (2518), Graz 2010 (1/2-1/2 in 45). ] [ 9.e3 is another direction. Black of course replies g4 and the game goes on. ] 9...e6 10.f3 [ White can try 10.g3 but I think it's simpler to drop the knight back immediately. ] 10...e7 11.c3 [ One of the points which annoyed me in my game against Venkatesh was what happens if Black doesn't castle and doesn't play ...f6. The continuation 11.0-0 d7 12.e1 c8 13.c3 a5 14.c2 bc4 15.d3 g5!? featured in E.Rodriguez (2352) - J.Xiong (2097), Northern California International 2012. Rodriguez was under the weather in that event, losing to me in 22 moves, and here selecting the passive 16.Rf1?! and going on to lose in 43 moves. Instead 16.b3 gains some squares and tries to punish Black's last move a3 17.d2 and now the sedate 17...h6 18.h3 is indicated since more ambitious play can backfire with the king in the centre, for instance g4 18.h4! c7?! 19.xd5!! exd5 20.f5 xf5 21.xf5 with a winning initiative, for instance c6 22.e6 f6 23.h6 ] 11...d7 12.0-0 Pavasovic shook hands here with Movsesian in the European Championship 2003, but here he struggles on 2365

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 under the watchful gaze of the Slovenian team captain. f6 [ A very similar earlier effort from Pavasovic continued 12...0-0 13.c2 f6 14.exf6 xf6 15.d3 g6 16.h6 g7 17.xg7 xg7 18.e2 ( 18.b3! restrains . ..e5 and keeps an enduring edge) 18...e5 19.xe5 xd4 20.d2 xc2 21.xc2 f5 22.d2 which was roughly level in D.Pavasovic (2597) - Z.Hracek (2613), Kallithea 2008 (1-0 in 34). ] [ 12...c8 was chosen in D.Spence (2198) Wang Yue (2698), Gibraltar 2008 (0-1, 29), annotated by John Shaw in the Archives. By the way, 13.e1 was the last move in my aforementioned epic with Venkatesh. ] 13.exf6 xf6 14.e1 0-0 These positions should be compared to the French. I used to compare them to the Advance French, but in fact a closer comparator (especially when Black has played ...f6) is the Tarrasch. In particular, you might like to check the Archive for games from the variation 3. Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Nf3 Bd6 11.0-0 Qc7, which is h i g h l y s i m i l a r . 15.d3 Probably missing Black's 16th. [ 15.f4 looks like an edge for White to me. ] 15...c8 16.a3 [ 16.c2 forces g6 but, in the equivalent Tarrasch positions, Black wants to play th is a n ywa y, co m p le t in g a h a rm o n io u s regrouping with ...Bg7. The white queen and bishop battery looks distinctly out of place against this structure. ] 16...e8! An excellent pawn sacrifice. 17.f4 Wisely declining the offer. [ 17.xe6 g6 18.d1 h5 the pressure on the white kingside will force W hite to recapture with the g-pawn on f3. Given that Black is normally willing to invest an exchange to bring this about the French Tarrasch, a pawn seems a modest price to pay. ] 17...g6 18.e3 h8 19.e5 Now the weakness of the d4-pawn prevents W hite from taking on e6. xe5 20.xe5 xe5 21.xe5 These positions always look st a t ic a lly b e t t e r f o r W h it e b u t B la ck h a s dynamic piece play on the f-file. Here he has a very active bishop on g6 which will feature

in the coming play. h4! 22.e3 f6 23.ad1 cf8 24.d2 c8 25.g3 [ 25.g3 h3 26.e5 e7 27.f4 is a more ef f icient way to deal with the pressure on f2, though after c6 28.e3 Black's only weakness (e6) is well covered and White has no advantage. ] 25...h6 26.de2?! [ 26.e3 was better. ] 26...h5 27.e5 g6 28.e3 f3! Now Black has an unpleasant kingside initiative. Pavasovic defends well. 29.xh6 [ 29.g3?? h3 wins the white queen. ] 29...xg2+ 30.f1 gxh6 31.d1 xh2 32.xf3 xf3 33.1e2 e7 34.xe6 g6 [ 34...f5 was more active, though after 35.xd5 g3+ 36.g1 xe2+ 37.xh2 xd4 38.e7 White should hold easily Black needs to watch out for Nf6-based mating ideas. ] 35.xd5 h1+ 36.g2 fh3 37.xg6 hxg6 38.e7 3h2+ 39.g3 h3+ 40.g2 3h2+ 41.g3 h5 42.g2 [ Pavasovic isn't going to fall for 42.f6?? g1+ 43.f3 f5+-+ ] 42...1h2+ Study of games from the French Tarrasch is basically the only recipe I can give here, for both players. ½-½

2239 Pavasovic,Dusko Laznicka,Viktor 17th TCh-Eur (3) [David Vigorito]

B22 2602 2634 24.10.2009

The positions are always unclear in this 8...g5 line. Here Black castles kingside, which is rather uncommon. The unclear position looks pretty level, but a couple of little inaccuracies by White allows Black to whip up a crushing attack. 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.c4 b6 6.b3 c4 7.c2 c7 8.e2 g5 9.h3 [ A recent example of the alternative 9.e6 went dxe6 10.xg5 h6 ( 10...e5 is the alternative) 11.e4 d7 12.0-0 0-0-0 13.f4 f5 14.c5 e5!? 15.fxe5 xe5 16.xd7 bxd7 17.xf5 e6 18.h3 ( 18.xe6? b6+ ) 18...c5+ 19.h1 hf8 2366

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 when Black had more than enough for the pawn because of White's frozen queenside in Feuerstack, A (2395)-Rosenthal, J (2261) / Winterthur 2009. ] 9...g7 10.0-0 xe5 11.xg5 d5 [ Black can also play 11...h6 12.f3 A) 12...d5 13.a4 0-0 ( 13...bd7 14.e1 f6 15.d4 cxd3 16.xd3 xd3 17.xd3 c5 18.xd5 e6 19.h5 Tiviakov, S (2669)-Timman, J (2616)/Hilversum NED 2006 0-0-0! Rowson ) 14.e1 bd7 15.a3 a6 16.b3 d8 17.b1 and White kept some initiative in Howell, D (2614)-Van Wely, L (2655)/London 2009 see the archives; B) 12...xf3+ 13.xf3 d6 14.a4 d7?! 15.a3 f6? Potapov, P (2429)-Dimuro, M (2214)/Puerto Madryn ARG 2009 and now 16.b5 followed by d3 gives White a big advantage in both development and king safety. ] 12.a4 d7 [ 12...h6 is common, and was the move order of Tiviakov-Timman given above. ] 13.a5 c8 14.e1 This is thematic and lo gica l. Alte rna tive s can b e f ou nd in t h e games collection. [ 14.f3 g6 15.d4 cxd3 16.xd3 e6 17.e1 ce7 18.a6 e5 19.axb7 xb7 20.a6 c7 21.a5 b7 1/2-1/2 Tiviakov, S (2631)-Radjabov, T (2673)/Warsaw 2005 ] [ 14.d4 cxd3 15.xd3 d6 16.e1 0-0-0 17.f3 c6 18.a6 b6 19.a3 e5 20.b5 xb5 21.xb5 hg8 Tiviakov, S (2678)Shabalov, A (2593)/Port Erin IOM 2005. ] 14...e6 15.f3 xf3+!? [ 15...g6 16.d3 f4? ( 16...cxd3 17.xd3 is unclear Black can play ...Bc6 or maybe even castle) 17.xf4 xf4 18.dxc4 xc4 ( 18...dxc4 19.a3 ) 19.xc4 dxc4 20.fd2 d6 21.a3 c8 22.e4 xe4 23.xe4 c5 24.xc4 xa5 25.e4 gave W hite the initiative in Galkin, A (2606)-Sebag, M (2521)/Plovdiv 2008. ] 16.xf3 e7 17.d4 cxd3 18.xd3 [ 18.xd3!? ] 18...0-0!? Why not? Black should not get mated with so many pieces around his king. Usually Black tries to castle long in these lines. Here Black is not afraid and wants to get his centre moving. 19.h5 f5

[ 19...g6 is also possible. ] 20.h6 e5 21.d2 e4 22.c2 f7 The position almost looks like a Sveshnikov Sicilian. 23.b3 xh6 24.xh6 h8 25.e3 [ There was no need to retreat. 25.f1!? Now White gradually loses the initiative. ] 25...g7 26.h1 ag8 27.d4 [ 27.g1 d6 ( 27...f4 28.xa7 ) 28.f4 looks like a better defence. ] 27...d6! 28.g1 [ White cannot get in f4 himself. For example 28.f1 h6 29.f4 c6-+ ] 28...h6! Black intends ...f4 and ... Bxh3. 29.f1 f4 30.h2 e3! 31.c2 [ After 31.fxe3 f5 forces 32.g4 b u t B l a c k w i n s a f t e r t h e s i m p l e g3+! 33.h2 xg4 ] [ White either lost on time or resigned before 31.c2 c6 ( a l s o g o o d i s 31...f5 with the idea 32.xf5 xf5 33.g4 g5 34.xa7 h4-+ ) 32.c5 h4! 33.fxe3 f2 34.af1 xg2! ] 0-1

2240 Pavasovic,Dusko Schandorff,Lars 15th ETC Gothenburg SWE (8) [Jonathan Rowson]

B22 2566 2519 06.08.2005

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 b6 6.b3 d6 7.exd6 xd6 8.a3 [ 8.0-0 e6 9.xe6 xe6 10.a4 was covered in the July update. ] 8...e6 9.d4 cxd4 10.b5 d7 11.bxd4 xb3 12.xb3 e6 13.0-0 xd4 14.xd4 e7 It is hard to believe that Black has real p ro b le m s h e re , b u t so m e h o w P a va s o vi c thrives on such positions where he has a tiny edge at no risk to himself. Moreover, in my experience many people who play the Sicilian have quiet active or even aggressive chess t e n d e n ci e s a n d t h e y f i n d i t h a rd t o p l a y positions like these, where patience and caution are crucial. That said, Schandorff is a solid Gra nd master so I am su rp ris ed his position turns bad so quickly. 15.d1 0-0 16.e3 c8?! This looks artificial to me and I suspect Black can improve here. 2367

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 16...a4 17.f3 fd8 18.xb6 xb3 19.axb3 axb6 might give White chances for an edge on a good day, but looks ok for B l a c k e . g . 20.xa8 xa8 21.f1 f8 22.e2 a2 23.d2 and now Black has to think carefully about how to advance his kingside pawns. ] [ 16...d5 17.b5 a6 18.c4 axb5 19.cxd5 e5 also looks ok for Black, but again there is no real risk for White and Black will have to be a bit careful over the next few moves. ] [ 16...c8 looks solid and would probably be choice. It is sensible to get the queen off the d-file and useful to have the idea of Nb6-c4. 17.b5 c5 18.xc5 ( 18.d6 xd6 19.xd6 c4 ) 18...xc5 19.d6 This is still a tiny niggle for W hite, but it should not amount to anything as long as Black doesn't play too passively. ] 17.f4 a6 18.f3 d6? I feel I must be missing something because this appears to lose by force but Pavasovic didn't take the opportunity. 19.xd6? [ 19.xd6 xd6 20.d1 I don't see a defence- White should emerge with a clean two pieces for the rook advantage. ] 19...xd6 20.b6 fd8 21.d4 c6 22.xc6 bxc6 23.ad1 b7 24.f1 Black may not be losing here, but his position is extremely hard to defend. f8 25.e5 xd4 26.xd4 d8 27.d7 e8 28.c7 b8 29.c4 f8 30.a7 b5 31.xa6 c5 32.b6 e8 33.a4 1-0

favourable than comparable positions from the Queen's Gambit Accepted or the Nimzo). ] 10.c4 [ 10.d2 has been played the most here, but with pretty unimpressive results. See John Shaw's notes to Berelovich - Tiviakov in the Archives. ] 10...g7 11.b5 The direct approach has the benefit of basically forcing a draw, if White want s. However, it is un clea r wh at o the r benefits there are. [ 11.0-0 0-0 doesn't lead anywhere special. See Howell - Tiviakov, annotated in the Archives by Jonathan Rowson. ] 11...d8 12.f4 [ 12.e5 e7 ( 12...0-0 seems simpler, since White is hardly threatening to take on c6 ) 13.0-0 0-0 14.e2 f5 15.ad1 d5 16.xd5 exd5 17.c1 e6 18.c5 wa s M. A l M o d ia h k i (2 5 6 6 ) - L . D 'C o s t a (2456), Paris 2010 (1/2-1/2 in 48), and now t h e s i m p l e s t w o u l d h a v e b e e n c8 with level chances. ] 12...0-0 13.c7 [ 13.d6 e8 14.c7 d7 15.e5 xe5 ( 15...e7 leaves White with nothing better than a repetition with 16.d6 d8 17.c7 e7 ) 16.xe5 ( 16.dxe5 d5 17.d6 a6 18.d4 b5 is fine for Black) 16...c6 17.e2 d5 18.c1 d7 19.0-0 when White had an edge but went on to lose in E.Aranovitch (2334) - L.Vogt, (2458), Switzerland 2009 (0-1 in 35). ] 13...d7 14.d6 d8 [ 14...e8 doesn't avoid the repetition: 2241 B22 15.e5 d8 ( 15...xe5 16.dxe5 d5 17.e2 a6 18.xd5 xb5 19.f3 Pavasovic,Dusko 2557 is very pleasant for White.) 16.c7 e7 Schlosser,Philipp 2591 17.d6 ] AUT-chT 1112 (11.3) 22.04.2012 15.c7 f8 16.d6 d8 17.c7 9...g6!? [Sam Collins] looks like a good try against a line in which 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 White has had a lot of success. The forced 5.f3 e6 6.e3 cxd4 7.cxd4 c6 8.c3 draw, however (which White can avoid), must d6 9.a3 g6!? A new move to me, but one be a concern for higher-rated players. which has b een tried a f air bit , includin g ½-½ several outings by the top c3-Sicilian specialist, Sergey Tiviakov. [ The normal line with 9...e7 10.d3 0-0 11.0-0 leads to one of the best IQP positions W hite can reach (in my view, more 2368

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2242 Petenyi,Tamas Idani,Pouya Kecskemet Caissa GM 07 (3) [Sam Collins]

B22 2442 2473 23.07.2012

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 f5 6.e3 [ T h e l a t e s t m e m b e r o f t h e 6.a3 club is Ian Nepomniachtchi, admittedly in a rapid game. After cxd4 7.b5 0-0-0 8.cxd4 e5 9.a4 , Wang Yue varied from the 9... exd4 of St. Krisjansson (2500) - G.Jones (2635), Reykjavik Open 2012 with b4+ 10.d2 xd2+ 11.xd2 b8!-+ . This is perhaps the worst of the white positions after move 11 that we have seen in this line, despite some strong competition for that dubious honour. The 2700 prodigy did n 't la st m uch lon ge r: 12.c4 e4 13.he1 f4+ 14.e2 a6 15.f1 axb5 16.xb5 xd4 17.xe5 f6 18.e7 e4 19.d1 xb5 20.xb7+ xb7 21.xb5+ c8 and White resigned in I. Nepomniachtchi (2718) - Wang Yue (2697), St Petersburg 2012. ] 6...f6 7.e2! A very logical novelty. White continues development while creating an incidental threat of taking on c5, since now a queen trade on b1 can be conveniently met by Bxd1. cxd4 [ 7...g4 is the other response to the threat of taking on c5, and is one which I prefer. After 8.0-0 Black will obtain a comfortable position by taking on e3 - in other lines of the c3-Sicilian where this trade occurs, White is able to develop his bishop actively on c4 after Nbd2. Here the white setup is more passive and Black should be fine. ( 8.dxc5 xe3 9.fxe3 xc5 is very comfortable for Black )] 8.cxd4 xb1 [ 8...e6 is the other option, but after 9.c3 the bishop is definitely misplaced on f5 - it ought to be on g4, creating pressure on the d4-pawn. After, for instance b4 10.0-0 xc3!? 11.bxc3 White has an edge. ] 9.xb1 Readers may recall a similar trade from S.Vysochin - A. Areshchenko, Kiev 2011, given in the notes to the stem game for this whole line, D.Howell - W ang Yue, Hastings

2011-12. Obviously the bishop's placement on f5 rather than the traditional g4 gives rise to the extra possibility. Absent very concrete reasons, I find it hard to believe that this move can be good - an active bishop is traded for a knight which hasn't moved yet. However, Id a ni pre su m ab ly was wo rrie d a bo u t t h e prospect of Nc3, harassing the queen, when the bishop would be misplaced on f5 (it would be much more active on g4). g6 10.0-0 g7 11.b4! Showing another benefit which White obtains after the trade on b1 - he can start his queenside play very quickly. d6 12.a3 This seems slightly careless. [ T h e r e w a s n o r e a s o n t o a v o i d 12.b5! seizing control of the e5-square, with a pleasant advantage. ] 12...g4 13.b3 a6 [ Taking the pawn on d4 was risky but playable: 13...xd4!? 14.xd4 xd4 15.ad1 xf2+ 16.xf2 b6 17.b5+! f8 ( 17...xb5?? 18.d4+- ) 18.df1 followed by Ng5 and Bc4. While Black has no cause to complain about the material balance, White is much better mobilised. ] 14.h3 xe3 15.fxe3 0-0 16.ad1 White has perhaps a slight edge, based on his strong pawn centre and long term pressure against f7. e6 17.g5 [ 17.d2 , aiming for e4 and c5, looks good. ] 17...d5! 18.xd5 exd5 19.f3 fe8 20.d3 e7 21.f2 ae8 22.d1 c7 Black begins playing ambitiously. Simply keeping the pressure on the e3-pawn (including, if necessary, ...Bh6) would have led to a dead level position. In the game Black goes on to over press before badly misplaying the rook an d pawn endgame . 23.c3 ec8 24.b3 e7 25.d3 c3 26.fd1 xd3 27.xd3 c1 28.e1 h6 29.g4 g5 30.f3 f6 31.d1 c3 32.b1 h6 33.e2 g5 34.xg5 hxg5 35.d2 c8 36.d1 d8 37.e4 g7 38.xd5 xd5 39.exd5 xd5 40.d3 b5? [ 40...d7! stops the white pawn and keeps equality. ] 41.e4 Now the d-pawn starts running. d6? Again compliant - other retreats on the d-file were more tenacious, keeping prospects of checking on the e-file and activating the rook. 2369

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 42.d5 a5?? The decisive mistake. [ 42...f8 was essential to try to maintain the blockade on d6. White has good winning c h a n c e s b u t wh e t h e r h i s a d va n t a g e i s decisive is not obvious. ] 43.e5 a6 44.d6 f8 45.d7 White's 7th move looks like an improvement on the Krush Short game. In the game continuation I think White has an edge, but after my suggested improvement on move 7 I think Black is very close to equality. [ 45.d7 e6+ 46.d5 e7 47.c5 wins easily. ] 1-0

2243 Pierrot,Juan Facundo Bruzon Batista,Lazaro II American Continental (2) [Gary Lane]

B22 2417 2614 18.08.2003

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 5.c4 A popular way to continue. The idea is not to take on d5 but simply to get on with development. c6 6.0-0 d6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 e7 9.bd2 0-0 Bruzon is content to carry on with development. [ Also possible: 9...dxe5 10.dxe5 a5 ( 10...c7 11.e2 0-0 12.b3 d8 13.d2 d7 both sides are busy getting their pieces out which means White has a slight edge due to his space advantage 14.ac1 e8 15.d3 g6 16.a5 b6 17.d2 a5 18.bd4 with the better chances for White, Basagic, Z-Kozul,Z/Bled 1993. ) 11.b5+ ( 11.d3 f4 12.a4+ c6 13.b5 is better for White) 11...d7 12.a4 c6 13.g4 g6 ( 13...xe5 14.xe5 xb5 15.xg7 f8 16.e1 is double-edged but probably the best bet for Black ) 14.c4 c7 15.e1 db4 16.b1 a5 17.a3 h5 ( 17...xc4 18.xc4 h5 19.e4 c6 20.e2 is equal ) 18.e4 c6 19.e2 c2 20.d1 xf3 21.gxf3 d4 gave Black an edge in Van der Linde,M-Van Uytven,E/Belgian Team Championship 2003. ] 10.e1 [ 10.e4 b6 11.exd6 ( 11.d3 is worth considering to point the bishop

towards the kingside) 11...xc4 12.dxe7 xe7 13.c2 d6 14.g5 xe4 15.xe7 xe7 16.xe4 b8 17.ac1 b6 with equal chances, Pcola,P-Dudas,J/SVK 1996. ] [ 10.a3 is a careful approach designed to cut out the option of ...Nb4 f4 11.g3 g6 12.e1 dxe5 13.dxe5 a6 14.h4 b5 15.f1 c7 16.e2 ( 16.c2!? protects the epawn by putting some pressure on the cfile ) 16...d8 17.h5 f8 18.b3 b7 19.f4 a5 20.ac1 b4 21.axb4 xb4 22.ed1 xd1 23.xd1 d7 24.c2 d5 Black suddenly has a lot of pressure on the h1-a7 diagonal but W hite is blind to the ch a n ge i n c ircu m st a n ce s 25.g2 a4 26.bd2 d4 27.h4?! ( 27.e1 b5 28.c4 ) 27...b5 0-1 Rechi Perez,FAsensio Lisan,T/Barcelona 1996. ] 10...b6 [ 10...c7 11.a3 d7 12.d3 f5 13.c4 dxe5 14.cxe5 xe5 15.dxe5 ( 15.xe5 is a better idea to maintain a knight on the useful e5 outpost and to keep the pressure up on the backward e-pawn) 15...ad8 16.e2 led to equal chances in Jusic,ZBegovac,F/Porec 1998. ] 11.e4 dxe5 12.dxe5 d8 13.e2 d4 14.xd4 xd4 15.g3 The chances are roughly equal. However, it is easier for White to manoeuvre but as long as Black can get his queenside pieces into play there should be few worries. b6 16.b3 d7 17.d1 h4 18.e3 c6 19.xd8+ xd8 20.d1 xd1+ 21.xd1 b4 22.d2 [ 22.d4 d7 23.a3 b5 is equal. ] 22...b5 [ Or 22...xd2 23.xd2 c5 24.f1 with a level ending. ] 23.d4 d5 24.c2 a5 25.d3 g6 26.b3 [ 26.d4!? xa2 27.d1 c4 with an edge for Black. ] 26...xb3 27.xb3 d5 [ 27...xe5!? is the right way forward. For instance: 28.xb6 axb6 29.xb6 d5 with a decent ending because the bishop will be powerful. ] 28.xb7 xe3 29.fxe3 g5 30.b3 [ 30.e4 xa2 31.d4 e7 is level. ] 30...xe5 31.f1 a5 32.b6 d5 33.b8+ 2370

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 g7 34.b6 [ 34.b3 c5 35.g3 h6 leaves Black with an edge thanks to the better pawn structure and the influential bishop. ] 34...f6 A safe approach but I prefer [ 34...xa2!? 35.b3 f6 and White is lost. ] 35.b3 h5 36.c7 e5 37.c2 d6 38.c3+ e5 [ 38...e5 39.f2 ] 39.c2 h4 40.h3 f5 41.d2 f6 42.f2 g5 Black prepares f4 43.e2 g6 44.c2 g7 45.e2 [ Or 45.d2 f6 is a little better for Black. ] 45...d6 46.h5 f4 47.exf4 c5+ [ 47...xf4!? is a more patient approach which maintains Black's advantage upon 48.e8 d6 ] 48.h1 d4 49.xg5+ f7 50.h5+ f8 51.h6+ e7 52.xh4+ d7 53.h7+ d6 54.h2 g1+ 55.g3 xf1 56.e4 White has three pawns for the piece and the black king is exposed enough to increase the chances of perpetual check. f2+ 57.g4 d4 58.h4 f6 59.d3+ e7 60.h7+ f8 61.g3 xa2 62.h6+ f7 63.h7+ g7 64.d3 [ 64.h5+ would save a lot of time by just keep checking until a draw is agreed. f8 65.c5+ f7 66.h5+ e7 67.c5+ e8 68.h5+ f8 69.c5+ f7 70.h5+= ] 64...e7 65.h5 a1 66.f3 [ 66.c2 c3 67.h7 f6= ] 66...c3 67.b7+ f8 68.b8+ f7 69.b7+ g8 70.b5 [ 70.b6!?= should lead to a draw. ] 70...h7 71.b7 d3 72.f7 [ Or 72.h4 f5 73.c7 h6 when the hpawn will fall handing Black a clear winning opportunity. ] 72...e4 [ 72...xb3!? looks like the last chance. For instance: 73.g6+ g8 74.e8+ f8 75.g6+ h8 76.f6+ g7 77.d8+ h7 78.xa5 d1+ 79.h3 f1+ 80.g4 e2+ 81.h3 f6 82.a7+ g8 83.a8+ f7 84.a7+ e7 winning. ] 73.h6! A clever trick to force Black to exchange queens. f5+ [ If 73...xh6?? then 74.h5# ] 74.xf5+ exf5+ 75.xf5 xh6 76.g4 The ending should be a draw but White still

has to be cautious against his highly rated opponent. c3 77.e6 d2 78.f5 c1 79.e4 g6 80.e5 f7 81.f5 b2 82.g5 c1 83.f5 e7 84.e5 d2 85.g5 d7 86.g6 e7 87.f5 c3+ 88.d5 f6 89.c4 e5 90.b5 ½-½

2244 Pinski,Jan Brodsky,Michail Najdorf Mem Open A (2) [John Shaw]

B22 2375 2540 18.07.2010

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d6 6.f3 c6 7.c4 b6 Firing straight down the main line. 8.xf7+? A big surprise, at least to me. I've played both sides of the c3-Sicilian for years and yet was somehow unaware of this line. It cannot be any good, but it is better to be at least slightly prepared. [ The main lines are 8.b5 ] [ and 8.b3 ] 8...xf7 9.e6+ The trickiest try. [ The other line is 9.g5+ but after g8 Black is safe enough. For example, 10.e6 e8 11.d5 b4 ( 11...d8 is more common and also totally reliable, but there is no need to retreat.) 12.c3 g6 13.0-0 h6 There is no reason why Black should not consolidate his extra piece and win. ] 9...xe6?! This is needlessly risky. [ More controlled is 9...g8 10.d5 b4 11.c3 6xd5!? A novelty, it seems. Black chooses to be a pawn up rather than a piece up, but breaks White's intended stranglehold. 12.xd5 a5 13.c3 a6!? ( 13...xe6 ) 14.d4 d3+ 15.d2 g6 An interesting attempt at a direct refutation. Black also has saf er and duller options before this. ] [ 9...xe6! may look crazed, but in fact it is also a controlled way to defuse W hite's over-excitement. 10.g5+ ( 10.d5+ xd5 11.g5+ d7 12.xd5 a5+ ) 10...d7! Not at all greedy. 11.f7 e8 12.xh8 And Black will collect the stranded knight. e6 13.c3 g6 14.0-0 g7 15.xg6 xg6 ] 2371

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ 9...e8 is also possible, but not required. ( 16...cxb2 17.xb2 xb2 18.xb2 xf7 White would try either 10.d5 or ( 10.g5 19.g5+ g8 also looks winning) 17.g5+ when in either case the W hite may find e8 18.e6 d8 19.xd8+ xd8 more practical chances than his unsound 20.f7+ d7 21.f4 was supposed to be sac deserves. )] winning, but g8 22.d1+ c6 23.xe7 10.g5+ f6 11.h5?! Plausible, but it fails xb3 is winning for Black. The king can just to accurate defence. go to b5 and maybe a6 if necessary. ] [ 11.c3! is the move when White has 14...c8 plenty of compensation. The threats include [ 14...d5 is a recommendation of d4-d5 and a knight check on e4. One line is R o z e n t a l i s . H e g i v e s 15.xa7! cxb2 d5 12.g4 and Black must accept equality (or 16.xb2 xa7 17.xa7 xa7 18.xa7 simply a draw) by returning the piece. For ( 18.xh8 a5 ) 18...f6 19.d4 g7 example, d7 13.f3+ f5 ( 13...g6?? 20.a4+ b5 21.xb5 0-0 ] 14.e2!+- ) 14.gxf5 xf5 15.xd5+! xd5 15.c4?! 16.e4+ e6 17.g5+ f6 18.e4+= ] [ 15.a4 is a more acceptable way to 11...g6 12.h4 This fails to a variety of prepare Bf4. After g7 16.f4 e5 17.xe5 defences, but the most challenging line was xe5 18.xe5 xe5 19.f4 0-0 20.fxe5 also insufficient: A) a winning attempt is 20...cxb2 21.e4 [ 12.xh7+ g7 13.h6+ g8 14.xg6+ a6 22.d4 e7 23.xb2 a7! g7 15.xe6+ xh7 16.e4+ g8 ( 23...c6 Rozentalis gives 24.f3 a7+ 17.e6+ f8 18.f5+ f6 19.g6 xd4 25.h1 ae8 26.d2 ) 24.h1 ad8; 20.h6+ xh6 21.xh6+ g7 B) 20...b6 1/2-1/2 Feigin, S (2020)W hite's attack has run out of steam, so Ikonnikov, V (2558)/Netherlands NED Black should win. ] 2009 was kind of a strange draw, 12...c8 13.c3 g7 14.0-0 h6 15.f3 considering the opponents' respective d5 ratings. ] 0-1 15...cxb2!? [ Previously Black had played 15...g7 when 16.f4 ( 16.bxc3! is a better chance) 2245 B22 16...b6! is good for Black. ] Pirrot,Dieter 2421 16.g5?! [ This ends up putting the knight on a Parligras,Mircea 2547 vulnerable square. White should try 16.ad1 13th OIBM Bad Wiessee GER (4) 02.11.2009 b1!? ( 16...g7 17.f4 b6 18.xb8 [David Vigorito] xc4 19.c7+ f8 20.xa8 a3 is a lovely mess) 17.xb1 d6 18.xd6+ Here we look at a relatively rare move 13...g6. xd6 19.b4!? and White has the initiative, This is not the main line, but perhaps it should although he is two pawns down. ] be! 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 17.ad1 e7! 18.f4 b6! 5.f3 c6 6.c4 b6 7.b3 d5 8.exd6 16...e6 xd6 9.0-0 e6 10.a3 dxc3 11.e2 19.xb8? [ 19.c3 e5 20.e3 is a better try, but xb3 12.b5 b8 13.axb3 g6!? Black is still ahead after b1 21.xb1 0-0 ] [ This is a move we have not covered here before. It used to be thought to be bad (or 19...xc4 20.f4 [ 20.c7+ f8 21.xa8 xg5-+ even losing!), but matters are not so clear. It is the point of Black's 17th move. ] was even recommended to some degree in 21.c7+ f8 22.xa8 exf4 Rozentalis's fine 2002 book. The main move 20...e5 23.bxc4 xg5 Black has far too many pawns is 13...e5 ] for the exchange. The b2-pawn stays alive! 14.e3 [ 14.d1 g7 15.d6+ f8 16.xf7 24.c7 f3 25.d5 g7 26.c3 e5 27.c5 was one such 'refutation', but in the new c8 28.d5 f6 29.e4 c4 30.g4 a5 world we see that this is not the case. xf7 2372

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 31.g5 e5 32.d6 xd6 33.cxd6 a4 0-1

2246 B22 Pirrot,Dieter 2411 Rotstein,Arkadij 2544 19th Open Bad Woerishofen GER (6) 18.03.03 [Gary Lane]

18.d4 [ 18.d4 g4 19.xc5 bxc5 when the ending clearly favours Black. ] 18...e5 19.xa8 e1+ 20.g2 xf2+ 21.h3 c5! White resigned due to 22 Qa3 Rax8 23 Qc1 Bb7 winning. 0-1

2247 B22 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 Pisk,Petr 2405 5.xd4 e6 6.f3 c6 7.e4 b6!? Safarian,Alek This is not normally played but one has to Australian Open 02.01.2001 take notice of Rotstein's choice because he is [Gary Lane] a strong grandmaster. 8.g3 Pirrot decides to meet the fianchetto with one of his own but he 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 f6 has missed the significance of ...Ba6. 5.f3 g4 6.bd2 A novel way of dealing [ 8.c4 de7 9.a3 ( 9.0-0 b7 10.e2 with one of Black's most popular opening with a slight edge) 9...b7 10.b5 g6 ideas. The pinned knight is guarded and more 11.g5? b8! A great move which targets importantly sets up the chance to play Bc4 to the e5 pawn and protects the b7 bishop attack the queen. e6 allowing a discovered attack. ( 11...e7? [ 6...cxd4 7.c4 d6 In the c3 Sicilian the 12.d6+ f8 13.xb7 c7 14.xe7+ queen of ten resides here but there is a xe7 15.d6 and White wins.) 12.0-0-0 tactical flaw in this position which is cxe5 13.e2 xf3 14.gxf3 a6 15.xd7 revealed after 8.b3! c6 9.xf7+ d8 Desperation ( 15.a3 xa3 16.bxa3 c7 10.c4 e6 11.xb7 1-0 B.Bujdoso-J. with a big advantage) 15...xd7 16.xe6 Vanyo, Eger 1999 ] de5 17.d5 e7 18.xe7 xe7 19.d4 [ Or 6...xf3 7.xf3 e6 8.e3 bd7 c8 20.xa8 xa8 21.d1 f8 9.a4 a6 10.c4 c6 11.xc6 bxc6 the king is finally safe and White can start gave White the better prospects thanks to counting the pieces 22.f4 c6 23.f5 the superior pawn structure, E. Paehtz-Y. 0 -1 I s o n zo , D-Re la n ge , E / S a in t V in ce n t Dembo,Balatonlelle 2000. ] 2003. ] 7.c4 d8 [ 8.bd2 intending Nc4 is worth checking [ Or 7...d6 8.a4+ bd7 9.b5 xf3 out for White. ] Black exchanges pieces before White can 8...c7 9.g2 a6! At a stroke Black stops play Ne5 to increase the pressure on the White from castling and consequently seizes pinned knight. 10.xf3 cxd4 11.g5 a6 the initiative. 10.b3 f5 11.exf6 xf6 12.a4 12.0-0-0 c8 13.xd7+ xd7 14.xd7+ b4! A clever idea which I suspect was seen xd7 15.xd4 e7 16.he1 g6 when Black played 9...Ba6. The problem for 1/2 -1 /2 M. Vu jic-S .Pe tren ko, B uch ares t White is that his king has become vulnerable 2000 ] at an early stage of the game. 13.f4 8.b3 In this system the queen tends to end [ 13.cxb4?? xc1# ] u p o n b 3 t o t a rge t t h e b 7 p a wn wh ic h i s 13...d3+ 14.f1 c8 The queen defends vulnerable with the light-squared bishop shut the light-squared bishop and maintains the a w a y o n g 4 . b6 9.b5+ bd7? pressure. Black underestimates the strength of the pin, [ Instead 14...xf4+ 15.xa6 xg2 so 16.xg2 e7 is slightly better for Black. ] [ 9...c6 i s a b e t t e r t r y w h e n 10.c4 15.g1 c5 Even at a glance Rotstein's gives White an edge. ] p ie c e s h a v e e xc e l le n t co -o r d i n a t io n b u t 10.e5 f5 White's is dismal. 16.e3 0-0 17.xc5 xc5 [ 10...a6 11.xd7+ xd7 12.xg4 wins ] 2373

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 11.g4 g6 12.dc4 c7 13.f4 a little finesse to add another piece to the attack while threatening Nxg6, with a d i s c o v e r e d a t t a c k o n t h e q u e e n . d8 14.xd7 xd7 15.e5 The pin on the knight pays dividends and W hite is clearly winning. e4 16.xd7+ e7 17.g5+ 1-0

20.h3 cxd2 21.xe6 h8! 22.f8+ c6 23.c3+ d6 24.g3+ c6 25.c3+= "Of course." Somewhere in this chaos White must have a killer, but it escapes. On a practical note, only a computer or a 2700+ player is likely to defend Black's position, which makes Black's 15th move in a d visa b le .) 17...xg5 18.xg5 c6 19.f3 ] 17.xf7 de8 2248 B22 [ I guess Black planned 17...f6 but then spotted 18.h3! He should try this anyway Potapov,P 2464 as xf7 19.xe6+ d7! 20.xf7 d5 Fernando,Diogo 2475 ( 20...xg2 is a slightly worse version) 39th Olympiad Men (10.36) 01.10.2010 21.g7 xg2 is a good shot, with a [John Shaw] perpetual if taken. 22.f3! xf1 23.xf1 White is clearly better, but at least Black is 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.d4 swinging. ] cxd4 6.cxd4 b6 A line made popular, a few years ago, by Joe Gallagher's "Beating the 18.b5 a6 19.xd7+ xd7 20.xe5+anti-Sicilians". 7.c3 xc3 8.bxc3 c7 White has collected two pawns and can easily 9.d2 b7 10.d3 d6 11.0-0 d7 12.g5 control Black's attempted counterplay. d5 This is the hacky main line. dxe5 13.h5 g6 21.h3 f5 22.e3 f6 23.g3 h5 24.c4 e4 25.fe1 xe5 26.dxe5 eh8 27.f3 14.h3 e7 c6 28.h3 g5 29.ab1 a4 30.xb6 [ 14...g7 15.ae1 ] [ White did have a direct threat in the position, xa2 31.g4 b8 32.eb1 5h7 33.e4 as can be de monstrated b y selecting a 1-0 random move: 14...c8? 15.xg6! ] 15.h6!? A devious ploy or lack of ambition? B22 White apparently offers a repetition. Instead 2249 Potapov,P 2427 White usually puts one of his rooks on e1. Laznicka,Viktor 2659 [ 15.ae1 d5 ] 11th EICC Men (1) 06.03.2010 [ 15.fe1 ] 15...f8 [David Vigorito] [ Very risky, even if Black might be able to thread his way to equality. Black should limit Here Black tries an uncommon line that was h i s a m b i t i o n t o 15...f8 16.h3 e7 a d vo ca t e d b y P e t e r W e l ls in D a n ge ro u s Of course White could then play on with one Weapons: Anti-Sicilians, but he goes wrong in of the rooks to e1. This makes his 15th the ending and W hite scores a nice upset. move a clever idea: everything to gain and 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 d6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 c6 7.c4 dxe5!? nothing to lose. ] [ The main move is 7...b6 ] 16.xh7 [ Black was probably dreaming of 16.xh7 8.dxe5 [ The principled line is 8.xd5 xd5 9.c3 h8 17.g7 0-0-0 18.xf7 c5! w h e n W e l l s g i v e s d6 10.d5 d4 The idea is 19.dxc5? ( 19.xg6 ) 19...c6 11.xd4 exd4 12.xd4 e5! 20.f3 xc5+ 21.h1 xd3-+ ] as the cornerstone of Black's defence. ] 16...0-0-0? A definite error. [ Black had to walk the tightrope with 8...db4! 9.xd8+ Other moves are: [ 9.b3 ] 16...exd4 17.xg6!? ( 17.xf7 may look [ 9.0-0 ] fatal, but perhaps Black can ignore it: dxc3 [ 9.a3 ] 18.xg6 f6 This feels like mate but my computer claims equality. 19.g5+ d7 9...xd8 10.a3 a6! 11.0-0 b5 This may 2374

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 well be premature. [ All has followed Wells' analysis so far, but h e r e h e g i v e s 11...e6 12.d1 dc6 13.e3 b5 14.b3 b7 15.b6 e7! 16.c2 ed5 17.a5 xc2 18.xc2 b4! 19.xb4 xb4 20.b3 e7= Wells ] 12.e2 dc6 13.e3 g6 [ B l a c k s h i f t s g e a r s b e c a u s e 13...e6 is met by 14.fc1 b7 15.c2 with a4!|^ to follow. ] 14.fc1 b7? [ This proves to be a big mistake. better was 14...d7 when Black's position is still tenable. ] 15.xb5!! Excellent judgement. White's lead in development is too great. axb5 16.xb5 The pin will give Black great headaches - this is why 14...Bd7 was necessary. a5 [ After 16...g7 17.a3 a5 18.e2! a6 both 19.b6 give White a big advantage. ( and 19.b4 )] 17.a4 e6? [ This is bad, but after 17...g7 18.c4 0-0 19.d2 wins back the piece. ] 18.d4 d7? This gets crushed but there was no salvation anyway. 19.xc6 xc6 [ After 19...xc6 20.b6 a8 White has 21.xc6! xc6 22.d1+ ] 20.b6 xb5 [ 20...a8 again runs into 21.xc6! ] 21.c7+ e8 22.xa5 d7 23.xb4 xb4 24.d1 brutal! 1-0

2250 Potapov,P Wen Yang 11th Aeroflot Open B (7) [Sam Collins]

B22 2468 2543 13.02.2012

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 5.f3 f5 6.e3 cxd4 Black has some alternatives here, but we will focus on the clarifying exchange in the centre. 7.xd4 f6 [ 7...e6 was played in T.Michalczak (2326) S.Williams (2506), Reykjavik 2012 (1/2-1/2 in 32). Af te r 8.xf5 xf5 9.d3 d5 10.0-0 f6 Black had comfortable development at the price of the bishop pair. From experience of similar positions in the

French my instinct is to put the bishop on f3 as soon as possible, so 11.Be2 with an edge would be my recommendation, but the game was interesting: 11.b3!? 0-0-0 12.c4 ( 12.e2 is perhaps safer) 12...h5 13.b5 g4 14.f4 d6 15.xc6 bxc6 16.xd6 xd6 17.h3 xf2!? 18.xf2 c5+ 19.g3 e5+ 20.f2 c5+ 21.g3 e5+ 22.f2 and now Simon rolled the dice with h2 and drew after many adventures, but objectively speaking he should have shaken hands at this point. ] [ 7...xd4 8.cxd4 f6 ( 8...xb1 9.a4+! is S . V yso c h in ( 2 5 2 9 ) - A . A re sh c h e n k o (2694), Kiev 2011 (1/2-1/2 in 21) which was covered in a note to Howell - W ang Yue. ) 9.c3 a5 10.b5+ d7 11.xd7+ xd7 12.0-0 with a serious advantage for W hite in H.Marcus - S.Degerfeldt, Stockholm 1994 (1-0 in 33). ] [ The ambitious 7...0-0-0 is risky: 8.a4! s e e m s t h e m o s t i n c i s i v e : ( 8.d2 is also sound and good) 8...xd4 ( 8...d7 9.d2 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 loo ks like an end ga me edge f or W h it e) 9.cxd4 xb1 10.xb1 b8 11.f3 ( 11.c4 occurred in C.Salameh - E.De Castro (2320), Siegen 1970 (1/2-1/2 in 44), and now Black could have obtained a balanced position by trading queens) 11...c8 12.d3 f6 13.0-0 left White with the two bishops and some queenside initiative in V.Okhotnik (2445) - A.Reprintsev, Uzhgorod 1988 (1-0 in 72). ] [ 7...d8 8.a4 ( 8.a3 xd4 9.xd4 xd4 10.xd4 a6 was perhaps a white edge in M.Stieber (1944) - W .Schreiner (1879), Mecklenburg VP 2006 (1/2-1/2 in 20).; 8.d2 xd4 9.xd4 a6 10.e2 e5 11.e3 f6 12.0-0 and now e7 would have been the most straightforward path to equality in B.Kopp -K. Monteforte, Germany 1992 (1-0 in 24).) 8...d7 9.b3 xb3 10.axb3 a6 with a balanced endgame in C.Werner (2339) - W.Hellwege (2000), Condino 2009 (1-0 in 50). ] [ 7...g6 was played in F.Schluenss (2019) D.Konstantinovskij (1925), Mendig 2010/ (1-0 in 36), but just seems to lose a tempo. Development of the queen's knight to a3 or d2 promises White an edge. ] 2375

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 8.a3 [ 8.xf5 might have transposed into Michalczak - W illiams after a later ...e6. This would be my preference since, as I mention in the earlier note, I think W hite has chances of an advantage there. ] 8...xd4 9.xd4 e5 [ 9...a6 was possibly more circumspect, when Black is very close to equality. ] 10.xd5 [ 10.a4+! d7 11.b5! would have left White with some initiative, for instance c6 12.a5 ] 10...xd5 Black can't be worse here, though W hite doesn't help matters by his next few moves which weaken his dark squares and connect the Black rooks. 11.b5+ e7 12.c5+ f6 13.xf8 hxf8 If anything Black has the better game now. 14.0-0 a6 15.c4 f4 16.fd1 fd8 17.f3 b5 18.f1 h5 19.g3 e6 20.f2 c5 21.b3 ac8 22.xd8 xd8 23.e3 c8 24.d1 e6 [ 24...e6! was better, keeping the knight on the edge. ] 25.c2 d7 26.d2 c5 27.e3 d7 28.d2 c5 In general the lines after 6.Be3 cxd4 look like a normal c3-Sicilian to me, which is some achievement given that most White players have been lost within 20 moves after facing 5... Bf5 recently! Black's game is sound but he frequently has to concede the bishop pair, after which White can count on a long-term edge. ½-½

( His problem is that 7.b5? runs into 0-0-0 8.cxd4 e5 , already with some advantage for Black, as Sam has shown on a number o f o c c a s i o n s t h u s f a r .; Neither am I especially convinced by 7.c4? e4+ 8.f1 e6 9.b5 d3! with advantage to Black in Howell-Wang Yue, Hastings 2011/ 12 the game which really put this variation on the map. )] 6...f6 [ Khairullin keeps his options open, but Black c a n a l s o g o i n f o r 6...cxd4 7.xd4 and here he has tried a number of moves. O n e c o v e r e d i n t h e A r c h i v e i s f6 when Sam thinks W hite should grab the bishop-pair. Instead 8.a3 xd4 9.xd4 xd4 ( Potapov had previously faced 9...e5 and was no doubt ready with Sam's improvement of 10.a4+! d7 11.b5 c6 12.a5 ) 10.xd4 e5!? 11.xe5 xa3 12.bxa3 0-0-0 13.d4 ( 13.f4 he8 14.b5 d7 15.xd7+ xd7 16.0-0 xe5 17.fxe5 d7 is likely to land up as a draw) 13...he8+ 14.d2 e4+ 15.c1 e6 saw Black able to play around the bulwark on d4 and obtain sufficient counterplay in Mi l li e t - J u W e n j u n , Ca p d ' A gd e ( r a p i d ) 2012. ] [ Another approach is 6...e6 , which can hardly be bad either - see Sevillano-Arnold, Saint Louis 2012, for some coverage. ] 7.a3 A natural enough approach in the c3 Sicilian, but White has plenty of alternatives and again I really must refer the subscriber to Sam's pioneering analysis in the Archive. Some of those options: 2251 B22 [ a) 7.e2!? received an exclam from Sam, but I'm not sure Black has so much to fear Potapov,Pavel 2444 after it: cxd4 ( 7...e6!? 8.a3 g4 9.b5 Khairullin,Ildar 2650 xe3 10.fxe3 0-0-0 11.0-0 e4 Moscow Open (2.3) 03.02.2013 didn't seem too bad for Black in Kathmale[Richard Palliser] Ashwin, Chennai 2012,; but in a later round of the same Commonwealth Championship 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 c6 he preferred 7...g4 8.0-0 e6 9.c4 d7 5.f3 f5!? This recent development hasn't 10.d5 b4 11.c3 0-0-0 12.f4 c a u gh t o n qu it e a s m u ch a s I e xp e ct e d , in Senador-Ashwin, Chennai 2012, when it's despite plenty of ChessPub coverage in 2012, hard to believe W hite wasn't doing quite but in any event remains a decent way for well ) 8.cxd4 xb1 9.xb1 g6 10.0-0 g7 Black to avoid the main lines. 6.e3 11.b4! saw White seizing the upper hand in [ The immediate 6.a3 is an alternative, but Petenyi-Idani, Kecskemet 2012, as after cxd4 White has nothing better than annotated by Sam. ] 7.xd4 which hardly leads to much. 2376

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 [ b) 7.dxc5 xd1+ 8.xd1 0-0-0+ 9.bd2 d5 10.c4 e5 11.xd5 xd5 12.b4 e7 gave Black lasting compensation with his bishop-pair and kingside majority in Kocheev-Kasimdzhanov, European Club Cup, Eilat 2012. ] [ c) 7.a4 cxd4 8.xd4 d7 9.a3 a n d 1 / 2 -1 / 2 wa s t h e rive t in g co u rse o f Stevic-Lalic, Zadar 2012. ] 7...cxd4 8.b5 0-0-0 9.bxd4 [ New. In three previous games White had preferred 9.fxd4 , but after g4! 10.e2? xe3 11.xe3 xd4 ( 11...e6!? m i g h t b e m o r e p re c is e , t ru s t i n g i n t h e bishops and hoping f or 12.xc6 bxc6 13.xa7+? b7 ) 12.xd4 e6 was very comfortable for Black in E. Paehtz-Short, 4NCL 2012, when White had to find 13.e2! xg2 14.f3 h3 15.b5 to maintain the balance. ] [ Similar is 9.cxd4 e5 10.a3 when again I quite like g4! for Black. ] 9...g4 Again we see this idea and it's hard to believe that Khairullin wasn't happy with how the opening had gone. 10.xf5 xf5 11.a4 xe3 12.fxe3 c5!? [ We can appreciate the depth of Sam's analysis on this whole variation when we realise that he had previously considered here 12...g6 13.b5 e5 14.0-0 b8 "and W hite has no compensation for his s ligh t l y in f e r io r st r u ct u re . " K h a ir u llin ' s choice is hardly a bad alternative, though. ] 13.f2 [ Not completely ideal, but 13.d4?! e5 14.c2 d5 would have left White in some trouble ] [ and 13.e4 f5 14.e6+ b8 (threatening ...Rd6) 15.d4 g6 16.c4 e5 also seems to favour Black. ] 13...g6 14.c4?! [ In view of Black's possibility on the next turn, 14.b5!? and only then d6 15.c4 may have been more precise. ] 14...e6?! [ Black missed a big shot here: 14...h6! 15.he1 ( 15.xf7 offers Black a number of s t r o n g c o n t i n u a t i o n s , i n c l u d i n g d2+ 16.g3 xb2 ) 15...e5 16.xe5 d2+ when e3 is dropping off, leaving W hite a p a wn d o wn a f t e r 17.e2 ( or 17.g1

xe3+ 18.h1 xe5 ) 17...xe3+ 18.f3 xe5 when 19.xe3? is mated by f5+ 20.g3 f2+ . ] 15.he1 d6?! [ Khairullin's play is uncharacteristically listless here. Black would still have been for choice after 15...e5 ] [ or even 15...a6 . Don't forget that oppositecoloured bishops favour the attacker! ] 16.b5! Forcing the queens off and equalising. f5 17.g1 [ 17.xf5 gxf5 18.ad1 hg8 would have retained some imbalance, albeit surely not enough to really rock the boat after 19.g3 . ] 17...xb5 [ Another curious choice. Having gone to f5, wh y n o t b e c o n s ist e n t a n d p ro v o k e a n exchange on that square with 17...a6 ? ] 18.xb5 e5 19.xe5 xe5 20.ad1 Now a draw just becomes extremely likely, of course. xd1 21.xd1 d8 22.xd8+ xd8 23.g3 e7 24.f2 d8 25.g1 e7 26.f2 d8 27.g1 e7 28.f2 ½-½

2252 B22 Potapov,Pavel 2460 Rublevsky,Sergei 2695 Khanty-Mansiysk RUS, World Rapid Ch (12.21) [Smerdon, David] It's not often we see Rublevsky on the wrong side of a crushing anti-Sicilian victory! 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 e6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 This line gets played remarkably often against me. I suppose black players are attracted to the idea of 'winning' the white squared bishop, but the loss of tempi and the resulting structure give White very pleasant play. A strange choice by Sergei, especially because the resulting positions give Black few winning chances against his weaker opponent. 8.d3 c6 9.0-0 b4 10.e4 [ 10.e2 dxe5 11.xe5 e7 12.c3 0-0 13.a3 is an option if White is dead keen on kee ping t he b isho p. In du lge me a lit tle bluster while I give the rest of the moves to this one: 4d5 14.d3 d7 15.e4 c8 16.e1 a4 17.b3 e8 18.f3 f6 19.h3 2377

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 f5 20.c5 xc5 21.dxc5 xc5 22.b2 g5 23.f3 g6 24.h4 c7 25.ad1 h6 26.e5 c8 27.d6 f6 28.e5 f8 29.d4 d7 30.h3 g5 31.xg5 hxg5 32.f3 g4 33.hxg4 fxg4 34.g5 f4 35.h7+ h8 36.e4 h5 37.xg4 1-0 (37) Smerdon, D (2463)-Mastrovasilis, D (2580)/Queenstown 2009 ] 10...d5 11.d3 xd3 12.xd3 e7 13.b3! A nice move, tying up the queenside. Potapov's played this position a few times, with good results. 0-0 14.a4 d7 15.c3 [ 15.a3!? is another idea. ] 15...c8 [ Another of Potapov's games went 15...c6 16.d2 ( A g a i n , w h y n o t 16.a3 with a small but stable edge?) 16...e8 17.fc1 d7 18.e2 f8 19.b4 a6 20.e1 b6 21.b3 ec8 22.d3 d8 23.c3 e8 24.ac1 1/2-1/2 (24) Potapov, P (2464)-Stef ansson, H (2585)/KhantyMansiysk 2010 ] [ 15...c8 going for ....b5 with ...a6 or ...a5 first. ] 16.d2 a8N [ 16...c6 and now 17.b5! gives White a healthy edge, as after ( 17.fc1 1/2-1/2 (20) Potapov, P (2478) -Isajevsky, A (2430)/ Moscow 2010) 17...a8 18.a5 Black has to tie himself up with b8 ] 17.e2 The knight ends up doing great things along this route, but it might have been an idea to send it to the queenside in order to embark on an interesting pawn sacrifice: [ 17.b5 b6 18.d6!? xd6 19.exd6 xd6 20.g5 g6 21.h3 h5 22.f3 ] 17...c7 18.a5 e8 19.fc1 a6 20.f4 b4?? A horrible blunder. [ Black has defended well, and now was the time to liquidate: 20...xc1+ 21.xc1 b8 22.h5 c8= Looks pretty stale. Aggressive eff orts by W hite probably are too risky: 23.b1 g6 24.f6+ xf6 25.exf6 f4 26.e5 b8 ] 21.xb4 xb4 22.g5! Black is lost. g6 [ 22...f5 23.exf6 g6 24.xc8 xc8 25.f7++( 25.c1 xf6 26.h3 h5 27.xd5 )] 23.h3 h5 24.xh5 Mate follows. 1-0

2253 Pourramezanali,A Kotronias,V Baku Open 2013 (5.17) [Smerdon, David]

B22 2455 2579 23.09.2013

1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 e6 6.cxd4 b6 7.c3 xc3 8.bxc3 c7 9.d2 b7 10.d3 d6 11.0-0 d7 12.e1 [ 12.g5 is the super aggressive variation that has received all the attention on ChessPub. However, the text, which is the old main line, hasn't gotten a look-in so far o n t h is si t e , b u t is d e f in i t e l y wo rt h y o f attention. I used to play 12.Re1 when I was a kid and never found anything wrong with it White usually can safely play for two results but switched to the 'hack' line purely for taste. ] 12...dxe5 13.xe5 xe5 14.xe5 d6 15.h5 g6 16.b5+ [ 16.h3 0-0 17.g4 f5 18.e2! gives White a slight edge. In fact, the more I analysed this position for this article, the more impressed I was with White's position I think I might have to revisit 12.Re1 again... A) 18...fe8 19.e1 ac8 20.b5! ( 20.c4?! f4 21.xf4 xf4 22.e3 xe3 23.hxe3 f7 gave Black a slightly better endgame in Smerdon, D (2427)Rogers, I (2574)/Adelaide 2004 (0-1, 50)) 20...c6 21.a6! b8 ( 21...b7 22.xb7 xb7 23.e3! ) 22.c4 d7 23.a4 bc8 24.b3 f4 25.xf4 xf4 26.e3; B) 18...ae8 19.b5 c6 20.h6! ( 20.c4 d5 ) 20...f7 and now the asy e t u n p l a y e d n o v e l t y 21.c4! seems strong. For a move, Black can't interpose the bishop on d5 and so he has a problem. After f4 22.e1 f3 23.gxf3 d7 24.h4 White has a strange position (and an even stranger rook), but seems for choice. ] 16...e7! Best. [ 16...c6 17.f3 0-0-0 18.xc6 gxh5 used to be considered the refutation of 16. Bb5+, but that's certainly not the case: 19.a4! gives White a very strong attack for the sacrificed exchanged. For example a6 2378

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 20.a5 b5 21.g3! (White now threatens c4) h4 ( 21...e7 22.f4 d6 23.e3!+- ) 22.c4 hxg3 23.hxg3 b4 24.b1 ] 17.h4 [ 17.h3 h5 18.g5+ f8 ( 18...f6 19.h4 ) 19.f6 h6 is another strange position. I think Black's okay here, though obviously he needs to be careful over the ensuing middlegame. 20.d3 a6 21.c4 h4! 22.d5 exd5 23.xd5 xd5 24.xd5 e8 ] 17...h5 18.e2 f6! 19.c4 ac8 20.c1 a6 21.a4 b5! 22.cxb5? The weaker player misjudges the resulting material imbalance. [ 22.b3 bxc4 23.xc4 b6 24.xc8 xc8 25.g4! looks risky, but then again, Black has a king on f6! c1+!? 26.xc1 c6 27.d5 xc1+ 28.d1 g5 29.dxe6 xh4 30.xd6 xg4+ 31.f1= ] 22...xc1+! 23.xc1 xc1+ 24.d1 d5! 25.bxa6 g7? [ 25...b8!-+ wins immediately. ] 26.h3 hc8 27.a7 a1 28.d3 xa2 29.d2 xa7 30.c2 b8 31.b2 ba8 32.c2? [ 32.b1 a2 33.e1 was stubborn, but W h it e h a s a t o u g h t a s k a h e a d . d 4 wi l l probably fall, after which the defence will be extremely difficult. ] 32...c7!-+ White has lost the c-file, and the rooks are coming in. 33.b1 f4 34.c2 ac8 35.d1 d6 0-1

2254 Provotorov,Ivan Kokarev,Dmitry 13th Master Open (4) [David Vigorito]

B22 2408 2603 15.06.2009

In a ma in line o f t he 2 .c3 S icilian , Black avoids the main theoretical variations and gets a solid position with chances to outplay his lower rated opponent in the middlegame. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.f3 c6 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 8.b5 d7!? [ Although 8...dxe5 9.xe5 d7 is held to be equal, it is rather drawish. Black has had some success with the less explored text move, most notably in Hua-

Morozevich. This was a must-win game for the Russian. This game can be found in the archives. ] 9.exd6 [ 9.c3 dxe5 10.xe5?! xe5 11.dxe5 xb5 12.xb5 xd1+ 13.xd1 d5 was equal in Ushenina-Nijboer/Wijk aan Zee 2008 although here, too, Black managed to win.. ( 13...0-0-0+ )] 9...e6 10.g5 [ 10.0-0 xd6 11.c3 e7 12.d3 c6 gave Black fully equal chances and more importantly, a board full of pieces in the aforementioned game Ni Hua (2603)Mo ro ze vic h , A (2 7 0 7 )/ B e e r S h e v a I S R 2005. ] 10...f6 This weakening move is not such a fatal concession because W hite will have trouble directly attacking the e6-pawn. 11.h4 [ The bishop has few prospects over here, so I would prefer 11.e3 ] 11...xd6 12.0-0 [ 12.g3 looks more consistent, although Black can even open the h-file with xg3!? (12...Bb4+ and 12...Qc7 are also possible) 13.hxg3 b4 14.e2 a4!? 15.b3 c6 with fair chances. ] 12...b4!? [ T h e r e wa s n o t h i n g wr o n g wi t h 12...0-0 either. ] 13.c3 [ White would like to keep the light squared bishops on the board in principle. 13.e2 0-0 14.c3 is less risky positionally. ] 13...xb5 14.xb5 0-0 15.e1 d7 16.xd6 A rather strategic risky decision. xd6 Now Black has a certain positional a d va n t a g e b e ca u s e h e ca n e a si ly b lo c k White's isolated d-pawn and the h4-bisop may find it difficult to find useful employment. White must try to generate enough activity to hold the balance. 17.b3 4d5 18.g3 d7 19.d2 c8 20.e4 b6 21.ac1 h6 22.f3 f5 Black kicks the knight away from con trollin g t he d6 -squ are so t ha t h e ca n reposition his passive c8-knight. 23.c3 [ The machine suggests the amusing 23.e5!? fxe4 ( 23...f7 is more prudent, but after 24.c3 Black's rooks are more passive than they are in the game.) 24.fxe4 f6 25.c7 e8 26.ec1 when Black is 2379

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 up a piece but f inds it dif f icult to f ind a useful move! ] 23...ce7 24.e5 fc8 This is the difference - Black's rooks are coordinated now. Although White's bishop is strong too, in the long term Black's knight will prove to be the more agile piece. 25.c2 b5?! [ Black intends to capture on c3, but this move was not really necessary. 25...c6 was fine for Black. ] 26.ce2?? [ This is a strategic blunder. White should grab the chance provided by the opponent and play 26.xd5 xd5 27.c5! a6 28.ec1 when White is certainly not worse. ] 26...xc3 27.bxc3 d5 Now Black is clearly better. 28.b2 [ White just pitches the pawn. 28.c2 c4 followed by ... Rfc8 piles the pressure on the c3-pawn. ] 28...xc3 29.e3 d5 30.b3 b4 The rest is not difficult at all. W hite tries to stir up some kingside play, but this is easily dealt with. 31.f4 h7 32.g3 g6 33.h4 c3 34.f2 ac8 35.h5 xg3 36.xg3 gxh5 37.f3 f7 38.e2 h4 39.f1 g8 40.f3 b7 41.h3 g4 42.f2 c6 43.xh4 c1+ 44.h2 e3 0-1

eventually lost to his higher rated opponent in P.Harris-E.Gufeld,Richmond 1999. ] 9.e4 [ 9.f4 to prevent the freeing move ...d5 is worth a try. ] 9...b4+ 10.d2 0-0 11.0-0 [ 11.xb4 xb4 12.0-0 f5 ( 12...f6 13.exf6 gxf6 14.d6 4d5 15.ac1 gives White compensation f or the pawn.) 13.d6 ce m e n t s t h e qu e e n sid e p iece s t o t h e ir starting squares ensuring an advantage for White. ] [ 11.c3 is interesting and another way to stop ...d5 by allowing the queen to cover the d-file. xc3+ 12.bxc3 f6 13.exf6 gxf6 14.d6 e7 15.0-0 d8 16.a4 b8 17.a5 a8 and Black has terrible piece coordination in T.Vihinen-H.Innala,Finland 1993. ] 11...d5 12.exd6 xd6 13.e2 It is difficult to pinpoint W hite's advantage except to give credit to the way he has activated his pieces. The queen move is designed to co-ordinate the rooks in order to try and take advantage of the open c and d files. d5 14.fd1 e7 15.ac1 So far White's middlegame plan is fairly obvious because he has simply c e n t r a l i s e d t h e r o o k s . b6 16.g5 A nice idea by Pulkkinen to exchange black's dark-squared bishop which is normally a useful defensive piece. xg5 17.exg5 f6 2255 B22 18.c2 h6 [ 18...xb2?? is revealed as a mistake after Pulkkinen,Kari 2325 19.xh7+ ] Innala,Heikki Pekka 2310 19.e4 d5 20.c5 ce7 Finnish Ch Helsinki (7) 1997 [ Of course 20...xc5? fails to 21.h7+ [Gary Lane] xh7 22.xc5 ] 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.e5 d5 21.e5 f6 22.b3 White has managed to 5.d4 cxd4 6.c4 b6 7.b3 dxc3 manoeuvre his knights to strong outposts in B l a c k w i l l b e a p a w n u p b u t W h i t e h a s contrast to Black who has not managed to sufficient compensation in the form of a lead develop the queenside pieces. ed5 23.e4 in development. 8.xc3 e6 Black takes xe4 24.xe4 f6 25.d3 a5 26.d4 After some time Innala intends to steps to blunt the threat of the light-squared b5 fianchetto his queen's bishop but it is all bishop by blocking the b3-f7 diagonal. [ 8...d6 9.f4!? ( 9.exd6 is a better idea rather too late. 27.c6 a6 28.b4 b7 when for instance xd6 10.xd6 exd6 Perhaps Black was relieved to finally get his 11.b5 is better for White) 9...a5 10.e2 bishop into the game but he had overlooked h8 xb3 11.axb3 e6 12.d4 d7 13.0-0 W hite's devastating reply. 29.e7+ Bingo! White wins because the black g4 14.f3 dxe5 15.xe5 f6 16.fxg4 fxe5 30.d6 17.xe5 d6 18.xd6 exd6 19.ae1+ queen is trapped. d5 31.xd5 d8 20.f7 and White was much better but 1-0 2380

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 2256 Rabiega,Robert Agopov,Mikael GM Berlin GER (11) [David Vigorito]

B22 2551 2442 12.07.2009

This sideline with 8.Bb3 is quiet dangerous f Black does not know his stuff. Here Black does not show enough respect to W hite's dynamic possibilities. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.c4 b6 8.b3 dxe5 9.d5 a5 10.c3 f6 [ Black eschews exchanging on b3, but if he waits to long he may come to regret leaving W h i t e ' s b is h o p a l i ve . I n s t e a d 10...xb3 11.xb3 f6 is pretty well known. This is covered in Sowray-Gormally, Birmingham ENG 2005. ( 11...e6 is the main line, which is also not so easy for Black )] 11.0-0 g6 12.e3 g7 Take on b3! 13.d6!? White seeks punishment! e6? [ 13...exd6 14.b5 xb3 15.xb3 ( worse are 15.xd6+ e7; and 15.axb3 d5 ) 15...d5 16.ac1 0-0 17.c7 b8 18.xb6 axb6 19.fd1 keeps the initiative. ] [ is obvious, but after 13...xd6 14.b5 xd1 15.fxd1 xb3 16.axb3 b8 17.xa7 White still has some initiative. Still, this looks like the best choice. At least Black has an extra pawn and the bishop pair, so if he survives the next several moves there is a potential upside. ] 14.b5 Now White gets a big initiative for nothing. f7 [ 14...0-0 15.c7 b8 16.xe6+ h8 17.c1 is even worse. ] 15.c7 [ Also good is the immediate 15.c1 ] 15...b8 16.c1 xb3 17.xb3 d7 18.xe5+!? [ White goes for a quick kill. The positional 18.fd1 is slower but White is on top. ] 18...fxe5 19.f4 e8 [ Eve ryt hin g e lse lo ses qu ickly: 19...exf4 20.xf4+ f6 ( 20...g8 21.xe6 ) 21.d4 wins ] [ 19...h6 20.fxe5+ g7 21.xh6+ xh6 22.f6 gives White a strong attack ] [ 19...f8 20.xe6 xe6 21.fxe5+ g8 22.xe6+ h8 23.xf8+ xf8 ( or

23...xf8 24.xb6 axb6 25.d7 ) 24.c7 and Black will not survive long. ] 20.fxe5+ g8 21.xe8 xe8 22.xb6 axb6 23.e3 c6 24.b4 c8 [ Black should really stop the advance of the b-pawn with 24...b5 although White can still look to play a timely a4 advance. ] 25.xb6! White gives up his proud e5-pawn to penetrate with his rooks. xe5 26.b5 d5 [ 26...d7 is a better try, keeping the se ven t h ra nk blo cke d u p . W h it e is st ill much better though after either 27.Rc7 or 27. a4!? ] 27.c7 d8 [ 27...xc7 28.xc7 wins quickly. ] 28.ff7 a8 29.f2! Threatening 30.Rg7+, among other things. e8 30.ce7 d4 W ell, this does not help, but there was no go o d d ef e nce . 31.xe8+ xe8 32.xd4 xf7 33.f4+ 1-0

2257 Radjabov,Teimour Dominguez Perez,Leinier XXVI SuperGM (12) [David Vigorito]

B22 2761 2717 05.03.2009

Radjabov tries a new idea in a line that has been considered quite solid for Black. He gets some pressure, but Black should not be too discouraged by the way the opening went. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 f6 3.e5 d5 4.f3 c6 5.c4 e6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 d6 8.0-0 e7 9.e2 0-0 10.c3 [ 10.e4 is also common. The text move exchanges off Black's strong knight but leaves White with weak pawns. ] 10...xc3 11.bxc3 dxe5 12.dxe5 a5! [ 12...c7 can is discussed in HowellEpishin, Port Erin 2005. ] 13.a4!? [ A fresh idea, offering the c3-pawn. White can also protect the pawn with 13.d2 ] [ After 13.e4 Emms points out that a4!? can be played to discourage Bd3 in his new Starting Out:2.c3 Sicilian. ] 13...d8 [ This looks more sensible than 13...xc3 14.d2 c2 15.d3 c5 16.fc1 2381

Scorpionchess Prinout, 06/10/2014 with a frightening initiative. ] 14.d2 [ After 14.e4 Black should grab the pawn with xc3 because now 15.Bd2 is not possible. ] 14...d7 15.d3 e8 16.fe1 White has ce rt ain a tt ac kin g ch an ce s, wh ile B la ck' s chances are long term because he has the more compact structure. d7 17.e4 g6 18.b5 c8 19.g5!? White offers a pawn to trade off the defended of the dark squares around Black's king. d8 [ The queen head back to the kingside. After 19...xg5 20.xg5 h6 to force the knight b a c k t o a n i n f e r i o r s q u a r e ( 20...xc3 21.h4 h5 22.e4 is dangerous for Black) 21.f3 ( after 21.xe6? fxe6 the e8-bishop keeps g6 covered) 21...xc3 22.f4 g7 23.ac1 a5 24.h4 /\Nh2-g4 gives White good attacking chances. ] [ K e e p i n g t h e b i s h o p w i t h 19...f8 is also possible, but it is passive and White can keep up the pressure with Re3, h4, etc. ] 20.f4 d5 21.h4 a5 Black wants to exchange light squared bishops. This move also uncovers an attack on the c3-pawn and sizes up the c 4-squ